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breadbrobin · 11 months ago

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the bet

part two

cedric diggory x reader — harry potter

[fem!best friend reader]

summary: the summer is going well. you’re not in love with cedric, and you’re so gonna win this bet. totally. right?

warnings: quite a lot of swearing, betting/gambling, underage drinking, cringey flirting (PLS i wrote this years ago), GOD they’re so in love it’s stupid, minor character death (sort of???), i think i’m a comedian (i’m not), switched from an x oc story so might have a few mistakes oops, mediocre writing (again i wrote this years ago and this is the worst part i think)

word count: 2.7k

(ok first of all tyyyy for the love on the first part i can’t wait for y’all to read part three! there is just one more part after this and it’s the best one imo)

part one

part three

——————————————

The Flowers

Cedric was splayed out on your bed. One of his feet hung off near your head and you was infinitely glad for his quality hygiene.

You were reading the Wizard of Oz again, and he was dutifully drawing something that he refused to show you.

“Okay,” he finally said. “I’m done.”

You finished your page and slipped the bookmark in, turning to him. “Can I see?”

“No, I drew this for you but you’re never allowed to look at it.” he teased, straight faced.

“Never?”

“Never.” He broke into a smile and shoved the sketch pad in your face.

It was a… Well, you weren’t exactly sure what it was. There was some interesting shading, a tuft of what could either be grass or hair and a strange egg shaped blob in the middle.

You hoped your face didn’t show your emotions as you quickly schooled your features into a smile. “It’s great, Ced.”

He had a wide grin plastered on his face as he nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, I know. Now turn the page.”

You did as he said and blinked in shock, your jaw dropping. “There is no way you drew this.”

“I’ve been practising.”

“Have you been taking classes from freaking Van Gogh in between Quidditch practise?” you gaped, looking from the sketch of sunflowers and daisies and his beaming face.

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “An artist never reveals his secrets.”

“I think that’s meant to be magician.”

“Same thing.” he waved her off. “Anyway, I know sunflowers are your favourite, and daisies are my favourite. So I combined them.”

“This is honestly incredible.” you gushed.

“Oh, stop it.”

“No, seriously.” You stood up. “Can I put it on my wall?”

“Go for it,” he beamed, somehow even brighter than before.

You gently pulled the page from the pad and ripped a tab of blu-tack off, sticking it to the wall above your desk. Once it was hung, you stepped back to admire it. “Oh!” you gasped. “You need to sign it!”

Cedric stood up and brushed past you, scribbling his signature on the bottom right corner with a small heart. “Happy?”

“Mhm.”

That should have been your second sign.

They stood side by side and admired it for a moment.

Then you broke the silence.

“I can’t draw for shit,” you laughed. “And look at you. Mister Artist himself.”

“Oh, piss off,” he groaned, hugging your shoulders from behind and resting his chin on your head. “You can sing though. I can’t.”

“Liar.” you scoffed, patting his arm. “I’ve heard you sing. Besides, you’re practically perfect at everything you do.”

Just as he was about to respond, Cordelia burst through the lightly shut door, eyes still red and puffy. The two separated. “Lunch is ready.”

“Thanks, Dells,” he nodded. “We’ll be right there.”

As she left, he wrapped an arm around your shoulders and led you out. “God, I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving.”

“Very funny.”

The Second Week

As with most summers, you and Cedric spent almost every waking moment in each other’s company.

Unlike most summers, however, you couldn’t chase the thoughts of a certain bet from your mind.

You knew, you knew, that there was nothing to it. That it was just your friends being annoying and messing with you and everything you’d started reading into was just in your head… But, God, was it hard to remember sometimes.

You were mostly worried that he’d find out. Maybe one of your friends would send you a letter mentioning it? (Not that he’d ever read your letters.) What if Liz came for a random visit? Or worse: what if she told her friends, the Weasley twins, and they came for a visit?

You chased your swirling thoughts from your mind as Cedric walked through the front door, performing the mental equivalent of shoving all of the mess in your room into the wardrobe and hoping it closed right.

“Hey,” you smiled, standing up with your bowl of milk that used to hold cereal. “You’re early.”

“It’s eleven o’clock.”

“Yeah, early,” you shrugged, setting the now empty bowl in the sink. “What’s up?”

“Wanna go into town?” he asked, leaning on the counter and gesturing to the fruit bowl.

You tossed him an apple. “Sure. When?”

“Now?”

You sighed heavily, half-joking. “A bit more warning would be nice. Lemme go get changed.”

“Yes!” he cheered through a mouthful of apple. “You’re the best, N/N!”

N/N? You wondered as she jogged up the stairs. Since when am I N/N?

If you’d been listening carefully, you would have heard Cedric bang his head against the kitchen bench.

The town was quiet as always.

A farmer’s market was dying down, most vendors packing their remaining wares and smiling sheepishly at you and Cedric as you wove your way through the stunted stalls. You purchased a fresh bread roll and split it between you as you walked, both surprised that it was still warm.

“You know,” Cedric said after a few minutes of silence as you left the market and strolled along the main street. “We should do this more often.”

You squinted as you looked up at him, the sun assaulting your eyes. “Really?” you asked dryly. “What, burn ourselves to a crisp and get blinded while we’re at it?”

“No, dummy. Do stuff.”

“What? You don’t like doing nothing with me?” you teased.

“No, no, I love doing nothing with you,” he stole a chunk of bread that you’d been eyeing up. “But I also like spending money.”

“I bought the bread. I was the one who spent the money.”

He gasped, as if he didn’t already know. “What? Really?”

“Shut up, Ced,” you smiled, pushing him and stealing the last chunk of bread from the packet.

You were awake uncharacteristically early, so when you knocked on the Diggory’s front door, Cedric looked supremely confused.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked. “Did someone die?”

“No, why would you— You’re an arsehole, you know that?” you pouted.

“Yeah, I know. Come on.”

He led you down the short hallway and into the living area. You sighed contentedly. The Diggory’s house always smelled amazing; a combination of vanilla, coffee and cleaning supplies that somehow worked. Cedric often smelled similar, you realised. The vanilla that clouded the house seemed to hang around him as well. You shook yourself out of it as he began speaking.

“My dad’s gotten obsessed with the TV,” he admitted, nodding towards the man who was watching with a rapt expression. “He doesn’t really understand it, but he’s addicted. He really likes cricket. Probably because he can’t figure out how to change the channel.”

“Oh, I used to play cricket! I love it so much!” you gushed, joining Amos on the couch. “Who’s playing?”

“England and India,” he said distractedly.

“ODI, T20 or test?”

“Test. We’re on Day Two.”

“So England’s batted?”

“Three-thirty-seven.”

“Not bad,” you squinted at the numbers on the screen, showing one-twenty-eight for six.

“I have no idea what you guys are saying,” Cedric cut in, looking blankly between you two.

“We’re talking sport,” Amos said, almost giddily.

You didn’t spare either of them a glance as the English captain went upstairs for a review. “Yeah, get back in the kitchen. Go make us a sandwich.” you teased.

“I thought you were coming to hang out with me,” he almost pouted.

You finally dragged your eyes from the screen. “But… Cricket…”

He shook his head with a smile. “Right, of course. Two sandwiches coming right up.”

The Moment You Knew

The days seemed doomed to repeat. Groundhog day, your mum had called it. So, when you found a way to rid yourself of the monotony of daily life, you took it without a second thought.

“Mum, please!”

“I don’t know…”

“I’ll even get petrol! I’ll… I’ll… I’ll pay for it myself too!”

“Y/N…”

“Mum,” you pleaded. “It’s just me and Ced. It’s a twenty minute drive and I’ll get petrol on the way back. We’ll be back by four and I’ll wear suitable shoes while driving.”

Whitney pursed her lips in thought. Then she sighed. “Fine. Don’t bother getting petrol, I’ll fill up on the way home from work on Monday.”

You squeaked in excitement, hugging your mum tightly. “Thank you! You’re the best! I love you!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Love you too, hun,” she smiled.

True to her word, you did wear suitable shoes. The drive ended up taking around twenty-five minutes, but you supposed your mother couldn’t fault you for driving just under the speed limit all the way there.

There was a secluded lake you’d found out about from an old magazine in your mum’s collection, when you’d been looking for something, anything, to make your days less boring.

“This is awesome,” Cedric breathed as you broke through the treeline and onto the rocky shore of the small lake.

“Yeah,” you sighed contentedly, breathing in the fresh air.

You set up their towels and supplies in the shade of a tree and pulled off your sturdy shoes.

Cedric pulled his shirt over his head. You would be lying if you said your eyes didn’t catch on his muscles.

“Race you in,” he said as you had your own shirt halfway over your head.

“What?” you asked, hearing him run away. “Oh, you prick!”

You tossed your shirt on the ground, followed by your shorts, leaving you in your swim suit, pouting as Cedric splashed around in the cool, blue water.

You stomped over to the water’s edge, frowning down at him. The rock you were standing on was about a metre above the surface, casting a navy shadow over the rippling water. He waded a few metres out from you.

“You coming?” he asked.

“No,” you pouted, folding your arms. “I don’t swim with cheaters.”

He barked a laugh, swimming over to the edge and pulling himself out. Droplets of water hit your skin.

You backed away. “Cedric…”

He took a step closer.

“Don’t you dare, Diggory…”

He tilted his head, grinning widely as he continued to step closer to you. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Sure, you don’t,” you pointed at him. “Stay back!”

He laughed and pushed off his heels, springing towards you. Before he could reach you, however, you turned tail and ran, feet skimming over the rocks as you raced for the safety of the towels.

You only managed to get a few steps in before he caught you, his cold arms wrapping around your waist and lifting you off the ground. He spun around, carrying you back to the edge of the water and tossing you into the lake.

You yelped as the cold water hit you, but remembered to hold your breath, your hair swirling around your face in the water. You heard the telltale sound of him jumping in too and forced yourself up to the surface.

“I hate you!” you gasped, pushing your hair off your forehead. “I hate you so fucking much!”

“Liar!” he retorted, shaking his head and sending water droplets flying everywhere. “You love me.”

You didn’t respond for a moment, treading water and staring at him. “You wish,” you finally uttered.

He just smiled.

The days ticked by much faster than expected. Soon, Cedric was waving his parents off on their week-long trip and then hauling his bags over to your house, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“What did you do?” you immediately asked when you were alone.

