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maonuis · 2 years

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[ENG] Prison Breakers - Chapter 02

Proofreader: moricchiichan and ciel

Original Writer: 西岡麻衣子 (Nishioka Maiko)

Season: Autumn

Characters: Yuuki Makoto, Oogami Koga, Himemiya Tori.

“Had it not been for the laws of this land, I could have you beheaded as punishment! You ogre! Demon! Human-faced dog!“

Tori: Glug, glug... Gaaah! What was I thinking, coming to a place like this… I just figured I could drink a lot of water to fill my tummy!

Nngh… It smells soooo good in here. Instead of getting full, I'm getting even hungrier~...

Why do I have to do this… I feel like I’m gonna cry… (sob)

Aah…! No, no, I can’t give up now! I’ll show Yuzuru who’s boss!

Leeet’s see… Lemme put today’s share in my piggy bank…

… (shakes piggy bank to make some noise)

Aah… I’m barely saving any money… Even though I’m working so hard~!

Hm? Did someone call me just now…?

No way, am I so hungry that I’m hearing things? Am I dying?!

Makoto: He~y, Himemiya-kun~

Tori: Hm? So I didn’t imagine it? Um, who’s calling me…?

Yuuki-senpai? And also… Yaaay ♪ Anzu is here too!

What is it, what is it?? Did you call for me, Anzu? Yuuki-senpai too I guess, since you’re also here.

Koga: ‘Sup, pipsqueak.

Tori: Ugh! Oogami… senpai is also here!

Koga: Did’ja just “ugh” at my face? Ya wanna be smacked into place again like I did during your circus training, huh?

Tori: No way, no way! I have already had enough of stuff like that!

Besides, my “ugh” didn’t mean anything bad! It was an acronym, see? “It’s Unexpectedly Good to meet you Here!” It’s all the rage to use acronyms right now!

Koga: Don’t try saving yer ass with an obvious lie. The hell ya mean with abbreviations, ya think everything’s a light novel now? [1]

Tori: Unini?! Don’t mess up my hair! I have it meticulously done every morning~!

Eugh~... How dare you go against me, I’m one of the most powerful people in this academy! Had it not been for the laws of this land, I could have you beheaded as punishment! You ogre! Demon! Human-faced dog!

Koga: Hey. No way in hell I’m accepting you calling me a dog! Correct yourself right now. I’m a werewolf!

Makoto: Ahaha, of course that’s what you focus on…

Tori: Aaah geez, shut up, shut up, shut uuuuuuuup!

Usually I wouldn’t even have time to be here dealing with you losers. I’m a very busy person, you know?

And even so I still went through the trouble of coming to talk to you. You should be grateful!

So? Why did you call me?

Makoto: Ah, we’re just having lunch all together, do you want to join us?

Tori: Eh? Me?

Hmm~... Well, I won't eat anything, but can I still sit here? Would that still be okay?

I feel bad taking a seat without having a proper lunch when this place is so full of people.

Makoto: That’s okay, but uuuuhm…? You aren’t having lunch? Is this some kind of riddle?

Tori: Nope, it's exactly what it sounds like. I’m not eating… Or maybe, I can’t eat would be more accurate?

You see, I’m trying to save money so I’m cutting down on some stuff~. That’s why I’m not having lunch.

But of course I still get hungry~. So I came here to get some water.

Makoto: Eh, Himemiya-kun, you’re saving money? Oh, so that’s why you’re carrying a piggy bank around.

Tori: Yup. I’ve been slowly saving up some money. But it’s still not anywhere close to enough.

Koga: What’s up with this. You’re short on cash too?

Tori: From how you said that, I guess you’re in the same boat, Oogami-senpai? Huh, so that’s why you’re having such a sorry-looking meal.

Koga: Huh? It’s way less sorry than your pitiful attempt to fill your stomach with water.

Makoto: Come on, don’t fight…. But it really is a coincidence that you two are trying to save money at the same time.

Himemiya-kun, your family is super rich. I always figured you could get whatever you want by asking your parents to buy it for you.

Tori: Well… Yeah, that’s true, but still…

Makoto: Besides, you both have proper jobs, don’t you? So it’s not like you are going to run out of money anytime soon.

Koga: …Well, I got some stuff goin' on, is all. I wanna be able to get this money on my own instead of relying on UNDEAD.

Tori: Same here. It’s meaningless if I don’t do it by myself. That’s why I can’t rely on Papa and Mama.

Koga: Heh, you managed to say something cool for once. Even tho you’re just a pipsqueak.

Tori: Hm. I’m kinda like, putting my pride as a man on the line here.

I bet that unlike my noble purpose, you are doing this for something dumb, right?

Koga: You pickin’ a fight with me? Huh?!

Tori: You’re the one who started it.

Makoto: Uwaah, at this rate they will really end up getting into a fist fight…! Anzu-chan, I'm leaving Himemiya-kun to you!

Come on, you’re both just hungry, so it’s making you go berserkl.

Look, Anzu-chan and I will share our food with you, so calm down! ...Hey!

Koga: Besides, a pipsqueak like you shouldn’t—hmph!?

Tori: Says you, Oogami-senpai—munch!

Koga: (munch munch) …. ♪

Tori: (munch munch) Tastyyy~ ♪

Makoto: Wow, amazing. They both calmed down immediately. It worked better than I expected….! Like Momotaro taming his animal companions with kibidango [2]… You really were hungry.

Tori: (gulp)

Hey, this is karaage, right? Has karaage always been so tasty?! This is the tastiest karaage I’ve ever had in my life!

Hm? What’s wrong Anzu?

Eh? You’ll share with me if I promise I won’t fight anymore?!

Makoto: You two can have mine, too. Food tastes better when you share it.

Tori: I promise! I won’t fight anymore! I really mean it!

Koga: Tch. Guess there’s no choice. Ya boy here also knows how to keep his word.

Makoto: Ahaha, It’s almost like Anzu and I are taming wild anim—whoops.

Koga: ? Taming wild... what? Go on. Say it.

Makoto: N, nope! It’s nothing! Come on, shouldn’t you be eating? Let’s dig in~!

(That was waaay too close. I was about to say that it was almost like we were taming some wild animals.)

(But it was easier to calm them down than I expected. If I say that though, I bet they’ll get angry. It’d be better if I stay quiet…)

[1] In the original, Tori says “geh” when seeing Koga, which he later tries to save by saying “Genki desu ka?”, Koga replies “are you a pro wrestler now?!” to that. The reference is to either a certain wrestling event by the same name in Japan or the catchphrase by politician and retired pro wrestler Antonio Inoki. All the translators and proofreaders I talked about this to were confused, so for the sake of better reading flow, we decided to adapt it somehow.

[2] From Wikipedia: Kibi dango (黍団子, きびだんご, "millet dumpling") is Japanese dumpling made from the meal or flour of the kibi (proso millet) grain. The treat was used by folktale-hero Momotarō (the Peach Boy) to recruit his three beastly retainers, in the commonly known version of the tale.

Previous Chapter | ☆ | Next Chapter

#enstars tl #c:Tori #c:Koga #c:Makoto #w:nishioka #season:autumn #Scout Story #Prison Breakers #Engstars

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ahogehope · 3 years

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BlazBlue Alternative Dark War Nightmare Fiction Event English Translation (Part 7: Approaching Darkness)

Crossposted from reddit just for a little more exposure.

This is part 7, or the eighth story quest in the event.

Previous parts can be found here: [Part 1-1, Part 1-2, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6]

Some notes:

- The default name of Rei is used for the player character and was selected as male at the beginning of the game.

- I’m still on the fence on if I should be using honorifics or not. Your opinion on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Click here to be taken to a pastebin with the translated dialogue or look under the read more to read it here.

Section 7 – “Approaching Darkness”

Fuzzy Good job! You guys got the light element with no problem at all.

Fuzzy Only one more element left to go. Where’s the next one? You guys wanna know, right? You do, right?

Fuzzy ...Oh? What’s up with the atmosphere around here? What is it?

Kazuma It’s certainly great that we got the element but... that’s beside the point right now.

Kazuma Hazama-san! Just what the hell are you trying to pull!?

Hazama ...I beg your pardon? That is... what is it that you’re asking me, exactly?

Kazuma Please stop with the games.

Kazuma Ever since we came here, again and again every single person we’ve encountered has wanted your head on a pike!

Kazuma Are you trying to get us caught up in your problems?

Kazuma You’ve known something this whole time and have just been keeping it a secret. ...Am I wrong?

Hazama You’ve got it all wrong, I’m not trying to get you guys wrapped up in anything. I’m not sure how I’d be able to accomplish that in the first place.

Hazama I want to get out of here just as much as you do.

Hazama And like I’ve told you before, I don’t know much about myself to begin with.

Hazama I haven’t known any of these people. Even if they’re going to blame me for something I don’t have any memory of... I still can’t give you any answers.

Raabe We heard you the first six times.

Raabe Still, there’s no mistaking the fact that everyone we’ve come across has known who you are.

Hazama I just want to get out of this situation.

Hazama ...You feel the same way, don’t you, Kazuma-san?

Kazuma I mean, that’s true, but...

Hazama Right? You want to get out as well.

Hazama I understand where you’re coming from.

Kazuma What...?

Hazama Right now you’re trapped within your current “self.” You’ve always wanted to escape from it, haven’t you?

