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ghostampede · 1 year

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super niche one but calling all trigun mcr fans. a trigun danger days au. desert criminals,,,, bright colours,,,, do you see the vision. this is a bit of a longer one so stick through it if you’re intrigued.

vash and nai were “special human experiments” called Plants conducted in secret by Better Living industries, and a scientist named rem saverem was a beautifully kind woman who tried to raise them well and go beyond what she was supposed to, showing immense emotion and compassion which led to her pushing against them more as she had something to care about with also led to her being murdered by higher ups. around the same time a girl who was also a “plant” named tesla was found by the boys and they learned the truth behind the experiments and bl/ind’s goals. having no one on their side anymore and knowing far more than they’d like, the brothers ran away into the zones.

nai was filled with rage and wanted to burn all of BL/ind and battery city to the ground after freeing the other plants and letting the rest die, and wanted vash to join him in this endeavour, but vash remembered rem’s beliefs and that there were people like her who didn’t deserve to die, even more people who were innocently trying to get by, and tried to convince nai to save everyone, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t see eye to eye and eventually vash was the one to leave. from that day onwards they transformed from city boys to Knives Millions, leader of the Gung Ho Guns which were a killjoys faction in the zones, and Scarlet Stampede, a lone wolf killjoy who eventually became part of a group simply called the Outlaws

on the other side of the zones, we have milly and meryl, two ex-insurance workers in battery city who were the perfect citizens on the outside until meryl started seeing things she shouldn’t, especially a conversation between the director and some executioners. she tried to pretend she didn’t see anything but unfortunately she is a shit liar and was sussed out immediately and arrested to be draculoidized in order for the information to stay under wraps. milly thompson, a co worker at the time, was always far too passionate even with the bl/ind mandated pills and was protective of others thanks to her massive family, so she tries to defend meryl when it all goes down but instead is just taken to be “removed” as well. they try to escape but with no weapon against trained and medically enhanced executioners, it’s no use. thankfully, with his radio truck, a cigarette, the strangest ray guns the pair had ever seen, a man named roberto de niro aka Whiskey Atom saved them and took them in as assistant hosts. roberto’s role worked similarly to how dr. death defying’s did, he was a radio host (Outlaw Radio) that sent information out to the zones and helped keep the killjoys everywhere alive. he may have been a hopelessly pessimistic man but he would keep the kids alive if he could hell it. meryl, now Ghost Venom, struggled more with adjusting fully to killjoy living and accepting the reality of battery, but thankfully milly, aka Poison Pudding now, adjusted much faster and helped. milly still missed her family dearly but believed they would all reunite soon enough so she simply held onto her hopes of seeing them again and fought each day for them. they both used the radio show as a distraction from actually talking about their feelings, opting to just talk and report again like roberto did. they meet vash a few times before he officially joins their little reporter crew and thus the Outlaws are born.

then there’s livio and wolfwood. they were orphans who were practically brothers andd were in the seediest of battery city. they were raised to be the perfect assassins and be shovelled into bl/ind’s s/c/a/r/e/c/r/o/w unit as they aged out of the system. livio managed to escape first but even then he was taken in by knives and stayed with the gung ho guns for survival, becoming Double Fang. wolfwood stayed through the whole program but afterwards still managed to fuck off into the zones anyways, becoming known as Chapel Sniper to killjoys and The Punisher to those who knew his whole story. bl/ind still has the smallest grip on him but he’s running.

knives eventually finds him wandering as a “assistant of the Phoenix Witch” and offers him a job: find the crimson stampede and bring him back to knives. if he does so, the orphanage and all the children in it would be spared when knives blew up the city. if not, well wolfwood got the picture. he already knew how powerful and far along nai had been in his plans but regardless he agreed with no hesitation and made his way over to find the stampede. knives wasnt an idiot though, he also sent a small glitched out robotic cat called Kuroneko he hijacked from battery city and used it to make sure things were going smoothly. he instead started to see that wolfwood was definitely more protective and fond of vash and the outlaws than expected and things were gonna get tricky.

knives had other people to worry about though, namely the other gung ho guns. they were a lot like val velocity’s crew in the killjoy comics except instead of being an annoying pussy bitch, they’re actually competent and have each been personally wronged by both bl/ind and battery city itself to the point that they’re all blinded by revenge. they mostly just believe in knives and his cause, supporting him like he’s the messiah. legato in particular is an interesting case because he is an android. “pornodroid” in battery city, he was treated like garbage despite being fully living and sentient as any other person. nai was doing a personal mission in the city and ended up taking out guards that were really messing up legato, causing the android to develop an extremely intense admiration for the man and follow him around as a “second in command” called Blue Summer. in reality, he was nothing more than a metal puppet on a string, but he didn’t care because of how much he adored knives. on the flip side, midvalley aka Horn Freak was the only member who wasn’t here because knives (or blue summer) had Saved Them, but just because he was. he didn’t even like them very much or believe in their cause, he just played the sax and manipulated the air waves to kill people and that was enough.

last thing to discuss is Zazzie aka the Beast, a small child abandoned outside of of battery city and left to survive on their own. they developed an attachment and connection to the sparse wildlife and became extremely wise and powerful compared to what you’d expect. they started collecting garbage found around the zones and would sell things to strangers on any side of the brewing 3-way conflict between bl/ind, the outlaws, and the gung ho guns. they technically have been hanging out more and more with ghg because of legato and elendira attempting to make deals with them, but they’re still a mostly neutral party.

i am obsessed with all of this and this will be eating away at my brain forever. love the killjoys love trigun this au was too perfect to pass up on. hopefully it was coherent i was very tired writing all this.

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turtleations · 9 months

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Pink Couldy Sky, Chapter 06 – Crossroads (Summarized) - Part 2

Chapter 00 - 01 Chapter 02 Chapter 03 Chapter 04 Part 1, Part 2 Chapter 05 Chapter 06 Part 1

The story returns to the end of the eighties, the early nineties. After a year of not touching his guitar, REM tentatively started playing again and became part of a newly formed band called “AMIT”, playing covers of artists like Rush or Van Halen. However, he saw his musical activities as only a hobby. His focus for the future remined on becoming a dentist.

Still, since it was in these days that he bought the equipment needed to record his own songs at home, it seems that he was not quite ready the completely throw music away after all. Only, he had no concrete aim for it. Deep inside he still thought, no, he was certain that one day the time would come when he wanted to earnestly do music again.

Here, he wants to talk about the members of AMIT a little, who were his moral support then and still are his very close friends and band mates. Back then, all of them were students of dental medicine, and the name of the band was just the initials of their names being lined up. Today, they are all practicing dentists, and a weird, self-proclaimed “wedding-party band”.

The “A” in AMIT stood for Araki, REM’s family name. “M” was their drummer Mikami, “I” bassist Ishikawa, and “T” the other guitarist Takamichi. At first, REM tentatively doubled as a vocalist, but eventually they were joined by a vocalist called Nakamaru, who was a dental student as well back then and by now has opened a dental clinic in his hometown of Hiroshima. REM still has email exchanges with him. The other members all work in the neighborhood of Yokosuka and often come to the new SAVER TIGER’s lives.

Forming the band had been the idea of Takamichi, thanks to whom REM once again became active in a band. Doing some casual music, he found, wasn’t so bad…

And through AMIT’s activities, REM could stay in shape, musically.

During those day, REM continued to be in contact with hide. Being guitarist of an established band, hide spend a lot of time aboard, to the point of setting up residence in Los Angeles.

“X” had an extremely successful live at Budoukan, soon changed their name to “X JAPAN”, and started aiming for an international market.

Still, hide often called across the world from L.A., laughing and saying that once he was back in Japan, they should go drinking on Dobuita together! And when they did drink on Dobuita, they did so until morning. Afterwards, rather than staying at his parent’s house in Yokosuka, hide always returned to his place in Tokyo. When he was drinking, hide was cheerful and happily talked about the ideas he came up with.

“I want to get an elephant on stage, how would I do that?” Stuff like that. It was typical for hide; he was like a surprise box of ideas.

He didn’t really talk about himself.

Even though REM had given up his music dreams, hide always listened attentively and seriously when he did talk about music, or gave a status-update. If REM, for example, talked about a new guitar he had gotten, or a live he had seen, or a live he had given, or if he went to Tokyo to drink… hide always seemed to share the happiness or the regrets from REM’s trivial stories.

It was in those days that REM and hide had their first and last fight ever.

In that year, REM was to finally become a dentist. To graduate from university, he was desperate to break through the barrier called “final exams”. During that phase, hide called REM a few times to invite him for drinks, but REM always declined to focus on his studies until the exams were over.

Becoming a dentist was the goal he had been working for to the point of giving up music for it. To the detriment of his music friends, starting with hide. And then the day of the exams that he had been learning for so fervently came, and it did not go well.

On the day the exams ended, REM got a call from hide who had been genuinely worrying about REM’s success. But REM was feeling down because the exams went badly. And on top of that, he had been informed, once they were over, that his mother was in the hospital.

Her condition wasn’t good, but REM’s father, who was a doctor after all, assured him that it would be okay, so REM figured it couldn’t be that bad. Still, he worried.

With all of that piling up, he was half-hearted about meeting with hide that day. All the same, since he got so enthusiastically invited, they met for drinks in Yokosuka after all. They met at “Parkside X” and then moved on to their usual place, “Buffalo” on Dobuita Street.

Yet, however much he drank, REM couldn’t get drunk that day. He still wasn’t over the shock of learning that his mother had been hospitalized without him knowing about it, or the shock of failing such an important exam. He wasn’t able to ban those things from his mind and his mood was dark. He couldn’t help himself.

Eventually, trying to cheer him up, hide said, “Let’s go to my office in Tokyo after this! I’ll show you around.” And, “After passing your finals, you’re going to start working. The first floor of my office building is empty. You can open a dental office there!”

Hide talked about this idea with bright eyes and child-like enthusiasm.

His proposal wasn’t just about the dental office. He wanted REM the musician by his side.

REM thinks that around this time, beyond being X’s guitarist, hide was thinking about starting solo activities. Bit by bit, he had begun to write songs and lyrics for that purpose.

He wished for REM to support him in that. To help with the creative process, to play the guitar. If possible, he wanted them to write songs together again. That was hide’s proposal.

“Because I am at a critical state right now, I really wish you’d come to the office with me today.”

However, that night, REM just couldn’t crawl up from the deep pool of darkness in his heart.

“…I can’t go.”

“Let’s go, right now, okay?”

“No, I can’t.”

“All the more reason to go!”

In that manner, they went on and on.

Looking back, REM thinks that hide had been really serious about it.

And REM was in the worst mental condition he had ever experienced. He honestly couldn’t help himself.

Hide’s proposal had made him happy. That hide had expressed to him how genuinely important REM was to him, that he was so serious about this. But fact is that REM just wasn’t in the mood to go to Tokyo just then. And so, he continued to decline.

It continued like this, back and forth, for about an hour. Then hide suddenly stood, yelled, “Why can’t you fucking go! And I waited for you all this time!” and ran from the building.

When he heard the words “I waited for you,” REM jumped up as well, feeling like someone had slapped the back of his head. Frantic, he ran after hide, but it was too late. Hide was nowhere to be seen. REM searched for him until he was dripping with sweat, but he couldn’t find him anywhere.

The moon was barely there, the night was pitch black. It was like hide’s retreating form had melted into the darkness and been swallowed by the Yokosuka night.

When REM returned to his apartment after giving up his search, he got a call from hide’s mother.

“What happened? Did you have a fight?”

After hide ran off, he had ended up at his parents’ place, and he was so violently upset that his mother became worried enough to call REM.

