#I was very excited to get this newsletter | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

monzabee · 4 months ago

Note

You know I'm obsessed with the nanny series so of course I have to send my little request to get more of them!!

And I was thinking, what if Jack has a football game and so Hotch and the nanny come to see him? I let you work your magic on that one, I trust you with all my heart 👀🩷

ice pops, jerseys, and the hotchner frown - a. hotchner

criminal minds masterlist || part of the nanny series

Summary: you show up for one of jack’s soccer games, and aaron has never been so distracted in his life.

Pairing: aaron hotchner x nanny!reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: hotch is down baaaad and he is in his feeelingssss, jealousy (duh) but other than that, none

Author’s Note: ALI THANK YOU FOR THIS REQUEST, this was very fun for me to work with and i hope you like this!!!

Please also note that all of my works are protected under copyright, and not available for reposting on other platforms.

Aaron likes to think that he is a modern man. He is up with the times; thanks to Penelope Garcia and her newsletter updates on pop culture news as well as tech updates, for him to consider as their unit chief, of course. And he would never dream of telling anyone what to wear, let alone a woman—let alone you. He’d also like to think that you’ve managed to break down all his expectations when it comes to fashion, he’s only now realizing how wrong he’s been.

But when he steps into Jack’s soccer practice and sees you standing there in that jersey, it takes everything in him to keep his expression neutral. Jack spots him first, waving excitedly from the field. “Dad!” he calls, voice full of excitement. “Did you see? Y/N’s wearing my jersey!”

Aaron’s mouth parts slightly before he clamps it shut. He does see. The red and white jersey with “Hotchner” stamped across the back fits on you like a glove. It’s his son’s, and yet, for some inexplicable reason, the sight of you in it makes something tighten in his chest, and somewhere else he’d rather not focus on at the moment.

You turn at Jack’s announcement, grinning as you meet Aaron’s gaze. “Hey, Mister Hotchner,” you say, and it makes him feel a thousand times worse because you genuinely don’t realize what you’ve just done to him. “Jack said I needed to wear this for good luck.”

Aaron blinks, willing himself to focus on your words rather than the way the jersey clings to you in places it has no business clinging to. “Good luck,” he echoes, voice steady—only because he’s had years of practice keeping his emotions in check.

“Duh, for the game, obviously.” You gesture to the field, where Jack and his teammates are running drills. “I’ve been promoted to unofficial team mascot.” Aaron exhales slowly, nodding as if this is all perfectly normal. It should be. And yet, it’s not. Because it’s his name stretched across your back, his son’s jersey molding against your frame. And now, all he can think about is how easily you’ve slipped into their lives, how natural it feels to see you here, cheering Jack on, standing beside him. “I know your meeting ran late, but Dave got here early so he could set up for the drills, so you should be fine, coach.”

“What did you just call me?” He asks as he turns towards you faster than he’d like.

You blink up at him, completely unfazed by the sharpness of his tone. You tilt your head, clearly amused. “Coach? That is what you are, right?”

Aaron narrows his eyes at you, but there’s no real heat behind it. “Since when do you call me that?”

You shrug. “Since you started bossing people around with that serious FBI voice of yours. Thought it was fitting.”

A small smirk tugs at the corner of his lips before he tamps it down. He is the coach, and he’s used to being called that by the kids and their parents. But hearing you say it in that teasing lilt, wearing his name—it does something to him. Before he can say anything, the whistle blows, signaling the end of practice. Jack waves at you from afar as he calls for his father to join them.

“Are you sticking around?” Aaron asks, already knowing the answer.

You shrug, rocking back on your heels. “Of course. Someone’s gotta be here to hand out the orange slices.”

He gives you a dutiful nod—something Jack also does, now that you think about it. “I’ll see you after the game.”

He tries to focus on the game, he really does. He is the coach, after all. But the task proves to be nearly impossible, as all he can think about is the way his son’s old jersey fits around you, snug as a bug, and those goddamn shorts that you are wearing. He’d love nothing more to march up to Washington and make them pass a law that prohibits you from ever wearing shorts like that outside the house, but he’s a little preoccupied at the moment. And don’t even get him started by the way you’ve made yourself at home on the sidelines—legs crossed, sun-kissed skin on full display, completely oblivious to the chaos you’re causing in his head.

It’s absurd, really. He’s a grown man, an FBI agent, a father, and yet he can’t seem to stop himself from glancing over between plays, from tracking your movements out of the corner of his eye. It’s distracting in a way he’s not proud of. Aaron is a disciplined man. He has spent years perfecting his ability to compartmentalize, to suppress, to control—but right now? But it proves to be an arduous task to compartmentalize, as you lean forward to hand Jack a water bottle, the jersey riding up just enough to make his already wayward thoughts worse—he feels like he’s losing a battle he didn’t even realize he was fighting.

And don’t even get him started on the way you cheer.

It should be innocent. It is innocent. But every time you call out Jack’s name, every time you shout encouragement in that bright, excited voice, Aaron feels something deep in his chest unravel. He swears he even hears Dave chuckle from the other end of the bench, because of course he would notice.

Rossi has a talent for sniffing out trouble, and right now, Aaron is drowning in it. From his spot near the bench, he lets out a quiet chuckle “You know, for a man who prides himself on control, you’re slipping,” Rossi murmurs, just low enough for Aaron to hear.

Aaron doesn’t look away from the field. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rossi hums knowingly. “Right.”

Aaron exhales sharply, forcing himself to focus. But when he hears you laugh, it takes everything in him not to look. And then he does.

And he immediately regrets it.

Because you’re sitting there, completely unaware of the absolute disaster you’re causing in his head, eating a popsicle like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Aaron feels his jaw tighten. His grip on the clipboard in his hand, already tense, threatens to snap it in two. He tells himself to look away, to focus on the game, to coach—but it’s impossible when you’re sitting there, all sun-kissed skin and bright eyes, tongue darting out to catch a stray drop of melted syrup before it drips onto your fingers. And he even hates himself for catching the way a stray drop drips onto your bare skin.

He should not be watching this.

And yet, he can’t seem to stop.

The ice pop is red—strawberry? cherry?—he doesn’t know, doesn’t care, except that it’s leaving a stain on your lips, and his thoughts spiral into places they should not go. He drags a hand over his face, as if that will somehow erase the image from his brain. It doesn’t.

“Hotch.” He hears Rossi calling out to him, but it’s a distant sound in his head.

Aaron blinks, forcing his attention back to the field, only to find Rossi staring at him with an expression that’s far too smug for his liking. “Hmm?” he grunts, clearing his throat.

“You’re staring.”

“I’m coaching,” Aaron corrects, schooling his face into something neutral.

Rossi smirks. “Right. And I’m the Queen of England.”

Aaron exhales slowly through his nose, gripping the clipboard even tighter. He is coaching. He is focused on the game. Except he can still see you out of the corner of his eye, tilting your head back slightly as you take another slow, deliberate pull of the ice pop.

He’s never hated frozen desserts more in his life, and he’s convinced of three things:

One, this is, without a doubt, some kind of karmic punishment. Two, he is well and truly screwed. And three, Rossi is heading towards you.

Rossi is heading towards—you.

Rossi is heading towards you!

Aaron does what a normal, adult, person would do. Try and focus on the task at hand—the task being his son’s soccer the game, the very game that he is supposed to be coaching, by the way. But he fails. Spectacularly.

Because Rossi is already strolling toward you with that damn smug expression, hands in his pockets, every step of his leisurely pace feeling like a direct attack on Aaron’s sanity. And then—you look up, all bright-eyed and warm, like you belong here, like you’re completely unaware of the way you’ve turned his world sideways.

“Y/N,” Rossi greets, easy as ever. “Come sit with us at the bench.”

You blink up at him, mid-bite into your ice pop. “Oh, I’m okay here—”

“Nonsense.” Rossi waves a dismissive hand. “You’re already part of the team, unofficial mascot and all. Plus,” he adds, barely sparing Aaron a glance, “our dear coach could use some company.”

Aaron will kill him.

You hesitate for only a second before grinning. “Well, if you insist.”

Rossi definitely insists. Before Aaron can even think to protest, you’re already standing, brushing your hands off on your shorts before following Rossi back to the bench—back to him.

And suddenly, you’re dropping down onto the seat beside him, close enough that he can smell your sunscreen, the faintest trace of something sweet lingering on your skin. The heat of your leg presses into his, and—

This is fine.

This is totally fine.

“So, Coach,” you tease, nudging his arm. “How do you think we’re doing?”

Aaron swallows hard. He keeps his eyes fixed on the field, straightening his clipboard as if it will somehow ground him. “They’re playing well,” he says, voice steady. He will not react to the warmth of your touch, to the way your shoulder brushes against his.

You hum, leaning forward on your elbows and rest them on your knees. “That’s good.” Aaron does not look. Rather, he forces himself not to look. And this strategy proves to be utterly useless, because if he’s been completely honest, it’s very hard for him to focus on his son’s soccer game when you are sitting next to him. You pause for a beat, squinting at the field with a serious expression that makes Aaron glance at you from the corner of his eye. You look…focused. Intent. But then you speak. “Still think we need to work on defense though. Number eleven keeps drifting too far left.”

Aaron’s head snaps toward you. You don’t look at him, just sip the last of your melting ice pop and squint again, like you’re some kind of assistant coach. “How do you know that?” he asks before he can stop himself.

You smile, finally meeting his eyes. “What, you think I come to all these practices just for the orange slices?”

Yes, actually. That is what he thought. You weren’t supposed to notice things like this. You weren’t supposed to talk tactics with him, like it was the most normal thing in the world to be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidelines of his son’s soccer game, sharing this—what is this?

Rossi, still sitting a few feet away, chuckles low under his breath. “Told you she’s sharper than she looks.”

You roll your eyes. “Gee, thanks, Dave.”

Aaron, for once in his life, is speechless. And maybe—maybe a little charmed. Okay, a lot charmed. He watches the way your brow furrows as Jack misses a goal, how you mutter something encouraging under your breath even though Jack can’t hear you from here. You care. You’re invested. And it stirs something deep in his chest, something warm and a little terrifying.

And he knows he’s screwed.

Royally, thoroughly screwed.

“Okay,” you say, stretching your arms over your head with a satisfied sigh. “Game’s almost over. Win or lose, I say they deserve ice cream.”

Aaron arches a brow. “You handing that out too

You flash him a grin that’s definitely not innocent and your voice is nothing but mischievous. “If you’re lucky.”

His mouth goes dry and he hears Dave cackle. He’s thanking God when the whistle blows, mercifully, signaling the end of the game. The kids scatter across the field, high fives and messy celebrations all around. Jack is beaming, the team won. But Aaron can barely focus on the score because you’re already standing, calling out to Jack, arms open wide as he barrels into you for a hug. It should be cute. It is cute. But it also knocks the air out of Aaron’s lungs, seeing his son wrapped up in your arms like you’ve always been a part of their little world.

Jack is still bouncing with excitement as you ruffle his hair, beaming down at him like he just won the World Cup. “You were so good out there,” you say, and Jack practically glows under the praise. “That pass you made in the second half? Genius. I might need your autograph before you get famous.”

Jack giggles. “You really think so?”

“Think so? I know so,” you say, eyes twinkling. “Soccer and math whiz? You're unstoppable.”

Hotch watches it all from a short distance away, pretending not to stare while Rossi mutters something that sounds suspiciously like “whipped” beside him. Jack tugs on your sleeve suddenly, glancing up at you, then at his dad. “Hey, did you notice how Dad was frowning the whole game?”

You snort, trying not to laugh too hard. “Oh, I noticed. He looked like the team was negotiating with serial killers instead of playing soccer.”

Aaron sighs—loudly—and gives you both a long-suffering look. “I wasn’t frowning.”

“Yes, you were,” Jack and you say in perfect unison. Jack starts giggling again, and you bump shoulders with him like you’re part of some inside joke. “I think he was just concentrating,” you offer dramatically. “On pretending not to be nervous that someone else might know what ‘offsides’ means.”

Aaron huffs, but there’s no real heat to it. “I’m surrounded.”

You just flash him that same not-so-innocent grin, and Jack grabs your hand like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “Can we still get ice cream?”

“Obviously,” you say, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “A deal’s a deal. Even your grumpy dad can’t argue with that.”

Jack turns to Aaron, wide-eyed. “Please?”

Hotch nods, slow. “Sure. Ice cream it is.”

But even as he speaks, his attention is somewhere else—on you, your fingers still wrapped around Jack’s, the way you’re talking to his son like he’s yours too, the easy, natural way you fit beside them.You weren’t supposed to become part of this. Not like this. Certainly not this fast. But now you’re here, and Jack is looking at you like you’ve always been here. And Aaron feels it again—that sudden, tight warmth in his chest.

And maybe that’s what does it.

Maybe that’s what finally makes Aaron Hotchner realize—he’s not just charmed. Not just distracted. He’s falling. Hard. And there’s not a damn thing he can do to stop it. But maybe it’s also okay.

Because as Jack tugs you both toward the car, chattering about his goal and asking what flavors you think the shop has today, Aaron can’t help but think—this is what home could look like. Not just peace and quiet and safety. But laughter. Teasing. Ice cream plans.

And you.

God help him, it’s you.

#monzabee #requests open #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds x you #criminal minds x y/n #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner fluff #hotch x reader #hotch imagine #nanny!reader

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drwhataretheodds · 3 months ago

Text

GOOD MORNING! here is my attempt to recap everything we've found so far on deltarune.com

for those unaware, last night toby released a new newsletter giving information about deltarune's release date. he also released a clip of an alternate ending for the sweepstakes for if silence would've been chosen instead of freedom. (for those even MORE unaware, the spamton sweepstakes were a 2022 2-day event raising money for a charity where all sorts of hidden pages were shown on the DR website.

now, my (and many other people's) immediate reaction to seeing this, as well as this passage in the newsletter,

was that surely the site had been updated with some new content. and it has, a lot of it! and so this is my attempt to document everything so far.

/sweepstakes/silence/

youtube

this page features this short video revealing the alternate ending for the sweepstakes. in it, spamton a. spamton is simply wiped out of existence. not that exciting, but fun to see!

the page also includes a barren version of the main /sweepstakes website, with all the text deleted.

HOWEVER! at the bottom of this page, we can see two links. both of these lead to pages already found in the ORIGINAL run of the sweepstakes.

the rest of this will be under the cut, to avoid spoilers for those interested in exploring the site themselves.

/code

this page is accessible by clicking on the purple square. it was originally found from the main sweepstakes page, on the listing for noelles "fur-thentic cardboard box" from chapter 2. this link leads to the /catpetterz page of noelle's blog, which explains how the Cat Petterz 2 breeding system works. it ends in "Until one day..." which leads to /egg, continuing the story on the previous page. the link at end of /egg brings you to /code, which links back to /egg.

nothing seems to be actually changed on this version of the site, and it only serves as a way to get you back onto /egg.

/egg

this page has all the same text as the 2022 version of the site did, with one exception: the text "secret cats" is now a link! this link leads to /rain.

/rain

this page is an as of yet unseen post from noelle's blog. she describes the experience of staying home from school because of the rain, and a friend coming over to play cat petters. this friend is called "she," making it unlikely to be kris, and as this story takes place in her childhood, it's unlikely to be susie. the postscript says that her friend came over because "she thought that means that I was going to pet HER," which makes me think it might've been catti? if anyone else has any theories, let me know.

the rest of the page discovers another one of noelle's strange cat petters glitches. her "guide to the rarities of different cats" includes "blue ora (aura?)," "rock & roll," and "angle wing" and "super holy angle wing" are listed at 0% and 00000% respectively. another addition to the pile of mysterious connections between noelle and angel symbolism....

she also describes finding a cat that "lowered the amounts of point she had," making her die immediately. the MOST significant thing on this page by far though is a link to "try it yourself," which leads to a simulation of the cat petters minigame she described.

/rarecats

this page links to a cat collecting minigame. one of these green dancing cats will bounce around the screen like the DVD logo, and clicking on it gives an amount of points. the tab title simply displays the number of points so far.

cat-001.gif

this cat gives 10 points. it's probably the "normal" cat that noelle describes.

cat-002.gif

this cat gives 50 points. it's probably the "blue ora" cat that noelle describes.

cat-005.gif

this cat gives 250 points, and plays a guitar chord instead of the sparkling sounds that clicking the other 2 does. it's probably the "rock & roll" cat that noelle describes.

cat-006.gif

this cat gives 1000 points, and plays a very dramatic musical flourish. it also causes a window sprite to briefly appear before disappearing, as seen below.

this sprite links to the /windows page when clicked on. this cat is probably the "ANGLE WING!!!!" cat that noelle describes.

cat-007.gif

this cat gives 3000, and also generates a window sprite linking to the /windows page. it plays a more extended musical flourish as well. it is probably the "SUPER HOLY ANGlE WING!!!!" cat that noelle describes.

other cats

cat-003.gif

this cat looks like a yellow version of the "blue ora" cat. i don't think there's a way to get this cat in the game.

cat-004.gif

this cat looks like the "rock & roll" cat without the flame effect. i don't think there's a way to get this cat in the game.

cat-008.gif

this cat seems to be an even more powered version of the other two angel cats. it may be possible to get in game with even smaller odds, but since noelle's page only lists 2 "angle cats" i think it's unlikely.

cat-009.gif

this is a png of the yellow and pink smile that appears in spamton's basement. the inclusion of it here suggests to me that it is in fact some kind of "cheshire cat" character/allusion, like people have theorized before!

/windows

this page is simply the stained glass window sprite from /rarecats looped over and over. the tab title reads "Are you forgetting something?" each of these links to a page with the words "forest" "grow" "lost" "the" "where" and "would," in seemingly random order. an example of a few of these are

/wherewouldforestlostgrowthe /thegrowlostwouldforestwhere /thewheregrowwouldforestlost /growwherethelostforestwould

only one of these actually leads anywhere, the rest all lead to the "dogcheck" page which is the default for broken links on deltarune.com.

/lostwheretheforestwouldgrow

this page contains an image of a tree, overlayed with an edited version of the water image that seems to be a recurring motif in deltarune, used most recently in "jockington grows the beard". clicking on it plays a solemn piano chord. after clicking a few times, it instead links to /window. the tab title reads "ROOTS."

/window

this page contains the same repeating stained glass windows as /window did. the tab title once again reads "Are you forgetting something?" this time, each links to page with the letters "cdeehhilnooprrt", in seemingly random order. an example of a few of these are

/lonpecrrohedhit /pdolhehrnriceto /ecrorltipendhoh /creohnptredilho

once again, only one of them leads anywhere.

/thepoorchildren

this page is another black screen. this time, you have the ability to draw with the mouse. clicking creates a trail of white squares. the tab title reads "Therapy".

drawing in the middle of the image for around a minute causes a sprite of the "egg room" tree to slowly fade in.

after drawing for a bit, the tree will move to the front and become clickable. clicking on this just returns you to the /egg page mentioned earlier.

as far as i can see, this is everything to be found on the "noelle's blog" side of updates, the ones accessible from the purple square. unfortunately, tumblr has a limit for how many images i can include in a post, so the stuff from the other link i will include in a reblog! be sure to check it out, it's where stuff gets REALLY crazy!

#deltarune #undertale #deltarune chapter 3 #deltarune chapter 4 #dr #utdr #toby fox #Youtube

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officialstrawhat · 9 months ago

Text

The Hate We Love To Make

Roronoa Zoro x Fem!Strawhat!Reader

Summary: You and Zoro hate each other but feelings start to change when the captain of the Barto pirates points out what a great couple you two make.

Word Count: 1.3K

Note: Not Edited!

Masterlist

The grand Colosseum of Dressrosa buzzed with the roars of the crowd. Fighters from all across the grand line had gathered, their minds filled with ambition. Among them stood Bartolomeo, nearly vibrating with excitement. He had just met his hero, Monkey D. Luffy, the future king of the pirates. But now, his attention was completely captivated by the scene unfolding before him. He couldn’t believe it! You and Roronoa Zoro were there standing right there!

Since Bartolomeo’s obsession with the Straw Hats began, he’d held the utmost respect and admiration for each crew member. But your relationship with Zoro held a special place in his heart. He’d heard tales of your synchronized battles, of how you two took down foes with perfect timing, always watching each other’s backs. Now, he watched as the two of you stood so close to each other, sharing what looked like an intimate conversation.

