#now to be fair this is just the intro and the animation is slightly different in the actual show

[penofwildfire]

One of my many, many roman empires is the fact that in the early seasons (at least seasons 1 and 2) Lloyd's skin tone was a different shade of yellow than everyone else's

It's particularly noticeable in the intro (these are both from the season 2 intro I believe). His skin is distinctly oranger compared to the others. My working theory is that the more lemony shade everyone else has would clash with his green gi so they changed it for more visual cohesion (if you look at Kai in the green gi back in season 1 you can kinda see it doesn't look as good on him as it does on Lloyd, although the scene is fairly dark so it's not immediately obvious).

#ninjago #ninjago s1 #ninjago s2 #lloyd #lloyd garmadon #also feels worth noting that I think his eyes are smaller than the others? #they're definitely smaller than the ninja's eyes as kids in Child's Play #now to be fair this is just the intro and the animation is slightly different in the actual show #but these differences are still mostly there I think

[roxtron]

So I wanted to try to make a theory/analysis post on something I've wondered for a while: What the fuck are the Krang made of? Yeah that's literally my intro to this. Can I make smooth transitions? Absolutely not.

So starting out chronologically with their introduction, the majority of their animation shows smooth movements from their tentacles, basically like tentacles irl lmao. But further into that fight scene..

We can see their tentacles also strong enough to double as blades, able to stand up against (and nearly overpower) Leo's swords, and able to stab through Raph's shell. The material isn't exactly consistent in how solid it can be, able to go from the fluid movement of the tentacles, to sharp enough to function as a blade. This leads me to think their flesh is able to shapeshift in some minor ways, especially considering the way the tentacle shifts to become sharper as the Krang's leg is about to stab Leo.

And considering how goopy Krang 2 looks after being.. basically melted by April, it does show that at the very least their natural state of flesh is more fluid. Another interesting detail about this scene, and the way Krang 2 is animated after the attack that sort of feeds into the shapeshifting theory..

Back in the finale we're shown the skull of one of the Krangs. Yet after Krang 2 has her eye melted off, we see no hint of the skull. That could either just be from not wanting to add that much detail into the animation, which to be fair it would've likely given more extra work to animation that's already amazingly detailed as it is. OR- It could be from the flesh melting around the skull to keep it from being exposed. If we can see their bodies practically shift states of matter, and see Krang 3 use his own body to expand the portal, is it that much of a stretch to say they can shift their state of flesh to cover vulnerable parts of their body after being injured?

And another thing this screenshot helps to show, their bodies don't seem to all be made from the same material specifically. Normally I'd assume all the pinks/purples are the same type of flesh but I actually don't think it is. Their tounges specifically are shown to always be sharp, a slightly darker shade with the sort of lines and stripes covering it. Keep this part in mind.

After the Foot Clan get transformed into these creatures, it actually gives us further evidence on how the krang's flesh functions. When possessing humans, the Krang pieces sort of fuse and meld with human flesh. Whether it's adding on pieces, or, like with the stomach here, changing its shape entirely. But notice how they have those additions while still keeping the same colors their skin and bodies used to be.

But when Raph gets possessed? The Krang flesh doesn't fuse with his body at all. It's more of an add-on, especially with the way his arm back there shows the original shape of his hands, while still being covered in the Krang's pink. That, and his body isn't even the same color of pinks either. Some pieces are darker, and some don't even seem to be the same shape. Like I mentioned with the Krang's tounges earlier, I think those spikes on his arms and back are made of that same material. Darker color, lines and stripes, permanently spiked.. Sounds right to me.

Even in this scene, the colors of the tounge seem to match up, a lot of pieces attatched to his body fit into that, maybe that fleshy state inbetween transforming from fluid to solid? His tounge seems to be the only part of those spiked pieces that's able to mimic fluid movements, the rest seems to be solid in place. It definitely seems to be a different type of flesh, considering how the flesh around it seems to part instead of melding together.

As for the Krang's armor.. I was confused about it before but now that I think more about how the Krang themselves are built it's starting to make more sense. Essentially I think there's 3 main components to pay attention to. The darker gray of the chest and shoulderpads seem to be simple armor plates, made of some type of alien metal I assume.

The darkest blacks of the armor seem to just be the base pieces of the suit. I've seen theories it's partially organic, with the way it bleeds black liquid after Leo stabs into it, and honestly, that seems like a really good answer. I'm not sure if it's flesh with the black suit on top of it, or if that dark black with the markings is actually its natural state. (Though, side note, it makes me even more curious HOW they would've aquired or created this armor. Their tech is mostly made of flesh, sure, but with another theory about the Technodrome having a mind of its own, willing to let Donnie merge with it and control the ship.. It does make me wonder if their armor is made from the corpse of another being, or if they simply know how to create and generate flesh, and were able to mold it for their purposes.)

Anyway- The white pieces of the armor seem to be bone to me. What with the head looking like a skull, the tail having bone-structure and being animated that way, less smooth than everything else, jerking around each piece. But here's what makes it confusing, the gloves.

There's a couple scenes where the hand has folds on it. Yet the rest of the arm seems pretty solid, and the material must be solid enough to form claws at the end, so, what the hell is it?? This is what stumps me the most, it seems to be made of fabric and bone at the same time, I really don't understand it. The only real answer I have is that the material is comparable to the base body of the Krang. Flesh that's able to mold between different states, able to take that solid, bone-like appearance, to form claws at the end.. While still being moldable enough it's able to bend and fold like the tentacles can. Potentially, it's mostly solid and bone-like, but the pieces that need to be able to move are more flesh-like. The wrist and hands have more folds because they move more, and tend to get stuck in that state to move with the body, while the plates, spikes, and claws are able to be stuck in their solid states.

I dunno how to write conclusions, but that's most of what I'm able to observe for what the Krang are made of, and why pieces of their body function the way they do. Not only are they futuristic, they're also alien, so it's natural to assume they're just advanced enough to be capable of breaking these rules materials in our world have to stick to.

#rottmnt #rottmnt movie #rottmnt krang #rottmnt theory #rottmnt analysis #krang #krang raph #rise of tmnt #rise of teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt movie theory #rottmnt movie spoilers #and now for the save rise tags haha #save rise of the tmnt #save rottmnt #unpause rottmnt #unpause rise of the tmnt #unpause rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles

[dani-says-stuff]

Dracula's Castle

❥ Back to the Control Center

❥ Nate Hardy Masterlist

I'm sorry it took so long to everyone who's been asking for another Nate fic… I got about halfway through and completely lost steam and then forgot about it for like a week. my b.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Nate Hardy x fem!medium(?)reader

Summary: Rather than exploring, you find yourself wrangling the idiots you call your best friends.

Word Count: 3.4k

Warnings: creepy stuff, hauntings, language, Colby and Nate being dumb, inconsistent capitalization, my disregard for grammar and run on sentences

Dialogue Key:

Y/N

Nate

Sam

Colby

Alex

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

What. The. Fuck. That was your only thought as you watched the scene playing out before you.

The four of you were supposed to record the intro to the video by the gravesite, but the boys quickly got sidetracked. You were about to pick up Sam's camera and just film it yourself, when you realized it wasn't there.

Your boyfriend was holding the device as they all recorded each other with the small horse in the field. 

Every doubt you ever had about having guy friends throughout middle and high school came rushing back as you watched the 20 year olds act like toddlers. 

'Dude, this is like so Romania!' 

Yeah, you had no clue what that was supposed to mean- but that's what they said over and over as they chased the animal around. 

You pinched the bridge of your nose, quickly glancing at your phone for the time. Hopefully they'd stop soon... otherwise you were going to miss the car meant to take you to the next stop. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Eventually, you were able to get the intro filmed and good news... you didn't miss the car! Now the four of you were in the woods walking to the pond. 

Colby was in the back, filming Sam as he explained where you all were going, leaving you and Nate to lead. His arm was wrapped around your shoulder as the both of you walked, tucking you into his side. 

Usually, you didn't mind walks or hiking but this place was freaking you out. You couldn't quite place what was so different from the trails you enjoyed, but you definitely weren't a fan. Maybe it was the fact that there were over grown branches that would graze your arms as you walked past. Maybe it was the way the trail was worn and barely separated from the nature on the sides.

Strangely, you knew it wasn't the destination that freaked you out. By now, you've had more than your fair share of ghostly encounters and knew how to take care of that... you weren't as confident in your ability to dispel wild animals and insects.

A low bush brushed against your ankle, making you jump at the unwelcome feeling. You looked behind you, trying to find what touched you, just to be hit in the head by a tree branch when turning back around.

Nate was having a very hard time keeping his laughter to himself, but he could tell you were on edge and didn't want to make you anymore upset. However, you could feel the suppressed laughter shaking his ribs since you were pressed so close to his side. 

"It's not funny." you pouted, looking up to see the less-than-subtle-smirk gracing his lips. "I hate bugs. You know that." 

He coughed- well, he laughed, he was just trying to pass it off as a cough. "Yeah, I know babe, it's just the irony of it, thats all." He looked down, seeing your confused expression, and decided to continue, "Well... we're on our way to what is basically count Dracula's execution sight-" he laughed softly, "and you're freaked about a fern."

You reached up, covering your face with your hands, "It's not the fern I'm freaked about, it's the stuff that lives in it." you shuddered, peaking your eyes over your fingers to look up at him, "Like what if there are ticks in there! What if I get bitten by a tick and get some obscure strain of Lyme disease or something!"

"Well" Nate smirked looking down at you, "If it's ticks you're worried about... I'll happily check you over later." he spoke, wiggling his eyebrows. 

You shoved him slightly, keeping your gaze glued to your feet as you walked forward. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

"You two are so fucking strange." Sam called out, pointing the camera at you and Nate as you walked down the street. "You'd think they were on a family vacation in Disney-"

"But nope" Colby took over when the blonde began to laugh hysterically, "We're on the way to Dracula's Castle, and that" he zoomed in on the jar, "is Vlad's execution water." 

Nate glanced down at you as you glanced up, the two of you shrugging in sync before continuing to walk forward, "It's comforting."

You hummed in agreement, "yeah, if we're nice to 'em, he won't want to mess with us that bad right?" 

You spoke nonshalently to the camera and for the most part it was true that you didnt care, but there was a small part of you that realized how stupid you probably looked. The locals walked the street, getting ready for the festival and they were met with a group of four loud, obnoxious kids. Then within the group, was you and your boyfriend. Nate strutting down the road, you under one arm and the grosses mason jar of water you've ever seen in the other. 

Yep. Totally normal.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

When you finally approached the castle, you met your guide. You, thought he was adorable, Colby... not so much. 

"do you think Alex is a vampire?" he whispered, eyes wide. 

You squinted at him, blinking rapidly, "I- You're joking... right?" 

He waved his hands at you're volume, "shh! Shh! not so loud, I'm serious." 

You looked at him for a moment, eyebrow arching in annoyance. Looking past Colby's shoulder, you could see Nate and Sam already inside talking with your guide. 

"Y/N, I'm being serious here!" he rushed after hearing your mild exhausted sigh, "Y/N please, like think about it for a second" he raised a hand, counting off the strange occurances, "Ok, so he asked for our blood types-"

"Because Nate brought it up."

"-he sounds like Dracula-"

"Cole. It's just an accent." 

"AND-" he spoke dramatically, whatever he was going to say, was the hard hitter, "Y/N he legit has fangs" 

Your jaw dropped at his words, causing the boys eyes to light up as he pointed at you, "See! see, I told you!"

You blinked. Once, twice, three times. "Colby" you spoke, reaching out, putting your hands on his shoulders, "No. He is not a vampire."

"But-"

"Colby. He doesn't have fangs. they're canine teeth. you have canine teeth, I have canine teeth-"

"But this is different!" 

"No it's not."

"Yes it is-"

"Oh my god" you were trying to be stern, while also obliging to his insistence of a hushed tone so 'count Alex the vampire' didn't overhear.

He was really beginning to test your patients.

Thankfully, Nate cut off your crazy best friend's rambling after realizing the two of you hadn't followed. "Yo Colby!" he called, faux annoyance in his voice as he walked over, "You tryin' to steal my girlfriend?"

"oooooh- he's gonna get it now!" Sam laughed, moving the camera to show the obviously fake fight between the boys as you laughed on the sidelines.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You found yourself moving to the back of the group as the tour continued, trying to fade in the background. Not because what Colby said got to you, there was no way you were choosing to believe any of that, but because you didn't want to seem rude. 

Alex was obviously very into the subject and history of the castle, you were too, but the feeling there was just... strange. You had been on many investigations with the boys before, from the weird places you'd find in Kansas to the more famous sights. Most of the time, Sam and Colby would bring you along because you tended to feel things a little deeper than the boys could. 

You weren't a medium- or at least not like the ones that were usually associated with the word. You couldn't speak to them, you couldn't see them, and you definitely couldn't communicate far beyond what the boys already did. But, you did pick up on things a little quicker. You could feel the energies that a location was giving off, sense the emotion and feeling within the area. 

It was always a bit weird when it happened. All of a sudden you would feel an intense burst of emotion completely unwarranted and unrelated to anything you were doing, but that strangely seemed to correlate with the history of the place. You could feel it as if it was your own but in a small tucked away corner of your mind, it felt alien.

And right now as you tried to listen to the guide, all you could concentrate on was how sick you felt. Your stomach was flipping and your head was pounding, you felt incredibly nauseous but you weren't actually going to be sick... hopefully. You felt paranoid and antsy, as if you had just had to get out of this place. But you didn't. You stayed put because you knew that what you were feeling wasn't really you who felt it. 

You jumped when a hand fell upon your shoulder, "Woah, woah, hey" Nate spoke softly, "Are you ok? You seem off."

You nodded at his question, heart melting a little at the concern swimming in his eyes, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." despite the words, it was easy to pick up on the unease lacing your tone, "I just- it just feels weird in here, thats all."

"What? Like what? Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, i don't know, it's just weird." you didn't quite know how to explain it. In your head you knew how, but the words felt wrong when you tried to say them. "I dont know, it's weird, I feel jumpy and sick to my stomach." your statement lifted towards the ending, making it sound more like a question than fact. 

Maybe you should've worded that better. You didn't think he could look any more concerned, but he somehow managed at the word 'sick'. Eyebrows furrowing together and a tense look crossing his face, "Do you need to go outside? Get some air?" 

You shook your head, dismissing the offer.

He nodded, the worry didn't completely clear from his eyes, but he tried to appear neutral when the two of you headed back to the group. 

The two of you didn't receive all the background and lead up, but you did hear Alex mention the floors.

The wood flooring was original, even in the tourture chambers. You tugged on Nate's hand making him glance down at you. "Yup." you nodded, "that explains it."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

"Jesus Colby, not again." you groaned rolling your eyes. He had pulled all four of you aside at this point, trying to make his case again about the guide. 

"He's a vampire!" 

You could tell Sam thought it was bullshit, but he indulged wanting to see where his friend would take this. It was hard for the blonde to say anything without laughing, but he tried his best, "How do you know he's a vampire?" 

Your eyes widened, shaking your head wildly, "Oh my god, no. Please don't-"

"Did you not see his fangs?" Colby rushed, cutting you off as he spoke wildly with his hands.

"I did not see his fangs-"

You glared at the blue eyed boy, "thats because he doesn't have-"

"dude! look closely! just watch his teeth"

"and there's absolutely no part of you that thinks that statement was weird? like at all?" you sassed, crossing your arms.

"not when he's a motherfucking vampire Y/N" Colby turned to Nate, "Did you see them? Did you see the fangs?"

Nate looked between the two of you; Colby was eager, eyes blown wide begging him to agree, meanwhile you sat there, eyebrow arched and challenging him to side with Colby. He loved you, but he had to be honest, right. 

He nodded, looking straight at Colby with no hesitation as he nodded, "yeah, I saw 'em" 

Your jaw dropped, "No the fuck you did not."

"See!" Colby cheered, blue eyes staring back at you and Sam, "Told you!"

You groaned, rubbing your eyes in frustration, "You've got to be kidding me. He's not-"

"He's a vampire." Nate nodded, "Plus that blood type thing earlier was weird-" He struggled not to laugh through his sentence when you looked up at him. 

Your head lifted, turning to him comically slow and your eyes were cartoonishly large in astonishment. You blinked rapidly at him, "Nate."

"Yes?"

You made sure to speak slowly, enunciating each word, "You. Were. The. One. To. Bring. It. Up." 

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"Wait, wait, wait" Sam broke back into the conversation, taking a minute to think over everyones words, "So you're serious?" he smiled, "You think he's a vampire?" 

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"NO!" 

"wait- so this is actually a thing?" 

"Holy- ok." you spoke, raising your arms and letting them slap against your sides, "Well, while you three sit here are talk nonsense, Imma go live my teenage-Twilight-dreams with the vampire." You mocked, Turning to follow through the door Alex disappeared through. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You squealed, jumping slightly as you entered the next room. "Nate!" you whisper shouted, he looked up humming in affirmation. You waved him over, a large smile on your face, "Come here!"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion but he approached nonetheless, "Whats up?" 

You pointed across the room, "Look!" He chuckled softly, dropping his head onto your shoulder as the guide continued the tour once again. 

Sam seemed to be on a similar train of thought as you were, cheeky smiles meeting once before he spoke up, "Can we play it?"

Alex shrugged, "I mean, yeah, sure. Would you like to?" 

You quickly began hitting Nate's arm in excitement and Sam turned, pointing straight at him, "He's really good at piano."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Several incredibly out of tune piano melodies later, you all were on the fourth floor in an unfinished exhibit. 

"This, is a vampire hunting kit." Alex spoke, gesturing to the box set up on a table, "Silver bullets, cross, bible, wooden stick."

"Sweet, so silver repels vampires?" Nate questioned.

"Uh, in these stories, yes."

"Hey babe," Nate spoke jutting his chin, "You wearing the neckless I got you for your birthday?" you reached to your neck, pulling the chain from where it got tucked under your hoodie. "Nice, see? Now you're protected from the vampires, God I'm a great boyfriend."

Colby sniffled fake crying while he flipped the camera around to face himself, "Yeah ok guys we get it. you're in a relationship. Be nice to the poor lonely people out there."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

It was finally time to begin the investigation, you all had filmed the information segments and finished the tour, now it was time for the ghost hunting. The boys decided to start in the torture room. 

"do we have to?" you whined, "It's gross in there."

Sam laughed at your words, "well... it is a torture room Y/N"

"No, thats not what I meant" Your eyes roamed the walls from your position by the door. Even earlier you never stepped too far from the door way, the energy in the room was too heavy. "It just feels bad. Like I feel like my skin is crawling in here." 

"We'll make it quick" Colby reassured, "I just want to see if we can get anything."

What. A. Shocker. 

The room of atrocities, horror, and pain didn't have much action.

Crazy.

The four of you decided to move locations for better luck. One by one, you tried the Estes method. Sam first, then Colby, Nate, and finally yourself.

Originally you weren't planning on going under, but after the lack of or incredibly cryptic answers you'd all gotten, you decided to give it a shot. 

You also gave the boys a few callback questions to ask for clarity. They were going to sprinkle them in with their own questions so you wouldn't know the order. 

You sat in the chair, blindfold on and headphones turned up. 

"Jesus fuck thats loud." you spoke causing the boys to laugh, "I wasn't expecting that."

Colby waved his hand infant of your face and called your name a few times to make sure you couldn't hear or see them. 

"Ok, so we're going to continue asking some questions is that-"

"Yes."

Colby's eyes widened, "damn, she was right. that was fast."

"Who are we talking to?"

"Me" 

"We got that, but who are you?" Nate spoke, "What is your name, we get you're talking, but who are you?"

"Nobody"

The boys looked at each other confused, "Nobody?" Sam repeated, "Whats that supposed to mean?"

Colby shrugged, "I dont know man, maybe its messing with us?"

"ooh, like being cheeky about it?" Nate jumped in, "like 'who are you?' 'oh, nobody hahaha' like that?"

You shuddered, "I didn't hear anything but I just felt really cold. Like it's very solemn."

"Shit, so maybe it's not like that." the brunette amended, "they actually think they're nobody?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

Sam nodded at the conformation, "so, maybe they're not Vlad after all?"

"No."

"What do you mean no? No were wrong, or no you're not Vlad?"

There was a brief pause after Sam's question before you responded once more.

"No, not him."

"Someone else."

"Elsewhere."

"What do you mean elsewhere?"

"Not it."

"Elsewhere."

"Scared."

"You're scared? Is there anything we can do to-"

"Blood."

The boys eyes all widened at the word. Colby spoke up first, voice shaky, "Blood? you want blood?"

"No."

"There is."

"Scared."

"There is?" Nate questioned, "What is there?"

"Blood" you repeated the word three times before you stopped, reaching up to feel your rib, "Once again, not something I heard, but I just got a sharp pain through my chest."

Nate looked up worriedly, glancing between the others at the grimace on your face, "Ok, a few more questions and were done? Ok?" The other two quickly nodded in agreance, getting ready to say questions they'd never get to ask. 

"leave."

The sudden and sterness of your voice started the boys, "D-Do you want us to leave?"

"No."

"Yes."

"Not you, you."

"Leave."

"Out."

"Scared."

Your face crunched as you spoke the words, they were rapidly spat out into your ears and you struggled to focus and say them all. 

"Out."

"Please."

"Stay."

"Blood."

"Go."

"Its like a conversation." Colby whispered, "Its like a conversation!"

The blonde looked at him, forehead creased in utter confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

The blue eyed man was smiling wide, the situation was far from the time for smiling but he was thrilled he cracked it. "Its a conversation between two different people. Thats why our answers have been so weird." 

Sam shook his head looking over at you who was still spouting absolute nonsense, "yeah, I don't follow."

