#I definitely do think a variation of this shot will be included in the next myth/branch...

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

The way Sylus grabs MC's wrist as if to ensure he doesn't lose her again the way he did after the Arena...

Oh my God

What if that's what happened?

What if his hold on her wasn't strong enough and her hand slipped out of his and that's how they were separated in the Deepspace Tunnel all those years ago?

Fuck

I bet that's it

The writers would absolutely pull a gut punch like that just to make Sylus (and us) suffer more

So now he makes sure his grip is strong enough because he refuses to let history repeat itself. He won't ever lose her again

[cerastes]

Was Wisadel's backlash at all comparable to the Chalter incident and do you think it would be enough to make them ignore her for a bit, or do you expect them to give her a skin on the more normal schedule for limiteds? I know there are a lot of complaints that even went beyond gameplay stuff (like being a limited alter of a limited) but I generally shut out the community when it gets super annoying so have no clue how big the stink actually got.

As far as I know, there was no backlash for Wisadel, but I’ve also not had my finger on the Arknights pulse as of late, so maybe I missed it, but, again, as far as I know, there wasn’t anything like with Chung the Hung, which makes sense, all things considered, because Chung didn’t get her backlash due to being overpowered, it was a molotov cocktail of factors which included being overpowered. Wisadel had some complaints, such as what you mentioned — limited alternate of a limited — but nothing much beyond what limiteds get.

Wisadel as a while evades the Chung trappings:

Regardless of your opinion on her actual design, Wisadel’s artwork is of good quality. It’s proportionate, well drawn, stylish, the whole deal. Ch’en the Holungday famously had really awful E2 art.

Wisadel is overpowered, but she’s a character that’s been ingrained in the narrative since day one and this “upgrade” is tied to her actual growth and role in the main story. Ch’en was overpowered, but while you can make an argument her growth is part of it (since it’s offhandedly mentioned in her Files, I guess), it’s tied to an overall filler summer event, has her in a literal swimsuit, firing a jury rigged Super Soaker for more damage than several of her contemporaries could manage combined per shot, all while having three Skills that were all basically the same and S3 being the best one by far, which also used the Ammo mechanic so you could have insane practical upkeep on it. Comparatively, Wisadel actually has three distinct Skills, which leads to the next point:

Wisadel is actually entertaining and satisfying to look at: The bombardment S2, the huge death beam explosion of S3, the graphics, the sound effects, the sprite animations, Wisadel has actual flair. Ch’en the Holungday is painfully boring to play and look at, all Skills have the same animations, the same dull sound effect, no variation or flair. Her skin definitely helped on the flair department, like 3 years later.

Though you could (correctly) argue that Wisadel might also be doing this for limited alts of limiteds, Ch’en was setting a very awful precedent: Overpowered Summer Units, maybe even Overpowered Seasonal Units, a hallmark of trashy gacha design. Hypergryph had tested the waters with other scummy strategies before — the period of time in which Thorns and Surtr, AKA stupid strong characters, among others, were rapid fire releases with no accompanying lore or event to give them a place in the world the way others have, which haunts them to this day as ‘lorelets’ — so Ch’en In A Bikini Godtier didn’t sit well either.

Wisadel wasn’t the only good unit out of her banner; regardless of your personal take on Mizuki as a unit, he was widely agreed to be, and thus, perceived as a nothingburger of a 6*, and La Pluma, who is definitely a good unit but was a new archetype at that time, so people were cautious with her, so there was a clear winning roll and losing roll. Wisadel was joined by 6* Logos, who could easily be the limited 6* in any other banner, and 5* Fang, a highly anticipated character. Overall, the perception of these banners could not have been more different.

The overtuning of Ch’en is but one in a cocktail of complaints people had for her, basically. Any complaints there were over Wisadel were a fraction of what Ch’en got.

[likesunsetorange]

okay so similar to the mikasa ones, here are all the ones for eren and my thought processes behind them!

i think men’s fashion tends to be a little less versatile than women’s fashion by a long shot, so i think there’s definitely a lot less diversity and variation between my eren’s compared to my mikasa’s! i think each of my mikasa’s have a specific “aesthetic” whereas my eren’s more so have more of a color palette/vibe to their style because i think there’s only so much you can do with men’s clothing tbh unless you’re aiming for a super curated aesthetic (e.g. cowboy eren)! so i think they’ll have a lot of overlap tbh, but this is kind of how i envision them all! and again i’ll include the moodboards i’ve made previously!

— 𝐝𝐨𝐥 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧

i think dol eren and mikasa both have this very “boy next door” and girl vibe to them, like i don’t wanna call them “basic” per se, but it’s a very sort of typical and like almost expected vibe you’d expect of average 24 year olds. for eren, since he works a more physically demanding job, i imagine him being a very casual person. i also just see most guys being casual in general, so wearing a lot of like solid/vintage graphic tees and then whatever random bottoms on a day to day basis if he’s not doing anything special! i imagine the only time he dresses up is when he goes out with mikasa, because she’s the only person who he cares to really impress (hence the chapter about their date), so he’d have some nicer clothes for when he has nice things to attend, but they’re only reserved for things like that!

i see him wearing the most of: t-shirts, hoodies/sweatshirts, the occasional nice button up. idk dol eren would be uniqlo if he were a brand. he is a GOOD QUALITY, LOYAL, and DEPENDABLE! when has uniqlo EVER done you wrong??? like it’s simple but it’s tried and true man, for good reason!!!

— 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧

bodyguard eren is a casual guy but he’s like the emo version in my head lol. like bodyguard mikasa’s colors in my head are red/pink/white, and bodyguard eren’s are black/green/grey—he wears a lot of darker colors essentially! mikasa obviously is the more fashion forward one in this relationship, and eren is def more casual lol, he basically just wears all black or some variation of a neutral outfit bc he’s a very simple and apathetic man lol, he doesn’t really care. but similar to how eren inspires mikasa to dress more casual, mikasa would def play ken doll with eren and buy him clothes lol, so i think he’d dress up a bit more too! but i don’t think she’d ever force him to wear anything he didn’t like, i just think eren dresses casually bc it’s simple and easy, and he’s just a laxxed man.

he would be converse bc i see him begrudgingly taking his shoes off when mikasa pisses him off and he’s struggling to get them off in ample time bc they’re high tops lol

(also there’s a cardigan bc mikasa would so put him in a cardigan lol)

— 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧

okay after model eren, i think e2l eren is the second best dressed, and this is solely because him and mikasa were together for so long LOL, she played build a boyfriend! like his style comes from her! but eventually after being together so long he does sort of develop his own sense of style but like the foundation of his style IS mikasa. so i think his style kinda emulates the same kind of vibe as hers, idk how that translates in male description. he would dress up a little more than some of the other eren’s and probably wear a bit more color too! def has that vacation-y vibe too. also e2l eren is a graphic designer, so he has that artsy boy vibe to him a bit too!

he’d be zara bc mikasa definitely introduced him to zara while they were dating lol

— 𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧

i feel like this one doesn’t need much explanation, we all know cowboy eren is just a hot, sexy cowboy. he’s a working man and he has to dress accordingly!!!! (and for whatever reason we’re all very oddly attracted to it) (it’s bc it’s eren) but i think for mikasa’s fancier events he would dress up, and occasionally omit the cowboy hat if need be lol

he is boot barn lol. and maybe levi’s.

— 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧

model eren to me is obviously the BEST DRESSED out of all the eren’s, like this is an obvious given. he’s a model! of course he’s gonna be the most fashionable! to me, he screams pretty boy lol, so he’s going to dress and act accordingly lol. it’s one of the main things that mikasa also makes fun of him for too. so i think of his style as very tailored, very classic, but also some fun and a bit more stylized pieces! i think he would wear a little bit of everything, so he would dress super fancy some days, but then have some more casual pieces too! but then once he kind of stays in montana with his family, he’ll def kind of his model mikasa moment and have the little bit of cowboy flare to his style a bit too!

he would be all saints! or some niche expensive brand im probably too poor to afford

— 𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧

academic rivals eren is kinda my favorite to talk about bc he’s kinda funny LOL he’s basically frat boy adjacent and it makes me giggle. he’s literally what you’d think of when you’d think of an obnoxious little frat boy in the most stereotypical way (not in the board shorts and polos way tho omg), although he isn’t technically one! his style is definitely pretty casual, so he’d definitely wear a lot of t-shirts and flannels, but since he’s a bit well off, i think he’d wear a lot of stuff like golf wang and more expensive sneakers! i see eren as kinda basic tbh lol he’s a simple man but i think he’d have his occasional indulgences lol (and golf wang stuff is SO comfy). he’s just your tried and true college boy in my opinion!

he would be golf wang & converse (but not for the reasons stated above).

i won’t lie i feel like this one gave me more grief than the one for mikasa did lol like i definitely had to think about it a bit more! men’s fashion is way harder to me so i had to be a lot more considerate about each eren and their vibes, but this was fun!

[tactical-mode]

If the change of scenery at the beginning of this cutscene is a bit jarring, or if you find the pace of episodes getting repetitive, there’s a deleted sequence between Episodes 3 and 4 - so, on the YouTube channel there are two playlists: the regular series and Extended Edition, which includes longer interludes between story moments. You could also call it Final Fantasy VII: Extra Boring Edition or Cozy Edition or Stoner Edition. As you like.

[Chapter 01] Scene 37: Setting the Bomb

Pretty straight forward, some reshoots, rearranging of existing shots, and some color correction. In Remake, Barret trains his gun on Cloud and shouts “You double crossing–!!” which was a hassle to try and cut. Since it fits the characters and serves the scene, I left it in.

Scenes 38-41: Combat - Guard Scorpion

In Remake, boss battles are multi-stage epics. I think they are best experienced by playing Remake, and so, as you’ll see, this battle goes by quite quickly! 200+ shots and 50+ minutes of footage is whittled down into under two minutes. The score here is the track Getaway from Remake, a variation on Uematsu’s Bombing Mission, which is what plays during this sequence in the OG.

Scene 42-51: All Right. It’s Escape.

Cloud: Come on, let’s get outta here! (PS1/PC)

Cloud: The alarm… Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here (Beacause)

Cloud: Well, time to go. (Rogers)

Running and fighting montage! Here we have the official inclusion of the monodrive, sweeper, and grunt enemy types. The game has such great enemy design and 7R gorgeously redid nearly all of them.

The Resident Evil-style jumpscare of this guy smashing through a window has sadly been cut.

Despite this series so-far establishing a rhythm of “story first, combat after” you’ll find there are little narratives throughout this action sequence, such as Jessie getting her leg stuck, then escaping through the enemy lines while Barret and Cloud fend them off. It’s not just slow mo! But, true to the purpose of these short episodes, the next major story beat will come soon, after the cliffhanger!

Final Thoughts

Thanks again to everyone watching this series. This was a real “boss fight” of an editing job and while I had a lot of fun doing it, it was a lot. I definitely wanted to get this opening dungeon done and published before taking a break, but the holidays are coming up. Luckily, I don’t like the holidays and will be cat-sitting over the winter with nothing but my computer and some houseplants to keep me occupied, so you may see more episodes very soon.

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

A small handful of songs I associate with A Glint, a Spark. (Spoilers for both that fic and Memory, Heavy in My Heart.)

Arms Outstretched - Griffin McElroy

As I alluded to in the MHIMH playlist, Arms Outstretched was the song I had all but set AGAS to, for the animatic in my head. The progression of it from being kind of downtrodden, to this moment of hope, and then a happy epilogue was pretty perfect, both for the idea I actually went with, and the one I may still write.

Chapters 1 & 2

Place to Start - Mike Shinoda

Do I even have a decision? Feeling like I'm living in a story already written. Am I part of a vision made by somebody else? / Am I out of conviction with no wind in the sail, too focused on the end and simply ready to fail?

Cause I'm tired of feeling like I can't control this; tired of feeling like every next step's hopeless. Tired of feeling like what I build might break apart, I don't want to know the end, all I want is a place to start.

I don't have a ton to elaborate on with the lyrics. The first part just meshes really nicely with the theme of being unable to influence events that have already happened, and having to take them as they come. The second part resonates particularly well with the first chapter, in my opinion. I also like having a song from the same artist in both halves of the main story, and the contrasting tones.

Chapters 3-9:

The Heart of a Graveyard - Demon Hunter

Tell me that your final home is not a shot in the dark; tell me that your hopes and dreams don't end in the heart of a graveyard.

Tonally, it doesn't fit perfectly with the rest of this list, but the subject matter is pretty on the mark. There's a sense of preparing for the worst while still hoping for the best that I like, particularly in this context.

Chapter 10:

Final Battle: Malladus (From "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks") - The Noble Demon

(The portion up to 0:46 is an intro, and not the most relevant to this list; the actual battle theme starts warming up after that.) A friend unintentionally reminded me that I love this track, and since that conversation happened smack at the climax of MHIMH, I naturally connected the dots. This would correspond to the recorded battle with Arceus, because the track for it in canon PLA just does not fit this version. I chose this remix in particular because it really emphasized the woodwind notes in parts-- which made sense re: the Azure Flute-- and because it has that underlying, train-chugging percussion. It's always struck me as a very triumphant battle theme, which fit beautifully.

Chapter 11:

Welcome to the World of Pokemon - Super Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

It's wondrous and mysterious, but gentle and a bit low-key at the same time, which I think makes it work very well for the build up this chapter, and most of the time spent in the Hall of Origin.

Mysterious Rainbow Girl - Wandersong

The same goes for this track; I was pretty torn as to which one I liked better, so I ended up keeping both for a little bit of variation.

Chapter 12:

On the Beach at Dusk - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness & Sky

I had this one set aside specifically for the scene at the top of Dragonspiral Tower, where the reality of the situation is beginning to sink in. If you're familiar with Explorers, there... might be something of a parallel to be read into the situations they 'play' over.

