#anyways the 2nd picture means nothing i just needed something to fill out the post. also brandi broke biseuxal rights

[socialbunny]

[shewillreadyou]

Being: Chapter 2-Back at one

As always. I hope that you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.

A/N: This is the answer to my very FIRST ASK!!!

Also, this is the long awaited 2nd chapter to my new TRR series “Being” it will follow Liam and Karis on their adventures as monarchs and new parents. I think it should be sweet. Thank you to @secretaryunpaid for pre-reading part of this chapter and being a HUGE inspiration.

Disclaimers: Most characters are property of Pixelberry

Warnings: If you are under 18 please, just don’t. Language, adult content and some NSFW.

Word Count: 4100 ish

Catch up: Chapter 1

Pairings: Liam x MC (Queen Karis Rose Vasquez-Rhys)

Song inspiration: Back at One- Brian McKnight

Be Kind: Hit the heart button, leave a comment or reblog. It makes a writer so so happy.

Months had passed since their fairytale wedding and romantic honeymoon. They had returned to face the music concerning their pregnancy. Ana De Luca, a long time acquaintance of the crown had paid a paparazzi for private photos of Karis laying on the beach with her growing bump exposed. Adonis agreed to give her the exclusive in return for the pictures and a bit more time to announce their big news on their own terms. 

The day had come for the press conference. The PR team for the royals only told the press that their monarchs had big news to share. Security at Valtoria was so airtight that only people on a short list were allowed on the grounds. The press was only allowed for the announcement and had a short time thereafter to vacate the premises. Adonis arranged for a team of stylists to make sure his queen was presentable for this potentially stressful day. Karis was carrying their heir in her hips. Her bump was still modest for someone 8 months along. Perez, the designer responsible for her wedding dress and his seamstress Enoch, dressed her in an off the shoulder, floor length, royal blue gown that hugged her curves. 

Adonis was sure his heart skipped a beat when he laid eyes on his bride. She was sitting at the vanity inside their bedroom putting on the blue sapphire and diamond earrings he gifted her for Christmas. “Love, I have no words,” he said as he kissed her cheek, not daring to ruin the makeup that had taken nearly an hour to perfect. “It’s time,” he announced as he took her hand. “Both Kenyon and I will be by your side the entire time. I will make the announcement and we will take a few questions from the press before the celebration.” 

Kenyon was posted outside her door. He smiled at Karis before clearing his throat. “Your maaajesty! You look--“ Liam scowled at Kenyon who immediately trained his eyes forward. “Appropriate for the occasion. You look very appropriate.” Karis laughed as Adonis brooded. They headed down to the grand ballroom, where they had a photo shoot with Ana, capturing the momentous occasion. When they were done they joined the press on the east lawn. 

Royal trumpeters played before the royal crier announced, “Their Majesties, King Liam and Queen Karis Rhys of Cordonia.” Karis’ hand rested in the crook of his arm as he escorted her to the podium. He looked deeply into her eyes, and her nerves seemed to settle. “People of Cordonia, before I took our queen as my bride, she was made aware of her responsibilities as she serves in this role. She has humbly trained under Queen mother Regina not only soaking up her role and responsibilities, but our culture. I had no doubt that she would be the queen that Cordonia needed. She had, even during our engagement, stepped up to the plate and excelled far beyond what I could have hoped or asked of her. 

I am aware that some have noticed that her majesty has been missing from the public as of late. Today, we have gathered here on the same grounds where my parents made this same announcement many years ago. Without further ado, Queen Karis and I would like to announce the coming of the royal heir to the throne of Cordonia.” Karis stepped from behind the podium resting her left hand on her bump to wave at the crowd. The news was met with a rapturous applause, whistling and cheers.   

The afternoon was filled with congratulatory fluff, indulgent food, and schmoozing with Cordonia’s upper crust. As promised, Kenyon didn’t leave Karis’ side. When she had her fill, per usual, Adonis was nowhere to be found. After fruitlessly searching the estate for her King, Kenyon escorted Karis to the master suite. She rested her swollen feet on the chaise lounge. “Is there anything I can get for you or help you with, ma’am?” Karis shook her head. “Kenyon, I have told you a million times, you can call me Karis in private. And since you asked, yes. Can you please help me out of these heels? They are pretty but they stopped being comfy hours ago.” Kenyon hesitantly approached. 

He gently pulled her swollen feet into his lap. After removing one sandal, Karis noticed a bulge in his pants. She didn’t think much of it, he had never said or done anything inappropriate, as his large hands fumbled with the buckle on the second one. The door opened and Adonis entered the room; his eye immediately fell upon Kenyon kneeling in front of Karis. “There you a-- what is the meaning of this?” Kenyon stood abruptly, Karis’ foot falling to the floor, but before he could speak, “I couldn’t find you love, and my feet are killing me. Kenyon was just being helpful.” Adonis looked between Kenyon and his very pregnant wife. “Thank you for your-- help, Kenyon but I got it from here,” Adonis said dismissively. “Of course, sir, I’ll be right outside if you need me, Karis,” Kenyon said as he exited the room. 

Adonis gathered some pillows that were arranged on the bench at the foot of their bed. “Fuck you mean? And just why would she need you? I’m here,” he mumbled under his breath. “What’s that love?” she asked as he propped her feet on the pillows. “Nothing, the next time your feet hurt, call me,” he instructed as he poured himself a bourbon. She laughed. “Promise.” He put the tumbler down and disappeared into the closet. “I was just saying good evening to some of our guests, you know?” 

When he returned he was carrying her favorite nightgown. He walked into the master ensuite before Karis heard bath water running. “Helpful my ass,” he muttered as he removed his cufflinks, placing them on the dresser. Karis watched as he undressed in the midst of his tantrum. His shirt fell off of his muscular shoulders and Karis’ breath hitched. Her eyes widened when his trousers fell to the floor. He approached her wearing nothing but his boxer briefs.He extended his hand, “come love, it’s bath time.” 

He led her into the ensuite where he unzipped her gown, cursing quietly as it pooled on the marble floor. “Karis, you are a whole lotta woman,” he whispered in her ear as he unhooked her bra. Her full perky breast sprung free as he watched in the mirror. She shimmied out of her panties before he helped her into the full tub. She looked at him with hooded eyes. “Is there something on your mind, Adonis?” He slipped out of his underwear and into the tub. “I’m just thinking, maybe we should restructure the guards. Maybe, I can put Mara on you and maybe Kenyon would do better with Regina.” 

“Wait, Mara the one who was supposed to be guarding Regina when she was kidnapped? Where did these thoughts come from?” Adonis pulled her foot out of the water as he began to massage her. “I think he is too comfortable with you, too familiar. Since when did he start calling you Karis?” She knitted her eyebrows together. “When I asked him to call me Karis. I spend a lot of time with him. It’s weird for him to call me Ma’am. Tell me you’re not jealous?” Adonis smiled smugly, “Of your guard? Ha!” he threw his head back in laughter. “Well, it seems that way.” She bit her lip, and batted her eyelashes as he took her big toe into his mouth circling it with his tongue before releasing it with a pop. “I am the KING of Cordonia, I have my health, wealth, and the finest woman walking this earth carrying my heir. Remind me again why I would be jealous of your guard?” She smirked. “Exactly,” she said as she attempted and failed miserably at getting out of the tub on her own.

Adonis grabbed her wrist pulling her soapy body down into his lap. “Hey, you know what? I’m sorry, I was out of line,” he swept her hair to the side exposing her neck before kissing it gently. “Do you forgive me?” His husky voice, his breath tickling her neck and the way his chest vibrated as he was pressed up against her back made it all but impossible to say no. “No,” she said it anyway. “Please,” he pleaded in a sensual whisper. “Forgive me Karis,” he growled. She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, no before she shifted in his lap. She felt his erection nearly impale her. She couldn’t help but think how easy it would be to get into reverse cowgirl right there in the tub. He started to roll his hips slowly as he apologized in different languages. “Scusa...Es tut uns leid...Pardon...Gomen’ nasai… Joesonghabnida...Lo siento,” he whispered into her hair.   

His large hands began to knead her shoulders. Her eyes closed and her head fell back to rest on his shoulder. It felt heavenly, her soft mewing encouraged him. “I don’t get it, you are always so confident in everything you do,” she panted. He kissed her exposed neck gently as his hand moved down her torso and around her swollen belly into the water. “You still don’t get it, do you? I found my kryptonite,” he said as he cupped warm water in his hand and poured it over her belly. “You’re my kryptonite, Karis Rhys. The thought of some other man touching you, even looking at you, if only to help remove your shoe; it drives me to distraction. It certainly cracks my unyielding confidence.” She smiled, flattered by his words. 

Her life to this point still seems like a dream. From meeting him at work, to spending that first night at her place with him. Losing him as suddenly as they connected. Reconnecting in Paris. The first time they made love, him buying the house in DC. The proposal in Paris, and their fairytale wedding. They have certainly had a whirlwind romance. He had been perfect, except she knew that no one is perfect. He was close. His hand gently slid across her thigh and found her center. He caressed her bundle of nerves before sliding into her as much as she could take. He tried his best to remind her with every thrust who she belonged to, her whimpers confirmed that she was fully aware.   

The next few weeks seemed to fly by, Karis could be found putting away freshly laundered baby clothes, arranging diapers and wipes into the basket below the changing table, or fussing over the crib bedding. Adonis did everything in his power to keep her off her feet. She usually waited until he was in his morning meetings before heading into the nursery. She had scrubbed the kitchen, in their quarters, and dusted the newly decorated living, dining area.

When he returned from his meeting with the counsel, he found her vacuuming their bedroom. “Babygirl, what are you doing?” His voice boomed over the sound of the vacuum. She jumped before turning it off. “Karis, baby, my queen. We have talked about this. We have staff that can do this for you. You are supposed to be resting.” She waddled over to him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I am tired of lying in bed. I was trying to kill time before the new chapter of Foreign Affairs releases on the Choices app. Blaine is so hot,” she giggled as she fanned herself. 

“I’m hotter,” he said as he walked his wife over to the bed. Instead of helping her lay down, his large hand splayed across her back gently bending her over the plush bedding. His other hand traveled up the soft smooth skin of her leg. Her silk nightgown gathered at her waist as he freed himself from his trousers. Just when she took a deep breath anticipating him entering her, he dropped to his knees to taste her. Within minutes her orgasm was within reach. “Adonis, I’m close,” she panted. His long digit joined his tongue in pursuit of her pleasure. She gasped before her body started to gently shake. He waited patiently as she rode out her first of three orgasms she would experience that afternoon. 

When they were done, she was exhausted. His mission was accomplished. He hoped that she would sleep until he returned from his afternoon meeting in Fydelia. Kenyon was posted outside of her door. He had just returned from lunch when the King departed. It was like any other afternoon. Kenyon always took his lunch when he saw Liam “checking in” on Karis. It was always hard to look either of them in the eye afterward. Karis woke a couple hours after Adonis left with mild stomach discomfort. She drank the water that he had sent to her side table and turned on her side, which was the advice from Dr. Dameron the last time this happened.

She felt better a short time later. She smiled at Kenyon sheepishly as he shook his head. She was creeping down to the nursery. She wanted to make sure that the new packages that arrived had been put away. She didn’t think much of it, she would be back in bed before Adonis returned. Kenyon sat in the recliner on her insistence that he took a load off. She dropped a pair of baby socks that rolled under the chaise lounge. “I’ll get that,” he offered. “No, I can pick up a pair of socks,” she insisted. When she reached for the socks she didn’t feel anything. She got on her knees feeling triumphant when she located them under the lounge. She held the tiny grey socks in her hand as she attempted to get up from the floor. “See! I’m not helpless!” She stood proud of herself, while Kenyon chuckled at her theatrics. 

Suddenly, a gush of warm fluid rushed down her leg. She looked at Kenyon with a look of horror on her face. “This can’t be happening. Adonis is not here. It’s a few weeks too soon.” Kenyon immediately stood taking control of the situation. “What happened?” She clutched her belly, taking a deep cleansing breath, “my water broke.” Once the initial shock wore off, Kenyon called the doctor  as they rehearsed, before calling Liam. The phone went straight to voicemail. “Sir, this is Kenyon. It’s time. Dr. Dameron instructed us to head to the hospital immediately. I will try calling back once we are in route.” His next call was to Alexsei, Karis’ driver. “Alpha Rabbit has commenced. Meet me out front in 3 minutes.”  He ended the call and turned to Karis, “look at me. We have gone over this. You are ready. Your bag is already in the truck.” 

He moved to her side and she wrapped her arm around his shoulder for support. He flung the strap to her purse over his shoulder as they headed towards the stairs. She struggled to walk, stopping every few yards for a contraction. “If I’m not being too forward Ma’am, may I?” She nodded her head and Kenyon swept her into his arms, carrying her bridal style out to the truck. 

“Where is Adonis?” she asked as she riffled through her purse with tears running down her face. “He’s at a meeting in Fydelia. His phone went to voicemail when I called. I left a message. I will try calling again.” 

Karis took deep breaths like they taught her in the private child birthing lessons Adonis insisted on her attending. The pains had begun to come closer together and stronger with each instance. In between contractions she fruitlessly attempted to reach her husband. She wiped the tears from her eyes before Kenyon turned to her. “Everything is going to be ok, Ma’am.” She reached across the seat and patted the top of Kenyon’s hand flashing him a strained smile that didn’t reach her eyes. 

21 minutes later they still hadn’t heard from Adonis. They were met at the private entrance of the hospital by a team of nurses who helped her into a wheelchair, and took her inside to the grand nursing suite where Liam was born 31 years earlier. Kenyon stood watch at the door while Karis gave a urine sample and changed into a silk hospital gown. They got her settled into bed and asked her if they could get her anything. Karis was terrified and alone. She kept thinking about how Adonis scolded her for allowing Kenyon to help her when she couldn’t find him. 

There was a knock at the door that tore her from her thoughts. “Come in.” Kenyon entered the room with his hands over his eyes which were clenched tightly closed. “Good news Karis, I was able to get in touch with King Liam. He’s on the way.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Kenyon. You can uncover your eyes. I am covered.” He dropped his hand and slowly opened his eyes. “Are you, uhh comfortable? Did they do the back thing?” She looked at him, confused. “You mean an epidural?” He smiled sheepishly. “Yes, that’s what it’s called. It made my sister feel a lot better when my niece was born.” Just then another contraction started and she reached for his hand. He nervously looked over to the door before offering his hand. She squeezed his hand while breathing through the momentary pain. “I guess this means you didn’t get the drugs?” 

When it was done she looked at him. “How long before Liam gets here? I’m scared, Kenyon. The contractions are getting closer and closer. I don’t want to have this baby alone.” His heart sank. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he was over an hour away in Fydelia. His eyes must have given it away, her eyes went from sad to panicked. “Kenyon, I know this is a lot to ask, but if he doesn’t make it here on time, will you stay with me?” He swallowed thickly considering what she just asked. He reached over and offered her tissue to dry her eyes. “Aww, come on Karis, don’t cry again, you’re killing me. He’s gonna be here.” he lied. He knew that there was the possibility that he wouldn’t make it. “But if not, of course, I’ll stay with you. But he’s gonna be here soon.”  

Just then her purse fell to the floor from the chair. When Kenyon went to pick it up he discovered that it likely fell because of her phone violently vibrating from inside. “Oh, it’s your phone,” he announced. She extended her arm. “Well, pass it to me.” He instead passed her the entire purse. She looked at him with her brows knitted together. “What? My mom told me to never go in a woman’s purse.” She smiled as she pulled her phone from her purse. Another contraction came as she took deep breaths. When it passed she called Adonis back. 

“Hey babe, it’s me.”

His voice was sorrowful. 

“Babygirl, I’m so sorry. I never should have left you alone. Howard is driving as fast as he can to get me there. Just try to hold on.”

“Babe, don’t apologize, you had no way of knowing that this would happen today. Just get here safely. I’m scared.” 

“I’m sorry you are there going through this alone. We are still about 35 miles out.” 

“I’m not alone. Kenyon is here with me.” 

Liam cleared his throat, “yeah, well, I will be there soon.” 

“Adonis, I don’t know if I can do this. I’m not as strong as I thought. I’m kind of freaking out over here.” 

“Karis, listen to me my Queen. You are so much stronger than you think. You are brave, and courageous. You can do anything. Don’t think too much. Just take it one contraction at a time. Remember your breathing.”

“What would I do without you?” 

“Heh, I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out.” 

“Another contraction is coming.” 

‘Baby, focus on my voice. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.”

“Ok, it passed. Thank you. Kenyon just brought me some ice chips. I’m going to get on the birthing ball. I’ll see you soon?”

“Yes love, we are only 17 miles out now.”

“Adonis?” 

“Yes love?”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.” 

They end the call as the nurse and the doula enter the hospital suite. Once Karis was out of the bed and onto the birthing ball she became even more uncomfortable. She was in active labor. Her pains were hard and closer together. She was getting tired. 

“Hazel, will you help me? I think I need to use the restroom.”

“No ma’am, we are going to get you back into bed so that nurse Emilia can give us the go ahead to start pushing.”

“Pushing? But Adonis… my husband isn’t here.”

Hazel grabbed her hand and said, “Yes pushing, we want to make sure we don't put baby in danger by holding off too long. I’m sure Adonis will be here soon so he can help you with your breathing as you begin to push.” Her Calm demeanor and comforting words consoled Karis in that moment. 

After a vaginal exam, the nurse confirmed that she was indeed ready to start pushing. 

“Unfortunately, your baby didn’t get the memo,” Hazel quipped. 

A team of nurses swarmed the suite getting things set up for the birth of her baby, Cordonia’s heir. The tears started to pour again. Kenyon stood helplessly before, “I’ll just wait outside,” he said quietly. “But Kenyon, you promised,” she sobbed. “That was before they pulled your covers off.” She pouted and gave him the most ridiculous puppy dog eyes. “Ok, I’ll stay. But only until King Liam arrives.” he looked at Hazel, the doula and asked, “how can I be helpful?”

“I am going to stand on the left and empower Mom, and you stand on the right and help hold her thigh.” Kenyon’s eyes went wide. “Forget it. If you are going to be all weird, then just go,” Karis chided. “I promised I would and I will.” He swallowed thickly before placing his large hand on the joint behind her knee mirroring what he saw Hazel doing. “Am I doing this right Ms. Hazel?” She smiled and  nodded her head reassuringly.  

“Now Mom, on the next contraction, take a deep breath and push.” 

