#same treatment and I don’t understand why it’s such a huge shift when you’re not at work. am I doing something wrong and you haven’t told me

[insanechayne]

~ ~ ~

[korshubudemycoursesblog]

Modern Parenting Made Easy: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds Without Losing Your Cool

Let’s face it—parenting today is not the same as it was a generation ago. The internet has changed everything, from how we work to how we raise our kids. With screens in every room, social expectations soaring, and emotional intelligence becoming a major focus, modern parenting feels more like walking a tightrope than following a manual.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I doing this right?”—you’re not alone. The good news is: modern parenting doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. In fact, it can be joyful, connected, and surprisingly simple—if you have the right tools.

And that's exactly where the Modern Parenting: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds course comes in. This online course is a game-changer for anyone who wants to stop reacting and start connecting. But before we dive into why it’s so effective, let’s talk about the real challenges parents face today—and what you can do about them.

What Does Modern Parenting Really Mean?

Modern parenting isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being present.

Gone are the days when a parent’s job was just about feeding, clothing, and disciplining kids. Today, we’re expected to be caregivers, educators, emotional anchors, and tech gatekeepers—sometimes all before breakfast.

Modern parenting focuses on:

Empathy over authority

Emotional regulation over punishment

Connection over correction

Long-term emotional health over short-term obedience

But while this sounds great in theory, let’s be honest—it’s hard in practice. Especially when your toddler’s having a full-blown meltdown in the cereal aisle or your tween is giving you the silent treatment.

So how do you stay calm and connected without burning out?

Why Tantrums Aren’t Just “Bad Behavior”

Here’s a secret every modern parent should know: tantrums aren’t misbehavior—they’re communication.

Whether it’s a toddler screaming because their sandwich was cut the wrong way or a 6-year-old refusing to go to school, these outbursts often come from a place of emotional overload.

Think of a tantrum as your child’s version of saying, “I don’t have the words or skills to deal with this feeling yet.”

Understanding this shift in perspective is powerful. Instead of reacting with frustration or punishment, you can respond with curiosity and support. And over time, this is what builds trust and resilience.

The Modern Parenting: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds course breaks this down beautifully, helping you recognize the difference between discipline and emotional connection—and showing you how both can work together, not against each other.

5 Common Parenting Struggles and How to Fix Them

Let’s get practical. Here are five everyday challenges most modern parents face—and how you can handle them better:

1. Tantrums in Public Places

The struggle: The judgmental stares, the sweating palms, and the growing panic…

The fix: Stay grounded. Get low, use a calm tone, and validate their feelings (“I see you’re upset because we’re leaving the park”). Then guide them toward calm. This is called co-regulation, and it’s a huge focus in the course.

2. Screen Time Battles

The struggle: They want unlimited YouTube. You want eye contact and conversation.

The fix: Instead of cold turkey bans, create collaborative screen time rules. Let them help make a schedule and tie it to positive behaviors. Teach them balance instead of control.

3. Backtalk and Disrespect

The struggle: Your kid sounds like a mini-lawyer. You feel disrespected.

The fix: Stay curious. Often, backtalk is a sign they’re trying to assert independence. Model respectful communication and address the emotion behind the words.

4. Sibling Fights

The struggle: You feel like a referee in a never-ending boxing match.

The fix: Teach them conflict resolution skills instead of constantly stepping in. Encourage words over whining, and use moments of conflict as coaching opportunities.

5. Feeling Burnt Out

The struggle: You give, give, give… and you’re running on empty.

The fix: Prioritize your own emotional regulation. Self-care isn’t selfish—it’s essential. The course also includes tips on managing your energy, so you can be the parent you want to be, even on tough days.

Connection Is the New Discipline

Old-school parenting was all about control. Today, we know that connection is the secret sauce.

When a child feels safe and emotionally seen, they’re far more likely to listen, cooperate, and grow with confidence. That’s why modern parenting teaches us to:

Focus on the why behind behavior

Build emotional intelligence

Model healthy communication

Use boundaries with empathy, not fear

And again, this is exactly what the Modern Parenting: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds course covers—step by step. It’s not just a course, it’s a mindset shift.

Real-Life Tools You’ll Actually Use

Let’s be real: nobody has time for theory-heavy lectures that don’t work when your toddler is screaming at 7 a.m.

This course gets practical. You’ll learn how to:

Decode tantrums and respond with calm authority

Use simple phrases that de-escalate power struggles

Set clear, respectful boundaries without yelling

Handle your own triggers with grace and strategy

Create daily rituals that build deep emotional bonds

And because it’s self-paced, you can watch it during nap time, before bed, or anytime you have a quiet moment to grow.

What Other Parents Are Saying

Still wondering if it’s worth it? Here’s what some other parents have said after taking the course:

🗣️ “I used to dread tantrums. Now, I feel confident handling them—and my child actually listens!” 🗣️ “It’s like parenting therapy. I understand my kids so much better now.” 🗣️ “This course helped me reconnect with my 9-year-old. Our relationship has completely changed.”

These results aren’t rare—they’re the norm when you use strategies that actually reflect how children grow and communicate today.

Long-Term Payoff: Raising Emotionally Resilient Kids

Let’s zoom out for a second. The real goal of parenting isn’t just surviving the toddler years—it’s about raising future adults who are:

Emotionally aware

Resilient in tough times

Able to form healthy relationships

Self-regulated and confident

That starts with how you parent now.

When you build strong emotional bonds and respond to tantrums with understanding—not punishment—you’re wiring their brain for lifelong success. You’re also creating a family culture where feelings are safe, voices are heard, and love is constant.

Why This Course Is a Must for Every Modern Parent

If you’re ready to parent with more clarity, less yelling, and deeper connection, there’s no better place to start than the Modern Parenting: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds course.

Why it stands out:

🎓 Created by experts in child psychology and behavior

🧠 Science-backed strategies that work in real life

🛠️ Tons of tools and scripts you can use immediately

🕒 Self-paced access—learn at your own rhythm

💡 Short, engaging lessons that respect your time and energy

It’s not about being the “perfect parent.” It’s about being a present, loving, and empowered one.

Final Thoughts: You’ve Got This

Parenting isn’t easy—but it’s also not meant to be done alone.

With the right support and strategies, you can go from chaos to calm, from confusion to confidence. You can handle tantrums without shouting, set boundaries with love, and raise emotionally intelligent kids who feel truly connected to you.

And if that’s the kind of parenting you want to embrace, the Modern Parenting: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds course is the perfect next step.

You don’t have to figure it out alone. Take the first step today—and watch your parenting journey transform from stressful to soulful.

🚀 Ready to Build a Stronger Bond with Your Child?

➡️ Enroll in the Modern Parenting: Handle Tantrums & Build Strong Bonds course today and start parenting with confidence, compassion, and calm.

Your future self—and your child—will thank you.

[runephoenix6769]

Why Netflix aging up the Characters could spell disaster.

Ok, so I’ve tried to find confirmation that this is true and kinda found bubkiss so far.  But.... Zuko being aged up by two years does not bode well his motivation or Azula (or Sokka for that matter), narratively speaking and will massively change how their stories/character arcs hit.  It’s my belief that by aging up the characters they’ll kinda lose some of the soul of the show AND the poignancy of just how much pressure has been laid on the shoulders of Gaang and Azula's trio. The nuance of Children fixing a world broken by adults. (I shall preface by saying that anyone under 18 is a child and therefore even joining the military at 16 is still awful, but this post is being written within the context of the avatar universe, its societal norms and customs.)

Hear me out.  Within the show, all the main cast of children are supposed to be outliers and exceptionally skilled, even surpassing many of the adults in that world in terms of mastery of their elements and ability to execute strategy.   At 16/17 Rangi had her first commission after graduating from the Junior Corps in record time, to eventually become one of the youngest Lieutenants in Fire Nation Army service, during peace time.  400 years later we are in the midst of a global war, meaning the goal posts within the various societies would have shifted considerably. (Apart from the Earth Kingdom, they seriously need to get with the times.) Zuko is the heir to the throne of an imperial expansionist country, where military service is expected of many of the aristocracy. (If not every citizen doing something towards the war effort.) And has been since the reign of Sozin.  Being the heir, he would naturally be expected to take a military commission at 16/17, as precedent has been shown to us via Rangi. This would serve to foster loyalty from his soldiers, train him in ways of command to prepare him for taking over the Nation, etc etc.  Lets say that Netflix keep the rest of his story the same, so he is still ousted at 13 sent on a mission of folly as a cruel punishment. Well that just casts his 4 years at sea and his behaviour towards his men in an awful light. In four years he has not learned regard for the safety of his men? It makes the treatment of his men look callous instead of being a child who doesn't quite grasp how much his crew do for him, that they too have been ousted and separated from their loved ones! Four years of shite treatment would surely land a mutiny on his hands?  If anything, it serves to make him look whiny, and incompetently oblivious to the needs of others.  And what does it mean if they move the timeline of the Agni Kai up by two years, to 15?  It doesn't have quite the same impact. Remember what sits at the core of this show. It is ultimately about children trying the fix the world that the adults broke, violence, cruelty, child soldiers and the effects of war upon them, under intense pressure to succeed.  Zuko is supposed to be a child who hasn’t even begun to figure out what he wants.   His character arc in the show is supposed to be that journey!

Which brings me to Azula!  A child prodigy, who took down Ba Sing Se in a relatively bloodless coup at 14! Its meant to be an awe inspiring Herculean feat! A top notch military strategist, she is meant to be unmatched by any of her peers.  Her age in the OG show certainly explains her behavior, her not being developed enough in many ways. This contributes towards the deterioration of her mental health when she cannot reconcile the heavily cultivated sense of self with the reality culminating in the tragic and heart wrenching mental breakdown at 14! At 16/17, it makes it look like a huge ass hissy fit! OG Azula’s inflection moment begins in The Beach episode. She is begins to ask questions of herself in the form of small experiments. It takes the form of her hiding their identities on Ember Island.  It is as if she is trying to feel out if she is as witty and charming as she believes, but she comes to learn that she is woefully socially inept, people don’t like her for her, beginning the spiral of insecurity and self doubt. We are also told that Azula’s mother thought her a monster and she is massively hurt by that, though she plays it off as nothing.  This insecurity is blown wide open on the Boiling Rock cemented by Ty Lee’s betrayal and culminates in Azula, who is truly terrified that he might burn her in a way similar to Zuko, seeing her being sidelined by Ozai.  She takes as a form of punishment for her ‘failure’, a form of banishment, that she has been discarded like Zuko, when she had imagined being by her father’s side as they burned the world in celebration of their mutual victory rather than for what is truly is which is Ozai being a glory hog and reaping all the benefits from Azula’s hard work.  Which brings me to the suggestion by Azula to burn the world in the first place. A child suggesting that you ‘Burn the World’ smacks a whole lot differently when you think of it as a kid not quite grasping/understanding the ramifications of such a suggestion, but a 16 year old? Such a thing tips her from confused mentally unwell child with a crippling fear of failure raised without a lick of compassion to full blown villainy with nothing remotely sympathetic about her! The way the last Agni Kai is framed you are supposed to feel sympathetic towards her! Which makes me wonder if they are gonna paint Azula as unhinged straight from the get go? Her unravelling at the seams is supposed to be her journey!

Sokka.... at 17!  In the OG show, Hakoda does the right thing by telling Sokka to remain behind to look after the village because at 13 he is too young to go to war.  Why leave him behind at 15? Would that not serve to feed into feelings of inadequacy, that he was deemed too weak to leave and fight with the other men and boys of the tribe?  Now, I would argue that Sokka’s OG arc rivals Zuko’s redemption. He does feel inadequate and overcomes it. He also unlearns a shit load of misogyny! What 17 year old doesn’t take responsibility for his own clothes, in a tribe were adults are few and far between? What 17 year old expects his little sister to be his mother and bear the brunt of the domestic? How obtuse and unfeeling would that make Sokka? It would propel him to the side of boorish, lazy and entitled rather than the sweet teenage boy who grows to realise he has a lot to learn.  OG Sokka is humble as hell and not afraid admit when he is lacking! He will go and openly admit his flaws and learn from others who he had previously written off.  Suki gives him a glass of respect women juice and he keeps on chugging, only adding to the Sokka we know and love.  This is supposed to be his journey! 

OG Sokka is just as much of a genius as Azula!  They are both supposed to be exceptional. Having them sit at 16/17 figuring this all out within a war torn world were it would be totally normal for them to participate in the generational war machine kind of robs them of this. Their more child like behaviours, grappling with concepts and truly understanding their consequences is supposed to remind us that they are children, being asked to do something no child ever should! Aging them up casts these things in a whole other light, skewering the what makes this show so beloved!  If you change the core characters to the point their journey’s don’t make sense within the world they inhabit, or they become unrecognisable to the audience you’re trying to milk then really.....what’s the point?  

[heyheyloki]

Single

Summary: The reader starts to unravel as their feelings for Mammon grow more intense.

Mammon x M!Reader

Inspired by the song Single by The Neighbourhood.

As the weeks turned into months here in Devildom on your exchange program, you knew that something was wrong. It wasn’t always but just whenever you were around the second eldest brother, Mammon, avatar of greed. Everything he said, did, it was different than normal. You weren’t dense. It was obvious to you the crush you developed on the demon. While you knew for the most part that you could compose yourself around him, but lately that hasn’t been the case.

So, you’ve been avoiding him. You knew he noticed, and you knew everyone else noticed. However, the only person you told about your feelings, your true feelings about Mammon was Asmodeus. The two of you were close, closer than you were to any of the other brothers. You had a friendship with all of them, and yes you were close to them but to you, Asmo was like your best friend in Devildom.

Currently, you were hiding from Mammon. You knew you made a huge fool out of yourself when you saw him approaching you with this goofy yet charming smile on his face and immediately ran in the opposite direction before locking yourself with Asmo in his room.

Your eyes stared up at his ceiling from his bed, your body laid flat against it as Asmo did his nightly facial treatment. He asked if you wanted him to do yours, but you declined. 

“I can’t even be in the same room as him, and then when he’s not around I just can’t help but think about him,” you ranted. “It’s sad, and pathetic.”

“Yeah, it kinda is.” You heard a voice suddenly say quickly after you finished your sentence. Without hesitation, you grabbed a pillow from behind your head and chucked it at the back of Asmo’s head. 

“Hey!” He shouted, “you almost made me mess up here!” 

You knew he was talking about his skin care routine, but you didn’t care much. This dude was an immortal demon, he has plenty of time in the world to take care of it. You, however, would die in a manner or 50 years and thought you problems were more urgent.

“You have eternity,” you huffed out. “Help out your best friend!”

Amos let out a huff as well, his hands slamming down the products on his nightstand before stomping over to his bed and sitting in front of you. He raised his hand, four fingers up before saying, “You have to remember these four things, okay?”

You nodded your head as your hands gripped your pants. “Okay.”

“One, Mammon is an idiot.” He started off. “Two, Mammon is dense, three, he’s dumb, and four, he’s just an idiot.”

Your small smile fell into a straight line, your eyes deadpanned as you stared at the Avatar of Lust. “You just called him stupid over and over again.”

“That’s my point!” Asmara shouted. “My brother is the most idiotic moron you’ll ever meet, and that’s why you have to make your point very, very clear to him.”

Your head tilted a bit. “What?”

“When you make hints, they’re interrupted as nothing more then friendly batter in his dumb mind. For someone like me, I get them, and so does Lucifer and Satan. The rest of them, especially Mammon, think you’re just being friendly. They think it’s just human behavior.” Asmo explained, your lips parting in understanding.

“I think I get it.” You said softly with your head down at the pink sheets of Asmo’s bed. “So, what, directly tell him I like him romantically and that I wanna spend all my time with him?”

“Yes.” Asmo cheered with a smile before promptly shooing you off his bed and out his room into the hall. His hand was steady on the door while he stared at you. “Don’t come back until you settled this.”

With that, he slammed the door in your face. You could hear a faint click soon afterwards. Yep, he locked the door too.

A deep sigh exit past your lips as you looked around the hall. There wasn’t anyone but you standing, if you had to guess, everyone was in their rooms. Though, without realizing it, your eyes shifted over to Mammon’s door that was a bit down the hall from Asmo.

You didn’t allow yourself to think, but just move and keep Asmo’s words the only thing in your mind. You couldn’t think about consequences, or if he would reject you. Who knows, maybe his light flirting was just for fun or maybe that was on you for thinking it was that. Perhaps you weren’t his type, maybe he’d rather be with a demon like him that he could have a future with.

At this point, your motivation in the beginning died. It was just as you stood in front of his door too, damn thoughts. You knew you were banned from Asmo’s room, but maybe he’d let you back in if you just told him you did it. There wouldn’t be anyway for him to truly know. Besides, if you just say that Mammon doesn’t want to bring it up with the others, maybe Asmo could keep a secret for once in his life.

You moved your body a bit to head back, though, as you took your first step you heard the knob on Mammon’s door twist before his figure was shown to you on the other side. You could see his calm look turn into a bit of confusion before he asked, “Whatcha doin’ here? Asmo kick you out?”

Yes, he did. But you’d never say that aloud.

“No, he didn’t.” You said as calmly as you could. “I came to hang out with you, actually.”

You watched as faint blush placed itself on Mammon’s cheeks that made your throat dry. It was so cute that you could barely contain your smile, thankfully you did.

“Sure,” he muttered lowly as he stepped aside for you to enter.

You walked into his room as causally as you could, your eyes gazing at the mess he had made. Clothes were strewn about and old, used plastic cups laid all over the place. You didn’t mind though, it usually looked like this.

You heard the door shut behind you as you made your way over to the couch he had in the middle of his room. A relaxing sigh making way from your lips as you felt yourself melt into it. Though, you were stripped from your fantasy when you felt the weight shift and see a very stiff looking body that belonged to your crush.

“So, whatcha wanna do?” He asked in a manner that made him seem cool.

You thought for a moment before letting your emotions take over in an instant. “I just wanna hang out with you, it doesn’t matter what.”

