#like i THINK i know what i did but it seemed to resolve fairly quickly????

[zenokei]

— the sun has set ; michael kaiser.

starring :: michael kaiser x reader

wc :: 800

tags :: hurt/comfort, reverse comfort, nightmares, implied self harm and abuse, kaisers backstory (brief)

synopsis :: michael kaiser often times has nightmares about his past, and you’re the only one who seems to not mind his outbursts.

when michael kaiser has days where the weight of his life seems to overcome his resolve, there will be no doubt that on that night, scenes of his past come and haunt him. agonizing nightmares keeping him pinned onto nothing but illusion as he chokes on awaiting tears in his sleep. it’s unbearable, really: constant tossing and turning without his consciousness, harsh clutching of his blanket, and the straining furrow of his eyebrows—and it hasn’t changed ever since.

well, perhaps it’s been bearable from the moment you’ve been by his side when he sleeps.

“mihya,” you call softly, “come on, wake up.” 

drenched in sweat, kaiser gasps as his eyes open to darkness. he reaches out for what’s closest to him, and to his advantage, it’s you. “you’re with me.” you mumble, fingers combing through his hair—not stopping until you feel his body’s tension loosen up, even for a little bit. “i’m with you.” from his head that’s buried on your abdomen, he looks up; breath still undeniably trembling with frustration and anxiety.

“you- what time is it?” it’s too quiet around you both, the busy streets outside sounding empty–only the sound of light rain echoing is out. “it doesn’t matter, rest up again. i’m right here.” when kaiser realizes he’s overslept from the initial nap he took many, many hours ago, he feels around for his phone.

12:39am. 

“liebling, sorry- you should be the one asleep. i’ve had plenty already.” suddenly, kaiser rushes off the bed, slightly stumbling as he does so. the abrupt loss of his presence creates a frown on your face. knowing his usual ways when facing a nightmare of such level, kaiser isolates himself. 

“mihya,” you call out, voice still kind as ever, yet he doesn’t look back.

“mihya,” you call once more, and you’re standing up from the bed, going after him.

“michael!” now, he looks at you: eyes in disbelief when you tug on his arm with force. “let me go. i’m going for a walk.” he pulls back, but you don’t let him. “not tonight, stay inside.” although you knew what to be expecting, the sheer anger and pain in his voice has you wincing. “it’s too fucking suffocating here right now- damn it, don’t touch me!” as kaiser hears his own words when you reluctantly let go of his arm, his body slumps down to the floor.

his back is against the doorframe, legs tucked onto his chest like a pitiful child as his head is hung low. looking down at him, your breath shudders for a moment. you assume–rather you’re fairly certain that kaiser’s nightmare still lingers in his eyes. him mistaking you for someone that would hurt him is most likely. 

so you take his pace, sitting down in front of him on the cold ground even if he doesn’t dare look at you. “out of all people, why you?” kaiser tiredly whispers, arms muffling his voice. “me?” you whisper back, copying the way he’s sitting, although it only differs as your eyes are locked on him. “why did i think you were him? you’re not him.” kaiser’s voice is small, hands tentatively tapping on his skin as he trembles. “mn. i’m not. it was just a nightmare, mihya.” once more, his breath is uneven, and it’s bothering you more.

“it’s not about that! why am i always thinking about that bastard, even though there’s no reason? even in my fucking sleep, i see him! what the fuck is up with that?” you only hum, feeling sorrow come undone from kaiser’s body. “am i not free? despite everything i’ve done to leave that shitty place?” when you see kaiser’s hand itch to grasp at his neck, you quickly intervene. concern washes over you when you notice just how glossy kaiser’s cheeks are, its faint shine is reflecting under the dim light. 

“mihya, you’re with me. are you not? that should answer everything.”

you gently lean your body towards his, and kaiser’s head rests itself on the warmth of your neck. “but-” his frustrated sobs are getting covered up by you. “no. nothing more, nothing less, mihya. i’m with you, and you’re with me.” his arms heavily grip on your shirt, fingers trembling as he tightly embraces you. “it was only a bad day,” you whisper in his hair, lovingly hushing him to only listen to your lone voice. “mihya, it’s okay.” kaiser’s body is still shivering under your hold, tears dampening your collarbone as it seems to not give in anytime soon. but that’s fine.

“we can stay here like this, or maybe go back to sleep if you’d like that instead.” the palms of your hand gently pry his face from your shoulder, and it continues to caress it as kaiser sniffles. “what do you think?” the burden in kaiser’s mind dissipates to your palm, its weight getting heavier as he pushes his head onto it. 

“stay,” and you will. with a tender thumb that wipes away his tears, it consoles him, making kaiser feel the most humane as he’s ever felt.

“okay.” you smile at him, before pulling him back into an embrace that kaiser will never take for granted.   

© zenokei | do not repost, copy, or use my works.

[dekariosmagic]

Safe and Sound- Gale x Tav/Reader

Paring: Gale Dekarios x Tav/Reader (Referred to as Tav)

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Word Count: 1,515

Description: Gale seemed to take the news from Elinster fairly well, or so it appeared.

Other Things: Fluff. Hurt comfort. Uses lyrics from the song "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift. Pre-relationship (but they're basically there).

Warnings: Panic attack. References to potential story canon suicide.

Elminster’s news had been a bombshell in and of itself on the party. Gale had seemingly taken the news in stride, perhaps the best in the camp. 

Gale made dinner as usual, while everyone avoided the singular topic on all their minds. Tav assumed no one knew how to bring up the topic to the man himself. 

It wasn’t until Gale finished his own portion and took off to his tent for an early night, did the rumbling start. 

Tav did her usual rounds, trying to ignore the feeling of a rock settled in her chest. And with each companion she talked to with their collective rage and disgust toward the situation and goddess of magic, it just seemed to get heavier. 

It felt good to know the rest of them were all on the same page. That they’d rather fight the goddess herself than willingly give up their wizard. 

Hells Tav was ready to take the goddess on herself, as foolish as the task would be. The fact Mystra felt she could demand that of him. The ultimate sacrifice to end a threat to her power, and get rid of a loose end in one go. She’d not spoken to him since the orb incident, and this was how she broke the silence?

Her heart hurt for Gale and herself. The entire situation couldn’t be easy, not nearly as easy as he made it sound as he accepted the mission from Elminster at least. Hearing from an ex of a relationship that ended so badly would be tricky, make her his goddess of magic and it was far more complicated.

And her own feelings complicated it. She wanted to grab him by his shoulders and scream. Tell him to defy Mystra, to think, to not accept this outrageous thing he’s been asked to do. To spurn Mystra’s words and stay here, with her, in this… whatever they were building. 

She’d become far too attached to him already. But everyday at his side just added to the growing list of things she adored about him. The one bright spot in a bleak road ahead. 

Walking to the front of Gale’s tent, Tav freezes as she contemplates calling out to him. Whether she should try to talk tonight, or leave it for later after he’s had more time to think. Or just let him stick to his own resolve entirely…

Her thoughts are cut short at the sound of a broken sob on the other side of the fabric. 

Without a thought, she slips into the tent and throws her arms around his midsection from behind. His body tenses in surprise, but it does little to interrupt the next sob from his lips. 

She squeezes him tighter as his body shakes, using one hand on his front to rub slow circles on his stomach as she rests her head on his back.

“Y-you don’t h-have-“ Gale begins before slapping a hand over his mouth trying to stifle the next sob, sucking air in desperately around it. 

“Gale, I’ve got you. It’s ok to let it out. I’m staying right here, I promise.” 

She feels him nod more than sees it. She sways them slightly as he shakes, taking a moment to spin herself around his body and hold him more tightly from the front. 

His arms quickly wrap around her, his face pressing to her hair. 

Her fingers rub gently into his back as she softly starts to hum a melody, his tears running down onto her as he tries to mumble an apology.

She holds him for what felt like hours, lost in their own moment. His shaking lessens, and the sobs dwindled to small hiccups over time. 

Turning her head to glance around the room, she spots his bedroll a few steps away. 

“Let’s lay down,” she says softly, backing them toward the bedroll and carefully tugging him along with her. 

She drops down to her knees when she reaches it, grabbing his hands to tug him down to the bedding with her. Adjusting his pillows around and finding a blanket, she lies on her back and holds her arms out to him. 

He studies her for a moment before laying down and snuggling into her, his head resting on her shoulder as she pulls the blanket up around them. 

Her fingers slowly card through his hair as he buries his face against her neck, a shuddered breath leaving his lips as his hand grips at her shirt fabric on her stomach. 

She resumes her humming after they settled in, his face turning from her neck to glance up at her. 

“What are you humming?” He asks quietly, his voice raspy and unsure. 

