#and maybe also the other party members if you recruit them

[maripr]

Sometimes a family is a misanthropic and suicidal practicer of dark magic, who has been taught from an early age to distrust and hate his fellow living beings and the tiny, traumatized little girl he unintentionally adopted and who ended up revitalizing his cold, dead heart, even in the dungeon of horror they had found themselves in. Oh, and the huge fucking cursed doggo they also adopted on their way.

[yuri-is-online]

Traditional fantasy isekai au where:

Yuu is isekaid to Twisted Wonderland as a child, in a setting that's hundreds of years before the main game, and is adopted by a family there. Maybe Grim is a normal cat that came with them and gained the ability to talk and do magic out of a desire to protect his best friend. They grow up and train as a soldier of some sort out of gratitude to their adoptive parents to protect them, eventually leaving their place with Grim in search of adventure depending on where they landed:

City of Flowers! Yuu who was raised by the people who lived in the Court of Miracles and wants to get a job with the city guard to help fight for the rights of their adoptive home. They're helped by a friend they made as a child, the son of well respected parents who came to heavily rely on Yuu after the loss of his younger brother. Now a well respected legal student with his eye on a judge's seat, Rollo is hiding a deadly secret: he is a powerful mage and you are one of the only people who knows. He's also desperately in love with you and at real risk of going insane if something bad happens to the one good thing he has left in his life.

Land of Dawning! Yuu who hunts monsters along the coast line and finds a badly beaten merfolk on the beach and patches him up without a single thought. The man scolds them when he wakes, wondering why Yuu is so unafraid of what he could do to them now that he's awake only to be met with a shrug and a warning that poachers much less kind than Yuu are in the area who see non typical mer such as himself as monsters. Yuu happens to have a bounty for them. Oya? Jade says he's quite aware of that and what's more, they have his brother and a dear friend. Won't you continue to assist this poor, unfortunate soul in rescuing the only family he has left in this world? He doesn't have anything to pay you with. Something about his attitude makes you roll your eyes but so long as you don't have to split the bounty four ways you say you'll help. Pleasure doing business with you he says, and you both go to sleep that night confident you won't get attached to the other at all by the time the job's done.

Clock Town! Yuu who used to be picked on for not having any magic by the delinquent gangs only to find themselves in a party with one of the worst of the worst torn between being hurt Deuce doesn't remember making fun of them or impressed with how determined he is to turn his life around vs Deuce who absolutely remembers but has no idea how to appropriately apologize so he just makes it his mission to bring you home from every mission unscathed, even if it's at the cost of his own health. He swears he'll say it eventually, he just needs to find a way to not make an ass of himself by saying something stupid like he loves you.

Farm Kid! Yuu who gets recruited by Ace for his party because he literally can't get anyone other than you and Deuce and ends up being the glue that holds it together. Ace is dumbfounded as he watches you successfully recruit Jack, Epel, Ortho, and even Sebek without much trouble and hates himself for ever thinking about abandoning you as soon as he got better party members. Yuu who knows that's what he wanted to do from the start and resigns themselves to him leaving when Riddle makes his offer only for Ace to stay with Ramshackle Party because he's "too busy looking after them" to be a card soldier, hiding the burns on his hands from when he punched the Arch Mage for insulting you. He can surpass Riddle's party on his own any day.

[y-rhywbeth2]

To-do list for the inheritor of the newly re-established office of High Primate of Bhaal of the City of Baldur's gate, circa 1480-something: politics, re-establishing the faith and getting Bhaal more sorely needed worship. And because there's only so much entertainment you can get being a group of twitchy killers living under the sewers.

Negotiate terms with local government for freedom of religion (presumably a private audience with the Grand Dukes, maybe the Parliament of Peers, maybe both, idk) Negotiations will probably begin with a more diplomatic version of: "I apologise on behalf of my Father for that thing where he manifested an avatar and went on a murderous rampage through the streets just over a century after my siblings almost drowned the world - and this city specifically - in blood. But also, considering the power just illustrated I think it's fair to say that it's in the best interests of a quiet life and an easier clean up that you just give us our temple back and let us worship in exchange for assassination and spying work on your behalf." This being the usual arrangement with evil faiths, it is in fact a winning argument. You don't kill anybody who matters (so criminals, travellers nobody knows, the homeless, etc) and honestly nobody will consider it worth the time and resources to stop you anyway. -

Weaken the political hold of enemy faiths Ilmater, Lathander and Helm have an established presence in the city, and the Ilmatari have done well enough since 14th century to upgrade from a shrine to a temple. All three of those faiths are better established, more influential, and will oppose the growth and activity of a Bhaalist presence, for some strange reason, -

Re-establish ties with traditional allied faiths (such as they are) Bhaal's traditional allies were Loviatar, Talona, Bane, Myrkul, Mask and Hoar. While none of these faiths hold the same level of sway in the city their enemies do, they all have at least one shared enemy. -

Eliminate rival/dissenting thieves and assassin guilds and organisations. Maybe establish some. Don't expect to have the thieves guilds at your beck and call (Mask is their patron god, but Bhaal generally worked with him fine - and you'll be fighting the Sharrans for influence too) but do make a space for yourself in there and ensure they understand that patronage and cooperation is mutually beneficial. Assassins? They're Bhaal's and he and his worshippers are going to expect all killers for hire to be paying their dues to the Lord of Murder or expect a "cease and decease" regarding their attempts to profit off of his domain without paying him back. -

Acquire Temple holdings Most of a temple's wealth and influence is going to come from owning land and properties. All members of the clergy of pretty much all faiths are expected to go out and claim some. Unfortunately being out of the picture for a century+ means the temple has lost a lot of its original holdings, so you might need to start working on taking some from the other temples... -

Network, Infiltrate and Recruit Gods always need more worshippers, and that goes double for gods who've been dead for a long time. Serial killers need the law to play nice. It's time to remind the peasantry to pay their "don't murder me taxes" (known as "tithes" for legal purposes) and find the city's more murderous members - even many who'd proudly call themselves upstanding citizens may just desire the execution of certain criminals the law won't touch or can't catch - and seek sympathetic ears amongst the rich and powerful... and remove and replace those who aren't. There are plenty of people like unscrupulous younger children whose ear you might have if only you helped them remove the pesky barriers standing between them and control, known as their relatives. And then you have blackmail! Things like that. Remember to wash the blood off before attending any fancy wine tasting parties in estates and pavilions in the upper city. You want your faithful in the ranks of the city watch and the Fist sooner rather than later. -

Establish presence in the Undercellar As the local criminal underworld hub where the law dare not tread (unless they're off duty and here for some crime themselves) this is where a lot of your "public" work and contracting is going to be. Remember to buy one of the back rooms for the "private shows". -

Consider a Daytime Identity, if you don't already have one An important part of being a typical Bhaalist is maintaining a separate, normal life outside the temple that allows you your own income and solid alibies... or you could just live in your dad's house, cling to your divine status and refuse to do any of that mortal stuff, I guess. -

Start repairs on the Temple It's been a dusty, out of date ruin for 100+ years. Consider the structural damage. Maybe have the butler do a bit of dusting.

[fyeahlolita]

Secret Lolita Information From The Distant Past: Dashcon Lolita

A very long time ago, myself and another Lolita who maybe wants to remain unnamed, ended up joining the Dashcon "Lolita Committee"(before it was called Dashcon even, it was still going to be called Tumblrcon at the time), because they were sending out messages to a lot of Lolita bloggers/groups to advertise on their behalf and it seemed like a complete clusterfuck even in that early stage. It was still really really early in the planning and we were like "maybe we can unfuck this a little bit?" but we couldn't, and the rest of the team seemed to have zero interest in unfucking it, so we bounced after a few weeks. Obviously, Dashcon happened how it did, so me and mystery-chan didn't really mention that we were let in behind the curtain for this particular internet fiasco. But it was very surreal, even at the time, and we probably both definitely told like every person we knew in real life, just not openly online so there was no proof. The way it was set up was there were, like, "fandom committees", where there were literally dozens of "fandom committees" headed by one person with a small team of recruited people under them. They were in charge of fundraising for Dashcon (then known as Tumblrcon though), mostly supposed to be done through auctioning off fandom stuff, as well as organizing events for their particular fandom. The "Lolita Committee" was fronted by some like teenaged cosplayer/brony, who I don't personally fault for not knowing a single thing about Lolita, but they didn't seem to know anything about Lolita and were trying to set up all these Lolita events for a convention that, at the time, had no venue or money. I think ultimately the Lolita committee raised like less than $60 from one of the members doing some Etsy sales and spent a lot of time discussing a budget for a dream tea party and wondering how to get Angelic Pretty involved, but also were concerned about Angelic Pretty wanting to host a "competing" tea party at the con. We had money raising goals, but none of them ever happened, with any of the Fandom Committees really, at least early on, for some reason I was given access to a TON of google docs for all the other Fandom Committees like the instant they added me to the group.

I was very confused about the name change from Tumblrcon to Dashcon

What you got if you donated to this particular Committee. Although I don't think it even got as far to tell people this. Everything was just... conceptual. Then I think the Committees were mostly purged once Tumblrcon became Dashcon?

This was a message from the main admin for the con.

Ouch, sorry Committees. A section from the same admin written doc.

Hello, just me gossiping about it with a friend back when it was happening live.

Again, I don't fault the other members of the Lolita Committee, because they were absolutely young and unqualified and in over their heads, and they were trying really hard, but this is a weird part of my Lolita history that I've never publicly talked about before.

[mitraoki]

daze. (chuuya x reader)

note; @akutagawasbitch love u thank u for giving me inspo to write for bsd again TEEHEE🥺🤍 was obsessed with the idea of jealous chuuya so hopefully this fic did him justice AAAAAA-

cw; not really proofread, reader is a little more feminine (they wear a dress), reader is also not in any of the organizations, suggestive, drunk chuuya!!!

masterlist.

when they said it was supposed to be a party like always, chuuya definitely didn't expect to be met with hundreds of other faces he'd never seen.

he certainly did not expect for you to want to tag along, too. it wasn't like you haven't already - sometimes curiosity gets the best of you, and you couldn't resist your ravishing looking man in one of his best suits.

a suit that you'd picked out for him during one of your dates. wine red - just the way he likes it - traces amongst the silky black fabric. it was tough choosing between a bowtie or just a tie, but he preferred the tie; tucked underneath the vest that hugged his build perfectly. buttons glimmering gold under the chandeliers and a rose that he'd picked to match the one clipped on your hairdo.

you seemed to give chuuya motivation to go when he saw your outfit for the night. a dress that complimented his color palette, with the set of jewelry he'd bought for you one fine day. you felt really proud of how well you dressed (just for him, mostly.), so there you were, strutting down the steps of your shared home, an elegant twirl in the end to show him your completed look.

if you looked closely, you could've caught him drooling. he walked towards you, gloved hand loosely wrapped around your waist.

"i'm so in love with you."

"oh, you. i cannot take my eyes off of you either."

it felt so surreal that his boss decided to have a party out of nowhere, but you soon learnt the sole purpose being gaining new intel from a neighboring organization. this was just his way of thanking them. quite extravagant, but thrilling nonetheless.

"old man has so much time on his hands," chuuya grumbled, his arm entwined with yours. "or maybe it's because he wants us members to make up with 'em."

"hey," you slapped his shoulder playfully. "you gotta let it loose once in a while. i bet he even prepared your favorite drink tonight."

"for real?"

"mhm."

he sighed. "i'm only doing this because i love you. oh - and i also wanted you to see me wear this," he raised his head, adjusting his fedora triumphantly.

***

it didn't take long for chuuya to be dragged away by one of his colleagues. the so called ice-breaking session was currently underway and he promised to be back with you the moment he was done. you giggled as you heard him curse under his breath, followed by a toothy smile when he was greeted by a new face.

you found a seat nearby to wait when you met higuchi, a familiar face you've come across every time you tagged along for small matters (at this point he might as well recruit you here, but you'll leave that decision to him).

"higuchi, right? gorgeous as ever. where's um...," you wiggled your finger around, trying to remember the pale-skinned man you always saw her with.

