#return to tradition become sketch

[nopanamaman]

redrew her again

#myart #parties are for losers #scraps #sanya #return to tradition become sketch #its funny how her eyes keep shrinking

[cutebatart]

NOW THE SKETCH IS COMPLETE. Next up: The Suit of Wands set!!

List of meanings below

Taken from multiple sources! Interpretations between them vary so I decided to place emphasis on mine. And yes, there is symbolism in the pics :3 Some are obvious. Some are not. If I ever get around to making them more detailed, then I'll add descriptions and clarifications.

You'll find that some meanings are contradictory (The Moon is an obvious one), so I tried to recall some moments that fit all meanings as best as possible. Due to that, bias is gonna become pretty apparent ajkdff

0. The Fool Upright: Innocence, New Beginnings, Free Spirit Reversed: Recklessness, Taken Advantage Of, Inconsideration

21. The World Upright: Fulfillment, Harmony, Completion Reversed: Incomplete, No Closure (reversed meanings are optional, but it's always good to trust your gut, not your wants or fears)

1. The Magician Upright: Willpower, Desire, Creation Reversed: Trickery, Illusions, Out of Touch (thursday :3)

2. The High Priestess Upright: Intuition, Unconscious, Inner Voice Reversed: Lack of Center, Loss of Inner Voice, Repressed Feelings

3. The Empress Upright: Motherhood, Nature, Creativity Reversed: Overbearing, Insecurity, Lack of Growth, Negligence

4. The Emperor Upright: Fatherhood, Authority, Structure Reversed: Tyranny, Rigidness, Coldness

5. The Hierophant Upright: Tradition, Conformity, Ethics, Morality Reversed: Rebellion, New Approaches, Subversiveness

6. The Lovers Upright: Partnerships, Duality, Choices, No Return Reversed: Imbalance, Indecision, Conflict

7. The Chariot Upright: Direction, Control, Willpower, Ambition Reversed: Reckless, Aggression, No Direction

8. Strength Upright: Bravery, Compassion, Inner Strength, Calm Reversed: Self doubt, insecurity, Forcefulness, Cowardice

9. The Hermit Upright: Self reflection, inner guidance, solitude Reversed: isolation, rejection, lost of way, madness

10. Wheel of Fortune Upright: Change, fate, fortune, decisive moments Reversed: misfortune, unbalanced control, delays

11. Justice Upright: Consequences, Fairness, Clarity, Objectivity Reversed: Dishonesty, Lack of Accountability, Unbalanced heart and mind

12. The Hanged Man Upright: New Perspectives, Release, Free Will Reversed: Stagnation, Material obsession, apathy, depression

13. Death Upright: End of Cycles, Transformation, Reaping, Sacrifice Reversed: Bad habits, Delay, Resistance, Unfulfillment, Denial

14. Temperance Upright: Patience, Purpose, Willpower, Harmony Reversed: Imbalance, hastiness, impatience, no moderation

15. The Devil Upright: Addiction, Fear, Powerlessness, Obsession Reversed: Freedom, Control, Reclaim of Power, Clarity

16. The Tower Upright: Destruction, Powerful Change, Fate, Chaos, Wake Up Call Reversed: Delay of the inevitable, resistance, Clinging to Control

17. The Star Upright: Hope, Rejuvenation, Faith, Trust, Healing Reversed: Distrust, insecurity, hopelessness, discouraged

18. The Moon Upright: Intuition, Complexity, Secrets, Illusion, Uncertainty Reversed: Fear, Deception, Misunderstanding, Clarity, Reveal

19. The Sun Upright: Joy, Success, Celebration, Vitality, Truth Reversed: Blocked happiness, unrealistic expectations, too much or not enough enthusiasm

20. Judgement Upright: Reflection, Reckoning, Awakening, Renewal Reversed: Self doubt, Failure to learn lessons, Self loathing

Thank you for reading!! I had a lot of fun making this set!

#gravity falls #my art #ford pines #stan pines #mabel pines #dipper pines #digital #doodles #tarot deck

[marzipanandminutiae]

do you think lucille and thomas celebrated their birthdays?

christmas?

I think they observed their birthdays, yes. Thomas since he was maybe two or three- official celebrations with a lavish cake and presents until he disappointed James by becoming...well, himself, and pilfered biscuits and sketches or beautifully-written story booklets from Lucille after that.

Nobody bothered celebrating Lucille's birthday until Thomas was old enough to notice that he got feted and she didn't. At which point it had to be remedied at once, and every year on April 1st, he found a way to give her some carved or clockwork trifle. His biscuit-stealing operations were less successful- getting caught meant a swift "I made him do it" and canings for the birthday girl, which were not his intent at all. So she didn't always get a sweet like he did. But she got Something, and ample expressions of Thomas' love, which was more than an utterly unwanted child could have hoped for.

(They only even know Lucille's birthday because their canonical nanny, Theresa, celebrated it for the few years she was with them.)

When they're adults, the cakes return- Lucille is a fairly decent baker -and he always gets her at least one present every year that leads her to chide him for spending money on it. But she's clearly happy in her own subtle way, each time, so he keeps up the tradition.

As for Christmas...I imagine there were some family festivities for appearances' sake when James was alive, and not much at all after that. They never learned to love Christmas- Thomas might have liked it well enough with his aunt and uncle, after Beatrice's murder, but Lucille had no such experience and has no use for it as a result. And he's not willing to rock the boat for it, so. No Christmas for the adult Sharpes.

Fun fact: per the character bios, Edith canonically dislikes Christmas. I imagine it's because of all the social engagements involved- she does "take a dim view of social frivolity," after all, and being Carter's hostess during the holidays must be exhausting.

I actually wrote an OT3 Christmas fic a few years back, though, and you can read it here if you like!

#ask #anon #crimson peak #headcanons

[new-tella-us]

Oh yeah. I keep forgetting to post this draft. So I made sketches of Mika’s parents. I kept David mainly the same but Laura got a lot of changes including becoming a lot more relevant and intimidating to specifically the boys. I should probably finally go over David and Laura’s story but I’ll be brief…ish. It’s mainly about Laura btw as David lives a generally average life.

David is the son of CEO and Warlock Harold Anderson. He too, once, was a warlock practicing demonic magic as his father did. It was basically a family tradition. He would stop the practice all together when Laura was pregnant with Mika for reasons more relevant to Laura’s entire overhaul. He is aware of demons, angels, devils and the like but his distance from his father’s magic makes him susceptible to magical influence.

Now…Laura. For the longest time I’ve been saying that Laura isn’t completely human. But I never specified what she was. She is a nephalim. Same as Saero. Only she’s half angel-half human. Her father is long gone but she does have two living family members, her mother and half brother. These two are only relevant in James’ route where if you were to get the bad end, it would be revealed that the brother managed to convince the angel of destiny to return Mika to her mother.

But what happened to her? How did she end up marrying a human? Long story short, she got curious about the human world and the origins of her father. She attempted to go to the human world only to accidentally end up in the Abyssal Plains. This takes place six years before Mika’s birth. Demons don’t take kindly to angels and especially not the Demon Lord. Next thing she knew, she was in a cell for a year. Over that year, she did attempt a few escapes that didn’t work. She would lose a wing and an eye (hence the hair covering said eye) as “consequence”. It was only when she started talking to one of the prisoners, a woman draped in a red cloak, that she found her way out. The prisoner offered her a means to escape that she was going to take herself, Laura graciously took it and ran off.

One of those “means” was a spell to summon a portal to the human world for real and so, she ended up on earth. She was battered, bruised and injured but escaped. And then she met David. And the rest is history. She didn’t tell David the full story until she felt like she had to so her unborn child wouldn’t be exposed to demonic magic or magic at all and make the same mistakes she made. David, out of both respect for his wife and a new hatred for the cruel demons that would hurt her, stopped using magic and demanded his father do the same or never speak to his child. It was one of the many wedges in their relationship.

So Mika is 25% angel and I’m not just using that as a “fun fact”. I added a piece of lore that says that angels can’t be enthralled. Laura is completely immune to enthrallment and Mika is resistant. This closes the plot hole I notice where those who were enthralled would not be aware that they were being enthralled but Mika was aware even if she couldn’t resist. This is the reason behind that. As for how this would change the housewarming party, from Mika’s perspective (aka Seduce Me 1) it wouldn’t change. In front of her daughter, Laura would pretend to be enthralled and not question the boys.

However, there could be a cutscene or episode that reveals a moment where Laura walks away from her family and towards one of the boys, the one she suspects is trying to control her. And who would that be other than Sam and Erik, the two that opened the door in the first place.

Oh yeah! Another lore thing. Angels and sense demon magic and link it to said demon. Demon magic has a sort of aura that can linger on people that demons have used their magic against. Aka, Laura can see that Sam and Erik did…something to her daughter and she’s not happy.

#seduce me the otome #seduce me demon war #seduce me #redesign #seduce me fanart #seduce me david #seduce me laura #seduce me mika

[nichenarratives]

Hurricane Heller 20

A Niche Narratives fanfiction

last | first | next

20: Breaking Point

It's only November, yet the local stores have swapped their Halloween decorations for the traditional, garish reds and greens of Christmas, for it promises to be a good one. With the pandemic restrictions lifted, rationing rumored to relax in early December and the anniversary of the Great War's conclusion on the horizon, even non-Christian communities are filled with seasonal cheer, leaving New York revitalized, rejuvenated and more proud to be American than ever, even as winter rapidly descends upon the city.

Its residents drawn into an icy grip of freezing rain, sleet and an unerring frost that licks the window panes, Mordecai can at least afford to heat his home properly this year. He burns kindling and coal almost constantly when at home, and his landlady often enters to light his hearth before bed to ensure the apartment is not freezing when he returns. In exchange for that simple kindness, he buys the widower a steady supply of coal, ensuring her pension goes on sustenance and essential fabrics rather than just staying alive.

Kosher meat is more readily available once more, allowing Mordecai to reintroduce some much needed variety into his diet. While still rationed for the time being, a little chicken in his soup makes a world of difference. It adds flavour, texture and additional proteins that allow the tuxedo to regain some of the body mass he lost during the Great War. It also adds to his family's diet, ensuring his mother is as healthy as can be as the weather changes and exacerbates her cough.

Regarding his family and restoring relations, it's a tentative process certainly, but they've made steady progress. Esther and Rose adjusted to his return almost immediately, pulling him back into the comforting rituals of Sunday afternoons in an instant. He spends much of his time being shown Rose's newest sketches - which move from animals, to delicately sketched cityscapes and countryside from their father's old books - or helping Esther with chores around the house as mother rests, the morning service having exhausted her.

Reconnecting with his mother is more difficult. While she's obviously happy to have Mordecai back in their lives, former affections return slowly. It takes months to tease more than single word answers from her, numerous more to move from formal discussion to easier conversation. It was the evening she suggested he lead hamotzi he'd finally felt forgiven, an honour he'd willingly split with Esther from that night on. It's also a relief his mother never mentions returning to Temple or speaks of Nataliya, leaving his associating with the synagogue firmly in the past for their present relationship.

Unfortunately, his Mother's health declines as the seasons change; occasional coughing fits become asthmatic attacks, wheezing and persistent malaise that makes housework or cooking almost impossible to maintain. With an unrelenting schedule, Mordecai relies on Esther in particular to keep the house clean, food on the table and accompany their mother to her copious appointments, feeding back the results as he assists with dinner clean-up every Sabbath.

Regardless of the specialist or tests, the outcomes remains consistent; take medications as prescribed, keep the house clean and when possible, move to a quieter suburb.

The constant re-administering of old advice - coupled with a mounting list of ineffectual yet expensive medications - is an exasperating experience for the entire family, but none more than Mordecai. Moving his family to better housing was the main motivation for a foray into the criminal underworld. Yet nine years later, he has a delightful apartment while they fester in rental purgatory, an incessant onslaught of medical bills constantly chipping away at his hard work until he has to add another month to their intended moving date.

He and Esther talk for hours after Mother and Rose go to sleep, discussing potential short term reparations for their situation. Their landlord won't fix the drafts or the broken kitchen window, an act of unsolved vandalism during the Great War, so they've taped newspaper and cardboard over the hole to act as an insulator. They've similarly insulated leaking window frames with paper, hung up dense curtains donated by a kind Temple member for heat retention, and now keep a window situated at each end of the house barely cracked at all times for fresh air ventilation.

Unable to afford a professional chimney sweep, Mordecai had stripped to his vest and boxers and attempted to clear out the chimney with a broom handle topped with a damp cloth. The mess was immense; a white muzzle ended up indistinguishable from black fur, while his undergarments were so badly stained, they were still gray after four washes and had to be thrown out. The throwback from their next fire was definitely reduced however, well worth a pair of boxers and a vest, when their mother could breathe easier.

After noticing the abundance of mold under the window in his mother's bedroom bringing her some tea a few months prior, he began to dedicate an hour each week to removing the mold in every bedroom, before moving on to the worst offender in the house, the bathroom. The first time he scrubbed it clear of mold, his hands were raw and bloody. He'd gotten lectured by both Esther and his mother into investing in rubber marigolds, which have certainly saved his poor paws from further damage, even if he hates how they feel on his bare hands.

