#change drifts amethyst
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Yes, it's intended to look similarly like my recent CD Spinel art, I just really like the style ^^
This took longer than Spinel tho cus I rarely draw Amethyst, and this is my first time properly drawing CD Amethyst ;v;
#change drifts au#change drifts amethyst#amethyst#au amethyst#cd amethyst#su au#steven universe#alternate universe#fanart#su art#su fanart#digital art#concept art
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Planetary Magick🌙
Sun
Zodiac: Leo
Metal: Gold
Day: Sunday
Colors: organge, yellow, amber
Stones: Amber, topaz, ruby, diamond
Tarot: The Sun
Herbs: Angelica, poppy, sunflower, marigold, hibiscus, mistletoe
Symbols: lion, hexagram, sparrow hawk, dragon, head, heart, swan
Influences: renown, potency, fortune, tyranny, pride, ambition, masculinity, arrogance, bigotry, vitality, health
Moon
Zodiac: cancer
Metal: sliver
Day: Monday
Colors: blue, sliver
Stones: moonstone, pearl
Tarot: The High Priestess, The Chariot
Herbs: eucalyptus, coconut, jasmine, lotus, myrrh, sandalwood
Symbols: bow and arrow, crab, cat, turtle, Sphinx, owl
Influences: gradtitufe, friendliness, safe, travel, physical health, wealth, protection for enemies, deception, illusion, women, emotions, healing, dreams
Mercury
Zodiac: Virgo, Gemini
Metal: aluminum, Mercury
Day: Wednesday
Colors: violet, gray, purple, indigo, yellow
Stones: opal agate
Tarot: The Lovers
Herbs: hyssop, juniper, betony, carrot, chickweed
Symbols: wand, octagram, the mind
Influences: good fortune, gratitude, gain, memory, understanding, divination, dreams, forgetfulness, communication, business, cleverness, creativity, information, intellect, memory, perception, science, wisdom, gambling, writing, root of dishonesty, deception
Venus
Zodiac: taurus, libra
Metal: copper
Day: Friday
Colors: green, pink
Stones: turquoise, emerald, sapphire, jade
Tarot: The Empress
Herbs: jimsonweed, violet, rose, alder, apple, angelica, olive, sesame
Symbols: sparrow, dove, swan, pentagram
Influences: peace, agreements, cooperation, fertility, joy, love, good fortune, jealousy, strife, promiscuity
Mars
Zodiac: aries, scorpio
Metal: iron, red brass, steel
Day: Tuesday
Color: Red
Stones: ruby, garnet, bloodstone, diamond
Tarot: The Tower
Herbs: ginger, mustard
Symbols: sword, pentagram, horse, bear, wolf, vulture
Influences: war, victory, judgements, submission of enemies, bleeding, stripping one of rank, harness, discord, conflict, aggression, lust, power, courage, goals, protection, motivation, ambition, strength
Jupiter
Zodiac: pisces, sagittarius
Metal: tin
Day: Thursday
Colors: blue
Stone: sapphire
Tarot: The Wheel of Fortune
Herbs: balm, hyssop, maple leaf and bark, oak, sage, dandelion root
Symbols: eagle, dolphin
Influences: gains, riches, favor, peace, cooperation, appeasing enemies, dissolving
Saturn
Zodiac: capricorn
Metal: lead
Day: Saturday
Color: black
Stone: onyx
Taror: The World
Herbs: alder, apple, ash, asparagus, baneberry, belladonna, distort, hellebore, blackthorn, corm, cypress
Symbols: cuttlefish, mole
Influences: safety, power, success, positive response to requests, intellect, causes discord, strips honor, melancholy
Uranus
Zodiac: aquarius
Day: Thursday
Colors: blue-green, electric blue
Stones: quartz, labradorite, blue topaz, amber, amethyst, garnet, diamond
Tarot: The Fool
Herbs: clover, pokeweed, snowdrop, foxglove, love, rosemary, trees of heaven, hellebore, morning glory, sage, wintergreen, orchids, sweet woodruff
Symbols: dragonfly, butterfly
Influences: breaking connection, sudden and unexpected change, freedom, originality, radical and revolutionary ideas, enlightenment, equality, individuality, rebellion, instability, loneliness, boredom, mistrust of self
Neptune
Zodiac: pisces
Minerals: coral, aquamarine, platinum, neptunium
Colors: green, blue, lavender
Tarot: The Hanged Man
Herbs: morning glory, night-blooming jasmine, pine, water lily
Symbols: the sea, Trident, the spine
Influences: dissolving boundaries, expanding upon ideas, changing established rules, intuition, idealism, sacrifice, glamour, illusion, evolution, decay, visions, art, healing, inspiration, dreams, creativity, compassion, drifting from reality, carelessness, stubbornness, absent mind
Pluto
Zodiac: scorpio
Metal: plutonium, tin chrome, steel
Day: Tuesday
Colors: maroon, dark red, purple, white, black
Stones: snowflake obsidian, clack tourmaline
Tarot: Judgement
Herbs: pomegranate, rosemary, vanilla, basil, poppies, belladonna, foxglove
Symbols: Phoenix, snake, scorpion, fox, eagle
Influences; destruction making way for renewal, rebirth, knowledge, spirituality, transformation, destiny, the subconscious, desire, arrogance, death, obsession, destruction
#thecupidwitch#witchcraft#planetary magic#witchblr#witchcore#witches#witch community#witch#grimoire#spellwork#spirituality
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CRYSTAL READING: What is lurking in your shadow ? 🌑🔦🔅
A little explanation of the method I used for reading
Lithomancy : I assigned a meaning for each stone (each stone represents a planet) and cast them on a circle divided into 12 parts, just like an astrology chart and do the reading
Pick a stone :
Reading for each group below :
1. Amethyst group
It's really hard to get a clear reading for this group.
The things that are lurking in your shadows are well-hidden.
There is a desire for control and domination.
Sometimes, you could show you vulnerability to the whole world to see.
But that doesn't mean you are being helpless.
On the contrary,
you have full control of the image that you project to the world.
The way you show yourself to the world doesn't always reflect your true self.
The environment that you are in could have lots of aggressive or domineering personalities.
(firends, school, workplace, community)
So, as a way of rebelling against that, you choose to show the opposite,
the soft, the gentle, the vulnerable side.
2. Tiger's eye
The image is like a tree growing.
The sun, your ego, is at the centre,
but it's in the flipped position,
resembles a sunset, the light is going out.
You might not be fully aware of the effects that your ego has on your surroundings.
You could be dealing with lots of unstable friends, especially female friends,
and bossy people trying to subdue you.
Institution and school could be hard for you.
There's a need to be clearly aware of how you act towards others and put a little discipline on your spontaneity.
3. Carnelian group
While group 1 would choose to be a feminine force in the environment full of masculine force,
this group is the opposite,
you would try to exert so much force to control,
to create a hard edged image of yourself.
You find it hard to understand the concept of surrendering,
of letting go, of being in the flow
and be spontaneous.
You would micromanage every action.
This is the message you want to deliver to the world.
That you are a powerful being.
While it may be true, you are not aware of the blessings coming from the softer side of life.
You have been hiding your inner child for so long.
Surround yourself with beauty, with warm nourishing energy will bring in lots of comfort for you.
4. Aventurine group
You would have a good "talent" at appearing calm and peaceful while actually your innerworld or your surroundings are falling apart.
A sudden change of home,
a failed project,
a setback of fortune,
a disappointing love,
all is wrapped in a tightly sealed case.
Sometimes you would find yourself
standing still amidst the chaos,
not fully grasp the bigger picture
or the true meaning behind incidents,
and just focusing on the practicality of daily life.
Like a small boat, drifting in the sea.
#channeled message#crystal reading#crystals#lithomancy#pick a card#shadow#inner world#pick a pile#divination#intuitive messages#spirituality#shadow work#astrology#astro#astrology chart#horary chart#horary astrology#crystal casting
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This Fate We Choose
Word Count: idk
Warnings: none, unless you're terrified of afternoon strolls
______
Reality was a harsh place. War and evil existed only to destroy and the world was the perfect place for it to flourish. Damian had had enough. He was born as the assassin and he had lived as the hero. And just like him, despite his father's efforts and optimistic beliefs, the world had made a full circle. Every battle the justice league won to fix their world led to the world falling back to being broken.
Damian was leaving. Returning to his grandfather's league to make a real change in the world instead of playing hero and uselessly accomplishing nothing. He dropped a few hints that morning to the team as his only way of signaling his intent to depart. If the smart ones on the team lived up to that title they would know what he was doing and for the idiots, they didn't need to know he was leaving. Or at least they didn't need to be able to bother him about it until he was long gone.
Weighing on him, and maybe if he was being honest, what had delayed his decision to leave for so long, was something he knew he had to address. Today. So in his casual clothes, with his belongings already packed in his ride, and his favorite sword left behind, something that rarely happened, Damian stood, unarmed in every way, in front of Raven's bedroom door.
He needed no excuse to talk with her. They were past the formality the other team members needed to approach either of them. Damian gestured curtly with his hand outside, where the golden hour sunshine casted plenty of light and warmth for a stroll around the tower, and with a graceful nod Raven agreed.
As they walked Raven lightheartedly offered conversation, as was their norm. She always broke the ice and settled them into their pleasant conversation first. It was something he knew she only did for him, as she rarely offered light conversation to anyone else. And he knew he did something similar in his own way, offering to her some side of him that was for her and her alone.
After a while Damian ventured to drift closer as they neared a curve in the path, slowing to a stop as his gaze fell onto Raven. In the direct purity of the afternoon sunlight, her smooth midnight hair almost glowed with a purple shine, as if by its own magic. Her eyes were caught in the light which dazzled with every hue of amethyst, and her expression was attentive and beautiful.
Raven was like that. Damian always felt as if from within her, she radiated her own evangelical aura, an energy that was uniquely her. It was different than seeing her magic in use- her aura didn't come from hell or a demonic ancestry. Raven lived the life of her own choice, and however limited it was by her father's efforts Damian had no doubt that no one ruled over her destiny but her. She was no one but herself, and from that she would never stray or bend for anything. Raven never boasted her strength or competed to prove what she was capable of. She was so different than him, like the perfect yin to his yang. The rain to his wildfire.
And he knew, so, so late but now for sure, from the depths of the heart so many told him he never had, that his naturally keen observation didn't tell him this. That his astute scrutiny of the world and everything in it couldn't be responsible for telling him how Raven's gentle smile softened her sculpted features or how her voice just barely picked up when she was talking about what she loved. She had an effect on him, almost like magic and maybe it was in a way, it was a magic of her own. A magic which resonated like the perfect harmonic chord echoing in his heart. If it was, it had to be her. Damian could live a hundred lives and travel a thousand miles and never would he find another who navigated the complex depth of his mind and soul like she did.