He closed the door gently before skipping over to the bed in the guest bedroom he was staying in. He sat on it cross-legged, still smiling, and patted the mattress ahead of him.

When you finally sat down, he leaned forward.

“Guess what I bought,” he said.

You waited.

“You’re meant to ask,” he sighed.

“Oh, my bad,” you cleared your throat. “What did you bring, Cedric?”

He didn’t answer, simply reaching down to his backpack and pulling out a bottle of firewhiskey.

“That’s it? Oh, you sweet, sweet child,” you teased. “I have three of those in my room.”

“Sorry, N/N, not all of us are casual rulebreakers,” he sniffed.

You pushed his shoulder. “I’m kidding, Ced. I mean, technically, I’m not, but I do appreciate the sentiment.”

He poked his tongue out at you.

The Night Things Happened

The day started like any other.

You and Cedric usually woke up at vastly different times, so when he woke up, he went for a run, had a shower and ate a light breakfast before going to wake you.

A lot of groaning and a few thrown pillows later, you were standing in the kitchen making pancakes.

As you flipped another one, leading to Cedric cheering as if you’d never done it before, Whitney entered the kitchen.

“Morning, you two,” she greeted, kissing your temple and patting Cedric’s shoulder. “Cords and I are going to that Girl Scouts sleepover tonight, remember? So you’ll have to make dinner yourselves.”

“Yup, we know, Mum,” you said, taking the pancake out of the pan and slapping it onto a plate. “We’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you burning the house down. Remember last time?”

“Mum.” You turned to her grimly. “We don’t talk about last time.”

Whitney raised her hands in surrender. “Right, right. But, on a more serious note. I shouldn’t have to tell you not to invite anyone else over and to be in bed by one, should I? And I won’t come home to drunk teenagers all over my house?”

“Nope, we’ll be all good, Ms Ridge,” Cedric shot her a winning smile.

She pursed her lips jokingly. “Mhm… Alright, I trust you two. I’m going to the shops, need anything?”

“We need more eggs.”

“Eggs, got it.”

The night was when things changed.

After Whitney and Cordelia were gone, at least long enough that it was unlikely they’d turn around and come back, you took your first swig of firewhiskey.

It burned its way down your throat, like it always did. Cedric coughed and sputtered, nearly spitting it mouthful out.

You held back a laugh. “You alright, Golden Boy?”

“Shut up,” he seethed, voice hoarse.

You raised your hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. I was just asking.”

You sat and ate the pizza you’d ordered already, taking sips of firewhiskey whenever you felt like it.

You closed your pizza box one slice after Cedric did, placing it on top of his on the coffee table. “You good?”

“Great,” he smiled dopily. It seemed the whiskey was hitting him harder than he was letting on.

You smiled back. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

You took a larger swig of whiskey, shaking your head at the strength. “I just wanna point out that if you get sick, I’m not cleaning you up. Got it?”

“Yeah, got it.” He nodded, looking a little bit more put together. “I’d clean you up though. If you got sick.”

You smiled again. “Thanks, Ced.”

The night was going surprisingly well. You’d turned on the TV, both staring, fixated at Friends reruns, leaning heavily on each other. The bottle was half gone and, as the advertisements came on, you each took another swig.

Cedric was looking at you weird.

You straightened up, frowning in confusion. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he slurred slightly. “You’re just… Fuck, you’re pretty.”

Your heart fluttered. “Oh. So are you.”

He blushed, looking down. “Yeah, I know.”

You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing. “Yeah, I bet you do, Goldie.”

“Goldie?”

“Golden Boy. It’s cute.”

“You’re cute.”

“No, you’re cute.”

“You’re cuter.”

“No, you are.”

“You are.”

“You…” he was very close to you now, his grey eyes darting between you eyes and your lips. “You’re very pretty. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” you breathed.

“No, I don’t think you know how pretty you are. Like… When you laugh your eyes light up, and… And when you do that thing when you’re thinking… Where your eyebrow twitches… Oh, and that thing you do… The thing when your favourite songs come on and you tap your legs really fast…”

You swallowed tightly as his hand brushed your cheek. His breath smelled of firewhiskey, but you were sure yours did too.

He wasn’t looking at your eyes anymore. “You’re incredible, Y/N. And you deserve to know that.”

“Cedric…” you started.

“Sh…” he cut you off. He was hardly an inch away now. “Don’t talk. Just…”

Friends came back on the TV.

“Just watch Friends with me.” He leaned back, looping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you flush against his side.

You tried with all your might to ignore your pounding heart.

You weren’t sure if you were going to win this bet after all.

#cedric diggory #cedric diggory x reader #cedric diggory x you #harry potter #harry potter x reader #robert pattinson

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ravelqueen · 3 months ago

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A lot of the discourse I've seen around s3/ bells hells (both during the campaign and now that it's over) mostly revolved around there being no/ barely any consequences to the parties actions and I really wonder what happened there because in my opinion that was one of the things Matt did so well in s2 - to the point that I've tried to emulate it in my own DM-ing!

So many of the things, even some of the smallest details would find their way back onto the narrative in the most satisfying way!

Just off the top of my head:

Locking Gustav up led to him not offing himself

Deciding to go to the coast instead of staying in the empire led to yeza being kidnapped/ them not there for the attack

Going for a public heist of a weird magical blob led them to possess a holy artifact which in TURN meant they had a bargaining chip with the bright queen

Letting that one random soldier escape led to their entire house of cards crashing down after bazzozan

Leaving the ball with the tower magician meant they had to do a rescue mission

That entire fight- flight from molly and his men

Jester casting in a room of strangers leading to them being briefly shot at

And I'm sure I'm forgetting a TON!!! So many things that came back and led to other things and that made the campaign so rewarding to watch and rewatch! But it also led to the mighty nein's struggle feeling earned AND that they always felt like a group of misfits - they did stupid things and it led to quite a few people not trusting them/ wanting to not give them things, which was FAIR and made it interesting idk?

I wonder what changed between s2/s3 that made Matt feel he couldn't/ shouldn't do that anymore

(If this is indeed what happened! I personally only watched the first 30 eps and followed along with the plot through recaps/ watched some single episodes/ scenes, as well as read the discussions about it - so maybe there are people who disagree with the "no consequences" thing and i just haven't seen their arguments?)

#critical role #the mighty nein #bells hells #the mighty nein spoilers #critical role discussion #cr3 #cr2

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angel-with-paper-wings · 1 year ago

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The Magician’s Prelude

This is a gift for @erik-carierre posted with permission! Many thanks for your feedback and support!!

Summary: Erik’s morning routine while working as a magician in Russia prior to his recruitment by Nadir. Based on Kay!Erik.

Cover art and title by @erik-carierre

Content warnings: PTSD-like trauma flashbacks, bloody/gory imagery, slightly graphic descriptions of violence, body negativity (Erik is an angsty teenager)

Now on AO3 here!

Blood. There is always blood.

It oozes around the shards of mirror buried in the skin of my hands…it drips in thick crimson blobs onto the bundle of golden fur…it spatters in hot torrents against my chest and sticks to the open buttons of my shirt…

And it is there again that night. In the rooftop garden, I stand paralyzed staring at the gap in the crumbled balustrade. My chest feels hollow—I cannot breathe, I cannot scream—all I can do is watch as the gap yawns before me, pulling me closer. Against my will, I peer over the edge to view the sight I know is there.

I wish I could blink. I long for even the tiniest respite from what lay before me, but all I can do is look. Her body is small amidst the shattered rubble, her thin delicate limbs laying at odd angles, her soft barley hair matted with flecks of blood and gore. And her eyes…her pale eyes snuffed of all fire that had once bubbled inside of her like smoldering lava. They stare blankly up at my unmasked face, looking but not seeing.

All she ever wanted was to look at me…and now all I can do is look. Look at what I have done.

I awakened with a jolt, my eyes flying open and clenching the thin woolen blanket to my chest. One skeletal hand flew up to my face, and only once I felt the smooth hardness of the mask did I relax. After a moment of composure, I opened my aching jaw and heaved out a sigh of annoyance. The nightmares were as persistent as they had always been.

I sat up in bed and fumbled to light the oil lamp on the nightstand. I had no difficulty getting prepared in complete darkness, but I simply preferred not to after a night of haunting visions. A small clock beside the lamp told me it was early in the morning—earlier than I typically rose, but I was already resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be sleeping any more if I tried.

I flung the woolen blanket to the side and felt the floor creak beneath my bare feet. The inn’s modest wooden room was comfortable enough for my needs: a bed with sheets, a chamber pot, a pitcher and washbasin, and most valuable of all, privacy. There had been a mirror, but I removed it soon after arriving.

I yanked off my nightshirt, letting the room’s warm air graze the scars slashed across my back. Russia had intriguingly hot summers; the books I had read as a boy only bothered to describe the harshness of the winter months, so I confess to being slightly bemused upon my arrival three years ago to a city with a climate only moderately cooler than the one I had left behind in Italy.

Her twisted body flashed before me again, the broken masonry wet and crimson from the split in her skull… I closed my eyes and angrily shoved the image back into the shadows of my mind. No. No more thoughts of that place. I poured water from the pitcher into the washbasin and dunked in a bar of perfumed soap. Once it had worked up a lather, I soaked a clean cloth and derisively began to wash myself.

The dawn of my body’s maturity had proven to be a dismal affair. It took my bones the full extent of my nineteen years to finally cease their growing, leaving me wretchedly gaunt and pitifully covered in pasty yellow skin. I had the strength of a man twice my age and triple my weight, but my frame still refused to resemble anything but a corpse. In my frustration, I scrubbed harder at my own flesh, attempting to cleanse it of its rotten color. But it remained as it always had, pulled tight over my arms to display veins and tendons, with the only thickness found in the old silvery scars adorning my wrists and hands.

Once I had scoured myself raw, I slung the cloth over the rack of the washstand to dry and stared down into the bottom of the basin. Silence screamed in my ears and my stomach twisted with dread. I turned my head to glance at the door behind me; the lock was securely in place, but the familiar prickle of eyes stung my skin all the same.

