#i'll be honest with you. i'm mostly posting this as an excuse to post that gif of misto and tugger

[kaijudyke]

[golden-moony]

king of my heart | pt. 4

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

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yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, carlossainz55, landonorris, and 74,922 others!

yourusername life lately 💌

user1 swiftie, romcom lover and f1 fan... she's really one of us🩷

user2 and that's why she's the girlies' bestie

user3 QUEEN WE MISSED U SO MUCH

user4 as pretty as always 😍

user5 i'm probably reaching here but posting THAT movie feels like a statement's being made 👀

user6 right?? after all the drama she goes and posts that movie title and i just don't know how to feel user7 user6 thank god she just posted the title cause if she'd posted the "you can't lose something you never had" line, i would've lost my mind 😥 user8 or maybe yn just likes the movie??? user9 user8 THIS!! people act like there's a secret meaning to everything and i'm tired of that crap

user10 i'm a simple girl: i see yn and taylor swift in the same post, i like

user11 so what happened? were you starting to lose relevance and decided to come back?😂😂

user12 she needs to pay the bills somehow 😂 user13 girlie came back to keep playing the victim lol user14 y'all need to get a life asap.

user15 YOU DROP THIS QUEEN 👑

carmenmmundt gorgeous woman 😍

yourusername you are💗 user16 OMG MY FAV GIRLS INTERACTING user17 carmen please please please stay away from this problematic woman😕

user18 soooo are we gonna talk about lando liking the post or what

user19 girl i can't do this again user20 can't believe lando is back again with this bitch😒 user21 user20 wtf??? it's just a like omfg chill.

user22 yn please don't leave us again 🥺

📞 calling Pato

[yn; normal] [pato; cursive]

"Hi-"

"I'm not gonna lie, you are either very brave or very stupid for calling me right after the videos of your little date with Lando are going viral. Did you get tired of hiding your relationship?"

"...Guess I deserve that."

"[sights] What do you want, yn?"

"I swear I won't take up much of your time. I just want to talk... well, apologize, actually. I'd prefer to do it face to face rather than over the phone but I know that right now I'm probably the last person you wanna see. At least this way, if you don't wanna keep listening to me, you can just end the call."

"Well, I'm very tempted to end the call right now."

"Pato, I-"

"However, I'm also very curious about what you have to say."

"So...?"

"So I'll give you a chance to talk. But I promise you yn, if I hear any lame excuses, I will hang up and block you. Are we clear?"

"Hundred percent clear."

"Then talk."

"Well... first of all, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I promise it was never my intention to hurt you, even if I ended up doing it anyway. I should've told you from the beginning the kind of relationship I had with Lando and I should've been honest with you, especially when my feelings towards you changed to something deeper. I kno-"

"Hold on. What?"

"What do you mean what?"

"What did you just say?"

"That I'm sorry I lied to yo-"

"No, no. The part about your feelings."

"Oh. Well... you heard me. And I don't know why you sound so surprised. I mean, what happened between me and Lando in Spain was a stupid and terrible decision I made, and I should've known better cause my feelings for you were getting stronger."

"Then why did you sleep with him?"

"I... [sights]. I've thought about it a lot in the last few weeks, you know? I was trying to put all the blame on Lando when in the end I was the one who took the initiative. We were just going to talk to end that situationship once and for all, and then I kissed him. And instead of stopping him when he was going for more, I just let it happen cause in my head it was a form of goodbye. Clearly I ended up feeling guilty but the damage was done. And when I could've made things right by telling you the truth about what happened, I didn't. I was embarrassed, but mostly scared of losing the best man I've ever known... but that ended up happening anyway, and I'm to blame for that."

"..."

"Pato?"

"Did you love him?"

"No. We started out as friends and one day I realized I was attracted to him, one night one thing led to another and we became friends with benefits ever since. He didn't want a relationship at that time and neither did I. But in the last few months that changed for me. I wanted a partner, a committed relationship. Lando wasn't that and I was tired of being just a "casual thing". So no. I liked him, but I never loved him."

"So what was that date night about?"

"Just us being adults and having a real and necessary conversation. I had things to apologize for and so did he. I think Lando and I finally found common ground and are ready to move forward... not with each other, just to be clear. Just friends and nothing else."

"For real this time?"

"For real this time. My priorities and my heart are elsewhere."

"Oh, really? Where?"

"I could tell you or I could show you. To be honest, and if you let me, I'd rather show you. You know, actions speak louder than words."

"Yeah, I've heard that. You have any idea?"

"It depends. What are you doing on Friday?"

pacers

liked by elbaoward, tyresehaliburton, arrowmclaren, and 43,942 others!

pacers We had some motorsport representation in the house tonight!

user1 ynpato being hard launched (again?) by the pacers was not on my bingo card but i appreciate it🫶

user2 this is so random and i love it!! user3 the pacers earned my respect after this 🫡 user4 pacers stonks after this hard launch📈📈📈

user5 YNPATO BASKETBALL DATE? WE WON FR

user6 this is like straight out of a movie 😻 user7 THEY'RE SO ROMCOM CODED

user8 NOOO PATO NOT HER AGAIN 😫😫

user9 right? my week has been ruined. user10 keep cryin' haters 😘

indycar Hi yn and pato!! 👋

user11 basket date a few days after her post? she's an icon AND the mastermind fr 💅

user12 context?? user13 user12 her last ig post included a pic of "how to lose a guy in 10 days" and some people were speculating it could mean something, now yn goes with pato to a basketball game just like in the movie 😂 user14 SHE MANIFESTED IT AS THE QUEEN SHE IS🙌

user15 real question is: yourusername did Pato get you a soda?

patriciooward of course i did! 🙄 yourusername not only that but he also got his head in the game😏🏀 user16 I'M LIVING FOR THIS REFERENCES

user17 they make such a beautiful couple omg🥹

user18 are y'all forgetting she was in a date with lando just a few days ago????

user19 she belongs to the streets fr user20 the day y'all understand yn can be friends with lando or anyone is when you'll finally grow up.

user21 not related but she always slays with her outfits🔥

user22 fashion icon for real 🤩 user23 i want her wardrobe so bad😩

user24 YNPATO CONFIRMED 🚀🚀🚀

user25 i just wanna know if pato can fight 🤺

user26 i wanna be her so badly 😩

user27 same girl, same

yourusername posted to their story!

yourusername

liked by arrowmclaren, oscarpiastri, frosenqvist, and 79,889 others!

yourusername And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for. King of my heart, body and soul 🧡

user1 MOM AND DAD ARE THRIVING 😍

user2 and we love to see it! user3 this is their world and we're just living in it

user4 yn is stronger than me cause if Pato looked at me like in the second pic... 😳😳

user5 IKR??? I'M DEAD user6 i was not ready for that, i'm currently on the floor user7 i meaaaan she's dating him, she already won in life

user8 THE CAPTION???? omg they're so cute🥹

user9 YNPATO AND TAYLOR GANG WE WON

user10 relationship goals for real ❤️‍🔥

user11 tired of being a spectator, I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE😭

landonorris if you three weren't that cute i'd try to steal Norbi from you

patriciooward back off, Norris 🤺 landonorris watch out, O'Ward 🤺 yourusername oh hell no mclaren arrowmclaren may i have permission to ground these kids? mclaren you may proceed 😉 patriciooward WHAT landonorris THE BETRAYAL user12 i used to pray for interactions like these 😭😭 user13 user12 we've come so far 😭 user14 WAAAAR IS OOOOVER

user15 yn's living her best life and i'm so happy for her 🤧

elbaoward I don't appreciate being left out of the photo, but I love you lovebirds anyway 💘

yourusername imma post a dump of just beautiful pics of you😘 love u elbaoward i'll be waiting then ☺️ patriciooward i also want a photo dump🥺 yourusername no 😚 user16 i want to belong to this family so bad, do you need a nanny for Norbi or anything?

user17 atp I'm just waiting for the engagement announcement

user18 same but i don't think i'll survive it user19 CAN U IMAGINE? OMG

user20 tag yourself i'm Norbi in the last pic

patriciooward te amo, preciosa ❤️

yourusername love u more, handsome 🥰 user21 AND I LOVE YOU BOTH

taglist: @drunkinthemiddleoftheday @evie-119 @evans-dejong @minkyungseokie @noneofyourfbusinessworld @bernelflo @eiaaasamantha @ijustgomessitupx @honethatty12 @daemyratwst @f1fan65 @littlexscarletxwitch @sheslikeacurse @charlottejpg @lichterfee @callsignwidow @phantomxoxo @stinkyjax @rubywingsracing @willowpains @urfavsgf @biitch-with-wifi @lightdragonrayne @illicitverstappen @herebereblogs @tvdtw4ever @nataliambc @norwayxo

author's note: AND THAT'S A WRAP! Thank you so much for giving this story a chance💖 To my Lando girlies, don't be mad! He was a jerk in this story but I'll post another one where he gets the love he actually deserves. And to my Pato girlies, stay tuned! I plan to post more stories with him cause it's what our lovely man deserves. And if you want me to write about some other driver, feel free to send me a request! I'll see what I can do🧡 See y'all soon!

[nofomogirl]

We need to talk about body snatching

I'm not a massive fan of the 1827 minisode - if you're curious why it bothers me, I've explained it in my post about two GO canons - but there's no denying it does an amazing job at exploring the complexity of morality and moral choices. It starts with a very black-and-white two-dimensional image and gradually adds shading and perspective, making it harder and harder to judge as we go along.

I think it's worth digging into (pun not intended but I'll take it).

Layer 1: body snatching bad

We learn someone did something

It's those first few seconds where we see a person robbing a grave, and since we know that robbing graves is a crime and generally not a good thing to do, we can quickly form a tentative conclusion that this is wrong.

Okay, in this exact instance, we immediately get enough context clues to see that this kind of judgment would be oversimplistic and superficial. Only Aziraphale, who for some reason acts as if it was his first day on Earth after a thorough memory wipe, is ready to condemn Elspeth based on just that.

Nevertheless, this is the first layer - the deed itself with no context.

Layer 2: body snatching acceptable

We learn about the person who did the thing

That's the whole journey with the first dug-up body where we get to know Elspeth and become privy to her circumstances - she's desperately poor, she has another person depending on her, she robs graves to survive. Aziraphale's suggestions that she might earn her living by selling books, weaving or farming just serve to prove how inaccessible more honest and dignified professions are to her. In turn, her comment about how she's not hurting anybody who isn't already dead hints that from the realistically available options, Elspeth could have chosen something much worse.

Technically this layer is a significant step up from layer 1 but it still isn't really challenging. Things are spelt out really loud for us, and most importantly everything we learn about Elspeth is just attenuating circumstances. To top it off both she and Wee Morag are immediately endearing. The takeaway is that sometimes things that in theory are bad can be excused which is important but the verdict still comes without any second thoughts.

Layer 3: body snatching complicated

We learn the larger context around the thing

This mostly happens when Aziraphale and Crowley discuss body snatching with Mr Dalrymple. We learn that the stolen corpses are used for a medical study that can advance human knowledge and make it possible to save living people and that surgeons have no legal means to obtain enough of them for their research - hence their need to buy them from body snatchers.

At first glance it's just more of what we got in layer 2 - more agruments in favour of body snatching that aren't all that nuanced and don't really give us any pause - just from a larger perspective, beyond Elspeth's individual experience. But if you glance more than once you'll notice this is when things stop being straightforward and easy to judge.

