#aria's art corner ~ art post

[starlitfunkster]

While not writing anything due to writers block, I made an OC named Pitcher.

She is a pitcher plant, who's hands and tail create a hypnotizing agent that makes her 'prey' get too close to her hair. She hates killing others, so she keeps her tail and hands very close to herself. She also has no friends right now.

#aria's art corner ~ art post #the great garden ~ precious garden adventurers #(I just wanted to draw something creepy and cute at the same time) #(So I made an object OC based on a pitcher plant) #(Are pitcher plants cute to some people?) #(Idk)

[dogshit-enchantment]

Harvestella credits rolling... Time to give my thoughts on the game

Spoiler free thoughts:

Genuinely terrific game, I will bite the hand of whoever at squenix's marketing department declared this game to be "just a farming game" instead of the cosmic horror jrpg it actually is

Cry count was somewhere in the 15-20 range, had some of the most heart-wrenching side quests I've ever experienced in my many years of playing jrpgs. Main plot made me go "what? Hello? Huh?" Almost every cutscene, but in a good way.

A solid 10/10 game I love it to fucking pieces

Soundtrack was a genuine 11/10 I want to inject it into my brain

Characters were 10/10 love them so much

Combat was a 9/10 I didn't mind it being on the simpler side, though the final boss dragged a bit

Inventory and crafting gets a 10/10 I love how the inventory/storage works

Farming and ranching gets a 9/10 just cuz I could never get a hang of crop placement and had to axe so many plants OTL (skill issue)

Environment is a 13/10 I love the scenery and towns they're so incredible

Game performance on switch gets an 8/10 it was really solid for like 80% of the game but once u get more than 2 farm upgrades it rly starts to struggle on frame rates on the farm. Overworld also had that issue towards the very end. It was on switch tho so I'm not docking it too much for that, it did rly well (though I did suffer two crashes so OTL)

‼️‼️SPOILER ZONE‼️‼️

I will say, the ending didn't get me as teary eyed as I was expecting, but I felt it did a good job and didn't let me down. The final final boss could have had better line delivery as well as a bit of reworking of her final lines cuz by that point it felt a bit hollow to me. Though maybe I was just jaded from fighting the dream of man's end. That boss fucking sucked

(NVM loaded up my new game plus and getting the letter in the mail saying "humans, I love you" made me cry. I love you too, Omen.)

Favorite boss was by far Aria. She had incredible dialogue and I loved seeing her character getting pushed into a corner and the very human way she lashed out. So incredible I love her so much, and it felt so rewarding to give her back her diary and bringing her back from the brink of despair. She's such a relatable character.

I will say it's also incredibly funny that the minute I got to the American flag in Heine's quest I instantly put together where the plot was going, the fact that it was so warn, the way no one knew what it was, what an incredible morsel for them to give.

Favorite quest was probably a close tie between Istina and Dianthus. I loved that istina was given a "traditionally feminine" role, but was by no means treated differently for it. There was no hint of "you'd calm down if u just had a kid" type shit u see from so many pieces of media. Instead she got to have a storyline about learning how to be happy, how to help others have a happy childhood when she never got to have one. And Dianthus just... I fucking ugly cried at her quest I'm ngl. Her deciding to create art, as inspired by Emily... Makes me feel so much.

I also love that Geist went fucking crazy trying to realize his full potential with the metaphysical, meanwhile Dianthus is like "I'm simply built different" and handles it no problem.

I love Dianthus so much. She was my fave when I first picked up the demo and she stayed my fave the whole way through. Can't wait to date her in post-game.

Harvestella is so fucking good I'm gonna eat my hands

#rambling #harvestella #cant wait to date dianthus #dianthus best girl

[grimmpheonix]

Untitled TF Fic about a Kobold Witch and her new Girlfriend.

Well, hi. This may seen really out of place for me but I thought I thought I should post this fic I made here.

Warnings: Bones I guess? Idk. Nothing really happens to warrant anything like this.

Now then, onto the show!

The warm glow of the golden hour illuminated the future which walked through the streets of Urba. She'd recently arrived here after meeting her partner and moving in with her. Aria went deeper into her hoodie as she walked among the bustling streets. She heard the conversations of passersby talking about their friends, their lives, their families...Aria's back had a chill sent through it. She power walked from one side of the street to the other and made it to a quaint little coffee shop just around the bend. Aria always tried to make sure to get her and her partner coffee whenever she had the chance. Even when they started out as a long distance couple, Aria would recommend coffee shops she heard good things about in their area and sent them money to try it for her. They always said they weren't a coffee person, but Aria knew from their mannerisms that they were fueled by pure, unrestricted caffeine and nothing else.

Aria walked into the coffee shop and instantly felt the warm air of the establishment; this caused her to lower her large coat's fluffy hood and reveal her face. She had a distinctive scar across the bridge of her nose. Other than that, she had Rosy Brown skin with such a noticeable rose colored blush. She walked awkwardly to the counter where a large manticore stood at the front desk. The manticore politely greeted the human as she ordered the coffee. In all honesty, she was a huge coffee nerd. She loved seeing others experiment with coffee as not just a beverage, but as an art form where the deep brown of the steaming liquid was a canvas. She'd never done it herself, but she longed to own a coffee shop one day. But as the only human in Urba, it'd be very tough. Aria started to list off her and her partner's orders, trying not to sound too pretentious. The manticore politely listened and, after a few minutes of delay, brought out the two orders. Aria paid for her order and almost immediately dashed out of there. Ordering was a pain for her. She always cared about how people would react if she said the wrong thing or stuttered too much.

She quickly powerwalked through the streets of Urba, seeing all manner of creatures joyously taking in the golden hour. She did not have time for this however, as she needed to get her coffee to her partner, stat. She quickly turned tight corners and ran from street to street, dashing past goblins and dragons on the way to their apartment. It took fifteen minutes flat to get from the coffee shop all the way to her partner's apartment at the other side of town. Aria jokingly thought about running competitively, until remembering her goal. Get the coffee to her partner.

She knocked on the gray door to their apartment. The door creaked open slowly before a big yellow eye with a brown slit for a pupil. It looked her up and down aggressively before Aria finally said, "Alright Orion, it's just me."

Orion slightly chuckled before opening the door fully to reveal the three foot, six and a half inch Kobold. Her scales were a deep purple with bright almost pink highlights. She wore a tank top and some short shorts which looked weirdly long on the tiny lizard girl. Over these, she wore a light yellow robe with embroidered stars along it's exterior. She welcomed her girlfriend into her apartment with a slight chuckle in her voice. "Arie! It's so great seeing you after a long day of alchemy. Please, step inside... *heheh*"

Aria did as the reptile told her to and stepped into the messy apartment. It smelled like a mix of chemicals, old clothing, and...vanilla extract? Trash was thrown about the main room except for a pile of trash, clothing, and other shiny objects in the corner of the room which Orion calls her horde. To the right of this is a small section with shelves loaded with chemicals and elixirs and a big cauldron in the middle, perfect for stirring up potions.

Aria wandered around the room, trying to avoid the trash, before coming to a counter and setting the two, still warm, coffees onto it. Orion's eyes lit up with excitement as she went over to see the coffee. She moved a chair to climb up onto the counter to examine the coffee. "Oh! You brought coffee! I guess I can finally taste that really fancy stuff you like so much, huh?"

Orion said, smirking slightly. "Yep...I-I guess you can now. I got you a Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Affagato stained with a bit of milk and topped off with some powdered sugar." Alia finished her sentence as Orion started violently sipping the coffee. Alia felt a bit embarrassed but continued, "D-Do you like the coffee?" Orion responded with many exclamations about how delicious and sweet the coffee was. Just as quickly as the coffee got there, Orion slurped up the last remaining bit of it before exclaiming, "That was amazing!!! It was so freaking tasty! you!!!"

Alia tried to get Orion to cut down on the applause but it would not cease. Orion paused before looking at Aria's coffee and asking, "Hey! What are you drinkin' ?" Aria picked up her coffee before responding, "Oh nothing, just a dark roast latte with some foam and some white chocolate sprinkled over it...really isn't that special..." Orion objected to that statement before jumping down from the counter as Aria began to drink her latte. "So...do anything fun?" Asked the Kobold, grabbing the ledge of the table to see her girlfriend. Aria sipped her latte before calmly denying. Orion then began to think for a second, which Aria could tell thanks to the sound of her tail slapping the floor which she always did when she thought. A wide grin displayed itself over the snout of the reptile before she exclaimed, "Wanna do some alchemy with me..?"

Aria looked a little confused at the prospect of doing alchemy and probed her about if it would be safe or if she needed to know anything before they tried to do any alchemy. Orion dismissed her concerns and told her that it was really easy once you're "in the groove." Aria questioned her about it but was already being dragged by the surprisingly strong Kobold to the cauldron. "Alright, let me teach you the basics of alchemy, or potion making if you want to use the actual terms." Orion tried to jump up to get to some vital potion ingredients but, being a short little Kobold, couldn't reach them. Aria sighed and grabbed a few of the chemicals before giving them to Orion. She decided to throw out all logic and threw the bottles of chemicals straight into the empty cauldron. Aria was about to ask a question before the cauldron bubbled to life and a swirling green liquid filled it. "Alright, for this I will need most of the stuff from that shelf."

She pointed towards the shelves and Aria grabbed the chemicals and very carefully poured them into the cauldron, which bubbled even more with each ingredient. Eventually, she opened a container that seemed to be filled with vanilla extract and poured it in. Orion looked slightly inquisitive at the sight of the extract and slapped her tail on the floor. As they did this, they talked about their interests and some new trashy shows that they should binge together. They laughed and laughed, and eventually the cauldron changed from a light green to a dark red, which signaled to Orion to start performing some spells.

Orion stood on a stepstool and started to chant some spells at the cauldron, causing it to spin faster and faster before her voice faded and the liquid slowed. "Alrighty! Well done my witch's apprentice," Aria wanted to protest but Orion continued, " but now you've officially made some Manticore Wine!" Aria looked a bit confused but eventually asked, "Is it because the potion is made of all types of different chemicals and stuff?" Orion's eyes lit up and she pointed her clawed finger at her girlfriend, "EXACTLY!"

