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handcalfieetherington · 1 year

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ok here we go again.

sooooooo lizard invasion, a conspiracy theory so notorious for being laughably awful, however in one of my story concepts this memorable conspiracy theory become a reality.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/12/22/monsters-for-grownups/

a link set to me by kyrstie goes over a story of a person believing that the world is being run by lizards.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/12/22/monsters-for-grownups/

Learning the ins and outs of our Reptilian overlords.

“This election was a nightmare. As the day grew close, I sequestered myself at home. I would not watch the news, read the paper, or visit any site more taxing then CuteKittenOfTheDay.com. I didn’t visit my relatives on Thanksgiving because I knew that turkey and dressing would devolve into torture and debacle. Instead, I hid at home, baked cookies, and binge watched Mystery Science Theater 3000.

It was of course impossible to hide completely from the fallout, but at a certain point I knew things had gone over the edge. I heard stories of little children afraid to go to sleep for fear that Donald Trump would visit in their nightmares. Like a Golem or Frankenstein’s monster, he was poised to strike. I found out that the daughter of a right-wing family that lives next door to me in Connecticut literally thought that Hillary Clinton was a witch—like one newscaster called her—and was going to fly through the window and turn her into a toad. The candidates were called Nazis, fascists, corrupt thieves, even murderers. Who wouldn’t be scared of them?

I will tell you who: David Icke. For the last twenty-five years, this British, white-haired ex-footballer has been preaching an elaborate theory about who really runs the world. He explains this theory, along with its grim endgame scenario, to anyone who will listen, which means he speaks to thousands of his followers in the UK and around the world. His lectures fill enormous auditoriums and sports arenas. He sells books and videos and maintains a robust YouTube presence.

Despite his forays into archeology and the construction of the universe, and despite his surprising erudition about signs and symbols, Icke really believes one thing above all else: that twelve-foot-tall lizards from outer space rule the earth. When he says “lizards,” he doesn’t mean James Carville or someone who kind of resembles a reptile. He means actual lizards.

Thousands of years ago, you see, lizards came to Earth from the planets Orion, Sirius, and Draco. They were intergalactic usurpers and their plan was to interbreed with humans. Not sexually, thank God—by changing our DNA. Once they had transformed most of us weak and defenseless earthlings into their slaves, they would rule.

These Reptilians are not dull-witted things, like, say, pet-shop iguanas. These lizards are brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, that they’ve shape-shifted into the bodies of all sorts of people you may regard as revered and accomplished human beings. Among the lizard elite, Icke includes the entire British monarchy, the Bush family, the Rothschilds, absolutely everyone invited to Bohemian Grove, the Illuminati, Freemasons, most Jews, the Pope, Obama and his wife, and—inexplicably—the country-western singer Boxcar Willie.

The list is far more extensive, but you get the gist of the awesome power these lizards hold over the rest of us. Because it would be difficult for a twelve-foot lizard to fit into a six-foot human body, the lizards have perfected not only shape-shifting but also a hologram technology. You may think you’re looking at Queen Elizabeth, but it’s just a hologram of her. How smart is this!

Maybe such smart lizards, you may think, would do a better job of running this planet then we have. If only the lizards were dedicated ecologists and humanitarians, we might willingly submit to their rule. But sadly David Icke’s lizards are the bad boys of the cosmos: cannibals, pederasts, Satanists. They’re evil to the bone, like Hells Angels with scales. You really wouldn’t want them in charge of anything, even if most of them, being world leaders, are already running the show (except for Boxcar Willie, who hasn’t had a hit for years).

David Icke has convinced me that things can be, and maybe already are, much worse then anyone suspects. So I’m ditching the Democrats and the Republicans, the alt-right and the radical left, the libertarians and the Green Party, and throwing my hat in the ring with the Ickes Party. The Reptilian agenda is a matter of galactic import; human problems seem small in comparison. The first order of business is to build a wall and keep undocumented “aliens” out—and when we Ickettes say “aliens,” we mean aliens. This is, I’m told, our only hope.

Jane Stern is the author of more than forty books, including, most recently, Confessions of a Tarot Reader. With Michael Stern, she coauthored the popular Roadfood guidebook series. The Sterns recently donated forty years of archival materials to the Smithsonian museum, documenting the atmosphere, stories, and history of various restaurants, diners, and regional food events.”

an interesting Idea I thought of is that story isn’t talking about it from a factual point it’s from the point of view of a person thinking that the world is run by lizards, meaning there could be a very high chance that this is a narrative instance of an unreliable narrator, sure they could be right and queen Elizabeth is actually a 6 foot talk lizard using holograms to make herself look human... or there’s a much greater chance that old man Richard is off his meds again and needs to calm down before he tries to see if a human sacrifice will actually summon a demon.

this conspiracy theory stigma around the concept could in some way be used within the story itself, maybe no one knows or believes it’s happening because of how absurd the idea is.

Stern, J. (2016) Monsters for grown-ups, The Paris Review. Available at: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/12/22/monsters-for-grownups/ (Accessed: February 27, 2023).

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ao3feed-snape · 2 years

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Bullseye!

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/FgKo1u6

by starchasing12

Regulus Black is a World Champion Archer. He's talented and he loves it. But all of that comes crashing down when he gets his right eye injured. Now, 19-year-old Regulus has landed himself in Hogwarts University with his friends. But what he doesn't know is that his brother who he hasn't seen in four years is at the same university. What's worse is that the person who stole Regulus's brother is here too- the person whom Regulus has hated since he was eleven years old. Regulus hadn't planned on doing anything other than hate James Potter. But as James unapologetically keeps popping up around him, Regulus finds himself gain a different perspective. Would it be so bad that he might fall in love with this sunshine personified person, even if he is his brother's best friend?

Words: 3109, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, M/M

Characters: Regulus Black, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Mary Macdonald (Harry Potter), Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, Pandora Lovegood, Barty Crouch Jr., Evan Rosier, Minerva McGonagall, Fabian Prewett, Gideon Prewett (Harry Potter), Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Fleamont Potter, Euphemia Potter, Walburga Black, Orion Black, Narcissa Black Malfoy, Andromeda Black Tonks, Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom

Relationships: Regulus Black/James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Barty Crouch Jr./Evan Rosier, Mary Macdonald/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Regulus Black-centric, James Potter-centric, POV Regulus Black, POV James Potter, Angst with a Happy Ending, archer regulus black, world champion regulus black, Endgame Regulus Black/James Potter, jegulus and wolfstar and dorlene and marylily and rosekiller endgame, Pansexual James Potter, Gay Regulus Black, Everyone Is Gay, Bad Parent Walburga Black, walburga blacks A plus parenting, sirius trying to be good brother, sirius and regulus sort their shit out, regulus is a world champion archer, regulus and remus best friends, who make swearing an art form, Good Peter Pettigrew, james putting everyone above himself, Minor James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Regulus Black Needs a Hug, James Potter Needs a Hug, Sirius Black Needs a Hug, regulus is a little shit, but james loves it, Slowburn Jegulus, Starchaser

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/FgKo1u6

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Severus Snape

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carewyncromwell · 4 years

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Orion Amari / Carewyn Cromwell Playlist

Fancasting Renan Pacheco as Orion and Sadie Sink as Carewyn

original template by @drinkyoursoupbitch! 💚

I'm holding very tight -- I'm riding in the midnight blue... I'm finding I can fly so high above with you...

Walking in the Air (cover) ~ Chloe Agnew

Well, you only need the light when it's burning low, Only miss the sun when it starts to snow, Only know you love her when you let her go...

Let Her Go (cover) ~ Tyler Ward and Kurt Schneider

Everybody's got a dark side... Do you love me? Can you love mine? Nobody's a picture perfect, But we're worth it -- you know that we're worth it! Will you love me, even with my dark side?

Dark Side ~ Kelly Clarkson

Trusting desire, starting to learn; Walking through fire without a burn! Clinging a shoulder, a leap begins... Stinging and older, asleep on pins --

So here we go...

I Should Tell You ~ RENT

You set off a dream in me. Getting louder now... Can you hear it echoing? Take my hand -- Will you share this with me?

Never Enough (duet cover) ~ Caleb + Kelsey

City of stars -- Just one thing everybody wants, There in the bars And through the smokescreen of the crowded restaurants... It's love... Yes, all we're looking for is love from someone else...

City of Stars (cover) ~ Kenzie Nimmo and Harris Heller

There are those who shield their hearts, Those who quit before they start, Who've frozen up the part Of them that feels...

In the dark, they've lost their sight Like a ship without a star in the night, But hold on tight! Love heals!

Love Heals ~ the cast of RENT (2005)

#possible endgame ship 3!!#and honestly...I think I might love these two XD;;;#the idea of this love story that really only started to spark when these two were both about to start on two completely separate journeys #only for them to meet again in orbit as adults and those sparks to give way to real passionate fire #after both of them have gone through their share of hardships and grown so much as people #I don't know there's something kind of beautiful in that #particularly since I don't know why but I kind of love the thought of orion having had a daughter from a previous relationship #while carewyn of course is erik's legal guardian #so yay single parents XDDD #I mean seriously #both of these two have 'parental' vibes even at school #also um...these two would share a patronus #winged horses represent freedom #that is both orion and carey!#that's actually why orion was so surprised seeing an abraxan patronus at the quidditch pitch #it's the same as his 8D #but yeah um #the quest for the quidditch cup gameplay really got me into these two XD #I'm so relieved that the chemistry I felt writing them came through for some of you!!#hahaha #orion amari #carewyn cromwell #hphm #hogwarts mystery #aesthetic #moodboard #playlist

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phantomato · 2 years

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In your opinion, does “character development” entail a villain-type character becoming more sympathetic and vulnerable? Is there a way to develop and add more layers to a petty and angry character without just making them nicer and more sympathetic? While there is nothing wrong with that, I enjoy characters who retain their vengeful pettiness lmao.

I’m going to answer this in two parts. The first will be my commentary on character development more broadly, as the question literally asks, and the second will be commentary on my specific characterization choices for writing Voldemort.

Character Development

So, the answer to this question is both yes and no, because you need to specify the definition of sympathetic in order to receive a specific answer. If you use the definition of sympathetic that means “nice,” then of course the answer is yes, there are other ways to add character depth. But if you use the definition of sympathetic that assumes that a character is somebody that the audience can relate to, for whom the audience can sympathize with their motivations regardless of whether those motivations are good or kind or nice, then my answer is no.

Character development requires that we learn more about this character. We learn about how they work and how they think. As we learn more about them, we increase the likelihood that a reader will see that information, understand the character, and grow to like them. They might even start to agree with them!

Take the example of one of my favorite unlikable, petty, angry, asshole characters in fiction: Bojack Horseman. Bojack is a terrible person, but he’s the central figure of a five season series on Netflix. Throughout those five seasons, we get to see why he’s such an asshole. He had an abusive upbringing. He is an addict. He has anxiety and depression. This all provides an explanation for his behavior without excusing it, and he continues to do bad things.

But I like him. I like him because I’ve spent so much time inside his head. I’ve seen the moments when he struggles, when he’s self-conscious, when he’s joyful, when he tries so hard to make healthier choices and do right by the people around him. I am constantly hoping he gets better and wanting him to have another chance, because I see the full picture of his character and know that while he is the man who does terrible things, he’s also the man with hopes and dreams and insecurities to which I can relate. He could easily have been the villain on a show about almost any other character in the series, but by drawing him to the center we are forced to see beyond his actions and into his emotions.

Because that’s it: being a bad person doesn’t say anything about what sort of emotions someone can feel. And, fundamentally, I am sympathetic to characters when I have a lens into their emotional processing.

By making a character the protagonist of a story, an author is saying that they are prioritizing the demonstration of this character’s emotions. I don’t think that a story can be successful if the reader gains no sympathy for the central character—one doesn’t have to like how the protagonist behaves, but centering the character comes with the expectation that the reader will have more intimacy with them than with most other characters in the story, and that intimacy is what builds sympathy.

My Voldemort

When I started writing Voldemort, I decided on two things: I would throw out the assumption that he cannot feel love, and I would write any happy endgame relationships as healthy. These are the base assumptions you should take into reading my work.

But… I don’t write a nice Voldemort.