"y/n! you look lovely yourself," you watched her rosy cheeks turn red within seconds as she fanned them off before continuing. "you mean akutagawa senpai? i was told to wait for him here. he seemed to be in an okay mood tonight, so i didn't want to be the first to ruin it," she concluded, straightening the fabric of her dress.

the two of you continued chatting. you followed her around, being introduced to other members of the port mafia. many of them were familiar faces, so it was nice to call them acquaintances now.

it wasn't until you noticed the back of the hall serving a variety of drinks. your ears picked up that it was first come first served, so why would you miss the chance?

though, there's always one thing you always forgot when you attended parties.

the watchful eyes around you.

you and higuchi lost each other in the slowly growing crowd in the drinks corner, so your first mistake was to assume she was the one snaking an arm around your waist.

your second mistake was thinking that it was chuuya trying to pull you away from the crowd.

chills ran down your spine as you peeled yourself away from the foreign arm around you, eyes glaring up at the bigger figure.

"do i know you?"

his words were only drowning along with the background noise, which only infuriated you more.

how long has it been since i last saw chuuya, by the way? you thought to yourself. he promised he would be back soon-

you watched as a gloved fist landed its first hit on the man's face.

did it all happen in a flash? was it in slow motion? you didn't know, you couldn't tell - he continued jabbing more punches around his face, adding a few more to his chin, his jaw.

you finally realized it was your boyfriend when a wine bottle flew past your face. it was gravity he was manipulating - it was nakahara chuuya.

"chuuya! stop it!"

he froze. his once droopy eyes darted towards the now broken wine bottle, back to you, and the man now laying on the floor.

he let out a frustrated grunt, tossing the bottle to the side.

"hear that? yeah. 's my name she's calling," he drawled, squatting to get a better look at the man. with the position he was in, it was like he wasn't ready to show himself till chuuya left his sight.

"touch her again and you would see your grave next."

restless, you grabbed a hold of his arm, hoisting him up only to end up stumbling from his weight.

he's either going to regret this, or brag about it to me, you thought, you inner self shaking their head in defeat.

"we'll get this mess cleaned up; he's drunk. why don't you bring him home, my dear?"

***

you walked in, with him abruptly freeing himself from your hold.

"honey, you're gonna fall. come on."

being drunk was no biggie for chuuya's strength. despite the different world he was in, he seemed to have heard you loud and clear.

it didn't even take five seconds and he had you pinned against the wall, arms slamming against each side of the hard surface.

"what are you-,"

"i'm sorry."

"wha-,"

"i'm sorry, baby," he finally looked into your eyes, the same droopy look you saw in the event earlier. only this time, it was mixed with rage, confusion and regret.

"okay," you whispered, placing a hand on his cheek. "chuuya, let's see if you're hurt anywhere, okay? then we'll talk-,"

he practically crash landed into your lips, causing his fedora to slip off of his hair, landing with a soft thud against the floorboard. you didn't realize until this very moment that it had been quite a while since you felt this sensation with him.

he forcefully pulled himself away from you, worried you might do so first.

"i.... i just... i need to kiss you."

his words were firm. his eyes flickered down to your lips before looking back into your eyes once more, and you could tell they were pleading, begging for you to say yes.

you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling his figure in close to yours. doing the honors, you closed the final bit of gap between the two of you, earning a satisfied grunt from his throat.

he pushed you back further against the wall, keeping you trapped within his embrace. his hands now gripped each side of your waist, fingers digging themselves into your fabric like they were trying to find your skin. he tasted like wine - you figured he actually found his favorite on display. his teeth was sinking into your bottom lip. it didn't hurt, but you could tell he was tugging at them.

chuuya let go but left long, luscious pecks on your lips, allowing you to catch your breaths in every interval. his breath was now hot and heavy, his tongue successfully finding its way through, and exploring your mouth like he had been craving for it all night.

that's how he'd always kissed you. he craved for them. and if it were a meal, he would take his time with it, relish it even.

but he also does this when he's jealous. obviously you could tell what he was feeling right now.

you could feel him smirking through the kiss as he heard a soft moan escape you. with that, he moved you away from the wall, gracefully landing you with a plop! onto the sofa.

"you're drunk," you whined breathlessly, finally pulling away. all he did was silently chuckle in response, removing the first two layers of his clothing. the tie made a loud whip sound when he loosened it, as if reminding you to get a grip of what he was about to do to you.

rolling your eyes in amusement, you helped him remove each button of his shirt, sitting up a little to help him slide it off of his body.

he wasn't done with you though. he leaned in closer to you, causing you to lay back down. his lips continued their journey towards your exposed collarbones, reaching at one of the straps of your delicate dress as he pushed it further down your shoulder.

"....i'm sorry i wasn't there when he touched you."

"god, chuuya. i don't think he's gonna dream of it after this," you giggled, fingers tracing his exposed skin. he breathed in sharply as he held your wrist tenderly, kissing it.

"i'm sorry for being so rough with you."

"you did not hurt me at all, chuuya. i promise."

you reached for the back of your dress, but your action was soon cut off by his hands once again.

"let me take care of you, baby. please."

all created content belongs to mitraoki. reposts/remakes are not allowed.

[daisynik7]

Rush

Chapter 1: Reputation

Pairing: Eren Jaeger x f!reader

Rating: Explicit

cw: explicit language, college au, fraternities and sororities, eventual smut, underage drinking

Summary: After an uneventful freshman year, sophomore Eren Jaeger joins Alpha Tau, the top fraternity at University of Paradis. In the aftermath of last semester’s scandal, the fraternity makes the decision to partner with the academically successful but socially unpopular sorority Sigma Nu Kappa in hopes of building back their reputation.

As a new member of Sigma Nu Kappa, you meet the mysterious Eren through your roommate and now sister, Mikasa Ackerman. His good looks and intensity pull you in at first. But like it is often portrayed in television and movies, finding love in a frat house is never that simple.

Notes: Chapter title inspired by "End Game" - Taylor Swift

ao3 | Next Chapter

Rush Series Masterlist

Rush Series Taglist

----------

Alpha Tau fraternity. Arguably the hottest, most popular frat at University of Paradis. Ask any sorority girl who their favorite type of guy is. Nine times out of ten, their answer is “an Alpha Tau”. The same answer applies if you ask any goddamn independent who the worst type of guy is. Girls want to fuck them, guys want to be them, GDIs want to hate them. And that’s why they are the kings on campus. 

For the past ten years, Alpha Tau has always had the most numbers when it comes to recruitment, also known as “rush”. Every potential new member puts them at the top of their list. But that didn’t mean they had the most members.

The thing about Alpha Tau is that they pride themselves on being exclusive. As if a fucking frat wasn’t already “exclusive” enough. They are notoriously critical when it comes to accepting new members, often spending hours during rush week to decide who is worthy of being a brother. The basis of this is usually looks, athletic ability, legacy, and sometimes even academic prowess.

That’s how current sophomore Eren Jaeger and his best friend, Armin Arlert, managed to finesse their way into the elusive club. Eren’s older half-brother, Zeke, who graduated from Paradis a few years back, was a legend in Alpha Tau, known as “The Beast”. Zeke told him all kinds of wild stories about his college shenanigans, specifically about his time in the fraternity. Crazy parties, drunken adventures, all the hot chicks he hooked up with. It sounded like a dream come true to Eren after his horribly boring freshman year. That’s what inspired him to rush this year as a sophomore, dragging Armin along with him.

Once the frat found out Eren was a “legacy”, being related to “The Beast”, he was a shoo-in. He also persuaded them to give a bid to Armin, convincing them that he is the smartest and most strategic man they’ll ever meet, right next to Erwin Smith, the current president of the fraternity.

The others in his pledge class are Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein, and Marco Bott. Jean and Marco got in based on their athletic ability; they are members of the college soccer team. Connie was recruited purely for his funny personality and good nature. And maybe also the fact that he is a massive stoner, which they took a liking to.

Tonight is the first chapter meeting that the new pledge class is allowed to attend. After a few weeks of new member development, taught by the strait-laced and straight-edge senior Levi Ackerman, Eren and his class are officially Alpha Tau brothers. Now the fun begins.

As they fall in line outside the chapter room, Armin leans in close to Eren and whispers, “Some of the members got kicked out.”

He whips he head around and asks, “Huh? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I heard that the last president, Nile Dok, messed up big time last semester. He was turning a blind eye to all the problematic members. They were caught cheating and trying to pay their way out of trouble. Obviously, they didn’t get away with it.”

As some of their other brothers start falling in line in front of them, Armin continues in a slightly hushed voice. “Also, they called themselves the Mega Pornstars, or the MPs for short. They had their own group chat, rating the girls they’ve hooked up with and ranking them. They had a whole list. Someone in that chat let it slip to Erwin, who immediately brought it up to Nile. And Nile knew about it all along. He was in the group chat himself, but never participated in it. But he knew about it. Saw what they were saying and didn’t do anything to stop it. So now, with Erwin being president, those members were immediately suspended during the summer. And the ones who graduated, he stripped them of any association with the fraternity.”

“How do you know about this? You seem to have all the details.”

Armin looks down to his side, and in an even quieter voice, replies, “Mikasa told me.”

Mikasa.

At the mention of her name, Eren instantly feels guilt. Ever since he decided to rush, he hasn’t had time to spend with his other best friend. Well, truth be told, he hasn’t made the effort to spend time with her. Armin, on the other hand, has. Making him feel even worse.

Realizing what Armin just said, he asks, “Wait. How does Mikasa know?”

