#anyway. maybe i will Finally be able to do some more sewing now that The Pile Of Boxes is eliminated? please brain? please.

[fluffystuffies]

Hoping the Old Still Works with the New [TSAMS]

Summary: With everything that's been happening, Moon is understandably stressed and angry. So Sun suggests something that he used to do with the old Moon as a way to calm him down. It...well, it works, though with MUCH different reactions than the old Moon would've had (obviously).

Words: 4378

hello-I come to bring you another tsams tkl fic!! this time with the classic brothers! had this idea for a while after i saw the hcs Sunset sent me hsfjhsf (hi by the way Sunset! :D) this one's a little shorter than I'm used to, but hope it's still good!

anyways, enjoy!

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It was no secret to anyone around him that Moon was stressed. Stressed, irritated, and tired would all be accurate descriptions of him at the current moment.

Stressed due to the paranoia that another villain would come and kidnap one of his family members, irritated that there were still villains around to kidnap his family members, and tired because he had been focusing so much energy on keeping his family safe that he hadn’t had the chance to sleep. 

So yeah. Maybe he wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around at the moment. And maybe he was about ready to tear the hat from his head and rip it apart from pure frustration. Buuut then he’d have to ask someone to fix it and he didn’t want to bother Earth (or Solar, since he heard that the sun-based animatronic had recently picked up sewing). Everyone already had too much going on and he didn’t want to cause such a trivial problem.

Moon finally turned off the camera footage that he had been playing on loop in his head for some kind of hint as to how Eclipse did…anything! Everything that surrounded the supposed-to-be-dead villain was shrouded in a mystery that he was slowly losing patience in solving.

He sighed roughly from his place at the plugin area. He had kept himself plugged in while he was searching the footage so he wouldn’t accidentally bring himself down to a dangerously low percentage (he honestly wished Solar did the same sometimes). He then unplugged himself and stepped away from the wall, stumbling a little.

God, he was tired.

Despite the fact that the action was pointless for a robot, Moon yawned and stretched slightly. He blamed that odd quirk he had on the fact that he was originally the nighttime attendant and probably had some weird ‘sleepytime’ programs built into him. Though, if he was reset then wouldn’t that have reset as well? No, then that would mean that he wouldn’t have been able to speak when he ‘woke up’.

Moon groaned loudly and pressed his palms into his eyes. He was definitely spending too much time on analysis. Now he was analyzing the programming he should already have an adept understanding of.

He should probably sleep.

But he had to keep looking.

But he was tiiireddd.

Both his stress and his exhaustion were battling over his choices for a good few seconds before the war ended up brewing even more frustration. And he couldn’t just transfer his work-in-progress to Solar, not since he became more aware of just how much his newly adopted family member had been putting on himself. Besides, it wasn’t like Moon had much ‘progress’ to begin with.

Still, he felt like he had to do something. Even if he also felt like curling up on the floor right then and there and passing out. Even if that also wouldn’t work due to the amount of stress and anxiety and anger brewing up in his chest.

Moon groaned again, loud enough to where it bordered on a scream. He didn’t know what to do.

“Uh-”

Moon quickly turned around to face the entrance of the room.

Sun was there, hands held up with his fingers curled slightly inwards as if to…well, Moon didn’t know what exactly, but it was a motion reminiscent of how one would look when trying to calm a wild animal. And–oh. Right. Moon probably sounded pretty angry there. Which…wasn’t inaccurate, to be fair.

Still, this was his brother. And Sun had already talked to him a couple times on where to direct his anger. And the last person Moon wanted to direct anger at was his twin. 

So he just inhaled and exhaled once (simulated, of course), hoping that would release some of the tension in his body. “Hi,” he greeted simply, still sounding tense. So the breathing thing didn’t work. Great.

“Hey,” Sun greeted back, hesitant as he usually would be when Moon was angry. “Are you…uh…are you okay?”

Do not be sarcastic. Do NOT be sarcastic. Do not snap. Do not snap. This is SUN. You promised you wouldn’t snap at him again. Moon took another deep ‘breath’. “No. I’m not. I am tired and I am stressed.”

“Yeah…I think we’re all a little…that,” Sun responded, hesitant still. “With everything that’s been going on, it’d be…kind of hard not to be that.”

“Yeah,” Moon replied shortly. He sighed and held a hand to his face. “Did you need something?” He honestly hoped the other didn’t. He didn’t know if he could handle any extended interaction.

“Uh, well…we do kinda have to record a video…” Sun said quietly (or as quietly as he could).

Moon couldn’t stop the loud, aggravated groan that escaped him at that. It wasn’t that he disliked playing games with his brother or anything. He just did not have the patience to record a video while remaining relatively calm. “Can’t we just…put out a pre-recorded one? Or–I don’t know–do one of those compilation videos?” he asked in a strained voice.

“Well, uh…I think we still have the rest of our Help Wanted playthrough? If you’d…rather just give that to our editor…” Sun told him, fidgeting with his hands.

“Please,” Moon practically growled out. “Because I really don’t think I can record today.”

“Yeahhh…I can-I can tell,” Sun commented, sounding more like acknowledgement than anything else. “And uh…what about you?” he asked suddenly.

“What about me?” Moon questioned, blinking slowly.

“Did uh–did you need anything?”

“A nap. And a break. Either one of those would be fucking lovely,” Moon responded honestly.

“Yeah…” Sun agreed. “Uh-” he started as if to say something, then abruptly cut himself off.

“What. What is it?” Moon asked roughly, then made a sound like he was sucking in air through his teeth. “Sorry. What is it?” he repeated a little more softly.

Sun hesitated before seemingly trying to continue what he was originally going to say. “I mean, I’m pretty sure a nap wouldn’t hurt? I-I mean, I know you have…stuff to do, but-uh…” He rubbed the back of his faceplate. He seemed to have more he wanted to say but for the moment, he wasn’t speaking.

So Moon decided to speak, starting with a sigh. “I don’t think I even can take a nap right now. I am stressed, Sun. Really. Fucking. Stressed.”

“I know that!” Sun snapped slightly, holding up his hands again. “I just–okay. I…I have an idea to…I guess help both of us with that? Kinda? Mainly just you…” he mumbled. “I don’t exactly know if it’ll work though…”

“Brother, listen,” Moon said as he walked over to his twin to place both hands on the other’s shoulders. “I am open to anything at this point.” Okay, maybe he really wanted a fucking break. “At this point, I think it would be better anyway if I took a break,” he admitted, even if several other parts of him screamed to get back to work.

“Right…okay,” Sun mumbled, backing away slightly so Moon would remove his hands. “Uh…you wanna do it here or…?” He looked around the dilapidated room.

“Depends on what it is,” Moon responded, letting his arms drop to his sides. “Is it something we need to sit down for?”

“Kinda? Yeah, actually…” Sun told him, folding his hands over each other. “Is uh, is that room still…good?” He pointed at the curtained area that covered the tunnel leading to Moon’s old room.

“I think so. Solar says he sleeps in there. Though–” Moon sighed. “Chances are he’s not in there. It’s not like it’s anyone’s room anymore anyways.” He wasn’t even sure what it looked like anymore. “Whatever. It should be fine.”

“Right. Uh, let’s go in there then. And hope it has a mattress or something.”

“It should.”

With that exchange of words, Moon walked over to the curtain and pulled it back to reveal the tunnel hiding behind it. Then he gestured for his brother to enter, which he did, followed by the former nighttime attendant.

The inside of the room…actually hadn’t changed much. It was surprisingly still considerably lit and the mattress, among other softer items, were still in decent condition. 

“Huh. I was…honestly expecting this to be a lot more destroyed,” Sun commented.

“Mhm,” Moon hummed shortly, sitting down on the mattress without much thought. It didn’t even creak. “So…are you gonna do some kind of hypnosis or something? Did Earth teach you anything?”

“Uh, no, not really. You’re the one who has the hypnosis feature anyways…” Sun admitted, following his brother in sitting down.

He did? “I do?” Moon questioned, dropping his annoyed tone for the first time to make way for a genuinely confused one.

“Yeah? You didn’t-did you not know you have that???” Sun asked incredulously, moving his head in a way that suggested he would be emoting utter bafflement if he could.

“No???” Moon responded in a question. “I have a hypnosis feature???”

“Yes??? How else do you think you were supposed to get some kids to sleep?” Sun asked him as if that was a normal thing to say.

Moon shook his head slightly. “Wow. Okay. Fazbear really does not like children.”

“I don’t know what you were expecting from a company that puts caffeine into children’s candy,” Sun said blankly.

“No, that’s fair.” Honestly, Moon was wondering why he was even surprised in the first place.

“I’m also surprised you didn’t know about that sooner.”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, things have been a liiittle hectic lately.” Ah, there was the anger and stress.

“Right…” Sun paused before shaking his head. “Anyway, uh…right. The thing. Um, so…this is something I used to do with…the old you.” Moon could feel both of them get a little more tense from the mention of the previous Moon. “Not that I’m-! I’m not trying to say that this’ll work on you because you’re…Moon, I just-I don’t know. I thought that it could work? Maybe? It helped with…the old Moon when he was stressed…”

Moon could see that his brother was starting to get a little frantic in his ramblings, so he pushed down his annoyance and gently placed his hand on the other’s shoulder. “Sun. Hey.” He waited until his twin looked up at him. “I said I was open to anything and I still am. So. Go ahead. Besides, if it could calm down that prick, then who knows? Maybe it’ll work.” He tried to be lighthearted in his words, but unfortunately, annoyance and lighthearted didn’t go well together. He just hoped Sun understood.

Sun hesitated then sighed and held out a hand. “Alright…okay, uh, can you give me your hand?” he asked suddenly.

Moon decided not to question the strange request too much. He was still gonna question it though. “Okay…wwwhyyy?” He gently placed his hand on his brother’s outstretched one, removing his other hand and letting it sit on the mattress.

Sun then turned over Moon’s hand so his palm was facing upwards. “Well, when my-the-the other Moon was stressed, sometimes he would…uh, he would ask me to trace around on his palms. He said it was calming so…maybe it’ll work for you?”

And Moon…had no idea that was even a thing with the old Moon. He had assumed that not everything was recorded and uploaded to the channel, so he wasn’t expecting to view every little detail. But he would have expected maybe a small implication or mention–actually, never mind. With how closed-off the old Moon was, he probably shouldn’t have expected something this affectionate to have any sort of mention if the old him could help it.

“Uh…y’know what? Sure.” Plus, the confusion was helping a little already. “Go ahead.”

“Alright.”

Then Sun started gently tracing a finger around on Moon’s palm, just as he said, starting in the center and creating a soft, spiraling motion.

It would’ve been nice (and it…well, it was), however, Moon didn’t account for the sudden ticklish sensation he would be experiencing. He gave a full-body flinch, holding back a barrage of raspy giggles that threatened to escape. “I-It t-” he tried to say, only to hold onto his metaphorical breath when Sun smoothly ran his finger around to trace a single line across the center of his palm.

“What?” Sun asked, not pausing in his tracing motions.

Moon tried speaking again, squirming slightly and feeling his fingers twitch as Sun began running his finger back and forth in that same line as if it were an idle motion. “Itststststs-” He held a hand over his smile even though that did absolutely nothing to muffle anything as he let out a sprinkler-like laugh.

Even though Sun had definitely noticed the action was tickling Moon by this point, he still didn’t stop. “What? What is it?” While his tone sounded fairly concerned, it was clear from the way he curled his finger to scritch lightly at the center of Moon’s palm that he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Iihihihit tiHIHIHIckles!” Moon was finally able to get out, turning his head slightly and trying to hide as much of his face as possible with his hand.

“Oh wow. Really? I had no idea!” Sun exclaimed in a show of over-exaggeration and it was like his usual stutter-filled mannerisms had completely vanished.

“Yeheheah yohohohou dihihHIHID!” Moon tried to sound accusatory but the spiked giggles did not help convey that tone for him at all. And then Sun started gently dragging four of his fingers in individual, circular strokes across the whole of his palm. Then it was like Moon couldn’t stop the giggles from leaving his voicebox. “Yohohohou knohohohohow whaHAHAHAt yohohou’re dohohoing!”

“Hm, no, I don’t think I do. Would you mind telling me, dear brother? That should be easy for you,” Sun teased while giving off an air of faux casualness. Though the complete casualness was practically lost as he kept up his tickling motions.

“YohohoHOHOHOU-” Moon tried to say, laughter overtaking the insult he had on his metaphorical tongue. Then he almost ripped his hand away when Sun switched back to scritching at his palm, taking on more of a scribbling technique, keeping his fingers’ range short but rapid in motion. Moon could tell Sun definitely had a bit of experience with this because it tickled like all hell. He even started kicking his feet slightly while the rest of him started squirming more violently. “NAHAHAHAHAHA!! SUHUHUHUN!!” How the FUCK did this tickle so much??? He could feel his face being exposed once more as his body movements became more uncontrolled.