Karis could feel her abdomen tightening. When the next contraction came she took a deep breath and pushed. It felt like she was constipated and needed to relieve herself. On the next contraction, it burned like nothing she had ever experienced. “You’re doing so well Mom, a few more pushes and you get to meet your baby.” 

Tired and in pain Karis looked at the nurse and said, “Oh, screw you! This hurts!!”

“Karis!” Kenyon blurted. “Oh, screw you too! You try pushing a watermelon out of a lemon.” 

Then came another contraction, but this time instead of focusing on her breathing, she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Adonis!!!! I hate you! You did this to me.” Just then the door flew open. “You called for me, love?” He smiled at her and she melted like she always had. 

His presence was a momentary distraction from the insurmountable pain. He had finally made it. He wasn’t going to miss the birth after all. When she laid eyes on him she began to sob. “I don’t really hate yooooou.” One of the nurses helped him scrub up and get into a gown. He gave Kenyon an appreciative elbow dap. 

“Adonis, how nice of you to join us. Get over here. Are you ready to meet your baby?” Dr. Dameron asked. 

“Yes, of course,” he said before kissing Karis sweetly on the forehead. 

“Good because on this next contraction she will deliver the head.” 

On the next contraction, Karis seemed more focused than ever. Kenyon wiped the sweat from her brow before she closed her eyes. “I’m here with you now, baby. You are doing amazing. You can do anything.” His confidence in her gave her just the strength she needed to champion through. Quietly, she took a deep breath, tucked her chin into her chest  and pushed as hard as she could. “That’s it baby, you’re doing it. I can see the head.” 

Dr. Dameron checked for the cord around the baby’s neck as the nurse suctioned it’s airways. On the next push Dr Dameron moved behind Liam positioning his hands to catch the baby. 

Karis pushed one final time and the heir to the crown of Cordonia was born. “Oh my God, Karis, love! You did it! He’s beautiful.” 

She looked up through the tears, “he? It’s a boy?” The King began to sob and he shook his head confirming. Dr Dameron looked at the clock, “12:09” she told the nurse. Congratulations, your majesties, “It’s a boy.” 

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[lily-lilou]

My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince. Part 2. Primal, dark, love and life magic.

So, this second post (here’s the first one) will present my theory about this: about the magical system as a whole thing (more or less), about love and life magic, I will explain why it’s two different things, what’s their place in the magical system, their role, about how they're supposed to work.

1st part. what proof, in the show, do we have about another kind of magic?

Well, take a look at this:

The two pictures are when Avizandum and Zym are attacking, with lightning. they are the exact same colors (cool, nothing exceptional, Lily, really cool...)

Yeah, but now look at this, when Zym is trying to wake up (maybe even heal?) his mom:

See all the colors, here? We have white, green, blue, purble, some kind of pink-orange-yellow...: well, every colors, as if every kind of primal magic were present. And I don't think it's just to make things pretty here.

Because it's not the only time we see this phenomenon, where “all the colors” are here. There’s two other examples:

1st look at when Viren is sucking what I suppose is Zym's life/magic's force out of our dragonling:

Once again, we can see all the colors, like with Zym's lightning to wake up his mom.

But the most impressive example is when Zym’s egg is hatching:

The egg was dead (he had turned black for several minutes) we saw some usual lightning (blue) who then changed with all colors and he literraly turned back to life:

So, from the interview linked in the post before (at 9min00 or something), we know there is that "earlier, less differenciated power", a "kind of magic that's deeper". With this statement (“less differenciated power”) and pictures above, it seems we have a magic who looks like a mix of all primal magic. I will even say it’s “life-magic”.

edit: 

I found this following pictures in “the art of the dragon prince”. Here, the colors are even more differenciable. And there is indeed, six of them (white(a little blue), yellow, green, purple, red and blue (I guess respectively sky, moon, earth, stars, sun and ocean)

2nd part. What is “life-magic”?

I said what we saw above is “life-magic” and it could make sense:

First, because of all the colors we saw (as I said, as if all kind of primal magic were here).

Second: just observe the world, how it works: the sun, the moon, the earth, the ocean, the sky (and I guess the stars too) need to work together to bring life. (Hey, what is the sun, alone, if not a giant useless fire ball? What is the earth without the sun to warm it, the ocean to irrigate it? Doesn't the ocean need the earth to contain it? et caetera...)

(still in the same interview above) we know Aaravos sutdied magic deeply, that he was interested in this "deeper, less differenciated magic" they mentionned. So, "life magic" being a mix of all others magic would makes even more sense if Aaravos is the one (from the artbook we can guess he has at least a hand in it) behind this symbol (because it would represent “life” it more or less perfectly):

Plus, you'll notice another thing when Aaravos and Viren tried to kill Zym, Viren's eyes became, while he was filling himself with Zym's “life”, just like those of Aaravos in S2:

If I'm right, Aaravos could have known there is a deeper magic and so find a way to harvest it with dark magic. It could explain why he tried to reach other arcanum, to reach that "deeper magic", that "life". (or maybe he doesn't know it's "life"? too early to say anything here, I guess)

(speaking aside, another theory of mine is that he harvested other primal creatures to gain their power and so reach others arcanum, which would also explain why every Xadian hates and fear him - which also could mean he was trying to give this to Viren, the sky arcanum, I mean... anyway, that's not the topic yet.)

BUT, stating that Life-magic is composed of all primal magic only is maybe true, but incomplete.

I just said this symbol (yes again, I love it):

Could be “life magic”. But if “life-magic” is only composed of all kind of primal magic… what does that giant rune in the middle is for?

Dark magic, you’ll said.

Dark magic? But we said earlier that dark magic is the exact opposite of “life-magic”. Because it’s “death and hate”, when the other is “life and love”.

…

Wait, love? The big rune in the middle would be “love”?

Exactly! (I promise, we’ll dig into this in the following part)

“love is magic, magic is life, so love is life”.

(PS. Again: “love is magic” is something you can find in Callum’s spellsbook several time. It’s not from me)

But in dark magic, no love, so no life. Why? Think at how dark magic works: it's killing and stealing and it hollows you from the inside (more about this in the part dedicated to dark-magic). I would even say: It's stealing life from others, so the price you have to pay is to lose your own (life-life? life-love? Viren became so hateful with time... but I'm digressing.)

So, now, look at Zym again when he's trying to save/wake up his mom.

We find all these colors, but he's not like Aaravos, he never reached any other arcanum. I mean, he can barely control his own. I think in that moment, Zym isn't using his usual lightning but, maybe without even knowing it, he's digging in that life-love magic because he loves his mom, he wants to help her, to save her. So something else, something big is happening.

And it would be wonderful if his attempt to wake her is the true reason she wakes up at the end of S3...

I would even add Aaravos’s quote before I conclued the end of this 2nd part: “Those who fail the test of love are simple animals, that deserved to be motivated by fear". It could means Aaravos know, to some extent, the existence, or maybe the importance of love in magic. And if he’s really behind the symbol above… (but I won’t digress on my theory about Aaravos and magic and the test of love, because it’s not the subject either and this post is already long enough…)

So, conclusion of this part: true "life magic" would be composed on all primal magic AND love. (That, or "true life magic" is composed of all primal magic and the way to reach it without killing others is love. I would also makes sense but we’ll see when we will talk about “love magic”)

3rd part: what is “love-magic?

I just said that the symbol of dark magic could in fact represent the magical system, and so “life magic” and the rune in the middle would be the representation of “love”.

Nice statement! Any proof? Let’s analyze this closely, then!

On the symbol, we can see two things:

1st, all the primal magic.

2nd, a big rune in the middle. Until now, we thought it was a rune representing dark magic, I just stated it wasn’t, that it could be “love”.

When I said that on Reddit, a nice fella, u/randomorph came with his own theory, here: he proposed the interesting idea that the two soulfangs we can see in the endcredits in S1 with a heart above their head (meaning "love"), just look like the symbol/rune of dark magic.

One one part, soulfangs serpent seems dark-magic related in some aspects, but on the other part, what we see here, it's love. Two serpents who are in love.

So if that dark-magic's rune above is inspired by the two soulfangs, it could really be the proof the very rune of dark magic means, is, in fact, the rune of "love". (And maybe that Aaravos doesn’t fully understand what “love” truly is... but once again, that’s another theory...)

Sidenote: another nice fella thought that the two serpents are also similar to “Caduceus”, the symbol used in the medical world, with the two serpents. I still don’t know exactly what to do with this, but the parallel is interesting. And it wouldn’t be the first similarity with the bible.

4th part: how is this love-magic supposed to work? (I'll talk about dark magic later)

Nice, we have now proof (well, more or less, it’s still a big theory who could end up being totally wrong) that we have a life-magic, composed of primal magic and love magic, with a dark magic who’s strangely not fitting in this…

But for now, what about love-magic?

I had a theory I couldn't prove a while ago and I had let it down: I thought that "love" was the kind of magic humans could really do. But I had let it down because Xadians have proven they can love too. And I also had to place Callum and his arcanum in this.

BUT! thanks to u/the_mad_ and his superb theory here, we have proof now. To summarise it partially (but go read it, it's worth it): humans have some special kind of power, they can create a magical connection with other, it's "love-magic", and dark magic is a corrupted version of it (but once again, I'll abord dark magic later). As he said it "humans can do this special form of magic because humans have (or can form) a special magical connection with each other and with other creatures and objects, in particular through love (and empathy)".

And indeed, we saw this three time, especially in the novel.

We saw this with Marcos when he made a connection with Rayla (it's the-mad interpretation since we have the scene from Rayla’s POV and I totally agree with him ^^),

Ezran made a connection with Zym while in the water, in the frozen lake.

Viren made one with Harrow in the novel, and it ended really bad for him because Harrow rejected him. (no really, I insist, go read his post).

And all these connections are more or less described in the same magical way.

u/the_mad_ also mentionned Ezran's power as a more visible, powerful manifestation of this love-magic humans can perform. I had that HC too, I never agree with the idea of our boy being earth-primal-related, because in Callum's spellsbook, it's never said earthblood elves can talk to animals. In fact, no primal-magic seems to really fit with this power.

But with love-magic, it does.

But… what about Xadians? They can also love. The moonfam is a proof of this, Janai and the dragon queen too. Well, yes, it's love, and yes everyone can love, without exception. But for Xadian it's not necesseraly magical because it's not their magic. Xadians have primal magic and humans love-magic.

So, to summarize this part: humans have a magic on their own. It's love, but not usual love**, it's something that gave them the ability to "link" themselves to others, even to link others together**, but that's another part.

5th part, how love and primal magic works? What happen when separated? What happen when reunited?

Thanks again to u/the_mad, I finally found an explanation (I could be totally wrong but let's just say I'm at least not far from the truth... hem!!)

Take a look again at what I now call the "life-magic" symbol, formerly called "dark-magic symbol" (it’s the last time you’ll see it, I promise ^^):

The important part now is the big circle (in white) in the middle, circling "love" and connecting all primal magic. The important part now, is this "connection". It's as if "love" is the link between all primal magic, as if love it's what makes them work together.

u/the_mad_ talked about love-magic connecting people, which seems to be true. But I think it's not only between individuals. If this theory is right, that connection could be applied in a much larger scale. I would even said it concernes the whole world.

So, what did I mean by "love-magic is connecting all primal magic? Well...:

In HBMP ep2, Aaron Ehasz talked about how Xadians live in their part of the world, and it appears they're not really cohabitating together. They know each other, they know about each other, but it doesn't seem to be more than that.

In HBMP ep5, we even learn that there's probably several Mooshadow village in the forest other than the Silvergrove, and they don't know where all the others are. They're not "connected", not really.

We also have a description of Ibis on the official website, where we learn that "He has long been a liaison between elves and dragons", which could mean the two species aren't that close.

And what about the "I know that sound, that's not a good sound" from Rayla when she heard the dragon roar?... that reveal a lot about relationship between elves and dragons... (plus, still in HBMPep2, Aaron teased a story who happened between Rayla, Runaan and a dragon, which would explain the quote just above (personal theory: the dragon is the reason of Runaan’s torso scar). But alas, j.Richmond stopped him before we could get more. my HC is that Runaan's scars came from here, which would add to the idea elves and dragons aren't always getting along.)

Another proof would be the dragonguard, elven warriors, running away when the dragon king died. They didn't care about Zym's fate. (Except for Lain and Tiadrin, but I'm gonna talk about this later)

I would add how the other moonshadow elves except Runaan, in the novelization, showed how... deeply attached they were to Rayla. A child they saw growing up for almost 16 years. Worst of all, Moon magic, according to Callum's spellsbook, is supposed to be love-related. If that's "love" for any lambda Moonshadow elf, don't show me what "hate" is for them, please!

(and here my... approximative localisation of elves in Xadia...)

All these points lead to this: we don't have yet a whole picture of Xadia, but it seems that Xadians are not close to each other, in a matter of relationship. It's not war or anything like that, it more looks like a huge lack of socialisation, lack of relationship.

So, no humans = no love-magic = no connection. It seems coherent. Xadians never approached humans, they studied them from afar (I had found a super analysis on Tumblr about informations each side has on the other, about how it seems elves have more accurate intel on humans than humans on Xadians - but sorry, I can't find it anymore :() they even bannished humans and look at the result: Xadians are separated from each other, barely interacting it seems. Dragons from elves, elves from elves according to their arcanum. Xadia is stagnant.

But now, what happened when Xadians get close to humans, when they work with them?

At the storm spire, one human boy (ok, it's Ezran, not any human could have done this) brought several dragons to fight alongside sunfire elves and humans to fight an army of monsters, (not sure if Ibis would have achieved this alone)

Callum started to talk through Rayla about that toxic cycle in the beginning of S1, and it touched her profundly (as we can see at the end of S2). He and his brother managed to touch her to the core and it changed her on a lot of aspects. She's more healthy now, everyone can agree on that...

Her contact with Villads changed her

And talking about their quest, they literally changed the world (... ok, it's only the beginning but the idea that 3 children, a baby and a unidentified glowing thing stopped an imminent war does talk a lot about what both sides reunited can do).

We can also see Janai changing (I wonder if she got "linked" to Amaya the way u/the_mad_ talked about in his theory about love-magic). She first wanted to kill her enemy, and she ended saving her, fighting with her (and maybe slowly falling in love with her, but that's another story)

Side note to complete this part: what's happening to humans, while separated from Xadians? Look at how humans live in their side of the border. The five kingdoms came to an alliance, but the  land is mostly deprived of primal magic, probably because there's almost no elves or dragon. it's slowly dying, physically-materially speaking. (remember that famine who would have killed hundred of thousand people 9 years ago)

Conclusion for this part :

1.     Xadians need humans to be linked, they need "love" to be and work together and not being separated from each other. Just like Humans needs Xadians to "live".

2.     Xadians and humans are currently separated from each other, and they both lost something, they're both missing something. And for them all to be complete, for them to live, they need to be together.

6th part : if Xadians have primal magic and humans love-magic, why can Callum use primal magic? Could a Xadian use Love-magic?

I've stated that Magic is life. If magic is life, then it's in everything that's alive. Which mean, everyone, Xadians and humans, have everything in them. Humans and Xadians have both love-magic and primal magic in them.

But just like Xadians are naturally born with a connection to a primal source, humans have a natural one on the 7th: love.

From this, it seems logical that a human can reach an arcanum, since it's in him too. It's just... dormant, passive. If he wants to reach this other side, he needs to forge a connection.

And so, the opposite could totally be true, a Xadian could forge a connection to love-magic.

Okay, but how does it works? Why didn't this happened earlier?

Once again, I think it's related to what I said: both sides need to work together, to learn by proximity from each other. A true relationship. Callum first started to learn about Xadians by being close to Rayla and Zym. He trusts them, loves them. I don't know everything that's necessary to reach an arcanum as a human, but I think this close proximity, this trust in the other side, incarnate in Zym and Rayla, count.

And so? Can a Xadian use love-magic?

Logically, yes, and I think we have already an example : Zym

Zym who was born amongst humans and elves. Zym who's connected to an arcanum by birth, and to love by Ezran.

It's only my HC here, once again, but the bond they're sharing is too deep to be just from Ezran. I mean, Zym can literally reach Ezran when he's afraid, the boy can see through his eyes. I think Ezran and him are so profundly connected not only because Ezran linked himself to the dragonling, but also because Zym connected himself to him because he learned that "love-magic" by being with them.

The other proof (well, once again it’s HC^^’) to that, is that Zym seems to have litterally used life-magic on his mother. (remember life-magic = love + primal magic - remember how his lightning were different when he used them on his mother than when he attacked Viren, and all) And I still have that HC that she wake up in the end because he used it.

Anyway!

What about the moonfam? (take this part as some kind of side note? It’s still incomplete and full of imprecise HC. I'm wating for S4 to see more of them)

Well, that point is tricky. The moonfam is Xadian but has "love" as a really, reeeaaaally strong thema.

- it has been officially stated than Runaan loves Rayla deeply. After some researches, we can find several interesting things about him to realise how "love" is indeed a strong thing here. Like the fact he never planned to kill Rayla (post from the lead-writer at wonderstorm), or his thoughts described in HBMP ep5 (here’s some excerpts:

" [...] And I think those are the types of things that he’s still stewing on. Like, did he overstep? Was he so eager to give her the opportunity to prove herself that he ultimately put her in a position where she could not succeed? [...] I think he took her off the mission both because he very, very much wanted to give himself and the others a chance to complete the mission, even if it meant their deaths, but it also meant that Rayla had the chance to survive. Even if it was potentially going to be misinterpreted and she’d get slapped with the Ghosting. I think he believed that her alive was better than everybody being dead. And I think he feels guilty. [...] Again, a lot of time to potentially stew on and reflect on, is that he does feel like he put her in a position that was not fully taking into account the type of person she was, and more projecting onto her the type of person he wanted her to be, and the gift he wanted to give her, of redeeming herself in the eyes of her people for her parents. And I think he’s gonna have to work through that. Poor dude"

We can also add the feelings he shows, in the novel, toward who I totally assume being Tiadrin and Lain when he saw their coins. He loves them, he still loves them even with, until now, he thought they had betrayed them (which means, for me, that his insult to Rayla in the novel, about her parents, is really an attempt to make her leave instead or staying and being killled _ pure HC again, could be wrong...