You saw the demon turn his head the other way in the corner of your eyes, the ends of your lips being tugged up gently by strings.

“Of course you do!” He shouted with a small stutter in the beginning. “I am the Great Mammon after all, of course a human like you would want to hang out with such a powerful demon.”

You laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”

It didn’t take long for a odd atmosphere to turn friendly and loving. Laughter filled the room, jokes being thrown back and forth until tears started to pop up in the corner of each other’s eyes. Though, when it was Mammon laughing alone, you couldn’t help but go crazy. Without knowing until it was too late, Mammon had caught all of your attention.

“Mammon.” You sternly put, watching as the demon calm down and stare at you with something behind his gaze that made your heart beat faster.

“Yeah?” He questioned with a stupidly cute smile still prompted on his face.

“I like you.”

You watched him carefully. Everyone muscle, everyone small change in his expression. You watched all of it. Worry behind to take over your soul when his first reaction was surprise. However, that blush you adored returned and easied your mind.

“Idiot,” he uttered out. “You can’t go saying stuff like that outta nowhere.”

You nodded your head, your body inching closer to his. You pressed your hand into the couch to hold up your body weight and lean in more. You watched his body back up an inch out of pure instinct reaction.

“I really like you, Mammon.” You repeated, your voice never fluctuating. “I like you, romantically.”

Mammon’s eyes closed as he leaned his head down. “Damnit, you idiot, I-I was supposed to say it first.”

It was your turn to blush a bit, but you tried to keep it down and remain calm as you said, “Be mine.”

That was it, the trigger. You literally thought you broke the second strongest demon for a moment, but he recovered eventually when you pressed your lips to his cheek. You made it soft, comforting even. You knew you were hot in the face, but you didn’t mind him knowing so much anymore after his reaction.

“Be mine?” You asked his time with some hope in your eyes and even though you knew his answer.

“Idiot, you’re mine! Got that?” He yelled as he tried to regain some control in the situation. Though, that failed when you happily laughed and wrapped your arms around him in pure bliss.

[sweetwritertanya]

Nothing To Be Jealous About (Jungkook)

A/N: Hello everyone! I’m here to announce a new BTS series that I am starting! I had this idea to make a ‘jealous series’ with the boys a long time ago and it felt right to do it now. I had this idea for Jungkook’s story and I just had to write it. I don’t know if the others will get a fic as long as this one, but we’ll see! Hope you all enjoy it!

Edit: This is also my first ever moodboard or however you call it for one of my fics! Because I always have a outfit in mind for both the reader and the member, I thought it made sense to add a moodboard. I don’t think I’ll do it for all of my fics, but I’ll try with this series. Tell me what you think! Should I keep doing it? Does it help as you read? Also, big thanks to @tipsydipsydo​ for her guidance when I asked about her own moodboards! She’s a cutiepie!

Summary: For the first time since you started working out, you go to the gym with Jungkook. Afraid for how he would feel seeing someone your size exercising, his reaction turns out to be what you least expected from him.

Warnings: SMUT!!! Do be prepared for: swearing, erotic body touching, marking, oral (female receiving), protected sex (trying to make it a more common thing in this blog), rough sex, sex on the floor, missionary position, a bit of a possessive Jungkook, but he gets softer and sweeter by the end.

Word Count: 3280

You knew it would be a bad idea to go with Jungkook to the gym, which was why you always came up with excuses to avoid it. For months and months, you had been going alone to the gym, purposely on a different schedule from your boyfriend. However, turns out that the reasons you shouldn’t have gone to the gym with Jungkook were a lot different than what you had assume.

Naturally, in your head, the main reason for preferring to go alone was because you didn’t want him to see you exercising. Being a big girl that only recently started to work out for health benefits, to say you would be embarrassed of him witnessing your routine would be an understatement.  There would be sweat, there would be tears, there would be a flushed bare face and dirty hair that you had no intentions of him ever seeing.

But, as you found out, life had an ironic sense of humor. Unable to find a reason to deny Jungkook’s invitation this time, you were currently doing push-ups as your trainer guided you, loudly counting as you went, numbers getting further and further apart from how slow you were going due to how tired you were.

You had asked him to start your training on the opposite side of the room from where Jungkook was, hoping that would somehow make him forget you were even there and not see your humiliating state. As you got up and the huge muscular man in front of you asked you to get ready to start the much-hated burpees, you cast a glance towards the younger man, perplexed when you saw his state.

Jungkook was not working out at all. He was sitting at the seated arm curl, two heavy dumbbells on the ground next to his feet. That on itself was confusing, since he took his training at the gym very seriously and would only stop to catch his breath. Yet, it looked as if he hadn’t even started exercising. The most shocking part was the way he was staring at you. No, actually, he was rather glaring at your personal trainer.

Bushy sharp eyebrows furrowed deeply, lines scrunching his button nose, pouting lips pulled down and usually sweet doe eyes turned dark and angry, round shape lost as he squinted heatedly at the man in front of you. Your trainer tapped your arm to catch your attention again, asking if you were ready to continue. You look back at Jungkook only to realize he had completely looked away, picked up the dumbbells and started lifting them, a bit too speedily if you had to say.

Still unsure of what was going on, you actually told him that you were done for the day. Taking a few sips of water and cleaning your sweaty face with a towel, you hesitantly walk towards Jungkook, who was now seemingly focused on what he was doing, not sparing a look your way when you approached him.

“Hey, Kook, I’m done for the day” you inform him, stopping a few feet from his right.

“Yeah? You sure your trainer doesn’t mind?” he dryly asks, not stopping his movements or regarding you at all, confusing you further.

“I… I stopped earlier than usual, actually… James probably would have wanted me to go on for a while longer.” You tried to ignore that pang in your heart that told you Jungkook was judging you, that he was offended you only worked out this much. That he expected more from you.

“James? You’re even on a first name basis…” he puffs in frustration.

Jungkook places the dumbbells he was using down and turns his head the other way from you, elbows rested on top of his knees, hands clutching together and foot tapping persistently on the ground. You realize it then. It creeps up on you, the realization that left your mouth hanging open in incredulity.

“Wait… Are you… Are you jealous, Kook?” The skepticism was evident in your voice.

The boy stands up suddenly, looking at you as if you’re crazy, but his body language spoke volumes. He crossed his arms, eyebrows still pulled together, cheeks puffed and lips in a pout, weight shifting from foot to foot. A hurt look behind his avoiding eyes.

“Oh my God, you are!” And you actually chuckle at that, not only from how ridiculous that sounded to you, but from the pure relief washing over you at that notion. You were not the one bothering him, your personal trainer was. Not that he would confess it any time soon.

“No, I’m not! I am, however, done for today. Let’s go.”

He basically stomps away, making a bee-line for the male dressing rooms while you made way into the woman’s one. You would be lying if it didn’t feel flattering knowing such a good-looking man like Jungkook could grow jealous because of you. There was a stupid grin on your face that you just couldn’t wipe off.

You stayed silent the ride home, trying to hide your smile from Jungkook’s view so as to not distract him while he was driving. But you couldn’t help the glances you threw his way, curious as to what brought this jealousy up. As far as you know, your personal trainer remained very professional with you, there was no flirting going on at all.

Once home, Jungkook crashed down on the sofa in the living room, ready to spend the rest of the day playing video games and ignoring you. But of course, you wouldn’t let the misunderstanding go on any longer.

“Jungkook, why the hell are you like this? There is nothing to be jealous about!” you reassure coming to stand in front of him, between the sofa and the screen of the television. He opens his mouth in upcoming defiance, obviously about to deny it yet again, but you don’t let him. “And don’t tell me you are not. I know you, Kook. Now, let’s talk about it. Or do you wanna be mad forever?”

It’s your turn to cross your arms over your chest and lean you head to the side as you lift one of your eyebrows, awaiting his response. The boy looks down, thinking about your words, before sighing and leaning back on the couch, hands fidgeting on his lap and looking away to the side.

“You’re the one keeping things from me” he accuses, albeit in a small voice.

“What? I’m not” you defend yourself, baffled.

“Now I know why you always avoided going with me to the gym. You didn’t want me to see you with your personal trainer. Oh, sorry, is ‘James’, isn’t it?” Still not looking at you, the sulking boy almost spits the name, vexed.

Finally understanding, even if his conclusion was a bit of a stretch, you feel for him. You kneel down on the carpet in front of him, catching his hands on yours and making him look at you. Once he does, still suspicious, you just smile warmly up at him.

“Kook, I was embarrassed of you seeing me in the gym. It had nothing to do with that guy” you explain patiently. “Honestly, did you notice how I look when I go to the gym? No one will be interested in this!” You point at yourself, fat, in comfortable but unflattering workout clothes and with no make-up on.

“Stop it. I saw the way he looked at you. I saw him taking advantage and touching you” he accused, plump bottom lip puckering further.

“Touch? Were you seeing things? He never touched me” you countered, shaking your head.

That’s when Jungkook launches forward, grabbing you by the shoulders and making you yelp in surprise as you lean back and somehow end up lying flat on the carpet. Before you can even process what was going on, he latches his mouth to the side of your neck and sucks on the skin harshly, for sure leaving a bruise. You hiss at the pain, but can’t deny the fact that it sent jolts straight to your core, your skin hyper sensitive to his abusing lips.

“Right here while you were doing crunches” he barks, voice still small but irradiating bitterness.

“Wha…?” Your brain still jumbled, you just vaguely stare up at him as you try to remember anything of the sort. You recalled your trainer having to help you going up on the last few crunches, one hand leveraging at the base of your neck.

Before you could ask him if that was what he was referring to, Jungkook leans back down and does the same treatment to your left arm, actually biting down with his teeth just enough to leave the small indentation of his teeth on the first layer of your skin.

“And right here, obviously trying to get your attention.” The memory of that seems to leave him even more infuriated, deep frustrating line scrunching the bridge of his nose and jawline tensing up tremendously. His big round eyes settle on yours with intensity and you lose your voice for a moment. “But you’re mine, right? You are my girl, my girlfriend, no one else’s, right?”

You nod your head, still in absolute disbelief that this gorgeous human being hoovering above you had any doubts about that. Your hands sooth the skin of his strong arms that were holding him up, words finally coming to you again.

“Of course, Kook. I’m all yours, always will be” you promise, trying to convey your honesty through your eyes.

“I’ll prove it to them. Leave my marks all over your body so they can see it.”

The rasp on his usual sweet voice had you swallowing dry and heat pools at your center. Damn, he was so hot like this. And then he actually takes actions to his words and pulls your t-shirt up, revealing your stomach that he launches for and nips and sucks on the flesh, deep bites and squeezes of his hands that you no doubt would see the next day. You jeer, but the pain mixes with pleasure and the noises that come out start sounding more like moans than anything.

And then he moves further down, avid hands grabbing at the fabric of your sweatpants and pulling them down your thick thighs, leaving them bare for him. Nuzzling comfortably between your legs, he takes no time pull at the meat of your fluffy inner thighs, sucking from just above your knee to the junction of where your leg meets your pelvis. Your whole body feels like it’s overheating and your heart hammers in your chest, each hickey closer to your womanhood leaving more and more wet. But then he focuses on your other leg, lifting your knee and leaving another trail up that thigh, completely ignoring how needy you were.

“K-Kook!” you plea, your hands grasping at the ones clawing your hips, begging them silently. “Please.”

Your hips are stuttering, moving out of their own accord in search of any kind of relief for the hellish crave staining your panties. Never one to deny you of anything your asked, Jungkook holds down your hips with sprawled hands putting pressure on your lower belly as he mouthed your pussy over the cotton fabric. You scream because it’s relieving and not enough at all. Even through the cloth, Jungkook finds your engorged clit and doesn’t hesitate to suck on it too, making you wail and arch your back off the ground, head falling back and eyes closing at the maddening feeling.

The bastard stays like that for a while, driving your absolute mad, giving you just enough to drive you to the edge and still not nearly enough to send your over. Your panties are absolutely drenched in a mix of your juices and his saliva, and you try to close your legs around his head in hopes to keep him there long enough for you to reach any kind of satisfaction, but being the strong man that he was, Jungkook easily parts your legs away and crawls back up your body, sculptural face hoovering mere inches from yours.

You open your eyes to see his full black ones, veiled with unmasked desire and lust, puffy cheeks red and lips swollen from all of their work on you. Fuck, he looked so heavenly like this.

“Now they’ll know, if they dare come this near to you. That you are already taken. That you are mine to hold and kiss and fuck. Right?”

You are not sure how he manages, but he sounds both possessive and insecure at the same time, obviously determined to let anyone know you were his but still uncertain enough to always ask for your confirmation. Smiling, you take his face in your hands and pull him in for a much awaited kiss after your response.

“Absolutely right.”

You are the one who pulled him in, but he is the one desperate, frantic in the kiss, claiming your lips violently and deepening it so his tongue scans every small inch of your mouth, as if making sure it was just as he remembered. Locking your hands behind his neck, you respond in what you hope is a similar way, passing on all the love and comfort you could in this one long toe-curling kiss.

Amongst everything, you could not be sure when he did it, but as you latched your bulky legs around his lean waist and pulled him in, you find that he was already undressed from the waist down. His thick, throbbing member was pressed against the stained panties still left as a barrier.

Resting in one arm, holding him up, Jungkook’s free hand roams down your curvaceous body and fingers hook around the side of your underwear, at the same time he whispers a question in your ear with a hoarse voice.

“Pill?”

“All good” you eagerly reply, letting him know you had been careful and it should be okay.

Panties bunched up around your left ankle, Jungkook rubs his cock between your folds in a few strokes, working you both up and coating himself. But you were already so worked up and sexually frustrated that you clawed at his magnificent muscular ass and pulled him closer, at the same time your hips thrusted upwards into him. Failing to get him where you wanted, you growl.

“Now, Jungkook! I need you now!” you exclaim.

“Yeah, I want to hear you scream my name, baby. My name only” he encourages in a pleased tone.

Suddenly, two hands grab your legs from the back of your knee and hoists them up until you are basically bent in half, thighs pressed against your breasts. One swift movement of his hips and Jungkook impales you with his dick, the first thrust strong and deep and succulent. You moan loudly from relief, your clenching walls finally clinging on to something, finally stretched in the most pleasant of ways. Even with the white noise settling in and your own whine still ringing in the air, you still hear the tale-end of Jungkook’s own groan, hands still holding your legs up and kneeling with his pelvis pressed against yours, back standing stiff and eyes closed, lips slightly parted. He was obviously needing this as much as you.

Doe eyes slit open to meet with yours and he bents down over you, reaching for your lips and kissing you at the same time he starts moving. You hold on to his shoulders, but the pace grows quicker and quicker until it’s borderline punishing and you scream out at how good it feels, the way his cock drags at that fast pace against your inner walls, the tip kissing the end of that carnal tunnel and hitting that deep spot that makes you see stars behind your eyes. You let go of his lips in favor of screaming his name next to his ear and he continues the inhumane pace.

“That’s it. Scream my name. Scream it” he cheers on, his own voice stuttering at the focus to keep himself in check. “Scream it loud as you cum around me, love.”

The pressure deep in your womb was building rapidly with each rapid ramming. Jungkook was sweating and flushed red from head to toe, breathing heavily and closing his eyes in search of self-control. He rests your legs on his shoulder as he uses his hands to ground himself and procced to pound his cock even deeper and quicker, that being all you needed due to the added stimulation of his navel against your clit with each motion, turning your body into and absolute explosion of pleasure.

“Ah, ahh… JUNGKOOK!”

The walls of your pussy clang to him in and sucked him in to hit your cervix over and over, intensifying the orgasm as he continued the movements until he himself couldn’t bare it no more and got off on your dripping cunt, eyes screwed shut and mouth parted as he whimpered breathily through it.

Body shuddering and still buried to the bream, Jungkook collapses against you and your legs fall off his shoulders. Trying to keep him in place, you cross your ankles around his waist and throw your arms around his shoulder, both trying to catch your breaths and proper connection to reality. As your body calmed down and temperature returned to normal, you already had the inkling your but would be suffering from a slight friction rash against the carpet. But you would just add it to the bruises Jungkook’s mouth had left and count it as totally worth it.

“Chuory” Jungkook babbles against your shoulder, the fabric of your t-shirt muffling his voice and making it hard to understand what he said.

“What’s that, Kook?”

He lifts his head and rests his upper weight on his forearms, bottom half still very much attached to yours. He looks more like himself now, sweet and kind instead of bitter and angry. In fact, he looked at you almost apologetic.

“I’m sorry I got so jealous. I don’t know what came over me.”

You smile and peck at his worried lips.

“No worries. I’m surprise you could even get jealous when it came to someone like me” you confess, in a humorous tone.

“You are incredibly attractive, Y/N. I saw how that guy was looking at you. And he was so built and strong and… I got scared you would be taken away from me.”

You immediately shake your hand, reaching out for the young boy’s face that was filled with apprehension and anxiety. Holding his face, you make him look at you seriously.

“Never. I would never, Jungkook. I love you. I don’t care if the universe flips and suddenly all the men on this earth suddenly want me, I will always, always love you. Just you.”

He releases a heavy sight and you can almost feel the relief washing over him, the weight that as lifted his shoulders. At last, he smiles brightly and it reaches is eyes in the cutest of ways and you heart sings in response.

“Really?” he asks, a hopeful tone.

“Really. Now, mister, because of this silly fit, I ended my workout too early. It’s your responsibility” you warn him, wandering if he would get it.

“Hum? Do you want to go back? I can help you if- Ahh…!” The way he started made you sure he was not getting what you were hinting at so, to enlighten him, you clench your walls around his flaccid member that hardens in immediate response. Jungkook almost chokes.

“I was thinking more of a home workout.”

“M-my… My pleasure” he readily assures.

[petri808]

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Inukag Royalty Au *in honor of Tanabata coming up, it was worked into the chapter 😊

“Oh, look Rin, there’s a traveling marionette show today. Do you want to watch?” She and Kagome had been wandering around the marketplace when they stumbled onto it.