"Ok-" Colby stretched out his arms to make a physical picture of what was going on, "So we have person A and person B. Person A, is trapped here. Thats nobody, they're not well known and were trapped her in life? so maybe thats why?" he questioned, halting for a moment before shaking his head out, "I dont know, haven't thought about that yet. but person A, is the one who is saying 'stay' and 'scared' because-"

"they're scared of person B" Sam finished, "Ok, so were having a dispute between a prisoner and a capturer?" he asked for confirmation, "The prisoner is scared and asking the capture to leave, but were overhearing the conversation?" 

Your ramble stopped, making way for one single word. 

"Yes." 

Nate, who had been frozen during this entire ordeal watching you struggle to say the consistent two-way-battle in your ears, had finally had enough. "Ok. Yep, were done now right?" he looked up from the floor, wide eyes glancing between his friends barely waiting for an answer. "Yes? We're done? Awesome."

He crawled over, tapping your leg to signal it was over, "Babe?" 

You pulled down the blindfold and took off the headphones, moving to stretch out your neck. A small shudder racked your body due to the sudden quiet of the room compared to the loud audio from seconds before. 

"Are you alright?" he asked still perched in his place on the floor, eyes wide with concern. You nodded, but he still stood and gave you a tight hug anyway. Even if you were completely fine, watching whatever the hell that was, was scary to him. 

When the two of you separated, you looked over to Sam and Colby who still seemed to be talking about something. "Ok, so what's the plan?"

Sam looked between you both and Colby, "I think we should go."

"Yeah, I agree. Like, even if we weren't talking to a strigoi or Vlad, it still confirmed that something bad was here." he took out his phone, checking the time, "Plus, we're almost out of time and I dont really want to accidently piss something off." 

You shrugged, nodding along, "Yeah... that's fair." 

"Welp" Nate spoke cheerfully, "I'm down with leaving! Next time we do creepy shit, lets not make it as..." he trailed off, failing to find the words. He eventually just gestured over the room, "as this. Yeah, let's not make it as this next time."

#nate hardy x reader #sam and colby imagine #nate hardy imagine #nate hardy

[phoinexboi]

Evolution:

This is gonna be different from the Illusion post I made. Why:

1. I made the first part of this MONTHS ago for a freind therefore there's a whole introductory paragraph waiting for ya'll (It's definitely edited and refined like A LOT)

2. I need to explain things before I analyze it this time because this episode was... confusing.

Okay one of the things we have to address is the time travel rules this show follows. Now the show is attempting at a loop theory (although they are failing miserably. Why do I say they're doing this? Because this episode basically sets off the events of the show!

For those of you who don't know, the loop theory is a theory in time travel in which whenever someone goes back in time, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. This theory can be done well of horribly. For example, a positive example of this could be "Secrets of Sulphur Springs". It's a fairly underrated mini-series and should deserve more love. ANYWAYS, this show does the loop theory well because... you don't know how things go down in the end. And even if you do it will be written off in a satisfactory way. The show's main element is time travel and it does well with it. A bad example is the episode Timetagger. Now the Bunny/Rabbit miraculous has a fair amount of inconsistencies from the power function to the actual power itself. The main one I wanna focus on is the loop effect that kinda but isn't there....

Lemme explain. Earlier in the episode Bunnyx REMEMBERS that mini-her was waving. Meaning that this event had been planned and happened before looping.

However, later in the episode when the civillians were transported to the past they changed many paintings. If the show was a loop that never would've happened.

Now my problem with this episodes loop...

Master Fu chose teenagers because he MET teenagers. So he KNEW to give it to TEENAGERS!

A lot of people have illogically complained about how this doesn't make sense and how he couldn't see through the Quantum masking. BUT HE DIDN'T HAVE TO!

He knew they were teens... that's all.

My problem is that this is a LOOP situation which is shown throughout the episode but the "time travel is dangerous" exuse. Is still used when it either won't matter in the end or will just be inconsistenly used throughout the episode!

They practically ruined the show with this one scene...

Anyways, that isn't the whole point I just had to get the time issues out the way so you can get back to your irregularly scheduled content.

Now onto my actual thoughts regarding the episode...

Look I originally liked the episode when it came out but I think that was just recency bias...

Was the episode bad? No. Just boring...

Not super boring but slightly repetitive

The show has trouble doing something outside of the format they usually follow and you can tell!

Let's start at the beginning. We pick up right after the Season 4 finalie. The crowd chants Ladybugs name.

I didn't like that they did this... Why? Because they killed all momentum they set up in Season 4! I mean, first off, look what happened in this episode. BARELY ANYTHING! I liked this episode because of the ending. That's it...

So now it's time to continue this epic roast.

Now time for the real JUICE! Me breaking down random and somewhat opinionated thoughts I had about the episode and writing them for the public ^^

Note time!

• Can we just mention the Synopsis though... "Ladybug and Chat Noir face an opponent who is in possession of the rabbit miraculous in a race against time" how cringe...

• The intro still bops-

• The hand holding!

• The Parisians completely ignore Chaton as usual 🙄

• Why do they always respect Monarchs name change in canon? Like I get why we do it but like in canon why can't we just choose whatever name we want at whatever time.... oh right this is a kids show that has no logic and wants to keep things as simple as possible-

• Gabriel is pure evil

• The animation downgraded but it's still good

• Nadja's hair color is so inconsistent in this show across the studios XD

• I thought LB stuck out the middle finger for a second...

• Was it ever confirmed it was called a message retriever? Because that's what the wiki calls it

• Thomas confirmed that Monarch's symbol was a work of the butterfly, Turtle and fox miraculous'. If so... why didn't I see any smoke when Ladybug breaks the akuma signal?

• HOW DID CHAT NOIR BREAK THE SHEILD WITH HIS STAFF ALONE IF HE HAS TO USE HIS CATACLYSM LATER ON?!

• How weak is the shell cast by "Shell-ter"?

• "It's you and me" that's quite important

• LMBO! The scene with Gabriel and the kwamis while LB and CN talk to the Parisians is so funny because it's so poorly chopped together!

• I love how Sass is the father figure. I mean he is the concept of "Intution"!

• Gabriel didn't do anything can he please stop taking credit

• Nathalie is the adult and Gabriel is the child in like 90% of their scenes together...

• Gabriel's camouflage miraculous designs suck

• Gabriel is so quick to do and so late to think

• The LB and Rabbit Noir scene still proves the loop theory

• BUNNYX IS A LIAR! Time Travel won't change anything 🙄

• The faces have definitely changed since previous seasons. You can tell with all the flashbacks this ep!

• BURROW BRAWL!!!!!

• What would Gabriel do with his second rabbit miraculous if he got it?

• Why couldn't Chat Noir extend his staff this time? Is the burrow too small?

• RABBIT NOIR!

• "It's you and me remember?"

• Ladybug is falling in love with Chaton by this point and we all know it

• They chase after Monarch for a bit... very old school...

• "Impressive..."

• No Marinette or Adrien this episode just heros

• The Master Fu scene was cool

• WHY COULDN'T HE JUST EXTEND HIS STAFF AGAIN

• I'm not going in order because this episode is all over the place...

• Bunnyx comes back LITTERALY Teo seconds later to return the Miraculous to Wang Fu

• Alix and her father have such a cute relationship 🤧

• Canigirl is cool. I don't like how they pronounced it in the English dub "Cane-I-girl"?

• Ready for action!

• The resolution for getting the rabbit back was cool but kinda odd because it wasn't much of a fight-

• But then again fighting doesn't solve every problem even in a superhero show ^^

• Bunnyx leaves for a while... it's undetermined for how long though...

• Chat Noir supports Ladybug again even though she doesn't deserve him!

• Nathalie goes off on Gabriel and leaves him for dead

• "LAAAADYBUUUUG"

"And they all screamed into the sunset"

Some inconsistencies but an 8/10 would recommend. I was a bit hard on it but despite a few "boring" scenes it was a really fun episode!

P.S. Sorry for comming out with this so late... school has been very demanding as of late...

#ml evolution #ml analysis by me! #bunnyx

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Ok time to go through some more small things quickly because I'm getting behind.

Will You Snail?

More fun and interesting than I expected. I wasn't really sure what I was getting into beyond it being cheap and having tons of positive reviews, but it turned out to be a precision platformer where you play as a snail (and can wear another smaller snail as a hat), and it's about the fear of AI literally taking over the world and whether reality is really real. Also the AI is an asshole and spontaneously spawns bullshit spikes and lasers and stuff exactly where it thinks you're about to go so you have to contend with that in addition to just making it through each room.

I had a good enough time to finish the story and get somewhere north of 50% completion, but I don't really see myself doing the optional stuff like beating everything on the highest difficulty. The auto-difficulty kept me somewhere in the 2-3 range out of 4 95% of the time with very rare spikes to 4, and with me getting worse at stuff like this over time as my reactions get slightly slower, my vision gets worse, and my brain just gets generally weird, I don't really see a point in pushing myself harder just to frustrate myself.

Lara Croft GO

It only took me forever to get around to this one, which I probably would've forgotten about if someone didn't gift me a copy a few days ago. Basically you, uh, raid tombs. Big surprise, I know, but this time it's a turn-based puzzle game. I liked the puzzles enough and different mechanics they introduced enough to finish it because some of them were reasonably clever/satisfying, but I'm not sure if I'll bother with the extra ones after the credits roll. Toward the end after I got the hang of it I tended to finish levels without having to retry more than a couple times, but just knowing I'd have to start over entirely for every mistake or misclick makes it less enjoyable.

I'm pretty sure it's my second favorite Tomb Raider game now, and one of only two I've ever finished. The other was the 2013 reboot, which I thought was great. I tried the sequel to that and didn't really like all the changes they made to the formula because they all made it less fun for me, and I always thought the pre-reboot ones were just bad. To be fair I heard the later ones did get better and I never tried any of those, but the PS1 era games were anti-fun for me.

I'LL KILL HER

More of a digital comic book than anything, like a visual novel with an extreme emphasis on the visual part and no decision making. The art style was enough to get my interest to try it, and that's probably the main thing it has going for it. The story is...fine? Not super deep or original and feels like it maybe has some translation or non-native English issues sometimes, but it all fits together well enough in the end I guess. All of the content warnings for this one for stuff like abuse and domestic violence and suicide.

Cris Tales

Somehow this is the only one of these that I gave up on before finishing it. A lot of stuff in it is absolutely gorgeous (go watch the animated intro, seriously), and I was getting into the setting and some of the themes it was hinting at, and the time shifting mechanics are pretty neat both for exploration and combat, but I just don't really enjoy playing the game very much.

Society has advanced beyond the need for random encounters, but Cris Tales has not. Good thing it has irritatingly long load times for each one, at least on the Switch, and it has to do it again going back from the battle screen to the main overworld. And I really am not into how the combat encounters are balanced. Even basic trash enemies a few hours into the game can do absurd amounts of damage, like 40+ when your characters barely have over 100 hp. You can reduce that with timed button presses like Paper Mario/Mario RPG games, but the animations while pretty are really bad at conveying the actual correct timing for stuff.

Basically I like most things about the game except for actually playing it. Well, it's fine in towns I guess, but there's too much other stuff I'm not into for that to make up for it. Oh, and the voice acting isn't terrible or anything, but it's definitely worse than most things I've played this year with voice acting and didn't really do it for me. Also it has the most basic and obvious bug that I'm mildly surprised I've never seen in anything else: it counts the entire time the game is suspended while the Switch is asleep toward your play time. I apparently spent 60 hours on the game, when really it was about 3.

#will you snail? #lara croft go #I'll kill her #cris tales

[astaroth1357]

IT'S RAINING (DEMON) MEN!!!

I asked my sister for a prompt to get my creativity going. She played this song. Nuff said.

Intro:

It's been two months since the MC went back to the human world, and the demon boys are getting desperate to see their human… How desperate are we talking? Desperate enough to try their hands at some questionable sanctioned magic to get themselves to the human world... Good news is, they'll get there!

Just probably not in the way they expected. 🤷‍♀️🤭

Lucifer

He is going to KILL Mammon the next time he gets a hold of him…

He had no intention of taking an impromptu trip to the human world. He actually has clearance to go there when he needs to, thank you, so he didn't need to use any underhanded tricks to go between realms...

But he had made the mistake of walking too carelessly into Mammon's room while looking for a book he stole and stepped on a sigil half-obscured by an old pizza box…

...which is how he ended up falling from the Devildom to the human world at an unimaginable speed. It was like someone was yanking him to the Earth by the goddamn foot!

The unsuspecting MC was just out window shopping when suddenly an empty parked car across the street was utterly decimated by his falling body…

Of course, HE was fine, but that poor car never stood a chance… 😣 They had to help Lucifer pry himself out from the caved-in metal…

While he watched the MC fuss and try to brush all the broken glass off of him, Lucifer had only three things in mind:

(1) They look so cute when they're worried about him for practically no reason...

(2) Since he's already here, he may as well keep them company for… oh, a couple days at least?; and

(3) He was going to punish Mammon slightly less brutally than usual this time… May just fling him into a car too and leave it at that. 😌

Mammon

Okay, Mammon isn't stupid. He can do magic, he swears!!

He's just… rusty. Yeah. That. 🙄

That's the only reason the sigil that he haphazardly drew in his bedroom flung him to the human world like a catapult instead of neatly teleporting him like it was supposed to...

When the MC woke up that morning, they heard something familiar… Sad, pitiful little cries for help from outside their bedroom window….

Really only one person sprang right to their mind.

When they ran out to check, they indeed found Mammon tangled up in a tree like a wooden spider's web... He wasn't even facing upright!

It took them a half hour to detangle their poor demon from the tree… They almost gave up halfway through and had to call the fire department to pull him out like a trapped kitten... 🤦‍♀️

To say that Mammon was pretty clingy after they got him down hardly covers it. They were now his savior! (Yet again)

They had better not have any plans for the next day or two because he's going to want to spend every second he can with them… 

Or at least until Lucifer finds him and drags him back home by the back of the neck… 😰 (Hope they don't mind housing this figurative fugitive for a while…)

Leviathan

So in his defense, he didn't actually think the "Return to Lover" spell he saw on TSL would work, but he got so desperate to see MC again that he half-jokingly tried it one night...

Unfortunately for him, he also forgot that Simeon tends to use a lot of real-world influences in his writing, so… 😥

He hadn't wanted to be dragged to the human world quite so violently, and let's say he is NOT a graceful faller (arm flailing, girly screaming, spinning all over the place, etc.). 

Only when the smell of beach sand and sea salt hit his nose did he begin to calm down a little and get a good look at the surroundings he was hurtling towards… The ocean!

Video game logic dictates that if you land in water, you should be fine, right?? (Well, that's not how it works in real life, but when you're in a super sturdy demon body, there can be expectations 🤷‍♀️)

The MC was not expecting someone to splash down into the water next to them like they fell out of Heaven, nor for them to enter the water with the poise of an Olympic high diver…

They REALLY weren't expecting to see Levi surface beside them, demon form in the all it's sea serpent-y glory, totally stoked that the stupid thought he had actually brought him to them!

… Of course, he also has no idea how to get back, but who actually cares about that?? Lucifer will figure out he's not in his room eventually. For now, there wasn't anything in the ocean or beyond that could separate the MC from their adorkable otaku… 🤭

Satan

Okay. Teleportation magic is hard. Very, very hard. It basically requires bypassing several different physical laws by breaking down one's essence into a transmigrational-uh...

Whatever, the point is it's difficult, and mistakes happen even to the best of us.

Satan genuinely thought he triple-checked the symbols on his sigil… He must have made a crooked stroke or forgot a step in completing the seal properly… Either way, the spell he intended to bring him right to MC might have made a… slight miscalculation.

Rather than effortlessly stepping out beside them, he found himself hurtling towards the human world like a falling comet… If he hadn't known a few spells that could slow down his fall, he'd have had a pretty nasty meet with the ground... 😣

The MC was visiting a local park when pretty much everyone in their vicinity heard the sound of trees rapidly snapping nearby. At first, they were concerned it was a large animal… and then Satan stumbled out covered in twigs and leaves!

They, of course, ran over to see if he was alright, and the cheeky bastard just denied that anything had gone wrong. "Apparently," this was all according to plan… 

(Truthfully, he'd rather call Mammon some unsung genius than admit that he got the spell wrong, even if it was complex… 🙄)

Truthfully, Satan wasn't going to try making a return sigil for a while, so at least he and MC could be together for a time! Do they know if there were any cat cafes nearby??

Asmodeus

Asmo was PISSED at Solomon, furious even because he wouldn't help him sneak away to go see his beloved human! Didn't he know how hard the distance was on him?? The nerve!!! 😤

So, to him, it only seemed fair to steal some of the sorcerer's tomes and equipment… If he wouldn't help him in person, he could at least (unknowingly) do so in spirit!

… He just wasn't expecting the spells to be that difficult. Asmo is decent enough at magic, but some of those explanations were honestly beyond him… They bordered well into Satan or even Lucifer territory...

He tried his best, he really did, but the gentle teleportation that he was after actually flung him to the human world like he had been shot out of a cannon…! And while it was raining in the human world too!! 😫

The MC was walking home in the rain, umbrella and everything, when they heard screaming from the sky...

Thankfully, Asmo remembered just enough magic to cushion his fall… But that didn't save him from landing right into a massive puddle right next to the MC, effectively soaking them both.

On any other day, he'd have been angry that his expensive clothes were covered in rainwater, but that day? The second he saw the MC was there (and also tastefully soaked in water 😏), he just flung himself at them with a squeal of delight!

The MC had to convince him to let them get inside before they got too cold, but every step of the way was full of laughter and cuddles between the two of them...

Asmo would have to call Solomon to fess up to his theft, but hey, he got to see MC out of it! The bruised tailbone and ruined clothes were more than worth a treat like that.

Beelzebub

Beel genuinely wasn't intending to go to the human world; he really wasn't. He hated the distance like everyone else, but he knew better than to mess with magic that dangerous…

What happened was that he was walking by Satan's room one day and he smelt something inside… apples. A lot of them. He just couldn't help himself…

He didn't know that Satan was using those apples as test subjects for his teleportation magic… Unfortunately, the first fruit that he grabbed actually put him right smack dab in the middle of an incomplete sigil…

Beel kind of blacked out for whatever happened during the next part, it happened really fast, but it was the smell of more apples that woke him back up… and pears, peaches, pineapples, plums-

It's a farmer's market. Beel fell into the apple stand of a farmer's market….

The MC was out shopping there when they heard two things: the screams of shock and horror from the end of the market and a familiar voice shouting, "I'M HUNGRY!!!"

Of course they ran towards the screaming, defying all survival instincts (because who else are we talking about here?) and found Beel, mid-rampage, eating every scrap of food he could get his hands on…

But he actually stopped when he heard them shout his name. That's right, he stopped eating right then and there to turn and see them in the crowd... Oh, the smile that popped up on his face could have reignited a sun!

Beel had no idea how he got there and even less idea of getting back, so the MC had to eventually call Lucifer. They did get to spend the day with their gentle giant, though! (Just don't mention the massive bill for all the fruit he ate… 😣)

Belphegor

So here's the story. Belphie was sleeping in the library, as he sometimes does, and the next thing he knew, he was free-falling through the sky.

No, he didn't know what happened either. Maybe he rolled onto a stray sigil Satan left behind. Perhaps he was accidentally summoned to the human world. Mayhaps he even dreamed about MC so hard that it broke a rift in space-time to try and bring the two together... 

Who the hell knows? His more pressing concern was less how he got up there and more where he would end up.

Unfortunately for him, all he could see below him was a human residential area, and even worse yet, it looked like he was hurtling towards someone's roof… The MC's roof, to be exact!

MC was incredibly lucky to have already been up and starting their morning routine when the seventh-born came crashing onto their bed. Who knows how much damage he could have done if he had landed on them...??

That didn't change their shock to see Belphie, covered in plaster and wood fragments, sitting himself up while looking more annoyed to have been woken up than that he… you know... crashed through their roof...

He was grateful to have popped up close to them because it would have been pretty awkward to land in some random human's room. The MC was… less enthused that they now had some significant repairs to do.

Smooth-talker he is, Belphie not only managed to convince them that Lucifer would take care of the payment (which he would) but also not to call him just yet. Not until he could get himself cleaned off and maybe have a nap or two… Say, they weren't going anywhere today, right? Good. 😏

Check out my Masterlist for more wacky ideas.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #it's raining men #the weather girls #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios #long post

[marvelsdc22]

High School Reunion

Intro: Hello lovelies!! I hope you guys are having a good day/night!! I just came up with this and like two others, so enjoy this one!!

Note: Y/N goes back to their hometown for a class reunion, seeing all the faces they once knew, then seeing their old crush, this was gonna be an interesting night.

Word Count: 1444

Coffee shops… They were your favorite place to be when you wanted to take some time to yourself and finish a good book, staring out the window as the snow piled up outside, even though you hated the damn stuff, you could appreciate it’s aesthetic side, it really did look beautiful out there, although you dreaded driving in it to go back to your hotel room for the night, you were only in your hometown again to go to your class reunion, it had been nearly 15 years since you’ve seen most of them face-to-face, some of them being on your facebook, but otherwise there was no interaction, you wondered how most of them were doing… Especially Lena, she was your high school sweetheart, she was everything you weren’t, but she was nice to you while others weren’t, you dealt with your fair share of bullies growing up, but you couldn’t complain, you enjoyed your time in high school, you made good friends, played sports, even joined the anime club.

Coming back here was a weird thing, you hadn’t been back here since before your parents moved to a different state, there being no reason for you to have come back, but it was interesting to see how the small town had grown so much “Y/N?” You heard someone ask, pulling you out of your thoughts and turning your head toward the voice, your eyes widening slightly when you saw your high school best friend, Emily, standing there, her son standing beside her and looking a bit awkward, which made sense, you were a stranger to him “Emily?” You asked, smiling as you set your warm mug down and stood up, pulling her into a hug “It’s been so long! You look good!” You said, pulling back and looking at her before offering her son a small smile and a wave which he returned “So do you! This is my son, Wyatt, Wyatt this is Y/N, they were my best friend back in high school” she introduced, looking between the two of you before you gestured for them to take a seat.