“I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go. When all those shadows almost killed your light, I remember you said don't leave me here alone,” she sings softly to the melody she’d been humming. 

“Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold onto this lullaby even when the music's gone, gone.

“Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound,” she finishes singing, rubbing a hand along his arm. 

“My mother would sing it to me at night when I was upset,” she finally answers. “When times are hard now I hum it to myself. Quite often lately if I’m to be honest.” 

“It’s beautiful,” he responds, his eyes reddened and puffy, but looking at her with adoration. “You’re beautiful. And I’m undeserving of your company.” 

“Oh hush,” she says and presses a soft kiss to his forehead. “You’re deserving of far more than you believe. You deserve to be happy, you deserve to have people care about you, and you deserve to live.”

“I… I don’t want to die,” he whispers after a moment. 

“Good, hold onto that,” she says squeezing him closer to her. “I will find another way. We will. There’s always another way. I’m not going to give up on you. You’re enough as you are Gale.”

His face presses back up against the juncture between her shoulder and neck, a shaky exhale on her neck, “Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” she whispers just loud enough for him to hear as she feels him smile against her skin. 

“Would you stay here with me tonight? Only if you’re comfortable with it,” he asks quickly, keeping his face hidden from her. 

“Of course, I’m always up for a cuddle with my favorite wizard,” her fingers go back to playing with his hair.

“If you only know one wizard, I’m both your favorite and least favorite,” he jokes with a dry chuckle. 

“I’ve met a few, but you make a good point. I’m always up for a cuddle with my favorite person,” she amends. 

His hand drifts from her stomach to her side, holding her closer to him, “If you continue this I might believe you and you’ll be stuck with me, then you’ll be sorry for throwing those words around.”

“Is that a promise?” She grins and lays her head against his. 

“Promise?”

“If I keep saying you’re my favorite and that I care about you, I’ll be stuck with you? Because I can easily keep repeating the truth each day.” 

“I-I don’t know what… I mean, I still have that order and I might, but maybe,” he stumbles over his words, his brow scrunching in thought.

“You don’t have to think about it right now,” her hand lightly grips his chin to turn his head so she can see his face and presses her finger between his brows. “No decisions, sacrifices, or answers are needed right now.”

He blinks rapidly in response, tears building in the corners of his eyes again as he searches her face then nods, lolling his head back against her shoulder.

Tav lets her fingers drift down his cheek, then follows along his jaw slowly, enjoying the prickle of his beard on her skin.

He stretches some in her embrace, leaning into her touch, his eyelids drooping.

“Go to sleep, I’ll be here when you wake,” she promises as she feels sleep starting to come to her as well. 

“A wondrous sight to awake to I’m sure,” he smile softly, his eyes drifting shut. 

Tav continues to stroke along his cheek and jaw until his breathing evens and his nose twitches in his sleep when her hand accidentally brushes against it. 

Holding back her chuckle, she wraps her arm back around Gale and snuggles her face against his hair, letting her own eyes drift shut. 

She sends out a quick prayer, to any god that may listen, that she find a way to get them all through this. Her new little odd family would all make it through this intact, or she herself would die trying. His goddess may have given up on him, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to. 

--------

My Main Account: @lykaonimagines AO3 User: Lykao (Marvel, Sherlock, Cyberpunk 2077, and other video game fics)

[goatcheesecak3]

Dating Adam headcanons

Context: this takes place after he escapes the bathroom (which definitely happened and is 1000% canon)

I've never written for Adam before, so I hope I did our bbygirl justice

He really doesn't like bathrooms anymore, for obvious reasons. He'll only shower if you sit outside talking or singing to him the whole time. When he gets out, you dry his hair for him all while telling him how proud you are and how brave he is.

He doesn't really keep on top of general chores, so you regularly do his laundry for him or come by to help clean his apartment. With any other guy you might find this irritating, but Adam's got enough on his plate, you're just glad he's letting you take care of him.

This man is CLINGY, if you're not with him he's constantly texting and calling you to make sure nothing bad has happened. When you are with him, he's pretty much always touching you in some way, it could be cuddling, having his arm over your shoulder or just resting his hand on your leg. He says he just finds physical touch comforting, and after all he's been through, you can see why.

Absolutely no one makes you laugh like Adam does, it's what attracted you to him in the first place. He's got such a clever dry wit, it seems as though he's been blessed with the ability to speak in perfect one liners 24/7. He constantly has you either cracking up, or rolling your eyes playfully.

He's incredibly cheeky, even though he's been your boyfriend for a while, he still flirts with you as if he's trying to pick you up at a bar or something. You find the amount of effort he puts into wooing you very cute.

He has a lot of trouble with sleeping. Sometimes his nightmares get so bad that he gets too scared to go to sleep, other times he wakes up in a panic, thinking he's waking up back in that awful room. You've discovered that sleeping with a small lamp on helps with this, so that when he wakes up he can immediately tell where he is, and playing gentle music while he goes to bed seems to calm him. But the most effective thing you've found, is warmth. Back in the bathroom it was freezing cold and damp, so to give him the opposite effect, you buy him a hot water bottle to cuddle at night (as well as cuddling him yourself).

He's pretty broke, so he can't really afford to take you out on fancy dates, but you don't care about that at all. Sometimes he'll take you for an evening walk in the park, which the two of you really enjoy. For special occasions though, he scrapes together whatever money he can to give you a nice night. He'll usually splurge on a steak and some wine and cook you a fancy meal from home, which you eat in his little apartment by candlelight.

Adam has a real sweet tooth, when you come to stay with him you always make a stop in a corner store on the way and pick him up some chocolate or a bag of skittles or something (and a pack of smokes ofc), and every time without fail it surprises him.

Surprisingly, arguments aren't actually that common between the two of you. Don't get me wrong, sometimes Adam can be a bit of an ass, he can be snippy and quick to anger, but you never let it escalate. You understand that he's got good reason to be a little unpredictable emotionally, so you're patient and kind to him, even when he's out of line. You manage to calm him enough to talk through whatever the issue is, and resolve things fairly quickly.

When he talks about you to other people he doesn't ever say "my girlfriend/boyfriend," it's always "my girl/ my boy". Hearing him introduce you to others like "this is my girl/boy, y/n" just makes your heart flutter.

A/n I've never written for Adam before, so pls let me know if you want more!

Check my pinned post for request details and my masterlist!

Replies and reblogs are very much appreciated <3

[justmeinatree]

i feel like i don’t see enough louis one shots and it’s criminal😭

could you possibly do a one shot where the relationship between louis and reader is forbidden like reader is one of the boy’s sister and forbids anyone dating her etc. and they sneak around and almost get caught?

love reading your work!!🩵

@tommomylove91

you know what ? it IS fkn criminal !! these requests were mixed together .. they both just seemed to flow together too nicely ! hope you both enjoy ✌️

TW : alcohol consumption, smutty-esque

Word Count : 2k

“fuck do you think you’re doing ? someone’s gonna see,” louis exclaims, pushing your hand away.

you were out celebrating niall, your brother’s, birthday. you were excited when he had asked you to join him and his friends, always having had such a crush on louis. and you knew he’d obviously be there.

ever since the day you’d met him, so many years ago now, when the band was formed, there was an intense attraction between the two of you. and well, tonight, with the amount of alcohol coursing through your bloodstream, and the unquestionable amount of luck you’d gotten with the seating arrangement, your drunken mind decided to have a little fun.

what you didn’t know is that, as much as louis wanted nothing more than to bend you over the table, and fuck to hell anyone who sees, niall had forbade any of his bandmates from even coming close to hitting on his sister. now, that may have been a promise that louis made well over 10 years ago now, but it does still remain. and he can’t say he totally blames niall. couldn’t imagine any of those lads trying their luck with any of his sisters. knows what those guys are like, and he would not second guess sending his fist into their jaw if they did anything to his siblings.

but with a buzz induced fog, damn all those rum and coke’s, you don’t really care about louis’ warning, your hand softly trailing from his knee, following the inseam of his pants, slowly gliding up his inner thigh, occasionally squeezing into his clothed flesh.

and well, louis was only human, his resolve slowly fading with the continuous sips of his vodka and sprite. he can feel the interest springing in his cock, his heartbeat starting to accelerate. he wants you. wants you more than he’ll ever admit to you. or to anyone, really. but niall’s right across the table, and your arm’s suspicious stretch over to louis’ lap isn’t quite as subtle as you probably think.

“c’mon love,” he groans, hastily moving your hand away as it’s gotten fairly close to touching a certain hardening appendage that’s tenting louis’ pants. “the others will see. seriously what’s gotten into you ?” he murmurs quietly against your ear, in an effort to keep the conversation to a low volume.

a shiver runs down your spine, louis’ warm breath hitting your neck and ear, the heat shooting straight down to your pussy, getting wetter and wetter by the moment. you bite your lip, your shoulders relaxing into an almost slump, as you look over at him, need evident, no, screaming, at him through your gaze. “i can’t resist you anymore,” you whisper embarrassingly, your cheeks warming at your confession, as your hand darts out to touch his leg again, fingers gripping into the meat of his thigh.