With trembling fingers, I removed the mask. Warm air rolled across my bare skin like a caress, or what I imagined a caress to feel like. I set the white sculpted shard aside on the stand, and after a heavy sigh, I bent over the basin and scooped handfuls of water over my head, scrubbing the soap’s lather deep into my thick black waves of hair. Droplets ran down the edges of my face, as if even they were afraid to touch the horror that was there. But I forced them to touch it, rubbing the water into the cracks and distorted furrows of my skin, smearing it around the protruding bones and into my eyes’ sunken pits. I braced myself with a grimace before carefully wiping the dried mucus away from the edge of the hole that was my nose.

The torture ended when I finally buried my repulsiveness in a towel. I held the soft cloth against my face as my other hand reached for the mask, slipping it back into place with a relieved sigh. I squeezed my dark hair free of water, then picked up a comb and worked it through the curls until they attained sufficient softness. I laid the towel and comb to the side and stepped over to the tiny wardrobe, withdrawing one of many black satin shirts and slipping it on. After dressing myself, I left my room and slinked down the stairs as a soundless shadow.

The empty tavern on the first floor simmered with the savory scent of shchi. This early in the morning, the only other soul awake was the ancient innkeeper preparing the first meal of the day. I scattered a handful of kopecks onto the bar, letting the clattering sound echo into the kitchen. A minute later, the shawled woman doddered forward and set a steaming bowl of cabbage soup and a chunk of crusty bread before me. No words or glances were exchanged, no questions were asked, as was our routine.

I suspected she found me strange—indeed, I have yet to encounter a soul who didn’t—but she seemed to tolerate me well enough. After her defective coal stove found itself repaired the day following my arrival, I was able to convince her to let me use her inn’s far room as a flat for several months. Unlike my fellow tenants, I paid precisely on time, never returned drunk or belligerent, and there was no risk of women being snuck into my bed. After all, what woman would be desperate enough to lay with a corpse, regardless of the payment offered to her?

With this bitterness lingering in my head, I ate my meal quickly and slipped out into the morning’s haze. It was a rare day; the air was pleasantly cool and the clouds had chosen to don a color besides their usual dismal grey. I assured myself that no one was watching before I lifted my head to admire the way the branches of trees cast their dark silhouettes against the paling sky.

The western quarter of Nizhny Novgorod was largely deserted, making it easy to dart through the city’s shadows unseen in my black attire. Once the day hit its sweltering peak, the cobbled streets would resemble the Volga river with rushing currents of wealthy merchants and colorful travelers from Europe and India and Persia. By that time, I would be waiting for them in my magician’s tent, where they would be shown more wonders than their feeble minds could possibly comprehend.

I rounded a corner and walked along the silent boulevard, until the trees bordering the street gave way to a wrought-iron fence. Beyond the fence, majestically imposing against the northwest horizon, stood the blinding white structure of the Spassky Cathedral. Pink wisps of sunrise stretched across the sky and barely kissed the golden spire atop its great dark cupola.

As I so often did on clear mornings like this one, I felt compelled to stop and gaze up at the splendid piece of architecture. My eyes danced over its fine pillars and elegant façade, admiring the expert carving and delighting in the exquisite use of symmetry and proportion. I had snuck inside once in the dead of night to glimpse its interior—what beauty! It lacked the scale of greater cathedrals, but in golden grandeur it did not disappoint.

There was a time when I had imagined building such great works myself. Beneath the creaky bed back at the inn lay several journals filled with sketches of the spectacular monuments I saw when I closed my eyes. The pages overflowed with details of magnificent marble façades and great towering pavilions, gilded figures in copper and bronze, ornate mosaics with details that dazzled the imagination. My architectural creations would be shrines of worship, not to any one god but to all forces that stirred the spirit and awakened man’s deepest emotions—art, geometry, magic, and most of all music. Oh, how I missed music.

Often this fantasy crossed my mind, and with every day and every kopeck in my purse, it seemed less and less like a child’s dream. After all, I was still very much in my youth…perhaps that day was still to come.

Once I had admired all I could bear, I tucked my masked face back down between my narrow shoulders and trudged off through the neighborhood of shops and teahouses. A smattering of humans were beginning to converge on the street that I walked: small groups of traders bickering in foreign tongues and leading wooden carts filled with wares to sell. Like me, they trampled up the soggy road to the shadow of the large red and yellow stone building, beyond which lay a great courtyard overlooking the bank of the Oka. It was here in the summer months that the great Markaryev Fair was held, where tradesmen and entertainers alike earned their gold.

I proceeded underneath the building’s archway and entered the city’s courtyard. Vendors were already busy erecting tents and unloading their goods in designated sections around the square. Past cotton bales and crates of tea and spices, I spotted the oval shape of the familiar black yurt tucked in its corner, untouched as always. I never worried about the tent’s safety during my absence, for a rumor of a deadly curse had found its way amongst the traders that effectively warded off potential burglars.

As I walked, a warm breeze wafted through the market’s open air, carrying a strain of musical notes to my ears. My heart jumped and I whipped my head towards the sound. On the other side of the courtyard sauntered a muzhik fiddler, beard scraggly and legs stumbling as if drunk, the bow screeching as it was dragged across the rusty strings. A couple passing by threw a few coins into the hat that lay at his feet.

Under the mask, my lips pulled back in a snarl. How dare these fools reward such a tuneless, insolent mockery of music! That drunken bastard did not deserve the right to place his filthy hands on an instrument and spoil its sacred beauty for the whole city to hear. My bony form seethed beneath its black clothing, but I successfully fought back my fervid rage and stomped off towards the yurt. I clenched my shaking hands at my sides, imagining the feeling of the man’s throat beneath my fingers; a sharp snap from his neck and those dreadful notes would finally fall silent.

A crunch against the stones. The heavy tumble of rubble against the ground dampens the sound of her skull cracking open…

I entered the dark tent and pulled the fabric flaps closed behind me, blessedly muffling the horrid noises. A deep breath steadied my hands, and with practiced precision I navigated the small space and lit candles tucked in little red lanterns, banishing the darkness and revealing the blood-red of the yurt’s interior. Swooping red curtains hung from the concave ceiling; samples of shyrdak hangings formed the walls, weaving in swirls of black and gold into the otherwise scarlet room. I kicked off my shoes and felt the luxurious softness of the thick Persian rugs buried beneath velvet cushions.

I ignited the small charcoal stove to boil water in the samovar for tea. While it brewed, I reclined back against the cushions and turned my attention to the long wooden box tucked near the back of the tent: the trick casket. My fingers deftly pranced over the mechanism to open the box, and I withdrew the materials for my magician’s performance: decks of cards, stacks of silver coins, hand-carved trick dice. I arranged them all in neat rows upon the central rug with a small grin.

I struck another match and lit a few sticks of incense to flood the space with their heady, sweet fragrance. I had learned over time that it was beneficial for the minds of my audience to be stripped of their defenses—that way, they found my tricks more dazzling and dropped more rubles into my bony hand. Sometimes this state of enchantment would make them too bold, and bring out their insatiable nature that they otherwise hid from their gods during prayer in the temples and cathedrals. They became ravenous, foolishly curious; they would grope for my mask and demand to see what lay beneath…

All she wanted was to see me.

My hands curled upon themselves, extinguishing the match’s flame between my fingertips. The wretched visions played through my mind again and numbed the burn on my skin.

A mirror shard clenched between the tips of tweezers…bloody hands furiously digging at the grassy dirt…the heavy clunk of a knife’s hilt as the belt dropped to the floor… It was difficult to understand why I remembered certain details so clearly, while others merely faded into murky shadows.

Over the course of three years, the girl’s living face had become fuzzy in my memory. Indeed, I had only dared to look at her a handful of times while living with the master stonemason. Every time I did, my chest would fill with an uncomfortable constricting sensation, and I would be forced to look away or else stop breathing altogether. Her eyes had a heat that scorched all the way to my soul. She was fire—bold, passionate, all-consuming—and I knew better than to risk being burned. Or perhaps I was afraid.

But it was the moment I finally gave her what she pleaded for, the moment I ripped off the mask—her expression of pure horror, anguish and primal fear, grief for love she had never truly felt. That image would always remain in my memory perfectly in focus.

I slowly opened my hand, and I stared down at the two spots of black soot left upon the pale skin of my thumb and forefinger. Temporary scars, easily washed away. That’s all these dreams were to me…but still the pain they carried hurt more than the deep wounds left on my body.

With a harsh huff, I flicked the remnants of the match away and reached over to the samovar to pour myself a cup of tea. The earthy liquid seared down my throat and revived my senses, kicking the brooding memories away in favor of my present enterprise. Outside my tent, I heard the growing clamour of the fair coming to life—my audience awaited me.

A familiar pang prodded at my heart. Was this all? Would this pitiful life, shrouded away in a performer’s tent, forever be my purpose? In my heart, I longed to use my skills to create the majesty that filled my mind: grand palaces, ingenious machines, symphonies without equal. If I had to be confined to mindless magic tricks for greedy imbeciles, then they would be the best magic tricks ever conceived. In a way, I thought to myself scornfully, I had not left that traveling fair…perhaps I never would. But at least things were different now. I was my own master, and no one would ever cage me again.

As the incense swirled its sickly-sweet aroma through the air, I slipped further back into my tent and drew a sheer red curtain across my masked form. I laid back in my trick coffin and heard several soft clicks as the mechanism closed the lid and cloaked me in darkness—the one place I have ever truly belonged.

Long ago, I had accepted my place as prince of darkness, and I would reign over my realm with proud finesse. So let them in now, the merchants and peasants from all corners of the world. Let them think they are the kings and I am their fool. Let them believe they know what it is like to be afraid.

Let them in, and let them look.

#poto #phantom of the opera #susan kay phantom #my writing #fanfiction #poto fanfiction #erik poto #erik phantom

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rzc11 · 6 months ago

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Magician (Elliot Boggs) in Ultimate X-Men #70. Art by Ben Oliver.

Elliot is a little known mutant from the Ultimate Universe with reality warping powers. The Ultimate Marvel version of Magician is Elliot Boggs. His powers first emerged uncontrollably, apparently killing both of his parents. After being subdued by S.H.I.E.L.D., custody of him is given over to Professor Charles Xavier in the hopes Elliot can control his powers. When Elliot awakes, he quickly urges Cyclops to let him join the X-Men. Shorthanded, Cyclops allows Elliot to help the X-Men take on the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy attacking the 'Academy of Tomorrow. During the battle, Elliot manages to easily defeat the Blob. Afterwards, he adopts the Magician code name, which is suggested by television reporters. Several of the X-Men observe that the reporters got there amazingly fast, as well as the fact that the Brotherhood had no reason for the initial attack in the first place. After Elliot's interview, the X-Men are on good terms with the press for the first time since Magneto returned after a presumed death.