“Yes? That’s my name, dear brother,” Sun responded simply. If he could smile any wider, Moon was positive that smile would’ve taken up his brother’s whole face. “Hmmm, you still haven’t told me what I’m doing. You’ve only said my name and nothing else!” 

“ThahahaHAHAHAT’S BECAHAHAHAUSE YOHOHOHOU’RE TIHIHIHIHICKLING ME!! AND YOHOHOU KNOHOHOHOW IHIHIHIT!!” Moon finally forced out before his laughter could completely take over his vocabulary. Even though he wasn’t embarrassed by the concept itself, it was still flustering to say the action out loud. So once again, he turned his body and head away as much as he could while holding a hand over his face.

“Oh! Wow! That must’ve been why you said you were being tickled! It was me all along!” Sun exclaimed as though a big revelation had been placed upon him. And while he did, he changed tactics once more to lightly tracing the outer area of Moon’s palm with a single finger, which somehow tickled more. 

“YEHEHEHEHES! Of cohohohohourse ihihIHIHIT WAS YOHOHOHOU!” Moon responded, the volume of his laughter going up and down depending on what part of his palm Sun was tickling. Giggles spilled out from his voice box when Sun neared the center of his palm and louder laughs were earned when the gentle, tracing motions traveled to the ‘outer rim’ of his hand. “Dohohohon’t plahahahay duhuhuhuHUHUMB!!”

Sun gasped like he had been personally insulted. “Well! How was I supposed to know I was tickling you when you weren’t telling me? Sounds like a you problem, brother of mine.”

“Dohohon’t puhuhuhut the blahahahame on mEHEHEHE!! Thihihis wahahahahas yohohohour ideheHEHEHEhea!” Moon accused–or tried to. Again, the constant shift of giggles to louder laughter made it very hard to convey any other tone besides playfulness or flusteredness. It also didn’t help that Sun had realized this little fact of him having more ticklish parts of his palm and began making squiggly lines all around his palm, getting both the milder and more ticklish spots all at once.

“Well, yes. Yes, it was. Buuut I also don’t hear you telling me to stop, sooo-” Sun made a cocky lip-smacking sound. “Y’know, I guess I have to continue,” he continued to sass his brother. “Since you seem to like this so much.”

“I dihihihihihidn’t sahahahahay thAHAHAHAT!” Moon protested immediately, squirming just a little too much to make it comfortable for anyone to hold onto such a small part of him. It was then that he felt his brother shift to hold his arm under his own, leaving it at the mercy of Sun’s continuous tickling. “Waihehehehehehe-”

“Whaaat? You were moving around too much!” Sun defended, somehow sounding even more smug. “I had to get this part of you to sit still somehow.”

Moon felt the squiggly motions continue and he felt like his body was copying the actions his hand was being subject to. How was it that such a small part of him could tickle so much and seem so easy to pull away but make him feel so unable to do anything??? “Ihehehehehe-nahaHAHAHAHA!!”

“I must say, brother, I quite like this little volume-adjusting spot you have! Look, I can just-” Sun stopped the indecisive squiggles and started swirling a cyclone in the middle of his brother’s palm.

“YOHOhohohou lihihihihittle-hehehehahahaha…!” Just like that, the louder laughs that Moon had been producing were reduced to giggling. He didn’t even know what he was saying at that point.

“And you get muuuch quieter! And then if I can’t hear you, I can just do this!” Sun continued as if he wasn’t reducing his twin to a wiggly string of laughter. As he spoke the last few words, he smoothly transitioned his finger to tracing a larger circle around the outside of Moon’s palm.

“NeheheHAHAHAHA!! SUHUHUHUHUN!!” Despite the gentler tickling, Moon felt his giggling spike back up to more frantic peals of laughter, kicking his legs out from the sides of his brother and messing up the blanket that had been laid out on the mattress.

“See! Prrret-ty cool little feature,” Sun commented casually. “I honestly wasn’t expecting you to react like this, so I’d say this is a pleasant surprise.”

Moon couldn’t say he expected this either. But he didn’t have anything left to offer but more laughter, quieting down as Sun returned to tickling the center of his palm. “Mmkekekekekehehehe…” He felt something more akin to a snicker interrupt his giggling, which just amused him and added an extra kick to his laughter.

“Did you just unironically do the ‘kekeke’ thing???” Sun questioned, sounding both flabbergasted and amused at the same time, letting out a small wheeze as he spoke.

“I cahahahahan’t cohohohohontrol thahahahahat…shUHUHUHUT UHUHUP!!” Moon suddenly burst out as the gentle tickling slowly traveled to the more sensitive parts of his hand. But also, his brother was laughing at him now! “StahahaHAHAHAP LAHAHAHAUGHING!”

“I dohohon’t think you’re in any position to tell me that, brother,” Sun responded, his own laughter peeking through slightly.

“Oh, shuhuhuhuhut aHAHAHAP!” Moon retorted, not that it had much effect. He felt his body start shaking a little more violently as it was over taken with frantic laughter and loss of control. He was practically curled up at this point with the squirming energy that had overcome his body now transferring solely to his kicking legs.

Eventually, Moon just…dropped the hand covering his face and bonked his head on his brother’s back. But he felt like he had to do something with his extra hand so without thinking, he just wrapped his free arm over his brother’s stomach region. Then he was just giggling into Sun’s back where his shoulder blades would be, shaking from laughter.

Then gradually, he felt Sun’s finger slow on his hand until it was completely still. “...uh, Moon?” he suddenly asked, sounding much less teasy than before.

“Whahahahat…?” Moon giggled out, still feeling the ghost tickles dancing over his palm.

“...do you need me to stop?” Sun questioned, slowly rubbing his own palm over his brother’s, perhaps to alleviate the remaining ticklish feeling.

Moon felt the shaking gradually cease alongside his giggles until he just had his face calmly shoved into Sun’s back while he tried to think up a response. He felt…tired, but a much better tired than he was feeling before. And…he felt…calmer. A lot calmer, actually.

…okay, maybe the palm thing had helped. Quite a bit.

But even so…

Moon grumbled into his twin’s back. “...can you keep going?” he asked, almost wanting to deafen his auditory units just so he couldn’t hear the response. He wasn’t sure what that would do, but he just knew he wanted to hide in general.

…he also realized that he was still hugging his brother, who wasn’t the biggest ball of affection, to be clear. So he straightened his back and lifted his head, unwrapping his arm from around Sun’s stomach and letting it lie by his side. “Sorry…”

Sun scooted forward a little, letting go of the former nighttime attendant’s hand momentarily to turn himself around. “It’s fine. But…you wanted me to keep going?” he asked again, holding his brother’s hand and positioning his own hand over it in a claw-like manner, teetering on the edge of being playful once again.

Moon grumbled again, pulling his nightcap over his face then wondering why he didn’t do that in the first place. It covered a lot more. “...yeah,” he confirmed. “But-!” His brother stopped his hand from ascending on the lunar-themed animatronic’s still-senstitive palm. “Somewhere else…? And not for too long. ‘M tired…” God, this was flustering.

“Gotcha,” Sun responded, releasing his twin’s hand and putting a hand to his chin as if he were inspecting a ware in a store. “Hmmm, now where-oh-where would my dearest brother like to be tickled next?...”

Moon groaned and used both hands to pull his nightcap completely over his face. “Oh, don’t say it like that, you little-”

“You asked for this!” Sun protested.

“After you suggested it!” Moon responded, lifting his cap to glare at his brother, though with no heat whatsoever.

“And you’re the one who wanted me to continue!”

And…Moon had no response to that, crossing his arms and grumpily looking away. He wished he could pout, but alas.

“Now. Hmmm…” Sun hummed, then raised his hand to his twin’s face. “I think I know the perfect spot! You said you were tired, after all…”

Oh. Wait. “Suhuhuhuhun-mehehehehehe…” Moon felt fingers gently drag along his crescent, wiggling slightly and swirling at random intervals. “Whihihihihy-ehehehe-” he giggled out, lowering his head and attempting to scrunch up his nonexistence shoulders. Neither of which helped alleviate the sensation.

“You said you were tired! And we both know this helps,” Sun replied simply, stopping his tickling for a moment so he could move to Moon’s side. Then he went right back to it, tapping his fingers lightly against his brother’s chin and adding some scribbling into the mix to restart the giggles.

“Thahahahat dohohohoesn’t mahahakehehehe-” Moon stopped to lightly shake his head, tightening his crossed arms and curling up slightly. “-ihihihit any lehehehess embahahaharassihihing…”

“Oh, I know that,” Sun replied immediately, sounding every bit smug about embarrassing his brother.

“Fuhuhuhuck yohohohou…” Moon tried to instinctually move his head away, but his twin’s fingers continued to follow him, so that was pointless. 

Sun didn’t pause once in his motions, but Moon flinched when he felt his brother’s other hand graze over his back. “GeheheHEHE-Suhuhuhun nohohoho…”

“Y’know, I could be incredibly mean to you right now, but I’m not going to. Aren’t I a great brother, Moon?” Oh, Moon could hear the smug grin in Sun’s voice.

“Yohohou suhuhuhuck…” Despite the threat of one of his worst spots being targeted, Moon still decided to be sassy in return. He knew Sun was just bluffing anyway.

Moon felt Sun continue lightly tickling his crescent, relaxing him further. Then a loud guffaw of laughter left him when he felt fingers quickly scribble at his back, then leave a moment later. “SUHUHUN!!”

“Like I said, I could be mean, Moon,” Sun reiterated his statement. “...but! I’m not going to. Because I’m nice.”

“Agahehehein, fuhuhuhuck yohohou…” Moon repeated boldly, giggling increasing directly after when Sun began rapidly scribbling at his chin, making him throw his head around to try and escape the feeling. 

“Screw you too.”

Then it was like the leak in Moon’s bag of energy enlarged and was now draining even quicker, because it wasn’t long until he felt his arms slowly uncross and his whole body start metaphorically melting. Then he fell backwards onto the mattress, so quickly that Sun didn’t have time to follow with his tickle attack.

“...Moon?” Sun asked, leaning over his brother and looking at his face.

Moon was still giggling slightly, but now his eyes were closed and it looked like he was veering closer and closer to the sleep he had so desperately craved earlier. It wasn’t long until the giggles peetered off into snoring.

Sun blinked. Well. That was fast.

Even though he was sure that Moon would not be waking up anytime soon, Sun slowly started moving to leave the room and let his brother sleep.

Then stopped when he felt something on his arm. Or rather, something around his arm.

He looked down at his arm to see his brother had…basically hugged it to his face and was using it as a fucking teddy bear.

Sun groaned as quietly as he could. Then paused and sighed, laying down next to his brother, turning his arm so the other could still hug it.

He was…most likely not going to go to sleep as quickly as Moon.

But…he felt a little calmer now at least.

[drabbles-mc]

Interruptions

Angel Reyes & OC Evangeline Reyes & Ezekiel Reyes Franky Rogan x OC Evangeline Reyes

Warnings: 18+, pining, language, this really is just a fluffy little something

Word Count: 2.8k

A/N: For my next trick! I will pull out of my bag of wonders a character that the show-runners seemed to have forgotten about but I sure didn't! 😂 Shout-out to Franky Rogan- I hope he's doing okay lmao. I'm not really planning on turning this into a multi-chap per se, but I do plan on just writing some snippets/one-shots that all exist in this universe. This is our first look into this au, but definitely not the last if I have anything to say about it 😂 Enjoy! xo

As far as Evangeline was concerned, there was no real reason for Angel and EZ to be in her shop. She’d told them as much about five minutes after they’d walked in and started causing more ruckus than she wanted to be dealing with. She tried to shoo them away, tried to get them to pop one more door down to go and bother their father instead, but they weren’t budging.

Angel was sitting on one of the chairs by the dressing room and EZ was standing off to the side of the sewing machine that she was currently using. Angel was gawking around at everything as though he didn’t stop by every week, and EZ was studying over her shoulder like he was thinking of becoming the next family seamstress. If the shop had belonged to anyone else, the two of them never would have bothered to set foot inside. Not to mention if the shop had belonged to anyone else, they would’ve barred the two of them from entry ages ago.

“I can feel your breath on my neck,” she said, sounding annoyed for a split second before she started laughing.

EZ chuckled, stepping back and instead starting to pace around the shop. “Sorry.”

“Vete—go be sorry somewhere else. You’re gonna scare people off before they even set foot in here.”

Angel shook his head dismissively. “C’mon, Eva. Don’t think of it like that. Think of it like…we’re like protection, you know?”

Head still angled down at the pantleg she was hemming, her eyes lifted just enough to look over at her brother. “What, you two in the mob now too? MC wasn’t enough?” She shook her head and looked back down at the garment draped over the machine. “Protection,” she mocked. “Who you guys gonna protect me from, anyway? The high school girls coming in for me to tailor their prom dresses?”