The moment we enter a proper grey area is when Aziraphale asks why Mr Dalrymple doesn't acquire the bodies himself. This is a very valid question - while we might easily agree that studying the human body to further medical knowledge is a good thing, and with just the slightest hesitation admit that it's acceptable to resort to using stolen bodies if that is the only way the research may continue, it's not as easy to excuse taking advantage of the poor and the desperate to do the actual stealing that we know is very dangerous.

The moment we know without a doubt we are in a proper grey area is when Mr Dalrymple laughs at Aziraphale's concern.

Objectively, the surgeon is right that it's more effective if he doesn't risk his own life in the graveyard and uses his time on actual research, teaching students and saving lives. But it's also clear he doesn't exactly see people like Elspeth as actual human beings and feels he has every right to use them. On the one hand, he is paying, on the other, he happily benefits from the cruel class system and is not even one bit remorseful about it. On the one hand, he takes risks too, on the other he has a chance of rewards Elspeth will not benefit from. It's not the poorest whose lives will get bettered by the progress of medicine, even though they're the ones who pay with their lives for that progress. And if Mr Dalrymple gets lucky and is knighted for his work (we know he wasn't in the end but it was a possibility), the poor still won't be pardoned for stealing for him. Nevertheless, he has no issue with that.

As I said, things get nuanced.

Layer 4: it's different when it's someone you know

The thing actually happens in your life

I think you'll all agree that the turning point of the minisode is when Elspeth decides to sell Wee Morag's still warm body. This is what finally leaves us speechless.

That's because up until now we've been approaching the issue intellectually. It's not that we didn't care about the characters, but we were allowed to keep a safe distance. The whole thing was like a problem to be solved - "Is body snatching right or wrong? Discuss in 500-1000 words" - and everything we've learned so far was data for this assignment. I believe that one of the reasons why this detachment came naturally was that there was a very thick line between people involved in body snatching and the bodies that were being snatched. The former were, well, people, obviously. The latter were inanimate objects.

It isn't until Wee Morag is to be sold that we are forced to see a person in a dead body. This is also when real emotions enter the equation.

This shift forces us to question our judgment for the first time. It was easy to justify Elspeth when she was selling a nameless corpse. But the fact that she decided to sell her closest companion - and most likely lover - shocks us. Something inside us strongly objects to how quickly she makes the decision.

And then there's the transaction, and it is also different when it's someone we know. The fact that we knew Wee Morag fully exposes Mr Dalrymple for the heartless jerk that he is. The way he treats Elspeth is the absolute worst and if you haven't realized he was a hypocrite earlier, you should be disillusioned by now.

But at least Elspeth is not a hypocrite, right? It may seem cold that she sold Wee Morag but it just proves she simply believed it's all right to sell a dead body, doesn't it?

Well, about that...

Layer 5: it's different when it's you

You are forced to face the thing happening to you

This layer is reached when Elspeth plans her suicide and asks Aziraphale and Crowley to bury her "somewhere where no ghouls will ever dig her back up again".

It turns out Elspeth McKinnon really was a filthy liar.

Not long ago she was insisting that body snatching doesn't hurt anyone who isn't already dead, and asking why she should let Wee Morag rot in the ground when she starves. But she wants to make sure it doesn't happen to her own body. The idea that someone might dig her up terrifies her and she calls people who do it ghouls. So why was digging up other people okay again? Why should she rot in the ground while other people suffer? There were other people living in the street where she and Wee Morag hid. Why not ask Aziraphale to give the money to them? Or just anybody in need? Why not ask to sell her body as well and use the earnings the same way?

Also, if you look at it from a certain perspective, Elspeth betrayed Wee Morag in the worst possible way. Wee Morag believed that if someone's body gets cut, that person's soul cannot enter Heaven. Yet Elspeth sold her to Mr Dalrymple, claiming that Wee Morag would have wanted her to have the means to survive. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps Wee Morag would have made that sacrifice. But then Elspeth decided to kill herself and use the money she got for Wee Morag's body for her own funeral.

But does it make Elspeth wicked? Certainly not. She's simply torn by grief. I seriously doubt she's been planning to commit suicide when she was taking Wee Morag to Mr Dalrymple. She might have genuinely tried to carry on but the reality of what happened caught up to her. Mr Dalrymple's cruel words certainly didn't help her cope with a personal tragedy. I even suspect one of the reasons she sold her friend was that she had no idea what else to do with a dead body.

Does this excuse her actions? Kind of, but not really.

Elspeth was a tragic character, not an innocent lamb with a heart of gold.

The point is - can any of us really judge her?

Which, coincidentally, is a question that the original Good Omens book toyed with quite a lot.

If you've reached this far, thank you for reading!

[adobe-outdesign]

could you review some of the neopets as animals outfits, like the fennec kacheek, red panda vandagyre, and cockatiel pteri? (those are examples, choose whichever you like!) thank you <3

(Note: I included a random selection of outfits in this post, but feel free to send in asks if anyone wants to see a specific outfit I didn't cover.)

I'll be honest, I'm personally not super big on the "outfit that resembles a real-world animal" trend. First, I play Neopets for the cool fantasy creatures; even the most true-to-life Neopets species have some pretty fantastical colors. I feel like making pets just look exactly like actual animals kind of defeats the purpose of them being Neopets. I get why people would like it and I'm not saying it's bad; it's just not my thing.

Also, the other reason I'm not always big on these outfits is that a lot of Neopets have colours that already resemble real animal patterns. Not only do the outfits blur the colour/customization line quite a bit, but usually I like the colour ones much more, as they keep the actual design of the Neopets in place and just change the patterns and colors, rather than covering up the fun fantasy elements. This also helps them avoid the uncanny valley effect, which I talk about more below.

Also I might be over thinking this but who is making these outfits. None of these animals seem to exist in-universe as far as we're aware. what are the shopkeepers basing these off of. the colours at least have a magic as an excuse

Examples that I think are okay:

Feathery Pteri Outfit: This one's nice! I like the layered patterning on the wings and the high-contrast colors. Most, though, I like that this sticks fairly close to the actual pet, mostly just changing up the tail shape. This almost could've been a paintbrush colour, but then again what colour is up in the air.

(Side note: the eye clipping over the beak is a rendering issue? I think?)

Bouncing Zafara: This one definitely strays farther from the actual pet than the Pteri, but it's a fitting animal choice and it doesn't fall into the uncanny valley, which is all I care about. The body is still somewhat recognizable as a Zafara in terms of shape, and the Miamouse as the joey is super cute.

Freshwater Lenny: Kind of the same case as the Zafara; not super one-to-one with the actual pet, but it's still recognizable as a Lenny and isn't too uncanny. The legs are a particularly nice touch, actually changing the pose to look more heron-like (though they are also the part that strays dangerously into being too detailed).

Please don't:

Adorable Kacheek: Sorry to the fans of this one, but this outfit just resides deep within the uncanny valley to me—like it's a mascot suit instead of just a normal pet. The artstyle is way off from Neopets, looking much more Subeta-ish (except Subeta's art usually isn't so off putting). It's not a bad artstyle, mind you, it's just not very Neopets-ish. I also feel like a fennec fox was also a bad pick for this one, as it's basically unrecognizable as a Kacheek at all.

Feathered Eyrie: Speaking of the uncanny valley, this is another pet that lands squarely there due to having entirely too much detail in the shading and weirdly realistic fur textures. It also just doesn't look very good aesthetically—the beak doesn't fit the face, and the wings are an absolute trainwreck (not only is the perspective wrong, but the left wing is coming from the middle of its back!). On the plus side, you'd be hard pressed to not recognize this as an Eyrie, and it's a fantasy creature instead of a regular animal, so I guess that's something?

Furry Meerca: Hmm... no. This one also suffers from an overly-detailed artstyle and way too much realism, which is especially jarring when placed on top of the Meerca's heavily stylized body shape, resulting in a perfectly round animal with hyper-realistic animal eyes. It's also particularly bothersome because we already had a chipmunk Meerca design in the form of the striped Meerca colour, which is just this but less soul-haunting:

Which is what I meant at the beginning when I was talking about colours vs outfits. The colour is a Meerca that looks like a chipmunk; the outfit is a chipmunk that looks like a Meerca. Big difference.

[secretthegriffin]

A MOST RESTFUL NIGHT

summary: crosshair often fights his exhaustion, but tonight proved to be a little bit more difficult...

pairing: crosshair / fem! jedi ( can be seen as reader as they're unnamed)

A/N : so this is basically an excerpt from a story I'll never finish. I don't usually post what I write but I felt this is special. I also would like to point out I am in no way shape or form a professional writer so I'm sorry if there's mistakes but anyways this is mostly in cross' pov. and its super fluff. with softie and slightly touched starved cross. so no warnings. :)

He sat alone in the darkness of the shuttle. All of his crewmates have been asleep for some time now so the ship was especially quiet. He held his fire-puncher with his supplies, ready to relax and clean the weapon. Most of the time his rifle hardly needed it. Alas he cleaned the damn thing so much though it turned habitual. Often avoiding sleep entirely he would indulge himself with said habit until complete exhaustion. It is so cleaning his rifle, he found himself entirely lost in the activity. He didn't even notice the hesitant figure approaching him from the shadows of the ship.

"How can you see? Its so dang dark" she sighed.

Almost startled, he looked up from the gun speechless. There the jedi stood as breathtaking as ever, standing before him.

"I don't need the light, I can see in the dark". He replied sarcastically.

Avoiding the jedi's sleepy eyes, he took her in. she wore her regular jedi robes, except she had a tightly fitted tank and shorts on as if she threw the robes over her sleep wear.

"figures" she yawned stretching her hands above her to the ceiling. cross was thankful it was dark, she wouldn't see his hawk like eyes devour every inch of her as she stretched. From her pretty face and soft curves down to her beautiful breasts and long smooth legs. Cross would be lying to himself if he said she wasn't attractive. Maker, she was down right the most stunning jedi cross had ever laid his eyes on. He keenly watched as she carefully made her way through the dark to the opposite side of the sofa he sat on. yawning once more she gestured to the rifle.

"Well, go on" she proclaimed.

"What?" He was taken aback a bit to be honest.

"Don't let me stop you from cleaning the damn thing". Gesturing once more to the rifle, but with a smile.

That damn smile. It made cross's heart flutter a bit. She could never know what she does to him. She made him felt things one never thought could exist. He hated it. Hated she made him felt this way. And yet. He hated how much he loved it. oh so much. With heat rising to his face, he smirked. going back to his business. Basking in the warm feel of her watchful eyes as he silently cleaned the weapon. He didn't quite understand why she watched. But he also didn't really care. He loved the idea of being the very object of her interest in this moment.

"Its soothing". She whispered. as if reading his mind.

"Excuse me?" He whispered back.

"The noise. Watching you...its.. Meditating" she hummed, closing her eyes.

"hmm". He didn't really know what to say, she must be especially tired.

"Can I get a better view?" Her bold question surprised cross a bit, making him stop suddenly to directly look at her.

"What do you mean?"

She huffed. her cheeks going pink as she smiled at him again, turning his insides to mush.

"Like this". She lifted his arm off his lap and gently adjusted herself to lay across his lap so her head rested on his thigh, looking at the rifle and his hands.

"Now I can watch closely and comfortably." she said quietly lifting her hands to snuggle between her head and his thigh.