Misc:

The yet untitled song from The Dreadful Demise of the Dinosaurs - Puppet History

A lonely life among the stars, my destination veiled and far away, but I knew one day we'd find each other. Then in the dark, a glint, a spark, the greens and blues, be still my heart-- and once I hit, that's it, I'm here forever.

While I'm here, I should probably include the fic's namesake. It's really only the one verse (~0:25-0:47), because this song has a very specific subject matter and thesis, but that one passage really stuck with me in this context. The first half definitely resonates most strongly with chapter 11, but I was also aiming to match the second to 12-- specifically "the greens and blues, be still my heart" to the scene on Dragonspiral, and to end with the promise of "I'm here forever"

[aheathen-conceivably]

Hi hello!

I have a question. Your photos are always so gorgeous and so impressive, but especially (to me) any photos that have several sims in them 💖

You always seem to capture so much movement and life in them!

Are there any tricks or tips you'd like to share? I always struggle sooo much with pictures featuring multiple sims lmao 🤣

Hello, sweet Nonny! Thank you so much for your kind words! Especially regarding those big scenes, which are often quite tricky and time consuming so it is great to hear that effort comes through 🥹

I’m going to assume that you mean photos that include some sort of crowd (like this one or this one) vs. photos that include numerous sims involved in the scene itself (like the latter part of this one)? For this reason, I’ll answer specifically for the former, but a few of these tips can definitely apply to either.

Now below the cut we go because as I’m sure y’all could have guessed, it’s time for a heathen rambles 😘

1. Know Your Angles:

I think that this process will look different for everyone, but before I do these large shoots with crowds or multiple extras, I take test shots. As in, I set up the scene with whatever props or furniture I may need and find the angles I want to take photos from. Then I know where I need to place townies/decos to fill in the “gaps” and make the shot look more full. I then place teleporters in those spots so I can summon the townies to exactly there and then pose them. Once everyone has been posed, I have the test shots handy and just recreate them.

2. Clever Angles:

This is of course tied in to No. 1, but it is such a crucial point of why my shots look lively it deserves its own section. I can promise you if I turn the camera or tilt it, my shots would look very empty. I only fill what I need to, and I ensure that there isn’t too much “neutral space” in between each coupling or person through my test shots; meaning in the end product it looks like the crowd could continue off screen when in reality, it does not. This keeps me from needing to populate the set with more sims than is required or get overwhelmed with posing them all.

3. Pose Variation

I think this is a huge one, and something your eye probably catches even if it’s not apparent from shot to shot. I will usually slightly switch up background sims poses or rotate them in between “sets” of photos. As in, I set up a shot with all extras in their poses, take my angles, and then slightly move everyone around before the next set of pictures. If you look closely in the two scenes that I linked above you can see that the background sims do exactly that.

4. Variance of sims and decos

When I can, I try to use all “real” sims instead of decos. I just prefer it, and I like the malleability on poses and outfits it gives me. However, that isn’t always feasible, so I will often centralize real sims in setting up shots (which I know because of step. 1) and then fill in gaps with deco sims. I often have a little hidden trove of deco sims and teleporters in a room or basement that I can put in places that still look empty when I am actually in the shoot. Which brings me to the last point…

5. Background sims

I’m sure some eagle eyed readers may have noticed a cast of reoccurring extras in the background of my scenes. This is because I have a pool of sims who are given makeovers in my simstyle as well as 1-2 outfits (for the 1920s that was day wear and of course, party wear). They also have specific names so they are easy to find with the teleporter and I can use them to populate the background of scenes relatively quickly and painlessly while still having consistency of style and visual diversity.

Whew!! I believe those are the only ones that come to mind. Of course I’m sure I’m forgetting some so if anyone else has tips/tricks for Nonny please leave them in the comments and I hope this could be helpful 💕

[sleepyducktime]

Ok so I'm loving all the variations on Hobies patches and badges, definitely please continue (and I will forever love each piece of art that includes his deadpool pin) but if anyone is one of those folks who likes canon consistent stuff or just finds it interesting I think I've managed to figure out a few of the ones we see often but not in focus!

First is the Union Jack pin (loving all the variations about abolishing the monarchy and such <3 artists own my heart) this one actually changes I believe!! In a few far away shots you can see what looks like a face on it but we do get one clear close up and it actually says "punks not dead"

Some of his other pins include what appears to be a woman's face on the other side of his jacket mostly hidden under the collar and three on the back, one with a bird, one with a triangle and one with I believe a cat.

The next part is about his trousers bc honestly those are amazing, I've seen the spider a bunch bc thats the most obvious and there were some designs I've not had a chance to get a look at yet but on his right leg he has what I'm pretty sure is "good trubl"

And on his left he has SHM. I am pretty sure this stands for simple harmonic motion and if it does its honestly my favourite detail because some of the types of things given as examples that undergo SHM are pendulums and guitar strings!

[nibeul]

Hi, this is the clone armor anon from clonehub's blog. You said you could help with the armor colors? There's no rush or anything, I wouldn't be able to do anything with it for a while anyway. (I also totally sent that anon like a minute before I went to bed so I didn't see your reply until way later anyway)

oh yeah sure, totally forgot sorry! I’m not sure which divisions/subdivisions you’re looking for specifically, but here are a few! The 212th, 501st, and 104th are given, so I won’t include them here, but these are a couple other that aren’t really given spotlight:

327th use dark yellow paint for their armor. I used a picture of Bly above, though here’s a screenshot from the movie too where you can see the armor color, the lighting makes it a bit tricky but the yellow hint is still there! The show also has a couple shots during the Jedi Crash episode

There’s also the 41st Elite Corps who use green! They have the most variation in armor paint from what I’ve seen, ranging between the regular greens then various camo prints (which u can see on the right!). I can’t remember the names of the episodes show they appear in, but there’s the one with Nute Gunray being broken out of Republic hold with Ventress and the Senate Guard traitor, then there’s also the second battle of Geonosis.

Then we have the 91st Mobile Reconnaissance group who have a reddish-brown color for their armor. They appear on Ryloth and Neyo (guy below) also appears during the droids + Gregor arc in the show

Doom’s unit (top) also rocks a similar green but with a grey armor base instead of a white one! They appear on Ringo Vinda during the chip arc. There’s also Halsey’s unit (hard to tell from Trauma in the left photo, but it’s a dulled green!) and Horn Company. The former is seen during the Massacre on Devaron and the latter, when Grievous boards Eeth Koth’s ship

Their armor paint is also kinda similar in color to the Galactic Marines (formerly known as the 21st Nova Corps)! And also kinda the 104th pre malevolence, though I think the Wolfpack had a more brown tinge

I think these guys appear on Geonosis with Mundi but Bacara isn’t there for some reason. It’s possible that Mundi was just assigned to another sub division for the assault, can’t quite remember if they had the same armor color though..

Anyway, Stealth Ops are next! Unlike the other divisions, their armor has a base color of black/dark grey normally with yellow or red highlights (I’m pretty sure these highlights also denote rank, might be wrong though). These guys pop up over Christophsis when they’re trying to get supplies to Organa’s refuge camps

Corrie guard has solid red! You can see them in the Wrong Jedi episode/whole arc, the Hardeen arc, and also peppered throughout Revenge of the Sith. Reds/colors with red tones definitely seem to be pretty popular across the board now that I’m looking at this list, though the CG are the only ones where it’s just flat out red

I’m at the image limit now, but those are all the ones I can remember off the top of my head anyway. Hope that helps!

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Cheryl//maple syrup

Request: Can you do the secret and sins when Veronica comments on the Cheryl’s twincest and the reader defends Cheryl even though the reader kinda diss likes Cheryl.

hey! how is everyone? i hope you’re all well and good! i may have slightly cheated a bit and copy and pasted a previously written out bit from another request where they’re playing secrets and sins. but that’s only because i didn’t see the point in writing the same dialogue again. anywayyyy enjoy! 

It seems that whenever Cheryl Blossom arrives at a party, the party atmosphere disappears. Maybe it’s her grating personality or overbearing need to be liked, whatever it is, within ten minutes of her and Chuck gate crashing Jughead’s unwanted birthday party, there’s already tension. 

Which is not made any better by the suggestion of secrets & sins. Your friends are gathered in a circle in the living room, while you sit off to the side. You want to eavesdrop, but you don’t want to reveal your deepest, darkest secrets, not to your best friends and definitely not to Cheryl. 

It’s clear everyone that’s been roped into this stupid game doesn’t want to be there. Betty shifts in her seat uncomfortably and stares at you with pleading eyes. You shoot her an unsure smile back before taking a sip of your drink and she drops your gaze, glancing at Archie before staring down at the floor. 

Cheryl is the only one that looks like she’s enjoying herself, but you’re not surprised. Chaos and the chance to get dirt on everyone so she can control them even more than she already does is what Cheryl lives for.

You glare at the red-head, who’s smiling brightly as she looks around at her victims and when her eyes land on you, her eyes narrow and the smile is replaced by a smirk. 

“What’s wrong Y/n? Did nobody pick you to be on their team?” She asks, her bright red lips forming a perfect pout and you can’t help but stare at them for a few seconds longer than you should. You feel your face heat up and look away, blaming the alcohol for the affects you’re feeling and refusing to believe that you’ve just thought of Cheryl Blossom as attractive. 

A shiver runs up your spine at the thought and you lips pull into a pout as you stare down at the now empty cup in your hands. You scratch at the plastic and listen to the mumbles and whispers of the teenagers stood and sat around you. 

Whoever isn’t partaking in Secrets and Sins, have gathered around to watch and judge, and you can’t help but lean in a little closer, they may be some of your closest friends, but you can’t help wanting to know what they’ve been hiding from one another...you’re only human and at least you’re not as bad as Cheryl. 

Cheryl lives of rumours. Like Gretchen Wieners with smaller and redder hair. 

“What the hell is Secrets and Sins?” Jughead asks, all eyes on Cheryl as she moves around in a circle, eyeing everyone suspiciously as she starts to explain the rules. 

“Its a variation on Truth or Dare…in which we own our truths by telling it like it is. I’ll start the game with…Veronica Lodge.” She smirks and you roll your eyes at her. 

“Naturally.” Veronica sighs and you pat her shoulder. 

“Let’s begin with the day you and your mob wife of a mother came to town for a so-called fresh start.” She says, her eyes filled with accusations and anger before she’s even gotten to her question. 

You really don’t know why so many people like her, well you do, it’s because she’s rich and she bullies people into being her friend because she’s unable to make them any other way. 

She’s snobby, spoilt and just plain mean, but that doesn’t stop you from sometimes staring at her for longer than you want to and definitely should. 

“Tell us Veronica, what’s so fresh about defiling Archie Andrews in a closet?”

“That was your doing.” She replies confused, her arms crossed defensively against her chest.

“Moving on to dear Daddy Lodge…” She interrupts, getting more and more angry by the second. “Isn’t it true that your father, from prison, illegally purchased the drive-in land? Which makes me wonder, what else is he doing behind bars?” She continues and you glance to your side at Joaquin, who shares a very suspicious look with FP

“Well, I can’t speak for my father…but I can think of someone with a very dirty secret. Specifically, Cheryl killing her very own brother.” The tension in the room shifts and your eyes widen. 

As much as you dislike Cheryl, you know how close her and Jason were and you knew how much it hurt and how she’s still hurting now because of his death. You’ve seen her crying underneath the bleachers after school, you see how her eyes are a little more dull than they used to be. They don’t sparkle as much when she talks and when she’s not spreading hate, she’s just not saying anything at all. 

She smiles less when with her friends, and sometimes you think the only reason she’s horrible to people is so she can feel something. But that doesn’t excuse it and so you shake your head and earn a few confused looks as you try to stop yourself from defending Cheryl Majorie Blossom. 

“Everyone knows how much I loved my brother.” Cheryl defends herself.

“Exactly.” Veronica replies. “But did you love him, maybe in ways that a sister shouldn’t love a brother?” She continues and you watch as Cheryl becomes more and more upset. “And as you got older, Jason started to think it was strange, unnatural. So he chose Polly over you. So you shot him between the eyes with one of your father’s many hunting rifles.”

Her shoulders slump a little and her bottom lip quivers as she looks around the room helplessly. The confident look she usually has, has slipped off like a mask, revealing a very sad girl underneath and suddenly you find yourself standing up. 

“That’s enough Veronica.” You say, surprising everyone, including Cheryl. “Just leave her alone, it’s not worth it.” You add quietly and slowly sit back down again. 

Veronica hold her hands up in defence and you force a smile before going back to picking at the plastic of your cup. 

“I don’t need you to defend me.” Cheryl seethes, her eyes full of hatred as she looks at you, and for some reason it stings. You’re used to her not liking you, but her hating you, hurts you for some unknown reason and you have to take a few deep breaths in order to stop the ache in your chest. 

“This game is sick.” Dilton adds and Cheryl uses the distraction to wipe away the tears on her cheek. “I wanna go next.” He adds making everyone look at him.

“Thats the spirit, Doiley. What secrets do you have to reveal to us?” Chuck grins. 

“I saw Ms. Grundy’s car by Sweetwater River the day Jason went missing.” He says and everyone gasps. People mumble and whisper around you and Cheryl stares straight at Dilton, her eyes narrow. “I told Betty and Jughead, and then Ms. Grundy quit her job and left Riverdale, like, two days later. And let’s not forget that Archie was also at Sweetwater River that morning.”

“Oh, my God.” Cheryl whips her head round to look at Archie. “Colour me shocked. Archie Andrews, is that why you became a mediocre musician overnight? Because you and Ms. Four-Eyes were pulling a Mary Kay Letourneau?”

“Don’t say anything. Don’t get in the gutter with them.” Veronica mutters while glaring at Cheryl. 

“Wait, what? Andrews was banging a teacher?” Chuck asks, his tone a mix of surprise and impressed and you roll your eyes at him. “I wish I would’ve known. I would have added you and Ms. Grundy to the book of conquests.”