The next day, hide was the one calling him, asking, “Did I say something last night?”

Deep in his heart, REM felt a pang of gratitude at hide’s thoughtful kindness. Clearly, he remembered everything that had happened. But REM thought that it was out of consideration for him that hide pretended to have forgotten.

Thinking about it now, REM comes to the conclusion that up until that point, hide must have been convinced that REM would eventually return to the music world. He had been waiting for the time when the two of them could make music together again. And what he had really been saying that night was, “REM, come back already!”

Contrary to his expectations, REM actually passed his exams. To celebrate, he once again went out for drinks with hide. Only this time, hide did not say a single word about inviting him.

Now that he was calmer, REM had been able to consider hide’s proposal and started to think that practicing as a dentist close to hide in Tokyo wouldn’t be so bad. Except that, when hide had needed him, REM hadn’t been with him at all. When REM thought about how desperately hide had asked for him only to be turned down, he couldn’t say anything.

It had been a night full of regrets. Even now, he sometimes thinks that. The slight differences in human hearts, leading to misunderstandings…

It was a moment that contained an eternity. A crossroad of destiny.

Not long after, REM undertook the state exam for his profession. The event took place in Tokyo on two consecutive days and REM stayed in the city overnight.

At the end of the first day, REM called his parents’ home to inquire about his mother’s condition, and his older sister brightly told him not to worry. Momentarily assured, REM attended the exam the following day, which he finished without any problems.

After finishing, all the students returned to Yokosuka by bus together so they could hand in the self-scoring for the exam before returning home. On the bus, REM used his cell phone to once again call his parents’ number, overcome by a strange uneasiness. Again, his sister picked up the phone. This time, she was different from the night before. This time, she was crying.

“Mom is in critical condition. She’s lost consciousness. Until your exams were over, she didn’t want us to tell you about it, that’s why I couldn’t say anything last night. I’m sorry…”

REM ended up being the only one to not submit his self-score that day. In a stupor, he went straight to Haneda Airport. But when he arrived, the last plane to Shikoku had already left. With no other choice, he camped outside the airport, not getting a moment of sleep, and got on the first flight the next morning.

Once he arrived on Shikoku, he rushed to the hospital his mother was in, but it was already too late. His mother was unconscious and kept alive only by a ventilator. Thirty minutes after REM made it there, silently and as if drifting to sleep, she passed away.

Half a year earlier, his father had examined her and known that there was no saving her anymore. The tumors in her body had grown out of control. And she was already in a condition where surgery was no longer an option. All REM’s father could do as a surgeon was choose his wife’s medication and make sure that she could spend her remaining days as peacefully as possible.

That his mother would be the first to go came as an unexpected shock not only to REM but to his father as well. Because the one who had wandered the line between life and death twice before because of cancer had not been his wife, but him.

The first time had been more than twenty years before his wife’s death. Diagnosed with rectal cancer, REM’s father underwent major surgery and was given a 50 % chance of survival. What had helped him in his miraculous recovery was the selfless care of his wife.

The second time had been a year before REM’s mother had so suddenly left them. Once again, REM’s father faced a cancer diagnosis. This time it was lung cancer, and while surgery was possible, the attending physician informed him that his chance of survival was only about 30 %.

Once again, his wife gave him marvelous care. The surgery was a splendid success. But after-effects remained.

It had been hard for REM to see his strong-willed father lie unresisting in a hospital bed, breathing through a tube in a hole in his throat. But thanks to the devoted care of his wife who looked after him tirelessly and ignored her own needs, he managed to make another miraculous recovery.

Looking back, the tumors must have already been growing in REM’s mother’s body. And if they had been discovered then, there should have been at least a little chance to save her.

But it seems that during the care for her husband and his rehabilitation, she didn’t have the time to take care of herself or listen to her body’s signals.

When his life slowly returned to normal after half a year of fighting his illness, REM’s father noticed that there was something wrong with his wife’s condition. He then discovered the cancer in her body, but by that point it was already too late.

Half a year later, as if trading places with her husband, REM’s mother left the world because of that cancer. Strangely, it was lung cancer she had suffered from, just as her husband had before.

Holding vigil over his wife’s body, hunched over and talking to no one, REM’s father murmured, “It feels like your mother has been carrying all the misfortune…”

At this time, REM didn’t worry about his state exam at all. Even though he did not do the self-score, he had been convinced the moment he finished that he had passed. At the same time, he did not feel happy about it. The shock of his mother’s death had left a large hole in his heart.

So it was without emotion that he received the confirmation of his success.

All this happened in the hot summer of 1993. REM hadn’t given any thought as to what to do after his graduation. He wasn’t able to. The sense of loss affected him beyond all expectations.

In the end, he stayed in college. He started working for a former teacher of his, Professor Arakawa, who had been one of the few teachers during his student days who had shown him understanding and encouragement. He was worried about REM who was so shaken by the loss of his irreplaceable mother just at the time of his graduation, and told him the following: “Let’s work together. Get back on your feet. Then you will also be able to play your beloved music again.” And he invited REM to the General Medine Department that he was a part of.

It was not just Professor Arakawa. The bandmates from his college band DOPPEL GANGER and the guys from AMIT called him just about every day to cheer him up. The warmth of many friends melted his frozen heart, and he was eventually able to choose a path for his future.

At this point, hide spend most of his time in L.A. and only occasionally came back to Japan. But when he did, he always went out for drinks with REM.

REM still regretted that he had done nothing when hide had needed him the most. He kept hearing hide’s voice from that night, calling out to him.

Therefore, to REM, hide and him were only drinking buddies now, if good ones. Drinking with hide was all REM felt he could do. It was all he was good for. That’s what he kept thinking deep inside.

Then, one night, hide showed up at REM’s apartment with some ten-odd people in tow. REM had moved to a new place after starting to work at the university. Hide, who had been drinking at Dobuita, marched there with his group of people, some of them foreigners whom REM didn’t know at all. It was quite the uproar and must have been annoying for the neighbors, but for REM and hide, it was finally a good night again.

At the end of the night, REM took hide home, and on the way, he told him, “That time, I was very happy that I was so important to you. It’s just that I was dealing with some private problems… I’m sorry.”

Then, hide said, “…it’s okay. I absolutely want to play with members of SAVER’s successive generations on a solo album. So, keep playing the guitar every day. Because when the time comes, I’m asking you…”

He stopped talking. REM looked over to see what was wrong and saw that he was crying.

After he stopped crying, hide said to REM, “It’s all good. Because from now on, we can do anything.”

Suddenly, the vision of REM, who was driving the car, turned cloudy.

It wasn’t raining.

Chapter 07

#hide #pink cloudy sky #REM #summary #<- a word I am stretching to the limits of its definition #at this point it's more like a translation moved from first to third person #but not quite #warning: death of a parent #warning: cancer #rejoice: the next chapter is going to be much happier #until it isn't

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autumnsup · 1 year

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7 UP Tag

Thanks for the tag, @mostlyoptimisticdinosaur!

I have a few WIPs going at the moment, one of which is not set in the Potterverse (GASP) and another I can't share just yet because it's for a fest. However, I did start a little American Wolfstar bookshop AU fic a while back that I haven't finished, so here's a 7-line snippet:

It was Saturday, and Sy was bored. Not an entirely new experience, as mornings were often quiet at The Strand on the weekends. This morning, however, insisted on dragging itself out to absurd lengths, such that Sy felt tempted to curl up in one corner of the back room and nap. It was his own fault, really, after drinking a double espresso the night before to power himself through serving at a private party, and staying up far too late chatting online. He didn’t really need the restaurant job, seeing as he wasn’t paying rent or even for groceries half the time, but something kept him going back. Maybe it was the thrill of seeing so many glamorous men of status gathered in one place, and the knowledge that under the right circumstances, he could wrap any one of them around his finger.

But his grifting days were over, and here he was, clerking at what was probably one of the more iconic businesses in the city. Glamour of a different kind, that was for certain.

One of his co-workers, a witchy-looking girl named Dani, approached with a sheaf of flyers in hand. “What’s this?” Sy asked, tossing his hair behind one shoulder as he bent his head to look. A Bookish Event with R. John Lupin, aka Rem of In The Loop. The date given was for that day, at five PM, and the details that followed read like a concise resume. “Who is he?”

Dani looked at him with her studded eyebrows raised. “In the Loop? Surely you’ve heard of it.” At Sy’s silence, she went on, “YouTube docu-channel? The tall guy who travels the country interviewing random weirdos?”

It rang the vaguest of bells for Sy, and he tried to come up with something clever to say in response. “He should move to New York, then he wouldn’t have to travel as far to find them.”

She gave a small huff of laughter and took back the flyer Sy was holding. “Rumor has it, he’s looking at filming his next series of videos in the Northeast. This is supposedly just a reconnaissance trip, in the guise of a book tour.” She shrugged and loped off toward the front of the store. “Not that I really care.”

Her breadth of knowledge contradicted her supposed apathy, but Sy was happy to find something/anything with which to kill his boredom, and whipped out his phone to look up episodes of In the Loop on YouTube. He had to be surreptitious about it, as phones were not allowed while he was working on the floor, but by the end of his shift, he’d gotten a better sense of who R. John Lupin aka Rem was, and he was intrigued.

I am new at tagging games, so if I missed the point of this one or you've already been tagged, my apologies: @solemilyswear, @maybebabyplease and @kaymardsa. And if anyone else wants to jump in, go for it!

#tag game #hp fanfic #wolfstar wip #au wolfstar #this one might be dead in the water but maybe I'll revive it someday #wip wednesday #unless that's a separate thing?#I'm still learning Tumblr k

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rollingsunblog · 1 year

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Indie Roleplaying in Japan

Independent RPGs are a vital, vibrant part of the Japan's tabletop scene, both a movement in their own right and a talent incubator for publishers on the prowl for the next big thing. That said, this prominence is a relatively recent shift: during the boom years of Japanese roleplaying, indie titles existed on the margins of the market, produced by die-hards for die-hards. It would take the near-death and resurrection of the tabletop industry - and several decades of persistence - for these creators to finally get their due.

The Fandom Factor

Like most independent RPG scenes, Japan’s indie output is split into original and derivative works. This in itself isn’t especially noteworthy: after all, a good chunk of the global small-press market is dominated by third-party releases for existing systems, ranging from mainstream juggernauts like Dungeons & Dragons to cult faves like Mörk Börg or Mothership.

Such as 2022′s Nobunaga's Black Castle, Japan’s first venture into the realms of black metal fantasy.

What is notewothy is how the Japanese RPG scene has dealt with derivative products - especially the unauthorized ones.

In the West, piggybacking on an established system or property has always been fraught with a certain amount of legal peril. The ‘80s and '90s in particular saw an assortment of dust-ups between big-name publishers like TSR and Palladium Books and smaller creators - particularly fansites - over both actual and imagined IP violations. Things shifted significantly with the introduction of the D&D Open Game License (OGL) in 2000, which allowed third parties to produce D&D-related content without having to pay fees or royalties. However, these products still had to adhere to an explicit set of guidelines - one that could force an incautious company to pulp an entire print run of books.

By contrast, Japan’s rights holders historically didn't fuss much over derivative works, even ones sold for money, unless the infringement was particularly egregious. This resulted in the creation of a massive gray market of for-profit fanworks that has grown to annual sales in the region of US$800M - a not-inconsiderable chunk of Japanese otaku spending. Semi-protected as “parodies” in the eyes of the Japanese law, these products take various popular or nostalgic IPs and spin them off into new directions - respectful, comedic, pornographic, and everything in between.

