#this hasn't been translated right...? i didn't find any...

[wraithofmorhogg]

Avallac'h: The Most Misunderstood Witcher Character A Character Study

I feel people have wrongly judged him for someone that we only get for ONE chapter and a small cameo from Geralt and one other prospective so I would like to speak on my prospective of Avallac'h as a character. Starting out it is interesting to me that whenever he speaks of Ciri having the promised child he seems to shut down. Right off the bat that sounds to me like dissociation. Not nefarious evil.

But notice that when Ciri insults Auberon this is the first time his face changes. Why? He says this is her 'only chance to be free' and his face goes back to that blank, stone look once he returns to the subject of a child. Only chance to be free? Hmm...

"You don't know what you mean." He says. And then he runs away from her. He says this more than once. "You don't know what you mean." "You don't know what you're talking about." Or in another translation "You don't know what you're risking." So, what does this all mean? Well as it turns out Auberon has the answer.

The King claims that Ciri is there selfishly so she doesn't have to experience Avallac'h's lab, but Avallac'h never once told her that his lab was an option. She doesn't even KNOW there is an alternative. "If it isn't me, it will be Avallac'h and his lab.""You cannot even imagine what it would mean for you to go there." And Avallac'h doesn't want to do that to her. He doesn't want to use his lab. So, in his own strange way Avallac'h is trying to protect or save Ciri from this horror. Again, back to this line.

"You don't know what you mean." "You don't know what you're talking about." Avallac'h does NOT want to use his lab on her. He is doing everything within his power to avoid it. Why? He must genuinely care about her in some way. We don't know the reasoning that he does. Does Ciri remind him of Lara? Or is he doing this out of duty to Lara to protect her child? Because no matter what anyone says Avallac'h clearly wholeheartedly loved Lara and Ciri as he states is a part of Lara. Whatever it maybe he does care about Ciri, or he would have taken her straight to his lab in the first place. I don't think Avallac'h actually wanted any of this for Ciri at all, but he thought that her sleeping with the King was the only way he could preserve her life.

This is after Ciri has pissed off Auberon and the alternative must be Ava's lab. The walls of the palace have ears. Avallac'h must know and he has mysteriously disappeared. So, what happens next?

The King is dead. Poisoned.

People claim Eredin, but Eredin was surprised. He had no idea. So, who else does that leave us with? Avallac'h who has been mysteriously missing when usually he is around to console Ciri after the King has been a prick to her. I think in the end he poisoned Auberon to protect Ciri. As Avallac'h told Geralt "Someone else will help her now." we know he meant himself. Avallac'h has clearly done just that if he hasn't been behind the scenes doing so all along.

Another interesting thing to note a lot of people use the "he strangled Ciri" to claim him as evil, but depending on the translation he didn't actually do that. It says he "COULD" choke her. Not that he did. He appears to just be holding her. Not pleasant sure but not choking either. She did just say something that must have been horribly painful to him. (and maybe just maybe he was a little tempted by her proposition of it being him instead of Auberon)

He was quite quick to forgive her, wasn't he? Perhaps because they both acted foolishly. Finally, I want to point out a couple of other things that someone who is evil just wouldn't bother to do.

I find it interesting that Avallac'h realized she was embarrassed and upset and he 'quickly' stopped to comfort her. To say it was fine in his own way.

Comforting her. Using her own language. Which in the elf world means he's probably lowing his status for her. When Ciri is upset about the king being a total prick to her. Again. Avallac'h patiently hears her out. Even if hearing those details of the woman that shares Lara's eyes doing things with another man must be awful. A "strange smile" indeed.

Bonus: Avallac'h helps Geralt

And at one-point other humans who if I recall correctly, he was guiding through a blizzard for some reason? Maybe it depends on the translation?

Does he really hate humans or is he just bitter he lost Lara to one? I suspect he doesn't really hate them as much as he says he does, or he wouldn't be helping them at all. "Bored she-elves"? Tsk tsk. This has nothing to do with bored elves. It is all about you and Lara. All in all, Avallac'h is not a bad guy. He is not evil. That does not mean he is 100% a good person, but nobody is. One thing we can get is that he does care about Ciri. What is Ciri to Avallac'h? We may never know. Maybe even he himself has no idea.

Thus ends my character study on Book! Avallac'h (for now) and I thank those that took the time to share open-mindedly (I hope) this little study with me.

[loveriotss]

hihihi!! i love your shinso texts and your writing style is amazing !!! i was wondering if you could maybe do some sick headcannons with him😖😖

SICK HEADCANNONS WITH HIM ⸻ hitoshi shinso

INCLUDES — gn! reader, headcannons, fluff, slight crack

main masterlist — mha masterlist ༊*·˚

IF YOU FELL SICK . . .

when you fall sick, 90% of the time it's one that could have been avoided if you had listened to shinso's advice. perhaps you were sick today because you had gone out on that rainy day yesterday despite shinso's warnings.

shinso can tell something is wrong when you randomly don't reply to his messages in the afternoon and so he decides to visit your room.

when he finds you laying on your bed, he shakes his head and checks your temperature through your forehead with the back of his hand.

"i told you so" "shut up"

and thus the afternoon turns into shinso being your personal nurse.

he makes sure you're wrapped up in your blanket properly, closing the windows to keep out the cold air.

he'd even put on some fuzzy cat socks on your feet after seeing you try to rub your freezing toes on your blanket in an attempt to defrost them.

will not leave your side at all.

makes sure you've drank enough water and taken your meds properly.

will even cook you a nice warm soup, spoon feeding you gently.

he will nag you to take care of yourself and how stupid it was of you to go out, all while lovingly caressing your hair and being at your beck and call.

you found it a bit silly that he was getting so worried about a little cold you had, but were grateful nonetheless.

after he makes sure that you're comfortable, he will climb into bed with you despite your complaints that he will get sick too.

will cuddle with you, giving your body extra warmth until the two of you drift off to sleep.

IF HE FELL SICK . . .

whenever shinso falls sick, it's mostly because of him overworking his body while training which results in him losing his voice and having body aches.

he thinks hes soo slick by texting you that he's going to bed early so you won't know he's sick. THE shinso hitoshi going to bed early?? not possible.

in under 5 minutes you are knocking on his door. when he unlocks the door for you, you find him looking even more tired than he usually does. his room is in bit of a mess, he hasn't changed out of his uniform and your suspicions are confirmed.

after some nagging and pushing you finally got shinso down into his bed, clearing it up a bit before standing up with a satisfied grin.

"don't worry kitten, daddy will take care of you" "..leave me alone"

he still thinks he should be able to take care of himself but his body aches too much to even move so he reluctantly lets you do whatever you want.

you cook him some soup and herb tea, just like he does when you're sick.

you even put on some songs that he likes in a low and comfortable volume as you busied yourself in cleaning up his room a little.

shinso's eyes follow wherever you go, drinking his soup slowly. he has always kept to himself whenever he fell ill but having someone take care of him and his space mades him feel a bit fuzzy inside.

he won't admit it out loud though.

you stay by his side, caressing his purple locks gently, ignoring the forced glare he has on you because you were so close to him and he was getting nervous he didn't want you to catch his fever.

he's like a silent grumpy cat when he's sick, motioning that he can do things by himself but you never listen anyway.

when he does get better, he will take you out on a little date or shower you with affection. again he will not admit it out loud but he really is thankful that you take care of him when he's sick.

NOTE — helloo i didn't know if you were requesting for shinso to be sick or for the reader to be sick so i did both!!

©loveriotss — all rights reserved to me. please don’t try to copy/steal my work. please do not use any of my ideas/translate my work without my permission.

[scrompsautobotsrchives]

Hello! You could write with Bumblebee ROTB where he and the reader are good friends and the autobot team receives a threat that includes hurting the reader, Bee becomes alert and watches over her, that with every little thing the reader does he looks at her, or every time For the reader to turn around, Bumblebee looks away because he doesn't want her to know that he is being overprotective of her because they are both good friends.

I saw your post about applications being open :D (Sorry if the wording is wrong, I'm using the translator) have a nice day <3

Protection squad

No need to apologise anon, I think I understand what your asking for so here you go :D. Word count:716

You always looked forward to after school. It always meant that you could hang out with the Autobots. Bee, especially, is super excited for you to burst through the doors. He patiently waits for 3PM to ring. Just like that, he immediately saw you, trying so hard to stay still, he was just so happy to see his bestie after 6 cruel hours.

It had been fairly quiet back at the base of operations, with Optimus keeping an eye on any Decepticon activity, Mirage then heard Bee's engine as you entered the building.

"Sup y/n" He saluted you two from where he sat.

"Hey mirage, What's been happening ??" You said as you got out, Bee transforming back.

"Nothing much, Primes' got his optics locked in tight on some cons that have been getting cozy a little too close" He gestured so and so, You all haven't noticed any form of Decepticon activity ever since the trio crashed onto earth, But Optimus was always way too cautious.

"They do best to stay away, But we're keeping an eye on it" Optimus turned his head briefly to look down and greet you before going back to the screen... A message then popped up on the screen, a voice message, it started to play a little bit crackly before Optimus finally got it stable enough for it to be clear.

"This message is for Optimus Prime... We are aware of your team's location, and your human contact..."

You looked up at the screen when it was said about a human contact, surely it couldn't be you could it... "Who is it ??" Optimus held a hand out to you gently so he could continue listening.

"We are prepared to take action, If you do not surrender yourself. Your human is on the line..." The message ended there.

You and the Autobots looked at each other, Ok you were now fully scared. How did they know of them and you... Optimus frowned slightly, but bee was also very worried.

"How do they know ??" You looked up at them.

"Cons..." Mirage muttered.

"But they couldn't have found you guys already, whoever sent that has to be bluffing... right ??"

"So our enemies are closer than we have had anticipated... we will keep an eye on you and find our intruders, Bumblebee I want you to keep an eye out for y/n" He looked at his commrade.

"Yes sir..." The radio flicked as he made a salute gesture.

Bumblebee was not going to let any con hurt you, no matter what. But along the way you began to notice how protective he was... sometimes even to the extreme, He parked a little closer to the school doors, following you to your weekend job, Hell even when you had to go to the bathroom he got nervous !!

You knew Bee was just trying to look out for you, But you needed to have your space as well. It's also been a couple weeks since the message... But he still hasn't let up. Every time you turned around, he would always distance himself and feign what he was doing. What him ?? He wasn't looking, tapping his digits together and looking away ooh a butterfly.

"Bee I know your looking at me..." You sighed

He whirred a little and turned around a bit more, shuffling and flipping up his doors to shield the sides of his face. "No you don't..."

You frowned a little and gently walked to him, placing a hand gently on his digit. "I know you want to keep me safe buddy... But this... is a little extreme..."

He whirred sadly, He just wanted to keep you safe, he didn't want to let any Decepticon hurt you... He didn't want to lose the one thing that helped him with his time on earth, He was doing it cause you were his best friend.

"I know..." You reached up to wrap your arms around his neck to hug him, nice and tight. "But I'll be ok... I promise" You gently placed your hand on his cheek as he leaned into the touch. "Keep... you... safe" the radio flicked as he happily nuzzled his free cheek against yours.

Bee will keep you safe for as long as he lived, always.

Taglist: @callofdudes

[kfan04]

What do you think is going on with Kaito and Romeo?

I've posted this on Reddit and now I'm posting it here so I more people see it and talk to me!

Particularly I'm interested in why Romeo seems to be so clingy with Kaito. I know that there are already some explanations — Kaito's debt and Kaito's pendant — but don't you think Romeo is putting too much effort into this?

Regarding debt: does Romeo chase around everyone with debt on the regular basis? Also, the academy is clearly full on well-off students, it would make much more sense to concentrate on them. Kaito doesn't have money and he won't somehow get them out of nowhere (Luca is another discussion).

