#in conclusion: let's create life 2 where everything is so so beautiful for everyone

[hxhhasmysoul]

Is Jujutsu Kaisen feminism for 15yo boys?

The short answer is yes, so you can skip the rest of this ridiculously long post.

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Disclaimers:

If you haven’t read the manga up until chapter 204 you’ll see spoilers here, also you probably won’t know what/who I’m talking about at times.

I have adhd, this is rambly af, this post is actually for me to organise my thoughts and not a hot take I want to convince others to buy into. but anyone is welcome to read if they have the patience.

They/them pronouns for Akutami because if the cursed cat isn’t explicitly assigning a gender to themself, hell if I will. 

They/them pronouns for Kenny. 

Now let’s watch this post age like dairy. I so hope it won’t, Gege please don’t disappoint me.

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Let’s go. 

There are a few things that make me obsessed with juju. 

1. The fact that its plot and story structure are my wet dream - all these factions and individuals who are doing their own thing. All of these plots intertwining and coming together.

2. My sweet child Yuuji. *coughs* I mean, juju’s focus on characters. I’m very normal about Yuuji, I fucking swear. 

3. The art, it’s simply beautiful but I also have thoughts.

4. The bs power system, I live for that stuff.

5. It’s aggressively progressive. 

So lets focus on point 5.

Is juju as politically left as I am? Fuck no, not even close. There are things I wish it was braver on, like for instance the queerness. Fuck, braver on its leftism and feminism too. Is it very current and openly and aggressively progressive? Very much so.

If we look at the biggest antagonists of juju we get:

1. Toxic masculinity personified. A hyper-individualist. A 1000yo manosphere youtuber. A guy who thinks that strength should dictate hierarchy. A man who thinks he can hurt whomever he wants for his own pleasure and amusement because everyone is beneath him. A man who doesn’t care for anyone else but himself. A mass murderer and nihilist. 

2. A 1000yo person of unknown gender who presents most often as a man. An eugenicist. Someone entitled to women’s bodies and their reproductive rights. Someone who thinks their own children are only as valuable as they fulfil their ambitions. Someone who thinks they can hurt anyone because their goals are superior, because people are instrumental to them. And also a fucking classist piece of shit. (honestly idk why half of the fandom reacted surprised to the hyper capitalist moment in the recent chapters, as if in their first scene in the entire manga they didn’t say: this is a nuisance but at least it’s the poors that are being burnt to death before my eyes. - Gege didn’t need to add this line there, it’s not relevant to the conversation that is happening then but the line is there anyway.)

3. Two awfully sexist clans which have huge superiority complexes and are built on bloodlines and traditions and breeding for power. 

4. A bunch of mostly faceless old people who pull the strings from the shadows and do everything in the name of the status quo, constantly using tradition as an excuse. Who are afraid of the new, of the changes in society of new technologies. They won’t even accept them when they create powerful sorcerers. 

5. A male presenting personification of human hate and fear of one another. Who again, feels entitled to the bodies of others and doesn’t respect the bodily autonomy of others. Who’s a destructive and cruel nihilist. 

6. A young man who got radicalised into fascism because he was faced with the horrors of the status quo, of toxic tradition and backwater thinking and drew the wrong conclusions as to how to fix it.

On the other side we get kids and tired and/or silly millennials. And isn’t that just like real life, where the inaction and misdeeds of the previous generations blows up in the faces of today’s teens.

1. Teenagers. Teenagers who either don’t have family connections and come from lower classes. Or outcasts from their rich and powerful families. Children betrayed by traditions and the status quo. Children used or targeted by old people, ostracised, disrespected and violated. Children who have to suffer and die because the old people are only concentrating on maintaining the status quo. 

2. Gojou, this ex edgy teen who saw his bf (I won’t police how you read that) get redpilled and radicalised into fascism. It was all fun and games, stanning the joker and tyler durden until Getou decided to seriously go full on fasc with it and Gojou was like: man for real? I thought we were memeing here. So then Gojou turned into one of those “this is how I got off the far right pipeline” videos. Gojou is actually this rich privileged boy but he’s trying, he really is taking his best shot at progressivism. (sealed)

3. A feminist who’s calling out and fighting worthless old farts who feel entitled to women’s bodies. And who wants to change the world to make life better for everyone. 

4. A socially conscious man disillusioned with capitalism who takes a lot of responsibility for other people. (deceased)

5. A victim of eugenics who tries to be a good older brother to his brothers, also victims of eugenics. (the only one here who’s actually over 30)

6. Some other, less important, decent people in their twenties.

There are few people over 30 in juju that deserve any respect.

1. Headmaster Yaga, single dad. Does felting as a hobby. (deceased)

2. Yoshino Nagi, good single mum. (deceased)

3. Iori Utahime, a woman trying her best to do right by the teens despite having to work with Gojou.

4. Higuruma Hiromi, an idealist, mentally broken by the realities of the criminal justice system. Hobby: 5 min therapy sessions. 

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Juju isn’t in any way shy about the fact that we should not respect elders when they fucking destroy everything. It’s established very early on that regressive traditionalists suck. That passive adults suck. That the status quo sux. That it should be the duty of adults to protect the children and not to make the world worse for everyone. That educating the youth and instilling different values in them is what can save us all, if we’re not beyond saving. That we need social change. We even get teen Noritoshi’s story, a cautionary tale about respectability, about trying to satisfy the requirements of the system to protect your own and how that is doomed to fail. And my leftist soul resonates with all that. 

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So in this clear leftist propaganda there is also feminism.

And Gege does their best feminism when they aren’t trying, especially when they aren’t trying to verbalise it. My suspicion is that with this much internalised leftism Gege has internalised a lot of feminism but at a  conscious level the fact that Gege was most likely socialised male takes its toll. 

What I mean by that is that Nobara’s girlboss rant at Momo is weak. But I will give it a pass because Nobara is 16 and nothing about her screams discourse junkie so you know, it fits her character. Because even at it its least inspired the feminism in juju deserves a passing grade. Gege is trying.

There’s also the sad truth of shounen that women just aren’t meant to be prioritised in it, that it’s not the genre expectation. The fact that Maki gets so much focus and page time, that she has her own fucking arc, it’s already a lot for shounen. The fact that she’s built and now also permanently disfigured and the dudebros and weebs still worship the ground she walks on is a fucking achievement in itself. Proof that if you write a female character well you can take away her standard beauty and not tank her popularity. It’d be still much harder to make her not typically pretty from the start and achieve this but culture changes one step at a time. I wish we were there but we aren’t so I’m going to appreciate what I can get.

Maki is both verbalised and implicit feminism. Verbalised because she fucking slaughters a whole fucking clan of misogynists. It’s not subtle. Implicit because of her appearance and personality. She’s written like a male character but not meaning that she’s masculine or that she could be replaced in the narrative by a man. No, she has a narrative arc of her own, she’s written with agency and with no regard for making her personality be pleasing or oriented towards others. And her story is specifically a story of a woman in the world of jujutsu. 

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Generally, in most cases, if you try to apply the feminist lens to a shounen manga you’ll just make yourself sad. You can do it for some shounen characters or plotlines and get something nice but you need to be very careful not to try to generalise that onto the whole work. My enjoyment of a lot of titles is dependant on my very conscious choice to rein in my feminism and leftism. 

With juju, though, with juju you’re safe. You can do it. You can go for it. It’s not going to be the most radical and mind-blowing experience ever but it’s possible.

Because the female characters aren’t where the most of the feminism is. They can’t be, it’s a shounen and they don’t get enough pagetime. The verbalised feminism is very clear in how the villains are framed, how much misogyny you can find among the evil characters. The implicit feminism, the better one, is very strong in the young male characters. 

Unlike in a lot of hyper violent media targeted at boys, in juju you never have these lines about what a man should be. Or what it means to be a man, especially a true man. What is most important is that nothing like that is ever said to a teenage boy. On the side we’re meant to root for we get a lot of different men and none of them are labelled as “true”. They are there for readers to identify with, to model behaviour after. And because no teen in the manga has his masculinity questioned then no reader will have to question his. Juju won’t contribute to such insecurity for anyone, an insecurity that can turn violent irl. 

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Girls in juju are people.

What’s more, all the teen guys in juju have extremely normal relationships with the girls around them. They just interact with them without any exaggerated awkwardness or this “girls are strange, we can’t bond with them unless we want to date them”. Among the teens, the new generation, the hope for the future, there’s no separation built between men and women. Not through words and not through actions.  

The nonsexual, organic friendship, built on idiot to idiot communication, Yuuji and Nobara have, gives me life. And it happens despite Yuuji not understanding Nobara at first. Because it doesn’t matter that she’s different from him, they don’t dwell on it, they don’t try to make the differences into a big thing, into a rift. There’s no big arc of them working out their differences because these differences aren’t artificially blown up to underline some core differences between men and women. They can fail to understand each other totally but they can still be friends, they can still vibe with one another, care for one another. Femininity and masculinity don’t need to be some issues to deal with while forming a friendship between a guy and a girl. 

It’s fascinating how Yuuji fighting together with Megumi isn’t half as exciting and organic as when he fights together with Nobara. Their strengths and powers compliment each other so well. I’m actually angry that Gege didn’t let them fight Mahito together longer. Even if they would’ve done to Nobara the same thing they did. Why not let them be epic together again? (I’m also super angry at what they did to Nobara, she better come back, fucking hell)

And it’s a pattern too. Despite Yuuji being very much socialised as a guy in a very patriarchal and sexist society, so much so that he has a type at 15 and hangs bikini posters on his walls, he hasn't turned girls into aliens in his mind. They are still just people in his head. When Yuuji interacts with a real woman the male socialisation isn’t deeply rooted enough to hinder him. It’s never an issue.

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Toudou

Toudou tries to do this very masculine bonding thing with Yuuji and Yuuji is super confused by it. Because Yuuji’s relationships aren’t built on the concept of masculinity. And I mean Yuuji bonds with Toudou eventually because it’s Yuuji but we are shown the struggle when with Nobara or Megumi or Junpei it just happens. Also Yuuji is the only one who bonds with Toudou but that’s because Yuuji is compassion. 

Toudou is generally disliked and his dumb male posturing contributes to that. Also in the Japanese context it’s very clear that Toudou is an unserious person and that’s how he’s meant to be perceived. If you have any doubt about that, the juju fanbook is there for you where Gege is very clear about that. Basically the idol thing is there to paint Toudou as immature. The whole conversation Megumi has with Toudou is a very clear lesson for teen boys. Be like Megumi and girls will like you, if you are a Toudou you’re a joke. You can be built and powerful and clever and still be a joke and girls won’t like you.

I like Toudou a lot btw, I actually think it’s funny that an 18yo boy thinks he reached some deeper truth about people because he knows what a fetish or kink is and he’s tactless enough to ask openly about it. It’s fucking hilarious but also some teen boys just be like that unironically. But I also like him because of how his character is framed and how he functions in the story. Because Toudou gives another important lesson to teen boys. A lesson about rejection. In the story he makes up in his head we see him confessing his feelings to Takada and she turns him down. And he just takes it. This is such an important message. In Japan stalking is a huge problem, stalkers murdering their victims is a problem. Men who feel entitled to women in such a violent way. And here we have a guy who gets rejected and takes the L with grace. And all he wants is for his best friend to console him. 

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I’m very normal about Yuuji.

So the balls on Gege to name their typically shounen protag “calm compassion”, or maybe “endless humanity”, “endless compassion”, “quiet humanity”, all of the above? More?

Gojou says that to be a sorcerer one needs to be crazy. And he says that Yuuji has a few screws loose from the start. The thing is that yes, Yuuji is odd but not in the way the rest of the sorcerers are. So far in the manga Yuuji has never entered the state of mind that to my understanding Gojou is thinking about when he talks about being crazy. What I think Gojou means is this state of unhinged glee during the fight. And the ability to compartmentalise the fights and the kills. 

So far in his fights Yuuji has been neutral, proud of himself when he was doing well, hyper focused, frustrated, desperate, depressed and filled with all-consuming rage. Never filled with unhinged glee. And he hasn’t compartmentalised any fight, any failure or any kill, not one, they all seep into a huge ball of guilt inside him. And it’s his kills and Sukuna’s together. Yuuji’s compassion is actively destroying him from the inside. Yuuji can’t disconnect from his humanity and that’s a basic job requirement for a sorcerer. 

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Yuuji constantly shows how much emotional intelligence he has. When he defuses the situation with Junpei at the school. When Megumi finds out about Tsumiki going under the bridge. When he’s with Chousou. When he puts his depression on hold to help Megumi during the culling game. He shows understanding, emotional support, physical contact and prioritises the emotions of others over his own. 

Compassion, empathy, responsiveness towards others, willingness to adjust and accommodate aren’t stereotypically masculine traits. No, they are culturally feminine in many places around the world, including Japan. 

Yuuji is also passive and reactive despite being stronger than normal people, and that too is culturally more feminine than masculine. Yuuji doesn’t really have much of the shounen protag drive. It can be lit in him in the form of resilience or determination or rage but it’s not self-sustaining, reactive not proactive

And speaking of Japan and East Asia, what Yuuji is displaying can’t be written off as collectivism either. Because these reactions are personal, they aren’t towards the society at large. They aren’t giri aka a specifically culturally Japanese sense of duty, or any other of several similar concepts. There is no sense of duty or obligation in what Yuuji does, not on a group level. Yuuji says that he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if people got hurt because he didn’t try to get rid of Sukuna. For him it’s not because it’s the moral thing to do, or the right thing to do but because he’s concerned about the suffering of those people on this very empathetic level. As Nanami says: he genuinely gets upset on behalf of others. 

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That might be why Yuuji isn’t really that popular as a character. Maybe that’s why people prefer Megumi who’s more typically masculine, stoic, distant, intellectual but also proactive and not reactive in his violence and values.

A lot of people consider Yuuji weak. They complain about how much he loses and how in most of his fights he gets carried by other characters, how they are actually the winning factor and not him. 

I actually like that a lot. I think it makes the story interesting, it makes Yuuji interesting that he’s at his best when he’s not alone, that he’s actually doing best when he’s support. That his strength is in how he compliments others. I honestly don’t want him to change into a more typical shounen protagonist. Thematically the way his fights go suits him perfectly because humans are a social species, we thrive on cooperation. And if Yuuji is boundless humanity he shouldn’t stand alone. 

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I’m very normal about Yuuji so it turned into a post about him. I swear this wasn’t the plan. The plan was to write about leftist propaganda. The other guys in juju are actually really cool too. Like Megumi, him constantly trying to figure out his values and reconcile what’s happening around him with them is great. Yuuta with his need to belong and justify himself is amazing. Chousou the family oriented sap (please survive baby). Hakari who said fuck you to the conservatives even though he wasn’t so well positioned as Gojou and it resulted in him getting ostracised. I’m not going to shout out everyone or go deeper into these characters but I really like how there isn’t one type of masculinity in juju. 

I don’t know how much these are conscious choices by Gege, or how much it’s just their internalised leftism seeping through. But it’s nice. It feels good to read. And I hope that because the messaging isn’t always as didactic as with the Zen’in or the Kamo clans, that it’ll go down well and actually be this tiny crumb of feminism in the minds of 15yo boys who read it. And with how hype juju is atm, I hope that overt leftism will strengthen in the pop cultural mainstream directed at boys. And with it feminism.  

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Could juju be better?

Of course, there’s no perfect work of art. No author is perfect and perfectly enlightened. No work is ever going to 100% match with anyone’s politics, sensibilities or expectations. etc etc. But I really think juju already does a lot. The fact that it’s open to a feminist reading is a lot. And I appreciate it for it.

I really wish juju was better on the queer stuff but I’m wary of assigning blame here. Idk if it’s Gege who misunderstands stuff and is uninformed and crude. Or is it because they write a shounen series for Shounen Jump a corporation which is averse to risk. 

I really wish Kirara had a canon gender and identity. I wish Gege made an official call on Kenny’s gender as they did with Tengen. I wish Gege also clearly stated that Kenny is Yuuji’s mum because the fandom cishets are really twisting themselves into pretzels trying to come up with theories that the mum is actually some woman controlled by Kenny and not Kenny. I wish Gege made NobaMaki canon instead of drawing fanart of the ship and pretending it’s not what it looks like. And even though ItaFushi leaves me mostly cold I wish Megumi’s answer proved to be what all the itafushis headcanon it to be, even if it was to prove to be one sided. I wish I wish I wish.

#off topic #rambling #my ramblings #jjk #collecting my thoughts #i write out my adhd i'm sorry #i didn't even talk about character designs but i ran out of steam #i have extreme juju brainrot #this is the tip of the iceberg #i'm sure i forgot half the things i wanted to say #i will regret this in the morning

[ga-yuu]

Yoritomo & Yoshitsune - Chapter 4

-----Part 1-----

(The relationship between Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama....but it might be a selfish idea for me to try to do something about it, isn't it?)

----When I was having these troubling thoughts in my room....

*BOOM*

Yoshino: "Woah what the!?"

Suddenly I heard something like an explosion from outside.

(No way, another attack from the underworld!?)

..........

I quickly hurried to the garden, where I heard the sound and....

Yoshino: "What? What the hell is this hole?"

The ground is deeply gouged and garden stones and trees have been blown over.

Morinaga: "Oh good morning, Yoshino. It's a beautiful day isn't it?"

Tamamo: "Are you out for a walk? There were some beautiful flowers blooming this morning by the pond."

Kurama: "I have no use for a boring little puss. Go away."

Ibuki: "Kurama being Kurama again and ordering people around. You're the outsider here, she's the resident."

Yoshino: "....Wait. Why is everyone acting so normal? There is a hole in the ground. Don't you think it's strange?"

I asked fearfully.

Morinaga: "Ah, you mean this?"

Yoshino: "Yeah..."

Morinaga: "Actually...."

Morinaga: "It was a casual question I asked that kind of got things going a bit."

Yoshino: "Question?"

According to Morinaga-san's explanation-----

It seems that Morinaga-san was standing around talking with these three demons who bumped into him in the corridor this morning.

-----FLASHBACK-----

Morinaga: "----By the way, there's something that's been bothering me for a while."

Tamamo: "What? Morinaga."

Morinaga: "Who is the strongest of the three of you?"

Kurama and Ibuki: ".........."

Tamamo: "......."

Kurama: "Me."

Morinaga: "Wow."

Ibuki: "Aww, the baby chick hasn't even hatched from its egg yet and it's already calling itself the mightiest. You need to live for another 1000 years if you want to get close to my power level."

Kurama: "You be careful to not lose your teeth and horns, Grandpa."

Tamamo: "You two need to stop your sterile squabbling."

Tamamo: "By the way, I'm the most beautiful among the three."

Ibuki: "No one asked that."

After that, they all discussed their powers, ability, combat style etc....

In the end, they all exhibited their own strengths, and no one give an answer on the spot as to who was the best....

Morinaga: "I'm still hazy about such conclusions."

Ibuki: "Oh"

Tamamo: "Oh."

Kurama: "....."

Morinaga: "If you fight a hundred battles, there are a hundred different winners."

Morinaga: "But don't you still want to risk everything just once today, to play the game that decides who is the strongest?"

Kurama: "........"

Morinaga: "Time, place, circumstances...there are many factors that determines who wins and who loses...."

Morinaga: "Some people think that the real strong man is the one who has the luck of the hour!"

Kurama: "----You."

Morinaga: "Hm? Where is this wind coming from?"

Kurama: "I like you, Adachi Morinaga. I permit you to join Yoshitsune."

Morinaga: "I'm honored, but in this life, my lord will only be Yoritomo-sama... Also, this is the first time I see a tornado inside the corridor."

Ibuki: "Why are you reacting like that?"

Tamamo: "I have a feeling it's going to be messy."

Kurama: "Now let's decide who's the strongest."

----At the same time as the words, a blade of wind was released from Kurama.

----FLASHBACK ENDS----

(So that's what happened)

After listening to the words, I could not help but relax.

Morinaga: "We managed to get him out into the garden quickly."

(That's why nobody came except me when I heard such a loud noise)

Yoshino: "So a brawl broke out here and the result was this disaster..."

Tamamo: "That's the result of Kurama creating a tornado and Ibuki amusingly manipulating its sand with his thunderbolt mutations."

