#ahh need to compile before the end of the year! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lightneverfades · 3 years

Photo

Frostiron Holiday Wishes Challenge ❆ 🎅🎄Master Post!

Thank you to all those who’ve submitted a prompt/wish and lovely artwork/fics for these wishes! Here is a compiled list of all the prompt fills received! :D <3

Requester: @kimmycup Wish (Prompt/Idea): Invasion fic where Tony figures out Loki was mind controlled before Loki does: "But I WAS in control. Thanos didn't control me like I did Clint." "Yeah sure. And if you wanted to take over the world, what would you do?" Loki spluttered, fully aware that plan was dumb. Still, he would KNOW if he were controlled... Right? "But I wasn't mind controlled! It was me!"

❆ Fill: By @worstloki Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638613717830008832/

Requester: @brianadoesart Wish (Prompt/Idea): Cupcake shop au!!! One of our boys owns a cupcake shop and the other one is a FREQUENT visitor to said coffee shop. Lots of people think its because they have a sweet tooth, but they're just hopelessly in love with whichever one owns the shop.

❆ Fill: By @worstloki Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638613402351239168/

Requester: @snarkyship Wish (Prompt/Idea): Human/no powers AU. Sort-of-enemies to friends to lovers.Tony rents this house/bungalow by the sea for the summer, with a kind of private beach where there is also a cute gazebo. Only that the gazebo is exactly halfway with the other property (by some mistake?). And the tenant of the neighbour bungalow is Loki, who's not so keen on sharing. So Loki&Tony will start a "war" to gain possession of the gazebo, doing their worst using the excuse of "this is my half, I can use it as I want". ((Optional: there is a table right in the middle, so at the beginning they sit at their own side glaring at each other, before starting deploying more convoluted tactics)).Mischief after mischief, they will start to know each other and of course everything will end with one of them inviting the other to their half for a romantic dinner and they'll end up sharing more than the gazebo <3((I hope it's enough clear and but also not too detailed??))

❆ Fill: By @worstloki Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638612819398606848/

Requester: @loufeysson Wish (Prompt/Idea): Hi! my prompt is teenage Tony and android Loki in a futuristic universe (in the style of Black Mirror, maybe?) 🥺👉🏼👈🏼 Thank you!

❆ Fill: By @lightneverfades (yours truly haha!) Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638487122698010624/

Requester: @lightneverfades Wish (Prompt/Idea): Loki is a yoga instructor and one day Tony goes to one of his classes and finds out the best positions to ‘relax’ - body, mind and soul >:D. (I love puns, so go crazy hahaha!)

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://snarkyship.tumblr.com/post/638415118181580800/

Requester: @martiszcz Wish (Prompt/Idea): Someone is trying to break them up by making Loki jealous, mentioning Tony's playboy years, talking about the time they slept with Tony, talking about how much time he spends with some friend (Pepper, Rhodey, I don't care who) but Loki doesn't react - they trust each other.

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638434199159865344/

Requester: Nivael * Wish (Prompt/Idea): Loki and Tony are in an established relationship. Things go great, but Loki is still unaccepting of his Jotun heritage and body. While Tony is completely fascinated by it, partly because Loki tries to hide it so hard. So he gets a fancy magical gadget from Strange (amulet, bracelet,...?) to be able to avoid frostbite so he can touch Loki even when he's in his Jotun form. Then there will be smut! :D

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638434042873872384

Requester: @loufeysson Wish (Prompt/Idea): Hi! my prompt is teenage Tony and android Loki in a futuristic universe (in the style of Black Mirror, maybe?) 🥺👉🏼👈🏼 Thank you!

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638433959345274880/

Requester: @arandomsewer Wish (Prompt/Idea): I just want him to live on and being supported by his Friends and his brother recognizing him, that's basically the prompt. Tho here's the details of the Idea I had: Loki is living at the tower with the others (of course) too proud to say out loud how much he likes life on earth... The usual.Something happens and suddenly the magic that made him look Asgardian is just not working anymore. Understandably, he freaks out. Im talking hides in his room, crying, anger, hate, on himself and others... The whole lot, he just throws a major fit.The others know him and kind of understand and are patient... But it’s not getting fixed. Days pass, and he's stuck like this. After a while Tony snaps him out of It, and he slowly calms down and starts learning to accept this side of himself. It’s specially strange to him how he can just walk in a room and no one treats him different. How the others are even fascinated by this form. I expect Thor being shocked and curious and snapped at and reminded how he (and his people on general) have been unfair to Loki... And of course, there's the romance with Tony, Who loves him in all his forms (and they fit together 'cause he's kinky and Loki a shapeshifter)Also imagine Loki being terrified of touching Tony and then finding out he's cold to the touch but not actually dangerous (my headcanon: he's the son of Hella. Half giant and half Asgardian, and the actual heir... But that's for another fic)

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638433872244326400/

Requester: @kimmycup Wish (Prompt/Idea): Loki in Tony's MIT sweatshirt.

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638403067804598272/

Requester: @worstloki Wish (Prompt/Idea): Tony and Loki both having panic attacks at the same time. just make it wild. whatever the reasons are, maybe it's the same reason? maybe they have shared triggers? maybe it's separate reasons? maybe the other avengers are around and don't realize the incoming attacks and keep bringing up bad memories? maybe one of them notices the other is freaking out and defends them? maybe drags them away only to also start having a panic attack? whatever. they're both freaking out and just kinda do that. they then bond over it. (this can be crack or angsty I don't mind)

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638402945408499712/

Requester: @shinindragon Wish (Prompt/Idea): The Avengers + Loki fight a villain. Loki uses a lot of his magic, eventually almost draining his energy completely when he protects Tony from getting hurt. When the battle is over, they return to the tower, all of them exhausted. Tony notices Loki doesn't look well, he asks if he's okay. Loki barely gets a word out before he collapses into Tony's arms, unconscious. Thor carries Loki to Tony's and his bedroom, explaining to Tony that he'll be alright, it's just exhaustion from an excessive use of magic. Tony stays with Loki, taking care of him. Fluff and with a sprinkle of angst.

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638402848705675264

Requester: @blancoluna Wish (Prompt/Idea): Basically Friga wonders where she went wrong, asks the Oracle and goes on a guilt trip realizing she messed up to Valhalla and back. The idea is, being a queen-godess of family, she should be able to do something about it, maybe traveling in time or something... And Loki's gonna need powerful allies and Friends, like the Avengers, for example Now the same, but with detail. This is the way I imagined It. Perhaps it’s too much drama? I just don't know how to tackle It or how to go from here:After everything that happened, Frigga wonders where she went wrong, not just with Loki, but with Thor who didn't appreciate his brother, Odín, who treated him unfairly and even the servants, Who didn't respect him.She wonders if she could have done anything, and the guilt wont let her sleep until she goes to the well of wisdom, the Oracle, to seek answers.She is warned the truth may be even more painful. She may not like the answer... But she goes in.It is way worse than she thought: in one second she is reminded of all the times she should have acted, and chose not to, and she sees how It affected her family.She could and should have done something, and she had plenty of time, but at every chance she chose not to. And its perhaps worse than what Odin did because she knew It was wrong but chose to do nothing about It.But even more: It is confirmed to her that not only Odín never gave Loki a chance: he didn't find him. He stole him from the temple where he was guarded. He is not just the son of Louffey, but also of Hella, and thus, the actual heir to the throne of Asgard.She was supposed to be the godess of family, and here she was, consumed by guilt and shame, by having followed blindly a King Who abused her children and betrayed his own heir, aside from many other crimes.But Frigga can't just spend the test of eternity crying. She must do something. She was raised by witches!!Will she manage to get her hands on the time Stone? Or Will she just travel to another dimension to warn a younger version of herself? Will this be the beginning of a new multiverse? The possibilities are endless, when the godess of family must avenge her child...But first: for him to have a better Life he would need support, allies... Friends. (Enter the Avengers)

Add-on: Frigga having this vision was just meant to be a one shot that would connect many different alternative stories, all with the 'what if Frigga did something for Loki' as a common base. All of them would be Frostiron 'cause I honestly believe they are just meant for one another! It is just so open to so many possibilities... That I never got to writing any of them.

One of the first ideas I had following this concept was of Frigga introducing Tony and Loki early on somehow: as kids they would be like 'imaginary friends' then Tony manages to contact him and they are webcam buds... As young adults, they would help each other go a different path than they did in other lives.... and when Loki needed help, he had allies to back him. (The Avengers, whom Tony may have introduced to him earlier)

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638402661807521793

Requester: @brianadoesart Wish (Prompt/Idea): A.... Among Us au....... Impostor Loki protecting his crewmate friend Tony from the other impostors.... I..... Tony and Loki as Among Us beans...

❆ Fill: By @snarkyship Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638403011653353472/

Requester: @kimmycup Wish (Prompt/Idea): Loki in Tony's MIT sweatshirt.

❆ Fill: By @shinindragon Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638390052569907200

Requester: @brianadoesart Wish (Prompt/Idea): A.... Among Us au....... Impostor Loki protecting his crewmate friend Tony from the other impostors.... I..... Tony and Loki as Among Us beans...

❆ Fill: By @kimmycup Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638390059063803904

Requester: @brianadoesart Wish (Prompt/Idea): MERMAIDS. I like mermaids. Either a fic or art, but I just want more content of mer-Loki or mer-Tony. I always enjoy versions where Loki is an underwater prince who falls in love with a stupid human inventor by the name of Tony. He's never been 100% happy in the palace with Thor and the others, so he often would go to the shore to watch the humans. He sees Tony working on the beach one day and becomes interested in him from there on. Basically a little mermaid type thing... I am easy to please. I just like mermaids.

❆ Fill: By @lightneverfades (yours truly haha!) Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638511932186525696/

Requester: @snarkyship Wish (Prompt/Idea): Finally Tony has managed to locate Loki's whereabouts. And it turns out the godling lives in a pretty loft in Manhattan, with all the comforts and the most advanced midgardian technology ((lighting, temperature and everything controlled by a tablet - the Stark latest model!- , appliances linked to the wifi, and has that roomba a knife??)).Tony decides to have a little fun: who said Loki is the only one who can do a little mischief?? So he takes control over Loki's apartment hacking its system; he starts with some flickering lights, the roomba changing suddenly trajectory to stab him, then blasting music in the middle of the night and so on.And Loki would be so frustrated: at the beginning he thinks about some failure in the inferior midgardian technology, then he'll think to be under attack, but he can't feel any magic signature!! Maybe he'll freak out a little, because there is some kind of unknown entity??? ((And while he may be using all the technology without problems, it doesn't mean he fully understands its working)).Tony will have fun, but he also will discover some cute aspects of Loki's personality, like he sings to his plants and he likes to wear fuzzy socks ((ok it sounds voyeuristic, but Tony would respect part Loki's privacy, maybe he'll spy on him only when in the living room or kitchen)).((And maybe he would help Loki as well? Like, the godling had a nightmare after falling asleep on the couch, and Tony would gently woke him up with music))Loki will eventually understand that Stark, the most clever midgardian, was behind all of this, and well, he's the God of Mischief, he can appreciate a well planned trick. Time to return the favor ;)

❆ Fill: By @lightneverfades (yours truly haha!) Link: https://lightneverfades.tumblr.com/post/638390071764074496/

#frostiron holiday wishes challenge #frostiron #master post #hehehe #ahh need to compile before the end of the year!#thank you so much to everyone who submitted prompts and fills!#this was so much fun!#love this fandom

11 notes · View notes

detectiveran · 3 years

Text

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything, practically a year and 2020 was awful and 2021 didn’t start off well either because of a relative’s death. But anyway, I hope you guys like what I’ve written.

If you wanna support me, I would be highly grateful. My paypal is: paypal.me/filterish

It was truly horrible that Ran was dealt such a awful card in her life. An alcoholic father, a workaholic mother and an innate disposition of wanting to please people whom she loved.

She could have lived with the first two cards but it was the third one that made her life difficult. Wanting to do the best she could at academics so she could get praised by her absent parents, wanting to have friends so that she could answer her mother’s questions about her friendships with conviction, wanting to work so that she could take care of the monetary burdens... wants, wants, wants.

To be honest, all she wanted was peace. To not be involved in her separated yet together parents’ tumultuous relationship. Sometimes thinking about her family made her chest hurt and throat tickle. She loved her mother and she loved her father. But she didn’t love them together. And when she came to realize that at the age of twenty, she finally let go.

She had worried and schemed to get her parents back together practically her whole life but now, she knew that if they didn’t want to be together, all her efforts would be in vain. So, at the age of twenty, with a heavy heart, she decided to let her family go. She stopped calling her mother to fix a date with her father, she stopped pestering her father about giving a fuck about her mother. And then came the realization that she was lonely. So lonely that her heart ached.

She hadn’t managed to make friends, life long friends people would go on about, because she was focused on bettering herself so that her parents would praise her. On the flip side, she had gotten into one of the best universities in Tokyo and was studying her desired subject about Medicine. Most days she could live with the pay off. Having a stable career would help in surviving alone a lot.

People in her class would invite her to hang out and she would say yes, just to sit there and observe them. For some reason, the buzzing chatter of her classmates soothed her a lot. They would gossip or discuss about classes or professors and Ran would sit there with a slight smile on her face and her heart feeling lighter. She craved companionship.

With that thought in her mind, she decided to open up with her college classmates. She knew the names of the people in her class, thankfully and so, with a cheery smile she used to plaster on at her high school, she slid into the conversation about the college’s professors.

“... And Tsukiyama-sensei gives us so maaaany diagrams to draw,” Hayami-san was whining, “I have a part time job to do and then that teacher’s homework... I don’t get the time to unwind at all.”

“He does push us a lot,” Ran said and noticed the sort of surprised looks of her three classmates, though they quickly covered it up.

“You find it hard too, huh, Ran-san?” Sonoko-san said, “With your grades, I thought it would be easy for you to catch up.”

Ran quickly grabbed the opportunity to continue the conversation, thankful that the atmosphere didn’t turn awkward at her sudden interruption, “Ah, well, I don’t actually have a lot to do, you know? Mostly studies and a part time job as an assistant at a detective agency.”

“Detective agency?!” The three of them exclaimed and faced Ran fully.

Her smile grew sheepish as she said, “Ahhhh, but, nothing interesting happens when I’m there. Usually, I just have to compile all the data and file them.”

“But, still! You must have found something interesting there!” Aoko-san said, with her eyes shining with excitement, “A case? Or a person? Have you ever helped the detective, Ran-san?”

Ran shook her head no, “I’m not allowed to work on the cases, Aoko-san. As a matter of fact, I’ve not even seen the detective yet, I usually work in the evening, after my classes are done.”

Hearing that, the three of them looked concerned and Hayami-san spoke, “Ran-san, are you sure that’s safe? I mean,” she shared a look full of concern with Sonoko-san and Aoko-san, “you have never seen whom you work with, right? What if it’s some super shady guy?”

Ran chuckled a bit and said, “It’s okay, Hayami-san. I’m trained in karate. Plus, the agency I work at is super reputed. It’s just that the guy whom I’m assigned to is very, very busy and even other employees have said that it’s rare to see him in the office. He works at very odd hours.”

That did nothing to alleviate their concern and Ran felt a bit touched. This was the first time she was having a proper conversation with them and the four of them were practically strangers yet Hayami-san, Sonoko-san and Aoko-san were so concerned about her well being.

Aoko-san was apprehensive and she murmured, “If you say so, Ran-san,” and then in a more chipper tone asked, “Which agency do you work at?”

“Kudo Detective Agency.” Ran replied.

Hearing that, the three of them were even more animated in their response, “THE Kudo Detective Agency?” Aoko-san gasped in disbelief.

“Wait, the famous ex-policeman one?!” Sonoko-san exclaimed.

“The one that has this hot, handsome guy working there?” Hayami-san said.

All of them turned to look at Hayami-san and she shrugged sheepishly, “What? Everybody knows that there is this rumored handsome guy who works there and is seen like once in every millennia,” she said sarcastically.

Sonoko-san swatted her friend and Aoko-san clicked her tongue, waving her comment away and turned her attention back to Ran, “You really work at Kudo Detective Agency, Ran-san? Oh, wow. It houses the best of the best detectives.”

Sonoko-san nodded and said, “Damn, you must have impressed the Kudo husband and wife duo a lot. Seeing that they have such a strict policy and criteria to employ people.”

And with that, the three of them were off chattering about the elusive Kudos. Ran chipped in whenever she could but mostly listened while they were talking. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that only reason she works there is to spite her father in an act of rebellion.

The Kudous were not the reason her father was a piss poor detective but she had spent her teenagers listening to him whine about how Kudo Yuusaku was responsible for the lack of cases in Mouri Detective Agency. And at that time, Ran did what she could to help him, guide her high school classmates in need, put up posters, advertise in newspapers... she did what she could but her father was too prideful to take small cases and too incompetent to work properly on big ones. And by then, the ex-policeman Yuusaku and ex-actress-turned-housewife had established a proper detective agency housing some of the brightest, youngest detectives.

When she cut ties with her family, she decided to do what she wanted. And so, she offered her services to the Kudous. She knew she could be an excellent assistant and she proved herself by working for a week under Yuusaku Kudo herself. From organization to appointments to little treats or snacks for the clients... she did what she could have been doing for her father.

And by the time the week had ended, she was employed with a good salary. She thought that working there would hinder her Medicine study course but the detective whom she was assigned to had a set of orders ready when she entered his office.

She was surprised at first because no one was there to greet her on her first day, just a piece of paper telling her not to come during day time and that her work was to organize the papers that were kept on the table. Sure, there were scribbled notes scattered everywhere on the table but a quick glance clued her in that those were case notes. Case notes of multiple cases, to be exact.

She found it extremely odd that the detective whom she was supposed to assist had never shown himself. All she knew was that his name was Kudou Shinichi, Kudou Yuusaku and Yukiko’s son, and was an excellent detective. He had grown up in the States and had come back at the age of twenty with plethora of experience under his belt.

Ran chalked up never seeing him to some weird quirk of his. Truthfully, she liked working there. The Kudou couple treated her kindly, the assistants of other detectives were warm and welcoming, even the other detectives greeted her and indulged in small talk. The work wasn’t difficult, the pay was excellent, the timing fit her college schedule perfectly; everything was great except for never having seen her superior’s face.

Ran sighed as she brought herself back to present. Aoko-san was talking about the lab work they had just finished and Ran smiled lightly. Having friends like them would be nice, she thought. And swore to herself that she would make the effort to know them better.

That day, she felt very calm as she entered her office. The Kudo Shinichi plaque at the door greeted her and she opened it, mentally gearing herself up for the stack of papers that was bound to be there, only to be greeted by a man, who was shuffling through them.

“Umm... hello?” Ran asked hesitantly, not wanting to jump to conclusions about who this man was.

The man faced her and smiled a bright smile, which left Ran disarmed. “Hello, you must be Mouri Ran-san?” he asked.

Ran felt a little discombobulated, she hadn’t anticipated someone being inside the office. “Uhh... yes, I am. And you are...?” she didn’t want to presume who he was but she had a little inkling of whom he could be.

“Ah, sorry for introducing myself late,” and he walked up to her and held his hand up for a greeting, “My name is Kudou Shinichi... and ahh, I’m supposed to be working here,” he said in a playful tone with a smirk that showed a dimple on his left cheek.

The only thought that crossed her mind at that moment was what Hayami-san had said a few hours before. He really was a gorgeous man.

#dcmk #detective conan #ran mouri #ran mori #shinichi kudou #shinichi kudo #shinran #hello it's been a while #i hope you guys like it #i haven't written in a long time and i'm rusty #i dunno if it's good or not #but here it is #my writing #i will continue this methinks #if people are interested

122 notes · View notes

imaginedmisimaginedbeing · 2 years

Text

We start 2nd semester next week

But I want to write this to remember what the first semester was like, and if I will take an active role in changing my habits.

By each passing week, I can say that I was becoming more and more like a medical doctor. And it’s not really more about the times I was studying my books, but during our SGDs, and interviews with patients. I always dismissed the idea that you will remember best with patients, because back then the only way of learning I knew was studying by material, but I was wrong. The outputs, the research you have to put in defending your diagnosis, the compilation of the salient features presented by the patient- they were the ones that helped me remember a condition.

I spent a great deal of the last semester listening to Taylor Swift’s album, and I am glad I did because I discovered more of her songs, especially the ones from Reputation and 1989. I even got to the point where I listen to podcasts about it.

I must admit I also spent a lot of time sleeping. I chose to take care of my mental health this year, even going as far as agreeing to take escitalopram after my endocrinologist prescribed it. I sometimes wonder how much my life could have been better, my world view changing, had I sought help earlier. I think there was a point I cried because I can’t believe I can actually choose to fight instead of mope, and there was also a time that I was at peace with my decision to sit back, relax, and trust myself that I have studied long enough before, and all I need is to review.

