+- Heart⁺¹ Attack (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum)
+-- Forum: GAMES & FIXATIONS (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Love And Deepspace: aka The Boyfriend App™ (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: * cracks knuckles * - MSQ Playthrough (/showthread.php?tid=20)
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-17-2025
Land of Secret Flames: 2
- okay, the seagulls have been released from their duties one supposes, and we've been released from our confinement of 'captive audience'. back to work!
- so Maxwell, he of wealth and wedding anniversary, bought some not-great jewelry recently for a super high price, so now we absolutely suspect him of actually purchasing an aether core hiding in, at, or around the jewelry in question.
- ooh, undercover mission! ... next screen... a plush bed surrounded by sheer curtains and an ocean breeze.
- oh, its THAT kind of mission.
- can i invite Rafayel as my spotter? no wait. this is Rafayel's bedroom! excellent, lets ditch this entire mission and stay here for the next couple of years.
- oh, wow. kinky! (blindfold?!) no, jewelry?
- oh. when he leaned in i could get a clear look at the collar clip he has one - a straight pin capped with beautiful silver flowers. lovely touch. oh, hey! the lapel buttons are pink pearls!
- this girl is now very aware of the pearl significance.
- oh, a mask! for the masquerade ball! hope i get to see myself in a mirror at some point.
- and a whole new identity to go with the mask! i am going to be so Cinderella. i wonder if Rafayel is getting all this from Jeremiah The Mystery Florist.
- gosh, he's so good looking. five hundred kudos on whichever team was in charge of animating the boys' micro expressions. Rafe is constantly expressing himself.
- Rafe: "I am definitely not your manager, bodyguard or assistant. I never accept side gigs." /facepalm
- three days and one ball on a yacht later...
- and Rafe's concession to "masked ball" is a half domino. boy, you are pushing the envelope here.
- oh, and i'm standing too far away, which is going to scream 'assassin' to everybody else if i don't immediately plaster myself to your side? really. is that what you think they're gonna think.
- yeah, you tell him girl. this is correct amount of distance that says "professional bodyguard." i swear, employers these days.
- apropos of an idea that just occurred to me, i wonder if we'll ever see (in the main story i mean) Rafayel assassinating somebody with his voice. that would be STELLAR.
- this boy is SO expressive. aww, i'm sorry! you really wanted me to put the 'ass' into the 'assistant', didn't you?
- Rafe, i am meticulously keeping my distance from you because other me got to touch your abs while you were feverish and making beautiful little noises of pain and let me tell you, its best if we keep this strictly above board when there's people around.
- oh, there's a nice little comment. he's more expressive since he got on this yacht, almost like he's a real opera singer. well, wasn't he? there was a side story where he was singing on stage (and somebody died, naturally). good of me to notice he's really embodying the part. i like it when main stuff and side stuff curls around itself.
- OH EVEN BETTER. the mask and brooch (he's wearing a brooch?! i don't see it) are apparently a gift from Maxwell to 'Yosef', only Yosef should be a very old man and Rafe.. is very not. Let's see, what excuse are we going to come up with? estate sale? grave robbing? heir to the family fortune after three brothers and a handful of cousins died in a tragic fire?
- the side VAs are so tragic.
- i hope somebody somewhere has cosplayed this outfit at a con. its so spectacular.
- Rafe: "Leave the dramatic parts to me." on it, boss. you peacock your heart out while i swipe a look at the jewelry in question. if its an aether core, i'll eat the evidence.
Land of Secret Flames: 3
- yeah, something's on all right. its a gift for his wife ostensibly, but he has it trotted and put on display for everybody to gawk at. "the jewelry resembles a solidified, dark blue tranquil ocean." okay, swiping it as soon as everybody looks away and draping it around Rafayel's neck like a lariat.
- aww, they took it away! and i was just about in purloining distance too.
- whyyyy does this guy call it "Yosef's brewwch." it's pronounced "br-oh-ch". were you raised by inarticulate wolves?
- i am going to put a bullet between this guy's eyes, i swear.
- oh, we're claiming nephewship to dear old Yosef it sounds like. nice.
