#engima

day six of @riddlerweek

featuring @/wingedqueenlynx amazing poses cuz its so silly and i fw with it heavy

closeup under cut ->

A brief cameo from Medicine Pocket.

Bilibili Link:

✦ㅤENNORMiSSEㅤA gender That feels / is Paradoxical. A enigma Of ambiguity , Evident anomaly && incongruousness , A contradiction of Puzzles , a Numb mystery At it ' s Journey , anomalous Essence && Similars.

[ PT / Ennormisse: a gender that feels/is paradoxical. a enigma of ambiguity, evident anomaly and incongruousness, a contradiction of puzzles, a numb mystery at it's journey, anomalous essence and similars. / END PT. ]

─── ✦✦✦ ───ㅤCoined by The Prince.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ─── ✦✦✦ ───ㅤRequested by Noboo.

Oh yes there was, Although maybe not as special according to the deliverer…

[It’s been 5 hours…They better like this gift or else I won’t be rather happy…] Mai thought as they spotted their birthday target out on the streets, Mina is all they could remember for a name. Breaking into a jog, They tapped her on the shoulder bracing themself.

“Here, This is for you…Hope you like it…Oh, Happy B-day…” Mai explained, Handing them the small parcel and stepping back.

“You’ll thank me and my team later…” They added as Mai left, walking towards the nearest train station.

[Onii-san and Yuno-chin have some explaining to do…] Mai thought bitterly, Observing the looming station coming into view. Inside…Were a package of black and red candy apples.

[Happy B-Day from Fukuokanodivision, Apologies if Mai was rather a buzzkill this time.]

Mina really didn't want to leave the house today. For one, it was her birthday, and all she wanted to do was relax on today without anything bothering her. And secondly, it was still daylight, which meant the sun was out, and it made her rather lethargic. Even with the hoodie that Yorii had brought her earlier, it still hurt being out. Thankfully, it wasn't all that crowded. If there was one thing Mina hated more than the sun, it was large bodies of people, which was ironic, as the thing she disliked more than that, was the feeling of being alone.

So why was she outside exactly? Apparently, one of her acquaintances on the student council absolutely needed something from the Student Council Room. And seeing as how Mina was one of the few people who had access to the room, they called and begged her to let her in. Elliot volunteered to go in her steed, but Mina refused not wanting to bother her younger brother. She was thankful the trip was quick, as she resumed her journey back to her adobe, telling herself she wasn't leaving for the rest of the day.

As she made her way back, she felt someone tap on her shoulder, which instantly put the vampire's defences up. Preparing to possibly hurt whomever it was, they stopped and looked as it was a strange person wearing a black/neon red street corset under a black varsity jacket, along with a black/neon red checkered miniskirt with blood red wrapping, black heels and a neon red SnapBack hat.

Cocking an eyebrow, Mina was prepared to ask the strange individual what they wanted until they suddenly thrust something in the vampire's hands, making her frown even more. Before she could get a word out, the person fled in the direction of the train station. Normally, Mina would have hunted them down for this, but she really wasn't in the mood. Giving a quick glance as to what the items were, she looked as they were some candy apples.

Sighing, Mina knew the person, whomever they were, were just trying to be nice. Unfortunately, Mina's body couldn't handle normal human food, so this "gift" was wasted on her.

Here you go! Three-part chapter, because it got so long. But it's done. It's DONE. *laughs and cries and then throws self out window but not really but FUCK*

Chapter 31: Part I

Chapter 31: Part II

Chapter 31: Part III + Epliogue-y thing

And, finally, my acknowledgements, because on AO3 I promised a version with live links. <3

There are a few really integral people I want to thank, for either the help, inspiration or both. First off, my partner, Tyler, who has listened to me read every single chapter of this thing aloud to check for all kinds of stuff, including typos, awkward phrasing, etc. (Although I still missed tons of that shit, and for that I’m sorry. There are pros and cons to going beta-less on a fic this long, missing typos and repeating phrases and some general wonkiness inevitably showing up in posted chapters is one of them. But I don’t like asking anyone to read and edit a 20k word chapter, so yeah. You’ll find if you go back and re-read, a lot of it has been cleaned up substantially, me catching shit after posting. If I ever write a sequel, I’ll need to re-read this thing again, too, and I’ll clean it up another time.) Tyler also was my point person for so, so many discussions about characterization and plot points, etc. He is also endlessly patient and kind. And I love him to pieces. 