“louis !” niall shouts at him, “you’re not even fuckin listening mate,” he shakes his head. “fuck are you two on about over there anyway ?”

louis’ head snaps quickly to face niall, a nervous chuckle leaving his lips, shaking out his hair, as his brain gets snapped back into the reality at hand, “sorry mate, sorry. you know how annoying your little sister can get,” he chuckles, no malicious intent evident in his tone, clearly needing an excuse. and honestly, it wasn’t all that far from the truth, with the amount of times your hand ends up on him. “what was it you were saying ?”

you huff, leaning back in your chair, arms crossing over your chest for a moment, before reaching out for your drink again, taking a few sips, throwing your leg over your knee, your foot now rubbing up and down louis’ calf. 

it was more subtle, which louis was thankful for, especially as he attempted to keep his cool and have a full blown debate with niall and deo. but as your heel gets slid off, and your toes make contact with the end of his pant leg, he can feel you sliding up his calf, skin to skin. you were so warm, leaving a trail of fire as you work your way higher up, close to reaching his knee, and for a moment, he was cursing himself for having worn sweatpants instead of jeans.

“stop,” he groans with more vigour against your ear, as niall and deo delve deeper into the debate, knowing that his request will surely be falling on deaf ears, apparently doing as you please, without much regard for anyone else tonight.

you turn yourself more towards louis, your back practically facing the table, murmuring against his ear, “and what if i dont ?” quickly taking his earlobe between your teeth, and tugging.

louis’ swift to bite his lip, holding down the moan that’s threatening to escape, his hand shooting out, nails digging into your hip, from under the table, as a form of warning. he cannot get caught. especially not on niall’s birthday. it would ruin it for him, and louis’ not about to let that happen.

“fuckin christ, y/n, leave louis alone,” niall snaps at you, shaking his head, adding playfully, “don’t make me separate you two.”

you turn back to face the table, rolling your eyes at your brother, “m’not doing anything you wanker.”

niall flips you off, a smirk pulling at his lips, knowing that you wont take him seriously for a second, before getting up and taking everyone’s drink orders, heading off to the bar for another round.

louis turns to you, the others at the table not paying so much attention, “fuckin hell, love,” he groans, “you’re going to get us both in trouble. niall’s not that stupid, he’s surely reading right through this.”

“have you met him when he drinks,” you giggle, “s’not gonna remember anything. but if it’s more privacy you want, meet me in the bathroom in a few minutes.” and with that, you stand, not waiting for any form of confirmation, heading off to the washroom.

you head down the hallway, going into the bathroom, leaving a small crack in the door, hoping to see louis coming by, in search for you, very soon. your resolve was waning, and if he wasn’t going to come back here in the next few minutes, you’d shimmy your underwear off and take matters into your own hands.

your patience was thankfully not tested tonight, as a moment later, you notice louis, making you pop your head out of the door, and beckoning him over. he checks his surroundings quickly, making sure no one’s paying attention, before slipping into the washroom, clicking the door locked behind him.

instantly, your hands grip into his shirt, right over his chest, pulling him closer to you. but louis’ quick to grip into your wrists, stopping you dead in your tracks, tutting at you, “m’not here to hook up with you. you’re drunk aren’t you ? there’s no way you’d be doing this if you were sober.”

you look up at him, sadness mixed with need mixed with years of pent up arousal and want, biting your lip as you hum, “i wouldn’t be doing this sober,” you admit. “but it’s not because i dont want to, it’s because i wouldn’t have the courage to.”

“love,” louis sighs, feeling your hands slide from their perch in his chest, down to his hips, pulling him closer, in a silent plea. “i can’t do that to niall. he’s like a brother to me, he’d fuckin kill me.”

“well, he’ll have to go through me first,” you huff, pressing him against you, feeling his stiffy. “what is it you want ?”

you can see louis’ determination diminishing, his hand gently cupping your jaw, thumb rubbing against your cheek, trailing over the plushness of your bottom lip, “wanna do this,” he hums, leaning in, and pressing his lips to yours, because, really, fuck it all. he’s a saint for having resisted you so long anyway.

a groan instantly works its way up from your chest, hands instinctively gripping into his soft hair, holding him as close to you as you can.

you moan breathily, your mouths fighting for dominance, a decade of pent up attraction finally finding its way to the surface. with louis’ one hand against your jaw, the other gripped tightly into your hip, he begins to walk you backwards, your back hitting into the wall, his hips rolling against yours, a moan leaving his lips at the friction his cock has been desperately craving since your hand first made contact with his thigh.

“you’ve no idea how long i’ve wanted this,” louis whispers against your mouth, his teeth biting into the flesh of your bottom lip, as he grips your thigh, throwing it over his hip, giving himself much better access to grant you some pleasure as well.

the newfound angle makes you whimper, your breath picking up, losing yourself into louis. your fingers scratch at his scalp, foot digging into his bum to hold him close, closer. 

your cunt was an absolute mess, clenching around nothing, your panties completely soaked through, clit throbbing for attention, fumbling your way to try and discard his pants.

“christ, not here, darling,” louis groans, hips bucking instinctively into your touch, his lips working their way over your neck, finally getting a taste of your skin, something he’s begrudgingly withheld himself from for so long. “make it so hard to resist you,” he moans, nipping at your sensitive skin, where your neck meets your jaw. “you’re so fuckin gorgeous, and you know it don’t you ? always teasing me, fuckin gagging to get into my pants, christ, look at you.”

you whimper louder, tugging on him, needing him, craving absolutely any form of touch at this point.

you’re both quickly startled, frightened as you’re both caught off guard, a loud knock rasping against the door, “louis, you in there ? have ya seen my sister ?”

“fuck,” he whispers too quietly for niall to hear, adding louder, “yeah, m’here. haven’t seen her though mate.”

you both wait, holding your breath, hearing niall mutter a curse under his breath, the faint thumping of his footsteps retreating.

“fuckin hell,” louis groans exasperated, his heart about to burst out of his chest.

your eyes were closed, forehead pressed against louis’ chest, shaking your head, “that was way too close.”

“we can’t do this here,” louis murmurs sadly, catching sheer disappointment plastered across your features, as you roll your head back against the wall, needing a breather, knowing full well that your chance has flown out the window.

and for a moment, louis feels his heart squeeze. he can’t leave you high and dry, and quite honestly, doesn’t want to hold back from you anymore. he’s pretty sure he could take niall anyway, if the day ever comes. “think you can hold it together ? just a little longer,” he murmurs softly, lips pressing a soft, comforting kiss into your chin. “we can sneak off together later, smuggle you into my uber,” he chuckles breathily, “do this alone. no brother to get in the way.”

and if the way your face lights up was anything to go by, louis can bet that he’ll be having the best night he’s had in a long while.

Part 2

……

Masterlist

[firstkanaphans]

your blog is my silver lining in these dark times. ive been reading too many opinions on ofts' 11ep and im going insane at this point. do you think it's still possible for a sandray happy ending? boeing is throwing me off like maddddddddddd tfff

Okay, I finally got to watch the whole episode with subs and I have some thoughts. Short answer? Yes, I still think we’re heading towards a SandRay endgame. And here’s why:

Everyone seems to have come away from this episode mad at Sand, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why because Sand did nothing this entire episode except make it glaringly obvious that he’s not interested in Boeing. He was cordial, he was polite, but he never crossed that line between friendly and flirty. I think what people are mistaking as lingering attraction is actually just that caring personality his mom talked about at the beginning of the episode. In fact, Boeing says as much: “You never yell at me. That’s why I like you.”

This is just who Sand is. He doesn’t get mad at the people he loves no matter how badly they hurt him. 

If Sand had tried to hide Boeing’s newfound presence in his life from Ray, I might be worried, but he didn’t. And I don’t think he had any nefarious intentions in sending Ray away when Boeing approached them at the bar. I think he was probably trying to avoid exactly what ended up happening because he has plenty of evidence to know that when Ray gets jealous, he gets passive aggressive (and suggests threesomes!). And it’s not even like he sends Ray away out of the blue. He only does it when Boeing starts playing games. “Oh. Sand didn’t tell me he had a boyfriend.” 

I think Sand was looking for closure and knew it would be best to get it alone without having to worry about Boeing and Ray’s warring egos. But I do think it’s important to note that even when Sand and Boeing are alone, Sand defends Ray. Boeing says Ray clearly isn’t his type and Sand snaps back, rightfully saying that there are more important things in a relationship than how compatible you are on paper.