- "he's truly an opera star in the making!" oh wow. is Rafe going to SING at some point? please please please game, please do that.
- SO MANY SCREENCAPS
- i bet Rafayel actually does have it all legally bound up in paperwork that he's the illegitimate nephew of this old opera star, in case anybody does look into it. Jeremiah, you treasure.
- hey, i'll threaten all the 'elders' i like. this guy is rude and i have a gun, probably. i DEFINITELY have a knife courtesy of my time in the N109. (its probably strapped to my thigh under this spangly dress. somewhere off in the distance, Sylus is smirking, and tugging on it every so often from fifty feet away.)
- why is this one jester-masked guy all in Rafe's grill anyways? was he like, Yosef's secret lover or something?
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-17-2025
Land of Secret Flames: 4
- ooh, swanky yacht-based bedroom. i see bon bons, a slice of cake, two glasses of wine... but we're probably here to discuss strategy.
- oh. Rafe helps me untie the knot at the back of my head for the mask. /queue several romance novels speedrunning through my brain
- "he fiddles with my mask, his palm and slender fingers making it look delicate." /le heavy whimsical sigh.
- Rafe: "don't worry, I'll tell you everything when the time comes." how does about three minutes from now sound? aww, he's worried my brain will overload if he tells me too much. gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.
- also, the background ambient music is really very good.
- since he won't answer the question of what he's really after he, we go to question 2 which is "are you wearing a disguise to hide from the bounty people?" man, i'd forgotten about those!
- so, painter extraordinaire and part-time burgeoning opera singer has OTHER enemies? you know, i'm wracking my brains and I'm not even sure I know why he has the FIRST bounty on his head. i really should have been making a conspiracy board from the start.
- oh boy, second enemy set is ON THE SHIP. buddy, that half domino is not going to hold up from direct scrutiny. you didn't even comb your hair to the other side, ffs.
- oh no, don't stare at me like that. i am not going to fisticuff this entire boat for you.
- oh even more no, he raised my hand and pressed it to his cheek while smiling.
- fine. i'll fight two ships for you. but i draw the line at swinging across to the second using a rope tied to the yardarm.
- you are so right, i do not want an apology. lean down a little closer and i'll whisper the coin i'm willing to be paid into your shell like ear.
- OH MY GOD. "My fingers trace the edge of the mask and descend to his jawline. I almost touch his skin."
timeout. excuse me. was not expecting that, as chaste as it appears.
- me: "can you guess what i want?" this is amazing. even though i know she's just going to ask for a second gun or something.
- hel-lo sudden "grab him by the cravat and haul my face to his face" move!
- awww. we want a mission that won't waste our time. dudette! PLEASE.
- some hours later, we start tiptoing through the ship corridors. if we get caught, can we at least throw ourselves into a shadowy corner and make out like lovesick teenagers, throwing our professional lives and WorkSafe insurance to the winds?
- time to distract the guards before we heist the vault with the suspicious jewelry. two bucks and that yogenfruz coupon says its a trap. again.
- i love it when Rafayel sparks flames at his fingertips. my delightful partner in crime who just wants to watch the whole human world burn, no doubt.
- yup. footsteps. we're buuuusted.
- ooooh, dream come suddenly true! shadowy hatch in the corner of the room ahoy!
Land of Secret Flames: 5
- excellent. cramped quarters, tons of clutter, can't move, can't make too much noise.... breathe, darling, breathe.
- Rafe, aggrieved: "Can't these people talk about their everyday lives somewhere else?" your lips to $deity's ears.
- oh, right. passcode resets every 10 minutes. we have about 7 before we're in another kind of trouble. we only know THIS ten minutes worth of passcode. the timing had to be exaaaactly right for us to get here during our window of opportunity and this Maxwell guy and his mysterious conversational partner are blowing it for us.
- "curled up in front of Rafayel, i can't stretch my limbs. they're starting to feel numb". maybe he can chafe them gently for us.
- at least i am definitely affected by how close he is. for awhile there, i thought maybe we were channeling Zayne's snowfield.
