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jangmi-latte · 3 years

Note

I heard you wanted help with a character analysis! I have come to help out, if I can! So, I have a question for you that may help out with at least one character we have information on, do you think Jamil Viper truly hates Kalim Al-Asim because of how the two's families' situation or Jamil is lying to himself? If you wish, I can discuss it with you and help you come to a conclusion, I am more than happy to help you if you need it.

You know, I have been observing Jamil’s actions ever since Chapter 5 started. It has been very visible that this vice-dorm leader has gone through a lot and the fandom knows that for sure. It bothers me sometimes seeing some Jamil x Kalim one-shots where it focuses on Jamil being all friendly with Kalim – friendly in a way the servant master relationship doesn’t bother him when it’s the other way around. I hope this essay of mine helps out expound on Kalim and Jamil’s relationship starting from pre-enrollment to post-enrollment. Before I jump straight into the main question, I’ll slowly expound on Jamil’s progress throughout the Scarabia Arc towards Pomefiore’s Arc.

i would also love to created the TWISTED WONDERLAND WIKIA and for the translators who are behind this site for providing the translations. this analysis won't be complete without them. it has been a very big help.

do note this analysis is NOT SPOILER-FREE so if you don’t wanna get spoiled, this meal is not for your dear customer.

01. Jamil’s freedom

First, let’s differentiate how Jamil acts with and without Kalim around. In most of the main and personal stories, Jamil was always with Kalim. In one instance – like in his PE card – we have seen Jamil without Kalim around. We can see how Jamil has a tendency to be bossy and how he has a way with words in terms of helping Floyd with his desire to do a headstand. Yes, he may have shown this personality around Kalim, however, it is noted how Jamil didn’t hold back into explaining to Floyd (very detailed at that) about the one thing he’s good at. Until he has caught himself again and realized he spoke too much.

We can see how Jamil desperately wants to share who he really was (his talents, his ideologies, etc.) to others, something he couldn’t show when he’s around Kalim.

He said it himself, “my inner dancing soul started to ache…” which is why he shared his own thoughts.

“Ahem! …It’s nothing. When I went out with Kalim in the past, there were occasions where I did a bit of dancing.” He held back again just because Kalim was mentioned. Ace even mentioned how it wasn’t A BIT of what Jamil did in dancing.

It’s obvious how Jamil actually wanted to dance more and teach Floyd what he’s good at except Ace mentioned how it was a basketball club and not a dance club. It’s clear how he’s used to adjusting himself and hold back with what he wants to do. We’re just glad Floyd somehow persuaded that made Jamil show his real self.

Do note how Floyd complimented Jamil when he did a handstand and how happy he must’ve felt about himself.

He was willing, his own choice, to teach Floyd and NOT because he’s obligated to like he was around Kalim. He even shared what techniques he could do.

In his voice lines, we can see how Jamil actually wants to be more powerful. Not like that’s already not obvious, however, there was always the resentment of holding back. He wanted to enjoy himself, as noted in Fairy Gala where he went all out and didn’t hold back, and in Dances and Wishes where he mentioned that he wanted to travel alone. In one of his groovy lines, he said “Sometimes it’s nice to just forget about everything and enjoy yourself. It’s been a long time since I felt like that.”

HE DOESN’T WANT TROUBLE ANYMORE!!! Please, give this man a break, he really hates getting into other people’s business. Let alone getting dragged into them. Why is this under his freedom category? Because anywhere Kalim is, there will always be trouble. Meaning, not only is his safety in the line but also the way he acts. Stiff, robot-like, servant, guardian, you say it. Is Jamil one of those? No.

He always tries to find something beneficial with being around Kalim. Dancing, for example. He stated that whether he likes it or not, Jamil has eventually found fun in dancing and let alone develop strength just by chasing him around.

It has always been mentioned how Jamil is good at cooking and I even read that his kitchen is his go-to when he's stressed and whatnot. But let's remember that Jamil DOESN'T really likes cooking that much. He's only obligated to do so. He mentioned it in his SSR dorm uniform voice lines. Don't associate him with the kitchen too much.

He ALWAYS mentions Kalim!!! In every voice line, in every personal story, hell, even the main story, there wouldn't be ONE instance where he wouldn't mention Kalim. Why? That's what he was born to do. To always mention his master, to mention his position, to keep the focus away from him and move it towards who he's serving. That's his life. Imagine his happiness when he finally gets a chance to shine on his own.

Connecting to the previous paragraph, either Jamil notices it or not, he consciously and subconsciously lies to himself and to others — except to those who have Asim as their last name. We all know Jamil would go boast about his intelligence, skills, and talents when he wants to and as noted in his overblot, he didn't hold back (he was in a state of no control, yes, but when someone overblots they most often spill what they were truly feeling deep down). Yet, Jamil has grown accustomed into lying to himself and to others that, "This is what I can only do. This is what I am for, etc." He always belittles himself to others and it wasn't a choice of his.

I noticed how Jamil would always say he doesn't want to stand out and I couldn't point out whether this includes him lying to himself or he genuinely just doesn't like attention. Why this confuses me is because he said he wanted to be number one and known for his own talents yet he doesn't like standing out. I would assume that he wants to be known for who he is in a way of recognition and not by any loud or crowd settling attention.

Now, Jamil often jokes about "I'm the master now, serve me" in his SSR birthday card and it's easy to point out that (1) he isn't used to attention being placed on him and he's growing accustomed to it, (2) it's a form of control mechanism for him that he knows he's still a servant despite getting such privilege for a day. He is used to his position but that doesn't mean he won't fight for what he wants/believes. After all, Kalim already told him and he's slowly trying to do so without breaking his position still.

02. Jamil’s relationship with Kalim (post-overblot)

Jamil has vocally stated his hatred for Kalim which happened after his overblot. He doesn’t want to be friends, he doesn’t want ANYTHING that involves being with Kalim. He is there solely for the purpose of being a servant and to finish school. Just like I stated, Jamil tries to find benefits with being around Kalim, whether he likes it or not, he is getting a good dose of education, a good shelter, food, etc. Even though Jamil wants not only him but his family as well to get out of the traditional servant position, he knows he doesn’t have the power to do so. My only conclusion here is that Jamil has very limited choices and that he knows that he has to endure Kalim maybe a bit longer.

Now, this is where we start answering the main question, does Jamil Viper truly hates Kalim Al-Asim because of how the two's families' situation or is he lying to himself? The answer is no – in the prospect of hating Kalim. BUT the most logical answer I could give is that Jamil is slowly warming up (VERY SLOWLY) to Kalim AND NOT HIS FAMILY’S POSITION. Those are two different things:

Jamil’s obligation is to look after Kalim, feed him, protect him, teach him, etc. That’s what he hates. What I’m trying to say here is that Jamil still cares about Kalim. Why do I say this? Notice in the Fairy Gala event, not only did he prove himself to the audience and to Vil but he also was having fun. Despite the harsh training he went through, I believe those smiles he shared with Kalim showed the progress in their relationship with each other.

In Chapter 5-34, we can see Kalim talking about how he was poisoned and mentioned he doesn’t like the idea of the culprit (whoever plans to poison him) never apologizing when he ever was poisoned. Based on Jamil’s silence, what he probably felt was guilt. He never apologized for what he did but he knew what he did was wrong. At the beginning chapters of Chapter 5, he did explain what happened between him and the dorm students and how he’ll just stick to Kalim from now on. He despises Kalim’s sweet, sunshine, nature because he’s the exact opposite. He knows he’s the villain, he knows he can’t accept Kalim’s personality due to his nature. Kalim’s too nice, Jamil isn’t, they go well together and he (Jamil) doesn’t want to do anything with it. Let Kalim live his own life, he’ll live his.

“We’re not friends, remember…?” Remember Jamil’s tendency to lie? He’s lying to himself. He always tries to make himself hate Kalim but he can’t.

Want to be even more convinced? Chapter 5-30, why would Jamil eavesdrop on MC and Kalim’s conversation? He’s watching over Kalim, yes, but what do you think he felt after hearing Kalim finally learn? Don’t you think he felt relieved? I know for sure he won’t feel guilt over that, all he wanted was for Kalim to be aware of their differences and to be independent. That’s what’s happening to Kalim right now.

Ah, additional to that, the Halloween event. Jamil checked on Kalim, didn’t he? He trusted Kalim on his own. He was actually smiling when Ace pointed out how he keeps checking his phone. He was only checking on Kalim, okay, but please. The trust he actually placed on Kalim was big. Improvement in friendship.

Concerning his position, that’s the sole thing Jamil wants to change. That has always been his goal. To change his family’s position as servant, get a break, have freedom. Who knows? If Jamil ever did get what he wanted, he might go back to Kalim. He’s hard to read.

Conclusion:

I wanted to expound more on the depth of their relationship but this post has gotten too long. To keep it short, Jamil is still contemplating to himself. We can’t instantly jump into the ‘yes and no’ into his hatred for we are still ongoing with Pomefiore’s chapter which will unfold more of their relationship. He somehow hates Kalim but doesn’t in a way of personality and ideology, not the whole person himself. He also hates his position but again, Jamil did something wrong and he knows it. They’re both still learning, they’re both still progressing throughout their relationship. I hope this analysis answered your question! It was fun ^^.

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland character analysis #jamil viper #kalim al asim #scarabia

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yoonsshadow · 3 years

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BLIZZARD BLUES ⎯ myg

⇰ summary ; There’s a storm coming. Literally. And some idiot is standing outside singing Christmas carols.

⇰ pairing ; yoongi x fem!reader

⇰ genres ; strangers to friends to lovers[?], snowstorm!au, romance, fast burn [?]

⇰ themes ; fluff, a bit of crack

⇰ warnings ; talk of a natural disaster [blizzard], lots of banter, brief talk of male genitalia [balls lol], a bunch of sweetness

⇰ word count ; 1.8k

⇰ note ; Happy holidays everybody!! I hope that you all have a safe and happy day, no matter what you are celebrating. [Also this is largely unedited.] xx

It doesn’t always snow on Christmas Eve. Sometimes, when the sky feels selfish, it will open its clouds and welcome through the sunlight, especially harsh against the previous snowfall that is melting on the ground. What was once a white wonderland, snowflakes clustered together in a fine powder, becomes a muddy expanse of grass, dampened by the flowing tears of the melted icicles.

The magic of Christmas, so often associated with the pure white sheen of snowfall, is gone within hours of a clear sky.

But not today.

Today, the sky is selfish in a very distinctly opposite way.

“Temperatures will be reaching a record-low tonight, and snowfall is expected to only get heavier. With the possibility of a blizzard on the way, citizens are urged to stay indoors tonight.”

“Aish.” Licking droplets of mulled wine from your lips, you sigh at the latest news update. Just yesterday, you had been complaining of the warmth in the air, expecting yet another disappointment out of Christmas Eve. The universe seems to have answered your pessimism with a natural disaster.

Thankfully, you are one of the many lucky ones with a roof over your head tonight. The townhouse is small by standard means, but it feels so big to you. Though it may be cosy, it holds everything that is important to you, every memory that you have collected over your life, every momentum that has ever brought you joy. It is an extension of yourself, of your innermost being, and now it even protects you from the howling wind that you can hear picking up outside.

As you sit in front of your roaring fireplace, wrapped in blankets and listening to the Michael Bublé christmas album play on your scratchy record player, you think that maybe this is serenity; this feeling of calm, of contentment, when chaos surrounds you.

A harsh knock at your front door breaks through the sound of the wind.

At first, you think that maybe it was a trick of the mind, or perhaps a branch hitting a window, but the rapid knock-knock-knock against the wood is far too deliberate to be a mistake. Plus, when it’s followed by several more⎯⎯less patient⎯⎯knocks, you know that someone is here. At your house. At ten o’clock at night, as a blizzard is brewing.

It takes a moment to detangle yourself from your comfortable cocoon of blankets, but you eventually shuffle to the door as quickly as your cold toes [the things just never seem to be warm] will allow. You’re expecting an emergency official telling you to evacuate, or a neighbour asking to borrow supplies.

You don’t expect a shivering, disgruntled man reluctantly singing ‘Oh Christmas Tree’.

“Your boughs so green in summertime...stay bravely green in wintertime...O tannenbaum, O Christmas Tree...How lovely are thy branches…”

“Are you seriously carolling right now?”

The man stops his ‘singing’ to glare at you, as if you’ve just interrupted the most important performance of his life. “Hey, either let me finish the song or let me move on. It’s fucking cold out here.”

“No, but like, why are you singing at all? Didn’t you see the news?” The chill of the wind is biting at you even through all of your layers, so you don’t know how he’s surviving right now.

The man sighs, the air fogging in front of his face. “Look, lady, I lost a bet, okay? I gotta sing these carols, and I’m not backing out just because it feels like my internal organs are shutting down. So, what’ll it be? I can take song requests, if you’re feeling spicy.”

It takes you barely a moment to make your decision. “Option C. Come here.”

And you all but drag him into your house.

“Y’know, this could be considered kidnapping,” the stranger says as he slides out of his soaked jacket and toes off his boots. Despite his words, he doesn’t seem at all reluctant to be within your warm abode. “You could at least take me to dinner before inviting me in.’

His voice sounds harsh, mean even, but for some reason you aren’t intimidated by him. Maybe it’s the way his nose shines pink from the cold.

“Well,” you say, already gathering some towels for him, “it seems as though you haven’t watched the news in the last three hours. There’s a blizzard on the way, buddy, and you looked about halfway to frozen already. I thought that I would save the neighbours the trauma of digging your body out of the snow.”

“How considerate.”

“What’s your name, by the way? Since I’m extending my home and hospitality to you. I’m Y/N.”

“Yoongi. Also, you barely extended anything. More like forced. But, I’m a kind man, so I’ll let you believe that you’re being selfless. It is Christmas, after all.”

“And a merry Christmas to you too, mister Yoongi.”

“Ugh. Don’t call me mister.”

“Whatever. You should go take a shower to warm up, I should have some of my dad’s clothes for you to wear. I also have a shit-tonne of blankets and a big pot of mulled wine, so whenever you’re done just come downstairs and sit by the fire. And don’t steal anything. Or piss on the carpets.”

“Oddly specific, but okay. Thanks, generous kidnapper.”

Yoongi takes nearly an hour before he re-emerges from upstairs, to the point where you wonder if he’s actually pissing in your carpets. He looks clean, though, and flushed with warmth. And absolutely adorable in the ugly, oversized Christmas sweater that you laid out for him.

“This is fucking horrendous.”

A snort escapes you at his blunt statement, watching as he sinks into an armchair opposite you. His hair is sticking out from where he’s hastily dried it. “Thank you. My dad is the reigning champion in his workplace ugly sweater competition. He takes immense pride in inducing nausea. Want some wine?”

“Absolutely.”

When you pass him a mug, the liquid steaming and aromatic, he seems to pause, hesitation in the grip of his fingers. You give him the time he needs to arrange his words.

“I guess, um...thank you. For bringing me inside.” Yoongi isn’t meeting your eyes, but the tips of his ears are turning pink. “I was probably too stubborn to realise how bad it was and...I don’t know, it could’ve ended up really bad. So. Thanks.”

“Hey.�� His eyes flicker up, briefly, but enough to see the bashfulness hiding behind all that sarcasm. “It’s seriously fine, but you’ve got to make a habit out of taking care of yourself. I’ve known you for two hours and even I can tell that you don’t take yourself very seriously. Hell, I could’ve been a serial killer, and you still just walked into my house.”

“I could’ve been a serial killer as well, hypocrite.”

“Killer Caroller does have a certain ring to it,” you admit. He’s deflecting, but you accept the divergence easily. “So, mister serial killer-”

“Don’t call me mister.”

“-Why don’t you tell me about yourself? There’s a chance that you’ll be here for a little while, so we may as well become acquainted.”

Taking a lingering sip from his mug, Yoongi keeps his eyes trained on the fire before him. “My name is Yoongi, I’m a Pisces, and I enjoy long walks on the beach.”

“Romantic.”

“I was born in Daegu.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m a music producer.”

“Impressive.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes, though they hold more mirth than annoyance. “Oh, and what about you, miss charity? Tell me about yourself.”

Biting back a chuckle, you reposition yourself in the armchair to face him better. “Well, my name is Y/N, and I have never been to a beach.”

“That’s sad.”

“I take self-defense classes.”

“Convenient.”

“And I’m a social worker.”

“Very fitting.”

The quick banter between the two of you pulls a smile across your face before you can tamp it down, but it seems like Yoongi is fighting one of his own.

Somehow, you have both converged to your larger couch, huddled together in a wine-drunk, giggly mess.

“No, I seriously would’ve won! But then he totally caught me off guard. I was sabotaged.”

Yoongi’s recounting of the story of how he lost his bet is nothing short of hysterical. “This Jeongguk guy sounds like a menace,” you say, throwing your legs over his lap. “I mean, who swings their balls in a friend’s face just to distract them? That’s just low.”

“Right?!” His voice is so loud, but your little bubble is barely disturbed. “And they were all hairy, too. I swear that I found a pube in my hoodie.”

This sets you off, for some reason, and your chest erupts in light giggles. Yoongi has only told you a few stories about his six male friends, and it has filled you with a kind of joy that you don’t remember ever feeling.

“It’s just...I bet that women aren’t this immature with each other. Am I right?”

You hum. “Sort of, but also not really. A friend of mine once stole my diva cup just because she was mad at me for using her hair brush. I tried to explain that it was an accident, but man was she pissed.”

Yoongi pauses. “What’s a diva cup?”

Blinking at the man that you’re draped across, you bring a hand up to pat his soft cheek. “Oh, honey,” you whisper, offering a small smile.

Slowly but suddenly, his hand comes up to cover yours, keeping it on his face. Your heart skips a beat, but you don’t notice.

“You’re really nice,” he says. His pupils are blown from drinking, and maybe from your faces being so close. Your cheeks are flushed for the same reasons. “And totally not a serial killer.”