Anki was great, and I recommend active recall 10/10.

There was a point in the semester as well where I deactivated my twitter because of so much bad news, and I was losing focus. It can be depriving considering we are in an online set up but it was for the better. It was a good decision to sit tight and assess.

Marvel also helped me stay sane this semester through Hawkeye which got me excited for the holiday season, What if..., reruns of Infinity War, End Game, and Thor: Ragnarok.

My niece was a calming presence, and a walking reality check adviser. She even told me that I blame her when I don’t get the scores that I want because she comes over while I’m studying. LOL! She keeps me grounded by always reminding me that I also need to help with the household chores.

Making papers is very frustrating, but it was also very helpful. I just wish I would be more intentional about my actions towards it. I hope I will be more “Ahh, I plan to do that at the last possible minute because I am still studying”, or “Yes, I will do that right now.” Hehe.

I stayed in our condo for the better part of the semester, which helped me with my grades, my mental health, and my solace. I get to see my significant other most days during that time, and that made me extra happier of course. We studied at different places, and were able to try restaurants in QC.

I also saw finally saw my classmates when we had our trial f2f and I also saw my two closest friends in med after our 2nd surgery exam. It was fun.

That’s mostly it. Of course, it involved a lot of study nights but do I want to bore myself with that story again?

4 notes · View notes

deputy-videogamer · 4 years

Text

Demon in Disguised | Part 1 |

Paring: Geralt x Reader

Warning: Minor Blood

Notes: Don't worry there will be a part two and it will have smut in it. But for now enjoy the small cliffhanger.

Part 2

Ahh humans~

So frail, so paranoid, so deliriously fearful. Especially if the humans are just vulnerable to things they can't explain, take your for example. You have an appearance of a human, but in reality you are nothing more than a demon. More specifically one of the Seven Demons of Hell, your brothers and sisters just love taking pleasure of bringing their sins into the lives of humans.

A man having an affair with his wife? You can blame Asmodeus for that. A person who kills another person out of jealousy? Blame Beelzebub for that. A bloodly fight that was out of anger or revenge? Blame yourself for that. You once enjoy these misfortunes that you laid upon the humans, but now it has been.....well boring for you.

You wanted something more than just making people suffer. You wanted to have an adventure, the thrill, the excitement of your adrenaline pumping in your veins. Sitting on your throne watching people suffer is not what you no longer call fun but instead an endless suffering. No pun intended. That's when it had hit you, why stay here watching people suffer, when you can have fun up there up there. The place where plenty of people live instead of just waiting for the next victim to die and judge what have sins they have done to bring down here.

Which brings you here. Drinking at a pub in a village where the men slammed their drinks on the tables as waitresses went by table to table. For the past couple of years you have made quite the living of being a traveler who tells a person's 'future' for a couple of coins to buy some items. Not like it matter to you materialistic things never interested you in the first place.

All of sudden the pub had gotten quite, you broke your gaze from the book you were reading from to see what had stop the ruckus. At the doorway of the pub was a man with long white hair that was tied into a ponytail with intriguing golden cat like eyes.

"What's a freak doing here."

If you recall correctly this 'freak' was called a 'Witcher' from the books you have read. People with supernatural abilities that was similar to the Mages here, but of course with a few differences. Apparently these Witchers slay monsters for money and they aren't really welcome to most people because of their actions. Such hubris these humans possess judging one's abilities and actions instead of taking the time for knowing them.

You eyed the man as he walked to a table that had a man drinking away his problems because of an incident. From what you heard lost some supplies and men to something in the woods nearby. Not that you care about someone's misfortune, you went back reading your book when something caught your interest in the man's and Witcher's conversation.

"The monster you are describing sounds like a demon, but not any demon that I may know of."

A smirk slowly appeared on your face when you heard this. If a Witcher who is suppose to identify all types of monster can't even identify this demon then it must be from Hell. Perhaps this day won't be just you sitting around reading afterall.

Closing your book, you went up their table with your cane. The cane is just part of your disguise to make you look cripple and helpless. There are occasional times where some robbers and bandits tried to steal from you but that only led you to use some 'magic' on them.

"May I ask you what did this Demon looked like?" Both men looked at you when you appeared. You took a quick glance at the Witcher's medallion hoping it wont react to you. You leaned on your cane as the client explained what he saw.

"It's skin completely green and there something on it's head like some kind of octopus. On it's back was spider like legs and it appeared to have some green light around it." You automatically knew what it was.

"Ah! The demon you are describing to me is a Timor Daemonium or a Fear Demon. It's a good thing you ran for your life, crafty bastards can summon lesser demons to help them fight."

"You seems like you know this demon." You turned your head towards the Witcher and gave him a small smile.

"Yes, I happen to came across these demons a few times." That was a lie. These types Demons where created from Lucifer; where there is fear there is pride.

It seems like siblings want to return to Hell if they are sending their creations to find you.

"Mr. Witcher, may I tag along on your hunt. You can keep the reward I'm not interested in that. What I'm interested is the demon." The Witcher looked at you suspiciously, but soon agreed.

With the agreement settled, the two of you were out your way to find the Fear Demon. You were perhaps a good distance from the village for you to drop the act. You swung your cane onto your shoulders and started to walk naturally. This caught the Witcher's attention.

"The cripple act is something you always do?"

You looked up to the white hair male and gave him a sly smile. "Something like that. In this age men or women wouldn't want to have sex with someone who is cant walk properly know can they?"

"Not if you have your chest out like that." He mumble but you heard it just fine afterall advance hearing is part of the Demon charm.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

The road to the location was silent for quite away, but you decide to break the ice once more.

"The name's (Y/N) and you are Mr. Witcher?"

"Geralt of rivia. Rather be called by my name than Mr. Witcher. You seem to know your demonology quite well."

"It's my pride and joy the only thing I can actually do than just reading one's 'future'." You air quote the word 'future's.

Geralt raised an eyebrow when you said this. He was about to ask you what you just meant when you stopped him with your cane. You raised a finger to your lips to silence him as he listen to whatever you were trying find.

It was then he realized why you stopped them, a green like fog floated in a small part of the forest that most likely was hiding the Demon.

Using your cane to grabbed his necklace you brought Geralt closer to whisper in his ear.

"They are vulnerable to lightening. Can you cast anything like that?"

"I can cast Aard will that work?" You gently removed your cane from his necklace and took a step forward.

"That will have to do. I'll distract for a bit once you have a clear shot cast your spell and I'll do the rest." You raised your cane in front of you then announcing a name.

"Talon, I might need some help." A black smoke started to come out of your cane then a panther came out of the fog. Turning back to Geralt you told him hide while you faced the Demon.

Unaware to you is that when you summon your 'familiar' Geralt's medallion started to vibrate. If he question you now then they will lose the Demon, but if he question you later then you might not even answer his question at all. But with no other option he did what you ordered.

Talon had pounced on the Fear Demon giving you time to remove your blade out it's sheathed and started to attack it. If you remember correctly from what Lucifer said they are vulnerable to any type of lightning attacks, even though Aard is not a lightning base attack it should do the trick.

You caught off one of it's spider like appendages that were trying to attack you. It's blood seeped out of it limb, but one it's limb managed to hit your side. You grunted as the rising pain to your side, but manage to pull through.

You dodged an incoming slice from the Demon before it ripped off Talon off it's back. You scanned the area to see where did Geralt hid, your search ended quickly when Geralt had appeared behind the Demon then attacking with Aard. With a stroke of your arm a black smoke appeared around you changing your (h/c) hair to a silver color with the tattoos that was scatter on your arm suddenly glowed.

"Alliges Duplicia (Bind)." The tattoos on your arms were removed and sent flying towards the demon, binding him.

You were amused as it tried to struggled it's way out of the bonds.

"Cur auxilium eius? (Why are you helping him?)." The Demon sneered at you. Luckily Geralt can't understand what it's trying to say, but that doesn't mean he already knows something's up with you.

"Cause why not?"

"Plurimum autem periculosissima et daemonem. Et auxiliatus sum tibi haec ... homine isto? (You are the most powerful and most dangerous demon. And yet you help this...this human!)."

"First of all, this human is name Geralt. Second of all you mean former. I step down remember?"

"Inferos non inveni novum irae. Tu tantum potior esse irae. (Hell has not found a new Wrath. You are only one best suited to be Wrath.)"

"Well, you better find a replacement soon or..." You took a quick glance at Geralt who gave you a raised eyebrow. Seems like he is slowly starting to put the pieces in it's place. "Or else Hell will release it's demons and the Dammned soon."

"Talon, return him to Lucifer." You called out to your familiar . The panther compiled with it's order grabbing the Demon by it's hair it disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

You sighed. It seems like your siblings won't be stopping their attacks anytime soon as long as you stay here on Tameria.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Oh yeah that's right. Geralt can't understand what the Demon just said.

"Depends how much they are paying you." You swiped your hair back as the once silver color return back to it's natural hair color.

"25 crowns."

"Shit. Fine 10 questions you can ask me, but first camp." Geralt notice how it was already dark so he'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now.

Once the fire was going, the two of you sit on opposite directions for safety reasons. Which was fine by you, you still needed to to patch up the nasty wound on your side. When you finished you rummaged through your satchel to pull out the same book you were reading earlier.

"First question go." You said. Geralt would've thought you were getting impatient, but considering how you were kicking back and reading a book said otherwise.

What a strange person you were. If you are consider you a person.

"Don't know what that demon was saying, but base on how it called you a daemonem or a demon just like how you translated back at the tavern. You are just like it aren't? A demon?"

You finger stopped at the tip of your page that you were about to turn. The gesture meant that Geralt was right you aren't human.

"You aren't wrong." You turn the page and set your book down to the side to get up and slowly walked towards. "But it's my turn Witcher do you want to know really want to know what my Demon name is?"

When you went to his side if the fire you were already up to his face. With a a smirk on your face waiting for his answer.

"Ire. What does it mean?"

"I'll give you a hint. When a person sees you; a Witcher. What is there reaction?" Geralt was slowly starting to see what you might be, but had to be sure to confirm it.

"They look at me with disgust, hatred, and..." For some reason couldn't finish the last part of his sentence as he gazed into your eyes. He wonders if you were actually a succubus or incubus or even a demon who can hypnotize people.

"Go on." You encourage him to finish it. "Unless you want me to say it for you, Geralt of Rivia."

God. Just hearing his name from your tongue makes him want to take you here an now.

"They look at me with..."

"Anger." The two of you finished at the same time.

"Oh fuck it." Geralt pulled your head closer to his giving you a heated lip session. If he was going to die at least he was going to die from a sexy sin demon.

Taglist

@jessevans @mystrie @midnattsorg

#geralt imagine #geralt of rivia x reader #geralt of rivia #geralt #geralt x reader #fanfiction #witcher #the witcher #witcher x reader #the witcher x y/n #the witcher imagine #witcher imagine #witcher x y/n #geralt x y/n #geralt of rivia imagine #geralt of rivia x y/n #the witcher x reader

530 notes · View notes

sweetest-honeybee · 4 years

Text

Tears of a Banshee

Summary: Logan is a banshee and he has to live through the day that Virgil will be meeting his end soon.

TW: Character Death, Heavy Angst, Crying, Mentions of Burning Sensations and Magma, Scratching at the Throat, Vivid Descriptions of Screaming, Creature!Logan, Dragons, Fire, etc.

THIS IS ANGST WITH NO HAPPY ENDING. DO NOT SAY “Someone pls give it a happy ending” BECAUSE THAT IS NOT THE INTENTION. ITS SAD AND MEANT TO BE SAD.

Characters: All the Sides and mentions of Thomas

Word Count: 2472

Enjoy!

————————

Logan had intended to wake up peacefully like he did many months before- years, in fact. He hadn’t usually woken up with that single thought in his mind: Someone was going to die. How he’d known for sure, he didn’t know. But the tingling sensation in his throat and his growing inner grief had already started building up.

He sat up, waving aimlessly at his nightstand to put on his glasses. He scratched his throat and swallowed thickly.

Ah, this is what happens when you’re a banshee.

Repeating his daily morning routine still hadn’t been any harder than before. Soreness and a lump in his throat came to be otherwise. However, he was sure he’d be fine to join for breakfast. Though, he’d been wondering who it was. Who was going to die? Traits could certainly “die”, he knew. Their physical forms were merely vessels with memories that could be killed off and the trait inside them would live on to find another vessel roaming in the Imagination.

But again, no vessel means the loss of memories and personality. He was close to almost all of the sides now, he couldn’t help but to worry.

Taking a last look into his bathroom mirror, he straightened his tie and sunk out. Appearing again in the dining hall, he was greeted by a happy Patton plating him some waffles. The twins had their journals and glitter pens sprawled on at least half of the long cherrywood table. A map set right in the middle.

A nod from Virgil, a mindless hello from each of the busy twins, and a polite greeting from Janus later, the group was seated and discussing day plans.

“Thomas has two meetings today to discuss the next Thomas Sanders and Friends video. Since it is the end of the month, he has the monthly Vine compilation due in three days.” Logan made margin notes and small diagrams as he went. “I need a list of more Sanders Shorts ideas from the twins by the end of the day today.”

An exaggerated double groan confirmed his statement but the twins announced their progress.

Logan looked around the table. The others were still eating their breakfast. Nothing had seemed off so far. Virgil scrolled through his social media with a single earbud in. The twins continued discussing their ideas, Roman occasionally grimacing at The Duke’s input. Janus stayed quiet, answering some of Patton’s occasional questions and indulging in smaller conversation starters.

Who was it?

A few minutes went by and he finished his breakfast. The tingling sensation returned and suddenly flared into a stinging for a few seconds. Unable to hide his discomfort, he coughed. And coughed quite loudly. Playing it off as a small choking fit from his food, he drank the orange juice next to him.

“You okay?” asked Patton.

“Yes, I just choked a bit-“ he coughed again.

“...Are you sure?” The moral side continued. “Do you need more orange juice?”

As if that we’re the figurative magic words, the coughing ceased. “I’m fine, thank you.”

Then a thought had hit him. “What were you guys planning to do today? In your spare time, I mean.”

“Remus and I were planning to take you all on a tour of the new and improved imagination!” Logan’s chest tightened and he briefly became upset. The emotion flickered only for a second but enough to signal his near to happen deafening screech.

“Oh that sounds like a fun idea!” Patton cheered.

“No! I- I mean no, we can’t,” Logan sputtered. The twins stared at him as if he just killed a man. “I love the idea, I do. It sounds nice, but uh, we just can’t. I’m sure there’s other activities we can do.”

Janus merely squinted at the logical facet. “The twins have been working on this for months now, why do you want to cancel it?”

“I can’t explain right now, I’m just taking precautions.” The others stared at him. “I’m sorry.”

“Well we didn’t say you had to go if that’s the problem,” added Virgil. Logan’s throat flared once more and he coughed awkwardly.

“That isn’t it, maybe you should both spend a few more days working on it. Fix up the final details and make sure it’s safe.”

“Alright….?” The twins responded in unison.

“Good, I’ll be heading off to my study to work. If you need me, just call.” He gathered his notebooks and other belongings and sunk out.

“I- Okay then,” said Patton.

“He’s acting weird,” Remus said plainly with a pout on his face.

“Yes, I suppose so. I certainly haven’t been here long but this isn’t his usual behavior, correct?” Janus glanced at Patton who was still staring at Logan’s empty seat. The father figure looked away and began to gather the used dishes.

“Well,” he began. “If Logan believes it’s not safe, it may not be. It’s good to take precautions.”

“Pfft, he’s such a prude. A small dog would probably seem threatening to him,” Roman commented. “What if we take Virgil there or something?”

“Excuse me?” The anxious side glared at them. “I’m with Logan, dude. I’m literally anxiety. If even he thinks something may be dangerous, I’ve already got a list of stuff that could probably kill us.”

“Come on! I promise it’s safe! I bet you a whole week of peace and quiet that it is.”

Janus couldn’t help but to snort at the offer and he made a face as if he was considering it. “I don’t know, Virgil. He’s betting his sanity to show you that it’s not harmful.”

Roman rolled his eyes but glanced at Virgil. Virgil eyed him with a playful squint. Dramatically turning off his phone and removing his earbuds he made his decision. “Fine,” he said. “But one wrong move and we’re out of there ASAP.”

“Prince’s promise.”

With that, Roman snapped his fingers and he, Remus, and Virgil disappeared from the room.

“Janus, do you mind giving me a gloved hand for all of these dishes?”

Four extra arms appeared on Janus’s sides. “Of course.”

—

Scratching, scratching, and more continuous scratching. An undone tie and hardly finished budget plans. Logan felt miserable. Generally and mentally. He simply felt awful.

He’d only been working for about two hours. Something was going to happen. But bit down on the straw of his water bottle to suffocate an upcoming scream.

His throat was burning. As weird as it sounded, he simply felt as if he was going to cry. He was already mourning a dead trait before the event had even happened yet.

Logan decided to pull up some images of the others’ current activities. Patton was baking and keeping an eye on Thomas once in a while. Logan warmed a bit at Janus walking into the scene to steal a kiss from the moral facet. He pulled up the twins and his eyes widened.

Look, nothing stopped the idea that Janus or Patton could be harmed in the kitchen but the Imagination had creatures roaming that could kill in two seconds as well. Surprisingly, Virgil was there as well. Virgil would’ve stayed behind due to his anxiety and Logan’s throat tightened at Virgil’s image. He became deeply saddened simply by looking at the anxious side.

Scream, just scream. It’s him. It’s Virgil.

Logan made the image disappear and took a deep breath. He shuddered at the thought of Virgil ever dying and coughed the edge of his desk until his knuckles were white. His posture wilted at the images of the monsters that he’d come in contact with. He swallowed and he felt as if he drank a cup of magma.

“No, no, no, no, no-“ he stood from his desk. “I have to save him-“ he sunk out and reappeared in the Imagination.

“Virgil!” He called. He tried to keep his voice low but loud enough for someone at least fifty feet away to hear him. “Virgil!” His voice cracked. He sunk out again. This time reappearing a few feet away from the trio. He sighed a breath of relief.

“Oh heeeyy, Logan. Didn’t think you’d come in here,” Roman said sheepishly.

“I need to borrow Virgil.”

“Well we’re kind of using him right now. Can it wait?”

“No, no, it really can’t. I need him right- nOW-“ another voice crack and a minor screech.

“Jesus, what’s going on with you?” asked Virgil. “You sound like literal shit and you’ve been acting weird since breakfast.”

“I’m- I’m fine, I need you out of here now.”

“Why what’s wrong? It’s been fine so far-“

A deep thundering roar sounded from the distance, not even a mile away and they all flinched. The group turned their heads to a large dragon towering over a thicket of trees. Before they could react, a ball of fire was thrown into their direction.

“Scatter!”

They spread into opposite directions away from the landing flames. Roman wasn’t fast enough and it caught him by the legs, pulling him harshly away from his initial direction. The other three stared at the now half scorched prince in fear.

“Okay okay I’ll get us ou-!” Remus couldn’t finish his sentence. Another dragon swooped in and flew him away from the others.

“Logan, did you know about this?!”

“No! I just knew that- that uh-“ he stuttered, chest tightening for the hundredth time.

“That what, Logan?!” Virgil dodged one of the fire balls.

“That you’re going to die, Virgil! It’s inevitable!”

“How do you know?!”

Logan then got tackled by Virgil in an attempt to dodge another attack. He swallowed thickly. “I’m a banshee.”

“Wha- AHH-!” The dragon who took Remus swooped down again to rip Virgil away from Logan.

“LOGAN HELP!”

“No- no, no, no- wha- where are Janus and Patton?!” The now sad excuse for a logical side tugged at his hair and watched the dragon ascend up into the clouds. “I- What do I do- I don’t have control here-“ his voice cracked pathetically.

“Roman- Roman day you-“ he looked over to Roman who laid unconscious in the ground, a small stream of blood dripping from his forehead.

“They’re gone- they’re dead- I can’t save them-“ He whimpered and the grief kept building and building. Roman was hurt and not only Virgil, but Remus would be ripped apart by the clutches of the dragon.

So he began screaming.

A spine curdling wretched screech ripped its way out of his chest. He shrieked and a dense sadness surrounded him. He howled and hollered, not even taking a breath between the full minute of continuous screaming.

He cried, he cried out in volumes that shook the ground until it cracked under his feet. Animals ran away and so did the dragons. The first dragon flew away in terror of the sound escaping Logan’s throat. Rocks broke and he felt sorry for the prince laying not hardly ten feet away from him.

That he had to listen to the sound of a creature's pent up grief. His sadness, his desperation, his mourning, all let out to the sky in a way that would never let him be seen as human again.