While the overwhelming majority of for-profit fanworks are comics or comic-adjacent material like artbooks, RPGs also carved out a niche in this market through unofficial supplements, adventures, and even entire roleplaying systems. Largely unconstrained by legal worries, Japanese tabletop fans could produce IP-infringing double whammies like 1993′s Dark Kingdom: a thoroughly unlicensed sourcebook that imports the cast of pop culture evergreen Sailor Moon into TORG, West End Games’ RPG of fractured realities.

Dark Kingdom was an early showcase for Jun'ichi Inoue (井上純一), who would later enjoy a fruitful career at FEAR creating notable titles like Tenra Bansho (天羅万象 ) and Alshard (アルシャード). [IMAGE: Dragoon_Shaytan via Twitter]

Over the years, other popular IPs inevitably also got the tabletop treatment, resulting in fan-made adaptations of everything from ’80s anime relic Dream Hunter Rem and classic shoot-’em-up R-Type to contemporary megahits like Fate/stay night and Bleach. Even today, it’s possible for a creator to knock out an RPG based on Dragon Quest - one of Japan’s largest and most prominent roleplaying franchises - and put it on a digital storefront for US$16 without immediate fear of a thermonuclear-level copyright strike.

However, until around 2010, these sorts of derivative works were more of a sideshow than anything else. That changed once Call of Cthulhu established itself as Japan’s best-selling RPG, buoyed by a series of popular - and irreverent - actual play videos and the Mythos-Goes-Harem antics of the Nyaruko: Crawling with Love media franchise. Suddenly, freshly-baked Cthulhu fans were appearing at gaming conventions in increasing numbers, resulting in a corresponding boom in fan-made CoC adventures and supplements.

As Call of Cthulhu grew to dominate the local tabletop industry, its fanworks cast an equally long shadow over the indie scene, eventually accounting for an estimated 80 to 90% of all derivative products on the market. This extreme popularity would have repercussions: in 2021, facing pressure from the game’s creators, Chaosium, CoC licensees Arclight joined forces with Japan’s most prominent RPG companies to create the Small Publisher Limited License (SPLL) program, which set content guidelines and royalty fee requirements for any third party publishing material for an established system. This was an unusual arrangement by Japanese standards, though one that also gave new legitimacy to derivative works within the roleplaying community.

As was the case with D&D, Call of Cthulhu’s rules have been used as a springboard into other game styles and genres. For instance, the Magic Academy CoC (魔法学校CoC) series reworks Chaosium’s system to accommodate Harry Potter-ish adventures.

An Interlude on Doujin Culture

Derivative works are just one facet of Japan’s indie RPGs, but an important one to start with - in large part because the impact of the Japanese fanwork scene extends much further than just Sailor TORG.

Thus far, when I’ve used the word “fanwork,” it’s been to refer to what the Japanese would formally call “doujinshi.” In the West, that term is intimately associated with fan comics, especially pornographic ones, but the word simply refers to any independently created and published print product - more specifically, one put out by a doujin (同人) or “circle” of like-minded individuals.

The doujinshi concept dates back to the 19th century, but only truly gained traction in the 1980s - a point where more affordable, accessible printing options made it possible for enterprising hobbyists to produce and sell comics as a full-on side gig. As the number of indie creators grew, events emerged to give these artists and writers a venue to market their wares - chiefly Comic Market, which began as a modest volunteer-run show in 1975 but would eventually grow into the world’s largest comics event by a significant margin.

As the doujinshi market grew in size and scope, a new generation of printing companies emerged to serve this subculture through cheap, high-quality digital printing and low minimum order quantities. This further reduced barriers to entry, giving even amateur artists access to professionally bound products at an manageable price.

This ecosystem of affordable production and dedicated sales events created a vital foundation for Japan’s indie roleplaying groups - and a sorely needed one, as up until the mid-‘90s, the cost and complication of producing RPG products kept independent releases relatively scarce. As a result, early offerings like Bläde & Wörd (ブレードアンドワード), ITHA WEN Ua ( イサー・ウェン＝アー), and Small Still Voice (スモール・スティル・ボイス) played it safe by skewing toward orthodox Western-style fantasy - and largely sank in the market with scarcely a ripple.

Thanks to its multifaceted magic system, 1991′s Bläde & Wörd enjoyed somewhat more longevity than its fellows, eventually spawning a second edition under the somewhat unlikely title of “Acoustic Leaf“ (ブレードアンドワード) in 1995.

The ability to source cheaper, better-looking books at lower order quantities arguably helped RPG creators shake loose some of this conservatism - perhaps best exemplified by 1996′s Karma Saturday Night Special, later known by the shorter, punchier alias “Satasupe” (サタスペ). Set in an alternate history where the United States did not enter World War II and a nuke-ravaged Japan found itself divvied up by various superpowers, this gangster RPG dunks its players into a gonzo stew of Soviet narcotics farmers, voodoo practitioners, Japanophile mercenaries, biking Crusaders, criminal animal handlers, UFO cultists, and more besides.

Satasupe’s creators, “Jail House,” started off as a loose-knit collective with almost a dozen credited members, building up their audience and reputation over several years before striking paydirt with 1999′s SATASUPE Remix99 (サタスペ・リミックス９９). Remix99 would prove popular enough to attract attention from the wider industry, and in 2003, a revised and expanded version called Satasupe REmix+ ( サタスペ・リミックス＋) earned a release through Hobby Base, the publishing arm of the game store chain Yellow Submarine.

To clean the game up for its commercial debut, Jail House partnered with Adventure Planning Service, one of Japan’s oldest RPG design companies. The collaboration proved so fruitful that Jail House was effectively absorbed by APS, and Satasupe’s lead designer, Toichiro Kawashima (河嶋陶一朗), would quickly become one of the company’s most important creators, spearheading future hits like Labyrinth Kingdom (迷宮キングダム) and the now-ubiquitous Saikoro Fiction line.

The evolution - and professionalization - of Satasupe’s rulebooks doubles as a mini-history of Japanese indie roleplaying as a whole.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

On the whole, the early 2000s were a transformative time for independent roleplaying. In the West, the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons made its debut alongside the Open Game License, which unleashed a new generation of hobbyists and small publishers eager to capitalize on the excitement generated by D&D’s first major new edition in 11 years. Around the same time, independent RPG creators also began establishing their own distinctive culture and philosophy, driven by influential online discussion forums like The Forge. And behind the scenes, indie creators of all stripes benefitted from the growing availability of sophisticated desktop publishing software, which continuously narrowed the aesthetic quality gap between “amateur” and “professional” games.

In Japan, the OGL attracted significantly less direct interest, though it would eventually inspire comparable “open-source” systems like FEAR’s Standard RPG System (SRS) and Adventure Planning Bureau’s Saikoro Fiction. A more notable development was the introduction of FEAR’s Game Field Awards in 2000, which allowed aspiring designers to submit board, card, and roleplaying games to the company for potential commercial publication. This proved to be an important new outlet for independent creators, and helped birth notable titles like 2005′s TORG-inspired Chaos Flare (異界戦記カオスフレア) and 2001′s Double Cross (ダブルクロス), which is credited with helping to establish the more systematized approach used by modern Japanese RPGs.

2000 also saw the debut of Game Market - or “Gema” for short - a twice-a-year event that positioned itself as a Comic Market equivalent for analog hobbies. Though Gema’s foot traffic was only a fraction of its role model’s, the show would gradually establish itself as a go-to for unveiling new RPGs, especially once stewardship of the event passed to Call of Cthulhu licensee Arclight in 2010.

2010, in fact, seems to be generally regarded as the true starting point for Japan’s modern indie RPG scene - thanks again to the CoC craze, which not only produced a mountain of derivative products, but dramatically changed the size and demographics of Japan’s roleplaying fandom by drawing in both younger gamers and female players. This expanded audience appears to have to encouraged a greater diversity in game design and themes - less anime-inspired power fantasy, more high-concept exercises like “what if the players were actors in a movie production scrambling to finish shooting with no script and no budget before the whole project implodes?”

2012′s Reading! Manga Lord (爆走！まんが道) and 2013′s Idol Box! (どるばこ！) exemplify the indie scene’s broader swing towards less traditional RPG topics after 2010.

Surprisingly, some of this mindset even spilled over to Japan’s two biggest RPG publishers, Kadokawa and Shinkigensha - as evidenced by the fact that Satasupe received a mass-market release through the latter in 2008, eventually followed by other oddballs like the youth band RPG Strato Shout (ストラトシャウト) and Mofumofu Stream (もふもふストリーム), a game about YouTubers fighting crime with their psychic pets.

A final notable development in the indie scene was the emergence of online storefronts for independent RPG releases. While digital publishing has slowly become more prominent in the Japanese tabletop market, physical copies still dominate the indie space and groups invariably end their events with unsold game stock that needs to be offloaded elsewhere. The launch of Cokage in 2014, followed by Conos in 2016, provided an important outlet for excess copies and doubled as a means of making small-press games accessible to fans in rural areas who wouldn’t normally be able to attend a sales event.

Notable Creators

There’s an enormous quantity of indie circles currently active in the tabletop space, with more joining the fray on a monthly basis. A comprehensive list of every group is a bit beyond the scope of this post, but let’s take a quick look at a few of the longer-running ones:

Draconian: Originally a partnership between system designer Fuyu Takisato (瀧里フユ) and worldbuilder Shio Botan (潮牡丹, AKA Darya Tide), Draconian began publishing in 2014, gradually taking on more members to become a five-person operation capable of releasing multiple games per year. In 2018, the group officially crossed over into mainstream publishing with Silver Sword: Stellar Knights (銀剣のステラナイツ), a two-player RPG distributed by Kadokawa. Since then, the circle has put out several more titles through both Kadokawa and Shinkigensha while continuing to self-publish its more experimental work.

Draconian’s titles tend to focus on questions of identity, reality, and relationships with others, typically in fantastical or post-apocalyptic settings. Its more combat-intensive games share a battle system known as Diaclock, which was made openly available for use by other creators in 2020.

youtube

In recent years, Kadokawa have begun experimenting with promotional trailers for their RPG releases - in this case for Stellar Knights.

Phantasm Space: Founded in 2014, Phantasm Space is responsible for the steampunk aerial exploration game Skynauts (歯車の塔の探空士<スカイノーツ>), the Porco Rosso-inspired Il Paradiso Celeste dei Cacciatori Extro (チェレステ色のパラディーゾ), pastoral fantasy title Floria: The Verdant Way (翠緑のフローリア), and the comedic Villain’s Quest (ヴィランズクエスト). All four games have a lighter tone and showcase unusual ideas and mechanics; Villain’s Quest, for instance, throws its anti-heroes into pitched strategy meetings where participants use cards to advance various proposals; eventually, things climax in an analog tower defense game as the players scramble to protect their evil master from being slain once more.

The circle’s leader, Lord Phantasm, went pro in 2020 by joining Adventure Planning Service under the pen name Eisuke Nanashi (中西詠介). In 2021, Nanashi and APS published a revised version of Skynauts through Kadokawa. That same year, Floria also received an English-language translation courtesy of Silver Vine Publishing.

youtube

Another Kadokawa trailer, this time for the 2021 edition of Skynauts.

Rommel Games: Though Rommel Games began publishing RPGs in 2013, the group’s big breakthrough would come the following year with Galaco and the Tower of the Broken World (ガラコと破界の塔), a mecha dungeon crawler set on a distant planet. The game’s slick, commercial-level production values made an immediate splash in the RPG scene, and a number of indie creators readily credit Galaco as an influence on their own work.