Ibuki: "Don't blame everything on us. You've been putting out foxfire too."

Tamamo: "That was just self-defense. Right? Morinaga."

-----Part 2-----

Tamamo: "That was just self-defense. Right? Morinaga."

Morinaga: "Hmm? Well, they say the attack is the best defense."

Yoshino: "Somehow I understand that there was no one to stop it."

Yoshino: "Kagetoki-san is going to get angry...."

Ibuki: "Originally, it was Morinaga fault for firing Kurama in the first place."

Morinaga: "It's every man's dream to be the strongest, so I just went for it."

(Or rather, Morinaga-san who is so unconcerned about being mixed in with these three demons, is really no ordinary person)

Kurama: "Hey, we haven't decided on the results yet."

Morinaga: "Ah, then how about we settle this with a kemari match or a sumo?"

Yoshino: "Let's not cause any more tragedies."

But as I watched the big hole in the garden and the four mavericks.

The problems I have seem strangely small.

Yoshino: "....Maybe I should also try something drastic like this."

Kurama: "The chances of you getting strong are slim, so give up."

(Easily disappointed!)

Yoshino: "No, that's not it."

Morinaga: "Is something...troubling you, Yoshino?"

Yoshino: "Hmmm..."

(What should I say?)

Tamamo: "You've been looking a bit pale since you came. I'm worried too."

Ibuki: "Wasn't that because there's a hole in the garden?"

Ibuki's words were brushed off and Tamamo thumped his chest in a good-natured manner.

Tamamo: "Sometimes things work out better when you talk to someone with more life experience than when you're on your own."

Tamamo: "On the other hand, we demons, the three of us together have...2200 years worth of experience right?"

Ibuki: "Huh...was it not 2300?"

Kurama: "I don't know."

Ibuki: "Look at Morinaga. He's got a smug look on his face. Like he's about to call himself everyone's big brother."

Ibuki: "I bet you could use some advice."

(I would certainly like to hear what these four people have to say....)

After a moment, I opened my mouth.

Yoshino: "I'm actually worried about Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama..."

Yoshino: 'Even if the two of them are fighting together, is it still difficult to truly trust each other?"

Tamamo and Morinaga: "........."

Kurama: "----Uninterestingly, Yoshitsune used to miss that brother of his excessively."

Kurama frowned angrily.

Kurama: "It's a stupid thing to do. Leaning on others is what weak people do."

Kurama: "If he had not trusted him blindly, he would not have felt betrayed."

Kurama: "Now that Yoshitsune knows his own mistake, he will not become attached to Yoritomo again."

(I guess so...)

Ibuki: "Love and hate go hand in hand. He's a ruthless big brother to betray his pure-hearted younger brother, right?"

Morinaga, who was listening to us in silence...

Morinaga: "I've been serving Yoritomo-sama for a long time...."

Morinaga: "That time, that man was more conflicted than I had ever seen him before when he decided to kill Yoshitsune-sama."

Tamamo: "---That arrogant and insolent man, who orders everyone around?"

(Seeing Yoritomo-sama behaving perfectly as a Shogun, it is hard to imagine him suffering from his troubles)

(...The Yoritomo-sama I know is certainly a man of blood)

Morinaga: "Yoritomo-sama was destined to bear too much."

Morinaga: "So even if it's his only brother, he was not allowed special treatment. That's how I see it."

(Morinaga-san...)

Ibuki: "----Let's assume that your prediction is correct."

Ibuki squints wickedly.

Ibuki: "In the end, Yoritomo did abandon Yoshitsune despite his conflicted feelings. So who's to say he won't betray him again?"

Ibuki: "Yoritomo's side also has to be constantly on the lookout for Yoshitsune to smack him in the back."

Yoshino: "...Fighting with each other all the time is also dangerous."

Kurama: "---Let them both battle each other till death and make the top and bottom clear. Of course, Yoshitsune will win."

(Top and bottom...)

It is natural, but I can never imagine either Yoritomo-sama or Yoshitsune following someone else.

Tamamo: "Kurama's proposal might not be bad, but ignore the battle to the death part...."

Tamamo: "It might be a good idea to let Yoritomo and Yoshitsune fight it out once."

----Part 3----

Tamamo: "It might be a good idea to let Yoritomo and Yoshitsune fight it out once."

(Eh?)

Yoshino: "But they argue a lot."

Tamamo: "That's just a superficial exchange of words that masked real emotions."

Tamamo: "Yoritomo, who is dexterous when dealing with people he is not really interested in, provokes Yoshitsune very calmly every time."

Tamamo: "I don't know if it's a calculated move or half-aware, but he's trying to get Yoshitsune to not forgive him."

(....Why?)

Morinaga: "Maybe because both of them don't even know how to fight. Because if you think about it, both first met each other when they were adults."

Morinaga: "When I was young, I and my siblings used to fight a lot...."

Morinaga: "Sometimes, if we didn't share our feelings as much as we wanted, things would backfire and we wouldn't be able to make up."

(Sibling fight?)

(Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama certainly don't say what they really think when in front of each other)

(..It's not just about negative emotions...)

In their hearts, they recognize each other's competence but never try to communicate it to each other.

Yoshino: "How can we get the two of them to be able to properly put their feelings on the line for each other."

Morinaga: "How about getting them to work on one thing together?"

Morinaga: "It's a way of building camaraderie and having things in common through working together."

Yoshino: "I see...."

Tamamo: "In the case of those two men, their position as generals makes it so that they would give up on their personal feelings. It would be better to do something that has nothing to with politics or war."

(That's not a bad idea...)

Kurama: "How about a duel?"

Tamamo: "That's something you want to see. This is about how they both feel not about finding who is the strongest."

Ibuki: "Well, so far I can only see a bleak future for Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, no matter what kind of games they play."

Yoshino: "I'm going to slow down and think about it a bit. Peaceful collaboration..."

Seeing only a glimmer of light, I thanked the four of them for their advice.

.............

(However...both of them were really busy and it seems like the opportunity I was looking for was near to impossible)

Yoritomo: "Yoshitsune, have you dispatched the fast horses to the countries under your jurisdiction regarding the matter of the dead?"

Yoshitsune: "No problem. We have informed our neighbors that we are fully prepared for battle and that we will cooperate with each other without conflict of interest?"

Three days after that....

They had developed various measures to prepare for the case of corpses in remote areas or simultaneous attacks.

(Even though the air remains acrimonious, you don't neglect their duties)

(As Tamamo said, they are putting their personal feelings aside)

I was mixed in with their meeting and listened silently to the exchange as it proceeded unobtrusively.

Yoshitsune: "We have also sought cooperation from Sueharu and have arrangements in place to send supplies and force support to various locations."

Yoshitsune: "The plan was drawn up and carried out by Kagetoki from the Shogunate and Yasuchika from the Imperial Court."

Yoritomo: "Yeah. At the same time, I've ordered those three men to collect information from all parts of the country."

(A combination of a black merchant, the shogunate councillor and a genius onmyoji seems to be impossible...)

Yoritomo: "Nevertheless, some countries that don't realize the threat of the dead will take the situation lightly."

Yoritomo: "We need to meet regionally as appropriate and share information."

Yoritomo: "Morinaga would be the right man for the job."

Yoshitsune: "Then from me, I nominate Benkei."

Yoshitsune: "I'm going to ask him to go back to protect Hiraizumi with Kurama while he travels around the rest of the country."

Yoritomo: "That's fair. His majesty and Ibuki will also return to the capital once and prepare for emergencies."

At that time....

Kagetoki: "Yoritomo-sama, Yoshitsune-sama, please excuse me."

(Ah, Kagetoki-san!)

Kagetoki-san appeared in a hurry.

Yoritomo: "What's wrong?"

Kagetoki: "We have just received word that corpses have appeared in a certain country."

Yoshitsune: "Finally."

(....Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama have to fight again)

Yoritomo: "Yoshino, sorry----"

Yoshino: "I'll come with you. Please."

I hide my anxiety and answered right away.

(It was a good thing that I already prepared the medicines and fresh cloth beforehand)

Yoshitsune: "----Yoshino, you're so brave."

----Part 4-----

Yoshitsune: "----Yoshino, you're so brave."

Yoritomo: "Of course, otherwise, she wouldn't have fought you on the battlefield."

Yoshino: "Thank you both of you."

(Both of them are working to save Hinamoto while putting aside their personal problems)

(So, I'll help them in any way I can)

That thought burned in my heart quietly.

They gathered enough troops and left the next day.

A few days later-----

Yoshino: "The sun has completely gone down again today..."

(Tomorrow we're going to reach the country where the corpses are going to attack)

Fortunately, thanks to the advance notice of Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama.

Countries that have been attacked by corpses are also holding out in cooperation with neighboring countries.

At the encampment today, as the soldiers were preparing for the dinner...

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune: "Yoshino."

(Ah)

Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama each came from either side and called me at the same time.

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune: ".......!"

(What a coincidence...)

Yoshino: "Thank you for your hard work today, both of you."

Yoritomo: "No, I think the one who is working hard is you..."

Yoritomo: "Why are you stirring the pot?"

Yoshitsune: "Who forced you to do the chores?"

Yoshino: "No no, that's not it."

Yoshino: "I volunteered to do this."

Yoshitsune: "..But why?"

Yoshino: "If I just sit ideally, I might get nervous thinking about tomorrow."

I smiled at Yoshitsune-sama, who had a face that was confused.

Yoshino: "Besides, it's better to get to know the soldiers a little better before the fighting starts."

Yoshino: "It makes it easier for me to help as a pharmacist in times of need."

Yoshitsune: "....."

Yoritomo: "---You are always like this."

(I remember I used to do miscellaneous work for the Shogunate during the last war)

I recall that Yoritomo-sama has done me a lot of favors for my actions.

Yoshino: "I know a lot of people in the Shogunate though."

Yoshino: "But I have not spoken to Yoshitsune-sama's men at all."

Yoshino: "I wish I could get to know them a little better now...."

(Even just a little, because I don't think they have a good impression of me, because I was on the enemy side)

Yoshitsune: "....You."

Yoshitsune: "You even care about my people?"

(Ah)

Yoshitsune-sama suddenly approached closer and took my hand.

Yoshino: "Um, Yoshitsune-sama...?"

Yoshitsune: "Thank you for caring about my precious people."

The eyes are frighteningly clear and shined brightly.

Yoshitsune: "I apologize for my lack of consideration. I will introduce Yoshino to the soldiers and ensure that there is no impoliteness."

(That's too much!)

Yoshino: "..Y-You don't have to go that far."

Yoshitsune: "No, I----"

(So close)

Yoritomo: "Don't touch her so easily, Yoshitsune."

(Ehh)

Yoritomo-sama snatched my hand from the side and pulled me away from Yoshitsune-sama.

Yoshitsune: "...Yoritomo, I was talking to her."

Yoritomo: "Don't get all carried away, Yochi-tune-chama."

Yoshitsune: "...."

Yoshitsune: "You're also not letting go of Yoshino's hand."

Yoritomo: "I'm more close to this woman than you are, so I can't help it."

Yoshino: "Wait, Yoritomo-sama!?"

As if to provoke me, Yoritomo-sama pulls me closer.

(Mm....)

Yoshitsune: "---It's hilarious that you're so proud of yourself without knowing that it's about to turn around."

Yoshino: "Wait..."

Yoshitsune-sama hugged my shoulder and talked straight back to Yoritomo-sama.

Yoshino: "Wait both of you!"

I impatiently distance myself from both Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama

----Options----

Please don't get angry...(Yoshitsune +4/ Yoritomo+ 2)

I'm no child

----------

Yoshino: "Please don't get so angry about weird stuff, I'm having trouble figuring out what to do..."

Yoshitsune: ".....Trouble?"

Yoritomo: "She's talking to you, reflect on your actions."

Yoshitsune: "I don't want to hear that from you."

Yoshitsune: "How about I chop your head off as a way of reflecting on my actions?"

(Oh no! Death threats again...!)

(If this continues----)

Yoshino: "Ah ouch ouch, my stomach hurts..."

While clenching my stomach, I started a half-baked little play.

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune: ".....?"

-----Part 5-----

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune: ".....?"

Yoshino: "This is bad. I wanted to cook rice, but now I can't do it by myself. What's going to happen now...."

Yoritomo: "Hey."

Yoshitsune: "I don't know anything, but if I can help with something...."

Yoshino: "Help? You two will help me!? Oh my god!!"

I held both of their hands raising them up before giving them the chance to reject.

Yoshino: "Yayy!!Let's work together!"

Yoshitsune: "Yayy...?"

Yoritomo: "Your face is still expressionless."

Yoshino: "Now now, we're running out of time! Let's talk while we cook."

Yoshitsune: "Okay, I'll help, Yoritomo can leave."

Yoshino: "No no! I need TWO people!! I can't finish this without TWO people!"

Yoritomo: "........Both Yoshitsune and I don't know how to cook."

Yoshino: "That's fine. I'll teach you. Anyways, the special ingredient when making any kind of food is sincerity."

Yoshitsune: "...............If Yoshino says so."

(There was a long pause)

Yoritomo: "I don't understand what you're plotting, but looks like we have no choice."

(Great! I was a little afraid of asking these two for help)

(Like Morinaga-san said if I can create an opportunity to get them a little closer by working together on one thing...)

This could be a stupid idea, but it's better than doing nothing.

Yoshino: "Thank you both of you! Then, shall we get started!?"

Thus, both Yoritomo-sama and Yoshitsune-sama started cooking..."

Yoshino: "Yoshitsune-sama, can you also chop these greens into small pieces?"

Yoshitsune: "Okay."

(Wow, so fast)

I was amazed looking at how fast Yoshitsune-sama is chopping the vegetables.

Yoshino: "Wow! You're so fast. Do you really don't know how to cook?"

Yoshitsune: "No. This is my first time chopping vegetables. But I'm great at chopping---meat."

(Hm? Why are you giving a side-eye to Yoritomo-sama?)

Yoritomo: "Stop giving me death glares."

Yoritomo: "....Also, if you keep chopping like that, it will start to look like powder."

Yoshino: "Eh? Oh, Yoshitsune-sama, that's enough."

Yoshitsune: ".....I guess I used all of my strength."

(Yoshitsune-sama might be a skillful person, but why is everything so extreme?)

Yoritomo: "Anyways, Yoshino. Is this okay?"

Yoritomo-sama puts a small amount of soup into a bowl and handed it to me.

Yoshino: "Mm...Ah! It's delicious."

Yoritomo: "I put in the ingredients in the right order, starting with the ones that seemed to be hard to boil. Can I turn off the fire now?"

Yoshino: "Yes. The soup tastes so perfect that I have nothing to say...."

Yoshino: "To be honest, I secretly hoped that you would so something wrong and mess up everything."

Yoritomo: "Even though I've never done it myself, I've seen Morinaga make them when I was a kid."

Yoritomo: "Then I sort out ingredients that can be cooked in terms of hardness and the way they are cut..."

Yoritomo: "I just seasoned it to make sure I got the right amount of salt and sake and stuff for the amount of water."

(Perfection has been demonstrated in all these places...)

Yoshitsune: "........"

Yoshino: "Yoshitsune-sama, would you like to try some?"

Yoshitsune-sama received a bowl with a small amount of soup in it.

Reluctantly he drinks it.

Yoshitsune: ".............I can't feel any sincerity."

Yoritomo: "Don't makeup complaints if you don't have any."

Yoshino: "Ah, Next! Let's make rice balls."

......................

The three of us sat together and started making rice balls.

Yoshitsune: "............"

(Yoshitsune-sama's face looks serious and fully focused, but...)

Yoshino: "Um, Yoshitsune-sama, your rice balls are a little...big..."

Yoshitsune: "I want to make sure my men are healthy and have plenty to eat before going for the battle? ....Am I doing something wrong?"

(W-When you look at me like that, what can I say?)

Yoshino: "No, not at all! You're doing great!"

Yoritomo: "How is it going to fit in their mouth, if you make it that big?"

When I looked at Yoritomo-sama's direction...

I see a line of perfectly shaped rice balls which was the same size as I made.

(You can do anything after all...)

Yoshitsune-sama also pressed his lips in an uninterested manner.

Yoshitsune: "....Hmph, my men are going to eat a lot more than yours."

Yoritomo: "What are we even fighting for this time?"

Yoritomo: "Also how big are you planning to make that rice ball? You have to make many rice balls, not just one."

Yoshitsune: "...."

(Oh no! Yoshitsune-sama is angry. He's really getting angry! I can see it even though he's expressionless...)

Yoritomo: "And don't sprinkle too much salt in everything you see.."

Yoshitsune: "Shut up."

Yoritomo: "If you do tha---muff.."

The big rice ball was shoved into Yoritomo-sama's mouth.

(No!)

Yoshino: "Are you okay!?"

Yoshitsune: "Of course, he is."

Yoritomo: "......"

Yoritomo-sama glares without saying anything because his mouth was filled with rice.

Yoritomo: ".....Yoshitsune."

After finally swallowing the rice, he called in a low voice.

Yoritomo: "If you do that again, I swear you and your men will eat all the rice balls that I made."

Yoshitsune: "Try it, I dare you. I'll just exchange it with the ones Yoshino made."

Yoritomo: "Stop joking. Yoshino's rice balls is only and only for the Shogunate members."

(Hm? Hm?)

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune: "..............."

Both the man who were glaring at each other, suddenly looked at me.

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune: "----Yoshino, what do you say?"

#ikemen series #ikemen genjiden #ikemen genjiden yoritomo #ikemen genjiden yoshitsune #otome #cybird #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #ikemen mc #main story translations

[lucidapricity]

It's smart y/n time:

Reader: *sits down, boss CEO style*

Jungkook: hello beloved, wut did you want to speak to me about?

Reader: I have an essay in my head filled with analyses, and observations with a very interesting conclusion. We're about to do this L Lawliet style.

Jungkook: wait who-

Reader: Let me start by saying, no, I am not a heavenly being, nor am I a witch of some sort. But I think it's quite obvious that you are a demon. I'm a good ass observer. The signs are obvious too. You and your family members are demons. Everyone interesting I've met is a guy, that's #1

Jungkook: o_o

Reader: Number #2, you are all abnormally tall. Number #3, it is only when you and the others are around that I feel sick to my stomach. Number #4, Specifically after I met YOU, my clothes went missing and you act love sick around me. We call that yandere. Number #5, Yoongi refers to me as "mortal/human" suggesting that he isn't one himself. Number #6, I have dreams and the last dream I had, I recall 7 hands feeling up my body. I have met 6 of you, meaning I have one more to meet unfortunately. Number #7, before I met you, there was a stormy day where I heard 7 loud lightning strikes out of the blue. Highly abnormal; and again, the number 7 comes into play. Number #8, Jin, the one I most recently met, doesn't know the simplicities of cooking and when I say that, I mean he doesn't know much about HUMAN food. Number #9, Tae says he's from heaven, and he's right apparently. Number #10, Hobi just so happens to know who Jimin and Yoongi are. Number #11, I asked you where you have been for a year and you "didn't want to talk about it". Number #12, the first time I met you, you looked abnormally beautiful yet had on stray clothing.

Now if we just add everything up, that leads me to suspect you, Jungkook Jeon, are a fallen angel and have been deceiving me this entire time. Your family members included. It's over; you lost the game. I win.

Jungkook: I-how do I respond to this?

Yeah l u c i d a p r i c i t y, how exactly DOES he respond to this? 🤔

ok so first things first, they’re not demons, they’re fallen angels. though it seems like they are the hellish creatures, they aren’t due to various differences in the WotN universe that i implemented in. for the third observation, reader doesn’t really get nauseous around them bc of who they are (at least in their “mortal” forms), it’s mostly her having uneasy feelings and her nerves being all over the place.

if jungkook had to face this kind of energy from the reader, he’d have to create the most abstract lie/excuse ever. or he has to quickly enact the kidnapping at this point since she’s already figured what the whole deal is. that would definitely frustrate the fuck out of namjoon because at that point, he was not ready for her to know everything.

however since the reader isn’t that observant, some of their “quirks” fly over her head: she assumes that jin is just a terrible cook and has never cooked for himself, she’s partially convinced that yoongi remembers the past life he was in, she thinks that tae’s heaven line is just a stupid joke, etc. i think that’s just natural human behavior, reasoning out things that don’t make any kind of sense and process it in a way that helps us understand it so we can feel secure about it.

