erisunoaakaibu

[erisunoaakaibu]

A Date at the Ball

@wonderwyrm and I prepare for the ball, 700 words, Blue Moon Ball

Evenings in spring usually tended to be on the warmer side, and tonight was no exception. The gentle heat of the setting sun slowly withdrew as the cool air kept everyone at a comfortable temperature, which was certainly aided to some extent by the magics enchanted. 

The sky was awash with colours of the setting sun, painting a diorama of hues accented by champagne pink clouds, carefully guiding the observers gaze towards the marble pillars which served as the main entrance to the hall, which was bustling with life. 

Wizards, witches, dragons, angels, wolfkin, everyone showed up dressed in their best. The Blue Moon Ball was certainly an event not to miss, and everything has been going smoothly, much thanks to the host.

Most people showed up slightly ahead of time, and we're socialising outside, save for one figure. 

Wyrm was dressed in a brilliant white dress, sparkling in the evening sun, reflecting the setting sun, yet underlit with a menagerie of colours, matching his wizard's hat and shoes. Bright and shiny, yet far from gauche, they razzled and dazzled in the crowd like fresh snow. 

Suddenly, the floor beneath them darkened, darkened, and darkened until it became a pool of pitch black. The shade, while still attached to their feet, moved slightly to the side, then something started rising out of it. Dark tendrils of darkness reached up into the sky, then coalesced into a singular form, stitching themselves into a humanoid body. 

She chuckled,and extended her hand towards the shape. “You're so dramatic, Kay.”

The body accepted his hand, the shadows fracturing to reveal their date for the ball, who turned the hand over and kissed the back, far too dramatically. “What can I say, it is the day to go all out. What'd you think?” they said, and slowly turned around, showing their outfit. 

A black suit, black shirt, they wore no tie, their neck adorned with a silver necklace in the shape of a small hammer, and an onyx pendant. They wore several black and silver bracelets, and a silver ring on their right middle finger. Their head was completely black and only reflecting some light, as if made out of ink. The outfits were completely different, yet instead of clashing, they accentuated each other beautifully. 

“Sharp,”came the answer, “but a little too black, don't you think?” The question was, of course, a joke, and immediately met with a response from his date. “I mean, I'm a living shadow, might as well lean into it. Anyways, damn, is this place nice or what?”

And like that, hands in pockets, all the theatricalities gone, just two friends hanging out dressed pretty. 

“Yeah, Lurien really went all out for this.” Wyrm responded cheerfully. “You can really see how much work he put in.”

“Same could be said for yourself, you look beautiful.”

“Aww, thank you! Took me a moment to get the enchantment exactly right, but it really paid off I think. Check this out!” he exclaimed and did a quick twirl. 

The lights of the dress went wild. Lights enchanted their glow, temporarily capturing the gaze of everyone around, and a round of polite applause followed. 

Kay was clapping the loudest, which wasn't saying much since golf claps aren't for noise, but regardless. 

“Bravo, beautiful. If they ever make a card game out of this ball, you're getting a holographic card just for that.”

“That might be the weirdest compliment I've gotten.”

“Gotten so far, the night is still young. Besides, the ball hasn't even sta-”

The massive doors into the building rumbled, and slowly opened, and a chime echoed through the grounds, signalling the ball had officially started. 

The shadow wytch paused. “huh. Colour me wrong I guess.”

Wyrm laughed, then offered his hand for their date to wrap their arm around. “Shall we then? My date?”

The teasing in her words was lightheaded, and instantly, she found a dark arm locked with hers. “After the Shadow Lillies and chocolates? Absolutely, darling.”

“Well, I did get a visit from someone who knew you'd like them. Tall, shadowy, black clothing.”

“I couldn't possibly imagine someone like that. Seriously, does their wardrobe have like, only one colour?”

They shared a laugh, just as they stepped into the halls. Oh yes, tonight was definitely a good night to go all out.

[erisunoaakaibu]

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

[erisunoaakaibu]

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I hope every writer who sees this writes LOADS the next few months. Like freetime opens up, no writers block, the ability to focus, etc etc you're able to write loads & make lots of progress <3

[erisunoaakaibu]

This is why I keep a notebook next to my bed!!!!!! Also why I have insomnia...