Higher and higher in pitch it ascended until he stopped. The cries faded into sorrowful sobs and he was broken between coughing and heaving and simply just falling to the ground. Like him, the dragon in the clouds holding Remus and Virgil fell to the earth, limp. The screams of the boys could be heard from miles in the sky and they dissipated with the rumbling crash of the dragon.

Logan didn’t know what to do. He needed help.

“P-Pat-“ he croaked. He grimaced at the searing pain in his throat. “Patton, I- I need help- I need Janus-“

The words barely left his tongue before he heard a pair of gasps above him.

“Oh my….Logan, honey what happened….” the father figure was immediately led to tears before he could process the scene around him. While doing so, Janus stepped back away from the pair. He studied the cracks in the ground circling Logan, the logical facet being their obvious cause.

“Logan, what happened here? Where’s Virgil and the twins?”

Logan weakly pointed towards Roman on the ground to his left. “R-Roman.” He posted behind Janus at the unconscious dragon. “They- they’re-“ he muttered hoarsely.

“It’s alright, I’m going to go help them. I’ll be back.” Janus summoned his cane and sunk out, reappearing by the dragon. “Virgil? Remus? Are you both alright?”

He made his way around to the front of the dragon where the boys laid limp in the talons of the dragon. Remus seemed mostly fine other than unconsciousness, a few lacerations here and there. Virgil on the other hand…..Virgil brought him to his knees.

“Virgil….Virgil no….” he moved forward to the anxious side quickly, bloody and a talon sticking into his stomach pooling with the red liquid. Janus cupped his face. “Virgil please wake up.” He traced his fingers over Virgil's neck, not finding any signs of life. His eyes watered and a few tears slipped down his cheeks. He ducked his head into Virgil’s chest. “You're an idiot, you know that?” He chuckled meekly. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help you.”

As if on cue, a small glowing purple orb pulled itself out of the side’s chest. “It’s okay, I’ll find you another one. Sleep well, darling.” He shakily pressed a kiss to the top of Virgil’s forehead, pulling away slowly.

Remus stirred a bit, groaning. Janus turned his attention to him. “At least I still have you.” He pulled Remus from the talons and slung him over his shoulder.

“Wh...wht’s….where’s Virgil…..” muttered the Duke.

“In a better place.”

“Oh…” and again, he was out, pressing all of his weight into Janus. They sunk out and came back to Patton, Logan, and Roman.

Roman and Patton stared in shock when Virgil wasn’t with Janus or Remus.

“He….he’s…” Janus nodded and Patton welled up with more tears.

“What happened, Logan.” Logan flinched at the stern tone coming from Janus.

“I-“ he sighed. At this point he may as well tell them. “I’m a banshee.”

Janus’s eyes widened. “You knew Virgil was going to...How long have you been like this?”

“Ever since I was created.”

“That’s why the ground looks like this, isn’t it. Because you were screaming.”

Logan ducked his head and nodded.

“Well, we need to find him another vessel, I can’t put it any other way than that. There’s not much to help with Logan being a banshee and we can’t postpone the inevitable.” Proving his point he pulled a hard with the purple orb floating around in it.

“Yeah...yeah let’s do that,” Logan agreed.

It takes a while for any of them to explain what happened to Thomas. He’ll have to reintroduce himself to Virgil and accept him once more. Re-establish a new relationship again.

And start over.

98 notes · View notes

leoriowithaknife · 3 years

Note

I would like to know about Wolf ocs

ahh, i’m so flattered 🤍 let me compile my character notes into something less daunting- (i have... written a lot about them so far and at this point idk Where to post about them without it being too much for one post jfklds)

i made myself a fan-crew, their vessel is the uss hestia and it orbits ross 154, one of the sister-stars to wolf 359. the crew members are:

[image description] a rough black and white sketch which depicts the four human crew members of the uss hestia seated together at a cafeteria table in-uniform eating gyros. captain qadira saifi is a dark-skinned hijabi woman. sitting to her left is anastasia xenakis, a white woman with rectangular glasses on her face and dark hair tied back in a bun. across from xenakis is hadriel braverman, a tan-skinned man with dark hair and a modest beard. to the left of braverman (and across from captain saifi) is commander daphne pike, a white woman with short choppy hair. [end of image description]

captain qadira saifi - she was astonished to have been recruited as the crew’s captain and fully expected that she wouldn’t be sent on an actual space exploration mission. like, ever. but here she is, the captain of the hestia, and her leadership skills are rock solid; qadira’s very cool-headed, acts a bit like ‘the dad friend’ in many ways—and has absolutely said “i’m not angry. i’m just disappointed” to members of her crew. she is the complete opposite of ‘impulsive’, she is someone who prefers to wait and plan (sometimes to her detriment). she’s a firm believer in the idea that “words said in anger cannot be unsaid and reactions based on assumptions cannot be undone, but sincere apologies can diffuse anger and acknowledged errors can be forgiven.”

scientific officer anastasia “anna” xenakis - at age 24, she’s the youngest member of the crew (save for rafi, the autopilot, who’s a mere 5 years old). anna is a somewhat ‘prodigal’ scientist (and honestly... just lucky and privileged but has been told for much of her life that she is a gifted prodigy and it has, indeed, gone to her head just a little bit). i feel like i need to write a whole special post about her since she’s the character on this crew whose background and story is the most crucial to the series of events that unfold in their ‘canon’ plotline.. to be brief, anna’s family is close to goddard futuristics. they’ve contributed financially to goddard and they’d probably call themselves acquaintances with marcus cutter. and anna becomes the scientific officer on the hestia’s ross-154 mission because of that connection (more below the cut because i’m going to ramble a lot and get spoilery... you presented me with the opportunity, ok, you activated my trap card by asking about my ocs jfklds and i love you for it so thank you). in summary, anna’s more of a biochemistry specialist but possesses an adequete understanding of computers, enough to be of *some* assistance to the ship’s computer, rafi, when he needs her help.

communications officer hadriel braverman - more of an artist at heart, hadriel originally went to school for music theory and performance (violin and cello) before convincing himself that his talents ‘weren’t going to get him anywhere’ (and, yes, he does have daddy issues). he swiched fields and began studying engineering, still in the realm of music and sound with radio technology and the like. music became more of a hobby. and when he got a job with goddard, he was recruited as an already-existing employee. apart from anna, he’s pretty close to goddard futuristics from a labor experience perspective. hadriel, like qadira, was sort of shocked that he was being offered a role in the mission. like an actual space exploration mission? where they study a star? in space? on a space station? it was a lot for him. but he was also at a point in his life (32 yrs old, told his job is ‘dead end’ and he feels like a disappointment) where he was sort of just like. fuck it. i need to get away from all this shit on earth. and he agrees to be the hestia’s communications officer.

commander daphne rogers-pike (who just goes by daphne pike, often omits her hyphenated name) - our resident robot rights activist and lesbian from boston, daphne is a very heart-on-her-sleeve kind of person. she openly expresses her emotions (not always the most ideal for a high-stress space mission but we love her nonetheless). she, like anna, is a bit of a prodigal scientist.. but, unlike anna, she’s an expert with computers, robotics, machinery, and hardware... additionally unlike anna, daphne worked her ass off at a full-time job while she was an undergraduate in university to access any of the same opportunities anna received. so there’s... to put it lightly... a lot of tension between them (more about it under the cut).

and the ship’s autopilot program, rafi - we love our sentient AI in this house! early on in the mission, captain saifi and commander pike agreed that the crew’s duties need to be equal. they understand rafi to be a person with autonomy and they treat him as such. one of the 5 main rules on the hestia is: if there’s a job that you can do yourself, there’s no need to burden rafi with it. he’s busy enough keeping everyone alive and maintaining the ship at all times. he doesn’t need extra tasks. additionally, he (much like rhea) didn’t originally have a voice; he asked anna to give him one. but, being that daphne is much more adept with computer stuff, daphne and anna end up working together (a rare example of their collaborative solidarity) to help give rafi a voice; at first, it sounds just like a default computer voice-over. over time, however, rafi literally grows into it. it sort of stretches. he’s able to put inflections on words and imply emotional affect with tone, which makes the sound quality a bit glitchy at times but the hiccups in his voice’s modulation are evidence of his sentience! he naturally has a bit of a stutter, glitches excitedly, and can indeed (for emotionally-expressive reasons) emulate breathing and crying. that’s how he understands humans to communicate. additionally, his name was suggested by captain saifi, to whom he often confides (more about this below the cut).

more about the plot of my oc’s little.. w359-related storyline and the characters’ dynamics with each other below the cut if you want to read it:

with regards to character dynamics: hadriel and daphne are fast friends. they goof off together like a brother and sister, and have an equally jovial relationship with rafi. they’re a trifecta of clowns and they work amazingly together. captain saifi has her moments of juvenile joy and foolishness & such, too, but she rarely gets involved with their collective hijinks—she’s fine hanging out with rafi and chatting, a bit like a cousin or a significantly older sister. rafi views qadira and anna as his confidantes for Seious Heavy topics like emotional maturity, sentience, and more nebulous things like the existence of a higher power. hadriel and daphne? those are his friends for making jokes with, playing games with, and talking casually with... he feels best when he can make the distinction between his friendships with each of the crew members. he understands that he doesn’t need to have an identical dynamic with everyone. which is good. captain saifi has the closest friendships with rafi and hadriel. not that she doesn’t still enjoy having the company of anna or daphne but. different contexts. daphne is a fun person for her to talk super casually with (like her “off duty” voice.. when they’re no longer a superior and subordinate, but equals as two friends sharing a living space.. in outer space lmao) and anna.. she thinks of anna almost like a younger sister. qadira’s trying to be the best influence on her as possible.

so, with regards to the ‘story’ at large, the uss hestia is launched to ross 154 because it was hypothesized by goddard futuristics to be a potential site for contact with artificial intelligence. cutter and his cronies selected a crew which was intended to make anna xenakis to feel alienated (classic grade A goddard manipulative tactics, keep reading). differing class backgrounds, differing religious beliefs, differing academic backgrounds, differing ‘personalities’ based on psych evaluations, etc. because anna? is being given special orders from goddard as the scientific officer. she is essentially being asked to sacrifice one of her crewmates to ross 154 with the hoped-for effect being that they will be memory-copied by the extraterrestrial forces goddard has been watching for decades, based on one of several theories their sadistic scientists cooked up. she keeps analog notes to prevent rafi from being able to even Potentially access the information. and it almost fucking works. she comes scary close to being the person that cutter pegged her for. she almost lets her reactionary emotions get the better of her; she almost. sacrifices daphne. but during one brush with death, in which daphne helps anna by being a good fellow scientist and supporting anna in areas where she doesn’t have expertise... and it really makes her realize that what she’s doing is wrong. deeply wrong. she’s still very afraid of what will happen if goddard finds out that she’s disobeying her orders from cutter. but she comes clean anyway.

concerning anna’s connections to cutter and goddard, i feel that cutter probably thinks he sees a lot of himself in anna but, truthfully, he sees himself in a facade that she wears in high-class social scenarios; and this has been cutter’s only exposure to her. so, of course, he sticks her with a crew of people that he assumes she will consider disposable—because he thinks, like him, she will consider her crew mates to be assets and resources. or components of the experiment rather than people. and he thought wrong.

when anna confesses, comes forward and says, “there’s something you all need to know,” they’ve already spent 2 years orbiting ross 154 together. hadriel, who had a pretty good relationship with anna as a friend, feels betrayed. qadira feels betrayed and disappointed. daphne! daphne finally got to thinking “wow maybe i assumed wrong about anna. maybe she’s alright after all, maybe i misjudged her and i was in the wrong having all these defensive reactions to her and assuming that she was undermining my scientific knowledge.” but she does a complete 180 when anna fesses up to all of the stuff she went along with, working with goddard behind their backs. i mean, fuck, hadriel finds anna’s records on all of them (morbidly named the anna-log) and is just like. blown away by what she was observing about them. he does come to trust her again but.. not for a while.

anna and hadriel knew each other prior to manning the hestia’s ross 154 mission together and, for anna, going to space as an astronaut was like... her equivalent of taking a gap year to go backpacking in europe—and daphne says that; she makes that comparison to anna's face (as she Should) because, for anna, in daphne's opinion, this mission was an offer that ~landed on her lap~ due to her family's connections to goddard as big donors. so hadriel, reading anna's log book, discovers that anna was literally comparing them side by side because she was being asked to sacrifice one or more of them to the star in order to bait the aliens?? it’s emotionally trying for him. having a pre-existing professional relationship and friendship with anna makes anna's confession that much more sticky and messy and challenging to process. like, "holy shit, anna. i thought i knew you. i thought i understood you. i trusted you, and this entire time you've been considering me as a candidate for alien bait" while anna's response is like "but i was never going to sacrifice YOU, it was going to be daphne! until i changed my mind!" to which hadriel says "you want to know something, anna? that's worse." and there’s just such a chasm between anna and the rest of the crew for a while.

in the days after anna’s confession, qadira tells anna that "cutter and all those other tools at goddard are asking you to sacrifice us. they're asking you to measure us, compare us with each other and treat us like assets—treat us like we’re disposable because we’re the components of a sadistic, twisted scientific experiment. to them, we’re a means to an end. and if they think of US that way, tell me, what do you reckon they think of YOU, anna? how do you know they won't betray you, too, if the opportunity presents itself? how do you know for certain they won't turn around and screw you over? ....think about that. and come find me again if you want to talk about 'loyalty' ...whatever sense of it you have, anyway" just going for the fucking jugular with how disappointed she is.

qadira decides that the best thing for everyone, after anna confesses, is to ban anna from the labs. she’s not a prisoner.. but rafi is asked to surveil her closely. and he’s asked not to speak to her but he insists on making conversation with her. in his mind, she did the right thing in coming forward. she hadn’t done anything yet, and though punishment for her intentions is fair, she’s still his friend. and he’s scared, too. daphne and qadira could pull rank on him and order rafi to disengage—they could order him not to speak with her. but they don’t. they would never stoop that low.

still, anna is kept away from rafi’s mainframe ports and the labs where she would be able to continue her studies & tests. but the clock is fucking ticking. anna tells them if she doesn’t send a report back to goddard within a certain timeframe, it’s going to be suspect and she doesn’t know What is going to happen if they simply stop sending updates but... nothing good. so then qadira decides they’re all going to lie and they’re going to do everything in their power to make it seem like everything is still going according to plan. anna is going to write convincing reports that are thoroughly checked by daphne, hadriel, rafi, and again by herself. and they’re going to pray that it works.

a LOT of the tension between daphne and anna stems from both of them being scientists, and daphne resenting anna for being yet another privileged STEM field scholar when she had to work just to be noticed in her scientific field (and imo she’s very justified). she feels like it was a Miracle when she got her masters research project funded by a grant she wrote herself because no one was able to help her... meanwhile for anna that sort of accomplishment was not only expected but she never had to worry about having to Apply to get her research funded; not only could she afford it herself but. she had academic connections in high places already who were giving her chances that daphne never received. they’re both from the same geological area; the northeast coast. they both came from an area of the USA where ivy league superiority and elitism is Highly Present.

additionally, neither of them is super willing to compromise! from daphne’s perspective, she worked hard to get where she’s at. she’s a commander and she’s smart and she earned her position... but she’s not the scientific officer. she’s the commander. she’s an executive power on the crew and not a specialist like anna... so while she does have the power to simply Veto any scientific decisions anna makes because she disagrees with them (and she has before Many times it is a frequent point of conflict on the hestia...) from anna’s perspective, SHE’S the scientific authority. anna hates being undermined and she feels that she has something to prove on this mission. but she (much, much later) comes to realize that it’s silly to work your ass off trying to prove yourself to people who don’t care about you as a person! and. that’s sort of a running thread; it applies in hadriel and rafi’s character arcs, too.

what anna waits (probably too long) to tell daphne is that the reason she came forward with the reveal and confessed? was because she (from her perspective) felt as though daphne was really turning a corner being a lot more accepting of her on the ship; she felt like daphne was respecting her and at that point she felt HORRIBLE for even thinking that she'd have to sacrifice any of them for the sake of a stupid corporation's experiments. so she confessed. and this how they finally end up being more Solidarity(tm) with each other and building a strong web of friendship from that point forward, but whoof... in the meantime? it is indeed very tense and hostile and no one trusts anna for a good long while. even rafi, despite continuing to talk to her. what's scary is that.. before, it was an easy choice for anna to make, from an emotional standpoint; daphne would've been her First Choice for who to feed to the sun to try baiting the aliens into duplicating her (and let me just say it was a really stupid move on behalf of all the researchers at goddard, telling anna this would be her job... but it is, of course, a goddard mission :) so of course, on principle, it's horrible in general and doesn’t respect the sanctity of life’s intrinsic value and is therefore narratively bound to fail) but thankfully anna's not the kind of person, deep down, who could ever bring herself to go through with it. but she came frighteningly close to it... she had to fight against her urge to please other people and do what was best for herself and everyone else... partially due to the guilt.

it’s about a dysfunctional found family. it’s about personhood. it’s about human relationships. it‘s about justified anger. and it’s about

i have some AU oc-insert stuff that “competes with” canon (sort of... idk how to phrase that or what that’d be considered, lol) but i’ll spare them for now because i’ve RAMBLED A LOT so i’ll give you a break-

i fully intend to write this all out eventually. some of the intricacies may change. but generally? yeah this is their story. i won’t give anything away about post-confession plot things but.... let’s just say... i’m here to write a well-framed retribution narrative that doesn’t treat a desire for justified revenge as a character flaw.

again hi this was so kind of you to ask, it was fun to ramble and i hope you’re having a good day :)

#long post #really long post #w359 #wolf 359 #technically...#dairy.txt #traveler-loves-you #my ocs #oc tag #qadira tag #hadriel tag #anastasia tag #daphne tag #rafi tag #ross 154

14 notes · View notes

suturcd · 3 years

Text

@strawberryrots said: fugo leads carefully by nudging fran forward and kicking away the door to her place open with his foot. "you can't see anything right?" spying the jellyfish tank just from the doorway he covers her already blindfolded gaze with the palm of his hand on pure panic alone. "happy birthday franziska"

"I've dutifully closed my eyes just in case, if that reassures you," Fran remarks, earnestly serious in response to Fugo's odd trepidation. Truly, if it were anyone but him guiding her in this circumstance Fran would be incredibly on edge, but her nerves are settled in his company--even if it sounds as though his are not currently doing the same in hers. A small "ah," of realization leaves her as he relays his sentiments.

So it was a birthday surprise...? How long has it been... since i had something like that...

Pondering this with a peculiar sense of warmth, she reaches back to untie the cloth covering her eyes as soon as she feels his hand ease away, blinking a few times to adjust to the light and idly scanning the inside of her apartment when--

"Oh...?" Immediately alert, Fran's posture perks up, and, forgetting herself, she strides towards the new point of interest in her otherwise familiar surroundings. It's a large tank, already filled and glowing a calming blue from the light beneath it. Curved along its outside is a decorative moon, twinkling with pulsing light that she cannot help but brush her fingers over. "The moon... how nice..." She circles the table it rests on top of, fingertips ghosting over the surface of the glass, taking in the neatly-arrayed equipment placed beside it. Feeding pipette and hydrometer...

"Ohh...!" Fran gasps, hands meeting in an audible clap, eyes wide and shining with a very particular sense of delight as the puzzle pieces slide together. "Was this set up professionally? It's already cycling... if the saline levels are right and I wait a few weeks... Yes, I could put jellyfish in here...!" As she speaks, she resumes her excitable step around the curvature of the tank, one hand braced thoughtfully under her chin as the other one gestures about at the wrist. "It's possible, I could... yes, it would have to be moon jellies, since they're best for beginners... which works out just fine, because after all, the moon jellyfish is at least in my top three personal favourite jellyfish--though of course once you get that high up in the rankings, it's difficult to choose an absolute favourite... but they have such a wonderful charm to them, I think, even if their tentacles are much shorter compared to many other jellies... but their oral arms are capable of stinging and guiding prey towards gastric pouches just fine, and plankton can be trapped in their mucus coating and passed into the oral cavity through the cilia, so it all works out for them in the end..."

"...A-hh..." Her pace and motioning gradually slows, and she turns towards Fugo in the doorway for the first time in what must be--at least several minutes of slightly-breathless rambling. Her cheeks tint pink in embarrassment, hands moving to fumble together in front of her, but she cannot fight back the soft, wonderful feeling of--well, of being thought of--listened to, for in retrospect Fran can recall relaying wistfully to Fugo her nigh-lifelong wish of having jellyfish, despite the expense of the hobby. Indeed, with mortification she recalls lamenting the price of the tanks being her main deterrent now that everything has settled down (relatively speaking), and now hopes desperately she had not sounded as if she was hinting at something at the time--she wasn't--would never in a million years have expected Fugo to file the information away and act upon it.