Orion peered into the cauldron and observed the potion before looking at Aria excitedly, "Well? Aren't you going to drink it? It's only natural for the one who made the potion to take the first sip." Aria wanted to protest on how the potion could be dangerous, but the warm smile of her girlfriend caused her to fill up the empty coffee cup Orion left on the table with the Manticore Wine. She carefully and slowly raised the cup to her lips, fearing what could possibly happen when she drinks the concoction before the potion dripped into her mouth. It tasted nothing like wine, and instead had an overpowering vanilla taste which wasn't very appealing to Aria. She lowered the drink before going to put it on the counter, before something began to change in her.

It started in her legs, losing what little muscle and fat they had, causing Aria to fall to the ground. Orion tried to ask if she was okay, but all that was heard was the creaking of bones which began to break and elongate into something unrecognizable. Her arms and legs began to fill with thin hairs that quickly overtook her entire body except for her face, which is where the worst of it started. Her face began to waste away as she emitted an ear-piercing scream which was only stopped when her lower jaw fell from her face. Orion hid behind the counter and covered her ears, not bearing to look at what happened to her girlfriend, the only person who loved her. Meanwhile, Aria's life flashed before her eyes. Memories of the pain she experienced from her peers, the abuse she dealt with from her parents, and the one person who would listen to her which would lead to her end...or at least that's what she thought. Her skull morphed as shifted from that of a human to that of a deer and two giant antlers started to grow, which is something equally strange happened.

Aria stood up, taller than she was previously, before squishing back down, her flesh slowly returning in some part to her. Maybe too much flesh back in fact, as she seemed to gain a few pounds thanks to this. She was breathing heavily before looking at her hands, which were now hooves which slightly resembled functioning hands. She looked down to see her baggy hoodie which had been slightly torn from the transformation. She looked at herself before a noise caught her attention and she instinctively turned almost instantaneously towards the source.

She saw Orion cowering behind her staff, which she was really to use as a blunt force weapon if necessary. They locked eyes, Aria's now glowing bright green, and they matched each other's breathing. Aria covered what was left of her mouth before somehow saying, "Ori..?"Orion heard this and slightly faltered before Aria continued, "Ori...please...please put the stick down..." Orion shakingly put the staff down, dropping it onto the floor and near her tail if needed. "Ori...I'm...I'm fine...I'm not...dead..." Aria tried to raise her arms, which now had another joint in each, to Orion to show her that she did not mean any harm.

"Arie...what happened..?" Aria did not answer that, as she also did not know the answer, but she did take one step closer to Orion, who shuttered at the movement. She continued until she was right in front of Orion, before holding her arms out for a hug from her. Orion smirked and jumped into her arms, nearly crying in her now extended arms, "Don't do that to me again! Well...do you want to try and find an antidote..?"

Aria did not answer for a few seconds before breathing in and saying, "I...I think I like this better..." They embraced each other for a long while after that...

Another day, another run for coffee. Aria seemed to dash from street to street almost in the blink of an eye before appearing at the coffee shop at the end of the block. She entered, now with a very determined look on her skeletal face. She walked up to the cashier, "Hey sir! Could you get me a- "Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Stained Affagato and a Dark Roast Latte with foam and White Chocolate, right?" Aria was surprised to hear that in response, but nodded in agreement. "You two always order that...you really need to expand your palletes." "We have," Retorted the skeletal figure, "it's just that I make them at home now. We've been experimenting with new recipes."

The Manticore smiled, "I hope that goes well for you." After a few minutes, the coffees were out, Aria continued to dash from block to block, noticing all of the goblins and dragons and ghosts and ghouls who roam the streets of Urba. Aria finally felt glad to be one of them. She arrived at Orion's apartment in record time, knocking on the door. A familiar yellow eye with a brown slit for an iris appeared at the door."

Oh! You brought coffee!"

#my fic #short story #kobold #magic #Tf #sfw tf #Human to Wendigo tf #Weird little fic I wrote for no reason #i hope you enjoy

[supercantaloupe]

alright operablr might hate me for this one but i...was not wild about don carlo, tbh. i think it's kind of a mess. before i elaborate i want to stress that a lot of my opinions are taste based and i am not saying that the opera or anyone who likes it are Bad or Wrong, i just don't think it's quite For Me. adding a cut so you can ignore all this if you want

anyway after having seen both nabucco and don carlo within a week of each other (thereby doubling my previous experience with verdi of traviata and otello), i'm starting to feel like, stylistically, early/mid verdi is much more my speed than late verdi. i remember coming away from otello thinking "that was alright" whereas with nabucco and traviata i was thinking "wow that was great!"...after finishing don carlo last night i was just...confused. i feel like i'm missing something.

actually, i definitely am; i've seen people posting about recurring motifs and beautiful arias etc in the music and i definitely missed those. again, late verdi (along with a lot of late romantic music tbh) just Is Not My Thing, i think. and considering how late don carlo is in verdi's output i'm not surprised (very much a post-wagner composition, don carlo is. same with otello). i'm planning on writing a separate post about this so i won't go into much detail here but the music really lacked a lasting memorable-ness for me; what was there was nice, yes, but it didn't feel like anything stood out much. i mean, numbers like the brindisi and amami alfredo in traviata, va pensiero in nabucco, and la donna e mobile in rigoletto -- these all Stand Out, even after only a single listen, but i am not even 12 hours off watching don carlo and i don't think i could hum for you one of its melodies. again, this has a lot to do with personal taste; in general i tend to prefer 18th and early 19th century music styles, and i plan on going into more detail about memorable music in theater in a different post.

and man, the plot is a mess. also, not to apply too modern a lens of story criticism here, but the pacing is all over the place: act ii is, like, twice the length of act i, and act iv is no quick jaunt either, then v is pretty short again. (and really who am i to complain about a 3.5 hour runtime, as a giulio cesare fan, an opera which bumps up against 4? well, at least giulio cesare has a consistent if slow pace...)

it is all over the place. one moment it's a typical operatic romance, then a political intrigue, another it's a gay psychodrama, and then it's about the catholic church. i think this is a feature rather than a bug for some people but it really did not work for me. like it's all well and good watching rodrigo and carlo swearing their loyalty for one another in the most totally heterosexual way possible or making plans to save flanders or deal with carlo's embarrassing crush on his stepmom or whatever, but when the very next scene (with no real warning) is a public parade of heretics for shaming and burning...bit of a tonal whiplash there, i think!

again, taste is a factor here. known sexy oklahoma enjoyer sasha supercantaloupe is no stranger or opponent of tonal whiplash in theater, but when it comes to "no one expects the spanish inquisition!" i think there's a difference between guys with silly outfits and silly accents popping out from behind a corner and a crowd of people dressed in friar habits carrying crosses and torches around onstage...especially to a jewish viewer like me. the plot very much feels like something someone who doesn't like opera would make up to belittle the art form imo: it's like four different things at once all thrown together in a very long, kind of jumbled mess. (i mean, what does eboli even do other than show up, make things Even More Complicated, and then disappear within two acts?)

and...i get the sense that verdi/contemporary audiences might've thought this, too. obviously the fact that it got so many productions that it HAS so many different versions at all shows that people liked it enough to keep performing it -- but there being so many different versions of the opera (disregarding translations), four acts versus five, cut or revised arias, etc, i think also indicates that something about the opera was not working quite right that they kept trying to fix. now i've only seen one version (granted it came highly recommended to me by mutuals, but only one nonetheless) and can't comment on other versions of the opera; maybe another version works better for me, idk. on its own i actually think it's really interesting that there are so many different revisions out there to study -- a real lucky glimpse into the dramaturgical process that you don't normally get to see from shows of the era or earlier. (ask me about hadestown if you want to know more of my thoughts on changes made over the course of a show's development being for better or worse.) but the finished version of the opera (at least the version i saw) is a bit of a mess imo. i definitely think it has its high moments, but i don't think they completely overshadow its lows. comparing it again to otello, which was a much more consistent product in tone and pacing etc. to me, although a bit less interesting overall too.

i feel like i might be disappointing some people by saying all this lol but i have to be honest. don carlo was just not my thing. suffice to say that i think late verdi has absorbed too much wagnerism for my taste, musically and dramatically. maybe i'll rewatch it at some point -- i'd be curious to check it out in french this time -- but i don't expect to be doing that anytime soon, unless a friend or something is watching and really wants me to join (and i can spare four hours...). i can see why y'all like it (well, some of why y'all like it) and i do admit there's some good stuff in there to like. namely the carlo & rodrigo shit. i understand now lol. the opera definitely feels like it's ripe for shitpost/meme content and i am here for that. but i can't say this one is going at the top of my fave shows list. sorry everybody!

#sasha speaks #sasha reviews #don carlo #i'll write that other post about music later. this took me a while and i need to do other things lol #maybe it would've been a better time if i hadn't been watching it alone. idk. no way to tell now #it does kinda tickle me how many people seemed to like my liveblog tho lol. i thought it would be tolerated/ignored at best #anyway. operablr don't exile me for this or whatever. but i think i'm going back to mozart and rossini and handel after this #take a drink everytime i say 'this is just my taste' #also feel free to tell me why i'm wrong in the notes or smth idk #just be like. chill about it

[nastasyafilippovnas]

40 and 45 for santhony :)

I did the 40 one. If I do the other, I'll tag you. I hope you like it!

santhony + exes meeting again after years AU, post-canon, wc. 2.1 (ao3)

Siena wouldn’t lie, over the years she had imagined many scenarios for meeting Anthony again. He would attend one of her performances, she would spot him among the crowd and miss the next note, making the audience gasp collectively. Or they would cross paths down the street, with her coming out of Genevieve’s shop and him coming in with his mother and sisters. They would freeze for a moment, caught in each other’s eyes, then she would run as fast as she could in the other direction. Or maybe, just maybe, she would finally attend one of Anthony’s balls, in the arms of another gentleman, and he would stare helplessly at her as she waltzed the night away. 

But soon a year passed and they didn’t meet each other once. She left for France with her new protector and, shortly after, Genevieve wrote to inform that, just in case she was wondering, the Viscount Bridgerton had finally married. Genevieve enclosed a sketch of the wedding gown she had designed for the bride. Siena understood her friend’s message loud and clear. It wasn’t cruelty. It was simply time to let go.

