ARTICLE DIRECTORY

here, you can find anything i write about. the intent is to host anything here, whether that's media analysis, thoughts on things i see going on online, or even my creative writing.

MINI-ARTICLES / LISTICLES

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A Miraculous Miracle

An ordinary woman finds herself in extraordinary circumstances. Tomomo reflects on her new powers, and her new curse. (Fan adaptation of Tomomo's backstories)

[Author's note: hi! i wrote this over my fall break. it's based on a backstory for tomomo written up on a old blog by hono many years ago, but i extrapolated on a lot of parts of it.i havent written anything narrative like this in a long time, so it may not be very good, but i hope you like it anyway. i might write more for this sometime]

• BACK

The floor really wasn't a comfortable place to be laying down. It would be much more sensical for Tomomo to pry herself limply off the floor and at least go climb on her mattress if she was going to lay motionless for such a long time.'Unfortunately,' Tomomo mused to herself in her head, 'I can't even do that simple of a task right now.'She couldn't really remember how long she had been laying there. Her body felt so, so heavy, and her head felt like a bag of bricks, and her mouth tasted awful. It really was the worst when she could feel all of the sensations of her body crying out to take care of herself but she was so mentally taxed she couldn't do anything about it.This wasn't the first time this had happened, no, but the rest of the times she spiraled like this she hadn't been told she had a month to live.She still couldn't believe it. It didn't feel real. Maybe she had been having a really lucid dream? Tomomo began recounting it in her head, probably for the 5th time now.