They were different than destiny. From the life they were promised they would lead. This was a choice. Raven was in control of who she was and so was he. They could choose this. They could choose each other. This life they led could be rewritten.
But when Damian tried to tell her, all that fell from his mouth to the girl he had so completely fallen for, the beautiful girl he knew he could fall forever for, was "would you be interested in joining me in leading the league of assassins?"
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can you tell us about your trolls x su au or tell us the basics of the story?
Sure! There probably won't be a lot of details because there's a lot of things i still need to figure out.
The idea for the au came because i remembered the song drift away and thought "this is so floyd and branch" and then it spiralled from there. None of this is final btw. things can and probably will change because I don't make aus often. 💀 Also don't think too hard about the su part of this au. Im probably only gonna use the basic parts of it and will barely use anything from the show because I'm mostly focusing on the movie of su and not the serie and epilogue.
I currently only have the roles for the main characters so
Branch is Spinel
Floyd is Steven (but he's still the one who makes the promise with branch even though in su that was pink diamond and not steven.)
Clay is Amethyst
Spruce/Bruce is Pearl
And JD is Garnet
I want to add viva, poppy and brandy too but I don't know which characters they would be yet.
So brozone breaks up. JD, spruce and clay leave and before floyd goes he makes the promise with branch, he stays and one day he'll come back for him. Years pass by and floyd still hasn't returned. Branch's colors are becoming duller as the years go by, he starts doubting himself but never fully gives up hope.
Here's where i struggle a bit with the story because i don't have a reason yet why floyd never came back. At some point floyd reunites with the others but idk the reason yet why branch isn't part of that reunion.
Just like in the song drift away i want branch to get a message that shows floyd and the others so that he realises that he's been abandoned and that floyd broke the promise. That's when branch would go grey. (Idk if I'm adding rosiepuff in this au)
So this is when the su plot comes in. Branch comes with the injector. He fights brozone and in the process everyone gets reset except floyd. When they get reset they're back into their roles before brozone broke up. So clay is back to being the funboy, spruce the heartthrob and jd the leader. With branch i think he would act more childlike or innocent? Because im not gonna make an adult act like a baby 💀
So now floyd has to figure out how to turn his brothers back to normal. I think the order of who comes back is gonna be the same as the movie so clay->bruce->branch->JD.
Oh and the others didn't know about the promise. they didn't know that branch stayed in the garden all those years, Floyd never told them.
Have not thought yet how floyd brings them back.
After clay gains his memory back they go back to the injector and try to turn it off when they realise it's harming the land. They make it worse and now the injector is going faster(?) So they realise they NEED branch to get his memory back or else they can't turn it off.
when floyd manages to bring branch's memory back they talk and he's on their side. He removes the injector and everything seems to be going fine. It's then when branch fears he is going to be abandoned again and thinks floyd will reset him again after he removed the injector so they fight. Somewhere during that JD gets his memory back too. I think most of this part from the movie I won't change. So floyd and branch fight one to one. Floyd sings the song "change" maybe? Idk yet. Branch saying that he can't just make everything better just because he sang a song. He tries to continue fighting floyd but he tires himself out so then this scene happens
I am changing the lines though. I think something like "i just want my brothers back." Idk
I think that's all i have at the moment. I'll add more to this post if i think of anything. Most of my ideas for this au was me looking at spinel clips and thinking "oh i can draw that with branch!"
I hope this is readable because I'm writing this during midnight and am NOT good at explaining stuff. 💀
If anyone has ideas i would love to hear it! because im not good at figuring stuff out
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the anomalous agate (part two)
now: here's what some of you actually wanted to see yesterday.
a quick rundown for anyone who has no idea what this is: here's ch 1 on tumblr and ao3. I posted an updated version of ch 1 yesterday that flows a bit nicer, and recommend checking that out if you haven't already.
and, while it's even less necessary to do, consider checking this post out, too. the context in which it was written is kind of... irrelevant to this fic, honestly, but it provides a bit of background that I think enhances some of what's going on in this chapter and the next one (that I haven't written yet).
with that out of the way, this chapter is over 7k, so here's the ao3 link if you prefer. (there's also a bit of a longer author's note there at the end) if you'd like to stick to tumblr, follow me under the cut.
edit: part three
case 2-x: the anomalous agate (part two)
Even the usually oblivious Tanimoto-san noticed my listless mood in the following days. It wasn’t unusual for me to worry or speculate about my clients—everyone who stepped into Richard’s store certainly had some kind of interesting quality, but something about Hanzawa tugged oddly at my chest.
To complicate matters, I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Richard had spent Sunday carrying on as usual, but every once in a while, he’d drift into his thoughts and his brows would furrow like something was bothering him. This wasn’t a trait unique to Hanzawa’s presence, but this was possibly the first time I’d seen Richard look genuinely unsettled instead of troubled.
It wasn’t an expression I liked seeing on his face.
“Seigi-kun, you seem deep in thought,” Tanimoto-san said. “Something on your mind?”
Class had ended. I flipped aimlessly through the pages of the book on gemstones I’d borrowed from Richard before tucking it into my bag. Somehow, I didn’t quite feel as if I could meet her eyes. “You mentioned there were many gems that did heat treatment, right?” I asked as we began to shuffle out of the classroom.
She responded with less cheer than usual, and I felt dejected to be the cause. “Oh, yes… not just corundum,” she said. “Beryl and quartz, too. That encompasses a large quantity of jewels which are just named as different forms of these materials, really… heat treatment is used often to change their color. Apart from deepening the red of a ruby, there’s aquamarine—a type of beryl—which is most commonly green-blue. Heat treatment tends to enhance the blue color and really give it that expected ‘aqua’ color. One of the most dramatic transformations, to me, is amethyst—it can turn a deep orange when it’s treated with heat.”
“Ah—I saw that last weekend,” I said. “It’s meant to mimic citrines, right?”
“Citrines tend to be a paler yellow, actually,” Tanimoto-san said. “But they’re rare—especially ones with a deep orange color. That’s why heat-treatment of amethysts is so common.” She sighed, gaze drifting off in space as we headed to her next class. “When we think of the term ‘citrus,’ the first thing that comes to mind is often an orange, despite the variety of citrus fruits in other colors. Sometimes I wonder if that’s the reason people mistake amethysts for citrine so easily.”
“It fits with their preconceived notions, huh?” I said, earning an approving nod from Tanimoto-san. “I still remember what you said before—about wanting to appreciate the stones as they were without heat treatment. I thought that was a really beautiful idea.”
She smiled. “I’m glad you think so, Seigi-kun,” she said. We came to a halt in front of her next classroom, but she didn’t go inside just yet. “But we’d talked about this already… is there something else you wanted to ask me?”
I swallowed around an uncomfortable bit of air. We were early for her class—it wasn’t a particularly long walk from classroom to classroom, but I liked spending time with her—but she usually went directly inside. It’s so nice of her to take time out of her day to worry about me, I thought. But again, I knew that I must have been really out of sorts for her to notice.
“It was just mentioned in passing,” I said at her prompting, “But… well, a client was discussing agate, and I heard that some of them were dyed. Is that a common process?”
Her expression immediately soured. For a minute I thought I’d stepped on some kind of conversational landmine, but though she looked unhappy, she spoke without malice. “It’s—not uncommon, no. Agate is porous, so it absorbs dye well, as do any stones like it.” I could see her turning over her words with care. “But… while heat treatment is an irreversible process, dyeing tends to be less effective. The color can fade over time, especially under sunlight, and it may not stain evenly. And depending on what dye is used, it can be removed with solvents like acetone… so it’s a process that’s much less certain.”
“So, they’re kind of fragile,” I observed, “even if they’re made to look nicer.”
“Well, they certainly look pretty—the bright colors can enhance how distinct the banding is, so you could argue the dye only enhances the best features of agate and other types of chalcedony, but…”
“…But?”
“Dyeing stones is really common for selling fakes,” she said. “And well—I just think that’s inexcusable, to conceal the truth like that. Even though dyed stones can be detected, that’s usually only after they’re sold, right? And this often happens with online purchases, so… I can’t help but feel resentful.” She frowned. “And every time I’ve traveled to see something related to rocks, the gift shop always carried those tumbled and dyed stones! It’s hard to find anything else…”
“That must be tough,” I said, though it was hard to suppress a smile at the thought of Tanimoto-san scowling in the middle of a gift shop. She usually seemed so magnanimous, and it was nice to see that she had her weak points, too.
She pouted. “I know it’s a petty reason, okay!” she said. A touch more melancholy, she added, “But every time I see them, I want to stand up and yell at everyone that rocks and minerals are more interesting than that, because it feels like these polished stones and other kinds of jewels are the only kind of beauty that people care about. For all kinds of rocks and minerals… I don’t think they possess a beauty that is just skin-deep. But when you limit the conversation to just rocks, because they look so different, the interests just don’t overlap…” She glanced up at me, seemed to realize that the type of person she was talking about was right next to her, and hurried to clarify. “Ah—I didn’t mean that as a strike against you though, Seigi-kun.”
“No, I totally understand,” I quickly reassured her. “I mean, in an ideal world, that’s how we want to think of other people, too, right? Without judging based on the outside alone. And I think anyone would want to share their interest with more people. So, if what you like is rarer, or unappreciated, it feels sad, right?”
“Right,” Tanimoto-san said. She smiled. “…I really am glad we get to talk about gemstones. I always feel like I end up hearing something interesting.”
Not for the first time, I thought that Tanimoto-san was some kind of angel. I truly didn’t have any questions about rocks to reciprocate with, except— “There’s a few rocks that do count as gemstones, right?” I asked. “Like lapis lazuli.”
“You remembered!” Tanimoto-san exclaimed. “Lapis lazuli’s a particularly special rock, you know,” she said, a gleam in her eyes. “Historically, it was used to make this very expensive blue paint…”
“Ah—ultramarine, right?”
“Exactly!” Tanimoto-san said, clapping her hands in excitement. “Seems like you’re already an expert on it, Seigi-kun.”
“I just heard it in passing,” I explained sheepishly. “That customer from before—he and my boss talked about ultramarine for a bit.” I paused to recollect the various times I’d spotted the stone in Jewelry Étranger. “Though, the stone looks so unbelievable to me on its own that it feels strange to think it would ever be used for paint…”
“It is one of the beauties of metamorphism,” Tanimoto-san agreed. Or at least, I was assuming she was.
“Sorry, but… what exactly is metamorphism again?” I asked. “I feel like I’ve heard the term before, and I just don’t remember.”