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I just noticed a few links not working properly in my chapter index posts, mostly because I changed this blog's name midway or I edited the posts.

Please do tell me when that happens.

[erisunoaakaibu]

Spiraltown - Chapter 3: The herbalist

“Doomba, what are you doing?” “I am fixing the broken toaster. But it turned out like this.” “Fixing? Are you sure about that?!” The toaster was shooting out tiny lightning bolts everywhere. At this point, appearance was the only thing that made it a toaster.

“I told you that thing doesn’t need fixing! I’ve bought a new one already.” Igor furrowed his brow. His life has changed since he got Doomba. The robot was no servant, but a roommate that doesn’t pay bills. At least it had some common sense to clean the house at least half the time, after realizing that it now lives with Igor. Other than that, all it did was to invent weird stuffs and play video games. Doomba would find scrap metal or broken household items and modify them into devices that did nothing beneficial to his life. Except for this one occasion. A criminal broke into his house at night and got paralyzed by one of Doomba’s seemingly useless lightning-shooting devices. The criminal later got taken away by Solanine, who was hunting them down, and Igor ended up with half the bounty that his friend received.

Igor was pretty stressed out, and the stress was messing with his ability to write music. He’s been drinking anti-stress herbal tea, which he had received a small packet to try out, and it worked pretty well. But he ran out of that today. So he went to the person who gave him the trial packet of anti-stress tea, which happened to be quite near, just about ten minutes of walking.

Igor arrived at the place. It’s a small shophouse inside a wide garden that was protected by tall fences and a huge gate. Let’s say, imagine a witch’s cottage in the middle of a forest, but less tall trees and more shrubs, that’s how that shop looks like behind the fences and gates. The guy had come here a few times before, and he noticed that there’s always some subtle changes to the garden that he couldn’t quite comprehend. It’s no big deal though, so he decided to shrug it off.

The bell rang, as Igor entered the inside of the shop. It was decorated in a rustic, witchy style, with a lot of candles, crystals and dried herbal mason jars everywhere. But he didn’t see the shop owner. “Hey, Daenestra, you there?” He called. There was a distant “Coming!” and hurried footsteps from the back of the house. And then, a petite girl entered through one of the side doors. She had gray skin, straight dark hair, and bright green eyes. One can easily notice her gloves, which were covered in some dirt. “Ah… it’s you, Igor. S-Sorry I got you waiting, I was doing some um… garden work back there.”

The girl, who seemed to be Daenestra, quickly removed her gloves, washed her hands. “Um… if I remember correctly, you came for the anti-stress tea?” “You bet. It works pretty well by the way.” “Oh, that’s nice. I’ll get you the amount for a month, is that alright?” “Yeah, that should do for now.”

Daenestra, full name Daenestra Sylvia, is a local uhhh… gardener? Botanist? Horticulturist? Anyway, she does gardening, sells plants, and also works as a herbalist. She’s quite a busy one, as she’s seen in her garden most of the time outside work. She’s young, but knows a lot about all things plant-related. This girl is also an acquaintance of Igor, who had provided him, as well as the others, with quite some unique house plants. She can provide people with almost all types of plants that do exist, regardless of appearance and function.

“So um… how are you and Doomba doing these days?” “Terrible. That robot has been tinkering with broken household appliances and turning them into weird devices! My garage is now 

So Igor got the tea, and returned home. The rest of his day, and a few more days, was rather uneventful, so I’ll skip that. Just going around town to look for some inspiration, practicing with the band, scolding Doomba for shooting lightning across the house, hanging out (and bickering) with Solanine, etc. Just the usual.

Until one day.

“Hey Igor” - There was a message from Solanine. “What is it?” “Come to Daenestra’s now” “Why?” “It’s Doomba” “Tf happened??” “Just come”

So the guy immediately ran to Daenestra’s place. He was expecting the robot to make a mess at the fellow horticulturist’s house, but he was wrong. 

So wrong.

