#so they took it and redid it like a million times better
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New Year’s confession
summary: Rafael Barba and you end up working together and New Year’s eve, bringing up some confessions.
warnings: none
Not in a million years would you have thought you would be spending your New Year’s Eve with Rafael Barba. Neither did he for that matter, but things escalated very fast in the last few days.
You gave up on going to the party you were inviting to after you learned your ex was inviting too. There was no chance in hell you would spend the last hours of the year in the same room as him. So when your Captain asked who was willing to take on the shift, you named yourself.
The night started very slow. You used to quiet in the precinct to catch up with paperwork. An officer had gently offered you to join them to eat, but you turned down the invite. You were concentrated on your work when your phone buzzed. You hate those messages exchanges on New Years, especially before midnight.
To your surprise, it was Rafael Barba.
Evening detective. Are you at the precinct? you read.
Evening counselor. Indeed, I am. My shift... you answered.
Be there in 20.
After reading his text, you didn’t like the need you felt to go to the restroom and check yourself in the mirror. You untied your messy bun, letting your hair over your shoulders and redid your makeup a little. You were in your work clothes but you can’t change that, although you did open a button of your white shirt.
As said, Rafael arrived 20 minutes later. Files under one arm and a bag that looks like takeouts in the other hand. You watched him walk to your desk. He dropped his files on it and handed you the bag. “Liv told me you were working tonight, since I am too, I figured we could—work together,” Rafael is a fast talker. “Italian, from your favorite place,” he smiled.
Your face and eyes lit, and Rafael felt proud. Just for the look on your face, it was worth it. “It’s perfect, thank you Rafael,” you’re the only one that calls him by his first name in the workplace and he loves it. Although you call everyone by the first name. At first he thought it was just for him, until he heard you calling Carisi “Dominick” or “Dom”.
You offered to move to the conference room next to Liv’s office. Blinds and doors closed, you watched Rafael serving your meal. The night improved really fast.
You and Rafael had small talks over dinner. You both confessed personal things, you were getting to know him better and your crush was increasing by seconds. After eating, you and Rafael sat on the couch, grabbed each your paperwork and started to work next to one another. But Rafael couldn’t focus. You were there, he could feel your body close to his, your scent was intoxicating. He has alone time with you and he has to make the best of it. “How come you took tonight’s shift? Nothing else better to do?” He asked.
“At first, yeah. I was inviting to a party but then I learned that my ex was inviting to, and it probably would have ended up badly so I turned it down,”
Rafael had to jump on that to know more about your love life. “Bad breakup?”
“Not really. We just grew up apart. But I know for experience-- I would have drink, same for him and we would have had—sex,” you paused, “didn’t want that,”
Rafael tried to avoid the sting of jealousy in his chest. “Meaning— it happened before?”
You sadly chuckled. “Unfortunately. Not that he’s bad in bed or anything, but—I wish I had someone, so that I didn’t feel the need to be intimate with him,” you confessed, “Sometimes loneliness is rough. And instead of going out and meeting a stranger, it’s easier to go to someone you know. No bad surprises at least,”
“Fair enough,” he agreed although he hated what you were saying, “Had a few bad surprises on my own. Aren’t you interested in someone—else?”
You locked your eyes in his and didn’t answer right away. After a moment, you looked down to your paperwork again, and answered, “Maybe. But—it ain’t gonna happen,” you said.
“Why’s that? I mean— the person that has your interest would be a fool not to do anything about it,” You looked at him again, his gaze hadn’t left you, “Maybe you should let him—her?—know,”
“Him,” you shyly smiled. “Would be very awkward if the interest doesn’t reciprocate. I’ve always told myself not to fall for someone from work and—“
Rafael cut you off, “dios mio! Is it Carisi?”
You laughed out loud, “Dom’s my partner, I love him dearly but not that way,”
“Who is it, then?” Rafael asked. You refused to talk at first but the ADA started to act like a child who wants to know his surprise. “Come on, tell me!” he kept saying, “I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” still, you said no. “If you tell me yours, I tell you mine,” he finally offered, thinking it was actually the worst idea. You looked at him with those big E/C eyes of yours. He has a crush on someone from work? Who the hell can it be? Liv? Has to be Liv.
“Tell me first,” you said.
Rafael knew he was stuck. He stayed silent for a moment until you both heard someone from the precinct shouting, “One minute till midnight!”
“Tell me before midnight, Rafael,” you smiled although you were dying inside.
“On 3, we both say it. Deal?”
How bad could it be? “Deal,” you agreed.
One. Two. Three.
“You!” you both said at the same time. And you both had no idea what to do. Either you or Rafael thought you each had a crush on the other. Looking into each other’s eyes, you were the first to smile. Then you heard the countdown from your coworkers. It gave ten seconds for Rafael to decide to kiss you. What better way to ring in the New Year?
As you heard the city going inside, it all became quiet when Rafael crashed his lips on yours. It was soft and sweet, even shy a little. But it was perfect for the New Year. “Happy New Year, Y/N,” he smiled against your lips.
“Happy New Year, Rafael,” you kissed him again.
#law and order svu#rafael barba#rafael barba x reader#rafael barba imagine#law and order: special victims unit#rafael barba x you#rafael barba fic#rafael barba fanfic
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Compliments to the Chef
Written by EeveeEclair
TW: Food, (tell me if I missed one)
Random side note: This was made for @i-wont-write-that! I sorry it’s so late! I just didn’t like my first draft so I redid it. I hope it came out alright!
<~~~~~>
Remus sighed and sat down on the kitchen floor. This was the seventh time he was told no one would ever eat his cooking and he was starting to believe it. He tried really hard to make it edible but it just never met their standards, apparently.
He sighed and sat down on the kitchen floor, leaving his cookies on the counter. At least they tasted like cookies, they didn’t really look the part. Was that why they never ate his food? Because it didn’t look like food?
Something wet fell on his hand and when he touched his face, he realized he was crying. Great! He didn’t try to stop the tears but he did try to keep his sobs quiet. Unfortunately, he can’t be so lucky and was caught by none other than the Moral Man himself.
“Remus? Are you crying?” Patton asked, sitting down next to him.
Remus sniffed. “No,” he responded meekly.
Patton glared at him. “Remus, don’t lie to me. What made you cry?” He asked, trying to get Remus to look at him.
“It’s stupid,” he said, lifting his head and resting it on the wall behind him. “I shouldn’t even be crying.”
“It’s not stupid and it’s perfectly fine to cry,” Patton insisted, putting a hand on his back. “Now, what made you cry?” He repeated.
“No one will try my food,” he mumbled, looking back down.
“Is that all?” Patton asked, standing up. Remus nodded, thinking he was about to leave. When he looked up he saw Patton holding his hand out to help him up. “We need to fix that, don’t we?” He said, smiling.
“You’re willing to try my cooking? Just like that?” Remus asked. When Patton nodded, he smiled and took the offered hand. “Lucky for you, I made cookies!” He said, handing Patton a cookie.
Patton smiled and took a bite out of the cookie before he had second thoughts. He regretted ever doubting Remus’ cooking the moment it hit his tongue. A million different flavors hit him dead on, but they all seemed to compliment each other in some way.
“Remus, this is amazing!” He cried, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth and reaching for another. This was definitely a second cookie moment.
“Really?” Remus asked, smiling.
“Yeah!” Patton said through a mouthful of cookie. “We should have the others try them!” He suggested.
Remus scoffed. “No one will eat it just because you said it’s good. People eat with their eyes first. And not literally,” Remus said, looking a little deflated.
“What if I decorated it to make it look better?” Patton offered. “They might try it then!”
“Let’s try it!” Remus said, nodding enthusiastically.
About an hour or so later they had an almost perfect looking meatloaf. They let it cool for a minute before calling everyone down to try some.
“Padre, this looks almost too good to eat!” Roman said, cutting a piece for himself.
“But then it would all go to waste!” Patton said, pouting. “Please try it.”
“I could never pass up your cooking!” He declared, taking a bite. His eyes lit up almost immediately as he stuffed the rest into his face. “This is your best meatloaf yet!”
“Indeed. Is this a new recipe?” Logan asked, also eating it a little faster than normal.
“Nope!” Patton said. “Just a different cook!”
Virgil stopped chewing. “What does that mean?” He asked, anxiety taking over.
Patton just smiled and looked to Remus who was standing by him rather shyly.
“Patton, did Remus make this meatloaf?” Logan asked, looking at the father figure.
Patton nodded, his smile slowly fading. “That isn’t a problem. Is it?”
Logan shook his head. “Absolutely not. I just feel guilty I never took up his offer for food. I always thought he’d be more…” he paused looking for the right word.
“Disgusting? Gross? Chaotic?” Remus offered, not sounding angry but sad. “I get it. They never looked appetizing anyway. That’s why Pattycakes over here decorated it to make it look good,” Remus said, looking down at the floor.
“Well, no matter what, I owe you an apology,” Logan said, setting aside his empty plate. “I know I’m sorry for not trying your food. I was wrong to assume, and this is where it got me.”
“I should also apologize,” Roman said. “I thought you might have been trying to poison me or something so I just never took the chance. But, like the Microsoft Nerd, I was wrong.”
They all turned to Virgil next, putting him on the spot, causing him fold in on himself to appear smaller. “I’m sorry too. But they took my thunder… so…”
Remus just smiled. “It’s okay. You all had pretty valid reasons,” he said. “I just hope you stop assuming everything about me is chaotic and evil.”
“We will,” Patton said smiling.
Remus’ smile somehow got bigger. “Well then! Who wants seconds?” He asked. His question was answered with empty plates waiting to be filled.
No longer would Patton be the only cook in the house.
#sanders sides#remus sanders#sanders sides fanfiction#sanders sides fic#patton sanders#logan sanders#roman sanders#virgil sanders#intruality#eevee writes
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2020 Life Olympics
The real Olympics may have been canceled in 2020 but the Life Olympics persevered like the postal service of Olympics.
First, I’d like to apologize for my role in the chaos of 2020 because I think I had a slight miscommunication with the powers that be and I feel partly responsible. Here was my plan for 2020:
My theme for 2020 is Intention because I want to take the energy I feel right now and deploy it with more intentionality next year - bringing increased mindfulness to how I spend my time, money, physical and mental energy. And because I love wordplay, I also literally want to spend more time camping “in-tent” to enjoy more peace and quiet and beauty in nature.
The universe was like, “Oh, she wants to spend less money and more time outside? Well, shut it down. Shut the whole planet down.”
I mean, mission accomplished, I guess? I did spend less money and more time outside and had to be VERY intentional with my mental energy to survive the day-to-day morass of 2020. Next time, I will be more specific with my annual manifestations. Sorry to all.
2020 was brutal for pretty much everything and everyone. I don’t know anyone who isn’t in some state of grief right now, including myself. I debated doing a Life Olympics at all this year, feeling like-- what is the point? Hundreds of thousands of people died, our democracy is hanging on by a thread, and millions of people lost jobs, businesses, and homes.
Like many people, I’ve been struggling with anxiety and depression this year which intensified as it got darker and colder outside. At a low point, I talked with my therapist about the struggle of just not wanting to do any of the things that usually bring me joy-- and how periods of relief were so fleeting. “But you have to keep doing those things,” she said, “even if they’re not working right now, you have to keep doing those things and trust the process; the joy will return.”
So even though I don’t really feel like it and kind of feel like it’s dumb, I’m writing the 2020 Life Olympics. I’m trusting the process.
2020 Life Olympics Recap
Work - Participation Trophy
Starting a company is hard, operating a company is harder, but running a company during a global pandemic and economic crisis is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. 2020 was not a fun year to lead a business; it was hell. On March 15, the plan for the year pretty much went out the window and everything went into survival mode. I never take the company or my team for granted, but I’m particularly grateful to be able to usher this work into 2021.
Despite the craziness, we still had some big wins this year. We launched new product partnerships with PowerSchool and Amazon Business. We rebuilt our tool for equitably calculating district funding formulas. And I got to flex my creative muscles with EdFinToks! Throughout it all, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a team of people who are as compassionate as they are talented.
I’m worried about public education more than ever after this year, but I’m going to keep fighting every day to make it work better for kids.
This is Work-Lite but I also spent a good chunk of time this year leading the modernization workgroup for Bill Henry’s transition committee after his spring primary election to become the new Baltimore City Comptroller, ousting a 25-year incumbent, Joan Pratt. This was an enlightening (and infuriating) experience for me that gave me a glimpse into the operations of a segment of the City government. This process also really helped crystallize how much I enjoy making public agencies function more efficiently; I’m excited to see what Bill does with the recommendations (some are already being put in action!)
Health - Gold
This is the second year in a row (and ever) that I’m giving myself a Gold medal for Health. This was easily a year that I could have regressed on all of my healthy habits and no one would have blamed me. Instead, I leaned into protecting and improving my physical and mental health in 2020. It’s not an exaggeration to say that walking probably saved my life this year. I spent a lot of time walking around my neighborhood and various state and city parks-- walking is maybe not the best word; I stomp and charge around like I have a score to settle with the ground beneath me. My walking increased 370% in 2020. This is a habit of 2020 that I’d like to keep. My brain and body are happier if I can spend a little time walking-- stomping-- around outside each day.