Kazuma ...Are you referring to how I can’t remember anything? But then, if this is related...

Hazama There’s nothing, is there?

Hazama It’s a big deal, after all. I’d love to know your answer. Do you really want your memories back?

Kazuma What sort of memories are you talking about?

Hazama I suppose that would depend on what you would consider a memory.

Hazama Is it your parents’ names? Is it where you were born? Is it remembering days long past? Or maybe it’s just your own personal history?

Hazama Are those the things that you want?

Hazama What is it that you’re really looking for? What do you truly desire?

Kazuma W-What are you... saying...

Kazuma Th... That isn’t what we’re talking about right now.

Kazuma Every time I talk to you, I feel like I’m going crazy... My apologies, but please stop talking to me that way from now on.

[Kazuma flees]

Hazama Oh dear, he must really hate me.

Raabe ......

Hazama ...Is something wrong?

Raabe No, I think Kazuma’s already said it well enough.

Raabe It sounded like you were prioritizing your conversation with him over getting out of this place.

Hazama Oof, you got me there. I should’ve been more focused on our current predicament.

Hazama Whenever I look at him I just can’t seem to leave him alone. He looks as clueless as a newborn faun that hasn’t quite found its legs yet.

Raabe Clueless, huh... That’s rich, given that you don’t know anything about yourself either.

Hazama That certainly is a sore spot for you, isn’t it?

Hazama But sadly I can’t do anything more to change your mind right now. We should find that last element while we still can.

Hazama Fuzzy-san, could you take us to where the final element is located?

Fuzzy Hehehe, you got it. Up next is...

Hazama Goodness, something definitely happened here. Looks like whatever it was wasn’t pretty.

Ciel Biological reaction detected. Someone is approaching us at alarming speed.

Ciel But this reaction is...

[a slash is aimed at Hazama]

Hazama Uwaah!?

[enter Saya]

Saya Ah... a near miss. Just a little bit closer and he would have lost his head... how annoying.

Raabe Saya, huh? She must have the last element.

Raabe You heard her, Hazama. I’m assuming you don’t remember anything about her either?

Hazama Y-You’re kidding, right!?

Hazama Why would I do anything that would turn a terrifying sword-wielding woman against me!?

Hazama I think I’d remember if someone wanted to decapitate me!!

Saya You don’t remember? Allow me to refresh your memory.

Saya You’ve stolen what is most important to me. Surely you don’t believe I would be able to let that stand?

Saya You’re despicable. You took away Nii-sama... my brother. Even if I were to gouge out your heart, I would still never forgive you for what you’ve done.

Saya Nii-sama gave my life meaning. He was the only reason I was able to exist in this world.

Hazama Is that so? I can’t imagine making someone other than myself the sole reason for my existence.

Hazama Whether I did something or not, it’d be unfair to expect them to stick around forever, wouldn’t it?

Hazama And even though you say it’s my fault, I can’t really say I feel much resentment coming from you.

Kazuma A reason to exist... Why... do I...?

Saya You must be bold to utter such lunacy to my face.

Saya No more unnecessary questions. Regardless of the truth, the outcome will remain the same.

Saya I’ll devour you whole.

[a black mist covers the area]

Raabe That Drive... it’s Soul Eater! This isn’t good.

Raabe If it goes out of control, we’ll all be destroyed, not just Hazama.

Hazama From the looks of it she’s a dark type.

Hazama That would make her the same type as me. We’re not exactly a poor match-up but I’m not at an advantage either.

Hazama I’ll probably have to rely on Rei-san for this one, but let’s go get that last element!

>L-Let’s do our best then. Raabe We don’t have much of a choice. Right now we need to focus on getting Soul Eater under control.

>Do we really have to...? Raabe It is what it is. Let’s focus on subduing Saya first.

Hazama This is our last fight then. Let’s do this!

Saya Gah--!

Ciel The target’s battle level has dropped substantially. I don’t believe further combat to be necessary.

Saya Heh, haha... so that’s it...

Saya I finally understand the reason behind this inexplicable unease.

Saya Hazama... it’s that “thing” inside you that’s the true reason for my distress...

Hazama That “thing”? ....Oh, I see... I suppose that may be it, yes.

Raabe What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.

Hazama Ah, I guess I never mentioned it... I’ve felt it ever since I woke up in this world.

Hazama That there’s “something” inside me. Some sort of unsettling shadow that I can’t put my finger on.

Hazama Originally I had thought I was just imagining things. I assumed it had something to do with this strange city.

Saya Heh... you’re nothing but a “snake.” I hope that shadow of yours swallows you down until there’s nothing left. You’re a truly deplorable man.

Saya The rest of you should heed my advice. It’s not wise to leave your necks exposed around a “snake”...

[Saya vanishes into static and leaves behind a sphere containing the Dark symbol]

Kazuma ......

Fuzzy Congratulations! You got all the elements～!

Fuzzy This is certainly a relief for me, don’t you think?

Fuzzy This is what you’d call a load off my shoulders, isn’t it? I can finally retire from being your guide.

Fuzzy Haah～, now I can play around as much as I want.

Fuzzy Ah, I still have one last job to do though.

Ciel What’s left for you to do?

Fuzzy Now that you have all the keys, I still need to take you to the right place.

Fuzzy After that, my job here will be done.

Fuzzy Although it’s really up to you guys if you want to go or not, isn’t it? Even if you guys pussy out now, my job here is finished.

Fuzzy So what’ll it be? You wanna keep going? Or do you wanna stop here?

Fuzzy Choosing to stay put will leave you trapped here forever though. Ahahaha.

Raabe You’re talking about the “innermost part of this world,” correct?

Hazama I came this far with the intention of finding my way out of this world.

Hazama Of course I plan on heading to this “innermost part.” As for the rest of you... what shall you do?

>Let’s go. Raabe Fair enough. The only way to proceed is to go forward.

>Maybe it’s better if we stopped here... Raabe I understand how you feel, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to. Even if we’re walking into a trap, it’s our only way forward.

Raabe By going there we’re likely to find out more about the cauldron as well.

Hazama Ah, that’s a relief. Well, now that we’re all on the same page, we should...

Raabe Don’t get the wrong idea. Our goals just happened to align this time.

Raabe We’re not doing this to cooperate with you.

Hazama Still so cold... Words can hurt too, you know. Ouch.

Kazuma ......

Kazuma Something inside me...

Ciel Kazuma-san, we’re leaving. Is everything alright?

Kazuma Ah, no, I’m fine. Let’s go!

Kazuma Let’s hurry up and get back to where this all started... back to Ishana.

#blazblue #blazblue alternative dark war #bb:dw #hazama #translations

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mannatea · 4 years

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comme les étoiles dans le ciel, a Rose of Versailles ‘Ficlet Collection

005: Floue Words: 1,292 words Summary: Oscar reflects. Pairing/Character: Oscar/André Extra Info: First person ‘fic? In my repertoire? It’s more likely than you think! Rating: PG for this chapter! Genre: Angst, Romance, Character Study

More notes:

The original sat at a whopping 605 words, so this was obviously a fairly large rewrite.

I’m not saying that short and concise isn’t good, because it can be, but what I’m noticing as I work on rewriting this “drabble” collection is that most of the stories I wrote didn’t actually lend themselves to being short. At least...not naturally?

With the exception of La Promesse, the others just feel like messy simplifications of storylines or emotion. I dunno. I have this irrational fear when I add to ‘fics that I’m reverting back to my “over-abundance of detail” stage (from like, 2010 to 2012). At the same time, I feel pretty confident that doubling the word count for this story made it feel...much more cohesive.

Things I changed:

The ending! The original ending was sloppy and I wasn’t even happy with it when I posted it back in 2009. It ended with Oscar asking André if she was getting old and all he said in return was, “Only if you want to be.”

WHAT KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT? I mean it literally ended with that line.

I wrote this in 2009, before I was dealing with the worst of my chronic illnesses. I’m not sure if I subscribed to the “you’re only as old as you let yourself be!” mentality or not, because 2009 was the beginning of the end for my mental and physical health. Maybe it was a last-ditch attempt on my part to cope with what was happening to me?

So much of the original writing was Bad. I scrapped a lot of lines and rewrote nearly everything. I made a conscious effort to adjust the tone to sound more like Oscar as the narrator, and to make the words flow more naturally, as if it was all internal dialogue.

The original barely touched on Oscar’s childhood beyond the fact that she felt like it was all “a blur” to her. I added a lot more in about that and tried to weave in a pinch of the Lady Oscar live-action, because one of many things I felt it got right was the way it handled “everything is so complicated now, but it used to be simple and I miss when things were simple.”

I don’t know how 2009 me had even the remotest grasp of what it was like to be turning 33. Maybe it was all those chronic issues descending on me a full decade before I turned that old?

Either way, I’ll be turning 34 this year, and I think I captured the crux of the issue decently in the original.

Now more than ever I think I understand this aspect of Oscar’s character. If you’re young, it might be a little harder to grasp (ten years ago I was not emotionally capable of that), but growing up can be difficult for reasons that go well beyond Basic Adult Responsibilities. Paying bills and taking out the trash sucks, but I’m not talking about that.