“Yeah!” The child squealed in delight. “I’ve seen them before and they’re really good!”

“I think we got here just in time,” Kagome scanned for a seat. “There,” she pointed, “let’s sit down before it starts.”

It was quite amazing to see this group of traveling entertainers. Such troops would pass through her own kingdom, but Kagome was rarely allowed to leave the castle to watch them. From what she could see on their signs, they put on different shows for adults with a variety of acts, and puppet shows for the children, staying for a few days before moving onto the next town. The story they were about to perform was a classic tale of the star-crossed lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi. It was cute, albeit a bittersweet tale of eternal longing. Just as the show was getting ready to start, Kagome felt a body sit down beside her. She glanced over with her peripheral to make sure they weren’t a problem and noticed a familiar set of claws on the persons hands.

“Prince?” Kagome whispered not wanting to draw attention. “What are you doing here?”

“Miroku and I saw you two,” Inuyasha whispered back.

Kagome leaned forward a tiny bit and noticed Miroku on the other side of Inuyasha who nodded in recognition. “I see…”

“We we’re bored,” Inuyasha threw in, “so decided to join you.”

The comment made Kagome chuckle, which then caught Rin’s attention, who looked over and saw the men. The child’s eyes lit up at seeing her uncle and in her excitement, she got off her seat and quickly plopped herself onto Inuyasha’s lap.

“Guess I’m just a chair now,” he chuckled too. "Behave and watch the show or I’ll kick you off my lap.”

“I’m always a good girl,” the child retorted with a grin before turning back to the stage.

And she was. Rin sat enthralled by the whole production. They really were as good as she’d portrayed to Kagome. From the quality of the marionettes to the actor’s voice work, they truly pulled you into the story. But for the adults, it brought on a different wave of emotions, at least it did for Kagome. While the story was beautiful, she could identify with Princess Orihime’s longing for the one she’d fallen in love with despite her father’s rules… and to be torn apart because of it… At least, the Princess in the tale got to see her love once a year. Kagome won’t be able to do the same. She didn’t notice the small frown growing on Inuyasha’s face, because she avoided looking in his direction. He was her Hikoboshi, but she didn’t want him to notice the moisture clouding her eyes or realize how much the story was having an effect on her.

Once the final act was complete, the puppeteers came out from behind the curtain to bow to the audience’s wild applause. It was a great success for most including Rin who was clapping and bouncing on her uncle’s lap with excitement. Kagome was happy the child enjoyed the performance even though it took a toll on her.

“I love this story…” both Kagome and Inuyasha mumble at the same time, causing them to stiffen and turn to face the other.

“You do?” Inuyasha questioned.

“It’s sweet,” Kagome responded with heat coloring her cheeks. “Even though I feel bad for them.”

“Me too.” Inuyasha mumbled. “It’s not fair.”

Her eyes slightly widen, fully understanding what he was feeling in that moment. But as much as she would have loved to say more, Kagome knew she couldn’t, not in public like this.

“What’s not fair?”

Leave it to Rin to bring them back to the present.

“Oh, um,” Kagome quickly gave her attention to the little girl. “What uncle Inu means is it’s sad that Orihime and Hikoboshi only get to see each other once a year.”

After a brief pause, the child’s eyes widened. “Ohhhh,” Rin acknowledged her understanding. “Yeah, that’s not very fair. But at least they found someone.” She turned around and looked up. “Isn’t that a good thing uncle Inu?”

Again, the innocence of a child worked wonders for lightening the mood.

“Yes,” Inuyasha smiled down at his niece. “It is a good thing.” But his eyes drifted towards Kagome as he continued. “I’m sure Hikoboshi appreciates all the time he gets to spend with his Orihime.”

For several seconds the pair hold a gaze with one another. No words needed to communicate a sense of longing despair. Kagome may have been painfully aware of Inuyasha’s insinuation, but so was Miroku. The princes guard cleared his throat loudly, breaking the moment. “Inuyasha, we should get back to our patrols.” He spoke matter of fact.

“Right,” the hanyo grumped. Miroku constantly warned him about letting his true feelings slip, and even though he knew his friend was just looking out for him, Inuyasha didn’t need to like it. He sighed. “Okay Rin, time to get off. Uncles gotta go back to work.”

“Okay!” Rin jumped off his lap and stood next to Kagome who’d also risen to her feet. “We should finish our shopping and get back to the castle too,” she took hold of the child’s hand. “Say goodbye to your uncle Rin.”

“Bye uncle Inu!” She waved as the pair made their way back into the throng of market goers.

For the rest of the day, Kagome pushed aside the incident in the marketplace. Why think about it when it would only make her sadder at her circumstances, especially since for Rin it had been a fun experience hanging out with her uncle. She didn’t want the child to see that side of life for as long as possible. Even at dinner, Inuyasha was quieter than usual, but Kagome didn’t want to assume anything, so she went about her routines like normal pretending everything was fine. Sometimes it was easier to ignore reality. That is until Rin was already tucked into bed and Kagome headed towards the library to get some reading done. If there was one thing that could take her mind off most things it entailed drowning her thoughts in an academic book.

Most of the time.

Of all the stories that troop could have chosen for a children's play, why a sad love story? Why not a fanciful fairytale like a prince saving a princess from an evil villain or an adventurer searching for treasure and fame? But it wouldn’t be fair to pin all her woes on the performers. The Tanabata story was a popular one after all. Kagome sighed as she shifted in her seat to pull her legs up and under her body. The book she'd chosen was about medicinal herbs because she was curious about useful treatments. She'd hoped the interest would be enough to pull her away from thinking about the play, but it wasn't working. Maybe she just needed to give herself more time to process everything. 'Or maybe you need to do the opposite and stop thinking about anything!' Kagome chided herself. She really did need to stop letting her emotions control her. 'You're supposed to be hiding out here, remember?!'

It was the sound of approaching footsteps that caused Kagome to stop reading and look up from her book. Was it a guard? Nope, just Inuyasha.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Inuyasha dropped onto the couch next to her. “I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

“Inuyasha? What’s wrong?” She put the book down when she saw the anger brimming in his eyes. “Did something happen?”

The prince let out an annoyed sigh. “I just had a huge fight with my dad.”

“A fight? Over what?”

“You.”

“Me?!” Her eyes widened. “Did I do something wrong?!”

“No, no, not you,” he grabbed her hands. “It’s all me. I… I-I told him— I told him that I refuse to honor the agreement to marry someone else. He wouldn’t even tell me who she is, so how would I ever be okay with it? I just can’t! Not when I’m already in love…”

Kagome swallowed back hard. “You are?”

His grip tightened, gaze turned serious and focused. “I told him I was in love with you. Kagome I can’t deny that anymore no matter how much I tried.”

“But you know we can’t—”

“I know, I know, it’s crazy, but after that story…” Inuyasha let go of her hands for a moment to gesticulate. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about it! I told him I’d rather stay single for the rest of my life if it meant still being around you… even if that’s all I get to have. I just want to stay in your life in any way I can.”

Kagome didn’t know what to say. With all her heart she wished it could work, but knowing she too was living a lie that she couldn’t reveal coupled with such a major potential for scandal… her voice lowered in hesitation. “Inu this is crazy…”

“Do you love me?” Is all Inuyasha blurted out.

“Yes—” she spoke from the heart, “but—”

Inuyasha took her hands again and brought them to his chest. “Then that’s enough for me.”

Despite his efforts to reassure her, Kagome couldn't be happy about this declaration of love. She'd heard some of the whispers starting around the castle about their forbidden relationship. What if someone started to talk? What if someone started to question her true origins? All it would take is someone mentioning to the wrong person the woman in the castle who'd stolen the prince’s attention. And what about the royal family? How will they treat her now? Will they see her as a jezebel? A woman who’d infiltrated their life to cause problems?? Kagome shook her head. “But there must be consequences!” She knew all too well as a hypocrite, the rippling damages that could occur from breaking such trusts. “You don’t just break an agreement like that without consequences.”

“Nothing’s gonna happen to you, I give you, my word. As for me, I can handle my dad. He was angry but believes he can make it work, probably honor the rest of the deal just minus the marriage part.”

“Which was?”

“In exchange for the marriage, we guaranteed to protect that kingdom. They’re smaller than us, so they really have no choice but to take the amended deal because it at least assures them of safety.”

Kagome was so torn in that moment about what to do. She couldn't tell him the truth yet, not because she didn't trust him, but because she didn't want to burden him with it. If anyone were to find out who she really was, they might notify her parents and her life at the palace would truly be over with. It was selfish, but could anyone blame her? This was the first time in her life she's experienced freedom and happiness. Ugh, why’d she have to fall in love with Inuyasha? Why’d Inuyasha have to fall in love with her? Is fate always so cruel? First the idea of an arranged marriage, but now to be stuck in a forbidden one. Was she cursed? Were they both cursed?

“Y-You’re sure your father won’t hold this against me? Because I-It wasn’t planned. I never intended for any of this to happen.” The tears had begun to fall down Kagome’s cheeks at the enormous weight levied onto her shoulders.

“Neither had I,” Inuyasha wiped at the tears and cradled her cheek. “Neither of us could have controlled what our hearts desired.”

“But I’m scared Inu…”

“I swear on my life nothing will happen to you and if it comes to it, we’ll run away, far away and hide just me and you.” He leaned their foreheads together. “I don’t care about my title. I just want to be with you.”

“I wanna be with you too,” Kagome breathed out.

“Then have faith in our destiny.” Inuyasha tilted Kagome’s face up and swept his lips over hers, earning a shivering sigh. He then centered and placed pressure into a deeper kiss.

Kagome melted into the kiss as her fingers moved up and gripped to his shirt. Let her fears be damned in that moment, for if this earned her banishment in the end, just tasting his lips this once… she could die happy knowing she’d felt love. It was more than she ever thought she’d achieve in this gilded life.

“I’ll try,” she whispered an honest answer. “In you… I’ll believe…”

[eclecticvalor]

7 Things I experience as a DID System. Mental Health Awareness Month.

In light of May being America’s mental health awareness month, I wanted to talk about something that has consumed my entire life for the past year and a half: Treatment and healing from a disorder that is stigmatised into the ground by poor representation and misunderstandings both socially and in the medical field. Those who are close to me know first hand how my symptoms and experiences have shaped the way I interact with the world since starting treatment, but aside from my closest friends and family, and the people I live with, I don’t normally talk about the fact that I have Dissociative Identity Disorder, and what that means to me. 

Hi. My name is Atlas, some people call me Cadyn, and I am the primary host of 26 fragmented parts of my consciousness. I am not dangerous, none of my parts or alters are dangerous, and no, it is not like “Split”. 

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a trauma based dissociative disorder listed in both the DSM IV and V,  and is recognized as an uncommon disorder characterized by two or more distinct personality states existing within the same consciousness. These personality states come to be when natural childhood development is disrupted by severe, continued, or repetitive, trauma, the child has a natural inclination towards heavy dissociation, and a lack of adult or parental support to develop the means to cope with the things happening to them.

Unfortunately popular mental health media has seen an uptake in people viewing DID as a quirky “trait”, the ability to have functional imaginary friends living in your head... but in reality DID is a lot darker, a lot scarier, and isn’t something I’d wish upon my worst enemy. Because of this media spike I wanted to share 7 things that living with Dissociative identity disorder means to me

1. Amnesia

Living with DID means that I miss out on a lot of my life. A primary symptom of DID is amnesia. I have no solid memories before the age of 13, and the memories I do have are often skewed, incorrect, or completely false as my brain fought for a way to fill in gaps and cope with the loss of memory. I forget a lot, and not just things like forgetting where I left my wallet and keys, or forgetting the day - those do happen, but I also mean forgetting big things, important life experiences and things I wish with all my being that I could remember like my highschool graduation and my wedding reception. 

I often forget important day to day things that make it difficult to maintain life as an adult, like doctors appointments, work schedules, meetings, and important daily tasks. I’ll forget that I’ve eaten at all that day and risk going days without eating, or overeating due to having no recollection of the last time I’d eaten. I forget birthdays (especially my own), anniversaries, and important holidays. 

To an outsider, who has no idea what’s happening inside my head, this can come across as though I’m thoughtless or unreliable. That I am cold for forgetting an important date, or simply that I just don’t care when this very much is not the case. 

2. Alienation

Oftentimes DID comes with a sense of alienation from people who you’re supposed to know. For me a really clear example of this is when I previously mentioned my childhood memories being skewed - I have a clear memory of a conversation I was having with some blood relatives a few years back in which I mentioned that one family member I had happy childhood memories of, and remembered playing together as kids, but with another family member they were practically a stranger to me. I had, and still have, no memories of ever spending time with them growing up, no memories of having any kind of relationship with them at all. My understanding of our relationship was that it was “forced” because we were family and our parents expected us to exist in the same space as we grew up, but that we never talked. But I was informed by a separate member of the family that I was very wrong, and this “stranger” was actually someone I had been close to growing up. This is a common experience with DID patients, and also a very frustrating one. It creates feelings of “You know me but I don’t know you”, and it’s extremely difficult to trust your own judgement of the people you know, because you often can’t tell if your judgement is skewed by your memories or lack thereof. 

3. PTSD and Flashbacks

A diagnosis of C-PTSD (Or complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is required for a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder. This means that while the individual symptoms of DID can be frustrating, scary and sometimes depressing, the most difficult aspect of DID, and the most important to focus on in treatment is the PTSD symptoms. 

PTSD symptoms in DID can be extremely powerful due to the additional dissociative aspect. This can mean that for a lot of DID patients, flashbacks can produce full blown body sensations, hallucinations and terrifying delusions. This is One thing that I find incredibly difficult to talk about, but I also believe is extremely important to understand. It can be embarrassing, shameful and while I only speak for myself in saying this, can cause a lot of guilt and grief. There have been times where I have been experiencing powerful flashbacks and did not recognize my own husband, resulting in lash outs and fear towards him being delusioned into thinking that he was out to hurt me, or had harmful intent for just existing in the same space as I was. 

For me, a single wiff of a familiar smell, hearing a sound, a certain color, an idea, a name, a passing thought or comment can throw my previously stable mental state into one of pure panic, hyperventilation, hallucination, delusion, fight-flight-freeze and reactionary responses. Through treatment I’ve developed adaptive and healthy coping skills and management responses but trauma responses can be so quick, and so unexpected that I don’t always have time to process my coping skills before my body and mind respond in negative ways. 

4. Decision making and skewed Behavior

Because living with DID, means living with a shared or fragmented consciousness, this often means that while I may not remember, my life is still being lived during my time of memory loss. Alters or parts will take control and operate my body, reacting to things, interacting with people, completing tasks and functioning. But oftentimes parts who take control are very different from myself, and make choices and decisions that I wouldn’t normally make, and sometimes decisions I wouldn’t *ever* make. An example of this is the fact that technically I am a conservative voter, despite myself as an individual having leftist or NDP views, or decisions to leave or apply for jobs and work positions that I have no interest in, or that I don’t even have the qualifications or physique to do, or leaving ones that I personally loved and excelled at. This also reflects a lot in everyday life in more subtle things, decisions like what food to eat, things to buy, activities to do shift between parts while they’re in control. 

To outsiders this can look a lot like impulsivity, lack of self-control, or lack of a sense of identity. This is a huge reason why a lot of DID patients are often misdiagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder or Bipolar Disorder because the behaviour between alters can be so drastically different that it can look a *lot* like manic or depressive states. 

5. Denial and Dismissing Trauma

A very common experience among DID patients is denial and being dismissive or disregarding the things that happened to them. I often find myself in a state of questioning whether my symptoms, my disorder, and even my trauma were ever real to begin with. In therapy I find myself saying “It’s not that big of a deal” or “It wasn’t that big of a deal” more times than I’m actually saying anything productive. A huge part of this is why I wanted to make this list, because the media, and a lot of medical circles deny that DID exists or believe it’s impossibly rare and those, while both false, can cause intense feelings of “Maybe I’m just doing this for attention”. DID is a very real, very difficult disorder to diagnose, to treat, and to live with disorder, and while it is uncommon, statistics show that approximately 1-2% of western population is diagnosed, and up to a suspected 7% are living with the disorder undiagnosed because of these misconceptions. It is not common, and it’s not something that everyone is going to have, but it is a very possible response to very real trauma and is a valid diagnosis to give to those meeting the criteria. 

6. Hidden Symptoms

DID is often referred to as a “covert” presenting disorder. What this means is that most commonly outsiders, friends, family, employers and even the patient themselves can have a nearly impossible time recognizing the symptoms, and it often goes unnoticed until an event destabilizes the function of the person’s life. This can lead to a lot of backlash or denial coming from peers and family close to the person. This leads to the patient hearing a lot of:  “I’ve never noticed personality changes”, “You don’t act like you have it”, “You couldn’t possibly have that”, “No, I would have noticed”, “You have to be mistaken”, “There’s no way, it would have been obvious”. And so, so much more. The reality of DID is that it’s *not* noticeable. It’s a safety response that the brain created to protect the psyche from the intense damages that come with long term trauma experiences, so it’s often designed to hide itself from abusers or perceived threats as a way to compartmentalize trauma memories and maintain the ability to survive through stress and unstable situations. Not being able to “notice” is kind of the point in most cases.

 7. Wandering and Dissociative Episodes

Living with untreated or unmanaged DID can potentially be dangerous due to episodes of dissociation, “wandering” experiences (where the patient will wander away from home, family, or life in a confusion, attempt to return to a perceived life never lived, or in a state of belief that their current life is unsafe). For me this took a head last year, and was actually an event that led to the solidification that this disorder was the explanation to my experiences. According to nurses and my husband, I had wandered into the emergency room of a hospital in the middle of the night, with no idea who or where I was, with no idea how to return home, or even where home was. I was wearing a t-shirt, and it had been raining, and my body was so cold they needed to retake my vitals nearly 6 times because they were unable to get an appropriate reading. After discovering my identity, my husband was called to take me home. Working with a therapist helped to develop a safety plan during events like this to prevent harm from coming to my body, or from ending up in newly traumatic environments, but I was lucky. These situations can lead to re-traumatization, victimization, it can lead to kidnapping, assault, it can lead to being injured or harmed by environmental factors and so much more and it is so incredibly important that DID patients work with their therapist to develop solid safety plans proactively to make sure that the patient doesn’t experience any worst case scenarios during episodes like this. 