Despite the various expressions I’d put on her face today and in all the other conversations we’d had, this was the first time I’d ever seen Tanimoto-san look truly dumbfounded. It took me a while to even realize that was the expression on her face, until she cleared her throat and said, “I guess you said yourself you didn’t know much about rocks, but… well, I thought this was common knowledge, and maybe it… isn’t?” Worriedly, like she’d just learned she was privy to a secret for which she hadn’t voluntarily been made a confidant, she asked, “I mean, everyone knows that the three common classifications of rocks are sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic, right?”
“…That rings a bell?” I said unconvincingly.
Her eyes flickered towards the classroom—she had only a few minutes before her next class started, so I imagined she would head inside, but instead she squared her shoulders, formed a distinctly “Golgo” look on her face, and said, “Well—metamorphic rocks are basically a type of rock that’s actually a combination of other rocks and minerals. So that’s how lapis lazuli has that beautiful gold coloring—it comes from the pyrite that’s part of the rock. The main blue comes from lazurite, but there’s many more mineral components that are mixed in with an average lapis lazuli.”
“And metamorphism is how these rocks form?”
“Right,” Tanimoto-san said. “Basically, they’re put under a lot of heat and pressure, and because of that, the composition of the rock ends up changing—so, for lapis lazuli, all these separate things fuse—or the crystal structure shifts, which is a kind of complicated thing to explain… But by the end, the new rock is distinct when compared to the simple sum of its parts. Something like marble or slate… you wouldn’t call simply a combination of other things, right?”
“I would never have known unless you told me… that’s amazing,” I marveled. “In a way… it’s kind of nature’s own heat treatment, huh?”
“That’s true,” Tanimoto-san said. “Just one without any motivation.”
This was something that had always fascinated me regarding jewels. Of course, it was untrue that they existed without human involvement. But before any human had laid eyes upon it, lapis lazuli had always been that brilliant combination of blue and gold. That, to me, was something like a miracle.
“You must have had an interesting customer this week, right?” Tanimoto-san guessed.
I shook myself out of my thoughts. “What?”
“Well, Seigi-kun, you’re always curious,” she said, “So maybe it’s nothing. But this time you look like you really want to say something to someone.” She tapped the space between her brows. “Don’t let it give you wrinkles, though!”
With that, she hurried into class, taking her seat just a few seconds before the professor began her lecture. I was left standing dumbly in the hallway, stuck with my swirling thoughts. Though I’d glossed over it at first, I supposed I was of the same mind as Tanimoto-san; dyeing stones felt more like concealment than enhancement. And then I remembered what I likely wasn’t meant to hear—surely that dyed agate is prettier—and reached up to my forehead.
Sure enough, I was frowning. I wanted to pull out my phone and text Richard something along the lines of This is your fault, but that would be truly nonsensical, and really, what I wanted wasn’t to assign something like blame. But since I couldn’t just run to him, I decided to follow Tanimoto-san’s advice and smooth out my expression.
———
“Ah… Nakata-san?”
Richard had said that most serendipitous encounters were just a natural consequence of learning more about the world, but I was pretty sure this situation was the exclusive work of strange fortune. Though I doubted this surprise encounter would go as badly as the last one had, the sharp sense of déjà vu kept me wary.
Still, I inhaled a breath of crisp morning air, and replied, “It’s alright to call me Seigi.”
I was looking up at the face of Hanzawa Masato, who truthfully had been the furthest thing from my mind in the past few days. That space in my brain had been usurped and summarily overwhelmed by the tedium of classes and assignments. If I had to learn how to draw another kind of economic model using another set of conditions and parameters, my head was going to burst. In fact, my head ached at the thought alone.
Now that we were face to face again, though, the rigamarole of university had all but disappeared from my mind, and I watched his face contort into an expression halfway between awkwardness and concern. The awkwardness was a given—I hadn’t expected to run into him either. Half the reason for his concern was a girl from my university who I’d just learned was called Kaede. And the other half of his concern—a quarter of his total expression—was in response to seeing me, who’d just been shoved into the side of a building.
Maybe that was the reason my head ached. It was certainly the reason I was sitting down and staring up at him.
“Are you okay?” Kaede fretted. She had sunk into a worried crouch in front of me, hands hovering around my head like she could divine the nature of my injuries.
I pressed a hand to my cheek, which was stinging, but didn’t feel scraped, and hauled myself upright. Any dizziness I’d felt had faded, and though one of my arms felt numb, I’d gotten worse injuries doing karate. “I’m fine,” I said. “It’s just a surface-level injury. Probably looks worse than it is. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine—not a scratch!” she reported, standing up to demonstrate her lack of injury. “I had no idea he would do that, though. I’m so sorry—”
“Don’t be,” I cut in before she could self-flagellate. “It’s not your fault at all.”
Were I feeling charitable, I’d point out that I didn’t think the guy in question had even meant to push me into a wall—he’d just meant to push me and bolt. But he was also the kind of asshole that cornered people against the side of a building, so I wasn’t going to defend him in the slightest.
“What happened?” Hanzawa asked.
I felt a little ill-at-ease seeing the sheer expressiveness on his face. Of course, it made sense that he’d be so frazzled, considering what had just happened to his friend, but it was uncomfortable to see his lack of composure. Like this, he looked like an ordinary, unremarkable teenager.
Kaede wrung her hands, stumbling through her words. “I—you know that senior who was bothering me? Well, he cornered me, and we started arguing, and then”—she gestured in my direction—“he hit him and ran away.”
“I heard shouting, so I came over here,” I added when Hanzawa looked to me for further explanation.
It was really as simple as that. After exiting a horrendously early class, I’d heard arguing near the shadowed side of the building. And once I’d seen Kaede telling the other guy to leave her alone, I’d intervened without hesitation. He’d started aggressively posturing at me before shoving me to the side and running away.
The sharp spike of adrenaline I’d felt at the time was now wearing off, and my injuries began to twinge. I took a deep breath, and in an effort not to dash after the guy, I suggested, “We should make a report or something.”
“Oh, right,” Kaede said, fishing out her phone. “There’s like… campus administration or something, right? Let me find out wherever it’s located.” She paused in thought. “Wait… do you two know each other?”
“We just met by coincidence once,” I said, figuring that Hanzawa would value his privacy.
It was enough of an answer for Kaede, who just laughed and said, “Masato-kun knows, like, everyone, so it’s not really a surprise!”
I was relieved to see that she didn’t seem too shaken by everything.
Soon enough, we were pointed the way of campus authorities, and I learned the full story while Kaede made her report. Apparently, this guy had been bothering her for a while after they’d met at a mixer—he’d seen her waiting to meet up with Hanzawa, and then blown up at her when she declined to spend time with him. Since he already had quite a few conduct violations on his record, the administration assured us that they’d act quickly.
Their urgency might have also been prompted by the blatant injury on my face. Every time someone turned to face me, they would reflexively wince at the circle of reddened skin on my cheek. I’d seen it in a mirror while getting my injuries checked out—I was officially deemed concussion-free, which was a relief—and had flinched at my own reflection in surprise.
Amidst the commotion, Hanzawa stayed level-headed, guiding Kaede through the motions of making a report. Even though he wasn’t a student at my university—a fact which was strangely relieving to confirm—it was like he’d gone through this process before. I thought he’d escort Kaede home, too, but once everything had been squared away, she called some of her university friends to pick her up. They arrived with a slew of inventive insults that seemed to cheer Kaede up in an instant. She thanked me again as we swapped numbers, and then she waved us goodbye as she was whisked away by her friends.
“You’re not going with her?” I asked.
“Her other friends will be much better at taking her mind off things,” he said. “Besides, they all go to your university, so they can accompany her during classes.” He turned to face me as he spoke, and though he didn’t wince, his gaze lingered on my cheek.
“I’m alright,” I said. “I even got an ice pack when we were making the report.”
“Still…” Hanzawa said. Hesitantly, he asked, “Could I treat you to lunch? Or a coffee?”
The sun was high in the sky. On one hand, I wasn’t particularly hungry, but coffee sounded nice, and I didn’t have classes until later this evening. On the other hand, Hanzawa looked like he was already regretting the offer.
But Tanimoto-san was right; I had a few things I wanted to say to him. And despite his hesitation, it looked like Hanzawa felt the same.
“Sure,” I said. “You can pick the place.”
———
Hanzawa’s coffee order was a little more complicated than mine. Hearing him rattle off his order made me realize that Richard was right to only offer tea at his shop. The café he’d picked out was like many of the other cafés I’d been to—peaceful, atmospheric, and a neutral ground for conversations. Once we’d taken our seats, we each waited in a brittle kind of silence.
Hanzawa began to fiddle with his phone, and I took it as a clear indication he wasn’t ready to talk. My coffee arrived first, so I savored it while gazing through one of the café windows. Outside, the weather had snapped into a bitter frost, as it seemed wont to do whenever I wasn’t looking. I shivered a little—even inside the temperature-regulated café, I’d dressed a little lightly for the cold—and let the coffee’s steam curl against my skin. Though I couldn’t call myself a connoisseur, I’d begun to appreciate coffee for more than its caffeine.
It was just one more thing I’d learned how to treasure since I’d met Richard. Thinking of him, I reflexively touched my face. We weren’t anywhere near Ginza, but I could imagine the shop’s entrance in front of me as I stared out the window.
“Is there something you’re worried about?”
I started, noting that Hanzawa’s coffee had appeared between his hands. He held the cup strangely, his fingers curled around the sides without any pressure; I worried that it might slip from his fingers if he tried to lift it. Still, the pose seemed so natural for him that I wondered if he’d held the tea at Jewelry Étranger the same way, and I just hadn’t noticed. Like that time, any initial hesitation of his had melted away into a self-assured grace.
“I was just thinking…” I replied, tapping my reddened skin, “it’s going to bruise.”
“Ah,” Hanzawa said. His eyes darted around the room—he could probably sense the curious looks I’d gotten, too, but that wasn’t my main concern. “You’re worried about your weekend work, I assume?”
“No, it’s—actually, yeah, I am,” I said, cutting off my instinctive denial. First Tanimoto-san, and now Hanzawa… I wondered if my face was just becoming easier to read.
“I doubt a bruised face is good for customer service,” he added, clarifying exactly where my thoughts had headed.
I explained, “I’d rather not scare the customers, and it’s something I’ve done even without my face like this, so…”
“That would be troubling,” Hanzawa said. “I’d apologize for the situation, but…”
“There’s no need for apologies,” I stressed. “You and Kaede already thanked me, and there’s no need to apologize for someone else’s mistakes.”
