#Happy Synthesizer my beloved

[ivefallenforyouandicantgetup]

It’s so wonderful that specific songs can just bring such happy and peaceful and comfortable feelings to you :)

#comfort song #I have a comfort playlist of old/classic vocaloid songs and I love it #Animal Fortune Telling my beloved #No Logic my beloved #Tell Your World my beloved #DoReMiFa Rondo my beloved #Triple Baka my beloved #Hello worker my beloved #1925 my beloved #1/6 out of the gravity my beloved #LOL -lots of laugh- my beloved #Love is War my beloved #Sweet Float Apartments my beloved #Happy Synthesizer my beloved #vocaloid my beloved #vocaloid #vocaloid Drabble

[sunkiie]

She's real ! [Transparent ver under the cut]

#MMIAAUU #KASANE TETO #MY BELOVED #I'M SO HAPPY FOR HER ! ! ! #sunkart #synth v #Synthesizer V #art #Teto #Teto AI #Kasane Teto SynthV #utau #vipperloid #Teto 15th Birthday

[beanghostprincess]

Silly goofy wild and funky idea:

Transman Crocodile who transitioned via Ivankov.

Cross Guild events and Cross Guild Poly where Buggy finally gets the nerve to come out to her two lieutenants and also boyfriends. Mihawk just blinks like "yes? Your Haki is distinctly feminine, so this makes perfect sense. Oh, dear why are you crying, stop that-" meanwhile Crocodile has to bite back every single we traded genders joke and instead just shrugs, going "I quite literally could not be paid to give a fuck. You know I'm bisexual, this changes little, Clown."

Croc does off hand offer to hook Buggy up with Iva if that's smth she's interested in, tho.

Meanwhile Sanji has come out to the Strawhats as a transwoman as well, and the reactions are much more dramatic but no less supportive - if anything, some may be too supportive /hj ((Franky calls her queen and sis and Hawt Mama, Chopper already began working on ways to synthesize estrogen Just In Case, Luffy could not be made to give a single fuck, Ussop is swooning, Zoro informs her that this changes nothing and he'll still kick her ass, Robin offers her congratulations, Nami is already mathing out adding another bed in the girls' room or making a room JUST for Sanji and Ussop to share, Brooke waits 0.006783259 seconds before asking to see undies, just everyone being supportive and stupid))

This leads to Ivankov getting two separate contacts for their services, and so they arrange to meet at a small-ish island to help both, two birds, one stone :)).

Both crews go full Spiderman meme when they come across each other, and Iva handles it with all the gentility of a bull in a china shop, whisking both ladies away while the rest are left just plain gaping and awkwardly avoiding eye contact or completely oblivious to the tension (cough cough LUFFY).

Insert your own silly ideas here, generally.

But when they come back, Mihawk, Crocodile and Ussop are all just absolutely SWOONING for different reasons, full of Respect Woman Juice and I Love My Wife energy, it's adorable and cute and funny.

((Bonus: Luffy calls Buggy auntie without hesitation, and she almost cries even as she punches him over the head))

THIS IS SO CUTE SELJKFNSFLEFNLNDFDLKNSDLK

Okay, so, my thoughts on this. Crocodile having to hold back the 'we traded genders' joke is so damn real and I laughed SO hard. Love him. So true. And transfem Buggy lives in my mind rent free so this is just perfect because I absolutely love her. She's my beloved. She'd be so anxious about it and cry and Mihawk and Crocodile are like-- So done with her because she's acting stupid and dramatic and of course they're going to still want her. And she's crying and they're rolling their eyes and patting her head at the same time. Poor thing. She needs comfort okay??

And,, Transfem Sanji coming out is always so beautiful in my head. She's been battling her gender issues for AGES and now she feels comfortable enough to come out to the crew. She's anxious but she knows she has to do this now or she never will. And it's-- It's so real to me. The way she would explain everything that happened to her back in Momoiro Island and then say that she's actually a girl. And everyone's quiet because they know she's looking at Luffy only right now, expecting an answer from her captain. And Luffy is just like "??? Okay? You're still my cook. So who cares? You seem happier now!" and that is when Sanji starts crying. Because of course she's crying. And of course, Usopp is the one to hug her first because that's his girlfriend and she needs a hug and forehead kisses right now. But they have 0 privacy because Luffy wants hugs too. I mean. Obviously.

Franky is loud af and he's SOBBING while he screams how proud he is of their cook (I've always said Franky feels like a girldad because just look at how he interacts with Nami. And he's sooooooooo loving Sanji right now). Robin would be so so proud too and would say she's happy for her and smile in the sweetest of ways (Robin please adopt me). I think Chopper would also ask a lot of questions before making estrogen, just in case, but then he'd go and try to make it right away. Nami hugs Sanji but the sweet moment doesn't last long because she's already telling Franky her ideas for a bigger, better room for the girls or!!! "Better!!!!!! A room for Sanji and Usopp so we don't have to deal with them!!!!!! But also make the girl's room bigger because I say so!!!!!!". Zoro says he doesn't give a fuck because he will still kick her ass but he's secretly happy that she looks more relaxed and comfortable in her skin. Brook is Brook and he says his Brook thing about panties but I think Sanji would kick him having the best gender affirmation moment of her fucking life. And Jinbe is just the cutest because I think he'd laugh at the chaotically sweet situation and say that strength comes from being happy with yourself and Sanji is the strongest for being so brave and true to herself (he be saying poetic and cute shit like that and he expects me not to absolutely love him. Dad behavior. I am SO sure he would beat the shit out of anybody who misgendered Sanji. But that's what any Strawhat would do, so,,,).

They go see Iva (Iva my beloved) and they're all,, So uncomfortable,, Buggy acts overconfident and says she's perfectly fine and not scared at all of what Iva's going to do to her body (liar. She's scared af and Crocodile and Mihawk know so they keep scaring her even more because it's funny to see their girlfriend crying. Look. The fact that they're soft and dating doesn't mean they're not gonna bully her). And Sanji has smoked like two fucking boxes of cigarettes already despite saying that she doesn't care about it (she has never been more excited in her entire life) and she's holding Usopp's hand so hard she's going to break it at some point. Anyway, Iva is a dramatic bitch and they make Sanji and Buggy come with them to a more private place because they want it to be a surprise for everyone (drama queen. Love them. I would do it too. Trust the process, girls, you're in good hands). So Cross Guild and the Strawhats end up alone and waiting for their girls to come back. And. Yeah. Uncomfortable. Zoro looks at Mihawk at some point and goes:

Zoro: I thought you were gay. Mihawk: I swing both ways. Usopp: Actually, you swing sword- Mihawk: Awful. Shut up. Don't ever speak to me again. Don't even look at my direction, actually. Roronoa, why is your crew like this? Zoro: It was really funny, though. Mihawk: I wish to not partake in this conversation anymore. Everyone just shut up and wait. ............. Luffy: Hey, guys, do you think Sanji's going to have bigger boobs than Zor- Nami: OH MY GOD LUFFY YOU CAN'T SAY THAT Luffy: BUT I'M CURIOUS Zoro: Yeah, she's going to ask for the biggest of boobs only to piss me off because she's annoying like that. Mihawk: Why would you even care about your breast size, Roronoa? Crocodile: Tsk. You care about mine. Usopp: OH MY GOD SJKFNSKDEWKFJNJKSFN

Okay, so Sanji and Buggy eventually come back. Finally. And they were gorgeous before but now they're even more beautiful because they actually look extremely happy with their bodies. I want to describe how I see them but just check @/vongulli's account and see their fem Buggy because she kills me every time and that's the only way I can see fem Buggy now. And Sanji to me looks like @/sibmakesart's fem Sanji. This artist made a nude fem Sanji not long ago and I loved it,, So much,, ANYWAY!!!!!! Getting carried away.. Thinking about women. It's not my fault I'm a lesbian. But they look perfect and they're comfortable and happy. And Sanji's boobs are surprisingly not huge and Zoro makes a comment about that but Sanji is like:

Sanji: WHAT????? YOU ONLY SEE ME AS A BOOB-OBSESSED GIRL OR WHAT? Literally everyone at the same time: Yes. Sanji: Well, for your information- Usopp: She likes thighs more Sanji: Usopp, don't tell them- Iva: And also, my dears, that is not how my power works Zoro: So you did ask for big boobs and you couldn't have them Sanji: I'm going to kill you and wearing heels it's going to hurt even more Usopp: Is it weird that I'm kind of turned on right now? Nami: ...Haha Usopp: Are you okay? Nami: Hey, Usopp, I- Usopp: You can't fuck her Nami: I swear I can't have anything!!! What do you have against lesbians??? Usopp: YOU WANT TO SLEEP WITH MY GIRLFRIEND WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY??? Nami: I dunno, yes??

Crocodile and Mihawk are having... A moment. They will still bully her and they're sure she's going to look extremely pretty crying and whining but right now she deserves to be worshipped because just look at her. Buggy approaches them and she's like "If you laugh I'm going to throw knives at you and then leave Cross Guild and!! And!! And I'm going to be really mad so pleasedon'tlaughireallylikethispleasedon'truinit" and they look at her with the fondest of looks (but gotta be honest, they're so horny right now it's unbearable. Like yes, happy wife happy home happy everything but also happy dick because just look at her). Crocodile is just frowning and genuinely asks "Why would we laugh? You look stunning, dear" and Mihawk follows with "I must say I'm not surprised, since you've always looked beautiful. But you look... More satisfied with yourself." And Buggy has to hold back the tears and that's why she starts saying things like "Pffft. Yeah! I knew I'd be gorgeous like this too! Now I look even flashier!" and y'know, the two men are letting her have her moment because now she looks even better and they can't stop staring at her. So maybe she's right this time when she fakes confidence.

Usopp and Nami need a second to process everything, I think. Also, they both hit Brook at the same time when he's about to ask Sanji the question™. Nami is having a lesbian moment, but of course Sanji realizes and does her Sanji thing like opening her mouth and speaking:

Sanji: Nami-swaaan!!! Do you like how I look now??? Nami, ignoring her and whispering to herself: Disgusting. I hate this. Zoro: At the end of the day it's just curly, huh? Nami: I was thinking with my dick. Zoro: Yeah. Happens. Been there.