Despite these efforts, his mother's cough moves closer to a suffocating moistness that choked his youngest sister on the stairs that awful night. Esther notices too; when cleaning up tjegtehr, they share a worried glance across the kitchen before glancing at the ceiling, ears straining to hear her wheezing breaths afterwards, seeking reassurance their mother remains alive for another week.  

Returning home, Mordecai always counts his savings again each Sunday, willing eighteen months to pass in earnest. 

While loath to admit it even to himself, the unerring forward march of her illness has resulted in some unprofessionalism on Mordecai's part. He's short with his own employees, quick to become irritable in adverse conditions, and even less forgiving with the unlucky souls on the receiving end of interrogation. More than once, he's foregone any calculated discussion entirely for physical torture in a quest for swiftee conclusions, the job remaining in his least favourite line of work under Mr Savage's leadership.

Life continues on mostly according to plan though, until just two days before his twenty-first birthday, when Mordecai jolts awake to a banging on his apartment door. 

"One moment," he mumbles too softly for anyone to hear, then scrabbles on his bedside table to switch on the lamp. Retrieving his pocket watch, he pops it open and squints at the face a long moment before realizing he can't see without his glass. "Briln," he grumbles to himself, clumsily picks the eyeglasses up and sets them on his muzzle. He then peers at the time with bleary eyes, tilting his head to avoid the awful fingerprints he's just left on the glass to read the face.

3:17am. Mordecai groans and presses his face into a pillow, making his pince-nez wonky in its feathery softness as his arm falls to the mattress beside him. He's been in bed for a few hours, likely only asleep for one and a half. Certainly not long enough to be summoned from slumber and tempted to ignore them and roll back over, it's their desperate nature to eventually encourage the man, begrudgingly, to his feet. 

The disheveled tom pulls his robe over striped pajamas and steps into worn slippers, then causally stifles a yawn into a fist while retrieving the Colt from his shoulder holster. Gun in hand, he approaches the door and opens it without thought, the gun hanging at his side more habit than a careful plan. If anyone wanted him dead in that moment, he'd have been a sitting duck in his robe and nightclothes that Sunday night 

As luck would have it, there is no threat waiting on the other side of the door, yet it's somehow immeasurably worse to be faced not with a disgruntled, bankrupt client but Rose in just her nightdress and a thin robe, tears staining her cheeks in fresh streaks and body shaking almost violently. The sight is enough to wake Mordecai up entirely, though before a query can leave his lips, Rose has thrown her arms around him and buried her face in his pajama shirt, sobbing hot tears into the fabric without remorse.

Mordecai stands awkwardly, eyes wide and confused, Colt still hanging uselessly at his side while Rose squeezes him tight enough to knock the breath from his lungs. She should not be walking the streets of New York alone at all, let alone at night. She's hardly dressed for the weather, as if she just grabbed the nearest pair of boots and ran soon after waking up, unruly curls escaping from the dual braids uses to keep it from becoming tangled during sleep. 

Her attire is as bewildering as her presence, however after a number of seconds have passed, his familial instincts finally return. Bringing the hand holding the gun to rest against her lower back, Mordedai places his other hand on her head in an attempt at reassurance and comfort. It seems effective, as her tears redouble into his shirt, her arms so unnaturally cold to the touch through the thin fabric it makes him frown.

Only then does he finally look up and notice his Mrs Kovitz, his downstairs neighbour and landlady, also standing in the hallway. The elderly woman leans against a wall for support, her face smothered in anti wrinkle cream and frame almost skeletal thanks to the stress of losing both her husband and a son in the war, her palm beneath the opposite elbow to steady her hand as she puffs on a cigarette. 

*She say sumzing about motzher going into 'ospital," the elderly woman states between tokes. Her frilly nightgown is like a sea of white on her small frame, making her seem like she doesn't have feet. "I zink it best let her up to speak."

"I appreciate the forethought, Mrs Kovitz," the monochrome tom offers with obvious sincerity on a usually stoic muzzle. He glances down at Rose for a moment, gently stroking the back of her head as she begins to quiet down, before olive eyes rise to meet pale yellows. "Anything with which you require assistance, I would be most-"

She interrupts him with a shoo motion from both hands. "Go be wiv family, narr," she instructs with a sad smile, tired eyes moving to the sniffing girl pressed to his chest. It's her favourite thing to call her peculiar upstairs neighbour, when the man fixates on unimportant things, an affectionate term, even if it sounds somewhat cruel; jester. Mrs Kovitz motions to the girl she hasn't met before. "Time for being man of family, not pester old woman wiv help."

Mordecai nods gratefully before ushering Rose inside, her freezing hands a sure sign her shivering is not just from the expression of intense emotions. She needs a cup of tea to sip while Mordecai finds something suitably warm to pull on over her robe, then they'll go to the hospital together. Until they talk to a professional, Mordecai can only hope there's still something that can be done for his mother's poor health.

oOoOo

Even at six in the morning, the hospital still bustles; around slumbering patients and anxious relatives, nurses move in and out of wards fluidly, taking vitals and checking on their most vulnerable patients with admirable efficiency. Mordecai watches them silently from his chair beside his mother's bed once her cough has been brought under control. Hours flow past for while she and his sisters slumber, he cannot relax. There's no time for rest, not when he has new calculations and risk assessments to run regarding his savings plan.

He reclines in the armchair and stares at the ceiling, fingers entwined in his lap atop a white fedora. With just months left before saving enough to buy them a house, the sudden decline in their mother's health is a kick in the teeth. Doctors expect her to be discharged in three weeks and determined she won't return to a home that's slowly killing her, the time frame for success has significantly reduced to a mere tenth.

This comes with its own slew of problems; there's no way Savage won't notice if Mordecai starts scraping more than one percent off each business under his management. The numbers are simply too high to disguise as unexpected bills or degraded stock, yet Mordecai remains aware his current scheme can't earn the remaining funds in just three weeks, not unless he can exponentially grow his customer base in each consecutive week, unlikely in a post-war climate.

A low wheeze drawing his attention, Mordecai sits up and observes his mother carefully as she struggles to catch her breath, even at rest. The episode thankfully passes just as swiftly as it came when she rolls onto her side, but it's enough to convince Mordecai of his next move; temporarily increasing his embezzlement margins to three percent, and hope he can disguise it well enough to avoid the deception being uncovered.

It's a huge risk, but just two weeks of triple earnings is all he needs to ensure once his mother is discharged, she and his sisters can move into a new home. One without black mold under the windows. I can remain undetected for a fortnight. I have to, for mother's sake.

#lackadaisy #niche narratives #hurricane heller #mordecai heller #lackadaisy cats #fanfiction #tracy j butler #lackadaisy mordecai #fanfic #no beta we die like atlas may #this chapter killed me #but enjoy #please

[rin-fukuroi]

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 [𝐊𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐡 𝐱 𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐚]

Please do not translate or publish my works without my permission.

The originals of my works can be read here

Fandom: Genshin Impact Pairings: Kaveh x Fem!reader x Kaeya Warnings: polyamory and just fluff<3

Note: English is not my native language, so I apologize if there are errors in the text qq 

I love this request as much as I love these men, thank you very much. It seems to me that although they are both very different, they have enough in common to get along together, which is why they seem so insanely cute to me together. I hope you enjoy it (´꒳`)♡

Orangestar - Sunflower (feat. 夏背.)

— …And then he just took and abandoned this project, imagine! Archons, I'm so angry that today you just have to give me a couple more glasses of wine, — Kaveh fatefully settled his head on his hands folded on the table, continuing to mutter to himself. His cheeks were already sprinkled with a slight blush from the glasses of alcohol he had drunk before.

— Ho-oh, don't you say that every day? — Kaeya sips wine from his glass, leaning back on the bench in the tavern, pulling her trademark smile on his face.

— I think you've had enough, Kaveh, — you giggle, picking at your padisar pudding with a fork.

And this happens almost every time. Every time Kaveh, dissatisfied with his work, quietly whines in the corner from his side of the table, giving Kaeya only more food for the next witty jokes, while you just enjoy, which has become almost a tradition, another joint trip to the tavern with your lovers. Often they just exchanged various barbs, gently joking with each other (although, let's be honest, often all the jokes that accompanied your feasts came from Kaeya, mocking another failure of Kaveh), but you never felt superfluous. Perhaps you were always the person Kaveh needed when you comforted him, protecting him from Kaeya's playful attacks.

But none of us have ever held grudges.

Kaveh knew perfectly well that you both care about him, just in your own way. Kaeya never interrupted Kaveh, while he could rant for hours about how hard it was for him to interact with customers, what efforts he made not to betray his own aesthetics for the sake of someone's whim, carefully listening to every word the architect said.

— You just don't understand! — Kaveh suddenly emerges from a makeshift shelter in his own hands, turning a pleading look at you. — Y/N, at least you support me! I don't have any work for tomorrow anyway. Because of this idiot, even all the efforts spent on drawings and sketches were in vain. I just want to relax!

— Why don't you just change your profession? I think such an experienced taster would not be superfluous to Diluc at the distillery.

You gently nudge Kaeya in the side, pouting your lips.

— Who would say, you yourself drink with Kaveh every day. You could just set him an example by drinking tea with me.

— Well, well, this time we all ordered desserts, as you wanted. I admit, they don't go too well with wine, but they'll pass for a snack, — Kaeya playfully wraps his arm around your waist, pulling you closer to kiss the top of your head.

— Why do I feel like a child sometimes with you? Lambad! — Kaveh raises his hand, attracting the attention of the tavern owner. — More wine!

You roll your eyes, sighing softly. Indeed, Kaveh sometimes behaves in such a way that you have to feel like a parent with him, who is obliged to surround his child with comfort and care, but, in fact, you even like such moments. Unlike Kaeya, who hides his feelings, at least you could tell exactly when Kaveh is upset, having the opportunity to cheer him up the way you know how.

—You're both insufferable, — you return to your dessert, scooping up a spoonful before turning your attention to the untouched sweetness on Kaveh's plate. — Kaveh.

The man's ruby eyes suddenly turned to your figure as you thoughtfully peered at his plate.

— Can I try it? Your nuts look very appetizing, it's strange that you haven't even touched them, — you're pouting again, shaking your head disapprovingly.

—Oh… sorry. Of course, here, — Kaveh's thin, elegant fingers cling to one of the pieces of Sumeru sweetness, bringing candied nuts to your lips. You move closer, biting off a corner. A cloying but pleasant sweetness touches your tongue, nuts gently crunch on your teeth as you slowly chew the frozen syrup, then smiling contentedly.

— Mmm! It's very tasty! Kaeya, do you want to try it too?

A blue-haired man, savoring another sip of wine, seems to break out of his own thoughts when he meets your eyes with a childishly pleased look fixed on him. You are like a breath of fresh air in their world with Kaveh, saturated with exhausting worries. Whenever they are burdened with another unbearable burden, whenever they are tormented by doubts or frustrated by failures, you are always there. So relaxed, light, like a breath of the Mondstadt breeze. The clouds of anxiety that sometimes hang over both men seem to be dispelled by the mere sight of how this perky smile stretches on your face, always too contagious not to smile back at you.

Therefore, now the corners of Kaeya's lips also lift in a slight smile when he quietly grins to himself, leaning closer while you wrap your small palm around Kaveh's wrist, bringing his hand with sweetness to Kaeya's mouth.

— Hey, it's not fair, I only treated Y/N!

— You should be more vigilant next time, otherwise someday I'll steal Y/N from you right out from under your nose, and you won't even notice, — Keya teases the poor architect, now squinting his scarlet eyes and puffing up his cheeks.

— How dare you! — for the next few minutes, Kaveh spewed out a ton of discontent, which always amuses Kaeya, who is quietly grinning from his seat at the table.

And everything is in its place.

You are sitting quietly sipping wine from your glass, running your gaze from a disgruntled, pouting, like an anemo slime, Kaveh, to Kaeya, who is holding his drink in his hand, continuing to bring the blonde to the boiling point. But you know that they are dear to each other as much as you are dear to them.

It was so amazing to watch how these two got closer and closer every day, although from the outside it might seem that you were caught in the middle of two fires that never stop arguing with each other. You knew that Kaeya is always ready to support Kaveh with the support that you are not capable of, and you knew that Kaveh never takes Kaeya's caustic words seriously, although every time he boils with half a turn.

Let it all look like a stupid quarrel, it seems that Kaveh no longer looks as depressed as at the moment when the three of you gathered at the same table.

— Y/N.

You are floating somewhere in the clouds, watching with a smile two men who somehow magically captured your heart, when suddenly your chaotic thoughts are dispersed by a soft male voice, accompanied by a look of ruby eyes and a warm touch of long fingers to your hand holding a spoon stuck in the pudding.

— Hm? — it's like you're waking up from a dream, slightly relaxed after drinking alcohol.

— Can I… Try your pudding too?

Your eyebrows lift in surprise for a second before you turn your attention to Kaveh's palm covering yours.

— Oh, of course! — you are scooping up some padisar pudding, bringing the spoon to Kaveh's lips with his fingers still wrapped around your palm, when the purple jelly suddenly disappears into the mouth of Kaeya, who has intercepted the dessert halfway to Kaveh.

— Mm, next time order me this dessert, Y/N, it's very tasty, — Kaeya closes his eyes, savoring the sweet taste of soft pudding on his tongue.

— Hey! Then share yours too! — Kaveh reaches across the table, dipping a spoon into the almost untouched cream of the Sumeru rose in front of Kaeya.

