Sugar Bubbles

I am so sorry -- I haven’t had the time to get this invested in anything I even remotely enjoy for months so now you gotta suffer through this long and rambly as fuck post. I still love you tho ok

You’ve got to find her.

The words of her friend’s familiars, distraught and tense from hours of yelling and sobbing her name, echoed in the witch’s eardrums as she gathered her warmest winter gear and the items necessary to perform a most underused teleportation spell. To say that the less experienced witch was nervous was a gross understatement, to say the least; she could feel anxiety brewing in the pit of her gut like rabid animals scratching at the walls of her stomach and cold fear coursing into her blood stream. Crippling self-doubt made her hands shake desperately against the collar of her little blue parka, and it took a few moments to quell her restless fingers long enough to fully fasten it closed. Could she really do this? Did she have the strength? 

She had to.

She had been told that Chlomaki had just disappeared several days ago, and though it was normal for such a free spirit to go out on her own  it was always customary for her to leave some sort of notice and she would never be gone for longer than a few hours unless she had mentioned it in advance. Her familiars had torn up their dwelling in search of a sign -- a note, trinket, anything!! -- but when that failed they had immediately scouted out Wadanohara. “We figured that she would be with you,” Silone had said, puffy eyes cast downward as she twiddled her paws in nervousness. “We were hoping you could help us...” And of course she agreed without so much as a second thought; after all, Chlomaki was a mentor to her, a friend who always helped her whenever she needed it. If she was in trouble, was it not her responsibility to help her get out of it? With that state of mind in play, it had been very easy for the witch to accept while disregarding the full reality of the situation at hand.

And even as she’d introduced Silone, Fungas, and Mikazuki to their beds (Lobco had elected to stay with her mother and father), she had not yet fully absorbed the possible danger that her friend could be in. It wasn’t until she had heard the creaking of the floor boards and looked up to see Fungas, standing in the entryway to her living room with sorrow clinging like morning dew to his blackened sclera, that Wadanohara had felt the true gravity of Chlomaki’s absence. Fungas told her of what he knew; of how Chlomaki had once been an angel residing in the Pitch World, and how she had fallen in hopes of wrenching herself from its crooked God, and though she could tell that he was keeping details thickly veiled from her view she could read the dread that had sunken like anchors into his voice. If Chlomaki had somehow found herself in this Pitch World again, he had made it clear that only bad could come of it.

“Don’t worry, Fungas. I can do this!” It was true; with Samekichi no longer with her, she had no familiars to care for, and with any luck this would be an easy enough mission for her to perform while the citizens of her sea were still sleeping. So with a pat of his shoulder and a sweet smile, she’d assured him: “I will go and bring Chlomaki back! You just focus on making sure that you and the others are okay until then, okay?” 

The feeling of dust finding its way in her lungs threw her out of her reverie and into a fit of coughing as she lifted the heavy almanac from its neglected space on her shelf, and she suddenly became aware of herself as she stood in that moment. She could feel the tightness of her braids and the uncomfortable warmth creeping up from her collar from the parka that was hardly suitable for the nearly-tropical weather in her sea. Fungas had told her that it would be cold in the Pitch World, but would it really be so necessary to bundle up underneath so many layers? A cursory glance at the clock ticking away the seconds in the corner of her room told her that her moon would only be at its peak position for a few minutes longer; she wouldn’t have the time to change or run to get something at this rate. She had to do this now. 

Wadanohara wasted no time in opening the spell book to its index, searching for a scant moment before finding the location of the spell she needed and turning to it. She immediately took her pen and scrap paper and scrawled the incantation on it before folding it gently and placing it in the pocket of her parka-- would Chlomaki have that spell memorized? She did this a lot, didn’t she? So she must have it memorized, right? What was done was done, however, and it was always good to be careful. She took a second to smile and congratulate herself for her foresight before looking back down at the open page before her. Like a switch, her smile faded and became a hardened and serious stare as apprehension warmed up every inch of her body to a new level of discomfort. Would she truly be able to do this, hop to an entirely new world on her own?

“Please be careful, Wadanohara,” Fungas’s voice echoed in the back of her mind, fresh even though it had been uttered a whole night prior to this moment. Her eyes closed.