So, Usopp and Sanji finally get their moment together because at least the Strawhats are respectful enough to give them their sweet uhhhh two minutes before they start complimenting Sanji. So that's something! Sanji is confident with her body but is a bit shy and isn't sure what Usopp will think about this. Not that she has changed much, even, but, you know. Just different. In a good way for her! But different. And Usopp approaches her slowly and smiling and he's just so so so happy. And he's like "You look gorgeous!" / "... Really? I wasn't sure whether you'd like it-" / "I will always like you! But more importantly, do you like you?" / "I mean- Weird phrasing, but yes. Yes? I think so. Yes." / "Then that's all that matters." And Sanji really, really doesn't want to cry because she has never cried in front of the whole crew. She just can't help it. But Usopp knows she doesn't like it when others see her cry so he quickly wipes her tears away and when she starts laughing (so so happy and full of love) Usopp just needs to kiss her.

Meanwhile, Luffy is there calling Buggy auntie and asking when she's going to tell Shanks about this. She keeps saying she will never tell him and if he wants to find out, he'll do it through her new wanted poster or whatever, but not from her.

#now this is what i call an amazing ask thank you SO much for this #i just loved writing this so much damn #they're all so silly #one piece #black leg sanji #transfem sanji #buggy the clown #transfem buggy #emporio ivankov #cross guild #strawhat pirates #just tagging the people who actually do stuff in this one bc too many characters and not enough energy #usopp #dracule mihawk #sir crocodile #roronoa zoro #cat burglar nami #monkey d. luffy #sanuso

[alicent-vi-britannia]

12 characters, 12 story arcs, 1 theme

A few days ago, I tried to synthesize in a single word the narrative arcs of the Code Geass characters (at least, the ones I know they have) with the intention of extracting the theme of each one. I will briefly explain my conclusions. Or, put another way, what each theme means for each character. I'll leave Lelouch for last because he's the main character and his theme is supposed to be that of the series. We go from bottom to top.

Self-fidelity / Milly: "the girl who learned to be in touch with her own desires and chose to be true to herself to bring out her best version." I think the phrase explains it perfectly. Milly found happiness and she became more mature once she decided to stop serving her family's wishes and focus on herself and what she wanted to be and do.

Confidence / Ohgi: "the man who learned to trust himself to become the leader his organization and his country needed." Ohgi's arc is inspiring, if you take off your toxic fandom glasses and take his journey seriously. It is true that he made certain mistakes, but he always thought of the welfare of his people and his comrades. That was his main motivation and what led him to overcome his personal insecurities. I was going to make a comparison, but you guys won't like it and you'll attack me.

Happiness / Euphemia: "the girl who dreamed of a world in which all people were happy." This is the only arc that was cut short and did not come to fruition for reasons that I don't need to detail. Euphemia was a selfless princess without a purpose until she met her brother again and wanted to restore happiness to him, Nunnally and the rest of the Japanese.

Truth / Nunnally: "the girl who had to discover the truth to grow up to become the empress who could rebuild a new Britannia." She is literally blind and cannot see the world as it is, but as it should be (hence her idealism). She also can't see through her brother's and her friend's lies, until her determination and her circumstances push her to do so. It doesn't seem strange to me that the breaking of the seal coincides with the moment in which she learns the truth and decides to face it.

Justice / Nina: "the girl who had to seek justice for the murder of her beloved and her own acts and thus be a better person." Nina's arc is a revenge arc. Obviously. But the anime gives it a negative treatment, as Nina only gets worse with each new chapter. It's not until she understands all the destruction that her revenge can cause (in a literal sense) that she stops and reconsiders. The Zero Requiem gives Nina the opportunity to redeem herself and give justice to her beloved since the culprit pays for her crime. It's at this point that she begins to heal.

Honor / Jeremiah: "the man who managed to win back his honor after offering his loyalty to his enemy." The entire arc of Jeremiah revolved around honor. He believed that he had failed his empress and his prince, made a fool of himself on a live broadcast, was demoted and fell to the bottom. From there, he only lived to seek revenge. But then again, it wasn't the way. He only redeemed himself by putting himself at the service of a lord worthy of his loyalty: his enemy.

Humanity / Rolo: "the murder weapon that regained humanity from him through love." Another phrase that explains itself. Rolo had been used and manipulated his entire life as a tool. But when he created good memories and a sincere bond with Lelouch, he started to make decisions, think and feel like a human being.

Forgiveness / Shirley: "the girl who learned to forgive thanks to love." We find another arc of revenge. Like Nina, Jeremiah, Suzaku, and Lelouch, Shirley lost someone important to her, was overcome with grief and rage, and was tempted by revenge until she discovered that the killer was the man she loved. In the end, her noble feelings prevail and her love gives her the strength she needs to forgive.

Freedom / Kallen: "the girl who embraced her freedom became a hero who fought to liberate her country and the world." This is going to sound strange, but I barely realized that Kallen is who she is because she is free due to a fanfic that featured an anti-Kallen who was in many ways trapped. Kallen is a free spirit and performs as an autonomous individual. She chooses the friends she wants (be it Britannian or Japanese), she loves the man she wants, she champions the cause she wants, she has the value system she wants. However, there can be no freedom without equality, and Kallen and her people live in a society that promotes inequality. The freedom of some (the Britannians) cannot coerce that of others (the Japanese and even half-blood like her). So Kallen works to change the world to a place where everyone has full freedom. That's her motivation to grow up and become the hero her people and the world need.

Love / CC: "the girl who only until she received love from others was able to love herself." CC's arc ties directly to Lelouch's because they both express a nihilistic philosophy. In short, CC wishes to end herself and the world (through the Ragnarök Connection) because she considers her immortal existence to be meaningless and thus unimportant. Worse still, an immortal life implies eternal pain. Something she can't live with. But she wants to be loved, because all human beings cannot live without love. It is in the nature of the human being to give and receive love. Therefore, love will always prevail in the darkest moments. So, when Lelouch offers his affection to CC, she becomes more human and renews her will to live (see how her arc connects to Rolo's arc). Let's say that she transitions from a negative nihilism to an agathonism (that philosophy that it proposes that you have to enjoy life and help to live a pleasant life).

Peace / Suzaku: "the boy who was able to find peace of mind by creating a peaceful world." Without going any further, the lever that moves Suzaku throughout the series is "guilt". Suzaku feels guilty that he killed his father, he feels guilty that the Japanese are oppressed by the Britannians, he feels guilty that he failed Euphemia in his duty as a knight, he feels guilty that he can't protect everyone… Guilt, guilt, guilt. What is the opposite of guilt? We may all think of different things, but I'm leaving for peace because Suzaku didn't make peace with himself until he got the punishment from him and when did that happen? When he made sure to create a new world with Lelouch with the Zero Requiem, in which all his loved ones could live. No wars, no racism, no terrorism, no hate. In peace.

Will / Lelouch: "the boy who twisted the will of others found the value of the will of the human being and began to dream of tomorrow." It's very ironic. Lelouch's Geass is described as the power capable of bending the wills of others to the mercy of his own. As he progresses on his journey and interacts with other characters, he realizes that human beings actively seek happiness and persist despite adversity. They doesn't give up when they falls, but gets up and continues to fight. That is what it is to be human. Arthur Schopenhauer, in fact, said that the will was the essence of the human being. But I think that the approach of Lelouch and Code Geass goes more for nihilism in its most positive aspect. The one who proposes the destruction of everything to establish new values that allow the übermensch to live in freedom. "Emperor Charles searched for the past, you search for the present. But I search for the future. […]. Because no matter how much time passes, people will continue to search for happiness. People who struggle with sadness, those who seek the future. How everyone keeps wishing for happiness. Human nature is the reason I chose Geass and wearing a mask." This is the key to human survival. This is the meaning of life and what this series wants to teach you.

If you start to examine each of the arcs, you will see that they are all connected in one way or another (after all, they are concepts that appeal to the human condition). And, if you reflect carefully, you'll realize that the arcs of our two main heroes (Lelouch and Suzaku) correlate with the extremist views of Charles and Schneizel respectively (this was something I was planning to address in a discussion on CG antagonistic figures).

I hope you have learned something or found something interesting in this post. If you liked it, don't forget to support me with a comment and/or a reaction. I would really appreciate it as that will help the algorithm.

PS: Don't ask me to come up with an exhaustive analysis of the philosophies raised in this series. Although it may not seem like it, I have a hard time handling philosophy (I don't mind going overboard like I did here).

#kallen kozuki #kallen stadtfeld #code geass: lelouch of the rebellion #lelouch lamperouge #code geass #kallen #lelouch #suzaku kururugi #lelouch vi britannia #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #euphemia li britannia #c.c. (code geass) #rolo lamperouge #ohgi kaname #shirley fenette #nunnally vi britannia #nunnally lamperouge #nina einstein #jeremiah gottwald

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Do you have any recs for the black phone?

DO I????

Do you guys know how exciting it is to get an ask that isn't about Avatar? Don't get me wrong, I love the Avatar ones, but the other kinds are such a fun change of pace. I have an equal obsession with a lot of other things, if not a bigger one.

So, I have a03 collections for a lot of things, and I do have one for The Black Phone as well. Check out The black phone was legit just like a fine movie it wasn't even that good why am I neck deep in this fandom sometimes I add more. As a massive fan of Steven King's IT (Reddie fics that don't make me think about the fact that this is a horror novel), I absolutely adore horror gay children, and as a massive stan of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch (the goldfinch fics that don't make me sad and feel hatred towards english majors), I also love doomed love stories. Blah blah "the real horror is the blatant homophobia and trauma inflicted on the children that causes the death of pure imagination and dreams" there are better posts and essays written about that. So naturally I am a rinney stan so it's all rinney fics.

