#looks fun. i think the other one is doing hamlet. either way i will have fun

[gawainism]

i am going to move out and make friends. manifestation is real and im doing it

[maxe-murderer]

thoughts on the summoning choreo and the LiB's ages

aight so i watched the digital ticket last night and spent way too long analyzing the choreo for the summoning and a) want to ramble abt it cause its cool and b) wanna give my 2 cents for the Lords in Black ages theories (i don't think I've seen anyone mention this but im sure im not the first person to notice)

so the choreo for LiB do at the very beginning of the summoning is like a lot to take in all at once so i didn't take it in all at once and rewatched the same like 10 seconds over and over

so each of the LiB have their own little bit of choreo that's theirs, with Blinky and Nibbly's probably being the most obvious. But they all seem to do the same moves - with some little differences for a few of them - at completely different and seemingly random times. They do all start with "their" move. So breaking down each one, starting with:

Wiggly: The first move Wiggly does and the first one we see in the pro shot. Bent over at the hips, arms out to the side swinging in and out at the elbows. Reminiscent of his tentacles, yknow. One difference I can see with his choreo is he puts the majority of his weight on his right leg with the left out to the side and partially bent - he only does this the first time he does his move, and Tinky does similar but to a lesser extent.

Tinky: First thing he does, the bend down snap up repeat, arms back when down arms out in front when up. First time you see it in the pro shot is Nibbly doing it in the background behind Pokey (roughly 2:01:07). It doesn't make anything immediately jump to mind, other than like, goats fighting.

Nibbly: Since Nibbly has the lollypop prop it looks like licking the lollypop. For everyone else, it's just their right hand sorta sliding down in front of their face. The first time we see this is Wiggly doing it during the line "Wiggly wants his wrath".

Blinky: Bent at the hips, circle down and left to right and up. Blinky holds his hands in front of his to make that triangle/diamond over the one eye. Pokey holds his mask in front of his face for this, it looks like Wiggly does either the same hands as Blinky or basically the same but centered on his face, it's difficult to tell, Nibbly and Tinky just have their hands out in front of them.

Pokey: Swapping from facing right, right hand up in front of your face to facing left with the left hand up. Makes me think of Hamlet. Pokey looks at the mask while facing right and his hand when facing left. Everyone does the same with or without whatever prop they have. Tinky and Wiggly put their arms all the way up in a more of a presenting something type pose - Tinky's arms straight up and Wiggly's a bit bent. Nibbly does the move but faces forward instead of looking at his hands - he does this for every move, face is constantly directly toward the audience.

so I do wanna say first that while they do have all the same bits of choreography (just at different times) none of them do it exactly the same. There are small differences between all of them on the same moves (ex. Tinky: some people keep their head up when going down others have their face to the ground. Nibbly always keeping his face forward. Legs bent and feet flexed. Etc.)

Ok. So. The order that each of the LiB do each move is the same for all of them, but they each start at their own move and end on their own move.

The order goes: Wiggly, Tinky, Nibbly, Blinky, Pokey

Its a really fun way to keep the scene feeling cohesive but also super chaotic. It's pretty much impossible to notice a pattern if you aren't replaying the same part specifically looking for if there's a pattern.

As for their ages, I can't say that I actually have any strong opinions on the LiB's ages (I think any sort of hierarchy among each other they have is based on what I can best describe as their eldritch vibes) but this is fun to think about so like.

We all agree that Wiggly's the oldest so basically, the order Wiggly does the choreo as the ages of the LiB. And I think that when we look at it like this it has a sort of like, coming into being as the universe evolves to fill whatever cosmic need there is or smth like that. If you get what I'm getting at.

Wiggly's the oldest, he's clearly in charge and I think is also the most vague if we try to narrow down his "thing" if you know what i mean

Tinky would then be second oldest, I think it makes sense. He fucks with time itself, once you have a world you kind of need time for shit to happen in it

Nibbly next, middle child. He's hunger. As soon as you have life in the world that life will need to eat. And, he's the only one of the LiB who will consistently exist as a physical being outside of the Black and White (at least for a short while) and I think having the middle child be the one to have that sort of ability just sorta works

Blinky is the second youngest. His whole thing is sight. Not everything alive can see but a whole load of them can. Insert some sort of specific connection to the development of humanity. He's pretty satisfied with just having Watcher World seemingly. His brothers all have their domains and shticks already, so he'll just be happy in his corner torturing the shit out of whoever goes to Watcher World. No need to step on anyone's toes, y'know.

Pokey is the youngest and steps on everyone's toes. He both has a pretty nailed-down theme of control but is sorta, messy about it? his two main appearances have his existence in the physical world be directly connected to the meteor to the point of him getting kinda fucked over by it in Yellow Jacket. He's "The Singular Voice", he wants everything to be him, if it's not his voice he wants it dead. He's also the only one who we've seen get scolded by Wiggly. So like, the annoying and loud little brother.

anyway that's it. idk if you have any thoughts tell me. working boys budget breakdown soon to come

[psycho-lizard9]

Late 2019 I tore my soul in half and gave each half to a man I had never even met. Those men were Sakurai Atsushi and Fujisaki Issay. For four years they have owned those pieces of me, and in return they have blessed me with beautiful music and performances. Their work quickly took over my life, and now almost everything I do is related to them. They had given me a reason to live, something to always look forward to, something to love. Never before had I loved somebody nor their work so deeply, and I don't think I will ever love like this again.

I would have never expected them to die at such young ages. Issay, 61. Atsushi, 57. Neither would I have ever guessed they would die the same year, let alone so closely after each other. August 5th and October 19th. My soul is still divided, they each took their half of my soul to their grave with them, just like I am left with their works, now no longer in their hands.

I would do everything to return them to our world, even if they would then decide to retire. It is not only their work that was of importance to me, it was their lifes, knowing that they were doing well, happy, and having fun. I know death is inevitable and that it would have come for them eventually no matter what, but the time is not right. In ten or twenty years, maybe... Maybe then I could have accepted it, but not now, not while they were still so young, despite officially having been old.

Issay and Atsushi, both such inspirations. Issay, an openly gay man who felt like he did not necessarily have a gender. And Atsushi, a man who was not afraid to show his feminine side and affection to other men. The both of them were not afraid to show their emotions and speak their minds. They were truly people to respect and look up to. In a strange way, they were like parental figures to me, despite me also looking at them very... "respectfully".

Two men both beautiful in every way imaginable. Beautiful voices, beautiful faces, beautiful personalities/souls and for as far as I have been able to see, even beautiful bodies. Atsushi also had the best thighs I had ever seen on a man. Age had never taken that beauty from them, and they were both so kind and caring. Despite having been 57 and 61 years old they were both unbelievably stunning, not only on the outside, but on the inside too. In fact, I believe that their inner beauty shined through, and with every passing day it turned them more and more beautiful.

They have left us with so much to remember them by. Both BUCK-TICK as well as Der Zibet have such great discographies. BUCK-TICK, 23 albums, 46 singles, over 60 recorded tours and over 80 music videos. How many bands can achieve this? And if only Atsushi had lived longer, I am sure they would have done so much more. Der Zibet, 19 albums. Maybe they did not have as many singles, music videos and recorded tours, but their discography of music was surely not small. Besides that, Issay had so many projects on the side. PhI, Hamlet Machine, his solo album, ISSAY meets DOLLY, KA.F.KA.

And it was not only music that had become Issay's career, his life, it was pantomime too. His love for pantomime was undeniable as he often used it for performances with his band as well. I will always remember those little mime acts he would put up as they played the song Der Rhein. He also often talked about his love for pantomime. We may have only been able to see one performance of it, yet even through just one show you could see his passion. His mime career had started even earlier than his music career, and he actively worked on both until the day he died.

Sakurai Atsushi too had more than just BUCK-TICK. He had a solo album, SCHWEIN and The Mortal, growing his discography even further. Besides that, his special skill, that not many singers possess, was his ability to sing most of his songs even better live. And not only was he an incredible live vocalist, he too possessed a mesmerizing stage performance, gifting us either very magical, elegant and gothic performances, or something that could only be described as purely sexual. His moans will never leave my mind, and this is not a complaint. I only have to think about it and I can already see him ride a stage in thigh high stockings as he moans to either Sapphire, Mudai, or any of his other songs.

Something else I will never forget, for both Atsushi and Issay, is their smiles, their laughs and even how beautiful their voices were if they simply talked. They were both so cute with everything they did, truly adorable. Atsushi with his cats, they were his biggest love, his babies. Issay too was so cute with pets. Besides that they were both also funny, always able to make me laugh. They were just everything that was good.

Sakurai Atsushi and Fujisaki Issay, two very unique personalities that will not easily be found again, especially not in combination with their beauty, voices and skills. With their deaths, I have lost most of myself, and I feel empty. I hope the work they have left us with will be enough for me to fill this void that has grown inside of me, despite the fact that I want more, especially from BUCK-TICK as no other band will ever reach such perfection. It may be selfish and unrealistic, but I wanted them both to live and create forever.

That could have never been reality, but I would still have appreciated it if death could have waited 20 more years before it took the two most important people to me. It still feels unreal, how could they both die so soon? One of them was already difficult, yet both? It is as if I am a side character in somebody's horror fiction that Atsushi and Issay were the main characters of. It is worse than a nightmare, as a nightmare I could have woken up from.

BUCK-TICK's last album was Izora, an album with a cover art that symbolizes infinity. Their last music video was Mugen Loop, a video that truly was a loop, something that just went on forever. Despite the fact that BUCK-TICK will now most likely end, their music will exist for eternity, Atsushi’s voice will never disappear. The same counts for Issay.

I wish I could just tell them one thing, cause I want them to know how much they have meant to me. I know they can't hear me, but I'll still say the words and hope the wind carries them to wherever they are. All I would tell them is "thank you for everything you have done, for everything you have created." And I would tell them that the world misses them, and that I personally promise to always love them, even if I were to grow out of their music... which I am pretty sure will never happen. They will forever be my favorites, and their work will for always be part of my everyday life.

Sakurai Atsushi and Fujisaki Issay, thank you. I hope you both rest peacefully and without regrets. You have been perfect. I hope you two will take care of each other, wherever you are.

[bronanlynch]

experimenting with different ways of organizing this post. shout out to bullet point lists. anyway once again I watched more television than doing anything else

listening (podcast):

new Palisade: very fun as usual! I love the Blue Channel crew so much and I am constantly so worried for them

Great Gundam Project: still very fun to hear how little they know about what is to come. also they got to the episode where Char comes back with a bunch of cool underwater robots and 1) god I miss Char I wish I too were watching an arc of Gundam that has Char in it and 2) shout out to the Gogg & Z'Gok, two of my fave suits in all of Gundam

Media Club Plus: once again they have good thoughts about Hunter x Hunter, truly cannot wait to hear Jack's reaction to the Illumi reveal

listening (music): Dance Apocalyptic by Janelle Monae because I'm stealing songs from my old Beam Saber campaign playlist to make a Partizan/Palisade playlist and that's on both

reading:

Imperial Uncle: got to a twist about halfway through that I was fully not expecting but it was very fun, and the story in now drastically different than I thought it would be when I started but I am still enjoying it a lot

The Death I Gave Him: one of the most interesting questions to me in any Hamlet adaptation/retelling is what to do with Gertrude, what her role in the murder was, etc, and I'm enjoying the way this novel handles that. shout out to unethical science milfs

watching:

TGCF: regarding last week's episode, since we watched it after last week's wednedsaypost: on one hand, beef of beefleaf fame! my beloved! they looked extremely good! ("op they were chained up & disheveled" yeah exactly) on the other, the racism and also the transmisogyny. not that any of this was surprising because it's in the novel too, but it sure sucks to have racist caricatures and also to repeatedly treat the gender shifting & crossdressing as a joke and/or with disgust. regarding this week's episode: rip to Hua Cheng :/ sorry your crush burned your house down :/ I don't remember this arc super well because it was kinda overshadowed (for me) by having Ghost City and then the start of book 2 on either side of it, and as primarily a beefleaf & Mu Qing main I have priorities

Bakeoff: so the technical was a shitshow in a way that is 100% on the judges for not giving them enough time like. sorry that's what it means when every single person underbakes it. however. I literally laughed so hard I was in physical pain when everyone was presenting their horrible liquid puddings so who could say if it was bad or not

Hunter x Hunter: I do love where Killua's arc goes but I also really enjoy this early bit where he's just incredibly competent & terrifying and kicks everyone's ass without breaking a sweat. good for him, sorry about what led you to this point tho