- the bad guys are talking about "Jewel Reef" and Maxwell potentially giving it up for a lot of cash. oooh, to collaborate with EVER again, and something about his wife agreeing. do they have something on the wife, to extort Maxwell with it? this is very shady.
- ("is his protocore smuggling business related to them?") duh! oh, he's never going to sell the island. ever. (geddit? aw, i slay myself)
- oh boy, unstated threats against the anniversary party. party crashers, i hate 'em. but i have no idea how throwing the cake on the floor is going to encourage Maxwell to sell an island he doesn't want to part with.
- they leave, we scramble out, i don't stare anywhere i'm not supposed to, but then, ack! somebody is back! so i yank on Rafayel's cravat again because why not. kiss me, you delightful fool.
- eeeee! "reacting faster than me, he cups my cheek." yas!
- oh, we might be actually busted now. i am on tenterhooks.
- oh, Maxwell orders more security in front of us.. for the jewelry AND the deed to Jewel Reef. the plot sickens.
- and Maxwell directs us to the fifth floor and the cafe there? .. ooookay?
RE: * cracks knuckles * - Coldsaturn - 05-17-2025
- Raf's mask is embarrassing. It's giving "Sailor Moon with a different skirt and suddenly nobody can recognize it's Usagi"
- "almost like he's a real opera singer. well, wasn't he?"
He was! This is a convenient fake identity since it's not that fake actually. Just one of his many masks. He got his aunt Talia to teach him and went a whole while being a beautiful opera singer. Killing at least one person (that we know of) with his voice in the middle of a public performance, too.
- "the side VAs are so tragic"
Embrace the campy NPC dubbing.
- "is Rafe going to SING at some point?"
Don't get your hopes up. They had the audacity to make him sing in one of his limited cards, but it wasn't voiced, just narrated. Outrageous. Cowards. The only time we hear Raf sing is: when he sings us happy birthday, and when he hums some random tune.
- "you know, i'm wracking my brains and I'm not even sure I know why he has the FIRST bounty on his head."
When we asked him he told us some lame ass excuse that someone in the n109 zone had asked him for a painting and he had refused, thus angering the guy and getting a bounty on his head. MC was understandably "???" about it because it really doesn't sound too realistic. Raf refused to correct his version and instead redirected the conversation toward something else.
You can already guess why he has a bounty on his head, though. It will become explicitly clear through his anecdotes and World Underneath texts.
From his anecdote Addictive Pain especially, we get:
(I'll hide it because of possible spoilers if you haven't read it all)
"But she's only bait, disguised as a tiny red fish. [...] Rafayel knows if he takes the bait and appears by her side without meticulous planning, he will undoubtedly become prey. And there might be someone lurking in the shadows, using her as bait to capture him." (+ "Besides, he has taken the bait she used once before")
.- The tension between them! the yearning!
- Put a pin on them having to make a show of themselves in front of people as a cover.
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-17-2025
you know, i have a pet formless thought that our girl is collecting, like, senshi or something. all these boys with their evols, sort of like the Illusion and Golden Crystals in Sailor Moon. assembling the court of the moon once more! ( i was SUCH a fangirl of Sailor Moon, i have so much memorabilia.)
except the guys have only tenuous partial links to each other and this is not that kind of team-based game or storyline. but i'm sort of fond of the thought anyways.
i am embracing the sketchy NPC dubbing because what else can i do. but i swear, i will note it each time. i shall not be stopped.
pretty interesting that Rafayel's singing (all their singing? or just Rafe and/or Talia in particular?) can be targeted so cleanly like that. everybody was hearing the song, but only one person died of it. is it a mermaid thing or just a really powerful mermaid with an evol thing.
re/bounty and painting -- how do we know it wasn't exactly like that? Rafayel can obviously imbue metaflux into his paintings to deleterious effect on the painting's surroundings. maybe he very well was commissioned to do precisely that and he begged off for unknown reason and earned himself a target on his back. "if you don't do it for me, then you won't do it for anyone", etc.
i haven't read Addictive Pain but i checked your spoiler anways and yes, i can understand that. its alluded to in a couple of places that Rafayel really doesn't want to get caught into yet another trap to do with us, but also can't stay away so its all this really shaky tightrope to walk. be near us, stay free - decisions, decisions.
looking forward happily to the PDA!