WARNING: This movie is a horror movie about a man kidnapping, heavily implied to be sexually abusing, and straight up murdering children, so there are some serious content warnings for some of these recs. Read at your own discretion. Avatar is a fandom I read pretty light shit for, I don't for The Black Phone always, so I'll try to be super clear with them.

the electric, synthesized, rock ballad of why finney blake can't have nice things by ECLIPSEWXTCH. I literally just made a post about this fic in relation to the pink concert. It's a modern au rinney fic where Robin and Finney lost touch as kids and find each other again as young adults, Robin a successful musician and Finney a student in college. If this fic is never completed I will burn this website to the ground. I have no content warnings for this fic unless you have an aversion to pure wholesomeness. Content warning for there never being as good a boyfriend as Robin Arellano? But we all knew that already.

Coffee boy by mikki_strange. It's a coffee shop au, man, it's adorable and it made me happy. No trigger warnings or anything, simply rinney fluff.

Holding On and Letting Go by Nizhoni93. CW: homophobia, implied underage rape, legit so much trauma and sadness. This is SUCH A GOOD FIC, oh my god. It's one I've reread a couple times now, despite it's length. I have recced this before because I brought it up in reference to the beloved and famed nocorro ghost au. Holding On and Letting Go is the INSPIRATION for all my sad nocorro ghost thoughts. It's entirely from Robin's first person pov after Finney has killed the Grabber and they other boys have moved on. Robin can't leave Finney, and spends his time haunting the other boy and watching as he suffers while Robin struggles too. It is. The biggest bummer ever. It's so heartbreakingly tragic. Even as Robin is describing all these big feelings, his love for Finney or the guilt he feels for having hurt all these people with his death, he'll say something like "And I was thirteen" and I remember he's a fucking eLEMENTARY SCHOOLER. I cried a counted total of nine times reading this fic. Highly recommend especially if you're into the nocorro ghost au. The chapter where the psychic tells Robin he's only hurting Finney by being there? I'll literally kill myself. The homophobia is fairly blatant, and although mentioned rarely the rape and Robin's disgust and shame around it is a hard read.

We Stand Together by HeavensAether. Serious trigger warnings for this one. It's almost a dead dove, tbh. Basically a rewrite of The Black Phone where all the kids are alive and in captivity at once, so they develop a fairly strong bond. The main draw for me was the psychological depth it takes into Finney as he works with the ghosts around him and tries to retain his sanity, his relationship with Robin, and the mystery of how they'll get out with Finney's powers. If dark bummers of a fic aren't your jam, this isn't for you! CW: underage rape, disassociation, homophobia, transphobia. Tbh the rape is (while not graphic) fairly disturbing and goes as a method of showing a characters disassociation. If it was in an earlier chapter, I'd probably not have continued reading. As it were, it's pretty easy to skip those parts, which I would recommend as what little I did read I did not enjoy!

And You Keep On Living by Nichknack (BBCotaku). CW: more common The Black Phone homophobia and also trauma and abuse, but I think so far this one is non-con mention free. It's basically just a post movie fic but where the timeline changes essentially, Finney and Gwen wake up and the ghost boys are all back and the world around them doesn't remember the Grabber and all of those events never happened. Some good rinney as always with a side of brance and it's very interesting, I can't imagine where it'll go.

Five Times Someone Discovers Finney is Spider-Man (And One Time He Is The One To Say It) by sleepysheep (mynameistadashi). CW: nothing let the boys be happy and in love and full of friendship. This one is a silly and cute rec, it just makes me smile. Let the boys be happy. It's just as it sounds, it's Spider-Man Finney and a 5+1 of everyone discovering it.

#this was so fun for me #the black phone #the black phone 2022 #finney blake #robin arellano #rinney #bruce yamada #brance #gwen blake #melissa's asks #melissa on the black phone

[saturdaynightghostclub]

Toady FAQ!

Hey y’all! I get a lot of the same questions (both on Tiktok and here in the bog), so I thought I’d answer a bunch of em at once! As always, if you have questions not listed here, I’m happy to chat :)

Are you going to upload/continue the 90s series? (Alternatively: Upload the 90s series. You should upload it to Tumblr. Continue the 90s series.)

With all the love in the world, no. At least not for the moment—ask me again in 6 months!

Writing that series ended up being super stressful, and I’m not super eager to get back in there at the moment. I’m worried I’d continue to carry that stress and that I’d grow to resent the story, which is not at all what I want! I also don’t want to be 8 chapters into a new piece of writing and still have people asking about the 90s series, which I hope is understandable.

By all means, save the posts from Tiktok so you can revisit them. Just please don’t post them anywhere :)

Do you have Spotify? Can you make a playlist of all the songs you used in your Tiktoks?

I’ve thought about this question a lot, and basically: you tell me.

I have a Spotify account, but haven’t shared it for privacy reasons. However, if enough people wanted it, I could be persuaded to change my username and share my playlists :)

I do think it’s fun to have music to go along with a story, and it’s actually the one thing I miss about Tiktok. So the other option would be to maybe post chapters as audio posts with the text underneath, if I can figure out how to do that?

Basically: you tell me what you think, and I’ll do it!

Will your next story feature XYZ?

It depends on your request (and, honestly, the tone in which you ask it). I’m more than happy to consider requests and suggestions, but I have two stipulations:

1. There are certain perspectives and lived experiences from which I simply cannot write accurately; if you’re asking me to write about the experiences of a marginalized group, consider that I might not be the person to portray them. On top of being in a privileged position myself, I’m also just not an experienced enough writer to properly research and depict experiences so inherently different from my own. I can definitely try my best to recommend other writers, but know that, in all things, my knowledge is limited to my own exposure and experience.

2. I cannot possibly make everyone happy. If I took every request I received, I’d end up with a disaster of a story that I wouldn’t even feel like I’d written. I need to retain some creative freedom in order for this to feel worth doing, so while I welcome suggestions please don’t be offended if I don’t take every one I see!

Any advice for people who want to major in English? What are you doing with your degree?

Yes!

Find your niche. Mine was American lit, specifically the weird stuff. The weirder the better—American Gothic, true crime journalism, 19th-century Spiritualism—you name it, I’ve written about it. If you can find a subgenre of literature that you LOVE, nothing you read or write will feel like work.

Don’t edit, rewrite! Print your draft and go over it in red pen, then re-type it with your corrections. I swear by this!

Don’t limit yourself, ever! Take classes on fantasy, sci-fi, children’s lit, climate crisis fiction, religious texts, whatever you can find. You will be better for it!

Everyone is wrong. There’s a TON you can do with an English degree. I worked in finance straight out of college—I knew nothing about business, but my degree taught me to communicate effectively and synthesize information from different sources. You have valuable skills, you just need to learn to market them! Now I��m working in my field and it’s great, but it was never the only option.

DO A STORY ABOUT X IN Y TIME PERIOD SET IN THIS SPECIFIC TOWN!

Beloved, stop yelling at me.

Can I use this as a writing prompt/write my own story/create fanart using these characters?

YES! Knock yourself out, I only ask that you tag me in the final product so I can see your lovely work and hype you up :)

Do you have book/movie/show recs that are similar to your work?

That depends! Send me a specific request (ie: MMCs with similar vibes to Jasper Stevens) and I’ll try my best to recommend you something. If I can’t think of anything, we’ll crowdsource!

#toady talkin #faq #got more questions? hit me! #and please advise re spotify #also bonus fun toady fact bc i can’t get enough of overjustifying why my current work is different from previous stuff #i double majored >:) in psychology >:) my thesis was on prolonged grief >:) #so we can add it to the list #prolonged grief spirit photography gothic womanhood and ripping apart true crime podcasts #perhaps we can see why toady’s no good at romance

[quietbluejay]

Ahriman Sorcerer 1

The chaos train has no breaks!

Ew it’s the weird space wolves again Why don’t you guys hang out in your fancy coffee shop and maybe you’ll calm down

Annnnd yep time for more cannibalism Meanwhile Ahriman is having a nightmare about being chased by wolves King of infinite space etc

So the first time I though this was a Magnus fragment in his brain Either that or tzeentch I was wrong but I don’t remember what was up lol

Is this about his Prospero trauma

Secure meeting place to plan stuff with your minions: your own brain

Take a shot !!! Ignissssss is hereeee Ignis walks in and all the preps look at him

Ahhh you know I missed the first time that he thinks that about the sword lol Ignis insults the dude and starts a fight Sanakht shows up to break things up Rip sanakht you were kind of fun

You know I completely missed this first time Ignis: huh somethings up with his aura Sanakht: he noticed he knows he thinks I’m a worm

more ominous foreshadowing kadin cannot remember his home

uh??? This is Iobel but her first description was blue-eyed redhead. I mean contacts and hair dye are thing but. Odd.

okay i'm trying to figure out the timeline because there's time travel shenanigans so, it mentioned it was "years ago" that the first ahriman book happened, or at least a specific conversation in it at least from Kadin's POV they ran into Iobel and co just outside Cadia this inquisitor conference is…happening directly after that

spooky so the chained seer in the middle starts saying a list of names it's all people who are relevant to ahriman and boy it's a surprising list didn't expect to see the remembrancer trio from A Thousand Sons mentioned here also, hi khayon!

yooo that was sick back over to ahriman once again i find the logistics of chaos….lacking press x to doubt that they manage all this today: silvanus taunts the happy fun astraeos. astraeos strangles silvanus. do not taunt happy fun astraeos astraeos, don't strangle the navigator

okay so we're…roughly 2k years out from the heresy assuming this is referring to the first black crusade

grey knights spooky

next chapter: ahriman commits war crime also see what i mean it kind of jumps from ahriman doing small scale stuff to straight up killing the biosphere of an entire planet just so there will be enough dead plant matter that he can hide surprise tool for later rubricae there it's a huge escalation and it kind of adds to the feeling of being disjunct from the previous book.

okay that's it bursts out of wall like kool aid man i need to chew on some warhammer furniture so

i'm gonna continue rereading ahriman and hopefully get more ignis tonight: ahriman contemplates the nature of light as he is about to commit war crime

actually, this is kind of cool a) the fact that cinnamon still exists b) the fact that ahriman knows what it smells like i mean the boring answer is probably "they synthesized cinnamon" but i can think about growing cinnamon trees…

oh! he's hanging out with Carmenta

im sure this isn't foreshadowing anything bad okay so, are the cable swarming over her clothing then i guess so, Carmenta is the one person he confides in the one thing Ahriman doesn't have, is trust the only person he trusts to tell anything to is Carmenta, the one who betrayed him

