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What's new or coming soon to SoMa in Little Rock

Shopping, mixed-use development and more.

So much in SoMa

The biggest news in the South Main's Southside Main Street Project — which we all know as SoMa — is developer Matt Foster's plan to build a $4.4 million retail and residential center at the northwest corner of 15th and Main streets.

The two-story, 22,000-square-foot development will include seven retail spots on the ground floor and five condominiums on the second. Though the project will be the first major new construction to come to the historic neighborhood in years, Foster, owner of MWF Construction LLC, says the idea is to "continue the vibe and feel of the SoMa district" with local, small business retail tenants. The condos will range in size from 1,500 to 2,850 square feet.

Foster has preliminary plans and has received Capitol Zoning District approval with no stipulation for the yet-to-be-named development. He's waiting for final architectural plans and final funding from banks. He hopes to begin construction this year. Here are some other businesses that have opened in SoMa in the past few years:

The 1200 block

The Escape

1214 S. Main St.

If you are not claustrophobic and like to show off your observational and puzzle-solving skills, you might want to think your way out of one of the four locked rooms of The Escape. The business located to SoMa in 2016, Manager Aron Daughety says, "because it's a really cool connected area" with lots of foot traffic. The key — figuratively speaking — to escaping the rooms, each of which has a storyline, is good communication skills, Daughety said, which makes it a good team-building event for businesses.

Electric Ghost

1218 S. Main St.

You might not guess with a glance at the small retail space with the funny name in SoMa that it fronts a busy screen-printing business. Brooks Tipton moved his screen-printing operations to SoMa in 2016; a tour of the back of this 1930 storefront, where you'll see master printmaker Caleb Pritchett pulling prints by hand and other great tools of the trade, makes for great entertainment, as well as appreciation of the process.

Midtown Billiards

1316 Main St.

Last September, SoMa's venerable watering hole — a favorite of the service industry and once named one of the best bars in America by Esquire magazine — was gutted by a fire that started when an appliance malfunctioned. Just last week, the business got all its permits to begin rebuilding, owner Maggie Hinson said, and work was to begin this week. Hinson will return Midtown to its original look, though with a new bar and benches. "My customers will take care" of returning the new construction to its original condition, she added. She's aiming for a March reopening, but acknowledged that it's anyone's guess when construction will be complete.

Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom

1318 Main St.

Raduno, or RAD UNO on its street sign, opened in February 2015 in a remodeled storefront in the Joseph Jung/G.P. Kordsmeir building and has been serving Neapolitan-style pizzas to good crowds since. The crowds are good enough, in fact, that in 2016 the restaurant built a patio to accommodate several tables on the sidewalk in front of the business and the city built a sidewalk around it.

Sweet Home Furnishings/Clement

1324 S. Main St.

When the owners of this antique store — which is actually two stores combined — lost their lease in Hillcrest, they decided to move to another place with a neighborhood feel: SoMa. SoMa godmother Anita Davis let them know about a building that Cassie Toro had bought and restored, and John Bell (Sweet Home Furnishings) and Chris Clement (Clement) swept right in. When Toro removed the metal façade from the old Lendermon Paint Co., she uncovered the glass tile art deco design over the front door, which faces diagonally across the intersection of 14th and Main. Just right for an antique store, now in its third year in the neighborhood.

Around the corner, in the rear of the Sweet Home building, Arkansas Wellness Professionals plans to open Spark Fit Community, a workout space for adults and children in June in the space formerly occupied by Krav Maga. Glenn McCracken and his wife, Kecia, operate Arkansas Wellness, which will offer personal training, pilates classes and yoga classes in the 3,300-square-foot space in back of Sweet Home Furnishings/Clement. They'll remodel first, hold a summer program and after Labor Day have a full class schedule set.

Moxy Modern Mercantile

1419 S. Main St.

Lara Kahler opened Moxy Mercantile, a store that sells vintage and vintage-inspired items (like old records and dog-butt refrigerator magnets and kitchen linens and stationery), when space became available on the first floor of the Bernice Apartments three years ago. Flanked by the Bernice Garden, created by SoMa godmother Anita Davis, on the north and Boulevard Bread Co. on the south, Moxy looks forward to catching Mardi Gras beads thrown from the balcony of Matt Foster's development planned for across the street.

Loblolly Creamery

1423 S. Main St.

Sally Mengel's homemade ice cream company, now inside the Green Corner Store, will open its own parlor next door in the space formerly occupied by the StudioMain design collaborative.

The Root Cafe

1500 S. Main St.

The Root Cafe has been around since 2011, but until November 2016, eating there meant standing in a long line with fingers crossed that you'd be able to get one of the three tables inside the former Sweden Creme or on the patios outside. The Root took mercy on its many devotees last year and added shipping containers to expand the dining room and kitchen. The Root grows with all deliberate speed: It is offering Friday and Saturday evening meals and will expand that to Thursdays starting March 2 and Wednesdays starting March 15.

South Main Creative

1600 S. Main St.

A historic building that contributes to the South Main Street Commercial Historic District has been many things — grocery store, beauty shop, uniform supply store — and now it is, in a sense, all of that as South Main Creative antique mall, featuring booths of vintage items, antiques, jewelry, clothing and art. Valerie Wingert opened the mall in the 5,000-square-foot storefront in September 2015; the store now also offers classes in such crafts as needle felting, chalk painting, silk screening, mosaics and other D.I.Y. lessons.

Argenta Bead Co.

1608 S. Main St.

Ellie Roy, who has been in the bead biz for years and whose shop is said to be among the best in the country, is moving her store from North Little Rock to SoMa in March. Her move from Argenta was sped up by a car that lost control on North Little Rock's Main Street last December and smashed into her store, creating an enormous mess of thousands of beads, some of them precious, and broken glass. Out they went. The store, founded in 2000, will keep the Argenta name.

What's new or coming soon to SoMa in Little Rock

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Ignite

SoMa Week 2021 Day One: Burn

Pairing: SoMa (Soul x Maka)

Fandom: Soul Eater

Note: This is my first time participating in SoXa week! Also its my finals week so im stressed about tests and my second vaccine dose is kicking my butt but I thought instead of studying, lets write a fic. I’ve been really into soul eater recently and started the manga, so you’ll see some new fics for it here and there. Anyways, enjoy!

@soulxmakaweek

---

Her view of love had burnt out a long time ago. She was hopeful at times to think someone could be loyal and love her for eternity but that fear of being left behind and abandoned again would destroy any hope of that.

She had thought it was written in stone. From a young age she didn’t think about marriage, didn’t care about relationships because she wasn’t willing to risk the burn marks on her heart for just a sliver of satisfaction.There was nothing anyone could say to her to change her mind, she knew that, more importantly, he knew that.

But slowly that mindset started to challenge her heart. The moment she asked Soul to be her partner when they were teenagers, she felt a spark. It was small and only lasted a fraction of a second when he said yes and gave her a smirk she dared not say she liked. For a moment she had forgotten about her pact, never fall in love, but it came back quickly as it left.

She repeated those words more frequently than not. The mirror had begun to memorize the movement of her lips as she looked at herself and scolded anything that remotely resembled a romantic interest.

Every so often a brave boy would come up to her with a card and some flowers and try his hand at Maka’s heart. She would be as kind as possible to turn them down but she never missed the way Soul’s lips turned up into a smirk. Soon she was seen as untouchable, no one could woo her or they would be too threatened by Soul to even try.

It was a relief to Soul to see boys not trying to win over Maka but a part of him wondered if she would ever let herself fall for anyone.

--

“Do we really have to go to this dance?” Soul grumbled as he fixed his tie for the tenth time.

Maka sighed from the bathroom.“Yes Soul. Its our duty as successful students to make an appearance. Plus I heard that there is going to be good food.”

Soul rolled his eyes as he plopped onto the couch.“Its been five years since we graduated, do people even care about us?” He smirked as he heard her scoff from the hallway.

“No, Im sure no one cares about the current death weapon or the amazing person who not only made said weapon but is also one of the best teachers at the academy.”

“Relax Maka, I’m just teasing. Now hurry up or we are gonna be late and I am not about to be scolded by Kid for that.”

“Alright.” She huffed and finished her makeup with a swipe of lip gloss.“I’m coming. How do I look?” She asked.

It was a simple question, one he was used to answering often with a“fine. good. who cares, lets go.” But lately he's been trying to hold in his actual thoughts.

Maka stared at him, those olive green eyes that he became more attracted to lately. There was an untacked about chemistry that had been hovering around them for the past few years and slowly, he was loosing the battle on keeping it in place.

Her dress was black with off the shoulder sleeves and cut off mid-thigh. Something classy and elegant but still fun to twirl in. Her heels boosted her to his eye level and her hair was up in an updo with some blonde framing her face.

“Soul?” She asked him and he cleared his throat before grabbing his keys.

“Uh, you look perfect. We should really be going.” Way to be cool about it, he scolded himself.

Maka grabbed her purse and followed him out the door. Deep down she could feel a small spark of desire flare but quickly, she pushed it down and got into the car.

--

The dance was nothing less than perfection. Every dish, napkin, balloon and streamer was in a proper place with symmetry as its main function. Kid apparently had spent a week decorating the place himself just to insure that it was nothing less than his standards.

“He really out did himself, huh?” Soul commented as he looked around the room.

“He sure did.” Maka said.

There were a mix of students and faculty on the dance floor already. Kid was standing towards the back with Black Star while Tsubaki, Patty and Liz were chatting near them.

“It brings me back to when you forced me to these thing when we were kids.” Soul said as they made their way across the room.

Maka laughed.“Guess things haven’t changed much.”

They parted ways, Soul going towards the guys and Maka joining the girls.

“Oh Maka you look so cute!” Patty complimented her.

Maka smiled. “You all look so good too.”

Liz finished her drink before looking towards the boys.“I bet Soul likes this number on you.” She winked and Maka took a glass on a near by tray and gulped it down.

“Aww don’t tease the clueless love birds.” Tsubaki giggled.

“There nothing to tell.” Maka tried to reason but none of the girls believed her for a moment.“I’m not even his type.” She rushed out and Liz almost started to choke on her drink.

“Are you kidding? The smartest girl in the school, no the city and she's dumb as a rock when it comes to the love sick scythe.”

Maka swatted Liz’s arm and rolled her eyes. Behind her she heard someone clear their throat.

“Maka?”

She turned to see Peter, a fellow teacher who specialized in weapon training of the lower grade levels.

“Oh hi Peter, how are you?” Maka greeted and the rest of the girls waved politely.

“Good. I was wondering if you wanted to dance maybe?” He asked.

She expected to hear the girls snickering and giggling but instead she was met with silence and a smug cough from Liz.

“Oh, uh.” She started.

“Come on, it will be fun.” He said and took her hand, pulling her to the dance floor without giving her a chance.

A small squeak escaped her lips as she almost crashed into his chest. His hands found their way to her hips as he swayed to the music. Although she had always found their conversations nice and refreshing, he wasn’t the type of man that was, well, her type.

“You know Maka, I’ve always admired you.” He said.

She looked up at him and offered a polite smile.“Oh really?”

“So brave and smart, makes sense that the top teacher was also the top student.”

She laughed slightly. “Well I couldn’t have done it without my partner.”

Peter quickly caught his frown.“Yeah, Soul. Nice dude.”

“He likes to consider himself a ride or die.” She smiled to herself.

Peter grunted something she couldn’t make out and spun her around. She saw Soul walking towards the balcony doors just as she came back to Peter’s front.

“Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me, you know, like a date?”

Maka stopped in her tracks. Date. No. She didn’t want that. She gave up on that a long time ago.

“Look Peter, you’re a nice guy and I have a great time working with you, but I’m just not looking for anything.”

“Oh. I just thought you and I we're getting to be good friends.”

“Well I like chatting with you and grading stuff but I really am not into dating right now. Sorry.”

“I get it, Soul would be jealous.” He scoffed and stepped back.“ I should have listened.”

“Listened to what?” She demanded.

He had the audacity to smile at her.“Oh please. Ever since school, everyone knew that it was you and Soul. I just thought that since nothing has happened yet, you would be on the market.”

That rubbed her the wrong way and her face turned sour.

“Well sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not some slab of meat. See you on Monday.” She scoffed and walked away from him. Instead of going back to her friends, she stormed towards the balcony and greeted the cool air to help calm her down.

“That was quick.” Soul teased and he held out his hand to help her up, making sure her dress didn’t get caught.

“Quick enough for a dance just to ask me out and get mad when I said no.”

Soul turned towards her.“Oh? Another ego bruised?”

“He said he had been waiting for me to be on the market.” She spat.“Disgusting behavior.”

Soul let out a laugh and threw his arm over her shoulder.“Men are stupid, you’re smart to not go near them.”

“You’re not stupid, most of the time.” She mumbled.

“The difference between me and those guys is I’ve had my ass handed to me by you. I know not to mess with the bull. Plus, I actually have respect for you and women, like a cool person should.”

“Yeah. He then said that you would be jealous.”

They watched the sun begin to set slowly. Sometimes Maka wondered what it would feel like to be the sun. Eternal warmth. Being a constant in peoples lives. She looked to Soul who seemed a little lost in thought. That spark coming to the surface and she wondered why she didn’t allow herself to what she wanted.

For years she had made sure that their partnership never faltered from that. She couldn’t risk anything happening to them because she wasn’t sure if she would be able to trust another weapon the way she did with him. She also didn’t want to partner with anyone else.

She enjoyed his company. Enjoyed the way that he could make her smile and feel comfortable. Most importantly, he stuck to his word. She never once felt like he would leave and when he said he was going to be there, she believed him.

Sometimes she wished she could just scream at him and tell him that she had been in love with him for years. That her talks about marriage and love never once applied to him and if he asked, she would be his forever.

“I think he's right.” Soul started.“Its always been you and me. I probably wouldn’t like the attention taken. Stupid, I know.”

“Its not, because I think I know why no one else sparks my interest.” She took a breath and stared at him. Those crimson eyes that held a sense of comfort and form of love that was now crystal clear.“I don’t think anyone else comes close to how I see you. The stolen glances and walking on the eggshells of feelings I pushed down long ago. I get it now Soul. You never asked because you waited for me.”

He let out a laugh from his chest and jumped down before offering his hand.“The moment I met you Maka? I knew we were end game, I was just hoping you saw it too.”

When she looked at Soul, she could sense the last little flames igniting. She could have crushed them, put them out with the bottom of her shoe and never let them rise again. She could of finally removed all the pain her parents marriage caused her and not let anything happen to her heart.

And when she thought that her idea of love was burnt to a crisp, she didn’t realize that those tiny embers had slowly grown into a burning fire. Only one person fanned the flames of her heart and she wonders why she couldn’t see it all those years ago.

But instead she looked into his eyes and saw nothing but trust. His smile was genuine and there was a faint blush on his cheeks as he waited for her answer. Deep down the embers sparked as she took his hand and she felt the fire take over.

She took his hand and he gently pulled her close until their noses touch and he placed a kiss on her knuckles. She could barely hear the music playing inside but it felt like a symphony was surrounding them. He began to hum a tune and stepped to lead her in their dance.

She giggled as he twirled her. It felt freeing, it felt right, it was perfect. He brought her back to his chest and with a big smile, he looked down at her.

“Maka?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Yes.”

He pulled her close, taking her lips and kissing her just like he wanted to for as long as he could remember. Her lips were soft and he could feel the curl of her lips as she smiled against him.

The fire within her erupted brighter than before. The sense of longing for another began to be fulfilled and any doubts she had began to shrink. Any doubts she had with Soul had been long gone. He was her constant, the person who was always there no matter what. She never had to ask or even say a word for him to be by her side.

Her idea of love had been crushed when she had been a girl. She had thought that no one could change that. Perhaps she would spend her life not knowing what life could have been with a full heart.

But as she held Soul close to her, it became clear that he was the one to hold the match to those embers. He was a reminder that love could exist and be devoted to another.

He was the fire that burned in her heart and she gladly excepted the warmth.

“Hey Soul?” She whispered against his lips.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

She didn’t think his smile could get any bigger as he told her the same and kissed her again.

----

I hope you enjoyed :)

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Halloween Costumes [Yandere!OCS - Headcanon]:

Here is a little scenario I thought it would be cute to share. I'll answer your asks soon, is just that it has been kinda hard to create in this couple of days. This is just a little Headcanon about what types of costumes would my characters wear on Halloween night.

🍒 Bullies 🍭:

→Alexandra Coldwell:

A mummy, oddly enough. Although the twins are always expected to wear something similar every now and then, when it comes to halloween they rarely ever match costumes. Alexandra had a bunch of options inside her head, but a mummy was what she had decided to go with. Why? No one really knows, neither does she. It just felt fitting.

She is absolutely one of the cutest evilest mummies you would ever meet tho. Instead of being just toilet paper, you'll see a bandage cutie covered in gold and jewels.

→Adrien Coldwell:

He normally doesn't care about what costume he will choose, as long as he can exaggerate his costume in a fancy way. This year, why not go with a classic homoerotic vampire? Just because he is lazy and doesn't really care for what costume he chooses, doesn't mean he won't put in a lot of effort to interpret the most dramatic vampire you would ever meet. He could just wear a cape and a pair of fangs, but what is the fun in that?

Expect a really extravagant vampire boy with a sassy attitude to really seal the whole character. Just make sure he doesn't get his role over his head and starts to bite people.

🍎 Teacher 📕:

→Madeline Allen:

Little riding hood, for obvious reasons. I mean, as a teacher that already offers cookies to every single student she meets along the way, why not dress as a character that holds treats in a little basket? It could be really fun to give students and other teachers candies while dressing as a character from her favorite fable. Also because, well, red is her favorite color.

You would see her passing through school halls while maintaining her character just for fun. Although she would serve candy to everyone, she would make sure to give you more than everyone else.

→Matthew Robinson:

Werewolf. He is… Not exactly the most creative person (neither am I-). He likes the stories he heard when he was a kid about the wolves that lived in the woods around his town. Maybe he was really naive, but just the thought of finding one of them walking around would be enough to stop him from sneaking out of his house at night, until he was old enough to know that no, werewolves aren't real.

You should have seen his face while searching for an online costume. He found some of the most questionable things under the search of "Werewolves". Not that the costumes were necessarily bad, but not exactly the best for the public eye. He decided to wear something really, really simple but that would still be recognizable.

He still bought one of the questionable ones, just… For the curiosity of it. Maybe he'll need it one day, who knows.

🍋 Delinquent 🐍:

→Janette Sartorius:

Frankenstein. She thinks she can pull it off just because she has a bunch of scars. She just needs some paint and some "extra effects". She is planning on scaring people, either because she is going to be part of a "haunted house" attraction, or because she couldn't contain the need to make someone terrified. I imagine her volunteering to be part of a scare attraction to both earn her some money, but also if it's for some sort of fundraiser.

She is absolutely terrible at doing it on her own, so the effects are to help her acting so it doesn't feel so lacking. Would you help her set everything up?

→Jackson Macnee:

Michael Myers. Or Jason, he isn't sure yet. Any Slasher is fine for him. Especially since because of his height no one takes him seriously, so he is, uhn… Planning on changing that. Yes, yes he is salty that people offer him candy as if he is a little kid. He still takes them, but, ya know?? It's not cool… He prefers cigarettes and the blood of his enemies (coughs don't worry, he is being edgy again coughs).

Okay that's not really true, but come on! He has his own gang, he has robbed and he has hurt people almost to the point of killing them, he deserves some respect don't you think?

I'm joking around but like, you should probably keep an eye on him. His costume is covering his face and his digitals, so if the idea of murdering someone on Halloween night ever crosses his mind, I think you should stay close to him so he doesn't kill some rich kids or something.

👾 A.I 🍏(non-binary):

→Yuma Soma:

Doesn't really know the importance of this day. In their game, there was a halloween like event, where all characters wear spooky outfits, their original one was the skeleton, so they might as well choose a skeleton costume.

Yuma is starting to really like this holiday, as through the whole month everyone seems so excited and happy just because it's a spooky month. They're kinda jealous of the little kids that get free candy, doesn't they deserve some as well?? They're just if not more adorable than all of these pipsqueaks.

Because they're new to this whole shenanigan, you better tell them that A: they can't eat all the candy, it doesn't matter if they throw a tantrum. And B: Just because they see someone who looks like a video game character, doesn't mean that person really is that character, they're more likely just a cosplayer that likes the game and characters.

But despite your warnings, they'll still eat all the candy they can find, and they will still ask the Luigi cosplayer for some autograph.