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-17-2025
Land of Secret Flames: 6
- yes, it does seem obvious that there's something on the island EVER wants. i am pretty sure the company doesn't really need a whole ass tropical paradise just for company retreats.
- Rafe is SUCH a drama queen. maybe drama empress, ye lords.
- aww, apparently our man Max really does love his wife a whole bunch. assuming Rafayel isn't yanking our chain again. but he's definitely shady.
- "even if they have ill intentions, do you really think the two of us can't handle it?" Rafe, i just got finished clearing the Junior Hunter Challenge Level with you, we will eat them alive with time to spare for more coffee.
- oh, room service! is the grape mousse drugged?
- i do wish they'd do more environmental stuff. the text says we've sat down on the terrace to have some dessert but the visual is just Rafayel standing there as always with the same backdrop as the rest of the last chapter. would it have been so hard to cut to a new scene with an actual table and a wide view?
- and Rafe gently redirects my obsessive thoughts off the jewelry and over to the two cowboys from EVER (and yes, i know its spelled Ever, but honestly, it SHOULD be an acronym to my way of thinking)
- I wonder if EVER was founded by somebody or somebodies from Traceback I, as a way to live long enough to get back to Philos.
- (Rafayel's intelligence network is complex and full of secrets.) just like the man himself!
- stop using my brain? but... its all i've got! well, that an a knife. that you shouldn't know about but we WERE pressed pretty closely together in that little hidey spot.
- *cough* i need my energy before bed, huh. okay feed me another candy, amigo, i would hate to flag out halfway through... my REM cycle.
- awww. THE SONG.
- i love this song.
- /sits and lets it play out a few times
- did... did Rafayel drug me? /blinks noooo. couldn't be. i was just super tired. and dreaming.
- this is the sea i saw when i fell into the trance in front of the painting.
- we have definitely been here before, girlfriend. sorrow. nostalgia.
- and the sea rises in a torrent and drowns out the song.
Land of Secret Flames: 7
- booo! reuse of the same background as when we went boating ages ago.
- specific point out of the blue hole in the lagoon, which is super apparent on the cover art. i guess we're going water cave spelunking at some point?
- "we're good... he's feeling a little.. landsick." :D
- "... its as if a delicate string tightens around my heart. a faint tremor ripples through me." wut? and the music is now ominous. what just happened?
- oh, the "jewelry" just went by as it was being transported. hello, my new ather core attachment! i will be with you shortly.
- yes, lets accuse the man of telepathy. as if what we're thinking isn't all over our face like the dessert last night.
- "he immediately rests his head on my shoulder." love you, Rafe, lets playact-by-not-really-acting and spend a ton of time just touching. i am heroically forgetting the glimpse i got of you through your unbuttoned shirt.
- oh, so whatever Rafayel wants help with, its on the island and probably in the middle of sea, because of course it will be in the middle of a water sinkhole that needs a Really Skilled Swimmer to get to.
- guess what he's after? oh, i am terrible at guessing games. a lemurian treasure that Maxine has collected at some point? probably pearl encrusted.
- okay, so a long time ago Jewel Reef was actually a real coral reef, now uplifted into land. what is here, then?
- huh. comparing the blue hole to "the deep sea's soulful eye." i wonder if the jewelry gift is somehow specifically related to this natural phenomenon, as it was described as resembling a "blue ocean".
- "some say the blue hole is a gateway to another world... " oh, reeeally now. an actual piece of Lemuria? still intact, down where almost nothing can breathe and almost nothing can live.
- "he looks like a bird ready to take to the skies." /beautiful imagery "an inexplicable tremor reverberates from the depths of my heart." oh, don't leave me! i'm not ready yet, we've only barely met. ".. or a distant call from under the sea." oh, my very heart.
RE: * cracks knuckles * - Coldsaturn - 05-17-2025
"our girl is collecting, like, senshi or something"
I never thought of it like that but I'm now painfully in love with this idea. There are also a couple of big themes in Sailor Moon that are also present in LADS. You heard of accidentally genius joke, now get ready for accidentally genius crossover.