Regarding pendant: have you noticed that Romeo is trying to convince Kaito to give him the pendant, instead of taking it away by force? Throughout the chapters he hasn't really tried to take the pendant away, although I think Romeo's more than capable of it. He is stronger than Kaito and the latter didn't have any protectors before Luca (Tohma and Jin are also not shown to be close enough to Kaito to defend him in the past). Otherwise, there must have been tons of opportunities for Romeo to hurt or kill Kaito and take away the pendant, everyone dies left and right, even when they were on the mission — little accident, minus one ghoul, nobody would've probably suspected anything. Why hasn't Romeo taken the pendant away already?

Who would go that far for the indebted guy? Or even for a pendant? It's more like Romeo's interested in Kaito being constantly around, but also, why?

Regarding Romeo's time and effort: despite being the busy man Romeo claims he is, he still finds time to regularly look around for Kaito, calling his name, and with a gun. He asks MC for Kaito's schedule — twice. He spams Kaito with messages. He locks Kaito in the cage in his private office very few people know about — this is just another level, because why. He also takes Kaito on a mission with him, when being told that was his chance to assemble the best possible team — notably, he goes for Kaito before contacting his actual friends, and also has to threaten Kaito to go with him in first place. On the mission, it's Romeo's decision to split, and both times he takes Kaito with him, also physically dragging him and just casually intimidating him along the way.

Regarding Romeo's attitude: he's the mix of tenderness and frustration when it comes to Kaito. The phrase he use to call him is Doko itta no, dete oide? which translates kinda like "Where have you gone? Come on, come out!" and is often used to talk to animals and kids. He also uses Fuji-kun, emphasising on either Kaito being his kouhai, or being on friendly terms with him. He's very touchy when it comes to Kaito — grabbing his hand, his collar, his ear, shaking his shoulders, clamping a hand over his mouth. It's not necessarily tender, but it seems that Romeo finds it absolutely natural to act towards Kaito in such way. Romeo's also often implying Kaito acts unreasonable towards him when not willing to comply, like when Kaito is hiding or running away from him, or when he doesn't want to go on the mission. One time he says something along the lines "there's more on the map than that, so just shut up and do as I say", implying it's in Kaito's interest to listen to him.

Why does Romeo seem to be convinced that Kaito should be doing as he says without asking questions?

Regarding Kaito's attitude: Kaito isn't shown to be super intimidated by Romeo. Yes, he runs away away from him, and in one voiceline he mentions he started getting chills when someone calls his name because of Romeo — so it's not like Kaito doesn't recognise Romeo as a threat. However, Kaito is constantly talking back and resisting. When talking to Romeo, Kaito openly questions his decisions, mocks him, swears at him, uses omae, simply disagrees and Romeo has to put a lot of effort to actually get Kaito to do something — and half of the time, Kaito doesn't do what is expected of him anyway. He talks to Romeo almost freely, definitely less scared than with Jin or with Tohma, or even with Ren or Jiro. Interestingly, Kaito uses Romeo-san, instead of -senpai, like with Tohma and Jin. Kaito also doesn't seem to have a clue about why Romeo is following him, but he's not interesting in figuring it out either, just "weird guy, ugh how annoying, does he ever stop".

Unlike Romeo who perceives his own actions as natural, justified as "Well I'm just collecting debt", Kaito openly talks about how strange Romeo acts towards him. Locked in the cage, he says "shut up, kidnapping creep" and "do you even realise how unhinged you sound" when Romeo says no one would save him from there... When MC says "he has certainly taken a liking to you", Kaito corrects "liking, more like stalking".

For now, no one except Luca and to some degree MC hasn't commented on Romeo's and Kaito's connection — do they know? Or do they don't care? Or both.

Regarding timeline: Kaito mentions Romeo has been on his tail for half of the year. Before that, he wasn't even in the gambling den. This lines up with the estimated time of the Clash. Does Romeo's interested in Kaito has something to do with the Clash? Did it just happen in the same time? Kaito says he has somehow avoided the Clash — he himself doesn't connect the Clash with Romeo's interest in him. Kaito doesn't seem to connect Romeo's interest with anything, implying it was sudden. It could be that the determining point of the Romeo's interest was the moment Romeo was looking at Kaito from a distance, if Kaito cannot remember any special confrontation. What doesn't line up is the warding card of Romeo standing above Kaito and looking at his pendant — judging by his expression, for the first time. Who wouldn't have remembered this situation? Another thing, Kaito mentions that he hasn't seen Romeo much before, and he wasn't even in the gambling den. So although Romeo justifies his hobby by collecting debt, he possibly wasn't that interested in collecting this debt initially, before that special point six month ago.

Regarding paperwork: Luca repays Kaito's debt in the prologue, another simple solution to Kaito repaying his debt and Romeo not having to go after him ever again. Yet Romeo claims "he still owes rate of interest, so it's not enough to buy his freedom". To which Luca replies "I'd like to see the paperwork then", and Romeo's muttering he "hates men with brain". Other than Kaito commenting on how he didn't know about the rate of interest (which could be written off as ignorance, and not necessarily as Romeo deceiving him), Romeo's comment suggests there might be something unclear with the documentation. Another important paper is the one Romeo threatens to show the MC when telling Kaito to join him on the mission. It is not the debt-related issue — MC already knows about it. It is something that Kaito feels to be embarrassed about, and something that allows Romeo to say "you really think you can say no?". In the prologue, when Romeo demands pendant, Kaito also replies with "this is one thing you will never get from me" — one thing? Does that mean Kaito agrees in some way Romeo can demand anything else? The paper which Romeo threatens to show the MC — which conditions are written there?

Let's assume that Kaito does owe Romeo more than money. What exactly is Romeo gaining in this situation? Why would he need specifically Kaito's compliance in the first place? Why Kaito of all people, of all ghouls. Okay, maybe Romeo thinks it's handy to get a guy who he can threaten to do anything. Why would he put so much energy into keeping Kaito close to him — especially on the occasions that could've used more catered to the situations ghouls, like the mission. Judging by how he addresses Kaito as "plebeian", he doesn't think Kaito's pendant connects him with the powerful family, plus he comments how Kaito doesn't know its true value. So Romeo is not after Kaito's potential prestige.

What is notable, is that Romeo is deliberately keeping Kaito close and monitors his actions.

Romeo's behaviour doesn't make sense. It especially doesn't make sense considering he is acting rationally when it comes to missions, or his income, or dealing with others, which means there is an explanation for how he acts with Kaito — my guess, it directly or indirectly includes money, or another physical value.

What are your thoughts? Have I missed something? I'd die to discuss, really. I see all these signs, but I can't really understand what it means. I know we are quite early in the story, but for the 13 chapters the story has been very consistent with the relationship between Romeo and Kaito, and Kaito's pendant. I'm super interested to know what others think!

[croquettish]

Hi, thesis anon (for lack of a better name lol) back again. I wanted to pick your brain about Radzig and Henry's relationship (imo one of the most fascinating dynamics in the games) - specifically the question of legitimization. Do you think Radzig has any intention to even try and legitimize Henry post-kcd2? I understand with the king in Vienna, that wouldn't immediately be possible. But would he want to, do you think? Would the king grant his request if he did make it? And would Henry want to be legitimized?

How important is it that Radzig has no legitimate heirs? He honestly doesn't seem to care as much about it...is it because he is a minor lord? While Hans is being forced into marriage and heirs, nobody seems to care Radzig is a (legitimate) childless bachelor...why?

I also go back and forth on the legitimacy thing for Henry. Would it mean he'd have to continue the Kobyla line (would he take that name? I'm sorry for being ignorant about this), and thus get pushed into the same situation as Hans? In that case I am very sure he would not want the political responsibilities that come with legitimacy. As we see in the game, Henry seems to be pretty free to do his own thing in a way that Hans isn't. I don't think he'd want to give that up. Also there's his complicated feelings towards Martin as his pa, though he didn't have a last name as a commoner. Also, would Radzig force him into it, if he decided he wanted to legitimize Henry? Probably not, right?

Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts! ❤️

Thesis anon, hello!

So I went digging into Radzig's history a bit more which included sifting through a Czech text that I clumsily google translated (Tomáš Šimek's Hrady, zámky a tvrze v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku). According to that, he definitely had a wife (Anna of Úlibic) who was left widowed after he died in 1416. His wiki article mentioned that he had sons who were taken care of by Mikuláš Šraňek and Mikuláš of Úlibice, but I could not find any mention of that in the source it cites. Instead, it says that "The castle was then held by the widow Anna of Úlibice together with Mikuláš Šraňek and Mikuláš of Úlibice."

Again, that could be the limitations of auto-translation, but I don't think that's the case. I imagine that Warhorse took that lack of sons or lack of clarity and used it to their advantage, and just didn't give him sons in the game. I mean, callback to us talking about how they play fast and loose with history, as far as we know he doesn't have a wife in canon either even though we know that she seems to have existed by 1403.

The thing is, you say that he doesn't seem to care much, but I don't think that's entirely true. We haven't had enough time to talk to Radzig about where he stands on this matter. Henry only learns that Radzig is Dadzig at the end of KCD1 and next to no time passes between the two games. Even when they meet up in KCD2 it's always for very brief instances: on the road after the Maleshov rescue, where they split up again straight away, and then again at the very end of the game. They get the chance to speak up on the hill, join the feast, and then end up splitting up again. Talk of legitimacy or anything else hasn't really had the chance to come up at all. Henry even admits at one point that he barely knows Radzig:

Which is honestly kind of heartbreaking in its own way. Meanwhile, Radzig doesn't hesitate at any point. He's been in Henry's life (even if it was on the periphery thereof) all his life and clearly watched him grow up. One of my favorite moments in KCD1 is when Henry steps away from where they were talking and Radzig sort of quietly calls him son. It's honestly quite touching and a bit sad how desperately he wants to embrace that father and son dynamic after having been denied it his whole life.

I also think it's notable (and relevant to Henry's potential legitimization) that Henry rises in the ranks fast. You'll recall how annoyed Hans was that Henry flagrantly breaks rules and is then rewarded for it. He's put in the city watch, Radzig takes him into his service, he gets constant commendations for the things he does (which do, of course, deserve commendation, but still). He also gets upgraded to Hans' squire, squires having been either nobles themselves, perhaps expecting to be knights one day, or at the very least important enough to be the lords of their own manors regardless of status.

All that in mind, I think the game is prepping things really nicely actually to suggest that Radzig might hope to legitimize Henry. Here's the issue: if Radzig dies without legitimate heirs, his line dies with him and his lands and assets would be redistributed. In other words, they go back to the king and thereby end up available for distribution to other nobles that said king might want to reward or bribe or what have you. Ergo, it's in the king's best interest not to legitimize anyone.

Here's where the tinfoil hat goes back on. Wouldn't it be FUN if KCD3 was about going to rescue Wenceslas from prison NOT ONLY because it means that Hans can get his land, but ALSO because it would mean that Wenceslas would owe them and would thus be compelled accordingly to reward Radzig by legitimizing Henry? Eh? Eh??? 👀

I will say that, off the top of my head, I don't think that Henry would want to be legitimized. Or would care all that much. His status is more or less secure at this point. He's going to be part of the landed gentry no matter what. Hans is already promising him a million noble estates, not to mention that Henry has a level of social mobility that is genuinely something to be envied for the time. And legitimization would restrict a lot of that freedom in a big way. He'd end up, as you said, with a lot of political responsibility, he would take Radzig's last name (though I don't think that would matter to him all that much, since it's not like it would overwrite another last name, it would just add one on that wasn't there before), and he would be expected to marry well and have heirs. At least that would be the hope for him.

Then again, even non-legitimized bastards sometimes were placed into beneficial marriages that would serve to further elevate their status, so he's not entirely free of that sort of fate. But I don't think Radzig would force him into such a marriage, nor do I think he'd force him to accept legitimization if he didn't want it. However.