I also did a lot of biking this summer. My cycling increased 200% this year-- with much more time spent cycling outdoors. My crowning achievement this year was biking to and from Annapolis:
I spent a LOT more time outside this year which was critical for my mental health. On the downside, I only did 90% as much yoga and 60% as much strength training, so I want to try to be a little more balanced next year.
I also invested a lot in my mental health this year. I kept up with therapy every 2-4 weeks and in October I decided to pursue a formal diagnosis for ADHD which I definitely have! Needless to say, staying in one place this year has been a special kind of hell for me.
Home - Silver
Well, I definitely spent less money this year. And the way I did spend money made me (mostly) sad:
Travel down 70%
Auto & Transportation up 200% (boo cars)
Shopping down 60%
Personal Care down 35%
Gifts and donations up 200%
Food and Dining down 40%
Entertainment down 35% (I kept up my singing lessons virtually which accounts for a lot of this category)
2020 was quite the palate cleanser from my 2019 year of hedonism but maybe we can go for a happy medium in 2021? Just kidding-- I will resume my hedonist ways the minute the world opens.
I also redid my home office like every other work-from-homer on the planet and replaced my crumbling kitchen floor so the house got some TLC.
But nobody enjoyed having me home all year as much as Darwin:
Relationships - Bronze
What a weird year for relationships of all kinds. I’m giving this a Bronze because while I invested a lot into a few relationships this year, there are also a lot of people in my life to whom I haven’t been able to give my time and love.
One of the most important relationships in my life this year was with one of my former students. After bouncing around in the foster system for many years, we reconnected around the holidays in 2019 and he started crashing with me while we tried to figure out stable housing and employment. He was arrested in January and was incarcerated for the next several months awaiting trial. Finally, we were able to negotiate a plea agreement with the State’s Attorney and he came home around Independence Day. We spent the next several months getting him set up with a phone and various identification documents-- a nightmare in normal times and a total abyss during the pandemic. I got him registered to vote when we got his ID card and I took him to vote for the first time (a supreme treat for this former social studies teacher):
He’s now got a full-time job and stable living situation. Calling this THE success of 2020. Thank you to everyone who helped me with resources all year for housing, legal processes, and documents. It takes a village.
It was a bizarre year for family. We lost my grandmother in September, so not being able to spend the holidays together felt like an especially cruel loss. Other big losses this year include a trip to France to celebrate a milestone birthday for my mother and my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding (Mosby seemed pretty ok with the alternative plan, though):
But in many ways, my family has been more together than ever this year thanks to prolific group chats and photo-sharing. Mostly, I’m just glad everyone else is safe and healthy. As my father often reminds me, “Our problems are small.”
And dating? What to do with this weird Jane-Austen-esque dating scene-- as if modern dating weren’t fraught enough. Is this the universe punishing me for ending my 2019 dating hiatus early? I, for one, have given up. You win this one, pandemic. I’m just going to have my little Twitter crush and call it a year. Next year, though...
Horizons - Silver Gold
You know what? It’s hard to expand your horizons without people or places.
I did the best I could. I finally got back on track with my Goodreads challenge and actually had a really good year of reading, including finally embracing audiobooks through my Libro.fm subscriptions. I especially enjoyed Michelle Obama’s book Becoming and Mike Birbiglia’s The New One on audio-- both narrated by their authors.
I camped in Pocomoke (MD), Western MD, Lake Michigan, and Ohiopyle (PA):
I explored over 30 new hiking/biking trails-- some favorites including the Youghiegheny River trail in PA, the NCR trail, Catoctin Mountain, the C&O Canal Towpath, Annapolis Rock, and of course, Stoney Run in my backyard.
I left Facebook and started the Life Olympics newsletter. I’ll be honest, I don’t miss Facebook but I also don’t understand where that energy, time, and brain space went. I was spending cumulatively hours a day mindlessly scrolling Facebook and I quit cold turkey and barely noticed-- what black hole of our brains does social media occupy? I kind of thought that with all that extra time I would write the next great American novel or something. I’m probably spending a little more time on Twitter, which I could stand to cut back on. Other than that, I think I was just trying to process the shitstorm of this year. Maybe I’ll write the next great American novel post-pandemic.
For the first time in my life, I feel somewhat ‘caught up’ on pop-culture. I finally watched Parks and Recreation (twice); I watched The Mandalorian and finally actually watched Star Wars (episodes IV-IX); I watched the final seasons of The Good Place and Schitt’s Creek; I’m caught up on Insecure; I watched The Prom and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Jingle Jangle; I even started Bridgerton. I know what everyone is talking about and I’m catching so many more pop-culture references these days. (I guess instead of writing the next great American novel I watched Netflix?)
2020 Lessons
I’ve spent plenty of time mourning the missed opportunities of 2020 and will probably always wonder what this year could have been in an alternate universe with a functioning government. But we only have this reality for now, and we made the best of it.
I wanted to slow down in 2020, try to be more intentional, more mindful, and...
No thank you! I liked the pace of my life; it makes my brain and heart happy. I’m happiest when I wake up in a different city three days in a row. I like darting around every borough of Manhattan for nine meetings and three cocktails and then taking a red-eye to Europe. I want to run around to eight conferences for 18-hours a day for three weeks and then sleep for 22 hours. I miss overloading my brain so much that I need a deprivation chamber to sleep. This is who I am. This is how I like to live. And when I was locked down alone in the house for a year, slowing down, being mindful, I never once thought, “I should have... when I had the chance.” Because I always did. And I always will.
2021
We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What a time they have, these two
housed as they are in the same body.
Mary Oliver
We’ve had enough grief. 2021 is going to be all about joy.
Universe, let me be clear: this is not a euphemism or code or secret signal.
I want pure, unadulterated, abundant, joy. I want multi-course dinners in restaurants with lots of close friends and good wine. I want the virus so far gone that I can make-out with handsome strangers. I want a rollicking good time in France and/or Brazil and/or Prague and/or New Zealand and/or Bali. I want to spend the day after Christmas in NYC with my father. I want to be a glutton for theatre and art and music. I want celebrations and parties and sequins.
I want to shake with joy.
If you’d like to receive the (shorter) monthly Life Olympics, subscribe here.
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1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23 for the writers ask?
1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?
Currently, I’m working on a fic titled A Monstrous Manifesto, which is a fic entirely inspired by Cat Valente’s poem of the same name. Every line is a chapter, every noun is a part of that chapter, and every single beast named corresponds to a Spectre, allowing me to dig directly into their heads and demonstrate their full psychology.
Progress stopped unfortunately back in July on part four - a fiend, which I picked Deadly Beetle Stand for, because I just couldn’t get into his head. Kiril played soundboard for it and I’ve been humming and hawing over him trying to figure it out, but let’s be real it’s gonna come to me in a dream.
Because see here, most folks who’ve read my works, if told to point to my best, it’ll either be a) my breakthrough with Armour Adventures (which tbh if I redid I’d do better on), b) In Kismet Marcescence (which I need to sit down and plot out properly before I continue), or c) rather unexpectedly to me, Green Grows The Asphodel. Guess everyone likes that soft MiAlba where Alba gets his bastardization arc, but also I let him speedrun it in Broken Shine The Stars and people seem to like that one too, so.
The thing is with AMM is that this would be my greatest work. Like AA, it’s gen, but here’s the one advantage I’ve realized I actually have over pretty much everyone else in this fandom: I am myself a monster, fictionkind and all. I’m a Devil and a feral little beast, which means when you offer me Spectres - warriors of the dark and death who are all based around animal motifs - I take one look and go “oh! You’re like me!” and proceed to write them as actual monsters while having some unspoken and long-winded conversation about what it means to be human, what it means to be shunned, and what it means to belong among the broken.
It means that I write Spectres wildly different than anyone who isn’t Kiril (who is on the same wavelength as me and we argue back and forth about the inner details of everyone’s monstrosity), which means when I do it, nobody’s seen this shit before and apparently people seem to think it’s cool. So AMM is the very epitome of that style, of that psychological and philosophical discussion. I don’t really have a background of research in either of those things, so any similarities to works or theories already out there is entirely coincidence. Cat Valente’s poem was the first stepping stone I ever took to accepting myself for who - and what - I am. I owe as much of my identity and confidence to her as I do Zamorakian philosophy, which built my personality and is a major part of how I survived the middle school era of my life. The least I can do in return is offer the best of me out into the world.
4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)
“Somewhere deep below conscious thought, below his training and the life and this Lemurian body, buried under lifetimes of war, buried under the idea that a Spectre was a fighter, his blood remembered how to love the memory of the fallen.” - Beneath Blood Ties
BBT is one of my most unappreciated fics, which makes sense as it’s set almost two thousand years prior to Classic, starring a fourteen-year-old Lemurian Minos and the Saint who raised him, Aries Kirien, whose name is probably still spelled Kiriel at least once in the fic because no beta we die like Gold Saints.
The original inspiration comes from Seanan McGuire’s Once Broken Faith, and the line in question is Toby reading the Luidaeg’s blood memories after the latter told a young Karen that she couldn’t speak Faerie even in her dreams - she speaks it in her blood memories, and Toby notes that her blood remembers.
It stuck with me, though I’ve read OBF approximately a million times. It, along with A Killing Frost and An Artificial Night, are my three top Toby books. And it responded to me as someone who’s fictionkind: I couldn’t speak the language I spoke as a Devil in my dreams, or in the waking world, but I know some part of me remembers it. Would know how. The Chaorruption filters all of that into English because it thinks it’s helping, but if I were a magical creature right now, in this world, I’m pretty sure my blood would remember.
So I wrote about Minos, and the sorrow he carried. The premise of BBT is that a Pope realized some Spectres come back, went around before they became Spectres, and kidnapped the lot of them to train as Saints, leaving them all traumatized as fuck, unsure of who they were or who they followed, and messed up for lifetimes. I also wanted to show more that Spectres were more than what the Holy Wars made of them, and about digging through that exotrauma to remember that they could be kind.
Spectres, originally, would make sense as really just Hades’ servants and the ones who keep the Meikai running. Pretty sure that means they know every single death rite that’s existed in the past three millennia. Pretty sure they know how to be respectful of the dead. Pretty damn sure that below all that soldiering and war, they’re all really exhausted librarians who want to do their job and also dig graves.
But I like this sentence here best, because that’s pretty much the climax of the plot here: that there is, in fact, something underneath all his exotrauma, all the current trauma he’s been dealing with. That below all of that bitterness and war, he’s a better person than what Athena made of him.
Idk, I just think it’s neat and no I’m not projecting being ‘kin on him again. /j
5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?
Albafica, to nobody’s surprise. I mean, come on. A guy with a fuckton of traditionally-feminine beauty whose looks keep getting brought up, is very introverted, has seen some shit, just wants to kill people who hurt what he cares about while also not hurting the people he does care about, really wants you to keep your damn distance, is super touchstarved, and holding onto his humanity with his fingertips? Come on the only things he’s got that I don’t is an actual male reproductive system and naturally blue hair.
Once you realize that especially in TLC Athena’s actions are pretty damn horrific, especially to her Saints, Albafica has the perfect setup to become a Spectre. Seriously, if he’d been offered Luco’s deal but while holding a dying Lugonis, do you really think he wouldn’t have taken it? I explore that more in Broken Shine The Stars, but like. Albafica is the perfect fallen angel of a character. He has genuinely good intentions. He’s hurting so damn bad and only fucking once in his entire onscreen performance is that acknowledged (shoutout to Luco for that one), and if you take his sorrow and let him turn it into anger, he’s a glorious monster indeed. Albafica’s descend into monstrosity and Spectrehood is exactly what would happen if I got angry and also hadn’t been fucking nerfed physically.
I love him way too much.
6. What character do you have the most fun writing?
Surprisingly, Aiacos. Alba’s hard as fuck to write. Aiacos, though. You’ve heard me go off about Aiacos at length, but like. He’s the very embodiment of the worst person you can become while still loving, still surviving. Aiacos is the type of person we’re all capable of becoming, and we all should be terrified of becoming, because every single choice he’s ever made is completely understandable and that much more horrific for it.
It’s somewhat unsurprisingly easy to get into his head. He’s fun to write because he scares me. Because if I let him do all the dumb, selfish, sadistic-looking, survival-focused things, then I don’t have to worry about doing it myself. I let him look out for only himself when the pieces are down, so I can do better.
Also I haven’t seen anyone else write him that way (Kiril being the obvious exception here), so it’s double the fun because new territory.
11. What do you envy in other writers?
Hey. Hey you fuckers who can plot shit. Give me the number of the demon you sold your soul to. Let me PLOT SHIT.
15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?
Summaries! Titles are easy, I steal them from songs and Toby books. They’re just fancy wordplay and I have literally a list on my fic spreadsheet of titles I want to use. Summaries, though, are very important. People don’t pick fics based on title and tags, they pick based on summary. They’re your hook into the work, so you’ve got to give the audience your premise short and sweet and actually sounding appealing.