PS. thanks again @beautifulterriblequeen and @kotikala for this point :))

Ethari lost Runaan and made a mistake, but in the end he chose Rayla by (HC again, here) breaking the rules and talk to her, to understand what happened. He told her he loves her at the end of S3ep3. Him, giving her that moon opal while telling her what he said to Runaan, means the same for her "my love will be with you even when the moon is not", meaning "I still love you no matter what".

Lain and Tiadrin (thanks again for this HC @beautifulterriblequeen) know what it is to love a child, because they have Rayla. That's also why they stayed to protect Zym, not just because of their oath.

And don't make me start about Rayla and love, about how she loves Ezran, Callum and Zym, so much that she can sacrifice herself to protect the wee cutie ^^

(well, Idk if describing all of this about Runaan is as necessary on Tumblr than it can be on Reddit...)

But once again, is this magical-love or is it just a strong, normal love?

I’m still not sure of the answer. I would say it is probably "normal" (strong, but normal). But it could evolve to "love-magic" at some point, maybe even "life magic".

I guess (a huge, vague guess), that to reach "the other side" (primal magic for a human, or love-magic for a Xadian), you need to have some proximity with someone from the other side and what I would call... predisposition? Callum had definitely an affinity with primal magic from the very beginning (if not "predisposition", maybe "destiny" will fit, then? For this part, I really don't know, as I said, it's pure guess.)

But if predisposition is required, then the moonfam could totally fit to reach "love-magic" and maybe "life-magic", since there is such strong love between each of them.

And, who know (once again it’s a huuuge guess), maybe those who are related to the moon have some kind of natural predisposition?

I think this way because of my current (still have to work on this point) interpretation of the moon arcanum. We do know they’re love-related. We can see it here, in Callum’s Spellsbook:

My HC here is that “love-magic” is partly about linking, connection. And the moon arcanum, in his duality, is also about the connection between life and death, between living beings and dead ones. So, yeah, maybe they do have a predisposition...

But how would they reach that “love-magic” exactly? I dunno. Maybe Viren will capture Rayla and taunt her with the coins and they will free themselves from it, out of love for her because she's the most precious life for all her parents? (I still have that theory where Harrow will talk to Runaan in the coin to make him evolve the way he did while facing his last days)

Or maybe it will be Callum who will free them, don't know how, out of love for Rayla? Or Lain and Tiadrin would be some kind of "genius" who doesn't needs humans to reach the “love arcanum”, because they love Rayla so much, and they have the mind of a protector, and they were ready to die to protect Zym... that would fit with the "reward-theory" and "destiny"... arf! another aspect I have to study here. I really don't know. We'll see this in S4, I hope.

Anyway, that's it for the moonfam!

Now! We've established what love-magic could be and where it stands in the magical system. How it works.

But what about dark magic?

Last part: Dark magic in the magical system.

u/the_mad_, in his theory I mentionned, advanced the idea that dark magic is a perverted version of love magic.

He thinks so because these "magical moments" he mentionned, when people are magically "linked", are described in a similar way than using dark magic, which add a point to his thought about dark-magic being love-magic but corrupted.

I mostly agreed with him, but I would push his theory even further (I thought about this during the night, in fact, and I couldn't sleep and then... "ting"!):

the effects of dark magic, using it is described in a similar way that "love-magic", when a connection is made between two beings.

dark magic also uses primal magic.

I’m still hesitating about that interpretation, however. She’s pretty solid, but I’m bothered by a point: something similar to love-magic AND using primal magic? that does sound a little like what I call “life-magic”, no? So what if more than being a corrupted version of Love-magic, dark magic is a corrupted version of life-magic?

A corrupted version who gives a mimic of life magic but in the end, desecrate it. Dark magic means stealing, killing. It's death. And it's not normal death, as a part of the life-death cycle. It's something else. That could explain why Callum feels it's so "wrong". He values life, he's a lot about love.

The dream he made about dark magic is really interesting, too. Somehow, that evil version of him lied to him. (I still save a room for the idea that it wasn't him but something else disguised as him,) telling him he can't do magic, that dark magic is the only way. If you think about it, the message given by that... thing, is : "you love them, you want to protect them, you want them to live, then use dark magic because it's the only way for you".

But dark magic is a corrupted version of life, it's literally "death".

Okay, but you'll tell me that Viren and Claudia used it to save someone who was dead. Yep, but to do it they killed someone else (for Viren it's a theory a lot of us belive). I'm pretty sure "life-magic" doesn't work this way. Callum didn't kill anyone when he broke the primal stone to save Zym and then, at some point, we saw "life magic" (it's in the post I linked in the beginning). I mean, Zym was dead. The egg was black. But he came back to life.

Zubeia was dying too, but it seems, once again if I'm right, that Zym saved her with life magic. He didn't kill anyone.

I said once ("epiphany on the moon arcanum", if I remember...) Darkness is an emptiness of light, death, an emptiness of life.

So, why not? How do you kill death? with life....

An additional thought about Dark magic :

Once again, thanks to The_mad_ on Reddit, we got an interesting analysis: he noted that the seven sources are similar to the creation, in the story of Genesis. God created the world in six days:

“The only one that isn't directly mentioned is the stars. On the first day God separated day from night. (This presumably gave the stars.) On the second day God created the sky. On the third God separated the earth from the ocean. On the fourth day God created the Sun and the Moon. There is no primal source (that we know of ;) ) for the 5th day when the sea monsters were created. But then on the 6th day God created humans and gave them dominion over all of the creatures of the earth (i.e. Dark magic). On the seventh day God rested. »

So I pushed the analysis further:

On the 5th and especially 6th day God created living beings, especially humans. And when you put all of his creation together, all the days, it's "life" (Just earease one of these elements and there wouldn't be life anymore _ok, human's place in the world's ecosystem could be discussed but that’s not the topic... so let's say humans are the soul, the spirit, and the world the body... or something.)

Much later after God finished his creation, a shadow, the devil, came and infiltrate the world to make humans "fall". (Now that I'm pointing that out, it's pretty much the same in LOTR, no?... anyway). He made them fall with lies.

So now, let's suppose that these theories about a "love-magic" and a "life-magic" are accurate and that parallel between genesis and TDP’s magical system has a solid ground, that maybe "love" is indeed a source in itself, like the others (In genesis, it would correspond to the 6th day, when God created humans).

Now, I wonder. If it's this way, if the parallel between Genesis and TDP's seven sources is that strong, then, could "dark-magic" be "the shadow" who made humans fall?

I think it could be this way for two reasons:

1st. dark magic appeared, it seems, at the very least 2000 years ago with the rise of Elarion (maybe earlier, but probably not 5000 years ago, during the era of the first elves), just like the devil in Genesis did (I mean, about the fact he came later, not at the begining).

2nd, we saw the... dark-mage-Callum, that sort of... evil avatar of him, in his dream, literally lying to Callum himself about humans not able to do primal magic. (that, if it wasn't just his own belief impersonated. We still don't know yet).

And so, Dark Magic, being a person or a "thing", a concept, I don't know, would really be something else, something corrupted who perverted and disturbed the world.

Okay, this post is the last one, it’s finally over!! Thank you for those who had the courage to read it until the end!!! I hope I didn’t bothered you too much ^^

It was a little difficult to put all in one thing (all of this are in fact several post on Reddit) so I hope the continuity is coherent. I’m working on this since ... ARGH! 5 hours? Okay, I’m gonna eat something.

I hope you had fun to read this :D

Now, to the kitchen! I’m Hungry!

edit: I forgot to tag @beautifulterriblequeen​ and @kotikala​: what do you think of this? 

External POV are awlays welcomed (but don’t feel obligated to read it, I know it’s pretty long... wait, if I tag and this message is in the end... will you see it right away?)

[mahalkitajohnnysuh]

Fling Things

Let me introduce you to some fling things! Did you read that to the tune of ‘Kick It’? If you did, then you are a real NCTzen! 

Kidding aside, here’s a lighthearted story with the special participation of Wong Yuk-hei, also known as Lucas from WayV and Super M! 

Lest you forget, this is predominantly a Johnny (and Jaehyun and Mark) fanfiction blog, so read on to know how Lucas gets into the picture this time. 

Mahal ko kayong lahat! :) 

–––

Summary: Like a page taken out of a rom-com storyline, Essie has a one-night stand with Lucas, and Johnny and Jaehyun aren’t happy about it. Hilarity ensues, as always. 

POV: 2nd person still. I wrote a lot of stuff last year, can you tell? 

Word count: 1,200 + words 

Warning: It’s a bit steamy, but not too much that it’s foggy. Get that? Otherwise, it’s just good old fun with the boys. 

–––

Before you and Johnny became official, you had a couple of flings with other guys. One of them was with Lucas, whom you had a one-night stand with. It was during a party that you ended up with the head-turning Hong Konger. 

The party was to celebrate someone’s birthday – you were sure it was for the Aquarian group of Doyoung, Johnny, and Jaehyun – and somehow, you ended up on the couch with Lucas. 

Both of you were tipsy already, with him affectionately rubbing your thigh, and you caressing his arm. You were talking too close to each other that nothing else mattered – if you weren’t that drunk, you might have noticed that Johnny and Jaehyun were glaring at your interaction with Lucas. 

Everything happened so fast, and before you knew it, you were in bed with the younger guy. You could only remember snippets of the deed, which were too steamy to even recall in detail. 

You woke up around 7 a.m. and found that Lucas was still beside you, scrolling through his phone. He was still topless, exposing his neck and arms that were almost filled with your love bites. You flushed at the memory of yesterday’s debauchery and decided to get up.

But before you could even do that, Lucas pinned you back on the bed. “Hey baby, morning,” he said in his trademark sultry voice. You gave him a weak smile, which he responded to with his awkward laughter. 

“You were great last night,” he started, leaning closer to you, “and I mean it.” He eyed the marks you left him. “Uh, thanks? You were great too,” you replied, starting to relax in your current position. 

He pecked you on the lips before he got up, revealing that he was already wearing his underwear. “Want to get breakfast?” He asked as he rummaged on the chair across the bed for his clothes. 

“Sure thing, but let me wash up first.” You held the blanket around you as you stood up, now shy of your naked body. 

“Okay, I’ll just be here,” Lucas winked at you as he slipped on his jeans. 

\\\

Breakfast with Lucas didn’t feel anything special. It was like eating with a friend – he cracked a lot of jokes while you tried your best not to spit out your coffee from laughter. 

He was a nice boy, but you know that he’s not the one for you. Blame it on the alcohol that you were able to do something you thought you would never do. 

He pecked your cheek before you left his car. “Let me know if you want to hang out, okay? I’ve put my number in there,” he tapped at your phone, “and you can chat me up too.” 

You nodded, bewildered that he was able to unlock your phone and put his number in your contacts. The boy might be more into you than you thought. 

Even if it has already been a couple of hours since you two did it, you still have the post-sex pain. 

You hobbled towards the door barefoot since you know you wouldn’t be able to walk in heels. As you fumbled for the keys in your bag, you heard footsteps approaching the door. 

Johnny, who was in a baggy shirt and sweatpants, opened the door for you. “Hey, wouldn’t you look at that,” he said, leaning against the doorway. “Baby’s got a fun time last night, and we weren’t invited!” His sarcastic tone annoyed you, but at the same time, you also felt guilty. 

You weren’t able to notify the guys that you were still at the venue of the party, in one of the rooms having your way with one of the most handsome men you’ve ever known. Aren’t all of your guy friends?

“Hey, I’m sorry,” you croaked. “I didn’t mean to not text or call you guys but…uh, things happened. And I didn’t expect that to happen. Not in a million years. I don’t know what came over me–––”

Johnny cut you off by pulling you into the house. “Stop blabbering and come inside,” he whispered, his hand still on your wrist as he dragged you to the sofa. 

You followed him silently, and he even patted a spot on the couch for you to sit on. Once you were seated, he flicked your nose. “You deserve that for making us worry,” he said before taking a seat beside you.

“But I said I was sorry!” You grumbled, rubbing the spot he hit. “Please don’t do that again, Essie. Jaehyun and I were worried about you, but especially me.” With that, you turned around and saw that one of his best friends walked toward you with a cup of coffee.

“Looks like you need one,” he said as he handed the steaming cup to you. You thanked him and carefully took a sip. It tasted just the way you like it – with milk and two packets of sugar. 

“Hey, you know my blend,” you gave an approving look at Jaehyun, who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Because I’ve observed you enough to know what you like,” he mumbled. 

You could only look at the boys in shock. Jaehyun usually didn’t act this flustered, and Johnny’s concern was bordering on anger. You set the coffee on the table and explained yourself again, this time more confidently. 

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to message or call you guys. I know you were concerned because I had too much to drink, and I was flirting with someone…” You softened your voice at the end, embarrassed of admitting that you had a rendezvous last night. 

“Yes dear, you were with Lucas. The young sex god. You got pulled into his charms,” Johnny said dryly while rolling his eyes. “You were too weak to resist it,” Jaehyun piped in, folding his arms in disappointment. 

“I didn’t expect that too, honest! But anyway, now I’m home safe and sound, I’m really sorry I made you guys worry. What can I do to make it up to you guys?” You pleaded, giving your best aegyo to appease them. 

Both guys looked at each other, deep in thought on what you can do to make them forgive you. It took them a moment until both of them said the same thing.

 “Be my assistant for the week.” 

“Hey, I said it first!” Johnny grumbled, glaring at the guy standing beside him. 

“No, I was the one who said it first!” Jaehyun rebutted, raising an eyebrow at his friend. 

They bickered for a moment, and you shook your head at their immaturity. 

“Well, I guess you two should settle that first. I’m going to take a long bath, and let me know who the winner is,” you said, standing up with the cup of coffee.

“Let’s settle this with rock-paper-scissors, so we know who the winner is now!” Johnny screeched, getting into a competitive stance. Jaehyun mirrored him, and you watched them play the most intense rock-paper-scissors game ever. 

The taller guy won with paper against Jaehyun’s rock. The latter drooped his shoulders in defeat while Johnny pumped his fist in the air. “I win! Better prepare yourself, girl, I’m going to tire you out!” He said, pointing a finger at you for emphasis. 

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to rest for now,” you took a sip of your coffee before walking away from the two guys. 

Sometimes, being surrounded by more guys makes things more complicated for you. All you ever wanted was to be with that one special guy, but life has to make things challenging for you. 

Is this a conquest you should continue, or should you stop now?

–––

FIN

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona 5 Problems: “Goro can’t escape Shido” doesn’t make sense

Might be a pt 1. But before I get into it, what I mean here is “Goro can’t escape Shido” doesn’t makes sense in the context of the characters interactions that we see nor the rules or the world we see in Persona 5.” 

I probably could title this as “Atlus doesn’t know how to utilize it’s Metaverse and everything around it is shit pt 1: In relation to Goro” but that’d be too long, and it gives you more insight on what’s in store. 8U

Also this isn’t to rag on Goro, but the failure of the writing with P5. I mean I hate Goro, partially for his writing partially for how I think he’s a jerk and not in a fun way (cause I do like characters who are jerks but he just doesn’t jive with me)....this for full transparency (esp if you are new). 8U That being said I wont’ tag it as Goro cause I’m not a jerk, I’ll tag it as anti I guess but...........yeah in retrospect after typing this I do kinda take a dump on his writing so anti tag it is. 0u0 

Now why arm I talking about this? Well a new chapter of P5MM came up and.....well this picture appeared:

Now I love Saito, the manga is pretty good, so this is nothing against Saito. My issue is.....I guess the over victimization of Goro esp when it 1) makes no sense and 2) is contradictory.

Now do I think an antagonist that is a victim doesn’t make sense? No. What doesn’t make sense is that P5 doesn’t bother to develop it. P5 throws out the bare minimum of hints all while making NO SENSE how that could work. So fans have to fill in the blanks, and that’s either making him more sympathetic or like me who’s either deciding to start master blasting holes everywhere or is ready to throw this suit case out all together.

I know a lot of fans, and adaptations (such as this) kinda lean towards making Goro more sympathetic. I DON’T BLAME THEM. Like I said, there’s a lot of holes to fill in. And one of them is his relationship with Shido, something VERY crucial to the plot and is.....glossed over with like a few min worth of dialogue. 

Anyway what am I getting at? The issue that annoys me a lot, and that was shown in this picture that hair-triggered me into wanting to write this, was the fact “Goro is being controlled by Shido/Goro has no power and Shido has his claws into him/Goro can’t escape Shido.” As seen in the pictured above, you see Goro has hands to his throat and Shido has an overwhelming presence. Goro is trapped by Shido. And a lot of people will agree with this. It’s understandable because the game half assidly will say things like “you know what happens to people who defy me!” and basically threatening Goro’s life. EXCEPT IT’S ALL BULLSHIT!

“Woah that’s a little extreme what do you mean?” I mean it, Goro is not being controlled by Shido. It’s annoying P5 even INSINUATES that possibility in its writing! It makes no sense for Goro to be the powerless one here, not with the game we were given. And it’s amazing this wasn’t caught in the writers room. This is how that scene should’ve gone down given what we know:

Shido: You know what happens to people who oppose me! Goro: Yeah motherfucker, you send me! What do you want me do? Kill myself? What are you a 14 year old troll on the internet? Do you want me to kill you for threatening me-you scrotum looking asshole? 

Just freaking think about it, Shido or his confidants want a breakdown? Send Goro. They want a shutdown or to possibly kill someone? Send Goro. What the fudge is Shido doing threatening the guy who does his dirty work? Is he gonna kill him himself? No. Shido is a gd moron.

“But what about the cleaner guy?” Great question! And here’s my answer! What about him? No seriously what could anyone but the PT or a god do to Goro? Nothing. 

“But how is that nothing?!” Easy, Goro can take him out, breakdown or shutdown, before he could hurt Goro. If Shido sic’d anyone on Goro, Goro could easily take down Shido, the cleaner, and anyone related to either who know they should take Goro down. All thanks to the Metaverse. And because of that “Goro is trapped by Shido because he’s threatening Goro with death” is such a BS excuse by the game. 

“But what about Shido’s knowledge of the Metaverse? Didn’t he say he could utilize it?” Yeah what about it? The game doesn’t showcase HIM using the Metaverse. He always sends Goro. Which is REALLY FREAKING WEIRD considering he still acts this way, knowing full well Goro is missing. Like how are you going to do it Shido???? 1) you need an app first and foremost, 2) you’ll need a Persona or else you’ll get rekt’d! YOUR LOGIC MAKES NO SENSE! And him knowing about how the Meteverse works is just bs plot device so that we can shoo away how he could believe Goro in the first place let’s be honest.