I think if there was a concern regarding Radzig's line, if Henry caught wind of the fact that his father was losing sleep over the fact that his line might end and that his assets and land would go back to the crown... especially bearing in mind that this could possibly mean Sigismund, in which case someone like von Bergow would end up with the land? I think Henry would do the self-sacrificial, selfless thing he loves to do so very much and bite the bullet. And go rescue the king in Vienna for both him and Hans' sake.

[jullbnt]

@aikoiya The post was getting long again so here's a new one!

I knew you were going to answer that saying "this is unfair" isn't real life logic haha (and I agree that life hasn't been fair to Sky and Sun anyway). It's just that such an ending would probably leave me feeling unsatisfied and even a bit robbed, and I think it would require a lot of other changes to be made to the story in order for it to work properly. But anyway you're right, as things are now this would just be happening behind the scenes so what I'm saying doesn't really make sense. But just thinking about it changes my perception of SS in a way I don't really enjoy, so it's not a theory I favor.

Yes in that setting I'm pretty sure that the other Sun would not make herself known to Link and Zelda and would let them have their happy ending. But I think Zelda would likely suspect her existence and know that something is wrong. I guess even Link could notice that the Temple's doors are suddenly open and would ask Impa a few questions.

I had no idea Tingle called Farore the Goddess of Wind in WW, so I went on a little quest to see if I could find the same quote in the French version of the game. Apparently it's in Tingle's description of Outset Island and I never had the chance to play with the Tingle Tuner mode. I can't find the same quote in French anywhere and I don't even know if this was included in the HD remake (I guess I'll have to wait for a Switch version to find out… if they ever release one). This has me wondering if this quote isn't something exclusive to the English version, but I can't be sure and I'd like to know what the original Japanese text says. The French wikis mention that Farore is the Goddess of Wind in WW but don't provide any quote, it just looks like the pages were translated from English but that they couldn't find the same quote in French. It's really frustrating!!

Anyway that's a bit weird because WW already establishes Zephos as the God of Wind, and he seems to be a minor deity compared to Farore. The way I see it, wind is just the element that Farore tends to be associated with, and since a lot of myths might have been lost with Hyrule in WW this could just be a mistake on Tingle's part. I mean this is the game that gave us the Golden Triumph Forks haha.

I'm not limiting Nayru/the Golden Goddesses to a singular domain, quite the opposite ^^ To me Nayru being the Goddess of Wisdom includes different concepts such as order, law, science, magic, etc., and even time (since she's introduced as the creator of the world's fondamental laws), while calling her the Goddess of Time doesn't include all of that. That's why I wrote that I found it a bit restrictive. But sure she could have both titles, the same way Farore could be known most commonly as the Goddess of Courage and also called the Goddess of Wind in some situations.

Oh I didn't think of the blocks from OoT! I would say though that they don't really use any time powers, they're just random blocks that appear or disappear for some reason when Link plays the Song of Time (it's just as absurd as playing the Song of Storms to open holes in the ground haha). But yes they were blue and associated with time, and of course Nayru is too. The difference with Hylia in my theory is that Nayru created the rules of time (if that makes sense) among other fundamental laws, while Hylia's power specifically allows her to manipulate time and foresee the future. In a way I see Hylia as Nayru's spiritual daughter who inherited some of her powers over time (and that's why the color purple she's represented with is very close to blue).

The Master Sword has also been depicted as either blue or purple though, so that asks the question of the true color of all of these things! Nayru is definitely linked to time so it makes sense that the timeshift stones are in Lanayru (and Hylia also doesn't have a province named after her).

"From the edge of time" could definitely just be a poetic way to say that Hylia kind of recorded a message for Link before dying haha. But I find it interesting that she would phrase it like that, I like to see it as a clue.

Well if Zelda simply sent Link to a point further back in time, wouldn't there be two Links existing at the same time in the Child Timeline? But sure Zelda creating a brand new timeline also raises a few questions that kind of... make my head hurt. I'm not sure what happens exactly, I've always wondered! All we know is that Link finds himself in the Master Sword's chamber with the Door of Time already open, which hints at things happening in a different way this time (because he definitely doesn't have the three spiritual stones and the Ocarina of Time yet since this is before Ganon's coup, and the ending seems to imply that this timeline's Zelda doesn't know him yet). That's why I believe Zelda might have done something a bit more complex than sending him to a point further back in time, but there's no way to be sure. The Triforce of Courage is also visible on Link's hand during the ending, and we also know thanks to TP that the Triforce is still separated in the Child Timeline despite Link and Zelda preventing Ganon from entering the Sacred Realm this time. So maybe Zelda isn't able to change everything? It's complicated haha.

Anyway, whether OoT Zelda creates a new timeline or just sends Link further back in time, that's still huge time powers and that's not something Link is able to do by playing Zelda's Lullaby.

I also believe it is more likely that Talon inherited the ranch. True, Talon might not always have been so lazy, but maybe if that was the case the game could have hinted at hit. All we know is that he leaves his daughter alone with Ingo and only comes back after Link deals with the situation, which does not make him look so great. And he only promises to work harder after that.

I'm kind of bad with names so I'm impressed you're going through all of that trouble to rename the settlements!!

I haven't gotten to developping the technology that much yet, but I'm really interested in seeing what the different races could do with it! I love the idea of using the Sheikah to infiltrate the Yiga bases. I wish TotK had done something like that and shown the Sheikah helping Link that way.

Same, I was so excited when I heard about these pirates… and then so disappointed to find nothing more than a bunch of bokos with no backstory.

Vignoble is not related to noble (though I kind of make the association in my mind, especially since vignobles are sometimes called châteaux).

Yes I thought you could maybe use clos! Aquaticlos is funny, it can work! Though maybe you could use the same logic as for the raisins (I love this Raisins de Terre idea by the way, it makes sense!) and say that what the Zoras call a clos already refers to something that's underwater, since that's probably the case for most of what they cultivate.

I don't mind helping you with French, I'm glad to do so! You put so much effort and thought into this, it's really interesting.

[firequeenofficial]

I did another extra prompt for @mcyt-soulmate-sweepstakes ! The prompt is "the last possible moment". Find it on ao3 here.

The Final Order (But Really the First)

When Skizz called them to Windsor, Tango thought he was just calling another routine team meeting, probably to discuss the complete failures they'd all four been at getting kills. Void knew they deserved it after the fiasco of a session they’d had so far.

The first thing Skizz said when he and Impulse arrived was, "Alright, Tango, what's your time at?"

Okay, cool, a quick inventory. It made sense - they'd all died a couple times, it was good to get on the same page, maybe take a moment to hand around a bit of food and gear.

"I'm aaaat...." He glanced at the timer ticking away on his wrist, every second bringing him closer to an inevitable end. "3:23. And I'm down to my last chicken."

Translation: please, please, please give me food!

Skizz hesitated, wings opening and closing like he was gathering his nerve, and then said, "Okay. Gentlemen… It's been an honour."

Tango's heart dropped. Suddenly, he stopped caring about his food situation. "Oh no."

No, no, no, no, no. He wasn’t sure what Skizz was talking about, but he knew it was bad. He could tell from Skizz’s tone, his body language, his words, the way his halo seemed dimmer than usual. Something was wrong, very wrong. 

"What-"

"What are you doing?" Impulse frowned as Skizz started handing over gear.

"I love you guys."

No! Why was he talking like this? He had to stop! He couldn't just say stuff like that! What was going on?

Tango echoed Impulse's question, his tone more desperate. "What are you doing?!"

"Wha- What are you doing?" Impulse's voice was clear of emotion, devoid of any of the panic hiking up the pitch of Tango's, like he couldn’t allow himself to even try to process what was going on. He wasn't stopping Skizz from saying stupid stuff. Impulse was the only one who might have a chance, but he wasn't moving, he wasn't doing anything, why wasn’t he doing anything?!

"It's been an absolute honour," Skizz was saying again, and it hit Tango what he was saying. 

He started screaming. "No, it hasn't!" Not Skizz. Please, anyone but Skizz. Without their leader, they'd fall apart! This couldn’t be happening. This could not be happening!

"My time is not going to anyone else!" Skizz insisted, turning away like he couldn't bear to look at them. "I can't get it done, it's going to one of you! It's going to a member of TIES!" When he turned around, there was resolve in his eyes, and Tango knew they were already too late. Skizz's mind was made up; not even Impulse would be able to change it now.

Not that Impulse seemed inclined to try. He still hadn't moved.

"What is happening?!" Tango couldn’t care less that he sounded hysterical. This couldn't be real, it couldn't! Skizz couldn't just- he couldn't! Not Skizz. 

Wait…

Skizz's declaration properly clicked, then. His time would go to TIES. The implications of those words finally sunk in.

No. No, he wouldn't ask that of them, would he? Surely not! He wouldn't, he was too - too good!

Finally, Impulse shook to life, like the full weight of what Skizz was saying had just registered in his mind as well. "No!" The shout was strangled, desperate, terrified. Tango glanced at Impulse to see devastation written all over his face. His eyes were wide but unseeing. His lips were pressed tight together. The patch of glowstone under his left ear, just like Skizz’s halo, was dim, almost entirely dark. The vein of glowstone going down the right side of his face over his eye was dead.

It scared Tango how scared Impulse was. "No, dude, we want you!" he protested. That was all that mattered, wasn't it? They still wanted Skizz - not just needed, but wanted. They didn't want to go on without him. He, Tango, did not want to go on without Skizz leading him. 

"You two! You have-" His voice broke off, and Tango took the opportunity to make another futile attempt at making him see.

"We need the numbers!" With only three of them, they'd be overrun in an instant! They needed four, four was a safe number, four was a happy number! Three was... they needed Skizz. They needed him. 

"You don't have a lot of time!" Skizz urged.

Tango let out a frustrated groan.

"This is my final order."

That was a dirty move, turning it from a request to an order. They couldn't disobey an order, not from Skizz. None of them was strong enough for that. And his final order....

Tango couldn't take this. Why wasn't Impulse speaking?! Why wasn't he trying to stop it, he had to try!

Just to drive the point home, Skizz repeated it, like a final nail in a coffin none of them wanted to close. "This is my final order, one of you has to kill me now." It was the first time he'd given the order in so many words, and Tango hated it.

He let out a string of nonsense syllables, his mind too shaken to come up with anything coherent, right as Impulse breathed, "Skizz-" He groaned, like he was physically hurt.

Tango could only imagine how he must be feeling. What was it like, being told he had to kill his best friend? How could he do that? Would Tango be able to? If things were different and it was Zedaph standing in front of him - or, worse, Jimmy - would he be able to go through with it?

He blinked, and for a second it was Jimmy standing in front of him in no armour, begging to be killed, and his chest closed up. No. No, please, he couldn't do this.

Tango shook his head to get Skizz back in sight, and it was only a little better, because Skizz was still dying, still asking him to do it. Because Tango realised, now, Skizz would never ask that of his best friend. It was convenient that Tango had less time left than Impulse, but something told him even if he’d had more, Skizz would still refuse to make Impulse kill him.

"I just demonstrated I just cannot get it done," Skizz was saying. "I can't get it done, I killed the one person out there that-"

"Well, if anyone, it needs to be Etho," Impulse interrupted, and Tango could have kissed him.

Not only did he just save Tango from having to do the unthinkable, he bought them some time! Maybe, just maybe, they could find another way in that time! They could get someone to sacrifice themselves for Skizz, or they could find him an easy kill, or something, anything, just not this, not like this. He couldn't go out now, not so early, they couldn't lose him. They'd figure something out, they had to. 

"If- if this is the way it needs to happen..." Impulse trailed off, like he couldn't get anymore words out, but Tango picked up right where he left off.

"Yeah, Etho's the lowest!"

"We- we gotta get Etho some time back."

"I hate it, I hate it!" Skizz announced, and Tango had to agree. He hated this so much, he hated it more than he could ever say. "But I am not allowing my time to go to anyone but a member of TIES! TIES has to get to the final three!" That was what he'd been saying from the start, after all. That was his one condition: they had to make it to the end, at least one of them. That was all he ever asked. Everything else, this included, was just a means to an end. A way to get them there.