"I... got a bit caught up in the moment. Sorry..." Her gaze darts back to the lit-up tank, and even with her mouth obscured one can deduce the smile behind it based solely off of the slight crinkle at the corners of her eyes and the warmth of their gleam. "But... ahh... it's really wonderful. Thank you very much, you didn't have to go to all of this trouble--actually, these are expensive... Are you sure it's fine to give me all of this...?" Her clasped hands separate and lift, balling into earnest fists in front of her chest. "I will... compile all of my gathered research on moon jellyfish and make sure everything is prepared thoroughly before I order them."

Actually, the prospect of re-organizing all that information again appears to delight her all on its own, and she turns this way and that on her heel before closing the distance between her and Fugo. Her hands ghost over his shoulders and then snatch back, clasping nearer to her own heart. Her voice has quieted considerably, but has only grown warmer, though her gaze fixes firmly on a spot at Fugo's shoulder as she attempts to wrangle heart and head to express her own sentiments. "...Just spending time together would have been more than enough, I hope you didn't think--you really didn't need to buy me anything at all. But... thank you... I..." Her head dips, ears burning. "...am very happy. Lately. Not just today. Because of you."

#strawberryrots #PRETEND I DIDNT REPLY TO THIS 2 DAYS LATE KFDHSKGHSDLKGHKSDHGLKSDHG CHLOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE #everything i've read watched (to prep for this ask dfhdskhglkdsh why'd i give my oc a special interest i don't have)#suggests it's a pretty time-intensive process to get everything set up for jellyfish #(the water has to cycle for weeks) so i hope it's okay for me to write it like this KFHDSKHGLKSHG #GET YOU A MAN WHO BUYS YOU A JELLYFISH AQUARIUM #ic.#jjba verse.#post-va frannacotta so tendie................ ugh

1 note · View note

misskamelie · 4 years

Text

"A flower is no flower”

Word count: ~3k

Characters: Lucien (plus MC mentions? In any case, it’s Lucien-centric, lol)

Warnings: It’s about hanahaki disease, so there is choking, a blood mention, and mentions of puking. Oh, also, tiny note: I wrote this before chapter 12, so I probably don’t have all the characterization down. (but I vibe with Lucien, so it should still be acceptable…?)

Summary: Lucien being his usual stoic self while refusing to ask for any kind of help and using himself as a study subject for his own research.

«Uh? Are you feeling alright, Lucien?» she turnt to him, her brows creased in worry. «Of course, why the question?» he smiled. He gulped down quietly, making sure not to show any other sign of distress.

«It’s just… You’ve been coughing a lot and I was starting to get worried.»

Ah, that expression– No, gulp down. Just a few more minutes. Lucien tightened the grip on the pen recorder in his pocket.

«It may be the pollution, I’ve been going around the city a lot for research these days.» he smoothly lied through his teeth, his expression ever so serene. Could she tell his throat was burning the more he talked to her?

Her expression relaxed for a quick moment, and the scientist didn’t fail to notice it. «Oh, okay then, but… You should be more careful, then. I don’t want you getting sick, okay?», she smiled at the end of her question.

His chest ached, but he chuckled. «Of course. I’ll take some days to rest.»

She furrowed her brows once again, this time in a more joking tone, though. «You mean you’ll lock yourself in your home or lab? You know that’s unhealthy in the long term, as well.», she shook her head.

He couldn’t help but smile more at her attitude while his pain only sharpened. It felt like having a stick through his chest. «Then I’ll make up for it by taking a walk somewhere with you.»

She blushed and hurried to look down, «U-uh, of course.»

Luckily, she noticed the time and hurried to the meeting Lucien had accompanied her to. «See you next time, then!» she waved her hand joyfully as she got out of his car.

He simply smiled back.

Once he was far enough, Lucien hurried to take out his recorder pen, starting to record after he coughed in a handkerchief and cleared his throat. «Day 35, the pain reappeared when I talked to her, this time sharper than the previous. I would say it’s almost unbearable, but if I don’t get caught in a coughing fit I can still manage. My throat is dry and there are petals of…», he looked at the elongated and slightly curved white petals in his handkerchief, «white lilies. There are traces of saliva, but not blood.»

He took a deep breath, steadying himself, «There are occasional petals of another flower, most likely camelia, colour…» he furrowed his brows as he looked at a single, rounder petal on the handkerchief. It was a weak and light colour, that much he could tell, but… «…Colour unknown», he ended the recording.

He fell back against the driver seat, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He needed to be aware of every symptom, no matter the pain it caused. The clearest and most persistent one, which began a little over a month before, was breathing difficulties. At first, Lucien really thought it to be a seasonal cough, but he soon turnt suspicious when it didn’t seem to disappear after a few days. It brought sensations definitely not related to a normal cold, so he began to research it and keep it tracked. It was… Interesting, all things considered. He had read studies and papers on it, but never actually researched it. Coughing up flowers? Who wouldn’t be interested in such a research topic?

It was a rather rare phenomenon, but existing nonetheless. It also seemed linked with the psych of the person suffering of it, so it was related to Lucien’s field of study. Then again, how could flowers simply… Appear in one’s lungs? Well, Lucien chuckled, he didn’t really have a right to question it seeing how, despite an apparently normal eye, he couldn’t see the colours of the world. Except when- A coughing fit hit him, forcing him to double over the steering wheel. He covered his mouth with a hand, while the other gripped onto the wheel, his knuckles whitening. His throat burnt.

Slowly, he managed to get a hold of himself, going back to taking deep, deep breaths. He cleaned the traces of saliva and flowers on his mouth. There were a few petals on his legs. Apparently, even just thinking of her was enough to cause a fit, who would have guessed? He pondered on it as he headed home. He needed time to think.

The pain wasn’t so bad. He wasn’t dead yet, so that must have meant something. Apparently, one could die from this disease, and Lucien had done his researches on all the announced and testified victims. The cause of death was usually asphyxia, which made sense since the lungs (and in a few cases even the throat) of the victims were covered in flowers and plants. Another cause of death was blood loss, because in certain cases the plant would grow in a way to pierce the lungs. This happened when the victim grew certain kinds of plants, usually with thorns. Those were the main causes of death. From what he knew so far, Lucien wasn’t much at risk for the second, and the first one usually happened after a year or more. He had some time to study it on himself.

As he entered his apartment, Lucien caught the scents of flowers. It wasn’t that unpleasant, but it was still bothersome to a certain degree. He sighed as he leaned back into a chair and skimmed through a recent article, related to the disease he was currently researching. A cure was being researched. There was a method that seemed to work, but it had a few… Heavy complications and side effects. This cure consisted in surgically removing the flowers and plants from the patient’s lungs. It made sense, Lucien reasoned, but he found it peculiar how the side effects consisted in an inescapable apathy, which would practically make the patient a living robot of sort. Of course people could ask to be cured that way, but not many chose it, for a reason or another: some fearing the apathy and others fearing the possible memory loss of the people they had known in their life.

In the evening, when he noticed his stomach grumbling (and his throat drier than usual), Lucien decided to take a quick snack. He glanced at the clock: it was almost midnight. As he wondered about his plans (precisely, all the books and things he would have better researched) while sipping on some tea, he heard movements outside his apartment. More exactly, a most likely big box crashing in the corridor. So, he placed down his cup and walked out to see what the commotion was about.

«Uh? It’s you» he smiled as he noticed his clumsy neighbour who, apparently, was also the cause of his disease. The girl laughed as she hurried to put stash of papers into a box, «Ahh, sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you!»

She hurried to get back up and bow in apology. «Don’t worry, you would never. Let me help», he walked to her side and started gathering some lost papers, «You brought unfinished work home?» «Ahah, yeah… We had a few troubles during the shooting this week and I have to check all these papers are compiled correctly. Ah, sorry–» she stopped as she brushed hands with Lucien while they were reaching for the same paper. He laughed, managing to cover a cough. He noticed she was wearing a blue necklace, the same colour of the stripes on her shirt. An idea came to him.

«Ah, thank you for bringing this in, Lucien. You always help, I don’t really know how to repay you.» «Well…» he looked around her apartment, thinking of something. «What about a payback tea?» he smiled. She blushed, «Ah! Of course! I’ll get it ready immediately!»

Her apartment smelled of flowers. He noticed a few vases on the table and one next to the entrance. She was so… pure… «In the meantime I’ll go and check a thing, is it alright by you?» he asked, a step already out of the door. «Oh, uhm… Sure», she was surprised, but she didn’t pay any more attention than that.

He used the short time by himself to take deep breaths and put a handkerchief in his pocket, a few petals on it. On his way out he closed the folder with the documents on the cure.

«Why did you choose these flowers?» Lucien nodded towards the vase on the table, containing white and pink lilies. His attention was completely consumed by the petals and their details, though. It was so painfully familiar. «Ah, Anna gifted them to me, actually!» she lighted up as she talked about it. She had the adorable habit of straightening up and opening her eyes wide shortly before talking about something she was interested in or that she liked. Her eyes seemed to have a certain sparkle to them in those moments. «Oh, really?» Lucien casually brought a hand next to the flowers, as if to caress them. The purest flowers… Shouldn’t be touched. She nodded enthusiastically, «Mm-mm. We are also having show about flowers and their meanings, so I was pretty excited when she gave them to me.»

Her laughter could be considered contagious. It was a kind of shy chuckle, as if she was self-conscious of her childish joy, and yet she was unable to help it.

«And do you know what the meaning of lilies is?» Lucien had rested his chin against his hand, his fingers barely covering his mouth when he wasn’t talking.

Her eyes sparkled once more as she took on a more confident tone. It was amazing how she could look not tired even after a whole day of work. «Yup! I know lilies are a symbol of modesty. And while pink lilies are used as a gift of admiration, white lilies are for innocence and purity!» Lucien chuckled, «Yes, but they are for funerals, aren’t they?»

She was taken back for a moment, but then answered with even more determination: «Well, yes, because we hope the dead will find peace and have their souls pure once again. They are also used for rebirth and new beginnings, like weddings.» Her soft smile left him disarmed. A itch started to annoy him, at the back of his throat. Not now, he mentally scolded himself as he quietly gulped down. He looked down at his pocket, where his handkerchief was neatly hidden.

«Lucien? Everything alright?» He saw her leaning a little towards him, her brows in a tiny, tiny crease. The itching at the back of his throat worsened. «Ah, yes. I just stopped to think about what you said. Life and death are more intertwined than we think.»

She slowly nodded, lowering her gaze as if to ponder on it. He used the occasion to take out his handkerchief, turn in the other direction, and fake (not even that much) a cough. He quickly took a look at her and then back to the piece of cloth.

Pink.

«Have you had your cough checked by a doctor?» she was worried once again. He laughed, «I am a doctor.» She puffed out her cheeks, «You–», but she didn’t know how to proceed, so she laughed. Her laughter was crystalline. How many notes he would have taken on her, given the chance. His throat itched more. It was dry and he didn’t want to talk any more than needed. Her worried expression was fascinating, but he would have liked to avoid seeing it, especially if it was caused and directed towards him.

His chest had started to burn while she talked of her day. It was like needles in his lungs. He didn’t want to be there with her, he really didn’t. But at the same time he wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. Why had it started to be all about her recently? His researches involved her in a way or another, she asked for his help as a consultant for her productions, he would have passed hours just observing and chatting with her. And she liked him. That was what he had started to think. That was what her body language said. And he found himself always searching for signs which further proved his thesis.

But it wasn’t important. All that is nice always comes to an end. Much like flowers.

For some reason he was… Impatient to see how the disease would have developed. It must have been his scientific curiosity and ambition talking, but he really was impatient to record more of it. All that suffering… It would have been worth something: for science, for the future of research.

Although she would have been- he coughed more. This time he felt on the verge of puking. «Right… Excessive coughing… may cause vomit…» he slowly muttered to himself as he stood doubled over the sink in his bathroom, taking slow and careful breaths. His voice never lost his calm and controlled tone. After all, what was the point of fussing over it? Getting upset was a thing, but why bother with showing it?

In any case, his thoughts went back to what would have happened once he… Disappeared. He couldn’t really shake off the thought of her getting sad over it. He already had a habit of occasionally disappearing, even for… Well, quite long periods, but she still somehow found him. Or was it him who left himself be found by her? He would try to distance from her, but they’d always find each other in a way or another. Was it fate…?

No, he… He had a longing for her. A fascination he would have never admitted openly, limiting it to a scientific interest. As he thought of this, Lucien smeared a few traces of blood on the bottom of the sink and took a petal, turning it around his fingers. «Pink camelia, uh…»

Camelias were pretty flowers. Lucien associated them with the garden near the university during spring. And he associated pink camelias to the pink cardigan she wore when she came to visit him one spring day after one of his lectures.

Lucien closed his eyes as he rested on his couch, head thrown back and one hand through his hair. On the coffee table in front of him were all the documents he had been gathering the past month. He hoped for summer to be gone soon, so he could go back to working in his lab without many problems.

As more months passed, his condition worsened, but he had grown more resilient. There would be more blood when he coughed, and he had to vomit a few times. On the worst occasions, he needed to take up to a good hour to take back control of himself. His throat would burn so much that he struggled not to scratch at his own neck, in a vague hope to relieve the pain. He lost to the temptation one winter day, only because he reassured himself he could have covered it up with a turtleneck and a scarf. That day he met her while coming back from the lab. He hadn’t seen her in almost a month. She invited him over for dinner, but he refused, saying he had to turn in a research. Truth be told, it was a research related business, but he actually had to go visit a few people who had his same condition and offered themselves as guinea pigs.

Those people were interesting. He had them describe to him what they felt, how long had they been sick for, and what their flowers were like.

«You can’t see colours?» a young patient, only a few years older than him, commented at one point, realizing he asked the description of the petals although she had just coughed. Lucien simply smiled, «Is there any colour in the world worth seeing?» The patient shrugged. «I don’t know, I think flowers’ colours are. It’s painful but it keeps me company in the city, you know?» He had never seen it that way, but he realized he also left a few petals (the cleaner ones, at least, those untouched by his blood) around his apartment. A touch of nature among his papers and suffering.

Spring slowly arrived. And his condition, after what seemed like a brief improvement, worsened once again. He could always smell flowers everywhere he went, to the point it started to be bothersome. She noticed that once, while they briefly met in the hallway. «Have you bought a new cologne? It’s nice», she blushed and entered her apartment. He coughed and smelled blood.

When changing clothes for the day, he noticed his neck had light bruises around it, much like his chest. They were mostly scratches he had done to himself. He thought he had been restraining himself well enough, but apparently months of occasional scratching had started to take their toll. His palate and the inside of his cheeks also had signs of bruising, just barely noticeable. Now he coughed up more flowers than leaves, unlike during the winter. That was an interesting thing he had jotted down in his notes.

He was determined and diligent as ever, but spring made him… Tired. Very tired. Like all his energies were being drained.

«Day 250…», he breathed heavily, «It’s only 11 a.m. and I’m more tired that what I should be. No particular changes were made to my routine, but…» He furrowed his brows, «I have been having intermittent sleep because of occasional cough fits.»

Actually, a little more substantial change was made to his habits: he slept less than he did. Which, talking about Lucien, meant he would go even a week without a proper one night rest. He didn’t make a big deal out of it, though. He didn’t think it would have had any big repercussions on his future because he never really thought, for one reason or another, to live long enough for his lack of sleep to become a problem. He simply dived into his research and took occasional power naps to keep himself functioning.

Still, he felt tired. Which led him to his decision of taking a break during the day to take a walk in the university garden. There was no one around, which made it all the more pleasant.

250 days were a lot, he reasoned. Not that long of a time period for a scientific research, but still quite long for a person.

«Ah, the camelias are blooming.» he muttered to himself when he noticed the bushes filled to the brim with flowers. He wondered what colours they were. It looked a little more vivid than the colour of the ones he coughed, so he suspected it to be either a strong pink or some kind of red.

His step slowed down as he had more difficulties breathing, so he decided to rest nearby a tree. But while he was walking towards it, he heard new steps not far from himself. A light clacking of heels. He felt a knot in his throat, but he wouldn’t have dared to turn. He didn’t want to cough either, simply holding the handkerchief in his pocket tighter. He could have sworn of smelling metallic traces of blood along with the sweet fragrance of the flowers. He gulped down, slowly, carefully, as his step became heavier. Moving was… Getting difficult. His only thought in that moment was that he wanted, he needed to record it all.

«Lucien!»

That voice. He saw the world swirling for a moment, colours flashing in front of his eyes for the briefest instant. A sharp pain crossed his chest as he slowly turnt around, a grin on his face.

And there he saw her. Face as radiant as the sun, red camelias behind her. He took a sharp breath, his whole throat burning, he could feel the petals tickling it, as if they were supposed to soothe his pain. He felt… Light headed. No, focus, Lucien.

«Ah, I’m… I am so happy to see you.» he muttered as he tried to take a step towards her. But he couldn’t stay next to her, that was not how it was supposed to be. He took a miscalculated step and he found himself falling forward, his world crashing down. And as he smelled blood and jasmine, he heard someone shouting and hurrying somewhere. For a moment, colours were smeared everywhere, like watercolours laid down by a confused painter, then his vision blurred and his world went black.

#so here it is #it's kinda strange posting it on tumblr lol #also i wanted to put in something about poetry? but i know basically nothing about chinese poetry orz (i did decide to look into it though)#mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mlqc lucien #mlqc fanfic #hanahaki disease #uhhhh what else do i tag #my writing

2 notes · View notes

hamletandthegang · 4 years

Text

Christmas Morning

Hamlet awoke suddenly as his phone beeped. It was early, earlier than he’d like it to be, but there were things to be done. He rolled out of his bed, and threw on some clothes. Hamlet had thought hard about how to give everyone their bracelets. Since he didn’t think it was a very sentimental gift (he was wrong), he wanted to do something special.

So he got to work. The plastic sack that held the bracelets and colorful balls of yarn was sitting next to his door. He grabbed it and opened the door. A lump of fabric with a ribbon around it hit his foot. He unwrapped it and found that it was a soft black sweater with a white skull on it. The skull had Christmas lights wrapped around it, as did the sleeves. He laughed and read the card attached to it.

Hamlet, Please enjoy this sweater! I hope you like it, it was fun to design. Merry Christmas, Annalise.

Hamlet grinned, placed the sweater on his bed, and ran down the hall like a giddy child. Breakfast would just have to wait.

Ophelia yawned and blinked. It was Christmas! She still got a rush of excitement during the holidays, although she’d never admit it. She spotted something sitting on the stool that stood next to her small desk. Ophelia sprung out of bed and untied the ribbon wrapped around the thing. Holding it up, Ophelia realized that it was a sweater. It was a beautiful pastel blue color, with snowflakes on it. It was made of super soft crocheted yarn. A small note was slipped in the sleeve.

Ophelia, I hope you enjoy this sweater! I had a lot of fun making it. Merry Christmas, Annalise.

Ophelia let out a squeak, and immediately changed into the sweater. She grabbed her polaroid camera and opened her door to go out. But she stopped as she saw a little blue string tied to the handle. Ophelia poked her head out, and stared confusedly at the strings hanging around the hall. Her blue string was tangled in a bright red string, which lead the opposite way down the hall. She stepped out of her room, and her foot hit a small gift that was sitting by her door. She unwrapped the parcel to discover a battery pack and fairy lights! A little note was in it.

Dear Ophelia, These lights can be controlled completely from your phone. Just download the free app connected to them, and they’re pretty fun to mess around with. Have a Merry Christmas ~ Guildenstern

Ophelia grinned, and placed the lights delicately on her desk. Then she walked down the hall, following the blue string attached to her door handle. As she reached the corner, the red string lurched and she heard Rosencrantz whisper, “Shit- Ahh!” And he fell down, completely wrapped up in red yarn. Ophelia laughed, and helped him up.

“Are you okay?” Ophelia laughed.

“Yeah, just got tripped up. Did Hamlet do this?” Rosencrantz looked at the yarn hung all over the hall.

“I don’t know for sure, but probably. Ooh!” Ophelia ran back to her room. “One sec! I have your gift right in here!” Ophelia grabbed a small book that was bursting at the seams, and skidded to a halt in front of Rosencrantz. “Here!” She handed him the book.

“Oh wow,” Rosencrantz breathed as he opened the book. “Did you make a scrapbook?”

“Yeah, it has all the pictures that we’ve taken together, and some other stuff.”

“This is so cool!” He exclaimed, flipping excitedly through the scrapbook. “Dude, this is awesome. How long did this take you?

“A little while, but it’s okay! I had so many Polaroid pictures that I didn’t know what to do with, so… yeah.”

“Ophelia, this is literally the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten, thank you so much.”