#lucid-mind #yandere bts #old ask

[plant-baseddietbenefits]

Unleash Your Creativity: Dive into the World of DIY Craft Tutorials

Welcome to a world of endless possibilities, where creativity knows no bounds and imagination takes center stage. In this blog post, we invite you to explore the exciting realm of DIY craft tutorials, where you can unleash your creativity and bring your wildest ideas to life. From handmade gifts to home decor masterpieces, there's something here for everyone to discover and enjoy. So roll up your sleeves, gather your supplies, and let's dive into the wonderful world of DIY crafting!

1. Introduction: Crafting Your Way to Creativity

Step into a world where ordinary materials transform into extraordinary creations, and imagination knows no limits. In this introductory section, we'll set the stage for our exploration of DIY craft tutorials, highlighting the joy, satisfaction, and sense of accomplishment that comes from crafting something with your own two hands. Whether you're a seasoned crafter or a complete beginner, there's something magical about the process of creating something from scratch, and we're here to guide you every step of the way.

2. The Beauty of Handmade: Why DIY Crafts Matter

In this section, we'll delve into the beauty and significance of handmade crafts, exploring the unique charm and character they bring to our lives. From the personal touch of a handmade gift to the sense of pride that comes from creating something with love and care, handmade crafts hold a special place in our hearts. We'll also discuss the importance of supporting independent artisans and makers in an age of mass production and consumerism, and highlight the value of DIY crafting as a form of self-expression and creativity.

3. Getting Started: Essential Tools and Materials

Ready to dive into the world of DIY crafting? In this section, we'll discuss the essential tools and materials you'll need to get started on your crafting journey. From basic supplies like scissors, glue, and paper to specialized tools for specific crafts like knitting needles, paintbrushes, and sewing machines, we'll cover everything you need to know to stock your crafting arsenal and set yourself up for success.

4. DIY Craft Tutorials: Step-by-Step Guides

Now it's time to get crafting! In this section, we'll showcase a variety of DIY craft tutorials, complete with step-by-step instructions and helpful tips to guide you through each project. Whether you're interested in paper crafts, sewing, knitting, painting, or something else entirely, there's a tutorial here for you. From beginner-friendly projects to more advanced creations, there's something for crafters of all skill levels to enjoy.

5. Crafting for Every Occasion: From Birthdays to Holidays

In this section, we'll explore the endless possibilities of DIY crafting for every occasion, from birthdays and weddings to holidays and special events. Whether you're looking to create personalized gifts for your loved ones, decorate your home for the holidays, or add a handmade touch to your next celebration, DIY crafting offers a wealth of opportunities to express your creativity and make meaningful memories.

6. Conclusion: Craft Your Heart Out

In conclusion, DIY craft tutorials offer a gateway to creativity, self-expression, and joy that knows no bounds. Whether you're a seasoned crafter or a complete beginner, there's something magical about the process of bringing your ideas to life and creating something beautiful with your own two hands. So why wait? Dive into the world of DIY crafting today and unleash your creativity like never before. Your next masterpiece awaits!

"Creativity is intelligence having fun." - Albert Einstein

"Visit our website to connect with like-minded individuals who share your passion for Workout."

#DIY craft tutorials

[vapehk1]

Bmor DM15000 Disposable Vape 15000 Puff Review: Beautiful and Shining Art in Vaping

Hey folks, Jesse here with a bit of a bittersweet review. Today, we're diving into the DM15000 disposable vape, a recently discontinued masterpiece from Bangma vape. Though it's not in production anymore, it's a vape worth talking about. And don't worry, Bangma's got plenty more where that came from. Check out their lineup here. Introduction to the DM15000 Now, let's talk about the DM15000. This device is more than just a vape; it's a work of art. The top is made of smooth, mirror-like metal that just screams quality. And the body? It's crafted from glass-like plastic, both transparent and stylish. But this vape isn't all about looks; it's also designed for comfort and practical use. Design and Comfort The body of the DM15000 is uniquely designed with 12 squares on each side, creating an anti-slip texture. These squares aren't just functional; they're also a part of the device's sleek design. The rounded edges add to the comfort, making it a pleasure to hold. Smart Features A key highlight of the DM15000 is its intelligent design. Equipped with 2 LED indicators, you're always in the know about your battery level and e-liquid volume. It’s convenient, smart, and ensures you’re never caught off guard. https://youtu.be/4v5dnUV0pxQ Charging and Battery Life When it comes to charging, the DM15000 stands out with its Type-C interface. Quick charging means less waiting and more vaping. The only minor downside? You can't vape while it's charging. But considering everything else it offers, that's a small concession. The Vaping Experience Let's talk performance. The Bmor DM15000 is a vaping powerhouse, boasting a 22ml capacity and delivering an impressive 15,000 puffs. Its design is not just practical but also incredibly stylish, with a transparent casing and gradient color interior. The upgraded mesh coil is the cherry on top, ensuring exceptional flavor and thick vapor production. The flavor profile of this device is expertly crafted to tantalize and satisfy your taste buds. Each of the 10 scrumptious flavors, ranging from the refreshing chill of Watermelon Ice to the sweet blend of Strawberry Grape and the crispness of Mint Menthol, contains 5% salt nicotine, striking a perfect balance of taste and strength. The vaping sensation is smooth and silky, providing an immensely satisfying experience especially given its 5% nicotine strength, which many vapers find to be the sweet spot. While the device leans towards a mouth-to-lung style with a slightly tighter airflow, this only serves to enhance the rich flavor delivery. The only thing that could take this device from great to exceptional would be a bit more airflow for those who prefer it. But as it stands, each puff on the DM15000 is a journey into a realm where flavor reigns supreme, making it a top-tier choice for flavor chasers. In conclusion, the Bmor DM15000 is a blend of style, performance, and convenience. It's a standout device in the vaping world, a reminder of the innovative spirit in vape design. So keep an eye on Bangma for more innovations, and if you ever get your hands on a DM15000, cherish it. It's a rare find in the vaping universe. Happy vaping, everyone! 🌬️💨🎨 Learn more about DM15000 disposable vape Read the full article

[auramspa]

Spa Center In Noida — Pamper Yourself At Luxurious Spa

Welcome to our spa center in Noida! If you are looking for the perfect way to relax and rejuvenate your mind, body, and soul, then we have the perfect sanctuary for you. Our spa center offers a luxurious and tranquil environment, where you can escape the hustle and bustle of daily life and indulge in some well-deserved pampering.

Facilities and Services

At our spa center, we provide a wide range of facilities and services to cater to your every need.

1. Massage Therapies: Our skilled masseuses offer a range of massage therapies to suit your preferences and needs. From tranquil Swedish massages to invigorating best spa noida, we have something for everyone.

2. Facial Treatments: Restore your youthful glow with our luxurious facial treatments. Our skilled beauticians use advanced techniques and products to cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize your skin, leaving it fresh and radiant.

3. Body Treatments: Pamper your body with a range of body treatments. From soothing body wraps to rejuvenating body scrubs, we have everything you need to rejuvenate and revitalize your skin.

4. Manicures and Pedicures: Take care of your hands and feet with our manicure and pedicure services. Our skilled technicians use high-quality products and techniques to give you a luxurious and pampering experience.

5. Hair and Beauty Services: We also offer a range of hair and beauty salon services, including haircuts, styling, coloring, and hair extensions. Our beauticians are experts in creating stunning looks that complement your natural beauty.

Packages and Promotions

To make your experience even more indulgent, we offer a variety of spa packages and promotions. From couples spa packages to bridal packages, we have something for everyone. Our packages include a combination of treatments, discounts, and additional benefits to make your visit even more memorable.

Conclusion

At our spa center in Noida, we believe that self-care and pampering are essential for maintaining a healthy body and mind. Our luxurious facilities, skilled therapists, and extensive range of treatments make us the perfect destination for relaxation and rejuvenation. So, come and let us pamper you at our spa center, and experience the bliss of relaxation and rejuvenation.

Source:- https://aurumspa.in/spa-center-in-noida-pamper-yourself-at-luxurious-spa/

#spa center in Noida #best spa noida

[evwuniverse]

Jasper City Luxury Estates - Hop or Flop?

From estates to rent to a beautifully made modern-day oasis city I was able to find everything I'd need to feel as if I was a modern-day princess living in luxury (no pun intended). Let's be honest, some places are still not made with new mesh objects in Second Life, and some of the best places are still prim-based. It was nice to find a city with the aesthetic I love. Everyone's style is different of course! However, if you're looking for modern-day Miami Beach or California vibes, this is the sim for you. I spent about 2 hours exploring it and finding some of my favorite things to do and explore in it. I recommend the visit, visiting places is free so why not right?

Visit Jasper City Luxury Estates by Clicking Here

They also have their own website you can find it here.

In case you needed a view of me living my best virtual life please see the below photo taken here in this sim.

In case you didn't know where you were please look at the above photo.

Where it all Begins:

It all begins when you step foot in front of the ginormous sign, telling you exactly where you are (thank you gigantic sign, I had no idea.). Then you have two pools in the front, not quite sure why there are two with little to no traffic especially at around 10:48 PM EST, but who's counting? (just me?) No, but in all seriousness, this is a very well-put-together city sim which honestly is hard for me to find nowadays. I was rather astounded by what it had to offer aside from trying to get you to buy into their luxury estates.

Pools with butlers? Check.

High-end luxury eateries? Check.

High-end luxury housing and galleries? Check.

Well, that seems to be all the main things you need in a city right? But let's not forget about the rideable Ferris wheel which sits over a body of water.

"The Good Life" - Luxury Restaurant:

But wait! I have to talk about the luxury restaurant, now virtual world restaurants are a newer experience for me. Especially after my ex and I went to one before, it was such an interesting experience. We all know it's pretend but there's something about the Roleplay experience that is so much more, but more on that on a future post. The luxury eatery on this sim is called "The Good Life" very much a fitting name.

When you step foot here let me tell you, you're truly living "The Good Life" (thank you restaurant, now tell me something I don't know). From a full bar with a bartender looking like he's about to make you a whole line of cocktails and a waitress ready to sit you in three different areas of the restaurant, each area is a different and luxurious experience. Now do keep in mind there aren't real people running it, but nonetheless, it's a nice touch and nice to see!

Upstairs in this restaurant, there is a sitting area as well as a YOGA studio, how nice. After you "pitch till you win" (eat) you can relax and work it all off. Beautiful! Now you don't have to worry about your virtual body losing its already perfect physique.

Luxury Estates:

Of course, there are also their luxury estates and there are a lot available currently. However, to be fair I never recommend renting off a sim, it's nice if you enjoy the Roleplay way of life and enjoy a place that is part of the aesthetic your looking for that matches the idea of the sim created by its creator. However, if you want to make it authentic and yours and not have a specific house then I always recommend buying a plot of land or finding a way where you can rent from a friend who has land and do your own thing. That's not to say you shouldn't tip the sim to keep it running. I think it's a great place to hang out with friends, explore, and live the luxury lifestyle in your virtual life.

In conclusion, I feel this sim is perfect for exploring, photos, and just spending a day in luxury taking everything in. It's nice to be in a place that gives you the luxury city experience. There is a lot to explore and it's overall just a great place for some friends and yourself to spend some time and relax. I highly recommend visiting.

#virtual world #virtual worlds #gaming #sl #imvu #second life #virtualworld #avatar #virtualworlds #secondlife #exploring #vrchat #VR #Metaverse #Meta

[vogueinnie]

HEAVEN OR HELL ; part. 1 TEASER - PART 1 - PART 2 - (...)

        ━ WARNINGS ; demon!hyunjin, virgin fem!reader

if you feel uncomfortable with the mentions of religion, please don’t read this story cause there are a lot blasphem, mentions of Lucifer and Mammon (Lucifer’s son)

sex in a public place with people around (!!!), boots riding and boot licking, corruption kink, fear kink, humiliation (and not only in a sexual way), mention of animals hunting, reader is leashed, pet name (angel), manipulation, devilish creatures

this story will contains a lot of filthy and dirty things, the warnings are here to prevent you from anything that can trigger you. so please consider them carefully.

      ━ WORD COUNT ; 2.5k       ━ NOTE ; here is the first part of my first ever serie! feedback are so welcomed so feel free to tell me anything about this story.

Since the end of time there were two worlds. Heaven and Hell. Humans fought over which world they would belong to for the rest of their lives. The good was offered the place of angels while the worst was going to be demons.

Luckily, you’ve always been good during your lifetime. You weren’t surprised when the paradise’s gates were all open for you. As an angel, your face has the softest features, most beautiful hair, and even your aura was a pretty pale pink tone. The purest one.

The Ladybug Garden. Your favorite Heaven’s place. It was the most peaceful garden, a place where you walked in every morning. The sun was shining, as usual, the grass was a bright green and all the flowers were colorful. You jump happily in the air, your bare feet stroking the grass every time you touched the ground. You laugh softly, feeling dumb for a moment to play alone in the middle of all this flora. But you were happy, truly happy to be here. And knowing that you’ll be there forever was comforting enough to make you even more overexcited.

You heard a sound behind a tree so, curious, you approach slowly to finally see one of your angelic friends splaying with a cute white bunny.

“Felix ! I didn’t know you were here.” The boy called Felix turns around with a big smile to wave his hand at you. He was so beautiful, his eyes were beautiful shades of light brown, his lips were as pink as a rose, his hair white, and his beautiful skin was dotted with almost glittery freckled. You’ve met years ago here, and since then you were inseparable.

You barely have time to join him that Seungmin interrupted the both of you.

And let’s say, his coming is never for good reasons.

Seungmin doesn’t belong to either of the two worlds. He’s not an angel, nor a demon. He’s what we call the neutrals. Only here for the needs of both worlds. Heaven and Hell have only one rule in common ; If one of their residents is doomed, then they must be replaced by a person from the opposite world. It’s the only way to balance the loss. And that’s probably why Seungmin is here today, cause he never comes for pleasure.

“Hey, Seungmin… Is everything ok ?” Felix asked, a little bit concerned.

“Y/N you need to come with me.”

You look at him blankly, your lower lip starts to tremble a little, you exactly know what it means. You’re the angel chosen to go to Hell to offset the loss of a demon. How was it possible ? You’ve always been good to anyone. Everyone loved you. Everyone trusted you. You knew the rule, and you’d never dare to disrespect it, but you were so confused. Spending all this time in paradise, with all of your friends to finally end your life in the hands of a devilish creature.

And you know the only way to go back to Heaven was to soften a demon’s soul, but no one was able to do that until now. You were helpless, discouraged.

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You were in front of the Hell’s gates. They were dark and gigantic. It was frightening, the chills ran unpleasantly through your body, even your mind was in an awful state. Along with Seungmin, you start to walk through the alley and the first thing that strikes you is the heat you can feel. It was so unpleasant that you felt suffocating with each step. Everything was so dim around you, the only lights were the burning flame on the side. The smells of it even made you want to throw up.

Faster than you would have thought, you ended up arriving in what you suppose to be the main room. It was… disturbing how every detail was beautiful. From the grey stone walls to the delicate stained glasses, passing by the big red carpet under your feet leading to the one who ran this world.

Everyone was looking at you. And they were a lot of… people. Some of them were scary enough for you to no look at them. Red eyes, pointy teeth, almost translucent skin, huge black feather wings… Are they the ones you are going to have to live with ?

Three thrones were in front of you, and in the center of it was your Father’s son, the fallen angel, Lucifer. He was sitting proudly on his, you have to admit, beautiful golden throne. His black crown was setting perfectly on his long silver hair and his dark eyes were all on you, looking at you insistently. As the protocol obliges you, you kneel down in front of him, he was the king after all. The King of his own world. You owe him nothing but respect. You can hear him laugh, clapping in his hands as his voice rises through the walls, creating a frightening echo.

“Angel, angel look at me. You did as told. Welcome to your new…paradise, all the creepy devilish creatures laugh at his pitiful joke but stop the moment he raises his hand in the air. I knew my dearest Father was hiding all of the most beautiful angels from me. But first ! Let me introduce yourself to my own creation, my blood, my pride, my son… Mammon.”

Without noticing it at first you perceive that a tall long black-haired boy was sitting on a throne on his left. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, it was surreal how he was beautiful. His pale and perfect skin was almost shinning in the dark, his almond-like eyes were as obscure as this place, his nose was straight leading to his plump crimson lips. His face was deadpan. He was dressed in a black suit, which is not surprising for a demon, he wore leather gloves on his hands and black chunky boots. Chains were all over his body like jewelry and you come out of your mind when he asks you to come near him with only two fingers.

Again, you did as told. Not only cause you were afraid, but cause you strangely wanted to.

It was like he was controlling your body with only his pierced gaze. You approach him slowly, feeling ridiculous in your long white dress decorated with colorful butterflies with all the hungry eyes looking at you behind your back. You kneel in front of him too, breathing slowly just to try to control your rising and inevitable anxiety. You feel his two leather-like fingers lifting up your chin and you gulp at the sight of his face so close to yours.

He was analyzing you, scanning every little specific of your pretty face, turning your head slowly from right to left to not miss any details.

“Sit down.” His voice was soft yet strict. You were confused, as long as you were already kneeling. Your eyebrows furrow in confusion and your expression must amuse him cause you can see a slight smile drawn on his lips. He points his boots with his chin, leaning his back on his thrown lazily. “Ride them.”

Your mind went blank. What was he asking you, specifically? You looked at him, scared and confused, not moving an inch cause you didn’t know what to do. And you didn’t want to make him angry. But the strange feeling in your stomach was pleasant and weird at the same time.

He grabs your hair, your face approaching dangerously to his knees. He whispers so only you can hear his humiliating word.

“Make yourself cum on my boots. If you don’t do it then I’ll give you as a meal to the raging dogs. You smell good, they’re gonna love your blood, angel.”

You almost forgot how demons love to live in sin. It was scary enough to make you submit. But the worst part was probably the fact that, while looking at him in his eyes, you wanted to sin to make him proud of you. You wanted to see the oh-so-little smile on his porcelain face again.

His eyes never left yours and with your shaking body you place your two legs on either side of one of his, sitting on one of his big black boots. The material was so cold against your naked inner thighs but the sensation was magnificent. You could see him smile as he keeps on tightening your hair around his gloved hand. But you wouldn’t complain, feeling his grip was probably the only thing that can make you still feel alive in this world of debauchery. The position you were in was so uncomfortable when you start to move against his leg but your eyes went big as your cheeks went red. What was that little thing burning inside your core ? Why was it even dripping ? You wanted more of this delicious friction.

Keeping eye contact with him was surprisingly reassuring for you. Slowly, you start to grind against his boot, but focusing on him became more and more difficult with the new sensations you were feeling. A little squirm escapes your mouth, chasing after your own pleasure as you bounce against his shoes to feel the more pleasure as possible. You didn’t know what makes you do that dirty thing, but you did. It was unbelievably pleasuring. Your mind went dizzy, everything around you starts to spin and you can even feel some sweat drops running in your neck.

You wanted his dark gaze to keep looking at you, and only you. You loved the way he pats your head, smiling fondly at your pathetic figure as the unknown knot in your stomach felt like a burning mishmash of nothing but pure pleasure.

“You’ve made a real mess, angel.”

You come down from your cloud when you hear his voice, and that’s the moment you realized what just happened. Your eyes flutter and you can feel your cheek heating your skin as you’re turning your head to be sure that you’ve just ridiculed yourself and you came to the conclusion that yes… You just did.

You return your attention to him and you big round glossy eyes made him smile. A real smile, that time. It was probably fun for him to know that someone from Heaven just did… That.

“You need to clean it, I really hate dirty things.”

You were about to grab the bottom of you dress but he clicks his tongue, making you wince. His thumb found your bottom lips and he strokes it slowly, making you open your mouth like an automatism. Again, he shows you what you have to do only with his gaze.

And you melt. You were totally aware of your actions. Not only you wanted to make him proud, but you also wanted to see his dilated pupils with nothing but that special star in it.

You bow your head at the level of the boot you dirtied and your tongue starts to lick the material, making you taste your own juice. It was like a little voice in your head was asking you to do all these dirty things. But no, let’s be honest, the only reason why you’ve done that is because of Mammon. It was scary enough for you to realize that you wanted it. You felt like you needed to do it.