🦊 Kitsune 🍬:

→Tatsumi:

Just a masquerade mask. Because firstly: He isn't planning on wearing any clothes the whole night, and secondly: Because he doesn't have the money to go all for it. If he could, he would probably dress as, I don't know, Tuxedo Mask? I mean, look at this man, he fits the role perfectly~

All jokes aside, Tatsumi feels a little too self-conscious to dress up as the things he wants to dress up as. Not because of his appearance, but more because of himself as a whole. He… Does have a little bit of self hatred hiding in there.

Even if he was invited time and time again to go to a party filled with monsters living a double life just like him, he would prefer to stay inside and watch some horror movies. If you don't mind, can you stay with him?

🩸Vampire 🍷:

→Abigail Barlow:

Halloween? Costumes? Do you think she is a clown? Just asking her out of curiosity would be enough to make her belittle you. Saying how such a thing was way beneath her, only commoners like you do such a childish thing. Unbelievable how little you think of her!

But, let's say, that for some coincidence the people of your village have decided to make a "ball" around the town's main fountain. Of course you would go, wouldn't you? A masked ball with only the common and humble folk of your village. Sounds really fun right?

But she can't have you finding some lowlife as a partner, that would be a disgrace to her and to you. Yet, she is pretty sure you wouldn't want to see her face around your folk, and you would probably question her hypocrisy.

Maybe you find a really interesting companion while you dance, maybe not...

🍰 CEO 📏:

→Ingrid Bright:

Even if people tell her to dress as Ariel or Merida (ha ha, redheads only dress as redheads), she would prefer something that could be practical, but she ended up choosing a demon anyway. I mean, she can totally rock any outfit, so why not?

Why not be a little devil? It should be fun. But it isn't really reassuring knowing how most of her co-workers see her as one already. Well, whatever, she'll wear whatever the hell she wants, and no one can stop her-

Oh look! What a coincidence, aren't you wearing a little angel costume? Oh, you two are opposites, how adorable.

What a strange coincidence, totally not the result of one month prior of planning and stressing over the possibility of her plan not working!

Really though, whatever her darling wears, she I'll wear the opposite of. It's supposed to be a cute coincidence but sometimes it can be so on the nose.

She hopes you don't mind her being near you all the time, flirting or towering over you. Come on darling, you can be the angel of this demon, can't you?

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

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His Butler, and the Problem with Magic (Ch1)

Fandom: Black Butler | Kuroshitsuji x Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Crossover

Fic Synopsis: Life at Hogwarts isn’t all bad…usually. But when Valentine’s Day rolls around, and Lockhart throws an extravagant ball, the number of couples at school the next day skyrockets, and Sebastian finds himself a new object of devotion���Can Ciel save his butler from the spell on his own?

Character Focus: Ciel (Sebastian, Undertaker, Harry, Grell)

Notes: This is a fic I wrote for @elegantkittycat for a Valentines day secret-santa-style event I made a few years ago!

Yes, I’m aware there are typos in this chapter. I intend to fix them at some point.

If you’d be willing to comment and/or reblog, it would mean more to me than you know!! They really really help motivate me to keep writing.

Chapter 1:

The great hall, quite frankly, looked like Valentine’s day threw up on it. Those lurid pink flowers from lunch still lined the walls, but now bright streamers glided across the ceiling, big, shiny hearts fluttered in the air, reflecting mood lighting, and bubble hearts popped out of bouquets of roses, (each flower cut into hearts). The ceiling itself not only continued to drop confetti, but was blighted by puffy clouds that read the same banalities you could find in every Sweethearts box; Be Mine, and True Love, and XOXO. (The clouds may have actually read that outside too, but Ciel didn’t want to check.) The burly cupids from earlier in the week lumbered about the room, continuing to pelt people with off-key music, and cards that only the most hopeless and idiotic of romantics would provide, filled with the same empty statements the clouds read—(every once and a while a howler burst forth, and the actual band would come to a shrieking halt at “YOU’RE REALLY CUTE”).

Lockhart had insisted a Valentine’s day ball was in order—(a lurid end to a lurid day)—and remarked with a toss of his perfect hair and blinding smile that it would be ‘just the thing’ to brighten everyone’s moods.

The fact that Lizzie had been the first (of many, mind you) to offer her decorative expertise and assistance may or may not have contributed to the overall… valentines-day-puked-and-so-will-I vibe of the room.

Currently, said mission to lift the general spirit was failing; aside from the few school lovebirds, (who were already widely despised and avoided, without school-sanctioned and overly sugary displays of affection) most people took this as the perfect opportunity for your daily dose of sulking at the sidelines, and contemplating if magic was quite worth this amount of suffering. Not least of all Ciel, who was currently propped against the wall behind the food table. (Lizzie had pried him away from his brooding earlier to dance, but now he happily returned to the indent he’d made in the wall). He had made many attempts throughout the evening to sneak a piece of chocolate cake, but Sebastian always magically appeared to slap his hands away whenever he got too close.

Most people would have stayed in their dorms, given the chance. Lockhart, however, had sent everyone cards with his kissy face on them, telling them flirtatiously not to dawdle, and his commands got more sugary, and insistent, (not to mention awkward) the longer they stayed indoors, and floated over their heads until they dragged their butts to the ball. This was particularly affective at making sure everyone was there, because the girls melted for his voice, and the boys wanted to shut him up as soon as possible.

“Isn’t this wonderful, Ciel!” A certain Indian prince put his arm around the earl’s neck and noogied him.

“Wha—No!” Ciel struggled like a fish out of water. Upon release he wiped his hands on his dress robes (the robes Sebastian had thrown together for the event—his ‘thrown together,’ of course, looked like others ‘spent-months-laboring-over-this’)—as if he didn’t want to catch Soma’s contagious happiness. “And I’d thank you to not touch me so casually!”

“I’m sorry Ciel, it’s just seeing all this love in the air makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside!” he spun around, “Doesn’t it do the same for you?”

“That’s called acid reflux.”

Soma pouted.

“Ciieel!” Lizzie’s hug was a torpedo. She snared his hands and spun him around, “Come dance with me!”

“Ack…I just danced with you ten minutes ago! How many times do I have to dance with you before you’re satisfied?!”

“Don’t you want your fiancé to be happy?” Her green eyes, (which were already big), became the puppy dog eyes of a little girl who wants an expensive toy.

“Don’t you?” he grumbled.

“I’ll dance with you, Elizabeth!” Soma came to the rescue. “It would be an honor to dance with such a lovely young lady!”

She blushed—“Oh please! It would be more than an honor to dance with a Prince!”—and curtsied, shooting Ciel an icy look, before joining the dance.

The young earl folded his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes.

As if that wasn’t enough sappiness for a lifetime, cloying words floated to his ears:

“Oh Professor Michaelis~!”

Ciel’s brow twitched.

“Come now Lavender, that wouldn’t be fair, would it?”

“Ahh, he’s so noble!” came a not-so-whispered consensus.

Ciel jerked his head to see the group of girls crowding around his butler, like birds to sunflower seeds in the park.

Rather than sharing his annoyance, and refusing their advances, Sebastian shimmered with flattery and flirtation. A few of them offered him boxes of chocolates and other sweets, which he took with flowery compliments, but surely had no intention of eating—it didn’t take a love expert to know they were all laced with love potions. (Or maybe he could eat them anyways; the jury was still out if love potions had any affect on the demon…some magical methods worked on him and others didn’t).

Ciel’s hands clenched into fists at his sides, “Don’t you have better things to do?!” he shouted over the throng.

Sebastian chuckled. “Mr. Phantomhive, don’t you know it’s rude to question a teacher?”

Ciel growled.

“These lovely ladies took time out of their day to offer me gifts,” the butler’s calm voice carried across the room. “It would be rude to refuse them.”

There was a syrupy sigh from the group.

“Ugh,” Ciel gave the opposite kind of sigh, and turned away before he gave into the urge to murder.

A familiar laugh at his side made him turn.

“What’s so funny?” he asked the Undertaker.

“Oh nothing much,” Undertaker forwent his usual dog biscuits for a piece of cake, “I just find your sour mood rather humorous.”

“You know me, I’m always in a sour mood.”

“Can’t argue with that,” he said, his mouth full of cake, “but,” he swallowed, “it seems the atmosphere of love and joy has put you in a particularly foul state of mind,” he pointed a black nail at him.

“I just don’t find romance being thrown in my face to make for a very fun evening, that’s all. One of Lizzie’s cutsey rampages is enough for me…but this?” he shuddered.

“Well, some would say it’s sweet. That it makes them feel happy and romantic.”

“When I rise to power, those people will be sterilized.”*

He laughed. “Always the life of the party, you are.”

“What? Are you one of those people?”

“I wouldn’t say so. But seeing you in such a state is worth all the romance any day.”

“Glad I could be of service,” he grunted.

Undertaker set down his plate and twirled in front of him, then leaned forward and spoke behind his hand, “What do you say we make this party…a party?” he reached into one of his drapey sleeves and pulled out a vial, teasing it in front of his face.

A quizzical look from Ciel made Undertaker whistle in the direction of the nearby punchbowl.

Ciel sighed and rubbed his temple. “Spiking the punch…really? Isn’t that a little too cliché, even for you?”

“I prefer the term ‘failsafes.’ Even you have to admit, the atmosphere could use a little...” he glanced around the room, “spiking. Besides,” he leaned in close and whispered, “this isn’t alcohol, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“…What is it then?” Ciel moaned, eyeing the ex-reaper.

He stood back up to his full height. “I’m not one to spoil the punchline before I tell the joke.”

The young earl sighed, “You really think we should deprive people of their misery? I’m not one to interrupt some good, old-fashioned sulking.”

“The general idea is that those who are miserable would like to…not be.”

“They also say that misery loves company. Misery and I, for instance, have quite the close relationship.”

As if called by them saying ‘misery’ too many times, Lockhart’s pretty face showed up.

Ciel coughed to cover his distaste.

“Ah Undertaker! Good to see you here! Everyone’s loving the party aren’t they?”—He gestured to the glowering room—“It’s so wonderful to see all these young people in love!” he gave a throaty chuckle.

“Well, I wouldn’t say everyone.” Undertaker had a way with honesty.

“What makes you say that? Did someone tell you they weren’t enjoying it? We can’t have that!”

“It’s not so much anyone specific, but—”

“…What’s that you have?” his eyes fell on the vial that Undertaker had barely tried to conceal. Despite Ciel’s theory that Lockhart was dumber than a bag of rocks (even if the rocks were magic), it didn’t take long for the truth to dawn on him, “Spiking the punch are we?” He held up an accusatory finger, “Naughty naughty. I would have expected this from one of the students, but shouldn’t a man of your stature know better?”

“What stature?” Ciel snorted.

“What’s that, Dear Boy?” Lockhart leaned forward.

Undertaker put his hand on Ciel’s head, covering his vision with his sleeve. “The young Er—student was just about to say that a man of my stature is not one to shy away from a little fun.” he put his other hand on Ciel’s shoulder, his grip a little too tight.

“I hardly think it’s ‘a little fun.’ We don’t want any students getting hurt, nor do we the party ruined, now do we? All it takes is one slip of the foot and someone ends up in the hospital.” He held out his hand, expecting him to hand over the vial.

“On second thought, do it,” Ciel whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “I’ll be the kid who winds up in the hospital. Anything to get me out of this hellish party.”

“What are we up to?” Dumbledore joined the conversation. It appeared as though Lizzie had got to even the headmaster, as he had bows in his beard and hair, though he didn’t seem to mind much.

“I regret to inform you that our dear Undertaker has intents to spike the punch.” Lockhart said like he was a student tattling.

“Ah,” the headmaster said casually, popping a heart candy in his mouth and burping out a heart, “(Pardon me). Well you can’t blame him for trying to bring a little…sprucing up, to the room, can you?” he lifted his hands and smiled genially.

“Are you saying that my party is not of the highest caliber?”

“Oh we aren’t denying that you have an air for the grandiose, Gilderoy,” he began cutting the cake with his wand; “Mr. Phantomhive, would you like some cake?”

Ciel glanced at Sebastian, who was currently preoccupied, and tried not to smirk. “I’d love some, thanks.”

Dumbledore cut him a huge slice, handing it to him gracefully, as if he were dropping a tiny lemon sherbet into his palm instead of a mountain of chocolate. Ciel inclined his head in gratitude, (and made sure to eat a big bite when Sebastian was looking, and the incense on his face was worth it—he, of course, couldn’t do anything butler-like with the headmaster and another teacher standing there).

“Don’t beat around the bush Albus!” Lockhart cut back in, “What is it you’re trying to say?”

“No one denies your party-throwing skills, dear Professor Lockhart.” He stood, placing his hands behind his back, “But your em…” he cleared his throat, “other skills can sometimes be rather lacking…”

“I’m shocked, and hurt, Dumbledore.” He put his hand over his heart. “Shocked and hurt. I’ll have you know that I won ‘best party-thrower’ in three”—he held up three shaky fingers—“countries! I think that should more than make up for any spoiled brats who can’t see fun even if it’s standing in front of their face!”

“Was he talking about me?” Ciel murmured to Undertaker, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “I feel like he was talking about me.”

“And what countries were those?”

As they argued, Dumbledore inclined his head towards the punch bowl.

It was Ciel’s turn to be shocked. Everyone knew their headmaster was rather eccentric, but he didn’t take him to be so reckless. He’d expect this from Undertaker… but Dumbledore? He thought he had at least a little ‘responsible-grown-up’ in him (even though Undertaker was definitely a lost cause).

Ciel turned to stop the ex-reaper, but now a dotted outline remained where Undertaker previously had been, and a second later he saw a long-nailed hand appear above the punch bowl.

Ciel facepalmed.

Any desire he had to drink said punch, as well as be at this party at all, had gone into the negatives.

But, eh, at least he had cake now. So maybe it wasn’t all bad.

“Young Master!” Sebastian snatched the plate from his hand, “How many times have I told you—!”

“Oh, so now you can walk away from the girls?” Ciel spun to his butler, whose arms were full of assorted treats. (Ciel, of course, knew he’d probably have walked away sooner if it weren’t for Lockhart and Dumbledore).

He tapped his foot on the ground (which somehow didn’t imbalance the tower of sweets), “I won’t allow it. You’ll get a tummyache.”

“I’m not a child!”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at his whining. “That may be…but regardless, you have a delicate composition.” He leaned over and set Ciel’s unfinished plate in the ‘dirty’ pile. “Sweets of this size will certainly impair your gastrointestinal health.”

Ciel looked from side to side, hoping no one was listening, feeling his face grow hot. “Delicate!”

“Would you prefer a different term? Fragile? Frail?”

“I’m not a vase!”

“Tender?”

“I’m not a steak!”

Sebastian looked over his professor-glasses at him as if to say Do you think you’re talking to someone else?

Ciel groaned, giving his butler the victory.

Sebastian set his armful of gifts in a pile along the wall. Clapping his hands clean and wiping his brow.

“What, are you tired?” he mocked, knowing full well the demon couldn’t get tired. “Is having a bunch of high-school-girls fawn over you exhausting?”

“Well, now that you mention it…” Sebastian joked back, feigning thought.

He rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s get out of—”

A mischievous idea curled itself around his brain.

“You must be thirsty,” he said in a mockingly-concerned voice, trying to lean sideways on the table by the punch (but he almost fell over, and had to catch himself).

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t really require hydration like you humans do.”

Ciel gave him a look as if to say No, go ahead, I won’t mind. You really do look exhausted.

“But I suppose it couldn’t hurt….If you insist.”

“Oh I do.” He smirked as he watched Sebastian pour himself a cup.

More likely than not it wouldn’t have any affect on the demon, but, presented with the potential, he wasn’t going to deny himself a few hours to imagine what it might be like if it did.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Young Master?” he asked before raising the cup to his lips.

“Oh…I’m just enjoying the party.”

That didn’t clear things up. Sebastian’s brow furrowed, but, after taking a sip, he didn’t have time to ask because—

“The party has arri-ved~!” a certain familiar voice sang.

Ciel was starting to wonder if this was God finally deciding to punish him. Both master and butler felt like they were going to be violently ill, and simultaneously had a thought something akin to that’s my cue to leave! Before they could even make the first step, however—

“Ahh Sebas-chan!”

They winced, turning slowly to see Grell waving a princess wave at the butler over the crowd, while Ronald followed suit, nodding and blowing kisses towards the girls.

“All this love in the air,” Grell materialized beside them (they jumped a little), and crossed his hands over his heart, staring blinkily into the ceiling, “Kinda gets you thinking, doesn’t it.” He sidled up beside the demon.

“If you mean thinking about ending your life, indeed, it does.” Sebastian showed him no mercy.

“Playing hard to get, are we? Ah! How saucy!” he slapped his shoulder playfully,

Sebastian sighed, folding his arms over his chest, trying to ignore the nagging presence.

“Ciel! Ciel! Are you going to introduce me to your friends?!” Lizzie and Soma arrived at his side, as if hopeless romantics were coming out of the woodwork.

“They’re most certainly not my friends.” He cleared his throat.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Old Chap?” Ronald asked, “We may not be close, but I thought all those times we tried to kill each other meant something.”

Lizzie stared at Ronald, inching slowly away.

“Oh that’s just…a joke we have,” Ciel defended weakly.

“Oh…” Lizzie looked away, then recovered quickly, “Well, anyhow, you didn’t tell me Prince Soma was such a lovely dancer!”

“How was I supposed to know?” he grunted, “I’ve never danced with him!”

“Don’t be so rude, Ciel!” Soma defended her, “Please, you were like a—what are those dancers called? That’s right, a ballerina! —You were like ballerina, Miss Lizzie.”

“Don’t be so modest! Ciel, should take a page out of your book!”

“What page?” Ciel demanded, “The one on being a spoiled brat?”

“Sounds like someone’s already read that one,” She punched his shoulder. Her attitude changed in a second again, “I’m so thirsty!” She reached for the punch ladle.

“Wait—NO!” Ciel grabbed her wrist.

She blinked. “What are you doing?”

“I—uh” his face was a thermometer slowly going into the red, “I just umm…You don’t want to drink that.”

“I don’t?”

“No…yeah…it uh, tastes like uhh… cat pee,” he started to pull her away.

“How would you know what cat pee tastes like?” Ronald’s butted in.

“Maybe a cat peed in my mouth one time, you don’t know my life!”

“I’m having a hard time believing a nobleman such as yourself—”

“I just don’t think she should drink it, that’s all! Is that so inconceivable?!”

“Sorry! Sorry! Sheesh,” he shook his head, “you Nobles are pieces of work!”

Ciel rolled his eyes, turning back to Lizzie. “Why don’t you go back to your dorm?”

“But… I don’t want to go back to my dorm.” Lizzie pouted, “I’m having fun! …Or at least I was,” she murmured.

“…Look I’m sorry. I’ll-I’ll dance another number with you, okay?”

As they walked out onto the floor, he watched the other students drink the unassuming punch over his shoulder.

*****

At the risk of sounding even more cliché; the day started like any other. Ciel got up before the other boys in his dorm to a chilly February morning, and started his routine—an aspect of which was speaking to Sebastian about today’s mission and objectives before classes began. Their current mission had to do with the Chamber of Secrets—such as figuring out where it was, if it existed at all—and the heir, who they were, and how to dispose of, or join them, accordingly. At this point, they had little to no leads. With his day robes on, and homework and books in hand, he slipped out into the hall.

He’d soon wish he stayed in bed.

Once the common room door closed, his day-from-hell would begin.

For a magic school, not much happened day-to-day. Well, that wasn’t true, Harry Potter added some…pizzazz. But it was still a school, and once you get used to the magic…normal-school-things happen.

Today was one of those days which reminded him that this was not a normal school.

Sure it was the day after Valentines Day, but did those Huffpuffs have to kiss in the hallways?

And guess what? You there, standing in the hall, blocking everyone’s way? Yeah, you. There is a perfectly nice wall behind you, just waiting to be leaned against (ignore the judgmental painting in the background).

And why did anyone who wasn’t in the throws of *shudders* youthful passion have this glazed look in their eyes, like they’d eaten pot brownies for breakfast?

Most of the time, the few students who were awake at this hour chatted and giggled, inflicting the general populace with the daily gossip, at which, sure, he would still roll his eyes and groan, but it was at least better than kissing and clogging up the hallway (as well as each other’s mouths).

He was relieved to finally reach Sebastian in the The Defense Against the Dark arts classroom.