IGNIS POV MY BELOVED so Ahriman gave the order but Ignis was the one who figured out how to do it and actually ran the whole thing (killing a planet)

and back over to Astraeos. time for the imperial inquisitors to torture him

okay so over with ahriman and

squints suspicious at the timeline shenanigans

TIRED SMILE not a sad smile but its cousin

okay we got a timeline! we are now currently at +2 years of lived time for Ahriman and Carmenta since killing the planet for someone who is supposedly dying, Carmenta doesn't seem to be doing worse than the last time we saw her? it has according to ahriman been "much longer" for the imperium since they killed the planet

RIP Astraeos

okay more notes: ahriman apparently goes to meetings in his bare feet i sure hope your ship is in better condition than the harrowing's one or you're just asking to give yourself super tetanus huh ignis has hidden depths he's upset because it cost them three TS to kidnap Iobel

for the record they could absolutely have grabbed Astraeos okay Hemellion POV the king of the world they killed that Ahriman spared and turned into a slave which again was weird.

oh hey more blindness and light motifs (there have been more i just haven't quoted them)

you gave me a life i never chose i wanna leave but the world won't let me go what it is and where it stops nobody knows (context: lyrics of Blindness by Metric. Actually that song has some relevance to this story)

ANOTHER SAD SMILE take a shot ignis and sanakht team up! im sure this will end well (well. ignis will survive. at least.)

anyways. i love iobel as a foil owo new psyker ranting about the sons of prospero iobel: ??? ack! ack! not the muscles!

oh, okay, it was only one sentence seeing this, she casually threw aside a large rock also we got another descriptor of ahriman's eyes

owo

it's really too bad iobel couldn't become a long term opponent but then, well, ahriman is ahriman also hey! eye focus! (his eyes got a few more mentions) i just love all the eye/blindness/light/shadow that suffuses this trilogy

what are they coming together to say, in a story about hubris also, first book had a pretty clear character arc and story arc second book is unclearer since it's mostly outsider POV so, i am trying to pay attention oh another thing, this book is far less visceral than the first, in terms of violence and gore, everything is a lot more detached i guess part of this is probably because Ahriman is also getting more and more detached

ok time for Astraeos to be tortured for realsies this time or not. just the setup. WAIT IM CONNECTING THE DOTS kadin and astraeos' chapter being from a dark world, them doing their training in the dark…im connecting the dots… kadin making his chainsword go vrrr so he's not alone in the dark and quiet

lmao ignis ignis tells a bunch of warlords that ahriman doesn't care about them

ignis: i am going to get a good grade in smiling, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve (sanakht, later: i saw ignis smile and it was the most horrifying thing i'd ever seen and considering i'm a tzeentchian who was besties with lucius the eternal, that's a pretty high bar)

time for iobel to remember going to prospero and i said this when reading it original but i love how in wh40k the sins of the past are literally haunting the present like yeah it's ahriman's trauma but it's also a bunch of ghosts that are going to try and kill you not even going to get into characters literally weaponizing their trauma as magic emotion bombs

i'm actually going to use khayon as an example since it's a lot more clear cut in his case he's got ptsd from the burning of prospero, but also his literal trump card is a daemon he summons that was originally born from the albigensian crusade and the death and burning of civilians by the knights who were supposed to be protecting them there's a bit also where Lheor is like "some of us have figurative daemons possessing us and some of us have literal ones, it's really all the same" with respect to Kibre & co being possessed

what i like about it is that whatever else you might say about its metaphysics, the WH40k universe is one where your suffering actually matters it matters in a way that sucks, but it does matter! who knows if you die horribly a daemon might be born from it

;-; astraeos

light and shadow again

they took the light away

…this book also gets into ahriman's childhood and guilt complex over his brother. I think.

And hit image limit!

to be continued

#warhammer 40k #bluejay reads warhammer

[emotionalhxc]

Strawberry Hospital Q&A transcribed <3 PART 3

Q: whats your favourite metal song if you have one N: "favourite metal song of all time is impossible to choose but only recently I have been obsessed with this since I heart it earlier this month"

Q: holoparasite is my favorite songs and I was wondering what inspired you to make it N: "simple repetitive gloomy looped music like the yume nikki soundtrack! I wrote it in like an hour which basically never happens for Strawberry Hospital tracks" Q: wat is cherish about :l? love ur music btw<3 N: "desperate attempts at avoiding abandonment and going as far altering your own identity to be what somebody else might prefer... (pro tip do not do this ^^) I wanted the cute electropop instrumentation to contrast the somewhat hopeless subject matter" Q: R u ever doing a show in Houston again? I loved seeing u live! N: "without a doubt I will be back! my favorite photo of that performance is currently my bandcamp banner actually" Q: What synthesizer, sampler, etc. do you dream of having? Old/new, common/rare... N: "need a full rack of ROMplers, then I will die happy. I already have my beloved SC-88 but would adore an Akai or Yamaha module in addition ! somehow I do not own a physical microKorg either?" Q: also do you watch sailor moon and if so whos your favorite character<3 N: "when I was 4 years old I begged my mother to purhacse a VHS copy of one of the episodes judging only from the cover art style, I haven't seen much since then but that probably caused me to develop an adoration for the magical girl genre long term... wait is this question because my name is Neptune...!" Q: azure is literally my favorite song ever😭is there a reason u made the song??/meaning? N: "awe I'm overjoyed that you appreciate Azure! there were countless musical influences that were poured into this one like cyrbergrind and darkstep and glitch pop, etc. I wanted harsh instrumentation layered with dense sweet melodies and harmonies lyrically, the song is a metaphor for drowning in an abyssal river of your own tears, and imagining a single angelic individual saving you or at least accompanying you in your demise it's also about grief, mutual forgiveness, and is dedicated to someone specific" Q: Hihi! Your wonderful music has brought so much comfort to me. :3 what are your favourite anime series? N: "ah!! thank you very much... I received a few instances of this question so I'll consolidate them into one response current top 5 favorites (excluding feature length animated films): - Kaiba - Madoka Magica - Haibane Renmei - Alien 9 - Princess Tutu"

Q: I really loved I miss you so long, can you tell more in depth of it pls N: "an older favorite! that one is primarily written about lethargy, escapism, and being a self depricating NEET after high school graduation (I'm reformed now as that was many years ago lol)" Q: have you ever seen the covers of the songs like Memento? (Examples: velvet by lilac) N: "yes I have mixed feelings about that specific cover. that said, I have enjoyed many of lilac's original productions and I have listened to most other covers of my songs from other musicians. it is a deeply flattering gesture" THAT'S ALL. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, I'm a huge fan of Neptune's music and I really wanted to do this to keep a log of strawberry hospital's Q&A in a somewhat more permanent way/digital archive way. Lots of love to you all xo emotionalhxc signing out :3

#strawberry hospital #neptune #neppy #emotionalhxc #Spotify #strawberry hospital interview #strawberry hospital q&a

[ishusi]

Ishu how are we feeling about the April Fools day unit swaps

I'm going to take this as a invitation to rant about them bc I have so many Thoughts on them (I'm so sorry)

First thing

(warning:all caps) HARUKA?????? LIKE THE MOMENT SHE STARTED SINGING MY JAWS DROPPED. SHE SOUNDED GORJEOUS. I REPEATED TIMESTAMP 1:28 SO MANY TIMES I HAD LITERALLY ASCENDED. RUI TOO AT 0:33 THAT WAS AMAZING. AKITO'S GROWL WAS SO GOOD. AND THE ART IS SO PRETTY THE LIGHTING THE OUTFITS THE VOCALS THE HARUKA (I really like haruka idk if you can tell). THIS WHOLE COVER HAD ME STARING AT MY SCREEN IN SHOCK. 17382947193728/10

Oughh this song...this might be my NayutalieP bias showing by this was ADORABLE. The little chibis were amazing. They really just added some of the best characters and had them sing one of the best songs in the game. The one thing that stuck out the most to me was the MIXING OMG. They all blended so well and Emu/Mizuki's vocals had me ascended. Those little symbols that represented each character was so cute (count pearl and Kohane...). I know a lot of people wasn't a big fan of the devil manners and alien alien covers but honestly their definitely my top 3.

Honestly at first I had kinda mixed feelings about this. But then I listened to it and omg. Yes. The mv is my favorite, besides maybe the Alien Alien one. I never knew I needed Toyamino in my life before this. Honestly I was never a big fan of booo, especially the MMJ cover (I'm sorry 😔) but this cover is just. Yes. Minori's chibi was so cute and THE OUTFITS??? Yeah definitely a fav.

Man, I have so many feelings about this. I love Setsuna Trip so I can't really bring myself to really hate it. Shiho absolutely ate and left no crumbs. Airi slayed just as hard in this as in the original minoairi cover. I love how everyone yells "Hah? More guitar!" I saw that some people really disliked Kanade in this but I don't think she sounded too bad! Her voice was sometimes drowned out by the music and the other voices sometimes though...but she really harmonized well with Airi and Shiho. The art and MV is so bright and flashy it makes me feel like I'm at a disco party. Kinda reminded me of an anime opening lol. Overall I think this cover was a bop

Honestly I have no really strong feelings about this. I mean Honami sounded so angelic in this and everyone harmonized so well. This was one of the rare times where the Vocaloid actually mixed really well with the others. The MV is definitely my favorite (besides maybe Devil's Manners). The art is so pretty (Mafuyu my beloved) and the purple lighting??? Yeah I'll take this. No strong opinions I just think it's really pretty. Would sleep to this.

SHIRANAI SHIRANAI BOKI WA NANIMO SHIRANAI

They really just took my favorite characters and Vocaloid and made them sing one of my favorite songs. This entire cover was targeted to me. The strong vocals really made the chorus Pop Out. They all sounded so pretty please SEGA release a full version it would be a crime to not. Also the mv made all my girls look GORGEOUS. I love how dynamic(?) it is (lots of motion, idk what's the word for that). Amazing. My skin is clear. My crops are watered. My grades are up. I have 20/20 vision. The sun is shining. And it's all thanks to this cover.