Oh, how he wished he could hear every word you two were saying to one another…

OoOoOo

“IDIOT!” you hiss as Zoro walks away from you. “You’re going the wrong way!”

Kin’emon, dressed in his disguise, stood nearby with an exasperated look. In his short time knowing you he’d grown accustomed to the daily verbal sparring matches between you two.

Zoro spun around, eye narrowed. Your eyes locked with his, a storm brewing between you. “How would you know that? You’ve never been here either!”

“Because I’m not a moron!” You jabbed a finger in his direction, inching closer. It was infuriating how much Zoro seemed to get under your skin.

Ever since you joined the crew, Zoro had an uncanny knack for getting in your way. You tried not to let it bother you but every time you were about to defeat an opponent, Zoro would swoop in and take them down first. It drove you insane. So you started doing the same to him, knowing it drove him mad with similar fury. Since then, you’d made it a habit to pick on him with Sanji, drink his alcohol, and “accidentally” wake him up from naps.

“If you’re so concerned about which way we’re going, then leave.” He pointed in the opposite direction with a sharp flick of his wrist. “Go that way.”

Kin’emon’s voice cut through the tension. “Please, there’s no need to argue—”

But neither of you heard him as you stepped forward. Your fists clenched as heat surged through your veins. Your face was now very close to his, “I hate you. I hope you get lost and don’t come back.”

Zoro’s lip curled, his head tilting in a mocking grin. “Big words coming from a meek woman!”

“Meek?” you repeated, eyes blazing. “You son of a b—”

A loud, high-pitched squeal erupted nearby. “Oh. My. God. It’s Mister Roronoa Zoro and Miss Y/N!” Bartolomeo’s eyes were wide with admiration, his hands clutched to his chest as if his heart might burst.

Your scowl turned to panic. “Um—no, no. I think you have us confused,” you blurted out, shifting awkwardly as Zoro gave you a look.

“Yeah, we’re just regular citizens of Dressrosa,” he added, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bartolomeo was undeterred, bouncing with excitement. “May I just say you two are so cute together! The power couple of the Pirate Era!”

The world seemed to pause as you and Zoro exchanged glances, the fierce tension shifting to something strange and unspoken. You watched his eyes soften, only for a moment before hardening again.

“Oh- No, we’re not a couple,” you protested.

“But you two are my OTP!” Bartolomeo exclaimed, looking devastated.

“Listen, pal, I don’t know what that means, but she hates me,” Zoro huffed, gesturing toward you.”

“But… you defend each other in battle! Finish off each other’s foes!” Bartolomeo exclaimed. “And according to the Straw Hat fan club newsletter, it says and I quote: Zoro and Y/N’s secret love is a thing of beauty in this rough worl—”

“Yeah, hate to break it to you,” you interrupted, “but we have not, nor will we ever, be a thing.”

Bartolomeo’s face fell, and he broke out into exaggerated tears. “Oh, this is a tragedy! How could I be so wrong!”

Zoro exhaled, breaking eye contact. “Come on. We don’t have time for this.”

A small smile crept onto your lips as you followed him, muttering, “You’re still going the wrong way.”

OoOoOo

Kin’emon directed the two of you to a narrow alley, muttering something about searching for his friend and promising to return soon. As the sounds of the bustling street faded, silence settled between you and Zoro, thick with an awkward tension neither of you knew how to break. You found yourself overthinking the fanatics' odd assumption—why would he (and others apparently) think that you and the green-haired swordsman made a good match? You stole a glance at him. Sure, you didn’t want to admit it, but the scarred man was ruggedly handsome. But he had such an infuriating personality. With his brooding silences, those ridiculous earrings, and his rippling muscles—wait, what!?

The silence dragged on until, finally, Zoro broke it, pulling you out of your spiraling thoughts. “Tch, don’t listen to that weird guy. He’s got no clue what he’s saying.”

You let out a dry chuckle, “Yeah, seriously. I mean, can you imagine? You and me?”

Zoro smirked, his sharp gaze flicking over to you. “Yeah, right. Total disaster.”

“One of epic proportions,” you agreed, crossing your arms and leaning back against the wall. You turned your head, pretending to be absorbed by the junk lying around, “The world couldn’t handle it.”

A glint of something unguarded flickered in Zoro’s eyes as he stepped closer, his presence shifting from casual to something more intense. “And yet,” he said, his voice a low, teasing rumble, “you’re still here. You haven’t walked away.”

You raised an eyebrow, turning to meet his gaze. “Maybe I just don’t trust you not to get yourself into trouble the second I turn my back.”

He huffed a short laugh, taking another step that brought him close enough for you to feel the heat radiating off his body. “You think I need you to babysit me?”

“Need? No.” Your voice dropped, matching his tone. “But I know for a fact if it wasn’t for me you’d be neck-deep in trouble twice as often.”

A grin curled at the edge of his lips, his eyes flicking down to your lips and then back to your eyes, lingering for just a second too long. “Guess I’d better keep you close then, huh?” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

Your heart skipped a beat, the atmosphere between you shifting, the sharp tension morphing into something far more dangerous. The unspoken heat you’d tried so hard to ignore suddenly flared, like a fuse catching fire. For a moment, neither of you moved, as if testing how far this would go. But then, something snapped—years of friction, half-buried glances, and barely-concealed bickering finally erupted. He surged forward, and before you could second-guess it, your lips crashed into his.

The kiss was intense, more battle than embrace, a raw clash of defiance and need. Your hands found his broad shoulders, fingers digging into them as his calloused hands cupped the back of your neck, then tangling in your hair. Everything else faded: the noise of the marketplace, the distant shouts of vendors, even the thought of Kin’emon returning. For this moment, it was just the two of you, like fire meeting spilled oil—volatile, explosive, and inevitable.

When you broke apart, both of you were panting, your breaths mingling in the space between you. Zoro’s lips curved into a smirk, his eyes darkened with something that made your pulse race. “You still hate me?” he asked, his voice a husky drawl.

“With a passion,” you growled, trying to steady your breathing.

“Good.” He chuckled, his hand sliding down to grip your ass possessively. With a rough shove, he pinned you harder against the wall, his lips ghosting the shell of your ear. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Your retort was lost as his lips found yours again, the world outside that narrow alley slipping into oblivion.

#one piece x reader #romance #one piece x you #fem!reader #one piece fanfiction #roronoa zoro x y/n #roronoa zoro x reader #roronoa zoro x you #roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro x fem!reader #strawhat!reader

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

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AI art has no anti-cooption immune system

TONIGHT (July 20), I'm appearing in CHICAGO at Exile in Bookville.

One thing Myspace had going for it: it was exuberantly ugly. The decision to let users with no design training loose on a highly customizable user-interface led to a proliferation of Myspace pages that vibrated with personality.

The ugliness of Myspace wasn't just exciting in a kind of outsider/folk-art way (though it was that). Myspace's ugliness was an anti-cooption force-field, because corporate designers and art-directors would, by and large, rather break their fingers and gouge out their eyes than produce pages that looked like that.

In this regard, Myspace was the heir to successive generations of "design democratization" that gave amateur communities, especially countercultural ones, a space to operate in where authentic community members could be easily distinguished between parasitic commercializers.

The immediate predecessors to Myspace's ugliness-as-a-feature were the web, and desktop publishing. Between the img tag, imagemaps, the blink tag, animated GIFs, and the million ways that you could weird a page with tables and padding, the early web was positively bursting with individual personality. The early web balanced in an equilibrium between the plunder-friendliness of "view source" and the topsy-turvy design imperatives of web-based layout, which confounded both print designers (no fixed fonts! RGB colorspaces! dithering!) and even multimedia designers who'd cut their teeth on Hypercard and CD ROMs (no fixed layout!).

Before the web came desktop publishing, the million tractor-feed ransom notes combining Broderbund Print Shop fonts, joystick-edited pixel-art, and a cohort of enthusiasts ranging from punk zinesters to community newsletter publishers. As this work proliferated on coffee-shop counters and telephone poles, it was visibly, obviously distinct from the work produced by "real" designers – that is, designers who'd been a) trained and b) paid by a corporation to employ that training.

All of this matters, and not just for aesthetic reasons. Communities – especially countercultural ones – are where our society's creative ferment starts. Getting your start in the trenches of the counterculture wars is no proof against being co-opted later (indeed, many of the designers who cut their teeth desktop publishing weird zines went on to pull their hair and roll their eyes at the incredible fuggliness of the web). But without that zone of noncommercial, antiestablishment, communitarian low weirdness, design and culture would stagnate.

I started thinking about this 25 years ago, the first time I met William Gibson. I'd been assigned by the Globe and Mail to interview him for the launch of All Tomorrow's Parties:

https://craphound.com/nonfic/transcript.html

One of the questions I asked was about his famous aphorism, "The street finds its own use for things." Given how quickly each post-punk tendency had been absorbed by commercial culture, couldn't we say that "Madison Avenue finds its own use for the street"? His answer started me down a quarter-century of thinking and writing about this subject:

I worry about what we'll do in the future, [about the instantaneous co-opting of pop culture]. Where is our new stuff going to come from? What we're doing pop culturally is like burning the rain forest. The biodiversity of pop culture is really, really in danger. I didn't see it coming until a few years ago, but looking back it's very apparent.

I watch a sort of primitive form of the recommodification machine around my friends and myself in sixties, and it took about two years for this clumsy mechanism to get and try to sell us The Monkees.

In 1977, it took about eight months for a slightly faster more refined mechanism to put punk in the window of Holt Renfrew. It's gotten faster ever since. The scene in Seattle that Nirvana came from: as soon as it had a label, it was on the runways of Paris.

Ugliness, transgressiveness and shock all represent an incoherent, grasping attempt to keep the world out of your demimonde – not just normies and squares, but also and especially enthusiastic marketers who want to figure out how to sell stuff to you, and use you to sell stuff to normies and squares.

I think this is what drove a lot of people to 4chan (remember, before 4chan was famous for incubating neofascism, it was the birthplace of Anonymous): its shock culture, combined with a strong cultural norm of anonymity, made for a difficult-to-digest, thoroughly spiky morsel that resisted recommodification (for a while).

All of this brings me to AI art (or AI "art"). In his essay on the "eerieness" of AI art, Henry Farrell quotes Mark Fisher's "The Weird and the Eerie":

https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/large-language-models-are-uncanny

"Eeriness" here is defined as "when there is something present where there should be nothing, or is there is nothing present when there should be something." AI is eerie because it produces the seeming of intent, without any intender:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/13/spooky-action-at-a-close-up/#invisible-hand

When we contemplate "authentic" countercultural work – ransom-note DTP, the weird old web, seizure-inducing Myspace GIFs – it is arresting because the personality of the human entity responsible for it shines through. We might be able to recognize where that person ganked their source-viewed HTML or pixel-optimized GIF, but we can also make inferences about the emotional meaning of those choices. To see that work is to connect to a mind. That mind might not necessarily belong to someone you want to be friends with or ever meet in person, but it is unmistakably another person, and you can't help but learn something about yourself from the way that their work makes you feel.

This is why corporate work is so often called "soulless." The point of corporate art is to dress the artificial person of the corporation in the stolen skins of the humans it uses as its substrate. Corporations are potentially immortal, artificial colony organisms. They maintain the pretense of personality, but they have no mind, only action that is the crescendo of an orchestra of improvised instruments played by hundreds or thousands of employees and a handful of executives who are often working directly against one another:

https://locusmag.com/2022/03/cory-doctorow-vertically-challenged/

The corporation is – as Charlie Stross has it – the "slow AI" that is slowly converting our planet to the long-prophesied grey goo (or, more prosaically, wildfire ashes and boiled oceans). The real thing that is signified by CEOs' professed fears of runaway AI is runaway corporations. As Ted Chiang says, the experience of being nominally in charge of a corporation that refuses to do what you tell it to is the kind of thing that will give you nightmares about autonomous AI turning on its masters:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

The job of corporate designers is to find the signifiers of authenticity and dress up the corporate entity's robotic imperatives in this stolen flesh. Everything about AI is done in service to this goal: the chatbots that replace customer service reps are meant to both perfectly mimic a real, competent corporate representative while also hewing perfectly to corporate policy, without ever betraying the real human frailties that none of us can escape.

In the same way, the shillbots that pretend to be corporate superfans online are supposed to perfectly amplify the corporate message, the slow AI's conception of its own virtues, without injecting their own off-script, potentially cringey enthusiasms.

The Hollywood writers' strike was, at root, about the studio execs' dream that they could convert the "insights" of focus groups and audience research into a perfect script, without having to go through a phalanx of lippy screenwriters who insisted on explaining why they think your idea is stupid. "Hey, nerd, make me another ET, except make the hero a dog, and set it on Mars" is exactly how you prompt an AI:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/20/everything-made-by-an-ai-is-in-the-public-domain/

Corporate design's job is to produce the seeming of intention without any intender. The "personality" we're meant to sense when we encounter corporate design isn't the designer's, nor the art director's, nor even the CEO's. The "personality" is meant to be the slow AI's, but a corporation doesn't have a personality.

In his 2018 short story "Noon in the antilibrary," Karl Schroeder describes an "antilibrary" as an endlessly deep anaerobic lagoon of generative botshit:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/18/104097/noon-in-the-antilibrary/

The antilibrary is a generative AI system that can produce entire librarys’-worth of fake books with fake authors, fake citations by other fake experts with their own fake books and biographies and fake social media accounts, on-demand and instantly. It was speculation in 2018; it’s possible now. Creating an antilibrary is just a matter of investing in a sufficient number of graphics cards and electricity.

https://kschroeder.substack.com/p/after-the-internet

Reading Karl's reflections on the antilibrary crystallized something for me that I've been thinking about for a quarter-century, since I interviewed Gibson at the Penguin offices in north Toronto. It snapped something into place that I've trying to fit since encountering Henry's thoughts on the "eeriness" of AI work and the intent without an intender.

It made me realize why I dislike AI art so much, on a deep, aesthetic level. The point of an image generator is to buffer the intention of the prompter (which might be genuinely creative and bursting with personality) in layers of automated decision-making that flense the final product of any hint of the mind that caused its creation.

The most febrile, deeply weird and authentic prompts of the most excluded outsiders produce images that feel the same as the corporate AI illustrations that project the illusion of personality from the immortal, transhuman colony organism that is the limited liability corporation.

AI art is born coopted. Even the 4chan equivalent of AI – the deeply transgressive and immoral nonconsensual pornography – feels no different from the "official" AI porn churned out by "real" pornographers. "Shrimp Jesus" and other SEO-optimized Facebook slop is so uncanny because it is simultaneously "weird" ("that which does not belong") and yet it belongs in the same aesthetic bucket of the most anodyne Corporate Memphis ephemera:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Memphis

We call it "generative" but AI art can't generate the kind of turnover that aerates the aesthetic soil. An artform that can't be transgressive is sterile, stillborn, a dead end.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/20/ransom-note-force-field/#antilibraries

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Jake (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_fanzines_(21224199545).jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic

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itsuki-minamy · 4 months ago

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"K - LOST SMALL WORLD" (Novel)

PERIOD 1: 12 YEARS OLD (MISSION 1)

Translation: Naru-kun Chapter guide: HERE

The mop handle held the rag core in place perfectly. The damp rag was just the right weight and formed a layer that passed through the classroom door and stuck to the hallway window.

"Yessss! The fourth batter, pitcher Yata, hits the ball through the gap between third base and shortstop, down the left field line..."

Yata loudly commented on the situation and raised the mop in his hand.

"Hit!"

In the quiet atmosphere of the classroom, only his excited voice emerged, and with a smile still on his face, he quietly put down the mop. The classmates who had been watching with cold expressions began to look away, lowering their eyes to their PDAs or returning to chatting with their friends.

"What? That's not very friendly."

Yata was breathing heavily as he carried the mop over his shoulders.

"Team Yata, play defense. If there are four of us, we can make a triangular base."

He called out to three boys who were gathered at a desk looking at their respective PDAs. The three looked at each other, shrugged, and then turned to him.

"What's a triangular base?"

It was a response that was hard to believe.

"Don't you know what a triangular base is?! What the hell have you been doing while growing up to the first year of middle school?!"

"What are you asking me to do?"

"Isn't Yata-kun the one who's the least developed...?"

One of them whispered, while the other two burst into laughter.

"Did you say something?"

He yelled, and the three quickly stopped laughing.

"Well, I guess I'll give you a lecture, so listen up. Remember, a triangle base is when the defensive team is the pitcher and two basemen, which is why it's called a triangle..."

As he explained, they heard a message ding, and the three of them said "Ah!" in unison and looked down at their respective PDAs.

Yata felt very sad because his plans kept getting ruined.

"It's the "Jungle" email newsletter."

He walked over to his friends, who were holding their PDAs and talking cheerfully, and snatched the PDA out of one of their hands.

"What the heck is this email newsletter about?"

"Oh, Yata-kun, don't touch it with the hands you used to touch the rag."

"Don't be so picky, you're not a woman."

As his friend tried to retrieve his PDA, Yata roughly shoved him with the mop. The screen showed him an app he'd never seen before.

"What's this?"

"Yata-kun, do you know "Jungle"? Everyone plays it these days. There are a ton of different games, and the tricks are great."

"The design is great, too."

"I don't really get it. I mean, is it a game?"

"It's not just for games. You can also send group messages, which is really handy."

"Ah."

They were just starting a lively conversation when suddenly one of them raised his voice and made a "shhhh" gesture with his index finger. The other two looked as if they had just realized something and began muttering to themselves as they continued.

Shaking his head, Yata took his PDA out of his pocket.

"Hmm? Then I guess I'll join in too."

Since PDAs are designated by the school, they are all the same model, but students, especially the girls, decorate them with their own cases and straps. Yata was one of those who used "no straps". In addition to the usual call and internet functions, it is equipped with a contactless IC card function and can also serve as a student ID card.

"What was it, "Jungle"?"

It was just as he started working on his PDA.

Loud, harsh footsteps were heard from the door at the back of the classroom.

"Yata Misaki! And his gang!"

He yelled at him.

"Don't call me by my full name."

Almost reflexively, Yata barked and turned around.

"Everyone, come to the guidance room.", the homeroom teacher ordered in a gruff voice as he appeared.

"Huh? What did we do? Look..."

He began rebelliously, but seeing the expressions on his classmates' faces, Yata blinked.

All three of them were pale and frozen.

++++++++++

They were made to stand in a row of four in front of a long desk in the student guidance office. The answer sheets for the proficiency exam he took the other day were spread out on the desk. The sound his teacher made sarcastically tapping them with his fingertips was irritating to Yata's ears, and it made him feel increasingly irritated.

"Well, I'm telling you, how could we have cheated? And do you have proof?"

"There are several questions with the same answer. Even the mistakes are the same. Here and here too."

"It's a coincidence, right? How could we possibly have the same answer? Our seats are all different, so there's no way we can directly show each other the answers, and I don't think we're allowed to use PDAs during the test."

Yata was the only one arguing, and when he looked at his friends standing in a row to his left, all three of them looked completely depressed and had their heads hung low. (Oh no, they did it...) He already knew.

Yata felt a little sharp, thinking that if they didn't have the courage to deny it when they were caught, then they shouldn't have done it in the first place.

However, the teacher's gaze was directed at Yata with particular hatred.

"Yata, weren't you the one who made them do it?"

"Eh?!"

His voice cracked at the unexpected suspicion.

"Why do you think that? It doesn't make sense..."

"As for you, this is certainly the result."

The teacher carelessly rejected Yata's exam, which had a very disappointing score compared to the other three. He wasn't bragging, but that's not a score you can get by cheating.

"But you know why they called you in with them, right? Last month, you invited these three to sneak out of school during class, saying it was a test of courage. You were probably the one who made them do it this time too."

"Well, I was the one who invited them last month..."

"Tell me the truth. This isn't a normal test, so I'll keep this between us. But if you don't tell me the truth, I'll have to ask your parents to come."

His threatening tone caused the shoulders of his friends standing next to him to shudder.

One of them gulped.

"Y-Yata-kun told me to do it..."

"R-right, Yata-kun said so and made me use the cheat sheet, but he was the only one who didn't..."

"What...? You...!"

He instinctively raised his fist, causing the three of them to flinch. All three of them began to sob.

Yata had no choice but to lower his fist.