“I want her.”

Everyone was looking at you hungrily, all the dark eyes were on your back, examining every move you made with a grin. Panicked, you get up suddenly but your shaking legs couldn’t support your body, making you fall on your knees, again, in front of Mammon.

They were mocking you, and that’s the only reason why you felt ashamed. Otherwise, you would have only felt guilty to not be ashamed.

You hadn’t spent an hour in Hell that you were already under the influence of the Fallen Angel’s son. That’s why this place was too dangerous for angels. You were too naive, kind, easily impressionable, and weak to live in a world made of nothing but manipulative creatures.

Lucifer laughs hysterically and all his others creatures did the same. The sound was horrific, scary, the one who wasn’t moving was this beautiful boy that just humiliated you for his own pleasure. He stands up slowly and you can see how tall he looks above you. He holds out his hand to a servant, a boy who seemed pretty young, who rushes to slip an object in it. You can feel a cold metal circling your delicate neck, and you understand that he wrapped a leash around your throat.

They applause loudly and your owner pulls on the leash so you try to stand up for the second time but he shakes his head with a grin.

“Hm, hm. Walk on four legs. The leash isn’t here for nothing.”

You open your mouth but the back of his hand stroke your cheek, again, in the softest way ever. The unpleasant leather material contrasts with the sweetness of his gesture. And you decide to follow him without saying a word.

Under the waves of laughter of the demonic audience, you both leave the room. The younger boy was following you as little whimpers were escaping your mouth due to the pain you were feeling. Your knees were crawling on the ground as Mammon leads you to what you supposed to be his room.

Once you were in it you took your time to observe the room. Unsurprisingly, it was obscure. The walls were painted black, the furnitures were black, the sheets were black. Even the big beautiful chandelier was black, but yet so luminous that it makes everything harmonious. You can even see a black porcelain bathtub in the corner of the room, facing up a huge mirror.

You stay still on the ground but you can see the black-haired boy sitting on his mattress, in front of you. The other boy is still behind you, as if he was watching you so you can’t run away.

“So, what brings you here, angel ?” The demon whispers, his magnetic voice enveloping your spine with countless chills.

“I… I didn’t do anything wrong ! I haven’t been banned from the Heavens ! I… You sigh, looking down while tears could easily be spotted in the corner of your eyes. I was chosen for, you know… The balance of both worlds, Sir.”

You can hear his hums, crossing his legs in the most elegant way. An almost invisible smile was on his lips, again.

“You know you won’t be able to go back to your beloved place, don’t you ? Unless you make me fall for you which is… His laugh was loud enough to dissuade you, well… Impossible.”

The way his voice was suddenly cold scared you. Maybe that stupid rule was only here to allow the angels to keep hope. Even tho everyone knows it was already hopeless for them.

“What’s your name ?” His voice had become soft again and he starts to take off his leather gloves so you can see his beautiful long fingers. His nails were painted in black and he wears no less than ten rings.

“I’m… I’m Y/N, Sir.” You can see him nod, rubbing his hands slowly between them.

“You can call me Hyunjin when it’s only the two of us. Now that you’re mine you know that we have to be intimate, am I wrong ?”

You didn’t know what it really means but you nod. Of course, you’ve heard that in Hell, creatures love to do weird and, well… evil things. They were as wild as the animals. And of course, you couldn’t forget about that rumor that said that they hunt animals for their own pleasure. Or that other rumor saying that sex is an integral part of their lives. You shake your head just thinking about that and that’s when you realize that Hyunjin was standing in front of you with the creepiest smile.

“You’ll be there with me. For the eternity, angel.”

Despite the fact that the whole situation was surreal for you, the fact that Mammon, or Hyunjin, was being what is akin to kindness to you seem… Utterly wrong. Why was he even nice ? And why were his eyes abnormally and horrifically black suddenly ?

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     ━ TAGLIST ; @sailorhyunjinz - @minholuvs - @that-anxious-bisexual - @ohmysparkle - @yuminsung - @minaamhh - @kittykatvenom - @bubblelixie - @imagineinnie - @ronnieissupermegafoxyawesomehot - @etherealeeknow - @linours - @starry-jinnie @p0t4t0don14ll - @straytannies - @binnie-m00n - @formidxble - @skzcvre - @titleisyettobemade - @bythesunnotbythemoon - @nada-disso - @characha - @lizsvcks - @pxnidxjks - @ninjaleeknow - @solistired - @keloiu - @bluesensitivesoul - @pixieskz (if you want to be added to the taglist feel free to send me an ask!)

#skz smut #stray kids smut #hyunjin smut #stray kids fanfic #skz fanfic #hyunjin x reader #heaven or hell ; the serie

[akingdomofswordsandstories]

Unrequited

azriel (acotar) x reader

Summary: takes place during acofas, you and Azriel are mates but he doesn’t know it yet, angst, fluff, and everything in between

*Also this is my first imagine ever so I'm sorry if it sucks lol! There will be a part 2 to this, but I am still working on it!!

word count: 3927

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The winter solstice was in a few days and you weren’t sure what to get some of the inner circle. You walked briskly down the streets of the Rainbow, chilled to the bone due to the wind. You had made the dumb mistake of rushing out of the townhouse - to avoid any questions of where you were going - without taking your scarf. Your current outfit, which was a chunky knit blue sweater with leggings and boots, wasn’t enough to keep the chill away. But the cold wasn’t the most important thing on your mind. You had already bought presents for Rhys, Feyre, Amren, and Elain, but that left Cassian, Mor, and Azriel. Mor and Cass would be pretty easy to buy for, but you put it off knowing they would look through your room trying to find their solstice gift. But Azriel, that would be much harder.

Every waking hour, the shadowsinger haunted your thoughts. Something you had come to conclude was unrequited.

You had realized the mating bond between you two before he did.

It had clicked a few months ago while on a diplomatic mission. The aftermath of Hybern had left things chaotic, and if you were being honest, it still was. Rhys decided to send Cassian, Mor, Azriel, and you to travel to some of the other courts to bring back reports on the recovery after the war. However, traveling did have some dangers. While you were on your way back to Velaris from the Winter Court, your group was ambushed by a group of Hybern soldiers who had been hiding out in the mountains. Had it not been for Azriel’s wings shielding you from the initial arrows, you would’ve surely been dead, and that’s when it clicked for you. But like an idiot, you didn’t say anything.

You had thought if the bond had clicked for you, it would've clicked for Azriel too. You realized your mistake when Azriel hadn’t acknowledged any change between you two. You hoped that he would figure it out in the coming weeks, but he didn’t. You knew the same sort of situation happened with feyre and rhys so you still held out some hope. But as the months went by, and you realized the bond still hadn’t clicked for Azriel and it felt too late to tell him.

At least that was the excuse you made up. Truly, you were also afraid of the rejection that could have followed. You weren’t a fool, you knew him and Elain had some sort of connection, and that shattered your dreams even more. The possibility that he wouldn’t accept the mating bond to be with the fair skinned, doe eyed fae. Everytime Azriel was in the same room as Elain, she was the only thing he would pay attention to. During gatherings, you would plaster on a smile and act as if you were happy, but Cassian and Mor, your best friends, could sense your discomfort. They tried to ask you about it, but seeing as you would shut down anything they said, they decided not to pry too much. Amren ended up figuring out the source of your discomfort had to do with Azriel, but kept your secret until you would be ready to share it.

You came to the conclusion that distancing yourself from him would be the best option, so that's what you did.

You walked down the street till you got to one of the finest seamstresses is Velaris. Since you were an artist like Feyre, you decided to draw out a dress and have it made for Mor. The color was blood red, her signature. It was a silk slip dress that would come down to her mid-lower calf and it would be embroidered with a brilliant gold thread. You drew out a pattern of the sun, stars, and moon, which you hoped she would like. To go along with Mor’s dress, you got a jeweler to make a custom necklace and bracelet set to go with it. You designed more dainty jewelry that had gold stars with diamonds, since she was a dreamer.

You decided to design Cassian’s gift as well, creating a beautiful silver and black dagger with a moonstone on the hilt. It was a beautiful dagger, but you also made sure it was usable, because you would hate for it to go to waste. To add onto the combat theme, you also decided to buy him new fighting leathers with touches of red embroidery to match his siphons. Lastly, you bought Cassian a bottle of fae wine, which definitely wouldn't last long.

The last thing you got for all three of you was a friendship necklace. Although that sounds corny, the two of them had become such a positive force in your life and you couldn’t imagine life without them. Keeping with the celestial theme for the friendship necklaces, you bought a sun, a moon, and a star. The sun for Cassian, the moon for Mor, and the star for you. Although they are opposites in some ways, all three need each other, just like the three of you needed each other.

Now that you had gotten Mor’s and Cassian’s solstice gifts figured out, it was onto Azriel’s gift. You honestly had no clue what to get him. Due to distancing yourself, you weren’t sure if there was something that he wanted. You were positively stumped. Lucky for you though, you ended up spotting Mor in another shop a few stores down from where you were, most likely getting the rest of her solstice gifts. You decided to sneak up on her as a friendly prank. Grabbing her shoulders, you yelled in her ear, making her jump.

“Oh mother above, it’s just you, y/n! You scared the life out of me” Mor said.

“Doing some last minute shopping?” you asked. “I could ask you the same thing”. Giving her a playful smack on the arm, the corners of your mouth curled upward, even the simplest remark from her could make you smile.

The two of you were currently standing in front of a jewelry shop, looking at the collections of necklaces and earrings through the window. “Wow” you breathed out “These are all so beautiful”

“Indeed they are, although they’re quite pricey”

“How pricey is pricey?”

She whispered the amount in your ear and you stopped breathing for a second, “Holy Mother wow, that is quite the price tag. At least we can admire it from a far”, you laughed out. Even though you got a very generous salary from Rhys, you still felt guilty spending so much money on materialistic things.

After a moment you said, “Actually, since you’re here, I do need help finding a solstice gift for Azriel”, softening your voice at the end, “Any ideas?” you asked, drawing out the syllables.

“Well, I always get Azriel some cool towels, clothing, or a dagger!” Mor said. A small scoff came out of my mouth as I shook my head and raised my eyebrows. “Fine!” she exclaimed, “I may have overheard him needing a new leather sheath for Truth Teller.” grumbling towards the end. “Oh that sounds great, thank you for the help! Now let’s go off to the closest leather goods store and find a sheath!”.

“y/n! I still have shopping to do” a scowl appearing on her face. “Fine, I guess I’ll just call Cassian, cause his judgement might be better than yours, when it comes to knife related things of course” you said, baiting her.

“Ugh, I hate you y/n”

“I hate you too Mor”

“Fine, let's get going before I change my mind” she grumbled. Then we took off down the streets of the Rainbow to find a sheath.

The task was easier said than done, for you at least. Being indecisive and a major over thinker, you had looked through close to 100 sheaths, but none of them seemed good enough to hold the blade that Azriel never let anyone else touch. Except Elain.

While you were lost in your thoughts, you laid your y/c eyes on the perfect sheath. It had a bright cobalt blue stitching to match Az’s siphons. Along the tip and lining the top of the leather was a thin coat of silver plating with little sapphires embedded in the metal. You quickly snatched it up and paid a hefty price for it, but it was perfect.

“Thank god you finally picked one, it felt like we were in that store for centuries”. Mor sighed, probably a sigh of relief for getting out of the store, “But y/n, it’s perfect, I know Azriel will love it”

“Do you really think so? I just want it to be the perfect gift and I’m scared he won’t like it because what if it’s too simplistic and what if-”

“Hey! It's perfect! Don’t stress too much y/n. And for the record, I think that you’re an amazing gift giver - the amount of thought you put into gifts make it all the better.”

You could feel a blush creeping up your cheeks and mumbled a small thank you.

“Anyway while we’re here do you need to get anything to go with your solstice outfit?”

“Oh Actually, I was so stressed about getting everyone’s solstice gift that I forgot to buy my dress” your voice falling off at the end. You felt yourself being yanked to a harsh stop and the saw Mor’s face staring at yours, mouth gaping and eyes wide.

“Are you crazy?? Solstice is in 3 days and you still don’t have anything??? Oh honey, our shopping isn’t done yet.” And with that statement you found yourself being pulled into the nearest dress shop. After trying on nearly 20 dresses you finally found the perfect one, which Mor approved. It was a light blue silk dress that was more fitted at the top but flared down at your waist. It had a cowl neckline, a slit going up the side to the mid upper thigh, and accentuates your curves beautifully and has a slight shimmer to it. You looked ethereal in it

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After your exhausting day of shopping, you couldn’t wait to get out of the cold. You swiftly walked back to the townhouse. Once inside you made your way to your room to set down the gifts, change your clothes, and grab your book. Then you quietly headed down to the kitchen to make yourself a cup of tea and sat on the couch to read. The house was quiet since all of the others decided to go to Rita’s tonight. You decided to stay home for some much needed relaxation. You opened your book and started reading. After a few hours, you felt your eyes drooping and eventually, sleep consumed you.

The loud noise of the front door caused you to stir and your eyes fluttered open. You were too exhausted to look so you just laid your head back down and tried to go to sleep. You could hear Mor whispering something and then felt yourself being lifted off the couch and being held close to a chest with your blanket still draped on you.

“Cass?” you whispered hoarsely along with a string of incoherent words

You heard a slight laugh “Not Cass but It’s ok, go back to sleep”. Then you felt yourself being gently placed on your bed and the sleep hit you before you could mutter a thank you.

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The sun was setting towards the sea as you sat in the sitting room of the town house. You were in your blue silk dress with a glass of wine in your hand. Rhys and Feyre were by the mantel, quietly talking while Mor and Amren were across the room. Near the window I saw Elain, and from the corner of my eye I could see Azriel making his way towards her. My face fell but I quickly plastered on a smile, not wanting to concern anyone. Especially since today was also Feyre’s birthday and we had planned a surprise for her. Feyre thought she could slip her birthday past us, but we hadn’t forgotten. After a few minutes, Cassian made his way from the kitchen with the enormous cake.

You floated towards Feyre and gave her arm a light squeeze. “Happy Birthday, make a wish before the candles melt!”

She blew out the candles and then we ate cake before opening up the presents.

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Rhys snapped his fingers and piles of brightly wrapped bags and boxes filled up the sitting room. Amren was the first to open her presents. Naturally, everyone got her something jewelry related. Amren opened mine and you saw a wide smile set across her face, she picked up the diamond necklace and nodded a ‘thank you’ your way. You returned the gesture back, a small smile forming on your face.

Next, Cassian handed Mor her present from him and she pulled out a-. You couldn’t believe what you were seeing. He bought her red lingerie. Your face turned slightly red, but the Mor said “Don’t let him fool you: he couldn’t think of a damn thing to get me, so he gave up and asked me outright. I gave him precise orders. For once in his life, he obeyed them.”

Then, you heard one sharp knock at the door.

Nesta.

You saw Cassian tense up a bit. Nesta walked in, linking arms with Elain. She got a glass of wine before heading to sit in a chair in the back of the room. The silence was deafening. Finally Varian started talking and the present opening resumed.

From Amren, you received a new calligraphy set. It was so beautiful and you loved it. From Rhys, you got some books. It was perfect since you loved to read, and they were ones that you had been wanting to read for a long time. From Feyre, you received a painting as well as a new paint brush kit.

Cassian made his way to you and set a gift down in your lap. You opened the dark blue box that Cassian had placed in your lap. He had gotten you a sky blue hardbound journal with a gold embossed star on it. You desperately needed a new one, and this was perfect. You walked over and gave him a hug, whispered “Thank you, I love it.”.

Next you opened Mor’s present. You nearly choked when you saw what she got you and your whole face heated up. She got you a matching navy blue lingerie set like the one Cassian bought her.

“Yeah, I wasn’t too sure what to get you so I thought we could twin”. You looked around the room and saw the others holding in their laughs. You could’ve sworn you saw a tinge of red on Azriel’s ears. You just smiled and mouthed a silent “I’m going to kill you, but thank you” at her.

There wasn’t anything from Azriel. Your heart twinged. Had you not been important enough? It was just a present you reminded yourself, fixing your composure before handing Cassian his present.

He ripped it open like an animal, squealing when he saw it. A promising reaction given the amount of thought you put into it.

“Did you design these? They look amazing!”

“Yeah, I’m glad you like it. It took a long time to figure out what to get for your dumb ass”

“You mean my cute ass”, you smacked his arm and then got up to give Mor her present.

You closely watched her reaction as she opened her dress and jewelry, a large smile spreading across her face.

“You really buy the perfect presents y/n, I love it”.

“Oh Cass, Mor. One more thing.” You pulled out the small boxes with the friendship necklaces and bracelets handing it to them. “This was just a little something extra I thought of, I hope you like it”. You knew you would have started stuttering and crying if you had said the meaning to them, so you just handed them notes instead. They read over them, eyes glossing over, and pulled you into a hug.

“This is the only time I’ll wear jewelry” Cass stated, causing you to chuckle

Then Mor said, “I am never taking this off” causing you to laugh again.

Finally, Azriel opened up his presents. He had opened up all the others. All that was left was yours and Elain’s gift to him. He found his way to your present first, opening it.

“A new sheath for Truth Teller. I heard you needed a new one” you quietly said.

He held your gaze and smiled, “Thank you, it's great”. Suddenly feeling exposed, you quickly gave him a nod.

Then he went to open Elain’s gift. “It’s a powder to mix in with any drink.” she said.

Silence.

Elain bit her lip and then smiled sheepishly. “It’s for the headaches everyone always gives you. Since you rub your temples so often.”

Silence again.

Then Azriel tipped his head back and laughed.

You hadn’t heard him laugh before, and mother above it was gorgeous. You had never heard a sound so deep and joyous, a sound which made your heart clench. A part of you wished you were the reason he was laughing. You forced on a smile and spent the rest of the night drinking away the slight pain in your chest.

You were exhausted by the end of the night, sitting on the couch with Cassian and Mor, Azriel and Rhys seated on the opposite side of you.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw movement towards the door, and craned your head to see what was going on. It was Nesta making her way to the door. You felt the couch lift next to you.

Cassian. He had swiftly pushed past Feyre and went after Nesta. This wouldn’t end well.

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Cassian had come back quiet and brooding, walking straight to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of liquor. You got up off the couch and followed him straight into the kitchen.

“Cass, let’s take a walk, yeah?”

“I just took a walk”

“It wasn’t a question”. You grabbed a white shawl and his hand and led him outside. “What happened?”

“What’s there to talk about? It was like all the other times. Why did I have to fall in love with someone who doesn't even love me back. Who looks at me like the Illyrian born bastard I am. Who hates the idea of being in the same room as me.”

You grabbed Cass’ hand, lightly squeezing it. “Don’t say that. Nesta, she,” your voice stopping for a second “She’s different. The way she handles pain and copes is different. Give her time. She just needs time. I know how much that may pain you, but you can’t rush healing”

You pulled him into a hug

“And for the record, I know the feeling more than you know” you quietly said “unrequited love”, head pointed at the ground.

Cassian tilted his head down to look at you, his face painted with confusion. You could tell he wanted to know more, but didn’t want to pry too much.

You hesitated before continuing, not sure if you wanted to reveal your closely guarded secret. “I-“ your voice faltering, “I found my mate”. The words seemed to have rushed out of your mouth and tears pricked your eyes as you said that. After months of hiding it, you had finally gotten it off your chest.

Cassian stood shocked, staring at you. “You found your mate? And you didn’t think to tell any of us? How long ago was this”

“I-, I found out who he was around the same time Rhys sent us on that diplomatic mission. And I didn’t tell anyone because he doesn’t even know yet.”

“That was almost 6 months ago, and you didn’t say anything?”.

The tears had started flowing at this point, “I thought he would figure it out. But by the time I realized he wasn’t going to figure it out, it was too late. He had already set his eyes on someone else. And I know I could never compete with Elain, even if I am his mate.” the last part slipped out without you realizing.

“Elain? What does she-“ his eyes widening “Does that mean Az is-“

You slowly nodded, tears welled up, threatening to spill out.

“Oh, mother…”, he pulled you into a tighter hug and that’s when the gates broke. You couldn’t hold back your tears as you sobbed into Cassian's chest, his hand stroking your back.

you must have been there for 15 minutes before you realized the other might start getting suspicious. Regaining your composure, you dried your tears and tried, to the best of your ability, to hide that you had been crying.