I actually came out of this episode much angrier at Ray than I was at Sand. I mean, you can kind of see what he’s trying to do—if you squint—but he’s going about it all wrong. He’s trying to show Boeing that Sand is his, that he doesn’t see him as a threat, and, as I said here, I think he’s also trying to show Sand that he’s willing to do whatever he has to do to keep him—even if that means sharing him with someone else.

The problem, obviously, is that Ray and Boeing are both treating Sand like an object here. Not a real person with real feelings. And Sand is rightfully pissed about it. 

I suspect this problem will be resolved fairly quickly in the next episode. Sand is going to finally start yelling—at both Boeing and Ray—and hopefully Ray will learn that Sand doesn’t just want his money or his body. He wants him. No one else.

Honestly, the couple I’m most worried about right now is BostonNick. Don’t think I didn’t notice that Nick never actually said yes to being Boston’s boyfriend. He gave him the exact same runaround he gave Daddy Dan earlier in the episode. I think we’re heading towards a right person, wrong time ending for them, which I don’t completely hate. They both still have some growing left to do.

[shiraishi--kanade]

This is a very personal opinion, but I think my main issue with Touya's writing is that Harumichi issue was resolved way too fast.

And by too fast I don't necessarily mean too easily. I'm fine with Harumichi stepping away and being fairly easy to persuade, if his character calls for it. I mean that there was no reason for that to be Touya's first ever focus event.

First focus events in proseka are kind of a mess all around. They were still obviously testing out the waters, which is why they tend to me shorter and messier in general, if not outright clashing with further arcs. Hell, An1 was retconned to hell and back, so it's pretty clear they did not have all the arcs planned from the very beginning.

Back to Touya. Solving his main problem in Touya1 has left him kind of on stand-by mode until The First Concerto, tackling his other issues in the meantime. In a way, Touya's arc is very musical because it is about feelings, which inherently ties into topics of musicality and artistry; I don't think Same Dreams, Same Colors, and especially not Walk On and On to be "empty" or pointless events, but they feel disjointed in the grand scheme. Touya seems to have gotten over his trauma and heal, then in The First Concerto we see that one wasn't entirely true; that retrospective makes SDSC and WOaO lose some of their impact.

If it were up to me, Touya's arc about recovery and finding out new things and how that influenced his feelings and him convincing Harumichi to fuck off should have been happening simultaneously. In other words, mending things with his father should have been his arc throughout his focus events, and not solely something that happened in Touya1 and quickly left behind.

This especially has potential when you consider how differently Touya and Harumichi approach music in general, and how different the understanding of "essence of music" is between them - and how, ultimately, Touya is much closer to it than his father is. I wouldn't want it to be a redemption arc, but I would want Harumichi to he proven wrong over the course of it, and finally concede because of it.

This doesn't mean Harumichi would have to keep being a hypercontrolling abuser for longer, I don't take pleasure in needless angst. I think if you just take away the aspect of him understanding that Touya's music has value for him and push it forward like three events further and just let Touya do whatever he wants for other reasons from Harumichi's perspective in the meantime, with them finally coming to some sort of understanding in The First Concerto, it would make for a much more exciting character arc.

But hey what do I know.

[tumblingxelian]

I’ve been musing on the divide between Ruby & Yang in Volume 9 and had some thoughts. 

See, Ruby didn't used to have trouble discussing her problems with Yang.

When they arrived at Beacon she was very expressive and in V2 she was fine vocalizing her worries and with relying on Yang to help Blake. After Yang is framed in V3 she also seems fairly confident Yang will bounce back. Then at the end of V3, she seemingly went to Yang in part expecting a degree of guidance and reassurance Yang just couldn't provide. 

Ruby didn't seem to know how to deal with that & left, even if she did feel bad about it.

When Yang comes back Ruby is overwhelmed and its all loving and good, but Yang also quickly shows she's not as all right as she seems when Blake comes up. Again Ruby does not seem to know what to do, Yang's never 'needed' her before. This is also when Yang confirmed that she would be following Ruby's lead because she trusts her. 

But, Ruby still clearly looks up to Yang, see Yang returning with the relic...

Still the pedestal Ruby kept Yang on was long since cracked and I think V6 is when it begins to fall entirely. Yang struggles more than Ruby is used to again, as does the rest of the team while Ruby is the only one to stay resolved. 

Thus, I think this is where Ruby stared viewing Yang as someone else she needed to protect and guide, rather than confide and accept guidance from.

The thing is, Yang likely hasn't noticed how Ruby's perception of her has shifted because their dynamic hasn't changed over much. Plus she's always admired Ruby and so following her lead doesn't bother her, nor doe she feel a need to be 'in charge' so to speak. 

Thus its not obvious to her that Ruby's mental image of Yang has shifted from "Protector" to "Someone I protect." and thus Ruby would not confide in her as she once did. 

[novankenn]

Perfection - A Homecoming (Ch2)

There had been no issue for Jaune to to be granted a leave of absence, though the administration of Beacon did balk at also granting one for Pyrrha. But after a couple implications that she would possibly consider withdrawing from Beacon to transfer to say... Shade Academy and the issues was quickly resolved.

The trip was quiet, uncomfortably so. Jaune didn't speak, he was so far into his own thoughts and worries that even his motion sickness was nonexistent. Pyrrha knew from their late night training and conversations, that his relationship with his family was strained. Running from home with a priceless heirloom tended to do that. Yet Jaune was so out of sorts, and she wasn't sure if it was from returning home, or the passing of his father.

Pyrrha: Jaune, are you okay?

Jaune: I'm fine Pyr.

Pyrrha: Jaune, it's just us. I can tell you're upset, and you know you can tell me anything. So talk to me.

Jaune: I...

Pyrrha: Is this about you returning home?

Jaune: A little, but it's more... my dad. We didn't part on good terms, and now he's gone... I'll never...

Pyrrha said nothing else, and just reached over and pulled Jaune into her. She closed her eyes and lay her cheek against the top of his head as sobs shook his body. It was going to be a long flight, and she was determined to be there for him.

Fourteen hours, five of which were consumed by fitful sleep the airship landed in a fairly well off settlement. Actually to Pyrrha it was probably one of the better fortified ones she had even been in.

Pyrrha: Is this Perfection?

Jaune: No this is Ansel. Perfection is another five hours away, over land.

Pyrrha: Why can't you fly in? Seems like a waste of time to drive.

Jaune: Perfection is in the middle of the mountain range. The air currents create too much turbulence to fly in safely, if at all.

Pyrrha: Okay, so how...

????: Jaune you little SHIT! Finally dragged your ass back huh?

Pyrrha and Jaune turned to face the owner of the voice, and Pyrrha was a little shocked. The young woman standing before them. She was in a denim button up shirt, camouflaged cargo pants, and a set of rather scuffed up boots. her Long golden tresses pulled back into a mess pony tail... but what really struck Pyrrha was how much this girl, who appeared to be Jaune's age... looked like Jaune.

Jaune: Screw you Joan. I've been busy trying to have a future not mired in that god forsaken place.

Joan: Well, boo-hoo Jaune... just boo-hoo. Who's this?

Jaune: Joan this is Pyrrha Nikos, my partner. Pyrrha this is Joan... a pain in my ass and my twin sister.

Joan: Partner, eh? Mom have to start planning on grand-kiddies?

Jaune: Stuff it. We're not that type of partners. So what happened, Mom was a little... shy on details.

Pyrrha: (Thinking) Yet, Jaune. Not that type yet.

Joan: Screwed if we know. Dad went out to check the seismos, and never came back. Me and Jade went out and found his truck totally trashed.

Jaune: Grand Blanc?

Joan: Nah... siesmos show he was up in the northeast quadrant, Dad was in the West quadrant.

Pyrrha: Jaune?

Jaune: I'll explain it all on the way to Perfection Pyr.

Joan: You little jag-off. You brought someone with you and didn't warn them about what they were getting into? Shit move to pull bro.

Jaune: Didn't have time. So we heading up?

Joan: (Tosses Jaune the keys) You're driving.

Jaune: Fine. You bring my kit?