"If I didn't know any better, sweetheart, I'd think you're looking for a different kind of entertainment tonight". He teased with a chuckle. Though he was not so subtly trying to hide the fact he was entirely flustered by the closeness. He couldn't take his eyes off her beautiful face. The warmth of her body on his thighs sent shivering chills through his body. Maker what he wouldn't give to wrap his arms around her and pull her closer to him, into his lap.

she giggled at his response but playfully smacked his leg.

"shut up. now c'mon, I'm trying to meditate." she insisted.

Looking down onto the gorgeous jedi, Cross gladly went back to his rifle, but not without a stupid smug smile on his face.

She watched intently as his skillful fingers cleaned the rifle. His hands were so carefully delicate as he took the weapon apart. She was surprised the mean marksman could care enough about something to treat it so. Watching as if he was an artist, it relaxed her. Sighing as she slowly fell asleep to the soft clanking of the metal.

As soon as Cross noticed she was soundlessly asleep, he thanked the stars for such a moment. His gun long forgotten, Cross silently studied her features and the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She looked so gorgeously peaceful and so serene. and so perfect against his lap.

"Mesh'la". He breathed. Gently brushing loose strands of hair from her face. His hands trembled as he ever so lightly with the tips of his fingers traced her face. they ached to reach out and hold her, but he could never let himself do that. After some time she began softly snoring. So with a tired and heavy sigh Cross tucked his arms under her, lifting her to his chest bridal style. He slowly and carefully made his way to her bunk. Softly laying her against the cot. But as he turned to go to his own cot, her hand reached out to his wrist stopping him.

"Do you wanna lay with me?" she whispered. She sounded so tired, and so beautiful. Cross sighed another heavy sigh, he too was tired. hesitating, he slid next to her, not touching her, but sitting awkwardly just next to her. He eyed her as she lazily curled herself next to his side, falling back to sleep. for a moment he thought about going to his own bed. until she reached out in her sleep, wrapping her arm across his chest to snuggle into his side. cross's heart completely stumped. He completely gave into his feeling he was never going to beat, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close to him as possible. He curled into her, almost melting. Soaking in the warmth of everything her. He felt so undeniably comfortable, he wished the stars this wasn't a cruel dream. As he held her tighter to his chest he succumbed to the drowsiness he'd been avoiding for so long. Loosing another internal battle. Falling oh so deeply into a blissful slumber.

-----the end---- <3

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Hello ! 😊

First of all, I read your Blog etiquette , and I hope I use it correctly. If not, please excuse me, I'm just kinda dense sometimes 😅

I wanted to ask you an advice on writing , if it's okay ...👉🏻👈🏻

I want to write and post Fics on my Tumblr but English is not my first language and I'm HELLA self conscious about my grammar and stuff ...

Do you have any advice for non-native speaker to get started and post stories in English please ?

( BTW, Keep writing : you're awesome 😘)

Hi and thank you for the compliment!

And yes, you've done everything right, thank you for reading it :)

As a non-native English speaker myself, I'll try to help you out with this issue. I have to be honest, I'm not sure when I started writing in English, but I believe it came quite natural to me, because our English classes are mostly like our German ones, so we would have to write whole stories and essays and stuff in English, so it was something I was already doing. And probably not doing it correctly all the time. And that is something that you will have to be ok with.

That there will be mistakes and there will be phrases that sound a little too stiff, sentences that are structured like your native language and words that don't have the same impact in English.

My suggestion would be to just start. Write little things. Don't be afraid to go back in and change a sentence when you later see that it's not exactly what you wanted to say. It's a learning curve and you will become more confident and you definitely will become better at it. For me personally, it was really helpful to read in English, to see how stories look like, how they explain what you want to explain, to find new words to incorporate.

And another advice would be: don't apologize beforehand that there will be a ton of mistakes, because it's not your first language. You can just put "not my first language" if you want people to know about it and if you maybe want feedback on grammar or something. But don't apologize. Even if the reader doesn't want to, it automatically makes them hyper-aware of mistakes. And you want them to enjoy your story, not focus on that.

Also remember: It's awesome that you are able to write in a different language. That is an accomplishment. And also, people make mistakes in their own language all the time. If you keep practicing then your mistakes won't be a distraction for the reader reading and enjoying your story. Even if there still are a few here or there.

I wish you all the best, my friend!

- Jana

[total-drama-brainrot]

Hello! About the fake dating!au, I was wondering how the episode Niagara brawls would play out if Alenoaheather was happening. Would Alejandro and heather still be paired up or would one of them be paired up with Noah?

Well, to be entirely honest, I haven't really thought too much on it yet. Mostly because it's still kind of up-in-the-air as to when Noah's elimination would take place in this AU. I think we've sort of settled on post-merge, so he would be present in the Niagara Falls challenges, but the timeline's still really vague so I personally haven't really invested any time in figuring out the semantics of how each episode would play out.

But since you asked, I might as well toss my hat into the ring! I'll just type out my thoughts as they come, so please excuse this response if it's a little all-over-the-place or formatted weirdly.

Off the bat, it's been fairly well established that the canon final four remains unchanged, so at the very least both Sierra and Cody are still present in this challenge; this is important, since in canon the only reason Heather ends up partnered with Alejandro is because Sierra is the one who rejects him as a husband first. I don't really see a reason to change the canonical play of events here, unless a brainstorming session later on down the line necessitates Noah being paired with either Heather or Alejandro for whatever reason. Mostly just because keeping as many "pre-written" plot points as possible lessens the workload on our shoulders (us, of course, being me and @perpetualexistence, and occasionally @ur-local-brown-multifandomist).

But that does leave the question of who Noah would be paired with.

And again, this would be super dependant on who's left in the competition at this point; since Noah's made it to the merge, we know someone has to have taken his place in the London elimination- just that small change could have potential consequences on all of the subsequent eliminations afterwards, so the merge cast might look almost completely different to World Tour's "official" line-up.

And this is also super dependant on whether or not it's Blaineley who wins the Aftermayhem challenge- I'm not sure if any of the others intend to swap her out for a more interesting/plot relevant contestant (which, as much as I do love Blaineley, she's just find of there with no real relevance to the story) like perhaps Lindsay, Leshawna or maybe even Beth- I assume it'd have to be a girl, since the show itself works to even out it's gender ratios, but it could hypothetically be anyone.

So Noah's partner could be... literally anyone, save for the Final Four (Alejandro, Heather, Sierra and Cody).

...Unless?

Now, don't judge me here, but I do kind of like the idea of Noah ending up with Heather as his partner. Maybe it's the vast potential of how their (entirely self-constructed, and self-indulgent) character dynamic could play out in this scenario, or maybe I just want the opportunity to write Noah trying and failing to pick up Heather, eventually leading to her being the one to carry him across the Falls tightrope like a pathetic, soggy kitten. Or maybe I'm just getting my Noaheather on- who knows?

All I'm saying is, they'd be giving a lot of Connecticut Clark and Malfina vibes and I'm so here for it.

And maybe I just want to see something new; there's so many explorations of how an Alenoah Niagara Brawls challenge would play out (and they're all wonderful, don't get me wrong!) so it's time to give some other pairings the spotlight!

Plus, this particular scenario would not only allow the contestants to see Heather and Noah acting like the "fake" couple they're supposed to be, but Alejandro could also play it as either a double-breach of his trust (since he's also supposed to be "fake" dating Noah, at least, and he has his whole romantic rivalry with Heather) or take advantage of his position and try to charm whoever he's partnered up with and either secure a valuable ally for later on down the road, or beguile his next elimination target into a false sense of security- since a huge part of Alejandro's character is his conniving flirtatiousness, and I don't want to completely negate that.

Now that I'm thinking about it, Alejandro's flirty nature could be a conflict point between himself and his partners. That's a thought for another time, though.

But, again, it's still very up-in-the-air and I don't really think I can give a definitive answer until a proper elimination order has been established- or, at the very least, the elimination order pre-merge. So, uh, sorry for the lack of a definitive answer!

[citadelofmythoughts]

Hello new mutual! and hopefully new friend!

I'm sorry about vaguing on the Tai post I made. That wasn't good. The whole thing is a sore spot for me, but that's no excuse. I'll endeavor not to vague about people like that, especially those I have huge respect for like you and Xel.

Anyway, my question!

Who is the best villain in MHA to you, if you have a best villain?

Mine are Toga and Dabi, but mostly Toga.

To be honest, I was planning on sending you an ask too, I feel like I was somewhat out of line.

It's fine for us to disagree about stuff like this.

Now for that ask...

Hmmmm, that is tough because it's very hard for me to look at a villain and say "I like them". But MHA does do a good job of at least making them sympathetic and you can see what led them to become what they are.

And I do have sympathy for Toga even if she did something unforgivable in my MHA fic lol.

Society failed her utterly and she's trying in her own messed up way to find love and while I find her actions repulsive there's a part of my heart that hurts for her.

[theasexual-jackson]

Before this ted talk start, I just wanted to ask for any antifeminist, conservative, right wing or anything related to this to just, please, do not interact, like, reblog or do anything about this post. I'd be seriously disappointed in myself if any Christian right winged antifeminist agreed with me, because that's not the point of my life and 100% not the point of this post, so please, if you fall on the characteristics of this warning, ignore this post and go eat your hamburgers with cheese. Thank you.

Also, content warning for references to s/a.

Misandry, even if it's a understandable response to men in patriarchy, should not be apart of feminism.

Even tho I'm not a feminist, and will probably never be, because my experiences with patriarchy are from a trans non-binary point of view, and feminism is about women + another couple reasons, I would really like to point out something.

Misandry can't be apart of feminism because the patriarchy only protect cis heterosexual white men.

Using misandry in your feminism will ignore the experiences of trans and men of colour with patriarchy and how it fails to put them on privilege.

And no, I'm not invalidating your crippling fear and hatred of men that developed from being a woman getting abused by misogyny, because no 1⁰, I'm also deeply scared of men, and no 2⁰, I also have moments where my only reaction to cis & white people is deep breath so I'll not end up throwing hands (cause let's be honest, y'all are seriously dumb /j). But does that interfere on my black and queer discourses? Obviously not!

Because if I do let my honest disappointment with white and cishet people get to my activism, it will interfere negatively on it, because it block different perspectives from the system that affects me and my perception of how does it work. Same with feminism and misogyny.

If your honest disappointment with men get into your feminism, you won't be able to accept masculine perspectives on patriarchy, specially trans masculine and racialized masculine perspectives. And they are important because patriarchy literally fails with them!

Let's take rape culture and black men for an example.

We have fulano, a white man who has a literal fetish on 14 year old girls, and ciclano, a black man who got falsely accused of csa for money. (Based off of real life? Mmmm, maybeyy...~ But I won't drop names😘 but if you know me, you probably know who I'm talkin bout) Which one of these guys will be 100% protected by patriarchy?

Fulano. For fulano's case, patriarchy will use it's tactics and excuses to protect him. But for ciclano, if ciclano isn't on a environment of conservative black people, there will be hesitation on the protection. Because black men are deemed as aggressive and harmful to (mostly/specially to white) women.

Which is basically why the police only takes accusations from women seriously if they're against men of colour. If you, white girl, do an s/a accusation against a white boy, there will be little to no effect. But if you do it against a black boy, the shit going on with be completely different.

Am I saying that feminism should include men? Obviously not, because feminism is about women. But when we're talking about the patriarchal system in general, we should pay attention to different perspectives, because that'll get more knowledge on how does it work and how do we defeat it, because patriarchy is not only “men > women”; It's a system where white cisgender straight men get a privilege over any other type of person, be them a gay man, a cis asian woman, a black genderfluid person, etc.