If you want to see Voldemort in an unhealthy romantic relationship:

With Apologies (Harrymort) has Voldemort describing torture as a sex act to upset Harry

Galleons (V/Orion) has a Voldemort in the depths of his self-hatred allowing Orion to degrade him in exchange for money

Waterlogged (Tomione, long) has my nicest Tom being walked over by an older partner until he breaks and lashes out

If you want to see Voldemort being petty:

Clean Slate (gen) contrasts Voldemort’s behavior with friends (Bellatrix and Antonin) with that towards an enemy (Albus). Pettigrew, despite being the central motivator of the story, isn’t referenced by name because Voldemort cares so little for his humanity

Awful at Heart (Tomcest) has Tom going at it with himself (lol) in terms of who can be the most petty

Teaching Statement (gen) has Professor Riddle being a petty jerk towards a student (Andromeda Black) and hoping it will drive her away

If you want to see Voldemort being an asshole:

Beautiful Sleepyhead (Nottmort) has Voldemort waging a war for the sake of personal gain, plus he treats Thoros like shit for most of their romance

Made of Clay (Nottmort, long) sees Tom murdering a couple and stealing their baby with plans to kill it

Vows (Nottmort) has Voldemort scheming to murder a man in order to steal what he owns, and goading Thoros into creating a horcrux along the way

I could go on. This is only about half of what I’ve written for him. I agree that pettiness and assholery are a central part of his character, so I use those traits in my stories. What I don’t do is allow them to dominate his romantic attachments in relationships I intend to read as happy, because, well, a partner who is mostly petty and asshole-ish is abusive. My Voldemort learns to recognize that he cannot act this way with someone he loves and expect them to stay around. Furthermore, he loves them. He wants them to be happy. He puts work into the relationship, into respecting the other person’s boundaries and showing his care. This is depth: it’s conditional behavior, in that Tom demonstrates the capacity to treat individuals differently depending on his relationship with them.

There’s tons of fic, usually tagged with things like “possessive” or “manipulative” Tom Riddle or Voldemort, that will fill anyone’s need for a Tom who behaves terribly towards his romantic partner. I admit that much of it is not from his perspective and often doesn’t give him character development, but some is. Certainly, going by numbers, this is the most popular take: compare “Soft Tom Riddle” (41 tagged fics) or “Tom Riddle is a Sweetheart” (88) to “Manipulative Tom Riddle” (407) or “Possessive Tom Riddle” (889). [Numbers as of 2021-12-8.] But even for those ‘harder’ Toms, if we get to see their perspective, they will start seeming more sympathetic for all of the reasons stated in the first section.

So, I guess I’ll end by saying: maybe what you get when reading my Tom or Voldemort isn’t the assholery or the pettiness. Maybe what stands out more are the ways in which he shows affection for his partner, or the fact that he has friends. Maybe it’s the domesticity of Voldemort cleaning his kitchen counters—which is a neutral trait, not indicative of character at all, but it is a deeply relatable one. And that’s the intent! I set out to write a Voldemort that people would find relatable, so that his horrors aren’t his sole defining feature, so that his concerns and fears would have an emotional familiarity to readers. I don’t want him to be untouchable, either as a flat villain or a flat love interest. He’s not nice, but you can sympathize with him. If you don’t notice the murder and selfishness and the whole bundle of other flaws, idk. Maybe try reading it with this perspective in mind.

If you want a Voldemort who will still behave terribly towards his partner by the end of the fic, best look elsewhere.

#ask #tom riddle #voldemort #writing meta

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navegandoaciegas · 4 years

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I love my baby to death

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: fluff, friends to lovers, tiniest bit of angst but really tiny I promise, 3.5k words, set after Endgame

Summary: “Say, hypothetically, there’s a 100 year old fossil who’s a bit confused most of the time but he’s got the spirit, right?, and he’s outside with a packed duffle bag, what would you do?”

You were supposed to enjoy a solo roadtrip after years of Avenging, but Bucky invites himself along and you can’t say no to his happy face.

A/N: I haven’t slept in a week because of nightmares and I just needed something to cheer me up, I guess. Reader took Steve’s side in CA:CW and spent two years with him as a nomad. You can choose to see her and Natasha as a platonic relationship or a romantic one, it’s up to you.

masterlist

Read the sequel to this here

“They’re just so fuckin’ gross I don’t understand how you can eat them.”

Bucky sends you his best death glare as he continues digging in his soggy cardboard In-N-Out fries.

“We could have literally stopped by Arby’s three miles west of here” you continue, “they have the best fries. We’re missing out, clearly.” you deadpan eyeing his food skeptically.

“The curly ones? God no, they’re so spicy. I don’t know why you like your food to hurt but I don’t.”

“Okay, first of all they’re not spicy at all, I don’t know where you got that from. And second, they have a taste at least, unlike these.” You reiterate your point by swinging one the fries in his face. Bucky just grabs your hand and bites the fry, almost biting your fingers off too.

“Yeah, like that god-awful spicy chicken you forced on me the other day? No thank you, ma’am, I’ll stand by my own food choices.”

You snort. “Not my fault your post-Depression ass can’t handle anything other than salt and black pepper. But sure, go ‘head and enjoy your sorry excuse of a meal, Buck.”

“People from your generation sure love complaining, huh? Back in my days you ate what your mama made you and never bitched about it, or else you went to bed hungry.”

God, he’s such a grampa. You make a show of rolling your eyes and huffing in annoyance. He likes his senior citizen card a bit too much. He tries to stifle a laugh when he sees the look on your face and just shakes his head at you.

California (and Bucky Barnes) has stolen your heart and you’ve loved this road trip so much you often wonder why it took you being snapped and facing the end of the world twice to retire from the avenging business.

Fresno is interesting, to say the least.

He wanted to stop by, saying something about wanting to see “an old pal from the war” ’s hometown for himself, and you’ve been dreaming about exploring Yosemite for as long as you can remember.

Online pictures of Yosemite National Park were stunning but the real thing is just breathtaking.

You never thought camping would become your thing and you never imagined you’d enjoy stargazing so much. In five months you’ve discovered how big of a nerd Bucky really is and he’s been trying to teach you the names of all the stars and constellations.

He sees Big Dipper, Orion, Ursa Major and Minor; you see pretty twinkling lights and the occasional shooting star. Nevertheless you sit through hours and hours of explanations, because when he speaks of the things he’s passionate about, Bucky is the most beautiful thing in the world.

“You know, the stars are one of the things I missed the most.” he says softy, furrowing his brows as he does when he remembers something from the past. “Stevie and I used to do that as kids sometimes. We’d sneak out of our houses and go on the roof of this abandoned building to watch the stars. Now there’s so much goddamn light everywhere, you can’t even see them anymore.”

Sometimes when you stop and think about it, really think, you can’t imagine how hard it must have been for them, having everything, even the night sky taken away from them.

“Steve never told me.”

“He probably missed the stars too.”

You eye him looking for clues on how he might feel, but you only see a sad smile on his face. “You miss him, don’t you?”

“Every damn day.” his voice cracks and you hold him closer.

“I know Buck, I miss him too. I miss him so much that sometimes I feel like my life has no direction without my Captain.” You’re barely holding back your own tears at this point, “But we’ve got Sam if we need orders, yes?” but you still try to make him smile. You’re always going to try for him.

Your attempt works and he snorts. Always bring Sam up to cheer Bucky.

“I hope he was happy, you know.” he says, “I hope he made the right choice and never regretted a thing. I hope that now he looks back and thinks he wouldn’t have had it any other way. His happiness is all I could ever ask for.”

You cling to each other that night and cry until the early morning. It feels good to let it all out, to let Steve go and look at the future. You’ve lost too much but tonight you only have hope.

-----

New York

Five months before

“Words on the street is you’re retiring your crusty old ass from the field.”

Sam is leaning on the door of your hotel room with his arms folded and a pleased look on his face.

“Rumors travel fast in this post-apocalyptic word, I see.” you say as you continue stuffing a duffle bag with all the clothes you have left.

“How are you?” Sam asks, with his newly found Captain voice. You wonder if it’s something in that damn shield that gives them that stern commanding tone.

“Tryina analize me, Sammy? I’m not one of your guys at the VA.”

It’s not like you’re pissed at Sam, you love him with all your heart, you’re just angry at the world and Sam’s the one standing in your way right now.

You hear him sigh, “I know what you’re feeling right now, I understand why you would think that-” “Don’t” you interrupt him, “Don’t give me that speech, Fury did that for you already. I’m not running away from my problems.”

“I’m not saying that-” you really don’t want him to talk today, so you stop him again “No but you’re thinking it.”

“I know what it’s like.” he says raising his voice “To lose who you care the most in the world. We all lost someone important but you lost Natasha and I know, trust me I know what you feel right now, because it’s what I felt when I lost Riley.”

You stop and swallow the tight lump in your throat.

Your eyes well up with tears as you turn to look at him. You’ve been so blinded by your own pain and anger you didn’t stop for a moment to think about others. “I’m sorry Sam, I shouldn’t have treated you like that.” you say sobbing.

Why did she have to leave you?

Stupid, stupid Natasha. Why did she have to sacrifice herself for the world?

Why her?

He hugs you tight and rocks you back and forth. “I understand why you’re leaving and I’m not here to stop you, I promise. Just keep in touch, yes? Text me everyday so I’m not tempted to track you down and fly wherever you are to see if you’re good.”

You smile for the first time in a long time.

“Don’t worry Sam, you’ll get tired of all the selfies I’ll send you, eventually.”

“You know I’ll never get tired of this pretty face.” he says raising his eyebrows suggestively, making you laugh. “Good, that’s my girl. I missed this laugh so much.”

You stay in his arms a while longer until it’s time for you to leave.

“This is not the only reason I’m here.” he says and clears his throat, “Say, hypothetically, there’s a 100 year old fossil who’s a bit confused most of the time but he’s got the spirit, right?, and he’s outside with a packed duffle bag, what would you do?”

“What?” you manage to stammer out. “Bucky just... wants to...tag along?”

You are now as confused as Bucky is most of the time.

Sam shrugs. “I guess? You know he’s weird like that.”

What he really means is he’s just like you, lost and confused and in desperate need to live a little, but he doesn’t say it out loud. There’s no need to.

“So, would you mind if he came too?”

You see Bucky standing outside, leaning on your SUV. He’s cut his hair short and he looks hotter than you would like to. He turns around and waves at you with a big smile on his face. Like Sam often says, you too like his energy.

“No, I wouldn’t mind at all.”

----

Denver, Colorado

It’s a long way from New York to Colorado and if you’re honest, you’ve loved every minute of it and you’re glad Bucky came along with you. He’s witty, laid back, snarky, smart and overall a fun guy for someone who was a prisoner to nazis for 70 years.

“Look all I’m saying is I think Edward is a fuckin’ creep. Would you like it if someone stood in your room and looked at you while you sleep?”

“But is that someone a hot vampire, Bucky?”

“It literally doesn’t even matter.”

“Stop saying literally Buck, you’re a 100 year old man, not a valley girl.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Lemme check a map.”

“Bucky it’s on the screen there, Google says we have 20 minutes left.”

“But can we trust this Google guy?”

“All I’m saying is if you made and enjoyed congealed salads you probably don’t deserve your right to vote for the future of this country.”

“I mean...fair enough?”

“Do we count blipped years or not?”

“At this point it, it barely makes a difference in my case, doll.”

“Honestly you’ve got a point, old man.”

“How are you so calm right now?”

“My standards are so low it’s practically impossible to piss me off.”

“But you aren’t even a little bothered?”

“Chill, it’s just a flat tire, it’s gonna take 10 minutes to fix.”

“Buck we talked about the things that are unacceptable. ‘Chill’ coming out of your mouth is one of those.”

It’s your second week in Denver already, and you’re having the time of your life.

Bucky is spooning you like he usually does. You think back to the first time you’ve shared a bed and you almost giggle at the memory.

“Uh, Buck?”

“Yes?”

“We might have a problem.”

He enters the room after you and his eyes widen when he sees it.

There’s a bed in the room.

A single bed.

You weren’t expecting much from this place that gives you ‘Bates Motel’ vibes, but you thought you’d have two beds, or at least a couch.

“I’ll just sleep on the floor, don’t worry about it.”

“What?” you shriek “Absolutely not, I’m not letting you suffer all night. We’re going to share.”

“But I-”

“No buts, you know how many times I slept with Steve? I’m used to you supersoldier men by now, I’m no longer affected by your kicks.”

He stays silent. “You and Steve used to…?”

Only then you realize you could have phrased it better.

“God no, I meant just, ya know, share bed.”

He smiles and nods. Why does he look relieved?

Now he clings to you every night, and most times he’s the little spoon because he likes to be held. You used to hate sleeping tangled with someone else until you woke up on top of Bucky, his hands caressing your back, and he told you he had the best night of sleep he’s had in decades.