—Ha-ha! Maybe I should make you some Mondstadt pancakes when we get home?

— If you think that this will somehow make up for your guilt today, then you are mistaken, — Kaveh grumbles, licking his spoon. — But I think Y/N would like to try…

— Well, well, I already realized that you are interested, you don't have to always hide behind Y/N.

And, it seemed, the anxiety tormenting Kaveh completely disappeared at the moment when the air above your table was filled with the sound of two men talking and your quiet giggling while you stretched out your hand to taste Kaeya's dessert too.

Sweet. And this sweetness, which replaced the tart bitterness from worries about Kaveh, spread a pleasant warmth in your chest. You would like everything to remain just like this, and never change.

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #kaeya #kaeya x reader #kaveh #kaveh x reader

[aworldforastage]

A Totally Subjective List of Favorite Danmei Novels I Read in 2023

Joyful Reunion :: 相见欢 by 非天夜翔

Governor's Illness :: 督主有病 by 杨溯

The Return of Cambrian Period :: 寒武再临

The Plays of Lips and Teeth :: 唇齿之戏 by 张佩奇

Blazing Armor :: 火焰戎装 by 水千丞

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine :: 残疾战神嫁我为妾后 by 刘狗花

Wilderness Vegetation :: 荒野植被 by 麦香鸡呢

In Name Only :: 有名 by 木更木更

Placid Chang’an :: 太平长安 by 盐盐 Yany

Eternities Still Unsaid Till You Love Me :: 欲言难止 by 麦香鸡呢

Joyful Reunion :: 相见欢 by 非天夜翔

“相见欢，原本是我们的曲子。” "'Joyful Reunion' originally belonged to my people."

[action, political intrigue, coming of age] -- At its heart, Joyful Reunion is a young man's coming-of-age, as he grows up in a war-torn world and decides on the type of man and leader he wants to become. This novel isn't easy to read with it pacing and length, but its reputation as an iconic historical political danmei is well-deserved. There are no "good people" and "bad people", just humans trying to survive in a harsh world and live their own truths. The main romantic arc is fairly light, while the most controversial (i.e. beloved) "second male lead" in all of danmei is lurking in the background. But I love that Duan Ling finds someone who supports him through his worst days, and they give each other strength and hope to stay true to their best selves.

Governor's Illness :: 督主有病 by 杨溯

“去吧，”沈玦道，“你生，我去找你。你死，我去陪你。” “Go,” Shen Jue says, “If you live, I’ll come find you. If you die, I’ll go with you.”

[wuxia, secrets and conspiracies, revenge plot] -- The powerful Governor of the Eastern Depot has a massive bounty on the head of an infamous assassin. Who knew it's because they are childhood friends who want to find each other? Despite a tiny bit of palace intrigue, this is mostly a wuxia story, focusing on the complicated bonds between masters and disciples, and far too many blood debts and sect secrets. The first part of the novel is brutal. I love plot-heavy stories but I intentionally ignore parts of this one during re-reads because it is just so heartbreaking (unrelated to the romance arc). But Xiahou Lian never stops seeing the best in Shen Jue and Shen Jue never stops wanting the best for Xiahou Lian. And that strong bond gives them -- and readers like me -- some hope and comfort as secrets and enemies from the ghosts of Xiahou Lian's past continue to launch them into one action-packed challenge after another. (My review here)

The Return of Cambrian Period :: 寒武再临 by 水千丞

这就是末世，个人的悲伤在全世界的悲伤面前，渺小无比。 This is the apocalypse, and the grief of an individual is utterly insignificant compared to all the grief in the world right now.

[apocalypse, action/adventure, superpowers/mutations] -- I don't know how to summarize 1.7 million words briefly so here's a much lengthier review. It's an action-adventure with super-powered humans and mutant "monsters of the week". It's a mystery and heroic epic trying to solve and conquer the cause of the apocalypse. It's a social commentary sketching out what humanity keeps and saves and becomes when modern society crumbles. It's a love story -- many love stories, romantic and familial and platonic and more-- that reminds you what gives humans the courage, purpose, and determination to stand up in face of overwhelming adversity is love for and from the people we keep in our hearts.

The Plays of Lips and Teeth :: 唇齿之戏 by 张佩奇

周辰瑜回到舞台中央，说：“这出《乌龙院》，我和贺辰烽常说，不过这还是我头一回演阎惜娇。” 说着，他转过身，对身旁的晏朝说：“人家第一次都给你了，你要对我负责。” 晏朝：“……” Zhou Chenyu returns to the center stage, and says, "I have performed 'Wu Long Yuan' many times with He Chenfeng, but this is my first time playing Yan Xijiao." He turns to Yan Zhao, who is standing beside him, "I'm giving you my first time, you need to take responsibility." Yan Zhao: "..."

[ celebrities, comedy, traditional arts] -- This is a novel for when you want stories about celebrities, with all the fun of "CP fans" and Weibo drama, but also a break from actors and idols. A TV host and a Xiangsheng actor meet in a reality show that teaches them about each other's careers. While they are expected to provide some fan service to boost ratings, they also develop genuine respect and fondness for each other. With a comedian as a main character, this novel kept me laughing with xiangsheng performances and the main couple's funny antics. There is a bit of angst when the main characters struggle with their careers and their relationships with their respective families, but luckily, they find each other and a path forward together.

Blazing Armor :: 火焰戎装 by 水千丞

可那个"孩子"，他又天真又残忍。 But that "child", he is so innocent and cruel.

[mystery/procedural, romance, firefighters] -- A departure from the norm in the 188 Boys Club, this novel is a plot-heavy slow-burn romance, following the work of fire captain Ren Yi and police officer Gong Yingxian. I got really drawn into the "cases" (fires) that Ren Yi deals with, and learned so much about fire trucks, rescue protocols, and fire risks of various materials. Gong Yingxian is a traumatized genius orphan with a large inheritance, weird hobbies, and no social skills. He repeatedly hurts Ren Yi's feelings and betrays his trust, for reasons ranging from uninformed callousness to intentional manipulation, but technically none of that is about their romantic relationship. I don't want to downplay the seriousness of his actions, but there is something precious about the guy who confesses his feelings with the bones of his dead pet lizard, and gets frustrated because Ren Yi can't decipher the romantic symbolism of the lizard's heart-shaped tail bone.

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine :: 残疾战神嫁我为妾后 by 刘狗花

“瞧好了，他，靖王，我是他的妾，他是我夫君。” "Look carefully! Him, the Prince Jin, I am his secondary concubine, he is my lord husband."

[transmigration, romance, political intrigue] -- History professor Jiang Suizhou fails a student paper for using unofficial records, and ends up transmigrating into the wild events chronicled in the paper. Like any decent protagonist of a transmigration novel, Suizhou saves himself from a gruesome fate, falls in love with the coolest person in their universe, and change the world for the better. Despite the setting, the political plot is kept light and simple. A great treat for when you want sugar-pie feel-good comfort read with a tiny bit of plot.

Wilderness Vegetation :: 荒野植被 by 麦香鸡呢

如果可以，谁不想体体面面的，体面地爱人，体面地被爱。 If given the option, who wouldn't want dignity? To love with dignity, and be loved with dignity.

[scum gong crematorium, reconciliation, mental illness] -- My favorite HE crematorium novel! Xu Yan dumps emotionally abusive boyfriend Shen Zhi whom he has loved and tolerated for years, and starts a new life and career with supportive friends and family. This is finally a sane universe where no one retcons or minimizes or excuses Shen Zhi's actions, even if there were genuine misunderstandings and he genuinely loved Xu Yan. During the crematorium phase, Shen Zhi respects Xu Yan's boundaries and refusals (though he does repeatedly return to ask again). It takes time, but he works hard to grow as a person, to think and behave differently, and eventually lets Xu Yan go out of love and respect. When Xu Yan initiates the reconciliation, it feels like they have a chance this time because they have both changed and grown in meaningful ways.

In Name Only :: 有名 by 木更木更

“当他落在了我这儿，我这儿就是春天。” "When he lands where I am, where I am becomes spring time. "

[actors/celebrities, fake relationship, mature characters] -- Two award-winning actors fake a relationship to quash a scandalous rumor. They gradually get to know the real person behind the other's accomplished career and polished public persona, and fall in love. The tone of the story veers is mostly sweet and funny, with a splash of angst that they conquer with their own strength and each other's support. It's so comforting and relaxing to read about the love story of "mature men" in their early 30s who know how to communicate productively, take care of the people they like, and really accept and empathize with each other's imperfections. (I wrote about the novel here.)

Placid Chang’an :: 太平长安 by 盐盐 Yany

“你既然选择了大理寺，查找真相、还原真相就是你的事，而我身为摄政亲王，稳定朝局，制衡天下是我的事。你做你该做的，剩下的我来处理。” “Since you have chosen to join the Court of Judicial Review, investigating and uncovering the truth is now your duty; I am the Prince Regent, so stabilizing the court and governing the nation is my duty. Do your duty, and I will handle the rest.”

[mystery/procedural, court politics] -- The newest Zhuangyuan Su Cen has a sharp mind and keen eye for solving mysterious. As a high-profile rookie official, he is soon swept into the factional rivalries at court -- and the Prince Regent's bed at night. The plot is mainly driven by a series of cases Su Cen investigates for his work and at the behest of people around him, and many mysteries point back to a few old cold cases and a secret organization. The grand finale feels a bit underwhelming compared to the set up, and the side characters are somewhat flat, but the individual cases and the main couple are engaging. The relationship arc is a sweet but measured exploration into the charms and woes of a relationship with large gaps in power and age (40-ish vs early 20s). They are both capable but not overpowered, leaving the story with believable suspense throughout.

Eternities Still Unsaid Till You Love Me :: 欲言难止 by 麦香鸡呢

其实他知道不应该用‘等’来形容。许则像只风筝，没有人握着线，风筝在高空被吹得飘摇不定，但还是竭尽全力地留在原地，不是等谁来牵那根线，只是希望能再看某个人一眼。 Actually, he knows it shouldn't be called "waiting." Xu Ze is like a kite with no one holding the string. The kite wobbles as it flies high in the sky, but it still tries so hard to stay in place, not waiting for anyone to pick up that string, but just hoping to see that certain someone on more time.

[ABO, Alpha/Alpha, (temporarily) unrequited pining, amnesia] -- Scholarship kid Xu Ze has harbored a secret crush on Golden Boy and fellow Alpha Lu Heyang for years. They eventually begin a secret relationship in high school, but it ends after Lu Heyang gets amnesia, and they don't meet again until years later. The pining in this story is absolutely suffocating. Xu Ze has always prepared for his feelings to remain unrequited, and Lu Heyang is far from forthcoming and reassuring about his own feelings and commitment during their high school relationship. After adult Lu Heyang risks everything to recover his memory of their relationship, it's devastating to see Xu Ze break down in Lu Heyang's arms, finally coming to terms with how desparately he has wanted and waited for this reunion, and finally getting his Lu Heyang back. (I wrote more about this novel here)

#danmei faves #danmei novels #Joyful Reunion #督主有病 #寒武再临 #The Return of Cambrian Period #Blazing Armor #火焰戎装 #残疾战神嫁我为妾后 #after the disabled god of war became my concubine #有名 #太平长安 #欲言难止 #Eternities Still Unsaid Till You Love Me #dzyb #hyrz #hwzl #xjh #hyzb #cczx #tpca #cjzs #my reading

[hazbinextgeneration]

Demon Bride Ch16 Of Reading And Memories P3

(DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT INFO!!!: EVERYONE in this story is in their early 20s-30s! This story will contain mentions of past abuse and death! I'll be keeping it as SFW. Some backstories have been slightly altered for this particular story, and some characters cannonically dead or harmed is alive and well. I own nothing.

Credit to @flanelltees​ for the designs I based the demons off to look more demon-like with tails and pointed ears.

This story will be sfw, but there will be some blood, implied death, fighting, some gore mentioned, and a few other things that will be made aware by warnings. Pay attention to warnings at the top of any chapters just under the summery please.)

Once in the mountain villages it was a custom that once a year on the night of the new year's first moon, an unlucky young lady would be selected and left for the demons to become one of the unlucky few who married such a husband. In exchange for this offering the demons would protect the villages and leave the humans in peace. Until one day a powerful warrior drove the demons away freeing the humans of them. Now 2,000 years later, it's become a tradition that once a year, a new young lady would be picked and wait for her future husband to retrieve her from a shrine in the mountains. And now the lucky tradition would fall upon Y/n L/n. It would be her own turn to take on the tradition and not have to worry about demons. After all that part of the old tradition was just fake, made up by paranoid ancestors. Everyone knew demons didn't exist.

...Right

(WARNINGS!!!: : Mentioning of abuse, mentioning of death, mentioning of wounds, mentioning of killing. The other spider siblings are shown in the link below )

First Part Here:

Demon Bride Ch 1 Thus It Begins

(WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS!!! EVERYONE in this story is in their early 20s-30s! This story will contain mentions of past abuse and death! I'l

TUMBLR

Last Part Here:

Next Part Here:

To be added

(. Again Rui's spider family is his actual family for this au.

Spider_Family?file=The_Daughte

Also I have a concept sketch for full demon Y/n. Would anyone like me to post it next chapter although full demon reader won't be in the book for another few chapters?)