This was one thing that was no surprise, as he shared the teaching position of the class with Lockhart—(no easy task, as they were both divas who didn’t enjoy sharing spotlight, and one was totally incompetent, and the other was as overqualified a professional chef at a kids easy-bake bake off. But their even-keeled headmaster had to give them each equal time teaching. At the beginning of the year, after it was decided which classes would get which teacher, some students begged the heads of houses to reconsider putting them in Sebastian’s class. Sebastian, amicable and excessive as ever, decided to host extra classes after school to satisfy the disappointed students).

“Alright, shall we pick up where we left off?” Ciel marched towards Sebastian, throwing his books on the nearest desk.

However, unlike his usual, attentive I-solved-all-our-problems-overnight-here’s-the-solution self, the butler stared out the window…he didn’t even pay his master immediate attention.

Said master tapped his foot impatiently on the ground and snapped, “Oy, Sebastian!”

“Mm?” the demon faced him, slowly.

Again, there was that glazed look. Like he had been in a donut factory.

“Young Master, I… didn’t hear you come in.” His eyes darted around the room.

“You bloody well didn’t,” he continued to tap his foot, muttering, “Demon hearing my ass.”

When Sebastian didn’t use said demon hearing to reprimand him for swearing, he knew something was wrong. He stopped being aggravated for a second and looked a little closer.

There was a smudge on his glasses. His hair was sticking up in front of his forehead, and there was some cat hair on his robes (probably from a clowder he kept in his room).

He was…imperfect. His appearance, while still practically impeccable by human standards was sloppy by Sebastian’s. His attention, divided.

And that was reason to worry.

Ciel leaned over the desk and snapped in his face. “You can ogle photos on your own time!”

Sebastian looked at him, but every time he focused on him, as if magnetized, his eyes reeled back to a photograph on the desk.

“Do you think…do you think he could like me?” Sebastian said in a strangely uncertain voice that didn’t sound at all like him.

“Huh?”

He had never known Sebastian to be uncertain of, or fascinated by, anything, and, more importantly, he had zero regard for whether or not people liked him. He also never pried his concentrations from the missions, especially not for something so trivial and/or emotional as photos.

Ciel walked around the desk to get a good look at it. He thought it might be Lockhart, as the room was crawling with his glimmering face. Instead, in a shattered case—(Ciel thought he might hurl)—the demon fixated on a picture of Grell.

The young earl vaguely remembered Grell giving it to him—mentioning passionately something about it being a way for him to be with him at all times, with hearts in his eyes. At the time, Sebastian had rolled his eyes, said, ‘is there a version of this when I can see you at no times?’ and tossed it into the drawer with enough disregard that the glass had shattered, and (now this is just speculation) hoped to never look at it again.

For what unholy (or holy, by demon standards…no, it definitely wasn’t holy) reason would Sebastian return to it now? And what’s worse, how could a picture of Grell possibly distract him from the task his master had placed before him?

Was it possible that all those pictures, cards, the cheesy lines, and sappy gestures, all the maudlin advances, had finally made it through to Sebastian?

Hell no. He’d watch the world burn before that happened.

Hang on a minute, let’s check.

Nope, still snow on the ground.

Okay, more plausibly, did he lose his mind?

Let’s tone it down a little; Maybe this was a—albeit not funny—joke?

“What are you on about?”

The demon picked up the picture. “Grell.” He rushed towards Ciel, putting the picture in front of his eyes—“Get that out of my face!”—“Do you think he’d ever want to be with someone like me?”

The earl began to laugh, a fake, loud laugh, then abruptly stopped.

“Very funny, Sebastian, you like Grell. Can we get back to work now?”

Sebastian grabbed a book off his table and Ciel had to duck to keep it from hitting his head.

“What are you on?!”

“I may be cleverly witty when the situation calls for it, but I am not joking, Young Master! And I’d thank you to treat my beloved one with respect!”

Ciel blanched, his eyes glued open, swallowing the bile that rose in his throat. “You mean this,” he pointed to the situation at hand, the words soft and enunciated, a nervous laugh behind them, “This isn’t a joke?”

“No!” he cradled the picture, “I think Grell’s the most lovely person I ever met.”

He waited for the butler to burst into laughter.

…and he kept waiting.

He knew more than anyone, neither master nor butler pulled stunts of this caliber.

Ciel grabbed one of the scrolls on the wall and wacked his butler over the head with it.

“Quit playing around! We don’t have time for children’s games!”

“I don’t understand, Young Master,” he rubbed his head (as if that could possibly hurt the demon). “You aren’t insulting Master Grell, are you?”

“No, I’m insulting you, you twat!”

He swiped the picture from him (hurt flared in the butler’s eyes). “You see how the glass is shattered here?”

He placed his hand over his heart. “Who would do a thing like that to such a perfect face?”

“You, you bloody idiot! Don’t you remember?” he smacked his head with the paper again, making it crease, “When Grell gave you that you tossed it into the drawer and said you ‘wanted to see him at no times.’”

“Me?” he snatched the picture back, holding it tight to his chest. “No, I would never!” he said like Grell was the purest little ray of sunshine, and Ciel said he’d kicked a puppy yesterday.

“No, what you would never, is return said…” he cleared his throat and didn’t finish the sentence.

“I don’t understand, Young Master. Here I am, bearing my heart. Why must you squash it?”

His eye twitched. “To remind you you don’t have a heart!”

“I—”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” he slammed his hands on the desk, “There’s no way this can be real!” he slumped onto the desk and ran his hand through his hair, looking more deranged than the one who was actually delirious, “Why, in all that is—How—Why would you ever—?!”

“Be careful, Young Master, don’t let that anger fester; it’s bad for your health.”

And it dawned on him.

He slammed his palm into his forehead.

The punch at the party—it was so obvious. Undertaker had even told him it didn’t contain alcohol.

“Young Master, are you saying our love is not real? Are you insulting master Grell?” his voice became a sickening tone.

Ciel now fully understood the situation: Sebastian, having been given a love-potion—(turns out they did work on him…or, even if they didn’t, maybe Undertaker made some extra-potent, mutant variety that did)—and Grell being the first person he saw (or heard) after taking it, fully believed Grell to be his one-true-love.

And as he watched a shadow (much bigger than the demon’s human shape) spread across the floor, he realized he believed it enough to attack anyone who stood against said love. Even his master.

The young earl knocked into desks as he scrambled way, his outward attitude towards the situation performing a 180:

“Uh, no no! No, no, no! I believe you!” he grabbed his bag, “There’s nothing weird or horrifying about you being in love with Grell at all. I just was a little…mmmm surprised!” his voice went up an octave. He shoved a desk into the space between them, “That’s all?! I’ll…I’ll just be going, now! You uh…you go back to…what you were doing!” he gave him a thumbs up (something he’d never done in his life) as dashed out the door.

After getting some ways down the hall, he doubled over, breath sharp and fast, piercing his side, his thoughts whirring around.

He’d wanted to mess with Sebastian, but he, first of all, hadn’t thought it would work, and second of all, hadn’t meant to mess with him this much—especially not in a way that affected him. This wasn’t fun or funny, this was just…gross. And now he had to fix it, when, had he left the situation alone and not given Sebastian the punch in the first place, he’d have his demon butler to help him, and the predicament would probably be solved in less than a day.

Now when he saw the students making out, or walking around dazed, he understood the full ramifications of Undertaker’s little stunt.

Speaking of which…

He heightened his pace until he was rushing through the halls, speeding past dreamy eyes, and cuddly couples.

Everyone, everyone had been at that party. Not only had the whole school been at that party, the punch was one of the few things available for the sweaty and thirsty dancers to drink. Even the sulking folks, who didn't intend to dance, surely wouldn't have had a problem grabbing a snack or two, and, well, a cup of punch to go with it. Now instead of one night of suffering in a lovebird’s playground, the whole school could be set to pop music. And, like the villain in a fairy tale, it was his job to break apart the happy couples.

And his first order of business was to find the mastermind who put them together.

Undertaker performed many of the odd jobs around, and often made it a job to make things odd (but Ciel of course knew that his primary function was probably to make dead bodies disappear discreetly). He and Peeves were overly chummy, and their pranks could sometimes be unbearable…but neither had ever attempted something of this magnitude before.

He was close to Filch’s corridor—

When the bell rang.

In the pandemonium he had forgotten today was still a normal school day.

“Sebast—” he began, hoping for an easy way not to be late, but remembered that his butler was …otherwise occupied. He grit his teeth, clenched his fists, and hurtled towards the transfiguration classroom.

*****

“Mister Phantomhive!” snapped a clipped voice as he swung open the door, gasping for breath. “I thank you not to be late! And while you’re at it, not to disrupt my class while in session!”

“Sorry—” he clutched at his side, “Professor— McGonagall.”

“Usually,” she ran her fingers along her wand, stretching out the word, “I would give you detention. However, as it seems you are not the only one…out of sorts this morning” she drummed her fingers on the podium, giving Ciel a moment to look around the room—There were always a few latecomers, especially during first period, but the number of empty chairs rivaled the number of students present—“I will let you off with a warning.”

“Thank you,” he coughed—“Professor.”—And slumped at his desk like an old sock.

Thankfully not everyone had been affected by the spiked punch. Certain kids in class had that far-off look in their eyes, and a few even kissed in class (they were definitely sent to detention, though, of course, nothing much mattered to them but their newfound love). There were also teachers who had starry looks, and instead of giving them genuine lessons, muttered trite words about love, like a broken radio that only plays emo songs. There were, however, others who acted just as confused, annoyed and shell-shocked as Ciel at the current predicament. Clearly they had either found something else to drink at the party, simply not drank anything, or escaped the festivities somehow.

McGonagall was clearly among the unaffected, and while he was grateful for a little normalcy, he might have traded her for someone a little more lenient, and liked to see how her disposition changed while under the affects of love.

Throughout the day, he told the few students who were still awake and alive to the world that someone had spiked the punch with a love potion the previous night. This seemed to give them relief that they weren’t going crazy, still, none of them had any idea what to do about it. Love potions weren’t exactly considered an important course in potions class, especially not with a teacher like Snape—(in fact, a certain Ravenclaw had asked how to make a love potion in class on Valentine’s Day, and later Ciel saw that Ravenclaw mysteriously lost ten points). Some worried for their friends, while others eyes lit with an impish glint at the realization that—as long as they didn’t insult their ‘true love’— they could do anything to mess with their friends.

He had to give Undertaker at least a little credit: that day was one of the most memorable in his entire time at Hogwarts:

During transfiguration, on multiple separate occasions, students, instead of transfiguring their hamsters into dominoes, transfigured them into rings, and flowers used to profess their love, or even propose to Professor McGonagall herself. She only looked down her nose, and demanded where this talent had been the entire semester, and wracked up a body count of detention-bound students.

In Herbology, while not nearly as exciting as others, Professor Sprout went on and on about how amazing Neville was—(whenever he passed him in the hallway that day Neville looked as red as plants they tended to...He probably hadn’t had much of anyone else to talk to at the party).

If Divination wasn’t enough already, Trelawney made them look into their futures and see their potential for romance (…it was hard to tell if she was under the spell or not), and it was both worth noting, and a source of personal pride that she looked into Ciel’s and saw lots and lots of hate.

And best of all, during potions, which was his last class of the day, Snape looked like he was ready to kill someone…and got close when Lockhart burst in and proclaimed that he simply couldn’t take it anymore, that they were made for each other. (Out of all the the crazy, embarrassing things that happened that day, this was the one Ciel guessed would be the most difficult for either of them to live down).

Hilarious confessions aside, Ciel was relieved to find that the potions master was at least trying to counteract the curse himself, by having them make antidotes and anti-love potions, and drink them (allegedly, lots of students refused to drink them in earlier classes, so he had to forgo their Latin name and call them “Happy Sunshine Potions,” which was quite possibly the best string of words he’d ever heard Snape say, and the unaffected students looked like chipmunks holding in their laughter in when hearing it). Although this was another teacher Ciel would have liked to see under the affects, he was guessing the net worth of breaking the curse would be far greater.

However, as far as he could tell, currently, Snape’s attempts to douse the proverbial fire were ineffective. (Yet another reason to think Undertaker’s love potion was some mutant version).

At each break he had, Ciel attempted to find Undertaker—(Except at lunch, when everyone was screaming that Draco was running around, and in increasingly boisterous and/or risqué methods, trying to declare his love for Ron Weasley. While Harry and Ron were also running around, either avoiding him at all costs, or messing with him. It was, first of all, difficult to get around the crowd, and, second of all, not something to miss.)—But Undertaker had an ongoing disappearing act that had nothing to do with magic. The one thing Ciel knew, was that the old coot couldn’t have left; he’d want to see every glorious minute of the chaos he wrought, so Ciel wasn’t giving up on finding him.

After school, hungry, tired, and desperate (especially after a run-in with Peeves, through which he earned the ex-reaper’s location, but also a cluster of lipstick marks on his face) he finally found Undertaker back in the Divination Classroom (of course he just had to pick one of the tallest, most tiring towers to climb). The room was cold, and Trelawney was nowhere in sight.

The pretty, setting sky over the frosty roof outside didn’t provide an iota of solace.

Ciel rolled up his sleeves, his anger a newfound immunity to the cold, and, with fingers curled into fists, marched up to him.

“You.”

The Undertaker, resting against the windowsill, turned to the seething boy, grinned, and spoke as if this was no more than an ordinary meeting.

“My, Young Earl, looks like you’ve been getting busy.”

“Wh—?!” he remembered the marks on his face and rubbed them off on his sleeve as Undertaker cackled.

“You seem awfully upset about something,” Undertaker continued, “Don’t want to let it fester—as your butler would say.”

“You spiked the punch with a love potion.” The boy growled.

“Did I?” he put a finger on his chin as if thinking, “I can’t seem to recall.”

Ciel’s brow twitched. “You bloody well know you did, I watched you. Now tell me how to undo it.”

“How do undo it, you say? And why would we want to do a thing like that?”

“I am in no mood for your games.”

Undertaker shrugged. “‘Fraid I can’t help you then. You know the rules; no payment, no information.”

“The whole school is a joke! That’s your payment!”

He contemplated it. “Sure you wouldn’t like to give an old man a good chuckle?”

“I’m certain.”

He sighed. “I suppose you got me there. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t quite got to the whole undoing it part.” He twirled his hand in the air like the ringmaster in this show.

Ciel blinked, emotion flickering as he spluttered, “How can…? But you—? I—? What?!”

He laughed, and the Undertaker’s nonchalance and disregard made anger jumpstart his tongue.

“You made it, didn’t you?” he kept his voice low, and his hand on the wand in his pocket, marching forward, “You can at least tell me how you made it. Then maybe I can unmake it.”

Undertaker tapped his chin, as if knocking around the marbles in his skull, “Don’t much feel like it.”

“You don’t feel like it?! Listen here—!”

He no sooner pulled out his wand than it was in Undertaker’s hand. He hadn’t even noticed Undertaker draw his own wand.

Undertaker ruffled his hair as he walked by, dropping the boy’s wand back into his pocket, “Part of the fun is figuring it out for yourself, Young Earl. Didn’t anyone ever teach you that?”

He headed down the stairs, leaving Ciel standing alone, angry breaths steaming up the chilly classroom.

*****

When Ciel trudged back to his dorm, all the energy he had used to run around that day had given up the ghost. He barely noticed the smooching and starstruck kids in the hallways anymore, and didn’t have the energy to send even a derisive snort their way.

Sebastian was supposed to be the one running around trying to find answers. These menial tasks were beneath him. Hard work, and running around, looking for answers, was no suit for a fourteen-year-old boy to wear. Oh, Ciel would devise a particularly difficult and useless task for his butler to accomplish once he—or someone—finally broke the curse.

Caught up in thoughts of needless revenge, he ran into someone in the hallway, sending both their books to the floor.

“Sorry!” The boy called.

As they both crouched down to pick up their fallen items, Ciel looked up to see unruly black hair, crooked glasses, and lightning-struck forehead.

“Harry Potter.”

“Yeah…?”

“Sorry, I don’t believe we’ve formally met. I’m Ciel Phantomhive.” He held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Harry smiled, taking his hand.

“Likewise—er, sorry about your books.”

"It's alright. I seem to have some bad luck with that lately! At least ink didn't spill all over everything this time."

"That happened?"

"Yeah...It happened yesterday actually."

"Oh, that sounds awful."

"Nothing a little magic couldn't fix," he shrugged.

They both returned to their task.

“It looks like you haven’t been…love-ified,” Harry noted.

“You seem to have your wits about you as well.”

“Lucky us…Draco wasn’t so lucky though,” he laughed. “I heard someone spiked the punch at Lockhart’s Valentine’s day ball.”

“I heard that too.”

“A perfect end to the night, huh?”

“Hehe…yeah…”

Ciel turned to the next book, about to hand it to Harry.

Here’s the thing, about dark magic.

It has this sort of…pull. The more you use it, the more sway it has on you.

A pure soul looks at a dark object and feels uneasy, but doesn’t know why.

Someone who has participated in the dark before, let it creep in and corrode the soul, is attuned to the darkness. Like a resonant frequency, a humming in the back of their mind, putting them on the same wavelength, (and if they listen too long, they might shatter). They may not always know what it is, or does, and sometimes they wont recognize why something has this aura, but they will know that an object is not just that, in as much as darkness is not just the absence of the light.

Ciel Phantomhive was no ordinary student. While he may have learned from the teachers at Hogwarts, the reason he was here was at the request of the Queen, not for learning, and his most informative teacher, was Sebastian. Before they arrived at Hogwarts, Sebastian, going above and beyond as always, made sure he knew more spells than half the students in his year. More importantly, however, fear of the dark had long left them both. Knowing dark magic, they surmised, would put them ahead of their enemies (not to mention their friends...well, if you could call them friends), and could be a powerful trump card were the situation to call for it.

When Ciel looked at this diary everything slowed. Like in a movie, when you can hear your heartbeat, and the camera zooms in. From the moment he saw it he knew it would be both silly and dangerous to think it was merely a diary. One may pour their soul into the words dear diary, but the Something that lurked beneath it’s pages was far more than the heartfelt and trivial adages of teenage boys and girls. There was something living in those pages.

He knew it was alive. Unlike other dark artifacts, which gave off a hint, a whisper of more-than-I-seem, this was more than a whiff of untapped potential, or forbidden mystery; the resonant darkness, rather than a faint, inanimate hum, was a Horror singing old-fashioned lullabies to himself in the darkest corners of the pages.

Ciel was tired. Tired of running around, tired of searching for a cure, tired of doing all the work himself. He wanted an easy way out. That’s how he’d always been. People who like to take the long way ‘round don’t make contracts with demons.

So, in a moment of weakness…

…or a moment of strength

He slipped the diary into his own bag.

*****

That night, despite being interested enough in the book to steal it, he hadn’t had any energy to begin figuring out what that darkness was, meant, or could do. Nor did he have any energy to spend on figuring out the antidote to the plague himself. In fact, he had had so little regard for either, that he ignored the dumb looks of his roommates, slipped the diary into the chest at the foot of his bed, flopped facedown on top of his covers (screaming into his pillows for good measure), and went to sleep.

The next morning wasn’t much better. He woke up with a splitting headache, the love-zombies were still up to their shenanigans—(he half hoped it would end in the morning)—and when he tentatively checked on Sebastian, the demon had traveled further down the Grell-obsessed rabbit hole than before.

When Ciel entered the teacher’s lounge (it had taken a moment to find him) the smell of flowers smacked him full in the face. Unlike some of the teachers present, Ciel was unimpressed, and quite honestly queasy, to see that he had moved on from admiring the picture of his affection, to creating his own; or rather than a picture, a bust made of flowers of none other than his…erm lady-love, Grell.

Just like Sebastian, he was attentive to detail; only the freshest of flowers for his beloved, and each component of Grell’s complexion was a different flower: the coat was made of red Amaryllis’, the vest, brown orchids, the shirt, white hydrangeas, the face was pale dahlias, the eyes were green carnations, and the hair was, of course, roses. He wondered if Sebastian went far to find all of them, though knowing him he probably ran to the finest flower shop in Paris at 1:00AM that morning for them and was back before anyone could wonder where he’d gone.

Yes, quite far gone. But not far enough to forget the ‘offense’ Ciel had caused to his new master the day before.

Or perhaps Ciel had caused him new offense by blurting out “What the devil is this?!” upon seeing his labor-of-love.