“I’m still undecided about you,” you joke, breathing out a laugh. “But I do know that you’re pretty nice, too. And not as bad of a guest as I thought you might be.”

“Is it-” Yoongi cuts himself off, takes a slow breath as he closes his eyes. When he opens them again, he seems determined, if a little nervous. “Is it weird if I say that I enjoy spending time with you? And would, maybe, want to spend more time with you in the future?”

A lazy grin stretches your cheeks as you tuck yourself a little closer to him. It’s peculiar, maybe, that you’ve just met a man that you feel you’ve known your whole life. Curious, perhaps, that conversation with him feels more natural than with most people you know.

But weird?

No, you don’t think so.

“No. Not weird.” You lean forward a bit, shyly; wait for him to maybe do the same. “You do owe me the rest of a Christmas carol, after all.

He does lean forward, just a bit, and just as shy.

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kiingocreative · 3 years

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The Structure of Story is now available! Check it out on Amazon, via the link in our bio, or at https://kiingo.co/book

Ways to Set the Tone

Let's review several story world elements that can each directly or indirectly shape the overall tone of the world. It's worth noting upfront that great story worlds do not exist in a vacuum. They are explored *through* story. And with that in mind, some of the elements that set a story world's tone are *storytelling* elements rather than worldbuilding elements. As we'll see, it's actually possible for a story world's tone to change based on the perspective from which we're exploring it.

Genre

A genre is a sort of story archetype that carries with it promises and expectations. Readers of different genres expect and even *demand* different things. Fantasy readers want to be in awe of the uniqueness of a strange new world. They want to be immersed in a magic system with mysticism and mythology. Science Fiction readers want to be in awe of technology. They want to see scientific theories, the scientific method, logic, and a world driven by technology. Romance readers want wooing, swooning, seduction, playful banter, and physical connection.

Each genre implicitly influences the tone of a story due to these reader expectations. The story will focus on certain subject matter as dictated by the genre.

Consider a prototypical Fantasy story world. Perhaps there are dragons, castles, fairies, elves, and magic. There may be a general sense of wonder and whimsy but the events are taken seriously. Now consider a prototypical Western story world. There are cowboy boots, saloons, and six shooters. Perhaps the subject matter has a somber, sober tone such as in *Hostiles*.

Now consider a Western with the tone and archetypes of a Fantasy. The subject matter may take on a bit more of a magical realism. Now consider a Fantasy with the tone and archetypes of a Western. Perhaps there are archery showdowns at high noon outside of the fantasy saloon. If we were to give a Science Fiction world the tone of a Western we might end up with something like *The Mandalorian*.

Right off the bat, our choice of genre influences our story world's tone.

Level of Reality

Some stories adhere more closely to our reality than others. Consider a crime procedural versus Alice in Wonderland. A story trying to be nearly "100% reality" would show the time it takes to travel, the biological functions of characters, the quick exhaustion from fights, the repercussions of breaking the law, etc. A character who broke their leg wouldn't be up and ready for the next fight after a few scenes. Sometimes, reality can put a bit of a damper on drama.

And so some story worlds are meant to be more realistic than others. Some worlds are more metaphorical than literal. They don't focus on the time it takes for a wound to heal or the time it takes for the horses to rest because that's not the point of the story.

Different audiences will come to a story for different reasons. And they'll have different expectations. Audiences expecting a medical procedural or crime procedural will have much different expectations than those expecting a fantasy. The level of reality that we choose to incorporate can have a lot to do with the genre we choose.

But even within the same genre there are varying levels of reality. Consider a "hard" (i.e. rule-based) worldbuilding story such as The Lord of the Rings. While the world diverges from our own in the subject matter, it's not as divergent as it *could* be. It incorporates many elements of our own reality. It has familiar physics, roughly familiar biology, familiar weather, etc. Consider, on the other hand, a soft worldbuilding story such as Spirited Away where many of the "rules" of our world are thrown out.

What level of reality do you want to incorporate into your story world? And what counts as an inconvenience in your story world? Will flies annoy characters? Will characters have to worry about food and water? Will you keep a medical thesaurus by your desk so you can document exactly what would happen to the human body under certain conditions? Or will you brush aside those details in favor of a more metaphorical story where the inconveniences are more about relationships than about the physical story world?

What limitations of our world are you integrating into your story world? Can a character be shot 73 times and keep going? How quickly will characters become dehydrated? What counts as danger for a character? Will your story be primarily about the struggle against other characters or will it incorporate the struggle against nature? What's the narrative weight given to the inconveniences of your story world?

Can the laws of physics be broken? Does your story world allow magic? If so, does that magic have a technological or scientific explanation? Is there teleportation? Can characters travel faster than the speed of light?

As a general principle, the more you adhere to strict reality, the more research and expertise will be required in order to establish and maintain that realism.

Subject Matter Focus

Story worlds that focus primarily on plans, strategies, and tactics feel vastly different than those that focus primarily on relationships and reflection. In this way, the subjects we choose as our focus can have a strong influence on a story world's tone.

How raw will our story world be? Do we avoid profanity and sexual activity or lean into it? Do we shy away from the details of a torture session? Do we let the audience use their imagination or do we explicitly show every detail? These choices have an effect on a world's tone.

Tone is also influenced by where we put our narrative weight. Will we spend a great deal of time detailing the equipment and mining procedures of the subterranean inhabitants? Or do we spend the majority of our time in the high council chamber as another political debate takes place? Are we more focused on the train of thought and analysis of a mystery or on the intricacies of fingerprint and blood splatter analysis?

What's taking up the majority of our focus as we explore the world? Are we more interested in the forest or the trees? The caves or the rubies? The calculated strategy or the blossoming themes? The people, the land, or the technology?

#writingtips #creative writing #screenwriting #writers on tumblr #writers #writing #writerblr #writing advice #writing community #writing resources

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mysteira6 · 4 years

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IkeRev Loki Genetta - Like a Cat

Hi I’m obsessed with Loki Genetta and @maedayo’s art of him has inspired me to write these little scenarios with Cradle’s local Nyandere Cheshire Cat. Enjoy~!

(This will be in your POV, btw! I also tried my best to write this in a format similar to the game’s script. You’re welcome. :3)

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

No matter how you look at him, Loki still looks like a cat.

I chuckled at the thought as another breeze blew by the meadow, brushing the fuchsia hair of the man beside me and drawing a laugh from me. His mismatched eyes were sparkling with joy as he poked the strawberry shortcake on his plate with his fork and took another bite of it.

“Mm~ Your cakes are always the best, Alice!” He smiled at me warmly. A blush found its way to my cheeks as I watched Loki take another bite of the vanilla-coloured cake, the unmistakable glee clear in his voice. “You should really think about opening a sweets shop in Cradle,”

I scratched my head sheepishly. “That sounds really ambitious, Loki,” I shrugged at the thought of competing against all the current confectionaries in Cradle. “There are already so many talented bakers in the Central Quarter… I highly doubt that my desserts would stand out compared to them,”

“But your sweets are all so good!” Loki replied with a grin. “I bet everyone in Cradle would love them~”

“You’re too kind,” I muttered to myself, hoping that he wouldn’t hear me. Despite my earlier response, my mind began to wander along the thought of actually working in a desserts shop in Cradle. Considering that I used to work in a confectionery in London, it wasn’t a completely foreign experience to me. I could still remember all the recipes that I used time and time again back then, so maybe-

“Loki!!!”

In the midst of my thoughts, Loki had sneakily snatched the slice of cake that was on my plate, and was now happily munching away at it. “Haha, you didn’t even notice a thing, Alice! This cake is mine now!” He laughed wholeheartedly as he placed another strawberry covered slice of cake into his mouth, grinning at his success.

“Hey, that was my slice!” Placing my utensils gently on top of the picnic mat, I glared at Loki, crossing my arms. He didn’t seem to catch onto my anger, however; instead, he leaned close to me and lifted a piece of cake towards my mouth with his fork with an alluring gleam in his eyes

“Do you want me to feed you instead?”

My cheeks instantly heated up at his words, my heart suddenly beating very loudly in my ears. I was frozen by Loki’s gaze, his burnt caramel and topaz gold eyes staring back at me. It felt like a whole minute passed before my boyfriend finally broke the silence.

“Hm? You don’t want it?” He asked with a cheeky grin. I remained silent, unable to utter a single word.

“Well, I guess more cake for me then~” He said with a sly smile before redirecting his fork back into his mouth, moving away from me as he continued savouring his treat, the white icing on top of the cake smearing the side of his mouth a little. I found myself letting out a long sigh that I had been holding ever since Loki asked me that question. This guy…!!

One minute, he was innocently relishing my shortcake, the next minute he managed to steal my slice like a little devil, and now he was acting like a playful flirt. There were just so many sides of Loki that would pop out of nowhere, casting their spells to draw me deeper in love with him…

I found myself smiling warmly while fishing out a napkin from our picnic basket to wipe the extra icing on his cheeks. “Loki, you got a bit of cake on your face,” I giggled.

He quickly grabbed my hand just as I finished cleaning his face, startling me enough to drop my napkin. He closed his eyes as he affectionately nuzzled my palm, purring like a cat at my touch. “Hehe, I love it when you touch my face, Alice~” He murmured.

I sighed, though I was still smiling. “Loki, I need my hand back...”

“Aw~ But your hand is so warm!”

The cheery smile encased on his lips was enough to win me over. How in the world could anyone be so cute?

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

I mean, even his carnivorous diet is like a cat. Or was it more like a child’s?

“Bleh… Yuck…”

I turned my attention away from reading to the sound of Loki’s gags. He was sticking his tongue at the green flowered vegetable stuck in his fork, clearly not wanting to eat the broccoli from lunch.

Seated in front of him was Harr, Loki’s guardian and mentor, and to say that he was unamused was an understatement. His one eye that wasn’t concealed behind a mask narrowed at the pouting boy. “Loki, you need to eat your vegetables. I’m not going to tell you twice,”

“But I hate them…” The pink-haired teen groaned with a frown, his heterochromatic eyes drooping at the sight of his plate, mostly clean except for the cursed green pieces. “And why did it have to be broccoli, Harr? You know that I hate those the most!”

“All the more reason why you need to eat them,” The wizard replied with a deadpan look. “Look, they really aren’t that bad, Loki. And you’ve got to eat them for nutrition,”

The younger magic-user refused to listen. “I already eat a lot of fish! And fish has loads of nutrients too. I’m full--Thank you for the meal!”

Loki was about to stand up and lift his plate to the sink before Harr’s eyes glowed red, his powerful magic forcing Loki back on the chair no matter how much he squirmed. “Hey! No fair, Harr! I thought you told me not to use magic for trivial matters!” Loki yelped indignantly.

“Eat your broccoli!”

“No!”

“Loki…!!”

As I sat on the sofa in their living room, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. From this angle, Harr really looks like a father trying to get his son to eat his veggies, though he really wasn’t making any progress on the matter.

At that moment, a cheeky idea popped into my head, cueing the ends of my lips to turn upwards and form a smile. After slowly placing my book on the coffee table, I trotted over to the dining table, where Loki was pouting and Harr was crossing his arms in frustration. “Still not eating your vegetables, Loki?” I asked with a short sigh.

He immediately brightened as soon as I got close to the table. “Alice! Tell Harr to let me go!” He cried for help like a child while Harr shook his head in disappointment.

“I was thinking that he would mature a little after meeting you,” The older wizard mused, pinching his nose bridge. “But it seems that his refusal to eat vegetables hasn’t changed at all,”

I laughed light-heartedly at his words. “It would seem so,” I agreed with a sheepish grin before turning back to the stubborn man who was glued to his chair, ready to enact my plan. If Loki won’t eat his veggies willingly… Maybe I should give him some incentive…

Leaning in close to Loki, I cupped my mouth and whispered to him in the sweetest voice I could muster. “What if I give you some kisses after you eat them, hm?”

The pout on his face instantly disappeared. As Loki slowly turned his head towards me, I could see that his cheeks had turned pink and his eyes were widened at my words, his mouth agape as he stared at me. Despite my heart pounding wildly in my chest, the sweet smile on my face didn’t falter as Loki blinked at me, seemingly shocked at what just happened.

There was a short silence in the room before the Cheshire Cat let out an audible gulp and turned back to his food. The frown on his face from before returned, though it was visibly fainter than earlier.

“ … Fine,” He huffed as he picked up his fork, this time actually picking up the pieces of broccoli and chewing them in his mouth. He didn’t gag or complain, and I grinned at the sight. Success!

On the opposite side of the table, Harr’s cedar-brown eyes widened in astonishment. “My goodness…” He muttered to himself as he slapped his hand onto his forehead.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

Loki can get pretty possessive like a cat, too…

I hummed a little tune to myself as I packed some books into the trusty bag Seth gave me earlier. Sirius was right; Harr really did have a lot of cookbooks lying around his house and he wouldn’t hesitate to lend me them if I asked him about it. Though I could remember most of the dessert recipes that I used back in London, I figured out that it would do me some good if I learned how to make other dishes for meals. And considering how amazing Harr’s cooking was, it was only natural that I’d try to learn from him.

Beside me, Loki leaned against the armrest of the sofa, nodding his head to the song I was humming. “What song is that, Alice?” He asked inquisitively, tilting his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before… Did it come from the Land of Reason?”

I nodded. “I can’t remember the name of it, though,” I replied with a shrug as I zipped up my bag, lifting the straps around my head to rest on my shoulder. “I just remember listening to it a long time ago back in London,”

“London?”

“Ah, that is, the Land of Reason,” I explained with a smile as Loki’s eyes lit up. For a number of times now, he has asked me about my world, known as the Land of Reason to everyone in Cradle. A polar opposite to this wonderland that I’ve fallen into, the Land of Reason progressed and functioned on scientific logic, machinery and phenomena instead of magic. I wonder how I would ever explain how to use a telephone to anyone here, especially Loki.

Meanwhile, the man that I was just thinking about had his gaze trained on the bag slung across my shoulder. The shades of pink and yellow in his eyes shimmered like stars, and yet I could feel them piercing through me. The lack of response from the usually vocal Cheshire Cat made my heart worry.

“Loki?” I timidly asked, not realizing how soft my voice had become.

He didn’t reply. Instead, he stood up from the sofa and walked towards me like a predator catching his prey. As he advanced to my position, I could spot his eyebrows drooping in disappointment. The tense expression in his eyes reminded me of the day he casted a spell to force me into a deep sleep.

“You’re leaving… now?” He finally murmured in a low voice, upset that I was preparing myself to head back to the black army’s headquarters.

Oh boy, here we go again…

“Is Loki stopping you from heading back home again?” Harr let out a long sigh in a tone mixed with embarrassment and disappointment as he stepped out his room, catching the sight of Loki staring down at me with pleading eyes.

I unfortunately had to nod in reply before turning my attention back to the pink-haired man before me. “Loki, I need to get back. You remember what I told you right? It’s gonna be Luka’s birthday soon and I need to help Ray and the others practice making a cake for him,” I explained in a matter-of-fact tone. I was already used to the many episodes of Loki trying to stop me from heading back to the other black army members, after all.

He turned his head slightly at the mention of Luka, his lips curving into an annoyed frown. “I don’t like that you have to go back to their headquarters all the time,” He complained as he reached for both of my hands, holding them tightly as if I would disappear if he let go. “I wish you could just stay here with me instead,”

I let out a short sigh. As possessive and dramatic as he was now, I had to admit that there was always a small sorrow in my heart each time we parted ways. There was always the promise of seeing him the next day, but there was also the miniscule yet present uncertainty that I couldn’t do so. It was a fear I could not deny no matter how hard I tried.

I looked up at Loki with a warm smile on my lips. “I’m sorry that I can’t stay today, Loki. But I promise I’ll come back tomorrow, and then we can go out on another date in Cradle-”

“But I still don’t like seeing you leave me,” He replied, seemingly unwavered by what I’ve said, the expression on his face barely changing. If anything, his grip on my hands only strengthened.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise-”

“But if you go, that means I won’t get to cuddle next to you tonight…”

His suddenly bold words caught me off-guard and I couldn’t stop the redness from crawling up my face. In fact, my cheeks weren’t red because of what Loki said; they got red because Harr was literally right there watching us!! There was no way to really stop his possessiveness, wasn’t there?

From the corner of my eye, I could see the wizard standing by the dining table with another disappointed expression on his face. “For the love of…” He mumbled, shaking his head. It seemed that as far as he was concerned, this routine of me getting won over by Loki’s charm was never going to end.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

And he’s always demanding attention! If that part of him didn’t resemble a cat, then I don’t know what does!

“Hey, Alice~”

“... Alice, look at me~”

As tempted as I was, I managed to steel myself not to look at Loki, my focus not leaving the work in my hands for even a second. When he sneaked into my room earlier this afternoon, he took the liberty of lying on my bed for a little ‘cat-nap’. Now in the evening hours leading to dinnertime, he was up and clearly desperate for my attention.

… Actually, I take that back. The more I consider it, the more I realised that regardless of where we were, he always would be demanding my attention. It was petty, sure, but I couldn’t deny that I still love him for that.

Today, though, I couldn’t afford to be swayed by his pleas for attention. “Not now, Loki,” I proclaimed firmly. “I need to finish making this present for Edgar’s birthday tomorrow,” My mind floated back to a few days before when Loki had tried to stop me from going back to help Ray and the others make a birthday cake for Luka. Thankfully, Harr came to my rescue, convincing the ever clingy cat Loki to let go of me. Back then, I hopelessly fell victim to his boldness; I couldn’t afford to repeat that same mistake today.

… Huh…? Why… does my ear suddenly… hurt…?

I was so absorbed in my work that I had not noticed Loki’s stealthy advance towards me, him leaning over me as I sat on my work desk. As my attention was better tuned to his presence next to me, I could feel the short silky strands of his hair tickle my ears, accompanied by… something sharp?

It was only when his hands landed on my shoulders did my mind finally register what was going on. He… bit my ear…

… Oh my god..!!!