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: other things happened in the episodes that I watched but I will be honest, most of it is wiped away by the preview for next episode showing me an incredibly major character death. um. aside from that. I do like the battle sequences, I love when a show is a couple of guys in a room going "I think this is the enemy's plan, here's what we're going to do about it" and then you see some different guys in a different room going "this is our plan, I hope this is how they react to it" and so on. also I like the narrator as kind of like. a historical accounting of the events, both because I like stories about the narrative construction of history and also because it means everything happens on very specific dates and I love having clear ideas of timelines

ZZ Gundam: finished ZZ! in general I enjoyed it (though I still prefer Zeta) and there are some really fun moments, especially with the Gundam Team, and I like Haman a lot as an antagonist. I didn't realize how close we were to the end until we had like 4 episodes left because the pacing is. kind of interesting. lot more "going to a place and fucking around for a while" than I expected, and sometimes it works better than other times. most of my ~critiques are things I already said last week (the misogyny, the ways in which the critiques of western military intervention in Africa & southwest Asia fall flat due to the white saviorism & none of it really getting a chance to be developed properly, etc) so I'm not gonna go into all that again, but I am going to just mention one of the wildest things which is that they refer to Dublin as "a city in what used to be Britain" which is. a loaded thing to say in 2023 let alone in the 1980s. lmao

I'm in Love with the Villainess: a fun yuri isekai about someone with a shitty job who gets transported into the world of her favorite otome game except instead of giving a shit about any of the male love interests she just wants to spend all her time with the female antagonist. it's very light and silly, and we're watching it as a short break before diving into more Gundam. I do love it when there are lesbians and little hints of class conflict simmering just under the surface

playing:

Ace Attorney 5: some mixed feelings about what I've gotten through this week. I love to see Edgeworth and I'm so compelled by Aura & Simon (individually and also as siblings), but I don't like how Trucy continues to be incredibly sidelined, and whenever they talk about the "dark age of the law" I kind of feel like. ok. look. it is just factually incorrect that it's only now that people cheat in court and only care about winning, and also the idea that overturning one (1) false conviction will fix the problems of the legal system is laughable. especially considering 1) everything about Von Karma 2) Edgeworth's entire backstory and 3) the fact that Phoenix spent the 7 year gap inventing a new legal system that everyone forgot about I guess. anyway. I do love Aura a lot though

Blades in the Dark: finally was able to run another session in my Blades campaign, in which the party. checks notes. performed a reverse bank heist. and also a normal bank heist. sometimes you have to break into a bank to leave something in a specific vault and you steal some other stuff along the way

making: finished building Miorine, so she is no longer a disembodied head and can now stand on the shelf with her wife. I'm not a huge fan of some the proportions/posing of the model, she has. like. woman in a comic book proportions that she doesn't have in the actual show (Imo the worst of it is her arched spine which you can't see here but I was surprised because Suletta has just. a normal spine)

drinking: Down East's cider donut-flavored cider because, once again, I love a seasonal fun little drink. this one's not as dry as the equivalent Citizens Cider I posted about a couple of weeks ago but Down East's stuff does tend to be a little sweeter in general. extremely good though, to be clear

writing: I added a section to my wip doc for my Nirvana in Fire exchange fic and copied over my giftee's prompts but I have not started on it and other than that I've done no writing. oops.

[electricaquarius]

I need to get changed for [Reasons], don’t look!

An offshoot of Isntthatrightzach's 'Don't burn alone in the dark' which has Geraldus at Last Light Inn alongside the other Harpers. Prompt comes from the lovely Harper Prince Hamlet discord server and this was our first fanwork sprint, it was super fun!

Summary: Rolan at Last Light before Cal and Lia are rescued seeks out Geraldus for some soothing cuddles, gets caught out by Jaheira. Light hijinks and heavy angst. Also on AO3!

Rolan lifted his head as Jaheira’s voice cut through Last Light, suddenly commanding and full of gravitas. Even during casual discussions she had an air of absolute authority, one that no doubt came from age and experience, but it was one Rolan couldn’t stand hearing right now. Amidst all the chaos, how could one possibly feel so sure of themselves? Around him the Harpers were in a flurry of activity. He was obviously out of place, having curled up next to the one source of comfort in this godforsaken hole that he could find: Geraldus. There were raised eyebrows and tutting, but none of them had the time to voice their grievances if they had any.

It had been an unspoken agreement between them that had settled in over the past couple of days. Rolan had drunkenly spilled his heart to the pretty half-elf one night precisely because he was a stranger, someone who could have no idea what he was going through. Geraldus had kept him company throughout the night, supplying water and Lesser Restoration when needed, but in a way that lacked the disgusting pity that many others had held in their eyes when trying to ‘help’ him. And so, on nights when either of the two couldn’t sleep, they found each other. Rolan still wasn’t quite privy to what it was that troubled Geraldus, and it made him feel the dull sting of guilt. Here he was, taking advantage of someone else’s charity, and he didn’t know a damn thing about him after all this. Rolan was vaguely aware of some brothers, a mother, but that was it. He didn’t even know their names.

Geraldus, very gently, disentangled himself from the tiefling’s body. His fellow Harpers were gearing up, some shucking off night clothes without a second thought. The first couple of times this had happened it gave Geraldus a little pause, but when they were all needed one couldn’t take the time to complain about a lack of privacy. The shadow curse was relentless, all-conquering, simply didn’t care for age or race or societal station. And if any one of them were to drag their feet for the sake of embarrassment, those precious seconds could cost a life. Rolan’s presence caused a stir in him that he couldn’t quite pinpoint but at the same time he had no time to dwell on it. 

And so, Geraldus set about donning his armour. Luckily he’d slept in an undershirt meaning that he’d just need to swap his breeches for his tougher, thicker ones that he used when on official business. It was at this point Rolan finally realised what was going on around him. He hadn’t been unaware of the physicality of his feelings towards Geraldus but instead tried to shove them down. He should be worried sick about his missing siblings, not contemplating matters of the flesh. He shook his head and got up quickly, unsure of where to look. He turned around and looked to the floor, muttering his apologies. Quite frankly he didn’t care what the rest of them thought of him, but for Geraldus to think he was some kind of lech or pervert… No, it wouldn’t do.

‘I-I am so sorry, I didn’t know, please excuse my rudeness’ He continued on, not quite sure how to stop the words spilling out of his mouth. Geraldus’ skin… the sight of it seemed sacred, somehow. Soft and warm, in that way unique to human skin. This didn’t feel right. These people, comrades though they may be, hadn’t earned the right to see even an inch of his bare skin, to know the pattern of freckles that dotted his arms, to behold the soft downy hair on his legs. Still, Rolan couldn’t help but glimpse the wide expanse of his thigh, the soft roundness of his ass, through his peripheral vision.

‘Wizard!’ Jaheira’s voice cut through the sound of shuffling and clanking. ‘I’d advise you to make yourself scarce’. She said, her voice laden with dry wit as it usually was. Rolan froze, wondering the best way to make his way out of the room when he realised the Harpers were largely all dressed. With time only for an apologetic look towards Geraldus and a sympathetic nod back from him, Rolan exited the room. His mind was swimming, barely able to parse what he’d just been through, let alone how he felt about it. He thought he was home free when Jaheira spoke again as he passed her. ‘A word.’ She commanded.

Rolan rubbed his head, still trying to shake off the sleep. ‘Please, if this is going to be a lecture, could it possibly wait until after you’re back from whatever heroics you have planned?’ It sounded sarcastic, Rolan had realised after the words had left his mouth, when it wasn’t really meant that way. Still, Jaheira didn’t show it if she was bothered by it.

‘I shall indeed make it brief, but not only for your benefit. My Harpers are needed at Moonrise Towers and require maximum focus if all of them are to make it out alive.’ She gave a pointed look to Geraldus. ‘I have little interest in your personal affairs but I will ask that you only resume your… dalliance once we’ve left this hellish place behind. Understood?’ She folded her arms and turned back to the Harpers, immediately giving them commands.

Rolan stood stunned for a moment, the feeling of being abandoned once again seeping into his bones. ‘Dalliance’. It was a term that bothered him greatly although he didn’t quite know why. He couldn’t possibly define what he and Geraldus had, but that definitely wasn’t the right word. The feeling of loss he felt at the half-elf’s absence was proof positive of that. Rolan had promised Wyll and his party that he’d stay put, that he’d only be a hindrance trying to go out and fight the curse once more. He’d wanted to stay with Geraldus more than anything but knew that in his state he would only cause more issues. He couldn’t possibly lose anyone else, not now. So instead he simply watched the Harpers file out, eyes fixed on the back of Geraldus’ head as he left.

And so he sat, staring into a mostly empty tankard and letting his thoughts race. He was scared for the lives of his siblings, but when it came to thinking of Geraldus it was different. It was a bone-deep terror that made him sick to his stomach even to consider. If only he’d tried harder, studied more, he’d be able to help them. And yet he hadn’t. Spiralling into self-loathing, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

‘Oi, horns. Pretty boy asked me to give this to you as he left.’ The halfling was one of the skeleton crew of Harpers that had been left behind to defend Last Light. The weak, the hopeless, those who would only get in the way. Rolan realised with a due sense of bitterness it was only him, Bex, Lakrissa, and the children left. Rolan took the note without a word, unfolding it to see Geraldus’ thin, looping script.

‘Rolan,

I’m sorry I had to leave so quickly, Jaheira is determined to take down Ketheric and end the curse once and for all tonight. I hate to leave you like this but I promise we’ll meet once more. I am bound for Rivington once this is all over, and I’d very much like you to introduce me to Cal and Lia. They must be wonderful people for them to mean so much to you.

Yours,

Geraldus’

Rolan bit his lip, folding the letter and placing it in his breast pocket. It was a promise then. All he could do at this point was to hold his breath and pray for all three of them. 

[ataraxiaspainting]

F A Q.

masterlist: it's in the works but not at the moment!

posting days: i'm trying to work on a more stable posting schedule for stories but i will most likely be answering inbox messages on tuesdays, fridays, saturdays, and sundays! mostly saturdays though.

tagging: feel free to tag me in anything! as long as the post in question does not do harm to me or others, of course.

writing history: ever since i was little, i've pretty much always had a love for making up stories and saving them on my laptop. i got into x reader works when i was in middle school i think... still am just as much into them now as i was back then.

art history: i've always loved to draw/sculpt too! i may not be the best at making art myself, but i have always loved looking at other people's works, especially paintings. my current pfp is actually a painting of ophelia from shakespeare's hamlet, done by alexandre cabanel.

music taste: i really only listen to classical and k-pop/j-pop, along with game osts. though my queen mitski breaks her way into my on repeat playlist multiple times a day. my favorite songs from her are buffalo replaced, i bet on losing dogs, i will, francis forever, my love mine all mine, i want you, stay soft, class of 2013, townie and last words of a shooting star. non-mitski songs are often either by red velvet, twice, king gnu, or kenshi yonezu.

book recommendations: i read a lot on days i'm not so busy, mostly reading thriller/horror stories. my main recommendations are notes from the underground by fyodor dostoevsky, i have no mouth, and i must scream by harlan elison, the cask of amontillado by edgar allan poe, the stranger by albert camus, the metamorphosis by franz kafka, uzumaki by junji ito, the talented mr. ripley by patricia highsmith, the collector by john fowles, misery by stephen king, coraline by neil gaiman.

favorite tropes: lovers to enemies, enemies to lovers, the reluctant hero, paying the price for victory, the mysterious neighbor next door, a deal with the devil, the unhappy ending, cults and religious extremists, mysterious things are happening, seducing an archenemy for an opportunity.

other fun facts:

-> i'm a criminology major.

-> i played a lot of instruments and sang a lot when i was younger. i'm trying to get back into it now. my favorite instrument to play was the electric violin and my favorite type of music to sing was choir-like osts like mourning from nier automata, lacrimosa from the one and only mozart, and song of the ancients from nier replicant.

-> i'm a huge animal lover. i often watch streams of horror movies, listen to video essays, or write while snuggling up with one of my dogs. i also often volunteer in community service, with most of it being either being at a shelter/adoption event or some sort of event involving a fundraiser in schools. i once happened to do an adoption event that happened to be fundraising more resources for schoolchildren, and it was one of the best moments of my life. got to pet a lot of animals too, and that made the time like ten times better.

CURRENT ANONS -> childe anon

this post will be edited/added to as life goes on.

[irisbleufic]

I hate this new trend now a days for teens to make fun old books or classics like Shakespeare, Gatsby or Anne Frank(them forgetting she was real). Calling characters stupid or how they would do things differently in their place. When they have no idea. None zero. I seriously doubt they would. I hate when they say people who like these books are anti feminist or some other bullshit. Do they not realize what these books were to the people at the time of them?