Tango had to ask. "How much time you got right now, Skizz?" How much time did they have to come up with a new plan? Did they have the minutes to spare for something more complicated but with a higher likelihood of success? Could they risk it?

"I- twenty-three minutes."

Tango's heart plummeted straight through the floor of Windsor and all the way to the ocean floor below. "No!" He gasped. That wasn't enough time, that wasn't enough at all.

"Okay, we gotta find Etho." Impulse had gone into practical thinker mode, pushing his emotions to the side, but Tango noticed he hadn't taken a real breath since Skizz had first spoken.

"Yeah." Skizz hopped up onto the block that allowed him to see out of Windsor, to take in the whole server.

"We gotta find Etho." Despite his best attempts, Impulse was panicking.

"He's right there!" Skizz pointed down. "I see him, I see him!" Without turning to them, he went on. "If that's what you think, that's what we'll do. You guys- whatever you-" He cut off as the message from Impulse went through, calling Etho to Windsor. Like it was finalised, like there was no point going on.

When the session ended, and time paused to give them a moment to breath, Tango knew TIES would scatter. None of them could bear to break down in front of the others, but not one of them were strong enough to go on indefinitely as they were either. Etho could go to be with his family, Impulse would seek out Grian, and Tango...

Tango would stay here.

Jimmy was gone. Skizz would soon follow. Impulse was grieving already. Pearl was happy for once with BigB, he didn't want to bother her. So he'd stay here. He'd guard the tower from no one - who would attack during the brief moments of guaranteed peace the pause offered? He would stay where he was and he would mourn in peace, and he would be happy for his friends who had someone to make them happy.

He hated this. He would take anything over this, anything at all. He would rather die himself! That was a good idea, maybe he could just offer himself, every second he had left, to Skizz!

But no, Skizz would never agree to that, not in a million years. He was too stubborn, too proud, too good, too calculating. It didn’t make sense as a strategy. It would put them all at a disadvantage - this way, they would gain a collective seven minutes between them. If Tango offered Skizz every second he could, the team would lose a collective 82 minutes. Even Tango, who was desperate, could tell it would be a stupid move. 

Etho finally arrived, and for a final time, Team TIES took the chance to laugh and joke with one another, teasing Etho about what he'd been up to before he got here. Somehow, they all managed to poke fun at Etho through shattered hearts and panicked gasps. If Etho noticed something was wrong, if he noticed not one of them were glowing as bright as they usually did, he said nothing. Though his tail very quickly stopped its gentle swishing from side to side.

Until, apparently, Skizz couldn't take it anymore. "Etho. I'm gonna give you this." He started handing Etho things. Gunpowder. A captured pufferfish. "And then I'm gonna ask you to take this axe-" he pushed it into Etho's confused, unresisting hands. Etho glanced at Tango, who sighed, then Impulse, who had once again gone still and silent. Skizz kneeled down before him "-and I'm gonna ask you to do it."

A pause. A moment of pained silence.

"I love you guys! I do!"

"Are you out of time?!" Etho was panicking already - if even Etho was panicking, there was no hope for any of them. His oversized ears were pulled right back. "What's happening here?"

"I have twenty-two minutes left," Skizz told him. A death sentence, and a warning. They were running out of time for this. "And this is my final order. My time will not go to anybody else-"

Unable to hold it in anymore, Tango let out a small scream.

"TIES gets to the final three!" Skizz looked up, meeting each of their eyes in turn. He would not let them forget that. If nothing else, that was the last thing Skizz could ask for. "Etho, do it."

"Tang- Tango, you don't want it?"

No. No, he couldn't possibly express just how little he wanted the measly thirty minutes Skizz's death would give. All the angel had left to offer them, now. Tango would rather never get a kill again.

All he could think was, thank the void he wouldn't remember this afterwards.

"You need the time more," was the reason he managed to give. "You're lower than me, I think."

"You have the lowest, I think," Impulse agreed, and Tango was so grateful.

Etho was, without a doubt, the strongest of all of them. If any of them could do this and manage to stay in one piece afterwards, it was Etho. Nothing ever swayed him, nothing got under his skin. He might even still be able to laugh during the break.

Tango would not. He wasn't sure he would ever laugh in this world again. This world that, pretty soon, would no longer hold Skizz.

There was a long, long pause as Etho gripped the axe that would deliver the killing blow. A large, shaky hand closed around his, and Tango looked up to find Impulse trembling, biting his lip, only shallow breaths passing through his nose. Tango squeezed his fingers in support and turned back to Etho and Skizz. Etho was steady, his grip firm on the axe’s handle. It would be a clean blow, Tango could tell. That was good. Skizz wouldn’t suffer. 

"Skizz..." Etho started. "You're... a stand-up guy." That wasn't enough in a world like this, where it was kill or be killed. Good guys never made it as far as ruthless ones. "I appreciate you. I love everything about you. I- I just wish you were better at this game." The axe swung. With a deafening boom of thunder, Skizz vanished, leaving behind nothing but an axe stained with the same blood that was forming a golden puddle where Skizz had been kneeling moments ago.

Tango screamed. Impulse let out a defeated laugh. Etho crossed to them.

"Too- too much?"

Tango heaved in a breath, trying to make light of the situation. It wouldn't matter soon enough, after all. Once he died, his memories of this entire situation would be erased. That moment couldn't come soon enough, he thought. "You did him dirty." He managed a chuckle.

"I- I'm one to talk, right." Etho shook his head, half a smile clinging to life on his face. He carefully, reverently, laid the axe against the wall. None of them would ever touch it again, and they all know it. 

Impulse's voice was weak as he followed their lead. "Yeah, washed up guy."

"He couldn't even get a response in." The words only shook a little as they left Tango's mouth, and he was proud of himself for that.

The break was coming soon. He just had to keep going until then. He could manage that. He could do that. Never mind that breathing was an effort. Never mind that every exhale fought to be a scream. Never mind that Skizz's blood was still warm on the stones of Windsor.

They didn't even have a body to bury. Nothing to lay to rest. Nowhere they could go to pay respects. He was just... gone. Forever.

"The final three," Impulse murmured as they crossed the bridge from Windsor. A moment later, resolve straightened his spine.

Skizz's final order. His last words. At least one of them gets to the end.

It would be Impulse. Tango already knew. He had the most time, he was the best at the game. He would be forced to live the longest, all the while mourning his best friend. And, while Tango felt bad for him, he knew he wouldn't offer to trade places. All he could do was help Impulse get there. He could do that. Impulse would make it to the end.

If luck was on his side, he wouldn't win. He wouldn't have to remember this. Thank goodness luck seemed to constantly be on Impulse's side.

Tango and Etho just had to get him there. 

( @veryofficialtangotekfanzine )

[genericpuff]

When it comes to a drawing tablet do you recommend a beginner get one with a screen or one without specifically for webcomics?

So what you use the tablet for ultimately doesn't matter. Webcomics, illustration, animation, they're just different expressions of the same overall skillset. I've gone from using desk tablets to screen tablets and then back to desk tablets again. My current setup is a Huion Inspiroy Giano which is a very large desk tablet (no screen) with a Huion Kamvas 22 Plus as my display (screen).

(hi jim lol)

Now this obviously seems INCREDIBLY redundant but the reason why it's like that is because I used to use the Huion Kamvas 22 Plus as my screen tablet... until the pen input stopped working :)""" But it still works perfectly fine as a display! When I was shopping around for new drawing tablets though, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the financial risk on another screen tablet. The Huions are a lot cheaper than the Wacom models which is great for people looking for inexpensive options, but if it meant I'd have to replace my screen tablets more often than my old Wacom Cintiq, then it wasn't gonna be worth it (but I didn't want to dump $2k on a tablet again LOL)

So I wound up getting a desk tablet instead! I had used Wacom desk tablets a lot prior to screens, and while it had been a few years, I re-adjusted in no time. The Huion Inspiroy Giano is, so far, a very reliable tablet. It just connects with a USB, no crazy 3-in-1 cables like the screen displays. It satisfies my need for a large tablet (seriously, if I can offer any piece of advice in regards to tablets, size does often matter because if a tablet is too small you'll be over-relying on your wrist for motions which isn't good for line integrity or your hand health!!!!) but it didn't break my budget like the Wacom tablets (and didn't feel as risky as buying another Kamvas 22 Plus after what happened the last time).

The only downside to it is that it has a bit of a rough surface to it which I find does a lot of initial wearing down on the nibs. I mean fr look at this thing-

And that will happen after only like, a few hours of use LOL that said, I've been using this nib for like 2 months now and it hasn't worn down more than that, so if you don't mind your nibs having a visible slant to them, it really doesn't cause any other issues.

That said, I've only had this tablet for about half a year now. I also used to sing praises for the Kamvas 22 Plus until it suddenly decided it wasn't going to work anymore without explanation, so... take my review of the Inspiroy Giano with grains of salt. At least though if this thing mysteriously stops working like the Kamvas did, I'll only have to pay $200-$300 to replace it vs. the Kamvas' $700+. It's still not a small amount of money, but it pays itself off quickly (and it's a lot cheaper compared to the equivalent Intuos Pro line from Wacom, which costs upwards of $500+ for a decently sized one).

Screen tablets are definitely helpful to have though, and I wouldn't object to returning to the screen displays once I can justify dropping money on one again. I still use a screen display on the go via my iPad Pro. But I don't think desk tablets should be taken for granted as a perfectly viable tool either, I think the initial learning curve tends to intimidate people a lot, but they're really quite comfortable to use once you adjust to the translation of desk tablet to monitor. You can also adjust the screen settings through the tablet driver anyways, which is what I did for my tablet because it was a little too big in spots where I had to reach really far to get to the color wheel tab on the right... so I just reduced the screen ratio to make up for it :)

I find once you learn how to use both - and learn your foundations in digital art - the desk tablet vs. screen tablet debate just boils down to personal preference rather than any real difference in what they can do for your art. I've drawn stuff like Rekindled on screen displays, desk tablets, iPads, etc. You might try a desk tablet and not like it after a while (though again, with the initial skill ceiling of adjusting to it, give it a few weeks of trying if you can, you will not immediately get used to it overnight!!!) and decide that screen tablets are more up your alley.

It really depends on what you're wanting to pay for a tablet. Though like with any new skillset that you're just getting into, I wouldn't recommend dropping money on the most expensive tool because ultimately the differences between expensive and cheap aren't going to be noticeable to you until you actually learn the skill itself, and it's not uncommon at all for people to pick up a new skill, shell out shitloads to learn it, and then get discouraged when it takes a while and makes the expense feel like a waste. Those higher end tablets are often more suited for professionals, not because they're "only meant for pros", but because pros will be able to fully utilize all their upper-skill features in a way a newbie who's still learning how to use a desk tablet won't.

Thankfully, it's easier than ever to get an affordable tablet that's easy to learn and Wacom is no longer the "only option", so I highly recommend looking into brands like Huion, XP-Pen, and Gaomon, as they offer very inexpensive tablets with a wide array of options from desk tablets to screen displays. Make sure you do your research on them, check out places like reddit for actual human reviews, note that every brand and tablet will come with their pros and cons, so it's really just about weighing out what you feel will work best for you and what you're trying to achieve!

And of course, if you're looking to draw comics specifically, look into Clip Studio Paint! It goes on sale at least twice a year, the PRO version is literally all you need to get started (EX comes with some helpful features like Teamwork, but like those fancy high end tablets, they won't necessarily be useful to someone who's just starting out). The PRO version comes with all the rulers, panel cutters, text tools, etc. that you need to get into making comics, it's a great piece of software !!!

I hope that helps!!! Best of luck!! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

[meimi-haneoka]

Shocking: English edition of Clear Card volume 15

I'm very pleased to inform you guys that a friend showed me some pages from the English edition of volume 15 of Clear Card (which has just been released) and they fixed a whole lot of translation mistakes I had pointed out when the relative chapters came out in simulpub!!