She'd gotten back late from her job that day. She had been made to fill in for a girl who had called in sick, and then missed the train home and had to wait.But, at least she had managed to get a hold of one of the limited edition Uchiwa fans for the anniversary of her favorite idol's debut. It cost a bit much for just a fan, but she was excited to display it with the others she had. It was a small joy she had, collecting merchandise with some money she set aside. And this would be her hundredth. It was almost like destiny to her.She didn't expect for a demon to show up in her apartment when she got home, though.It had shown up in a bright flash when Tomomo had gotten home, just barely after she'd locked up and gotten her things set aside. To say it scared her out of her mind would be understating things. She'd fallen over onto her backside as she squinted through the light to see a woman step out of a bright, hot pink blaze in the center of the room.At first Tomomo panicked that her complex was going to be up in flames, but that seemed to not be a pressing issue as the fire quickly evaporated. Instead, a stranger stood where it had been.She was tall, with a pink complexion and wavy turquoise hair with curls that looked like they were held up with some kind of product. She wore a strange sort of outfit that reminded Tomomo of an alien's uniform she might see in a movie, if not much more feminine. What really caught her attention, though, were her long, pink wings that looked almost holographic, and illuminated the room with their light."Tomomo-chan! We finally meet!" She said excitedly. Her voice was airy and high pitched, and she had an intense expression.Tomomo's stomach did a somersault in her gut. "W..What the hell…" she stammered, voice quaking."I've been watching over you for some time, now," she said with a coy smile. Her eyes were a deep magenta, and they were fixed on Tomomo, who was petrified on the floor. "You're just as pathetic in person. But so adorable, too!"Tomomo breathed heavily. She had no idea how to process this, and questions sprang up in her head faster than she could properly formulate them."Oh!" she clapped her hands together in the otherwise deafening quiet of the room. "You must be wondering why I'm here. Right!" The demon nodded thoughtfully before pointing coquettishly at her."I came because of the prayer you made at your bedside to God."Tomomo felt heat rise to her cheeks. She wasn't really a religious person, but it was true that she sometimes sent out those sorts of things to whatever higher power would listen. She rashedly decided to feign ignorance. "Whadd'you mean…"The other woman noticed the blush on her face and let out a quick exhale in amusement, making Tomomo look away in a poor attempt to appear less conspicuous.She continued. "You wished for a miracle to happen, didn't you?" the woman paused, pursing her lips. "Actually.. it was more like a commandment. Something like, 'A miracle WILL happen once I collect 100 paper fans.'" Punctuating her last sentence with a poor imitation of Tomomo's voice with a faux whine. "I was a bit surprised by how childish it was, but…""W-Well--" Tomomo sputtered, mortified. "I've done that ever since I was a little kid. Why's it a big deal now?" She felt defensive that something she did in secret had somehow been actually seen by a living person. Had they seen it every time she'd ever done so? "There's nothing w..wrong with having mantras like that.""Aww. Of course there's nothing wrong with it, silly!" The strange woman said in sing-song.Her long, glittering magenta wings bent strangely then, lifting her body up so she could recline onto them. It was unlike anything Tomomo had seen before. (Tomomo, admittedly, found herself thinking this was really cool even with her panicked mental state.)"You should be happy your prayers have been heard! Because I, Magical Devil Mio, am going to give you…"The demon used her wings to push herself forward, suspending her body so she could lean in to Tomomo's face, making the young woman's heart rise to her throat."A very. Special. Gift."Tomomo had a terrible feeling about this. No gift from a "Devil" could be good news. She nervously scooted herself back from Mio, and it took her a moment to choke out, despite herself, "What kind of gift?...""Judging by your room's decor…" Mio trailed off, making a point to swivel her head around at all the anime posters and wall scrolls that were around the room. "You should know what a magical girl is, don't you?" Her voice sounded openly judgemental.Tomomo blinked, flabbergasted, too confused to dwell on the insult. "...Huh?""Tonight, you will become a magical girl, given power by a Magical Devil." Mio touched her fingertips to her lips in glee, watching Tomomo stare dumbly. "You will be given more destructive force than any living creature on your cute little planet, and then some."Tomomo's head was starting to spin."In exchange…" Mio's expression quickly grew dark, the corners of her lips turning up. "You'll give me your life."Tomomo was silent as the girl in front of her burst into giggles, like she'd told some hilarious joke. What kind of fully grown adult would ever want something that stupid? Tomomo was 27, she was long past the age where she dreamed of those sorts of imaginary fantasies coming true.Even if Tomomo didn't like the world she lived in, even if she didn't even really like living itself, even if she sometimes imagined herself far, far away from her shitty apartment and job and everyone she knew..."Um… No thank you. I… Don't want that, though." Tomomo quickly cleared her throat. "I mean, I'm grateful, I guess, but--"She was interrupted with a sharp tut-tut. "It wasn't an offer."Mio's hand started to glow with a bright, cold flame. Panicking, Tomomo leapt to her feet and was about to run before she was enveloped in flames.For some reason, she wasn't able to scream. It was the most intense pain she had ever felt, but she couldn't even fall to her knees. Tears came easily, dripping uncontrollably down her cheeks. Everything was so bright, so bright that her room blurred together in a sickly pink as her vision faded.But instead of destroying her, the heat of the fire quickly spread through her body, her blood starting to run red-hot. Something her mind could only register as "power" coursed through every muscle, both unimaginably painful but wholly alien. It was like she had a full-body fever, but 10 times as intense.Tomomo didn't know how long her body was burning, but the cool floor on her skin when she finally collapsed felt soothing. She let out a cry of relief, her throat strained from her attempts to do so before, face wet with warm tears.Despite being distracted by the lingering nausea, she started to come to her senses. The first thing she registered was how different her body felt now. It was hard to parse, but it was almost as if her body had been replaced in its entirety. And the physical exhaustion was fading remarkably fast.The ringing in her ears went away quickly as well, allowing her to hear her own labored breathing. She could feel eyes on her back without even rolling over to look at her benefactor."How is it? Feeling good?"Tomomo didn't feel good. She did like she had been reborn somehow, but not in some poetic, beautiful way. She felt tired and overwhelmed and disgusting and like she wanted to throw up on the floor.She could hear Mio's high heels click against the wood floor, walking around her body, before she bent down and slid her hand through the gap between Tomomo's face and the floor. Mio's fingers hooked under her chin, lifting her head up to look at her. Tomomo could see her hair fluttering from her labored breathing."Hehe… I'm sure you'll make very good use of your powers, won't you, Tomomo-chan?" Mio's eyes lidded, seeming to be satisfied. "Now go forth and shape this sad little world however you see fit, cutie."You have 30 days left to live in it, after all."And before she could collect her thoughts enough to object, Mio gently let Tomomo back onto the floor, and disappeared into a bright flame that extinguished itself into nothingness, leaving her alone again.Tomomo began to weep.