This is a tricky and frustrating question. As someone who’s been teaching English literature and writing for approaching 17 years (and studying these disciplines for even longer), I’ve seen trends in attitudes toward the classics come and go. There’s not always a logical explanation for those trends from cohort to cohort of students, either.

Let’s take Shakespeare and Fitzgerald as examples, since those are two that you name in your ask. When I was in junior high and high school during the 1990s, it was trendy to love Shakespeare’s plays—but deeply uncool to love The Great Gatsby, for some reason. I remember being teased by classmates for liking the latter, because wasn’t it just so boring? My classmates seemed to feel like Shakespeare’s works at least had a lot of stuff happening in them. I don’t know about my classmates, but my attitude toward these authors’ works hasn’t changed over time. I still enjoy both.

When I was an undergrad from 2000-2005, I feel like Shakespeare was still cool (especially Hamlet). I can’t remember any of my undergrad classmates talking about Gatsby at all during my time as a music major who switched to an English major, all the while taking classes in both disciplines, only in different proportions. The only mention I heard of Gatsby during college was that there had been an operatic adaptation. I didn’t get to see it, and I kind of regret that.

While I was in grad school and first starting to teach from about 2007-2014, Gatsby landed on my radar again because it was back in fashion with high school and college students. I heard about more Gatsby-themed school dances and parties than I can count. I’m sure Baz Luhrmann’s film during that window of time helped. I don’t think I saw my students as enthusiastic about Shakespeare unless it was a creepy or violent one like Macbeth. There seemed to be a love of extremes in what they were reading, especially when it came to classics.

At this point in time, you’re right about Gatsby in particular falling out of fashion again with younger readers. It represents a level of risk and excess that, quite frankly, I can’t entirely blame them for disliking given how the majority of their teenage and young adult years are going. Just look at what’s happening in the world. I don’t think most of them find characters in those circumstances relatable.

There are exceptions to every rule, but social trends are reflected in what people read and how they critique it. Don’t forget that we’re also seeing social conservatism swing back with a vengeance, and not just in the US. From Christian fundamentalism in politics to secular purity culture (which is more or less the same thing with God’s name filed off) in fandom, I can think of any number of reasons why a book like Gatsby would be snubbed. Shakespeare seems to be faring better with my students at the moment, as the plays run such a wide gamut of events and issues.

As for making fun of Anne Frank and not believing she’s real, well…it’s hella antisemitic out there right now. That’s a whole other post that this Jew is way too tired to make.

[concealeddarkness13]

WHG 20 Prompt 5 - Triel

Chess’s chariots will come, I just need to work on finishing it first! Tagging: @ratracechronicler (thanks for Atwater!), @maple-writes, @pen-of-roses, @drabbleitout, @grailfish, @forthesanityofsome, and @pied-piper-of-hamlet!

I didn’t make a complaint as they made me look like the Capitol wanted. Until my real stylist came in, and I leaned against the wall and smirked. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and of course, she had a ridiculous costume in her hand. Probably not as awful as Chess’s, but it still was cheesy. Basically a short dress with wheat stuck to it. Some people had no imagination.

I pointed at the garish outfit and shook my head. “Honey, I know you can do better than that. Where’s the imagination? The love put into it? I might not be able to think of something for agriculture on such short notice, but I have a better idea. If you’ll indulge me.”

She sneered. “You’re wearing this or nothing, doll.”

I tapped my chin and moved too quickly for her poor little eyes to follow me. I grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall, still smiling sweetly. “I wasn’t asking, sweetheart. We will be using my idea, and if you send in Peacekeepers, you’ll see how fast I can take them out.” Not lying about that, I had a hidden gun on me. “Let’s play nice, yes?”

She stared at me with wide eyes and nodded, and I let go of her neck and smiled. “See? Was that so hard? You Capitol people are all the same. You think that you are always so powerful over us district kids. Well, I have news for you. You’ve just made us pissed and stronger. You may go. I’ll find my own outfit.” I waved dismissively at her, and she ran out, tears welling in her eyes. And I didn’t feel bad about it at all.

If only I could find Chess’s room, but I also didn’t want to humiliate her worse. So, I just searched and found another long coat and wide-brimmed hat. The team had discarded my other ones. Good thing I had made sure to wear my least favorite coat and hat today.

I met up with Nesri and Shine, and we walked out into the holding area for the Chariots. Ives was talking to Chess, and…and…he had taken off his shirt! The fucking gentleman. And he tried to pretend that he didn’t care about her, at least not in that way. And Chess was on one of the horses! Holy shit, she was a genius.

Some Peacekeepers were stalking toward them, and Nesri and Shine immediately branched off from me and took them out as I surveyed the room and found Atwater standing alone. Perfect! He liked the ocean as well, so we had something in common!

I leaned against his chariot, watching him with a smile. “It’s a lovely say, isn’t it?” With my best sarcastic voice. “Though I think it would be much better if I was on the ocean right now.”

“I’d certainly like it better if it was raining,” he replied placidly.

I nodded. “True, then the Capitol bastards would get all their precious clothes wet.” I laughed and walked closer, holding out my hand. “Triel Reeves, District 11. Nice to meet you.”

“We haven’t met. That requires mutual effort, and I’m on shore leave, actually, which excuses me from effort, so what’s happened here would better be called an approach.” He didn’t move.

Holy shit, he was fun to talk to. I nodded, grinning. “True, and I’d like to approach you with a proposal, if it wouldn’t cut into your valuable time.”

“I dunno. Kind of on a tight schedule here,” he said blandly. “And I don’t have any money, either.”

“Don’t want your money, just wondering if you’d be interested in escaping the arena without dying? As a big middle finger to the Capitol?”

“Yeah,” he said, super nonchalantly. He sniffed.

I laughed. “You’re part of the team then.” Also said super nonchalantly.

“Oh, there’s a team.” He glanced up. “This is starting to sound suspiciously like work. I think I mentioned my shore leave.”

“No work required. Unless you want to tell someone about this. I want to get as many tributes out as possible, and I have a crew, so you don’t have to do anything. I’ll even find you in the arena.”

He blinked. “What are you doing?”

Hadn’t he been listening? I tilted my head. “I just told you?”

“Ah, so you did. Well, I know I’m the low man on the pyramid scheme here, being the newest recruit and such, inexperienced, not my place to speak up, et cetera, but if you may, there’s a link somewhere between us standing there and us being on the other side of a highly electrified force field that I’m morbidly curious about, now that I’m on board and all.” He frowned. “And you really don’t want my money?”

I laughed. “Why would I want your money when it’s way more fun to steal from Capitol bastards? And okay, I’ll tell you the plan, but not here. Not enough time, and too many cameras. I would rather not make my engineer work too hard to keep the Capitol from learning everything. If that’s okay with you?”

“Fair enough.” He shrugged.

Perfect! I nodded. “Then I’ll find you later! During training! Thank you!” This was the first person I had officially recruited! I started to walk off, but he said something else.

“One more thing before you dash off.”

I looked back. “Yes?”

He nodded. “Nice hat.”

I grinned. I prided myself on my choice of hat. “Thanks! I had to threaten the stylist for it.”

I walked off and got my own horse. I gave him an apple, since pirates are required to have apples on them at all times, and I got on without any help. Ives only had eyes for Chess anyway. As the doors opened, and Chess galloped off, I saluted to Nesri and Shine and followed her out.

The crowd booed us, and I drank it in. I completely ignored Snow’s ridiculous speech, and when we got back inside, I helped bring Chess to our apartment, where Nesri and Shine were waiting. It was time to make more plans.

[bi-naesala]

Dismas and lovers

2. Antiquarian

(WARNING: SPOILERS FOR DD2)

“Must you really leave?”

Josephine sighs. She knew this was coming, sooner or later, but she still hoped they could’ve avoided having this conversation, perhaps foolishly so.

 It’s been a week since Dismas and Reynauld have made it back from the old manor, bloody and battered but alive, unlike… Josephine doesn’t even want to think about it – she’s just glad she hadn’t been chosen for that expedition.

It’s been a week since normality has started coming back to their lives. Not that they’ve been lazing about, as there’s still much to do, but it’s more like finding some runaway group of cultists, slay a few pigs here and there, check the cove, nothing more.

Peace has come back to the Hamlet, but Josephine feels… restless. She’s aware of the fact that any sane person wouldn’t feel such a way after being through what she’s experienced, but it’s also true that none of them, in the Hamlet, are entirely sane.

There are still so many secrets for her to discover, so many artifacts hidden in the world for her to find; these are the thoughts keeping her up at night. She always knew that this moment of stillness, for her, was going to be short lived…

  She knows that it hasn’t been fair of her to wait until the last moment to make her intentions known, but she was afraid that, if she had said anything before, they might’ve convinced her to stay.

Still, when that morning she had announced that, the next day she’d leave, they took it better than she thought: they made sure that she had a safe way to leave the Hamlet – the forest might be safer now, but one can never know – arranging for a stagecoach, and they improvised a farewell party at the tavern. She can’t lie, she felt something much akin to warmth – or even happiness – because of this, so much that she even admitted that she will miss her rowdy companions, but even that couldn’t be enough for her to stay: the call for adventure is too strong, a siren song she can’t resist.

 They partied until late, but even as the last friend said their goodbye, Josephine knew she wasn’t done yet: in fact, as soon as she got out, she was met by the sight of a very familiar roguish face. It was Dismas.

During their stay at the Hamlet, they’ve gotten quite close, closer than they were expecting, so close that it was probably unfair of Josephine not having told him anything about her plans to leave.

It was with an uneasiness that she didn’t know she’d feel – was she hesitating? – that she apologized. Dismas, however, took it better than she thought he would.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting you to stay here forever,” he said, in fact. He grabbed her by the waist, then, pulling her closer, with a smirk on his face. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a last night of fun together, doesn’t it?”

  Josephine, of course, wasn’t going to let him say that twice, which brings her to her current predicament, her limbs entangled with Dismas’, both unmoving, still too tired, and the smell of sex still permeating the air.

 “Must you really leave?”

 Oh, so it looks like Dismas does have something to say about the fact that she’s living after all, though he seems resigned, like he already knows the answer.

“Yes, I do,” is what she says, matter-of-factly. She won’t be convinced to stay, though now that she thinks about it…

She takes Dismas’ face between her hands, a soft touch.

“Why don’t you come with me?” she asks, “I could use a handsome bodyguard…”

Dismas chuckles at her choice of words, but otherwise remains silent, deep in thought. He raises a hand to caress her hair, then her cheek, in such a tender way that Josephine doesn’t think she’s ever experienced – not that they were ever harsh with each other, but they never let their respective walls completely down either. She leans into the touch, reveling in the softness.

“I would love to come with you, but… I can’t,” he eventually says. It should be a surprise, but no, it isn’t at all: she already knew he’d say that. “I need to see this through.”

Josephine mocks a dreamy sigh.

“Dismas the hero of the town…” she mutters, only a tiny bit sarcastic.

She long since accepted it, but she still doesn’t understand why Dismas cares so much about the Hamlet; he wasn’t even born there!

It’s like he has a mission or something, like it’s imperative that he does good, for whatever reason that Josephine can’t guess. They never talked about it, but maybe they should’ve had; she’s curious, she can’t deny that, but it feels like it’s too late to ask, so she holds her tongue, not wanting to ruin what is shaping up to be her last moment spent in his company.

He must’ve sensed that something’s up with her, though, because his expression softens.

“I could always find you once I’m done here,” he suggests, then.

Of course, it can’t be that easy – who knows where Josephine will be when Dismas decides the Hamlet can survive without him – though the idea sounds very appealing to her. They can still find a way to keep in touch, after all. It will take effort, but some things are just worth it, you know?

 Josephine smiles.

“Sounds good to me.”

  She leaves before dawn, just as she had arranged. She already said goodbye yesterday, she didn’t want to do a repeat; to tell the truth, she’s afraid she might change her mind if she sees her companions again, so she’d rather avoid that.

Dismas is still fast asleep by the time she’s finished getting dressed, or maybe he’s faking it, who knows. Oh well, whatever the reason is, it’s better for both of them like this…

 She’s about to open the door when she stops in her tracks, turning towards Dismas.

How could she be hesitating? Hasn’t she made up her mind already? Has she really gotten so attached that she’s forgotten about her true call?

These are the questions plaguing her mind as she leans down to leave a kiss on the top of Dismas’ head. He doesn’t even react; great, it means that he has no chance to stop her then.

 Now, finally, she’s able to leave her room. Her steps are heavy, but then she remembers about Dismas’ promise to find her, once he can leave the Hamlet, and that’s enough to put her at ease; she has faith in him. Yes, they will find each other again and go on adventures together.