So I think my rankings for the songs would go like this:

1. Devil's Manners

2. 6 Trillion Years

3. Alien Alien

4. Booo

5. Setsuna Trip

6. Meru (😔)

Overall I think that this year's April fool's covers were WAY better than last time. The only covers I really liked last year were happy synthesizer and positive dance time. This year I LOVE all the covers, even Meru and Setsuna Trip. 74827391/10 wouldn't mind another unit shuffle tbh

#iShu* asks #i think i went a little overboard #project sekai april fools

[a1to-and-scientific-witchery]

i want to share my two cents on AI voices. a story from my perspective.

i am trans and on testosterone. previously, i was a mezzo-soprano cover singer whose voice was beloved by many, but i felt so dysphoric singing like that. when i went on T, i was so happy to sing the way i finally wanted to, but i still had a lingering guilt that i "took away" something people loved. that i won't get that voice back ever again. even if i'm happier now, i cared a lot about my image and how i changed in other people's eyes. because of this guilt, i had recorded an UTAU voicebank before i went on T. and i also thought it was a nice voice too, even if not "mine."

when synthesizer V AI first came out in late 2020, i was so impressed and excited by the tech. it sounded so amazing and promising. as more AI voicebanks released, i dreamed of being behind the voice of an AI voice someday, and i learned a bit about the process behind creating an AI voice.

i realized that based on what i learned, theoretically, it should be possible to gather my old singing samples and make an AI voice based on my pre-T voice. NNSVS seemed like a cool idea, but i was a bit intimidated by the work to put in.

fast forward later when diff-SVC first became a thing -- this is the origin of all the plagiarist, voice actor-disrespecting AI voice copying. although first, it was used within the vocalsynth community to create our own AI voices easily. we were making AIs based on our own voices! much like UTAU. i jumped on it to make an AI voice changer based on my own pre-T voice and i was overwhelmed with joy that this voice was no longer lost to time. that it could be used again! the possibilities were now endless.

later RVC comes along, and i am able to finalize my AI voicebank using this tech! however, i am so extremely dismayed by the spread of this technology to ill-meaning people. the amount of AI voices that ripped off and copied so many celebrities, actors, etc without consent. it was rare to see an AI voice based on one's original character and original voice.

now AI voices as a whole gets such a bad name, understandably so, but i can't help but feel dismayed. hurt, cheated somehow. the same tech i used to revive a voice so important to me -- the voice that helped me grow in my first few years on the internet; a precious voice despite my dysphoric relationship to it... -- that same tech is misused and abused to infringe on other people's boundaries and rights, to where it paints a bad look for me and the purposes i'm using it for. i'm so fucking mad. but i'm slowly rebuilding my relationship towards my old pre-T voice -- and one of my girl alters wants to sing using that voice, especially now that we have the means to...

but i don't want people to think i'm a bad person for using that tech, and i want to express a unique perspective that is almost unheard of...

because of all this, shit that i do that isn't even immoral gets striked. it's harder to train AI voices like this because of crackdowns on that immoral behavior. i got fucking banned from a social media site for using AI ethically??? i get you're trying to regulate shit here but i'm far from the perpetrator. i'm literally only using MY OWN VOICE in AI. fuck off

#text #AI #ai voices #long #sorry. #le sigh

[wafflesandkruge]

lover, please stay (kathony)

Daphne gestures exasperatedly at him. “You taught me yourself, brother. I am not mistaken. Love is when your eyes meet and your heart begins to beat faster–”

“My heart,” Anthony snarls, “beats faster because she is aggravating!”

aka the very self-indulgent and niche bridgerton grishaverse au

a/n: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY @rietveldbrothers​ MY BELOVED MY PARTNER IN CRIME MY KATHONY ENABLER. i hope you like this incredibly niche au that probably only the two of us will enjoy lmao. anyway all you need to know is that anthony is a heartrender, kate is an inferni, and daphne is a heartrender. 

ao3

The Bridgerton manor is quiet to all but Anthony this time of night. Exhaustion weighs heavy on his bones as he treads silently through the darkened halls. Call it superstition, or perhaps paranoia, but he’s never gone to bed without completing his nightly ritual.

Benedict’s room is first at the end of the hall. Anthony pauses for a second and slows his breathing. Beyond the brightly painted door, he can sense Benedict’s heartbeat. It’s erratic from what was probably another late cup of coffee, but strong. Beside him, Eloise’s pulse thrummed at a slightly slower rate. So the two were up late, again. Anthony had once caught them still up at dawn synthesizing a new compound for Benedict’s paintings, dark smudges beneath their eyes and matching grins splitting their faces before they registered Anthony’s presence. Anthony smiles at the memory. They are lucky he isn’t in the mood to spoil their fun today.

Colin’s room is empty as he is still on his Grand Tour, so Anthony keeps moving. Daphne’s room is next. His favorite sister is quietly asleep, her heartbeat slow and steady. Something in his blood calls to her, her powers briefly brushing his own. Even in her sleep, she is a formidable Heartrender, second only to him. Anthony lingers for a second longer. He wouldn’t be able to check in on her like this for much longer, given her impending marriage to Simon.

He pulls himself away with a soft sigh and moves on. Francesca is away as well, but Hyacinth and Gregory are sleeping peacefully in their shared room, tired out by the picnic they’d had by the lake earlier. They’d driven their nanny almost to insanity with their combined energy. Anthony listens for another moment, then continues on to the last bedroom.

Violet Bridgerton sleeps alone, as she has for the last fifteen years. Anthony’s powers weren’t developed enough before his father had died, so her solitary heartbeat is the only one he has ever known. He wonders how it could still be this strong when in the days after Edmund’s death, it was so quiet he thought his powers were broken. He could never do that to someone else, to leave them behind a shell of themself. His hands clench involuntarily.

Violet is strong. She’ll manage. He sends her good dreams, then forces himself to leave.

Edwina’s pretty face breaks into a smile as she is ushered to the front of the room. Her dark hair had been pulled into an artful updo and silk flowers had been haphazardly pinned to the spill of curls. She wore a pale dress covered with sparkling beads that clicked together with every movement. There is a certain girlish charm to her that Anthony supposes is appealing, but he is hardly enraptured like half the men in the room.

At some unknown cue, the lights in the room are extinguished. A hush falls over the shadowed crowd.

Then, there is light.

Spidery sunlight pools in Edwina’s palms and catches on the beads of her dress, scattering light across the room. Her face is alight with joy as she spreads her arms wider and the light grows.

The crowd oohs and aahs at the display of power, but Anthony’s attention is elsewhere. Half-hidden in Edwina’s shadow is another woman, closer to his age than Edwina. She has the same eyes and nose as Edwina, and the light manages to catch her regal profile and render her a study in shadows. But the thing that catches his attention is that even in a room full of people, her heart seems to beat the loudest. He takes a step towards her.

Their eyes meet.

“What are you doing here?” Anthony demands, his traitorous heart leaping at seeing Kate. She’s wearing a smart blue dress today, matching silk gloves covering her arms from the bright sun. Mud-stained riding boots peek out from beneath the hem. Clearly, she intends to spend a day with the horses, which is why Anthony is so bewildered by her presence at the training grounds.

Kate surveys the area with a critical eye, her head tilted at that aggravating angle that made it look like she was looking down at him despite the several inches he had on her. Anthony’s blood boils as she opens her mouth. “I wanted to see what the big fuss was about.”

“It’s dangerous for you here,” Anthony growls. It would only take a second of distraction from any of the Grisha dotting the course, and Kate could be hurt. The thought causes his skin to itch. “If you want to observe, do it from the house.”

“Oh please,” Kate says dismissively. “How can you expect me to be frightened when I saw Mr. Levington there fall off his horse last week because she spooked at a rabbit?”

Anthony looks at where Kate’s gaze is directed, and sure enough, Levington is trying to levitate water out of the lake with little success. The front of his shirt is already soaked, and wet hair is plastered to his forehead. What an imbecile.

When he turns back to Kate, she’s still staring at Levington, a small smirk playing on her lips. Anthony scowls and steps in front of her to block her view. “Leave,” he ordered.

Kate tilts her head to the side. “Do you always expect people to jump at every order you give?”

“Yes.”

The two stare at each other, having reached a clear impasse. Anthony can’t help noticing the way the sun turns her eyes into warm honey, dark lashes blinking slowly as she glowered at him. Her heartbeat thumps steady in his ears, both a reassurance and an annoyance.

“Watch out!” a voice cries from the distance.

Anthony sees it a split second after the warning. A stream of bright fire hurtles toward them from behind Kate, too fast to be avoided. His pulse roars as he grabs her shoulders and shoves her roughly to the ground, his shoulders curved around her body. The air is unbearably hot. He squeezes his eyes shut and waits.

One breath.

Kate’s heartbeat slowing until it was silent.

Two.

Kate’s last breath leaving her body in a final gasp.

“My lord.”

Kate’s body still in his arms–

“Anthony!”

His eyes fly open. Blood rushes in his ears, everything is tinted red. Kate peers up at him from the ground, her brows furrowed in concern. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes bright.

“Breathe,” she says as if calming a spooked animal. “Breathe.”

“You are unharmed?” he chokes out. His hands fumble at her shoulders, her arms. He cannot breathe. “Kate, are you–”

“I am fine.” Kate grabs his hand and holds it to the bare skin over her heart. Her skin is burning to the touch. “Breathe, my lord. Listen.”

Anthony forces a breath through his lungs and the fog dissipates just enough that he can remember how to use his power. Kate’s heart races, her lungs fill with air. Alive. He clings to the rhythm of her breaths like a lifeline.

“I am unharmed,” Kate repeats, more softly this time. Her other hand presses his free hand to his own heart so he can feel his own heartbeat. Warmth seeps through the thin silk of her glove.

He focuses on the brown of her eyes and slows his breaths. This close, he can count her eyelashes, each one ebony black and perfectly curved. Her heart beats on.

One.

Two.

He leans in closer. She smells like lilies, the sharp scent of char cutting through. Her breath fans across his lips as her head tilts toward him and–

“Are you both alright?”