She had fallen asleep soon after that, but everything was kind of blurring together. She vaguely remembered waking up midday, but she had barely moved from that one spot on the floor.Tomomo pushed her upper body up half heartedly by propping herself up somewhat onto her arm. She had been too scared to test if she did have powers. Ironically, this had the effect of drawing out the anxiety she was having out for a much longer time. She was fully aware of this, too, but that didn't help one bit.She eventually sat up and was surprised that her back didn't hurt from all that time she spent laying on the floor. That was something, at least…'How would I even make sure that wasn't just a stupid dream or a psychotic break…' She scratched at her head anxiously. 'Maybe I'm just really crazy. Do crazy people think about if they're crazy or not? And would that be any better?'Tomomo thought hard about how to verify if she'd really changed. The devil she saw didn't specify what powers she'd been given. Except…"Shape this sad little world however you see fit."Tomomo rubbed her eyes exhaustedly. "Shape this world, huh…" she murmured, looking at the palm of her hand. If she could do that, what would she want?Right now, she supposed, she could use a glass of water. Her throat burned terribly, and she could use it to get the gross-tasting film off of her mouth.And just as the thought came into her head, she was grasping a cup of water. Startled, she dropped it into the floor, soaking her pant legs and making a puddle under her.It was true.Too dismayed to even bother to clean up the spill, she laid back down. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry, but it did sap out any energy she had built up before.What was she even meant to do? What good were these powers to her? Why her? Why not someone who still cared about bettering the world? There were too many problems in this world that were too big and too complicated for her to fix. Nor did she really care to.The real world wasn't like an anime or a video game. She couldn't just go out and "stop bad guys." How worthless were flashy powers if the things that were wrong in the world couldn't be boiled down to a villian of the week?'But I have to do something.' She had repeated this to herself over and over, going crazy. 'I have to do something before I die, I can't just rot in my apartment.'But what? She didn't have friends, just some coworkers she generally felt pretty awkward around. She wasn't popular online either, and didn't have anyone she was burning to meet up with.Tomomo strained to think of somebody she'd want to spend her last days with. There was one person… but…'He just got married, didn't he?' She saw on social media that her childhood friend had had a wedding. She always had been really fond of him. There were some unresolved romantic feelings there, too. She thought that she was on good terms with him, even though they hadn't spoken much lately. But she hadn't been invited…So really, there was nobody. She couldn't even go to her parents. Tomomo felt a lump rise in her throat again. She wanted to see them now more than ever. They might know what to say. But she couldn't. 'What a stupid failure their only daughter turned out to be.'Maybe it would be better just to hole up in her room until she died. At least she wouldn't cause anyone any problems that way. She had nothing substantial left to live for anyway.She felt like throwing up again, but heard the wheel of her hamster's cage start squeaking on the far end of her room.'Wait, Poppo doesn't start moving around until late at night.' She blinked at the ceiling. 'What time is it? How long have I been laying here?'She rolled over to look at the alarm clock on her desk. 11:00PM. A full day had already passed since her encounter with Mio. She'd been spiralling so badly she hadn't gotten up from the floor for an entire day. 'A new record,' she thought with self-directed vitriol.Tomomo stayed lying on her side. She felt tired again, despite having done absolutely nothing. It was a Sunday night, too. She had work tomorrow.'Actually,' she thought suddenly, 'who cares if I get fired from my shitty job? I'm going to die soon. I'll just sleep in.'Tomomo shut her eyes, feeling herself start to drift off to the sound of the hamster wheel spinning. She knew another day similar to this one awaited her tomorrow; that she didn't brush her teeth, or change her wet, wrinkled clothes, or shower. But all she wanted to do right now was sleep.29 days left to live.