Looking back at Cassian, you gave him a slight smile before muttering, “Thank you. I’m sorry for dumping that on you, but please promise me you won’t tell anyone. Please.”

“Of course y/n, and don’t apologize, if it makes you feel better, it helped to take my mind off of Nesta and my own problems, which I desperately needed” he chuckled out.

With the smile still on your face, you linked arms with Cassian before saying, “Oh mother above it’s freezing, let’s get back inside before we turn into popsicles!”

He let out another laugh before the two of you made your way back into the house.

---------------------------------

You walked into the house and your sliver of happiness was crushed as you saw Az and Elain sitting at the table smiling and laughing quietly to themselves. Elain had her sketchbook out, showing Az her plans for the garden.

Your distraught had been clear to anyone who saw your face, and you were too tired to realize you weren’t able to hide it fast enough. Not being able to view the scene anymore, you quickly got up, muttered happy solstice, and grabbed your coat and purse before heading out the door to your apartment.

While walking home, you were consumed by your thoughts. You hated the pangs of jealousy that coursed through you. You often found yourself jealous of her soft spokenness and kindness. You also found yourself jealous of her effortless beauty. It was something that kept you up at night. She was so likeable and easily approachable, something you wished you were.

You were so drowned in your own thoughts that you hadn’t noticed a male following you till it was too late. One of his hands clamped on your mouth while the other grabbed your waist and pushed you into the nearest alleyway.

The male pulled out a knife and your tears started to fall. You were terrified about what he would do to you. This could be the last time you would have seen your family. You were struggling and kicking against him but it was no use. Your senses were groggy from the alcohol and drowsiness.

You had been so stupid to walk home alone at 2 in the morning. No matter how angry you were, you should’ve just stayed at the town house.

Before you could realize what was happening, you felt a sharp pain shoot through your side.

The sound of a clatter.

Receding footsteps.

A crimson stain blooming.

Your body crumpled to the ground and your vision started blacked out. This was it. Nobody could hear you and nobody could save you.

#azriel x reader #acotar x reader #acotar #azriel #cassian #imagine #sarah j maas #azriel acotar x reader

[therealvinelle]

Oh! Okay so what if Elana Gilbert and Bella Swan swap places, (like, swap their brains i guess, so their friends and family still think theyre the same) what would happen to them? Would Elana survive Edward’s affections? Would Bella react well to Stefan and Damon? (I kno you only saw some of the show, but i think you saw all the seasons Elana is human, and thats what matters.)

Hm, well the vampires from The Vampire Diaries are human in every way that counts, they're essentially sexier humans with a funky diet.

Elena is in love with Stefan for Stefan, his vampirism is just a facet of him. Edward will be as horrifying to her as a Twilight vampire normally is to humans.

Bella, meanwhile, is in love with Edward for all the wrong reasons. She's not going to fall for Stefan and Damon.

What happens to Twilightified Elena

Depends on when Elena is thrown into Twilight. And on when it is for Elena as well, is it at the beginning of TVD? Because if so, then she's mourning her parents and doesn't know about anything supernatural.

If so, then Elena has a terrible time because she must mourn for her parents in this world where no one knows they died, in fact the internet tells her they never existed in the first place, and there's this well-meaning stranger who wants to father her in their place. The angst would be unreal.

But, Elena of canon wanted to tough it out and stay her partying self, even if only on the surface, so she'd become best friends with Jessica and Lauren, and go with them to every party imaginable.

Somehow or other she loses the Yandere simulator, and is eaten by Edward.

If we take Elena from the end of season 2, then this is an Elena who knows about the supernatural. Bodyswaps are a thing in TVD, so she's stunned to find it happened to her and worried about Bella Swan, but she's got her bearing.

Or so she thinks.

Turns out, the year is 2005.

She tries to get in contact with someone, anybody, from her own world. She searches for the Salvatores, for witches, and in a final last act of desperation she puts on an ad on craigslist to get Elijah.

There's no trace of any of them. Not even when she gets desperate enough to post "Petrova döppelganger looking for original vampire" on her myspace.

Nothing, not even Klaus, just silence.

More terrifyingly yet, it appears Mystic Falls doesn't exist anymore.

It's a terrified Elena Gilbert who walks into Forks High the day after.

She knows at a sight that there's something wrong with the Cullens. When Edward spends an entire hour glaring at her for daring to exist, she is officially creeped out.

Elena returns home very scared that day.

She's in a new place, she doesn't know how to get home, and there are terrifying people at her school who seem to have it out for her.

She spends the following week confirming that everything she ever knew has simply ceased to exist.

Then Edward returns to school after a week's absence, and asks a series of questions aimed at finding out who she is and why she came to Forks.

Elena starts putting two and two together.

Of three things, she is absolutely certain.

One, reality has been rewritten. The people and places in Elena's life no longer exists, nor does Elena herself for that matter.

Two, no one in this world apart from Elena herself appears to be aware that this has happened.

Three, the one other anomaly in this world is the Cullens. They're clearly not human, and act not unlike pod people than everybody else, in fact they interact with no one. Except Elena herself. Who is being singled out by them.

Elena comes to the terrifying conclusion that the Cullens are an unknown species, a powerful magical one, capable of rewriting the laws of reality.

And she doesn't know if she's an accident, if she's Neo misbehaving in the Matrix, or if this reality marble was created to entrap her specifically.

She decides she's had enough.

She has no powers, no resources, no contacts.

What she does have is her wits.

And, possibly, the element of surprise.

Armed with nothing, Elena gets in the truck and drives to the Cullen house, having gotten the address somehow, and made sure to tell Charlie, Jessica, Lauren, Mike, and her Myspace where she's going.

There, she marches up their porch, knocks on their door, and asks to speak with them.

The Cullens, on their end, are stunned.

From their point of view, this is the anonymous singer who's been tormenting Edward. Yes, she has a name and all that, but they don't know anything about her.

More, she should have no interest in them.

Wanting to appear in control of the situation, Elena calls them in to the living room for an honest conversation, all cards on the table.

Well shit, the Cullens say to themselves, Edward's singer had to be the one girl in North America who knows about vampires.

Now, I do believe Elena is too intelligent to blurt everything she knows immediately and lose her leverage.

No, she asks them if she was supposed to know or not.

The question makes perfect sense to her - is she an anomaly in the Matrix, could it be Jessica is in fact amnesia Caroline and Forks as a whole is actually just nu-Mystic Fall, or is it just Elena?

The Cullens, meanwhile, wonder how on earth this girl can think she was supposed to know she was Edward's singer and that they're vampires.

She may not know what she thinks she knows.

Carlisle tells her the truth. No, miss Swan, you were not supposed to know.

Taking this as confirmation that she's in the Matrix, Elena asks if there are others. She, of course, is wondering if there are other people, perhaps right here in Forks, either with amnesia or else keeping their heads low, who have been taken from the real world.

Or, more chillingly, if everyone is living fake lives in this fake world.

The Cullens, meanwhile, wonder what others she's talking about.

Carlisle takes the plunge. Either she knows what the word means or she doesn't, if she doesn't then she'll have nothing to google because this isn't known to humans at all, plus the word is only a rough translation of the Italian term.

"Other singers, you mean?"

Elena blinks.

Singers, like sirens?

The Cullens are terribly beautiful.

But... sirens?

She stows this away for future use.

Elena decides this conversation has been cryptic enough, and point blank tells the Cullens that she means people who don't belong in this reality at all.

I imagine there comes a point where Carlisle has to call Aro. The girl knows nothing about vampires, she thinks they're semi-harmless human-looking creatures that burn in the sun and can be killed by humans. She's not a problem in that regard.

So Aro gets a call from Carlisle, explaining how a human girl showed up on his doorstep claiming he had created an alternate reality, and that her world apparently has a different worldbuilding altogether.

Oh, and Carlisle's telepath son can't read her mind.

He is in Forks practically before Carlisle can hang up the call.

I imagine Elena gets to spend years as a human, because if the body of Bella Swan is somehow a link to another dimension, then altering that into another species might sever the link.

No, Elena, Aro, and Carlisle spend the following years in a Volterra lab, trying and failing to engineer a pathway back to her world.

In the end, if they're unsuccessful, Elena is turned into a vampire, and Aro has a jolly good time reading her memories from another dimension once she has the control to let her shields down.

Elena, who only ever wanted to be human and thought TVD vampires were too spicy to turn into, cries.

What happens to TVDified Bella

Bella somehow manages to feel guilty about not being Elena. This must all be her fault. Somehow.

An optimist as always, Bonnie dives headfirst into reversing whatever spell was put on her best friend.

She never succeeds, and both women are crushed by guilt over something not their fault.

Damon, I imagine, kills Bella sooner or later during a drunken outburst.

#damon salvatore #bella swan #elena gilbert #bonnie bennett #carlisle cullen #edward cullen #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #twilight headcanons #the vampire diaries #the vampire diaries meta

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

Wander over Yonder Messages

To anyone who dares to think this show is stupid

1) Actions speak louder than words

2) Accept defeat with dignity

3) Not everyone you meet has good intensions

4) Love always wins

5) Think before you speak

6) Make sacrifices for those you love

7) Do good and you will receive good

8) If you love something, set it free

9)  Life may not be perfect, but that doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful

10)  All’s well that ends well

11)  You’ll always get caught in your lies

12) Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not in order to fit in

13) Know how to accept it when you’re wrong

14) Ignore people who insult you and want to bring you down

15) Having a beautiful heart is what really matters

16) Have a strength of character

17) Stand up for yourself and those you care about

18)  It doesn’t matter whether someone else believes in you or not, you need to believe in yourself first

19) Life doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need

20) Don’t make quick judgments

21) Don’t underestimate someone’s abilities

22) Face your problems head on and don’t run away from them

23)  A true hero is humble, kind and selfless

24) Life isn’t a fairytale and things don’t always work out the way we want them to

25) The biggest gift anyone can give you is a smile

26) Always be grateful for the little things someone does to make you happy

27) Always make sure to set a good example for others

28) The most powerful thing you can do is win a battle against yourself

29) Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not in order to impress someone

30) Don’t trust everything you hear and everyone you meet

31) Enjoy the ride and don’t compare yourself to others

32) Deal with problems with intelligence and wit and not violence

33) It’s not good to spend too much time in your head and forget about reality

34) Always take into consideration the needs of others

35) You can’t force someone to love you

36) Expect the best, but be prepared for the worst

37)  A true friend is always there for you when you need them, believes in you and won’t give up on you

38) Follow your heart’s desires

39) Make sacrifices for the betterment of others

40) Even the smallest things can mean the world to someone

41)  Imagination is a beautiful and powerful thing

42) Don’t be selfish and always focus on what you want

43) Appearances are deceiving

44) It’s better to have a beautiful mind and soul than to be physically appealing

45) Good and evil are both equally important

46) Instead of fighting with someone, try to put your differences aside to solve the issue

47) Nothing is impossible

48) Some people are manipulative and fake

49)  Behind every hard exterior there is a heart that wants to experience love

50)  Always be kind to someone, even if they’re not kind towards you

51) We are one

52) Everyone deserves to be happy and to feel loved and appreciated no matter who they are

53) People are not always what they seem or who you thought they were at first

54) Sometimes you are the reason for your own problems

55) Have balance in everything you do, even good

56) Hang out with people who make you a better person

57) You never know how much you really need someone/something until they’re gone

58) Always make sure the people in your life know how much you appreciate them

59) Friendship is the biggest adventure of all

60) An enemy is just a friend you haven’t made yet

61) It always pays off to be kind

62) Always keep your promises

63) Sometimes the kindest hearts have felt the most pain

64) Keep your eyes on the prize

65) Karma will always come back to you

66) The secret ingredient is love

67) Don’t try to change someone and accept them as they are

68) Let people find their own happiness and don’t force them to be happy

69) Accept every single part of someone, even their flaws

70) Respect your elders

71) Some things/people are built to last

72) Your weakness can also be your strengths

73) True friendship (love) is better than being cool and popular

74) Superficial things are temporary and unimportant at the end of the day

75) In order to achieve your goals and dreams, you need to be ambitious, hard-working and determined. With those qualities and a good plan, you can do anything

76) It’s easy to manipulate huge masses of people

77) Enjoy every little moment spent with those you love

78) Loyalty is priceless

79) Live life to the fullest while you still can

80) Don’t be afraid to be different

81) Always try to understand where people are coming from

82) Patience is an important quality

83) Real life is so much more beautiful than virtual reality

84) Take risks

85) There’s good in everyone

86) Love is a battlefield (and sometimes you lose)

87) We’re all just little black cubes of darkness

88) Don’t come to conclusions without thinking things through

89) Making someone else feel special is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world

90) Sharing is caring

91) Don’t hide who you are and be unapologetically yourself

92) Don’t be what other people want to see

93) Don’t let greed get to you, because you’ll end up losing what you already have

94) Always be humble and kind

95) Keep in mind that you’re not the only one who’s suffering, and that there are many people out there who’re hurting too

96) Love is worth fighting for

97) People tend to present themselves in a better light than they really are

98) Be carefree and go with the flow

99)  It’s important to have balance between your head and heart

100) People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel

101) Never give up when things get hard

102) Your family loves you unconditionally no matter what

103) Don’t be bothered by other people’s business and do your own thing

104) Deal with unrequited love with hope and optimism

105) Let people believe in whatever they want to believe in

106) Don’t break people’s illusions because they give them hope

107) First come small wins, then big ones

108) The darkest times are when you should laugh the loudest

109) Spending time with the ones you love is never a waste of time

110) Don’t focus on the past or future, but the present

111) Don’t waste time on jealousy

112) Even when it looks like other people have it all figured out, that’s not always the case

113) Keep toxic people out of your life

114) Just because we fail doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try

115) Our world is created by our state of mind

116) We won’t be able to see beauty around us if we don’t carry it within ourselves

117) You can’t allow pride to stand in the way of doing what’s right

118) We’re all eternal students of life

119) Nobody’s perfect

120) Not knowing yourself and what you’re capable of is dangerous

121) It’s a pleasure to do what people say you cannot do

122)  It’s better to believe in a lot of things than not to believe in anything

123) All good things come to an end, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make memories

124) Everybody needs somebody

125) People are more than they show on the outside

126)  Nothing can separate those who really care about each other

127) You can’t buy love

128) People and their actions can be unpredictable

129) We don’t live for love, but we die for it

130) Those who are less scared of death have more meaningful and fulfilling lives

131) Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened

132) We should sympathize with other people’s struggles

133) If something can’t be in your life, keep it in your heart

134) We can change the world only when we experience change within ourselves

135) Friendship means cooperation and mutual respect

136) We become more like the people we spend time with

137) Bad things/people can change

138) There’s more power in doing the things that scare you than in the most powerful weapons

139) Help yourself and let others help you

140) No one knows everything

141) Little things in life are those that really matter

142) The more you know, the more you grow

143) Teamwork is important

144) Always stand up for what you believe in, even if it means you’ll stand alone

145) Never give up hope

146) Be aware of your emotions and express them without shame

147) Life is all about transformations; when some things end, others come to life

148) True inner strength is being able to deal with your own passions

149) You can do anything with the help of those who care about you

150) There’s always a reason why someone acts the way they do

151) Have the strength to give those who have wronged you second chances

152) All you need is love

#save wander over yonder #savewoy #woy #savewanderoveryonder

[dutchforstrangers]

Digimon Astrology Journey - 'Head first' buddies: Koushiro & Taichi

So I’m back with some headcanon Digimon Astrology and I’m diving into it head first! Something fierce leader Taichi would do, however he needs his loyal ‘brains’ there with him and that will be Koushiro. Where Koushiro is a thinker, analytical in every way due to his pragmatic Sun and Rising, Taichi is one of action due to his Moon and Rising (and Mars!). However don’t underestimate them, they have some serious airy energy going on, making them vocal, diplomatic and charming in their own individual ways.

These boys are so different, yet work together very well. They just have a hard time… talking to others or each other about… the complicated, personal specific stuff feelings. Must be the stars, right?

It’s been a while, but you can read back all things Astrology (basics, background, etc.) in previous posts Part 1 | Part 2. Furthermore, exploring Taichi and Koushiro’s birth charts is part 2 of this series, you can read the exploration of Sora and Mimi’s birth charts here.

The important stuff

Koushiro Izumi, August 26th 1989 (around 05.30AM)

Sun: Virgo (earth-mutable)

Moon: Gemini (air-mutable)

Rising: Virgo (earth-mutable)

Taichi Yagami, October 15th 1988 (around 5PM)

Sun: Libra (air-cardinal)

Moon: Sagittarius (fire-mutable)

Rising: Aries (fire-cardinal)

Warning: IT’S VERY LONG! I’m sorry in advance…

A little disclaimer before I start rambling: These are headcanons! Their given birthdays are not canon at all, but just me having fun combining my love for Digimon and my love for Astrology. It can be highly self-indulging, but maybe you can find some truth in it as well! If you want to know how I calculated their birthdays, read my previous posts as stated above. I use these birthdays in my own fanfiction, but feel free to use them as well. Some credit in the form of a reblog, like or mention of these posts and/or my Tumblr would be highly appreciated! See something you want to discuss? I love to learn and talk! As said these are my headcanons, but I’m not afraid to change my mind or to defend what I have if necessary.

Everything charts and the why under read more!

Koushiro Izumi - August 26th 1989

Assigning the Virgo Sun to this boy was the first thing I did, because I myself am convinced Koushiro Izumi is the embodiment of a true Virgo. I could be wrong, as I did not study Astrology and am a simple hobbyist, but everything I read about Virgos always lead me back to this particular maroon headed anime dork for years now. Hence why I gave him the same Sun and Rising sign, because Koushiro is who he is. Anyway, let me try to convince you.

For starters, here are a few (or actually all the) things about Virgos in general, for both Sun and Rising. Virgos are bright, practical, pragmatic, orderly, respectful, critical, perfectionists, security driven, communicative, tidy, nervous, detail-oriented… Can I stop already? Okay, now pick one of the above and tell me it’s not fitting for Koushiro.

…

Hm, I know. It’s hard, isn’t it?

Maybe his tidiness is questionable depending on the situation… But the guy is orderly and the chaos only exists in times when his perfectionism takes over. The nervous part from the Virgo can be seen in shyness or even being obedient. All of that makes Koushiro a dedicated friend who would do anything in his power to make everything work for you. Danger is that he will efface himself, thinking he’s not worth as much as the others. This is what happens in Adventure episode 28 right after he solved the card riddle. On the top left corner either the Agumon or the Gomamon is right, but he doesn’t know which one and he apologizes, which is not necessary at all, with: “I’m sorry I couldn’t live up to your expectations,” which is such a Virgo Sun/Rising thing to say..! The Virgo dynamic is alive and kicking.

It’s even more alive and kicking in his other strong Virgo placements: Mercury and Mars. With Mercury in Virgo, Mercury is in it’s sign of its rulership, making it a strong placement. And precisely that planet is the planet of thoughts and knowledge! The combination of his Sun, Rising, Mercury and Mars in Virgo makes him be, engage, think and act like a true Virgo. Detail-oriented, thoughtful, respectful, orderly, practical and curious!

The hardest part for his birthday calculation was his Moon placement. The Moon is all about emotions, needs, wants, behavior, responds, et cetera. I first gave him a Capricorn Moon, but my boyfriend is such a Cap Moon and it didn’t fit the bill for Koushiro in my opinion. So I read and searched and eventually came to the conclusion it had to be an Air sign Moon, simply for the fact that our boy Koushiro is the bearer of the crest of Knowledge and Air signs can be seen as the intellectual ones of the Zodiac! Eventually I went for the Gemini Moon and I’m going to explain why exactly.