“So, how have you been? What’s new?” Emily asked, helping Wyatt out of his heavy coat when he climbed into the booth beside her “Well, I have my own business now in Seattle, I’m planning to move on and expand it somewhere else, I just haven’t decided where yet” you said, pulling up your website and showing it to her “Wow, I knew you could make it” she said, smiling as she scrolled through the site, this business having been something you’d been wanting to do since high school “Thank you… How about you? How are things?” You asked, taking your phone back when she handed it to you, the two of you catching up and it being like nothing ever happened between you two, no long period of not talking, just two best friends catching back up.

Later that night, you had told Emily that you would meet her at the school, you got back to your hotel room and sighed as you slumped down in the chair by the table, you wondered how tonight would go, how much everyone had changed… If you would see her, getting lost in your thoughts until your phone pinged, it being Emily reminding you to not be late and you couldn’t help but smile as you replied back to her, pushing yourself out of the chair before you got changed into your outfit of choice, it just being some nice black pants, with shiny black shoes, a nice button-up, and a tie, making sure the rest of yourself looked good before you grabbed you things and headed out.

The snow had turned to mush and ice by the time you got to the school, carefully getting out of your car, you made your way towards the entrance, almost making it without incident until you stepped on a patch of ice and lost balance, bracing yourself to hit the ground when you felt arms wrapped around you, small but strong, opening your eyes, you looked behind you and saw Lena there with a small smile on her face “You okay?” She asked, chuckling some as she helped you stand up and you felt your face burning at her adorable laugh “I’m fine, seems the ice had it out for me though… You look amazing, Lena” you said, looking at her and seeing her wearing a gorgeous black dress with heels that could stab someone’s eyes out if she wanted to, her long, black hair pinned back in a waterfall braid down her back and black lipstick with some eyeshadow that made her green eyes pop.

“Thank you, you look great yourself, Y/N” she said, smiling at you and you couldn’t stop the surprise that appeared on your face when she said your name “Wait, you remember me?” You asked, rubbing the back of your neck anxiously and laughing nervously as she nodded “Of course I do, we worked on all the science projects together” she chuckled, you smiling as you remembered all the times she came by to work on the project since you guys always seemed to get paired “Right, we did, didn’t we” you chuckled, smiling at the memories before you realized that she was shivering “We should-we should get inside” you said, offering your arm to her without thinking and her taking it with a smile before you both headed inside.

Once inside, you brushed some snow out of your hair and smiled at her “Hopefully I’ll see you again tonight?” You asked, looking at her as she dusted some snow off her dress “Of course, can’t wait” she said, giving you a smile before she headed inside, you watching as she walked away before you took a deep breath and headed in yourself, the music loud like you were at one of the dances and the lights flashing throughout the gymnasium, looking around you saw a few familiar faces, but everyone had changed… Well, except Rodger, he still seemed to be the cocky airhead he was in high school, seeing him already surrounded by people, probably boasting about some sport thing that he did or something.

After a few moments of walking around, you spotted a few of your old friends with Emily, so you approached them “Hey guys, long time no see” you said, shaking their hands and even roughly remembering the handshake that you and Sam made “Y/N! How are you?” Jess asked, smiling at you as you shoved your hands in your pockets “I’m good, how are you all?” You asked, smiling as you guys seemed to fall back into the friendship you guys had years ago.

“So, I saw you walk in with Lena” Sam said as the two of you made your way to the snack table “Yeah, I nearly faceplanted outside, but she caught me before I could” you said, raising an eyebrow at the hum that Sam gave in return “What?” You asked, looking at them and watching as they shoved a cracker and cheese in their mouth “Oh nothing” they said, giving you a look that you couldn’t read until you heard a slow song come on and Sam groaned “Guess I owe Jess that dance” they said, sighing before they looked at you and nudged you “Looks like you’re getting one too” they said, giving you a wink before they headed off to find Jess, leaving you confused until you felt someone tap your shoulder.

When you turned around, you saw Lena standing there “Would you like to dance with me?” She asked, giving you a small smile and you couldn’t help but smile back and nod giddily, letting her lead you out to the dancefloor after you set your empty plate down before she turned towards you and wrapped her arms around your neck and yours wrapped around her waist “I heard you run a company now” she said, looking at you and you nodded “Yeah, in Seattle… I’m looking for new places to go with it” you said, trying not to stutter as you tried to respectfully keep your distance from her, but she just tugged you closer “Well, I could help with that… We should get dinner after this, catch up” she suggested, looking at you and you nodded “Dinner, yes… Dinner would be nice” you stuttered, biting your lip and mentally scolding yourself as she chuckled “You’re cute when you stutter” she said, giving you a smile. The two of you dancing and sticking close to one another the rest of the night, not that you were complaining.

Permanent Taglist: @rianncreates / @natasha-danvers / @youngandwildx7 / @hopingforbarnes / @xxxtwilightaxelxxx

Supergirl Taglist: @aznblossom / @stop-drop-and-drumroll / @worlds-in-words

Lena Luthor: @life2-live​ / @wlw-in-space​ / @ianarec​ / @thelonewriter247​ / @kalistory-blog​

End Note: I hope you guys enjoyed!! If you’d like to be added to a Taglist, shoot me an Ask or a DM!! Have a good day/night!!

Requests Open

#lena luthor x reader #lena luthor x gn!reader #lena x reader #lena luthor imagine #dc x reader #dc

[angelanimedesaray]

Through the Looking Glass Chapter 9:  April

AN:  I’m getting ahead of the question now and stating that in this world, AOT isn’t an anime (Poor souls). So no, the Reader isn’t going to become omnipotent to Levi’s life/world.

They did not binge this in one day.  The first round, for sure they did, but it was a little broken up in spurts.  For the sake of brevity, considering this was already going to be a long chapter, I cut out all the flickering back and forth and just focused on their Movie Nights and them watching the show.

It might feel a weird mix of rushed and long, because they’re watching the entirety of Your Lie In April, but I wasn’t going to transcribe the whole show, so there’s a lot of summarizing and cutting things out and highlighting certain pieces, but its still long because there’s a LOT to cover.

Also because of how emotional this chapter is actually going to be, I want to just remind...that Levi is like, mid teens, and hasn’t gone through much of the stuff that adult Levi has been through, so in my mind, that justifies a bit more of a REACTION for some of this stuff.  But he’s still Levi, and he’s still going to be reserved and such, just...not as controlled as Adult Levi.

This whole chapter is like one big lead up to the next chapter, funnily enough. XD

Also got to listen to “Constellation” by Far Out feat. Karra on repeat writing this.  It felt so fitting!

I’m putting quotes from Your Lie in April in italics with quotes and an indent like this, so its clear that they came from the show.  Levi’s thoughts/memories will just be in italics, no indention .

Characters:  Levi, Reader

Pairing:  (Eventual Levi x Reader)

Warnings:   SPOILERS FOR “YOUR LIE IN APRIL”, Angst, FEELINGS, Language

Word Count:  10994

<----Previous Chapter    Masterlist    Next Chapter---->

*Levi’s POV*

At long last, Y/N was finally going to show him those movie, show things she kept talking about.  He knew plays and acting and putting on an act, but the concept of a show that was saved so you could watch it whenever you wanted without having to make people do it over and over was novel to him.

Boisterously proclaiming that it was going to be a “Movie Night” day, she’d grabbed his hand and dragged him after her like she’d used to do when they were young, despite his protests.  To be fair, he didn’t try too hard to wiggle away, either, letting her pull him along to the living room as she fussed and tried to decide what they were going to watch.

After all of her attempts to explain what a movie or TV show was, she decided that the best way to explain it to him was just to show him, though she still had to stop and explain the type of show they were watching.

“Okay, so what I’m showing you right now, is actually called an anime.  It’s a type of animation from a country called Japan, and it’s made from computers or hand drawn.  They draw the story, picture by picture, and put it together to make the characters and such move, with actors doing their voices and recording it in time with the pictures, sound effects like bells and wind also being saved, background music, so on and so forth,” she explained as she cut up pieces of paper and layered them on top of each other, pulling out a pencil and drawing a circle on each page, moving its position slightly each time.  “See, if you do it frame by frame, and then move it really fast, it's like the ball is bouncing--animation, and anime, works off the same concept, except they’re drawing everything,” she continued to explain, grabbing the bottom page and then letting the papers rapidly spring free, causing Levi to see the ball she drew appear to move along the page, even though he knew it was a bunch of individual drawings going by rapidly.

“They draw a solid background that doesn’t move, and then they add another layer on top that you can see through like glass, but they draw the moving parts on that layer, so it looks like they’re in the solid background and they’re walking and whatnot.  It’s really cool--makes me wish I could draw,” she continued, putting aside the papers she’d used for her demonstration and picking up the controller so she could get them started, gesturing for Levi to take a seat on the couch.  “I haven’t seen this one yet, but a friend recommended I watch it cause I love music, and I play the piano, and she said it was a really good coming of age story.  I’m a little wary cause she said she wanted my reaction to the end, but she usually suggests stuff I love, so I’m gonna trust it,” she continued to babble as the screen lit up with colors and pictures like a computer screen, most of it nonsensical to Levi as she shifted rapidly past most of it looking for the specific show.

She stopped on something extremely colorful, blues and yellows and pinks and reds in vibrant color with four drawn people lying in what looked like the sky, and she abruptly turned to face him.  “Are you okay with having to read what they say?  The original is in a different language, so it’ll have subtitles at the bottom translating what they say.  There are other versions where they redid the speaking parts in different languages, but I really like listening to the original--I feel like it really gets the emotions across because it's so well done.”

Levi hesitated for a moment, contemplating her offer of putting it in a language they understood or keeping the original and having to read what they were saying.  Eventually, he just shrugged.  “Whichever you want.”

“Subtitles it is,” she said, turning back to the TV and messing with a few things before she finally started the show, coming over to sit by him on the couch.  He was sitting normally, his ankle propped up on his leg with one arm resting against the back of the couch, the other lying casually in his lap.  Y/N, however, sat directly beside him, his arm behind her shoulders and her side pressed slightly against his, causing Levi to glance at her, mind flashing back to how she’d sat at the piano with him not too long ago.  She wasn’t even glancing at him, though, gradually relaxing next to him like a kitten curling up to get warm, her eyes fixed on the colorful display that was now on the TV.

Turning his attention back to the TV, Levi studied the images in front of him, a cheerful bit of piano music fluttering towards them as vibrant and colorful images of a girl chasing a black cat moved seamlessly across the screen, much smoother than the quickly drawn bouncing ball Y/N had put together to describe what they would be watching.

If she was trying to sneak a peak of his reaction, she would catch his eyes had widened at the vibrant colors and amazing detail, the realistic sounds that came through and made him want to check and see if the piano behind them was being played, or there were people hiding somewhere making the character’s voices and singing the song as the scene suddenly shifted to what Y/N described to him as an intro, a quick prologue of sorts that set the tone of the show.  Thankfully, however, she’d already explained to him that the sounds were done beforehand, recorded and somehow stored so it would be repeated to the images on the screen as they watched.

It was a little...outside his realm of understanding, how it all worked, and he had the sneaking suspicion he’d just have to accept that it just was and he needed to sit back and try to enjoy it.  That was how a show was supposed to work, right?  And that was exactly what Y/N seemed to be doing.

As she had warned him, the characters were speaking an entirely different language, so Levi couldn’t understand what was being said on its own.  Thankfully, there were the subtitles to translate, Levi’s gaze flickering between reading the small letters to looking at the colorful screen to see what was happening, trying not to get too caught up in the details he didn’t understand, like the games the kids were playing, and how different the environment was even to what he saw in Y/N’s world.

At least the basic stuff he could easily make sense of--the main character was obviously the quiet and reserved, black haired, blue eyed pianist Kousei, and the characters were around Levi and Y/N’s age.  The point of the story wasn’t clear yet, but she’d explained this was going to be episodic--it would be played like chapters in a novel, stopping at the end of a chapter before they would have to start the next one.  So it might be a while before he started catching that.  Right now, they were meeting characters, finding out their relationship to one another and getting hints at the history between them all.

Like the fact that Kousei lived alone because his father was absent, and his mother was deceased.  She’d succumbed to illness when he was still young.  That alone had the stirrings of empathy settling in Levi’s chest for the main character.  He couldn’t relate to the abuse, but the desire to make her better, that somehow he could do something to make her feel better did resonate.  It made him listen to their conversations a bit more, since he already had a foothold and something relatable.

Once he started drawing comparisons to the story unfolding in front of him, he couldn’t stop noticing them.

“The moment I met him, my life changed.  Everything I saw, heard, and felt.  All the scenery around me started to take on color.  The whole world began to sparkle.”

A world of monotone, devoid of color, until he meets a certain vibrant youth who brings a sudden rush of color and life into the world around her, dragging Kousei in by the hand--as if he could ever resist the force of nature she was.

Hm.  He wondered who that reminded him of.

He didn’t even notice when the “chapter” ended and the next started, his gaze flickering subtly towards Y/N on the couch beside him, appearing just as taken by the story as he already was.

However, this new chapter did bring about new questions, and was a bit closer to his grasp of understanding after watching Y/N play music for so long.

“Do you ever do competitions?” Levi asked as the characters walked around the competition and the history Kousei had at this specific building was teased, easily able to see that there was a piano on the stage despite it being a violin competition.  Surely if there were competitions for violins, there were for pianos?

She shook her head, chewing slightly on her lower lip as she answered him.  “No way--I play piano for myself and a few people.  I’m not looking to make a career of it or become famous for it.  Not to mention, I don’t think I’m cut out for competitions.  There’s a lot of pressure, and they’re really strict about playing the pieces exactly how they were originally written.  I want to play the piano how I feel, and that’s not always by paying attention to how it's written on the sheet.”

“And violins?  What are they like?” he asked.  He hadn’t seen or heard a violin yet, and was curious to hear what they would sound like.

“They’re a string instrument--portable, small.  Really beautiful, too--they’re my second favorite instrument.  They usually pair wonderfully with pianos--I’m pretty sure it’s common for a piano to accompany a violin in shows and competitions.”

Levi hushed with his questions again as the scenes playing out on the TV continued to unfold and the first violin performer took the stage, Levi hearing the light and lively music of the violin for the first time, the same song being performed over and over by the nondescript and nameless musicians on the stage in the show.

Beside him, Y/N was slowly tilting her head side to side as she listened to the music being played, eyes fixed on the screen.  She must have felt almost in her element watching this, while Levi felt a bit more like Tsubaki, not understanding a lot of the names and such that were being thrown around by the characters in discussion, but still there to enjoy it nonetheless.  When Kousei was tapping his fingers on the armchair to the piano music, Levi’s gaze flickered to Y/N to see if she was doing something similar, since she seemed focused on the music as well.  It wasn’t as precise as Kousei, maybe she wasn’t playing every note in her head, but her fingers were lightly tapping against her legs like she wanted to be playing the keys on the piano.

Then came Kaori’s first performance.

Watching, Levi felt a familiarity in the girl’s intensity, once again reminded of the girl sitting next to him, who seemed to throw herself into every aspect of life around her--at least compared to him.  There was a tension in the air, a feeling that this was going to be much different than the music they’d been hearing up until this point.  Even Y/N had stilled next to him, eyes riveted to the girl on the screen.

The first notes were shocking.  After listening to Y/N play the piano for so long, even his unprofessional, inexperienced ear could hear the shift in the sound, and how rich and deep it suddenly was.  Beside him, Y/N shifted into a more upright position, eyes suddenly lighting up and sparkling as she leaned forward, her breath catching.  The ripple through the audience wasn’t just in the show, but in reality, as the two of them on the couch suddenly focused entirely on Kaori’s performance.

The girl’s eyes flashed on screen, and the music suddenly leapt to life before them, making his own heart seem to pound a little faster, the sounds pleasant and uplifting to his ears, making him restless in a good way.  It sounded similar to when Y/N played the piano with him that one day, not necessarily in skill, but in the life and emotion that was in it.

Like Y/N, Kaori was pouring herself into her playing, she shone brightly through in the piece, made like it was pulling back a curtain to reveal a part of her soul.  Kousei even said as much, stating that Kaori was making the piece hers and hers alone.

The performance ended, and Y/N suddenly grabbed his arm with a squeal.  “That was awesome!  I’m going to have to find a recording of that!” she said breathlessly.  Her excitement was infectious, and almost prompted Levi towards a smile as they slowly settled back onto the couch, the story progressing in front of them.

She was such a stark contrast to the black haired youth in front of her, the whirlwind to his reserved personality, but even she would show flashes of vulnerability, for his eyes only, it seemed.  And he did what he could to hide what he could in order to protect her, without her ever knowing, probably.

Wait, was he still thinking about Kaori and Kousei?

Levi shook his head, focusing back on what was happening, reading Kousei’s contemplations about how he could still hear the refrain of the music Kaori played in the competition he witnessed, over and over.

Levi’s fingers tapped slightly against the back of the couch and in his lap, barely tapping out the melodies for the song they’d played on the piano the other day, music he heard even when he was alone with his thoughts in his own world, still able to feel her fingers aligned with his, guiding him through each key.  He’d find himself tapping them out in rare moments of idleness, like he was still clinging to the memory of the sound even if he didn’t have a piano in his world.

Y/N shifted entirely back to her relaxed position against Levi’s side, head brushing briefly against his shoulder and making his skin tingle where the brief contact had been, his stomach squirming.

Kaori dragged poor Kousei around everywhere, usually into situations far out of his comfort zone, and far more aggressively than a certain someone sitting beside him.  However, it seemed like more often then not, those situations were wonderful places that he wouldn’t have found or experienced on his own.

She brought color to his monochrome life.

Where he was hidden in shadows, she was cast in light, and she didn’t hesitate to pull him into the sun.

”I know you’re broken and beat up, but I want you.  I choose you.  I want you here.”

The beginning chapters seemed to fly by quickly, with Kaori pushing Kousei more and more, and beside Levi, Y/N seemed to be slowly wiggling closer to him.  Was it intentional?  Did she realize she was doing it?  He did--he seemed hypersensitive to every motion, yet he didn’t pull away, didn’t even twitch.  He stayed still, like sudden movement might frighten her away as easily as a stray cat.

As intriguing as the events on the screen were--and he was taking in the information, such as how Kousei used to have a black cat, how he couldn’t hear the sound of the piano after his mother died and quit piano directly afterwards, important stuff like that--Levi’s thoughts kept wandering as he watched.

He thought of how beautiful the trees with the pink petals were, how breathtaking every scene with them was, and how prominently they seemed to feature in every scene that had something meaningful going on.  Y/N called them cherry blossom trees.  He wanted to see one.  What would it look like?  What would the scene be if he stood under one with her?

Before he knew it, Kaori had cornered Kousei into accompanying her on the piano, and they were rushing towards another performance.  Anticipation stirred in the air between him and Y/N, both of them wondering how this piece would sound, considering Kousei had already been framed as a child prodigy on the piano, and they knew Kaori was breathtaking.  What would it sound like when they played together?  Levi worried about how it would turn out, how Kousei seemed to be unraveling in front of them just before they went up on stage.

Before Kaori gave him a literal smack to get him out of his own head.

As lighthearted and carefree as she seemed to be, every now and then, she would drop these little petals of wisdom.

Levi’s gaze flickered to Y/N again.

Her eyes would shift from a sparkle that almost seemed naive to a depth he hadn’t expected to see, and she’d say something that seemed beyond her years.

“Go on a journey.  A man away from home need feel no shame.”

“Natural.  Bizarre.  It’s like this girl herself is the journey with no clear destination.”

“You’re Freedom Itself.”

The couple took the stage.  The song started out slow, sensual, peaceful.  It reminded him slightly of the song Y/N taught him.

Before, predictably, Kaori brought her wild, fast paced playing back, bringing liveliness to the performance.  It started beautifully, but just as the music seemed to portray some kind of descent, Kousei lost sense of the notes, the sound distorted even for them, listening, as if they were Kousei, only able to faintly hear Kaori while the rest sounded muffled, strangled out by water.  When they were allowed to hear the sound again, it was off, it sounded harsh and jarring, out of sync.  Not at all pleasant.

Considering the earlier mentioned problems, he should have known this wasn’t going to be a perfect and completely enjoyable performance.  It was grating, and while he understood the emotional significance of seeing Kousei give up halfway through, his ears were a little grateful by that point.

The surprise was seeing Kaori stop as well.  He’d thought perhaps something would urge Kousei to start playing again, but he hadn’t expected Kaori to stop in the process.  Beside him, Y/N seemed to be biting on her thumbnail, her brows furrowed as she watched the screen in concern, a frown on her face, leg shifting restlessly around on the couch as she suddenly curled closer to Levi, directly against his side, oblivious to the surprised look he shot her because she was so focused with what was happening on the screen.

“Maybe there’s only a dark road up ahead.  But you still have to believe and keep going.  Believe that the stars will light your path, even a little bit.”

Kaori began to play again, the sound of just the violin playing on its own sounding lonely and out of place, especially when he knew there should be a piano playing with it.  All they needed was for Kousei to play again.  Would he?  No excuses, Kaori needed his support, and Levi found himself silently judging Kousei, mentally pushing him to help her, to play, because that was what she needed from him.

”So what was it that you saw in me?”

“But you have me!  Look up, and look at me.  Look at me.”

Kousei starting to play again was a relief, even if it wasn’t quite right at first.  After a bit of inner reflection, some time where they spent listening to the underwater sounds, it all faded away, and a soft scene of a mother and son filled the screen.  The mother’s softly sung lullaby was soothing, and as it shifted to a scene of the sky, Levi’s eyes widened at the brilliant beauty it was, the range of color, of blues and whites and even some purples and pinks.  How it sparkled and shimmered, stirring up emotions he didn’t know he’d buried somewhere inside him as he suddenly felt small again, curled up in a nest of soft warmth, staring out a small window up towards the sky high above him for the first time, gazing in wonder at the stars and moon that glittered high above him.