As you mature you gain a new understanding of the world around you. You become aware of new things, many of which are terrible. Maybe it was easy to shrug off the realities around you due to your privilege (I’m looking at all the white people who might be reading this in particular), but at a certain point you become shockingly Aware of your privilege and the evils of others. Ignorance isn’t an excuse, and you can’t undo what you already know (nor do you want to), but there is a special kind of stress that comes with it. And a responsibility, too, to use your privilege to help others.

Boo hoo, poor privileged Oscar! This isn’t what I’m saying. Oscar’s entire character arc is about her learning about her privilege and using it to help others. She uses it early on to save André’s life when he would have died for letting injury come to the crown princess. This is why André swears his life to her. This is why André loves her. Because this is the kind of person Oscar is.

Even if you are not privileged, it’s difficult to avoid becoming aware of how other people (people who are not you) are oppressed. You come face to face with racism, misogyny, economic inequality, and how wealthy the rich actually are (versus how rich you thought they were).

If you are a woman, think about your understanding of sexism and misogyny as it is now, and compare it to your understanding of it 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. See how it has shifted? See how much more you know now? How much more Aware you’ve become?

The point of all of this isn’t to say, “Hey, feel sorry for Oscar because she’s having a rough time wrestling with her privilege!” Rather, “sometimes being bombarded with terrifying and sad realities, being forced to challenge your worldview to the point of exhaustion, is frightening and difficult, and if Oscar feels like it’s overwhelming, that’s very understandable.”

Who isn’t tired of the news right now? Who isn’t sick to their stomach when they refresh and see another person has died, another terrible thing has happened, the US leader has said another insensitive, hurtful, awful, disgusting thing?

Again, Oscar’s character arc is about her processing her privilege and actively using it to try and do The Right Thing.

The journey to this point is difficult, but the truly awful aspect of it, and what I was trying to highlight in this ‘fic, is the sheer volume of Bad Things That Keep Happening That She Can’t Directly Do Anything About.

Notice that she doesn’t get angry at the peasants for attacking her and André. She spends the whole scene begging them to listen to her and stop beating André because he isn’t a noble, she’s the noble, if you have to hurt someone hurt her instead.

She understands their way of thinking and their hurt, and what makes this difficult isn’t that they hurt her and André! It’s the crushing knowledge that all of Paris is suffering, and she’s only one person who feels she can’t even protect the one person she should be able to protect on her own. How can she help? Nothing ever feels like it’s enough!!!

Oscar’s understanding that the things she enjoyed as a child would not be things she would enjoy now were both added in and didn’t really exist in the original. I hope this is relatable. I do feel that as we age we realize that some of the behaviors we engaged in in our youth were mean or unfair.

I also really played up Oscar’s love in the rewrite. I feel like in first person, and especially sloshed, Oscar would understand her own feelings a little bit better.

Sorry for this jumbled mess of notes. Hopefully they make sense, though! :)

#rose of versailles #berusaiyu no bara #berubara #mannafics

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neophix · 6 years

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Elsword PvP Stereotypes: 2nd Edition

Alright. It’s been a year and a half. Let’s do this again, sure.

Unlike last time, where people salting at me during the match contributed to a large portion of the character stereotype, I only have their gameplay to work off of this season. Mostly. Rage whispers have gone down significantly which honestly is a change that's good for everyone. {Nod nod.}

{Additional commentary by @demos-cloud will be in braces}, and my responses to her commentary will be italicized, since I’ve ah. Ranted to her about a lot of these before, and asked her to help proofread.

Elsword: Bullheaded, stubborn, and does not think very far ahead.

This is mostly thanks to the amount that they've built up Elsword's defensive options lately. The changes to Autoguard mean that Knight Emperor doesn't really have to worry even if he gets caught (I've had more games turned around thanks to that than I care to admit). Infinity Stoic is still a thing, not in the least helped by the large number of quick, stoic approaches and normals he has. Melee Elsword gameplay basically rewards LEEROY JENKINS. Rune Masters are surprisingly rare.

Aisha: Still Bullies.

This has always been the case. Though lately I've come to the realization that Aisha, and Void Princess' line in particular, usually stays out of PvP unless she has access to something dangerously close to hacking. Meditate+Trans slot cooldown drops are always popular, but Oz Sorcerer lives and dies depending on whether she can pretend-hack or not (looking at you, Angkor Millions and Shadow Body). Metamorphy's population likewise dropped drastically as soon as they nerfed the stoic on her >>X(Z). {Her damage output was also hit hard by the Impact Zone nerf in PvE.}

Rena: Slime.

There's been a lot of complaining about the changes to the NF system, though honestly it's probably better for PvP-health in the long term. Now, instead of basically being guaranteed to eat 3 cancelled Violent Attacks to the face in the middle of every single combo, you probably only have to worry about it happening once or twice per game. They're still really slippery, thanks in large part to physics bending over backwards around her and >>Z being so fast, though their PvP numbers have taken a drastic drop since the nerf.

Raven:

Basically only the oldest Raven mains are left, a corps of elite veterans who know their character and yours inside and- oh and I guess you have the bandwagon RH horde. {Man the bias is practically dripping out of your mouth here Ketsu.} The majority of my Raven matches are against players who I recognize on sight, though. The canon Raven has certainly been getting spoiled, comparatively speaking, though the fact that KoG nerfed M.Maximum Drive almost immediately is a good sign. RH is still probably the most consequence-free Raven at the moment; he doesn't really have to worry about taking combos because it's extremely likely he'll be able to mash a Spread out and revenge-catch you if there's even the tiniest delay or mistake.

{PvE is full of old, rich, Ravens as well. BMs/FBs especially are the oldest and most funded. Yeah they know their class in and out, but they’re also not above shelling out $200 to +11 that glorious Void weapon. VCs are dead.}

Eve: Nasod Bitch. Runs on money. {はい、はい。}

Eve on the whole is very confrontation-adverse, and all three of her classes avoid direct combat. Good thing for her, too; aside from the Exotic line Eve's combo game is so poor she can barely hold anyone in place on her own. All three Eves have very strong utilities kits which are supposed to come with a weak damage-per-hit ratio, but Eve players are already very strongly conditioned to spoil her rotten. Nobody's ever been accused of spending too little on her, after all. Codes 4v1 and Sariel both just dunk on melee-centric characters, and Ultimate has enough unsafe-cancels and core synergy that you'll be spending more time eating lasers than spears. {Like I’ve been saying for the past four years, Eve’s Core Release system was built for CN. Of course she has the best Core synergy out of all Eves.} Illusion Thorns' debuff field really should not trigger core. Raven's lingering skill effects (grenade fires and smoke clouds) have NEVER triggered his core, and those at least deal damage, but I guess even KoG isn't tired of spoiling Eve just yet. {Maybe it’s because Illusion Thorns’ debuff area only lasts a measly two seconds compared to Raven’s lingering AoEs (dead laugh).} Raven’s lingering AoEs also only last for a couple seconds, too, though. {oh.}

Chung: HERE I GO. {HERE I GO!!}

Hoo boy. Okay. After the absolute Chung dominance in the 1v1 tournament, there's been a significant rise in Chung PvP populations. Sure, Base Chung has Heavy Stance to mitigate being slow and getting caught, but these three basically never have to deal with such puny things as "consequences" and Heavy Stance itself has actually been vanishingly rare. {DC really should not have so many Heavy Stance/stoic opportunities, given that his whole backstory is based around being faster and thus, being less defensive. IP’s ridiculously high attack speed is abnormal and needs to die. Even back in S1 it was a pain to deal with…} Back Blast and Reload are core skills not because of utility or reload, but because they're such hard to deal with panic buttons when strung together. Cannonball management is a total farce. Super spoiled, getting amazing tools and mod skills with each update. A few significant differences between them:

Comet: Basically indestructible. Will not die. A rocket powered turtle who can strike you from anywhere in the map and always has an advantageous position. The new goddess of PvP, stripping Yama Raja of the title. You could just tell that a couple of the tournament finalists were screwing around and winning anyway, and that flagrant disregard for consequences has been adopted by the bandwagoners. {I feel like having one of the IP semifinalists intentionally handicap himself of the class’ best skills, fool around, and still manage a strong victory.. Really says a lot about the class’ current standing.}

Phantom: Homing Ruthless attacks for days. Mod Shooting Star caused a lot of passive ruthless to get stripped, but I guess there was enough of a Chung tantrum that they got it back on base Shooting Star AND in M.Burning Punisher. Could probably win a game blindfolded thanks to all the high-damage homing at his disposal. A non-berserk awakening is so rare you honestly think it's a glitch. {Remember when it was only like a 25% activation chance. lmao.}

Centurret: After a long and arduous process of moderately intelligent cockroaches bashing on keyboards tested every possible configuration, tactics have been finely reduced to "if your dog craps on enough lawns, someone is going to step in it." Instant-hit Grav Shots are far more than any character deserves, especially when they have practically no vertical limit, and whoever approved of this as an Siege mode option should be spaghettified.

Ara:

Lately, the number of Aras who fully depend on the X or ^X loop has gone down. Devi is still incredibly oppressive, able to basically slam their face on the skill bar whenever they're in trouble to turn it around with any one of their many, many incredible utility actives (with skill storage). Shakti populations have been on the rise in comparison, though as a Shakti main myself I can't really comment on any other trends without being... more biased than usual. {Dead in PvE, though very willing to shell out money. More-so than other Ara classes, I find (even Devis, yes!)} Apsaras generally rely way too much on Kite or Suppression and barely have two brain cells to rub together, having godawful combo maintenance outside of the aforementioned X loop, despite Ara's strong kit. {They changed how ZZXX works how else am I supposed to do fancy combos nowwwww} It feels like if they did have any more to work with they would've job changed to Devi by now.