“Igor. Help.” Doomba was being held in midair by a huge carnivorous plant. Next to the plant was Solanine, who was already armed with many shivs. “What’s happening here?” He asked his neighbor. “Daenestra said she would be away for 10 minutes to grab something. And this happened right after she’s gone. Doomba decided to touch this thing and it attacked the robot!”

The huge plant waved Doomba around, not caring about the other two’s presence. Yet, they didn’t make a move. Solanine could just cut that b*tch with her shivs, but she didn’t want to, since Daenestra had spent so much time and effort caring for it. And as for Igor… he decided to savor the moment, since he was still salty about his robot.

That didn’t last long, though. “Whoa, what are you doing?” A hurried Daenestra rushed to the place, calling out to her plant. Surprisingly, the plant stopped, as if it actually listened to the girl in front of it. “Could you kindly put that robot down? He doesn’t mean any harm. I’ll give you more food later, so could you do that for me?” And just like that, the plant put Dooba down. “Wha-” Igor was speechless. It wasn’t clear whether it was that Daenestra managed to make the plant listen to her in just three sentences, or it was that Doomba was now free and he had no more reason to laugh at the robot. “There, there, good plant.” She gently petted the plant as if it was some sort of pet. She then turned to the other two, who were frozen in place. “This little fella is gentle most of the time. I apologize for its sudden behavior today…” The horticulturist lowered her voice. “Did you just… call that thing little??” Solanine asked in disbelief. “Well… uh… it’s considered small for its kind.” Her answer concerned the others even more. 

At the end of the day, Doomba went to the repair store, and luckily no significant damage was done. And Daenestra had to forbid everyone from entering the “dangerous” part of her garden without her surveillance to prevent any similar accidents from happening ever again.

[erisunoaakaibu]

I hate this.

Aaaaaa

I have to come up with a name for Daenestra's shop!! And we all know I'm horrendous at naming things...

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In the end I still decided to add Modern!Dryad into my Spiraltown fanfic.

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Spiraltown (Slay the Spire Modern AU) - Chapter index

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

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Spiraltown - Chapter 2: The robot

Ren gently traced her finger around the rim of the teacup, feeling the energy from the tea leaves inside, letting the images form in her mind.

This has always been how she was able to perceive the world. Despite being physically blind, Ren has the ability to “see” with her third eye. The third eye allows her to see things beyond human vision, such as energy, auras, spirits, etc. You see, everything produces some kind of vibration that’s distinctive from each other. Here I’ll put some simple illustrations to show what Ren’s “vision” might look like.

On the left is how other people see Igor, and on the right is how Ren “sees” him. It is a combination of Igor’s soul, aura and emitted energy. Note that Ren doesn’t see the background in black, it’s just how I draw so that the image can be more visible.

The same logic can be used towards living beings and inanimate objects. The stronger the aura/energy, the clearer and brighter/darker the images will be.

That’s enough lore explanation for now. I don’t want to stray far from the story. Now, let’s get back to where we were.

Upon seeing the divination result, the tall lady’s blank expression changed slightly, for the worse. Something was coming, and it seemed to be unfavorable for the blind diviner.

* * *

And then, that fateful day finally came. Nah, just saying that for extra fancy, it’s actually the following day.

It’s a rather average Saturday. Igor was chilling on his couch, playing video games with headphones covering his ears. On the table was a Donu(t) in a paper box and a cup of Deca(f) coffee, the most favored food and drink combo in town, and also Igor’s favorite thing to buy. And of course, our angry guy was so focused on his games, that he couldn’t see what was going on. Not even when his neighbor, Solanine, came over.

Solanine stood behind Igor, watching him play video games. Clearly he didn’t know that she was behind him. Well, how about a little jumpscare? Just as that thought crossed her mind, she took out a shiv in her pocket, and pressed it against the guy’s neck. “AAAAARGH!!!” Igor screamed and took off his headphones immediately, just as expected. “I knew this was the only way to make you stop.” Solanine put the shiv away. “Damn it, why are you always pulling those f*cking pranks!?! You’re going to give me a f*cking heart attack!!!” “Cuz you were too focused on the game. Anyway, I got you something, take a look.” 