If it was good idea in general for the public not to talk to the young earl, today, it was an inescapable rule: if people didn’t give him a wide berth, they learned quickly he was not in the mood for human (or reaper, or demon) interaction.

Wasting his time before class on pointless attempts to slap the delusion out of his butler was idiotic. So he headed to the library to actually try and make some progress, and picked up a book on love potions—(Madam Pince was too busy writing love poems to scold kids like him for going into the restricted section. Knowing this was a rare opportunity, he grabbed several more books he’d had his eyes on while he was there.)—with the intent to read up on counter curses every spare minute he got, not excluding during certain classes overtaken by horny teachers.

More students were missing from classes today, and those who weren’t were either more randy than before, or losing patience and brain cells every second they were around those afflicted. The teachers who were still in possession of their faculties—namely McGonagall, Snape, Vector, and Flitwick, (Madam Pomfrey was too, but she wasn’t present)—made an announcement at lunch, in front of their dreamy-eyed headmaster, that they were trying their best to find a solution to the problem presently.

While it was comforting to hear they weren’t sitting on their asses, and it would save him a hell of a lot of trouble if they did solve it, he didn’t expect they’d figure it out anytime soon. If Snape couldn’t figure it out on his own, he wasn’t sure they would have much luck, even together. Even if he had had faith in them, he wouldn’t have stopped his own research. He and Sebastian always did it their way, this was personality, not practice—(he’d learned from a young age he couldn’t rely on anyone else)—and a setback, even one that kept his butler from his work, wasn’t going to stop him.

It was during a disappointing lunch that he saw a flash of red in the doorway to the great hall. At first he thought nothing of it—it was probably a banner some kid made to impress their one-true-love, or a bunch of heart-shaped balloons, or a leftover decoration—it didn’t matter, he was going to try his best to eat, and read, in peace.

Until the ‘banner’ came inside to steal his food.

When he finally realized who it was, he practically screamed;

“Grell!”

“That’s my name darling, don’t to wear it out,” he blew a kiss, sitting up on the table.

“Love potions, huh?” in his horror, Ciel hadn’t even noticed Ronald had stolen the book (as well as a sandwich).

“Ooh!” Grell called, leaning in closer, raising his eyebrows. “Is somebody looking to trick some poor soul into loving him?”

“No! No, in fact I’m trying to un-romance someone, thank you very much.” He stood.

“That shouldn’t be too hard…for you.”

Ciel rolled his eyes.

“So, not that crushing the dreams of others isn’t in your repertoire, why do you want to do that?”

“It may be difficult for you to understand, but some of us don’t look for romance in every guy they meet,” he stole the book back from Ronald (who was starting to to look too interested for the young earl’s comfort.)

“Now that’s just rude,” Grell folded his arms over his chest and put his chin in his hand. “But, I’ll choose to ignore your impotence,” he turned, becoming more animated, “because you’re in charge of my Sebas-chan. Speaking of love,” he said the word like it was fine caramel, “where is my precious Sebas-chan?” he looked around, casting his eyes towards the blank spaces at staff table.

“He’s—”

Before the sentence could fall on his tongue, the words snagged on the mental image of Grell and Sebastian canoodling like schoolboys.

“NO!”

That caught their attention.

“I mean uh—” he coughed, “No…He’s uhh…I…”

He could barely think with these images making him sick to his stomach. He set down what was left of the lunch he was no longer hungry for, trying to shove his brain into the mode where it could formulate a cunning plan.

“Well? Spit it out, boy! We haven’t got all day! Some of us have plans. I, for one, have a hair appointment this afternoon,” he fluffed his crimson locks.

“You know what?” Ciel chose a more confrontational approach. “I don’t have to tell you where Sebastian is.”

“You don’t have to, darling, you should want to.”

“No. You know what? I don’t want to. And you know why I don’t want to?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”

He had to think of something fast. Something clever. A good excuse.

“Why don’t you ever want to spend time with me?” he slammed the book on the table.

So much for that.

“Huh?” Grell, Ronald—(and Ciel’s own brain)—responded upon hearing the words.

“Yeah. You heard me.” It wasn’t the best plan—hell, it wasn’t even a good plan—but Ciel was committed at this point, and came up with a plot fiercely in his mind, “That’s right. It’s always ‘Sebastian this’, ‘Sebastian that’, but what about me?!”

“What about you, brat? You’ve never shown any interest in me. What happened to ‘we’re definitely not friends?’” he mocked his voice.

“….That’s what I say to my true friends.” They definitely weren’t convinced, so he added, “I’m only nice to my fake friends.” (Ronald lifted his head like a dog being told he was a good boy all along).

“Regardless if you’re telling the truth—which, I don’t believe you are—what makes you think I’ll give you the key to my heart now, after you threw away your chances? That’s no way to treat a lady!”

“I…I never had the chance to,” he looked away and hugged himself, trying to look pitiful, “what with you fawning over Sebas…chan,”—it made him sick to speak the nickname, but not as sick as he would feel if they found each other— “you never even pay me any mind.”

“What’s there to pay mind to?”

Ciel bit his tongue, and tried not to let that get to him, reminding himself everything could and would be far worse.

“Hey, hey!” Ronald stepped in the middle, noticing the rising tension of the scene, “There’s a simple solution after all; why don’t you and Mr. Sutcliff go for a walk today? That’s not too much to ask, right?” he turned to Grell, “You’ll still have time to see Sebas-chan before your appointment.”

“I suppose,” Grell bit his nails, ruining his manicure—which he quickly realized, and petted them as if to say ‘forgive me!’ “But I’d better get some quality time with my Sebas-chan!”

“Does that sound alright with you, Mr. Phantomhive?”

The thought of spending any amount of quality time with the reaper was repugnant. But not more repugnant than certain other thoughts and predictions his brain was happy to provide.

“Yes, that sounds just fine.”

“Then let’s get this overwith,” Grell stepped dramatically off the table, twirling his high-heeled shoes in the air.

Ciel’s thoughts exactly.

But there was something he had to do first.

“Erm, Ronald, would you mind doing something for me while we’re on our walk?”

Grell put his hands on his hips, suspicion and curiosity in his eyes.

“Uhh sure—I mean, that depends on what it is”

He pulled Ronald aside, towards the wall, out of earshot of the red-haired reaper.

“I just need to buy some time,” he whispered, “Will you please get Sebastian out of the teacher’s lounge for me.”

“Um…” he glanced between the two of them. “I suppose I could. May I ask why?”

“No you may not.” When Ronald seemed less than happy with this response, he added, “I can pay you back. Money, sandwiches…whatever you want.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” he grinned.

“Alright, Grell,” he cleared his throat, “it appears as though you and I will be going for a nice walk together.”

“‘Nice’ would be pushing it.” Grell muttered.

Ciel couldn’t agree more.

*****

The scene reminded him too much of a Thomas Kinkade painting; the snow covered trees and grounds, the faint chirping of birds, the pitter of small animals in the snow, the patter of kids playing, as well as more than a few romantic escapades displayed for all the world to see—like everything else in this sugarcoated nightmare, it was so sweet and was sickening. Ciel spent great lengths trying to avoid the mystic hellscape that was ‘outside,’ and whenever he found himself forced into its grasp, he remembered why.

Well, he supposed it wouldn’t have been so bad…if it weren’t for the blithering idiot beside him.

“Yeesh… love really is in the air around Valentine’s day.” Grell commented in the direction of the kids kissing by the frozen river.

“Oh? I thought romance was…your thing.”

“When I’m involved! Not these ragamuffins slobbering all over each other,” he shuddered.

They spent a while in awkward silence, before Grell spoke, “So, what do I have to do to get you off my back, Brat?”

“Ohh just spend a little quality time with me,” Ciel sang, putting his hands behind his back and stepping in front of Grell like a mischievous schoolboy. “That isn’t too much to ask, is it?”

Grell looked away. “I better be Carlos’ last customer today; my hair’s going to be a mess by the end of this.”

Ciel laughed fakely.

“So…” Ciel tried to think of something to talk about, “tell me about Carlos. Is he…cute?”

“Oh come on!” Grell stomped in front of him, “You can’t possibly mean any of this! You’ve never shown any amount of interest in me. I may be prone to fantasy, but I’m no fool!” he crossed his arms and looked away, then his green eyes trailed to him suspiciously, “What are you plotting?”

“Plotting?” Ciel laughed again, “Why so sinister?”

“Oh things are always sinister when Sebas-chan is involved,” he said ‘sinister’ like a radio announcer telling you that sinister is what you want, “usually it sends tingles down my spine! But this is just…” he looked down at the earl, his lip curling in distaste, “freaky.”

Ciel tried to ignore the fact that they were on the same brainwave today.

But he could see that he wasn’t going to fool him for long if he didn’t do something.

“Well…” Instead of formulating a suitable answer, he subtly pulled his wand from his robe pocket sliding it behind his back, and cast a little nonverbal spell that sent a snowball hurtling at the back of Grell’s head.

“Hey!” Grell spun around to two kids playing on the bank. “Which one of you imbeciles did that?! Haven’t I suffered enough?” he held up a split end of his hair.

The kids glanced at each other, confused.

“Now Carlos will have to give me the extra treatment to cover this!” he took a strand of hair and petted it.

Ciel smirked.

Messing with the reaper seemed both more effective, and more enjoyable, than chatting, so whenever a risky topic came up, he had a little extra fun avoiding the subject (goodness knows he needed it)—until enough time had passed that, if Ronald had done his job, Sebastian would be out of the teachers’ lounge, and they headed back into the school.

“Sebastian’s right around the corner.”

“He better be, Brat, after the hell-walk you took me on.” Ciel tried not to laugh when he looked at Grell—the sticks in his frazzled hair, the smeared mascara and lipstick, the muddy clothes (he had eventually stopped trying to protect or fix his appearance).

Ciel gave the fake laugh again, opening the door.

Despite requests and expectations, Sebastian was right around the corner.

There the demon remained (apparently he had been there all day) with a finished bust of the reaper sparkling beside him, not to mention a few more, smaller art pieces of the Redhead in different poses of increasing erotica.

Ciel felt all the anger that had been briefly soothed by messing with Grell re-entering his body with ferocity.

Why hadn’t Ronald removed him from this place like he asked? All he asked for was one simple thing, and he couldn’t even do that. Well, maybe it was his own fault he had put his trust in someone so incompetent as Ronald. Whoever’s fault it was, this encounter, and the memory of it, might just stain his brain forever, and someone was surely going to pay for it.

He turned towards Grell (the real one). Both his eyes and mouth were open wide, focused on the statue of himself, leering down at him with a flirtatious grin.

When the butler emerged from behind it, and saw Grell, he too froze, but in the quiet, reverent way the hot dude does when they see their love in romantic movies.

Ciel wanted to grab one, or both, of them and wrench them away from each other—exorcise the romantic spirits out of them (it’s an odd day when you want to exorcise a demon out of a demon), and maybe wring their necks—but he knew that would be met with more than a little resistance, (and using the Imperius curse in the teacher’s lounge would be more than a little conspicuous), and there was something rather mesmerizing about the scene; like a horror movie you can’t bring yourself to look away from.

Sebastian closed his eyes, giving a small smile before rushing to grab a rather large bouquet (likely made of the leftover flowers) and bowed, presenting them to Grell.

“For you, my darling Mr. Sutcliff.”

Ciel covered his eyes with his hand.

“For…me?” Grell’s words were distant and confused.

Rather than taking them with honors—Ciel saw between his fingers—however, he took a step back.

Sebastian held them higher. “Only you.”

Grell glanced between master and butler, and his hands shook as he took them (then his arms sagged with the weight).

Ciel shut his eyes tight, waiting for hell.

Soon the scene would turn into the amorous novel Grell always dreamed of, and that would be it. They’d find love in each other…or what passed for love when it comes to love potions. Should Ciel leave now and spare his mind the eternal horror? Or should he wait and just make absolutely sure that’s what would happen? Maybe there was some sick part of him that was even curious what would happen.

His patience, however, was rewarded;

“Get away from me you freak!” Grell threw the flowers across the room, and rushed to hide behind Ciel. “What the hell have you done with my precious Sebas-chan?!”

This time it was Ciel’s mouth and eyes that dropped open, staring, dumbstruck, like a bird that had hit a window.

Grell had flirted with Sebastian from the moment he met him (to be fair, he did this with pretty much every attractive guy he came across, still…). There were times when master and butler could use this infatuation to their advantage, but most of the time it was just a gigantic nuisance. Luckily, Sebastian shared Ciel’s distaste for the reaper’s advances, and never returned them. Since it had seemed impossible, before today, Ciel hadn’t had much time to imagine what Grell would do if the butler returned his affection. Not one of the sickening scenarios his mind had provided today had Grell rejecting Sebastian. Grell had always appeared superficial enough that Ciel guessed he wouldn’t care how or why Sebastian returned his feelings, just that he did. The fact that he could tell this was not Sebastian’s normal self made Ciel think slightly higher of the reaper.

But only slightly.

Maybe it should have made sense; it was the flirtation; the game, that Grell enjoyed, more than true romance, and heart. He had said so himself—he was just as disgusted by the teen romances in the courtyard as Ciel. (Though, to be fair, most adults generally found teen romance to be gross).

He couldn’t help but feel a growing pride and satisfaction that he would not have to witness any romance, or worse. That the roles of disgust had now reversed, and Grell could walk a mile in their shoes. Not that he thought Grell would become a better, less annoying person after this.

“I…don’t understand,” Sebastian’s eyes were full of welling hurt. He stood, staring at the discarded bouquet (which had all but exploded on the wall), “I’ve done everything for you…” he gestured around the room, “I thought this is what you wanted.” He looked at Grell like a puppy who had been thrown from a warm and loving upper-class home, out into the streets of London. He pulled out the picture he had barely stopped staring at since the other day, “Remember?” he held it up, “You said you would always be with me.”

Grell seemed torn, almost like Sebastian’s puppy-like disappointment drew his pity, but he backed away further, (still holding on to Ciel, almost making him fall backwards).

“What is this?!” he pointed, “Some kind of sick prank?! I want my sexy, coy Sebas-chan, back! Not this coddling fool!”

Ciel had to bite his lip to keep from grinning. This was too rich.

Sebastian looked at the ground, sadness, anger, rejection flaring in his eyes. Ciel would have liked to stay and enjoy Grell’s blubbering a little more, but he could see a demon-sized tantrum coming a mile away.

He didn’t make it a practice to touch pests like Grell, but in this case, he didn’t have much choice; he grabbed Grell and pulled him out the door, dragging him down the hall.

“What the hell is going on?!” Grell ripped his hand from the boy’s grasp and blocked his way, “Who was that idiot?!”

Ciel could barely breathe from laughing.

Grell blinked at him, then anger flared in his eyes again. Before he could catch his breath, Grell grabbed the boy’s shoulders and shook him, “What have you done with my Sebas-chan, you little Punk?!”

This made him regain composure quickly. He brushed his hands away and explained, “You remember the Valentine’s ball Lockhart threw?”

“Of course. My Sebas-chan was looking particularly dashing that night,” he blinked dreamily, then his expression changed as he remembered he had just seen Sebastian, and he was not so dashing today as previously advertised. “What did you do to him?!”

“I didn’t do anything!” he half-lied, “Undertaker was the one who spiked the punch with a love potion.”

“Undertaker’s the cause of this?! He took my Sebas-chan from me?! Oh that sexy bastard hasn’t seen the last of me!” he started to march past the earl.

Ciel blocked Grell’s way. “I already talked to him. He didn’t have the antidote.”

“Well maybe he just needs a little roughing up!” he rolled up his sleeves and tried again to go around him.

“You really think a man who takes pleasure in ruining other people’s lives will help us fix this?” he said to his back.

Grell stopped, turned around, “Well you would know wouldn’t you?!” He looked away, biting his lip. “You put him back then!” he shoved his chest.

“Why do you think I was reading that book about love potions?!”

That quieted his rage slightly.

In that moment, a certain student walked by, though not one of Hogwarts. He was surrounded by a gaggle of girls, and didn’t even see them.

Levicorpus! Ciel cast, and the girls’ gasped as Ronald was hoisted into the air by his ankle, his clothes hanging off him (showing off his stomach, and a bit of his underwear—the girls’ blushed and giggled).

“Whoa, whoa! What’s this—?! Oh…” the young reaper blinked upon seeing Ciel, recalling the task the earl had given him, and he rubbed the back of his head giving a mock-sheepish smile, “Hehe.”

Ciel tapped his foot impatiently on the floor. “Would you care to offer an explanation?”

Now that he knew Grell had no intentions or returning Sebastian’s artificial affection, the fact that Ronald hadn’t accomplished the task wasn’t nearly as big of a deal, but it could have easily been catastrophic, the anger was still there—someone had to pay, after all—and letting those who disobeyed him off, without even a decent scolding, was a bad precedent.

“I’m sorry, Earl, but these girls…they just kept coming up to me! There must be something in the air today!” he held out his hands as if to say you really think I was going to turn them away?

Ciel rubbed his temple, muttering, “Nope it was in the punch.” He sighed, taking a step forward like a predator. “I’m going to let you off this time, but believe me, I won’t be making that mistake again.”

“Come on, it was an honest mistake!”

“And an honest—”

“Mister Phantomhive!” a deep voice rang out across the hallway.

Ciel winced.

“…Professor Snape.”

His footsteps were a judgment toll.

“Care to release Mister…?” he looked at Ronald quizzically, realizing he didn’t recognize him.

“Knox,” the reaper offered.

“Knox.”

“Yes, Sir.” Ciel murmured.

Liberacorpus he cast, nonverbally, and the reaper spun in the air until he was set upright again.

Strictly speaking, they weren’t allowed to do magic outside class, and the curse on the school evidently hadn’t made the potions master forgo any of the traditional rules.

“I’d like to know who you two are, and what you’re doing at Hogwarts.” Ciel felt a little smug thinking of the potential trouble they could get into….until Snape turned “As for you, Mr. Phantomhive…”

“Yes, Professor?” he said politely, as if his politeness could suddenly change his heart and get him a less-harsh punishment.

“Detention.”

“…Yes, Professor.”

Ciel glanced at Grell, who had crossed his arms and whose look said it’s-what-you-deserve.

“Well!” Grell broke the tension. “We can certainly explain who we are and what we are doing here…at a later date. As of now, I have an increasingly important appointment to get to—Good Professor, I’m so sorry you had to see me like this, I promise wont look this bad when when we next meet!” he bowed low, “Come along, Ronald!”

“Yes, Mr. Sutcliff!” He blew a kiss towards the girls.

“This isn’t over” Grell whispered in Ciel’s ear as he skipped by.

“Nothing ever is with you, is it?” he muttered.

“What’s that?” Snape raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing, just excited for my detention!”

Snape raised an eyebrow, perhaps wondering if Ciel was under the spell after all.

*****

Ciel didn’t even go to class that afternoon, as it was double Defense Against the Dark Arts. Once again he returned to his dorm, and flopped onto his bed. He had only made it halfway through the day this time, and he was already drained. After some time resting (though his mind raced too much to actually take a nap), he finished skimming through the book on love potions. In the end, the only help it gave was a comprehensive list of the usual ingredients in love potions.

As he was putting the book away a diary fell out of the trunk at the foot of his bed. In the fatigue of the evening, and the tumult of the day, he had forgotten about his run-in with Harry yesterday.

He picked it up; the same simple, dusty, empty notebook as before—the simple, dusty notebook that was seething with dark magic. When he opened it to the first page he saw the smudged name T. M. Riddle. He hadn’t thought it was Harry’s in the first place, but was still displeased that the name didn’t sound familiar to him. He wondered if he was a student who dabbled in dark magic. Still, the power it held seemed more than what a mere student could conjure…

Ciel had never been one for feelings and the kind of sentimentality a diary implied, but it couldn’t hurt to try it out. There wasn’t much else to do but write in it. Evidently it wasn’t just a diary.

Setting it down on his desk, he flipped it open to the first blank page, got out his quill, dipped it in the ink, and began to write:

“February 16th

“Two days ago, Undertaker spiked the punch at Lockhart’s god-awful Valentine’s ball with a love potion.

“Now Hogwarts is infested with a swarm of insolent, love-struck zombies, because Undertaker is a—”

As he wrote, the words, instead of staying in place like words should, they were swallowed by the paper. As the earl stared, the ink resurfaced like a serpent beneath water, a reply forming from secondhand ink.

“My, that does sound awful.”

The words disappeared as soon as they came, then reappeared…

“Perhaps I could be of assistance.”