The only people who use the Metaverse that we don’t know how they got there was the SWAT team that busted the MC, and while not explained it’s possible Goro had something to do with it (either giving someone his phone, since multiple people can go in with just one phone). That’s the only thing that makes sense, since only app users (aka PT+Goro) can got to that world. Tho the cut content seem to indicate even the police don’t know:

And it seems that you only get the app if you have a Persona (minus Goro, MC, and Futaba), cause that’s what Yadly wants:

(btw Ryu’s first pic is pre awakening and the 2nd is post awakening, Futaba’s the only one to get her’s before her Persona with the exception of Goro/MC, but Yadly must’ve thought she was useful or some shit judging by his dialogue early on in the game XP)

But yeah, bringing this up because it’s relevant to know who can and who can’t use the Metaverse. Goro CAN. Shido/Shido’s confidants CANNOT. Goro has the advantage. Shido does not. Goro holds all the cards. Shido’s a gd moron.

As for how Goro could end Shido and his Confidants. If for some reason Goro doesn’t know some of Shido’s confidants JUST BY WORKING WITH THEM, then he can find out through Shido’s Palace. Shido’s Palace literally contains every single one of his CoOps in Cognition form. Which means he probably knows their name, and all Goro really needs is a name cause that’s the hard part. Once he interrogates all the Cognitions and Shadow Shido, he takes Shadow Shido out, go after the real CoOps’ shadow, interrogates them (plus cognitions if they have a palace), and work his way down the latter until know one is after him. He can also squat in the Metaverse if for some reason the heat is really on him, and what’s the worse that could happen? They get pulled in with him? Well that’s bad....FOR THEM! Cause Goro has more powers there, his Persona, he’s stronger and more durable. There’s really no losing here.

So again, one last time. “SHIDO’S THREATS ON GORO’S LIFE MAKES NO SENSE BECAUSE GORO HAS THE POWER TO END SHIDO NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!”

“Well what about his strangle on giving Goro affection?” Ok, ngl....been awhile....but I legit have NO RECOLLECTION of Goro or Shido showing any possible fatherly affection. I feel like I’ve seen more of the fans make this argument then the game. If the game did then it was just....such a throwaway line, and it’s a classic “P5 tell don’t show” move. Coupled with how contradictory the writing is with the way the story is built (like show literally above in how Goro’s life should not be threatened like AT ALL). P5 goes out of its way to show how much Goro HATES Shido and HE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE HIM GO DOWN! That doesn’t seem like someone hesitating cause he wants a hug from daddy. The only reason he waits so long was because he wanted him to be prime minister (or just close to election) and then bring him down from the highest pedestal. THAT’S IT. He has so much more backing that then “I really wanted a daddy figure that gave me pats on the head and told me I was a good boy.” If P5 WAS going for that then they did an even piss poor job than with the issue above. 

And listen, I’m NOT saying that’s not something that couldn’t have happened, I’m saying the writing makes it not really support it or have it make sense. (edit: after typing this I vaguely recalled Shido saying that all Shido had to do was tell Goro he was a good boy and he thought he had him wrapped around his finger-of course this could’ve just been a tumblr post I read that’s how much I remember Shido praising Goro XP, and lkfsd;lakvl;vs this is soooooo batshit all over the place, are you controlling him with fear of death or love???? cause neither are working here bro. Btw at the bottom I go into a route in which this COULD work, but it means dropping the whole fear of death bs argument I made at the very beginning, and even then it’s not Shido actually controlling Goro, it’s him thinking he does.)

And if anyone says “What about destroying his career and social-hood by revealing Goro is a bastard?” And give Goro the platform, the audiences’ full attention for him to be like “YEAH AND GUESS WHO MY DAD IS?! :D” Like, considering Shido figured out Goro was his son, it’d be even more stupid of him to think he could do that when it’d be social suicide for him. As for Goro? That was his plan all along, nothing to lose! Maybe it’s not as high of a fall that he wanted, but he’s still bringing him down!

Now despite this rant, I’m NOT saying Goro isn’t a victim. As a bastard/foster child in Japan, he is a victim for their horrible treatment towards that group. That can’t be argued and in all honesty if it was just that I’d be happy. What I don’t think he is a victim of is Shido, at least beyond the parental abandonment (he is a victim for his dad being horrible and not marrying his mother and stuff like that OBVIOUSLY), by Shido I mean the Conspiracy related stuff. Making it out so that Shido controlled Goro the whole time, that Goro had no agency, that Goro couldn’t oppose him. That’s what I hate. I hate how people make him such a woobie victim when....he very well probably wasn’t. When he made Goro kill, it’d make more sense for Goro to be scared of losing his connection to Shido (aka not being able to monitor him and continue his plan) than be scared Shido might kill him (I mean he had freaking superpowers what the fudge?). But if people looked at it like that then Goro would be more in the wrong no? Choosing to value his goals of revenge over other’s? Maybe he didn’t want to kill but he still CHOSE because his own goals meant more than someone else’s life. But noooooo that would hurt him being a victim right? We need to make it all Shido’s fault! Goro did nothing wrong! Right? So we made it seem like Shido could threaten Goro’s life, make it a kill or be killed situation, even when it made no sense. 

I think Goro could been good, could’ve been complex. A boy who was an abandon bastard son of a politician, mistreated and abused by society until teenhood, suddenly granted the power to get revenge on his father, and going to any lengths, even if it broke his own moral code, because he was that dedicated to bringing down someone? That’s interesting, it’s simple. But “ A boy who was an abandon bastard son of a politician, mistreated and abused by society until teenhood, suddenly granted the power to get revenge on his father, forced to go to any lengths because he ended up in a trap by said father he wants to take down, even if it MIGHT (cause Atlus be chickens and “ambiguous”) be against his own moral code but like he’s being forced by his dad so is it really his fault? That? Fudge that. That’s needlessly confusing, it’s bending itself all out of shape to try to purify this character....and I hate it. 

There’s also the weird contradiction on Shido’s end where it’s like “He’s super paranoid that he kills people, and he doesn’t trust Goro since he plans to kill him, but he trusts him enough for certain things that he doesn’t need to double check on himself even if it poses a threat to him like I dunno checking IF THE GD MC BODY IS DEAD?! >:(” 

I dunno, I just think Goro having the strongest conviction to take down Shido (even killing because he wants to take him down so badly for what he did), with Shido not knowing Goro is his son and actually trusting him (with maybe gaining suspicions later towards the end for plot drama) because he’s so confident he groomed Goro into being his perfect little follower, is just so much more interesting? Goro is still a victim, but he’s not the perfect or “bending the character out of shape” to be perfect victim. He was hurt horribly and chose to deal with it in an....unhealthy way. It also makes the two seem reasonable, Shido thinks he’s in control because he took this starry eyed follower under his wing not because he’s threatening him with violence. Even tho we know Shido isn’t in control, Goro just likes to think he’s in control. 

;tldr: I hate how people (and even Atlus/the game) try to twist Goro into being this perfect victim, all while saying “well he does do bad things but it’s because of Shido!” instead of letting Goro be accountable and have it make logical sense in the game (because the game is a hot garbage mess). 

So yeah this concludes a 5 am rant I started yesterday. 8U 

[subrosacapulet]

A Night All Alone

Parties: Rosaline Lovell, mentions of Tru Lovell, Sin Grey, Ava Grey and Posey Capulet Date: Evening, Saturday 1st December to Early Morning, Sunday 2nd December Location: Tru & Rosaline’s home Summary: Rosaline the devoted submissive with abandonment issues Triggers/Other Notes: Read {this Tru post} first for context

“Please let me know everything's alright Thinking about you, though you're out of sight Every night, when I'm turning in, my tears find me. Please hurry, dear, come back and rescue me”

Flag in the Ground - Sonata Arctica

Rosaline had raced home after her rehearsals had finished for the day, she still felt incredibly guilty about leaving Tru to sort out the business and the brothel by herself but the Domme had been adamant about the submissive continuing her rehearsals and putting in the best performance she could.  She called out expectantly as she entered their home but got no response, Tru must be out somewhere.

She probably shouldn’t have been surprised by that, Tru was determined to keep the business running even without the brothel building being available and Rosaline understood that would probably take a lot of work and would involve a few late nights.  The best thing she could do was to be as supportive as possible and make things as easy as she could when Tru got home.

The submissive started by giving everything that needed it a quick clean or tidy up.  She had gotten out of her messy habits upon moving in with Tru but the past few days had seen their stress levels rise and their time cut very short so a few things had been brushed aside as unimportant.  With the house returned to it’s usual standard Rosaline checked her phone - there were no messages from Tru but it also wasn’t overly late yet.  She didn’t send a message as she knew having a needy submissive constantly messaging during a scene with a client was never a good look.

Rosaline’s lip curled up on one side into her playful smirk as an idea struck her.  She lifted her phone but not to call Tru - instead she ordered from the Domme’s favourite takeaway thinking either Tru would arrive before it or she could keep it heated for the time it would take for her to arrive.  With the order placed Rosaline scrambled around the kitchen and laid the table, adding some candles as a finishing touch.  She also set up the stereo to play a playlist of Tru’s favourite songs so that all she had to do was press play when the Domme returned.

Whilst waiting for either her Mistress or the food to arrive the young performer practiced some of the dance moves she had been struggling to remember, counting steps until she had mastered them and then softly humming the song she would be singing at the same time.

A knock on the door signalled the arrival of food so Rosaline bounded to the door to accept the delivery, tipping the driver before he left.  The submissive put the oven on a very low heat and transferred the food to plates so they would be instantly ready upon Tru’s return.  Her hand rose to touch the smaller, more discreet collar she wore for performances and she pouted to herself.  It was a very pretty collar and she loved it, but it wasn’t her main one and she was starting to feel antsy without the familiar weight around her neck.

Rosaline returned to her phone to find she still had no messages, it was getting late now and she would normally have heard something so she sent a quick message to Tru, trying to toe the line between revealing her plan with the food and making sure the Domme knew to hurry.  The message read: “I’m just planning some dinner Miss, do you know about when you’ll be home?  I miss you already.  Love Starling x”

Sliding the phone into the back pocket of her jeans she then went to lay down in the middle of the living room floor, which was one of her favourite places to practice, and began practicing her scales.  The lack of buzzing in her back pocket was starting to get to her but she focused on her practicing until her worry really started to kick in.

Sitting up she pulled her phone back out of her pocket - still no response.  Her fingers quickly tapped out another message.  “Are you ok Miss?  It’s getting late and I’m starting to get a bit worried, please just let me know you’re alright.  Love you, Starling <3”

Rosaline took a deep breath, she was probably overreacting but the fire at the brothel had jarred her nerves and coupled with the fact it was the second Montague business to go up in flames she was more jittery and making sure she was aware of the safety of those she cared about to a higher level than normal.  She went through to the kitchen and turned the oven down, cooking wasn’t her forte at all but she was sure a lower heat would still mean the food would be edible and not need completely reheating.

At a loss for what to do the submissive moved to the hallway and sat down, crossing her legs under her and placing her phone face up in front of her.  She would be the first thing Tru would see when she got home and she hoped that would cheer the Domme up after what was clearly becoming a long and stressful day.  She hadn’t looked at the time when she sat down so she had no idea if it had been minutes or hours before she picked up her phone.  This time she called Tru - and felt her stomach drop and hit the floor as Tru’s familiar reassuring voice told her to leave a message.  “Hi Miss,” she began awkwardly, “I just want to make sure you’re ok.  I know you’re probably busy but… please just let me know.  I’m worried… … I love you.”

With her worry kicking into overdrive now, the concerned submissive began pacing up and down the hallway, constantly glancing down at her phone and willing it to light up with a response of any kind.  She knew there was no point in calling the brothel reception, which she would normally do if she needed to know timings for Tru’s appointments - normally for surprise visits or flower deliveries so she called Sin.  He hadn’t heard from her either but reassured Rosaline that Tru had probably just lost track of time during some boring contract negotiation for the rebuilding of the business.

Feeling slightly better Rosaline had thanked Sin and gone to lay down on the sofa.  In an attempt to distract herself from her worries she turned on the tv and instantly put on a Star Wars film just to have familiar background noise.  She began scrolling through her Instagram feed and wondered for what must have been the thousandth time how Posey managed to have a job and post so much.  She smiled each time there was a picture from the Montague feast where her and Tru had been caught in the background cuddling up or kissing each other.  There was one where Tru was talking to someone else and the look in Rosaline’s eyes was pure adoration and love as she gazed at her Domme.

Rosaline’s texting and calling became more frequent and frantic, she even resorted to sending an email to the brothel booking system requesting an urgent appointment with Tru specifically but got no response from anything.  No matter how many deep breaths she took she could feel her panic really starting to rise and her hands started to tremble with worry.

An entirely different kind of panic filled her when the smell of burning began to fill the room and the submissive cursed loudly having forgotten about the food in the oven.  She sprang from the sofa and went to the kitchen, getting completely engulfed in smoke for a moment she repressed the memories of the Apothecary fire and flung open a window to let the smoke out.

With a sad whimper she pulled the plates out of the oven, the food atop burned to a crisp and completely ruined.  She wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.  Feeling tears start to well in her eyes she dumped the plates on the side, undoing her previous hard work in tidying up and dropped to the floor, letting the tears roll down her cheeks.

Feeling dejected the normally confident and cheerful girl began to have her thoughts drift to what she may have done wrong.  Was this isolation an impromptu punishment for something she’d forgotten she’d done wrong?  There was nothing she could think of.  Desperate for a hint of what it could be she scrolled through all her messages from Tru - it took a while to get passed the long string she had sent that evening - but found nothing.

Looking around desperately her eyes fell on the wine rack and before she knew it she was on her feet with a bottle in her hand.  Rosaline stopped, shook her head and returned the unopened bottle to the rack.  No, she hadn’t done anything wrong, she knew that really.  Her concerns shifted from herself to Tru.  Something must have happened.

Rosaline called Sin again but got no answer, she shouldn’t have been surprised by that as it was late now and he had a very pregnant submissive to look after and from what Ava was saying her nesting instincts were starting to really take hold.  Rosaline suddenly felt guilty for even bugging them in the first place.

At a total loss she called Tru another half a dozen times in the space of half an hour, each message left more frantic and worried than the last.  The last time she called she got the heartbreaking message from a mechanical voice telling her that the phone was now full and no further voice messages could be left.  She resorted back to text messages, not knowing what else she could do.  Some of the messages became garbled as tears clouded her vision and soon she had to stop because her hands were shaking so much.

In an act of pure desperation Rosaline ran around the entire house, looking behind doors, under beds, in wardrobes - literally anywhere someone could hide.  She called out to Tru as she looked, her voice distraught as she wailed how this isn’t a nice trick to pull and she should stop now.

With the tour of the house complete and still no sign of Tru she went outside, she looked down the street and all round the house - which reminded her to close the kitchen window.  Closing the front door behind her the submissive slid down the door and completely broke down.  She had no idea how long she cried for but she only stopped when there just weren’t any more tears to fall.

Struck by an idea, Rosaline grabbed her phone once again and called the hospital.  If something had happened surely Tru would be there.  The receptionist she got through to kept asking if she was ok which frustrated Rosaline in her state as she didn’t care about herself, she wanted to know about Tru.  Finally she was told that nobody with the name Lovell had been admitted and the only unnamed person who matched Tru’s description was at least 20 years older.

Still in a panic Rosaline calle The Watch, asking if anyone there had seen or heard from Tru or even if she had been arrested for some reason.  She received the answer of no to all her questions and was asked if she needed to report a crime.  When Rosaline said her Domme was missing with no contact it was explained that it has to be more than 48 hours to be reported as a missing person and that she should try and get some sleep rather than make things worse through panicking.

Distraught and exhausted, Rosaline crawled back through to the living room and grabbed the cable to plug her phone in as it was now getting low on battery.  She tried to climb onto the sofa but couldn’t muster the energy so she just collapsed on the floor.  She alternated between crying and staring at her phone, sometimes both and didn’t even register the fact she was drifting in and out of an uneasy sleep.  Finally she succumbed completely but it was far from a peaceful sleep and every time she awoke with a start she would check her phone and cry before drifting to sleep again.

[geochic03]

Amber Sunrise: Chapter 5

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Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Pairing: Gladio x Female OC, Ignis x Female OC

Rating: T (For now)

Words: 5,428

Read on AO3

A/N: So just a heads up, heavy OC content ahead.  One day I might post my Ignis x Female OC story but until then, you can enjoy pieces of her in this story.  I think it's important for Peri to bond with another female other than her sister.  I feel like Juliet will fill that role nicely.  Plus I love papa!Ignis.

Two days later…

 “So as friends huh?  Well that progressed quickly.” Sera said with a smile as she wiped down the bar.

 Peri rolled her eyes as she finished her beer “Just whatever…since I can’t seem to shake him I figured I would humor him.”

 Sera smirked “Right...humor that’s it.  I don’t understand why you can’t just admit you have a little bit of a crush on him.  I wouldn’t blame you yah know.”

 “I don’t have a crush on him.  Yeah he’s easy on the eyes but nothing more than that.” Peri responded hopping off her bar stool to join Sera behind the bar.

 Sera sighed as she placed her hand on her sister’s shoulder “Peri, I’m worried about you.  You’re a smart, attractive girl…there’s been a ton of guys I have seen hit on you or try to get close to you and you’ve pushed them all away.  I know how tough it was for your after Ollie died but do you really think he would want you to continue on like this?”

 Peri bit her lip as she thought of her fiance, the only man she thought she would ever love “No…he wouldn’t…”

 “So what’s the harm in seeing where things go with Gladio?  I mean it’s not like he’s asking you for commitment.” Sera asked her.

 Peri sighed in defeat “I guess you right.”

 Sera smirked as she wrapped her arm around her older sister “Besides when was the last time you got laid?”

 “SERA!” Peri yelled at her sister, flushing at her comment.

 Sera roared with laughter at her embarrassment “What?  You need to live a little sister you’re not getting any younger you know.”

 “You don’t need to remind me.” Peri groaned.

 “I’m not saying you’re an old maid or anything but Gladio seems pretty interested and pretty available.  Besides, you know dad is dying for grandchildren.” Sera said matter of factly.

 Peri narrowed her eyes in suspect “If that’s the case why aren’t you jumping at the next guy to take you off the market?”

 Sera shrugged “I told you, after that ass-hat Dillon I was swearing off men until I was thirty.”

