@ii-thiscat-ii / ii-thiscat-ii.tumblr.com
To you who has found these words, I am sorry. There is no way out of this place. These endless hallways lead only back onto themselves.
My name is Mint Castere. I am the last architect of Makhri-fe, The City of Walls. I am the woman who built this maze. I am the woman who ended this city. I am the woman who killed you.
I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry.
As time loops go, this one isn’t so bad. It’s a whole month, not so long it’s hell to get through, but not so short it’s hell to live.
You’ve heard about people getting stuck in time loops only a few hours long for too many loops and completely losing track of their connections to other people. With a month, people do reset, but they’re still people to you. After the first day or so you lose the ability to predict them. It makes you feel less alone.
That would pass eventually, you know, but you have faith you’ll escape before you get that far. A month is a good while, but it’s not so long it’s impossible to sort things out to find what went wrong and what needs fixing. Not like ones that last years, or decades.
You’ve heard the horror stories of generational time loops, people falling back into their ancestors’ bodies and needing to make it out by relying on nothing but letters left by their time-travelling past selves. Compared to that, being stuck reliving May a few times is nothing. You can handle that.
The weather is even good. Not too hot, not too cold, mostly sunny, with some heavy rain a couple weeks in. It gets unpredictable towards the end of the month, butterfly effect or something, but it’s always pretty good.
Sometimes you can even find it in yourself to appreciate the looping.
Sure, it’s existentially horrifying and the threat of not finding your way out and being stuck to the point of insanity as the endless repetition eats away at your psyche and leaves your body intact is there, but it’s also quiet in a way you’re not really used to. It’s relaxing.
Sometimes you just take a day off to rest in the sun, catch up on books you were meaning to read, get in touch with friends you haven’t spoken to for years because you need a new perspective and also why not. There are no meetings you’re scheduled for that you haven’t already sat through, and you’re pretty sure they’re required to give extra vacation days for stuff like this anyway. It’s like sick days, but for the fabric of reality. It’s pretty neat.
Almost all of May. 28 days and five hours. You’ve been through them… how many times by now?
Ah, whatever. This book you’re reading’s just getting good.
Winged bull. Picture was snapped as the bull was chased by a crane at Keoladeo National Park, in Rajasthan, India. Photo: Jagdeep Rajput
Sometimes you see something and you just gotta draw it
i’ve been rereading/enjoying something borrowed yet again and saw you’d said on a previous ask that it’s possibly discontinued for good. would you ever consider posting something like a short summary of how you intended things to end? you have so many interesting threads going in terms of plot & character arcs, and i’d love to know how you planned on things ending for izuku & co.
Maybe someday. Not sure I can be assed to. I’d have to dig up my myriad of post-it notes from wherever the fuck they got off to
This tumblr is mostly dead and I don’t feel like going to the trouble of scanning this, but I wanted to post it here anyway.
This game has taken a hold of me and not let go.
Hello! I know you're not in the transcendence au fandom anymore but I want to say I really love Static Worms, especially the static worm creature itself and the nightmares and dreams visiting at the end!!! And I wanted to thank you for writing it and all the other amazing fics and characters you wrote for Tau over the years. They're all so lovely! And I hope you're enjoying One Piece!
While I’m answering asks, thank you. I am glad you like my writing.
Umm...
I just wanted to ask, are you going to continue the rosewood affair? I really love it but I don't want to bug you about it if you aren't still in the tau fandom.
Anyways, would be great to know if I still have to reload the page every ten minutes just in case.
Every ten minutes is really going too far considering it last updated early 2018. In fact, it’s been well over three years since I wrote ANYTHING for TAU. I’m pretty sure a cursory glance at recentcomment responses would make it obvious enough that I’m thoroughly out of the fandom, if the several years of fic for other fandoms on my Ao3 page or this dead tumblr didn’t.
No, I’m not going to continue writing it.
So I was sitting on the couch when suddenly I heard a loud bang like a bird crashing into a window on the other side of the house, and I was like ‘holy shit, did it die?’
Turns out, yes, but not for the reason I thought. Turns out this hawk was chasing a thrush, and successfully killed it by way of glass window, which is impressive enough on its own.
Then the magpies arrived.
Jimbei knew joining Luffy’s crew would be worth it.
He knew it would be challenging, that they would be sailing headfirst into the most dangerous waters of the world with no option to turn back.
He knew it would be fulfilling, that he would get to work and live with people he would be willing to give his life for, if it ever came to that. He already counted Luffy among that number.
He never knew it would be this much fun.
“Ah, this is quite a lot of flowers, isn’t it,” says Brook.
Robin smiles as she pins another rose into the growing bouquet on his head. “Yes, but you have quite a lot of hair.”
“So I do! Yohohoho!” he laughs.
She waits patiently for him to stop, so he can remember to bow down and keep still so she can finish working.
“You do look stunning,” she says.
“Ahhh, thank you,” he says. “I was hoping the corset would help lace in my waist, but then I remembered I’m a skeleton, so I don’t have a waist! Yohoho!”
“That,” Nami says, “is incredibly inappropriate.”
“Eh?” says Franky. He’s been distracted looking at the arena being set up on the town plaza. It’s good construction, clearly made to be easy to set up and take down, and yet more than sturdy enough to use year after year. He needs to talk to the person who built it.
Nami gives him a long look up and down. “...Nevermind. But if I find out that’s one of my bikinis, you will regret.”
“Of course not! What do you take me for? I bought my own.”
“Then do whatever you want,” she says, and walks off.
Hopefully the festival will raise her spirits a little.
The arena is meant to be for exhibition matches and contests of skill and strength throughout the festival, he’s pretty sure. It’s well-built, but it could really use a retractable roof of some kind in case of rain.