“Classy, Chuck, as always.”

“Wait a second.” Cheryl interrupts. “That also explains why Archie can’t seem to keep a girlfriend to save his life. He’s got serious mommy issues. Anything to say for yourself Arch? Were you a victim or a perpetrator?”

“Dilton Doiley plays with guns.” Betty tries to change the subject but she’s immediately shut down.

“Big whoop, Betty. So Doiley’s a psychopath. Everyone knows that.”  

“Well, I guess it’s my turn now. Boy, do I have a twisted secret to reveal, starring Betty Cooper.”

“Leave her the hell alone, Chuck.” Archie threatens.

“Shut up, Andrews.” He replies. “Look, you may get a free peep show every night, but you do not know her. Hell, Betty doesn’t even know herself. Everybody knows why I got suspended, but what you don’t know...she dressed up like a hooker, in a God-awful black wig, drugged me, handcuffed me in the Jacuzzi, and well, I almost drowned until she got me to say what she wanted to hear. And then she really lost it. She actually thought she was Polly. But, hey, you knew all about this right, Jughead?” He asks. For a second, the question hangs in the air, everyone trying to figure out what to say next and how to process what they’ve just been told. 

But then Jughead leaps forward at punches Chuck in face causing all hell to break loose. Everyone stands and FP shoves races forward to grab Chuck and throw him outside. 

While everyone else follows them outside, eagerly awaiting a fight, you stay back and watch as Cheryl disappears upstairs, quietly sniffling as she goes. You look at the front door and then at the stairs and sigh, knowing that this is not gonna end well. She’s gonna insult you and tell you to leave her alone, but at least you can say you tried to help and then you won’t feel bad. 

So you glance at the door one more time and pray that at least one person is filming whatever is happening out there, before wandering up the stairs in search for Cheryl. 

The slight scent of maple syrup and the sound of faint cries coming from the bathroom lets you know where she’s hiding and you quietly creep along the slightly creaky floorboards, trying to remember which ones to avoid after years of practice when sneaking into Archie’s room in order to break him out. 

You stop outside of the bathroom, light coming out of the cracks of the door and your hand hovers over the handle. 

“Whoever is out there, go away.” She sniffles and you roll your eyes. 

Turning on your heel, you start to walk away, but then you hear her sob and it makes you freeze. 

You let out a quiet groan and curse the side of you that can’t leave people that are crying alone, before making your way back to the bathroom and slowly opening the door. 

The first thing you see as you duck your hear around the door is Cheryl sat on the side of the bath. Her hands gripping the edges so hard that her knuckles have turned white. He hair has fallen in front of her face and you watch as she her shoulder shake and tears drip onto the bath mat. 

“Cheryl?” You whisper and she looks up, her eyes wide as she quickly scrambles to wipe away the tears that have ruined her makeup. “Are you okay?” You ask and walk into the room. You close the door behind you and lean against it and her expression hardens. 

“I’m having the best time.” She deadpans and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. God is she stubborn. 

“Look, I know we’re not exactly best friends. Most of the time, I don’t really like to be around you-” 

“Is this supposed to be making me feel better?” She asks and you shrug. 

“But you know that if you need someone to talk to that won’t judge you or really know anything about you, you can. I’ll just sit and listen and you can cry or rant or I dunno. Just, know you’re not alone. You may not get along with everyone in this town, but we will all be here for you if you need us, all you have to do is ask.” You say honestly but anxiously while playing with your fingers. 

She looks at you surprised, her lips part as if she’s going to say something and you’re sure she’s going to tell you to shut up and leave her alone, but instead she says thank you and you feel yourself relax a little. 

“It’s okay.” You nod. “And for the record, what Veronica said was out of line. Everyone knows how much Jason meant to you and for her to say that is just wrong. We all know you loved your brother...a normal amount.” You add the last bit quietly and she stares at you for a few seconds before a smile twitches at her lips. “Would you like me to leave you alone now?” You ask and she shakes her head. You look around the small bathroom, trying to figure out the best place to sit and she moves along a little so you can sit beside her. “Would you like me to sit with you until you feel better?” You ask and she nods slowly, her lip wobbling again. 

You sit beside her, place a gentle hand over hers and the two of you fall into a slightly awkward but not as bad as you thought it would be, silence. 

After ten minutes, Cheryl stands and makes her way over to the mirror. She swipes her fingers under her eyes to try and get rid of her ruined mascara before messing with her hair to try and get it back to looking like normal. 

“Do I look okay?” She turns to you and stands with her arms by her side. Your breath hitches when you look at her and you wonder how she looks so pretty even in the most unflattering light that is Archie Andrews’ bathroom. 

You stand in front of her and slowly tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and you watch as she takes a shaky breath. 

“Can I?” You ask, your fingers centimetres away from her cheek and she nods slowly, her eyes locked with yours and you feel yourself growing warm from the intensity. “There.” You smile once you’ve wiped a bit of mascara away from her cheek. 

She grabs her bag and pulls her lipstick from it, but when she goes to apply it, her hands shake and you take it from her gently. 

Your lips darts out between your tongue as you concentrate on keeping the lipstick in the lines, and you can feel her warm breath on your cheek. 

“There!” You smile proudly once your finished, but she grabs your arm before you can pull away properly as her lips connect with yours in an almost frantic kiss.

You gasp a little and then relax and kiss back just as frantically, but she pulls away after a few seconds and the two of you stare at each other wide-eyed and breathless. 

“Your lipstick’s ruined.” You whisper and her lips curl into a smile. 

“Worth it.” She replies before pulling you close to her and kissing you again. 

support my writing! if you want! 

[princess-sethie-boo]

Grace and Country 2/5

Rating: M

Pairing: 'Hangman' Adam Page/F!OC, One-Sided Kenny Omega/F!OC

Warnings: Canon-Typical Violence, Harrassment.

Co-Written with @lilmissriottbliss

Taglist - @moxleyunstable, @axelwolf8109

Summary: Ava and Adam go on that date, it goes about you'd expect with the Dark Order involved, Things with Kenny come to a head.

"Violet!"

"Ava? Mon Cher Smackdown is about to start why are you screaming?"

Violet gave Finn a look before putting her friend on speaker "Mon Roi is here too, what has you so excited?"

"ADAM ASKED ME OUT ON A DATE!" The younger woman yelled

Ava could hear Violet cursing in French from a small distance. “Really? That’s amazing! Give me details now!”

“I lost my phone and he found it near your adopted brother and then Kenny was annoying me again so he covered for me by saying we were going on a date so we’re actually going on one!”

“I’m so happy for you!”

“Could you do me a solid?” Ava asked

Of course darling," Violet agreed

"Could you guys not tell the big boss?" Ava begged "You know I love Seth to death, he's my dad shaped person but he wasn't happy about this whole AEW deal and he'll be even less happy to know I'm going out with one of their biggest stars"

Violet and Finn silently looked at each other before agreeing to the younger woman's request 

"We have you covered darlin" Finn said

"What are you going to do about Omega?I'm starting to worry. He's really not taking no for an answer"

“I honestly don’t know” Violet handed Finn her phone, taking out the one meant to contact family. “I think she’s going to threaten Malachi into watching over you” Finn laughed.

Ava sighed in relief. While Malachi Black, formerly Aleister to Violet, was dark and broody, he did scare Kenny with a simple stare.

“So how’s Mox doing?” Violet asked

"Good, he got Omega off my back last night at Dynamite, threatened him with Ruby." Ava said "He said something about promising Seth to look out for me?"

"Seth called him and Miro when you decided to go to AEW." Finn explained 

"Called in a couple of favors. You are the baby."

Ava rolled her eyes even though the couple couldn't see her "You've got to be kidding. I can take care of myself"

“We know you can take care of yourself, Seth has a overprotective complex” 

Ava sighed but didn’t disagree. “We got to go now, see you tomorrow!” Violet hung up.

Ava turned off her phone, seeing a text from Kenny. Rolling her eyes she deleted it. “Is he ever gonna get the point?” she asked herself before flopping on her hotel bed with a sigh. He thoughts turning to the next day and the date she'd been dreaming of for years. 

-Next Day-

She met Adam outside a café, the cowboy looking handsome in normal street clothes and without a certain purple and black group shadowing him.

“Wow, you look great” He said. As she grinned and twirled once, showing off the chic black suit she'd chosen for their date. 

“Hope you don’t mind but I invited Violet and Finn just in case your friends crash this”

Adam laughed. “They probably will ”

Inside the cafe, Finn and Violet were waiting at a four person table, surprisingly without their daughter in tow.

"Where's my honey bunches?" Ava said with a pout, that Adam found adorable

"Becky and Seth have her" Finn explained "Shes having a playdate"

“Next time you bring her” Ava pointed. Finn raised his hands and laughed. Violet slid over a black coffee to Adam. 

He accepted it with a smile. “So you’re both going after the top titles in Smackdown” he grinned.

“Yup!” Finn grinned. “It was fun in NXT but I wasn’t spending another week without my husband there” Ava sighed.

“It’s harder to get a title shot in AEW, I have no idea how to get to Britt”

“I lost the chance to be the inaugural champ because someone thought an ass deserved it” Adam muttered.

“Adam I think your shadows are here” Violet pointed to a booth in the corner

Sure enough, the purple and black clad Dark Order filled 2 corner booths, trying and failing to be inconspicuous.

"Oh god" Adam murmured "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have told them where we were going"

"They really care about you" Ava smiled at Adam causing that feeling to flutter in his chest again.

"You may not, have been the first AEW champion but you've got a shot at Kenny at All Out" Finn says

"Sure do" Adam says "I can't wait, I've owed Kenny an ass whipping for a while now"

“Fucking creep” Ava rolled her eyes. “How’s Paige?”

“You don’t know that from Mox?” Violet raised an eyebrow. Ava shook her head

“She’s ok, doing wonders with her makeup. Her and Sonya are planning a wedding”

Ava nodded. “Sorry about the Kingdom disbanding” 

Finn rolled his eyes. “Of course Vince brings up Shotzi and us but doesn’t want Kyle, Millie, Priscilla or Jordan”

Adam and Ava share a smile knowing while AEW wasn't a paradise by any means…it wasn't run by Vince. 

A loud bang sounded from the back of the restaurant and every turned to see one of the corner tables flipped on its side as John Silver looked around sheepishly. 

Adam dropped his head in his hands as Ava giggled "I'm sorry, I'm gonna go uh…handle this" he said rising from his seat and heading toward the back.

"They are quite the band of misfits aren't they?" Violet said as she tried not to laugh as they watched Adam easily lift the table back in place and start seemingly scolding them for crashing their double date.

"They love him, and with the entire….mess with the Elite…their very overprotective." Ava explained

“Reminds me of Seth” Violet said. Ava’s eyes widened.

“It totally is!” Finn laughed as Adam came back and sat down.

“They swear it’s just a coincidence they all wanted to come here on the same day and time as my date”

Violet flipped her hair and put on her flirty voice. “So this a date?

Adam blushed hard. “Um…well, it’s definitely not a…friend thing…we’re not friends. I mean we are friends!, but I want to be more then friends!" 

Ava blushed as she watched Adam flounder under Violet's question 

"Leave him alone, mo chroi" Finn finally rescued the younger man from his wife. 

“I was just being a good friend” Violet smirked.

Adam took a breath. “I don’t know why but I have a thing for goth people”

Ava looked at Violet.

“Really? Is that why you went to the Dark Order?”

“Honestly? Kenny ruined tag teams for me. The Bullet Club went to shit after you were kicked out”  

Finn’s eye twitched, remembering how the Young Bucks fucked him over.

“The Bullet Club is nothing to me now. They ruined it!”

“The Elite’s worse, nothing but kissing Kenny’s ass, apparently he was looking to go to Impact and take their top title”

“Thank god the old man bought them, Impact might have been the worse part of my career but AEW would have ruined them” Violet sipped her ice coffee.

Adam sighed.

“I don’t know what happened. One minute he was my brother, now he’s a stranger” Adam said quietly as Ava rubbed his back

"Its okay, your going to take the AEW title from him at All Out." Ava consoled him.

The 2 couples finished their meal and left the restuarant, Finn and Violet heading to the arena to get ready for Smackdown, and Ava and Adam walking though the city streets enjoying each other's company. 

"This has been great" Ava says as they finally end up back at the hotel

"We'll have to do it again sometime" Adam replied causing Ava to blush again.

"Maybe next time….just the two of us?" He asked softly

“No demon and vampires. No Dark Order” Ava agreed. Adam hugged her.

“Adam!” Evil Uno yelled. The pair looked at the stable. Anna walked over. “Well, the date was a success so Alex made you this” She handed a black jacket to Ava. It had a purple rose stitched in the back.

“Wow, Alex’s a suckup” Adam joked. “I’m totally wearing this next week” Anna smiled.

“C’mon Adam, before the idiots start screaming” 

He rolled his eyes but hugged Ava goodbye, kissing her hair before walking away.

The Next Week 

After spending the weekend and into the next week bouncing between elation over her successful date with Adam (including spending a hefty amount of time texting back and forth with the cowboy) and annoyance that Kenny just would not stop texting and calling, it was finally Wednesday and time for that weeks episode of Dynamite, at which Ava had a match against Nyla Rose.

 

Over the past few days she had gone hunting for more appropriate gear to compliment her new jacket and was now wearing black leather shorts with purple accents and a purple and black corset top. 

"Don't you look like a full fledged member of the misfit society, I really thought you'd have better taste Sweetheart" Kenny said walking up to her, the Young Bucks flanking him

“I’ve liked purple and black before the Dark Order existed” Ava snapped.

Kenny grabbed her arm. “Let go!”

“I just want what’s best for you” Kenny said fiercely 

“HEY!” Darby Allin hit Kenny with a skateboard.

“She’s said no to you for weeks now, get lost!” He roared, Ava seeing why Mox had pretty much adopted him.