Armin gives him a small smile and states, “Mikasa joined a sorority.”

~~~

Rushing a sorority was not something you thought you’d be doing the start of your sophomore year of college. But somehow, a few weeks later, you find yourself sitting beside your roommate and now pledge sister, Mikasa Ackerman, in your first chapter meeting as an official member.

The two of you have an interesting relationship. You were roommates in your freshman year, but it almost felt like you lived alone. She was always out with her friends and she only came back to the room to sleep and bathe. While she wasn’t necessarily your best friend, the few times you interacted were always cordial. Sure, she is a little intense, but she is never rude. Just absent.

It surprised you when you received a text from her over the summer asking to be roommates again. You thought she didn’t care enough to even consider you. Honestly, you felt a little honored. Despite her intensity, you always found Mikasa Ackerman to be cool. Aside from her dashing good looks, she had a confidence about her that just screamed badass. You lacked confidence yourself, finding your looks to be unassuming and plain. It didn’t help that your freshman year turned out to be as uneventful as you were hoping it wouldn’t be. How does one even find a party to go to? The few friends you made are just as home bodied as you, so spending time inside the dorm was the norm.

Sophomore year has proved to be much different than last. Mikasa, who used to be a ghost roommate, is now your friend. She spends most of her time with you now. Obviously, you don’t question it. Instead, you embrace it. You like Mikasa. It’s fun hanging out with her. It’s like you’re making up for lost time.

When she suggested rushing, you couldn’t help but think it was a joke. But no, she was dead serious. And as if Mikasa wasn’t already convincing enough, she asked you, “Don’t you want to be more social this year? Go to college parties? Meet boys? Have fun?”

And that’s how you end up as an official sister of Sigma Nu Kappa.

The thing about Signa Nu Kappa, or SNK for short, is that they aren’t the most popular sorority on campus. Notoriously, women rank it last on their interest list during rush week. On paper, it’s an organization that has great academic reputation, making it well liked among the professors and staff. They are the ideal representation of what the Student Affairs Committee want a sorority to look like. However, to the fellow students, they are boring. They don’t party. Their social reputation amongst the other organizations in Greek Life is essentially nonexistent. It’s also seen as the place where all the women who couldn’t get into their first pick, maybe even their second or third, end up joining. The rejects.

Is it true? Maybe for some women. But after getting to know the sororities during the first week of recruitment, both you and Mikasa end up ranking SNK first. You feel comfortable with the women there. While the other sororities are nice, it’s Signa Nu Kappa that feels like home, as cheesy as that sounds.

Now, after a few weeks of getting familiar with the sorority and Greek Life in general, you and Mikasa sit beside each other, attending your very first chapter meeting as Sigma Nu Kappa sisters. Current president, Hange Zoë, stands at the podium, reading announcements off a piece of paper.

“Welcome new babies to your first official Sigma Nu Kappa chapter meeting! Woohoo!”

The other sisters clap, beaming at you and the rest of your class. You give Mikasa a knowing smile, which she returns. Hange reads off a list of housekeeping items, none of which apply to you considering you don’t live in the house yet.

“Okay! The boring stuff is out of the way. I’ll let our Social Chair take the stand now!”

Petra Ral, another senior, take’s Hange’s place at the podium. “Hi sisters! I have a very exciting announcement to make. This semester, we are being paired up with a fraternity in the effort to build stronger relations with the others in Greek Life.”

This news creates a buzz around the room. You hear one of your pledge sisters, Sasha Braus, squeal two seats down, “Ooohhh boys?!”

Petra continues. “Now I know we don’t have the best reputation for being the most social sorority, and this partnership might be a little bit out of the comfort zone for some of you. But we strongly believe this is a great way to improve the status of our organization. We don’t want to be seen as a sorority that only performs well academically. If we want more women to join us, we need to be seen as fun! Which we are! They just don’t know it yet!”

Hange exclaims, “Well said, Petra! There’s no doubt that we are a fun group of women. People don’t know it yet. But they will soon enough!”

“So which frat are we pairing up with?” Nanabe, another senior, asks.

With a bright smile on her face, Petra announces, “Alpha Tau!” The buzz in the room is even louder now.

Suddenly, you feel Mikasa stiffen beside you. You turn to her and whisper, “Are you okay?” There’s a worried look on her face, but she doesn’t say anything.

Three seats down, next to Sasha, you hear a sarcastic snort from Annie Leonhart. “Great. We’re getting paired with a bunch of disgusting pigs.”

Christa Lenz, who sits to your other side, leans forward to ask innocently, “Annie, what do you mean?”

Ymir puts her arm around Christa’s chair and answers, “She means exactly what she said, sweetheart. Alpha Tau is a frat of disgusting pigs.”

Mikasa snaps her head towards Ymir and yells, “They’re not!”

You and the rest of your pledge class are taken aback by her outburst. Annie leans forward to face Mikasa with a smirk. “Don’t worry, Mikasa. I don’t include Armin when I say that. But everyone else in there can choke and die for all I care.”

Mikasa glares at her, fury in her eyes, looking like she’s ready to attack. Before anything escalates, Hange joins Petra at the front. “Okay, listen everyone. I know this is a very…controversial decision. Now, let me reiterate that what is said in this chapter room, stays in the chapter room. Got it?” She eyes you and your pledge class before proceeding.

“Alpha Tau is very close to being on probation by the Student Affairs Committee. Some of you may already be aware of this, but a small group of their members participated in some very inappropriate conduct. Since Erwin has been president, those members have been kicked out and properly dealt with. Erwin has made sure that they no longer represent Alpha Tau in any way whatsoever. Both Erwin and Levi Ackerman, their vice president, came to me and Petra wanting to form a partnership this semester in an attempt to improve their besmirched reputation. By pairing with us for a semester, they hope to prove to the committee that they can be a respectable fraternity, both with academics and towards women.”

Nanabe questions, “Why us? The other sororities perform fine academically too. Seems so out of the blue they want to partner with us.”

“Well, based on numbers, we have the highest average GPA. Also, truthfully, none of the other sororities were willing to partner up with them. Considering the circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

Hange pauses, unsure whether to continue or not. “Okay. Let me say this again. What is said in this room stays in this room. The now banned brothers from Alpha Tau made a list ranking the women they had sex with.” There are a few gasps and shocked reactions at this news. It makes you sick hearing it. “This includes many women from the other sororities. So, naturally, the presidents of each of those sororities are choosing to distance themselves from Alpha Tau, at least for this semester, once all the smoke clears. Until then, we are the only sorority who has a clean slate with Alpha Tau.”

Petra adds, “Also, both me and Hange are close to Levi and Erwin, respectively, and they’ve been wanting to pair with us for quite some time. Now that they are prez and vice prez, they have more say in those matters and are finally making it happen.”

“So, we’re just supposed to be okay with pairing with a fraternity that ranks women based on their skills in bed? How is this okay?” Annie argues.

“They kicked out those members! The current brothers had nothing to do with it!” Petra cries out.

Ymir chimes in with a smug expression. “Wasn’t their last president in on it too? That Nile guy? And is it true they called themselves the Mega Pornstars?”

Hange answers with a frenzied look, “Nile didn’t participate in it! And he’s already graduated, so it doesn’t matter anymore! But yes, unfortunately the Mega Pornstars thing is true.”

More groaning surrounds the room. You look over at Annie, who crosses her arms with a furrowed brow, silently sulking. Turning your head the opposite way, you see Ymir whispering to Christa, who eyes are wide with shock, the poor thing. Suddenly, Mikasa stands up straight, the unexpected movement making you flinch.

“My vote is yes for this, President Hange! We have to help them get their reputation back. For Armin…and…and for Eren…” She stops talking, looking deep in thought at that last part.

Eren? He must be the other friend. The one she no longer hangs out with.

Hange looks over at her, confused. “Uhh, we don’t technically need to vote on this, but thank you for the vocal support, Mikasa. Look everyone, I know this is unprecedented, but I can assure you: This is going to be beneficial for both parties. They need our help to build back a good reputation; we need their help to further improve ours. It’s a win-win.”

“We’re going to be collaborating with them mostly for charity events. But we were thinking we can also have a couple of exchanges, for fun. Oh, by the way, for our new members, exchanges are social events between a sorority and fraternity. We haven’t gotten down to the nitty gritty details, but I will update you soon on a schedule of events!” Petra explains.

The president takes over again and ends the chapter meeting, thus ending the conversation on Alpha Tau all together. You and Mikasa gather with the rest of your pledge class to walk back to your dorms. Sasha is the first to bring it up once you’re well away from the house. “So, what do you ladies think? About the whole Alpha Tau thing?”

Ymir scoffs, “Well, you all certainly know how Annie and I feel. I’m trying to convince little Christa here to feel the same, but she’s not having it.”

“I just think we should give them a chance. Just like they’re giving us a chance, right?” Christa says, as sweet as ever.

After having a few minutes to digest the information, you say, “I agree with Christa. I think we should go in with an open mind. I trust Hange and Petra’s judgement. I don’t think they’d put us in a situation that would harm us. This Erwin Smith guy seems nice enough.”

“It’s not Erwin Smith I’m worried about,” Annie says.

“Annie, stop being so cryptic and just tell us what you know!” Sasha exclaims, biting into a piece of bread that she somehow conjured from her pockets.

“There are these two guys I know in there. One of them isn’t so bad. Bertolt. He’s actually okay. The other, well. He’s just a straight up dick. Reiner. Reiner Braun. Straight up asshole.”

“What makes him such an asshole?”

“He’s just a typical frat boy. Obnoxious, cocky, a player. The three of us went to the same high school. They’re a year older than me.”

“Just because he’s a fuck boy doesn’t mean they all are! Armin’s in there, and he’s a total sweetheart! Right Mikasa?” Sasha turns to Mikasa, begging for a comment.

Mikasa stares at the ground with her hands in her pocket. Quietly, she replies, “Yes. Armin is a sweetheart.”

“Isn’t your other friend in there too? Eren? What’s he like?”

You try not to let your curiosity show, but you can’t help but perk your ears up to Sasha’s question.

Mikasa stays quiet for a few seconds, before saying, “He’s nice too.” No more elaboration.

“See, Annie? All we have to do is avoid this Reiner guy and it should be fine! Don’t let one rotten potato spoil the whole bag!”

“Why does it always seem like you’re talking about potatoes, you doofus?” Annie snaps.

You all veer off into different directions, saying goodbye for the night. As you and Mikasa walk towards your dorm, you let a comfortable silence fall between you, not wanting to cross any lines with your roommate. At the door, Mikasa mutters, “Wait.” You turn to face her, listening.

“I’d like to get some things off my chest.” You mentally brace yourself for what she’s about to reveal to you.

“I know that you’re probably wondering who Eren is. He’s my best friend. Him, me, and Armin. We all grew up together, but Eren is practically a brother to me. And I know you must have been curious why all of a sudden, I’m hanging out with you more than them.” She swallows before she continues. “The truth is, ever since he rushed Alpha Tau, he’s been too busy to hang out with me. Sometimes I think he’s forgotten about me completely. Armin still makes time to see me, but even he’s too busy nowadays. So, I joined a sorority to make more friends and be more social, instead of sulking in my own loneliness. And I don’t harbor ill feelings towards Eren. Maybe I did at the start, but not anymore. I just…I just want to make sure he doesn’t forget about me.”

She stares at the ground the entire time, arms crossed over her chest. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you. For being my friend. And going through this with me. And since we’re going to be seeing a lot of Alpha Tau now, you should know about Eren, since you’ll probably be seeing him too.”

This is the most you’ve heard her speak. It stuns you for a few seconds. You let a moment of silence pass before you walk towards her and put an arm around her shoulder. “Mikasa. Thank you for telling me. I know it’s not easy opening up.”

She looks at you, expression still serious. “It’s not, but I feel like you should know.”

“I appreciate it. Hey, I know it feels like you may have lost a brother, but at least you gained a sister, right?”

Finally, a small smile forms on her lips. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“You should just try talking to him, tell him how you feel,” you suggest as you swipe your ID to open the door to your dorm.

“I’ve tried to text him, but he never responds. I can’t ever get a hold of him.”

“Well, maybe this collab with Alpha Tau is exactly what you need to reconcile with him.”

“I guess.”

Back in the room, the two of you change into pajamas and start getting ready for bed as you continue to chat about other topics besides Eren. Once in bed, you turn to your side and contemplate the night’s events.

There’s no denying that this partnership with the most popular fraternity on campus excites you. Disregarding the giant shit stain from the bad apples, everyone knows that Alpha Tau are the “cool” guys on campus, whatever that means. Maybe this is exactly what you need to work on your confidence. It’s a good opportunity to meet new people, maybe practice a little bit of flirting. Maybe even make some new friends.

One thing is for sure: You are determined to make this year more exciting than last.

~~~

Erwin Smith, Alpha Tau’s chapter president, stands up straight in the front of the chapter room. His first announcement of the night is regarding “big brother” assignments.

“New pledge Armin Arlert. Your big brother is Bertolt Hoover.”

Bertolt, who sits in front of them, turns around to give Armin a kind smile, which is returned.

“New pledge Eren Jaeger. Your big brother is Reiner Braun.”

Right next to Bertolt is blond-haired junior Reiner Braun, who turns to give Eren a cocky smirk before saying, “Hope you’re ready to fucking party, man.”

Eren smirks back. “Hell yeah. You gonna show me the ropes?”

The blonde only scoffs as he turns back around to face the front.

Eren nudges Armin before paying his attention back to the president. After he reads off the other big brother assignments, he says, “I’d like to give the floor to our vice president, Levi Ackerman.”

“Good evening, everyone. Welcome new members to your first chapter meeting. On a serious note, I have some news that I know most of you are aware of already.” He explains the situation about Nile Dok and the “MPs”, more or less of what Armin told Eren just a few minutes earlier. “I know it’s a bit of a hit to our numbers, but those members did not exemplify the values of Alpha Tau. President Erwin did what needed to be done.”

“Hear hear!” one of the seniors yell, followed by some cheers from the others.

Another senior that Eren met a few days ago, Mike Zacharias, says, “Fuck the MPs. And fuck Nile Dok.”

“Mike,” Erwin warns from the side. Nile was Erwin’s big brother, unfortunately.

Levi continues. “Honestly, we should be ashamed we let those fucking pricks into our organization in the first place. But what’s done is done. Now onto my other big announcement. To atone for what those fucking shit stains did, Erwin and I have decided the best way to move forward is to pair up with one of the sororities on campus.”

This news results in an overwhelming round of cheers and hollering from the brothers, to which Eren can’t help but join in on. He nudges Armin again, who smiles.  Jean, who’s seated on Armin’s other side, leans in close to whisper, “Who do you think it’s gonna be? I hope it’s the Delta Mu’s, they’ve got the hottest chicks.”

Connie chimes in, “Eta Iota girls are hot too. Walked by them while they were doing their porch yells last week.” He lets out a low whistle.

“Oh yeah! All the sororities had their first chapter last Sunday,” Armin notes.

Levi raises his voice over the commotion. “Alright brothers, settle down, settle down. After a lot of discussion, we’ve decided that the sorority we’re pairing with is Sigma Nu Kappa.”

A different outburst fills the room now. There are a few cheers, mostly from the seniors, but there is an overwhelming sound of disappointed groans.

“Sigma Nu Kappa? Are you fucking serious?” Reiner grumbles to Bertolt, who just nods with a neutral expression on his face.

Armin, on the other hand, can’t help but grin and exclaim, “Yes!”