Anyway, I hope y'all got my point. Kisses from Angel.

[cassidystarks]

Rookie Moves (MJF x Reader)

This was requested by @okadaizoirl, sorry this took so long to post haha, but it's finally here! I hope you enjoy it!

Warnings: degradation, humiliation, shower sex

Word Count:

10. "looks like we'll be trapped for a while"

20. "touch them again and I'll kill you"

23. "did you hear all of that?"

As a rookie in the wrestling industry, I have been mostly just a jobber my whole career, but after finding myself signing up to join AEW, life has been getting better and better. Everyone has been so kind to me, well, most of them. There is Max, who is pretentious as he is gorgeous. He is the rudest person I have ever met. Though somehow, I can't help but think about him. I push thoughts away all the time with ease, but he just seems to stay on my mind more than I'd like.

Though when Tony Khan called me into his office and told me I would be having a match with him tonight my heart sunk into my chest. I did not want to wrestle that dickhead, but at the same time if I pin him it would absolutely destroy him.

The time came for the match, which was set in the middle of Dynamite. The first two matches were completed and my walk-out music was about to start playing. I have only had a couple matches on Dark, but I am happy to have any matches. I walk out and do my entrance before stepping into the ring. Doing some last-minute stretches I could hear his godawful walk-out song playing and he walks out as self-entitled as ever.

The match lasts for about ten minutes. There is tension, and we both can tell. I manage to roll him up and pin him. I smile big as the referee raises my hand. Max looks as shocked as I feel and I roll out of the ring and make my way up the ramp. I flip him off before going to the backstage area and going to get some water from my dressing room. I tidy up a bit and take a little break before getting ready for a shower.

But of course, I don't have a towel.

I walk out of my room and go down to my friend Anna Jay's dressing room and knock on the door. She comes out and greets me with a hug.

"Hey! I see you won the match, how are you? And how is Max taking it?" She asked.

"I'm good, I have no idea how Max is, he seemed pretty pissed off when he realized I had won. But I mean oh well, what he gets to be honest but anyways, can I borrow a towel? I don't have any in my dressing room." I asked.

"Of course, I got you covered." She said walking back in and grabbing a towel. She comes back out and hands it to me.

"Thank you, you are a whole lifesaver," I said.

I head back to my dressing room before getting stopped by one of the staff members.

"Hey, great match."

"Thank you," I say, giving them a friendly smile.

"How about I take you out for a drink or two?" They said, leaning up against the wall.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'll have to pass," I say politely declining the offer.

"Oh come on, just one drink. It'll be fun." They persist.

"I said no," I say.

"Listen, all you have to do is have one drink with me, it's not that fucking hard." They said trying to grab at my wrist.

"Touch them again and I'll kill you," said someone with a familiar voice.

I look behind me and see Max. He seems even more pissed than before, and I can't tell if it's because of this or the match. I suspect both.

"Look dude, I don't want any trouble."

"Clearly you do, they said no. Respect that."

"Don't you hate them?"

"Did I ever say that? No. The only one who can touch them is me."

I widen my eyes.

"Excuse me? No one can touch me." I say replying to him.

Max gets the guy to leave. And it's just the two of us.

"You could say thank you," he says.

"I didn't need your help," I say rolling my eyes.

He smiles and nods. He's about to leave and my mouth moves before my mind could tell it to.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Why did you do it? I thought you hated me." I said, not looking at him.

"Did I ever say that?"

"No, but you always act like it. I mean the last few weeks, the frustration between us. Explain that then."

"I don't hate you. In fact, I'm pretty fond of you. But we are at different points in our life, I need to get over this feeling, but I can't."

I make my way into the shower after a conversation with Max. To think he is feeling exactly what I am feeling. I get in and turn the water on warm. I bask in the warmth of the water hitting all the right places. I hear a knock on my bathroom door.

"Who is it?" I yell, getting my hair wet.

"Me."

"Max?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah."

"Sorry, I'm kinda preoccupied," I say, starting to lather the shampoo in my hair.

"Come on, I gotta use the bathroom." He said.

I roll my eyes. It is always something with this man.

"Fine, the door is unlocked."

I hear the door open and close behind me. I get finished washing my hair a few minutes later. His presence lingers, so I know he isn't gone.

"Can you hand me my loofah? It's sitting on the sink." I ask.

I look and see his hand extend in the shower with my loofah in his hand.

"Thank you," I say grabbing it, and seeing his hand leave.

I hear the toilet flush and all I can think is 'shit.'

"MAX!" I say turning off the water.

"My bad," he said.

I grab my towel and wrap it around me, stepping out. I was almost done, but clearly, I'm gonna have to get back in when the water cools. I reach for the handle to grab some of my other skincare. I go to open the door. It won't open.

'Oh, come on," I think, giggling at the door handle to try and make it open.

"looks like we'll be trapped for a while," he said, unamused.

"Great," I said rolling my eyes.

I could feel him staring at me. I look over as he pulls me into his kiss. His kiss was soft and passionate. I gave in and kissed back.

What felt like ages, were only seconds. Soon enough his clothes were on the floor and my towel was thrown off my body. He grabs me by the hips and pulls me close. Leaving kisses on my jawline and down to my neck. One hand rested on my thigh, and the other on my waist.

"You want my dick, you dirty slut." He said, slapping my upper thigh.

There was pure bliss flowing off the steam and the rough kisses he was planting on my body.

He pulls me up on the top counter and slid into me slowly. I throw my head back, running my fingers through his hair. His hand runs up to my cheek and pulls me to face him. His eyes told everything. He wanted it just as much as I did.

He went faster and faster as his lips crashed into mine. I felt my climax come slowly, and then all at once.

"Fuck Max!" I yelled, letting my body go limp against his skin.

"For my enemy, you sure take me well."

"For my enemy, you sure do it good."

Sorry if this isn't very well! And also again would just like to apologize for the lack of posting, and how long it took to put this out!

[fyrefrostanimus]

A Couple of Nightmare Mangle Design Sketches

I swear, I just can't stick with one design for this guy.

I started thinking about these with @feddy-fagbear's post talking about how humanized versions of Mangle tend to be too normal, and since a lot of my Nightmare Mangle designs have at least one normal human face for one reason or another.

I should note that I do draw Nightmare Mangle as simply masculine (mostly due to the lack of any pronouns other than he/him specifically for NM Mangle), however you are free to headcanon them as whatever.

There will be body horror, so I'll put them under a cut (some are less heavy than others, so I'll also try to order them from least to possibly most distressing).

So we have the first design, which looks human at a passing glance

My idea with this one was taking the idea of the Toys being partially a security device that went a bit wild, hence the Bite of '87 happening. This design was slightly inspired by The Razor from Slay The Princess, in the way of that it will try to get you to come closer and trust it, unlike the usual FNaF 4 formula (I didn't mention this, but I imagine this being Jeremy Fitzgerald's nightmares after the Bite). It wears a security uniform, and if you try to inquire about the lack of a badge, it will try to think of an excuse as to why it doesn't have one. But if you step close enough, wait too long, or try to run, it charges. Its neck turns 180 degrees and shows the skeletal fox face on the other side of its head, grabbing you with the extra set of clawed arms on its back (the tail isn't important to anything I just wanted to draw a tail). To hide these, it just tucks them tightly to its back.

The second design is the two-headed design that doesn't even try to act normal.

The two heads each control half of the body (and the fox head controls the tail, naturally). The fox head acts like an animal, probably just wanting to find food and not waste time attacking people. The human head, though, is sadistic. But the human half of its body doesn't have any extra sharp teeth or claws, and isn't remarkably strong. So it taunts the fox head into attacking whatever it wants it to out of fear, making it always on edge and paranoid. And YES, it is supposed to have clothes, but I didn't want to do a security uniform for this one and couldn't think of anything else.

The final design is more of an idea if I'm being honest. I thought about werewolves and just the idea of something looking completely human with no abnormalities, before every joint in its body bends the opposite way its supposed to and looks completely different than it started.

I don't have any fullbody sketches of this one looking like a human, but it's basically the first design but with more werewolf (werefox?) elements. I'm leaning to this one being the one I choose to use because werefox.

[larsbarsart]

Day 30. Post-MH

I'll be honest, this was mostly an excuse to draw all these kiddens together. They all made each other friendship bracelets :3

Leah-Marie is @bananaman86's. I adore her and think they'd all get along like siblings. I have a lot of thoughts about them all hanging out in general, I'll get into that under the cut.

here's them without the funky overlay

so, the Wright kids, am I right? For this post I'm gonna stick to this post-canon trio

So in my mind the way they meet is some typical undertale-multiverse bullshit. Frisk just comes home with these two in tow like "Hey, Dad, I found new siblings aka your kids from other universes." You can imagine Tim's reaction.

Even though they all have Tim Wright as their dad, each of them are slightly different from each other, so meeting another Tim is just... Uncanny. It makes Sam uncomfortable while Liam, I imagine, is just fascinated with it.

It was Frisk's idea to make matching bracelets so that they all have somethings to remember each other by. They and Leah do the best they can, but Sam's bracelets are by far of the best quality because she has done this several times before as a little hobby.

Sammy is 6'4" so she constantly makes fun of Lee for being short. When he points out that Frisk is even shorter, Sam says that at least they have an excuse. Because they're, like. eleven.

Points at Leah Marie: Assigned Middle Child by the Multiverse

Once they get over the fact that they're in a whole 'nother universe with monsters, Sam tries to learn all she can about them, while Liam is just looking around trying to see them all

When they pop into Frisk's universe, they've already freed all the monsters. idk I felt like that was something I should mention

I think Leah Marie is gonna have a field day when they find out Tim is gay in this universe (and bi in Sam's).

"Diversity Win! In another universe my dad has a robot boyfriend!"

Meanwhile Sam is still grappling with the fact that her dad's dead friend was revived in this universe.

Frisk: "Don't worry! I'm working on the rest!" Does not elaborate

Frisk calls Liam "Lee-Mee" or "Lea-Mar" (pronounced like Lemur). I thought it'd be cute

Anyways, in older sibling fashion, Sam calls her "King Julian" and makes various jokes to tease him.

Anyways, my brain has now been emptied. Now they are just rotating in my mind hand in hand

[echantedtoon]

Demon Bride Ch14 Of Reading And Memories

(SMALL UPDATE: Yeah. I realize this chapter is pretty later than most but irl stuff is happening that's making it a bit harder for me to get these out quick so chapters will be coming out much later. So here's what I'll be doing. I'll be writing a handful of chapters and them post them in a small bundle. Thanks everyone for their patience.

Warning: Mentioning of reader's injuries also reader gets a papercut and a little bit of blood is shown, also mentioning of past abuse, death, killing, and past abusive homes considering the Spider Family. Kyogai does have a garden, it looks something like the picture linked below only a bit bigger. Also spider family is Rui's actual family for this au.

5699352924_5b8548d946_o)

"But it's strange Enmu would mention flowers." 

Your head briefly turned to the door as you heard Kaigaku's angry voice yell some kind of profanity you couldn't quite make out from down the halls before looking back to Kyogai. "Why would it be strange that excuse of man would mention flowers?"

You didn't think it was that strange this Enmu person would complain about the women around here wearing perfume. Yes it was a bit rude but everyone had different opinions on it. You yourself thought some perfumes were too strong which was why you never wore any...Aside from the fact that you were literally too poor to ever buy even the cheapest of perfumes. Plus there was mostly women servants here. Of course ladies were going to wear make up. But Kyogai only rose a confused brow in general.