#ultimate xmen #comics #xmen #xmen97 #marvel #uncanny xmen #x men #magician #the magician #ultimate universe #mutant #mutants #Elliot Boggs #ben oliver

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mikanlardyclinic · 11 months ago

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"ah for my next magic trick! I'll increase my assistant's weight tenfold and lift her up without issue! ! Behold and be amazed!"

The curtain closed and the lights turned off for a second the audience was totally in the dark about this new special trick

"okay toga now change with toh- wait wait no! Tohru is supposed to be chugging! h..hey what are you?! Kyaaaa!!!"

PUMP GLLOUNK.. SLOOOUSH.. GLUNK.. Ploorp..

The curtain opened to show the magician blob.. Wheezing while her body kept expanding little by little... The tube lodged in her butt and hidden by her massive frame overflowing a bit and dropping lard on he ground

"h..hnuugh.. Wheeeeze... T..tadaaa!.."

Ochako started floating slightly letting her gut flop down for a second before crashing down back to the floor

"hehe!~ let's all give her a big applause!~ the gravity magician Uravity!!"

"m..my heart huuuurtss...."

"next uuuup!! our beloved sponsors mt lardys! Have gifted us 3 vats of leftover lard and Uravity will finish them in seconds before your eyes!~"

"hnngh.. Nouuu... Pleashe.. .. I..im shou full.. Already!!"

"toga is changing the script again kero"

"let her!~ this is way more interesting than seeing a rabbit be pulled out of a hat!~ although i doubt miss mirko can still do that trick with us.."

#muse ochako uraraka #Muse himiko toga #muse mina ashido #muse tsuyu asui

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shiryawashere · 5 months ago

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i have a coworker who's a goddamn magician at his job but he's very reserved, i'm convinced physically incapable of speaking above a whisper, sometimes kinda socially awkward (though we're software engineers so that's basically in the job description), speaks fluent Japanese just because, knowledgeable as hell on the most random topics, the dude mystifies me. i'm at least 45% sure he's autistic to some degree. he's also a pokemon nerd so we've been routinely bonding by just sitting in the corner playing with the pokey men in our phones, staying in our lane, vibing. i've been trying to figure out if he has a special interest and what it is though bc the dude is so hard for me to read but also i support everything he does forever.

today we realized we both play pokemon TCG pocket so we friended each other and i checked out his virtual showcase of collected pokemon cards and I saw that he has a whole ass binder filled with the same card of slowpoke. and then i realized that the other day he was wearing a slowpoke-shaped beanie at the office and a slowpoke-pink hoodie. you guys i'm picking up on some hints here

anyways i'm now thinking of crocheting him a slowpoke plushie for christmas bc this man fuckin loves a pink blob and i RESPECT IT

#me obsessing abt fictional lesbians :handshake emoji: this dev at my job obsessing over one pokemon #hello my fellow childless weeb comrade. we must stand together against the tide of Normal Dads. take this cartoon animal.#all the slowpoke cards I pull in the future are belong to u #my brushstrokes #....i do wonder if I'm autistic sometimes #it just feels refreshing to bond with another person who's Normal about things irl

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mysterycharacterflowers · 4 months ago

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Round 2; A bouquet of forsythia, holly, yellow hyacinth, petunia, viscaria and orange lilys Vs Spiderwort

If you know who they are, or you are pretty sure of it, please don't tell until this poll has ended!

First, let's talk about the bouquet of forsythia, holly, yellow hyacinth, petunia, viscaria and orange lilys

Meaning and why these flowers were chosen: forsynthia - anticipation. there's a lot of it during the intro to their second fight. holly - defense. it was built to defend, that was its original purpose. yellow hyacinth - jealously. it's jealous that it wasn't the one that won the fight. it would never admit that, though. petunia - anger and resentment. they lost. they're so angry about it that it kills them. viscaria - their fight is like a dance. to me. Orange lilys: this character is full of hate. Hate is what keeps it going, determination to find and kill another character. In fact, you could even say that hatred is the only thing still keeping it alive, as it's too determined to achieve its goal to die Description: This character was made to defend, but quickly that purpose was gone. It didn't have any meaning in life except to survive, until it met its double for the first time. they fought, and it lost. badly. missing a part of itself, it ran away. it then studied the fight it lost, trying to become better and stronger, and challenged its double to a fight again. it did not win. this time, it was not allowed to escape and quickly killed. everything it had done was all for nothing now. everything was cut short as it came crashing down into the ground, having flown too close to the sun. This is all just personal interpretation but I think it based its entire identity around defeating its double and that's why it got killed. It had no other purpose and it tried so hard to be the one to win. Of course, that didn't work.

Check their post here

Now, let's talk about the Spiderwort

Meaning and why this flower was chosen: Its meanings in flower language are "Respect", "Wisdom" and "I respect you, but I'm not in love with you". Because each flower only last a day, it's also associated with temporary/transient happiness. It doesn't need to be watered frequently, meaning it doesn't need lots of attention to thrive. Also, because its petals turn into a blob of jelly instead of drying up, it's commonly called "Widow's tears" (which is very fitting for the character LOL) Description: He's a widower, and (supposedly) a retired cop/detective, that holds a lot of secrets close to his chest. His lies are directly responsible for his wife's death, leading to him going to prison and being investigated about his crimes. He has the greatest divorced energy I've ever seen. He made it very clear he was unhappy in his marriage, and even stopped wearing his wedding ring. He also smokes, and wears torn jeans at FORTY YEARS-OLD. He's very strong: has beaten every single other character in an arm-wrestling competition, has prevented 2(?) people from getting beaten up to death, and has canonically cut melons in half with his BARE FISTS. He is very associated with theater and magician motifs, mainly because he lies a LOT, and ends up misleading the investigation on what happened in his case. It's even implied that he lies about his sexuality, being closely associated with the "Green Apple of Sin" motif. So yeah, he's totally a closeted-gay king and the entire fandom knows this. Good for him!

Check their post here

#round 2 #mysterious character 2: bouquet of forsythia - holly - yellow hyacinth - petunia - viscaria - orange lilys #mysterious character 2: spiderwort

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cosmic-void-themagician · 2 months ago

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If you're a magician, where's the bunny? 🫵

Most magicians on earth have one you know... I'm sure you have one too.

"I... don't actually. But I do have my best (and only) invention ....the one and only C.V.B.O.T Here."

They pick up the small blob like thingy roaming around them.

"I just need to Google out what a bunny looks like, make her scan it and take form of it just like I did with my jet mode anddddddd......Done!"

They give you a close look at the bunny bot.

"... does it make me a true magician now that I have my own bunny?"

They asked, both they and the bunny look at you expectively.

(ooc: full art of C.V.B.O.T Here. You can give me a new earthy name suggestions for her. ^^)

#metal cardbot #metal cardbot oc #oc rp blog #rp blog #robot #new character #bunny #bunny bot #send asks #cosmic void #magician

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allyleetheo · 1 year ago

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Here is a list of Manwha's recommendations. They are sorted into genres, and do not contain any BL/GL.

I have a separate list for BL/GL manwha's.

I have not read any of these yet. (I'll be giving them ratings as I read them.)

Compiled by Lis (Blob / s.class.villainess on Tiktok)

You can search https://tinyurl.com/mwreclist for their complete list and ratings.

Note: This list is mostly not up to date with the episode counts, so most of the titles might have more chapters than listed.

total amount of titles: 439

Key:

🔁 - Complete works

ACTION

Medical Return (100 chapters)

Mercenary Enrollment (76 chapters)

ACTION / FANTASY

A Gate Opened on my First Day as a Politician (24 chapters)

Arcane Sniper (73 chapter of ons)

Crimson Karma (118 chapters)🔁

Damn Reincarnation (29 chapters)

Doctor's Rebirth (82 chapters)

Eleceed (210 chapters)

Ending Maker (31 chapters)

Estio (33 chapters)

F-class Destiny Hunter (59 chapters)

Heavenly Demon Instructor (42 chapters)

Heavenly Sword’s Grand Saga (28 chapters)

Hoarding in Hell (39 chapters)

I Stole The First Ranker’s Soul (41 chapters)

Kill the Hero (103 chapters)

Legendary Youngest Son of the Marquis House (43 chapters)

Leveling With The Gods (60 chapters)

Maxed Out Leveling (21 chapters)

Murim Login (52 chapters)

My Daughter is the Final Boss (83 chapters)

Nano Machine (101 chapters)

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (171 chapters)

Overbearing Tyrant (33 chapters)

Player Who Can't Level Up (95 chapters)

Ranker's Return (remake) (56 chapters)

Reaper of the Drifting Moon (25 chapters)

Reincarnation of the Suicidal Battle God (44 chapters)

Return of the 8th class Magician (29 chapters)

Return of the Mount Hua Sect (72 chapters)

Return Of The Shattered Constellation (42 chapters)

Second Life Ranker (116 chapters)

Seoul Station's Necromancer (41 chapters)

Solo Leveling (179 chapters)🔁

Solo Max-Level Newbie (42 chapters)

SSS-Class Gacha Hunter (45 chapters

SSS-Class Revival Hunter (94 chapters)

Standard of Reincarnation (22 chapters)

Star-Fostered Swordmaster (32 chapters)

Talent-Swallowing Magician (30 chapters)

The Advanced Player of The Tutorial Tower (107 chapters)

The Daughter of The Elemental King (105 chapters)

The Frozen Player Returns (50 chapters)

The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (119 chapters)

The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live a Normal Life (35 chapters)

The Hero Returns (38 chapters)

The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2 (50 chapters)

The Newbie is Too Strong (31 chapters)

The Novel's Extra (28 chapters)

The Returner's Magic Should Be Special (192 chapters)

The Return of The Disaster-Class Hero (48 chapters)

The S-classes That I Raised (105 chapters)

The Scholar’s Reincarnation (140 chapters)

The World After the Fall (12 chapters)

Tomb Raider King (308 chapters)

Trapped in a Webnovel as a Good for Nothing (140 chapters)

Trash of the Count's Family (85 chapters)

Tyrant of the Tower Defence Game (82 chapters)

Villain to Kill (61 chapters)