“You know about them?” Eren asks.

“That’s Mikasa’s sorority!” he answers, excited.

Eren still can’t get over the shock that Mikasa Ackerman, the girl he grew up with over the last ten years, the woman who looks like she couldn’t hurt a fly but can actually kick your ass, is now in a sorority. It’s something he has to see to believe. And given this announcement, he’s going to see it sooner than he expects.

“Now, I know a lot of our brothers aren’t familiar with the sisters of Sigma Nu Kappa. This is a great opportunity to get to know them. Most of us seniors are familiar with the other seniors in Sigma Nu Kappa and I can say with full confidence that they are a group of fine, albeit unique, women,” Levi tells them.

Erwin stands up and walks beside Levi, adding, “Yes. It’s in all of our best interests to be respectful and welcoming to the sisters of SNK. As Alpha Tau men should be to all women. I will not tolerate disrespect or harassment of any kind. I am quite close to President Hange Zoë, so be warned. Any hint of misconduct, you are out.”

“Petra, who is their social chair, and I are working on a schedule of events. We plan to have our first exchange in two weeks, followed by a volunteer event a week after that. I’ll send an email reminder later, along with role assignments for the exchange. Any questions, you can come directly to me. My room is on the second floor.” With that, Levi adjourns the meeting. Before they file out, Levi yells, “Pledges. Meet in the kitchen in five minutes. I’d like to have a word before you leave tonight.”

Armin and Eren tail the rest of their pledge class as they make their way downstairs towards the kitchen.

“This is exciting! I’ve been curious about this sorority ever since Mikasa told me she was rushing. She said this was her top choice.”

“Why didn’t she say anything to me?”

“I’m sure she tried to, Eren. You don’t ever respond to her texts.”

“Well, how am I supposed to respond to a text that just says ‘Eren’? If she has something to say, she should just say it.”

“Oh, Eren,” Armin responds, shaking his head in disappointment.

They gather in the kitchen, waiting for Levi to meet them. He comes down two minutes later, a stern look on his face, as usual.

“Pledges. Just wanted to clarify some things. An exchange is a gathering between a sorority and fraternity. I know I said I have some role assignments, but I can assure you, you will not have any assignments during our first exchange with Sigma Nu Kappa. We want you to enjoy your first party as official Alpha Tau brothers.”

Jean responds, “Hell yeah. Good shit, Levi!” Marco follows with a cheerful, “Yay!”

When the vice president dismisses them, Armin and Eren make their way towards the front door to start walking to their dorm. Before they reach the handle, Reiner’s voice booms from the top of the stairs.

“Eren! Armin! Bertolt and I are getting McDonald's. Want to come?” 

The best friends look at each other for a second before agreeing with a resounding, “Yes!”

A few minutes later, Eren and Armin ride in the back of Bertolt’s Honda Civic while Reiner occupies the passenger seat. Classic 80s rock blasts through the car’s speakers as they ride off campus with the windows rolled down.

Reiner turns the volume lower on the car to speak. “So, what did you guys think of your first Alpha Tau chapter meeting?”

Armin replies, “It was cool! I’m excited to be paired up with Sigma Nu Kappa.”

Reiner scoffs, similar to what Eren heard earlier in the chapter room. “I don’t know about these Sigma Nu Kappas. I heard they’re pretty lame.”

“My best friend is in SNK, she’s in the new pledge class,” Armin says, a bit defensively.

“Annie’s in there too,” Bertolt adds.

Another scoff from the blond. “Annie? Now I know for a fact they’re lame if they gave her a bid.”

Eren notices Bertolt’s grip on the steering wheel tighten but doesn’t say anything in response.

“Hey, Eren. Did Zeke ever tell you how he was my big bro when I first joined? He was a senior when I was a freshman, and he already had two other littles from the previous pledge classes. But he still picked me up. Dude was a legend,” Reiner says.

“I didn’t know that. I guess it’s fate that brought us together,” Eren responds, with a deadpan expression.

Reiner laughs. “You’re a little crazy, you know that? You say some weird shit, but I like you. This is going to be fun.” He turns towards the front and blasts the music on high again, drowning out any potential for further conversation.

Eren nods his head along to the music, leaning his face towards the open window to feel the coolness of the night air against his skin. The breeze blows through his long hair as he repeats the sentiment from Reiner in his head.

This is going to be fun.

[pixxyofice]

hey main tumblr. I've been normal. (Has not been)

Making ocs for the main party is super fun, especially if you like thinking a lot about the dynamics of it. Which I have! A lot!

This is Melodie! They/Them, maybe also drae/draer if I want to be obvious about them. Paper type.

Loop doesn't know who they are...

The funniest backstory ever I have for them is like. In the Hypothetical Reason They Are A Party Member is that in the pre-game canon game, like if it was normal, is that Melodie would be an EXTREMELY missable party member. If you don't talk to a random NPC early in the game they don't pop up later to be talked to and then recruited by Siffrin. In their first appearance in the game they haven't shaved that side of their hair yet.

Their backstory goes like this. They're from the country. you know the one. it's the reason i tagged this as spoilers. They were out of the country for a brief trip in Ka Bue, probably either a study program or to help out with something else. Undecided. On the day they were to return, something... happened to the boats, and they ended up on the continent Vaugarde was in.

A very young teenager, at most, spending time wandering alone. don't think too much about it! haha! this results in them being a lil' awkward, flip flopping between too quiet and too loud in a way that causes them to move on too quick. And then they are 23 (they think), and someone with white hair and an accent kinda like their own approaches them, and... they're with some people they've seen before, they think, the saviors?

and Melodie get introduced. and they want to travel with them more. and they open up. Melodie's still quiet at times, but it's so much easier to open up when people are encouraging and don't hound you for forgetting things that are supposed to be simple. Not in a mean way, anyway.

So by the game's start, they're... a little loud, but in a nice way. Creative. A lil' rambly (a bit much, but always nice to listen to, even if the points go in a bit of circles).

Oh, and, of course, i've thought about THE PARTY DYNAMICS.

Melodie and Mirabelle would be light novel fans together. They make silly poses together to make their lives better and to pose out what the characters are described doing. they laugh about it. They would get into discourse about their favorite characters.

I did mention Melodie was creative, right? Melodie writes some stuff in their spare time, and as one third of the book club, Melodie sometimes is like 'i could use this in my book' and when they say it out loud without meaning to once, Odile takes interest, and now Melodie and Odile have life experiences talk that Melodie can take to adjust things in their lil projects! and also Odile can be the contstructive criticism person.

One thing that helps Melodie out of their shell is that Bonnie is there. to vaguely remind Melodie of some people they can't remember. and be annoying with. And when everyone laughs about it, Melodie does it a lil more!! and bonnie actually does appreciate it! just... not all the way. (reminds them of their sister, too.)

... and...

hi guys i have normal thoughts about these three in particular. many thoughts that get crushed into paste whenever i even try to describe them. Um. I can try though.

Siffrin and Melodie are like. We're similar, but different in ways that makes us seek the other out for company. Our white hair, the way we form words, the small ways we mumble. Melodie breaks out of their shell with a shout, shaking and smiling, while siffrin slides out so slowly. They sit together, and they chat about things they know the others won't get. They remind each other of things forgotten if they remember but the other forgets. they love puns. Siffrin mastered making them, Melodie mastered understanding them and laughing along!! and, of course, the slowly approaching crush that both of them have been festering but have been COMPLETELY ignoring.

Melodie and Isabeau are shopping buddies. Melodie, as a way to get out of their shell, has been getting slightly interested in fashion, and Isabeau is so, SO eager to help out! Along the way this turned into 'get them some new experiences' and 'we make each other better we think about each other all the time we'll encourage each other until our dying breaths.' Melodie started getting used to touch due to Isabeau touching them casually and shouting at him to keep their hand there, and that spreading to the others. Isabeau calls Melodie Mel, and it... hasn't quite spread to the others yet. (Melodie wonders why.) Isabeau admires Melodie for the way they subtly change and Melodie admires Isabeau for the way he has Changed and... of course... the crush they have on him. which is 100% totally unrequited, because he likes Siffrin, and they just HAD to get a crush on someone who already liked someone else!

melodie knows odile is the one isabeau goes to for his own crush. so like, why not follow suit, right? it's not like isabeau likes them back, so it's totally fair. Odile would understand. (odile is the Sufferer)

the most hilarious and fucked up dynamic of three people all in love with each other of all time, i think. (siffrin unaware of both crushes, melodie only aware of the isabeau one, and isabeau aware of both. melodie is also aware of isabeau's crush on siffrin. help them)

I have more I want to say, but... um... getting embarrassed so this is all for now!! um! yay!!! posts this in the tags and flees

[elix8r]

The Frat Diaries Glossary (heads up: I realized while writing that i’m using a lot of lingo that not everyone might be familiar so this should help you out with understanding everything and the story will make more sense esp if you’re not already familiar with Greek life and also this is all based on my personal experiences so it might be different at each school):

Rush: a process where prospective sorority and fraternity members and the actual sororities and fraternities meet each other and through this they pick out the people that they want in their organization. Sorority rush (recruitment) is much more of an organized event where PNMs come weeks before school actually start to rush. They have specified schedules that let them know which sororities to meet. This process is so intricate lmao I literally thought I was dying when I went through it cause everyday I had to wake up at like 5am to get ready and got back to my dorm at like 8pm. Each day the amount of sororities you can get back lessen until the last day where you are left with your top two and you choose from there. Fraternity rush is much more of a laidback event that also happens before school starts. Fraternity rush is more about who you know and connections. Many start inviting potential members over the summer to their houses to see if they vibe well with everyone else. Then during the official week of rush, frats will hold events or dinners that are invite only and from there they narrow their choices before handing out bids. 

PNM: potential new member 

Pledge: A non-initiated member of a fraternity. He isn’t considered a full-fledged member and this is usually where the “hazing” happens and a good chunk of them are first years

Chapter: a weekly mandatory meeting held at the sorority house where members come and learn about upcoming events and etc.

Initiation: a very very secretive ceremony that is different for every organization but this is where the new members are officially indoctrinated into being a member of the sorority or fraternity. It’s usually really formal (almost cult-like with coordinated dress code, usually long white dresses) and a big deal. 

Bid: the official invitation you receive from the sorority or fraternity to join them 

Bid day: an important day at the end of rush week where new members run home (sometimes literally) and the sororities throw huge celebrations to celebrate the new members that have received a bid from them 

GBig/Big/little: a big is usually an older member of your organization that is a mentor figure that basically takes you under their wing and helps you adjust to your life in Greek. While not always, these relationships are usually one that develops to an actual older sister/younger sister situation. Your GBig would be the big of your big and all together you would refer to everyone in your group as a family and the little would be the new member

Tailgate: pre-game for a big sports game and it usually involves lots of day drinking, barbecuing, yard games, and socializing 

Darty: day-party

Formal/Semi-formal: kinda like college prom for fraternities and sororities. Usually held in like some city (New Orleans) or a special place and it’s really fun as you’re probably gonna be drunk at it

Game day pin/stickers: Im not sure that this is a thing outside of the South but because it is a thing everyone has on gamedays i’m going to add it. It’s like pins or stickers that usually showcases your sorority’s support for your school. Pins are worn by the members (and maybe parents or significant others as they aren’t handed out in bulks like the stickers are so if you see someone who isn’t in that sorority wearing a pin, then they probably have a close relationship with whoever gave it to them) and stickers are put on just anyone who wants one. Click this link for some examples. 

Letters: the Greek letters for you fraternity or sorority. For example the two main organizations in this story is Epsilon Nu (EN) and Alpha Epsilon Sigma (AEΣ). Many Greek members will be seen sporting their letters on their shirts, hats, computers, backpacks, water bottles, etc.

Dues: how much you pay the organization and it usually covers the cost for the house, meals, membership, etc. 

Date Party/Socials/Mixer: social events that usually have a theme or is held with other fraternities. I’ve been to like My-tie, ski lodge, Hawaiian luau, country-club, etc and they’re just a real fun time to socialize and spend time with your fellow sisters

Philanthropy: Usually each organization has a specific charity or awareness they raise money for (ZTA raises breast cancer awareness and Tri-Delt raises money for St. Jude) and there will also be drives or events held to raise money or volunteer

Executive Board: aka exec is the leadership council for your organization. For example: President, VP of Recruitment, Standards chair, etc.