They spring apart. Anthony scrubs the back of his hand against the lower half of his face as Kate jumps to her feet. Her dress is hopelessly stained and wrinkled, but he can’t see any other damage. She still stares at him, her eyes wide.

“I must– I will go,” Kate says firmly before turning on her heel and striding purposefully back towards the house. Anthony watches her go, still a little dazed.

“Bridgerton!” Lord Lumley panted as he finally reached Anthony’s side. His jacket was charred at the cuffs and soot was smeared across his face. “Are you alright? I lost control of the fire for a second there.”

Anthony stares uncomprehendingly at the ground. The manicured grass is singed and blackened in a perfect circle around where the both of them had been laying on the ground. Had there been a squaller around who saw and aided them?

“Bridgerton?”

“I’m fine,” he responds curtly. “Stay off the training grounds if you’re not experienced enough.”

“Of course, my lord,” he says with a low bow. “My apologies, again.”

Anthony stares at the grass and wonders.

“You’ve been lying to everyone.”

Kate laughs, throwing her head back and letting her curls tumble down her back. Anthony doesn’t think it’s a laughing matter, but he stares all the same.

“I’ve never lied, my lord. People see what they want to, and I’m under no obligation to correct them.” Her heart beats steady and strong, a sure sign she was telling the truth. But Anthony has no idea how he’s been so blind, how he couldn’t have seen what now is so obvious. Kate Sharma is flame and ash, burning everything in her path. Fire burns beneath her skin and in the curve of her smile and he suddenly wants nothing more than to touch her, to feel the heat of her skin against his.

His heart is racing and there’s nothing he can do to slow it despite his powers. He takes a step closer, relishing the warmth radiating from her. His fingers brush the side of her face. “Show me,” he says, his voice almost a whisper.

“You and your orders.” But still, she cups her hands together and a small flame appears, white hot and blinding in the dark. Anthony stares until the shape of it is imprinted into his retinas. It twines around her fingers like a ribbon before she clasps her hands together and it snuffs out. The library is plunged into darkness, but Anthony doesn’t need light to hear the thrumming of her pulse, the air in her lungs. Even with the hundreds of souls currently under the Bridgerton roof, all he can feel is Kate.

He lets his hand cup the side of her jaw, keeps it there as he matches her breathing and stares. Kate traps her hand there with her own, her palms calloused and feverishly hot. Her dark eyes are alight with the small use of her power, splinters of moonlight reflecting in their depths. He feels as if he’s drowning.

“How long has it been since you told someone?” At this point, he knows he’s only grasping at straws to keep his sanity in check. He desperately tries to focus on the rhythm of her heartbeat and not her full lips as she parts them to answer him.

“Years. Longer since someone has asked.”

Daphne gestures exasperatedly at him. “You taught me yourself, brother. I am not mistaken. Love is when your eyes meet and your heart begins to beat faster–”

“My heart,” Anthony snarls, “beats faster because she is aggravating!”

Daphne’s features shift between expressions for a moment before they settle on displeased. “Deny it all you want. But feelings like these have a way of surfacing, sooner or later.”

Anthony poured himself another generous drink. He could feel an oncoming headache. “If I wanted your advice, I would have asked. Don’t you have a wedding to plan?”

Daphne scowls and Anthony’s chest suddenly feels like it is being squeezed by a giant.

“Don’t be childish,” he rebukes, slightly out of breath. Her scowl deepens, but the pressure on his chest disappears. He sucks in a deep breath.

“I only want for you to be happy. And if that is a future with Miss Sharma, then so be it.”

Anthony slams the decanter back onto the table with a little more force than necessary. His heartbeat is deafening.

“There is no future with Miss Sharma, Daphne. Do not bring it up again.”

If he thought she looked angry before, she is downright furious now. Her brows slant downwards and her hands clench into fists. He is just beginning to seriously worry for his life when she finally nods.

“Fine. As you wish, brother.”

“It is my fault,” Anthony mumbles as he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. Starbursts of light erupt across his vision. “It is all my fault.”

He can feel his mother’s hand on his arm, but he feels detached from his body as if he might float away at any moment. Everything is too loud. The pounding of rain on the window pane. The creaking of floorboards from the story above. His own heartbeat, two for every one of Violet’s.

“Oh, Anthony,” Violet sighs. Her hand pats his shoulder and he slumps into her side like he is still a child. This far from the Danbury residence, he can no longer hear Kate’s heartbeat, but the slow rhythm of it is ingrained in his mind like the ticking of a clock. He wants to cry, to scream, but all he feels is a dull ache in his chest and a lightness in his head that makes it difficult to focus on anything at all.

“Cure me,” he implores. Violet had healed all his scrapes and bruises as a child, magicked it away with a warm hand and a kiss to his forehead. What is this if not another gaping wound? He puts a hand to his chest. “Cut away the part that hurts.”

“My sweet boy,” Violet says gently. She hugs him to her side.  “There is no cure for love.”

Anthony Bridgerton is an early riser, but that is something he is willing to sacrifice for the sake of his wife. He runs a hand through Kate’s curls as she dozes on his chest, her skin warm against his. There’s a furrow in her brow that does not disappear even in sleep and he can’t help pressing a kiss to it.

She shifts and mumbles something unintelligible, but soon settles back against him. Anthony has never felt so content.

Their hearts beat in synchronization, strong and steady and true.

#kathony s3 when #i am so unwell for them #bridgerton #kathony #tgt #the grisha trilogy #grishaverse #my writing #nonestly no idea what to tag this one #eldest sibling trauma?

[mayonakano-archive]

waaa heyhey leooooo ♡ coming to your inbox under the ask game excuse. aheemheem. how about.. 90, or.. 133? :3c

omg hi sunny. sunny in my inbox <3

90 is Happy Synthesizer! But the More More Jump! Version from Project Sekai~ Beloved song. Nothing but positive vibes tbh <3 https://open.spotify.com/track/76I5YwKEClIjNlh9vGQzxi

133 is Death Should Not Have Taken Thee! Kagamine Len & Rin song that I love dearly <3 Very fun. The original video is very video game inspired and it's so fun <3 https://open.spotify.com/track/5wxSF9ES1kEOpug7p89oqW

#omg hi sunny!! i don't even think i have a tag for you </3 do you want one? #nnatsume #leo.asks! #ask game #anyway. this playlist is a lot of vocaloid. it's. just fact #also fun fact i love every song in this playlist #sunny 🔮

[themusicalsky]

happy synthesizer by moremorejump my beloved

#pjsk #ghost talk

[metis12375]

i keep revisiting vocaloid songs i haven’t listened to in YEARS

#'HAPPY SYNTHESIZER' MY BELOVED

[alittlebitoftruthcan]