 “Right…that’s why I saw you giving googly eyes over at that guy by the Justice Monster Five machine…pretty sure you aren’t going to last another seven years.” Peri said with a smirk.

 “Hey no one said I wasn’t going to stop having fun.” Sera said with a wink.

 “Nope, didn’t need to know any of that.” Peri said blocking her ears.

 Sera laughed “Well…if I’m being honest, there is this one guy I met a few weeks back.  Came into the bar for a drink…actually he seemed to be a friend of Gladio’s.  He introduced us and we seemed to hit it off.  He was sweet and funny in that weird awkward kind of way, had some crazy stories to tell and cute to boot.  He had these amazing innocent blue eyes…like when he looks at you it’s like he thinks your the most gorgeous thing in all of Eos.”

 Peri raised her eyebrow in interest “Wow sis, that might be the most detail I have ever heard you go into about any guy you’ve dated before.”

 Sera shrugged “Well, we aren’t dating.  Only met the once.  I gave him my number but haven’t heard a thing from him since.  He’s a hunter or something so I just figured he was busy.  Maybe he will mosey his way back in here someday.”

 There was silence between the two before Sera looked over a Peri with a smirk.

 “Oh no…I know that look…whatever you’re thinking…no…no way…one hundred percent no!” Peri said waving her hands.

 “You could you know, maybe ask Gladio to bring him around again…” Sera said with a hopeful smile.

 “Sera I’m not doing that!” Peri said angrily.

 “Oh come on Peri!  I never ask you for anything!” Sera pleaded.

 Peri scoffed “Umm false, you ask me for everything.”

 Sera rolled her eyes “Ok, fine you’re right.  But you’re my big sister and you love me and want to see me happy and…”

 “Ugh fine ok, when he’s back in town I will mention it to him ok?” Peri said finally conceding.

 “Yay! Peri did I ever tell you you’re the best?” Sera said coming around and pulling her into a hug.

 Peri rolled her eyes “All the time, but you owe me.”

 Sera pulled away “Ok deal!”

 “Whats the big deal with this guy anyways?  Usually you never need my help when it comes to guys.” Peri asked curiously.

 Sera tapped her chin in thought “Well…I don’t really know.  He’s definitely different from most guys I’ve dated.  Just something about him…sometimes you just know something is worth pursuing you know?”

 Peri bit her lip knowing exactly what she was talking about “Yeah…I know…”

 Maybe Gladio was someone that could end up being worth pursuing.  She hated to admit it but maybe her baby sister was on to something.

The next day

Peri sighed as she made her way through Patella Market.  Before the darkness it was filled with vendors and people, but now with the shortage of supplies and goods there were more people than vendors.  Even on off peak hours the market was packed to the gills.

 Working a full day at the power plant and closing out the family bar the previous day had done a number on her and she was feeling the repercussion today.  All she wanted to do was get her supplies and get out as fast as she could.  

 Speaking of crowded, Peri suddenly jolted forward as a fellow shopper roughly bumped into her.  Rubbing her back she turned to yell at whoever was careless enough to bump into her but stopped short as she observed a young woman with long bright red hair struggling to balance her basket of items and a baby girl in her arms.  She couldn’t help but notice the brilliant green eyes and tufts of red hair the baby in her arms had, it was rare you saw that type of coloring around.  She wonder if they were refugee’s from outside of Lucis.  The woman looked up mortified as she adjusted the baby in her arms.

 “Oh! I am terribly sorry!  I didn’t mean to bump into you are you alright?” she asked fretting.

 Peri looked at her shocked at her apology before giving the woman and her baby a small smile “Don’t worry about it…you have your hands full.”

 The woman gave a nervous laugh at her statement “Yeah, I guess I am still getting used to balancing everything with my boyfriend gone so much.”

 Peri looked on as the woman tried to gain her composure back.  Peri pursed her lips remembering the conversation she had with her father a few weeks ago.  Feeling for the woman, she couldn’t help but utter her next words “Did you need help getting back to your place?”

 “Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that…I’ll be fine.” She said as she dropped another package.

 Peri couldn’t help but laugh as she bent down to pick it up for the woman “I really don’t mind, besides, she is quite the little cutie.”

 The woman looked back at her and gave her a warm smile before looking down at her daughter “Well what do you say?  Shall we accept this nice young woman’s help?”

 The baby girl cooed happily in response reaching out for Peri.  She took her tiny hand in response and shook it.

 “Well I think we have our answer.” Peri said with a smile, taking some of the woman’s packages and following her out of the market.  She was never usually this open with strangers, but something about this woman felt comfortable and familiar.  Besides, she figured she could do one good deed for the day.

 “Thank you again for your help umm….” the woman said trying to think of her name.

 “Uh Peri….and you are…” Peri said nervously.

 “Juliet…and this is Isabelle…well, Izzy for short.” Juliet said smiling at her little girl.

 Peri continued walking “Well it’s nice to meet you both.  And nice to meet such friendly people now a days.”

 “Tell me about it….” Juliet added as they continued.

 “So your boyfriend is gone a lot?” Peri asked making idle conversation.

 Juliet nodded “Yes…he’s a hunter of sorts…it’s a long story really.”

 “I know all about long stories…” Peri responded with a nervous laugh.

 Suddenly Peri looked up to see Juliet starring at her as they walked.

 “What?” she asked confused.

 “Oh, uh nothing just…nah you’ll think I’m crazy.” Juliet said waiving her off.

 Peri shook her head in disagreement “Trust me I doubt that.”

 “Well…I feel as though our meeting may have been fate, don’t you think?” Juliet said contemplatively.

 “I don’t think you’re crazy…but I can’t say I believe in fate.” Peri responded as they approached a blue door at the end of an alley way.

 Juliet smiled as she readjusted her grip around her daughter “Well maybe I can turn you into a believer…”

 With that she turned the key and opened the door that led to a large staircase.

 “Well this is my place…why don’t you come on up?  I made cookies earlier…although I can’t say how many may be left as I left Cid to his own devices.” Juliet said with a small laugh.

 “Cid?” Peri said confused.

 “He’s my surrogate grandfather of sorts.  Now come on.” Juliet said not even bothering to wait for her answer.

 Peri followed her up to the 2nd floor flat, surprised by how well she managed to balance her remaining bags while holding a baby.

 Noticing she was staring Juliet looked back and smiled “I’ve had some practice.  You would be amazed by how easy carrying a baby is after you’ve done it a hundred times.”

 Peri laughed nervously “I uh, wouldn’t know.”

 Once they reached the top Juliet opened the top door to reveal a modest but aging apartment.  Once they walked in Juliet pointed to where she could leave the bags and waited for her to return.  While standing in the small living room she noticed a group of photos on a small shelf to her left.  In one of them was Juliet, posing with three very familiar looking young men, one of them with the same scar markings on their face as Gladio.  Did she know him?  There was no way she would run into one of his friends…right?

 As she continued to look through the pictures she noticed another one, taken in what looked to be an aging cabin.  There stood figures she immediately recognized, Cor, the immortal Marshall, Monica the woman who was in charge of dispatching the newly restored Kingsglaive, and three men who she definitely remembers seeing years ago briefly as she left Meldacio to move back to Lestallum.

 Was Gladio one of those men from all those years ago? Peri thought to herself. 

 “Well, I didn’t know Julie was bringin’ a visitor with her.” a voice said behind her.

 Peri turned to see an older man slowly walking into the room, he was dressed in a leather jacket with cargo pants, a cap flattening out his gray locks.

 “I uh…” Peri began before the old man extended his hand.

 “Cid Sophiar…mechanic extraordinaire.” Cid said with smirk.

 Peri reluctantly took his hand as he shook it.

 “Are you a new friend of her’s?  I’ve been tellin’ her it ain’t no good being cooped up in here with the baby all the time.” Cid lectured.

 “Oh hush, you know that’s not true” Juliet said as she returned.

 Cid frowned “You know I’m right.  Cindy would agree with me too if she were here.”

 “Cindy if off repairing a few of the dispatch trucks for the Kingsglaive.  And besides, I get out you know that.” Juliet said waiving the older man off.

 Cid shook his head “You know I really should have a word with Cor about sending Ignis out on all those missions.  He’s gonna regret missin’ all this time with the little one.”

 Peri looked on as the two bantered back and forth, more confused than ever by their conversation.  Who was this woman she just met, and clearly she seems to be friendly with Gladio.

 “You know Ignis has been working hard over these last seven years to even get where he is now.  I’m not saying he doesn’t wish to be with his family more, but you know how things are with the current state of the world.  So will you relax, you’re scaring my guest with your nonsense.” Juliet said sternly.

 Peri’s attention snapped back to the two who were now looking at her “No it’s ok I can just go and…”

 Juliet surged forward and grabbed her hand “Nonsense, come on I put the kettle on.  You could at least stay for a few minuets for a cup of coffee…or tea if that’s more your speed.”

 “I uh…ok…” Peri didn’t know how to say no to her.

 As Juliet turned to make her way to the kitchen Cid approached Peri once more “So you got a name kid?”

 “Peri, sir.” She said turning towards the older man.

 Cid raised his eyebrow “Just Peri…”

 Peri bit her lip before responding “Lorenzi…”

 Cid rubbed his chin as he processed he information “Lorenzi huh?  Don’t happen to know of a Frank Lorenzi do yah?”

 “Yeah he’s my father…” Peri responded in shock.

 “Well I’ll be damned what a coincidence.  Frank and I go way back, all the way to my day’s in the Crown City.  Tell me how’s he doin’ these days?” Cid explained.

 “He’s still chugging along I guess.  He’s here in town.  My family runs a tavern not far from here.” Peri responded.

 Cid smirked “Don’t tell me it’s Frank’s Place?”

 Peri nodded in response causing Cid to laugh.

 “Well I’ll be damned all this time….tell you what, tell your old man that he better stop by here one day and visit an old timer every now and then, I’d come to him but I ain’t able to get around like I used to.” Cid grumbled.

 “I’m sorry to say neither is he…but I’ll let him know…” Peri said looking away from the older man.

 Cid rubbed his chin in deep thought “Well that’s too bad,  Frank’s one of the good ones.  We sure had some good times way back when.”

 “He doesn’t talk much about his days back in the Crown City so…” Peri said not knowing how to respond back.

 “I’ll tell yah it’s bull shit what how all that played out.  But enough of talkin’ bout the past, now tell Juliet I’ll handle the babe while you girls go talk about whatever it is that you two came here to talk ‘bout.” Cid said walking way.

 Peri nodded before turning to enter the small kitchen behind her.  As she walked in she saw Juliet quietly pouring two cups of hot water into mugs.

 “Have a seat, I put out tea and instant coffee so help yourself.” Juliet said turning to her as she placed the cups on the table next to a plate of home made cookies.

 “You really didn’t have to do this….” Peri said looking down into her mug.

 Juliet gave her a warm smile “Yes I did, you really helped me a lot at the market.  And like I said, it’s hard to find nice people like yourself these days.  It’s like this darkness has turned people into animals.”

 “Yeah…I guess and apocalypse will do that to people…” Peri responded as she mixed her instant coffee.

 “I hope you like that kind, it’s hard to find the good stuff these days.  My beau is kind of a coffee connoisseur if you will, so this stuff shouldn’t be too bad.” Juliet said as she handed Peri one of the cookies she had spoken of earlier.

 As Peri took a bite into the cookie she couldn’t believe how good it was.  It was a perfect balance of salty and sweet.

 “Holy crap that’s good…” Peri said inspecting the cookie.

 Juliet smiled “Well I’m glad you like it.  It’s a recipe Ignis perfected while we were traveling around Eos.  I think he got this one from some time we spent out in southern Cleigne.  If you want I can give you the recipe.  Ignis won’t mind.”

 “Ignis is your, uh boyfriend right?” Peri asked quietly as she took another bite of her cookie.

 Juliet nodded as she got up to get a piece of paper and a pen “Yes.  And don’t mind Cid.  He just worries about me, especially after we had Izzy.  Iggy really is a great father.  I know it kills him to be away from myself and our daughter for so long, but we both know he has a duty to fulfill...we both do.”

 “A duty?” Peri said confused.

 “Like I said, long story.” Juliet said with a wink as she sat down and began writing.

 Peri looked down again “Uh, right…”

 “Besides, we both want a world for our daughter where she doesn’t have to worry about what lurks in the dark at night, or when the next invasion is going to be.  We want her to know what it’s like to have a sunburn, and see the light shine off the sea midday, and experience a sunset.  We know to achieve that there are sacrifices.  In the end, it will be worth it.” Juliet explained as she handed her the paper with the cookie recipe.

 Peri took the piece of paper and folded it into her pocket as she looked back at the woman now in deep thought.  She couldn’t help but admire her fierce determination and will to stay strong during such dark times.

 “So…have you guys been together for awhile?” Peri asked curiously.  Why was she suddenly asking her such a personal question?

 Juliet nodded “Yeah…about seven years.  As I’m sure you can imagine, Isabelle wasn’t exactly planned but we both couldn’t imagine life without her.”

 “She is pretty cute.” Peri commented as she took a swig of her coffee.

 Juliet smiled, brushing a strand of her bright red hair behind her ear “You think?”

 Peri nodded “Yeah…I’ve never seen such bright green eyes before.”

 “Well she got those from her father.” Juliet rebuffed.

 “Oh…” Peri said awkwardly.

 There were a few moments of silence between the two women before Juliet spoke up again.

 “So I heard while I was in the kitchen your family helps run a tavern?” Juliet asked curiously.

 Peri nodded “Yeah, my father owns the place but my younger sister for the most part runs it.  I just help out sometimes, I work full time at the power plant.”

 “Oh so you’re one of Holly’s girls?” Juliet said intrigued.

 “Yeah…do you know her or something?” Peri asked curious at her familiarity with her boss.

 “Kind of…she’s more of a friend of a friend.” Juliet said as she sipped her tea.

 There was silence between the women once more as Peri thought back to the pictures she saw in her living room.  It looked like she had a pretty loving and happy family but Peri couldn’t help but wonder why she and ‘Ignis’ weren’t married.

 “Uh, I hope I’m not being to forward but…why haven’t you and Ignis married?  I mean you guys seem happy and you have a kid and all…” Peri asked quietly.

 Juliet smiled “Don’t worry you’re not.  It’s not that we wouldn’t want to get married in the future but with everything go on, a wedding is the last thing on our minds.”

 Peri nodded “Got it.”

 “Besides, we both know where we stand.  We very much love each other, we don’t need a piece of paper to prove that.  Anyone who is important to us knows anyways.” Juliet continued.

 “I get it…kind of hard to plan a wedding during an apocalypse anyways right?” Peri responded.

 “What about you?  Anyone special in your life?” Julie smirked at her.

 Peri almost choked on her coffee at the question “What I…umm…not really…”

 “Well, I am sure one day you will find someone who is.” Juliet said with a friendly smile.

 Peri shrugged in response, specifically not mentioning Gladio, or his heavy presence in the woman’s living room.  Why would she mention him anyways?  It’s not like they were even a thing…were they?

 “What about you would you ever get married?” Juliet asked her honestly.

 Peri as jolted from her thoughts hearing Juliet’s question. She sighed as she thought about her deceased fiance “I…yeah…well I…umm…I was engaged…once…”

 Juliet raised her eyebrow “Oh?”

 Peri nodded “Yeah…I guess you would say we were high school sweethearts.”

 “Oh…what happened?” Juliet asked curiously.

 Peri paused for a moment before taking a deep breath “He…he died…umm about seven years ago…”

 Juliet frowned, taking her hand in hers and squeezing it “I’m so sorry…that’s heartbreaking to hear.”

 Peri attempted to shake her comment off “It’s ok…it’s in the past so…”

 Juliet nodded, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze, seeing how deeply affected she was by the loss “I’ve lost people very close to me too, it’s hard.  But then one day, you wake up and realize that the world keeps going and you have to keep going, otherwise it will drive you mad. It’s ok to always love them and to miss them…no one will ever fault you for that.  If I’m being honest, it took me a long time to come to terms with that.  But I did, and you will too. ”

 Peri looked back at her, stunned by her comforting words of advice.  Here was this woman who she barely knew baring her soul and making an effort to reach out to her.  She knows everyone has been telling her to move on from what had happened all those years ago, but hearing someone else, someone she barely knew, who has seemingly also gone through something similar really affected her.  It had been seven years since Felix was taken from her…and six and half since Ollie…the world had gone to shit but here she was pushing everyone away from her.  Maybe she needed to start listening…maybe it was time to finally start opening up.

 It was at that moment that Peri saw the several missed phone calls from her father on her cell phone. She quickly unlocked the screen to see how late it was getting.  Peri quickly finished the rest of her coffee before standing up from her seat.

 “Well thank you for the cookies and coffee…and the hospitality and what not but I uh, gotta go.” Peri said pushing her chair in.

 “Going so soon?” Juliet said slightly disappointed.

 Peri nodded “Yeah I have to get back to my dad…he’s been expecting me.”

 “Right, no problem.  Maybe we will see each other again?” Juliet said with a hopeful smile.

 “Yeah…maybe…” Peri said giving her a small smile back.

 At that moment Peri turned to see the door to the apartment open and a tall man with tawny hair make their way in.  As he lifted his head up, Peri couldn’t help but notice the man’s prominent scar on his left eye, covered by his dark visors.  She noticed how he seemingly didn’t may eye contact with her as he carefully took off his shoes by the door.

 “Iggy!” Juliet said as she speed towards the man.

 Ignis smiled in the direction of Juliet as he placed his dark jacket on the coat hook by the door and turned to embrace her.  Peri looked on as the couple shared a tender kiss before pulling away, still holding on to each other.

 “Has Isabelle already gone down for the night?”  Ignis asked her as he ran his hand through Juliet’s long hair.

 Juliet shook her head in response “No, Cid is with her in the other room while we have guest. ”

 “A guest?” Ignis said cocking his head.

 That was when Peri realized it.  Anyone who still had their sight by now would have at least acknowledged her presence by now.  Juliet’s other half was blind.

 “Uh…yes, I was just about to leave actually.” Peri stuttered out, feeling guilty for intruding on such a private moment between the two.

 “This is Peri, she helped Izzy and I at the market today.  She works at the power plant for Holly.” Juliet said with a smile.

 Ignis turned to her direction, going simply buy the sound of her voice from her statement before and held out his hand “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Peri.  Ignis Scientia, thank you for helping my Juliet and Isabelle today.”

 Peri reluctantly took the man’s hand and shook it “No…problem.”