Standards: This is like HR or risk management. This is the board that makes sure the girls follow rules and policies and if they don’t, then you will be called to standards and given consequences based on what you did wrong. Example: I got fined for talking to a PNM who was a friend of mine outside of rush during recruitment week.

Author’s Note: I might add more as I write but seriously if you have any questions do not hesitate to send them my way and i will be more than happy to do my best to try to explain things further also I have made my mind to further expand this universe and create stories with some of the other members! so look out for those in the near future! 

[bereft-of-frogs]

I kind of just want to ramble about the spell scene because I really liked the spell scene

it was pretty spooky. I dug it.

I was really curious how they were going to cover that whole confrontation, considering it's fairly long and we'd seen all the dialogue before, but having Torbin fading in and out was both a great way to cover the runtime and added to the creepy factor.

It's also interesting we don't actually see his perspective on the spell itself: this seems to just all be the lead-up, the way Aniseya gets past his defenses. It cuts out of his perspective once she fully takes over and I wonder what the actual spell felt like. It doesn't look particularly comfortable, but also maybe it was just like skipping forward in time, like missing a beat.

I am so happy they stuck with Torbin's big secret desire Aniseya was exploiting being...literally to just go home. For like a split second I was afraid they were going to imply there was like a secret lover back on Coruscant or take it in a different direction (especially after uh, stuff last week...), but nope, kid was just really homesick. (Confirmed in the Nerdist interview, literally no other implications other than a kid being like 'I want out of this situation, I want to go back to Coruscant' welcome back Reath Silas.)

I could probably break down a whole bunch of how Aniseya wore him down, from picking information about his past out of his mind, stoking his fear and feeling of being trapped ('do you want to escape this planet'), to being forced to submit by asking her, inviting her in...argh there's so much.

Also for a bit I was like, Aniseya, you made a bit of a tactical error with this move. And I still think that it was technically a mistake but I also completely get why she did it and why she thought it would work.

First off, the mistake aspect: I mean right off the bat, it is a violation and an escalation and that's not a great opening move. Seeing Torbin's perspective makes it clear Aniseya starts working on him pretty much as soon as they enter. Before anyone actually gets to say anything, she's identified the youngest, weakest member of their party and started invading his mind so she can use him as leverage against them. Not great. Like I get she's feeling justifiably defensive, but she's already got a while bunch of armed guards that pretty dramatically outnumber the Jedi, maybe a bit of overkill to essentially take a padawan as a psychic hostage to manipulate his master.

It also tips her hand and shows off her power really early. You'd think she'd want to keep that in reserve, to prevent them from finding ways to counter it. Because I think that's probably exactly what happens. I'm straying slightly into the realm of 'headcanon' but I do think it's a fair logical leap to make that Indara, as his teacher, was the one to help Torbin 'fortify his mind' after, which does a couple things: 1) Aniseya has fewer people she can target with this spell, now that her primary target has specifically worked on blocking her out, and 2) this might have given Indara insight into the nature of the spell. Insight which she could then used to free Kelnacca and inadvertently kill the entire coven (also confirmed by the same interview, Indara did not intentionally kill them, she just chose to act without knowing what the consequences would be). But I think she just underestimated Indara (honestly not unlike the audience, we've been giving Sol credit for his telepathic prowess, when it was her this whole time) and possibly didn't think the Jedi would figure out her spell and how to counter it so quickly.

But I also totally get why Aniseya did this and why she thought it would work and that fits into the conflict between what each side thought was going on. The coven does not realize the Jedi are essentially concerned about the girls' safety and doing a welfare check. They think the Jedi are here for recruitment. So I could see how she might believe that a strong initial show of power would get them to back down. It's a very defensive maneuver, showing the Jedi that the girls have a strong family protecting them and it's not worth the risk to push harder...and might have worked...

...if the Jedi hadn't had a completely different idea of what was going on. Instead of chasing them off, it makes Sol double down on his idea that the girls are in danger and the aggressive opening move starts to sow doubt in what could have been Aniseya's ally.

(There really is a better version of this timeline where Indara puts her foot down on going in alone and diffuses the situation. Her going in by herself would have looked less threatening and had less weak spots, she probably wouldn't have fallen to Aniseya's spell so quickly, maybe they could have talked it out.)

But Aniseya has no way of knowing the conflict between Sol and Indara, and this direct, immediate threat to the youngest and most vulnerable member of their group would actually make them more convinced the girls were in danger. Instead of making them back off, it makes them feel like they can't back off without leaving the girls in a dangerous situation.

...and Aniseya doesn't know Indara had been defending the coven's right to be left alone, and that what she does to Torbin would make Indara doubt her convictions. The whole testing scene she's clearly starting to be like 'ok this maybe isn't great...' but she's clearly trying to stay fair, and there's this moment while Sol is talking to Osha, when she glances over at Torbin with this look on her face. There are probably multiple interpretations of this small, wordless exchange, but I took it to be like the deepest point of her doubt. She still follows the Council, but this does seem to be the point at which she stops trying to give them the benefit of the doubt while Sol gets more and more riled up about the girls' safety. (Will have to confirm on rewatch but I think up until that moment, she's still countering Sol's arguments with specific defenses of the coven, and then after that she just falls back to 'the Council said no'. This also might have contributed to her own willingness to use what turned out to be deadly force, or at least not care so much about the consequences.)

So yeah I think it was technically a tactical error, but it's an understandable one that fits into the theme of differing perspectives on the same event. IF what Aniseya thought was going on was really going on (the Jedi drifting by looking for recruits) it might have worked to get them to back off. But it was a mistake in light of how the Jedi had interpreted what they saw.

Anyway, I'm sorry so little of this conversation about the spell has been about Kelnacca, given he's really the biggest victim of it. It's just hard to analyze a character the audience can't understand. It is sad he looks so guilty in the final scene. Poor guy. Also really nothing in this contradicted my little theory/headcanon that Kelnacca and Torbin are generally more fucked up by the experience because of the mind invasion thing. (Especially if we consider....Koril possibly surviving........maybe the spell isn't quite so broken....) (ok now we've really gone off a theory deep end XD )

tldr: I liked how spooky and in-character the spell scene was, I would have liked to get more about what the actual moment of the spell felt like, and potentially its aftereffects but........might have to cover that myself *opens word document*

(just kidding....I use scrivener and I've been working on fic with the tentative hope I was not abysmally wrong on characterization for weeks.)

[greenshi]

alright tell me about YOUR current favorite guy now

I AM FINALLY DOING THIS i have been. so distracted lmaooo. BUT I decided to do the guy in my icon, fifth member of weezer and best FE character, Python <3. He may not be the Number One guy in my brain right this moment, but that spot and most after it are all taken by OCs, so. We're doing him instead. Also because of this tag because I think you'd like this guy jort

ANYWAY, Python. My guy. He's a character from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a recruitable archer early on in Alm's route.

Now, in Echoes, the class discrepancy between nobles and commoners is a prominent theme, especially in Alm's route. This is something that comes up in a lot of FE games, unsurprisingly, seeing as princes and thieves fight together side by side. And the games (at least those I've played, which is only FEA-FE3H. I know.) tend to handwave a lot of the more unsavory points of that topic. A lot of the time, conversations or supports that delve into that topic end in "yeah, being poor and starving sucks, but you know what also sucks? Being royalty! It's really hard :[" which, like, yeah, it is, but also one party here has the means to help the other, but is choosing not to instead say how their life sucks too, actually. Idk, these conversations always rubbed me in the wrong way a bit.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, Python is a commoner. And he doesnt buy any of that "being rich is hard too guys :[" shit for a Second. In his support with Clive (a nobleman knight who's opinion on the whole situation is "well some people have to be poor so I can be rich") he straight up tells him that his ideas on how society should be run are wrong and that his view on common people are condescending at best.

Python doesn't fight for honor or any sense of duty, he fights for his paycheck and his childhood friend who does feel that duty, Forsyth. Even if he and Forsyth disagree on many things, there's a mutual respect between the two, an understanding of their station, and a small rivalry between how to best navigate said station. Forsyth encourages Python to get out there, try things, put some effort into life. But Python just, doesn't see much of a point. But it's not for any depressive reason, or even straight apathy. Python just prioritizes rest and relaxation. He doesn't live to work, he has no dream job (which Forsyth takes as having no dream at all, not that Python would disagree), he just wants to enjoy his life; sleeping in the sun, having a few drinks, spending time with friends, and sharing stories and gossip.

Speaking of friends and gossip, I'm going to drop my favorite support of his, maybe even my favorite support in the whole game (even though its locked behind a dlc map like seriously what was up with this games dlc why is a support between two base game units behind a paywall-)

Going from this support, and the fact that neither of them have romantic endings, (Lukas' even saying he 'never wanted for companionship') this is a pretty clear attempt by FE at writing two aroace (or at least just aro) characters. And, idk, I think its really special. Neither are framed as missing out or needing another to be happy, the conversation is to the point and respectful, and they are both allowed to be full characters beyond this detail of their lives.

And that's a common thread through Python's character that I admire. In any other story, the character that had no want for big dreams, constant improvement, or romance would be framed as an empty person, someone deeply unhappy without anything to strive for. But, even as the other characters try and impose that narrative onto Python, that's never actually the case. He is happy as he is, doing just enough to be as comfortable as he can, taking rests and shortcuts all along the way. He will not sell his time more than he must, he will not work harder than he has to, he will not allow those who push themselves to breaking for those above them to guilt him into doing the same. He has nothing to prove, nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, the one time he could push himself, in his bad ending after Forsyth dies, *THAT* is when he is empty and miserable, fighting like his friend once did until his early, untimely death.

Python is just such a breath of fresh air. He was the one in my brain telling me say no to my boss long before Chilchuck, he is a character that not even FE has been able to write like that again (even when writing for him specifically, like his Heroes characterization is so off and bad augh). He is one of the very few canonically aro characters I can find, and I'm proud to have him napping in my icon for the foreseeable future.

[g8dess]

alright 👁 the entire ask game for your ouran s/i? if you're feeling up to it hdshkgddhkh

Oh god for my Ouran S/I, I gotta choose which one then because I have too many S/I’s for that series xD

I think I’m just going to do my See Me S/I, Yani, who has known the twins for as long as she can remember, but only starting middle school is starting her path to befriending them.

F*ck that, have other self inserts too 🤜🤜

Also doing some asks for Yoshiko, my reinzu and me self insert, who finally requests a host after her best friend comes with her to the host club, and Kaiga, my blooming oc self-insert who's part of the host club as the dependent type.

⏰ - When/How would our S/Is meet? How were the first impressions?

Considering my self insert is very closed off and only has one close friend, we’d probably bump into each other in the hallways, and after some short apologies we’d be off on our own ways again. It’d take a third party to introduce us to each other later down the line, which in this case would be the host club members, considering he’s part of the host club himself.

First impressions are good on my part, Yani can see how protective he is of the host club and doesn’t immediately register his faux mean tone, so she admires him slightly. She adores his chiller attitude compared to the hyperactiveness of her best friend, so she sometimes goes to him if she wants to wind down for the day. 

While they probably see each other in the halls a lot, considering they are in the same year, officially they met in the host club during Yoshiko’s little host hopping period to get to know everyone a bit.

At the beginning, Yoshiko didn’t really like Ryomen, the mean guy facade rubbed her the wrong way, and Ryomen doesn’t really care about that. It's only after she asks if he can drop the facade with her, that the mean guy facade gets put aside for a bit, it is still there but less so, and Yoshiko really appreciates that but there is an underlying tension between the two.

Kaiga and Ryomen met when they were recruited by the host club. At first conversations were sparse and awkward, they didn't seem to have much in common. As time goes on though, Kaiga does seem to depend more on Ryomen than he does with the other hosts.

👥 - Would they be friends/enemies? How well do they trust each other? How do you think the dynamic would be?

I think they’d more be considered friendly acquaintances, bordering on friends. Yani doesn’t easily let others in, so she doesn’t want to use a label that Ryomen himself doesn’t use first. There’s a lot of uncertainty about whether they are friends or not, but they aren’t hostile towards each other.

Yani does trust him a lot, considering she knows he’s protective of what he loves and that means a lot to her. But she won’t share secrets with him just yet.

I think they’d be very silent when with each other, occasionally breaking it to ask the other a question, mostly about the food they might be eating or the activities for the day. But it’d be a comforting silence, no need to act around the other.