EZ laughed as he watched his two older siblings go back and forth. “I don’t know,” he chimed in. “Think those girls might have Angel out-gunned.”

He sucked his teeth. “Fuck both you guys.”

She finally leaned back in her chair, taking her foot completely off the sewing machine pedal. “If you’d left when I told you to, you wouldn’t have to be going through this.”

Angel was finally laughing with her and EZ. “Nah, you know if we never stopped by you’d—” He stopped mid-sentence and stood up from his chair when he saw a police patrol car pull up to the curb right in front of Evangeline’s shop. “What the fuck is this?”

Evangeline mirrored his actions, standing up and carefully draping the pants she’d been working on back over the hanger she’d took them off before she had company. The tailoring job for them was a quick one, or at least it would be once her brothers left and she could actually do her job. She ran her hands over the fabric of her own pants, smoothing them out before looking out the window to see whatever it was that had elicited that reaction from Angel.

She laughed when she saw the cop car parked out front. “Oh, good. Maybe someone will finally be able to make you leave. You think if I ask real nice they’ll give me a couple pairs of cuffs specifically for you two?”

EZ was smiling and shaking his head at his sister, but then when he saw that Franky was the officer getting out of the car, both he and Angel became way more amused than they were annoyed at the cops being there. “Oh,” EZ said with a nod, “yeah I’m pretty sure he’ll give you whatever you want.”

Angel was on the brink of cackling as he nudged his sister’s shoulder. “He’ll give you a pair of cuffs as long as you promise to use them on him just once.”

She rolled her eyes. “I can’t stand either of you sometimes. I hope he knocks your bikes over,” Evangeline muttered with a tiny smile as she moved away from her little brother and went back behind the desk where the cash register was.

There were only a couple seconds between Franky shutting the door to the patrol car and him walking into the small boutique that Evangeline owned, but it was long enough. Angel was sitting back down again, this time just in a different chair that was towards the front of the store. He was leaning back, practically sinking into the soft cushions of it. His legs were spread farther apart than necessary, one hand on one knee, his other on the arm of the chair that he was sitting in. Meanwhile EZ was standing behind his brother’s seat, hands holding onto the edges of his kutte—his default these days.

Evangeline was looking at both of them with a mildly amused look on her face. It looked like they were pulled right out of a movie or a cartoon—stereotypical goons trying to look tough and not quite hitting the mark but they didn’t realize it yet. Her attention shifted off them when the soft chimes above her door signaled Franky’s entry.

He stepped inside, immediately looking around and greeting her with a casual, “Hey, Evangeline,” as he did. He looked at Angel and EZ, seeing the image they were trying to put off and also not being overly convinced by it. When it was just the two of them separate from the rest of the club, they weren’t nearly as intimidating. It was hard to be scared of the same boys he went to school with. He’d known them long enough to know that whatever macho act they were putting on, really was just an act. They had the same look in their eyes that they did back then when they were about to cause trouble after school.

It didn’t take long at all for his gaze to land on Evangeline, the real and only reason he’d even pulled up to the shop at all. She was standing behind the counter, leaning forward onto it so that her elbows were propped onto the wood and her chin rested on top of her interlocked fingers. Her hair was pulled back out of her face, a convenience style when she was using the sewing machine, but there was one unruly lock that had managed to escape and it was hanging just enough to the side so that her face wasn’t obscured at all. She smiled at him, head tilting slightly as it rested in her hands.

He'd known Angel and EZ for most of his life, and it made it hard to find them intimidating these days. In the same vein, he’d known Evangeline for almost his whole life too. Only instead of that fact making her less intimidating, it almost made her more intimidating—it was a different kind of intimidating than her brothers were aiming for, but still. Sure, it’d been so long since high school, and they were all such different people now in a lot of ways, but sometimes when she was looking at him like that Franky still felt like he was the dorky kid in class who was a little in love with his friend’s older sister. They were older now and he was much less dramatic than the teenage version of him had been. In love was an overstatement these days of course. Not that the semantics of it all really mattered in moments like the one he was in.

“Something I can do for you, Officer Rogan?” she finally asked, proving one more time over that she was the only Reyes sibling who could address him as such without using any sarcasm.

He turned so that he was completely facing her, purposely ignoring the looks he was getting from her two younger brothers. He shook his head as he walked over to her, standing on the opposite side fo the counter from her. “No. Just making the rounds and thought I’d stop by.”

She hummed in amusement as she stood upright again. “Got it. Thought your ears might’ve been burning somewhere out there.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You talkin’ about me?”

She laughed and shrugged. “Was talking about getting someone to throw these two,” she nodded towards her brothers, “out of my shop. And then you rolled up.”

“Yeah,” Angel chimed in from where he was still sitting, “like an answer to all your prayers, right?”

Evangeline shot her brother a look. “An answer to one of them, at least.”

Franky turned and looked at Angel and EZ. “You know it’s bad when even your own sister is waiting for you two to get picked up.”

Angel stood up out of his chair. In two easy strides he put himself right in front of Franky. There was just enough of a height difference for Franky to have to tilt his head to look Angel directly in the eyes. It was something that would never stop amusing Angel in any close encounters the two of them had.

“I bet you’d be real happy to do that for her, huh, Officer?” he goaded.

Evangeline was standing, arms crossed over her chest as she shook her head at the two of them. EZ was watching her just as intently as he was watching his brother and Franky. The scene was amusing from every angle for different reasons. And, as much as he would’ve loved to see how far Angel was going to take things, he liked his sister too much to let it happen in the middle of her shop. It was one thing when they were at the clubhouse, or Vicky’s. But not here.

“C’mon, Angel,” EZ inserted himself into the conversation, “let’s go. Pop still needs help with the compressor anyway.”

Evangeline cut a small sigh of relief, flashing EZ the quickest of smiles to thank him. “Yeah,” she agreed, “go make yourselves useful somewhere. Por favor. I’m begging.”

She was half expecting Franky and Angel to crash shoulders as the two Reyes boys made their way to the door, but they didn’t. Franky did manage to get the last word in with them, though. Rebutting Angel’s, “Stay safe, Officer,” with an easy, “I’m sure I’ll see you two soon. With the lights and sirens on.”

The door chimed again to signal the two of them leaving. Through the glass windows that made up the storefront, she and Franky were able to watch as the two of them made their way next door to their father’s shop. They were both shaking their heads at the pair of brothers, but for very different reasons.

“Nice to see you boys all getting along still,” Evangeline joked once they were out of sight.

Franky laughed as he put his attention back on her again. “Saying that like I’m the one who started any of that.”

She shook her head as she made her way around so that they were both on the same side of the counter. She leaned back against it, crossing her arms once more out of habit. “That’s not what I said.”

He watched as she crossed one leg over the other, the bright silky fabric of her pants distracting for only a moment before his gaze traveled back up to her face. He saw her knowing smirk and he cleared his throat, hands resting on his belt as he looked down at the floor for a second before getting himself together again.

“They give all the cops that hard of a time? Or just me?”

She laughed. “No one has an easy time with those two…” she trailed off for a moment before continuing, “but yeah you get it a little worse.” She saw the incredulous look on his face and she couldn’t pretend that there wasn’t something endearing about it. “C’mon, Franky. I know you were all friends in school but, you know, they grew up and became members of a motorcycle club. And you grew up and became a narc.”

He laughed, placing one hand on his chest. “Ouch, damn.”

She shook her head as she laughed right along with him. “Their words, not mine.”

They shared another quiet laugh about it before the conversation hit a pause. The only noise in the shop was the music playing from the speakers scattered around, a playlist the Evangeline changed from day to day depending on the mood she was in. Franky looked down at the floor, then around the shop, and then back at the woman standing next to him. He didn’t know for sure but he was fairly certain that she’d been watching him the entire time.

“Talk to me, Rookie,” she said, gently nudging his shoulder with her own. “What’s going on?”

That got him to chuckle. “Evangeline, I told you, I haven’t been a rookie in—”

“Franky, I told you, it’s not gonna make me stop calling you that.” She smiled. “I remember when you were slugging your way through the academy, before they got stupid enough to give you a gun,” she joked. “You’re always gonna be a rookie to me.”

“Almost as hurtful as your brothers callin’ me a narc.” There was a brief pause and he cleared his throat. “I really was just checking in. I think they told me that something about this job has to do with protecting and serving or some shit like that.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I heard the rumors.” Reaching back, she took her hair out of the loose, messy ponytail that she’d thrown it into earlier in the day. She continued to speak as the long, loose waves of hair fell down around her shoulders. “I appreciate you checking in. I’m alright, though. All quiet on the strip.”

“’Til your brothers get here.”

She cracked a smile. “Yeah, ‘til my brothers get here.”

He stepped away from the counter and reached into his pocket for his keys. “I’ll let you get back to work then. Don’t wanna be another distraction.”

Her smile was warm as she shook her head at him. “Very considerate of you.”

He stepped backwards towards the door. “Call if you need anything.”

“911 still a good number to reach you at?”

He grinned. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

She was laughing, mostly to herself, as he turned and let himself back out of the shop. She watched as he went back to his patrol car, noticing how he shook his head at her brother’s bikes on the way. There was a split second when she thought she was going to get exactly what she’d asked for earlier, that he was going to knock them over. But of course he didn’t, not looking to kick up that kind of trouble.

By the time that EZ and Angel came back over to her shop, Evangeline had not only finished altering the pants that she’d been working on earlier when they’d stopped in, but also taken care of another pair in between customers filtering in and out. She considered it a successful day, and the shop wasn’t even closed yet. Judging by the looks on Angel and EZ’s faces, she wasn’t sure if they’d had the same amount of success she did.

“Compressor got you beat?” she asked.

Angel scoffed. “Fuck no. We fixed that shit.”

She looked over at EZ. “Did you really?”

He flashed a grin. “Limping it along until the new one comes in.”

Angel’s head dropped back and he let out a dramatic sigh. “Dude, what the fuck?” He ignored the way that they were both laughing as he focused on his sister again. “So, what’d Rent-A-Cop want, anyway? Y’know, besides your hand in marriage.”

Evangeline rolled her eyes. “He was just checking in.”

Angel scoffed. “Yeah, gotta make sure his precious Evangeline is all good over here.”

She tilted her head. “Why are you saying my name like that?”

Angel gestured to the curb even though Franky’s car was long gone. “That’s how he fuckin’ says it! Swear to God, ‘mana, I haven’t heard that guy refer to you as Eva since he was like, twelve.”

Evangeline laughed. “How dare he call me by my actual name.”

“You know what I mean,” he shot right back, attempting to sound more annoyed than he really was.

She tried to divert the conversation rather than going deeper down whatever rabbit-hole Angel was trying to drag them down. “Why are you guys still here, anyway? Don’t you have motorcycle business to attend to? Parties to throw, windows to smash, all that fun stuff.”

“Party’s tomorrow,” Angel replied with a shrug. “You should come through.” He nodded towards EZ. “Prospect is playing barback.”

Evangeline laughed and nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

The two of them hugged her, taking her gentle cue to get going. Angel pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Just don’t bring the narc as your plus-one.”

She laughed as she pushed him towards the door, but chose not to acknowledge his last comments. “Be careful out there.” She waited until the door to chime shut behind them before she muttered a quiet, “Pendejos,” to herself and got back to work.

Mayans Taglist (please let me know if you'd like to be added!):

@garbinge @withmyteeth @darqchilddaydreamz @artemiseamoon @proceduralpassion

@fanfic-n-tabulous @danzer8705 @justreblogginfics @cositapreciosa @narcolini

[astrophilic-soul]

Indchu Headcanons

Thank you sm to the anon that asked me! I sadly lost your ask but I hope you like these :3

India shows his love in a very physical way, through hugs, kisses and such while China shows it more through gifts and quality time.

Both cultures have traditions with hair, and I feel like- to them- hair is something they would only allow those they love and trust to touch. So, China would let India braid his hair and India would let him oil it.

Some hobbies and interests they would share: gardening, cooking, sewing, music

They 100% gossip, they literally know everyone’s shit. They have tea/coffee at each other’s houses and just talk shit the whole time <3

I think they know each other’s mythology/legends/cultures really well because they told eachother during their journeys together on the Silk Road! Two young and lonely immortals who’d inhabited the earth for far longer than many ever would, talking about their people as they traversed the land and slept under the stars.

I don’t necessarily think India and China were exclusive to each other in the past- especially because they didn’t have a constant string of communication. And maybe even now, I just think as older nations- they would have a hard time with monogamy. But I do think of their relationship is kinda like waves, it comes and goes- but they’re always home to each other in a way.

I very much categorize them as an old couple. They slow dance to songs on a radio while it’s raining outside. They hold each other, tracing over scars mindlessly, the story of each- known by heart. They don’t even say I love you anymore, they just know it.