One could say Gemini is the bearer of Knowledge just as much as Koushiro is. Gemini LOVE to know things! They are naturally curious and are great communicators, when it comes to knowledge (pun warning if you’ve seen the reboot: they love to bring joy to their knowledge). Gemini tend to be a bit superficial when it comes to having and sharing knowledge and of course we know that’s not the case with our Koushiro here, due to his many Virgo placements, making him more observant and inward. What the Gemini Moon DOES to him is making this boy very talkative! He likes to spill what’s on his mind, he likes to share what he thinks, he likes to ramble and rant. It’s something we see him doing in Tri a lot, especially that one scene in Reunion part 3 (episode 3) where he keeps on rambling about all the strange events and he misses the first part of the conversation between the other DigiDestineds (about the news and Jyou’s ‘girlfriend’ poor guy no one believes him). Koushiro misses the conversation because a) his Gemini Moon likes to ramble and keep rambling, and b) because his Virgo placements can make him a bit unaware of his surroundings quite the time…

That’s not a bad thing per se, Koushiro is just very much focused on his work and d e t a i l s, which is a VERY Virgo-ish trait. But lets not forget that his priority is to help others with that knowledge and that the combination of his Virgo placements with his Gemini Moon makes him a great mentor. Brings me to his role throughout the entirety of Adventure 02: The Mentor. You’re welcome.

Another Gemini Moon thingy is rudeness. Now we know Koushiro is the most polite person out of ALL DD’s, always using honorifics, even saying Hikari-san instead of Hikari-chan, because Koushiro IS respect. But Koushiro is not afraid to tell you what’s at stake in times of ‘danger’, he’s not afraid to tell the truth. There are a few examples for that in Adventure, Adventure 02 and in Tri, but I’d like to refer to one of my favorite moments in whole Digimon Adventure history. Because Koushiro x rudeness brings me back to Diaboromon strikes back when he’s obviously so done with everyone, then Mimi enters the scene and he doesn’t even care. In the English dub she literally says “How rude”. Ooooohhh Koushiro, you little rude demon… It’s not the biggest proof it’s a simple one and my personal favorite.

All of the talkativeness and rudeness is something we mostly see Koushiro doing when he’s most comfortable. So we won’t see him being all talkative all the time -sharing more than just plain, superficial knowledge and instead more personal helpful knowledge- with everyone, but we do see him being talkative and speaking up to certain characters he’s most comfortable with. Now name one boy he’s very talkative to compared with literally all the other characters… You know what? Scroll down.

Last thing and then I’ll stop rambling about this beautiful and lovely nerd. His Venus, planet of values (and love…) is in Libra. What does that mean? Well, I’ve seen quite some fans type Koushiro as a bi-sexual, or something in that direction. Or even better a ‘disaster bi-sexual’. I already agreed on that, but when I saw this birth chart… IT’S (HEAD)CANON! Seriously, Libra is the zodiac sign of doubt, decision making (or actually no decision making, but I’ll get there with the next boy) and relationships and if you have your Venus placed in Libra you’re doomed to be a disaster when it comes to making decisions in your love life both romantically and platonically! Venus in Libra creates the desire for a good and loving relationships, but Koushiro’s Virgo Sun/Rising makes him more shy, his Virgo Mars makes him hold back. Once again, the Virgo Sun/Rising-Libra Venus dynamic lets him efface himself in relationships, thinking they have nothing to offer, but they have!! And so Koushiro gets left behind with his unresolved feelings… the boy has a hard time in love, let’s give him all a hug!

Taichi Yagami - October 15th 1988

The protagonist. Okay, let me compare this goggle headed protagonist to another goggle headed protagonist outside the Digimon franchise: Naruto. This is probably more interesting to people who have watched and know Naruto, so you can skip the part. To me Naruto is the classical protagonist type; bold, adventurous, playful, (a little) obnoxious at some times, hot headed… These are traits we easily assign to fire signs in the zodiac, especially Aries. So I would immediately give Naruto the Aries Sun placement. However, when we see Naruto grow up, his behavior and the way he speaks and leads grows up with him as well. That’s only natural. And based on those changes I wouldn’t necessarily give Naruto the Aries Sun placements, although the Aries placement or another fire placement is very likely to be present in his chart.

Now I could go even further, explain the development from child to adult through Jung’s theory about cognitive functions, but that’s incredibly complicated and a looooong stretch I won’t be making here today. In short, Jung’s development theory is interesting, because it shows how we first see the obvious traits in a child which are the traits the child engages (Rising sign) the world with before it develops the other functions showing the person’s true identity (Sun sign). So we could say we first see someone’s Rising sign more clearly before the Sun comes shining through. Like with Naruto. And the same could be for Taichi in the case of this headcanon.

To tackle his birth chart and big three, I’ll be starting with explaining his Rising Sign before his Sun sign. And the Rising sign I assigned him is Aries Rising.

Like I said above, Aries is bold, adventurous, playful and above all: courageous. Especially the Aries Rising placement which is more courageous than its Aries Sun counterpart. Aries are born leaders, can be extremely competitive, are somewhat restless and desperately need to move. In Taichi’s case with the above birth chart, that urge to move is magnified by his Aries Mars placement. The dynamic of his Aries Rising and Aries Mars makes Taichi a mover, an adventurer, and incredibly determined. This could be both positively, always wanting the best (especially for yourself, as Aries is a pretty selfish sign), and a tad negatively, always going and going and going. In the Adventure series this could be the reason why he makes Greymon dark-evolve, because he wants things too bad and too fast. Aries are hot headed and can grow impatient if things don’t go the way they want. And the Aries Rising and Mars dynamic makes Taichi a very physical guy. Mix that with the impatience and he is not afraid to pick fights and use his fists.

All of this can make Taichi a very stormy and reckless boy (boundaries? What’s that?), but also a fearless leader. The exuberance, the impatience and restlessness comes back in his Sagittarius Moon placement as well. This Sag Moon in combination with his strong Aries placements in Rising and Mars makes Taichi a sportive, physical, optimistic and forward leader that is incredibly courageous and adventurous, which could make him a bit ‘superficial’ as a protagonist. But the Sag Moon also deepens and strengthens his leader skills.

Sagittarius is a sign pictured by a centaur with an arrow and bow. The centaur’s horse legs make the Sag want to move and be free, but the arrow aims in a clear direction and aiming takes knowledge and focus. Sagittarius thus is an adventurous fella, but also a philosopher. Taichi’s Sag Moon placement makes him a pro in seeing the bigger picture and connecting dots next to his never ending energy. He will make sure we’re going in the right direction by overlooking the whole situation. So we absolutely shouldn’t forget Taichi is a true strategist! He sees, understands what’s at stake in a situation, connects the dots, comes with a strategy and like a true leader knows his team and can place everyone in his right spot to get through the toughest of situations (once again referring to Taichi asking Koushiro to pick the cards in Adventure episode 28). Speaking about a great leader, gosh, Taichi, you’re truly amazing! <3

However, it’s his Aries Rising and Mars that often make him act before he thinks, preferably alone (Taichi is a teamplayer, but the selfish and reckless Aries in him makes him act alone. And the sum of teamplayer + acting alone = self-sacrifice mode… which happens ALL THE DAMN TIME). Or actually makes him act while thinking without doing a short reflection beforehand. Seriously, I’m convinced that this reflection in advance could have saved him a lot of trouble throughout Digimon Adventure. Let’s blame it on (t)his (headcanon) birth chart…

Also, all of the above vouches for Taichi having an amazing intellect, but the guys needs to be challenged… Hence why he’s always staring out of the window during classes in Tri, daydreaming away to where the adventure is. He feels trapped, needs to be outside and should use his intelligence for things he finds important (like saving the digital world, soccer and saving friends and the world). The daydreaming could also be his Libra Mercury who can make Taichi lose his focus and could make him lazy. Luckily Taichi has a very active Aries Mars in opposite aspect from his Libra Mercury that neutralizes that lazy and dreamy Libra Mercury.

Okay, back to topic. Now you maybe think: But if Taichi is good in knowing where to go, being the fearless leader, also an intellect who has the knowledge to aim straight and shoot… then WHY is he so lost, down and in doubt in Tri and so unknowing of his future in Kizuna…??!! I have an answer to that. And that answer is his Libra Sun.

I know I know, this is a very VERY unpopular Sun sign to give this goggle leader, but please hear me out. For starters, Libra is the sign of diplomacy and if we believe the 02’s epilogue what’s Taichi’s job? Right, a diplomat. We also know he studies something like political sciences in Kizuna (which I think is AMAZING and vouches even more for Taichi’s intellect! Politics is a tough study…) and to make it in the political field you really do need diplomacy and charms.

Taichi is an absolute charmer, in my eyes at least. I mean, look at his 02 self! He’s such a smooth charmer in every way… The way he sends off Sora to Yamato while acting all cool and collected, phew, that requires some serious smoothness. And still we often see Taichi depicted as a down and broody boy besides his energetic and bold (sometimes indifferent…) character, especially after Tri. That too could be due to a Libra Sun placement.

Like Sagittarius is depicted by a centaur, Libra is depicted by scales and those scales are all about harmony, balance and justice. Libra is the opposite of Aries in the zodiac, but also about weighing opposites in the sigh itself. When we look at the Aries/Libra opposite placement: where Aries can be quite selfish, Libra as an opposite is the people’s pleaser. Where Aries is reckless and impatient, Libra is thoughtful and patient and one could say that an Aries acts where a Libra waits. Where Aries makes the impulsive decisions, Libra keeps deliberating leading into constant doubt and confusion. And how do we see Taichi in Tri? Ah yes, in doubt and confused.

A Libra Sun desperately wants to bring peace and harmony, driven by justice, in a diplomatic way. Libra Suns are deep thinkers which can make them very doubtful, making them spiraling down into a hole of overthinking and doubts. The Libra Sun-Sag Moon dynamic makes this all even more deep and almost philosophical in a way there will always be more and more questions, but never answers because Libra simply can’t make choices. All while being solution-oriented!

As Taichi grows up from a middle schooler to a high schooler, it’s that doubt coming from the Libra Sun that kicks Taichi hard. It conflicts with his carefree and bold Aries Rising nature and as that Libra Sun comes shining through, we see Taichi becoming more cautious and reserved compared to his younger self. The guy has a strong inner dialogue always looking for the best solutions to please everyone and bring harmony (I wanted to say ‘balance to the world’, yes to all the avatar the last airbender cameos) to the people and world(s in case of the digital world) around him he so desperately wants to protect. This is what we see happening in Tri, where he can’t choose what’s the right thing… Most of the time that inner dialogue is hidden behind his Aries Rising (and Aries Mars and Sag Moon).

So under that tough and courageous Aries Rising demeanor (remember that a Rising sign is all about engaging and how you come across to others) is a very soft, sweet, friendly and overall smart Libra Sun boy who has troubles expressing himself because the boy is in conflict with himself (which we see in the Dark Master’s arc in Adventure where he expresses his concerns towards his sister to Koushiro… it’s so hard for Taichi to let it all out, even when he needs it badly). It’s so sad, he’s such a complicated character, but that’s also one of the most beautiful things about Taichi. He’s layered af. He could be the best listener (Koushiro’s feels this, that’s why Koushiro can talk so open and freely to Taichi, because Taichi lets him thank you Libra Sun) if it weren’t for his strong fire placements opposite from his airy Sun sign. But give the boy time and space and he can show you his charms in a way no one else owns those charms.

So Taichi’s Libra Sun is hidden away most of the time due to his strong Aries placements. Usually his Rising and Sun sign being in opposite aspect from each other, should neutralize the placements, but Taichi’s Aries Mars placement makes the Aries Rising overrule the Libra Sun. Still, we shouldn’t forget Taichi is a softy with a big heart. He just needs the right people around him to get his charm on and Taichi definitely has some great people collected in his life who can help him think and make decisions.

A few things I want to point out before I stop rambling, because this analysis is already WAY too long.

Taichi’s midheaven in Capricorn in combination with his Libra Sun and Aries Rising makes him very ambitious on the intellectual side! Directly aiming for the UN and quickly climbing up the promotion ladder (and being successful like a true Cap, let’s not forget that).

His Mars was in transition from Pisces to Aries during his birth. Which means his Aries Mars is highly influenced by Pisces which could also explain why he spirals down as Pisces Mars has a lot of stormy energy on the emotional side (whereas Aries Mars has stormy energy on the physical side). When this emotional energy comes out negative, it can lead to mental health problems (!!! TRI DEPRESSED!TAICHI), especially when close friends and family (can you feel it coming? The whole Hikari-trauma is a thing) are involved.

His Libra Sun makes him in need of a group of friends and he loves being surrounded by them! Though he doesn’t like to admit that due to his Aries Rising. Taichi is such a conflicted boy…

An end note on these two boys: A heart to heart/hard friendship with a lot of mutual understanding and support <3

#DFS Digimon Astrology Journey #head-first buddies #Koushiro Izumi #Taichi Yagami #Digimon #Koushiro #Taichi #Izzy Izumi #Tai Kamiya #Izzy #Tai #Astrology #Reference post #Digimon adventure #Digimon tri #Digimon kizuna #Digimon adventure: 2020 #LONG POST. #Digimon headcanons

[kimsnnn]

Part 1

Disclaimer: This post is in favor of my ship, Elriel. No hate, just an opinion. This is what makes sense to me. If this isn't your cup of tea, and it came up on your feed, no worries just skip please. 

If you look at it this way:

If the series were to officially end at ACOWAR then that would mean that there would be no need to add any more books due to the majority of the plot being resolved. If there were slight questions or plot holes that were left open, we as readers can basically create our own conclusion based of where these characters and their stories were left off at. That’s the beauty of being a reader, being able to use our imagination to extend the stories based on canon information to infer or even speculate what happened to those beloved characters of ours.

If its easy to answer these questions, fill these plot holes and resolve any issues within that story, then there would be no need for any additional books, and lets say there were questions that were pressing but not complicated to answer, a simple extra book could be added to resolve that like ACOFAS. ACOFAS could’ve concluded everything. She could’ve also showed Feyre or whoever freeing Vassa and then created a whole spin off on Vassa and her adventures including the plot of her defeating her captor Koschei while also dealing with the queens and humans basically introducing us to a whole new world and continent with new fae/fae territories (like chaol introduced in his book from ToG). Her LI would most likely be Jurian because Lucien would have ended up with Elain which we know because she resolved that in ACOFAS.

BUT

That’s not at all what happened. Things were not answered/resolved during ACOFAS.

The author which in this case is SJM knew that whatever obvious inferences/speculation we the fandom would have is not the accurate ending she had for these characters. So she decided to introduce far more books into the series as standalones but, still part of the overarching plot to truly get the full scope of what she has in store for these characters. Why make additional books based on the obvious ?  She’s a writer, she knows the importance of creating mystery or writing plot twists that we either didn’t or decided not to realize or even accept. So ACOFAS and even ACOWAR wasn’t there to answer last minute questions, to show us that our favorite ships did end up together, no it was there to be used to set up future stories like SJM said and be as close as can be as opposite of obvious.

At the End of ACOWAR we have :

Nesta

-THAT Nessian moment 🥰  (& Nessian moments in general in ACOWAR)

We can infer based on where those characters were left off that :

-They would end up together eventually.  I mean come on, Cass’s line *chef’s kiss*.

BUT what people forget is that was also her breaking point (trauma) 

-We didn’t know how her trauma would affect her, her life and loved ones, & how she’d heal Or what were even her powers. These questions were built up throughout all of ACOWAR

So what did SJM do?

-She wrote the answers to those questions in ACOSF while also resolving questions about Nessian’s status especially since Nesta first had to start healing to let herself be loved.

The evidence ? The set up to gain support to find these answers ? Its in ACOFAS

-Nesta’s drinking, isolation, rage, fear, loneliness and self hate

-Nesta’s avoidance of her sisters, the IC and Cassian

-Cassian’s persistence, confusion. Feeling helpless.

Same thing can be seen for Elain

At the end of ACOWAR

Elain

-Civilness between E and L.  She seems more at peach and want to plan gardens/rebuild

We can infer

-Elain talked to Lucien so she forgave him or is on track to forgive him. From this we can assume the possibility of Elucien being endgame.

Elain also must be healed because she smiled and wants to help rebuild. So that all equals acceptance of her powers (on occasionally seeing things and that it, that’s her power), her new life and bond

BUT what we forget is the iconic Elriel moments (Hybern camp & truth teller connection), Elain’s world/future going up in flames, the consequences/trauma of having been gifted these powers

-We don’t know the full scope of her powers, why the cauldron adores her, how she feels, why were we given blooming moments between Elriel 

So again what will SJM probably do?

-Set Elriel to be endgame. Cause civility/friendship/forgiveness/CLOSURE between Elain and Lucien. Get In depth about her powers, her trauma and how it has affected the life she thought she would have. Have her come into her role in the NC and have self growth. 

The evidence? Its in ACOFAS & ACOSF

-Elain’s anger and desperation to have a choice, to have her own agency

-Elain’s avoidance, tolerance, discomfort of Lucien ( she wilts and regresses)

-Elain’s push to contribute more and firmly declare she’s a member of the NC

-Elriel’s tension & build up ( glances, smiles, blushing, gifts, humor, awareness, longing, protectiveness, attraction, actively trying to distract themselves, etc I could go on and on)

-Confirmation of Elain’s power still existing. Her whereabouts: where is Elain when the IC are facing obstacles?

-Her visions still to happen. The fourth dead trove needs to be found: it makes sense that it would be found by Elain (& Az) ( the crown: Braiylln, the harp & mask: Nesta, the fourth trove: Elain)

*If there are 3 cauldron made and Braiylln found one (& is now dead), Nesta found 2 but couldn't get a good read of the fourth, that means it'll be up to Elain & Azriel because they are basically the only two in the IC who closely work with shadows and even mist. Maybe Nuala and Cerridwen would also join in searching which id love.

Now let’s ignore the evidence.

From that moment at the end of ACOWAR again: 1) we see Elain who seems better and 2)we have Elain and Lucien who seem to be in a civil place 

So we assume she’s healed or on track, and her relationship with Lucien is looking up. So why would SJM write a whole standalone on the obvious?

If she’s healed and okay, if she and Lucien will be a sailing ship why be so secretive and unclear on Elain’s story, on who she ends up with?

Nessian was so clear, there was no REAL doubt that they would not end up together despite the obstacles between them, two of them being her rage and trauma. But Nessian would be and are endgame period. All the other “prospects” were just for angst, development and humor. Not real threats.

She wrote Nesta’s story because the worry and question wasn’t on Nessian’s validity, she established their validity and their romance when Nesta prepared to die with Cassian, when Cassian promised to find more time with her, when Nesta called for Cassian, when Nesta Wass worried for Cassian, when Nesta would constantly pay attention to him without realizing it (his wings) when Cassian ran after her during solstice, when Cassian bought her a gift etc. The worry and questions were ALWAYS on and about Nesta’s role, powers, and trauma because they were the influencing factor that affected everyone’s future, Nesta’s life/health and Nessian’s ability to finally able to come together.

If Elucien were endgame we as a fandom would know without a doubt that they are. There would be many more moments of ooh’s and hmmm’s and less mystery and confusion on their validity. There would be far more angst and these characters would have be seen more often together (seeking each other out, but Elain never does) or at least have them have more than one scene of mutual civilness where they dont talk awkwardly, and have a real conversation not one that seems forced, especially by Feyre. Even with the obstacles between them and their distance (because of the obvious elephant in the room) we should have scenes that showcases clear interest between them but we don’t. There is only one true scene where we have that and its at the end of ACOWAR, Im not blind i could see where people might interpret it as Elucien confirmation and who knows maybe I'm wrong and it is but, I read that differently. That to me was confirmation that a friendship between them is possible. Something completely platonic but just as sweet in a different way. That scene to me wasn’t charged it was not even a slow burn or even a spark it was healing and the foreshadowing of a possible friendship.

ALSO:

*Possible ToG spoiler below*

I don’t think it’s too far fetched to assume that Vassien is a thing. And in all honestly I also don’t think its too far fetched to have Lucien (& Vassa) have their own book like Chaol (& Yrene) did. Chaol was an important/original main character from the very beginning of the series who ended up doing grave mistakes. He found himself lost in life to later finding himself gaining a new purpose outlook & perspective when he left the continent to only meet his new LI Yrene freaking Towers who SERIOUSLY changed the whole game ( I freaking love her) and was extremely valuable to winning that war. This is so similar to Lucien’s story so far and Vassa (the firebird) who I expect to resemble Yrene in value and vitalness  BUT it is important to state that Lucien is nothing like Chaol and is far more SUPERIOR. So No this is not me saying Lucien is like Chaol. This is just me seeing the resemblance in their journeys so far, which might be due to SJM possibly reusing the same template on purpose.