It all started just a few months ago. This problem he found himself in.

In happened at night. One dark night. Near the end of last year. He was tired and stopped to rest when it happened.

STRUM!!

His mind was pulled into a calling. It was like his conscious became thinned, light as air, and as nimble as a snake slithering through the lines of connection between himself and the bonds the Master's blood allowed them all to have. If he had one way of describing it, he would say it felt and looked like a tree rooted into their minds, different branches that were never the same but still connected to the same trunk in the end sharing the same deepened roots. The mind thread slithered ever closer to the thing that pulled and pulled and pulled him until he felt himself connecting to two others before him in this web of connections. One of the Twelve Kizuki wished him here, and the one responsible for bringing him here was just above him sitting silently. Upper Moon Five, Nakime, the one responsible for all transportation within this hivemind of threads. He reached out to that small thread sending a questioning thought for why she brought him here on such short notice. In return a thrum of an instrument vibrated within the wave lengths in return, and then he quickly understood why. 

The Master.

The twisted, rotting, suffocating presence enveloped the wavelengths and twisted around them like gnarled roots taking in them both completely as always when they met, his aura was always so strong it made him tremble a little from just the mental presence alone. It would've been worse had it been face to face.

"Head to the far side of the Eastern Woods. Assist Hantengu in ceasing those rival clans' quarreling and dispose of the heads of both clans as warning. Their bickering has come to the point it's affecting progress in that area."

"It will be done."

STRUM!!

He was released right after allowing him to no longer rest as he forced himself to stand up and begin walking. He would have a long distance to cover in a short amount of time if he wanted to meet up with Hantengu before he did anything that could jeopardize the Master's wishes. After all, Hantengu was getting very old in age and it was already having a hard time perfecting his duties, which was why next year would be his last in servitude to the Master before he retired for good which was both good and bad. Good because he personally thought Hantengu was getting too old for this kind of work and should retire soon. Bad because he had no idea who would be taking Hantengu's place as Upper Moon Four and Upper Moon Five as Gyokko was also retiring soon. It was a rare event that two Upper Moons would be retiring so close to one another. Then again it was probably for the best as the two soon wouldn't be able to continue to do their duties for too long due to their ages. He was more worried about the new ones who'll be replacing them. They better not think of challenging him. He wasn't about to give up his rightful place without a fight.

It was a two day journey even with his speed. He had indeed caught up with the much older, skittish demon up the mountain. Almost tripped over him was more like it. No wonder- He found him in the most predictable spot. Cowering behind a tree, practically trembling like a leaf in the wild winds, and if it wasn't for his excellent hearing, he would never have heard his soft whimpers.

"Hantengu." As expected, the man gave a louder whimper and practically curled into the tree more if that was even physically possible. How pathetic. A Twelve Kizuki and yet he couldn't stop trembling at the sight of just a typical rival clan battle. "You've gotten here before I did. I'm surprised." He decided not to comment on how pathetic and cowardly he looked, he'd save it for after their mission here was done. "That must mean you know more about the situation. So tell me, what happened?"

Hantengu, Upper Moon Four, made some kind of noise that was a cross between a cat's garble and a sob before managing to point a shaking hand towards the darkened forest in front of them. "H-Horrible. J-Just terrifying. A massacre. A massacre. Barely anyone left alive from fighting. Many blood and bodies."

"I see."

Gold and blue eyes took a scan over to the darkness of the night. The thick trees were littered with something sparkling, like many strands of silk were woven through the many branches and leaves shining in the moonlight. But there was something carried over the wind now that he could smell it. Blood and death. There had indeed been a serious battle recently, but there was bare silence other than the cries of a few typical forest animals, Hantengu's whimpering, and the rustling of leaves against one another. It was unnaturally calm. He didn't like that. Just reminded him of standing in the eye of a tornado, just calm before the next aftermath.

"...When did the fighting cease?"

"J-Just a mere hour after I arrived. So scary! It was horribly violent."

He didn't doubt it was by how strong the smell was. "Which clans was it?"

"Two terrible predators. Spider and Mantis! T-Two clashes that were never supposed to meet."

Spider? He's heard a few things about that clan. Nothing good. Rumors about them sucking the lives out of humans who strayed into their webs. Made his job harder sometimes. "Hmph. I don't suppose you know what we're supposed to do then?" Hantengu gave a louder whimper. That was a yes in Hantengu-nese. "Then I'll give you the easier job. Head to the Mantis family and kill their head of house. It shouldn't be too hard for you since you're so good at sneaking up on people." That was one skill he'd commend Hantengu for at least. Not even he himself could tell he was there sometimes. 

The older demon just snapped to him worried. "Are you MMAAAAADDD!? By myself!? The Mantis all have terrifying claws!" He held out his own hands and pawed like a cat to demonstrate which made him roll his eyes.

"Their number have probably dwindled by the fight, and you're very strong. Would you rather deal with a Spider's web and poison?" Golden-blue eyes narrowed more. "Or would you rather risk the Master's anger for an incomplete job?" His pathetic choke answered him. "Then get going. I'll do the same for the Spider family."

Hantengu didn't argue beyond muttering something about it possibly going horribly wrong and whimpering. He shuffled rather quickly around the tree and scuttled off into the trees in a way that reminded himself of a lowly cockroach. The sight made him give a sigh and eye roll at his pitiful display but that didn't delay him from starting to walk off into the trees in the direction of all the sparkly looking strands of 'silk', except he knew better. These were really strands of silk or any kind of fabric, if his skin touched it he would no doubt feel the sickeningly stickiness of it. Spiders' webs. They were woven through all the trees and their branches, looped around their trunks and over many large bushes and giant rocks. It was made to trap others, their prey. It was what made this family dangerous for many generations, not just their deadly poison and the terrifying rumors surrounding them. That was most likely why himself and Hantengu had been the ones to be called to deal with this problem. The web of blood got thicker and thicker with each step he took. More and more webbing. Thicker and thicker like walls almost between the trees. He was perhaps an hour into just walking when he came across the first few casualties of this mess. The first few fallen demons just strewn across the ground in this place and that. Many spatters of red painting much of the earth, many trees forever decorated with claw marks, and many pieces of webs strewn all over the ground having been slashes right through by powerful claws. 

"I knew the Mantis was desperate for more territory, but I didn't expect them to make it a blood bath like this," he muttered to himself  stepping over the remains of someone with preying mantis features etched into his face and arms. There was a few remains with those features scattered about, all the others had pale features with scattered red dots all over their bodies. Spiders. "....There's more Spider Clan casualties than Mantis." He mused to himself. "That doesn't seem very promising. The entire clan might've been wiped out."

That might've been by the fighting ceased so quickly according to what Hantengu told him. That wouldn't be good. The Master would be very displeased if that was the case. The Spider clan was very vauluable for the spider silk and poison they provided him, if they were all gone, he might order them to wipe out the entire Mantis Clan in retaliation for this crime. Most of the spider clan remains were pure white so it was easy to tell them all apart, besides one deceased male. His whole body was that of a literal spider. He looked young too. Maybe just have became an adult. But he didn't see or hear the presence of any survivors. Which meant that they really were all wiped out or the survivors were deep in hiding, which meant he had to look harder to find the remainder of them if there was any. Just as he thought that a woman's high pitched scream pierced the air and echoed over the remains surrounding him. Ah. Right on time. He made sure to follow up on that scream rather quickly. It wasn't hard to locate the owner of that scream or the reason why she had been screaming so rather loudly.

It was just a couple yards to the west of him beyond some trees and nestled by what looked to be the remains of a once small house, obviously damaged from whatever fight had taken place. It's frame was badly splintered and there was a gaping hole in the side where a wall used to be. And the source of the noise was right in front of him.

A woman and a man. The man was as ugly as he looked big and hulking, and he looked different to most of the deceased he's seen. Instead of being almost totally pure white like the rest of his brethren, this giant man was almost entirely an ugly dully grey with duller red spots lining his arms. The only part of him that was white was the long white hair cascading from his head. Oh. But he could tell that this man was a member from the arachnid clan. His face of many eyes, fangs, and exposed pinchers told him exactly which family he belonged too. Another screech pierced through and the source was an older woman being dangled by her right arm above the ground. Now she looked exactly like the other deceased spiders. Except her pure white body was painted with red, whether that was her own blood or blood from the battle he didn't know. All he knew was that she was just dangling there in the much larger man's grip as he effortlessly held her up with one hand. Tears rolled down her face as a mix of pained screams and pleads for him to put her down left her mouth. Behind her was five smaller forms of various sizes, all of them as pale as her with some kind of red spotted all over their own bodies. They all huddled together far from the two of the adults in one mass of shivering. Children. 

A popping of bones echoed from angered fists balled was the only warning sound before a moment later there was no arms left to dangle the woman by. With a thud she fell too the ground and the hulking form was staggered back in sudden pain and surprise at the loss of his appendage. 

"You must be the head of the family. You're powerful aura tells me that much." What he was met with was a hiss from the taller figure in what was supposed to be threatening tones, but to him it might as well have just been a harmless pup's bark. "Finding you was much easier than I thought. I guess you helped in that regard."

"SSStay away from my family!"

"Family? ...So this is your family?" For a brief moment he turned back to just glance at the mass of shivering people behind him. The woman, whomever she may be, had wriggled her way out of the slaughtered arm's grip and scrambled away on hands and knees by now. "...I'm going to assume that woman is your wife then." A snap back to the hulking figure. "You know, a man should never be so cruel to his wife. Especially one that blessed you with many beautiful children, assuming that you are they're father and mother."

A long deep hiss was delivered from the lumbering giant. "Leave."

"I don't think I will. You seem eager to fight someone, so I will take that place whether you wish it or not. I don't think fighting a weakened woman would be a good battle anyways. So let us get this pointless matter settled." A blue tipped hand was gestured to him. "I'll even be generous and let you have the first move. That should be fair to you."

It in fact did not take very long for the fight to end if he could even could call it that. The lumbering idiot like expected struck out with his one remaining arm and he gave a kick, a powerful kick that dislodged the taller man's head off with a sickening crack an off it flew somewhere in the darkness. It was over. The body fell with it's own sick down at his feet and it gave him a semi-satisfied feeling knowing he could get this job done so quickly. Although the display might've been a bit much for the ones behind him. Speaking of which- The woman was crying lightly still, but gasped and looked up at approaching feet before a being with golden-blue eyes knelt down and peered at her.

"Woman. Are these your children?"

A terrified, stuttered grunt. "Yes."

"I see. ...Tell me, did anyone else survive?"

Two grunts and a whine. "I don't know."

"Ah..." Glancing back to the children, there was in deed five. Two girls and three boys. The oldest looked no older than thirteen, and the youngest looked no younger than six. "...Do you know who I am?"

A grunt. "Yes."

"Good. Then consider this an order from your superior. Take all your children and head north east from here towards the Eastern Mountain Border, it's a five day travel on foot. Within the Yokai Forest resides the domain of Lower Moon Six at Tsuzumi Mansion. Ask him for shelter and you shall get it from him. He's a kind man and he won't turn you away. Now gather your children and leave immediately. You'll need the head start."

He left her and the children at that. It would be bad to not look around before he left, just to be sure. A careful and thorough search through the territory turned up a few survivors. Some looked ok enough to live some looked like they wouldn't last beyond the night. Shame. The woman and children were gone when he again passed through the area. Good. She took the chance and fled with her family. Only more misfortune would've met them if they stayed here. Hantengu was found later literally crawling his way out of the woods by the time dawn rose around. He didn't think it would take that long for him to take care of one person.

"Have you done your end of the task?"

"It was horrible. Horrible! All those people thinking it was my fault he died! It was not me, it was not me! My hands were not my own! You believe me..don't you?"

"That is a yes then. Good. You may go then. I shall inform the Master his mission is complete."

Hantengu was all but happy to leave that part to Akaza, and quickly take his leave. No doubt back home to his sons who all enabled his behavior. Sigh. He would steer clear of their drama however. He was not in the mood, especially when he had to be the one who'd tell the master. He was then tasked with another thing.

"Take a survey of the aftermath to send to the Record Keeper, and bury the bodies."

In other words, find out who was dead and their names and ages to send to Kyogai and then bury all the dead. Sigh. This would certainly take a while and he wasn't wrong. He had to practically threaten the leftover survivors into identifying the deceased and to get the information he needed to send to Lower Moon Six, and bury the large amount of casualties left everywhere. It took him quite a while, but like with everything else he was tasked with, he made sure it was completed no matter how long it took. The Master seemed pleased with his work and it left him to do his regular tasks for the last few remaining months of that year, and then came the one month he despised more than any other. January was always a hard month for him. It was hard sometimes to keep his kind in line when so many men thought human women would be easy prey during that month and he'd be dammed if he let any poor human woman fall into their grasps that easily! In fact it wasn't even until that hard month was over that he heard from his Master again just shortly after Enmu had delivered him some blood. 

STRUM!!

It didn't surprise him too much that he was being tasked with something yet again once he was contacted by Nakime, but he was astonished at the order he was given next.

"Last year Lower Moon Six received survivors of the Spider Clan. You are to take them all to Upper Moon Two are servants. Both of your fellow moons have already been notified of your arrival in advance."