There's nothing he can do about it, really... He just remembered that's what happens when they do whatever they want when he's not around. If you can't wipe your own ass, then don't be a troublemaker.

"Ah, that's right. I snuck into the teacher's lounge and looked up the answers. Then I told them, but on the day of the exam, I was the only one who forgot my cheat sheet."

The three of them looked up, their eyes red and round.

Yata sighed and made a decision. It would be annoying to have to apologize to the teacher, but as the leader of the Yata group, it would be unmanly to abandon the comrades who clung to him.

"I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

He bowed his head to the teacher so hard that the teacher flinched.

++++++++++

"Thanks to Yata-kun, I was truly saved because my parents weren't contacted."

"All right. Listen, if you want to deny it, deny it and be proud of it. If you want to admit it, admit it and apologize enthusiastically. Well, this time there's no getting around it, it's over. Next time, don't do things on your own; if you want to do something, consult me first. I'll make it work for you."

"Yes. Thank you."

He still looked dejected, so the three of them laughed weakly.

Although they received some scoldings afterward, because it wasn't a normal exam, they didn't take anything seriously and were released. Of course, if something like this is discovered again, it's inevitable that their parents will be contacted. Looking around the class, it seems that most of the students are relatively well-behaved, so the parents would probably never imagine their children would cheat.

"Well, I'll take my bike. See you tomorrow."

He had planned to take everyone to Shizume after school that day, but he was sure the teacher would be watching them closely, so it would probably be best to reschedule.

After parting ways with his friends who were returning home on the school bus from the main gate, Yata headed alone to the side gate. That's because he parked his bike there, but there's no bike parking area. Riding a bike to school is prohibited because it's considered dangerous.

"Damn, this is why this middle school is so boring..."

It had been a month since he enrolled at Hinata Middle School, but to be honest, he felt like he didn't fit in. There are many restrictive school rules, such as prohibiting riding bikes to school and buying snacks on the way home from school.

The uniform, with its rather pretentious design of a dark red blazer and bow tie, was uncomfortable, so Yata rolled up his sleeves and wore it casually.

None of the friends he hung out with in elementary school were at this middle school. He had moved here during spring break due to his parents' work commitments. Although Yata missed his old school, he remained positive and thought it wasn't all bad. He was back near the town where he'd lived as a child, even before his previous school. Shizume is a town that holds many memories for Yata.

He pulled his bike out of the bushes by the gate. It's a worn-out mamachari (a women's bike) that his mother had given him, so it's not something he really wanted his friends to see. He wished he could get a part-time job and buy a good cyclocross bike, but of course, part-time jobs are prohibited for middle school students, and he'd already spent all his New Year's money, so he didn't want to ask for a raise in his allowance.

"I wonder if even a friend with a lot of money could do that?"

Muttering such absurd things to himself, he threw his crushed school bag into the basket, carefully removed the leaves that had accumulated on the saddle, and said, "Ready." as he easily climbed on top.

Hinata Middle School is located in the city, so the front door opens onto a busy main street, but the side door opens onto the shrine behind the school. For some reason, this area, including Shizume, has an unusually large number of Inari temples and shrines. Suddenly, in the middle of the city, a torii gate appears, with no clear idea of what it enshrines, and a dense forest continues in the distance.

It's a quiet street nestled between the towering wall surrounding the school grounds and the shrine's forest. It feels like the border between the human world and the divine world, and is enveloped in a mysterious, green-scented atmosphere. Students riding the bus might not even know there's a street like that behind the school.

"Oh, is this it?"

He quickly found the app he was looking for. Once the installation was complete, a new icon called "Jungle/B" appeared on the screen. The icon evokes the image of twisted, crowded trees, just as the name "Jungle" suggests.

"I see, then a cute icon would be nice. They said the design is great too. Come to think of it, how did those guys manage to cheat?"

The most likely scenario would be that the answers would be given via email, but student phone numbers are managed by the school and are blocked during class so they can only be used for emergency calls. Although he managed to survive his teacher's interrogation, the fundamental questions remained unanswered.

"Well, I guess I'll ask tomorrow. Huh? Do I have to register as a user first?"

While using the new app and feeling a little unsteady while driving with one hand, he overheard a disturbing conversation.

"This guy has a 10,000 yen bill. He's only a freshman, though."

"The rumor that your family is rich is true."

"Well, we're all in the same boat when we have problems, aren't we? This month my bills have exceeded my allowance."

Yata looked up from his PDA. He has a good ear for that kind of talk. Reporting, extorting, bullying...

Looking ahead along the wall, he saw four boys wearing Hinata Middle School uniforms. Three of them formed a semicircle and pressed the remaining person against the wall.

"Hm? That guy..."

Yata squinted at the faces of the students surrounding him. He couldn't see well because he was holding his face in his hands and looking down, but the moment he saw his pale face and black-framed glasses, he shouted without hesitation.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

The three of them turned around. One of them was about to take a note out of his wallet. For a moment, the three seemed ready to flee, but as soon as they saw Yata standing with his arms crossed next to the old mamachari bicycle, they regained their composure.

"What's wrong, shorty? How old are you?"

"Don't call me shorty."

"This is Yata, a first-year student. Yata Misaki. He's a kid who stands out because he barks a lot."

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and forgive you, but don't call me by my full name."

They were third-year students, probably from some kind of sports club. All three are much larger than Yata. Judging by their appearance alone, they didn't seem like the kind of bad guys who would mug someone. Unlike Yata, they didn't rebel against school rules by wearing their uniform sloppily or growing their hair long. As a student who takes their club activities seriously, they probably wouldn't attract the teachers' attention. He felt a sickening feeling that these ordinary people were doing things like that behind the scenes at that middle school.

"Give him back his wallet."

In an attempt to look a little bigger, Yata shrugged his shoulders as he approached, nodding at the bespectacled man in the background. It was frustrating that, due to their height difference, he had to look up to see the three of them.

"A wallet? If you want a wallet, I'll give it back to you."

The three looked at each other, laughed, and tossed the empty wallet to the bespectacled boy. It wasn't a Velcro type like Yata's, but a genuine leather one that looked quite expensive even just for the wallet itself.

"It's not just the wallet! Give him back the money!"

The wallet fell to the ground with a thud, and Yata, who was about to scream, was so startled that he stopped talking.

"I will."

The bespectacled boy said, without even looking at the wallet that had fallen from his shoulder. His voice was faint and mumbled.

"What? I can't hear you."

The third-years asked again in an intimidating manner.

"I'll give you my money and my wallet. I never want to touch anything you've ever touched again."

He said this and shook his shoulder as if it had dirt on it. On top of that, he kicked his wallet toward the third-year students and said,

"Take it. There are still some coins left, so crawl and search for some, there you go."

Even Yata, who went to help, was surprised by his attitude. The third-year students' faces turned red with anger. The bespectacled boy picked up his fallen school bag and began walking along the wall without even looking at the third-year students.

"Whoa! Wait a minute! Are you making fun of me?"

The third-year students suddenly raised their voices as if startled and grabbed the bespectacled boy by the back of his hair.

"Don't touch me!"

The bespectacled boy shouted in a deafening voice and headbutted the third-year student who had grabbed him by the hair. A painful crash was heard, and the man fell backward, clutching his face.

"What the hell is this guy doing all of a sudden?!"

The other two men flew into a rage and grabbed him.

"Fushimi!"

Yata immediately screamed and jumped at the nearest person. He jumped on his back, wrapped his legs around his body, and put both hands around his head to blindfold him, but he shook his head and said, "Let go of me, you little brat!"

Sensing another guy approaching from the side, he kicked him in the back and quickly broke free. He did a beautiful backflip and jumped to the ground.

"Hehe, as if you could catch me."

He snorted, but in the meantime, the bespectacled boy had been grabbed by his arm.

It was obviously a disadvantage to be three against one against the physically superior third-year students on the sports team. Clicking his tongue, Yata quickly operated his PDA with one hand. The bus probably hadn't left yet.

"Yata group, gather around..."

He noticed an unfamiliar notification on the screen.

At first glance, the word [Yata-kun] caught his attention.

[Isn't that annoying?]

"Huh? What's this?"

He frowned and did a double take as a shadow fell in front of him.

"Don't look away."

He was hit in the side of the face and sent flying.

"I'm telling you, you guys were the first to act. It was self-defense, so there's no point in telling the teacher."

"Don't ever face me again, you stupid first-year."

The third-year students jeered at the two as they fell to the ground, then quickly picked up their money and wallets. The guy who took Fushimi's headbutt stuffed a handkerchief up his nose and, in retaliation, kicked Fushimi in the shoulder again and spat on him.

"Damn it, what do you mean, self-defense?"

Frustrated, Yata slammed his fist against the ground. Gritting his teeth made the wounds in his mouth hurt even more.

When he turned to look at Fushimi, he had taken off his glasses, which were splattered with spit, and rubbed them against the dirt at the side of the road. His face was pale, and the red bruises on them looked painful.

"Are you okay, Fushimi?"

Fushimi adjusted his glasses, which were probably even more cloudy due to the dirt stains, and stared at him.

"Hmm? You're Fushimi Saruhiko, right? Did I read that wrong?"

"How do you know?"

An aura of anger seemed to rise from his thin shoulders. Yata was frightened, wondering why he got that reaction just by calling his name.

"Why? We're in the same class, right? I'm Yata. I'm in the same row as you."

It had been over a month since the entrance ceremony, but it seemed they didn't even remember his face. There are plans to change the seating arrangement in the second semester, but during the first semester, classroom seating is based on the attendance list. Yata's seat is fifth from the front, in the row closest to the aisle. Fushimi's seat is second from the front in the same row.

"It seems this isn't the first time those guys have bothered you. Do they always steal your money? Don't your parents know? They'd be angry if they found out, since it seems it was a considerable amount. If it happens again, tell me. I'll help you. Well, I lost today, but I have friends here."

"Hmmm.", Fushimi snorted.

"If you want to be thanked, go somewhere else."

While Yata was speechless at that unexpected comment, Fushimi easily brushed the dirt off his uniform and bag and began walking home. Although he didn't even touch the wallet the third years had stolen, he didn't seem to pay much attention to the dirt stains he wiped off, so Yata didn't really understand what was different.

Up until that point, he'd exchanged words with most of his classmates at least once, but now that he thought about it, that was the first time he'd ever spoken to Fushimi. He had no idea he spoke so rudely. The impression was as if every sound was uttered with a thorn stuck in his tongue.

Looking at his appearance alone, he's a quiet guy and a good student. He has a weak, thin build and isn't particularly tall. If the boys in his class were lined up by height, he'd be closer to the front than the middle (though Yata would be at the very front). He wears unfashionable black-framed glasses, and according to Yata, his hairstyle is shabby, and he generally seems unattractive. Yata assumed it was because of his appearance that he became a target for thieves.

His appearance didn't seem to match the person he was when he raised his voice to insult those guys.

"Wait... wait a minute."

As Yata ran back a few meters and picked up his bike, Fushimi rode off, clearly intending to leave him behind. Yata caught up with Fushimi, standing on the pedals, and began riding slowly beside him.

"Hey, don't you mind just giving up and doing nothing? We're going to fight back. I'll call my friends."

"Who said I'd give up and do nothing?"

Fushimi looked at him sideways.

"I'm going to retaliate. I'll crush them twice as hard."

He took out his PDA and muttered as if he were talking to the screen instead of Yata. The application displayed was the one Yata had just installed. Finally, when they found a common theme, Yata became excited.

"Ah, Fushimi, so you have it too. I just installed it..."

As he maneuvered his PDA and balanced it with one hand, his eyes shifted to the screen.

There were even more unfamiliar notifications than he'd glimpsed before.

They were shaped like speech bubbles and looked like an exchange of messages. There were so many speech bubbles that they almost filled the palm-sized screen.

[Yata-kun is annoying, right? Where does such annoying enthusiasm come from?]

[Why does he act so arrogant despite being so short?]

[He's short, but he has a loud voice.]

[They say idiots have loud voices.]

[It's so stupid to act like you're a bad guy when you haven't done anything particularly wrong.]

[What should we do? I told him about the group message, but won't it be annoying if Yata joins?]

[Why don't you create a separate group and teach him that? We'll have the important conversations here and leave the other group alone.]

[But wouldn't it be better to treat it naturally and keep him in a good mood? We could use him if something like this happens again.]

[Isn't that terrible? I feel sorry for Misaki. (laughs)]

[Misaki-chan. (laughs)]

"What the hell is this...?"

Because he wasn't paying attention while driving, the tire went over the curb and fell sideways along with his bike.

"What...?"

He hit his knee really hard, and it hurt so much he forgot the pain he felt when the third-years hit him. He gritted his teeth, but tears sprang to the corners of his eyes.

He opened his eyes to reach for his PDA, and Fushimi picked it up as it bounced on the ground, casually glancing at the screen.

"Ah!"

He jumped up in a panic and snatched the PDA out of Fushimi's hand.

"Oh, sorry, I fell. Haha, how pathetic of me. Anyway, back to the topic, the retaliation..."

A strangely high-pitched voice came out of his mouth, as if coming from the top of his head.

(Why did I laugh? It wasn't something to laugh about...)

"Oh, they're talking bad about you."

Fushimi simply said it as if he didn't care and turned his face away. Unable to accept the seemingly inconsiderate way in which he was spoken to, Yata retorted.

"That's all? Don't you have anything else to say?"

"Anything else?"

Fushimi tilted his head and spoke with a simple look on his face, as if he truly didn't understand.

"Should I laugh at you? Or do you want my sympathy? I'm not interested in you."

Yata had no way to respond to such a blunt statement.

++++++++++

Yata only took one action. That was the only thing he could think of.

"Hey, what's this?"

The next day, he confronted the three members of the Yata group with the PDA screen and interrogated them. All three were stunned by the screen and asked mischievously.

"What's that? It's terrible."

"Don't pretend you don't know! You think I don't know anything? This is a message from a "Jungle" group, right?"

He tried several things with the app he installed yesterday and got a general idea of how to use it. However, at the time the message exchange in question was received, Yata had just installed the app and hadn't yet registered as a user. Of course, he wasn't part of any of the groups his friends had formed. Regardless, that exchange reached Yata just in time.

"If you have something to say to me, why don't you say it out loud instead of sneaking around?"

"If I tell you, you'll get angry."

"I can't hear you! I told you to speak up!"

He muttered a rebuttal, so he immediately started yelling at him, causing his friends to shake their heads.

"Ah..."

He had been thinking since last night that he should listen calmly and not yell, but he ended up yelling instead.

It was just before the start of morning class, and his classmates were arriving at school one after another. Everyone entered the classroom with a cheerful "good morning" and gasped at the atmosphere in the corner by the window. They looked around, wondering what was going on, and silently placed their bags on their desks. Fushimi hadn't arrived at school yet to take his seat.

Yata took a step back and took a deep breath.

"I won't be angry... If you have any complaints about me, just tell me. I'll listen."

The three of them, huddled by the window, looked at each other, and, as if without realizing it, they all burst out laughing.

"Yata-kun, you said you'd listen. Isn't that the part where you ask us to please tell you?"

"Ahh?! Say it again!"

Finally, he yelled again, grabbed his friend by the collar, and shook his fist. His friend let out a pathetic cry, "Aaaah!" and the other two also began to flee. Small screams were heard from the classmates watching nearby.

His friend desperately shielded his head and turned his face away. Although Yata was shorter, he was holding his friend by the neck, which almost made him faint.

"You can't even fight...", Yata said, looking at his friend with disdain.

He mocked people by adding things like "lol" to their messages, but when he tried to hit him, he was half-crying.

"As for the cheating, you went along with the lie that you forced us to do it. So, Yata-kun, you're the one who doesn't want to be excluded, right?"

"I was protecting them!"

"You wanted to protect me, right? You wanted me to thank you, right?"

"What...?!"

The words Fushimi said to him yesterday came back to him.

"If you want to be thanked, go somewhere else."

He never thought people would think that way.

He didn't want to be thanked. For Yata, it was unthinkable to abandon his friends and pretend he didn't notice anything.

(We're only friends because we play penalty kicks together. I'm the leader of the Yata group, and these are my friends whom I must protect...)

"Stop acting like a leader on your own. Don't you know you're bothering us? No one asked you to join, and being part of the Yata group isn't cool. We want to do other things and have fun, but we're always forced to participate in strange games."

His friend repeated the same thing in a hoarse, raspy voice, tears welling up in his eyes and his face contorted with fear.

He seems to be doing the best he can. Yata knows that face very well. It's the face of a bullied kid who finally stands up to the bullies. It was a common scene in elementary school. Yata was always the one beating up the bullies. Yata certainly acted like a tough guy, but bullying the weak was something he hated and despised.

He wondered when he'd reached the other side and felt dizzy, as if the world around him had turned upside down without him even realizing it.

++++++++++

With his classmates' eyes on him, he put on a face that said he wasn't hurt and left the classroom. Suddenly, all the strength left his body. Class was about to start, but he didn't feel like returning to the classroom. Where should he go? However, he couldn't think of anywhere to go alone, so his feet headed for the boys' restroom.

He closed the door and sat on the Western-style toilet. He leaned his back against the back tank and stared at the ceiling for a while.

He was so moved to tears that he had to go to the bathroom of all places possible. He swallowed the acrid sensation that had risen to the back of his nose.

The bathroom was quiet because the students had already gone to their classrooms. He could hear the sound of water dripping somewhere. It smelled a little off, but after a while his nose got used to it. He wondered if he would ever get used to it.

The bathroom is oddly a good place to think. Is it because there's nothing to see except the wall in front of him, or because there's nothing to do except shit, or is it the gloomy feeling created by the fluorescent lights that are almost always on the verge of going out?

Without even knowing what people were saying about him behind his back, he thought he was leading his friends and acted all grandiloquent and boastful because he thought the others respected him. He was so embarrassed. He felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole. There was just one suitable hole, so he stuck his face between his legs. Damn! It just made him feel a hundred times more miserable. He raised his head and rested the back of it loosely on the edge of the tank.

Sometimes he wondered if it would have been better if he'd never known anything. He wished he hadn't seen that text exchange. If that happened, he wondered if he could still be the center of his group starting tomorrow...

"Hm?"

Suddenly, he noticed a light reflecting off the ceiling. The light was a dim bluish light, different from the white of fluorescent lights, and it flickered, changing shape.

Next door...? How long had it been there...? There was a gap of about a foot at the top of the wall separating the toilets. The light from the adjacent bathroom seemed to be reflecting off the ceiling. He didn't hear any noise, but he wondered, "What's he doing?", he said to himself, thinking that the bathroom is a place to shit.

Trying not to make a sound, he climbed onto the toilet with his shoes on. He placed his hands on the top edge of the wall and stood on tiptoe to look into the next bathroom. He didn't think it was a big deal since it was the men's restroom. Well, it might have been a little embarrassing if his butt had been completely exposed, but the person was fully clothed, sitting on the toilet lid, and he could see his thin, hunched back and slender shoulders.

"Fushimi? What are you doing?"

That came out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about it.

His thin shoulders jumped dramatically. The person who had taken one end of the receiver out of his ear and turned to look at him was, yes, Fushimi. Two blue, plate-shaped objects appeared on Fushimi's lap and then suddenly disappeared.

"What the...?"

Fushimi's eyes widened, and he almost fell off the toilet lid. Yata could tell from his reaction that it would be surprising if he were suddenly called from above while he was inside the bathroom. But he was a little surprised that he had such a normal reaction.

"Sorry to scare you. I saw a light and thought it was something. But it's not like you were taking a shit, so it's okay, right? Aren't you in class?"

As he pushed his tilted glasses up, Fushimi's expression returned to normal.

"Get lost."

He spat that out and sat back down. As he gently ran his fingers over the PDA screen on his lap, the two plate-shaped objects he'd seen earlier appeared again. Positioned at an angle similar to that of an open laptop, the keyboard and screen were illuminated with a bluish, translucent light.

"What's that? It's cool. Does the PDA have something like that?"

Yata's eyes lit up.

"I made it."

"You made it?!"

What Yata imagined was Fushimi with pliers and wood glue in hand, assembling the PDA as if he were making a plastic model, but that probably wasn't the case. Incidentally, Yata has never built a plastic model exactly according to the finished drawing. Since he does things without reading the instructions, the final product ends up being somewhat different.

"Hey, can you put that on my PDA too?"