Part 2

#elain #elain archeron #elain x azriel #elriel #acotar 5

[kyouxa]

Diabolik lovers Chaos Lineage: Kino (Story 14)

In terms of the gameplay: The black choices lead up to a bad ending, the white choices lead up to a good ending. Please no reposting onto other sites, ask me before translating this into another language too! If you enjoy these translations, please consider supporting me on ko-fi.

Place: Outside — Cave

Yui: Nn…

(Is this place… the cave? I wonder if I was carried back here, I probably fell asleep as soon as we returned)

(Maybe I should go back to sleep once again…)

Kino: …..

Yui: Ehh… Kino-kun!?

Kino: You overslept again. Wasn’t my sleeping princess talking about getting up earlier today?

Yui: I’m really sorry, I seemed to be really tired and I slept pretty soundly as well.

(T-That really surprised me. Kino-kun was right in front of my face when I woke up)

Kino: ...Your hair is all tousled. No matter how you’d put it, it looks really awful, y’know?

Yui: I can’t help it since I just woke up, okay?

Kino: Shut it. Let me fix this messy hair of yours for you while you simply stay quiet, ’kay?

Yui: Uh… sure.

(I-I wonder, why is he using his finger to brush my hair? It’s somehow embarrassing…)

Um… where’s everyone?

Kino: They got up a while ago and started preparing themselves. You’re the only one who still slept until now.

Reiji was about to start a strategy meeting from this time forward anyway.

Are you really gonna force yourself to join us in this kind of state though? You could still sleep as things are now.

Yui: No, I’m good. I’ll participate in this meeting too.

Kino: Fine, then let’s go.

Yui: (Ah… he simply left)

(To be honest, I didn’t think Kino-kun would make me feel better as easy as he did just now though)

(And having him stroke my hair was really nice too…)

I mean, I obviously have to worry about the strategy meeting from now on first!

(Gosh, just what was I thinking a second ago…)

*time passed*

Yui: Umm, good morning, everyone!

Laito: Did you finally get up, Bitch-chan? Seems as if you slept really comfortably.

I was about to mess around with you if you were still sleeping... doing all kinds of things... you know?♪

Ayato: Shut up, pervert.

Yui: Ahaha...

(I was so worried about coming here, but I guess I totally forgot that everyone’s memories already returned to them)

Kanato: Aren’t there any sweets available here? I can’t stand this anymore. I want to go home as soon as possible.

Yui: I-I’m sorry Kanato-kun. You have to be a little more patient.

Subaru: Fuck, what kind of a punishment game is it to sleep in the same space as these guys!?

I can’t sleep calmly because I don’t have my casket with me here.

Yui: I’m really sorry about that...

(Why am I even apologizing in the first place...)

Kino: Hey, you. Did you really use to live with these selfish guys?

Yui: I’m also questioning my personal experiences so far...

Reiji: Be quiet. If everyone has prepared themselves, we shall start holding another strategy meeting.

The topic of this discussion… shall be how we possibly could get out of this place, right?

Yui: ….. !

(I can finally face this problem together with everyone in the Sakamaki family)

(Maybe we can finally find an opening to get out of here like this… !)

Reiji: As Kino and others already mentioned, if this truly is a space which is completely isolated from the outside world...

The number of people who can do such impressive tricks are limited.

Subaru: Then who did this?

Shu: ...Our father, obviously.

Ayato: Ngh… that old geezer!?

Kino: ...As expected, they all think so.

Yui: Kino-kun…

Reiji: No, it is way too early to conclude that this might be our fathers doing after all.

However, it can be inferred that our father or someone with equivalent power created this space.

Kanato: What is it that you are talking about?

Reiji: This might be a simple guess, but we could easily judge this by the names of the supreme ruler and Eve.

Subaru: Tch, the nerve to do this shitty thing again...

Laito: Hey, if we try something out, we might actually achieve something.

If we can live up to their expectations, do you think we could get out?

Reiji: Well, that could be the case indeed.

Yui: But what should we do in order to live up to their expectations then?

Kino: It’s about fighting for the supreme leader, so why don’t we kill each other until there’s only one of us standing?

Yui: Kino-kun!

Kino: And if we don’t do that, why doesn’t the sleeping beauty herself choose her prince to be with?

Yui: A-Are you being serious about this right now… ?

Reiji: Let us return to that. As Kino already said, killing each other appears to be infertile.

But does anyone else have something else in mind?

Monologue

After that, Reiji-san and the others tried finding a solution for us to return back to the real world, but in the end they didn’t get to any conclusion.

In the meantime, time is the only thing that’s progressing.

As things were now, we were only going around circles, and therefore decided to interrupt this discussion to take a break.

Place: Outside — Cave

Yui: (Ah… speaking of which, Kino-kun was gone before I even noticed it)

(I wonder where he went?)

Reiji: You. Where do you think you are going?

Yui: Ah ... well, it looks like Kino-kun isn’t there, so I wanted to go out a little and look for him.

Reiji: Make sure not to go too far. There is still a possibility that someone from another family might be wandering around outside.

The others’ memories have not returned yet. Which means, they will aim for you if they spot you.

Yui: Yes, I know... I’ll be careful.

(He’s right. Everyone else’s memories are still weird)

(In that case, I have to be really cautious...)

Place: Outside — Cave entrance

Yui: (Kino-kun, where did you go? I really hope you’re somewhere nearby)

Ah… Kino-kun!

Kino: What? Why are you here too?

Yui: When I noticed you weren’t there anymore, I started to get worried. Why did you come here anyway?

Kino: ...I was wondering if I could see any shooting stars if I go outside.

But, this is a fake space. It has a fake night sky… which obviously means there won’t be any shooting stars falling down.

Yui: I see...

(Since everything is covered with trees, even the night sky can hardly be seen)

(But despite that, he still came here to try and see the stars. I wonder what he thought about?)

(After all, Kino-kun’s profile still looks somewhat lonely to me…)

Kino: If you’ve got anything to say to me, why not say it to my face instead of staring at me like that?

Yui: Ah, s-sorry! To be honest, I’d really like to see the stars too.

By the way, what did you say before to me? The stars always guided you, if I recall correctly?

Kino: Yeah, I did say that. What about it?

Yui: That sentence felt really important when you said it, so I kept thinking about it all the time. And I simply wondered what you mean by that.

...But if you don’t want to talk about it, I’m obviously not forcing you to say anything.

Kino: Nah… it doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have anything to hide from you anymore.

...When I was still a child, my father, Karlheinz, abandoned me in the demon worlds hinterland.

I don’t remember much of that time back then, but I do know that I was left behind there. Left on a cursed plot of land which was fully covered in the smell of rotten fruits.

Yui: A cursed place… in the demon world...

Kino: I was trying my best to keep walking despite tripping over rotten mud and being left in darkness. But even if I ended up in another place, there was nobody there.

I was so lonely I eventually started believing that I’d end up dying like this.

And in that moment… I saw a shooting star falling down for the first time. It was like an affirmation for my whole life to continue.

Yui: ….. !

Kino: My father… I desperately continued to think about why Karlheinz would’ve abandoned me as he did.

But I’m still certain there must’ve been a reason. Because at that time, the stars saving me felt as if it was fate.

I’m more than convinced that there must’ve been a reason why I was chosen for that.

Yui: Is that why you believe you’re the most suitable one for gaining his powers… ?

Kino: Exactly. With those powers in my hands, even those other stupid guys would have to realise that it was my destiny to get them.

Until now, nobody has ever acknowledged my existence so far.

But I’ll be recognized. Once I’ll have absolute power, no one will be able to go against me anymore.

Yui: (The stars guided him… and the stars gave him affirmation一)

(I see. The reason why Kino-kun is so particularly interested in gaining his power is...)

Choices

1) Someone recognizing him (white)♡♡♡

2) Proof of being alive (black)

一 Someone recognizing him ♡

Yui: (Kino-kun, I’m sure he just wants someone to recognize him. His existence in general一)

(But this is really sad thinking about it…)

Kino: What’s with the depressed face now?

Yui: It’s nothing... I just thought about it for a moment.

Even if you might not be able to show off your power, I’m sure there are people who will recognize you, Kino-kun.

Kino: Hah? I don’t need this kind of thing. You’re simply saying this half-minded stuff to pity myself again.

Yui: I do believe in that though. And so would Yuri-san.

一 Proof of being alive

Yui: (I think he wants proof that he’s being alive)

(After all, I’ve heard him talking about being strongly oppressed by others several times before)

Was there anyone around you that you could’ve possibly put trust in?

Kino: Well, that might be true.

Yui: But only Yuri-san is this kind of special person, right?

end Choices

Kino: Eh… Yuri… why do you know Yuri’s name?

Yui: Ah… ! Um, err…

(I know I should’ve kept silent about that, but it accidentally slipped out of my mouth…)

(But now that I’ve already said it, there’s no point in hiding it anymore)

I might’ve heard you sleep-talking and saying that name while doing so.

Kino: What, so that’s it? Is listening to other people talk in their sleep one of your hobbies or something?

Yui: I’m really sorry…

Kino: It’s true that Yuri and I’ve been together for a really long time already. We’ve always been close to each other after all.

Which is why I’m sure Yuri’s still undoubtedly waiting for my return.

Yui: ...Nn. I see… that’s probably true...

Kino: ….. ? What’s wrong?

Yui: Nothing, let’s just try our best to go back to the real world as soon as possible.

Kino: Yeah, you’re right.

Yui: (So he does think Yuri-san’s waiting for his return as well. Why did my chest hurt so much when I heard him say this right now though?)

(I should at least try to act happy for Kino-kun to be able to return to someone as important as her)

Kino: After all of this is over, you’ll also be able to live with your beloved Sakamaki guys again. Aren’t you happy about that too?

Yui: Yes, I am… I want to go home soon too.

Kino: ...Nn.

Well, remember once you returned home. I’ll come and get rid of all of you.

Yui: T-That’s not something I want to remember...

Kino: ….. !

Yui: What’s wrong?

Kino: ...Someone is heading towards this way.

Yui: Eh… ?

*someone walks up*

Yui: ….. ! Carla-san…

Kou: So you really were in a place like this. No wonder it was so quiet when we went to Scarlet’s mansion.

Azusa: Eve… we’ve been… looking for you.

Yui: Kou-kun, Azusa-kun…

Carla: Obediently hand over Eve to me. Someone like you is simply not fit for the tasks of a supreme ruler.

Kino: ...So they really did end up finding us, hm? It would’ve been easy if it was only Kou and Azusa, but Carla is here with them too.

Yui: (What should we do? Everyone is still inside the cave… !)

Kino: It’s alright. We know Carla can’t remember anything about being a founder, which should make things somehow manageable.

Yui: Why?

Kino: Because he doesn’t remember being a founder, he wouldn’t know he has any sort of great power to begin with.

Even if he’s a founder, he doesn’t know anything about how strong his powers are, which means there is something we can do after all.

Yui: (Is he reaching into his pocket? What on earth is he about to do?)

*Kino’s pocket rushles*

Carla: Just what is it that you are hiding? You will not be able to escape from me with a little trick you might have up your sleeves.

Kino: I know that already. So 一 I’ll do this instead!

Carla: Kch… !

Kou: Ngh… ! What was that… !?

Azusa: My body… it won’t move...

Yui: (Why did Carla-san’s and the others’ state change so quickly all of the sudden… ?)

Carla: You… what did you do… !?

Kino: Now we’ve earned a little time!

While we still can, run!

Yui: A-Alright!

*they start running*

Yui: But, Kino-kun! What did you do to them!?

Kino: It’s a talisman with magical power. It’s an item that can suppress any devil’s power for a certain period of time!

Well, it’s a one time only item, so that’s it.

Yui: These kinds of things exist!?

Kino: I’m the only one who has things like this here, right? Seems as if I accidentally brought it with me alongside my smartphone.

But that doesn’t matter right now, we have to let the others know about this as soon as possible first… !

Yui: Ah, everyone! You’ve come outside...

Reiji: What is it you are making this much noise for? It is almost as if you encountered an enemy raid.

Yui: It’s Carla-san! He came here with Kou-kun and Azusa-kun!

Kino: Carla and the others are unable to move right now. We have to make a run for it while we still can!

Kanato: And where exactly do you expect us to run?

Kino: I know a place where nobody should expect us to be!

Subaru: Doesn’t that sound kinda sloppy? Does a place like that even exist here!?

Laito: I don’t think Carla came here with the plan to aim for us though.

Shu: Yes. It’s obvious that they’re merely suspicious of their absent brothers being accompanied by other guys.

Ayato: Then what are we supposed to do?

Kino: Even so, we still need a place to hide ourselves in...

There’s no other choice than that!

*Kino leaves*

Yui: Kino-kun, where are you going!?

Kino: It’s fine, just follow me!

Yui: Kino-kun…

(Let’s follow him. I believe in Kino-kun一!)

#its over :( #chaos lineage translation #chaos lineage #chaos lineage kino #chaos lineage kino translation #diabolik lovers chaos lineage kino translation #diabolik lovers kino #kino diabolik lovers #kino sakamaki #Komori Yui #yui komori #reiji sakamaki #Shuu Sakamaki #Shu Sakamaki #carla tsukinami #kou mukami #Subaru Sakamaki #Kanato Sakamaki #diabolik lovers translation #translation

[ethernetchord]

i was posed some interesting prompts/questions by @waywardrebelhairdodeputy-blog about iwwv so here are my responses!

1. Why do you think James punched Oliver? (During the sword play practice and also in the beginning of the book Gwendolyn asked James to think of something that would make him wanna punch Oliver and after a minute his eyes became hard, what do you think he thought of then at the moment?

oh, this is a cool question. there are a couple of angles I'd like to take with this so please, bear with me. Firstly I thought about this from the Rio/Oliver narration perspective. So let me pull out some Oliver quotes (concerning James)

"James and I put each other through the kind of reckless passions Gwendolyn once talked about, joy and anger and desire and despair."

"but in the red glare of the fire, he no longer looked so angelic. Instead, he was handsome the way you think of the devil as handsome—forbiddingly so."

"You’re—I don’t know, this fragile, elusive thing, and I feel like if I could just catch you, I could crush you... I should hate you right now. And I want to—God, I want to —but that’s not enough"

“Oliver, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I want to hurt the whole world.” (James to Oliver)

Now, with all of this in mind, you'll come to realize that one of the most enticing and riveting things about these two is that their love and passion for each other is far from gentle or soft- contrasting greatly how many queer male relationships are represented. It's harsh, bright, sharp- it's ruthless but not uncaring. Oliver, highly repressed in himself becomes inwardly aggressive and violent- "I could crush you." "I should hate you... I want to" "Forbiddingly" - His affections towards James aren't entirely consensual on his own behalf, this makes him assaultive and frustrated. But only internally- he never acts on these feelings, he can't hurt James. James is the opposite of this- and you'd think with his gentle angelic, princely demeanor that he'd be equally repressive of his feelings and impulses but if the book has proven anything- it's that James is perfectly capable of causing physical harm. Rio presents them equally in their aggression but their approaches are foils of each other.

The next thing I'd propose- ultimately- is Meredith, and additionally, internalized homophobia. Now let's clarify: I don't think James had any doubts about his queer identity I just don't think he was entirely accepting of even himself. Because if we look at the one, explicit, instance in which James is murderously aggressive- Richard's murder- what two things does that event and his aggressions towards Oliver have in common? Meredith and homosexuality. Let me explain. Richard and Meredith, Meredick if you will, "She and Richard had been “together” in every typical sense of the word", it's nearly impossible to think of Richard without Meredith- and this might have been less significant if Meredith and Oliver didn't have the relationship they had and if Meredith had never propositioned James also. Her ties with all three of them is important. Now; homosexuality. Richard was acting explicitly homophobic- now whether this is true or not because I know that's been an argument itself- it has to stem from some reality for James. And with Oliver- well it's obvious there. So my point: James might have thought of Meredith and Oliver, of them together, of if she had propositioned Oliver in the same way. He might have thought of Oliver, of wanting to love him but not allowing himself, of Oliver slipping through his fingers, of Oliver hitting him for these very desires.

2. Also also also the part where James was drunk and blabbering like a fool out of guilt, he asked Wren to sleep with her so was he bisexual too? Or that was just a ruse to get away from Oliver at that moment, but there are parts where he was affectionate towards Wren (could be friendship, but he was twirling strands of hair at the nape of her neck and she was smiling so....)

I think different queer people might interpret this differently but this is my reading of it. I do think they were friendly- I think they were very close really. The situation with the photos in which James is playing with her hair while posing + plus the kiss (part of their performance) and finally him asking her to sleep with him- I don't think that it's impossible for him to be bisexual.

I've seen a lot of people say that he must be gay since he rejected Meredith but that's a very surface-level conclusion in my opinion. I think that his inability to be attracted to Mer had more to do with his genuine disliking towards her and that he just really didn't want to be another one of the boys she could play. I don't think it has to be concrete evidence of his complete homosexuality. I don't by any means think he was in love with Wren, however. The nature of James and Wren's relationship is nothing like Oliver and Meredith's. This is important. I think they were close, James loved her platonically enough and like you said, probably used her as a diversion for himself.

But- kinda in a different direction here, that it's not impossible that James and Wren was some form of straight-baiting for readers (and Oliver.) I don't know about other readers but I know that for most of the book I was convinced that the feelings between James and Oliver were unrequited on Oliver's behalf. I never suspected that James might harbor feelings back which leads me to this: Oliver might have over assumed the nature of their relationship due to his feelings of unrequitedness and incompatibility. As we're having to listen to Oliver's particular retelling of all this- it's easy to get lost in the lens he creates for us. After all, there are multiple versions of the truth.

But like I said- It's likely Wren was a similar distraction for James as Mer was for Oliver and It's also likely they genuinely had some form of relationship. Nothing's impossible.

The only just criticism for Iwwv I accept is that we never received a why for the way Richard was behaving (you could say he was always a dick and losing his main part made him more so) but all those violent tendencies toward everyone? Not justified, I would have liked more depth in his character and then there's the eating disorder of Caroline (Older sister) and how fickle and reckless Oliver was about it, he just didn't care (kinda sad to think about)

I TOTALLY agree with this. Some people might disagree with me when I say iwwv was actually a pretty short book- but between the amount that was Shakespeare extracts and due to the formatting, 400 pages really isn't a lot. I think Richard could have had more development- Hell most of the characters could have had more development but him specifically. His spiral into violence did feel really sudden and a little confusing. I mean as readers we were beginning to look for an antagonist, for someone to dislike because all the characters had pretty enjoyable personalities so when Richard begins to seem antagonistic we kind of follow it comfortably because it seems natural. However, thinking about it afterward you realize how little we truly know about Richard and his borderline insanity ykno? Even re-reading- Richard begins to become an uncomfortable character to readers very very early on. I was trying to find some foreshadowing or possible explanations and all I might be able to grasp at is the line:

"I didn't mean there are exactly fourteen," Richard said thinly. "I mean it would be impossible to isolate one that leads him to skewering himself." (page 57, when discussing Brutus.)

I know Richard doesn't play Brutus but I think this is still notable- It's kind of impossible to find the one thing that drew Richard into this downfall and it would have been a combination of many things, like with any human character. But I do agree Rio could have given us some more space to learn about all those factors for him. Reading from the perspective of Oliver makes this hard because well- He is an unreliable narrator and it's impossible to know how everything played out and why because of this. Especially since Oliver and Richard were never the most friendly. Additionally, I think the closest thing Rio really gives us is Oliver's delivery of the iconic "Actors are by nature volatile" line.

The same goes for the situation with Oliver's sister. I think we didn't hear much about her because Oliver didn't care enough. He was far too overwhelmed with anger and disappointment from being put second to his sister to really muster up the energy to care enough to expose more to readers. Unfortunately, she was simply a side character even in his life, too unnotable to him or his plot (as he's retelling the story). Much of the flaws of this book with the lack of development of other characters- particularly their motives and side plots boil down, essentially to the unreliable narration. This is why so many people do not like this book- and others like it. We are, to some degree, always kept in the dark about something. Because so is Oliver- as much as he (and in turn, we) could spectate about why things happened the way they did, he (we) could never really know. There is beauty and frustration in this simultaneously.

I could say so much more about all my thoughts on Richard but I'll save you that (for now) because I don't think I could explain him but I definitely have my theories.