Of course, as much as she told herself that, her heart wasn’t as easily convinced. And sometimes, in the dark of night, she still indulged in fantasies and dreams. He would come to France on business and their paths would cross at a Parisian café. Or his wife would die of consumption and he would finally come running back to her. This one left her so horrified at her own selfishness that she found herself back in church, lightening a candle and praying for the Viscountess’ health.

Then time passed, as time ought to. Ten years went by in the blink of an eye. She went from Paris to Vienna to Milan. From Le Théâtre National to the Theater in der Leopoldstadt to La Scala. She was famous all over continental Europe. She was adored. And she had accepted that Anthony belonged to her past. She would remember their time together fondly, instead of tormenting herself with what ifs and regrets. 

And now, here he was, hat in hand, standing at the door to her grandmother’s house, in the Tuscan town that carried the same name as she did, twelve years after they had parted ways. Older, yes, with some gray hairs and rug lines that the boy she had known didn’t possess, but equally handsome. 

Siena couldn’t hide her astonishment as she openly stared at him, without knowing what to do.

“What…what are you doing here?” 

“I stopped by the theatre first.” He answered simply, as if it was the most common thing. As if they had an appointment to meet for tea she had forgotten about and now he came to remind her. “Signore Maldini told me you were here.”

Siena bet he did. Signore Maldini, who managed the day-to-day affairs of the Milanese theatre, was the biggest gossiper she knew. He must have been delighted to tell Anthony where she was staying. And by now, the whole cast of La Scala - and probably half of Milan - already knew that some English gentleman had come looking for her.

“He mentioned you were sick.” He kept moving the hat in his hands in worry. “Are you feeling better?”

“It was just a cold that wouldn’t leave.” It had been a bit more than that. It had kept her from performing. Siena had remembered how scared she had felt when week after week went by and she couldn’t sing an aria without having a coughing fit. “The doctor recommended a change of airs and warmer climate.”

Anthony nodded, but the worry still clouded his eyes and she didn’t understand it. She didn’t understand any of it.

“My lord, why are you here?”

“Do you think I could come in?” Anthony asked and Siena noticed then they were in the same position as when they had last seen each other. Her at the door, and him in her steps. All that was missing was the other man. “That is, if you don’t…” 

Siena stepped aside, showing him inside. “I’m sorry for my manners. I guess I was a bit surprised.”

“It’s understandable. Is this your house?” He looked around the place curiously.

Siena supposed that compared to his usual lodgings, it wasn’t much. The house was a good size, and it even had two floors, but it was in desperately need of repairs. The living room only had one couch, a writing desk and a chair on one side and the fireplace occupying the other side. At least she had fixed the leaking in the roof before Anthony arrived. She would’ve been mortified if he had seen that.

“It's my grandmother’s. Well, it’s mine now. She died last year and left it for me.” 

Despite all the conditions, Siena had never been more relieved to have this place than when she had gotten sick. Leaking or not, it ensured she at least had a roof over her head and, with the money she had saved over the years, it was enough to live comfortably for some time. And although the house was far from the city center, which meant long walks to the market whenever needed, it also had a huge backyard and a great view of the Tuscan hills which had done wonders, if not for her health, at least for her soul.

“I'm sorry for your loss.”

Siena shrugged her shoulders. “It's okay.”

“Siena…”

They were still standing on the living room, she realized now. And whatever Anthony had to say, she didn’t want him to say it here.

“Come.” She said, already walking from the living room to the kitchen and taking the tea set she had left there for her afternoon tea and adding another cup to the tray. “We can sit on the patio and you can say whatever you have to say there.”

Anthony nodded and moved to follow her. 

Siena opened the garden doors and felt some of the excitement over Anthony’s arrival leaving her, the calmness she had grown used to here returning to her. This was her favorite place in the house, probably in the city. The patio had a set of iron chairs and a table where to she directed Anthony and set their tea. It was spring and the whole backyard was blooming with flowers she had tended to herself. It filled her with pride to know she had turned the garden around all on her own, and maybe she wasn’t creating art, but at least she could help nature give and nurture life.

From their seats at the patio, they could also see part of the road and some of the Tuscan hills so many painters had tried and failed to capture the beauty of.

“It's beautiful here.” Anthony said in amazement. 

“I know,” she answered, smiling. “I’ve been here for six months and it still takes my breath away every time.”

“Thank you for bringing me back here.”

She poured the tea for them. It was one of the few English habits she still kept, drinking a cup of tea while watching the Tuscan sunset, though she hardly ever had any company. 

“You're welcome. Now…why are you here, Anthony?”

During all the time they spent together, she hardly ever used his name. But, after so many years, and inside her own idilic corner of the world, she felt she was finally allowed to.

Anthony let out a small chuckle, “I guess the scandals of the ton don’t make their way to little corners of heaven in Italy.”

“I'm afraid we don’t yet receive Lady Whistledown’s papers, no.” She said and, because she also worried about him, added, “Is everything okay? Is the Viscountess well?”

Anthony smile grew bigger at her question and he laughed. “The Viscountess is very well. She is currently enjoying herself to our country house with her lover. Female lover.”

“Oh.” That was certainly unexpected. Siena snorted. “I'm sorry. I’m sure that must have been most distressing for you.”

“Not as much as it should’ve been.” He answered seriously, staring directly at her.

Siena bit her lip and turned away from him, looking at the garden. “I see.” She paused and took a sip from her tea. “Are there any kids?”

The last news she had from Anthony were of his marriage on Genevieve’s letter. Afterwards, she never asked and, if she knew of anything, her friend never mentioned it.

“No. None.”

The answer didn’t shock her as much as how unbothered he seemed by it. That had always seemed so important when they were together, to have an heir. It had been his duty, after all.

“You could always get an annulment and marry again.” 

When he didn’t offer any reply, Siena looked back at him. “But you won’t.”

Anthony sighed and drank his tea before answering it. “It seems…unkind to separate the Viscountess and the woman she loves, doesn’t it? Why should they suffer for being in love?”

She smiled softly. Anthony Bridgerton. She had always known he was a hopeless romantic.

“And the title?”

Anthony shrugged. “Benedict has two boys and so does Colin. It shall pass to one of them upon my death. Though, hopefully, a long time from now.”

“You seem to have made your peace with it.” It amazed her he wasn’t right now back in England attempting to perform his duties to perfection.

“Did you know I had never left England before?” Siena shook her head, though it didn’t come exactly as a surprise. She had travelled all over Europe like a gipsy, but he had stayed, strong and steady, since becoming head of the family at twenty. “Simon left to see the world and so did Colin. But I stayed. I never even considered leaving, except…” 

He paused and looked away from her as both of them remembered the one time he was talking about. He didn’t finish that sentence, he didn’t need to. 

“When the rumors started, the Viscountess left for the country and I didn’t see the point of staying in London, hearing the catty comments about my failed marriage.”

Siena nodded in understanding.

“You should know,” he continued, “I didn’t set out to see you.”

“Is that so?” She didn’t know if she should feel offended or not at that when he ended up at her door all the same.

“I went to Spain first. Not Italy. Not France.” The no country that would’ve reminded me of you was implied, but she understood it.

“That's a beautiful country too. I performed there for the King once.”

“Of course you did.” He smiled fondly at her. “So, I was walking down the streets in Barcelona one day, seeing all these marvelous things around me, and I realized there was only person I wanted to share that experience with. One person I wanted by my side. The same person I have always wanted. And I was wasting my time. I was letting my injured pride and my fear of another rejection prevent me from pursuing her.”

He looked directly into her eyes through the whole speech. After all this time. It was preposterous and fantastical and her heart was beating so fast it felt like it would leave her chest.

He raised his hand to her face and caressed it softly, tracing the contours of her lips and her chin just like he used to do. Siena closed her eyes and focused on the sensation of his fingers on her skin once more.

“Then you went to Milan?” She asked.

“No.” He answered with a little laugh and she opened her eyes. “As far as I knew, you were in Paris. So I went there. Then to Vienna. And finally to Milan. Every place I went, you had already left. It figures I would have to come to your city to find you.”

He grabbed her hands into his and dropped a kiss on top of it. She could hardly believe what was happening.

He had gone through quite the journey. For her. Back to her.

“I don’t know if I can sing anymore.” She blurted out before she could stop herself. 

“What are you talking about?” Anthony looked back at her in confusion but didn’t drop her hands.

“Ever since I got sick, I can’t… The coughing was too bad. I’m better now, but… I’m afraid of trying and not being able.” It felt good to finally confess her feelings to someone. “And, to be honest, I don’t know if I want to go back. I miss singing but I don’t miss the stage.”

He kept caressing her hands through her confession, providing her support. 

“You should do whatever makes you the happiest.” He said simply.

Siena got up from her chair and sat on his lap. Her hands on both sides of his face, looking directly into his eyes as she asked, “And you?” 

“That’s also up to you. I will stay for as long as you will have me.”

Forever, Siena thought. Then she kissed him, again and again.

send me a ship + a number from this list and i'll write a short story

#truegodofthearena #answered asks #santhony #anthony x siena #bridgerton #anthony bridgerton #siena rosso #my fics

[fanfictrashdump]

Queening a Pawn, 17

((Y’all know the drill. I was supposed to be doing something productive in my life and I wrote this trash, instead))

XX

Summary: During the Time Heist, Loki stole the Tesseract and escaped. He did not expect, however, to be pulled through a Time Loop that delivered him to a Midgard more than a decade older, wiser, and bitterer. Having just lived through his unsuccessful attack in New York, Loki must learn to live in Midgard after the defeat of Thanos (post-Endgame). The question is, who is Loki without a quest for a throne or total domination?

Pairings: Loki x OC

=

"–out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout, again."

Delilah grinned from ear to ear as she spied into the classroom where the handful of four year-olds were huddled into while their parents were at work. When she was first informed that Loki had volunteered to take the afternoon shift for the pre-school kids, she had feared the worst. 

On the best of days, Loki's patience lasted about as long as it took him to drain a full cup of coffee. On others, just about as long as it took his heart to beat. When it came to the imps, as he called them, his tolerance for half-hour stories that went nowhere and non-stop renditions of nursery rhymes was utterly boundless. And so it became that every now and then, when her day was going awful and she needed a pick-me-up, Delilah peeked around the doorway to watch him interact with the kids. 