Yeah, he wants in on this, he thinks, so he runs off to find whoever’s in charge.
Robin is having what is easily one of the best days of her life.
Almost every culture has solstice celebrations, and she’s studied so many of the traditions, living and dead, but it’s something quite different to participate.
This one reminds her of a masquerade, in the way everyone is meant to take on a new role, in the way your past is temporarily set aside, even wanted criminals free to walk the streets while the festival is on.
The results of a culture with very strict norms, putting them aside only once a year. It’s fascinating in theory, but mostly it’s fun.
And the roses, well, she only found them being sold alongside other accessories, but they remind her of the flower festivals of her home she was too young to truly remember. She’s happy her family is so willing to play along.
She wonders if any of them know that every flower she hands them means love.
Gender is a bit of an oddity, Chopper has learned. Sure, he’s a human man, and sure, he’s a reindeer bull, and those both have their traits. It’s all the societal details and nuances that are lost on him.
He knows guys aren’t meant to wear dresses, but he never really understood why, just followed other people’s lead and hoped he wouldn’t make a mistake somewhere.
People are weird, he thinks. Humans are so incredibly odd, but they sure know how to throw a party.
As the preparations for the festival are being finished all around him, he figures, yeah, this week, he’s just going to be as adorable as he wants and eat as much sugar as he can get his hooves on.
Sanji spends the morning grumbling loudly to everyone who’ll listen as he goes through the necessary grocery shopping.
Then he gets back to the Sunny, sits down in a quiet corner of his kitchen and has a panic attack.
Starting with the sheer waste of throwing tomatoes at people for fun, this island starts bad and gets worse. He doesn’t like it, he doesn’t want it, and he should be stronger than this but he can’t... he can’t.
He doesn’t know how long he sits there, but he isn’t paying attention, doesn’t realize he’s not alone until someone is suddenly right there, and he nearly swallows his heart in surprise, but it’s just Usopp.
It’s okay if it’s Usopp. Usopp doesn’t judge.
Usopp also has roses in his hair and a look of concern on his face. “Hey, man. You alright?”
“I’m fine,” says Sanji in probably the worst lie of his life.
Usopp doesn’t even call him on it, just sits down next to him. “You know no one’s gonna force you to wear a skirt if you don’t want to, right?”
Sanji has to suppress a shudder at the phrasing. “I’m not gonna be stuck on the ship for a whole week,” he insists, and then, before Usopp can say anything else, “And it’s fine. It’s a stupid thing to freak out about. Everyone else’s doing it anyway.”
Usopp gives him a long look, and then says, “Sanji. I don’t know what your deal is with this stuff and I don’t really care, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal. You’re allowed to be scared of stuff, okay? And it’s better to deal with that one step at a time. I’ve got some ideas you might like, if you want.”
A few hours later, Sanji is looking himself in a mirror.
The jacket has a definite feminine cut, the pants hug his legs much more closely than he’s used to, and the shoes... but it doesn’t feel bad. It doesn’t feel great, but he’s okay. Like this, it’ll probably be okay.
(Robin slides a blue rose into his hair with a smile, and yes, he’s going to be just fine.)
Okay, he’ll admit it, Usopp really didn’t know what to think about this festival to begin with, but now? He’s having the time of his life.
This town has everything. He didn’t even know dresses could have this many pockets, but he genuinely loves this one, and he hasn’t really done much with his hair since Mom died, but putting it up like this just feels nice. He might keep this hairstyle up even after they leave, and with the roses Robin gave him worked in as well, he looks good too. Hell yeah, he’s Usopp, god of fashion.
He has his pockets full of ammo and various odds and ends he’s come across on a shopping trip that ran for a lot longer than he expected it to and took him around most of the town, and at this point he’s lost track of everyone else.
The festival doesn’t actually start until tomorrow, so he should get back to the ship and put this stuff away. Everyone will come back for dinner at some point either way.
Nami isn’t too happy about this.
Sure, it’s funny, and it’s not a problem as such, but to go without her skirts and bikini tops for a whole week, in the middle of summer? No, she’s not too thrilled.
At least it won’t cost her anything as long as she’s willing to do some work. She can hardly imagine Sanji complaining about her stealing and re-fitting one of his suits.
The boys are for the most part off looking around town, so the ship is quiet, and she gets a little lost in the steady movement of the needle through fabric, where she sits in the girls’ bedroom. She’s not sure how long it’s been when the door opens and Robin comes in, smiling, with her arms full of decorative roses.
Robin seems to be at least as happy as Luffy about the whole affair. That is, a lot.
“I thought you were looking for an outfit?” Nami asks.
“I was, and then i found these,” says Robin, beaming like the sun. She hands one set of roses to Nami. “Wear these for me?” she asks, and then she leaves without waiting for an answer, practically skipping.
The roses in Nami’s hands are the same orange as her hair, and glued to a pin, so she can fasten it to her lapels. It seems Robin is colour coding them.
And Nami laughs. Trust her family to find enjoyment in the strangest of things.
Zoro doesn’t focus on the past. What happens happens, what has happened is not something he can change.
But the thought strikes him, as he wanders streets lined by a seemingly endless procession of clothing and jewelry stores, that Kuina would’ve loved this.
He can almost hear her laugh, teasing and joking with the boys at the dojo. “Oh, you can’t do it? Is it too hard for you to dress up? I bet you’re just scared your manliness will crumble if you touch something pretty.”
She’d think it was hilarious.
Zoro grins too, hand resting on Wado’s hilt. Well, he wouldn’t want to disappoint her. If he’s going to do something, he might as well go all out.
The inhabitants of this island seem more than willing to help outsiders get their look together for the festival. Now where can he go to get his makeup worked out in a place like this....