• BACK

Amateurish Cake Frosting

After the events of Clash of Cakes, Mio is determined to make Tomomo admit her cake isn't disgusting. Unfortunately for Mio, Tomomo has grown tired of her shenanigans...

• BACK

Tomomo really loved sweets. Like, really, really loved sweets. She couldn't get enough of them. Better yet, ever since achieving divinity, she didn't have to worry about the mortal concerns she once had, like maintaining a healthy diet, weight gain, or budgeting. As a result, she could indulge in as many treats as she could ask for.It surprised Mio, then, that Tomomo still refused to accept the cake she'd made for her."I told you, I don't want any of your stupid cake. Could you just leave me alone?"Tomomo had been especially sour since the events that took place during the Sweet Gods' Christmas get-together. It had taken a few days to get control of Mio's temper tantrum of replacing the world's cakes with duplicates of her own esoteric baking after her gift was insulted by the partygoers. But her ploy of getting back at the Gods for disparaging her creation worked; by the numbers, people in this world much preferred to accept the circumstances and enjoy Mio's strange cake rather than just waste it by tossing it out. Chalk it up to whatever you like, Mio had won.And so, Mio thought, why couldn't Tomomo just take that loss with dignity and eat the damn cake?! She had made it just for her, not even for the other Sweet Gods who eventually came around and acknowledged her efforts. She even proved it wasn't dangerous or anything of the sort, so why wouldn't she just have some?"Come ooon," Mio whined with her usual lilt. "Quit being such a baby, Tomomo… I know how much you really want it. Or should I call you Sweet Eater?"Mio had been following Tomomo for a while now after catching her out on some kind of stroll, wanting to pester her as she normally did. They were in some sort of snowy place, Tomomo walking down train tracks that seemed to go nowhere yet stretch on forever. Mio still didn't know the ins and outs of this realm fully yet; what the purpose or significance of this area they were in was, she had no idea. While neither of them were bothered by the cold from the snow around them, Mio wasn't a fan of the way snow fell on her body, particularly because her high body temperature tended to immediately melt it into water and get her annoyingly wet. But since Tomomo didn't seem to bother changing for the weather in this space, neither did Mio.Since there was no need for her to walk, Mio floated gently behind Tomomo, whose shoes made the wood creak, metal ring out hollowly, and the snow softly tamp with her footfalls, respectively. Tomomo didn't need to walk either, but Mio internally figured it must be because that was some kind of holdover from when Tomomo used to be a mortal. Humans loved their habits; Tomomo didn't need to eat either, but did it mostly for pleasure.The silence did bother Mio, who was uncomfortable with how strangely tense the air felt, and she continued to try and talk after Tomomo still wouldn't respond."Is that something you'd like better? It's so silly how you'd give yourself a childish little title like that… Though I will admit, those 'Sweet God' friends of yours really turned themselves around in my eyes," she smiled, knowing it bothered Tomomo that she hadn't been brought along to hang out together with the other Gods that night, and wanting to leverage that fact to get to her. "I can see why you'd like to think of yourself as one of them, ehe."A small silence followed. "Did you just come to make fun of me again?""Uhm, yes? Obviously." That was what Mio always liked to do; it was basically her favorite pastime. "--But that's not the only reason either, my dear sweet angel!"She suddenly vanished then reappeared in a veil of magenta flames in front of Tomomo to block her path. The other woman, flinching from the suddenness of the maneuver, was forced to stop lest she walk straight into Mio, who then outstretched a plate with a slice of cake on it that had manifested seemingly from nowhere."While I was having my little rendezvous with those young ladies, they gave me a few, ahm, pointers on how to make my recipe even better!" She gestured slightly. "Not to say it wasn't already amazing, but there are some things that even I still don't know."Tomomo looked back at Mio with only contempt. While normally this was the kind of reaction Mio would have wanted to evoke from whom she affectionately called her "favorite little failure," right now she just really wanted to be praised for her job well done. But only more awkward silence followed as Tomomo didn't give any further reaction."S..So…" she faltered, struggling to gain control over the situation. "Are you going