Today, he was chasing after a boy that was covered, head to toe, in finger paint while another child trailed behind singing Itsy Bitsy Spider on a loop. The Asgardian Prince snatched the boy up just before he clambered onto the pristine, white armchair in the corner, ignoring the fact that, he too, was now covered in cheap water-based paint.

With a lazy half-smile, he deposited the boy into one of the seats at the art table, where three other kids were sitting, doing their crafts before snapping his fingers and ridding them both of their colorful mess. Before retreating, he ruffled the boy's hair with a chuckle and immediately took a knee in front of the child trailing him.

"Yes, Aria. You have my undivided attention," he assured and the child repeated her song, seemingly satisfied when he smiled and applauded her at the end as she turned tail and went off to do something else. "Tidy up and go wash your hands. We're having snacks in ten." There was a chorus of acknowledgement around him that made Lilah sigh and smile delightedly at the extra beats her heart skipped. As if sensing the fondness, Loki did a double-take at the door, trying to smother a smile as he skirted towards the door with his hands clasped behind his back. "Wasn't aware I was to be under scrutiny today."

"We like to keep inspections a surprise. Make sure the rules are being followed at all times," Delilah responded with a feigned severity.

"And, is my performance satisfactory?" He leaned against the wall beside her, choosing to cross his arms over his chest, seemingly so he could watch the kids while also flirt. It was never to be said that Loki wasn't good at multitasking.

"Well, there is the small matter of how the child became utterly covered in paint, but I suppose you're passable."

The unspoken challenge drew a wolfish grin from his lips. "Will there be an opportunity for me to prove myself later? I can assure you that I can be more than passable."

"There are literal children here–"

"And I have said nothing untoward. Have I, Miss Delilah?" He pushed away from the wall with a grace that was unfair of such a tall person and turned towards Delilah to bow slightly, fist over heart. "I must feed the children before they riot. See you later?" With a dazed grin still on her face, she nodded and quietly slipped backward into the hallway to walk back to her office.

The grin, however, fell off her face when she opened her door to find Thor frowning at her desk. "I was having such a good day, too," she complained under her breath before plopping down in her chair. "I know I'll regret asking, but why are you so sulky?"

"Nothing. Just mentally preparing myself for the answer to my question: how is my brother doing?"

Delilah furrowed her brow, confused. "Loki? He's doing great. I just left his class he was giving the kids snacks."

"I just wanted to offer my services, should there be any need to–"

"I'm going to stop you right there…" Delilah leaned forward, leaning her face into her hand and sighed. "Last week he learned every child's favorite color and made them each a snowflake that never melts in that color. I think we're fine," she finished in a mock whisper. "I don't want to say this, but you look the littlest bit disappointed that your brother hasn't fucked up."

Thor sighed, shoulders slumped. "It's not that I am disappointed at his current success–"

"You're disappointed you voted to keep him imprisoned. To be fair Cap and Sam voted with you. It wasn't exactly an unpopular opinion, bud."

"But he is my brother."

"He also tried to, you know, take over the world."

"You trusted him."

Delilah gave him a tight-lipped smile. "No. I hoped I could." She chuckled, shaking her head absently. "You know, when Loki taught me how to play chess, there was one thing he said that always stuck with me. I remember him setting the board and staring at me over the pieces. The crux of the matter is this: you can learn the rules and hope that I'll respect them, you can distract me and hope I don't catch on, or you can interest me, and that, pet, is where the game really is," she finished, perfectly imitating his purposeful pronunciation.  "A whole new world with a decade full of new things to discover– who wouldn't behave for that? It was practically Loki's wet dream."

Thor made a face at the turn of phrase that did nothing to resolve his already pinched expression. "I wish I were that confident of his behavior."

"I'm not. That's the whole point. Loki will mess up–he's allowed to mess up. He works so hard when he doesn't assume you're waiting for him to fail." She chuckled. "And he's good at his job– great at setting examples. None of the kids are afraid of trying new things because they know they are entirely free to fail."

"Failure is not something to strive for."

"It's better than hiding in the back of a ship with Quill and Rocket," she snapped back and Thor showed surprise at the retort. "Don't dish it out if you can't take it."

"I am performing a duty for the Universe."

"It didn't start out that way, though, did it?" She pressed, single eyebrow raised and the god of thunder shifted uncomfortably. "Bottom line is that your brother is actually an astounding person. You should meet him sometime."

Amidst tense silence and a staring contest, the doorway was filled by the devil, himself, who looked between his brother and his lover with a small notch forming between his brows. "I can sense I am already in trouble. Consider me well and thoroughly lectured, brother dearest," he said to Thor, not bothering for a response before turning to Delilah. "It seems that Byron has thrown up his snack because he insisted on running a lap around the room right after eating. His parents are awful hypochondriacs– do I need to tell them?"

"Yes, but preface with the running and end with the fact that the rest of the kids are fine."

"Excellent. Oh, and Bruce was looking for you. He said he'd be in his lab." With a flirty wink, the clone disappeared from the doorway, leaving Thor and Delilah back in awkward silence.

Delilah smiled quietly, hands folded together upon the desk, while Thor decided if he was going to accept defeat graciously or not. "Was there anything else on your mind, Thor?" She asked when he didn't say anything.

"How… how have you done this?" He asked, heaving a great sigh. "It's like there's a different person occupying his body."

"The really sad part is that there isn't. That's just Loki, except we didn't give him a goddamn chance the first time around."

Thor frowned, looking down at his boots. "You love him."

"Of course I do. How can I not?" Lilah sniffled, scrubbing at her eyes with frustration at the tears that prickled the corners of her eyes. "He's a beautiful creature who thinks he's a monster all because Asgard failed him. They failed him, and you know it."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. You take it up with him," she retorted, harshly. "Now, get out of my office." Thor merely nodded before vacating his seat, and disappearing out the doorway. When he was out of sight, she drew a deep breath, wiping at her eyes and anxiously ruffling her hair. "Stop hiding. I know you're there."

The illusion melted away and from thin air, Loki appeared looking surprisingly sheepish. "I thought you hadn't spotted me." Delilah gave him a look and he raised his hands defensively. "I am aware I should know better." He smiled, taking long steps to close the distance between them before bending to kiss her crown. "Stop fretting over me, darling girl."

"Someone's got to do it. It's not like you fret over yourself!"

"My love, I don't care what Thor thinks. Or the Valkyrie, or anyone in these blasted nine," he argued, carding his fingers through her short hair. "Only you. And if I please you, even if unworthy, I am happy." He kissed her forehead and sighed. "Just you… and that spoiled cat of yours."

"Lilah, do you happen to–" Thor's voice boomed as he crossed back into her office, stopping mid-step at finding Loki with an arm around her slight frame, looking content and soft. "Oh... Brother, do you have a moment…?"

Loki cut his eyes down at Delilah, who shrugged noncommital. "Certainly, Thor." Smiling warmly, he bent once more, pressing a lingering kiss on her forehead and brushing his fingers on her cheek as he straightened. "I adore you, my love," he whispered gently. "I'll find you for dinner, alright?"

Loki followed Thor quietly, hands clasped behind his back. The god of thunder looked conflicted and Loki knew better than to interrupt the man when he was on the verge of emotions stronger than silly giddiness. The hulking blonde stopped just short of the in-house bar, sucking in a deep breath before meeting his blue eyes to his green.

Thor steeled his resolve. "Loki–"

"There's no need, brother. No need to dwell on the past."

The older brother furrowed his brow. "She has done you good. I would have thought you'd relish the idea of having me grovel for forgiveness."

"I just spent eight hours dissolving quarrels because one child stared at another for too long. Being petty for the sake of it is highly overrated," he offered, leaning against the corridor wall with a leg propped up on the surface.

Thor chuckled, nodding absently. "You always did have exceptional patience."

"Yes, you've trained me well in that regard." Loki offered his brother a lopsided smirk in response. "Come. Let's have a drink. I've been on a steady diet of apple juice and mandarin oranges all week."

#Loki #Loki MCU #Loki fanfic #MCU #MCU fanfic #MCU fanfiction #Loki x oc #Loki x ofc #alternate timeline #time heist #fix it #Queening a Pawn

[hannah-deactivated20220725]

Character Development 20 Questions

So, @missionkitty and I are playing 20 questions (like the version that you ask each other questions and answer honestly) but we’re answering for our characters instead of ourselves. We’ve been doing this since like midnight (though I did go to bed pretty early into the game) and now I wanted to make a “character development” post for it. Go give that girl a follow! Her characters sound amazing and her art IS amazing! <3 much love, my friend.

If you guys bother to read all of this, feel free to reblog and answer any and/or all of these about YOUR characters!! :D

Here we go!

Question #1: Which of your characters would be REALLY UPSET if they were caught at the END of the day with toothpaste at the corners of their mouth and had gone like that all day and which would just nonchalantly wipe it off like it was no big deal? What would their excuse for their mindsets on it be?

Her: julian would probably be the one who would get really upset and be super embarrassed, while robin would be super chill about it...as far as their excuses go...julian would probably have been distracted by getting ready for a full moon (since he's a werewolf), but robin probably got lost in her own thoughts and forgot to look in the mirror one last time before going to work

Me: So Kate would obviously get upset but that woman gets upset at just about anything xDD her reasoning would be "why didn't someone have the respect to tell me before and not make me look like such a fool!?" Marcus would just be like "oh thanks for letting me know" because better late than never, right? :p

Question #2: Which of your ocs would be humiliated to play an otome game and which would be shameless?

Her: julian might be embarrassed but deep down love it a lot.. he'd low-key defend the game when people talk about it but be very cagey if someone confronted him about playing it

Question #3: do any your characters like to cook and if they do, do they have any "signature" dishes or things they always cook?

Me: Marcus loves to cook. His mother is half Chinese so he likes to play around with a lot of popular Chinese dishes and make them his own.

Question #4: Which of your ocs couldn't care less about how they smell and go all natural and which like... wear a little TOO much perfume?

Her: i would say that feliks doesn't worry too much about how he smells, but julian hardly ever leaves home without wearing his favorite cologne...he definitely regularly worries about how he smells 

Question #5: Do any of your ocs enjoy shopping alone or with other people more?