DOUMA!? That womanizing, empty shelled pervert!? His Master wanted him to take a widow and her children to that dammed fool as servants for him and his cult!? ....He would not fight against his Master's final say on the matter, but he deeply expressed his anger at the situation he found himself in. Douma needed more servants like he needed an extra useless tail! However like with every other order, he would make sure to carry it out. It took him a few days to travel to his destination, a bit longer because he took a small detour to a nearby demon settlement to buy a pair of bags of konpeito candy for the young ones. No child should have to be moved about like this especially to the servitude of someone like Douma. He was just glad the family had survived the travel over to Kyogai's home. The Tsuzumi Mansion wasn't too hard for him to find, he had been there before on the rare occasion he was needed in this area. So he was inspecting the reaction of the lady servant when she opened the door to answer his knocking and bowed.

"Lord Akaza. Welcome. We've been expecting you. Would you like a meal after your long journey?"

He shook his head no. "No. I would rather leave as soon as possible. The Spider Mother and her children, where are they?"

"Oh, yes. The boys are already gathered by My Lord's study. The rest of the family is in the garden I heard. Shall I fetch them for you?"

"No. I'd rather have you tell Kyogai I'm here...And please, give the children this. They'll like it." He then offered her one of the two bags before she scurried on her way. 

He would rather have them looked over and had a good meal before he made them leave with him, they would need the strength for the long distance. He knew where the garden was so he went straight there. Althought he wasn't ready for what he would see and smell. He was hit with a wave of...amaryllis blooms?? That was strange. He'd only smelt that flower once, a long time ago when his Master took an interest in foreign floral for scientific reasons. He liked the flower, not because of it's looks but what it symbolized. Strength. He found it so amusing that something as simple as a flower could be strong to survive the harsh cold of winter to bloom in spring. So it was curious as he approached the garden, perhaps Kyogai had added a new addition to his garden. 

"OW!"

"Hold still so I can bandage it for you. Then you can finish the poem you were reading."

The smell had suddenly gotten very stronger with the new voices coming from just down the hall. Now where was that coming from? He walked further approaching the door to the outside of the garden. 

"Spring is a season that radiates warmth, new beginnings, and positive energy. It denotes a calm and peaceful atmosphere with a clear blue sky. The days are radiant, lovely, and peaceful with a golden sun. When the land wakes up it becomes a good mother to all, delivering food and giving life to the darkness-"

"What does this word mean?"

"Oh! Atmosphere? That's just another name for the heavens."

"And this word?"

He finally got to the doorway and paused, incredibly surprised at what he saw. IT WAS A HUMAN!!

"That's radiant. It's just another way of saying something is wonderful or beautiful or the like. Like you. And you."

"Shall I continue reading?"

"Yes!" "Please do!"

He couldn't believe what he was seeing! It was an honest to gods human sitting in the middle of  the garden, a giant book in her lap and in front of her was four demons. Three of which were pale white, and one had four arms and eyes. What was a human doing here of all places? Weren't they supposed to be in one of the assigned districts the Master put aside for them? 

"The days of long cold winters sleep has risen to make way to other corners of the lands for his sisters Spring and Summer to come take his place, and embrace us all in the treasures they bring. The strength-....Oh."

"What is it?"

He watched as the human woman flipped through a few pages before she held up the book to the demon with four arms. "That's where all the stories and poems end. I guess whoever was writing in it didn't get to finish it yet. There's nothing else to read yet."

"Aw!" "Come on!"

"Don't be like that! She can't help it if the rest wasn't written."

It seemed he was finally noticed, because the oldest pale demon turned to look at him, and paused at what she saw. Ah. She must've recognized him from last year. Oh well, since he was caught he might as well make himself known. So he stepped on down to the ground and began approaching them. Slowly, after all he didn't want to startle them.

"Well what would you say would finish that sentence about strength, Madam Y/n?"

"Strength!" His voice made everyone jump and turn their heads to his approaching form, immediately the two children fled to their mother's side. "Mental, physical, emotional, and raw. Strength keeps you going when you feel you can go on no more." He stopped just a few yards away and held up a hand before with a popping of bones it snapped inhumanly fast into a tight fist. "If you're wondering if you're strong, the answer is always yes. Don't underestimate the silent strength that you don't even know you possess."

They all eyed him wearily or shocked from his entrance but it was the human that spoke first. "That..was a very lovely analogy of the term of strength." 

"I thank you," he thanked her back with a small bow of his head smiling wider. He also lowered his first noticing her purple eyes kept glancing at it wearily, she seemed relieved when he lowered it. "I pride myself on knowing all about strength no matter what definition of it is used, so I am glad someone thinks I do well to know it."

She nodded back to him but rose her brow further. "I hope you don't mind me asking this, but who are you? I've never seen you before and I would've remembered seeing someone with your unique features in the mansion."

He chuckled a little bit. No. Suppose she didn't know who he was. Understandable. "I'll take that as a compliment.'' Pressing a hand to his chest, he bowed from the waist slightly. "I am Akaza, Upper Moon Three of the Twelve Kizuki. And you are a human who smells of amaryllis blooms. Those flowers symbolizes strength, although I have only seen them once when my Master was trading botany many years ago. Nonetheless, I find them appealing. You have very wise selections in perfume," He complimented her with a smile. He was honestly surprised Kyogai allowed anyone to wear perfume here considering his hatred for it.

"L-LORD AKAZA!! F-FORGIVE ME!!" The four armed demon, Kyogai's healer if he remembered right, suddenly threw herself in a deep bow before him. "I-IF I WOULD'VE KNOWN Y-Y-YOU'D BE COMING TODAY I WOULD'VE GATHERED A LUNCH FROM THE KITCHEN FOR YOU!!," she practically shouted in both fear and nerves and she dug her forehead deep into the grass below. "PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!"

Oh dear. He hated when something like this happened. Not that he didn't mind the respect, but he didn't want a poor woman to feel threatened to treat him like this in his presence. In response he approached her slowly and carefully as to not make her feel anymore uncomfortable than she already was, kneeling down to outstretched a hand to her in assurance. What he didn't expect was for a blur of someone's hand to harshly smack his away and for the human to throw herself over the female demon with a protective stance and scowl to her face. THE HUMAN!? He was caught so off guard that he was stunned into silence for a good while

"Ok! Listen you!" She pointed right at his face making his eyes cross to look at her hand. "I don't care what moon phase you claim to be! I have been both insulted, and scared by two of you already!! And don't get me started on what a pervert that one man came off as! I don't care if you're offended or not!! YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF ERI!!"

.....Wait.

What?

He paused as the words sunk into his skull. She thought...he was going to HARM the other woman? She said her name was 'Eri' right? What the hell gave off THAT impression!? He didn't even make any threatening gestures-...Wait! Did she say other moons did something to her!? WHO!? WHY!? Was that the reason she was so hostile to him just now? Because she thought he was going to do something unspeakable to Eri? That was horrible! This is exactly what he works so hard to avoid! He may not be perfect but he wasn't a monster! He'd better correct this now before it snowballed into something he really could have a headache with, especially amongst humans.

"I wasn't going to harm her."

"...What?"

"I wasn't going to harm her," he repeated again. "I'd NEVER harm a woman. Especially one much weaker than myself and unarmed."

"I-" She blinked. "Then what were you-"

"I simply wanted her to stop kneeling before me. She has no need to and I don't want her too." She turned silent when he slowly turned back to Eri whome remained still. Hopefully that explained his actions. "Eri is it now? Kyogai has mentioned you as a healer correct? Can you please do a request for me?"

"O-Of course!" The human yelped back as Eri suddenly sat up immediately with a strained smile on her face. "W-What ever my lords need, I'll be s-s-sure to deliver!"

Akaza smiled happily at her. "That's wonderful! I thank you for your assistance. I heard you are a healer, so I don't suppose you will look over the dear woman and her children before I take them away from here would you?"

She immediately nodded. "Of course, My Lord! I can do that easily!"

"Then it's settled! Oh! That reminds me.'' He couldn't forget while he was here. He turned to smile at the Mother Spider who still blinked surprised as two of her children cowered at her sides. The poor things. Hopeful to remain as non-threatening as possible, he remained on his knees and walked on them towards her a bit. He must've looked silly, but that was the point wasn't it? With a smile a hand reached to his side and promptly produced the second bag he had brought with him. "Here. I brought you and your children a gift." The woman blinked at the bad held up to her. His smile faltered a bit. "...Do you not remember who I am?"

She blinked back to him. "....I do remember. You are the man who spared me my fate. I don't I've ever thanked you."

"Please don't bow!" he quickly held up a hand before she could even start doing that. "There's no need to thank me. I'm just happy you and all your children were able to make it safely out."

"...You would be wrong about that. Not all of my children are here with me."

That made him raise a brow. "Did you lose some on the way here? If you did, I'll go look for them immediately. They might be close by."

"I would prefer it if you didn't." The surprise on his face must've shown because she explained further. "The two who are not with me are my oldest sons. One is dead."

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yes. I saw him get killed last year during the battle. I have no idea if my second son is dead, and frankly I would not care if he was. He may have been very young, but he was a cruel boy. He reminds me too much of his father."

Akaza blinked at the words that came from her mouth. How could a mother say something like that about her son? Then again he had no idea what her situation was like. "How old is he?"

"About as old as my daughters."

About as old as these girls were huh? "I did not see anyone like that amongst the survivors or the dead for that matter. If he was taken hostage by the Mantis, I would've known by now."

"Then he is either in hiding where not even you know where he is or he ran away. Either way, I cannot be concerned about him no longer. I have my other children as priority as their mother."

"...What was his name? Maybe if I search there once more I can find him."

"His name is Rui. But I beg you, if you find him...Don't bring him to me." He did not answer to that and instead watched as she accepted the bag from him finally and open it to look at the contents inside. "...Is this...candy?"

"Konpeito candy," he confirmed with a nod. "It's for your little ones. I figured after such a scay experience, they could use something sweet in their life. But I must ask, do you know why I'm here?"

She nodded sadly. "Yes. I-It was explained to me by the lord of the mansion. To think to be servants of an Upper Moon."

"I don't like it anymore than you. Trust me. But I can promise your children will be safer there than anywhere else. There's plenty of tutors for all children human or demon, and much more security. Before we go, I want you to have a good meal and have your children see the healer-"

CRUNCH!!

?? Both looked over to the two small girls, already digging their way into the candy and was eating it rather happily by the looks of it. ....He let out a small chuckle and smiled. At least someone seemed happy right now.

"...Are you sure all that sugar won't come back to haunt us?," she asked with a worried look.

"Do not worry," Akaza assured her, "I did not get a lot, and the travel to your new home will burn off any sugar they consume. However I want to get you all a good meal before we leave. You'll need the strength for the long journey, especially your beautiful little ones. I shall bring some out to you all...And while I shall be inside..." There was a popping of bones as his hands dug into fists on his legs and a small vein appeared on his head as he turned to he human and Eri, despite his sweet smile and calm tone not changing he felt himself getting angry at the situation at hand. "I believe you mentioned before some of my fellow ranks being cruel to you, causing you to lash out at me earlier. I apologize on their behalf. Would they happen to be the two that's currently inside?"

She blinked. "You mean Kyogai and Kaigaku? Oh no. Not Kyogai!" She explained holding up her hands. No. He didn't think Kyogai would be the one. "He's been nothing but polite and kind to everyone I've seen, including myself." Yep. He suspected that much.  "Kaigaku however has been rather rude." She frowned, and he felt an instant vein pop on his forehead. "He's very difficult like a spoiled child."

Kaigaku huh?.....Inhale-

THAT LITTLE SHIT WAS DEAD.

....He inhaled and let out a sweet chuckle. "That sounds like him alright. But I'm sure he'll cause you no more problems! He's a quick learner despite his temper. ....Excuse me, Ladies." He slowly stood before bowing to all of them still smiling despite the anger clearly displayed on himself. "I shall return with some food shortly. After they have eaten and have been looked over I'll take them. Please pardon me."

He rather stiffly and quickly through the garden back into the mansion and with deepening anger marched straight to where he sensed Kyogai was. He knew that little shit couldn't have been far behind, and he was right. He found the two lower moons talking in a hallway. Kyogai looked both annoyed and tired about whatever Kaigaku was spouting at him but froze upon seeing the powerful form of Upper Three approaching.

"Kaigaku!" The ass practically squealed like a pig and snapped around to him wide eyed in fright. "It's been a while since we've last spoken to one another. Come here and tell me how exactly you've been interacting with that human girl!"

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

"CRAP!!"

You ignored whatever Eri yelled after you as you just jumped up and RAN. Sprinting back across the soft grass and leaping into the mansion like another demon was chasing after your soul. This was bad. This was bad! THIS WAS VERY VERY BAD!! You hadn't meant to send a full beating after Kaigaku! Sure he was a right old pig's arse and he was pretty rude and annoying, but that didn't warrant a beating from a powerful beating! At least in your opinion it didn't. With wide eyes and heart beating, you charged down through the mansion's hallways back up towards the kitchen. Just past the kitchen was Kaigaku's room so that's the first place anyone would look for him. Other servants either jumped out of the way or looked confused as you ran past, breathing heavily as you got closer and closer, until with one last turn you got there. The hallway yours and Kaigaku's rooms were stationed in. Footsteps echoing throughout the hall, you immediately ran to the sliding door leading into Kaigaku's room and just threw the door open with a loud slam. Kaigaku would probably yell at you later, but you'd rather have him yell at you then become a puddle on the floor. 