Unable to contain his curiosity, Yata leaned his stomach against the top of the partition and pushed his upper body to Fushimi's side.

"Oops.", he said, almost falling over, and kicking his legs, now completely off the floor, to regain his balance. He stared at the light display floating in front of Fushimi's gaze.

"Eh? But we're in class, right? Why's your PDA working? Mine is..."

When he took out his own PDA, it was locked and wouldn't accept any operations. That will continue until the end of school unless a disaster strikes or a parent makes an emergency call.

"Look, I can't operate mine, so why should yours work?"

"Get lost!"

Fushimi yelled as he turned around. As Yata was about to continue speaking, his eyes suddenly widened and he continued to smile.

Fushimi's hateful gaze pierced his chest.

"S-sorry..."

He shrugged, threw his head back, and then slipped out of the bathroom.

He sat sideways on the toilet facing the wall where Fushimi's bathroom was, facing the gap in the partition and remaining silent for a while.

"Uh, well... I won't make too much noise, can I talk to you? Fushimi, are you always idling alone?"

He couldn't remain silent for long, so he spoke solemnly.

He couldn't see him clearly because he was sitting in the back, but Fushimi often missed classes. He seemed like a frail child, so it could be that he was absent due to illness, but the teachers for each subject were always looking around the class and asking, "What's up with Fushimi?", so he was probably AWOL. Now he thinks he must have been quite brave to slack off alone despite his appearance as a good student.

"Actually, this is the first time I've ever relaxed on my own.", he confessed while scratching the back of his neck. In the month or so since he started middle school, he skipped classes a few times, but each time he invited his friends from Yata's class to join him.

There was no response from the person next to him, but he continued, wanting someone to listen.

"The Yata group was a group I created in my class... But, it seems my friends hated me, you know? The things I did for them seemed like a nuisance to them... But don't you think they should have said no if they didn't like me? It's so unfair that now they're saying they never wanted to spend time with me."

He ended by pouting and sounding like he was complaining.

"But you're not listening to what people are saying."

Just when he thought he was finally hearing a response from the person next to him, he was pushed aside with a sensible reason.

"Uh... ugh... that may be true, but..."

He tilted his head as if a heavy stone was being placed on top of him.

He hooked his heels on the toilet rim and sat with his knees hugged to his chest.

"I wonder if the same thing is happening to me complaining to Fushimi right now.", he said, discovering that if he spoke with his chin pressed against his knees, he would speak in a low, mumbled voice, similar to Fushimi.

"I wonder if it's the same as when those guys used the PDA to talk about me behind my back."

"Can't you even sulk alone?"

The cold voice drifted down the wall. There was no way to answer it, and he was devastated and said, "Ugh." But he did pay attention... about once out of three times. He was grateful that he answered, even if it's only once out of three times.

He lifted his chin from his knees and looked up at the ceiling. Just like before, a blue light was reflecting off the ceiling above the dividing wall. Once you know what light is, you can clearly see it reflecting off the PDA screen, and the screen changes rapidly. It seemed as if a small blue bird had been released from the ceiling and was playing by itself.

Why did he start complaining to Fushimi? He thought that if he was dealing with Fushimi, who had no one to hang out with, his complaints wouldn't get any attention... If that was the case, then maybe he was being quite cowardly and started feeling depressed again.

"I caught one."

Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from next door.

Yata was wondering if he had deliberately skipped class to play catch, when...

"You can come see him if you want."

He called out to him.

"Can I go there?"

"As long as you enter through legitimate means."

He heard the sound of the lock of the adjoining bathroom opening. When he called out to him again, he began to wonder if it was appropriate for two men to enter a bathroom together, but in any case, Yata could no longer contain his interest in what Fushimi was doing. He left his spot and, as instructed, this time went to the next door.

Just like before, a light panel shaped like a keyboard and screen floated over Fushimi's lap as he sat on the toilet. Yata squatted in front of Fushimi and looked at the display. The translucent screen was reversed from left to right, but Yata could see what was being shown even from his side.

He immediately realized it was a "Jungle" display. Several 3D characters walked freely in a space resembling a forest plaza. An avatar is a character that represents the user in a virtual space. At first, the character appears simply dressed, but you can customize the face, clothing, and belongings to your liking. After using it last night, Yata also wanted to make his avatar a little cooler, but the system requires you to pay to purchase any flashy costume items.

"Fushimi, your avatar... is this it?"

The one in the center appears to be Fushimi's avatar, but from the looks of it, it doesn't appear to have changed at all from the original. Yata compared the avatar in virtual space with Fushimi's face visible through the translucent screen.

Seen through the blue filter, Fushimi's face looked paler than usual and paler than his avatar, more doll-like.

"How about putting glasses on him?"

He mentioned it on a whim and he completely ignored it.

The avatar was so casual that it blended in with the other variously dressed avatars passing by, but it had an object in its hand that served as a marker. It was an axe.

Then, the screen shook with an effect as if something had collided, and the background changed.

It seemed like some kind of game had started. It didn't look like a fishing game. A collectible card game? Or a puzzle game? Or maybe a simulation game? The game screen seemed crammed with numerous elements, with an inordinate number of parameters and a complicated appearance.

"The game that's all the rage in "Jungle" right now is called "J-Cube". The opponent I just caught is one of yesterday's third-years."

The 3D cards and cube blocks seemed to swim and intertwine on the screen, but eventually they split into Fushimi's side and the opponent's side and formed something like a formation. Each person has five cards and five blocks.

"Oh, I've seen that too."

It was Yata's first time seeing the design on the card (wow, it's cool), but the cube blocks looked familiar. He's never had the actual item, but it's a famous puzzle.

The game is a hexahedron with each side made up of three rows of colored tiles, and players rotate the tiles horizontally or vertically, one row at a time, to collect tiles of the same color on one side. It's complete when all six sides are the same color, but even matching just one side should be quite difficult.

"Just so you understand, by combining the colors of the cubes you accumulate attack and defense power, which is then converted into card parameters, and the cards fight each other. Each color has an attribute; for example, red is "fire", green is "lightning", and white is "recovery". You can create combos by combining the five cubes. For example, if you line up the red faces of the five cubes, you get a 5-combo "fire". There's also an element of strategic simulation, so if you distribute forces between your own base and captured bases, secure supply lines, and manage politics to prevent rebellions."

"Oh, I don't think I know anything more than that, so it doesn't matter."

Halfway through the explanation, Yata gave up. Yata likes games too. In fact, he likes them "a lot". The games he's best at are rhythm games and racing games that require physical movement in arcades, but he's also pretty good at fighting and shooting games. While he's the type to do things without any discrimination, he's not good at things that require memorizing rules or using his brain to make long-range predictions. Woosh! Pow! He believes the true fun of games lies in instinct and reflexes, so he doesn't think he'll ever be compatible with strategic simulations.

Glancing mockingly at Yata, Fushimi glossed over the explanation of the simulation part.

"A depleted card's stamina will gradually recover over time, but if you use a paid item, you can restore it instantly and continue playing. You can also purchase items to strengthen cards for a fee. That's the bad thing about this game... Those guys are investing a fortune. Hundreds of thousands."

"Hundreds of thousands!"

Of course, if they run out of pocket money, they'll get desperate and try to extort money.

"Eh? But you know, aren't the third-years still in class?"

He'd wondered that before, but why can Fushimi and the third-years play during class time, when the PDAs are supposed to be locked?

"Sure, you can't normally do that. But installing "Jungle" creates a vulnerability. The manufacturer of this PDA has very strong security, but "Jungle" can bypass it and infiltrate the system, installing spyware."

"Oh... yeah, I see."

Yata nodded in agreement, but of course he had no idea what was going on.

"Five minutes left."

Then Fushimi looked at the digital clock on the edge of the screen. Before he knew it, a long time had passed. Five minutes before the end of the first period. During recess, people will probably come to use the bathroom.

"Five minutes will be enough."

Fushimi squinted behind his glasses.

The word "Fight!" appeared on the screen, and the battle began.

Suddenly, Fushimi's fingers began to run at incredible speed across the keyboard made of light. The cube spun on the screen, and the colors of the tiles scattered all over the room began to align. The six sides of the first cube aligned so quickly that Yata's eyes couldn't follow what was happening. The card was charged with an enormous amount of energy and attacked the opponent's cards. The health of the opponent's cards was gradually depleted in a way that was thrilling to watch. The screen shook as if it could hear the cards screaming.

"I see... that was a trap."

The person who challenged him to a battle probably never imagined that someone controlling such a random avatar, still in its almost initial state, would be so strong. They must have underestimated him, assuming he was a user who had just started using "Jungle".

Fushimi's cube spun brilliantly, and the colors on the six sides matched quickly, but compared to that, his opponent's cube was slow to handle. All he had to do was align one side, or at best both sides, and convert it into energy little by little.

What was even more surprising was that Fushimi wasn't manipulating the cubes one by one. Yata didn't know how he did it, but he was spinning several cubes on the screen at the same time. The combos he mentioned earlier exploded one after another. His movements were very fast, and he didn't seem to have time to think. His slender fingers danced across the keyboard, as if he were actually grasping and playing with the cubes on the screen.

"Wow..."

Yata couldn't help but murmur in awe.

The opponent was trying to somehow turn the tide of the battle by using more and more items that cost money. It was probably a card they'd invested time and money into developing, so losing it would be painful. Yata used to collect trading cards as well, so he understood that feeling. However, the more panicked they were, the less likely the cubes would be to fit. The enemy's panic on the other side of the screen was palpable.

Across the screen, the corners of Fushimi's mouth curled. A dark, warm smile appeared on Fushimi's face, which normally wore a sullen, scowling expression.

This was the meaning of "I'll smash them twice as hard". Destroying the cards they cherished and cared for in their PDAs, and making them throw their money away. All Yata could think about was fighting back with his fists or getting the cash back. The thought of Fushimi even sent shivers down his spine.

(This guy is scary... But... he's awesome...!)

Before he knew it, Yata's attention had shifted from the battle unfolding on the screen to Fushimi's face visible beyond it. The white face was distorted into jagged pieces by a mosaic pattern of dancing cubes on the screen. His visage resembled that of a purgatory guardian, gleefully watching the criminals burn in the flames.

++++++++++

There were two more extortionists left. They'd likely have been wary of the existence of vicious users who disguise themselves as beginners, stalking and crushing any fool who casually tries their luck, having heard about it from the first victim, so there was a good chance they'd have avoided Fushimi (though it's unlikely they knew that avatar's owner was Fushimi).

Fushimi carefully spaced two or three days between each one, waiting until the remaining two players let their guard down, and then cleverly orchestrated a match, squeezing them dry of their virtual assets in the form of cards and their real assets in the form of fees.

It took a week for the three of them to be completely exposed; in terms of actual playtime alone, that was more than enough, but all three ended up having to pay tens of thousands of yen in in-game purchases. They should have been pale by now.

On the way home a week later.

"Hey, Fushimi, I heard a rumor. If you don't pay your bills, a creepy, masked debt collector from "Jungle" will come and take any bodily tissue that can be converted into money. They'll draw your blood and rip off your skin!"

Yata asked Fushimi, with a look of horror on his face but also a hint of curiosity.

"It's an urban legend."

He was a little disappointed by the curt reply and thought, "Eh? Isn't that true?"

He was getting used to Fushimi's rude reactions. It seemed like it wasn't that the topic Yata was bringing up was bad, but rather that it was simply Fushimi's normal state.

"Thanks to drawing those cards, your deck has become super strong, right? And with your cube skills, no one will be able to stand in your way."

"Yeah. I don't want to do anything else in "Jungle" anymore, and it's gotten boring."

Fushimi, despite his brash mouth, seemed to have his ego satisfied to a certain extent, and for his part, he didn't seem to be in a bad mood.

"If you want the cards, I'll give them all to you. I'll stop now."

"Uh... I don't need it."

He hesitated for a moment, but decided against it. He had seen Fushimi do it and wanted to try, but if he started and then Fushimi quit, it wouldn't be fun.

For the past week, he has gotten used to going home with Fushimi.

Yata was standing next to him, so he wasn't sure if Fushimi was planning on riding home with him. Yata hopped on his bike and pedaled to and from Fushimi. "Oops." Sometimes he stumbles and almost collides with Fushimi, but even that's really funny.

"But, even if it's just an urban legend, I'm sure they're already scared. If they don't pay their next bill, who knows if a masked debt collector might show up."

It was comforting to imagine the third-year students fearing that they'd be caught by the dreaded debt collectors at any moment, their blood drained, and their skin ripped off.

"They'll need extra money and get desperate and start extorting."

After bursting out laughing,

"Yes?"

Sometimes, he suddenly realized what he'd said.

"Hey, Fushimi? I'll ask you anyway, but since it's you, of course we need to know what our next steps are..."

Suddenly, his bike was yanked from behind. His head was violently whipping from side to side, and when he turned, precariously standing, he saw someone standing there, holding onto the frame of the bike rack. It was one of those third-years.

Suddenly, he looked ahead and saw the remaining two appear from the woods, blocking his way.

It's that quiet path that runs between the back of the school and the shrine forest. Although it's close to the school, it's a road the students don't use to get around by bus, so unfortunately there's no one around.

"Could you lend me more money, Fushimi-kun? Eighty thousand yen. I really need it."

The two in front stood on either side of Fushimi, covering him. One of the people in the back was holding Yata's bicycle.

"I don't have any money."

"If you don't, of course you'll bring it from home right now, Fushimi-kun. We're in serious trouble. You have to put yourself in each other's shoes when we're in trouble, right?"

With a clear tone of threat in their voices, the two approached Fushimi. There was a sense of urgency in the atmosphere compared to when they got involved last week. Maybe they simply needed the money and didn't want revenge after discovering it was Fushimi who had beaten them so brutally.

Fushimi took a slight step back. He unleashed murderous intent, ready to headbutt them again if they came even an inch closer.

Surely those guys, who had already suffered that counterattack once, wouldn't be stupid enough to attack them the same way without taking any countermeasures? Yata quickly glanced at the third-year students. One of them was holding something in his jacket pocket...

(These guys are armed...?!)

The moment Yata glimpsed what looked like a Swiss Army knife, he kicked the third-year student in the chest as he held onto the bike rack.

Caught off guard, the third-year let out a grunt and stepped back. Using the momentum of the kick, Yata kicked his bike and crashed into Fushimi and the two remaining third-year students.

"What?"

The two third-year students jumped back in panic.

"Fushimi, hop on!"

He slammed on the brakes and shouted back. The third-year students became nervous and tried to capture Fushimi. A chill ran down his spine as the knife sped toward Fushimi's face.

"Fushimi!"

Just in time, literally by a hair, Fushimi dodged the knife and ran toward him.

Yata immediately began pedaling his bike forward. Fushimi, who had caught up with him, jumped onto the moving bike. Surprised at how agile he was despite not looking capable of exercising, he pressed hard on the pedals and picked up speed in one fell swoop.

"Don't fall!"

Yata shouted, then leaned forward and pedaled with all his might.

Pedal hard! Harder!

"Here we go!"

His own determined voice drowned out the third-years' voices, and they faded away.

As they started down, he decided he'd gone far enough and looked back. Although he could vaguely hear angry voices, the third-year students had completely disappeared across the street. Fushimi also looked back as he gripped the edge of his chair to steady himself.

"Phew! We're over it now."

He gasped, but it felt great.

"If you think about it, it's obvious, right? If Fushimi forces those guys to spend money on the game, then they'll come back to Fushimi and ask for money, creating a cycle. What were you going to do then?"

"What? I hadn't thought of that."

Fushimi turned to him, adjusted his position, and said with a sullen look on his face.

"Eh? You didn't think of that?"

"When I came up with the worst way to get revenge on them, I wanted to crush them with it as quickly as possible, and after that, I didn't care about anything else."

Fushimi wasn't just defiant, he was even proud.

Yata was surprised and looked back at the bespectacled Fushimi, who looked like a very intelligent character.

"You seemed so sure of yourself, but it can't be true. Those guys were carrying knives. It would have been worse than a beating like the other day. It's only natural that those guys would escalate their methods to hurt you, think about it for a moment. Maybe there weren't people like that at the school where you grew up, like a spoiled brat..."

"If you don't want to get involved, don't cling to me. It's not you they're after. You don't seem to have any money."

"I didn't say that! Why are you so twisted? I'm doing this for you!"

He raised his voice in irritation at the perverse response, but then calmed down.

That's the same thing he told his friends in the Yata group. He didn't help them because he wanted to impose his goodwill on them... and even now, it's not like he was pedaling so hard because he wanted Fushimi to thank him. "I did it for you." No... that was the reason...

The bike stuck out too far from the street, so passing cars were honking at it.

It's a two-seater, which can be problematic if you get caught by the police. He stopped talking and focused on pedaling forward.

Yata silently led Fushimi, who was sulking and quiet behind him.

Yata was unsure of the reason why he'd been so excited when he managed to escape, shaking off the third-year students who were chasing and shouting at him.

Because he wasn't alone.

After all, riding a bike with someone behind him and pedaling as hard as you can while escaping from the bad guys together sounds like a pretty exciting adventure.

#k #k project #k stories #yata misaki #fushimi saruhiko #lsw #lost small world #sarumi

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thesiltverses · 4 months ago

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How do you do podcasts, beyond the writing stage? The Silt Verses inspired me to try writing audio drama, and I have ideas, but I am only one person and all I can do yet is write. How do you get published, so to speak? How many people do you have to involve at a minimum (beyond VAs)? How do you find those people?

Let me try and tackle this in increments!

#1: With the right story format, you actually don't have to involve anyone else, so don't feel like you're missing some vital component. You don't need anything but yourself to get started.

An intimidating number of the most successful audiodramas ever made are either single-performer or begin that way before expanding to accommodate guests, and that includes both narration format and action-driven shows (WTNV, Old Gods, Knifepoint Horror, Malevolent...). With a lot of these shows, the writer is taking on performing duties despite a lack of formal voice acting experience or training, and acting as the sole producer into the bargain. Sometimes the ambient soundtrack for these shows is very basic and homespun - as it was for us with I Am In Eskew - or sometimes a sound designer has been paid for a higher-quality track that can play out during an episode, but there's no ongoing sound design work required.

Beyond that, the number of roles will entirely depend on your ambitions and your workload (and again, you can take on as many of these roles as you want to and have time for). If you're working with actors, someone needs to direct them and effectively manage the recording schedule, and someone needs to review and edit their takes. If you want action, someone needs to design that action. Plan to your needs, not anybody else's team size. You can always scale upwards as you go.

#2: How do you find collaborators beyond VAs? This can definitely be hard. But you could start at the Audio Drama Hub on Facebook, or advertise on the Fiction Podcast Weekly newsletter, or I just saw the Audio Drama Creators Discord mentioned on the audiodrama reddit (which is also a very helpful resource). If you have local networks - whether it's a university/college drama society or a citywide actors' page - that can be worth seeking out as well. I'm sure there'll be tons more so gonna drop in the audiodrama tag in the hope that we can get you more ideas.

My word of caution would be - I recommend putting a considerable amount of work into both the writing and the initial production plans before you start seeking other people out, particularly if you're operating on low or zero budget. Writing is a more popular pursuit than production, generally speaking, and I feel like over the years I've seen a lot of "looking for a director/producer/sound designer to help me create a show!" requests from someone who's got a largely unwritten idea and a lot of initial excitement fuelling them - when of course internet strangers largely aren't going to want to commit their time and energy to a project until they have some real tangibles and specifics.

#3: There's absolutely no bar to getting published, per se (other than paying for a hosting platform). If you're thinking of an arrangement where you submit your scripts to an already-formed production team, unfortunately that's something that doesn't reliably exist as far as I'm aware! Much better to do it yourself, generally speaking.

Hope that helps and best of luck!