In 2017, Kadokawa picked up the circle’s fast-paced superhero title Deadline Heroes (デッドラインヒーローズ), which was followed by a villain-focused version entitled Black Jacket (ブラックジャケット) in 2019. The line’s success may be attributed in part to the buzzy My Hero Academia franchise, which made its anime debut in 2016 and continues to enjoy a dedicated following in Japan.

New Game Plus: This collective of young game designers has maintained a healthy and eclectic output since first appearing on the scene in 2018, with titles that include Night Butterfly ( ナイトバタフライ ), an RPG about male nightclub hosts, and the aforementioned Mofumofu Stream.

Calling NGP an indie circle may be a bit of a stretch - the majority of its titles have in fact been released through Shinkigensha - but the group does put out the occasional doujin game. Sadly, its founder, former Group SNE associate Rikizo (力造), passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2020.

Shiawase Training Ground: Formed by systems engineer Go Yamauchi (山内剛), Shiawase Training Ground has been actively releasing material since 2014, producing offbeat titles like the medieval peasant survival sim Hoshikuzu Village Story (ホシクズ村々物語) and restaurant-focused A La Cuisine (アーレ・キュイジーヌ). Yamauchi’s upcoming “travel and escape” RPG We Will Happiness! (ウィーウィル・ハピネス！) has reportedly ended up with Adventure Planning Service, suggesting his mainstream breakthrough may be just around the corner.

#japanese rpgs #indie rpgs #pen and paper roleplaying #tabletop roleplaying #TRPG

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lonely-luv · 4 years

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♡ promo time!! ♡

hey!! welcome to my selfship blog!! my name’s remiel, but i mostly go by remi! i like and follow from my main, @constantly-fatigued! i also used to have a selfship blog called @chaotic-kind-and-kinda-cool!

all of my info is in the carrd in my bio, including my dni! but some basics about me are i’m 15, mostly into sasides, i do art and writing, i love supporting other people’s ships and gushing about my f/os, i reblog a lot of ask games, i’m ok with sharing f/os, and i have 2 partners and a qpp!! my qpp also selfships!! their blog is @mygfisthevampirequeen!!

my main f/os are from sanders sides!!! i love talking abt them so feel free to talk abt them with me!! also heres some more info abt them (bc the ones in my head r different from canon)!

i love making friends in this community (one example of this is my rad friend @squares-self-blog ) and try to follow back everyone who doesn’t break my dni! i’d super appreciate people reblogging this but no one has to!!

♡ have a lovely day!!! ♡

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full-of-roman-angst-trash · 3 years

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I'll Never Forget

Word count: 1248

Pairings: Familial creativity twins (Please don't tag this as R*mR*m, that ship makes me extremely uncomfortable.)

TW: Somewhat unsympathetic sides (Not including Remus and Roman). Please tell me if I need to tag anything or add any warnings.

Remus wakes up at around 9:30 in the morning to his arm going off. He usually doesn't wake up this early as he isn't exactly a morning person. But today it's his birthday! He wants to appreciate it as early as he possibly can.

So he quickly gets up, gets dressed, and skips out of his room.

When he first became a Darkside, he never looked forward to his birthday. None of the lightsides ever wished him a happy birthday. The only ones who did were Janus and Virgil. At that time though, he didn’t appreciate it since he saw how the lightsides celebrated their birthdays. More specifically, Roman's. Roman always got the most dramatic birthdays and gifts. It would fill Remus with jealousy.

He only started appreciating the small gifts and parties that Janus and Virgil gave him after Virgil left them. Now every year, he looks forward to it. He looks forward to seeing Janus put his best efforts forward to make his birthday as great as possible. He looks forward to the small cake Janus makes for the two of them. He looks forward to opening his gift and seeing how much thought Janus put into getting him something he loves and enjoys.

He gets to the kitchen and is hit with a wave of disappointment. Usually Janus will decorate the kitchen with things like fake blood, fake eyeballs, fake guts, creepy dolls, and more. But this time, it's empty and plain. Just like a normal day.

He takes a deep breath and decides that Janus is probably just still asleep. After all, the two of them went to bed quite late. He makes himself some toast. He quickly finishes and starts walking to Janus's room to go and wake him up.

He busts into the room, "WAKE UP SNAKE DADDY! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"

He frowns when he sees the room empty and looks around, "Janus?"

When he doesn't see Janus anywhere he walks out and starts searching the rest of the darkside.

He looks everywhere but doesn't find him. At this point, he's worried. He starts to panic and runs to the Lightside. That's the last place he can think of looking.

When he gets there he starts running to the living room. He knows he isn't really allowed or wanted here, but he doesn't care. He has to find Janus. He's okay with getting in trouble with the other sides if it means that he'll know where his best friend is.

As he starts getting closer to the living room, he starts hearing talking. At first, he doesn't really think much of it, but then he hears a certain laugh. He looks around the corner and sees Janus sitting with Logan, Patton, and even Virgil. They're talking and joking around.

If it had been any other day, Remus would have been happy for Janus. He would have been glad to see his best friend being accepted by the other sides and reconnecting with Virgil. But, today he just can't seem to feel that joy for his friend. Janus seemed to have completely forgotten his birthday. For the first time in all his years of being created, Janus forgot.

Remus doesn't know how long he stands there just staring, but he is suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by screaming directed towards him.

"Remus?! What are you doing here?!" Virgil is the first to notice him.

The other three sides look over at him

Remus puts on his usual persona and smirks, "I was looking for double d."

Patton frowns at the nickname, "Remus, that's inappropriate. His name is Janus."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Remus says with an eye roll.

Janus sighs, "What do you need, Rem?"

The question shatters Remus's heart and makes him drop his persona.

"What do you mean? D-Don't you know what day it is?"

"It's Friday, why?" Janus says with a confused expression.

Remus frowns and holds back tears. He turns to Virgil and desperately says, "You know what day it is right Virgin?!”

He had to know! Virgil used to celebrate his birthday with them until not that long ago. There's no way he forgot that quickly.

"Don't call me that," Virgil says with a clear annoyance in his tone, "And it is Friday. June 25th."

"Y-you two are joking, right?" At this point, Remus starts tearing up.

Logan, "It is June 25th and it is a Friday. Why would they joke about a date?"

Remus starts crying, making Janus frown in concern.

He stands up and starts walking over to him, "Remus, what's wrong?"

Remus takes a step back and shakes his head, unable to force out words.

Janus stops in his tracks and frowns more, "Please, Rem…"

Suddenly Remus feels somebody pull him into a hug.

"I'm disappointed in you, Janus."

It was Roman.

Remus hugs his twin back and cries into his chest.

"What? I didn't do anything!" Janus quickly defends himself.

Roman sighs and stops himself from yelling at the snake side. "Today is Remus's birthday. If anyone should know that, it should be you. Now, we're leaving."

Before Janus can respond, Roman sinks down to his room with Remus. He sits them down on his bed and holds Remus close.

"Shhh, it's okay, Rem. Let it out. I've got you."

Remus clings to him and continues letting all his emotions turn to tears.

After a while, Remus stops crying and calms down.

"Rem?" Roman speaks softly.

Remus responds with a quiet hum.

"How are you feeling? Do you need some water or anything?"

Remus pulls away from the hug and rubs one of his eyes, "I feel fine I guess… A bit drained but I do feel better after letting all of it out. Some water would be nice though.”

Roman nods and summons some water, handing it to him, "There you go. I'm glad you feel a bit better."

Remus takes the water and starts drinking it. A few minutes pass before Remus speaks again, "Thank you. For everything. I really appreciate it.”

Roman smiles, "Of course. I know I haven't exactly been a great brother to you in the past, but I wanna change that. So, I'm sorry for all the years that I've ignored you or been mean to you. Can you please give me a chance to be better?"

Remus is shocked. He wasn't expecting that. He and Roman have had a rough relationship and they really don't know each other that well. But what he does know is that Roman isn't exactly one to admit when he is wrong so easily.

"I accept your apology. And yeah, I'll give you another chance."

Roman smiles more and hugs Remus again, "Thank you!"

Remus hugs him back and nods, "No problem."

"Now!" Roman pulls away from the hug and in a cheerful voice says, "Let's celebrate your birthday, yeah?"

Remus chuckles, "Yeah."

The two of them spend the rest of the day playing games, teasing one another, and watching a few movies.

At around 8:30, the two of them are sitting down on the couch in the Darkside eating a cake they made together while watching a movie.

"Hey, Ro?" Remus says suddenly.

"What's up?" Roman looks over at him.

Remus smiles softly at him, "Thank you again for everything you've done for me today. And for not forgetting my birthday like the others."

Roman smiles back at him and ruffles his hair, "Of course. I'll never forget your birthday."

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shapa-likes-art · 3 years

Text

Chapter two: Roman Molina

Warnings: Death of a family member, cursing/swearing, crying. Tell me to put more warnings if needed.

Pairings: Eventual Prinxiety and Intrulogical

Summary: Roman Molina, a 16-year-old student from Los Feliz high, lost his love for music after his mom died last year. His only one chance of keeping his spot in the music program is to play music and sing, problem is; it reminds him of his mom.

A/N: And here is another chapter for the Jatp au! You’re finally introduced to Roman after, what, a month? Sorry, haha, It’s not easy for me to write and art at the same time, but I hope you enjoy!

First | Previous | Next

It was the 10th of September, 2020. The bells rang signaling, the dismissal of all classes and signified the end of a school day. Amid a crowd of many bustling students in the halls of Los Feliz

High school, was a Teen making his way down the crowded hallway to his locker.

Said teen had tan skin, curly dark Auburn hair that was covered and pressed down by a red baseball cap. He wore Red flannel over a mostly white and blue accented crop-top with high-waisted denim jeans, he had many bracelets around his wrist and two necklaces around his neck, they were both gold in color. One hanged from his neck that seemed to be a locket while one that was flush against his neck as if a choker it spelled out the name "Roman"

He clutched the binder full of notes close to his chest as he scrunched up and avoided the people he passed. Only when he reached a blue locker that had a red "R" stickered on that he seemed to relax. He

quickly unlocked the locker and went to put his things away.

"Hey, underachiever!" a familiar voice greeted.

Roman smiled, "Hey Disappointment," he greeted back with a small laugh. He turned to Remy, his best friend, with a small smile.

Remy was about an inch taller than Roman and had warm sepia brown skin, his braided dark hair pulled back into a bun, he wore a holo windbreaker jacket on with a dark grey shirt, a rainbow bead choker, a gold necklace with a lock, and two earrings from left to right reading “what” and “ever”

He had a smirk on his face as he looked at Roman through his shades

"Ok, Hun, I know you don't want me to ask-"

"Rem.."

"- But have you figured out what you're going to do today?" Remy continued with a small huff.

Roman sighed, "I know in the moment,"

"Seriously, Ro?" Remy said, going to bring his shades up to rest on his head, his chocolate brown eyes staring into Roman's hazel, "That's all you're giving me? Miss Harrison said that today is your last chance!"

Roman just offered a smile, "I know. I was there,"

Remy sighed, throwing his hands up and putting his shades back on.

"I'll see you at the rally!" An overly sweet and chipper voice said from only just a few steps away.

Remy looked over to see Percy, "Ugh, what is he handing out?" He said with an eye roll, watching as said person handed out a flyer with a sickly sweet and fake smile. He talked as if emulating a heart at the end of the sentence.

Roman went to look over as well, huffing slightly, "Hm, desperation?" He offered.

Remy let out a small huff of laughter before the exact person they were talking about approached. Percy still had that same fake smile as he took a couple of flyers and gave them to Remy and Roman.