Conclusion

My experiences are individual to me, and to my psyche. Not everyone will experience the disorder the same way, because not everyone experiences or responds to trauma the same way. I am so lucky, and extremely privileged to be able to access consistent care and treatment, that I found a professional who trusts me, and is focused on stabilizing and supporting. Too many people living with this disorder have no access to supportive mental health care because of the misconceptions that parts of the medical field hold regarding the legitimacy or frequency that the disorder develops, and too many peers and circles of people outcast or disregard the very real, very difficult experiences because they don’t understand the disorder, or believe it doesn’t exist, or believe it looks like split. If you, or someone you know is struggling with Dissociative symptoms, or dissociative identity disorder do not be afraid to reach out to a professional for support, and educate yourself on the reality of the disorder. 

[oss-crime]

Chapter 2-Project “Ma” –Eve–; Scene 4

Original Sin Story: Crime, pages 37-48

Seth’s wound wasn’t too bad, but for safety’s sake he wound up receiving treatment at a hospital in the Twelve Royal Capitals.

He got on one of the huge automated carriages of the security force and went back with the soldier driving it.

Adam wound up staying in the village of Nemu for a time along with his bodyguard, Gammon.

Naturally their goal was to search for the “Witch of the Forest”.

And Eve…she served as their guide when the two headed out to the Forest of Held, as well as their driver for the carriage.

The fee they paid her for this service had far greater profit to her than her income selling ingredients from the forest, so she had no reason to refuse.

Eve knew of several of the villages where the people of the forest lived, and so she first took the two of them to those.

And then they tried going around to the places where the witch was rumored to be, or just moved through aimlessly.

But the days passed without achieving any particular result.

.

That day as well the three of them had been advancing along a forest path with the automated carriage.

The sky was overcast with thick clouds. When Eve suggested that it might rain, Adam replied that they perhaps ought to end things early today.

“That aside, you’re quite skilled with driving the automated carriage, Eve,” Adam complimented. “You must be, to move so smoothly through such narrow pathways.”

“It’s no big deal if you’re used to it. But as you’d expect you can’t get to the deeper parts of the forest with a carriage.”

“Still, people would seldom be going in such places. So they’re not likely to be targets of the tribesmen, and thus there’s a low chance of the witch showing up there.”

Putting together the information that Adam and Gammon had been able to obtain up until now, the Witch of the Forest would apparently make her appearances in public to rescue people attacked by the white army.

But strangely, none of the people who had been rescued by her could remember what this witch looked like.

“She has green hair, is a woman, fires lightning from a blue spoon…And that’s all they can remember, oddly enough.”

“They’re all probably in a state of shock from being attacked by the white army, so that’s understandable isn’t it?”

“I wonder. Maybe…this witch can use a spell that manipulates people’s minds.”

Upon hearing that, Eve’s eyes widened for a moment. Then she quickly chuckled. “That’d be pretty convenient, if there really were such a spell. I’d control all the big-wigs into making me the queen.”

“Haha, I guess so. You could have all the wealth and influence you want…Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

“I’ve been raised in a village of sorcerers for over twenty years, but not once, no. Do you know of anything, Adam? You’re seem pretty well educated.”

“I’ve hardly done any studies on magic.”

“Huh…That’s a bit surprising. Don’t you have all this magical potential?”

“I only learned that relatively recently.”

As the two of them talked, Gammon simply looked around at their surroundings without showing the least amount of interest in their conversation.

Over these past few days Eve had been able to learn quite well that taken favorably he was a man who was very dedicated to his work, but taken unfavorably he was a very strait-laced person with little flexibility.

Adam was also a bit too serious, but he at least was easy to get along with.

Among the people who had come over from the capital there were some every now and then who would look down upon a country bumpkin like Eve. But Adam never showed any sign of such behavior.

From what she’d heard, while he was currently living in the Twelve Royal Capitals, originally he had been raised on the coast west from there.

“Just like you…I was an orphan.”

Apparently when he was a child he had been able to make a living and fend off starvation by hunting fish in the sea.

“One day a man suddenly appeared before me. He took me back to his home in the royal capital, and adopted me as his son. Even now I’m not sure why he did that. After that I received an education as a student under my adoptive father—Horus Solntse.”

“Did you…not have any parental figures until then?”

At Eve’s question, Adam responded without hesitation, “I did have a mother. …Though she was a whale.”

“Eh?”

“Ever since I can remember, that white whale had always been by my side. She watched over me…Or so I always thought. Though she never did anything to actually help me, ha ha.”

“…”

“Do you think my story is strange?”

“Mm, nooo…” Eve shook her head, and then replied earnestly, “I’m positive that whale must have been the manifestation of a spirit.”

“A spirit?”

“There are a lot of them in this forest; spirits that take the form of animals. Robins, chipmunks…I can’t talk to them, but I know of them.”

“I see…”

Adam listened in to Eve’s story, offering neither affirmations or denial.

“I too…had times when I was a child where I felt unbearably lonely. My adoptive mother and father were very kind people. But of course they weren’t my real parents…I couldn’t stand that.”

“…I understand that feeling.”

“In the middle of the night I ran out of the village and into the forest. But it was pitch-black, and I couldn’t tell my left from my right…I sat down alone and started crying. And then…it appeared.”

Eve’s shoulders faintly shook.

A drop of water fell from the sky and hit her face.

It had started to rain. There was no roof on this carriage.

Eve stopped the carriage under the shade of a large tree to keep from getting soaked.

“It?” Adam asked.

“A bear. A frightening bear…Here, look.”

Eve suddenly rolled up her skirt.

Adam unthinkingly moved to avert his eyes at catching sight of her bare skin.

But when he noticed the large scar on her thigh, he regained his composure.

“It bit you?”

“Because it was hungry. A little bit longer and I would have ended my life inside that bear’s stomach. But at that moment—the animals of the forest all attacked the bear at once. And they saved me.”

“And so they…were spirits of the forest.”

“I never saw a bear in this forest again. The spirits might have gotten rid of them, or else directed me so that I never got close to one…In any case, the spirits are my friends, and I owe them my life.”

Eve had never really told that story to anyone.

That was because anyone who didn’t know much about the forest in particular would likely think it was just a silly tall tale.

But in that drizzling rain Adam listened to her speak with a serious countenance. Conversely, Eve started to regret having told him.

Thinking on his goals…It would be only natural for him to start to hold some doubts towards Eve, upon hearing that story.

“Eve. So you really are—"

Before Adam could continue speaking, they could suddenly hear a loud explosion from far off.

“--!?”

They all turned over there at once.

…There was smoke coming from the direction of Nemu village.

“—What’s happened!?” Gammon shouted as he whipped out the sword at his hip.

What came to Eve’s mind was the white army.

They had never once attacked the village directly…And yet, she couldn’t think of anything else it could be.

As though in support of that, several tribesmen wielding weapons appeared from the shadows of the trees and circled the carriage.

“Oh, we’re not letting you get back to the village,” said a woman standing in the center of the tribesmen, glowering at Eve and the others.

Gammon had swiftly leapt down from the carriage, and shifted his piercing gaze to the woman.

“You must be the commander of the white army…The ‘White Fiend of Jakoku’.”

“Oh my. How impressive, that you know of my illustrious title…Your henchmen serve you well, it seems.” Gammon asked her if she had come here as payback for what happened on the plains, but Raisa shook her head. “Though there is a little of that, yes. This is more—a test.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I…Or rather, all of us, are planning to let loose much bigger fireworks after this.”

Giving no indication that she would explain any further, Raisa and her cohorts started to steadily draw closer to the carriage, weapons at the ready.

“You louts, tread cautiously! This military bastard looks pretty tough. Not to mention—” Raisa glared at Eve. “—He’s traveling with the ‘Witch of the Forest’, too.”

As though in response to those words, Eve got down from the carriage and stood next to Gammon.

“…You seem to be under a misunderstanding. I’m not a witch.”

Eve maintained a calm demeanor, but in response to that Raisa laid bare her anger.

“Don’t bullshit me! Countless of my people have been reduced to ashes by you!”

The moment she spoke, Raisa ran towards Eve.

Pale fire curled around the long and thin weapon she held in both hands.

These flames were not put out by the rain; they were likely some type of magic, or else produced by a unique power she had.

“…”

Eve glanced briefly at Adam, still inside the carriage.

He looked like he had something he wanted to say to Eve.

She didn’t have time to hesitate now.

First…she would need to do something about the enemy in front of her.

And she was worried about the village, too.

--Eve took out the spoon she’d kept hidden on her person.

A blue spoon. The item that was publicly referred to as the wand of the Witch of the Forest. For Eve it was a memento that she’d received from her adoptive mother.

She turned it toward Raisa, who was still heading towards her.

And then—expressionlessly, and concisely, she chanted a short spell phrase.

“Medvedi ubit!”

And it was all over.

It was a lightning spell she had been taught by her adoptive father.

A large bolt of lightning shot from the spoon, and then Raisa and her underlings in their entirety were swallowed up in a flash of light.

.

--The lightning strike that had engulfed the area had no effect on the trees of the forest or the animals.

It was the same with Adam and Gammon who were nearby Eve.

The lightning spell could only burn up that which it had been fired at. And after the flash of light went away, all of the tribesmen that had been surrounding the carriage had been reduced to charred corpses.

…No, there was one exception.

Raisa must have taken the direct brunt of the lightning, and yet despite her body having sustained massive burns she was still clinging to life.

“Wow…I’m surprised. That’s the first time anyone’s taken that shot and lived.” Eve looked down on Raisa with a cold expression.

“Y…you bitch…”

Gammon pressed down on Raisa’s body as she tried to crawl into the forest to escape.

“What an unexpected bounty, to be able to capture the head of the white army. For now let’s get her to the village—”

As he turned his face to the village, Gammon stopped speaking.

There was still smoke rising from that direction.

Eve quickly got back into the carriage and put her hand on the control crystal.

But Adam gripped her thin arm.

“The village will be dangerous. The bulk of the white army is probably attacking it now.”

“That’s why we have to go help my father and the others!”

Gammon tossed something at the carriage as it started to move.

Adam caught the weapon.

“This is…”

It was the peculiarly shaped sword that Raisa had been carrying.

“Take it! It should serve as some protection,” Gammon shouted to Adam. “I can’t let Raisa get away. You’ll have to go on your own!”

His words were in a sense an abandonment of his responsibilities as bodyguard, but under the circumstances he must have judged there was nothing more he could do.

Or maybe he was dazzled by the potential for glory that had fallen before him.

Eve didn’t care which it was.

Whatever the case, she was focused on the situation in the village now.

Though I can’t imagine my father would be done in by the white army so easily…

The residents of the village of Nemu were a band of once famous sorcerers.

Even so, Eve couldn’t help the unease in her chest.

The carriage started to race, Adam sitting beside her.

And in this way they advanced at full speed along the forest path, headed for the village.

<<prev------directory------next>>

[kureis-writing-hell]

Cleaning

First || Previous

Nao figures out that normal counsoling he was taught wasn't going to work woth Chisaki. He's changing his aproach. And Kai seems to do so as well. Prompt taken from this list.

In which Chisaki Kai goes through therapy!

When Nao came for his meeting with Chisaki he was stopped and told to wait. It worried him at first but then he was told that it was a cleaning day and he came while Chisaki’s cell was still undone. Not having much to do he went to the observation room, curious of how the process was executed in a prison like Tartarus. Having a permit and already being recognized by most of the guards, Nao entered the room.

And almost took a step back.

It wasn’t the fact that on one of the screens he could see an inmate being held down on long, metal rods. It wasn’t even the fact that he could see another inmate being stripped in their cell for god knows what reason. It was the fact that his patient, Chisaki, was cornered by two guards and looked detached while the third aggressively changed his sheets. Nao held back the urge to turn around and storm there, to yell at them for treating Chisaki like that. It took Nao over a month for the man to finally start opening, it was a huge progress and now Chisaki looked like he was going to shut down again.

"Nao! Hi!"

Nao flinched and looked at the guard that greeted him. He smiled at the other man and made a little wave of his hand.

"Hi. Sorry, I was told to wait."

"Yeah but they're finishing. I think you can go now." The guard waved at him and Nao nodded. Without a word he left the room.

If it wasn't for the confidentiality agreement the first thing Nao would do after leaving the Tartarus was spill everything he saw till now. The terrible treatment of the inmates, irregular meals, showers and how violent guards could be. How most of those people needed help from professionals, how broken and sick they were. Nao understood they were horrible criminals, he knew their cases from TV and couldn't fathom doing most of their crimes, yet he could see humans in them. Contrary to most of the guards here.

And most of the people outside - he reminded himself. Even if he broke the agreement and spoke about the inside of Tartarus he knew no one would really care. All they cared about was themselves and their safety. Understandable, but nonetheless annoying.

With a growing lump in his throat Nao went down the corridor, nodding to the guards that passed him. He forced his thoughts to think about Chisaki, how to approach him now. Nao was sure he's going to be difficult again.

A guard standing under Chisaki’s cell greeted him with a scowl. After a routine check of his belongings, the last one from plenty he got on the way here, Nao was let inside.

Chisaki was standing in the same corner that Nao saw him on the camera. He flinched when the door opened but didn’t do anything else.

“Hi, Chisaki.” Nao smiled at him.

The other, younger man took a moment to look up. Then he took another moment to recognize Nao and it was obvious. His wide eyes relaxed and he breathed visibly.

“How long…” he started but then trailed off.

“Two days, like always.” Nao kept smiling. He didn’t want Chisaki to notice his previous anger.

“There were… guards here.”

“Yeah, they just left. They changed your sheets.”

Chisaki looked at the bed, cringed and then visibly relaxed. He leaned heavily on the wall. He nodded at Nao and the hero took it as his cue to start their routine. With a huge relief.

“Do you want to talk about something today?” asked Nao when they were done, with Chisaki sitting under a wall. He readjusted the new sheet the way the former villain asked him to and was sitting on the bed.

And Chisaki made a pause. Normally he immediately answered, with a no. Normally Nao had to nudge him to have a simple conversation about his likes and dislikes and even that didn’t always work.

“I want to leave this place,” finally said Kai. “I want to see the boss. But I don’t, I don’t know how.”

Nao considered his hunched position, the way he didn’t look at him. Chisaki was a big man, muscular and for sure strong. They were probably the same height and Nao usually stuck out in the crowd in Japan himself. Yet right now that big, strong man looked small and lost.

“Do you understand why you are here in the first place?” asked the hero. They didn’t talk about this before and he wanted to know what Chisaki thinks about his situation. He needed to know where he should start.

“Of course!” There was a click in the walls and Chisaki stiffened. Nao waved at the camera to let the guards know he had the situation under control. After a moment he looked at Chisaki and the former villain continued, quieter. “I’m not an idiot, I know why I’m here.”

“I didn’t say you’re an idiot, you’re not,” agreed Nao. “But I still want you to tell me.”

Kai chewed on his lower lip not looking at Nao. He obviously thought hard about his answer for a bit. His jaw tensed, he licked over the bruise he made on his lower lip and Nao wondered why he struggled so much with the answer.

Then, he realized Chisaki could be thinking what Nao wanted to hear. He wanted to believe in the man, but at the same time he knew Chisaki just wanted to get out to see his former boss. And the word “manipulative” from his files became uncomfortably obvious for the hero. He still waited in silence.

“I- Because of… Eri. And the league.” Chisaki still didn’t look up at Nao.

Nao sighed and brushed his forearms, even though they were covered with his turtleneck. It was a tick he never managed to get rid of, a nervous one. This was going to be a difficult discussion.

“Can you elaborate on that? What do you mean it was because of Eri?”

Chisaki looked uncomfortable. To the point Nao wondered if he should change the topic. But before he could propose it Kai answered.

“If she didn’t run… that kid, no one would find out. Till now everything would be done, boss would be fine, my plan would work, my arms-” he looked at his stumps and cringed, shook his head and started brushing his shoulder against his chin. Nao quickly realized it was his mysophobia kicking in. “She just couldn’t sit down for a little bit longer to make it better for everyone.”

Nao wanted to bite his nail but the glove that he wore stopped him. Instead he brushed his chin and scratched his ear. He knew he’s not a good person to do this and couldn’t understand why Rei, his boss, wanted him to lead Chisaki so badly. He was still a newbie and Chisaki obviously had some real issues he didn’t know how to handle. Also Nao didn’t have the most… therapeutic approach. All he wanted to do after hearing shit like that was to stand up and shake Chisaki till he realized what he was saying. Rei always seemed so composed when dealing with criminals and he just couldn’t do the same, he was salty, hot headed and most of the time spoke without thinking.

He sighed, already hearing Rei’s scolding once he was going to call her at the end of the week.

“Is this what you really think?”

“...yes.”

“Let’s think about it then.” Nao’s smile got sharper, he heard his inner voice whispering to him to yes, tell this man everything, make him feel like shit. He shushed it away. “You experimented on your boss’ granddaughter while he was under coma, induced by you. You planned, no, you started to sell drugs that would greatly mess up the world. Not mentioning organized crime. Did that girl make you do all this stuff?”

For a long moment Chisaki was looking at Nao as if he didn’t recognize the hero. When Nao started questioning himself and scolding himself for his long tongue, the former villain spoke.

“She didn’t…” he said slowly. “But, but she couldn’t understand, she- This is bullshit!” Even Nao jumped at the sudden outburst. This time the clicking in the walls didn’t follow. “Why are you even talking about this?!”