The second person I wanted to thank was Bright_Thorn (@bright-thorn) for encouraging me for many, many months in the form of reading and feedback and help with a lot of the Spanish translation and also with just being a phenomenal author. The first story I read by them was actually 404, which inspired so much of the chatter and relationships between the droids, and also really got me to think about what autonomy would look like in a droid. Of course Unorthodox Modifications was also a huge inspiration, in terms of not only how a relationship between Cassian and K-2 could develop, but also it provided inspiration in understanding how Cassian could be in a relationship at all. Lol. I have also always loved their inclusion of Chopper in their stories, and that inspired me from the get-go (even as early on as Integration) to make sure he was in this. (Sexy, sexy scene between K-2 and Chopper in armed. Sex between droids was inspired by that and something of Robotboy’s I’ll talk about.) Iterations was also incredibly helpful in exploring how various versions of Kay might deal with waking up after the loss of Cassian. And although this went a different way, it was exceptionally helpful in the beginning thinking of how Kay might even think about grieving Cassian. 

Other stories they’ve written that inspired either characters or the possibility I could even write a character like that included For the Long Haul, which included a sentient ship, which inspired Atlas’s character. Reed and Eirtae’s relationship, or the idea of just exploring other human/droid relationships was partly inspired by Non-standard Issue, which is a fucking lovely, beautifully felt fic. Go read it if you haven’t.

Robotboy’s (@r0b0tb0y) stories have also been incredibly inspiring and just downright beautiful to read. You, Me, and the Monsters Inside Us was paramount in exploring a more digitally-based Cassian, including ways the two of them might be intimate virtually. Defect was also just fucking wonderful, and really helped my exploration of Cassian undercover. Also Tax Deductible Fuck, because… of course. Basically all of them. lol.

Whalebone’s stories too. Oh, where do I begin? Their entire series Radio Heart inspired so many moments of how I could conceive of this pairing together. How they write these two is beautiful, and when I wanted to just call it quits, the emotion of this series kept me going. Thermal Coupling was also one of the first Cassian/K-2SO stories I read and made me fall in love with this pairing all the more. My favorite by them has to be while(true) though, and documents five very beautiful and different kisses. That’s one of my favorite Kayssian stories of all time. 

Maker, there are so many others. Movement Recalibration by theLoyalRoyalGuard helped imagine both Cassian and K-2SO surviving Scarif, both permanently changed. In fact theLoyalRoyalGuard’s whole series Dual Process Theory is amazing and go read it. 

There have been dozens of others, some which I can’t remember the names of. Truly though, I’ve never been a part of a ship with so many fantastic authors and so many intriguing, beautiful ideas. And I’ve never felt so supported and welcomed, so thanks to everyone.

And finally thank you to anyone who read or commented. I was almost exclusively writing the ScarletVision ship for years, and I really put my heart into that one. I got a lot of traction and feedback and love, in the form of hundreds of comments and kudos, but when I leaned more into the AI/robotics dimension of the ship, a lot of people stopped reading. It was heartbreaking, and I learned my lesson, about how to cherish a *single* comment I received, and how amazing it was if even one single human being sat down and read a chapter I wrote through to the end. Also, that it doesn’t feel good to write for any other reason than you enjoy it. I had forgotten that, at some point, somewhere along the way.

I write because I can’t *not*. I write because I have an extremely busy mind. I write because real life, at times, has been so incredibly hard, and slipping into a world where I can pretend is healing. Also because the characters always help me work through my own problems, help me think about themes and lessons maybe I, the person, am not ready to deal with just yet. I write to keep my sanity. I never write for reviews or comments or likes, because, lol, I don’t pick ships that generate a lot of that. But it’s lovely when I know someone read, because it feels like we shared the same world for a little bit. Because it’s the reason I read too. So if I offered someone a little escape from how hard life can be, even for just a little while, then I think that’s pretty amazing. 

So, anyway, thanks for staying (uh, a lot longer than I thought, in terms of actual time spent on this and length), but thank you anyway. Stay safe, friends. I appreciate you. 

Love,

new kinda guy just dropped