They hugged, and Ophelia noticed that he was wearing a red sweater that had a reindeer on it saying, ‘Deck yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self.’

“I see you found Annalise’s gift,” Ophelia laughed.

“Oh yeah, it’s great.”

“I love that.”

“Have a good Christmas, Elsa,” Rosencrantz laughed, pointing to Ophelia’s sweater with snowflakes on it.

Ophelia laughed again, and the two continued down the hall separate ways, each following their colored strings.

Horatio was awoken by a very jumpy Oliver.

“Horatio, wake up! Wake up, it’s Christmas!” Oliver exclaimed, while he shook Horatio. Their parents were going to arrive later that day; they lived far from the castle and Oliver’s boarding school, so Horatio had agreed to take him for a few days.

Horatio rolled over and yawned. “Okay buddy, just give me a minute. I need to get ready.” Oliver was as ready as he’d ever be. He had his purple pajamas with small dogs on them, and of course his aviator hat was stuffed over his messy white curled mess of hair.

Horatio walked over to his chair, and curiously picked up what looked like a sweater with a navy ribbon wrapped around it. He unwrapped it and held up the sweater. It was a dark blue color. On the front it had a pun ironed onto it. It read ‘Fa (La)^7.’ Horatio laughed, and put it on. He read the note stuck to it, and realized it was from Annalise. Then he noticed something underneath his sweater. It was a second, smaller sweater. He unwrapped that one, and called Oliver over.

“Hey, look. Annalise made you a sweater.” Oliver gasped and squealed.

“I love it!” He grabbed it, and put it on. It was lavender colored with super soft yarn. It had an image of Snoopy wearing a toboggan and flying on his dog house.

Horatio brushed his hair, and picked up a large brown sack. Grabbing out a small book, he gave it to Oliver, who gave him a hug. It was the third installment of a comic book series that he loved. Inside, it had a little note written on a paper.

“Alright, buddy. Do you want to help me give the rest of these to my friends?”

Oliver nodded, and they set off. Or they would’ve, if there weren’t two strings tied to their door handle. One was a light purple color, and one was a vibrant blue. They led down the hall, tangled together in knots.

“What’s this?!” Oliver laughed and jumped around, trying to touch the string.

“I guess we follow them?” Horatio chuckled, and followed Oliver who immediately started running down the hall on the string’s trail.

After a few minutes, they passed by the kitchen. Oliver stopped and sniffed, smelling the heavenly smells coming from the kitchen. He peeked inside, and then waved Horatio over. He opened the door and looked in, to see Annalise taking some cookies out of the oven. On the counter were trays piled with cookies, brownies, and all sorts of other amazing desserts.

“Wow Annalise! These are beautiful!”

“Oh, I didn’t see you there. Thank you!” Annalise turned around, wearing a yellow apron. “I hope you guys like your sweaters.”

“I love it so much! Thank you Annalise!” Oliver tackled her in a hug, and she laughed.

“They are great, Anna. Thank you for spending so much time on them.” Horatio gave her a hug, and she allowed them both to sneak a cookie. “I have your gift right here,” Horatio dug in his sack for a few seconds, and reemerged with a copy of The Secret Garden, with illustrated pictures. He had found it at a library near his college a while ago, and knew Annalise would love it.

“Oh my gosh, that’s perfect! Thank you, how’d you know I like it so much?” She looked at the book lovingly, and read the personal note Horatio had stuck in the front.

“I remembered how much you loved the movie version that one night we watched it together.”

“Oh, thank you!” She gave Horatio another hug, and they continued to follow their strings down the hall.

After a minute, Oliver squeaked and ran down the hall. Sitting on the floor, where the strings ended, sat two bracelets. One was a navy blue, and had an ornate H engraved on it. Horatio put it on, and read the note on it.

Dear Horatio, thanks for getting me through another year. I don’t think I could if you weren’t here. Thank you, and Merry Christmas. Your frei your best fr Your brother Your friend, Hamlet

Horatio chuckled, and tightened the bracelet around his arm. Oliver showed him his purple bracelet, and Horatio helped him tighten it around his small wrist.

Horatio turned around when he heard Guildenstern behind him. He was holding a coffee in one hand, and a scrapbook in the other. He waved and headed towards the couch at the side of the hall, where his green string led. He picked up the note, read it, and put on the bracelet. He was wearing a green sweater with a picture of a person looking through a telescope, with glittery stars in the ‘sky’. Annalise strikes again.

“Oh, Guildenstern!” Horatio dug in his bag and pulled out a book. A copy of The Compilation of Galileo’s Notes. He handed it to him, and Guildenstern gasped.

“Oh my God, how did you know how much I wanted this?! I’ve been looking for this for forever!” He said, and immediately started flipping through it.

“I saw you looking at it on your computer,” Horatio laughed.

“Wow, thank you! I have a book for you too, actually,” Guildenstern produced a fat book from underneath the scrapbook. He handed it to Horatio, and he stared at it like it was the holy grail. It was an older, beat up copy of Principles of Mathematical Analysis.

“You’re kidding, right? Blue Rudin? This is awesome!!” Horatio exclaimed. Guildenstern smiled.

“Oh I’m so glad you like it. I had to ask one of my professors, and he said this would be good.”

“Dude, thank you so much. This is going on my shelf immediately.” Horatio hugged the book, and Oliver walked over to him.

“Oh, and here’s something for you,” Guildenstern pulled out a small wooden carved plane toy. It had a tiny propellor that spun.

Oliver shrieked. “WOW! It’s so pretty! Thank you so much!”

“Yeah, no problem. I got it at an art fair a couple weeks ago. I hope you like it.”

“This is amazing!” Oliver started flying it around the hall, and ‘shot’ down some bits of string that was hanging down.

“Do you want to come to the Great Hall with us? To the big fireplace so we can all meet up?” Horatio offered.

“Yeah sure, let’s go.”

The trio started off down the hall.

Hamlet sat on a couch, watching the flames dance on the logs of the fireplace. Ophelia’s blue string was tied to the side of the couch, and on it sat the pastel bracelet, next to a white rose. He had picked it out at the grocery store while Ophelia wasn’t looking. He had purposefully placed her string near him so he could give it to her personally. Now he just had to wait. And wait. And before he knew it, he was drifting off listening to the crackling fireplace. He tried to fight it, knowing that she would find him here asleep, but he dropped off all the same.

He started to drift back to consciousness when he felt someone curl up next to him on the couch. He sat up, and saw that it was Ophelia.

“Sorry, I fell asleep-” Hamlet started, but Ophelia stopped him with a kiss his cheek.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” She looked at the fireplace. “The rose is beautiful, thank you.”

“Yeah,” Hamlet tried to stop his face from reddening. He had been friends Ophelia since they were kids, and even as they had started dating, he couldn’t stop himself from blushing when she kissed him.

“Merry Christmas, darling.” Ophelia whispered as she nestled closer to Hamlet.

“Merry Christmas,” He said. “Has it been an okay year?”

“Yes, I think it has,” Ophelia replied. “If I could just get my dad to approve of us, that would be nice.”

“He doesn’t approve of a lot of things, I think I’m okay with him not approving of us being together.”

“Yeah, I think I am too. At least we do,” she giggled.

They stayed like that, bathing in the aroma of the crackling logs. At least they did until Oliver poked his head over the couch and between them.

“Hi guys!” He shouted.

“Hello little pilot,” Ophelia grabbed him and pulled him around and into her lap. “Are you having a good Christmas?”

“Yeah! I followed a string until I found this!” Oliver pulled up his sweater sleeve and showed them his new bracelet. “Oh, thank you Hamlet!” He gave Hamlet a hug.

“Yeah, no problem buddy. I’m glad you like it.”

“Oliver! Did you go in here?” Horatio ran in, breathing hard. “There you are! I've told you not to run off like that, you could get lost.” Guildenstern walked in behind him.

“Oh!” Ophelia jumped up from her spot on the couch, and picked up a scrapbook from a stack that she’d brought down from her room. “Here you go, Horatio. It’s a scrapbook of all the pictures we’ve taken together. Hamlet, here’s yours. I forgot earlier.” She handed the boys two books bursting at the seams with pictures and mementos.

“Wow, Ophelia this is great.” Horatio said, flipping through it mesmerized.

“Hamlet, I have something for you,” Guildenstern said, digging through his pockets, and producing a small white thing. He handed it to Hamlet, and he threw back his head and laughed when he saw what it was.

“Is this a felt skull? Oh my God, Guildenstern this is hilarious.” Hamlet laughed.

Annalise walked in with a bowl full of cookies and treats. “Good morning everybody! I hope you guys got your sweaters.” She was wearing a bright yellow band around her wrist just like the others.

“Hey Anna,” Guildenstern handed her a small bee plushie once she had set down her bowl.

“Awwww it’s so cute!” Annalise cooed. She pet it lovingly, and gave Guildenstern a hug.

Rosencrantz ran in last, tightening his bracelet using his teeth because he couldn’t get it with one hand. “Oh, hi guys.”

Guildenstern pulled Rosencrantz aside, and presented him with a small cooking set. It contained a red apron that said KISS THE COOK in bold letters, a coffee mug, a recipe book, and cutlery set.

Horatio handed out the remaining books that he hadn’t given yet. Ophelia received a color copy of Pride and Prejudice, a book she dearly loved. Ophelia did the same with her scrapbooks, and they all started to talk and laugh, snacking on Annalise’ cookies.

Rosencrantz cleared his throat, and everyone looked up. “Uh, so, I’ve been saying that I didn’t do anything because I didn’t know if I was actually going to go through with it or not. But everything worked out, and I need everyone to come out to the garden just for a few minutes.”

So they all wrapped up in their coats and hats, and followed Rosencrantz out to the garden. He instructed them all to stay there and not look where he was going. So they stood around curiously until the sound of a car pulled up right outside the gate where there was a path that led around the castle grounds.

Rosencrantz appeared outside the gate after a few seconds, and yelled for them to come over. Hamlet opened the gate and everyone filed out, and gasped.

Rosencrantz was leaning up against a beautiful Volkswagen van. It was a light seafoam blue-green color, with incredible drawings on the sides. There were paint splatters that connected to make a huge galaxy swirled across the whole van. Annalise walked up to Rosencrantz and gave him a high-five.

The group was stunned. They stood there, staring at the van in awe.

“Rosencrantz,” Ophelia asked quietly, “How did you afford this?”

“Oh,” Rosencrantz looked away, “I’ve wanted to get one for forever, and I had some money saved up from my job at the coffee shop, so, yeah. Now we won’t have to borrow the castle’s stuff whenever we want to go somewhere.”

“Dude,” Hamlet said, “This is awesome.”

“Do you guys want to see the inside?” He asked, and opened the doors. The others crowded around to see. The inside had two rows of seats, a bench seat in the very back, and one in the middle which could be pulled down to make a bed. Over the back row was a compartment which was padded in case someone needed to sleep, but mostly would just keep luggage. There were two removable seats right behind the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat, with a shelf installed between them. In all, the van would seat nine people. The inside was white and clean, and ready to be personalized.

After the van had been fully explored, the group went back inside. They spent the rest of the day feasting and being together. It was a good Christmas.

10 notes · View notes

f1g · 5 years

Text

this a compilation of all of the moments in the dr.STONE manga that senku and gen share together! they're sorted in order by chapter, and they include descriptions and links to the panels. at the end, there's a section with some random fun facts/crumbs/observations that don't quite fit into the main list that are nice to know. many thanks to ukyoxchrome for helping assemble this list! now let us proceed under the cut to contemplate why exactly they are boyfriends and how cute they are... (as one would expect there are major manga spoilers throughout this whole post so read at your own risk)

Chapter 12 - gen first appears on the psychology book cover in a flashback! senku proceeds to stomp all over his quiz

Chapter 23 - gen introduced in the flesh when he arrives at ishigami village and asserts his status as resident cola man. senku recognizes him from way back when (omg) and calls his book trashy and we get these panels of gen being a sad ferret

Chapter 24 - senku calls gen a “capable fake magician”, gen is impressed by senku making a generator

Chapter 25 - in order to help senku with his generator for the first time gen works his psychology stuff to manipulate someone (kinrou and ginrou) into achieving one of senku’s goals

Chapter 26 - first big sengen moment. gen gets beaten up by magma, senku and gen have, uh, this moment i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. the tenderness... the intimacy. god

Chapter 38 - gen returns during the tournament, senku and gen team up so that chrome can burn magma

Chapter 40 - also a huge chapter for sengen. gen blushing and being tsundere while thinking about senku, some banter between them, and FINALLY colaman gets his cola oh my god look how happy he is

Chapter 46 - teaming up against hyouga and co look at their faces at the end ahh and also gen being cute and waving back while he returns to tsukasa

Chapter 47 - senku makes a katana, something gen suggested in chapter 24

Chapter 48 - gen officially defects to senku's side and at the end of the chapter there’s a cute drawing of gen and senku wielding katanas together

Chapter 51 - senku makes cotton candy, gen wants to taste it. also, a gay-coding moment where we are yet again reaffirmed that senku is not interested in girls

Chapter 53 - gen calls senku cool, and is impressed by senku’s light bulb. senku and gen stand by the christmas tree and gen realizes it’s christmas

Chapter 54 - gen invites senku to see the new year’s day first sunrise with everyone and asks senku how many days he has lived, which leads to the birthday party.

Chapter 55 - gen starts planning for the birthday party

Chapter 56 - gen's surprise birthday party! gen says he liked senku before he met him! gen uses “好き” which can be used in confessions in japanese!!!!! best chapter.

Chapter 57 - senku drags gen by his hood into the lab and gen doesn’t understand anything. senku tells gen he expected him to be smarter lol

Chapter 59 - gen remembering senku's birthday again and figuring out that they should go visit byakuya's grave

Chapter 60 - senku is looking through his telescope and he can literally sense that it’s gen at his door oh my he is so gay… then a total hell yeah motherfucker moment

Chapter 61 - senku and gen talk alone together for a bit until chrome busts in. senku says that gen’s lillian impression is good. epic brofist ensues

Chapter 63 - gen and senku communicate with each other via morse code. it is revealed in the volume 8 bonus content that senku taught it to gen himself TT_TT

Chapter 65 - gen escapes from ukyo and RUNS back to senku. just before, senku thinks “if gen doesn’t come back before then, it’s game over” he doesn’t even mention chrome or magma haha

Chapter 66 - popularity poll results are out, gen is in third place and senku is in first place, they appear in a color page together (with kohaku in second place). gen and senku make the phone call to convince nikki to join senku’s side, bantz ensue idk

Chapter 67 - senku and gen wear modern japanese school uniforms while nikki is yelling at them in this gag, very cute. Gen is surprised by senku wanting to build a car. also in one translation senku says “stan” and gen says “yikes”

Chapter 68 - gen notes how excited senku and his pals are over building a car several times

Chapter 70 - cover page has senku riding the tank and gen inside it. gen is impressed by the paper that senku made

Chapter 73 - gen and senku team up as lillian weinberg and sebastian the interpreter. gen calls senku “senku-kun” (the only time he has used an honorific that wasn’t “-chan” for someone)

Chapter 74 - gen cries because senku doesn’t know how to negotiate with people

Chapter 75 - senku and gen are in the tank together while they take over the cave of miracles

Chapter 76 - gen calls senku “hella prepared”

Chapter 77 - Senku and Gen try to make a weapon to defeat tsukasa. Gen touches snake shit for senku. (kat’s note: That is real love lol)

Chapter 82 - gen mirin senku’s medical adhesive making

Chapter 84 - ukyo talks to gen about his decision to defect from tsukasa, gen stares wistfully into the distance and says “senku, huh…”. really makes you think pic (kat’s note: HE LITERALLY SAID “SENKU” FOR NO REASON OH MY HE IS SO GAY) (macklemore’s note: in the pic it’s a little different as it’s a different translation but in the viz one he does in fact say “senku, huh...”)

Chapter 86 - gen and senku just, being on the absolute same wavelength here. effervescent

Chapter 87 - more scheming ft. ryusui, devilishness ensues. up there in the most iconic sengen moments

Chapter 88 - gen does his thing w the cards, more shenanigans. Wonderful

Chapter 92 - gen pretends that senku has made a camera so that they can get the extra revival fluid from minami

Chapter 93 - senku says “that mouth of yours is really too much, mentalist!!” lmao

Chapter 94 - senku tries to quiz gen on the discovery of the sagara oil field

Chapter 95 - gen mirin senku’s motorboat. senku and gen are both on the boat together. gen also interprets morse code again in this chapter

Chapter 97 - ukyo and gen have another little discussion about senku, gen stares wistfully into the distance yet again. what did they mean by this

Chapter 98 - senku finally makes paved roads for gen

Chapter 99 - senku and gen conspiring to get money from ryusui again

Chapter 100 - gen is the last one to go on the boat, senku calls out to him and tells him that they need his skills, gen goes up really close to him and says that he would rather stick with senku’s group because that would be the safest bet TT_TT

Chapter 101 - gen is curious about where senku is, he goes to where senku is (with ruri) and literally just falls asleep next to him. later on gen has a question about soyuz he calls for senku

Chapter 103 - senku chooses gen to go to treasure island with the team of 4

Chapter 104 - senku and gen get a color page together, and they work together to deduce that amaryllis is around

Chapter 105 - senku needs to use the tear gas contraption that is on Gen’s back. gen understands immediately and becomes senku’s table hfsdjkf

Chapter 106 - they realize the thing amaryllis is talking about is the petrification beam after she describes her flashback.

Chapter 110 - gen calls senku cute as a girl

Chapter 113 - gen has his moment in the spotlight, general banter between them, modern au thing with them in the chapter cover page

crumbs

now here are just some panels and observations that aren't critical in the development of their relationship but are nice to note regardless

Chapter 26 - senku noting that gen isn't quite dead yet and senku helping hoist gen up into the hut lol

Chapter 39 - in the viz translation gen calls senku “my dear senku” i just think that’s really cute

Chapter 45 - just this omg why is senku so pretty

Chapter 52 - senku says that gen is good at impressions (this is also foreshadowing for when gen impersonates lillian weinberg)

Chapter 56 - just a few more crumbs from this chapter

Chapter 58 - gen saying "tewwible" i think this is great

Chapter 60 - being cute together. i am addicted to that "long day, huh?" panel

Chapter 84 - in the cover page, you see senku with basically the entire cast in front of him, and gen is the only person behind him. really makes u think. gen really is senku’s right hand man huh :’’)

in general, gen is shows just being really impressed by senku’s stuff which isn’t really matched by any other named character

in conclusion sengen is cute and canon they are chaotic good bfs and are in love thank u for coming to my ted talk. the world needs more sengen content

5 notes · View notes

pikapeppa · 5 years

Text

Writing Questionnaire

Tagged by @oops-gingermoment - thanks love! What a nice way to wrap up the year!

Tagging forward to @galadrieljones @buttsonthebeach @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul @apostatetabris @thevikingwoman @irlaimsaaralath @sun-and-shadow-aloy @charlatron @novamm66 @littlesnowarrow @athenril-of-kirkwall @empresstress13 @fourletterepithet @ma-sulevin @bronzeagelove @alyssalenko - looking forward to reading your answers!

Short stories, novels, or poems? Novels, hands down. But I really love the poetry compilation Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur.

What genre do you prefer reading? General fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi, with romance ideally but this isn’t a requisite.

What genre do you prefer writing? Romance (and smut). I have written one single story that didn’t include romance. Everything else I write is focused either on a romantic relationship or includes plot as a carrier for exploring the central relationship.

Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person? Planner for the most part, especially for longfics. But sometimes I fly by the seat of my pants. My Fenhawke stuff has been the most unplanned work to date; I knew I wanted to write this relationship, but I didn’t know whether I wanted to do oneshots or a longfic, so consequently I wrote the beginning of the series based primarily on prompts. It’s my least organized/planned series thus far.

What music do you listen to while writing? Oh god. Anything that inspires. I make playlists for each of my ships. But I usually find one song that summarizes the feel of the chapter/piece and listen to it on loop until the chapter is done.

Fave books/movies? Ahh, I did posts about this! Here is one about movies, and here is one about books.

Any current WIPs? Yes! I have one secret one that I can’t talk about yet. And I guess we could say the FenHawke stuff is never going to end is ongoing still.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be? LOL ACTUALLY here is a cartoon that my fiancé made!! We briefly had an Etsy shop which I closed because I barely managed to sell anything and this was the profile pic. Please note the bare feet, gold jewelry, and very fluffy cat. Important.

Create a character description for yourself: ....*at a loss* I don’t do this for my writing. What does this involve?

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing? No. I write to take a break from the people I know. HAHAH no wait that’s a bit of a lie. Some bits of romance/smut are definitely inspired by real life. But everyone does that, right?