#audiodrama #audio drama

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crosscheckings · 10 months ago

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the passenger - screening and q&a with carter smith | horrorigins fest 9/28/24

so there was a screening of the passenger at horrorigins fest in tucson, az over this weekend that had a theater screening of the passenger and then a live q&a with carter smith afterward!

there were some really good questions and there's some video on horrorigins instagram (here and here, they haven't posted a full but i know there were several people recording and the festival is ongoing through today so they may post full video later) but some highlights:

he reiterated a lot of things that he's said in interviews about the script (so i won't go into detail about that)

he talked about his background at FIT and how benson's wardrobe was extremely intentionally chosen, and that the costume designer wanted to kill him bc the exact shade of his cardigan took three times to dye to get it right, it's also acrylic and very itchy (he has one too lmao)

he said that he gave johnny and kyle freedom to improvise on the script as much as they needed/wanted but that for the most part they stuck to it

burgers burgers burgers was a convenience store that they cleaned out and the stuffed animal place was in an actual empty mall that was "abandoned" (he mentioned there were like 7 empty malls they could have used, this one was completely empty so they didn't have to shut it down but idk if it was abandoned in the traditional sense)

he talked about the close ups and how much he loved kyle and johnny's faces and how he could shoot the whole thing in close up

the script was originally called "Randolph Bradley" which he did like but marketing didn't think would grab people and he also likes The Passenger for the movie they ended up making

i wish they had given the audience members mics when they asked their questions bc i'm watching the recording back to make sure i don't misquote something so i can't really hear some of the questions :( they also didn't upload the whole thing as of yet so the rest of this isn't verbatim but:

he agrees that at its core its a love story! when i asked my question i said "i wanted to touch on the love story comment from earlier" (bc someone else briefly mentioned it before asking a diff question) and he was like "i ALSO want to talk about the love story more!!" and was very excited that i brought up that "there's obviously a queer undertone to the film" and he just talked about what he saw in the script and how that came about, again said that jack stanley was like there's no romance but carter was like ummm anyway

he said that "this was the best thing to happen to either of them" (randy and benson) and agreed with someone who had described them as two sides of the same coin

he said that blumhouse also wanted them to lean into the weird romance aspect of it (or were okay with it), kyle was incredibly down to lean into the weird romance and was like "can we make it MORE gay"

afterward the fest went to a bar and mostly everyone went! so we actually got to hang out with carter just me and my friend and we talked a little bit more about the film and just other movies that he's enjoyed, we talked about his weekly newsletter, just random stuff like that. some highlights of that:

he said that kyle was all in on the queer undertone and was like can i touch johnny MORE

he said that there is a scene where benson touches randy again in a way that is similar in vibe to the scene in the mall parking lot where he touches his neck/wipes his tears but that they ended up cutting it because he (Carter) felt like it would undermine the emotional impact of that particular touch! he didn't expand on what the touch was or where exactly it went (he said it was after the teacher but didn't specify if it was after shepherd or mrs beard but i imagine he meant shepherd)

carter said that he would absolutely do a full up and down queer movie with kyle (if it was ever the right fit rather than writing a role for that reason)

it was really great and so interesting to hear his thoughts on the film and on filmmaking as a whole! he is really friendly and super nice and really knowledgeable. he had so much good stuff to say about the industry and he couldn't get enough of praising johnny and kyle both for their performances (rightly so) and what a good time he had making the movie.

bonus:

carter was kind enough to sign my poster (which he reposted the picture of on instagram). (i go into more detail about this event and stuff here) he also gleefully took photos of the saint randy and saint benson candles i made (because i am insane) and said he was going to send them to johnny and kyle because they would love them. kyle also reposted the picture of me and my friend the festival posted of us with the candles so now i am just dryheaving in my room. <3

anyway! support your local film festivals!! without horrorigns this wouldn't have been possible so support local and indie filmmakers and local and independent film festivals! <33

#still can't believe this is real life LMAO #the passenger #kyle gallner #johnny berchtold #i really feel like that bald cat #also yes my instagram handle is italiandracula it's a mbmbam bit lmao

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andrabeets · 2 months ago

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Dandori Downpour - A Pikmin 4 Dating Sim - May 24th Development Blog

Welcome to the third installment of the Rescue Corps/Pikmin 4 Dating Sim development blog! A weekly "news letter" where I will discuss my progress on the dating simulator. I was too excited so I posted this on Saturday instead of Sunday! Forgive me....

Two weeks ago, I asked you which character are you most excited for? The winner is....

Yonny!

Here's a preview of Yonny's look and his medbay! Within Renpy!

Previous Development Blog Character Creator Showcase

I get the hype around Yonny, I know he has been a fan favorite since Pikmin 4's release!

Obviously... You all know who my favorite character is hehe.

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What has been done these last two weeks?

Yonny's Medbay

Most of Yonny's Sprites

Rendering Russ' Sprites

Finished Collin's Rough Draft

Began Russ' second draft in Twine

Some of you know that I had a big work deadline this past Friday! Well, I kind of found out it has extended to next week so hopefully I can get more done??

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Russ' Route

The first route I am making assets for and implementing into the game is indeed Russ' route!

I love his route a lot and I am happy to say that asset creation is about 70% done! Which of course, backgrounds, character sprites, etc will be used in other routes. That means everyone's routes get a little bit of progress with each art asset made.

I have yet to begin doing CGs, which unfortunately will be very time consuming. Russ' route has 3 planned CGs, one of them being complex (I cannot go into why~ But every character has a least 1-2 of these "complex" CGs)

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POLL TIME!

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Sorry that this was a short one! I feel like I've said most of what I needed to say in the first two!

Thanks for reading this weeks newsletter! Stay curious!~

andrabeets / Cherie <333

#pikmin #pikmin 4 #dandori downpour #andra posting #development update #renpy #erma shepherd #captain shepherd #collin pikmin #russ pikmin #yonny pikmin #dingo pikmin #bernard pikmin #dating sim #fan game #nintendo #also don't know whether to make the subtitle “a rescue corps dating sim” or “a pikmin 4 dating sim” cuz like... rescue corps is vague #pikmin 4 is like.. oh yeah i know that

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mayakern · 15 days ago

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hi maya & co, can i please ask about what the current deal is with the lace cardigans?? i pre-ordered one when i bought my monarch skirt when those dropped, and i haven't seen/received any updates about them yet, and it's ENTIRELY possible that i just missed something, but i wanted to double check and be sure, i'm very excited about the cardigan and hope that they're still on track to get shipped out

yes they are still on track for shipping in september! all preorder updates get posted to the preorder timeline which is linked in the main menu of the store: (if there are significant updates we also post to socials/make a newsletter)

in general, with preorders unless there are unexpected delays there is usually not much news to impart for at least 7ish weeks after preorders close, so no news is usually good news.

it takes about 2 months for our clothes to get made and shipped from our factory. it used to be those two months included getting the product booked into our warehouse but with all the tariff nonsense, everyone in customs is confused and things are going much slower and that can add anywhere between 2 days and 3 weeks. it’s honestly infuriating 🤦‍♀️

#ask #store

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librarycards · 1 year ago

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hello everyone, and welcome to quarter 2 of my favorites of 2024 list! if you're new, hi, i do book recs all the time, but have been doing them quarterly for recent reads for the last couple years. (I also have a free newsletter where i recommend media every month.)

this was an amazing 3 months for books and i had to make a bunch of very tough choices. very excited to share the results (in no particular order) with you!

Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe, Thunder Song

Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

Jeff VanderMeer, Dead Astronauts

Evelyn Berry, Grief Slut

Seth Dickinson, The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Claire Oshetsky, Poor Deer

Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot

Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Heart

Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, & Mike Merryman-Lotze, eds, Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire

as always, i tagged people who expressed interest/who i think may be interested, but feel free to post yours (or not) any time and then tag me, mutuals or not. i love seeing what people are reading. you can also find me on goodreads (and my soon-to-be-populated storygraph that so far only has my book on it haha).

tagging!

@discworldwitches @osmanthusoolong @lesbianlizzybennet @sawasawako @fluoresensitive

@sadhoc @campgender @capricornpropaganda @lostrosegarden @trans-axolotl

@flameswallower @mxunsmiley @heavenlyyshecomes @myalgias @gracebriarwoodwrites

@rebel-gets-wise @r00tvegetables @ghost-shepherdess @liefdesbriefjes @felgueirosa

@mr-saavik @nahitsjustme @podcastlesbian @fatehbaz @punkkwix

@materialisnt @oddmerit @growtiredofpublicvulnerability @passerea @closet-keys

@abstractlesbian @querxus @thepixiediaries @boykeats @candiedsmokedsalmon and anyone who wants to!!

#book rec #sorry if i missed anyone! i was trying to combine the ppl who interacted w the post #with the people i already tend to tag #consider yourself tagged if you happen to want to do it!#mine

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puckpocketed · 8 months ago

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Trying to absorb everything there is to know about ice hockey within the shortest amount of time possible really does strange things to a person. You come up against questions such as what do defensemen even do aside from skate backwards and do tummy time to protect their goalie? (Broadcasts aren’t the most informative) What the hell makes defensemen effective? What do the casters mean when they say “gap”? What are defensive details?

I love watching games back, I love trying to understand the game. I love hockey <3 But sometimes it’s nice to have help, and sometimes my favourite writers/podcasters collaborate!!

Here is part 1/3 of a podcast mini-series about defending, putting it here so I can have a copy of it in case it ever gets taken down + wanted to share with everyone some of my findings! (All episodes are available if anyone just wants to listen to them!) Transcript + edits done by me, all mistakes are mine.

Published 6th November 2024, Hockey IQ Podcast: Modern Defensemen (with Will Scouch) Ep #1 - by Hockey's Arsenal, hosted by Greg Revak (apple / spotify / youtube / bonus substack link)

part 2

[START Transcript]

Greg Revak: On the Hockey IQ Podcast today, we open up a new segment: we’re bringing back our favourite Will Scouch. If you’re on the Hockey IQ Newsletter you know his work by now.

Will, good morning. Earlier than most of us probably normally get up, but it’s a good day.

Will Scouch: Yeah, Greg, thanks for having me, it’s a lot of fun. Me and Greg go way back. We’re boys from years ago and I’m excited to hop on the show. I’m a keen listener, keen reader.

[They exchange pleasantries]

GR: Beautiful. Well, today we’re gonna talk about three concepts. We’re gonna break it into three spots though, so everyone’s gotta come back next week and the week after that.

We’re gonna talk about defensemen, because everyone knows they’re important but how do we actually play the position well?

WS: Yeah, I mean, it’s a position that’s still, to me, being explored; both by, I’d say youth and junior coaches and pro coaches alike. There’s a lot of different ways that you can do it.

I mean, I watch a lot of hockey from around the world, all kinds of different levels. I’ve watched guys develop from 15 to 24 at this point, and just seeing how their games evolve and everything, and how effective various versions of this position is. And I think it’s a very interesting area that’s still being explored in a lot of really interesting ways, for sure.

GR: Yeah, I think back to David Savard; he comes out of the [QMJHL] as this high-flying offensive defenseman, and if we just forgot about the rest of his career and you just saw him today as this great shutdown, defense-first player, you’d be absolutely shocked.

I mean, you think about Rasmus Dahlin — kid didn’t even play full time defenseman until his actual draft year, he was still playing forward a ton. There’s so much to be explored here.

I feel like [to get a lot of] — for you NHL fans — to get a lot of value in the later rounds out of your defensemen, take those offensive players first, and we can find a lot of hidden gems later.

WS: Well, yeah. I mean, actually, I’ve said this a few times but your listeners probably don’t know, but I did a presentation during the pandemic at the Ottawa Hockey Analytics Conference about this topic exactly; how, when you look at the numbers and the defensive value of players in the NHL, I found that there were just as many in the top 50 defensive value of players in the NHL, there were just as many undrafted players as there were second round picks, second and third round picks combined.

So the draft isn’t really a great historical gauge on defensive ability. Offense is a different story from defensive players, which we could probably get into a little bit.

But I find, personally, that evaluating defensemen and projecting defense to the NHL is still really spotty and questionable. And I don’t know, in my line of work, watching a lot of defensemen, a lot of the ones who I think are some of the better defenders kind of go a little unheralded, because a lot of the time you don’t need to be particularly noticeable to be a good defenseman, but scouts are always looking for the noticeable guys.

So it’s a very interesting world and it’s a very interesting thing to pick through, but there’s definitely a lot of case studies you could dig into, and a lot of players you could look at as cases of, “Oh yeah, nobody was really paying a whole lot of attention to them!” or maybe people were thinking about them the wrong way. But if you think about things a little bit outside the box, you might be able to see something really interesting there.

GR: Yeah, so let's dive into why that may be. Classic example would be Lane Hutson, so maybe we'll pick on him a little bit, but I definitely want to talk about Rasmus Ristolainen, because he is an interesting case study that we wrote about on the newsletter.

So where I want to start with this is just modern day defending. How are defensemen defending today versus old times? A lot of times it was the big hit, separate the head from body. The puck’s somewhere, but let's separate the head from the body, and we’ll worry about the puck later — that is going bye-bye.

Every coach I talk to now, they prefer having the puck rather than having a head on a stake. So for me, it comes back to this old saying of, “position before possession.” We're gaining body positioning, we're not so much separating head from body, but puck from player.

All right, so we've got position before possession. It's super valuable in gaining the space that you need to have first whack in a puck or put the puck where you want it, or just push it to a teammate. Just having the idea of owning space and there's no better league at this and no league that values it more than the NHL. If you don't do this well in the NHL, sooner or later, you're going to find yourself out of a job making a heck of a lot less money in a league that probably no one really cares that much about. You want to be in the show, the big lights: you have to value this more than anything.

And this is actually the one thing that I noticed about Hunter McDonald. He's in the Flyers’ system now — he was an overager, but I was like, “This guy is unbelievable!” He’s a huge frame, you can’t miss him out there. He would just get the positioning before possession, and I was like, “Okay, that’s interesting, let me watch him further.”

And I feel like he’s going to be one of those bottom of the lineup guys who, unlikely, made it out of being an overager in the [United States Hockey League], going to college for a few years, but has those little details of a defenseman that you see in modern day play, which is positioning overall, which is an NHL trait to the nth degree.

WS: No, I know. I think I would definitely agree. Those are the players that are always really, really fascinating to me because you look at a guy like Hunter McDonald and the production just isn't amazing. But it doesn't — to me, when you look at defensemen, it almost doesn't really matter. That's kind of a very secondary-slash-bonus style of thing that comes with a player.

I see a lot of defenders every year and it seems like a thing where a lot of them, maybe at the lower levels, there is a little bit more of that “separate the head from the body”-type of player. And I think there are NHL scouts who still gravitate towards those guys but, at the end of the day when it all comes out in the wash, it's a lot of the time the guys that are kind of, I hate to say ”boring”, but just very effective, and just they're always in a good position.

The guy I always reference as a young defenseman who, I think, is just a really, really high-end defensive guy is Kaiden Guhle in Montreal. We're going to talk a little bit about Lane Hutson in a second, but Kaiden Guhle is a guy who, when he was in the junior level, just played such a great, balanced style of defense.

He was a good skater, but he had really good length. He was a guy who didn't just lay the body every single time, but he certainly could if he needed to. It was about his lateral mobility, it was about tracking rushes, keeping inside the dot lines, and preventing chances from inside and leading with his stick, but then finishing with the body if he had the opportunity or the need to do so. And he seemed to have a really good read of just how to do his job really, really well.

And so that's been a lesson for me for sure. He was a really interesting case study a few years ago, and he's become a pretty solid NHL defenseman. I mean, on a team this year that’s kind of struggling defensively I think he’s been one of the brighter spots on that defense group there, [he’s] doing a pretty good job at least suppressing chances against.

GR: I don’t watch as much as you do, prospects, but Guhle I did catch. For me, the play style wasn’t very good. He had elements of it, you could see the flashes, but he was just really brash. His decision making and his reads were quite poor. But the tools were there, and it was like, “Can he adjust?” Which I think he’s done a phenomenal job [of], and I think Montreal is probably the perfect place for him to develop a lot of that.

So I think you're spot on like, “Okay, how does he actually apply?“ Having assets is one thing, having the tools is one thing, but how do we properly apply those assets, those tools that you have in a good way? So I think another piece, for me, is if you do have the speed, is just making sure that you're controlling speed and then you're also keeping small gaps.

And just knowing with my high school team that no one knows what a gap is, let's define that real quick, which is: the difference in space between the forwards and the defensemen. So the space in between, “How much space are you [allowing]?” in hockey term slang. It's underneath you versus on the other side, which is above you or behind you. So, “How much space, what's that gap between D and O?”

(Editor’s note: He says O instead of F here, I assume because the person attacking isn’t always a forward. As in, “How much space between the defenseman and offenceman?”)

So you got the speed, shrink that gap as much as possible. Don't give them the space to operate or work in, or, I even call it the space to think, which [it often becomes] for forwards, especially unsophisticated ones.

WS: Yeah, I mean, that's really the bread and butter of a lot of the position. It's so much of this, like you said, gap control. I actually just did a bit of video work for a really high end player, [an] NHL draft pick playing in Sweden this year, who is producing really well.

But in terms of the defending side of the game, he's not the most incredible skater you've ever seen, he's not the biggest guy in the world. And a big thing that I noticed, that even at the professional level that was kind of a bit of a work in progress, was that gap management. Especially because the footwork wasn't amazing, [he was] keeping his feet a little too stationary, gliding backwards and sort of allowing that gap.

And when you watch the NHL that's the point of the whole exercise, watching the NHL and how they play. Forwards are fast and they're smart, largely. The guys who can score are the guys who know how to get through soft defensive pressure, the guys who know how to find lanes and cross up defensemen, and if you don't have the footwork or the mobility or the reach or all of it — all of the above — to track all that and manage it, then it's going to be a lot tougher to do your job.

But the interesting thing, though, is that there's a lot of different ways that you can get defensive jobs done. That's always been very interesting to me; seeing how different players approach the position in different ways and seeing the efficacy of that come out in the wash, and how their offense balances with their defensive ability. It's a very interesting world to dig into, for sure.

GR: Yeah, I think you've got a rabbit hole there. You just kind of opened up around defensive skating. What do clean feet look like? What does defensive posture look like, that actually allows you to have that kind of mobility?

So we'll leave that for another day. If anyone wants to go check it out on the Hockey IQ Newsletter, they can do so. Just look up defenseman skating development. We've got two good pieces there talking about building and maintaining defensive posture and keeping clean feet, which — actually massive base for anyone.

It allows you to have the proper gap that allows you to kill plays early, and ultimately, it's a lot about just controlling speed. You don't want McDavid building up to full speed. You don't want MacKinnon building up to full speed. You don't want anyone coming up to you at full speed. It's very hard to maintain that kind of speed going backwards [that we] even generate in the first place.

How do you kill it early? How do you get a hand on someone? Or, my favorite example is just proper pivoting. A guy dumps a puck on you, how are you going back? What does that pivot look like?

I'll let you open that up because at the NHL it's almost too good, where you can't see what a bad example looks like, but you can see it's everywhere.

WS: Yeah, I mean, it's a make or break skill in the NHL. It's where a lot of defensemen die. I mean, it's a cliche at this point to talk about pucks in deep, to talk about [getting] pucks deep in the offensive zone, get below the goal line, dump and chase. People make fun of dump-and-chase kind of stuff. But if your team is built to do it, you can do it.

You can take advantage of defensemen in the NHL who just don't have the speed or the agility or the skating ability that some of your forwards might have. It is a lot easier to skate forwards than it is to skate backwards. That's just, you know, anecdotal, but also pretty factual — you're naturally going forwards.

I think an interesting trend that you're seeing a little bit more of [is] what they would call ‘scooting’. You're the coach; I don't know if that's exactly what the terminology would be, but [it’s getting] your defensemen in the neutral zone, kind of pinching a little bit more and having them skate forwards, tracking play towards the boards.

So it's not necessarily that they're doing their backwards crossovers, it's not necessarily that they're entirely skating backwards, but you see guys who are really talented skaters or do have a lot of quickness driving play to the boards in a more aggressive way than having the play in front of them. It's about them sort of tracking that play laterally, which is an interesting thing I think you're seeing more of now.

I think there are definitely coaches and systems that love to play their defensemen more that way, and the weak side defense can sort of fill between the dot lines for them and sort of leave the weaker side of the ice a little bit more open. That's kind of what I mean. There's a lot of different ways to achieve these kinds of goals, and I think you're seeing a lot of different things popping up to adapt to this.

In situations where you have a dump and chase or something like that, or just getting pucks in deep or whatever you say, when you have a defenseman who has trouble with their footwork and turning around… Trust me, I'm a defenseman, when I play hockey, I strap on the skates — I play defense myself and that's where I fall apart, when I do fall apart. Which is often. But definitely, when play turns around and I’ve got to change directions or change my area of flow, it can be tricky. And in the NHL, I can only imagine how tricky it can be there.