(==[Table of Contents]==)

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 7/11/23, timezone change edition

the last time i wrote one of these things, i was not quite fully packed up in ma. now, i am technically temporarily homeless in houston, bc the apartment i originally signed on was completely unlivable. crashing in an acquaintance's guest room for a bit while i have a very bad time with apartment hunting round 2

i have lived in south florida, staten island, and various shithole student housing. i understand seasonal bugs in hot places and things such as different kinds of roaches and palmetto bugs. when i say that apartment had the worst roach infestation i've ever seen i fucking mean it. in theory i will get my full deposits back, but they're taking their sweet fucking time about it.

but having that full yes-i-know-about-seasonal-roaches conversation with new acquaintances and leasing agents takes too long so i've resorted to saying it had a horrific bedbug problem, which everyone seems to go Oh Okay Yeah Reasonable For You To Leave much more quickly.

listening

a lot of early aughts dance pop standards, to chase away the agonies as i drive to and from apartments only to get ghosted, find they were rented a week ago, or find that they look absolutely nothing like the pictures. i was really torn on which britney song to pick for this week until my sister sent me Twin Flame by Maude Latour, which i can only describe as "douchebag get the girl back song but for lesbians". spotify

also how do we like the "featured link from bandcamp or soundcloud with additional spotify link" format? in an ideal world i would buy all my music directly from the artists but realistically i use spotify 90% of the time. i don't know what your life is like, tell me if this is helpful or not.

-

reading

my best friend made sad faces at me until i read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, and it was a little nice to see someone else's dire housing situation get resolved neatly and with thematic consistence in several hundred pages. it was also nice to text her snippets with "WHAT?????" every so often. this is a reading experience i don't have very often bc our current reading tastes don't overlap even a little bit.

i don't have much to say about it bc i didn't have particularly strong feelings and don't really read mainstream straight romance, so i can't point out what this did differently or well compared to its peers. if nothing else, it was a fluffy bit of distraction, and i think that's kind of the point?

(image from Tor) also read Saad Z. Hossein's Kundo Wakes Up novella in a waffle house while eating some of the best scrambled eggs i've ever had in my life.

this novella was the closest thing i've ever read to "aging English professor has an affair" without actually containing any of those elements. generally i enjoy his work, but this was sort of a way to check up and tie off many characters from previous works with a sort of light frosting of "my wife left me and i don't know why [ rot13:v pna znxr fbzr thrffrf ohg gurer vf ab zbzrag bs frys-ernyvmngvba, bapr ur svaqf uvf jvsr ur whfg perrcf ba ure sebz nsne naq nsgre qrgrezvavat fur'f abg jvgu nalbar arj znxrf gur gerzraqbhf fnpevsvpvny qrpvfvba gb yrnir ure nybar op fur'f zhpu unccvre jvgubhg uvz. gurer vf ab zbzrag bs frys-ernyvmngvba nobhg jul fur zvtug unir yrsg uvz. xhaqb arire trgf bhg bs uvf bja shpxvat urnq bapr.]"

while The Gurkha and the Lord of Thursday novella (TREMENDOUS) and Cyber Mage book (fun but with some dire pacing issues) are fairly standalone, i cannot imagine you'd get much out of Kundo Wakes Up if you haven't read the other two. for some reason none of the libraries i have access to have his other book Djinn City, so we'll have to procure that elsewhere.

-

watching

the dnd movie, the day after i broke my lease on the roach apartment. i don't remember a ton about this movie. do generally like a heist. michelle rodriguez was hot

-

playing

genshin. listen. it is a free and familiar way to turn my brain off by doing open world exploration and puzzles but CRUCIALLY! most of it is completely new to me. i have not played this game in a year and a half. i have not played this game since right before enkanomiya. there was no chasm. there was no Sumeru. i have absolutely no idea what’s happening lore-wise.

i pulled for the fancy ice claymore lady and got a catboy archer (at least i think it is a catboy? the ears do give a pharaoh hound vibe... he is distinct from the extant dogboy archer). not terrible but not my vibe.

i have been enjoying the shit out of the temporary summer event carnival space. they really did pull out several stops by introducing a ton of genuinely interesting and innovating little new mechanics and mini games. delightful!

-

making

altering the worst shorts ive ever seeeeeeeeen with a demure little two-inch side slit on both legs bc my thighs simply will not quit. mens shorts are so much better than womens shorts in nearly every way except for the catastrophic physical fit issues.

when i got ghosted by two different apartments on saturday i bought myself a spoon ring so chunky it makes my other chunky rings look positively delicate by comparison. not very comfy to drive in but fine to wear while tippy tappying on the spreadsheets

a girl i saw for one singular awful date in 2016 called my hands "coarse but honest" and i think about that every time my hands are in a photo. what did that even fucking MEAN, [REDACTED]?

[halfagone]

Got it, thank you! What’s been on my mind lately is the whole Danny x Kara thing (honestly surprised it got as many votes as it did tbh). I’d love to see someone expand on this idea in the future with its own story or something along those lines, as I got the inspiration for the idea from seeing you doing Danny x Cass in your Lex Luthor story. So I suppose my full prompt would be a story where Kara actually meets Ellie first, as I think those two could have a lot in common with being in the shadow of another hero from their family. Maybe Kara can even act like an older sister to Ellie. Then, it eventually leads to Kara meeting Danny though Ellie, whether it be due to Ellie destabilizing and calling Danny for help or even having Ellie play matchmaker and purposely introduce the two, the romance starting from there. I think it would be fun to see!

Ooh, yes~! What fun! I've been watching different animated versions/renditions of Kara in preparation for an upcoming scene... That shall be the most I share on that subject. Hehehe~

(Now, this isn't super refined or edited, or put into my regular prose, but I hope you like it anyways.)

I can imagine many possibilities for how Ellie and Kara could meet up or run into each other. I've always imagined that Kara takes care of more intergalactic threats, but Earth is still her new home, and she doesn't want to be away from it for long if she can help it. Not to mention she does have a civilian life she has to keep up.

So much like her cousin, Kara takes care to settle and assist in domestic issues, like wrangling forest fires or assisting natural disaster relief efforts, maybe even taking care of the occasional megalomaniac, as any good Super does. She's fairly popular, and the public might always be happy to see a fresh face, but it's hard to push out the occasional remark from the crowd that she can't help but overhear about how they prefer Clark or one of the Superboys. If there's anything Kara has to say about Earth it's that she's not fond of the misogyny. But she doesn't let that deter her, although sometimes she finds she just needs to stretch her legs and take a flight around the planet before she ends up punching some creep who's gawking at her legs a little too much to be brushed off as a mistake.

And it's here that she starts running into a younger girl with bright white hair and illuminating green eyes. Kara is of course startled when she first spots her, it's always a surprise to see someone outside of the hero community flying around, for business or pleasure. Kara tries to approach, cautious as always, but the girl seems to startle at that too. So Kara tries to back off a little, and just waves at her in a friendly manner. The girl waves back, shy and unsure, and she quickly zips away again. Kara doesn't chase after her, but she does mentally log the instance. The girl didn't act hostile in any way, and while Kara doesn't know who she is, she also doesn't know every hero or meta in the world. She resolves to keep the instance in mind for the future, but she mostly brushes it off in the meantime.

But their run-ins keep happening, either as Kara is rushing to another rescue or even taking a lovely little flight as the sun sets. They never actually introduce themselves, but she finds that their waves of greeting become warmer and warmer over time, with the white-haired girl often eagerly waving at her first. Kara is always happy to wave back, a smile on her face. She finds her run-ins with the strange girl to be some of her favorite parts of any flight, and she occasionally gets disappointed when they don't bump into each other.

One day Kara is sitting on a seastack out in some archipelago she unfortunately doesn't remember the name of, and the other girl hesitantly approaches her, face burrow slightly in the collar of the hoodie thrown over a hazmat suit design. The girl introduces herself as Ellie, and Kara returns the greeting with her own name. (She knows better than to give her civilian name, even though that name has far less meaning to her than her birth name.)

They talk. A lot. Often times about absolutely nothing and sometimes about quintessential 'girl' stuff as some of the girls in her class would call it. Kara doesn't really get it entirely, but she has to admit there are just some experiences that she would never share with clark even if she'd blabber all about it to the wonderful Ma Kent. Whenever they bump into each other now, they always make sure to stop and chat. Unless Kara is rushing off to an emergency, of course.

At some point, Ellie tells Kara about her brother. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they have a complicated relationship. But the most that Kara can carefully needle out of Ellie is that there's a few years age gap between them that usually wouldn't be a problem for most families, but Ellie's family definitely isn't like most families. She speaks highly of her brother, even if it's in that begruding, whiny way that she'll hear Tim or Damian complain about their siblings to Kal's kids.

They're close, but their living situations mean they don't get to see each other face to face very often, and they find themselves communicating primarily over the phone. Kara figures it's not ideal, but there are plenty children from divorced parents that often have the same struggles. Kara only ever hears about a father figure, a pretty damn bad one too, and she doesn't really feel like she has the right to ask about the mother.

She learns that Ellie has many powers, although she gets to see very few of them in action. (The question of why Ellie has no heartbeat is always on Kara's tongue, but she refrains from asking every time.) Ellie isn't really interested in being a hero, and Kara always tells her that she's not wrong for not wanting that. Being a hero is a lot of work and responsibility, no one should have to carry that weight on their shoulders if they don't want to.