(all images courtesy of Sarah/Rainbowbee - reposted with permission)

I saw around 20 pages and I was so happy to see not only the fixed translations, but also some lines rephrased in a better way to explain things more properly.

The one above made me emotional because in that correctly translated "that makes me so happy to hear!" there's the emotional load of an underlying "I have no idea how my daughter will look like once grown up and I'll never live enough to find out, so at least learning that from you makes me happy" that a "thank you!" just didn't convey (and then again, it was just incorrect).

Like, seriously, they even rephrased what Lilie said as to make more clear what Kaito's goal has been the whole time, and it conveys better that the lie he told Momo was for a good cause (because he knew she was a kind creature, he didn't want her to grow worried and try to stop him).

Finally they have mentioned Lilie's ring was a price she paid to save everyone's derriere!!!

Akiho was not supposed to remember about Momo, and that's been correctly restored here.

This is the volume where Lilie and Momo explained to Sakura part of what was happening to her, included some concepts difficult to understand, and it was pivotal they nailed it right.

This hasn't been the case with the past releases (the mistakes of the simulpub stayed most of the time, and some lines that were changed only ended up being more wrong), so I wasn't really hopeful or anything, but today they shocked me in a positive way.

I remind you that in this volume there are 2/3 pages that have been partially redrawn by CLAMP (with changed dialogues) in the part where Lilie talks, so I warmly suggest you to get it and check them out when you have the opportunity.

Now, I can't help but wonder if the japanese side got any hand in this sudden care for the translation. If the long months between releases (english volume 16 will only come in March 2025 despite the japanese one has been out since April of this year) is because Japan wants to supervise the translation. After all, Ohkawa did say in that famous Space (where they mentioned being aware of the translation mistakes) that she would've liked to try talking about this issue with the translation team.

And I can't help but also think about what we could've had if they had just put this amount of care from the beginning.

If they had proofread from the start. If they had translated all the words in a sentence and not lost some along the way.

If they hadn't stubbornly chosen to phrase everything regarding a certain character in a malicious way.

I'm crossing my fingers that Volume 16 will get the same amount of care, if not more. 🤞

[kudouusagi]

Spoilers for buddy daddies drama 4

I've got stuff going on now so it might take me a little while to translate the whole thing but here's a summary.

After the preview Kazuki is looking for jobs and sees shady listings for for drug testing studies that pay for people to take new medicines. He would have to be gone for two weeks and he asks Rei if he would be able to take care of Miri all by himself for 2 weeks and he's like NOPE.

Kazuki says they're running out of money and need to get jobs soon and Rei says that even though he thought there would be lots of jobs he could do with only one arm it's been hard to find anything. Kazuki says it's not just his arm it's that he's not sociable. Like his horrible interview last week.

There's a flashback and he's in an interview and the interviewer asks if he has any special skills and he says he's good with guns and won't let his pray escape. The interviewer is like, "You're talking about air guns, right?" and Rei says he didn't have anything else to say.

Kazuki says there's something even worse than them not finding jobs: if he gets a job then Rei would have to do all of the housework. apparently he can do laundry now but everything else he's horrible at.

And so Kazuki is making him do a week of special training to teach him how to take care of the house and Miri. Kazuki says he's been taking it easy on him since he can't move his arm but he's going to　be a monster now, a cleaning training monster. Rei says he really can't move his arm and Kazuki tells him to shut up because says Miri tells me you've gotten even better at mario cart that you were before! "You set a new record!" Rei's like "I was so happy I did a victory pose"

Miri comes in and asks what they're doing and Kazuki says they're doing special training. Rei isn't happy about it until Miri says it's cool and he just says "I'll do it!"

Kazuki teaches him to vacuum, clean, and talk to the moms at Miri's school over text etc. Rei is exhausted and wants to give up but Miri cheers him on so he keeps trying.

Kazuki got a job and Rei kept going even while he was gone. He was doing dishes and dropped a glass and tried to clean it all up on his own. He picks up the big pieces but has trouble using a dustpan and broom at the same time so he's thinking about waiting till Kazuki gets home to finish cleaning it up but Miri comes over and holds the dustpan for him.

Kazuki gives him a test of making french toast on his own. He makes it and it's really good and Kazuki says it's so good they could sell it at a restaurant. Rei says it's still not good enough and he can make it better. He has become obsessed with the quality of ingredients and how to make food.

Miri says he looks like he's having fun and Kazuki tells her to tell him to calm down but she doesn't want to. Miri and Rei work together to open the boxes that Rei ordered of ingredients and Kazuki is shocked how close they've gotten. He's happy that he can work without worrying but he kind of feels like he's loosing his place. He asks Miri if she'll play mario cart with him but she says no because he sucks at it.

Kazuki tells Rei to give him special training to learn to play games and Rei's like "but aren't you going to work?" and Kazuki says he'll do both. Rei tells him that sometimes games are harder than killing people.

Rei teaches him to game and Kazuki works at bars and restaurants cleaning and cooking. He games during the day and works at night. Kazuki overworks himself and he passes out. Rei calls an ambulance for him. Kazuki wakes up in the hospital and realizes he's been working so hard at gaming that he hasn't even talked to Miri but she's sleeping on his bed at the hospital holding his arm. Kazuki tells her he'll make her whatever she wants when they get home and she says she wants french toast and Kazuki says that Rei's would be better but she says she wants his. She says both of their french toast are the best in the world.

At home they're eating french toast and Rei comments that their french toasts taste different. He's learned that making things himself feels different. Kazuki says he's learned something too. Working night shifts doesn't give him time to eat and spend time with them.

They start thinking of jobs he can do like a cleaning service or a private investigator. Miri is still eating and says she wants to eat with everyone (her friends) and they they realize they can make a restaurant. Miri says they can't because Rei-papa is unsociable. Kazuki says they'll give him special training for it.

Later when they're opening their restaurant they feed Kyuu-chan their french toast and they're very nervous. Kyuu-chan criticizes their customer service but says their food is good. Then a customer shows up and they welcome them to "Diner Nest"

[aamy2100982]

My thoughts on Venom 3. SPOILER ALERT - LONG POST

Let's start with the fact that I saw it in the cinema with Latino Spanish dubbing, so anything lost through translation is not my fault.

Damn, how do I start with all this?

☆ Why doesn't Spiderman appear?

I think based on the post-credits scene of Venom 2, we all assumed that in this new movie Venom and Eddie were going to go into the MCU universe and meet Spider-Man. But for those who saw the movie it was confirmed that that wasn't the case. Now, what's my theory on what happened?

I think the original intention was to give the rights to Venom to the MCU, but for some reason or another they didn't do it. And they decided to continue the story from Sony.

So Venom didn't meet Spiderman because the MCU doesn't have the rights to Venom yet, and Sony hasn't wanted to hand them over yet.

(I don't know, maybe money issues. Sony should make a considerable amount from the Venom movies)

☆ Portals

I actually didn't really like how the interdimensional portals are handled. Venom has never been a character who plays with space-time and the universe on his own (actually a bit in the comics, but not in the movies), so I don't understand how they inexplicably changed universes.

In the post-credits scene of the second movie it was about... connecting to the symbiote hive? But then what? Knull brought them back??

I don't know, I just didn't like that brutal change of plot direction.

☆ I changed my perception of the symbiotes in the movies

So, in the first movie the symbiotes arrive on a meteorite to earth and are captured by the Life Foundation. In this film, the symbiotes are made to look like an invasive species, the kind that goes from planet to planet looking to deplete natural resources. But apparently this wasn't the case.

From what I could understand, the symbiotes were escaping from Knull's awakening, so they weren't trying to invade Earth to drain its resources, but to save themselves from Knull.

This makes Venom look extremely selfish, because during the movie he tells Eddie that his fellow symbiotes only live to harm the Earth and he doesn't want Riot to reach Kyntar to pass this information to other symbiotes who need to escape from Knull and find a home.

There's also the possibility that this was the initial idea (that the symbiotes were an invasive species), but they made last-minute script changes that said otherwise.

☆ There was a Flash Thompson reference in the movie!!

It wasn't a small reference, it was a military man named Thompson and there's an entire scene that was almost too cruel of him losing his legs. I don't know if Sony has any rights to Flash's image, but it would be great to see him in an upcoming movie (if there is one).

☆ Rex was there too!

Does anyone remember Rex?

You know, the military man... who had a symbiote... and the symbiote became fond of him... but then he died and the symbiote stole his identity... You know! Rex!

He doesn't have a symbiote in the movie, and really only has the name and the face, because apart from being a military man and being related to sumbiote he has nothing to do with the one in the comics. It was a nice reference anyway. I personally like Rex the symbiote, even though he had limited appearances. I thought his story was nice.

But I guess it was just a reference in the movie because inventing new characters is not that simple either.

There is also this Doctor Payne

I honestly don't know who she is, I don't know if she was part of the comics or if she's an original character from the movie. I looked up her name, but it seemed like another character that I think has nothing to do with her...

☆ Codex

I didn't like how the codex was treated in the movie and I didn't fully understand how it worked.

I didn't like the way it was handled in general, that the codex only exists while both exist because they died and came back to life... How... only Eddie and Venom were united and were the only symbiote and host who died and came back to life?? In the ENTIRE universe?

And why does the codex disappear/is not visible when Venom isn't encasing Eddie? Shouldn't it still be there since it's stuck in Eddie's spine?

☆ The Hippie Family

They were fun and somewhat endearing characters. But while they were good for moving the plot forward, I didn't care that much about them.

It just helped remind me how sad it makes me that Eddie is a man who wanted to start a family and couldn't because of his own mistakes and mental problems.

☆ The other symbionts

The only comic book-based symbiotes I recognized were (besides Venom) Lasher and Agony. The rest I think were original for the movie.

Honestly, at first I thought the green-water snake-like symbiote was Lasher, but no. (I also didn't realize that the host was the cop from the previous movie until very late, almost after he was killed.)

It would have been great to see the quartet (Scream, Agony, Lasher and Plague. No Riot, because he died lol). But it wasn't that important, because in the end most of them died anyway.

☆ Characters from past movies

So Anne and Dan didn't appear in the movie. I don't have any hard feelings about it, I actually think they would have been a waste of time and their appearance always just brings this... weird geometric love thing where Eddie still has feelings for Anne, Venom... I don't know what Venom feels for Anne, I don't know if he sees her as a friend or has feelings for her too, Anne just sees them as friends and Dan is just constantly there being awkward.

Mrs. Chen was there. I must admit, she looked beautiful in that red dress!

look at that lady!

Honestly, I didn't think her appearance in the film was that important, but I'm not saying they were bad scenes.

☆ Knull

I think Knull was a completely computer-generated character. Understandable because all he does throughout the entire movie is sit down anyway xd

I don't have much to say about him. The design was well done and at least the voice acting in Latino Spanish seemed spectacular to me. Maybe he could have had more participation, but whatever, the movie was fine as it is. Adding more powerful antagonists would have made the movie 3 times longer.

☆ Eddie and Venom's relationship

I hate to use the term. But Eddie is a total Tsundere... Throughout the three movies he just keeps saying that he hates Venom and that he wishes he could go back to normal, now that he's been given the chance he feels empty.

As I know, "Not even death can separate them" or whatever the phrase on the movie poster said, completely lied.

☆ The end.

If I had to describe it in one word... bittersweet.

It was a good ending, dramatic, sentimental. But at the same time it leaves you with that feeling of emptiness, because Venom died and he is a protagonist and therefore he shouldn't die.

In the post-credits scene, a cockroach appears next to the small tube that contained a Venom extract. But it wouldn't make sense, because there wasn't a moving extract of the symbiote and anyway that extract later became who I think is Agony. It had her design but also had Dr. Payne's "hidden powers".

I honestly didn't like the ending at all. That "Well, now everything is like it used to be." BITCH, NO!

Especially since I heard here and there that Tom Hardy wasn't so sure he could continue participating, for reasons I still don't understand, so I'm convinced there will be another part. Either as a movie or a series.