And I think in a way, their relationship in modern day would be a kinda depressing. They’re finally able to focus on each other, not focused on trying to keep stability- not knowing if their kingdom would fall the next day. Far better and constant communication than the past. They’re stable nations now and yet- they’re enemies. They might not give a shit and continue anyway, but it definitely has affected their relationship. It started honey sweet and has since soured. They have their soft moments and yet- their government’s relationship with each other and the events that have transpired are a fresh wound- not one fully healed.

If one of them ever fell, the other would be utterly devastated. They’re a constant to each other in a world full of things that are temporary. Thousands of years, always knowing their other half was out there- somewhere even when they’re not together. With them gone? It would be like untying the anchor from the boat, there’s no one else- nothing left.

[garden-of-mancers]

Do you have any examples of when you would want to send out an imaginary friend?

I do! I don't have any suggestions for a specific time to send an IF out, (I'd usually send one out overnight or for a few days, just whenever I felt the impulse to do so), but I do have examples for why you'd do it. Also, most of these suggestions are based in magic and witchcraft-flavored spirituality, so I understand if this stuff is really Not relevant to everyone.

A couple specific examples I can think of are as follows:

If you want them to become more autonomous or eventually leave you for good, sending them out is good practice. I know autonomy is more of a goal in traditional tulpamancy, but in my experience, having an IF who's done a few tasks unsupervised makes lucid dreaming with them a bit easier? In this case, sending them out is like a practice exercise; it's just one of the many activities you can do to increase their ability to act alone.

If you have some kind of mystical or non-material thing you want your IF to retrieve for you. Maybe you accidentally left another imaginary friend at an outing. Send your IF out to go get them! Does your IF come from another land where they have unique items? Send your IF out to go bring you some! (And you might spend their time away crafting the actual items for them to give you when they return.) If you've lost an item, there are many superstitious solutions to help you find them faster. Some I've heard of are astral projecting to look for the item, visualizing yourself finding it or having it, and saying the name of the item and sticking a sewing pin in a couch cushion. Well, why not send your IF out to look for the item? Who knows, it might turn up once they've returned. (And if it does, you can say your IF told you where to find it or that they put it there.)

If you just want to be alone. If you're doing a ritual or meditation that requires solitude, (something like the hide and seek alone creepypasta is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head lol), or if you're burned out socially and you need to make sure you stay alone, send them out. Sometimes when I'm in a bad place mentally and want to fight with everyone, it was nice to tell the one person I could control "We need some space" and let her vacation halfway across the world for a bit. If you think about them while they're gone, you can remind yourself that they're at the lake or whatever. And if they pop back in anyway, you can always say, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be at the lake?"

One psychological perk of having an IF is that you have a degree of control over them that you cannot exert over other people, pets, or headmates (if you're a system). I'm not saying this in a "you're my servant and you have to do what I say" kind of way; just that being able to create something, decide their appearance and traits, and have them come and go at your desire gives an IF's creator a level of autonomy and control that can be beneficial to your mental health. As an action, sending an IF out has the benefit of a caring act (packing, walking them to and from bus stop) AND asserting control over your environment. Hence: easy mental health hack.

Yes, I get that you can *technically* just make your IF disappear or stay in your headspace/inner world/wherever IFs go when they're not currently interacting with you. However, I prefer having near-omnipresent IFs. I'm unemployed and housebound, so it's not obtrusive for them to be there hangin out 24/7. So, whenever I get overwhlemed or DO want some alone time for more than a few hours, why not turn my IF's absence into a game or a part of their lore and experience?

And my final reason:

Just to let them go on an adventure! Honestly, I only started doing this because I had a travel journal that I never filled. I'm too disabled to travel now, so I would just send my old IF out to various locations and then write her adventures in the journal instead lol. It was a really cute journal! I wasn't gonna waste it lol.

-♥️-

(Sorry if this was overexplained or sounded patronizing. I am an overexplainer over text; if someone asks for clarification, I want to make SURE you get your answer the second time 'round 😂)

TL;DR: Sending an IF on an adventure by themselves can make them more autonomous, give them an active role in various magic spellwork, and provide psychological benefits for both the IF and the creator.

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Kicho's Main Story Chapter 7 Part 1

These translations are not intended as a replacement for the game. Please support cybird by buying their stories. JP SPOILERS under the cut. Expect mistakes

A few days later.

Mai: “Okay! I’m done!”

I snipped the thread and unfolded the garment I had just finished sewing.

(I didn’t have enough time, but it turned out pretty good.)

(All that’s left to do is to add some minor touches and do a final check. I think I can make it in time.)

Although the work is not yet complete, a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction fills my soul, bringing a smile to my lips.

(I hope he’ll be happy with the rest.)

The last time I spoke with Kicho was a few days ago when he told me about his past.

After that, he briefly summarized the story.

He met a professor at Honnoji Temple, where he learned about the wormhole and was finally able to return to the Sengoku era after three years.

The place he returned to was the same as mine on the night of the Honnoji Incident.

After telling me all that, he laid down on the bed, exhausted, and told me to get out of his room.

(Since then, we’ve been so busy that we haven’t seen each other.)

(Well, I’m sure we’ll see each other tomorrow.)

(Anyway, I gotta do what I gotta do now!)

I lightly slapped my cheeks with both hands and started working again.

Mai: “Ouch!”

I lost my focus for a moment as I pricked my finger with the needle.

(I’ve been doing this for at least two hours straight.)

(I feel like my eyes are starting to hurt from all the work I've been doing.)

Mai: "*sigh* I think I'll take a break."

I put the needle back and stretched as far as I could, when一

Subordinate's voice: "Excuse me."

Mai: "Yes, is something wrong?"

Subordinate's voice: "I heard there's a package addressed to you. Do you know anything about it?"

(Delivery?)

???: "Hello. Sarutobi Delivery at your service."

(Yes!)

Mai: "Yes, I asked for more fabric. Let him in."

Subordinate's voice: "I see. You can come in then."

With permission to enter, the door opened, and a familiar face appeared.

Sasuke: "Hi, Miss. Thank you for your patronage."

Mai: "No, not at all."

Mai: "Thank you for coming at just the right time. I really need it."

While talking casually, I listened for any noises on the other side of the door and signaled Sasuke with my fingers as soon as the footsteps moved away.

Sasuke: "Mai, it's been a few weeks."

Mai: "Yeah. How have you been?"

Sasuke: "As you can see. No matter what kind of mission I'm on, my health comes first, so I pay attention to that."

Sasuke: "Proper sleep, diet, exercise, and makibishi (metal spikes) are crucial."

Mai: "Does the last one have anything to do with health?"

Sasuke: "Of course, just having these things makes a huge difference in how I feel. How about you?"

Mai: "Hehe, I'm okay."

Mai: "By the way, the fact that you came like this today means..."

Sasuke: “Just as you expect. I have a message from Mitsuhide for you.”

Mai: “I see, so you got to meet him safely. Thank you for doing this.”

Sasuke: “You’re welcome.”

Sasuke: “This may sound personal, but I’m grateful I got to talk to Mitsuhide Akechi in person. So don’t worry about it.”

(His eyes are twinkling.)

(Sasuke is really tough in this way.)

Sasuke: “Let’s get down to business.”

Sasuke: “Mai, you need to get out of this place.”

Mai: “Huh?”

Fuku: “This way.”

Mai: “Yeah, thanks for showing me the way.”

I was on my way to Kicho’s room after catching Fuku as he tried to escape.

Fuku: “Kicho.”

Mai: “It’s gonna be okay. Let’s go back to your room first.”

(Her chirping is somewhat listless. Maybe it’s because she hasn’t been able to spend much time with Kicho.)

(Well, it’s normal to miss the person you love. I miss him too.)

(Wait, what the hell am I thinking?)

I need to concentrate and drive the feelings that keep popping up in my heart.

(I should never feel lonely.)

(After all, I will be his enemy soon.)

------------Flashback------------

Sasuke: “Mai, you need to get out of this place.”

Mai: “Huh?”

Sasuke: “Mitsuhide told me that things had changed while you were here.”

Sasuke: “I think it’s true because it was consistent with the information I had gotten from Kasugayama.”

Mai: “What do you mean by ‘things’?”

Sasuke: “Recently, the rebellions suddenly calmed down.”

Sasuke: “There are almost no skirmishes happening, and Japan is eerily quiet right now.”

Mai: “That can’t be a good thing, right?”

Mai: “Is someone else behind it?”

Sasuke: “Yeah. There must be something going on.”

Sasuke: “It looks like the Oda forces intend to capture Kicho before he can attack them.”

Mai: “Capture!?”

(Capturing Kicho?)

Sasuke: “Mai, are you okay?”

Mai: “Yes, of course.”

He looked at me worriedly, seeing my reaction, and I nodded, pretending that nothing was wrong.

Sasuke: “Anyway, you’ll be in danger if you stay here.”

Sasuke: “We don’t know what might happen, and he might take you as a hostage.”

Sasuke: "They'll execute the plan tomorrow night. You need to escape with Mitsuhide."

Mai: "Tomorrow? That's just too sudden."

Sasuke: "Yeah, but it's much better than taking our time to make a plan."

Sasuke: "You, of all people, should know better that we're dealing with the enemy here. It's better to move before he senses we're on to him."

Mai: "Okay."

---------Flashback Ends---------

(Midnight, huh?)

(Normally, I would be in my room after work, but tomorrow...)

Mai: "I hope the party will be a success."

The same day, time of the boar (9-11 p.m.)

Motonari: “So, everything is pretty much as planned.”

Kicho: “I see. No problems here, either. We’re moving forward with the plans I previously told you about.”

Kicho: “The first ship will arrive tomorrow morning to unload.”

Motonari: “Yeah, I know. If they leave right away, they can make it in time.”

Motonari: “But you’re right. We should have had that thing if we’re going to stock that many.”

Kicho: “What are you talking about?”

Motonari: “Air transportation. Well, I’m sure a ship can carry more than a bird (plane) can.”

Motonari: “Or is there some other way to get around in this world that I don’t know about?”

Kicho: “There is no point explaining it to you. In any case, it’s not possible in this era.”

Motonari: “This era, huh?”

Kicho: “Why are you suddenly saying this? You weren’t interested before.”

Motonari: “Yeah, not one bit.”

Motonari: “You’re always talking nonsense like you’ve really seen it with your own eyes, but...”

Motonari cut off his words and lit the cigar he had taken out. Then, as the tip of the cigar lit up with the same color as his eyes, a thin wisp of smoke rose.

Motonari: “Lately, you’ve stopped talking about this nonsense.”

Motonari: “You’re acting strange today, too.”

Kicho: “..............”

Kicho said nothing and pushed the ashtray quietly toward Motonari, who sighed and blew out the smoke.

Motonari: “I’m telling you, the only reason I’m working with you is that we have the same goals.”

Motonari: “If you ever start acting weird, you know what will happen, right?”

Kicho: “Of course. I’ve come this far. I have no intention of twisting the cause I’ve set forward.”

Kicho: “Besides, I’m no different from you. If you were in my way, I would have taken care of you long ago.”

Motonari: “Ha! Sure.”

With a satisfied grin, Motonari pushed his cigar into the ashtray and stood up.

Motonari: “That’s the end of this pain in the ass talk. I’ll still be your partner for now.”

Motonari: “Let’s watch the grand march in the same hell.”

Kicho: “Yeah.”

After Motonari left, Kicho remained alone in the room and stared at the ashtray.

The remaining cigar was no longer lit and only slightly charred at the tip, but when shaken by the slightest breeze, it started burning red again.

At the same time, in Sakai.

Messenger: "These are the instructions from Lord Nobunaga."

Mitsuhide: "I understand."

Messenger: "Well, I'll be going now."

As the messenger quickly left into the night, a man appeared in his place.

Sasuke: "Mitsuhide, good evening."

Sasuke: "I told Mai about what you said."

Mitsuhide: "I see. Sorry for the trouble."

Mitsuhide: "By the way, why are you dressed like a ninja?"

Sasuke: "Because I'm a ninja. I received an order from the top to return home, so I have to leave this town."

Mitsuhide: "I see. But still, I never thought she knew someone from Kasugayama."

Sasuke: "No matter where we are, we're still friends and from the same hometown."

Mitsuhide: "Same hometown, huh?"

Sasuke: "Yes. I can't go into details, though."

Mitsuhide: "Did you know you can get information using torture?"

Sasuke: "My apologies."

Mitsuhide: "I'm kidding. If anyone can make up for that girl's ambiguity, so be it."

Sasuke: "Mitsuhide. Please take care of Mai."

Mitsuhide: "Yeah, you don't have to tell me. That's what I'm here for."

The Next Day

I was cleaning the area around the entrance in the early afternoon.

Mai: "Hmm. What should I do?"

Sweeping over the cobblestones with my broom, I glanced at the upstairs window.

(I wonder if Kicho is in his room today.)