Kenny looked panicked and all but ran. The Bucks, glaring at her as the followed

“Thanks” Ava said to Darby. “I hate that fucker”

"Join the club" Darby replied 

Later that night after beating Nyla Rose, Ava was celebrating in the ring when Kenny's music hit and The Elite surrounded the ring. 

"I really tried to do this in private Ava, baby but you just won't listen to me, you'd rather hang out with those losers instead of being part of The Elite"

“I. Am. Not. Your. Baby!” Ava screamed,.

Kenny stepped in, smirking. “Just accept the date”

The crowd began chanting variations of yes and no. 

Then the music of the Dark Order hit, Adam leading the stable to a beat down. Colt tackled Kenny, Adam waving sarcastically at him before going over to Ava, "You okay Darlin?"

"Yeah, fucking asshole. Why won't he leave me alone" 

"Ava, Ava!" Kenny panted, "I have a deal for you, since you and the drunk, seem so close lately, Next week….you and Adam against me and Britt Baker. You win, you get a title shot at All Out. You two lose, Cowboy loses his shot, and you go out with me"

Ava looked at Adam, who was clenching his jaw. Anna and Evil Uno nodded their heads.

Ava grabbed a mic. “We accept! And let’s raise the stakes!!! If we win and move on to kick you asses at All Out, you leave me the fuck alone!” 

Kenny gulped "Done!"

“I’ll add to that!” Adam yelled. “When I kick your ass, you don’t get to have a rematch as long as I’m champion. Let someone else get an opportunity”

"Deal!" Kenny said cockily "It doesn't matter anyway "You two are gonna lose and when you do...not only will Adam never get a shot at the AEW Championship,  Ava...baby...your all mine" 

[c-mxian]

Shangri La no Tori Drama CD Limited Edition Booklet: Interview with Zariya

Please tell us how you started working on The Birds of Shangri La (Shangri La no Tori).

At first, the plan was to release it as a one shot under a different publisher, but things didn't quite work out (my manuscript ended up getting rejected at one point). I still really wanted to work on this story and Purantan contacted me just around that time. I remember showing the person in charge at first what kind of story I wanted to create and receiving their approval right then. That’s how the story eventually came to life.

I intended for the story and setting to be darker at first, with a somewhat “SM chic” vibe to it, but it’s completely different from the actual story now though of course (laughs). I initially planned to wrap the story up as a one shot, but I realized it would be necessary to do a serialization in order to better tell the story.

 Which elements remained the same in the initial draft and the story now?

The dynamic between the two main characters: a prostitute uke and a seme who takes care of him. I wanted to illustrate a situation where the seme is in charge of taking care of and arousing the prostitute uke only to have to pass him onto a customer in the end! As they grow closer, the uke would end up wanting to be held by the seme and not his customers. I thought the story would become very sad that way. On a lighter note, I really love it when a quiet and reserved seme gets troubled by a more active and straightforward uke. It’s the kind of combination I like the most and I’m able to draw that out as freely as I want in The Birds of Shangri La.

 Please share with us the scenes or lines that left the deepest impression on you in volume 1 of The Birds of Shangri La.

The last scene from chapter one. There are three rules that cannot be broken at Shangri La (“Do not let the birds come”, “Do not have intercourse, “Do not fall in love”), but I didn’t intend to include the last one at first. As I was working on the plot, I felt like something was missing with just the first two rules so I added the third one.

For this scene, I imagined a beautiful world accentuated with the scenery of the sea and sunset and a tone that marks this scene as the start of the actual story. With a lovely setting like this, I felt the romantic mood would be completely lost if I was too pragmatic with my choice in words for the dialogue. Although the story takes place in a brothel, I envisioned it to be one about pure love so I felt the inclusion of the third rule was necessary. I’m quite satisfied with the ambience even though I was supposed to reveal the rule later (laughs).

Despite being a last addition, the third rule is the most important one. I was able to portray what kind of story Shangri La would be from that point on and the readers were able to get an idea of that as well. The inclusion of the rule, “Don’t fall in love”, also adds a very nice lingering ambience to the story so I’m glad I included it. It’s definitely a line that leaves a very deep impression.

 The combination of your beautiful illustrations and balance of emotional language is one of the key elements that always leaves readers highly anticipating the next chapter. Please tell us how you came up with the characters in Shangri La no Tori.

 First off, I came up with the characterizations for Phi and Apollo at the same time since I already had a clear idea that the story would revolve around the relationship between a prostitute and the person who takes care of him. Next is the owner who is a very important character in the story, so important I’d even consider him the third main character. After that is Douglas, Apollo’s lawyer. He’s an essential character who is able to read Apollo, a man of few words. Contrastingly, I then created Carna as a companion who is able to speak on behalf of Phi. Phi may not be as reticent as Apollo, but he does not say much about the things that matter about himself.

 Please share with us anything about the other characters in the story as well.

I have so many things I want to share! As a manga artist, I don’t have many opportunities to talk with other people so I’m really happy for this opportunity.

When I come up with a character, I first consider what kind of role they will play in the story. I created Marco as the character who would help guide Apollo through Shangri La, a place unlike any he has ever been to. Marco is somewhat like a link between the world Apollo has known before and the new one he has stepped into.

Then there’s Sheth who I created because I wanted to have a character who had a vibe most similar to that of a stud. I wondered whether I should’ve made him more playful, but I felt it would be more appropriate to make his personality more relaxed and professional-like since Shangri La is a place akin to that of a high class salon. When he talks with Apollo, you can tell he’s just a normal guy and not loose as many may think. He’s a professional who takes his job seriously.

Carna may be a prostitute, but he is the bravest character in the story. In contrast to his small stature, his mentality is strong. I imagined him to be like a brother to Phi, someone who understands Phi well and stays by his side when he is not emotionally stable.

 So the recording just finished up a moment ago. What are your thoughts after listening to it in the booth?

The impression I always had of Shangri La no Tori when I drew the story is that it constantly carries a calm tone with little variation in intonation. When I listened to the recording, the balance was so nice and the mood livelier than I thought. Many of the scenes with Phi and Apollo are adult scenes, but there are also scenes like where Patrick and the other birds are livelily having a good time. While everyone is enjoying their peaceful daily life, the mood suddenly becomes tense when Phi loses his temper and starts acting violently. It was refreshing to see how a slight change in the sound can shift the tension of a scene and add emotional variety to the story. Since the story takes place in the southern region of the world, I was afraid it would be too laid-back and eventually become dull, but I guess I didn’t have to worry about this!

 What did you think of the characters’ voices?

I’m really thankful because the cast is absolutely amazing. Mr. Nakashima, the voice actor for Phi, is really amazing at expressing the various different sides of Phi: his sexy and mischievous side, his innocent and naïve side, as well as the side of him when he loses his temper. It really felt like Phi was alive.

As for Mr. Matsuoka, he did a wonderful job in portraying Apollo’s open-minded side. As a top, Apollo hasn’t quite “bloomed” yet and his potential is still hidden. Mr. Matsuoka added a wonderful layer of sexiness to that aspect of Apollo. When Apollo first arrives at Shangri La, he is taken aback by this completely new world he has stepped into, but he is able to get a hold of himself and stand ready for what’s to come. I could really feel how broad-minded and deep of a person he was and am really excited to see how the changes he will go through will be portrayed.

Aside from Phi and Apollo, the owner, Marco, Douglas, Raymond, and everyone else…the rest of the cast was absolutely amazing! I would love to share my thoughts on each individual character, but I’ll have to leave that for another time as there is a limited number of pages for this booklet. I have already shared my thoughts on twitter though so please check them out!

Each of the cast members’ voices fit each character so well, but I was really touched that even without clearly expressing their characters through their lines, they really gave life to the characters with their acting. There are certain things I can’t fully portray in the manga so I was really happy to see all those nuances come to life in the drama CD.

 Aside from the love scenes, there are many scenes of everyday life too.

In a BL, the two main characters’ relationship is the most important thing, but depicting Shangri La as “a place with a pleasant atmosphere” was also equally important to me. Shangri La is a “paradise” where only those who have been chosen by its respectable owner can enter. Even though Shangri La is a brothel, it’s a place where one can heal both their mind and heart, as Raymond has said. I was very satisfied with how the drama CD cast was able to portray Shangri La.

 What were your impressions when you heard the drama CD itself?

Out of all my works, I have always thought that The Birds of Shangri La would be the most difficult one to turn into a drama CD due to the lack of dialogue in many scenes. I added in some lines because I was concerned certain things wouldn’t get across without any dialogue.

Despite my initial concerns, it was fun to think of the sound effects and background sounds as a kind of music. When drawing the manga, I could only portray the sounds of the sea and the leaves rustling in the southern region with sound effects (sfx) even though I could picture them clearly in my head. All these sounds come to life in the drama CD. After realizing how big of an effect these sounds have, I regretted not thinking out the interior of the rooms and the miscellaneous things in them more thoroughly. For example, the sound of shell decorations dangling by a window whenever the wind flows can add an extra layer to the atmosphere of a scene.

I can say the same for the music as well. In the beginning when Marco comes to pick Apollo from the port, I imagined reggae music playing in the background, but I could only indicate this with a music note symbol. Shangri La already has a feeling of otherworldliness to it. If I added Gamelan music, I felt the setting would become disconnected from reality so I requested reggae music instead for the drama CD. The drama CD brings Shangri La to life in a way that illustrations and words can’t. I hope you can enjoy the differences between listening to the drama CD and reading the manga.

 Lastly, please give the readers of this special booklet a final message!

To be honest, I was very concerned about the lack of an H scene between Phi and Apollo in the first volume and whether the readers who look forward to this scene would find the drama CD lacking. As I listened to the recording, I started feeling differently. Aside from Phi and Apollo, the characters living in Shangri La and the region surrounding it all give life to the drama CD and the cast did a wonderful job at realistically depicting the lives of these characters. Even if Phi and Apollo don’t go all the way, I think many people will be able to enjoy this drama CD. I hope everyone will treasure the various characters that appear along the way while experiencing both pain and joy as Phi and Apollo’s feelings for each other begin to bloom. I will try my best to create a story that will not disappoint you so I hope you can follow me until the end!

Thank you very much!

[noona-clock]

The Bartender - Part 6, Final Chapter

Genre: Bartender!AU

Pairing: Jinhwan x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Words: 2,082

Six Months Later

“Tonight?” you asked with a soft chuckle. “But it’s a Tuesday.”

Why was Jinhwan asking you to come to the bar tonight? He certainly knew by now that you made it a habit to only go on Friday evenings or on the weekend -- mainly just Saturday, though. 

“I know, but -- please just come,” he replied.

A sigh slid through your lips, and you closed your eyes briefly as you said, “I have kind of a busy schedule tomor --”

“You don’t have to stay long,” Jinhwan interrupted.

Your brow furrowed gently. “...And it has to be tonight?”

“It has to be tonight. ...Please.”

Well. You certainly couldn’t refuse him when he said please twice. That would just be rude!

“Okay,” you relented. “I’ll stop by after work for a little bit. Do you want me to bring you anything to eat?”

You, at least, figured the two of you could share a quick meal together back in his private office. If you were going to be at a bar on a Tuesday evening, you certainly wanted to make it worth your while and spend some quality, alone time with your boyfriend.

“No, don’t worry about dinner,” he told you.

...What? Don’t worry about dinner? But he was asking you to go to Jay’s after work, and he knew you typically ate dinner right after you got home in the evening.

“Wha --”

“I’ll see you later, okay, baby?” he said hastily. “I gotta go. Drive safe -- see you -- miss you!” And then he made some kissing noises into the phone before the line went dead.

Oh.

Okay, then.

It wasn’t terribly unlike Jinhwan to plan things, but he usually didn’t make it so secretive. After your first date, he discovered that life with you tended to be much easier when he shared his plans with you beforehand.

So, something was definitely fishy about this whole thing.

You spun around in your office chair, eyeing your planner but not actually looking at it. You just needed something to focus on as you thought this through.

Why was he being so unforthcoming about his plans for the evening? If you were only going to be there for a short while, and you weren’t even going to eat dinner there, why wouldn’t he just --

A thought suddenly popped into your head, and it made your heart momentarily stop beating.

What if he was planning to propose?

You quickly shook your head, dismissing that thought because he absolutely would not be proposing. The two of you hadn’t even said ‘I love you’ to each other yet!

...But maybe the fact that you’d just been very swift to think that he might propose meant you should say it.

You felt it, of course, and you had a very solid notion that he did, too. In fact, there had been quite a few times over the past couple of months when you thought he might tell you.

But now that you really thought about it, you concluded that he was probably waiting for you to say it first. You couldn’t blame him in the least for that; it was very rarely easy to know how you were feeling just by looking at you. Over the years, you’d gotten used to telling the people in your life when you were upset, excited, nervous -- or any other emotion. But you hadn’t yet mastered telling someone you loved them.

When you spun back around in your chair to face your computer, you made a mental note to tell Jinhwan sometime soon -- very soon. You did, in fact, love him, and he deserved to know.

But anyway -- you still hadn’t figured out why he would be inviting you to the bar tonight, on a Tuesday!

One glance at the clock on your computer told you it was time to get back to work, though, so you would have to just wait and see.

In an interesting turn of events, Emma had messaged you that afternoon inquiring about your plans for the evening.

This was also somewhat suspicious because she rarely, if ever, asked what you were doing on a weeknight. She knew better than Jinhwan your proclivity towards restricting anything “fun” to the weekends.

But the fact that her contact made you wary didn’t stop you from telling her. And when she read that you would be stopping by Jay’s after work, she almost immediately replied back that she would meet you there -- which wasn’t surprising.

Jay had hired a bartender not too long ago, a very mysterious man named Yongguk, and Emma had quickly decided he was her ideal type. She would jump at any chance to go and see him.

So, here you were, pulling into Jay’s and parking next to Emma’s waiting car.