#if we were villains #iwwv critism #oliver marks #iwwv

[isazulabaeorwhat]

Rachel Amber, The Broken Angel Who Demonized Herself

Fair warning, please bear with this probably incredibly **longass** (I’m not kidding it’s rlly long) analysis of one of the fandom’s most controversial disliked characters, Rachel Amber. This is just my attempt to analyze her character based on observation from BtS to LiS so by no means do you have to accept them. Productive discussions are obviously very welcomed :D

In LiS, when we asked about Rachel around campus, most of them had nothing but compliments and praises for the missing girl. She was essentially an honorary Vortex Club member who socialised with the snobs, yet she also hung out with the skater stoners and was friendly with those at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Then we see those graffiti around where it hints at Rachel’s promiscuity, debts and conflicts with other people. That’s the first sign we see that Rachel Amber isn’t as perfect as everyone was making her out to be. Afterwards we discover that Rachel was a stoner herself and into whatever drugs there were, partied harder than anyone else, promiscuous, entered a relationship with local drug dealer Frank Bowers while having a secret relationship with Psycho teacher Mark Jefferson— all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in her studies and being considered perfect and adored by practically everyone in her school. The girl’s incredible, obviously, or maybe scary for someone to be so spread out in everything.

Rachel was a straight A student with a 4.0 GPA, an administrative assistant to the Principal, beloved by students and faculty alike, literal goddess beauty, had ambitions to be a model and study international law, daughter of the DA and was the closest to perfection anyone would ever be— so what went wrong? What made her romanticise the idea of running away from a town where everyone loves and adores her?

Because of the above.

Yes, it may sound whiny and dramatic to feel tired of being loved and being the center of attention all the time, but there’s no point to it if it’s not you who they adore, but the person you’re pretending to be— (“I was feeling angsty and reckless. Tired of living up to the perfect image everybody expects out of me.”) —especially when you have to do so much just to maintain the lie.

Throughout LiS and BtS, Rachel’s ability to get along with everyone was always mentioned. At face value she was akin to a social butterfly. She hung out with stoners regardless of their social status (skaters or the vortex club), was friendly with anyone regardless of their place in the social hierarchy (eg; Daniel/Evan/Steph/Drew/Nathan) or even to strangers others usually ignored (Samuel/Homeless lady). Like Evan said, Her friends were her friends. She wasn’t one to let peer pressure affect her relationships so she wasn’t afraid to make all those acquaintances.

However, for those who knew her closely (Chloe and Jefferson), she was referred to as a chameleon, someone who blended in with everyone and everywhere seamlessly. This was an important detail regarding who Rachel was and her intimacy with others. To be able to make that comparison, they would’ve needed to know who the person Rachel actually was underneath the masks she’d created over the years. Chloe was the first to truly see and accept her for who she was. Jefferson was the one who exploited her for it.

For most, being a social chameleon would count as a beneficial social skill if they’re subtle. So long as the person doesn’t lose themselves in the process and is able to separate their personas from their true self, it remains a skill and will be used as such.

The problem with Rachel was that it transcended beyond a skill. A social chameleon was *what* she became, and that led to losing her own sense of identity, to becoming a stranger in her own body.

We see her confiding to Chloe about this feeling in Brave New World: (“Do you think there’s a point when you’ve been acting so much that you don’t even have your own personality anymore? You’re just whatever you think other people want you to be?”) —to which Chloe tells her she does have a personality because she assumed Rachel was talking about herself. But Rachel apparently wasn’t and clarifies she was talking about her father. She then elaborates on how her father doesn’t really exist, that how he was in the principal’s office was a mere performance and then the actual truth— that she’s afraid she’ll end up like him.

No matter how you interpret that scene, the conclusion is that one of Rachel’s fears was becoming like James— someone who’s been so wrapped up in all the lies and manipulation that he no longer seemed recognisable to even his own daughter.

At that point her defence mechanism of deflection and avoidance came into play after Chloe got a little too close to home. We first see this on the train scene when they play Two Truths and a Lie. Rachel gave factual statements as opposed to Chloe who gave facts that elaborated into her personal life. At one point Chloe can ask how Rachel knew about having a distal radius fracture and It’s a very minor detail, but when she explains that it’s because she broke her wrist when she was 10, she says it extremely fast. When Chloe is about to press for more info about something personal no matter what option you choose, Rachel dismissively turns around the conversation from herself back to Chloe again.

The next time we see her deflecting is right after witnessing her father cheating. When Chloe asks about her, Rachel deflects and guilt trips her into somehow thinking she’s at fault for failing to get them wasted and then proceeds to drown her sorrows into alcohol instead of opening up. Afterwards when they find the junkyard, Rachel chooses to isolate herself from Chloe and withdraws to the corner, getting irritated if Chloe chooses to invade her space. When Chloe confronts her about her sudden moodiness, Rachel yet again deflects and shifts the attention to Chloe by essentially telling her she’s self-centred. This scene was classic Deflection 101 brought by Rachel’s defence mechanism to cope with her father’s betrayal.

Rachel uses deflection and avoidance as a defence mechanism, a habit which stems from the dynamics of the Amber family. When you have a Politician as a father whose life work is to manipulate and lie, and a Stepford Wife as a mother who wilfully acts like a servant to her husband out of sacrifice and duty— an environment of deceit and suppression of one’s feelings will be fostered. This is what shapes Rachel to be distrusting and unhealthily altruistic as we see in BtS.

And so Rachel’s deflection is driven by 2 things: mistrust (James) and her unhealthy altruism (Rose).

As a district attorney, James unfortunately carried his work persona into his personal life and can be presumed to lie to even his own family on a daily basis to the point that Rachel can tell when he’s lying: (“When your Dad is the District Attorney, I guess lying is...something you're used to.”) (Why can't you just tell me the fucking truth?! Stop lying! Stop being a politician for one fucking minute! Can’t you just be my Dad?”) What that tells us is that Rachel’s actually used to being lied at and treated with cynicism, so naturally that would make her guarded around others. Not to mention since James often exercised his professional prerogative (just recall how he spoke to Chloe and her comment about his micro-aggressions towards his own family), it’s most likely that he was also cynical towards people in general and carried that mindset forward at Rachel as well.

As for Rose, you have to really observe how she carried herself and her choice of words. A lot of people pointed out how robotic she sounded and blamed it on bad voice acting, but I think that was actually intentional. She was too mannered, too submissive and too robotic as a person. It’s not exactly a bad thing, but a lot of her personality seemed to be too... *political* for the sake of her husband’s political career. It was altruistic in the way that she sacrificed her own needs for her husband’s and was unfailingly supportive (eg; preparing dinner all by herself, *respectfully* asking James for his drink, even going so far as to excuse James for kissing Sera like wtf). Point is, Rose was the stereotypical political wife whose job was to shut up, look good and smile for her husband while he does the talking. At one point in the dinner scene when they start fighting, James even dared to say ‘Rose, let me handle this’ as if Rose’s voice was irrelevant and unimportant to the table (when he literally just got exposed for cheating lmao).

So what happens when your family environment consists of a father who actively lies and uses manipulation to twist facts, expects you to be compliant in exchange for rewards (birthday money), has the ability to read people, and a mother who does too much for someone who does the barest minimum for the family and represses herself for the sake of others? An environment of deceit and suppression will be fostered, and you develop all of their qualities, for better or worse. That’s difficult to change when your own family dynamics molded you to be that way and then reward you for it. If you recall, Rachel’s mannerisms changed completely when in front of her family and if Chloe complained about having to play the goody two shoes formal well-behaved humorless girl, Rachel would say: ‘try doing it your whole life’. So not only was she playing different roles in school but evidently at home as well.

But It’s not as if the Amber family was aware of the toxic environment they’d created. That’s just what their normal was: to be well-mannered, formal, professional, mature and well-articulated.

This is where Rachel’s social chameleon tendencies develops. Social chameleons usually have reasons for blending in when it comes to personal relationships:

1. Being liked is important for them (they value what people think of them).

2. They want to blend in so as to not stand out (they don’t like attention).

3. They’re doing it to make the other person comfortable (the needs of others come first before theirs).

Considering how Rachel was extremely popular, active in all sorts of school activities and enjoyed the attention of being the star, no. 2 is out. She confessed to wanting to stop being a social chameleon and didn’t seem to care much about Victoria’s dislike of her + she also did it to her family so no. 1 is out as well, which leaves us to no. 3— doing it for the comfort of others. In other words, because she *gave too much shit about other people all the time*.

What further supports the point of Rachel’s unhealthy altruism is what she says to Chloe at the junkyard— (“Maybe you should try giving a shit about other people for once.”) —which essentially tells us that she’s been doing exactly that to be able to lecture Chloe into following her own perspective. Another example would be what she tells Chloe during their therapy session: “—Because she was tired of having to give so many fucks all the time.”

One thing however that all *extreme* social chameleons share is the fact that they **loathe** themselves, or at the very least— dislike who they are. Why else would they go all the trouble of creating different personas for everyone to the point of forgetting their own, if they actually liked themselves?

One of the many things that Chloe and Rachel shared in common was their self-awareness in how undeniably shitty they can be, and that they hated who they were. Whereas Chloe embraced that whole part of her down her self destructive road, Rachel tried to cover hers up by playing other roles for people. Both girls played their sides to the ends of the spectrum; Chloe being selfish (causing problems for everyone in general unnecessarily) and Rachel being selfless (posing no problem for anyone in general even if there was a problem). They had no healthy balance and their unhealthy mindset ultimately drove them down a self destructive path.

Rachel knew she was selfish by nature, and that she’d take it out on Chloe in Ep 1. That’s why instead of talking about what was wrong, she chose to drown herself to alcohol and distance herself from Chloe. When Chloe confronts her about it, she either tells her that not everything revolves around her or that she should try giving a shit about people for once. In other words, ‘Other people have bigger problems than you so shut up and don’t make it worse for them.’ That was Rachel’s mentality and in that moment of poor lapse in judgment, she applied that logic to Chloe expecting her to think the way she does— to put others before yourself.

With Rachel, she always had her walls up and couldn’t help it even if she wanted to because it's practically second nature to have her guard up (“I never said how dearly I hold thee; my habit's been to keep my soul well-draped.“). It’s only in her lowest vulnerable moments is when she finally let her walls down because that’s when she’s too tired to keep them up.

Luckily (or unluckily) for Rachel, she recognized her problem. The only thing is that she didn’t know how to solve them. She confided to Chloe about feeling like she doesn’t exist, but then backtracked and clarified she was talking about her dad instead when Chloe got too close to home. Even IF she was genuinely talking about her father, it doesn’t erase the fact that she believed there was a possibility she was going to become like him— because she already saw the signs and made the comparison between them.

Remember her infamous outbursts in Awake? Unlike Chloe, she’s the type who keeps everything bottled in until it’s too much. Seeing her father kissing another woman was the breaking point and that’s why she reacted badly. And then when she kicked that bin, that was equivalent to Chloe smashing up the junkyard. And then that scream. That scream was the result of years bottling her pent up frustration, stress, anger at everyone including herself. Because she did everything to make her family proud, to please everyone to the point that she felt so empty and hollow, only to realize that it was all for nothing because her father was destroying her family. It wasn’t just a betrayal from her father but a betrayal to herself.

And then there’s Chloe Price. The girl who is the total opposite of her, yet who she can somehow still connect with at the same time. While she cared too much about what others thought, Chloe gave absolutely no fucks. That was her most attractive and admirable quality for Rachel. So what does she do? She latches onto Chloe to do exactly what she knows best. Become the ideal version of whoever wants her to be. In other words, the Rachel Amber who would finally give no fucks.

Rachel was the closest to her truest self when she was around Chloe. Just as she brought life and hope back into the girl’s life, so did Chloe for her. Chloe broke the walls she put up, and she’d seen her vulnerable enough times to let her mask slip. Chloe saw her at her lowest, ugliest self even when she wasn’t doing her usual thing of keeping everyone around her happy, yet she didn’t mock or leave her for it. For the first time, she was selfish, and *still* Chloe came back. That was a BIG reason to trust each other for the both of them. And that’s ultimately what bonded them for so long— the fact that they could be the shittiest people on earth, yet still see the best in each other even if they only see the worst in themselves.

Chloe was the first one to see through her social chameleon act because she slipped, and she continued to let her unmask who she was because that night Rachel just didn’t care enough to hold up the act any longer. This detail of Rachel’s chameleon act slipping *only* when something was wrong is a vital part in understanding the context around her. The first time was when she witnessed her whole world crash, the second was when she realized she was becoming like James, and the third was when she discovered what a monster James was. The fourth— when she asked that trucker for a drive out and didn’t bother to be her usual social chameleon self. We may never know what happened, but something wrong was going on in Rachel’s life that she didn’t want Chloe to be a part of— because why would she put the girl who stuck by her during her darkest hours through her bullshit again?

But at the end of the day, that wasn’t enough. Chloe wasn’t enough. And that’s understandable because a teenager truly can’t and shouldn’t have to be responsible for someone else’s happiness. No matter what choice Chloe makes at the end of BtS, the truth inevitably gets out and leads to Rachel having a fall out with her parents. When that happened, she lost a big pillar of her support system which only leaves her with Chloe who’s another emotionally damaged teen that’s on the road to self-destruction. Chloe can’t help others without helping herself first. But still, who else is there to make them feel a little less shitty except each other?

After her fall out with her parents and her father in particular, she seemed to have developed a taste for men twice her age: Frank Bowers (32) and Mark Jefferson (38). Whatever the reason her relationship with Frank was, she still wrote him those letters and seemed to have cared for him to some extent. Not only was he the source for drugs for her very much needed escape, but he was also the man who helped save her life in one of her most vulnerable moments, and a possible lead to find Sera. It’s not that surprising she’d seek comfort and safety in his arms when he already proved himself once. But clearly it wasn’t serious because she was fooling around with Jefferson at the same time (and Frank knew they wouldn’t have lasted anyway).

Now, Jefferson. The devs confirmed that Rachel was in love with Jefferson and honestly, that’s the least surprising thing ever considering how he basically had the female population of Blackwell head over heels for him. Even Rachel wasn’t immune to that psychopath’s charm. He was a well reputable photographer, had the connections to propel her modeling career, was attractive and mysterious and apparently a damaged soul. He was the perfect one way ticket out of Arcadia Bay. He was her photographer and she was his muse. He was basically the perfect solution to her problems.

The girl clearly had deep rooted daddy issues and was ashamed of it herself since she couldn’t even share her secret relationship to the one person she trusted the most despite sharing her other relationships with her (except Frank).

This is where the drugs and partying come in. They’re a way for her to escape the bullshit in her life for a few hours. Chloe was what made her feel real, but the drugs and partying was what made her forget— forget that her biological mother chose drugs and money over her (twice), forget that her own father was so despicable that he was planning to overdose Sera (this is what Chloe said in the silent dialogue), forget that her biological mother may just be dead somewhere because of James, forget that her own family was a lie, forget all the expectations placed upon her, forget that she herself was a lie, forget that she was so insecure that she had to seek warmth and safety in the arms of men twice her age, forget the guilt of knowing the girl who would die for her was still not enough, forget that at the end of the day all her problems is caused by her own mind and that her own fears had come to reality. And she hated herself for that.

But still, Rachel wasn’t a total junkie or outwardly self destructive to the point that she abandoned her studies like Chloe did. She didn’t let the drugs and partying dictate her life, hence the 4.0 GPA. After all, she still had a reputation to maintain. She was still the DA’s daughter, and getting into college was still a way to get out of Arcadia Bay.

BUT SEE, that was exactly Rachel’s problem. She could never choose which to be; The Problematic Junkie of a Disappointment (Sera), or the Golden Child (James & Rose) everyone expected her to be. She wanted to be as free as Chloe, but she also didn’t want to be a disappointment. She was tired of everything but couldn’t allow herself to fall because it was her nature to demand the best of herself for others as long as she could do it. But what happens when it’s your very own nature you’re going against? It gets really complicated. So instead of choosing, she doesn’t and becomes both. That was ultimately the worst decision she ever made.

Make no mistake, Rachel was an absolute idiot for being so indecisive. She could have easily solved her problems if she just finally gave no shit and did whatever she wanted to. But that’s the problem with people who’re labeled as perfect growing up. They eventually believe it and demand perfection of themselves. They care too much about everything because if they have the ability to be perfect, then why would you choose not to be? When someone is seen to be perfect, disappointment is 10x worse. Even Chloe was guilty of idealizing Rachel to be this perfect girl and was disappointed when she realized Rachel was just like everyone else who puts in hard work—(“Rachel's always made being an A student seem so easy. Almost sad to see all this... effort."), but it’s Chloe accepting Rachel for who she was despite no longer being the perfect girl she believed her to be that mattered.

With being seen as perfect usually comes with the assumption that your whole life is. Just as everyone invalidated her problems because she’s Little Miss Perfect with the perfect grades and the seemingly perfect family, so did she.

‘Cause hey, what does she have to be mad about when she’s a rich white girl who’s been given everything she’s ever wanted, right? (James basically said that). At that point the only problem Rachel had was that she was acting as the perfect daughter and perfect friend and perfect student at the expense of her own happiness, and then throw in the sudden slap in the face that it was all for nothing because her father was destroying the family she’d tried so hard to do proud.

But then again even if that wasn’t enough reason to spiral, it really would mess you up if your own father told you that your biological mother chose money and drugs over you, that everything you’ve done so far was all for a lie and worst of all, that your own father was going to kill your biological mother and there’s nothing you can do to change that. I mean really, I’m not a therapist or anything but I wouldn’t be surprised if Rachel’s mental health was suffering by that point.

I mean get this: she abused drugs and partied harder than anyone else and got wasted even though she knew they were wrong (Sera would’ve been a painful reminder), slept around with older men who undoubtedly took advantage and controlled her, continued to act like the perfect student and pretended to be someone she’s not just to keep everyone happy even though it was causing her to question her own existence— it’s almost as if she was punishing herself for continuing down that path.

Ultimately what Rachel was running away from was who she had become in Arcadia Bay. Once she’d be out, she wouldn’t be Little Miss Perfect anymore. She wouldn’t be the DA’s daughter. She wouldn’t have to keep lying. She would be able to start over. She would just be Rachel Amber, the nobody.

She cared too much in contrast to Chloe’s ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude, and that’s why she still managed to maintain her perfect image even when she was already so broken. Whereas Chloe’s first instinct was to blame others, Rachel’s was to blame herself. Both never had a healthy balance when it came to accepting responsibility and that’s what connected them so well together.

Call it selflessness or selfishness or stupidity or melodrama, but at the end of the day Rachel tried to keep everyone around her happy, just like Max tried to do with her powers except Rachel used lies to do it. She was greedy and selfish, no disagreement to that, but she also tried to be selfless for most of her life. She was her own enemy and she demonized herself for it. And that got her murdered, thrown and buried away like the used rag doll she treated herself to be.

She was Chloe’s angel and Chloe was hers, but she was also her own demon. And there’s only so much two broken angels can do against a demon.

**TL;DR:** Idealizing her to be the Perfect Girl was what made her want to run away. Her family was what broke her. Desperation for escape was what killed her. Her family just *really* suck.

Now, I’m not trying to justify Rachel’s actions but merely rationalizing her character. I acknowledge that she was capable of being a shitty person at times, but just as Chloe had her issues, so did she, and so I choose to see them both for what they tried to be. Good hearted people just trying to make their shitty life a little easier. At the end of the day, Rachel Amber was a deeply flawed, insecure and emotionally damaged girl that pretended like nothing was wrong to forget about her troubles for a little, and was just dealt a bad hand in life. Literally.

After writing all of this, I realize that holy shit this girl was fucking complicated and a single post doesn’t do her justice nor explains her character properly enough. I thought it’d be simple enough to word it out, but then again, someone who was basically a junkie yet still managed to maintain her perfect reputation amongst her peers and the faculty is bound to be this complexed. Also as you can see I got very lazy at the middle of the elaborations and repetition has probably made this unnecessarily long but thank you for reading and finishing this overall confusing and messy essay.

#life is strange #amberprice #chloeprice #rachelamber #analysis #meta #I posted this on Reddit n it got a nice reception #so here it is on tumblr #yk just to stay true to what this blog was supposed to b lmao