"Kaigaku!!"

Empty. The entire room was empty save for a futon in one corner and a few objects that looked like they belonged in a blacksmith's workshop. Maybe for Kaigaku's sword? But said demon wasn't there. It made your stomach sink and fill with dread. He wasn't here! Why wasn't he here!? 

"Mistress?" You practically jumped, snapping around to the voice whom just so happened to be a random servant girl whom blinked at you. "Are you quite alright? You look pale."

"Kaigaku! Where is he!?," you practically shouted at her in an almost panic making her lean away.

"I-...H-He's with Lord Kyogai in his main study!"

''Where is that!?"

"J-Just back up the hallway near the baths. W-Why? What's-"

You didn't give her time to answer as you turned and already started running back towards the way you came, footsteps echoing through the halls behind you. By the baths. That was just a left turn by the kitchen and deeper into the mansion, so back up the hall you ran and all the way to the kitchen, before taking a turn left nearly slipping in the process but not quite as you rounded a sharp corner and nearly knocked over a servant carrying a tray of food fresh from the kitchen. You swore if Kaigaku wasn't already dead, you were going to KILL HIM YOURSELF!! With a small boost in your speed, you ran past others faster and faster until you were nearing the end of the hallway leading to two other different halls-

"P-PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!"

"I don't think I'm finished telling how to....'correctly greet a woman'."

Right turn it was! You rounded the corner, and it was surprising that your boots didn't leave skid marks against the perfectly polished floors from how quick you slid to a stop to stare at the sight before you. Kaigaku was there alright. As pale as a ghost, wide eyed as an owl, and being held up by the back of his outer coat by a VERY annoyed looking Akaza who strained a wide smile at him. Kyogai silent stood adjacent to Akaza and just seemed to be unsure of what to do. Akaza balled a fist raising it slightly to the frozen, smaller demon in his hold. Your purple eyes shrank-

"PUT. HIM. DOWN!!"

Akaza turned his head just as a small blur came charging forward and threw it's leg back. Of course he was easily able to dodge it easily, by stepping back just as the human's leg swung through midair missing the chance to kick his leg from under him, but it was a surprise attack. On him. By a woman. By a HUMAN woman. It's was shocking enough to get him to release Kaigaku who collapsed in a heap with a thud at his feet. And stark silence came from all three of the demons as a much smaller human woman had the adacity to scowl up at them (or more specifically Akaza-).

"What is your problem!? Don't just attack someone!"

Akaza blinked back at your yell at him and Kaigaku hissed from your feet. "Don't pity me! I don't need your help- AH!"

You pushed him back down with a shove from your foot. "Don't make me regret saving you! Just consider us even now from you saving me."

".....Saving you?"

You snapped back to Akaza making him blink. "That's right. He saved me from being kidnapped by a more terrible demon weeks ago, so I decided to return the favor."

....Akaza slowly blinked. "...Kaigaku?" He turned to the hissing black haired demon on the floor, by now he sat back up and rubbed his head. "Saved you?'' He turned back to you slowly...before shaking his head and frowning. "Alright. What ulterior motive do you have? No one like you just saves someone without expecting or planning something."

"The only thing I'm 'planning' on doing with her is getting her home once she's healed." By now Kaigaku had the gull to stand up and start fixing himself with a hiss at Akaza, who in turn delivered a glare of his own. Once his coat was comfortably adjusted back on his shoulders, he looked at you and your own frown...before blinking when he took a step closer to you and gave an almost smug look to Akaza. ...Before saying something in that weird grunt-click-whistle language that you couldn't understand, so you just ended up giving the pig's arse a confused look.

Akaza and Kyogai however gained surprised look. "WHAT!?" Kyogai flinched as Akaza snapped his angry gaze to him and held up his hands as Akaza demanded, "YOU BETTER TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND HERE!! WHAT DOES HE MEAN SHE NEEDS TO HEAL!? AND HOW DID SHE COME TO BE HERE ANYWAYS!?"

"I-I can explain!,"Kyogai stuttered and, despite being much taller than Akaza, took a step back as the livid pink haired man fully turned his body to him slowly. Menacingly. It was done in such a way that made yourself give pause. It reminded you of someone. A really angry someone, and how he would always have this way of making everyone fall silent with just a look. 

Bones crackled as two fists were tightly clenched, dangerously. It made Kyogai's eyes snap to them in an instant. Viens popped up all along the body that was threatening to deliver punishment. 

A vision of yelling flashed before your eyes. Many crying faces cowering from Sanemi whenever he 'trained' someone or even took his bad days out on someone. Sometimes even throwing hands-

"STOP!!"

Akaza froze. Kaigaku froze. Kyogai's jaw dropped. A hand had grabbed Akaza's fist. A book fell down to the ground with a thud, it's pages falling open. Another, gentler hand wrapped daring to wrap around half way up his arm and daring to pull his arm against the warm body of someone else.

"Will you please just listen to what I have to say?'' It wasn't a demand leaving your lips, but a beg as you pulled his arm closer to you body which caught the taller demon off guard further. Well..he didn't move after a few silent tense minutes, just wide eyed staring at Kyogai, so you continued. "It's my fault I got hurt!" Akaza finally looked at you. Turning his head so stiffly, it freaked you out, expecting his bones to make more cracking sounds. ..Maybe you should've thought this through before throwing yourself at a tiger's feet, but it was too late to back out now. Steeling your nerves, you gulped down the lump in your throat, and continued. "It's my fault I got lost on the mountain. If Kaigaku hadn't stopped someone from kidnapping me, I would've been doomed to a terrible life."...Akaza slowly, SLOWLY turned his head to Kaigaku who froze and let his ears fall. Oh no. You weren't getting his attention now- "A-An-...A-And it's my fault I Kyogai's home was damaged. I shouldn't have broken into someone's home! I know it was wrong! But if he didn't take me in, I wouldn't have made it! It's thanks to both of them that I'm still alive." Akaza S L O W L Y looked too Kyogai whom felt a bead of sweat roll down his own face. "Don't you see? I would have DIED if it wasn't for them! They didn't have to help me. Kaigaku could've walked away from a random person trying to get a wife, or Kyogai could've just rightfully thrown me out but they didn't. They showed me kindness and saved me with that, and I'm very grateful to both of them. Even if Kaigaku's rude-" Kaigaku shot you a frown. "-I'd rather not see someone like him be punished for essentially helping me. So please...Akaza." 

Akaza felt himself shiver down his spine as you gently tugged his arm, making him finally look to you. And your pretty purple eyes. And the helpless way you were staring at him..Andthe way your hair framed your cute face- ...A similar look to a face he once knew a long, long time ago. And the sweet scent of amaryllis blooms coming off her was...

BU-BUMP!

Her lovely eyes blinked as his free hand shakingly left his chest to gently put over your own hand. "T-Tell me...What was your name, Ma'am?"

"....Did you just fucking stutter-"

"Y/n!," you said a bit louder than normal to hopefully drown out what Kaigaku said, and you smiled at him. "My name is Y/n. And I ask you to please do you duties so that poor mother and her children can remain safe. They're a good family, so I would be sad to see anything horrible happen to them."

He instantly nodded. "I will." His hand squeezed yours a bit but in a gently way. "I promise you I will, and I shall do that now." With a final pat to your hand, Akaza turned to Kyogai who still stared wide eyed. "I'd like for your healer to look over the mother and her children, and for you to feed them before we leave." His eyes narrowed slightly. "You WILL also tell me the entire situation about how Madam Y/n came to be here before I leave. I WILL know who is responsible for this and make sure she will not be in anymore harm. Not because I don't trust your abilities," he clarified, -because if I didn't, I wouldn't have trusted you with the survivors from the mountains. I just want to be sure she'll be in the best hands possible." He then turned back to you with a happy smile and patted your hand. "Please excuse me, Miss Y/n. I must take my leave." You blinked as he calmly released himself from your grasp before turning to Kyogai. "Follow me." And giving you a smile, he left starting towards the kitchen but not before shooting Kaigaku a glare.

Kyogai however took a moment, still staring wide eyed at you. Opening his mouth-

"KYOGAI!!"

"A-AH! Y-Yes! I am coming." Shaking his head again, he made to step around you and follow Akaza who's eyes bore into him from the other end of the hall-

And that's when both a thought and realization struck you over the head like a large stone. Immediately your eyes went wide, snapping to the book on the floor (in your rush you had forgotten to leave it behind) and then to Kyogai who was stepping away-

KYOGAI WRITES!!

"Kyogai!" Said demon stopped upon hearing your voice and of course, turned to see what you wanted raising a brow. A hand of yours snatched up the incomplete book off the floor and with a few steps, you stopped in front of him before holding out said book causing a look of surprise to come over his face. "This is your book. Isn't it?"

The look of absolute surprise on his face told you all you needed to know before he sputtered out a reply. "I-...W-W-What!? I mean- Uh-" Blue and red eyes quickly glanced again and again between you and the book. "H-How did you-"

"You asked me to give it back once I was done with it, insinuating that it was yours." You said, putting two and two together. "And you're the only one I know who writes. I-...I-I really like this. A lot." A hand carefully patted the cover of the book, glad that it wasn't damaged in the fall it took. With a wide smile you held it back to him and bowed. "I was honored to be able to read this beautiful writing. I'd like it if you continued it."

You didn't hear him say anything, but you felt him take the book from your hands. Head remaining bowed, your hands returned to your sides in the silence. It was only when you heard paper lightly shuffling did you look up and spotted through your hair, Kyogai holding the book open in one hand as he carefully flipped through the pages with surprise on his face.

"The pages are unharmed. Well taken cared of." It was only then he looked back to you for a moment, before closing the book with a neutral look. "We will talk about this later. For now I have important work to do."

Without even so much as a good bye, he turned and began walking off after Akaza, holding the book up to press against his chest and mumbling things you didn't hear.

"She liked it....She thinks it's ..beautiful?"

A warm feeling bloomed from his chest as it reached his face strong enough to make it bright red.

BU-DUMPBU-DUMPBU-DUMP-

A hand snapped up to cover his mouth, his heart hammering away.

Oh no...Oh NONONONONONONO! A demon's heart NEVER BEATS!! The heart was a useless organ to demons. They didn't need it to live like other living creatures.Hell. Their hearts could be ripped out and it'd wouldn't affect them in the slightest. But there was only ONE reason a demon's heart would ever beat. When it discovered one emotion when a demon would meet that missing piece of their puzzle. 

BUMPBUMPBUMPBUMP-

"....This....has just made things much more complicated..."

Although little did he know that he was not the only one with pumping hearts as Akaza's hand nearly made his chest bleed from how much his fingers dug into the place over his heart. And a black haired demon continued to stare at you as you turned around to Kaigaku and tilted your head in genuine worry at him.

"Akaza didn't hurt you, did he?"

BU-DUM!!

Kaigaki shrunk into his coat a bit as your hand reached out and gently grabbed his face making him freeze as you made him turn his head this way and that to inspect for damage, at least his cut was healed now. 

"Nothing broken?....Kaigaku?"

BUMPBUMPBUMP-

".....Fuck-"

#demon slayer #douma #douma x reader #enmu #enmu x reader #gyutaro x reader #gyutaro #daki #kokushibo x reader #kokushibo #kamanue x reader #kamanue #Zohakuten #hantengu #aizetsu #sekido #karaku #hantengu clones #urogi #urogi x reader #sekido x reader #aizetsu x reader #karaku x reader #hantengu x reader #Hantengu's clones x Reader #kaigaku x reader #kaigaku #kyogai x reader #kyogai #Rui

[ts-wicked-wonders]

Why do we celebrate the winter solstice?

Let’s start with the science. The Winter Solstice is the point of the year at which the path of the sun in the sky is farthest south. Here in the Northern Hemisphere this occurs in December, between the 20th to the 23rd of the month. The sun travels the shortest path across the sky giving us the shortest day of the year with the least sunlight and subsequently, the longest night.

The hushed darkness of winter is at its deepest on the solstice, yet for thousands of years it has been celebrated as a promise of the brighter days ahead. The winter solstice is a tipping point, a moment of stillness when the balance of the seasonal scales will once again begin to tilt towards the light. Since long, long ago humans have been aware of this tipping point and celebrated the long night as a marker of new life and warmth returning.

These days we may find that Christmas celebrations become the focus of our attention around this time, there is usually so much to do and little time to rest when we find ourselves preparing for family visits, buying gifts and tackling the mighty food shop! But there is so much internal gold to be mined at this midwinter point, so much connection and grounding to be found in this quiet seasonal milestone, I think it’s well worth carving out some time for each year, if we can.

How to celebrate the Winter Solstice

3 simple ways to honour the shortest day

1. Light up the longest night

“In the Druidic tradition the name of this festival is “Alban Arthan”, Welsh for “Light of Winter”. According to an older and more poetic interpretation, the name is “Alban Arthuan”, meaning “Light of Arthur”. In this poetical image, Arthur is symbolized by the Sun. The Sun dies and is reborn, just as the mythical Arthur is sleeping deep inside a mountain and will wake up again when the people need his help.” Www.druidry.org

Of course I would choose candlelight for number one! Even the small act of striking a match and lighting a wick can be easily turned into a mindful ritual, an action which provides a minute of clarity within a busy day and one which takes us back to the present moment, even in a house full of noise, chaos and kids running wild!