“Why?” Nao sighed. “Because I want you to realize you won’t get anywhere with that attitude.” He watched how Chisaki’s anger shifts into despair. “This is not ‘helping prisoners get out of prison’ program, nor ‘make a wish’. It’s a redemption program, where you’re supposed to understand the mistakes you did, come out with a way to better yourself in the eyes of society and be able to live a normal life. I’m here to provide you help, not lead you by a hand.” Kai was biting his lip again, not looking at Nao. He looked shaken, angry in some way and depressed. Nao brushed his face, unhappy for yelling at his patient.

“This is why I was opposed to Rei’s decision to put me as your counselor. Your case angers me. You’re too proud and honestly, I’m surprised it took me so long to snap. But then we didn’t really talk about this before, right?” Nao laughed, to relieve his own tension, and noticed that Chisaki looked at him. “Anyway, I enjoyed meeting with you, I really did. You can be enjoyable, honestly, when you’re not like that.” He waved his hand in the direction of Chisaki. He wasn’t giving up, he didn’t want to give up. But he stepped over the line and assumed that was what he was supposed to do. “But it’s obviously not working. I’ll call Rei and tell her to send someone else. Unless you want to end this here-”

“No!” Kai jolted up, straightening his hunched position against the wall and cringing at his arms. He looked back at surprised Nao. “I don’t want anyone else and I don’t want you to stop coming. This is- you’re right. You know I decided on this only to get out of here, I need to see my boss. I don’t care about Eri, about what happens later to me I just, I need to apologize to him.”

Manipulative, full of himself, with anger issues and radical world views. Hopeless case. Nao had the words before his eyes. He didn’t have to know this beforehand to quickly realize it on his own. But, what he saw now, was a broken, desperate man in need of help. And he wanted to help him so badly. Not only to lessen his guilt against the old Shie Hassaikai boss. He wanted to find him a purpose to continue living.

He didn’t want to think about how much he could relate to Chisaki right now.

“Okay.”

“...okay?”

“If you don’t mind then sure. But it’s gonna work on different rules now.” Rei was going to kill him. “I’m not gonna be your nice therapist anymore. I’ll visit you as myself from now on.”

“Did you visit me as someone else before?”

“Yes and no,” chuckled Nao. “Let’s say… Nao is more professional and has a better approach. Nikodem is going to slap your head for saying dumb shit.”

“Ni...kodem?”

“That’s my real name. You can keep calling me Nao though, it’s shorter.”

Chisaki nodded, said Nao’s name again to himself and looked down. Nao tilted his head lightly.

“Why do you even want to come here?” he asked, not looking up.

“Because you asked me to.” Nao shrugged. “And, eh, Rei’s gonna kill me. I can relate to you. A little bit.”

“What?” Now Chisaki was the surprised one. He lifted his head.

“She got to me when I was in jail. I did some shit before, too. Looking at you right now… I can imagine myself if she didn’t get involved. Assuming I would still be alive.”

“In jail…” Kai blinked, frowned and looked to the side. “But you’re a hero now.”

“Sure, because I went through the redemption program. And it was different for me too, to be honest.” Nao scratched his chin but quickly shrugged. “It took me almost two years to be able to leave the jail.”

“What did you do?”

Nao blinked, finally catching Chisaki’s eyes, then smiled. He leaned back on the bed, supporting himself with his hands.

“You really want to know?” Oh, Rei was totally going to kill him.

“Yes.”

“Well.” Nao looked at a watch he had hidden under one of long sleeves. He still had some time till his hour with Chisaki passed. “This… is kind of a love story, to be honest.”

[calumance]

Ahhh I loved your last blurb!! Can I request a continuation or like another blurb with Aiden looking and acting like Calum? And possibly Aiden starting to own it that he looks like Calum so he’s more confident? And the reader taking pictures of the boys :D And Can I request another imagine where Cal is performing with the band and it’s a ritual for the kids to go see as many shows as they can with their cousins hehe and maybe this time Aiden brings along some friends ;) and he’s the cool friend

I combined this all into one thing, I hope you don't mind 🙈🙈 This is on the longer side, so hopefully I was still able to get everything you ask for into one! Also, Aiden owning the fact the he is Calum’s mini me would really mess with Mama’s mind. 😂😂

        Calum had been on tour for far too long, and when you realized that today was the last day of the tour, it was like you were a kid on Christmas. You couldn’t sleep past six and you felt to antsy to do anything around the house. As you made yourself a pot of coffee, Aiden strolled through the kitchen. His hair a curly mess from sleep and his pajama pants hanging low on his hips. He tussled the back of his hair as he walked past you, “Morning, mom.” You froze when you looked at him. It was like you were looking at sixteen year old Calum. You mumbled a greeting back at him as he shut the fridge, holding a bottle of water. “Do you mind if I invite a few friends to dads show tonight? I’ve been talking it up to everyone at school, and this girl I really like wants to come and I’d love to hang out with her.” You nodded, still dumbfounded by the fact that you felt like you traveled back in time. “Thanks, mom! You’re the best!” He smiled and walked past you again and out of the kitchen. You shook your head and grabbed the pot of coffee, feeling as if drinking the whole thing would bring you back to reality.

        It was later in the afternoon when you were walking through the house and caught the quiet hum on a bass guitar. You pulled your eyebrows together and headed down the hallway towards Calum’s studio. Your heart raced thinking that Calum had come home before the show, even though he had told you that he wasn’t going to have time to. You peaked through the crack in the door and saw Aiden sitting in Calum’s chair, holding onto Calum’s bass and playing along to the music that was playing through his headphones. “When did he learn to play the bass?” You asked yourself. You pushed the door open a little wider and looked at Aiden who made you feel like you were time traveling again. The doorbell rang and you let out a breath, “What year is it?” you asked yourself as you turned away from the studio to go answer the door.

        You pulled the door open and were immediately greeted by young girl who had a bright and warm smile. “Hi, you must be Aiden’s mom. I’m Elizabeth, I go by Lizzy though.” Lizzy shrugged her shoulders and then held out her hand offering for a hand shake. You shook her hand and returned the smile, then invited her in. “You have a lovely home, Mrs. Hood.”

        “Thank you, let me take you back to Aiden, he has his headphones on.” You pointed down the hallway and Lizzy nodded. As you started walking, she followed behind you.

        When you reached the door, you knocked and then opened the door. Aiden hadn’t heard the knock, but at the sight of the door opening, he stopped playing and took his headphones off, letting them hang around his neck just like Calum does when he’s writing and playing music. You ran your hand across your forehead still dumb founded by how much Aiden was starting to act and look like Calum. “Aiden, you didn’t tell me you played bass.” Lizzy said as she entered the room, amazed by the instrument sitting on his lap.

        Aiden smirked the same way Calum does and you shook your head. “Yeah, my dad has been giving me lessons over FaceTime while he’s been gone.” You narrowed your eyes and smiled, that explained so much. As Lizzy sat in front of Aiden, he talked to her and smiled at her the same way Calum smiled at you when you first started dating. You blinked and turned to exit the room, leaving them by themselves. As you walked back down the hallway, you ran your hand up and down your cheek, thinking about how weird this day has been.

        After a few more of Aiden’s friends showed up, everyone hopped into your car and you drove them to the venue. All three of your kids boasted about how great going to the show was going to be, as much as you agreed, all you cared about was seeing Calum. You’ve been with him for many, many years, but it never made him leaving and going on tour any easier. You pulled the car into the back lot and waved at the guard that had been part of the crew for as long as you could remember. The kids in the back seat gasping at the fact that they were getting the VIP treatment.

        Once you were parked, all of the kids hopped out, Aiden guiding them through the door and directing them to the area all of his cousins usually hang out. “They’re not actually my cousins, but since I consider my dad’s friend’s uncles, I consider their kids my cousins.” Aiden shrugged and looked at Lizzy who was infatuated by every word coming out of his mouth. Aiden smirked and eyed Lizzy, “It’s easier.”

        You adjusted Bailey on your hip and shook your head, still unsure of when Aiden became his father. “Mommy, I want to go see daddy.” Bailey said, wrapping her arms around your neck.

        “I know, me too, baby.” You smiled at her and found the closest person to you to take you to the dressing room. You watched as Logan trailed behind the group and disappear into the venue before you followed behind the crew member to the dressing room.

        As the crew member knocked on the door, you set Bailey down on the ground and held onto her hand. Another crew member opened the door and ushered you inside, the boys too busy messing around to really notice you were there. As soon as Bailey caught sight of Calum, the entire room knew you were there, “Daddy!” she screeched in excitement and started running.

        Calum could pick out Bailey’s voice anywhere, so the second he heard it, he spun around with a huge smile on his face. He squatted and held out his arms, awaiting for her to crash into him. The second she wrapped her arms around him, he wrapped his arms around her and started peppering her with kisses. “Oh, my baby, I missed you so much.” He said as he continued to kiss her, making her giggle. Calum’s eyes locked on yours and your stomach immediately filled with butterflies. Calum leaned away from Bailey to look at her completely. He reached up and ran the back of his fingers down her cheek. “Why don’t you go say hi to Uncle Luke so I can say hi to mommy, yeah?” Bailey nodded and Calum set her on the ground. As she took off yelling Luke’s name, Calum stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at you.

        You shifted your weight between your feet until you couldn’t contain it anymore. You hastily took the steps towards him and grabbed either side of his face. His arms snaked around your waist as he pulled you close to him, your lips colliding. Talking on the phone and over FaceTime will never match up to feeling his hands on you. His hands trailed up your sides and you pulled away from his lips, smiling when you saw his brown eyes looking back into yours.

“Welcome home, handsome.” You whispered as you ran your finger nails up and down the back of his neck.

        “Daddy,” Bailey’s voice was stern, and when you looked down, she was tugging on Calum’s pants. Calum squatted again to be at eye level with her. She leaned towards him and whispered something in his ear. Calum nodded and reached for her hand as he stood up. You pulled your eyebrows together and silently questioned him. He mouthed the word “bathroom” to you and you lifted your chin in understanding.

        As it got closer to the time of the show starting, you walked Bailey out to Aiden who was surrounded by him friends and his cousins. You called Aiden’s name and when he looked at you, you motioned for him to come to you. He jogged over to you and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Can Bailey join you, you know how much she likes watching from out here.” Aiden didn’t even hesitate to say yes. He even reached out and grabbed her hand from you. You pulled your eyebrows together and Aiden kissed you on the cheek. Today really has been a weird day.

        The show was an absolute hit with Aiden’s friends, and after the show was over, they all begged to come back to the house and hang out longer. You agreed with the notion that they all call their parents and tell them what was going on. After each kid got permission from their parents, everyone piled into the car and headed back to the house. Calum sighed as he walked through the front door, relieved that he was finally home. He put his hand on the small of your back and smiled down at you, his lips inching closer to yours. With Aiden entertaining all of his friends, maybe you and Calum would have the time to duck into the bedroom. Your lips were centimeters away from his when Aiden called for Calum. Calum turned towards Aiden and raised an eyebrow “I want you to meet Lizzy, she’s really excited to meet you.”

        “Lizzy? Like Lizzy McGuire?” Calum laughed at his stupid joke, forgetting that Aiden was way too young to even know what Lizzy McGuire was.

        Aiden’s eyebrows stitched together and he shook his head, “Who’s that? No, dad, Lizzy is the girl that I’ve been telling you about, remember? The one that I’ve been learning bass for.” Aiden raised his eyebrows.

        Calum shook his head and looked at you. “Am I really that old?” You chuckled and nodded. Calum shook his head in disbelief and looked back at Aiden. “Alright, I’ll come out and meet her.” Calum let go of you and followed Aiden into the backyard where everyone had gathered around the firepit. Knowing that Calum would be out there for a while, you headed towards the bedroom to change and grab a book to read.

        You had gotten about a third of the way into the book before Calum finally walked through the door. He let out a sigh and slowly crawled into bed next to you. You put your book down and let Calum sink his whole body into yours. He groaned with the sudden relaxation and you wrapped your arms around him, placing a kiss on the top of his head. You played with his hair for a minute before he lifted his head and placed his chin on your chest. “I haven’t gotten a chance to tell you how much I missed you.” A smirk pulled at the corner of your lips and he pushed himself up and hovered over you to place a lustful kiss to your lips.

        You hummed and pulled your lips away from his, causing him to pull his eyebrows together in confusion. “When did Aiden become you? Like, what’s with the bass and Lizzy and the fact that he literally looks exactly like you did when you were sixteen.”

        Calum chuckled and rolled so that he was laying on his back, his head resting gently on your stomach. “Aiden called me a few months ago, telling me that he liked this girl, and he was mad because she always talked about how much she likes me. I told him that he’s basically a miniature version of me, he should own it. It was a week later that he asked me to start teaching him how to play the bass. I guess maybe he owned it a little too hard.” Calum turned his head to look at you and smiled.

        You raised your eyebrows and laughed. “You think? I thought I time traveled today, today was such a weird day.” Calum laughed and looked back up at the ceiling. You ran your fingers through Calum’s hair and smiled at him. “Now, um, exactly how much did you miss me?” Calum turned his head towards you and popped up, placing his hands on either side of you, a smirk sitting on his lips. He pressed his lips against yours and almost immediately you melted into his touch.

************

Tag list: @mantlereid @notinthesameguey @viiirg0 @wheniminouterspace @thinkofmehlgh @another-lonely-heart @limer-encia @itsmytimetoodream @babyoria @treatallwithkindness

[ahiddenpath]

What do you think of Tri?

Oof, you're going right for it! xD I'll toss this under the cut, as my understanding is that this is kind of a hot button issue. I can't really tag it as Tri positivity or negativity, as I think Tri is a mixed bag, so I guess be ready for both if you read on, but skewed towards negative.

Basically, I think Tri had some interesting ideas, but was executed poorly.

I love the idea of the National Data Processing Bureau and the strained human/digimon relationship. I loooove the concept of the Chosen being stuck between several forces (the general populace and authorities being against them on earth, Yggdrasil wanting to destroy earth and humans, Homeostasis wanting to restore the Digital World at the cost of Meicoomon, the partner digimon, and the Chosen). The Chosen taking a stand against the force that helped choose and guide them? Nice, interesting.

But there are a lot of problems. Even the most basic story telling cohesion is a mess. There is a time when the scene shifts from day to night in an instant (Saikai). There are times when the internal rules suddenly change without explanation (electronics are said to malfunction around distortions in Saikai, but Koushiro talks to Mimi on the phone during a distortion in Ketsui while a reporter broadcasts the fight by a distortion live from a helicopter). And none of this is "it is not cohesive with the bajillion episodes and movies that preceded it" stuff; these are internal issues within Tri itself.

In my opinion, there are enormous pacing issues (extremely slow pace until the last act, with the main villain Yggdrasil info dumping their motive in a few sentences towards the end of Shoshitsu) and issues with the Chosen ignoring leads and problems mounting around them to engage in fluffy stuff like... onsen trips, culture festivals, ghost stories, and drawn out conversations about... well, mostly about avoiding actually saying anything to each other, with the occasional actual conversation.

Oh, and I'm not saying Tri shouldn't have fluff. Fans love that, in general. My position, though, is that you need to allocate enough time to your plot first, and in my opinion, Tri failed to do so.

And obviously, the treatment of the 02 crew is terrible, as was the lack of reaction to apparently "destroying" V-mon and Wormmon in Ketsui. There's really no way to adequately explain why the Chosen failed to react to those issues (or had slight reactions delayed a few days/weeks/months? I'm unclear on the timeline, but Hikari and Takeru should have noticed that Daisuke and Miyako weren't at school right away).

I've heard folks try to defend various... unpopular aspects of Tri by saying things like... I dunno, "you don't understand this type of Japanese story structure," or "the Chosen trust that the 02 kids can take care of themselves," or "you don't get the philosophy behind it." And everyone is entitled to their opinion/interpretation, but, um.

There's a difference between offering information on whatever type of story structure someone thinks Tri has and the potential philosophy behind it and telling folks that they simply lack the knowledge/intelligence/reference point to appreciate a series of animated films. And historically, the Chosen are supportive and quick to help one another, while also believing in each other. The older kids give the 02 crew room to do their thing in 02, but when one of them gets stuck (Hikari is locked in the Digital World city), or when the kids needed real world support (Taichi, Yamato, and Koushiro go camping to cover their absence), they... they help, same day, right away. Same thing for Jyou, who dropped his test to help the kids when they were stuck underwater.

Even with all of that, there were moments that made Tri worth it for me. For example, Yamato and Gabumon talking about their future, and how Gabumon will always be beside him and supporting him, that shit got me dude ;_; There were some powerful emotional highs in Tri, and a lot of moments to enjoy. They were just... connected to a roughshod plot that couldn't support them.

BUT! Do you know what happens when I enjoy aspects of canon, but want to change some things? FANFIC, THAT'S WHAT! So that's a huge bonus for this gal!

I don't have any strong feelings about Tri one way or the other; I think I'm pretty dispassionate about saying, "I liked this, I didn't like that." So I don't mind discussing and exploring it. While it released, admittedly, I was more emotional, but I firmly believe that fandom is a place to have fun. If something about it bothers me, I make adjustments and/or step away as needed.

So, whatever your stance on Tri, please take care of yourself! And thank you for the ask, hopefully I didn't ruffle too many feathers, lol!

[chocoluckchipz]

The Other You - 11

Read it on A03, FF.net, WattPad

< Previous

Marinette struggled to contain tears when Alya stepped into her studio. Her friend just as equally struggled to contain her surprise.

“Hey, girl. Guess who’s here with your things? How’s it going?”

“Thanks, Alya.” Marinette gave her a smile. “Sorry for asking you to do this, but I really couldn’t come over to pick them up. Too much work had piled up already.”

“Wait.” Alya looked around the huge studio filled with clothes and sewing accessories. “Where’s your team? Don’t tell me you let them go to lunch while staying behind to work yourself?”

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. “Alya, what team?”

“You know, assistants, seamstresses… other people to help you create your masterpieces. All designers have a team, don’t they? You used to tell me stories of your coworkers all the time. Where are they?”