She finds herself looking forward to it, so much that she might be spending her time on the stagecoach fantasizing about it. It may be a little childish – she certainly feels so – but it also fills her with hope about her future, so why should she stop?

  Unfortunately, neither she nor Dismas could’ve predicted the state of folly the entire world was going to fall into, the chaos that was going to break out.

The next time they meet, it’ll be under very different circumstances, and only one of them will be able to come out of it alive…

[laminy]

prompt: “someone joins a community theatre group.”

for @mccorky, thank you for the prompt.

“Can I be honest about something?”

Rami and Gwil both look at Joe. “You’ve never asked for permission before,” Gwil says, and Rami smiles.

“Okay, fair.” Joe glances around, and looks up at the stage, where the curtains are still drawn. “I don’t know which one he’s playing.”

"Which one what?” Rami asks.

“I know he’s Rosencrantz and/or Guildenstern,” Joe says. “But I don’t know which one.”

Gwil quickly opens his mouth to answer, but he stops himself. “Uh, well…hmm. Rami?”

Rami glances towards the stage, and then shrugs. “I don’t… Hamlet isn’t my strong suit.”

“Like, is he Gary Oldman or Tim Roth?” Joe asks.

“Who are they?” Gwil asks.

“And who plays who?” Rami asks.

“Okay, I don’t know that either,” Joe says. “But better question— does it actually matter? I think all their scenes are together.”

“Of course it matters,” Gwil says. “We should know.”

“Okay, so who’s who?” Joe asks.

“I don’t know,” Gwil says. The lights start to dim, and the audience quiets down, getting ready for the curtains to open. “But we’ll find out,” he finishes quickly, settling back down in his seat.

The curtains open and the play begins, and they have to wait until Act II, Scene II for Ben to come on stage. Rami, Joe, and Gwil all immediately grin and sit up straight, keeping their eyes on him.

“He looks good,” Rami whispers, and Gwil nods eagerly. Though it shouldn’t really be a surprise that Ben looks so handsome in a doublet. He’s a pretty handsome guy.

King Claudius and Queen Gertrude thank Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but they still leave the stage without them knowing which one is which. They show up a few more times, and Rami, Joe, and Gwil can’t keep their eyes off Ben, so happy that after years of him talking about Shakespeare, about the idea of maybe doing a play, he finally signed up for the Perth Drama Club.

And, of course, they’re still trying to figure out who the heck exactly Ben is playing.

It takes until Act IV, Scene III, when the other guy says “ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord,” and Ben walks on stage with Hamlet.

“Oh,” Joe says, nodding slowly. “Okay.”

“There we go,” Gwil murmurs.

When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are killed off-stage, they’re about to give up and leave in protest (not really, but even the drama club’s abridged version of Hamlet is too long). But they stick it out, and eagerly jump to their feet when the cast comes back out to bow.

“Whoo!” Joe hollers, and Rami and Gwil clap loudly.

The audience makes their way outside, and Rami takes out his mobile to check in with the babysitter, and Joe takes out his to see if Ben was playing Gary Oldman or Tim Roth.

Gwil quickly runs to the car and grabs some flowers he’d left in there, and the three of them wait outside for Ben.

“Well?” Rami asks.

“Tim Roth,” Joe says.

“I still don’t know who that is,” Gwil says.

“Neither do I,” Rami says, “I’m humouring him.”

After a few minutes, Ben comes out, changed out of his doublet into an old t-shirt, still sweaty from the costume and the stage lights, and he waves happily at them as he hurries over.

“You were so good!” Joe exclaims.

“You were brilliant,” Rami says, pulling Ben in for a quick hug. “It was so fun.”

“Thank you,” Ben says. “I can’t believe I’ve done it!” He wipes his forehead, and lets out a heavy breath. “God, I really can’t believe I’ve done it.”

“These are you for, love,” Gwil says, handing over his bouquet of flowers.

“Thank you,” Ben says, and he holds them up to his nose, taking a deep breath. “Those are lovely.”

“Do you have to go party with them now?” Rami asks. “The rest of the cast?”

“We decided against it,” Ben says, “since literally everyone said they needed a shower and— god, Hamlet is really long, isn’t it?”

“I wasn’t gonna say anything,” Joe says quietly.

“So, no,” Ben says. “We’re going home to relax tonight. We’re doing dinner on Sunday instead. How long’ve you got the sitter for?”

“We’ve got to pick them up now,” Rami says, and Joe groans loudly. “Stop it,” Rami says, smiling, playfully swatting Joe on the arm. “And then probably put them to bed.”

“It is late,” Ben says.

“But you were brilliant,” Rami says. “I want to celebrate it too, alright?”

“Tomorrow,” Ben says. “Promise.”

“You’re so cool,” Joe says, slinging his arm around Ben. “Did you know you were Guildenstern?”

Ben narrows his eyes at him. “Yes…”

“Just checking,” Joe says.

“Come on, love,” Gwil says. “We have to get you cleaned up.”

“Thank you both for coming,” Ben says. “It means a lot.”

“It was our pleasure,” Rami says.

“Of course we came,” Joe says. “Where else would we be?”

“Still,” Ben says. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Joe says. “Have a good night.”

“Say hi to the kids for us,” Ben says. He waves and grabs onto Gwil’s hand, tugging him in. “What did you think?” he asks. “Not bad?”

“I loved it, and I’m proud of you,” Gwil says.

“Yeah?”

Gwil nods eagerly. “Of course.”

“I know,” Ben says. “I still like to hear it.”

“Well, let’s go home, I can tell you some more.”

[hyunlixhart]

I've been working on a Call Me By Your Name AU for SF9 and am planning on releasing it chapter by chapter!

I wrote this with fictional original character pairings for Rowoon, Chani, and Taeyang! I'm going to post the Prologue below. This is my first time releasing an original piece so please be kind! I'm super open to feedback as well from my fellow writers

xo

Characters: RowoonxSimona, ChanixAllegra, TaeyangxVerona! (the rest of SF9 is eventually featured!)

First Glances

    The car windows had been darkened, as per the request of the Korean embassy. Rowoon was glad for the privacy as he watched the unassuming Italian natives amble past his window where the chauffeur had stopped for a gas-up. He noticed that most of the natives had similar features. Dark curly hair, tied back against the summer heat. Tanned olive skin, not unlike his own. Everyone walked about the small hamlet as if there was nowhere to be and nothing to do. Old women sidled in and out of the open market, old men wandered into the town’s bar to sit under the fans and play poker. Most everyone in sight was above the age of 40. 

The boy next to him, Chani, stirred. He had fallen asleep minutes into their journey from Rome, leaving the older boy in blissful silence.

Rowoon glanced down at the younger boy and chuckled. “You’re drooling.”  

“Shut up,” Chani grumbled back in Korean, light hair falling into his eyes as he lounged back against the leather seats. “Why were we picked to come here? There’s nothing happening in this little town.”

    Chani was right. There was little to do other than swim and have dinner parties with important political personalities who owned vacation homes across the coastline. The other six members of the Korean embassy were lucky to be spread out throughout Italy’s boot in Rome, Sicily, Florence… 

    “We aren’t here to have fun anyway,” Rowoon replied politically.

    “Everyone here is a hundred years old!” Chani shook his head, glaring out the window. “I wanted to go to Rome with Taeyang and Zuho.” 

    Rowoon rolled his eyes and elbowed Chani in the side.

“Say that one more time and I’ll--” his voice drifted off as he caught sight of someone out Chani’s window. 

    “Or you’ll what?" Chani was waiting for the older boy to finish his thought. He turned his confused gaze in the direction Rowoon was looking and understood what had shut the older boy up, or rather who.

    A golden head bobbed out of the sea of dark Italian curls in line at the market. The girl was young; likely closer to Chani’s age. She wore a red dress that hugged her wispy frame in all the right places. A fresh sea breeze tossed her blonde locks from side to side as she unassumingly examined the fresh crop of the day. 

    The girl’s skin shone like porcelain, almost frightfully pale, to the point where Rowoon felt the urge to hold an umbrella over her to ensure that she did not catch fire. Something about the girl’s face intrigued him. He wasn’t sure whether it was the furrow of her brow against the sunlight or the determined set of her lips as she sought out the perfect peach. Either way, he couldn’t peel his eyes from her until she was completely out of sight. Even out of sight, her delicate features were imprinted in his brain. 

    “Did you see that girl?” Chani exclaimed excitedly, pressing a hand to the glass.

    “Who?” Rowoon was jarred from his moment. 

    “Didn’t you see that younger girl? She must have friends, and she must know what goes on around here.”

Chani clearly had not been as impacted by the girl’s pure angelic glow as Rowoon had been. 

    “Oh,” Rowoon shook his head, black hair falling delicately into his eyes, “right, yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking.” 

    “Mhmm.” Chani lifted a suspicious brow, leaving Rowoon to scan the sea of bodies hopelessly for one last glance.

[krys-loves-otome]

for houki, ophelia, maddie, and miri: 1, 3, 12, 18!

Questions About Creating Your OCs

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc?)

Houki: Since she and Ophelia are both transplant MCs from a different game (Seven Kingdoms: A Princess Problem), Houki's initial build in that game (as she was my 'playing the first time blind' kinda MC), had all her stats pointed towards her high intelligence but not in much else (as most of the questions I answered all pointed towards the intelligence stat, and you can't go through a stat raising game only focusing on a single stat, ya need a balance, hon). Not intentionally, but it's still one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of her

Ophelia: After learning the ropes of the game (through a second MC build after Houki), I then started the build for Ophelia, my third MC. Her initial setup in game was called the 'Ambitious Widow', an MC who climbs the societal ladder to gain more power through less than savory means. Through choices made, you can choose for her to be a victim of circumstance or be an active perpetrator of her villainy, and, me being me, I took the softer path in making her more of a victim of circumstance. Despite all the rumors, she didn't kill her husband, that's always been my hard line for her, her innocence in spite of everything else.

Maddie: Her age, has been there since the beginning. She's one of my game avatars , turned into an OC like Abby and Clara (the first one of them actually), but her age has always been a factor even before her creation. Maddie being in her 30s was made as a dig at Sirius's age always being a butt of some joke and I just gave a middle finger to the ageism and made my Alice older to spite it.

Miri: My way of how I would give the Sheep MC a human form, so her design came first.

3. How did you choose their name?

Houki: Hotohori's wife's name from Fushigi Yuugi. Just really liked the name for her.

Ophelia: I wanted a tragic feminine name and what better place to look than to Shakespeare? Plus, Hamlet's Ophelia has fascinated me for the longest time though I could never put into words specifically why. Fun fact, Ophelia's other sisters are also named after tragic female figures in Shakespeare's canon, because I wanted to be funny and clever.

Maddie: Baby name generator gave me the name Madeline and I thought that was nice and it stuck.

Miri: Since Obey Me plays a lot with using biblical names and names that have Christian symbolism with them, I wanted to follow suit by giving my MC a biblical name, but felt that Eve, Mary, and their variants (Eva, Evie, Marie, Maria) were a little too on the nose. So, I used a generator to help, coming across the name Miriam, sister of Moses who helped him realize his heritage and ultimately helped him to free their people from slavery, and the name stuck, especially with the initial setup of my MC having a more sisterly-like relationship to the Demon brothers.

12. What have you found to be the most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc)?

Houki: Meshing her story with IkeSen's story. Lots elements you have to think about that make her story different from IkeSen's MC's story, like, when I think about doing IkeSen's prologue with Houki in mind, how she helps Nobunaga escape, meeting various other suitors, and things that would be different, like personalities, backgrounds, things like that.

Ophelia: Same problem with Houki, meshing her story with IkeSen's story, like where her motivation for her family goes when it becomes apparent that it won't be easy, if at all possible, that she would be able to return home. She kinda falls apart when her motivation is taken away, plus she's not always mentally stable in her home game either, so keeping her motivated to move forward isn't the easiest task.

Maddie: Keeping her powers consistent and (more on my part) learning how to draw different body types. Always have to remind myself that Maddie's power only works on inanimate objects and not on living, sentient things. Plus, along with her age, I wanted to give her a bigger body type, but I haven't quite mastered that yet.

Miri: Skin tone consistency. She's a fairly new OC so it's normal that I haven't mastered all of her elements yet, but her having darker skin like Mammon, Simeon, and Diavolo, starts me to think more about skin tones, how warm and cool colors and their signature colors can come into play (Simeon with cooler colors, Diavolo with red tones, and Mammon with gold tones). With Miri, since she's based off of Sheep MC's design, I add in pinks and purples to her color scheme, but still trying to figure out her base colors.