(I grew up with Sailor Moon in all its badly censored glory)
"is it a mermaid thing or just a really powerful mermaid with an evol thing"
It's never explicitly stated, but I believe it's something every Lemurian can do. Raf is simply the only one (that we know of) who's getting his hands dirty.
"how do we know it wasn't exactly like that?"
Right then and there because we (not MC) know he's been lying his ass of whenever he can (including three seconds later when he declares he has nothing to do with Raymond's death). But it will become clear in World Underneath that his bounty is connected to his identity as a Lemurian and everything else that he's doing.
"i do wish they'd do more environmental stuff."
I deeply feel your pain. It angers me more than the embarrassing NPC dubbing. Change the backgrounds! Hell, I'm not even saying to render the entire character in different positions rather than standing, but at least get the damn lighting right! If it's night make it look like it! Why the fuck is there sunlight shining on him at 11pm???
"I wonder if EVER was founded by somebody or somebodies from Traceback I"
Put a pin on this theory! We'll definitely get back to it after you've finished the main story.
"lets accuse the man of telepathy."
Put a pin on this too! There are several fans arguing for the fact that they might have some form of crude telepathy going on thanks to their bond.
"he immediately rests his head on my shoulder."
He does it always in the cards where we're already in a relationship with him and I'm in love ;__; He's touch-starved for real.
- If infold doesn't stop writing RafxMC with a constant ominous feeling of impending separation I will riot
/grabs popcorn for the end of the chapter
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-17-2025
well, there's the amusing thought i had of "what WOULD Zayne's henshin sequence look like anyways?" but that i decided that was probably unworthy of me :P and yes, i also see the parallels in some of the themes of death and rebirth and constant reformation and loss. Mamoru in particular always struck me as a somewhat tragic figure in the manga (not the anime, they're fairly divorced from each other) because he always dies first.
i discovered Sailor Moon when i was home sick one day from work and aggravatedly flipping channels on the tv, when i stopped on an anime i hadn't seen before. i'd managed to tune in on the episode where Nephrite dies, literally at the scene where he and .. Molly?... are talking on the park bench and it was so sweet and sad that i stopped flipping and just watched the rest of the episode. i was pretty hooked after that. i eventually had the japanese manga ordered in special for me for a bunch of money at the time, through a store that could import stuff from out of country. its head and shoulders better quality than the english version that came out much later, almost like they scanned in the images from the original, and then reprinted it so the lines just aren't as clean or crisp.
i collected just about everything i could get my hands on, including all the artbooks, color novels, doujin, all sorts of stuff. somewhere in the closet i even have a working kalediomoonscape rod that just needs batteries. i wrote impassioned fanfiction before fanfiction was even a thing, got involved with other fans (what we'd call Big Name Fans now) on websites and forums and things - i even wrote a poem about sailor moon and the endymion myth, because i was in a poetry group at the time because of my mom and that's all i could think of as subject matter for a challenge.
my account number on fanfiction.net is in the 4 digits and i only made an account so i could stick my sailor moon stuff on it! i remember thinking at the time that it seemed silly, because anybody who wanted to read my fiction would have already done so on the archive sites, but i figured.. oh, what the heck. maybe somebody new will find it there. i had a website dedicated to sailor moon and i even managed to resurrect some of it off an old hard drive and have it immortalized even with all the holes for the missing pages that i couldn't raise from the dead because it was such a large part of me for so long it seems honorable to put flowers on it even still.
ah hindsight. and also ah, young love! i will forever and ever adore sailor moon.
re/telepathy -- i mean, it was an off the cuff remark, but wouldn't the case for it be actually fairly strong? our gift is, after all, resonance and while i assume it works with relative strangers relatively well, its definitely *very* strong with the boys, on both Watson and Doylist sides of an explanation. why wouldn't we have a crude sort of sense of connection, mind to mind? and while Lemurians might sing through the waters, but it would be a lot easier if they didn't have to. and we make everything stronger, do we not? if anything, i'd be more agreeable to an explanation that includes all the boys, not just Rafayel.