Elesis:

Population is in decline, but still powerful. Empire Sword still has some of the most safe combo maintenance in the game, and it's exceedingly rare for her to make anything remotely resembling a mistake. {The fact that she has such a high DPS ratio in PvP really hurts, what gives.} INJECTION finally got the nerf it deserved and is starting to sound like a word again. Fire Wallsis is still horrifically oppressive if it goes off, however, and reduces many games against her to "play perfectly or die."

Add:

Doom Bringers are vanishingly rare. Dominators basically all spontaneously ceased to exist once Charged Impulsar got nerfed and they realized they'd actually have to try in PvP again. Paradox is, once again, the most popular PvP Add, and for some reason still has an infinite. Purple is the color of bullies, it turns out. {Death to purples.}

Lu: Almost as Leeroy Jenkins as Elsword, but not a large sample to work with.

If the dive that magnetically homes in on targets wasn't enough of a giveaway, Lu's ability to zero in on a target is still very high. Diangelion's switch-attacks have the same bizarre hitboxes and gravity as ever. Lu in general seems to be about throwing giant hitboxes around the map and hoping they hit something, and her combo game is so safe that there really isn't need for precision there, either. {If she can’t hit you with a command normal or a skill, she’ll lag you out with her FPS-killing abilities. Surprisingly not very high up on the whale list, and even lower on the whales-for-fashion list.}

Ciel mains still don't exist. {Nobu would be sad to hear this.}

Rose: Rich, but shallow.

You're basically not even a Rose main if you don't have an 11+, the same way you're basically not a Chung main if you can't get 4+ X-drops in a single launch. {I am apparently no longer a Rose/F. Gunner main. Okay.} Their gameplay shows no personality to speak of, and you'll be fighting the same kind of Rose tactics at Rank C that you will at Star. Despite being the only non-Chung in the 1v1 Finals, Minerva has actually seen something of a population decrease lately. I imagine a lot of players disliked the fact that the player got to finals by using a Freeze Grenade infinite.

{POs seem like one of the most funded Rose classes, despite being lowtier in both PvP and PvE. About 20% of them have an elitist complex, and another 40% only play her because “OMG MECHA WAIFU”. I’ve only encountered like two POs who acknowledge that she feels and plays nothing like her DFO counterpart, and the fact that I had to argue with a super stubborn NA forumer about this is flat-out stupid. Ah, also. TBs are dead now. Unsurprisingly.} PvP Rose is actually mostly TB thanks to her pseudo-meditate.

Ain: I was horribly, terribly, no-good very bad wrong about the prediction last time.

PvP Ain is as homogenous across all three paths as Rena: {はい、はい。} Base Ain normals are so strong that the only ones his other classes really use are dives. Otherwise, you can treat all Ains the same. Watch out for airdashes, stomps, Xes, and basically a full kit of backwards melee hitboxes (we got rid of that on the Polar Bear suit for a reason, right? Right??) which are all so strong that, even though the bug has been patched out, Schwert Platzen is still a core PvP skill for all Ains. Bluhen is very rare in PvP, due mostly to the fact that he doesn't have a dive combo. Richter basically plays "The floor is lava" the entire game. The stomp noise is as annoying and stuck in my head as Aisha's "HYA" voice clip now and is a standout among Ain's generally obnoxious sound design. {Maybe if KoG gave us more combo options my fellow Richters wouldn’t have to sink this low.}

his german is off but i appreciate the effort.

#Elsword #elsword pvp #Neophix is rambling again #long post

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iammultifandomaf · 3 years

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Chapter 43 - Story of Credence

BROTHERHOOD

"I accidentally entered through a portal to Hell - the christian kind. I don't even remember why I did that... I just saw something weird and went right into it. I guess I was curious? Not sure. Yeah and well... I was stuck there because I can't get myself to other realms by myself so to speak. The king of Hell, Crowley noticed my presence pretty soon. At first he was just enjoying the fact that I'm stuck and he has the upper hand. He did his research and knew who I was. But after some time, he grew bored and wanted to strike a bet. He said that if the next time a demon summoning happens, I go and pretend to be one and do everything that a demon would do. That I am supposed to make a deal with somebody to win their soul and drag it to hell, and for that, I'd be free. So, I agreed."

"You can take a soul to Hell?" Lydia asked astoundingly after releasing some smoke out of her mouth.

"No, not really. I was just supposed to take the person somewhere after I did whatever the deal entailed and some real demon would strip the human of their soul... which means killing him. At that time, I was thinking... if the person makes a deal with a demon, they'll die anyways, you know? Anyways... after some time, somebody did summon a demon... it was in London."

"Was it Credence?"

"Well... yes and no. Credence's story isn't really a happy one. Like at that time I didn't really care because I just wanted to get out of Hell as soon as possible and I knew when I took the bet that the person I'll be meeting will die eventually. However, I didn't expect that it would be a 11-year-old kid..."

"He was eleven when he summoned you?"

"Mmm, he didn't do it consciously. Credence and his twin brother, Ciel, where sold into... sex slavery basically-"

"What?"

"Yeah... and old creepy men and sometimes even women were using kids like him for fun and sometimes even buy them so they can abuse them at home. It was a messed up group of people for sure. Rich ones who had too much time on their hands. And one night, they decided to make a demon summoning for fun, using Ciel as the sacrifice. They did not expect, though, that Credence's emotional instability was exactly what a demon needed to latch onto him. So, I pretended to be a demon and asked him, if he wanted to make a deal for his soul and he agreed."

"He was just eleven, though."

"Yeah, I know... Credence was pretty smart for his age, though. He told me that for his soul he wants to destroy all his enemies who wanted to crush his family. He was a son of a lord and he made some people upset. So they got rid of the whole family. So, I just stayed by his side, helping him to find the ones responsible and eliminating them and him becoming the lord. I pretended to be his butler, actually. He decided to call me Sebastian."

"And you spoke french together?"

"Yeah... I taught him a few langugues amongst other things. It was hard not to get attached to him for sure. But I reminded myself of the deal I had with Crowley and tried to keep my emotions out of it. Credence was definitely afraid of me but as a lord's kid, he knew how to behave - so he didn't show it. But I felt it anyways."

"So what happened next? How did you become close?"

"Well, that starts with Crowley messing up the deal, he appeared at the mansion one day, saying that I can't fullfill my deal with Credence because the older twin brother, Ciel, survived, therefore Credence can't become the lord and I lost my bet with Crowley. That made me pretty angry so I made a scene kind of... however that rage fueled me enough to be able to break off that bet I had with Crowley and I stormed out of there, not having to return to Hell."

"You left Credence there alone?"

"Yeah... I regret that until today..."

A few days went by and Stolos noticed that his brother had finally "awoken".

"Mich, do you hear me?"

“Stolos! It's great to hear you. Where are you?"

"London, you?"

“Delhi... Wait."

At once, an Indian man with dark green eyes was standing next to Stolos who sent him a wide smile.

“I am glad that you are here, let me tell you what I've been through."

Stolos quickly explained to his older brother what had happened to him.

Michendros watched him carefully and then asked:"What about the child?"

“Credence? I don't know... I guess he'll be fine. He's a noble."

“Are you sure? Did you check? You already found him in a wretched place before-"

“Hm, yeah... I guess maybe... I should."

“You said he was a good kid."

“Yes, but what then? Where do I take him if he's somewhere place awful as you say?"

“Maybe just look for him first?"

“Alright. Could you maybe get us some place in the meantime? Or are you returning to India?"

“Um... well, I think we could get something here... maybe somewhere outside the city? I do want to return to Delhi, though. I have a mother there and I want to make sure she has everything she needs. She had me with an Englishman who was there for business and left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant. I can't leave her alone, you know."

“Oh yeah. Of course. And other siblings?"

“No, unfortunately my older sister died when I was seventeen."

“I'm sorry, Mich."

“Yeah, well, you know how it goes."

“Doesn't mean it's easy."

“Go on, now. I have a haunch that the kid needs you."

Stolos and Michendros departed then and the younger sibling returned to the mansion where he took care of Credence as a butler for the last three years.

“Michendros always brings me back somehow," Stolos thought as he focused on any trail that could help him find Credence. He couldn't use anything out of their demon-human contract because it was fake since the beginning, therefore Stolos couldn't take any information out of it. So, he just invited himself into the mansion and began looking for anything helpful.

Stolos only heard the servants going about the mansion and a child who wasn't Credence, though. He let himself teleport to the room where Credence's older twin was sitting at a table, probably reading some correspondence. Stolos didn't really want to bother with theatrics and simply just read Ciel's mind and popped ouf of the room before the child noticed his presence.

What Stolos found out made him feel nervous and angry at the same time. How could his own brother sell Credence back to the sex-slavery market. It's not like that Credence was trying to get Ciel's position as the heir of the family. He was just trying to live his life and get revenge on the ones who hurt them.

Stolos decided to change his appearance as he did not want anyone to associate him with the sex-slave trade, at least so he thought how he felt about it. After he casted an illusion of an mid-age man, he hurriedly teleported himself to a secluded house that seemed empty at the first glance. Stolos quickly walked to the big wooden door and knocked loudly.