"Here you go, My group's performing at the group rally tomorrow!" He said. He looked up and down both teens and smiled even sweeter, "I'm sure you have nothing better to do."

Remy mimicked Percy's smile, "Oh my gosh, Percy, thanks! " He said sarcastically using the same overly peppy tone, mocking him.

"Oh my gosh, Remy! don't bother coming!" Percy shot back, still keeping his overly peppy attitude. He went to turn away and back to giving out flyers, leaving a stunned Remy.

Remy scoffed, his eyes still trained on Percy as he crumpled up the flyer.

Roman, however, couldn't care less, leaning against the door of the open locker as he stared at someone by the pillar with a dopy and lovesick look in his eyes.

Remy Let out a small frustrated sigh, glancing to Roman before doing a double-take once he saw just who exactly Roman was looking at.

"Really, Ro?" He asked, crossing his arms, "Thomas, still? " Remy looked to said teen then to Percy,

"You know they're gonna get married and raise a bunch of unholy babies," he huffed

"Thomas is a sweetheart!" Roman defended with a pout, clutching the binder to his chest

Remy raised an eyebrow, "You'd actually have to talk to him to know that, Hun," he said. Roman just rolled his eyes.

"And only one of them has to be a demon to make a demon baby," Remy continued, looking over to Percy, "Demon! " He shouted quickly, pulling Roman with him to hide immediately, their backs turned to Percy as they faced their lockers, smothering their laughs and hiding

from Percy as his eyes snapped over to them with an offended glare.

Roman smiled, turning back to Remy after a few seconds

"There's that dazzling smile," Remy cooed, "now, let's go prove everybody wrong,"

An electric guitar solo sounded through the halls, reverberating from the music room where the music program was held.

Thomas carefully plucked and strummed the strings of his sky blue electric guitar, the whole room

silent as they watched his performance, almost captivated by each note he played. He finished up with the last few chords and the room erupted with applause from the other students, which among them were Percy, Remy, and Roman.

“Nice job, Thomas,” Miss Harrison said with a smile, “Almost as impressive as your game against Glendale,”

Thomas gave a small smile, “Uh, stings a bit, but thanks,” he said with a small awkward smile, going to take the guitar off and put it away.

Miss Harrison smiled as she turned to the students seated around the “stage”, which was just the free floor space, her eyes looking through the many people as if searching for someone, “Alright,” she started with a small clap, “We have one last performance for today.”

Wordlessly, each student’s eyes drifted over to a person seated nearly in the back.

“Roman?” Miss Harrison called out, gesturing to him.

Roman tensed and he slowly looked up to the teacher, nervous. Miss Harrison nodded, smiling sympathetically. He clenched onto his binder of sheet music and stood up, going to take off his hat and set it down onto his seat before walking towards the grand piano that was tucked away to the side of the room. Thomas passed by him and tried to give a reassuring smile to Roman as he walked back to his seat. Despite this, it did nothing to calm Roman’s fears.

Roman sat down and set up the sheet music and let out a heavy shuddering sigh. He looked to Miss Harrison, almost asking if he could go back.

“It’s ok, take your time,” Miss Harrison tried to reassure, smiling softly.

Roman looked down to the case and went to open it, revealing the achingly familiar white and black keys. His hands hovered over the keys, staying there suspended in air in hesitance. All he could think about was how he used to sit next to his mother on the piano when she was still alive, when they used to play together and write songs. He missed the comforting smile she used to give him when he figured out a chord progression to put into their song, her warm laugh when he showed her what silly lyrics he had scribbled down in boredom, her soothing voice humming small melodies and mumbling lyrics… It was almost too much.

Roman’s hands shook as his mind kept reminding him of what he’d never be able to see again. He quickly shut the case and stood up, “I’m sorry,” he said, looking to Miss Harrison.

Remy’s brows furrowed in concern, immediately standing up. He didn’t like what was happening. Percy, who had been sitting right in front of Remy raised a hand, “Is this where we clap?” he asked, playing dumb

Roman’s jaw clenched and he immediately set off for the door, leaving the room entirely silent.

Remy glared at Percy, “Watch it, Percy,” he snapped, brushing past the teen, and ran after Roman, out of the room and down the halls.

By God, he won't let Roman waste his life away and waste his opportunities like this any longer. He soon caught up with Roman, narrowly missing him as he walked down the steps of the stairs in haste. Remy took in a few deep breaths, catching his breath.

"Roman," he said firmly, making said teen freeze and turn around, his head to the ground. Remy held up and hand and went to place his shades atop his head.

"Hun, you better get back up here," he said, looking at Roman with furrowed eyebrows, "And show them you can sing!" He said, pointing back to the music room, "That you deserve to be there and that you can still do it. That you still haven't lost the only other thing that you love,"

Roman shook his head, taking in a shaky breath as he fiddled with the strings of his bracelet, "Remy, I- I've tried for myself," he said, finally looking up to Remy, eyes were red and teary, "I've tried for Miss. Harrison, I've tried for my dad," he ran his hand through his hair, "And I've fucking tried for Mom,"

Remy stood there, stunned and filled with guilt as he listened.

Roman let out a small sad laugh, "For the whole year, I've been trying," he just gave a small teary smile, "But I can't do this anymore. I just can't. I'm done with this, Remy," he said. Roman let out a sigh and went to turn back to walking down the stairs, having nothing left to say but just that.

Remy felt a bit of panic spike, "Roman." He said, "Roman!" He called out, but he just ran down to his locker.

Remy shakily went to sit down on a step of the stairs, curled up into himself as he watched his best friend take his bag and ran out the doors. He tried to blink away the tears that formed in his eyes. He just wanted to help.

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waokevale · 4 years

Text

Porcelain Face - Chapter 7

Both of the boys came running into the class, saying:

-"WE'RE VERY SORRY LO- MR.BERRY, WE OVERSLEPT-" They both yelled in unison until they noticed what was going on.

They didn't missed the lesson but there was something else that caught their attention.

Mostly Ethan's as Virgil looked down, covering his masked face.

There was a new student in class.

Apparently he was already after the introduction part and didn't look so sure about repeating himself just because someone was late.

-"Well...this is awkward." - The new kid said as Logan sighed and just told the late two to sit down.

The new kid looked rather...Interesting?

But more than that he looked like he belonged with the popular kids which didn't make things any better.

He had black, cropped leather jacket, orange shirt, ripped tight jeans, fingerless gloves and...A pair of sunglasses on his face?

That was a pretty strange look for spring but no one commented on that.

He looked pretty confident and that was usually never a good sign.

When Ethan first introduced himself he was pretty flustered and shy but this new kid though had this weird indescriptible vibe.

It even seemed like he was eyeing Virgil which made the porcelain boy glare at the new kid in suspicion.

As they both sat down the kid was already talking about himself though neither of the two boys really listened.

The part that they actually heard was just:

-"Aaand there's nothing left for ya'll to know about me. Can I finally sit down teach'?

Logan then nodded also clearly not understanding half of the things the boy just said.

After the rest of lesson ended,

All of the students were now all heading out of the class.

Virgil finally looked up as he got out of the class with Ethan.

Now the new guy was pretty sure, as he ignored all the popular kids that wanted to talk to him because of his interesting appearance as he went to the two of the late boys to introduce himself properly.

-"It's nice to see you again Eighty, oh and hi there beanie girl." He said as both of them looked very confused for why did he came to them.

-"Wait...What does this mean, it's nice to see you again?" Virgil asked, clearly not understanding what was going on, same goes to Ethan who grew rather more suspicious of the new kid.

-"Don't you remember me? It's ya girl Remy!" The new kid said pulling up his sunglasses revealing two bright-orangeish eyes.

the cardboard boy stared at him in disbelief.

-"W-wait...Remy?!" He asked now louder, getting excited.

-"Yup! It's really me myself and I!" He exclaimed hugging his apparently old friend.

-"Wait...what???" Ethan asked in very confused now tone.

-"Oh! Sorry there- Uh...What's your name?"

Remy asked awkwardly.

-"Ethan.." The boy replied turning his head from them.

The same look of confusion have had the popular kids.

Including Roman and Remus.

What was actually going on?

Why did this guy came to these losers?

They honestly didn't know....

And were they hugging????

Now it was confusing as fuck.

Then...One kid dared to say it out loud.

-"Yo, new kid! Why are you hanging out with the glass dealer and the freak?"

Little did he knew Remy's reaction as he came closer to the guy who yelled these words.

-"Listen up here you little bitch.

I can hang out with whoever I want and whenever I want.

You can't tell me to do shit unless you want to get punched in the face."

He simply said showing off his eyes as the kid gulped and run away.

-"Whoa....That was.... Pretty awesome." Ethan admitted as Remy proudly stepped back to the other two.

-"Thanks, Rem'. Also why are you here?" Virgil asked.

-"Uhhhh you know....I run away from these losers so called my parents."

Ethan looked rather unimpressed and Virgil just sighed.

-"Are you sure that is the reason?" The porcelain boy questioned.

-"Ummm...Anyways Virgie would you and your friend want some Starbie?" Remy changed the subject.

-"Sure, I guess." The cardboard boy agreed.

-"Fine by me." Ethan said.

After school all three of them went to the nearest Starbucks.

Remy was ready to pay them when both of them denied.

-"No, no, no Rem' I agreed yesterday when Patton, one other guy suggested to pay, so no, I can pay for myself" Virgil denied sternly.

-"Bitch, I INSIST." Remy said, clearly determined just like Patton yesterday.

-"Nope, you are not PAYING for ME." The cardboard boy talked back as there was a short moment of silence between the three, Ethan still confused af.

-"I'm going to buy you stuff anyways." Remy said.

-"REMY!" Virgil yelled, pretty angry now for loosing.

-"Welp....Guess he had won, huh?" Ethan said.

-"Not helping, Eth..." Virgil whined.

-"Oh and Vitligo gurl! What do you want?"

Remy yelled not caring that half of the Starbucks could hear him as the other two other boys signed miserably.

-"Nothing, really...I don't... Drink coffee and I'm not hungry." The porcelain boy yelled back.

-"Oh, come on! Why not?" - Remy asked.

-"It's....Just....I can't say it out loud." Ethan said in a whispering tone to Remy who walked back to them.

-"So what is it? You're allergic? ADHD? You despise coffee or?"

-"I just can't drink coffee..." Then he said why in sign language hoping that the new kid would not understand.

-"I-can't-eat-or-drink-because-I-have-no-guts..."

Then Remy whispered back.

-"Then how do you live?" which clearly meant that he indeed understood the motion sentence.

-"I....I.. It's complicated, ok?" Ethan signed in defeat.

-"Well okay then, Virgie gets the double then."

Remy simply said.

-"NO. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! PATTON DID THAT YESTERDAY THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Virgil whined dramatically, pretty pissed off as both Remy and Ethan laughed.

-"Besides I'm going to be fat...." He mumbled the last sentence but both of them could hear it anyway.

[He thought Remy bought food as well]

-"Dude...You are literally just thin layer of skin and bones." Remy commented quietly.

-"Virgie? You okay there...?" Ethan said worriedly as the cardboard boy stayed silent before the barista yelled:

-"Remy? Your order is finished!"

Guess it's our stuff, Eighty." Remy said walking back to the counter to pick the drinks.

-"Why does he call you Eighty?" Ethan whispered as Virgil signed.

-"Probably similiar reason for why Patton calls you Dee."

-"Oh.." Ethan said.

-"Alright babes, here's your Spring Frappuchino with chocolate and coconut flakes." passing the pretty large Cup at still pissed off Virgil.