Sometimes I can write them no problemo. Other times, they’re a fucking nightmare. I try to imply the tone of the ending in my summary, because I have absolutely been blindsided by the ending in a way I really didn’t like because I thought the summary was hiding the ending. (Example - there was this one fic that made it sound like my OTP was going enemies to lovers, and it wasn’t, it wasn’t, it needed the fucking dead dove do not eat tag, stopped just short of serious nonsexual noncon (which wasn’t tagged at all), and ended very unhappily and it messed me up for days, I did not like it.)
So for my summaries I set the scene, set the tone, and imply the tone of the ending so you have a vague idea of where it’s going. Easier said than done.
21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)
Anime, probably! Manga wouldn’t lend itself too well to my style, but I’d enjoy short anime episodes, I think. I honestly don’t know. Someone tell me what my stuff would work good as. I dunno.
22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?
For fic, all the time! I write what I want to read, and since six out of seven of the Dohko/Kagaho works on AO3 were my fault, I’d better get used to reading my own writing for pleasure. Fortunately, I like most of my writing recently, so that’s pretty all right!
Don’t ask about what I had up on ff.net. Don’t. It’s old and bad and I didn’t know how to write.
23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?
Hmmm... I want to rephrase this better as ‘what fic exists only as a concept and has done so for the longest out of all the concepts of fics currently in my head’, and hmmmm. Honestly, it’s either Shion and Aiacos’ romance fic where they also get a daughter (which has a title actually, The Lost Sea Fantasia, but still hasn’t been written); or it’s Wyvern Rose and the Trials of Lightning, which is about 15th century Rhada’s two daughters, the elder of which is surprise-given his surplice and his job when he dies right before Hades does, and the younger of which is kidnapped by a spiteful goddess who doesn’t like the elder of the two.
ToL is a fic that I have somewhat plotted out, but really needs a lot of work. I’m not really sure how to go about writing it, because whenever I sit down to sketch it out, it never comes to me. It does, however, lend itself well as a bedtime / campfire story that Albafica tells Regulus while they’re out on a mission together, as part of Alba sneakily teaching Regu how to be a Spectre without anyone knowing. It’ll stay a concept for a long while until Rose crashes into my headspace and actually fucking tells me more about herself other than “oh yeah btw I’m fucking Julia” like thanks, already knew that from Julia herself, tell me more about you you awful little Judge of a dragon princess.
[ask game here!]
#asks#saint seiya#dorksmithery#thank you!!#i'm gonna go answer the other one now#but ofc send me more if yall want!
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Tokusatsu Streaming Guide: Where to Watch Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and More
https://ift.tt/2VR6eGr
Ten years ago a fan of Tokusatsu (Japanese special effects shows, mostly superheroes) could have never imagined the access we’d have to these programs today. Back then official releases of anything outside of the American adaptations, particularly Power Rangers, seemed like a far off dream. However in the past few years especially there’s been a slow trickle of Toku shows becoming available to stream in North America.
In the last few months though that trickle became a waterfall as several new services have quickly become mainstays, finally allowing Toku fandom to finally enjoy their favorite shows legally. This also allows more casual fans a chance to experience these shows for the first time and that’s who this guide is mostly for. If you’re curious about the wider world of Tokusatsu and need a place to start, this guide should cover your bases for the many kinds of Toku series out there.
Just as a note, we are only discussing shows that are legally available. This also isn’t a comprehensive list. Many of the streaming services mentioned below have multiple Toku series available, we’re just picking a small sample. With that in mind, let’s dive into this ocean of Toku, shall we?
Kamen Rider (1971)
Available on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout Factory TV/tubi/Pluto)
The release that shocked and delighted Toku fans, the original series in the long running Kamen Rider franchise may be old but that doesn’t detract from its enjoyment. This is Toku in its purest form. Incredible fights, trippy special effects, bizarre monsters, and a strikingly bleak backstory for the main character.
Hongo Takeshi is kidnapped by the evil Shocker and transformed against his will into a cyborg. Worrying if his humanity is intact, Hongo still fights for justice as Kamen Rider. It may seem simplistic in our modern age of superheroes but there’s something enduringly appealing about Hongo’s quest to stop evil despite the wrongs that were inflicted on him.
Plus, come on, you can’t beat those trumpets that come in for damn near every music number. Highly recommend if you’re down for old school heroics or just want to enjoy some trippy 70’s TV.
Zyuranger (1992)
Available on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout Factory TV/tubi/Pluto)
Many people reading this are no doubt aware of Power Rangers, especially the original Mighty Morphin series. If you want to rock your world, you gotta check out the Super Sentai series Zyuranger. It’s as far from MMPR as you can imagine, with a team of dinosaur-evolved humans from 170 million years ago brought into the present day.
Read more
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Power Rangers and How It Adapted From Super Sentai
By Shamus Kelley
TV
TokuSHOUTsu: Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Super Sentai Coming to Streaming
By Shamus Kelley
The differences between it and MMPR will be the main draw for most and as you watch the series you’ll be impressed just how much the producers of Power Rangers were able to take this footage and remold it for America.
Ultraman Mebius
Available on TOKU
You can’t do a list about Tokusatsu without giving love to one of the big three, Ultraman. While the franchise’s original series sadly isn’t streaming (but you’ll be able to soon), you can’t go wrong with the 40th anniversary season Ultraman Mebius. Following the adventures of the rookie Mebius, the Ultra comes to Earth and joins up with the attack team (hilariously out of context) named GUYS. Mebius, GUYS, and even a few characters from past Ultraman series, fight off giant monsters attacking Earth.
Read more
TV
The Challenge of Bringing Ultraman to America
By Shamus Kelley
Comics
Marvel Reveals Ultraman Details
By Shamus Kelley
Both a great introduction for new fans and rewarding for long time Ultra fans, Mebius is a fantastic show to jump headfirst into the hero that’s larger than life.
Garo
Available on HiDive
If you want something off the beaten path of the big three Tokusatsu franchises, Garo might be right up your alley. Feeling a bit darker than other Toku (and not just because much of the action taking place at night or in darker spaces), the series follows Makai Knight Kouga Saezima attempting to protect humanity against the evil “Horrors.” Along the way though he encounters Kaoru, who is set to die in 100 days, and he sets out to try and save her.
Everything from the look of the series to the designs of the Garo suit feel different from Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman and if you aren’t feeling the more traditional vibe of those series Garo might be right up your alley. It’s also the first in a very long and surprising franchise so if you like it, there’s a lot more to get into.
Space Sheriff Gavan
Available on Toei Tokusatsu World Official
The first of the not as often remembered Metal Heroes franchise (although some of the series in it were adapted into VR Troopers and Beetleborgs), Gavan stands out for just how wild it is from the jump. Sure there’s the story about Don Horror (wonder if he’s a bad guy!) trying to destroy Earth and Retsu Ichijouji (Gavan) being sent out to stop him but that’s all icing on the cake.
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American Tokusatsu Shows: VR Troopers
By Shamus Kelley
TV
American Tokusatsu Shows: Big Bad Beetleborgs
By Shamus Kelley
Metal Heroes have a reputation for bonkers visuals along with great action and Gavan delivers in spades. From the opening seconds of the first episode we’re greeted with Gavan standing atop a robot dragon standing against a gloriously lush background of outer space. Lead actor Kenji Ohba is also stunning in his action scenes and he puts even the superheroes of today to shame with just how good he is in these hand-to-hand fights.
Love action? Love weirdness? Want to be cool and not go with the obvious choices? Gavan might be for you!
Android Kikaider
Available on Toei Tokusatsu World
An absolute smash hit in Hawaii that’s still talked about to this day, Kikaider is more classic ’70s Toku action if Kamen Rider wasn’t enough for you. Following the heroics of robot Jiro against the (obviously) evil DARK, the main draw of the series is not just the delightfully over the top action but also the compelling conflict between Kikaider and evil robot Hakaider.
We should also mention that while the first two episodes of all series on Toei Tokusatsu World are subtitled, further episodes that will be uploaded won’t have them and it’s being left up to fans to subtitle the rest. Even without subtitles though, Kikaider’s action should more than keep your attention.
Dynaman (Night Flight Dub)
Available on Night Flight Plus
Easily the strangest entry on this list, Night Flight’s Dynaman isn’t just the seventh entry in the Super Sentai series. Oh no, it’s a little known dub of the show that aired on USA Network’s Night Flight program in the ’80s. It’s a gag dub through and through and mostly relies on pop culture jokes and (and we’re being generous here) outdated humor.
Still, it’s a peek into one of the earliest examples of Toku being brought to America on a large scale. For that alone it’s worth checking out, especially for those interested in the history of Toku in America and exploring the “what if” of imagining this getting popular instead of Power Rangers.
Gridman The Hyper Agent
Available on TOKU
Bold proclamation to make, but Gridman has the absolute best design of any Tokusatsu hero ever. It takes what worked well enough for Ultraman but added extra detail in all the right places to create a truly iconic look for a hero.
Gridman follows three hip computer kids (Naoto, Ippei, and Yuka) whose videogame superhero is taken over by the interdimensional Gridman who then combines with Naoto. The computer hero fights against the digital monsters of the evil Kahn Digifer in some of the best looking fights of all the series we’ve mentioned. Some shows might have better action overall but the look of the computerized world of Gridman can’t be beat.
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American Tokusatsu Shows: Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
By Shamus Kelley
TV
SSSS. GRIDMAN Episode 1 Review: Awakening
By Shamus Kelley
The show may look familiar to some American fans as its footage was used in Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. Gridaman also experienced a revival in the form of the SSSS.GRIDMAN anime, which redid some of the concepts of the original series with a few easter eggs to Syber-Squad for very hardcore fans.
Special Rescue Exceedraft
Available on Toei Tokusatsu World Official
Look, I’m going to be real with you. I’ve only seen the first two episodes of Exceedraft. I have no idea if the whole series is good. What I can tell you though is that the first episode is straight up the most batshit wild episode of any Toku I’ve ever seen. It’s like if someone took the plot of Speed and said:
“Aha, let’s do this but condense it down to 20 minutes, add in some shiny superheroes, and make it way more intense.”
Also, the title of the episode is “The Kindergarten Bus of Death.” Just watch it. If you watch nothing else on this list, watch this episode. It’s Toku on, well, speed and it’s fantastic.
Jetman
Available on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout Factory TV/tubi/Pluto)
What if Super Sentai, but a soap opera? It’s not that Tokusatsu had never had soap opera elements before or after this series, but Jetman took that idea to a level that’s still being talked about today. When Red Ranger Ryuu’s partner is killed in an attack by the (say it with us now) evil Vyram, the powerful “Birdonic Waves” are unleashed on four unsuspecting civilians. Ryuu recruits them and they become the Jetman team.
With strong characterization from the start, Jetman stands out by jumping into the romance between team members as Ryuu struggles with his growing attraction to White Ranger Kaori. It’s standard soap opera stuff, with a love triangle thrown in for good measure (which would have been better if Kaori was given more agency), but if you love those tropes then Jetman might be the series for you.
As we said earlier, this is only a small sampling of some of the shows available on streaming sites in North America. What are some of your favorite Tokusatsu series that are available to watch and which ones do you hope are picked up in the future?
The post Tokusatsu Streaming Guide: Where to Watch Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and More appeared first on Den of Geek.
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Goretober Day 8- Obsession
Man, I’m like...double late. Well, better late that never! And hopefully the nest ones should be short to balance all this out. This is one of the prompts that specifically made me choose this list! I had an idea ahead of time and I’m glad I was able to use it.
Today I’m using Zappa and S-ko! Though not in the way you might expect. In a sense, this is kinda-sorta an AU based on Misery (I hate Stephen King, but Kathy Bates is a phenomenal actress and the film was excellent) with a few differences. Hopefully you like how it turned out! I’m going to bed!
Cold.
Everything was cold, and everything hurt.
Why did it hurt? He couldn’t think. It was hard to see. There was nothing but white.
And cold.
And Pain.
He’d been...where had he been? What had he been doing? Why was he outside in the first place? The storm was supposed to be-
The storm. The blizzard. He’d been trying to drive home after the powerlines fell down and knocked out all the electricity. They couldn’t do any computer work without power.
But he was supposed to have been going home, why wasn’t-
The ground seemed to open up underneath him before he could answer the question. It dumped him out into something soft, but somehow even more blisteringly cold. He would have recoiled from the sensation, but he felt too tired and and it hurt too much to move.
Something warm brushed his side, so foreign and odd from everything else that he wondered if it was really there. He didn’t have much time to think about it, however. The world seemed to decide that he’d spent enough time awake for the time being and pitched him headfirst into unconsciousness. He wasn’t sure if it was an annoyance or a relief.
++++++
Zappa awoke to a similar white, but this one wasn’t freezing cold. Actually, he felt quite warm and comfortable where he was. His head was still swimming and something was throbbing in pain, but it all felt so much more bearable when it wasn’t so cold out.
A smear of something ash-black edged into his vision. It was difficult to discern at first, but as he blinked to clear his vision, it turned into long, dark hair, framing the face of a person that he definitely didn’t know.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Zappa stiffened up in panic. The stranger took note of it, and pressed a hand gently against his chest.