☆ as a theory

I don't think Sony owns the rights to Agent Venom. But in case they do release another Venom, without Eddie Brock, that's my theory.

There was a reference to Flash in the movie and how he lost his legs. So maybe the next movie will be about them going back to Area 51 to look for the remains left after the massacre. Whether it's symbiotes that are still alive or just information they need to start a new area of ​​research.

They find layers of Venom, but he's like a baby, they use their abilities to turn him into a weapon, they give him to Flash Thompson, boom! Agent Venom.

Just a theory, obviously. Maybe the saga will end there and we won't have anything more about Venom until they start another separate saga.

☆

Honestly, I would have preferred them to fight Spiderman. Not so much because of the Spiderman fight, but because that would put them in the same universe as other powerful characters and they would have made a movie with a bigger Knull, similar to what Infinity War was.

You know, with all the characters fighting to save the world, but still having the movie center around Venom. Not exactly like in the comics, where Eddie becomes God (because that went really wrong for the comics), maybe just having him defeated and the symbiotes being free.

☆

ALSO! I think there was a kiss missing in the scene before Venom sacrificed himself, when they were on the fallen helicopter... I really needed it... And it didn't happen... understandable, I mean, there would have been a drama about it, but damn! It was the perfect moment to, at least, get close.

☆ The end of this post

The movie was good... Yeah... yeah, kinda.

I think for those who only watch the movies, or who only watched this movie, they could say that it's pretty good. It's fun, it's not as rushed as movie one, and it has a dramatic ending. I think that in itself it's a good movie.

But from my perspective, where I expect more coherence regarding everything and the extensive universe behind Venom as a character, I did find more plot holes, things that didn't make sense to me and things that I think would have been preferable to what happened.

Would I like to see another movie? Yeah, I think it would be great to really wrap up what happens with Knull and obviously have Venom come back to life, like... Venom? or Agent Venom.

Or even this gives a chance to convert the remaining extracts of the symbiote into Eddie becoming Anti Venom. But I'm just dreaming.

If you took the time to read everything I had to say, please let me know what you think! I'd love to read what you think of the movie or my opinions and theories!

[ae-azile]

As Long As I Can Travel This World With You: Chapter 3 Preview

Read Chapters 1 & 2 Here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63338335

Style promised not to focus on work. He's holding himself to that. Getting on his phone a couple of hours before Fadel is due to wake up in order to organize his schedule isn't really focusing on it. He isn't obsessing. He isn't in the garage, customizing luxury vehicles, or optimizing the performance of any race cars. He isn't even on any long Zoom meetings with rich, foreign clients. Just because he's answering one of them doesn't mean he's prioritizing work over his vacation. This is an important client. She is a gold digger who is younger than him and has an old billionaire husband who gets her whatever she wants. Plus, she isn't just a client. She grew up down the street from him. Her father used to work for his father, and Style babysat her when the guy died.

So it's really not work. Personal history is involved! If Fadel catches him, he will understand.

Style!

George agreed to buy me a Rolls-Royce! He said I could do whatever I want with it and have it customized to my liking. I want you to do it! Let's talk ASAP.

Love,

Nya

Style glances down at Fadel. He is fast asleep, his arm slung around Style’s waist firmly, as if he knows Style may try to escape to the other room to make a call. Fadel is a heavier sleeper nowadays. He didn't used to be. When they first got together, Fadel woke up if Style moved even slightly. And from what Fadel told him, he didn't sleep that great in prison either, although Bison slept even less. Despite the therapy Fadel had while he was in prison, Style doesn't think Fadel ever contributed the constantly underplayed insomnia to his trauma and anxiety from…well, pretty much everything that has ever happened to him. It took getting Fadel to a doctor to get him to understand four hours a night isn't acceptable, as well as some prodding to get Fadel to admit that having frequent nightmares and a hesitancy to not let his guard down while trying to fall asleep might be signs of an anxiety disorder.

Style hadn't been shocked in the slightest. It doesn't matter how cool and collected Fadel can act. No one with the history and trauma Fadel has doesn't have some form of anxiety and depression. Treating the insomnia itself with sleep medication only helped Fadel fall asleep. It didn't help him stay asleep, and he was always exhausted by the time afternoon hit. Treating Fadel’s depression and anxiety has been much more effective, which proved Style’s entire point. Prazosin definitely helped lower the frequency and intensity of Fadel’s nightmares, and it started working within days. Fadel can fully admit that he needs it. That and a prescription he has for melatonin make him sleep through the night deeply.

However, finding the right antidepressant had been harder and more frustrating. Fadel hated the first antidepressant he was on and swore off it once he lost his erection two times in a row. Effexor hasn't caused the same side effect for him. Style has noticed some genuine differences. Fadel is more willing to share when he's upset about something and he is more likely to ask for reassurance and affection. He's genuinely more open.

He also sleep talks so much more often than he doesn't.

“I wanna see the acrobats,” Fadel mumbles, his face half stuffed into Style's chest.

“That sounds like fun,” Style says, gently scratching Fadel's scalp, “I can get us tickets to The House of Dancing Water, Elekron, or Taboo. You want aquatics, fire and vehicular stunts, or something sexy?”

“No. Telescopes.”

“Got it,” Style says with a nod, “I’ll ask you which show later.”

“Ramazan Bayramınız kutlu olsun…”

He really wishes Fadel would warn him before he sleep talks in Turkish. It's inconsiderate to just do it out of nowhere. Style has only caught it through his translator app a few times. Once, Fadel was talking about an Ottoman viper stalking him. Another time, he asked for his father to come to a school play he was starring in.

And then, there was a time he asked why Style was breaking up with him. Style still isn't sure why Dream!Fadel decided to have such a serious conversation with Dream!Style in Turkish. Maybe Dream!Style knows Turkish like Real!Style strives to, or maybe it was simply Fadel’s subconscious trying to hint something like that would never happen and to take note of what feels off about the dream. Regardless, Style did his best to wake him up. But that is really hard to do when Fadel is sleep talking - or occasionally, sleepwalking. Fadel can be woken up okay at any other point, but once he's starting to converse in his sleep or walk around, it's almost impossible. When he does manage, Fadel tends to either be extremely disoriented or panicked. There is rarely ever a need to wake Fadel up from these episodes anyway. He's never even been nasty when his sleep talk is more ambitious and he initiates conversations with Style that really don't make sense. At all. Style genuinely enjoys them. Fadel is both incredibly sweet and weird every single time. As for sleepwalking, it is normally from the bed to the window. Sometimes, he will go downstairs and Style will find him on the couch. They have security cameras. Fadel made sure they had them. Style checks them every so often to make sure Fadel hasn't wandered outside. That hasn't happened, and those episodes are much more sporadic anyway. He will do it in clusters every few months or so.

The only time it concerned Style was when Fadel cooked them breakfast in his sleep. It’s happened a couple of times. Once, Style didn't even wake up until Fadel was almost finished. He came downstairs and the food was almost ready. It smelled amazing, and Style told him as much. He gave him a kiss on the cheek and said he would set the table. When Style realized Fadel was making Turkish Karnıyarık with Green Papaya Salad as the side, it looked great and smelled great, but it was a confusing combination - especially for breakfast. It was also confusing when Fadel started shaking salt to the left of the food, rather than in it. That was the biggest hint.

Actually, silently cooking a complex meal for breakfast at 5 am was the biggest hint. When Style started asking questions, Fadel’s answers rarely made sense. Style ate it though. Fadel tried to, missed his mouth, and then Style decided to just direct him back to bed. Style made sure that everyone at their respective jobs knew they would be off work that day. When Fadel woke up much later than he normally would due to Style turning off the alarms, Style explained what happened. He didn't make a big deal out of it, but did make a point of saying it probably meant Fadel was under more stress than usual and needed a couple of days off to relax and rest up. Fadel didn't believe him. Even when Style showed him the food, Fadel thought Style made it as a joke. When Style brought up the camera footage, Fadel tried to play it off as remembering it, even though he clearly didn't and was obviously embarrassed-

“I don't want to see that. Go get the lettuce…please?”

Style glances down at him, “Which employees are giving you a hard time while you are on vacation? I’ll fight them.”

“Yüzüğe dokunma. Kasada kalıyor.”

Style huffs, “What did I say about that? Let me know before you switch languages so I can be ready!”

But Fadel doesn't answer him. Before Style can think about turning on his translation app, pressing record, and trying to see if he can be the one to start a sleep conversation with Fadel as a willing participant, his phone starts vibrating in his hand. It’s his Google Meet App, and Nya’s name is on the screen. Style looks down at Fadel cautiously. When it becomes clear Fadel is still sleeping deeply, it's only then that he picks up the phone.

“I'm on vacation,” Style says quietly, “I was going to email you back, but I won't be back to work until Tuesday.”

“I'm sorry!” Nya says, “I'm just really excited! I'm getting a Rolls-Royce Spectre and I want you to customize it! Please please please please please-”

“Relax,” Style says, “What are you wanting?”

“I want it to be light green with a pearl iridescent special effect coating,” Nya starts, “The handles, trim, rims, and pantheon grill need to be a fusion of copper and rose gold. And I want warm honey-toned maple interior veneer with veining that matches the exterior metals. I need it, Style. I have a vision. I want it to look like it is driven by a sexy, feminine leprechaun.”

Rich people.

…It does sound like a fun project though.

“Have you bought the car yet?” Style asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“The purchase will be finalized today,” Nya says, “I am having George buy it at the Rolls-Royce closest to you. I already ordered them to give you and your assistants full rein of their customization workshop. They will provide the materials and tools you order them to provide, and you and your team will do the vision work.”

“And how do they feel about that?” Style asks. He has done freelance customization for several dealerships, but he has never worked for Rolls-Royce. They are known for their customization. Style has never even tried to get in with them.

“They’re still getting paid for what they're providing,” Nya says dismissively, “They tried to say that I will pay less if I do everything in-house, rather than contracting them for some parts and an independent team for another, but money isn't a concern for me, especially when I know they will fly someone international in to lead the job, pay the local specialists who are assisting practically nothing, and hoard most of the money for themselves that should be going towards the labor. I am willing to pay a few hundred thousand more than their quote to make sure local people are building their wealth and it isn't being hoarded by a company who will redirect their funds to their dealerships in other countries.”

Style blinks, before letting out a sigh, “I mean…They're probably right. You would save money by using their team. And even if you don't, it would be less complicated-”

“Stop it!” Nya snaps, “What did I just say? Huh? What did I just say? I want to make sure YOU make bank! They are making enough from me because I'm buying a car from them. I'm using some of their resources on top of that. You're faster than them! You’re better! You did the last car I bought at the beginning of the year and had it done in less than two months! Besides, they don't even have the color I want! You know your paints! You understood my vision and mixed it until I had exactly what I wanted! They won't do that! They will be like, ‘Khun Nya, we have over twenty options’ but what good will those do if they don't have the option I want?! They quoted 150k extra for me to customize the car, and they couldn't even promise everything. You can! You can direct them to the right places to order exactly what you need to make it look BEAUTIFUL in less time. You're a prodigy, Style. Truly. I always thought you were a funny, but strange guy when you babysat me, but you are obscenely talented. That's why I make sure all of George's friends reach out to you. If they hesitate, I tell them that they'll be racist and elitist if they don't even attempt to give you a chance. And you know what? Not one of them regretted it, did they? No. They didn't. You have multiple rich clients because of me and you are well on your way to becoming rich yourself. You're already there by Thailand's standards, I bet. How much did you make last year? Tell me.”

Style looks down at Fadel again. Still fast asleep, but he's not risking saying a number out loud.

“Tell me and I will double it,” Nya says, making Style choke on his own spit, “Come on. Give me a number.”