Words from one of the many times Y/N had played the piano for him drifted to his mind.  How she had perceived her music had struck some kind of chord with him, even if he wasn’t saying anything--even when he realized he had no words to describe what he was feeling listening to her play that single song.  He remembered how she’d told him that the point, what made music with her time, was how it could communicate what couldn’t be said with mere words.

The music shifted, and Kousei finally began to play, and the sound was enrapturing.  There were no words--it could only be felt, what was happening between the boy at the piano and the girl with the violin.

Could he find a violin in his world?  Could he learn to play it, so he could play with Y/N like Kousei played with Kaori?  Would they manage to produce something similar, something wonderful like that?  What would it feel like?  What would the sound between them be?  What would it say?

”I can hear your sound.”

So caught up in his thoughts, in the raw emotion and the music that had just enraptured them both, Levi was caught off guard when the mood took another shift.

He tensed, hand gripping the back of the couch a little harder as the sound faded away into an echo as Kaori suddenly collapsed.  The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to raise, warning him of something incoming, even though there was no physical threat.  He had a bad feeling, suddenly, seeing Kaori’s paler form in the hospital, seeing Kousei’s disbelieving look, the way all of her face wasn’t visible during certain key answers.  It put dread inside him over what was happening with her, where this would go.  A brief moment of happiness...but what did it mean in the long run?  What did it matter, if it was going to be ripped so harshly away, anyway?

“It was everything to you, and you’re trying to rip that away by force.  As if you were plucking off your limbs.  That’s why it hurts too much for you to bear.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to forget?  No, not a chance.  Because you and I are living for that moment.”

“I won’t forget.  I won’t forget, even if I die.”

“Thank you.”

The mood of the show mellowed drastically, far more serious notes seeping into the air around them as Kousei and those around him were faced with far more serious matters than who liked who, and music competitions.  The competitions seemed to be fading into the background, a mere backdrop to the true story.

Ah…

He might be seeing it now.

There was more to this tale than just playing in competitions.

And he had the feeling he was going to be facing some...difficult scenes.  Not the kind of gristly scenes of the everyday Underground.  The personal, emotional kind.  He was already getting flashes of past events, old emotions stirring this early on.  What would come next?  How deep was this show going to dig to bring out emotions or thoughts he didn’t even know he was keeping buried?

Y/N shifted again, now blatantly sidled up beside him, head leaning slightly to the side, coming to rest very lightly on his shoulder.  Levi stilled, pulled entirely from his thoughts, both of them seeming to hold the position to see what the other would do.

She didn’t pull away.

Neither did he.

Her head leaned a little more heavily against his shoulder, and she got more comfortable in her position next to him.  Levi relaxed, letting her do as she pleased, silently grateful for the companionable warmth her presence beside him seemed to be offering him, allowing the scarier thoughts to temporarily be soothed and chased away.  It helped that the story was shifting towards the more light-hearted as well, as Kaori and Kousei began to prepare for a piano competition.

“Before your fingers touch the keys, you must determine in your mind how you’re going to play it.  Why do you play the piano?  Is it for your sake?  For someone else’s sake?  How do you want to play this piece?”

Levi turned his head slightly to look at Y/N, curiosity stirred up in his mind as Kaori grilled Kousei for his mental imagery while he played.  “What about you?  What do you think of when you play the piano?” he asked her.

“Hm?” she asked, pulled for the first time out of the show as she turned slightly to meet his gaze, surprised by the inquiry.  “I...don’t know.  It depends on the moment.  Usually it’s memories, though.  Certain songs make me think of certain people, usually memories with that person.  Maybe something I want to do or say to them?  I haven’t thought of that much before...usually I just...do it.  And I tend to get lost in what I’m doing, too.  I guess that’s part of the reason why I haven’t thought of it much before.”

Levi continued to look at her even as she turned her attention back to the show, barely holding back a question that bubbled up inside him.

Have you ever thought of me?

She was teaching him to play the piano, right?  What would his mental imagery be when he played?

While Levi got his quick question in and mulled over his own thoughts once more, the mood shifted to something more serious in the show again.

Kaori was worried she was being too pushy, that Kousei might resent him for forcing him into the position he was in, now.  That she was being too hard on him.  And something that they said resonated with him, because of recent events.

“You’re suffering because of me.  I’m sorry.”

Levi saw Y/N in front of him in his mind’s eye.  Her eyes were downcast, lips pressed together, shoulders slightly hunched, and she was on the verge of tears after his barbed words expressing how shitty this situation was for him, how it teased him with what he could never have.  Did she blame herself, for him being pulled into her world, always around her for a brief while before he was kicked back?

But again, she’d been right.  Even if it was brief, that didn’t mean the time he spent here with her was worthless.  It still meant something to him, and it still brought him some comfort and, oddly enough, a sense of security.  From the very first time they’d met, she’d provided him with somewhere he could truly feel safe and cared for.

“It was you who swept away all the dust.  For sweeping away the dust that had collected on my body...thank you.  For encountering me.”

The more hints the story dropped about Kaori’s health, the more worried Levi became about the turn this story might take.  He was bracing for impact, a small frown on his face as he saw the pile of medicine Kaori was carrying around with her at the competition.  Kousei’s musical rivals didn’t register so much with him in the previous two chapters, because he was still so focused on what was happening with Kousei and Kaori.

Y/N had gotten up at one point by now to get a drink, bringing back a water for him to sip on as they continued the story, time passing by without either of their knowledge of just how long they’d been sitting here.  Even Levi, usually so much more active, was content to sit here and watch, hardly noticing his inactivity as he drank up every scene, every word, some ringing out through his mind, others falling into place as narrative importance, worry and elation and nostalgia, as well as so much more, all stirred together inside him, Y/N curled up like a kitten at his side, his arm still leaning against the back of the couch, his hand resting softly on her shoulder.

However, while he and Y/N were falling into a position of ease, the story seemed to be starting to shift more to the relationship between Kousei and his mother, and what happened to her.  Kaori was getting worse, it seemed, and they were digging into a relationship that felt, in certain ways, similar to what Levi had gone through, and not too long ago, either, now that he was forced to look at it.  It made him...uncomfortable, to say the least, but he wasn’t saying anything--he needed to see where this story was headed, with how invested he was at this point.  And even if it got personal, he thought he might be able to sit and endure it all the same.

”My mom’s coming from the hospital to see me perform...so you see, in order to make Mom well again, in order to make her happy, I’m gonna play my very best as a gift!”

The first hit actually made him flinch.  It was slight, but it was there, and Y/N might have caught it--he wasn’t expecting it, not from the tone, or what had just been discussed, or the way the scene changed so rapidly from the cheers of the audience after little Kousei finished playing his best for his mother to the slap across his face from the ailing woman.  He suddenly felt tense, his hand still on Y/N’s shoulder and his expression suddenly unreadable as the hits kept coming, making something dark and angry well up inside him as Kousei was hit hard enough to draw blood against a backdrop of the abuse he’d been suffering the entire time.

Perhaps Y/N hadn’t caught it, because she was flinching as well, and her reaction was far more open on her face, eyes watering with near-tears, a slight shake in her body, and the occasional, shaking breath.

”All I wanted was for you to get better.  All I wanted was for you to be happy.  And yet...I wish you would just die.”

“That was the last time I said anything to my mom.”

Levi’s grip tightened on Y/N’s shoulder, but neither of them said a word, a grimness in the air as they continued to watch the story in front of them that had started so colorful but was taking a darker turn rather quickly.

Levi scowled slightly at the switch to such an upbeat little song at the sudden end of the chapter, which would be followed by another upbeat song at the beginning of the next.

“These ‘intros’ and ‘outros’ are deceptively cheerful,” Levi criticized.

“What’s a good story without some struggle?” Y/N replied, though she briefly untangled herself from her position at Levi’s side and wiggled off the couch.  “Though, I think I’m going to go grab some tissues.  I’m starting to think there’s going to be some really sad or heartfelt stuff coming up.  Tell me when it’s back on if I’m still missing!” she added before darting away, leaving Levi to sigh quietly to himself and look up at the ceiling, keeping track of the show in front of him as he waited for her to run off and come back with a colorful box, squirming back into place beside him and letting his hand return to her shoulder as she placed the box next to her on the couch, sighing contently.

“The show must go on!” she insisted, face devoid of the strong emotion they’d been sharing just a few moments ago.  She settled next to him with a soft sigh, the sight of Kousei struggling at the piano returning where the previous chapter left off.

They watched him struggle against the ghost of his mother, trying to force himself to play through it, to play even though he couldn’t hear, even as the sound grated on them.  Watched as he slowly gave up, until he stopped entirely before the song was even over, just like he had with Kaori.

Part of him had expected Kousei to have some kind of revelation just before he quit and push through, but he’d really stopped.  Now it just remained to be seen if he could start again.  Of course, after his performance with Kaori, they knew he was disqualified.  But would he find a reason to play anyway, like she had?

”Even the you that’s here inside me, won’t let me give up.  That day, I wonder.  What did you play for?”

Levi felt the ghost of her fingers on his again, unaware that he was tapping the keys against the skin of her shoulder at the memory.

Once more, the sound changed as Kousei found his reason to play.  The girl who’d changed his world from monotone to color, who dragged him into a whirlwind of life without giving him the chance to think twice about it.

“Just one person matters to me.  Only you matter.  Thank you...Will it reach her?  I hope it reaches her.”

”Your hidden emotions.  The you that you’ve never known.  The piano drags out everything…”

Levi’s gaze once more was unfocused on the screen as he was swept away in a sea of his own thoughts, thinking back to the times he’d listened to Y/N play.  What had he been hearing those days?  What would he hear in her playing in the future?  If he put enough effort into learning to play as she tried to teach him...could it help him communicate some of the things he struggled to say?  It was at least worth giving it a shot.

And he would be sure to pay closer attention in the future to see what he could hear, what he may not be aware of.

The pacing lulled into something more relaxed once more, a brief reprieve after the emotions that were just thrown at them, allowing him and Y/N to talk a bit more, both of them keeping one eye on the subtitles even as they made little comments about what they’d heard so far.  The unspoken love triangle?  Maybe it was a triangle.  The romantic feelings were crisscrossed and all over the place between this group of friends.  They commented on their observations about Kousei and Kaori, what they thought was going to become of the two as they watched, whether Kaori or Tsubaki would end up the one with him in the future.

Music was another thing they talked about, obviously.  How they wanted to hear Kousei and Kaori play together again--and were excited they had the chance to with the upcoming concert.  Y/N also expressed how she loved Chopin pieces, and as a result was happy about how many Chopin pieces were in the show so far and was hoping to hear more.  She also mentioned that Love’s Sorrow, the song they were working on now for the concert, was a beautiful piece--mournful, obviously, but beautiful.  She even offered to help him learn it when he got more used to the piano if he wanted to.

Levi was a little distracted, though, by the further warning signs that something was going to happen to Kaori.  In the same stroke that he contemplated how she had a skill for seeing the beauty in the world, like Y/N tended to do for him, she said something ominous that further solidified a growing suspicion that Levi was keeping in mind.

“You know, I’m not always going to be around to help you.”

As worried about Kaori as that line made Levi for the context of the show, it also reminded him of his own situation with Y/N.  He helped when he could, but he was absent so often...and it worked both ways.  He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself when he was on his own, but Y/N he worried about.  What if something serious happened when he wasn’t around to help her?  Would she be all right?  Would she be able to take care of herself until he could be here to help her?

It was another line that resonated with him, another one that was going to burn in his mind and make him brood over their situation.  This show was rife with them, and it had his emotions all over the place, despite his outward calm posture.

He had no way of knowing just how strongly the next chapter was going to hit him.

He was as riled up as Kousei after hearing that smart mouthed kid claim that the music Kaori made was just disastrous noise.  If he’d ever heard someone say that about the music Y/N played, he was liable to sock them in the mouth.  Honestly, after that comment, he’d thought that the focus was going to be on Kaori again, even with all the recent focus on Kousei’s mother.  That misconception was quickly fixed, though, when the chapter began with a flashback to Kousei’s mother and how he became a pianist, further reinforced when Kousei started to play and they were given the first glimpses into his thought process, and what his new mentor--his mother’s old friend--was thinking.

Kousei’s mother’s favorite song, Kousei’s lullaby.

”Would she have played it like this?”

Kousei was curled up against the wall in the darkness of a room with no one else, knees pulled up to his chest, head buried, trying to shut out the world, the woman who’d known and been close to Kousei’s mother finding him in the darkness as Kousei cried out for his mother, for someone to help him, save him.  Levi tensed, going completely still beside Y/N with his gaze riveted on the scene in front of him.

”That son of ours is about to bid you a last farewell.”

”Will it reach her?”

Levi’s jaw clenched, his teeth grinding together as he attempted to keep a lid on the emotions that were trying to rise inside him again.

“After I’m gone, what’s going to become of Kousei?  Will he be able to earn a living?”

There was a pressure on his chest making it impossible to breathe and a forceful pain in his throat that was pushing right at the back, like there was something stuck there that wanted to come out but couldn’t, because he wouldn’t let it no matter how much it pushed.

”What a terrible mother.  There’s nothing I can leave that boy...”

His breathing ground to a halt except for the barest, shaking whisper through his nose.

“I wish I could’ve stayed with him longer...Will my treasure ever find happiness?”

Eyes fixed on the screen, Levi suddenly felt the overwhelming need to bolt, could feel his fingers and legs twitch like he was about to without warning, but the music was reaching a crescendo, and he thought maybe, just maybe, he might be able to make it through this, even as the pain in his throat and the pressure on his chest seemed to grow more crushing, more painful, so much harder to contain.

”Do you think it reached my mom?  The way I played my very best?  Do you think it reached Mom?”

“You two are connected, aren’t you?  Of course it reached her.”

Kousei broke on screen, and Levi suddenly realized he wasn’t going to make it to the end of the episode.  He needed to bolt now or he might shatter.

Levi tapped Y/N on the shoulder to get her to move, not daring to look at her and possible see her a crying mess already at the emotional scene.  He gave a brief, “I need to take a shit,” that he managed to get out in a steady voice past the pain in his throat by some miracle, and then stood up, the brief statement her only warning to shift before his movement accidentally dumped her on the ground.  He didn’t run to the bathroom, that would be too much of a tell.  Instead, he got up calmly and made his way to the bathroom, not hurrying his step until he was out of sight and already halfway up the stairs.

By the time he reached the bathroom, he couldn’t hold it back any further, safely locked behind the bathroom door with the water in the sink running seconds before he finally choked on the feeling in his throat and chest.  A strangled sound left him, and he leaned over the sink, trying to catch his breath even as his body tried to make him sob.  His breaths hitched painfully, a slight shake in his hands before they clenched the edge of the sink, shoulders hunched and teeth grinding painfully as a soft whine escaped his rigid body.

Y/N was waiting for him.  He couldn’t stay up here forever, but he at least had to get ahold of himself before he headed back down there.  Out of stubborn determination, Levi tried to gulp in air and steady his breath and hands.  Once he had a strong enough hold of his breathing, he cupped his hands under the water and splashed some of it onto his face to help calm himself down.

Only when he felt his composure had returned, Levi dried off his face and hands, then carefully made his way back downstairs, well-aware that the chapter wasn’t even over, and there were still several chapters left--nine, according to Y/N.

A lot could happen in nine chapters.

Levi calmly returned to his seat on the couch, Y/N giving him a quizzical, examining look before she resumed the position they’d been in before resuming the show in the exact spot he’d left--thankfully, it was after Kousei’s breakdown, so he wouldn’t have to see any of that again.

That didn’t, however, mean that he was in the clear.  No, now that they had put a neat little bow on Kousei’s struggle with his mental image of his mother, they were moving on to the one who had been concerning Levi since one of the first few episodes.

”There’s an ever present sorrow hanging over Arima’s music...Then it’s a demon’s path he must walk.  His growth is spurred by sorrow.  If he walks that path, he might have to lose someone to move forward.”

Kaori was in the hospital again, and Levi felt the uneasiness and dread about the direction this show was taking grow substantially.  Especially as Kousei ran inside the room and saw Kaori in the exact position his mother had been in.  The way this show was starting to dig at some subconscious and deeply buried pains and fears of his that he would rather keep far from the front of his mind, but it kept plodding on, and he felt far too invested now to just leave it where it was.  The curiosity and need to know what happened next would eat away at him if he asked Y/N to stop it there--plus, asking that might tip her off that something about it was upsetting him, considering at this point he couldn’t claim he was bored with it.

”You’re gonna be fine, right?”

“I can see you again, right?”

“You won’t leave me like my mom did, right?”

At this point, the focus on Tsubaki and Kousei’s relationship was a much needed break from the reality and darker questions being asked with Kaori and Kousei right now, questions that he had asked himself from time to time regarding Y/N, questions and concerns he didn’t want to think about for his own sanity.  What was happening with Tsubaki was more lighthearted, less grim, even if it was confusing and brought up even more questions to ask himself.  After all, Tsubaki was being faced with the question of how she felt about Kousei--the boy who had been her friend since they were little, who she was falling in love with no matter how much she tried to deny it, who she had always been beside and wanted to be beside forever.

It made him wonder.  He and Y/N were friends--had been for years now.  She was there for him during his darkest moments, and he’d been there for some of her scariest moments.  Yes, they were friends, but...was it starting to go deeper than that?  Did he feel closer to her, somehow?

Her hands had felt warm against his when they played the piano together, pressed against one another with his arms around each other so they wouldn’t get in each other’s way.  His skin had tingled where she touched him when she’d taken care of and cleaned him up after that fight.  He felt comfortable sitting beside her now, with her leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, despite how borderline intimate it felt.

Had she felt something similar?  They hadn’t really looked at each other in these moments--they’d been avoiding looking at each other whenever something like that happened, so he had no idea.  Was she aware of just how comfortable he was around her?  How different that was for him?  Did she have any clue how important she was becoming to him, how big a part of his life she had gradually become despite the very real distance and difference between their two worlds.

This entire time he’d been drawing similarities between them and Kousei and Kaori, when perhaps the comparison should have been with Tsubaki and Kousei.

It sure as hell might make him feel better, considering he was rather sure she had a terminal illness.  After growing up in the Underground and with the experiences he had so far, fatal illnesses were something he could spot, especially when there were as many warning signs as there were for Kaori.  She only seemed to be getting worse--he was pretty sure she’d been told she was going to die, even though there was no audio for the moment to confirm it.  Since the first episode, Kaori had been centered on making an impression, about living on in the memories and hearts of others--she was clearly afraid of disappearing without a trace after she was gone.

Still, amid all the aching and pain, there was still flashes of hope as Kaori struggled against her illness, and more moments that made him think about the relationship between himself and the girl next to him--more damn connections between them and Kousei and Kaori, which did nothing to sooth his nerves and fears he didn’t even know he had.

“Why are the sounds you make so beautiful I think I’m going to cry?”

“That devotion you showed.  Her heart had turned grey, and you gave it color.”

Had he managed to give her what she gave him?  He felt like he didn’t have anything to give, coming from the dreadful world he did.  She was always the one bringing color into his life, had he ever brought color to hers?  Would he ever be able to?  His world, his life, was ugly and dark and probably tragic.  What could he offer her out of that?

”Did I reach him?”

“You don’t have the time to see me.”

“It’s not about time--I want to see you.”

The chapter started so calmly--discussion about the next round of the competition, Kaori continuing her struggle to get better, Tsubaki finally admitting her feelings for Kousei in a way.  Levi even made a quip about how Watari and Kaori really needed to stop dragging him along as the awkward extra in their group, practically rubbing it in his face even if it was unintentional.  There was even another moment of resonance with something Tsubaki said to Kousei.

“So you won’t lose your way, so you won’t have regrets, I’ll stay by your side forever.”

Still, he should have seen it coming.  It shouldn’t have surprised him, considering he was well aware of the cruel shittiness of the world, even if Y/N wasn’t.  All this time he’d spent bracing himself with the hints of just how bad Kaori’s illness was, the ominous lines of hers.  All the lightheartedness and self-discovery of the past several episodes came crashing down with the emergency with Kaori as, from what Levi could see even though they clearly had far more advanced medicine that Levi knew nothing about, Kaori had some kind of close call, a brush with death, right in front of Kousei.  And then with the damn cat getting hit and dying literally moments later, Kousei having to wash the blood off of his hands and breaking down in the wake of everything that was happening.  He shouldn’t have been surprised, but it still ached to see it.

And there were two chapters left.  Realistically, he doubted that Kaori was going to recover in two chapters after all this time.  By now, he was certain that she was going to die by the end of the story.

She wasn’t even gone yet, and Kousei had already given up.  Levi had seen plenty of people reach that point.  No fight left, no will to move.  Kousei was right back in the position he’d been in at the start, the impending loss of Kaori the final nail in his coffin, his breaking point.

“Why does it have to end up this way?  I can’t...go on.  No more...I can’t try anymore.”

He hadn’t hit his breaking point--he hoped he never reached that point.  But he was sure even he had one, even if he wasn’t sure where his limit was.

Levi blinked at the white fluttering from the sky on screen. A novel sight he couldn’t ignore or just accept.  Snow, Kaori called it.

So that was what it looked like.  One of the many things he’d heard about but hadn’t seen…

“Have you seen snow before, Levi?  Since you live Underground,” Y/N suddenly asked from where she was curled up into his side, head turned to look at him curiously.  Levi shook his head no, and she hummed.  “You’ll have to show up some time in the winter so I can show you all kinds of awesome things you can do when it snows.  It’s cold, but it’s fun.  And everything looks so clean and pure...my favorite things are the trees encapsulated in ice,” she said with a wistful sigh, eventually quieting down as the scene on the screen continued to develop.

Maybe one day.  But he would have to come through not only when it was winter, but on a day that there was snow, and he had no control over when he blipped over into her world.

Blipped, blip...her word for when Levi flickered into and out of her world.  Clearly, it had caught on even in his mind.