After a minute or two, a slim-looking man with round glasses opened the door and raised his furry eyebrow at Stolos.

“How may I help you?" he asked.

“Um... I am here... to buy."

“Password?"

“Wine and cherries," Stolos said as soon as he found the answer inside the man's mind.

"Come on in," the man politely smiled and stepped aside to make space for Stolos who entered without hesitation, already trying to look for Credence with his senses.

“What do you have in mind? Female, male?" the man asked formally, as if he was selling something common as food or clothing.

“I actually am here for one particular boy, thirtheen-ish."

“Mm, good taste."

At this moment, Stolos had already went through everything what he needed to find in that man's head, though, and didn't really need his presence anymore.

“Let me-" the man started but his mouth was left open as the customer's hand blew up in fire and went straight to his face. In a split second, the man's head was smashed into the wall behind him, the impact cracking and burning his skull at once.

Stolos didn't wait long before popping himself into another room where according to the now dead man Credence should have been. He appeared in a dark room filled with stench that disgusted Stolos.

In front of him, a naked man was 'testing out the product' as the man with the glasses labeled it. The moment Stolos' eyes landed on that horrendous scene, the man's body flew to the wall behind him, clashing against it and leaving him limp on the floor.

“He doesn't belong to you," Stolos uttered through his teeth and quickly laid his coat over Credence who was numbly staring at the ceiling.

Stolos wasn't certain if he should reveal his identity right away or not, so he decided to put the boy to sleep first and figure it out later. With a snap of his fingers, Credence was clean and clothed properly and Stolos picked him up carefully, wrapping him into his coat as if it was supposed to comfort the now sleeping boy.

The next moment, he stood in a hallway of the new aquired house by Michendros who turned around to welcome his younger brother with a smile.

“That was fast," Stolos commented the house.

“Yes, well, I am pretty effective when I want," Michendros replied and his eyes landed on the boy in his arms.

“I was right about my feeling, huh?"

“Hm, I was too late..."

“At least you have him now," Michendros sighed, "where was he?"

“A disgusting place, really. I could never understand people who would rape kids."

“Yeah, I don't understand people who rape others. Period."

“I guess every one has a different way how to be monstrous."

“Do you want to do something about that place?"

“I haven't really had the time to think about it... But I guess after I put Credence down..."

“You know what, let me do the honors. You stay by his side. It was already enough that you left him once. And I think he'll need you after he wakes up."

“I am not sure if he will be excited to see me, again."

“That's why you look like an old man?" Michendros chuckled.

“Ugh," Stolos changed back into being the pale-looking, black-haired gentleman as before, "I guess. And I didn't want anyone to see me there."

“Alright, well, if you allow me, I'll need the address," Michendros said and touched Stolos forehead lightly and with a reassuring smile, he disappeared.

“Fine, so let's get you to a nice bed where you can rest," Stolos said softly and carried Credence to the first bedroom he found and laid him down, covering him with the duvet.

**Ian Somerhalder as Stolos**

**Sacha Dhawan as Michendros just w/ green eyes**

**young Finn Wolfhard as young Credence**

#brotherhood #story of credence #chapter 43 #fanfic #crossover #fanfiction #michendros #stolos #credence #lydia martin

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finnyisanactualrayofsunshine · 7 years

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But he DID burn them. Why did he had to kill them that painfully? He has a demon, couldn't he tell him to kill these Children without any pain? I still don't get why he burned them. Because he was traumatised at that moment? Well... that isn't a excuse for killing a bunch of children. And I'm not here to troll or anything, I'm totally serious.

I'm sorry I took so long to answer this. I intended to answer it earlier, but then I got caught up in seeing a lot of things that frankly disgusted me, blocking 30+ people, and having a complete breakdown due to stress and lack of sleep as well as a series of bad days due to personal issues with my own mental health. I'm not saying this for attention or sympathy (although to be fair I do try and get those things a lot). I'm just explaining that at that time I wasn't able to deal with answering this or getting more involved. The topic still really stresses me out so this will be the only ask I answer on the subject, but I am answering it. I'd also like to remind that this is entirely my interpretation and although I feel personally that it is the correct one, I'm not Yana and I can't say I have the final word on the subject. It's only my humble opinion and what I got out of it when I first read kuro and what I still get out of it now. My opinion hasn't changed, and it probably never will.So. As I said in the original salty post, there are multiple factors here, and I'm not saying that there is a wrong or right side to this. It's shades of grey. So I'll list what I got out of the scene, both good and bad, when I originally watched it having never interacted with the fandom or their opinions.So there's the basic matter of the PTSD attack. A lot of people bring this up as an excuse for his actions, which fine, is valid. He is a 13 year old, put in a horrifying situation, with an undeveloped brain that's probably barely functioning, having to make split second decisions. I don't think that really would cover it if he was still just going and killing some kids for shits and giggles though. It's still a bad thing to do right? So although I think he'd deserve some sympathy and understanding for that, that's not enough.LEADING to the second point which literally everyone forgets?? And was like a huge obvious plot point?? Which was discussed several times?? You fucks?? HE WASNT JUST BURNING THEM FOR KICKS OH MY GOD HOW THICK DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO INTERPRET IT THAT WAY JESUS CHRIST YOU DICKNUTS look. He looked at these kids and he saw that they would NEVER be able to have a life. He has terrible trauma himself and not to be melodramatic but it kind of ruined his life. THESE KIDS HAD IT WORSE AND HE KNOWS IT. Like, they were going to live a life of pain and suffering in the BEST case scenario. In the scenario that they have healthy rich supportive families. So what happens if their families don't support them the way they are now and drop them off at psychiatric hospitals which would DEFINITELY be abusive at that time?? What happens if they remain unresponsive to everyone and everything and their families die and they end up starving on the streets? All this included with what they're dealing with and carrying emotionally?? Ciel looked at them, saw that situation, and UNDERSTOOD that that is WORSE than death, and he only had a short amount of time to make that decision. He was a thirteen year old having a panic attack faced with the choice of whether to kill them without having any sort of consent from them (which would make it more of an assisted suicide, however they were not in a mental position to be making that choice for themselves) or leave them to what awaited them which in any situation was probably going to be worse than death. Was it the right decision? I don't know. I'm not saying it is. But saying he burned kids as if he did it for fun or to be a dick is the most basic one dimensional view of the story, and misses the entire point of the scene. It was an attempt at mercy. To add to that, there's literally the scene on the train where Ciel explains what I just said?? And then he goes to help the orphans that actually could still be saved?? He had literally no reason to do that, you absolute fucks. But y'all are determined to demonize him because you aren't thirsty for him, don't feel any sympathy for a trauma survivor, don't bother reading between the lines of the story, or want to fetishize his immorality (I don't mean that's everyone but a lot of people talk about him being evil in a weirdly sexual way, like calling him dirty, and it's VERY uncomfortable given the character and context.)However, I am in no way saying Ciel was in the right either. What he did was HELLA problematic. Of course it was. It wasn't evil, but it was problematic. You brought up the fire, couldn't he get Sebastian to kill them painlessly. That's absolutely right. Going with the above logic, fire is not the best way he could have gone about it. I think that has a lot to do with the first point, about the PTSD attack. Reminder, 13 year old kid, undeveloped brain, horrifying and traumatic circumstance. Unfortunately, he's not going to be thinking clearly. He's not able to. So yeah, it's bad that he went with the fire method, I absolutely agree. However, I can also understand. He wasn't able to coherently think the situation through, at best he could do was see the flame and come to that conclusion, as opposed to working through it and calmly asking Sebastian to quietly and painlessly kill them all. Once again though, I'm not saying that was in any way okay. I'm just explaining the reasoning, and that even the fire part was not with bad intent. Never the less, the action and choice was bad. There's also the matter of him playing god. Which is honestly one of the more problematic things about Ciel's character. I don't think Ciel is evil but he's definitely problematic with darker sides, and he has too much power through Sebastian and tends to play god. I think there's valid reasons why he chose to kill the kids. On the other hand, it wasn't his choice to make. Whatever way you look at it, he made a huge Fucking choice for a bunch of people with NO say in the situation, and yeah. That's...not good. I remember in like grade 10 we had a debate in civics about the death sentence and my arguement was "you can argue both sides, whether people deserve it or can be rehabilitated, whether it's more humane to kill someone or keep them in a concrete box their whole life...but what it comes down to is no human person should have the power to decide if someone lives or dies." And that's what this is too. Was he right or wrong? I don't know. I've thought about it a lot and honestly, I can't give you an answer for that. But it wasn't his choice to make. He should not have been deciding whether they were better off alive or dead, because it just. Wasn't. His. Choice. To. Make.So in conclusion. I'm in no way saying what he did was okay or good. But looking at it with the viewpoint of "uh he burned a kid, evil, blocked and reported." doesn't make any sense. It was a complicated situation with several sides you fucks. As my fave said when I brought this up, "are we even reading the same manga as them?"Also disclaimer, I've already been salty about this for too long on my blog, so this is the LAST thing I am saying on the subject. I would strongly prefer that people don't reblog or add comments, partly because this is just my opinion and official statement on a subject that bothers me and several of my close friends, and partly because for personal reasons to myself that frankly aren't the business of strangers on the Internet, I am TERRIFIED of people arguing with me or getting angry with me and I have been in a really bad place this week because of the previous drama so hey, show some sympathy to your neighbourhood Lau ho and let me live my life in peace, drama free. And on that note, if I ever do post things that are salty and likely to start drama, I want you all to understand the magnitude of how much that thing upsets me, that I'm risking people beefing me over it. Anyways thank you, and goodnight.