I don't think they’d get along that great, Ryomen being protective over the host club wouldn't fully trust Yoshiko. 

Ryomen would hear the tales of how me and a friend are with the twins and completely throw them off, and he would decide then and there that he can't leave us alone together in fear we'll ruin their routine again. Yoshiko would feel bad and avoid Ryomen most of the time.

They’d be considered friends, as all host club members are friends. Ryomen and Kaiga are both protective of their club, Ryomen a slight bit more so, so they'd do quite a lot for one another. 

I wanna believe they'd both trust each other quite a bit. I know Kaiga trusts Ryomen a lot, maybe a bit too much. Any secret he has, he'll share with him.

Ryomen has that protective big brother energy and Kaiga has that meek younger brother energy, so they work perfectly upon one another. XD. Ryomen is a reminder to Kaiga to stand up for himself and others, while Kaiga is a reminder to Ryomen to be a bit more honest and slow down.

🌼 - What does your S/I like about mine?

I said it before and I’ll say it again, the fact he’s protective of the host club and Haruhi. Yani is an only child so she only has her best friend being protective of her, but the feeling of having an older brother figure like Ryomen around puts her at ease a bit more. And she herself is protective of what she loves, so seeing somebody else have the same quality is nice to her.

She also likes their shared love for books, as for the rest this isn’t something she can discuss with anyone outside of her club activities.

His silly antics. Yoshiko loves that about everyone in the host club, how dramatic they can all get. It's entertaining to watch.

His “I don't care” attitude. Kaiga grew up caring too much about what other people think of him, so it's something he really likes and admires about Ryomen. 

🌹 - Your S/I and mine are double-dating with our F/Os! How do you think that would go?

Awkward if we do a group activity during high school, but only slightly. Kaoru and Yani would have secret touches and blushes on their faces, while I imagine Ryomen and Kyoya to have lasting gazes. But none of them would be willing to admit to anything romantic, and they are all no-nonsense people so we’d just focus on our activity most of the time.

After high school, when the relationships are established enough, it’d be quite a classy date.

I think it’d be quite tense as Ryomen doesn't fully trust her and would be too vigilant about whether or not she's a good match for Kaoru. So neither party can fully relax to enjoy their time together. 

I think everyone would dote a little on Kaiga, Haruhi and Ryomen are his biggest supporters, so they have difficulty letting go of the doting tendencies. Kyoya is just the mother of the group, looking out for everyone. Overall they’d have a good and chill time. 

👀 - What does your S/I think about my F/O? Does it affect the relationship between your S/I and mine?

How Yani thinks about Kyoya doesn’t affect her relationship with Ryomen at all. She doesn’t think much about Kyoya, just that he’s a decent person who knows what he’s doing. And I imagine Ryomen doesn't really care about her opinion regarding crushes anyway. XD

Yoshiko has a difficult time grasping Kyoya's character, so she's often scared of him. It also means she's scared of Ryomen whenever Kyoya becomes a topic of their conversation as she feels that her negative opinion is met with resistance. 

Kaiga has been in the same class as Kyoya for an eternity it seems to him, so he knows how cold he truly can be. It scares Kaiga a little bit, but Ryomen's opinion of Kyoya, and the fact they ended up in the host club together, drastically changed Kaiga's opinion. So nowadays he's chill with Kyoya.

Ryomen's opinion on Haruhi really affects Kaiga though, he's afraid to overstep boundaries or take initiative when it comes to his feelings as he doesn't want to trigger Ryomen's protective feelings over Haruhi.

😏 - Would your S/I tease mine about their F/O? Do you think it’d be easy for my S/I to tease your S/I about their F/O?

Yani wouldn’t tease so much as just simply ask about him. Anything Ryomen wants to share he can, but she won’t press the matter any further.

However it’d be very easy to tease Yani about her crush, even if she won’t show it much outwardly it does fluster her when she’s asked about her crush.

Yoshiko would try to tease him a little bit, but it takes only one glance from Ryomen to shut her up. Meanwhile Ryomen can tease her about her crush and she'll just stammer and fluster super hard, with no retaliation. 

Kaiga isn't the type to tease others, and in return doesn't like to be teased either. It's a bit difficult to fluster him since he's quite honest, but he will blush and avert his eyes, trying to divert the attention elsewhere. 

✈ - What would be an ideal hangout between the two S/Is? Any particular activities the two would enjoy together?

The two of them can be seen just enjoying each other's presence by reading and writing around one another. Enjoying some good tea and coffee and pastries. With Ryomen occasionally asking Yani to check over his work, or Yani commenting on something about the book she’s reading.

Yoshiko loves writing as well, so this is something they could bond over, if they were to open up about their writings. I can see them, mostly Yoshiko, very excitedly and passionately explaining all the lore of their characters.

🔍 - If the two were trapped somewhere/stuck in a dire situation, how would the two be able to resolve it?

Yani is a person that panics easily but keeps that panic under check, so not much is noticeable from it. I think the added presence of Ryomen would calm her down more easily too. So the two would probably put their heads together to get out of the situation, after some silence as neither wants to take the lead. Ryomen would take the lead a bit more than Yani, considering Yani is super bad at being the brains behind operations.

She would silently cry as they both figure out what's going on. Yoshiko explicitly asked him to ignore the tears, so they actually get some things done for their rescue.

Kaiga would freak out, it'd take Ryomen all his power to calm him down, so they wouldn't be able to do much more than wait until help arrives.

✏ - Share/Make up a shared favorite memory of the two!

When the host club got wind of Kaoru and her affection toward one another, they gave her trials to overcome to see if she was a worthy match. Each host hosted a trial, and the one Ryomen gave was by far one of the toughest of all. Mostly because he was one of the only hosts to take it seriously.

His intense stalking made her a bit paranoid, and she wanted to confront him about it. One way or another they both ended up soaked in the schoolyard pond, but talking it out they realized how silly they both looked.

📸 - Send a meme your S/I would send to my S/I!

🎁 - What’s your S/I most likely to give my S/I as a present?

Yani is most likely to gift yet another notebook to Ryomen, sometimes a book to spice things up a bit if she knows it’s one he would enjoy or have use for.

Yoshiko would probably just order a grand bouquet as a gift, not really knowing what else to give him.

Kaiga gets all kinds of small gifts, a book here, a new notepad there, some rocks and pebbles, a flower or some cute keychains. Anything that makes him think of Ryomen he will get for him.

‼ - Share anything else you think about our S/Is together !

Out of all the people she has asked to come visit her club, Ryomen is one of the few that actually came over to check it out. It became a small hiding spot for him.

Yoshiko and her friend were very quick to pick up that Kyoya was important to him, but couldn't pinpoint that it were romantic feelings, so for a while she encouraged her friend to persue him instead. After they noticed, aka were told, that Kyoya wasn't interested they were quick to change course and encourage Ryomen instead.

Kaiga has a soft spot for Ryomen, he crushed on him for a little while before and right after Haruhi joined.

[aquarius-encore-project]

INTRODUCTION POST #1 02.9.2024

ENTRY #1: JELLI

My name is Jelli! my image color is strawberry pink and my zodiac is Taurus ♡ I was born in Japan and moved to southern california during primary school. I was always into idols when I was in middle school but didn't really understand what they were outside of "JPop" I just liked the music and costumes and even sang idol covers online back in the early 2010's. I joined the group because I wanted to perform with my friends and create music and art that was true to ourselves. I do feel like sometimes I can be the "frosting?" to the cake that is Aqu♡rius. I do a lot of the design and brand work. My specialty is marketing so I want to make sure our group story is communicated well. I LOVE light and simple desserts like strawberry cake, shortbread cookies, and strawberry chocolates. I also love Siopao which is a filipino steamed meat bun... so comforting, everything you need in one package. My favorite part about being in the group is performing together! I love being able to perform on stage with my friends, I can't describe the feeling better... we work so hard and being able to come together on a stage is exhilarating. I enjoy laughing and brainstorming together when working with Aqu♡rius. We all are so unique and have so many different ideas for the group and having it all come together is like one huge melting pot of gold! My dreams for the future are to perform overseas with Aqu♡rius. Ideally I would love if we all are able to go to Japan together and perform. For myself I want to also create more solo music and show everyone what Jelli can do!

ENTRY #2: LILY

Hello~ I am Lily! My image color is princess pink and my symbol is a princess crown. My sun and moon is a scorpio and my rising is a sagittarius. I was born in one of the more diverse cities in Southern California. Growing up Filipino, we love our karaoke! I would sing all the time at the parties when I was little. I remember wanting to become a popstar, like Hannah Montana. When Aqu♡rius was still an Aqours cosplay dance group, I was, actually, a part of their very first cover, Koi ni Naritai Aquarium in 2016. However, I was just subbing in at the time. In 2018, I temporarily joined Aqu♡rius again to be their Ruby for their Awaken the Power music video. When I did my last performance with them, I remember crying because I had such an amazing time hanging out, practicing and performing with them. It felt like I fit right in, and it saddened me that it was only for a short time. Later in 2019, they officially recruited me as a member to play Ruby. Of course, I said yes and joined! I feel like I am the organizer of the group. I help a lot with setting dates, making schedules, and help keep the group on track! I also love making the lyrics distribution and formation. Especially when we have to adjust a 10-person choreo to 7. It feels like I’m solving a puzzle and I love solving puzzles!! I am such a foodie! I have my holy trinity of food that makes me happy: Shabu Hot Pot, Sushi, and Seafood boil. I also love anything spicy. I think I have the highest spice tolerance amongst my members. My favorite part about being in Aqu♡rius is performing with a great group of friends. I’ve always wanted to perform, ever since I was a kid. I thought that life was impossible until I met them. I feel the most at-home when I am on stage doing what I love. I love how we are consistently trying to improve ourselves and each other. We get to see each other grow. It’s such a rewarding feeling. My dream for the future is to perform overseas with Aqu♡rius! Maybe..Japan…at Tokyo IdolFest…? Haha! My personal goals for myself is to make more original songs and content!

ENTRY #3: HALEY

Hello everyone! My name is Haley and I am the berry purple member of Aquarius. My birthday is on November 24th and my zodiac sign is Sagittarius. I was born and raised in Southern California where it has always has been hot and anytime it rained it was like the streets are drowning. I grew up pretty much my whole life in a small town kind of in the middle of nowhere. I do like my little town life and I really prefer that over the big cities.Through out my childhood I have always been active and I tried several different sports and activities such as softball, volleyball, etc. and then in high school I did cheer. In terms of hobbies, I was introduced to anime and cosplay by my best friend Ko in middle school and that is how I ended up meeting Aquarius later on after I graduated high school. Speaking of Aquarius, I joined the group after being introduced to the other members of Aquarius through Ko and I have been a part of the group since. I joined the group because I was interested in continuing to perform since in high school I did cheer and I loved performing and doing something in that realm. I thought this would be a great opportunity to do something new, fun and exciting with a group of wonderful individuals who have the same interests. I also wanted to make new friends and meet new people. My role in Aquarius is pretty much I offer to do whatever is needing to be done. As in if anyone needs help doing anything I try to offer up. My favorite foods honestly include a lot of desserts or sweets. I just love making and eating sweets. I got more into baking recently and for the first time I made my mom’s recipe for lemon bars and they turned out amazing even if they were not perfect. In terms of savory foods, I love sushi and pasta/noodle dishes.

My favorite part about being in the group is just being with such amazing, talented, lovely people and just making something amazing together. It was honestly so cool and amazing to make Racketball together and just seeing how everything came together in the end. I cannot wait to make more music and create more with Aquarius! What I enjoy most about working with Aquarius is that sometimes things can be stressful, but we still know how to have fun together because in the end we are a group of friends that found each other and now we are one big family. My dream for the future is to make more music with Aquarius and I think it would be cool to travel more together as a group and perform.

ENTRY #4: J

Hey! It’s Shooting Star Idol, J! ✨✌🏽 My image color is Golden Yellow and my pronouns are they/he/siya (siya is a gender-neutral pronoun in the Tagalog that can used to refer to anyone)! I was born in SoCal and raised by my Filipino migrant family. The culture I was raised in influenced me to care a lot about music, dance, food, and history! I was exposed to anime and manga at a young age (lol), and through my own internet rummaging, I ended up hyper-fixating on Vocaloid, K-On!, and idols from all over the world!