18. What is the most recent thing you've discovered about your OC? Houki: She's gotten more gremlin as time has gone on.

Ophelia: Maybe not the most recent, but she does have a touch aversion for kissing specifically.

Maddie: She is three days younger than Sirius, thanks to the magic of random date generators.

Miri: She might have the smallest platonic (maybe romantic?) crush on Diavolo, but knows it probably won't go anywhere because gotta keep those relationships between humans, demons, and angels impartial and all that nonsense. Plus, he's the prince of Devildom and she's a regular human (albeit with magical powers and …questionable heritage), but still, probably won't go anywhere… right?

[justmeinadaze]

Unattainable (Eddie X Girl at School) 

So this is the first time I'm sharing any kind of writing with anyone. Be gentle! I've been dealing with some internal nonsense and have been extremely pulled towards Eddie <3 I thought I could try my hand at some fan fiction and I am absolutely down for this to go down the smut road. Lol.

No real warning here. Just some information about the girl who meets Eddie. I did pull from the scene above so some of the dialogue is the same.

Word Count: 1,150

I never thought happiness was something for me. Not that I didn’t want it. It was something I desperately craved yet always seemed just so out of reach. My parents divorced when I was a kid and my mom never recovered. She spent most mornings in bed nursing a hangover and most nights so drunk she forgot where home even was let alone that her ex-husband’s daughter was in it. My dad moved across the country and called “when he could.” Could being after his new stepdaughter’s basketball game or when he got home from taking his new pregnant wife out to dinner. 

I learned how to take care of myself pretty quickly. I made all my meals making sure to leave some left over for mom should she decide she wanted to ingest something that wasn’t an alcoholic liquid. I biked to and from school every day and buckled on all my studies. I knew early on that a scholarship was the only way I was every going to make it into college and get out of this hell hole. I was a straight A student and joined a couple of after school activities including theater. I loved theater. I loved embodying a personality and a life that wasn’t mine. I loved that for a couple of hours the spotlight was on me and people were actually listening to what I was saying. 

When it came to dating, I wasn’t really interested. That’s a lie. I was extremely interested but not in any of the guys here. Many of the boys here in Hawkins were either the one and done type. I didn’t have any time for that. Plus, what’s the point, right? They’re all going to leave me anyway. I swore I would never become my mom. I was going to work hard, graduate, and get the hell out of here to become a famous actress. I refused to allow someone to come into my world and shatter that plan when they were just looking out for themselves.

I know. I know how I’m coming off but, look, you try being me for a few years! It’s lonely and it hurts! You have to harden yourself up to make it through all that. You have to—

“TO THE DEATH! TO THE DEATH! TO THE DEATH!”

What the hell? Everyone should be gone by now. I stayed behind in the auditorium after all the theater kids left to prepare for an audition that was coming up in a couple of days. I thought everyone else would be at the game tonight. I peak through curtain and notice just below the stage a group of people sitting around one of the tables we use in class to go over material. They are wearing those Hellfire shirts I’ve seen a couple of kids wear around campus. HellFire Club. 

Now I’m not one to judge. I know some of the other kids (especially the jocks) make fun of them and the game that they play but I think it’s kind of cool. I have no idea what is going on but I love the enthusiasm. The throne that was used for our production of “Hamlet” is at the edge of the table, back facing me. Suddenly, a big floof of hair jumps excitedly. I can see his knees on both sides of the chair. He must be on his feet, leaning over the table. 

“Time out! Time out!” someone yells as the group gets up to huddle in the corner. I can hear them from where I am debating whether or not to flee. 

“HEY! If I may interject, gentlemen. Lady Applejack…” the person in the throne leans his body to right settling his foot to the floor. Eddie? Eddie Munson? I knew of him. Everyone in Hawkins did. Usually they referred to him as “The Freak” who’s dad was in prison. We had never crossed paths before today. Honestly, there was no reason to. I don’t do drugs, I have no idea how to play Dungeons and Dragons, and I usually spent lunch in the library. 

“Whilst I respect the passion, you’d be wise to take Gareth the greats concern to heart. There is no shame in running. Don’t try to be heroes. Not today.”

Wow. What a nerd. I giggled to myself. He says it with so much confidence and adorable vigor you can’t help but be entranced. You can tell he loves what he does and has a real passion for it. Cheers erupt from the other players. 

“Direct hit!”

Eddie fake whimpers in shock, “What?!” He claps his hands and lets out a laugh, “That’s why we play!” I can’t stop starring at him with a smile. I’ve never seen anyone like him before. He was so energetic and lively. He captured the attention of a room with just his words and he didn’t have to act like someone else. He seemed so genuine…so…happy. 

I looked down at the floor ashamed. A reminder of something so unattainable for me. At least not while I’m stuck here. I turned and walked back to where my bag was packing everything neatly inside. As I turned to head for the exit, I smacked face first into something, falling backwards. 

“Whoa! Oh my god, sweetheart. Are you ok? I didn’t know anyone else was here.”

“Well, I’m going to be feeling that tomorrow. Ouch.”

“Here, let me help you up.” I felt strong hands grab my elbows and lightly pull me to my feet. “I’m seriously sorry. I was just coming back here to shut things down so the theater teacher doesn’t pitch a fit and not let us play in here.”

“No. No it’s totally fine.” I was still trying to adjust my clothes. “Usually, I’m not in here at this time but…I…” I looked up from slinging my bag over my shoulder and was met with Eddie’s big, beautiful brown eyes. It was like they pulled the words from brain. I can’t explain it but something about those eyes made me feel safe. Comfortable. I hadn’t felt that way since before my dad left. Eddie lips pulled into a tiny smile.

I was suddenly aware that his hands were still on my arms. He must have noticed to because he immediately pulled back and put his arms behind his back. 

“I…thank you for helping me up. I…um…I have to go.”, I stammered and quickly power walked in the direction towards the door. 

“Hey! Wait! You forgot your—”, the door to the auditorium slammed shut and I was suddenly caught in swarm of kids leaving the gym. I bobbed and weaved to the bike rack, quickly unlocking my bike, and peddling as fast as I could away from the school. Away from that foreign feeling I didn’t trust. I may be crazy but I could swear I felt eyes on me, watching me as I disappeared over the hill towards home. 

[wallflowerimagines]

I love your writing so much, it's very great! Anyways, can you make one with the lords with a s/o who can see ghosts, but everytime they see one they tensed up ? Thanks alot! <3 <3 <3

In a horror game???? With a horror villain s/o?????

Anon, you are so brave 😔✊ let's get spooky.

Alcina Dimitrescu

There are SO many ghosts in Castle Dimitrescu. And they're all so LOUD.

The majority seem to be victims of House Dimitrescu. All of them drift through the air, drained and skeletal, eyes sightless, and they just wail non stop. The wailing itself is actually kind of a lower volume, but because there are so many ghosts around, the sound layers and echoes through the space until you can barely hear yourself think.

They remind you of jellyfish in a way. They just aimlessly drift through the air, clothes billowing around them, sliding through the walls. Constantly screaming.

You actually prefer the ghosts of the victims of the Cadou experiments. They might be horrible, shuffling abominations of flesh and oozing blood, but at least they're quiet.

Alcina notices you flinch without any kind of visible stimulus, and immediately gets suspicious. She pulls you into a room and demands an explanation of your behavior.

If there is a problem, she's going to fix it.

When you tell her about the ghosts, her lips press into a fine line. You mean to tell her that these worthless wastes of space are crowding her halls, polluting her home even after their death?

They dare to not only crowd the noble house of Dimitrescu under her nose for years, but they're bothering you while they do it?

Yeah, Alcina is Furious.

She gets a couple exorcists on Retainer. Every month or so, priests of various religions are paraded through the house and cleanse the place from top to bottom. She has you follow them around and check their work, too. If any of them happen to be charlatans, they'll just join the horde of ghosts. No skin off her nose.

It is a little annoying that she has to hire even more people to clean up the mess in her Castle, but Alcina is a highborn lady. Any kind of clutter (living or dead) is unacceptable. Her home should be pristine.

Besides, her favorite reward is seeing you fall asleep in her arms, entirely peaceful. You had been so obviously stressed by the situation. It's such a relief to have you relaxed and calm once again.

Donna Beneviento

When Donna finds out you can see ghosts, she gets a bit ...manic.

This is a woman who lost her entire family, and is unable to deal with grief in a healthy way. She's constantly in mourning garb, and her veil rarely comes off. Hell, her grief was the catalyst for her current hobby-- which is what turned it into a hyperfixation.

I'm not going to lie to you, this revelation puts your relationship on pause. She's going to use you to get what she wants, and she wants her family back.

Donna pulls out all the family photo albums and portraits. She coaches you on her mother's laugh, her father's focused expression. She gets the projector and plays you home movies to show you how they walk and talk. Anything she can show you to help identify the ghosts of her family, she does it.

If you tense up, Donna gets so excited. Is it someone she knew? Her sister, maybe?

Unfortunately, most of the ghosts around are Donna's victims. They huddle in the corners of her home, rocking back and forth in terror, clawing at the walls in a futile attempt to escape whatever horror they've been eternally trapped in.

Sometimes, at night, you hear soft whimpers and scratches at your door...

If there is a ghost that isn't a member of her family around, Donna gets frustrated with it. She will banish any ghost that isn't a member of her family, or a member of the previous staff that could help them in the afterlife.

Eventually you need to sit her down and have a serious conversation with her. You're not something she can use to connect to her family. You might be willing to help, but all she's done lately is treat you like an object, not a partner. It has to stop.

It's the wake up call Donna needs. You both hold each other and cry for a long time, because the last thing she ever wanted to do is hurt you, but... She misses them. So much.

You still look for their ghosts for her, still tense in the hallway, but Donna stops asking you to describe them to her. She trusts you to tell her if they look familiar now. She can be patient.

Salvatore Moreau

Fish man might have been a doctor once, but he is a Small Town Doctor from a small fishing Hamlet. I don't care how much "logic" and "reason" you might think he has. This man is SUPER-fucking-STICIOUS.

Salt over your shoulder, four leaf clover carrying, fear of curse having man DOES NOT LIKE the idea of being haunted.

The ghosts of the reservoir are extra spooky too. Some of them are mid-mutation from the failed Cadou experiments...But the drowning victims are more common.

There aren't many ghosts around, but when they do appear, they're bloated, skin slipping off their bones, clothes dissolving around them as they glide through the air. They move much slower than other ghosts too, like the fact that they died in the water has permanently trapped them in that state.

If you tense up out of nowhere, Moreau does too.

What did you see?? Are they close?? Do they look bound to an object??

Salvatore will turn into his giant fish form and yeet anything that you might feel to be haunted over the mountain range. He takes no chances with that shit.

You two both are regular customers of the Duke's specifically for new exorcism methods. The Duke doesn't scam you guys either-- he provides candles, scriptures, holy water, perfumes, all of it works to keep the spirits at bay.

You and Moreau will walk around the reservoir, on guard for any hauntings, and clean up any area that might possibly have a ghost attached to it. It's a incredibly weird and very niche bonding experience.

By the end of the day, the reservoir is the least haunted place in the whole Village. Just how you and Salvatore like it.

Karl Heisenberg

Eat my ass, spirits

Heisenberg is not afraid of ghosts. He actually makes fun of you a little bit for even believing in them, until he sees you tense up out of the blue.

He trusts you enough to know you're not lying to him, so he knows that you are seeing something. He just doesn't know if they're really ghosts.

There aren't as many ghosts in the factory as there are at the Castle, but there is still quite a few.

A lot of them are missing limbs, unsurprisingly. They gasp and scramble around, eyes (if they are even there) bulging out of rotting faces as they scan the surrounding area for their missing pieces. They scuttle around like spiders up and through the walls, poking their heads into random rooms and constantly searching for something, anything to make them whole.

The worst thing about them is that they ALL scream when they see Heisenberg. It's not even a wail like from a normal ghost-- this is a full on shriek of rage and grief. They know who he is. They know what he's done. And they can't do anything about it.

Is it any wonder that you tense up all the time?

After you describe the ghosts in more detail to your partner, Heisenberg sets his jaw, gets pissed, and finds a way to exorcise the lot of them. While he can't see them, you can, and they might make you think less of him. He can't have that.

Plus, they're obviously bothering you. Karl does not tolerate some dumb spirits harassing his partner. If he has to nail a couple crucifixes to the wall and get a spray bottle of holy water, he will.

He also sees if he can kill his victims in an isolated section of the factory. Maybe having one specific room might limit the range on these things? It also makes for easier clean up.

[from-the-clouds]

Kiss Me More (Part IIII) - Zemo/Reader

Masterlist | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | 

Summary: Reader ponders the decision they made after meeting Zemo in Riga. Series now complete!