Marinette shook her head. It was scary how far apart they’d grown over the last few months; her best friend didn’t even know the real mess Marinette was in. “That was from the time when I was working in men’s apparel. Now, I’m leading an experimental women’s line. Alone.”

Alya’s eyes bulged. “What do you mean, alone? Don’t tell me you’re designing and sewing the outfits all by yourself?”

Marinette nodded.

“What about your assistant? I know for sure you had at least one. I spoke to her when you gave me the silent treatment.”

“She quit.”

“This is insane.” Alya walked closer, setting down the bags full of Marinette’s belongings by the door. “I thought Gabriel could afford to hire more people. If men’s apparel has a team, why can’t you have one?”

Marinette put the garment she’d been working on down. “M Agreste wanted me to experience starting everything from scratch. He said I’d be able to understand the industry more and thus have a better chance of success.”

“By making you do everything yourself? A whole line? How many outfits is that?”

“Twenty-five outfits, meaning over fifty pieces of clothing and around thirty accessories, not counting shoes.”

“Holy shit!” Alya’s eyes widened. “How did he think you’d be able to manage that in a few months alone?”

Marinette sighed. “He gave me a budget and a studio. I had to keep him up to date with the designs, but everything else was up to me. If I wanted to hire help, I could. However”— Marinette looked away—“the budget was big enough for either investing in quality fabrics and accessories or for hiring help and settling for cheap materials. Not both.”

“Freaking—”

“But!” Marinette proudly grinned. “I managed to get both. I spent the money M Agreste gave me on quality materials and got an assistant myself.”

Alya stared at her in shock. “How?”

“I spoke with a few people in the HR and finance department. They hired me an assistant and paid her a portion of my salary.”

Alya swore under her breath, dropping into a chair. She closed her eyes for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Marinette let out a huff. “I would’ve, but you didn’t give me a chance. You were too busy constantly patronizing my every life choice and work ethic.”

Alya flinched, pressing her lips into a thin line.

Marinette held her breath. “I’m sorry, Als. I didn’t mean to. We made up and promised—"

“Stop.” Alya raised her hand. Without any more words, she stood up and walked to Marinette. Wrapping her into a hug, Alya whispered, “You’re right, girl. I’m sorry. I should’ve been a better friend to you instead of making it even harder.”

“I’m sorry too,” Marinette responded quietly, returning Alya’s hug. “I did put my work before our friendship. I’d be pissed at me as well if I were you.”

“Then promise me something.” Alya pulled back. “No more secrets. If you need help and can’t be a good friend at the moment, I want you to tell me. Okay?”

A smile tugged at Marinette’s lips as she nodded. “Deal. Apart from the identity of my new landlord, no more secrets.”

“Dang it,” Alya dramatically groaned, stepping away. “You see right through me.”

“I just know you too well, Als.” Marinette chuckled. “It wouldn’t be you if you didn’t try to sniff out the information you want.”

“Well, too bad for him you won’t divulge,” Alya said. “I just wanted to thank him for helping you. That’s all.”

“I’ll make sure to pass him your gratitude.”

“Fine,” Alya fake-grumbled. “Now though, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I, being the best friend in the world that I am who feels extremely guilty for failing you, will call my work and let them know I’m suddenly feeling sick and won’t be coming back today.”

Marinette frowned. “Why would you do that?”

“To help you, of course. Don’t you think I noticed you hiding your tears when I came in? And it’s not likely anything important would go down on a Wednesday evening, so I’d be better off here doing whatever little I can to help you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“But you’d appreciate it, right?”

Marinette nodded. “At this point, I’d appreciate anything.”

“Then I better get to that call. Be right back, M. Don’t finish everything without me.”

Marinette laughed. “I wish I could, Als. I wish I could.”  

Five minutes later, Alya returned, ready to jump in the work head-on. Not having the slightest idea of how everything worked, though, all Alya could do was to cut out details or do basic stitching or even simply pass Marinette the needed tools. Marinette still appreciated it. Her best friend’s presence alone was helping her focus and use her time as effectively as she could.

About half an hour before the curfew, Alya got visibly nervous. Fidgeting with her cellphone more than usual, she bit her lip as she spoke. “Hey, Marinette?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you… I mean what if what we thought… Like you know, what if we were… Ugh!” Alya groaned. “Never mind. It can wait.”

Marinette looked at her friend in confusion. This wasn’t the first time Alya had seemingly tried to say something before changing the topic today. The fact that she was still trying after dropping it more than once meant that it was something important.

“Okay, what is it?”

“What?” Alya played innocent. “What is what?”

“You want to say something but keep backing out.”

Alya nibbled on her lip again. “It’s nothing super important, and you’re way too busy for a distraction right now. I’ll tell you some other time.”

Marinette put the garment she was working on down and looked at Alya. “If it’s about your wedding dress, and if you’ll give me another chance, I’d love to design one for you.”

Alya’s eyes lit up. “You would?”

“Absolutely. I can’t let my best friend get married in an off-rack dress. Though, you’ll have to wait for after Fashion Week for me to actually sew it.”

“That’s fine. The wedding’s in October so you’ll have plenty of time, and with all the skills I’ve acquired today, I’m sure I’ll be able to help you.”

“Then, it’s settled.” Marinette grinned. “If I survive Fashion Week, we’re sewing your dress together.”

“Deal,” Alya said excitedly, her expression turning serious just a moment later. “But that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Marinette glanced her way, getting back to her work. “Just say it then.”

“It’s about Adrien.”

Marinette stilled, her hand freezing over the fabric. “What about him?” she whispered, her eyes focused on her work.

Alya put her work down and came to stand beside Marinette. “I know you don’t like to talk about him, and I’m sorry to bring this up, but there is something you need to know,” Alya said, her voice quiet. “Especially because he’s currently your new boss.”

Marinette put her needle down, shifting her eyes to the side. “That doesn’t really matter. I hardly see him here, so—”

“He didn’t write that message,” Alya interrupted. “Most likely it was Chloe.”

Marinette frowned. “What—you mean that message?”

“Yes. Nino met with him over the weekend. Adrien didn’t even know that message existed. He thought we just kicked him out of the chat room without warning. He said it was most likely Chloe. She had access to his cellphone on a few occasions.”

Marinette watched Alya for a few moments before turning away with a huff. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they planned that whole thing together. She was his friend.”

Alya sighed. “Marinette, you can’t seriously think Adrien and Chloe are the same. You knew him better than that.”

“You tell me what to think then because, as I see it, he was so disgusted by my confession he decided to ruin my dream.”

“Marinette.” Alya reached out and placed her hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “You know as well as I do that that’s not true. Yes, Adrien didn’t return your feelings, but he loved you a lot as his friend. He adored you and would’ve never hurt you on purpose. I know you know that deep down in your heart.”

Marinette fell quiet. She used to believe that. Back then, no matter how angry with Adrien she’d been initially, deep down, Marinette had always felt that whatever that was, Adrien’s actions weren’t a petty response to her confession. That message, however, had changed everything. It killed all hope she had in him and their friendship. It hurt more than Marinette would ever admit, and even now, years later, she had trouble even thinking of forgiving him for what he wrote in it. How was she supposed to deal with the fact that Adrien might not be the author?

“So what?” Marinette frowned, turning away. “He still stole my file…”

“To protect you,” Alya gently nudged Marinette to look at her. “Marinette, please. Can you honestly tell me now, having gone through all that you’ve gone through, that you can’t see why Adrien didn’t want you here? Can you deny that he had good intentions behind his admittedly wrong actions?”

Marinette stilled, her chest heavy. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it over the years. Working at Gabriel was hard. Not a lot of people stuck around, and those who did prioritized work over everything else in their lives.

Including her.

Her friendships? Ruined. Love life? Non-existent. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d visited her parents. But she still persisted because quitting would mean failure, and for everything she was, Marinette wasn’t a failure. Chat Noir had always told her that. He said it to Ladybug, but that didn’t matter. They were the same person.

She turned away. “If Adrien was so concerned about it, he should’ve talked to me instead of going behind my back.”

“And he realizes that now, but Marinette, knowing yourself, tell me, if he’d gone to you while you were heartbroken by his rejection, would you have listened?”

Marinette pressed her lips into a thin line, snapping her eyes to glare at Alya. “Why does it matter now? Why would you bring it up after all these years? Weren’t you just as mad at him as I was only a week ago? What is it to you, Alya? Why are you defending him all of a sudden?”

“Because I found out the truth, and I think that even despite all the wrong he’s done, Adrien deserves for you to know it. And like it or not, your paths have crossed again. So humour me, but I thought if you could understand his motives and intentions no matter how wrong his actions were, maybe, just maybe, it’d be easier for you to get along with your boss. Then, maybe he’d help you out with your situation if he could find it in him to still care after the way we treated him.”

“The truth? Why are you so sure this is the truth? What if he lied? Why is Nino even speaking to him again?”

Alya shifted her eyes to the side. “You were ignoring me for days. Your parents couldn’t tell me much other than that you were alive. I was worried sick, and it was in the news that Adrien’s back at Gabriel, so Nino reached out to him, and they met and…”

“Oh! So the golden boy tells Nino a sad tale, and you believe him?”

“Nino knows Adrien. They’d been best friends for years before that whole mess erupted. He could tell from Adrien’s reaction alone that he never knew that email existed, much less wrote it. And we didn’t need Adrien’s explanation to understand why he tried to keep you away from Gabriel.”

“Alya—”

“Marinette,” Alya interrupted, taking Marinette by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes. “I love you, girl. You know I do. I am not saying you should forgive him. Adrien deserves for you to be mad at him. What I am saying is you should give him the benefit of the doubt and try to understand. What Adrien did was wrong. He should never have done anything behind your back and he admits it himself. He could’ve and should’ve gone about it a different way. Something that included you in it. He didn’t, but I think he’s paid enough for that.”

“Oh, and I didn’t?”

Alya pulled Marinette into a hug, pressing her closer. “Of course you did, M. You’ve suffered more than any of us and you deserve for your life to finally get better. And now he’s your boss, and he could help you if he wanted, but he’s hurt as well.”

“So, what, now I’m supposed to apologize to him?”

“Gosh, Marinette. No. I’m not pressuring you into anything. I just thought both of you deserved to know what really went down. Adrien didn’t do all the things we thought he did, and what he had done, he did only because he cared for you too much to think straight.” She pulled away and brushed Marinette’s bangs away. “Just think about it, okay?”

Marinette’s phone alarm chimed before she could respond. She perked. “We have to go. Help me gather my things.”

Alya frowned. “What’s going on?”

Marinette groaned. “Your saint Adrien enforced a curfew for us: to be out of the building by eight or take a day off the next day, and you know how I get, I don’t pay attention to the time when I’m working. So, I set an alarm for myself. Take the bags you brought, I’ll carry this.” She stashed a few of her projects inside a duffel bag. “Let’s go.”

They rushed down the hall and took the elevators down. The guards saluted Marinette as she approached them.

“Ten seconds to spare,” one of them chuckled. “You’re sure a fan of toeing the line, Marinette.”

“Yeah, Danger is my middle name,” Marinette deadpanned. “See you tomorrow, guys.”

“Have a good evening,” the guards called after them.

“You know, I kind of like this curfew thing,” Alya said as they exited the building. “We would’ve saved ourselves a lot of arguments if you had it before.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate being babied, but that’s a discussion for another day,” Marinette said, taking the bags from Alya’s hands.

She had only an hour to get home and cook a meal for Chat Noir. Thankfully his apartment wasn’t too far away, and hopefully, the meat had already defrosted in the fridge. But she couldn’t tell Alya that.

“Sorry, I have to go now. I take work home because of this curfew, so I’d better get to it. Thank you for helping me today.”

“I didn’t do much.” Alya shrugged. “I’ll see if I can take a few days off over the next few weeks, so I can drop by and help you some more.”

“Thank you.” Marinette smiled. “But I was told today by a friend in HR that Adrien actually is looking for an assistant for me. So, if that happens, I should be fine. Unless it’s a novice. Then I’ll be begging you to come back. At least you’re entertaining.”

“Thank you,” Alya chuckled and winked. “Glad to know my work in entertainment came in handy. And see? He’s helping. Maybe he’s trying to apologize?”

“Let’s not talk about this now,” Marinette sighed. “I really need to go.”

“Alright. See you soon, girl.” Alya leaned in to give Marinette a farewell cheek kiss. “Take care of yourself.”

“I will,” Marinette returned the kiss and, taking her bags, rushed to the metro.

***

Hurrying to finish their dinner, Marinette couldn’t even glance at Chat Noir as he knocked and entered through the balcony door.

“Evening, Marinette,” he greeted with a voice a bit more somber than usual.

“You sound exhausted,” she commented, turning his way. “Long day?”

“Yeah,” Chat murmured and walked into the kitchen. “But I bet it’s about to get much better because whatever you’re cooking smells delicious.”

“It’s Cassoulet, and it’ll take a few more minutes,” Marinette said, adding white beans and baby carrots to the pot. “Sorry, I got held up at work and missed my usual metro train. The next one was delayed a few minutes and it all kind of snowballed from there.”

He came to stand by her side. “Got held up as in you broke the curfew?”

Marinette huffed. “Stupid curfew, but no, I didn’t break it. Made it out with ten seconds to spare.”

“Like living on the edge, don’t you?”

“Can’t help it,” Marinette sighed, tasting the dish. “I have too much work and too much at stake. And I know I keep saying I’m behind, but it’s getting critical.”

Chat fell quiet for a moment before asking. “How far behind are you?”

“Enough to start seriously panicking if I don’t have permanent help by the end of the week,” Marinette said, as she cut sausages and removed bay leaves from the pot. “I’ve been told my boss is trying to find someone for me, but I honestly don’t expect much. People are quitting, not coming in. My friend promised to take a few days off to help me, but with all of her good intentions, she’s useful only for basic tasks.”

“And you’re taking work home—”

“Won’t help much unless I don’t sleep at all.” Marinette sighed, taking the dishes out of the cupboard.

“Finding another job isn’t an option?” Chat asked, starting to set the table.

“Not unless I want to start from scratch, meaning going back to school to finish my degree. Although, Alya did mention something about the possibility of getting my diploma at ESMOD by using my experience at Gabriel. Don’t know how viable that is, but the option might be there.”

“At least that’s something,” Chat said, taking the bowls full of delicious-looking food and bringing them to the table. “Should we indulge now and forget about our problems for a while?”

Something in his voice cracked, and taking a good look at Chat, Marinette’s heart tripped. Even with the mask on and him acting more or less normal, it was obvious Chat was physically exhausted and emotionally distressed. The usually smug curve of his lips sagged. His eyes, though still brilliantly green, looked tired and would look anywhere but at her. His body slackened as he picked up his spoon and, without his childlike excitement nor waiting for her, started to eat. That had never happened before.

“Chat?” Marinette whispered. “What’s wrong?”

He blinked a few times before trying to grin. “Nothing.”

“You aren’t fooling anyone, Chat,” Marinette sat on a chair beside him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He turned back to stare at his bowl, his shoulders drooping. “I’m sorry, Marinette. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. Secret identity stuff.”

“Alright,” Marinette said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Is there anyone you can talk to? Close friends? Family? Ladybug?”

He flinched before giving her another fake smile. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Just some family drama, but it’ll pass. I’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. Thank you for asking, though. It means a lot. And this—” he pointed to the meal in front of him, “—this is the best remedy for me right now.”

She gave him a worried smile. “Then we shouldn’t delay any longer. Itadakimasu?”

This time, the smile on his face reached his eyes as he repeated, “Itadakimasu.”

That evening, for the first time in a long while, Marinette caught herself feeling more concerned about someone else’s well-being than her own problems. Chat Noir tried to act as normal as possible, yet the sadness behind his easy-going demeanour was hard to miss. He was in pain, barely holding it together, and he tried to cover it, failing miserably in the process. So, when the dinner was over, the kitchen was cleaned and the leftovers split between the two of them, Marinette did something she could scarcely afford: she asked Chat Noir if he was willing to stay a little longer.

“If you think I’ll be very useful, I must disappoint you, Princess,” Chat commented, watching Marinette pull the work she brought with her out of her bag. “This cat may have great style and know his way around fashion, but sew, he absolutely cannot. Especially not in a costume with claws.”

“I just assumed you would rather keep me company than go back to whatever problems you have at home,” Marinette replied. “But if I’m wrong, then, by all means, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Chat paused for a moment, thinking. Then he walked back into the room. “I still can be useful, you know. Tell me what to do, and I’ll adapt.”

She gave him a look. “Chat, seriously. I just thought you could use the company tonight. I wasn’t going to put you to work.”

“And I appreciate the thought. Let me repay you by helping. You do need help, don’t you? And helping you would help me. It’ll take my mind off things I’d rather forget right now. So, let’s skip the niceties and get to it.”

“Alright.” She sighed. “Can you stitch?”

“Not even if my life depended on it,” he said with a straight face. “Sorry, I have a complicated relationship with fashion and clothes-making.”

“What if I show you? You can do the preliminary stitches and I’ll go over them with a machine tomorrow at work?”

Chat plopped on a sofa, crossing his legs. “I’m all yours. Use me any way you want.”

Marinette’s cheeks warmed at the suggestive wording, yet a completely oblivious Chat was already reaching for the pile of materials she had on her coffee table.

“So which one of these unfortunate garments will you entrust into my claws?”

She pushed the thought aside. This was neither the place nor the time, and she was not in her Ladybug disguise. Picking out two pre-cut pieces of fabric that needed to be stitched together, she put them into Chat’s lap. “You should be able to manage this one. It’s a straight, simple stitch just to hold it in place for now. Let me get you what you’ll need and show you how it’s done.”

Ten minutes later, Chat braved to poke a needle through the fabric himself, looking very proud of his first couple of stitches that, to his absolute delight, Marinette judged to be quite decent for his first time. It all came crashing down when he discovered that he had accidentally stitched together three layers of fabric instead of two. Marinette couldn’t even be angry at him with how childlike and dramatic his sorrow was. Laughing her heart out, she passed him a seam ripper and assured him she wasn’t mad.