-"And here's your nonexistant coffee because I can't help." Remy said doing the motion of giving the Cup of coffee to Ethan who looked at him tiredly and said:

-"Thanks...."

After some time of talking, Virgil's and Remy's past was brought.

-"Hey Virgie, can we spill some tea of our past to your new babe?" Remy then asked as the cardboard boy slowly nodded.

-"Well then....It all started...."

Virgil changed schools yet again.

Probably the third time now.

He was met with all the new students who like always either looked fascinated or spooked out by masked appearance.

Remy was the one of the fascinated ones.

He clearly wanted to be friends with the mysterious kid.

As Virgil introduced himself to the class and took his sit, Remy already talked to him.

-"Hey there newbie! Wanna be friends?" Remy asked cheerfully, but Virgil though frowned.

-"You probably won't like me anyway...." He said, sadly, but Remy was determined enough.

-"Oh come on! I really do want to be friends with you!

I don't really care about your mask though it is pretty cool actually!" He excalaimed surprising the other kid.

-"R-really?" The cardboard boy said with the look of hope in his "eyes"

-"Yup!"

Then the bell rang as they started to hang out.

They hung out more often and soon enough became best friends.

Virgil was really happy back then as Remy was his protector from the bullies.

Unfortunetly one day it just wasn't enough....

There were five very curious kids... The two stronger ones tackled Remy who desperetly tried to free his grip from them, trying to get to his friend.

Unlucky for the two...It was too late.

They already ripped off his mask from his face revealing four pairs of violet eyes.

The kids imediatelly dropped him, very scared of his appearance as they screamed run away.

Only Remy stayed.

Looking at Virgil who was now sobbing on the ground uncontrollably.

He stood there for a few seconds, until he walked to the other boy and kneeled down, saying:

-"Hey, you okay there buddy?"

The boy with the multiple eyes looked a little up with surprise and disbelief painted on his face.

-"A-aren't you s-scared of m-me? D-don't you want to l-laugh at me o-or r-run away....?"

He asked, still very broken.

-"Nope! You look pretty awesome to me! I think spiders are very cool! Cause...you're a spider, right?"

The boy nodded.

-"Well then... As I promised before, I will protect you, Spidey-boo!" Remy said confidently as Virgil giggled at the nickname.

Remy then stood up and helped the other boy up as well, giving back his mask and holding him protectivly from the other kids just in case.

But of course...Virgil's parents found out that someone has seen his face and they moved out yet again...

He was miserable back then...

Because he thought he had lost the only person that actually cared about him...

Neither Virgil nor Remy mentioned the part when Virgil looked like a spider, because they both knew it was a sensitive topic for the cardboard boy.

Though Ethan....He looked kind of... sad and dissapointed If one could say.

At himself mostly.

Because now he finally realised...

He wasn't able to ever be there for the cardboard boy before, because he was home-schooled and now the only chance of someone liking him was gone..

Remy was apparently pretty close with Virgil anyway.

Remy had already seen his face and gained his trust, something that Ethan probably couldn't do...

Virgil deserved better than a weakling like him anyway...

He should probably just....give up on trying.

-"That's an amazing story guys! I'm not surprised why you missed each other so much!

But I got to go...Um- my moms told me I should be back at 4 PM."

-"But you said they let you-" Virgil was cut off by him again.

-"They changed their mind." he said colder than he intended to as he walked out of the building, not even turning his head back.

________________________________

I hope to see them tears...

Lmao Jk.

AND YES I KNOW, THEY WENT TO ANOTHER COFFEE SHOP, CAUSE WHY NOT I LIKE THESE KINDS OF STORIES YA'LL CAN'T STOP ME.

But seriously that's the last time.

Is this a good level of Angst for you all?

And for fucks sake it lagged.

#virgil sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #thomas sanders #deceit sanders #sanders sides angst #sanders sides fanart #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides fic #ts anxiety #ts logic #ts logan #ts remy #remy sanders #ts deceit #sanders sides au

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howaminotinthestrokesyet · 3 years

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Behind The Album: Nevermind

The second studio album from Nirvana was released in September 1991 via DGC Records. This release would be their first on that label, as well as the first album to feature new drummer Dave Grohl. The album initially begin as a project for Sub Pop with producer Butch Vig attached to it at the suggestion of the label. They traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to record at Vig’s studio in early April 1990. At this time, the group recorded eight tracks including “Lithium,” “Breed,” “In Bloom,” and others, but Cobain was still working on more material for the record. On April 6, the band played a local show in Madison, but the singer strained his voice putting on hold temporarily the recording sessions as they had a short Midwestern tour that same week. After the tour, drummer Chad Channing announced his departure from the group putting everything on hold once again. Krist Novoselic and Cobain had seen the band Scream featuring drummer Dave Grohl and were impressed by his playing. By lucky coincidence, his group broke up around that same time. Grohl contacted Novoselic to see about an audition. He would join the band shortly thereafter as the bass player would say with Dave “everything fell into place.”

By this time, Sub Pop continued to have major financial difficulty, which worried the group. Cobain made the decision to forgo working with such an independent label, but instead signing with a major record company. After shopping around for a few months, they signed with Geffen Records imprint DGC after a recommendation by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. The label would suggest a number of producers for the second album, but Nirvana held out to continue to work with Butch Vig. The reason behind this came in the fact that they were comfortable with him. Another factor was that he did not ask for percentage points upon the release of any album. The group recorded the LP at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in May and June 1991. In an interesting twist, they needed gas money to actually get to the studio to begin recording, so the band played a show for extra money where “Smells Like Teen Spirit” would be performed for the first time. The other new song that had not been worked on in the previous sessions was “Come As You Are.” The recording sessions lasted 8 to 10 hours a day as Grohl and Novoselic completed their parts in a matter of days. Cobain‘s work took a little bit longer as he added more guitar parts and put the finishing touches on the vocals. He would sometimes only finish writing lyrics just before he would sing them for the album. Butch Vig would say that he only could convince Cobain to double track his vocals when he told the singer that John Lennon used to do it. The producer expressed frustration with the Nirvana frontman. “He'd be great for an hour, and then he'd sit in a corner and say nothing for an hour." Nirvana was unhappy with the first few mixes of the album after they finished recording. They made the decision to bring in another producer to do the mixing. Eventually, they decided to bring in Andy Wallace, who had worked on Slayer’s 1990 album. Krist Novoselic she would say, “We said, 'right on,' because those Slayer records were so heavy." Nevermind would be mastered at the Mastering Lab in Hollywood. Howie Weinberg began working on the record despite the fact that nobody else from the band had arrived yet. By the time everyone had gotten there, he was essentially done. After the release of the record, the band expressed a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction with how it sounded. Everyone in the group felt that it was too commercial. Kurt Cobain said, “Looking back on the production of Nevermind, I'm embarrassed by it now. It's closer to a Mötley Crüe record than it is a punk rock record." Butch Vig would later say in an interview that it was the artist in Cobain that made him complain like that. One simply could not say in public thank you for helping to create an album that sold 10 million copies.

The major influences for Kurt Cobain during the writing of Nevermind were Pixies , the Smithereens, REM, and the Melvins. He intentionally wanted to emphasize melody in a much more emphatic way on this album. A key development came when they released the single “Sliver” before Grohl had even joined the group. The singer said it “was like a statement in a way. I had to write a pop song and release it on a single to prepare people for the next record. I wanted to write more songs like that." His goal from the onset was to write power chords that could be combined with punk rock guitar riffs. He would use the example of trying to combine the Knack or Bay City Rollers with Black Flag. One new feature of the music on the album emerges in the band's employment of extreme dynamics, meaning that there exist abrupt changes from quiet to loud verses. Guitar World would say this about Cobain‘s playing on this album. “Kurt Cobain's guitar sound on Nirvana's Nevermind set the tone for Nineties rock music." Dave Grohl would later say that the singer always stressed that the music came first, not the lyrics. He was still writing lyrics halfway through the recording of Nevermind, while Vig has said that some of the lyrics are inaudible anyway. "Even though you couldn't quite tell what he was singing about, you knew it was intense as hell." Later on, Cobain would complain about journalists trying to understand him through his lyrics. “Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate Freudian evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them incorrectly?" Charles R. Cross, author of the Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven, would claim in his book that half of the songs on Nevermind are about Kurt Cobain‘s ex-girlfriend Toby Vail. The first line of “Drain You” was something that she had actually said to him, “One baby to another said 'I'm lucky to have met you.” He modified the lyrics to “Lithium,” which had been written prior to meeting her in order to reference his relationship with her. The phrase “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was something that she came up with while living with Cobain. It was originally meant as a joke, but the singer took it as some sort of revolutionary phrase. Krist Novoselic would later comment that the track “Lounge Act” is undoubtedly about Vail.

The working title of the album had been Sheep, which Cobain thought represented a funny inside joke as to who would buy the album. The origin of that title comes from the public's reaction to Operation Desert Storm. The singer decided to change it to Nevermind because he also liked the fact it was grammatically incorrect and symbolized how he felt about life. Nevermind also referenced one of Cobain’s favorite albums by the Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks. He does mention the title once in the track “Smells Like Teen Spirit:” “oh well, whatever, never mind.”

The famous cover of the album was conceived by Cobain as well after watching a television show with Dave Grohl about water births. They first tried stock footage of water births, but the images were much too graphic for an album cover. They finally found at least one photo that may work, but the company wanted $7500 to use the photo. Finally, a photographer went to a pool to find a baby for the picture. The actual baby they found was someone named Spencer Elden, the son of a friend of the photographer. Eldonwood recreated that picture for subsequent anniversary photos for the album throughout the years.

The album debuted at 144 on the Billboard charts, but by January the record was number one in the country. The success of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” saw the demand for the album spiral in such a way that the record company could not keep up with the demand for a time. Geffen Records needed to stop printing any other albums released around the same time, so they could make more of Nevermind. At its height, Nevermind sold 300,000 copies a week. The LP would be certified platinum in November 1991, a mere 13 months after its release. The president of Geffen Records would say this to the New York Times. “We didn't do anything. It was just one of those 'Get out of the way and duck' records." The members of Nirvana seemed relatively unconcerned about the success of the album as Novoselic would say in an interview that achieving gold record status was cool, but not that important to him. By the time of their European tour in 1992, the sales of the album made any marketing ideas previously planned by the record label to be unusable.

Another interesting thing that came about through the phenomenal popularity of the album was the fact that not many places actually reviewed the album at first. Most of the reviews remained positive, but they seemed to stress the potential of the band. Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne would give the album an A minus, while the New York Times would say, “With 'Nevermind,' Nirvana has certainly succeeded. There are enough intriguing textures, mood shifts, instrumental snippets and inventive word plays to provide for hours of entertainment." The best review probably came from Everett True of Melody Maker, who had this to say. “When Nirvana released Bleach all those years ago, the more sussed among us figured they had the potential to make an album that would blow every other contender away. My God have they proved us right.” Not everyone loved the album though as evidenced by the Boston Globe saying that the record was for the most part generic punk rock. The greatest achievement of Nevermind was the fact that the record brought Seattle grunge, which later became alternative music, into the mainstream. The bands, the fashion, the culture that existed in Seattle now had made its way to Madison Avenue. The album led to the success of other groups like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, and so many more. Please check out the article later in this book on the story of grunge for further discussion on the cultural legacy of Nevermind. Rolling Stone named the album number six in its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, as well as number one on its list of the Greatest Albums of the 1990’s. In 2001, VH1 would poll over 500 rock writers and journalists for the greatest albums of all time, which led to their choice of Nevermind as the number one album. In 2005, the record was added to the national record registry put together by the Library of Congress. Even Pitchfork would name the album number six for the decade of the 1990’s. The site wrote, “Anyone who hates this record today is just trying to be cool, and needs to be trying harder."