Behind Solanine was a huge carton box. Apparently it’s a housekeeping robot of the Roomba brand. “No way, a limited-edition Roomba? Has a built-in AI model? Can recharge itself? This is awesome! Damn, how did you get it?” “I asked an acquaintance. You always make a mess out of everything when you’re mad so I think you need an assistant. Don’t worry about the price, you know I am paid well. But still, it’s cheaper than I thought, and I’m not sure why…”

So both of them opened the carton box and started assembling the robot just as the instruction said. And then they turned it on. “Hello.” The robot spoke. It looked around, and stopped at the Donu on the table.

* * *

On the other hand, Ren was scrolling down the street. The street was surprisingly empty, without anyone around for some reason. But then, an angry scream was heard from across the street. The blind lady’s sharp ears recognized Igor’s voice immediately. Sparks of red appeared in Ren’s aura, as she darted towards Igor’s house with an astounding speed, paying no attention to the surroundings. And just as she arrived and the red in her aura died out, she noticed that the gates were open. Igor was still screaming. The blind lady slowly approached the door and gave it a few knocks. And of course, the one answering was Solanine, who was holding her phone.

“Thank goodness Ren, you’re here! Come in, you’ll understand what is going on.” Solanine tried to contact someone, but to no avail. Ren turned towards Igor, and he was yelling… a robot?

“I said: Give me back my Donu! And go clean the house!!!” “No. By the way, the Donu is delicious.” The robot replied, then consumed the rest of the Donu. Wait, it didn’t have a mouth, how did it…?

Solanine turned to the robot, and looked at her phone again, while letting out a sigh. “I knew it, I’ve been scammed. They don’t answer my calls.” Igor was furious. He started mumbling. “Damn it… this stupid robot, it’s broken! This Roomba robot… no, Roomba your *ss, it’s supposed to be a Doomba! Yes, your name is Doomba!! You stupid Doomba!!!” “Good name. I like it.” The robot replied, much to the guy’s anger. Then it turned towards Ren, waving its arm. “Hello! I am Doomba.”

Solanine started explaining. Basically she bought this housekeeping robot for Igor, but the robot seemed to suffer from some hardware damage. They thought it was just some minor damage and there would be no big deal, until they realized that the robot had become sentient, with its own emotions and thoughts. And it refused to do the housework, which it was supposed to do.

Ren observed the robot for a while. “I believe I have foreseen this in our tea leaf readings.” Her voice remained calm and even. “The huge and chaotic change in our lives.”

Well, things are becoming more and more interesting…

* * *

Author’s notes:

So I actually used a bit of Fraymakers reference here. In the scene where Ren’s aura sparked some red, it is equivalent to the Watcher using her Wrath stance. In Fraymakers, the Watcher’s Wrath stance increases her movement speed and damage output, as well as the damage she takes. So I decided to incorporate that into this chapter. There were no enemies, so the movement speed increase was the only thing taking effect here.

Also I’d like to imagine that Ren’s “vision” becomes blurry in this Wrath stance-equivalent state, only her target remains clear.

[erisunoaakaibu]

Spiraltown - Chapter 1: Divination

It’s a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like this, guys who can’t cook properly like Igor…

Should be eating out.

Whoa, that’s a bit lame for the beginning of a story, don’t you think? Anyway, you might be wondering who Igor is. Igor, full name Igor Gunnar, gender male, green skin, white hair, red eyes, muscular build, right mechanical arm, with a few scars on his face. He used to be a soldier, until he lost his right arm. Now he’s the lead vocalist of a rock band that’s pretty popular in Spiraltown.

Spiraltown, you say? Oh yeah, Spiraltown is where Igor lives. It got the name, due to its roads spiraling from the center.

Spiraltown’s overly simplified map, made with RPG Maker MZ. The map isn’t accurate, but you get the point, right?

Okay, back to the story. Igor went out to have dinner. His dining experience isn’t worth talking about though, so I’ll skip that. But when he was going home, all the lights suddenly went out. “Ugh…” He groaned. The guy didn’t expect this to happen. I mean, who would expect that? Luckily the roads weren’t that dark to begin with, since it’s not midnight.