Worthless Regression (25 chapters)

FANTASY / ROMANCE

A Capable Maid (59 chapters)

A Good Day To Be A Dog (93 chapters)🔁

A Happy Ending for the Villains (16 chapters)

A Marriage Alliance for Revenge (43 chapters)

A Most Virtuous Villain (83 chapters)🔁

A Princess's Guide to Saving Dragons (18 chapters)

A Red Knight Does Not Blindly Follow Money (66 chapters)

A Single Round at Romance is Enough! (48 chapters)

A Stepmother’s Märchen (83 chapters)

A Symbiotic Relationship Between A Rabbit And A Black Panther (68 chapters)

A Tender Heart: The Story of How I Became a Duke’s Maid (110 chapters)🔁

A Transmigrator's Privilege (65 chapters)🔁

A Villain Demands to Be Loved (70 chapters)🔁

A Villainess Is a Good Match for a Tyrant (104 chapters)🔁

A Wicked Tale of Cinderella's Stepmom (109 chapters)

Abandoned Wife Has a New Husband (44 chapters)

Adelaide (85 chapters)🔁

Aileen's on Fire! (20 chapters)

An Unseemly Lady (35 chapters)

Aria of the Withered Branch (87 chapters)

Ashtarte (80 chapters)

As You Wish, Prince! (93 chapters)🔁

Baby Squirrel Is Good At Everything (21 chapters)

Becoming The Villain’s Family (43 chapters)

Becoming You (124 chapters)🔁

Beloved by the Male Lead's Nephew (32 chapters)

Beware of The Villainess! (93 chapters)🔁

Birth of a Goddess (199 chapters)

Bloody Sweet (86 chapters)🔁

Carefully Choosing a Husband (31 chapters)

Carrier Falcon Princess (79 chapters)

Cat in the Chrysalis (42 chapters)

Catherine's Key to a Happy Life (25 chapters)

Caught by the Villain (The Villain Discovered my Identity) (110 chapters)

Charlotte Has Five Disciples (124 chapters)

Cheerful Countess Sisters (68 chapters)

Chitra (141 chapters)

Cierra (23 chapters)

Cinderella Disappeared (20 chapters)

Cradle of Heaven (18 chapters)

Crows Like Shiny Things (49 chapters)

Daisy: How to Become the Duke’s Fiancée (98 chapters)

Dear Nemesis (65 chapters)

Death Is The Only Ending For The Villainess (91 chapters)

Disobey the Duke if You Dare (26 chapters)

Divorce me, Husband! (39 chapters)

Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp (143 chapters)🔁

Don't Hire My Brother Your Highness! (35 chapters)

Dream Lover Strategy Guide (57 chapters)🔁

Empress? Empress! (130 chapters)🔁

Evangeline's Sword (23 chapters)

Everything's Coming Up Roses (23 chapters)

Extras Don’t Want to be Overly Obsessed (56 chapters)

Falling For The Enemy (49 chapters)🔁

Falling into the Deep End (34 chapters)

Father, I Don’t Want This Marriage! (123 chapters)🔁

Flirting with The Villain's Dad (94 chapters)

Follow The Bread Crumbs (70 chapters)🔁

Forget My Husband, I'll Go Make Money (24 chapters)

For My Derelict Beloved (54 chapters)

For Stella (32 chapters)

Fortune-telling Lady (27 chapters)

From a Knight to a Lady (92 chapters)

Go Away Romeo (36 chapters)

Golden Time (47 chapters)

Happily Ever Afterwards (61 chapters)

Heroine's Shares for Sale (39 chapters)

How Did I Become the Princess? (44 chapters)

Honey, I’m Going On a Strike (54 chapters)

How to Be a Dark Hero’s Daughter (40 chapters)

How to Get My Husband on My Side (57 chapters)

How to Hide the Emperor's Child (78 chapters)

How to Prey on Your Master (72 chapters)

I Abdicate My Title of Empress (23 chapters)

I Adopted the Male Lead (90 chapters)🔁

I am the Precious Daughter of the Greatest Villain in the Fantasy World (45 chapters)

I Became the Tyrant’s Secretary (54 chapters)

I Became the Villainess in a Disastrous Novel (44 chapters)

I Became the Villain’s Mother (63 chapters)

I Became the Wife of the Male Lead (47 chapters)

I Bid You Adieu (101 chapters)

I Can't Keep Up With My Stallion Duke (38 chapters)

I Choose the Emperor Ending (115 chapters)🔁

I Didn’t Mean to Seduce the Male Lead (40 chapters)

I Don’t Love You Anymore (58 chapters)

I Don't Want to Play the Matchmaker! (37 chapters)

I Dream of Health, Wealth and a Long Life (84 chapters)

I Failed to Abandon the Villain (44 chapters)

I Found a Husband When I Picked Up the Male Lead (50 chapters)

I Have No Health (51 chapters)

I Listened to my Husband and Brought in a Lover (21 chapters)

I Raised a Black Dragon (74 chapters)

I Raised My Childhood Friend as a Tyrant (57 chapters)

I Shall Kill that Sweet Devil (79 chapters)

Isnelda (26 chapters)

I Stan The Prince (66 chapters)

I Tamed My Ex-husband's Mad Dog (37 chapters)

I Thought My Time Was Up! (30 chapters)

I Tried To Be Her Loyal Sword (34 chapters)

I Was Seduced by the Sick Male Lead (26 chapters)

I Was Tricked Into This Fake Marriage! (107 chapters)🔁

I Will Take Responsibility for the Welfare of the Male Lead (35 chapters)

I'm Not The Final Boss' Lover! (36 chapters)

I'm the One Who Died, but the Hero Went Crazy (32 chapters)

I've Been Proposed to by a Villain (62 chapters)

If You Touch My Little Brother, You’re All Dead (46 chapters)

Inso's Law (147 chapters)

Into the Light Once Again (48 chapters)

Is It a Fortune or Is It a Woe? (83 chapters)

It Looks Like I’ve Fallen into the World of a Reverse Harem Game (74 chapters)

It Seems I've Transmigrated Somewhere (29 chapters)

It Was All A Mistake (61 chapters)

It’s My Destiny To Be The Hero’s Saviour (33 chapters)

I’ll Be The Matriarch In This Life (64 chapters)

I’ll Just Live on as a Villainess (73 chapters)

I'll save this Damned Family! (110 chapters)

I’m a Martial Art Villainess but I’m the Strongest! (72 chapters)

I'm a Villainess, Can I Die? (28 chapters)

I'm Engaged to an Obsessive Male Lead (81 chapters)

I’m Only a Stepmother, But My Daughter is Just So Cute! (65 chapters)

I’m the Male Lead’s Girl Friend (63 chapters)🔁

I'm the One Who Died, but the Hero Went Crazy (23 chapters)

I'm the Queen in This Life (50 chapters)

Justice for the Villainess (43 chapters)

Just Leave Me Be (80 chapters)

Kill the Villainess (100 chapters)

Lady Beast (113 chapters)

Lady Crystal is a Man (30 chapters)

Let Me Die in Peace! (32 chapters)

Let’s Hide My Younger Brother First (40 chapters)

Leveling Up My Husband to the Max (97 chapters)

Lies Become You (18 chapters)

Like Wind on a Dry Branch (85 chapters)

Lillien of Turin (33 chapters)

Long After The Ending (60 chapters)🔁

Lydia's Great Escape (57 chapters)

Marriage and Sword (39 chapters)

May I kill You, Your Highness? (30 chapters)

Miss Not-So Sidekick (177 chapters)🔁

Miss Time (60 chapters)🔁

More Than You Know (28 chapters)

My Dear Aster (45 chapters)

My Farm by the Palace (65 chapters)

My Husband Hides His Beauty (80 chapters)

My Husband, My Sister, and I (26 chapters)

My Mysterious Nighttime Visitor (10 chapters)

My Red String of Fate (90 chapters)🔁

My Sister Picked Up the Male Lead (59 chapters)

My Warmonger Husband (46 chapters)

Necrobride (37 chapters)

No More Nice Sis (64 chapters)

No Outtakes (38 chapters)

Not Just Anyone Can Become a Villainess (68 chapters)

Nullitas: The Counterfeit Bride (55 chapters)

One Pair Lady (40 chapters)

Only Realised After Losing You (26 chapters)

Ophelia the Oracle Queen (12 chapters)

Please Don't Come To The Villainess’ Stationery Store! (36 chapters)

Please Give Me The Pacifier (41 chapters)

Please Marry Me Again, Husband! (36 chapters)

Preventing the Making of a Tyrant (46 chapters)

Princess of the Animals (16 chapters)

Protecting the Witch's Son (38 chapters)

Protect the Knight (53 chapters)

Queen Cecia’s Shorts (80 chapters)

Regina Rena: To the Unforgiven (24 chapters)

Reporting for Duty, Duchess! (48 chapters)

Revenge Wedding (84 chapters)🔁

Rewriting My Tragic Ending (34 chapters)

Rewriting the Villainess (62 chapters)🔁

Roxana (39 chapters)

Royal Marriage (49 chapters)

Run, Meil (50 chapters)🔁

Sacrificed (52 chapters)

Say Ah, the Golden Spoon Is Entering (40 chapters)

Saving My Sweetheart (A Way to Protect the Lovable You) (89 chapters)

Second Life of a Trash Princess (23 chapters)

Secret Lady (43 chapters)

Seven Years Later (36 chapters)

Savor the Taste (59 chapters)🔁

Side Characters Deserve Love too (127 chapters)

So I Married the Abandoned Prince (29 chapters)

Straight to the Red Carpet (40 chapters)

Swimming Lessons for a Mermaid (101 chapters)🔁

Taming the Emperor's Hound (31 chapters)

Taming the Corrupted (45 chapters)

Terrarium Adventure (19 chapters)

The 101st Heroine (71 chapters)🔁

The Accidental Heiress (45 chapters)

The Baby Isn't Yours (29 chapters)

The Beast Emperor and I (26 chapters)

The Beloved Little Princess (96 chapters)

The Black Haired Princess (107 chapters)🔁

The Boutique at 97th Sheldon Street (26 chapters)

The Crown Princess Audition (80 chapters)

The Demonic Contract (64 chapters)

The Destroyer Fell in Love With Me (71 chapters)

The Duchess with an Empty Soul (100 chapters)