to try it, or is Mama going to have to make her fussy little daughter eat her--""I don't know why you're doing this," Tomomo interrupted. Her voice was much less energetic than normal. "You already won the whole dumb argument that didn't matter squat and proved your point, you probably talked with all my friends about me being a big stupid loser, you screwed up my Christmas… What else is there for you?"Mio blinked at that. That was all true, but what did that have to do with right now? "...What's there is for you to have a bite of this and tell me how good it is, duh." She pouted a little, beginning to get annoyed at Tomomo's stubbornness. She even cut her off!Tomomo's gaze fell to the cake, and stayed fixed there for a moment. Mio noted how it seemed both intense and far away at the same time, an expression she'd seen on Tomomo's face a few times before. It was a pretty good sign of despair, a feeling that Mio had become attuned to bringing out as someone who lived to exploit others' emotions. But she felt that was an odd expression to make right now. She was offering something Tomomo liked, wasn't she? At the cost of having Tomomo make the (objectively true) statement that Mio's cake was the best, of course, but that wasn't something to be upset about.Then, as they stood there in the snow Tomomo began to cry softly."I don't even know what you want from me…" her voice choked up. "Why can't you just… be a freaking… NORMAL PERSON, and pick whether you wanna be enemies or friends? It's so…"Mio was taken aback. Why was she crying now, of all times?! She didn't want Tomomo acting like this right now. Tomomo was supposed to maybe argue a bit with her, at worst, then come to accept her gift so that they could have it together!"What??? What the heck do you MEAN, a normal person? I'm way better than any weak, 'normal' human," she balked defensively. "And would you cut this out? I'm not in the mood for the crybaby part of your personality… You're making me feel bad!"Tomomo tried to scoff, but it came out lopsided as her voice cracked. "Oh, I'm makin' you feel bad…" She took a deep breath before starting to shout at her and into the vast emptiness around them, "Not like you ever freaking give a damn about that! Why should I care about you being happy when you always, always wanna make me miserable! What the hell is your problem, trying to suddenly cozy up 'ta me! You FREAK!"Mio felt a pang of… something, deep inside her chest. She was startled by the fact that she found Tomomo's words actually hurtful for once. It reminded her of the way she'd felt when she called her cake "disgusting" and her friends had treated her with derision.She tightened her hold on the plate; it had begun making her fingers go numb from the uncomfortable grip she held it in, but was too focused on the situation at hand to even consider shifting her hands."I'm not a freak!" Mio blurted out. "And so what? What's bad about making some fun of you and wanting to be close like how you get with those flimsy puppets of yours? I can do both!"Tomomo let out a sharp breath, becoming visibly more wound up the longer they talked. "No, you freaking can't! I can put up with a whole lot, but this kinda… Khh…" she faltered, stuck on her words."Why n--""Shut up!" Tomomo was cutting her off again. "This kinda… e-ergh, manipulative gaslighter-whatever-type-deal where you're sometimes mean and wantin' to embarass me but you also keep doing these…messed up 'nice' things for me is gonna break my brain!" Fog was filling the space around her mouth now, her warm, frantic breathing reacting to the frigid air. "I hate that! I really hate it! I'm a grown w-woman, you ain't my mom and I ain't a kid! So go the hell away!"Before Mio could say anything, Tomomo forcibly shoved her, the magical girl's inhuman strength knocking the wind out of the smaller devil in front of her. Mio's plate fell from her hands, shattering on impact with the railroad tracks, the sharp sound echoing into the sky as if to punctuate the action.Mio, stunned from pain and blinking dazedly, could do nothing but watch as Tomomo trudged around her angrily, shouldering her aside a little despite not lacking the space to not have to in order to get by.She floated there, dimly aware of Tomomo's footsteps, now sounding fierce with their quicker, heavier sounds. Mio found herself struggling to process what happened, glancing down at the cake which was now crushed and ruined in the snow under the weight of the plate. She turned around to watch Tomomo's back as she was hurrying away, and swallowed dryly.Instinctively, Mio did feel angry as she normally did, of course. The whole, How dare she?! She's not allowed to get away with that!