“That would be a ridiculous amount to pay me,” Style says, “You should just use their bespoke team-”

“So you admit you made a lot,” Nya cuts in knowingly, “I’ll send you a deposit. Right now. It's just for you. Put it towards whatever plans you have. A new house, a house for your friends, a tattoo studio, a second garage and restaurant, producing a BL, going on that extended vacation with your hot boyfriend, and whatever else you told me when I was in a few months ago. That was a fun time! We’ll do that again in a couple of months. You’ll unveil my car in a fun way before I ship it to Miami and we’ll go out for drinks again!”

“...It sounds like a time consuming project,” Style says quietly, “I wouldn’t mind doing it. But I haven't been home much because I am also running the garage-”

“I keep telling you to own it and leave management to someone else,” Nya says, “You usually leave the regular jobs to your employees now anyway! You said!”

“I am also working the race circuit and picking up clients from there-”

“They're not as important as me,” Nya says stubbornly, “I’ll prove it. Call me Tuesday so we can start. I need to get on Wire. Look for the notification. I'm sending you 300k.”

“Nya-” Style says, only for the line to go dead. Style closes his eyes and lets out a breath. She's so obnoxious. Her reasons for hiring him in the first place were strangely noble. She reached out to thank him for what he and his father had done for her family when her dad passed, then saw his business social media and became obsessed. And her husband just allows her to use his money however she wants. A couple of times, he has contracted Style too, although she is the car fiend out of the two. And that's what she is. A fiend.

Then again, she's the reason for over half of his clientele. The others he met through the circuit. But she probably has some idea regarding how much he's made. Still, when she said 300k, Style truly thought she meant baht. Enough to show that she's serious about hiring him. It's more than some make in a quarter. That's roughly how much he would make in three months up until four years ago. Taking on so many restoration and customization jobs built up his funds, built up his clientele list, and eventually built up his demand and prominence.

When he started working a lot harder and taking on more complex jobs in order to buy back Fadel’s restaurant, he never expected to be where he is now. It's exhausting and daunting sometimes, but it's also addicting in a way Style can't quite explain. But still, his mind is still stuck in a strange limbo. He has goals. He needs to earn and save, and he has done a lot of that because he and Fadel mostly live as if they are middle class at most. They don't eat out a lot because Fadel likes to cook. They go bowling once or twice a week with Bison and Kant. They usually hit one concert a month, but it is never an expensive one, always local bands. Their travel hasn't been extravagant. Mainly road trips and affordable places to stay if they stay overnight - no resorts, just normal hotels or bed and breakfasts. It's a little more than what Style used to do before meeting Fadel, but he hasn't had to touch his savings in years. He just adds more and more. He contributes a good bit to their joint checking and savings. He won't touch the share of profits Fadel gives him as a silent partner for the restaurant. Fadel has already figured that out. He knows Style puts all of that in their joint accounts. He also went from contributing 25,000 a month to their savings to 50,000. A few months ago, he upped it to 75,000.

He doesn't want to deceive Fadel and pretend he isn't making more money when he is. But it's hard for Style to wrap his head around, let alone Fadel. Fadel may have spent his childhood rich, but he was cheated of that life. Neither of them have that mindset. And Style knows that if Fadel saw the numbers, he wouldn't be happy. Most people would be happy. Style is pretty fucking happy about it. But he's also not stupid. He knows Fadel is getting more frustrated by the long hours, the canceled dates, arriving late to hangouts, and road trips getting rescheduled. Fadel made it clear just yesterday how much it's upsetting him. Style truly thought Fadel would catch onto the joke and just get minorly annoyed and exasperated. But then he threatened to not go and gave Style the silent treatment as soon as they met at the house. He hasn't done that before.

“Horses.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Style says, patting Fadel’s back before returning to his thoughts. Three months. Fadel just needs to be patient for three months, and then he’ll have Style for two months straight. No distractions. And when they come back, Style will do his best to slow down a little. The race circuit won't be as busy. That’s probably the first thing he would give up. Or he might just agree to build and restore the cars but leave the maintenance to someone else so that he doesn't have to go to the races at all. Fadel will like that.

But he has a list of things he wants to save up for. Some of it he can already afford. If Fadel saw the numbers, he would probably argue with him and say they can afford the most important things and the others aren't Style’s responsibility. That’s why Fadel can't know until Style has more.

But still, he can cut down his hours at the racing circuit. It won't lower his income too much, and his client list is already overwhelming. He doesn't really need the races to network anymore, at least not for a while.

That especially becomes clear when his phone vibrates again. When Style picks up his phone and opens the Wise notification, he flails and throws Fadel off of him. It sort of wakes Fadel up, but not really. Fadel is squinting and looks exhausted as he taps Style’s shoulder and asks him something in Turkish. Even if he asked it in Thai, Style probably wouldn't have comprehended it, not when he is staring at the number in his Wise account.

Nya did not mean 300,000 baht.

Your Wise Balance

10,065,000 THB

Most Recent Deposit: 10,065,000

Sender: Anaya Sinclair

Note: 🤑 There's more where that came from for you and your team. I will send you this amount again when the car is finished so you can pay them and keep some for yourself. But this deposit is just for you. SAY YES!!!!

And she thinks HE’S the strange one? She's nuts. Rich people are nuts.

Part of him wants to see what she would do if he told her that is under what he made last year. He technically made around 15,000,000 baht last year. He networked and worked his ass off to make that happen. He built a one of a kind custom car for a rich Saudi Arabian royal to make that happen, and he still didn't charge 10 million baht for that shit! The guy paid him extra due to how impressed he was, but it still came out to less than what she just sent him. With what she just sent him, he has now officially made over what he made last year.

…It’s just the beginning of May.

“Style?” Fadel asks, picking his head up, “Did you find the dolphin?”

“Of course,” Style says, not missing a beat, “She’s waiting for us in the lobby and said she’ll meet us for breakfast. Wherever you want to go. Her treat.”

Fadel stares at him for a moment, then looks around the room, “Huh?”

“Good morning to you too,” Style says, kissing his head, “Are you awake yet?”

Fadel puts his head back down on Style's chest, “We need to meet that guy. The one who has rabbits for hands. One of them is dead. I don't want to. He scares me.”

Style sputters, “Same! What are you dreaming-”

“We gotta go meet him,” Fadel says as he wraps his arms around Style more tightly and his breathing evens out.

Style glances at the clock. It's only 7. He’ll give Fadel another hour. If he isn't awake by that point, Style will wake him up so they can shower together and get ready to explore. He'll take Fadel somewhere fancy for breakfast. Even though he is going to put the money Nya just sent him into his savings, he can afford to do that much. Fadel deserves it.

[storiesaplenty]

The Walking Dead Masterlist

Part 3

This has not been proofread. Please enjoy though.

Warnings: a bit of swearing. Killing a walker, but nothing descriptive

Requested by no one.

WC: 1199

©️ storiesaplenty 2025: do not repost or translate my work. This is the only place I post my work. All readers are female, unless stated otherwise.

"I never got to ask. Where is your brother?"

I watched as something flashed in his eyes, and then nothing.

"He didn't make it." Daryl simply said.

I instantly hugged him, knowing how close he was with his brother. Even though Merle annoyed me, losing family during these times is hard, knowing exactly what they have become.

Daryl hugged me back, hesitantly mind you, but he whispered, "I'll tell you later."

I just squeezed his shoulder as we pulled back from one another.

I turned to look at the group, as they talked amongst themselves.

I walked to the back of the small cabin, and saw that Glenn and T-Dog, whose name I came to find out was actually Theodore.

They both looked tired, but they didn't move from their spots. "How about you two go and rest." I suggested.

"We are good." Theodore said to me, with Glenn nodding his head in agreement.

"You two are no good to us if you are tired. Go, grab a bit of food, and sleep. I'll watch the back. Send someone who hasn't been up all night to take one of your spots."

The two of them looked at one another, silently communicating between themselves.

"I'll stand guard with her. She is right, you two need sleep." I heard a female voice say behind me, and I turned to see Maggie standing there.

I watched the two men get up and leave the room, Glenn kissing Maggie as he walked by.

I took the spot where T-Dog was, and she took the spot that Glenn was in.

Her and I were silent, watching and listening outside for any walkers.

The ground was too muddy and slippery for any of them to truly get up here, but they are not the only things that concern me out there.

"So you grew up with Daryl huh?" She quietly asked me. Not sure if she is asking so quietly due to what may be outside or Daryl, who was in the other room.

"I did. We were close until about middle school, and then well, life just got in the way between us."

"He calls you Flower. May I ask what your real name is?" I told her what it is.

"I prefer my real name being used." I let her know.

A small smile came over her face. "Except for Daryl?" I knew she was teasing, but not in a mean way.

"Daryl has called me Flower since we were children."

◇

After that moment, Maggie and I talked throughout our time together in that back room, getting to know one another.

"Maggie, your dad needs to speak to you." Came the grunt of a familiar voice.

Maggie looked at me, and then back at Daryl. I shooed her away, telling her that I will be fine.

"I'll stay with her." Daryl said as she walked past him.

Daryl sat down in the now empty seat.

It was quiet between us, but not uncomfortably so.

"You know seeing you Daryl, it brought back some normalcy for a moment." I told him.

"I know what yeah means." I wanted to laugh at the simple sentence. Some things never change.

He cleared his throat, and then his hand started to tap against his leg that is now bouncing.

"Withdrawals?" I asked, wondering what it could be from.

"Just need a smoke is all." I forgot he smoked. I used to tell him when we were younger that smoking will kill him.

I placed my hand on the thigh that was bouncing. He looked down quickly and then back to look outside.

"You are bouncing that leg so hard, a walker will hear you."

He slapped my hand away, making me laugh loudly, but I covered my mouth to keep my laughter at bay.

I snorted when he told me to go fuck myself.

"Oh come on Daryl. It was funny, and you know it."

I could see that he was trying very hard to keep his face neutral.

The small space went back to being quiet.

"You know I missed you right." Daryl told me. Daryl didn't show this side very often to people, but I was always one of the few people that did.

"I missed you too." More than he will ever know.

◇

"I brought you some soup that we had." Carol said as she handed us two mugs of soup.

"Thank you Carol. Looks delicious." It really did, and it was nice for someone else to cook, or heat up for me.

"Also, Rick says he wants to talk to you about what we can bring with us when we leave." She told me. I told her thank you, and left her Daryl there.

Not noticing that Daryl was watching me leave the room, but Carol sure as hell saw him watching me.

◇

Daryl Dixon's POV:

"You know you can just tell her." Carol said to me as she took the now empty seat.

"Tell her what?" I grumbled.

"That you like her."

"I do not like her." I mumbled, trying to even convince myself that I still didn't hold a torch for her all these years.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that Daryl." I wanted to tell Carol where to go, but then I could see something heading towards the cabin.

I indicated to keep quiet, and then pointed out the window, carefully closing the cloth even more so that I could see out the small gap.

Carol quietly walked to the other room to inform the others, and everyone went quiet.

Flower came to stand against the back door. Even though it was locked, we do not know how old the wood was.

I watched as the walker walked through the mud, until it got stuck.

"Daryl." Flower whispered, and I looked at her. "Anymore?"

I shook my head no. "Not that I can see."

I watched as she opened the door as softly as she could.

Grabbed her bow and arrow, and before I knew what was happening, the arrow was through the head of the walker.

Carol went to the others that the coast was clear after getting the thumbs up from Flower as she closed and locked the door.

Flower smiled at me, and it felt like my heart was beating out of my chest.

"Come on Daryl. It is safe for now. Relax a little." Flower said as she placed her hand on my chest, seeing that I was just standing there, not moving, but watching her.

The air seemed to get thick around us as I grabbed her hand in mine, and just held it against my chest.

I watched her eyes flicker to my lips, and then back to looking into my eyes.

I leaned in, and she leaned in as well.

Our lips almost touched, and then Carl came in to announce that Rick had called a meeting.

Flower and I basically jumped away from one another, as I told Carl that we would be out soon.

She looked me up and down once, before leaving me standing there, alone, trying to grasp my barings.

I couldn't believe her and I almost kissed.