There’s a lot of things you do just because they make him happy, actually.

But how could you not?

There’s no point in denying your feelings.

----

Salt Lake City, Utah

God, you love Utah.

You drive through immense stretches of red desert whilst Bucky blasts Nicki Minaj like his life depends on it; that’s how it always ends up when he rides shotgun.

He insisted on visiting Monument Valley despite it being out of your way, but you can never find it in yourself to refuse him anything, so you drove 9 hours straight from Denver to the southern border of Utah just so he could see a place that looks a lot like the ones in those Western cowboy movies from the 50s and 60s he loves so much.

“Yasha would have hated it here so much.” you say as you pull over the Airbnb you’ve rented for a couple of days in Salt Lake City.

He snorts, “Yeah, I bet she would have.”

You thought time would heal all wounds and that someday you might stop feeling the void in your life when you think of her, but now you know you’ll never stop hurting. She was such a big part of your life for so long that your heart will never stop aching for her.

Sometimes you think how she never got to see you again after you were snapped.

You wonder if she ever stopped missing you.

You know you’ll never not miss her.

You’ve driven for more than humanly possible in two days, but he’s a supersoldier and you’re really stubborn, and now you can’t wait to sleep in a nice bed for the first time in a long while. Usually you just make do with motels, but tonight you wanted to treat yourselves.

You enter the place and notice immediately the two queen size beds.

You should be relieved, and if it was 4 months ago when you first shared a bed you would probably be, but now you’re so used to his warm body next to yours, his flesh arm over you and his face resting in the crook of your neck that you don’t know if you’ll ever be able to fall asleep without him.

“I’ll go shower first if you don’t mind.” you say as you mentally berate yourself for your thoughts.

Your goal to not fall in love with Bucky Barnes flew out the window somewhere in the green fields of Western Iowa, but at this point you’re just treading a dangerous path and you know you’re going to get hurt.

There’s no way Bucky feels the same about you, right?

You get out the shower, put on a t-shirt you’ve stolen from Steve ages ago and get out of the bathroom, only to stop when you see Bucky on the bed you claimed as yours.

“Sorry, I hope you don’t mind but I feel better when I sleep with you.”

Maybe he does.

----

Nevada

Technically it takes roughly 43 hours to get from New York to Sacramento by car. It took you almost five months.

You’ve been covering Interstate 80, stopping and visiting towns, cities and parks along the way as you pleased, sleeping in seedy motels, your SUV or that fancy ass tent Bucky bought somewhere in Ohio. You’ve begged Bucky to drive from Salt Lake City straight to Sacramento, stopping only when it’s absolutely necessary; you’ll be visiting Nevada after California anyways, so for now you’re just enjoying the scenic drive, with the windows rolled down and the air messing up your hair.

“What’s that song called?” Bucky asks and raises the radio’s volume.

“That’s Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers.” you answer absentmindedly, distracted by the seemingly endless stretch of black asphalt and yellowish nothingness around it.

She’s lover, baby and a fighter

Shoulda seen it coming when I got a little brighter

Bucky sings along and smiles glancing your way.

“I like this.” he exclaims when the song ends “Can we listen to it again, please?”

You smile softly and play it again. If there’s one thing Bucky is capable of is listening to the same song on repeat multiple times until you’re so sick of it you don’t ever want to hear it again.

Who knew the other side of you

Who knew what others died to prove

You never thought Bucky would be like this, or that you’d be privileged enought to see this side of him.

There’s a big smile on his face and the orange hues of the sky reflect in his clear eyes. He’s got one hand on the steering wheel and the vibranium one resting on the car’s door and he looks so different from the man haunted by his past and loneliness you met in Budapest all those years ago. He looks so carefree and relaxed now, so happy.

You are proud of him.

California rest in peace

Simultaneous release

California show your teeth

She’s my priestess and I’m your priest

I love my baby to death

------

San Diego, California

You’ve hiked the hills of southern Cali and gone parapending in Torrey Pines. You landed on a breathtaking beach with beautiful dark sand and soon found out, much to Bucky’s dismay and utter disgust, that it was a nudist beach.

He grumbled something about ‘hygiene’ and ‘decor’ and you just laughed at his flustered state.

“First time seeing a naked woman, old man?” you asked in between fits of laughter.

You didn’t notice the sea lion swimming next to you in La Jolla and not even Thanos’ creepy gang could have scared you as much when you turned around and looked him dead in the eyes. Bucky got his revenge filming you as you shot out the ocean with a shrill, covered in algae and terrified.

You are loving the San Diego area so far. Minus the sea lions.

“Hey I- uh- do you mind if I take the car? I wanted to go do some shopping.” Bucky tells you.

He’s really embarrassed for some reason.

You shrug and mumble a ‘sure’ before going back to basking in the sun by the pool of the hotel you’re staying at.

“Okay, I-I guess I’ll g-go then, I’ll come pick you up at 5.30 for dinner.” he stutters out.

Weird, you think, but you don’t give it too much thought. Bucky is like that.

Dinner time rolls around and as promised Bucky comes pick you up on time.

You’re wearing a short green dress with white daisies printed on it and a pair of strappy white sandals. You look good and you know it; Bucky knows it too, judging from the glances he tries to sneak your way.

“So, uhm-” he clears his voice, “I know it’s going to sound weird but I promise it’s not. Can I- Can I blindfold you?”

Can he...what? You could split me in half and I’d be glad about it, you’d like to say.

“Kinky. You could at least buy me differ first, tho.” you settle for something safer instead.

He blushes three shades darker than his usual color and you take the black scarf he’s handing you, barely concealing a teasing smile.

He drives around for a while. When you get to your destination the first thing you hear is the waves beating on the shore and the smell of the ocean. He helps you get out and guides you somewhere.

“Wait here.”

You hear him park the car in reverse, open the trunk and fiddle with something. He comes up behind you and removes the blindfold. You feel his hot breath on your neck and it sends tingles down your spine straight to your pu- “You can look now.”

When you open your eyes you are stunned for a moment. You turn around with a big smile that turns even bigger when you notice the blankets and the little picnic he’s assembled in the trunk.

“Buck, this is- I can’t believe you remembered.”

Somewhere in Colorado you mentioned how romantic you thought Sunset Cliffs were, and how much you wished you could do something like this. It was a fleeting moment, a thought uttered out loud absentmindedly over a couple of drinks in some bar. You were tipsy and you were running your mouth about all the things you’d want in a partner to some random girl who became your best friends for the night.

You realize you’re tearing up when his fingers grace your cheeks.

It feels nice to be cared about so much. It’s been too long since someone took such good care of you.

“I thought I’d do something special for you.” he says with an adorable blush.

“Thank you Bucky, I love this.” you hug him tightly and bury your face in his chest, inhaling his scent.

“Anything for my girl.”

“When did I become your girl, huh?” you ask teasingly.

“Probably when I invited myself on this trip.”

You both laugh at that.

You swallow hard when you see the look on his face. God, how did you miss the signs? You were always a better sniper than a spy, Yasha always told you.

Your heart is beating out of your chest in anticipation as he leans down slowly and your lips brush lightly. His hands are on your waist and yours on his broad shoulders. He kisses you timidly at first, and more passionately as he gains confidence.

“I wanted to do this since Bucharest.” he confesses after your lips part.

“Took you long enough, Sarge.”

But it was worth the wait.

Tonight’s sunset will be burned in the back of your mind permanently.

You kiss and laugh some more, and feed eachother seedless grapes because they’re the only ones you eat. He’s brought strawberries, white wine because you don’t drink red, hummus and pita and an assortment of cheese and crackers.

You kiss and talk, cuddle, laugh and kiss some more all night.

You’ve accepted long ago that you’ll never fill the gaping hole in your lives, but that night when you make love to eachother the void in your hearts that Steve and Natasha left behind doesn’t seem as encompassing as it usually is.

---

Thank you for reading! If you liked it, please reblog and comment, feedback is always appreciated 🥺🤲 might fuck around and write Bucky’s POV too.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky x you #bucky imagine #bucky fanfic #marvel fanfiction #sebastian stan x reader #james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #james barnes x reader #james barnes x you #james barnes x y/n

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blackwidowsim · 4 years

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My (spoilery) thoughts and theories on Crescent City:

Hunt x Bryce is endgame, I‘m 100 % sure

There were just sooo many scenes with them that screamed endgame. They saw each other on there lowest points, saved their lives multiple times and other characters saw the spark between them too (even Danika pointed it out)

Not to be dramatic or anything but I am really good at spotting the love interest in a book/movie and the only character I think Bryce should be with is him

I know some of you think Aidas might turn out to be the second Rhysand but Aidas gives me complete Suriel vibes

AND SJM can’t always do the same plot twists on us for all of her books, this time Bryce‘ first love interest will stay

There is definitely something more to the seventh Asteri

The Asteri either killed her or she is still alive

Maybe she lives in hell? Because Aidas told us that the Asteri twist the reality so I think there is definitely more to the war between Hell and this world

Because it really seems like Aidas was right that Hell doesn’t give a f*ck about the Asteri world and Jesiba seemed to trust him

AND did the epilogue drop that Jesiba was with Hunt‘s dad?

Who even is he?

Either a demon or one of the Asteri

(What speaks for demon: Aidas knew about him as well as Jesiba)

(What speaks for Asteri: One of them is named Rigelius, Rigel is a star in the constellation Orion, which is Hunts real name)

After all, the angels bowed to him so I think Bryce is not the only one with a powerful bloodline

This could also explain his special powers

The mystery involving Hunt‘s dad is also a reason why I think he won’t be the next Tamlin: SJM is giving Hunt a proper backstory with secrets of its own and therefore gives him plot that doesn’t involve Bryce so he still has things to learn

Rhys and Rowan both were pretty much perfect when we meet them, they new about their full potential while their female counterparts had to learn about their powers and got a lot of character development but with Crescent City I think it will be different because Hunt got his full powers back and the mystery about his father is still unsolved which could potentially give him more powers or in general just more character development (I hope you know what I mean, English isn’t my first language)

I think we can all agree that the Asteri are the evil guys and they must go lol

And what‘s the thing between Theia and Pelias? Did he kill her? Why is her light so different? Why does Bryce have it? Is she the reincarnation?

To me it seemed as if Aidas and Theia were close so this makes the story the Asteri tell everyone even more unbelievable

And why does Aidas want to see Bryce? What secrets will he tell her?

And btw we still have to get a s*x scene between Hunt and Bryce which we would have definitely gotten sooner if SJM plans on tearing them apart (this is me materializing Hunt x Bryce endgame)

I hope that Ruhn and Bryce will wield these twin swords or daggers this fae prophecy spoke about

And who is Danika‘s Dad? I think he might be important at one day

The last 300 pages were btw so so so good, the twists killed me! I am so hyped about CC 2

I know that some of you don’t like it that Bryce is starborn but I just honestly thinks that SJM is the queen of epic scenes and battles and I read her books because I know the main protagonists will be badass and I just feel so empowered by them and that’s all I need

Please tell me your theories for CC :)

#crescent city #hoeab #bryce quinlan #hunt athalar #hunt x bryce #bryce x hunt #orion athalar #sarah j maas #feysand #rowaelin #acotar #crescent city spoilers #hypaxia x ruhn #tog #throne of glass #danika fendyr

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jd-arts319 · 3 years

Text

Transformers oc Renegade

Designation: Renegade/Nirenia

(Others):Chromalight/Ultraviolet(Marine),Switchblade

(As a Cyber ninja):Cybeswift,Switchblade Former name: Artemis Enigma Nickname:Renny,Switchy,Switcher Age: 20(past)

26(future) Gender: (Mech, Femme)Femme Status: (Single, Taken)

Single(past)(before orion(optimus)asked her out)

Taken(future)

Appearance:

Current

(former)

Primary:Teal

Secondary:Black

Tertiary:Grey

Accents:Whites

Color of Optics:Turquoise

(Others):she has teal & white lumiscient hair that is 2-tone hair,with one white streak on the leftside of her hair

She sports a well endowed & athletic, voluptuous figure with some busty parts,she also has a angelic face(she felt awkward as she remembers only being busty,not voluptuous nor athletic,& she also remembers she is plainly beautiful not exotic type).

