Agrippa

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 14

‘I’ll be waiting for as long as you need me to,’ I told her.

Which sounds grand. Noble, even. Maybe a bit stoic. A proclamation about enduring no matter the circumstances. It’s the kind of line the heroine says to the departing hero when he sets on a journey where death is the most likely option.

It’s also, I’ve come to realize, a very stupid thing to say when it means staying outside, in the middle of winter, just by the side of the entrance to a park and h...

Poll Results for February 2022

And the winners are!

For the poll for €2 supporters and above (and to no-one's surprise, at this point) Wordsworth!

For the poll for €5 supporters and above, there has been a tie between Yui's Lily Garden and Of Sisters and Shadows, but, as it was Xalgeon's birthday and I have a more or less clear idea of what the next chapter should be, I declare the winner to be Of Sisters and Shadows.

Which means all of you Worm-fans will get a few more updates through the month, whil...

Of Sisters and Shadows – Chapter 5

“This is an awful, terribad idea,” Vicky says from almost right behind me.

“Stop being such a scaredy-cat. And abusing English,” I answer while trying not to notice the way her aura brushes against me, overflowing with concern and protectiveness.

Such a goddamn tease.

“Glory Girl, you’ve been allowed in here as added safety for the procedure, not to keep trying to interfere with it,” Armsmaster says.

“Relax, Colin. She’s just concerned for ...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Yui’s Lily Garden – Chapter 4

I remember that a long, long time ago (about twenty minutes), I thought something like, ‘this is mortifying.’

I thought that because I just heartfeltly proclaimed to myself that I wanted to protect Yukinon’s (my girlfriend’s—aaaaaaaahhhhhh!) smile.

I was wrong.

This is mortifying.

“What’s wrong, Yui, aren’t you hungry? I would’ve thought, with all the exercise—”

“Sister!” Yukinon interrupts Haruno’s line before she ...

Tangled Regrets – Chapter 10 – No Longer Fated

Madoka’s lips brush against mine with a kiss so tender it’s like a spring breeze flitting by.

Then her hand cups my cheek, and the heat is a summer afternoon, the sun drifting to evening.

Then I open my eyes and look at entrancing pink. And there are no seasons, just an eternal moment.

“I wanted to wait,” she whispers, her breath both soothing and scalding on lips she just wettened.

“Wait?” I ask. Because I can’t do anything else as long as her...

February's Extra Poll 1

Sorry about the delay. Hopefully I'll get to writing these over the next two weeks without too much delay. That being said, enjoy poring over the ever growing menu!

Wake-up Call – Chapter 33

“Tattletale,” Brian says, voice dramatically echoing through the whorls of his power trailing below his helmet. Then he dramatically crosses his arms and nods, the citrine beam of the streetlamp shimmering across the uncovered parts of his costume.

…

“Is he being serious?” I ask Regent, who leans on the bare brick of the building to my right and rolls his eyes with such practice it’s actually noticeable through his mask.

“Aren’t you the Thinker? Wh...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 13 – An Anxious Girl

School rushes by.

Except it doesn’t, because I am in the center of the rumor mill, and it’s obvious I’m not getting out of there any time soon after very publicly kissing the chuuni, about as publicly getting into a fight, and then yet again kissing the frustrating, warm, tall, strong—

I mean, uh…

Yeah. School kinda drags.

I could be thinking about how to maneuver so I utterly destroy Haruka and Yukko, but it seems the both of them are giv...

ANNOUNCEMENT - Payment Paused For March

First of all, I’m currently finishing today’s Zaimokuza’s update (which should have been Monday’s update). I am sorry about the delays over the past few weeks, they have been a consequence of both accumulated workload and personal issues—nothing bad, but I had to organize a family thing and I’m awful at that, as well as notoriously prone to stress over social matters.

Which brings me to this announcement.

I’m currently updating enough stories simultaneousl...

Wordsworth – Chapter 10

Morning is the time when the Sun awakes, but, as nice as the Sun can be, he’s also a bit vain, and thus he demands others wake with him so they can watch him for as long as possible until he retires for the night.

So I am not surprised at ticklish, warm fingers made of gentle rays flitting through my cheeks, poking at my eyelids, and asking me to watch him, because the Sun can be, at times, a bit dim, and he doesn’t realize I no longer sleep, I just drift among stories an...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 32

Fighting games are ridiculous.

Aside from plots that make me want to set the language to English and pretend every character is saying something adequately cool, aside from the preposterous gimmicks—and how very few incorporate armor-busting moves that sate a teenage boy’s (or Yui’s) more cultured cravings—there’s the simple fact of… The characters.

Every single one of them needs to be distinctive both in design and moveset (though that last one gets a pass ...

Of Sisters and Shadows – Chapter 4

“Kale. Smoothies,” I accuse my tormentor.

“They are healthy and good for you,” she replies, her grin so wide I suspect biokinesis is at play—scratch that, I know it is. Because of course she wouldn’t have enough with being a claimant to the throne of the Fairy Queen, she also wants to usurp the Cheshire’s Cat royal appointment.

“I could gorge myself on fried chicken to the point of overdose and drink nothing but mayo, and you’d still keep me h...

Tangled Regrets – Chapter 9 – A Suspicious Knight

“Why?” I ask my childhood friend, the girl I’ve known all of my life.

The one I thought I knew.

“Sayaka...” she hesitates, a hand half-raised toward me.