Still holding the cup as if it were air, Hanzawa slowly sipped his coffee. My attention was drawn to his fingers, which were exceptionally long, and neatly trimmed at the nails. “I’m glad you think so, Seigi—it’s alright to call you that, yes?” When I nodded, he set his cup down and made a confession: “I’m not entirely without ulterior motives, though—it’s not every day you meet someone with your job, you know? I like hearing from interesting people, so this is just me indulging in my curiosity, really. What was the application process like?”
“Ah… I didn’t quite apply,” I answered. Maybe I’d just developed a streak of cynicism, but I didn’t believe that he had invited me to coffee out of pure curiosity. I briefly imagined someone taking my place—making tea, talking with Richard, and learning about our clients—and felt a wave a jealousy so strong that I added, “I don’t really think he’s looking to hire anyone new…”
Hanzawa laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m just asking out of curiosity. I’m not looking for a job right now.”
“Ah,” I said, and drank some of my coffee to cover my embarrassment. “Anyways, even when we first met, I don’t think he was looking to hire anyone.”
“Is that so?” Hanzawa asked, a clear prompt for me elaborate.
I had no desire to do so. Instead, I was distracted by the thought of Hanzawa as an employee of Jewelry Étranger. He seemed like he would excel at any job related to customer service, particularly when it came to making conversation. Even now, though I was conscious of the fact that he was leading the conversation, it didn’t bother me. But he wouldn’t know what sweets Richard liked best, or how to watch his expressions to figure out if he was enjoying them. And he wouldn’t know how to brew royal milk tea—not that I’d known that, either…
“I approached him about a family heirloom of mine, and he offered me a job afterwards,” I finally summed up.
Thankfully, Hanzawa didn’t pry any further. “I can see why,” he said. “Something about you must have been unique enough to convince him, right?”
“…You think so?” I asked, ducking my head. It was amazing how one word—unique—was enough to dispel my worries. Saying I had a talent for recognizing beauty—that already made me feel like the most special person in the world. The implication that Richard recognizing that had been a testament to my uniqueness was unbelievably flustering. Rather than think about it for too long, I downed my coffee.
“I just thought that if he wasn’t looking to hire someone,” Hanzawa said, “it means that you must have been important enough to ask for, anyways. The atmosphere at your store would make one think you two had been friends for years.”
I felt warmer than usual. “I just… guess we aligned somehow,” I murmured, feeling a need to deflect the compliment. As much as I privately liked to think of our meeting as “fate,” hearing it from a veritable stranger was something else. “Richard is—he’s almost too incredible, I think. I’m lucky to work there.”
Hanzawa considered my statement carefully, and then asked, “Is it—and I could be overstepping, here, but—is it kind of a… scary feeling?”
“No, you’re right,” I said, feeling a euphoric rush of shared understanding. “It’s—I’m happy, of course. It’s impossible not to be. But it almost makes everything else pale in comparison—”
“And you begin to wonder where you’d be without it,” Hanzawa concluded, perfectly reading my mind.
I sighed. “I mean… it’s not like this will be my job forever, you know? But still, compared to going to university, whenever it’s the weekend, I feel like I’m ten times as real. Like I exist as… I don’t know, more than I am.”
“As in… you’re able to express yourself more?” Hanzawa asked.
I shook my head. “No, it’s like… I’m a more impressive person, even though nothing about me changes,” I said. “It feels like my actions have more meaning. And my world keeps expanding, each time.” When he didn’t respond, still wrapping his head around my words, I added, “…It might be a bit strange to blabber on and on about my job satisfaction. But I really think that being able to work where I do is a miracle of some kind.”
“I see what you mean,” he finally replied as he sipped his coffee. “In a way, Richard-san’s store feels like… a place that’s too good to be true, it could be said?”
“That’s exactly it!” I exclaimed. “And then once you meet Richard, it’s like… he’s a fairy prince or something that’s descended on the mortal world…”
Hanzawa fell into a sudden coughing fit.
I scrambled out of my seat, but he weakly waved me off, and so I stood over the table, watching him regain control of his throat. “Are you alright?”
He took a few deep breaths. “I’m fine,” he said, though he looked obviously embarrassed as he met my eyes. “I was just—taken off guard, I guess. You must really respect Richard-san. Have you… told him this?”
With a new understanding as to why Kaede had so uselessly hovered around me, I slipped back into my own seat. “Well, of course,” I said slowly, wondering what I wasn’t getting. “I needed to express my gratitude to him.”
Hanzawa stared up at the ceiling like he’d received some kind of divine revelation. “And he reacted… well?” he ventured.
I suddenly remembered the many, many times Richard had scolded me for speaking without considering the implications, and I grimaced. “I’m not great with words, so I’ve definitely put my foot in my mouth a few times, but… sincerity is worth the embarrassment, I think,” I said, refraining from adding that I liked to think it was at least part of the reason he’d hired me. “And, though he’s annoyingly mysterious sometimes, he’s sincere to me, too.”
“How nice…” It was impossible not to hear the wistful edge in Hanzawa’s voice. He seemed to hear it too, because he added, “Well, I do wish you two the best,” with a knowing smile.
It wasn’t hard to pick up on the distance in his voice. Despite talking about Richard and the shop, Hanzawa hadn’t once mentioned his own visit or his upcoming appointment.
Before I could prod him about it, Hanzawa cleared his throat and asked, “You’ve finished your coffee?”
I looked down at my cup, which had been empty for quite a while. “Yeah,” I said, bracing for a quick goodbye.
A strange look passed over Hanzawa’s face as he drained his cup, and he set it down on the table with a soft clink. His gaze moved sideways—I followed his line of sight, but it led nowhere. “If—if the bruising is a problem,” Hanzawa haltingly began, “I could… I might have a solution.”
The words looked painful for him to say. “You’re already treating me to coffee,” I assured. “There’s no need to do me another favor.”
He shook his head, firmer. “This… as I said, this was kind of a selfish request, anyways. If you’re willing, I’d be happy to help.”
I wasn’t about to turn down the chance to hear him talk. Maybe, if I gathered enough courage, I’d even be able to ask him about dyed stones. “Well… what did you have in mind?”
———
Much like the first time I’d visited the jewelry section of a department store, I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. This time, it wasn’t at the sight of diamonds as far as the eye could see, but of the bright lights, glossy photos, and shelves upon shelves of products I wasn’t sure how to name. I half-recognized some of the brand names scattered around the store, but otherwise felt wholly out of my depth.
Were it not for the presence of a guide, I’d have never come here. But Hanzawa was shifting his feet next to me, a skittish look in his eyes like he was convinced I’d back out at any moment. That was the same way he’d broached the subject, too, saying, “Well… you could probably cover that bruise with makeup,” in a tone so soft I’d barely heard him.
“How?” I’d asked, pouncing on the option a little too eagerly.
Hanzawa drummed his fingers against his empty cup. “It’s pretty easy,” he said. “I could teach you, but we’d have to buy some products, because we don’t have the same skin tone.” He mulled over his next words.
“There’s a department store near here,” I offered.
At that, he seemed to relax. “My older sister is really into makeup and costuming,” he said with a light laugh, “so I ended up being forced into knowing a few things myself.”
Things moved quickly after that. He paid for my coffee, and I followed him to the nearest department store before he could have too many second thoughts. It wasn’t like I didn’t understand his hesitation—we were still practically strangers, and this was an offer that required considerable involvement on his part. Still, more than anything, I didn’t want to skip work. And as little as I knew Hanzawa, he seemed like the kind of person who would never suggest something that wasn’t an actual solution.
“You’ll have to lead the way,” I finally prompted.
Hanzawa paused and corrected his posture. “Right,” he said, picked up a basket near the entrance, and then struck a path through the various displays, waving off staff with a polite, inscrutable smile.
For all he’d been hesitant, Hanzawa navigated the store with a brilliant kind of confidence. Apart from the two of us, there were barely any men in the store, but Hanzawa didn’t look out of place in the slightest. Soon enough we were left to wander around unapproached.
Finally, we came to a stop in front of a display that carried a variety of tubes in a variety of skin tones. Hanzawa leaned forward to inspect them, and I caught sight of the barely visible piercing holes in his ears.
“You’re not wearing earrings,” I observed.
He answered me without turning his head. “I suppose it’s a leftover habit from high school,” he said thoughtfully. “I didn’t wear them in class, because—well, it’s a bit of a delinquent look, and I was the president of the disciplinary club.”
That explained why he’d been so composed when helping Kaede earlier. I wonder if he’d acquired that sense of reliability from his time in the club, or if had been the reason he’d joined. “What… am I supposed to get, here?” I asked, pointing at the display.
“To cover your bruise, we’ll need concealer, foundation, and a setting spray, probably? So right now, we’re looking for foundations that match your skin tone. What color do you usually bruise?”
“…Purple, I guess?”
“Then we’ll get a yellow color corrector to offset it,” Hanzawa said, plucking a foundation from the shelf. He held it up to the light—the color was kind of close to my skin, I supposed, but there were a lot that looked just like it.
“How are you supposed to figure out the right color?” I asked.
“Oh—you can sample it,” Hanzawa said, and he motioned for me to hold my hand out. We swatched various foundations on the back of my hand as Hanzawa explained to me the basic methodology for covering a bruise. The color corrector would negate the purple hues of my bruise, concealer would properly cover it up with my actual skin tone, and foundation would provide a smooth cover that blended with the rest of my face. The setting spray was just to make sure everything held for the entire time I was working. “You’ll probably want makeup brushes, too,” Hanzawa said as he explained how to apply everything. “We can buy some, or I could maybe lend you mine…”
I could see him trying to work out how to lend me makeup brushes in a way that wouldn’t require an additional meeting. “No, I’ll get one of my own,” I said.
“You sure?” he asked.
I nodded. “It’s kind of weird to say this, but… somehow, I feel like this may not be the last time I need something like this?”
Satisfied with the last foundation we’d tried, Hanzawa showed me how to remove all the makeup on my hand before leading me to another display. There he found a standard set of makeup brushes and gingerly placed it into his basket. “Well, I suppose you do lead quite an exciting life,” he commented.
“This is the first time I’ve gotten injured,” I said. “But there are a lot of interesting people at Richard’s shop, so I guess I do end up having interesting experiences.” I paused. Like this, actually, I didn’t say, and instead asked, “You mentioned your older sister taught you this?”
“It’s not really that I was taught,” Hanzawa clarified. “It was more like… a natural consequence of existing around her? I ended up knowing a lot of the terminology, and I’d get dragged to places like these, too. At that point, you have to at least learn the basics.”
I’d never had a sibling before, so I wondered if it was natural for everyone to pick up skills from their family like this. With my mother, we’d always maintained a certain sense of distance, and with my stepfather overseas, the only one who could maybe qualify as family was Richard. Who I had, indeed, learned a lot from. “And you learned more on your own, afterwards?”