“L-Loki?!” I involuntarily yelped as my whole body froze. Whatever was working on before now landed on the desk as my hands remained in the air, unmoving as an all-too-familiar warmth travelled up my cheeks, extending to the edge of my ears. I could practically feel the electricity coursing through my veins as his warm breath hit my skin like a piece of red-hot iron.

“Hm?” He whispered with a seductive smirk on his face, clearly ignoring the deep scarlet blush on my face. “What is it, Alice?” He continued in a somewhat innocent tone as he continued to nuzzle the back of my ear affectionately.

No matter how hard I tried, no words would come out of my mouth. All I could do was gasp as Loki’s slender fingers swept some of my hair away so that he could nuzzle my neck. I let out a high-pitched yelp at the warm sensation, my head tilting to the side as if it was second nature and my two hands automatically reaching out and searching for his, and he chuckled at the sight.

“You know, I really have to wonder…” His alluring voice returned as his hands finally met mine, lulling the sudden need that had culminated within me. “Why do you tend to think of other men while I’m here?”

“Do you need me to remind you of who you belong to?”

The heat from my face instantly spread across my entire being at the sound of his deeper voice. I couldn’t halt the quiet moans coming out of my mouth as Loki grazed his teeth against my neck, his tongue following after as he licked my skin. My heart is beating so fast… I barely registered the sensation of my chair being lifted slightly as I was spun around in midair, my whole body now facing my boyfriend.

In my half-lidded vision, I spotted a red and surprisingly seductive gleam in Loki’s eyes. He flashed his signature Cheshire grin as he raised his hand to my chin, keeping me focused on him. “I belong to you, Alice. That means that you belong to me too, right?” His grin widened as he pulled my face towards him, his lips capturing mine in a sweet kiss.

I melted into the sensation immediately, my arms wrapping around his neck as I leaned closer to him, closing my eyes to savour this feeling. Loki’s hands soon cupped my face as he tilted his head to deepen our kiss, his fingers framing my jaw so very gently, as if I was fragile porcelain. A few minutes passed before I felt Loki pull away from me, and I internally whined at the loss of his warmth against my lips. “Loki?” I asked quietly, surprised at how soft my voice was.

He just smiled at me, his heterochromatic eyes telling me that he was content. “I’m glad,” He said randomly as he interlocked his fingers with mine. The gesture, although sweet, confused me, and I blurted out my question before I could even consider its aftereffects. “Glad about what?”

He chuckled at me again as a cheerful smile found its way to his face. “I got your attention now, Alice~”

I blinked at the realization that he was right. Oh no… I fell for his charms again just like last time…

At this rate, I’ll never get any work done…!

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

… Then again… I suppose the same can be said for me, to some degree…

Loki found himself smiling widely at the little doll in his hands, her appearance looking so much like his Alice. Her long brown hair, her cute white dress, her pretty blue eyes…

The pink-haired wizard let out a small giggle. He made a mental note to thank Harr later for teaching him how to sew. Though it took him a long time to make this doll look like her without using magic (even when the urge to just flick his fingers at the doll was so tempting), Loki was still very pleased at the final result of his practice.

“Loki!!” A melodious voice rang through the air, cueing the man in question to quickly pocket the doll in his jacket before she noticed it. He couldn’t afford to spoil the surprise… not yet, anyway.

Instead, he waved at the chestnut-haired lady as she sauntered over, a picnic basket in her hands. “Sorry that I’m a little late. Were you waiting for long?” She bowed once, making Loki laugh.

“Not at all, Alice,” He shook his head politely as he reached for her free hand and raised it to his lips, kissing the back of it gently. “By the way, you’re looking very cute, as always~”

A pink blush spread across her cheeks as her face shifted into a flustered expression. Loki’s heart warmed at the sight of Alice looking so embarrassed. Her honest reaction to everything was the cutest thing about her, after all.

So adorable… Loki mused to himself before lowering his voice as he spoke. “Hey, hey Alice. Before we go on our date, I have something to show you,”

She tilted her head at him. “What is it?”

“Close your eyes,” He teased with a smirk, to which Alice logically raised an eyebrow at, but the serious look in his own eyes reassured her otherwise. Deciding to go along with his plan, she obliged. With her eyes closed, her now hypersensitive ears heard the sound of cloth being rubbed against, as if someone was searching through their pockets.

“Okay, you can open them now,” Loki’s voice brought her back to the present as she followed his words, her eyes now catching the sight of a quaint little doll resting in Loki’s hands. He was holding it with both of his hands, his fingers wrapping around the doll’s waist, right where the start of her navy blue skirt was.

Wait a minute… a navy blue skirt?

“This doll…” Alice blinked at the sight. “It looks like me…”

“That’s right!” Loki nodded excitedly. “Isn’t she adorable?” He continued, lifting the doll’s hand to imitate her saying hello.

Alice giggled at the gesture. “How did you make her, Loki? With magic?” She asked as Loki passed her the petite toy, her hands and eyes looking all over the doll and inspecting its quality and detail.

“Nope,” He replied with an unexpected answer, which cued Alice to gaze at him quizzically. “I made her from scratch,”

“From scratch?”

“Yep. She’s made from nothing but thread, cotton and cloth,”

“ … No magic?”

He grinned as if he was crossing his heart. “No magic at all,”

“Wow…!” Alice beamed at him, her eyes sparkling with awe. “That’s really impressive, Loki!”

The smile on her face was more than enough of a payment for his efforts. He could feel his heart soaring at the sight of her happiness. Oh how he’d love to capture that pretty look on her face forever…

… Oh, right.

“There’s a reason why I wanted to show you this doll, Alice,” Loki began, lowering his voice mysteriously. Alice turned to him quickly, curiosity in her gaze. “You see, the last time I came to your room, I noticed something,”

“You tend to keep a lot of dolls of me in your room, Alice,”

Alice’s sapphire eyes widened like a child would have if she was caught eating candy. “I-!!” She uttered a single word as her embarrassing side resurfaced. How… Didn’t she keep those dolls in her closet when Loki came over?

… Or did he find them by himself?

“I don’t know where you found so many dolls of me, though,” Loki mused, a playful tone in his voice as he continued his explanation. “I mean, I don’t mind you keeping dolls of me. In fact, I find it rather precious of you~”

Precious? The fact that she always cuddled a Loki toy to sleep everyday… was precious to him? Alice could not believe her ears. Had she fainted in embarrassment already? Was this just a dream?

Behind her back, she pressed a fingernail into her thumb, the stinging pain from it as real as the basket in her hands. Yep, definitely not a dream.

“It’s kind of unfair though,” The younger man pouted, a frown appearing on his face. “You have the chance to cuddle me to sleep every night, but I don’t…”

Did he just read her mind?

“So…” He said slowly, reaching out to the doll in Alice’s hands as he tenderly took the doll back, holding it in his two hands. The young magic-user then turned to the woman in front of him, a light pink blush across his cheeks and his gold-and-pink eyes shining in adoration and affection.

“You wouldn’t mind if I have a doll of you then, would you, Alice~?”

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

Hm... How would you reply to him, Alice? :3

Thank you so much, maedayo, for blessing my day with Loki fan art. I desperately need more Loki content~♥

Also, the song that Alice was humming to in the third scenario was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGmk_F3F0Lw

I’ve been listening to it the whole time I was writing this. It’s super sweet~ Also, I realise that some of its lyrics really REALLY fit Loki’s route. Like I want to make an animated video of it with Loki, ahhh-

Anyways, thank you for reading!

(P.S. time to start writing another Loki fanfic since maedayo just posted more art of him and Alice ahhhh-)

#ikerev loki genetta #loki genetta #ikemen revolution loki genetta #ikerev #ikemen revolution #fanfiction #established relationship #picnic #cheshire cat #ikemen revolution loki #he's such a cutie #just like a cat #a bit possessive and attention seeking but still a cutie #i love him <3

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victorluvsalice · 4 years

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Forgotten Vows Friday: Favorite Moments, Part IV

It's my BIRTHDAY! :D And much like the 13th was the perfect day to talk about the darkest moments I love in this series, I think today is the perfect day to talk about the brightest moments -- aka, my absolute favorite favorites. I don't think any of you are going to be surprised by this list:

1. Forgetting You, Chapter 9: Splatter Gets What He's Owed -- Victor punching Jack Splatter and rescuing Alice from the burning Mangled Mermaid -- Okay, first of all, I like this chapter in general because it was one of the first I did after getting some solid writing tips from reading the first book of the Riverworld series (namely, "I do not want to write like this"), and I feel it represents a big jump in quality in my storytelling. And this particular moment -- oh, it was satisfying to finally give Splatter exactly what he deserved for hitting Alice! (Which is, uh, kind of why I kept doing it. XD) Not to mention I threw myself into properly describing the burning Mermaid and Victor's rescue of Alice, and I feel it turned out beautifully. (I still like "If the exterior of the Mangled Mermaid was a glimpse at Pastor Galswells's favorite vision of Hell, the interior was the full Time-Of-Judgment-Featuring-Dante-And-Virgil experience.") Not to mention I liked letting Victor play the hero for Alice, as she was going to be playing the hero for him for much of the rest of the verse!

2. Forgetting You, Chapter 24: Confrontation At Moorgate Station -- Victor punching Bumby during the brief moment he broke free of his control -- Speaking of satisfying moments where someone gets what they deserve. . .ooh, this felt good to write after Chapter 22! Bumby obviously deserves worse, but that moment where it becomes clear he never truly broke Victor -- well, Alice wasn't the only one bouncing up and down in delight. XD

3. Forgetting You, Chapter 25: Into Londerland -- Alice shoving Bumby in front of the train -- Obviously I have to include what is also one of my favorite moments in Alice: Madness Returns itself. I was so worried that he was going to get away scott-free, and then Alice took matters into her own hands, and it was great. And I think I did a good job in translating the moment into text, particularly Bumby's shock as Alice turns to face him as her Wonderland self. (Which he definitely saw her as, thanks to my Alice having a natural talent for a certain disguise spell. . .) Not to mention the exchange right before she shoves him:

"Could you kill a fly?" echoed in her head, the Dollmaker trying to get in one last shot from beyond the grave.

I can kill a lot more than that, she replied, and used her free hand to give Bumby one good, hard shove.

Eeee~ So good.

4. Remembering You, Chapter 13: Taking Back The Crown -- Victor defeating the Bumby Heart within the Wall, and regaining his memories -- Again, more satisfying moments against Bumby -- or, at least the remnant of him still left in Victor's head. The whole fight against the Wall, with Victor wielding Alice's weapons against the Ruin, was great to write, but the final battle? Victor clawing his way back from the edge of oblivion thanks to remembering Alice's eyes? The memory of getting the fork from Ms. Plum becoming the initial form of the Vorpal Fork? Victor staring the Heart down as it starts panicking? The "MY! NAME! IS! VICTOR!" line right before he stabs it?! *chef's kiss* That was so good, both to write and to read afterward. :D And then afterward, designing the first form of his Otherland -- the sweet little forest where his memories come back? That was a great way to destress after the fight. Just what Victor and I needed.

5. Remembering You, Chapter 14: So Kiss Me – Victor and Alice's first kiss -- It's their first kiss I'm not supposed to pick this? XD More seriously, this was a sweet and wonderful moment to finally write. And it probably helps that I took some inspiration from one of my favorite Disney movies, Enchanted -- you know how Victor picks up Alice and spins her around a bit? I had in mind Giselle getting spun around by Prince Edward when they reunite in Robert's apartment. (Yeah, I know, wrong couple, but I still thought it was a cute moment!) After so much time spent with them either pining but shoving down their feelings, or being utterly oblivious, or being in love but struggling past lingering mental issues. . .damn, it just felt good to have them finally smooch.

6. Fixing You, Chapter 7: Heck Though Ain't It Grand – Alice's reunion with Lizzie in the Land of the Dead -- I know this was one of the two "big moments" everyone wanted to see in the series, and I was more than happy to deliver. Mostly because it was a moment I wanted to see myself. Setting up the surprise of Lizzie being Burtonsville, not in Oxford, was a lot of fun in-universe, and the actual moment when the two sisters saw each other again – even I "awwwed" internally when they flung themselves into each other's arms. :) It was just so heartfelt. . . The follow-up hug between Alice and her parents when they finally reach the Ball & Socket is great too. Just – I know this is the thing Alice has wanted most ever since the series began, and I was thrilled to give it to her. (And this leading to the final defeat of that damned Jabberwock was a great bonus! Call that an "honorable mention" on this list.)

7. Fixing You, Chapter 10: The Grand Wonderland Tour – Victor and Alice's tour of Wonderland – Yes, the entire chapter. This is the other big thing everyone wanted, and, again, more than happy to deliver. This whole chapter is probably my favorite in the whole series, just because I had so much fun coming up with stuff for Victor and Alice to do in all the various domains! It was like a "greatest hits" of every fun "Victor and Alice in Wonderland" scenario I've ever thought of! :D Personal favorites within the chapter itself are the mine cart ride in the Village of the Doomed (it was fun going back to AMA, coming up with a special suit and dress for the mains for the "domain," and it was very interesting to look up stuff on early roller coasters!), Victor and Alice building a sand castle in the Music Fish's "Choral Coral" spot (that's my personal favorite bit in the Deluded Depths when it comes to the scenery, and it brought back fond memories of being on the beach and watching Mom make sand sculptures), the battle against the Army Ants (more fun with AMA stuff, and a good opportunity to show the pair's battle skills – not to mention, I love the way they got the Ants to back off in the end), and Victor and Alice's race through Cardbridge (again, my favorite level in A:MR, and them just getting to play like kids in this beautiful world was -- I swear, I was smiling and squeeing so much writing that bit. . .). But the whole thing was fantastic, and I think well-worth the wait!

8. Fixing You Chapter 16: Round Three: The Conglomeration. . .and Thirteen – Victor redeeming Thirteen, and the full creation of his Otherland afterward -- I like the whole sequence in Silent Burtonsville (Victor going Hysteria to kill the Colossal Nell when she threatens Alice is definitely an “honorable mention” moment), but the final confrontation definitely makes favorite. Victor and Alice finally recognizing just what it is he's struggling with, and Alice convincing Victor that the only one who sees himself as a monster is him, leading to him forgiving himself. . .ooooof. It just hits you right in the feels, doesn't it? The moment of him hugging his corrupted self, whispering that he doesn't hate him? How could you not sniffle, seriously? And then, after Thirteen's redemption back into Desire, the whole bit where Victor starts getting into what he actually wants his Otherland to look like. . .once again, had so much fun doing the descriptions! I was as enthusiastic as Victor about the whole thing! And Victor's joy at seeing the Living Dead Forest come to life outside the window? So much squee, seriously. Love it.

9. Fixing You, Chapter 18: A Day For A Glorious Wedding – Victor and Alice's wedding – Again, this is their wedding, I wasn't supposed to pick it?! XD I'm pretty sure we were all VERY READY for this to finally go down by the time it happened, and I was just thrilled to finally put it to paper. I mean, I'd had Victor's reaction to Alice's dress stored away in a "notes" file for ages, but to actually get them in front of that registrar, do the vows, go back to Houndsditch and have that cake. . .it did my heart good, seriously. Especially that moment when Victor hears Alice say her vows back to him, and all he can think is that he didn't want to cry. . . Even if it wasn't necessarily the most "romantic" way to get married, I still just wanted to sweep them up in a big hug and weep for a while. XD And then the reception afterwards in the Land of the Dead, with Victor and Alice getting a surprise party from their dead loved ones, Victoria finally getting a chance to see the place, June reuniting with her mother and meeting her brother, and the kids giving Victor his pictures back? I don't think I could have ended that story any more perfectly.

10. A Wedding, A Wedding, We're Going To Have A Wedding, Chapter 7: In A World Of Our Own – Victor and Alice's Wonderland reception – Honestly, the whole fic is a win for me (as probably evidenced by the way it kept growing chapters), but the last bit, which was a complete last-minute "oh hey, if I did a Land of the Dead reception for Victor and Alice, I should do a Wonderland one too!" is just – so full of fluff, I swear. I wasn't expecting it to be so squee-inducing and squishy when I first came up with the idea, but. . .Alice's Wonderland and Victor's Otherland merging like they do, with the inhabitants of both their minds teaming up to give them a party? Showing once and for all they've stopped beating themselves up about stuff for the most part? Awwwwww. . .the bit that really gets me, though, is the very last part:

[. . .] Victor turned to offer Alice his arm as the various citizenry hurried off through the combined woods –

Then paused. A playful grin crossed his face. "What?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are – Oh!"

Alice automatically grabbed for his neck as he suddenly scooped her up into his arms. "Oh," she repeated, trying to get her bearings. "Er – any particular reason for giving me a lift?"

"Well, you're my new wife," Victor told her, adjusting his grip. He nodded at the join between their two worlds, the Vale of Tears and the Living Dead Forest mingling in perfect harmony. "Aren't I supposed to carry you over the threshold?"

Oh, he was such a sap – and she loved him for it. "You are," she confirmed, snuggling into him. "If you would, Mr. Liddell?"

"My pleasure, Mrs. Van Dort."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH – no I DON'T know why that affects me so much but it FREAKING DOES. It just – ooof. *flops* Best way to end anything about their wedding, I swear.

And that covers it! All my favorite moments in the Forgotten Vows Verse! :D Hopefully you guys saw a few of your favorites in here as well. . . I'll see you all in the New Year! With any luck, we'll get some more content for this world, and maybe even a few more favorite moments. :)

#forgotten vows friday #forgotten vows verse #favorite moments #it's my birthday and I'll squee if I want to #most of these are probably super obvious #but I will take the opportunity to rave about them regardless #seriously it was actually really nice to go back through some of these #look at them again and go #'you know what I'm kind of good at this' XD #and have all the Valice feels again #I love my OTP and I want to keep writing for them for the rest of my life :)#in this universe or any other #queued

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mercurytail · 6 years

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Shifting Sands Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is here!!! Thanks to @the-hallowed-lady for betaing as always, and to another personal friend.