“The people I care about keep leaving me...I’m going to be left all alone.”

Inwardly, Levi felt himself flinch, and that desire to bolt was trying to rear its head again, the desire for her to shut it off and spare him these comments that kept digging into the darker corners of himself, the weakness he kept hidden away for no one to see.

“But you have me.  But you have me.”

For the first time, Levi felt Y/N’s hand give his little squeeze on his knee as Kaori repeated her sentiment to Kousei.

Perhaps the feelings were mutual.  Maybe he wasn’t the only one drowning in emotions on the inside and drawing parallels while they watched this show, if she was giving him a little squeeze after those words.  After he registered that he had felt it, and he hadn’t imagined it, he gave her shoulder a small squeeze in return.

“I’m going to struggle as hard as I can.  Struggle, struggle, struggle, like there’s no tomorrow.”

“You gave me this desire to cling to the time that I spent with you.  Aren’t you going to struggle to?  We’re so good at struggling.”

Hell if that wasn’t the story of his life so far, right there.

Collectively, the two of them held their breath, watching as, after Kousei declared how useless it was for him to even try to play in the state he was in right now, Kaori got to her feet on her own, and the sound of the violin softly flickered towards them from the screen.  It was like the music was from a dream, her imaginary violin ethereal, Kaori lit up by a flurry of snow as she played to a crescendo and smiled at Kousei.

“See, miracles can happen just like that.”

Shaking, legs trembling, sweating, collapsed into Kousei’s arms with a breathless laugh, clinging to him like a source of comfort.  It wasn’t her reciting of the things she knew about Kousei, or what she wished she knew, that drew a response from him, but her heartfelt pleas with Kousei as he held her in her arms.

“I’m scared.  I’m scared!  Don’t leave me all alone!”

That was why it was familiar.  That was how Y/N had held him when…

And perhaps the reason he’d lashed out when he’d found out about how fleeting this world was for him had been because…

Levi shifted, and it was only when Y/N started to pull away did he realize he’d been shifting to get up and walk away, to bolt.  When she fixed him with that questioning look again, not-yet-spilled tears in her eyes from the emotion of the scene, her hand still fisted in his shirt, it brought him back to what was happening in the present, and he shook his head as if to dismiss the movement as he sat back down, relieved when the scene changed again.

Considering it was going to the competition and Kaori’s surgery at the same time, he doubted he was going to get much of a reprieve before the emotions hit again.  Kousei was still a mess, though it was a miracle he’d at least shown up to the competition, but even watching him was worrisome, wondering if he was going to break at the piano again after all this progress he’d made throughout the show, everyone watching in concern in the show and on the couch.

“I made you remember something you don’t want to remember…”

“I won’t forget, even if I die…”

“You can just forget about it all, like you’ve pressed the reset button…”

“I guess maybe we never should've met, huh?”

Levi had to close his eyes for a moment after that one, sucking in a sharp breath.  It was like it had come right out of his denial of their entire situation, how angry he’d been, the pain it had caused, how for a few moments, he’d felt like it would have been better if he could forget it all, if they had never met, because then he wouldn’t know about what he could never have.  His heart ached painfully, the words reverberating not in his mind, but in his bones as the pain in his throat already seemed to be returning.

He opened his eyes, and on screen, Kousei started to break down again, face in his hands, on the brink of tears seated at the piano, on stage in front of everyone once again.

Tsubaki sneezed, and after a few moments of reflecting, after realizing how many people he knew were there...Kousei finally began to play, the notes reverberating deep inside his chest in a full, resonating sound.  Something about it made him nostalgic, but also so...it was so…

“Bursting with such mournful color.”

The chapter suddenly came to an end mid performance, which startled Levi--especially when Y/N darted forward so suddenly to grab the remote and quickly jump to the next one, immediately snapping back into his side, clutching to his clothes like her life depended on it, curled into a ball as he realized for the first time that tissue box was suddenly right in front of her, easily accessible.

The last episode.

Considering the set-up, neither of them were going to get through this last part unscathed emotionally.

It started from the beginning of the piece this time, the commentary being made by the onlookers and Kousei different this time, centered entirely on Kousei after the very beginning.  Levi and Y/N were both enraptured by the performance though, holding to one another on the couch with gazes fixed forward, completely still, even their breathing slight as they paid full attention to every word, and let the music pull them in deeper into the emotional symphony Kousei was creating with just the piano.

“I’m so scared...Somebody…”

“But you have me.”

“I’m not alone.  From the moment that we meet someone else, none of us can ever be alone.  We’re all connected.”

Levi’s grip tightened slightly on Y/N’s shoulder again, and he felt her grip tighten in return.

“Don’t leave me all alone.”

“Dummy, you have me.”

“Inside me...you exist.”

Y/N nuzzled into his side like a cat, and he thought he felt his shirt starting to get damp.  He ignored it, keeping his grip on her firm and steady, staying still beneath her as he stared stalwartly at the screen, even as the emotions were starting to stir violently around inside him.

”No way am I going to leave you all alone.  Reach her.  Reach her.  Reach her.  Reach her.”

The scenery changed entirely, like Kousei was playing in the sky amid a shower of colors, floating around like leaves that autumn day when he and Y/N had jumped into the piles and sent them scattering into the air.  Kaori’s whispered ‘Thank you’ as Kousei carried her back down the stairs sent a shiver down his spine, especially when Kousei of the present reacted, and turned his head to see Kaori materializing beside him, violin in hand.

Beside him, there was suddenly a whine from Y/N, and a rather large sniffle, as well as that damp feeling on his clothes starting to spread.  She trembled slightly beneath his arm and hand, and he realized she was starting to cry rather heavily, her face partially buried in his side.

The music was jarring, disorienting, suddenly intense and tragic as Kousei closed his eyes, barely holding back tears.

Oh.

Oh, shit.

And there it was.

Kaori’s rich violin playing joined into Kousei’s suddenly mournful and tragic playing, and Levi realized that they were witnessing the last time the two would get to play together.  It couldn’t happen again in body, but at least in spirit.  Words weren’t needed for this moment.  Nothing was said between the characters on the screen, and not a word was spoken between Levi and Y/N.  She was continuing to cry into his side, with Levi starting to semi-awkwardly rub her shoulder to try and comfort her even as his own heart seemed to be pounding painfully at the sight in front of him, every note piercing him deeper than he thought possible with the raw emotion behind and pure weight of this single moment.  All there was at this moment in time, was him, Y/N, and the music being created on the stage in front of them between Kaori and Kousei, one last time.

A sob broke past Y/N’s control as the colorful day turned into a rich night, and Kaori stopped playing.  Levi held his breath, watching as transfixed on the scene as Kousei was transfixed on Kaori, the music softening for the briefest moment before it started to turn slow, mournful, and tragic again.

”Wait...please don’t go!”

As Kousei started to beg Kaori to do all of these things with him again, good and bad, Levi felt the pressure on his chest return, the burn in his eyes and the clench in his jaw, the pain in his throat.  Memories of his own were flickering before his eyes in place of what Kousei begged of Kaori.

A small hand offering a still-warm roll.  A splash of cool water to the face with shrieks and giggles filling the air.  The security of being able to lean comfortably against a warm back with the sun shining down from above, hands gripping his legs and his arms wrapped around the girl who carried him home on her back.  The cool taste of ice cream as they leaned against the brick store.  A gentle hand rubbing soft circles on his back as he slipped in and out of lucid thought in his feverish state.  The sound of hope amid darkness that they managed to create together despite his crude piano playing.  Her hand even now clenched tightly in his shirt seeking comfort, like when he’d led her home in the dark through the desert.

His hand was stretched out before him, pulled along by the girl that suddenly disappeared when he closed his eyes.  He tried to reach a little further, as if his fingertips could press past some veil between his world and hers, so he could reach her even for another moment.  The warmth and the softness of the comfort she wrapped him in evaporated into smoke between his fingers, disappearing in translucent curls, leaving him with nothing to hold, the weight of her presence suddenly disappearing.

What if one day he didn’t come back?

What if one day it all just...ended?  Without any warning?  The only sign that he would never return the passage of time and gradual loss of hope?

“Don’t go, don’t go, please don’t go, please don’t leave me behind!”

Y/N was sobbing openly into his side now, but she didn’t move to stop the show--she kept watching it.  Levi was unaware of the fact that his hand was shaking against her shoulder, all of his effort on keeping the emotions bottled inside him as he watched Kaori disappear before Kousei’s eyes in a flurry of petals, swept away by an indifferent wind.

The rest of the last chapter seemed to pass by in a blur, Levi spending most of that time trying to work his way down from the emotions that scene had stirred up in him, glancing over at Y/N to see a collection of tissues around her while her gaze remained fixed forward, still a blubbering mess over the events that were unfolding on screen.  Shards of Kaori’s letter made it through to Levi, certain fragments sticking with him in the moment, others slowly settling in likely to make an impact on him later.

“I want Kousei to play the piano for me!”

He understood that sentiment.  He loved listening to Y/N play for him, it was one of the many reasons why he brought it up so often.  Sure, it was nice she was trying to teach him to play, but the true moment of enjoyment for him was when she played for him.

“Isn’t it funny how the most unforgettable scenes can be so trivial?”

“None of it was trivial.”

No, none of it was.  From playing card games in her room to playing tag on the playground, or eating frozen treats on the steps while they played simple games with their hands.  Every little moment was one Levi kept stored away, a secret trove of memories just for him and her, something bright and...something that the Underground couldn’t corrupt, because it couldn’t reach or touch this world or the girl at his side.

“Was I able to live inside your heart?  Do you think you’ll remember me at least a little?  You better not hit reset.  Don’t forget me, okay?  That’s a promise, okay?  I’m glad it’s you, after all.”

Like Y/N said, just because the moments were fleeting, didn’t mean they didn’t matter.  Even if they stopped one day, for whatever reason...at least he would have everything that had come before, the memories, the moments that nothing could take away.  He didn’t think she would want him to try and forget, anyway.  And a part of him wouldn’t want her to forget him, either.  Unlike everything else in his life so far, he wanted this good thing to last, one way or another.

“Will I reach you?  I hope I can reach you.”

This time, when his mind procured the image of his hand outstretched in front of him, trying to catch the disappearing back of the girl in front of him, fingers finding nothing but air, he let his hand squeeze slightly against Y/N’s shoulder once more, reminding himself she was right here in his arms right now, and not to take that for granted.  Maybe sometimes she’d be out of reach, but right now, she was right here.  She wasn’t always out of reach.  He’d just have to make each moment he was here count for something.

Thankfully, she already seemed pretty good at making that happen, so he felt like he wouldn’t have to worry about it too much.  She was always taking him by the hand to have him run with her wherever she wanted to go and explore, and so far, she hadn’t made him regret following her on her little adventures.

She made his life colorful.

“Thank you for being my friend, Levi.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

Next Chapter---->

Levi Tags:  @clary-quinn @humanitys-hottestsoldier @whalerus @sunny-flo @thirstyforsometea

Through The Looking Glass Tags:  @artist-bby @kaz2y5-pie​ @tartheyes​ @super-peace-fangirl​ @huntersbunker​ @nefelimalfoy​ @soft-levi-girl-blog​ @honeygivemeachainsaw @regalillegal​ @sugas-daddy7​ @cathyannecookie @chaoticshepardplaid @roayaloveslife​ @sanrioclit​

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[kerra-and-company]

For Kerra’s 1st Birthday

So. You know how sometimes we imagine animatics in our heads that we never make? I did that, but I was picturing it in such detail that I wrote it down. I still don’t have the skills to animate or draw it, but I figured it might be a good birthday present for Kerra. :)

I’m a couple weeks or so late (very sorry, Ker!), but I’m counting it as her first birthday present. I’ve been playing this game for over a year now, which isn’t long compared to a lot of you, but I’ve definitely fallen in love with it, and I appreciate the community here on Tumblr, no matter how big it might or might not be. Thanks for a great first year, everyone. Love you guys, seriously <3

(I don’t know if this is going to be something other people are super interested in reading or not, but if you are, go for it--it’s under the cut! :) The song is Dirt Around The Tree by Candi Carpenter, and you can listen to it here or on Spotify if you want. Thanks again, folks. I appreciate you a lot.)

[Introductory music plays over brief intro text. Just before the beginning of the song, the text fades to dense clouds.]

I was born in the fall

 [The clouds clear, revealing Caledon. The camera/POV swoops through quickly in the direction of the Grove, with various recognizable places there visible as it does so.]

The season when everything is dying

 [Camera continues its swoop. If we look closely, we can see that it’s winter, or at least sometime cool, in Caledon. There’s no snow, but there’s frost, and many trees are missing leaves. Farms and gardens are bare.]

We must know what we're in for

 [Camera enters the Grove, skirting past the trunk of the Pale Tree and slowing down by pods of not-yet-awakened sylvari. It settles on one.]

That's why we come into this world crying

 [The pod splits open, and Kerra falls out. Nearby sylvari try to help her up, but she scrambles in an uncoordinated fashion to her feet, calling out Caithe’s name.]

 My mother always told me life's not fair

 [The Pale Tree in the Omphalos Chamber, arms open wide, eyes closed. On the word “life”, the camera cuts to Kerra in “Beneath a Cold Moon”, fighting Tiachren. On “not”, the camera cuts to Kerra standing over bodies, next to Caithe and various Wardens. One of the bodies is Tiachren’s. On “fair”, the camera cuts back to the Omphalos Chamber, but this time to Kerra alone. Caithe and Aife are just barely in the image (their shoulders at most), but the focus is on Kerra’s face—troubled and grieving but not quite crying.]

That's probably why I ran away

 [The camera spins back around so that we see Kerra looking at the Pale Tree. This time, she’s flanked by the three sylvari order reps, and Cai—the rep from the Order of Whispers—is holding her hand out. Kerra looks down at it. On “why”, the camera cuts to just their hands, clasped in a handshake. On “ran,” the camera cuts to Kerra and Tybalt on the mission to rescue Demmi. They’ve just opened the door to the room where Demmi was locked up, and Kerra’s holding her hand out to Demmi.]

I don't think that I felt safe at home

 [Camera zooms in on Kerra’s hand, going to brush her hair-leaves back. When it zooms back out, we see Kerra sitting next to Rel. They’re on the beaches of the Weeping Isle, and her mouth is open, like she’s saying the song lyrics. She’s more in silhouette here than a clear picture, and the focus is on Rel’s face. His forehead is furrowed as if in concern.]

And I don't think that's ever gonna change…

 [Kerra’s face comes into clearer focus, still mouthing the words, but this time she looks straight into the camera for a second. As the camera pans around her head, the landscape behind her changes to an airship. She starts to turn away from the camera on the word “ever”, and by “change”, she’s facing away, and we can see her standing at the front of an airship alongside Destiny’s Edge, flying to confront Zhaitan. Kerra’s wearing a long coat now, brown with just-visible green embroidery, and it flaps in the breeze.]

 Tell me, what's at the root of all my guilt and anger?

 [The image blurs as the camera zooms towards the ground and under it. We see roots, twisting and shifting, twining together.]

What's in the dirt around the tree?

 [The camera pans up, more slowly this time so the image is clear. We exit the ground, passing through the levels of the Grove, ending on the plaza in the center where the Pale Tree’s leaves spiral up towards the Omphalos Chamber.]

Heartbreak runs in the family

 [Three images. The first is the Pale Tree, eyes down and half-closed. She looks pained. On “runs”, the image shifts to Caithe, with shiny eyes and a shadowy Faolain behind her, side by side with Trahearne, who’s holding Caladbolg with a gaze that’s both tired and far away. On “family”, the image shifts to Kerra, still in the same outfit from the airship, but with a dark background. Her eyes are wide and unsure.]

That's why I'm still running from me.

 [The camera zooms out to show two Kerras, now, separated by just enough distance that they’d have to move closer to touch (so maybe a couple meters or so). The first is Kerra as a sapling, in her sylvari armor, and the second is Kerra in her airship outfit. They each look at the camera. On the word “running”, they turn to each other. On “me”, the second Kerra turns away and takes a step away from the first.]

 [On the instrumentals, Kerra steps from the black void into the snow, her bow on her back and Felix beside her. She looks worn and tired, her coat torn. She walks from there into a house with Nisha (with a stack of letters), and she smiles. When she leaves the house, her wardrobe changes from brown to blue, and she walks into Southsun, facing Canach and then meeting with him in his cell after. Other images flow after, briefly—her and Dragon’s Watch facing Scarlet, then the party with the nobles, then facing Aerin. Finally, it settles on them all together before the summit, waiting below the Omphalos Chamber for the dignitaries to arrive.]

 I read that trauma is genetic

 [The camera pans up to the Omphalos Chamber, which is under attack by the Shadow of the Dragon. We focus on the Shadow first as it roars (on the word “trauma”) and bares its teeth, and then we pan to Kerra’s face on “genetic”. She’s terrified—but she’s terrified of what the Shadow means, not that she can’t defeat it.]

Who was the first to hand it down?

 [Brief flashes of scenes again. Kerra briefly trying to help her Mother as menders run towards them on “Who”, Kerra-as-Caithe (and Nisha alongside her) watching Wynne’s confession on “first”, Trahearne giving the order to fire on “hand”, and airships falling over Maguuma on “down”.]

Was it my grandpa or his father?

 [Kerra, wearing her HoT clothes, standing beside Canach and Caithe to face Mordremoth, the camera fully focusing on him as of the word “grandpa” and leaving them as silhouettes with weapons at his feet.]

You can't ask someone who ain't around

 [Kerra running to Trahearne while he’s trapped in Mordremoth’s vines and hanging above the ground, grabbing his hand in hers. On “someone”, the image melts into Kerra holding Caladbolg out in Mordremoth’s mindscape, alone. She’s pointing it at a large seed, and Trahearne’s silhouette is behind her. She’s protecting him. On “ain’t”, Kerra begins to glow purple, and the image fades to brightness and then Mordremoth’s power exploding through the jungle, like the cutscene in canon, implying his death.]

 Tell me, what's at the root of all my guilt and anger?

 [Again, like before in the first iteration of the chorus, the camera blurs as we zoom down to roots, shifting and intertwining, but this time we can see clearly that they’re growing, too.]

What's in the dirt around the tree?

 [Again, we pan through the levels of the Grove to reach the centerpoint with the spiral branches and leaves of the Pale Tree.]

Heartbreak runs in the family

 [And again, we have the three sets of images, but they’re slightly different. The Pale Tree is dimmer, clearly wounded and in pain even if the wounds themselves are not visible. The shadow of Faolain looks like the Mordrem version of her, and Caladbolg is shattered. Kerra’s in her HoT outfit now, with nicks in a few of her leaves. She’s not much different physically, but something in her expression makes her look older.]

That's why I'm still running from me.

 [And last but not least for repeats, we enter the blank void again, but there are three Kerras this time—sapling-Kerra, Zhaitan-Kerra, and HoT-Kerra. They all start off looking at the camera. On “running”, sapling-Kerra and Zhaitan-Kerra look at HoT-Kerra, and she looks back at them. On “me”, she turns and takes a step away from them.]

 [Instrumentals follow, and the steps turn into a full-on run as she crashes into Canach and Nisha’s arms, laughing. Her outfit switches to her LWS3 one as she swings from their arms to Tarir, watching Aurene hatch and pulling her close. Caithe is in that image too, awe and faint affection on her face. As the deeper strings are overrun with lighter notes, a few scenes flicker by—Lazarus awakening, the battle with Caudecus, Balthazar’s reveal. The strings reach a high note as Kerra is shown on the airship to Elona, her clothes changing again to those she wears in PoF. Vlast’s death is shown, a bright light and Balthazar and crystals, followed by Kerra in Kesho and then a flash of her traversing the desert on her raptor. The notes begin to downswing into the bridge as the battle on the mountaintop comes into focus, Kerra fighting Balthazar hand-to-hand with Caladbolg, and on the final few notes, we see him slash down at her where she’s lying, barely breathing, on the ground. There’s darkness, and on the last note, she opens her eyes in the Domain of the Lost. They’re red.]

 I wanna be more than a lost little girl

 [Spirit-Kerra takes a step forward. She picks her bow up off the ground on “be”, meeting Nenah’s eyes as her guide gestures towards a hill. Glowing blue silhouettes of memories are visible in the distance, but only just barely. On “lost”, we see the full image of Kerra looking towards the hill, determined.]

I'm gonna grow up someday

 [The camera shows Kerra climbing the mountain, past various memory images. Some we’ve seen in the video, some we haven’t. In the last image, right on/after the word “someday”, we can see Caladbolg at Kerra’s side.]

Maybe I'll plant another family tree

 [Kerra pauses at a memory of her with her partners. It’s not one we’ve seen before, but they’re all smiling at something or someone the memory doesn’t show. Canach’s arm is around Kerra’s waist, Nisha’s is around her shoulder, and she’s holding them both. On “another”, she reaches out as if to touch it but stops just before she does.]

Somewhere far, far away

 [Kerra continues and reaches the top of the mountain. The memory there is Aurene, still very much a baby, desperately trying to protect Kerra, and then being wrapped in chains. She looks at the image for a few seconds, blue light giving her face an eerie cast, before grasping Caladbolg’s hilt and nearly leaping down the mountain on “away”.]

 [As the music upswings to the final chorus/verse, Kerra bows to the Judge, slashes through the Eater of Souls, and rushes past a very irritated Joko into the portal back to Tyria.]

 Far from the root of all my guilt and anger

 [The light from the portal fades into a cloudless sky and a vast desert. On “guilt”, the camera pans over to the mountain where Kerra fought Balthazar. Wisps of smoke still come from it, but they’re faint. We can see figures on the mountain, but not well enough to determine features (though if you’ve played PoF you could guess who most of them are).]

Blood in the dirt and on the leaves

 [The words describe what we’re seeing. Kerra’s blood is on the sandy dirt of the mountaintop, and it’s splattered in specks on her hair-leaves and face.]