Her holoform

Size: 7ft Alt Mode:triple changer

-sports car(Corvette stingray)

-jet(windblade & slipstream VTOL alt mode) Speed Limits: - at altitude:Mach 2.35(2,500 km/h,1,550 mph)

-at sea level:1,400 km/h,872 mph Weapon(s): - multi-changing staff(an ancient relic of unknown origins,but believe to be forge by solus prime) -Energon fan(special),scythe,daggers

As Cyberninja

-enegron fan

-hidden blades & weapons

Fighting style:-Panzer kunst,Krav Maga,aikido,Brazilian jiu Jitsu,jeet kune do

Universe: (G1, Animated, Prime, Beast wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Bayverse,RID,Cyberverse)

-All of them

-Main:Transformers Animated

Abilities:

-she use Aura(Mana) as her basic power,her minors but common power are telepathy,telekinesis,teleportation/spatial,divine prediction & recognition,however their is one uncanny power that she used,but is came from the spectral meter pendant given by vector prime,she recognize it as sci twi’s pendant from mlp eg friendship games.

Faction: (Autobot, Deceptcion, Neutral, Own creation)

-Neutral(but is part of N.E.X.U.S team,she can either stay at autobots or decepticon)

-Autobot Neutral

-(alt.universe)decepticon Primary Class Function:Triple changer,Cyberninja (point one percenter) Secondary Class Function:Warrior,scientist

As Cyberninja:Warrior,espionage,scout

Subroutine Function:Mystery Personality: - an enigma,at first she is seen apathetic,impulsive,dumb & is nihillistic,but once she is focused she is very intelligent,cunning,calm,sassy,kind,nice,sweet,& empathetic,her attitude towards things but she is very much like ratchet except,unlike him she results in more passive-agressive way,she is shown to have at least patience,undersganding & consideration,aside that she will be protective to those who wormed their way into her spark,not only that but she deosn’t easily keeps promise because she knows their some promises aren’t eash to keep.

she has a humorous side as she likes bad puns & good jokes,aside from it their are times she comes off arrogant or who doesn't care but deep down she shows she cares,she isn’t fond of attention as she is currently self-aware who she really is,but she is rather uncanny of her unique abilities & talents.

(there times she questions why optimus end up choosing her among the three well-known femmes as she tries not to have his attention but alas is inevitable,but in other universe,she is a bit like pearl from steven universe,despite she done everything for optimus,he ends up choosing someone else & this cause her to feel ignored,she is now comping of moving on from him & their war all together ) Background story: when she was just a human,who likes anime,transformers etc. & many other things,but suddenly she was transmigrated into a cybertronian,it turns out the primes & primus,saw something in her as she understood about the lives of transformers & their each different unique aspects of their lives in the continuity,because of it she is transmigrated in tfa,as she woken up as artemis & unknown to her,she was gonna change everything.

She soon starts her life slowly as she tries not to get attention from others,but after saving bumblebee from wasp & ironhide up to offering a friendship to orion,she soon gain others attention as she slowly curses of herself,she did not realize she had taken the spark of a certain handsome blue & red truck bot.

As time pass she gain more attention from others as she tries to live her life peacefully while having some odd misunderstandings occurs.

Relationship:

Optimus prime

-great friends/lovers(<in another community),met earlier years before the show begins,she & him become really great friends to one another,however at the starts of the show,she enters the autobot boot camp after optimus enter first,she caught every mechs attention including sentinel,she also met elita who once had the reputation of being the most beautiful & intelligent femme in the boot camp,until she came but she stays close to optimus most of the time,however the arch 7 incident begun & because she wasn’t there at the time,despite knowing what happened she couldn’t help,even though she admits to the three she felt something is not right,it happend & she helps him trying to recover while she gave sentinel a visible dent under his chin,fast years go by she is now in 2nd command of ultra magnus.

Optimus really care for her than he thought because she still believes in him more than anyone else.

(in another timeline ren & optimus are together,but mostly i others she just mostly friends with him)

Bumblebee & Bulkhead:

-friends & respect with admiration,,when she was the sergeant in the boot camp,she always help both bumblebee & bulkhead out of trouble everytime both wasp & ironhide(she saw hope in him),including sentinel who in turn cant talk back to her,she once told wasp if he keeps it up with his bullying he will get karma,months later wasp was arrested for something he didn't do,while ren felt she knew something might happen & after this she once talked to bumblebee about this & said ominously”once you saw wasp again,give me a call,kay?”she gave him a special device to call her,bumblebee still clueless as to why but ren did help him & bulkhead out all time so he kinda owe her,years now when he saw wasp remembering her words he called her & she helps the two,bulkhead admire & respect her because she was the only one who believes in him.

The two are grateful to her & they respect her more than ultra & sentinel.

Prowl & ratchet:

-Friends & respect,prowl had once met her as she was training under yoketron,he thought she was one of those snobbish nobles,however he was proven wrong when she shows tactic & precise through training,over time of their training the two gain each other respect,on the endgame with her help she & prowl manage to save the allspark,Ratchet on the other hand it was a different story,while she may asked for a personal training in medical,but im truth it took awhile for the two to grown each other,she was the one who keeps on a tab on arcee’s state,hearing this he decided to to be acquainted with her & soon they become at least good friends.

They are fine with her,especially since she always helps them.

Sentinel prime:

-love-hate relationship,while the two are torn because of sentinel actions,there are a times they end up acting like they used to,still she was still pissed at him.

Elita one/Blackarachnia:

- same with sentinel,she & elita are once close but the arch 7 incident happens & when meet again their friendship torns apart,while blackarachnia snarky tries to still pins the blame on optimus,Ren decided to give her a run down on everything,reminding her that she also the one insisted,experimented on others,nearly trying to kill others & especially others,she told her that its makes her monster not because of her appearance but mostly her actions,she also remind her she almost have to be saved by optimus far too many times,however she have a little faith on elita.

Decepticons:

Megatron:

-Respect,friends-regardless of their factions,he owes her his life,,it was unknown how the two meet or why,but both stayed in touch most of the time,there isn't much of information about it.

Shockwave:

-Friends,Respect-she saved him before she enters the autobot boot camp,she found his bleeding in a planet where he suppsoed to start his mission but in a unfortunate time,he was bitten by a scraplet,while he kiled the scraplet he was bleeding,she found him & fixed his bitten part of his body & the two become acquintained,to its whether or not she knew he was decepticon.

Strengths: - her friends

-her powers

-the people she cares for

-self-awareness Weakness: - her mind

-her friends

-her empathy

-self-awareness Family: - she was forged & was taken care by the Enigma house -she is a Crescente

-her parents in house of Enigma,is Axel Enigma & Copper

Friends: - Orion pax/Optimus prime(friends/lovers(?),bumblebee,bulkhead,thundercracker,skywarp(she questions why),starscream(this one as well),Megatron(back then,she don’t know about now(tfp & idw),shockwave,lugnut,blitzwing(bruh??),

ocs:Novus,remix,ideaboard,

Enemies: -tfa(sentinel,council,blackarachnia(mutual)---0

-tfp(council,sentinel,arachnid,M.E.C.H)

-IDW TF(black block consortia,djd,overlord,sentinel---) Favorite Quotes to say: - “....i still think they are cybertronians regardless of their factions,they are like us in many ways of ones,we aren’t that different to begin with”(about the decepticons,autobots,& humans with aliens) Other: (other things about the character) -she was a Crescente & she doesn’t remember her real name,but her bracelet number code is SW1TCH814D3 she is fond of this name but she doesn’t use it,but she was always called Ren,Switchblade was her secondary name & nickname from her full name she can’t remember

-the “Celestyn”was her middle like all her ancestors starts from her 1st ancestor who had Celests,as their middle name

-”Crescente” was named after the moon,they history of their name & family is still mystery

-she has a counterpart who is a cyber ninja known as Cyberswift,born from enigma house & is the student of dai atlas

-she mostly use the energon fan given by dai atlas,who said it was made for her

-she has kids with optimus prime,their name is ortensia,a girl & artemis,a boy,they only exist in tfp & tfa au,rescue bots & rescue bots academy

-their relationship between ren & optimus,is portrayed as romantic in some transformers community & but their relationship is complete platonic in others

-her main universe is tfa & tfp

-the name “enigma”is special since it was rare to have “enigma”part of your name,it was name of the family she is”born”in

-some other universe,megatron becomes her lover instead,they had a kid named terminus

-her real name is Nirenia but changed into renegade,she still kept her real name though

-her nickname”Ren”is shared with the creator(me)regardless of her creator is sometimes called”rei”,but whenever the creator is referred to their other name”Ren”,renegade can be referred by her other names

-she is a point one precenter

-her cyberninja side has an extra but short bio about them

-she is the only one had two counterparts,her real-self & her cyberninja form

-Switchblade was someone else name.

________________

Her other forms

-g1

-rid2015

-tfp

-rescue bots

-cyberverse

-rescue bots academy

-bayverse! 1&2 vers.

Renegade (c) me

Transformers(all media types) (c) Hasbro,michale Bay

#Ocs #tfa #tfp #g1 #rescue bots #rescue bots academy #transformers #transformers animated #transfomers-oc #transformers prime #tf bayverse #Transformers Cyberverse #transformers rid2015 #renegade #originalverse & stableverse

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all1e23 · 5 years

Text

Astrophile [Pt.6]

Chapter: Cosmic Rays

Summary: Bucky has two days off and, he’s going to make the best of every second.

Warnings: All kinds of heartwarming fluff. I think we all need that after Endgame.

A/N: This is my favorite chapter to date. It’s extra fluffy because my heart hurts (Thanks Marvel). Just keep in mind... slow burn. Send me love because i”m needy, okay?! Plus all your comments make my day. BIG ULTRA HUGE thanks to my beautiful beta @lokissoul I love you 3000!

***My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission. Reblogs are welcomed! Thanks!**

For forty-eight hours Bucky doesn’t have to think about on-site drills, taking calls, Sam and Clint bickering. He doesn’t have to think about the damn station if he doesn’t want to and he has zero intentions of doing so. The next two days are going to be spent at home with his baby girl, and he can do… laundry. He glares at the mountain of dirty clothes sitting on the washing machine and the second pile laying in front of the dryer and several of Ori’s dresses and tulle skirts that have to be dry cleaned.

That is not how he wants to spend his day off.

Bucky pushes his chair out from the kitchen table ignoring the piles of dirty clothes that were now behind him. Can’t see it, none of it exists, right? He brings his cup of coffee up to his lips and freezes spotting the stack of dirty dishes from the night before and the batter covered waffle iron from this morning. Not to mention the oddly large number of cups they managed to dirty. How do two people use that many cups in only a few days?

With a quick turn of the head, focusing his gaze on the living room in an attempt to escape the mess he’s greeted with puzzle pieces thrown about, Disney Pictionary cards tossed haphazardly, brightly colored pom poms and googly eyes spread out on the coffee table and his arch nemesis – glitter. It’s covering the couch, the rug, and coffee table. Bucky winces at the sight and sets his mug down, heading towards the pile of dirty clothes. They had to get out of this house today and the semi-clean joggers he’s wearing isn’t going to cut it in public.

Plucking one of the not so embarrassingly dirty pairs of jeans out of the pile on the floor he glances back at Ori coloring something with her glitter crayons. Her entire morning has been spent perfecting whatever picture she’s drawing, because Orion is a perfectionist. She gets easily frustrated when she can’t make things look or feel a certain way. If doesn’t know the answer to a question, tears are sure to follow pretty quickly. She simply doesn’t like to let Bucky, or anyone, down.

As much as it worries Bucky, he can’t deny watching her color with her brow furrowed, eyes set in determination and her little tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth is adorable. As cute as she looks he needs to get out of this house before he ends up wasting the day on cleaning because that would be a tragedy.

“Hey, Comet?” He shouts as he sniffs one of his discarded t-shirts and wrinkles his nose at the odor, tossing it back down onto the pile with a grunt.

“What daddy?”

“I was thinkin’, how about we go see Y/n at the bookstore today?”

Bucky hears something that sounds like a scream or a screech, maybe? He isn’t sure what happened, but he rushes back into the living room, sliding in on his sock-clad feet. The bright blue chair (teal chair as he’s been told several times) is laying on the ground and Ori is now sitting on the floor by the entryway, unharmed and slipping her shoes on.

She looks up at him and frowns in deep frustration.

“Daddy!” She whines. “What are you doing? Get dressed. Y/n takes a break soon, and we can bring her a treat!”

He blows a stuttering breath to cover the laugh he was failing to suppress.

“Alright, ya little general. Give me ten minutes to change.” He looks down at the mess of glitter in front of him, puts his hands on his hips and looks back at Ori, “You think I can get Uncle Sammy to come over and clean up the house for me?”

“You’re not that cute daddy.”