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coachjeffsworkouts · 3 years

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Tues AM – Sept 28

Lane 13 – CA, TE, TC, MO Lane 14 – HY, EX, APa Lane 15 – WK, DL. AL Lane 16 – RD, IB, NK Lane 17 – TP, BB, KL Lane 18 – MC, RyM Lane 19 – ReM, JY Lane 20 – ZL, PO

5:32am – 400 -

- 50 rotation kick – hands pressed against sides (feel the core connection) - 25 R only / 25 L only (find a balance through the core of the body) - 50 dol or br kick – connect through the core (arms to sides) - 25 fl or br with flutter kick / 25 swim in same stroke

5:40am –

3 rds (6x50) – single stroke per round

- 1x50 on 1:05 –

o 9 sec fast flutter kick into the wall, flip when you see the 9

o Build kick (in the stroke of the round)

- 1x50 on :55 - 25 power catch / 25 build swim

- 3x50 swim – find the flow of the stroke - 1 on :50 – turn at the flags instead of the wall, build momentum from nothing after the turn (utilize core) - 1 on :45 – build swim - 1 on :40 – at 200 pace (start setting the details you need to train, stroke counts, breathing patterns, # of underwaters; know it and train for it)

- 50 on 1:00 – 25 double arm back / 25 recovery

5:57am –

100 recovery

6:00am –

3 rounds – 8x50 on (ascending interval by rounds :45/:50/:55) - goal 200 pace on all - hold 200 details 100 on 2:00 – recovery 3x100 on 1:20 – gr3 swim free 100 on 2:00 – fast - goal 2nd 100 of 200 200 on 4:00 – recovery

Long group – break off on 3rd round 8x100 on 1:20/1:30 – 2 @ mile / 2 @ 1000 / 3 @ 500 pace / 1 fast Loosen

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deceit-sandersss · 4 years

Text

Cold Smol Snek Boi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deceit was shivering under a pile of blankets. He was so cold. Even under the blankets, he could see his breath. Deceit whimpered and got out of bed. He was hit with a wave of coldness. He shuttered and his lip quivered. He shakily walked out of his room. He walked down the hall rubbing his hands together. He was freezing. He kept walking down the hall until he reached Remus’s room.

He was going to knock on his door and ask if Remus could cuddle with him... Deceit swallowed and was very anxious. He was about to ask his crush if he wanted to cuddle. He knocked on the door. He shivered and grabbed his arms. The door opened and Remus stood there with a big smile on his face and-and... he.. is... topless.... Remus is topless. Deceit’s eyes widened and he stared for a few seconds before looking back up and clearing his throat. “Uhm..” Deceit shivered. “R-R-Re-Rem-m-“ Deceit couldn’t speak.

Deceit was to cold to speak. Remus was confused until it clicked. ‘He’s cooooold! Oooh! That’s why he’s acting weird!’ Remus thought to himself. “Are ya cold Double Dee-light?” Remus asked. Deceit shakily nodded. “Ok. Well... I don’t exactly know how you want me t-mfph!” Deceit ran right into his chest and snuggled him. “C-Cuddles.. P-Please...”

Remus smirked and hugged Deceit. He closed the door with his foot, and then laid back onto the bed. Deceit’s smiled as he felt the warmth from his chest. Deceit burrowed his face in Remus’s chest. Remus giggled and rubbed his back.

“How do ya feel DeeDee?” Remus quietly asked. “B-B-Blanket..” Deceit said so softly it almost wasn’t audible. Remus pulled the blanket over them and grinned. He wrapped his arm around Deceit and pulled him close to his chest. Deceit blushed and snuggled Remus. Remus would never admit it, but he thought Deceit was absolutely adorable. Deceit could feel his body warming up already. They both laid there snuggling, until they drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey there! Sorry it’s kinda short! I don’t think anyone’s gonna see this anyways but whatever! Imma keep doin what I love to do! And that is, making cringey fanfics. 🙃 So have a nice day/night guys gays and non-binary pals!

#sander sides deceit #sander sides #dukeceit #demus #demus sanders sides #demus fluff #deceit sanders #thomas sanders #remus sanders #creativity sanders #sanders sides #sanders side fic #sander sides fanfiction #sander sides fic #sander sides fandom

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recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

FEATURE: *Updated* Every Time Subaru Dies in Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

Editor's Note: Death count has been updated as of 12/28/2020

Content and Spoiler Warning: This article contains huge spoilers for Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-. It also contains references to death (in various gruesome flavors), violence, and suicide, so reader discretion is strongly advised.

If you're familiar with the premise of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (aka “Anime Groundhog Day,” hereafter Re:ZERO), then you know that for reasons that yet remain mysterious and that likely involve witchcraft, the hero of the show, Natsuki Subaru, has a pretty rough time after he ends up in a fantasy world with a limited form of reincarnation.

Every time Subaru dies, the timeline resets from his perspective to an earlier “save point,” allowing him to re-live scenarios and attempt to alter their outcome for the better. The process is far from perfect and often horrendously painful, as only Subaru retains his memories from defunct timelines, and he's unable to communicate the experience of this phenomenon to his friends, allies, and loved ones.

youtube

With that in mind, we here at Crunchyroll have chronicled every time that Subaru expires, passes on, rings down the curtain and joins the choir invisible in the currently published episodes of Re:ZERO, all for the edification of our faithful viewers. Don't fret, folks. No matter how hard Subaru kicks the bucket, he always has another chance to start life in another world from zero.

Please note that the first dozen demises chronicled here use the time-stamps of the original release of Re:ZERO, rather than the Director's Cut. And now, without further ado, the Many Deaths of Subaru Natsuki, Isekai Fantasy Light Novel Protagonist:

Death #1: Sliced Up by Elsa Granhiert (beginning about 3:05 minutes into Episode 1B).

Death #2: Sliced Up by Elsa Granhiert, Again (beginning about 21:40 minutes into Episode 1B).

Death #3: Stabbed by Street Punks (beginning about 3:20 minutes into Episode 2).

Death #4: As-Yet-Undefined Death In the Evening Hours (beginning about 23:55 minutes into Episode 4).

Death #5: Magical Curse + Bonus Bludgeoning by Unknown Assailant (beginning about 22:50 minutes into Episode 5).

Death #6: Bludgeoned by Rem and Sliced Up by Ram (beginning about 1:15 minutes into Episode 7).

Death #7: Unlicensed Cliff-Diving (beginning about 23:50 minutes into Episode 7).

Death #8: Popsicle Impression (beginning about 2:25 minutes into Episode 15).

Death #9: Freezing Decapitation Double Whammy (beginning about 21:10 minutes into Episode 15).

Death #10: Frozen Solid & Smashed to Pieces by Puck (beginning about 2:10 minutes into Episode 18).

Death #11: Magic & Sword Assisted Suicide to End Petelgeuse's Possession (beginning about 21:10 minutes into Episode 23).

Death #12 from Season 2: Reenacting Romeo & Juliet While Trying to Rescue Rem (beginning about 13:10 minutes into Episode 26).

Death #13: Sliced Up by Elsa Granhiert, Once More, With Feeling (beginning about 25:20 minutes into Episode 30).

Death #14: Sliced Up by Elsa Granhiert, Part IV: The Revenge (beginning about 4:35 minutes into Episode 32).

Death #15: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (beginning about 15:55 minutes into Episode 33).

Death #16: Self-Inflicted Stab Wound to Escape Satella's Grasp (beginning about 3:00 minutes into Episode 35).

Death #17: Exsanguination from Countless Bunny Nibbles (beginning about 24:35 minutes into Episode 36).

They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that old adage doesn't really take the effects of “Return by Death” into account. Luckily for the viewers, Subaru persists despite the constant threat of death and dismemberment, growing as a person and becoming more nuanced as a character with every incarnation, involuntary or otherwise.

Special thanks go to Kara Dennison and Kevin Matyi for chronicling the lifes and deaths of poor Natsuki Subaru. If you'd like a little more Re:ZERO in your life, you can always check out the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL Re:ZERO REWATCH where Crunchyroll's writers explored the series. The second season of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, and English language versions of the original Re:ZERO light novels are available from Yen Press.

What's your favorite (or least favorite) manner of Subaru being sent to meet his maker? Which scenes did you find particularly visceral or dramatic? Let us know in the comments section below, and stay safe out there, isekai fantasy light novel fans!

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Paul Chapman

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

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grouptalekindnesssoulstories · 4 years

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You can’t be my soulmate!

So, I kinda got a sugar rush when I was watching a tiktok compilation on youtube. And the idea of the first words but with multiple people popped in my head. So I decided to do a lil snippet. I may still have too much in my system but eehhhhhhh just makes my brain go zoom!

Warnings: Misgendering, manipulation, a mention of homophobia, mention of disownment

What are you laughing at hot topic? haunted each day that Virgil didn’t find his soulmate.

I love the new outfit caused Roman to switch up his attire everyday he could, but being a well-known actor made that a common sentence. Not a very common first sentence luckily.

Thanks, why wear those gloves? shamed Ethan every time they removed the aforementioned gloves.

___

I fiddled with my newest piercing, the third on my ears. I had gotten it less than two months ago, which had gotten dirty looks from my parents when i saw them. They had disowned me several years prior after learning I was gay, and trans. With a shit-eating grin, I flipped them a double bird. After they turned away in horror, I mounted my motorcycle and roared down the streets. I parked it behind the restaurant I worked at, locking it up on a special pole my brother had installed when I got hired.

“Reeem. Seen our parents lately?” I called as I shoved open the back door. He poked his head back, tilting his sunglasses down as I removed my patchwork hoodie.

“What parents. All you’ve got is me, babes. But, yes. I saw the people who birthed us a few days ago. I assume you ran across them and they disapproved?”

“Of what? My top surgery, new piercing? Answer to that one is all of it” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and waved to one of his partners, Remus. I tapped my ear after tying on an apron. He pulled out his ear so I could see the blue pin in it. I shot a thumbs-up as I straightened my posture to wait on my first table. The first few hours passed in a blur of people I didn’t care to make note of.

“Excuse me, sir. I believe we have a reservation?” A weedy man flagged me down. I raised an eyebrow as I checked the schedule.

“Only one, and that’s for R. Roy. One sec-” I turned around and shouted over my shoulder “Re? What time was the reservation coming in?”

“That’s for m-”

“Uh, 3 o’clock or so” Remus surfaced, cutting off the man.

“I’m afraid I’m here on Mr. Roy’s beh-” The man tried again, this time I cut him off.

“That was twenty minutes ago. And where did Brit go? They were supposed to be doing this”

“EXCUSE ME. I AM HERE TO MAKE SURE MR. ROY’S TABLE IS READY” The man practically screamed, cutting off our conversation.

“Ah, I’m afraid he’ll have to come himself. We only answer to our customers” Re cut in, smiling wide.

“You and I both know that isn’t true you idiot” An almost-familiar voice accompanied the man himself.

“RoRo!” My sibling-in-law immediately brightened, scooping the smaller man into a hug. I chuckled behind one hand as the man made breathless protests. When he was at last released, my laughter got louder because it was the Roman Roy, and his appearance was all mused up now.

“I’m so sorry sir! I’ll go get your backup right now!” The assistant started to buzz nervously around the famous man, reminding me of a fly.

“No, no. I’ll be fine. This is a family place, so it’s not a big deal if I look a little messed up” He soothed, waving the man out the door. My laughter had not ceased by the time he had turned his attention to me.