Words: 5.2k

Warnings: Kissing, marijuana & alcohol abuse, heavy angst & depression, small reference to suicide, implied casual sex, yearning

A/N (also check out A/N at end when finished reading): This is it, everyone! I was going to end this completely differently originally, but after some thinking --  and some light peer pressure from ya’ll, I did something a little different. I did fight with this part the most out of all of them, so I hope it’s still good. Please enjoy. And thank you for all the love on this series, it’s been so fun to write! Also I was listening to this song while writing this.

---

The incessant buzz of her alarm clock jolted her out of her dreamless sleep. Fumbling in the dark, she slapped the top of it, hitting the snooze button and looking at the interface with bleary eyes. 

4:00 A.M. It stared, indifferent, back at her tired face. 

She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and lamenting, bargaining, half expecting the clock to turn back time when she opened her eyes again. Unfortunately, it did not. With a huff, she threw back the covers and stretched, disturbing the orange cat that slept in the empty spot next to her where her husband used to lay. 

Snorting, the cat lifted its head to look at her as she climbed out of bed before curling back up in a ball where her feet had been. 

“Don’t mind me, just getting ready for work so I can feed us,” she said, grumpily, then in a moment of repentance, affectionately scratching her behind the ears. 

She had always been a night owl, so she didn’t think it would be possible to ever get used to waking this early. No human was meant to function at this time. It was the one part of the job she hated most. The rest of it was manageable, though it was still work. 

Setting about her morning routine, she showered, made coffee, and donned her uniform. Eating a day-old bagel and nursing her coffee on her tiny balcony, she looked out over the darkened horizon. It was far too early to even enjoy a sunrise. 

There was a saying, time heals all wounds. After her husband died, she’d heard it a lot. It was a saying she had come to find true. But it’d been well over a year since she’d left Helmut, alone in that swanky hotel room, and it still hurt like it was yesterday. 

“I understand,” he’d murmured, and she felt the ghost of his kiss on her forehead, arms around her waist, even now. She shivered, not from the chill of the morning air.

She’d left her old life behind, all of it. Sam and Bucky, too, about a month after their time in Riga. She couldn’t look them in the eyes after what she’d done.

But, she was proud of what they’d accomplished. They’d defeated the Flag Smashers. Bucky seemed happier, more at peace. Sam had accepted his role as the new Captain America. John Walker seemed to have faded into irrelevancy. All the loose ends had been tied up in a pretty little bow.

Except for hers.

Which is why she moved, sold all the stuff in her tiny NYC apartment, and packed her car full with what she couldn’t bear to part with, some photos and momentos from a different lifetime. Her car didn’t stop until she hit the Atlantic Ocean, on an island just south of Charleston. All but undiscovered by tourists, the residents in the sleepy beach town kept to themselves, and she could go about her life in peace, undisturbed. 

She couldn’t just run away from her problems, that was why she’d left Zemo. It seemed counterintuitive, but in her mind, it made sense. The problems would catch up to her, like they always had. The dissatisfaction she had with her life, with herself, was always going to return. And she knew she had to be alone to deal to face it head on. Like a wounded animal, crawling into the woods, there were only two ways things could end here; either she’d heal and come out stronger, or eventually she’d die. And so far, the healing part wasn’t going great. 

Each day was a matter of convincing herself that she’d made the right choice. Especially now, as her eyes burned, fighting to stay open against the inviting embrace of sleep. 

Despite it being dark outside, the bakery was bustling already when she walked in the service entrance. It smelled amazing, as always. Sweet and warm, a cacophony of aromas, baking bread, fresh coffee, sugar.

She set about the usual preparations to open up, packaging orders for the regulars, sweeping the floor, wiping down countertops. Once the place was open, she didn’t have to work the register, as she prepared batches of dough in the back for proofing, to be baked the next day. 

Before, she’d been a terrible cook, but she’d grown comfortable in the kitchen after learning to bake. There was something satisfying about working with her hands, at this point she’d memorized all the recipes and the work became second nature to her. Now, she always had fresh bread and pastries in her kitchen, although they were the slightly disformed, ones the shop owners deemed too ugly for the glass display cases. Daylight was cherished, even if she barely saw it inside the shop. Because while she was awake, busy with work, her thoughts remained pleasant.

At night it was the hardest. Things got quiet, lonely. When she got home, she poured herself a drink. Cheap whiskey, the kind that came in a plastic bottle and burned on it’s way down. She had never been much of a drinker before, she was now. Her thoughts were more manageable after a drink. Especially because she was usually thinking of Helmut. 

It was often that she wondered what he may be doing, and those thoughts usually ended with the image of him lying in the sun, poolside, on some island in the Pacific Ocean, drinking expensive champagne with a supermodel. It wasn’t a particularly comforting thought to her, and yet she was plagued by some variation of it every night. 

Sometimes, she’d humor herself, and imagine what they might be doing had she decided to stay with him. Unfortunately, thinking of that was more upsetting. She wanted it, selfishly, though she wasn’t willing to admit it.

When she was younger, it had been so easy to block out the pain, to just press forward, no matter what. Much to her dismay, it didn’t get easier as she got older. Years of watching those she loved in pain, years of being in pain had taken a toll on her resilience. She wasn’t the strong woman she once was, she was weak.

That night, one drink had turned into two, into three. Wallowing in her own self-pity had become second-nature, she felt like Hamlet, lamenting her circumstances, a constant turmoil monologuing in her brain. But this night felt particularly worse, for some reason. 

For the record, she had been doing better. But she was all-too-familiar with how grief worked, pulling her back down the dark side of the mountain, where she was forced to fight her demons over and over again. At some point, they were going to win.

It was a funny thing. Despite the loss of her husband, who she had loved dearly, his death had been easier to accept. Final. She couldn’t bring him back. Helmut on the other hand, was still out there, an open wound that could never fully heal.

Before she knew it, she was four drinks in, at her bedside table, fumbling through the bottom drawer, until she found what she was looking for.

Back on her couch, she stared at the card in her hand, the hastily written phone number on it, an international line. Helmut had given it to her, the day she left, stuck it in her purse while she wasn’t looking. She didn’t discover it until she had returned home.

It had been months since she last did this, pulled the card out of its hidden place in her drawer, placed it on the coffee table in front of her next to her phone, and considered dialing it. It had been a frequent occurrence when she first moved here, when she couldn’t find a job and spent most of her mornings either hungover, or stumbling home from rendezvous with men whose names she wouldn’t remember, and she wouldn’t care to, because there was only one man she really wanted. She could only hope he’d be as close as one call away. But she never called. 

I mean really, he’d probably moved on by this point. If she was going to call, she should have done it months ago, when there was more of a chance that he’d give a fuck. 

She considered this a setback. But she’d made her way halfway through the cheap bottle of whiskey, it was the drunkest she’d been in ages and she was curious. She didn’t know whose number it was, who’d be on the other end of the line, and never knew why Helmut would want her to have it to begin with.  

At this point, she wasn’t capable of good decision making. In general, it hadn’t always been her strong suit. So why did doing the right thing matter now? It didn’t, she decided. 

Taking a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle, she ensured she wouldn’t remember what happened next, at least not clearly. 

The phone rang twice before someone picked up. “Hello?” she didn’t recognize the sound of the man on the other end of the line immediately, so she didn’t answer. All she had wanted to do was maybe hear Helmut’s voice, he didn’t even need to know it was her that was calling. 

“Hello?” the man repeated, and she realized it wasn’t completely unfamiliar. The grandfatherly, comforting tone wasn’t her former lover, but someone close to him. And she supposed that wasn’t terrible.

“Is this Oeznik?” she asked. 

“It is,” he said after some hesitation. “May I ask who’s speaking?”

Truthfully, she was shocked she’d allowed herself to go this far. This was a bad idea. If she stopped now she could get off without doing any real damage. But just as she was about to hang up, she heard her name, muffled, on the other end of the line. 

“H-How do you know it’s me?” She raised the phone back to her ear. 

“I thought you sounded familiar,” Oeznik chuckled, low and soft. “Helmut told me you might call.”

“He did?” she squeaked. “Yes, although it was awhile ago. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I uh….I….well….” she managed. “I guess I just….I guess I wanted to see how he was doing.”  Her words flowed together like the liquor she was drinking, she knew she sounded drunk.

“Good, since we last spoke,” he said. “I don’t hear from him much these days...maybe every couple months. As you might imagine, he’s trying to keep a low profile for the time being.”

She nodded. Perhaps Zemo was as lonely as she was, hidden away in some cabin in the middle of nowhere. Though she had to imagine it looked much nicer than her current place, and maybe he had better company than a portly orange cat that begrudgingly liked him. “I understand.”

“How have you been?” he asked.

It sounded stupid, but she realized it was the first time someone had asked her that. Sincerely. Checked up on her. Even if she was the one who had dialed the number in the first place.

“I’m good,” her voice cracked. “Just keeping busy.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “Helmut always had such nice things to say about you.”

“Really?” she couldn’t stop herself. 

“Of course, would you like me to let him know you called?” 

“No, no...I wouldn’t want to bother him,” she choked on her words, something catching in her throat.

“Are you sure you’re alright, dear?”

“I’m okay, I just….” she felt tears prick at the back of her eyes, lowering her voice, since she didn’t think her normal register would come out as anything other than a whine. “I think I made a horrible mistake.”

“What’s the matter? What did you do?”

She shook her head, shaking the tears loose and now they were lining her lashes, threatening to spill over. However, she managed to make the next words she spoke come out clearly. “Nothing, I just...it’s really stupid, I really shouldn’t have called.”

He sighed on the other end of the line, and she felt like, despite her attempt at staying calm, he could still see that she wasn’t somehow. “It seemed Helmut was awfully sweet on you,” Oeznik’s words next came hesitantly, calculated. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but he told me if you ever called, to help you with whatever you might need, no matter the ask.”

Oh God, what had she done? A sob left her, one she couldn’t control, and she clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle any more. Her tears were flowing freely now, tracking down her cheeks and along her chin. She wiped at them clumsily, clearing her throat. 

“That’s very kind of him, but you can’t help me. I’m so sorry to bother you, please just forget I even called,” she forced a smile on her face so that hopefully he could hear it. “Goodbye.”

She hung up, horrified, and within seconds had deleted the call log from her phone. She’d been thoughtful enough not to memorize the number, and the lighter she used whenever she smoked sat in front of her. Without a second though, she burned the card, watching the paper blacken and disintegrate, until it was all but a pile of soot on her Wal-Mart coffee table. It was a fair punishment, and ensured she’d never get the chance to embarrass herself like that again. 

And then she cried, sobbed into a pillow next to her, until her tears ran dry and she wore herself out, falling asleep on the couch alone. When she’d wake the next morning, the only evidence of her actions would be a throbbing headache and a dead phone. 

She wouldn’t remember the call.

----

Life went on, as it always did. It had been about a month, and since that night she grew more indifferent, remembered how to ignore heartbreak. For now, she was stuck in her purgatory, waking up before the sun and falling asleep before it set, smoking joints, drinking cheap liquor, and going on the occasional date with people who she didn’t really like, tourists who would leave after a week and wanted temporary company. 

Despite everything, she partly believed things were getting better. Maybe they weren’t, but the possibility that someday they would seemed feasible. And that was enough, for now. 

On her days off, she’d walk to the beach and lay on a blanket, reading a book until the sun dipped below the horizon and lit up the sky in hues of pinks and purples. She found a record player at an antique store and began collecting vinyls, listening to obscure artists whose albums she found in the $1 bin. It wasn’t so bad. Life wasn’t so bad. 

She took a shower after work. Tomorrow was her off day, and she wasn’t sure what she had planned besides maybe watching a movie and getting stoned. Maybe she’d try going to the beach. The weather was getting warmer, and she could even go swimming if the water wasn’t too cold. 

Exhausted from her day of work, she laid down in her bed, still in her robe, her hair wrapped in a towel around her head. The sun was setting outside, the windchimes she’d hung outside slowly clanging together, birds singing in the warm spring air. Her cat hopped on the bed, offered an affectionate trill and curled up at her side, purring, in a rare display of affection. A cool breeze drifted through the open window. And for the first time in over a year, she felt content. Closing her eyes, she savored the moment, committed it to memory, so she could recall it the next time she was drunk-crying in front of her TV. 

She fell asleep slowly, so slowly that when she woke, startled by something in her kitchen clattering to the floor, it felt like she hadn’t even been sleeping at all. The clock next to her red 11:31 p.m. and it was pitch dark outside, the cool breeze from before had grown stronger and her bedroom curtains were billowing, wind whistling loudly through the apartment. Her cat had left her side, and she frowned, shivering in the sudden cold.