"None of my servants wear perfume. In fact it's banned."

"Wait. Seriously?"

He nodded. "The scent attracts troublemakers to my home too often, and to be honest, it clogs my sense of smell which can be dangerous if an emergency were to arise. And I hate the thought of it! Perfume is no substitute for a good bath with soap!"

Well you kind of agreed with him on that part. "Then why would he mention perfume?"

Kyogai just waved you off casually. "Eh. Enmu spends a lot of time managing a train. Many humans and demons alike use it for travel, and many of them are women. He must have smelt it so many times, it's been ingrained within his insanity." With a gentle hand he patted your shoulder before standing back up. "Either way, we know what is wrong, and fortunately it is not as serious as I feared." He smiled at you happily. "You'll be able to walk again with no long term damage."

"Yes.." You slowly looked up at with a deep frown. "But now I'm expected to stay here for an entire extra month!?"

Kyogai blinked before giving a guilted look and clearing his throat. "W-Well...I mean-..You were planning on staying until this month is over and when mating season ends anyways."

"Yes. But that would've been just two weeks minimum, Kyogai. But now that man says I HAVE to stay for an extra three weeks!? Is that even needed!? You yourself said he's crazy."

"Enmu IS crazy," Kyogai clarified holding up his hands, "But he is mad in an annoying and perverse way. He is not crazy in a literal insanity seeing things that aren't really there way, no matter how much that seems to be the case. I do not usually take his words seriously but...I was not lying when I said he's very wise in medicine. If he says it's best for your health to stay here longer-..." He sighed. "Then I'm afraid it is out of my hands, and you have heard him. He will not return for a month's time, so he won't be able to give you another check up until then. You will have to wait, Y/n."

Your stomach and expression dropped. You'd have to spend an ENTIRE MONTH just-...Sitting down in a chair for days on end doing nothing!? By gods you'll go stir crazy! There was literally nothing you'd be able to do then! No walking around, no seeing others, no going outside- Just you being stuck again! ...At least your leg won't be stuck inside of a bucket of cold water anymore. That was the most annoying part of this entire ordeal. With the glass jar Enmu handed him in one hand, Kyogai excused himself out of the room with the excuse of making sure Kaigaku didn't try to start a fight with Enmu and making sure the small man didn't try anymore of his tricks. But he made sure to send Eri back to you as soon as she was finished cleaning the spilt bucket of water, and she seemed fairly concerned about your wellbeing as well. Fretting and looking almost panicked when she came running in. All four eyes blown wide open in concern.

"Mistress Y/n!," she practically broke more of your bones in her grip as two hands grabbed your shoulders and another pair grabbed your cheeks. "Are you ok?! Lord Enmu didn't do anything to you did he!? I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help you more."

You practically had to shove Eri off you before she released your poor body. "I'm FINE!," you stressed with a hiss from your sore cheeks, "And I don't get why everyone's so worried about him seeing me. Isn't he supposed to be a doctor?"

"Well...yes. But Lord Enmu's known for being a pervert despite actually knowing about human medicine."

You ended up staring at her for a solid ten seconds. "...WHAT!?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you didn't know."

"HOW was I supposed to know that!?"

"....Ooooh. Oh right. I keep forgetting you're not from around here, so you actually wouldn't know about him."

You face palmed after that.

Well what now? The same things as always, starting the very next day. Minus the constant buckets of water, you found yourself starting to get bored just sitting and talking to Eri all day. As much fun as it was to talk to Eri no matter how delightful she was, you were really starting to feel very bad stir crazy. But you did get some break from it when you read the thick book of stories both to yourself and out loud to Eri. You hadn't gotten much chance to read a lot of stories growing up despite your grandmother teaching you how to read and write from a young age and having a small (barely qualified-) library in your small village, being too busy with many things. Taking care of your elderly grandmother and barely qualified small farm, and of course working your way through that debt that always loomed over your head.  So you didn't have much time for such things growing up, but now you guessed was a good enough time to do so. Your foot also felt better and better slowly day by day as January slowly started coming to a close until later when out of curiosity you asked Eri, and she confirmed that January would be over in another three days. My. How time flew. But one good thing would come from that at least you wouldn't have to worry about anymore irrational men bothering you-

SLAM!!!

The book you were holding fell from your hands startled from the sliding door to a room being slammed open with enough force to rattle the doorway and make the sound echo out into the hallway. Luckily Eri wasn't here at the moment, otherwise she would've most likely fallen onto you from peering over your shoulder at the book like she usually did, and toppled the both of you over.

"SOMEONE GET ME SOME DAM FOOD!!," an angry voice raged from the hallway just outside your door making you snap your head to it, "AND THEN LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!! I DON'T WANT TO BE BOTHERED!!"

Speaking of irrational men-

There was a few stomps followed by a yet another equally as loud slamming noise signaling a door had been slammed closed. Ah. Right. You forgot that Kaigaku's room was literally right across from yours, so you'd be able to hear any yelling and raving he decided to do. Great. His muttering was so loud you could faintly hear his mumbling through both your doors, so either his voice was always very loud or these walls were very thin. Sigh. Oh well. You just had to remember.

This wasn't permanent. 

Sure. You might have to stay here for a little longer than you wanted to, but in the end you'll be out of here still. It was only a matter of time, and as much as that Enmu man was strange, he was also right. It wouldn't be good on your ankle if you pushed yourself too much or too hard so soon. It would be better to lie low and just let your ankle heal for now-

"DAM IT!! WHERE'S MY SWORD POLISH!?''

  You glanced back towards the door with a deadpanned face.

Yes. It was temporary but it would surely be a llooooonngg month ahead of you. But surely you'll be able to withstand him for the time being. Surely-

"My lady, will you please tell me again why you're insisting on carrying on like this? I must look ridiculous I must say."

"Because I want some fresh air for once! And Kaigaku's yells are getting on my nerves!''

That's it! You've had it! YOU COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! Kaigaku has been here for most of this week! How did you know if you rarely ever left your room? Simple enough. You heard him. Did that numbskull ever sleep!? You swore it was like he had a built it inferno that kept him blasting that fiery temper all the time. When you were trying to eat he'd make a sound so loud, you ended up dropping more than one tray over yourself in a startle. Poor Eri had to more than once take you to the women's bath for an emergency clean because you'd spill it all over yourself. You had to end up having Eri look to see if Kaigaku was nearby before you ate anything in order to make sure you wouldn't end up accidentally spilling it on yourself. Not to mention the inconvenient times he kept you up in the middle of the night AND day! Whenever you tried to sleep he'd be awake for so long it'd take forever before you could actually fall asleep. He'd wake up so early that you couldn't even sleep in before Eri fetched you for breakfast. You had asked Eri if maybe Kyogai could talk to Kaigaku and make him quiet it down, but unfortunately it seemed the odds were against you.

"I can try- I mean..Lord Kyogai can try, but with Lord Kaigaku being of higher rank, he doesn't have to listen to my lord. So even if he did tell him to be silent, he most likely wouldn't."

There goes that hope. Sigh. Well you couldn't take it anymore! You NEEDED some form of peace and quiet. Even if you had to have Eri carry you to get it! You rather quickly learnt there was a garden area within the back of the mansion, fenced off of course to the rest of the forest so no outsiders could get in, but a garden nonetheless. It sounded perfect! So you asked Eri about it and she confirmed it was in fact a real garden and that it was open to all the in the mansion which included you! Wonderful! With Kaigaku being angry around the mansion, then maybe you'd get SOME kind of peace and quiet outside. So early one morning, you took Eri aside and talked her into (forced her-) to agree to take you to the garden that very morning. She of course was against the idea but in the end you convinced her (otherwise you would've crawled there yourself. Which lead to the now, with Eri bridal carrying you towards a section of the mansion you haven't seen before. Some other passing servants gave you a brief glance but it seems everyone had gotten used to your presence because most just ignored Eri, going around on their own merry way with whatever work they were tasked with. 

 "Well if you ask me, it's a bit troubling. What if you trip?"

"What's so bad about going outside? Fresh air is good for you," you countered back holding up your hand, "It's also more peaceful outside and less stress would be good for me too." You gripped onto the large book harder as Eri nimbly squeezed past someone nearly making you lose grip onto the large thing. You hadn't yet finished it due to the amount of times you fell asleep awkwardly on the chair due to Kaigaku keeping you up at random hours of the night. You were feeling alright today, so maybe you'd be able to actually start reading it again. The stories were actually starting to get really good! "It's actually better than having me just sit in that stuffy room all day."

Eri hummed in thought while walking. "You're not wrong. It would be good on your weaker body to avoid stress until Lord Enmu arrives back."

You decided not to be offended by her words and just be glad you convinced her of something nice. What felt like forever of Eri walking was only in reality maybe another five or six minutes before she stopped in front of a rather unusual large sliding door which made you raise a brow upon first seeing it. It was much larger than all the other sliding doors you've seen and heavier, but you didn't get to question Eri about it as she just reached one of her many hands over to it and with a small noise, it began to just slide open until the both of you were exposed to a wave of warm air washing over the both of you. The likes of which you hadn't felt in quite a few days, the feeling of warm air suddenly blowing over your body, as well as the sudden flash of light everywhere made your body shiver and your eyes close for only a moment, hand raised up to block out that light in a failed attempt. Your natural instincts made you blink away the brought splotches and dots of light until f/c eyes were able to get used to said warm light, allowing them to see what was in front of them. And you let your eyes wonder in awe at the sight in front of you. 

It was a garden.

A very well, very beautiful, very peaceful looking garden.

It was bigger than you expected, but also a lot smaller than you thought a rich demon such as Kyogai would have. Beautifully green grass was trimmed very neatly, and looked soft enough to use as a bed in it's own right, stretching along the outside of the house until it stopped right next to a line of rocks which separated the garden into two sections. Within the grassy section was a beautiful small stream just big enough to be considered one which lead to a pond about the size of your old one room home. The clear blue water sparkled as the sunlight reflected off it's surface, and reflections of the not-yet blooming flower bushes surrounding the pond beamed at themselves. You were sure the sight would be even more beautiful when the bushes eventually bloomed later once they fully wakened from the long cold. Eri didn't say anything to your reaction but stepped down once from the building and onto the ground below before turning and began walking off towards something. You on the other hand kept looking around. There was a small red bridge stationed over the small stream for everyone who didn't feel like jumping over the small stream, and the entire garden was surrounded by a thick brick wall so high that it might've been bigger than the mansion's walls themselves, and on top of those were metal spikes jutting up from the top. Strange, but maybe that was for any intruders trying to scale the wall. A small line of rocks devided the garden in two sections. One being the showy garden Eri was carrying you through, and the other looked more like an actual fruit and vegetable garden. Having a few raised beds sticking out from the ground, as well as a few of the men servants using a couple gardening hoes as well as one pulling a plow as a horse or ox would. They were the only ones besides you out here so, out of pure curiosity, you pointed them out to Eri taking a break from your awe. 

"Those men. What are they doing?"

Eri hummed and gave the briefest of glances over her shoulder- "Oh! Them. They are preparing the garden to be used once the air becomes stable warm."

"I had no idea you grew your own food."

"Oh yes. We grow most of what we eat and hunt the rest from the forest, although we do import some things if my Lord wishes it." She finally stopped and you yelped when you were suddenly placed down on what must've been the softest grass you had ever felt in your life and Eri leaned you against something hard but cold feeling. "There you are. You should find this comfortable."

