#not quite sure how I’m gonna format these yet so we’re just experimenting I guess???

[calciferstims]

🌊 vaporeon self care kit 🐟

plush // thinking putty // soap

tangle toy // sticker // chew necklace

worry stone // bath bomb // patch

[charlie-rulerofhell]

An interview with Måneskin: “It's not about out bodies, it's about our music”

Heyo, I'm back with another translation. This time the article is from the German Rolling Stone website who met with Måneskin after their TikTok performance at the Schwuz, Berlin, and posted the interview yesterday. Again there were some interesting questions asked (and the pictures they added to the article are quite nice, though severely lacking some Ethan content, but check it out!).

Again, I hope that no one has already gone through the effort and translated it or is currently working on a translation. Also this is an official invitation, if you stumble across any articles or video interviews in German that you would like to have translated just message me and I'll get to it! (or if you just wanna chat about Måneskin, my inbox is always open :))

Have a great day everyone!

Full article under the cut.

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

An interview with Måneskin: “It's not about out bodies, it's about our music”

Jose-Luis Amsler

July 6, 2021

Måneskin are just what this generation has been missing. Passionate, corny, and full-on honest. In an interview with Rolling Stones, the ESC winners explain to us why they would never work in a normal job and why the hype for their appearance is sometimes going too far.

Damiano, Victoria, Thomas and Ethan are entering the nearly deserted dance hall, before they wait on stage in a red-blue spotlight. They are wearing glittering fish net tops, black tape across their nipples, leather pants, heels and make up. The camera men who are filming in portrait format (9:16) suitable for TikTok are whirling up the haze of the fog machine.

Måneskin are [in] Berlin to give a TikTok concert. A TikTok livestream of this scale has not been done often – tension is in the air. The four Italians don't know at this point that due to the stream the few people present are not allowed to clap or cheer. In complete silence and with slight uncertainty the four are crossing Neukölln's club Schwuz. A few puzzled glances are exchanged. Finally,  Måneskin are striking the first chord.

Then the rich sound of Ethan's bass drum is tearing through the silence. It's almost as if someone has flicked a switch somewhere. There it is, the rock star presence that is hovering over everything they do, with an ounce of arrogance (in the best sense of the word). Singer Damiano is dancing lasciviously on his heels, and during an especially ecstatic solo guitarist Thomas is throwing himself down on the floor in a way it can only be done by a passionate 20-year-old musician who had never had to worry about the looming doom of an artificial knee joint [for 'passionate' the interview is using the term 'besessen' which means 'possessed', and although I think it's rather supposed to describe the way Thomas is 'possessed / obsessed' with the music, thus passionate for the music, you never know if they didn't mean to say that the way he dances looks 'possessed' … I mean, they might be on to something here ;)]. Around half an hour and about 120 decibel later, Damiano says their goodbyes with an almost shy-sounding “Okay, bye.” After the performance, we do our interview in the Schwuz.

Rolling Stone: It was a little bit weird, right, when you went on stage today?

Damiano: Yeah, that was really strange (laughs). They only told us after the performance that the audience was instructed to stay silent for the stream.

Vic: But at least they weren't silent because we were shit (all laughing). We are slowly getting used to playing without a live audience. I mean we are doing this now for more than a year.

RS: What do you think about these new kinds of concerts such as the TikTok livestream today?

Damiano: Well, at the moment it is the only option to perform anyway, so it's alright. But of course you cannot compare this to a proper concert.

Thomas: But it's pretty cool that so many people can experience our concert live.

Vic: Also we're gonna start touring again soon. Right now we are arranging some festival and gigs. In December we will be touring Italy and afterwards we are planning to go on tour through Europe. But we don't have anything fixed yet, there is just a lot going on at the moment.

“A lot going on”. Quite an understatement considering the recent journey Måneskin has made through the past weeks after their ESC win. Their singles “Beggin'” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave” went through the roof (also thanks to Social Media) and are currently dominating the international charts – lately they were also number one in Germany. There is barely a radio station that isn't playing the band on heavy rotation [would love to know what stations they listen to, have never heard Måneskin played in German radio tbh :( ], and everyone opening Instagram or TikTok these days is flooded by Måneskin content. Every second a new fanpage with the name of 'maneskin_obsession' or 'damianos_slut' is springing up like a (virtual) mushroom. It sounds like a cliche, but Damiano, Vic, Thomas and Ethan became international stars over night.

“Of course it's nice to get compliments. But sometimes they definitely cross a line.” – Damiano David

RS: How has your life as a band changed since your win at the ESC in Rotterdam?

Vic: I think we don't even notice a lot of what's happening. Right after the ESC we went to a studio in the countryside where we made music the whole day long. So at first we didn't realise that so many things were happening all around us – and that we had so many new fans. We're just now beginning to learn what's going on. We were at Sony yesterday, there were so many fans waiting for us. That was crazy.

RS: A large part of the attention you are getting now is about your outer appearance, your style, your attractiveness. Is that getting a little too much sometimes?

Damiano: Of course it's nice to get compliments (laughs). But sometimes they definitely cross a line. Especially when we just talk about our music or about a social or political topic that we care about. In those moments it's just completely inappropriate to reduce us to our appearance. Sure – when I'm posting a half-naked picture of myself on Instagram I know that I will get these kind of comments. And then it's totally fine, I mean in the end I'm posting the picture to show myself. But sometimes it's not the right place for it.

RS: And also you should be allowed to wear what you want without being sexualised, right?

Vic: Yes, absolutely. We are wearing these outfits because we feel good in them, not to put the focus on our bodies. And in general it shouldn't always only be about how you dress. We are musicians – so first and foremost it should be about our music. But I think it will still be a long way until we will reach that point.

“That the boys are wearing make up does not tell you what gender they are attracted to. Those things should never be equated with each other.” – Victoria De Angelis

RS: But still you are sending a message with your style against stereotypical gender roles. I guess it's also not only coincidence that we are in the Schwuz today, which is normally a party location and safe space for the LGBTQ community.

Vic: Yes, that is all part of the positive message that we try to send. We want to give our audience the feeling that they are free. Free to wear whatever they want to wear, be how they want to be and love whom they want to love. It's unbelievable that there is still so much intolerance in our times. That has always been really important to us so we try to talk about these topics. We also believe that the narrow-mindedness of society is an educational problem. When you grow up with people all around you telling you how you should be, you will never feel completely free. The more people are talking about it, the sooner things will change.

RS: Some artists who are advocating for these topics are accused of 'queerbaiting', that they are only pretending to be a certain way to gain more support from the queer community. Have you also been faced with those allegations?

Vic: Yes, a few times. But of course we never pretended to be anything. Some people accuse of us queerbaiting because we look and act the way we do. But that's flawed thinking. We don't believe that clothes are connected to a person's sexuality. That the boys are wearing make up does not tell you what gender they are attracted to. Those two things should never be equated with each other.

RS: This courage for free self expression that you are conveying is mainly lived by our (young) generation through Instagram and the like. What is your relationship to social media?

Damiano: For me it was almost scary at first. The more we grew, the more people were trying to twist all of my words. But over time you start to understand that with more fame you also get more criticism. The happier you look the more hate you will get. It's not only like that for celebrities. If you are brave enough to show the things that make you happy there will always be people that support you, but they are also those that envy you. Of course, this should never lead anyone to not express themselves openly but that's easier said than done.

Vic: We are also trying not to spend too much time on social media. In the end we just try to be honest with our fans and to avoid negativity.

[caption under the picture of Damiano: 'Is already being compared to icons such as David Bowie']

It's actually surprising how little power a win at the ESC holds in most cases. Almost 200 million people are watching this shining spectacle every year – and still, a few months afterwards it is hard to remember who those people were that got covered in confetti during the award ceremony. It's the well-known curse of a casting show that rests on the winning bands. When just next year a new sensation will come to marvel at, how much impact does a win have then? There are exceptions of course, like Lena who is until this day, 10 years after her win in Oslo, a part of the more famous music scene of German pop music. With their charisma, their unusual sound at least for our modern standards, and their contemporary message Måneskin could become such an exception, too.

It's likely also helpful that the band already had a standing in the Italian music scene prior to their ESC participation. Their first album 'Il ballo della vita' already achieved platinum in 2018, three years prior to Sanremo and the ESC. And then there is also the long way that led the four schoolmates to this point that helped them gain the necessary persistence. Because contrary to what some people might want to believe Måneskin are not a phenomenon that has just been deliberately bred to be this way by the entertainment industry for Eurovision.

“I have worked [in a 'normal' job] for a whole month in my entire life – it didn't really end well.” – Damiano David

RS: You were all raised in Rome, the capital of the catholic church. What was it like to start as a young progressive band in such a conservative environment?

Damiano: In the beginning, when we started as buskers, no one gave a damn about us anyways (all laughing). But of course … Once we got a bit bigger there were a few people who had a problem with us. For example when we went to Sanremo, there were quite many people who thought that the way we looked and acted we shouldn't be allowed to represent Italy. They didn't even want to listen to our music first.

Vic: Especially when it comes to appearance and sexuality, Italy is a little more backward than other countries. The church probably also has an influence there. They are often quite conservative of course, so many people grew up with such a [conservative] mindset.

RS: You once said that the song 'In Nome Del Padre' is an answer to exactly those people. What does the song mean to you?

Damiano: Back in the beginning [of our career] we had to deal with a lot of problems. They didn't want to let us play in clubs because we would take too much space as a band or because they didn't like our (fashion) style or because they didn't want to pay us. Italy isn't a good place for bands. Our musical style was also criticised a lot. Many people were telling us: Don't do that [rock music], you won't get popular with that in Italy, you will never achieve anything with it. Of course those comments were hurtful but they were also a good reason for us to continue with what we did. And we turned our sadness into anger. With that song we wanted to tell those people from back then: Fuck off and look at us, we did it!

RS: Did you ever consider working in a nine-to-five job and live a 'normal' life?

Damiano: Nah, not really. For one month in my life I worked [in a 'normal' job] – it didn't end well (all laughing).

Vic: We all made music since we were kids. It's a huge part of us, that we couldn't just ignore. And the most important thing is that you do something that makes you happy. At least that's what we believe. So we started from a young age to put all our time and energy into music.

Thomas: Yeah, exactly. Ever since we were in school together we always made music. That has always been our main focus and it is until today. We play and play and play because it is the only thing that …  

Ethan: … we live for.

Damiano: Music has also something very therapeutic for us. Even when we are in a bad mood or fight with each other – yeah, that happens, too – then all of that is gone the moment we enter the stage. Maybe that's the beautiful thing about music – that it allows you to forget everything else. You're just standing on stage, having fun with your friends.

From most bands you wouldn't buy such a corny love letter to music. Mostly it just sounds like an empty phrase, a well-practiced quotable line. But when there is something that defines Måneskin and that becomes more and more evident during our conversation it's their uncompromising honesty. The four of them are definitely not lacking a sense of humour but they take their music very seriously. Which should not be taken for granted in a generation that has mainly produced sarcastic cloud rappers and has made cynical twitter comedy a national sport. And maybe Måneskin are exactly what this generation was lacking all along.

Still, the four musicians, all in the age of 20 to 22, are also prone to the constant need for self-expression, that has become an intrinsic part of today's life. This does not only reflect in the outfits of the band (always 'on fleek') and their Instagram profiles, but also in their lyrics. Their latest record 'Teatra D'Ira – Vol. 1' shows a clear theme: The album is an ode to individuality, accentuated by fast and hard sounds.

Sometimes this message fitting for a Disney movie [really? guess I have been watching the wrong Disney movies my whole life …] is wrapped in a contrasting loud and forceful packaging, but never so much that it becomes inauthentic or self-caricaturing [note: I'm honestly not entirely sure what they wanted to say with this sentence since it uses a lot of rhetorical devices that could be interpreted in different ways, but I'd say this sounds the most plausible]. And in the end, the thing that makes Måneskin so interesting is their unification of the spirit of this time – between TikTok hedonism and an omnipresent political statement – with the music of past generations.

“When you are twenty, you start to think about what the future will hold.” – Damiano David

RS: Your musical style is often described as classical 70s rock, but in fact there are many different influences in your music. Sometimes you groove almost into funk, sometimes it's more rapping than singing. How did this mixture come to be?

Thomas: It's just that we all have our own individual influences and then we meet somewhere in the middle. And we always try to stay open for experiments.

Ethan: Yes, we are very experimental in our song writing process.

Vic: We also don't want to limit ourselves to what is regarded as typical rock music. If rap fits better at some point then we just add that in. It just happens naturally without us thinking too much about it.

RS: So why was it still rock music in the end?

Vic: Because it's the style that we feel most represented by. But actually we just play the music that we enjoy playing. That's really important to us so that we can show something real on stage. We don't want to pretend to be something that we aren't or mock those people that really enjoy our music. You should always be proud of what you're doing and never fake anything just to sell more records.

RS: Is there something like an Italian rock music scene?

Vic: There are quite a lot of bands – but the most of them are much older than us or they are more going in the direction Indie rock. There isn't really a young rock scene, which we think is a pity. But ever since we got more famous people are telling us that they started listening to rock music because of us or that they bought their first guitar and such. That's incredibly nice!

RS: So you're saying that you also want to show this style of music to a younger generation. And you capture this contrast quite well in the song 'Vent'anni', which is a typical rock ballad but lyrically portrays the thoughts of today's youth. Where did the motivation come from to write that song?

Damiano: With the song I wanted to show that I'm just a normal guy, a really typical 20-year-old. I experience the same things that other people in my age are experiencing, I'm just doing another job than them. Also I wanted to describe this age as a whole because I think it's a really special age. At 20 you start to think about what the future will hold. I think it's one of the most important stages of your life. Since we (the four of us) are all in the same age, I then started to mix our experiences together. In the end the song shows what it means to us to be 20. There is a lot of good things – you are quite carefree and are looking at life enthusiastically. But on the other hand you're too young to do certain things and too old to do others. Some people are treating you like a full-grown adult, but …

Vic: … not entirely.

Damiano: Exactly. It can get pretty frustrating at times. We wanted to show our audience: Hey, we're also just 20 years old, and we're going through the same things as you. We understand you.

RS: Except that you are the ones who are becoming a world-wide phenomenon right now. How do you want to maintain this honesty?

Damiano: I think that we could just reach this point because we have always been authentic – for better or for worse. Also we are just trying to have fun with what we're doing together. That's something special that we don't want to lose. In the end we're just four friends who started to live their dream. It's actually pretty simple. Of course – we go on stage, we get a lot of attention, we give interviews – but when we come back home we're just four friends.

[nat-20s]

Wonderful! Au Part 7! (also on ao3 here) another episode only installment, and obnoxiously fluffy! Have fun!

~*~

Martin, tired: Hello everybody! Welcome, or welcome back, to a very low energy episode. We have had, as the kids say, A Week Tm.

Jon, equally tired, but fond: Is that as the kids say?

Martin: I don't know, and perhaps worse, I don't really care. I guess I could ask Jeremiah next time he's over, but I'm not sure if that would actually help.

Jon: Shockingly, I don't think two year olds have their finger on the beating pulse of youth culture.

Martin: Hmm, maybe not. Speaking of Jeremiah, he's part of why the format of this episode is gonna be a bit different than our regular. On top of me dealing with a frankly obscene amount of inventory management, and Jon being swamped with grant writing-

Jon: I never want to look at proposal guidelines again-

Martin: we were on babysitting duty for our favourite neighborhood hellion-

Jon: Hey, Jeremiah is a very sweet kid! I know he's a toddler, but we shouldn't be slandering him anyway.

Martin: One, we're not even using his real name, I don't think that counts as slander, and two, exactly, he's a toddler, he's by default a hellion.

Jon, teasing: This coming from the person that actually wants one?

Martin: I..look, if anything, the last few days have shown we should not be permanent parents.

Jon: But?

Martin:...There's no but.

Jon: I don't believe you! Are you lying for my benefit or the audience's? Because someone spent the last five days wearing one of the largest grins I've ever seen, exhausted as it may have been.

Martin: Okay! Fine, I admit, I liked having a kid around. I still think it would be a bad idea to do it full time, but I dunno. I wish we weren't both only children or something. We would make such good uncles.

Jon: Should I should have taken that teaching job after all?

Martin: Perhaps. After all,

Martin, singsong: An English teacher, is really someone!

Jon and Martin, singing together: If only you, had be-come one!

Jon: Honestly, though, I was considerably underqualified. I'm much more suited to my current job, even if it doesn't have quite the same impact on the "shaping of the next generation" or whatnot.

Martin: Wait, you actually care about qualifications now? When did that change?

Jon: This coming from Mister "master's degree in parapsychology"? And it was probably around the time that the world ended from taking on a workload I was ill-suited for.

Jon:...

Jon: Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Martin: Oh, of course. Definitely nothing literally apocalyptic in our pasts, no siree, nothing to see or speculate about or make weirdly involved forums for here. Uh, anyway, long introduction not so short: Both of us have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep, so any sort of actual research was not on the table.

Jon: If any of you are wondering why we didn't just say that we're both very much worn out and thus we'll be taking a week off, it's because we're both deeply, deeply stubborn.

Martin: It's one of our best shared qualities that has never caused any conflict between us, ever.

Jon: In fairness, sheer stubbornness does account for, what, 75% of the reason that either of us are still alive? And it hasn't caused a major conflict between us in a good three years.

Martin: That's true. We've become a deeply boring, relatively conflict free couple. Which fucking rules, by the way. To all the couples out there: I highly recommend being boring. It is so nice. We've gotten to go to the farmer's market so many times.

Jon: You do love the farmer's market. I would say that it's the access to fresh produce, but I think you just like the attention that one yarn seller gives you. Can't believe you would take advantage of a crush to get discounts on wool. How did I marry such an opportunist?

Martin: Ollie does not have a crush on me. They're just friendly to everyone.

Jon: Bullshit. I certainly never get an extra skein or stitch markers or delicate fabric cleaner tossed in my bag. Actually, I think I've been charged more for committing the crime of having married you before they could.

Martin: I'm..70% sure that's not true, but every sentence we speak, we stray further from even pretending to be on topic. So, to everybody listening, this is the itty bitty episode! Basically, we're only doing small wonders and user submissions. If you want details or backstory for things we like, too bad, come back next week. Jon, I believe you're first this week?

Jon: Oh, right. My first small wonder is cat names.

Martin: Delightful, but unsurprising. Though, I would've expected either more or less specificity. Why cat names as opposed to pet's names in general, or, like, military title names?

Jon: Well that's simple enough. I've simply never met a misnamed cat, even if the name itself wasn't to my personal tastes, and I think that speaks to the wonderful universality of cats.

Martin: This, of course, implies that you have met animals that were misnamed.

Jon: Oh, I have. I once met a papillion dog named Meatball.

Martin: Now I know you don't like food names in general for pets, but are you sure that Meatball didn't suit the dogs personality? I've known some "Meatballs" in my lifetime.

Jon, only half-mock offended: Of course it didn't fit, Martin. She was a lady. A nervous, jittery lady, but a lady nonetheless.

Martin, laughing: And what, you've never met a dignified cat with an undignified name, or vice versa? Would you be okay with our cat being named Meatball?

Jon: I would be upset if our cat was named Meatball, because we named her and we're above that sort of thing, but, technically speaking, she could have been Meatball in another lifetime and it wouldn't have been wrong. You see, all cats are a mix of both extremely austere and little baby idiot.

Martin: Oh, is that the scientific terminology?

Jon: It is. Now, while there's probably some amount of, er, normative determinism or confirmation bias or something that results in a cat with a more dignified name seeming to possess more of that austerity, as all cats have both, any name can, potentially, fit. Hence why it's wonderful.

Martin: I..accept your proposal for now, but I think more research needs to be done. Maybe we should visit the shelter this weekend and test your hypothesis.

Jon: Hmm. I think we may need to visit multiple shelters, actually. A large sample size is necessary for any sort of veracity, obviously.

Martin, imitating Jon tone: Obviously.

Jon: Glad you agree. What's your first small wonder?

Martin: Tofu!

Jon: I..didn't realize you liked that much?

Martin: Well, I don't get it very often since I know you can't stand the texture, even though it is not like 'worse scrambled eggs', and you're a horrible food thief-

Jon: Lies and slander. We readily share. If I'm a horrible food thief, you have committed the exact same, if not worse, crime as myself.

Martin: Well, we are thick as thieves.

Jon, groaning: You're thick as something alright

Martin: Rude! My beloved husband-

Jon: -uh huh-

Martin: whom I love and trust with my most tender of hearts-

Jon: -an oddly cannibalistic turn of phrase-

Martin, badly suppressing laughter: Oh, my god. I want a divorce, then I can put tofu in as many dishes as I like. I'll triple my protein intake.