Are you kill-happy with characters? No. I don’t think I’ve ever killed a character.

Coffee or tea while writing? TEA.

Slow or fast writer? FAST. Too fast? People stop reading my shit sometimes because I write too fast? I’m obsessed and need help

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from? Honestly, from the games that I write for. Some characters/relationships just scream to be elaborated upon through writing. Once I’m in the midst of writing a ship, songs are probably the main thing that then inspire certain chapters or oneshots.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be? Uhh... I guess a magic-wielding elf, since that’s my default. Either that or some kind of small creature who is adorable 90% of the time and vicious/enraged the other 10%. Basically Unikitty from the Lego Movie.

Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche? Fave: enemies-to-lovers (when done properly). Least fave: romance novels with female characters who are virgins before they meet the guy of their dreams. One of my fave authors, Karen Marie Moning, does both of these.

Fave scenes to write? First kisses. In-depth of explorations of “what the fuck was going on in his/her head”. And of course, SMUT.

Most productive time of day for writing? Anytime. All the time. But I most enjoy writing late at night.

Reason for writing? I got into writing fanfic because of Reyes Vidal from Mass Effect: Andromeda. I wanted SO BADLY for that smooth-as-silk dickhead to be featured in more of the game but he wasn’t so I had to fill in the gap! Since then, my reasons for writing have changed and become more personal, but suffice it to say that I just really love it. Being a writer has become a major part of my identity, and this is actually kind of hard since most people IRL don’t understand fanfic and/or don’t understand how much it means to me, so I can’t really talk about it IRL (AND THUS I LOVE ALL YOU TUMBLR FRIENDS). Thankfully the fiance understands and supports the obsession, because I can’t go a day without writing even a little bit or editing something I wrote.

And that’s all! Looking forward to reading others’ responses!

#fanfic writer's life #tag meme #personal #pikapeppa reflects #tumblr game

7 notes · View notes

sukisdeliveryservice · 3 years

Note

helloo! how was your day milady? its always a pleasure reading your replies too! <333 and i hope you'll enjoy your hiatus :))

also idk i just find parrots rly pretty, and the way the supposedly repeat stuff you say is rly endearing too djhdjfhfb in all honesty, im pretty new to the whole baking thing, but i love making cookies :D they always smell so lovely djfjdjdj i'd love to explore and make more stuff!

you do digital drawing? :o id love to see something! only if you're comfortable sharing though ofc <3

mmm i haven't watched alot of tv shows really tbh. my favourite and the only one im invested in atm is friends, ive watched alittle of modern family and how i met your mother, but that's pretty much it ig jdndjdj

as for movies, i love the greatest showman! it hits a bit too close to home but i always love the goosebumps i get whenever i watch it :) next would be thor ragnorok, which ive mentioned before djjdjs but its just really funny and love it sm, and it was loki's turning point so bonus marks. black widow is also a new favourite <333 though i felt terrible when they were being tortured as kids, but it really showed a new perspective on natasha and her past. i also really like the notebook! everything was so sweet it rly nearly brought me to tears jsbdjdjjsh and finally the shawshank redemption! it was something i didn't rly think i would like, but i was really pleasantly surprised lmao. everything was pretty depressing but it also kinda blew my mind away :D

for songs, my no.1 song rn is nct dream's irreplaceable, idk why exactly but i love that song. i also have a thing for songs that are similar genres to baekhyun's un village, nct jaehyun's try again and jungkook's still with you, so those are three more though im not really sure if they're really the same genre anyways and its been almost a year now and i still cant get over how nct 127's boom makes me feel 💕

hmm for fics, i dont really remember everything i read, but i absolutely loved your ceo cheol fic 🥺 it was so cute and the way reader and cheol work perfectly together T-T most of the time fics like these consist of cold bosses who only show a little warmth to the reader, but cheol was so sweet throughout everything it just made everything so much more adorable and endearing. i really really loved it :'D <333

what are your top 5 of these? and also for the next question, have you ever

been to a concert?

sneaked out from your house?

gone through a one direction and/or bts phase?

had a crush?

had a pet?

performed in front of a crowd?

read a book/fic that you love so much you still think of it occasionally? (yes im asking for recs)

- 💎 anon who loves you lots!! <333

milady?? heh you sound like chat noir from miraculous ladybug (my guilty non guilty pleasure show) i was thinking carefully about these answers thats why it took so long!! i'm going to go to bed after this is posted hehe this is gonna be a long reply so take all the time you need to answer pfft- my day has been lovely thanks to this ask by the way!!

yeah i'd love to show you something!! there were a couple burried in my rambling tags but when we're allowed to turn off anon i'd love to show you!! do you have discord btw?? it might be easier to talk on there afterwards!!

ooh how i met your mother is probably my favourite sitcom!! maybe that and b99. its pretty long and the ending was erm...not good imo but i still think the long length was worth finishing!!

the movies you picked are lovely anon!! i am also a fan of the greatest showman since i am also a big fan of musicals!! it was pretty fast paced but overall the grandeur and visuals of it stunned me and the sountrack is amazing!! i haven't watched black widow but hopefully soon!! and i dont usually watch a lot of western films but i really want to check out the notebook as well!!

ahh your music taste is also exquisite!! so im guessing you're more into like soft pop/rnb kinds of songs!! i definitely listen to baekhyun's music before sleeping since his vocals really suit soothing songs. i really need to check out more of nct's music - hello future was really good!!

OMG ANON YOU READ MY CHEOL FIC??? i was so unsure about that one but it makes my heart squeeze that you read all of it and liked it :'D

okie so my top 5 (no particular order) i'm probably forgetting a few

tv shows - 1. HUGE atla fan!! i even liked legend of korra even though some poeple didn't 2. how i met your mother 3. horimiya 4. extraordinary you 5. yona of the dawn

movies - 1. your name 2. big hero 6 3. tangled 4. weathering with you 5. from up on poppy hill - literally any ghibli i've watched

books (sorry lots of these are manga) - 1. fruits basket 2. haikyuu!! 3. SNOW WHITE WITH THE RED HAIR (IT'S MY FAVOURITE EVERYTHING) 4. to all the boys i've loved before (it's very different from the movies) 5. i don't mean to bring up percy jackson since it's been years but those books are still everything to me

songs - 1. eight (iu, suga) 2. all my love (svt) 3. kidult (svt) 4. dandelions (ruth b) 5. somehow (day6)

thank you for asking anon! i loved listing these out! next to the never have i ever!!

been to a concert? NEVER!! waiting for svt to come to canada, they didn't list canada for ode to you :(((

sneaked out from your house? NEVER i've sneaked people into my house...

gone through a one direction and/or bts phase? I HAVE! bts but it was only for like a month before i fell in love with 13 men...

had a crush? soobin duh i'm beginning to realize now that maybe i've been more in love with the idea of love instead of harbouring genuine feelings // NEVER!!

had a pet? I HAVE!! multiple fishes...rip

performed in front of a crowd? I HAVE!! i've played the drums during school concerts and during a competition a few years back!!

read a book/fic that you love so much you still think of it occasionally?

for this last one i'm going to tie it in into my top 5 fics of all time!! (with mini reviews!!) i should make a masterlist of my recs honestly - when i compile all of my favourites i think that's when i've be brave enough to tag the writers fjdshfdkj

out of touch, out of time by @/by-moonflower // i read this months ago and my heart literally still sinks whenever it even crosses my mind. i don't think i've ever been so emotionally impacted by a fic before and this is my go to rec for anyone who wants to FEEL something. i don't wanna go in depth as to spoil it, so i'll just leave it at that for now.

outlasting the universe by @/by-moonflower // you know what i'm just gonna link their entire masterlist because all of their works (even the short drabbles) are just literary masterpieces. the way they write makes you feel so alive?? and everything just speaks for itself and is so authentic. they make you feel like you're wandering amidst a ghibli film, periof. authentic is the best word i can use to describe their work and this fic is just the definition of beautiful.

bluff and nonsense by @/thepixelelf // THIS FIC. it's my go to rec overall. it was so memorable had such good flow and just genuinely so genuine?? i have no other words to describe it, it's just so ,,, lovely. the plot takes you on a journey and it's woven together so seamlessly.

in a span of three months by @/viastro // i won't be surpprised if you've read this one already because this author is a true staple in the carat writing community and honestly all of their works are simple timeless. this one really hit the mark for the me the most though and i finished it all in one sitting.

wish by @chocosvt // goodness i'm a fan of hoshi fics aren't i? this one was also really memorable for me and i have read it several times!! friends to lovers but they really made the trope their own and added lots of twists and tadbits that gave it so much charm!! i would also rec this as a starter fic for svt :))

phew thank you for reading all of that anon, i really appreicate you taking the time to write such love responses and questions. now i'd like to know your answers for the same questions ,,, have you ever:

been to a concert?

sneaked out from your house?

gone through a one direction and/or bts phase?

had a crush?

had a pet?

performed in front of a crowd?

read a book/fic that you love so much you still think of it occasionally?

to add on:

been to a place/been in a particular mood after a specific event that you wanted to stay in forever?

written a piece of work that sparked energy within your fingertips!!

met a person/have someone in your life who you now just treasure so deeply?

this is getting super long we need to reveal our identities soon fkdsfkjlds

#💎#love you too carat anon!!#love & letter 💌

1 note · View note

investigatingregionalscenes · 6 years

Link

story about music #8

Winter-Spring, 2013: In order to graduate, I needed a capstone. I chose to do deep reporting project I’d been threatening to do since 2009, and looked into the noise and experimental scene of New England. I recorded seven interview with experimental artists about their lives and work. These are five of them. They were taken in a variety of locales in the Boston area: Cambridge, Somerville, Lowell, and Salem.

In the last year, I’ve been thinking a lot about this period and these conversations as I ask myself, why keep doing this?

above: Ron Lessard, as Emil Beaulieau, performs in someone’s basement in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Music

Music for this episode was created using the following household objects: a desk lamp, a can of beer, a record player, a radiator, and a vacuum cleaner.

With the exceptions of “Fog in the Ravine” by Lejsovka and Freund as well samples from their songs “From Royal Ave” and “Nothing, Just Looking at the Moon” and the song “Blue Line Homicide” by Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck.

The soundtrack was created with advice from musician Jacob Rosati. It will be made available for download later in the summer. For more info please subscribe to the podcast, tumblr, or follow us on twitter.

Links

Crank Sturgeon still performs and tours regularly. He also builds contact microphones and other circuit bent sundries, one of which was used in the production of this episode. A full recording of his set used in this episode is available here.

Crank Sturgeon, 2012, from Wikimedia.

Shane Broderick spent most of his twenties making music with his friend Ted (and later, their friend Josh Hydeman) under the name Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck. Their music is a good example of the subgenres Grindcore and Power Electronics. The name is also exemplary of those subgenres. The performance video which is referenced in the documentary, taken in the mid-00s, has been removed from Youtube. A video from that period is visible here, uploaded by the band’s Ted Sweeney. (contains nudity)

Shane Broderick, from Existence Establishment

Ron Lessard still runs RRRecords in Lowell, Massachusetts. He previously performed under the name Emil Beaulieau. A collection of performances, including the one used in the documentary, can be seen in the video compilation below.

youtube

Emil Beaulieau: America’s Greatest Living Noise Artist, from Youtube

Andrea Pensado still makes music and performs live. She composes in Max/MSP. Her most recent release is a pair of live collaborations with Id M Theft Able. Her former project, with Greg Kowalski, is QFWFQ.

youtube

Andrea Pensado live performance, 10-13-13, from Youtube

Angela Sawyer owned Weirdo Records until it closed in 2015. She now performs comedy and experimental music around Boston.

Angela Sawyer, from her personal website.

The interview with Andrea Pensado was recorded along with my friend Samira, who was producing her own documentary of Boston’s experimental music scene, below. It includes footage from the Andrea interview as well as her own separate interview with Angela Sawyer.

youtube

“The Noise” by Samira Winter, from Youtube

Luigi Russolo’s manifesto is The Art of Noises

Luigi Russolo and the Intonarumori, with his asst. Uglo Piatti, from Wikimedia

Transcript

Brendan: Would you mind telling me about the show at [withheld] , from six years ago, down the street?

Shane: Yeah, um, I was setting up a show with some old-school Detroit noise dudes. When we showed up, the owner was there instead of the doorman, and he was just upset cause he was there on, like, a Tuesday night.

So what ended up happening was is, uhh, two bands played and he came up to me a said, “show’s over.” “Well there’s still two bands to play,” and he’s like, “I don’t care, the show’s over.” I’m like, “the show’s been booked for two months.” Just because you want to go home and, like, jerk off into a kleenex or whatever it is that you fuckin’ do. It has nothing to do with me. And he got upset, and I was like, well listen dude, how about the last two bands play at the exact same time.” So that’s what we did. Warmth and Twodeadsluts collaborated. It lasted about fifteen seconds, and the owner came over and kicked a table with everyone’s gear on it. So the only logical thing for me to do as a Bostonian–– and I have pride being a Bostonian–– is I just looked at this guy and I was like, “I don’t care how big he is, or how Italian he is, I’m gonna wind up, and I’m gonna punch this guy right in the fucking face.”

Brendan: And what happened?

Shane: That guy hit me back––I-I lost a little bit of time there. He’s a lot bigger than me. Uh, clocks went still. I kinda woke up, I was on the ground, and he was smashing everyone’s gear. Cops came in, they put me in a car, they, y’know told me to leave and blah blah blah.

Brendan: Is that the only time cops have been called on you?

Shane: No. Not even close.

music: “Blue Line Homicide” | Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck

You’re listening to Stories About Music, a podcast on the subjects of music, journalism, and memories, and how the line between those three things is often not as clear as I’d hoped.

My name is Brendan Mattox, and this is story about music number eight, “Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise?”.

Room 1 (Crank Sturgeon)

Cars pass by on Massachusetts Avenue, seen out the front window of Weirdo Records in Cambridge. It’s night time. A few young men in their twenties sit on the floor of the small storefront, waiting as Crank Sturgeon sets up in a corner.

Crank: Cool. So, do you think this is our show? Shall we wait, or?

Angela: I think…What time is it? It’s not eight-thirty, that’s probably most of our show. Let me turn that off.

Crank: Not that uh, four’s a wonderful audience, I’ve played for two. One of them was my brother who never saw me before that point…and Id Em Thft Able and I had some very bizarre sexual ritual in front of my brother, involving instant powdered milk and a plastic poster from 1970 of this naked woman holding a stuffed animal…And I had a penis helmet at the time… but alright, well I will perform for you hello, my name is Crank Sturgeon everybody… (6:37) We could do a performance where I have everyone sing introductions of themselves to each other. Everyone up on your feet.

Crank: Hello! My name is Craaaaaaannnk Sturrrgeon!

Angela: Hello! My name is Angela Sawyyyyyeerrrrrr!

Crank: All at once now!

Brendan: And I am Brendan Mattox!

Crank: Hi Brendan Mattox, my name is Crank, it’s a pleasure to meet you, you have a really firm handshake. And this man in the corner, what’s your name? Andrew, another Andrew, Brendan, Angela.

Angela: Wow, we’re nearly phonemes.

Crank: Ahh, phonies…

Crank Sturgeon sits down behind his instruments: a few tape recorders, a sharpie, and a loudspeaker full of tacks and jelly beans.

Crank: First Piece, oh, wait. My brand new fish helmet, so I can lose even more water to my body. There we go. First piece is improvisations with the letter D. Delirious, Delightful, Delicious, Dumb, Dumbfounded, Dimwit, Diplodocus, Dinosaur, Diana, Dagnasty, Dagnabbit, Diddling, Dawdling, Doodling, Dude Ranch (buzzing noise) Dick, Doofus, Dammit, Darn, Dangle, Drink, Drunk, Dank, Dork, Dusty, Dunce, Distinguished! Development! Duplicitous.

Crank is wearing a black garbage bag over his head, adjusted so his face and white goatee peek through the hole he’s cut in it for air. On either side of the bag are two enormous fish eyes, drawn on card stock, with marker.

I’m here tonight reporting a story about a couple of loosely associated experimental musicians from Boston, a story whose meaning is starting to exceed my grasp.

Brendan: How would you describe Crank Sturgeon?

Crank: In uhh, a sentence? Brendan: I have no idea. How would you describe the experience of being Crank Sturgeon?

Crank: Well it’s, uh, it’s not a party.

Angela: It is so.

Crank: It is a party. It’s funny because, I’ve survived for awhile, through the many phases of experimental music.

Brendan: What do you mean the many phases?

Crank: The many phases. You’d go to a show in 1996 in a basement in Allston and it was like, a tough guy scene.

Angela: People sitting on the floor, like indian style, and a dude looking at his belly button going “doonk-doonk-doonk.”

Crank: (laughs) Very true…

Angela Sawyer, the owner of Weirdo, jumps in. She and Crank know each other going back to the nineties, when they were at the beginning of the path that has led to the three of us standing in a circle in her record store.

Brendan: what’s the trick to growing old with grace within the experimental community?

Crank: Oh that’s a really fun question, because I’m still figuring it out. I think…did you want to say something?

Angela: Well I feel like no one– when I was twenty, or eighteen, and I met people who were much older than me, it never occurred to me to look at myself from their point of view, ever. So I only ever thought, “oh, that person is as old as my mom and my dad, but they’re doing what I want instead of what my parents are doing. Once you get to be–– I’m in my forties…then is when you’re like, oh, I have been there so many times and they have no idea where I am. So that’s when you start to feel marginalized a little bit

Room 2 (Shane Broderick)

The TV in Shane Broderick’s living room is on mute. A weather man gestures in to a map of New England in shades of blue and purple. At the top of the screen is a red banner with the words “Blizzard Warning.” It’s mid-afternoon. Shane and I are drinking cans of beer that Shane brought out of the fridge.

Shane: I was always playin’ music and stuff since I was a little kid. Even when I was, like, twelve years old I’d be up late smokin’ weed and messing with drum machines and stuff like that.

Brendan: Where’d you get your hands on a drum machine at age twelve.

Shane: Uhh, Christmas present.

Brendan: Christmas present?

Shane: Yeah.

Brendan: That’s pretty cool.

Shane: Yeah, I had my beginner guitar and a drum machine. Y’know once I was like, fifteen and stuff I got a job, started collecting equipment…I thought I’d make a career out of it but I ended up just being, like, a lifelong mailroom guy.

When he was 19 years-old, Shane dropped out of college in Florida and moved back to Massachusetts. He started making abrasive music with a friend he knew while working at a gas station in high school.

Shane: We worked together and every time we finished a shift it would be like a hundred and something dollars under, and I was like, what the fuck this kid man.

They called themselves Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck.

Shane: We joked around on the internet about how we were going to start the most extreme band ever and how the first record we’d just put a bunch of contact mics in a blender and throw a rabbit in it and whatever it sounded like, that was the first LP. Which we never did. [music in]

Brendan: But what instead came out of it was…

Shane: I stuck my boner in a blender. Which was a demo that we did which was me and him coaching eleven of our friends, we were just trying to make circus music with grindcore parts.

Shane: We got reviewed in something like Metal Maniacs, that was like a magazine that when I was ten years old and my mother would drag me to CVS to grab things, I would sit in the aisle and look at, like, pictures of like, Slayer looking sexy and stuff like that, so I was like “oh shit, I’m in this magazine now.” After that, me and him decided to keep the name and go forward with it.

Shane is in his early thirties and he still makes music, although Twodeadsluts hasn’t been active for awhile. He also still plays shows sometimes, though he doesn’t really enjoy it.

Shane: I don’t know I think it’s just, like, nerves. It was easier with the other guys because we were more like a wrecking crew. Y’know, get blind stinkin’ drunk and it didn’t really matter what happened.

Brendan: What would one night at a TDS show end up being like?

Shane: It would start off sloppy and then I wouldn’t remember then end of it.

(Indiscriminate yelling)

Shane: We’re Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck from Boston, and we need the drum machine way fucking louder. Get that shit way the fuck up.

Brendan: When you guys got onstage, there seems to be sort of a pattern. You start off with some harsh feedback, and then it progresses into stuff getting knocked over.

Shane: There was definitely a lot of feedback and definitely a lot of things knocked over.

They were also usually naked.

Shane: I think we were probably more performative over substance, to be quite honest. In those early shows we were just using five or six microphones, a bunch of fx pedals running back into each other, and just whatever sounds were happening, were happening

[music]

Shane: Either people really liked it or found it very entertaining, and on the flipside– we’d have people picket our shows, feminists thinking that we were, like, um, promoting sexism… Just that band name wipes off at least 70% of the population from even giving you a chance. It’s probably a higher percentage than that…

Brendan: So the choice of the band name then, was it to…

Shane: It was kind of like, a filtering mechanism and also it was like an inside joke that just kept going and going, and no one was really in on it but us. The band wasn’t supposed to last ten years either.