GR: Yeah. I mean, a good pivot you're looking at three steps total, like boom-boom-bam and you're there. You watch an amateur game and it could be like five, six, seven, eight chops before [they] finally get going and [it’s] looking like a proper forward stride again. [Or just] getting into a good defensive posture and positioning. It's total scramble mode.

A big one for me, too, is just the direction that you pivot. Do you wait for that offensive player to commit to their lane? It's just a great defensive habit in general, letting the offenceman make the first move. If you're making the first move, you're the one showing your cards. It's kind of like showing your cards first in Poker.

Let them make the decision and then you can pivot into them. Now you can get that position before possession, or at least get a chip on them, slow them down. You can either make it easier for yourself or your partner. So one, there's the clean footwork on the pivot, and two is making sure that we're controlling the speed and we're pivoting properly in the direction that we want to pivot.

There's a ton of times where I see, especially the lower levels, players coming up, they're in a bad spot, they're skating forward, defenseman skating backwards and they just chip it off the boards. And the defenseman is like a dog just following the puck and it ends up in the middle of the ice where the forward actually went. Again, the NHL is the best at this so it's really hard to see bad examples of pivoting into and controlling the space of the opponent.

WS: Yeah. I do a lot of work outside the NHL, and the biggest thing I notice is not necessarily the number of chops it takes, but the amount of time. You can see guys taking two seconds, maybe more, to get themselves turned around, tracking pucks below the goal line.

To me hockey is a game of milliseconds a lot of the time, right? I was working with someone years ago who really shared the idea with me that, in the NHL, generally goals are not scored if you have the puck on your stick for more than either half a second or a second.

I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's so fast in terms of; when you score goals in the NHL, it's when you touch the puck for a very short amount of time in the offensive zone and get a puck on net. And so, if you have guys who take too long — and “too long” might not be very long… If the difference is relatively short at the time you're making those pivots or those changes, but the [opponent has] got a lot more speed than you and you're [taking more] time to then start generating that speed to match the opponent, you're in trouble.

And in my opinion, I think that you want your defensemen to be more assertive. I always fall back on the strategy of; make them make a decision, make them commit. That might imply that you do the committing first, but that's where the importance of footwork and tactics come into question.

You have to have strong support, whether it's from backchecking forwards or your partner. You want to be able to adapt to quick players who might fake one way, go another, and be able to use your stick or use your feet or both to be a factor regardless of what happens.

It's very interesting to watch defensemen play. I find it really, really interesting to see the different approaches of different players and especially how they evolve and get into the NHL.

But yeah, I mean, [it’s so pivotal], the skating ability; defensemen who can skate, it unlocks so many doors for their career. If you're an elite level skating defenseman, it just unlocks so many doors that interest me. If you're not, and if that's not a strength of your game, then it can be a big struggle, especially against faster opponents. Even if you're big and physical and pretty good throwing the body or whatever, there's a lot more of the game in the NHL these days. Very, very interesting stuff.

GR: I think that's actually the perfect segue into someone who, early in his career, threw the body too much and sold out too much on plays that he probably shouldn't: Rasmus Ristolainen.

Great case study, great case study from when [John Tortorella] started working with him to where he is now. Will, I'll send in the link here from the Hockey IQ newsletter so we can track a little bit better with each other.

I found him to be a fascinating player. High draft pick, 8th overall in 2013. Really pretty, smooth skating, big body — has all of the tools that you would traditionally say, “Yep, that checks [out].” And then you looked at his stat profile and it was just abysmal. His micro stats were terrible. I think the only thing he was good at was D-Zone Retrievals, which, being able to take contact, it was kind of an easy thing for him.

WS: Yeah. I remember watching Ristolainen when he was in junior hockey, because that was the earliest years of me being kind of curious about that side of the game, and I did not really recall that being a premier area of his game.

I remember him being big, but pretty mobile, and has some skill to play around with. He did have a bit of a physical edge to him, but it feels like it was that tail end of an era in the NHL where those big, mean, physical guys were kind of in vogue, and people were kind of curious and needing guys like that. And I guess that's what Buffalo drafted him to be.

I remember being very surprised that he was in the NHL the year he was drafted. It just did not look like it was really working out there. And Buffalo just seems to have been not a great fit for him, they kind of turned him into something that he wasn't, but I do think that he's turned into some sort of serviceable defenseman.

But he, to me, is a great example of one that I always look back on and go, “Man, what if?” Like, what if things went a little bit differently for him? Because there was good stuff there, it's just I feel like the development was focused in the wrong areas.

To me, 65% of the work [is] scouting, and developing — the easy part is drafting good players, the hard part is developing them and bringing them along into being good NHL players.

So to me, if you can find the most amount of things that get in the way of that process being easy, then you're doing a really good job. And with Ristolainen, I feel like in his case they inserted more things to make that journey more difficult and sort of turned him into something that he wasn't, which is always a scary thing for me to think about doing to a player.

But it's not over for him, obviously. He figured it out. Obviously, Tortorella found something for him to do, and he has shown a little bit better. But yeah, he's always been a what-if guy for me.

GR: I always liked how Tortorella, after the 2022-2023 season, was doing his media stuff and he was like “Yeah, he's our most improved player.” You're a guy who's getting paid big bucks — I think he was making five million plus that year, still is, probably — and even him, he was like, “I was just bad the first half. And then around Christmas break, I started getting going. The second half was much better.”

Basically, the first half, they were just trying to rebuild his defensive game, and this is true for anything. Zach Benson's another good example of this. If you can't play defense in the NHL, you're going to be out quick. Benson can play defense despite being — I think they list them at five foot 10, but there's no way.

WS: Yeah, no, no. I know. He's a little guy, but he's another great example of a player where I, in my work, I do not care how big you are. I just care about how you play. Even in the NHL. And I feel like Benson's a really, really good example of that; a guy who, just forechecking alone is a really… The easiest way to defend is if he can cause turnovers in the opposing team's offensive zone, a guy like Zach Benson does that extremely well.

And if he needs to track guys through the neutral zone and backcheck, he'll do it, and he does it really well, and he does it at a speed that I found to be projectable to the NHL. And again, that's another one where I was a little surprised to see him in the NHL so fast, but he didn't really look out of place there.

He's had a bit of a slow start this season, but just a really, really talented player, and one where you kind of do look at and go, “Yeah, these smaller guys can definitely defend.” They just — the expectations are a little bit higher, and maybe for good reason, but he checks all the boxes for sure.

GR: Yeah. So for Rasmus (Ristolainen), there's two big things that, when I dug into this, that Torts was working at. At this point, I was so intrigued [that] I was tracking every single time Torts spoke and Rasmus spoke to the media. So I was like, “I wonder what they're actually doing?” Which, Torts can be tight-lipped, but he gives it away if you follow long enough.

The big one was just inside, like too much, he was finding himself, Rasmus was finding himself on the outside. So whether that be outside the dots, outside on bad ice, for whatever reason, or just finding yourself outside, like losing defensive side positioning to the offensive player.

If you finish contact, but now you're on the wall and your player's got to step to the net, that's trouble. There's a great, great clip the other night featuring, I think it was (Aliaksei) Protas [who] ended up scoring the goal and K’Andre Miller of the New York Islanders. So Caps — Rangers, not Islanders — Rangers… Where [Miller] went in soft, didn't really take positioning, got beat back to net, and Protas just put out a stick and just tapped it in, Igor Shesterkin never had a chance.

A similar idea of; okay, good, maybe you got some contact, you tried to make the stop, but you still need to maintain defensive side positioning. You still need to finish on the inside. So if you're doing contact, you can't overreach.

You just can't do that. You have to stay in good positioning.

And the second piece was just, finishing with contact to get stops, like stopping movement. Offensive play is a lot about movement, and defensive play is about stopping movement, AKA getting stops. So he would maybe make a play, or get a poke check, but the puck was still moving and could be easily on the other team's stick.

So how do you make sure you're always staying in good positioning? Staying on the inside, as Torts put it. Or the other piece, which is getting stops, or finishing with contact — but smartly, not chasing the contact for contact’s sake? Being tactful in your play.

I feel like Risto really just learned how to play defense smartly. He was actually thinking and being intentional about what he was doing, rather than like, “I see a puck and a player, I'm going to go end that!” And then, boom, in the big scheme of things, it’s a net negative. Even though at the moment, it may have, especially to him — otherwise he wouldn't make the play — seemed like a positive, really it was a negative for the team.

WS: Well, that's the interesting thing too, going back to talking about junior players and the context in the draft and how defensive players might go a little bit underreported or undervalued in a sense.

I see this all the time, especially with North American defensemen, especially with Canadian ones, but there are definitely players who everybody talks about how good they are defensively, everybody talks about how solid they are. They're big, they're physical, they're mean, blah, blah, blah. But then when you watch things in detail, it's this sort of Ristolainen-style thing. You're talking about K’Andre Miller where it's like, they're along the boards, they're doing the thing along the boards, but they're losing.

They're allowing guys to get low on them, get through them, and even in the junior level, right? What good is it if you're trying to pin a guy against the boards and they give you a little shove, crouch down a little bit, chip the puck three feet out from you, you don't adapt to that, they get three feet of space on you, throw it out in front of the net, and boom, you got yourself a scoring chance, right? I see that all the time.

It's the focus on the body and not focus on the turnover, turning that possession back over, that really seems to be a tough lesson for a lot of defensemen to get over. I find that a lot of defensemen from the age of 18 to 23, in the grand scheme of things, their style of play doesn't drastically shift all that often.

And so, when I see things like that happening, I'm going, okay, I gotta either hope that this guy puts in the time in the gym and becomes, just, a strength nut, and pins that guy to the boards so they can't do anything, or they figure out a way to get into those situations, take a step back, chip at the puck. Really battle for the puck rather than focus on the guy.

Because I've seen it so many times with guys who are bigger and more physical, they apply it in a way where I feel like coaches will go, “Wow, look at you go, you're playing hard, you're playing the thing!” But then they escape, this opponent might escape, and create a little bit of space for themselves. And again, this is a game of inches, it's a game of a couple of feet, and every inch matters.

So in some cases, yeah, you get those situations where guys like Ristolainen, yeah, you're doing the thing, people clip the hits, people clip the physical play, but then five seconds later, someone's got some space on you and they generate a scoring chance. And so what do you really value, right? Personally, fewer scoring chances would be ideal.

GR: I love it. Last piece to wrap this up, because I think it'll go well into our next piece, which is point play. Shorting the zone.

I was able to find some phenomenal clips and do some photos of this for the newsletter. But the concept of; if you're watching a game in the NHL, if you can see all five of the people trying to break the puck out, low in the zone… A lot of it, you think about the NHL today, is like a swarm. We're going to do close support. I'm going to try to crowd the puck out.

A good way to respond to that is to short the zone, which basically means your defensemen, instead of hanging out at the blue line, are going to go into the offensive zone. And they're going to start with small gaps, they're going to be [at the] top of the circles, if not a little bit lower.

Tortorella is another big fan of this, so you can see it with the Flyers a lot, too. I would say [Sheldon] Keefe is another example of a coach who does this a ton. So you saw a lot in Toronto, now you'll see a lot more in New Jersey, which is the perfect d-core to make all of this work. So I think Devils are going to be good for — that's going to be a great fit.

But just the idea of crowding in the space, setting small gaps, so when you do start defending, you can either cut a play off early — it's an easy pinch there if you don't have to go very far — you can cut it off. Or, 2; create a turnover in a much better spot than what is in your own zone. Why not make it in the o-zone? So from a positioning standpoint, phenomenal place to start, good way to kill plays early.

Before they can get going, before the team can build speed, and just being able to put yourself in a good spot to take advantage both from a defensive standpoint, but offensive standpoint.

WS: Yeah, I love when I see this being deployed. I think, again, I'm a geek, like I'm a math guy, and even just thinking about the numbers here, it makes such a difference if you think about it.

The offensive zone from blue line to goal line is 64 feet. So you're looking at the difference between a guy standing at the blue line being maybe 75 feet from the net or at the top of the face-off circle where you might be 20 feet closer, maybe 20, 25 feet closer. So you're cutting down the time at which you give the defense to adapt, the goaltender to adapt. You're cutting that time down by a third-ish, a quarter to a third. I'm ballparking here, but that automatically is just based on where you are on the ice.

If you can compress the offensive zone on your opponent, you're laughing. The second thing I wanted to mention here is this is, again, why skating ability and quickness and speed are so important to me. Because it is objectively a better position to be in when you're in that position — closer to the top of the face-off circles for your defensemen.

But if you do have a situation where the opponent has possession of the puck you have to get set up, you have to cover that gap, you have to cover for yourself, or you have to have some sort of system in place where a winger can cover for you if you're caught in the offensive zone. Ideally, you have your defensemen who can wheel up, get some speed going, get positioned well to counter that attack, and have a system that can swarm whoever has that puck in the offensive zone.

I think it's a really interesting trend for sure. It's a simple little thing, it's a concept that you see definitely a lot more now than you used to, but I'm all about it. It just makes sense mathematically, and it plays into exactly the styles of player that I always look for: guys who do pinch a little bit more aggressively, but have the mobility and the skating ability to cover for themselves.

I would rather have a player who tries something creative, or tries some sort of play that could lead to a high scoring chance, but may relinquish some space on the ice, but has the ability to cover for themselves.

And I can at least as a coach, rely on them — not that I'm a coach — but rely on them to cover for themselves. To go, okay, I can rely on them to try these things, because I know that if it doesn't maybe go their way, which happens in hockey all the time, I'm not going to be upset at this player, but I know that I want them to backcheck, cover for it, because I know they're capable of it.

I think that that's sort of the trade off that you have to live with, but I'm totally cool with it.

GR: All right, so we're going to call this end of the day on some modern day defending, and we'll pick up on point play in episode two.

[END Transcript.]

part 2 <- convenient link at the bottom <3

#puck!script #puck!research #p!res:defenders #proud of this one. took ages and definitely not perfect but very important to me !! <3 #please read if you have an interest in dmen and understanding dmen... there's a few mentions of specific NHL players ->#rasmus ristolainen #<- features heavily here. there's a lot of flyers talk actually and I found it super interesting!!#Parts 2 + 3 transcribing... soonish. as soon as I get a bit more time on my hands.

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olderthannetfic · 10 months ago

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hi hello. im a fandom nerd and i got my bachelors in psychology with a thesis on fandom and parasocial relationships. i found out today that you were on the ao3 board for a while and, im so sorry to say, i also thought you were francesca coppa for a couple minutes. BUT ANYWAY! researching fandom for me was mostly holding back tears of happiness and excitement over the fact that its an actual research topic. i spent months reading books and articles on fandom and i loved every second of it. and the fact that you helped create such an immense part of fandom is honestly smth i cant thank u enough for.

thanks to fandom research, im now pursuing a masters in digital humanities and hopefully ill be able to keep researching fandom because theres nothing else id rather do. that said, im a fairly new acafan and reading your blog weekly like its a newsletter has been very helpful to get a grasp on global fandom discourse in real time lol

theres so much more i could say but im gonna keep it short cause i dont know how nerdier im gonna get over this. so, thanku for your work and for the blessing that is this blog

LOLOLOL. People are forever mistaking me for Francesca. There was this hilarious moment once where I bounced up to her at a con to tell her about my latest meta I planned to write... and she was like "I just finished writing a book chapter on that." It was something specific. Like really, really specific. We were both riffing off of Halperin's How to be Gay, and it wasn't even that recent a book. I just about died laughing.

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pauking5 · 2 months ago

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⋆✴︎˚｡�� Updates, spoilers and more ☽｡⋆

hello world! it's been a while...

i know you may be sick of my little updates, trickled in from time to time, but i felt the need to give you a bigger update, kind of like a catch-up since i've become a little bit of a stranger around here. the last thing i put out on here was wayyyyy back in december, so here are my humble apologies for that. there's been so much in the works since then, writing wise, real life wise, among career epiphanies, and what not. soooo, in true me fashion, i feel the need to be a loose mouth about it all to you, my dear lovelies who have stood by my side even in the darkest of times, lighting my way with your presence and kind words. you have no idea how you lit up my world by simply saying a quick hello.

there is loads i've been asked about, that i may or may not have touched on in the amazing sweet asks i've been getting - surprisingly popping up every time i opened a draft to work on something - be it about current ongoing works, special projects or requests that are still pending on my list (fret not), all of them waiting patiently for their turn to be completed. i won't reveal everything right now, but there is a good chunk of stuff in this mini letter that should keep you sated until things actually start leaving my drafts pretty soon. plus, i'm thinking of making these letters a thing from time to time, just so you don't miss me too much when i'm down in the writing cave for too long.

this mini ginormous packed up newsletter is your unofficial teaser to everything i have in the works at the moment and whereabouts i am sitting on it all right now. from chapters you've been waiting for, to some surprises i've been holding off on sharing. and if you're curious enough and read the whole thing, there's some stuff that's been happening in my life lately right at the end.

all i ask is that you keep these to yourself. you're welcome to take inspiration out of my work, but please give credit. please don't reproduce my work anywhere else, because i put a lot of my life, my time and energy into my work. i encourage you to build your own worlds and stories, but not at the cost of the theft of someone else's work, sweat and tears.

so, now you're welcome to just sit back, relax, have a drink close by or a snack, and enjoy this newsletter of every single little thing coming your way very soon.

all my love to you.

☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Addicting Taste .𖥔 ݁ ˖

Chapter 12 - Monsters & Chapter 13 - The Reckoning

: ̗̀➛ These two are the sister chapters to the rest of what's happening down in the pit and outside of it. Down in the pit, Miyu starts her descent into the den of vipers for her first fight. She's fighting inner demons and dark temptations all throughout, and a twist in the game makes her weigh all the possibilities in her hand, trying to decide whether she should keep the light of hope alive and wait for salvation, or take the dark way out of it. She sees the struggles of these girls, she hurts for them, she fights for them, even when her own pain is so colossal and on the brink of breaking through every barrier she's ever put up to keep the darkness at bay. But let me tell you, I was so excited for that darkness to finally break through, because I wanted to write Barairo for so long. You felt her calling. You felt her crawling. And now she's finally awakening. That little demon has been calling to me too, silently pleading for a little attention, and I just had to give it to her. But I will zip it about this now.

: ̗̀➛ In Enishi's eyes, the world is a dark, desolate, cold place in these chapters. He's dealing with losing yet another beacon of hope to the darkness of the world, which has also become a part of his routine, his plans, his mayhem, and a part of himself; he's facing the repercussions of the blind trust he's given to a brother in arms that's been at his side for years, he's trying to find answers to the swarm of questions rising with Miyu's disappearance, he's trying to piece together what the Triads are planning, all whilst moving through one of the worst storms he's ever encountered in his life.

Chapter 12 was delayed for so long because I wanted to dive in deeper and draw on every single emotion our dear mophead was feeling. The ache for the light that made his life find meaning and purpose again and it disappearing all too soon, how it affects him, how it drives him to do irreversible things. Endless days and nights I spent sitting with him, his pain, his contradicting feelings, his innate coldness, his morals, his rules, everything that makes up him.

It was frustrating, lord it really was. But I couldn't just leave it like it was when I knew that there was something there, way beneath the surface of how I've been writing him, that I needed to bring out. Something laying dormant at the core of his psyche, waiting to be unleashed. Weeks turned into months and I kept going at his scenes over and over again, just analyzing, unpacking his character makeup, rewriting, polishing, scraping off, rewriting again, and when I least expected it, something really magical happened and what I was looking for finally came to me. The heart wrenching feeling of being lost, the grief that's been shoved down too deep, too rough, too much, the questions that had no apparent answers, it all caught new sense, new life.

The way he copes with this storm, braves it, and moves forward is so cathartic, and something that's helped me move past my own storm, one that's been holding me captive for months.

What happens in this chapter and the next ones is just pure magic to me. Both of them are changing and evolving, and the only reason I had to give this story more time was because I wanted to give it justice for how big and important it became to me.

: ̗̀➛ These chapters also explore how deep the Snake's involvement with the Triads goes, who is actually behind the girls getting taken, and the appearance of a new opponent that may or may not ruin any chance at peace for Miyu and Enishi for a long time coming. There's secret organizations making moves, many new bonds of trust forged, some broken beyond repair, others looking for forgiveness, and a new sense of belonging and unity and strength unlike anything those two have ever felt. There's so much young love pouring in from so many sides and I know you'll love the softness once we're past the heavy downpour of angst.