Ellie always looks at Kara with stars in her eyes, and Kara tries not to preen with pride. Ellie's compliments have always felt different, more personal, than any accolades she receives from the adoring public.

Eventually, Kara has to inform Ellie that she has an upcoming mission in space, so they won't be able to meet up for a while. When Ellie learns of this, she instantly blabbers about her brother's love for space and astronomy and "You two should totally meet! He'd love to hear you talk anything about space!"

Somehow Kara gets roped into doing just that. She doesn't know what compels her to agree to a meeting with Ellie's brother, Danny. But there's no going back now, and she wonders if she should feel more self-conscious about what this means for her relationship with Ellie. But then Ellie shows up at their meeting spot, brother in tow, and everything settles.

Kara wouldn't call it an instant click, not like the romcoms and romantic Earth fairytales would describe it, but it- settles. That's perhaps the only way Kara can describe the way she slowly eases into conversation. There are some awkward bumps, and the occasional uncertain silence, but Danny is eager and curious and snarky, and well. He's pretty cute too.

So if she tucks some hair behind her ear and laughs at some joke Danny says then that's nobody's business but her own.

Ellie had been so excited for two of her favorite people in the world to meet. But then she started to notice the blushes on their faces and she realizes with dawning horror that she might have just created a monster.

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Interlude (BC) Chapter 28

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Master Post

“ARGH!” Blood-Wraith recoiled, falling backwards out of the salt circle. “What was that!?”

Vexation composed himself and set the focusing orb down. “Blood, what’s wrong?” he asked as he helped him up.

“I… I saw something. Give me a second…” After pacing around, Blood-Wraith was able to put his thoughts together. “It was big, but not big. It stood there, except, it was… It was warping everything around it. It stood on the horizon yet it was right there next to me. I felt wrong and weird, so I tried to ignore it and get away, but that only made it more persistent.”

“And that’s what led to you losing your focus. Do you know what the entity wanted?”

Blood-Wraith sat down and put his head in his hand. “I think it wanted to help, but my instincts kept saying no. And now I feel bad…”

“Interesting” Vexation commented, pondering what it could have been. “That sounds fairly familiar to me. Take a break for now while I see what I can dig up.”

“Alright then.” Going down stairs, Blood-Wraith ran into Valentina talking to Radovan. “Oh, hey, dad.”

“Ah, there you are, Blood. You didn’t hurt yourself just now, did you?”

“You heard that? Um no, just encountered something weird is all.”

Valentina looked fairly concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay, sweetie?”

Blood-Wraith nodded. “So what’s up dad?”

“Vlastimir’s parents are here and they’d like to meet you. Would you like to come over to the mansion for a bit?”

He shrugged. “Sure.”

In truth, Blood-Wraith was still shook up by what he had encountered. Perhaps this would take his mind off of it. Radovan handed the boy off to Rose as he headed back out to track down Dragoslava. Entering the backyard, Blood-Wraith quickly spotted Vlastimir’s parents. They immediately gave him a weird feeling. The two appeared normal enough, but it seemed like they had more to tell than what could be gleaned on a first encounter. As for everyone else, Vlastimir, Ekaterina, Desislav, Corentin, Kresimira, and even Deimos were present. All of them were having a good time and did not appear to be phased like Blood-Wraith was.

Vlastimir promptly noticed Blood-Wraith and quickly brought him over. “Blood! You have to meet my parents!” He quickly dusted him off even though it was not necessary. “Mom, Dad? This is Sir Blood-Wraith, my newest best friend.”

“Sir? He’s knighted?” Zoltan inquired. Vlastimir nodded. “Well then, it’s an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Sir Blood-Wraith.” He said, holding out his hand.

Blood-Wraith hesitated, but accepted. “Nice to meet you too, Zoltan.”

Morana held out her hand next. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, dear. I’m Morana, Vlastimir’s mother.”

“Likewise. Huh, you kind of remind me of Leif.”

Vlastimir chuckled. “It’s the dragon sealed inside my mom that gave me my blood.”

“Wow, neat. Hey, could I have a second?”

“Sure,” Zoltan replied. “Go ahead, Blood-Wraith.”

He turned to Deimos and gave him a hug. “Hey, Deimos. How’s it going?”

“Good to see you again, Blood. Captain Dusan and his crew made it back safe and sound. Currently they’re waiting for the Shadowland situation to resolve before we set up the next voyage. Since there’s down time, I figured I’d stop by and meet our new faces.”

“That’s great.” He looked around. “I imagine Drago’s around, but where’s Tusk?”

Desislav lightly cleared his throat. “Well Deimos tried to get a hold of him, but I guess he’s busy at the moment…”

Just then, a portal opened up and out stepped Tusk. He was a bit roughed up, but no worse for wear. “Don’t worry, Randalph, I’ll be back in a moment… Hey everyone, did someone call for me?”

After a round of greetings from the group, Blood-Wraith addressed him. “Tusk, what have you been up to?”

He laughed. “Things are a bit hectic right now, but I have got quite the story to tell you when I’m done, Blood.”

Vlastimir got to work introducing Tusk to his parents. They were amazed to meet him as they had never seen a Tree Person before. After a quick rundown about Tusk’s stone arm, Dragoslava finally showed up. She had not accounted for the Dracul’s showing up early, hence why she was late. Dragoslava introduced herself and recognized Morana. She had run into her during her second trip to the Valley of Eons. The two had worked together to map out a recently discovered section of the valley at the time.

“Ha, well ain’t this quite the reunion?” Dragoslava remarked.

Tusk chuckled. “Kind of feels like Auda should be here…”

“We can send a letter to Sigmund if you want, Tusk,” Radovan offered.

He thought about it. “We could, but I got a feeling she sensed me re-enter The Unlight… did it just get dark all of a sudden?”

Behind Tusk was a tree, except it had not been there before. “BOO!” It exclaimed, starling him. Everyone else laughed.

“Auda!” Tusk cried. “Don’t do that!”

She laughed as she turned back to normal. She had not changed much since the last time everyone had seen her, barring the fact that her horns had grown a bit. “Got you, Uncle Tusk!”

Blood-Wraith was amazed. “Wow, Auda, how’d you get here so fast?”

Auda gave him a hug in greeting. “Grandpa taught me some new magic, Mr. Fire.”

“Wait, if you used what I thought you used…” Tusk looked around. “That only works in the forest.”

“Yeah. Isn’t this a part of the forest?”

Tusk turned to the trees in the distance, then to Rose. “Your Grace?”

She nodded. “Some of the trees I planted were saplings from The Unending Forest.”

“Ah, okay then. I was wondering why this place felt so familiar. So anyways; Zoltan, Morana, this is my niece, Auda. She helped get me out of the ground, for Blood’s sake.”

Zoltan and Morana were pleased to meet Auda, as she was simply a doll to them. Once everything had settled, the group went back to talking. The conversation went back and forth between Earth and The Unlight, fascinating everyone. Of particular interest to Blood-Wraith and the others were Vlastimir’s friends from Earth. They all sounded quite charming, prompting the group to want to meet them at some point in the future. As the late afternoon approached, Radovan got up to present an invitation to the Dracul’s.

“Zoltan, Morana? Would you two be interested in staying the night? I just figured it would be nice to rest up and not have to rush right out again.”

“Plus it will be a clear night,” Rose added. “We should be able to spot Leif’s constellation.”

Zoltan liked this idea. “That would be fine with me. Morana?”

“Oh absolutely. Truthfully I’ve been wanting to revisit The Unlight for some time now.”

“Fantastic. Vlastimir, Ekaterina?”

“I don’t mind,” he replied.

“Neither do I,” Ekaterina agreed.

“Very good.” Radovan turned to Blood-Wraith. “Son? Could you go inform Vex and Val of our plans? It’d be great to have them over for dinner.”

Blood-Wraith got up and stretched. “Sure… ah, hey, Deimos? You uh… want to come with me and say hi to Vex? You know, before everything gets going?”

Deimos had a guilty look on his face. He took a deep breath and got up, having a feeling as to what was going to happen. “Sure…”

After a quick walk, the two were back at Blood-Wraith’s house. “It’s a shame we couldn’t get Aureolus here” Blood-Wraith commented as he opened the door.

“True, but he is quite busy in Shadowland after all.”

“Yeah. Val? Vex? Dad wants to invite you over to dinner at the mansion. Vlastimir’s parents are staying the night.”

“Dinner? Well that sounds lovely” Valentina responded as she walked into the living room. “Oh, Deimos.”

“Hello, Valentina. Is Vexation…?”

“Eustorgio.”

Deimos looked up at the stairs. “It’s… It’s been a while, Ermenrich.”