‘Beloved Osho, taking care of a business—continuity, commitment, responsibility, are necessary values, which are quite contrary to being in the moment, freedom and spontaneity, which the heart longs for. Please say something about the way in which these two spaces can live peacefully together, if there is any.’ Anand Nada, if you want to ride on two horses together, it is going to be a difficult job. You will have to understand one thing: if you have a longing for freedom, spontaneity and being in the moment, you will have to be not businesslike. You can continue the business but you will have to transform your business attitude, approach. You cannot compromise both, you cannot synthesize both. You have to sacrifice one in favor of the other. I remember my grandfather. My father and my uncles did not want the old man in the shop. They would tell him, ‘You just rest, or you can go for a walk.’ But there were customers who would ask for him, and they would say, ‘We will come back when he comes.’ The problem was that he was not a businessman. He would simply say, ‘This commodity costs ten rupees to us and I am not asking for more than ten percent profit. That means it will cost eleven rupees to you. Are you hesitant even to give me ten percent profit? Then how are we going to survive and live?’ And people would immediately make the deal with him. But this was a loss in the eyes of my father, my uncles, because they would have started the price at twenty rupees—and then the haggling… And if the customer manages somehow to bring them down to fifteen rupees he feels happy that he has got it for five rupees less. But in fact they have taken four rupees more. So naturally they were pushing my grandfather, ‘Go away, go to the river, have a good bath. Go to the park, rest. You are old, you need not be here.’ But he would say, ‘There are customers who know me and who know you. They know one thing about me, that I am not a businessman. And you are business people. And I have told my customers that if I am not around, wait, soon I will be back from wherever they have sent me. I have been telling those customers, ‘Remember one thing: whether the watermelon falls on the knife or the knife falls on the watermelon, it is always the watermelon that is cut into pieces, not the knife. So beware of the business people.’’ He had his own customers, who would not agree even to talk, even to say what they had come for; they would sit. They would say, ‘Let the old man come.’ Business also can be done with a sincerity, with an authenticity, with a truthfulness; it does not necessarily require you to be cunning, to be exploiting, to be cheating. So don’t ask for any synthesis between ‘taking care of a business—continuity, commitment and responsibility,’ and ‘being in the moment, freedom and spontaneity, which the hearts longs for.’ Listen to the heart, because it is finally the heart that is going to decide the caliber of your being, the very growth of your consciousness, and finally the transcendence that leads you and your awareness beyond death. Anything else is simply mundane. What is your commitment? A man of understanding avoids stupid commitments. What is your continuity?—because your father and your forefathers had been doing the business, so you have also to do it, the same way as they have been doing it. Are you here just to repeat the past? Don’t you have the courage to introduce the new and to drop the past and the old and the rotten, to bring a fresh breeze into your life and into the lives of those who are concerned with you in some way? What is your continuity? There is no question… In fact you have to be discontinuous every moment, not only with the past of others—your fathers and forefathers—you have to discontinue even with your own past every moment. The moment that is gone, is gone. You don’t have any obligation to continue and carry a corpse of a dead moment. And commitment is always out of unconsciousness. For example, you love a woman and you want her to get married to you, but she wants a commitment. And you are so unconscious; you commit yourself so easily about the future, which is not in your hands. How can you say anything about tomorrow? Tomorrow is not your property. You may be here, you may not be here. And who knows about tomorrow? The love that has suddenly taken possession of you may disappear. But almost every man commits himself to his woman, that ‘I will love you my whole life.’ And the woman commits herself also, that ‘I will love you not only in this life, but I will pray to God that in each life I will always find you as my husband.’ But nobody is aware that not even a single moment of the future is in your hands. All commitments are going to create troubles. Tomorrow your love may disappear, just the way it has suddenly appeared. It was a happening, it was not your act, it was not your doing. Tomorrow, when the love disappears and you find your heart completely dry, what are you going to do? The only way that is left by the society for you is to become a pretender, to be a hypocrite. What is no longer there, go on pretending, go on at least saying, ‘I love you.’ You know that your words are meaningless and the woman knows that your words are meaningless, because your words don’t sound sincere. And you cannot deceive a woman as far as love is concerned; she has a tremendous sensibility. In fact, when there is love there is no need to repeat it. You know and she knows. The question of repeating it arises only when the heart is no longer radiating it, so you are substituting it with words. But words are very poor. Your actions will show something, your face will show something, your eyes will show something, and your words will be trying to prove just the opposite. But the problem has arisen because you were not conscious enough to say to the woman, ‘How can I commit myself? I am a fragile human being, I am not absolutely conscious. Most of my being is deep in darkness, about which I don’t know. What desires will arise tomorrow, I am not aware of, nor are you aware of. So please don’t commit anything to me and I will not commit anything to you. We will love each other as long as love remains authentic and true, and the moment we feel that the time has come to pretend, we will not pretend—that is ugly, inhuman. We will simply accept that the love that used to be there is no longer there, and it is time for us to part. We will remember all those beautiful days and moments that we passed together. It will remain always a fresh memory. And I don’t want to destroy it by pretending; neither do I want you to become a hypocrite.’ As far as my people are concerned, never make any commitment. Make it clear that commitments are bound to lead to a difficult situation. Soon you will find that you cannot fulfill it. And responsibility… You have been burdened with the idea of responsibility, that you are responsible to your parents, you are responsible to your wife or your husband, you are responsible to your children, you are responsible to the neighbors, you are responsible to the society, you are responsible to the nation. It seems you are here only to be responsible for everybody—except yourself. It is a strange situation. A woman was teaching her child, ‘The most fundamental thing of our religion is to serve others.’ The little boy said, ‘I understand it, just one thing I cannot understand: what will others do?’ The mother said, ‘Of course, they will serve others.’ The little boy said, ‘This is strange. If everybody is serving everybody else, why should I not serve myself, you serve yourself? Why create this complexity and make it a burden—that I should serve others and wait for them to serve me?’ In his innocence the child is saying a truth which all the religions have forgotten. In fact, the very meaning of responsibility has changed in the hands of religions, of politicians, of so-called do-gooders, teachers, parents. They have changed the very meaning of responsibility. They have made it equivalent to duty: it is your duty. And I want you to know that duty is a four-letter dirty word. You should never do anything because of duty. Either you do something because of love or you do not do it. Make it a point that your life has to be a life of love, and if out of love you respond, that I call responsibility. Break the word into two: response-ability, don’t make it one. Joining these two words has created so much confusion in the world. It is not responsibility, it is response-ability. And love is able to respond. There is no other force in the world which is so able to respond. If you love, you are bound to respond; there is no burden. Duty is a burden. Again I remember my grandfather. He was a simple villager, uneducated, but had the same quality of innocence that a child has. He used to love somebody to massage his feet before he went to sleep, and everybody tried to escape. At that moment when he was preparing his bed, everybody was as far away as possible, not to be caught; but I used to reach to him at that time. He said, ‘It is strange that whenever I am making my bed, everybody simply disappears. Just a moment before everybody was here, and once I have gone to sleep—I may even be awake, just with closed eyes—they all come back.’ I said, ‘Nobody wants to massage your feet. As far as I am concerned, it is not my duty. They think it is their duty, that once they are caught it is their duty to massage. It is not my duty. If I don’t want to massage, I will say so.’ And I had made it clear to him that ‘I will massage to the point I feel; it is not going to be your decision.’ And I made a symbolic language, a code language with him. When I started feeling that now it was time, I would say, ‘Comma.’ He would say, ‘Wait, this is too early.’ I said, ‘I have given you the warning—soon the semicolon and then the full-stop. And once I have said full-stop it is finished.’ It was out of my love that I massaged, it was not my duty. The people who thought it was their duty all disappeared. And he understood it, and he said, ‘You have made it clear to me. It was never clear to me before that there is such a great difference between duty and love.’ There was one Hindu saint in Africa. He had come to India for a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, particularly the Hindu holy temples of Badrinath and Kedernath. They are the most difficult places to reach—and at that time they were very difficult. Many people simply never came back—small pathways and just by the side ten-thousand-feet-deep valleys, eternal snow. Just a little slip of the feet and you are gone. Now things are better, but at the time I am talking about, it was very difficult. The Hindu sannyasin was tired, carrying very little luggage—because to carry much luggage at those heights becomes more and more difficult; as the air becomes thinner, breathing becomes difficult. Just ahead of him he saw a girl not more than ten years old carrying a little boy, very fat, on her shoulders. She was perspiring, breathing heavily, and when the sannyasin passed by her he said, ‘My daughter, you must be tired. You are carrying so much weight.’ The girl became angry and she said, ‘You are carrying weight. This is not weight, this is my younger brother.’ I was reading the autobiography of the man and he remembers that instance, that he was shocked. It was true, there was a difference. On the weighing scale of course there will be no difference; whether you put your younger brother or you put a suitcase it does not matter, the weighing scale will show the weight. But as far as the heart is concerned, the heart is not a weighing scale. The girl was right: ‘You are carrying weight, I am not. This is my younger brother and I love him.’ Love can cancel gravity, love can cancel burden. Out of love any response is beautiful. Without love, responsibility is ugly and simply shows that you have a mind of a slave. So as far as I am concerned, if you are really longing for freedom, spontaneity, and being in the moment, there is no question of creating a synthesis. You will have to change your whole approach towards business: your business becomes your meditation, your sincerity, your truth; it stops being an exploitation. Your continuity simply disappears; you bring a newness into existence. Commitment is absolutely absurd. You cannot commit yourself because time is not in your hands; neither life is in your hands, nor is love in your hands. On what grounds are you committing yourself? Your state is almost like those two men I have often talked about. Both were opium addicts. On a full-moon night both were lying under a tree and enjoying the full moon, and one of them said, ‘The moon is looking so beautiful, I would like to purchase it.’ The second one said, ‘Forget all about purchasing it, because I am not going to sell it. Just forget it, never mention it again!’ Neither possesses the moon, but in their unconsciousness one thinks he possesses the moon and the other thinks he is ready to purchase. The other says, ‘Don’t get angry. If you don’t want to sell, it is okay. But I am ready to pay any price, you just offer. And it is not right, we are old friends.’ But the second one said, ‘Forget all about it. Friendship or no friendship, I am not going to sell it at any price!’ And they are very serious about it. That is the situation of your commitments. A man is telling a woman, ‘I will love you forever,’ and just the next day he falls in love with another woman. He is a victim of biological, blind forces. It is not that when he was saying, ‘I will love you forever,’ he was lying; it is not so, he was absolutely true. The man who was ready to purchase the moon was not lying, he was sincerely interested in purchasing the moon. And the man who was not willing to sell it was not lying either. He was absolutely sincere that he did not want to sell it at any price. When the man said, ‘I will love you forever,’ he was absolutely truthful; but he was unconscious that tomorrow is not within his control. He can only speak about this moment: ‘I love you now. As for tomorrow, we will see what happens. Neither am I in a bondage, nor are you in a bondage. If tomorrow again we feel that we are in love with each other, it will be a great surprise.’ Why close your life with commitments? Why not keep it open for surprises? Why not keep it open for adventures? Why become closed in a grave? Then you suffer, because you start thinking, ‘I have promised, I have committed. Now whether I want to fulfill the promise or the commitment does not matter. My whole integrity is at stake. I will pretend but I cannot accept that I was a fool when I committed.’ There is no question, Anand Nada, of making a synthesis of the untruthful and the truthful, the authentic and the false. You will have to drop the false and you will have to listen to your heart and go with it, whatever the cost—it is always cheap. Whatever you have to lose, lose; but if you have been listening to the heart, you will be the winner in the end, victory is yours. But if you want to deceive others and deceive yourself, then it is a different matter. Paddy was reading in a science magazine that cigarette smoking had been known to cause cancer in rats and mice. This moved him greatly, so that night when he went to bed he locked his cigarettes in a cupboard where the rats and mice could not get at them. What a great understanding and synthesis! You are only capable of making such a synthesis as this.

Osho (The New Dawn)

#osho #commitment #responsibility #love #compromise #heart #marriage #money #past #unconscious #hypocrisy #duty #fake #open #lbotca

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Ch. 3

In which: Danny getting yeeted into the Lazarus Pit yields anticlimactic consequences and Bruce Wayne converses with a fruit loop.

AO3 | Prologue | 2 | [ 3 ] | 4 |

DANIEL BARELY HAD TIME TO SCREAM before he’s plunged into the green depths of the Lazarus pit, primeval waves crashing against the walls of the pool. Talia flicked her wrist, signaling the ten League members hidden in the shadows to approach. Each one spaced equally apart around the pit with smoke pellets synthesized from blood blossoms held in their hands, ready to drop at a moment’s notice.

Pit madness rendered the majority of the living uncontrollable, with even the weakest of humans imbued with a strength that could only be induced by the purest of rage. The League was not taking chances as to how a being like her son would react to it.

The waters stilled.

Then—

A bright flash of light. Then, faster than the eyes could follow, a figure erupted from the waters. Bone white hair that twisted and curled as if it were still underwater. Skin lightly tinged frostbitten blue and clad in a suit of black and white and shrouded in an aura of blinding light. Phantom appeared from the depths, floating above the pit like a god reborn.

His eyes burned a toxic green.

“What the fuck was that?”

But not pit madness green.

Talia ordered her assassins to at ease with a raise of her hand. She slowly walked to her father’s side just as her son—Phantom—landed at the edge of the pool. Idly, Talia noticed how different Phantom seemed in comparison to her son. Physical attributes aside, Daniel tended to make himself smaller. What venom that may coat his words and the vitriol in his glares dampened by the way he held himself. Shoulders hunched and head tilted down. Non-threatening. Hands always needing to do something, whether it be holding his arms or shoved inside his pockets or constantly brushing it through his hair. No matter how she and his instructors taught him how to hold himself like a warrior, like a soldier, he still tended to present himself as a skittering little animal.