Me: Jasmine is my shopper, for sure. She loves online shopping with a drink in hand most. Either by herself or with one other person.

Question #6: Which of your characters would share your taste in video games THE MOST?

Her: I think yoyo would share my taste in video games--rpgs, story-driven kinds of games. stuff she can really get involved in

Question #7: Would any of your characters enjoy stargazing?

Me: ohhhh fuck yeah! I think Ikuisuus would love it tbh, since she's stuck in the "lobby of the afterlife," as I like to call it. She misses being alive, which is why she visits Belinda as much as she can rather than having Belinda be the one to visit her. (: umm, Jeana (belinda and Iku's daughter in LLS) um, Elise for sure! Aria FOR SURE since she's an elf and in that world (really, any world let's be real here), elves are close to nature

#my ocs #about my ocs #others ocs #writer friends #catherine #kate #kate larson #kate bovington #about kate #marc #marcus #marcus bovington #about marc #jas #jazzy #jasmine #jasmine de jager #jasmine bovington #about jasmine #iku #kui #ikuisuus #about iku #belinda #about belinda #bella #about bella

[tsingadark]

Weekly Fic Rec

Yoonjin

the sound of your heart by springwei G | 2.9k | AU | Seokjin works in a library. There's this leather jacket guy who keeps coming around asking for book recommendations for his kid, and Seokjin cannot stop thinking about him.

Namkook

the ink of our hearts by ellievolia E | 21.6k | AU |Truly, he feels kinda stupid to be this anxious and eager to see the new post, but he can’t help it. The guy has a terrible username - bbunjjkoo97 - but always posts the best pictures Namjoon has ever seen. They’re - works of art, really. He never shows his face and never puts his name, which Namjoon can understand, as tattoos in Korea are still kinda taboo, still surrounded by stigma, and bbunjjkoo97 is covered in them. Seems to Namjoon that the guy is some kind of collector, regularly adding new pieces and posting on Instagram about it.- Or, Namjoon has a thing for this guy on Instagram, bbunjjkoo97, who posts pictures of his tattoos, but never his face. Jungkook is a rising baseball star with a bunch of secrets.

Yoonkook

got way too complicated for me by mnabokov E | 24.7k | AU | sequel to  do this one favor for me | As they make their way to the station, Jeongguk wishes, not for the first time, that he could freeze Busan and give it to Yoongi like this: Like the fragrance of ripe cherry blossoms clinging to the humid air, like the toneless droning of summer’s cicadas; like the ocean crashing on in the distance, timeless and indelible. Wishes he could wrap it all up in black telephone wire against a pink and purple sky and stamp it with a gochujang kiss—a little warm and a little salty and a lot like home.

The Sound of Winter by officialmaknae E | 39.5k | AU | please look at the tags before reading | Yoongi has a lot on his plate, but when his pack discovers a small pup in their territory, he finds that he's about to have a lot more.

wanna be loved by VeryGhost G | 75.5k | AU | this is rated G but there’s a smut scene! | When Yoongi leaves on a forced journey to the deepest part of the forest, he doesn't know what he will find. When Yoongi returns, it's with an omega barely of age and the knowledge they will be mates in the future.

strange magic (it's what you do) by bellamees E | 14.4k | AU | when jungkook was sixteen, he signed his named on the book of the beast. (or: a chilling adventures of sabrina spellman au.)

Bath Bomb Surprise by iranka E | 5.9k | AU | in which yoongi just wants a nice relaxing bath, but things dont go according to plan when he accidentally summons a demon

you wear down all my corners (and make me into love) by 24sevenheaven T | 12.7k | AU | yoongi loses a bet. the punishment? ask out his crush, campus heartthrob jeon jungkook. the catch? jungkook knows about the bet—he just thinks the cat-eyed love of his life is lusting after his best friend, kim taehyung. obviously, shit hits the fan. (or: in which hoseok's a plotting asshole, jungkook is a dumbass, yoongi is oblivious, taehyung thinks it's hilarious, and jimin is so, so done with everyone's shit.)

Jinkook

Maybe He Snapped by merryofsoul T | 4.7k | Canon | Five times Jungkook tries to flirt with Seokjin, and one time Seokjin finally gets it.

How to Win a Guy in 7 Days by PrettyBoyKiller NR | 65k | AU | it’s not rated but there’s explicit smut | "Please help me," Jungkook says in the most piteous voice the elder has ever heard in his life, pale and pallid with fear. 'Lord,' Seokjin thinks, very calmly in resignation, 'please give me the strength.' He's been on board the Aria for just shy of an hour. Already, this vacation is giving him a headache strong enough to rival a hangover.

Namgi

The Enemy, My Love by springup_suga E | 9.5k | AU | Yoongi and Namjoon were assigned to be work partners before anyone realized what a terrible idea that would be. Now, they have to pose as a married couple for their next mission, which might just be the death of them both.

Betwixt by lz-01 (lily_zen) T | 12.3k | AU | Namjoon's in love with his mysterious roommate, who's less mysterious than he thinks and more of a metaphysical mess.

Taegikook

i love you tomorrow, so don't go away by wildlikeawolfpack T | 3.1k | AU | taehyung and jungkook accidentally slip yoongi a love potion, except it doesn't... work. why doesn't it work?

Bagginshield

so i wait for you like a lonely house by stopchasingflowers G | 11.1k | Canon | After the desolation of the dragon, Bilbo loses his voice and Thorin loses his throne.

#yoonjin #namkook #yoonkook #jinkook #namgi #taegikook #bagginshield #fic rec #fanfic rec #bts #posting this now bc a friend is gonna visit me #so I won't have time to read much anyway

[starlitfunkster]

"Where the Tumblr Bots at??"

#no context needed ~ out of context posts #aria's art corner ~ art post #faces of me ~ sonas #(why yes that is a png of a tf2 flamethrower) #(why does it look bad?) #(...because that's the joke.) #(it's a lowkey threat to the legitimate bots) #(that's why i reblogged that other post btw-)

[pixelgrotto]

It’s Castlevania with demons, and it’s good

Quite some time ago, I highlighted Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in a post on this blog that was all about Kickstarter spiritual successors and how they represented a bold future where franchises deemed unprofitable by big corporations could find the funding they deserved. That 2015 post has not aged especially well in 2019, since several of the Kickstarters that I mentioned were released to a middling reception...the most notable being Mighty No. 9, which is now regarded as more of a pyramid scheme by Keiji Inafune instead of a proper Megaman reboot. 

Bloodstained manages to buck that unfortunate trend, despite a somewhat uncertain development process. Visualized by Koji Igarashi (IGA), a dude who I both like (for his grit at keeping the Castlevania franchise alive) and find overrated (for his odd retcons of the Castlevania timeline), the game was supposed to come out in 2017 but got hit with the delay whip again and again. As the delays piled up, so did fan outcry, especially regarding Bloodstained’s graphics, which looked washed out and a far cry from the concept art which was used to advertise the Kickstarter. Because this was the same problem faced by Mighty No. 9, everyone began forecasting Bloodstained as a similar disappointment that would fail to re-capture the magic of its predecessors and also look like mud. Thankfully, fears were lessened when new graphical shaders were implemented in the final months of development, and now the game’s rated “overwhelmingly positive” on Steam, with most agreeing that it looks fine and serves as a refined continuation of the exploration-focused “Metroidvania” style that Symphony of the Night popularized - just like how its little Kickstarter spinoff, Curse of the Moon, revived the older “Classicvania” style of the pre-Symphony titles. 

Speaking as someone who gulped down all of the old Castlevanias like Halloween sugar cookies, Bloodstained isn’t as evocative or transformative as Symphony of the Night was, but it certainly does feel like Castlevania with the bad guys as demons instead of Dracula. I’d even suggest that it’s the first post-Symphony Metroidvania that doesn’t feel like it was held back by the constraints of handheld hardware. This isn’t to say that the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS Castlevanias were poor efforts, but they nearly all made use of recycled sprites stemming from Symphony (which in turn reused sprites from Rondo of Blood for the PC Engine), sacrificed either graphics or music due to handheld limitations (Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance) or featured odd decisions, either in game design (Order of Ecclesia’s overly tough bosses and splintered levels) or appearance (Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin’s anime character portraits). 

Of all the post-Symphony efforts, Aria of Sorrow was probably the one that had the least noticeable flaws, and when coupled with Dawn of Sorrow, that duology still serves a better story than Bloodstained’s not-especially-impressive lore. But if we’re to consider the pure gameplay of individual titles, Bloodstained is the successor to Alucard’s 32-bit romp through Dracula’s lair that a lot of people were waiting for. The game is big - taking me over 20 hours to complete, which is sizable for this genre - and it manages to capture that unique Metroidvania vibe of “here’s a giant freeform world to explore, and I can’t quite make it up to that ledge yet, but I bet when I beat a boss in five hours I’ll get some ability to nab that chest.” And indeed, once protagonist Miriam gains her full repertoire of skills - including my ultimate fave in every Metroidvania game, the ability to high jump on top of a double jump - zipping around every corner of the castle is a rush.

Bloodstained therefore manages to serve as a nice validation of all the crowdfunding optimism that spilled throughout the gaming community in 2014 and 2015. It’s also an interesting case of a Kickstarted property that seems like it’s going to exist alongside the series that inspired it. While it seems unlikely that we’ll see another Mighty No. 9 game, Bloodstained has done well enough for IGA to let on that he foresees an entire franchise in the future, and while Konami’s neglected Castlevania for years, the positive reception of the very excellent Netflix series (read all about it here and here) as well as Bloodstained’s hype seems to have made the crusty company take notice. At the moment all they’ve delivered is a collection of some of the older games and Grimoire of Souls, a meh mobile thingy that supposedly has okay fan service, but maybe IGA’s independent efforts will initialize the spirit of competition and actually get us some legit official Castlevania games again. 

Barring that, at the very least we’ve got Castlevania with demons to rely on from now on. 

All screenshots taken by me.

#pixel grotto #now playing #video games #bloodstained #bloodstained ritual of the night #castlevania

[salvatoreschool]

5 Reasons You Should Be Watching Legacies

October is, just objectively, the best month of the year. Exhibit A: Golden autumn leaves. Exhibit B: All things apple. Exhibit C: This gif. Exhibit D: Witches. Like, it’s just science.