Vexation walked over and looked his old friend in the eye. There was a bit of a pause, followed by a smile. “Water under the bridge…” He then gave Deimos a hug.

“Aw, how wonderful” Valentina complimented.

“Thanks, Ermenrich.”

“Just one thing, Eustorgio…”

“What’s that?”

Vexation sucker punched him in the gut. “That’s for stabbing me in the back!”

Valentina was offended by this. “Vexation!”

“No, no, I deserved that…” Deimos said as he steadied himself.

Vexation helped him stand upright. “No hard feelings?”

“No hard…” Deimos was interrupted by a cream pie to the face. He then took a taste of it. “Banana?” The two mages burst out laughing, leaving Blood-Wraith and Valentina bemused. “Even after all that nonsense I put you through?” Deimos asked as he wiped off his face.

“Yeah, come here, brother!” The two hugged for real this time.

Blood-Wraith looked at Valentina. “I had the weirdest feeling before coming over here…”

“Good call, dear.”

“You’ll be happy to know that I managed to track down Tiberius, Ermenrich,” Deimos stated.

“Really now?” Vexation was surprised. “How’s he doing?”

“Reincarnated, but he retained his memories. He even has ULTRAMagic now, so I invited him to the guild…”

Now Blood-Wraith was surprised. “Wait, really? I mean, what’s he like?”

“Don’t fret, Blood, my boy. Tiberius is a stellar mage and will make sure the guild goes on without a hitch.”

Vexation nodded. “He’s no joke. I can’t even begin to recall all the times he’s gotten on our cases for being unorganized.”

Blood-Wraith thought about it and chuckled. “Well that’s cool then. That eases some of my worries.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have Leif or Mal though. You’d like Mal, Blood,” Deimos pointed out.

“Leif will pop back up soon, I’m sure of it” Vexation asserted. “Can’t say I’ve seen Mal recently, however.”

“Who’s Mal?” Blood-Wraith asked.

“She was a forlorn primordial we looked after back in the day. Leif found her out in the open and took her in. I’m kind of surprised she didn’t show up here while Leif was still around.”

Deimos pondered that for a moment. “Well if anyone can find her, it’d be Tiberius. I’ll bring it up with him next time I talk to him.”

“Well I certainly hope Milosh or The Lich didn’t get to her” Valentina put forth.

Deimos laughed, albeit regretfully. “Don’t worry, she avoided me like the plague when I became The Lich of Old, doubly so when I split myself. Furthermore, I’m sure she’d attack Milosh on sight. She may not look it, but she is incredibly powerful.”

Blood-Wraith sighed. “I have a feeling that Leif went to see her before we left for The Dark Grand Desert…”

“Of course…” Deimos said with a facepalm. “There were so many things I needed to ask him…”

“No use dwelling on the past, Eustorgio,” Vexation replied.

“Unfortunately” Blood-Wraith remarked. “So you all want to head over to the mansion then?”

“Certainly, let’s go.”

“Yeah, that pie made me hungry,” Deimos commented.

“I trust that there will be no more shenanigans, Vexation?” Valentina questioned.

He nodded. “It’s all good now.”

“Careful, he was the jokester of our group” Deimos cautioned.

This made Blood-Wraith giggle. “I take it there were a lot of pranks back then?”

“Yup, especially when Ermenrich started talking with Mal. They had a lot of fun making Tiberius lose his mind.”

Valentina laughed. “Well then, I’d love to meet Mal as soon as possible. And Tiberius given his disposition.”

“Duly noted, Val,” Deimos said as he shut the door behind them.

Next: Chapter 29

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[zoroara]

I was thinking about how Squalo’s backstory can be interpreted a number of ways today, and generally just because it depends how you take how he says his words. This is going to be a ramble and god knows if it makes any sense so I’m just gonna put it under here.

Because while Squalo says it's "also" proof of his resolve, I believe it to mean more of what he's already done beforehand that he has resolve to do anything he says. It's often lumped with his vow and Xanxus sounds in the flashback like he has absolutely nothing to do with any of it. He never said he cut his hand off for Xanxus. No, he specifically states that this was for himself, that it was for his understanding of the blade. But that it is representative of his strong resolve, as an overall statement. which is fucking true, it’s a stupid ass resolve but it sure is a strong one. So in showing that, he also shows that his vow is going to be unbreakable.

While it is an outsiders perspective, the way Dino speaks and the statements that he says, that not only was the Varia scouted squalo. Meaning he likely had no intention of being there at the time, as when characters go out of their way join it, like with Bel it's clearly stated. 

And Squalo in seeing a chance to fight the swordmaster leader added the caveat that he wanted to fight him. Honestly he was probably looking for an excuse, you cannot fucking say to me that Squalo wasn’t going to eventually fight and kill Tyr, like no matter the reason he would have done it. The bitch has a complex.

Now the reason I say it doesn't line up (at least to me), with doing it for Xanxus.

Is because afterwards, Squalo was rising up the ranks fairly quickly, on his own, with no mention of Xanxus in the picture, no mention of Xanxus even interested in the same position, or even leading, it was all Squalo that he was expected to be, that he had absolutely no opposition to being in that position. 

So at the very least Xanxus was not given the boss position for a good while, which would be strange if Squalo specifically killed Tyr for him. (By the way how was the Varia operating with no leader. Timoteo you should have been on that shit that was YOUR FUCKING ASSASSIN SQUAD.) 

You could potentially interpret this as being kept as secret but...

It's also noted that Xanxus only knew Squalo for half a year, and he absolutely acts like it in the past with absolutely no interest in what Squalo decided to do with phrasing of what he’s done so the idea that it was some how kept a secret seems a little... Strange to me.

What I think happened and would make more sense to interpret this as at least for me, is Squalo was doing this all on his own, then became enthralled with Xanxus' ambition and rage, choosing to make his vow to him and leave the Varia leader position open to him.

Where upon Xanxus, who had already learned, about the truth that caused the coup. (Because Squalo said that he decided to follow the fury he had after saying Xanxus learned the truth in his timeline of events when recounting Xanxus’ past), decided to take that position so he could have the Varia to lead against the vongola.

Because it really didn’t seem like they fucking discussed a damn thing before hand.

Of course as I say there’s many ways to interpret these flashbacks, I already know the more popular one is that he did it for Xanxus, it just doesn’t make sense to me personally and wanted to show how I ended up interpreting what it means.

[findlayccarter]

High Tide - Kick and Prance (Runner)

Dir: @rossrjohnston Prod: @kat.tweedie DoP & Edit: Eathan Currie Talent & Choreo: @hannah_collins01 Location: @mellerstainhouseandgardens MD: @alexportersmith-blog

Now that Ethan has finished the edit for the their mini passion project film I thought I'd talk about the experience of working on the shoot with them.

I got an opportunity to work with High Tide quite last minute, but I was keen to get involved because I thought it would be good to learn from a company that do a mix of commercial and art films. Also I wanted to meet Ethan, who I think it primarily a cinematographer but also does editing. Something I'd be keen to do in the future, because as much as I love editing, I like the pressure/stress of being on set and having to act on impulse sometimes. Ethan also told me that they work with Davinchi most of the time, which was reassuring to hear.

It was a 6am call time which was a shock to the system and I didn't know what we were doing until we were on the car ride down to the borders. Ethan and Alex had wanted to create something like this for a while and it worked with needing some music based work to show on a show reel - as well as working and showing off a location:

Mellerstain House is a stately home around 8 miles north of Kelso in the Borders, Scotland. It is currently the home of George Baillie-Hamilton, 14th Earl of Haddington, and is designated as a historical monument.

It was a truly stunning house and the weather was perfect creating a-lot of light beams through the windows and meaning that my job as runner was very limited in terms of doing any fill lighting etc. A lot of the work I did was just fetching and carrying stuff and helping in any small way as possible like holding the camera. The camera, weighed a ton and really made the URSA handheld setups look pathetic.

There wasn't a lot of technical aspects that I was able to pick up on, however here's a list of things that I noticed there: -

The gimbal setup seemed like a bit of a nightmare even for someone who was used to it - definitely need to have play around with one in the future.

Ross (director) and Ethan (DOP) clearly had worked alot together so there was good chemistry. But I noticed that there was alot of problems that occurred that would be resolved very quickly. I think it showed how much they had planned it out and both had a very similar and clear mindset of what to get.

Lenses - the lens was fairly wide the whole time, I want to say it was a 25. There was very few lens changes, I think there was only one and it was only for a shot of Ross being the other tourist.

Producing - Kat was great and really organised the whole day. Even though there was a time constraint and it wasn't completely stress feel, they did not seem like they were stressed at all. The whole shoot was under control with well managed breaks and other commitments in between.