“Well, at my high school, our cultural festival holds a cross-dressing competition each year—it was an all-boys school, hence the tradition—and I ended up learning a bit more because of that. One of my classmates actually attends cosmetology school, now, which is where I learned how to do this.” He gestured in the direction of my reddened cheek.
I reached up on instinct, suddenly conscious of the fact that I was walking around with such an obvious injury. I’d attributed the stares of passerby to the fact that I looked out of place in a makeup store, but this was probably the real reason.
Hanzawa studied my face, and his tone gentled. “It’s been a valuable skill to me,” he murmured. “Makeup gives us the ability to beautify.”
Hand still pressed against my cheek, I confessed, “I’d never really thought of it that way, before. Though I don’t really know anything, really. But I’d always thought of it as… having something to hide, I guess.” I felt like a fool as soon as the words left my mouth.
“Well,” Hanzawa said, still low and quiet, “I suppose we are aiming to hide that bruise of yours. But there is value even in concealment, I think.” A wry smile graced his mouth. “Speaking of.”
We’d lingered for too long in one place, and so we moved to collect a bottle of setting spray and a pale-yellow color corrector before stopping to search through a row of concealers. As we compared various shades on my hand, I recalled the conversation I’d had with Richard about tiramisu.
“…Don’t people also value the truth, though?” I asked.
The shade Hanzawa had tested was far darker than it had looked in the tube. He paused over my hand, and without lifting his head, said, “Perhaps I’m being cynical… but I think most people only value the truth when it is beautiful.” He paused to dab a different concealer on my hand. “I don’t think you’re wrong—people do value authenticity. That’s exactly why so many makeup advertisements discuss how to achieve a natural look, or how to enhance your natural features by smoothing out ‘imperfections’… we’ve defined a kind of beauty that is meant to emulate reality, but that doesn’t mean it is reality.”
Though I couldn’t see his expression, I could hear the raw sincerity in his voice. Something clicked into place, and I realized that for Hanzawa, enhancement was the same as concealment.
“The kinds of beauty we recognize are usually just skin-deep, huh…” I said, echoing the conversation I’d had with Tanimoto-san.
“And everyone prefers to be beautiful,” Hanzawa said.
Yamamoto-san, too, had thought that beauty was a great advantage. “Doesn’t beauty come with its own disadvantages, though?” I asked. At Hanzawa’s curious look, I paraphrased how Richard had described his own experiences. “Like, if you’re so beautiful that people think you’re unapproachable, isn’t that hard?”
“I suppose so,” Hanzawa said. “You’re talking about a kind of… unreal beauty, right? Like your boss.”
“Ah… was it obvious?”
Hanzawa smiled. “A little.” He hummed for a bit in thought, and then said, “In either direction, I think there’s a fear of… standing out, or looking odd. That’s why we’re here. Though I suppose there might be some people who have enough pride to eschew standards.”
The shade he’d just tried was a perfect match. “When you put it that way… there’s definitely times I don’t want to say everything about myself,” I conceded, remembering how I’d felt when confronted by Mami-san’s deep, uncomfortable sense of shame. “Having that kind of pride is… an ideal, but just that.” As much as Richard liked to ask if I had ever decided to think before I spoke, I, too, had things I found hard to say.
“That’s everything, I think,” Hanzawa said, adding the concealer to the basket. “I’ve got makeup wipes with me, so you can just have them. Since we’re here, though, do you mind if I make a quick detour?”
“Go ahead,” I said, and Hanzawa drifted through the store at a leisurely pace, inspecting different products. I took the time to observe the various advertisements pasted around the store, noting that Hanzawa’s description hadn’t been incorrect. Then I observed the array of colors scattered around the store as Hanzawa inspected different kinds of eyeshadow. “I guess blue is rare here, too.”
“Hm?”
“I was just reminded of ultramarine,” I said, pointing towards the overwhelming set of pinks and reds in a collection of lipsticks. “It was prized not just because the stone was precious, but because blue was a rare pigment color, right?”
“…Lapis lazuli sure was a precious stone,” Hanzawa replied. “In addition to blue’s rarity, I’d think it would be hard to collect pieces without significant gold spots. When ground into pigment, those colors would muddy the blue. If one needed to source pure blue lapis lazuli for ultramarine, that would only further increase its rarity and value.”
“Wait, are you majoring in economics?” I blurted out, a little bewildered by the clarity of his explanation.
Distracted from his inspection of an eyeshadow palette, Hanzawa turned to squint at me, bemused. “No, I’m not,” he said. “Are you?”
“I am, yeah.” I floundered, wondering how to explain that for just a moment, Hanzawa had reminded me of Richard. Maybe he was training to be a diplomat—that would explain why even when he spoke casually, every word felt measured. He was certainly better at speaking than me, who couldn’t figure out how to casually ask him what he was actually majoring in.
At my lost expression, Hanzawa laughed and went back to searching through eyeshadows. “…You actually remind me of someone I know.”
“How so?”
“A few things, I think,” Hanzawa said. “You’re both… open to many new experiences.” Though the fondness in his voice was palpable, it was deeply careful, like he was letting me know the shades of some terrible secret.
“You don’t find them exciting?”
“And equally likely to be hurtful,” he rebutted, though not aggressively.
Hanzawa took my answering silence as agreement—which it partially was—and continued looking around the store. Conscious of the time we’d spent wandering, he explained, “The color I’m looking for is uncommon. Eyeshadows have more variety than lipsticks do, but the majority stay within the range of pinks to browns.”
“Even though it’s not a problem to make blue pigment anymore, it’s still a matter of supply and demand, isn’t it?” I surmised. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone wear blue lipstick.”
“The kind of people that do are amazing to me,” Hanzawa said. “Whether it’s simply a matter of liking it or wanting to be deviant from the norm—I think there’s a great strength in accepting oneself as anomalous.”
Finally, he picked out a sparkly lime green eyeshadow, and after holding the color up to the light, tucked it into his basket. It was no wonder he’d spent so much time searching—while accompanying him, I hadn’t seen a single product that looked like it.
“You really are fond of that color,” I noted.
Hanzawa froze for a moment. “It’s for—the cultural festival, actually,” he explained. “I’m helping them out.”
“Oh, I do something like that too—it’s with the karate class I used to attend back in middle school, though,” I shared. “You must be close with your juniors?”
As we entered the checkout line, Hanzawa said, “I think it’s something like a leftover sense of responsibility. That guy… we used to be in the same club.”
Before I could ask him what that guy meant, our attention was redirected to the cashier in front of us. She looked surprised to see two men in front of her, but quickly began scanning the items before her. “Picking up products for your girlfriends?” she asked with a smile, clearly hoping to ease our nerves.
Hanzawa stepped forward, partially obscuring my view. “It’s for my older sister, actually,” he replied, the same smile mirrored on his face. “I just hope I’ve gotten it right!”
Caught up in his mild, inconsequential lie, I stood there, hands hung limply at my side, as I realized that apart from her initial shock, she hadn’t once glanced at my cheek. To be accurate, Hanzawa hadn’t let her. This was probably what he’d meant by the value of concealment. It was like when Richard had pretended not to speak Japanese at that department store. While it wasn’t the truth, it was the option that limited any unwanted misunderstandings.
…Was it really because of his older sister that he’d learned how to do makeup? Or was that just the easiest explanation?
We exited the store with our purchases, and I handed over the eyeshadow to Hanzawa. He slipped it into his messenger bag, and in return, produced a pack of makeup wipes for me to take. “If you forget what to do, there’s a bunch of tutorials online,” Hanzawa reassured, gesturing to my bag of makeup.
“Thanks for the help,” I said. “I had a nice time, too—I feel like I got to hear from an interesting person, as well.”
“Don’t think too much of it—I was really just rambling,” he said dismissively before offering me a tight smile. “I do hope work goes well for you this weekend.”
“…You’ll know, won’t you?” I asked, summoning a bit of courage. “Since you’ll be there.”
“Ah,” Hanzawa said, and stilled before giving his confirmation. “…Yes, I will.”
With that promise exacted from him, we naturally said our goodbyes and parted at a nearby street. The early morning chill had faded somewhat under the sun, and as I made my way back to campus, I thought about the many ways Richard’s face might change upon seeing Hanzawa arrive at his appointment. He wouldn’t give me a raise, but I’d get something out of it, nonetheless.
#cfojr#my writing#hanzawa to tashiro#hanzawa masato#the case files of jeweler richard#nakata seigi#the anomalous agate#<3 loved seeing the responses to ch 1 again btw.#and apologies for any typos i might have missed!#I think I could edit this more for like. minor flip flopping on how I phrase sentences but#if I do that this would never actually get posted lol#other things: I considered splitting this ch into two (pausing before the cafe) but decided not to#in return ch 3 is likely to be much shorter#in fact every ch should be. I’ve only got 4 scenes left including the epilogue#though how much does that mean. sure ch 2 was 4 scenes but yknow what was 1? ch 1.#jeweler richard
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Whumptober Day 1: "How many fingers am I holding up?" ft Sigma
A black haired boy at a playground. He never told that blonde about the gum in her hair.
A violet eyed boy- the same boy, mind you- eating dinner. He never let it slip how he was giving his food to the little dog under the table.
A brilliant but sickly boy, hiding his cello in his room and playing it only when alone.
Images flashed through the puppet's mind. They didn't make sense, and seemingly had no connection to each other. How did I get here?
A gleam in hungry eyes as the boy notices the assassin silently closing in on his parents.
A smirk as he watches them fall.
A single tear as he tells the police that he saw nothing.
Everything is rapid fire. The puppet can only watch as the scenes play through.
The boy smiles when he learns of his ability. Laughs when the first victim crumples to the floor. Steps unaffected into the puddle of blood to watch the light fade from the older man's eyes.
The puppet is screaming, shoving at walls. They don't want to see this. They don't know why they're here. Red is filling their button eyes as hair made of yarn obscures their face.
The boy, now a man, speaks to a bird, a dove with a card over its eye and a long white braid. He tells it that it will be free. He tells it that it will find love. He promises it justice. Spinning lies, upon lies, upon lies.
The puppet has sunk into a corner. They are sobbing, but they don't matter to the man. Nothing does.
Amethyst eyes meet tourmaline orange. Those eyes have just opened for the first time, but it feels like forever ago. A name is called out, just barely heard over the wind and snow, calling Sigma. Sigma, Sigma Sigma as the sky gets brighter-
The puppet- Sigma, they remember, blinks open to a dark room. They blink again, unsure they’ve opened their eyes, but nothing has changed.
There’s nothing here. No people, equipment, nothing but the screaming in their head and the knife buried in their side.