His tongue stuck out, Chat Noir undid his seam and started anew. By around midnight, looking very proud, he’d managed to complete the task she’d entrusted to him. Not much of a help, but Marinette appreciated the effort. Seeing him relax and have that goofy smile surface again as he conquered the art of sewing was more than enough to make it all worthwhile.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to just snap your fingers and learn a new skill just like that?” Chat murmured, laying on her sofa, staring at the ceiling. “You know, like magic? Cause let me tell you, if not for this suit, I’m sure I would’ve bled to death from all the times I poked my fingers with that cursed needle.”

Marinette giggled, concentrating on her own task. “You know, sometimes I wish I could be Hawkmoth,” she said without much thinking. “I’d akumatize myself an army of seamstresses and would be done with this line in no time.”

“That’d be nice.” Chat chuckled, sitting up. “Alas, you aren’t and all you’ve got for now is me. Have anything else I can stitch together?”

“Maybe this one,” Marinette passed him another garment. “Stitch along the red line.”

“Your wish is my command,” Chat said, twisting the fabric in his hands. A couple of hours later, he’d finished that as well, at a much quicker pace than before.

“You’re learning fast,” Marinette noted.

“I have a good teacher,” he grinned with his eyes half-lidded as he struggled to stay awake. “But I think we should call it a night. Things are starting to blur even with my cat vision. How you’re still working is beyond me.”

“Habit.” Marinette shrugged, glancing at the clock. Two in the morning. Maybe they should get a little rest. She put her work away and stood up. “Thank you for helping me, Chat. I’ll get you your lunch.”

“My purr-leasure.” He looked around the room. “You aren’t going to continue working, are you? You need to rest.”

“I won’t. Don’t worry. I’ll go to bed as soon as I put everything away.”

“Promise?”

She smiled. “Promise. Thank you again, Chat”

He grinned and took the box with food from her hands. Leaning forward, Chat placed a tender kiss on her cheek. “Any time, Princess. I’ll see you later.”

With that he was gone, leaving Marinette standing in the middle of the room, her heart threatening to jump out of her chest. Somehow, she was convinced he didn’t even pay attention to the effect he had on her.

Next >

[outerspaceisbetterthannothing]

I told ya I’d be back for more wolf requests!! Here I am!! Can ya hit me with some more alpha cal in any scenario you wanna write? Love u lots and hope you’re having a good day! 💙

Hey, Eve! Once again, thank you for sending this and I’m so so sorry it took me more than a year to answer it, hope you don’t hate me for that. 

I’ve wanted to write about Andy for a long time. So here’s a story of his becoming a part of the pack and explanation of his deep loyalty to Calum. Hope you’ll enjoy.

***

Calum was slowly relaxing. Driving on a highway always had this effect on him, and his best mate on the passenger seat speaking a thousand words a minute was only adding on the effect. He couldn’t quite understand what had been going on with him these last couple days. There was no visible reason for him to be that off. The pack was alright, their with Ashton business was alright. And even Emily had finally started looking if not happy then at least content. Everything was absolutely normal in his life. And still he’d had this feeling that something was about to happen. And he didn’t like this feeling.

“Anyway, I do think this shit went fucking perfect,” Ashton kept filling the void. “You really impressed them, boy, with that confidence of yours,” he chuckled. “Good job.”

Calum huffed. “We’re still at major risk, Ash,” he reminded his friend. “The deal is huge and if we don’t provide the amount of sales that is expected, we can lose everything.”

“Yeah, and when we do provide it, which we will, don’t wanna hear any shit about it, we’ll be able to buy the second shop,” Ashton continued. “Fucking second shop! Fucking awesome!”

Calum chuckled finally, not able to resist his friend’s optimism. He was just about to inform Ashton, how wonderful it will be not to see his face every day, when something on the curb drew his attention. 

“What the…” he mumbled, pulling over. 

“Why… why do you stop?” Ashton asked him, but Calum was already getting out of the car. 

They were on the border of the city they came to for the meeting with a supplier. Dust of dry industrial area wrapped Calum as soon as he left the car. The second thing he sensed were the wolves. He smelled them only when he got closer and quite frankly felt relief. There were eight or nine of them and what looked like a fight from the car in reality turned out to be a beating of a weak one. Had they been humans, it could have been a problem for him and Ash because of their number. But it was much simpler, two alphas against some betas and a couple of pure bloods. The advantage was on his side, and betas did understand it too. 

“Hey, you, the fuck is going on here?” Ashton’s voice sounded from behind Calum. 

But even that was unnecessary, as those jackasses stopped kicking their victim and froze, surprised they were interrupted and startled by the anger on Calum’s face. His furious look said more than enough as they fled in a matter of seconds. 

“And what do we have here?” Ashton caught up with him. They were standing over a young male omega, curled in an embryo pose to protect at least some parts of his body and massively covered in a disgusting mixture of blood and dust.

Calum bent down and tried to find pulse on a thin tattooed neck.The omega tried to fight his hand off, but the attempt was too weak. However Calum got the proof that the wolf was still alive and even in conscience. 

“What’s your name?” Calum hunched down. 

“Fuck off, man,” the omega moaned back, slowly rolling on his front. 

“Sure, buddy,” Calum stood up and looked at Ashton. “Gimme a hand.”

“Of course, we gonna help him,” Ashton sighed bending down on the other side of the guy and helping Calum put the omega on his feet.

“You’d rather we leave him here?”

Ash rolled his eyes, “Couldn’t even dream about it.”

The change in orientation brought the omega back to reality. 

“The fuck are you doing, man?” he mumbled, thin blood stream going down from the corner of his mouth. 

“Helping you, man,” Calum huffed, as they with Ashton dragged that wolf closer to their car. 

“Don’t need your fucking help.”

“Right. Can you stand?” they leaned omega with his back on the car door and stepped back a little. The wolf was skinny and lanky, pitch black hair in a messy uneven haircut, a black tattoo on the neck and a couple more on his arm. He looked more like a teenager from an extremely bad district rather than like a grown up wolf.

“Course I can stand,” he spitted some blood right in front of them and started to sink down slowly.

“Whoa, easy, buddy,” Ashton caught him in the middle and helped up again. “So what we gonna do?” he asked looking back at Calum.

Younger alpha sighed. “And what d’you think?”

“Right,” Ashton gripped the omega tighter and mumbled to Calum, “The door.”

Soon they were back on the road, the omega lying on Calum’s backseat, no music on to lighten the mood. Both Calum and Ashton were thinking about the same. The city they’ve just left was no pack territory, too spacious and crowded for the big number of wolves to live there safely. But the outskirts of it were a favourite place for the scum from the southern packs to do their disgusting deeds. Although attacking another wolf like that in the open so early in the day was too much even for them. What could this omega do to deserve such treatment? Or were they just beating him up for fun? Just because he was an omega? What bothered Calum the most was that the omega didn’t act like he was new to such treatment. 

“Tell me,” the wolf called from the backseat, his voice hoarse, “how did I get so lucky to be saved not by one, but two alphas?”

“Guess it’s the best day of your life, honey, so you better remember it well,” Ashton retorted. 

“Don’t get me wrong, man, but I did have a couple of days better than this.” A low moan followed these words as the omega tried to move a little. 

Calum’s grip on the steering wheel got tight. No matter what this wolf had done, no one deserved that. 

“Could you, please, call Robert and explain everything?” he asked Ashton under his tone.

“Sure, when we get closer to home. Not sure he’s already on shift,” Ashton nodded.

About three hours later Calum pulled to the hospital building, tall grey-haired doctor already waiting for them outside with a gurney and two nurses. 

“Hey, doc,” Ashton dropped, as they with Calum got out of the car. “Ladies,” a smile to the nurses. Calum only nodded to Ashton’s wolves.

“How bad is he?” the doctor asked them as both Ashton and Calum helped to move the omega from the backseat of a car to the gurney. They weren’t sure if he was unconscious or just asleep, but the bleeding had stopped somewhere along the way and they were pretty sure they heard his ribs crack from getting back in place.

“He’s healing pretty fast,” Calum explained, “but I’m more concerned about some of his old injuries not being treated well. Something tells me he’s been beaten up quite often.”

“We’ll check everything,” the doctor nodded. “I’ll be needing his name for the chart.”

Ashton and Calum shared looks, but said nothing.

“Did you ask him for a name?” 

“Yeah, we did,” Calum sighed.

“And what did he answer?”

“Fuck off, man,” Calum quoted watching the nurses taking him into the building.

“Not sure I’ll be able to put this in the chart,” doctor mumbled. “Fine, will be a John Doe for a while. Are you coming?”

“No, Robert…” Ashton stopped abruptly as Calum entered the building, following the nurses without sparing them another word. “Ookay, I’ll put it this way. I won’t be staying, but Cal obviously will. Thank you again for your help.”

“That’s my job, alpha.”

They shook hands and Ashton left, taking Calum’s car shamelessly.

It was late in the night when the omega woke. He wasn’t surprised, shocked or even confused. Calum was right, this wolf wasn’t new to waking up in strange places after being beaten up. 

Calum was sitting in an armchair, mindlessly scrolling his phone. He had enough time to take a nap while the staff took care of the omega. 

“What am I doing here?” the omega asked, his tone more cautious than aggressive.

“Being treated,” Calum explained the obvious and switched off his phone.

“From what? My wounds must have been healed themselves already.”

“Those you got today most definitely,” Calum agreed calmly. “The doctors are checking those you got before that.”

“There’s nothing to check.”

“Let them be the judges of that. Now, could we, please, have your name?”

“You don’t get it, do you? I don’t need this checking. I need to get out,” the omega tried to get a catheter out of his hand but was too weak even for that. 

“What’s your problem? I’m just offering you some help,” Calum frowned.

The omega leaned back on the pillows and looked at the ceiling. “And who’s gonna pay for your help, huh? Not everyone can afford staying in hospital even for one night, you know.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Now…”

“Is it some kind of charity for you?” the omega interrupted him, his voice full of anger and offence. “Helps you sleep at night, knowing you’ve saved some poor lost soul?”

Calum closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I really don’t like the way our conversation goes.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”

“What’s your name?” Calum roared. He didn’t mean to use his alpha voice, it just slipped. 

“It’s Andy,” the omega swallowed and closed his eyes. “It’s all the same with alphas, isn’t it. You just take what you want cause you can, everything else doesn’t matter to you.”

Calum sighed and stood up, his arms crossed on his chest. “I don’t know what alphas you’ve seen before, but I can promise you I’m not like that. And I’m sorry, didn’t mean to order. Your stubbornness just makes me angry.”

“Oh, I beg you pardon, didn’t mean to bother your precious peace,” Andy clowned.

Calum sighed again, hand on the chin. He was looking at the omega, thinking if there was any chance he’d get the information he was craving. The omega was obviously uncomfortable under his stare, but didn’t say anything, looking into space. 

“I didn’t mean to order,” Calum repeated again slowly, “but the fact that you obeyed means that you don’t have an alpha. And you don’t have a pack.”

“Seriously, man, why don’t you just fuck off?” Andy mumbled tiredly.

“Do you have a family at least?”

“You think any family would have a packless omega?”

“Some would,” Calum arched his brow. Those last words said to him more than anything. Andy was obviously from one of the southerns packs. He was excluded, probably as soon as he’d ascended, if not before that. He’s never seen a normal life. And Calum dreaded to imagine a family that raised him.

“Dunno in what fairy tale you live, man, but in real world none would,” this only confirmed Calum’s ideas. 

The alpha sighed again and caught some movement in the dark hall. Michael came up to the door and stopped there.

“Doctors wanna monitor you for couple more days, check the concussion you got about a year ago and some inner organs, so I would really appreciate it if you don’t make it a problem for them,” he informed Andy, ready to leave.

“Don’t count on that,” the omega shook his head. “The moment I wake up in the morning, I’m out of here.”

Calum only smirked, imagining that lunky omega standing against his best pure blood, but left without saying anything else. 

The room was empty in the morning though. Calum looked around, not actually getting anything. The bed was undone and Andy’s clothes still on the armchair. But the omega was nowhere to be seen just as Calum’s pure blood. Did they take Andy for tests?

“Try checking the roof.” 

Calum turned back to the voice. Robert was standing behind him, studying the chart carefully. 

“Why the roof?”

“Have no idea. They’ve been yelling at each other with Mike, then I asked them to find some better place and then I saw them going up,” Robert closed the chart and looked straight at Calum. “What about the bill?”

“Put it in my name, please.”

“Calum,  I understand that as an alpha you feel responsible for more than just your pack, but we’re talking hundreds of dollars, thousands if he stays longer, you can’t just…”

“What about his concussion?” Calum interrupted the doctor, trying not to look him in the eye. Was he doing it because he felt responsible as an alpha? Maybe. Was it stupid? Definitely. Could he not help that guy? Absolutely not. 

Robert sighed and answered his question, “Not that bad, to be honest. His liver worries me the most, but it should heal in couple of months. If he…”

“Doesn’t get in more fight,” Calum finished.

“Indeed. We’d like to keep him here till the end of the week, he’s still extremely dehydrated and generally exhausted. Apart from that, and not mentioning his mental state, there’s nothing to be worry about.”

“Thank you, Robert,” Calum nodded and was already on his way out. Then he stopped and looked back. He noticed how Robert didn’t even make an attempt to move, like he knew Calum would ask something else. 

“Could you share your ideas about his mental state, please?” the alpha asked quietly. 

Robert nodded as he was expecting this question. After all Calum was known among the older wolves of both packs as the kind of alpha not to be embarrassed to ask for an advice or an opinion at least.

“He’s seen some horrible things in life,” Robert stated, Calum now looking him straight in the eyes. “I take it he’s been forced to things and mistreated more than enough and therefore he would push back. Softness and patience should be your main companions here, but it shouldn’t be hard for you, Calum. And also, he’s quite closed and overprotective about himself. Not sure if that’s because he just doesn’t know how to be the other way or if he’s hiding something.”

Calum nodded again in silent gratitude and headed to the roof. Both Andy and Michael were there. Mike was standing near the door to the staircase and the omega leaned on the railings near the edge. 

“I said guard him, not the door,” Calum chuckled, shaking Mike’s hand.

“Nah, he won’t jump, alpha,” Mike shook his head, smiling.

“Sure?”

“He’s headstrong, not stupid.”

“I can actually hear both of you, morons!” Andy shouted back at them.

Mike and Calum smirked. 

“Doc said you with him were yelling,” Calum asked.

“The omega wanted out of the room. Said he felt suffocated.”

“Still do!” shouted Andy. Calum laughed to that. He patted Mike on the shoulder. “Thanks for tonight, go have some rest.”

“Are you sure, alpha?”

Calum smirked back at his pure blood. “Said it yourself, he’s headstrong, not stupid.”

Mike chuckled and left the roof.

“So,” Calum called on Andy, coming closer, “are you gonna jump?”

“And what do you think?” Andy looked at him jokingly. Calum could feel something changed in him, couldn’t only understand what or why.

“I think,” he started carefully, “if you wanted to be dead, you’d have already kicked the bucket in one of those fights you’d been in.”

Andy smirked but didn’t say anything.

“Did you really feel that uncomfortable in the room?”

Andy huffed. “Dunno if it was because of the room or because of your puppy.”

“Michael can seem like a nice guy to you, but he’s most definitely not a puppy,” Calum huffed. 

Andy looked up at him, the corners of his lips twitching in an attempt not to laugh. “Do you have any idea what he was doing the whole night?”

“No,” Calum admitted, sensing some catch.

“He was watching anime! The whole damn night!”

Calum was looking at Andy totally confused. Andy was getting more and more confused with every other second in return. 

“Isn’t it some japanese animation?” Calum decided to clarify in case it starts making sense to him.

“Yeah, exactly,” Andy confirmed, though it wasn’t much of the help for Calum. 

“Well, what’s wrong with that anime?”

Andy looked dumbfounded. 

“Wait, I’ll say it again. Your pure blood, who got a direct order from you to guard me, spent the whole night watching some cartoons.”

“Yeah, that I understood. Still not sure what you think it should mean,” Calum admitted. 

“He was ordered to guard me,” Andy repeated.

“Well, he succeeded, didn’t he? You’re still alive and you’re still here. I think Mike did fine,” Calum shrugged and turned to the town beneath them. 

“So you were honest last night, weren’t you?” Andy huffed.

“I try to be always honest,” Calum nodded. He wasn’t sure what the omega was referring to, but whatever it was, he didn’t care that much. If Mike watching some cartoons was enough to change Andy’s attitude, Calum was more than okay with that too. 

“This place looks nice,” Andy mumbled. Calum felt like the omega was embarrassed with his earlier words and promised never to remind him about that in the future. And he was sure there was some future for Andy in his pack. 

“You like it?”

“I like the trees,” the omega admitted. “There are lots of trees here.”

“Do you think you could stay here for some time?”

Andy sighed heavily and looked away. “And what would I do here?”

Calum felt like maybe he was a little too persistent, but decided to give it a shot still. “And what exactly were you doing there except of being regularly beaten up?”

Andy smirked and Calum held his relief hidden inside. 

“I have nowhere to live. Not sure you’d like a wolf sleeping on a park bench in your town. And I don’t have any money to pay the rent,” the omega continued sadly. 

“All I hear are just excuses, Andy,” Calum smiled.

“Not everything in this world is as easy as you want to believe, you know,” Andy bristlet again. 

“And why the fuck no?” Calum chuckled. “Can you work?”

Andy thought for a moment. “Well, I’m kinda not bad with fixing things.”

“That’s a start. There’s some work in the town, not much, but we’ll figure something out.” Calum nodded.

“Why doing this all? You know nothing about me?”

“Hey, I haven’t offered you a place in the pack yet, have I?” Calum tried to joke it off, but Andy kept looking at him with all seriousness. “I’m doing this because I believe I should help where I can. And you’re wrong when you say I don’t know anything about you. I’m an alpha after all. I know the breed when I see a wolf.”