The Duchess's 50 Tea Recipes (143 chapters)🔁

The Duke's 99th Bride (24 chapters)

The Duke's Bored Daughter is My Master (57 chapters)

The Duke's Teddy Bear (54 chapters)

The Dungeon’s Dying S-class Lady (24 chapters)

The Empire's Hidden Hope (21 chapters)

The First Night With the Duke (102 chapters)🔁

The Goddess of Healing (159 chapters)🔁

The Golden Forest (55 chapters)

The Golden-Haired Summoner (100 chapters)

The Grand Duchess of the North Was Secretly a Villainess (21 chapters)

The Handsome Male Lead Won't Let Me Log Out! (35 chapters)

The Heroine Is a Man (36 chapters)

The Lady and the Beast (72 chapters)

The Lady I Served Became a Master (79 chapters)

The Lady Tames the Swordmaster (70 chapters)

The Lady Wants to Rest (43 chapters)

The Lady’s Butler (90 chapters)

The Lady’s Law of Survival (61 chapters)

The Little Lady Tames the Leads (22 chapters)

The Little Landlady (22 chapters)

The Maid and the Vampire (76 chapters)🔁

The Matchmaking Baby Princess (51 chapters)

The Millionaire Divorcee (21 chapters)

The Night Without Shadows (60 chapters)

The Noble Pirate (22 chapters)

The Perks of Being a Villainess (45 chapters)

The Precious Sister of The Villainous Grand Duke (69 chapters)

The Princess is Evil (34 chapters)

The Princess's Doll Shop (33 chapters)

The Princess’s Double Life (42 chapters)

The Princess’s Spaceship (85 chapters)🔁

The Protection of Lariensa Gelinus (90 chapters)🔁

The Real Daughter Is Back (21 chapters)

The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion (158 chapters)🔁

The Rebirth of A Tyrannical Empress (103 chapters)

The Remarried Empress (117 chapters)

The Runaway Lead Lives Next Door (41 chapters)

The Second Male Lead is Actually a Girl (16 chapters)

The Stairway of Time (110 chapters)🔁

The Strongest Characters in the World are Obsessed With Me (56 chapters)

The Tyrant Wants To Be Good (32 chapters)

The Tyrant's Sister (121 chapters)

The Tyrant’s Only Perfumer (44 chapters)

The Tyrant's Tranquilizer (37 chapters)

The Villainess Empress’s Attendant (20 chapters)

The Villainess Enters the Game! (18 chapters)

The Villainess Flips The Script! (91 chapters)

The Villainess is a Marionette (54 chapters)

The Villainess Lives Again (95 chapters)

The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass (105 chapters)

The Villainess’s Blind Date is too Perfect (29 chapters)

The Villainess's Road to Revenge (20 chapters)

The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House (54 chapters)

The Villain’s Daughter-in-Law has limited time (35 chapters)

The Villain’s Savior (87 chapters)🔁

The Viridescent Tiara (69 chapters)

The Wicked Woman's Daughter (38 chapters)

This Girl is a Little Wild (50 chapters)

This Villainess Wants A Divorce! (118 chapters)🔁

This Witch of Mine (58 chapters)🔁

To a Happy Ending for The Tragic Novel (20 chapters)

To Those Who Long for My Destruction (38 chapters)

Tricked into Becoming the Heroine's Stepmother (50 chapters)

Trophy Husband (55 chapters)🔁

Truthfully, They Only Remembered Her (76 chapters)

Under the Oak Tree (50 chapters)

Untouchable Lady (51 chapters)

Valia, Tribute to Shuden (20 chapters)

Villainess For Hire (32 chapters)

Villainess in Love (95 chapters)🔁

Villainess Maker (72 chapters)🔁

Virtues of the Villainess (82 chapters)🔁

Wake Up, Warrior (53 chapters)

Welcome to Sylvia's Garden (20 chapters)

What it Takes To Be A Villainess (163 chapters)🔁

What's Wrong with You, Duke? (133 chapters)🔁

When I Quit Being A Wicked Mother-in-law, Everyone Became Obsessed With Me (23 chapters)

When The Count's Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married (34 chapters)

When the Villainess Loves (70 chapters)

Why Are You Obsessed with Your Fake Wife? (34 chapters)

Wished You Were Dead (37 chapters)

Your Majesty, I will raise you well in this life (41 chapters)

Your Majesty, Please Spare Me This Time (73 chapters)

Your Throne (126 chapters)

SUPERNATURAL / ROMANCE

A Chance At Last (69 chapters)🔁

Act Like You Love Me! (126 chapters)

Bitten Contract (95 chapters)

Eaternal Nocturnal (60 chapters)

Goodbye, In-Law! (75 chapters)🔁

Marry My Husband (66 chapters)🔁

Operation: True Love (70 chapters)

Perfect Marriage Revenge (95 chapters)

Rewriting Our Love Story (62 chapters)🔁

The Time We Were Young (39 chapters)

Villain with a Crush (Pure Villain) (62 chapters)

ROMANCE

200% in Love (62 chapters)🔁

A Morning Kiss at Tiffany's (52 chapters)

A Business Proposal (106 chapters)🔁

A Step Closer to Your Heart (94 chapters)🔁

Before It's Too Late (41 chapters)

Charming You (72 chapters)🔁

Date First, Love Later (46 chapters)

Day by Day (74 chapters)🔁

Daytime Star (77 chapters)🔁

Faking It In Style (75 chapters)

His Devilish New Hire (73 chapters)

Idol House (71 chapters)🔁

Interview with the Crazy Rich (53 chapters)

Love Lies (83 chapters)🔁

Maid for Hire (43 chapters)

Match Made in Hell (45 chapters)

Maybe Meant to Be (79 chapters)

My Boss's Special Request (38 chapters)

My Ex, Client (47 chapters)🔁

My Far Too Tumultuous Marriage (35 chapters)

My Irresistible Ex (100 chapters)🔁

My Sweet Girl (98 chapters)🔁

Nice To Meet You (67 chapters)

One Step Away From Happiness (30 chapters)

Our Secret Alliance (71 chapters)

Painful, but Desirable (73 chapters)🔁

Positively Yours (80 chapters)🔁

Revelation of Youth (51 chapters)

Secretary Out-of-Order (20 chapters)

See You in My 19th Life (85 chapters)

Sixth Sense Kiss (51 chapters)

Substitute Boyfriend (55 chapters)

The Lady with a Mask (55 chapters)🔁

The Losing Streak (40 chapters)🔁

The Omniscient Point Of View Of An Unrequited Love (83 chapters)

The Pharmacy Where the Wolf Howls (77 chapters)🔁

The Second Lead Syndrome (38 chapters)

Two Steps Away (50 chapters)🔁

Unlovable Replacement (84 chapters)

Wedding Impossible (72 chapters)🔁

What's Wrong With Your Online Life? (31 chapters)

When the Day Comes (52 chapters)🔁

Wished You Were Dead (96 chapters)

Writer's Block of Romance (27 chapters)

OTHER

From Today On, I’m a Boy (68 chapters)🔁

Ice Lamp - The Chronicles of Kira (74 chapters)🔁

I Work at a Witch's Mansion (36 chapters)🔁

I Became a Doting Father (48 chapters)

Level-Up Doctor (29 chapters)

This Is The Law (44 chapters)

#manwha #webcomic #webtoon

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years ago

Text

Open Circuits

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet that picks up where the old, good internet left off. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Every trip to Defcon – the massive annual hacker-con in Las Vegas – is a delight. Partly it's the familiar – seeing old friends, getting updates on hacks of years gone by. But mostly, it's the surprises, the things you never anticipated. Defcon never fails to surprise.

I got back from Vegas yesterday and I've just unpacking my suitcase, and with it, the tangible evidence of Defcon's cave of wonders. My gear bag has a new essential: Hak5's malicious cable detector, a little USB gizmo that lights up if it detects surreptitious malicious activity, even as it interdicts those nasty payloads:

https://shop.hak5.org/collections/omg-row2/products/malicious-cable-detector-by-o-mg

(In case you're wondering if it's really possible to craft a malicious USB cable that injects badware into your computer and is visually indistinguishable from a regular cable, the answer is a resounding yes, and of course, Hak5 sells those cables, with a variety of USB tips:)

https://shop.hak5.org/collections/omg-row2/products/omg-cable

But merch is only a sideshow. The real action is in the conference rooms, where hackers update you on the pursuit of their obsessions. These are such beautiful weirdos who pursue knowledge to ridiculous extremes, untangling gnarly hairballs just to follow a thread to its origin point.

For the second year in a row, I caught a presentation from Joseph Gabay about his work on warshopping: slicing up shopping cart wheels and haunting shopping mall parking lots during resurfacing to figure out how the anti-theft mechanism that stops your cart from leaving the parking lot works:

https://www.begaydocrime.com/

And of course, I got to give one of those presentations, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification," to a packed house. What a thrill! It was livestreamed, and if you missed it, you'll be able to catch it on Defcon's Youtube page as soon as they upload it (they've got a lot of uploading to do!):

https://www.youtube.com/@DEFCONConference/videos

After my talk, I went back to the No Starch Press booth for a book signing – which was amazing, so many beautiful hackers, plus I got to share a signing table with Micah Lee. As I was leaving, Bill Pollock slipped me a giant hardcover art-book, and said, "You're gonna love this."

I did. The book is Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components, by Windell Oskay and Eric Schlaepfer, and it is a drop-dead gorgeous collection of photos of electronic components, painstakingly cross-sectioned and polished:

The photos illustrate layperson-friendly explanations of what each component does, how it is constructed, and why. Perhaps you've pondered a circuit board and wondered about the colorful, candy-shaped components soldered to it. It's natural to assume that these are indivisible, abstract functional units, a thing that is best understood as a reliable and deterministic brick that can be used to construct a specific kind of wall.

But peering inside these sealed packages reveals another world, a miniature land where things get simpler – and more complex. Inside these blobs of resin are snips of wire, plugs of wax, simple screws, fine sheets of metal in stacks, wafers of plain ceramic, springs and screws.

Truly, quantity has a quality all its own. Miniaturize these assemblies and produce them at unimaginable scale and the simple, legible components turn into mystical black boxes that only the most dedicated study can reveal. Like every magician's trick, the unfathomable effect is built up through the precise repetition of something very simple.