Tell me, what's at the root of all my guilt and anger?

 [On “Tell”, Kerra opens her eyes wide. They’re faint purple, as they should be. On “me” she sits up straight, gasping. As the rest of the phrase plays out, we see what she is seeing as her gaze tracks across her friends. Kasmeer, Rytlock…Canach and Nisha. Kasmeer has a tentative but disbelieving smile on her face. Rytlock looks very much like “what the fuck”.]

Am I who I'm supposed to be?

 [There’s a beat while Kerra stares at Canach and Nisha and they stare back at her, but on “supposed”, her partners reach their hands out to her. She looks back at them, wide-eyed, like she’s about to cry.]

Heartbreak runs in the family

 [On the musical downswing, the image fades into current Kerra in the blank void. Just her, no one else. She’s sitting on the ground, in clothing that’s damaged and burned, with too-bright eyes.]

That's why I'm still running from me.

 [There’s six Kerras in total now, in a line as they’ve been in the previous choruses, but all but the first and the last fade into the background on “me”, leaving just sapling-Kerra and PoF-Kerra to stare at each other across the distance of the blank void. Both sitting, both very different. The distance is much larger than a meter.]

Heartbreak runs in the family

 [The three picture sets flash, but this time they’re interspersed with Canach and Nisha moving towards Kerra, and they’re different now. On “Heart-”, the image of the Pale Tree is of her with the Menders, giving them a faint smile. On “break”, we see Canach and Nisha taking a step forward. On “runs”, we see Caithe holding a tiny Aurene in her arms, and they both look overjoyed. Trahearne no longer has Caladbolg and his face is scarred to look half-Mordrem, but he’s standing next to Rel, who’s laughing as he kisses the back of Trahearne’s hand. On “the”, we fully fade back to the mountaintop, and Canach and Nisha take another step forward before throwing Kerra into their arms. At the end of this line, we see Kerra crying and holding them tight, with Kas wiping her own tears away and Rytlock starting to laugh with unexpected relief.]

Why am I still running from me?

 [Slowly, the image fades back into sapling-Kerra and PoF-Kerra in the void, staring at each other. PoF-Kerra is still crying, but on “me”, she smiles, too.]

 [As the final instrumentals play out, both of them stand up. They run toward each other, and they meet in the middle with a tight hug, burying their faces in each other’s shoulder.]

 [THE END]

#kerralind #gw2 #happy birthday kerra!! #this song gave me so many her vibes that i came up with a whole animatic that i couldn't draw asdlkfsdf #a very creator vibe i think #and i could say thanks a whole lot more to all of you but seriously: thanks one more time #it's been super nice to get to know you guys and i'm definitely planning on staying :) #my fics #well #kinda; haha #:) #oh also I def should have tagged this with spoilers!! spoilers abound here folks #up to and including pof

[madame-fouquet]

2020 Anime Retrospective

With the end of the year here, and all the anime that came with it now behind us, I feel like looking back and reminiscing on it. So, following the style of ANN's own yearly retrospectives, may I present my 2020 anime in review! Enjoy.

Best of the year: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken

    This is actually not the first time Yuasa and his crew of, let's be honest, visionaries have rolled something special out right at the beginning of the year in some weird power move against everything else that has to follow it. They did it back in 2018 with Devilman Crybaby, and then they hit us this year with Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken.     You ever have one of those shows where you're just constantly in awe of everything it does? Where you never found yourself chasing merch or hunting after content based off it online, but you consistently find yourself thinking about it? Yeah, that's what Eizouken did to my brain after I watched it. It was such an earnest love letter to anime and anime production, to animation in general, that I couldn't help but get sucked into its imagination and enthusiasm. The way it was able to so perfectly illustrate that pure, boundless, childlike joy that one can derive from the simple act of creating, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it had a powerful effect on my own desire to continue creating. (Corny as that sounds, it's true.) The sheer amount of love it contains, and the equal amount it puts out into the world make it so I know I am going to be thinking about it again and again for a long long time.

Runner-up: Akudama Drive

    I don't know if it's really quite a matter of my two favorites being opposites, but there are definitely some pretty sharp stylistic and tonal differences between my two top shows this year. Akudama Drive's cocaine-fueled bender of an intro episode made it very clear what it's intentions were and what it wanted us to be prepared for. That doesn't mean I had ANY idea of where it was headed narratively, but I did know I was in for one hell of a ride. And it delivered is spades on that promise.     The twists and turns, no matter how insane, illogical, or steeped in tropes they were, were all such a colorful energetic spectacle that it would be hard to hold anything against the series. Every character was such a force that I didn't really consider any of them a weak point. Yeah, some of them were more or less cardboard cut-outs of antagonistic elements, but when the cardboard cutout looks REALLY FREAKING COOL, it's hard to get too torn up over the details. It's a show that oozes style and knew EXACTLY what it wanted to do and be, and I have to respect that.

Runner-up-up: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

    The next few entries aren't really in any sort of order, I actually found it near impossible to sort anything below my top two. Hanako-kun however does hold a bit of a special place for me though because, at least from a stylistic standpoint, it hits so many of my buttons. Just visually this show is the exact kind of thing my younger self would have latched onto immediately, even before knowing anything about the actual content. I suppose not much has really changed though.     I'm absolutely in love with the animation style of Hanako-kun, and I got really lucky that there is an interesting story and delightful cast of characters underneath that visual splendor. Along with the sharp lines, intense colors, and soft characters, I'm also a sucker for contemporary supernatural mysteries. That's a fancy way of saying one of my favorite shows as a kid was The X-files, but both make the point pretty well. The world of Hanako-kun has a lot to offer, and I can only hope it gets a second season so we can continue to delve into it's beautiful and terrifying mysteries.

Runner-up-up: Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2

    I know a lot of people will be talking about this one when it comes to “Best of” lists. I know a lot of people were talking about the first season when it reminded us just how funny anime can be back in 2018. Absurd high school comedies (Is that a genre?) could definitely be considered my favorite. Hell, of my top five favorite anime of all time, THREE of them fall under that category. So believe me when I say Kaguya-sama absolutely deserves the deluge of praise it receives. For what describing something as “laugh out loud” is worth, this show had me constantly needing to pause it just so I could finish laughing at whatever ludicrously funny misfortune had just befallen it's cast of lovable morons.     The thing is though, Kaguya-sama understands that you can't just earn love and goodwill on laughs alone, there needs to be a beating heart at the center of all the shenanigans. And when this season had me actually cheering on and feeling sorry for Ishigami of all people, I knew that beating heart was present and accounted for. Look, the cast are all self-centered idiots, but I'll be damned if they aren't also my dear children who I delight in watching slowly grow and become slightly less self-centered idiots.

Runner-up-up: Dorohedoro

    When the Dorohedoro anime was first announced, a lot of my experience was watching a group of people online scream about how they were so pumped that it was finally getting an anime. I had never heard of it before, but the excitement was very real and tangible. And I gotta say, sometimes you need to believe the hype.     I've never been one to shirk a series just because it was CG animation, (Watch ID-0 dammit!) but Dorohedoro makes a strong case for why people shouldn't sleep on something based solely on it's animation. The dirty, grease-encrusted world of Hole is brought to life with plenty of flair and style that, I feel, the CG didn't hold back at all. What I had seen said was that for a long time Dorohedoro was kinda considered “unanimateable” but I think MAPPA did the iconic manga a fair amount of justice. Even if pulpy ultra-violence isn't normally your thing, I still highly recommend giving Dorohedoro a look, it might just end up being a hole worth going down.

Honorable Mention: Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!!

    I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. The first Show By Rock!! was definitely an indulgence for me. While not something I considered a high level series by any stretch: messy plotting, shallow characters, a weird isekai angle, a lackluster finale, and an even MORE lackluster second season, it still got is hooks into me with its sheer energy and fluffy charm. So despite the, as mentioned, rough second season, I was more than happy to check out the new series in the franchise. And boy was I glad I did.     Mashumairesh!! takes all the heart and sweetness that worked for the first series and dials it up. It then took a hard look at a lot of what DIDN'T work in the first series, and manages to fix most of the issues. Removing the isekai angle and the whole existential threat thing, and just letting the series be a “slice-of-life but in an electric animal filled music world” did wonders for the direction and consistency. Add to that more properly fleshed out characters, and you get a series that is far stronger than it's progenitor.     The next series, Show By Rock!! Stars!!, will be adding back the cast from the first series, and that could very well be a sign that it will be falling back into its old habits, but the presence of the Mahumairesh!! girls gives me hope that it might have a chance of staying the new, far better course.

Worst of the Year: Digimon Adventure:

    This one really hurts to say. What hurt more was how quickly I knew what show I'd be electing for this position. One thing to clarify is that I would not nominate a series that I'd only watched one or two episodes of, that's just not fair. So the award was bound to go to something I had at least dedicated a decent amount of my time too. And in any other year this may have gone to something that was more my “least favorite” or had an ending that disappointed me. But unfortunately I have to be honest and sit here and tell you that the newest entry in the Digimon franchise was easily the worst thing I watched this year.      I have been a long time Digimon fan. Ever since I was but a wee lass watching the original Digimon Adventure premiere on Fox Kids at a family reunion, I have always considered the franchise a sort of cornerstone of my anime fandom. So please understand the excitement I had felt when I found out they were doing a full on remake of that flagship series. Imagine how absolutely pumped I was when the bombastic movie-like premiere of Digimon Adventure: wowed us with everything it delivered, and all the promises of what was to come. And then imagine my disappointment, my despair as the show devolved until it showed us what it really was during the finale of the Fake Tokyo arc.     I would call it a production meltdown, but considering the precedent that got set back in episode 10 during the already shaky Ultimate Evolution arc, has been so clearly informing everything up to the current episodes in the early 30s, I have to be honest with myself and admit: this is what we were going to get all along from day one.     All of the heart that had made the original series so endearing, despite its own flaws, just isn't present here. What you get here is just a non-stop (and I mean non-stop) string of barely related fights with poorly-defined stakes, or sometimes no real stakes at all. It's just one ugly set piece fight after another as the children chase after vaguely implied evils. I think the most damning thing is how much more I could say about just how much this series has let me down. Like I said, this one hurts.

Best Theme-Song of the Year: Night Running (BNA)

     My opinion of BNA as a series is complex. But my opinion of its ED, Night Running, is simple: Its a god-damned bop! I could spend this whole section talking about the artistry of the ED animation itself, its fun and creative use of color, the slight variations for certain episodes, the focus on character, or the fact that it was done by an American animation team. I could even talk about the song's importance to the series as a whole and its place in the narrative. I won't though. The fact of the matter is that even without all that, I STILL probably would've picked Night Running as my best of the year because as a song it is just that much my jam. This is the kind of shit I could listen to on repeat for hours, days, weeks, and still keep coming back to it. Don't get me wrong, Ready To is a damn powerful and catchy tune that goes hard, but at the end of the day, I'm a sucker for a soulful pop tune like Night Running. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWTFfEnMCCc

Best Character: Sayaka Kanamori

    This was actually probably the hardest category for me to decide on. It was stuck hard between Eizoken's Kanamori and Akudama Drive's Doctor. I know those are a powerfully different pair in basically every way, but it was specifically for their startling differences that both characters stuck out to me so much. In the end though, it was the poignant rounding out of, and emotional hooks of Kanamori's character that let her triumph over her delightfully two-dimensional opposition.     Kanamori already had me from episode one. In a show that I wasn't really worried about the usual diversions of anime ingestion like picking a favorite character, Kanamori sealed herself as “Best-girl” from the word go. I have mad respect for a girl who knows what she wants, and has a clear idea of how she's going to go about getting it (See also: Doctor.) But Kanamori was more than a driving desire for success and money. Underneath her unstoppable ambition there was a very real, very relatable driving impetus. She stood apart, and yet still believably vulnerable and invested in the people she associated with. It was always a blast watching her suffer as the only thing keeping the more creative minds on track, and yet she was never reduced to a simple task master; her love and respect for her friends was always clearly visible. I could go on and on about how Kanamori is a nearly perfect character, but I hope I've said enough already without having to resort to senseless rambling.

Best Moment: Howan confesses her feeling to Himeko (Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!!)

    By the time episode six rolled around, Mashumairesh!! had already shown marked improvements over its progenitor in basically every area. Not only was the story in a better place by focusing on what had worked in the original series, (Ya know the BAND part of this show about bands) but the cast was also doing a good job of standing out from their seniors and feeling more equally rounded out. Where the original series had just kinda been the Cyan show with guest stars, I felt like I had an actual grip on all four of the main girls now.     There were however the usual issues that come with a cute-girls-doing-cute-things series, chief among them the “ambiguously gay member of the group who constantly reacts with clear romantic interest towards the main protagonist but the writing will never actually do anything with those feelings” trope. Retoree had spent the better part of the first two seasons fawning over Cyan only for nothing to come of it and, despite the increased focus on all of the girls this time around, it looked like we were going to get the same old song and dance with Himeko's feelings towards Howan.     But then the climax of episode six hit and, midst a really intense subplot about Himeko's abandonment complex, Howan comes out with a straight up love confession. And I kept waiting for the usual dead-ends these moments always seem to have. The “I love you! I love the girls too! I love the band!” Or a “I love being with you.” and the dreaded, “I love having you as my most precious friend.” But none of that happened. It was a full on heart-felt, “I love you, Himeko. I want to stay with you forever!” I'm just not used to getting that sort of straightforwardness from my silly little band shows, so I was shocked, but also completely overjoyed. And frankly the series just kept getting better from there.     The evolution of their relationship built off that moment, no dreaded resetting of the status quo. I daresay it was on the power of this moment alone that I wanted to include this series in my top five at all. If there was anything I would want other anime to take from Mashumairesh!! it's that it's okay to introduce radical changes to character relationships partway through a season, and it's okay to let characters unequivocally state their feelings for each other. People will respond positively to that earnestness, I promise.

#anime #keep your hands off eizouken! #sayaka kanamori #akudama drive #toilet-bound hanako-kun #kaguya sama wo kataritai #kaguya-sama love is war #dorohedoro #show by rock #show by rock mashumairesh!! #howan #mashima himeko #digimon #digimon adventure: #BNA #Brand New Animal #Night Running

[rubyleaf]

HIKARU HIYAMA – character intro

"People are tiring, aren't they?"

Name: Hikaru Hiyama (飛山 光, Hiyama Hikaru written with the kanji for “to fly”, “mountain” and “light”)

Age: 15

Appearance: Average height for his home country, slightly shorter than average abroad; very lean and light to maximize flying speed; fair skin; short, fluffy hair that can look black or dark brown depending on lighting; dark brown eyes; intelligent-looking but expressionless face

Familiar: A very large komainu (one half of a pair, with the other one belonging to his twin sister) named Fuyu

Strengths: Flying; “speaking in tongues” (talking to animals); enchantment

Magic type: Light

The surprisingly powerful son of an average Light Mage family. Outwardly stoic, though mostly just bad at expressing emotions; only as nice as the other person is to him, and petty and spiteful when provoked. Not very good with people despite his best efforts; strongly prefers animals to humans. Easily stressed by the sound of human voices.

Excerpt:

Why should I be jealous of the guy no one would care about if he wasn't this fast? He knew, of course, but he hated to hear it. He didn't want to hear it, not from someone like the ace of this team, Finnian Day, who could have anything he wished for with a snap of his fingers. Finnian, who could be an arrogant, insufferable person and still have lots of friends because he wasn't like Hikaru, he was normal, and he could easily fit in with the other normal people.

Why don't you try to play with the other kids? You're always alone.

Hikaru's weird. We don't wanna play with him.

Why are you always so quiet? You should socialize, you know.

What do I do with this child?

It wasn't that he didn't want to fit in or have friends. It was just—people were so loud, and confusing, and they rarely seemed to say what they meant. And Hikaru was too straightforward, too literal, too bad at figuring out all the hints and clues and subtleties that seemed to come easily to everyone else.

He was better at it all now, through years and years of painstaking study. He had learned to maintain eye contact. He had learned to understand when people said one thing or meant another—mostly. He had learned to bite his tongue instead of rambling on and on about the things that fascinated him, not realizing that he was boring everyone else with them. But it was still the difference between a native speaker and someone who had only ever learned the language from books and classes.

Finnian was right, Hikaru thought, as much as that thought angered him. If not for his exceptional flying skills, even his parents would think he was no good.

Note: I’m aware that the creature in the moodboard is, in fact, not a komainu but an Okinawan shīsā. However, since the creatures are very similar and it was impossible to find a free image of a komainu that would’ve fit into the color palette, I decided to take this liberty. My apologies.

#he changed so much in my head…prototype!hikaru used to be so much nicer #writeblr #wtwcommunity #character intro #character introduction #original character #fantasy wip #young adult #urban fantasy #sunlit mage #c: hikaru hiyama #me and my writings #my edits

[hopeymchope]

So, how complicated is the entire 'A Certain' series? I read a basic summary of the setting, but it seems like there is a lot of material to sift through. If you know about the Fate Series, would you say it's more/less/equally complicated?

I’d say it’s definitely less complicated. Honestly, you can get away with following either just the light novels/manga or just the animes, and you’ll be clear to understand everything you need to know. There are no “this is only slightly comprehensible if you’ve played a preceding video game” stories, and there are no “This is a completely different AU with the same characters but a fundamentally different setup” stories - both of which Fate manages to dump on us thanks to the Extra line :P. In fact, the “A Certain/To Aru” series only has one single continuity so far!

I speak as someone who has personally only ever watched the various animes, but I’ve never felt lost (uhh, except during two particular arcs that are designed to confuse you until the eventual explanation arrives - one of which is the very first intro arc. Lol).

You should really start with the original series  A Certain Magical Index, although it’s… not impossible to start with A Certain Scientific Railgun (my personal favorite). Railgun starts out as a prequel for a long while before finally reaching the point where it aligns with the start of Index, however… it’s just that all of the series loves to reference back to/hint at the central characters of Index, so it’s best to get that context first. That doesn’t mean you have to watch or read ALL of Index before splitting off, of course - in fact, I found it more satisfying to sort of alternate between season one of Index, season one of Railgun, season two of Index, season two of Railgun, etc. But you could just as easily do like, maybe three story arcs in Index before swiftly jumping over to another show/series. Idk.

(A Certain Scientific Accelerator really doesn’t work until you’ve cleared at least two seasons of Index or 12 damn light novels of it, so that’s… its own thing.)

Fair Warning: The series loves to employ the kind of sexual humor you likely expect from anime by now (unsuspecting guy somehow accidentally winds up walking into room where women are changing/winds up falling on someone’s breasts/etc etc etc), and it is tiresome, but IN PARTICULAR, there are times when the Wacky Hjinx of “Railgun’s roommate wants so fucking bad to sexually assault/molest her - and it’s extra-wacky bc they’re both underage!” made me nearly fucking give up more than once in season 1 of her show. There’s a personal line to that stuff for everybody, and y’know, your mileage may vary on how much bullshit you are willing to tolerate. You might prefer to give up. You might not care. I don’t know. I was EVENTUALLY happy I suffered through because of how much I loved the stuff on the other side, but uh JEEEESUS CHOCOLATE CHRIST JAPAN is all I’m sayin’, y’know?

#to aru #a certain #to aru series #a certain series #a certain magical index #a certain scientific railgun #a certain scientific accelerator #asks

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24HighSchoolStudents #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental education #environmental justice #environmental protection #environmental health #high school students #high school #youth #youth of america #school

[bladekindeyewear]

Boots reads Homestuck Epilogue part... one..??

Alright, let’s do this.  As I’ve said, the page after this one is all I’ve seen, I’m diving in unspoiled.  Also I gather from some of the non-spoilery chatter I’ve heard from my friends -- one of which warned me this sort of thing was coming a couple weeks ago, and I believed them (but didn’t want to) -- that this first epilogue-upd8 may not be the only epilogue-upd8, which isn’t surprising either given how Andrew works.

Alright, let’s go.  Hope my stomach can take it!

So, Page 1, the mock-AO3 page that’s the only thing I’ve seen before posting this.  The content warning is EXCELLENT, and gives me hope that this will be the usual Hussie-caliber and more humorous than heartwrenching.  :)

It also makes some serious sense that there would be multiple epilogues; from the sound of the summary, this one might focus more on John and then leave ample opportunity to discuss the others.

Let’s click page 2 -- oh, or contents: “Prologue”, this being a chapter list for this is another way to do it.  Clicking Prologue.......

Okay wow, this is novel format for the moment.  Good chance it won’t stay that way.

These first two paragraphs are well-written and ominous, sure -- describing stuff we pretty much already knew was happening, in different words -- but even though the writing isn’t really pretentious, there’s still a good chance Andrew *views* it as pretentious enough to find cutting away to art-style instead hilarious.  Onto the third paragraph...

Music and Calliopes the other Calliope is conducting, yeah... Oh, there’s a garbage disposal reference.  In regards to a black hole.  Like the one I kind of pointed to during Dave’s intro sequence in the Third Scratch theory and stuff in all those big theories.  The ones I was, er, wrong about... ahem.  Moving on.

“Your name is John Egbert, and you have just had a terrible, deeply pretentious nightmare.”

Pfffffffff  :D

I love you Andrew Hussie.  Reading on...

YES I see chat colors. Chat colors!!! I need chat colors.  Reading reading reading let me get down to them let me

Absolutely nothing of note has ever happened here in the entire history of the planet, which you would know, because you created it.

Baahahahahah.  :D

Okay yes I’m at the phone-sterlog.

Uh oh.