As soon as you stepped out, you stood and turned to face your friend who was getting out of her own car.

“What’s going on?” you asked with narrowed eyes.

“...What do you mean?”

“Why did you ask me what I was doing on a Tuesday night?”

Emma immediately pulled her lips into an angelic smile, and then your thoughts that something fishy was going on were cemented.

“I swear, I don’t know anything,” she assured you as the two of you met on the sidewalk. “Jinhwan just called me and told me to ask you what you were doing and that I should come along.”

Oh, he was good. He was very good. Asking Emma to take part in his plan but not actually telling her the plan? Smart move, Sir. Very smart.

“Well, something is definitely going on,” you murmured.

“I bet it’s something exciting,” Emma grinned as you approached the front door of the bar. “He knows you. He wouldn’t get you to come here on a weeknight if it weren’t for a very good reason.”

“This is true,” you nodded, walking through and stepping into the place you’d come to be so familiar with over the past six months.

Not even one second passed before you heard Jinhwan call out your name, and when your eyes found him standing behind the counter, you smiled warmly and lifted a hand to wave at him.

Emma suddenly grabbed your hand, pulling you toward the bar with a clear purpose: she’d just spotted Yongguk mixing a drink a few feet away from your boyfriend, and now she was making her way to the bar stool right in front of him.

As soon as you slid onto the stool right in front of your man, you heard Emma greet Yongguk with a very eager but breathless “Hi.” The quiet, handsome man murmured his response, and then you shifted your gaze away to let Emma do her thing.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Jinhwan smirked just as you turned to face him.

“Oh, yes, fancy that,” you replied sarcastically. “What’s going on?”

Your boyfriend immediately looked affronted, his head rearing back as his forehead wrinkled deeply. “What do you mean ‘what’s going on’? I can’t ask my girlfriend to come see me? It’s not like I don’t miss you during the week.”

You pursed your lips and shot him a disbelieving look.

“Okay, fine,” he grinned. “I’m introducing something new to the menu.”

Your eyebrows rushed up your forehead, a grin to match your boyfriend’s appearing on your own lips. “Oh, you finally finished it?”

For basically the entirety of your relationship so far, Jinhwan had been in the process of concocting a new drink. He’d had you taste dozens and dozens of variations of the drink and, being the good girlfriend you are, you’d provided him with honest, constructive feedback every time.

In fact, the last time you’d tasted it, you hadn’t been able to tell him anything you disliked about it. It had been perfect, at least to your tastebuds.

And now it was time to make it official, apparently!

Jinhwan’s grin grew wider as he handed you a menu and pointed to the newest addition on the list. The font color was different, and there was a star right next to it so it was obvious to customers that it was a new drink.

As soon as your eyes landed on the words, they widened. Your heart flipped over and then leaped up into your chest. 

You snapped your head up to stare at Jinhwan, the expression on his face one of pure pride.

He had named the drink after you.

It was right there in green font: The Y/N.

“You -- the --” you stammered. “So -- so, that’s why you had me --”

Jinhwan simply nodded, though it was obvious that he was barely able to contain his excitement.

It seemed silly -- you didn’t love going to bars, and you didn’t love alcohol as much as your boyfriend did, so you weren’t sure why your throat was tightening with emotion at the fact he had named a drink after you.

But then you realized, he’d done it because he loved you.

He loved owning his bar, he loved making drinks, and this was his way of telling you that you were just as important to him as his business.

You opened your mouth to tell him that you loved him, even though you weren’t crazy about the fact your first time saying it would be in a bar -- but Jinhwan interrupted you.

“I love you,” he said quietly.

Without hesitating, you slid off your stool and made your way to the side of the bar, heading behind it to get to him.

You rushed up to Jinhwan, reaching your arms out and latching onto him in a tight, almost desperate embrace.

“I love you, too,” you murmured, your voice muffled as you spoke into his neck.

Jinhwan had hugged you back immediately, but upon hearing your words, he squeezed you, gently digging his fingers into your back and shoulders.

And then you heard Emma’s high-pitched ‘Awwwwwwww’ and you remembered you were in a public place.

But... this time, you didn’t care. You kept hugging your boyfriend -- the boyfriend you loved and had loved and would always love.

“I have something else to tell you,” he said softly.

You pulled away just the tiniest bit, lifting your gaze to meet his. “Hmm?”

“The new health inspector came in today,” he smirked.

“Oh?” Your eyebrows rose curiously, and you waited on tenterhooks to hear the outcome.

Instead of telling you, he nodded over toward the wall behind the bar, and when you turned your head to look, you saw the report card hanging up.

A 100.

“See? I got full marks all by myself, no flirting included.”

You pinched his arm, your forehead wrinkling as you whipped your head back to look at him. “There better not have been!”

“There wasn’t!” he defended. “Will you add 100 points to my score?”

A soft chuckle escaped your lips, and you moved to rest your chin back on his shoulder. “Yes, of course.”

“So, what’s my total now?”

“Three thousand and seven hundred,” you replied immediately. Adding an even 100 to his previous score had been far too easy. “Although, I think I will make it four thousand after what you did tonight.”

“Four thousand,” Jinhwan grinned. “I’ve never gotten a score of four thousand on anything before.”

“Oh, come on,” you chuckled. “Four thousand will be nothing later on down the road. Just think about how many points you could earn in another six months. Or a year. Two years!”

Jinhwan squeezed you a little, one corner of his lips lifting into a smirk. “You know I don’t do anything for you just to get points.”

“I know,” you beamed. “That’s why I keep doing it.”

Well... that and because you just liked scoring things.

“Yeah, but you also just like scoring things. Giving points is kinda your thing.”

“That it is,” you giggled.

“And I love you for it.”

“I love you, too.” You smiled brightly before leaning back and moving to press your lips to his. 

Right now, you didn’t care that you weren’t alone and that you were still in a public place -- it was a Tuesday evening, the bar was hardly full, anyway.

No, right now, all you cared about was kissing your boyfriend. Showing and telling him how much you loved him. Making sure he knew he was worth more than a measly four thousand points.

Way, way more.

[nosferatvpussy]

distorted lullabies [chapter III]

Word count: 4,976

Warnings: mentions of sexual abuse, vulgar language

Pairing: Dracula x reader

AO3 link if you prefer that format.

  My phone rang.

Moaning sleepily, I rolled over on the bed searching blindly for it on the bedside table. My fingers found the vibration’s source and grabbed it. I peeked out of one eye so I could see the screen and accept the call, without taking notice of who was calling.

“Yeah?” I answered, closing my eyes again.

“I want to know everything.”

“Diana?” 

“Who else?” said my neighbour. “You missed our breakfast so I expect it was an above average night for you.”

“You’re so nosy!” I complained but chuckled. “Was I loud?” I grimaced, expecting the worst and imagining my other neighbour’s faces at me the next time I decided to stroll down the street.

“Well, I definitely heard you but I’m literally one door away from you. And Jack and Suze are on holiday so, you don’t have to worry about them. Come outside, I’ve made us lunch.”

“‘Kay. Give me a minute and I’ll be right there.”

I sighed and, phone still in hand, attempted to get up but immediately lied down again upon feeling that I had a stiff neck. Staring at the ceiling, my mind flashed back to last night and I smacked my forehead. 

“World’s biggest hickey, indeed,” I muttered as I strained to get out of bed. “Ow, ow, ow.” 

I opened the curtains on my way to the bathroom and squinted at the uncharacteristic sunlight that streamed in. Peeking out of the window, I could see a pristine blue sky and no clouds in sight. Hopefully it would last. 

I caught my reflection on the mirror as soon as I entered the bathroom and paused. My hair was tousled and I had dark circles around my eyes. My upper lip was a bit colourless but the bottom one had an unnatural shade of violet as a reminder of my make out with the Count. A little makeup would disguise it so Diana wouldn’t have more reasons to pick on me. My hands started pulling my hair back so I could brush my teeth without it slipping into the sink but shock paralysed me.

There, on the left side of my neck I had teeth marks imbedded on my skin. If they had been just outlines that would have been fine - I had had one of those before in encounters with previous lovers - but I had punctures this time.

“He bit me,” I spoke to myself, my faint voice echoing in the bathroom. 

I leaned towards the mirror to inspect it up close. The skin around the laceration was discoloured and slightly swollen to the touch. There was no blood at all. It couldn’t have been a very deep bite because my body was already making a light scab over the wound.

“What the fuck…” 

My brain raced searching for a plausible explanation as I stared at myself. There was none. Anger replaced shock and I grabbed my phone, cycling through the contact list. I silently thanked myself for saving his new number in case I had needed to speak with him regarding his assets. I called three times to no avail. Steam was probably coming out of my ears as I typed a message to him.

 YOU FUCKING BIT ME! Expect the police to knock on your door today, you wanker. 

All of my hypothesis as to why he had done that involved some sort of mental disorder. Number one, he was just fucking crazy. Number two, he had a fetish for biting people. Number three, he suffered from delusions that he was a vampire. And every other form of variation surrounding that.

I waited a few more minutes for a reply or a call back from him but nothing happened. 

I debated whether I should clean the wound or not but if I wanted the police to get DNA so I could get a proper case built against him, it was best I didn’t wash it. Although the wound certainly didn’t look pretty, there was nothing that indicated an infection.

There was a rasp on my back door and then Diana called my name. 

“I’m going!” I yelled. 

After having used the toilet, brushed my teeth and hair, I dabbed some concealer around my eyes and put on a light shade of lipstick to cover the lip bruise Count Dracula had given me. I changed from my pajamas into an acceptable outfit, which included a red scarf tied around my neck, and went out into the back garden I shared with Diana.

Diana was not only my neighbour but also the world’s nicest landlady. Her house and mine used be conjoined which is why we shared the back yard. Years ago, when Diana’s husband died, she’d decided to separate the two houses again and rent one of them. She was still looking into splitting the garden by placing a wood fence when I moved in. We had grown so close over the years that she had given up on installing a fence and just left it the way it was. 

We took turns on making breakfast for each other every Saturday and we usually ate on a picnic table on the covered patio that sat adjacent to Diana’s backdoor. But today, Diana had set the table on the very back of the garden with a parasol shielding a round wooden table and two chairs. The bird fountain on the far left was on and birds were happily singing and chirping as they stood beneath the shooting streams of water.

The blinding sun paired with such a joyous scene made it hard for me to stay mad and I found myself beaming at Diana.

“Good morning!” she cheered.

Diana had her long hair on a plait which gave it a cool effect now that she had stopped dyeing her hair and embraced the silver. That didn’t mean she was fully accepting of aging - she had a fair amount of botox on her forehead and around her eyes. Working as a marketing director for a big cosmetics company for over 20 years will do that to any person. Plus if she looked a day over 40 it wouldn’t exactly be the best marketing strategy. 

I was the closest thing to a child to her, well, besides the 5 cats she owned. Ever since Gerard, her husband, died ten odd years ago she hadn’t experimented with dates or lovers because she thought nobody would ever live up to him. And so she lived vicariously through my love escapades.

“Morning!” 

I had barely sat down and she was already serving me a plate of spaghetti on creamy mushroom sauce, my favourite of hers. She was about to pour me a glass of white wine but I covered the glass with my hand.

“Hangover?” She winced sympathetically.

“Not the worst one but yes.” I poured myself a glass of water and gulped it down.

“So? Name, age, what does he do, how was he in bed… Go.” 

I frowned as I drank the last of my water. 

“Hm… I- I don’t think we had sex,” I said. 

Diana lowered her fork that had been on the way to her mouth and frowned back. 

“You don’t remember?”

“Well, I remember kissing him at my door. And then he-” I touched the scarf absently and put on my courtroom face before my eyes could pop out of my head.

I had blacked out. I had no memory about what had happened after he’d bitten me. I didn’t even remember putting on my pajamas. He could have done way more than just bit me. 

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“He what?”

“Uh, he gave me a hickey but yeah I don’t remember much after that. Honestly I drank a lot of rum yesterday and I’m having a small case of amnesia right now. I’m sure it will come back to me later.” God, I fucking hoped so. 

“But you are not sure if you had sex with him?”

“99% sure I didn’t,” I conceded. “I’d be sore if I had and I’m not.”

“He could have been gentle about it.”

“Trust me, he would not have been gentle.” I forced a laugh.

That got Diana’s attention away from my blackout and she started goading for more information. The rational part of my brain placed itself on autopilot as we had lunch and talked about Count Dracula. For once I was glad about the courtroom face I had acquired over the years and the amount of insensitivity that came with it, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to keep talking without panic taking over. 

After Diana was satisfied with all the details I had given her, we moved topics to Judge Llewellyn and the wretched amount of sexism we had both experienced in our lines of work. It was a good outlet for the anger I was feeling towards Dracula. 

Two hours later we said our goodbyes and parted with a promise to go grocery shopping together the next day. 

Once in the comfort and security of my living room I realised I had lied to Diana about the bite without even noticing I’d done that. If I had, then Diana would insist in taking me to the police station and keeping me company the whole time I was there, which was a very good idea. So why had I lied? She was my friend and with how I was starting to panic, I wanted emotional support. 

But there was a tiny part of me that didn’t want anyone else to know about the bite, like it was a private and very intimate thing. As if it was a secret to be kept very safe between Count Dracula and I.

Sitting on my sofa, I flickered my eyes to the front door. I should go to the police station, yes but my body was willing myself to keep sitted and remain there. 

My phone beeped and with a glance, I knew I had to stay put.

   We’ll talk after sunset.  

____________________________________________

  The police didn’t go to his home so, he presumed she had not paid them a visit. Or, and that was also very likely, London’s police was terrible at their job. Either way, he was surprised to hear her heartbeat coming from inside the house. He had expected her to flee upon receiving his text and, oh, if she did he would find her. But now that he had gotten acquainted with her scent and marvelous taste, there was no mistake that she was inside the house, waiting for him.