“Easy, there. You’re okay.” It was a woman’s voice, quiet but slightly raspy. “Your car crashed nearby, but I pulled you out of it. You’re safe with me.”
It wasn’t much to go off of, but she certainly seemed kind. Not that he could do much in his current state anyway. He dragged himself up to sit on the bed she’d put him in. One arm felt tender as he put pressure on it, and he found the whole limb wrapped up in bandages.
“Popped your wrist right out of place.” The woman explained. She reached over to pull the blanket back, and he winced at the sight. Though it had been splinted up and mostly bandaged over, his right leg was still twisted oddly, and the white fabric was soaked through in a few spots. “Banged this up pretty badly, too. But I think the concussion’s eased up, and for the state your car was in, I’d say you’re pretty lucky to have made out with just that. Don’t worry, though. I’m a nurse, I know how to handle this kind of thing.”
She seemed to have thought of everything. Zappa couldn’t help but be impressed. “Thank you very much for your help, I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”
“It’s no problem at all! I’m glad I could help you out.”
“You’re very kind, ma’am.” He smiled gratefully. “Um, I guess I should introduce myself, I’m-”
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me! I already know!” She cut him off, expression growing giddy.
“Huh?”
“You’re Zappa! The famous paranormal researcher! How could I not know who you are?”
Zappa felt his face going red. “I-I’m not, really-”
“Oh, don’t be so modest! I’ve read every single one of your monographs and dissertations, you’re amazing!” The woman was practically bouncing in her seat. “My name is Sadako Yamamura, and I’m your number-one fan!”
“Y-you’re too kind.” He turned away in embarrassment. “I-I just write theoretical stuff. It’s not really as interesting as practical magic-”
“But your theories are just so well-detailed!” Sadako shook her head. “I’ve never seen a writing style like yours, everything is so organized, and you think of things that nobody else would ever think of! I’ve never understood anyone else so well since I read your texts!” She clasped her hands together. “So really, it’s an honor for me to be able to take care of you! I feel like such a lucky woman to be able to meet you at all!”
He’d gone absolutely tomato-red, burying his face in his hand. Sadako giggled quietly. “Oh dear, don’t make yourself faint. Would you like some water? Or some soup? I’m sure you’re hungry…”
Sadako seemed like a very kind woman. Zappa found himself warming up to her as she milled around making lunch. She seemed the chatty type, which was a tad odd, considering that she seemed to share the house only with herself.
“It’s not all that lonely.” She said, stirring a pot on the stove. “It might be a quiet place, but the scenery is very beautiful. I like the snow.”
He stared out the window with a little frown, watching the blizzard continue to rage on outside. “I can’t imagine it would be safe to try and drive anywhere.”
The woman shook her head. “Afraid not. I think the phone lines got knocked down, too. I can't seem to get a call to anywhere.” Her expression grew dismayed, until she put a smile back on. “But that’s okay. You can stay here and rest up until the roads are clean.”
The idea of being stuck where he was felt worrying, but she did have a point. The weather was far too bad to try and go anywhere, and it would be a death sentence to try. He’d barely made it out the first time, he didn’t need to press his luck at all.
Something warm settled into his lap. Sadako sat down in the chair next to his bed, carrying a bowl of her own.
“I hope you like tomato!”
++++++
Zappa had been very lucky to end up where he was, staying in the home of someone so kind. Miss Sadako seemed ready and willing to do anything he could have asked for, and even more than that. Not that he would have, he was a guest, after all. But she seemed insistent to do an extremely thorough job in looking after him. Every day, she checked the bones, redid the bandages, checked his temperature, offered painkillers, tossed on more clean blankets, and gave any sort of assistance that she could manage, whether he asked for it or not.
That...seemed to be the only problem he could name. He couldn’t help but be slightly distubed at her lack of a sense of personal space. Complaining felt rude, but Sadako had to reservations in patting his hand, ruffling his hair, or looking over the injured limbs without much of a warning. Maybe that’s just how people were around here? It didn’t seem impossible, but it also didn’t do anything about the uneasy feeling it gave him.
At least he was able to take his mind off of it by discussing paranormal theories. Sadako was a bit of a casual theorist- which he’d only been able to barely make out in between her praises of him. The blizzard had lightened, but the roads were still covered in snow and any attempts to make a phone call accomplished nothing, so they’d opted to try and stay occupied until then. His arm had healed up a bit and the swelling had gone down, so he could hold a pencil and sketch out some diagrams while they conversed.
“It’s all still theoretical, mind you, but it is very possible that the Backyard is not a fully separate dimension as we’ve thought up until now. Instead,” he sketched out a few new lines on the sheet of paper, and held it up for her to see, “I’m wondering if it’s, in a sense, overlaid over the world we’re in now, just sort of ‘adjacent’ to our reality, close enough that it can interact with ours but we can’t visually experience it the majority of the time.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant!” Sadako clapped her hands. “You’re really brilliant! I never could have thought of that, not in a million years!”
“I-I’m sure you could have.” Zappa replied. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. Besides, I can’t prove anything yet…”
“‘Not yet,’ though! I’m sure a genius like you will figure everything out super-quick!”
He wanted to insist that he really wasn’t as bright as she was giving him credit for. But the feeling of a hand sliding over his made him stiffen up.
“Zappa,” Sadako said, “what do you think of me?”
That took him even more off-guard. “You seem like an incredibly kind woman, a very clever one, too.”
She seemed unsatisfied with his answer. “What do you think of that, though? Do you like that in a woman?”
Realizing what she was trying to say, he blanched. “Oh. Uh, m-miss Yamamura, I barely know you. I-it’s not that I dislike you, or anything. I’m just not exactly doing the whole ‘dating’ thing right now.”
It was enough to get her to calm down, though it didn’t diminish the suspicious look in her eyes. “I’m not sure I understand. Have you met someone already, or…?”
“Well, yeah, actually.” He smiled sheepishly. “I’ve got a boyfriend at home. His name’s Randy.”
“Oh.” Sadako replied, stiffening up. “I-I didn’t realize you were...taken.”
Zappa waved her down. “Hey, it’s alright. I tend to keep my personal stuff to myself, nothing wrong with you. I just hope he’s not too worried about me…”
She laughed again, quietly, shaking off her embarrassment. “Haha, I’m sorry, that was silly of me. Got a bit in over my head. It’s everyone’s dream to fall in love with their idol, y’know? I wasn’t really thinking.”
He’d thought that would have been the end of it. If Sadako had gotten the hint, she would have backed off on all the touching and learned to respect boundaries a bit better.
That was wishful thinking.
“Alright, easy...have you got your balance?”
Zappa wobbled awkwardly on a pair of crutches, trying to figure out how to orient himself so he could take a hop forward. Sadako had insisted that he at least try it out, to see if he could manage enough of an impromptu walk while his leg was finishing up on healing.
“I’m not sure if I can get this.” He admitted, trying to find a way to keep balance to he could swing his arms. “H-how do I- ah- !”
A familiar pair of warm hands caught him before he could fall. “Gotcha. Are you alright?”
With a bit of maneuvering, Zappa managed to stand up again. “I’m fine. Thank you for…”
Though he’d managed to stand up straight again, Sadako didn’t let go. Actually, he could feel her touch sliding across his skin. Her hand came to rest on his side, sliding down a bit too low for his liking.
“Your hand, can you put it a bit higher?
Her eyes shone with innocence. “Hmm?”
“Sadako.” Zappa snapped. “Please stop touching me.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry.”
He watched her let go, then step away to stand across from him. “Okay, let’s try this again, alright?”
That seemed fair. He tried adjusting the crutches again. “You said the plow gave you the all-clear, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. The phone lines still aren’t quite functional, but the roads are safe.”
“Excellent. Does that mean I can go home today?”
Sadako flinched as if he had just slapped her across the face. “What?”
Zappa tilted his head. “It’s been a long time. If I can’t call them, then nobody knows where I am right now. I’m sure Randy and my co-workers are worried about where I am.”
She took a step closer. “Y-you don’t have to leave already, you’re still not well yet! You- uh, you shouldn’t go out like this! I’m sure we’ll be able to send a call soon, you can tell them you’re staying- !”
“Sadako.” He hardened his tone. “I appreciate your kindness, and I don’t mind compensating you for it. But I want to go home. It’s alright if you don’t want to go the entire way, but can you at least drive me to the nearest police precinct?”
After several moments, she slumped over in defeat. “Alright, I can do that. Let’s...let’s head out this afternoon, okay? I’ll make lunch, and then I can drive you home.”
Zappa finally let his expression soften. “Thank you, Sadako.”
By the time he had managed a few steps on the crutches, she called him in for food. Vegetable soup and bread, both steaming warm.
“It really was a pleasure to be able to get to know you, Zappa.” Sadako seemed to have cheered up a little. “Not everyone gets to meet the people they admire, and I guess it’s pretty rare to have your idol be an amazing person in real life, too. It really means a lot just have been able to meet you.”
He still felt a bit averse after what had happened before. “I’m glad I was able to live up to your expectations. I’ve never met a fan before.”
“How’s the soup? It’s a new recipe I’m trying.”
It was very good. He hadn’t been especially hungry in the first place, but the taste made it hard to stop eating it. “It’s delicious. Can I ask what you put in it?”
“Not really anything special,” she said. “Garlic, bay leaves, bit of…”
Anything after that faded into incoherency. Zappa braced himself against the table with one hand, feeling an odd dizziness suddenly strike him. The walls shifted, threatening to knock him out of his chair if he couldn’t stay balanced.
“Zappa?” Sadako’s voice was somewhere in the distance. “What’s wrong?”
Everything was on fire. Oh god, he was burning alive! The heat of the soup had been comforting, but it had spiked into a blazing pain all the way down, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to gasp for air or simply throw everything back up.
The heat and dizziness was overwhelming. He could just barely recognize that he’d fallen out of the chair and hit the floor before he blacked out.
++++++
The feeling of warm softness was familiar. The world still felt too hot, and when he finally managed to peel back sticky eyelids, the room was blurry.
“Are you awake?”
The voice sent a shot of ice directly into his spine. Zappa tried to sit up, but he found that he lacked the energy to do so, and he immediately sank back down, whimpering in the intense heat.
“Easy, there.” Something cold brushed his cheek, and Sadako’s face came into view. “You gave me quite a scare, passing out at lunch like that. You feel so warm, can you tell me where it hurts?”
It hurt everywhere. But when he opened his mouth to speak, all that came out was a sticky, incoherent sound of pain.
“Oh no,” she cooed, with the same saccharine tone that he was all-too-familiar with, “poor dear. I guess the food must not have agreed with you. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that you’re nice and healthy before you go home. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you. You mean a lot to me, you know...”
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Nightfall
Shaxx walked the darkened tower, a restlessness had stolen over him as he slept. Dreams loaded like dice had spun through his head, every time he had broken free of one another took its place. These weren't nightmares, or old glories. These were lust, craving a fight of a different nature, another form of conquest. He had left his signature armor in his spartan quarters, just another wandering guardian tonight.
A hand reached from the dark, grabbing his shoulder. Shaxx reacted, grabbing the wrist, pulling and then twisting he drove this sneaking foe into the wall of the alleyway where he had been lurking. In the dark, a voice.
"Well alright, I can see someone isn't a big fan of being touched." came the rough voice of the Drifter. "If you mean to break my arm, do you mind mind doin it already? I don't wanna be here all night."
Shaxx realized he had the drifter up on his toes, looking back at him with a dangerous eye and no smile on his scarred face. Shaxx pushed him harder into the recess, against the wall. It was late, but even if it had been busy, the Drifter wasn't a man who would ever call out for help. Shaxx's blood pounded in his ears. He could break this man, this gambler. He felt himself stirring at the thought. No, he wasn't out to fight tonight. This wasn't a clash, this was a conquest.
Shaxx reached roughly between the drifter and the wall, pulling loose the buckles of his trousers. His hand found the Drifter, rising to the challenge. He pulled the drifter free of his confines, feeling the man's pulse steady and strong in his palm. A worthy adversary perhaps.
"Easy there friend, you sure you can handle that much firepower?" the Drifter said, eye warily trying to look back at his captor. In response Shaxx kicked his left knee, pulling the man's hips back, exposing the top of a muscled backside as he did so. Careful to keep the drifter pinned to the wall, he let go of his captives arousal to free his own.
With a soft, meaty slap his member fell fully across the rise of the drifters ass. He was struggling carefully against Shaxx, but he could find no give in his iron grip. The second he felt the other man against him, he paused.
"Oh, now that feels more like a cannon than the sidearm I was expecting." came the drifters gruff, slightly muffled response to the girth of Shaxx falling on his exposed backside. "You uh, sure you know what you're doing?"
Shaxx shut the other man up by jamming two gauntlet clad fingers into his mouth. To his credit, the Drifter didn't even flinch. He just rolled his tongue over the fingers, his visible eye still dangerous in the moonlight. Shaxx took his well lubricated fingers, and slid them down the pale crevice of the Drifters ass. Shaxx kicked his legs a little wider, the man wasn't just going to roll over it seemed. Working his fingers into the Drifter, he felt himself stiffen further.