The world feels fuzzy. It doesn’t make sense. They feel like they’ve been stuffed with cotton, run through a laundry machine, and then hung up to dry. Licking their chapped lips, Sigma feels the sting of a split and tastes blood. They don’t have the energy in them to care.
They keep blinking, but their blinks are lasting longer and longer as their eyelids become heavy. If there’s nothing here, there’s nothing to stay for.
Quick footsteps suddenly sound through the room as two people walk towards them. Bleary eyes open once again, and cream white bandages seem to glow in the darkness of the room.
The shapeless being made from mercury kneels down on one side, the one made from fire on the other.
Sigma just wants to go back to sleep.
Bandages glow again, and they are shaken gently as soon as their eyes start to drop. They don’t know why. They are so tired.
“-Igma. Sigma, hey.” the mercury says. A blob moves in front of their face. “Look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?”
They can’t think. Everything is so cloudy.
The flame swears. “They’re losing blood fast. We need to get them out of here and to your scary doctor.”
Sigma doesn’t understand. Who’s losing blood? Does someone need help? “The- the agency,” they croak out, choking on the words. “I have to tell them. Dostoyevsky-” An arm lifts up their back, moving them so they can be carried through blinding halls. Their eyes drift closed. “I have to tell them…”
A hand moves hair out of their eyes. Real, keratin hair, no longer yarn. Buttons have been replaced with muscles and veins.
“Don’t worry. You’ll make it. I did promise after all.” But Sigma doesn’t hear the voice filled with concealed panic.
Their eyes slide shut for the final time.
They’ve never been without strings before. Is this what it feels like?
#I would like it to be known that this was posted at 11:59#whumptober#whumptober 2023#bsd#bungou stray dogs#sigma bsd#fyodor dostoyevsky
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I just watched Steven Universe movie with the Vriska universe in mind (specifically with Springtrap as Spinel) and it was a trip
So basically William Afton came to earth in his glitchtrap form with the injector only he had a crack in his gem and was, well, glitching. When he got hit with the rejuvenator (it looked more like an axe then a psyche), he reverted to his human self from the movie. He acted normal. Too normal. Like he was faking his emotions.
His glasses were foggy so you couldn’t see his eyes but they would clear up when he got creepy. You know, symbolism. Vriska didn’t trust him. Also he was the one to volunteer to hurt whoever Sapphire is in this au and was way too into it.
When his memories started to come back, instead of crying, he started smiling all creepy. And drift away wasn’t sad. It told his backstory, how he was an average cut of gem (an amethyst if you ask me, because they’re purple) and started to shatter gems seemingly out of nowhere.
Oh and those mini cluster gems from “Keeping It Together” and “Nightmare Hospital”? Those were all him. He was eventually caught and set to be executed. The way I see it, the spring Bonnie suit was to mock him before his death. But as you know, he got spring locked and everyone thought “well he’s already dead” so they left him. But he was still alive and couldn’t move for 6,000 years.
One day a girl named Vanny found him and took him outside. He was finally free. And he thanked Vanny by trying to kill her. In self defense, she cracked his gem. The reason he came to earth was to “finish what he started.” Basically if he’s going down, he’s taking everyone down with him.
The rest of the movie goes basically the same but without trying to redeem him. You know because he’s a monster. In “True kinda of love” Springtrap’s gem kept cracking and he kept glitching until he looked like some kind of goop monster mimicking a rabbit. And “change” was a way to distract him because his crack was getting so bad that he’ll die on his own. It worked.
As his gem started to break, he started glitching hard, eventually landing on his original form before it broke forever. And yes, his last words were: "I always come back". Spoiler alert, no he doesn’t. Everyone was glad he died. Oh and Michael Afton got Spinel’s happy ending. Because he deserves it.
Like I said, it was a trip. This was fun, I might get around to drawing this soon
#can you tell I hyperfixated on this?#tw murder#tw serial killers#tw killing#tw death#fnaf purple guy#purple guy#william afton#fnaf#fnaf movie#fnaf william afton#five nights at freddy's#steven universe the movie#steven universe spinel#spinel#vriska undertale#vriska universe#infodump#rambles
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Hi, I was wondering, if you can do it, can you write a Yandere Steven Universe x Sibling reader? If you can't that's ok!
\^w^/
sure thing
Disclaimer: in this case steven is a platonic yandere who does not have an romatic attraction to the reader he,s more like an overprotective sibling on steroids. Remember kids incest is bad it is Morally, Spiritually, Philosophically and scientificlly bad. Never attempt it and if you do you should be punished.
Title: Oh brother.
Steven had always been... protective of you after all steven got lucky being born first leaving you with no gem and a laundry list of health issues at first when you were both still kids it didnt matter too much you would spend you day eating, sleeping, playing games reading along with steven becuse you could never never go outside too much. After steven got his powers everything changed now it was seven who constantly went on adventures with the gems saving the world and battling monsters leaving you... alone. When steven got kiddnapped aquamarine things got worse he didnt even consault you about what happend before he went off once again leaving you behind constantly at his heels and after the reform of the empire and the opening of little Home school didnt help anything either eventually you two just grew apart you would call steven out on his complete disregaurd for not only you and those around him and he would say he has resposibilitys now you two would fight and do the same thing tomorrow.
One day you decided to go to a party not the smartest decision considering you had never been to one before and your health issues but it was there during those blinding lights and harsh music you met your partner.
After you collapsed in the middle of the party they helped you up and drove you home (leaving their number in your jacket pocket) and after you woke up you had him over for dinner as a thank you thats when the two of you started dating.
When you first introduced them to the gems it went off withouut a hitch off course pearl gave her concerns but quickly warmed up to them after a few terrible jokes but weridly steven wasnt their apparently him and dad (greg) had gone on a road trip or somthing like that you didnt really care.
Days went by and the two of you spent more and more time together for the first time you were with someone who didnt treat like a baby becuse you ran out of breath after walking 10 feet you were pretty sure this was love. Garnet amethyst and pearl freaked out over the next couple days becuse steven went missing but you didnt worry after all its Steven the saviour of the galexy... at leat thats what you thought...
now standing in your home and your now former partners head splattered across the floor you wernt so sure. Steven standing tall above you glowing pink from head to toe, his pupils like diamond shaped pin pricks and look that seemed to be a strange blend of shock and desperation you stood their paralyzed hyperventalating the two of you staring at each other
Y/n Please... i cant lose anyone else said steven with an obvious shake in his voice.
Before he could say another word you collapsed too your knees your breathing only getting more eratic, your heart pounding in your chest and vision swirling before an explosion of pain poped into your head all the while you could bearly hear steven rambling
Im sorry im so sorry oh stars im sorry i-i just want things to go back i-i dont want to lose you to anyone we can go back just like when we were kids... oh please im so sorry.
As you head hit the floor you felt the hand of your brother resting on your back as you drifted into unconsiousness.
End
Note: im not sure if this is what you wanted or not i just get an idea and then it just spirals lol.
#yandere x sibling#steven universe#su#yandere#yandere su#yandere steven universe#asks#ask#yandere asks#steven universe future#yandere steven#suf
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NEW CHANGE DRIFTS EPISODE IS OUT!!!
Gotta be honest, it's probably the favorite one I written so far
Both available on Wattpad and A03
#steven universe#su#spinel#amethyst#fanfiction#fanafic#fic#fic update#announcement#Change Drifts#change drifts au#Wattpad#A03#archive of our own#title card#steven universe titles
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Parallel Panic
NicoMaki, Love Live, 660 words, 1/1
Maki's got a scary movie on the brain. Does Nico have a cure?
Parallel Panic
It had been a long day. Breakfast and lunch for her sibs, audio engineering classes at university, errands to run in the evening and another early day tomorrow. Nico tiptoed into her bedroom, took off her coat, then collapsed on the bed, her arms out. For all her life, Nico remembered constantly being in motion, constantly striving, seeking out new groups, new songs, new ideas. Was there a world somewhere where Yazawa Nico just drifting along, her talents shining as naturally as sunlight, illuminating the easy path?
“Daring!” Maki’s text tone. Nico reached to grab her phone, rolling up into her pillows and grabbing a squeezeworthy plushie to substitute for the currently absent Number One girlfriend in the universe.
M: Are you okay? Are you home yet?
N: Maki missed Nico.
M: ¬_¬
N: How is Maki?
M: Scared.
That was surprisingly honest. Had something happened? What was Maki planning to do tonight?
Nico hit “Call.”
“Are you all right? Did something happen?”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“Tell Nico.”
“Honoka and Rin wanted to watch that movie, the one with the two universes and the girl who switches…”
“And…”
“In one universe, she’s married to her first crush, in the other, all the same choices lead to murder…”
“That’s just a movie, Maki-chan. Scriptwriters make choices for shock value. They want screams and nightmares.”
“But there was all this science, Nico-chan, she was a scientist, studying parallel universes, bubble universes, string theory. And the other woman was a musician and the movie kept merging romantic themes with musical themes, heavier and heavier, atonal.”
Nico was going to thrash Honoka and Rin.
“What if I make a wrong choice, Nico-chan?”
Nico had a mental pic of Maki, in a dark room, leaning against her headboard, laptop out for searching articles about murderous multiverses, worried amethyst eyes with a gemlike glow in the low light.
“Close your laptop.”
“What?!?!?”
“Just close your laptop, Maki-chan. Now. Listen to Nico.”
A hesitant “okay.”
“Now, get up, grab your headphones, stop by the kitchen and grab the cookies Nico made you, go to the media room, put on the playlist Nico is sending you, and we dance until you fall asleep.”
“That’s silly.”
“Nico knows you. And Nico is not being silly. You’ll be up all night and tomorrow everything will look like a different universe because your eyes won’t fully open. And then you’ll wonder if Nico’s started taking stabby classes from Umi.”
“Stabby classes?” Maki sounded like a giggle was lurking. Nico grinned.
“Stabby samurai classes for the universe where Nico is the mother of a green eyed motorcycle riding samurai assassin.”
The start of a giggle. “You’re being silly…Wait, green eyes?”
“My dad had them.” A pause. A softness.Then the grand sweeping Nico view of the universe, “She’ll be tall and cool like Maki, and smart and sharp like Nico and all the scary parallel universes will collapse like dominoes before her blade into the Number One Universe in The Universe, where Nico Rules All.”
“With Nico’s stabby samurai sword.” Maki barely got the words out between laughter as she remembered two Halloweens ago, Nico in kendo gear, armed with a shinai, indignant that no one could see her face. Definitely ready to rule, the fiercest and stabbiest and tiniest of warriors.
“Exactly.” Nico chuckled, “And that’s how you get a movie script, Maki-chan.”
Maki inhaled, calmer. “I love you, Nico-chan. And our stabby samurai future daughter.”