Shane: I can’t even give you any rationale behind it…it really might look pretty forced, but it was actually pretty natural for the people involved in the band.

Brendan: Why was it so natural?

Shane: I don’t know. That’s a question for a therapist. I don’t know.

I sip from my can of beer even though it’s empty. Shane plays with the pull tab on his. On the television, the weatherman predicts a foot of snow is going to cover Boston over the next two days. Shane, still dressed in scrubs from the hospital where he works, says,“I got to work tomorrow no matter what.”

There’s a half-open ironing board against a wall. In the bathroom, the sink is plastered with shavings. Next to the un-flushed toilet sits a stack of musical notation paper. I stare at it, because it says something specific about the person I’m speaking to. I can’t figure out what, or why.

Brendan: If you could maybe, like, point me in the right direction of some people in the area to talk to…

Shane: I think you should definitely talk to Ron in Lowell. He runs triple-R records. He’s kind of, America’s greatest living noise artist. Like a godfather type…

Room 3 (RRRon)

I walk out Shane’s front door and into Ray Robinson’s café in downtown Lowell. Ron Lessard waits for me in a yellow booth along the window. Through the rain on the glass, the world outside is a blur of different shades of gray.

Brendan: Where should we begin?

Ron: (chewing noises) So. Today is Wednesday. I’m eating lunch. I’m almost through with my fries, soon I’ll be starting on my burgers. Fuckin’ awesome.

Ron is the noise expert, one of the engines driving America’s experimental music scene since the 80s. Ron has released about 1000 recordings on Triple-R’s in-house label.

Ron: I was the source. And everybody who ever learned how to play a tape backwards or make feedback decided to send me a demo. And man, I heard so much crap like you wouldn’t believe…I mean, how many Rock’n’roll bands are awesome, and how many suck beyond belief?

Ron first got into noise music around 1981, after he left the Air Force and came home to Lowell.

Ron: There was a mail-order outlet out of Colorado called Aeon A-E-O-N. When I got their catalog, I couldn’t believe the stuff they had listed. They had, like, Whitehouse albums, New Blockaders, Maurizio Bianchi, and it’s like who the fuck are these guys? So I started buying that stuff and I was like, woah, this is what I’ve been looking for all these years. The guy that ran it became a survivalist kind of guy, y’know, living out in the woods with his gun type of thing and, actually, he eventually sold me his entire inventory, I bought him out.

Ron: When I first opened I tried to specialize in all the really weird imports, bizarre bands and that kind of stuff, y’know. But at the same time, I knew enough to know that pedestrians, your average everyday person, has no freakin’ clue. They just want to listen to a Barry Manilow or whatever the fuck they like, y’know.

His store, RRRecords, opened in 1984.

Ron: After Aeon, I was the guy that was thoroughly obsessed, and I just devoted myself to it…Day in day out noise, morning, noon, and night. Listening to tapes, checking out bands all day every day. At that time Heavy metal wasn’t heavy enough, punk rock wasn’t extreme enough, Noise did it for me, it really did.

Ron started performing noise music himself under the name Emil Beaulieau. Footage from from the nineties, like this, show him using vinyl records and their accessories as instruments.

This is another way to look at noise music: instead of using something like a trombone, or a tuba, a guitar, or a piano, you take whatever you can find, whatever objects appeal to you, and you refashion them into something expressive. The screeching noise you hear is coming from a modified turntable, which Ron stands behind with a goofy look on his face, pretending to polish record.

Ron: Remember to always, always use the circular motion when cleaning your records.

From that perspective, noise is a positive, creative philosophy, and I can see how people get so obsessed with it.

Ron:A lot of people, y’know, they can’t play guitar, they can’t play the drums–– but twisting knobs and screaming your brains out, getting out that primal scream, whatever it is…it’s inside everybody.

Brendan: And speaking of which, what’s your personal experience with it.

Ron: (Darkly) What do you mean?

Brendan: I mean with Emil Beaulieau.

Ron: Yeah.

Brendan: Well you just said that Noise music was this personal experience. How did you get stuff out through Emil Beaulieau?

Ron: I–I’m not sure where your leading, as far as recording or getting the name out?

Brendan: Why did you start Emil Beaulieau?

Ron: ––you know, I just wasn’t any good at sports (laughter).

The uncomfortable moment sticks in the back of mind for the rest of our interview. Though Ron’s eloquent and energetic, as I was warned he would be, he’s also a little guarded. Maybe that’s because I showed up looking for someone to answer the criticisms of noise music or its culture, which he brushes off with a simple:

Ron: Lately? Lately I’m out of it.

Brendan: When was the last time you were in it?

Ron: Seven years ago (laughs)

Brendan: So let’s go back seven years, because this is something that keeps coming up in interviews with people. Seven years ago, things were very…

Ron: Active.

Brendan: Active.

Ron: Wicked, wicked, wicked active.

Brendan: What’s happened?

Ron: The bands that are making noise today sound like the bands that were making noise ten years ago, that sound like the bands making noise twenty years ago, y’know they sound exactly the same, they’re doing the same freakin’ feedback, they’re still screaming the same lyrics, y’know, it’s just the same thing over and over and over and over again. Which is fine, y’know, punk rock exists for a reason, y’know. The young people, they’re totally into it because it’s new for them. It’s like wow this is freakin awesome these guys are screaming their brains out! They’re talking about killing people! But then ten years later it’s the same thing all over again…I mean do you want to listen to that same band for freaking ten years in a row? I mean do you still want to hear Aerosmith? No you don’t (laughs).

He seems tired in a way that I’ve not seen before. As we talk, I get the sense that what Ron and I are doing has become an exit interview.

Ron: I did what I had to do. I did what I had to do and just to keep doing it because somebody else wants me to? Wrong freakin reason. That’s how bands start to suck. So fuck that y’know.

Y’know there was a time when I couldn’t wait to get on stage and scream my brains out. It’s like, well I mean y’know, you ever had a girlfriend? You make out with her it’s like the best! And then one day, you don’t want to make out with her anymore. It’s no different.

I mean, it’s been seven years. I stopped performing seven years ago, March of ’06. It’s now March ’13. It’s seven freaking years that I’ve stopped. Chances are you’re not doing the same thing you were doing seven years ago. And I’m willing to bet, seven years from now, you’re not going to be doing the exact same thing you’re doing now. People change, they move on. Been there, done that, why do it again?

music: “Fog in the Ravine” | Lejsovka & Freund

The scene dissolves. In the darkness, I think of the question that I wish I’d asked. This isn’t just some thing Ron was doing, it was the thing – what can you do when you lose touch with the something that was core to your identity?

Room 4 (Andrea Pensado)

Andrea: I think it’s very important to not to be scared of being in a place of not knowing. To be in a place of uncertainty, is excellent! Even if it is uncomfortable. Honestly, I don’t want a comfortable life.

I’m sitting in a cozy loft apartment in Salem, while my friend Samira chats with a small, owlish woman in her late 40s named Andrea Pensado.

Andrea: Well if you feel it at twenty than you cannot imagine in your forties.

Samira: I just taste it and I’m like, ‘wow, I’m just feeling all the sugar.’

Andrea: I ate a lot of chips, it was a bad idea. With beer, y’know, not good.

Samira is working on her own documentary about experimental music.

Andrea first got interested in music when she was a little girl, growing up in Buenos Aires.

Andrea: Eh, I was living in an apartment building, and a friend of mine, she started taking piano lessons. She showed me her music and I saw the notation, ehh, and I was fascinated. Honestly I was not aware of such a rich experimental music background until when I was in Poland…

She left Argentina to study composition in Krakow as an adult. But the music she composed on paper was so complex, that she often had trouble finding people to play it. Andrea likes to think about timbre–– the color of sound, what differentiates one instrument from another. To wring out some really interesting timbre with traditional instruments, you’ve got to do some out there stuff.

Andrea: Like, I don’t want to be just writing for the drawer.

And then, Andrea went to the Audio Art Festival, a meeting of the minds held in Krakow every November. The festival focuses on objects used to produce sound: musical instruments, but also computers.

Inspired, Andrea taught herself to program and began using electronics in her work.

Andrea: So I create a wifi for myself just to avoid latency, you can work with any wife…So my controllers are! An iPod–– I say, I look like an apple merchandise stand, which is quite depressing, but you know, what can I do? So this is an iPod with a special application I use to… [iPod click]. Well, first I have to set up the wifi, I show you…

Andrea is wearing a a headset like the kind people use to play video games. She’s sitting at her computer with an iPod Touch in her right hand.

Andrea: This is a simple wave, just a simple low tone. So if I move it like this, I change the pitch. And then if I do like this, the distortion is the direct result of–

She twists and bends her arm manipulating the sine wave into a complex pattern.

Andrea: And I can do the same if I had my voice…

Then she flicks on her mic.

Andrea: Hey, hah, that’s my voice! (noise) hello! Hah! (pause, noise ends). So you know it’s quite dramatic.

Andrea: Maybe for somebody who is not a lot in music, this seems harsh. I don’t think this is harsh at all, this is just the way new music is going. I do believe that, even though I don’t think what we do now is better than what was done in the Renaissance, ok, I do believe that there is constant change, and that artistic languages keep having a need of refreshing themselves, ok?…yeah?

Brendan: (18:49) Why do you think music is shifting in that direction?

Andrea: To explore timbre…Because now, thanks to the technology, we have access to it. It’s easier to manipulate. We are like kids, we are, like, playing. (12:26) I compare it to the beginning of the baroque, where they became aware of chords, of verticality, and then for 300 years, they explore that.

Andrea’s grandiosity reminds me of the document that first inspired me to pursue this project. In 1913, a young painter named Luigi Russolo wrote a letter to a composer he admired. The two of them were part of an Italian movement known as Futurism. Russolo’s letter ended up as one of the movement’s major manifestoes, The Art of Noises.

In The Art of Noises, Russolo laid out a framework for the music of the new industrial world, in which the city itself is both the inspiration and the instrument.

For centuries life went by in silence, at most in muted tones…Amidst this dearth of noises, the first sounds that man drew from a pieced reed or stretched string were regarded with amazement…and the result was music, a fantastic world superimposed on the real one…

We Futurists have deeply loved and enjoyed the harmonies of the great masters. Now, we are satiated and find far more enjoyment in the combination of the noises of trams, backfiring motors, carriages and bawling crowds than in rehearsing the “er-O-i-ca” or the “Pastorale”.

We cannot much longer restrain our desire to create finally a new musical reality, with a generous distribution of resonant slaps in the face. Discard violins, pianos, double-basses and plaintive organs…

I am not a musician, I have therefore no acoustical predilections, nor any works to defend. I am a Futurist painter using a much loved art to project my determination to renew everything. And so, bolder than a professional musician could be, unconcerned by my apparent incompetence and convinced that all rights and possibilities open up to daring, I am able to initiate the great renewal of music by means of the Art of Noises.

It is, and I am one to talk, very pretentious. And yet, I kind of sympathize with the guy. When I started making a podcast, I was intent on remaking a whole sector of journalism with my own bold incompetence.

A man of his word, Luigi built these giant boxes called the Intonarumori, whose purpose was to make a bunch of noise. A photo of them often accompanies The Art of Noises, and you can see Russolo standing behind one, this thin guy with a mustache, a hand placed on the crank handle at its back.

Like most manifestoes, The Art of Noises says very little about its writer, except what he wanted to be: a great destroyer come to remake the world in his image. If you’re a certain type of young person, that idea is very attractive, and you can embrace it without really thinking about what other things you might put to the side to achieve that.

Samira: What’s your, I know you’ve done a lot of work with visual, audio and visual.

Andrea: Well that’s with my ex-husband (laughter). Greg, whom I met in Poland, he comes from video, from cinema. We had a duo, eventually, I stopped doing my own to work for our duo, which we worked together for ten years. Greg did the images and I did the sound. And we work on interactivity. Then we split, so now I work just with sound.

Brendan: How is your music different working with your ex-husband, than after?

Andrea: The main goal of our duo was to have real time interaction between images and the sound. So if there was something onstage like a movement or, whatever, it had simultaneously a result in both. It gave some rigidity. So now that the interaction isn’t so important, I have much more freedom to just to improvise. It’s like much, much more freedom.

Room 6 (Angela Sawyer)

Angela: One of the first people I ever met who was interested in experimental music was Ron Lessard.

I’m standing at the counter in Weirdo Records one afternoon, talking with Angela Sawyer again She’s telling me how she first got involved with the experimental scene, just after she started at U-MASS LOWELL in the early 90s.

I had never been to New England at all, I just flew here on a plane from Denver and I wanted to meet some people, and I didn’t really know what to do, and I heard some other kids saying that they wanted to join the college radio station. They said at the meeting to join up, you have to show up and volunteer…I went back the next day, and there no one was there.

Brendan: How long were you there for?

Angela: Probably an hour (laughs). Finally someone came by…I was just like, “hey, hey, I’m here to volunteer, what should I do?” And they just looked at me like I had three heads. They were like, “why don’t you clean something?” So I found a vacuum and I just started vacuuming…

And I went through all the rooms, and finally I got to a room that I hadn’t been in yet, and there was a person in there, and it was kind of dark in there…So I waited for him to notice me. I said hi, I’m trying to vacuum. I had no idea that it was the air studio and, um, Ron, of course, he’s like a firecracker going off. So he’s like, “OH YES COME ON IN,” he was mic-ing the vacuum cleaner, and I’m just like “oh hi,” and he’s like tell me about yourself, who are you? And uhh, he was really awesome to me

As we walk down memory lane, Angela starts talking about a world that I was once very interested in, the network of noise and experimental artists who connected in the early days of the internet, after decades of being little feudal kingdoms.

Angela: There was definitely a feeling at one point of there being a first-world wide, at least, community, if not worldwide, of people who were listening to the same releases, and they were seeing the same bands, they’d heard some Throbbing Gristle records, and they had a common language and finding out about cool stuff and figuring out how it worked, and they knew what happened when you stuck a clarinet underwater and put delay on it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what Angela said at the Crank Sturgeon show, about choosing to live on the Island of Misfit toys without thinking about it very hard. Because I feel, in a lot of ways, that that’s become my life. I’m more devoted now than ever to completing the work I set out for myself, but I’m also deeply unhappy, and more isolated.

Angela: Every town has the person who is like, I’ll become the nun, I’ll sacrifice myself and do all this work and…y’know, I have a store, that’s what I do.

Brendan: Can you talk a bit about sacrificing–– about becoming a martyr for the scene?

Angela: I’m not trying to do that, I actually really dislike that.

Brendan: How did you fall into the role?

Angela: If you have some job related to underground music, that’s what you’re doing. ‘Cause there’s no money. But that’s one of the only ways you can spend your whole life surrounded by it.

music: “Fog in the Ravine” | Lejsovka and Freund

Angela: Everything I know about politics and geography and sociology and psychology, and how to sort of figure out how to deal with the world at large, I mostly learned them from records. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had a conversation about anything else. I’m a very narrow person outside of records. Basically, records are sort of my defense system and or window for everything, I think of every record as like a pair of of tinted glasses, and you can look at the whole world through that and see it in a new way, and each good record has a slightly different shade on it, so you never get done figuring out how things work and enjoying new wrinkles in how things are. The bad news is that if you take the glasses off things look terrible, then you have to function like a regular person. And that’s not something I’m very good at.

If I’m being honest, neither am I. I’ve agonized over these interviews for a long time, afraid of saying the wrong thing about the people in them. To call it a “cautionary tale of loving something– an idea– that cannot love you back,” sounded unkind, both to them and to myself. I can’t help but feel at the end that that’s exactly what it is.

I avoided revisiting these interviews for almost five years because they held up a mirror to the shaky logic I built ambitions on. They pointed out, in no uncertain terms, that art cannot save me. It can help me find a way to save myself, by learning to communicate things that I feel deeply in a way that’s truthful, accurate, and honest. But that’s all that it can do.

And it took losing someone I loved very much to understand that.

Room 7 (Somerville Ave)

Shane Broderick and I stand on the sidewalk of Somerville Avenue on a cool spring evening. Shane’s arm is in a cast. He’s just finished telling me a story about the time he punched a club owner at a venue up the block. As we’re talking about the reputation that Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck had amongst Boston’s club owners, some of Shane’s friends emerge from the bar where he’s just finished a gig.

Shane: it’s funny because we never actually gave any of the venues our actual performances, it was more like basement parties and shit like that that they were scared of, that they’d heard about.

Brendan: I can’t remember if I got this on tape last time, would you mind describing what the actual performances were?

Shane: Can’t really do that, I don’t know, you can ask these guys.

Friend 1: What’s that?

Friend 2: You gotta lighter? I just realized I left my backpack down there, I got good beer in there but whatever fuck that shit.

Brendan: Would you guys mind describing to me what a normal show by Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck was like?

Friend 2: Is this an interview? I wasn’t ready for an interview man I can’t do that! My voice cannot be heard on tape.

Friend 1: (makes jerk-off motion) It’s like this.

Friend 2: Can I get a lighter from somebody?

Shane: (shouting) It’s like looking at something, and gettin’ so excited and just BAM! And then it’s kind of like aww fuck.

Friend 1: I don’t have a lighter!

Friend 2: Do you have a lighter?

Shane: We need to go home. Need to hide under a blanket.

Friend 2: Do you have a lighter buddy?

Brendan: Nah, I’m sorry.

Friend 2: Motherfucker! How can you do an interview without a lighter? (distant) Fuck! Amateur!

Brendan: So, just so I don’t take up the rest of your time, there was something you said during the last interview. You said that, for TDS, there was this joke that you guys…when the joke stopped being funny, you guys were like, ‘alright, I’m gonna do something else.’

Friend 1: The joke didn’t stop being funny.

Shane: Well ok I’m not sure the joke ever stopped being funny but…

Brendan: So, what, in your opinion what was the joke?

Friend 1: The band was the joke.

Brendan: What specifically about the band was the joke?

Friend 1: I don’t know…

Friend 2: (strike lamppost) Do a funny voice c’mon what the fuck! We’re supposed to be entertained by this shit.

Shane: Alright, you can cut my voice here.

Friend 2: It doesn’t matter what you say so long as it’s in a funny voice it’s cool.

Shane: There are a lot of Boston noise bands and people from Jamaica Plain and Allston and they want everyone to be like, onboard with, ‘hey, we’re all friends, this is a scene! come down to our house play a show blah blah blah.’ And what Twodeadsluts was more like, was just like, ‘We’re not even invited. We’re playing a show, we’re trashing your fuckin’ house.’

Brendan: Do you ever miss it?

Shane: Yeah, of course I do. It is what it is.

Brendan: I feel like that’s a pretty good place to end.

Shane: There you go.

I walk off into the night. A block away, I come to a stop on a concrete island in the middle of Somerville Avenue and look back at Shane and his friends. They were still down by the bench we were sitting on, drunk, being loud, but their noise is drowned out by the cars flying past me, headed for the outskirts of Boston.

Standing here, it occurs to me that need room tone, the sound of the place I’m in. Room tone helps smooth out transitions in editing, makes a radio documentary sound more natural. I’ve forgotten to get it for almost every other interview with the noise artists. But that I remember now seems significant to me, an promise to myself that someday I’ll figure what made this experience worth telling.

Credits

Today’s episode was produced with help from Wes Boudreau and Samira Winter. Editing help by Kyna Doles and Jon Davies. Special thanks today to Lejsovka & Freund, Jacob Rosati, Sean Coleman, Elissa Freeden, Brittany Rizzo, Tyler Carmody, and Birgit from Denmark.

Visit our website, investigating regional scenes dot org, for more episodes and, this summer, some bonus materials. You can find Stories About Music on your local podcast provider. Please leave a review to helps us find new listeners.

From Philadelphia, I’m Brendan Mattox, back soon with more stories about music.