"Well if you won't talk, fine. But don't leave a brother out in the cold.". Somehow, even jammed against a wall with two fingers in his ass, the Drifter managed to sneer at his captor. Shaxx punched him in the mouth, twice. A split lip didn't seem to faze him, but it did shut him up. Shaxx guided his throbbing, aching manhood between the Drifters now spit slicked cheeks until he felt the soft ring of him twitching on his tip.
Grabbing the Drifter by his cock, he pulled the other man back, impaling him fully. Neither man spoke. This wasn't a space for words, this was a space for the sounds of warfare. Of bodies meeting in the dark, the soft rustle of cloth and the dull tap of buckles and armor. The soft grunts of heroic struggle as both men sought to dominate the other. Shaxx's free hand worked the Drifters steely member, as the drifters free hand helped hold them both up on the wall.
Shaxx's breath came in hot, heavy bursts. He wasn't some rookie going all out, he had a rhythm to his movements, he was here to win. The Drifter could feel each impact down to the soles of his boots as this large, silent stranger bore down on him. No one gets the better of Old Drifter, so he started to fight back. Rolling his ass back, forward, back again in time with Shaxx's thrusts, combat was well and truly joined.
A stranger walking by would be greeted with a view to one of the greatest fights the city has had since the red legion struck. A monolithic Titan locked in a deadly struggle with the Drifter himself. Sweat sheened the exposed skin of both men, the smell of it mixing with the smell of precum and raw, throbbing manhood. The tides of battle had shifted, the hip rolling of the Drifter had his assailant losing rhythm. He could feel the other man thickening, twitching erratically inside him.
"What's the matter," he said with a thick, rough voice, "start a fight you cant-" he was abruptly silenced as the bigger man released his arm, and literally turned him over on his still throbbing cock. The other man had the Drifters legs over his arms, and that rock hard prick inside him was roughing up a really hot spot. His eyes widened slightly.
"Oh shit."
He felt the other man power into him, once, twice, three times to the hilt before wave after hot, thick wave poured inside his well abused ass. At the same time, his own lust burst forth, shining ropes covering the gauntlet around his cock, staining his attackers chest plate in abstract arcs. Neither man moved, both breathing hard, both realizing it had come to a draw.
Shaxx's half hard cock slipped free of the Drifter with a soft pop. He let the other man down slowly, his blood cooling brought the full realization of what had just happened crashing down on him. The Drifter took to his feet with ease, quickly snapping everything back into place. The Drifter had nothing to say, no quip or harsh remark. He eyed the silent Titan for a moment, before leaving the little alcove and walking away. Shaxx quickly redid his own trousers, using a fistful of leaves he scrubbed the Drifter from his chest plate and gauntleted fist.
He made his way back to his quarters, carefully making sure no one had followed him. A guardian passing by paused, turning to adress him, "Radiolarian fluids can corrode some armor. You might want to scrub your plate before you turn in.". Shaxx looked down to see the faintest traces of semen still shining on his armor. He nodded, and the warlock who had stopped to help him nodded before wandering off.
Once back in his own room, Shaxx quickly stripped off the extra armor and set to breaking it down. He couldn't risk wearing it ever again. Sure there was a million more like it around, but that small fact wasn't enough to save it. He destroyed the gloves, chest plate. As he dismantled the trousers, a small jade token fell to the floor. One of drifters coins. How had that...
Shaxx was interrupted by a knock at the door. He keyed it open in just the helmet, knowing exactly who it would be. The Drifter gave him an appreciative once over with those hard, dangerous eyes, before pulling a bottle and two small glasses from behind his back with a flourish.
"I don't do unfinished business, and brother, have we got business to finish tonight." he said, a dark smile playing over his face.
The door closed on an empty hallway.
War had come to the new tower. And brother, was it going to be a big one.
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Do the hustle.
Happy Monday!
You’re back! Wow. Thank for visiting again.
This week I want to switch gears a little bit from dating to lifestyle. I’m allowed to do that since I am the author of this blog. You can't stop me.
So.. incase some of you aren’t aware we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Crazy, I know. Honestly though, this has been the wildest ride of my life. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be unable to work for 3 months due to a deadly virus that is still killing thousands of people daily worldwide. There are MULTIPLE times a day where I catch myself saying “oh right.. Covid” about almost everything and I feel like we’re STILL catching up in some ways at work.
Being a business owner throughout Covid has probably been my biggest struggle. Until March - I have never laid off an employee. All of a sudden I had to lay off my whole staff? Talk about paperwork. And boy.. do I HATE paperwork. Somehow though, it got done.. and then, I was left with the rest of the 3 months to figure out what to do with myself.
For those out there who DON’T know me - downtime is really not my thing.
“Busy” had become my answer when people asked me how I was.
“Busy” was what made me feel successful.
“Busy” was honestly what was defining me without even knowing it.
So in true Laura fashion - I made myself busy in the confines of my tiny home. I redid my kitchen, I painted my living room.. I painted my bedroom... I redid my bathroom vanity.. and listened to about 358739 episodes of My Favourite Murder. Throughout it all, I learned an average amount about painting cabinets and a lot about murder investigation tactics.
That took me about 2-3 weeks.
Then... the existential dread set in.
What the fuck was I going to do with myself when I wasn't even supposed to leave my house? I couldn’t be busy with the world on lockdown. I couldn’t work, I couldn’t plan a trip.. I had to sit down and live with myself and figure it out and that was some deep shit - let me tell you.
After being back to work with new COVID procedures in place, I started to see things differently.
I had to put in place time between my clients for sanitization. This meant the following:
I could not do 3 clients at once (yep.. I did that sometimes)
I could actually pee when I really, really needed to pee.
Lunch happened.. and I got to actually eat it.. maybe even warm.
Week 2 - I felt like a whole. new. WOMAN.
I like to say that owning a business but also working in that business is like having 2 full time jobs. For me - one of those was always suffering. I was too busy with clients to get on top of my paperwork - or I was so stressed about catching up on my paperwork that I zoomed through the day barely paying attention to what I was doing and praying for a pocket of time to get it all done.
Guys.. that is no way to live.
I realized after another week how much LESS stress I felt at work. Because I had time. Because my days were spaced and not so congested that I barely spoke to my co workers. Because I didn't give myself a bladder infection holding my pee all day. I didn’t feel like CRYING at the end of my day because I was so tired but still didn't get a bunch of stuff done. I kept waiting for the feeling to creep back in but it hasn’t.. because I changed the way I was doing things.
Everywhere you look right now people are telling you that you need a side hustle apart from your regular hustle.. and maybe even a side side hustle if you just wanna be that boss ass bitch.
Newsflash - you can be a boss ass bitch without being hustled to death.
This whole experience has taught me the value of work/life balance. It has shown me how much more I can enjoy my work when I take the time to actually be present (and that's a big thing because I already truly DID love what I do). Most of all I’ve realized that I don’t have to be fucking busy all the time. It doesn’t make me better. It just makes me tired.
After owning and working in my business for almost 11 years - I’m ready to put myself first. I still want to be there everyday. I still want to see clients and do hair and love my job. I just want to do it in a better way for me so that I can be better for others and honestly, mostly for myself.
Did you guys experience any major changes throughout this?! I’d love to know!
See ya next Monday!
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Good news and Bad news!
Ahoy there! It’s been awhile since you’ve heard from us, we’ve been very quiet on here since trouble began.
Thank you for sticking around, we have really lovely fans, I don’t know what we did to deserve you all!
I have good news, and I have bad news, I’ll give you the bad news first. We are putting Upsilon Circuit into the “Cupboard of Lost Games” indefinitely.
The good news is that we aren’t giving up, and have a new game we’ve been working on called Super Tony Land that brings some elements of UC with it. ..But more on that later.
It was incredibly hard to write anything about UC. It’s been nearly a year since we initially halted production, but it still makes my chest tighten up thinking about it all. It took me 6 tries, but I did my best to write this, because I feel like I owe everyone the best explanation I can muster. I tried to really be open, because so often game cancellations offer very little real information.
Since this was a 3 year journey, it’s a long tale, so get comfortable!
The concepts for UC grew from a small idea we had because I really enjoyed watching people livestream our (then) newly released game Legend of Dungeon. It grew into an exploration of mortality in games, and so much more. We loved and still love all the things that UC was supposed to become.
So, if we loved it, then why did it get cancelled?
If passion was all it took, I’m sure many other games would exist. Money, time, and luck seem to be big factors based on what we’ve seen and experienced. And the bigger your project, the more you need of each.
It was an incredibly ambitious project for the two of us. We knew failure was very possible, and I’m proud that we tried anyway.
Why did UC fail?
The oversimplified answer would be that the scope of the game was too ambitious and we underestimated the time and money needed. In reality, for any project, there are many things that can go wrong that influence these things.
As with anything, it’s.. ..complicated. But the big troubles for us were: Scope, pushing beyond our capabilities, jumping into a partnership for funding, and overwhelming stress.
The scope:
UC’s concept had many game elements highly intertwined and reliant on each other, so cutting features without changing the functionality and direction of UC was impossible. It was also difficult to explain fully to people, including our team.
Pushing beyond our capabilities:
We are just two self taught indie game devs. To make UC, we hired people, signed with a partner/incubator near the end, and then managed a large team, all for the first time.
In hindsight, these were things that we not only didn’t know how to do well, but also made the two of us very miserable.
Jumping into a partnership:
Instead of scaling the project back when we realized our money would run out long before release, we pushed ourselves harder and kept going, and eventually signed with a partner to help fund the last leg of UC’s journey.
Signing with a partner or publisher and bringing in a larger team are very normal things to do in the industry. However.. they were entirely new to the both of us. Learning (about setting and meeting Milestones, dealing with various issues, and managing a large team) on such a complex project turned out to be very bad for us and UC. No one really did anything markedly wrong, but nothing seemed to go the way it was supposed to. Which in part led to the next point..
The overwhelming stress:
New to running a team stress. New to having partners stress. Crowdfunding stress. Partners pulling out mid failing crowdfunding stress. Having to tell a team “sorry and goodbye” stress. So much stress.
We felt like we had something that could change the gaming world forever, and we were so passionate about it. When things went belly up in the third year, the emotional hit was debilitating.
Bleh!
We really wanted to find a way to finish Upsilon Circuit anyhow, but the truth is, even if it wasn’t saddled with stress and emotional burden.. we’ve already put too much of our money into it. We can’t even support ourselves for long enough to complete a game this big right now.
Looking back on it all now, it’s hard not to feel like we were making a game that the world didn’t want. We knew that it was an out there idea, but that was why we felt that making UC was so important.
We knew publishers wanted something less experimental and risky.. But it was a bit surprising when the gaming community showed so little interest, since articles about UC had reached millions.
When we lost our partner and shut down our crowdfunding campaign, we made a Patreon, and reached out to the tens of thousands of people on our newsletter. We didn’t get enough pledges to cover the cost of our shared office space, let alone paying even one person.
While there were people who were very generous and amazing, it felt pretty terrible to see something people had seemed so excited about struggling so much to get support when it was truly needed.
When we finally shut everything down, we both thought we might never enjoy making games again. We felt like garbage. We drowned in that for a long time.
You can learn a lot from failure, and we certainly did.
Things we learned from our failure (your own mileage may vary):
Take the project’s timeframe, and triple it. Then triple it again.
A unique idea can add an “I need to get this out before someone else does it” feeling. Let. That. Go. No good choices were made from that feeling.
Don’t bring on full time artists or audio people until the project is really ready for them, use placeholder art and sounds, when you can. Things change, and we redid a lot of our art.
Make sure all contracts clearly state what happens if things get cancelled, or situations drastically change.
Hiring more than one or two people means managing them part time, or full time. We now know that we hate managing people, and are terrible at it.
No matter how smart and awesome your team is, if you can’t get someone 100% behind your idea, your project will suffer.
Having a partner or publisher is a lot like having a boss while also being a boss. Some people like it, but we will likely stay indie or die trying.
Don’t sacrifice your own well being or happiness for a dream. Yes, we’ve sacrificed a lot in the past, we lived in a tree house in the woods so we could keep making games before. But there is a limit, and we found it with Upsilon Circuit, and we stubbornly ignored it and payed the price mentally.
Kittens make things a lot better.
If we had it all to do over again it would have been a very different game, but maybe we could have finished it, or at least avoided some of the worst moments.
So what now?
It’s been a year, and after many conversations, we have found no solutions for bringing back UC. ..But we have healed a little, so we are taking the ideas, story and world, and building them into our future games
We started working on a new game called Super Tony Land this year, and it will be part of UC’s legacy in its own way.
Super Tony Land is a physics platforming adventure game that has many worlds, a story, and easy access to user created levels and entire game worlds. Imagine if Cave story, Mario Maker, and Besiege had a dynamically lit baby.
In Upsilon Circuit the story was something we wanted the players to unfold and influence.. To give creation to the audience, experience it ourselves, and encourage Streamer/audience connectivity. To give real power to the players.