(I want to deliver it after cleaning this, but I might annoy him if I give it to him out of the blue.)

Last night, after much worrying, I managed to complete the outfit.

However, I still couldn’t decide how to give it to him.

(No, maybe I’m not worried about giving him the clothes. Maybe I’m afraid of meeting him.)

(Because today...)

Kicho’s subordinate: “Hey, Lady Mai!”

Mai: “Y-Yes!”

I turned around to see Kicho’s men beckoning me through the entrance of the trading post.

Kicho’s subordinate: “Lord Kicho wants to see you.”

Mai: “Ehh!?”

Mai: “E-Excuse me.”

Kicho: “You’re here.”

He was standing by the window when I entered the room.

He then looked at me and shifted his gaze to the package I was carrying.

Kicho: “What’s that?”

Mai: “Um, I made you this outfit.”

Kicho: “Outfit?”

Mai: “Yup. A foreign style outfit for today’s party.”

Mai: “Oh, but don't worry. I’m not forcing you to wear it.”

I quickly said this and put it on the desk.

(I don’t have much time to prepare myself for this, but I think it’s better than not giving it to him.)

Kicho: “I see. You beat me to it.”

Mai: “Beat you to it?”

He walked towards the corner of the room and removed the cloth, hanging on to something, revealing a magnificent dress.

Mai: “Wow! It’s beautiful.”

Kicho: “I called you here to give you this.”

Kicho: “Since it’s a party, you can dress up to your heart’s content tonight.”

Mai: “Are you sure you want me to join the party?”

Kicho: “I’m not forcing you to do this, but I need a companion tonight. That’s why I’m inviting you.”

(Is that?)

My heart beats faster as I get the meaning of his words.

(I’m not gonna change my mind now, but I want to be with him as much as possible.)

Mai: “Are you sure about this?”

Kicho: “Do you want me to say no?”

Mai: “No.”

Kicho: “Me neither. I don’t want you to say that to me.”

Kicho: “So much so that I cut off your escape route first with this dress.”

(Kicho...)

Mai: “Then, by all means, please.”

Kicho prepared not only the dress but also the shoes and hair accessories.

Just as I returned to my room and finished putting it all on, someone knocked on my door.

Kicho’s voice: “Mai, I’m coming in.”

Mai: “Sure.”

(Wow...)

I blinked a few times when I saw him enter the room.

Kicho: “How is it?”

Mai: “You look really cool.”

(I designed it myself, but it’s more powerful than I ever imagined.)

Mai: “The colors are perfect for you. It’s really nice.”

Kicho: “I was asking about your dress. It looks like I didn't say it properly.”

Mai: “What?”

Kicho: “First of all, let me thank you. I guess you went out of your way to prepare this for me, even though you have other work to do.”

Kicho: “I could tell how good you are when I put the sleeves on. You’re very meticulous in your work.”

Mai: “Thank you. I’m glad to hear you say so.”

(It’s been a while since I’ve had someone wear and be happy with the clothes I made.)

(I’m really happy.)

As I reflect on my feelings, I realize again that I love doing this.

(Even after coming to the Sengoku period, I’m still me.)

Mai: “Right. Let me thank you too.”

Mai: “Thank you for the beautiful dress. It fits me perfectly and is very comfortable.”

The dress, like those worn by fairytale princesses, was elegantly colored in white, and the hem was made of a generous layer of fabric that, even with the slightest movement, fluffed up.

The waistline was also tight, making me straighten up my back unconsciously.

Kicho: “I’m glad you like it. Now, let’s move on to the finishing touches.”

Mai: “Huh? Finishing touches?”

He placed a wooden box on the table he had brought from his room, opened the lid, and I saw some cosmetic kit inside.

(What on earth?)

Kicho: “Sit on the chair over there.”

Mai: “Okay.”

I sat down, and he stared at me while carefully taking out the makeup kit one at a time and placing it carefully on my skin.

Mai: “You know how to put on makeup?”

Kicho: “Yes, my sister taught me.”

Kicho: “Not only makeup but also how to dress, behave, and everything else so that I can live as a woman.”

Mai: “Your sister really cared about you.”

Kicho: “I wonder about that.”

Mai: “You’re very gentle with your hands. I can tell that you’re taking good care of me right now.”

Kicho: “I see. Well, it’s only natural.”

His long fingertips lifted my chin.

Kicho: “I cherish you. I can assure you that much.”

Mai: “............”

Previous╏Kicho's POV╏Next

[love-fireflysong]

Well howdy there! Sorry about missing last week, but I had run into a problem I like to call 'the idea is good but my execution and writing of it is fucking dogshit holy crap (and thus maybe the idea is not so good after all)' the last couple of weeks 😣 So I had not been writing the next part of OCTCRCBC like I should have been lol. So I spent the last couple of hours today trying to salvage what I had by starting to completely rewrite everything I had written down already into a very different story structure than I had started with. Thankfully it seems to have helped a bit and I'm a substantially more happy with what I have now then I did previously! Small victories!

Anyways, here's a little something from that new bit I worked on!

Looking back, Ashley would not have been able to tell you what the dream was even about. Only that she remembers not being thrilled to be awakened from whatever it had been by her phone ringing. Fumbling for the loudly ringing and vibrating piece of tech on her bedside table as she groaned, wondering who the hell would even be calling at this time of the morning. Especially on a school day. Her alarm hadn't even gone off yet, and according to the time wouldn't be going off for another three hours or so! So the almost tinny sound of Josh's voice that replied when she answered with a bleary and confused hello did not improve her mood in the slightest. "Oh fuck, were you still sleeping?" "I mean not anymore thanks to you, you dick," she mumbled out as she did her best to sink deeper under her covers. "What in the world could possibly be so important that you needed to call me this early?" The pause on the other ends make Ashley think for just a moment that the call has dropped or that Josh realized just how much of a dick he was being calling her at almost four in the morning, but it's a false hope. "Early? What the fuck are you—wait. Oh fuck. Ash, you don't even know what time it is, do you?" Ashley is ready to shoot back that if anyone doesn't know what time it is it's clearly him, but then her brain seemingly finally starts to join her in this unwanted realm of wakefulness. Remembering that in all her years of knowing Josh (all three of them at this point), that he has never once woken up before her. That so many late nights spent binging horror movie after horror movie means that if he wouldn't be moving until well past noon if he could help it. And that while the bright red numbers on her alarm clock do spell out 3:52 AM, the fact that they keep blinking in and out at her at a consistent rate is cluing her in that maybe it's not quite as early as she thinks it is.

And as a surprise bonus: I started up sewing again! 🥳🥳🥳🥳 Dropped it like a year ago (not long after I moved to my apartment in fact) and I couldn't even tell you why. But I for one am glad to have finally picked it up again! (Even if it means that every one who sees these updates will now hate me again asdkljaskldsadlj) Anyways, here's what the a combined ~12 hours of sewing looks like. Got all the black background done so you can *sorta* see the outlines on some of the critters on this page (bonus points to anyone who can actually tell what any of them are even gonna be, the already coloured ones on the borders don't count lol)!

[poupeesdecirque]

Incomings, WiPs & Plans for February

First of all, my big announcement for this month: I bought the doll base for Howard Link <3 he will be a Charmdoll LaiKa! As the boy got released I instantly knew this will be my Link, I waited almost 7 months the last time so .. I don't think I will see him before summer.

My current incomings look like this now:

No updates on the other bodies or Pallu by now, but that's okay C:

In terms of Work in Progress dolls, those are the dolls that are currently unfinished:

Yup, you see that right. That pile SHRANK down to basically the ones needing bodies and Darjeeling. And Darjeeling is just waiting for a dress to be finished then.

I *could* start on Adam's clothes as I have the pattern and fabrics here but I think i will do that once his body got shipped. For Kanda and Maple I need the bodies for measurements.

Everyone else is finished. Only small adjustments or upgrades left like swapping eyes or shoes. For bby!Allen I am still working on some little additions, like a plushy

Not done cutting parts here, I'm considering doing a scaled up version for personal fun reasons, why not having a huge Timcampy?

Other than that I will most likely spend the next day tidying up my sewing mess and organizing fabrics, buttons and materials, I.. went a bit wild the last days.

Because yeah... you maybe were able to guess it but Lavi is done. Just finished him today, I have yet to put his photos into the queue, I'm trying to sort my mind right now because the last month was a lot. All I can tell right now is that it feels like a huge burden is off my chest, I think the curse is finally broken, he lost his 'tainted' status shortly after I wrote the blog entry about those dolls but now the 'preorders from hell' finally came to an end (I ignore the one going on though I just sit here and wait that's okay) and that's just ... wow. That needs to sink in.

Inbetween I'm working on my assinged page for the redraw project, I want to give it more time than I usually take as this project is special and I draw a lot therefore improve here and there and I don't want to redo the whole thing in like 2 weeks again just because I rushed it x_x'

When Tim is done I will revert to working on Cosplay and will start on my variant of Crown Clown, which is roughly planned for the Dokomi to be finished. I tested some of the materials today and I think this will be a fun project overall as I can be more artistic this time.

While we are at 'artistic' I have an appointment on the 16th to get my 4th tattoo, this will go onto my left arm to continue my sleeve. It's just my sketch, my artist want to mash up several ideas for the border to match more with the vibe of the Manga & the rest of my shoulder.

He was also amazed how well my shoulder tattoo has healed and how great the shading came out. Dunno if I will be able to do much after getting the tattoo but I'm right handed therefore... maybe a bit less on the strenght training then.

Oh, my juggling has advanced a bit, I am now able to catch 3 balls more than once, I'm still not close to juggle 3 balls but tiny steps here.

Doll Photoshootings is the thing getting time cut though, the weather here is awful anyways :/ hope it will get better soon but the days get longer and then I have more time in the evenings.

[honeyedheartss]

making a separate post for this so I don't hijack a gifmakers post but

@burntstay u literally have no idea! the entire past 2 years have been insane so excuse my rambling post

1. I went to see Dan last Nov and Dec. I went in November when he came to Seattle and got SO excited to finally meet him after so many years that I stumbled all over the MnG and couldn't respond to his very gentle kind compliments. So I flew to Oakland to see him again 😭 It hurt my bank account but not only did I meet him at that show during the MnG but he talked to me during the show too (interactive comedy show and I said I'd fuck the cinnamon toast crunch mascot bc he's a twink. he booed me but then brought it up several more time 💀)

November and December, respectively. (yeah he did accidentally get that fucking silver marker on my arm 💀)

2. Also in November, I had the opportunity to catch Kurtis Conners set he was doing in Seattle :] I went to the early show in the balcony bc it was what i could afford and Loved it sooo much but couldn't see bc I didn't have glasses at the time and at the end when I was calling my friend to talk about it, someone offered me 3rd row tickets because they had to cancel for a family emergency. I took them, could see the set, and it was just as funny the 2nd time!

the next day I'd taken my friend to Pikes Place (popular indoor/outdoor multi-vendor permanent market in Seattle) and ran into him and Jenna in the comics store!

^ me being so insanely happy but embarrassed bc I was partially non verbal and was trying so hard to communicate with him. (he was so incredibly kind and patient and then I helped him find the script he was looking for 😌 <- I do not work at that store)

now rapid fire! I also got to finally see Cirque! my old boss at the club had an extra ticket and brought me along!! (I have tried to sew Cirque THREE times and circumstances have always gotten in the way. mostly me moving abruptly like a week before the date they were in town)

In April, I got to see Hippocampus (one of my FAVE indie bands idc idc) and the guitarist Nathan gave me a pick! I also got to see Conan Gray again (saw him in 2019 without knowing who he was and got obsessed) and Cavetowns show with Tessa Violet. and Tessa RECOGNIZED ME which would have been insane anyways but I look SO different from the past times I've seen her!! I also saw some smaller bands and they were some of the most lovely kind caring people ever!

and then in June I saw 5SOS for the first time. I've been listening to them since I was a little tumblrina in 2014 and I cried so hard during their show. pure unadulterated nostalgia and joy. it was a really good show too (and that month my BFF who I usually go out to Philly to see once a year was able to come to ME because of a work conference 🥹 and my partner came up for our yearly 1 month together!)

also that month I met a comedian I ADORE!!! I found him by accident on Dry Bar Comedy in maybe 2015? and have watched his stuff on YouTube and followed him on Twitter since and I randomly ran into him in a vintage store in Tacoma??? And of course the first thing my dumb ass said instead of "oh wow it's Shayne Smith!! I'm a huge fan" no... I said "YO it's the guy I showed u that one time when I was drunk!!!" to my sister 😭😭 He luckily is a really dope guy, thought it was very funny, and danced around with me

In October I went to a music festival out east and saw a BUNCH of my favorite bands and King Princess said I looked hot, so highlight of my compliments fr (and saw mitski!) Lorde was coming but her set got massively delayed due to faulty tech and I had to make the last train so I didn't get stranded and did not get to see her.