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recentanimenews · 6 years

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The 5 Most Loved and Hated Demons in Anime

Welcome to Part 2 of our 5-Part Halloween-themed October series! Last week we checked the ranking for Undead and this time around we’ll be looking at Demons! Residents of hell with proud lineages extending back to… Lucifer, I guess? Fans of faustian deals and possessors of tremendous power from the potent evil running through their veins. These guys come in all shapes in sizes in anime and often aren’t quite as evil as you’d might expect. We’ll call a white sheep when we see it though, but we all know demons deceive. Whether or not they’re willing to make a deal, they’re usually after someone’s immortal soul and the more dastardly their plan, the better.

Love them or hate them, they’re usually willing to make a deal so maybe you should check your own prejudices. Our friends over at Anime-Planet spend day and night cataloguing these unique features and leaving it to the fans to vote on the best and worst demons in all of anime. A note before we begin, these are the result of popular votes that I can and will disagree with. Only your democratic will can determine who makes it on this list. With that out of the way, below are the 5 most loved and most hated demons in anime!

Loved

5. Calcifier - Howl’s Moving Castle

Surprised it’s taken this long to find a Ghibli character on a list. Maybe not the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of demon, he’s pretty charming for a creature made entirely of fire. His demon cred probably isn’t too great but as a friend and a… power source, I guess? He’s pretty great. Even burns your garbage. Too bad you can’t pet him.

4. Kuro - Blue Exorcist

This category includes a surprising number of pets? Wasn’t a huge fan of Blue Exorcist but one of the subplots that really got me was poor little Kuro going mad with grief when his master died, eventually needing to get picked up by Rin and given a new purpose in life. A pretty straightforward lesson we are the product of our environments rather than the infernal power infusing our blood. Stronger demon look when he’s in battle mode but can also do both by being a cute cat.

3. Rias Gremory - High School DxD

Oh man, you just had to make me write about High School DxD. Despite her demonic lineage, Rias doesn’t really strike me as the demon type. Her most notable trait being her compassion isn’t exactly evil, although I guess her protectiveness extending mostly to her servants is a little demon like. Having red hair really isn’t a standout feature in the anime, but she’s got some big damn magic that makes up for it. I feel like we’re on a good trajectory.

2. Rin Okumura - Blue Exorcist

My opinion about Blue Exorcists stands, but Rin Okumura leans more into the demon aesthetic more than anyone so far, so long as his sword is drawn at least. He’s also the son of Satan, so he’s got the biggest demon name recognition on the list. Another goody two-shoes though, he just wants to be a normal boy and/or save people. Defeating your own dad strikes me as a pretty demonic activity though, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m just happy we finally got to a character with horns.

1. Sebastian Michaelis - Black Butler

I’ll give Sebastian that he acts the part more than anyone else here, going so far as to participate in daily demonic activities like making a pact for a human soul. Definitely as extra as a demon should be, willing to artistically flaunt his power to harm others in new and creative ways. Basically he’s got a great attitude. I’ve heard he’s also hiding a demon form for tight spots, but he definitely has an aura even when in his butler form. Deserves the top spot for sure.

Hated

5. Amaimon - Blue Exorcist

Annoying dude but an excellent demon. His look is pretty goofy but at least he’s got a lot of the trappings there. I guess in Blue Exorcists, the underworld is going through some awkward fashion trends. When he first appears he spends a lot of his time trying to get into fights with Rin, revealing Rin’s true nature to destroy his friendships and have a big damn demon battle. Even captures his girlfriend to that end, so some excellent work to make-up for his really bad outfit.

4. Ragnarok - Soul Eater

A sentient demon sword infused into the blood of its wielder? Now we’re talking. Ragnarok doesn’t even look human, so some major demon points there. Despite being in a literal blood pact with Crona, he definitely enjoys torturing his symbiotic partner. Noogies and bullying might not be so bad, but I’ll give Ragnarok that going too far would mean mutually assured destruction and a strong survival instinct is very demonic. A+ demon.

3. Riser Phoenix - High School DxD

Back to DxD. Riser is just kind of a lameass whose evil proclivities are pretty indistinguishable from a shitty rich boy. I definitely see the hate for this dude. Third son to a proud demonic lineage and the only thing he can think to do with all his primeval might is “two girls at the same time.” Not gonna lie, those phoenix fire wings are pretty sweet but he’s neither ambitious or petty enough to really make for a good badguy. Also folded like a lawnchair.

2. Little Ogre - Soul Eater

Here we go, this is the most demon looking one yet. Even better, this guy is a straight up reference to The Arm from one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Twin Peaks. I guess technically he’s supposed to be some kind of representation of Soul’s own evil urges coming from the black blood in his lineage, but… well that’s just awesome on its own. He’s got the look, the motivation, the method, and even his own cognitive space down pat. Easily the best demon on this list.

1. Claude Faustus - Black Butler

To be honest, and I know I’m gonna get corrected by some fans, but I can’t really see much difference between Sebastian and Claude. They’re both demons who want to eat Ciel but Claude doesn’t see any reason to wait. Since he’s got no contract with Ciel I can’t really think of any reason why he should. Essentially the big conflict between the two is over a meal? Which, very nice. Funny that he should end up on the hated side. Guess he just gets into less suggestive situations?

I should have known so many demons would look like perfectly normal Japanese high schoolers. Didn’t quite expect to see so many do-gooders up on the list or, at least, characters that are really awful at being bad. Was shocked not to see a certain Part-Timer up here or any characters from Yu Yu Hakusho. Pretty sure they’re mostly demons?

Didn't see your favorite devil on the list? Think you can come up with some more evil examples? Want to know where your favorite appears in the list of most popular demons? Head over to Anime-Planet’s list of demons to see where they rank, or comment below with your favorite! Tune in next week, for part 3 of our October series where we will be examining the most loved and hated werewolves!

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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

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lumiolivier · 7 years

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Chapter Twelve: The Birth of Russell

Word Count: 4242

Chapter No. 12/36

Notes: I’m sorry. I had a thing last weekend, so I didn’t post last weekend. However, I don’t regret it. I was busy making a beautiful cake that I’m sure my MCs would’ve approved of. Big time. If you haven’t seen it, I posted it on Snapchat, I posted it on Facebook, I posted it on Twitter. I might post it here eventually because I’m pretty damn proud of it. Especially for the little experience I had working with fondant. But all that aside, how about a new chapter? Is that ok with you?

Chapter Eleven: Face Off

Four-thirty came far too early. I didn’t want to move. I had zero desire to get out of bed. Then again, I had to be at Julian’s in half an hour, so the cougars didn’t attack. Now, I get why he said cosplayers were chameleons. Granted, he was speaking of his ex-fiancée, but we can change who we are at the drop of a hat. Sometimes that’s a terrible thing, like the case of Julian’s ex. Other times, it’s what’s keeping his ass safe.

Despite the fact that I was half dead inside, I took a quick shower and picked my poison for the day. Today was a Ciel Phantomhive day. I’m not sure why, but it was. A lot of deep, rich blues and a little bit of ruffle. It was nineteenth century London and Ciel was a noble after all. As soon as I looked cuter than all holy hell, I packed up my makeup case and started heading toward Julian’s while the sun rose behind me.

I walked into his house without bothering to knock first like he said I could. Huh. All was still in Julian’s house. I’m almost positive I told him I’d be here at five. Here it was, five o'clock. Where, oh where, was Julian? I know he isn’t doing something silly like still sleeping. We had this planned last night. I’m sure he did something smart like set an alarm either on his clock or on his phone. Because that’s the kind of responsible adult he is.

However, that wasn’t the case. Of course not. That couldn’t be the case. Not at all. Julian’s ass was still out cold. Every fiber of my being wanted to just scream and bitch at him, but I understood. I was a bit on the sleep deprived side myself yet. Instead of going off on him, I wanted to see something. Sure, it was a little creepy, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Besides, I hadn’t had something quite like this ins two years. I took off my knee high black boots and climbed into his bed, replacing his Miku pillow. That I honestly thought he was joking about. But I had no room to judge. I had Sebastian. He had Miku. No judgment.

Wow…I forgot what this felt like. A warm body against me. Almost as if he was acting on pure instinct, Julian’s arm tightened around me, cradling me against his chest. It had been so long since I had felt so safe and loved and special to someone. I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, hoping my eyes didn’t spring a leak, too. Julian didn’t need to wake up to that.

“Good morning, Mimi,” his voice grumbled sleepily, shaking me to my very soul.

“How did you know it was me?” I wondered as he held me a little tighter.

“You said five o'clock last night,” Julian reminded me, not even bothering to open his eyes, “Here it is. Five o'clock, probably. Who else would it be? My mom’s in Florida and you’re the only one I know here.”

“Your mom would come in and cuddle wit you like this?” I worried. Maybe Julian was more of a mama’s boy than I gave him credit for.

“Before you ask,” he rubbed his eyes, “I don’t have an Oedipus complex. But when I was younger, she’d come in early in the morning and I’d get all snuggly.”