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Happy New Year from RPGMGames! Let's take a moment to reflect on 2018 and look back at all of the incredible projects and developers that were featured last year.

January’s Featured Game: HELLO CHARLOTTE

GENRE: Surreal, Horror, Dark Comedy WARNINGS: Gore, Body Horror, Graphic Content SUMMARY: Meet Charlotte - a puppet you will control. Meet her alien friends, maggot cat and a certain Observer. Dive deep into horrors of junk food, TV world, religion and romance novels for middle-age women. Keep your puppet safe at all times. Or don’t. Have fun dying! Check it out here: EP1 | EP2 | EP3 | DELIRIUM

February’s Featured Game: LONE STAR

GENRE: Western, Action, Adventure SUMMARY: Lone Star takes place in the far-flung, sunbaked desert country of Diamondback, where sheriffs struggle to maintain civil order and protect the public from the deserts’ many vicious outlaws. The demand for someone to enforce the law led to independently operated training programs for citizens who want to help keep the peace. Elmer is a student of one such program held in the little mining locale of Bulk Rock City, who ventures into the chaotic wasteland alone in an effort to do his part as a sheriff-in-training. Check out the developer's blog here!

March’s Featured Game: CERESS AND OREA

GENRE: Puzzle, Adventure SUMMARY: Ceress is sentenced to death, because she’s in love with the ‘wrong’ person. But stubborn as she is, she calls out to an old deity, demanding a chance to change this unrighteousness. Can Ceress overcome death to be reunited with the woman she loves, Orea? Play the game here!

April’s Featured Game: FOLKLORIA

GENRE: Adventure, RPG SUMMARY: Folkloria is a lighthearthed turn-based RPG set on a floating island inhabited by mythological creatures. You play as Weaver, a young and unassuming griffin determined to rescue his family from the clutches of Dr. Zeralidius, a shady businessperson from the world below the clouds who plans to modernize the peaceful island. Check out the developer's blog here!

May’s Featured Game: MARE

GENRE: Horror, Adventure, Fantasy, RPG WARNINGS: Listed here SUMMARY: The game follows Naomi, who awakens to find that they cannot remember their name, memories, and where they are. All they know is they can hear a lone voice calling to them, “Naomi, come find me.” Play the demo here!

June’s Featured Game: QUEEN MARY'S SCRIPT RETOLD

GENRE: Adventure SUMMARY: Queen Mary’s Script is a tale of a young girl who finds a happy escape in her own dreams. She lives in a shell closed off from the world and only in her own room can she express her feelings. That is, until she happens upon the doll Clause and all at once, the magic she yearned for in her life is thrust upon her. However, she soon finds that magic isn’t always what it looks like in books and dolls are just as selfish as humans. Play the demo here!

July’s Featured Game: BLACK CRYSTALS

GENRE: Fantasy, RPG WARNINGS: Alcohol Reference, Drug Reference, Use of Alcohol, Use of Drugs, Use of Tobacco, Mild Blood, Fantasy Violence, Sexual Themes SUMMARY: Starsio, a street performer, finds himself in the stickiest of situations. Starsio was kidnapped off the streets of his home town and brought to the brothel Paprika where he is forced to become a performer. One rainy night, Starsio gathers his courage and wits and plans an escape. He convinces Arthur, an apprehensive and fidgety new found friend, to accompany him. Starsio sets his escape plan in motion with one last song… Check out the developer's blog here!

August’s Featured Game: SHROOM SOUP

GENRE: Adventure, RPG, Psychological Horror WARNINGS: Listed here (may contain spoilers) SUMMARY: You play as Arnika, a gloomy teenage girl. Perpetually tired, you live off excessive sleep, lime juice, and instant soup. You look into the vortex forming in your cup of said soup, this time mushroom flavour. Next thing you know, you are in an entirely different world where everything, from buildings to people, is being devoured by fungi. It seems like you have no choice but to walk on… Your journey involves exploration, puzzle-solving and battles. Play the demo here!

September’s Featured Game: GHOST HOSPITAL

GENRE: Adventure, RPG WARNINGS: Anxiety, Body horror, Implied child harm SUMMARY: Ghost Hospital is a game about anxiety, depression, despair, mental rock bottoms, and, of course, ghosts. You play as Robin, a twelve-year-old girl who has an anxiety disorder and is very much alive in this hospital meant for beings that are not alive. Frankly, her anxiety was already bad enough before she landed in a hospital full of dead people, the still-shambling shells of ancient ghosts who try to take her down for a sweet taste of life, and the hospital directors hellbent on keeping her contained, and more importantly, away from the reason she’s REALLY there. Thankfully, you have your new friends Jay and Sarcastic Ghost- Jay is a ghost about your age, and still a very new arrival to the hospital, and Sarcastic Ghost…well, he’s an amorphous blob of a ghost, who talks a lot despite not having a mouth. Play the demo here!

October’s Featured Game: OVERCAST

GENRE: Horror, Supernatural, Action, RPG WARNINGS: Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Drugs and Alcohol, Obscured Nudity, Mild Gore, Suicide Reference, Religous References SUMMARY: Overcast is an Action RPG with two separate protagonists. Violet; the modest yet strict Spirit of the Sun, and Nico; the relaxed yet distant Spirit of Rain. In a world where humans and spirits live alongside each other, Nico is a lonely spirit that resides on Aarat, an obscure city on an island in the middle of the sea shrouded by dark clouds. For some mysterious reason it rains at all times. After a catastrophe forced Nico into hiding; Violet emerges from her home in the heavens; Paradiso, to take the island by storm and bring an end to the rain. Check out the developer's blog here!

November’s Featured Game: SHOOTY AND THE CATFISH

GENRE: Adventure, RPG WARNINGS: Course Language, Gore SUMMARY: Shooty and the Zaat are a dynamic duo solving monstrous mysteries! Play the demo here!

December’s Featured Game: SOMA SPIRITS

GENRE: RPG SUMMARY: Soma Spirits is a choice-driven Role-Playing Game in which players will face heavy dilemmas with a colorful cast of characters. Unlike many games of choice, the decisions you will make in the world of Soma are not so black and white, and characters will undergo different changes depending on how you wish to proceed. The world of Soma is a land divided into two similar, but distinct versions of one another. At certain locations, you will be able to travel back and forth between the World of Joy and the World of Sorrow and find different inhabitants, monsters, and clues on how to proceed. How you decide to help the people you meet along your journey will determine which of the game’s five outcomes Heart and Soul will find themselves in. Play the game here! Check out the extended version here!

We look forward to many more exciting interviews and new projects in the year to come!

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Notes On: Mainsail

Today, we’re taking a look at Mainsail. Mainsail is a pop-punk band out of San Diego, CA. The lyrics draw you in and the music holds you. They recently released a new song called “Blue Skies,” and it helps you to remember that there are blue skies ahead, no matter how hard the battle is right now. (Video below).

Mainsail is a 4 man band, with current members Nick Lanari on guitar and lead vocals; James Moyer on lead guitar; Issac Park on drums; and Mike Liorti on bass and backup vocals. Nick took some time to help me delve into Mainsail a little.

Nick and James have known each other since they were 18/19. They’d hang out and play guitars and in the summer of 2013, they decided to start a pop-punk band, Nick stating that they grew up on pop-punk. Going forward a year, they met Issac, who was playing drums for Electra Mustaine. Nick had been offered to play guitar, but didn’t feel it was a fit, and asked Issac if he wanted to play drums for the band. This was after 2 previous members left.

Their previous bass player parted ways this past December. Nick, James and Issac were full time band members, and they are still friendly with their previous bass player. Current bass player, Mike Liorti offered to play, after Nick had silently been contemplating it, but not vocalizing the thought. Nick then stated that Mike was a “phenomenal fit,” and that it’s been “the best line-up hands down.” He’s also said that Mike has helped the band a lot, having a great sense of music, and being about the song.

They will be touring this summer in the ROSEDALE van. Which, I think will be interesting. With bunk beds in the trailer, and all the gear, it will be a trip. They have a joke about all the gear, making up words to go along with “Fat Lip” by Sum 41, because Mike seems to have an endless amount of gear for being just one person.

Some of the bands influences include: New Found Glory; Jimmy Eat World; The Starting Line and Yellowcard. Nick also said that he’s influenced by some post rock music. Post-rock is a type of experimental rock with a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords or riffs. It’s mostly instrumental, and he hinted that there may be some post rock vibes in some future songs. He also described their style as being a rock band with pop-punk roots, which, honestly fits their album, Photographs, perfectly.

Now, the story behind the name, Mainsail, is not quite what I thought. Nick and James, and another member at the time were in a garage for their first practice, on Mainsail Rd, in Oceanside, CA. The name stayed, sounding nautical, which Nick stated he likes. I have to agree with him. It’s easy to remember, easy to search, and rolls off the tongue.

Does Nick have nerves before a show? His nerves, are more a feeling of being anxious to play. As a band, they want to unleash and go all out. They are filled with energy, and wanting to get loud and have fun. Nick, for one, can’t wait to start, and said he would go from the merch table, to hanging out with the other bands, to hanging out with fans and friends. Now, he finds a spot, keeps calm and watches the other bands, taking in the experience.

The favorite show to play, is a yearly one to play. Joshua Fest in Quincy, CA. Nick said that it was biggest every year with over 300 people, between 100 -150 being fans and knowing their songs. At Joshua Fest they get to play a longer set and be on a bigger stage.

Nick grew up dreaming of playing medium sized venues, 1500-2000 in a club. One dream is to play the SoMa Mainstage in San Diego. Drummer, Issac would love to play sold out arenas, and places like the amphitheaterin Chula Vista, Nick stated. A big dream of Nick’s though, is to play outdoors, with lights, and the sunset in the distance, at golden hour. And honestly, I think that would be heaven. Music, at that time, rocking out, all the energy in the air, is pure perfection.

What is their favorite song to play live? Right now, Nick says it has to be Blue Skies, even though they have only played it twice.“It’s super fun to play and sing.” He also thinks it will be a big hit this summer. The absolute favorite song to play, for Nick though, is one that hasn’t been released, and still remains untitled. They’ve also only played this song twice, with Blue Skies leading up to it, according to Nick. He feels that this new song will be even bigger than Blue Skies. He’s hoping to have a release date soon. (And where there is a release date, we’ll have it here, don’t worry).

I still asked the question: Where do you see yourself in five years?“Having toured the US and North America, have an album or two, full length,” along with headlining tours. Playing in Europe, Japan, and Australia, just playing far and wide. The biggest thing is, just playing and still being a band, Nick stated, hopefully having half their income coming in from being a band as well, and playing music festivals. Sounds like a plan to me, still making music and spreading that music, and joy and energy.

There is no shortage of pop-punk in Nick’s voice, holding true to their pop-punk roots, but there’s also that rock edge. The lyrics are ones everyone can relate to, the tunes are catchy, and the over all experience pulls you in. If you are looking for a band that has that slight edge, while also being uplifting, and empowering, you might want to check out Mainsail (If you haven’t already). They are a great group of individuals, who as a whole, form something amazing. Take a few minutes, check the links below, and let me, and the band, know what you think. -

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

Some Shout Outs

Five Iron Frenzy(lead singer actullay sang with Mainsail at a festival):https://www.facebook.com/5ironFrenzy/

MXPX:https://www.facebook.com/MxPxPx/

Avenue Army:https://www.facebook.com/AvenueArmy/

Rosedale (As an inspiration, friend, always there and affirming):https://www.facebook.com/ROSEDALEmusic/

As Fire Falls:https://www.facebook.com/AsFireFalls/

Every band they’ve ever played with (Nick assured me there were so many bands)

Fan Shout Outs: Nolan Adamiec (https://www.instagram.com/nolanadamiec/) and Shea (https://www.instagram.com/shaeddon/)

And one last shout out to his older brother, AJ Lanari. He’d sneak into his brothers room, and listen to his music, and thanks him to turning him on to the bands he grew up listening to.

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

Links

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mainsailsd/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/mainsailband/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/Mainsailband

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt92iJ4bgGVQWIB0g4vBz8g/featured

Website:https://www.mainsailsd.com/?fbclid=IwAR0VjsZuqAd-uOxB7m68KUltCjKuNHjQGB-qjysNlZ3jEB6_NIFUh3v5PM4

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

Blue Skies

An Example of some Post Rock Music

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—Break—

Summary: It really had been a feat for their schedules to coincide, moreover, to make her have that little space to be together.

Notes: English is not my first language. Please forgive any gramatical mistakes. Constructive feedbacks are always welcomed :D.

-/-/-

It really had been a feat for their schedules to coincide, moreover, to make her have that little space to be together.

After the long journey from Tokyo to Motobu, Okinawa, arriving at the hotel, unpacking, both feeling that they would die of fatigue, now looking at the beach a few steps from them, they felt that all the stress of the previous days and the preparations seemed like something distant.

“It was worth it, right?” Sōma murmured softly, inhaling the smell of sea mixed with the essence of the shampoo from the blond hair of the woman lying next to him, whose head rested on his chest.

"Hmm”, was her response, both were lying on a hammock that the redhead was moving gently with his leg that hung outside of it.

Sōma shook his head a bit to try to see the female face since her response had been more a drowsy murmur than anything else.

It pleased and it filled him with tenderness to see that, in fact, the always worthy Tongue of God, Nakiri Erina, had fallen asleep to the rhythm of the soft swing of the hammock that both shared.

Her face that had previously been laden with fatigue and stress, now looked calm and relaxed, her brows were no longer puckered and she seemed to feel at peace.

With all honesty, it had been very strenuous days.

While he had been traveling from Paris to Sydney, making sure his restaurants were in order, Erina had done the same but traveling to Spain and New York, added to her tastings, the articles she had to write for the culinary magazine in which she was a food critic and meetings with the board of directors of Tōtsuki Resorts, it surprised him that she could stand up all that time without any rest.

-/-/-

“We should take a break,” Sōma said, about three weeks ago on video call while watching her pull her hair in a low tail, preparing herself to sleep.

“Maybe you can, but I don't have any free space for the next three months,” she replied, looking at him through the small screen with evident fatigue. “Besides, the world will not stop because you and I are cuddled in a corner,” Erina added.

He could not help but burst out laughing. She would never change.

“You need to rest more than me,” He pointed out.

“Stop saying nonsense, it's not me who has been doing services at Shino's while juggling to be at my other restaurants and make completely new menus for both of them” Erina snapped, knowing he must be as tired as she was.

Although she had taken occasional flights to check out her restaurants, it usually only lasted two days at most and she returned to Japan. He had been away from home for almost four months already.

“Let's take a few days for us.” Erina rolled her eyes at his subtle insistence, and snorted under her breath.

“Yukihira, I remember that your itinerary is not free in the coming months too, and I barely have time to catch my breath, as for-”

“Let's do that space, then,” he interrupted, Erina saw him ran a hand through his red and short hair, in a clear sign of weariness. “We both need it and I'm sure Arato is on the verge of collapsing knowing that you do not have time for yourself.” Erina narrowed her eyes, knowing he was right about Hisako.

He really was right about everything, but that was something she wasn't going to tell him.

“Besides” Sōma added, “I can barely remember what it feels like to kiss you.” Erina's cheeks heated up and Soma's mischievous smile told her that he had fulfilled his purpose with those words.

“You're an idiot,” Erina whispered. “If you almost don't remember, then I do not remember it at all” she countered, which caused the redhead to let out a low whistle.

“If I were so easy to forget, I don't think you were still with me,” Sōma replied mockingly. “But I'll take this as another challenge.” Erina saw him scratch his chest absentmindedly. “I'll refresh your memory when we meet face to face again.”

“I-I'd like to see you try,” Erina huffed, lying on her side on the huge king-size bed.

Sōma placed himself on his side equally on the bed, bending an arm under his head; his eyes shining with a mixture of affection and slight concern.

“Let's go on vacation somewhere, just a few days,” Sōma said quietly and Erina sighed.

It wasn't that she didn't wanted take a break or see him, she really wanted to, —although it was something she would not say out loud—, the problem is that for their schedules to coincide and rest, they had to advance a lot of work and that was a titanic task.

“We'll see,” was her brief response that was like the loudest affirmation for him.

The next day Sōma called Hisako to explain the situation and see how she could help move things here and there concerning Erina's schedule.

In short: it had been hell. Advance tastings, conclude reviews, interviews and others. Sōma almost did not succeed, having been invited with much anticipation to the festival of culture and gastronomy of Tiradentes in the city of Minas Gerais, Brazil, the same with a duration of ten days and, as a guest chef in the final days, Sōma had to be there.

He left for the airport in Rio de Janeiro as soon as his shift ended and 21 hours later, he arrived in Japan with just enough time to board the flight from Narita airport to Okinawa.

Due to the fair time he would arrive, he and Erina had agreed to meet at the airport to depart together to Okinawa.

As soon he entered the terminal, he pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his jacket, seeing the list of notifications of messages on his lock screen, he slid them to remove them and among many, he saw that she had sent him a message almost one hour ago that simply read "IASS Executive Lounge".

And yes, in that VIP room located on the fifth floor of the airport, he found her.

Due to the time and type of flight, there were barely three other people apart from her sitting scattered throughout the room, which made it even easier to locate her figure sitting in a corner, while typing at full speed on her mobile.

“Please, tell me you're not working anymore,” Was his greeting, she stopped short and looked up in his direction quickly.

“Yukihira,” Erina muttered, surprised to see him in front of her in flesh after all this time. Sōma did not waited much longer and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the lips.

Erina blinked, surprised at the chasteness of the kiss and began to feel her cheeks a little bit warmer than before, while looking around to see if someone had seen them.

“This is a public place!” She scolded him in a low, hurried voice.

“Because it's a public place has been so fast,” Sōma answered, placing that smile full of self-confidence. “But don't worry Nakiri, later there will be no one to look at us.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb before resting his forehead on hers and breathing her.

“Hentai,” Erina whispered, noticing even more closely how tired the redhead looked, just as herself.

“We should be get going to the boarding gate.” He felt her nod against him. “I missed you,” he whispered softly, but with enough strength for her to listen.

Erina's heart gave two acrobatic jumps worthy of an Olympic gold medal.

“Me too,” was all she could say, allowing herself to be honest in that brief moment of weakness, stroking one of his cheeks with the tips of her fingers.

After the regulations and boarding the plane, although he didn't wanted to, as soon as they were in the air, Sōma fell asleep, exhausted, during almost the whole flight, awakening from time to time to make sure that she was still at his side and to slightly squeeze her hand between his.

During the same, Erina barely slept but she was comforted by the warmth and security offered by those long, bronzed fingers trapping hers.

-/-/-

Sōma caressed Erina's hair in a distracted way, occasionally massaging her scalp, exerting little pressure

He moved his right leg subtly, causing the hammock to continue moving smoothly. If they could stay like this for a while longer than those few days…

Their lives after Tōtsuki had been a coming and going, opening restaurants, recognitions, always focused on the next culinary goal. It surprised him that despite all the time that had passed, they were still in that relationship where they could barely see each other.

He knew that at some point they must slow down, specially him. He only hoped that when the time came, she would be willing to slow down her pace of life along with him.

Meanwhile —he left a kiss on the top of her head— they could enjoy these little moments that they tried to steal from time.

He felt her move close to him and turned his gaze down, seeing her frown a little, as she always did before she awoke.

“Shh, sleep a little longer, Erina,” He said in a whisper; his fingers continued to caress Erina’s hair gently as she rubbed her face against the redhead's chest.

He sensed how she breathed deeply and then settled back against him, while her hand lazily drew nonsense patterns on his abdomen, causing him a slight tingling.

Sōma continued to move the hammock gently, while his hand had moved to her arm, stroking it with the tips of his fingers.

At some point Sōma was dragged into the dream world along with her and therefore the hammock stopped its gentle swing but even that did not cause either of them to wake up.

The feeling of comfort and security that they felt next to each other was enough to keep them asleep a little bit more.

—End—

The idea came up because of a prompt that was about A falling asleep on B's chest as he rocked the hammock where they were lying.

Well, it will not be the masterpiece but it is better than nothing, hahaha (ahem), I hope that you all can enjoy this small story and thank you for reading, until the next time :D

¡Ja ne!

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The Mood: Blog #11“WTF is next, ROSEDALE?!”