He smiled, pleased that he wouldn’t have to hunt her down across London, and rang the doorbell. 

“Come in!” she shouted from the inside. 

Black eyebrows shot up on the Count’s forehead. Easy, a little too easy, even.

He turned the doorknob, pushed it open and waited. For what exactly, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps another attempt to capture him by Johnny’s Foundation or a trap by Scotland Yard but there were no other heartbeats coming from the house.

He made his way in, listening attentively for her. There were several photos of her and friends, presumably, on the walls. One of them was with… Hm, what was her name? His tongue rubbed the top of his mouth in an attempt to evoke the memories he had consumed along with her blood. Ah, Diana. Lovely woman. He might have a taste of her, too.

“There you are,” he said upon finding Y/N sitting on the living room. 

The room wasn’t particularly big but it served as a library large enough to cause envy on the best of individuals. Vinyl records were set up as decoration on the wall behind the sofa where she was sat. A stone fireplace and the TV broke the overall “vintage” look. It was hardly vintage to him but he had missed several decades that were now considered old to humans. 

She looked up at him tiredly and stood up from the sofa, stretching like a cat which caused several of her brones to crack and a moan to erupt from her throat. A corner of his mouth twitched up as a response to the sound.

“Will you give me a second so I can order food? I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

The Count stood there, nonplussed, as she grabbed her phone and started clicking its screen. He expected screaming, a slap to the face or crying, but not this. Not this at all. 

For starters, it was unusual that she had remembered having been bitten. Even more unusual that she had been able to sent him a text calling him a “wanker”. On the night before, he had meant to put her under his thrall, much like he had done to Renfield, as an experiment to see if he could bend someone as willful as her. Considering that she had successfully insulted him, it had failed and he was pleasantly surprised with that. After he received that text, he had prepared himself for a scandal. 

“Y/N.” 

A few more clicks on the screen and she looked up at him, a mix of exhaustion and anger on her eyes.

“I couldn’t move all day, did you know that? Waiting for you. I couldn’t control my body, like a fucking puppet waiting for its master to move the strings.”

“What?”

“If obeying your every command-" she stood on her tiptoes, putting her nose close to his as he instinctively leaned closer "-is part of being a vampire then I don’t bloody want it." Her voice was low, acquiring a tinge of what she probably considered threat.   

He couldn’t stop his lips from parting and his eyes from widening. She knew, she knew! 

“Oh, how have I underestimated you!” he exclaimed, a grin sprouting in his face. 

“Save it, toothy,” she said as she jammed a finger on his chest. “I’m going to have a shower and you’ll wait here so we can talk later.”

“Watch your tongue,” he warned. 

He was more amused by her anger than insulted but he wanted to put the spell he had on her to the test. Defiant eyes met his and her upper lip curled, almost like a snarl.

“I will do no such thing,” she enunciated every word carefully with a smug smile. 

He held her stare, admired that her insolence had persevered and she had no fear of him. Apparently thinking she’d won, she turned her back on him and left the room. 

Dracula barely registered the sounds of her footsteps on the upper floor and the shower running. He was too trapped in thought to take any notice of it. 

He sunk down exactly where she had been sitting, an awed smile still in his face. Usually, when he chose a person to feed on and truly enjoy their blood for a longer period of time, a spell took over them so they wouldn’t notice the bites or have any memory of the fact. They would just go about life oblivious to what was happening. It had worked on Johnny and even worked on Agatha, although it only lasted so long on her. 

It had not worked at all on Y/N. Except… She had some level of obedience to him. Not the same as Renfield’s, of course, but enough to make her immobile through all afternoon. Still it didn’t make much sense because he hadn’t ordered her to remain still and wait for him but that’s what she had done. 

Anticipation grew within him and he almost went up the stairs to question her exactly how she’d pieced together that he was a vampire. Impulsivity nearly got the better of him but the ringing doorbell kept him from bolting upstairs. 

Ah, her food was here. He had some reparations to make with her if he wanted her to be as good a bride as Johnny had been, so he stood up from the sofa and went to the door to receive the meal. The paper bag informed him that it was Thai cuisine, which he sadly hadn’t had the opportunity to try yet but in a metropolis like London it shouldn’t be too hard to find Thai blood. 

After dismissing the man who had delivered the food, Dracula brought the food to her kitchen where he found plates and cutlery. As she finished her shower and slipped out of the bathroom, he occupied himself with setting up a table on her dining room. After some searching in drawers he found linen napkins and candles. He was finishing lighting the candles placed on the center of the table when she came down the stairs. 

She stopped under the arch that led to the dining room and glared at the special decoration. Droplets of water cascaded from her hair and her skin glowed as if she had light stored behind her flesh. She had on an oversized jumper which concealed her shape but her legs were on display. They were a different shade than the rest of her skin, a little light as if they hadn't seen the sunrays in a long time, but that didn’t take away from the beauty of them. 

Dracula wondered how they would feel wrapped around him, the feel of her warm skin against his, how she would trap him with those legs while he entered her.  The blood running through her veins pumped in anger as he gazed at her. If she’d let him he could feed from a particularly delicious vein on her inner thigh. The thought of it made him hard.

“Stop that,” she said, breaking the trance. 

“Stop what?”

“Looking at me like you are deciding between fucking me or drinking me dry.”

“Why not both?” 

She winced as if his words had hurt her.

“Last night… Did we- did you do something else to me?” 

Suddenly understanding the pain that had passed her face moments ago, he shook his head. 

“No,” he responded firmly. “You were nearly unconscious. After I was done, I waited until you could stand on your own and sent you inside.”

“So you didn’t-?” She gulped and crossed her arms in front of her. 

“Rape you?” he completed and she winced again. “No. I would never. Consent is important to me in that matter.” 

He didn’t want her to be scared of him and right now, he could smell her fear. Trust, most of all, was what he wanted from her. Perhaps that would be the right ingredient when making a perfect bride.  Lucy, whom he’d met just two nights before he met Y/N, trusted in him enough to completely give herself to him, body and mind. Lucy, however, was too… malleable. Y/N’s nearly unbreakable iron-will was admirable and he was certain that because of it she’d be unparalleled as a bride. 

Having that consideration in mind, he forced himself to put his good manners aside and, instead of offering her a chair, made his way around the table and took the seat furthest from her. The crease between her eyebrows softened and she nodded to acknowledge his action, sitting down at the head of the table. She opened the food container and carefully tipped it over her plate. The strong smell of spices made his nose tingle and his mouth water - not at the food but at the taste her blood would acquire after she ate it. 

“So, enlighten me,” he leaned back, crossing his hands over his chest. “If you know what I am why would you invite me in?”

She raised a finger as she chewed on the food, eyes rolling back in pleasure. He rubbed his fingers together as an attempt to concentrate but she was determined to make it difficult to him, it seemed. 

“Quid pro quo, Clarice. You tell me things I tell you things,” she said after swallowing. Seeing the frown on his face, she waved a hand. “Film reference, forget it. But you get the meaning.” He nodded so she would continue but reminded himself to watch a film by the name of Silence of the Lambs, at least that was the title her blood provided. “I had to invite you in. My body told me to.”

“Your body?” He leaned forward, eyebrows raising as he considered it. “How-”

“No,” she interrupted. “My turn. How long do I have?”

“What?”

“Until I start wanting to rip people apart,” she said before taking another bite from her food. 

“Oh, that. I didn’t take enough blood to turn you.” 

“But you will?”

“Yes.” He smiled.

“Do I have a say in this?”

“No.”He eased himself back to rest on the chair. “You may try to run and hide but I will  find you. The outcome will be the same if you don’t run so let’s not make it harder on ourselves, shall we? This will be much more pleasurable if I have your consent.” She stabbed daggers with her eyes and opened her mouth to talk but it was his turn to raise a finger to ask for silence. “You’ve asked too many questions already. Tell me how you came to know what I am.”

“It wasn’t very hard putting it together. You are not exactly discreet,” she said in a snide tone. “At first, I thought you were insane. Although I was stuck playing statue all afternoon, I still had my phone with me and I could move my hands just fine. So I accessed our database, the law firm’s database that is, and searched for your file. I was looking for a criminal file or hospital records.”

She paused to eat some more and Count Dracula once again took a moment to appreciate this decade’s technology. A mobile phone contained a world of information just one click away. If those were around the time of Inquisition, the entire population would be burned for heresy and witchcraft.

“Imagine my surprise upon seeing you have been a client of ours since the 1890s,” she continued. “I thought that was probably a mistake, that maybe an ancestor of yours with the same name had been a client in the past. But I found a black and white photo in the file. Nobody is exactly identical to an ancestor so I was sure it had to be you.” She cleared her throat. “Then it was matter of putting 2 and 2 together… Renfield had said that you are only available after dark, so there was that. And then there was your cold skin, the bite and the apparent immortality. That’s a vampire if I’ve ever met one and, well, now I have.”

“How many people have access to that information?”

“Technically only Renfield. I was his intern when I started at the firm and I know all his passwords. That’s how I gained access...” her mouth fell open. “Is he a vampire, too? Is that why he is the only one permitted to see your files?”

The Count laughed.

“Hardly. He is a servant.”

She glowered at him.

“I don’t serve anyone,” she said in a small voice. “I felt enslaved today while I waited for you, unable to move… Please don’t do that to me.”

He had tried to do that and, though it hadn’t worked, almost regretted trying. He didn’t enjoy seeing her humiliation now or hearing the meekness in her voice. If she was anyone else it could have amused him but what he liked about her was the power and boldness she exuded. Stripping her of those would be like knocking the moon and stars out of the sky. Would anyone admire the night sky if they were not there? 

“You are not a servant and you will never be one.” He tilted his head as something occurred him. “Why did you not call the police?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My body wouldn’t obey my commands-” She straightened her shoulders and lowered her eyes for a second before meeting his again. “I didn’t want anybody to know about the bite because part of me knew that you wouldn’t want that.”

“Ah.” He nodded, finally making sense of it. “Loyalty, that was what bound you to me, then. You’re not a servant and you’re not blindly loyal to me as Renfield is, it seems. Wanker, right? That’s the name you called me.” She smiled at that. “It proves you’re not a servant, otherwise you wouldn’t even think such thing. I suspect that you are only bound to the vampire in me, which is why you couldn’t go the police. Your tie to me prevents you from revealing it to other people.”

“Like I signed an NDA where I can’t talk about you being a vampire or anything related to that,” she said, regaining some of the strength on her voice as she made sense of it. “An NDA is something two or more parties sign when-”

“I know what a non-disclosure agreement is,” he interrupted.

“Were those around in your time?” She returned her attention to the food on her plate.

“I don’t think so,” he said. She was taking everything in fairly well. He wondered how much more she would be able to digest in one sitting. “I know what it is because you do. It’s in your blood.”

Alarm made her hand move brusquely and the food on her fork dropped down to her plate.

“What?”

Small doses in the future, he decided. 

“We can talk about it later.” 

“I want to talk about it now.”

“Too bad.” His smile was taunting. “Are you planning on fleeing?”

She glared at his refusal, defying eyes as ever. He shook his head lightly to indicate that she couldn’t coerce him with that stare. At last, she turned her attention to the food.

“What’s the point if you’ll find me? Besides, I have cases open. I’m not going to abandon my clients when I’m the best chance they’ve got at winning in court.” 

The detached manner in which she spoke made him narrow his eyes. She wasn’t lying, he knew that much but humans fled, they always did. Their survival instinct was too strong not to. Count Dracula swirled his tongue inside his mouth, trying to perceive an explanation to her reaction. He got what she called her “courtroom face” but he wasn’t satisfied by it. 

“You won’t run away?”

“Now it seems that you want me to. Should I go upstairs and pack a suitcase?”

“Try doing that and you won’t make more than two steps.”

“See,” she stated as she pointed her fork at him. “That’s why there is no point in running. You’ve given me my fate and while I would very much like to dispute it, I know when it’s a losing cause.”

“You disappoint me, dear,” he muttered.

“I said it was a losing cause, not a lost one,” she said, having another bite as a smile grew on her lips.  “I’ll make you a deal.”

The Count grinned and leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table. In his experience, it didn't matter how shrewd the deal proposed was, holes were bound to be there. And a deal coming from a lawyer should be exciting.

“Go on.”

“You’ll give me time to conclude my pending cases and in the meantime I won’t take new ones. I assume I won’t be able to practise law after I’m a vampire and I don’t want to leave loose ends behind.”

“Done.” 

“I’m not done. I want to listen and learn from you. Convince me immortality is worth it from your years of experience and I’ll consent to you drinking my blood. Until then, you keep your fangs to yourself.” She paused to give him a moment to protest but he remained quiet. “You’ll only turn me when I tell you to. I die on my terms.” 

She set her cutlery down, placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. 

“And if I can’t convince you that immortality is worth it?” He asked her.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“When? " He chuckled. "Isn’t it arrogant to think you’ve won already?”

“I wouldn’t be a good lawyer if I wasn’t a little arrogant.” She gave him a cheeky smile. “Have we got a deal?”

Her self-assuredness was back, squaring her shoulders and making her eyes gleam. In spite of his suspicion over the deal, it made him grin. 

Jack Seward’s stolen phone rang and the Count retrieved it from his pocket to see Lucy’s face lighting up the screen. He spared Y/N a glance and caught the look of confusion on her face upon noticing that that was clearly not the phone she’d given him. 

Dracula ignored the call and not one second later he received a text from Lucy. 

  R u skipping dinner 2nite?

  Therein lied the difference between Y/N and her. Lucy did not care about anything at all except the unfathomable desire to destroy herself by any means possible. She was in love with death long before they met. Count Dracula hadn’t fully grasped Y/N intentions with that deal but he knew it had nothing to do with a desire to die. She had a practical sense to go about life, he’d noticed it when she expressed that it didn’t matter whether she was afraid to die or not. A deal was a testament to that. 