Phantom was different. He squared his soldiers and lifted his chin high, unafraid to stretch out to his fullest height and use his defiance of gravity to make himself look bigger. Stronger. His arms held steady at his sides, curled into tight fists. Green eyes—green as the Lazarus pit yet without that spark of madness that so consumed everyone else—burning with righteous fury.

“You fucking threw me into the weird green pool. What even—who does that?”

Ra’s tilted his head. “Fascinating. It seems you have a resistance to the pit madness.”

Phantom blinked, caught off guard. “Pit…madness,” he echoed. A statement, though from the wrinkle in his brows and the look he shoots Talia, it was more a question than anything else.

“It is one of the side effects of the Lazarus pits.” Talia approached her son with caution, holding his face with both hands and inspecting for any differences. “While the waters rejuvenate, restore, and even temporarily imbue one with supernatural strength, it also tends to inflict users with temporary insanity.”

“Insanity?” His eyes widened, trembling hands coming up to hold her wrists. Strangely, Daniel did not pull away from her touch. “I could have gone insane?”

Those bright eyes of his looked so frightened. Haunted. Pupils dilated to mere pinpricks of blackness, lost in a sea of Lazarus green. “Oh habeebi, only temporarily.”

“Like that’s better!” He yelled. “Even temporarily, I’m—” He staggered back, breaking out of her hold. Harmless Danny Fenton bleeding into proud Phantom as he ran his hands through his hair, unwilling to look at anyone.

Ra’s continued to watch, his arms crossed beneath his sternum, muttering to himself. Her father had prided himself on being one of the most knowledgeable about the Lazarus pits and its effects. Now, faced with a new mystery, the scholar within the Demon’s Head emerged as he observed his grandson.

“No,” Ra’s said, mostly to himself. “Perhaps less of a ‘resistance’ and more of an ‘immunity’ to it, given how both Daniel and the Lazarus pit have similar compositions. It would be a fascinating tangent to follow.” He chuckled to himself. “How droll. The life-restoring Lazarus pit holding a connection to the land of the dead.”

Talia turned to her father. “So, Daniel will not feel any of the pit’s side effects, then?”

Daniel perked up at the sound of his name, halting in his pacing. “I…might not go insane?”

“Perhaps, though it is too soon to tell. You have the waters of the Lazarus pit flowing through your veins, Daniel.” Ra’s smiled; eyes gleaming with the sparks of pride. “You and it are made of the same chemicals, the same reality-defying compounds that can bring the dead back to life.”

“Well, great. I have the same chemical makeup as a glowing hot tub, what else is new—” Her son staggered, and she caught him. Impossibly bright rings formed at his abdomen and then split, transforming Phantom back into a human. Mortal. His face haggard and sweating from the temples, eyes back to her beloved’s pale blues.

Her father did not bat an eye. “The pit’s healing effects are slowed down, then? Or perhaps it is because he has no wounds to heal?” Ra’s hummed; chin cradled in his hand. “Set him back into the pits, Talia. I believe young Daniel has yet to absorb all his needed energy.”

“Sure, yeah, that’s fine. Put me back in the crazy water, why not?” Daniel tugged at her shoulders. “Just…gently, please?”

Talia smoothed down his dark hair with a smile. “Of course, habeebi. I will even stay with you as well.”

When he looked at her, it was something almost akin to gratefulness.

------

In Gotham City, the upper echelons of society gather together at the Gotham Expo Center. The shining halls, which had been used as the site of a week-long exhibition of new scientific research, was reoutfitted to serve as the venue for the exhibition’s final event.

A gala. The hunting ground of the nouveau riche and old money families. Corporate moguls and debutants made their rounds across the floor, chatting with heirs and politicians and the who’s who of the upper class.

Scientists and researchers attempted to step out of their shells and dazzle the crowds. Wanting to fish a willing patron with deep pockets to fund their next project. Reporters huddled together like schools of fish, warily approaching the predators in their midst for a question or a photo. Both things many of the wealthy and affluent are easily ready to give, as long as it only showed off their best side in tomorrow’s society papers.

Bruce Wayne, the Prince of Gotham, and society’s darling observed everything as he always did, in that most people believed he barely noticed anything beyond what’s right in front of him. He raised the flute glass of champagne to his lips, pretending to take a sip as he listened to the chatter of sycophants around him. A few were even some promising researchers of which he made a mental note to pass along to Lucius.

Two nights ago, Bruce received a tip of unusual movements from the League of Assassins. The organization had been quiet as of late, and while Bruce had been very carefully monitoring their activities in the background, the sudden tightening of their security prompted him to take a closer look.

There had been sightings of the League of Assassins centered around a small town in Illinois—Amity Park. A rural tourist trap championing itself as the most haunted place in America. Something that Bruce would normally scoff at or zealously research about if not for John Constantine’s warning to “never go within a ten-mile radius of that hellhole.” With similar sentiments from others in the occult community, the Justice League decided to take that warning to heart. Bruce’s curiosity may have been piqued, but even he was tactful enough to avoid courting more trouble.

Suffice to say, Bruce—and especially Batman—could not afford to ignore Ra’s al Ghul’s movements. Whatever his plans were involved whatever anomalies were going on in Amity Park. And wasn’t it simply serendipitous that one of the guest lists for tonight’s gala was Vlad Masters, the mayor of Amity Park?

“Vlad Masters, is that you?” Bruce, slapping on his signature Brucie smile, masterfully detached himself from his previous group, quickly heading towards the nearby bar where he spotted Vlad getting another drink.

“Why, Bruce Wayne, it’s been so long!” The two shook hands, of which Bruce was slightly surprised at how cold to the touch Vlad was. A health condition, perhaps. Then again, there was something in Vlad’s appearance and stature that spoke of a deeper reason.

“It’s been, what, two years? What brings you to Gotham?”

“Business; the usual really.” Despite whatever friendly aura they’re projecting, Bruce Wayne and Vlad Masters weren’t friends. More acquaintances that have been forced to mingle a few times because of the nature of their business and the demands of high society. From what Bruce knows, Vlad is a business tycoon that’s as blindingly charismatic as he was infamous for his quick rise to wealth and a few rather shady dealings.

Bruce stuck his hand in his pocket. “Well Vlad, last we all heard was you dipping your toes into politics. You’re a, uh, what, a governor?”

Vlad let out an obviously fake chuckle. “Oh nothing as grand as that. I’m only a small-town mayor, really.”

“Right!” Bruce snapped his fingers. “So, what’s that like?”

“Oh dreadful work, really. So much paperwork, so many things to do or oversee, but rewarding in its own way.” He puffed out his chest. “Many of the people in Amity Park do rely on me, you know. Though I’m afraid my schedule’s busy enough that I barely have time to go home!”

“Well, we’re very happy that you made room enough to visit us here in Gotham.”

Bruce sensed Damian coming to stand beside him and instinctually placed a hand around his shoulder. Though his youngest had been steadily adjusting to his new life here in Gotham, he still preferred to stick to his father’s shadow than mingle with those of his own age groups at galas. (Then again, Bruce was very similar when he was younger so perhaps it was a genetic thing).

He smiled down at Damian—frowning as he’d rather be patrolling the streets in uniform as opposed to schmoozing with people he hardly cared about. “Have you met my son, Vlad? Damian, this is Vlad Masters, a business partner and a, uh—” He scrunched his face, pretending to remember what Vlad’s current occupation is. “Mayor of some small town out west.”

Bruce turned to look at Vlad, expecting to see some variation of ‘insulted but trying to keep up a polite façade’—only to freeze.

Vlad’s face paled considerably. His beady eyes comically wide as he looked at Damian, the fingers curled around the stem of his flute glass bone white. Damian, unnerved, steadied his stance but shifted minutely closer to Bruce.

Well, this was interesting. “You alright, Vlad? You looked like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Vlad jerked his head towards Bruce. Surprise—and fear? —contorted his features for a brief moment before smoothed back down into a proper mask. “Mayor of Amity Park, yes. My apologies,” he chuckled. “Young—Damian, was it? —only reminded me of someone I knew once.” He shifted his gaze back to Damian. “The resemblance is actually quite uncanny.”

Damian furrowed his brows. “Amity Park?”

“You’ve heard of it, Damian?”

“I would be surprised if you did.” Vlad masters took a small ship of his champagne. “Then again, it should be expected that you might have heard of it. The town does love it’s ghosts.”

Bruce laughed. “What, like Casper?”

“Something like that, yes.” There’s a tightness to Vlad’s voice. “Amity Park is its own breed of strange. We’ve handled things well enough on our own in the past, and quite honestly you get used to all of the spooks eventually. Though I must say the shadows are quite new—I’d often ask myself if I should petition your city’s vigilante and put him on the case.

“Shadows?”

Vlad easy smile shifted into a faint grimace. “They have a rather nasty habit of snooping.”

------

Despite Bruce and Damian’s attempt at plying Vlad for more answers, Vlad kept his mouth shut, evading questions and changing topics skillfully. Something that only raised Bruce’s alarm that something was going on.

“So,” Bruce unbuttoned his suit as he stepped into the car, “How did you hear of Amity, Damian? Ghosts and ghouls don’t exactly seem like something you’d be interested in.”

He waited for Damian to buckle his seatbelt before shifting the Bentley into drive and pulling out of the Expo. They had stayed at the gala long enough, making their rounds and giving the media enough for a headline in the society pages.

Damian rested his hand against the window. His face scrunched as he watched the looming facades of Gotham’s architecture pass by. “Mother mentioned the name once or twice,” he said. “I was not…privy to every operation that happened in the League, so I don’t know anything despite that my grandfather took an interest in Amity.”

“And I’m sure that from Masters’ odd phrasing, Ra’s didn’t just magically lose that interest either.” He narrowed his eyes. “Contact Oracle and have her dig up everything we need to know about the situation in Amity Park. I think it’s time Batman made his introductions to some out-of-town guests.”

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #phantom children.txt