Around these parts, though, the best best thing about October is, of course, the television. Yes, I’m talking spooky, kooky Halloween specials—love a good Halloween special—but also I’m talking fall premieres. Specifically, I’m talking The CW’s fall premieres, which have been landing in mid-October (later than most other broadcast networks) since at least the first season of Arrow.

This fall, the teen-skewing network’s biggest draws are, arguably, the series debuts of Batwoman (October 6th) and Nancy Drew (October 9th), and the final season bows of Arrow (October 15th) and Supernatural (October 10th). But while I’m professionally interested in seeing how all those premieres play out, the CW joint I’m most personally invested in getting back on my screen (also October 10th!) is Julie Plec’s supernatural boarding school double-spin-off teen drama series, Legacies.

Friends—you should be watching Legacies. I know there’s a lot of television out there, but really and truly, if you like television that likes being television (more on that in a minute), Legacies is absolutely worth tuning in to. Why? Well, let me just count the reasons:

1. You don’t have to do any television homework to join the fun.

Yes, TECHNICALLY Legacies is a hybrid spin-off of two different long-running Julie Plec series, The Vampire Diaries (eight seasons) and The Originals (five), and sure, technically it was in those series that the mythology driving the character arcs/motivations of Legacies’ most central leads, Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) and Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), was developed. After spending a cumulative thirteen seasons not just telling stories on television, but telling stories on television from this specific world, Plec’s ability to set efficient narrative groundwork under fast-moving vampire feet is nothing if not masterful. Genuinely, aside from a few single-episode cameos of side characters from Hope and Alaric’s TVD/Originals past, the only thing you need to watch to make sense of Legacies is this official promo for the first season:

…and honestly, most of that soliloquy, plus much more, is folded into the cold open of the series premiere, “This is the Part Where You Run,” which uses new lead Landon Kirby (Aria Shahghasemi) as audience avatar as he gets introduced to this particular supernatural world for the first time.

2. Two words: Julie. Plec.

That said, if you are familiar with Legacies’ double, er, legacy, you’ll get a kick out of how precisely Plec has taken her signature whip-fast storytelling and fitted it to a breezier, more “teen” setting, and how deftly she manages to weave in both key characters and core emotional beats from both her previous series.

The most obvious example of all of this is Matthew Davis’ Alaric Saltzman, who became such a fan favorite during his time as vengeful-vampire-hunter-turned-loyal-teen-vampire guardian-turned-rogue-vampire’s-best-friend on The Vampire Diaries that not only did Plec resurrect him from the (very truly) dead to keep Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) on the straight and narrow, but she then brought him on as co-lead of this series to do the same for every supernatural teen in the contiguous United States. Now, as both father to a pair of Gemini twin witches (Kaylee Bryant and Jenny Boyd) and mentor/father-figure to Hope, the teen witch-vampire-werewolf tribrid with a hero complex, Alaric gets to flex all the emotional muscles TVD fans know and love. Plus, as the Salvatore School’s headmaster, he also gets to take charge of the dramatic supernatural research and heroic (and/or chaotic) supernatural missions that are key to a Plec series’ fast-paced success. Beyond all of that, though, in positioning him as the central human adult foil to a whole pile of supernatural teen protagonists, Plec has also found a way to let him be funny, bringing a uniquely fun dynamic to the fast-moving monster drama of the TVD universe that hasn’t always gotten such pride of place.

In other words: Julie Plec, still running wild supernatural stories turned up way past 11.

3. Three words: Supernatural. Boarding. School.

One more time, in case that didn’t sink it: Supernatural. Boarding. School.

I really shouldn’t have to elaborate on this, but Legacies is set at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, which is the school for young witches, werewolves, vampires, and Hope that was funded by Hope’s (dead) dad and is located at/on the Salvatore family’s Virginia estate, just outside Mystic Falls. All the moody opulence of Damon and Stefan’s TVD homebase, all the zingy, angsty tropes of great Teen TV.

More than just being a fun setting, though, the Salvatore School gives Legacies a chance to sprawl out and complicate the consequences of being a teenager consigned to eternity as part of the supernatural world. These consequences are still very real and very serious in Legacies, but while The Vampire Diaries mined dramatic tension from supernatural teens (or at least vampires who looked superficially like teens) living in dangerous proximity to human teens, its kid sibling series looks inside for its tension. The teens at the story’s core need, first and foremost, to find a way to come to terms with their own inhumanity, and what it means to be good as they define it. And honestly, after so many years of TVD stories focused on the former, spending time with a bunch of super compelling, super different supernatural kids working through the latter is just a treat.

4. A diverse cast and diverse stories

This leads directly into a key update to the TVD legacy: With such a sprawling cast of teen characters brought to the Salvatore School from all walks of life and corners of the country, Legacies gets to improve on one of the original series’ greatest weaknesses: A lack of diversity. While both Alaric and the three central female characters of Legacies—all carried over from the previous series—are still white, the characters that round out the rest of the new series’ core cast are not. On the adult side, Alaric is joined by faculty members Dorian Williams (Demetrius Bridges) and Emma Tig (Karen David), while on the teen side, Hope, Josie and Lizzie are joined by softie vampire MG (Quincy Fouse), activist vampire Kaleb (Chris Lee), reluctant alpha werewolf Rafael (Peyton “Alex” Smith), ex-alpha werewolf Jed (Ben Levin), bad girl with Penelope (Lulu Antariksa), and the audience avatar/mystery box supernatural mentioned above, Landon Kirby (Aria Shahghasemi). Nor is racial diversity the only benchmark hit with this large cast. In terms of queer representation, Josie is bi, with Penelope her ex/possible future girlfriend; in terms of class representation, Rafael and Landon are foster brothers who both have dark histories with the system.

Importantly, none of these measures of diversity are included just for show. Each character’s identity and background are as key to who they are within the heightened emotional context of the boarding school as their individual supernatural abilities. Kaleb’s experience as a young black man (and vampire) is markedly different from MG’s, which is markedly different from Dorian’s (who, to be fair, is also not a vampire). Josie and Penelope’s relationship is informed by their strengths (and weaknesses) as witches, and further informs how they each approach solving problems both social and magical. Landon and Rafael’s history, as thrown away kids whose only shelter was each other, drives every decision they make. That diverse identities should inform characters in these ways isn’t a surprise; that Legacies is embracing them all now after so many seasons of its parent series falling short is, if not surprising, then at least worth taking note of.

5. Finally: Legacies totally knows it’s a TV show.

This seems self-evident, but as pop culture critic Grace Robertson so sharply observed earlier this year in her essay “Let TV Be TV” (like, literally; the heading above is a direct quote), the best trick Legacies pulls isn’t even a trick. It’s just being good at being entertaining, episodic television.

In an era where a TV show can be anything from thirteen thirty-minute episodes (pick literally any prestige comedy) to dozens upon dozens of bite-sized Facebook posts (SKAM Austin) to an 18-hour art film (Twin Peaks: The Return), defining just what counts as television is practically a professional sport. Well, it’s a sport Legacies isn’t interested in playing. With both its new-to-the-TVD-verse Monster of the Week mode of storytelling and the Salvatore School as its comfortable, “fixed point” setting, Plec is even better at framing episodic stories than she was in her already rollicking previous series. In a television landscape so full of cinematic innovation, the freedom this old school “status quo” television model gives Legacies is, as Robertson notes, a huge relief.

So, yes: Legacies knows it’s a TV show, and it knows it’s a fun one. With the short first season currently streaming on Netflix, there is literally no better time to jump on the Legacies bandwagon than now. And I know it’s one I can’t wait to have back in my weekly rotation. All hail October.

Legacies Season Two premieres Thursday, October 10th on The CW.

#Legacies #TheOriginals #TheVampireDiaries #TVD #HopeMikaelson #LizzieSaltzman #JosieSaltzman #LandonKirby #AlaricSaltzman #MG #RafaelWaithe #LegaciesSeason2 #Malivore #Tribrid #GeminiCoven #TheMerge #KaiParker #CarolineForbes #JoLaughlin #NewOrleans #FreyaMikaelson #MysticFalls #SalvatoreSchool #JuliePlec #TheCW

[coralmorphologic]

Kristen Gallerneaux is a writer and artist who makes work about ghosts, sound, and computer junk. For the 8th CCC Mix, 'Oolite Under Miami', she stirs a slurry of edits, chops, stacks, and sonar fire dredged up from the silt of the Detroit River and carried all the way to Miami on the back of the Bloop.

Tracklist:

00:00 - Metal Preyers – Snake Sacrifice 01:32 - Andy Stott – Not This Time 04:52 - Dale Cornish – Family Tree Revisions 06:00 - Beatrice Dillon – Workaround Ten // Basic Rhythm – Yeah I Like It 06:12 - Aria Rostami & Daniel Blomquist – The Floating Tone 07:52 - Batuk – Niks Mapha 08:32 - Clara – Y Maoupa Truenos (Instrumental) 09:09 - Slikback – Gemini 09:31 - Craven Faults – Signal Post 11:27 - Clara – Badman (Instrumental) 11:51 - Country Florist – Waveland // Carmen Villain – I Trust You (DJ Python Remix) 13:52 - Empty Set – Eye II 14:05 - Factory Floor -- Wave (Jlin Remix) 15:12 - Lowjack -- Tempo Riddim (Lasers Edit) 17:50 - Miss Red – Dagga (Dub) 20:36 - Mars89 – Visitor from the Ocean 21:02 - Master Your Horn Noise – CUT2 24:38 - Kinlaw & Franco Franco – Fat Come 26:30 - Laurence Pike – Taught By Spirits 27:32 - Madteo – Evol On 30:04 - Moon Diagrams – Wipeout 32:52 - Mike w/ Standing on the Corner – Greed 34:20 - Nazamba – Play Sweet 36:04 - Mr. Mitch – Not Modular (The Bug Straight Mix) 37:16 - African Head Charge – Undulating 41:20 - Rabit – Starbelly_1_Mazzy_Star 45:14 - Shinichi Atobe – Heat 2 45:20 - Shabazz Palaces – Eel Dreams 47:34 - Sunun – Untitled Lvlz 48:06 - Earthquake – Powerful 48:30 - Tirzah -- Do You Know 48:58 - Underworld – Do Breakers Trip 49:12 - Villaelvin – Ettiquette Stomp 51:56 - Giant Swan – YFPHNT 57:48 - Dale Cornish – Reconstruct (Begin the Begin) 1:02:00 - Mark Peters – Cabin Hill (E Ruscha V Remix) 1:03:36 - Elephant Jams – Revitalise 1:06:40 - PAT – We Are in Hell When We Hurt Each Other 1:10:20 - Kristen Gallerneaux – Ring the Rattle (Excerpt)

www.instagram.com/k_gallerneaux/ kristengallerneaux.com/

Mix art by Kristen Gallerneaux & @coralmorphologic Mix art direction by @vacationsnyc

coralcitycamera.com/

#Coral Morphologic #coralmorphologic #Coral City Camera #coralcitycamera #kristen gallerneaux