-------

Bucky opted to take his car, which he rarely uses, thanks to the enormous toolbox he chose to bring with them. He isn’t the only one bringing gifts to Y/n’s shop today. Ori had her backpack full of drawing after drawing and every single one of her glitter crayons - all sixty-four were in her travel case stuffed into her bag. Because turquoise blue is way different from robin egg blue and she absolutely needs both. They park about a block away thanks to every other person that thought driving was a good idea today. Just a harsh reminder why Bucky never drives in the city. They stroll down the sidewalk, and Ori nervously tightens her grip on Bucky’s hand the closer they get to the shop.

“You okay, baby girl?” Bucky asks, looking down at her.

She shrugs looking down at the rainbow bow on top of her black tennis shoes. “What if she doesn’t like it?”

“I think she’s going to love anything you got her,” Bucky replied earnestly. “I know she’s going to like the picture you made her and I’m sure she’s gonna like the present you got her at the book fair.”

“I guess so…” Ori mumbles as they approach the star covered storefront. She looks up at the letters displaying the shop name and then to her dad, stepping behind him and holding his jeans in her small fist.

“You go first.”

Bucky holds back a laugh for the second time today and brushes her curls out of her eyes to get a better look at her. She is the same shade of green Steve was when he asked Sam out for the first time. She’s really spending more time than she should with Uncle Stevie. Bucky holds the door open letting a large group of people shuffle out and giving Ori a second to calm down. They wander into the shop, Bucky pretends to drag his leg behind him as if Ori weighs a ton and his Oscar-worthy acting skills cause her to giggle despite her nerves.

The shop is fairly busy, but it probably has something to do with it being Friday and the sale Y/n has going on. The sign hanging in the front window reads something about getting fifty percent off a total purchase if you buy three or more books and clearly people are excited. Might not have been the best day for surprises. He’s never seen this many people in the shop before. It’s hard to determine where Y/n is thanks to the crowds that have taken over the shop.

A few sweeps of his surroundings and he finds her sitting on her step ladder between two of the smaller bookcases that sat in front of the register. He stops for a few seconds, just to watch her and he can’t help but smile. She has a store full of customers, and what looks like several stacks of books she needs to put back on the shelves, and she is sitting on a stool with a book open on her lap reading.

She’s reading in the midst of all this chaos.

“Hey,” he calls softly.

Y/n pulls her nose from her book and looks over the bookshelf to find Bucky standing on the other side, smiling fondly at her. A huge smile splits her face in two, and it makes his smile grow ten times brighter. She abandons whatever she was reading and slips it back on the shelf, giving Bucky her full attention.

“Hey, Mr. December,” She replies, snickering as she does.

“I’m not gonna live that down, am I?” Bucky groans, loudly, and hangs his head in shameful defeat.

“Nope.”

She walks around the shelves, and her beaming smile quickly turns into a frown when she spots Ori nervously standing behind Bucky’s legs. Ori’s never been nervous around her before, and Y/n’s mind instantly starts to race. Had she done something to upset her? Was Ori mad that Bucky has been texting her on and off? One quick glance at Bucky for encouragement and she goes right into fix it mode.

“Hey, Ori,” Y/n tries, gently, squatting down to her level. “What’s going on here? What is this sad face all about?”

Ori looks up at Bucky who smiles and gives her a wink urging her on.

“I got you somethin’,” she mumbles into the thick material of her dad’s pant leg.

“Oh, my stars! You didn’t have to get me anything, but I’m so excited to see what it is!” Y/n chirps, a huge smile on her face as she settles on her knees, carefully letting her dark blue A-line skirt flare out to hide her legs. The smile on Y/n’s face gives the little girl a small edge of confidence, and she slowly makes her way out from behind Bucky’s legs.

“Is it a spaceship? You know how much I want to go to space.”

“No. I can’t fit a spaceship in my backpack,” The little girl says with a giggle as she unzips her bright blue backpack. Y/n watches taking note of the beauty and the beast, book club and space themed patches Bucky had stitched onto the front.

“You’re right.” Y/n says, nodding her head in agreement. “How silly of me.”

Ori pulls out the drawing she made this morning and hands it over with a tiny gift bag. Y/n grins as she looks over the picture in her hands. There are four different color planets in the middle that glitter in the lights of the shop, and Ori had left her a message. She carefully reads the words in Ori’s handwriting, ‘You are my favorite planet. I like you very much.’

Y/n looks up at Ori from her kneeling position and practically glows in response. Her eyes never leave the little girl as her fingers work the bag open. “You are my favorite constellation, and I like you very much.”

The faint blush on Ori’s chubby cheeks makes Y/n grin wider, she pulls out a small white piece of cardboard and flips it over in her hand, and her heart leaps. She’s had boyfriends who put fewer thoughts into a gift. Her silence must have made Ori nervous because she could hear soft mumbles coming from Bucky’s side as his hand worked through her curls. “I thought – you like space stuff and, and you have that book you write in…”

She looks up at Ori and smiles clutching the space-themed paper clips to her chest like it’s the most precious thing she’s ever been given, and it is.

“The little astronaut is my favorite. Or maybe it’s Saturn with the little star. I can’t decide. I love them, and I adore you. Thank you so much, sweet girl.” Ori flings herself at Y/n and wraps her arms around her neck, Bucky watches the two of them in awe.

“You’re welcome,” Ori whispers quietly.

Y/n squeezes her tightly for a few long moments and kisses the side of her head.

“Want to go pick out a book, and we can read together for a minute and then you can help me decide where to hang my picture?”

Ori nods and gives her one last squeeze before she takes off towards her chair at the back of the store, where her secret pile of books is stacked behind it. There is a long pause before Y/n can use her legs, she slowly rises to her feet holding onto her picture and her gift with gentle firmness for fear of misplacing them. Not that she would ever let them out of her sight long enough to lose them.

“Thank you for that,” Bucky mumbles softly, aware that Ori is somewhere in the store and kids can hear everything when they want to. “She was really nervous you wouldn’t like it.”

“Bucky…” Y/n sighs and clears her throat of the emotion that was bubbling up. “I loved it. It’s the best and most thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten.”

There was such a sincerity in Y/n’s voice that he suddenly found himself angry at whoever thought she wasn’t worth the effort. He wants to tell her that she deserves more than that and tell her how thankful he is to have her in his life and his daughter’s life, but he can tell she is struggling to keep her tears at bay, so he doesn’t say tell her now.

“What’s with the tools?” Y/n asks, curiously, ready to change the subject. “Are they props for your next photo shoot?”

His eyes narrow playfully, allowing her to change the subject without missing a beat, and he nods to the toolbox at his feet. “You’re gonna feel real bad for makin’ fun of me when I tell you that I’m fixin’ your door and that busted up front window.”

Her smile slowly fades, and her expression turns serious again.

“I–” She stumbles over her tongue trying to gather her thoughts. “You don’t have to do that Bucky. You have enough on your plate and, and I’m sure you could be fixing things back at your place.”

“And you’ve given Ori how many free books?” Bucky challenges. “How many times have you closed the shop to spend time with her? I know it’s more than the two nights I know about. Let me do this for you. Believe it or not, I’m pretty handy, and the crack in the window is driving me nuts.” He huffs, frustration ringing loud and clear, his hand brushing his hair back out of his face.

“All your cool air is flying right out that little crack. It’s a waste of money,” Bucky gripes, goodnaturedly but it’s clear it’s bothering him.

“And you got any idea how unsafe that is?”

Y/n giggles and shakes her head waving her hand to the front of the shop giving him permission to whatever he wants to - she had a feeling he was going to do it regardless of her permission anyway.

“Alright, get to fixing it I guess. Starlight?” She calls through the shop and Ori comes bouncing around from her chair with a beaming grin on her face. “Dads gonna fix the door wanna help me with inventory?”

Ori’s eyes light up, and she rushes off towards Y/n’s office where the cart full of books is kept and yells back, “Yes, yes, yes!!!

-------

The day flew by weirdly fast. Before Bucky knew what was happening the sun had started to set, and the crowd of people had come and gone. There were waves of people in and out all day. At bits during the day, the shop was so full Bucky had to stop working and just hold the door open for the crowds. Then there were random quiet periods when the shop was nearly empty, and he could hear Ori and Y/n giggling through the quiet.

Those moments were his favorite.

Bucky sets his tools behind the counter and strolls back into Y/n’s office. It was near closing time, they were only waiting on one last customer to finish up her browsing, and Y/n had Ori on her lap at her desk while they looked through her planner, crayons spread all over her desk. He crosses his arms over his chest and leans his shoulder against the door frame, watching them.

“All done for the day?” Y/n asks not looking up from whatever they were coloring together. She didn’t need to, Y/n felt Bucky the moment he stepped into the doorway.

“Yeah, it’s all fixed.”

Y/n looks up and pouts at his empty arms. “Where is Timmy?”

He scowls as he glances back into the shop and then again at Y/n, “Who the hell is Timmy?”

“Um, your toolbox. Timmy the toolbox,” she says quickly, a slight frustration in her voice as if he should have known that Timmy was clearly a name for a toolbox and that she obviously would have spent time thinking about a name for the metal box, to begin with.

“You named my toolbox?” He asks, curious amusement filling his voice. Shit, she is cute sometimes, Bucky can’t help but think.

“I think the real shocker here is the fact that you had not named him up to this point,” She counters with a hint of disapproval, and he really doesn’t like disappointing her. Bucky chuckles quietly at the glare she’s shooting at him and throws his hands up in surrender.

“I didn’t realize I had hurt the feelings of an inanimate object. I’ll apologize to Timmy.”

“See that you do.”

She smiles triumphantly and turns her attention back to Ori who’s giggling away in her lap.

“How about after I apologize to Timmy we grab dinner?” Bucky offers, and Y/n quickly adds on. “I’m buying though!”

“What?” Bucky’s brows shoot up, and he shakes his head. “No, you’re not. How many books did you put in Ori’s bag today?” Y/n opens her mouth and quickly shuts up, her lips pressing into a thin line as she narrows her eyes.

“That’s not the point.” She whines, it’s hard for her to accept all this help from him. If anyone deserves to catch a break, it’s Bucky. Certainly not her.

“You worked all day fixing the front door and then the window and don’t think I didn’t notice you came in and checked all the shelves and did that spackle thingy to the window that was leaking by Ori’s chair.”

“First of all, didn’t use spackle. That wouldn’t work on a wood frame doll. Second of all, my time barely covers the amount of money you’ve lost in books,” Bucky replies, eyes filled with perseverance and his arms crossed back over his chest. He isn’t going to give in, and they both know it.

“Fine.” Y/n relents doing everything she can to hide her smile. She looks up just in time to see her last customer waiting at the register, so she hops up taking Ori with her. “You can buy dinner, but I get to pick where we eat, and I’m ordering two kinds of desserts.”

Bucky grins as he watches her skip back to the front of the shop Ori following right behind her matching her skip for skip. He chuckles quietly to himself and collapses into Y/n’s desk chair. The picture Ori drew was pinned up on the wall next to her desk, and Y/n had her planner out on the desk paper clips Ori had bought her at the book fair already in use. Y/n even let Ori add another movie night to next week’s agenda with bright purple glitter crayon.

“What did we do to deserve you?” He whispers softly.

The grin on his face slowly starts to fade, and his chest tightens when he sees what Y/n has scribbled onto Saturday night.

Dinner with Tony Stark. Masa @ 7pm

It hits him like a speeding truck knocking the breath right out of him. She has a date with Tony Stark. Bucky didn’t think Nat was really going to set them up. He hastily looks back up at Y/n and Ori they are helping the young girl check out at the counter, Ori is sitting on the wooden top laughing loudly at something Y/n is saying, scanning each book in Y/n’s hands and typing into the computer as Y/n directs her after each item.

Of course, he’s going to take her to Masa. Stark doesn’t do anything simple. Everything has to be flashy with him. Y/n probably won’t like all that flashy stuff. It’s stuffy there. Not that Bucky would know. He’s never been, and there was no way Bucky could ever afford to take anyone to Masa. There’s not a chance in hell he’s ever going to make enough money to spend a grand on some fancy dinner. Shit. Who is he kidding? She’s going to love it. Stark’s charming, handsome and could give her the best of everything.

If anyone deserves the best, it’s Y/n, but then again Stark didn’t have the best reputation. If he didn’t end up breaking her heart, which was more likely than not, his relationship with Y/n could affect her relationship with Ori. Bucky doubts Tony Stark’s idea of a fun night is watching Hotel Transylvania while eating pizza on the couch. However, if she wants to date him, as Y/n’s friend, Bucky has no choice but to support her-- even though he thinks it’s a terrible idea.