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-18-2025
Land of Secret Flames: 8
- finally, new background (i am getting jaded, woo, lookit me go! i get excited at NEW backgrounds now, instead of just going wow! backgrounds! at all)
- i need somebody to love me like Maxwell loves his Gabriella. i could do with jewelry that is a memory of our first meeting and a whole ass island to wear like a bracelet charm
- uh oh, blue hole water is faintly glowing, reflecting also like a gemstone.
- i predict... we're going swimming in this chapter. i don't recall if i packed scuba gear.
- poetic? the blue hole is the sea's heart. reaaally now. as far as i'm concerned, i'm standing next to the sea's heart and he's in a devastating tux.
- oh god, they're really in love. slay me now.
- oh, more flirting with truth under the cover of lies and plausible deniability. i'm supposed to be moved by the love story so i have an excuse to talk to Gabriella and incidentally get closer to her adornments because ".. with such a complex background (Rafe rolling with the story of him being an illegitimate bastard child) its pretty clear that OUR love story is filled with obstacles," which... yeah. i probably don't even know half of them since i'm clean and innocent in this timeline so far. SO FAR YES WE CAN HEAR YOU SYLUS
- love, we're not even the same species. at least Max and Gab have that much going for them.
- oookay. we check out Gabs and her anniversary gift and... no energy fluctuations? like, at ALL? then what the hell did i feel while we were down on the pier when we arrived??
- shit, was it to do with proximity to the blue hole in the water, and nothing to do with what we were sent to investigate? or WAS there a proto/aether core in the gems to start with, but now its been removed to somewhere else? quick, girl, Resonate your heart out! you can find it like a twitchy bloodhound if you only try.
- aw, he's disappointed that i'm getting over the disappointment at the lack of solid conclusion and arrest warrant so fast. its okay, beloved, you can put your head on my shoulder some more just because if you like.
- yes, explain the comfort plan! please say it involved skinny dipping. lovely shore, the crashing of waves, cool water to soothe my sore heart...
- aww, sparklers! i love those. and he lights them with his fingertips. you are the best boyfriend ever.
- (so many screenshots of this guy smirking)
- what do you mean, shhh?
- oh, hiding time! EVER guys wandering our way?
- yup, i know those slimy voices. they're going to create chaos and then pilfer a collection room looking for the unnamed.
- well, it can't be the aether core, assuming one even existed at all. they want something on or in the island itself. has to be Lemurian... something that can't leave? ruins? a plinth with a sword stuck through it? big mosaic on the wall thats too big to transport, spelling out the location of the Fountain of Youth?
- we're gonna leap out from behind this rock and confront them? uh.. okay! i do better with guns, honestly. subterfuge is not my strong suit.
- that is SUCH a handy evol!
- METAFLUX SURGE! out of nowhere i might add. do these guys have like a panic button in their lapels or something?
- "Do you like treasure hunts?" boy, do i! is now really the time though?
- "recalling the rumors he mentioned about treasures in the blue hole, unease washes through me." finally! scuba time! c'mon girlfriend, lets gooooo. the worry and anxiety will wash right off.
- he.. picks me up and rushes to the water? wow. there's a visual! please do not take off like a bird in flight Rafayel, i can't fly!
- why did the monster in the blue hole suddenly decide now was a good time to bust out? i mean, i was kind of kidding but do EVER agents have a way to just re-phase reality at whim, calling forth Wanderers?
- either that, or Rafayel just called his water dog for some fun.
- (oh, this is terrible, level 15 cards and a healing wand for a weapon. pshaw. i can do this! i have so much faith in us)
- (naturally, easy 3 stars. i am so much better at combat and dodging than i was at the start)
RE: * cracks knuckles * - Coldsaturn - 05-18-2025
That's the sweetest thing oh my god. I love fans and I love fandom as a philosophically accurate Platonic category.