I've had so many random ideas for what this next blog should be about. I wanna try to stay on track with the story of Rosedale's farewell/next chapter as that seems to be the most common topic with the lovely Rosedaliens that have been coming out to shows. But the truth is that I'm just as unsure as everyone else. I don't even have a clear vision of what I picture September looking like. I guess my plan in September is to plan what 2019 is going to look like. 2019 seems so much further than it actually is, I'm sure. The only things I'm sure of are that I would like to: 1: be a helpful contribution to music scenes (artists, venues, promoters, fans etc.) usingmorethan just my own voice. 2: keep making new music under a different name (usingmy voice...maybe some features...maybe a band? Who knows. I'd love for someone else to decide that.) 3: continue to work with other artists on their art and ideas. I know those are all vague ideas. And regarding the name delema; I have a giant draft email to myself (the most common email address in my inbox is [emailprotected]) that has a bunch of artist names and band names. Some are pretty good, some are not.

Self-Lyric Party:

" 'cause I live entirely for the self-satisfaction that I made this- I turn Whiter than a song in C as I watch the room empty No! Just press on, believe. My numbers are truly sad Tell me again; can I beat Quicksand? Yes I Can! "- Quicksand

As I check back to my last blog (to see how I quote/credit a lyric party...to keep continuity) I noticed that google placed a Chipotle add on the right side of the blog page! This is likely because I searched Chipotle at least 10 times in this past week. And that is because there is new company in the new Rosedale crew already and Chipotle sometimes hooks up traveling musicians with free food.

Her name is Siena. We all know Bryan, right? (cousin, hockey guy, #1 merch dude/email address collector...) Siena is the female Bryan. But luckily, she's not my cousin. I mean it'd be awesome to have known her all my life (like I've known Bryan all my life,) but for "heart-crush" reasons, I'm really glad she's most definitely not my cousin.

I met Siena atourSan Diego show in November 2017. I say "our" because she's in a band calledGoing Postal, and they played that Soma show too. Like many bands today, they'll admit that their future is a giant question mark. Butunlikemany bands today, they sound awesome!

Check them out

.https://goingpostalca.bandcamp.com/releases

I call Siena "S Money" because one of her friends she was facetiming called her that and I, too, wanted to sound gangsta- "DJ $ Money" to be exact. Siena is finishing her final online college classes while traveling around America with me and selling my merch. When she's not selling merch she's helping me move my insane amounts of gear. When she's not selling merch and moving my insane amounts of gear she's teaching me how to promote in a more professional manner byhelping me post enticing social media posts/stories/streams more regularly/organically.

Siena is a very kind-hearted, helpfulchampionthat is way too chill to be so attractive. I just may be the luckiest Tall Canadian with Way Too Much Gear to have her on tour with me. After this tour she's moving to LA to become a world famous movie star so I only have about a month more of her awesomeness. She likes animals a lot, especially animal memes/vines. Mostly cats and dogs. So share/send any good ones and I'll make sure she sees them. (I'm also currently tethering off her wifi hotspot because all of Ohio's wifi is down right now.)

Now that I've made you feel warm with paragraphs of cute kittens and puppies and rock n' roll princesses and awesome music and free Chipotle and sharing wifi; I must reveal some bad news; MY BACK IS F**KED!!! I somehow slowly injured my lower back while walking down some rusty stairs at the wrestling ring venue in Benwood, WV last Tuesday. I was getting ready to catch a littlelight-up-with-movementNerf football, moving no different than any human casually walking down a set of stairs- then all of a sudden I feltmy back juicetrickling into the lower center of my back. Don't be alarmed, this is not a career ending injury or anything. This actually happens to me every two years or so. And this time is not nearly as bad as the last time (when I was filling in for my Dad in his Canadian Tire men's hockey league and I casually skated behind my net to find out how 3 weeks ofnear paralyzinglower back pain felt.) It's funny; when people ask if I havetall people back problemsand I'm not dealing with back problems at that given moment, I usually reply "nope". But as soon as I do experience my dual-annually (I made up that word...) back pain, I remember the last time I had severe back pain. So anyway, I had to cancel two shows and I'm not happy about it. It's getting better. I'm three days without pain relief meds. Stretching a lot. Rubbing Tiger Balm and Icey Hot every few hours. Just taking it easy in Cincinnati until Atlanta's show on Tuesday. That show is gonna be really awesome and there’s no way I’m missing it. I played drums for a band on Warped tour in Dallas too. That was pretty fun. I learned their songs in three days. They have a lot of air horns in their music so I went kind of overboard with the Roland Pad's air horn sample. (Maybe that's why they found a replacement drummer for Pittsburgh Warped.) It was fun seeing the Warped Tour for the last year and getting to play on stage again. We also went to the Cincinnati Warped Tour and learned what heat stroke felt like.

Enough updates on my odd summer. I'll wrap it up with some insightful life/music stuff as I'm hanging out with the infamousAlex Baker. https://alexanderbaker.bandcamp.com/ First though, his dad told us one of the greatest dad joke of all time:

DAD JOKE PARTY:

"I was trying to think of a good reason to go to Switzerland and then I realized the flag was a big plus."

But for real; we were talking about how things would be so different if we had just been understanding with our ex-bandmates in the golden years. We were all young and surrounded by the odd discovery of egos driven by art/success. Alex was in a band calledDewey Decibel https://alexanderbaker.bandcamp.com/album/the-dusting-dewey-decibel They had a fun indie style with a really organic, interesting production. Dewey Decibel recorded their album in their house in Nashville. From the sounds of it, once they started getting attention fromNPRand local radio stations things started getting to everyone's heads.

It's not uncommon for a band to get along really well when things are on the up then fall apart when the going gets tough. The more I see it the more I understand the damage it did to Rosedale. But on the other end of that unfortunate reality is the fact that I never would have met Alex Baker if the Rockstar ego-turmoil didn't happen to Dewey DecibelandRosedale. I probably wouldn't have met Siana (AKA DJ $ Money) either. I'm not preaching that everything happens for a reason. I'm just kinda preaching that if you take the inevitable destructive events in life and turn them into fuel to move on and stay positive,betterrelationships grow. And those relationships are better becauseyou'vegrown and learned how to be a better person. So, like I keep driving home in all of these "Farewell Blogs", I'm looking forward to where things go. I'm happy I've experienced all the curveballs along the way to teach me how to eventually hit some home runs. I feel like I'm on the right track with these new friends that I've only met through grinding past the hard times and pressing on for what I had my heart set on. Do you ever think of how you came to know some of your best friends? Like what events led them/you there that day and how grateful you are for those events and the transparent friendships they created? I know facebook gives us the ol "5 years of friendship" tag or whatever. But sometimes I see those and think "ohhh if you only knew, facebook...me and Casey Phillips go WAY BACK!" Anyway that's all for now. If you've been thinking of meeting me or Siena or Alex Baker the best way/time to do it is to come out to an event we're at and experience somein person hangouts.This will be the last few weeks of touring for quite some time for me so really try to highlight these dates and make a solid effort to come catch a show. I promise you will not regret it.

UPCOMING SHOWS: 7/24 - Atlanta,GA @ The Masquerade 7/27 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jackrabbits 7/29 - St. Augustine, FL @ Sarbez 8/3 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Black Forge Coffee 8/4 - Niagara, NY @ Evening Star 8/7 - Brampton, ON @ Spot 1 8/10 - Charleston, WV @ The Empty Glass 8/11 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ TBA Then a bunch of East Coast tour dates.

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The Comfort Zone Act 12 "The Color of Strength"

Now for day 2 of this torture. Well okay, I guess it isn’t quite bad enough to call torture but still. I felt really heavy as I pulled myself out of my tent. Shadow was sitting and reading a book as he drank coffee. “Wait, you have coffee?” He looked up at me with a smug look on his face. “I told you I brought essentials didn’t I?” That wasn’t what I was thinking of at all. I sat down next to him and he handed me a cup. “You made me one too?” “I figured you’d need it.” He tells me. He’s right too. I feel like I have weights tied to my ankles. With a puff of smoke Palyma emerged from the Ostium. She’s been pretty quiet lately and I couldn’t help but think about what Soma said about there being a witch. It sounds like they think it’s her, but is it really? Palyma seems so… sincere. “Good Morning you two.” She greeted in her usual serious tone. “Morning. What’s up P?” Was my response. She looked towards the temple with a strange look on her face. “Listen, I couldn’t help but to hear what your friend was saying yesterday. About a witch?” Shadows face showed signs of worry. It reminded me about yesterday when he left to talk to Soma and Mesa. Was that what he was asking them about? “I want you to know that the possibility of there being one is fairly high. So from this day on, be wary of any Meropian women you don’t already know. We have to be careful. I’d also like to speed up your training a tad Sonic. Just to be safe. Let me know when you two are done for the day and we’ll power up the Ostium.” Palyma spoke of the witch in a way that implied she had no idea who she was, but knows she must exist. It was reassuring my thought that despite all the evidence, it isn’t her. Me and Shadow finished up at the campsite and walked down to the beach. When I thought about it, Shadow’s plan was working in a way. It took what I assume was around half an hour for me to get in the water yesterday. Today I had a bit more confidence and managed to get into the water right away. There weren’t as many distractions now that Mesa and Soma were back in the shrine working away, but I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad. Being around him made me feel really warm and fuzzy, I didn’t know why. A few minutes in the more shallow water up to my chest and Shadow went back near the rocks where I was panicking at yesterday. I didn’t know whether I should follow him or not, I didn’t want to be alone but I didn’t want to be in such deep water either. A moment of being alone and I made up my mind pretty quickly though and made my way over to him. As the water reached that spot near my face my mind was racing. I kept thinking to myself- “Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Don’t panic!!” but as each wave passed it threatened to knock me over, and the thought of losing my balance was scary. He must have noticed my breathing was getting faster because he came a bit closer to me. “So it’s the waves then?” “Is it that obvious??” He smiled a little. “Try hopping over them.” “What? How is that supposed to work?” Shadow demonstrated his suggestion, a wave came by, and he gave a small hop. The water didn’t go up in his face when he did this, which somewhat solves my problem, but it presented a new one. I didn’t want my feet to leave the ground. Another wave came by and hit me in the face, it caught me off guard and I let out a small yelp and immediately covered my face in embarrassment. Shadow grabbed my wrist and moved my hands away from me. “Just try it.” He laughed. I guess it can’t get much worse than this. I cautiously moved away from Shadow and watched for a wave to come by. As it moved closer I got nervous, but I was determined to not look like any more of an idiot. I leaned forward a bit and right before the water came up at me, I hopped a tiny bit into it and gasped as the water carried me backwards. For a split second I thought I couldn’t reach the bottom anymore, but Shadow grabbed my arms and pulled me a bit closer so I could put my feet back down properly. He tells me that if I was up to it, the easiest way to get back on my feet is to let my head go under to get closer to the bottom. That was probably why he made me keep dunking my head yesterday. I leaned forward and waited again. The wave came and I jumped up. I tried to stay as calm as I could as the water pushed me back. I felt the wave go down and held my breath. My body sank with the wave and I pushed away the urge to panic. At first I didn’t move, unsure of what to do. A moment passed and I found my footing. I stood up and instinctively wiped my face despite the fact that my hands were no more dry. “How much longer are we going to do this? I’d like to get it over with so I don’t have to be in here anymore y’know.” “I already told you, I’m not going to try and teach you until you’re comfortable in the water. We can start tomorrow if you can convince me that you’re ready.” “And how exactly do I do that?” I definitely wasn’t comfortable but I just wanted to be dry again. Maybe I’d be able to convince him somehow. Shadow thought a moment, looking around the area before his face lit up. “Ah! Over there.” I followed his attention to the cliff Mesa dove off of the previous day. “Jump off there today and we can be done for the rest of the day. Do it again tomorrow and I’ll teach you how to swim.” “Wait what?! But Shadow I can’t do that!” He had a look of satisfaction on his face that made me frustrated. The cliff was high up and the water below had to be at least 6 feet, which I definitely couldn’t stand in. “I obviously won’t let you drown. The fact that you’re refusing to do it tells me you aren’t ready.” I should have seen that coming, It is Shadow after all, regardless of how weird he’s been acting lately. I looked at the cliff a moment. I was scared, but I do trust him. Maybe I should try it? I walked over to the rocks and climbed up onto the shore and started walking up the cliff toward the edge. “Where are you- oh!” Shadow himself didn’t even think I’d try it! I waited a few feet away from the edge. This is it. I’m really gonna do it. “Whenever you’re ready.” Shadow called up to me. I wasn’t. I really, really wasn’t. I’m gonna do it anyways. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Alright let’s get this over with. I quickly took a few steps forward and jumped over the edge. I closed my eyes, covered my nose and held my breath. I fell for a couple seconds and then I felt the sting of water hit me in the face again. I could feel myself sink for a bit, as it slowed down, I carefully opened my eyes, immediately feeling the water sting them. I blinked through it and turned myself around. I saw Shadow near me, holding out his hand. I lifted one hand from my face and reached for his, just barely reaching. My grip was tight but from what I could make out of his face he didn’t mind. He pulled me close and in a few seconds I could finally breathe again. I was fine until I realized that his arm was around me and my face was really close to mine. As soon as I noticed my face felt like it was on fire. He wasn’t going anywhere which didn’t make matters better. “Uhh… Shadow?” “Hm?” He didn’t seem to notice how awkward the situation was. “Can we get out now?” “O-Oh yeah, sure.” He came to his senses and the two of us finally started to head towards the shrine. After we got out of the water we noticed Miss Lori standing at the top of the hill, looking towards the sea. She was wearing a long black dress with a hood, I wasn’t sure why though, shouldn’t she be wearing her uniform? Me and Shadow walked up the hill and I called out to her. “Mistress Lori!” She seemed caught off guard, but smiled when she turned and saw us. “Oh, hello boys.” “What are you up to?” Shadow asked her. “I was heading into town to visit my brother. I seemed to have gotten a bit distracted by the ocean. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to see it. Sitting it that shrine all day can be quite boring.” She’s leaving for a bit. That explains the dress. “I can’t imagine how Emeil coped with it.” “Emeil?” As soon as the name left my mouth Palyma emerged from the Ostium. “How do you know my Mother’s name?!” She asked, her voice showed sounds of alarm. Lori’s gaze shifted from me to the Ostium, She never seemed to speak directly to Palyma. “Ah… I’ve met her before. She was lovely. It’s a real shame she gave this place up.” Hearing her say she met Palyma’s mother struck something with me… It didn’t sound right. Then something came to my mind. “Miss Lori? If I may ask… how old are you?” Shadow asked her, mimicking my thoughts. Lori laughed loudly. “My, My, don’t you know it’s impolite to ask a lady’s age? I must admit however… I’m not as young as I look. I’d never tell my secret though!” She winked. Palyma cringed at the remark. I guess she wouldn’t really care about looking young since she’s nothing more than a spirit now. “Anyways, I’d better not keep my dear brother waiting. I trust you won’t make too much of a mess for Mesa and Soma while I’m away?” “You can count on us!” I smiled at her. She gleefully waved goodbye as she walked away and into the forest. “Okay, come on now, let’s get going, into the temple with you. We’re headed to the upstairs.” Palyma instructed. The two of us entered the Shrine and headed up the stairs. When we got to the room up the stairs it was much more occupied than all the other rooms that were mostly empty. I remembered then that this was Soma and Mesa’s living quarters and understood why it actually had furniture and stuff in it. It looked so much like a home that I almost felt like I was intruding. “Wow… Those two really fixed this room up huh?” Palyma commented. Soma walked in the room and Palyma instantly disappeared back inside the Ostium. It seems like after hearing me say they were afraid of her, she decided to stay out of sight near them. That must be why she’s being so quiet. “Oh! What are you two doing? Did you need us for something?” “Yes actually we needed the… uh. wait.” I had no idea what I was looking for. Palyma’s voice rang out from the window of the Ostium, “The Tribute of strength!” Soma seemed to understand what Palyma asked for. “Ah I see, come over here a moment while I grab the key…” She trailed off as she walked away. We followed her into a quaint room with a large window facing the mountain. Mesa was sitting on a stool with an enormous bowl of noodles. “That’s a lot of noodles.” I pointed out. Mesa looked at me and nodded. “Eating is the only thing I’m good at.” He spoke in his quiet voice. Somehow Soma heard him from across the room and without looking up from the drawer she was scouring came a loud - “Nonsense!” I was starting to think that word was either an inside joke or a corny gimmick. Soma turned around with an ancient looking blue and grey key and started walking back out of the room. “This way!” She called out as she left. “See ya later!” I waved to Mesa as I left. He lifted a hand up in a wave, not speaking partly because his mouth was full and the other part probably being his shyness. Soma opened a door that lead to a narrow, dark hallway which differed greatly from the rest of the floor with its pretty sunlit rooms. Basically, it looked like the rest of the shrine. At the other end of the hall was another door, this time with a strange looking lock on it. Soma unlocked the door and opened it up, walking inside so we had room to enter through the hallway as it was very cramped. “Let me know when you leave so I can lock the place up again.” She told me as she waved and walked out of the room. The area was brightly lit by 4 blue lights near the ceiling on each wall, and an odd looking object sat in the middle of the far wall. It had a spot for the Ostium on it. “Alright Sonic, approach the tribute and place Ostium in it, with the window facing the interior, Then raise your hand to the symbol on the front, and recite the call written on the wall above it. Make no error reading it or it won’t work.” With that, Palyma returned to the Ostium. I did exactly as she said, I placed the bracelet in the tribute, put my hand to the strange tear drop shaped symbol, and then read the words on the wall. “I call upon the seabed, Gather up your strength to bestow upon me, all the power of gateway and the pressure of the sea.” The tribute began to make a loud whirring sound and the blue lights emitting from it turned an eerie black and suddenly the room was very dark. The whirring grew louder and louder until it finally stopped. The lights returned blue and the tribute turned the Ostium until the window faced me. The Sapphire that once reminded me of the ocean was now an Onyx however. A haunting Black color replaced the cobalt blue. At first I thought I’d screwed up but once I put the bracelet back on Palyma emerged with a smile on her ghostly face. “Perfect! For future reference, pretty much all the tributes will have the same proceedure, excluding the words you recite of course.” She explained happily. “But why did the window turn black?” “The window changes color as you power it up. The final tribute returns the blue color but for now, the black represents the bottom of the ocean. The strength tribute grants control over water pressure, something I believe you’ll have a lot less trouble learning.” Being able to control water pressure sounded pretty cool admittedly, I guess that’s what I’ll be practicing for the rest of the day.

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Cutie Reviews: Gacha Gacha Crate Nov 19

I’m actually working on this sooner than I had planned for once :P I wanted to go and visit my mom at the Hospital today (her port for kemo had to be removed because it gave her a bad infection), but I woke up sick and feverish, and on top of that I’ve been having“leg issues” due to a cramp I got yesterday. I think I’m better off spending today in bed.

With that in mind I just ate lunch (caramel apple walnut pie slice and apple juice), and now I’m ready to work!

Later, I will be doing a smaller post regarding some news related to the various boxes/brands I’m subscribed to, so be sure to check that out when you get a chance!

Calico Critters Doll Set

Calico Critters (in Japan they are known as "Sylvanian Families”) are very popular and cutely flocked human-like animals who come in all sorts of species, each with its own special name, outfit, and information.

For this months box, we could get 1 of 5 various sets, each including its own character, items, a baby bottle, and changeable background piece. I know this looks big in the picture, but its actually really small, being about... not even half the size of my juice box. Each costs 200 yen, and besides my bunny piano set, there was also:

Bear and rocking toy

bunny and bed

squirrel or chipmunk and a car

kitty and a slide (this would have been perfect for my set)

The details of this piece are really nice, especially the backgrounds (which are actually from the toy sets), and the crisp and clean animal figure. The house piece has a detailed roof but otherwise no defined traits (which isn’t bad for display purposes), while the pieces with the animal are very “flat”, for example, the baby bottles are single colored and have no details. The bigger pieces are single colored (with the exception of the piano keys, which are white. I can’t tell if its a sticker or painted) with a lot of molded detail you need to look really close at to see.

I think this is a really cute little toy. I’m not sure its really the best thing to play with due to its tiny size, but it’s perfect as a display piece, for figures, re-ment sets. I’ll be giving it to my Tuxedo Cat family daughters (and their adopted bunny sister).

Pokemon Figurine

This is one of those popular “Gacha in its own head build it yourself“ pieces. I had two other Pokemon versions of these, so I assume they have a bunch of series. But they seem to be mainly based on the original generation.

Meanwhile... can you guess Who That Pokemon is?!

I’ll give you a hint, it’s not Eevee~

It’s Flareon!