Jon: It'd never go through. I'll burn the papers. No, wait, I'll burn down the legal offices where the papers are kept.

Martin: Hmm. While my experiences with it have been, uh, varied to say the least, I do have to admit that arson is one of the more attractive crimes of passion. I suppose I'll take you back.

Jon, flat: I'm so very grateful.

Jon, genuine: You do have yet to actually tell me why you think tofu is wonderful, love.

Martin: It's just a good food! It's neutral enough that you can toss it in pretty much anything with a sauce, you can bake it, you can fry it, whatever. Plus it's what? two? Three quid? I spent many years of my life living off the cheapest, saltiest approximation of noodles you could imagine, and half a pack of tofu, a little bit of sesame oil, and some green onions went a long way to both making it more filling and less sad. 

Martin: Plus, I feel like it often gets decried for being something it's not? It's so often viewed as a meat substitute or the vegan alternative option, and so when people try it, they often go in with a false preconceived notion of what it's going to be like, and then end up disappointed. They're all like, 'ugh, this doesn't taste like turkey!' and yeah, of course it doesn't. It's the oatmeal raisin cookie of the protein world, a perfectly good and tasty treat on its own, but if you want chocolate chip, it's not gonna work.

Jon: Martin you don't even like oatmeal raisin. I'm the only one that ever eats them out of the multipacks.

Martin: Well, yeah, but I don't like oatmeal raisin because of its flavor, not because I think it should be chocolate chip and fails. It illustrates my point. Also, just for balance, is your next small wonder oatmeal raisin cookies?

Jon: No, though, maybe one of these weeks. They are good. But no, um, my next small wonder is being married.

Martin, let out a high bark of a laugh: Being married is a small wonder?!

Jon: Small wonders doesn't mean a lack of importance! Or even significance in our lives. Half the time we even end up spending just as much time chattering on about them as the things we actually research. But, yes, I didn't feel like researching the concept of being married. For one, a lot of the history of it is depressing and patriarchal, and for two, it's not something I really feel any need to elaborate on. Being married. I very much enjoy it. I recommend it for anybody that's found someone that they want to marry, and who wants to marry them. I really recommend being married to Martin Blackwood, I think I would enjoy it significantly less if it was to anybody else, but one: we typically try to make the wonderful things in this show  applicable to more than just ourselves, and two: I got there first, so I believe the appropriate thing to say here would be; neener neener and/or everyone else can go suck it, Ollie.

Martin: Well...

Jon: Well, what?

Martin: Saying you got there first is technically not true-

Jon: What?!

Martin, laughing like a bastard: Sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist! Jon, you already know that you're my first real realationship, how would be married before fit that?

Jon: Hence my surprise at the notion! I cannot believe you! I give you my trust, my earnestness, and belief-

Martin [only laughs harder]

Jon: and you throw it in my face for a bit. I take back everything, being married is a nightmare, because sometimes your partner thinks he a fucking comedian and you just have to put up with him because you love him and want to live the rest of your life with him or some such nonsense. Not worth it, if you ask me. My turn to ask for the divorce.

Martin: Babe, hate to break it to you, but both of us are guilty of doing bits that the other doesn't like, it's an integral part of  a healthy marriage, and secondly, you knew who I was long before I proposed. You should've said no when you had the chance.

Jon: Hang on, you proposed?

Martin: Yeah? This isn't part of a bit, of course I proposed. I'm even pretty sure you were there. The whole visit back to Scotland trip? I finally made you a sweater and said it was because we would now be immune to the boyfriend curse?

Jon: No, no, I remember all that, but it wasn't the proposal. It was a reaffirmation of the proposal. We had already decided to get married.

Martin: Well, yeah,, I wasn't just gonna spring that on you, we had had conversations beforehand-

Jon:  No, I mean, I had already proposed. I asked you to marry me a good three years earlier, and you said yes, which is a proposal by any definition that I know.

Martin: Jon, love, darling, apple of my eye, fire of my soul, I mean this in the nicest way possible, what the everloving fuck are you talking about?

Jon: In the ambulance ride when we, uh, moved here. It was the thing I said to you the second I saw your eyes were open.

[An audible pause is left in the recording.]

Martin: That does not count.

Jon: How does it not count?! I asked you to marry me, you very emphatically said yes, that's the de facto definition of an accepted marriage proposal!

Martin: It doesn't count because you were half-delirious with blood-loss, and I had a traumatic brain injury that the hospital was very surprised I made a full recovery from. No court in the world would consider anything we said then more than pain driven ramblings, let alone, I dunno, contractually binding.

Jon: Well, I knew what I was saying well and clear. Just because it was desperate doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. I didn't realize that you weren't as cognizant when you accepted.

Martin, snorting: Yeah, didn't really need to be cognizant to say yes. I've wanted to marry you since the train ride to Scotland.

Jon: Wait, really? Martin, we hadn't even been on a date.

Martin: And yet we were on the lamb together, which I honestly think is more romantic than sitting in some restaurant somewhere trying to get through icebreakers. Also, back up, from your perspective we've been engaged since 2019? What did you think we were doing in the interim?

Jon: Uhh..

Martin: Yes?

Jon: There are people that have long engagement periods, and it's not exactly like we were in any sort of position to get married for awhile. Especially not that first year.

Martin: Okay? And?

Jon: And..I sort of thought you had changed your mind. For awhile. Was rather surprised that you kept living with me, considering that, on the worst nights, I was convinced you were going to storm off and leave me forever any minute now. Hence why your proposal was rather relieving.

Martin: Oh, Jon, love. That is so very ridiculous, and so very you, and so very close to many of my own fears and doubts. Do you have any idea how terrified I was to float the idea of marriage to you? Half the time I was convinced I was just meant to keep you company until you found someone better. And, Christ, we'd, from your perspective, been engaged the whole damn time. Fuck.

[Jon, after a beat, starts laughing. It has a slightly hysterical edge to it. Martin joins in. It takes a minute for the laughter to subside enough for them to speak again.]

Jon: I'm rapidly realizing that our entire romantic relationship would've been, if not more successful, a hell of a lot faster if we weren't both complete fools.

Martin: You're realizing that now? I think I've known that since the CV incident. I've definitely known it since the Lonely.

Jon, with a slightly tired chuckle:Yes, yes, something probably should've tipped me off earlier. Shockingly, observation of our own personal romantic trends is not always a strong suit of mine.

Jon: Anyway, please tell me you have another small wonder, this has gotten wildly of track.

Martin: Since we're talking about marriage anyway, I think my next small wonder is having a shared reference in your wedding vows. Our friends had "I have been, and always shall be, your friend" in theirs, and I made Jon cry with a slightly altered Lord of the Rings quote in ours.

Jon: First off, we were both openly weeping long before that point, secondly, I defy anybody to have been through half of what we have and then have the love of their life look them in the eyes and tell them "Leave you? I never intend to. I am going with you, if you climb to the moon" without at least tearing up.

Martin: There wasn't a dry eye in the audience, either. Granted, the audience was only 20 people, but that was also literally the only time I've seen Eloise show a strong emotion, so I'm pretty smug about it.

Martin, soft: I still feel exactly the same, you know. If you're climbing to the moon, I'll make sure the rope is strong enough for two.

Jon, soft: I know, love.

Jon: Though, to be fair, the moon is also significantly more pleasant than many places we've been.

Martin: God, I hate how much that's true. Look at this barren, oxygenless rock, at least it's not actively trying to kill us. Practically a honeymoon location.

[Martin sighs]

Martin: I am so tired. Let's do the user submissions then take a very long nap.

Jon: Please.

Martin: So, first submission is from Josie; They find it wonderful getting cards from their friends. They say they're lucky to have so much love in their life and have friends that care enough to send them things. That is wonderful Josie! We have a drawer in our house dedicated to every loving card we've ever received since the move, and they're always such a nice reminder of the people in our lives.

Jon: We should really organize that drawer, but, yes, agree with the sentiment. Even the cards from people that are no longer in our lives are lovely, I think. Those connections are very much meaningful for both of us, whether they're active or not.

Martin: That's very true.  Next submission is from Lys, who submits the sound of leaves crunching under your feet in the fall. Ah, that's a classic.

Jon: I just felt myself relax imagining it. I wish it was autumn.

Martin: Don't we all? Alright, for the last submissions, I'm grouping them together as they follow a similar theme. Jadwiga submits the feeling of waking up well into the morning with the sun shining through the window and your cat laying next to you, and Oran submits when a dog falls asleep with its head in your lap.

Jon: I can heartily recommend at least one of those, considering that's how we try to wake up most mornings. The Duchess is a dutiful darling girl who spends every night with us, and she's usually still there when us humans rise.

Martin: I bet you'll agree with the other when I finally convince you to get me a dog for my birthday.

Jon: It hasn't happened yet, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

Martin: But you don't even dislike dogs! You're just as happy to pet them when they pass by as I am.

Jon: Being fine with an animal isn't the same thing as wanting to adopt one for yourself! We don't even know if The Duchess would put up with a dog.

Martin: I bet she would. I bet we could get a big senior dog who's the calmest animal you've ever met with those soft eyes and a little grey on the muzzle and she would cuddle up in an instant. And we did say we should visit a shelter or three this weekend..

Jon: I think you're rather callously taking advantage of my exhausted state, but I suppose we can look. 

Martin: Hell fuckin yeah. So, I think that'll close out the episode, and as we always say at the end, uh, go take a nap and get a dog. Not necessarily in that order.

[emmys-grimoire]

Lesson 52 analysis + 53 predictions

Turning this into a routine thing now! They’re fun to write and they’re popular (moreso than my actual commentary posts lmao).

Y’all like my ramblings.

Things guessed correctly from prior lesson

The House of Lamentation was an illusion produced by the fairies

The arc culminated in the completion of the Trial of Patience (star received via Simeon)

The illusion did a number on Simeon's feelings as well due to his fondness for Lucifer and the brothers

They shoved Mammon and Luke off to the side and plopped them back in only after the Satan/Simeon arc was complete. There was no arc for Luke. To be fair, though, they did get more content than I expected even so.

Things guessed wrong

The banshee didn't show up at all. It was a red herring.

There was no significance to the geranium found in the mysterious book

Our adventure also completed the Trial of Generosity. (I incorrectly attributed this to Diavolo, who actually gave us the Star of Gratitude)

Still ???

Whether or not there is some kind of transfer of memories/experiences going on between the brothers' past selves and present selves due to our meddling in time. We've confirmed that past angel Beelzebub has turned into a glutton in between the time we last saw him and now, but we haven't confirmed if it *is* our meddling that has induced that. Currently, no change has manifested in the present brothers, nor has the timeline of events seemed to have significantly changed.

Whether or not present Lucifer becoming more "angelic" in season 2, in lieu of past angel Lucifer's growing doubt, will be a significant plot point. The parallels are getting stronger, though. (This is elaborated on further down)

It feels like 50/50? I’ll probably keep a list like this going for future analysis/prediction posts just so I can keep track of how right/mistaken I am throughout the playthrough. Might help me make less mistakes in my analysis!

As a general rule I try not to meander too far off into symbolism or out-of-game lore because what I write begins to sound like this:

And this is an otome game that is light on writing and plot. Nine times out of ten, it’s not going to be that deep. So I work with the details given and the plot points shown and try to draw connections within the framework of the story, in an attempt to try to deduce where the devs are taking the plot. Unfortunately for me, the devs like red herrings, and red herrings are designed to mislead you. With me, they are quite successful! I’d like to get better at spotting them.

The book was consequential -- it’s used to imprison Satan later -- but that’s the end of it’s meaning. Maybe the Bible verse had something to do with it, too -- those were some weird ass numbers to just throw in the title -- but maybe not. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. 

But enough of that, onwards! We have a lot of points to go over that may be interesting to note, right or not.

Satan the Memory Thief

Back in 50-B we learn that it was Michael who taught the brothers the stories behind the human world constellations. 

When we’re tossed back in time-dreamland (?) again, it is Satan who takes the opportunity to teach the brothers the human world constellations. The room had just been remodeled: Michael hasn’t had the opportunity to give them tours yet. Lucifer mosied into the room so he and the brothers can get the first glimpse.

Sooo if in a future lesson we ask them about where they learned the constellations in the present timeline and they say “oh a guy named Sully, who suspiciously looked just like Satan, taught us!” then we know our meddling is having significant consequences.

It IS worth noting that unlike the prior dream sequence, Satan and Simeon remember what they just went through. This particular time-dream could very well just be an illusion meant to give Satan/Simeon some kind of emotional resolution and nothing else. This is kind of why I hate that they’re bring time travel back into the story: it makes stuff like this confusing and borderline inconsistent. Some sequences may have effects and others may not. 

The chat between Lucifer and Simeon could also be consequential.

“Do you *really* mean that?”

There is a parallel at play here!

After you wake up after dozing off, you go off to find Lucifer and Simeon conversing in a forest clearing, evidently unaware that you’re eavesdropping on them. Simeon says although he knows it is just an illusion, that he was glad to see angel Lucy once more. Angel Lucy is predictably confused, and reassures Simeon that they’ll remain like this forever.

Simeon, of course, knows better. He tells Lucifer that he knows he’s been meeting with Diavolo and he’s having doubts about his place in the Celestial Realm -- and if things really will remain the same. Lucy is caught off guard, and starts to explain with some clear hesitation... and of course we pass out before we could hear his answer.

There’s creepy loud heartbeats when it fades out. Normally I associate them with tense, pivotal decisions -- but it could also just be related to us waking up and returning to reality.

If Simeon ends up being wrong -- and there will be real world consequences to this conversation -- they could be very significant consequences. We’re not sure if the conversation continues for a bit longer after we pass out, but Simeon already woke up before we come to.

Obviously the brothers still fell (they’re still demons in the present), but I wouldn’t underestimate the potential of a butterfly effect changing the circumstances of the Great Celestial War. I kind of hope they don’t do that, though, because they haven’t even begun to explain the present details of that event. We know only the broad strokes. Suddenly changing them to make the resolution between the demons and angels more smooth will feel really forced.

And that parallel I mentioned: Diavolo expresses similar worries and doubt in Lucifer’s conviction in season 2.

I have no doubt Lucifer actually means what he says to Diavolo, unlike his dialogue with Simeon, but Diavolo is aware of just how far Lucifer will go for the sake of his family -- and he’s probably #2 on the priority list, when push comes to shove. Lucifer forsaking the Celestial Realm for Lilith was the thing that brought him to Diavolo in the first place.

Of course, this lesson has Simeon suggesting that Diavolo’s influence on Lucifer was significant prior to all that unfolding, and it may have eventually happened regardless. It was only a matter of when, not how.

Still, Lucifer be writing checks he may not be able to cash. We also get this foreboding warning from Barbatos in Season 2:

As I’ve said before, the inevitable conflict the story was hinting to at this point doesn’t happen in Season 2. Lucifer isn’t forced to make a choice like this. The Night Dagger didn’t demand it.

I’ve also expressed my belief that Season 2 and Season 3 were likely written back-to-back due to the small window of time between their releases, so I believe details overlooked in Season 2 may suddenly become more relevant in Season 3.

It’s worth remembering Diavolo’s growing feelings for MC -- and Lucifer’s inner conflict about it -- were hinted at early in Season 2, as well. It doesn’t really get going until the conclusion of Season 2, leading into Season 3.

Do I have any clue of what this is actually leading up to? Not at all! If it mirrors Season 2′s format, though, it’ll suddenly come to a head in the last 3-5 lessons. I remember feeling equally clueless then, and Season 2 had a lot more foreshadowing...

... a lot of which actually didn’t pan out! But it might now. 

Guardian Angels

Another smaller, but interesting detail. Guardian Angels are indeed a thing.

I think they’re gonna become a thing soon. The devs very sneakily changed a small detail in Season 2, suggesting they might have realized that it may interfere with their plans for later seasons. 

Old version.

New version.

I’m thinking they may have decided giving Michael guardianship of an entire swath of the population was cheating, and they may be individualizing the role of Guardian Angels.

Which leads me to who I think Michael’s chosen human squeeze is:

My man has been scoping him out long before we came around.

It makes sense, too. We know Michael gave his Ring of Wisdom to Solomon, which seems to have kickstarted his career as a demon-pacting sorcerer (though he clearly was a sorcerer before this).

This is a very powerful item, described as the Ring of Light’s counterpart, that would be very useful for a high-ranking angel to possess. I don’t think Michael would fork it over to just anyone, particularly when we remember how he felt compelled to interrogate us via dream hi-jack before the Ring of Light fully came into our possession.

Solomon also makes Michael angst in a way a well-meaning but misbehaving child would make their parent angst:

Solomon also really doesn’t seem to regard Michael like some distant, all-powerful alien being who could smite him out of existence.

Contrast this with how he responds when he’s forced to hang out with Diavolo for a day (he gets more comfortable, but he initially wants to punt the responsibility back to Lucifer ASAP).

And he knows a surprising amount of small details about the guy:

I think Solomon is a significant part of Michael’s long-term plans, but he may not even be fully aware of how. Or he is, and they’re in some kind of mutually beneficial agreement -- possibly related to cross-realm peace -- that we simply haven’t been made aware of yet.

Personally, I think Simeon should be made MC’s ‘official’ Guardian Angel if they’re gonna be a thing with official mechanics behind them. I know Michael is supposed to be the Big Cheese and ridiculously hot, so it may make sense to have him linked to the MC of an otome game because they’re super special too, but Michael may already have Solomon. He shouldn’t get to hog everything. It’s not like assigning Simeon to do job would really inconvenience him, either: MC is Solomon’s apprentice. He can easily work with the arrangement.

Luke may feel left out but he’s a kid so...

Seven Brothers Constellation

We learn there’s a constellation representing the brothers in the Celestial Realm. Everyone there knows the legend, but Luke doesn’t know what the three stars ‘watching over them’ represent. 

He, Mammon, and Satan begin to theorize and Satan suggests they may represent the three realms. The other two like the idea, and Mammon insists the ‘human’ star represents MC. 

He’s probably right, but I’m willing to take it a step further: it represents MC, Diavolo, and Michael. The three “guardians” of their respective realms, and the brothers. Season 3 has been repeatedly beating us over the head with how much Michael still cares for the brothers and his relevance to their upbringing, and likely their future.

It bears repeating: Diavolo and Michael are aiming towards the same goal, though their visions of what peace and harmony looks like may be very different.

Solomon could also qualify as a self-appointed guardian, but I think he lacks the connection to the brothers MC obviously has.

Still, he has the same resolve, and he’s not leaving the story any time soon.

Predictions

I sniff out even the smallest Michael details because he’s clearly the key to whatever is gonna blow up.

This might give us some insight on how the initial dealings with him may unfold:

It’s hard to deduce just what this actually means. Either Michael tends to overthink things that just aren’t that deep (can empathize) and that in itself leads to needless complications, or he’s apt to misread situations and as a result gives poor advice. Or a combination of both.

My initial read on him makes me think that he thinks the best of humans/angels but the worst of demons. He is very, very complimentary towards MC as soon as they start answering his questions.

Am I now? Really?

It could just be the game making characters butter up the MC to make the game more enjoyable for the player of a self-insert character, but dude we just met.

When you tell him you did what you did out of love for Lucifer:

That’s a very telling pause/ellipsis. It’s like his brain momentarily short-circuits and he needs to regain his composure before he continues, and he still doesn’t sound entirely sure of what you just said lol

He also just outright admits he initially thought you must be wicked just because the brothers liked you, and this is a guy who is still fond of them himself. I think he’s having a very hard time with it.

So the inevitable bumps in the roads ahead with him will likely be a result of this, and/or his dad being an asshole. Neither he or Diavolo are actually in charge of the realms they’re overseeing -- they’re both de facto leaders -- so maybe the parents will suddenly barge in and try to knock over their sand castles for whatever reason. It is kind of weird that the exchange program has been agreed to in the first place, particularly on the Celestial Realm’s part.

Regardless, I have no clue what the next arc will be. I know we still have three trials left, but they could combine two again to leave more room for the actual storyline to progress. The climax is going to be the last trial of our sorcerer’s exam, or something happening afterwards. Not sure which one I’m willing to bet on yet: I remember Simeon’s play and the silly Blood Moon contest in Season 2 were what kept use preoccupied for Season 2 until SUDDENLY LUCIFER GETS AMNESIA AND THE WORLD IS IN DANGER AND WE HAVE TO STAB HIM TO SAVE EVERYONE. But they did heavily foreshadow that in the very beginning lol. They just didn’t fill in the blanks until much later.