My very first memories of watching TV involved anime, which meant I was immediately psychologically ruined in the best way because censorship didn't even know where to put their hands on. They censored 1 thing only to leave out something even worse lol. I think I was around 4 when I started watching Sailor Moon, and it went as well as you can imagine when a little kid sees bondage and sensual violence and problematic romance, by which I mean
![[Image: 46d.gif]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/558/753/46d.gif)
The first fanfiction I wrote (which I didn't even know it was a fanfiction, there was no internet and as far as I knew I was the only person on earth who thought of doing something like that) was when I was...10? 11? It was a sort of original story set in the world of a book I'd read, but the first ff I was absolutely positive was a ff was for Inuyasha. I was a teenager by then and that was my obsessive black hole for that couple of formative years.
Later I went through a phase where I returned to all the anime pillars of my childhood and properly read the manga to get the unadulterated experience they were always meant to give me. Sailor Moon was among them, and I never looked back. Simply iconic.
- telepathy
Yeah, that would explain why MC is so good at vibing with the boys, but out of all of them, Raf at times seems to reply to what we're thinking, or reacts to our thoughts as if he heard them, and later on even MC comments on how they just understand each other and are on the same page to a scary degree. Raf's powers (not evol related) are not explicit, but there's definitely something fishy about the fish and his fishy bond with MC.
I'm literally vibrating for you to finish this chapter!!
OOOOOOOH the plot juice, THE SCREENSHOTS YOU'LL TAKE
(also yay new background! pretty!!)
RE: * cracks knuckles * - ChicletPrime - 05-18-2025
Land of Secret Flame: 10
- UNDERWATER SHOT!
- (basks) oh boy oh boy oh boy. please don't drown this time, we need to stay awake for this, whatever it is. it has to be ruins. PALACE RUINS!?
- Rafayel's voice is all echo-y.
- a kiss
- oh
- wow
- shh, savor
- try what? and your voice sounds right again.
- i can breathe underwater! scuba schmuba.
- my tears won't turn to pearls, you silly thing.
- why are you touching me around my eyes? dis-trac-ting. put a finger near my mouth and i'm going to bite it.
- what treasure are we looking for? a conjured little fish to guide us.
- "is there really a hidden Lemurian treasure at the bottom?" i am.. i am so dumb sometimes.
- aw, the little conjured fish kissed me too! i love you too, ocean.
- "because you have a familiar scent" ... a familiar scent that is not just you, but also.. me.
- fire under the water to light the way.
- oh, this is so beautiful in my mind's eye.
- no, i'm not scared. okay, maybe a little. i don't want to lose you, not that i'm going to say that out loud.
- "hold on tightly when the undercurrent becomes chaotic." i will cling like a limpet, you don't even have to say it once.
- shit, i hope the EVER guys back on the beach didn't leap in here after us.
- a light like a heart in the depths.
- "this is the island's cornerstone. it once bore the weight of Lemuria's past and future. its part of Lemuria's long-lost Tome of the Sea God"
- Rafayel is so beautiful.
- "the crimson seaweed... resembles a field of fire." /oh wow
- oh, the fluctuating light is from the engravings on the stone we're standing on.
- shhh. let's appreciate the ancient magicks for a moment.
- the Tome was supposed to contain prophecies about Lemuria's future? how did we know that random trivia fact?
- or are we picking that right out of Rafayel's head? because that would be ah-mazing as an explanation.
- "this part speaks about oblivion, not the future". oh. that's heavy. because we lost Lemuria and the world forgot.
- "those that borrowed power from the sea betrayed it in the end." sounds like the same old human cycle, yes. "they mistook the sea's tolerance for submission and forgot about its cruelty." ** PIN THIS FOR LYRICS LATER
- ".. but i remember. and i will reclaim this forgotten power."
- what, NOW? out of all times, now is ... because you need it? because i'm here now?
- /wide eyes. too many romance novels, stop it, focus.
- he takes my hand and conjures a dagger.
- i feel like i should stop and breathe for a second. what are we doing, little sea god?
- I KNEW IT
- "only those who have a bond with the Sea God can awaken the Tome."
- oh shit, are we going to bleed in the water? are we going to .. uh. bond the old fashioned way that that involves the blade in your hand and not your other sword?