This is the worst idea and Bucky absolutely hates it.

Previous // Next

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #single dad bucky #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #fireman!bucky #firefighter au #alternate universe

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jokertrap-ran · 4 years

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Amnesia: LATER ~Waka-san World~ Route Translations (New World: Waka Prologue)

Translator’s note : MC’s name shall remain as my normal (水嶋ラン) Spoiler FREE : Translations under cut !

Orion: Let's see where the Manager's at...

Orion: Oh! There he is!

Waka: Hmm...? Oh, Ran!

Waka: I didn't recognize you for a moment. People say that proper make-up and clothes can change a woman's impression and that's precisely you right now.

Waka: You're usually dressed in traditional Japanese garb, but you're really giving off this mature vibe right now.

Waka: I've just been reminded yet again that you are indeed, a young woman.

Waka: It also seems like the guys over there have been sneaking glances at you for a good while now.

Waka: I'm sure that they intended to approach you, but they're probably too nervous to do so. Haha. You're quite the popular one, aren't you?

Orion: You really are popular. I second him!

Waka: Still, it's really such a pity that you're unable to join us for the firefly-viewing.

Waka: I'd personally love to show you those breathtaking fireflies, but I'm sure that another opportunity will arise soon enough.

Waka: The current species of fireflies out there in the outbreak right now are the Luciola lateralis. They're active much longer compared to the rest.

Orion: An outbreak... I wonder why insects are so prone to- Well, the traditional Japanese garb really suits you.

Waka: ...Do you wish to know why?

Orion: What?

Waka: I can tell you the reason behind that if you so wish. However...

Waka: Your life will be forfeit if you ever reveal this to anyone else. Do we have an understanding?

Orion: What's with that out of the blue!? What kind of flags did you just set off!?

Waka: ...Everything started 156 years ago. There was a plan named "Operation Infinite: Orbit" That was the beginning of everyth-

Orion: No, no, that's fine! We don't really have a dying urge to hear it!

Waka: ...In short, I'm the descendant of that particular bloodline.

Waka: And these fireflies I speak of are also a result of the research done for the sake of that plan.

Waka: However, this only happens once for a single generation. Therefore, the fireflies will return to normal active periods next year.

Waka: It will most likely never occur again if the ecosystem still continues to remain intact.

Waka: My family's vow was not fulfilled in the end. Sometimes I wonder if that was for the best in the end...

Waka: If it wasn't for their research, we wouldn't be standing here right now in the form of a homosapien.

Orion: ......

Orion: Um...Was the setting of the world you lived in really like this?

Waka: Thank you. I'm usually dressed in traditional Japanese garb.

Waka: It's one of rules in my household. I grew up dressed like this as a kid.

Orion: Heh, that's unusual. Were they a family of doctors of some sort perhaps...?

Orion: Does the manager live in a house of samurai, perhaps?

Waka: In any case, my father was often transferred due to his job and I had to stay in apartments. Which makes these garments rather inconvenient.

Orion: ...Not a house of samurai, then.

Waka: It was rather hard to go up and down the stairs when I was a kid whilst wearing normal sandals, leather-soled sandals and geta.

Waka: That's why I absolutely adored wearing laced boots below my hakama.

Orion: What are you!? A political activist!?

Waka: ...Hm? Ah, some boys have taken to playing in the riverbank down below.

Waka: Dressed in yukatas too. That's trouble.

Waka: Although, I must say that they must be good friends since they're getting along well. I'm sure they'll all come if you call out to them.

Waka: Our being here as a whole might also be one of the reasons why you're here. Your endgame, even.

Orion: I-Is that so...?

Waka: So, who are you the most attracted to as of this moment?

Orion: Huh!?

Orion: S-Springing that on us out of the blue's putting us in a spot! Even if you ask...

Waka: Haha, my apologies. That was untactful of me. I must have put you in quite a spot.

Waka: Judging from your reaction earlier, it seems like that special someone hasn't arrived.

Waka: So that means that everyone has an equal chance as it stands right now? ...Me included, that is.

Orion: ...What?

Waka: Now, it's not like I can possibly keep you to myself forever.

Waka: I'd like to talk with you more, but I suppose we can take that up on the next opportunity.

Waka: Come now, my lady. Everyone awaits you.

⊱ ────♡♤♢♧ 𝕿𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊...♡♤♢♧ ──── ⊰

#Amnesia #Amnesia Later #Waka #Takahashi Hidenori #Otome #translations #Amnesia Later x Crowd #Wakasan World #Amnesia Waka #Otomate

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the-unconquered-queen · 4 years

Text

Choices LI tag game

Thanks for tagging me, @endlessflame and @litgpop!

Watch how I am incapable of giving brief, to-the-point answers below

Across the Void: None because I haven’t even made it past chapter 4 and won’t anytime soon

America’s Most Eligible: Adam, named Leo. Then I got so bored of him I switched to Slater at the first opportunity

Baby Bump: Who the hell knows at this point? I don’t like either LI too much, so it’s just a weird limbo

Bachelorette Party: Ash, whenever he was onscreen

Big Sky Country: Dallas, who was so paywalled I could probably count the times my MC kissed him on one hand, but they did end up together in that future fantasy at the end

Blades of Light & Shadow: I meant to go for Mal, but Tyril’s intriguing so my MC will probably flirt with him before eventually ending up with Mal (I have a bit of an odd headcanon in which my MC will end up with both eventually, at different times)

Bloodbound: Jax

The Crown & The Flame: Most playthroughs with Raydan (loml), until I did the most recent one with Diavolos (loml), so now I consider them AUs that can coexist, but I’m also planning to try Tevan’s route eventually

A Courtesan of Rome: My first playthrough, my MC flirted with every LI (it played up the aspect of her being able to wrap everyone she met around her finger, imo) before eventually ending up with Syphax. My latest playthrough had her drop the dead weight and be with Syphax from the start

Desire & Decorum: Prince Hamid (who now bears my MC’s last name)

The Elementalists: Beckett

Endless Summer: Jake

The Freshman: My first playthrough had my MC ending up with Chris, but after I saw how Zig had the best proposal from screenshots, I planned another playthrough with the purpose of romancing him, and goddamn, he’s a god-tier LI and that’s what I consider my canon playthrough, so Zig’s endgame (also once I played Snowed In with Kaitlyn as MC’s LI out of curiosity, but she was pretty meh)

The Haunting of Braidwood Mannor: Tbh, I only played it once and it was near the beginning of my Choices days, so I don’t remember at all whether it was Víctor or Eleanor

The Heist: Monaco: Honestly, I hear this book is super good, but my motivation to play chapter 2 is low, but I’ve seen Fabien, and I’m coming for him eventually

Hero: Kenji, who was so paywalled that the most he and MC did was flirt (and he’s already flirty by nature), so he is one of the LIs an MC of mine has romanced the least

High School Story: Before I played, I had trouble picking between Michael and Aiden, but I chose Aiden and now I couldn’t imagine picking anyone else over him, even for just one playthrough

High School Story: Class Act: Started out with Rory, but then switched to Ajay in my most recent playthrough and I like him way better, but I’m still salty he never apologized

Home for the Holidays: Nick, but I don’t remember any of it

It Lives in the Woods: I know I talk about wanting to romance Dan and Noah (and even chose to flirt with Lucas), but the truth is that Andy is tied for #1 as my favorite Choices LI, which if you follow me long enough, you’ll know by how often I start randomly posting about him

It Lives Beneath: No contest, it was Tom… but Andy’s tied with someone, and I’ll give you three guesses as to who it is (also irrelevant, but his last diamond scene was one of my favorites I’ve ever paid for)

Lovehacks: None of the LIs here really stood out to me, and I only picked Mark so my MC wouldn’t be single, ‘cause I stan a best friends to lovers trope… I just don’t stan this couple. I’d say I’ll replay it to try Ben, but I didn’t like it enough to replay (unless I’m mining it)

Most Wanted: I don’t really remember it, aside from the twist, but I’m also not motivated to replay it

Mother of the Year: Levi, and the added smugness of having the man Guy despised become “his” daughter’s stepfather was the absolute icing on the cake, but I like the screenshots of romancing Thomas, just not enough to ever ditch this rockstar

Nightbound: Nik

Open Heart: Bryce Lahela, 110%

Passport to Romance: Ahmed, the only thing this book has going for it

Perfect Match: Damien, but in my latest playthrough I tried to have MC flirt with Hayden by giving him a quick kiss, but he must’ve thought that was a declaration of love and I couldn’t back out (accidentally clicked to end chapter) and my MC ended up with both but I pretend that never happened, so just Damien

Platinum: Even from the previews, I’d decided on Raleigh, but I’m pretty sure I pulled out a legit engagement ring the moment I found out he was Puerto Rican

Red Carpet Diaries: Started out with Matt, but switched to Thomas because of how much more supportive he was to MC when the whole thing with Montmartre went down

Ride-or-Die: I started out being one of the few people in the fandom who actually liked Logan, but it was around chapter 8ish (I don’t recall exactly), when he started being distant and Colt started being closer that I made the permanent switch to Colt

The Royal Masquerade: Hunter (named Hyperion) because he’s so fine, but after the last chapter, I might have a playthrough for Kayden (named Orion)

The Royal Romance: Alright, I’mma confess that I started out with Drake (you can see some of my old ss on my blog), but I started disliking him and made the good god-tier switch to Liam and now Drake’s the only romance I don’t like. Also, I like Maxwell, but I couldn’t possibly ditch Liam now… besides, the story revolves around him, so I’m already on the winning team

Rules of Engagement: The bartender for MC and Mira for the party sister

Save the Date: Simon, but the progression of the relationship was so paywalled that by the time my MC got to even kiss him, other ss showed he was already dating MCs

Sunkissed: Samson, but mainly so MC wouldn’t be single

Veil of Secrets: Flynn, and my MC stayed with him in the end

Wishful Thinking: Jaime, because again, best friends to lovers is my shit

If you’ve read this far, props to you, and you are now automatically tagged, so drop yours, too! :)

#playchoices #this turned out long and I’m sorry for making you scroll so much

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murasaki-murasame · 4 years

Text

Since the next batch of mana spiral upgrades should be coming out in the next week or two, I figure now’s probably a good time to go over my predictions for what the first batch of mana spirals for each element might be like, now that we have a good idea of what to expect from them.

This got really long so I’ll put it under a cut.

First off, I think that the adventurers in the first batches of mana spiral upgrades per element will probably be:

Shadow: Nefaria, Curran, Heinwald, OG Cleo, Alex, Audric [maybe], Kleimann, Berserker, and the 3-stars

Water: Xanfried, Laranoa, Lily, OG Elly, OG Celery, Thaniel, Luther, and the 3-stars [except maybe Jakob]

Wind: Hawk, Sylas, Louise, OG Ranzal, Su Fang, Pia, Aeleen, and the 3-stars

Light: Julietta, Lucretia, B-Zardin, OG Luca, Elias, Vixel, Amane, and the 3-stars [except maybe Xiao Lei]

I’m not entirely sure about Lily and Louise since they’re already pretty solid, but I dunno. B-Zardin might be too recent to get buffed but Cassandra was even more recent, lol. And honestly light needs all the buffs it can get, especially when it comes to the non-limited ones.

Botan might have been a special case, but it’d be nice if they include other event units in the mana spiral upgrades as well. Especially since they’ve always been particularly held back by the wonky abilities that event units get. Though I think most of them probably wouldn’t benefit quite as much from a buff as Botan did, since she was already really good.

There’s other units I want to see get buffed, like Annelie and Fritz, but I think other units need the buffs more.

Anyway, let’s break down what changes I think will be made to all of these characters, and what I’d like to see.

Firstly, going by how the flame mana spirals went, we can probably assume that it’ll be the 5-stars and the free story 4-stars who’ll get the most attention put into their upgrades, while the gacha 4-stars and the 3-stars will probably all just have their numbers scaled up across the board, and lots of them will get status afflictions added to their skills. But it’s safe to assume that every single mana spiral unit will get 100% potent status resistance [and off-element resistance units will get their resistances changed to something that actually works for them], and units with any sort of skill prep ability will get it buffed to 100% skill prep + skill charge [aside from unique cases like Naveed].

Either way, this is how I think it’ll go down per element.