The next thing that happened was probably even more expected to Igor. As he was walking to the bar, he suddenly felt goosebumps all over. Before he could even turn around, a hand had already touched his shoulder. The muscular man immediately turned around and threw a punch at whoever just touched his shoulders, but the person quickly dodged it, as if they were trained for this. Now that Igor had turned around, he finally had a clear look at the other person. A female, wearing a huge hat with a skull ornament on it, green coat and green scarf, dark skin, long gray hair, fit build. Under the huge hat, a glimpse of their eyes was seen: Glowing golden eyes with snake-like pupils.

“Solanine, f*ck you! Why do you like sneaking up on me at night so badly?” Igor yelled. But the woman named Solanine just smirked in return. “What do you want?” “Hang out. Today’s job just ended, and I’m bored as heck. Where are you going?”

Solanine, full name Solanine Nightshade, is currently an assassin whose job is to take down dangerous criminals. Yeah, she’s basically doing the dirty job for the government. You see, not all criminals can be captured, sometimes they need to be eliminated right away.

So both of them went to the bar. “Hey Igor, have you ever thought of consulting a diviner?” Solanine asked, while taking a sip at the cocktail. “No. I don’t believe in fate and such. But why do you ask?” “I just suddenly feel like asking. You see, Ren just got a spare divination slot so I’m going to her place for some tea leaf reading tomorrow. You wanna come along?” Confusion was written clearly on Igor’s face. “Ren? You mean Ren Murasaki? She, out of all people, does tea leaf readings? Isn’t she like, blind? How does a blind person even do tea leaf readings? Are you joking around?” “Oh shut the f*ck up you idiot. If you don’t trust me, you can check it yourself.” “Ugh, whatever. Wait, did you just call me an idiot, Solanine? Do you have a problem?” And what he got in return was another smirk. Anger started boiling inside Igor. The guy was just about to yell, but the bartender had stopped him in time.

* * *

Time skipped to the following day. 

Igor and Solanine entered the divination store that belonged to the person named Ren. The place was decorated to show a mysterious, yet divine vibe. Anyone who entered were all soothed by the smell of incense. Inside, there were various divination tools, from scrying crystal balls to tea leaf reading cups, all were arranged neatly. The two of them heard gentle footsteps coming from behind the dark curtain with a purple eye printed on. And from the curtain, a tall woman with light blue skin walked out. She wore a purple blazer outside a white button-up shirt, her dark blue hair was tied into a bun, and on her neck was a locket in the shape of a teardrop.

“Greetings, Solanine and Igor.” The woman, presumably Ren, spoke, her calm and even voice slightly muffled by the mask she was wearing. “Please come in, I have prepared tea for both of you.”

* * *

“The result is rather… intriguing.” Even though it was difficult to notice, Ren’s eyebrows furrowed a little, while she was “observing” the leaves left in the other two’s cups. “Huh, tell me more then.” “Both of you will face a huge change in your life. A chaotic change indeed. Not a bad change, but… I’m afraid Igor will need to learn anger management.” “I mean, he always needs that! He’s mad at everything and everyone, and when he’s mad he’s really loud.” “Hey!!!” “See?”

Ren shook her head and sighed, as the other two started bickering right inside her shop. This would take a while.

[erisunoaakaibu]

I should port the StS Modern AU fic here, for easier navigation.

(Microsoft Word doesn't work somehow)

[erisunoaakaibu]

Me: Okay, Brain. Think about what happens next in this chapter.

Brain: *Skips three chapters ahead*

Me: No, no. This one, this chapter, the one we are writing right now.

Brain:.......*47 scenes forward*

Me: NO

#me rn

[erisunoaakaibu]

I just realized one thing: I FORGOT THE POTIONS!!

#goddamnit #stupid me

[erisunoaakaibu]

Oops, I'm supposed to post here. Also I have some stuffs going on for the week too, so I guess chapter 4 will take quite long.

A blurred drawing for next chapter. I am currently having difficulties writing, please be patient.

[erisunoaakaibu]

Does anyone think my fanfic is a little too fast-paced?