Please Enjoy!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223778/chapters/35578842

Shifting Sands Chapter 5

(Important: A Sōzu shishi-odoshi is a Japanese garden ornament that fills with water and then empties making a tapping sound. It is translated as ‘deer scarer’. Hanzo and Genji’s Dragon spirits are named after Shinto gods respectively; Raijin the god of lightning, thunder, and storms. Fūjin the god of wind, and Ishikori-dome no mikoto the god of mirrors and metal working.)

The sound of shifting sand blankets the air as the wind caresses the Ume leaves. Cicadas sing out into the summer heat. The Sōzu Shishi-odoshi taps its stone. A young Hanzo soaks in the peace of the gardens.

He walks in the pebbled shadow, cast by the trees, and under the bridge to the archery field. He breathes in deep, the air is crisp. Shimada castles high walls keep the city toxins at bay. A sparrow perches on a branch nearby chirping happily. He nears the rack and takes a bow in hand. He straps the yazutsu quiver to his obi.

There are three circular targets made of [spiraling] grass dented with heavy use. Hanzo takes his stance at the first. He pulls the string back, an iron-tipped arrow notched, inhaling with it. He exhales as it releases.

It misses.

Hanzo stares wide-eyed briefly. A nearly impossible to hear giggle echoes from above. Hanzo’s eyes narrow in a suspicious glare. He notches another arrow and takes aim then releases it as he did the other.

It soars toward the target dead center, however, centimeters before it hits the arrow arches. It thuds into the edge of the target. A second giggle reaches his ear.

Hanzo smirks, He positions yet another arrow. A stone-tipped arrow. As he releases he wills his breath to carry it above and over his head toward the sounding giggles.

It pierces through the wood of the overhanging terrace, “Gah!” shuffling sounds and Genji then falls to the ground at Hanzo’s feet. He rubs his head; his ankle bleeds where the arrow nicked him.

“If you have nothing better to do than make a fool of my aim, you could join me before sensei catches you sloughing off your duties…again.” Hanzo kneels and wraps his handkerchief around Genji’s ankle, knocking him on the nose as he stands.

“Cheat,” Genji punches him in the shoulder playfully. “When did you get stone-tipped arrows?”

Hanzo turns and pulls back on the bow, releasing another arrow. It hits the center of the target.

“I had them made after the last time you tampered in my training.” Hanzo looks accusingly at Genji.

Genji smiles and walks over to the rack. He collects a waist bag of shuriken and synchs it on. He returns and stands next to Hanzo facing the second target. “First to 100 bullseyes wins, loser pays at Rikimaru’s”.

Hanzo pulls back on the string, “I am never second best.”

***

Hanzo opens his eyes, his dragons stirring him awake. Hanzo’s dream having made them restless with longing to see their sister. ‘Calm, I am anxious as well. We will see them in time.’

The morning sun streaks through the windows. The far cry of car horns sound from the streets below. McCree lays sound asleep on his stomach beside him, one arm resting over Hanzo’s chest. Hanzo rests his head back and watches the dust twirl in the air.

His life had been an exception. Being an elemental was both a blessing and a curse. Only one elemental is born for every one-hundred-thousand births.

It’s often elementals do not live to see adulthood, because with their rarity comes danger. No teachers or guidance exist to show them how to control or cope with their gifts. Most cause their own deaths or deaths of others by accident or misuse before the age of ten.

It was only thanks to the Shimada’s great influence and power as a yakuza clan that saved him and Genji of the worst of the elementals existence. Elementals are heavily sought after. It’s commonplace for them to be kidnapped and sold into slave trade through the black market to the highest bidder. The ones that manage to avoid this fate do not stay hidden long. Governments require all known elementals to register and serve in organized military regimes, so they may be monitored, ‘Tested on’. If they refuse they are subject to lifelong imprisonment ‘as a safety precaution for the public’. Some cultures worship them as the next step in humanities evolution; others shun them out of fear.

The existence of sibling elementals was unheard of until Genji’s birth. Genji’s talent for manipulating any metal was unique even within the world of elementals. But, Hanzo himself was seen as a principally unique existence. For he possessed two elements; those with two elements are a mere eight percent of all elementals born. On top of this, His lineage as a son born from the Shimada main family also bestowed him with ‘gifts’. Those of pure blood are born with an ancient spirit. These beings reside within their companions, sharing mind, body and soul. Even rarer were those born with multiple. Hanzo harbors two great storm dragons. Raijin no migite, a female spirit of thunder and lightning, and Fūjin no hidarite, a male spirit of wind, as a child Hanzo lovingly nicknamed them Rai and Fūn. The spirits having such a strong connection with Hanzo’s own elements only amplified his talents further. Hanzo resented himself. All his ‘gifts’ were just curses in sheep’s skin, but growing up he was pompous and cocksure, flowing into how he carried himself now, in his adult life.

(Worst of all,) The clan saw these facts as entitlements; A right to take anything they desired. The elders saw Genji and himself as leverage rather than human beings. They desired the perfect heirs; ‘weapons’. They often pushed Hanzo so hard he risked injury, and on many occasions death, while mastering his powers, his lightning’s unpredictability making it especially dangerous.

His first kill was not an assassination, as is the tradition within his family. It was an accident; his martial arts sensei had pushed him to use lightning in his strikes. The result ended in a young Hanzo witnessing his forward palm strike decapitating the body in front of him.

On one occasion, the night after his mother’s assassination. His sorrow and anger had built so much in his attempts to suppress them that when a servant pushed him too far the condensed rage exploded from him. It burst from within him in waves causing the destruction of an entire wing of the castle. The fire engulfed most of the east wing killing many.

With all their focus on Hanzo, Genji was left with endless freedom, which bred a rebellious nature within him. When the time came for him to bear some responsibility, it ignited the fuse of their destruction.

The clan’s adamancy of having the brothers’ rule together is what brought upon their downfall, and Hanzo’s.

***

Hanzo moves McCree’s arm and sets up. He shakes his head to stir away his darkening thoughts. He looks down at McCree, ‘Against all odds, to think I would have met another with gifts such as mine, as well as an understanding of my strife.’

“I was thinkin’ the same thing.” McCree turns his head to face Hanzo, squishing it into his folded pants pillow.

Hanzo straightens, had he said that out loud?

McCree rises up onto his elbows and looks out the window. “It’s a fine day. What say we find a nice spot and…practice?” McCree looks at Hanzo with an honest face and raised brow.

Hanzo looks forward, his lips press into a thin line. His knuckles turn white as he grips his makeshift clothing blanket.

McCree falters in his resolve, “Hanzo…I wanna’ help ya but ya gotta give me somethin’”.

“My mother once told me, before her untimely death; ‘Strength does not come from physical capability, it comes from an indomitable will’” Hanzo turns to McCree, “If you can teach me, Jesse, I am willing to listen.”

An ear to ear smile plasters itself on McCree’s face. He pops up and begins to dress. “Mighty fine! Let’s get some grub first though, can’t work on an empty stomach.”

Hanzo stands and begins to dress. McCree pauses after zipping his pants to watch.

Hanzo raises his brow questioningly. He then makes a show of slipping on his tank and braiding his hair, down and over his right shoulder.

McCree makes a low whistle.

They pack up and emerge onto the streets.

The decrepit district of New York they chose to hold up in was indeed dirty and worn; trash litters the sidewalks, streets, and gutters. The homeless huddle en-masse in the dark alleys. But even places such as these possess true gems if one looks hard enough.

They find a small shop nestled between two twelve-story apartment buildings. The two-story red brick building sticks out, like a swan amongst a flock of geese, in the concrete jungle. Its burgundy overhang guards the black foldable tables and chairs resting under it. A hand-painted “Donovan’s Café and Baked goods” is visible on the gold trimmed viewing window.

The bronze bell above the door jangles to announce their entrance. A black-haired man with a burn scar across his face, dressed in all white and covered in flour comes out from the back. “What can I get ya’?” His Italian accent is thick.

McCree bends to look into the wonderland behind glass.

Hanzo steps up and orders a large apricot jelly-filled sweet bun, its sprinkled sugar coating sparkles in the light. He requests for green tea but they do not have it. “Any tea is fine,” the man then hands him a lidded paper cup of hot black tea. McCree then points to the glass and requests a sausage and cheese empanada and a black coffee.

They walk the streets aimlessly as they eat, enjoying the city’s haze of noise. After they finish they continue to walk shoulder to shoulder. A comfortable silence rests between them.

A couple hours pass this way and soon they realize they must move on.

“Where would be a good place to hide something as bright and flashy as a firework show in July?” McCree turns and asks as they walk along a large traffic crossing.

“In the city, perhaps an abandoned building. Parks are too populated; we would be caught and reported before we even began.”

McCree considers it for a bit, then pulls out his communicator and brings up a map of the district. “There looks to be a building six blocks north o’ here. Old, concrete, and fenced.” He winks, “Let’s go.”

They walk the distance to the structure and scan the perimeter for any holes in the fence. When they find none, Hanzo scales the chain link. Unable to achieve such a feat himself, McCree melts into a tan mass of sands and slithers through the openings. The sands lift and wrap like a ribbon up and around Hanzo, lightly tickling him before they blow off into the damp dark of the buildings shadows. Hanzo laughs to himself.

Hanzo walks under the building into the forest of concrete pillars. He splashes through an oil slick puddle as he journeys further in.

It has been well over a decade since the last time he played so carefree like this. His skin tingles; He feels almost light. His fear in using his lightning is deadened in his chest as he stalks the dark column shadows, hunting for any sign of McCree - no, Jesse. Though he has not known the man for long, their mutually shared understanding and easy chemistry have drawn Hanzo in like a moth to the flame. He would dare say Jesse could be his…..his… Hanzo halts his train of thought, sensing movement just ahead of him.

Suddenly, the sand whips out from behind a pillar, aimed for his head. Hanzo bends back to dodge and retaliate with a palm strike, extending its reach with a gust of wind. The burst splits the sand in two; the left mass drops to the floor and slithers to his feet. He leaps vertically, spiraling air underfoot to raise himself higher. The right mass of sand swings like a hammer and collides with his leg shattering his balance and sending him back toward the earth. Hanzo extends all his limbs and pushes the air out to cushion his fall. He recovers immediately, sliding horizontally with the ground to dodge the sands downswing. The sand comes back together. Hanzo creates a blanket of air. He casts it to the ground trapping the sands under its immense swirling pressure. The tiny grains struggle futilely against it 'till they collapse to the ground scattering; admitting defeat.

Hanzo remains on guard until the sands begin to move, they pull upward, soon solidifying into a familiar shape.

“That would’ve really hurt if I could’ve felt it.” McCree rubs at his head.

“Can you not feel in that state?” Hanzo questions, briefly worried he might have injured the man.

“It’s not that I can’t, it's more that my senses are numbed, and the only thing that can injure me when I’m like that is hot stuff or cold stuff. Like, really hot or really cold. Extreme temperatures.”

McCree pulls the collar of his shirt back and shows the nearly healed burn, “It’s why your lightning singed me up.”

Hanzo deadens, “I did not intend to harm you.”

McCree waves it off, “I know, but that’s why we’re here.” McCree walks a few yards away. “Now, I don’t know how it works for you, but when I use my sands it’s not that I’m giving them orders. I am just giving them a direction to flow. I think that might work for you.”

Hanzo tilts his head confused, “I do not understand.”

McCree purses his lip considering, He then smiles and holds out his arms. “Shoot me.”

Hanzo stares at the man briefly.

McCree says it again, “’said shoot me.”

Hanzo pulls Storm bow from his bag and notches an arrow. He draws back.

McCree cocks his brow with a challenging look.

Hanzo then releases, the arrow flies, it lodges in McCree’s sandy shoulder. Soon the arrow drips from the sand and clatters to the ground, McCree solidifies again. He bends down and picks up the arrow.

He twirls it in his hand; he pulls out Peacekeeper and twirls her in the other. “Just like you aim your arrows, I aim my sands. They’re heavy and fightin’ against em’ don’t get ya nowhere, they will just fall wherever is heaviest no matter what I want.” He walks back to Hanzo and returns the arrow. “I think your lightning is the same. You try too hard to control it, rather than directin’ it and lettin’ it go.”

McCree stands next to Hanzo and holds up Peacekeeper, he aims at a pillar twenty yards away.

Hanzo watches in slow motion, McCree does not pull the trigger; the gun does not click or spark. However, as the gun recoils, bullet-shaped sand drips from McCree’s cheek just below his right eye and barrels forward. It hits the concrete with a loud crack, leaving a dent.

The sand melts and returns to McCree shortly after. “Use your bow,” Hanzo moves for another arrow but, McCree stops him. “Use lightning.”

Hanzo raises Storm bow, he tries to will an arrow into the slot like he does his wind, but it cracks and fizzles out. He grunts angrily.

“Don’t think about it,” McCree lifts Peacekeeper once more, “Just aim, focus, see it in your mind, and fire.”

Hanzo looks at McCree, then to the pillar. He raises Storm bow pulling back on the string inhaling, he remembers the wind through the trees, the cicada’s choir. Genji’s shuriken as they thud into the target beside him. The Sōzu Shishi-odoshi taps, it taps again….

With the rhythm Hanzo releases his breath, the string snaps forward, a bolt of light rips into existence millimeters out from the bow.

It moves faster than either can follow, all they see is the now cracked and crumbling pillar, a black burn mark the size of a pinpoint dead center.

McCree slaps him on the shoulder and shakes him, a wide grin on his face. The corner of Hanzo’s lips upturns slightly.

McCree turns to him, “Think you could do something like this?” McCree bit by bit dissolves and reforms a couple feet away.

Hanzo furrows his brow. He closes his eyes and aims for the space adjacent to McCree.

Instantly he dissolves and flashes toward McCree in an erratic strip of light. McCree just barely dissolves out of the way to keep from getting hit. Hanzo reappears behind him, stumbling for balance.

“Hey, ya ain’t got to think on it that hard, just see where you wanna’ be and let go.”

Hanzo takes a second to calm himself. He then looks to McCree’s hand, ‘where I want to be hmm,’ he feels it in his palm. He inhales, then he dissolves again into a bolt, this time it was fluid - if you could call lightning that. It zips toward McCree.

He braces, but then McCree feels warmth next to him. Hanzo blips into the space beside him, holding his hand. A bright white smile shining on Hanzo’s face. “I…I’ve not felt freedom such as this in a very long time. It feels…good.”

Hanzo then jumps again and again around the field of concrete pillars. Light flashing faster than McCree can follow.

As the time passes, they both delve into more serious ways of use for Hanzo’s newfound abilities. Hanzo develops a lightning arrow that once it strikes, it scatters into many bolts and fills up an entire area.

McCree fires harder compacted bullets and soon they realize with help from Hanzo’s wind they can penetrate solid rock and steel.

“wanna’ try heatin’ the bullets?”

“Is that safe, are the bullets not part of you?” Hanzo inquires.

“I can use bits o’ my clothes for the test run or,” he bends over and picks up a piece of cement turning it into sand. “I can use this.” He jostles and comes to stand in front of Hanzo, back to him. “Imma’ use Deadeye, might tucker me out a bit but we got time.” McCree poses with Peacekeeper in her holster.

“Draw!” he whips up firing off six rapid molten magma shots, all glowing red hot. Hanzo laces small sparks of lightning around each, one by one they turn white with heat.

Each bullet hits and shatters into crystalline specks of dust against the far wall. The glass sand rains down over them like a gentle snow sparkling and bending the sunlight. Both men pause in awe.

McCree looks to Hanzo, some of the dust has settled on his silken black hair and regal cheekbones. Hanzo’s expression of complete peace in that moment makes McCree’s heart flutter. He feels a sense of peace rise in his chest that has long been gone; he hopes that their time together continues. He swallows thickly, willing the tightness of his pants to dissipate. In his internal floundering, he doesn't see Hanzo wrap his hand behind his neck and pull him into a soft kiss. Though stunned for a brief second he soon melts into it, deepening it. Hanzo then pulls back, his eyes filled with uncertainty. Fear bubbles in McCree’s gut.

“What is this to you?” Hanzo says in a cold withdrawn whisper between their lips.

McCree breathes with relief, he’d fear rejection. Hanzo was quickly becoming something important to him. Perhaps faster than what was considered normal, but neither of them were normal men.

McCree steps back. He looks Hanzo in the eye and stands with confidence. “I ain’t gonna lie to ya, didn’t see you in the brightest light when the only thing I knew about you was your brother's one-sided monologue.” He turns to face the wall as the last of the glass dust settles. “But, I know now I’d like to get to know ya’.” He looks down and then turns to rest both hands on Hanzo’s shoulders, “ Hanzo, Darlin’ I feel freer and more connected with you than I have with anyone in all my years of walkin’ on this fucked up planet. I only hope you feel the same.” He then steps back, nervously rubbing the back of his head.

Hanzo considers his words and then finds his feelings are not far off. His dragons could not agree more. “Yes, I feel that this would be worth pursuing.”

‘May we meet the one you have deemed worth, master?’, ‘Yes, it has been far too long since you last let your heart feel the caress of another.’ Rai and Fūn speak up from within him. Hanzo looks to McCree; the man has a dumb grin on his face yet again. ‘I suppose it would be alright.’

His arm glows an ethereal blue, the secondary dragon tattoo on his right leg glows as well. Soon two cat-sized spectral dragons rest on Hanzo’s shoulders.

“He..hey! You got two? Genji showed me Ishiko-chan once. That lil’ green devil has a mean bite.” McCree reaches out his hand to Rai.

Each serpent looks to Hanzo and with a nod of Hanzo’s head both Dragons leap and spiral around the cowboy knocking him to the ground. The man is reduced to a bumbling ball of laughter as the dragon’s purr and tickle him.