Nico imagined the perfect lips of her girlfriend changing from a grim line to a fond smile.
“Go get the cookies, Maki-chan. Then we dance.” Like the best warriors, Nico’s aim never wavered from her target.
“Cookies do sound good.”
Maki had relaxed, Nico could hear it in her voice, relaxed enough for a yawn to sneak in. Snickerdoodles and silliness for the win. Nico fist pumped. She’d have to come up with something to cook to take over to Maki’s tomorrow.
“That’s my girl. Let’s dance.”
“Sure.”
#NicoMaki#Nishikino Maki#Yazawa Nico#parallel universes#cookies#fluff#scary movie#girlfriends#wlw#femslash#Promptober
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It's the end of February and therefore I am done with the Funguary Challenge of 2024 that's hosted by @feefal.
If you're interested in more content about my mushsonas, head over to my instagram: @hocooart.
Music: Remix of "Kingdom Dance" (from the movie Tangled) by Alan Menken
See all the mushsonas in detail and their stories under the cut ↓↓
Week 1: Celestial
Angel Wing
This freckled Mushsona has always been, is and will forever be God's right hand. She knows what's right and wrong (or at least what the scripture says is) and acts accordingly.
Week 2: Demonic
Satan's Bolete
This little Trickster thrives in mischief. With their horns, devilish wings, tail and sadistic tendencies, their place to be is right next to their master - the devil himself. They'll make everyone's life a living hell (and worse) if you cross them.
Destroying Angel
Once one of God's right hands, this little fighter now has another preoccupation. She'd wanted to fight, wanted change - and questioned the rules her master gave her. That's what made her sisters exile her. Now a fallen angel, she seeks to fight against the unmoral rules of heaven alongside her demonic partners.
Week 3: Edible
Amethyst Deceiver
She is a dancer with all her heart and soul. She lost her leg in an accident when she was still a little mushroom. But nothing could ever stop her from doing what she was born to do.
Week 4: Cryptic
Dewdrop Bonnet
She was the guardian of stars and tides, keeping everything in harmony. She would only stop when the world itself ended or the moon drifted too far off and left her without hope.
False Blusher
Just as her sister, she, too, guarded life itself. She kept all the creatures and happenings on Earth alive and nourished. And she would take care of all the things that needed her, as long as the world kept turning.
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Reflecting
Characters: Eli, Evelin (@nimue-hidden-lake)
Series: Evelin Anniversary
Sheesh this was long.
But it was necessary to set up the dynamic for the weeks to come.
I can't say or promise if the other parts will be nearly as long as this, so just keep that in mind.
------------------------------------------------
February...
Eli stared into the void of the night sky, lost in thought as he was in the beauty of the stars.
For some, it was just another month. For most it was a chance to prepare surprises and gifts for their partners.
And while the latter was certainly true in his case, it was also a reminder of how everything changed.
It was this month in particular, six years ago, where he would meet someone that would change his life forever.
As he pondered this, his mind began to wander...and memories started to drift...
. . .
It was six years ago, the last year of the adulterant chapter of everyone's lives that semester.
As his classmates clamored and enthusiastically shared with each other about their plans for the future, Eli found himself sat alone, like any other day. Not that he minded...in fact he preferred it this way.
Ever since his 'sister' graduated, there wasn't anyone to talk to.
Where as everyone voiced their sorrows that they would soon depart and truly begin their lives, Eli couldn't be more eager to get out of there. He didn't have anyone to leave behind, and thus, had no regrets...at least he thought at the time.
And so he headed to his favorite spot, to get away from all the noise. A shaded spot, under a canopy of trees just beyond the field.
But just as he was about to rest, he heard someone approach.
"Ah, I thought I was the only one who knew about this place..." a soft, yet cold voice landed in his ear.
He looked up and saw a girl, about his age.
Her long black hair swayed in the autumn breeze, as he locked eyes with her. Her eyes were a deep rich violet, and seemed to almost glow in the shade of the trees, like amethysts.
All the while clutching a cat to her chest.
"Do you mind if I sit here...?" she asked, as he had yet to even utter a word.
"Not at all" he would finally reply.
The girl joined him in the shade, cat in one hand, as she pat it with the other. The two stared at the leaves as they swayed in the wind.
Some danced back and forth, as others fell.
Since she sat, no other words or glances were exchanged, and Eli thought nothing of it as they would part ways and head to their classes for the day.
A few days had passed, and Eli had all but forgotten the strange girl and her cat. But little did he know that he'd meet her again.
One day, as Eli was about to make his way home, he heard a cry from the trees. Looking up, and staring back at him was a cat.
Oh the typical scenario all cats found themselves in sooner or later.
But now wasn't time for thinking.
"Easy there fella, just stay where you are" he said in a hushed tone, as he slowly climbed up the trunk. Both to ensure he had a good grip, and so he didn't scare the poor kitty into falling and hurting itself.
The cat shivered and meowed as it watched it's savior slowly make his way up. Eli reached over, but was barely short of reaching.
"Alright little guy, you're gonna have to jump" he said while motioning to 'come'.
The cat wobbled as it stared at the boy, and then at the ground below.
"C'mon, I'll catch ya" he assured.
The next few moments happened very quickly.
As the kitten tried to make it's way over to Eli, a paw slipped and it started falling.
As if on instinct, the boy leapt from the tree and-
Suddenly he was on the ground, as he heard purring come from his jacket. After catching his breath, he opened his hoodie and saw the cat, purring and nuzzling into his chest.
"Sheesh...you're a little troublemaker aren't you? Let's not make this a regular thing, ok?" he said with a smirk as he pat the kitten.
It meowed and continue to nuzzle, as if giving a response.
But something was familiar about this cat...
He paced back and forth while he pondered if he'd seen this cat before-
Aha! The girl from a few weeks ago!
With that lead, he made his way back to campus, hoping he hadn't missed her until-
"Excuse me, have you seen my cat?" a familiar voice graced his ears.
He turned around and low and behold, the same black hair, and amethyst eyes were in front of him yet again. But this time her face was different. Unlike the stone cold expression she wore before, she looked worried...well, what was probably her worried expression.
There wasn't much difference.
"You mean this?"
He saw relief take hold as he opened his hoodie and revealed the still purring kitten underneath.
Handing the kitten back to her, he noticed her expression shift into a small smile as she patted it.
She then turned her attention to him.
"Thank you for keeping Pinro safe" she said in her calm, cold voice. But even still, she sounded genuinely thankful.
"She seems to like you" she added.
"Don't mention it" he said as he patted Pinro on the head, eliciting a light nuzzle.
"Say, you're the girl from before, right...? I didn't get your name"
"Evelin" she would simply say with a nod.
"Eli" he replied in turn.
She seemed to take mental note, as she nodded upon hearing his name. Of course, Eli didn't notice at the time, not thinking much of this interaction. Though now that he could see her clearly, he did acknowledge that she was very beautiful. It may as well have been a statement of fact, but of course he'd keep that to himself.
"I should be heading back. It's my turn to make dinner" he said as he gave one last pat to Pinro.
"Ah, I should get going too. My sisters are probably wondering what's taking so long" she'd again nod.
"Safe journey" he said with a smirk as he turned and they parted ways.
Months would again pass into winter. February to be specific.
Pairs, couples, and dates littered every square foot of the campus for the first two weeks, like every year. Most having gotten together literally that month.
Safe to say, it wasn't Eli's thing, as it was just like any other month to him. Not like any girl would wanna waste their time on him anyways. The only one that did was long gone, and even then she was more like his sister than anything else.
But this year it didn't seem like he had a choice.
Suddenly he was accosted by classmates who asked him if this year he would finally get a date. Some were genuinely curious, while most others were trying to make fun of him, some even saying they 'had the perfect one for him'.
He was able to ignore them for a time, but the constant flagging down and question became too much.
"Fine! I'll ask whoever the hell it is out for Valentines Day! If it'll make you shut up" he barked.
Little did he know the roller coaster he was in for, when he found himself in front of her yet again. Evelin...
Her? They wanted him to ask her out?
'Whatever, get it over with' he thought. She was way out of his league.
Surely she'd say no, they'd part ways, and he'd be left alone-
"Yes"
The world felt like it fell silent as Eli stared at Evelin
Did...did she...?
"Wait, what...? Could you...repeat that...?" he asked, leaning in close.
"I said yes" she replied plainly. She never minced or wasted a word.
"W-Wait wait wait...'yes'...? Just like that?!"
"Yes" she nodded.
Eli stood there dumbfounded. Safe to say, that wasn't what he expected.
"But...why...?"
"I never got to properly thank you"
"That doesn't answer my question..."
"In time, you'll figure that out for yourself"
How could someone speak so plainly, yet still be utterly confusing?
Well, no matter.
He didn't expect this to go anywhere.
A few weeks of spending time, Valentines Day, and then she'd get bored of him. No way someone like her would actually-
. . .
"It's getting late"
A calm voice touched his ears again as he was brought back.
He turned to be met with those deep purple eyes once again.
Just as vast and beautiful as before.
"I've been waiting for you for 20 minutes" she said matter of factly as she closed the distance between them.
"R-Right, sorry...was just, er...thinking" he nervously chuckled.
"I suppose six years is a long time" she nodded.
"You knew...?"
"Of course. It's February"
"Ah, yeah, heh...of course you did..."
Eli took a deep breath.
"Hey, you remember my question back then...?"
"Hm...?"
"You still have yet to answer it"
"That's because you have yet to figure it out"
Again with the riddles. He'd be annoyed, but he couldn't deny it was part of her charm.
Even six years later she was still full of surprises, betraying her plain tone and simple to the point manner of speech.
Added with her blunt delivery, it both made her statements simple and complicated at once.
And the month was just beginning.
Masterlist
#Archives of Camelot#fanfic#fanfiction#fic#selfship community#self ship community#f/o community#romantic f/o#f/o x s/i#s/i x f/o#oc x oc#male original character#original male character#female original character#original female character#male oc#female oc#Evelot
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Hi Hello it's midnight for me and I just finished watching Steven Universe and the movie (I haven't watched Future yet- gonna do that this weekend) so now I have thoughts
Spoilers for Steven Universe below the cut!
First of all: I'm kicking myself repeatedly for waiting so long to watch it cause HOLY- 😭🥰 IT WAS SO GOOD!!! I wasn't sure I was gonna be into shows like this (Wasn't massively into Adventure Time- don't get me wrong, it was cute as hell and funny but just kinda..eh?) But I finally gave it a shot and WOW!
My favorite gem is still Garnet; I just- I adore her. She's wise, funny, the whole Sapphire and Ruby ship is so cute ("They were my favorite couple!"- Bismuth my blacksmith queen) and just-GAH! I love how excited she got over fusions and just how lovely she is all around!