“I can’t imagine,” I got a little more comfortable, “I think I can do this in about half an hour.”

“In that case,” Julian smiled a little, “We have a little time to kill, yeah?”

“We don’t have time to kill,” I corrected him, “That’s not a definite time limit. We need to get this done now.”

“Relax, Mimi,” he covered my face with his hand, “I’m not awake and neither are you. We can go back to sleep.”

“No, we can’t,” I tried getting up, but between Julian’s arm and my sheer lack of willpower, I stayed in his bed, “We have to go to work.”

“I don’t want to,” Julian whined, “I want to stay here with you. We can work tomorrow.”

“I know,” I rested my head on his chest, “And we will work tomorrow, but unfortunately, we have to work today, too. We have to get up.”

“You sound worse than my mom,” he finally sat up in bed, “You think you could throw me a t-shirt?”

“Do I have to?” I admired the view of Julian’s muscle definition.

“Ogle later,” Julian promised, “For now, I could probably cut diamond. I need a t-shirt.”

“Fine,” I grabbed a black one out of his closet on the non-cosplay side, throwing it at him, “Here.”

“And a flannel,” he requested, “Don’t care what color.”

“You want me get you some pants, too?” I teased.

“If you don’t mind.”

“No,” I rolled my eyes, “You’re a big boy, Julian. You can get your own damn pants.”

“Jesus,” Julian smiled, “Someone woke up on the wrong side of my bed this morning. You’re usually a left side, aren’t you?”

“Shut up,” I threw him a green flannel, “It was a momentary lapse.”

“Was it?” he asked.

“You’re delirious,” I wrote him off.

“So, what if I am?” Julian stuck his tongue out at me like an adult.

“Come on,” I left his bedroom, “We have a lot to do and little time to do it.”

“Do you know how much it sucked peeling that liquid latex off last night?” he scoffed, “That made for a fun shower.”

“Still got my rings though?” I hoped.

“Yes,” Julian nodded, grabbing them off his kitchen counter, “All three of them.”

“Good!” I smiled, “By the way, I suggest you grab some baby oil on the way home if you don’t have any. Gets the liquid latex off easier.”

“Thanks for telling me that now,” he growled.

“No problem!” I chirped, “Had to make you suffer a little bit.”

“Haven’t I suffered enough?” Julian whined, sitting on a barstool, “And I have to go through all of this all over again? It sucks!”

“Welcome to the pains of being a woman,” I retaliated.

“Touché,” he let it go pretty quick after that, “All this just to keep a group of women off my back.”

I started putting on the first layer of liquid latex the same way I did yesterday, “I do wish people had the decency to keep some of their thoughts to themselves. And their hands…”

“You, of all people, understand why I’m doing this,” Julian pointed out, “I saw the way Griffin was with you. How you don’t straight up deck him is beyond me. I have to commend you for your self-control. How in the hell do you deal with that?”

“I’m a firm believer in karma,” I admitted, “One day, his being disgusting is going to come back and bit him in the ass and he won’t be able to sit for a while.”

“You sure do know how to paint a picture, Mimi,” he giggled, “I wish it was a better picture.”

“Me, too,” I sighed out, “Maybe while we’re running the con circuit, it’ll get better.”

“It’s amazing,” Julian gushed, “There’s nothing like competing at conventions. Especially if they require a skit for groups. Those are always the best. That’s when it can turn into crack real quick. It doesn’t always go that route and they’ll end up following something from their respective genre down to the letter. Other times, it ends up in a rap battle.”

“Oh, dear God,” I shook my head, “This is why the aliens pass us over.”

“Hey,” he stopped me for a minute, “Do you think you and I could do Roy and Riza for our first con?”

“What?” I gave him a look, “Are you serious?”

“They’re kind of my OTP,” Julian admitted, “They’re too perfect for each other and you know it.”

“I could’ve told you that,” I brushed him off, “It’s Royai! What’s not to love about it? Her father was his alchemy teacher. She’s practically his nanny. They’ve known each other since the dawn of time. Give me two people more suited for each other!”

“I can’t.”

“Exactly,” I thought a little more about what he had just said and I never felt such a combination of stupid and anxious, “Are you trying to tell me that we’re too perfect for each other?”

“No,” he defended, “I’m saying that I never got to do Royai and I want to do Royai, dammit.”

“Your ex wouldn’t do Royai?” I wondered, hoping that wasn’t poking the bear too much.

“She never liked Fullmetal Alchemist,” Julian explained, “She thought it was too disturbing. Roxanne didn’t like the gory stuff too much, so I had to watch Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan when she wasn’t home.”

“So, you never got to do Edwin either?” my heart broke.

“Nope.”

“But you have a State Alchemist pocket watch!” I pouted while blending my little heart out, “You probably have Edward’s jacket somewhere, too, don’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” he assured, “I might not have made the watch, but I did have to carve the don’t forget into it. Did it with my soldering iron.”

“Fun fact,” I got another brush, “October third? The day Ed and All burned the house down?”

“Yeah,” Julian backed off for a minute, grabbing a Rockstar can off the counter, “What about it? That’s next week, too.”

“That’s my birthday,” I beamed, “I was predestined for otakuhood as soon as I came out of the womb.”

“Are you serious?” he gasped, “That’s fucking awesome!”

“It’s true,” I squeaked, “I’m officially a little cooler than you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Julian stopped me, “I share a birthday with a particular character that you would have his babies in an instant.”

“And who is this?”

“Well,” he smirked while I put his piercings in, “My birthday is June thirteenth.”

My heart stopped, “Noiz.”

“That’s right,” Julian sang out, “Was I right about the whole babies thing?”

“I might not want any of my own right now,” I elaborated, “But if the situation were to arise, I would be more than happy to surrogate for Noiz and Aoba.”

“You would,” he rolled his eyes.

“Hey!” I snapped, putting his second eyebrow ring in, “You’re moving too much. I can and will poke your eye out.”

“Sorry,” Julian apologized, “You know, Mimi, I just noticed something.”

“What’s that, sweetie?”

“You and I have hung out every single night since we met,” he pointed out, “Almost.”

“Yeah,” I slid the ring through the liquid latex, “What about it?”

“I’m just curious,” Julian shrugged, “What are we doing tonight?”

“I can’t come over tonight,” I broke the news to him, “I have to stay home. Mom and Dad miss me.”

“Then, why don’t I come over to your place instead?” he suggested, “That way, your parents get to see you and we don’t have to break our streak.”

“As genius as that is,” I praised, “And this is nothing against you in the least, but I think some time with the folks wouldn’t be a half bad idea. Besides, you still won’t tell me what you have planned for Saturday.”

“I never said I had anything planned,” Julian groaned, “I just told you to keep it open.”

“I had to cancel on Veronica for that.”

“And you were ok with that.”

I gave Julian a little smack upside the head and screwed the little ball on his last ring with no idea what I was going to do with him. Maybe maiming. Maiming sounded like a good idea, “There. You’re golden, Julian. You want a new name and a backstory?”

“You are a writer, aren’t you?” he teased.

“Guilty,” I beamed, “Now, do you or don’t you?”

“What the hell?” Julian nodded, “Why not? Hit me. Who am I?”

“You’re the childhood friend that moved back to town sophomore year of high school,” I put his own words back in his mouth, “Remember? We were best friends through grade school. Then, when you came back, puberty hit you like a ton of bricks and you became the hot, yet approachable friend.”

“Use your own material next time,” he shoved me a little, “What’s my name?”

“Haruka…” I sighed out, immediately biting my tongue. That wasn’t supposed to slip out. Neither was that half orgasm that came with it.

“Excuse me?” Julian lit up, Come again? Because I have a feeling you just did a little.”

“Ha, ha,” I laughed sarcastically, “I’m sorry. I just had a flashback to a dream I had a while back.”

“And what kind of dream was that?” he poked at me.

“Nothing,” I turned bright red almost instantly, “Forget I said anything.”

“That noise your throat just made is going to be pretty hard to forget,” he dug deeper, “What happened in this dream?”

“Drop it, Julian,” I growled at him.

“Oh, no,” Julian grabbed his car keys off the kitchen counter, “We need to explore this a little further. You said Haruka, so I’m assuming those Iwatobi boys were involved. Or maybe just Haru.”

“Shut up, Julian,” I was ready to punch him in his reconstructed mouth.

“I won’t judge,” he promised, “I’m curious.”

“No!” I snapped, “I’m keeping that dream to myself.”

“Please?” he begged.

“I’m not telling you,” I shot him down, regrettably getting into the passenger seat of his car.

“Do it,” Julian insisted, “All the cool kids are doing it.”

“I don’t give a shit about the cool kids,” I admitted, “I never was one of the cool kids. Why bother starting now?”

“If you tell me,” he bargained, “I’ll leave you alone about it and I’ll forget it ever happened.”

“Fine,” I caved, “And you won’t judge?”

“Not at all,” Julian swore, “Mine’s done some pretty shameful things, too. You’re not alone.”

“Ok,” I let out a heavy, exasperated, defeated sigh, “It started out with me waking up in bed and for some ungodly reason, Rin Matsuoka was standing in my doorway with my work apron on. Don’t ask me why. He just was.”

“Ok,” he backed out of his driveway, “I won’t question it. Go on.”