I wonder what the trial of chastity is gonna be like and how hard we’ll actually fail and the game will need to overcompensate for that

[themadlostgirl]

Abandoned (5)

*Fluff. It is just pure fluff*

~~~

Time was so strange to think about in a realm where time stood still. A lifetime could have passed around me and I wouldn’t have noticed. The only way I was sure the days were even going by was the rising and setting of the sun. Little memories, echoes of a time long forgotten, reminding me that I had not always lived on Neverland. The clothes I wore were altered but significantly different from the Lost Boys. A stark reminder that once we were on opposing sides. For what reason I could no longer remember.

The only thing I remembered with clarity was the pain. The anger in my soul wouldn’t let me forget. I never forgot the way a redheaded pirate had hurt me and scared me so thoroughly. Sometimes I would wake with his voice in my ear and cry. I never forgot that I had a mother at one point. I reckoned I looked a lot like her and I know that I loved her. Then she had died and a part of me had gone with her.

All of that pain paled in comparison to the eternal flame of resentment I held towards the man I had called father. His face was hard to remember. At odd times I would remember the way he smiled or a whisper of his voice barking orders or singing a tune. One of his hands was replaced with a hook. I loved him just as I had loved my mother. Trusted him. Then he betrayed me. He sold me. He traded me away without regret.

I hated him.

That’s all I needed to know. All I needed to remember.

I hated my father.

Life is strange though. I was kicked out of one family and given another. Peter Pan and his Lost Boys. It felt like I had known them all my life. We laughed, fought, hunted, and played games. We were always having fun. I couldn’t imagine a life without them.

While I got along great with all the boys I couldn’t say that I was particularly close to any single one of them. Besides Pan that is. I don’t know what it was but Pan and I just got along better than we ever did with anyone else. He was, without a doubt, my best friend.

I sat at my own little camp one morning soaking in the breeze off the ocean. Pan had offered me a place back at his camp but I liked having my own space out here on the beach. I wanted to be near the ocean. I could only fall asleep listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. I don’t understand why. It was comforting. Familiar.

I was cooking a fish I had caught over my fire for some breakfast when I felt the chill that let me know someone was watching me. Without looking from my task I called to the onlooker. “You know you can’t sneak up on me. So how about you come take a seat.”

“Nothing ever gets past you, swordfish,” Pan came and sat down next to me. “I come bearing presents.”

“Do you?” I gave the fish another turn on the spit. I looked at Pan, “May I enquire as to the occasion?”

“Today is a special day. Do you know why?”

“If I knew I wouldn’t have to ask you.”

“Today marks the one year anniversary of when you became a Lost Girl.”

“One year?” I asked, “It feels like it’s been so much longer than that. Are you sure?”

“As sure as anything. This day one year ago, you officially joined me and the boys as our first ever Lost Girl. Doesn’t that call for celebration?”

“I suppose it does.” I inched closer, “So where is this present you got me?”

“It’s not here. I have to take you to it.”

“Can I have my breakfast first?”

“Yes. You’ll need your energy.”

We made idle talk as I quickly scarfed down my breakfast and stood to follow Pan to my present. He tied a blindfold around my eyes and led me into the jungle with his hand holding tight to mine. I laughed as I stumbled to whatever spot Pan was taking me. I tried making guesses but he was resolute in his decision to keep it a secret up until the very last second.

“Are we almost there?” I asked after several minutes of walking.

“Just a little farther.” Pan pulled me forward. “Alright, you can take the blindfold off now.”

I reached behind my head and undid the knot. The fabric fell away and I stumbled back when I realized we were at the top of a cliff. “Careful,” Pan righted me, “Don’t want you to go falling off the edge yet.”

“Yet?! What do you mean yet?!” Fear coursed through my veins as I tried to get away from the ledge.

“Calm down, spitfire. It’s not what you think,” He chuckled, “You trust me, right?”

“Slowly losing trust the longer you keep me up here.”

“Look at me,” He turned my face to his, “You’ll be safe. I promise.”

“Had better or else I swear I will come back and haunt you after I die.” I inched a little closer and peered down the cliff face. “Not that the view isn’t good but what does this have to do with my present?”

“It’s a good jumping point,” he pulled a vial out of his pocket and handed it to me. The contents inside glittered and glowed a bright green. “Know what it is?”

“Pixie dust,” I shook the dust around sending more swirls of sparkling magic dancing in the glass. I had heard the boys talking about it. It only was found in the topmost of some trees and could be quite difficult to find. It had a number of abilities such as changing one’s appearance, uniting someone with their true love, healing wounds, and even--

“Can I fly!” I jumped clasping the vial tighter. “Is this my present?”

“It is, spitfire. I was going to let you have the dust for whatever you wanted but I had a feeling you’d want to fly.”

“This is great! Thank you so much!” I wrapped him in a hug. He grew stiff in my arms and I pulled away from him just as quick. “Sorry, I was just so excited! This is an amazing gift.”

“Yes, you’re welcome,” Pan looked away and gestured for the vial back. He uncorked it and held it up above me. “I trust you know how this works.”

“I do,” My body was tingling with anticipation. He started to tip it and my hand shot out to stop him.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

“What if it doesn’t work for me? I don’t want to jump to my death.”

“Do you really think I’d let my Lost Girl do something as stupid as jump to her death?” Pan laughed, “Besides, I’ll be flying with you so if you do start falling I’ll be right there to catch you.”

“Oh my hero,” I scoffed with a smile, “I trust you though.” I dropped my hand back to my side and nodded for him to continue.

The dust came spilling out and sprinkled around us. There was a strange feeling all around me. As if I was much lighter than I had ever been. I looked down and saw that I was floating a few inches off the ground. It’s happening! I’m flying!

Pan was still in front of my lazily floating in the space next to me as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “You ready?”

Without answering I pushed myself over the edge of the cliff and let myself fall down, down, down towards the crashing waves. I let out a loud and wild laugh as I pulled up just before hitting the waves and glided out over the ocean. I reached out and touched my hand to the water leaving ripples behind as I flew. This was so exhilarating!

“You’re a natural,” Pan came flying by next to me, “You didn’t even need me.”

“Are you so surprised?” I took a turn around Skull Rock, “You should know by now that I can do anything better than you, Pan.”

“Cocky aren’t we?” Pan reached out and shoved me sending me wobbling as I almost crashed into a boulder poking out from the waves. “Not so cocky now, are you?”

“Oh you’re gonna pay for that!”

“Only if you can catch me, spitfire!” Pan took off ahead of me.

I followed after him and was keeping stride with him pretty well despite his experience in the matter. The only reason I couldn’t catch him was because he dove down into the jungle and while I was able to keep him in sight he wove in and out of the trees so smoothly it almost felt like they were parting for him. They might have been seeing as how he could shape the island however he wanted. I was not as skilled as him and had a good many near misses of colliding with a tree as I chased him.

He entered into a cave and I went in after him. When I came out the otherside he had disappeared. “Pan, you cheater!” I shouted, “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

“Boo!” A pair of hands grabbed me from behind. I couldn’t help they yelp that escaped me. Pan was holding tight to me and flew us both higher up into the air. While I never did have much a fear of heights I was finding myself dizzy the higher up we got. The island was getting so small.

“Pan! Get us back down there! We’re too high up!” I shouted at him.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” he cackled, “Don’t tell me my Lost Girl is scared of heights.”

“I’m not! But this is too high! What if the pixie dust wears off? We’re sure as dead!” My fingernails dug into his arm, too scared to let go.

“Calm down, here, have a seat,” he gestured to a cloud.

“Is this some sort of trick?” I snarled, “I’m not an idiot. I know a cloud is just a vaporous formation of water. I’ll sink right through as if it was nothing.”

“No imagination,” Pan sighed and pushed me off him. I let out a short scream as I fell back. My landing was cushioned by the cloud though.

“How--”

“Magic, remember?” Pan sat down next to me. “So little trust, swordfish. I can make anything I want in this realm.”

“Right…” I relaxed a bit and sunk down into the could, “It’s so soft.”

I noticed Pan was staring at me and I turned over to face him fully. “Thank you, Pan. This was so much fun.”

“You’re welcome, Lost Girl.” He smiled. I looked over the edge of the cloud at the island far below. It was so small from up here. I had to stop staring as the vertigo set in.

Pan was still watching me, a wistful smile on his face. “What?” I asked.

“You know you only ever call me Pan.” He said.

“I wouldn’t say that’s all I call you.” I pulled my knees to my chest, “I call you jerk, cheater, codfish, blight on my life--”

“You never call me Peter though.”

“Cause everyone refers to you as Pan.”

“They’ve called me Peter at least once. They just choose Pan. Sometimes I would like to hear my first name.” He shrugged.

“Then why don’t you ask them to call you by your first name?”

“I guess I just don’t like the way it sounds coming from them.”

“You want to be called by your first name yet you don’t like the way anyone says it. I believe that you are contradicting yourself.” I teased.

“Or maybe I’m waiting for someone to say it in a way that I like. Care to give it a go?”

“Okay,” I rolled my eyes, “Do you like how I say your name, Peter?”

His smile grew and crinkled his eyes. “I believe I do.”

“You know, if you wanted me to call you by your first name you could have just asked. You didn’t have to go about it in such a roundabout way.”

“I have no idea what you could mean. I simply haven’t liked the way anyone has said my name until now. Of course, as sweet as it sounds from your lips I think there is room for improvement still.”

“Is that so? And how else am I supposed to say it?”

“I’ll let you know another time.” He answered with a wink, “For now, say it again as you just did.”

“You are so strange...Peter.”

He grinned in that way that made me forget I had ever called him anything else. “Perfect.”

---

(Previous) (Next)

[panharmonium]

next round of in-progress naruto thoughts under the cut!  we started season 12 finally and we’re only like ten episodes into it but i have already experienced the most stressful moment of my life so.  lots to scream about.

[spoiler policy disclaimer first, as always: I am watching naruto for the first time and have only gotten a partway into season 12.  i am trying to avoid spoilers, so please don’t interact with this (tags included, because the notifications now show them to me automatically) with any spoilery commentary, including even general things like “oh i love this show but it gets less good after X point” or “X season is better than Y season” or any general assessments of quality/likability/etc re: future seasons.  Thank you! <3 ]

- the amount of information dumped on us in the first half of this season is SO MUCH!!!!  i don’t remember any of it!  i can’t keep it straight!  we met kushina and did the entire nine-tails attack backstory and all that stuff about the land of eddies and the previous nine-tails jinchuriki (which, UH....yikes), and then a bunch of very confusing information about the sage of the six paths (we still don’t even know what that title MEANS) and some kind of special/complementary creation powers inherent to the senju and uchiha clans that apparently were used to create the tailed beasts from the ten-tails, and then all these references to other things like....madara fighting the first hokage to acquire his powers?  madara giving nagato the rinnegan (...how?)  nagato being an uzumaki??  and then we get dumped into the actual formation of the allied shinobi forces and how they’re organized and that in itself it a lot for me to keep straight........so many characters...i still don’t know half their names....i feel like i need to rewatch the entire first half of this season just to try to absorb all of this information again

- i can’t believe this show actually gave one of the mothers a personality.  shocking.  

- re: above - i liked kushina a lot.  but can i just say, while we’re on the subject, how FUCKED UP her entire story is???????  the hidden leaf administration......imported a child........to make her the nine-tails jinchuriki......a fate in which she had no say.....that’s.........abhorrently fucked up.  i thought we’d reached the limit of “how evil is this administration actually” but i guess not

- relatedly, i still feel like.......weird about minato’s choices?  not really sure where i stand on that one yet.  like...they kind of make us assume up until these episodes that minato HAD to use the reaper death seal and sacrifice his own life in order to stop the nine-tails, but now we know that’s not even the case.  kushina was going to take the nine-tails down with her.  minato didn’t actually have to die, and kushina didn’t want him to.  she didn’t want to make naruto the jinchuriki, and she didn’t want him to grow up without any parents.  and it’s not like her original plan would have been a permanent solution for everyone; minato says the nine-tails will just reemerge someday if they don’t seal it inside someone now, but still.  i dunno.  

it’s not like an EVIL choice.  i get what he’s saying.  i just don’t know how i feel about it.  minato on the whole has just been a character that i haven’t quite figured out how to connect with - i don’t dislike him, and i WANT to like him more than i already do, but even back at the end of the kakashi chronicles his vibe just felt a little weird to me.  a little...detached.  i dunno if i’m just like...wanting him to be something other than what he is, because the show builds him up so much as the ideal?  but then he doesn’t quite match what i envision.  

he’s not BAD in any way.  i just keep wanting him to be...warmer, or something, and maybe that’s just not who he is.

- i was bizarrely fond of young!Killer Bee.  the way he was just such an optimistic kid who never let anything get him down...he’s kinda like naruto in that way.

- and i had a Very strong reaction to that moment where motoi apologizes for trying to kill Bee that one time and Bee’s smiling response is “you know, i don’t remember that happening.”  that was, uh.....you can definitely feel what they’re getting at with that.  

honestly, the second half of this show is doing a lot with radical forgiveness/compassion and that is one of my BIGGEST thematic weaknesses, so i’m prepared to continue getting punched with it.

- KISAME LMAOOOO.  man, i’m gonna miss him.  i guess if you’ve gotta go out, feeding yourself to your own sharks is one way to do it.  

- i loved that flashback to kisame meeting itachi lol.  they have a brief tense moment and then kisame literally is just ‘lets be friends and have some fun’ and he’s not SERIOUS obviously; it’s meant in a ‘let’s just not make waves here so we can get our work done,’ but then it’s hilarious because the two of them literally never argue again.  they’re the only two akatsuki members who actually get along XD

- KONAN OMG.  ;________;  

- how fucking badass do you have to be to pull off that move though.  six hundred billion paper bombs???  six hundred BILLION?????????

- i was EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED by the sudden jiraiya flashbacks and his little froggy tile system for keeping track of the children, oh my god.  that was...no.

- loved naruto telling the nine-tails “i’m sorry...i won’t do wrong by you...just hang in there for a while longer”.......i loved that.  (see again: radical compassion)

- how DARE they use the reanimation jutsu on asuma.  how DARE THEY.  

- i....really can’t imagine that sasuke is gonna be cool with them using itachi’s dead body like that.  like i know he can’t see that they’re doing it right now, but those bandages have gotta come off at some point, right? 

- definitely Did Not Like kabuto saying that he also reanimated “other shinobi of significance”...that really just leaves the door wiiiiide open and that is a stressful feeling

okay now the main event -

WHEN KABUTO SAID HE WANTED YAMATO FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS I STARTED FULL-ON SCREAMING THREATS AT THE TV (@PADMERRIE WAS THERE SHE CAN CONFIRM)

AND THEN THE VERY NEXT EPISODE KABUTO SWALLOWED HIM AND SLITHERED AWAY AND NOW YAMATO IS CAPTURED AND BEING EXPERIMENTED ON AND/OR USED LIKE A FUCKING...DNA BANK OR CHAKRA RESERVE FOR MADARA’S PLANT ARMY OR SOEMTHING AND IT’S HORRIBLE AND I WANTED TO CRY THE WHOLE TIME

you guys i cannot emphasize enough how upset i am about yamato being trapped in kabuto’s clutches i was clutching a blankie the whole time we were watching and i cannot stop thinking about it even into today; i am just sobbing on the inside

one of this show’s recurring themes is the whole “treating people as if they’re nothing more than weapons/tools to be exploited is bad actually; maybe we should stop doing that” (eg the cultural view of shinobi, the jinchuriki, the hyuga clan’s curse marks, all of orochimaru’s “projects” [kimimaro, taka, etc]), and yamato is another victim of that - we’ve barely gotten any details about his history yet but we do know that he was originally one of orochimaru’s experiments and i just cannot STAND the thought of him being back in the hands of those fucking people.  i cannot stand the thought of him being tortured and stripped down and experimented on.  the idea of him being trapped in this dehumanizing position again is KILLING ME INSIDE.  i need kakashi to break in there and rescue him YESTERDAY.

[pocket-void]

Hi Mock!

I wish you a good morning! (It's currently 8:30 am here and I hope you are asleep wherever you are because healthy sleep schedules and all that!) 🌻

I just found out that you write, too, and I've read "A cup of coffee" and honestly, is there something you can't do? Because that was really great! I enjoyed reading it so much!! And I love your Logan in it!

And can I ask: where so you get the motivation to do all this great stuff? Drawing, writing, school? Like, I have like 5 different writing projects screaming at me because I don't work on them and yesterday I outlined yet another fic that I'll probably never write because I just don't have the motivation and - how do you do it? Because I want to write. It's the best thing in the world to me. But I just can't get myself to do it, and when I do, everything I make feels kinda... not good. Ugly, if you will.

So I guess I just want to know what I can do to get myself away from that? Because I really need to write, I'll go insane otherwise O_o

Anyway, have a wonderful day and eat a cookie!! 🌼

Y’all who can format stuff in asks will never cease to bamboozle me. O///o

But hello!! I believe it’s the afternoon where you are now! ^\\\^ (Not to worry, if there’s one thing I try to get enough of it’s sleep!)

Heidhwkfns Yes I write too but it’s incredibly on and off since I’m not as confident with it and it takes much longer than art! >\\\< I 100% want to write more often tho, but my need to accomplish stuff just finds art less time consuming. I’m really glad you like “A Cup of Coffee” because I’m quite happy with how that one turned out! ^\\\^ (And also just genuinely surprised at how many people enjoyed it) So thank you!! ;///;✨💖

So, here’s the thing. I’m just a normal person, just like anybody else! There are days where I have 0 motivation to do anything, and days where I’m way too motivated but still do absolutely nothing anyways lmao- I can’t say that my experience will work for everybody of course, but I can try to explain how I feel or how I work things out when I don’t feel like doing things. u///u

The first step is to forgive myself, because it’s going to be ok. There’s nothing wrong with having an off day, and nothing wrong with not accomplishing anything for now. There should be no guilt involved in not touching something for ages, god knows I’ve got so much in the “maybe later” idea box that I will never get to. But that’s ok! My creations will never blame me for not working on them, so in turn I promised to never blame myself for it either. And if I ever go back to complete one of them, great! But if not, that still doesn’t mean that it was a waste. Everything you make has value, finished or not.

The second is to remember that I love them. I love them a lot. I love creating, I love art, I love writing, and I love the process behind them! What you write and create will never complain if they are “not the best” or “ugly”. Their value comes from how you feel about them. Nobody else’s imput matters. So what if it’s not great? So what if it’s a mess? My terrible crayon drawing from when I was 4? Love it. Still has my whole heart. They’re on my bedroom wall to this day! (Neatly framed and hung, courtesy of my dad) I ask myself why I sat down to do something in the first place, and the answer is always going to be because I love doing it! Everything I make means something to me, no matter how bad or how small. Because at the end of the day, I made something. And it’s all the reason I need to love it.

It doesn’t matter if this doodle looks bad or this draft makes literally no sense because even if it’s not good, I did it. Even if I feel like I’m going nowhere, I know that each creation is a small step in my long long journey of improvement. It might not seem like that sometimes, like everything we do doesn’t really seem like it’s getting better any time soon, but we can never tell unless we keep doing it right? Instead of being upset that I’m not very good now, I decided to try and look forward to how good I eventually will be. I find that prospect exciting! We never know how much we grow until we get there, it’s like a happy surprise! ^\\\^✨And in the meantime, I am allowed to be perfectly happy with what I already can do. How far I’ve already come. Even if other people tell me otherwise, even if it’s true that it’s not very great, who’s to say that I will always be? Not me, that’s for sure.

I am willing to be patient for the sake of what I do, because I am willing to do it for an eternity.

There is no race in doing what I love, because I am the only one on this path. I can see other people on their own paths too! And sometimes they’re faster and have way better stamina than me, but their final destination is ultimately going to be much much different than mine, even if we’re going in a similar direction. So there is no point in trying to match them; I decide to walk at my own pace. It’s much easier for me this way. Take breaks! Drink some water. We’ve all got our places to go. ^\\\^

Third thing about getting things done is, well, getting it done! Do you know how I wrote “A Cup of Coffee”? I pain stakingly stared at it all day with frequent breaks in between, read it a ridiculous amount of times until it didn’t sound like english, and had text to speech read it back to me a couple more times just so I could make sure, because I really really really wanted to finish it. And it probably was kind of messy, hahaha. >\\\<

I’m not suggesting you do what I did btw, because it’s not even how I always write things! My other story “Table for Two” was written under a much different context. For that one, I wrote parts of it on different days. I took walks thinking about how I’d word things, how I’d imagine the scene going, and how I should pace sentences. I actually deleted the entire first paragraph and started over a few times because it didn’t sound right. Then one afternoon I decided that I wanted this story done. So I sat down and did what I could, edited a few things afterwards, and tentatively showed it to a friend. I didn’t edit it much after that, but it was done!

If I learned anything from highschool, it’s that doing something imperfectly is better than not doing it at all. I’m still a pretty picky perfectionist and a terrible procrastinator, and it’s not easy! But I would much prefer something I make to be “messy but complete”, rather than “pretty good so far but not finished”. Personally for me, getting started is the hardest part of doing anything. I have yet to find an easier way to do it, but I know that sometimes I just need to sit down and do what I can to start writing. If a sentence sounds weird, I keep going, because I can come back to it later! But if a sentence doesn’t exist, I can’t fix that without, well, writing it. o///o So I consider that a start!

I definitely understand you when you say that you can’t get yourself to write because I currently kind of can’t either. >\\\< I have outlines that I won’t ever write, I have ideas that I’m not gonna get to, and I’ve got fics that I worry won’t be as good when I write them. But maybe today I’ll sit myself down and just write one sentence. Give it a title, make a document, and stare for a lil bit. Give it a beginning. Because for me, sometimes drawing the starting line somewhere helps. Maybe it can show me what direction I need to go in just a little bit clearer. u///u

At the end of the day, the thing I say all the time is enjoy what you do. It’s just genuinely the most important part of doing anything to me. Yes it can be hard and sometimes we worry about how it’s gonna be, but we still do it don’t we? We come back and try again because we love it. Because we really can’t live without it. So what’s wrong with just...doing it?

That’s how it is to be a creator for me, I suppose. And from one to another, I genuinely wish you the best of luck on your journey!!

After all, there will be no other quite like it. u///u💖✨

[viostormcaller]

Stringbound Chapter 3

A/N: I really really hope this works... sorry if it’s formatted a bit weird! EDIT: ohmygod I forgot the fucking taglist I am so sorry XD EDIT 2: I forgot amidst my frustration of trying to post this here that I was supposed to edit in all the italics. So I did that. Whoops!

[TW: nausea/vomiting mention, blood, death mention]

Chapter 2

The first thing Marvin noticed behind the darkness of his eyelids was the headache, its ever-persistent pounding and squeezing against his skull as agonizing as it had been since the fight, if not more so. Next was the stomachache, not enough yet to be nauseating, mostly just sore for the time being. Third was the heat; he could tell blankets had been piled on him again -- the same ones from before, no doubt -- and despite how much he was sweating, he also found himself shivering. It was harder to breathe, as well, though it wasn't because of the blankets. However, he didn't feel the need to worry -- he could feel a mask against his mouth and nose and felt significantly cooler air entering his body when he inhaled. Henrik must have put him on an oxygen machine. He also felt that one of his arms was outside of the blankets, and while he couldn't feel it he could tell by the way his arm was positioned that there was an IV there. He could tell he was on the couch instead of in a hospital bed, and he could hear soft murmuring close by. After he felt like he'd done enough assessing of the situation, Marvin slowly opened his eyes, squinting and letting out a quiet, pained groan as the bright daylight entering the room agitated his headache further.

At the noise he heard, Henrik quickly turned around from the crouched position by the couch that he had placed himself in, eyes wide and curious. "Marvin?" he prompted. "Are you awake?"

"Y-yeah…" Marvin got out. "Yes, I'm awake…"

"How do you feel?"

"Awful," Marvin stated plainly. It had been years since he'd felt this sick.

"What symptoms are you having?" Henrik then asked, grabbing the notepad and pen from off the table.

"Headache, chills… I feel warm and cold at the same time. And it's still a bit hard to breathe."

"Any lightheadedness?"

"No."

"Dizziness?"

"Thankfully, no."

"Are you having any pains in the chest at all?"

"No. Aside from it feeling a bit tight, of course, but it doesn't hurt."

"Do you feel nauseous?"

"No, not… not yet, anyway. I'm unsure if I'll be feeling sick later, though…"

"Hm, alright… I will keep the eye on it, and the bucket will be close by, just in case." Henrik proceeded to write all of Marvin's answers down on a piece of paper. He would transfer them to a proper document later, but this will do for now. Actually, while they were on the subject…

"Oh, Marvin?" Henrik spoke up, not looking up from his paper quite yet.

"Mmh?"

"I have some more questions for you, about your reaction to the medicine, yes? Would you mind if I asked them now, or do you want to answer them later, when you are feeling a bit better?"

"We can…" Marvin took a moment to think. It didn't take long to come to a decision. "We can answer them now, but… can you dim the light in the room a bit? It's… making my head ache horribly…"

"Oh! Oh, of course! I apologize, I did not even consider that! Jackie, do you think--?"

"Yup, one step ahead of you," cheerfully replied Jackie, who had been standing by this whole time. He pulled all the curtains closed and dimmed the kitchen light some. "How's this? This good?" he called to Marvin.

Marvin fully opened his eyes, finally able to see without painfully squinting. His headache hadn't gone away, but this was definitely an improvement. "Much better," he sighed. "Thank you."