Pulling the towel off her head, she made her way over to the window with the intention to close it, sleepily, lazily, until she heard something else. A creak in the floorboard. A heavy footstep in her kitchen. That wasn’t just her cat. 

Some kind of muscle memory was ignited then, an ancient instinct that called to her from a different lifetime. Darting across the room, the gun she kept was in her hand, stealthily pulled from its hiding spot beneath her mattress. Truth be told, she never thought she would’ve needed it. Anyone looking for her would be smart enough to kill her in her sleep, not be so foolish as to wake her first with their heavy footsteps. 

A dark silhouette stalked through her kitchen, moving slowly. It was a man, she assumed, based on his broader figure, and lack of coordination. In her experience, women were often stealthier without trying. He took another step, the floor creaking below him, shuffling on bargain linoleum. 

Staying low, she crept forward, ducking stealthily behind furniture, avoiding the spots on the floor she knew made noise. It didn’t appear the intruder had a weapon, in fact, it seemed he was bumbling about, searching for something. A burglar, and a bad one at that. An island full of vacation homes owned by rich doctors and they thought they’d find valuables in her shitty apartment?

It wasn’t until she was standing directly behind him, gun aimed at his head, that she finally spoke up. 

“I believe you’ve come to the wrong place,” she said flatly. “Whatever you’re looking for, it’d be in your best interest to leave empty-handed.”

Her eyes were still adjusting to the dark, but the intruder froze, arms slowly raising in defeat, empty-handed, as he turned around to face her. In the dingy room, she couldn’t make out any of his features, could only see that he was clad in all black.

“Unfortunately, liebling, that wasn’t my intention.” 

She would’ve recognized that voice anywhere, though the endearment he’d used was enough to clue her in. Hitting the lightswitch with her free hand, she was face to face with the man she’d spent the past year trying to purge from her memory, Helmut Zemo. 

Her gut twisted, her mind raced, but the only thing currently bubbling up, over the surface of every other emotion was the pure, seething rage left behind in the wake of fearing for her life.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she stepped towards him, gun still raised, fuming. 

“Hey, hey!” he staggered backwards, hands raised, eyes averted. 

“I thought you were a fucking robber!” she hissed. “I thought you were here to kill me!”

“Lower your voice,” he scolded. “You’re going to wake your neighbors.”

Taking a deep breath, she realized she still had her gun trained on him and she lowered it, clicking the safety and discarding the weapon on the countertop. “What the fuck?” she asked. “What the hell is wrong with you? What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I didn’t know you had such a mouth on you,” he smirked, but she wasn’t finished, and she glowered at him. 

“You broke into my apartment!” she growled.

“I had to be sure I was in the right place.”

“Yeah? You couldn’t have knocked first?”

He nodded, eyes trailing down to her hands, which were trembling, she hadn’t even realized. He seemed to understand what he’d done then, and she flexed her fingers, eyes locking with his. “I suppose...you may be right,” he said, surrendering.

She felt the rage subsiding as she took in his appearance. He looked not so different from the last time she’d seen him, except a fair amount of stubble covered his jawline in a short beard. He was still devastatingly handsome. Zemo’s dark eyes, filled with longing, drank her in, tilting his head as his gaze shifted to her lips. It was like she could read his mind, she knew what he wanted, what he was thinking. And her body was going to betray her if he kept it up.

Despite everything, she was still upset. Upset and embarrassed, as the light was doing an unflattering expose of her tiny, cluttered apartment, full of mismatched furniture and water-damaged wallpaper that her landlord refused to replace. It probably gave the prison cells that Helmut had spent years in a run for their money, and was in stark contrast to every other aspect of his life.

“What’s this?” he asked, gesturing to the empty liquor bottles on her countertop, stowed in her trash can. “Have you been drinking?”

“Not tonight,” she quipped, on guard. Had to be. As much as some old instinct told her to throw herself into his arms, press her lips to the underside of his jaw, and let him envelope her in the comfort of his embrace, she knew she couldn’t.

“Hmm,” he brushed past her, frowning, looking disappointed, as he made his way to her living room. 

“How did you find me?” she asked, eyeing him wearily.

“I’m a wanted man, I trace every call that comes into my estate,” he said over his shoulder. 

Helmut was taking inventory of the cramped space, staring at the photos she’d hung in a collage on the wall behind her couch, with a few watercolors painted by her late husband. One in particular, that he was focused on now, was from her wedding. Of all the memories she chose to hang, this one was her fondest, her former partner was all dark curly hair falling into deep blue eyes, and she was the portrait of a blushing bride, wearing a dopey love-drunk smile, gazing at him, ignoring the camera. 

“You looked so beautiful on your wedding day,” he said, turning over his shoulder to look at her. He was so out of place here, standing in her living room, for a moment she thought he might be a hallucination, some physical manifestation of the heartbreak she’d experienced. “Although that doesn’t surprise me.”

She flushed, suddenly self-conscious in her thin black robe and still-damp hair. It occurred to her that she wasn’t looking her best, which made this whole situation that much more disconcerting. However, the compliment disarmed her slightly, and the anger she felt began to dissipate, slowly. She was going to offer him something to drink until her cat, who had been absent through the chaos, suddenly jumped up on the back of the couch and promptly hissed at him in an attempt to defend her territory.

“Pumpkin, be nice,” she said, although it was mostly to placate Helmut. Pumpkin never listened to her. 

Helmut let her sniff his hand, and she was stunned when the cat rubbed her face against it. Of course, Pumpkin would like him of all people. That made sense. Then again, she supposed it made them not so different. He turned away to look at the rest of the room. “I see you haven’t kicked that bad habit you told me about,” he gestured at the ashtray full of roaches on the coffee table. 

“Did you just come to my place to insult me?” she asked, putting her hands on her lips and feigning confidence. She could’ve rolled over and cried and told him how much she missed him, how many nights she’d spent crying over him, and while all of it was true, she felt indignation was the better option for her self-preservation.

“That’s a good question,” Helmut turned to face her now, hands in the pockets of the leather jacket he was wearing. Completely inappropriate for the weather here, but he didn’t seem to notice, or care. “Why do you think I’m here?” he asked.

She shrugged, feigning indifference. “I don’t know, but you shouldn’t be.”

He snorted, his frustration evident, and she saw a glimpse of the man that so many feared, the side that had earned him his dangerous reputation, that had him locked away in a high-security prison for nearly a decade. “I didn’t come all this way for nothing, draga, we’re going to have it out.”

“Fine,” she said, lacing as much venom as she could into her words to prepare herself. “Then get on with it.”

He stared her down, and the expression her wore startled her, something sparkled in his eyes, mischief, relief maybe? It was insulting. Like he didn’t take her seriously. But there was something else there, too, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but it was wiped from his visage before it registered.

The tension in the room dissipated slightly when Zemo sat on the arm of the worn couch she’d bought from a yard sale, and she winced. “I spoke to Oeznik the other day,” he said flatly, snorting, eyes focused on a stain on one of the rugs she owned. “He told me he had the pleasure of speaking to a friend of mine about a month ago.”

Frowning, she tilted her head, her eyes meeting Helmut’s. Something in her brain sparked a memory she’d once dismissed as a dream after a particularly bad night of drinking.

“He was concerned, you see, because this friend didn’t seem to be in the best state of mind,” Helmut rose from the arm of the couch, stalking forward slowly, and she couldn’t move backwards, not even if she wanted to, as he could pin her easily against the front door. His voice grew louder, faster as he went on. “He said she was crying, slurring her words, he told me he thought maybe she might be-” Helmut cut himself off abruptly and closed his eyes, clenching one of his fists, a look of distress on his face as he took in a terse breath. “I won’t finish that thought, but you’re a smart girl, you can imagine what I’m getting at.”

Swallowing hard, the phone call came back to her in pieces, the tears, sobbing on the phone to a man she hardly knew. It was the night she finally admitted to herself she’d made a mistake, even though she’d already known it, deep down when she left him in the hotel room. 

“Please forgive me for breaking in tonight,” Helmut said. “But I couldn’t bear the thought of you not answering the door, I needed to see with my own eyes that you were okay.”

Exhaling through her nose, she looked at the floor. “It’s not like that. I had too much to drink.” she said, keeping her voice as steady as possible. “It was just a bad night.”

“Then tell me, what was the horrible mistake you made?” he asked, stepping closer. He was close to her, now. So close. And his proximity made everything more difficult.

God, if only she could remember exactly what she’d said, the only thing that came to her were the emotions, desperation, sadness, grief. It was all too much, and he was threatening to bring them all back to destroy her again. 

“I shouldn’t have called,” she said, shaking her head. “And I’m sorry. What do you want me to say? What do you want from me?”

“What do I want from you?” He asked, tilting his head, his eyebrows pulling together. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? How hard it was to sit on a plane when all I wanted to do was be here? With you?” His hand rose to cup her cheek, stopping just short of her face when she flinched away from his touch.

“Please stop,” she managed, the burn of tears behind her eyes almost menacing. The last thing she needed was to cry in front of him. “You’re undoing everything.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked. 

“You’re….you’re here,” she murmured weakly, wetness seeping, glossing over her pupils. “I only have so much capacity for pain right now, if you touch me now, you’ll ruin everything.”

No one ever had this kind of hold on her, she’d never bent her rules to appease anyone else, and she’d gone toe to toe with super soldiers. He was just a man, and yet, he terrified her. 

“You really want me to leave?”

She couldn’t answer, but one tear escaped, sliding down her cheekbone, and she sniffled. 

“I’m not the one who did this to you,” his thumb, swiped along her face gently, wiping it away. He’d touched her, just barely, and she was reeling. 

“I know,” she stuttered, gasping. “I know it was me, but I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“You are so stubborn.” His expression softened as he looked upon her, his thumb tracing underneath her jaw, tilting her head upwards to look at him. Malleable, she obliged. “I’ve thought about you everyday since the night we spent together. You’ve plagued me. That can’t be a coincidence. Are you really happier this way? You must be honest with me.”

She shook her head, blinking out fresh tears. “No, I’m not. I just thought...by the time I realized I made the wrong choice, you’d have moved on. People like us don’t get to be happy.”

“Says who?”

How could she refuse him anymore? This would continue to go on until she gave in. And from the beginning, she wanted to give in. There was no use in fighting the inevitable. The small point of contact -- his hand on her chin -- radiated impressive warmth, and she could feel every part of herself being attracted to him, quelling some ache deep within her. 

Reaching up, she clutched at Helmut’s palm, which didn’t last long, because he pulled her into his arms, nestling her head underneath his chin. She melted into his embrace, finding solace in the warmth of his solid frame. 

“Come home with me,” he coaxed softly. 

“I will,” she murmured, surrendering to the comfort of his presence. “But you have to let me bring Pumpkin.”

He chuckled, warm and amiable, the vibration of his chest echoing in her own. “Of course, you’ll bring Pumpkin,” he murmured into her hair. Oh, how she had missed hearing him laugh. They could’ve stayed that way for hours, and she would’ve been content, but he pulled away, hands on either side of her face as he studied her.

Unable to hold back any longer, she leaned in to kiss him. It was chaste at first, all the memories of her last night with him came flooding back quickly when he parted his lips to deepen the kiss, but she didn’t want that quite yet, just needed a moment to process this. The simple comfort of being held by him, kissed by him, was more than enough for now. He’d been waiting for this, she could assume in the way that he responded, pulling her impossibly close so she was engulfed in him.

Her stomach flipped, a warmth blossoming in her chest as he pulled away, their foreheads touching. “Oh, I missed you,” she sighed, shivering as his beard tickled her neck, his mouth on her sensitive skin.

“And I, you,” he murmured. His eyes studied her, carefully, up close, and for the first time since meeting him, she really let him see her, teary-eyed and vulnerable.

She would never let him go again. 

---

A/N: So here we are! I know it’s been a ride, but I’m really excited for these two. However, I don’t feel like I’m done writing for Zemo yet. If ya’ll have any headcanons, thoughts, questions, requests, etc, feel free to drop them in my ask box or shoot me a DM. I’d love to talk more about him. I also would be down to write more oneshots based around this series, because I am sort of like….okay, they obviously have a connection, but they don’t know that much about each other, and I may or may not have a light future already mapped out for them. I might do an epilogue at some point even. But if you have anything you’d like to add, let me know!

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[powdermelonkeg]

Hyrule Brochure: A Potential for BotW’s Future

Hyrule’s map in BotW is pretty sparse as far as cities go. Yes, it’s got more than any other Zelda game, but it also has like, 90% of its map being pure dead space.

So I decided to play around and make what I imagine Hyrule would look like, as far as cities go, if it were allowed to properly rebuild and not get totally wrecked by Ganon again.