Also I got matching tattoos with my other bff who I flew to seattle to stay with me for a week 🥹 hi @catholicdaredevil

which circles us back to the November/December stuff I talked about first cuz I got excited

The rest of the winter was just struggling through till I saw the sun again but I DID get to meet a long term internet friend at the convention in Seattle (s/o to @pjsforestkid for so lovingly dealing with my low energy the whole day)

April I saw Noel Miller live!!! June my partner came up and we traipsed around

and then September and October I got to sew 4 hozier shows, was barricade for 3 of them (and have professional photos for all 3 times I was barricade which is INSANE!!!!!), hozier called me out on stage for my shirt, I got posted on his ig, and I met almost the entirety of a friend group I've had since 2019 AND DanandPhilGames returned from the hiatus

it's been an insane almost 2 years I finally feel like my life is sorting itself out and I'm so overjoyed

this is such a long fucking post but your tags just reminded me of all the joy and love I have been experiencing and the love that continues!!! I am so happy :)

[ardathksheyna]

I've Quietly Quit Fate Grand Order

I started the Halloween Event thinking that I'd be able to finish, but then of course, my brain got distracted—clothing simulation in Blender using genuine sewing patterns, and oh boy how well that works—so well that I actually want to write a tutorial on it—but that's for another time.

The fact that I was that quickly diverted kind of said it all. Somewhere around between the Lostbelt 6 conclusion and this year's Summer Event, I got burned out. Why? I have no idea, but it's probably a combination of factors:

One: Spare time.

Most of my free time is spent in Blender making shit, and that's what I'd rather be doing.

Two: Repetitiveness.

Since I started playing five years ago, the game has gotten too repetitive—particularly in the amount of farming you have to do to level up your Servants.

Three: Gacha+money.

I had a good run of luck (some of it unwanted) over the course of the last two years. Most of that was due to being able to predict within two or three rolls whether or not I'd get the pickup Servant by rolling in the Friends Points gacha, watching for three- or the occasional four-star (namely Artoria Lily—the pity system was introduced before Habetrot was added) Servant. Unfortunately, that changed with the introduction of the pity system.

What's worse—maybe this has always been a thing—but it seems like it's harder to nab a limited-time four-star than it is to get the five-star pickup on the same banner. Recent example: rolled for Zenobia, got Molay instead (didn't really want her but okay). Also, gacha luck for five-star event CEs has and always will suck.

This past summer revealed just how much of a money-sink the game has become for me. I have limited funds now because I have a house and well, shit breaks in a house and you have to fix it. Plus everything, even food, is too fucking expensive at the moment.

Four: Story.

The Lostbelt saga has dragged on for too long, and I've lost my attention span—not that it was really there to begin with. I think the biggest reason why Part Two has dragged is likely because of the pandemic fucking everything up, and then the sale to Lasengle I'm sure slowed things down even more.

The dragging story is a complaint that I've seen made elsewhere, so I'm not really the only person who has made that particular complaint.

My attention span has always been an issue when it comes to long-running series. A case-in-point: series like Ronin Warriors, Cowboy Bebop, Garo: Vanishing Line, or any of the recent Fate series, hold my attention because they're generally shorter than 60 episodes. On the flip-side of that, I was briefly into Inuyasha but then the story started to drag (and then I started college), that I lost interest. When I finally graduated and then found out that the Final Act was out, I watched those those episodes but never bothered to go back and finish the main series.

Anyway, what it comes down to is if I do keep playing, I'll likely only play when the story chapters come out—maybe/unless the event is specific to a story. I think the problem I have with story-related events is that you have to farm to progress the story and that shouldn't be if the event story is integral to the rest of the series.

[kittykatinabag]

It's been almost a week back to living alone and I am a bit exhausted. Cutting because this post is long and rambly. Feel free to read. Or not. Do what you like.

Rescued a perfectly good cast iron pot from the curb today. Probably needs a re-seasoning but it's a pretty blue, unlabeled, and heavy so you know it's decent.

There also was what looked like an older sewing machine that may or may not be broken and I was so very tempted to take that too even though I do not know how to sew at all. It also was pretty heavy though. Maybe if it's still there after trash pickup tomorrow I'll grab it.

Anyways, slowly cobbling together the apartment. I've spent almost $400 on just food and other household stuff (like cleaning products and such) and that kills my soul a bit. I'm not even counting the bigger stuff my mom bought (including a probably too expensive bed, a desk, other household stuff like dishes and glasses, and eventually probably one of those mobile kitchen islands). I still can't believe everything got this much more expensive since even 2022, the last time I was living alone and buying stuff for myself in the US.

Idk how people who aren't as privileged as I am with my family's resources are even getting by at this point. I guess all those videos I keep watching about Americans just getting into more and more debt are true.

But yeah. It's nice to be alone again. Honestly after these two years (pretty much to the day now, I left for my Europe trip in Aug 2022) of having to live with other people and only getting at most a week's worth of time fully alone, I've kind of forgotten how to live alone. It's a whole relearning process on letting myself be not-nearly-silent and relaxed. The eyes and ears in the walls aren't here anymore, and even though the agoraphobia is still there very very slightly, it's easier to get over nowadays. Though it's summer so I usually don't want to go out in the hot weather unless needed so staying inside isn't that bad.

The biggest problem so far has really been the lack of space in the bathroom. And really this problem is more my stupid no-drill shelves keep falling down and it's stressing me the fuck out because everything either goes crashing down and all over the place, or it's irritating to have to bend down to the floor to get the things I need to use. Today I think I managed to fix it though *knock on wood* as the target restocked their water-specific command strips and shower shelf thing. Cost me an extra 20 or so bucks, but worth it so I don't bang my elbows or feet into the shower shelf anymore. Plus that freed up the old shower shelf to be the outside shelf that has my toothpaste and moisturizer etc on it. I still have another shelf that I tried to use as the outside shelf but I think it's just too heavy for that so now it's just sitting on the window sill empty but I'm sure I'll find some use for it somewhere.

Now if only I could get a decent paying job. Or win the lottery so I wouldn't have to work. That'd be ideal. Unfortunately reality is not that dream as much as I'd like it to be.

Either way, happy to finally be able to unwind fully for the first time in a couple of years. Sometimes I do worry that I'll never be able to be like this with another person as everyone these days seems to get me at least a little tense and feels like their eyes bore holes into my soul. Yet at the same time I desperately desire to have a partner that I can be fully relaxed around. Man I don't even want to think about dating again, I don't remember how to do it anymore.

I also don't want to think about finding friends either. I've realized that unless there's a shared experience we're going through together, I am basically an anti-social person. Beyond introverted at times. I'll go out places, but rarely will I talk to others while out. Doesn't help that any nightlife places I go to (bars and the like), I can barely hear anything over the music and other conversations around. I'd love to join some kind of hobby club, but that usually costs money or if I'm working always tends to meet at the worst times for my schedule. But I'll probably try to give it more of a try this time. Last time I was far too wrapped up in the idea that I needed to be good at work to be successful and happy. That mindset has thankfully mostly withered and died since then.

But yeah the to-do list is never ending. At least it's better than rotting online all day like I have been lately.

[starsbegantofall]

craft room update under the cut!

I've been struggling with keeping my craft room/wfh office clean for years ever since i moved into my house. Not only am I messy, a given for a free spirit like myself, but I'm also working on multiple projects at a time that cannot be put away or else they will be forgotten, also typical of free spirits. I also dislike commitment such as putting giant nail or screw holes in the walls for shelving and storage, which would have helped with keeping things organized or at least off the floor so I can vacuum up all the threads and dust.

A short while ago I moved the futon sofa bed out to my bedroom (not that it really fit there either) because the futon looked ugly and was gathering messes and dust and I never used it for its purpose. The futon now is a gathering place for pillows and plushies but sometimes I do sit on it to work on my journal or read a bit. So that's a slight improvement than no use at all. And I put a sheet over it so it's cute now.

With the biggest space-waster out of the way, I moved furniture around to make the best use of light from the window and recently purchased a cheap plastic Ikea shelf to hold lightweight bins and such. The aesthetics and feng shui are not perfect, but with determination, I was able to rehome almost all of my art supplies and boxes of projects off the floor where they had been preventing me from vacuuming and reaching the closet door. There are still a couple of trays of miscellaneous junk to sort through and I would like a better place for my recently obtained embroidery supply baskets, but that should be easy to resolve tomorrow. It better be.

The next biggest change was taking all of my booth/table stuff from a giant tupperware and consolidating the merch and signage on a small shelf since I doubt I will sell at a market or artist alley anytime soon. (Maybe at my retirement, but I don't think society will exist in 20 years, or not a society that will be buying my art anyway.) That freed up a lot of floor space as well. The other giant tupperware holds my wigs and I don't have a place for it in the stuffed cosplay closet, so it will just be hanging out in the center of the room as a mini table surface as usual. I also moved my photos and letters to my bedroom closet as they are not technically office or art supplies.

I pulled out some artsy or fashion postcards and stickers to decorate, labeled a few drawers, and placed vases of fake flowers around to help it look prettier as well instead of just utilitarian. Actually the flowers were from my previous PC desk setups, I never even put them away, lol.

The last few things on my list - add a cute curtain, find a home for the last few baskets I already mentioned and add more artwork to the wall as inspirations. And maybe hang up one small decorative shelf... if I can make that commitment lol. Anyway, I'm really happy that I finally pulled through and finished tidying up, you know, after years of being stressed out by my mess and unable to find anything and buying multiples I didn't need lmao. Now I'm excited to finish my sewing projects and work on new stuff, and I smile when I look at the semi-organized bins and rainbow colors of fabrics and flowers. Gotta celebrate the small wins in this evil and miserable world!

I will post photos on my blog hopefully soon!

[cidthesquid]

A Quick look at: My Universe - Fashion Boutique (Part 2/2)

Part 1 here! Ok, so let's get back into it, We're making a cotton 'glam ' item for a customer, I selected to make a top, and it looks like we have three options:

Most are locked, and only one fits the style, so let's make a peplum: And it looks like we'll have quite a few elements that we can change:

I'm going to be honest, I'd never heard the name 'peplum' used before, so I have no idea how these are supposed to look. I looked it up on Amazon, and most of them have shorter sleeves, so let's try that,

Actually sleeveless looks pretty nice, I think it adds to the glam look, you can change the front and back too, I love the options, but some really don't flow with the outfit's base design well:

(You can change the mannequins colors at any time) I picked sleeveless, but there's still extra rings of fabric left over, even when I tried adding straps. I'm not sure if these would work better or worse with sleeves.. Anyways, I went with a V-shape front, and meant to do a crossback, but switched it to open, and got locked out. On the next page you can choose the material, and color, and prints:

(Full color/brightness slider support for both main/pattern) We're required to use cotton, and I think black, with a faint dark-grey diamond pattern, may give it more of a glam look. So here's the preview:

So the feature is not perfect, but the custom options on hand, beat out some much higher budget fashion games! Alright, now time to finish the design, I just click 'finalize' and...

Umm, what? You want me to measure and cut the fabric? sure, okay, looks easy enough...

Ok, maybe it was because I was playing though a capture card, but I found these a little difficult to control:

The Last one was pretty easy though:

Ok, So it looks like the item creation is composed of three mini-games, Tracing, Cutting and Sewing, You get points for how well you do in each, I'm not sure what these points do, but I do know I am done now.

Apparently, making an item enough times will allow you to master it, so maybe you get more 'experience' from doing it better? Idk

But when you're done, you can present it to the customer:

(wow, yeah, those sleeveless sleeves are REALLY noticeable) They don't have a super dramatic reveal, but you do get to see their reaction to trying it.

The boss says that we'll get a bonus is they really love the item and also mentions that basically anything you create never goes out of stock. So it sounds like this game may be more bases more around just designing clothes rather than managing stock/inventory.

So that's a little interesting difference from style savvy, You unlock items directly, then craft the individual outfits yourself. So there are no brands to unlock instead you can directly spend your in-game currency to unlock styles and accessories:

You can also complete various mission to earn additional medals:

But you can manage the shop in other ways such as dressing the maniquins, and cleaning out the fitting room:

On my second day, I got to experience a full work day, Customers will come in and walk around, Some will ask for a specific item, and if you have it, you can just give it to them:

If you don't have the item, you can craft it for them on the spot as a 'request'.

'Orders' are basically longer term requests, were you can do them later Other customers will see an outfit they like on a maniquin. After trying it on, They'll then walk up to the counter, so you can check them out.

At the end of day 2, suprise suprise! We're now the owner of the shop!

I played a few more in-game days, and not much changed, But looking through the missions, it looks like fashion shows may be an option down the line with multiple locals:

As well as more patterns and materials and templates, so there is a bit more to unlock. Alright, so final thought...