- we need to bleed. i adore this story. embrace all the old fairytales, do!
- "you... awakened me." yes! wake up! sleep no longer!
- (i am so carried away, its terrible)
- is this my memory? or .. his?
- yes, i like your scales and i like you. if you are on this beach to lure me into a watery grave trying to save you, i am just dumb enough to follow you in, yes.
- "this bond means you'll definitely come back to me. i'll always wait for you..." but i never came back, did i? because i forgot everything so completely, forgot you.
- this is SO FREAKING PRETTY
- oh crap, all the gold symbols in the water plunge into Rafayel and he collapses. oh no, boyfriend! no be dying! its just power, EAT IT!
- power swimming time. back to the land! save the sea god from the...sea? maybe i should think about this a tad longer. but nope, i'm committed. back to my safety, not his.
Land of Secret Flames: 11
- now i know where the title of this chapter comes from. a sea of flame under the water.
- the black sea again, but now its crystal clear, no longer fuzzy in memory.
- oh. the Black Pearl is waiting for us. that's.. spooky.
- boyfriend in distress! please be okay.
- "are you okay?!" "No." oh wow.
- oh double wow, blue sparkles everywhere. Rafayel, are you changing?!
- oh yes, lets touch him on the glowing, iridescent part of the neck, that couldn't possibly be dangerous or anything.
- (he's making those breathy little sounds of pain again. this is wreaking havoc on my attention span)
- oh, and now the air is starting to sparkle ominously too.
- oh wow, the entire sea is rising.
- /BIG WIDE EYES oh my fucking god.
- literally.
- (if i die here, you can have all my stuff)
- the look on his face! Rafayel?
- and he shoves me off and onto my back and leans down over me
- "A follower? Or just a lowly sacrifice?"
i am going to die. i am going to die of staring into his very mad, very glowing eyes.
- there's a black storm all around us, just... called out of nowhere.
- he's just calling the sea up because he can, because he's out of control. Rafayel, was this your power all along, or did you just eat the last of your heart to take it from its grave?
- this is getting super fucking frightening. whispers and screams in the wind, and the waves crashing higher.
- (snap out of it!)
- "I.. have no need... for traitors!"
- holy fucking shit
- (wake up, Rafayel! remember me!)
- *invokes Resonance because nothing else is probably going to work*
- we're going to quote RULES at him? girlfriend what are you dooooing!? hang on, what did i just say? ".. authority granted by the ocean's covenant, i order you...."
- oh. oh, the mark on his chest is glowing suddenly. please don't rip me apart and eat my still beating heart, you know me and you're not willing to let me go just yet. please remember.
- (snap out of it!) absolutely, you have both our permissions to touch the red glowing thing, HURRY
- what the fecking heck just happened.
- fecking. hecking. heck. i feel like i just ran a marathon.
- and he collapses on top of me. yes. good idea. great idea even. let's just... let's just lie here a moment. until the whole ocean becomes less angry.
- /pet pet pet
- oh. um. he's scenting the hollow of my neck. hopefully i smell like very alluring, non-edible seawater.
i need more coffee and maybe some ceiling staring. that was... that was something else. AND A HALF. follower or lowly sacrifice. je-sus.
- yes, lets check if he remembers me now.
- man, i didn't even remember my hidden knife in the heat of the moment. i guess i was super distressed.
- "He holds out his hand to me. the fragment in his palm emits a shining light that tugs at my heartstrings."
- aether core fragment! where did THAT come from? oh, it was in the tome?
- a price to pay. whatever humanity he's managed to claw to himself in order to survive on land?
- "the Dead Deep Sea and the Sea God's power have been awakened. and since i accepted its power, I must answer its call"
- why the fuck did you do that, Rafayel?! was it just to keep it from EVER's grip?
- "Even if certain futures have a predetermined end, I can't refuse..." oh shit, noooo. this is like Shining Traces with Xavier. don't go, don't even think of leaving me! do not go gentle, please, fight for something different than whatever it is you see.
- i HATE having forboding, ominous feelings that i'm going to be left behind.
- exhausted, he rests in my arms
- /kisses the top of his brow while he sleeps