Genji’s dragon, Ishikori-dome no Ishi; a dragon spirit of metal and reflection, had once shown him with such affection. Hanzo calls his dragons back, and they settle once more onto his shoulders. “These are Raijin no migite and Fūjin no hidarite my spirit companions. Rai, Fūn, This is Jesse McCree.

McCree tips his hat, “s’ a pleasure.”

Both dragons bow and then return to Hanzo’s skin. They then both walk to the wall to determine the aftermath of their earlier combined experiment.

There is no visible damage to the impact area. They deem it useless aside from its possible use as a distraction or as McCree adds; a theatrical party move.

*grumble*

McCree’s stomach growls, “heh, guess we did skip lunch,” He looks out toward the street, it is nearing sunset. “Hmm, we should head out. Get food and find a place to huddle down, perhaps one with an actual bed this time. Although, I can’t guarantee your back won’t hurt later.”

“Is that your idea of seduction? Implying you’ll make a man’s back ache without the assistance of a bad mattress?” Hanzo fixes him with a mischievous glare.

McCree laughs,” I mean, don’t fix what ain’t broken, right?” McCree winks at him.

They both turn and begin to walk out of the building.

Hanzo frowns; he looks around at the decimated columns and concrete as they pass. He feels a sense of longing well up in his chest, not yet ready for their time here to end. The progress he has made with his lightning here in a single day has been more than he has accomplished in his lifetime and it is purely thanks to the man at his side. He is so ready to be rid of this weakness, but he will not let his eagerness cloud his judgement. His…and Jesse’s safety is of the highest priority. Being out in the dark slums of the city at night is a risk he will not take.

The turmoil under his skin must have been visible, because the next thing he knows, he is wrapped warmly in McCree’s large arms in a crushing hug. McCree lays a soft kiss on the top of his head. It's quiet for a moment.

McCree then raises Hanzo’s chin with his natural warm hand. “Thank you for letting me in. I know with death constantly hanging over our heads, men like us don’t let their guard down easy.” A single tear breaks from McCree’s eye. “It means a lot.” Hanzo reaches up and wipes it away.

***

They pull out Hanzo’s holo-tablet and quickly search up the closest motel. Thankfully, it isn’t one of those that charge by the hour. Before they turn in for the night they scour the grotto for a suitable eating establishment. Around the corner from the bakery they had frequented earlier that morning sat a small family owned Italian restaurant. The server seats them in an olive-green booth in the back corner of the restaurant. The table has a white lace frilled tablecloth with a plexiglass cover over it; a single white jar candle decorates the shiny surface.

They order their waters and wait for the server to return. A few minutes later the server brings them their drinks and takes their orders. Hanzo chooses white wine and spinach pasta, while McCree gets two orders of crabmeat cannelloni and fried ravioli from the appetizer menu.

McCree rests his elbow on the table and settles his face in his palm. “Today was nice.”

Hanzo nods, “Yes, however, we have business to attend to.”

McCree purses his lips, “Yeah… well, I’ll step out and call up Charlie. Let um’ know we’re comin’” McCree stands and walks to the front entrance. Hanzo watches him as he goes.

Outside, McCree takes out a cigarillo and lights it. He draws at it, exhaling the smoke out exhaustedly.

“Always moving but never gets anywhere.” McCree huffs to himself, “least’ I got someone to share it with.”

McCree has always been moving, a bastard child of a rape victim, born to a mother high on opioids. His mother never really showed him any affection. Probably due to the memories he dredged up every time she looked at him. She only did the bare minimum, so he wouldn’t starve. He thinks she did it out of guilt. “The child didn’t ask to be born.” When he was four, his ‘mother’ hung herself from the rafters of their home. Two days later, Old lady Shawl found the body, and little Jesse just playing in the hot house all alone.

From then on Gran’ma Shawl raised him. She was merciless, made him tough.

“The world ain’t a kind place ya’ hear me? Ain’t nobody gonna’ care about a drowned rat like you. So you got to take care a’ yourself.” She used to say that to him a lot, He likes to think it was her way of sayin’ she loved him.

At five, he got his sands. He started using um’ to float cookies to his room under Gran’ma Shawls nose. When she found out, they moved out to the desert. “Being out in the desert has its advantages. No one cares, and no one comes lookin’”. He remembered that, for when it came time to pick a place to call home.

When he was nine, he nearly drowned in a lake. He hadn’t quite gained an understandin’ on how his sands worked. Another kid had thrown a rock at his head, and he’d turned to sand to avoid the blow. The lake water quickly soaked him, causing his sandy mass to sink to the bottom. After he solidified he had no air and the water felt like bricks on his lungs. He nearly blacked out before he could make it to the surface. It left him with a deathly fear of water.

At age eleven, Gran’ma Shawls died to lung cancer. One too many cigarettes. He figured out quick how to survive on his own. He started stealing and getting by anyway he could. His sands made it easier.

He hated it though. He had a kind heart and taken’ from people who were only a bit better off than himself hurt him deeper than anything physical had. Luckily, the elderly people would often take him in for a night. He’d do chores or errands for them and they’d feed him for a while, give him a place to stay. It made him feel like he was paying it back in a way.

At thirteen he’d had enough of leeching. He was headstrong and stubborn. Deadlock came along and picked him up. They gave him his first gun at fourteen. He was a natural good shot and only got better. He never missed a shot. He killed his first man at fifteen. His buddy had got caught, he raised his revolver and next thing he knew three bodies all hit the floor.

After that, with his sands, aim, and his abundance of natural wits, he rose through the ranks pretty fast. In the height of their day, he was Deadlock's third in command.

At eighteen, deadlock got hit hard. They’d just successfully pulled off a heist on a global bank in California, the deadlock name was a subject worldwide, and they paid the price for it.

Overwatch came for em’, or rather, Blackwatch did. No mercy was shown. Right after the single exchange of “surrender and no one gets killed” and “fuck off” it was a hellfire of bullets. McCree was tangled up in the battle and was forced to hole up in the back of a warehouse; once the dust settled only three agents remained. Deadlock was dead.

McCree takes another draw and exhales it, he laughs to himself. The memory of what happen next bringing a smile to his face.

He’d slithered over behind the last agent, while the other two left the warehouse. He came up quick and got the tall dark-skinned man in a choke hold but, before he could fire off a killing shot the man snapped his head back, breaking McCree’s nose and sending him sprawling. He realized the shotgun the man wielded had raised for a killing shot and turned to sand just in time to avoid the hail of pellets. His sandy figure raised his gun and levelled it at the man's face. The pellets dripped out of him as he solidified with a cocksure grin on his face. Surprisingly, the other man just smiled.

Suddenly, the butt of the shotgun came down hard on McCree’s chest, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him to the ground. The man then overturned a canister of oil that just so happened to be nearby, the sludge soaked McCree.

The man then pulled out a lighter, the flame waved in the draft of the warehouse. The shotgun returned to his face. McCree knew he was screwed. If he turned to sand he’d be slowed by the oil, he’d burn to death before he’d get ten feet away. He’d been outplayed.

The man then smirks and walks away as the other agents return. “Bring him in,” is all the agent says before disappearing. McCree is escorted to a shower and then an air-conditioned carrier cell.

Later, that same agent comes back. “Gabriel Reyes,” He shakes McCree’s hand. “And you are?”

McCree just levels an angry glare at him.

“Alright look, I like ya’, you’re hard, smart, and talented. Not to mention those sands. I’m a guy with just enough power to get what I want, and I want you. So, I’ll give you a choice. You come work for me and make something of yourself, or you get to visit the lovely maximum security elemental prison just down the road.”

McCree wasn’t an idiot; he saw the opportunity and took it and it was the best choice he has ever made.

His years in Overwatch had been the best years of his life. He felt a sense of purpose that he hadn’t had in all his years in deadlock. Did well for his kind heart too. His relationship with Reyes was the closest thing he’d ever had to a father. Even if they didn’t see eye to eye near the end. Ana was the mother he always wished for. Together they forged him into the man he was to this day. Strong, smart, and willing to do right no matter the cost. On his twentieth birthday, Ana gave him Peacekeeper. Everything about the weapon was tailored to him, the weight, the design, the choice in metal, and even its ammunition. It was and still is his most prized possession.

His relationship with Genji was probably the closest thing he’s ever had to a friend. Heck, Genji probably still is the only actual friend he’s got. No one else really wanted anything to do with the ex-yakuza murderous cyborg or the ‘got in free’ ex-criminal. So, they ended up together. They trained together, got out their frustrations. It was a quiet understanding, and they liked the company.

Overwatch was his family.

Once on a mission in the Philippines, they were forced to escape an exploding facility through the jungle. Their carrier was hidden just offshore on an island and they needed to swim for it. McCree wouldn’t’ do it. His fear blinded him to the danger and that night he nearly got him and four other agents killed including Reyes.

So, following that near miss, Reyes required him to attend regular swimming lessons, taught by Reyes himself. It helped after he got over the initial stubborn streak, he learned to swim and do everything he HAD to. But, he never got over having his head go under. Anytime he went completely under he’d black out due to his panic. He was grateful to Reyes nonetheless.

Near the end, when Overwatch was a shadow of its former self. He’d just had enough. Gabe wasn’t the same. Ana was dead, and Genji had already left. So, twelve months before the Swiss base explosion he left. He went out on his own. For the past seven years, he’s doled out justice where he sees fit.

It’s thanks to that he has as many ‘friends’ as he does now. Charlie was a good guy, a good father; he just got absorbed in his work. Lil’ Tabby was just playing near the sea cliffs near the take-off strip and she’d slipped. McCree just so happened to be camping on the nearby beach and saw the little girl fall. He’d caught her before she struck the sharp rocks, broke his leg doing it. After that, Charlie paid for the medical expenses and promised to repay him. Guess it was time he collected.

McCree crushes the cigarillo stub under his heel and pulls out his communicator. He pulls up Charlie’s number and hit the dial button.

“Hello, Charles speaking.”

“Howdy”.

“McCree? O’ my god, you son of a gun. What’s the occasion?” the man is jolly on the other end.

“Well, I figured it’s about time I call in that favor. Ya’ see me and a buddy could use some help getting across the Atlantic.”

Charles laughs heartily, “Well, alright! Come on down here then. I think I got a carrier due to leave for Numbani in a day.”

“Thank ya’ sir, we will see you then.”

“Take Care.”

McCree hangs up and pockets the device. He then walks back in and returns to the table. Their food having already arrived.

Hanzo looks up from his pasta at McCree as he sits.

“Charlie says he has a carrier flying out to Numbani tomorrow. We’ll want to get there by then.” McCree picks up his fork in one hand scooping up a whole cannelloni and a fried ravioli in the other.

Hanzo’s face sours, but it melts away returning to his neutral glare before he takes another bit. “Very well.”

McCree disregards it; He dives for another ravioli downing it in one big bite.

After they leisurely finish their meal they sit and share a bottle of wine at Hanzo’s request. The vintage 1995 Grenache is of a surprisingly high quality for a slum restaurant. Hanzo merely raises a glass to the owner and smiles. The owner nods back; an all too smug smile on his face. McCree wonders just what Hanzo did while he was out smoking.

They see themselves out as the doors close for the night. It is relatively late, as they walk back to their lodging. Hanzo leans just a bit too hard into McCree to be considered sober. ‘You’d think a man who constantly carries a flask with him would be able to handle his alcohol a bit better’; McCree finds it endearing. He has to help Hanzo in through the door.

Their room is simple; the walls are a faded dark blue with yellowing white trim at the top. There is a row of three windows on the far wall covered by brown blinds. A single full size bed sits against the right wall. There is a single side table with an old electric lamp on the far side of the bed. The on-suit bathroom is right inside to the right of the entryway. McCree locks and deadbolts the door.

Both men go about dressing themselves for bed. McCree chooses a pair of grey sweats, while Hanzo slips on a pink tank and his black briefs.

Hanzo lies down first, gliding under the thin sheet and blanket. He lies on his left side cradling his head in his hands, knees bent. McCree lifts up the edge of the blankets and jostles in behind him becoming the big spoon. “This alright?” he asks.

“It is fine,” ‘more than fine’. Hanzo melts into the other man as he settles. McCree pulls Hanzo in closer with the arm he wraps around his waist.

The room is dark, only the silver strips of light poking through the windows. The city outside blazes on in its night chorus. They both listen to each other’s heart beat slow and rhythmic. Soon both men slowly fall into a deep dreamless sleep.

#mchanzo #mchanzo au #hanzo shimada #hanzo #mccree #jesse mccree #shifting sands #my writing

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rabbitcruiser · 4 months

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Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day

Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day commemorates the start of the California Gold Rush, which began on January 24, 1848, when James Marshall discovered gold while building a saw mill for John Sutter, near what is now Coloma, California. The day has its roots in International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and was inspired by Prospectors Day, which was once held at Knott's Berry Farm each year on January 24. It also was inspired by an episode of the Simpsons with the following exchange:

Bart: That ain't been popular since aught-six, dagnabbit. Homer: Bart, what did I tell you? Bart: No talking like a grizzled 1890's prospector, consarn it.

Common examples of characters talking like grizzled prospectors in popular culture include Dallas McKennon narrating Disneyland's Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland and Big Thunder Mountain, Gabby Hayes—both drunk and sober—in many Western films, Gabby Johnson in Blazing Saddles, Will Ferrell as Gus Chiggins on Saturday Night Live, and Walter Huston in The Treasure of Sierra Madre.

Prospectors first came to the Sacramento Valley after Marshall found flakes of gold in the American River near Sutter's Mill, at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. At the time there were less than 1,000 non-native inhabitants in California. Newspapers began reporting the discovery of gold, and by August, 4,000 miners had descended on the area. The first people that came from outside of the territory came by boat, and arrived from Oregon, the Sandwich Islands—soon to be called the Hawaiian Islands, Mexico, Peru, China, and Chili.

In December 1848, President James K. Polk announced a report by Colonel Richard Mason which spoke of the abundance of gold in California; this prompted more prospectors to travel to the territory. Throughout 1849, thousands arrived, either traveling by sea or over land, and became known as '49ers. Mining towns popped up in the area, and with them came shops, saloons, and brothels. Many mining towns became lawless, and San Francisco became an important city in the territory. By the end of 1849, the non-native population had swelled to 100,000. The Gold Rush helped California gain statehood in 1850, and gold discovery peaked in the state in 1852. In all, more than 750,000 pounds of gold were extracted during the Gold Rush.

The implication of a grizzled prospector is of one who has stayed so long searching for gold that their hair has turned gray. Some prospectors refused to quit the profession and continued to live in the Western territories. So, when Bart Simpson mentioned a grizzled prospector from the 1890s, he was referring to a prospector that had stayed more than forty years after the Gold Rush happened, still trying to find gold, or other commodities such as silver, oil, radium, and uranium. Besides a gray beard, the stereotypical grizzled prospector had faded clothes, missing teeth, a pickaxe, and a mule. They had bouts of gold fever, and were suspicious of whoever came close to their claim.

How to Observe Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day

Celebrate the day talking like a grizzled prospector. Here are a few words prospectors commonly used, that you could use today:

Dadburn: to curse; e.g.: "Dadburned boll weevil done 'et my crop!"

Hornswoggle: to embarrass, disconcert, or confuse; e.g.: "I'll be hornswaggled!"

Consarn: the entirety of something, also a curse word.

Dumbfungled: all used up; e.g.: "This claim is dumbfungled! There's no gold left!"

Bonanza: a mine with lots of gold.

Borrasca: a mine with no gold.

Baby buggy: wheel barrow.

Muck: to dig with a shovel.

Powder monkey: a miner who used dynamite to make holes.

Johnny Newcome: a miner new to camp.

Blackjack and saw bosom: coffee and bacon.

Paydirt: land rich in gold.

Panned out: if they had found gold while sifting through dirt with a mining pan, then things had "panned out."

Flash in the pan: something shiny in pan that turned out to be nothing, or just a small piece of gold.

Stake a claim: claim a piece of land as your own as a place to search for gold, must stake the land with wooden stakes when you arrive.

The day could also be spent watching films such as The Treasure of Sierra Madre, or old Western films starring Gabby Hayes. A visit to the Sutter's Mill replica and the Gold Discovery and Visitor Center in Marshall Gold Discovery State Park could also be planned. The days' Facebook page could also be explored.

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scaredofrobots · 6 years

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Unusual (chat with Evans 315)

Happy Galentines day @petalstofish this is for you.

Thanks (I guess) to @shacklebolt-k for the idea. And @elanev91 and @beks21 for being my sentient fedoras with the European Colonial Construct of Grammar (I guess) cc @oyevans because you love BlackEvans as much as me and also are a sentient fedora on FFN

Sirius Black was on a mission.

Something was afoot, amiss and simply just not right.

Lily Evans Potter had lost all Christmas cheer. It was December 12th and she was not in her very favourite “13 days until Christmas jumper” which featured all the characters from the 12 Days of Christmas song.

So today, Sirius Black was going to get to the bottom of this- as he always did- with a chat and several bottles of Firewhiskey.

The Problem was first discovered on November 30th and there was nary a Christmas tree in sight.

It had been an odd year, to be fair, and Sirius had been travelling for much of October and November- so he hadn’t exactly been around the Potter household to experience the typical 84 days of Lily Evans Potter Christmas magic.

Therefore, he was a little shocked when he went to pick Lily up from the cottage in Godric’s Hollow to find there was no Christmas tree and no porch coated in glitter, garland and bobbles.

He assumed that this was because James was gone for six weeks to train with England for the World Cup and wouldn't be back until Christmas Eve.

“Alright, Evans...I’m sorry- Mrs. Potter?” he asked as she opened the door and let him in.

“You keep saying that like it is funny every time,” Lily responded, rolling her eyes. “It was funny once.”

“Evans, you wound me,” he smiled and was surprised to find Lily was hugging him. “There, there, Evans- I know you’ve been lonely without your boys.”

Sniffing slightly, Lily stated, “You have no idea.”