For Super Tony Land we’ve designed an extensive level editor, with visual programming blocks and NPC/Story tools. Anyone can build worlds or challenges in the free editor that we will be releasing alongside the game. We hope that communities and content creators will build and share their own universes, and we are looking forward to playing them!
Here’s the teaser trailer we just released!
youtube
If you’ve been with us for the long haul, you might notice that this is actually a sequel to Tiny Plumbers!
This new game won’t be a lot of things that UC was, but it will be the game that the two of us made that helped us remember how important making games is to us.
It will be available on Steam this spring!
That’s about it for news!
Both of us are thankful to our team during UC’s development, and to our community and friends that have been there encouraging and supporting us throughout this journey.
We will keep doing our best to make the games we want to see exist, for as long as we are able to make games.
Here are a few links you might want:
If you want to stay up to date on all things RLK, jump on Twitter!
If you want to chat with us or catch streams we have Discord
If you want to support development we have our RLK Patreon here
Thanks for your continued support and understanding!
Your co-pilot,
Kitty
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Buried Under the Aching Tree 1/2
Back when I was a baby and still writing a lot of DF stuff and my Hero OC stand in, I had a whole side story just about Ty’s sword, it’s name, what the details on it meant and so forth. But then I got tired, busy, and the whole thing felt over the top but, it’s October now. I redid it to de-stress a bit (and fill in the rest of the plot outline since I didn’t finish it seven years ago either. God of course it took me seven years to almost finish something).
Tbh, I reworked it so much that it’s more about Ash and Artix now.
Summary: Ash learns about his friend’’s sword, a relic passed through a million hands but never through a family. That and what it’s like to be possessed by a single feeling.
Accustomed to the Hero’s little giveaways, Ash grabbed the hilt of Ty’s sword before she could plunge it into the farmer’s chest.
“He’s not a thief anymore!” Ash yelled, having to dig his heels into the ground to keep Ty’s sword from getting stuck between the farmer’s ribs. Ty let go to make sure Ash wouldn’t hurt himself and the boy stumbled back, sword in hand.
The farmer in question was shivering so hard, his skin was likely to peel itself off and all Ty was doing was smiling. No smile lines around her eyes; just this mechanical lifting of the corner of her mouth.
Turning to Ash, that grin shrank into a sheepish bit lip and raised shoulders.
“Did it look like I was going to hurt him?” Ty asked, an eye half closed in a wince as though Ash’s yelp had physically hit her. “Oopsie, I was only trying to scare him. I promise!”
Typically, if you were intending on hurting someone, scaring them came with the package.
“Ty…” Ash stood back, fixing a scolding glare he didn’t really know how to make. He tried to think about his mom giving him a hard telling to when he drank milk straight out of the bucket.
Shrugging and turning her hands over, Ty’s expression loosened into a scowl and her eyes rolled, coming to rest on the farmer.
“Don’t you remember this jackhole?” Ty kept the language clean for Ash. “He broke into your camp, took your gold, and your clothes so you couldn’t leave your tent for days!”
“I mean yeah, you didn’t need to remind me but yeah…” Ash muttered, scratching the back of his head.
Nervously, the farmer stepped towards the young man. He was half hiding behind his pitchfork which made his heavily scarred brutish face much less menacing than the first time he had met Ash.
“Funds are low this season so I’m awful sorry, I can’t give the gold back to you right now. But, you know where the farm is. After Spring comes back round, I’ll return what I stole,” He removed his hat. “Again, I’m awful sorry I did that to you and I really am trying to turn over a new leaf.”
“Honestly, I’m not angry at all. I’m glad things went right for you.” Ash said, genuinely thrilled that the thief had changed for the better. “Don’t worry about the gold.”
“Ash! Don’t let this guy off free!” Ty protested, more convinced that Warlic could drink a vat of melted wax and live than the farmer being completely reformed. “What he did was terrible! He needs to pay! When I found you, the crows were circling and it smelled like pee.“
“I know, I know!” Ash quickly cut her off. “But everything’s ok now. Look at that smile.”
The farmer smiled with all twelve of his green teeth.
“That’s a good guy!” It was okay, Ash hated going to the dentist too.
Brow creasing deeply, mirroring her scrunched grimace, Ty struggled to not break her arms crossing them so hard.
“If you say so.” Ty finally conceded, tilting her head to dodge the arrow shot at her.
For a stunned moment of silence, Ash gaped at Ty and the arrow stuck in the ground. He barely noticed the group of bandits doing the same thing.
Then, Ty began tapping her chin, examining the scruffy bandits that were slowly working their bravery back up. Brandishing some very pretty and very stolen axes and swords, the bandits were coming Ash and Ty’s way.
“Are these guys part of your old posse? Did they maybe come out here to rough you up for leaving?” Ty didn’t look at the man and see him nod. “Oh my god, you guys couldn’t have come at a better time,” She laughed, beginning to walk towards them unarmed. “When I’m done ripping your intestines out of your assholes and tying them together, they’re going straight into your mouths!”
Those bandits were shouting, half in a rage and half in true horror.
Ash didn’t approve of that wording but he was going to try helping first. Gripping Ty’s sword, Ash ran after the bandit that chickened out and was trying to get away.
“Stop!” Ash yelled, catching up to the fleeing bandit. He swung Ty’s sword and rolled on to the ground when it stayed stuck by his side. The blade had suddenly gotten incredibly heavy, squeezing Ash’s fingers white against the dirt. “Ow!”
Hearing Ash fumble, the bandit had returned, tapping his dagger on his palm.
“Huh,” He glanced towards where Ty was rearranging his fellow bandits’ faces some distance away between the trees. “We made it all the way into the woods. You think she can hear you scream over here?”
The point of the dagger flew towards Ash’s eye and gasping, Ash jumped up, lifting the sword with all of his might. It went over his head and he almost tumbled backwards from its weight but managed to keep his footing. The bandit didn’t hesitate making another stab at Ash’s belly.
Panicking, Ash blindly swung Ty’s sword and it smashed into the bandit’s rusty dagger, shattering into pieces.
“You little – AHG!” The bandit screamed, keeling over clutching his bleeding shin. Behind him, the farmer kept his pitch fork pointed at his once fellow thief.
Ash was busy staring at what was left of Ty’s beautiful sword scattered across the patchy ground to thank the farmer. He wanted to swallow the lump in his throat but it was too dry and any tiny movement made his stinging eyes hurt.
“Aw,” The bandit looked at him sympathetically. “It ain’t your fault.” Ash couldn’t hear him over the sound of footsteps coming up beside him.
“Huh,” Ty cast a wary gaze to the farmer though much softer than before. “I’m sad they passed out so quick. You doing okay here?”
“T-Ty…” His grip on the sword’s hilt shaking, Ash lifted his head to look at Ty who had noticed the shiny broken pieces of the sword her father had made for her. Her jaw hung open, hands held up in front of her chest. “I’m so--! I’m so so--!”
“Woah, Ash!” Ty clasped Ash’s shoulders, eyes all starry. “Did you break my sword? That’s so cool!”
The tears began to flow and Ty opened her mouth, shocked.
“Oh, no no no! You’re really cute when you cry!” Ty exclaimed, giving him a big hug. Ash’s tears were shooting out like bullets and Ty continued to pat his back. “Hey, you’re cuter when you’re happy so don’t worry! I’m not mad at all and this totally isn’t your fault.”
“I’ll bay de blacksmit.” Ash blubbered over Ty’s comforting, hugging her back.
“There’s already an appointment set up, I’ll just give Konnan a larger tip.”
Awkwardly, the farmer also began to pat Ash’s back. It earned him a thousand yard stare from Ty.
“Haha...I’ll go back to growing carrots.”
“Carrots? Ew,” Ty bit her tongue to keep herself from sticking it out. “No wonder you don’t have any gold.”
“Ty!” Ash exclaimed, starting to become and laugh a little at the situation.
Under Konnan’s hammer, the metal seemed to move on its own. The intricate embellishments of ivy and holly leaves that had been broken were weaving back together on the broad side of the blade. Ash stared in wonder, attributing it to magic.
Before Ash knew it, the sword was as good as new on the Smithy’s front counter.
“Don’t worry about the extra big tip. I don’t know, buy me some of Serenity’s scones tomorrow,” Konnan took off his gloves and attempted to wipe the soot off of his cheek, leaving a big streak. “I like working on your sword anyways. It makes me feel like I’m actually a master blacksmith.”
“You’re getting there fast,” Ty assured him, waiting for Ash to take his time looking at her sword before she sheathed it. “See Ash? Didn’t take any time at all.”
“That’s all thanks to the magic,” Konnan confirmed Ash’s theory. “I’m no mage but no sword can get fixed that fast. You need to tell me and Yulgar how this sword was forged. If all swords were like it…no wait, that’d put us out of a job.”
“Haha, I couldn’t let out the secret even if I tried. It’s an old antique my dad had remade,” Ty let her hand rest on the sword’s hilt. “We know a few of the stories it’s got under its belt but where it came from and who made it? Not sure and also not sure if that’s why it’s got the magic.”
“Oh well. I still would have liked to know. I’ve never seen this style of sword before,” Konnan rubbed his chin, smearing it with soot too. “And for such a well-made weapon, it has such a cutesy name. Fuukoo… Fuukoo shoes, or something,” He tapped the counter didn’t bring up the correct name. “I’ve got some other work to do so when that’s over, tell me a few of the stories.”
“Me too!” Ash jumped in, eager to hear what kind of heroic deeds pervious heroes had achieved with the enchanted sword. The young hero had only read about great swords with long histories in books. When he did see them, it was from afar with him jumping up and down in the hopes of catching a glimpse of it and its honored master pass through his village.
“No.” Ty said, flat out.
Konnan and Ash froze, though Konnan got back to moving a lot faster, evacuating the scene to busy himself by the tools in the back.
“Nah, that was a gut reaction,” Ty snaked her arm around Ash’s shoulder and lead him out of the shop. “I’ll tell you one while we walk back to my place.”
And she didn’t talk at all while they were in Falconreach. Ash tried to stammer a few things, a little flustered being hugged by the hero like that. Not to mention he had a kind of dumb grin; one that he couldn’t help make even when a few passerby definitely noticed the big ol tomato Ty was escorting out of time.
When they were on the well trekked path to the crossroads, Ty began to tell a tale.
“Long long ago, this sword fell into the hands of fledgling adventurer, who went from swinging sticks with his sister to leading a revolution in an empire wracked with civil war.” Ty started the story in a faux old lady voice to Ash’s amusement.
“The Emperor had already quashed the Empress and the Crown Prince’s rebellion. He had seemingly forgiven his wife and son for all transgressions but then, the Crown Prince died of illness. The Empress passed away of the same. Though he was grieving, the youngest son went to war before he began to suspect that his father had the Prince’s beloved brother and mother poisoned. He was, however, no war hero.”
“That adventurer was!” Ash cut in.
“And that adventurer started off strong, leading a small force of village folk against the Emperor’s men when they came to forcefully recruit them. His many string of victories brought him the Prince’s notice and he was honored with a sword from the royal treasury, a prize from a previous victory long passed. The Prince had stolen and put the weapon in better suited hands.”
Ash could picture it, the young man putting on armor that was shinier than any kind of gold or silver. He was kneeling in front of the crowned Prince on a wide grassy battlefield, knighted by the sword he would receive.
“On horseback, he drew his sword and pointed it at the sky as he charges into his first battle. An arrow strikes his horse’s leg and he skids over the dirt hard.”
The dream shattered and Ash was back on the path with Ty. She noticed his sinking glee but kept the same easy tone as she continued, holding her hands behind her back.
“That fall knocked the adventurer out and he was asleep as waves of his comrades died without his leadership. When he woke up in a panic, immediately rallying the army together, they kept dying because of his mistakes. As it seemed, the appointed champion knew his home woods best. These kinds of battles weren’t anything he’d ever prepared for before.”
Ash could picture that too. He thought of the same panic he had when Falconreach was on fire and his shouts were drowned out by the violence. Only, that hero must have had that fear magnified to a degree Ash couldn’t imagine anyone being able to think in.
“Luckily, the champion’s sister had come despite him asking her to stay behind where it was safe. She had fought beside him when the fight was on their turf and had snuck into the war camp to join him. Taking up a spear, she tied a banner to it and let the colours fly as she fought, grabbing her comrades’ attention and leading the battle to victory.”
Heart swelling, Ash was tossed back from the edge of a tragic end to the triumphant turn in the story.
“Saving the army and her brother was a story that gave the Crown Prince’s side morale. It swung the undecided to his side and the Prince decreed the two of them to be his champions. Together, they lead the armies until the army could only be led by one. That adventurer had no talent leading an army and one day, he disappeared.”
“What? Did he go back home?”
“In a sense, he did. All of a sudden, the Prince’s army was suffering losses and they had to retreat to the remaining champion’s home. They met her brother there in the flames he started. Jealous of his sister, the former champion had gone to the Emperor with all the information he needed to destroy the rebellion. He said as much when they reunited, having already killed his own parents to hurt his sister.”
As vivid as the bright sun that shone over Ash right now, the image in his head of the carnage was alight with fire.