"No problem, just doin' my job."

Henrik just chuckled, shaking his head as a small grin tugged at the corners of his lips. Then he cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, refocusing himself. "Right, yes. The symptoms. What did you notice after you had taken that medicine?"

Marvin hummed, thinking for a moment. "I remember feeling… nauseous first. The ironic part about that is, after you injected me, it actually helped to ease the nausea. However, when I was talking with Chase, it… came back. The headache followed."

Henrik nodded, writing this down. "Alright, what else?"

"While I was, er… being sick, I remember looking up and the room was spinning. Everything was blurry -- I couldn't tell you if I was seeing triple or more than that. And then I found it harder and harder to breathe in, and from there I began to experience what I can only describe as delirium…"

"Ah, yes," Henrik interjected, looking up. "I remember you mumbling nonsense at me. Do you remember what it was you were saying? Or, well… trying to say?"

Marvin just shook his head. "My guess would be just as good as yours. I haven't a single idea. Heh, I am at the very least grateful I wasn't mumbling any spells. That could have made things a bit… chaotic."

Henrik hummed in agreement, nodding, before continuing. "The only thing I did understand was when you said you felt as if you were going to pass out."

"Ah. Yes, I remember saying that," Marvin confirmed. "I felt very lightheaded seemingly out of nowhere and I was almost positive that I would pass out. Though in my half-conscious state, I couldn't tell if my warning was in my mind or if I'd spoken it aloud. I'm grateful it was the latter."

"Was that all you felt?" Henrik inquired, looking up from his notes once more.

"No, there is one more thing I remember… every vein in my body seemed to ache not long after those first symptoms appeared. At the time I'd no clue what was happening to me, but looking back it could have only been a side effect of the medicine."

Henrik nodded, continuing his furious scribbling on the paper. Finally he let out a breath and put the pen and notepad down on the coffee table. "I thank you for your help, Marvin. One, for being so cooperative, and two, for being my unintentional test subject. I am glad we did not give this to any patients… I am not sure a higher dose of this would be very safe."

"So… does that mean our original plan is a no-go?" Jackie spoke up, a concerned look in his eye.

"I am afraid so," Henrik replied sadly, turning back towards the hero. "The dose I gave Marvin was small, and you can see what it had done to him. In a higher quantity, it could potentially kill someone, and we are trying to avoid that, yes?"

Jackie muttered a curse under his breath, looking away.

"What are you going to do now?" Marvin asked, glancing between them both.

"When Chase returns, we are going to talk more deeply about this. We need a new plan."

Marvin's eyebrows furrowed. "Chase is out? Where did he go?"

"Oh, just to pick up some supplies. Non-perishable food items, medicine… that sort of thing. Is good to be stocked up, yes? Especially now that we have a new person on board."

Marvin slowly nodded in understanding. Yes, that was a smart move. He then looked up, seeing Jackie nearing closer with a grin on his face. Uh oh.

"Hope you didn't lose one of your "nine lives" while you were fighting the effects of the medicine, because we're gonna need you for this. You think you're up for it?"

Marvin just narrowed his eyes at him. "Are you always this utterly idiotic?"

"Hey, be nice!" Jackie protested, placing a hand on his chest and feigning hurt. "I'm the one who saved your life, remember? You'd probably be dead right now if it weren't for me! You better be grateful I stayed home, too, Sourpuss. Had I gone on patrols, there'd be no one to carry Schneep's medical equipment up to you. So there!"

Marvin rolled his eyes and looked away. He'd cross his arms, but one of them had the IV sticking out of it, so that wouldn't be the best idea. Henrik could only laugh to himself, shaking his head. It was easy to forget how much of a child Jackie still was, until they had moments like this.

"Do you need anything, Marvin?" Henrik asked, pulling himself from his thoughts.

"A… a cloth over my head would be appreciated," Marvin admitted.

"I'll get it!" Jackie announced.

"No, I will get it," Henrik quickly interjected, rising from his spot on the floor. "You have bothered Marvin enough for one day, I feel."

As Henrik turned to stretch, Jackie stuck his tongue out at him when he wasn't looking.

Just then, the door swung open, startling everyone in the room. It was no other than Chase, of course, carrying a few bags of groceries, but… he was covered in splatters of… blood?

"Before you ask, no, the blood isn't mine," Chase spoke up, gently kicking the door shut behind him and setting the plastic grocery bags down on the floor.

"Holy shit, what happened?!" Jackie exclaimed.

"Dude, it's like a war zone out there!" Chase said. "Have you seen the news? God, there's fuckin' people everywhere! All scramblin' around tryin' to stock up. He's got his puppets on the loose. I was fuckin' lucky to get outta there alive…"

Jackie let out a curse, quickly snatching up the remote sitting on the coffee table and turning on the TV, switching it to the news channel. The four of them watched as the woman on the TV explained the scene unfolding downtown, showing an aerial view of what was going on. There weren't that many puppets, but just enough to cause havoc.

"I gotta go," Jackie got out, tossing the remote down and already heading for the door. He was grateful that he was already suited up.

"Jackie, wait," Chase called, reaching a hand out to him.

Jackie paused in his tracks, turning to face Chase with a hum. The determination and urgency in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Are you… sure it's safe to go out there? Like… alone, I mean?"

Jackie just huffed, almost like he'd laughed. "I mean, it's not, but who else is gonna do it, if not me? Marvin's out of commission, and you know as well as I do that the police do fuck-all."

Chase just looked away with a thoughtful hum. Jackie had a point, he couldn't deny that.

"I gotta go. See you in a few hours, alright?"

"Stay safe, Jackie," Henrik said.

"Yeah, man… be careful out there. Shit's a mess." Chase agreed.

Jackie huffed, a smile growing on his face. "No need to worry, guys. I'll be fine, trust me." And with that, he was out the door.

Henrik turned the news off with a sigh, recalling his ever-present fear of watching the news on a late night only to hear that the city's famed vigilante, Jackieboy Man, was dead. Every time he left the house, he mentally prepared himself for that day, and every time he hoped it never came.

"Well…" Chase spoke up, breaking the uneasy silence. "I'm gonna go shower. Gotta get this blood off me."

"Yes, good… good idea," Henrik nodded, clearly preoccupied.

"Um, Chase, if you don't mind my asking, how did you get blood on you in the first place?" Marvin asked.

Chase looked to Marvin with saddened eyes. "Had to witness a puppet killing someone… was too close when it happened. I'm never gonna forget that… the look on their face… the way they screamed…" Chase could only sigh, hugging himself. He shook his head, turning towards the stairs. "I… I need to be alone for a while…" With that, he left to go grab some clean clothes and a towel from his room so he could get cleaned up.

There was a heavy silence lingering in the room after Chase left, thick as the blankets covering Marvin and twice as suffocating. Finally, letting out a breath as if to push away some of the fog-like tension to give himself a little breathing room, Henrik turned away from the TV and headed towards the closet under the stairs. "Marvin, you said you wanted a cloth for the head, yes?"

Marvin perked up at his name, looking towards Henrik. "Er, y-yes, uh… yes, that would… help…"

Henrik nodded, fetching a small washcloth and heading towards the kitchen sink. He turned on the faucet and let the water run over his hand, adjusting the temperature between hot and cold until he was sure that it was cool and not cold. He then grabbed a spare bowl, filled it with the water, and headed back over to the couch. He took great care in dipping the folded washcloth in the water, wringing it out, and placing it over Marvin's forehead, though Marvin expected nothing less from a doctor.

"How does that feel? Good?"

"Yes, thank you. I appreciate it," Marvin answered with a nod.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No, not at all. Thank you, though." His answer was honest, but even if he did need something, he wouldn't dare ask. Not right now.

With a simple nod, Henrik rose, heading for the basement. He wasn't gone for very long, but when he came back up, Marvin noticed that he was now wearing gloves. He watched with intrigue as Henrik went about setting down some paper towels on the kitchen floor. Then, Henrik began to set the grocery bags on the paper towels, carrying as many over as he could at one time until all the bags were moved. It was only then that Marvin was able to see the blood splattered on some of the plastic bags. He'd been previously confused, but now what Henrik was doing made sense. He continued to silently watch as Henrik took off the gloves and set them aside, grabbed a new pair from his pocket, and put them on. He began to sort the groceries, putting away the food items and setting aside the medicines and Band-Aids and the like to be stored downstairs with the first-aid supplies.

Once the food was put away and the medicine separated, Henrik grabbed as many medicines as he could in his arms and headed for the basement stairs. It took him two trips to get everything down, though when he came back up he brought with him a biohazard bin. All the plastic bags, paper towels, and the first pair of gloves were tossed in. He then grabbed some more paper towels and a bottle of some sort of cleanser Marvin didn't recognize right away and began to spray and wipe down the area by the door where Chase had dropped the bags. Once everything was clean and put away, he headed back downstairs with the bin, and when he came up he was empty-handed and no longer wearing his gloves. He settled himself into the armchair with a sigh, letting himself get lost in his thoughts. Not a word was spoken between him and Marvin. Eventually the pair heard Chase come out of the bathroom, the opening and closing of one door, and then the opening and closing of another. Chase didn't come back downstairs after that. Eventually Henrik, too, excused himself, mentioning he was going back downstairs to check on Jack for a bit, leaving Marvin alone in the living room.

That thick duvet of silence never truly left, but as the number of people within the room dwindled, it grew ever heavier, threatening to swallow everything that remained there, Marvin included. With a heavy, tired sigh, however, he decided he wouldn't let it, instead allowing his mind to wander, to silently fill the space with his own muted noise. And he simply waited, waited for Henrik to return, for Chase to come back downstairs. For Jackie to come home.

Taglist:  @jade-orade @taizu-lazure @bupine @innocent-angel3 @immabethehero @wowowgoodurl @n-anon @g-rexthedino @scarletender @coconutpillow05 @friezzzboiii (Ask if you would like to be tagged!!)

[bladekindeyewear]

Bloggin’ bout HS^2 Commentary from start to Mid-Jan-2020

Sigh.  Time to pay the piper.  Someone’s gotta extract whatever plot-important and plothole mentions get mentioned in this commentary, even though reading behind-the-scenes stuff about Homestuck makes me even more nervous than reading frontend stuff ever could so I don’t really want to.  FYI, that’s what you’re going to get out of my posts on these -- anything regarding plot stuff and plotholes, things we would’ve misinterpreted or missed otherwise, not any of the other paid content such as sketches or full quotes from them about things.

TWENTY FUCKING DOLLARS A MONTH!???!??  Is Andrew even seeing any of this cash?  --no, not much of it I guess, he would want to make sure the WP folks get paid enough after the--

Yeah I’m not gonna even think about that.

Fuck it.  I’m ponying up.

Alright, first commentary post on the Patreon, commentary and bonus sketches for Ghostflusters... whoa, this is long and extensive.  Is it going panel by panel??

I guess I’ll give you a small quote just for a taste of how this starts...

Page 33:  Not sure what any of this shit means. It’s pretty deep though. We were going for an echo of the beginning of the epilogue when John is dreaming in anime. Except here it’s Jake, and nobody is dreaming, at least not yet. Also an anime dream wouldn’t be a nightmare for Jake, since Jake likes anime. Or he used to. Now anime probably just reminds him of Dirk.

Good thing we’re never gonna hear from that guy ever again.

...because this commentary is sort of stylized.  They’re kind of riffing on what they’re doing, and I get that -- when you have to write commentary you’re asking people to PAY for you can easily feel like you have to be entertaining.  But they are describing the rationale for the shot choices they made and such.  They’re also going for a sort of Andrew-recap sort of attitude, and I don’t blame them for that choice, either.

[Candy] Jade is...well, you’ll see.

GOD DAMNIT.  Don’t remind me that Dave vanished on her forever while they were doing pro-revolutionary work and she’s probably going to be in a bit of a state!  Stupid knowing author future allusions...

Then again, that’s exactly why I’m here blogging about the commentary for you guys -- for me to relay Authorial Intent on Stuff That Happened That Seemed Plotholey and Hints About What’s Going To Be Relevant.

I just, uh... didn’t expect there to be that MUCH of it.  And that casual phrasing for that Candy Jade Is Going To Be Seen And Or Relevant hint is... kinda indicating to me that there’s gonna be a LOT more of that here than I wanted.  :|

Continuing... there’s talk of why they started with Jake here, being unused to writing for middle-aged characters in Homestuck terms, et cetera, but again, I’m only here to relay anything with plot impact or SERIOUS perspective on how we should / the authors are viewing this.  The rest stays behind the paywall for whichever of you all think it’s worth $20, I don’t really have a choice.  At least now I know why there was no one to tell me what details were actually BEHIND the paywall.  Seriously, that’s steep.

Speaking of how stylized the commentary is here, I can get why some might read it and view the authors as slightly callous -- I’m giving them PLENTY of benefit of the doubt, though.  Andrew was FAR from callous and he hurt us worse out of love of artistic intent with the Epilogues than the HS^2 folks could EVER hurt us.  Real Dirk-like, actually.  Dirk is practically half of a self-insert, as we well know.  No wonder Andrew thought the right thing to do was to take his hands off the story, what with Dirk’s villainous action being putting his own hands ON the story.

We like to make fun of Jake English as much as the next guy, but he probably is actually pretty good at “doing things” if the need arises. 

Mhmm; there are some jibes at how screwed up Jake has made his life, but I don’t believe these authors actually disrespect Jake at all.  He was dealt a bad hand by the story leading up to this point (quite INTENTIONALLY by Dirk’s narrative control in the Epilogues, too) and HS^2 and its bonuses so far have been exploring the heap of merits and potential he’s still got in him.

It’s kind of sweet how he wants to clean out his ecto-son’s house, even if most of that is to prevent the slow creep of mounting existential dread and narrative relevance. 

Huh.  So they think Jake can sort of feel that narrative relevance is seeping in around him, to him?  That’s not out of the question at all.

Continuing... they’re going on a bit about the same sort of things I mentioned about their choices in detail or detail-less-ness when depicting people in this new format, considering ages and the paired text descriptions and such.  That’s the sort of thing you’d traditionally want to pony up for commentary for, so rest assured that all that IS in their commentary posts if you want to do that.  I’m kind of extracting the plot stuff out of the paywall just on principle.

A lot of making this comic--and every other comic ever--is trying to convey as much information with as little space as possible.

Quite so.

From this conversation we find out a couple things. 1) that Brain Ghost Dirk knows about Ultimate Dirk, and he thinks he’s a dickhead. 2) Brain Ghost Dirk knows who Jeff Bezos is, and Jake doesn’t. This could be a sign of a couple things, all of which are probably stupid. 

This is ALSO what I came here for:  Legitimate “don’t worry about it” handwaves about stuff that shouldn’t matter to us.  I never ascribed the slightest bit of relevance or inference to BGDirk making a Jeff Bezos reference, and I’m glad I was completely justified in ignoring it.  So far I agree with this probably-plural-but-acting-like-a-singular author’s train of thought.

Come to think of it, it’s maybe strange that in this Cool Future Earth where all of our characters are rich as hell, none of them have bothered to have any sort of corrective eye surgery. Jane, Jake, John, and Jade all still wear glasses. I guess they do have “signature looks” to maintain in regards to their brand. 

I had to include this, I was legitimately curious.  Understood it was probably an artistic decision to stay on-brand a fair bit -- and losing glasses even temporarily has a lot of thematic significance whenever it happens in Homestuck Proper -- but it’s nice to have some confirmation that this was the understandable rationale behind the choice.

Here we find out what Dirk thinks about Jake’s behavior of the last few years. In other words, we find out what Jake thinks about Jake’s behavior over the last few years. [...]

[Brain Ghost] Dirk is manipulating Jake here, but he isn’t actually saying anything demonstrably untrue. 

Again, most of this was obvious at the time, but it’s nice to have authorial confirmation on what was being brought across as per the strange divide between Brain Ghost Dirk’s independent will and his mostly-part-of-Jake status.

Seriously though, shoutout to the conceit that god tiers can just fly endlessly, with no visible effort. It’s a really excellent form of narrative shortcut that fits perfectly into the bonkers vibe of earth c as a whole. Oh there goes one of the Creators, just flying over the Wal-Mart like an asshole. 

You know... who IS doing the commentary here?  One of the authors, all of them?  One of the artists??  This really is a COLLABORATIVE effort between the authors and artists involved here, I think, and it shows in their clear surprise and appreciation for each others’ work that only settles into a full understanding instead of just knowing what one intended off the bat.

It calls into question exactly how much of the Condesce’s mind control was actually mind control at all, and how much was just a lowering of inhibitions. 

Right, right.

We see Jane greeting Jake here with open arms, which makes you wonder exactly what is going on here. If you’ll remember from Candy, Jane has already served Jake divorce papers. A mystery in need of solving, for sure. 

HERE we go!  This is the potential plothole we were concerned about that got me alerted that the commentary had something to add in the first place.  John mentioned toward the trail-end of the Candy epilogues that divorce papers had shown up for Jake.  (And we also saw an HS^2 update ago or so that Jane hadn’t actually KNOWN Tavros was “awol” at all until he was literally a part of this whole clowncorpse logistics business.)  So in light of what this post continues to say:

It could be that Jane has put aside the nasty business of their divorce in order to have a strong chest to cry on. Can’t really say I blame her. Jake English has many flaws but he does seem like a good person to drape yourself across and really let loose on. And without Gamzee there, Jane needs another punching bag. 

...it all finally fits as pretty logically consistent, although the author is being deliberately coy in a way that leaves it open for more to be revealed later about exactly how this is happening.  Good!  No obvious plotholes in HS^2 (yet).  That’s an honest relief.  The more often they have something in mind where I’d previously worried they’d screwed up, the more often I can give them credit and speculate properly on those gaps in story-logic expecting something there, like we so often got to with Andrew before the retconsplit made even THAT kinda fucky.

If you’ve ever had a friend or family member go evil, you’ll know that one of the hardest parts is there’s always still elements of them that you like.

I can definitely say that from nearly personal experience.

Also, at this point in the story there is no lingering doubt that Jake and Dirk have had a sexual relationship. There’s a familiarity there that wasn’t around when they were teens. 

I assumed so, but I guess I never thought ABOUT how I assumed so.  Huh.

Do any of the creators have a moral leg to stand on if all they’re doing is curling up into a ball and hoping the world gets better without them? Actually, does anyone have a moral leg to stand on if they do that? 

Almost Riddley, there.

These posts are certainly interesting!  Steeply priced for what they are, but interesting.  Moving on to the second of four so far... this one’s about Catnapped Part 1.

Taking over Earth C's business world certainly would have required rubbing shoulders with the already-powerful on the planet.

--yep, which I never doubted even when brought up in the Epilogues is a large part of her supply-side government views.

Ah, looks like the bonus commentary is a good deal shorter!  But that bonus section was a good deal shorter than the story section covered earlier too, so.

On to the next one, for Clown Logistics.

Page 58: If you love Vriskas, i hope you enjoy more Vriska content. If you hate Vriskas, well. Here is another one that is kind of different. Feel free to contemplate nature vs nurture and how best to apply this dichotomy toward emoting about the vriskas of your choice how you see fit.

I’m starting to really enjoy this author commentary.

Tavros being named Tavros sure was a decision. Go back and reread the commentary for panel 58 but stop before the nature/nurture thing, since they are not clones, or even the same species. They just have the same name, which, in this universe, means you at least type kind of the same.

Hmhmm.

Page 65:  Sometimes you try and come up with something to say about a page, and you cannot, and so you wait 8 hours, and go see Knives Out, and then you have 2 white russians, and then you still can’t come up with anything to say, but oh well! Commentary needs writing. Tavros is experiencing an emotion here.

Now THAT’s a mood.  I gotta go see Knives Out sometime soon.

...Alright, I can see why some people think MAAAAYBE this author might be being a little disrespectful to the audience, but if they’re going based on THIS, I don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.  This comment could have come from Andrew’s fingertips any day of the week!!!  I honestly wouldn’t WANT replacement authors who couldn’ comment like this in there for a page in paid commentary, especially in a lighter section of the story that doesn't need too much said about it.

And I paid $20 for this shit.

...Continuing, I’m loving all this commentary on Harry Anderson.  Representative excerpt:

Again, direct your eyes toward the boy. What a fucking asshole. 

...these commentaries are honestly improving my mood!  I didn’t expect that, really.

Ah, I didn’t even notice that the flying cars appear to be self-driving.  I think maybe the back of my mind MIGHT have noticed but only a bit.

Referring to the corpse-carry crew:

Page 82: Pokedex entry for Magneton in Pokemon Sun: When three Magnemite link together, their brains also become one. They do not become three times more intelligent.

Ain’t THAT a mood.

(...I just had an internal “Wait, am I using that right, it being a “mood”?  Isn’t that the hip new term, how do I have any right to latch onto that however much I feel it?  Ohhh gosh I’m so fucking old” moment.)

It’s clear from the commentator’s complaints that the crew never viewed this commentary ALONE as worth upping the pledge to $20, but that’s... not quite a bad thing?  I think it’d have been more disrespectful to think that they COULD make the commentary worth that.  I doubt there’s a single person on their team who feels quite right about the business model (besides the artists they have plenty of context to know how deserving they are of a living goddamn wage), but it’s what they have to live with and go with, here.  I feel weird for honestly understanding ‘em, and more than slightly pitying for how many people will look at all this and read “these assholes don’t care about us”.  I really can’t think that’s anywhere CLOSE to true from this without more context.  (And I really DON’T want more context, don’t send me any.  I’ve got to read HS^2 and I’m enjoying reading it so far so let me keep enjoying it please.  Background drama details make me nauseous, DON’T give me any if there is any (which I wouldn’t know about in the first place beyond an opinionated friend or two dropping hints in a bad mood).)

Did you know there are people who I’ve seen honestly believing “Undertale is pretty good but the creator is an arrogant asshole”?????

Because they saw his tweet about the game score passing Kojima’s MGSV on metacritic briefly and misinterpreted his wide-eyed disbelief, disbelief honed to nervous laughter to maintain sanity by Toby’s insecurity about his unprofessional work and work product???  They thought he was SERIOUS without any of the context of the usual insincere little dog persona they should’ve read into the game of his they played??

Awh man.  That just ticks me off.

Anyway where were we.

Page 91: This is a flashback so I didn’t write this one, which means I thankfully don’t have to say anything about it. 

Wait.  What?

Are they trading off writers between chapters, or...?  Hm.

Whatever they’re doing, it fits together pretty darn well SO far.

Alright, that finishes that off, time for the last commentary post on the second bonus update.

I don't know if you noticed, but everything is terrible right now. And I don't mean just in Homestuck's dumb fake earth. I mean in our dumb real earth.

Now that’s a mood.

I've been playing a lot of Death Stranding recently. Basically any media that you're making in 2019 has to either address what's going on around us or come off sanitized, sterilized, with its head in the sand. Kojima offers a simple power fantasy: Through Norman Reedus's sweaty, urine-filled labor, the things that divide us can be banished. America can be unified again.

Now THAT is a god damned MOOD.

The author(?) goes in about why this is happening, why Jane is being confronted this way, why she IS this way, et cetera.

Privilege, safety, and inherited wealth do funny things to the brain. People justify to themselves why they have what they have. If you have enough for long enough, you start to convince yourself you deserve it.

That’s one of the biggest goddamn reasons for the inequality and political landscape we have today IRL, yeah.

She saw a new world and chose, simply, to replicate the power structures of the 21st-century America she was raised in. Boardrooms, power pantsuits, formality and professionalism.

Jane's favorite comic, a noir-detective drama steeped in the pop-cultural trappings of pulp Americana, reflects this mindset.

So, our catgirl Seer of Light takes us through the looking glass, and we get to see an old friend.

Hm!

Nothing really to say, I just had to share this fitting context the author is giving.  How things fit together even better than they seemed to, and this was all far from random.

I feel warmly ensconced in the womb of nostalgia, gently cradled on Norman Reedus's chest.

Pffffffff

Yep, more of what we already surmised and appreciated, how Swifer and Cliper were giving us some much needed perspective... the commentary post even has little traditional-Homestuck sprites for ‘em.

And... that’s it for the commentary so far!  Again, I enjoyed all that more than I expected.  $20 doesn’t sting for me as much as it does for others in general, but it stung a lot less after I was through reading all that honestly somewhat-entertaining stuff confirming a lot of the insights I’d thought the plot was having.

I’ll probably wait to check for further commentary posts until like... after bonus updates come out, in the future, and then just blog about whatever I’m not caught up on.  Sound fair?  I’m going to blog as often as a real or bonus upd8 comes out, but I’m not going to pop in more often than that for my own sanity’s sake.  Have a good MLK weekend, y’all.  :)

[dumbutsu-no-mori-e-plus]

Moving In!

{Hello! this is what I guess you could call the “main mun” signing in to give the rundown of what’s gonna happen on this here account. I’m not too sure how to signify a mun post yet so consider the squiggly brackets a placeholder, for now.

I’ve roped in about 7 or 8 of my friends who were all big fans of animal crossing and asked them if they wanted to do a little “fanblog” of sorts with me and they said yes, so here we are!

First off, we’re not saying what person each character belongs to as the handles of those who are part of this account won’t be disclosed. We all agreed that we want this to be a fun little project that we can be stupid on all together, collectively. :)

Just know that there will be a “main cast” so to speak, which will act as the “muns’” little signatures when they end a mun post, and the characters that will be in the posts themselves. The cast is as follows:

Cherry Apollo Tasha Willow Peanut Rover Static Stitches Punchy

Special characters, other villagers from our own IRL islands/towns, etc. the mayor/island representative could come in at any time but just know 9 times out of 10 at least one or more of these nine will be in the shitposts to come. :)