“Well, my lovely Mrs. Prongs- I know what will cheer you up! Let’s go get a Christmas tree and decorate the shit out of your house,” Sirius said and offered his arm to her.

Lily took it and they went on their way. They spent the day getting the Christmas tree and several decorations.

They transformed the cottage into a winter wonderland and Sirius was glad to see Lily looking slightly full of Christmas cheer. She even joined him in singing God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs as they hung garland across the porch. Lily seemed happy but not Twenty Six Days Until Christmas!! Happy. He decided that she must be missing James too much to really embrace the spirit. It was the first time since they’d gotten together that James was gone for Lily’s usual Christmas countdown. Since James was out of town- and Remus was still teaching at Hogwarts- Sirius decided to make it his personal mission to bring the Christmas Cheer back out of Lily Evans Potter.

Sirius woke the next day with a plan. He dug through his old school trunk and found the slightly burned and completely wrinkled copy of the legendary failed Advent calendar. He highlighted the top 24 activities and planned an order of events sure to restore Lily Evans Potter to her usual level of Christmas preparation.

The Plan was a disaster.

Sirius had tried all of Lily’s favourite pre-Christmas activities.

She fell asleep halfway through their carolling trek.

Then during ice skating, she had to stop skating to go vomit.

THEN when they were making Christmas cookies, she burst- inexplicably- into tears. She rushed out of the kitchen crying. When Sirius found her five minutes later, she was asleep in one of James’ old quidditch jerseys in their bedroom.

Lily had never really been a codependent person, so Sirius found her consistent moping odd and her lack of Christmas cheer odder, but still, he blamed it on James being gone. Furthermore- she wouldn’t fucking talk about what was bugging her, no matter how many ways he asked.

Which is why on December 12 The Plan shifted into Get Evans Fucking Drunk and Chat About Our Feelings While We Braid Each Other’s Fabulous Hair.

Sirius arrived at the cottage at 6pm with four bottles of Firewhiskey. He let himself in, as was his custom, and announced in his loudest lawyer voice, “Alright Evans- It’s time to have a chat!”

She popped her head out of the kitchen warily and responded, “I can’t- go away Sirius”

Rolling his eyes, Sirius entered the kitchen and sent down the bottles.

“Yes you can. Something is afoot, Evans, and I intend to figure it out,” he said.

“Please stop pretending you’re Sherlock Holmes,” Lily complained.

Sirius uncapped a bottle of Firewhiskey and took a deep drag and then tried passed it to Lily, who didn’t reach for it.

“Come on Evans- this is how we solve things,” he prompted.

“I can’t,” Lily said.

“Evans.”

“Can’t.”

“Why?”

“It’ll hurt the baby.”

“What baby?” Sirius asked.

At this- Lily just stared at him.

Confused, Sirius asked again, “What baby?”

“The baby currently growing inside of my body, Sirius.”

Inexplicably, Sirius felt tears prick in his eyes- “There is a baby in there? Your baby? And Prongs? A little Prongs?”

Lily rolled her eyes at this and said, “No it’s the milkman’s- of course it’s mine and James’ baby.”

“WE’RE HAVING A BABY?!?” Sirius asked again, suddenly full of an excitement he couldn’t quite describe.

“Well, technically-“ Lily started but once she saw the look on Sirius’ face, she stopped herself- “Yes- yes we are.”

Sirius put down the Firewhiskey bottle and scooped Lily up into a big bear hug exclaiming again, “A baby!”

Laughing fully for the first time in weeks Lily said, “Yes, a baby!”

Suddenly panicked, he set her down, “Did I squeeze you too hard? Did I hurt the baby?”

“No, you prat!” Lily laughed and gave Sirius a soft whack on the shoulder before wiping her tears away.

“Does Prongs know?” Sirius asked.

“No- this is in-person news. So no blabbing!” Lily admonished him as she poked him in the chest

Crossing his heart Sirius said, “Marauders’ Honor. Now come on. We’ve got shopping to do.”

And for the first time ever (but certainly not the last)- they abandoned their Firewhiskey mid-chat to take care of the smallest member of their family.

The next twelve days flew by. Telling Sirius about Little Prongs (as he insisted on calling the baby) seemed to unlock Lily’s Christmas Spirit again. It also helped that she was finally feeling a little more energetic and now having as much morning sickness- which was, in large part, due to Sirius researching a multitude of potions and vitamins to help her feel more like herself.

They spent a few days turning the spare room into the nursery. Lily had plans to have James open the nursery door when he returned Christmas Eve and for him to see the crib and for that to be his present. This was fifty percent because she she thought it was sweet, and fifty percent because “it’s about time I out surprised James on Christmas Eve”.

On December 19th, Sirius and Lily had plans to pick Remus up from Kings Cross for his holiday break from “teaching those little snot nosed shits” (as stated in his last letter). Sirius arrived at the cottage at 9 am and knocked on the front door.

When Lily opened it she looked at Sirius incredulously, “What the fuck is that Sirius?”

“Lily- first of all- watch your fucking language. There is a baby present. Second of all- it's a wheelchair. For you. To keep Little Prongs safe.”

Lily stared, took a deep breath, and then said in her very best mom voice, “Sirius Black. I am pregnant. I am not an invalid. Women have been having babies for thousands of years. In caves and shit. Not to mention that Evans women have naturally strong baby hips. I believe you listed them on ‘reasons why James should marry Evans’ in fifth year.”

Grumbling, Sirius folded up the wheelchair and transfigured it into an umbrella and told Lily sternly, “You start to feel tired at all- and I’m pushing you around.”

“Deal,” Lily nodded, “Now am I apparating or shall you?”

“Evans. We are driving. Like muggles. Apparating could be bad for the baby.” Sirius scolded.

“You’re an idiot Sirius,” Lily said and grabbed his hand. Sirius felt the familiar pull as the sneaky red head apparated them to London.

When they arrived, Sirius gave Lily a five minute lecture about endangering Little Prongs and dragged her to St. Mungos to make sure “everything was still alright”.

As the healers looked her over, they were barely able to contain their laughter as it was explained to Sirius that “Apparating was fine until the end of the second trimester,” and that, “No, Mrs. Potter does not need to be in a wheelchair or on bed rest, the baby is growing just fine.”

Sirius pouted for the rest of the day.

When Remus joined them he asked, “What's wrong today, Sirius?”

Sirius responded with a huff, “Ask Evans.” When Remus looked to her for the answer, she simply shrugged.

His pouting continued until they reached their favorite muggle diner where they traditionally ate on their Pick up Remus from Hogwarts days. Sirius could rarely find a way to be upset when there was a cheeseburger to be consumed and he brightened significantly as they ate their lunch.

That was until the waitress arrived and asked if they were finished.

When Lily handed her plate over with half of a burger and several chips still left on her plate- Sirius instantly scowled.

As the waitress left, Sirius hissed at her, “Evans- you didn't eat enough.”

“Yes I did- Sirius- I am full!”

Remus watched the exchange confused until Sirius all but whisper shouted

“What about Little Prongs then? Little Prongs might still be hungry! You’re eating for two now!”

“I am quite aware of the baby currently growing inside of me Sirius- I don’t you reminding me every minute” Lily rolled her eyes

“Yes well- sometimes I wonder-”

At this Remus politely cleared his throat.

Suddenly remembering he was there, Lily and Sirius stopped what would quickly escalate into a situation.

Clearing his throat again, Remus asked hopefully, “A baby?”

With a rush of tears and sudden movement, Lily moved into the booth with Remus and Sirius.

“Yes, oh Remus, this isn’t how I wanted to tell you. Sirius has been like a mother hen and I forgot we hadn’t told you. I wanted to tell you and James on Christmas Eve and now I’ve-”

She stopped as Remus pulled her into a hug, and, through his tears, he said, “That's alright Lily. A baby. We’re going to have a baby!”

Pulling away Lily ruffled his hair, “Yes, we are. I haven’t told James yet.”

Remus dabbed at his eyes and said, “Of course- this is in person news”. They embraced again and Sirius interrupted with, “This is all lovely but it still doesn’t change that you didn’t eat enough, Evans”

“Shuttup you ass,” Remus told him, “Lily can eat whatever the fuck she wants and I’m going to get her some ice cream-” and then realizing himself Remus added, “….oh shit- we have to stop cursing now don’t we?”

“Like hell we do,” Lily responded just as Sirius shouted, “LANGUAGE!”

Remus proved to be the balance Lily and Sirius needed. He kept Sirius from being too much of a mother hen and kept Lily calm when she would start to panic.

The day before James was due back, she was in the midst of such a panic.

“We can’t be parents Remus! I can’t even bring myself to wash the dishes half the time! I don’t even know how to change a wizard diaper! James is going to try to teach a little person to fly! And- and- Sirius called dibs on godfather when we got married and how the hell-”

“BREATHE LILY,” Remus told her for the five hundredth time, “A child needs warmth and love and a place to be safe. They’ll have that in spades with you and James. Little Prongs will also have two uncles to show him care and get him out of trouble”

Slowly relaxing Lily asked, “Yeah?”

“Until the very end,” Remus assured her.

The next morning, Remus and Sirius arrived at the cottage to find Lily in full Christmas Eve tornado mode.

James was due to arrive around dinner time, which meant that Lily was busy cooking a feast and putting up her Christmas Eve decorations. Sirius was relieved to see she was wearing her Christmas Eve jumper- so James wouldn’t suspect anything.

After lunch, they retired to the lounge to play cards. James was due to arrive just before dinner so they could make it to the later Christmas pageant. They’d all attended as a family since Lily and James had gotten engaged years before.

Around 3pm- they moved on from muggle card games to exploding snap. Sirius refused to allow Lily to play without some sort of protection for Little Prongs.

“The cards aren’t going to explode inside my uterus Sirius!” Lily argued

“First of all- ew- secondly- I am not taking any chances on my godchild. Besides I’ve been DYING to try this on someone,” Sirius argued.

At this, Remus took another sip of wine.

“Fine,” Lily huffed, “protect me.”

Brandishing his wand with his usual dramatic flair Sirius cast the protection charm.

Lily suddenly found herself inside a bubble.

“Sirius what the FUCK!” Lily tried to get over to him to WHACK him but the charm made her unable to move quickly. Sirius was running from her and slammed into Remus who promptly spilt his wine and dropped his glass. There was so much commotion and noise they didn’t hear the front door open.

Lily had Sirius cornered near the fireplace when James’ voice cut through the chaos, “What the fuck is going on? Why the hell is Lily in a bubble charm?”

Before anyone could say anything else, Sirius exclaimed, “I was trying to protect the baby!”

Trying to cover Remus said jovially, “You’re back early James!”

“They let us out early,” James responded, “but….did Sirius say….a baby?”

“I swear to God Sirius take this thing off of me and don’t say another word or I will shave your head” Lily hissed.

“You would never!” Sirius gasped

“Padfoot-” James said, trying to remain calm, “What the fuck is happening?”

At this Sirius dropped the charm and gave James a smile, “Welcome home Prongs- good practice? Going to win us the cup?”

Looking to his wife, James asked quietly, “Lily?”

“Welcome home, James,” Lily said as she crossed to him and embraced him, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” James said and kissed the top of her head, “can you explain….” and he gestured vaguely.

She grabbed his hands and pulled him up the stairs, “Honestly, I don’t know how Sirius kept his mouth shut when you were planning the proposal. I mean I only told him before you because he was trying to get me to drink and that isn’t good for the baby and-”

James stopped short, “I ask again? Baby?”

“Fuck- I mean- fiddlesticks- I mean…..” with this Lily turned to look him in the eyes.

Lily had thought she’d seen James nervous. When they fought about singing Christmas Carols in October and he approached her in that stupid Santa suit, anytime he walked onto the Quidditch field, and when he had waited for her answer on a Christmas Eve. But now she knew what nervous James really looked like. Terrified, hopeful and with something like joy dangerously bubbling to the surface.

“Yes, James….we’re going to have a baby. I found out right after you left but this is-”

“In person news” he finished.

And it was like a dam had broken. The joy bubbled over and James pulled Lily into his arms with a whoop. “I’m going to be a dad!” Their laughter quickly dissolved into kisses and several “I love yous”.

Once Lily felt grounded again she pulled him to the spare room and told him, “This is how I wanted to tell you- but the best-laid plans...”

James opened the door slowly and felt overcome with something he couldn’t quite define. There sat a crib and a rocking chair. Lily hadn’t done any decorating but here was tangible proof that everything was changing and that there would be someone new in their family.

“Do you like it?” Lily whispered, “I wasn’t sure on the colour or-”

He turned to her and pulled her into another embrace and blinking back his tears he told her, “I love it, Lily. I love it so much.”

From downstairs they heard Sirius shout, “CAN WE COME UP YET?”

“Yes, you mangy mutt!” James yelled back.

The rest of the evening was filled with laughter, tears, hope for the future but mostly family.

It was Lily’s best Christmas Eve Yet.

#robots writes #cigs for fics #blackevans #jily fanfiction

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boholaceweddingdresses · 4 years

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on stage jsweddenladress20107 as a magnificent backdrop @!%^&*(little black dresses

Guests who flew in from Amsterdam, California and Australia were quite excited to attend our wedding just because it was a destination wedding. We purposely included some Balinese and fire dance just to let them have a feel of the Indonesian culture. I think we got nothing but great feedback from our guests. Food and company was what made it so special. My dad was especially biased, saying that it was the best wedding he has ever attended. By the end of the night, we surprised guests with the fireworks, so of course they loved that too!

Jasmine: So, we were considering heading to New Zealand as we love the mountains, lakes, and vast fields. However, the season and price were an issue. Just then, a close friend of mine invited us to her wedding in Bali. We decided to ride the wave and explore the option. I searched for a photographer and found one whose romantic and natural shooting style caught my attention. And through him, we discovered how dreamy and romantic Bali can actually be as we embarked on our photoshoot. Whether you're looking for a classy and intimate celebration or a bright and lively one, Sheraton Towers Singapore has it all. Escape to your favourite city in the world with the hotel's special collection of premium *suites ?C Royal fashion trends 2020, Deluxe and Executive ?C each individually themed after a heritage city. Each suite boasts a spacious bedroom and separate living area, lavishly furnished large marble-clad bathroom, personal jaccuzzi and other necessities, making it perfect for an intimate party of three to six. But if the solemnisation ceremony isn't the highlight of your wedding celebrations, then don't obsess too much over the decorations for it. Instead, focus the flower power (and your budget!) on the best part of your wedding, be it a memorable floral wonderland in the ballroom for your guests to feast their eyes on and enjoy or a grand floral arch for you to walk through or on stage jsweddenladress20107 as a magnificent backdrop little black dresses.

The best thing I heard about fashion in Athens is that 'there's something for everyone.' The town is a collegetown, yes, but it's not JUST a collegetown. It's also an artists' community, a hippie retreat, a musical haven and a locals-born-and-raised southern hamlet ' whatever you wanna call 'em, there's various groups representative of various styles and personal preferences on just how to dress everyday. Be sure to make your weight loss goal achievable, too. If you try to lose too much weight in too short of a time, you'll only feel discouraged when you don't reach your goal (and it could be potentially harmful to you health dress shopping for prom, too). If you're not sure how much weight you should aim to lose, speak with a doctor. Wei Thian: We briefed our family members on what we needed help with, and also held two briefing sessions beautiful wedding dresses, with presentation slides and handouts (yes, see it's like work) off white wedding dress, for our 'brothers and sisters' on their roles and responsibilities and what was to happen on the actual day. Tedious, yes. But very worth the effort and time. You May Also Like: sweetheart mermaid wedding dress&backless mermaid ... Square Neckline Ivory Beaded Sash Homecoming Dress V-neck Court Train A-Line Satin Wedding Dresses What are reliable websites that are navy blue mother of the ... A-Line/Princess Taffeta Prom Dresses Flattering Sweep Train Scoop Neck Long Sleeves

#little black dresses

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accuhunt · 4 years

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Things to Know Before Travelling to Japan for the First Time.

I can close my eyes and picture myself standing awestruck on the fascinatingly busy Shibuya crossing in Tokyo. Gaping at the dazzling lights, fancy skyscrapers and scores of businessmen darting about in dark suits. I was travelling to Japan for the first time, and it was my first day in Tokyo. In equal parts, I felt excited, intrigued and apprehensive, recalling all the Japan travel tips I’d read online. I had dreamt about Japan for so long, but now that I was finally here, I couldn’t help but wonder what spending an entire month exploring the country would be like.

In the months since I left Japan, I faced a strange melancholy… and a barrage of reader questions. Many of you reached out to me to ask, “When is the best time to visit Japan?” “Is the Japan Rail pass worth it?” “Do they speak in English in Japan?” “How to survive as a vegetarian / vegan in Japan?” “Do you have any Japan travel tips?”

I’ve finally put together this post to answer all your questions about travelling to Japan for the first time – including visas, flights, where to go, what to eat and how to stay connected.

In this post:

How to score a Japan tourist visa on an Indian passport?

When is the best time to go to Japan?

Cherry blossom time in Japan

Cheapest time to visit Japan / low season in Japan

Best time to visit japan weather wise

What to pack for Japan

Essentials to pack for Japan:

How to access the internet in Japan?

Airtel international roaming plans for Japan

Local sim card in Japan

Wifi in Japan

Where to go if you’re travelling to Japan for the first time?

First time in Tokyo

First time in Kyoto

First time in Osaka

Offbeat places to visit in Japan

Where to stay in Japan

Accommodations to try if you’re travelling to Japan for the first time

My favorite accommodations in Japan

How expensive is Japan?

Average costs in Japan

Travel tips to experience Japan on a budget

Do they speak English in Japan?

Japanese words to know, especially if you’re travelling in Japan for the first time

Best podcast to learn Japanese

Is the Japan Rail Pass worth it?

How to survive as a vegan in Japan?

What is the best travel insurance for Japan?

Is Japan safe?

Coronavirus in Japan

What are some Japanese etiquette for tourists?