Joining Aqu♡rius at the end of 2017 was a surprise! I had only gotten to know Aqours in October of that year and my baby gay dream of joining a full Love Live cosplay group came true soon after. I was eager to incorporate singing to our covers since then so I’m not surprised that Aqu♡rius has shifted to the direction it has gone now! I think I am the music guy a lot of the time for the group, but I also lead in teaching and cleaning the singing and dancing lessons. Some of my favorite foods right now are stone fruits like mangoes, peaches, nectarines, and plums!

My favorite part about working in a group is actually flourishing and developing each other’s creativity! Working on things collectively makes the results of our hard work more valuable and special since we all contributed to its development :) It’s also cool that we all have many talents and a huge majority of our work is self-produced! One goal for me is that I want to get to know all of you more! I’ve met so many people through idol activities who have shared with me their passions and optimisms and I want to be able to help uplift those who want to build community with others. As for Aqu♡rius specifically, it would be really exciting to eventually have a setlist full of only our original music!

ENTRY #5: EGGY

Helloo! I am Eggy (she/they), the cherry red member of Aqu♡rius. My birthday is on April 4th, which I think its quite fitting that my sun sign is Aries (the red imagery is burned into my soul ♥). I am also a socal native, and growing up I was always an artsy kid- loved doing any arts and crafts and creation that I could get my hands on. That artistry eventually led me to anime (I was obsessed with the art style of course), then to cosplay, and that slippery slope led me to where I am now. The Love Live to Idol pipeline is real, and I'd like to personally thank my girls Umi and Yohane for helping me along the way. Originally, I was kind of the one who started what would become Aqu♡rius, through a Love Live cosplay group that eventually evolved and led to us becoming what we are today. Because I had never had any formal training in dancing, and especially singing before, it took a little while for me to sort of ruminate on the idea of being kaigai idols when Jelli suggested we switch over from Love Live cosplay dance covers to doing what we do today, but I couldn't see myself doing this with any other group of people, and am so thankful I took the plunge. It was rather stifling being contained in a character's box, so being able to deviate from that by doing whatever we want, and ultimately just being more creative with the whole process has been amazing. As for my role in the group,,,, I have a hard time putting an exact word to it. Honestly, I feel like my strengths are in the ideas I have. I get smacked on the head with inspiration when I'm with everyone and just want to design and create faster than I can realistically keep up with. I love making art for our concepts and visuals, as well as designing when I can. I cannot lie to you guys, ice cream cannot be beat for me, I love it so much. My top tier flavor is rose, but that's hard to get so other favs are pistachio, and strawberry. Besides ice cream, I absolutely love börek, and highly recommend trying it if you haven't yet. The best thing about being a part of Aqu♡rius is just being able to be with everyone. I genuinely love and care about everyone so much and it's actually so insane to me that we have been able to create this and come so far from where we started. It's an honor to surround myself with such wonderful and inspiring people that choose to dedicate their time and energy into this project of ours. My dream for us is to continue creating- new songs, dances, events, ideas- whatever it may be. I hope one day we can host our own event with multiple original tracks (coughs I think everyone having a solo song would be so incredibly cool) and create a space for other idols in the community to do what they love to do. As for myself, I just want to continue improving, so I can be proud of every performance I do.

ENTRY #6: TUNA

Hallooo everyone!! It’s Tuna! My image color is sage green and my zodiac sign is Gemini sun, Aquarius moon and Virgo rising. I grew up in a small suburban town in Socal. I was the token weird anime kid growing up. I started cosplaying in 2011, a passion that led me to finding Eggy in 2013 at a local cosplay meetup. As my passion for anime grew, it sparked an interest in Japanese music. I found Vocaloid and quickly became a devout fan to producers and then utaites. Joining aqu♡rius was really something that basically was just a long term manifestation... I was always longing for a cosplay group. Even more, I wanted friends to sing with, a secret passion I had after finding out what a nico nico chorus was. I would have never imagined to find both in the same wonderful group. I would probably consider myself the glue of aqu♡rius. Which is to say, I am the goof that keeps us together and laughing. In reality, my range of contributions is wide, I love being a multi disciplinary artist and my contributions are eclectic and a result of random inspiration. My main focus is writing lyrics and costume construction and misc design. My favorite meal lately has been eggs in a basket toast, and favorite fruits are donut peaches and cherries! My favorite part about being in Aqu♡rius is the simple ability to create together. Aqu♡rius has inspired so much growth and change within myself and has taught me so much about how to manage my time and resources. I am so grateful for our shared experience and promise to do my best in the future too! My dream for us as a group is to travel internationally together… As for myself, I want to make more friends in this community! I also desire to keep growing my musical practice, I want to learn to play an instrument!

ENTRY #7: EDEN

Hi! I’m Eden, the shiny knife idol of AQU♡RIUS! So knife to meet you all!! You might recognize me as the pearl gray member (that’s white on your penlights!) I’m a Sagittarius sun with a Scorpio moon :) I’ve been into vocaloid since I was a wee little butter knife, I’m pretty sure when I was still in elementary school.. Then it evolved into Love Live!! And that’s where I started my idol journey! I already loved dancing since the Luka★Luka Night Fever flash mobs were popularized, and baby Eden just loved watching little dances from then on out. (I still bop to Mascara Blue Jeans often hehe)

I initially joined for a Love Live!! Cosplay group, and we just started performing.. Then added singing.. And wow here we are! Popped out like a fresh egg. I love my friends so it was really easy to get the ball rolling with everyone’s reassurance. My role? I really contribute what I can without stepping on anyone’s toes! My specialty is doodling for merch, and sometimes being the comedic relief when needed. It’s really cool seeing my drawings be made into little charms and keychains!!

My favorite food is cheesecake… I LOVE cheesecake.. I could eat a whole cheesecake by myself in an hour if I could.. Any type of pasta is also a comfort food, so is sinigang (filipino sour soup). Any rice is good.. I just love my carbs..

My favorite part about being here is the fact that it’s really just a group of my best friends performing together! They’re all such wonderful people that It makes me feel so incredibly lucky to have met all 6 of them at the time that I did. They all know how to make me laugh or reassure me of something that I need clarification on. I don’t think I could really achieve that with just a group that didn’t start as friends first. I don’t really have any specific dreams at the moment..! I just follow where the waters take us. Performing with AQU♡RIUS is already a dream in itself.. As for me, I’m always improving little by little, it’s not always linear, but that just makes me want to work harder. One day I’ll be completely proud of myself! I’ll get there with everyone!!

[siriannatan]

Undeniable Pull

I needed a break from my other fics. Kinf od a reset. So from between Solo Leveling and Death Mark, I ended here. I have no clue when the next chapter will happen but it may be just the Red Gate incident. After that, I might have more canon divergence.

Jin-Chul met many hunters in his career. Of all different ranks. From E ranks disappointed by their result to far too confident S ranks who seemed to be pulled to him for some unknown reason. He thought he was ready for any situation. But he was not ready for Sung Jin-Woo.

[may contain spoilers for anime-only fans]

"Looks like we suspected you for nothing," Jin-Chul felt Sung's hope leaving him as his assistant announced the reading of the device. He himself felt disappointed at it. Maybe it was just a hope for one normal S-rank hunter... There was something in this young man that had Jin-Chul feeling protective. Wanting to tell him to quit. 

But he pushed his thoughts down and remained professional. He could ignore his feelings. Not like he never did it before. Not like he would ever see him again. 

Or so he thought until about a week later he got a report.

"Manager... A moment if I could..." one of the agents approached his desk.

"What is it?" Jin-Chul asked, expecting S-ranks were bickering about recruits. Again.

"Eight people were killed in action inside a C-rank dungeon. A D and E-rank hunters were the only survivors. It was a private attack force, the two seem to have been hired to meet raid member requirements," the agent explained passing him a file on the incident. Attack forces hiring to fit requirements was common.

"Looks like they ran away. Isn't it a common occurrence?" he dared assume, already guessing what guild might have cleared the dungeon.

"No. They didn't run. They cleared the dungeon," now this got his attention. "The D-rank had high-class equipment so it's possible he finished the boss. But the Giant Arachnid Buryura shouldn't have been much of an issue to an organised and experienced party. So it's strange eight people died," the report continued.

"Don't beat around the bush and tell me if there's anything strange. You wouldn't come to me if there wasn't," Jin-Chul didn't need any more details. Some recklessness could have ended in this situation.

"Well... The other survivor was hunter Sung Jin-Woo from the double dungeon accident," the reply was more shocking than anything he could have come up with.

"Sung Jin-Woo?" the image of the young hunter in the hospital bed quickly came to his mind. "Seems suspicious but we shouldn't worry. He was already tested for a second awakening with a high-class device. Checking once will do," something in Jin-Chul was nagging him about the whole thing. Why was E-rank in a C-rank dungeon? Did the party need a porter and couldn't find anyone else? If so he'd be in the back and it wouldn't be a shock he survived. Especially with the boss being cleared. 

"I also want to think it's a coincidence. But... The among the party members who died is... hunter Hang Dong-Suk."

"Hwang... Hwang Dong-Su's older brother? In that case, I can't just ignore this," Jin-Chul decided. Dong-Su would likely be coming to Korea in this case. And likely wouldn't leave after just some paperwork to do with his brother's passing. Sung Jin-Woo and that D-rank were in grave danger. And the Association couldn't have an S-rank, even if contracted by a foreign guild, killing people out in the open. He hoped his intuition was wrong.

For now best he could do was keep the two hunters in mind in case Dong-Su was interested in them.

He fully expected next time he heard hunter Sung's name would have to do with that man. But it was a separate incident. Jin-Chul would never expect to get a report on an Association hunter going rogue. But once he did he made his way to the gate as quickly as possible. This could be a big mess. He should trust his feelings more. Kim Tae-Shik always gave out this worrying aura.

"How many minutes has it been since the dungeon got cleared?" he asked as soon as he arrived at the scene.

"About 40 minutes sir," the inspector overseeing the dungeon informed. Not enough time to investigate so he gave his team a limit to retrieve the bodies. It was the best they could do.

"Did the survivors clear the dungeon themselves?" 

"Yes sir, they were worried the monsters could have broken out if they waited too long," the inspector dutifully reported.

Good thinking even if it cut the investigation short. It was always better to clear the dungeon than let monsters escape. No matter the rank of the dungeon. He could barely believe his eyes when he looked at the surviving three hunters. If he wasn't filled in on who survived on his way here he would never recognise hunter Sung Jin-Woo. He really changed in the last few weeks. Was it even possible to change like that? No matter. He had a duty to fulfil.

"We meet again hunter," he greeted him. Maybe the first incident motivated him to work out more or something. He could not help but wonder. Good for him he guessed.

"Ah, you're from the monitoring division," some part of him was glad Sung recognised him despite their only meeting being very brief.

"Woo Jin-Chul, head of the monitoring division," he introduced himself to all three hunters. "It seems one of our employees caused huge harm here. We'll hand out official apologies after an investigation has been closed and the investigation division will handle the case instead of us. " All standard protocol made just in case. Jin-Chul never expected he'd have to use it. As he asked the hunters the questions he could not shake a feeling someone was watching him. But who here could have a stare so intense? 

He had to shelve it for the idea of a B-rank healer and C-rank mage beating a B-rank assassin. It seemed possible if Tea-Shik was tired from fighting the convicts and other hunters but still. Some paperwork needed the two at the office. 

"Hunter Sung Jin-Woo. I don't think you could have beaten Kim Tae-Shik. And I don't think it necessary to suspect you of re-awakening again. But I need to ask you to be careful," he might as well use the chance to warn him.

"What do you mean?" Sung was clearly puzzled. Did he have no clue who Hwang Dong-Suk was?

"When Hwang Dong-Suk's team got exterminated the only survivors were you and a D-rank. The problem is Hwang don-Suk's younger brother. S-rank with Scavenger guild in America. He might blame you two and seek revenge. What actually happened won't matter what really happened." Sung just nodded. He seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. Law could not stop an S-rank from getting his revenge. "If possible I'd suggest leaving the country," he added and bid the hunter a farewell.

[brighteststar707]

Hello dear Faye! Thanks so much for all the hard work you put in this blog! Idon't know if it's still free but I wanna try make a request for the event (also congratulations on reaching 300!), so what about Mixtape for Yoosung (maybe about how was for him meeting all the members, especially seven and zen, but I don't know if it's okay, if not, of course, feel free to skip!)