“I will be,” she replied, voice hardly carrying as much nervous vibration as she thought it should. Yes, she would do this. Surely this god would be merciful if he understood Chlomaki’s plight. Knowing her, she’d probably run away from her strict boss because he wouldn’t let her sleep in or do her hair the way she wanted to do it, something rebellious and probably of little importance that could be discussed in a civil matter. She would find Chlomaki and bring her home, she had decided. And time wasn’t going to slow down for her any time soon. She opened her mouth to chuckle at the thought, but instead it was the incantation that slipped past her petal pink lips. Her eyes remained closed as she began to feel the magic do its work; her braids began to move in time with the wind that had accumulated around her, swirling the water surrounding her around like a typhoon as she felt the warmth around her growing more prominent. Keep your concentration, Wadda, keep it....

~~~~~

Cold.

Wadanohara found that she was shaking in her boots, but to her shock it wasn’t out of fear. No, she realized with a shiver in her gut that she was actually freezing. Immediately, her eyes snapped open and she was immediately greeted by a world quite different from where she had been moments ago. The sun was shining quite brilliantly, and though there was no snow it definitely felt like it was the middle of winter. Was this the right place? She took a moment to carefully reflect on Fungas’ words: “The Pitch World is cold, but Chlomaki told me that it was always sunny where she came from...” Well, so far she seemed to be in the right place! She was glad for this, but perhaps a little gladder that she had not shed any of her layers before departing the sea. She remained rooted to her spot, continuing to survey her surroundings. 

She could see a few angels fluttering about outside, though hardly the traffic Wadanohara would expect there to be on such a lovely day. Perhaps she had entered the work division of the Pitch World; that would explain the smokestacks up ahead. But where was she, and how would she get around? Despite the lovely scenery, she was here for a reason and had a time frame that she needed to strictly adhere to if she didn’t want to disrupt the sea citizens by being late with no warning. If she were a god of a world literally full of sunshine and rainbows, where would she be? Surely not inside-- or would he be? Where was this world’s castle, anyway? 

Y’all don’t like the rape ships, but y’all also don’t like the healthy ones.

I’m not the type to be a mean person like this but

If you sent DSP hate over those recent Sunahama updates, please don’t come near me.

Seriously, relationships including rape and abuse have been an unfortunate part of this fandom since its inception. DSP isn’t going to stop creating things because people send them hate, they’re just going to close it off to everyone, including the people who enjoy their works for other reasons. This includes people who use it to cope with trauma that they’ve experienced in their lives. I personally don’t know what I would do without DSP’s works to admire and their characters to love. It’s thanks to this fandom that I met so many good people and learned so much about myself.

I understand that the content is problematic, and to some it may be too much. But rather than try to change what isn’t going to be changed, just leave the fandom if it stresses you out too much to the point where you’re going to be tempted to send hate to the creator.Leave the people who enjoy it to enjoy it, regardless of their reason for doing so; you have no right to demand that someone write you an exposé of their life so that you can deem their experiences “worthy” of using such things to cope. 

wow guys

Sorry for my absence these days, everyone! Work has been very stressful these days, and I’ve been working like 60-hour and seven-day weeks haha

Today I slept for a grand total of 13 hours orz I’m still pretty tired, but I I need to get back in the zone so I can get drafts and stuff done. We actually just hired a person to help me out in the office, and even though he isn’t bilingual I think it will help make my working conditions a bit more managable... We also have experts coming into our office from Japan to make some needed changes to how things are run so I think that this will help me out too.  I actually am in the process of severing my employment with my other job, so I think it will all look up for me in the near future.

@thevoidbetweenseas​

(While I do agree, I also have to say that no fandom is without its fair share of hatred, unfortunately. It's not even due to the material itself, moreso the fact that humans are just very hateful creatures. Yet at the same time I also think that the material being as controversial as it is has not helped the matter in the slightest. Basically this was a long winded way to say I agree, but that more than one fandom is like this.)

thought bubbles

Hoo boy... haha

Minor and implicit rape / mention 

For the most part, I have had nothing but positive experiences in this fandom! It’s because of this community that I met Punpun, Melly, Stan, Sammy, Vivi, Ten, Glasses, Ray, Moo, and everyone else that I’m proud to call my friends now! I wouldn’t be able to get through a day where I didn’t talk to at least one of them!! When I joined this fandom, I was in a very bad place emotionally and mentally, and I didn’t know how to rekindle any of my passions after coming out of a severely abusive situation. But I feel as though I’ve found a home here, and I am grateful to this fandom for the good it has done for me.

However, I don’t think that this fandom comes without its negatives. It doesn’t help that the creater of these works is problematic and mostly doesn’t act as though they are apologetic for the things they’ve done (see Rising Sun Flag Incidents). But there are issues outside of that that I think should be addressed.

I feel like there is entirely too much negativity. Too much anon hate gets sent -- and I say this as someone who has received it and has also seen friends receive it. It isn’t right. I feel as though while some content within these works is questionable or problematic, there’s no reason to stick around if you don’t agree with it to the point that you feel the need to to send hate to other users. I feel as though I should be able to conduct a Salwada thread, so long as I properly tag my triggers, without being told repeatedly that someone wants Sal to rape me, and I think others have that right too.