The once bright and hopeful young boy was standing over his coughing sister. The heads of their friends and family were propped on stakes all around the village as it was demolished by fire and battle. In his gauntlets was the sword, more red than silver under the full moon.
‘You stole everything from me! I was the hero and you took it all away!’ Ash heard the boy’s voice when Ty quoted him.
“That was when his sword became heavy. Its weight pulled him down and it disappeared from under him, coming back when his sister plunged it into the back of his neck.”
She could have incapacitated him when the sword decided that she would be its new master. She could have taken him to face justice. In fact, she could have killed him so no one else would have been hurt.
Instead, she murdered him in cold blood, hooking the point under his skin, scraping it into his skull just for the sake of making him suffer. The sound of her brother’s messy death blocked out the chaos, veiling her in the only kind of joy she would ever feel again.
“After that, the rest of the battles were nothing special. What was special was how the remaining champion kept the head of her brother chained to her belt. With the sword, she mowed the Emperor’s army down with the vindictive forces who had too been enraged by the destruction of their previous lives. They were only the Crown Prince’s army in name. Once they made it to the Capital—“
The champion, alone with the Crown Prince, stormed the room where the man who ruined her life sat atop a great throne. To her horror, the Emperor stood with her sword held at his side. She found that her hands were empty and the Emperor spoke to her.
‘Do you know my story? The story of a boy with not a drop of blue blood? I stowed away on the pirate ship that destroyed the small fishing village where my family lived. Under the bloodied gold and silver was the sword I used to avenge my family. It slew hundreds of pirates, thousands of the worthless soldiers, and all of the idle nobles until the remaining bowed to me. But I wasn’t done. This sword stayed in my hands until all I knew was war. Country after country fell for no reason other than for the phantom slight I imagined they had committed against me. Even when I found a new family, they came to hate me and were taken by an enemy I couldn’t kill.”
The remaining Emperor’s Son had found out long before that his father had nothing to do with his mother and brother’s deaths. His war had been waged not for revenge but to save a country from a war mongering tyrant he loved dearly.
‘I could not raise my sword against my wife and son. I only waged war so a truly evil Emperor would not threaten the next Emperor’s reign with their shared blood. This sword could no longer be mine.’
The cursed sword reappeared in the champion’s grip, refusing to leave her hands when she tried to drop the horrid thing.
‘Promise me that when I die, you will do all that is within your power to sink the sword into the sea.’
Ash’s intense daydream ended as the silver blade rushed towards the Emperor and disappeared into his throat.
Blinded by the daylight, Ash shielded his eyes, distraught by how he had been absorbed into Ty’s story. The young hero, reminded of her presence and of their walk, staggered away from her and her cottage. In the midst of the daydream, he hadn’t noticed that they had already arrived.
“They couldn’t pry the sword out of the champion’s hands and she didn’t hesitate chopping them off. The new Emperor had it sunk in a sea that was so far away, it didn’t have a name yet,” Ty was finishing the story. “Probably would done it, promise or not. He was an honest and nice person. I’d say he would have thrown the sword away out of guilt.”
“He should have broken it!” Ash said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. How had he literally seen the scene in his head?
“Magic, remember? One of the reasons why the first champion started to get really good at fighting after he deserted was because of the sword,” Ty was treating the matter so nonchalantly that it was making Ash angry. “I brought it to the Smithy to fix it faster but if I had left it alone, the sword would have pieced itself back together on its own.”
And come back to Ty on its own.
“I could tell you some more stories,” Ty unsheathed the blade, holding it level. “There’s a bunch I know from before it met the first Champion and after it crawled out of the sea. This one was just one of my favorites.”
Ash shook his head, keeping his distance.
“Why would you have it? Why won’t you throw it away? That sword makes you obsessed with revenge!”
The moment that Ty took to think about her answer that was scarily short.
“I like it.” She put it simply.
Despite her behavior before; every single fight that Ash remembered how Ty had taken too far, he still couldn’t believe his ears.
“What?”
“What if after each war we have in Falconreach, Amityvale, the Sandsea, anywhere people we care about get hurt, the event ended and I was too tired to stand?” Ty asked. “What if the villains get away with it and hurt more of the people we care about? What if I let everyone in Falconreach stay hurt? What if I can’t bring them the justice they deserve? What if, what if, what if, right?” Ty tilted the blade and Ash could have sworn, the ivy and holly leaf markings swayed.
“This sword doesn’t make you obsessed with revenge. The people it chooses are already in love with revenge and it won’t let them forget it,” Ty gazed at the sword, as if at peace thanks to the idea it kept locked in her mind. “I have to make them pay.”
“That’s it,” Ash said, disgust clearing dripping from his voice. “Does saving people matter at that point? You’re in love with revenge because you want to make people suffer. Whether they did something bad or not doesn’t matter. You fight to protect the weak, to be a hero. Not to hurt people. You didn’t have to make people suffer! You do it because you like it.”
Ty lowered the sword, thinking of dropping it. Only thinking.
“You’re right, Ash. And I’m sorry,” Ty turned to him, a little less color in her cheeks. She smiled despite that. “I was just glad you can’t use the sword. And you deserve to know the reason why,” She turned to face her friend. “You’re a real hero, Ash.”
A beat passed, one where he tried to stop being mad. It was just that he was so disappointed and the heavy, foul mood grew over him like mold.
“I…Ty, I need to go.” He didn’t intend to say goodbye.
“I know.” Ty nodded, watching him walk back towards Falconreach.
Taking a detour was seriously unsafe when the sun was setting so low but Ash needed it. He didn’t think any monster would approach, hearing how heavy his stomping was.
In all honesty, he had no idea how to deal with being this kind of angry.
Ash tried comparing it with some other mishaps in the past, like when he dropped his sword on a noble’s foot and it cut the poor man. That was Ash’s own fault and he was angry at himself though.
Perhaps it was an over exaggeration but he tried likening this to the anger that came from Falconreach being attacked yet again. Destroyed yet again. But, they were all villains. Not any of his friends.
None of Ash’s friends would make him feel this way.
“Argh,” Ash tugged at his hair, not noticing how the orange sky had gone pitch black. Only a sliver of the moon was out now. He kept walking, going nowhere near Falconreach and into parts of Surewood he didn’t recognize.
In fact, all these trees had no leaves. Kind of like in Doomwood actually.
“Since when did the grass get gray?” Ash did a bit of a hop, startled at the mist beginning to form over the forest floor as well. “I didn’t walk that far, did I?” The panic started up and Ash frantically scanned his surroundings for anything familiar or for anything out to attack him.
If this was Doomwood and not some random patch of Surewood that caught the flu, Ash figured he could take down half a zombie if he tried very hard.
In the corner of his eye, a familiar glint caught his attention and his stomach plummeted.
Blade stuck into the ground, covered in a bed of foliage was the silver sword.
Ash rushed to it, terrified at how it was out in the open. Anyone could get their hands on it and do their worst. Anyone was likely to be a necromancer, a vampire, oh gods was Drakath out here?
What about Ty?
“I can throw it away.” Ash thought out loud. An ocean couldn’t keep it trapped but it had to have taken time to escape. Ash could toss the thing into a bottomless pit, a gully, or feed it to something nasty. Then, he could go to Warlic or Artix and find a way to actually destroy the cursed sword.
Shoulders squared in resolution, Ash trudged through the leaves. He went right up to the sword, took its gold hilt into his hand, and wrenched it from its resting place.
Blood gushed from the leaves, pulled up by the sword and splattered his shins.
Ash’s heart came to a hard stop before pounding against his ribs in sheer terror. Confused and horrified, Ash tore away at the ivy leaves, searching for anyone that could be hurt under there.
The bed was endless and the more he yanked away, the deeper it got and thorns began biting into his skin. Before he knew it, Ash had sunk into this pit, his head disappearing under the leaves.
On instinct, Ash slashed the sword through the greenery and it was as light as air. Blood pooled at his feet, draining from the vines he slashed, making the thorns glisten.
“My children were flayed,” An ivy vine wrapped around his ankle. “Who would avenge them if not I?”
“My brother accused my wife of witchcraft. She burned as I was hung,” Another voice invaded as Ash tried to cut the bindings only for his other foot to get swallowed into the gore, ankle deep. “Why was it that I had to crawl from my grave to right the wrong? Who would have avenged us otherwise?”
This was a dream. A very bad nightmare Ash was convinced he was having. He didn’t remember falling asleep but he must have and the story of that magic sword scared him so much that the thorns tearing through his armor felt real.
“A wretched King conquered my home when we showed kindness. All of my friends and family, their bones piled like trophies in the royal coffers,” A pair of hands accompanied this whisper, grabbing Ash’s hands as he attempted to remove his boot and escape. “They all had to die. All of his people. That was the only right way.”
“No!” Ash’s voice was shrill. “Let me go!” He couldn’t hear himself anymore. The couple of voices had grown to tens, to hundreds, to thousands of laughing mouths and reaching hands. The fingers that wrapped around his neck were made of steel; prosthetic limbs made for a veteran.
“Didn’t you think I had to? I had to! We have to!”
That voice was the same as the one he had imagined when Ty was telling him the story. Except, it wasn’t his imagination. The sword had long felt his mounting disappointment, and caught him in its will long before.
“Avenge their deaths.”
“For hurting me.”
“Humiliated me.”
“My future destroyed.”
Each reason was increasingly becoming frivolous; things that Ash couldn’t understand people taking lives over.
“I was the hero.” Another joined the cacophony and Ash could not escape its echo. “I wanted to be the hero. I worked so hard to be a hero. I’ve been dreaming of being a hero, a real knight for as long as I lived. She stole it from me.”
That sword fit in Ash’s hands all of a sudden. He held the sword as though it was the only thing keeping him alive. The nails digging into his lungs screamed for him to act and Ash jabbed the sword towards the source of that despicable laughter, imagining silver slicing through a neck.
“My Hero let me down.” Ash heard and it came from somewhere that was so close, it could have been inside him.
The sky was orange again, tinged with the sunset. Surewood was as green as ever and the only rotting deathly smell was stuck in the back of Ash’s nose.
Resting across his outstretched hands was his silver sword. What was left of all of the ghostly shouts was a single, wind-chime like query.
“Prithee, great champion, may I ask of you—” Ash closed his eyes and the whisper sank into his heart.
“Is revenge a science? Or is it an art?”
#Ty#Ash#Konnan sort of#dragonfable#maybe I'll post it to fanfic.net after I finish part 2#it feels nice to take a break from studying#and doing things with Ty again#uh warning for some blood I guess#not graphic or anything like that
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KIX Rocks The Whisky A Go-Go
By Rob Nagy
Winding down a busy year of touring, 80s metal band KIX headlined the Whisky A Go-GO earlier this month. Featuring a line up that includes Brian "Damage" Forsythe (guitar), Ronnie "10/10" Younkins (guitar), Steve Whiteman (vocals), Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant (drums) and Mark Schenker (bass), a packed house was treated to a high octane 90-minute show from one of rock and rolls hardest working bands. Featuring selections off their 1988 platinum-selling album “Blow My Fuse”, fans were transported back to a time when the fertile metal music scene thrived, and KIX was on a trajectory to stardom. Having not experienced the band in decades, I was immediately impressed by there ability to take command of the stage and engage the audience as they flawlessly navigated through a powerful setlist. If you haven’t seen KIX in concert do yourself a favor and go witness a band that that plays their heart out! You won't be disappointed!
Formed in Hagarstown, Maryland in 1978, KIX graduated from the ranks of a popular cover band, performing the classic songs of AC/DC, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and April Wine, to a promising original metal band. Led by frontman, and lead vocalist Steve Whiteman, bassist Donnie Purnell, drummer Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant and guitarists Ronnie "10/10" Younkins and Brian "Damage" Forsythe, KIX signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1981. They released five albums for the label giant, KIX (1981), Cool Kids (1983), Midnight Dynamite (1985), and Blow My Fuse (1988), which featured the band's biggest hit, “Don’t Close Your Eyes.” The song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album achieved platinum sales and peaked at #46 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the band's most successful release.
“In the early days we started as a cover band, even though the main goal was to write originals and get a record deal at some point,” recalls Forsythe. “It was years of riding around in a van with an equipment truck. We didn’t get a full tour, with a tour bus until 1988, so it was a long slow build-up. When I look back at all the gigs and everything we went through to get there it was crazy.”
“Donny just kept getting better as a songwriter so the records got progressively better,” adds Forsythe. “When we did “Blow My Fuse” we had finally gotten our management in place, had a really good record and everything came together at that point. It was just like a whirlwind. Going into that record there was a feeling in the air that the universe was getting behind us. It took a long time to get to a platinum album. It was a long process. I was surprised it didn’t hit platinum sooner. But then looking back at it I figured out why. The record company would have had to give us a bonus. They waited 10 years until the contact relapsed to the old contract and then it went platinum, so no bonus.”
Their fifth and final album with Atlantic, “Hot Wire” peaked at number 64 on Billboards Top 200 album charts but failed to reach the success of Blow My Fuse. Their disappointing follow-up album $how Bu$ine$$ (1995), released through CMC International, lead to the break of the band, and the permanent departure of founding member and principal songwriter Donnie Purnell.