Love ya and thank you!

Thank you! I really love writing for these guys and it still surprises me that so many people enjoy reading what I have to say.

As for the request, I'm so happy I got to write for Yoosung for this event! His relationships with the different RFA members have always been interesting to me, so getting to write about them is a treat.

Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the fic!

✧ Mixtape ~ Relationship towards their friends

It has always been a point of pride for Yoosung that he was there for the creation of the RFA. That, save for V and Rika herself, he was the first member. It was with him while handing out lunches that she worked out the idea, it was him who suggested the name. He had finally found his joy in volunteering, and the idea of hosting parties to raise funds on a large scale was exciting to him (and, let's face it, more glamorous than the work he had been doing before).

He has vivid memories of his first meetings with each of the members, and how the addition of each new person changed the dynamic of the group.

He still remembers being sceptical when Rika brought up her first idea for a new RFA member: a longtime childhood friend of V’s, apparently someone with money and influence.

She conveniently forgot to mention that this friend was none other than the Jumin Han. The same man whose face had stared up at him from one of his mother's finance magazines this morning. He only wished he had been warned beforehand. He felt very inadequate being introduced to Jumin in his hoodie and sneakers.

On the other hand, Jumin looked as if he had stepped straight off of that magazine cover, with his impeccable suit and not a hair out of place. V was already there, and they stood together in the back of the room, talking between themselves quietly, with a familiarity that Yoosung found baffling.

Despite Yoosung's halting introduction and obvious anxiety, Jumin was polite and kind. His language was strangely old-fashioned for someone his age. He asked Yoosung about his plans for the future and expressed his desire to do good through the RFA.

As time went on, Yoosung found himself becoming more comfortable around Jumin and their conversations carried on more smoothly. To his delight, Yoosung noticed that there were strange gaps in Jumin’s knowledge base. Things like fast food and public transport were mysteries to Jumin, and he would ask Yoosung to explain them to him, as if he had appeared from another world (and, as Rika reminded him, he might as well have).

At around the same time, Rika recruited a young, quiet redhead who introduced himself as Seven. If that name was strange to anyone else, they didn't let on. His eyes were wide behind chunky glasses and unlike Jumin, he didn’t offer much about himself save for his name. He was also strangely comfortable around V and Rika, though, as if they had known each other for a long time. This only confused Yoosung furhter, because neither V or Rika had ever mentioned him before.

He wasn't sure what to make of Seven. It was obvious that he was incredibly skilled (proven by the experimental RFA app they had started using to communicate). But he never flaunted this intelligence, as Jumin was sometimes prone to doing. Instead, he leaned heavily into his sense of humour, spamming the chat with memes and playing pranks on the other members. When he spoke to Yoosung, he kept his tone light, and he rarely discussed serious topics with anyone other than V and Rika.

They became fast friends. Since they were the closest in age, they bonded over pop culture and found out that they were fans of the same franchises. They shared jokes between themselves and eventually started meeting up to spend time together. Seven even offered to help Yoosung with schoolwork if he ever needed it.

Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he was missing about Seven.

He had known of Zen for a while before Rika tried to recruit him. She had been a fan of his for some time and whenever they spent time together, he would hear about the latest show, the tickets she and V were trying to get. Finally, she convinced him to join them.

He didn’t want to like Zen, just on principle. Nobody should be, could be that perfect, right? There had to be something wrong with him somewhere, and he was determined to spot it. What he did not expect was to come out of the show speechless. Zen was an incredible singer and actor, and far too handsome for his own good. When Rika brought him backstage to greet him, he was humble and thankful for her praise. It simply wasn’t fair.

It was a surprise to have him become an official member of the RFA a little while later. Yoosung couldn’t imagine him being anywhere other than on a stage, and being in the same room as him was disorienting.

He did not expect to get along so well with Zen. They didn't have much in common, yet they enjoyed talking to each other about their lives. Zen encouraged him to keep working hard and to not go down the path he himself had gone on. He was also always one of the first people to protect Yoosung whenever he had a disagreement with somebody. He had a strong sense of justice and was quick to stand up for the people he cared about.

It was something Yoosung found admirable, even though he sometimes felt like he gained another older sibling to nag him.

After his arrival is when the chatrooms really started to become lively. Jumin would send pictures of his cat, Zen would complain and send pictures of his own. They would butt heads (which Yoosung and Seven found very entertaining), and V would try to step in to mediate. Seven would tease them and spin fantastical tales to explain his long absences from the chat.

They were really starting to feel like friends, and his life before them felt empty in comparison.

Jaehee was a late addition to the group. She remained quiet for a long time, talking in the chat only when she had to (or when Jumin summoned her to). The latest in a long line of Jumin’s personal assistants, Yoosung almost didn’t expect her to last.

However, she did. She even grew a bit more comfortable talking to Zen and Rika, though she still kept to herself. He enjoyed watching her become flustered whenever Zen talked to her, and the first time the three of them met up in person, it was all he could do to not laugh at how excited she was. Perhaps Seven was wrong about her being a robot after all.

That being said, her dedication to her work impressed Yoosung. Jumin could sometimes be borderline unreasonable in his requests, and he had not yet seen anyone as able to handle him as well as Jaehee (save for V, perhaps). He never said it out loud, but he admired her.

He didn’t really get to know her until they did their first party together. They shared the responsibility of decorating the party hall, and he was worried about spending a few hours working together. He didn't want to be a disappointment.

They got along better than he expected to, though. They discussed their favourite music while picking a playlist to put on, and talked about their school experiences while hanging garlands. He asked her the questions he had about working at C&R and she gave him advice about his future. The results of their work made him proud, and he was thankful to have had that time with Jaehee.

With her, the group felt complete. In hindsight, it filled him with awe that a student like him was part of this organization that was clearly destined for good things.

He was proud that he got to call these people his friends, and he was so thankful for their influence on his life.

[theworldvsyoshiko]

Game setups I experimented with today:

#1: Post-apocalyptic nomad

Used mods to absolutely slather the map in ruins, with a lot of them from Real Ruins so they've got loot, but with the decay/prior looting settings also turned way up.

Cranked the pollution way up and the population density way down.

Planting crops is forbidden by the scenario.

Nomad ideoligion that gets upset if they maintain a colony for more than a season or so.

Also has the scrapper ideoligion from Vanilla Ideology Expanded, so they're great at salvage and don't mind hand-me-down clothes.

Wander from abandoned settlement to abandoned settlement, hunting animals and scavenging the useful stuff, then moving on.

This is a fun setup, but I'd need to find some way to complicate it, because it's a very... slice-of-life kind of playstyle by default. Since difficulty scales off of colony wealth, if you don't build a colony, the difficulty curve is pretty flat. If you move from map to map stripping them of valuables, even if that's just mining a bit of exposed gold/jade/silver and grabbing a few items, that adds up pretty fast. Unless you completely ignore traders, I think you'd be able to get a pretty decent endgame kinda loadout within a year or so. (Not like you're spending the money on much else, after all.) And you'd still be fighting naked guys with rusty axes, because of the wealth thing.

Ironically though, this has the exact opposite problem with wealth too: Real Ruins is happy to dump an entire endgame colony in your lap sometimes. The first map I got with this experiment immediately triggered the archonexus quest, because my faction was suddenly worth $400k all at once. This turned out to be because, for some fucking reason, there was a pile of like 900 persona cores just laying on the ground next to a heap of megascreen televisions. Real Ruins is a fascinating peek into other players' minds sometimes.

As far as larger goals go, the options would be like:

Try to, idk, circumnavigate the planet or something.

Try to wipe out all the pirates, or the empire, or somebody else who probably has it coming.

Get to the journey offer ship on foot, while collecting enough gear/friends on the way to actually defend it while it starts up.

#2 Monastery of the hedonic calculus monks

Disable the mech and insectoid factions.

Turn the storyteller's hostile death-on-downed chance way down.

Hospital, Hospitality, spaceport, and hot springs mods.

Ideoligion that forbids all non-defensive violence against people or animals, discourages meat-eating and leather clothes, requires the colony to maintain lots of healthcare facilities, and strongly requires charity.

The same ideoligion also promotes partying, social drugs, polyamory, and everyone wearing whatever they hell they want to wear (or don't want to wear.)

Must maintain a resort hotel and a hospital, both fully open to the public, in order to properly maximize pleasure.

All raiders must be taken alive if possible, given quality healthcare, and released.

Mod to allow diplomacy with pirate factions, so it's entirely possible to befriend them after patching up enough of their members who tried to kill you.

No war animals because that's barbaric.

This one's pretty fun, and I think it would actually make a surprisingly challenging run. A hospital + hotel is a lot of colony wealth that wouldn't be going toward anything useful. I think I'd probably have to turn the raid difficulty down a bit, unless I wanted the colony to have like 15 members, most of whom are good in a fight.

The main problem I have with it is the question of how to handle recruitment. Who would I be allowed to recruit? Having strong restrictions has proven to be a lot of fun, and clearly not just anybody has what it takes to be a vegetarian party monk. Maybe only allow people who have good medical or social skills and don't have any unpleasant traits or come from a horrible ideoligion. If I wanted to make it harder/more interesting, I could have (a/the) starting character be a mechanitor whose mechs handle the defense and most of the day-to-day work, with all of the other colonists dedicated to medicine and hospitality.

One side option could be allowing lots of people to join, but having strict guidelines and banishing anybody who breaches them. Or at least drop pod'ing them to a friendly settlement.

(Optionally I could also drop the 'party' part and just make them very nice pacifist monks, but I think it's important for every faction to be a little bit of a train wreck.)

[contactproblem]

Thad, David, and Wes look like friends or at least on good terms but I have secret intel (headcanons, I made all of this up) that in season 2 when Thad and David are sophomores and Wes is a senior, Thad and David got involved in pretty useless drama the year prior. Wes was their only mutual friend and he kinda checked out for his last year of high school.

You see, in freshman year, David and Thad were both new and pretty good. Good enough to land a spot on the council, but who should get it? Only one spot will be open next year. So the two engage in show choir rivalry, the likes of which would make Rachel and Mercedes proud. They have to really tone down the competitiveness when Wes chastises them for unsportsmanlike conduct towards their own team members. And then, after eight months and a very very close call decision, David makes it and Thad doesn’t.

Except, one of the council members transfers to a different school. So there is a need for another new council member. And who else but Thad should get it? And yeah, he does get what he wanted. But he still can’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t their first choice.

During Season 2, he has to work with the guy who was ever so slightly better than him. And also his responsible friend Wes. Thad tries his best to make the most responsible council decisions possible, sometimes he just happens to clash with David. Council only meetings often end up in disaster, leaving Wes to handle a lot more of the responsibilities than he would like.

So he forced the two to make up or at least be civil when they work on Warblers council shit, so they begrudgingly comply until the very end of the year when they realize they actually really do enjoy each others’ company. Then at Wes’s graduation, they are very miserable because more than half of the last two years was wasted on petty bullshit and now one of their best friends is leaving.

So Thad and David become actual friends come Junior year (s3), which is also conveniently the time they need a new council member. It would’ve been Blaine, but he left for McKinley. Who do they pick?

The answer strides through the door with the confidence of a seasoned sous chef entering a restaurant’s kitchen. Sebastian Smythe, in all his arrogance, can sing quite well. And he has the charisma that, somehow, draws most of the Warblers to him. And so he replaces Wes as third council member.

Now, David and Thad are pretty good leaders, don’t get them wrong. It’s just that Sebastian’s leadership style is a lot more… independent. But as private school college counseling gets a lot more time consuming, it’s probably best to let Sebastian take care of the day to day rehearsal work while Thad and David plan competition technicalities.

The events of On My Way definitely change Sebastian. While he’s still a little bit bossy and continues to lead practices, he’s also more involved in behind-the-scenes stuff. David and Thad are definitely warming up to him.

Suddenly, senior year rolls around and the school brings on Hunter to lead the club? Do schools even recruit for show choir?? It’s the pair’s last year though, and no one is keen on losing either senior as a leader if Hunter also has to have power. So they have to kick Sebastian off.

In the timeline where Hunter doesn’t use steroids for a singing competition, maybe the trio forms a short lived bond. They have a really awesome graduation party where Sebastian triple checks with all the returning Warblers that he will most certainly get to spend his senior year as an actual council member. They’ll actually reinstate the system, gavel and everything. David and Thad cheer, because Wes really liked the gavel.