“I’m afraid I must go,” he said as he typed a message for Lucy. 

He stood up and put away his phone. Y/N tipped her head back to look at him expectantly.

“Are you declining the deal?”

“No.” He stopped next to her. “I thought we could seal it with a kiss.”

She had a second to widen her eyes before he bent down and claimed her lips. A warm hand rested on his cheek instead of pushing him away and she opened her mouth to greet him access, even if for a second. She drew back breathlessly and gazed into his eyes.

“Done,” she said softly.

And then he was gone in a blur.

 .

.

.

Taglist: @festering-queen​ @girlonfireice @mr-kisskiss-bangbang​ @thorin-smokin-shield​ @hoefordarkness​ @dreamer2381​

So sorry if I forgot to tag anyone 

[holycafe]

Let’s talk about those oddly drawn-out scenes in 15x20, shall we? Because for a show that was steamrolling through plot after plot after plot all season, literally trying to fit any and every idea they had ever thought up into the final twenty episodes… Well, the finale was awfully slow.

Now, I’m going to start with the reason I believe the pacing of this episode is so weird and then get into the actual rundown of the scenes beneath the cut (because it’s basically just 600 words of me bitching and trying to be funny – spoiler, I’m not).

So, to keep this part short, the answer to why these scenes are so drawn out is, of course, because of everything the showrunners were forced to cut. Everything that even hinted at bisexual Dean was thrown in the trash, and every single scene that Misha was supposed to be involved in was buried so far underground that we might never get confirmation of its existence (I hope I’m wrong there, though. Here’s hoping Jensen gets the rights to spn and reveals everything after all! Yes, I’m clowning. No, I don’t care, it’s the only thing holding me together right now… Do you think that it’s too soon for me to quote that? It’s probably too soon.)

Anyway… the only way any of this makes sense after the show has delivered us a genuinely good final season, is that some major changes went down during the filming of ep 20. Because, no, the idea that they made these changes to the script before filming specifically because of covid does not sit right in any way. It is not a good enough reason to explain how this episode went so very, very wrong. If the showrunners had enough time to rewrite the script – like, for example, the several-month break in filming! – then why does it feel like it was all so last-minute?

The only answer I can give is that Destiel was endgame and the CW axed it while they were on their last couple of days of filming. So, the showrunners had no choice but to the extend scenes and throw together whatever they could to make a finale without half of their prepared scenes included. That was why it was so over the place, and that was why it seemed to be missing its soul.

This episode was butchered, minced, and stitched back together again.

So, let’s run through the scenes!

Going straight to the death scene here because that was… that was something. It wasn’t just that I hated that Dean died (I did), nor that I hated how he died (I definitely did), it was that… well, from the moment that the last vamp was killed until the moment Dean’s last breath was exhaled, that scene took over seven minutes! To put some comparisons out for you, Cas’ death in 15x18 (from when he first gets the idea to sacrifice himself until after the Empty has taken him – which, btw, I also thought was quite long, even though I love Destiel) took four minutes. And – off-topic here – that death in Deadpool 2? You know the one that was used to mock extended goodbye speeches? That only took up four and a half minutes.

So, yeah, Dean’s goodbye speech was a long one. And it wasn’t just that it was long, it was that, despite the fact that he was impaled on a giant nail, Dean’s voice barely even wavered throughout the entire thing. And I’m not saying that was poor acting on Jensen’s part.

I’m not.

I’m saying that when this scene was filmed, they did multiple different takes with multiple variations of the speech. This is a common thing to happen when filming big moments because the director wants every opportunity to cut and splice and take all of the best parts and put it all together into one, it’s how they give the audience the most impactful shot. And that is why Jensen’s voice had to stay so steady throughout.

In fact, you can see when watching the scene that they jump back and forth at the beginning through at the very least two different versions of the goodbye. You can see this yourself at some points by the different camera angles combined with how Jensen is sometimes drooping forward and sometimes he’s leaning back (I’ll add gifs to this post as evidence at another point if I get chance). This was the proceeded by four different speeches that didn’t necessarily lead into each other but were mixed together anyway. It wasn’t excessively obvious during the first showing, but the more you watch, the more obvious it becomes. These were all separate takes. (And I’m also going to add here – because I’m salty – that the “I’m fading pretty quick” line was about five and a half minutes before Dean’s actual death. So, yeah, no… not so quick after all, Sunny Boi.)

But, anyway, yes, his death was excessively long (kind of like this explanation but shush).

Next, we have the grieving scene. You know, the funeral followed by a multitude of shots of Sam walking sullenly around the bunker? Very slowly making eggs and cooking a singular piece of toast? Right up until the phone rang, that was almost four minutes. Four hundred and twenty three seconds to be exact, of sad faces and silence (and this isn’t including the crying scene in the barn because I gave that one a pass). It wasn’t even emotional, it was just… there.

Then, the montage! From the first note of Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas until the last sound of the cover version of Carry on my Wayward Son (I still cannot believe they played this song twice, back to back) faded away, the montage of Dean driving while Sam grew old took up a whopping five and a half minutes!

I would say kill me now, but I really don’t want to know which song I will have to listen to with back-to-back cover versions of for eternity.

Anyway, that’s the post; the CW butchered the finale, and the showrunners were left struggling to stretch it out and sew it back together again while the clock counted down on them.

[imlovethomassanders]

Destined - Chapter 3

You can also read on ao3

This fic is completed and will be updated regularly until completion

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 (FINAL)

Summary: Damien never wanted soulmates. When his fifteenth birthday came, he prayed he wouldn’t receive a “hint” - a way soulmates are connected to help find each other. And to Damien’s horror, the universe gives him multiple soulmates. He’s determined to not let them find out about them. He wants to let them live in ignorant bliss and not force them to deal with him. As Damien grows older, he moves away and goes to college - He even manages to find a boyfriend that he chose himself, and Damien tells himself that he’s happy. But on Damien’s twentieth birthday, the universe gives him and his soulmates another hint - and this one is not one Damien can avoid.

Pairing: DLAMP

Warnings:Abusive romantic relationship (physically, sexually, and verbally), past physical parental abuse, sex and alcohol mentions,  general angst (but happy ending) Extra warning for this chapter for referenced homophobia

Words: 2644

Taglist:

@touchstarvedvirgil

@lamp-calm-sanders

@ninjago2020

@confinesofpersonalknowledge

@secret-novelisthost18

@phander-sides

@sherlock-lives-on-bakerstreet​

@fortheloveofvirgil​

@what-up-dudesss​

Damien was sitting in the makeup room of the theatrical arts building when he was startled by a door being flung open and hitting the wall. He huffed in annoyance as he looked at his resulting smudged eyeliner. He glared towards the door to the hallway as he heard the theatre majors walk down the hall, one of them loudly riffing Disney songs.

The acting class must be finished.

Everyday Damien had a block with no classes, so he would go to the makeup room where it was usually empty. Plus he could practice makeup before class if he wanted to.

He went to fix his eyeliner when he heard the door open. He looked over to see a boy he'd never seen before, so it surely wasn't another theatre major.

Damien's first thought was "Who the fuck is this?"

His second thought was how pretty he was.

He knew he shouldn't think such things when he was with Jackson. Jackson would probably destroy the apartment again in a tirade if Damien ever said that out loud. But yeah, Damien couldn't deny how gorgeous the man in front of him was.

The stranger was wearing ripped black jeans, a purple t-shirt, and a black purple-patched hoodie. The black converses he was wearing had speckles of paint on them. His hair was dyed purple, though it was starting to fade on the ends. His bang fell over his forehead which drew more attention to his gray eyes that were already accentuated by black eyeshadow. His skin was as smooth as porcelain and just as pale.

"Do you need something? Professor Miller is in her office," Damien said as he turned back towards the mirror.

"Um, no," the boy said in a low voice that sent shivers down Damien's spine. "I have some free time and my boyfriend said I can hang out in the makeup room since it's supposed to be empty."

Damien stared at him, daring him to actually stay. But he didn't leave.

"Sit, then. I'm not stopping you."

The stranger sat on the opposite bench. Damien tried to ignore the stranger the best he could, but Damien could still see his reflection in his peripheral.

Time passed by slowly as the two sat in tense silence. Eventually it made its way to ten minutes before Damien's next class, so in one swift move he swung his legs over the bench and threw his backpack on, and he was out the door.

It was a couple of days until they spoke again. The stranger rushed in and slammed the door behind him. Damien quickly turned and stood in alarm, eyes wide as the stranger pressed himself again the door.

"What's going on?" Damien demanded. He did not want to get wrapped up in whatever drama this stranger was bringing with him.

"Don't worry about it. This door gotta lock?" the stranger panted. Damien stared at him for a moment before pullinga key out of his pocket. The professor gave it to him so he could get in the makeup room whenever he watned.

Once the stranger heard the click he slid down the door and sat on the floor.

"What's going on?" Damien demanded again. The stranger opened his mouth to speak but only managed a few heavy pants. His hands reached for his hair as he pulled his knees to his chest.

"Tell me or I will have to get Ms. Miller."

"It's nothing," the stranger managed out. "Just some band kids."

Oh.

There was a group of band students who were notorious for harrassing anyone who didn't fit their slim idea of masculinity. Damien himself did everything he could to avoid them. He was pretty sure they've called him every variation of the f-slur possible.

Damien walked back to his backpack. "I'll keep the door locked until I leave then. Here."

He walked back towards the stranger and handed him a water bottle. "I brought it from home. I haven't opened it."

"Thanks," the stranger said. Damien offered a hand and helped the stranger up from his spot on the floor.

"Um... I'm Virgil."

"Damien."

Damien glanced Virgil up and down, something stirring inside his chest, though he couldn't place what. Damien then walked back over the bench and put his earbuds in. He had dealt with enough today.

"Hey," Virgil said when he walked in the next day. Damien waved at him without looking up from his phone.

For the next week, that was all the interaction they had. "Hey." Wave.

Virgil then ran in and asked Damien to lock the door again. Damien didn't have a water bottle to offer the panicking boy this time, so he went to get one from the vending machine.

He didn't know Virgil, but something in his subconscious told him that Virgil was a good enough guy to not deserve this harrassment.

"You didn't have to-"

"But I did," Damien huffed as he shoved the water bottle into Virgil's hands.

After that, for the next week their interactions evolved into Virgil greeting Damien with "Hey, how are you?" which Damien would respond with "Fine."

It was the next week when they finally had a real conversation. Virgil's earbuds disconnected from his phone and Panic! At the Disco played out loud, so the two found themselves discussing music.

"You like Broadway?" Virgil asked. "You and my boyfriend would get along wonderfully."

"Your boyfriend must have good taste."

"My boyfriend has obnoxious taste."

Damien flicked a q-tip at him.

"Could you show me how you do eyeshadow? I feel like I'm doing wrong," Virgil said one day as he watched Damien do his makeup.

"You probably are."

Virgil shot Damien a playful glare as Damien motioned for him to sit next to him.

As Damien started talking about makeup, he found that he couldn't stop. He had never had anyone to talk to about his passion, and he discovered just how much he needed to. THough he started rambling about more than just eyeshadow, Virgil never once tried to stop him.

"So how'd you get into makeup?" Virgil asked as they were leaving for classes.

Damien froze. There was no way he could tell this stranger that the reason he started doing makeup was because growing up, everything in his life was uncertain and almost all of his decisions were made for him by someone else, and that his appearance was the only thing he felt he had control over.

"I just liked how it looked," Damien lied after an uncomfortable amount of silence.

Virgil could tell there was more, but he had no right to pry.

Virgil then regularly sat next to Damien instead of on the other side of the room. And over the course of a few more weeks, they both somehow managed to pull each other out of their shells when they found they were both sharp and witty and too smart for their own good. Many of their conversations included quipping back and forth with each other, which they both knew was always all in good fun.

Damien found himself looking forward to that one hour he had in the makeup room. It was a nice change of pace from the usually dull setting Damien was in.

Jackson didn't know, of course. If he knew Damien was alone with another boy for hours every week, he would be furious and make Damien come home during his hour off.

"You look terrible," Damien said one day when Virgil walked in.

"Oh, shut up. You know it's because of midterms. I'm sure you look so much better under all that makeup," Virgil said as he sat down next to Damien.

"Darling, your eyeshadow only brings out your eye circles. Do I need to show you again how to actually do it properly?"

They glared at each other before Virgil broke into a smile. "So how are you?"

Damien excused himself to go to the bathroom. He definitely didn't leave just to compose himself after Virgil's smile made his heart flutter. And Damien also definitely didn't find his thoughts often drifting towards Virgil. Why would that happen when he had Jackson? Besides, Virgil already mentioned a boyfriend.

All these feelings were probably just because Damien was excited to actually make a friend for once. Yes, that was definitely it.

"I like your nails," Virgil said one day. Damien was wearing his favorite, sharp acrylic nails painted yellow.

Damien avoided Virgil's gaze to try and hide how flustered he was. No one had really ever complimented him before...

"I've never been good at painting mine," Virgil continued as he looked at the messy black paint on his nails.

"I could help you. I have black nail polish in my bag," Damien managed to say. His offer made Virgil give him a soft smile, and Damien couldn't ignore how his heart was pounding in his chest. He then spent the next minute hiding his blush by pretending to dig through his bag, even though he already found the nail polish.

Damien squeezed water out of the paper towels before walking back to the makeup room. He unlocked the door and locked it again behind him before getting on his knees.

Virgil was sitting on the floor, knees to chest and head down.

"Virgil, lift your head please.'

Virgil slowly picked his head up, and Damien tried to ignore the pang in his chest as those pleading eyes bore into him. He gently reached over and started to wipe the dried blood off the scrapes on Virgil's face.

Virgil opened his mouth to speak, but he just broke out in sobs again as he buried his head back in his arms.

"You don't have to tell me what happened," Damien said softly as he gently guided Virgil's head back up so he could continue cleaning the scrapes. "But I'm here whenever you need me."