“Hey, no need to get so intense, newbie. Let her explain.”

I look at Kyouko, at the worry hidden behind her nonchalant pose, with her head tilted back against the hands laced behind her nape.

And then at Homura subtly angling herself to get between Madoka and me.

And I sigh.

�...

Wake-up Call – Chapter 32

Wake-up Call – Chapter 32

My bike roars as I push the engine, cutting through the backstreets and any other place I can quickly come up with that won’t endanger any pedestrian.

Taylor Hebert’s preoccupation with reckless—

Good thing she isn’t here, isn’t it?

Lisa Wilbourn’s confrontational—

I’m not confrontational, Power, I am pissed.

And Danny’s going to pay for it.

With a perfectly calc...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 12

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 12

When it comes to heroes and their weaknesses, there are two schools of thought. The first one is the one so lauded by pretentiously literate people everywhere who won’t shut up about flaws making the hero more relatable or that having him struggle adds meaningful layers to his journey.

The other is the light novel-slash-isekai school of thought, who apparently didn’t go to writing class when...

Wordsworth – Chapter 9 – Colors 4

Wordsworth – Chapter 9 – Colors 4

Sophia always called Piggot ‘Ms. Piggy.’ She felt the obese woman didn’t deserve any kind of respect, obviously far more prey than predator, given her only claim to fame had been being maimed by Nilbog.

Sophia… I won’t say she’s a moron. She has a kind of cunning that I’ll never grasp, an instinctive understanding of the world around her, if not the people.

No, people are Sophia’s blind spot.

People...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 31

Westerners have a saying—or is that a proverb? Maybe a song? Meh, who cares. Anyway, the important thing is that some Westerner, at one point or another, said that one is the loneliest number.

Which is stupid.

Aside from the fact that numbers aren’t able to feel loneliness, what about Zero? Isn’t that, by definition, far lonelier than one? He even ended up committing a very convoluted form of suicide involving his best friend-slash-slash partner, you know?

B...

Tangled Regrets – Chapter 8 – A Fated Night

The four of us are in one of the rooms reserved for our student trip at the local inn. At any other point, I would’ve questioned the expense of having only four students per room, but…

Junko.

I won’t ever question anything that can simply be explained away just by saying that name.

So, we are sitting on the tatami mats of the traditional room, writing our impressions about the vision we got through the black mirror around a square table, and we only lack Mam...

Wake-up Call – Chapter 31

This is mortifying.

“That’s twice this has happened,” Taylor says, smug dripping off her tone like her lubrication off my double-headed dildo.

Yep, focus on that thought, Lisa. It may allow you to pretend things aren’t completely one-sided for just a little bit.

“I mean, it’s cute and everything, and my ego certainly can use the massage, but… maybe there’s an underlying medical condition? Low-blood pressure? Maybe you need more sugar?” she keeps ...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 11

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 11

Walking back home from school, my hand tightly clasping that of a girl who says I’m her boyfriend, is one of those things I never expected to experience without a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief, a carefully curated savegames collection, and a screen between the action and I.

Yet here I am.

Walking.

Holding her hand.

And sweating like a pig.

A furtive side-glanc...

Wordsworth – Chapter 8

Wordsworth – Chapter 8

“Please, Tay, don’t do this,” Lisa’s voice warms something deep in my chest, even as I ache to soothe her worry, even as I yearn to layer words upon her wounds until they are protected from a world that always intrudes upon them, tearing open what should’ve been healed—focus.

I take a deep breath, feeling the sensation of my ribs straining when I can’t take in any more air and I’m forced to slowly deflate. It isn�...

An End, Some Means, and a Deranged Lesbian – Chapter 1 [Complete]

My magic is unlike that of other magical girls. I get constant visions of the future, and so it drains me with every breath, with every small glimpse into a catastrophe I must abort at any cost.

Also, unlike other magical girls, I know where witches come from. Having the certainty that I will either die or live to become a nightmarish monster bent on undoing every scrap of good I managed to ever accomplish makes it so I am uniquely motivated to accomplish my goals. To do some...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 30

As sacrilegious as it is to even consider it, I must admit there’s something about anime that irks me to no end. An irreconcilable difference with my worldview that feels utterly bewildering, seeing as said worldview can be essentially summed up as ‘I read this in Shounen Jump, so I love it, and this other thing sounds like work, so I hate it.’ It strains my psyche to try and reconcile this single facet of otaku culture passed down through the generations with my actual exper...

Tangled Regrets – Chapter 7 – The Tired Fighter

Moments slip through my fingers like treacle as I struggle to tighten my hold on time around me.

It’s no longer the effortless grace I used to have as everything froze, as bullets hung in the air waiting for me to dance around them.

It’s enough.

Sayaka’s voice is distorted as she yells out a warning to Kyouko, the redhead turning so fast her ponytail becomes a shimmering trail behind her, her spear in a two-handed grip, ready to shield herself.

I aim a...

Wake-up Call – Chapter 30

“Run this by me again,” Taylor says as she tucks her hair behind her ear, the wind on top of this high building making it stream to her side in long, waving streamers of dark silk that glimmer in the twilight hour—

“Lisa?” she asks, cocking her head.

“Uh?”

“Are you… ignoring me?”

I blink a couple of times.

“Tay, I’m staring at you, barely keeping myself from drooling, and the first possibility you think about is that I’m i...