I'd probably be a little disappointed if I paid the full asking price for this: * I've yet to find any hints that we'll be able to design full outfits for customer requests. * Making new items just takes waaay to long, mini-games not fun. (it's a huge part of the game, but just massing 'A' to get zero exp, feels like a better choice than making an item over and over for mastery) * The starting options/patterns feel too limited. * Limited fashion options in general (3 tops,1 jacket, 1 skirt, and 2 pants options?) * Weird graphical glitches with custom clothes * You can't see what you're unlocking until AFTER you spend medals * Hats and shoes are considered 'accessories', and are harder to unlock, and don't offer the same level of customization

--- But At the end of the day, Someone clearly did put effort into this, I still think this game does a few things well: * The few items we do have, and the ones we unlock, offer a good deal of customization items * Not s style Savvy clone, sets it;s self apart with new ideas. * mini-games do not have a 'failure state', yet try to offer at least some form of reward for those who play them --- So at the end of the day, this game does offer some value, I'd argue it's better than a lot of the web based fashion games you'd find online, and it's not filled with ads. As for the Free-to-play fashion games on the app store, this may pale in comparison to some of them, but you also don't have to worry about getting lock out of events/challenges for not buying the premium items, so it may have the edge over some. Regardless, I'd say it's an interesting little experience, I got a few hours of fun from, and even got to create a new version of my Style Savvy avatar:

So if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, maybe wait for a sale, and give it a shot. I may pick it up again to at least see what the fashion shows are like, But I don't think there's really enough in here to keep me playing past that. --- But anyways, Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well. As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you want to say!

[nervouscloudtheorist]

April 25th 2024

Dear Diary,

It's raining again.

The rain don't stop and it don't stop coming apparently...I hope that the rain at least subsides by tomorrow so that I can get all that weeding done!I have to make Leif proud you know?

There was a fortune teller in town today. I don't really believe in that stuff but as mayor you know that I had to check it out. So I did. The lady's name is Katrina and she charges 500 bells for her fortunes, which is a lot and not a lot at the same time. I'm having a bit of trouble actually determining if something is expensive or cheap here because beetles seem to throw that whole chart out of the water.

Anyways, I paid her my 500 bells because naturally as mayor I feel obligated to support those in my town not because I wanted to actually have my fortune read or anything....don't judge me. So apparently I am going to find the love of my life,as long as I have a modern accessory. I don't even know how to find something like that to be honest.

I did the natural thing and checked out the Able Sister's shop but I wasn't really sure what to look for. On the other hand, Sable got a new sewing machine. It was huge!! It looks like its for professionals and Sable was telling Mabel how she won't use it because she doesn't want to break it.

Sable asked me to use it and I don't even know how to sew so I guess I am going to learn how to do something new. I did manage to somehow make a rock design but I don't know how I did it and I'm not sure I can replicate it. It might be pretty awesome to remember though because I think it would be really neat to use this to design some concrete slabs. I wasn't sure what else to do and I didn't wanna just use the new sewing machine and leave so I did buy some glasses to match my shirt.

The T&T shop also finally had a slingshot. I have been looking for one since I learned how to pop those balloons that fly around overhead and it's just never showed up. I even tried special ordering one from Timmy and Tommy and they both were like “ it gets in stock when it gets in stock”. It's okay though now because I have it. They didn't have anything else though so I left.

When I went back to Town hall after all that though I actually caught Isabelle sleeping on the job! This just shows how little there is to do in the town if even Isabelle is taking a nap. I didn't want to wake her though because she seems like she's been extra tired lately but I somehow managed to wake her anyways. She apologized for sleeping on the job and said that a visitor came by and was talking to her about something called a Dream Suite and that Isabelle just couldn't help but fall asleep to the sound of her voice.

I told her it wasn't a big deal but she was so upset she was adamant we start on a public works project so I just decided to make a campground. Maybe some cool people will come by the town and I can have more friends. Maybe.

OH! Reese is also buying turnips at 95 bells today so...progress?

Well it's bed time :)

Goodnight.

-Finn

[technoxenoholic]

(post in tags)

[married2myphone]

Chapter Two: Sewing Circle

Life As The Avengers' House Keeper

Pairings: Platonic! Avengers x Female Reader

Tags & Warnings: humour, fluff, found family

Chapter Summary: The Avengers walk in on Y/n teaching Peter how to embroider for his Home Economics project, and they decide to spend the day with each other embroidering. Because why not?

Word Count: 3.3k

Tag List: @olsensnpm, @natasha-belova, @caroldanvers2

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

—

“Ow.” Peter muttered and Y/n rolled her eyes at the boy, leaning back on the couch and continuing with her embroidery.

“Ouch.” Y/n dropped her embroidery hoop with an exasperated sigh as she turned to Peter who was completely focusing on his own hoop.

“Peter, I told you that you could use the thimbles. There’s no shame.” Y/n said and Peter dropped his own hoop onto his lap and sent the older woman a sad look.

“But it looks stupid and they mess with my grip, so I keep dropping it.” Peter said and Y/n let out a sigh, shaking her head as she reached into the sewing kit (which really was just a cookie tin) and pulled out the small case of thimbles.

“It’s either that or you keep bleeding from your fingers cause you can’t aim the needle for shit. Now go on, pick whatever color you want.” Y/n said, shaking the box and handing it to Peter who let out a sigh but reluctantly got the red and blue thimbles, putting them on his fingers before continuing.

“Well, hello, grandmas. Do you guys want some tea and biscuits? Maybe some hard candy while you’re at it.” Tony said when he walked into the living room to see Peter and Y/n doing embroidery.

“Ha, ha, get some original jokes, why don’t you?” Y/n muttered, not looking up from her hoop.

“Mr. Stark, look! I’m making the Avengers logo.” Peter said, raising his embroidery hoop towards Tony with a proud look on his face.

He was still in the process of filling out his sketch and a lot of the stitching was very messy, some thread being loose, but it was a work in progress. Besides, it was Peter’s first attempt.

“Wow, looks just like it.” Tony said, barely even glancing at the embroidery, but Peter grinned anyway and went back to work.

“Look what I’m making.” Y/n said, raising her own hoop to show Tony with a proud smile on her face. It was a very flowery and pink middle finger.

“You have such talent.” Tony said with a roll of his eyes as he took his jacket that was laying on a chair.

“Thank you, I agree.” Y/n said as she went back to her own work. 

“Another home ecs project, Peter?” Natasha asked as she walked into the room, going over to a bookshelf and skimming through all the covers.

“Yep! I’m planning to make a few more after this so I can give some to Ned and MJ.” Peter said, poking his finger once more but was happy to see that the thimble he put on protected him.

“I don’t understand why a science school is teaching it's students how to embroider. Shouldn’t you be learning robotics or something?” Tony asked as he put his jacket on before looking for his keys. 

“Well, I think it’s great they’re giving you kids the chance to learn other skills. Hobbies are good so you don’t always put all your energy into work.” Y/n said and Peter looked up and smiled at the woman.

“Hey, speaking of hobbies! You should join me and Ned! We got this new lego set, and I was thinking-”

“Absolutely not. Get back to stitching.” Y/n said with a smile and Peter nodded.

“Yes, ma’am.” He said and the two continued with their work. 

“How do you even have the patience to make all that? Isn’t it tedious?” Natasha asked after finally picking a book and sitting down on the couch as she watched the two continue their work.

“Most things are, but depending on the person, it can be relaxing.” Y/n said with a shrug and Peter nodded in agreement.

“I like it. It’s nice making pretty things and being able to say you made it.” Peter said and Natasha let out a hum, continuing to watch the two.

“Do you want to give it a shot, Nat?” Y/n asked after a few minutes of silence with Natasha just watching them.

“Sure, why not.” Natasha said with a shrug, setting down the book she didn’t end up reading. 

“I mean, how hard can it be?” Natasha said and Y/n smiled, grabbing the bag on the table and rummaging through it before taking out another embroidery hoop.

“What design do you want to make?” Y/n asked and Natasha furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

“I don’t know? Anything, I guess.” Natasha said and Y/n smiled and reached into the bag once more.

“I have some stencils. Pick one, sketch it out on the cloth, then tell me when you’re done. I’ll teach you how to thread a needle and some basic stitches.” Y/n said, handing all the materials to Natasha who let out a huff.

“I know how to thread a needle.” She mumbled as she looked through the stencils, picking out a design.

“Oh, god. Don’t tell me you’re becoming old like them.” Tony said in a disappointed tone when he walked back in to see that Natasha had joined in after finding his keys.

“Shush. Don’t listen to him, Nat. This will be a fun experience.” Y/n said, encouraging Nat who raised an eyebrow at her.

“It’ll be an experience, alright.”

“Well, while you grandmas waste your day creating pictures with thread, I’m going out socializing. You know, like a normal adult.” Tony said and the three gave lazy goodbyes as Tony left.

Y/n developed a hobby for embroidery during that time when she was on the run. She was in a park sitting next to an old woman who was crocheting something. Y/n hadn’t paid her any mind until the woman made conversation, saying she could tell that Y/n needed a distraction.

She offered to teach her how to crochet, and Y/n accepted. Though it seemed like crochet was a bit too advanced, because Y/n’s frustrations got the better of her. Y/n thought she had driven the poor old woman away, but the next day, she found her on the same bench with an embroidery kit. 

She taught Y/n and gave it to her as a gift, and Y/n has been embroidering to pass the time and keep her calm ever since. When Peter came up to her and asked her if she knew anything about embroidery, she was absolutely delighted and couldn’t wait to teach the boy everything she knew.

Leading to now.

“Brucey, join us!” Y/n called out happily when she saw Bruce walk in carrying a box of a bunch of things she didn’t care about. 

“Oh, are you guys embroidering? That looks fun, but I’m a bit busy right now.” Bruce said, emphasizing the box in his hands.

“Come on, you’ve been working all day. Take a break, you can continue whatever you’re doing later. Maybe this time you’ll finish your last piece.” Y/n said, her words grabbing the attention of Natasha and Peter.

“Last piece?” Natasha asked in confusion.

“Dr. Banner, do you embroider too?” Peter asked in excitement and the scientist smiled sheepishly.

“Just recently. Y/n taught me, told me it was a good stress reliever.” Bruce said and Y/n grinned at him.

“And it works, right?” Y/n asked and Bruce laughed as he nodded his head.

“You know what? Sure, I’ll join you guys. Let me just put this away, I’ll be back in a sec.” Bruce said as he walked back and Y/n smiled happily. 

A few minutes passed and Bruce came back with these cartoonishly large glasses on his face that magnified his eyes to make it look incredibly large.

“What?” Bruce asked, furrowing his eyebrows when Peter was shaking, trying desperately to hold his laugh while Natasha was looking away, hand covering her mouth to hide the smile and potential laugh bubbling up. 

“What in the hell are you wearing?” Bruce jumped when a voice appeared behind him. He turned to see Bucky who was looking at him in confusion while Sam was next to him, laughing his ass off as he held onto the wall to keep himself up.

“Oh my god, that is the best thing I’ve ever seen. Smile!” Sam said, taking his phone out and wrapping his arm around Bruce’s shoulder and taking a selfie with him, giving a thumbs up with his tongue sticking out before taking the photo.

“Give him a break. Bruce, I think you look great and you’re very practical.” Y/n said and Bruce smiled happily at the girl.

“Thank you, Y/n.” He said, walking over to the three on the couch and setting himself down, taking out his unfinished embroidery and grabbing a hoop from the bag on the table. 

“Ooh, is this a knitting circle or something?” Sam asked, situating himself behind the couch and looking at whatever the four were doing. 

“Embroidering, actually. See, knitting is really different from embroidery, but they have similarities like-”

“Okay, kid. A simple no would have been fine.” Sam cut off Peter from rambling.

“Would you two gentlemen like to join us?” Y/n asked, looking at the two who glanced at each other.

“I’ll pass. I don’t think I’d be any good at it.” Bucky said and Y/n waved her hand dismissively in response.

“Of course you can’t see yourself being good at it now, you don’t know anything about it at all. But if you try, you could surprise yourself.” Y/n said and Bucky shifted uncomfortably where he stood.

“It just seems like such a… Delicate thing. And I’m not.” Bucky said and Y/n pouted at the statement. 

“Nonsense, man. Come on, get your sewing pants on, we’re gonna do some stitching.” Sam said, grabbing Bucky’s shoulders and leading the reluctant man over to the couch.

“Really?” Natasha raised an eyebrow at Sam’s willingness.

“Yeah, why not? Besides, I want to make what Y/n’s making.” Sam said, pointing to Y/n’s embroidery which caused the girl to grin and sit up, high fiving the man who laughed.

“What do you say, Bucky?” Y/n asked, turning to the man who still looked hesitant. But seeing the encouraging looks on everyone’s face that was directed towards him made him sigh. 

“Fine. But it’s not gonna be good.” He said reluctantly as he sat down next to Sam.