“What are you laughing at hot topic?” I clasped my wrist as the words tattooed across it flared with heat. I shoved the discomfort down, offering my hand.

“Only your fly-like assistant. I’m Virgil Maelstrom. I’m the younger brother of that idiot’s partner. Or one of them at least” Mr Roy took my hand, shaking it briskly before following Remus to the table near the counter. I pulled down my sleeve to see a name written under my words. Roman. I was soulmates with ROMAN ROY the singer! How did I end up with him. Emile caught me staring numbly as new words appeared beneath the original ones.

“So. Finally met your soulmate?” They asked, a soft smile gracing their features. The smile that had caused my crush all those years ago. I had long grown out of it, but it still held power for their partners and me.

“One of them I guess. It’s Roman Roy” I whispered the last part, showing them my arm. They hummed thoughtfully, messaging their own wrist. Rem had told me about his own experiences all those years ago, but to actually experience it was insane.

“Well, why don’t you go tell him?”

“I...can’t. He didn’t react to me saying anything. It was like I was just another person, y’know?”

“Well, as your sibling-in-law, I say we’re gonna tell him. C’mon” They pulled me after them. I tried to make excuses, but the doctor was in full help mode. There would be no stopping them.

“Uh, what’s up honey?” Re asked, looking confused at the determined march.

“Roman. Good to see you. I found you a soulmate” They yanked me forward as they spoke, lighting up in pride.

“Look, I’m sorry. They’re just re-” I started babbling, reaching my exposed arm up, forgetting it was free for anyone to read.

“That’s my name” A soft voice interrupted me. Then a whoop from Re shattered the shock.

“Lil’ bro! Look at that, two siblings, two chance meetings in this restaurant!”

“What did you say your name was-ow!” He cried out as words burned into his arm. Only your fly-like assistant -Virgil appeared beneath another set of words.

“I- Virgil. I’m Virgil Maelstrom. And it looks like we have another soulmate” He scooted over, nodding for me to sit by him. I took it hesitatingly, watching as his hands started moving as Remus drew him back into a conversation. The shop was closed as Roman ate, and paid for the rest of us to join him. I buzzed nervously, playing my my earring once more. It wasn’t until we were cleaning up when Roman approached me.

“So. Uh. Virgil? Would you. Would you w-. Wouldyoubemyboyfriend?” He stammered, so at odds with how he was when in the public eye. I nodded mutely, and he swept me into a hug.

~Elsewhere, A few months later?~

My hands shook as I reached for the top shelf. I wobbled, leaning heavily on my cane. I snarled, planting my cane firmly and stretching for the stuff I had put up there.

“Sir, do you need help?” A woman approached me. I nodded, and she got it down easily.

“Thank you mx-”

“Oh, no. It’s Mrs. Smith. Have a good day sir!” She pranced off, ignoring my protest that I was not a ‘sir’. The fire that had scarred me burned away my gender too. I hoisted the bag onto my good shoulder and walked the opposite way. I did not look forward to returning to the place I was forced to call ‘home’.

“I’m home” I called, opening the door slowly. My girlfriend ran around the corner, beaming.

“Sweetie! I missed you so much! I was gonna be so sad if you hadn’t gotten back so soon!” She nearly yelled, her face dropping slightly at the thought.

“No, I wouldn’t. You know I try to be home as soon as I can” I offered a soothing smile. She took my cane and dragged me after her. She ignored my winces, her face screwed up so she couldn’t see. I kept as quiet as I could until the tv concert of Double R. I beamed as he sung, his current outfit looking so much better on him than the previous. When it had finished, my girlfriend was fast asleep on the opposite side of the couch. On a complete whim, I stood up and limped to the door. Taking my cane, I set out on a walk.

~~~~

“Ro, be careful. You’re easily recognizable” Virgil begged as I stepped outside.

“Don’t worry my storm cloud. I promise to not draw unnecessary attention-” He snorted so I revised my statement with a glare “-I promise not to draw any attention to myself. I’ll be back soon”

“Whatever. I’ll have my phone on me, so call if you get in trouble” He closed the door behind him. We had been dating for a few months, and they’d been the best (and safest, but don’t tell Virgil that) of my life. I couldn’t wait to meet the third member of our soulmate bond though. I drew the hood of my sweatshirt, borrowed from Virge, up over my head. I wandered aimlessly for a while before deciding to get some milkshakes before heading back. I bumped into someone as I was putting in my earbuds.

“Oh my gosh, are you ok?!” I asked them, and they waved me off.

“Yea whatever” They mumbled to the ground. I offered them a hand up. They took it and when meeting my eyes, just stared.

“I love the new outfit!” They finally blurted out. I let out a yelp as my arm suddenly got warm.

“Thanks! I uh, I think you should know that you may be my second soulmate?” I said, drawing back my sleeve to show them my first message. Just like when Virgil’s message had finally appeared on my arm, there was a name there now. Blocky letters spelled out: Ethan.

“I...yea. That’s my name. I’m Ethan! Ethan Snips. They/them please” they spoke hurriedly. I nodded, sweeping them up into a hug.

“C’mon! You’ve gotta meet your other soulmate now” I smiled as they stared in disbelief when my own first sentence to them appeared with my name.

___

I was soulmates with Roman. Roy! And there was a third person. I obviously needed to meet them as I had their message left. But I had two soulmates and one of them is famous!

“Wait I- nevermind. Please, just take me to meet them” I smiled, limping after him as quickly as possible. He bought three milkshakes, which he rudely refused to give me mine until we got back. We were near his trailer when I heard her.

“She doesn’t sound happy” Roman turned nervously towards the sound.

“No, she isn’t. Hurry, please” I nearly shoved him in my haste to get away.

“Bad?” He asked, meeting my eyes. I noticed he didn’t even seem to register my scars

“Very bad” I nodded, raising a hand up towards my blind eye as if it would keep her from coming.

“HELP! SECURITY!” He screamed at the top of his lungs before scooping me up and running. I yelped, clinging to my cane and the arm wrapped around my chest.

“Princey, you idiot, what did you do!” A dark haired man appeared, one hand already on his hip.

“Reeescued someone?” Roman smiled charmingly.

“You idiot. He’s pretty, so I can see why you wanted to be knight in shining armor”

“No, you’re prettier. Handsome! Like the moon” I mumbled dazed.

“Thanks, why wear those gloves?” I saw his frazzled gaze on my threadbare gloves. I clapped one hand to my arm where warmth radiated suddenly. I raised my cane in answer.

“This is Ethan! Our second soulmate! Uh, they/them. I need to explain to the head of security why I uh...just screamed. Have fun!” Roman dashed out the door.

“I’m Virgil. I’m assuming that was your mark suddenly warm, so my name should be under it” He sat a few feet away, playing with a small ball. I checked, and that was true. He didn’t move any closer or try to continue the conversation. It seemed like his question was more of a defense mechanism than him actually asking.

“Virgil?”

“Hm? What’s up?” He looked up.

“What’s your family like?” There was a small chuckle as he picked up the ball and started tossing it between his hands.

“Well, I’m assuming you don’t want to hear about my parents. They disowned me a few years back. My older brother Remy basically raised me anyways. He married Ro’s older sibling, and Dr. Picani. I work at the restaurant they own. I met Ro a few months back when he came in, and we started dating”

“Oh.” I traced the end of my shoe in thought.

“Here. A secret for a secret? I’ll you something most people don’t know about me for something about you?”

“Uh, sure. My middle name is Daniel”

“Ohhhh that’s kinda sweet! Well, I’m trans”

“Huh. And once again society has made equal exchange impossible”

“Ah! I see we have a philosopher” Roman came back in, kicking off his shoes and handing out replacement milkshakes.

“Yea. it happened aft-After a certain`”

“You don’t have to tell us if you’re not ready. We have time” Virgil interrupted me.

“No. No, I want it in the open. I was caught in a fire, which caused serious damage to most of my left side, and my hands” I pulled off my gloves, showing the scars that across them. Virgil reached over, offering a hand in invitation. I shook my head and he withdrew it without comment. I already felt safer with these two than I had with anyone else.

#sanders sides #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic roman #sympathetic virgil #manipulation #prinxieceit

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afraidof-thedark · 5 years

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My family and I see the same chiropractic doctors - a husband and wife team. When we first started going I remembered their office having two large photos - one of them as a family, and one of their two young boys. One was probably 2 and the other 4 or 5. After a few months I went back in and the wife was pregnant with the third - she was also licensed to do chiropractic work on other pregnant women and babies/toddlers, and she’d been working on a baby that day and came out of the room holding them and smiling while also being pregnant - I remembered thinking that was very cute - on my return even later she was out after having had the baby and I remember having to wait long as her husband rushed around trying to take both of their patient loads for the day.

Fast forward to my mom going in. They have a conversation that my mom is sharing with me later in the week and she said she had told him, “well, when you have kids, yada yada yada...”

I was immediately confused and said, “Mom, he has three already.”

She swore he didn’t, and so did my dad and brother. Up and down, everyone swore.

Next time I went in and asked, and sure enough, no kids - just cats. I was heavily disassociating the rest of the day.

I have vivid memories of photographs of them as a family, photographs of the two boys together, and of seeing her pregnant and hearing about the delivery. I even remember her complaining about her feet hurting one day while being on the tail end of the pregnancy.

It still bothers me almost every day.

EDIT: to preface these, no, I am not mentally ill.

All of my other glitches aren't really long stories, except for one I'll tell at the end. Most of them are small things like dropping something and having it completely disappear, even when moving furniture to try to find it, or later on to clean or something.

I hear voices calling my name a lot, clear as day, resembling my family's.

I do have vivid dreams. This was not a dream. My father was with me both times, things were read and signed, clocks were working. We worked in the same building for a few years and would make appointments on the same day, and then he'd drop me home. My dreams are fucking weird and glitchy as well, though. Almost every time. To the point where it's annoying and I'm not sleeping well even though I'm obviously hitting REM.

The only other big glitch I've (possibly) experienced (I still haven't decided), was during clinicals for nursing school. We had them for a while at an older hospital that they were renovating. The floor we were on had a second wing that was closed up. When we looked through the door, we could only see plastic tarps on the floors, and empty stations.

We went down to the cafe to get lunch, and on our way down we'd passed a wall that used to have art hanging on it. There was a sign above for the city's arts program but no paintings, just places where they used to be framed by dust.

I told the other two I was with that I had to use the restroom and I'd meet them back upstairs. There were another set of elevators near the bathrooms, so I took those instead of walking all the way back down the hall and around the corner. The elevator was really unsteady and noisy, and when the doors opened I was staring at a completely demolished nurse's station, some wires hanging from the ceiling, and the tarps on the floor. I just thought, "Oh, shit. I got off on the renovation side" so I started walking down to the double doors that I thought lead to the actual wing. I passed completely empty rooms, some that still were fully furnished, and I just felt really uneasy the whole time. I got to the doors and they were locked and all I could see was darkness on the other side, so of fucking course I sped back to the shaky elevators and went back down to take the set I knew would dump me where I needed to be.

When I got back downstairs though, there was one singular woman halfway through hanging art on that empty wall. And the wall was big. Yards and yards across. It was a whole wall of a hospital hallway. She smiled at me and I felt even weirder. I made it back upstairs and proceeded to tell everyone that I had accidentally played the elevator game. They hadn't seen that woman on their way back, and I'd only been about 5-10 minutes behind them.

There are other tiny things that I can't even remember because they happen so often. I always joke I must be dying and slipping into other universes constantly.

-u/little_doer

#glitch in the matrix #glitch #strange

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