Bringing light to the dark is a simple yet powerful acknowledgment of the seasonal shift and an invitation to take some time to consider what the winter solstice means and how we are feeling at this point in the year. Candles are symbolic of the returning of the light and have been used for many centuries past to focus our attention and create a sacred space.

Lighting a fire in the grate, or a bonfire in the garden is also a traditional way to mark this day. The ancient Norse would burn a Yule log in their celebration of the return of the sun at winter solstice. “Yule” came from the Norse word hweol, meaning wheel. This practice of burning a Yule log can also be found in many other countries and in the Pagan, Wiccan and Druid traditions too.

2. Reflect on the year gone by

The solstice and equinox points give us quarter milestones in the year to reflect and reset. This has been a year of huge upheaval, emotion and uncertainty so I know I am likely not alone in needing a little time to consider what this past year has changed in me and how I might use that knowledge in the next chapter ahead.

Winter is a time for stories, a time for hopes and dreams birthed from the darkness and given time to stretch and grow before they see the light of day. What story do you want to see come to life next year?

Journaling is a wonderful way to get down some of these thoughts and reflections on the winter solstice. Remember that journaling doesn’t have to look like pages and pages of thoughtful verse – you can choose to jot down a few key words which sum up your feelings, or if you are more visual person sketch out a spider diagram or mind map which pulls out your perceptions of what has passed and your hopes for what might be – use whatever method works for you.

“There is a reason why some of our most enduring holidays of mysticism occur during the cold months. Winter is a time when unseen energies steps forth out of the fog— when the above-ground world goes back to the roots and the hidden mysteries of spirit can bloom.” Asia Suler – One Willow Apothecaries

3. Find nourishment in your favourite winter comforts

Brew up your favourite seasonal tea or make a hot chocolate with the works. Find something which warms your body and feels like a small luxury and take it to a quiet part of the house, or over to your favourite window. Sit down and take the time to savour it. Letting our bodies be still and allowing our minds to wander doesn’t always feel easy, there is a temptation to constantly fill ourselves up with scrolling, doing chores, working, cleaning – anything to keep our minds occupied.

But the stillness of the winter solstice, and the call of the winter season in general, is an invitation to let ourselves drift. So try to give yourself a little time to do just that.

“Pause here. You are deep in the heart of the darkest nights. The world is hushed: The trees are dwelling in their roots, and the earth’s small creatures have gone to ground. Turn inward and listen to the stories of your deepest self.”- Maia Toll

http://www.Tswickedwonders.com

#winter solstice #winter #yule #spiritualguidance #spiritual warrior #spiritual knowledge

[lumilasi]

Time for a yearly art summary

I'm still likely going to draw a couple of things, but figured I'd do this before the year ends so I won't forget lol

I was surprised to find there were still couple of pieces of fanart I'd made this year, I thought I'd completely moved away from it by now? Guess not lol

This year was also kind of....character ref update heavy, which made finding stuff for this difficult as a lot what I saw that wasn't a ref was reblogged art from previous year :T I'm really gonna try and NOT make so many refs next year, it was kinda ridiculous lol

About each piece chosen below:

January: One of the few fanart pieces I had made this year. Tomura for the year of the bunny.

February: Apparently the only new piece I'd made that month? A traditional shigadabi doodle

March: My birthday month, also the birth of one of my main character's new, modern look and story. Jurou got his tattoos and longer hair here.

April: Speaking of design updates, Ichirou's new modern look was born here as well, or at least this particular ref image was lol

May: Mermay piece with my sea serpent boy Caelan. Probably one of my favorite pieces of all time I've made so far!

June: Pride month thing I did with Henrik and Clover, which also actually utilized an old sketch of an older piece with these two that I still loved.

July: Surprise return of Tomura. Another old art remake if I recall right?

August: Just a simple piece of Avane and Roman. These two started out as my less-liked characters I had, but after the story update and design updates for both, they've become among my favorite couples/characters.

September: I was already heading for the spooky times even before the spooky month I see. Angus with a hypotethical look relevant to his story. This piece was unique where I just used the sketch and did not do lineart, essentially it is kind of a messy style digital painting. LOVE this one even now, another one of my personal favorites.

October: The first prompt for my (somewhat failed) Spooktober art challenge. While I didn't make as much art I'd hoped, I very much love this piece with Avane, also a favorite, probably second after the previous Angus one.

November: Yet another piece utilizing an older work that I just reworked using the characters' new designs. (I loved the old one still, I'd just recently redesigned both characters somewhat so I felt the need to rework it)

December: I wanted to use one of the prompt pieces from the art challenge I am doing, but...they were simply difficult to fit into this vertical-style summary, so I ended up picking Jurou's more demonic form I finally upgraded this month after, well, months. I feel its kind of fitting for me to end the year in a spooky note lol

#art summary #art year 2023 #2023 #my art #my oc #tomura shiragaki #fanart

[penelopesartstash]

More horse!!!! This time probably my fav reformed villain Sunset! Been trying to get myself to design her armor for a while and i think i like what i ended up with. First pic is just what she looks like baseline, the second with the sparcer armor is what she would have looked like if she hadn’t escaped to the mirror. The last is what she currently looks like in the ‘present’ of my headcanon.

Details under the cut!

   Sunset Shimmer in this HC is Sunbursts younger sister by a few years, and knew Starlight Glimmer a little through her brother. After Sunburst left to study abroad, Sunset became standoffish as a young child and would often try to start fights. It wasnt much later that she encountered a powerful unicorn noble visiting from manehattan, and being a little shit, she started negging him and trying to ruin his visit to the (at least to him) unimportant town. Seeing an opportunity to make an example, the noble challenged her to a magic duel, with the Sun as witness, envoking a traditional unicorn duel. As noone attempted to stop this, being powerful as he was, Sunset accepted.    The duel started with him simply posturing, taunting her with small spells and minor telekinesis. As she got angrier, he simply retaliated by knocking her back down, thinking she would soon get to embarrassed and surrender. Sunset persisted, however, and after she managed to cut one of his legs with her horn, drawing first blood, he used his magic to throw her back, and began summoning lightning around his horn, planning to kill her quickly and make an example.    Sunset looked up from the ground to see him lowering his horn, crackling magic setting her fur on end. He set off the spell and in a split second of panic Sunset threw her head back, casting a momentary shield and deflecting the worst of the lightning. In anger the noble reared back to cast another spell, and with adrenaline now coursing through her Sunset pushed herself forward, lunging and with only thoughts of winning on her mind, a poweful solar flare of magic, like a spear of flames, rushed with her and caught him in the center of his chest. He fell dead, and Sunset stood the victor, with an image of the Sun shining on her flank.   Only a few minutes of stunned silence from the town later, Celestia descended to the scene having heard the call for the Suns witness, and saw the young Sunset standing alone over a burnt body. First She felt shock, then understanding, and then hope, as She was looking at the first wielder of solar magic since the last of Her champions was killed with Luna's betrayal.    With this hope, Celestia took the young foal to Canterlot to study the arts of combat and ancient solar magic, and to train her to become the next Champion in time for Nightmare Moons return.    However, Celestia was careless, believing in her hope that Sunset would understand the importance of what she learned and mistook the foals eagerness for admiration and loyalty. It wasn't long after that Sunset started sneaking into the corners of the library, hungry for knowlegde and unsatisfied with Celestias slow and cautious teaching. She soon found a way into the forbidden wings, opening old scrolls depicting celestial armies and ancient battles, sketches of the heart of the badlands and lost castles, and accounts of the Sun Champions, asmall group of powerful Equestians that followed only the word of the Sun Sister. Sent out to bring Her Light into the far reaches of the world in gleaming golden armor with Her magic branded and weaved into their beings. Sunset believed the records to mean that she would be bound to Celestias will entirely, only recognized as Her servant and without free will.   It was also this time in the forbidden section that Sunsets presence attracted a demon, who took the opportunity of the feelings of betrayal and anger to feed them, whispering to Sunset about a mirror with incredible power hidden in the palace.     Blah Blah Blah beginning of EQG Sunset confronted Celestia, got pissed, ran through the portal and went to highschool.       After Twilights ascension Sunset made it back to Equestria and stole the Crown, with the vague plan (supplied by the demon) being to use it's magic to transform the school into powerful beings, and using the mirror as a way to ambush and infultrate the palace from the inside, the goal being to take the throne from Celestia and have the elements ascend her. It obviously failed, with the elements following Twilights will, turning the magic on Sunset and purging the demon. Sitting alone in the crater of the aftermath, alone in her thoughts for the first time in years and looking up at the princess standing victorious above her, she realized that she had fallen to the cruelty that almost killed her as a child. Horrified at this understanding, she surrendered, accepting the execution she knew would be waiting for her in Equestria.   Twilight, however, saw the horror and regret in Sunsets face, and believed she deserved a second chance. So Twilight pardonned her crimes, and let her stay in the world of humans as a form of parole with the only caviat that should the princess need a warrior, Sunset would be bound to her and not Celestia.    It would take a few years for Twilight to call on Sunsets help, with war fast approaching after Celestias fading. Twilight only calls on her for short amounts of time, prefering for her to stay with her friends in the human world. When she IS called to fight however, she's put directly in charge of a small squadron to take on magical threats wherever need be, and even sometimes is tasked with training frontline unicorn soldiers on combatitive magic. She becomes well known as a powerful and respected Archmage and is often called the Champion of Dusk, and despite that fame having previosly been her dream, she now prefers the quieter life with her friends on the other side.

#mlp #sunset shimmer #headcanons #my art

[aspencalhoun]

FULL NAME: Aspen James Calhoun NICKNAME: AJ, only by those very close AGE: 33 DATE OF BIRTH: July 31st, 1990 PLACE OF BIRTH: HavenRidge GENDER IDENTIFICATION: Nonbinary, primarily identifies as They/Them, but not specifically opposed to he/him or she/her SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown (and couch surfing siblings couches) OCCUPATION: Tattoo Artist WORKPLACE: Colorwave Tattoo POSITIVE TRAITS: Confident, enthusiastic, adventurous NEGATIVE TRAITS: Boisterous, impatient, impulsive LENGTH OF TIME IN HAVENRIDGE: Since birth, traveled some after high school but always returns FACE CLAIM: Nico Tortorella

headcanons

Aspen is a true adventurer at heart. They are always up for finding the next thrill in whatever form it may come; surfing, hiking, rock climbing, cliff diving...If you suggest it, Aspen will most likely be game for it.

They don't really like to be alone. They'd rather be in the company of anyone and everyone than sitting alone in their apartment at night. Thus, more often than not they can be found letting themselves in to their various siblings homes and crashing on their couches or entertaining their nieces and nephews - sometimes without express prior notice.

They are the biggest cheerleader and supporter of their siblings in everything and anything they choose to do and will be there in an instant if they need them, no questions asked.

Aspen has an adopted Australian shepherd dog named Ace and a white and gray cat named Blaze. Their family also care for a horse at the family ranch that Aspen had raised when they were younger, named Bandit, that they'll spend time with when visiting the ranch.

biography

trigger warnings; car accident mention, death mention

Aspen doesn't remember their biological parents. Not really, anyway. They only know what they've seen in pictures kept when they were a chubby cheeked newborn swaddled in a sweet looking couple's arms. In some cases, their adoptive parents make appearances in the photographs from their first two years alongside the bright eyed couple, grinning ear to ear. Excited for the new adventures that were to come for their closest friends.

That future never did come. In an instant the parents of the newly turned two year old were gone, lost to a drunk driver while out on a date night together. Aspen had been left at the home of family friends, the Calhouns, being entertained by the younger children and doting parents, knowing nothing about the fact that their parents wouldn't ever come home again.

For a while the Calhouns had simply continued to look after the child because there wasn't any other family for Aspen to go to. But when the time came, it seemed like a no-brainer for them to keep Aspen as one of their own. They already had become a part of the family in the first few years of their life and Josephine and Barrett couldn't stand to let them go.

They never knew a lack of love, despite the bump in the road. Aspen was accepted into the Calhoun family with open arms and never knew any different.

From a young age Aspen walked to the beat of their own drum. They didn't really fit into any specific category - they paved their own path. Even when they were still small they never really conformed to the typical male gender identifiers. When they started adopting they/them pronouns in their teenage years, at least to the family, no one was really that surprised.

Aspen was pretty average in school. They got by but never really excelled in any of the traditional subjects. It was the arts that really drew their attention. They had a special eye for drawing, sketching, and color using all forms of media. That talent eventually turned into an interest in tattooing. They started exploring tattoo parlors while traveling and getting an array of tattoos themselves in their late teens and early twenties, eventually signing on to apprentice at Colorwave Tattoo in HavenRidge.

In their off hours Aspen helps around the family businesses here and there.

#havenridgeintro

[all-interests]

Has Jordan Peele Redefined Horror Movies?

Jordan Peele made a bold leap into the realm of horror cinema in 2017 with his unforgettable classic, “Get Out.” Since then, he has dedicated himself to honing his craft within this challenging genre. Breaking into a new cinematic territory, especially one as demanding as horror, is no small achievement. Peele, however, has navigated this transition with remarkable finesse, earning himself a well-deserved reputation as a highly respected filmmaker with several notable accomplishments under his belt.