 “I had no idea you would be so soon.  I figured the daemon nest would take you guys at least another day or two.” Juliet said to him crossing her arms.

 “Well, we were able to break through and make headway much quicker than the Marshall had calculated.” Ignis responded as he folded up his sleeves.

 Juliet smiled “On the bright side, I hope we get to have some time together as a family before you have to head out again.”

 Ignis nodded “Yes, Talcott isn’t due back for another two days.”

 Juliet leaned in and gave Ignis a quick peck on the lips “Great, wait here I’m going to get Izzy.”

 Peri watched as Juliet left the room.  She turned her attention back to Ignis.  He went to take out the daemon nest?

 “Umm, Ignis?  That daemon nest you help with…was it near Cauthess?” Peri asked hesitantly.

 Ignis nodded “Yes it was.  Did you hear about the mission?”

 “No just…someone I know said they were going to help out with it.” Peri said trying to be discrete.

 Peri watched the man as he seemingly made a connection in his mind before giving her a knowing smile “Well, not to worry.  There were no casualties.  I am sure Gladio will be reaching out to you shortly.”

 It was in those very few words that Ignis had confirmed what she had been suspecting the majority of the time she was in their apartment.  They knew Gladio, and clearly knew him well enough that Ignis went hunting with him.

 Peri’s eyes widened from his statement “I…”

 At that moment Juliet returned with Isabelle in her arms.  Peri’s focus returned to the little family reunion as she could have sworn she felt her heart melted as she watched the little girl instinctively reach for her father, with Ignis readily taking her from her mother’s arms.

 “And how are you my love?” Ignis said placing a loving kiss to his daughters forehead.

 The baby girl cooed as she grasped at Ignis' finger.

 “I uh better go…thanks for the coffee and cookies Juliet.” Peri said finally taking her leave.

 Juliet smiled “I hope I’ll see you around, and thank you for your help.”

 Ignis held his daughter close as he lifter her tiny hand “Say goodbye Isabelle.”

 Peri watched as Ignis moved the baby girls hand in a waving motion as she giggled.

 “You’re welcome…have a good night and uh, thanks for the recipe.” Peri said finally leaving.

 As she walked out of the apartment building Peri couldn’t believe what had just happened.  What were the chances that she would run into someone who clearly knew, or at the very least seemed very close to Gladio.

 At that moment Peri looked down to see she had a text message waiting for her.  As she slid open her phone she couldn’t help but shake her head at the message.

 Gladio: Now about that dinner…

[umi-tama]

October 1st 2011

My baby is rich! This morning his band manager showed up and brought him his first salary:

1,000,000 gp! O.O *gasp* I wonder, if this will increase, when he starts to get awards and stuff...

Oh, and Noda and his band finally had a couple of gigs again today :)

Their first gig (where they performed something classical again) was practically sold out. It didn't change anything about their chart ranking or number of fans, though. Neither did the second show.

The third show made them go up to 2nd rank. An hour later they were 1st ^___________^

Here are my boys rocking out:

Noda is always flirting with the folks in the first row, making them squeak, scream, and sometimes even faint with his broad smile and adorable winking *snicker* He's all too well aware of how charming he is... 4 yr, 30 lb hungry ❤❤❤O happy ❤❤❤❤ stress: 01 tone: 999 rhythm: 999 original: 999 genre: Classical Music star ranking: 1st tama fans: 501,611,861

*

Kitty grew up today! 

But unfortunately, I had to start all over after taking the picture above. Because right before little Kitty was supposed to go to bed tonight, I checked on her, and... apparently squeezed the shell/battery case a bit too tight, because suddenly the screen went blank and I had to reset :/ So have a newly born kitten again now, which I'll just name Kitty II. and also treat like a girl. Whatever *sigh* Here are her stats when she went to sleep: 0yr, 1 lb hungry ❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤ discipline ❤❤

*

Look who says Hi!

I tried out binary's very awesome Tama-Go gotchi points cheat code and now little Till has about as much money as Noda - who's a freaking rockstar, after all - had this morning *hehe* We immediatly spent a couple gp to redecorate Till's appartement. He got a nice big couch now... of which I forgot to take a picture ^^' Btw, I noticed, that there's also a game option behind the door icon. I wonder if I simply didn't see it yesterday or if it maybe only got unlocked, when Till evolved into a toddler o_o Anyways, I'm very glad I am not forced to play coin catch anymore to fill up his happy hearts. Shoot the Bug is way more fun (even though I feel kinda bad for the poor bugs ^^'). Aside from that, not much happened today. We went to the park and he met an adorable Memetchi, with whom he built a sand castle, and got to seesaw with a nice little Lovelitchi. He's only just a toddler, but apparently the ladies already love him ;P Here are his stats at the end of the day: 1 yr, 10 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤O happy ❤❤❤❤❤ train [▪▪▪▪▪▪▫▫▫▫▫▫▫▫▫] friendship ❤❤❤❤❤❤ gotchi points: 999610 EDIT: Oooh, a couple minutes after going to bed, my little one evolved into Kilalatchi :3 What a handsome young man he is now <3

*

*

October 2nd 2011

I think today was the first time ever since Noda was born, that his hungry hearts completely emptied out. Took me a bit by surprise, to be honest (because my other two tamas, which I ignored, too, still had at least one heart left), but might've been, because his stress level went up. Maybe the hearts empty faster, the higher it gets o_o

He got another million gp salary. Oh, and his star ranking went down to 4th again overnight :/ I guess you only get awards, when you're already #1 when going on stage, not when becoming #1 after a show, huh?

Curious about this theory, I messed around with the time a bit, so the guys (who are performing as a jazz combo these days) have their concerts a bit earlier today.

After the first show, their star ranking went up to 2nd.

The second show made them #1.

The third show was followed by fireworks and the Tamagotchi King himself showing up, presenting my boys their first award 🥇

Ha! So that's how it works then.

Good to know ^^

To celebrate my baby's success, we purchased an UFO. That totally beats the shiney cars and big houses most rockstars own, don't you think? ;P

Anyways, at an Aftershow Party later tonight, Xero's band manager introduced Noda-chan to a sweet little Memetchi. It was practically love at first sight. They disappeared somewhere, only to come back blushing and giggling quite a while later... with a wriggling little egg o_o I mean, I heard fame does that to people - making them rush relationships and all - but I never expected Noda to be one of those cases, too.

Well, I took him, his new girlfriend and their egg home, and it didn't took long for their kid to hatch.

Noda is now proud daddy of a little baby girl :)

Those three look just too happy and adorable to be mad at them, don't they?

(Btw, I tried to make the family play with Noda's toy rocket, but they refused. Does Noda feel too "mature" to play anymore, now that he got a kid? o_O' Or is it, because his stress doesn't raise from practicing anymore anyways?)

Here are his stats when he went to sleep:

5 yr, 31 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤ stress: 00 tone: 999 rhythm: 999 original: 999 genre: Classical Music star ranking: 4th tama fans: 457,947,934

*

Kitty did nothing but being a typical kitten today. She kept on sneaking around, lying down wherever she considered the floor soft and warm enough, and demanding attention every once in a while.

And later today she finally evolved again into the same form she had yesterday, before I had to reset her ^^

I still haven't figured out how to know what she wants, everytime the attention icon flashes. It happened all to often already, that I thought she was just calling out out of boredom, because all hearts were filled, but then, after I scolded her, a pile of poop appears on screen or she was asking for milk or I needed to play with her. *sigh* But I don't plan on giving up yet. Not until she's completely grown up and I figured out the best strategy to care for her ^^V

Here are her stats when going to bed:

1 yr, 3 lb hungry ❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤ discipline ❤❤❤

*

With Till, nothing all too interesting happened during the day, except that I managed to take a pic of him in his adorable teenage form ^^

BUT!

Shortly after going to bed, he evolved again, into Kuromametchi! Omg, I always wanted this character, but I never expected to get him on my first generation already! <3 He's just so cool and adorable, I don't even... awww!

Unfortunately he immediatly went back to sleep, but I'm sure I can take a couple of pics tomorrow! :D

His stats at the end of the day:

2 yr, 30 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤❤ train [▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▫▫▫▫▫] friendship ❤❤❤❤❤❤ gotchi points: 1,004,320

*

*

October 3rd 2011

If I Noda was already low-maintenance before, he now managed to get on the verge of being boring o_o' Like, grating on my nerves every once in a while, with practicing loudly (I stopped praising him, I just go to his stats, so he'll stop), but the rest of the time doing absolutely nothing. Just bouncing on the screen, next to his beloved family, being all happy and stuff. We managed to get the Classical Music Award today, though. And buy a lot of yummy yummy food from his latest salary, so his daughter doesn't have to worry about that, when her parents leave her :) Here are his stats when he went to sleep: 6 yr, 35 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤ stress: 00 tone: 999 rhythm: 999 original: 999 genre: Classical Music star ranking: 1st tama fans: 156,994,273 (random number is random) 

*

Remember how I announced to not give up in my post yesterday? The screen went blank again, when the keychain tapped the battery case. I give up 😩

*

Since Till is an adult now, he, too, is very low maintenance (except for the occational poop, since I didn't potty-train him, and once in a while for calling out to me for the sheer sake of attention). But he's also very very adorable. I always liked Kuromametchi, ever since I saw him for the first time :3 Here are a couple of pics of him in his newly decorated home/bathroom and the park:

And here his stats at the end of the day: 3 yr, 32 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤❤ train [▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▫▫▫▫▫] friendship ❤❤❤❤❤❤ gotchi points: 953,450

[eienias20]

On Xenoblade Chronicles

Hey everything! This be me Eienias20 wanting to talk about my history with Xenoblade Chronicles. Not just the first one which is my favorite game of all time but the other two and what I think about everything.

Why? Two reasons. First is that I just want to. I’ve wanted to for a while. I love Xenoblade Chronicles so why not? Second is a bit more serious. I read a tweet about fandoms, stating which were the worst and the best. Gaming fandoms specifically. And someone in the replies brought up the current state of the Xenoblade fandom.

All the things surrounding 2 don’t paint a pretty picture but I’m confident this fandom won’t go the way my last top fandom did. (Fire Emblem)

So let’s begin!

I heard of the original Xenoblade Chronicles because people REALLY wanted that game brought over here...for some reason? I didn’t read into the finer details but it sounded interesting. Also “Xenoblade? Is that related to Xenosaga?” Yes I did think that.

I had passing interest in Xenosaga back then but never played the games. My older sister has, she’s played two of em.

Anyway, I decided “Why not?” and got ahold of Xenoblade Chronicles after it released and HOLY SHIT! I was not expecting to fall in love with that game as hard as I did. Its not just my favorite game ever, I also consider it the best game I’ve ever played.

It nailed everything. An amazing story, deep characters, a fascinating world to explore! From start to finish I was enthralled and as I got farther into the game I wanted to know how it all ended but dreaded reaching the credits because then it’d be over!

But all stories must end and the ending was the cherry on top. To me, Xenoblade Chronicles is the perfect game. And from that point on, MonolithSoft owned me.

I bet you can imagine how eager I was to pick up Xenoblade Chronicles X right? Very eager. Day One.

Unfortunately it would be quite a few months after release that I got the game for various reasons but when I finally did, it was on.

Before X even came out I watched the first few trailers and was deeply interested in this new world and story and all these characters that they featured. There was no context to anything so for the longest time all I knew was this: humanity crash lands on an alien planet and struggles to survive.

That’s it. The antagonists? The Ganglion? I didn’t even know they existed until I played the game myself and wow was that fun. There was one day where me and my younger sister traded off exploring Noctilum. According to the Wii U’s statistics we played X for 11 hours! That was nuts.

I greatly enjoyed X and it introduced me to Elma, one of the best female video characters ever and possibly my fave. She’s a rad character.

Of course, after all that time in X (which now is up to 600 hours across to runs) I joined a discord for the Xenoblade games for a few months. I think almost a year. Not sure. There was a lot of fun to be had there after I joined but I’m no longer a member for many reasons, key among them: it stopped being fun.

X was in this position where it followed the original XC which many consider to be a crowning JRPG, an amazing game. So naturally a lot of comparisons were made with quite a few people putting it over X. As a note, I’m not talking about the discord, this is just general internet stuff I’ve seen. In fact, the discord was more prone to putting X over XC which I disagreed with.

I think they’re both good games and while I obviously prefer XC, I can tell now that they were aimed in different directions.

Xenoblade Chronicles set out to tell a story and give you a grand adventure. Which it did. X set out to give you a world and fill your hours with exploration and wonder. Which it did.

This is where my personal opinion comes in and a little bit of how I feel about the three games in general right now.

From the moment I saw XC2, I could tell that it looked like the exact kind of game I wanted to play after I finished XC. It’s presenting itself as a grand adventure with an intriguing story and an interesting cast of characters, much like the original XC. Those elements together is what made XC my top game ever and that’s why I’m so stoked for XC2.

X was not that. I enjoyed my time with X as I’ve said and like the original game it had an amazing world to explore, the gameplay was fun and they both had great OSTs...but X lacked an amazing story and with the exception of Elma and Lin, the characters had no depth.

My biggest point on that being Irina’s 2nd affinity mission which isn’t even about her. All it tells you is she valued her family. That’s it. She got screwed on that one but truth be told, most AMs didn’t do nearly enough for their characters. There is something to be gleaned from at least half of them, but that is the disadvantage to having a cast of almost 20 as opposed to the 7 of the original. They can’t all have the focus.

And even if you reduce the cast to only the important ones, there still wasn’t nearly enough depth there, at least from what I wanted.

But then, X never set out to do that. The disappointment wasn’t exclusively X’s fault. It was set around exploration of the planet. Story and character was second to gameplay and while I love a good game as much as the next, the characters and story can grip you in a way like no other. And they didn’t.

All this brings me now to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 releasing relatively soon. December 1st. I’m so excited.

XC2 is being developed as a game that I personally prefer. Like the others it has an amazing world, the gameplay looks fun and the OST, by Naga the OST. But of course with the focus returning to characters and story it just puts it over the top for me.

There have been naysayers and complaints flying around since its reveal but X suffered the same fate early on. So its good to look ahead post release and realize those voices will fade away. Whether they turn out to like the game or decide to skip it, they’ll move on and those of us who are greatly excited for it, can enjoy the game to their fullest.

I wanted to address some of the complaints I’ve heard around, the ones about character design specifically but a lot of people have already shared opinions on that worded far better than I and I’ve reblogged them a few times somewhere in my tumblr. Doesn’t really matter.

In summation, no one’s design bugs me and a design convincing someone not to pick up the game is a pretty weak argument. Same for those writing essays about why its bad or “problematic” especially in the face of the most recent trailers.

Release is December 1st. Nothing is changing. So y’know. Accept it or move on is all I can say.

Xenoblade 2 has also gotten flack for not being X2 given that X’s ending (if you could even call that an ending) was an obvious cliffhanger. By which I mean, nothing of note was resolved and no answers of value were given.

So I could see how people would want answers but its unfair to blame 2 for not being X2. Again, personal opinion: X2 has a gigantic fight ahead of itself to deal with all the everything left open at the end of X. I’m not confident in that coming together well at all.

Despite my grievances with X, I’m still the idiot who put and enjoyed 600 hours of it so perish the thought that I hate the game. I greatly prefer XC in every single way, but I could pop in X right now, play it for a few hours and have a blast cause being stuck on a different planet does have its fun points. Many of them.

To wrap this up I say, I can not wait for December 1st to play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and join Rex and Pyra’s adventure to find Elysium!

And also to hang out with Tora cause he’s adorable.

Back to the job search I go cause I need money.

Thank you anyone for bothering to read a Xenoblade fan’s thoughts on Xenoblade.

[shbettereveryday]

One Year Surgery to Rehab

This is a very big day, and a very emotional day.  I thought I would make post that would reflect on the year that was and give an eye to the future.  I can’t think of a better way to kick this off by quoting my intro to this blog in full:

:How did I get here? I will just make a long story short. I have what they are referring to as an incomplete spinal cord injury. The spinal cord was damaged around the T-9 / T-10 area. The result of that damage is that I am currently paralyzed from the waist down. This is my story of recovery from this injury. The doctors say it may take months to find out what type of recovery is possible if any. I have chosen to start this fight at SSM Rehabilitation Hospital. Here I hope to be able to understand my injury, recover from it, or learn the skills to live with what functions I have left. I have chosen to remain positive and share my story along this path of being bettereveryday.”

I think I have lived true to that promise and attitude through the entire year.  The blog didn’t really start until about 6 days after my surgery.  I was not one or had any inclination to take pictures of me in the state I was in at the hospital and the first few days at the rehab hospital but it wasn’t good.  There was a lot of emotions in not only figuring out the abilities I had lost but the emotional struggle of what lay ahead.  Although my symptoms and injury were manifesting themselves before my surgery my road ultimately began here with this.

It is hard to imagine that such a small thing measuring just over an inch can have such a big impact on a life.  It was after this incision was made that my life and the lives of everyone changed forever.  After I was transfered to rehab hospital the reality of my situation slowly sank in.  The first weeks there were very difficult.  It was marked with my struggle for needing assistance and not getting what i think I needed.  Struggles with the staff which was mostly me I think in process of coming to terms with my need for that assistance but in keeping with the overall positive outlook of the blog it was also marked with some very great moments.  Every moment great or not so great was filled with that struggle that continues today.  This was an example of that.

Here is an excerpt of my entry for that day:

“It was for 25 minutes and it really isn’t me standing but being propped up but for that 25 minutes I felt semi normal. I sat there and looked out on the 270 Rock Road interchange imagining my childhood since I grew up right in this very area surrounding the building I am trying to salvage my life from. Yes this day was a downer but I am going to do my best to find a reason to make everyday positive. I have so far to go but I am will continue getting bettereveryday”

The standing frame had become one of the great joys of my life as well as being physically helpful for circulation, muscle retention, strength, and bowel and bladder function.  I am lucky enough through the support of family to have my own now.  It is a symbol of how much my life has changed that the simple act of standing that we take for granted has become something that I need assistance with,  The next is the chair which I am still working to get what I need and is best for me.  Here I was getting fitted early on for my first chair.  Well technically my 2nd.  My first was a hospital chair just barely enough to get around mostly accepting help in mobility from the therapists and aides.

An important part of the rehab facility I chose was it was close to home so that made it very easy for Michele to be there when I needed her and it was an added bonus that they allowed visits from a pet as you can see gave me great joy.