Is Japan among your dream destinations? What else would you like to know / share about travelling to Japan for the first time?

How to score a Japan tourist visa on an Indian passport?

Boarding a ferry to Yakushima island in Japan.

Until 2016, it was a pain to get a Japan tourist visa for Indians. We had to get an invitation letter from a sponsor in Japan and go through a tedious application process.

Luckily, the Japan visa requirements for Indians have finally been relaxed. Although a Japan visa on arrival for Indian citizens is still a distant dream, the Japan visa application now takes only 4 working days to be processed, without the need for a sponsor. The application must be filed at VFS Japan – the official visa application centre for the Japan Embassy in India. The process is similar to the Schengen visa application, with return flights, accommodation bookings, and bank statements needed to score the visa.

While travelling to Japan for the first time, I received a single-entry Japan visa on my Indian passport. It allowed me to stay in the country for 30 days. I was given 2.5 months from the application date to use it.

Japan Travel Tips: How to apply for a Japan tourist visa on an Indian passport

When is the best time to go to Japan?

Surprised and lucky to catch the cherry blossom in Japan.

Most people tend to plan their trip during the much-anticipated cherry blossom season in Japan. It’s a beautiful time, but it’s also when Japan tends to get the most crowded and expensive.

I landed up in Japan in early March 2018 and stayed exactly a month. Although Honshu, the main island home to Tokyo and Kyoto, was quite chilly, I enjoyed the quiet shoulder season. And I got a chance to catch the Ume – plum blossom – almost as beautiful as the cherry blossom yet somehow more introspective. I then headed south to Kyushu Island, which was warmer, with many offbeat places to explore.

Cherry blossom time in Japan

Japan travel tips: Avoid the busy cherry blossom season in Japan!

My plan was to leave just before the cherry blossom began in Japan. But as luck (and climate change) would have it, the cherry trees bloomed early that year!

One of my most important Japan travel tips – even if you’re travelling to Japan for the first time – is don’t be hell bent on seeing the cherry blossom. Nature won’t time itself according to our dates. And Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are seriously crowded during that time. There is so much more to Japan that I highly recommend visiting in late winter, autumn or early summer.

Cheapest time to visit Japan / low season in Japan

I witnessed accommodation prices in Tokyo skyrocketing and availability falling drastically between the beginning (winter) and end (spring) of my trip. It gets exorbitantly expensive in Japan in spring and I was forced to downgrade myself from a charming ryokan (traditional inn) to a pod hostel to financially survive the last few days of my trip. Autumn and summer are fairly popular too. That leaves winter as the low season.

If you enjoy winter, prepare to be spellbound as popular cities turn into winter wonderlands from November to February. With heating indoors, good clothes, few tourists and relatively low prices, it’ll be quite a delight.

Best time to visit japan weather wise

Early spring and late autumn are beautiful and wonderfully warm across the country. They aren’t the busiest, especially away from the main cities.

Also read: 11 Incredible Experiences That’ll Make You Fall in Love With Uzbekistan

What to pack for Japan

A rainy, misty morning in Nikko.

What you pack for Japan totally depends on when you travel there. And where you plan to go. If you’re travelling to Japan for the first time, chances are, you’ll spend time on Honshu, exploring Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. The island distinctly experiences all four seasons – and can get very hot or very cold, even in spring or autumn.

Among my Japan travel tips, I always say pack in layers. Carry clothes that you can add on or remove. In my bags, I always have warm inner wear, t-shirts / tops, a couple of sweaters, a rain jacket and a light winter jacket. If you’re travelling in winter, definitely carry warm socks, boots and a real winter jacket. As someone who tries to avoid wool and down feathers for ethical reasons, I recommend the synthetic fabric jackets at Decathalon and those made with recycled plastic at Save the Duck.

Essentials to pack for Japan:

Towel: I was surprised to find out that most accommodations in Japan don’t offer towels! If they do, you have to rent them at an additional cost. Definitely carry your own.

Adapter: I used my universal travel adapter that works pretty much everywhere around the world, including Japan.

Also read: How I Fit All my Life Possessions in Two Bags as I Travel the World

How to access the internet in Japan?

Sunset madness in Fukuoka.

Japan is the land of modern technology and high speed internet. But it comes at quite a cost. Outside of the big cities and train stations, Wifi is not as readily available as I’d hoped. And yet I found it important to have internet in Japan to use Google Maps, Google Translate and other apps to make life easier – especially since I was travelling in Japan for the first time.

Airtel international roaming plans for Japan

Before I began collaborating with Airtel last year, I had no idea it was actually possible to buy an international roaming plan for Japan. Compared to SIM card costs in Japan, the offers looks very promising (and is valid across 82 countries):

1 GB data with 100 minutes of incoming and outgoing calls – valid for 30 days – costs INR 1199. Data usage can be tracked on the Airtel App.

1 GB data per day with unlimited incoming calls and 500 minutes of outgoing calls – valid for 10 days – costs INR 4999 (coming soon).

Local sim card in Japan

Japan is probably one of the most expensive countries when it comes to buying a local SIM card! Mine cost 6000 yen (INR 3850) for 1 GB for a month – data only. The other option was 7000 yen (INR 4500) for 200 MB/day. Local SIM cards are available at international airports and 7-11s across the country.

Wifi in Japan

Many accommodations and restaurants in Tokyo offer fast and free Wifi. But unfortunately, Wifi availability steadily decreases as you to head to the countryside.

Also read: Inspiring Indians Using Social Media to Drive Positive Change

Where to go if you’re travelling to Japan for the first time?

Japan travel tips: Choose a mix of popular and offbeat places in Japan.

Japan is a huge country and it can be quite overwhelming to figure out where to go! I spent the first week in the city on assignment for Japan Tourism Board. We explored the Kantou region of Honshu, including Tokyo, Matsumoto, Nagano and Nikko. After that, my partner and I spent two weeks travelling south to Fukuoka and Hiroshima on Kyushu island, and then all the way to Yakushima island. And I spent the last week exploring more of the Honshu countryside and a bit of Kyoto on my own.

If you’re travelling to Japan for the first time, I recommend splitting your time between the popular cities and getting a glimpse of offbeat Japan:

First time in Tokyo

I stayed in three different areas of Tokyo, and most enjoyed the vibe of the Asakusa neighborhood. It retains the old world charm of the city with old Buddhist temples, little shops, a walkway along the river and charming sushi bars and izakayas (local bars). It’s also home to the stunning 14th century Sensoji temple – Tokyo’s oldest. I remember hanging out there late at night, when the crowds were gone, and witnessing breathtaking “sakura rain” on the way back. Oh how I miss Japan!

First time in Kyoto

I unintentionally hit Kyoto during the cherry blossom season – and must confess it was way too touristy for my liking. I borrowed my host’s bicycle for beautiful early morning rides to some parks and temples. But the overtourism thereafter killed the vibe. I imagine it must be a delight in winter though.

First time in Osaka

Osaka is just a short train ride from Kyoto – and a regular Japanese city without much of the old-world charm. I’d suggest picking one of Kyoto or Osaka – if at all, for your first time in Japan. I hopped over to Osaka for a vegan cooking lesson, based on macrobiotics and yin and yang principles, with a local Japanese family – and it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip!

Offbeat places to visit in Japan

Outside of the cherry blossom season, you are unlikely to encounter the crowds of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka anywhere else in Japan. Places like Nara, Nagano, Hiroshima and Matsumoto, though not offbeat, are beautiful enough to spend a while getting into the Japan vibe while still having access to the comforts of tourism. Some people speak English, restaurants have English menus and there are plenty of accommodations to choose from.

If you really want to stray off the beaten path, head south. Some places I loved:

Aso: A little town in Kyushu, home to Mount Aso, an active volcano and plenty of hiking nearby.

Kurokawa: A charming onsen town, literally home to tens of onsens (Japanese baths). Some in the mountains, some in the forest, one even under a waterfall!

Yakushima: A difficult and expensive island to get to, but one of the last remaining truly wild frontiers of Japan. Great for hiking and moss forests.

Kambayashi: A region on the countryside of the Kyoto prefecture, home to charming little villages and slow life.

Also read: Why Travelling in Japan is Like Nowhere Else in the World

Where to stay in Japan

Staying at a 100-year-old Hakata townhouse in Fukuoka.

Airbnb, my favorite go-to platform for unique accommodations, is complicated in Japan. After a government crackdown, only places with a tourism license are allowed to rent on Airbnb. And only for 180 days of the year. This might make sense in tackling overtourism in places like Kyoto, but is a lost opportunity for the less-explored countryside villages.

Anyway, travelling to Japan for the first time, I relied mostly on booking.com and direct google search to find traditional ryokans, small B&BS, guesthouses, hostel pods and homestays.

Important Japan travel tip: Most accommodations allow check-in only after 4 pm and expect check-out by 10 am. This is to allow for their rigorous cleaning schedule!

Accommodations to try if you’re travelling to Japan for the first time

Ryokan: Traditional Japanese inns, typically home to tatami (woven straw) flooring with futon bedding and an onsen (hot spring bath). Here you indulge in a Japenese bath, then settle in for a lavish Japanese meal. If you afford it, I recommend splurging on atleast one ryokan experience while you’re in Japan! I tried mine as part of the JNTO assignment in Nikko.

Homestay / small guesthouse: We stayed in small guesthouses and homestays across the country. These typically had shared (but extremely clean) bathrooms and comfy DIY futon bedding on tatami floors. Most of our hosts were really friendly and even invited us to local events or secret hideouts nearby.

Hostel pod: I was nearby broke on my last transit through Tokyo, and decided to stay in a pod hostel is Asakusa. The walls were thin, but the beds comfy enough for a good night’s sleep!

My favorite accommodations in Japan

Guest House Asora in Aso: A simple guesthouse with a great location in Aso town and a sweet owner who invited us to a local fire festival.

Satoyama Guest House Couture in Ayabe: Run by the sweetest young Japanese host who reminded me of a typical Murakami character!

Heartland House in Yakushima: A family-run guesthouse on the island, hosted by a friendly couple. They speak very little English though.

Harborside Guest House Minato in Fukuoka: A restored Hakata townhouse dating back a 100 years, managed by a friendly host.

Bunka Hostel Tokyo: Budget bunk bed pods in the hip Asakusa neighborhood of Tokyo.

Also read: How to Find the Perfect Airbnb and Make the Most of Your Travel Experience

How expensive is Japan?

A yam-based vegan meal in Japan.

I hate to break it to you, but compared to most places in the world, Japan is expensive. Getting a local SIM, accommodation even in guesthouses / hostels, public transport, even food, can be a bit of a shock to the wallet, especially when you’re travelling to Japan for the first time.

Average costs in Japan

Hostels: ~INR 2000 for a bunk bed in a dorm in Tokyo.

Guesthouses: ~INR 3500 for a double room with shared bathroom

Food: ~INR 1000 – 3000 for a local meal in a small restaurant or izakaya

Transport: ~INR 8000+ for a 2-3 hour bullet train ride, like Tokyo to Kyoto or Tokyo to Nara.

Travel tips to experience Japan on a budget

Book early. Especially if you’re travelling in the spring or autumn, book accommodations atleast a few weeks in advance to be able to choose from a diverse range of options.

Get a Japan Rail Pass or regional travel pass. If you plan to travel by train a few times, definitely look at investing in a Japan Rail Pass or regional train / bus pass. Individual tickets cost an arm and a leg!

Use buses to get around locally. Unfortunately the JR Pass doesn’t cover travel within cities / towns. Opt for buses. It took me a while to figure out the bus system. Basically you get on, take a ticket from the machine, notice the number on it, notice the number you get off at and pay accordingly.

Stay longer in one place. Even if you’re travelling to Japan for the first time, fight the FOMO and include only a few destinations on your trip. That way, you can save transport costs, avail long stay rates and immerse deeper in the local culture.

Eat at supermarkets. Sounds like one of those Japan travel tips you don’t want to follow, but even supermarket food in Japan is high quality! And there are some vegan options available. Ask the staff to help translate ingredients if google translate doesn’t work.

Visit the local tourist information. Many places offer travel bundles, combining transport and some sightseeing. The local tourist office is the best place to find out.

Also read: How I’m Financially Sustaining my Digital Nomad Lifestyle

Do they speak English in Japan?

Japan travel tips: Learn some basic Japanese phrases before you arrive in Japan.

Within Tokyo and Kyoto, you’re likely to find English speakers at accommodations and restaurants frequented by travellers. But beyond that, most locals tend to speak very little English. Which is great, because Japanese is a beautiful language and it’s fun to attempt to learn atleast a little bit.

Before travelling to Japan for the first time, I learnt a few basic Japanese phrases through a podcast. That, mixed with google translate, broken English and sign language, made it easy enough to get by. Besides, Japanese people are so friendly and kind that no language barrier could stop them from helping you out.

Japanese words to know, especially if you’re travelling in Japan for the first time

Konnichiwa – Hello, good day

Konbanwa – Good evening, good night

Arigatou gozaimas – Thank you very much

Sumima sen – I’m sorry or excuse me (also used to call the staff at a restaurant)

Kudasai – Please

Matane – See you later

Watashi wa began / bejetarian des – I’m vegan / vegetarian (though it might not mean anything to most people)

Ita daki mas – Said before eating, similar to bon appetite. Literally, it is a way to thank the animals that’ve given their soul for your meal.

Wakarima sen – I don’t understand

O genki des – How are you? (formal)

Genki – How are you (informal)

Oishikatta des – It was delicious (say it after a meal you enjoyed)

Kanpaai – Cheers

Best podcast to learn Japanese

I learnt basic Japanese phrases on the Japanese Survival Phrases podcast, available on iOS and Android. The podcast is recorded by a Japanese woman, which makes it easy to learn the diction without a foreign accent.

Also read: Travelling to Iran? Things to Know Before You Go

Is the Japan Rail Pass worth it?

Japan travel tips: Invest in a Japan Rail Pass!

Every time I got into a shinkansen (bullet train) in Japan, I felt like I was flying business class instead of rolling on ordinary railway lines! The Japan Rail Pass is a physical train pass, only available for tourists, that offers unlimited rides on most trains across Japan for a fixed number of days.

Priced between INR 18,000 – 36,300 (265 – 535 US$) for 7, 14 or 21 days, it’s probably the biggest travel cost you’ll incur in Japan. And yet, if you spend a week or less in Japan and do only the return Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo train journey, the Japan Rail Pass for 7 days is already worth it. The individual Tokyo-Kyoto journey costs 13,000 Yen (INR 8300 or 115$) one way!

If you plan to explore only one specific region of Japan – for instance, Kyushu island – you could also consider buying a regional train pass.

Also read: Is the Japan Rail Pass Worth It? A Practical Guide to Bullet Train Travel in Japan

How to survive as a vegan in Japan?

Vegan in Japan – sounds difficult but it’s full of good surprises (mostly)

While travelling in Japan for the first time, I was surprised to learn that during the Edo period, the traditional Japanese diet was largely plant-based and meat-free! Both Buddhism and Shintoism, practiced for centuries across Japan, promote compassionate eating. And many Japanese rulers had banned the rearing of cattle and consumption of meat, because they couldn’t afford to lose more forests to animal agriculture. Unfortunately things changed during the late 1800s and veganism became an alien concept.

All these years later, as a vegan traveller, I felt spoilt for choice in the popular tourist cities of Tokyo and Kyoto. The HappyCow app is full of vegan friendly spots to try. But beyond, in smaller towns and villages on the countryside, surviving as a vegan or vegetarian requires a bit more effort. What really helped me was a note in the Kanji script explaining I’m vegan and what I can’t AND can eat. Overall, from vegan bento boxes to shojin ryori to incredible tofu and yam based meals, I mostly thrived!

Also read: My Ultimate Vegan (and Vegetarian) Survival Guide for Japan

What is the best travel insurance for Japan?

Japan travel tips: Japan is expensive. Opt for a good travel insurance!

Instead of opting for Indian travel insurance plans that are often cheaper but a pain to claim funds from, I usually opt for World Nomads travel insurance while travelling in extremely expensive countries. And so it was in Japan. Better safe than sorry!

Also read: Why Visit Japan? Because Everyone Who’s a Friend Was Once a Stranger

Is Japan safe?

A rare glimpse of Mount Fuji in Japan.

Japan is one of the world’s safest countries to travel in. I walked the streets of Tokyo alone at midnight (akin to some of Murakami’s famous characters), without a care in the world. I took trains and buses by myself, rode a bicycle through small villages, stayed in local homestays, and never once felt concerned for my safety! The lack of crime and the general friendliness of Japanese people sets a true benchmark for safety.

Coronavirus in Japan

The unfortunate spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus around the world has made many people reconsider their travel plans. But I guess the sad truth is that we are as susceptible to contracting it at home, as in Japan. If you have a trip lined up to Japan, don’t cancel just yet. Follow updates closely, avoid areas with cases, and remember that Japan is a huge country and most parts, like in India and the US, are corona-free.

Also read: How to Travel as a Vegan and Find Delicious Food Anywhere in the World

What are some Japanese etiquette for tourists?

Vegan sushi in Japan = happiness.

Before travelling to Japan for the first time, I was a bit apprehensive about all the intricacies of Japanese etiquette and customs that I had read about online! Much to my relief, a lot of it applies to business travellers in formal settings. The locals are quite relaxed when it comes to travellers. Still, here are a few basic Japanese etiquette for tourists that you should consider:

Japanese people are extremely polite. Learning and using words like “arigatou gozaimas” and “sumimasen” go a long way.

In Japan, people frown upon eating or smoking while walking! If you’re eating a bento box or snack outdoors, grab a bench.

Learn to use chopsticks! I was really surprised to learn that locals eat sushi by hand… but for everything else, you need chopsticks. Know never to point your chopsticks at someone, poke food with them or pass food around with them.

Don’t leave a tip. Japan is probably the only country in the world where it’s disrespectful to leave a tip after your meal, because good service shouldn’t be driven by the promise a monetary reward!