You blinked up at her before twisting your head upwards behind yourself, and saw that you were leaning against a thin but old looking tree. A-...A cherry blossom tree perhaps? But like the flowering bushes, it hadn't bloomed or budded yet. Completely Barran of any usually pretty pink petals. 

"It seems that nothing has blossomed yet."

"I'm not actually sure if this tree will actually bloom this year, My Lady," Eri sighed before leaning back up and crossing all four of her arms, "It is a very old tree I'm afraid and the gardeners were barely able to bring it to life last year as it was. Lord Kyogai's concerned that he might have to end up replacing it. Hopefully with something less messy. The visage is beautiful but raking up all the fallen leaves has it's annoyance, but then again that's usually what the gardener is for. He's usually the one who keeps the garden in keep and in charge of the food growing."

Kyogai has a personal-...No. You shook your head. You shouldn't be surprised by now. If Kyogai was such nobility by demon standards to have not only a giant mansion and servants, then you shouldn't be surprised that he would also have a personal gardener as a part of those servants. But something about what Eri said next made you pause and look at her.

"It's still a bit chilly for a human to be out, so we shouldn't stay out here for too long. I'm also a bit anxious as it's the last day of courting season, that's when some men become more desperate. But you should be safe within the walls of the garden. The spines along it are made of pure nichirin, so no one would dare try to enter even if they were stupid enough to cross a Lord."

"Ah. Yes, today is the last day of January isn't it? Good." At least you wouldn't have to worry about that after today. But now that she brought that up- You took a moment to look over at the few demon men whom still worked. They might've looked up to glance at the two of you, but went back to minding their own business. Like the many lady servants, they also had many inhuman features like insane colored hair, or animal like traits to them, or something as simple as just having a pair of horns on their head. But what caught your attention was that..Well. Was the fact that you didn't catch their attention. Obviously if you pointed out that fact, anyone would've brushed you off because why would they pay attention to you when they had work to do? Or that it could be explained that they had gotten used to a human living temporarily with them for the moment. But you couldn't help but wonder something very obvious to you. "Eri." She hummed and you pointed at the working men. "Who are those men?"

"They are just more servants. Why?"

"How come they aren't acting like the men who chased me in here in the first place?..In fact, how are Kyogai and Kaigaku a-and those others not acting like crazed lunatics?!" That had been something that had been on your mind a bit in the background but it never got to the forefront of your brain until now. "Wouldn't they also try to find a companion?"

Eri blinked before smiling and assuring you with a wave of her hand. "Oh! You need not worry about that! Lord Kyogai would never allow someone like that within his walls. All the men in his servitude are all married to one of the women here, so they have no need to seek something like that." You breathed out a sigh of relief at that small good news. At least something good was happening in your long list of bad fortunes. "And you needn't worry about any of the lords. As far as I know, none are very interested in taking any wives."

You blinked lightly surprised by her words. "Really? Why is that?"

She shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea. They're all too busy serving our Master to think about such things I suppose. The only lord I know who's been married is Lord Hantengu but I haven't heard very much about anything else, and frankly.." She rose a brow at you. "I don't think it is any of our business to know what our lords are up to in their personal lives. They are entitled to their own privacy aren't they?"

Well when Eri put it like that, she did have a solid point. You weren't going to be staying here anyways so you shouldn't dig into these demons' private lives anyways. It didn't concern you and it wasn't any of your business. It would make things easier for everyone to just mind your own business until you were allowed to leave. With a nod you just simply reopened the book to where you thought you left off last, and gestured with one hand next to you on the beautifully cut grass. Eri beamed instantly and obliged immediately sitting down with a small thud. 

"Well then, shall I continue where we left off the other day?"

"Oh yes please! I believe you were reading the story about the human and fell in love with the demon prince!"

"Oh yes! Now where was I?" F/c eyes scanned the paper before catching one sentence. "Here we go."

The music of the giant ballroom gently flowed throughout and between the beautiful decorations wrapped around the walls. The way the candles lit up the surroundings and made the shadows beautifully dance against the walls. The way the smell of delicious food and flowers wafted through the air. The beautiful music mixing with the laughter and talking of the guests around the whole place. It was almost like a dream. Everyone having a great time behind their masked faces, no one telling who they were or maybe that was all part of the game. The fun of not knowing who you were speaking too and being able to be your own person tonight. But maybe she wasn't meant to join the fun and laughter that everyone else seemed to be having. Being maskless and alone wondering the ball was the lonely fate of the girl in the flowing white dress. Blindly walking and circles, moving around. The sounds, the smells, the atmosphere. It was starting to make her dizzy. Everyway she'd turn she would catch a glimpse of a man with beautiful eyes.

Very familiar eyes. Her dizzied mind knew not to be afraid or excited about the way it gazed and pierced her soul. The way he looked at her with those beautiful eyes. Promising only trouble ahead. Well maybe she was looking for trouble, her head was kept on a swivel, always looking around herself in the see of masked laughter. Sometimes she'd catch a glimpse of it or maybe it was just her clouded emotional mind. At this point she didn't know if she was searching for him or trying to ensure she was far from him. But however she put it, the circles and laughter was starting to get dizzier and dizzier. She barely noticed when someone tall and with a mask, bowed to her. Grabbed her hand. And lead her to dance. Maybe it was because she was temporarily blinded by the mask upon his face, or the swirls of the graceful dance they spun. But there was no mistaking those red eyes. Perhaps she was crazy. Perhaps her dizzy mind was clouding any judgement. Maybe she was under some kind of spell from those beautiful eyes. But when those fangs smiled at her-

She smiled back.

January passed by within a blink of an eye and soon the first few days of February began as did your own personal journey of building your strength back up. You had decided then and there that you had wasted enough time just sitting around and had started walking again, but slowly. Your ankle didn't hurt anymore by now but you weren't really ready to start running or jumping just yet, and you wouldn't risk hurting yourself again. But you also reasoned that you had to build strength back in your body specifically your legs if you wanted to continue treading around the mountain again. You'd need it actually. Of course Eri had been against the idea and insisted she could just easily carry you but you refused.

"I can walk perfectly fine by myself. I may not be as strong as you but I'm not weak by any means."

"B-But Lord Enmu said to stay off your legs for a few more weeks-"

"No. He specifically said to not walk on it for another week and to take it easy for a few more weeks after, and I've done exactly what he said. And I won't allow you to carry me anymore, I need to start rebuilding my body's strength."

"But Lord Kyogai told me to specifically look after you until Lord Enmu comes back!," she whined making you sigh.

"You can still look after me! I'm not making you quit. I'm just doing what must be done." 

Eri sighed in relief as she still walked after you making you roll your eyes making your way back towards the garden. It wasn't even the first week into February and it was still a bit nippy outside, but you found yourself wondering back to the garden book under your arm with Eri in tow. You missed the sunshine and the feeling of being outside out of that stuffy room of yours. Kaigaku had also taken off not too long ago so you had gotten at least two nights of good rest thank goodness, but you didn't know when he would be back and start up a fuss again. You hadn't seen much of Kyogai either. Eri had said he'd been rather busy with work and rather not be bothered if it wasn't important. You respected that. Poor guy probably had enough on his plate as it was, he didn't you further troubling him. However that didn't mean you were going to be demon free for too long. One day you went to the garden as usual after Eri had given you breakfast and the both of you had settled down once again by the tree happily able to continue on through the book. By now you had finished it and had read most stories outload to Eri, but you both enjoyed re-reading them together. However. This time. Was different. Because after a while of just sitting there, you had felt eyes on you- Well eyes other than Eri. But when you looked, no one other than Eri was there looking at you. ...Hm. Odd. But oh well. It was probably just your imagination. Or it would've been if the next day the same thing didn't happen again. Again the same feeling came over you and you looked up again not seeing anything at first, before looking to the sliding door leading back inside the mansion. There was a small crack in the door just enough for someone to peek out and you just caught a glimpse of a white blur quickly dashing away from sight. The sight made you blink and stare at where it disappeared from making Eri after a few seconds raise a brow and turn her eyes behind her towards the large sliding door as well. After a few seconds of not seeing anything, she turned back to you confused. 

"What are you staring at?"

Your response was to point at the door. "There was someone spying on us from the door." That response sure got Eri to spin her head right around again. Your brow furrowed. "And I think they were spying on us yesterday as well."

"That's not suspicious at all...Did you see who it was?"

You shook your head no. "No. But whomever they were, they were quick."

Eri hummed and narrowed all four of her eyes at the now vacant door. "...Well don't worry about that too much. I'll certainly take care of it all. "

"What are you planning on doing?"

"Do not worry about that, Mistress. Rest assured that come tomorrow, we will see who's attempting to spy their little eyes on you."

You were not sure what exactly Eri had planned and you were going to have to wait until the next day to find out. The next day did come and when Eri brought you breakfast you asked her about it but all she said was-

"Do not worry about it."

Again the both of you went through the routine of going to the garden and taking up your usual spots- Or at least you did. You were surprised when you saw Eri hanging back in front of the door, deliberately leaving the giant wooden door open a crack on purpose. 

"Eri. What are you doing?"

"Don't worry about it. Just act as if nothing usual is happening and don't draw attention to me," she said before crossing all of her arms and positioning herself in such a way that if anyone stood in front of the crack, she could see them but they couldn't see her leaning against the door-

Oh...OH!! She was planning on a small ambush surprise for your little spier whoever they were.  But there was no guarantee that they would come back again after you caught them the other day, but again you were wrong. Because not even twenty minutes of you sitting there, slightly anxious and pretending to read while taking glances at Eri and the door out of the corners of your eyes, something did happen. Small footsteps approached the door making Eri's ears perk up and make all eyes slowly trail towards the door, eyes narrowing. The small pitter patter of footsteps slowly making their way across from the other side of the door and Eri's head slowly followed them until the figure they belonged too stopped just outside the door one step away from the crack she deliberately left open. Anyone could literally peek out and see the outside if they really wanted to, and anyone with half a brain could see this was obviously a trap to catch the peeping person, but she guessed whoever this was wasn't too smart because she clearly saw someone as pale as snow step towards the crack. And that's when you heard it as clear as day-

S L A M!!!

The sound of a very heavy and hard door being slammed open with the force of ten grown men easily followed by the sounds of two high pitched screams. The screaming made you jump, the book tumbling from your hands and onto the grass below with a soft thud. The screams also made the few male servants working the garden pause in their work and turn their gazes over towards the direction of where they came from.

"So it's YOU TWO!!" You blinked and finally looked over to where the voices were coming from. Eri was standing in the doorway, back to you and hands on her hips glaring downwards at-..at..something as she spoke. "What in the Master's name do you think you're doing!?" She demanded at something. "Skulking around and spying on someone like a burglar! Didn't your mother teach either of you any manners at all!?"

....You stood up and began walking towards Eri.

"My lady is still recovering from a traumatic incident! She doesn't need to be bothered, and she absolutely doesn't need to be stalked by two little troublemakers-"

"Eri!" Said demon turned her head to you as you approached. "What's going..."