Part 2 ♡ Part 4 - coming soon

[yakuzacanons]

haiiii!!! is it okay to request some dating headcanons of Yutaka Yamai from IW? :D

LAST ONE FOR TODAY I have saved my personal favorite ask of da day for last, I have been obsesssssssed with Yamai. Also if you didn't know, Infinite Wealth asks are officially on da table so smoke em if ya got me. Some mild NSFW below, and welcome Yamai to the blog!

Don't let his dark demeanor fool you. Yamai is actually a big softie inside. Bit of a romantic himself, you can easily find him daydreaming about what was and what could've been.

He can be rough around the edges but he does have a sweet side to him. Type of guy who, despite all apperances, would help an old lady across the street. Carries that energy into romantic endeavors as well.

Given his history, chances are he will not confess to you first. In fact, he may try to bury his feelings. More of a flirt than anything, he hasn't had a serious romance since he left Japan and there's never been a steady partner of any kind.

Has had his fair share of experiences though, let's get that out there. Did his time at the strip clubs and hostess clubs, sometimes with the strippers and hostesses.

One of the most open minded guys out there. Things like age or race or appearance don't mean a darn to him. If he likes you, he likes you. Period. End of story.

Will not fall for someone easily but when he does he falls extremely hard, it's almost debilitating for him. Man won't be sleeping right, he gets disorganized, hell he stops getting cold so often. Everyone thinks he might be like dying or something, it's that drastic.

A shameless flirt and good at it. Blame it on all the lonely years at the clubs in Hawaii. Not a talkative guy and not the most profound conversationalist but boy does he have good voice control. Also has the most wicked fuck-me eyes. Key word being wicked.

Speaking of which, he can be an animal in bed. He's not messy or anything violent but he can be frantic, if that makes sense. Once he hits a certain limit, he's gotta relieve himself, either alone or with someone. He can't just pretend that isn't there. Translate that to a long term relationship, and you get some very hot and steamy sex.

Down to go on dates, it's the relationship part that's scary. A date can just mean getting food or having sex. A relationship means FEELINGS. And the last time he did that he had to leave Japan! Not a gamble to take lightly.

As stated previously, it is highly unlikely he will confess. Having said that, if you do, his face will kind of shift. Suddenly he's not some sullen, dark eyed fiend. He just looks so... soft. Like a cloud, almost. If you weren't serious or making some kind of joke, he would probably just fade away into dust right then and there.

He and Joon-Gi share the trait of loyalty. When he's in love, you are his person. Would do anything for you, for better or for worse. Despite how much his past has scarred him and how that's affected how he deals with his feelings, he still hasn't learned, huh? All these years later he's still a lover at heart...

[letomills]

The "requests are paused until I'm done with the current ones" thing was wishful thinking (a bit like the closing statements in my last yt video 🤓) and I am once again thoroughly overwhelmed with everything.

Requests are firmly closed until further notice. I said yes to the FtM hairs for anon and the Tiggerypum tunics & iamliz13 alpha dresses for children & toddlers for the other anon (I did get the links you sent to the meshes), so I still intend to complete both.

A novel's worth of life updates under the cut (content warning for struggle with bipolar type 2, including questionable choices which should not be taken as advice).

Well over a year ago I shared that my mother was going through a really bad bipolar type 2 depression episode (looking back, mention of it in that post was very euphemistic, I must have been hopeful). The reason why I didn't give any updates after a while is that there is no satisfactory narrative that I could easily spin into words. She's not all better, she hasn't died or lost her mind for good, things have just been evolving at a snail's pace through a whole spectrum of very bleak colors. She's not fully hospitalized anymore, she lives at home with my brother and me, with day hospitalisation activities several times a week. The myriad psychiatrists that she's seen have not been able to find the "right" treatment for her, but hey, after lithium sent her into such a state of confusion that we thought she might stay mentally disabled for the rest of her life, at least now we know that's not an option. A couple days ago her psychiatrist prescribed a new antipsychotic to replace the one she'd been taking. She started the transition, and today confusion started showing its terrifying face again so she's not taking that pill tonight, or to be honest ever again unless her psychiatrist somehow manages to convince us otherwise (she'll report her symptoms and get counsel at the hospital tomorrow). Her cognition is already impaired, her short-term memory and ability to focus especially. She can't live alone, I keep and manage her pillboxes, make sure she's eating right and the stove is off, that sort of stuff. But at least, until the introduction of this new drug, she'd made considerable gains compared to when she was at her worst last winter. No way we're going back to that again.

On a more positive note, about a month and a half ago I started work at a grocery delivery place just up the street (yes that's what I'm doing with my degree in Mandarin and my master's in English-French translation studies). It's intense physically, kinda stressful, and not very well paid, but I think I like it and the people are very nice. What scares me is that my trial period ends in about 2 weeks and I'm not entirely sure that they'll want to keep me, considering I've made several mistakes and they don't seem to think that I work quite fast enough (I know I said the people were very nice, they are, that's just the job). They keep saying the work load is gonna get crazier starting in September. The way they're saying it may suggest that they do envision me as still working there in September, but maybe they're trying to push me to work faster now and if I can't prove that I'm able to they won't keep me? Well I'm already doing my best, even if sometimes I end up finding myself crying over clients' items because my brain isn't able to focus anymore and I'm messing up and wasting time.

Emotional control has been harder because I unilaterally made the decision to taper off my antidepressant. Now before you facepalm, let me flood you with all of my best questionable arguments: • I do have an appointment with my psychiatrist, the earliest date I could get was October 1st (and I may have to postpone, depending on my work hours that day which I don't know yet). • I was already on the lowest dose that you can be on. • I tapered off very slowly. • I recently talked about it with the nurse that I saw for the mandatory medical visit I had to go to because I got the new job (idk if you have that outside of France). Naturally she was alarmed that I'd been weaning myself off on my own and she convinced me to see my GP asap and not change my medication without at least his input (which yes, I know). • the reasons I did it despite knowing that it's inadvisable are: 1) obviously I haven't been feeling depressed for a while or I wouldn't have done it, 2) the amount of endorphin-producing physical exercise I get from the new job felt like it could maybe do the trick so it was worth a try, 3) seeing how much my mom's medication has messed up her cognition over the years is scary. She's been taking way higher doses of antidepressants than me, along with other stuff, over a way longer period of time, but still. I don't want to be on it if it's not strictly necessary, so I wanted to try off. • I'm still taking my antipsychotic religiously and have no intention to stop that (I can't anyway or I won't be able to sleep and I'll definitely lose the job).

My plan with the antidepressant was to space out the doses and eventually get off it entirely for several weeks before reassessing, but after seeing that nurse, I started upping again to one dose every other day. I will admit, I was having suicidal thoughts after several days off, and now it's gone. Maybe I should find having suicidal thoughts more alarming than I do, the nurse's phrasing when she asked if I did - something that could translate to "no suicidals thoughts, riiight?" - was a good reminder that suicidal thoughts are really bad to have oh no. Of course I said no, why would I want her to interfere (leave me to make decisions for my own self thank you). Anyway, the appointment with my GP is in two days. He's gonna be useless on psych stuff but I guess getting his unqualified, predictable input is the responsible thing to do in polite society. More relevantly, the nurse also told me to go see him because my blood pressure is a bit low, or at least it was at 9/6 when she saw me, so I need to have it retaken and see what's up with that if anything.

And so yes, I have a ton of CC plans as always, I am positively drowning. Beside the two requests I mentioned above the cut, one of which I need to do a lot of learning for, I picked up work on Celestialspritz's beta Vincent skins and started converting afbodykimono for the usual roaster of breasted body shapes, like I did with afbodyqipao here and would like to do with more Happy Holiday Stuff outfits in the future. Although I told myself that I would stick to the body shapes that I've already done stuff for, I now also want to make a set of clothes for Lady Apple. I also have an idea about a set of scrawny body shapes for TU-EU inspired by Mrs Crumplebottom's body shape. I know Melodie9's slim family exists but to be honest those shapes creep me out and I want to see if I can do something less uncanny (it may end up looking too similar to the Androgyny body shapes, or to Faerie Gal, or it may not pan out at all, so don't hold your breath). I also want to do a ton of hairs in FakeBlood's palette + Naberius (tbh I'm still not 100% sure if I like Timebomb or Naberius more for my aliens, I need to figure that out once and for all). And of course I want to do more FtM & MtF hair conversions once I know how to do it well enough. There's a billion smaller projects I'd like to insert in between those, outfit conversions for one or a couple body shapes, repurposing of older meshes, a set of nude "outfits" for all the body shapes I do, etc.

[bengiyo]

Hey there!

I've seen a bunch of peeps echoing your thoughts on the KH adaptation, like how it's kinda "Japanese" and might be hard to transfer. Can you talk about what exactly gives KH that "Japanese" vibe? I've checked out some JBLs, but my memory of KH is lowkey foggy. Or if you've talked about this before elsewhere, can you drop the link pls? (btw, loving your stray thoughts posts – they're a life saver keeping up with all the BLs. Thanks!)

I'm trying to find a useful way to describe this. Japanese live-action media still hearkens back to a stage tradition, and as such you need to widen your eye to appreciate what's going on.

Close-Ups

I think Westerners watching Asian media rely heavily on close-ups of actors doing things to read their emotions in a scene, and that's not always where the most important stuff is happening in a Japanese drama.

I'm struggling with the gif search, but this shot above is a good example of that stage tradition. Hashimoto was feeling embarrassed at this moment and wanted to leave, so she literally exists stage right. The Japanese also love depth of frame. We see Aida as the barrier she has to cross to leave in the foreground, and we can see that life is still going on in the background.

I think a lot of us in the West rely on close ups like this to read characters from any given moment, and you see this reflected in what gets giffed and what doesn't. Michieda Shunsuke has incredibly large and expressive facial features, and he exaggerates them constantly to play up the hyperreal aspects of Aoki, which is another staple of these kinds of Japanese stories.

You got a lot of this in Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss! as well.

I'm struggling right now because I don't feel like fighting Viki and God Himself to get screenshots of the wider shots in the show, but the wider shots allow for us to get information about multiple characters and the dynamics between them quickly.

Thematic Focus

Another thing that Japanese dramas have that sticks out for me is focus. Because filming in Japan is expensive, most of their comedies of any sort are in a half-hour time slot, a lot like US comedies. You have to use your time wisely, and so there's far less mission creep to create an in-show ad for juice or to insert or expand side characters to try out other pitches that didn't make the cut for the whole show.

The entire focus of Kieta Hatsukoi's TV Asahi adaptation focuses on the complications around the confused romances between Aoki, Hashimoto, Ida, and Aida. We spend time with Aoki's disaster bi revelation, his and Hashimoto's cowardice in romance, and Ida's demisexual discovery. We cover a lot of ground in 10 short episodes that Thailand media won't in 12 long episodes.

As a result, the pacing overall tends to be extremely consistent and you're rarely asking yourself why a narrative beat is happening. Because this show is about two characters having a queer awakening, we get interactions across age groups about what it means for these boys to be Known Queers in their community and see them deal with that.

Emotional Communication

One of the other things that feels distinctly Japanese is the ways characters will communicate their feelings to each other. Sometimes there's a stoic layer coming from male characters who won't express themselves because they think their actions are making it clear, and then another character will come through to challenge their presumptions about what has been done and what hasn't been said.

One of my favorite moments is in episode 9 when Aoki gets frustrated that Ida doesn't seem to be straining under hormonal urges the way he is, which lands well because the audience and Ida knows that Aoki is struggling with those urges.

Some of this could come down to translation issues and the things that are presumed in Thai that don't always make it specifically onto the screen, but oftentimes I find that Thai characters are having a big confrontation about the wrong issue that misses the core fight, and then that gets resolved as if it was the core disconnect.

Those are just some of my thoughts firing from the hip. The vibe felt off in the trailer we saw yesterday and it left me feeling deeply uninspired. I'm hoping that as they work on the script and preparations for the roles the Thai version will be solid, but adaptations don't always work.