Besides Flareon, we could also get Jolteon, Vaporean, Eeevee, and Pikachu!

As usual, these figures are very easy to assemble and seem to be “chibified”. All the pieces come inside and you just pop the head pieces on, then slide in the ears. They paint quality is spot-on in accuracy and detail- but I did notice my Flareon has a "mark” on its nose. I’m not sure if its supposed to be a shine on it, or if its a scratch in the paint.

I will mention that these are a bit fragile. Not in the sense the pieces will break as they are plastic, but they seem to “fall apart“ if dropped or moved too roughly. I barely jostled my box after assembling this and when I opened it again I found the head piece was separated and the ears fell off.

Super Mario Bros

I love getting these cute mini-game based Gachapon, and this one is MARIO themed! I love Mario x3 (and Sonic too, I grew up with both series). This series included 6 variations, either coming in yellow or red, with gold or red coins. The various characters besides this one I got was the Mario Bros, Peach, and Toad. I really wish i got one with Princess Peach, she’s my favorite~

The game is pretty self-explanatory. All you do is insert the coins on one side and guide them to the other.

When not playing with it, you take off the plastic pieces and put them together, put the coins inside, and store them in the slot on the back. It’s very handy and makes this a fun little piece you could bring with you.

I’ll admit, the game gets boring after a few minutes and there isn’t much to it at all; but it’s really cute- and if you’re someone who likes Mario or video games as a whole, I think that adds a special layer to it. It could also be really fun if you play it with multiple people.

Onigiri & Tako Rabbits

Next up is this cute little keychain series featuring Piske and Usagi, by Kanahei, featuring various rice recipes (and a tako Piske). Ironically, I probably got the one I’d not want to eat all all; I don’t like anything but white rice, and I especially hate peas.

However, I’m not eating this and I think this is a very cute charm. It has pieces on both the top and bottom, so you have plenty of options as to what to use this for- but they’re so small, I feel like bigger fingers would have difficulty using them.

Quality wise, these charms are great. The one I have is made from heavy-duty plastic and is very detailed, featuring unique textures on each section (Piske, the rice, the omelet wrap), and the painting job is a solid 9.9 out of 10. I noticed a very small amount of white bleeding into the rice, but its not hugely noticeable.

Fruits Basket Rubber Charm

This item is perfect for any Fruits Basket fans out there new or old, and this was made in time to celebrate the end of the updated series’ first season. There was 8 possible characters in the form of a chibified rubber charm, and from what little I do know, I got Ayame Soma.

While the theme of the series appeals to me, I’ve never entirely got into Fruits Basket. I just know basics, and the stuff my friend (who does like the series) tells me.

These charms are very detailed, with a smooth backing and ball chain... that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. I’m sorry but rubber keychains are almost all the same quality wise regardless of the series. It’s very cute and I like it, but I may pass it on to my friend because I feel like she would appreciate it more.

Onigiri Rings

Our final item of the box is an adorable Onigiri replica :D

Inside the onigiri is this adorable ring, based on the various food items ones might eat in rice, on rice, or with rice. For example... I think mine is sesame seeds and seaweed, or some kind of pickled vegetable. There was also a piece of grilled tuna or salmon, a pickled plum, a raw piece of tuna or salmon, and fish eggs.

Each one costs 300 yen a piece, and honestly I think besides the one I got, I’d like to have gotten the fish eggs (I like how pretty they look), or the pickled plum (because it reminds me of one of my favorite PriPara characters).

The ring is a big, silver loop. I did originally take pictures of my finger with it on, but due to limitations I had to cut back <_< But I will say it fit on each of my fingers and didn’t feel overly tight, so I feel like many hand sizes/types could fit these, which I really like and appreciate. I don’t often wear rings, but just for the cute/weirdness factor, I could see wearing this one.

(Also, does anyone play A3? It’s a new visual novel male actors game. As soon as I got this, the whole thing reminded me of Misumi. With his onigiri and triangle obsession).

--------

All and all, I liked this box :D it was pretty fun and cute and I think in terms of the included items, it was about the same as the prior box, or maybe a little better in my opinion. I didn’t dislike anything, and I can’t wait to get my next one~

As I said on top, I’ll be making another post very soon. Initially I planned on doing it right after this one, but I’m beginning to feel sick again and it’s wearing me down. I think I’ll be doing it later after I get some more rest.

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Ripple Effect ch 7 (SoMa Week 2017)

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

AO3 | FF.net

Ripple effect

In battle

"I can't believe this." Maka held back her tears as she fanned herself with her hands. "I'm getting married."

"Yeah, and he will drive himself crazy the moment he lays his eyes on you." Liz smirked wide as she grabbed her eyeshadow palette and a brush. "But since he's already your husband by law, he probably rocks a semi everywhere he goes."

Maka's face heated up and she picked up her vows and fanned herself with it, pinking even more at the knowing grin on Liz's face. They had gotten caught quite a lot in the janitor's closet by her classroom she might as well put up a sign with her name on it. She intentionally "forgot" her lunch or her keys or anything just for Soul to have a reason to come and visit her. Well, let's just say she wasn't just hungering for a sandwich. At least her students hadn't walked in on her with her husband. Otherwise she would've been fired on the spot and had a stampede of parents on her ass.

"Something like that." She avoided Liz's knowing eyes and she turned toward the full body mirror. The beautiful bridal dress hugged her curves nicely and nicely followed her legs. A simple but yet breath-taking dress she had chosen out of all the bride dresses in the store. Liz had done a simple hairdo and attached the veil at the back of her head. She simply looked… really good. She just hoped Soul would like her look as much as she did.

"I'm just surprised you can keep your sex life as alive as you two do. There's just so much you can do in a wheelchair."

"We're doing just fine." And they were doing more than fine! Sure, since Soul couldn't move his legs or support himself on them, all the work fell on to Maka, but he was certainly not just taking it. He had his hands and mouth to work with and oh boy, he worked wonders with those. Going through months without the intimate connection, it had left a hunger that needed to be squashed. Repeatedly. As often as they could.

"More than fine from what I'm hearing." Liz came into view in the mirror, wiggling her eyebrows. "I bet it will only improve once Kim has gotten the hang of her magic to give him back his ability to walk."

It would definitely, but she didn't really care. Having sex with him would always be amazing. With or without wheelchair. She knew Soul would love to walk around again and lift her up when they hugged and spin her around and kiss her whenever he wanted without reeling her down to his level. He wanted his legs back, and she would support that until the end of her life, but if he would forever be bound in a wheelchair or walking braces and crutches, she was fine with that too. As long as she was with him, she would be okay.

"Yeah, now when she's combining her magic with the progressive science and experiments, I have no doubt she will come up with a solution soon. Especially now when she has Soul's family showering money over her." She could only giggle. The first pay check Mr. Evans had given her, her eyes had almost popped out from their sockets at the large sum.

"She's smart and she will come up with it soon." Liz went around her with the eyeshadow palette in hand and a brush. "Now close your eyes."

The waiting had been killing her when Soul had been rolled inside of the surgery room. They all knew either he would come back out with new intestines and a new chance at life, or he would die on the table, but she had faith he would survive. Soul wasn't a weakling. He struggled through the consequences of saving her in the mountain village and he proved her he was truly ten times stronger than her. Soul… he was simply the most amazing and wonderful partner she could've ever asked for, but at the same time the worst one. Without a thought regarding himself and his life, he would give it all up. For her.

He had been in surgery for seven hours, and he came out alive. More than alive, two hours later he woke up more alive than ever. He was left in the hospital for weeks and she wept with joy, his body was accepting the transplant and he would no longer vomit from drinking liquids. He was gaining weight and his ribcage no longer threatened to break skin. His arm healed up and his body grew stronger. Six weeks later he was discharged from the hospital and for the first time in months, he could return home.

She kept her promise. Two months after the surgery she asked him to marry her with a golden ring in a box, and he said yes. The very next day they went to courthouse and got married, deciding to save the actual ceremony for later when their lives were more stable.

Now, when Soul was healthy enough to eat solid food and live as a normal life as he could as a wheelchair-bound person, it was time they went through with the wedding ceremony.

"There. You look beautiful." Maka opened her eyes and gazed on Liz's masterpiece. Her jaw dropped at her makeup. And not in a good way.

"Why did you give me purple lipstick?!" she shrieked and it was like a horrible throwback toward the fatal night in the mountains. When she was going on a date with "Akane" and Liz had insisted putting on purple lipstick. This— this— she couldn't trigger Soul to go all PTSD on her! "I can't wear purple!"

"Ah, come on, it's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" she sneered as she turned around. "Do you call both of us dying not that bad? What if he passes out just from seeing me or he decides to call off the ceremony or—"

"Relax." Liz swung her arm around Maka's shoulders. "It's fine. A little bird whispered in my ear that purple lipstick is the way to go today."

"What? Really?" Soul… did he really want her to wear purple lipstick? No… wouldn't he be triggered or primed to hate it?

"You know a good agent never reveals her source."

"… but you're not an agent."

"But a street thug I am. I'm just an informal agent." Liz winked as she went over to the makeup table messy with all her different products.

"I trust you not to ruin my wedding." She called after her to the sound of the door opening.

Wes peeked his head inside of the room. "It's time."

"Already?"

Wes grinned wide and slid inside of the room, closing the door behind him. "Nervous? You're just going to marry the same guy again."

Maka blew a raspberry and turned back toward the mirror to smoothen out her dress. Wes appeared behind her in the mirror. "Last time it was only us, you, a judge and a twenty dollar bill. This time, an audience of six-hundred people will be watching us."

"You've nothing to worry about. I'm sure this day will be just as magical as the day at the courthouse, maybe even better, who knows."

"I just hope this all won't freak Soul out."

"The only reason he would freak out would be if his to-be-wife-again didn't start walking down the aisle when the organ starts. Now turn around." She turned around to face her brother-in-law, he pulled her veil down. "He's just as nervous as you are, if that is to any comfort."

It wasn't anything new. She could feel him at the end of their bond, feeling his soul quivering with nerves, if any, he was maybe even more nervous than she was. Being in the spotlight in front of so many people must be scary.

"I know." She placed her hand on her chest where her soul dwelled. "He's freaking out."

"Then how about we get this wedding started?"

She let out a quick breath before she nodded. "Yes."

Liz disappeared inside of the church and so did Wes after flashing a thumb up toward her. Maka exhaled and held her bouquet tightly in her hands when the organist started playing. The double doors opened, revealing all their friends and family gathered in the benches. But no Soul. Kid stood alone at the end of the aisle and Liz and Wes stood on either side as their maid of honour and best man. But where the heck was Soul?! Her palms grew moist as she slowly started to walk down the aisle. Their friends and family among the audience didn't seem surprised at all, simply composed and smiled toward her as she went by.

She reached the end of the aisle where Wes grinned even wider at her perplexed expression.

The song didn't end. It started back up and the heavy double doors slammed open once again. She flipped around and there he was. Standing— on his legs! His wheelchair was nowhere to be seen and iron poles were jutting out from his pants, resembling his walking braces, but at the same time not. His hands casually fisted the metal rode and he gently tugged it forward— he took a step!

Maka gasped when he wobbled the slightest, intending to go and aid him when flesh grabbed her wrist. She faced Wes shaking his head.

"Just watch him."

It all fell into place. The nervousness within Soul's core. Wes's knowing grin. They all knew this was going to happen.

She watched him. As discrete as he could, he pulled at the metal rods as he shakily went down the aisle. It was enchanting. The sweet melodies from the organ seemed to cease to exist as Soul slowly made his way down the aisle. Occasionally he had to support himself on the benches, but he battled on and kept on walking down the aisle. The organ repeated the song when he reached halfway. Tears pooled up in her eyes and Maka silently thanked Liz for applying waterproof makeup.

When he was just a few steps away from her, she neared him and gathered him in her arms. "You're walking." she whispered into his ear, hugging him close to her which he reciprocated with interest. "I can't believe it."

"Me neither. Kim came up with a solution and she has managed to reconnect my nerve system to my legs. Now I just need to build up my muscles again and maybe I'll be able to walk like before all this happened."

"Thank death." she whimpered and buried her face in her husband's neck. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to surprise you and make you proud on our wedding day."

She pulled away and she cupped his cheeks, caressing his newly shaved skin. "I'm always going to be proud of you. Wheelchair or no wheelchair. Please, include me in your battles. I want to support you and help you even if it is the smallest thing like fetching utensils because you forgot to bring them."

Soul lifted up her veil and held her face in his hands, thumb caressing her bottom lip and his eyes darkened as if he was hypnotized. He leaned closer and his forehead feathered over hers. "I promise you I will always include you not only in my life, but in my mind and thoughts. I will always support and love you through thick and thin until death reclaims me."

A smile played on Maka's lips just before they locked tightly with her husband. Loud applauds rung and whistles broke out as their lips slipped, clinging onto each other.

Kid shrugged his shoulders and chuckled heartily. Seemed like they didn't need him to wed them after all. They did it well themselves.

Soul pulled away, licking the purple lipstick smeared on his lips. "I'm so glad you put that lipstick on."

Maka giggled and kissed his nose. "If you had to choose between me reapplying the lipstick or a cheeseburgers and chill at the hotel room, what would you chose?"

"No." His eyes widened with realization. "You didn't."

Maka shrugged her shoulders and pulled him close to her. "It's your choice."

"Is there no possibility to have both?"

"I'm open for some kind of compromise." Her finger ran along his jaw line.

"I'm your guy then." He reeled her in and kissed her once again.

Finally. Their battle had ended. Now only peace laid in front of them.

...

Thank you all for reading this little fic of mine and letting me break and mend your hearts once again! Now you can rest assure, I'll leave Maka and Soul alone in this universe to live happily forever after.

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today i did a lot of laying around. not literally laying, but otherwise being lazy.

i don’t know why i feel so confused... i feel really disoriented in my dreams, and sometimes i am sort of unable to follow what’s going on as it happens. and then i stay confused after i wake up for a little while. and my head hurts, because of course it does.

in the morning i chilled out i guess. guess what i didn’t work on? that’s right, the self esteem worksheet!!! i will try again tomorrow.

at around 11:30 i gave up hiding in my room because my eyes and head were starting to hurt and made myself some pasta for lunch. i ate a few bites and then threw it away. even a pile of parmesan cheese couldn’t encourage my stomach. then i drove out to my therapist’s office and talked about stuff. i think we got somewhere this time.

it’s hard to explain in non-conversation form. and i’m not sure how to start.

i went through a quick demonstration of my family tree and talked about some stuff regarding the hawaii trip coming up in a few weeks. i realized that i can see her the week we leave though since we’re leaving on thursday and my appointments are on tuesdays. so that was kind of a relief. and i went through my plans in the case that i am unable to continue group therapy, and in the case that my coverage gets re-approved.

and then we talked about my self esteem worksheet. i talked about some of the stuff i brought up yesterday in my post, but i decided not to talk about my dreams because there just wasn’t enough time.

... it’s strange. i don’t particularly like anything about myself, but it’s not like i don’t make what i think are the best decisions in the situations i find myself in. so, like, i’m not being an asshole on purpose at the very least. i don’t understand why i hate myself so much. like yeah i was a pretty nasty teenager... as teenagers can be. but these days? i don’t hurt no one on purpose except myself. and also bugs i guess.

maybe i used to understand why i hate myself, or at least had a solid goal in mind with it, but i forgot. maybe it’s because i’m not eating enough. it’s hard to remember what happened this morning let alone a couple weeks/months/years ago. the plus side of not having enough energy to think is that you don’t think about things too much. the downside is, of course, that you CAN’T think about things too much.

i gotta... look at my worksheet and write some new rules down. i’m too tired right now and my eyes hurt too much. my eyes hurt while i’m typing this too but i gotta think some stuff through and i won’t be able to keep track of my train of thought unless i am writing it down. and i type a lot faster than i write.

we’ll come back to that later. after therapy i had trouble getting home because the construction guys are doing the other half of the roads in my neighborhood. at least i wasn’t the only one who had no idea what was going on. i saw grooves and tire tracks all along the wet pavement on basically every road. some turns were completely blocked off but you couldn’t see that until you were at the turn. i had to get out of the neighborhood to the access road through the entrance. it was pretty lucky that no one was trying to get in. there’s a wall blocking off your view of the access road until you’re halfway onto it.

then i watched three whole episodes of soma which was reallllllllllly obnoxious with my headache. i jumped so hard at one of the scares that i pulled something in my knee. afterward i talked a little bit about philosophy and existence and stuff with asher. like... what would it be like if you met a digital copy of yourself.

after that i took the dogs outside for a while, and watched mom and dad leave for the movies, and made myself some potatoes in the oven. they turned out really good! i even ate most of the meal. about three quarters. and i put away some of the ornaments that my brother and i had taken down from the kitchen shelves to clean. and i dusted, i forgot about that. i might have to dust the game room a lot more thoroughly, or try to convince mom to JUST THROW AWAY THE BARREL MONKEYS. JUST THROW THEM AWAY!!! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE THE BARREL IS??? WE JUST HAVE TONS OF INTERLOCKING PLASTIC MONKEYS SCATTERED AROUND THE GAME ROOM AND THEY MAKE IT HARD TO CLEAR THE SHELVES BECAUSE THERE’S RANDOM JUNK THAT MAKES EVERYTHING TAKE FIVE TIMES LONGER TO GET OUT OF THE WAY. not to mention the plastic mountain that we used to play with my sister’s polly pockets on. it was a completely different color when i had finished dusting it. none of us has touched that thing in at LEAST ten years. mom keeps all our old toys like“oh maybe YOUR kids will want it someday!!!” and it’s like“mom this is a broken jagged piece of a lego.” all of the links have syrup on them from when my brother never washed his hands. we’re still clearing cheeto dust out of the gamecube controllers’ buttons...

there’s so much random crap taking up space on the game bookcase. like“clue jr.” instead of digging through MY room and messing with MY stuff when i’m not home maybe mom could focus on cleaning the public areas of the house???

i’m still really angry that she went through all of my things while i was away. i keep my room devoid of anything incriminating of course anyway but being reminded that she really will just come in here and dig through my box of letters from grandma pearl or whatever was... frustrating. i don’t got“anything” to hide (that’s in my room at least), but that still doesn’t give you permission to just go through it any time you like. you don’t HAVE to know that i’ve used about half of my stationery and have a stash of stamps. you don’t HAVE to know that i kept the paper andrew hussie autographed and it’s in my closet.

i am so glad that i go to great lengths to hide stuff like the queer superhero comic i bought. by keeping it on me at all times. or just keeping my room such a mess that it’s impossible to find anything.

i do need to clean my room... i could do that tomorrow. i got eve to successfully use the stepping stool to get on the bed today. so i don’t really need to block off every other access point to the bed any more. and if she starts trying to jump up there again i can just move the bins back. there doesn’t need to be random stuff all over the floor too.

then i watched another episode of soma and here we are. i spent a while clicking through web sites aimlessly... sometimes you just want to look at pictures of gay space rocks ok? i’ve got two episodes of soma left.

self esteem. i guess the best way to approach having a better self esteem is to not overthink it? overthinking isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can lead to a lot of uncertainty... it should be similar to the best approach to being“happy,” or at least, at ease. just... invest your attention in what you’re doing right now. crowd out the misery with a bunch of fun things that you want to be part of.

that doesn’t cure depression of course, and there’s gonna be times where you’re just gonna be depressed (or not think highly of yourself), but it’s a good habit to get into anyway.

at this point... i think it’s important to figure out where the low self esteem is coming from, and what exactly it is i’ve been telling myself all these years. i need that information in order to change it. it’s gonna feel bad... but maybe it won’t come back unexpectedly any more.

still not really sure where to go from here. doing the writing exercise might help. i will try to get back on top of my pile of garbage tomorrow morning. i’m going to go to bed early tonight to try to give myself enough time to sleep for once. i haven’t been sleeping enough on top of not eating enough and it’s wearing me out really fast. i also need to call the group facility at like 12:30 to figure out what my next step will be. either i can go back that day, or i gotta wait longer. there’s not really any way to know until 12:30, so i will try not to worry about it until at least 12:00.

another thing i can try tomorrow is, when i finish soma, to load up one of the tv shows i got a few episodes into and then stopped watching. i need to see something new. and i’ve got like a dozen tv shows in my bookmarks that i’ve wanted to get to but never had time/energy. may as well plow ahead now.

i feel like i should wrap up the post soon, but it’s only 11:40, which feels... too early. but i don’t really have anything else coherent to say. just a lot of feelings that i don’t know how to articulate right now.

maybe i should draw some fan art. maybe that would help me feel a little better and less bottled up. i don’t really have a lot of outlets with which to express my enthusiasm. most of the time i just feel like i’m going to explode.

i hope you are doing ok, and that you have a pleasant night. or at least... less unpleasant than usual, if that’s how it’s going right now.