I am reading elevated levels of angst compared to usual pesterlogs in this log.  Which is to say, virtually any at all, really.  THAT doesn’t bode well for the outcome/overall tone of this epilogue.  :X  --Not to say it isn’t *appropriate*, given they still haven’t fixed/resewn Paradox Space together, but... yeah, *future feels* are popping up on the radar, that’s what I’m worried about.  I loved the tone of the snapchats and the feeling that everything was going to be fine, especially given how the ending “not being what I expected” shook me a fair bit, but to look forward to when that may end... D:

Yeah, Rose having some serious visions about some unfinished business they need to get around to instead of just fucking around and living their lives makes sense.  :X  --or at least some timeline version of them.  I’m imagining they’re living varied, excellent lives in a whole TON of timelines of promise that commit our imaginings of their potential futures to virtual canon, really, with the main thread that ties off Caliborn’s stage play almost irrelevant in comparison... that was kind of the whole point of the Ending of homestuck earlier, of that final anime flash, the fact that the victory and planet and *lives* they won meant a whole lot more than whatever Lord English’s irrelevant machinations were.

So... returning to the tail end of that main thread and seeing how *serious* it might be....... yeah. Kinda mildly panic-inducing. :XXX

You move the phone away from your ear and assume an expression you haven’t practiced in years. It is the look of a man who actually has something to do.

Okay that was good.

Ah, he’s twenty-three now!

Let’s click the next link. ==>

Fuck let’s not recount Rose’s substance abuse.

Oh, cool. Er, “cool”. Rose is getting some of Rosejaspersprite^2′s awareness of all her alternate-timeline doomed selves and their lives.  No wonder she’s worried about the substance abuse she technically mostly *avoided* in this timeline.

Light explicitly relating to knowledge, good.  That’s a nice aspect tidbit to have reiterated.

ROSE: There’s a different scale I’ve come to understand. Another dichotomy that’s less... emotional, I guess? ROSE: Consider, instead of the word “good,” using the word “essential.” ROSE: And what exists at the opposite polarity from essential is... ROSE: Something that is best not to contemplate.

ooh.  oooooh. holy shit.

okay NO, BOOTS/BKEW.  DON’T GET FUCKING EXCITED.

DON’T get excited.

It only SOUNDS like she’s learned to recontextualize the whole adventure in the rich context of the classpect system, that’s just your wild fanfic-y theoryimagination talking.  Shoosh.  (Even though she IS very, very, *very* clearly referencing the Light/Void dichotomy with the above quote.)  Just... tamp down your hopes, Boots.  Leave it at MILD hope.  Like cool porridge.

Reading on.

Alright, yeah, this universe exists beyond the timespan of the Green Sun’s influence.  Unsurprising, since it was heavily implied.  And she doesn’t have access to her expanded Green Sun powerset while *in* such a universe, which was also heavily implied by alt!Calliope or her denizen or I forget the exact conversation where it said she’d have to make the final journey without Green Sun powers or whatever.  That’s cool.  (Though having it spelled out more explicitly than usual does make it more awkward to have her use her powers for humorous purposes on MXRP in the future.)

OOOH DAVE KARKAT AND JADE ARE IN A PERPLEXING SOCIAL ARRANGEMENT YESSSSS  :D

Best news.  Okay reading on.

ROSE: You will need to travel back into canon and defeat Lord English.

Yeah I guess.

Again, the way the ending sort of put it was that..... our heroes did have to defeat Lord English eventually?  Or set right some prior stuff like doing the stage play?  But that part of the point of this whole story -- the Ultimate Reward -- was that it didn’t really matter, because they had earned nigh-infinite branching timelines of promise in a brand new universe where they could go YEARS AND YEARS living their lives in many of the ways they wished, richly enjoying themselves and starting civilizations that would last billions of years, loving and living and experiencing, only “needing” to go finally check off these other responsibilities in a single timeline of promise at the end of an extended period of vacation they chose with no particular urgency.  Branching years-and-years of essentially heaven as long as they EVENTUALLY fulfilled that particular endpoint, and they knew it.  More or less.

Rose phrases it pretty explicitly, though.  John’s powers are the only thing that can warp people through canon like that without restriction, so he was always to be involved, but... *he* needs to defeat him?  Does that mean alone?

JOHN: yeah, i had a feeling that was going to come up again someday. ROSE: I’m sure we all did. That is, even those of us without visions. JOHN: i was doing my best not to think about it. i guess we can’t put it off any longer then? ROSE: Now is the time. We are rapidly approaching a point of no return. If the decision isn’t made soon, it will be too late. The issue will no longer matter. JOHN: when exactly is the point of no return? ROSE: Today. JOHN: wow. JOHN: ok then.

Ouch.

That’s slightly more abrupt than the picture of branching bliss I just painted.

JOHN: fine? ROSE: Of course everything is fine here. ROSE: We’re outside of canon now. JOHN: yeah, i know. what does that actually MEAN though? JOHN: are you saying this isn’t really happening? ROSE: Of course it’s happening. ROSE: Just because certain events take place outside of canon, it doesn’t mean those events are non-canon. JOHN: oh. ROSE: In other words, there is an important distinction between events which can be considered to occur inside canon, outside canon, and those which are not canon at all. ROSE: The day we went through that door and claimed our reward, we passed a threshold between continua marked by differing degrees of relevance, truth, and essentiality.

Well okay then.  I was wondering why she used the word “canon”.  They literally DID escape the narrative literally as *well* as figuratively with that Juju, then, Neverending Story style.

Also, Light being highly tied to canon and Rose having spent so much time outside of it... yeah, I can understand the headaches more, too.

Alright, reading on, it seems Andrew is using Rose to more explicitly explain how he intends all the non-canon stuff he’s presented to us to “matter”, for those who didn’t quite get or fully believe the implied explanation from context towards the end of the story.

Heh, so the idea is that the urgency comes from “it’s been too fucking long since the story ended, and this epilogue needs to come out when an epilogue would still matter to anyone”.  That’s kind of brilliant.

ROSE: As long as we live outside canon, everything that happens will technically be “real,” but only conditionally. ROSE: There are certain crucial events inside canon which must happen in order to continue to prop up the legitimacy of events here on Earth C. ROSE: And you specifically, John, have a responsibility to make sure those events take place.

Closing threads closing threads CLOSING THREADS :D !!!!!!

FUCK is this epilogue going to be mostly devoted to TYING UP LOOSE ENDS and clarifying stuff??? :D  Like the HUNDREDS OF LOOSE ENDS that were left unanswered because the ending tried to paint it all as sidelined/irrelevant regardless of the fact that they hadn’t been answered/fulfilled, which had previously pretty much traumatized me around Homestuck’s end because I was (1) so used to Andrew expertly tying up almost every loose end eventually and (2) was a theorycrafter with explicit investment in the idea that Classes, Aspects, and most of these loose ends actually DID matter???  :D

Sign me the fuck up!!!  :DDDD

...I know it’s doubtfully going to be anything close to all I hoped for, but still.  Answers, contextualization, and John tying up loose threads.  Like that final frog warped in front of Jade as a child.  That’s good, that’s VERY good.  I’m excited instead of nauseous.  :D

--and yeah, reading on, Rose makes more explicit what I said earlier that the justification Andrew’s painting for this is “we have to wrap up all these loose ends before everyone forgets about Homestuck.”  That is hilarious.

Okay, so the juju is a big plothole. Heheh.  We’ve heard it called that earlier.

...Oh.  Oh huh.

Rose is pretty much explicitly talking about the stage play consisting of a bunch of non-canon ALTERNATE VERSIONS of themselves that mean the original versions of them living happily in the new universe won’t actually die.  Holy shit.  I mean we theorized that for a TIME with some of them but THOSE loose ends (like Roxy still having her mask on) were closed up toward the end...  So instead, having it put THIS way (preserving our ideas of them living full lives post-victory), and not only that but having John DO all this stuff RIGHT NOW to fix things retroactively with some really well-written contextual clarification we’re bound to get to help with the closure... god DAMN.  This is really good.  This is going to make a LOT of people feel a whole lot better about Homestuck.  Like me.  :D

...Pff, some other girl is getting punched by John in the face again.  :D  Don’t worry, Rose isn’t saying that this is the Vriska punch at the beginning of the whole Retcon arc and that this epilogue somehow happened in the middle.  (I hope.)

...Yeah Rose implies heavily that John is gonna die his heroic death if he does this?  Or it’s meant to make us THINK she’s implying that.  Yeah.  And she feels pretty fucking horrible about what she’s asking John to go through regardless, so.  (Yeah, everyone looked pretty genuinely dead but a few at the end of the stage play, but it was pretty uncertain.)  Either way, she’s acting like John isn’t going to “come back”, even if he lives through this.

Stupid feels.

Clicking the next link.  ==>

Hiiii roxy and callie!!! :D

Yes how polite of them.

“Ultimate self”?  Yeah, a sort of synthesizing of all the offshoots of her Heart and Mind, pulling it all together and realizing the full person she is and sum of her whole experience across all timelines, pasts and futures.  Yeesh.  Pretty uncomfortable for someone who ain’t a hypersprite.

...Roxy and Rose aren’t as close?  Is it because of the substance abuse, because of the Light/Void dichotomy literally-or-metaphorically distancing them (with how disparaging Rose just was about anything that isn’t relevant), or something else?

Ah, Kanaya hogged her until she got “sick”, that explains some of it too.

A bell tower? (DOOONNNNGGG)

Fffff interpersonal relationship mildangst.  Fuck

You and all your friends have dispositions affected by your classes and aspects. You think you know what that means in your case. But what about her? You can only speculate. Void is a place where things sink and disappear. Where they linger forever, but cease to exist. You aren’t actually sure if your feelings for Roxy ever really faded, or if they just grew numb with time and distance. Is it the same for her?

Holy fucking shit.  What a big middle finger to everyone who told me aspects didn’t matter to their personalities.  :D

...Though, I think he has it kind of backwards, since he still doesn’t totally understand all this business.  It’s easy for those in canon, introduced to this subject, to think that the classes and aspects affect their dispositions, to an extent where the reality (at least I contend) is that it was their natural dispositions in the first place that the classes and aspects were actually describing.  The power that was latent in their very personalities and tendencies to action all along.

Reading... Ah, yeah, a choice.  Was pretty sure this terminology would be important earlier.  It depends on what SORT of choice this is though... see, so far, Rose hasn’t given John a lot of really EXPLICIT motivation to go through with this, other than some mumbo-jumbo that would supposedly be “bad”.  And it doesn’t even address the black hole in his nightmares.  And here, we have Roxy and others explicitly encouraging him with regard to the fact that he can choose NOT to do this if he wants to.

The main question it brings up (to the future of this epilogue, how it’s going to be considered afterward, etc) is if this is the sort of Choice that John would always say yes to -- in which case it’s more canon than anything else -- or if he will end up being on the fence enough for a Terezi-style Mind-split.  Because this would be the PERFECT out to have him “die” in canon.  See, if he’s on the fence ENOUGH about going, then he creates two timelines that even both potentially have promise within the confines of this universe (since universes hold more than one timeline of promise, according to one of the Calliopes I think)--  One where he lives here, happily ever after with everyone, and another where he completes his Heroic death in canon to fix everything.  It would let Andrew kill John in this epilogue while still letting him live out eternity with everyone else outside “canon”.

He’d get to have his John-death and keep him too!  Seems plausible enough.

Anyway. Reading... it looks like they know more about this decision that Rose has told them, including the consequences Rose might have been dreading.  And likely know that IF John might die doing this, that it won’t be in a way that he regrets.

Oh wow, that whole Meat or Candy sequence is GREAT.  Silly to the core, and yet perfectly emphasizing the debate that... well, I mean, think about what Andrew’s been telling us all along.

He keeps TRYING to tell us that non-canon stuff is fine.  Trying to use that huge ending sequence of Homestuck to try and tell us that the fact that everyone is FREE from this story and its confines, free for everyone to imagine COUNTLESS ways things played out afterward for ALL these lovable characters in carefree futures, is almost MORE important than any of these stupid loose ends.  But some of us were really cut by that ending, the insistence that the actual final battle “didn’t matter” and that this escaped-from-canon existence was the true victory.  But if Andrew just upped and drew a bunch of bonus pages to start explaining more story, THAT would cheapen the escape-from-canon ending he wanted even as it satisfied those of us who wanted ends tied up, who wanted questions answered.  He had to find a very careful, very well done way to give us BOTH.  To write out the real “ending” of “canon” for those of us who needed it, without compromising the ESCAPE from the very necessity of it that was the essential point he WANTED to make with Homestuck’s story from the very beginning.  To carefully keep the endless branches of post-victory possibility and play intact while still, separately and with explicit hedging and qualifications, give us the potential results of one last canon thread to tie up the lingering questions that he so dearly wants us to recognize still “don’t matter” as much in the vast scheme of things.

And he’s doing it.  And it’s WORKING.

Holy SHIT.

I am excited for Homestuck.  I am excited for Homestuck for the first time in years, and my nausea is gone.

I’m not going to start theorizing again; that’s over.  But I’m definitely going to keep reading as the new Epilogue chapters come out, and do so with a spring in my step.

To Be Continued.  :D

#Homestuck #Homestuck Epilogue #Homestuck Liveblog #bladekindeyewear #blastyoboots

[shadylikeatree]

Intro & Chapter 1

Intro:

We are a ragtag group of misfits all from different places and champions of different deities. I, Corbin Falcres, am a musician and storyteller from a small village, saved by the Everlight. Buttons is a green goblin that wore bright pinks and blues and praised Lady Firehair, Nia is an elven forest warrior blessed by a trio of gods with incredible strength and speed, and Thordan, the big man, talks to bears in between bouts of anger and smashing things with his giant axe.

We came together by pure accident, were bonded by our adventures and now we stared down someone who might as well be a god. We could run, but why run when you’ve got music, tricks, swords and a guy who talks to bears at your side?

I thought for a second about where we all had come from and how this all started. It's a strange set of circumstances.

Chapter 1.

My journey began in a small town in a valley surrounded by beautiful fields of lilies that were often replaced in late summer by the crop harvests, for miles with the mountains peaking out of the grounds in the northeastern distance like a child’s first tooth. With the breeze it’s a very temperate place for most of the year but winters can be harsh on the plains. However being at the crossroads to three major cities supplies were not hard to come by, especially with each city roughly a three day journey away.

My entire life I was caught between two worlds. My mother, Delilah is a fair elvish woman tall and lanky with blonde locks from a family of royals that disowned her for choosing a human husband and owning a tavern. It’s her that I found music. For years she ran a nightclub, which is actually how she met my father. My father, Herbert, is where I get my half-Elven nature. He’s a human man of slightly above average height with black hair and blue eyes. He is a baker and restaurateur and makes pastries people travel days to come eat. His restaurant happened to be butted up against the back of mom’s bar.

As the stories go they met one night, or morning depending on who you ask, as she was closing up shop at the bar and he was going in to start baking and she quite literally ran into him and his cart as he unloaded supplies from his trip yesterday to the market.

He invited her to try his new creation; he called it a pasta pocket in which pasta in sauce was served inside one of his famous pastries. She turned him down at first, put on guard by his ocean colored eyes. It wasn’t until the next day, as he was nearing the end of his hours that she stopped in and took him up on that offer.

Too hungover to make it home, Delilah fell asleep at a table. Herbert gently woke her and let her sleep in the office. After resting most of the day, waking just before Herbert closed up shop, Delilah watched him work diligently, kindly and with a warmth she'd not known from her own family. As he locked the door to close up shop, Delilah asked if he would like to watch her show. Knowing he needed sleep he agreed but said he wouldn't stay long as he had work the next morning.

Well he didn't keep his word and stayed for the whole show entranced with her performance. She was incredible, alive with intensity, passion and beauty. Tired from a long day he approached her after the show and thanked her for a wonderful performance. No ulterior motive he told her any time she wanted a treat to stop by the bakery and he'd make her something special, like his families secret recipe sausage and gravy pastry.

She asked him if he meant something of a sexual nature, which caused Herbert to blush. He explained how it was his families crown jewel and only available to those that ask for it.

Surprised by his genuine care, eye contact and lack of objectification she curtsied and said she'd take him up on it.

The very next day, just about closing time, Delilah stopped by. Herbert was dirty with flower, sweat and crumbs but she'd never seen a more impressive looking man.

She would always tell me that's when she fell in love with him.

He invited her behind the counter and they talked while he whipped up the special baked good asking her to look away when he made the dough. She smiled and thought it was adorable. They sat down to eat and talked for hours causing Delilah to nearly miss the start of her shift at the bar. She bid him adieu and hurried off for her shift making plans to see him again in a couple of days. She kept his promise to him

Their romance was a whirlwind. After a few weeks, he asked to meet her family. However Delilah deflected and mumbled. He would ask again for several weeks, growing more discouraged during their mid-day dates. She finally relented and told him the truth. Her family was of nobility and that they would not approve.

Saddened and thinking this was the end of their relationship, he thanked her for her honesty as he watched her start her shift at the tavern. On his long, lonely walk home he heard her voice in his head. You can meet them. Only if you promise to not leave me after.

He agreed. As expected, the meeting didn't go well. Racist jokes, being talked down too and general unpleasantness all of which he ignored. After dinner Delilah's father approached him in private and offered him a large sum of money, enough to expand his shop and bring on more business.

Never once tempted, he declined and told him he was not in this for money or power or glory. He loved Delilah and asked for his blessing in asking her to marry him. He couldn't provide a life of nobility but he could provide all the love he had to give.

Delilah's father immediately shouted in anger, calling for guards and pulling a dagger. Slashing Herbert across the neck, wounding him.

Hearing the commotion Delilah happened upon the site and tended to Herbert. Angry at her father she shouted at him. He told her she was not to marry Herbert. Shocked by the thought and piecing it all together she took Hertbert and left.

For the first time she saw his place, it was meager but nice. Homey. It lacked the grandeur of her parents castle but was enough for her.

After helping Herbert recover from his wounds. She asked him to marry him. He agreed and they were married in the courtyard of the temple.

Delilah joined Herbert at the bakery and played music there in mornings before she went to sleep to help motivate those starting their day as she ended hers. They combined their efforts and named it Yeast of Love, a fitting name for such a strange place.

It wasn't long after that that I, Corbin and their only child, was born. This isn't something we talk about but I can feel both their love for me. People tell me I'm a hearty empathetic boy like my father and an insightful charismatic performer like my mother, becoming the best of both of my parents. As the years went by Yeast of Love did expand. As if two worlds met, one side a bakery that operated by day and the other a tavern that operated by night.

This went on for years. I would spend my mornings with my father, mid-day in my studies and nights with my mother. I did this for many years with joy and eagerness. I figured the business might fall to me one day so I better be ready. I learned the magic and power of music, as my mother had practiced for so many years. I learned the magic and power of a good meal and kind ear, as my father practiced for so many years.

With my mother’s hair and my father’s eyes, people told me I looked like a perfect blend between the two. I always thought I looked like both of them and yet at the same time neither of them.

Despite being caught between two worlds and never really feeling like I belonged in either of them outside my immediate family, growing up I had a pretty good life.

I had my best friend, Layla, who always had my back. We would go on adventures together and look for creatures in the woods. I've never told her this but I always had a bit of a crush on her. It was always adorable how we'd stalk in the tall grass watching birds and other small animals live their lives.

On the flip side, there was this terrible person, Elluin, who teased me constantly and tried to show me up from the time we both could pretty much talk. I went to Elven School, something my father insisted on despite the teasing I received. He knew an education would be my way to bigger and better things. He was like mom's family and hated me for not being of pure Elven blood.

My adventuring days were not something I had planned, yet were thrust upon me. One early spring morning I was at the market picking up an order for my father when smoke arose in the distance from the other side of town.  

This was an unusual sight but not something that was immediately alarming, sure enough the town guard would squelch the fire and business would return to normal. The smoke was near the temple district not too far from where the bakery and pub were located. I figured once I got back I'd learn more from the town criers and if they needed any more help I could jump in if I was needed. I was not one to rush to aid when I felt I'd be in the way and with no water abilities or control I'd be more hindrance here than help.

I finished my business at the market, paying Shopkeep Regional Sellers and I walked more swiftly than usual back to the Yeast of Love. The streets were especially bare for this time of day which was usually shoulder to shoulder in much of this part of the town. I heard shouting and screaming from the area of the fire but again that didn't seem too out of place at the time.  

Not long after I returned to Yeast, the smell of rotting flesh filled the air which certainly piqued my curiosity. I was expecting an ashy smell like every fire. That's when the screaming grew louder and louder still.

I dashed out the front door and that’s when I saw it. A wave of people…or rather skeletons. Hundreds of them, black, frail, slow moving. I'd never seen a site like this. These bones were surely dead, long time dead.  heading in my directions down the main thoroughfare behind them, seemingly in command a man was floating in the air as the skeletons tore people apart limb by limb.

It seemed as all hell broke loose, well not hell exactly but something I'm sure would be hell adjacent. T as citizens came running from the temple district down past the bakery and into the market district to the east.

I ran up the street towards the temple of the Everlight following a crowd of two dozen people into the temple. Some of these people I recognized, some of them I didn't. Everyone seemed just as scared as I was. I wondered where my parents were, if they were safe and no more did that thought cross my mind when I felt a hand on my shoulder and it was my father.

He didn't talk much of the days of his youth or the trophies he kept in storage but something told me this was a bit of his element. I saw him, Layla and mother there in the temple. Laylay\ armed to the teeth with her bow and her city watch garb. I'd have complimented her uniform if not for the direness of the situation.  

I helped Father Cyran and my father block the door and tried my best to keep people calm even though that was far from what I felt on the inside.

That's when a large impact struck the outside of the temple door. Then another. And another. The fourth loud thud caused the door to start to buckle as whatever was outside tried to breach the door.

We turned over a couple pews and waited for whatever might come through the door next. We pushed the offering table into the isle for additional cover and to make a makeshift wall. The same second the table was put in place the door was breached by what appeared to be dozens of skeletons and people in various states of decay. I'd read of zombies and skeletons returning to life but that was always in ancient lands far away.

I jumped on the table and started throwing what limited magic I had at my disposal not even a second passed before Layla joined me. I tried my best to keep them out as long as I could and once they breached it those of us able bodied enough tried to defend the others. It was a blur of undead rushing through the door and screaming people in the church. We fought valiantly striking them down and cutting off body parts. I think I might have recognized one or two of them bit I tried not to think about it.