A prolonged study of Open Circuits reveals something important about the hacker aesthetic, a collection of graphic design, fashion and industrial design conventions that begins with this realization: that the crisp lines of digital logic can be decomposed into blobby, probabilistic lumps of metal, plastic, and even wax.

It reminds me of George Dyson's brilliant memoir/history of computing, Turing's Cathedral, where he describes how he and the other children of the scientists building the first digital computers at the Princeton Institute spent their summers in the basement, hand-winding cores for the early colossi their parents were building on the floors above them:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/03/12/george-dysons-history-of-the-computer-turings-cathedral/

You can see my hacker aesthetic photos in my Defcon 31 photo set:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=defcon31&user_id=37996580417%40N01&view_all=1

In this video, Eric Schlaepfer illustrates the painstaking work that went into decomposing these tiny, precise components into their messy, analog subcomponents. It's pure hacker aesthetic, and it's mesmerizing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byKyJ0b04Lo

But Open Circuits isn't just an aesthetic journey, it's a technical one. After all, Oskay is co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Labs, one of the defining places where hardware hackers gather to tear down, pick apart, mod, improve and destroy electronics. The accompanying text is a masterclass in the simple machines that combine together to make complex assemblies:

https://www.evilmadscientist.com/

Defcon is a reminder that the world only seems hermetically sealed and legible to authorized parties with clearance to crack open the box. From shopping cart wheels to thermal fuses, that illegibility is only a few millimeters thick. Sand away the glossy outer layer and you will find yourself in a weird land of wax-blobs, rough approximations, expedient choices and endless opportunities for delight and terror, mischief and care.

Back my anti-enshittification Kickstarter here!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/14/hidden-worlds/#making-the-invisible-visible-and-beautiful

#pluralistic #books #reviews #evil mad scientist laboratories #no starch press #Windell Oskay #Eric Schlaepfer #electronics #hacker aesthetic #makers #diy #secret knowledge #gift guide #photography

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iamvegorott · 10 months ago

Text

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt19

First: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

----------

“Oh, God, he’s wearing a suit.” Marvin groaned when he saw the first Iplier step in through the door. He watched as they greeted Chase and Henrik with handshakes and slaps on the back. Marvin was in the kitchen with Jackie, looking around a wall and through the entrance into the living room. He wanted a peek at who he was supposed to meet before they got to see him.

“That’s Dark,” Jackie said.

“How is that…that’s his name, isn’t it?” Marvin put those pieces together in the middle of saying his sentence.

“Yeah.” Jackie pointed to the one that stood next to Dark. The one with bright pink hair and a mustache that matched. “That’s Wilford.”

“He looks like he reeks of cotton candy.”

“That and bubblegum.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Nope.”

“I’m not going out there. I’ll have an asthma attack.” Marvin and Jackie both quickly ducked away when Dark glanced toward them.

“It’s not that bad. It’s more like a subtle smell than like a stank of it.” Jackie said.

“What if I disappeared and didn’t deal with this? I’ve gotten some of my teleportation spells back, I can leave.” Marvin had just gotten used to all the Septiceyes and now more people are being thrown at him.

Yes, it was just two of them at that moment, but there were who knew how many other Ipliers to experience. He still had Mare, Phantom, Mad, and apparently another age-defying Ego named Blank to get used to as well. Marvin was far from an introvert but even the most outgoing extrovert needed some time to adjust to so many people.

“Chase would ground you so hard for that.” Jackie chuckled.

“Chase can’t ground me, I’m a grown man.”

“You underestimate his mom energy.”

“Then I’ll use Dad to distract him.”

“Who’s dad?”

“Henrik.”

“Oh yeah.”

They moved in silent unison to peek back into the living room, seeing that Chase was handed some papers by Dark and then he immediately gave those papers to Henrik. Wilford wasn’t paying attention to the conversation anymore by the looks of it as he perked up and looked down the other opening to the living room. He had a big grin and waved.

Following Wilford’s line of sight showed JJ and Anti in the hallway. JJ had a polite smile and was waving back while Anti had an evil-looking smirk on his face. A smirk that told anyone who saw that he had something on his mind that would end up being chaotic.

“So much for behaving,” Marvin muttered, but he wasn’t really complaining. He’d admit he was curious about what Anti was thinking about. Maybe he’d jumped out there and just start yammering away, giggling and saying something crude or-

Is that a knife?

“Darky, catch!” Anti shouted with a laugh as he threw the knife across the room.

Marvin’s eyes widened as he watched Dark only blinked as the knife went into the door beside his head. Dark then went from looking like an average man to changing, reminding Marvin of how Anti was that…blob of sorts. He saw Dark’s skin turn almost a decaying gray and there was a glowing of red and blue around his body, reminding Marvin of his magical aura but something about it felt off. The red and blue never overlapped, it was almost a sharp line of separation, two distinctive energies came from those colors.

“Anti!” Dark snapped and Anti only laughed.

“Did he just have two voices?” Marvin asked, looking at Jackie.

“That happens when he’s angry,” Jackie answered.

“How often is that?”

“Whenever he’s around Anti.”

“I can see why.” Marvin hummed.

Before Jackie could say anything, there was a sudden flash of pink between them. Marvin cursed and jumped up on the counter. He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and chucked it at the pink while Jackie held up his fists.

“A snack! Thank you.” Wilford said with a laugh, having caught the apple and bit into it. “Hello, Jackie.”

“Hey.” Jackie sighed and lowered his hands. “You gotta stop popping up like that dude, one of these days I’m going to swing.”

“If it happens, it happens.” Wilford shrugged. “Maybe you’ll send me flying farther than last time.”

“I’m still sorry-”

“Oh sport, you know there’s no bad feelings. It was a blast. Gave me a taste of what you got.” Wilford chuckled and then turned to Marvin, who was still hunched up on the counter. “I see, you have the cat energy while Jackie over here is the dog. A perfect match.”

“I will throw another apple at you.” Marvin threatened as he got off the counter.

“Could I request a banana? I like mixing things up.” Wilford did a little shimmy.

“You look and smell like questionable late-night decisions.” Marvin crossed his arms and leaned away.

“That’s the goal.” Wilford winked and Marvin found himself having no idea how to feel so instead he went around and stood next to Jackie. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to my charms later and, speaking of charming moments.” He gestured with his half-eaten apple to the argument happening in the living room which was mostly just Anti and Dark shouting at each other with Chase trying to get between them and get them to stop. Henrik just pinched the bridge as it all happened.

“I can’t tell if they’re about to make out or punch each other,” Marvin said.

“Probably both.” Wilford shrugged before snapping his fingers and the next thing Marvin knew, he and Jackie were now in the living room with Wilford and a suffocating cloud of cotton-candy-flavored smoke.

“You got an inhaler, Henrik?” Marvin said with a fake cough, waving a hand through the pink fog.

“Wilford,” Dark said flatly.

“That’s annoying.” Marvin used a knuckle to plug one of his ears when he noticed a strange ringing sound coming from Dark. “You are an ADHD nightmare. Overstimulating and dull at the same time.”

“I beg your pardon?” Dark’s glare had gone from Anti to Marvin.

“You can beg all you want, but you’re not getting anything from me.” Marvin grinned when he heard Jackie snort as he tried not to laugh.

“When we were informed that a new Septiceyes was joining us, I was hoping for another Jameson, not another Anti.” Dark exhaled sharply through his nose.

“And I was hoping not to meet the definition of a Barbie wet dream and two-thirds of the primary colors.” Marvin placed his hands on his hips, eyes hard and showing he was not going to back down.

“I take mine as a compliment.” Wilford chuckled, casually eating the apple core. Dark just kept a flat face before looking at Chase.

“Control your people,” Dark said dismissively and turned to walk out of the house.

Like hell, Marvin was going to let that slide.

He cast a spell that would create a green, glowing rope of sorts. Marvin flung it, had it wrap around Dark’s ankle, and, as the front door opened, Marvin yanked and caused Dark to fall on his face.

“Hah!” Anti laughed loudly while Marvin smirked with pride.

The red and blue around Dark flared brighter and he threw an arm out toward Marvin, his shadow forming into a black spear and it went flying. Marvin jumped to the side and avoided the spear, the smirk from before staying on his lips as he held up his now glowing hands, ready for a fight.

“Nope, nope, nope.” Jackie scrambled over to Marvin and threw him over his shoulder.

“Jackie! Put me down right now!” Marvin snapped, knowing he could use magic to get out of the hold but there was a chance it would hurt Jackie so he stuck to the classic, kicking his legs and hitting his back, knowing his punches were literally nothing to Jackie.

“You need to lock him up until he learns how to control himself!” Dark snapped as Wilford pulled him up to his feet.

“And you need to trim your uneven beard!” Marvin snapped back. “You look like you were trying to make it into a mullet!”

“Marvin, that’s enough!” Chase snapped as well, putting himself between Marvin and Dark.

“No, let him keep going, I’m stealing some of those lines.” Anti was still laughing during all of this.

“We will contact you with decisions on this.” Henrik waved the stack of papers in his hands. “Now I think it is best for you two to go home. We will take care of everything here.” He stated before heading over to where some plants were hanging.

“I hope you do.” Dark huffed.

“You are being so grouchy.” Wilford clicked his tongue as he walked Dark out of the House.

“I am not-” Whatever it was Dark was going to say to Wilford was cut off by Chase closing the door.

“The fuck was that, Marvin?” Chase asked with a groan, rubbing his face with both hands.

“He was being a dick.” Marvin protested.

“You can put him down now, Jackie,” Henrik said.

“Okay.” Jackie placed Marvin’s feet on the ground and stepped back.

“He started-” Marvin stopped when Henrik sprayed him with water. “Excuse me!? Did you just-” He stopped again at more sprays. “Henrik!”

“We need to all get along and you trying to fight each other does the opposite of that,” Henrik said and sprayed the bottle one more time before turning and spraying Anti with the water. Anti flinched and hissed at Henrik. “You knew this was coming after you threw that knife!”

“I didn’t aim for him!”

“You still threw it!”

“What’s with the papers?” Marvin asked, using some magic to dry himself off.

“Work,” Chase answered. “Dark’s a workaholic and will organize stuff for everyone to do based on their abilities and whatever.”

“Am I going to be a part of that?”

“If something fits.”

“Gross.”