My second favorite is Peridot. I loved her- she is the cutest little green dorito EVA! The way she speaks, her mannerisms, her dynamic with Lapis (Who admittedly I still have mixed feelings on but generally I enjoy her alot)- it was all so freaking kfakjerakjkjrakjerkjekjr I can't get over how cute she is HELP!
Really- I found myself loving all the characters! Pearl is cute as heck, Amethyst is an icon (I loved that scene where she refused to put all her problems onto Steven and recognized he had so much on his plate already- it was truly such a growth moment and I'm beyond proud of her. Plus- Smokey Quartz is an icon), and STEVEN! He's a doll! I adore him so much!
As for Beach City- I don't think I have a non-favorite. Everyone is so charming and silly; and even when they were at their worst they managed to bring it back around. Lars becoming a space pirate and Sadie becoming a rockstar- the grandmother becoming mayor and Ronaldo being..well, Ronaldo; it was all so good! I really do love Greg aswell; that Comet song will be forever stuck in my head. Oh! And Connie! I adore Connie!
As for the movie....eh? Don't get me wrong, it was great- and I really like Spinel; but all the endless songs started to get a little much after a while 😅 There was some great ones like Garnet's return song True Love and Steven's Change song- and of course Other Friends and Drift Away are absolutely incredible. It was a good mix of great songs and....kinda meh songs but still incredibly pleasant to listen to. I had a great time. (I also really liked Happily Ever After but I think I prefer Natewantstobattle's version; the rock cover really gives it that extra oomph!)
The DIAMONDS! I kinda don't know how to feel about Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond. I get why she did what she did; it was clear as glass the home life she was living wasn't good to her- but the way she did it certainly wasn't the cleanest. I like how complex her situation is and how Steven navigated it. I also like how the diamonds were presented- not good gems but complex enough that they're enjoyable. (Not to be bisexual on tumblr but Yellow Diamond....👀)
Overall this was a great time all around! I don't know what I'm gonna watch next (post future), my sister and I are thinking either Owl House or Amphibia, but y'all are welcome to leave suggestions! This was a much needed comfort experience during an admittedly crappy time.
(Also I'm almost done with Season 2 of Vinland Saga and y'all it's absolutely incredible but so freaking SAD- ooooo, I got feelings but I'll share them all when I finish the last four episodes)
This is your gentle reminder to sit down and indulge yourself in something comforting! Especially if things are being tough right now- you deserve to treat yourself :)
#squiggily watches#StUv#thoughts#I overall loved the hell out of it#being able to watch it all in one go was really nice too#I'm a late watcher#I never catch things when they're premiring#it's always months later lols#just having some thoughts :3
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....perhaps i shall post part of the hythlodaeus angst
There’s a faint ripple in the aether, a whisper of a breeze, and a terrifyingly-familiar voice murmurs, “...am I dreaming, seeing you here like this, Seleukos?”
The sound of their name - the name they have hardly heard in lifetimes, the name they’d all-but left behind in the aftermath of the Sundering - pierces through them with just as much if not more sharpness than the Light itself, and they stiffen, breath catching in their throat. They don’t dare to move, don’t dare to open their eyes, caught in place as surely as if they themself have been shackled by Hydaelyn’s spell. This- this has to be a trap, a lure to draw them in, because he- he’s gone, he went to Zodiark, there’s no restoring him until they restore the star itself-
They open their eyes anyway.
A shade flickers in and out of view in front of them, drifting black robes, the suggestion of an ivory mask and a pale purple braid. The clearest thing about it is its eyes, vivid amethyst and staring at them with some soft mix of sorrow and pain and confusion. It can’t be real. They refuse to search the aether to look.
“Ah,” they say instead, quietly, the familiar old ice creeping over them as the shock starts to fade, the dullness of it slipping into their voice. They cannot- this cannot be real. He cannot be. They don’t want him to see. He’s gone, he left them and broke his vow for some abstract sense of a duty he has never had to carry. “I’ve lost touch with reality again. How reassuring.”
There’s almost a clarity to the way the world looks, when they retreat from it. Everything is hazy, but in stepping away from themself they can see their own actions with an awareness they wouldn’t usually have, an awareness detached from the endless swelling ache in their chest that never goes away. Emet-Selch doesn’t speak to them, when he recognizes the distance in their eyes, not unless he’s worried they’ve gone too far to come back; instead he likes to sit with them, if he can, a quiet presence to tether them to something, a line they can grasp onto when they need to be real again. (It’s different if they’ve gone away so much they no longer quite remember when they are, past and present mixing together. But they don’t like to think about those times.)
“Oh, love,” Hythlodaeus says too-softly, the grief in his eyes more pronounced, and they wonder absently what he sees with his ever-sharp gaze. Not that- this is real, not that he’s really seeing anything, not that he’s there - but of course any image of him they would conjure would have his sight. “What has been done to you?”
They swallow hard and look away from his face - maybe his features are so vague because their memories are too, time and exhaustion marring the lines of his face in their memory until he and Helios are nothing but purple and black, silver and white, seen and heard clearly only in dreams and the crystal they have not been able to bring themself to use in a very long time. How exactly did their laughter sound? How did Hythlodaeus’s face change when he smiled? They only remember that it was warm and bright and loving and that it filled them brim-full with a joy that was stripped from the star with its Sundering.
“I came to see Him,” they say instead of answering, gaze landing on Zodiark’s prison again, tracing the barrier of Light and blades that spins eternally through the air around Him. “I don’t quite know why. Duty, perhaps…I should have told Emet-Selch. He’ll worry.”
If they’re imagining Hythlodaeus, he would be right to worry, they know. Their clarity might fade, and this close to Hydaelyn’s magic, they cannot afford to be anything less than fully aware. They are of the Unsundered. Sane or not, their loss would be a great setback to the Convocation’s plans, to the Ascians’ plans, and they are unsure how Emet-Selch would take it.
They ought to leave now, before this spirals further. They can’t quite make themself.
For a moment Hythlodaeus is quiet, and they begin to wonder if he’s proven his non-existence by disappearing, but then they hear his voice again. “I will have faith that you will heal from this,” he breathes out, and it sounds almost like he’s trying to convince himself of something. “I must. You must.”
“Heal,” Azem echoes, slowly lifting their gloved hands to look down at them. All other details have faded over time, but they still remember what their skin looked like when it was covered in Helios’s blood. What healing could there be from that loss? From Amaurot’s loss? They can only hope they will still recognize their best friend when he finally returns to them. “...I don’t know. But we will fix what She did to the star, Hythlodaeus, no matter how many thousands of years it takes. Four shards Rejoined, nine left - and then…then we will free Zodiark and restore Amaurot. I will- I will not abandon them again.” They let out a shaky breath, close their eyes again, and - and he isn’t real, so they can whisper this into the wind: “And maybe I’ll get to see you again.”
They hope they will recognize Helios, when Etheirys is whole and he can come back. They hope Hythlodaeus will recognize them, when they bring him back to life.
Something, a twist of the wind maybe, a gentle breeze, brushes over their bare cheek and vanishes again, leaving behind a trace of aether too faint to identify. Hydaelyn’s Watcher, perhaps, sensing their presence and marking them, or just the currents from the distant prison - there’s something almost familiar about it. Perhaps it came from Zodiark; perhaps He senses one of His servants.
“I know you’ll find the best way, dearest Azem,” Hythlodaeus says, his voice warm and heavy with his sincerity, the same as it always was, because he has always, always- “I have faith.”
He has always had faith.
“Faith didn’t save us,” they whisper, but there’s no response, no sound besides their own breath and their own stolen heartbeat, a silence that weighs down on them with all the heaviness of absence. “...Hythlodaeus?”
They open their eyes to the craggy, pocked surface of the moon, the distant thrum of Hydaelyn’s magic, Zodiark’s chained form, and emptiness. The barely-there shade they’d seen before is gone, not a wisp of essence remaining for them to trace if it was ever even there, and despite the way they’ve withdrawn some cold horror grips their chest. He wasn’t real, they remind themself, he wasn’t real, Emet-Selch would say the same, he wasn’t real-
“Come back,” they say anyway, plaintive and small, and wrap their arms around themself, huddling into their robes. They should never have left the rift, should never have come here. “Please,” they whisper. “You promised.”
Hythlodaeus doesn’t answer, because he was never there to begin with.
For too long they just- stand there in the emptiness, shuddering and trying not to crumple, hands gripping their sleeves as though they could hold themself together - as if they’ve ever been capable of that. The ice is cracking, cracking, and it hurts-
They want to go home.
(Home does not exist. Home is dead and gone and buried beneath the rock and the ocean. Home is an Unsundered star and the people they love unburdened by loss and a sky on fire. Home is Helios’s laughter, and Hythlodaeus’s arms around them, and Hades scoffing and rolling his eyes like it could hide his smile. Home is warmth and love and a brilliance that does not hurt when it shines over them.
Home is untouchable, only in their memories, that faded perfection they cannot return to. They do not know if it will fit them anymore, when they finally bring it back.)
#ramblings#my writing#ffxiv#ascian azem au#oc: seleukos#i know no one is reading this snippet BUT. but. listen.#*thinks about azem and hyth's relationship and Explodes*#they are. everything to me.
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had to go listen to found on the su movie soundtrack and ooh ofmd/go hyperfixation time
other friends - such a kraken!ed song. there's a LOT of similarities between ed and spinel actually and now i want to watch the movie again
isn't it love - i wish i could draw because i can SEE this animatic in my head so clearly: that zoom on aziraphale in the 1941 scene transitioning into him walking through all his memories with crowley and they replay in full colour as estelle sings the first "and isn't it love"
no matter what - another cute ineffable husbands song, but also a really good gentlebeard song, and a song for the whole crew too!
disobedient - a really good crowley song (especially after s2 OWWW) (this whole Arrangement is gonna end with me totally deranged), with aziraphale picking up amethyst's lines at the end (i want to be disobedient...)
independent together - crowley as steg and aziraphale as pearl/opal, this has been on my ineffable husbands playlist for so long
drift away - mannn now i'm thinking MORE about muriel waiting alone in their office (counting the seconds, standing alone, as thousands of years go by)
found - the song i needed to feel my izzy feelings to (but also ed and also stede and also everyone)
change - SUCH a stede song (and aziraphale feeling especially delusional about heaven too i guess!!)
let us adore you reprise - sdghkjsghs i have this vision of the crew adopting a slightly unsure izzy and stede asking if izzy can handle them... and izzy slowly starting a jazzy finger snap and going "today... right here... right now... i'll love again..." this could fix me
finale - ofmd good end...
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