Most of the posts will be based on experiences/inferences we make about the villagers in our towns and how we think they interact with each other. They could also just be any old thing that pops into our heads that we think are funny. :P There’s most likely gonna be some other formats/types of posts (like asks! They may not be illustrated, though.) in the future, but we’ll see how that unfolds.

There could be some long storylines at some point once we feel more confident but we’re unsure whether that could be on another account or not, if you wanna see that though let us know!

A little disclaimer I forgot to put initially, there will be swears!!! Some characters will be clean, others won’t. 

With all that being said, I’m not quite sure how/where the little description box for the account is but once I find that there’ll be some ground-rules for what’s allowed on here and what’s not. A big no-no I’m gonna say right here right now is trying to expose people’s handles based on their typing style. If you think you know who someone is or if you know for sure who someone is, don’t say it!!! Keep it to yourself; like a lil trophy since ya figured out who someone was! Thanks in advance, mrmpht!

(ALSO IF YOU GUYS COULD POINT ME TO HOW TO ENTER A SOURCE EDITOR INSTEAD OF A VISUAL EDITOR LIKE THIS PLEASE DO SO!!! I HATE TEXT FORMATTING ON HERE!!! MRMPHTT!!)

-Punchy

[witchy-hobbit]

His Wingman was a Monkey (Loki x Reader)

Warnings: nothing triggering, fluff, Tony being himself

Summary: You show Loki the wonders that are video games and it quickly turns into a competition.

I wrote this when I was 15 or so, so please have mercy. Tumblr is formatting it weirdly, so I apologise in advance.

____________________________________

"God damnit!", you exclaimed as you got hit by another barrel. You were playing this game for, well you didn't know, you lost track of time. As you saw ‘Game over’written with pixels on your Game Boy once again, you couldn't help but groan. Why was this stage so god damn hard. You didn't remember it to be that difficult as a kid. You had found your Game Boy yesterday when you were visiting your family and just had to take it with you. And now you couldn't get of this damned thing.

Wondering how the other Avengers were spending their day you rubbed your tired eyes. Tony experimented in the lab and you guessed so did Bruce. Natasha had told you she would be working out so you figured she was still doing so as she always worked out for almost 4 hours. Thor probably raided the fridge again and god knows what Steve and Clint were doing. You had also no idea where Loki was hiding. You weren't too alarmed by not knowing what he was doing. If you had to put Loki's and your relationship in a word it would be 'weird'. Even you noticed that the black haired god was extremely handsome and it's not like you hated him or didn't trust him like the others did (although they came to live with Loki having to work with him together) it was just that he confused you beyond all measures. You understood that he was cold towards the other Avengers but you never offered him anything but kindness and understanding. Sometimes he would stare at you and you just couldn't figure out his look. What did it mean? Did he hate you like the others? You two had had a few conversations and at some point he even told you a little about himself. But some days he wouldn't even look at you once nor did he talk. Did you do something wrong? Was he always like this? And why did you feel giddy when he was near? You knew he was attractive but every time you saw him your knees got weak. Although you were tired you pressed the "start" button again attempting to beat the freaking gorilla which kept hitting you with barrels (Plus distracting me from your thoughts).

You didn't even notice when the frost giant who was occupying your mind walked in. Not even looking up as felt the couch gave in beside you, you immediately recognized the intruder. Maybe it was your magic or maybe you had just developed a Loki radar. You hoped for the first. Trying not to tense up as Loki watched, you continued playing Donkey Kong. With him beside you it got even harder mastering the level and youvalmost got hit by another barrel as he spoke up in his beautiful velvety voice. If younwouldn't already be seated you swore your knees would have turned into jelly. Come on, pull yourself together!, you thought, You're an Avenger. You're not going to faint because of this charming brat.

"What are you doing?"

"Eh, I'm playing a video game. It's called Donkey Kong. It's named after this gorilla and this little man named Mario.", you explained hoping to not sound as nervous as you were.

"Why is the monkey trying to kill the man?", he asked seeming genuinely interested in the topic. It seemed a bit surreal talking with Loki about video games but nonetheless you answered him.

"Well, Donkey Kong here kidnapped this girl, she's kind of Mario's girlfriend, and you play as Mario who tries to rescue her."

"So Mario's the good guy, Donkey Kong's the bad one and this girl is the damsel in distress?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it."

"So how do you rescue the girl?"

"The point of this game is to get to Pauline. But it's not that easy because Donkey here keeps throwing burning barrels at you and you don't know if the barrels will go along the platforms or ladders.", you stated, still playing. He nodded and watched you play in silence.

The fact that he moved closer to get a better view didn't help the situation and youvgot hit again. You sighed and handed Loki your game boy.

"Do you wanna try?"

He took it, inspecting the strange device in his hand and tried himself. And you had to admit for playing Donkey Kong or a video game in general for the first time he was actually pretty good. It didn't take long and he managed to beat the level.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"I spent hours on this level. And even though it's your first time playing you manage to defeat him.", you said as you looked at him in disbelief. He grinned. God, that grin was sexy.

"Natural talent, I guess."

"That's so unfair.", you meant, pouting and he chuckled.

Damn. His chuckle was even sexier.

"If you want I can give you lessons.", he said cheekily.

"No, thank you, sir. I played this game my whole childhood. I'm not gonna get beaten by an arrogant god who likes to brag.", you exclaimed.

"Is this a challenge?"

"Hell yeah!", you claimed and snatched the game boy out of Loki's hand.

"We're going to play the same level and the one who finishes it quicker and doesn't get killed wins."

"Sounds fine by me. But how about we make it even more interesting?", Loki asked.

"What do you have in mind?", you asked carefully not really knowing what to expect.

"The winner get's a wish."

"Alright.", you agreed, already thinking about what you would Loki force to do. You selected a stage, started a timer on your phone and began playing.

You had to admit you were pretty good yourself. And when you finished you were sure of your victory.

"8:44. Pretty good.", Loki commented.

"Yeah, I know.", you replied cockily.

He raised an eyebrow and grabbed the gaming device. It didn't take long and he was finished as well. You stopped the timer.

"Are you kidding me? 8:40. God damn it!"

Looking at him, you could see him smiling that cocky grin of his. You knew you had found it minutes ago extremely attractive but now you just wanted to smack it off his pretty face.

"I guess I won. Mmh, what do I want you to do?", he asked in a teasing tone his face now quite close to yours. Why was his face so close?! What was happening? Abort Mission! Abort Mission!

Right at this moment Thor walked into the living room.

"What are you guys doing?", the blonde god asked. Loki immediately pulled away. And you couldn't decide if you were disappointed or relieved that he did so.

"Nothing, (y/n) challenged me and I, of course, won.", he explained his grin growing even wider while he still looked at you. You sighed.

"Alright what do you wish for, oh great Loki?", you asked sarcastically.

"Mmh, I don't know yet. I think I'll just save this wish for something important."

Great. Now You'll have to wait till this arse decides to voice his wish, meaning that he will probably win any argument in the future. Grimacing, you heard Thor laugh next to you. You hadn't even noticed him sitting down. Loki got aware of his brother's presence as well and glared at him.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Eh, I actually have. Mr. Starkson asked me to get him something to drink. What is this device you're holding, Lady (y/n)?"

"Then why don't you go?", Loki suggested completely ignoring Thor's question.

"Eh, it's a Game Boy, you can play different games on it.", you explained shortly not wanting to get into detail and anger Loki.

"What did you play?"

"Donkey Kong. I don't think you know it."

"How does this device work?"

You heard Loki groan beside you, as he put an arm on top of the backrest of the couch.

"I don't know, I'm not into technology and stuff", you said and shrugged hoping to end the conversation. As much as you liked Thor he was interrupting your 'Loki and (y/n) time'.

"Why don't you go ask Tony?", Loki interfered trying to get his brother to leave.

Being used to his brother's rudeness Thor walked to the bar and poured a drink for Tony.

"Do you need anything?", Thor asked while adding ice.

"Nah, I'm good. What about you, Loki?"

"No, thanks.", he snarled.

Was it just you or was he grumpier than usual? The only question was if it was because of me or Thor.

It didn't take long and the blond god finally took is leave.

You felt Loki immediately relax as soon as Thor was gone.

So it wasn't me, you noted relieved.

You knew he wouldn't want to talk about it so you just kept silent and both of you dwelled on your thoughts.

After a while Loki spoke up again.

"If Donkey Kong is the villain, why is the game named after him?"

"I don't know. There's already a game named after Mario and Donkey Kong himself is pretty popular. I myself prefer him to Mario actually.

"Despite him being a villain? Shouldn't you hate him?"

"I guess, I've always liked the villains more. Still do."

"Really, do you?", he asked interested.

Not picking up on the meaning your answer could have interpreted as you could feel him stare. And as you returned his gaze you got lost in his beautiful blue eyes. He didn't break eye contact nor did you.On the contrary, his face seemed to get closer to yours. Wait, was he going to kiss you? Inch by inch he came closer. Oh god. Oh god. Oh go-

Your mind went blank when you felt his lips on yours. Your heart pounded against your rib cage and this giddy feeling in your belly grew stronger and stronger. You closed your eyes as Ayou felt Loki's arms around you and you found yourself wrapping your arms around his neck, one hand in his hair. God, that felt so good. You lost track of time. What day was it? Thursday? Friday? You didn't even care. When he pulled away you couldn't help but smile.

"Wow.", you breathed.

"You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment to come.", he said stoking your cheek with his thumb.

Hold on, he waited for this to happen?

My smile grew even wider and you kissed him again with so much force that you knocked him over and were now laying on top of him.

This kiss lasted even longer and was more loving than the first one and hadn't it been for the sudden flashing light that suddenly appeared you probably would have never broken apart.

You gasped when you saw Tony with his phone in his hand.

The bastard took a bloody picture.

"TONY!", You yelled furious and a bit embarrassed that he had to interrupt your intimate moment,"Give me that phone!"

"Nope! I think I won't. You know, I came here to drink but this is way better. Thor said that you're teaching Loki to play Donkey Kong but I see that that wasn't exactly true.", he chuckled, winking, "This is gonna look great on Facebook. And Twitter. And Snapchat. Oh, and Instagram!"

"Don't you dare!", Loki hissed, standing up and trying to get hold of the phone but Tony pulled away.

Before he could run away, you took a hold of it via telekinesis, quickly opening a small portal next to you on the couch and dropping it in. You had to laugh triumphantly when you saw Tony's facial features drop in disbelief.

"(Y/N)! That was a brand new prototype! Where did you teleport it to?"

"The pool on top of our roof, not sorry by the way", you said, a cheeky grin on your face.

"Neither am I", Loki said sitting down again and wrapping one arm around your shoulder.

"Jokes on you, the prototype is waterproof."

He was almost out the door, laughing to himself, when you chuckled.

"Mmh, of course you could go for a swim, Tony. But you'll find the water will be a little bit too hot for you're liking.", I smirked.

The playboy stopped in his track.

"Why what'd you do?"

"Perhaps I've replaced it with scalding hot lava from the pits of Muspelheim. But don't worry the ceiling won't crash down on us. I put a spell around the pool walls."

You saw his jaw clench, discouraged by your gambit.

"Good job, (y/n).", Loki hummed, appreciatively, running his fingers across your arm and making you shudder.

You were so distracted by the look he gave you, you didn't even see Tony's face light up. To be fair, you both thought he had wandered off.

"Although....Oh Jarvis", he sang, startling you, "please upload the picture I took of Loki and (y/n) to all my social medias with the Hashtags #OTP, #DonkeyTheMatchmaker and #ICan'tBelieveHisWingmanWasAMonkey."

"Will do, sir.", said the robotic, metallic voice like he didn't even care. Well, he didn't.

"TONY, YOU'RE SO DEAD!"

[thegreatpikminzx789]

Beyond the Stars - Etrian Odyssey V - Chapter 12

Wattpad|Ao3

Summary: With a goal set for today, the guild enters the labyrinth to fulfill their jobs. But things start shaking up slowly but surely, regardless of how much the white haired harbinger wished to progress with ease.

Previous Chapter|Next Chapter (Not available yet)

A/N: Life sure likes to throw things in my general direction. I had to remind myself that I don’t always have to do long chapters because I had little idea on where to take the story from chapter 11. I’m clearly gonna plan out Chapter 13 to like, 16 or 17, and see if that’s a better strategy than doing it whenever I feel like it. Also I apologize if the constant mentions of Drayce and the Angelward guild feels a bit annoying. Doesn’t help that my brain loves wanting to experiment, and yet I know the story must progress, so I’m kind of having to stop myself from those thoughts until it’s appropriate.

Mentions of Drayce and the Angelward Guild(c) @theshatteredrose​

The Lux Guild, having 10 members to their name, entered back into the labyrinth with determination and goals set for the day. It was still a brand new day, so the earlier they are able to knock out the grind for money and the sketching of the second floor, the faster they may be able to catch up to Byron's guild.

The white haired Harbinger stopped for a moment as she looked at a stone pillar, before getting everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone. May I point out something of interest?"

"What is it, Hilda?" Keiko instantly replied, turning to face Hilda before approaching her, her sights set on the stone pillar she pointed to. The others slowly but surely took notice and headed back to see what the commotion was about.

Once everyone was gathered, Hilda pointed to a set of crystals. Three of the crystals were glowing, as if indicating that they were active. And they seemed to be set up to indicate the number of floors, judging by the sets of two crystals, with a label describing what floor they lead to.

"These are Stair Jumps," Hilda began. "though I hear some people refer to them as Warp Crystals. They keep track of a guild's progress through the labyrinth, allowing them to warp to certain floors, though they require finding crystals near the stairs' entrance and exit."

Quite interesting, Korey thought to himself. Such convenience means that they don't have to constantly run up and down the entire labyrinth and waste energy on trying to reach where they need to be. Would also be helpful to remember in the event of anything serious happening in the labyrinth.

"Why in the world are there 30 floors, though?! That's quite a lot...!" Demetria exclaimed, questioning why there was that much of the Yggdrasil to explore.

The white haired Harbinger lets out a sigh and a shrug to the Therian Rover. "Beats me... but we're merely starting out on our journey to the top. We still got a long way to go..."

Hilda approached the pillar and gazed at a particular set of crystals, tracing a finger around the crystals. "...Especially if..." Was all that Korey could gather from Hilda's mumbling to herself.

"...Hilda? Are you ok?" The brown haired fencer couldn't help but ask. Hearing her name, Hilda looked at Korey before walking away from the pillar.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine." She reassured him. "Just... wanted to look at the crystals up close... That's all."

Korey seemed to be slightly satisfied with the answer, though he more than likely will have to ask her about that at some other time. No need to idly waste away the time with little details for now... "Is Hilda a fan of crystals?" Ion inquired, slightly changing the subject.

"Well, they look pretty to look at...." Hilda began, soon stopping herself before she got way off topic. "A-Anyways, as we climb the Yggdrasil, best keep a lookout for the Stair Jump crystals."

With that short detour done, everone nodded their head at Hilda's suggestion, all agreeing to do their best to keep an eye out for the crystals. "Then we best be off to do our jobs for the day. Good luck investigating the rest of the second floor!" Charon proclaimed, as he rushed ahead, almost leaving his group behind.

"H-Hey, wait up, Charon!" Keiko declared, running past her twin sister to give chase to the Harbinger, followed by Demetria and Beta. Kyo chuckled at the headstart Charon had, before she and Altum followed shortly.

As for Korey and his group, they decided to walk to the second floor, since they weren't in any rush to reach the top of Yggdrasil. They still had to remain on guard in case a Rabid Acorn or any other enemy attempted to take advantage of them for an ambush. Korey took to the front alongside Hilda, Amare took the west side of the formation, Ion took the back, and Bortos took the east side.

They reached the stairs relatively easy, and they took a turn to the right instead of the left that led them to saving Altum and Amare the day before. Hilda took the lead, since this floor was the only other major floor that she had mapped out previously in Byron's guild, leaving Korey to look around with the others in case something may try to catch them off guard.

................................................

Even though Korey could hear Ion and Bortos discussing things behind him, he couldn't help but ponder what other types of monsters they will encounter inside the labyrinth. Chances are, they aren't gonna be that easier than the monsters they'll face here on the first stratum.

Not to mention, any potential mercenaries or bandits that might try any means nessecary to obtain the treasures the Yggdrasil contains. Though they were able to save Charon and Ion from their fates... He couldn't bear to imagine being late to save any of them.

His mother always did say that even during her time as an explorer, there were people that she regretably, couldn't save in time. There were small bits of doubt, trailing across his mind... If they did arrive too late, would they have lost valuable information regarding the Aeterna? Would many others fall if they were too late to stop whatever monster or-

"Aaah!"

"Huh-?" A scream instandly snapped Korey out of his drifting thoughts. Someone clearly was in danger...

With urgency, Hilda quickly placed away the mapping materials and the group rushed ahead to where they head the scream. As they turned another corner, they were able to spot a small girl with pink hair, seemingly cornered by a tall woman with long black hair, pointing what seemed to be a cannon at her.

"There's no escape for you now! And you will tell me where to find them, this instant!" The woman barked, already losing her patience with the girl before her.

The pink haired girl gulped with fear running down her spine. "I-I don't have much aside from those items... I don't even know what you're talking about...!" She attempted to retort, only for the cannon to be aimed much closer to her face, gasping and backing even closer to the tree behind her.

Hilda wanted to rush in and save that girl she was familiar with, but with how that Dragoon woman was pointing the cannon, one declaration could lead to her being held hostage; or worse... Korey glanced back, seeing the troubled look on Hilda's face. "That girl... is she a friend of yours, Hilda?" He asked in a not so loud voice, probably guessing at most.

"Y-Yes. She's someone I met previously with..." Hilda responded, hesitance radiating from her reply when she nearly mentioned Byron's guild name. "Well, what we do?" Ion whispered, voicing his concern as well.

This was about the first he has ever encountered a situation like this. Although, he did spot something no one else had caught on, after looking at the situation before him. It was clear that the girl was cornered and the Dragoon had her full attention on her... Perhaps...

"Bortos, you still have some Blind Gases, right?"

Bortos looked up to Korey when he called his name, scrambling a bit through his bag and picking up a Blind Gas from it. "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?" The Brouni asked in return.

Korey looked grabbed one of the blind gas bottles and glanced back at the Dragoon woman. "It's quite risky, but we're gonna do an impromptu rescue mission." He replied, prompting a surprised gasp from Hilda.

Despite wanting to protest on how badly that idea is, there was little choice on how to approach this without things going terribly bad. But perhaps things can go right, for once... it would all depend on the Dragoon woman's reaction. Korey motioned for them to hide behind the trees, as he began to sneak, hoping he wouldn't catch the attention of the people in front of him.

"You have until the count of ten to tell me where to find at least one of them, or else... And don't think that summoning your wraith buddies will scare me!" The black haired woman declared, as Hilda felt her heart sank a little upon hearing the threat. And yet, she wanted to help out desperately...

Hilda approached closer, but in the shade of the trees, hoping they'll still provide some cover for her while as she kept an eye on Korey. Once he was near enough, he stood straight up and shouted, throwing the blind gas bottle towards the black haired woman. She turned around just long enough for him to quickly spot an eye patch on her left eye, before the bottle made impact with her face and made her flinch from the impact.

"What the-?!" The Dragoon growled, attempting to swat away the blind gas. At that signal, everyone else made their move; including Hilda, who rushed straight away towards the pink haired girl, standing in front of her in order to protect her.

"H-Hilda...?!" The small girl gasped in surprise, seeing the Harbinger look back to her.

"We'll take care of this, Lili," Hilda reassured her. "Just take cover for now!"

Feeling that she can trust her on her word, Lili grabbed her coffins and ran behind a few trees and bushes. Seeing her run off to safety, Hilda glanced back at the Dragoon, who had looked back to where Lili originally stood.

"What the- where'd she go?!" The woman questioned, as Hilda brought out her scythe, making the Dragoon step back a bit, before seeing Ion, Amare, and Bortos surround her on all sides. The tides seemed to have quickly changed, and she did NOT like that at all.

"Alright lady with eyepatch!" Ion began with confidence in his voice. "Thieving no good! Give up the bag now!"

The black haired woman glanced down at the small bag she held in her free hand, before glancing back at the Celestrian male, her grip tightening around the bag. She made just a quick glance at Amare before her attention was on her, almost as if she recognized her. And that was worrying to the Necromancer.

"You're..." She began, shaking her head as if to discard the thought in her head. "I don't have time for this... I have to find the Eternal Treasures, and I'm not letting some extra funds get away from me!"

Korey couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at what the Dragoon said. "Eternal Treasures...?" He asked, now that the thought entered his mind.

And from the look on the Dragoon's face, seems like she knew that he didn't have a single idea on what she was talking about. "What lady mean by that?" Ion questioned, having not heard such a thing in his life.

"Forget it. Not like a random guild like you would have a chance of finding out about them." The Dragoon then took out an Araidne Thread, grasping it firmly in her hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave now."

"Wait, stop...!" Korey rushed at the Dragoon in an attempt to stop her, but she vanished quickly before he could reach her. "Eye-patch lady gone..." Ion groaned, a little sad that they were unable to stop her before she left.

As impromptu as it was, they weren't able to stop her getting away with whatever was inside the bag... Hilda turned to face the bushes, seeing Lili approach the group now that the Dragoon threatening her was gone. She placed away her scythe and walked towards the tiny Necromancer.

"Lili, who was that woman? What did she want with you?" The harbinger inquired, wanting to know who that woman was.

"She never told me her name... Sorry Hilda." Lili apologized, scratching off one question, even if it would be some time until they would encounter each other again. That black haired woman, although dressed like a Dragoon, had a personality that felt befitting of a bandit than a Dragoon.

Sighing with relief, she hugged Lili, who returned the hug briefly as Hilda stood up. "It's fine, Lili. I'm relieved that she didn't hurt you." Hilda couldn't have been more thankful for the impromptu rescue, though she despised the thought of her friend dying all because of a mistep in Korey's plan.

Seeing Hilda smile, Lili glanced over at the four other people placing their weapons away before looking back to the Harbinger. "So hey, you got yourself into a new guild, huh?" Lili asked, as the harbinger nodded in response.

"Is little girl ok? Not hurt anywhere?" Ion spoke up, as he and the others walked towards Hilda and Lili. "Mmhm. No thanks to your quick arrival." Although Lili seemed to be happy for their rescue, there seemed to be some doubt on Korey's face.

"Sorry we couldn't get the bag that was stolen..." The fencer apologized, as Lili glanced at him, surprised that he's apologizing for something being stolen.

Even after apologizing to her, Lili didn't seemed that bothered by it. "Don't worry about it; nothing too special was taken in that bag. I could always get more Medicas and Theracias from Syrik." She reassured him, praying a situation like that doesn't happen again. Not like he could ever let that one down for the rest of the day... "Oh, I suppose it's only fair if I introduce myself. My name's Lili!" The small pink haired Necromancer introduced herself.

"Pleasure to meet Lili. Me Ion. Former Mercenary turned guild member." Ion introduced himself, to which Amare, Korey, and Bortos soon introduced themselves afterward. along with their guild name.

"Once again, thanks for coming to my rescue, Lux Guild. I'll be sure to repay that kindness someday." Lili hummed, smiling at her rescuers. "But I better head back to Iorys. Good luck with climbing Yggdrasil!"

With farewells from everyone, Lili grabbed her coffins and headed back towards the stairs. Hilda couldn't help but notice that Amare had been gazing at the floor, seemingly lost in thought. "Something bothering you, Amare?" Bortos asked, seeing Amare snapping back to reality, glancing at the Brouni before seeing everyone else's concerned looks.

"Something that black haired woman bothers me..." Amare began. "What could she have meant by 'Eternal Treasures'?"

It certainly threw the group off, especially considering they haven't even heard of them before, much less even know what they are. Were they weapons? Armor? Mystical relics with untold power?

As ambiguous as that title is, there was no way they were going to find any info about it right away... And Korey knew that for a fact. "Do  you think Ramus is aware of the Eternal Treasures?" He further prompted the discussion.

"Hm... Whose to say?" Hilda pondered. "For all we know, he could be just as in the dark about these treasures, much like the treasures from the Legendary War." She added.

Regardless of their pondering, idle discussion wasn't going to get them anywhere. Especially glancing at Ion, who seemed like he was about to lose his mind over this whole ordeal. Couldn't blame him, really.

"Well, let's table this discussion for now." Bortos declared, seeing that nobody else had anything else to add. "We should probably tell the others about this too. I don't want to leave them in the dark about this if we are to search for these Eternal Treasures later down the road."

Perhaps it was for the best that they discussed it at a later time. Maybe the news of more treasure to discover might be in Drayce's interest... At least, that's what Korey thinks the others might say. Though they haven't known each other long enough, it was a bit too early to start relying on another guild for assistance for something the world may not even know about. Plus, he didn't want to bother the Angelward Guild if they were already in the middle of a search for another treasure.

For now, it was in Korey's best interest to keep the news about the Eternal Treasures to his guildmates and Ramus. He didn't want to involve anyone who was rather unforunate to catch wind of the treasures' existence. The fencer looked up towards the sky, checking to see if they still had plenty of daytime to try and map out the floor.