You can also see from that picture that I had cut my hair.  That was a big decision based on practicality and the need for a change to symbolize the difference in my situation.  I wasn;t able to take a shower and relied on bed baths for the first 4 or 5 days and when I was it was difficult so shaving my head seemed practical and I have grown to embrace it., I didn’t get a picture of it but this past week I finished the first bottle of hair and body wash that I used in the hospital.  Normally I hadn’t used those but have since so that gave me a brief moment of emotion as I finished it and so close to my year anniversary,  Strange I know.

The therapy begins and there is a lot of work over the course of the next 6 weeks.  There is also a lot of coming to terms with where I am and what I need to do to be able to function.  But I also had to deal with the emotions of it all. I think this quote from day 10 in rehab sums up all of the:

“I woke up too early as usual and I feel like I might have a cold. In the early morning hours before the sun broke I cried for myself. I haven’t allowed myself to do that much but just needed to. Others have been crying for me but I just haven’t. I need to take some time to grieve for what I have lost but I just can’t let it consume me. I have to move on. Let the day begin and see what good it can bring:”

One of my favorite parts of therapy was the E-Stem Bike and I didn’t know at the time how difficult it would be to find that outside of inpatient.  I have at paraquad but one of the sad/happy things is that I have regained enough feeling (mind you it still isn’t very much) in my left leg that the bike at Paraquad the electrical stimulation hurts too much to use as I want but we are working on it. These are pictures of me on the E-Stem bike in there therapy.

A lot of therapy was working on skills needed to function,  Here is working on wheelchair skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IOQAUmkEGc#action=share

It was as I said the emotional aspect of coming to terms and learning about my injury.  One of the big goals early on was being able to transfer on my own and stop using the hoyer lift to get in and out of bed.

It was a big important step to independence and was the starting point for my work for gaining more independence and self reliance.  It also symbolized my strategy for moving forward which is shown in this quote:

“The way to get through the next 3 weeks is to keep accomplishing the small goals which will get me to the long term goals. I guess I did get something out of the group counseling after all. This strategy will help me get bettereverday.”

This alluded to the counseling I had gotten during my stay which was also important but the setting of goals that were reachable made the small steps work on the bigger goals which I am still working on today,

Like I had said most of rehab, besides working on the physical things to get me more independent, was coming to terms with my situation and nothing illustrates that better then my post on Day 34:

“I am a parapalegic but even if that is perament I don’t want it to define me. I am determined to not make that me. I will still be the same person I am just differently physically. The blog had a link to a video that was done for TV about the accident and the recovery. It was very good and I will find it and link it in this blog. Anyway his quote from the video was I had 41 years of one life now I get to live another one. I have to have the same attitude I had 47 years of one life now I have a different one. I have the best life partner and the will to make everything bettereveryday.”

So much of that is true but I remeber that as a turning point in acceptance into my condition and what I was and am dealing with everyday,

The last few weeks of rehab was preparing to go home not only on my skills but making my home accessible for me to be able to go home.  We did a home assessment to find out what was needed which also went a ways into sending me home in a power chair as opposed to a manual chair.  Before all that I had to be able to just get in the front door so it was a lot of stress but we got the ramp to the house.  The first step torwards getting home.

One thing I don’t think can be said enough is what I expressed on Day 42 and is a big part of me being able to come through rehab and accomplish what I have accomplished since”

“On a final note I want to say I love you to my wife Michele on this our 23rd anniversary. She is my life partner and we are both going through this which we could have never expected or planned for. She means so much to me and her being by my side makes me stronger and helps me to have the confidence that I can do it. She is a huge part of me getting bettereveryday and I don’t just mean post injury.”

  All of what I have posted and so much more lead up to my graduation day,  My day to start a new adventure at home and beyond,

All these people and so many more that I can’t possibly name were to me life savers and changers.  They helped me acquire and get the skills and knowledge necessary to get home and start living again,  I can’t say thank you to them enough for what they did for me.  I came to learn later that my PT had just started a month before I got there and was one of her first long term patients.  It is emotional whenever I see them again and I do make a habit of stopping by and the monthly support group gives me a good reason to,  This was the first stop on a life long road that I am now on and over the next few days I am going to continue recapping my blog in this way to share my experiences over the last year.  I still can’t believe it has been a year and today is very emotional so if you see me you will know what is my mind today.  A year full of trying to be bettereveryday.

[zucca101]

Response: The 2nd

I again ask of my viewers and followers NOT to attempt to seek this person out or cause them any inconvenience. This is my thing to tackle and had they not blocked me, I would be able to respond within the confines, but I felt it was neccesary to allow this debate to be in the public forum.

It's funny how you still try to worm your way out of having to accept that maybe, just maybe, you fucked up. Democrats aren't even fucking leftists, and never were; historically they were the more conservative party all around, over the course of the 1930s to the 1960s the parties' relative positions switched around, today they're liberals. Every other country in the world considers liberalism a right-wing ideology, at best a centrist one for a reason (hint: it has something to do with being vehemently pro-capitalist)

Incorrect. That is a pernicious and commonly held myth that does not hold up to scrutiny.

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Also, Sargon, left of center? Reads-the-headlines-and-nothing-else-of-the-articles-he-cites Sargon? Constantly complains about The Left™ like you do and constantly apes the same rhetoric coming from the far right Sargon? That Sargon? Yeah, no.

He is on the Left. He’s become disenfranchised with the Social Justice angle it’s adopted and the Islamophilia as well. And God only knows, there’s enough I disagree with him on to fill a book, but someone who actively challenged him and pored over his vids, found one thing Sargon got incorrect, and it was something he had already retracted.

I don’t agree with him on everything. But I trust him due to his intellectual integrity. Same with Teal Deer, same with the others I watch.

"And I CHALLENGE YOU to show me where I said that women should not have access to healthcare. Or even hinted at it." That's not even what I said, and you damn well know it. My implication was that you're in favor of restricting healthcare access to the poor, which guess what, if you're going to be in favor of repealing shit that makes healthcare more accessible to them, basic logic would dictate that's going to happen. You manage to go off on an entire tirade about abortion when what I was addressing was the supposed line of thought behind it.

Fair to say, but that’s not what I’m in favor of either. The Affordable Healthcare Act was like a shiny used car sold by a constantly smiling, charming salesman. It ran fine for the first stretch, but broke down after you got around the bend. Libertarian that I am, I believe such an act was foolish because it was nothing more than a scam by the insurance companies lining up to get all the business they could ever ask for because signing up for healthcare became COMPULSORY. Which is bullshit.

Also? I hate to be the one to give you the newsflash, but jobs aren't going to save society. We already work far more than we need to to keep things going, or even to afford a high living standard - most jobs that currently exist do because either it's marginally cheaper to severely underpay people for them rather than to automatize them, or otherwise only exist as an artifact of capitalism itself - many different corporations that require management, marketing that simply wouldn't exist under literally any other economic system.

I’d love to see citation for that which doesn’t reek of Socialist claptrap. Automation is progressing, to be sure, but progress is progress, right? That doesn���t mean there isn’t work to be had if you either look for it or try to find it outside of your comfort zones. I had to work at a Wal-Mart of all places, but I swallowed my pride and I did it. Didn’t enjoy it, but I did my job.

Between this and the ongoing trend towards atuomatization? Those jobs are going to disappear, and there aren't going to be new ones in sufficient numbers to avoid giant swathes of people in permanent unemployment. That's not me doomspeaking, that's a logical consequence of what's going on today.

It tickles me something fierce that you don’t actually address the automation. You think SOCIALISM would fix that? By making things so shitty that automation isn’t an option, perhaps. No, Socialism would cram everyone into a job and regardless of whether they want it or not, they MUST do that job.

By the way, speaking from years of first hand and second hand experience here: unemployed people don't actually sit on their asses all day, contrary to what you've been led to believe by people who have a vested interest in keeping everyone working for scraps.

Speaking from second hand experience myself, I’ve had friends and friends of friends who NEVER got real jobs and instead collected food stamps they bartered for room and board. I’ve known people who have chosen to panhandle and beg on the street rather than go to a job. (And to be fair, that’s non-taxable income…) So I’m afraid anecdotal evidence from either of us is not enough to conclusively prove this one.

Therefor…

http://www.epi.org/publication/missing-workers/

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/07/employment-vs-unemployment-different-stories-from-the-jobs-numbers/

Jobs aren't the only way to contribute to society, most artists do work that can't support itself under capitalism (and that logically the artist themselves wouldn't be able to keep themselves fed on without at the very least some sort of social safety net), and if we only kept going with that art that proves to be profitable enough to support someone, thereby only appealing to the lowest common denominator?

And…. And you think COMMUNISM or SOCIALISM will let you art the way you want to? At least in Capitalism, an artist can make money for their work! Hell, the internet and Patreon has made it easier than ever for someone to make a living with their art or at least supplement their living. I know HUNDREDS of artists who balance art for its own sake, art for income and a normal job. And they’re not unique in that sense. Art enriches a culture, absolutely, but when it’s dependent on the government… then why would one go BACK to a normal job if they can make a period blood painting, throw it on the wall and demand money from the government? Art should be independent of governmental meddling.

And if you ask Joe Average if he would rather be COMPELLED by the government to pay forty bucks every month to contribute to art or fill his car’s gas tank, buy a few bags of groceries for his family or get used shoes at the Thrift Store, what do you think he’d do?

Art flourishes when free of meddling.

You’re an artist, yes? Suppose you got a check from the government for creating art… but suppose your art did not hold up to some arbitrary definition? It’s taxpayer money after all. So you would have to create art… but only as the government sees fit. Which is no different than making art by commission… except for the fact that under capitalism, you can create art as work, you can create art after working hours, you can create art just to make someone smile. You aren’t beholden.

I can tell you right away this world would be an immensely darker place for it, and all that precious inflation art would vanish overnight.

Heh, the one I had in mind at the top of my list when mentioning those hundreds of artists is a very prominent one. He works a daily job, he makes money with his art, and he makes art for its own sake.

Take a look at this picture…

https://zucca-xerfantes.deviantart.com/art/Berlin-Wall-piece-from-Reagan-Library-612126840

Riddle me this…

The side you see if colorful and full of art and vibrant colors and the other side is matte gray, untouched.

Take a WILD guess which side was the Commies’…

In addition to that, it's beyond unethical to force people who can't work to beg for scraps from charities that both A) impose their will on them (like the Salvation Army), and B) even if all perfectly good natured, wouldn't collectively have the resources to support everyone anyway, especially not when it's entirely within the state's means to give those people a decent standard of living.

Uh, I think I already said that I’m not against government assistance for those who are literally unable to work.

As for your examples, the Salvation Army’s policy is NOT to deny service to trans or homosexual people. A same sex couple can be permitted, but as separate individuals. I don’t hold to that part, but hey, their house, their rules, and they’re not turning them away outright. Now while it’s true that SOME SA people refuse service, that is not the organization’s policy. And considering they saved the life of an IRL trans friend of mine, I am STRONGLY disinclined to believe smear stories.

As for the second, See first paragraph in this section.

"Constantly pretend to…. universally bad…? WHAT….?" You know damn well what I was talking about. The constant "oh, Muslims throw gay people off of buildings all the time! You should be thankful!" takes? The kind of bullshit that you spout to propagate hate against them in the name of "protecting us" when you subsequently turn around and support people like Mike Pence who wishes we'd all vanish, one way or another? I see you, and your cutesy "but I have black friends" argument doesn't fucking work here.

If you can prove me wrong about how Islam as a whole feels about homosexual people and transsexual people, then I will apologize right now. Imams view the murder of homosexuals as A MERCY for fuck’s sake. That is some kind of bona fide evil. Yet for some reason, your fluffy Social Justice Totem Pole places a Death Cult’s feelings above YOUR RIGHT TO *LIVE* SO JUST EXCUSE THE SHIT OUT OF ME FOR CALLING IT OUT.

And supporting Mike Pence….??? I couldn’t give less of a crap about him if I tried. The dude is an advocate of conversion therapy, which does not work. Case closed. Frankly I think Trump picked him for the same reason Obama picked Biden. Assassination prevention! ‘You might kill me, but SERIOUSLY, look at THIS guy… you want HIM instead?’

Jokes aside, I don’t agree with Pence. If, God forbid, he became president, I’d support the office but if he started making life harder for the gay people for no reason, then I’d be fundamentally opposed.

Again, you know this, but damned if you’ll permit that to get in the way of a good strawman whoopin’, eh?

And I find it ASTONISHING that you lie to yourself that Pence is the one to be feared when there is nothing he can legally do to hurt you, but the Death Cult wants you to actually die and are SANCTIONED in such acts.

Pulse Nightclub ring a bell? Fifty innocent people murdered by a guy whose religion told him that his only salvation for his sins was to become a martyr.

By the way, you also don't get to decide who's actually trans and who isn't. Trans people detransition or don't bother transitioning for any number of reasons. Doesn't mean the person underneath isn't transgender, most of the time it's just because society is so fucking harsh against us that they decide living in the wrong body and being seen the wrong way by others is less painful than the outright hostility we can expect on a daily basis.

I’m speaking real here… I cannot possibly understand what it’s like to be Trans. I cannot appreciate the struggles that a trans person is forced to go through. A friend of mine lost her wife and her children because she transitioned. And she’s one of the most gentle and decent souls I’ve ever known.

But she is a real Transsexual. Not some idiot child enamored by the idea of being Transsexual. Not some teen who wants to piss off their parents, or some snowflake who wants to be that much more special. What they do is an INSULT to the Trans people who struggle with it. Who, as you have pointed out, have a ton of shit they have to put up with without their struggles being trivialized..

I’m not of the notion that Trans people have it easy because PC culture has elevated them above others (Except for the fanatical Death Cult that wants to kill them) or anything like that.

I disagree with that notion which is held by a large number of YouTube personalities I watch regularly.

However… in the same way I have nothing but contempt for idiotic children and childish adults who pretend to have Multiple Personality Disorder because they think it’s some kind of fun game where The Doctor and Loki play around in their head, I can’t stand the same kind of idiot children who think they can switch their gender like a toggle and to be SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME have a fantasy word to describe their nonexistent gender.

But oh no, I’M the scientific illiterate. >_>

As for "you don't have the right not to fuck a trans person" (lol), literally nobody is actually saying that - those takes are about dismissing the idea of having sex with someone who's trans out of hand, not saying no if the opportunity were to actually come up.

…

Honest question, you haven’t heard of Riley Dennis, have you? Very prominent Trans YouTuber who has numerous videos now shaming straight people for not wanting to get into a sexual relationship with a trans person.

Riley is of the mind that straight people don’t have a right to refuse, lest they be bigots. >_>

And if you think that’s an absurd thing to say, then bless you. We’re in agreement.

And if it were just Riley, that’d be one thing, but here on Tumblr and on Twitter, there are posts saying much the same, but not in the weasely, round-about way Riley did.

Do I think that’s the majority opinion? No.

But it is not a case of ‘Literally no on believes that’.

And if Christians have to be lumped in with wretches like the KKK and Westboro, well then... what’s good for the goose ought to suffice for the gander, hm?

As for where you're anti-science? Ho boy, where do I begin. Those hot anti-climate change takes of yours are a good start, dismissing everything that happens in that regard as "just the weather" when sea level rise, melting ice in the polar areas as a result of it, and year after year of hottest yearly average temperatures have not only been happening for at least the past century, but have also been accelerating more recently. I'd know, I literally live in one of the places directly affected by this. Most of this country is below sea level, we keep having to build up our dams and dunes even higher to avoid flooding the damn place like what happened back in 1953. To dismiss all that as "the weather" is beyond foolish.

I never said Climate Change isn’t real.

Nor have those I’ve reblogged.

The notion of manmade Global Warming is what is contested.

See, there was a smart way to go about spreading the message and a stupid way to go about it.

The stupid way was to let hypocritical hacks like Al Gore dominate the stage.

The smart way would’ve been to appeal to everyone’s common need to save money and how many green tech save water, electricity and gas bills.

But nope…. Shaming was WAY more fun and satisfying. And now it’s become politicized.

I’m a wildlife conservationist of a sensible variety. Sharks, whales, rhinos and cheetahs are being driven over a cliff and it needs to stop.

And there are more than a few Conservatives on the same boat. Michael Savage, radio host, for instance.

But stereotyping and shaming is SO MUCH MORE SATISFYING TO THE BASE URGE OF APPEASING ONE’S INNER RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION.

ISN’T IT?

"Capitalism gives everyone the same shot at living" is an even more ridiculous take if I ever saw one. Yes, I'm sure my disabled, mixed and poor ass has the exact same chances as Reginald who can simply ask daddy for money to start up any business he likes, or hell - just live off of that, put it all in stocks, hire some people to make sure his investments don't go to waste and be set for life! He doesn't even need to work! At all! No rich person does!

Step away from the Marxist teacher, amigo. They are NOT your friend…

You’re full of shit.

I’ll out and say it right here.

You are so full of shit on this one that your eyes are turning brown.

You’re just barfing up the same politics of envy nonsense that every single frakking Socialist hack barfs up.

“I can’t work because there’s some rich guy out there who has more stuff than I do!!!! HARUMPH!!!!!!!!” Do you hear yourself...?

Does the nature of your disability preclude you from doing ANY work? If so, then that is a case wherein you should be lent aid.

But if you have your hands… you can work. If you have your legs, you can work. If you have your eyes, you can work. If you have your wits, you can work. If you can’t find work, look harder. Or make your own. That’s what I did. I was destitute only seven years ago. And I’ve built myself up. And that was all done with clinical depression weighing me down like lead.

Self-determination? Ah yes, being forced to slave away at a minimum wage job because you simply can't get hired elsewhere for the rest of your life, or starving. That's self-determination in the same sense that having the choice between following orders and maybe be allowed to live, or don't and be killed when someone holds a gun to your head is. Venezuela, or any other socialist country in the world is/has been hardly perfect, but you know what's not helping?

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WORK AT A MINIMUM WAGE JOB FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Sorry, sorry… you’re like the fiftieth person whose thrown that at me and it gets cringier every time I hear it… I apologize.

But seriously, if you think that min wage is for life, you’ve not made very good decisions.

You start at the bottom and work your way up. Just because you spend a few years flipping burgers doesn’t mean you’re stuck there!

Fuck… you can apprentice with a plumber and be making SIX FIGURES in FIVE YEARS!

I kid thee not!

Fascist protestors literally burning supplies that are already hard to get by. Action taken by the US to undermine pretty much any socialist country that has ever existed. As for more internal problems? Guess what, those can be improved upon. It's an economic system, not a religion.