“He didn’t want me to go to work,” I continued, “He just wanted to stay in bed all day with me and apparently, the night before we were having sex.”

“Hot,” Julian praised, “Let me guess. You two got kinky, didn’t you?”

“Rin told me I was bendy,” I groaned, my voice dripping with regret, “And…It wasn’t us two…”

“Uh-oh,” he grinned darkly, “I smell a threesome!”

“Yeah,” I bit my lip, “There was a threesome involved.”

“I’m guessing Haru was the other?”

“Yep,” I went on, “And Haru had gotten really jealous of me because Rin was favoring me over him. I got thrown off my own bed and Haru jumped in with Rin. Then, things got really heated and Haru was asking Rin what his name was. hence why when you asked me what your name was in relation to the face I gave you, that’s why I said Haruka.”

“Oh, Mimi,” Julian pulled up to the café, “You didn’t say Haruka.”

“That never happened,” I snarled, “You tell anyone what happened this morning, I swear to God, I’ll start peeling latex.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” he reassured, “I promised you that I wouldn’t judge and I wouldn’t tell. So, you had a little yaoi dream.”

“You were making quite the fuss over it,” I settled a little, shutting the car door behind me.

“I just like giving you shit,” Julian hugged me, bringing me down the rest of the way, “But you never gave me a name.”

“I don’t know what I’d call you,” I wiggled out of his arms, “What’s your middle name?”

“Russell.”

“Seriously?” I scoffed, “Fine. It’ll have to do.”

“I can’t be Sebastian, can I?” he nudged me inside, “Because that was my name without the new face.”

“I’m sorry,” I grabbed my apron, “It was the first thing I thought of.”

“I must admit,” Julian shot me a wink, “It did get me all tingly when you gave me the order.”

“You’re such a dork.”

“But I’m your dork, young mistress,” he bowed to me.

“Julian…”

“I’ll get to work then!”

That boy…A part of me wanted to beat him senseless with a wrench Winry Rockbell style. But on that same token, a part of me wanted to hold onto him and never let him go. If I thought about it hard enough, we did actually have quite an Edward and Winry relationship. We both shot down any thought of us being together. I wanted to beat Julian with a wrench already. Hell, in a way, I had made artificial body parts for him, too.

Then, I thought about how Edward and Winry ended up. I could still hear it in the back of my head clear as day. Equivalent exchange! I’ll give have of my life to you, if you give half of yours to me! Probably one of my favorite moments in anime history. But in application to the current situation I was in, if I was really going to compare Julian and me to Edward and Winry, they ended up married with two kids, living happily ever after in Resembool.

And then, a Russian gymnastics team made their home in the pit of my stomach. For a brief moment, I was almost positive I was going to throw up. I had one arm on my stomach and the other on the counter, doing my best to keep my balance. I hated when shit like this happened. These sudden realizations were going to be the death of me.

“Mimi?” Julian came out from the kitchen, “You ok?”

“Fine,” I tried bringing myself down, “I’ll be ok.”

“You sure?” he asked, “You don’t look so good.”

“Rude,” I laughed it off, “I’ll be fine.”

All of a sudden, dizziness hit me like a Mack truck. But I had to keep my balance. The last thing I wanted to do was pass out at work. I was fine. I’d be ok. I was just overthinking things. Yeah. That’s all this was. just a big misunderstanding. Just my mind playing tricks on me. Everything was cool. Everything would be ok.

“Come here,” Julian had a paper towel in his hand and put it up to my nose, tilting my head back, “And you said you were ok.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped. But in the same breath, I noticed the blood soaking through that paper towel. This wasn’t happening…

“Taking care of your random bloody nose,” he did his best to calm me down, “Now, are you sure you’re ok?”

“Just a little overreaction,” I assured, “I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe you should sit down until your nose stops bleeding,” Julian suggested, “You want anything?”

“Something cold,” I requested, taking the register booth.

“Green tea, right?” he asked, “Squeeze of honey, little splash of lemon juice?”

“Yeah,” I was impressed he remember something so trivial. The day he came in, I was making a small batch green tea. Then again, on that same token, the day he came in was the day I had the Rin/Haru dream.

“What happened here?” Mr. Griffin had come in. Fantastic.

“Mimi had a nosebleed,” Julian reported, “Nothing to worry about. I got it handled.”

“Thank you…Uh…” the boss looked him over, “What was your name again?”

“Russell, sir,” he didn’t even hesitate.

“Anyway,” Mr. Griffin went on, “Mimi, are you alright?”

“I’m not going to bleed out,” I promised, taking my cold green tea from Julian, “What brings you by today, Mr. Griffin?”

“Just checking in on my new model employee,” he told, “I did say to have him trained by the end of the week.”

“Well?” I asked, “How did I do?”

“Not too bad,” Mr. Griffin applauded, “Good for you, Mimi. How does a twenty-five-cent raise sound?”

“Really?” I squeaked, “That sounds wonderful! Thank you, sir.”

“I’d only do that for you,” he winked at me, sending chills down my spine, “As soon as your nose is done bleeding, get back to work.”

“Yes, sir!” I chirped as he walked out the door, “Hell yeah! I just got raise!”

“Congratulations,” Julian sang, bringing me another paper towel.

“I kind of want to celebrate,” I admitted, “Care to join me?”

“I’d love to,” he agreed, “But remember? You said you had to stay home tonight because your parents miss you.”

“As much as I’m going to hate to say this,” I threw one of my bloody paper towels away, “I think you might be right.”

“Excuse me?” Julian leaned in, “You think you could say that a little louder for those in the back?”

“You were right,” I pushed him away, “I think you should come over tonight. That way, we can celebrate my raise and my parents still get to see me.”

“Awesome!” he squeaked, “Should I bring a bottle of wine or would that be in bad taste?”

“You could bring that bottle of Fireball,” I suggested, “Just keep it in your inner coat pocket.”

“I don’t have an inner coat pocket.”

“You get what I mean, smartass,” I rolled my eyes.

“Alright then,” Julian smiled, “Dinner with the parents already? Mimi, this is so sudden.”

“Would you like a bloody nose, too?”

“Not particularly.”

Once the blood stopped pouring out of my nose, I threw myself back into the fray and buckled down. I don’t know why I was still trying to impress the boss. Griffin wasn’t even here anymore and I had already gotten my raise. All I was waiting on was a promotion. And I was content with where I was now. As soon as lunch rolled around, I was definitely earning that raise.

For some strange reason, we got flooded with more customers than normal. there had to have been something going on in town that I didn’t know about. Didn’t keep myself up to date with the community calendar. I could’ve cared less. Tractor show in town maybe? It was that time of the year. That was the only thing I could think of. Regardless, I still had a shit ton of people to deal with. However, one local face made it a little easier to handle.

“Hey, Roni,” I put her wrap and her coffee in her hands, “As much as I’d love to chat right now, we’re swamped.”

“That’s fine,” Veronica understood, “Where’s Julian? I wanted to say hi before I left.”

“Julian’s not here,” I explained, keeping my voice down, “He’s kind of incognito.”

“Who’s the new guy then?” she asked, eyeing him up.

“That’s Russell,” I said, making change for another customer, “He’s a peach.”

“He looks like he could be Julian’s brother,” Veronica thought, “Does Julian have any brothers that have mysteriously blown into town?”

“You have a boyfriend, Veronica,” I reminded her, getting someone else’s order.

“I know,” she pouted, “I’m just saying if things fall through with us. It doesn’t hurt to have a back-up plan.”

“Wow,” I cringed, “That’s terrible.”

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” she shrugged, “Just trying to stay on top of the game.”

“I’m disappointed,” I shook my head at her, “I raised you better than that.”

“But do you honestly think I’m better than that?” Veronica asked with a note of condescension in her voice, “Do you really?”

“There’s always hope,” I kept my fingers crossed, “Maybe with the next one.”

“You know you love me,” she chimed, “I’ll let you get back to it then.”

“See you later, Roni,” I waved her off.

This job was going to be the death of me. Why couldn’t I have something easier? Why couldn’t my fan fiction make me money? Why did no one want to publish me? That’s right. I have to have an original idea in order to get published. And I hadn’t had an original idea in five years. Nevertheless, I had to persevere. That was the name of the game, wasn’t it?

Once the workday was finally done, I was free to put my feet up. Something about the café after closing seemed oddly peaceful. Especially after the day we had. I had never seen this place so packed in my three years of working here. amazing what kind of people tractor shows attracted here. and how many. Honestly. If they’ve seen one tractor, they’ve seen them all. There’s nothing new about them. four wheels, a pain in the ass to drive around, either red or green. Yippee! Sounds so exciting! I hated living in a farm town.

“Well,” Julian sat with me, “Am I taking you home and sticking around or am I coming over later?”

“Give me half an hour to decompress,” I instructed, “Then, come over. Besides, I left my makeup case at your house anyway. I need that back.”

“Alright then,” he nodded, “Did you do that on purpose?”

“I wasn’t bringing that with me.”

“Fair enough,” Julian allowed, “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

And just like that, my day started with cuddling with Julian only to give me a nosebleed. That seemed weirdly fitting. Was I going to say it? I didn’t want to, but it may be time. No. Not now. I’m not. There’s no way…

#Sorry For Being a Closet Otaku #Nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2016 #otaku life #nerd #cute #novel #my novel #my original story #am writing #chapter eleven

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