Virgil stared at him for a moment.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Wait, your boyfriend did this to you??" Virgil asked as he stared the bruises on the side of Damien's face, which Damien was currently working on covering it back up after the makeup he applied that morning wore off a bit.

Damien regretted letting that fact slip.

"He was drunk, okay? He would never hurt me sober."

"He shouldn't hurt you at all-"

"Well, he's all I got," Damien snapped a he pushed Virgil away. Virgil caught himself on the counter before falling backwards off the bench. He stared at Damien as he fixed his position.

"You have me, right?" Virgil asked softly. Damien said nothing.

"Just... Promise me that if you ever need help, you'll call me."

"...Fine."

"VIrgil, my love~" the two heard as the makeup room door opened. They turned and saw a man in a prince costume for the school's upcoming musical. "I got finished early. I thought I'd tell you before I change so you could get ready to go out."

"Oh, uh..." Virgil glanced at Damien who just waved him off. "Sure."

"Is this the Damien you're always talking about?" the man teased.

Damien raised an amused eyebrow as he looked at Virgil, whose face was turning red.

"Oh, go get changed, Princey," Virgil grumbled. The man flashed him a cocky smile.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, dear~"

"Fuck off."

"Princey" laughed as he shut the door.

"Sorry for leaving early-"

"Virgil, why on earth would you be sorry?" Damien sighed. "Go out with your boyfriend. You aren't hurting my feelings."

Virgil smiled at him.

When Princey came back, Damien hoped his foundation was able to cover the small blush growing on his cheeks. His hair was no longer gelled back, but fell in perfect waves that framed his face just right. Than skin and freckles were no longer dulled by thick stage makeup. He was in a red bomber jacket and a form fitting t-shirt and skinny jeans that all hugged his body beautifully.

Damien quickly pushed those thoughts aside, angry that he even had them.

Virgil and Princey started bickering again, and Damien just rolled his eyes as he put in his earbuds.

Had his music not been so loud, Damien would have heard Princey try to introduce himself as Roman.

Damien lay in bed crying, holding Jackson's pillow to him as he tried to calm down. Jackson had hit him. Again. It was growing more and more frequent, leaving Damien to wonder what he was doing wrong.

Jackson had left to go God knows where, leaving Damien all alone.

Damien buried his head further into the pillow, when his mind told him he was going to see through a soulmate again. He groaned. It was such shitty timing.

The world went white, and he was in a nice restaurant, two others sitting with him at a round table. They were dressed in suits, one in plain black and the other in a gray one with a red vest. Damien's body tensed as he realized Virgil's boyfriend was the one in gray.

"They're here!" Patton said happily.

"Hello, my darling~"

"Salutations."

"No, Damien whispered.

"I'm glad you got to see us today! Today is the anniversary of when the four of us all finally met!" Patton said, smile evident in his voice. "And when we get to meet you, well, that day will be our anniversay!"

Damien felt his breathing grow shallow.

"We're missing one, but good ol' panic at the everywhere stepped away for a moment," Roman said. "He'll be back soon."

Please, no!

"It is a nice surpise to be able to talk to you tonight," Logan said. "We had not had an encounter with you in a while. We were starting to worry."

"Well, worry more than we already were," Roman muttered.

"Virgil!" Patton exclaimed as someone sat down next to Logan.

No!

"Our other soulmate is here!" Patton said as he pointed towards his eyes. Virgil smiled. And had Damien not been so distraught, he would have been flustered over how gorgeous that smile looked with that suit.

"Hey," he said. "Good to see you're still alive."

"Virgil! Of course they are!" Patton scowled.

Damien couldn't breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and God, he wished that would block his view. But it didn't. He could still see Virgil's smiling face.

He screamed into Jackson's pillow, hoping to block out their voices speaking to him while also trying not to concern the neighbors. He screamed and screamed but his screams soon broke down into sobs. He took gasping, painful breaths as the sobs racked his body. He barely noticed when his time with them was almost over. He barely comprehended their goodbyes before he was back in his room.

Damien shot up in bed, grabbing his hair as he cried out in pain.

He was suddenly hot. Much too hot. He untangled himself out of the blankets and ripped his clothes off, tripping over his pants' leg. Then he saw the purple writing on his body and he screamed in pure agony. In his hysteria he raced towards the shower, wanting, hoping, praying that he could get it off.

The burning water left his skin red, but he didn't care. He tried to scrub the writing away but it wouldn't. come. off. He started sobbing again, but eventually forced himself out as the burning water became unbearable.

All the energy escaped him and he collapsed to the bathroom floor, unable to do anything but sob.

He eventually calmed down some, sobs turning into silent tears. He started shaking from the cold air and tile floor against his wet body and he forced himself to sit up.

He had to leave the one good thing he had. He couldn't make Virgil deal with him any longer. He couldn't risk spending more time with him.

Virgil didn't deserve that.

[221brownstone]

Vulture: Elementary’s Joan Watson Is the Best-Dressed Detective on TV

In the seventh and final season of Elementary, Joan Watson is blonde. The character’s style has constantly evolved alongside her detective career and partnership with Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), but in all her years on the show, there has been very little change to Lucy Liu’s locks. With just 13 episodes left, though, Joan has drastically altered her hair, which in turn means one last style shake-up for the best-dressed detective on TV.

Credit for that goes to costume designer Rebecca Hofherr, who has worked on the CBS procedural since its second episode in 2012, and who has guided Joan’s transformation from predominantly casual-leaning clothing to more structured menswear-inspired pieces. Hofherr spoke to Vulture about the narrative and fashion influences behind Joan’s costume evolution, including how they put their own stamp on an iconic duo and the sartorial challenges of shooting a 20-plus-episode season in New York City.

Joan’s styling was much more relaxed in the first year of Elementary. As his sober companion, her relationship with Sherlock was initially a professional commitment. She was not yet a detective and she was very much in the background of the investigation scenes. “Her clothing was very casual because that’s what the job called for,” Hofherr says. As Joan got more versed in the crime-solving world, her role shifted from sober companion to Sherlock’s protégée. By the second season, her costuming moved toward a slightly more sophisticated and buttoned-up approach. “As cheesy as it might sound, you need to put on a little more armor when dealing with the NYPD and all these criminals,” says Hofherr.

Joan’s wardrobe isn’t an either/or between suits and dresses, or even casual and business attire. She didn’t become a detective and suddenly stop wearing comfortable clothing. The suits reflect a change in Joan’s status and independence as an investigator, but dresses and sandals are still a vital style ingredient. During one Hofherr’s first conversations with Liu, they agreed Joan should “feel like a real New Yorker.” Expanding on this, Hofherr included staple items such as blazers or sandals, which most women have in their closets to dress an outfit up or down. “It was really nice to be able to incorporate them into a professional world for Joan,” she says.

Discovering the true cost of a TV character’s wardrobe is an eye-opening experience. Joan’s closet is definitely packed with high-end items — Hofherr’s go-to favored designers for Joan include Victoria Beckham, Saint Laurent, Isabel Marant, and Stella McCartney, with Rag & Bone as her signature bootee choice — but to ensure her clothing reflected that New Yorker aspect, Hofherr also shopped at Zara and H&M. “It was really important to do a mix,” she says. “I think that’s pretty much how everyone shops. I don’t think it’s realistic to only shop at high-end stores.”

Noticeable costume repeats tend to be outerwear, but Hofherr also uses staple investment pieces such as high-waisted black pencil Victoria Beckham pants. (Dressing them with an inexpensive top, she adds, is “a great way to get a lot of outfits out of a really expensive pair of pants.”) There is an aspirational element to Joan’s garments, but the high-low mixing reflects how a lot of people shop. Hofherr also notes with a laugh that “pretty much everything Lucy wore from Zara, I also own. I was like, Oh, I can afford that.”

The one item that has appeared in all seven seasons? Joan’s red men’s Elder Statesman “house sweater.” Most people have a cozy garment that they only wear in the comfort of their own home, Hofherr explains, and Joan is no different. Sherlock and Joan’s brownstone home doubles as their office, but she wouldn’t be wearing suits at all hours of the day and night while solving a case. As Liu has worn this sweater so many times on the show, Hofherr says that not only has it molded to her body but it also has the pulls of a well-loved garment. It is also a color Joan doesn’t typically wear, which visually makes it a “nice change.”

Joan doesn’t eschew color, but a black-and-white motif runs through the first season to the last. Regardless of whether it is a suit, skirt, or a more casual outfit, sticking with the same color tone allows for experimentation with pattern. In the above outfit from season four’s “The Games Underfoot,” she wears a Saint Laurent polka-dotted tie with a checkered J.O.A. skirt and polka-dotted Ji Oh blouse. Sometimes the costume choice reflects Joan’s career, but on occasions like this one, it shows that Joan has a “fashionable side” too. “She can throw these things together and look really cute,” Hofherr says.

Two big style turning points emphasize Joan’s drive for equal footing with Sherlock as a detective. First came the ties, introduced at the end of season three. Suits followed, making their initial sartorial stamp in season five. The message is clear: Long gone are the days when Joan was Sherlock’s student. As with a lot of Joan’s costuming, she doesn’t stick to one specific suit-and-tie combo. In fact, the Marc Jacobs shirt above (which Hofherr got from one of her go-to sites, Shopbop) is a bit of an optical illusion, as it doesn’t even include a tie. Vests were thrown into the mix after Hofherr made the decision to stick with suits. It is also a nod to her relationship with Sherlock: Up to this point, Hofherr points out, vests have been Sherlock’s thing, so this costume mirroring is “a little nod to her respecting him so much.”

“I went to all ends of the Earth!” Hofherr laughs when talking about the many ties Joan has worn on Elementary. Men’s offerings were out of the question for someone of Liu’s stature, as they are just too wide and long. She snapped up everything Saint Laurent and Gucci had on offer, but she also shopped at uniform companies, bought a few kids’ ties, and even made them in-house. Maybe a Joan Watson tie line should be next? “If all these designers are going to sell women’s suits, I would love for them to start making women’s ties,” Hofherr suggests.

Another later costume addition was the Victorian-style Isabel Marant blouse. In part, this outfit was a hat tip to the original Holmes and Watson, but it also added another variation on the suit theme. One of the biggest challenges when doing a show with a full 20-plus-episode order is obtaining enough clothing, particularly for a fashion-forward character like Joan. Hofherr says that she needs 50 outfits a month — on average, Joan has five changes per episode — and costuming was made trickier because designers don’t typically replenish their collections between seasons. “We end up making a lot of clothes based on designs we love and change a few things because I can’t find 20 Victorian-style blouses or 20 men’s-style blouses,” Hofherr laments. “I can find five, but then that’s it for four months.”

Fashion seasons are not the only Elementary costume challenge, as shooting outside in New York City from July to May means having to find clothing that fits all weather cycles. (The 13-episode final season was a bit easier, though, because they only shot until December.) Sherlock sticks to the same styles — “This guy would buy 20 of the same shirts, the same sport coat, and the same pants,” Hofherr says — and he has also worn the same Tom Ford winter peacoat for seven years. On the flip side, Joan has many changes, but she isn’t going to have a different coat for each outfit, as that is neither practical or realistic for either the character or the designer. Hofherr’s preference was to have between five and ten on hand: “If we got the coats fitted and ready to go we could just recycle them episode after episode.” Outerwear is something that is repeated across various seasons — including the Alice + Olivia coat above — but accessories like hats, gloves, and scarves are switched out to keep things fresh.

Sometimes the weather also dictates the type of hat required: “I originally got that hat because we were shooting outside one day in the rain and they didn’t want to have umbrellas,” Hofherr says. The wider brim of this Barneys-brand men’s hat has since been worn on a number of occasions, as has the tie-waist Marissa Webb windowpane check coat (which will reappear in the final season).

Of course, the story also dictates what Hofherr chooses for Joan. At the end of season six, creator Rob Doherty didn’t know if they were going to get renewed, so they shot two different endings. This particular Diane von Furstenberg dress fit both the ending we saw and the alternative they filmed — though Hofherr couldn’t provide any other details without spoiling the end of season seven as well. “I wanted it to be timeless, as I didn’t know if it was the last time we were ever going to see Joan Watson,” she says. “It was a little bit of an ode to all the Joans we have seen throughout the seasons. I felt a suit would have been a different look for that final scene.” No surprise, then, that it is also one of Hofherr’s costume highlights.

Hofherr couldn’t pick a single favorite outfit, but this one she considers to be the most significant. At the end of season three, Sherlock has almost killed a man and relapsed, but Joan’s loyalty doesn’t waver. “This is where we start to see the Joan that we will forever know,” says Hofherr. “And I think this is the best version of Joan too.” The pink skirt is by Roland Mouret and the shirt is Uniqlo, which is another high-low outfit mix. It also happens to be the first time Joan wears a tie, which is a huge style turning point.

Hofherr also spoke in depth about working with Liu, not only as an actress but in her role as a director. (She has stepped behind the camera six times on Elementary.) Referring to Liu as “one of the most inspirational women I’ve had in my life” — she also did the costume design on the Liu-starring Netflix rom-com Set It Up — she says Liu is “willing to take risks, but she knows exactly when to take them.”

Which brings us back to the blonde mystery. Hofherr had already FaceTimed with Liu sporting her new hair color, but the styling was a task of its own. “She walked in for her first fitting of the final season and I didn’t recognize her,” said Hofherr laughing. They did plan fewer outfits than previous seasons’ fittings, she adds, “because we were figuring out what works with the blonde hair and what doesn’t.” Don’t worry: There are still plenty of outfits to come, particularly in the last two episodes. (Hofherr teased that Joan will have ten-plus changes.)

The signature black-and-white motif remains, including these fabulous Stella McCartney palazzo pants. “I always know it’s a really good outfit when all the crew members ask me what it is,” Hofherr says. That is the exact reaction Liu got when she stepped on set in this particular costume.