Credit to Eragon2589 on DeviantArt for the free-to-use map icons. I love these little buttons so much.

So, these are the canon towns we get in BotW; Hateno, Lurelin, Tarrey, Zora’s Domain, Goron City, Korok Forest, Rito Village, Yiga Hideout, and Gerudo Town. I’m counting Yiga Hideout as a town because if the Yiga were a little nicer, it WOULD be marked one.

Adding the various stables on makes the place look MUCH less empty, but still; what can we do with this?

Well, I’ve spent the last several days locating all the significant ruins and landmarks, with one or two extra things thrown in, that I think would make this place much more populated.

Maps are free to use if you want them, btw. Have fun!

As a general rule of thumb, I want to make the towers and stables their own cities. The towers are a good landmark and beacon of safety, and the stables have all the building blocks to start building up a village.

If I’m particularly inspired, I’ll give some background on what the town is/does!

Starting off with the Rito! Their village has grown into a town, and the stable at its foothill is its own village now. I called it “fledgeling” because that’s where the Rito and Hylians would intermingle most, so the Rito aren’t exactly flying around here.

Beacon City is built around Tabantha Tower; the Rito have turned it into a sort of lighthouse, reflecting light off into the distance to help guide nighttime fliers home. Because of this, it’s a very popular stop for mail carriers, and where they go, development and cultural mixing follows.

Kaysa Town is built around Great Fairy Kaysa’s fountain; it’s a popular tourist attraction, and she gets plenty of offerings, so win-win!

For the Gorons, we’ve only got two more cities: Silversmith Village and Din’s Spire. Silversmith is built around the culture in the southern mines, and it has down-the-road access to the Goron Hot Springs. Din’s Spire is less of a town and more of a landmark, due to the sheer cliffs all around it, but the huge (and notably not in the burning death zone) hot spring lake makes it a popular rest stop for people on their way through.

I decided not to rebuild the northern mines; they’re pretty busted up and lava soaked, so my assumption is that they were abandoned either due to hazards or due to the ore being stripped out.

Korok Forest wouldn’t change much, besides the Royal Family declaring it a protected area. The Koroks don’t seem to have much interest in expansion, and they, as far as I know, don’t live in houses.

Gerudo Territory is MUCH more expansive than the others so far, and with good reason.

Gerudo Town itself is now Gerudo City, and the Kara Kara Bazaar has grown into a town. Canyon Stable has developed a village (mostly full of Gerudo husbands so they don’t have to travel a million miles just to see their families).

The Gerudo have control of one of the towers in their region, and the town built around it is Overlook Town. It mostly serves as a training grounds for young Gerudo warriors.

The City of the Seven developed when the Seven Heroine statues were recovered and restored; the town around them was built to honor them, and then it got a LOT of foot traffic from those wanting to see the legendary statues.

Tera Town rose up much in the same way Kaysa Town did up in Rito territory, centered around the Great Fairy Fountain.

Mesa Village and West Gerudo Town are both smaller Gerudo settlements; West Gerudo sprung up out of access to snowmelt from the Gerudo Highlands, and Mesa Village, because of its relative safety from Molduga and access to oasis water.

Finally, Gerudo Valley, in reference to Ocarina of Time. This town is a Gerudo-only zone, and is more a fortress than a town. It exists both to keep an eye on the Yiga and to gain control of the mountain pass, making people go through Canyon Village to get to Gerudo instead of avoiding Gerudo customs.

Speaking of the Yiga, they’ve taken two new spots for themselves; Gerudo Tower, which they’ve renamed Kohga Tower in honor of their late Master, and Banana Labyrinth, which serves as their highest security area. Imagine if you’d had to go through the LABYRINTH to get the Thunder Helm back.

Up next we’ve got the Zora. Truthfully, their territory spans as long as Zora river and WELL into the ocean, but these are the only cities that, technically, a Hylian with adequate gear can enter.

Mipha’s Landing is an above-water city built expressly for doing trade. It got its name from the late Mipha; since the tower reaches up into the sky, it was hoped that someday, her spirit would sit atop it for a rest and see all that her people had been able to do thanks to her sacrifice.

Lakebed Village is in Lake Hylia, and it’s actually a slowly-repopulating Lakebed Temple, from Twilight Princess. Meanwhile, Great Bay City is a port town above water and an aquatic metropolis below, full of music and dance and exotic wares.

And finally, Hylians.

Hoo boy.

I’ve split this up region by region but

THIS is how many living spots they’ve got.

Silver stars indicate military towns. Red stars indicate military outposts.

I USE THE TERM MILITARY VERY LOOSELY HERE. Hyrule, since it doesn’t interact with its neighbors, only has the Yiga and the various monsters to fight against. Anything labeled “military” means that it’s staffed by royal employ, meaning knights and Sheikah and the like.

Let’s start with Akkala. The northeast labyrinth has been converted into an emergency bunker, in case Calamity strikes and people need a safe place to hide. Not only is it difficult to break into, it also has a completely empty lower level that’s PERFECT for long-term seige.

City Tempest got its name for being near-constantly wracked by storms. Despite this, though, it remains a popular vacation spot for people who don’t mind a little rain; the Skull Lake and the giant flowers are worth it.

Valley Town rose up out of both East Akkala Stable and Robbie’s workshop. It doesn’t get too much foot traffic, but it doesn’t really need to.

Midna Village, I built where the ruins of Shadow Hamlet are. I figured it was a fitting name, and the area is almost constantly covered in the shadow of Death Mountain.

Four Brothers’ Base is a knight outpost that’s up extremely high, spanning huge bridges between the four Tingle isles.

Then Parapa Palace, in reference to Zelda II: Adventure of Link, was built in place of the Akkala Citadel and functions as a mini Hyrule Castle + Castle Town. In real life, monarchs would have several palaces to go between, kind of like how well-off people nowadays would have a summer home. So, I followed that trend! This is Zel’s summer palace.

And you guys know what Tarrey Town is. Although interestingly, as it expands, it goes vertical into the stone column it was built on.

Onto Central Hyrule.

Camp Rauru is training camp and lodging for new knights. Rebonae Village and Kasuto City were made out of the Wetland and Riverside stables respectively, though Kasuto (also an Adventure of Link reference) gets substantially more foot traffic due to being on the way from Castle Town to Dueling Peaks.

Outset Town got its name, lore-wise, from the fact that it’s the first bit of land Link from BotW visited after leaving the Great Plateau, and meta-wise, because it’s the starting point for Wind Waker Link.

Aquame City surrounds the Coliseum, which is how it grew to be so popular. The grand stage holds sparring matches and various other shows regularly, and it’s a pleasant boat trip from Castle Town to get there.

Saria Town was built out of the old exchange ruins, and it’s in walking distance of the ruined Sage Temple—which, at this point in time, would have been rebuilt—and its existence is both an AoL reference and an OoT one (but mostly AoL, I’ve kind of fallen in love with its map).

New Mabe is where you can find the new Lon Lon Ranch! The ruins there are actually called the Mabe Town Ruins in game, and they’re right by the Ranch Ruins!

Eldin’s pretty sparse as far as Hylian towns go. It’s got Gut Check Camp, where Sheikah train for endurance and elemental resistance, and Windfall Town, a place that sees a LOT of gemstones pass through, freshly mined. That includes rupee ore, mind you!

Faron Province is a little more spaced out, due to the nature of the region. Lurelin’s grown since BotW, becoming a trading bay; meanwhile Cora Lake’s Sheikah Tower has expanded into Parache Town, and the Highland Stable has become Malanya Village. Both of those locations are VERY fond of horses, and they’re a bit competitive, especially during archery season.

Ordona Hamlet is a tiny village tucked away into the middle of Faron. It came about due to the Lakeside Stable, and it’s named that because I am STILL salty that the Zeldevs didn’t put an Ordon Village reference in the game.

Eventide Outpost is more of a testing ground for boats than anything particularly significant, population-wise. The even tides that gave the isle its name make it an ideal location to work out the kinks in new watercraft (and occasionally, the lieutenant in charge of that base demonstrates how to launch a raft into the sky with octo balloons).

Hebra’s the most militarized area of Hyrule, and ideally, it functions as a reserve of men and tech in case Calamity rises again. If there’s anything that BotW’s era learned, it’s to never underprepare for Gann’s return.

Fort Lomei is a converted base, just like the Banana Labyrinth is to the Yiga. This one, though, is patrolled diligently by knights who use daily-changing codes, and it’s impossible to navigate without the locals’ help.

Fort Pikida is situated in that weird stone cavern-y area, and it’s a supply stach and Hebran monster patrol site. It’s the soldiers there’s job to make sure that the Lynels that like to roam the region don’t get too close to residential areas.

Hia Miu Outpost is a training spot for knights sent to the Hebra region; any new soldier to the area has to prove they can handle themselves by going into the Hia Miu shrine and taking on the Major Test of Strength Trial. (Fun fact, did you know that the X-test-of-strength trials reset themselves every blood moon?)

Snowpeak Fortress exists both because it makes a fantastic secondary base for the Hyrulean royals to plan, and because i am once again salty about the lack of Twilight Princess in this game.

Sturnida Resort is built around hot springs! It’s a nice spot for people living around Rito Town and Fledgling Village to take a vacation without having to trek all the way across the country to do it.

Snowfield City came from Snowfield Stable, and it’s the Windfall of Hebra; it sees a LOT of people coming in and out of the region, and the view of the northern lights you can get from there? You’d be hard-pressed to find a Hylian that didn’t have it on their bucket list.

New Tabantha was built on the ruined spot of the original Tabantha Village; you can visit there in-game! It’s a quiet town that raises highland sheep for a living, and its team won the Hebran Triathlon three whole years in a row.

Then, the Tanagar Restricted Zone. If you’ve ever been there, you know EXACTLY why it’s restricted.

Most of the Guardians inside have been dealt with, but the ruined temple remains a hazard testing ground for new tech. It’s off limits to everyone but those with the HIGHEST clearance; I’m talking a direct letter from Zelda herself.

The Thyphlo Secret Camp is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a place for Hyrulean lieutenants to meet for top-secret missions, and it’s one of those places that you need to be SERIOUSLY high rank to even KNOW about.

Over on the edge of Lanayru, we’ve got New Goponga, built where the old Goponga ruins are, and the Crenel Garrison. The Garrison was built to take care of the Lizalfos problems in the waterways, keeping it safe for Hylians and Zora travelers alike. Goponga, on the other hand, is what Lurelin was in game; nice, friendly, and centered around fishery.

In Necluda, we’ve got New Deya where old Deya was ruined (I think BotW Link was born in old Deya!), Watchtower Village built around the lakeside of the Dueling Peaks tower, and then Dueling Peaks City, a HUGE trade hub that was once the Dueling Peaks stable.

Kakariko Village is now a Town, Hateno has grown into a full blown trade harbor, and a tiny village has started to form around the Hateno Tower, making Firly Overlook.

But what I most love is the City of Hylanay.

Back in the game, it was the ruins of the Lanayru Promenade. So I had the promenade rebuilt, then people moved in around it, and now, Hylanay’s basically Hyrulean Venice! I want to visit it.

On the Great Plateau, we’ve got Aboda Town, named after Spirit Tracks’ Aboda Village in reference to the starting point in each game. This Town has access to the original Temple of Time, but because of the nature of the isolated plateau, it doesn’t see a lot of new faces often.

Over around Thundra, we’ve got Tanagar Village overlooking the canyon, built out of the old Tabantha Stable. The village actually builds downwards into the canyon; people have windows carved right out of the cliff face!

Thundra Village is built into the rocky slopes surrounding Thundra Plateau and the Ridgeland Tower. Their houses are built in the shelter of the giant mushroom things that grow so well in the area, and they’re famous for their signature dish of escargot.

The Serenne Exchange is up north, encompassing both the old Serenne Stable and the Maritta exchange ruins. You can buy practically ANYTHING there; if ever there was a supermarket in Hyrule, it would be right there.

The Royal Lab was rebuilt out of its ruins post Calamity, and it’s directed by Purah, who still hasn’t cured her immortality yet. It’s not uncommon to hear explosions as you pass by that place.

And then Camp Rutile is a small observational outpost, meant to keep track of the activity on Satori Mountain. Supposedly, the mountain’s health reflects the state of the rest of the kingdom, so the researchers assigned there are tasked with monitoring it EXTREMELY closely.

And Hyrule Castle. It’s Hyrule Castle.

Now completely bolted into the ground! :D

If we put all these locations together, we get a very nice, very well populated Hyrule, with LOTS to see. This is how I would design the future of BotW’s Hyrule.

Thanks for reading!