#magicians dont need superheros #marvelsepticeye #veggie writes #marvin not holding back #also yes #hen uses the spray bottle XD #dark gonna need some time to get used to the marv sass

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fisheito · 7 months ago

Note

What are you hopes and dreams for Yakumo? What kind of event theme would be your dream event? Any kinks or anything in particular you want to see in his rooms? Anything plot-wise you would like to see?

You know, I never thought about that

While playing , i suspend all my worldly desires. Then i take whatever I'm given like a good little F2P 🤣

Tho now that you bring it up🫨🤔..hmm...

Hopes n Dreams: a WIP , it seems . But for now...

- he needs to be in a dress. This is part of my agenda to have everyone put on the dress at LEAST once. No fakeouts like kuya's hakama pants. I want his legs sleeveless. Ready access. Destroy eiden while wearing a breezy skirt or smthh. Follow Blade's example , bc Blade is performing gender VERYwell.!!

Event???:

- yokai event with all three little beasties LOOKIN beastlier?? Yes???? Please??????????? I want them UNSETTLING and FERAL but with sharp beautifusful eyes.

in line with my desire for a snakular yakuhebi, i want him more monstrous. Covered in scales and the tail and the fangs with the dripdrop .which, yesyes probably never will happen but I'm gonna think about it anyway .

- I'm not creative when it comes to event ideas. The devs are way ahead of me on that. All i can think about is restaurant, but we've already had several forms of that. Barista yakumo..maid cafe...valentines parlour.... ahahahh I'm only ever thinking about eating...sorry... ...

- new jot note, new chance, becausr now i am DETERMINED to think of an event i wanna see. *scrunches brow* gmm..hmmm.......!!!! Does it count if i say some sorta winter event. One that requires yakumo to actually exist in cold weather. And he's wearing the giantest puffiest marshmallow of an 800layer coat because he's so very cold and will fall asleep in the snow if you leave him out there too long. Like, his silhouette is just a blob. There's nothing sexy about it. Covered head to toe in industrial arctic expedition protective gear 🤣🤣🤣 yakumo visits penguins. Wait what

-nononono JOT NOTE: TAKE 3! I *WILL* COME UP WITH AN EVENT! A CONCEPT! NOT JUST AN OUTFIT!. . . . . GOD but i just want an excuse to put him in the dorkiest/ most mundane outfits. He's just wearing farming clothes and helping his grandparents feed chickens. He's wearing a stupid little khaki uniform while catching bugs with a net like an amateur. Wait no he's the slutty glittery assistant in a leotard waiting to be cut in half by Magician Eiden where was i going with this i cant actually!!!--- move on to the next qursiyon

The ROOMS?:

- why has yakumo not hit it from the back yet. ? (Not counting FA R5..) Probably because doggystyle would deny him access to eiden's mouth, which is apparently a fate worse than cult sacrifice. Yakumo probably prefers to stare lovingly(🙄) at eiden's face while they're boinking so......

But *I* want them to throw it back. Just once. Eiden ass up face slightly-less-to-completely-inaccessible. Have garu as a guest instructor. I request this specific new angle just once kudapleas

- you mentioned kink and idk about elaborate kinks but '*slaps the roof of the car* TIE HIM UP. SUBJUGATE HIM. MAKE HIM WHINE AND CRY AND COME THE SECOND EIDEN TOUCHES HIS DICK. OR COME UNTOUCHED. THE POINT IS ,I WANT MORE OF THAT BULLYING FROM DARK NOVA R2

- it didn't occur to me to mention this bc i thought it was natural;assumed;common knowledge; but i shouldn't assume whatever i want is group consensus. So, explicitly stating that i am waiting for the snake hemipenes. I would love the non human look but it doesn't look like we'll get that. So I'll settle for 2 human dicks. Incredibly gracious of me iknow.

((Taking a break to thank all the fic authors who fulfill fantasies i know will never show up in game. The mind is a powerful tool but i still need kindling and these writers are made of dry sticks))

Um, ploT? Maybe?:

- the only thing I'd like for plot yakumo is to keep on showing his char development! He's changing ever so slowly!but steadily! Like how in his first interaction with rei, i was expecting him to get cowed by rei's blunt wording, but nope... he... understood what rei meant at base level and responded with a level of Spine and Emotional Awareness, instead of pure panic. Huh. Well whaddya know. Surprised me, fo sho. So I'd like to see him doing his best as time goes on ahhaha👈👉👈👉👈👉🤜

- i have NO idea where they arw going with the plot. Once again i must reiterate that i am like a child in front of a shiny screen re: consuming media. I have All belief. I am just going with it. There are no predictions or criticisms ongoing in my brain unless something is like... egregiously heteronormatively painful. So.

#feesh answer #I'm stopping myself now and just publishing this #because if i let this sit any longer.#well I'll just keep adding #and you wont see this post until months later #so here's the current state of my mind.#maybe later there will be more thoughts #will they be released to the public? no one knows #i was under the impression that i announced plenty of my thoughts #and yet ... the others tell me i could stand to do so..MORE.....?#unfathomable #nu carnival yakumo

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room-surprise · 1 year ago

Text

Dungeon Meshi Season 1, Ep 4 Review

Spoilers below the cut! I have a lot of thoughts on this one so it's a bit long.

This is a slower episode, but I expected it to be. I worry that people will find this episode boring because there's not as much action or comedy as some of the other episodes, and what is here tends to be a lot more subtle, but this is honestly one of THE most important episodes of early Dungeon Meshi.

The pacing of this episode was great, Trigger allowed themselves to slow down and take the material more seriously when it was needed, and I really appreciate that.

Senshi and his connection to the dungeon, as always, makes me want to cry. Kui's focus on respect for the people who do the thankless, denigrated jobs in society like picking vegetables, cooking, and cleaning toilets always gets to me.

Senshi expressing the importance of being part of the ecosystem of the dungeon, and the balance of the world, protecting people not by killing monsters but by keeping the environment in check is so important to the core of Dungeon Meshi.

That, plus the sequence where Senshi refuses using magic to light a fire, instead wanting to do it by hand is also important. Later we'll get to see how magic can excel at some things that can't be done any other way, but for now it's time to focus on Senshi.

The way the party interacts with Senshi in this episode always makes me think of elderly people in Japan who are carrying on doing things the way it's always been done, even if the young people don't appreciate it or even know that they're doing it. The generational gap is a big issue in Japan, since there's so few young people and so many seniors…

It especially makes me think of the senior citizens that volunteered to go clean up the Fukushima nuclear disaster because they didn't want young people with their whole lives ahead of them to have to do it. I remember there was also an old man that took it upon himself to take care of the animals that had been left behind in the exclusion zone, Senshi's story reminds me a lot of him.

THE ANIMATION

The animation wasn't particularly exciting, but for the most part did what it needed to do. The only quibbles I have are minor ones:

There's a black-haired elf in the background of the tavern scene that had darker skin in the manga, and they made her lighter here. She's a recurring background character so I'm not super happy that they changed her skintone, since Dungeon Meshi goes out of it's way to include people of varied skin tones in crowd scenes, but I get that it was probably just to make the composition work. It still sucks though.

Most of the orcs look fine, but there were a pair of lady orcs that had purple-ish and green-ish fur that I thought looked a bit unnatural, compared to the earth tones of all the other orcs. I know Kui leans away from the unnatural skin tones thing (no blue elves, no green orcs) so I wasn't a fan of this, but it was subtle enough that I can forgive it.

I could tell the animators didn't really understand how the nose/snout/jaw situation of the orcs works, and as a result they were animating the orcs like normal human anime faces with a weird blob in the middle for a nose, instead of upturned noses that are part of a snout/mandible that effects the way the face works.

Obviously the animators are more familiar with how to draw standard human faces, and they had to cut costs on this episode by keeping the animation simple, but I didn't like how flat it all looked. Kui's solid construction (from later in the manga) is really missed here.

DUB vs SUB

The subtitles were passable, though at one point they called the dungeon lord the "lunatic magician" which gave me Yen Press war flashbacks. Thankfully the dub didn't do the same thing. Honestly I wouldn't even mind if they switch up what people call the dungeon lord anyway, since it's not like "mad magician" or "mad sorcerer" is a name or title. One of the things I've always hated about "Lunatic Magician" is the way it was used constantly, even in situations where it felt unnaturally stilted, like they had a brand trademark to maintain. The Lunatic Magician™! Now with 50% more lunacy!

As for the dub… The performances were all fine, and there weren't any glaring out of place modernisms, however I'm on the fence about what they decided to do with the orc leader, Zon.

Race and the clash between different groups is a major part of Dungeon Meshi, and this is the chapter that introduces the idea that the orcs are people and not subhuman monsters. It also introduces the idea that the orcs are a displaced ethnic group that lives in the dungeon because other races have chased them from the surface.

Imari Williams does a great job with his performance as Zon, and I appreciate that BangZoom got a person of color to play a character that's meant to be a minority. I hope that they'll continue this trend and that his sister Leed will also be voiced by a person of color, and that she'll speak in a dialect that matches Zon's.

HOWEVER… while Williams' performance is great, I'm not sure how I feel about the script.

Zon and the other orcs' dialog in the dub sounds like it's either borrowing from African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or it is broken English "caveman-speak" that orcs often use in other media.

I'm not familiar enough with AAVE to know if they're using it correctly, only familiar enough to identify that they are using some of the grammatical structures of it. The fact that they hired a black voice actor to deliver those lines makes me think it was an intentional choice.

I'd love to hear opinions from people who are more familiar with the subject. Are the orcs speaking broken English or are they following the grammatical rules of AAVE? How consistent is BangZoom's script in following those grammar rules?

In the original Japanese and in the manga, as far as I can tell the orcs just speak Japanese the same way as all the other characters, so there is no verbal signal of their cultural difference. This is important because this part of the story is all about telling us that the orcs are equal to the other characters.

So choosing to alter the way they speak for the dub is a creative choice that is attempting to communicate something to the English audience, though I am not sure if BangZoom is doing it effectively, or if they are communicating what they intend to communicate.

I do think that it's an interesting choice that they made, I wasn't expecting them to do it, and so I hope they're doing it deliberately, carefully and with sensitivity.

I wonder what kind of accents, if any, the orcs may have been given in other language dubs? If you listened to a different dub let me know! (Also, next week we get to see regular-sized Kabru instead of just Giant Kabru, I'm so excited.)

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #my stuff #review #spoilers #orcs #senshi of izganda

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