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24Leaders #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental justice #environment protection #environmental health #Youtube

[purplestarlightpolice-blog]

You can simulate your top dog sport

You can simulate your top dog sport as your favorite trade athletes – or entire litter. Take them to the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Kentucky Derby, or whatever the eventuate championship(s) of your play of option. (Not that you have to operate one pastime – take turns severe them all!) Or you can sport fantasy versions that take place anywhere from the city sandlot to a Caribbean causeway. Compete on land, in the irrigate, or dear in the sky! Play all semblance of sports gamble, from unwritten AFL to highest base-jumping. Control your player's government in each game, and necessity it to rout your opponents! Throw punches, fulfill tackles, and leap through the aria with aggression. Perform fraud with a trampoline excel, or backflip over besnowed inclination. Practice using effective teamwork in multiplayer defiance, and employment on your own skills in head-to-head object. Win several crooked to govern online tournaments. Try your deed at tennis worn no work force in Sports Heads Tennis or one of our other Sports Heads games. Duel in midair, jumping around preference a rubber band while severe to score baskets in basketball lame like Basketball Legends and Dunkers. If you failure a 2D game that'll take you for a ride, endeavor to constitute it through the overleap and obstacles in our skateboarding games. In 1974, Taito free Basketball. It discover images both for the trifler and the baskets, and is an not late tempt at accurately imitate a gang mockery. Each player controls two eleven members, a forward and a shield. The globe can be dribbled and passed between eleven members before shooting, and the testicle had to fall into the gainsay four's crate to record a point. That same year, Sega released an union pigskin Pancratium, Goal Kick, which was operate probable an matutinal vertical ball-and-paddle quarry. 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That same year, gamble designer Scott Orr based GameStar, a crooked publisher particularize in Commodore 64 play games, and served as its guidance plotter. GameStar was the most successful game computer game company of its time, until Orr solary the company to Activision in 1986. Between 1980 and 1984, Atari and Mattel's Intellivision employ a train of full-stakes TV the advertising industry campaigns aid their respective systems, marking the start of the first comfort wars. Atari obtain in arcade games and had a larger customer base due to its frown price, while Intellivision touted its visually superior mirth Pancratium. Sports scribe George Plimpton was shaped in the Intellivision ads, which evince the parallel gamble side by side. Both Atari and Intellivision fielded at least one Pancratium for baseball, American Aussie Rules, hockey, hoops, auto racing and association AFL. This please delineate the top 100 games in esports with the most prize funds based on message declare on the internet. Sources contain news matter, forum posts, float report clothes, question, public statements, reliable databases, VODs and other openly-accessable spring that keep "historic" message. This website uses cookies. We usage cookies to optimize and personalize your enjoy, provide relative please and take apart online traffic. We also divide message with our analytics and website partners, who may employment it to animate decisions helter-skelter authentic or future benefit. By clicking “Agree,” you concur to manner cookies if you continue to our website. You can concert your cookie settings by tape the "cookie preferences" knob. I Agree Cookie Preferences This website uses cookies. We employment cookies to optimize and personalize your suffer, provide relevant gratify and psychoanalyse online trade. We also shear information with our analytics and website confederate, who may use it to ugly decisions about passable or future avail. By catch “Agree” below, you yield to use cookies if you continue to our website. You can taylor-make your cookie preferences by using the settings next to "Analytical Cookies" and "Marketing Cookies." Click the "Save Preferences" button to prevent your custom-make settings. You can access and change your cookie preferences at any repetition by clap "Data Protection Settings" icon in the lower left corner of our website. For more particular information on the cookies we use, please affect the Academy's Privacy Policy. I Agree Necessary Cookies Necessary cookies empower carpel functionality. The website cannot province rightly without these cookies, and can only be unfolded by changing your browser preferences. Marketing Cookies Analytical cookies prevent us to correct our website by amass and reporting information on its usage. Social Cookies We use some familiar plowshare plugins, to concede you to cleave certain ichoglan of our website on social media. These plugins abode cookies so that you can acurately survey how many times a page has been dividend. Save Preferences Sports-based fighting games are titles that fall firmly within the definitions of both the fighting quarry and frolic plucky genre, such as fisticuffs and wrestling video lame. As such, they are usually put in their own separate subgenres. Often the fighting is remote more graphic than in traditional fighting games (though the amount of realism can well exchange), and many feature aqiqiy-mankind franchises or fighters. Examples of this include the Fight Night, UFC 2009 Undisputed and WWE 2K list. Cricket is not upright a sport in India, it's a polytheism. So it's no surprise that Dream11 is most popular for its immersive fantasy cricket experience. From Tests to T20s, you can join emulate for all data format of international cricket on Dream11. Apart from ICC equal and tournaments, users can also simulate online cricket games from various cricket confederation probable the IPL - maintain and simulate across the the. A mirth project is a video Olympic form that pretend the practice of diversion. Most play have been relieve with a game, including team sports, tow and expanse, utmost game and combat sports. Some lame emphasize veritably playing the amusement (such as the Madden NFL course), while others emphasize strategy and mockery contrivance (such as Championship Manager and Out of the Park Baseball). Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out!!, lampoon the sport for comedian effect. This class has been public throughout the history of video gamble and is competitive, just inclination kerçek-the mockery. A many of game order feature the distinction and characteristics of regal nine and libertine, and are updated annually to ponder kerçek-world changes. Sports type is one of the oldest genres in gambling chronicle. Privacy Notice We use cookies to serve us provide, protect and censure your experience. By worn this place, you concede to this use. Find out more in our Cookie Policy.We also show targeted advertisements by sharing your data with our partners so that the ads presented are significant to you. You can opt-out of targeted ads at any time by going to the settings ichoglan. Learn more about this and our participator in our updated 메이저파워볼사이트 Privacy Policy.

[facets-and-rainbows]

Bloody Fairy Tale (part 1)

The first part of the longest canon-ish story we have about young Shiro! Now in English woooooo!

Picture is from this post by @strongcraving, check it out!

Love, faith, loyalty, devotion, even the fear of death—none of them could save me.

So then what can rescue me from this ugly world?

La Buena Diosa—a totally unremarkable little village tucked away in a corner of South America.

I found out this village existed totally by coincidence. But the more I learned about it, the more I thought this had to be the place.

This was the place where I could get everything I wanted.

The lonely cemetery in the center of the village was…yes, it was like the toy box I dreamed of as a child.

Once I had my sights set on my goal, I started visiting the village frequently. I said I had an interest in religious art; it was a pretty good excuse, if I do say so myself.

Most of the villagers had the sort of insular attitude you tend to get with rural villages like this, but fortunately one of the kids really took a liking to me, so they stopped acting so standoffish. She was a little girl named Anita, and as long as she was with me I could move around the village completely naturally. Thanks to that, I was able to put a lot of care into my preparations.

I owed it all to Anita.

“Señorita, I love you!”

As she walked next to me, Anita gently reached for my right hand. Her hand was warm and a little bit damp. It reminded me of a newborn puppy.

When the girl’s eyes met mine, her suntanned brown face broke into a shy smile. I smiled back warmly.

And in my mind, I softly told that poor noble child:

Once you become a ghoul, Anita, I’ll use you to make my finest Naberius.

Then I’ll finally be able to love you back.

I hope you’ll forgive me, but until then…

I just don’t find you cute at all…

 “Stay calm, everyone. It’s okay.”

On my tenth visit, I had some ghouls I revived beforehand attack the village.

It took everything I had to contain my joy as I skillfully guided the bewildered villagers to the church in the middle of the cemetery.

It went well.

I had made careful preparations, but I was still almost scared by how well it went.

After the shocking experience of being attacked by dead bodies, the villagers totally trusted and depended on the nun Maria LaMorte. It would be a trivial matter to dispatch them all by daybreak. Like taking candy from a baby…

But the most important question was how to kill them.

Poison? Strangling? Or maybe…

As I searched my mind for the method that would damage the bodies the least, I felt a tug on the sleeve of my habit. I looked down to see Anita clutching it in her shaking hands. The color was drained from her brown cheeks, and there were big tears welling up in her eyes.

“Will…we…all be killed?” came the weak voice, desperately trying to swallow the fear.

“Oh, Anita, it’s okay. It’s okay. I won’t let that happen.”

“Really?”

“Really. I’ve made a barrier with holy water around us, so the ghouls can’t get in. It’s safe here,” I lied, and gently hugged the girl. “Now, go find your mother.”

Anita gave a small nod, but suddenly looked toward the window by the door and murmured, “A light…”

“A light?” I tilted my head in confusion, then followed Anita’s gaze. She was right: the sky to the southwest of the village was lit up like midday. The entrance to the village was in that direction, facing the highway.

There was no mistaking it. That was a flare.

And not the kind that motorists use—it was a special flare used by exorcists to fight demons. I knew because I was carrying a few of them myself.

Could the Vatican’s dogs have sniffed me out here already? No…it was too soon for that.

After a moment’s hesitation, I turned from the window back to Anita.

“Something might have happened. I’ll go take a look. Anita, you stay here in the church,” I ordered.

Anita’s expression changed. “No! You can’t! Señorita, you’ll be killed!”