SHADOW:

[I’m starting here ‘cause it’ll be the next batch that’ll come out]

As much as I’d love to see my absolute son boy Norwin get a mana spiral upgrade, I think he won’t be in the initial batch since he’s already a pretty solid unit all around. I’d say he’s probably the most well-rounded of the 4-star shadow gacha units, along with Patia.

Orion’s definitely a candidate, but I don’t think they’ll give him an upgrade just yet. Partly because Alex will definitely get one [although they did give both Euden and Karl buffs at the same time], but also because it might really backfire if they give him built-in 100% skill prep since he inflicts blind on his S1, lol. That might lead to some unintended cheese strats, but who knows.

As for the ones who I’m more certain will get buffed, Nefaria’s basically the poster child for ‘absolutely needs a buff’, along with Hawk, but I’m not really certain what I think they’ll do with her. There’s just a lot of fundamental things wrong with her as a unit, and I don’t think that just buffing her stats would be enough. The main thing is just that since blind is such a powerful status affliction, it’s highly resisted by basically every endgame boss, and we haven’t gotten any blind punisher dragons/wyrmprints yet. So a unit like her that’s built around inflicting blind is probably just never going to work because she’ll always be shackled.

Honestly my first suggestion would just be to retcon her entire kit into being about inflicting poison rather than blind, lol. At least then she’d fit in with the poison meta that’s been steadily developing. But that might be too much of a change to make.

The other big issue with her is that her blind affliction is tied to her using her S2 and then using force-strikes. On top of that taking longer to activate than a blind-inflicting S1 would, bow force-strikes are just completely horrible in every way and need to be changed. The bow force-strike should just be a single big charged shot that you charge and fire like you do with the sword and blade force-strikes. That’d make it a lot faster and more reliable to actually hit anyone with them in the first place.

I think her two main abilities will at least get their numbers bumped up, but I think they should take a cue from Naveed’s mana spiral and add an additional effect to one of them along the lines of ‘While Twilight Arrows is activated, increase strength/crit rate/whatever by x%’. It’d at least be SOMETHING to make her stronger, and it’d help justify tying so much to her S2 and it’s effect.

I’m not entirely sure if Curran and Heinwald will get buffed, but I think they at least need it more than Yaten and Natalie do, and it’d be a bit weird if Nefaria’s the only shadow 5-star to get buffed in the next batch, so I’m including them.

For Curran, I think the defense debuff on his S1 should have a 100% chance of applying, and maybe he could get poison punisher added to it as well. And I think his S2 should have either poison punisher or defense debuff punisher [like DY-Malora] added to it. And I feel like they should change his Last Offense ability to just be Resilient Offense like Cassandra. He doesn’t really have a good way of utilizing that sort of ability like she does, but Last Offense is just kinda useless as it is, lol.

For Heinwald, I think he should inflict poison with his S1, and the cap on it’s heal should either be raised or removed. I also think that the team strength buff on his S2 should be changed to not be limited to a short-range AoE around him, but that goes for everyone who has that sort of ranged team buff, and I doubt Cygames would agree with me on this and change all of them, lol. But either way I want either him or Curran to inflict poison so they can synergize with Lathna. Since Heinwald is another unit with an S2 that activates a named effect like Naveed, I could see him getting a similar sort of unique buff added to his skill prep ability that activates while Abyssal Connection is active. Maybe either a recovery potency buff or something related to strength/skill damage/poison punisher.

Kleimann’s a pretty easy one to assume will get a buff since they seem to specifically be trying to correct the whole Gala Cleo issue, and he’s one of the more accessible shadow wand units. But I don’t think they’ll do a whole lot with him beyond making his stats better, and maybe giving him poison on his S1.

Berserker’s one of those units who really needs a bit of a buff, since he’s just a bit too weak and defense-oriented to work well in the current meta. But I think his buffs will also be pretty simple. They’ll probably raise the chance of the strength debuff on his S1, and maybe add poison to it, and his S2 will probably be changed to give him 15% HP per use, which would at least let him hit the cap in two uses of it rather than three. It’d be nice if they also added a temporary strength buff to it though, since he really doesn’t have a lot of personal DPS. I think they’ll add a flurry effect to his first ability that raises his strength or skill damage when he’s got a certain combo count, and like with Curran I think they should change his Last Offense ability to something else. At least he’d benefit more from Resilient Offense since he’s got some self-healing in his kit. [Also with Monster Hunter Berserker on the way, now would be a nice time to buff his OG version]

If they want to buff Audric, I’m not entirely sure what they could do with him aside from just raising the stats of his skills and stuff. He’d at least benefit a lot from getting 100% potent paralysis res, though. Maybe they’d add some kind of ‘dragon attacks dispel enemy buffs’ effect to his third ability, and poison to his S1, to make him even more like Euden.

The fact that Alex already got her kit adjusted before getting a mana spiral makes me unsure if they’re even going to give her one any time soon, but if they do, I think she’ll probably at least get poison punisher added to her S1, and maybe an added effect to her skill haste ability where using skills or force-strikes partially charges her skills.

I think OG Cleo is basically 100% guaranteed to get a buff, but I’m not entirely sure what they’re gonna do with healers in general when it comes to mana spirals. At least the ones that are specifically focused on healing. She should at least get full skill prep and potent paralysis res, and probably a buffed HP = Defense ability. Other than that, I think that either her S1 or her S2 should have a regen heal effect added to it.

For the 3-stars I think that they’ll just get the same sort of basic stat buffs across the board, and status effects added to some of their skills. I dunno if that’d benefit anyone to the extent of how strong Xania became with her mana spirals, though. Althemia might end up getting poison on both of her skills, but since her skill damage ability if locked behind a Full HP criteria, she might not be quite as good as Xania even then. They should also probably retcon Vida’s stun res into either paralysis res or blind res, and it’d be nice if they added blind cleanse to Edward’s S1.

WATER:

In terms of 5-stars, I think Xanfried is the most likely one to get buffed, with Laranoa at a close second, but I’m not even sure if any of the other ones need a buff, since they’re all pretty solid. Really it’s the 3/4-stars that are more in need of a buff here, lol.

For Xanfried, it seems pretty likely to me that they’ll add freeze to his S1, since it’s literally called Dragon Frostfang. It’d at least be better than giving him bog, and we need more water units that have easy access to freeze. And for his S2 I think it’ll be like with Botan where a team crit rate buff for water units gets added to it. Going by how they buffed Euden, I think they’ll buff his Dragon Claws ability to be 45% strength total, and they’ll add enemy buff dispel to his dragon form attacks. Or they’ll just increase the damage that his dragon attacks do, which would at least help justify his dragon time ability. I’m not sure if this would make him meta for HBH or anything, but I think it’d make him a lot stronger in general.

I’m not super familiar with Laranoa since I don’t have her yet, so basically all I can assume from looking at her kit is that it’ll just get buffed across the board. But it’d be nice if the short-range team buff on her S2 got changed into a normal universal one, at least. I’m not entirely sure if they should add any status effects to her S1. In general I’m really worried about what might happen if they give lots of water units bog on their S1, since that didn’t turn out well for the summer units. Maybe if they were willing to rework bog into something that can be applied regularly throughout the fight without being overpowered it’d work, but since you always want to save it for a specific part of the fight, putting it on a skill is kinda bad.

OG Elly is pretty obviously gonna get a mana spiral sooner or later, but I’m a bit worried they’d make her overpowered, lol. Though on the other hand, it’d be kinda funny if in exchange for letting you upgrade her S1 to a 25% team strength buff, it locks it to only working on water adventurers. That’d help balance her to make her more in line with other buff units, but it’d probably make a lot of people mad, and it’d mess with a lot of rainbow Mercurial Gauntlet team compositions. I think it’d be worth it, though. Also they should just commit to giving her 100% burn res. That on it’s own would probably make her even better for HBH since she wouldn’t need to run a burn res print anymore.

It’d be nice to see OG Celery get a buff if only so she can get to full burn res as well, which would hopefully also make her a much better pick for HBH, but we’ll see. I can’t really think of anything to add to her kit aside from that, other than a crit rate/damage buff on her S2.

I can take or leave Luther, but I feel like he literally never gets used in any content so he really needs some sort of buff. Even if it ends up not helping him much. I’d at least want his debuffs to happen with 100% chance, though maybe they could also move the defense debuff to his S1. And he should at least get Flurry Strength added to his third ability.

I’m very biased on this one but I DESPERATELY want Thaniel to get a mana spiral upgrade that makes him as good as if not better than Jiang Ziya, lol. He at least really needs to get a regen heal added to his S2 to that his heals in HBH aren’t as tight. In a perfect world they’d add full skil prep to one of his abilities but that’d be a bit of a pipe dream. I’m curious to see if they’d add anything to basic recovery potency abilities like what he has, or if those will just get buffed for everyone that has them.

Summer Ranzal also needs a buff but since he’s fairly recent I don’t think he’ll get one just yet. But probably later.

I feel like a whole bunch of 3-stars are gonna get bog or freeze added to their skills, and I really don’t think that’d be quite as useful as what happened with flame. At least when it comes to bog, because of how that whole affliction works and how you want to save it. So that might backfire and make a lot of them even more off-putting to use. Waike’s a good example of this, since even though Joe benefited a fair bit from getting even more burn added to his kit, Waike would just use up all the bog inflictions before the boss gets broken in the first place.

Personally I’m hoping that Jurota will get freeze added to his S1 [since it’s called Avalance Blade, lol], and that doing that along with giving him full potent stun res would help make him better, at least for stuff like Void Agni.

WIND:

Hawk’s basically a carbon copy of Nefaria except he’s a wind unit who inflicts stun, so basically everything I said with her applies to him. Like with Nefaria he suffers from the fact that stun is a very powerful status affliction that I think is fairly heavily resisted by most bosses, and we haven’t gotten any stun punisher dragons or wyrmprints yet to capitalize on it. And the recent banner with Kirsty and Joachim just goes to show that wind is leaning even more heavily into favouring poison as a status effect. So my first guess for him would also be to just make him a poison-inflicting unit, but that seems even less likely than it would be with Nefaria, since basically every single other wind bow in the game is about inflicting poison too, and would do it better than him. They could at least add some sort of effect to one of his abilities where his S2 effect also increases his strength/crit rate/stun punisher, but there’s just a lot of issues inherent to niche status-inflicting bow units.

This might require more of a broad overhaul of the status effect system, but maybe to get around the relative uselessness of a lot of statuses, they could introduce some kind of a mechanic where a boss can be ‘marked’ as having a certain status ailment without suffering any debilitating effects from it, so you can still benefit from punisher abilities. Or maybe they could experiment with adding something like Volk’s plague effect to their kits, so that they can manually increase the boss’ vulnerability to status effects. In general I think there’s a lot of potential for the plague mechanic to address the central issue of how there’s nothing you can do when a boss fully resists a status ailment.

Other than him, I think Sylas is the only wind 5-star who I think 100% needs to get a buff soon. The other ones are all up in the air, with Louise and Wedding Aoi probably being my runner-up choices. Even Lin You’s fallen out of relevance a lot lately, but she’s still very strong. Sylas on the other hand is just super wonky. For one thing I think the strength debuff on his S1 should happen all the time, and it should have a poison punisher effect added to it, but the main issue is just his S2. It’s way too expensive for way too little value. The easiest way to improve it would probably just be to lower it’s SP cost to around 8k so you can use it at around the same frequency as Kirsty or Xanfried’s S2s, but really the whole idea of it being a roulette buff is just fundamentally bad. I’d honestly be happy if they just reworked it into being a flat skill haste and crit rate buff. All of the roulette buffs aren’t really that important when wind already has units like Noelle, Kirsty, and Lowen to provide those sorts of buffs more consistently. So he should probably just focus on more unique buffs. Basically I think his S2 should be more like Laranoa’s.

Also, Last Recovery is just a really weak ability, so it’d be nice if they could add some sort of extra affect to that, or just change it into something else. Maybe they could make it happen three times per quest rather than just once, and add a permanent 10% defense buff to each use of it, to make it like a tanky version of Resilient Offense. And the health regen effect would help let him get to low health several times in a fight, like Cassandra.

I don’t think much needs to be done with OG Ranzal aside from just making all of his skills and abilities stronger, but I also think that Last Defense sucks, so they should probably change it to something like a Resilient Defense ability where he gets a permanent defense buff each time he gets to low health up to three times.

Aeleen has a fairly basic kit and I don’t think they’d really add much to it aside from maybe poison or poison punisher on her S1. And maybe an additional short buff on her S2.