Be a mindful traveller. Don’t be loud on trains or buses. Don’t jump queues. Clean up after yourself, especially in public spaces and shared accommodation areas.

Is Japan among your dream destinations? What else would you like to know / share about travelling to Japan for the first time?

*Note: I wrote this post in collaboration with Airtel. Opinions on this blog, as you know, are always mine.

The post Things to Know Before Travelling to Japan for the First Time. appeared first on The Shooting Star.

Things to Know Before Travelling to Japan for the First Time. published first on https://airriflelab.tumblr.com

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layaltheblogger2019 · 5 years

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What is your current obsession?

It’s summer in Boston!! Summer!! Sun!! Beaches!! Happiness!! Exploration!! Random road closures*!! Outdoors!! Fireworks!! NO PSETS!! Events!!

So, this is my first summer NOT with my family in Florida and my first summer in Boston. I will say that although I arrived at MIT last year at the end of August for an FPOP (Freshman Pre-Orientation Program), it is not in any way comparable to spending a full summer here. And even though I spent nine months taking classes over freshman year, the warmth and sun of the summer is nothing like the freezing, sun-less, soul-sucking days of winter. You might be asking, ‘Layal, what are you doing in Boston over the summer? Are you taking classes at MIT or something? Why don’t you have an internship or go abroad, yada yada—’ Well to answer your many questions, I chose to be here! (Also MIT doesn’t offer classes in the summer so that we can all actually get a life ;P )

What exactly do I do? I am here as a Residential Facilitator for the Interphase EDGE Program and a UROP in the Media Lab, Personal Robots group. And what does all of that mean? The Interphase EDGE Program is a summer program for incoming MIT students to help ease their transition into freshman fall. As an RFA, I am responsible for overseeing a ‘cluster’ of three first-years/freshmen/frosh, teaching a workshop/recitation section, of which I teach chemistry, and being present as a guide and resource to help the seventy Interphase scholars. This is probably the most fun job you can get in the summer (though I might be a little biased). With it, I get the satisfaction of being a mentor to the incoming freshmen, the experience of being a TA for a class, and if that already wasn’t cool enough, as bonuses I get breakfast, dinner, and a single in Maseeh with a partial river view! There’s nothing I dislike about this job, and the people I interact with make it worth every moment (and there’s really nothing like being in a single, which I could probably write another entire blog post about). And my UROP is a UROP, which doesn’t explain much. I guess it might not be as good of an explanation as I first thought since any time I do any random craftwork/work not on my computer, my friends ask me if I’m working on my UROP. I mean, sometimes yeah, I am ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In actuality, the work I do for my UROP surrounds the idea of designing social robots for older adults. I had started working on this UROP in the spring, designing icons that would be used for the interactive part of the study. This summer, I worked on analyzing transcripts from interviews done by my supervisor with respect to her long-term study and designing tools that could be used to make the interactive part of the study low-cost and portable. As it stands, the icons are stored and used on a very expensive HP Sprout which, from experience, is heavy and very hard to transport to the participants. It has been really interesting hearing older adults’ opinions on technology, their life needs, and the idea of social robots catered to them. The UROP allows me to think creatively to complete assigned tasks, and that is my favorite part of the job.

All of this background is here just to set the tone of my summer, a general what have I been up to sort of thing. What I really want to talk about is my new obsession.

Since getting to Boston last year, I have loved exploring the city, or rather, walking across Harvard Bridge as an excuse not to do psets. I have lived in suburbia my entire life, and as tiresome as some aspects of Boston can be, I have fallen in love with the city. Since nowadays I have much more free time than I do during the academic year, I am OBSESSED with exploring more of Boston. The city comes to life over the summer, with a host of events, food, and fun. Here is a list of some of the fun things Boston has to offer that I’ve done in the past two months:

1. Travel to New York City!

Okay, this isn’t exactly Boston, but its location is ideal for a day trip to NYC. A friend of mine is doing an internship there, and so we joined her for 24 hours of fun in the Big Apple. A car rental and five hours later, we were exploring the city. We had bagels for breakfast, roamed around Central Park, had food cart food (big yum), walked along the High Line, stared in awe at the Oculus, and wandered through Times Square. New York City is also accessible by train and by bus, and whatever way you get there, it’s a trip I highly recommend! Though again, I might be biased because there is just something about NYC that makes me fall in love with it every single time I visit.

The NYC skyline from the Staten Island ferry

The 9/11 Memorial and the Oculus at the World Trade Center

2. Watch the 4th of July fireworks (and join in on the other festivities)!

If you’re in Boston over the summer, you can’t miss the 4th of July. Like it is physically impossible to avoid this holiday, given that Boston is America’s birthplace. The festivities begin with a flag-raising ceremony at Boston City Hall at 9am, leading to a nice little parade that takes you to the Old State House, where the entirety of the Declaration of Independence is read from the same balcony that it was read from every year since 1776. Throughout the day there are numerous celebrations to get you in a patriotic mood. There is the famous Boston Pops concert that happens across the river on the Esplanade right before the fireworks, which I did not attend but could hear from Memorial Drive.

The fireworks are a very big deal. Large boats that will be lined with fireworks begin to show up on the river from three or four days before the fourth, Harvard bridge is shut down from 4pm the day-of so it can be ready for the show. Rooftops and tall buildings with a river view are lined with people. Since the unofficial best place to watch the fireworks is on the Cambridge side, I collected my work for the day, grabbed a blanket, and sat on a nice, grassy patch of Killian Court when the sun began to set. There were so many people on both sides of the river, an estimated half a million just on the Boston side! And the show was very much worth the wait.

Flag-raising ceremony at Boston City Hall

Minutemen marching in the 4th of July Parade to the Old State House

Fireworks!!!

3. Go to Maria’s Pastry Shop!

I am an outlier of sorts in that I don’t like the infamous Mike’s Pastry’s cannolis. I really don’t. But I wasn’t worried because the North End has no shortage of pastry shops or cannoli options to try. I heard a lot about Maria’s Pastry Shop so one weekday morning before I had to go in for my UROP, I took an Uber with friends to eat some freshly baked goods and cannolis. And holy cannoli it was good. 10/10, will eat again.

(I have no pictures of the cannolis, I ate them immediately)

4. Go to Revere Beach!

Walking through Boston, it doesn’t feel like the coast could be so close and accessible, but it is! Just a hop, skip, and jump away from campus is a beach you can visit for $5 roundtrip on the subway. Just take the red line, transfer to orange, and go all the way down the blue line to Wonderland: even the name of the stop expresses how nice the place is. On a really hot summer day, the water is perfectly cool, and the sand is smooth and soft. I’ve made this trip multiple times since I came to MIT, and over the summer I took a trip with a large group of Interphase scholars! It is a very accessible way to get away from campus and return to nature, at the open border between land and water.

Beach Day at Revere!

5. Eat pie at Petsi Pies (and visit the school down the street)!

At the outskirts of Greater Boston is one of the most delicious pie places I’ve ever tried. I was actually introduced to the place by my UROP supervisor when we went to Cohasset to visit some study participants, and I have been enamored ever since. Peach Blackberry with Walnut Crumb. Brown Butter Pecan Pie. It tastes even better than they sound. This would have been a quick trip on the Red Line, but on the day in question, the Red Line was broken :(

After getting there, we walked towards a small park to eat, then to Harvard Square for dinner. While walking there I noticed that the Curious George store was missing from its corner (no! what a travesty!) but then I found out it was moving to Central Square (yay! it will be closer!) so that was fun. Walking through Harvard campus, I felt like I was intruding on the place or something lol. We visited Widener Library to get our complementary Harvard library cards for access to their library and shuttle system, but it was closed for the day. I will be back to Harvard sometime soon for that.

What happened with the cannolis happened with the pies ;(

6. Take the Commuter Rail!

There is a really awesome deal right now that I believe began around when summer started, and that is the $10 unlimited weekend commuter rail pass, valid on Saturdays and Sundays. Some trips on the commuter rail are $10 for a one-way ticket, so this is actually a very good deal. One Saturday, a large group of friends and I took the commuter rail to Manchester-by-the-Sea (yes, like from the movie) and walked over to Singing Beach, a picture-perfect beach, and the most beautiful one I have visited yet. Yes, I’m from Florida. The waves were the clearest blue, the sand, the lightest beige, and the sky was bright with the heat of the sun. The water was perfect.

We then got back on the commuter rail and spent the rest of the day in Rockport, a little seaside town made infamous by its artists, seafood, and quaint, colorful buildings. We took a stroll down Bearskin Neck, ate lobster rolls at Roy Moore’s, and tasted samples of delicious fudge from the Fudgery. All this was a mere hour-long train ride away.

On Sunday, we took the commuter rail west, all on the same $10 pass, and went to a farm to go fruit picking in Sherborn. We walked between peach trees and enjoyed the warm weather with good conversation and laughter. The day ended back in Boston, with a walk through Chinatown.

There are many more great stops on the commuter rail, including Concord, Salem, and Gloucester. I can’t wait to explore more of the commuter rail.

Motif #1 in Rockport

Rocks at Rockport (I understand the name now)

Peaches at Sunshine Farms in Sherborn

My first summer in Boston has been super fun and overall a great success, and I still have about half a month left of it to go. My next few weekends aren’t planned yet, but I can’t wait to see what’s in store!

*This actually happens way too often in the summer that it's kind of getting annoying. Boston’s commute is already a mess: from the red line derailment, the MBTA fare hike, construction and lane closures everywhere, don’t even get me started on rush hour traffic. Mass Ave is at a standstill for…a parade? A street race? Huh? I mean guess the dance party was pretty awesome. And the 4th of July fireworks. I have to admit it’s cool sometimes :P

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midnightroseprincess · 7 years

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An Analysis of an Underlying Meaning in Mad Hatter’s Line in the Infernal Train

Quite a long time ago when I first joined tumblr, I shared an aspect I found in Mad Hatter’s line to Alice in Alice: Madness Returns that I hadn’t seen anyone else bring up. Namely, what could have been an underlying message to Alice during their talk aboard the Infernal Train.

While going through my Alice tag, I realized this post was apparently gone/deleted. This confuses me because I don’t remember deleting it myself. I’ll chalk it up to a probable tumblr glitch from way back. However, noticing it’s missing has put my thoughts on it back into focus, so I decided to revisit it in this post.

Please bear in mind you obviously don’t have to agree upon this interpretation of Hatter’s line. The Alice games invite varied and unique interpretations, and I’m just putting mine out there to get it out of my own mind and share it with anyone who may find it interesting.

The line in question:

"Now we’re all mad here and that’s a good excuse for going to hell in a teapot, but not for forgetting what your senses saw. Forgetting is just forgetting, except when it’s not. Then they call it something else. I’d like to forget what you did. I tried... but I can’t."

Let’s discuss.

By "something else" that Alice did, he mainly means her ignorance towards what was going on around her in Houndsditch. Her own self-pity blinded her to the abuse the children of Houndsditch suffered right under her nose, as well as the fact that she was blind to Bumby’s true nature and role in her life due to repressing her memories. It’s the same thing the other Wonderlanders are taking her to task for, so it makes sense that Hatter also confronts her about it.

However, there can be another layer to this. Another action that Alice tends to do that effects Wonderland, regardless of outside influences, is ABANDON it. One might ask how she could have abandoned it if she was journeying through Wonderland to reclaim her sanity for ten years in Rutledge. To that I answer that if one goes back to the storybook app and her casebook, you’ll find there’s one year that she spent in Littlemore Infirmary recovering from her burns while in a state of unresponsive catatonia. During that one year of catatonia in the infirmary, she had no lapses in and out of Wonderland. Those only started happening once she was signed into Rutledge, and the White Rabbit beckoned her back.

During that one year at the Infirmary, Alice abandoned Wonderland. Instead of instantly going to it for comfort and shelter from her trauma, she just shut down and rejected the comfort it could have offered. I’m not saying it’s not understandable, because it is, given the shock and survivor guilt that was eating at her. However, the Wonderlanders, though they likely understand this, were still horrifically affected by the madness left to run rampant throughout Wonderland without Alice there to... regulate it, more or less. Unintentional or not, she abandoned them to their fate for a whole year.

If Alice had just forgotten them due the trauma of the fire, that would have been a slightly simpler thing for the Wonderlanders to deal with. As the Queen of Hearts states, “Not doomed: Forgotten. I may survive here...” So there’s a good chance that if Alice forgot the Wonderlanders, they’d likely still exist as they had before, unable to be warped by outside madness or influences, but obviously wouldn’t be as powerful as before and would be hidden deep in her subconscious. In a scenario such as this, I could imagine some of them trying to rekindle her memories of them here or there until she remembered them, at which point that might emerge out of hiding in Wonderland in all their unchanged glory to help battle the madness spreading in her mind.

However, that wasn’t what happened. She didn’t forget them. She just shut them out. So they were unprotected against the madness in her mind, which corrupted and warped some of them into very antagonistic characters.

Hatter is one of the higher examples of this. In the first game’s opening, we see Alice entering Wonderland in her dreams to be at one of the Hatter’s typical tea parties. It’s the Wonderlanders who first notice the smoke from the Liddell house fire leaking into Alice’s dreams, and the Hatter is the one who screams loudest at her to wake up. (It is after she wakes up and tries to find her parents that she hears them shouting at her to escape the fire, and she follows Dinah out of the window.)

Despite his part in saving her life, he is corrupted by the ensuing madness in Wonderland. Despite not being on good terms with time, his obsession with it and clockworks distorts him into someone who would willingly turn himself into an automaton and try to do the same to his unwilling best friends.

When Alice returns to Wonderland in the first game, she’s focused on herself and not particularly those she helps. She’s very curt and rude to those helping her (such as toward the Gnome Elder when they looked for a shrinking potion or the Mock Turtle’s general downtrodden-ness.) When she encounters the Hatter, it’s after he’s killed the White Rabbit in front of her sometime earlier at the behest of the Queen, and she declines his invitation to tea, as she “only takes [her’s] with friends.” They’re foes, not friends. In culminates in her making his head explode in a boss battle in order to get his pocket watch that can stop time.

In the second game, she hasn’t gotten much better. She alludes to the abovementioned boss battle nonchalantly to Hatter when she finds his head in the garbage chamber of his factory: “I recall leaving you in a decrepit condition, but not in pieces. What’s happened here? You’ve lost your hat, and some... parts are missing.” That’s... quite an understatement, Alice. Despite the fact that this time Hatter’s on her side and even encourages her in battle when they go after the Dormouse and the March Hare, she’s still very curt and impatient with him. This culminates in Hatter dying as his factory falls around him, and Alice’s response? “Very pithy. He deserved to die.” Hatter deserved to die for not giving her a straight answer? When he’s the MAD Hatter? Harsh, Alice.

She’s also very insensitive to Mock Turtle yet again, though this time Mock has enough of a backbone to call her out on it: “You don’t respect the suffering of others. Go ask your questions and smart remarks to Caterpillar.” Again, mainly pointing out her willful ignorance of what’s going on at Houndsditch, but also her unintentionally cruel treatment of those in Wonderland.

Despite this unintentional cruelty and tendency to view them as a means to an end, they still help her despite not getting much thanks because they care about her. Hatter’s line in the Infernal Train is also telling her, on a deeper level, that they would have rather been forgotten by her than abandoned by her, because the latter hurt them so much worse.

Luckily, there’s enough hints in her lines that reveals she does still have some fondness and affection for the Wonderlanders. So I do have hope that post-madness returns, she may start to repair those friendships.

TL;DR: Aside from calling out her willful ignorance of her surroundings like the other characters, Hatter’s line in the Infernal Train also calls Alice out for abandoning Wonderland and then treating them unkindly despite the help they try to give her in her quests.

P.S. Since someone brought up Gryphon and Cheshire Cat on the original post way back, I’ll give my two cents on them again down here.

I think Alice actually did forget about Gryphon initially and only remembered him once she encountered Mock Turtle. Mock and Gryphon were close friends, and interacting with Mock would have sparked her memory of Gryphon. This would explain why Gryphon is just as she remembers him when they meet up, and he seems to be recently caught by the Hatter (untouched by Hatter’s automaton upgrades). It might also explain why he loses against the Jabberwock. Gryphon, as she remembers him from their interactions when she was younger, is noble, brave, and strong, but the Jabberwock is now the embodiment of her survivor guilt instead of the subject of a scary poem she encountered back then. It was that guilt that drove her to abandon Wonderland so she could wallow in said guilt to begin with, so obviously despite putting up a good fight, Gryphon fell. However, losing Gryphon gave her the strength to defeat her survivor guilt to reclaim that part of Wonderland and ensure that guilt would no longer control her.

Cheshire Cat was not forgotten. He has enough power to appear in the real world to protect and/or lead Alice into Wonderland (as mentioned in the casebook and shown in the cutscenes of Madness Returns), after all. This power probably comes from the amount of trust Alice has in him, since in her past, he was always the one who led her out of trouble during her Wonderland travels. She trusts him more than anyone else in Wonderland, despite their snarking at each other, and this gives him more real-world abilities than the others. (Caterpillar can appear in the real world as well, but only in Madness Returns, after his metamorphosis into a butterfly. Cheshire has had this power for years.) His loyalty to her was likely not warped by the madness throughout Wonderland because he generally makes it a point to temper his curiosity and hide from danger. So he likely avoided what warped the others’ allegiances. That said, he didn’t emerge unscathed, as his emaciated form shows. It’s his death via the Queen in the first game that helps Alice overcome her fear of the Queen by replacing it with the righteous anger needed to defeat her. In a very strange way, one could say Cheshire is Alice’s anchor in Wonderland, but that’s a topic for another day.

#My Analyses #Alice Series #Alice Liddell #Mad Hatter (AM Alice)#Cheshire Cat (AM Alice)#Gryphon (AM Alice)#American McGee's Alice #Alice Madness Returns #AMR #AM Alice

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