“Oh, Anita. It’s okay…It’s okay.” It was nice that she was worried for me and all, but this was honestly the most annoying thing I could imagine. Getting too friendly is a problem too, I sighed internally. “I have weapons and everything. If anything happens, I’ll run right away. Okay?”

I cajoled the flustered Anita into calming down a little and stepped outside the church. The southwestern sky was still lit up.

Well, it was a small village after all.

It didn’t take long to pass through the cemetery and rush to the source of the light. Even so, the flare had gone out by the time I got there.

In the darkness, I sensed the presence of live humans, not ghouls. I quietly hid behind a nearby house.

Straining my eyes in the dark, I could make out two men surrounded by ghouls.

 One was a tall, lanky Caucasian and the other was an average-sized Asian. Both were wearing imposing black uniforms—the official uniforms of the Order of the True Cross, which I also belonged to. The Asian was carrying a handgun in a holster at his waist, but the white guy looked to be completely unarmed.

My, my, aren’t you two poorly equipped?

I couldn’t suppress a grin.

And I thought they had come from the Vatican! I shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that.

Laughing at my own rashness, I decided to watch them for a bit.

The group of ghouls was beginning to recover from the flare. The Asian man tossed a holy water grenade at them.

The ghouls wailed in agony as holy water exploded into the air around them.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeyyyaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

Urk…

Seeing the ghouls suffer made my heart cry out in pain too.

But it’s only holy water, I reassured myself. As long as it isn’t AAA grade it’ll only stop them temporarily. Besides, there are only two exorcists.

I had ten times that many ghouls.

Even as I was thinking it, the Asian man was already being attacked by a few that had avoided a direct hit from the holy water.

Enraptured, I fantasized about the moment when their claws would tear apart his flesh.

But the foreigner nimbly leaned back and landed a strong kick on a ghoul’s jaw. In the same swift movement, he elbowed another ghoul, leaped back, and started reciting a prayer in a loud, clear voice.

The words came out fluidly and musically, savage like a beast, and filled with a power that took hold of the listener’s mind and wouldn’t let go. There was no kindness enveloping you, no feeling of purity.

Despite that, it moved my heart and soul more strongly than any prayer I’d ever heard.

Even as he unveiled such an impressive recitation, the man kept knocking aside the ghouls that attacked him from all sides.

So many Arias would have been defenseless while chanting; you had to admit this man’s reactions were impressive.

He moved like flowing water. I didn’t know much about martial arts, but even I could tell he was pretty good.

Perhaps this was real-life kung fu, like you see so much in Asian movies.

I was captivated by the man’s movements for a while, but soon realized this was no time to be distracted. First off, why was the Asian man the only one fighting?

Where was the other guy?

I searched for the white man in the darkness and found him standing uselessly away from the commotion, not even lifting a finger to help. Maybe he was frozen in terror at being surrounded by so many ghouls. If that was the case, he had to be pretty pathetic.

“Amen,” the Asian man finished, making the sign of the cross in the air.

In an instant, the demons possessing the bodies were expelled and the corpses went back to just being corpses…or so he thought.

But as it turned out, the ghouls weren’t exorcised.

They kept swarming the two men as if nothing had happened.

The Asian man groaned something in another language and clucked his tongue. Probably wondering why his chant hadn’t worked.

I leaned back against the house’s old wall and laughed silently to myself.

Think that’s strange? It’s strange, isn’t it?

But that isn’t going to cut it.

My condolences.

Why don’t you give it another shot?

Once I was done laughing for a bit, I peeked my face out again to see how those foolish men were doing. A ghoul was just about to attack the Asian man savagely.

The man dodged without wasting any movement, knocked the attacking ghoul down with a bare-handed punch, and mercilessly twisted its neck. He put all his strength into it, and the ghoul’s head came off of its body with a sickening snap.

The man tossed the head aside without batting an eye, then ripped the arm off of another ghoul and knocked it to the ground. He stomped on it, putting a thick-soled boot through its chest.

“Gyaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!”

My blood ran cold at the pained scream.

Apparently, the man had switched strategies as soon as he realized chanting wouldn’t work. He was planning to physically destroy the ghouls one by one.

As I watched the man fighting against the huge horde like it was nothing, I found myself trembling.

This is bad…

At this rate, a ton of my most valuable parts would be damaged.

I was done observing.

I slipped a hand inside my habit and took out a flare from the holster on my thigh. I quickly removed the pin and threw it above the two men and the ghouls.

The flare exploded in the darkness, bathing everything in blinding light. The ghouls slowed down.

“This way!” I yelled in English. The Asian man noticed me first. He looked at this sudden newcomer with suspicion.

As I’d expected, he was extremely wary. I would just have to force my way in. I reached my arm out and urged them to come with me quickly.

“This way! Hurry! The light won’t last long!” My feigned desperation was worthy of an Academy Award, if I do say so myself. The man rushed over to me right away.

It had been hard to tell from far away, but he was about 10 centimeters taller than me, and I was 170 centimeters tall. Average height and weight—no, I suppose he was tall for an Asian. Up close, his face looked cleaner and manlier than I had thought. With his pale hair, he could have been a boy, or a young man, or way older than me. Not that I was good at guessing Asian people’s ages anyway.

“What’re you doing here? Are you an exorcist?”

“Save the introductions for later,” I responded to his fluent English question. I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into running with me.

“Hey, you too! Come quickly!” I yelled at the white guy, and made a beeline for the church. He tottered along after us, looking like he couldn’t care less about what was going on.

#translation #blue exorcist novel #bloody fairy tale #there's gonna be so many parts of this #it's so long

[recentanimenews]

Sword Art Online Delivers the Frightening News that Players Can't Return in Progressive Film CM

  Japanese freelance newscaster Chiaki Matsuzawa appeared in a shocking video yesterday reporting the news that players who had entered the Sword Art Online game with the new Full Dive headset cannot return to the real world. Though the news is worrying indeed, the video does note in the corner that it is actually just a commercial for the upcoming Sword Art Online The Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night anime film, set to hit Japanese theaters on October 30.

    【速報】 ゲームから現実世界へ帰れない人が続出。 (NEW SAO)#sao_anime pic.twitter.com/qtr0DPq1w5

— アニメ ソードアート・オンライン 公式 (@sao_anime) October 25, 2021

    Matsuzawa has appeared as a news reporter on everything from Digimon Adventure tri, My Hero Academia, and even the Shin Megami Tensei series, as well as being an actual newscaster in Japan.

  Sword Art Online The Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night opens in Japan on October 30, with the film heading internationally on December 3 from Funimation and Aniplex. They describe the film as such:

  This is a tale of the time before “Lightning Flash” and “The Black Swordsman” were known by those names…

  The day that she happened to don the NerveGear, Asuna Yuuki was a third-year middle school student who’d never even touched an online game before.

  On November 6, 2022, the world’s first VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, is officially launched. But the players, still euphoric over having logged in, suddenly find themselves trapped inside the game when the Game Master deprives them of any way to log out.

  The Game Master then gives them this warning “This may be a game, but it’s not something you play.” If a player dies in-game, they die in the real world.

  Hearing this, all of the players panic, and pandemonium reigns.

  One of those players is Asuna, but despite not yet knowing the rules of this world, she sets off to conquer the floating iron castle, Aincrad, whose peak is too high to be seen.

  As the days go by in this world where death is never very far away, she has a fateful encounter. And then, a parting…

  Though she’s at the mercy of the reality before her eyes, Asuna fights on with all her might, until someone appears before her: the aloof swordsman, Kirito…

  Source: Sword Art Online on Twitter

  ---- 

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

By: Daryl Harding

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[architectnews]

Register for our Architecture Project Talk about 168 Upper Street by Groupwork

168 Upper Street by London studio Groupwork will be the focus of the final Dezeen x Knauf Architecture Project Talk, which takes place at 1:00pm London time on Friday 2 July. Register now to watch the webinar.

Groupwork founder Amin Taha and project architect Jason Coe will present on the digital methods they used to reinterpret a nineteenth-century building that was bombed in the second world war.

168 Upper Street in Islington, London

Located in the north London borough of Islington, 168 Upper Street is a terracotta-coloured concrete block that is designed to resemble a Victorian terrace with mismatched windows and openings.

The four-storey building houses three apartments and a showroom for Aria, the contemporary furniture and design company that commissioned the project.

The building is a distorted replica of a Victorian corner terrace

Groupwork developed a virtual model of the lost building by studying photographs and carrying out a laser survey of a mirroring building at the other end of the parade.

The architecture studio intentionally avoided creating an identical copy of the original building, as a comment on the fallibility of human memory.

The interior features exposed concrete walls

Instead, Groupwork distorted the virtual replica by adding deliberate and accidental alterations to the digital file, resulting in missing architectural details.

This digital model was then used to create an expanded-polystyrene cast, into which the coloured concrete was poured to form the building's load-bearing shell.

Inside, the exposed concrete walls feature wallpaper imprints, while the floors and internal partitions are made of cross-laminated timber.

Windows are determined by internal use and are punched through to the building's facade, resulting in mismatched openings that do not align with the details on the building's exterior.

Groupwork founder Amin Taha

Taha is the founder of Groupwork, an architecture studio formerly known as Amin Taha Architects, which he set up in 2003.

He also sits on the RIBA National and International Awards committee and advises pension funds on sustainable investment.

Groupwork architect Jason Coe

Coe joined Groupwork in 2010 and has been involved in a number of projects including the refurbishment of 115 Golden Lane, a mid-nineteenth century converted warehouse that won an RIBA National Award.

As project architect for 168 Upper Street, Coe was the driving force behind the project's exploration of innovative construction processes.

Architecture Project Talk: 168 Upper Street takes place at 1:00pm London time on Friday 2 July 2021. Register for free to watch the talk.

Architecture Project Talks

Architecture Project Talks is a series of live CPD webinars in which leading architects deliver an in-depth lecture about one of their key buildings.

Other talks in the series include lectures about Battersea Arts Centre by Haworth Tompkins and Cork House by CSK Architects and UCL.

Architecture Project Talks is a partnership with Knauf, the world's largest manufacturer of gypsum-based construction materials.

Knauf's latest BBA certified ThroughWall system aims to provide a full interior-to-exterior fire-rated system from one source. Sign up to Knauf’s mailing list via the webinar registration page to hear more.

Read more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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