Can be? Doubt it, but maybe.

Will be? No.

And as for being an economic system and not a religion…

That’s a mighty tall claim, considering the fact that Socialism tends to butt out religion and replace it with itself. Take China for example. All their rich culture, their ancient heritage, their majestic architecture, their thousands of years of history and artifacts…. FUCKING RUINED BY A LITTLE SHIT WITH HIS LITTLE RED BOOK.

The very basic premise you utterly fail to process here is that this shit is subject to constant rethinking and revision, something made impossible when some strongman figure decides to take power, no matter what side of the political spectrum they're on - that said, the right loves those far, far more than anyone left of center will, as a matter of basic principles that define either side.

Which is one of the fundamental flaws in Socialism and Communism. You can’t build off of that when the foundation is garbage. And how many MOUNTAINS OF CORPSES do you wish to produce before we ‘Get Socialism right’?

Thanks, but Capitalism has existed LONG before Socialism.

Otem from the Mountain People went to Trajk of the Plains People because the Plains People make masterful spears. He traded a basket, which the Mountain People make better than anyone, including the Plains People, for a spear. Both people are wealthier as a result.

And that also leads us to why I consider right-wingers universally shitty people: plainly speaking, they simply are.

And you call ME the bigot…?

It's at best ignorant, at worst astonishingly hypocritical as can be to act like you care about the poor, only to deliberately make their lives harder using the political apparatus in place.

You know that is not the motivation of capitalists. And if that’s what you think, then you are simply incorrect.

You can't say you care about groups of people, then vote for those who are all too happy to take their rights away.

I DO care and I disagree with the ban. While I find it iffy to put people who deal with what Trans people do into severely high-stress situations, if they believe they can hack it, I believe they have a right to stand proudly beside the other defenders of the country.

Actions speak louder than words, and actions that affect an entire country weigh far more heavily than those taken on an individual basis - giving money to individual homeless people simply doesn't counterbalance supporting the people who make sure they can't sleep anywhere by putting spikes out in public places.

Spikes out? It’s the LABOR PARTY in the UK who want to fine homeless people a thousand pounds for sleeping in public.

See my above points for further rebuttal. I’m not repeating myself.

Don't bother acting like I'm saying all this out of ignorance either - I've been there myself. I've had a right-wing phase, I only need to look back at my own past actions to see the hypocrisy that lies underneath.

I’m not going to say that everyone one the Right are Saints. You know that’s not my position. I also don’t think everyone on the Left are foolish. Fuck, I don’t even think the majority of them are bad people at all! I think they’re people whose hearts are generally in the right place, but feel rather than think. But you are, inversely, able to forgive EVERY sin of the Left while, and I quote, labeling every right-winger as universally bad people.

That is some FRIGHTENING SHIT right there, amigo. That you can de-humanize EVERYONE on the opposite political spectrum because you’re so high on your own moral superiority that you’ve willfully blinded yourself.

And while ignorance itself is forgivable, you've repeatedly shown not to care in the slightest for anything that would lead you to reconsider your ideas, nor do you have any interest in actually putting your money where your mouth is on the grander scale with just about anything you mentioned in your post.

HAH… if you only knew…

So yeah. Come back to me when you've learned to genuinely care about other people beyond those in your direct personal sphere.

So you’re moving the goalposts, huh?

I contested that I’m not the evil strawman you have created and now you’re saying ‘Well, you may care about the people around you, BUT WHAT ABOUT EVERYBODY ELSE?!’

Friendo… I can’t care about everybody else. Everybody else are adults, or will be someday. Then everybody else can care about everybody else. They’re my neighbors and I genuinely wish them well. I’ll help a stranger’s reasonable request just for the asking. But I am not Atlas. I cannot take on all the problems of the world. I can voice my opinion on how they should be dealt with, to be sure. Because I have that freedom.

I care for my country and fellow citizens, and I will vote according to how I believe they can best be helped. But it is *not* my responsibility to solve all of their problems for them.

Even if I could, I would not. Because it’s our problems and our struggles that make us grow.

The butterfly cannot fly if it doesn’t struggle its way out of the cocoon. A well meaning person may peel the cocoon away, but that dooms the butterfly to a flightless life.

Buddha said that life is a struggle. And he wasn’t wrong there.

But while we can help our friends, our neighbors and even strangers, that does not mean that it’s relative across the board.

Poverty in the West is a child asking his father why he’s crying as he weeps over a stack of bills on the table. Poverty in the third world is emaciated children with rice-bloated bellies.

Both are heartbreaking, but both are unique to their places of origin and therefore are not comparable.

You can lie to yourself all day about who I am, what my motivations are and what my heart is like.

But if you found out who I am, what I’m like, how I behave, then you may be willing to face down your other prejudice against an entire group of people you have frighteningly labeled as universally evil.

[maryannemagnolia-blog]

Report of a trip to Japan, September 2016, Buck-Tick related parts

Conversations with Japanese fans, BT cafe, Climax Together 3rd. I know it’s very late. I just want to post something and practice my English. My memories could be wrong.

Osaka, Yousukou Ramen

That small restaurant The Mortal members have been to in 2015. It’s hidden deeply in the streets of Umeda, difficult to find even with the help of Google Map, it was smaller than I thought it to be, there were only about 10 seats, and I wouldn’t say it was very clean inside.

The Ramen was very delicious, I was satisfied with its taste, but one bowl was not enough to fill my stomach at 3pm. Due to nervousness, I didn’t say Acchan-chan’s name.

(On that morning, I had much trouble finding a store called Umeda Loft, then the next day I had much trouble finding the live house Umeda Club Quattro, I guess the Feng Shui of that place does not suit my birth time.)

Tokyo, a hotel

I talked to the staffs of the hotel I lived in. One 20 or 30-something staff knew BT, when another staff who looked around the same age as him asked “What’s that?”, he answered “Old Visual Kei”, then praised my taste in music, “very good, very good. It’s rare (to see girls like me coming to Japan for bands like BT, I guess that’s his meaning)”

Tower Records Kinshicho

The Tower Records famous for a whole shelf of BT stuffs. It’s one the 4th floor (or maybe 3th or 5th I don’t quite remember) of a shopping center which is not faraway from the JR line station. If you want to buy BT’s CDs in Tokyo, I suggest you either go there or Tower Records Shibuya.

At the shrine of Morioka Ken, the boards had not been as full as they were in Cayce’s photos.

Sadly I didn’t have enough money to buy everything, I already bought many records in Osaka and Kyoto, so I only bought Mona Lisa Overdrive, Sabbat, Minus(-)’s D and the only one Togawa Jun album there (in the J-pop section).

Tower Records Cafe in Harajuku

On September 10th, I went to the Tower Records Cafe. I know there would be many people since the next day we shall Climax Together, but I didn’t realize I had to wait for two hours out on the street, but thank for the line of ladies dressed in black I didn’t get lost, okay several gentlemen were there, too, there were 40+ year old ladies in Visual Kei style outfits, 30-something ladies with elegant make up, in normal clothes, there were also JKs younger than me and 30-year-old men who looked just like any Japanese salarymen.

I talked to the nice looking lady behind me. She asked about the official translation of Buck-Tick in Chinese, it’s “花火師”, which means “pyrotechnist, it made her laugh so hard, and no, we rarely use that name.

I introduced her to Tumblr. She laughed again when I searched “Buck-Tick” on Tumblr, photos came out were Acchan, Acchan, and Acchan, “Nothing but Acchan!” Then she introduced Tumblr to her friends on LINE as a place to find many beautiful Acchan pictures.

She started another topic: “Do your parents love Japanese music, too?”

“My mom is Sakamoto Ryuichi-san’s fan.”

“She likes YMO?”

“She hates YMO.”

“Oh, then does she like Buck-Tick?”

“Not really, the only BT songs she likes are Jupiter, Dress and Flame.”

“Anyway,” she said, “I’m glad BT’s songs are liked by Sakamoto-san’s fan.”

It seems Sakamoto Ryuichi and YMO are one rank higher in dignity than all those rock bands.

When I finally got into the Cafe, it’s long past lunch time, I was very hungry. Climax Together 1992 was played on the screen, I felt very difficult to eat my pasta which was not spicy at all despite what was written on their websites while the man I love was singing about despair, pain, madness and desire to die.

Later, friends reported that they waited for 4 whole hours outside the cafe on September 12th, so I’m the lucky one!

Bar Teranga in Ebisu

It’s the bar Imai mentioned in his blog, owned by his wife’s sister Akane, who is also an indie musician. It’s hidden in the streets of Ebisu, on the third floor of a building, with only one tiny signboard outside.

I went there for the evil purpose of examining whether she looked as cute as she was in photos, or it’s photoshop’s doing (I’m not evil enough to think about meeting or stalking BT members, I swear), but I didn’t see her, that night only the male staff Takizawa Ryo was there, he is an indie musician, in 2012, some fans got extremely angry (I’m not sure why) after they found that the BT charity bags were sold at his concerts...but it has already passed, Imai has explained in his blog, Cayce has posted on her blog, so I’ll stop here.

The bar was small, gothic style, there was a wall full of Jrockers’ signatures, including all members of BT, Aki from Sid, Motokatsu, someone from D’erlanger, someone from Merry, Sakurai Ao maybe, and so on, I said “someone” and “maybe” because I couldn’t decipher their signatures which were all so artistically written. Only Shirosaki Jin, the big fanboy and former NO.1 host wrote readable kanjis. I heard there was also one written by Die, of dir en grey, but failed to find it. Aside from signatures, they also used Jrock magazines and BT tour goods as decoration, you can find BT stuffs even in the toilet. The Sakurai Drops box is surprisingly small.

There were three customers when I entered the door, all about 40 years old, two ladies, one gentlemen. I sat down, ordered curry rice and beer in English, the two ladies said “Oh, foreigner?” Then, one of them said:

“But why this bar... Bakuchiku fan?”

“...Yes.” I answered.

They gave me a very warm welcome by screaming and shouting.

“Do you speak Japanese?”

“Only a little.”

“Yokohama Arena?” She tried to speak very slow.

“Yes, but my seat is terrible.”

“Whoo, you come to Japan for a concert!”

“Uh...I came for sightseeing.”

“But your main purpose is the concert, isn’t it?”

And yes.

We talked about BT, Visual Kei and Jpop. “It’s amazing that Japanese music has influence on other countries’ people.” they said. Later, they began talking about baseball, Johnny’s idol groups, and the coming Visual Japan Summit (finally I remember that name).

The curry rice was nice. One of the ladies drank so much High-ball but her face didn’t change a bit, I envy people like her.

I left before all three of them, “Good night! See you tomorrow in Yokohama.” The Japanese fans said.

(Small information:

There is a bar in Minatoku, Tokyo, owned by NAO (BY-SEXUAL) and BT’s former manager Kojima, the name is “Azabu Kyuuban”, or “Azabu NO.9” in English. Many Jrockers had been there, including members of BT, Glay, Plastic Tree, Golden Bomber, Kishidan, Nocturnal Bloodlust and so on. Some BT fans love to go there after the Budoukan show, so if you want to go there that day, too, remember to pre-order.)

Yokohama Arena

There are big “横浜アリーナ” and “Yokohama Arena” words written above an exit of the station, you can follow the ladies in black as well.

I arrived at Yokohama Arena at about 12:30 pm, there was a long, long goods line in the rain, even there were many staffs selling the goods and they were quick, I think I still waited for more than 1.5 hours outside, and when I finally got into the venue, I found there were still many people waiting in front of me. Aku no Hana 2015 remix was played, when Kiss Me Good-bye was over, National Media Boys came, so they must played it for more than once, friends who came later than me reported they heard another album there. I heard almost one Aku no Hana inside the venue, than my turn of buying goods finally came.

It was reported by Japanese fans if you came at 3 pm, you did not need to wait, so I guess at concerts if you don’t want the most popular goods such as Sakurai Drops or Acchan eye masks, it will be better if you don’t come very early.

After buying the goods, same with many fans, I walked to a nearby shopping center, spent two hours there. One oddity was that, when I went to the toilet in the shopping center, everyone waited there was BT fans, I can tell they were fans because all of them wore either BT T-shirts, or typical bangya clothes such as black lace dress and black high heel boots, one of them wore a Mr. Matsumoto guitar print scarf, that famous one with red hearts.

Then back to the venue, people had already lined up for entering. Passersby looked at us curiously.

Since everyone has already watched the WOWOW video, I’d better not say too much about the concert itself, so just a few things:

1. Chandeliers were beautiful.

2. Beside me was a middle aged man, he cried during Jupiter.

3. People clapped their hands during the intro of Dokudanjo, it’s a bit hard to learn.

4. I didn’t realize Imai played Passing Mountain then, feel ashamed.

5. Imai’s guitar was so loud (noisy) that I could barely hear Acchan talking, and it was because Imai’s guitar, not my poor Japanese, Japanese fans have reported same problem.

6. I think you already know that, but the spoken words in Dress are “早く、行かなくちゃ” (I have to go, now).

7. Acchan said: “It must be difficult to see from there, I’m sorry”, then turned the stage light to the stage side and 2nd floor seats, fans who were lit up all waved their hands, screamed in happiness to him. He is a very gentle person indeed.

This year I plan to visit Japan again.

I will go to Fujioka, Gunma to see Imai Shouten. But before that I need to learn more Japanese.

Oh, actually this Gunma-chan (with serious bear) is not the first Gunma-chan.

The original Gunma-chan is this:

[rachelsmithson]

Never change

“Nice cap”

“Wait, haha, did you mean hat?”

“No lol cap”

“Haha omg really appreciating your english side, please never change”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“He’s literally the ONLY person I know who has not changed at all! I mean like, literally not one bit.”

Izzy and I both shriek of laughter on both ends of the call.

“I mean, like, should I be concerned about him?”

More laughter

“Believe me, we are all concerned about him. I think I’m the most concerned about him. I don’t know what I’m going to do about him...” I sigh, continuing to multitask as I cut cucumbers.

And I guess that’s what it has come down to. No, no. Not the cutting cucumbers part although everyone should really eat more of them. Veggies are good for you. 

No, it’s what everything comes down to. I have a lot of conversations with myself recently. Living on your own in a new city where you don’t have tons of friends makes for a very quiet living arrangement. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say I hate it but I don’t exactly love it either. Anyways, I digress. In the course of these conversations, I’ve come to realize several very significant and real truths about love/ liking a persons/ developing feels (ew! can you not?)/ emotions (double ew!). I’m going to share some of them with you now in the context of Oliver. Yes, you know Oliver. The same one I’ve been writing about non-stop since last year. The same person who I blocked on every form of social media as I desperately tried to get him out of my life. The same person who I unblocked because I still couldn’t stop thinking of him a month later. And yes, the same person who I very literally cut things off with before I left and moved my whole life down south and who has continued to keep himself in my life, my head, and my heart. Oh me, oh my. My poor head. Yes, don’t keep me wrong he’s quite the heart-wrencher but god I can’t seem to keep the guy off my mind. All the time, everyday. And I’m dating 3 other guys!!!! Okay safely 2 others, but still that’s already three guys in the picture. On second thought, I should actually be careful with that because that was the number I got myself in trouble with last time. No, no foursome. Bitch please, get your mind out of the gutter. 

The worst part is, add any other drug or form of alcohol into the mix, and then he is like a disease- a virus- spreading throughout my mind, filling every cranny of my brain, and taking my breath away, slowly killing me.

The fundamental truths you and everyone else- girl or boy- must know. First, and most important, you cannot control what the person who you like/love/whatever is going to do. If they decide they don’t like you, they are going to walk away. And there is nothing you can do about it. Seriously. Think about it. Do you think scream, crying, punching, getting drunk, yelling, or anything else is going to change his/her mind? Absolutely not. It may make you look desperate. Possibly jealous, maybe manipulative. But honestly it’s just going to make you look desperate and pathetic. Treat people the way you want to be treated. If you want to be treated like an adult, then grow some balls, man/woman up, and handle the situation maturely. Why? Because that’s the only socially acceptable option that exists. 

No. 2. I can’t take credit for this one but The Betches said it best. It went something along the lines of this; “Sometimes two people just don’t work or fit each others’ needs, and that’s OKAY”. Wow, wait stop. Take a breath and let that seep in. We spend so much time freaking out about relationships that we feel are falling apart. So much time trying to figure out how to solve problems that are honestly much deeper problems at the core. But instead of doing what we’ve seen everyone in the movies and tv shows do, expending all their emotional energy into someone they care so deeply about, you could simply accept that these problems exist and it’s okay that it won’t work out. Weird, right? It’s honestly so logical, but I don’t know about you, no one’s ever told me that’s okay. It’s very strange but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense, and the less time and energy you’ll spend chasing something that probably isn’t meant to me.

Ok ok so you probably think I’m a cynic at this point. Let me get something straight for you. I’m a straight-up romantic. I wouldn’t be here writing this if I wasn’t. You don’t believe me? Just go check the rest of these posts. I’m a romantic to such an extreme extent, and I want nothing more than for the guy I am so so so into to come down here (he will be here in 19 days exactly) and swoop me off my feet, hold me close, and tell me he wants to do right by me. It just won’t happen. Sorry I’m a realist.

That does bring me to my next point though. I’m a huge believer in second chances.Oh, and apparently 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th, and even 5th ones, especially if the person is someone I have an irresistible attraction to. You can honestly give someone all the chances you want, but know this. The way someone does one thing is the way they do everything. Feel free to give him all the chances you want, but if he hasn’t changed yet, why would you expect him to change now? That’s exactly right, you don’t because he won’t. Sorry hunny, but it’s true. 

Along with that comes the obvious. You have to make sure you are both on the same page, making sure you both want the same things and like each other a comparable amount. This may seem silly, but it isn’t fair if one person is using the other as a placeholder when the other person really really likes the first person. It just isn’t fair. Someone is going to get hurt dreadfully badly and that is not alright on either party’s part. It is both of your responsibilities to make sure you’re on the same page. And if the way you are being treated is upsetting you, then you have to come up with a plan and say something because otherwise that situation is not going to change. It sucks but in the long-run you come to feel a lot better about yourself, especially once he’s gone and you’ve found another guy that treats you like the god damn princess you are. 

Just remember, you are awesome. You’re gorgeous, you’re strong, you’re funny. If one guy doesn’t want to put up with all you’re amazing bs that’s his loss, because seriously there are so many other guys who would get down on their knees for a chance with you. You’re incredible. Never change.