Pia is basically Aeleen but in far more need of a buff, lol. Her kit’s just so wonky. There’s really not a whole lot that can be done to salvage her unless they add more energy users to the wind roster. At the very least her S2 should give the team two or three energy stacks, on top of maybe another buff to make it more worthwhile, but I dunno if that’d do much to help her.

I’m not sure if they’d bother buffing Su Fang, but if they do, I think they’ll probably add a crit rate buff to his S2, and make his skill damage ability into a 35% one.

There’s not much to say about the wind 3-stars, but I hope they at least give Philia either bog or freeze res. I could see them also adding poison to her skills [and removing the existing paralysis effect from her S2].

LIGHT:

Light’s just in a really weird situation all around where most of their really good units are event limited ones, so I hope that some of the older, non-limited ones get some good buffs. It feels like a lot of light units in general tend to suffer from being defensive in a way that doesn’t really work in the endgame, or from using energy in a lackluster way. So there’s a lot to improve.

Julietta’s a good example of being too defensive for her own good. At the very least, I think her S2 should be a team-wide defense/knockback resistance buff. A purely selfish defensive buff like what she has now is just kinda useless. It’d at least help her trigger strength doublebuffs and whatnot. And to help her DPS overall I think they should probably add either paralysis or a defense debuff to her S1. And like with Sylas I think they should add something to her Last Recovery ability. Maybe make it so that when her S2 effect is in place, she has a passive HP regen, or something like that.

Lucretia’s not super weak or anything but her energy usage is kinda disappointing, so I think they should at least make her S2 into a team-wide energy buff, and maybe buff it to three stacks rather than two. It’d also probably be nice if they added paralysis to her S1 too.

They might skip over B-Zardin but he probably needs a buff even more than Lucretia. He’s just really bad all around. Both of his skills give energy buffs to him and nobody else, so I think at least one of them should be a team-wide energy buff instead, and the debuffs on his S1 should happen 100% of the time. Though I think they should also focus on giving him a good strength or defense debuff, rather than giving him two mediocre ones at the same time. I feel like his Stunning Visage effect really needs to give him some sort of strength buff or something as well. And he’s one of the many units that make me think there should really be some stun punisher dragons/wyrmprints, lol. His first ability is also sorta weak so it’d be nice if they added something to it, but I dunno what.

I think OG Luca will probably get 100% curse res, paralysis punisher on his S1, and paralysis infliction on his S2, and not much else, so hopefully that’d be enough to make him worthwhile. But probably not. I’d also like to see Summer Luca get a buff, but like with Summer Ranzal it’ll probably take a while for him to get a buff too.

Elias is probably the event unit that needs a buff the most. He at least needs to have his S2 give two or three energy stacks, and his S1 should probably inflict paralysis, or have paralysis punisher on it. And his Last Offense ability should be changed to something like Resilient Offense, but it probably won’t be.

I honestly forgot that Felicia existed since her event happened before I started playing the game, lol. But if she gets a buff, I think her S1 should get poison cleanse, she should get full poison res, and full skill prep. I dunno how good that’d make her, necessarily, but still.

And on the topic of 4-star light healers, Vixel really needs a mana spiral upgrade if only just to fix his goddamn useless sleep resistance. Since Felicia is already based around poison resistance and cleanse, I think it’d make sense if he got turned into a curse res unit. Especially since Lucretia and Elias are also curse res. I’m not sure if he’d get curse cleanse added to his S1, but it’d nice. It might invalidate Hildegarde, though. He’s also got a kind of weird and under-tuned S2 that really needs to be buffed. It should at least be two stacks of energy for the team, and I’m really not even sure that the point of the teamwide recovery potency buff is meant to be, other than making his own S1 stronger. It’s not like you’ll be running with more than one healer on a light team 99% of the time, so nobody else would benefit from it. If they want to really lean into the idea of it powering up his S1, maybe they could have it instantly energize him [though not the rest of the team], or have it immediately ready his S1 for use. Something like that. Or they could replace it with a regular team heal. And of course he’d probably get 100% skill prep. Though if he gets curse res, maybe they could replace the recovery potency buff on his S2 with a team defense buff so that he can basically be like a light version of Thaniel, and help people deal with HZD’s opening blast.

I also kinda forgot about Amane since I don’t use her often, but I really think they should lower the SP cost of her S2 a fair bit [sorta like with Sylas], and make the HP buff into a 15% one so that it only takes two uses to hit the cap. She should probably also get a debuff or paralysis punisher or something added to her S1, and she’d benefit a lot from getting full skill prep and skill charge.

I think Xiao Lei’s the only light 3-star that’d really benefit from a mana spiral, but going by how they skipped over Marty they might also skip over her since she also got added post-launch. But if she gets a flat 35% skill damage buff like Xania on top of a stronger crit rate/damage boost on her S2, and maybe paralysis on her S1, she might become super strong.

Anyway, that’s all far too much effort put into thinking about stuff that I’ll probably get proven wrong on soon enough, lol. There’s just a lot of characters who I really want to see get improved, and with how much the flame mana spirals shook things up, I have high hopes for the rest of them.

#murasaki rambles #dragalia lost #I spent far too much time on this so please validate my bad time management decisions :)

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Bookshelf Briefs 8/26/21

Captivated, By You | By Yama Wayama | Yen Press – A collection of short stories that originally ran in the magazine Comic Beam, they all take place around the same school and feature some of the same cast intermingling with each other, but each can also be read as a standalone. This is not a BL title, but I’d say it’s BL-adjacent, and there are several relationships that you could see going that way. My favorites included a social media relationship done via cut-out “kidnapper” letters, a man trying to reinvent himself in high school… as the creepy dude everyone avoids, and a bullied kid trying to get petty revenge on his bully but being unable to because he’s too decent a person at heart. The stories vary in quality, but the collection overall is very nice. – Sean Gaffney

Days on Fes, Vol. 2 | By Kanato Oka | Yen Press This continues to hit at what it does best, showing off how awesome it can be to go to a music festival. You can hear things you’d never even knew existed, and you might even run into the singer of your favorite band incognito inside the crowd. Will romantic sparks fly?? Well, probably not, because honestly our two girls seem to be really into each other—as with Captivated, By You, this is not yuri or BL but it is yuri and BL-adjacent, as each pair of leads makes an awesome couple but isn’t actually one. If there’s one complaint it’s that so far this is almost entirely on the fan side of things. There’s a suggestion that might change, as we do get a few pages of one band, but I’d like to see more actual music—and more struggles. -Sean Gaffney

Happy Kanako’s Killer Life, Vol. 1 | By Toshiya Wakabayashi | Seven Seas – This is a black, black comedy, and if you find the idea of a happy-go-lucky girl killing people appalling, best to skip it. That said, if you do like black comedy, it’s wonderful. Kanako is an OL who just quit her job and finds that the new one she answered the ad for… is a hit man. Her first target… is her old boss. And she’s really good at killing people. Plus, it’s got great pay, and you get to go out and have meat and alcohol afterwards. Oh yes, and the book is filled with weird animal puns—and the animals appear behind Kanako as she says them, so the translation must have been FUN. This isn’t for everyone, but it’s gleefully silly and dark as hell, as you watch Kanako sink further and further to the dark side. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 20 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – It’s Valentine’s Day, and as you can imagine that means different things to different people in this book. We also find out that Maki is actually one of the most respected students on campus… it’s just we’ve only ever seen her reflected through her hilarious unrequited love, so we don’t get it (and neither do the main cast). Also, exam results are out, which means that Ishigami gets to show off the results of Kaguya’s tutoring… and Shirogane, who’s dropped to twelfth because he’s narrowing his focus to studying English for Stanford. Believe me, there’s still plenty of silliness, mostly from Fujiwara, but the characters are beginning to grow up and throw off the shackles of the past… or have it done for them. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 14 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Sometimes this series has a long-running arc, and sometimes it just coasts along on pure cute. This volume is one of the latter, and it is very, very cute indeed, which is the main reason people are reading the title, but does make things a bit difficult to pick out to review. Komi and Tadano remain the best couple who aren’t one, and everyone can see it. Manbagi is also clearly very much in denial about her own crush on Tadano, and I anticipate the next arc will be dealing with that. Najimi remains obnoxious but fun, Yamai remains obnoxious and not fun. If you’ve enjoyed other volumes, this is an obvious one to get. And it sure is cute, isn’t it? – Sean Gaffney

Medalist, Vols. 1-2 | By Tsurumaikada | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Even if the story in this series weren’t great, I’d likely still be recommending it solely based on the art, which is frequently stunning, and has beautifully characterized expressions. Fortunately, the story is also excellent. A former ice dancer who was never quite able to go pro discovers a young girl who is trying desperately, despite her mother’s misgivings, to be an Olympic figure skater. Like a lot of lead girls in this sort of series, she’s not got a lot of knowledge but has a great deal of raw talent and iron will. Together, the two of them try to pull each other out of the depression they were in. The girl being eight years old means there’s a lack of mentor-mentee romance you might get if she were a teen. This is just sweet. – Sean Gaffney

Night Bus | By Zuo Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – Finding independent Chinese comics translated into English is something of a rarity, so I was very excited to see that Zuo Ma’s Night Bus was being released. I had previously encountered Zuo Ma’s work in the underground Chinese comic anthology Naked Body published by Paradise Systems. Drawn & Quarterly’s edition of Night Bus, translated and with ending notes by Orion Martin (founder of Paradise Systems), actually gathers stories from two of Zuo Ma’s books: Walk, a collection of ten short works, and an updated and expanded version of the long-form comic Night Bus. In these stories, Zuo Ma frequently incorporates semi-autobiography, fantastical dreamscapes, and the supernatural, working and reworking themes and ideas throughout the volume. Elements of reality and unreality are interwoven and fused in powerful, visceral ways, capturing intense emotions of anxiety and dread, but also evoking a sense of nostalgia. Night Bus is an unsettling, riveting, and compelling collection. – Ash Brown

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 12 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – The series works best when it’s equating the stresses and paranoia of the inner mind with outer monsters to match. Sometimes, though, it’s just a bunch of fighting, and the monsters seem to be there just to be antagonists. Fortunately, there’s still our two leads, who remain the best thing about this series. Kyutaro is trying his best to retain his sense of self, and fortunately he has Fumi to help, who is happy to go all the way with him, although perhaps not with the snake inside him. They don’t, however, and Fumi ends up getting her best moments when she shows off what a vicious badass she’s become. That said, the danger of this series is it doesn’t come out often enough, so I forget the plot a lot. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 13 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – The start of this volume is a lot of fun, as Sariphi ends up dealing with a tsundere female version of his highness, a woman who is said to have beast ancestry in her past and thus is accused of being evil. Given that this series tends to run on pure Fruits Basket, it’s no surprise that Sariphi is able to help with the pure power of shininess. All is not well back home, though, and it’s becoming pretty clear that endgame is going to be revealing the King’s other form as an excuse for executing him… and I would not be surprised if they blame Sariphi for it. This is still very good, and remains a wonderful reminder of the days when we always got piles of Hana to Yume manga like it. – Sean Gaffney

Sazan & Comet Girl | By Yuriko Akase | Seven Seas – Perhaps the most striking aspect of Sazan & Comet Girl is that the all of the artwork is in full color. Akase’s watercolor illustrations of planetary and interstellar backgrounds in particular are simply gorgeous. Story-wise, however, Sazan & Comet Girl isn’t particularly innovative, primarily revisiting and combining familiar tropes and character types of its genre. Even so, the volume is still great fun, coming across as a nostalgic, loving homage to older science fiction media. The entire series has been released as a single omnibus volume in English and doesn’t have obvious chapter breaks, so once the story gets going it just goes and keeps going, shifting from romantic comedy into action adventure before returning fully to its underlying love story. Sazan is goofball of a lead and Mina, the titular comet girl, is an endearing heroine—apart from the artwork, the manga is at its best when focusing on them. – Ash Brown

This Wonderful Season with You | By Atsuko Yusen | TOKYOPOP – Junpei Enoki is a bespectacled nerd who belongs to the electronic engineering club. Ryousuke Shirataki, a “normie” with a reputation for being cool and manly, is searching for something after an injury ruined his baseball prospects. After Shirataki joins the club, they get to know each other and, ultimately, fall in love. The tone is mostly comedic, with an art style that reminds me a bit of vintage shounen, and I really liked that some characters who seem like comic relief end up being important. I also loved how each boy has an unexpected side to him that the other sees immediately while others fail to notice. Shirataki appeared aloof, but he was actually suffering, and it’s so nice at the end to see him goofy and happy. I could’ve done without the final sex chapter, but aside from that, this was great. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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