"Well Korey, what's the plan?" Hilda inquired in response to him looking up at the sky. He smiled at Hilda, seeming to already know the plan.

"For now, we'll map out the rest of the second floor, then see if we can make some progress on the third floor," Korey began, making sure his guild was paying full attention. "Then we'll regroup with the others and talk to Ramus about the Eternal Treasures."

Hilda seemed to smile at the plan, showing her silent approval. She didn't want to waste time going back and forth so far, so to think that she might make several more steps beyond the stopping point that Byron replaced her made her rather excited.

With the encouragement she needed, she brought out the map and made her way onward, with Korey, Ion, Bortos, and Amare soon followed behind. Korey could only hope that everyone else down on the first floor were doing just fine. Considering what that Dragoon woman uttered, getting sleep tonight was going to be rather tough.

As the five of them proceeded onward, Bortos and Ion winced upon seeing a large catepillar-like monster, just simply wandering around. "H-Huge catepillar scary...!" Ion gulped, fearing that yelling would attract its attention.

Though much to the Celestrian's surprise, the insect monster continued to wander, oblivious to the yell seconds prior. Hilda and Amare were unfazed by the sight of the creature, from what Korey could gaze just looking at the two of them. "It's a good thing those Toxipede FOE's really love to wander around, else we'd have a situatuon on our hands." Hilda sighed, seeming to have feared that Ion's exclamation upon seeing it would attract its attention.

The linear path the Toxipede took seemed rather easy to bypass, as long as they were cautious not to accidentially bump into it when they aren't looking. Still, just seeing an FOE for himself, Korey could tell that even he wouldn't want to mess with them for the bestiary quite yet. Had they gathered everyone else up, maybe they could take on one, but that would also require a ton of co-ordination, and that would be nearly disasterous if all of them fell in battle...

"Well lookie here, the ex-girlfriend is attempting to make progress."

Hilda gasps, seeing Byron approach the group. She glared at him like a Wild Dog staring at its next meal, and Korey had to wonder why the Harbinger was here. Ion huffed and crossed his arms upon seeing the Harbinger, still ticked at him for trying to kill Charon.

"What are you doing here?" Hilda growled, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "Oh, nothing much in particular," The black spikey-haired Harbinger began, gazing at the group in front of him.

Clearly him dancing around her question only seemed to enrage Hilda some more. "You see, after our little clash yesterday, me and the crew decided to repay Lydia and Revlis' help last battle with some well deserved punishment~" Byron explained, grinning excitedly at the thought of a punishment.

Several gasps were heard from the guild before him, which was just the reaction the Harbinger wanted. "What did you do?!" Hilda questioned, starting to feel riled up.

Byron laughed manicially, before taking a deep breath to answer the white haired Harbinger's question. "Just gave them scratches and wounds my dear," He began. "Nothing too deadly, just enough to let them know that they'll have to listen to MY orders, or else they'll crawl slowly towards their own deaths!"

"You're insane...!" Korey growled, starting to be frustrated at Byron as well. "How are you not fired from being a guild leader?!" Bortos questioned, flabbergasted how this man hadn't been disbanded from his own guild.

"Because who doesn't love some chaos being spread amongst the labyrinth?" Byron chuckled, picking up a rock. "Now, why don't you be good fella's and get acquainted with that FOE?!"

"Byron, no-!"

Hilda attempted to stop Byron from throwing the rock, but the Harbinger was too quick for her, seeing the rock hit the Toxipede on the back of the head, looking back to see the guild before them. Thinking they were the ones who caught its attention, it lets out a screech.

"So long, losers! See you never! The labyrinth beyond the third floor is OURS for the taking!" Byron yelled as he made his escape, as Ion attempted to chase after him, only to be stopped by Amare.

"Let him go, Ion." The Celestrian Necromancer insisted. "B-But Amare-!" Ion began rebutting.

"No buts, Ion! We gotta get to that third floor entrance before Byron does!" Hilda exclaimed, grabbing Korey's hand as she led the charge to run from the aggroed Toxipede. Bortos soon followed, and the two Celestrians rushed quickly behind them, shortly followed by the FOE beginning its pursuit of the guild.

That Byron is so going to regret this...

[unproduciblesmackdown]

you said random number so.. gimme 5, 17, 24, 26, 38, and 43

#epic thank you!!!! sorry this is so long, gang, but you know me. press J if you have that keyboard shortcut option

5)favorite fics?

soph nothingunrealistic’s!! click the link & peruse any of the dozen gifts to this world on ao3. also just go right to her writing tag

17)a fandom you wish more people were in/you had more people to talk to about?

well i don’t Really have an answer for this one, but just yesterday it was once again time to talk abt how jaclyn moriarty’s 4-book ashbury/brookfield YA series is a lot of fun and unusual in good ways, but like, i guess what with being published throughout the aughts and like, not being super obscure but also not being explosively popular, and idk maybe they were also more Known in australia than the US, and, idk, but there’s not exactly what you’d call a Fandom online, or even very many traces of one. and i just like to mention the series as Fun To Read because they are very lively and focus on girls and have a real variety of Girl Characters (and also some boy characters who are also varied and fun but that’s just a bonus) and in particular i like to talk about how the third book has a really Unusual Choice Of Protagonist (the unfun unpopular Best Grades by-the-book overachiever etc etc etc nerd girl, kinda having the personality that ppl misinterpret alana beck’s personality to be lol, like something of a killjoy goody-two-shoes lol, but also with that earnestness and drivenness that alana has as well)......and the format of each book is Epistolary, but in different and creative ways each time, and it’s fun how like, the characters who are telling the story (the ones whose letters are used and etc) rotate with each book [tho emily and lydia are Storytellers in the 2nd And 4th books] and it’s very neat how like, you do get that sense that just b/c someone’s not being Focused On as much from different people’s perspectives doesn’t mean they aren’t still existing and present and doing stuff and having their own story, even when that’s not being mentioned by whoever’s writing down the events that we’re reading. we love that sentiment. anyways i just like to always Promote them.

24)who are you at the end of this decade?

hmmm!! i mean in many ways i am who i have been the whole time but yknow, 2009 - 2019 was a tumultuous period. i was always furiously trying to think through Who Am I As A Person for various reasons, even though like, when you’re in ur mid-teens that’s always In Progress rather than there being a really set answer to be discovered, and for a while it was a lot of frustration with myself all “why are you like [this], why can’t you do [that] right,” etc etc. but eventually i had like, a better frame of reference for a lot of what was going on, and even why i never quite felt like i had a great sense of Who I Am and What I Like and etc in the first place, and more understanding and respect for myself lol. even now it’s like, yknow i’m ~self-consious~ in ways often lol and i’ll sometimes Use that to be like, okay try to improve [this thing] about yourself!! and yknow on the one hand i feel like stuff i’ve been Working On for years Has paid off in ways, but then recently it’s like......okay hang on but like, it’s not a bad thing to like, have some traits that maybe aren’t gonna be seen as “perfect” or might be annoying or yknow, your Demeanor and Vibe isn’t always like, the most important thing to focus on lol or something where like, oh being sweet & saintly & coming across as utterly pleasant to everyone always gets to be The Objective Ideal. like, i’m opinionated and can be argumentative and sometimes impatient?? like, there’s a balance here between “good to be trying to Improve Yourself always or whatever lol” and “but also everyone is People with Traits and Different Personalities and everyone doesn’t have to just sand themselves down into an edgeless smooth sphere” and like, sure it’s like “haha i’m a bit more temperamental than i’d like still” but also i sure sympathize w/ the fact that like, oof, depression makes it tricky sometimes! and i do pretty okay at like, being Aware of when my mood is cursed and trying to be as chill about it as poss! or like, “haha wish i was better at conversation lmao” but yknow also understanding that like.....i’m just kinda Not great at it and that’s what’s Natural for me and like, again, a balance between “trying to be easier to talk to, lol” and “being okay with the fact that i’m not super easy to talk to and most ppl aren’t very easy for me to talk to either, lol”

im trying to be a bit less cagey lol which i guess might not be the first word someone might use to describe me for a variety of reasons, But......and but then also, i just like, for me there is no simple Be Yourself, Just Talk Naturally As U Would conversation mode lol, but you know. it’s hardly a pressing issue, and at the same time, like, sometimes when i find it hard to talk to people it’s like “well this is just you needing to Be Nicer” or whatever, or like, well you’re just not used talking to Anyone so like, push through it, and then it takes me a while to realize like, well no you just don’t love talking to them, lmao......and at the same time i’m Really slow to realize when people *do* actually enjoy talking to me, lmao, i am just not used to it And used to people like, not really being super interested in interacting with me even if they think i’m alright lol. lord! so i’m still slightly surprised whenever Anyone likes me, but also like, then again there’s sort of always these repeated scenarios where it’s like [Glum Trombone Noise] i’m also the recipient of various ppl’s various contempt for various reasons........which like, i sure don’t Absorb that as like “way 2 go, you deserve that” but also like, sure also never is the most fun experience of your life. but i have a way more solid sense of the fact that like, i don’t inherently deserve that, and an understanding of Why people will be Like That sometimes, and that’s all been acquired knowledge from the whole journey of this decade lol

also like, i have always been and continue to be like, Basically A Cat lol.....cats-sonas for everyone, ___ the ___ cat, But Seriously Folks........like, oh, there’s a lot of ppl and/or noise around?? unless i have chosen to put myself in that situation for fun, i’m probably gonna be finding whatever quiet / distant corner to hide out in and try to remain as undetected as possible.......kinda wary about interacting with people sometimes, though then also, i like to be friendly w/ strangers (if they’re friendly with me) and won’t necessarily mind spontaneous interactions but only if it’s Plausibly Expected in the situation, and even then, i might just prefer that Nobody Talk To Me......and i’ve yet to be Really comfortable in a group of ppl if i’m there *with* that group lmao, like, i don’t like to take the lead or compete for attention or anything and just kinda will try to do my own thing on the outskirts, whereas if i’m by myself it’s just like, i feel a lot more comfortable and like i can just do whatever lmao..........and also i don’t like to make noise lol. unless again, it’s deliberate, and it’s Fun. like at a concert? i will be the death of whatever nerd like, wants it to be like a solemn “listening to a record” occasion or wants everyone to yell out complete sentences if a performer asks an Arena full of people How Are You Doing 2nite or whatever. i’m gonna yell!!! anyways. idk. i am always like “oh i am Very Much [this way], except for all the times i am totally [the would-be Opposite way]”........i can’t really opt out of having Anxious Qualities and that’s alright, even though it does get in the way of things sometimes for sure. like, c’est la vie!!! i understand why i am like this, and that like, while for my own sake i can try to hold my own hand here and encourage myself to be a little bolder, it’s totally fine that like, i have Problems and Difficulties. 

i’m also at like, maybe the lowest levels of Impending Dread that i’ve had since i was like, 8 or some shit lmao............like again kind of a Wild Decade and one where like, it was totally all like “wow am i even gonna make it to [a few yrs in the future] -> [a year in the future] -> [half a year from now]” aaand it hasn’t been a full year yet since i was last thinking like “lmfao oof i might not be alive by __, who knows!!” but even while that was going on it was at least an improvement from the times i thought i might like, hmm hope i don’t off myself. and like, this is probably the first Start Of A Year in like. well possibly the past decade lmao, where yknow, it hasn’t felt quite as dire. i mean im not really out here a cockeyed optimist about anything, and like, i’m aware that things are always a little tenuous and there’s other factors i’m always nervous about, but That’s nothing new, and i’m kinda more like, neutral about the future rn lol? feeling less Dread and Doom is new-ish lmao and like, allowing that yknow, despite how crappy the past decade has been re: how i felt in my Outlook, there’s been a bunch of surprising Good Things to come along, and i totally allow for the fact that that could easily continue to happen. having Less(ened) Bad Feelings about Things might not = Absolutely Thriving but i appreciate it!! i also try to be appreciative lmao. like, what with the dread and doom & (hope i don’t die this year, i guess,) feelings, it’s wildly hard nowadays for me to like, anticipate stuff in a ~fun~ way or at all, but yknow when anything nice, even a really small / unspectacular / ordinary moment and/or detail, is being experienced by me, i try to enjoy that. i like to be Appreciative. and i think i’m also sort of like, sharing more of myself than i’ve probably gotten to or felt capable of doing in the past, and i appreciate that a lot too. like, it can be really Depressing for sure to think of like, hmm i haven’t had the chance to like, feel in control of things and like things are Totally Fine and i feel Totally Okay & like i’m enjoying everything, and i can choose to pursue [things i might enjoy], and maybe i Won’t have that chance? [another glum trombone noise] but like. i appreciate the good experiences that i Do and Have gotten so far. and the fact i’ve ever been in situations to connect with people and enjoy things the ways that i can and like, it’s really nice that My Presence in other ppl’s lives, even as just like Some Online Rando re: some ppl lmao, has had some positive effect for them or even just been enjoyed is like, wow, this is pretty great lol.........not sure where i was taking this tangent but like, i am someone who appreciates this a lot.

hmm i am also a passionate person at the end of this decade lmao!!!! that has definitely always been true. i am Of That Temperament. it is funny b/c like, the fact that i am A Motormouth Actually But Often Not Saying Anything In The Least To People, they think i’m like, of this very mild disposition and Not someone with strong opinions that they will launch into, or else i would have been doing that already........but you know!!! here i am online, fully able to just dive into things and start talking about whatever for one million years. and i sure latch onto stuff in a Big Way sometimes, which is why anyone follows me at all lol, b/c if you like [whatever particular content] and i am just all about that too, it’s a beneficial situation for us both i guess lmao. i can get really excited and focused about stuff, obviously, and i sure Also Obviously like to explore the emotional aspects of things. which is a vague thing to say lmfao but you all know what i mean!!! it continues to be the only reason i draw lmaooo like i draw so much and like, Making Fanart And Sharing It Online has i think also been a journey of this decade for me, and i really only draw a) exactly that fanart that i feel like making, and b) what i feel like making is always also probably abt Feelings somehow, like the Three Emotions: kissing (aka gay), crying (sad), and angry (angry)........great news if you want to see the stuff i already happen to be drawing lol!!! bad news i guess if you were hoping i’d draw anything but whatever i end up wanting to draw. i cannot be diverted. and i don’t even draw for its own sake lol like, i’ve always doodled for fun and all that, but like, ive never been a “wow i want to make my own __ someday” or whatever, and if i’m trying to draw something which is anything other than [the exact thing i might feel like drawing] it is Such a chore that like, i just don’t do it except for like, total Exceptions. except exceptions lol. don’t ask!! anyways why did i get on that drawing tangent there........yeah it’s definitely lucky that i’ve been giving myself that Drawing Experience so that i can connect w/ ppl that way, cuz i’m godawful at like, necessarily providing other stuff lol Or at being the one to Make Connections Happen otherwise......and also of course sometimes it is easier to convey/communicate something via drawing. woohoo!!

anyways yeah i’m a bit excitable lol and i sure guess i’ve got that Chaotique energy at times, for better or worse lol........like sometimes my Contribution can be like, just an absolute wild card thrown into the pile, or just like, maybe adding some Boost to a situation that other people can run with if they so choose. just throw things out there sometimes and enjoy when other ppl find that fun lmao

what else is there about me??? lol.......oh yeah i’m always sort of an Office Goofaround (not actually in an office ever, though). like, when ppl Don’t have that sense of Collaborative Humor where like, if someone does something a bit silly u just roll with that bit, or if god forbid they have Exhausting Cishet Guy humor where they think everything is about Dry, “Intelligent” Sarcasm and that being “funny” is about making yourself look like the coolest or cleverest person there who Wins the Center Of Attention spot?? it’s like, eff that, where are my Get Silly gang. also puns are funny but also only b/c they are silly. you have to really lean into it lol. 

well anyways!!!! and when i am asked to talk about myself i can be very extensive and yet not necessarily cover everything. here we are

26)favorite look you had?

my look hasn’t changed too much! Tees n Jeans (or shorts? or jorts? lol) are pretty much my thing altho you Know i have at times added in A Layer, or even accessories.......as always, part of the first few years of the decade for me was the whole “aha, yeah okay i’m trans” process, but before that i wasn’t ever really trying to be more “””””””””fashionable”””””””””” than the tees n jeans type of look anyway lmao, and even nowadays like, i have some Wardrobe Items that like, ppl might consider ”androgynous” or whatever when cis dudes wear them, like leggings or a v-neck sweater........really some of the only significant Changes was getting binder/s eventually (by 2012?? ugh idk) and also like, by 2011 i cut my hair relatively short, and from there on i just like, every year went “ugh god i need it to be shorter” and even now i’m like, hmm, do i want it shorter or is this fine?? but also i’m somewhat limited styling-wise b/c i just continually cut it myself in a bathroom mirror, true chaotic. and! i’ve been like, god i wish i had a baseball cap that’s just like, solid [my fave blue] or yknow, black or something, or idk. one that i like. and also someday it would be nice to like, not only have an updated prescription of lenses but also Multiple Glasses Frames to choose from, even though my current ones are alright still lol.......this is me just talking abt my past looks and how i’d like to potentially update my look lmao i did Not answer the question but, as usual, i also don’t have a great direct answer lol

38)a prediction you had for this decade that came true?

lol this was not a decade where i was ever looking ahead to 2020 and making any assumptions about this Block Of Time as a whole.......i mean like, i was Really starting to suspect byyyy 2012 for sure that like, i could not like, be able to exist And have my parents be in my life at all lol and by 2013 it was just like. increasing confirmation of that. and i last saw / spoke to them prior to me just effing out of there at the end of 2015. snaps for me

43)an important relationship (of any kind) you had?

well a couple i appreciated that might not be obvious were pretty brief and fairly impersonal lol. so in 2015 i had this Nightmare Job for five whole months which was obviously miserable in most ways, but there was this other guy who wasn’t even a Coworker, we just had the same job and had similar routes of Stores to go to, so we would run into each other a lot of mornings, and he would talk to me and i’d talk to him and he was totally good-humored about everything and that was helpful lmao b/c it’s great to have Someone you enjoy seeing. i also struck up a rapport with a baked-goods stocker at one particular store, and that could be an enjoyable 14 seconds. it was a godawful job lmao and like, Any pleasantness at all / decent treatment from other people was very helpful

also at this other job the next year which was a lot less hellish, there was this customer lady who like, i can’t remember at what point she started talking to me but yknow it got to be that if we’d run into each other she’d kind of update me on her life. and she would be like “sorry i’m talking to you, a stranger, about all this stuff all the time, but my life is a mess and i don’t really have anyone to talk to” and i would be like, lmfao mood, do not even worry about it, and yknow this was someone i only ran into usually once every few weeks at my job, and could only listen to for however long, but she was Going Tf Through It all the time and as much as i am a chatterbox who will go on for a century about myself b/c i can’t be concise abt anything ever, i’m also decent at being in Listening Mode lmao or yknow, i was like No Truly i don’t mind you venting, and also yknow, i’m like well i know how much it sucks to have Nobody to talk to about Big Problems. and i am this random restaurant worker and if i’m one of the only people this lady can talk to, you can bet i’m going to listen lol.......and she was really goin through it all One Thing After Another and yknow i’d catch her two weeks later and she’d be all like, well [this situation] has gotten worse, or This One Problem is over but now New Problem has replaced it, etc, and a whole issue that i got updated on was like lol. she had this boyfriend who she’d kinda mention early on when she was talking abt trying to find a job, or losing a new-but-terrible job and once again being back in that Job Hunt Stress, and idk like. i just sort of have decent Relationship Instincts lmfao of like “hmm this doesn’t sound great” but like, a month or two later she’s straightup Married to this dude, and i’m like oh congrats :) and then when a month or two after That she’s talking about how like, she’s maybe having Job Probs again and her now-husband is really giving her shit for like, not having found a new one yet, i’m like internally all [ :)))))) Not Surprised :))))))) ] but i’m like. yknow you Sympathize n Validate but if you just up and tell someone who’s being treated real bad like “you are being treated terribly, this person is acting terribly” then they might just want to defend them like oh it’s not That bad, or minimize it, and blame themselves for making their terrible partner “look bad”.......and by extension when she once was in our restaurant With said husband and introduced us i was like, just getting further confirmation abt this dude’s shittiness from his Immediate Vibe lmao like....whenever i feel uncomfortable enough in someone’s presence in a [not just universal level of Anxiety] way, it’s like, that instinct is pretty reliable & accurate lol.....but i had to pretend Not to hate him or act too standoffish towards him lmao cuz like!!! i figured i could “get away with it” but yknow, this lady had already said how isolated she was and the husband sure seemed Controlling and like, yknow, if you act like you don’t Like the shitty partner or said shitty partner catches wind of you maybe telling this person that “hey your partner is being shitty” then it’s all, them telling their partner “don’t go around that person who is so obviously Against me >:(” and like. yknow i figured as Random Restaurant Employee this dude wasn’t about to be super on guard about me but i still was not wanting to risk it but luckily i only met him the one time and only had to casually pretend i didn’t think he was shit that one time. and anyhow! soon enough the lady is talking to me about how she thinks getting married to him was a mistake but like, again, she was real isolated and didnt have family or friends or ppl in the area to talk to, and like, yknow she would be pretty sure her husband was cheating on her but of course He was the one all like, wanting to be controlling and invade her privacy and accuse Her of cheating on him, and i’m like, internally screaming but again yknow, i’m just letting her vent to Anyone (me) and sympathizing. and iirc her talking about her “uh oh my husband sucks” was like, i had come back from this delivery so we were in the parking lot lol and she was so upset about all of it and like, “sorry i’m just this random person talking to you for twenty minutes in a parking lot and crying lol” and i’m like. i mean yknow if the only person you can vent to about this terrible situation is me, this random person in a parking lot, absolutely i am glad to do it, even though i would’ve done it anyways lol...........and i was so mad at our General Manager this one time lmao b/c. yknow it’s a couple weeks later and wouldn’t you know it, The Lady is really stressed b/c her husband was yelling at her and broke a window in their apartment, and the Cost Of Repairs added to their monthly rent meant they might not be able to make that rent, and she was in that crappy situation that gets pulled on Tenants Who Probably Don’t Have Much Money, where you’re supposed to get 5 Days Notice or whatever when they’re like “get out b/c your rent is overdue” but you get that Notice on like, friday afternoon when your Last Day is supposed to be the following monday, and nobody is at the office all weekend, so obviously that’s not five days and it’s really only One Day and that Last Day that you’d even have a chance to talk to anyone, which is also a monday when you’d probably have work, and yknow, good luck finding help over the weekend, when probably ppl will just want to spend that time rushing to just pack their shit up and leave anyways.....ANYHOW it’s just some particular heinous bullshit and it was like, the saturday after it had happened to her, and i sympathized entirely b/c that had happened to me and i now lived in my car but i figured i wouldn’t bring that up lmfao.......and anyways i was sitting down with her to listen to her b/c it’s an Insanely Stressful Situation and again like, whenever she’d show up i’d let her talk to me abt her Problems for however long she felt like. and anyways of course eventually the one By-The-Books manager gives me shit all like “what are you doing daring to Sit Down and Not be doing restaurantly actions, ugh” and i’m like. i mean, unsurprising lecture to get lol, of course, but i was just so impatient like. well this person was having a crisis so i prioritized that above keeping the coffee stirrers fully stocked at all times, bite me. ENNYHOW and i didn’t see her for a minute after that and i Was a bit worried b/c like. of course i had every reason to be and she was just always looking so completely exhausted but then like, actually the last time i saw her she was actually more upbeat than ever b/c like! turns out that during an argument her husband had assaulted her and had been arrested. which is of course like. i was like oh i am completely sorry about that trauma but congratulations at this person being separated from you!!! and like, i wish i could have kept up with her beyond that, but i couldn’t, but like, that was the first Improvement in her life that i’d heard since i met her, and it was a way better last-thing-to-hear-from-her than her stressing out abt eviction thanks to her abusive husband breaking shit. and like, weird relationship lmao but!! idk i did feel lucky that i could be The One Person This Lady Gets To Talk With b/c like, god forbid she have absolutely nobody to talk to about this shit or treat her with any sympathy, even if it was just me, the rando she only got to see on occasion. and i hope she’s doing okay still! wish i knew for sure of course, but i’m glad i at least got to be there for her in a tiny way for a period of time and did eventually like, Know that she both knew that this was a bad person to be with, and got that Reason to be separated from him.

[platinumsupa]

One Shot: The Dragon’s Hoard

A silly little domestic piece of fluff I wrote for some my best friends in the fandom, Undersea-Anchor and All-the-Cliches. (and also, half to break my writer’s block if I’m gonna be brutally honest). I posted this on the discord last night, but I’ve now added a real ending to it, so I decided to post it here too.

Anyway, a future-AU Diakko one shot! 

The Cavendish family has always filled its ranks with adventurers and those looking for something more. Now, it would appear that the newest member of the Cavendish family is playing a daring game with a dragon...

(~2000 words)