—Mio was entitled to Tomomo's attention, and messing with her was fun! Seeing the woman lose her mind over the antics she pulled was her favorite thing! She felt the sudden, sharp urge to retaliate to Tomomo's insolence, although she wasn't sure what with—summoning a big monster? Singeing her with flames? Dredging up her past again to humiliate her?But a foreign feeling was starting to flood Mio's senses, overtaking her usual indignance like a rushing wave and pulling it down into the depths. She felt… overwhelmingly disgusted, but in a way that arose from within rather than out of a repulsion towards another. She'd felt hurt before, obviously, but her ire was always directed at whoever was making her feel so terrible.Even though it was Tomomo being cruel to her, Mio couldn't help but feel that anger directed inward instead. Why? She hated the feeling; Mio loathed being wrong. She'd simply reshape the situation to be one where she was in the right if she had to in order to avoid being in the wrong. But that seemed impossible this time, somehow. Even if she simply got back at Tomomo for the way she was acting now, it seemed like that would just make it even harder to do something like giving her a gift again.It was already strange to Mio that she found herself so enamored with Tomomo to begin with. She was sad, pathetic, slovenly, and didn't act her age in the least. Because she had no friends or family, she surrounded herself with dolls in a make-believe world of bright colors and childrens' games. There was a clear reason she found Tomomo such an easy target to mock, and what she originally thought would be a great candidate to give unimaginable powers and let loose on a world full of insignificant humans.So why, then, did Mio feel so strange when she saw Tomomo was happy? Whenever she did, it was a complicated mix of wanting to destroy that happiness, have it for herself, and…Mio suddenly became aware she had touched down onto the ground some minutes ago and was standing alone in silence. She flustered a bit, looking around to check if anyone was watching before stooping down to see if any of her cake was salvageable. It wasn't, obviously, and she let out a whine.Where was Tomomo now, anyway? This wasn't over, she was going to get Tomomo to praise her somehow. But… how would she do it when the woman was so angry with her? For once, Mio really didn't want to invite ire, but was it really true that it was this hard to both make someone your plaything while they were also willing to play with you?It's not like I'm in the mood to tease all the time… it's not fair of her to expect me to always be one way, she thought, trying to parse how she felt to herself. Sometimes I want her to direct her smile at me, is that really so confusing for her? Augh, wait, that's confusing even for me!Mio huffed, getting more turned around the longer she thought about this. Maybe Tomomo would be less angry some other time and Mio could hash her feelings out directly at her. The thing was, despite her nature, Mio really was fixated on wanting Tomomo to be a willing participant in her antics for once. No games, no manipulation, just for Tomomo to sit with her on her own terms. Had she caused Tomomo to become too guarded around her, perhaps?…Maybe Tomomo was right, as much as Mio loathe to admit it, that she needed to choose what way she wanted their dynamic to be. Or, atleast, she needed to change her approach if she was going to get Tomomo to turn her gaze toward her.Mio stood back up, clicking her tongue in annoyance when she realized her hair had been dusted with snow. And, as expected, her shoulders and clothes were now damp from the snow that had melted onto her, which while not as bad as rain, still felt unpleasant. She fluffed her hair and clumsily brushed it out with her fingers, trying to get the snow out before realizing she'd have to get out of here before she could properly fix it. Instinctively, she wanted to chase that woman down, but her mind was telling her to leave it go for now and circle back later.So, going with intuition rather than blindly chasing her feelings for once, Mio vanished with a whoosh of flames, a woman with much to think about.

[Author's note: thanks for reading!! im still really new to fic writing so i plan to continue this when i get the chance. i was asked by a few of my friends what my take on a mio/tomomo reconciliation would be like and well, the ending of the event kind of changed my idea of what id be like. i initially planned to make this into a continuation of a minicomic i was illustrating but i ran out of energy ;-; also i have an easier time getting across more complicated ideas over text i think than through comic form. ANYWAY hopefully this will just be the start of maybe a small little story hehe who knows :-)]

• BACK