After a minute or so they just kept coming even with the door piled high with bodies. I was tiring and no more than the thought crossed my mind before I took a nasty wound to a shoulder. Ask me about my scar and if I'm feeling up to it, I'll show you. Layla didn't look much better.

Fearing the worst with several people down and more undead flooding the temple and just as all appeared to be lost, I said a silent prayer to the Everlight. Suddenly I was hit with a beam of light that descended from above. It should have hurt but it didn't. It was warm but comforting and all of a sudden I felt refreshed and empowered. I felt imbued with more magic than I ever had before.

For what seemed like hours but was more likely only a few minutes I slung spells some that seemed innate to me that I'd never practiced before, and protected those people until the skeletons stopped. Breathing heavy I waited for more to come but they never did. I eventually passed out from exhaustion. My last conscious thought was that it looked like a bone yard in the front of the vestibule.

As I slipped away there was darkness. Then a calm voice entered my head followed by how I'd pictured the Everlight. "Arise, my child. For I have a mission for you. I've given you a small piece of me and I need you to take on a great evil in time. But first you have some things you need to do. You'll need help in this task. Seek out other champions." I wondered who this voice was and no more did the thought clear my conscious when she appeared before me in a brightly lit and empty church except for the two of us. I'd never spoken with a god before especially not in person and face to face. Sure I'd been a semi-regular at the temple often bringing food from the bakery for those in need but I'd never been the most devout person to enter it's doors.

She continued, "There are three others that will help you in this task. You must find them and together you'll save the world. Go for the time is now to begin." With that I awoke in the temple face down with an ache to my body I'd not felt before. I felt called to the west, towards the crossroads. It was a strange feeling but not an uncomfortable one.

Standing up my legs felt like the blackberry filling we put in the pastries but I was alive and very much okay. My wounds had sealed. My parents hugged me, nearly hard enough to make me pass out again. They both had a worried look in their eyes. Layla was heavily wounded but gave me a wordless nod. Father said he'd be heading back to Yeast because there would be people there that would need them. I wanted to help but he argued that I should go home. So that's where mother took me. The next morning I awoke to both of them gone but a note saying they were pitching in at Yeast prepping food for those displaced by the terrible events of the day before.

I gathered my things and started for Yeast, in an effort to help. I get there to see my father with a familiar but even more set in tired in his eyes. He'd been there all night. I rushed to his side and threw on my apron. After all I am the best at crimping the pastries.

We'd spend the rest of the day making and delivering pastries and helping where we could as best we could. Yeast was fine and much of the town was still standing and in good shape, except for the temple district and the outlying homes on the perimeter of the western portion of the city. There it was wrecked beyond belief. I checked in on Layla and although she was wounded she was back at work keeping the piece and helping where she could. I offered her a pastry, cheese and sausage, her favorite. And told her to stop by Yeast when she needed more food.

Not unlike us, almost immediately the townspeople got to work. It was at least two hours before I noticed mother had turned the bar into a makeshift shelter.  It wasn't the first time Yeast had been a temporary shelter and I was sure in that moment it wouldn't be the last. I ran errands and took deliveries well into the night. I ended up passing out after a full day and night on top of the sacks of flower. It wasn't the most comfy bed but it worked for a few days.

For several days this went on. Working until exhaustion making food and deliveries. We were running low on supplies but I managed to grab a caravan that was on the way out of town and purchase what they had. My father worked non stop before finally sleeping on the third night, confident that I could handle the bakery with the help of mother. I never stopped thinking about what the Everlight said and it weighed on my mind.

After a couple of weeks, the town returned to relative normal. Many of the structures were repaired and usable and people had be re-homed in more permanent temporary shelter until the rest were finished. I decided that now I should take heed of the Everlight's message. I asked Layla if she wanted to come with me but she turned me down to look after the town. I felt better knowing this and asked her to look after my folks. She agreed and we hugged and parted ways.

The next morning I packed my things for the long journey and headed off on my mission from the Everlight. As much as I felt called to stay just in case an attack happened again, I knew I couldn't stay.

Not to be outdone on my way out my parents both gave me a gift. It was my 21st birthday after all, although that thought had gotten away from me due to the excitement of the last few weeks.

It was there I got my two most prized possessions, a replica of my father's delivery pouch that kept pastries warm and fresh and a new lute, imbued with my mother's love and magic. I thanked them both for their gifts, snuck off to the bakery to stuff my pouch with supplies and made my way towards the temple district and eventually out of town. I wanted one last reminder of what happened so I'd never forget. I'd use it for fuel and inspiration to stay on the right path and find my way. I didn't know it then, but it would take me the better part of two years to find my way and end up face to face with what caused the terrible events of that day.

I just had hope that I would be ready.

[misbhaves]

neko twitch stream log; the final entry.

2018, FEBRUARY 3rd 04:07 AM. 

11.

The room was mostly dark, were it not for the neon lighting bathing itself across the walls, the cupboard, the bed in the corner and the silhouette of the petite hooded figure sitting bow-legged in a chair far too big for her. Between the length of her bangs that were falling into her eyes and the mask stretched over the lower half of her face, nothing was visible, but the feminine posturing and avatar seemed to do the job because not even ten minutes in and no words said and the number of people watching the stream had already jumped up to twenty. The first exhale she released was shaky, and her hands trembled around the XBOX controller in her hands. The viewer count went up and down sporadically as she tried to psych herself up, before, finally a soft voice began speaking: “K-konnichiwa, minna-san.” the girl gave a small bow with her head, the light washing over her concealed face creating shadows over the mask that almost indicated a facial expression. either a smile or a nervous laugh. “I-I’m Neko-chan. Pleased to meet you. Um. I’m a little shy, but I’ll do my best.”

After the first few encouraging comments poured in, her shoulders appeared to relax and her expression, too, or what was visible of it anyway. 

2018, AUG 21st 14:21 PM.

67K.

There was certainly something to be said about popularity, although all her peers repeatedly claimed it wasn’t that important. It was certainly a phrase Neko was guilty of saying, and often, in both languages. Even as she thanked her followers for each milestone she passed from her humble beginnings. Unlike the shy manner with which she had carried herself in her first few videos, she now opened her videos with more fanfire and open excitement. She hadn’t grown comfortable yet to take off her mask, but as she inched closer to the 500K follower mark, she had already decided to change that soon. 

“I-D-K how I feel about the Gamerscom trailer for DMC5. Personally, I’m not sure I really pictured Dante the way he’s been looking in the hyper-realistic rendering of his character,” The girl rambled, pausing only to give herself a sip of the gargantuan soda she had by her side, having to push the mask slightly upward over her mouth to do so. “Show my face?” She said, nearly choking on the soda in the process. “Just like Dante, I feel like the live-action is not going to live up to the anime drawings, you know?”

There was a voice off-camera, seemingly stealing her attention. “What, already?” She whined, before turning back to the camera. “Gotta run off for an IRL sidequest,” She huffed apologetically, setting aside her controller already. “Neko signing out. Ja ne!”

2018 SEP 2ND 16:45 PM.

127K.

“A-Ah, I’m nervous,” It was said daintily, her head ducked and voice shaky for the first time since her early days on the platform. There were already words of encouragement pouring in. Others were impatient, reminding that she had, in fact, promised that today would have been the day. An anxiety she didn’t know the birthplace of always knotted in her chest when it came to the prospect of allowing herself to be judged my others. It was strange. A sharp ache that felt defensive somehow. As if her body was shielding itself based on a previous rejection her mind could not remember.

Shaking hands came up to the tight cotton straps of the mask curved around her ears. “Um. I just want to say uh, I’m sorry if any of you are disappointed.” She mumbled quietly, breathing out shakily, painfully, before slowly unhooking the straps and lowering the mask off her face. 

Then, with one of her hands, she went ahead and pushed her bangs out of her eyes, too. “Konnichiwa, minna-san,” She said, mirroring her first ever greeting, comfortable with her mother-tongue. “It’s me. Neko-chan. Nice to meet you.”

Her cheeks were stained a deep red, her gaze averted so she wouldn’t be too tempted to look at the chat. “A-Anyway, I’m going to play Yakuza-0 first,” She said, fumbling for her controller. “I hope you guys enjoy.”

2019 APR 20TH 20:07PM

45K.

The video opened with royalty-free 8-bit music playing in the background of a dark room bathed in neon pink lighting. sitting cross-legged and hugged by a gaming chair a little too big for such a small person. Neko - a video-gaming streamer of some influence greeted her viewers with a classic ‘v’ sign.. “Hey demons, it’s ya girl, Neko, back at it again with a cringey youtuber intro. First off, good evening to all of you and special greetings to the moon which is out here killing it after the sun was way too hot today.”

The girl fanned herself dramatically, “Today, I was going to go out to see what new games I could buy, but since it was too hot to wear a mask, I just stayed home and continued playing Yakuza all day long. But then like an hour ago, it hit me that i was being a doofus and should at least let you guys play Yakuza with me. So, here we go, minna-san. just a girl, her bunnies and some sweet Japanese gang action.” Her nose wrinkled. “I already don’t wanna know what the chat is gonna be like after that poorly worded statement.” The camera jerked slightly as the girl moves closer, knocking her knee into something underneath the desk and making the desk shake as she jumped in place. “itai... sorry...” She was mumbling, one eye squeezed shut, then louder and more cheerfully, she continued, I fell down the stairs earlier today and I think I might have hurt my ankle, but it’s okay as long as I don’t touch it. an’ I accidentally kicked the CPU.” The screen split then, showing live-action gaming footage. “I-R-L is looking pretty crazy lately, guys. every time I go outside it’s like, I see someone else being collared and taken into a van. america land of the free, home of the brave my ASTEROIDS. What’s brave about going up to people with weapons that render them totally powerless and shackling them without giving them the chance of a fair fight? And like, for what crime anyway? For being born? No wonder so many of you Americans are always raving about going to Japan, because let me tell you, I know plenty of people - some very close to me - who are mutants and nobody cares.” Her fingers continued to rapidly tap away at the controller in her hands, her eyes focused on the game as she spoke.

“You know what I think? I think the mayor of this city is just intimidated. he’s too scared and insecure in his own ability to control a city where some of his civilians are stronger, or faster or smarter than he is.” With an uncharacteristically humourless laugh, she continued. “Boo hoo, Virgie, everyone in the world has to deal with the fact they’re inferior to someone else. It doesn’t give them the right to commit genocide. For Hitler , it was art school. who wants to take bets on what Virgie’s big old justification is?”

“Maybe he was bullied in school, or like a mutant stole his girlfriend, or - wow, what if like, he auditioned for the school play and a mutant stole his role and the guy of his dreams? You know... like Sharpay Evans, who deserved better. whatever it is. It doesn’t matter, because people go through bad, horrible things every day and they still make the choice to be good. I make the choice every day, that even if I’m capable of hurting the people who hurt me a hundred times worse, I won’t do it.”

Her voice was then accompanied by the sound of automated grunts and groans as she concentrated momentarily on the in-game killing she was providing her audience. “And I won’t let you do it either. So, if any of you out there are scared, don’t be. Find others like you and take shelter, because the more unified you are, the less power he has over you.”

After a pause, the girl giggled. “Or something like that. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, sorry. Um, moving on... did any of you guys play the latest Yakuza? what did you think of it, I personally...”

2019 MAY 25TH 22:17PM.

11K.

The steam begun with uncharacteristic silence, bereft of the tinny music the girl had been opening her streams with for the past five months, if not more. The room was the same, as was the chair, but there was something about the girl seated in it that seemed different. Haunted almost. The bruises on her youthful face had almost entirely faded, but they were enough cause for alarm amongst her fans, most of whom had flooded in after seeing her go live for the first time after a nearly month-long hiatus. 

“Hi, everyone,” She greeted in English first before repeating the same in Japanese. “Been a while, huh?” She folded her legs up onto her chair, spinning to and fro. “I haven’t been home in a while. There’s been a lot going down in the city I live in and... I haven’t been dealing with it well, honestly.” She reached up, pushing her hair behind her ear. “You know, I used to think that being a hero just meant doing the right thing, or saving the day. 

43K.

Her nose wrinkled slightly. “But recently, I’ve come to realise it’s not that simple. Sometimes being a hero means not being able to save the day, but being able to send a message.” She cleared her throat, her fingers clenching around her knees. “Yesterday, there was a rally, in which dozens of mutants of various ages were kidnapped. Chained and carted away like cattle. Some of these people are my friends.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

67K.

“And I have failed them.” She continued. “By being born someone privileged enough to have my status swept under the rug.” She bit into her lower lip. “While people like me rot in ... these pseudo-military bases and get tortured and prodded and experimented on as if it’s the second world war and we have learned nothing.”

113K.

“And just like me, if you’re sitting at home and you’re doing nothing while this happens even though you have the power to do otherwise,” She continued, voice strained. “Then you’re just as bad. Just as cowardly.” With a shuddering breath, continued. “The time I’ve spent here, with you guys, will always be the happiest memories I’ll ever have. And maybe one day, I’ll come back and make some more. But, for now, I guess...” She shook out another sigh, reaching up to catch a traitor tear that slipped down her pale face. “I’ll have to be on this hiatus indefinitely.”

130K.

“Because even if I don’t know how this fight is going to end... and even if I’m scared I,” She reached off-screen for something, and when her hand drew back it was holding a porcelain mask, shaped in the traditional Kitsune shape. “I can’t wait around expecting for things to just... get better.”

“And I can’t keep relying on friends or family anymore either, because in the end...” She trailed off, something about her expression breaking. “You never really know a person, do you?” Resolutely, she fastened her mask onto her face. “I can’t wait to be saved anymore.”

“I’m sorry, dad. But, in this story, the princess rescues herself.”

And just like that, the live stream ended abruptly. 

#—aki's streams of consciousness. #☆*:･✧ i want to exhale stardust and create my own constellation | aki.

[whiteroseisendgame]

RWBY the Vampire Slayer

I’m really bored at home for Christmas goings-on, so I made this abomination a reality. I watched this classic music video and things spiralled from there. Here’s a smattering of other edgy songs I threw together to listen to while I finished it off.

“Seriously, don’t.” Yang cowered in the corner of the room, hands outstretched, begging her teammates to stop approaching. Her eyes were a deep red, but she was in no state to have her semblance active. The urges were clawing at her even now. Just a bite, it’s all you need! Almost like another voice was arguing with her sanity. “Yang, are you…?” Ruby asked, hesitantly. “Check. My. Aura.” Yang wrestled the words out, watching their shocked expressions.

“Y-you’re dead! H-how-?” Weiss shivered, her nerves surfacing. “I’m… A vampire.” The blonde reached towards her scarf, pulling it loose and revealing two pin-like marks on her neck. It’d been a week since she was turned, and the need to eat was slowly overpowering any rationality. Hissing and baring fangs, the three of them agreed they needed to get her some blood before trying to work anything else out.

Alone in the dark room, Yang sat across from the mirror hung over the fireplace, a constant reminder of her current state. Skin much paler than even Ruby’s, and cold to the touch. And an acquired taste for human blood. Without anyone nearby, her mind cleared almost instantly, able to hide her fangs and relax into the chair. “Vampire, huh?” Blake shouted across the room, throwing a plastic bag of crimson fluid onto Yang’s lap. Without hesitation, she tore into it, almost dissociating as her body drank. “I’m s-sorry, guys. One of them got to me on our last mission. Told me this was punishment for us hunting so many. I did my best to control it, to ignore the hunger. But it’s impossible to think properly after a few days.” Their friend was back in almost full control, it seemed. After hearing her out, the team filed back into the room, sitting a fair distance away, save for Blake, who took the other half of the sofa the vampire was curled up on. “We’re supposed to be vampire hunters, Yang. How are we going to do that with one of our own being turned?” Weiss accused, seemingly the most annoyed at the development. “Weiss, that’s not fair. I’ve asked Uncle Qrow to come, he says he might have a solution.” Ruby explained, doing her best to reduce the tension in the room. “So, heheh, did you… Get all those cool vampire powers? Do people find you irresistibly attractive? Can you turn into a bat? Are you even stronger than you already were?” “Really!? I get turned and you ask if I get cool powers. No ‘we’ll have to kill you’ or anything?” Even as a vampire, her voice still cracked as she mentioned the possibility. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Weiss interrupted, dismissing the notion entirely. “We’re not getting rid of you. And you have started looking kinda hot recently, right Blake?” “Uhhh, yeah, sure. Recently.” Her ears lowered a little as she mumbled her response, only to perk up again thanks to a knock at the door.

Qrow shook his cloak off his shoulders where it had acted as meagre protection from the rain. Carrying a leather briefcase with him, he placed it onto table in the middle of the room before crouching to examine Yang. She winced as he edged closer, his eyes widening when it dawned on him that the silver cross was still dangling from his neck. Deliberately hanging it as far away as possible, he turned back to address his nieces and their friends. “Well, even without the eyes, that reaction is enough proof. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Yang. I’ve been working on a concoction that should keep her as-is. I can bring you more blood and holy water when you run out, but mix the stuff in the case together and it should work.” Despite his mostly deadpan tone, his concern for Yang was still audible. Watching her friends grow old while she remained like that. He could tell when Ruby asked him to come over that they didn’t care she was turned. They just hated seeing her suffer. And this was the best he could do to prevent it happening. Once he left, the team practically spent an eternity in silence before someone finally spoke up. “I… Want you to turn me, as well.” Blake requested, sounding almost selfish. “Blake…?” Yang responded, her voice tinged with anger and confusion. “Turn me. I-if you don’t, you’ll lose all of us. I can’t let that happen!” The faunus pulled the neck of her top down, exposing bare flesh and flinching. Even as the tears fell, no one moved to stop her. She was right. “I can’t.” “You can. I need you to.” Her teammate tensed up as she closed the remaining distance on the sofa, grabbing the scared girl’s hands. “I’m not watching this. Come on, Ruby.” Qrow piped up again, a mixture of resignation and understanding to his words. Ruby was already following him out of the door when Weiss stopped them leaving. “How can you both just let this happen? You’re letting another of your best friends turn into a monster!?” Tears welled in the snow queen’s eyes as she tried desperately to convince the others. “Weiss, she’s made her choice. And she has a point. Uncle Qrow, is there anything we can do to help them?” Ruby asked, still wanting to help. “Be there for them once she’s changed completely. Hell, maybe you’ll be even better at hunting them now.” He flashed an awkward smile, trying to make the best of a bad situation as he ushered the pair out.

“You know this will hurt.” Yang explained, solemnly. “If I thought it was easy, I’d have told the others to stay.” Blake’s dark sarcasm still extracted a chuckle from her partner. “I love you.” The blonde, taken aback by the confession, briefly relented before realising. That was exactly why Blake wanted to join her. She thought she’d be able to come to terms with it, eventually. Her love could be twisted into a fierce desire to protect in her mind, given time. Like it wouldn’t kill her every day when she was finally gone. In some weird, crazy, fucked up way, she wanted to do this too. Was it the right choice? Did that question even matter? The answer, of course, was no, to both. When you’re staring at eternity, the best shot you get at staying sane is to have someone right there with you. Blake’s top joined her jacket on the floor, grabbing Yang’s icy shoulder and turning her attention away from the window, back onto the faunus. It didn’t hurt. Not really. Even as the taller girl’s fingers scraped and clawed into her back. Then the numbness started stretching from her hands and feet. Her arms wrapped tightly around the blonde’s frame, pulling her in, ignorant to the shakes and twitches. Then nothing. It felt like she wasn’t going to turn. Yang backed away, tearful, placing the arm of the record player down before extending her own towards Blake. And oh boy did they dance. Yang took the lead, gracefully spinning and throwing her partner as the song built to its first crescendo. The excitement dulled the burning sensation that crept from her neck, something Yang never had the luxury of doing, their eyes locked at all times. In one blink, her eyes changed colour to match her partner’s. Feeling drained, the pair were reduced to slow dancing as the transition raced through her body. Yang could feel the heat disappearing from her hands, but save for her eyes, you couldn’t have convinced anyone she was different. Smiling, laughing, even. A pair of crazy girls, deciding to spend forever together. Inseparable. “See you on the other side, Belladonna.” To Blake, the voice was faint, but distinctly affectionate.

She gasped, bolt upright, a few hours later. The rest of her team had returned, and she was most definitely dead, if her pulse was anything to go by. Yang pressed a mug of Qrow’s tincture into her hands before sitting behind her torso with her own, letting the new vampire lean backwards onto her as she drank. The holy water gave it a burn, almost like vodka, but the blood was tasteless. “It’s animal blood, Qrow said it won’t taste like the human stuff does to you guys.” Ruby chimed in, picking up on Blake’s reaction. Were it not for the couple drinking something so strange, you’d be forgiven for thinking nothing had changed. Reaching behind her, the faunus grabbed Yang’s free hand and lay back down onto her lap, still not used to the eerie motionlessness of her own body. “Are we still-?” Blake started, slightly dreading the answer. “We’re still a hunting team. We just have two extra-super-powered members now.” Weiss joked, in a better mood than earlier. Before they could settle in for the night, a distressed knock drew their attention to the door, an exasperated voice calling from outside. “W-w-w-we f-found a c-c-camp of them!” The stranger yelled, with the girls leaping to action. Ruby pulled a large sniper rifle off the wall and loaded a magazine of silver bullets, the rifle itself modified with a large scythe blade by the barrel. Weiss drew a silver sabre from a scabbard on her belt, with Blake producing a silver katana, the base of the blade wrapped with cloth to prevent her touching it. Yang strapped a set of elaborate, miniature trebuchets onto her wrists, loading them with wooden stakes that jutted out past her fists. “Let’s go, Team RWBY!”

Insert cheesy 90s Buffy-style intro here

#rwby #bumbleby #bmblb #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #qrow branwen #writeroseisendgame #i was tempted to put a twilight sex scene #not gonna lie

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

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