“Hotwire”, which I think was an even better record, says Forsythe, “Was going to be our breakthrough and we were going to be like an arena band finally. We wanted to be the next ACDC. Hotwire came out the same week Nirvana came out and that was the end of it.”
“We started sinking fast, so I jumped ship’,” adds Forsythe. “It was disillusioning because we worked so hard to get to that peak and it just wasn’t quite there. After all those years I couldn’t see going back through what we had just gone through, I needed a break at that point."
KIX reunited in 2008 selling out gigs on their home turf in Hagerstown, Maryland. Performing in front of 20,000 rock and roll fans alongside Sammy Hagar and Alice Cooper at Rocklahoma, they solidified their return as a musical force more than capable of delivering a memorable concert.
Following the release of their 2012 reunion Live in Baltimore CD & DVD, KIX returned to the studio in 2014 to record the album Rock Your Face Off (Loud & Proud Records). The album debuted at #1 on Amazon’s “Hard Rock and Metal “chart, in the Top 50 on Billboard’s “Top 200 Albums” chart, #5 on the “Independent Albums “chart, #11 on the “Top Internet “chart, #17 on the “Top Rock Albums” chart, #27 on the “Indy/Small Chain Core Stores” chart and #33 on the “Physical” chart.
KIX last released “CAN’T STOP THE SHOW: THE RETURN OF KIX” in the fall of 2016, a two-disc DVD/CD set that entered the Billboard Top Music Video Sales chart at #3, and rose to the #1 position, the band’s highest-charting debut and first #1 ever in their 35-year history. The 71-minute film offered an in-depth look into KIX’s decision to record their first new album, 2014’s Rock Your Face Off, in almost 20 years.
KIX spent 2018 touring in support of the 30th anniversary of the release of their “Blow My Fuse” album. To commemorate this historic event they released a two-disc special edition package featuring a remixed version of “Blow My Fuse” and never before released demo recordings of all 10 tracks.
“We started talking about doing something for “Blow My Fuse” because it was the biggest record,” says Schenker. The thing I always got from the guys was, even though it was the most popular album that they did, everyone had a tiny disappointment with it production-wise. I remember back when they were doing the album I was given a demo tape, which I used tho listen to it in my car all the time before the record came out. So I knew those songs well. I remember thinking, ‘Man, this is great. I get to hear the record before it comes out. Then the record came out and I said ‘Wait a minute, the record doesn’t sound that much different than the demo tape. The demo tapes were so good that these guys made that label essentially redid the demos, this is the story that they told, so I’m just retelling the story. I remember feeling disappointed. I thought it was going to be this giant huge sounding record. So we’re lucky to be able to get to redo that and sort of set the record straight as it were. I’m really happy with it, and I wasn’t even involved with the original one.”
"In many ways, this is for the KIX diehards as much as it is for us," adds Forsythe. ”When we started doing this again, tons of fans came out of the woodwork. They'd show up with their kids, and it was just incredible to see. We had to deliver to them.”
The days of being at the mercy of a major record label and the pressure of having to sell millions of records behind them, KIX continues to move toward a promising future on their terms. Coveting a loyal following and a new generation of fans that are discovering the band, their best could very well be in front of them.
“I'm grateful to be still doing this after all the years and not having to have a day job,” says Forsythe. “That was my ultimate goal, just play music. I’m one of those people looking at the next mountain and I want to see what’s over the top of that mountain, and just keep going. This was my life’s goal to do this so I’m not going to give up, there’s just no way!”
“We all like each other,” adds Schenker. “We all make decisions together. It’s easy-going because nobody disagrees. We’re all sensible people. If somebody has a good point everybody can see the light. This is how we perform and everybody does the best they can. It just so happens that the mix of the five of us on stage is better than a lot of other bands, and people see that and they’re just blown away.”
To stay up to date with KIX visit www.kixband.com
Photos by Rob Nagy 2019
[email protected]
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I saw you got tagged in this and it'd be cool to see what you think. If you could assign your mutuals with an au, which one would it be? Have a lovely day 💕
This took forever, because I did it and then redid it, but yes my mutuals, aka my children, yes.
@ukulelewrites My sweet little soft Natty who can’t seem to make her move and loves the word domestic. Natty has some pipes, like this girl can sing, like 101 outta 10 is how good she can sing. I see her as an idol au, not a reverse idol au though. This girl couldn’t make her move, so a reverse idol au where she’d have to make the first move wouldn’t work. I see an au that goes like they are both idols and have to work together on a song for a drama, a romantic drama of course. They would grow close through the writing progress, and find themselves not wanting to let it end. The two would become known for writing great songs together, and they use that often as an excuse to be together without anyone else knowing they are dating. Staying unknown to the public probably wouldn’t last however, she’d date someone very extra that probably would do something like propose to her on an award show stage like tbh.tldr: Idol!AU
@laji-101 Smol Kris that would probably kill someone for a chance to meet Gunhee or Hwiyoung. I see as one of those odd au’s, that you never really see anyone writing, like a translator au. I see them as like a translator, since they are always hitting us with their Korean skills. They would get hired to work full time translating English to Korean for an idol group, just to end up falling for one of the members. Probably leading to a forbidden relationship type thing, but they wouldn’t care especially if it was Gunhee or Hwiyoung. tldr: Translator!AU
@dae-vil Dae likes cats, so obviously her au involves animals. I see her as like a vet au, but like the vet all the hot guys in town take their pets too, like what’s better than cute guys or puppies and kittens, puppies and kittens and cute guys. She’d have one of those au’s where like they found a stray kitten and she’s like I want to keep it but her coworkers are like no you can’t you already have 12 cats, so they put it up for adoption and some cute guy adopts it but you know she’s gotta keep an eye on it bc it was sick, and through a series of events she now has a really cute boyfriend that owns a kitten.tldr: Vet!AU
@splashinglys Carina, aka the queen of mafia au’s, I could go the cliche route and give her a mafia au, but nah. While the cartel is related to the mafia, I see her specifically in a drug cartel au. She’d be the ringleader of some like international drug cartel and probably like one of the richest women in the world, like tbh girl probably has some like million dollar necklaces and has some multi million dollar one of a kind vehicle and stuff. tldr: drug cartel leader!au
@jsioos When I think of Meike, I see a specific painting, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. I see Meike sitting in a dimly lit diner, cigarette in hand (or not BC SMOKING IS BAD AND MY CHILDREN AREN’T ALLOWED TO SMOKE) and cup of coffee nearby. I see the late 1930s or maybe early 1940s, the diner is almost empty and it’s late, she’s sitting with a man wearing a suit, hidden away in a corner of the dinner where they aren’t easily seen discussing something important. It’s a late 1930s or early 1940’s au, I see it revolving around something like a police investigation, yet she’s not on the side of the law. tldr: 1940’s law!AU
@simplicitwannaone Lau is innocent, she needs an au just as innocent. I see Lau as an au with children, since what’s more pure than children, nothing, that’s what. Lau would be one of those like preschool or babysitter au’s, She’d be one of those cliche au’s, but it’s also an au everyone loves reading, because like it’s cliche but good. It would be one of those au’s where she’s babysitting or teaching the person’s kid and they start to fall in love and it’s so cute, but there are children involved.tldr: Babysitter!AU
@jihoonslattee Chiii is soft, like really soft. She has a soft au of course, something fluffy and sweet. I see a fluffy au, not domestic necessarily but something soft and fluffy, like a fluffy husband or boyfriend au, but those are too basic for her. I see Chiii as one of those flower shop/florist au’s. I see her as that mc that walks by daily and gets captivated by the flowers, leading to the kind guy behind the counter to offer her a flower one day, and tell her to learn the meaning of it. They quickly become friends as he teachers her more about flowers, and they fall in love and stuff and yeah.tldr: Florist!AU
@princess-megz Meg is soft, so she needs a soft au also. I see her as a royalty au, not necessarily the one that is royalty, but I see her as that girl that captivates the heart of a young prince. I see her as that girl someone would risk their future to be with, abandoning all they’ve ever known for her. I see her in one of those au’s where to start with the king and queen are like hella against them being together, until it changes at one point the prince’s parents are like he’s already doing all this stuff he shouldn’t, maybe giving them our blessing will stop it or something, and then they realize that the decision is one of the best ones because Meg is great.tldr: Royalty!AU
@peachiejihoonie Peachie is also soft, so she also needs a soft au. I see her as some sort of supernatural au, like mermaids or fairies, something cute like that. Like Peachie would be that cute girl the guy sees at the beach and wants to go talk to her, but she disappears and he can’t find her again. But then he keeps coming to the beach to see if she comes back, then one day gets lucky once it’s fall since no one is at the beach so she decided it was safe to come up to the shore again, and he’s already seen she’s a mermaid and promises not to tell but she tries to distance herself, until she realizes it’s true he didn’t tell. Then you know they probably get close, and there is probably some folklore like true love’s kiss can give a mermaid legs to walk on land for as long as the person still loves them, and you know she gets legs but can still have her tail whenever she wants and finds love in the stranger that just wanted to get to know that cute girl, which Peachie is hella cute like who wouldn’t want to get to know her.tldr: Mermaid!AU
@ladynightmareii Naz our maknae, she’s a princess but she’s mature, I don’t see her as a royalty au though. I see Naz as a Greek Goddess au, like girl is Athena goddess of wisdom or smth and keeps stealing the hearts of all these mortals, like girl chill. Like girl would sit on a throne judging all the mortals doing stupid shit, like she doesn’t even know what it they are doing, but she knows it is stupid. She’d probably start to have interest in this one mortal that tells everyone what they are doing is stupid, and she’s like finally an intellect™, and probably starts keeping an eye on this mortal and ends up falling for him despite never even meet him irl and all. tldr: Greek Goddess!AU
@wilderye Rachel, for some reason I see her as a sort of bookstore au, like she works in a bookstore and he comes in to find a book, and is like damn who is that cute girl behind the counter. And the one time to get a book turns into like three times a week, and she gets to this point she’s like is he reading these books or what, but he’s honestly just coming in to see the cute girl behind the counter. Then after like a month and buying like twenty books he gets the courage to ask you out, and you start to date you find out he only bought most of the books so he could see your smile when you would ring up his items, but like now he doesn’t have to buy books anymore to see your smile, but boy still does because he’s started reading and likes reading even more now plus getting to see my cute girlfriend when I buy the books, yes sign him up.tlrd: Bookstore!AU
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Oc-tober day 9: Study!
Late again because of school junk. Sorry.
Dr. Rose and Frances stood in the rooftop garden of the Institute building, facing a bench with three empty cans placed along it.
“Today, we’ll be practicing a simple projectile-type spell” said Dr. Rose “It isn’t terribly strong, but it can be used to protect oneself against noncasters, animals, or weak monsters. Allow me to demonstrate”
She stepped up to face the cans, took a breath, and moved her arm in a sweeping motion, ending with a flick of her wrist. Three grey-green bolts flew from her hand, hitting each can dead center and sending them back into the wall.
“Now you try it.” She said to Frances, after setting the cans back up
Frances stepped up to face the cans, moved her arm in a sweeping motion, and nothing happened.
“What happened?” said Frances “I did it right, right?”
“You didn’t flick your wrist.” said Dr. Rose “Think of it like this: The motion gathers the energy, and the flick releases it.”
Frances moved her hand again, ending the motion with a flick of her wrist. A trio of purple butterflies sprang from her hand and raced towards the cans set up on the bench. One hit, colliding with a can. The other flew wide, colliding with the wall and leaving a pair of small marks.
“Not bad.” Said Dr. Rose, setting the battered cans back on the bench “Now do it again, and remember to keep your targets in your mind”
Frances redid the motion. This time, all three shots hit. The battered cans flew off the bench and into the grass below.
“Good!” said Dr. Rose “You’re getting the hang of it. Try it again.”
Frances tried again. Two of the shots hit a bit off-center and the cans spiraled off to the sides.
“Don’t worry about it.” Said Dr. Rose “Your aim will get better with time. Let’s take a break.”
She sat down on the bench, and gestured for Frances to join her. Frances sat down next to her mentor.
“I have a question” said Frances, turning to face her mentor “Why does your spell look different than mine?”
“Well” said Dr. Rose “All magic appears differently. A person’s magic, however it manifests, reflects their soul. Mine looks faded because… well, you know.”
“But why is my magic always butterflies?” said Frances, staring down at her hands “Every spell is butterflies.”
“I don’t know” said Dr. Rose “Nobody really knows specifically why magic looks the way it does, It could be a million and one things. An echo of a relative, a reflection of a trait, something that happened when you were a child or before you were born.”
“I see” said Frances, “So there’s some reason why butterflies are important to me specifically?”
“So it would seem.” Said Dr. Rose “Most people have at least some kind of an idea why their magic looks the way it does, but it’s impossible to really know for sure.”
“Could we maybe… Do some research to see what it might represent?” said Frances “I’m curious.”
“I’ll see if I can work it into a lesson.” Said Dr. Rose “And In the meantime, I’ll give you a list of books on the subject.”
“Thanks” said Frances “It means a lot.”
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