“We’ll just have to wait and see. Now, pick a stencil.” Y/n said, taking a bunch of stencils and spreading them out on the table. 

They were all silently embroidering, occasionally making comments and asking Y/n for help, but it was mostly peaceful. Y/n glanced over at Nat who had been continuously huffing the past fifteen minutes.

When she looked over, she saw that Nat was actually blowing her hair out of her face. Every time she tried though, it kept falling back, and it was irritating her to no end. When Nat realized that someone was staring at her, she raised her head and furrowed her eyebrows at Y/n who was smiling at her.

“What?” She asked and Y/n simply reached back into the bag on the table and took out a black headband.

She got up from where she was sitting and kneeled in front of Natasha, about to put the headband on her when the woman flinched and grabbed her wrists to stop her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and Y/n rolled her eyes.

“Helping you. Your hair is obviously bothering you, and this will help keep it out of your face. Just look at me and Bruce.” Y/n said.

It was then that Natasha finally took notice of both of their appearances. Y/n’s hair was in a bun with a garter used as a headband keeping her hair back while Bruce had one of those large toothy hair clips holding his hair. She hadn’t noticed that because the huge goggles were distracting.

“Come on. It’ll help you work better, and you’ll look pretty while doing it.” Y/n said and Natasha stared at the girl for a moment before sighing and taking the headband and putting on.

“Better?” Y/n asked with a teasing smile on herself. Nat looked away and nodded in embarrassment. Y/n didn’t want to push it, so she just patted Nat’s shoulder and went back to her seat.

“We had headbands this whole time? I’ve been trying to push my hair away for the past few hours.” Peter said when he saw the headband on Natasha’s head.

“Don’t worry, Peter. I have more.” Y/n said, reaching into the bag again and taking out a soft cotton headband that had bunny ears on them.

“Oh, nice!” Peter said, catching the headband when Y/n threw it and eagerly putting it on.

“How do I look?” Peter asked, raising his arms out and Y/n smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

“You look great, buddy.” Y/n said and Peter smiled once more. 

“Hey, that’s not fair. I want a headband that makes me look pretty too.” Sam said when he noticed almost everyone had something to keep their hair in order.

“As pretty as you already are, Sam, I’m afraid a headband won’t do that much for you.” Y/n said, patting Sam’s head and the man rolled his eyes.

“How bout you, Bucky? Want to feel pretty?” Sam asked, nudging the man with his elbow which caused him to grunt because it made him poke himself with the needle.

“I’m good. My hair’s short enough that it isn’t distracting.” He said and Y/n nodded and they all went back to what they were doing.

“Is there a meeting we weren’t told about or something?” Everyone looked up to see the twins walk into the room with both a confused and amused look on their faces.

“It’s rare to see everyone in the same room like this. Especially with everyone… Embroidering?” Wanda asked, not sure how to feel about the sight before her.

“You guys formed a little club and didn’t even think to inform us about it?” Pietro asked with an offended gasp, placing a hand on his chest with a dramatic hurt look on his face.

“You’re very much welcome to join us if you guys want to. There’s plenty of room for everyone.” Y/n said with a smile and the twins glanced at each other before looking back at them.

“Eh, sure.” Wanda said with a shrug, going over to join them.

“I have no plans.” Pietro said, following after his sister.

“Here.” Y/n said, reaching into the bag and pulling out two hair ties which she handed to the siblings.

“You guys might need it.” The two looked around to see that everyone else had their hair up and before taking the hair ties without another thought.

Wanda tied her hair into a tight ponytail while Pietro pulled back the top part of his hair and tied it off before sitting down.

“What else do you have in that bag, Y/n?” Bruce asked, finally taking note of how much Y/n pulled out from that bag in the span of such a short time.

“It’s never ending. There’s a black hole inside; I reach in, and it gives me whatever I need.” Y/n said, wiggling her arms mysteriously at Bruce who chuckled and shook his head.

A few more minutes passed by with everyone doing their embroidery. They didn’t realize it yet, but they were all very much enjoying this time just embroidering with everyone even though they weren’t speaking. But Y/n noticed, and she couldn’t stop the constant smile on her face because of it.

“Pietro, give me the red thread. You’ve been hogging it this whole time.” Wanda said in an annoyed tone, slapping her brother’s arm.

“But I need it!” Pietro complained and Wanda rolled her eyes.

“Then take what you need, but don’t hog it! I need to use it too.” Wanda said and Pietro gestured over to the amount of thread on the table.

“There are so many red over there, take one of those and get off my ass about it.” Pietro said, shoving his sister’s head away.

“I need that specific shade!” Wanda said, shoving her brother back.

“Y/n, is this okay?” Bucky asked, ignoring the rowdiness of the twins as he showed Y/n his work. The girl looked up from her hoop and gasped when she saw Bucky’s.

“Bucky, this is so pretty! I didn’t even teach you how to outline, but you did so good! See, if you never tried this out, you would’ve never found out you had this talent in you. You’re a natural.” Y/n complimented with a proud smile and Bucky sent the girl a small smile of his own before going back to finish his flower.

“What about mine, Y/n? You think it’s cool?” Sam asked, showing Y/n the pizza he was making on his.

“Oh, did you think of that on your own? I don’t think I have that stencil. Good job, I love creativity!” Y/n said, patting Sam on the shoulder and giving him a grin which made the man smile happily.

“Hear that? I’m creative.” Sam said to Nat who let out a light chuckle in response.

When the front door creaked open, everyone stopped what they were doing and their eyes fell on their team leader who walked in with a tired look on his face, hanging his keys on the rack and taking off his jacket.

Realizing the silence, Steve turned to the living room, shocked to see that everyone was gathered together… With their hairs tied up and embroidering? They all stared at each other and Steve simply shook his head and approached everyone. 

They watched as the man sat down with a huff and reached to grab the bag on the table, looking inside and ruffling through it before taking out two blue and red hair clips with sequences and butterflies on them. They watched as the man put them in his hair in wonder before he grabbed some cloth and an embroidery hoop of his own.

“Pass the blue thread, please.” He said and just like that, everyone went back to what they were doing. Y/n passed the thread that Steve needed and gave the man a smile which he thankfully returned.

“Long day?” She asked and a small laugh left Steve’s mouth.

“You could say that.” Steve said and Y/n gave him a supportive smile, patting his leg before leaning back into the couch. 

“No. No. No.” Everyone looked up when Tony walked into the compound, disappointed that Y/n had managed to convince everyone to join her little sewing circle.

“God, how old are you people? It’s a Friday night, the world is quiet, and instead of drinking and having fun, you’re all embroidering.” Tony said and they all stared at him for a moment before swiftly ignoring him.

“Steve, knock some sense into these people for me, would you?.” Tony said, trying his best to ignore the shiny hair clips in Steve’s hair.

“If you can’t beat them, join them, Tony. Try it, you might like it.” Steve said with a shrug, continuing his work and showing it to Natasha who nodded in approval before showing Steve her own work. 

Tony let out a scoff in disbelief, watching as everyone continued to do their embroidery. They were a team of the most dangerous people on Earth, meant to be protectors of the world. Yet here they were, wasting time and-

“Oh, whatever.” Tony said with a roll of his eyes as he went over to sit on the floor because the couch was full, grabbing an embroidery hoop of his own and starting with his own work.

Y/n hid the smile on her face as she looked around her, watching everyone be too focused in their embroidery to notice she was staring. This was nice. Y/n wished they had more moments like these. But instead of wishing for more, she’ll just enjoy what she already has.

[absolutebl]

So I finally got off your Tumblr and proceeded to watch...Love by Chance again. Instead of any of the other 181 things (literally) I have bookmarked 🙃. But now I have a few random questions you might be able to answer.

1. Is Ikea popular in Thailand? I saw a lot of their stuff in the show. Including a little drawer unit...with the drawers upside down.

2. Is wrist grabbing the Asian equivalent of hand grabbing? It seems intentionally less intimate, but then there's close up shots that make it seem like it IS supposed to make your heart flutter. But...characters also sometimes hold hands, so why not just do that?

3. Do Tin or Can have a lisp? I noticed a few times it sounded like they did, which normally I would assume was just, you know, a word in a language I don't understand, except that I never noticed it in any other characters.

4. Not a question, but as I rewatched I thought multiple times "wow, thank goodness the characters point out when someone's blushing, because everybody just looks pale AF" Except beautiful Ae and his "dark" skin. Again, glad I had people to point out how short, dark, and ugly he is supposed to be, and Pond to point out his own hotness, cos I don't see any of that.

5. Do you know of any websites that find where to buy items from shows? I tried looking into Ae's little tote that could, but all it seems anyone ever found was a brand name but not where to find it. I thought of this also because I really like Payu's thick thin cross necklace in live in the air and was thinking of making one, but while I can jewelry a little I can't sew.

6. Last thing. Sorry there's so much! AePete are OBVIOUSLY the world's Best Boys, but I also really like TinCan...it hurts a little bit how bad their kisses are, especially because in the book Can is EXTREMELY enthusiastic about sex and kissing once they get around to it. But anyway, @heretherebedork once did an amazing analysis of Can as autistic (powerpoint included!), what do you think of that interpretation?

I do it too, no worries. So many thing to watch... instead I rewatch an old favorite.

It's like ordering your favorite dish at that one place. I mean there are obviously other good dishes but... I LIKE THIS ONE.

1. Is Ikea popular in Thailand? 

Ikea is like noodles, everyone has a version, everyone likes it, everyone consumes more of it than we like to admit. 

2. Is wrist grabbing the Asian equivalent of hand grabbing? 

I think the western world equivalent would actually be the gentle friendship push/shove. Maybe the arm sling and drag (ah la Win). I’m sure there’s something in there about the difference between collectivistic culture (coaxing, pulling) versus individualistic (push forward alone and in front of you) but I’m not gonna speculate. 

3. Do Tin or Can have a lisp? 

I can’t remember and I refuse to rewatch. Sorry. I always skipped them even in LBC 1. 

4. Not a question, but as I rewatched I thought multiple times "wow, thank goodness the characters point out when someone's blushing, because everybody just looks pale AF" Except beautiful Ae and his "dark" skin. Again, glad I had people to point out how short, dark, and ugly he is supposed to be, and Pond to point out his own hotness, cos I don't see any of that.

Notice this in dramas more. Okay? Darker skinned characters are often referred to as “ugly” or simply depicted playing poor, criminal, rough, evil, and homeless characters. It’s extremely insidious and endemic in Asian dramas, yes all of them, but it is not restricted to Asian film industries.

It is a serious casting problem and criminally negligent on the part of casting directors. It makes me SO ANGRY. 

In many Cdramas and Kdramas you can pick which tall dude is gonna win the baby-girl but how white his flipping skin is. 

And we aren’t gonna talk about the treatment that some of the *slightly* more tan Kpop idols go through, let alone the ones from southern Asian countries.

Of course the Dutch, the Brits, the French, and the Americans are largely to blame (not to mention Christian proselytism), but never forget that China and Japan were also colonialist imperial empires with very decided standards of beauty. Conquerors love to define what is beautiful for the subjugated and usually it’s the opposite appearance to the bulk of the population. Because the the bulk of most populations are tanner or darker skinned (especially prior to industrial revolutions) because in nomadic, agrarian, pastoral, and agro-pastoral societies they are working outside. Hey, so it’s ALSO a class issue. AND since this kind of whiteness could only really be afforded by the wealthy, particularly it was a marker of being able to keep your females trapped inside 24/7. So guess what? It’s also a feminist issue. 

Should we talk about the South Thailand insurgency and how anti muslim and Malay sentiment is a contributing factor in Thailand in particular? What you thought the Thai military conscription program was for shits and giggles? 

All pop culture mediums (especially the visual ones) are political whether they like it our not. Whether we like it or not. Even our stupid little corner of romancelandia. 

5. Do you know of any websites that find where to buy items from shows?

Nope. I don’t collect crap. I can pack everything I own into a pickup truck and I like it that way. Might be a phobia. 

6. AePete are OBVIOUSLY the world's Best Boys, 

OBVIOUSLY 

but I also really like TinCan...it hurts a little bit how bad their kisses are, especially because in the book Can is EXTREMELY enthusiastic about sex and kissing once they get around to it. 

That’s nice to know, but yeah. Actor bad chemistry. I think it’s why I responded so poorly to them as a pair. 

But anyway, @heretherebedork once did an amazing analysis of Can as autistic (powerpoint included!), what do you think of that interpretation?

I like it. I like everything HTBD does. Not sure I would’ve interpreted him that way in LBC1 alone (I might go with ADD), but that doesn’t matter. The point of entertainment is how it makes you feel, so 50% (if not more) is the interpretation you bring to it based on your own life experiences. I don’t bring much of a neurodivergent perspective to my watching life. I need to have these kind of reps pointed out to me. But that doesn’t impact its validity as a read on what’s presented and HTBD knows what they are talking about.