#stories about music #noise music #experimental art #radio documentary #podcast

2 notes · View notes

hunter934 · 6 years

Photo

BRODY February 2018 - Ikeda Kazuma x Shinguu Ryouhei "A Dialogue of Keyakizaka46’s Music Videos"

“First Dialogue of 2 Directors who are Accomplices of Keyaki’s Revolution” The initial impact of Keyakizaka46, as well as their shocking debut, was no doubt, thanks to their “Silent Majority” music video. Since then, each time they’ve released a music video, it becomes a hot topic in every single direction. The two directors, who directed their music videos, talked to us about the truths of the music videos, as well as the true quality of Keyakizaka46. Unusual approach to draw out their full potential - This time, through the dialogue between the two directors who directed Keyakizaka46’s music videos, we figured there would be many things that could be revealed, thus we gathered the both of you here. First of all, let’s start with Director Ikeda’s “Silent Majority”. Shinguu: I didn’t watch it right after it’s release. After a while, I heard information that it’s an amazing music video, I decided to watch it after that. - What did you think? Shinguu: The location left such a strong first impression. Normally people wouldn’t be shooting at a place like that (construction site near Shibuya Station). I thought “Ah, it turned out to be something awesome”. - So, its strong point is the timing of when the location was used Shinguu: That’s also correct, especially since idol music videos nowadays have become too boring. Though there still are styles like Director Takahashi Eiki’s works for AKB48. However, this music video turned out to be something really powerful. In all likelihood, we can’t shoot at that place for the second time. Shibuya is always reborn to be something new, so shooting at a place that existed in such a short time was the most amazing thing. Ikeda: Thank you very much (laugh). Shinguu: You’re being unfair, by using that place (laugh). Now the people from Tokyu Dentetsu already knew about Keyakizaka46, right? Ikeda: There was a building in development at that place, while on the other hand, there was a group that was going to make their debut, I compiled those things properly into a concept, I was given the chance to make something special. Shinguu: Did you choose Shibuya as a theme from the start? Ikeda: At first, when I discussed with Keyakizaka46’s staffs, they told me to create a group of girls with a strong will and little bit rebellious as their image. Something like “If they were a town, then they are Shibuya”. Because of that conversation, I thought maybe I could use Shibuya as the stage for them. So, it was decided before I even planned the concept for the music video. Shinguu: The CD jackets were also taken in Shibuya, right? I thought “Are they some sort of Shibuya idols?”, that question came to mind once, but this music video turned out to be really amazing. They’re very young, aren’t they? Also, Shibuya was in the middle of a dramatic transformation. It was really like showing people, those girls had been there once, at the town which reformed in a short amount of time. I felt quite emotional from that kind of view. Because it can’t be seen anymore, right? Ikeda: It was a totally different place a year after that. Shinguu: The dirt remaining on their knees when they knelt down were also quite emotional. Ikeda: It feels like a documentary, right? I didn’t put too much perspective into it. It’s their first music video after all. Shinguu: Director Ikeda, you once said that you purposely didn’t cut out the scene where they displayed poor dancing. Ikeda: Yep. Shinguu: “Ah, they were still poor at dancing at that time”, you wanted people to acknowledge such a thing when they look back at the past. Ikeda: I was thinking so hard how to organize things since it was their debut single. At first, I wanted to make the story deeper. But on the contrary, if I shoot their debut moment as it is, I thought it would have a more exceptional feeling. After all, it’s a moment which only happens once. Shinguu: If we look at it now, it was really worth the effort. Ikeda: I didn’t even cut everyone’s tense faces. - As a fellow director, did Director Shinguu ever think “Crap, he beat me!”? Shinguu: I did. Music video is all about concept. Thus, if we want to do a shoot in Tokyo, location selection is an important thing. There is nothing left in Tokyo after all, it’s too boring. Also, we have to match our camerawork to the choreography. Did you draw the storyboard? Ikeda: I didn’t draw anything. Shinguu: You matched to their choreography, didn’t you? Ikeda: Of course. If I’m not wrong, the choreography only got completed two days before the shoot. Thus, we decided to use about 50~60% of the choreography. - What was your most favorite scene? Shinguu: I like the opening scene. - The scene where their faces appeared one by one? Ikeda: It’s an introduction. It’s their first music video after all. Shinguu: The pictures just came one after another. Ikeda: Pretty orthodox, right? (laugh) Shinguu: What came to my mind was that you particularly shot Hirate-san in such a thorough way. There were a ton of camerawork that shot Hirate-san only. Ikeda: Because Hirate-san is the heroine. If I had given every member equal screentime, it would have ruined the balance. - Normally it would make the video more balance, but that’s not the case for this one. Ikeda: Like I said before, I decided who the heroine was, and she became the core of this story, I organized everything based on this person, I thought that it would make Keyakizaka be seen as a whole even more. Hirate-san’s amazing performance was one of the considerations though. However, that kind of camerawork was pretty different from Director Shinguu’s way of thinking. Shinguu: It’s totally different. If Kazuma-san stresses the whole picture of Keyakizaka46, then I want to show every single one of them at any cost. In this kind of group, there must be only a few members who can appear on the 4-minute-long-only music video. But, I didn’t want to do it that way (laugh). Everyone has their own charm, so I always took a shot of everyone. Even though in the end not every shot was used after editing process, it’s a relief to do it that way. - Since there’s a lot of people that were attracted by their charm on “Silent Majority”, this kind of presentation was indeed good. Ikeda: In the end, this music video is all about their performance. It feels like they’re going to make a breakthrough from now on, for me it’s really like a documentary. I’m glad that I didn’t make it weird by creating a drama-like music video. - Since it’s a good documentary, there’s no need to add a dramatic element into it. Shinguu: Kazuma-san is a documentary maker after all. Ikeda: Even though there are some bad parts, as long as their expression are good enough, I will use it. On the contrary, Shinguu-san is a perfectionist. Shinguu: I’m the type of person that shows anything above its original value. For example, if there is a member that doing a late turn, I will show it in slow motion. Ikeda: Or to make a messy jump looks better. Shinguu: I’m a visual person. It’s like I just aim for the good parts only. Ikeda: You also do a form of music-related editing. Shinguu: If it’s Kazuma-san, he will definitely strengthen the part he wants to show rather than taking care of the rhythm. Ikeda: That’s right. Shinguu: If there is situation where the contents are less than it’s supposed to be, and they’re going to do nothing about it, I will tell them “This should be this way, this too, this too”. - So, you show them how to deal with it, like “make this in slow motion”. I have an impression that “Director Shinguu = slow motion”. Shinguu: That’s right. On the contrary, Kazuma-san is type of creator that doesn’t like to use slow motion. Ikeda: If you say it that way, I won’t be able to use it from now on (laugh). Shinguu: Kazuma-san used slow motion in “Eccentric” though. When he used it, I became afraid of him (laugh). Running Keyaki, laughing Keyaki, some of the best works - Next, we will discuss about “Sekai ni wa Ai shikanai”. This is also Director Ikeda’s works. Shinguu: I watched “Sekai ni wa Ai shikanai” so many times. I love the chorus. It’s really unique. The first chorus didn’t start with a dance, they were just running. I thought “He did it~!”. He didn’t put a dramatic element into “Silent Majority”, but this time he injected some sort of girls’ youth attributes into it. Moreover, with Showa style (laugh). I highly appreciate his idea of putting a Showa vibe into it, something like a baseball match cut scene. Ikeda: Hahahaha! Shinguu: Also that shoe locker cut scene. It’s a music video that clearly made me understand Ikeda-san’s preference. Ikeda: Yes, I injected my own preferences (laugh). It’s little embarrassing, it feels like I’m an inexperienced director. Shinguu: Why did you use such a dim lighting in the classroom? Ikeda: By making the class darker, indoors and outdoors really started to contrast each other. Since I wasn’t told to create something bright and idol-ish, I decided to make it dark. Shinguu: Kazuma-san, do you like to change the drama aspect by utilizing the weather? It always changes depending on the weather, right? Ikeda: You’re right. Though I cleverly matched it to its lyric. Shinguu: I watched it thinking “It’s showing various kinds of weather”. - On the previous interview, Director Ikeda once commented “I gave it a sort of anime vibe”. Ikeda: That’s right. Shinguu: What do you mean by anime vibe? Ikeda: Different from “Silent Majority”, I aimed to create a painting-like thing for this music video. It feels like visualizing a vague feeling inside the memories. Shinguu: Ahh, I see. Kazuma-san, to what extent do you entrust your cameraman? Do you give a lot of direction? Like “Use telephoto lens on this!”. Ikeda: I only give the general concept when it comes to drawing storyboard. However, the cameraman who has worked for me on this second project is the kind of person that would take such interesting shots if I gave him freedom. For example, I only told him “I want to take a scene as if the camera followed the wind”. Then, he took a scene where members can be seen along with the windmills. - It’s a very wide landscape, right? Ikeda: Yes, it’s really wide. They couldn’t even see the ones next to them. Every member at the corner was 100 m apart. - This location also gave such a strong impression, why did you choose this location? Ikeda: We looked for a place with windmills, then we found it on Hokkaido. Shinguu: Did you plan to use windmills from the start? Ikeda: Yes. Since, the first project took place in Shibuya, so there was a thought to create something with a middle-of-town image for the next work as well. Shinguu: Hey, it’s totally different (laugh). Ikeda: There were white-and-man-constructed windmills standing in nature, I wanted members to do the performance there, in order to create a connection between them. That grassland scene in the chorus was an imaginary realm, so I wanted to create something that really contrasted the scene of daily school life. - On the previous interview, you said you wanted to show the connection to the “Silent Majority”, by using something big and man-constructed, similar to the construction site on the previous work. Ikeda: In the end, the center of this music video were the members themselves. I thought their image wouldn’t be ruined by whatever location we used, as long as we don’t ruin the presentation. Then, in contrast to the real school life realm, if the location for the imaginary realm in the first chorus had taken place in the middle of a town, there wouldn’t be much difference between them. I wanted to give a clear separation. Shinguu: I see. That’s why I had a feeling that I was entrusted with the next work “Futari Sezon”, in order for me to do a shoot in the middle of town. Ikeda: Hahaha. I think “Futari Sezon” is their best song. With such a nostalgic melody, this is the song that made them laugh. Shinguu: Since it’s a sparkling and elegant song with such a nice rhythm, I could come up with this concept for the music video. I matched their steps, their walk, I matched every single thing to the rhythm, I wanted to show the harmony of their wavelength, their beat. That’s why the number of members kept increasing one by one from the first verse. Ikeda: So, you wanted to shoot them in the most beautiful way. Shinguu: This was about the cameraman’s peculiar preference. If we do a shoot outdoors, the sunlight would steadily change, so the cameraman said that he wanted to shoot at a specific time (laugh). “We will be here ‘till 2 PM, I want to shoot with this amount of light”, he had that kind of preference. By the way, it took place in Chiba’s Makuhari. - How did you feel when you were entrusted with Keyakizaka46’s main track for the first time? Shinguu: Since Kazuma-san had directed their first two singles, honestly it felt like carrying a heavy load on my back. Ikeda: The vibe was different from “Katarunara mirai wo...”. Probably because this song was completely different from before, he shot such a fresh expression of them. I thought “Ah, he made them laugh!” Shinguu: Yes, I did! I thought they were girls who barely smiled, but they came to the location with such a smile. Ikeda: They are actually cheerful. Shinguu: I perceived them as girls with the “Silent Majority” image, so I was surprised, “Huh? They’re laughing naturally”. At that time, I decided the direction I would shoot them. - So that’s it. Shinguu: Although the only thing I had decided on was the last scene where they joined their hands with a feeling of “let’s be together”. Ikeda: Between those stylish dance scenes, you used a portrait-style cut into it, right? The stylishness and clumsiness that contrasted to each other left such an impression on me. What does it mean? Shinguu: Honestly, the thing I liked most was to shoot their cool dance, however, I thought that I had to remain the vibe of idol music video. Ikeda: That balance is superb. The “cool” vibe didn’t swung completely. It probably became an unique single, by putting those idol-ish elements into it. Shinguu: To some extent, this is a work that I created with a kind of safety measure. However, I didn’t use any close-up shots in this music video, I only used bust shots. Ikeda: Ah~, I see. Shinguu: I used a lot medium shots and full shots. Ikeda: There is a cut scene where Moriya-san made such a nice expression. Shinguu: While I was looking for the balance, the one thing that caught my eye was Moriya-san’s expression, despite there being a lot of funny ones among the many shots I took. I used it not because I particularly like her. In such a timing, it’s natural to have that sort of expression we like and we don’t, right? And the one I like was Moriya-san’s expression. Ikeda: It was the “Keyaki Tree” in the last scene, wasn’t it? The part where they joined hands. Did you plan to shoot that from the start? Shinguu: Yes, I did. Ikeda: You were using 2 different types of camera, right? The steadicam and one with a crane. Shinguu: That’s right. The opening didn’t start with the choreography, but their individual scenes. It’s a cut scene which I shot with precision after I had a discussion with TAKAHIRO-san. - Hirate-san’s expression in the last scene was magnificent as well. Shinguu: I wanted to make something scary in the last part. When they joined hands, I wanted to end it with a scene where Hirate realized something. She smiled in the original version, however, I also took a shot where she cried a bit. But, I figured it was too boring, so I didn’t use it. Someday her youth will end, and she realizes that, something along those lines. Then, after the moment she realizes it, I would end it with a scene where she was alone on the bridge. We are happy right now, yet people will be alone at some point, someday we will end up being alone, something like that. Also, it’s because Kazuma-san always ended his work with Hirate-san. You ended “Silent Majority” with a close-up shot. Ikeda: That’s right. Shinguu: That’s why I selfishly created such a weird “End-it-with-Hirate” rule (laugh). Ikeda: Seems like you had a struggle (laugh). Shinguu: It’s a struggle of “how to end it with her” (laugh). That’s why it took about 10 minutes to shoot her face when she was on the bridge. As a result, I decided to use that face. However, which face I decided to use depended on my mood during editing process. Ikeda: That’s right. It’s really huge. It’s not about lyric interpretation. Dynamic line that helps the directors - Next, let’s talk about “Fukyouwaon”. Ikeda: What came to my mind is you used too many seagulls (laugh). Shinguu: Ahahaha! Okay, jokes aside, did it bother you, Kazuma-san? Ikeda: Nah, I think it’s just cool. You really placed emphasis on their performance. A music video that showed Keyakizaka’s performance at its core is probably the most amazing thing. You also didn’t put any unnecessary element. Shinguu: This song was compared to “Silent Majority”, so I thought “Crap, this is difficult~” (laugh). This is about my equipment, I used 7 axes gyro stabilizing head called Maximus 7 for the first time. This equipment is probably not useful in an idol music video. However, I zoomed everything and took such close shots in the beginning of first chorus. Since I used crane shots, it became pretty fast. Ikeda: The movement was really fast. Shinguu: Korean music videos are really good at using the zoom shots. They used up to 4K resolution. After I watched it, I also wanted to implement it in Japan. Then, I used it for the first time to take close-up shots of members’ lipsync scene, maybe about the half of them. At first, I planned to only shoot the front row members, but I shot even more members in the end. Also, I shot their lipsync scene in a thorough way. Ikeda: It’s pretty simple compared to the previous works, so you carefully placed emphasis in the camerawork and editing. You used it only once, but I like the scene where you used high-angle shot. The camera was moving while shooting from the gaps in the fence. Shinguu: It’s the second chorus, right? The cameraman said he wanted to shoot from above. Also, when it comes to this 4th single, the accuracy of their dance was completely different. Ikeda: Yep. It’s cool. - Okay, let’s talk about “Kaze ni Fukaretemo”, Director Shinguu’s third consecutive work. Ikeda: It completely felt like the second chapter of Keyaki. Shinguu: That’s right. I talked about it with Kazuma-san when we went to see their Makuhari Live. When I saw them, I thought that Keyaki already arrived at the end of their first chapter. That’s why we wanted to shoot them with a style that wasn’t related to their styles so far. Ikeda: The first chapter closed with the “Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta” music video in the most beautiful way. Shinguu: That’s right. “Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta” beautifully brought them back to “Silent Majority”. Ikeda: That’s why the first song that is able to use any kind of formula was “Kaze ni Fukaretemo”. Shinguu: The whole team were thinking to bring something different to Keyakizaka that we knew so far. However, it’s a difficult task to retain the Keyaki-style somewhere (laugh). - Where did you retain it? Shinguu: The truth is I had a little bit of difficulty with this song at first. However, I turned it into a music video that showed the dance of the chorus. �� - So that’s it. Shinguu: That’s why I took shots in various places, from school, middle of town, till the conference room, however, I wanted to be apart from those things. There are so many places prepared for us in this life. And it happened in the exact moment when “La La Land” became popular. Ikeda: It’s more musical actually. Shinguu: That’s right. Actually, it should have been something like “musical drama of life”. But, I ended up only using the scene where Hirate-san was lifted with wires (laugh). Ikeda: It was a funeral, right? Shinguu: That’s right. It was a funeral actually. Ikeda: It’s an ascension. Shinguu: “What a good life it was”, it conveyed something like that. It’s something like “A dog of Flanders”. However, everyone was much better compared to “Silent Majority”. Their performance was really cool. Habu-san even came to me and asked for something. Ikeda: Ah. She is really good. Shinguu: I decided not to use her scene, but she came to me and asked, “Isn’t there another chance for me?”. - She must be really serious, if she came to ask directly. Shinguu: I said “I will consider it!” (laugh). She even created a kind of pose by herself, I think she has a high level of professionalism. Ikeda: In “Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta”, there was moment that made me touched. One of my cameramen, he didn’t really know about Keyaki, so he selfishly shot members with good performance skills, in that case, he shot Ishimori-san and Habu-san. Shinguu: Ishimori-san and Habu-san! When we were working on editing, we always wanted to use their scene at any cost! I called those two “Dynamic Line”. Then, there is “Power Dynamic Line”, consisted of Saito-san, Habu-san, and Ishimori-san! - Is it a power-up version? (laugh) Shinguu: They have such supple movements after all. Ikeda: Saito-san is always included in the difficult dance parts. She is super cool. Shinguu: Their performances really help us in the editing process. If we also shoot Suzumoto-san, the rest would be much easier. She is awesome after all. I will shoot any member who dance perfectly and guarantee their places in the editing process. Expression that completely surpassed their expectation and gave them goosebumps - Now, I will ask about your impressions toward them. I want to hear about how you felt after doing your shoots with Keyakizaka46. Ikeda: I probably shot them without thinking they were idols. Shinguu: I see. You thought that from the start. Ikeda: I think members and staffs who were involved in the music video production were working together as a crew. Normally, when I direct a music video, I will discuss it with the artist before I draw the storyboard, I think it will be better if there is a good discussion, like I will say “I want to shoot this way”, and they will say “I want to make this kind of expression”. If I have the chance, I want to try it. Shinguu: I also see them as artists, but I probably see them more as idols than Kazuma-san. Like I said in the beginning, the world of idol music video is already complete, so I want to do some sort of experiment on how to escape from that thing. Ikeda: You’re looking for a method. Shinguu: Yeah. In that sense, I was given the chance to shoot the shape of this group. - Ah, I see, I see. Ikeda: I want to show people how I imagined the way of life and the concept of this group as a whole. It’s not about showing the real Keyakizaka46, I wanted to convey to the audience that the role they played in my work is the reality. When those things were established, I think it will be something completely original. - If you can depict their way of life, it won’t be an imitation. How do you think about Hirate-san? Ikeda: She is interesting, she has a consistency. In “Silent Majority”, I was thinking of creating something based on her. Shinguu: Basically, I entrusted everything to her. I explained to her what I aimed for, and what I needed is to see how she was going to answer it. It was up to her. Ikeda: She always does something unexpected. I always ended up grinning the moment she did that. Shinguu: Aahhh~! Me too!! Ikeda: On the second part of “Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta”, she made an expression that completely surpassed my expectation (started at minutes 02:56). It gave me such goosebumps. Discovering these kind of moments is really fun. Shinguu: I really understand that feeling. It’s only a blink of an eye, but it left such an impression. Ikeda: About this scene, we didn’t have much time, so we only shot it 3 times, but suddenly an amazing thing came out of those 3 only chances. Shinguu: It’s like a gift from above. It’s close to contemporary dancing. She was throwing herself, and dancing like someone else. She also gave me goosebumps in “Fukyouwaon”, when she laughed with such a scary face. (They’re watching the music video, stopping at minutes 03:54) Look! It surprised me. Ikeda: It’s beyond logic. I couldn’t think of that. Shinguu: That’s why after we finished shooting, there was a moment where she just staring into space. It’s interesting to see what kind of style she’ll show us with the setting we prepared. Ikeda: She must be still nervous in “Silent Majority”. Shinguu: But, it feels like she begun showing herself little by little since “Sekai ni wa Ai shika nai”. I think it’s not something dark, but something more pure. Ikeda: Yeah. Not many idol can give off such goosebumps. - We’re looking forward to your next work for Keyakizaka46! Thank you very much for today! _____________________________________________________________ Ikeda Kazuma is director of Silent Majority, Sekai ni wa Ai shikanai, Otona wa Shinjite kurenai, W-KEYAKIZAKA no Uta, Eccentric, and Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta. Shinguu Ryouhei is director of Katarunara Mirai wo..., Futari Sezon, Fukyouwaon, Kaze ni Fukaretemo, and Glass wo Ware!. _____________________________________________________________ *special thanks to: toomuchidea (Raw & QC) & Seri (QC)

#keyakizaka46 #ikeda kazuma #shinguu ryouhei

7 notes · View notes