~~~

Ami Cavendish ran through the Dragon’s Cavern as fast as her accursedly short legs could carry her. She gripped the Mystic Amulet she had stolen from the Hoard tightly in her young hands. She didn’t quite know where she was going, but she knew that she had to hurry.

She could hear the booming steps of her pursuer right behind her, hunting her down to take back what was hers, and the Witch who stole it along with it.

It was coming too fast for her to outrun for long. Thinking quickly, she hid behind a rock formation, hugging her knees to her chest to make herself smaller. She was not a moment too soon, as seconds after she ducked her head down, the room rumbled under the girth of a monstrous creature.

The Queen of Dragons entered the Cavern, her piercing blue eyes searching for her prey.

“Where did you go, little Ami?” The dragon called out, in an almost teasing voice. “You can’t hide forever, you know. I’m going to get you…”

Ami, despite her age, was a brave adventure, armed with the training and knowledge of her mothers. But even she could not defeat the beast alone. The Queen of Dragons was much too powerful. Her only option was to hide as the Dragon prowled over to an adjacent end of the cavern.

“Could you be…” The dragon suddenly ripped apart a rock formation. “Here? Ah, no. You wouldn’t hide there, would you? Perhaps she has escaped me…”

Ami covered her mouth, desperate not to make a sound as the footsteps approached her hiding position.

“Unless…”

The dragon’s powerful voice was low and menacing as she neared, growing closer with every second.