Your words died on your tongue as your vision caught ahold of a rather peculiar sight, and your eyes widened. There were two children in front of both of you!! But they weren't...human children. They didn't look human at all. Both of them looked to be no older than maybe twelve or thirteen years of age at the most, and each of them were as pale white as snow. All the way through, from their hair all the way down to their feet. The only parts of their bodies that weren't snow white you saw was their eyes which were more of a dull gray and their nails as they held one another tightly, their nails were a strange greenish-grey in coloring. Even their kimonos were almost all white in coloring. But perhaps the strangest feature about them were the red dots dotting their bodies. Both children had them, but each one had a different pattern to them. Odd. They also had slightly different hairstyles. If it weren't for the different hairstyles and red dot patterns, they'd probably be an exact mirror copy of one another. But that wasn't the worst thing about the situation. Both girls were cowering, holding one another, and shaking lightly in fear- And not regular fear. Not slightly scared like how a child would be if their mother caught them with their hand in a cookie jar, more as if they were absolutely terrified at the mere sight of you two staring at them. It's what made you pause in the first place. Stunning you with such an extreme emotion on their faces. Although...Oddly....They somehow looked familiar to you. There was a small pause in silence as the four of you stared at each other until you looked back at Eri.

"Eri...Who are these people?"

Eri blinked before shaking her head and frowning back down at the girls. "They are refuges from farther into the mountains. They came to stay with us just a little before you showed up, but I didn't expect them to be lurking around the corner spying on us!" Both flinched at her harsh to-

"Eri, stop it! You're scaring them!," your voice spoke in such a firm tone that it actually caught the other woman off guard from your frown and narrowed eyes. 

"I-..W-What?"

"I said you're scaring them. Look!" You gestured a hand at them. "They're trembling more than a hairless bear in winter! You're obviously frightening them with your tone, so be silent." Eri opened her mouth at you-...but closed it when you ignored her in favor of the two children in front of you. Their expressions didn't change even when you smiled at them. "Hello there." You spoke in the calmest, gentlest voice you could muster before kneeling, slowly as to not startle them further. "So you two were the ones watching me? If you just wanted to say hi to me you didn't have to hide." You smiled wider. "I don't bite."

The two's expression still didn't change from that seemingly permanent frightened look which made you frown a bit. Did Eri scare them that badly? Yes, she was a bit harsh but you didn't think her scolding was that harsh all things considering. ...Wait. A sudden thought crossed your mind. Eri mentioned before that not all demons spoke or understood the human language. Could it be possible that these two didn't either?

"....Eri," you turned your head to her, "Ask them why they were watching us."

She scoffed. "I just did-"

"I mean in a way they can understand." ...She rose a brow at you. "You mentioned some of your kind can't speak human language right? Like how you can't read it." You pointed at them. "We've been speaking my tongue, but maybe they can't understand what we're talking about."

It was like someone literally slapped Eri across the face with reality because the face she gave you was one of stupor before she responded again. "O-Oh. Oh! Right. T-That's possible. Allow me. *ahem*" 

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath-...You blinked as what you could only describe as a high pitched whine left her throat followed by a series of grunt noises and ended in some kind of blunt gurgle. ...Was that seriously supposed to be another language? But to your surprise, one of the girls did respond. The one who had bangs responded in a series of clacking noises from repeatedly snapping her teeth together although it was a bit shaky from the fact that her body still trembled from fear. 

"What did she say?", you asked giving Eri a look.

Eri's expression changed from annoyed to lightly surprised slowly raising a brow. "She said they heard you reading telling stories and wanted to listen. Hmph. If you ask me, they could've just asked you instead of acting like a pair of spies. Aren't spiders supposed to be the ones who're supposed to trap others?"

"Really now?" You decided to ignore Eri's other comments and smile at the two again. "If that's the case, then I'd be happy to read to you too if that's what you both really want." You guessed they must've did understand you on some level because both gave you a look of surprise at the blatant offer. "But Eri is right. If you wanted to just listen, you could've just asked me. Don't go around spying on people. Where are your parents?"

"Here!"

The sudden raspy voice had Eri jumping and the lot of you turning your heads in unison- HISS!! You yelped and practically threw yourself backwards in instinct as a large white figure came stomping up towards you, and you had to blink in order to register what it was. A rather tall woman was suddenly kneeling before you and...She looked EXACTLY like the two children! White as snow, dull gray eyes, murky green colored nails, and strangest of all those weird red dot patterns. She looked like an exact mirror copy of the children, except for the fact that she was obviously older (if you had to guess she looked somewhere around her late thirties) and had longer hair and the red dot patterns on her body was different than the two children's. She made a deep hissing noise grabbing one of the children by the shoulders and chittering away with strange sounds that only a demon could make-

"M-M-M-My lord!!" You blinked again as Eri immediately bowed and you blinked looking over at her before looking forward to stare at what she was bowing at.

....Uh oh-

You spotted a pair of legs and followed them upwards towards a..Drum? And just above the drum was a pair of blue and red narrowed eyes staring down at you with a highly unimpressed look on his face. He didn't look very delighted seeing you sitting there. Uh oh. Were you in trouble.

"I might be a little slow on everything that happens here, but I'm not blind enough to see what's in front of me. So let me ask you all a question. WHY is the human sitting in the middle of the hallway and not in her room recovering!?," he demanded snapping his gaze to Eri who flinched.

"Don't yell at her!" He seemed very surprised when you immediately stood up and frowned at him, crossing your arms. 

"Y-Y/n! Y-You're leg-"

"Is just FINE!,'' you finished for him making him be quiet for a moment, "It doesn't hurt and I can walk on it fine! And it was my idea to go into the garden, so don't yell at Eri when it was my idea. She's been taking care of me just fine thank you very much."

"I-I-.."He opened his mouth-..then closed it with a sigh and a hand reaching up to rub at his face. "Me. These things always have to happen to me. Don't they?...Why were you in the garden?" His eyes stared tiredly at you from his hand. 

"Because I'm tired of just sitting on a chair inside a mostly empty room all day only to do the same thing over again the next day. It's tiresome, and being outside has more benefits for my health anyways. Let's face it, Kyogai. My leg won't regain it's strength back if I don't use it."

"What were you even doing in the garden?"

"I was telling Eri stories?"

He looked surprised. "Wha-..Stories?" You nodded and he hummed. "That is...A rather unusual way to pass the time, but I suppose human stories would be quite entertaining to her."

"They're not human stories, I was reading them from a book we found."

Another flash this time of shock as he stopped and uncharacteristically stared at you silently. "...Did you just say that..You were reading stories from a book? You found?"

you nodded before turning to Eri and asking her to get it for you. Said demon lady looked up from her nervous bow to the shocked Kyogai then to you then back to Kyogai before just turning and running off back into the garden. A few seconds later she returned with the giant, thickly papered book in her hands and handed it into your outstretched hands before you held it up in full view of Kyogai to see. He froze, eyes going comically wide at the object in your hands. He seemed to be in absolute shock for a moment before his hands reached up in a half grabbing motion towards the book before again pausing, looking at you, opening and closing his mouth, before just staring at you further still in seeming shock.

"I-....W-W-Where did you find this!?," he demanded in a half shocked half lightly angry tone.

"One of your servants found while cleaning and gave me it to read," you answered without saying it was Nagi who actually gave it to you. Maybe it'd spare her some trouble. "It's been really entertaining so far. I like the stories written in it."

"You DO?!"

You nodded again smiling back down towards the children and their mother gently. "These two just wanted to listen to me reading it. If their mother allows it, then they can come by tomorrow and I'll gladly read to them."

"I-...Y-You..." He still seemed to be dumbfounded staring at you unbelievingly. "....You really like it?"

"Um..Yes. Are you alright?"

He opened his mouth..but closed it before quickly turning with a cough. "Fine then. You all may continue to d-do what you were, but w-when you're finished with that book I want YOU personally to return it to me." He waved a hand behind him as he somewhat quickly left making some kind of teeth clattering noise with his teeth.

"...What did he say at the end there?," you asked turning to Eri who shrugged.

"He was telling the mother to keep a closer eye on her daughters." She raised an eyebrow at said mother and children whom were semi-fretting over one another. She sighed. "Those two are always wondering off from her, so Lord Kyogai must've been helping her find them...Again."

"Oh." You watched Kyogai until he quickly disappeared around a corner. What was that about? Before you turned to the mother ignoring you in favor of her children. "..Who is she anyways?"

Another sigh. "The children's mother and another survivor."

"What are they even hiding from?"

"A month or two ago, there was battle between some family clans deeper in the mountains. Very bloody or so I was told." Eri shrugged. "I wasn't told much of what happened. The woman and her children-" She gestured one of her four hands at the mother who was now seeming to scold said girls and tugging on their clothes to get them to move. "-from what I understand, did not come from the kindest family and took the chance to flee here."

Eri's sentence made your f/c eyes widen and look back to the poor frantic woman and the two children whom had at least stopped trembling for now. "T-...T-That's horrible!"

Eri just bluntly nodded. "You should've seen when she first arrived here. She practically threw herself at Lord Kyogai's feet and wouldn't let go of him until he agreed to take her in."

"What's going to happen to them?"

"Well, they could remain here and work as it's safe, but our Master already made arrangements for them to be sent to work in Lord Douma's estate once it's reconstruction is finished."

"....Who and what?" You rose a brow.

"Lord Douma is one of the most powerful Lords of our lands, he's responsible for convincing most of the humans in my Master's lands to move to his ever growing provinces, but lately he's gotten an increase of followers moving to his estate, thus it must go under construction to be able to accommodate the influx in humans."

A flash of something crossed your face. "Wait. Isn't that the same man you mentioned your parents might've tried to marry you off to?"

She nodded with a grimace. "Yes, but I'm lucky given my circumstances. However more humans and a bigger estate will mean more servants appointed to him. The mother and her children are to be transferred from Lord Kyogai's servitude to Lord Douma's once the estate has been settled. Although I can't say I envy their positions."

"Is it that bad?"

"In some ways, many people consider Lord Douma worse than Lord Enmu and I'll keep it as that. ...Although there will be benefits to living there. Only a truly stupid man would risk trying to bring any harm to such an important place that's so heavily guarded. I'd hate to say it, but his Eternal Paradise Estate has better security than the Tsuzumi Mansion."

"When will they be going?"

"I do not know. I just know that Lord Akaza will the one who will be coming to escort them to his residence. Do not worry. Lord Akaza's very gentle to women."

That didn't make you feel better but this didn't concern you nor was there anything you could do about it, besides you wouldn't be here for too long anyways. The next day rolled around, and you found yourself again wondering to the garden with Eri behind you, but you were lightly surprised when you received three little visitors not ten minutes after sitting down. Two little children walking out the door and their mother heavily reluctantly following behind. It took Eri literally translating back and forth between herself and you to explain to her what exactly was going on. In the end, the mother still seemed very reluctant but ended up just sitting close to the children whom happily sat down near you but shot weary looks at Eri. Understandable after the scare she gave them yesterday. But the worries seemed to melt away as soon as you opened the book to the first page and started rereading the first story out loud to them. 

The thistles sent sweet kisses to the wind as midnight's blessing graced the world closely when the sun sets down for a long rest as her sister, the moon, takes her place. Shining her own light down on the world full of darkness, filling the abyss full of life of creatures who shun away the day's gifts-

It was a sweet few hours watching the widened awe on the children's faces and their mother's curious head tilts, but she seemed content to have her children finally in one place. Story after story you slowly read outload to them, once and a while Eri would chitter something and you assumed it was her translating something they didn't understand because they looked to her when she spoke before turning back to you without saying anything else. Then it happened. You were just turning a page when a small spike of pain pinched the tip of your finger making you wince and look at it.

"Ow!" You paused in your page turning to look at your finger as a small droplet of red appeared. ...And you frowned annoyed. "Great. I have a papercut." 