Wireless monitor - I wish the screen academy had these, the setup for it was so much easier and it made the playback and reviewing so much faster. I've learned to hate plugging BNC cables in.

Overall it was a great experience seeing everyone work, and the whole setup of High Tide was something that was very appealing to me. A small but varied group of people who worked together seamlessly and worked on projects that they all enjoyed and on top of that get paid for. To me it really seemed like the perfect job to be in. I hope that they reach out again and I have the opportunity to work with them.

[mothuary]

REVIEW : Professor Layton and the Curious Village

woohoo back at it again with trying to review all the media I consume this year.  Most recently, on the recommendation of several friends, are the prof. layton games!

I managed to get this game for a whopping £2 secondhand which was kind of a complete steal, and then i was off. 

I found the game to be.... compelling enough. it was very very clearly a first entry, and for as much as the story and setting did for the game, the gameplay itself felt really disjointed. Like, its a mystery-- so why did all of the puzzles feel so disconnected from what was going on?

like. who are you people.  I didnt so much mind the constantly shifting artstyle, but the puzzles just didnt always seem to lend well to maintaining the unsettling and mysterious vibe of the village.  That being said -- I really do love the artstyle of the main portion of the game. I think theyre cute, they pull off being chronologically ambiguous, and they have a lot of fun with character design with the townspeople. Idk why but i really love this old peasant woman Agnes like i have no clue why but i think shes great. and that little dude prosciutto. chefs kiss. They really just push and pull between comic and mundane really well and i am super into it. 

Generally speaking, I think that the game didnt bite off more than it could chew and had fairly solid foundations for the start of a franchise. It didnt need a giant story-- it resolves pretty quickly in all honesty. It didnt need a giant world-- just a little village. It didnt need a ton of music tracks, and the shift from a daytime investigation to a nighttime one helped keep things from going stale.  I’m currently playing Pandora’s Box (Or the Diabolical Box for the US readers), so I already know that some things start to iron out-- but ill address that game once I finish it. For the curious village alone, I think it can absolutely stand as inspiration for how games dont need to be massive to be fun, and that the premise can literally just be Heres A Story That Spoonfeeds You Challenges. I think that its definitely something that could be added to the inspiration board for a prospective indie creator, and its flaws may absolutely serve as starting points for iteration and growth. 

TL:DR : well. I 100%’d it, so I liked it that much

[wizardysseus]

2, 11 & 12 :)

2. Did you reread anything? What?

less so this year than some years

pride and prejudice by jane austen

nimona by nd stevenson

piranesi by susanna clarke

the sorrow dance by denise levertov

thirst by mary oliver

blessing the boats by lucille clifton

fire and hemlock by diana wynne jones

shadow spinner by susan fletcher

the odyssey by derek walcott

a selection of poems by e.e. cummings

the son of neptune by rick riordan

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

what's "awhile" in this scenario? 10 years? 30 years? i can't pick one but i've narrowed it down to two

the last unicorn by peter s. beagle

the sandman comics by neil gaiman - especially brief lives and the kindly ones

12. Any books that disappointed you?

hench by nina zina walschots - this was fine, but i was expecting more from it i think, and also she should have made out with the leviathan.

only a monster by vanessa len - nothing about this book worked for me, but especially that the "monsters" are all Fairly Regular Guys who can time travel. and just so we're clear, it's not love at first sight; they just fell in love in another timeline that we don't get to see.

in a garden burning gold by rory power - i normally wouldn't include anything izzie and i read for the book club of misery, because we do not approach those in, like, the best of faith, but in this case i was optimistic, and then it was so boring and the politics insulted my intelligence.

the dragon's promise by elizabeth lim - i read six crimson cranes in march, really enjoyed it, and then waited till august for the sequel to come out and it was... a very sort of perfunctory sequel that existed to jump from plot point to plot point and resolve them as quickly as possible.

house of hunger by alexis henderson - this is billed as a queer gothic horror, but for gothic you really need to develop a sense of place, and this not-very-well-sketched victorianesque fantasy world did not do it for me. it's lacking in intrigue or mystery. the vampires are obviously vampires (not just to the readers but to the characters). everyone articulates exactly what they're feeling at all times. the lead relationship has no chemistry, and i did not buy at all that lisavet had ever truly loved marion, so there was no reason to feel tragic about the "discovery" of what was really going on. sorry this bullet point is so long, but i really wanted to find a good vampire book in october/november and i was bitterly disappointed by this instead.

a dowry of blood by s.t. gibson - i read this after house of hunger, so i was even more desperate for a good vampire book and less optimistic. among my many problems with this book, i think writing it as a letter (series of letters?) to dracula after his death was a mistake, because there is way too much hindsight. the narrator isn't discovering anything as she's living it; she already knows what she thinks, long after the fact, which takes any tension out at the knees. vast swaths of time are covered in a few sentences, which is fine, except she seems to skip anything interesting (such as the harkers, who are mentioned all of once; they are not the ones who kill dracula, so why not cut that reference and just have oc vampires? hello?). the combination of emotional distance and diagnostic language made it impossible for me to be drawn in. also, reviews have greatly underplayed the flowery ridiculousness of the prose. "liquid rage pooled in my stomach and lit up my face" has lived in my mind rent-free for a month.

[a-loihl]

Paul Fred

I went to look at a new used car. The van can’t take much more of this abuse. The car is a Lexus GX470. It’s known for its reliability and off-road capability. Its also probably technically a truck. I had spent a couple days texting with the owner, who seemed easy going and informative. Only he wasn’t really sure he wanted to sell it. I told him that if he did decide to sell it I was interested. Then yesterday morning he texts to say I can come look at it if I want. I assume that means he’s willing to sell it. He tells me his name is Paul and when I tell him mine he’s surprised I’m a woman. Ok fair enough, I asked some good car questions. But he also asks who I’m bringing with me. But I missed that at the time.

Paul and his Lexus are in Cottonwood, which is an hour away. He tries to give me directions. He clearly doesn’t know what I “do” for a “living”. Anyway, everything seems normal so I head out. It’s once I arrive that normal becomes elusive. As I pull into the steep driveway I spot both Paul and the Lexus. He’s standing near it in fact. By the time I park and get out he’s no longer standing. He’s now sitting in a chair at the top of the driveway. It’s like the opposite of a greeting. I confirm I’m Angela and he stays sitting. He’s older than I pictured based on the emojis he used. Which are usually a reliable indicator of everything about a person.

He’s very slight, probably in his 70s, and wearing what look like women’s sunglasses. They are big and round. He doesn’t get up. He doesn’t show me the car. He barely talks. I fill in the space and make conversation.

When I ask him about the truck, the only thing he seems to know is how wide it is. He says he knows because his wife, who he has mentioned numerous times despite being fairly untalkative, thinks it’s so big. He’s able to tell me what other vehicles it is no wider than. This is an interesting metric given the fact that the truck is undeniably tall and long, if not wide.

Interestingly, he shares that his wife is from Ukraine, was married previously and has a son. Because he’s been so quiet, I’m not sure why he’s told me this unless it somehow explains his obsession with the width of the truck. It continues to be an odd interaction. Then I hear him say “Oh. My wife’s back. She’s back early”. He seems concerned, presumably because he was going to murder me but now he can’t. She’s younger than him and looks Eastern European. We meet and I instantly like her. She clearly wears the personality in the relationship. I hear her call him Fred. This is confusing since he told me his name was Paul. Fred is an odd pet name.

Back to business, he tells me I can get in the truck. I do. He tells me I can drive it if I give him my drivers license. I do. As I pull out, I notice the dash is lit up like a Christmas tree. There are more warning lights illuminated than most vehicles possess. But it drives well and I explore the neighborhood. When I get back, I mention the dash lights and he informs me he doesn’t care about those. Ok. He also says some things that imply he’s still not sure he wants to sell it. Ok. Then he asks if I want to take the car his wife pulled up in for a ride. It’s similar to the one he’s maybe selling, but he’s definitely not selling that one. He seems to want me to experience it though. I agree to take it for a drive and he comes along this time. His wife convinces him to bring along their little dog and before he agrees I notice he’s got a towel spread across his lap in anticipation. I like the dog. The drive is much the same as the one in the truck he might want to sell except I’ve got him instructing my every move.

When we return to his house I quickly make my escape before he tries to get me to drive anything else he isn’t selling. On my way out of the neighborhood, I spot a really sweet hooptie and a dead skunk.

Ps when I got home I did some private investigating, mostly to resolve the name discrepancy. Also because I’m nosey. I looked up his house on the county parcel map and it’s listed as belonging to a “Ralph Frederick Emmord, Jr., a married man”. Maybe he made up the Paul name for some unknowable reason. Then I remembered his work truck. It was for a weed and pest control business. The Yelp reviews were spot on. And some of them referred to him as Paul.