How did Jordan Peele successfully pivot into an entirely unfamiliar genre and creative space? Most of us are familiar with his comedic background, primarily through “Key and Peele” and their renowned sketch comedy. It’s intriguing to witness a comedian known for making us laugh transition into such a serious and dedicated pursuit.

What makes “Get Out” stand out as a cinematic masterpiece? Following its success, Peele followed up with “Us” in 2019, a film that leans more towards traditional horror. However, “Get Out” remains exceptional and groundbreaking, even earning accolades like the prestigious “Best Original Screenplay” award.

What is Jordan Peele bringing to Horror that is new? “Get Out” and its classic influence

As a comedian who transitioned into the role of a horror director, Jordan Peele has masterfully harnessed the ability to evoke the unsettling emotions inherent to the horror genre. “Get Out” presents a chilling experience, with a fresh perspective into the realm of psychological horror.

As a black male, I can personally relate to the palpable unease that Daniel Kaluuya’s character, Chris, experiences in “Get Out.” When you approach the story without any prior knowledge, you can’t quite pinpoint the eerie nature of the situation, which adds to the sense of impending danger. I can easily imagine myself in his shoes, initially dismissing the odd behavior of the white characters as mere randomness or eccentricity, only to later discover the unsettling truth lurking beneath the surface.

Jordan Peele’s deep understanding, particularly as a black man in Hollywood, shines through in his portrayal of the discomfort that comes with being in predominantly white spaces. He skillfully crafts an atmosphere of genuine creepiness and strangeness around Chris, the protagonist. Chris grapples with a pervasive sense of unease, torn between questioning his own paranoia and the unsettling behavior of the affluent older white individuals he encounters. Peele’s casting choice of Daniel Kaluuya, an extremely dark-skinned actor, for this role adds another layer of excellence to the film, contributing to its overall impact and resonance.

Allison Williams delivers an outstanding performance as Rose Armitage, skillfully portraying a character who excels at playing it cool and luring Chris into a sense of trust. Her character appears genuine and even defends Chris, which initially makes her seem like an ally. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that this isn’t Rose’s first time down this unsettling path. Her ability to say and do the right things to achieve her sinister objectives becomes chillingly clear as the film progresses. Williams’ portrayal adds a layer of complexity and deception to the character, making her a pivotal part of the movie’s suspense and intrigue.

What’s next for Jordan Peele…

The journey of witnessing Jordan Peele’s evolution as a director has indeed been a delightful one, marked by captivating follow-up films like “Us” in 2019 and “NOPE” in 2022. Each of his projects showcases innovative ideas impeccably executed by a talented ensemble cast. Lupita Nyong’o’s remarkable portrayal of Red in “Us” was particularly unforgettable, while Daniel Kaluuya’s return alongside Keke Palmer in “NOPE” added to the anticipation and delivered spine-tingling moments, even within the sci-fi genre.

With Jordan Peele’s upcoming film, “Blade,” set to release in 2025, there’s an exciting prospect of witnessing his directorial prowess in full bloom. The anticipation is high, and I trust in his ability to present fresh ideas and concepts for us to savor and enjoy. Peele’s contributions to the world of cinema continue to be a source of excitement and intrigue for audiences everywhere.

#movies #horror #film #movie review

[mybeingthere]

Emily Carr was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1871. Her inclination to art was duly encouraged by her father, Richard Carr, a wholesale merchant. After the death of both her parents in 1890, she started to pursue art seriously, and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute for two years. At the age of 26, Carr visited a small village near Ucluelet located on the western coast of the Vancouver Island. There she sketched the lives of the Nootka people, indigenous to the land. Her interest in the lifestyle of Indian people was promoted by her trip to Alaska, where she spent days sketching the daily activities of the villagers.

In 1899, Carr went to the UK to study at the Westminster School of Art in London. In England she befriended and worked with Julius Olsson and Algernon Talmage, artists of the St. Ives School. By the time she returned to Canada, Carr established herself as a professional artist. She worked as a teacher at the Ladies Art Club in Vancouver, where she was highly unpopular among the students due to her smoking habits and cursing, that eventually led her to resign from her job.

After her tryst with many Indian villages in the Queen Charlotte Islands and the Upper Skeena River, Carr once again went to Europe in 1910, to study at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. She also took private lessons from Harry Phelan Gibb who influenced her palette adding there more vibrant colors. She was also influenced by French Post-Impressionism and Fauvism, and, after returning back to Canada in 1912, she exhibited 70 oils and watercolors of her “french period”, showing those influences. However, her bold new style was not appreciated by Canadians.

During the next 15 years, Carr did not paint much. She run a boarding house, took a short-story writing course, and spent some time in San Francisco doing different jobs, like painting decorations for the St. Francis Hotel and drawing cartoons for Western Woman’s Weekly. In 1927 Carr attended an exhibition of West Coast Aboriginal art in National Gallery of Canada. There she met Lawren Harris and other members of the Group of Seven, the most recognized modern painters in Canada at that time. Their distinctively Canadian art impressed her greatly, and triggered the most prolific period of her creative career. Throughout the decade, she mastered the scenes from the daily lives, traditions and culture of the indigenous Americans. With Lawren Harris as her mentor, Carr began to paint bold, almost hallucinatory canvases with which many people identify her - paintings of Aboriginal totem poles set in deep forest locations or the sites of abandoned Indigenous villages.

After a year or two Carr left Aboriginal subjects to devote herself to nature themes. From 1928 on, critical recognition and exposure in exhibitions of more than regional significance, like the National Gallery of Canada and the American Federation of Artists in Washington, D.C., began to come her way. There was even the occasional sale, though never enough to improve her financial situation. In full mastery of her talents and with deepening vision, she continued to produce a great body of paintings freely expressive of the large rhythms of Western forests, driftwood-tossed beaches and expansive skies, like Indian Church (1929), Loggers’ Culls (1935), and Heart of the Forest (1935).

In 1937, Carr suffered her first heart attack, which marked the beginning of a decline in her health and a lessening of the energy required for painting. Artworks from her last decade, like Odds and Ends (1939), reveal her growing anxiety about the environmental impact of industry on British Columbia's landscape and on the lives of Indigenous people. Carr died in 1945 of a heart attack. More than half a century after her death, she has become a Canadian icon. Her long preoccupation with the Indigenous culture of the Canadian west coast coincided with the beginnings of a rising tide of awareness and confident self-identification on the part of Aboriginal people who had for some time been considered part of a moribund culture. In the same way, her passionate involvement with nature and its portrayal coincided with a growing popular awareness of environmental issues and an accompanying sense of loss associated with the disappearance of "nature" in our own day. And the fact that she was a woman fighting the overwhelming obstacles that faced women of her day to become an artist of stunning originality and strength has made her a favorite of the women's movement.

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! #12: “Dad's Off” | November 26, 2007 - 12:15AM | S02E02 

Season 2, episode 2. A stronger outing compared to the season premiere, I’m glad to say. I’ll end with the wraparounds, because the idea of the last paragraph of this thing be me describing a perverted David Liebe Hart song is just too disheartening. 

The first piece is another Kids Break song. The boys who brought you “I Sit Down When I Pee” and “I Smell My Dad’s Socks When I’m Alone” bring you “I Think My Sister’s Cute”. It doesn’t quite stack up to the other ones, but really none of them stack up to “I Sit Down When I Pee” so we’re just splitting hairs here. These Kids Break segments continue to trend downward into things that are less and less common in kiddom and more troubling. I never thought my sister was cute, but I imagine this kind of incest is common enough that it keeps most parents up at night: imagining new ways to surveil and monitor their children for incest. It’s one of the reasons I refuse to have children.

Thocks was the most publicized sketch (having appeared on both Tim & Eric’s Nite Live program as well as Dave Navaro’s ManiaTV internet streaming show). It’s in the same vein as other Cinco products; combining two things and calling it something funny. The first batch of these all tended to have dirty-sounding names, like B’owl, T’ird, and B’ougar. The diminishing returns continue with “Thock”, which to my knowledge isn’t a double-entendre at all, really. Onomatopoeia shouldn’t qualify it as such, either. I don’t want to hear it. 

The actor they got for this is so funny. Mike Carlucci is his name, and he was the guy from the video in the “White Collarless” episode of Tom Goes to the Mayor. I thought he was more regular than this, but according to IMDB he only showed up in the Chrimbus Special as an audience member after this. Maybe IMDB is wrong, and I am right. The great little touches in this sketch include the woman on the street looking disgusted at the man proudly showing her his thocks, and the wife’s breathless utterance of “oh god what have I done” after making love with her husband. This sketch memorably ends with an extended vanity card for the Cinco family of subsidiaries, building upon the idea of Cinco being the Weyland-Yutani of the Awesomeverse. 

Thocks was pushed as the favorite to win, but Spaghett is probably the sketch of the night for me. This one is built partially on the honored tradition of Tim & Eric characters being way too impressed with Spaghetti as well as hokey 20th Century hidden camera prank shows. Spaghett is a bizarre-looking Tim character who wears a red turtleneck, has a receding hairline, and a long greasy ponytail. His pranks are ineffectual and lame. All of his pranks are just him popping out from his hiding place and yelling his own name, Spaghett!” a very puzzling thing to have yelled at you. This is juxtaposed with traditional prank show editing and celebratory graphics and footage of Spaghett declaring that he spooked his mark. His marks always gave a brief interview where they are less spooked and more confused as to why a grown man would behave like such an unrepentant dipshit. Spaghett would become a recurring character on the show, and at one point they made a big mascot costume of him for events. 

The last sketch before the wraparound wrap-up is David Liebe Hart singing a love song to one of his female dolls. It’s technically a duet; she loves him back! Contains the memorable line “love her to bit, I wanna kiss her on the lips!” which gets called back much later. 

The wraparound for this week’s episode is a high-effort one, mirroring last season’s second episode with Tim getting limp lip. In this one, Tim and Eric are part of competing families, and one of Eric’s boys (played by Nite Live’s David Gore) keeps running off to experience superior rearing from the Heidecker patriarch. Tim even gives the kid his own bluetooth headset so he can father him from afar. I love the exchange they have where Tim tells the boy he bought him some “funny pants”, and then just tosses off that they cost “thousand bucks”.

It’s so funny that right-wingers sorta started trying to imply that these guys were normalizing grooming when all their comedy seems to strive to point out how gross it is to be inappropriate with other people’s children. This has a satisfying conclusion where Eric tells his children that they’re all going to be absorbed by the Heidecker family, and he’s going to be demoted to one of their siblings. I love happy endings.

MAIL BAG:

Why does everyone hate Flipz Pretzels? Like what's the big fucking idea. It's chocolately, it's salty, it's sweet, it's crunchy. That's four great things. People would rather eat bland nilla wafers or some shit.

Personally my issue is that I rarely enjoy chocolate. i prefer when my sweets are literally just covered in granular sugar. I need my deserts to be as unsubtle as possible.

Eric Wareheim here. Thank you so much for reviewing our show.

I can tell this isn’t Eric because he’d be calling me “dude” in this e-mail message. I smell a rat.

Hey, Tim Heidecker checking in. Eric is not allowed to message any children on this website. Just so you know, have a great day.

FAIR ENOUGH.

Do you think Fred Armisen is a dicey proposition these days? Please answer truthfully and don't beat around the bush.

What was the worst thing he did? It sounded like he was just a bad boyfriend right? I don’t know man. I don’t care. I’ve had enough of him, bad boyfriend or not! Let’s all say “no thank you” to movies and products featuring this famous foul-mouth.

Richard Dunn gets a little more than he bargins for by popping in later as Tim drops a big piece of cake on his head!

LOL that’s for sure!

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #tim and eric awesome show great job

[incaensio]

setting : cinna's flat, around one in the afternoon in the seventh day of the games with : cinna @ofcinnas

the last thing she wants is to do an interview tonight. she wants to hold her husband in bed and never have to see daylight again, she wants to get in the train back home and see her family, she doesn't want to have to pander to any more capitolites, not even claudius templesmith, whom haymitch says is a bit more palatable than the usual clown caesar flickerman. frankly, they're all the same to her. sure, one talks more and wears more sequins, but they all make their money and their lives out of the people murdered on the screen, don't they? as she walks down the street, she recognizes the same on a woman walking with her dog with a district four shirt, and a group of men who laughs with their friends as they recount the events of the falling out of the careers, and there's even two teenagers who talk of the underdog alliance (katniss is happy she's not spotted). 

the only capitolite that is mildly different is the one that eventually comes to stand in front of her, pouring her a cup of hot chocolate — it becomes a sort of tradition, they get hot coffee and she gets hot chocolate — but even as she looks at cinna, she is despondent. the conversation with the president had drained her of all the happiness she had been able to gather throughout the week, and it's hard to put up a mask with cinna. it's not your place to burden him with this stuff, she reminds herself. it's best he does not know. and it's true. taking a sip of the coco, she walks towards his desk, noticing there is less half-sketched designs now than there have been the last times she's visited. but that had been long ago, in celebration of the wedding, when he had been tasked with dressing her entire retinue from twelve: mother, prim, haymitch, effie, madge, the hawthornes. hazelle. a dull ache throbs in her head, and katniss licks her lips, returning to the counter to put her mug down. "thanks for meetin' me here. 'm sick of the tribute center. have you had lunch yet?"

#— 𝐾. 𝐸. : written. #eventideevent03