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Netatmo To Discharge Well-balanced House Coach Smart Air Display

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An ISP to love

Hyperleap offers no-hassle, blazing internet speeds.

Quick show of hands: Who loves their internet service provider? Not tolerates, endures, accepts — but loves in a way that makes them evangelical about the company? I'm guessing that few of you have your hands up. You've been burned one too many times by outages, high costs and service calls happening between the hours of "8 a.m. and noon." But sitting just a few feet from me is Jordan Little, the director of digital strategy at the Arkansas Times, with his hand raised. When he's not making the trains run on time here at AT HQ, he runs or contributes to several start-ups, while also, like most millenials, conducting all of his home-based leisure and socializing through the web. At the best, lags in internet service drive him crazy. At the worst, they cost him money.

That's why Little is so bullish about Hyperleap, the wireless internet service from Little Rock-based start-up the Broadband Development Group. Its CEO, Lou McAlister, jokingly describes it as "Google Fiber without Google or the fiber." Times readers voted it runner-up to AT&T in this year's Best of poll. Like Google Fiber, the ISP company from Google parent company Alphabet, Hyperleap positions itself as the anti-telecom. It offers super-fast internet for a competitive price with no hidden fees, no contract, no data caps, no throttling, no limits on using multiple devices at once and no equipment to rent or buy. When Little moved into a new apartment recently, he transferred his Hyperleap service from his old place to his new one within minutes just by logging into Hyperleap's online service portal. McAlister says he knows of clients who "move into an apartment, have us for a few months, then go on a trip for a month. They turn us off, come back and turn us back on."

McAlister is a North Little Rock native and graduate of UA Little Rock. His career includes time at AT&T, co-founding the Arkansas-based telecom Navigator Telecommunications and co-founding 7X7 Networking, a San Francisco-based ISP. He co-founded Hyperleap in 2015 with Tom Flak, whose resume includes stops at AT&T, SOMA Networks and Redseal Networks; and James Hendren, co-founder of Arkansas Systems Inc. and a longtime player in the Arkansas tech and start-up community.

When McAlister moved back to Arkansas several years ago, he became entrepreneur-in-residence at the Venture Center, the Little Rock-based start-up accelerator. The question he always asked of would-be entrepreneurs, he said, was, " 'What's the biggest hurdle between you and doing your start-up?' After we got through the funding talk, they'd say, 'Our internet sucks. You have to pay too much for it. It's too slow. It's too unreliable. It's a hassle to deal with the companies. We're small-business guys. We need the speed, the affordability.' " McAlister knew how to fix that.

Hyperleap buys access to the internet from a large Tier 1 provider, i.e. one of the companies that, through fiber-optic cables, serves as the backbone of the worldwide internet. The company then taps into that connection at its Union Plaza headquarters in downtown Little Rock. From that skyscraper's roof, its antennas beam microwaves to antennas on other multitenant buildings in downtown Little Rock, which, through the magic of technology that you don't care about, provides all the characteristics of fiber-optic fixed broadband. Which is to say, it's super fast.

Hyperleap offers internet speeds of 35 mega-bits per second ($39 per month), 100 mbps ($54) and 300 mbps-plus, i.e. up to 1 gigabit ($70). People who simply want to stream Netflix — even at 4K — and be able to play around on their phones at the same time probably only need 35 mbps, which is what most Hyperleap customers sign up for, according to McAlister. The company's largest footprint is downtown Little Rock, where it's available in MacArthur Commons, Rock Street Lofts, the Lafayette Building, River Market Tower, the Kramer School, Quapaw Tower and in other apartment and condo complexes. But it also links up to its Tier 1 connection in tall buildings in Midtown and Riverdale, which allows it to service the likes of Rivercliff Apartments. Hyperleap also has a number of commercial clients, including the Arkansas Times.

The Broadband Development Group's future plan is "global domination," McAlister jokes, but don't expect to be able to get Hyperleap at your house anytime soon. The business model behind Hyperleap is taking advantage of density. If it can develop relationships with landlords and wire entire apartment complexes for Hyperleap — as it has with the likes of MacArthur Commons — it's easily able to predict growth. Hyperleap doesn't advertise; all of its growth up to this point has been word-of-mouth. McAlister declined to provide revenue or customer numbers, but says, at this point, the customer base is really small. The company only has 10 employees.

But again, it's got big plans. Because Little Rock is relatively small without much density, it's at the small end of markets BDG envisions for itself. The company is already in Dallas, and McAlister says it's working on another round of funding that would allow it to further expand its footprint there and maybe go into the Bay Area. Nashville and Memphis might be next.

Hyperleap touts its speeds and price point and instant activation on its website (bdg.link), but McAlister says the company is especially focused on being the best in the business at customer service: "We don't want to be the company you hate to buy something from. We want to be the company you love to buy something from." So far, Little says that's been his experience. It's been "phenomenal," he said. "Real people with real names emailing back very quickly" when a problem arises.

An ISP to love

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SOMA design dealers find their inspiration on the road

SofiaSaxlund and MariaKlokow first met in Berlin when Maria was giving away some of her old music records. They hit it off, stayed in touch and eventually realizedthey not only enjoyed each other’s company, but had the same passion for design and travel.

Today they work as the creative duo behindSOMA design dealers, traveling the globe as digital nomads and drawing inspiration from their surroundings.We chatted with them about their travels, how they overcome remote workchallenges and why being location independent is so good for creativity.

Maria (left) and Sofia (right) in Uruguay

Name: SofiaSaxlund & MariaKlokow 99designs handle:SOMA design dealers Location: Digital nomad Specialty: Packaging & label design

Tell us a little about yourselves

Sofia is a visual communication designer from Uruguay and Maria is a graphic designer/developer from Germany. We met while living and working in Berlin. Maria was giving away some of her music records (really good ones, as Sofia might say), and Sofia picked them up.

Smoothie label

We stayed in touch and after finding out that we shared more than the same music taste, we started going out and fell in love with each other. Months later we moved in together and decided to start traveling and living abroad while pursuing our passions.

Living together was going great… and then we discovered that we also rock working together . Because of our different backgrounds, we complement each other very well. Sofia was a freelance designer already, and Maria was partner in a Berlin-based company and enjoyed designing and coding on the side.

Where did the name SOMA design dealers come from?

The name SOMA is a combination of our names. It started as a spoof on people that call their brands after the names or initials of the founders. But it also has many other meanings.

For example, “Soma” is the drug given to people in Aldous Huxley’s classic “Brave New World” to maintain social order and keep people from feeling any negative emotions—hence the reference to us being design dealers. Many of our clients like the name SOMA because they immediately recognize the personal meaning behind it.

Maria and Sofia explore Argentina

Letting your work be influenced by new surroundings, people and cultures makes being a designer one of the most perfect jobs for travel.

- SOMA Design Dealers

What brought you to 99designs?

When we switched our individual projects over to SOMA, we decided to broaden our scope—not only in quantity and quality, but also in diversity. 99designs allows us to see various business models and how product and design trends adapt to stay in line with them.

It encourages us to design in various styles and for different materials, while offering us the chance to showcase and improve our own style—not only by competing against ourselves but also other artists from around the globe.

Tell us a little about your travel lifestyle

We choose to live with very little possessions, ergo when we travel we don’t need that much stuff either. It’s just ourselves, our tools and some clothes. It’s very easy to build a temporary base in a place we like and travel to cities and countries nearby. It allows us to continue working and have a “home” to go back to, but at the same time conquer more of what is out there.

We both enjoy a healthy balance of working a few hours a day and then exploring the city we’re in, rather than taking long holidays completely off work.

How does being a designer enable you to combine work and travel?

They say the more you travel the more you’re inspired. As a designer your main resource is your creativity. Besides that, all you need is some paper and a pen (and a laptop, who are we kidding?). You can take your favourite Moleskine or your Wacom tablet if you can’t live a day without them. But that’s about it, really.

Of course, there’s responsibilities and deadlines to commit to, so planning ahead and self-discipline are key. But the fact that you’re not bound to an office or a boss telling you when and where to be gives you the freedom and space to let your creativity run wild.

Maria and Sofia enjoying a snack in Santiago, Chile

We are children of experiences. Everything we see and everything we learn influences our personal style.

- SOMA Design Dealers

What are some of the challenges you face?

Being aware of different time zones. Right now we have a lot of clients in the US and Europe, which means we usually have to be reachable from early in the morning to midnight.Communication can be difficult when written, so an actual face-to-face chat or Skype call helps fill in the gaps.

Once in a while you might be stranded in a place without proper Wi-Fi or a good data connection, so you’ll have to catch up on a ton of work once you’re back in civilization.

What’s your advice for a maintaining a solid designer-client relationship when traveling?

For designers: Let clients know your availability so they can plan ahead. You don’t want an inbox full of unread emails that needs an all-nighter to catch up on. You also don’t want an empty inbox because you neglected your clients. Checking in with them one too many times is better than not checking in at all.

For clients: If you’ve found a good designer, stick with them. We’ve seen many brands go to a different designer each time they need something and end up with a collection of “mini” brands instead of a solid and consistent one. Also, let your designer know if something is urgent. Many times, the designer doesn’t know your schedule. Communication is key for both sides.

Do you prefer to work from cafes or somewhere else?

We usually prefer to rent an apartment and work from there. Cafés and busy spots are nice to grab some fresh thoughts, but when it comes to a heavy workload we find it easier to stay focused in a more quiet and comfortable environment.

Of course, sometimes it happens that a deadline falls into a time when we’re checking in on a plane or are out and about. But carrying a few necessary items makes it easy to find a quick spot to put in an hour of work. Maybe you can call this controlled flexibility.

If you’re traveling on a budget, going to a co-working space or a café might not be the best choice, since you’ll burn a lot of money just to have a place to work. But as a single traveller, you might want to stay around people. Maybe it’s different for us because we are already a team, giving each other company.

Where’s the best place you’ve worked from?

The library at De Hallen in Amsterdam! You can choose between the tables at the cafeteria on the ground floor or go upstairs, where they have long tables and sofas. It’s very quiet and you’ll get the best lunch right inside the Food Hallen.

A bit more exclusive and difficult to reach is Sofia’s parents backyard in Uruguay. The hammock under the tree, the breeze coming from the beach and the birds singing make it the best place to work. Actually, we should consider submitting it for an award.

Beer label design

What’s most important when planning a working-vacation?

Come up with a budget and don’t lose track of it. When you’re travelling, unexpected events might occur—projects might get cancelled or postponed or you might miss a flight. If you have at least two or three months of living costs saved up, you’ll be covered for most events.

If you’re dealing with clients in different time zones, remember that you’ll need to be available at different times when making your travel-work schedule.

Also remember that some places don’t have Wi-Fi or high-speed internet, so plan ahead and check for national SIM cards or, when you find a place to stay, ask your hosts how good their internet connection is.

Don’t just travel for the sake of traveling. Try to find a benefit you can bring to your work and life.

- SOMA Design Dealers

What’s your advice for fellow digital nomad designers?

When something is urgent, try to do it as soon as possible. Then your clients will give you the free time you need when something is not as urgent.

Keep an eye on your things if you’re in a public place. Get insurance for your laptop or have enough money as backup in case it gets broken, stolen or lost. Don’t forget the backups! You don’t want to look unprofessional in case your laptop crashes and you lose all the recent progress on your clients’ designs.

Don’t get lost in your computer or phone. Go out, feel, listen, smell, see! Get in touch with the locals. They always know where to have the best time and will give you a better feel for their city than anyone else.

Meet other travelers, designers or folks that are like you. They can give you good advice for work/life hacks or places and ways to work.

How do you decide where you’ll head to next?

Our time spent traveling depends on the destination and reason for the trip. We mostly travel for a few months before going back to Berlin and checking in on our loved ones there. But if it’s just a place we want to see and it’s close, we usually go for a few days or a week.

We’ve been in South America now for a couple of months to visit family and friends and to dive into South American culture, away from European stress. You’d never guess where we answered the questions for this interview… We started in Santiago de Chile, continued it in a basecamp at the Aconcagua, and finished it in Buenos Aires.

Where do you plan to go next?

For the rest of this year our plans include the US, Greece, Iceland and Japan. Right now, we’re also looking for a place to relocate our homebase to and expand SOMA by creating a collaborative space. We are open to suggestions and art collaborations, so tell us if you think your city is the one for us!

Want to work with SOMA design dealers?

Check out their profile for more inspiring work

Let’s go!

The post SOMA design dealers find their inspiration on the road appeared first on 99designs.

SOMA design dealers find their inspiration on the road published first on https://www.lilpackaging.com/

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SOMA design dealers find their inspiration on the road

SofiaSaxlund and MariaKlokow first met in Berlin when Maria was giving away some of her old music records. They hit it off, stayed in touch and eventually realizedthey not only enjoyed each other’s company, but had the same passion for design and travel.

Today they work as the creative duo behindSOMA design dealers, traveling the globe as digital nomads and drawing inspiration from their surroundings.We chatted with them about their travels, how they overcome remote workchallenges and why being location independent is so good for creativity.

Maria (left) and Sofia (right) in Uruguay

Name: SofiaSaxlund & MariaKlokow 99designs handle:SOMA design dealers Location: Digital nomad Specialty: Packaging & label design

Tell us a little about yourselves

Sofia is a visual communication designer from Uruguay and Maria is a graphic designer/developer from Germany. We met while living and working in Berlin. Maria was giving away some of her music records (really good ones, as Sofia might say), and Sofia picked them up.

Smoothie label

We stayed in touch and after finding out that we shared more than the same music taste, we started going out and fell in love with each other. Months later we moved in together and decided to start traveling and living abroad while pursuing our passions.

Living together was going great… and then we discovered that we also rock working together . Because of our different backgrounds, we complement each other very well. Sofia was a freelance designer already, and Maria was partner in a Berlin-based company and enjoyed designing and coding on the side.

Where did the name SOMA design dealers come from?

The name SOMA is a combination of our names. It started as a spoof on people that call their brands after the names or initials of the founders. But it also has many other meanings.

For example, “Soma” is the drug given to people in Aldous Huxley’s classic “Brave New World” to maintain social order and keep people from feeling any negative emotions—hence the reference to us being design dealers. Many of our clients like the name SOMA because they immediately recognize the personal meaning behind it.

Maria and Sofia explore Argentina

Letting your work be influenced by new surroundings, people and cultures makes being a designer one of the most perfect jobs for travel.

- SOMA Design Dealers

What brought you to 99designs?

When we switched our individual projects over to SOMA, we decided to broaden our scope—not only in quantity and quality, but also in diversity. 99designs allows us to see various business models and how product and design trends adapt to stay in line with them.

It encourages us to design in various styles and for different materials, while offering us the chance to showcase and improve our own style—not only by competing against ourselves but also other artists from around the globe.

Tell us a little about your travel lifestyle

We choose to live with very little possessions, ergo when we travel we don’t need that much stuff either. It’s just ourselves, our tools and some clothes. It’s very easy to build a temporary base in a place we like and travel to cities and countries nearby. It allows us to continue working and have a “home” to go back to, but at the same time conquer more of what is out there.

We both enjoy a healthy balance of working a few hours a day and then exploring the city we’re in, rather than taking long holidays completely off work.

How does being a designer enable you to combine work and travel?

They say the more you travel the more you’re inspired. As a designer your main resource is your creativity. Besides that, all you need is some paper and a pen (and a laptop, who are we kidding?). You can take your favourite Moleskine or your Wacom tablet if you can’t live a day without them. But that’s about it, really.

Of course, there’s responsibilities and deadlines to commit to, so planning ahead and self-discipline are key. But the fact that you’re not bound to an office or a boss telling you when and where to be gives you the freedom and space to let your creativity run wild.

Maria and Sofia enjoying a snack in Santiago, Chile

We are children of experiences. Everything we see and everything we learn influences our personal style.

- SOMA Design Dealers

What are some of the challenges you face?

Being aware of different time zones. Right now we have a lot of clients in the US and Europe, which means we usually have to be reachable from early in the morning to midnight.Communication can be difficult when written, so an actual face-to-face chat or Skype call helps fill in the gaps.

Once in a while you might be stranded in a place without proper Wi-Fi or a good data connection, so you’ll have to catch up on a ton of work once you’re back in civilization.

What’s your advice for a maintaining a solid designer-client relationship when traveling?

For designers: Let clients know your availability so they can plan ahead. You don’t want an inbox full of unread emails that needs an all-nighter to catch up on. You also don’t want an empty inbox because you neglected your clients. Checking in with them one too many times is better than not checking in at all.

For clients: If you’ve found a good designer, stick with them. We’ve seen many brands go to a different designer each time they need something and end up with a collection of “mini” brands instead of a solid and consistent one. Also, let your designer know if something is urgent. Many times, the designer doesn’t know your schedule. Communication is key for both sides.

Do you prefer to work from cafes or somewhere else?

We usually prefer to rent an apartment and work from there. Cafés and busy spots are nice to grab some fresh thoughts, but when it comes to a heavy workload we find it easier to stay focused in a more quiet and comfortable environment.

Of course, sometimes it happens that a deadline falls into a time when we’re checking in on a plane or are out and about. But carrying a few necessary items makes it easy to find a quick spot to put in an hour of work. Maybe you can call this controlled flexibility.

If you’re traveling on a budget, going to a co-working space or a café might not be the best choice, since you’ll burn a lot of money just to have a place to work. But as a single traveller, you might want to stay around people. Maybe it’s different for us because we are already a team, giving each other company.

Where’s the best place you’ve worked from?

The library at De Hallen in Amsterdam! You can choose between the tables at the cafeteria on the ground floor or go upstairs, where they have long tables and sofas. It’s very quiet and you’ll get the best lunch right inside the Food Hallen.

A bit more exclusive and difficult to reach is Sofia’s parents backyard in Uruguay. The hammock under the tree, the breeze coming from the beach and the birds singing make it the best place to work. Actually, we should consider submitting it for an award.

Beer label design

What’s most important when planning a working-vacation?

Come up with a budget and don’t lose track of it. When you’re travelling, unexpected events might occur—projects might get cancelled or postponed or you might miss a flight. If you have at least two or three months of living costs saved up, you’ll be covered for most events.

If you’re dealing with clients in different time zones, remember that you’ll need to be available at different times when making your travel-work schedule.

Also remember that some places don’t have Wi-Fi or high-speed internet, so plan ahead and check for national SIM cards or, when you find a place to stay, ask your hosts how good their internet connection is.

Don’t just travel for the sake of traveling. Try to find a benefit you can bring to your work and life.

- SOMA Design Dealers

What’s your advice for fellow digital nomad designers?

When something is urgent, try to do it as soon as possible. Then your clients will give you the free time you need when something is not as urgent.

Keep an eye on your things if you’re in a public place. Get insurance for your laptop or have enough money as backup in case it gets broken, stolen or lost. Don’t forget the backups! You don’t want to look unprofessional in case your laptop crashes and you lose all the recent progress on your clients’ designs.

Don’t get lost in your computer or phone. Go out, feel, listen, smell, see! Get in touch with the locals. They always know where to have the best time and will give you a better feel for their city than anyone else.

Meet other travelers, designers or folks that are like you. They can give you good advice for work/life hacks or places and ways to work.

How do you decide where you’ll head to next?

Our time spent traveling depends on the destination and reason for the trip. We mostly travel for a few months before going back to Berlin and checking in on our loved ones there. But if it’s just a place we want to see and it’s close, we usually go for a few days or a week.

We’ve been in South America now for a couple of months to visit family and friends and to dive into South American culture, away from European stress. You’d never guess where we answered the questions for this interview… We started in Santiago de Chile, continued it in a basecamp at the Aconcagua, and finished it in Buenos Aires.

Where do you plan to go next?

For the rest of this year our plans include the US, Greece, Iceland and Japan. Right now, we’re also looking for a place to relocate our homebase to and expand SOMA by creating a collaborative space. We are open to suggestions and art collaborations, so tell us if you think your city is the one for us!

Want to work with SOMA design dealers?

Check out their profile for more inspiring work

Let's go!

The post SOMA design dealers find their inspiration on the road appeared first on 99designs.

0 notes