"Oh! Wait here." Eri was already getting up to point at the door. "I have an ointment that'll heal it right up."

"A papercut's not that big of a deal, Eri."

"Maybe not, but it gives me something to do other than repeatedly translate for you, and I haven't really done anything remotely interesting since you gave Lord Enmu that thrashing."

Well you suppose she did have a point, she must've been as bored as you with the repetitiveness of everything. So you let her go before turning back to the children, one of which (the one with the bangs) pointed at your hand and have a cat-ish like noise in question but you waved her off.

"It's just a papercut, so don't worry. I'll be fine. Let's just continue the story while we wait for Eri, she's already heard this one anyways."

You continued on reading for the next few minutes, ignoring the light sting of your papercut. Stupid paper! Too concentrated on reading to the small snow colored demon family. Hm. Perhaps that was why you never noticed the other figure approaching until the girls squealed out in fright suddenly and you looked up just as a black nailed hand snatched up your wrist and two blue and black eyes pierced into your purple ones.

"You...Your blood...It smells of peach blossoms....I like that."

[rjcopeseethemald]

WIP Questionnaire ±1

To be honest, I keep looking for these as an excuse to talk about my work

This one I got from @illarian-rambling, I wasn't tagged in her post but I accepted the open invitation However, since this is how my mind works, I'll turn this into a game. Updated Rules: 1. Answer as few or as many of the following questions as you'd like! 2. In passing the tag along to others, you can add one question of your own, or replace an existing question.

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The magic system. It took years for the idea to finally click in my head, too. It started when I watched the Terrible Writing Advice on Myths, Legends, and Gods; JP just had to challenge me with "A pantheon of the Periodic Table would be way too big". So I said "Alright, bet", but the idea still wasn't there. Then, I finally began watching ATLA and Breaking Bad (very late to both parties), and then my brain went: "What if... chemistrybending?"

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Probably a more light-hearted version of "Can You Hear The Music" from Oppenheimer.

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Hydrogen, Admiral Wright, and Miilo Saba. Hydrogen is the Elemental of their namesake atom, and I attempted to write them as wholesome and eccentric. I would liken them to a much older and wiser version of the Collector from The Owl House. They also wield a flaming shortsword, and can turn invisible (since hydrogen gas is invisible by default). Admiral Wright is the main antagonist of volume one. She was the first woman (and still only one of two) to be fully commissioned in the Lodinican Republic Navy, and is otherwise known as its toughest commander. Her backstory is a commentary on how simply letting marginalized people into unchanged power structures doesn't change their marginalizing nature. Miilo Saba is the older cousin of the twins Lia and Lioko, and he's the captain of an anarchist smuggler ship. He's mostly light-hearted and laid-back, except in a situation where there's no messing around, in which case he can become deadly serious. Why? To be honest, I picked these three because they were the most engaging for me to write.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Likely the animated ones I've mentioned before: ATLA (Legend of Korra included) and The Owl House, plus other animated shows like Steven Universe. The book will include illustrations a la The Chronicles of Narnia, except in an art style that would easily translate to 2-D animation.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Holding myself to the standards of good writing. In particular, character writing and depth of worldbuilding.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

I have sea wyverns, which are about twice as big as an albatross; landback tortoises, which are somewhat of a grounded take on the mythological giant turtle/tortoise trope; and more minor appearances like torpedo-fish (fish that can swim up to 80 knots in short bursts) and taransis, cat-sized Lucas-the-Spiders.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

The equivalent era to our world is the 1910s-early 1920s. There are ocean liners, trains, and horses, and the occasional airship, while cars are still rather new.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

I am almost done, thank God. I'm planning to take spring quarter off from community college to finish it.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

The novelty of its magical premises and take on the fantasy genre. Perhaps its politics, too, but those are more of a background thing.

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I hope it's as original as I claim it to be! A pipe dream of mine is that the complete series financially sustains me, but I'll just retire to a commune upstate if that doesn't happen.

I will add a question 11: What pieces of media have been the most inspiring to you for this WIP? Passing this along to @serotoninshift, @kaylinalexanderbooks, and @she-who-fights-and-writes if any of you all are interested!

Blanks below:

What was the first part of your wip that you created?

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

What part of your wip are you working on rn?

What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

What are your hopes for your wip?

What pieces of media have been the most inspiring to you for this WIP?

[jacqthehermit]

"The first ever Korean soloist in history to debut at #1 on Billboard Hot 100"

Yep I am late and this time I don't have any excuses. I didn't get sick like last time. I think I am just burnt out but I don't wanna fully admit it bec I don't have the right to be burnt out lmao. Anyways, I am here to talk about Jimin and not me.

Where do I even start?

I previously said that I'll start typing my thoughts again so I could get back to them in the future. But honestly, I don't know if I actually want to remember everything that happened during Jimin's FACE era. It actually gave me more heartbreak than happiness. As much as I wanted to focus on the success of the album and how the songs were carefully written by Jimin, I think there are more serious matters to talk about.

I mean yes, Jimin attained all these record breaking achievements however at the same time, he experienced a lot of injustices mostly bec he's an asian making honest music in a white dominated industry.

After hitting no.1 on HOT100, Billboard suddenly deleted 90% of his sales in the 2nd week which made him fall 40 spots down. If the sales were not deleted, he could've stayed no.1 for another week.

Spotify merged the 2 versions of Like Crazy in the first 4 days (like they usually do with other artists' songs) but when it was able to hit no.1 on Global Spotify Chart, they suddenly separated the 2 and never put them back. They even fucked up the producer credits for a time period.

Even after hitting no.1 on Global Spotify Chart and no.1 on HOT100, US radios kept ignoring Like Crazy and refused to play it. They would ask for requests and when LC acquires the most votes, they will pick another song. If the song was not paid and not from a white artist, US radios dgaf no matter how well the song is doing on the official charts.

Youtube has always been a BTS anti. Youtube does filter other artists' views too but when it comes to any BTS related videos, they filter out 1000000x harder. No matter how it is proven that BTS has one of, if not the largest fandom in the world, Youtube still considers us bots.

They usually delete a lot of views during the first few days of a BTS video then tones down after. However during Jimin's music videos (SMFPT2 and LC) they kept deleting an average of 1M views per day even 2 weeks after the release. The fact that LC was no.1 trending music video worldwide for days but it was stuck with the same views was so frustrating. Even if you compare its views to likes ratio from other Korean artists' mvs, you'll definitely see something's wrong.

When Jimin was about to hit 2M album sales in 1 day, Hanteo deleted 700k sales. They were even planning to make Jimin not hit 1M in 1 day bec they suddenly froze his sales. Luckily the fandom was able to screen record their website and posted a bunch of proofs of their anomaly. After bombarding them with emails, they gave up and brought back Jimin's 1M sales. Sadly the 700k sales were not given back.

The worst part from all this mess? BIGHIT/HYBE never said anything. Never defended their artist. Always does the bare minimum and makes the fandom do all the work, from promo, to radio spins and even in demanding for accountability from all these charts and platforms. Very disappointing knowing they are the biggest entertainment company in SK. BTS built the company from dust through their blood, sweat and tears but they can't give the same energy back? Pathetic. Tho when it comes to their rookie group they be doing the most lol.

"Bangtan are not babies, they are grown up, adult men. They are shareholders of this company. They know everything, they approved of this blah blah" 

I know BTS do have the power and voice regarding their work but at the end of the day, there are certain things that the company has the final say (Hell they can't even release certain songs sometimes if not approved by the company!). I'm so sick of people bringing up this argument just to disregard the company's blatant negligence to the Tannies. Also, me talking about this does not mean I don't acknowledge all the good they've done, there are just so many questionable decisions made by the company that needed to be addressed but the space is not enough to list them all.

"You're crazy, it's not that deep. Go touch some grass"

Tbh if I can make all of these not true I would. I would save Jimin from all these unfair treatment specially he is just facing all of these alone since this is not a group comeback. But this is the reality. All these sabotages were not conspiracy theories, they were real. Even all of us were shocked that these charts and platforms did these things in broad daylight. This is how dirty the music industry is against people of color. This is the truth.

Other fandoms usually just focus on the visual aspect and rarely their faves' music (numbers don't lie bruh). They would be making fun of our fandom bec we take streaming, voting and charting seriously. And when BTS keeps on winning and their faves don't, they'd protest lmao. Why am I mentioning this?

Sometimes after fighting all these music charts and platforms I would think, what if I didn't dive deep? What if I'm just a casual music listener and a visual stan? What if I didn't know how corrupt the system is? Things wouldn't be so stressful right?

But then again, I fell in love with BTS bec of their music. And they have proven how much they love making music. Of course as a fan, I only want the best for them. I want them to achieve everything they deserve as artists and musicians. Fighting the impossible like the music industry is indeed exhausting however if it's for an artist like BTS then it's all worth it.

I want to end this long ass rant by congratulating Jimin on his historical solo album debut. I am sorry if I didn't focus on typing about FACE. I wanted to emphasize that despite all these sabotages, no payola, no playlisting, no radio and no western collab, Jimin made it to the top. 

There might be people (mostly the ones who don't know how the charts and system work) thinking it was easy. It was never easy, always never easy when it comes to BTS.

Nevertheless thank you Jimin for making this masterpiece. I am proud of having you as a bias. You deserve all the success and praise. We will always have your back no matter what. I love you.

P.S.

I cried when I first listened to Set Me Free Pt. 2. If you are a Jimin biased person, you'll understand.

I am a big fan of 80s music and Like Crazy has 80s music vibe so I love it so much.

I wanted to include every achievement of FACE and LC on every chart in different countries but there's not enough space.

There might be another Korean soloist in the future who will achieve no.1 on HOT100 like Jimin but that will never change the fact that he will always be the first (also 2nd asian soloist overall after 60 years) and I can't flex this enough.

Please listen to Jimin's record breaking solo debut album if you haven't yet~ 🙇‍♀️💓

[spaceorphan18]

Thoughts on the new podcast?

I'm always nervous about these things, but honestly, I really liked it!

I think Kevin and Jenna are coming at this with a clearer sense of direction, and seem to be in a better place to even do something like this -- where as with the Showmance podcast they seemed to be winging it and not really have a handle on it. And when Naya passed away, that kind of gave them an excuse to stop.

But it feels fresh and honest and a lot like one of the other podcasts I'm listening to -- Pod Meets World (from the cast of Boy Meets World) where the group is open about the ups and downs of making the show.

I'll probably do my own, fuller write up later - but the thing I've gathered the most from it is that Kevin and Jenna have positive experiences (overall) - and while they were young and a bit over it by the end, it remains a good experience. They seem to be pushing back against a lot of the media souring of the show.

I honestly was a little shocked about Ryan Murphy being the first guest, but I'm glad that he is - because it's less about how the show came into fruition (which is there) and more about the three of them talking about how post-Naya's death the cast kind of reconciled with him -- and he apologized for essentially not really knowing what he was doing at the time. It seems like (at least the three of them) have made their peace with each other and with the show.

And interestingly, Kevin and Jenna feel a lot more mature about the whole thing even from a few years ago doing the Showmance podcast. I think at the end of the day - while there will be things that that they will be honest with (yes - I think the cast was mostly done post-season 3) I think they're interested in telling a lot of the positive sides of things, too.

And I do think it's a way to tell their side of the story -- especially when there are things like this docu series coming up that's going to exploit a lot of the tragedy and stir up a lot of unnecessary drama.

Hopefully that gives you guys some insight?