: ̗̀➛ I finally gave myself creative freedom to step out of the box of how fanfiction is usually written, to capture the essence of this story in greater depth. I'm talking bigger plot, higher stakes, and better writing that doesn't sound like stage directions. Writing that let me breathe life into this story. Writing that let me feel this world and pour more into it's soul.

: ̗̀➛ One thing I loved whilst working on these two chapters was how deep I delved into the fascinating rabbit holes of history. I pulled on my plot thread, built a mental board of what has happened so far and what's coming next, and started weaving in the finer details - real locations, myths, ancient stories of the samurai, real Japanese history and culture - everything that makes this story catch body and soul in my visual brain. I've learnt so much about things, read books on clans, articles on wild things kept somewhat of a secret from wider knowledge, and researched my socks off about every little detail that makes it all the more special to me.

: ̗̀➛ I am working on both of these chapters simultaneously, which is another reason why it's all been taking so damn long. The first part of Chapter 12 is at about 50% written and edited, the rest is literally just in my notes waiting to be organized for the second half. She is my current priority to finalise. Chapter 13 is the more rowdy sister that's been firing scenes and ideas at me on and on, so expect it to follow not too long after Chapter 12 is published, God willing. Another thing is that they are both long. Chapter 12 itself, as it sits now at around 40k + does not appear that long, but it is monumentally long. Don't you worry, it will not be cut down. I know you guys like the long chapters so it's all for you to enjoy. I am trying my best to finish it, because the first half of it was the longest and most challenging part of it to write, and I am slowly diving into the second half, but hopefully you'll get it very soon.

: ̗̀➛ Everything else coming from AT is relatively shorter (still in the 25-30k baseline, don't worry), full of love, heartache, betrayal, and so much spice it's been driving me mad reading it all alone. I hope you're still excited for this story. I know it's gone so many directions since it started, but I'm here for the long ride and I plan on giving it my all. I've grown with this story and the characters, and it's too close to my heart to go forgotten.

: ̗̀➛ This is also where I tell you Addicting Taste will be longer than 20 chapters :) Happy renewal lol.

・❥・Spoiler Line ・❥・

Chapter 12 - Monsters: heavy angst, betrayal, a little death, and apocalyptic levels of yearning.

Favorite scenes: The intro, Scene 3 - The Drawing.

Favorite songs in the playlist: Castle - Halsey, Animal - PVRIS, Ruelle - Find You, Storm - Lifehouse, Atlantic - Sleep Token, Paint It Black - Ciara, Hurricane - Thirty Seconds To Mars.

Chapter 13 - The Reckoning: alliances, chaos, mayhem, and a touch of deadly violence.

Favorite scene: The Awakening Scene

Favorite songs in the playlist: Afterlife - Evanescence, Heavy Is The Crown - Daughtry, Somebody to die for - Hurts.

Chapters 14, 15, 16: recovery, secrets, stormy waters, newfound family, pure rage, love letters and declarations.

Favorite scenes: drunken confessions, the blue rose, the bonfire, the hill.

Favorite songs in the playlists: Gimme A Minute - PVRIS, killer - FKA twigs, Unsteady - X Ambassadors, Holding On and Letting Go - Ross Copperman, Brave Shine - Aimer, Surrender - Natalie Taylor, Kiss Me - Ed Sheeran.

☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ

❀࿐ Runaway ❀࿐

Chapter 6 - Seaside Venture & Chapters 7 + 8 - The Tokyo Match & More

Runaway has been a constant work in progress in my calendar ever since I started working on it late 2023. There's a lot that's still to come, and some stuff I might have touched on already in previous updates, but take this one as a comprehensive look ahead. Though even these little snippets don't comprise the weight of what's really in the cards, I thought it would be nice to give you a summary of what's going on, in case you forgot, and a little heads up about what's coming.

Once again, my deepest apologies for leaving you stranded on the beach back in October. Though I'm sure you didn't mind that 🤭

❀ Chapter 6 - Seaside Venture

You know where we left off in October, and I can tell you you're not ready for the coming ride. It's packed with action on and off track, sizzling chemistry and new challenges that can make or break things in the long run. But most importantly, it is hot, steamy and full of dirt (no pun intended).

: ̗̀➛ We've left off in beautiful Shirahama, where Naozumi and Raiko ran away to escape the pressures of racing life and the weight of promotional punishments. They're taking a day off their busy schedules to do some sightseeing for the rest of their trip. Since Naozumi's phone is normally turned off in vacay mode, and he took Raiko's phone away too, they have no way of contacting anyone outside this little town. They're stuck together on the island of tension building between them, and while one of them finds the situation absolutely irritating, the other revels in the warm rays of sunshine and makes use of the time to dig for some information. This whole escapade turns into a truth contest with how much gets revealed by both, and it kind of cements where their relationship lies. For now.

: ̗̀➛ Despite being against this trip at the beginning of the road, Raiko tries to enjoy the sights and let loose for a while. What she doesn't expect is how surprisingly fast some of her curiosities are getting satisfied one by one, receiving answers to questions she's had about her trip companion before she even asks them. But she's not the only one unveiling layers. Naozumi is also seeing a different Raiko that he's never expected to discover under all that competition pressure, one that's more free and less responsible with no distractions around, that he happens to find a lot in common with. They're talking, walking around town, doing a little bonding, and sharing a meal together that brings up a lot of new cards on the table. Cards of suspicion, questionable unspoken trust, and a sense of homeliness and magnetism that's new and strange to both of them, but continues to pull them in regardless.

: ̗̀➛ This one is spread in two parts - the seaside venture and the consequences of the real world - all in one. It covers what happens not just in Shirahama, but back on the road, and as they arrive back home in Tokyo. Will they still be rivals after this trip or will things drift more lightly between them from now on? Who knows. What I do know is that there is chemistry, banter, and little moments of serenity and calm because there's a thunderstorm that lifts grey clouds up in the sky after this trip. Clouds that are not just there yet, hanging low on the deep blue horizon. But they are coming and they bring wreckage with them.

: ̗̀➛ Though this is a dual pov chapter, it leans a bit more towards Naozumi's perception of Raiko and things he unknowingly stumbles upon that kind of alter his first impression of her. He finds out more about her family, what fuels her drive to race and the need to make her father proud, and what she's really like when she feels comfortable in her element. We also get a bit of his backstory here, and why Shirahama is such an important place for him. I fell in love with his character even more while writing this chapter so expect to see it in the writing *wink wink*.

: ̗̀➛ This one sits at about 65% written. I am writing and editing when I'm working on it to speed up the process, but seeing some action movies and the Fast saga on tv recently has definitely got me back in the excitement for it. If you couldn't tell by the many hints already, one of the many inspirations for this story was this movie saga because I grew up with it. The very first movie I remember ever seeing when young has to have been 2 Fast 2 Furious, and Suki has been one of the influences going into Raiko's character. Any other inspirations on this project came from my passion for everything car related, from growing up surrounded by mechanics and drivers, all passionate about a motorsport or two, to watching Formula 1 in my free time. Runaway also has this feel of a late 2000s/ early 2010s story, not just from the playlists, but from how everything concerning visuals is wired in my head to the wild scenery and characters walking the earth back then, how scandalous racing actually used to be, and the whole aesthetic of it in terms of fashion, car mods and the pretty lavish, exclusive and high adrenaline lifestyle of a driver. The DJ part is all a dream I've always had growing up that I might never see through in this life, and it felt right to add it to Raiko's character, since racing and music go hand in hand for her.

: ̗̀➛ Little birdies told me that I'm not the only one watching Overdrive and expecting Raiko to pop up on screen out of nowhere, so let me just say this means the world to me to hear. So I'm putting it out with the gods up there that we need Mackenyu to put on those fireproofs one more time for an Overdrive reboot.

Expect Runaway to make a comeback right after Addicting Taste Chapter 12 is out of the way. I've been working on them at the same time and let me tell you, it is not fun to have two, incredibly amazing fictional men getting you hot and bothered at the same time, but it's fun times.

❀ Chapters 7 & 8 - The Tokyo Match

If you haven't caught up on the deal already, Runaway follows the rally schedule of the Seiko Cup in the movie. Homeground Tokyo is our next stop and it is nothing short of messy. There's pride at stake this time, besides the growing pressure of getting points for the Championship. There's promotional stuff to get through that fills both Naozumi and Raiko's schedules, an intense football match that I loved writing, and more tension ensuing. Also, with all the previous revelations and this match, Naozumi's plans seem to derail from their original purpose, just a notch.

There's new challenges and enemies both have to go up against, since mysterious things have been happening around the team garages that only flag up when disaster is already impending, lurking way too close to comfort. Let's just say the oil mishap back in Fuji and the loose screws were not a coincidence. More mayhem mid-race ensues, and Raiko has to carry the team to the flatline once again, though this time it takes a toll on her and her world spins out of control in the worst way possible. But someone unexpected shows up to catch her fall, and their bond strengthens even more.

These are still in the development phase, but I'm hoping to get to them very soon.

・❥・Spoiler Line ・❥・

❀ Chapter 6 - Seaside Venture

Favorite scenes: The photo wall, The Iron Man T-shirt, and Via Vedo.

Favorite song: Close to You - Gracie Abrams

❀ Chapters 7 & 8 - The Tokyo Match

Favorite scenes: The co-ed shower, the trustfall, the drive.

Favorite songs: Crash - BKAYE, Casey Cook, I'm Good (Blue) - Bebe Rexha, David Guetta.

❀ Chapters 9 & 10 - Malaysia Mayhem

Travel, competition, and tension tuned to the max. The Seiko Cup is rolling abroad for this round and just like any other race, it's bound to bring some stress with it. The land is rougher, the weather conditions are perilous, and there's even more at stake now. There's even more breakneck racing, a royal ball that sways feelings to the surface, and a raw build-up of rage and anger that culminates with a lustful night and some surprising compromises.

These two are also in the development phase.

Favorite scene: Chapter 10, The Elevator.

Though I know damn well I love everything about Chapter 10.

Favorite songs: Give Me Everything - Archer Marsh - Stripped Violin Version, Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris, Florence Welch, Believe - Cher.

Every other chapter following these is already planned, the scenes literally just waiting for me in my notes. I want to go chronologically with this one, so I'm refraining from writing ahead even more so I can catch up on actual writing.

This is also your reminder that Runaway too, will exceed 20 chapters. Plus, this is not the only thing I have been working on. Which brings me to the next announcement 📣

RUNAWAY 2: GLOBAL HEART (working title)

Roughly around October last year, I told you I had plans of writing more for Runaway. While spending all of September nitpicking Chapter 5 - The Escapade, building a Pinterest board and the character playlists even more, I had all these ideas running to me at full speed: scenes, dialogues, songs, and the amazing storyline. Two weeks. That's all it took for Runaway 2 to be born. And let me tell you, it is an epic ride.

I have been writing on this one on and off, pulling up ideas about everything I wanted in it, and how it works as a continuation of current plot. Yes, I already know how and where Runaway 1 ends and it leads right into how this one begins. Prematurely, I can tell you this one will have about 20 chapters or more, depending on how work on it goes.

I am soon to be starting actual work on it so it's ready for you once Runaway 1 finishes, whenever that is. I say whenever that is because even if I make a release schedule, my writing doesn't respect it at all. But, I am trying to get Runaway 1 concluded by the end of next year - keyword: trying - so expect this one somewhere between July-September 2026 with god's speed. I'm making no promises on this one, since I want to spend more time on Runaway 1 in the coming months, but feel free to ask about it from time to time because she arrived at a time my belief in love was at its lowest and the lover girl in me wanted to desperately evaporate, so she's become another baby I care very deeply about.

Here's your first look at Runaway 2 - Global Heart.

✧.* About the story ✧.*

Set not just in homeground Japan, but all around the world, Runaway 2 follows Naozumi's journey in the global WRC scene, and the struggles of competing against some of the best drivers in the world, all whilst trying to stay close to his roots and maintain contact with Raiko.

Back home, Raiko is trying to keep it all together as her life kind of plummets in on itself post-Seiko Cup. She's juggling new jobs, her racing career, her tumultuous friendships, and questions what she truly wants from life, and whether Naozumi wants to be a part of it for the long run. Their relationship is rocky enough through Runaway 1, but in this one it will undergo so many bumps and potholes meant to break it apart. They will crash and burn too fast. They will have to fight against their egos when none of them are willing to back down and settle. They will have to learn to go slow, to meet each other's pace even if it results in crashing out before the finish line. They will have to fight against every person, doubt and uncertainty that tries to undo their relationship. But the soft moments where they just let it all go to meet in the middle of each other's thunderstorm, that is where their bond really starts to blossom.

Old foes from the past are coming back to wreak more havoc on their lives, and one specific person holds the keys to the machines of destruction and despair that constantly try to pull them apart. But when one thing leads to another and Raiko joins Naozumi on an European escapade for the summer break between racing stages, they try to forget about all their problems and the chaos waiting at the foot of their world, to focus only on each other and spend some quality time together, trying to rekindle what's laying beneath the rubbles created by distance.

The locations, the sights, the whole story is so beautiful and it truly played like a movie in my head while I laid it all out.

We still have plenty of car action in this one. A LOT of it. From illegal races across the continent to actual car chases, big international racing events in the dunes of the scorching desert, and fun drifting sessions in the snow at the foothills of the Alps.

Man, doesn't this all sound so damn good? If only you knew this barely covers it.

And because I'm here to be a loose mouth, you also have a spoiler of the actual synopsis right here.

Stakes are higher. Love is stronger. Family is everything. But is it all enough to keep the trust unbroken, the passion burning like an eternal flame, and the great danger lurking at bay?

Also, here's five locations, seven songs, and some pictures from the board. Hope this all has got you excited!

Locations: Barcelona, Spain. Portofino, Italy. Las Vegas, Nevada. Saudi Arabia. Mount Fuji, Japan.

Songs: What I did for love - Emeli Sande, David Guetta, Euphoria - Loreen, Dive - Ed Sheeran, Now You're Gone - Basshunter, DJ Mental Theos Bazzheads, Amazing - Inna, Still Falling For You - Ellie Goulding, Apologize - One Republic.

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҉ 　Knights of the Zodiac - Wings of Steel ҉

I know I gave you a sneak peek of this one in one of the asks I received a few months ago, but for the sake of this list, here are more details.

We're here to spoil after all, aren't we?

First thing's first, I, for one, really enjoyed the movie. Yes, the storyline felt cut down and the plot felt like it was put on fast-forward, but it has a special place in my heart because that's where I first came across Mackenyu (though I have faint memories of seeing him around other projects). Even if I only discovered his tremendous ore of talent and dedication to his characters and their stories with Zoro and Enishi, Seiya does hold a piece of my heart in the palm of his hands.

So, here's what we've got on this one so far.

: ̗̀➛ It is pegasus knight x gryffin knight. This one will dive into the fantastical side of things and one of my favorite areas of history: Greek mythology. I am still looking over details, researching bits and bobs, but she's starting to catch form really nicely. We are falling away from the movie for a few chapters but it's to explore the wider world hidden beneath the loudness of the real world. I'm talking magical things - enchanted waterfalls and forests, mythical places and creatures, and good old faeries.

: ̗̀➛ Gray, our female oc in this one, is one of the most relatable characters I have ever written. I knew I would love her the minute her name came to me. She's the older sister type, really responsible, very down to earth. She leads like it's breathing. Her backstory is so full of distrust, running and hiding in the slums of the town after countless foster homes. One day, Alman happens to find her stealing something valuable, and instead of taking her to the authorities he took her in as one of his own, another daughter he's never had. Her relationship with Sienna was as close knit as ever in the beginning, until Guraad's greed broke this perfect family at the seams.

: ̗̀➛ When this perfect family breaks, and she's seen as nothing more than a guardian for her special aptitudes, Gray ups and runs away again, this time confident in her abilities to fend for herself. She's older, she's bolder and she makes a quiet life for herself in the same city Seiya fights to earn his bread, and though they never meet until it's time, they share the same cruel fate - to guard Sienna and protect her against harm. With Seiya's involvement, Gray is pulled from her normal life and thrust back into the circus of protection from which she desperately wants to get away from. But she ends up staying to help, even when the person she's guarding doesn't want her there within an inch of her sight.

: ̗̀➛ Gray and Seiya have so much in common, despite hating each other's guts at first. He's just another addition to the endless line of bodyguards who couldn't protect Sienna. Another pawn in Guraad's plans. A thorn in Gray's side most of the time. But they both know they have a common enemy and realize that joining forces is way better than fighting their own battles alone. The way they learn each other's patterns, how they train with Marin, how they go on the quest to retrieve Sienna back from Guraad's hands, all of it makes them come together, combining their powers to save what's left of their world. But chances make it so that they discover a whole other world that's been hidden from them, one that rpomises a greater adventure than they ever imagined.

Progress-wise, it's in the final stages of its development phase, though I have most of the story fleshed out and planned. The first part of this story is giving me some trouble at the moment, but I feel it whispering to me every now and then. I am aiming to get this one to you this year, hopefully starting September, but we shall see how it develops over the coming months and where I'm sitting with it considering how everything else goes.

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℘ On My Blade's Honour - A One Piece Live Action fiction ℘

You know who this one is about, and you also know it's been a long time coming. This green-headed swordsman has a long-awaited pending list of works, some in the drafts already, some in the notes, some still in the ideas phase. But out of all of them, this is one that I can finally share some stuff about.

First off, I think we've all had our fair share of abusing the living daylights out of the opla zoro x reader tag (I plead guilty). When I first started writing back in 2023, freshly after the live action came out, I did not even want to touch this tag. I knew I wanted to write Zoro at some point, both anime and his opla counterpart, but the most that came out were Under the Mistletoe, New Year New Me and my heart calls your name. Though I loved writing those little drabbles, I knew there was a bigger story waiting for my very own special twist on Zoro's character, and she started slowly nagging at me around the end of November 2023.

Months went by, the folder in my notes was not moving at all, and I was really much more focusing my attention towards Addicting Taste and Runaway. I was constantly searching for a female oc that was not something already written out there. I was trying to pinpoint how my Zoro looked like, how he felt like, what was new about him to me in the writing sense, but I was so scared of even opening a small little drabble on this dude that I didn't even want to begin anything remotely big that I didn't have the strength to carry at the time. So unfortunately, I had to let it catch dust in my notes for a long time.

Fast-forward a few months into 2024, right after New Year New Me came around, I took another look at the live action. Nothing moved again per se, but something stirred within me because I started seeing our dear mosshead in my dreams every so often. I usually take that as a sign that something's waiting for me. Then I started rewatching movies I've grown up with, reading of stories I've heard, listening to more cinematic music. Anything that helped unpack this whisper I kept hearing in my dreams. And then it finally hit me - the storyline, the characters, the relationships and dynamics between them all.

At first, I didn't know what parts of this story I could actually share to you, but I thought it would be fun to hear more about the kind of genres the story touches, our main heroine and the plot, for now.

So, without further ado, here's your first look at On My Blade's Honour.

Genre: enemies to lovers, loyalty, betrayal.

Working Synopsis: They say opposites attract, but so do similarities. You, the daughter of one of the most feared pirates around the world, working as a bounty hunter for the marines. Him, a bounty hunter with a purpose higher than most dared to follow. What happens when Zoro meets his worst nightmare yet, and you meet one of the most difficult, exasperating, trifling beings on the planet? Are you an obstacle he needs to push away from his path, or a piece that he was missing all along?

She's a work in progress this one, but what I already have in store for it is pretty damn amazing.

And that's not all you're getting. Right below, you've got the character profile of our fantastic female oc, a bit about her backstory, her personality, and her dynamics with some of the Straw Hats on the crew. Enjoy!

✦ Character Profile ✦

Name: Esperanza-Helena

Alias: Esper. Kunai Assassin. Viper.

Parents: Esmeralda Lucia, mother. Father only known by who must.

Weapons: Kunai knives bound together by a long chain. Can wield anything with a sharp blade, from daggers, to tanto knives and katanas.