“…perhaps you might be behind…”

Ami glanced up to see the razor-sharp claws curl around the top of the rock, before it slowly began to pull it away…

~~~

Diana tossed the couch cushion aside, leveling Ami with a wicked grin. “…here!”

Ami scrambled to her feet, but before she could even think about getting away, Diana scooped her daughter into her arms with a thundering, monstrous growl.

The young girl wriggled and writhed to escape from her clutches. Her squirming only grew more frantic when Diana’s fingers started digging into her sides. “N-no! No no! Let me go!”

“I’ve got you now, little Ami.” Diana said, hugging her tighter. “And now the only thing left to do…is to eat you right up!”

Ami shrieked as Diana began nuzzling her face into her short, platinum blonde hair. “Aiiieee! Mama, help! She’s got me!”

Akko heroically dashed into the living room. “Not on my watch, you won’t, dragon! I’ll make sure you let that Great Witch go! Psheew!”

Akko waved her magic staff (in actuality, a random bauble Ami had found rummaging through a junk drawer) and at once, Diana clutched at her chest with a mighty groan. 

The newly freed Ami scampered away to hide behind Akko’s legs. “Mama, we must keep the Amulet away from the Queen of Dragons!” Ami said, pressing the piece of jewelry into Akko’s hands. “It’s the only way to revive the World Tree and save magic as we know it!”

Diana pushed herself up to her knees, briefly breaking character as she did so. “Hold on. Don’t run so fast, you two. You’re going to slip and hurt yourself.”

Akko nodded at their daughter. “Got it! If you can save the day before the Amulet loses its power, you’ll be the greatest witch of all time!” She said. After meeting the look in Diana’s eye, she quickly added, “…but, you know, we can do it a little slower.”

Akko reached over to help her wife up to her feet. Diana smiled, and gratefully took her hand. Almost instinctively, Akko leaned over as Diana pressed quick peck to her cheek.

Ami’s face scrunched up at the display. “…Dragons aren’t supposed to kiss heroes.”

“And what if the dragon truly wishes to give someone a little kiss every now and then?” Diana challenged, not relinquishing Akko’s hand from her own.

Ami wasn’t entirely sure how to argue against that, but from the look on her face, she clearly didn’t agree.  “…But she’s a Great Witch too, Mother.” She eventually decided. “We’re supposed to be defeating the dragons to save all of magic. It doesn’t make any sense for them to kiss.”

“Oh…” Akko realized. “…oh no…”

Ami’s eyes widened. “What?”

“The dragon queen! She’s…she’s using her mind powers to…hypnotize me!”

“What?”

“It’s too late for me!” Akko cried. “Save yourself, Ami! She’s got me! I’m…I’m falling to the dark side…!”

With a breathless gasp, Akko dramatically fell backwards into Diana’s arms as she pretended to daintily faint away.

Diana arched a brow at the woman now draped across her torso. “And what precisely do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s called improv, Di, you gotta keep up.” Akko waggled her brows. “Besides, if I’m on the dark side, I get to do this.”

She pushed herself upward until her lips met Diana’s. Akko grinned ear to ear as she pulled away. Diana fondly shook her head.

“You’re cute, darling.”

“Adorable.” Akko agreed. Diana snorted.

Their daughter, meanwhile, was completely indignant. “The dragon doesn’t have mind powers!” Ami insisted.

“But it would seem she does now, doesn’t it?” Diana said, narrowing her eyes dangerously. “And now, with that kiss, your Mama is under my wicked spell. How will you ever find the right magical hex to break her free?”

In response, Akko fell from Diana’s arms and to her knees. “Urgh, I’m changing…” She slowly trudged her way over to her daughter. “You need to get away, Ami…because I’m…I’m…”

Akko made a sudden grab at Ami, just barely (and deliberately) missing her entirely.

“I’m gonna getcha!”

Ami turned on her heels and ran, a surprised laugh escaping her lips. Akko was hot on her heels, tickling at the girl’s sides whenever she could get her hands within reach. The two of them dashed from one corner of the living room to the other.

Diana ended up giggling through her attempts at a reprimand. “A-Akko, for goodness sake!”

“You can’t team up!” Ami cried as she ducked under another grab. “I should be a dragon too now! You’re not allowed to team up anymore! Mother, help!”

“You better run!” Akko grinned. “I’m gonna get you! I’m gonna-!”

And it was right in that moment that Anna, the head maid, decided to walk into the living room, with a tray full of snacks. Akko barely managed to avoid colliding into her, largely from years’ worth of experience doing exactly that.

Ami was not quite so lucky.

“Good heavens!” Anna gasped. The tray fell from her hands, and clattered to the ground, sending her snacks all over the living room floor.

The three members of the Cavendish family collectively froze.  

“Ahaha…” Akko met the glare being sent her way, and winced. “Um…sorry?”

Anna planted her hands on her hips in an especially unamused manner. “Lady Diana. I thought you brought home one child, not three.”

Diana coughed into her fist. “M-my apologies, Anna. Here, don’t trouble yourself. I’ll clean it up. It was my fault.”

As Diana quickly went to work to clean up the mess their game had made, she gave Ami a soft tap on her back, and the kind of significant look a child understood from their parent almost immediately. The little girl folded her hands in front of her dress and shyly approached Anna.

“I’m very sorry, Miss Anna.” Ami said. “It was an accident. It won’t happen again.”

Anna snorted. “I’ve certainly heard that before.”

Ami bowed deeply, visibly worried that she truly hurt the woman’s feelings this time. “I’m very very sorry! We were just playing a game, I didn’t mean to make a mess. Please don’t be mad?”

Anna gave her a skeptical look for a moment, before bending down to her level, signaling her to get closer so she could whisper into her ear.

“…You had better take this, then.” Anna discreetly handed her the key to the Manor’s library. “It will let you enter the magic realm. I’ll hold off your pursuers for as long as I can until then.”

Ami nodded solemnly. “I won’t forget what you’ve done here today, Miss Anna.”

“And don’t leave the…! Ah, magic tomes…all over the floor this time!” Anna called out to Ami’s rapidly retreating form. With that, Anna was left to be sacrificed to the ferocious dragons.

Diana picked up the last remnants of food and placed them on the tray to be washed up. “Are you alright, Anna?”

“Of course.” Anna nodded. “…though I must admit, sometimes I’m a little unprepared for how lively this house is these days.”

“I can certainly agree. All the years we’ve lived here…I never quite realized how overdue this old house was for some happy memories…”

Diana’s thoughts traveled back in time as her eyes wandered across the room, from the aged antiques that had been here since the day she was born, and all the new additions and touch-ups that had been added in her adult life.

The Manor truly wasn’t the same place anymore.

Akko sheepishly rubbed at the back of her neck. “Guess I should’ve slowed down like you said, huh? My bad. I just got a bit too into the game, is all.”

“Don’t apologize.” Diana shook her head. “She’s having a good time. That’s the important thing.”

“Hee, maybe one day she’ll grow up and we’ll all get to go up against real dragons together. How would that be for some quality family time?”

“Oh, stop.” Diana waved her hand. “I don’t think I’m ready to imagine her growing up yet. She’s just so curious, and full of energy…she gets that from you, you know. Sometimes, I wish these days could just last forever.”

Akko blinked. “Diana…? Is everything alright?”

Diana grinned. “Alright? I used to wonder what kind of life my mother imagined for me when I was Ami’s age. But now I’ve got a beautiful daughter of my own. I married the best friend I ever had. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so blessed.”

“You still get really sappy sometimes, huh?” Akko teased.

Diana snaked her arms around her wife’s shoulders, and pulled her closer. “I have everything I could ever want under one roof. Can you really blame me…?”

The kiss Diana gifted to Akko was filled with the kind of gratefulness mere words couldn’t express. Akko was not the spouse Diana’s ancestors had pictured for her. But instead, she was so much greater. Diana could spend a lifetime searching for just the right way to thank her for all the joy she had brought into her life.

And she intended to do exactly that. Their lips parted, and Diana caught the flicker of light glinting off of Akko’s wedding ring.

Akko, a little more red-faced and misty eyed than she likely realized, opened her mouth to say something sweet in return, but spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

“…I don’t think dragons are supposed to kiss heroes though. Or that’s what I heard, at least.”

Diana looked over. Ami was sticking her head around the corner of the hallway, spying on what the two of them were doing instead of finishing their game with her.

“Hmm…” Diana absently called out. “It seems my…dragon…nose…still smells an intruder. Where could she be hiding this time?”

Ami quickly ducked her head out of sight. The pitter-pattering sound of feet running down the hallway was all it took for Diana’s smile to spread even wider across her face.

“Dragon nose.”

“Don’t you mock me, Atsuko.”

“I’m just saying! You just gotta work on your improv skills!”

“Then perhaps I should keep practicing. I believe we gave her enough of a head start.” Diana turned to her wife, and gestured down the hall of the Manor. “Let’s go find our daughter then, shall we?”

[osmw1]

Poison-Wielding Fugitive   Chapter 33

Eventually, we reached the backdoor of the dungeon—the entrance with the altar—and all those who are combat ready assembled together.

“Alright! Listen up! We’re tacklin’ this dungeon today to exterminate the monster behind the disease. Get into parties and don’t break formation!” “Yes, sir!”

Arleaf’s parents take up leadership roles and instruct the team. I wonder if they’re like the heads of the village or something.

“Our goal is to go as low as we can… however, we don’t know where the monster is lurkin’. It seems like the adventurers initially encountered it on the first floor. We’ll search high and low.”

Wow… this is totally gonna a pain in the ass. But wait, what will we do? Hmm… I’m worried that if I were to fight with the others, I’ll accidentally hurt them by friendly fire. To a certain degree, Muu would be fine if it gets hit by my poison, since it’s a mushroom. Oh, and how about sealing the dungeon’s entrance and I just release all of my poison?

‘I cannot recommend doing so. We know not whether there are ventilation holes. Furthermore, you have neither enough toxin nor mana to fill the dungeon.’

I thought so…

“Group up by the entrance of each floor before proceeding together. If any of you spot the monster, don’t let it out of your sight. But do not engage until all members are ready. If it knows it is being hunted, it may go into hiding and vanish. And if that happens, that’s a mission failure.”

We really are going monster hunting. When so many villagers and adventurers go out for a hunt together, they’re usually depicted as the bad guys. Maybe it’s different in reality.

‘The problem is how powerful our enemy is this time. No matter how big a group of humans may be, it does not change the fact that they are feeble creatures.’

Well… that’s why humans have developed spells like Forced Possession Summoning to defeat powerful monsters. By the way, what kind of monsters do you expect there’ll be?

‘From what I can tell, there should not be anything too frightful. If all the people here today were to give their best, who knows? Perhaps it may turn out fine.’

You don’t sound too optimistic.

‘If we knew everything there is to know about the enemy, this would not be such a hardship. But what often happens in the world is that misfortune befalls those who underestimate their opponents.’

True that… I’m only here because Veno underestimated his opponents too. So that’s what it means to speak from experience.

‘Hmph.’

Veno grumbles with an annoyed voice while we review our tactics.

“Since we’re merely a ragtag group, we don’t know how exactly what to expect. Cohgray, you and Arleaf take the rear entrance and head towards the second floor. We’ll rendezvous at the entrance of the third floor.”

It seems like Arleaf’s father heard from his daughter that I’ve been delved into the dungeon before. I guess he wants me to check through the places I’m familiar with.

“Understood.” “Alright, that’s all I’ve got to say. Next… let us pray at the altar.”

Huh? Arleaf’s parents clasp their hands at the altar, followed by the proprietress and other villagers. That’s where I changed jobs. Hmm? What? I thought that was a religion long forgotten or something.

They all clap their hands together. What is this, a Shinto shrine? What a devout bunch. Right after I thought that, the walls streak with what seems to be waves of static electricity and coils around us.

Wh-What was that? Can they not see it? For a split second, a magic circle appeared by my feet.

‘Hmm… what is this…’

Veno, what’s wrong?

‘The mana that consumed by Forced Possession Summoning has lessened.’

Veno’s mana gets forcibly drained by Forced Possession Summoning. But for it to lessen obviously has something to do with what just happened. Still, reducing the amount of mana that gets drained is a good thing, right?

‘Aye… it seems like all the power within that statue had flowed into me. There is a possibility that you may no longer be able to change jobs with that the altar.’

It’s out of juice, then? At what cost though? That was only a wee bit of mana for you. Was it really worth it?

‘That you were able to use the altar was merely fortunate of thee. Thou canst find some other object to change jobs.’

You have a point… but why did it happen when the villagers prayed? Arleaf’s father interrupts our conversation.

“Alright, move out! Cohgray! Arleaf! And the fungus too. I’m leaving this area to you lot.” “Yes, sir.” “Umm… my homunculus has a name, you know? Please, call him Muu.” “Mu!” “Don’t sweat the small stuff!”

That’s not something small. It’s not like it’s a ridiculously long name or anything. It feels like it’d be yet another long conversation if I had spoken up, so I let it slide. And so, we head through the backdoor of the dungeon and retrace our steps to search the second floor.

We entered the dungeon with more vigilance than normal. Perhaps a bunch of adventurers came by after hearing the rumors, but we haven’t encountered many animals. Plus, we’ve been here before Arleaf joined us, so I somewhat know the area. However, it seems like the fog is denser than before.

“The miasma is thicker than normal, but perhaps because I’m a Thaumaturge now, I can still breathe fine.” “Is that right?” “Yeah, I can tell even through the gas mask. I don’t feel a thing.”

Class really does make a huge difference, eh? As we progress down to the second floor… I hear a familiar howl and the creature the voice belongs to appeared.

A Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha and two others from his pack…? So you’ve finally showed up again!

“Muu!”

Sensing an enemy nearby, Muu draws his axe, charging into battle. I ready my crossbow and Arleaf begins to chant a spell. But… Muu stops in front of the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha.

“Muu?”

The Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha sits like a good doggo and looks towards me.

“Umm…”

What? What’s happening? The pack gathers before Arleaf and me.

“Woof!” ‘Hmm… I sense no hostility. Take a look at it.’

Veno highlights the skin of the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha in my vision. Dorimsvoyta crystals grow on its skin, much like the people in the village. They’re infected too? I take a look around to find all the other Midnight Blue Wolves to have crystals growing from their bodies. Seeing how they’re showing no hostility, I inch forward a little closer to them. Then, the alpha points to the path with its muzzle and turns his back to me.

‘Hmm… he certainly earned the right to be leader. Very clever.’

What do you mean?

‘They, too, are infected. They must be fed up with the mastermind behind this disease as well.’

Well, last time we fought together, they retreated quickly. They’ve gotta be rather smart. But isn’t there a chance that this could be a trap? Maybe they’re involved with this as well.

‘Though I cannot guarantee it to be an impossibility, it must be obvious if thou look at their condition. The corpses of their comrades must be piled high by now. They have no choice but to turn to us for help.’

The enemy of my enemy, huh?

‘So, it seems that they are trying to assist us… perhaps the salamander is hiding in a considerably difficult place to find and the wolves are trying to lead us there.’

They have no choice but to come to us. A large group of villagers and adventurers are out hunting after all. If they really are as smart as Veno seems to think, why don’t they just stay low and have us humans slay the beast? They could have kept on being spectators without lifting a finger.

“It seems like they’re gonna show us the way. They seem to be victims too.” “That’s… no, that’s quite possible.”

She’s a quick thinker.

“I’ve fought with them before. I killed one of their comrades and literally tanned its hide though…”

The Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha casts a sidelong glance, almost as if it were laughing at me.

“Seems like he doesn’t mind though.” ‘The present situation is more important than old grudges. After this all blows over, I may just make them my retainers because of how very clever they are.’

What, didn’t you just say all of their friends have died already?

“We should probably tell my father about this.” “The thing is that there’s still some time before we rendezvous though. I think it’s more important that we follow them and make sure where the target monster is hiding first.”

We don’t even know yet if they’re really showing us the way. Plus, we don’t know where the enemy is hiding. And if it is, how would we even tell? If we mess up, we’ll be dead. It might be better if we just stuck to the plan. But… it’s important to know where the monster is hiding.

“… you have a point. We may be searching in the wrong place after all. This is more important than rendezvousing.”

We follow the guidance of the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha. Along the way, we see the Claret Sunflowers standing guard, but the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha takes a detour to avoid being detected by them. It’s shocking how well they know the layout of this place.

‘Perhaps they have the skill Vision Perception. It is a skill that allows one to see how much their target can see.’

Does a plant like Claret Sunflower have eyes? Maybe it’s like Muu with eyes growing out of nowhere? However it may be, we reach a corner in the second floor without much difficulty.

“Woof, woof.”

The Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha starts scratching the wall. The wall of the cave breaks off in small bits. Hmm? Those bits are kinda weird. They’re like wooden splinters.

“Yukihisa, maybe it’s…”

Yeah. Even I know what it’s trying to do.

‘This must be a secret path. It is not surprising for one to be here. Aye… this wall is one of plant. Surely thou know what is next.’

Yeah, of course. I use Poison Release to splatter the wall with concentrated swamp toxin. The poison soaks into what I thought was the wall and it turns purple.

“Mu!”

Taking advantage of it, Muu swings his axe and cleaves the wall. That’s his Hatchet Crash. It’s super effective against plants. Though I’m not exactly sure how that would ever be useful. The wall turns into a flurry of wood chips and reveal a path behind where it once stood. What’s that? It’s a dungeon, a cave-like one, with an abundance of plants and moss into a strange purplish hue.

“We wouldn’t have found this hidden passage even if we were to search every nook and cranny.” “I agree.”

Well, now let’s go get Arleaf’s parents and the others… or so I wanted to. But the air coming from the hidden passage begins to oscillate and vibrates through us.

The Midnight Blue Wolf then begins to whimper. His underlings, too, are crying out, seemingly in pain.

“What’s wrong?!”

I called out to the wolves and then I saw it. The crystals coming out of the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha visibly gets larger and larger.

“Perhaps… it knows that we have discovered its hiding place.” ‘The girl is likely right. It knows that we have exposed it and so it is showing us its determination. It is tightening the grasp of Dorimsvoyta.’

Hold on a minute! Arleaf’s parents and some others are able to fight, but they have infected in their ranks too.

‘If we wait to rendezvous with the others, not only will they suffer, but on top of that, we know not of what will happen to the people in the area. If we send out a signal out, we can tell the others where we are. But if we do not hurry and deal with it, the casualties will only increase. I recommend thee to first begin battle.’ “If we don’t hurry to engage and stall the monster, there’ll only be more victims. Let’s diverge from the plan and engage the monster first.” “Understood.”

The Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha whines at us. What is it?

‘It is saying that it its subordinates shall guide reinforcements here and so it wishes for something that easily shows that they are allies.’ “Arleaf, it’s saying that they’ll guide your parents and the other adventurers here.”

I raise my hand up and Veno deduces that I wanted a pen and paper.

“Thank you for everything you have done.”

I briefly jot down that I determined where the monster was hiding and that the Midnight Blue Wolves are our allies. Then, I tied a copy around each of their necks with cloth.

“Awoo!”

The alpha of the Midnight Blue Wolves howls, sending his subordinates out. Even though they’re supposedly weakened by Dorimsvoyta, it really doesn’t show.

“Woof!”

Then, one of them barks at us, seemingly as if to say that our destination is just up ahead and telling us to keep following them. … for some reason, they just look so smart even when I’m just looking at their backsides.

“Alright! Let’s go!” “Yes!” “Mu!”

We run out, following the secret route.

The path was full of traps—ones full of bacteria and mold. Our enemy monster really seems to like to prey on the weak spots of its opponent. Veno detects the traps for me and I absorb it all with my Poison Absorption and sometimes even, the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha had us ride on its back to break through.

Veno also makes a map of this dungeon and places a bird’s-eye view minimap in my vision. It’s quite a ways away from the original dungeon we were searching. Even though we knew the monster exists, we were searching in the wrong place. This is all thanks to the Midnight Blue Wolves.

‘Since it vibrates the air to stimulate Dorimsvoyta, a perceptive adventurer may have been able to find this place.’

Only if it were to turn out well.

‘However… this construction of this dungeon seems to have been quite hurried. Perhaps our target monster made it by dissolving the walls.’

Maybe that’s why it’s purple too. It’s quite the eerie monster. This dungeon is a combination of three different parts, hey? The underground altar was originally a cave of an ancient village, then a famous monster made the dungeon, and now the monster this time made this tunnel. I wonder if it took a long time to make all this.

‘The monster constructed it themselves. That mea— it is reacting! Watch out!’

I froze as soon as I heard Veno’s warning, holding my arms out so that neither Arleaf nor Muu steps out in front of me.

‘Shoot the wall to your right!’

Veno marks the target and I pull the trigger. What I thought was the wall suddenly rises and appears while it swats my bolt out of the air. The bolt went thunk on the ground, some smoke rising from it. I take a good look at my opponent.

To describe it in a sentence, it’s… a monster that looks like a humongous salamander. Its body is purple with a red belly, looking quite toxic. It stands on two feet and looks at us. A seemingly intelligent being. It’s about three meters long and rather wide as well, making it much bigger than it looks. The monster looks like it has a scarf on its neck and that it’s smirking at us.

“Grr…”

The Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha intimidatingly growls at the monster in front of it—Elbatoxin, as it is named. Elbatoxin laughs. It opens its mouth while continuously flicking its tongue at us.

‘I say… I had thought the humans were searching the other dungeon after realizing I was operating in the shadows. But to think that a meddling monster was in their ranks… an absolute disgrace to all monsters.’

You understand what it’s saying? Even though you don’t understand the Midnight Blue Wolf Alpha? Though I know for whatever reason that it’s not human language. I don’t get your criteria. I look over to Arleaf but she doesn’t look shocked at all.

previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /ch027/ /ch028/ /ch029/ /ch030/ /ch031/ /ch032/ /ch033/ /next/ (full list of translated chapters) (discussion thread on Novel Updates) (please support me on Patreon or Paypal)