Esperanza, also goes by Esper, is our female oc in this one. She's the daughter of an important figure in the One Piece world, only mentioned on a need to know basis. Raised mostly by her mother, she's been on the run after her old life was scorched to ashes by bandits when she was just a child. She becomes a bounty hunter for the government, set on bringing all filthy pirates to justice. Even if it's lousy pay, it fills her days and earns her a pillow to sleep on. But it's only once she meets Luffy again that her world starts turning around. Having been friends since their younger days, he's amazed that chance made it so they meet once more, and this time he doesn't want to let her go, so he makes her a proposition she can't quite refuse. Though she would be quick to accept, there is one problem that makes her deny his proposal - the sulking green-haired man already occupying the position of first mate in Luffy's crew, and the distrust that smeared their first encounter in blotches of betrayal.

: ̗̀➛ Esper's character is a wild ride to write so far. She's fearless, brave, strong, and she has gotten through every single obstacle ever thrown her way with a smile on her face. She is a little bit Latina at her core, inspired by some amazing women and fictional characters that I've always adored, such as Shakira, Monica Bellucci, Catherine Zeta Jones as Elena Montero in the Mask of Zorro, and so many more. This felt just right once I realized that she has this raging, burning fire running through her veins. She's a whole force of nature in her own right. She loves a challenge and she doesn't back down from it even after she meets someone of her own caliber, capable of pushing all her buttons with one single cocky smirk, which only makes her thirst for winning against him become even stronger.

: ̗̀➛ The way her character develops, slowly, but with bite and the femme fatale element, is a whole amazing process on its own. At first, I didn't really hear her voice through what I was writing for the story, so it felt a little bleak. But she's moving through my mind like a whisper and I find myself caught in her powerful energy every now and then. She's got this magnetic pull to her, something I haven't encountered with other characters I've written. Her name is also symbolic of that, because while Esperanza means hope, Esper refers to the whisper of a spirit of the psychic realm. Besides her talents in weaponry and exquisite swordsmanship, she has a few more aces up her sleeve that make her all the more special, but I won't reveal these just yet. I'll let you read about them when the time comes.

: ̗̀➛ Her dynamic with Zoro is something so cosmic to me. Their relationship starts off on the very wrong foot of distrust and betrayal, something that bothers Zoro cataclysmically, rubbing him in all the wrong ways. She's got all the black dots checked and circled in his enemy notebook. Her existence makes him tick. Her lack of scruples makes him pivot neurons into the sea. Her whole presence awakens this fire in him that he cannot extinguish, and it only burns hotter and more dangerous when they have to work together and share the same space, being part of the same crew. He has this insurmountable amount of hate for her, always present in the rasp of his voice or in the glacial depth of a glare aimed her way. But it's a good thing, because the feeling happens to be very mutual. Although, unlike him, even as he blames her for everything going wrong, she does make fun of the situation every chance she gets. From Esper's viewpoint, Zoro is a paradox of a man. A real piece of work, that is so attuned to his own world that anyone else's is merely a temporary occurrence meant to stand in his way. Lord, do they bicker a lot. It continues this way up until a point where Esper and Zoro start seeing other sides to each other. Sides that are so similar - how they always keep their guard up around people, why they never put their trust in anyone, why they don't let themselves care too deeply. But even the strongest of armors start to crack once they're hit too hard. The way they start showing up for each other as the story drifts along is unbelievably honest and it goes beyond any honor, valor or show of respect.

: ̗̀➛ Another bond I'm really excited to write is the friendship between Esper and Luffy. These two met at a time in their life where the world made them feel like they only belonged on the outside, hanging on the edges of normality. When you look at a very rebellious girl who sees the world in black and white and a boy who carries sunshine in his smile, you wouldn't think of them as the bestest of friends. But their friendship is something of a treasure. And though Luffy already picked his first mate, Esper will forever be his first ever mate. If there's anyone she's ever trusted more in her life, it's him and his drive to do things his own way. She has so much adoration for Luffy and the light in his smile is what fuels her hope that maybe her dark life can catch a flicker of sunshine too.

: ̗̀➛ This story follows the crew as we go along the live action timeline, with some additional stops that I felt would add to my take on it. There's bonus scenes, and chapters, all meant to build on the beauty of what's already there. I won't say more until it's time for it to set sail, but I can tell you it will be pretty soon.

Prematurely, I can tell you that this one also has a sequel in the works, called The Legend of Esper. It follows the events post-Arlong Park, and focuses more on Esper's side of the story. Her relationship with Zoro is looking up, but her past is quickly catching up with her, coming to dismantle everything they rebuilt after the disloyalty in the first part of the story.

・❥・Spoiler Line ・❥・

Favorite arcs: Kaya's mansion, Baratie, Arlong Park

Favorite bonus: Rain Oath

Favorite songs: Objection (Tango) - Shakira, Gasoline - Halsey, The Hymn - FLOYA, Never Let Me Go - Florence + The Machine, Slow Grenade - Ellie Goulding, Lauv.

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⚜ Crimson Desire ⚜

Seeing how much you guys loved this two-part vampiric story and the fantasy world I created for it made me burst at the seams. It's a whole new level of storytelling when I work on it, and I think you can tell even Enishi as a character feels a little different in this one. I think I may have made it my job to explore as many layers of this man as possible and this is just one of the many slices of him that I loved diving into.

Working on this one is close to pure joy, considering my affinity to everything gothic and princessy. It draws from where I grew up, the stories about prince charming, the myths about vampires, the wild nature scenery. It's been a little development corner for my world-building and exploring different types of writing that fall more into the fantasy side, but I adore every second of it.

Once again, I didn't expect this one to grow into more parts, but it has taken me by surprise the way the story continued and developed by itself.

There are five parts in total, two already out for you to read if you haven't done so already. The next three parts are in the works too and I can say they'll come rushing in with the gothic season, which is not that far off now. Down below, you've got the titles, a few details, and visuals to kind of give you more of scope of imagination.

✣ Part 3 - Swirl of Obsession ✣

Enishi and his princess are now bonded through the blood they've shared. He's given her a taste of what it's like to sin with him, to let the bond speak of her deepest, darkest desires, letting him sate them all. And now she's giving the bond access beyond her conscious mind, letting him see what she couldn't even feel rooted beneath the surface of her heart. Together, they're haunting the castle walls, christening their devotion in every room, laying themselves bare before each other. But one of them isn't as bare as he lets on. A haunting confession of a maid rises doubts and when she finds courage and confronts him, the lord of darkness reveals something that makes things take a turn for the macabre.

Favorite scene: The dinner table, the chase.

Favorite songs from the playlist: Midas - Skott, I Fell In Love With The Devil - Avril Lavigne, Judas - BANKS.

✣ Part 4 - War of Hearts ✣

Following the revelations of the dark prince, she takes refuge with the village convent. The head priestess offers comfort and more information regarding the lord of the land, and how his past was seen as a curse through generations of her family as they served the church. She is quick to refute any foul opinions of her prince, the bond still pulsing strong in her veins. But while her heart is drowning in confusion, her mind sees crystal clear, and it leads her to proclaim to do what no one else in her land ever could - hunting down the lord of darkness, vowing before God to bring him down once and for all.

Favorite scene: the surrender.

Favorite song from the playlist: I Was Made For Lovin' You - YUNGBLUD.

✣ Part 5 ... will remain a secret for now. Can't spoil everything now, can I?

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⋆˙⟡ Teasers for projects, requests and little drabbles ⋆˙⟡

Now, you know about where our main ongoing series are heading, and read a bit about the other series in the works, but there is so much more I've been holding off from sharing, crafting like a little gremlin whenever inspiration hit me. Here's a list of other smaller projects on the line, a bit of story inspiration and summary, as well as a rough completion status for each one of them.

✦ One in a Million - OPLA Zoro ✦

This one is the long-awaited third part to the New Year New Me saga. The whole thing was born out of two stories: how my parents got together and a situationship I just couldn't get rid off, always popping up around the seasonal holidays.

At first, I didn't think there would be more beyond the first part. It was a quick-write at the beginning, but the more I went in to edit stuff, it became even more and I started to entertain the idea of this little romcom scenario. I loved the reader's personality and how quick she was to avoid zero-chemistry relationships that just left her empty, and I absolutely adored how playful Zoro seemed throughout. It felt like I fell in love with his character all over again, this time from a new point of view. He felt gentle, sweet, just as head over heels for his girl as she was for him from the very first time they met. And as my situationship persisted from winter into spring into summer, this story started pulling at me even more.

Part two had so many titles strewn into the first line besides its official one, and one in a million was one of them. Considering it was the sequel and a Valentines one this time, my heart calls your name felt like the right fit, and one in a million seemed to stay and lurk along for part three. I didn't get to write it last year but she's been pulling at me these past few months, so you are getting your fill of a breezy summer romcom!!!

In this summery chapter, our lovelorn reader and her boo have moved in together and though it's been months, it's been nothing but arrows of love and lust. But things get a twist when she starts questioning more about her green-haired suitor, especially when it comes to his feelings. He can't keep his hands off her, but he never lets his heart open enough to show vulnerability. Can this perfect picture last if Zoro doesn't do what it takes to keep her in his life, or will he lose the special one his heart yearns for?

Status: development stage, with writing done here and there. Hoping to start working more seriously on it these days.

Songs from the playlist: One in a Million - Bosson, I Need Your Love - Shaggy, Mohombi, Faydee, Only Love Can Hurt Like This - Paloma Faith.

✦ Tanabata, a starry night - anime Zoro ✦

This one is for my fellow yearners still looking for their fated one in the beauty of falling petals, the sweet perfume lingering in the summer breeze, and myths of great stories of love that still give you hope there's something special waiting for you out there. Know that what's yours is set aside only for you.

: ̗̀➛ Fated meet cute with anime Zoro and lovelorn reader. It follows the story of Tanabata, also called the Star festival, a yearly event where lovers gather to celebrate the love uniting their destinies on a fateful night in July celebrating the meeting of two ancient deities, Orihime and Hikoboshi, also known as Altair and Vega, or the star-crossed lovers. Those already in relationships make wishes for long, happy lives together with their loved one. Those still looking make wishes on the stars to meet their fated one under the warm summer sky.

Reader has not been quite as lucky with romance, always meeting obstacles or more hurdles to be jumped. She's written her wishes to the gods, prepared all the offerings at their temples, prayed and prayed endlessly, but it was all to no avail. No partner rose to see her. No lover rose to lay his love at her feet unconditionally. Because the fates had something different in store for her: a chance meeting that will alter her view on what love is forever.

This one was supposed to be out several times along the year already, but with everything else already in the works it just never felt like the right time. Although, I have a feeling the stars are finally aligning for it.

Status: half-written.

✦ Overboard - Enishi request ✦

There was some Enishi spice requested not too long ago. She is under work too and hopefully to be finished soon. I keep my word even if it takes ages.

Status: half-written.

✦ Knife Dance - Enishi ✦

Enishi x female reader assassin, cat and mouse chase. Sharp blades, dangerous smiles, and burning lust can eclipse any main objective. When it comes to her missions, she isn't one to give up, but this one happens to give her more than she was prepared for.

Status: development stage.

✰✰✰ There are more things in the works, but you'll hear about them a bit later on. ✰✰✰

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♠ Special Project ♣

If you thought that was it, you don't know who you're up against. I couldn't sleep knowing how big of a secret this one is, and against many back and forth battles with myself, I decided to give you a bit of this one too.

Aside from everything you just read about, there are a few special projects I've been working on in hindsight. One of them in particular has me really excited because it's unlike anything I've ever written and it fell right into my lap as I was coming out of a big writing slump that's left me without inspiration.

It's mature, it's sexy, and it's going to get you hot and bothered with every single chapter. Boy, just thinking about it has my heart pounding in excitement. I can only hope it will do the same to yours.

So, please welcome to the stage...

♦️♠ Rule Breaker ♠♥️

This is a story about the dream of a little girl, that fell to ruins before her hand could even reach for it. A story about the filthy way the rich and the almighty at the helm of Tokyo's high society circus wield their wealth for fame, influence and power, and how they would stop at nothing to get what they want, even if that included corrupting young innocent souls for their gain. It's a story about the most primal, darkest desires of mankind, and how they are bound to sit still, hidden, until something close to a sinful act makes them rise to the surface in temptation. But above everything, this is also a story about rules, and just how badly they yearn to be broken.

This one is indescribable in words. It wasn't even born that long ago, but it has me by the throat in every single way possible.

And this is just a little teaser.

I won't reveal who the protagonists are just yet. Actually, this whole project will be a surprise, so you won't know much about it until I post the first chapter, just to keep you on your toes.

But I'm not an evil person, so here are three themes that will be explored in the story, some images from the smoking hot Pinterest board, and three songs from the especially curated playlist that will be made available with the release.

・❥・Spoiler Line ・❥・

Themes: dominants x submissive bound by contract, high society, contemporary dance.

Songs: Earned It - The Weeknd, Beggin - Madcon, Please - ORGAVSM.

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✧.* Real life updates ⋆˙

Well, well, well. You have reached the final part of this long ass update newsletter. Kudos to you, soldier.

You haven't seen me posting much around here est last December, and there's a lot that's happened in my life since then.

News-wise, life has been crazy. The first six months after I finished uni back in May were more or less pure hell, and I think you could tell from how sporadic my updates got. This is all in the writing, developing, career sector, all spinning in a whirpool like a washing machine setting that never ended. I finished my expanded Marketing and Journalism degree and knew I didn't want to pursue anything related to it in the slightest, less alone see another article or website in my life. Applying for work was another hell, so I kinda left it alone for a while and just tried to focus on writing and what I really wanted from life. September to December I was still very much creatively alive, but January came around and I entered this black hole of uncertainty that cast a shadow over everything I was working on. My future looked blank, my will was at its lowest, and my writing started losing its spark. The only thing I knew at that point was that I needed a goal, a purpose to follow for 2025. Something that would keep me working, something good, something that poured light into my life. I knew I was asking for magic to happen, even if I didn't know what it was at first. And that's how my first ever new year's resolution fell in my hands and gave me some hope - working on a novel.

Crazy, right? She's been only writing for close to a year, started reading more of what's trending. But she studied the ins and outs of writing all her life, even if she never really liked it. And that's what was to become her strength in the long run.

But until we reached the point of unlocking gifts and knowledge, and retrieving the lost inspiration from the crevices of the world, we have to go through the pits of hell and see if we have the strength to come back from it.

Despite all the hope that resolution gave me, it quickly dwindled. I prayed for an idea to come to me, for anything remotely creative. This was around the time I was struggling to carry on working on anything that used to bring me joy before, falling into such a slow rhythm it felt like my creativity was slipping away from me. I went at Addicting Taste on and on during that time like a maniac, day and night, just wishing it would start working with me. But every word that sat wrong on the page, every sentence that didn't sound like my characters, every plot idea that felt bleak just ended up in crash out after crash out after crash out. Runaway tugged at me and I managed to write some scenes, but that's all they felt like. Scenes. Everything was so dull, so lifeless, so devoid of any emotion. It felt like I lost the last thing I was good at, and if you're an artist that creates, you know it feels pretty close to a death of sorts. A death that haunts your normal life just as much as your creative one.

Nothing brought back my smile. I tried going back to uni projects that I never got to finish. I tried rereading my favorite books. I tried teas, baths, anything relaxing, but it just did not feel relaxing. The fact that time was ticking, passing by while I was wilting away unable to finish anything made me unable to function. My favorite characters were tugging at me for attention, but the most I could do was open a note and bullet point. I felt like I was failing them and myself.

What I didn't know at that time was that in order to be reborn creatively, you need to experience that creative death first. So I let myself feel it. I went through what I used to write and started re-editing. I went looking for scenes living in my head thinking they were written only to not find them anywhere. I wrote stuff that was so beautiful in idea but so awful on paper that it just made me sit and cry. I was trying so hard to get it right, to fit the box I have outgrown, to give the voices faith, that I didn't notice how far I've come in such a short time.

I think a lot of us do that to ourselves and it stops us from doing what we love, what we cherish, what gives us life, because of inconsequential things that put unnecessary pressure on you. Excuses building up, distractions taking your attention away, those damn voice you can't quiet. But you realise they have no real weight once you look from a different perspective. They can't hurt you. They exist because you're coming close to finding something you love that works for you, and now every fear wants to smother it whole before it gets a chance to sparkle.

Once the last leaf of my disbelief, discontent, and every bit of negativity I was feeling for my writing left, it all came rushing back to me.

Mid-February, the plot for my novel just fell right into my arms. Weeks later, I had the characters, the plot somewhat fleshed out, and the place. Now, I have three books planned in a modern gothic romantasy story that's close to my heart, my culture, and everything I love writing about. As I busied myself working on this project, letting it come to me on its own without rushing it, more ideas started coming to me and I finally opened those drafts back up with new eyes and got cracking.

What you've read above is all work that started last year and was fleshed out in these past few months, so I guess it's safe to say I'm coming back soonish. I'm still fighting those damn demons sometimes, but I'm not letting them win.

Career-wise news, talking with a few of you, family and friends, I finally found a pathway I never thought I'd follow. But the universe knows your calling, and when it shows up it's only right you listen and follow it. I've always been someone who loved learning, whether it was to gather more knowledge, to research the depths of history, or to explore the ins and outs of writing, whether that was music, languages, poetry or books. Writing has been something I've never seen as my thing, more comfortable analyzing and pondering it from the side. But once I started writing, nearly two years ago now, I realized writing was becoming such a big part of my life, especially in the past few months. So I asked myself, why not make a career out of this?

At first it sounded like a fable. Then the signs started showing up and I knew, even through the doubt and the fear, that I had to run it through and see what happens.

Nowadays... Your girl is in the middle of finishing work on launching her freelance Mentoring and Editing business ✨

I may or may not publicly open access to this on here, but if you feel like you may benefit from writing, mentoring or editing advice from someone like me, feel free to contact me to find out more. I offer mentoring services to get your drafts going, world building to get your story flowing, and editing if all you need is a nudge in the right direction structure-wise.

So peep a DM if you're interested and I'll send you right to my Instagram and website to check out more. If you have writer friends, that you know may benefit from this, send them my way! I'm still at the start of my journey, so I am in need of clients and the more the merrier :)

I am opening it to fic writers too because some of you have been crafting literal gold on here and I know you may or may not be working on your own little original stories. So don't be afraid to reach out and ask me more. You know my DMs are always open.

It's all so new and exciting, sometimes stressful. But if I can help with your work and get your potential seen by yourself, I'm here for it.

Health wise, I've had good days and bad days. My sight was bad before but it's apparently getting worse for my age? Whatevs. Won't let that stop me. But when I need the screen break I have to take it for a good while to fend off the migraines. If you're like me, please know that taking walks outside to connect with the amazing lush green grass in your backyard, and leaving your phone to go dead until morning sometimes really does help. Stop being so plugged online and let yourself live and breathe the world around us now because it is pretty epic to live on this spinning sphere called earth and we should appreciate it more. I can tell you that once you start doing that, the inspiration and creativity you were looking for will find you and bless you with miracles you never thought yourself capable of making.

So, now you know I've been working on quite a lot for the past year. They are all coming to you soon. As much as I hate that word, I can't speed up the process because that speeds up the ✨ magic ✨ . Some writers can do their work on the spot, but it takes me a greater deal of focus, time and patience to pour out what I want in these works, and ultimately what you deserve to read as my lovely reader. And even if not one soul ends up liking them, I want to know that I didn't do a halfhearted job and gave anything I worked on everything in my power to make it happen.

All I ask is for you to have a little more patience with me 🫠 Not that you didn't wait enough, but I feel guilty and it eats me up most times that I can't just give these to you on the spot.

I hope this mini newsletter cleared the waters a bit, or stirred them. I'll be making these a thing if you want, since there are projects I haven't mentioned in great detail on here yet, maybe just in passing. You'd be getting current status on what I'm working on, as well as ideas and backstories for them. I loved making the visuals for this one too, since there's so many things in my boards that never end up on the actual boards. And I spoiled you without telling you much which is another win for me and my loose mouth.

Thank you for reading all this. Thank you for reading my work and continuing to be here for me. Your presence makes my world spin around. It means the world to me to have met so many beautiful, talented and amazing souls on here.

I hope we'll meet again with fresh ideas and long chapters filled with new wonders for you to discover.

With so much love, Paula.

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#updates #spoilers #addicting taste #runaway 🏎️🏁#on my blade's honour #wings of steel #crimson desire #rule breaker #one in a million #tanabata #overboard #knife dance #enishi yukishiro #naozumi hiyama #opla roronoa zoro #saint seiya

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