He took the last look around the town and turned to the door. “Oh, yeah, the doc said you’re in till the end of the week.”

Calum tried not to laugh from the moan he heard from behind. 

He didn’t see the omega till Monday, when Robert finally agreed to let Andy go. 

“I know this car,” Andy smirked stopping in front of Calum, who was waiting for him. 

“Sure you do, it took some time to wash your blood away from the seats.” 

Andy rolled his eyes and reminded Calum of Ashton so much, it made the alpha smile. “I’d apologise, but it’s not like I asked you to pick me up that day, so…”

“Get in the car,” Calum huffed.

“So,” Andy started shyly as they arrived, “why are you picking me up and what’s this place?”

“What’s wrong with me picking you up?” Calum fished the keys out of his pocket and stepped to the door.

“I mean, your pure bloods could do that, or even betas.” Andy shrugged. 

“Ah, they have a day off.”

“All of them?”

“Yup, Monday is an official day off for all the wolves. We call it alpha-does-his-shit-by-himself-day,” Calum smirked, stepped inside and turned on the light in his tiny hall. “ And this is my home.”

They walked in the living room and Calum pointed at the couch. “You’ll sleep here. I know it’s not much, but I’ve only one bedroom. The kitchen is that way. I’ve got not that many rules. Find a job, clean after yourself, don’t use all the hot water if you’re up first. That’d be all.”

Andy looked around in hesitation. 

“You brought me to your own home,” he said, half statement, half question. 

“Well, yeah, that’s exactly what I’ve just said,” Calum felt confused again. He understood he may had freaked the omega out, but he was prepared to that. He only hoped he didn’t freak Andy enough to make him run away. 

The omega kept looking around in silence. He looked like a wolf preparing to jump and Calum could only hope it wasn’t for an attack. 

“You wanna know why those fucker were beating me up?” Andy said finally under his voice. 

“I… I dunno,” Calum hesitated, taken by surprise. “Do you wanna tell?”

“I think you should know, before you actually let me stay in your house.”

“Okay.”

Andy swallowed. 

“You see, we don’t like those who are not like us,” Andy looked up at Calum in search for an agreement. Calum was only listening carefully. He couldn’t agree with Andy as he had no problems with those who were different and therefore didn’t see a reason to lie now. “At least most of us,” Andy finished with a huf. To that Calum finally nodded. 

Then Andy swallowed again. And then whispered something. So quietly and illegibly that Calum couldn’t work out what that was. 

“Sorry, what did you say?”

Andy sighed, closed his eyes and repeated just a tiny bit louder, “I’m gay.”

Calum felt both fury to those who made Andy ashamed of that part of him and unbearable tenderness to this young wolf. However he had no idea what he could answer to that, so he went on with the first thing that came to mind. “Okay. You hungry? I’ve got some pizza in the fridge.”

Andy opened his eyes and looked at Calum as if he was the most stupid wolf in the whole entire world. “Are you… I’ve just told you that I’m gay.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

“So? Is that all the reaction I get?”

“I don’t know,” Calum shrugged in all honesty. “What reaction do you think I should provide?”

“Er, I dunno,” Andy replied as dumbfounded as Calum was right now. 

“Well,” the alpha mused, “when you know, we could come back to that. For now, pizza?”

“Yeah, would be great actually,” Andy finally nodded, following Calum to the kitchen. 

There was one more question that was burning in Andy’s mind that night, but he left it for another time, being more than satisfied with pizza, a stupid action movie and finally sleeping in an actual house. And when he found it in him to ask Calum why the alpha didn’t offer him to join the pack, he got exactly the answer he wasn’t ready for. Calum said that it wasn’t up to alpha choosing wolves for his pack. It was up to wolves choosing him to be their alpha. And if Andy ever felt like joining Calum’s pack, he would be honoured to have such a wolf. Good thing by that time Andy had already decided to stay a little longer in that town. Of course, not because of Calum. Just because he liked trees. And there were a lot of trees around.

***

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[dmsden]

What Is Wanting and What Is Owed

Hullo, Gentle Readers. Since I’ve been given the rare gift of a 5th Monday this month, I get a freestyle article. And, although I don’t often like to get on a soapbox, I’m going to do so a little. If you don’t want to hear me pontificate, you may want to skip this article and come back on Thursday.

During its recent D&D “Live” event, a few products were announced. Rime of the Frostmaiden was announced as the new adventure. While I’m personally meh about the whole Drizzt/Icewind Dale storyline, books, etc, I recognize that they’re an incredibly popular property, and I’m looking forward to seeing new monster stat blocks and so on. In proximity to this announcement came three other announcements, all of which I thought of as very positive, but which, to my surprise, brought a ton of venom from other D&D players.

Beadle & Grimm’s announced a Platinum Edition of the mod. No surprise there.

WotC announced Heroes’ Feast, the official D&D cookbook, from the same team that did the beautiful Art & Arcana book.

And finally, WotC made an announcement, which I will not go over again here, about how they wanted to show more sensitivity when presenting cultures based on real world cultures. You can read this in full at https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

I was pleased with all these announcements, but I was shocked (I guess I shouldn’t be any more?) about the level of venom I saw online about all three of them.

The B&G announcements was met with comments like, “$500? For that, the adventure had better run itself for me!” “Does it actually cast the spells?” and so on. For full disclosure, I have bought everyone of the Beadle & Grimm’s products. I ordered Waterdeep: Dragon Heist with a lot of trepidation, because $500.00 is a decent chunk of change for me. After receiving it and being blown away by what it contained, I knew we’d be buying other products as they came down the line.

The fact is that I am the target audience for B&G products: I’m a huge D&D fan, as is my husband, and we have a decent amount of disposable income to spend on our major hobbies, which includes TTRPGs. If you’re not in that target audience, then of course you’re not going to buy it, but I don’t see the value in tearing down others who make that decision. I guess, if anything, it’s likely motivated by jealousy. That’s a pretty natural human emotion, but it would be nice to see the honest reaction behind it.

The reactions to the cookbook seem to range from “I won’t waste my money on this” to “Well, they’re gonna lose money on this one” all the way to “Why is WotC wasting time with all-fluff products like this? They should be working on XXXX, because I’ve been waiting years for it.” I can understand not wanting to spend money on something you don’t want or need; that’s sensible. I’m personally charmed by the idea of an official cookbook, because I love to cook, so I’ll be grabbing this. I was actually pondering a fantasy-based cookbook project myself, but now I’ll wait to see what this looks like and if it scratches the itch I have for such a product.

So is WotC wasting talent on this? No, they’re not. The people who are writing this are the same freelance team that worked on Art & Arcana, so no WotC authors were dragged away from valuable work for this. Also, this isn’t one of WotC’s normal books that they release in a year. We’ll still be getting all the fluff and crunch this year that we normally would, but those of us who like the idea of a cookbook will get one.

Oh, and as far as losing money goes, I’d like to tell you about a book called Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home. When the Dragonlance novels and modules came out, they were incredibly popular. They were so popular that the demand for more material about that world prompted TSR to publish Leaves. It was all fluff and no crunch. You got everything from astronomy notes to sheet music to...oh, gosh...recipes. And it was a massive seller. It sold so well that they ended up making two sequels to it. So I think WotC will be okay with this one. And if not, they just won’t do another project like this down the line.

I think what bothers me about this one is really the sense of entitlement. Way too many posts seemed to boil down to, “This isn’t what I want; I want XXXX. WotC owes it to me.” Like, really, no they don’t. Every time WotC has a product announcement, I cross my fingers for Spelljammer, because I have an irrational love of its silliness and the imagination that went into it. But it would NEVER occur to me to think that WotC somehow owes me Spelljammer. WotC is a company, and the core principle of every company is to make money. I’m sure that, if WotC eventually thinks Spelljammer will make it money, that it’ll happen, but they know that Forgotten Realms is their bread and butter, so I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve been going on for a long time, but the last one is the one that cuts me deepest to the quick, so I can’t ignore it. It’ll probably come as no surprise to anyone that, as a very liberal/progessive gay man, I was disgusted to see so many comments condemning WotC for bowing to political correctness or for doing this “just to make money”.

As far as making money goes, I have already said, that’s what a company wants to do. I think you’d have to be blind not to see the surging tide of people in the U.S. and across the world who are sick and tired of inequality. The fight for equal treatment for people of color, for women in general, for gay people, for trans people...it’s still raging. For every victory, like the Supreme Court case that said workplaces couldn’t fire people for being of LGBTQ+ status, there’s a crushing setback, like President Trump’s executive order to allow hospitals to discriminate against trans people. But things seem to be shifting again, and people are more and more stepping up to declare their dedication to the fight. So yes, if I were running a company, I would be taking notice, and I would be taking actions in this direction.

What I do not and will not understand are people who are somehow going to claim to be upset that WotC is going to take steps to try to not offend people in the future. It bothers me that people can’t say, “Well, I’m not personally offended, but I’m not black/Romani/gay/Asian/Native American/whatever. I think it’s great that WotC is trying to make sure D&D is more inclusive for everyone.” I don’t understand how anyone can play a game like D&D...a game that literally makes you walk in someone else’s shoes...and yet have so little ability to do it in your actual life. D&D literally shows you how different people with different abilities have to work together to help each other achieve a goal, and it’s sad to see that some who play it have so little regard for people who are different from themselves.

If you’ve stuck through this article this far, I wish I could offer you some great wisdom at the end. I guess I’ll just caution you to spend a moment thinking about what you’re going to say online before you say it. Once your words are out there, they’re very hard to take back, and that can have consequences. I try my best to make most of my interactions online with people positive ones. Even when I don’t agree with people, I try to be positive, and to educate them as to my side of the argument, rather than just blasting them with “No, you’re wrong for thinking that.” I thought long and hard before writing this article, and I thought long and hard before publishing it. I may lose readers over it, and, if so, that would be a shame, but I would rather be honest about who I am and what I believe.

So be kind to one another. To borrow a quote from Critical Role, “Don’t forget to love each other.” Roll those 20s. And we’ll be back on Thursday with a fun question about running a campaign that begins before Session Zero. Whaaaaat? You heard me. See you then!

[defenselesswriter]

Blanket Fort Protection

@darrenhasmyheart sent me this post and welp i wrote a whole ficlet on it so please enjoy

Five years after Scott had been bitten is when things in Beacon Hills finally started to calm the fuck down. Even so, the pack still kept up on their patrols and research and pack bonding even. Somehow Scott and Derek made the whole co-alpha thing work, much to Stiles' surprise. However, it was definitely a rough adjustment period for all involved. 

For the first time in his life, Stiles had a group of friends, and he'd even consider them family, but if anyone ever tells Jackson that Stiles thinks of him as family, he will vehemently deny it. And he could deny it. Sure, lying to werewolves isn't the smartest, but Stiles has learned how to do it. Sometimes, he just needs privacy, and if they know every one of his white lies then... then Derek would probably kill him honestly.

Stiles flinches when Derek throws Boyd onto the ground harder than he needed to. "Derbear, chill," Stiles calls out from his seat on the porch of the newly built Hale house.

Derek growls and flashes his red eyes at Stiles, and you know what, scratch that. Derek will definitely kill Stiles. 

Stiles rolls his own because he isn't scared of Derek, not really. And his automatic response to Derek's alpha eyes is definitely not the most appropriate, but no one has called him out on it yet, so as he does with those kinds of problems, he ignores it until it goes away.

Boyd stands up, definitely favoring his left arm instead of his right. He gives Derek one of his long, meaningful looks that Stiles either knows exactly what they mean or has no fucking clue what Boyd is trying to tell him. It seems that Derek understands this meaningful look because he growls at Boyd, who just shakes his head minutely at the alpha. 

After that, Stiles calls it quits on the training session. 

Once the pack has left to their own places to nurse their wounds inflicted by the alpha (Erica has a broken wrist, Isaac a sprained ankle, Boyd a dislocated shoulder, and Jackson a swollen eye), Derek turns on Stiles.

"Why do you always act like you have any authority over my pack?" Derek half yells, half growls. 

Stiles scoffs at him and falls onto the couch. "Because your pack, oh dearest alpha, listens to me. Take it up with them if you have such a huge problem with it."

Derek huffs. "We weren't done training for the day."

"You were," Stiles says as he opens his laptop and focuses his attention on the screen. A minute of silence goes by where Stiles assumes that Derek has accepted defeat. He starts reading through the Satomi pack bestiary and translating it into the Hale's. Derek is quiet long enough that Stiles forgets that they were in the middle of an argument where Derek was so obviously wrong, as he always is, when said alpha slams Stiles' laptop lid shut.

"Do you live here?" Derek asks. "Did you move in without my knowledge?"

Stiles glares at him and slides his fingers out from under his laptop. "I do have a room here."

"Go home, Stiles," Derek growls at him. "Training is apparently over, so what possible reason do you have for still annoying me with your presence?"

Stiles hums and studies Derek for a moment. Over the years, they have become friends as they both have worked together on protecting the pack and pulling each other out of danger. Derek is even known to smile sometimes, but this Derek in front of him is the same one Stiles met when he was sixteen. While Derek learned how to be happy again, Stiles learned the important lesson of knowing when to pick his battles, and this one right here is not one to pick at the moment.

Without another word, Stiles slips his laptop back into his backpack and gets off the couch. He sees something flash across Derek's face as he nears the door, but he already decided to not pick this battle, so he doesn't.

With his back to Derek and his hand on the door, Stiles calls out, "Call me when you're done repressing whatever it is that's going on." Before Derek can respond, Stiles opens the door and closes it behind him. Obviously, Derek could easily catch up to Stiles as he walks to his jeep, but he knows Derek learned a similar lesson a few years back: he doesn't have to pick every single battle.

A couple days go by with no word from Derek, and Stiles hasn't grown out of his anxiety or constant worrying over people he cares about, so he has been keeping tabs on Derek through different pack members. Isaac texted yesterday saying that Derek was cleaning the grout on the kitchen tile with his claws. Erica called last night to tell Stiles that Derek won't touch the Chinese takeout she brought over for dinner even though she knows it's his favorite. Boyd answered a simple, "Yes," when Stiles asked if Derek was still alive earlier this morning, which makes Boyd his new favorite because Jackson's only response was the middle finger emoji. That's not an answer, Jackson.

When the sheriff comes home from his shift, Stiles corners him at the kitchen table with a dinner of steak, roasted potatoes, and brussel sprouts (he had to make sure something was healthy at dinner). As soon as his dad sits down, he looks at Stiles with a resigned look. 

"I am going to enjoy this dinner before you tell me whatever you did that will upset me," he instructs, pointing his fork at Stiles for emphasis before taking a bite of steak.

Stiles allows his father to enjoy half of his dinner before he opens his mouth. "I just have one question."

The sheriff groans loudly and dramatically - and people really wonder where Stiles got that from? - before dropping his fork and knife on the table. He settles his forehead into his hand and waves his other hand for Stiles to continue.

"Did Derek show up for his shift today?" Stiles asks.

Slowly, Stiles' dad lifts his head to stare at Stiles with doubt. "Yes," he finally answers as his eyes narrow to study Stiles. 

"That was all I wanted to know," Stiles tells him and starts cutting up his steak, but it's hard to eat when he can feel his dad's eyes on him scrutinizing every detail of Stiles. With a groan, Stiles leans back in his chair and stares at his dad expectantly. "What?"

"Why do you care about my deputy's attendance?" he asks.

Stiles shrugs. "Because you're too soft on him, so if he's slacking I can give him a stern talking to."

"Uh-huh," the sheriff grunts. "I know you have figured out how to lie to your werewolf friends, Stiles, but I raised you, and I know when you're lying."

"Technically, that wasn't a lie," Stiles points out. "You are too soft on Derek."

"The kid deserves a bit of a break, Stiles," his dad argues. "And he is one of my best and most hardworking deputies."

Stiles huffs and picks up his fork to push around his potatoes. "I'm just worried about him, okay? Did he seem off today?"

The man across the table relaxes as their conversation shifts to an actual conversation rather than the interrogation Stiles had set up. Really, Stiles doesn't understand how no one has figured out where he gets a majority of his tactics from. 

"He seemed tense," his dad answers as he stabs a piece of potato. His brussel sprouts are suspiciously left untouched.

Stiles hums to acknowledge his dad's words, but he finishes his plate in silence. As he gets up from the table to rinse his plate, he nods at his dad's plate. "Make sure to finish your brussel sprouts, old man."

And if his dad could have growled, Stiles has no doubt that would have been a moment he would.

Friday night, Stiles nervously walks into Derek's house. It's pack night, and his presence is expected, but he hasn't spoken to Derek all week, so he isn't sure how Derek will react to him.

Turns out, Derek isn't reacting to Stiles at all. Whenever Stiles speaks, Derek either flat out ignores it or responds in as little words as possible and not directly to Stiles. To be fair, everyone else gets similar treatment. 

After everyone finishes dinner, they find a reason to excuse themselves before anyone can suggest a movie as they usually do. Once again, Stiles is the last one left as he finishes up the dishes. He keeps side eyeing Derek's untouched plate before he wraps it up and puts it in the fridge in case he wants it later.

Derek disappeared upstairs once Isaac excused himself, so there really was no reason for Stiles to linger once the kitchen is clean. There's something wrong with Derek, and he knows it. He just can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong. 

Before he can talk himself out of it, Stiles starts pulling cushions off the couches and grabbing blankets from the linen closet. He goes to his designated room and grabs the comforter he loves and the pillows off the bed. It takes a while, and he is genuinely surprised Derek doesn't come yell at him to leave his house, but once he's finished, he's happy with the results.

Stiles goes through and turns off all the lights in the house, starting the dishwasher as he passes it and grabs something out of the freezer. Once it's dark, he crawls into the fort and makes himself comfortable, playing on his phone until he hears footsteps on the stairs.

He can't stop himself from smiling when he hears Derek growling, "Stiles, what are you doing?"

"Cheering you up!" he answers lightly.

"I don't need cheering up," Derek gets out through what sounds like clenched jaws. "I need you to leave me the fuck alone."

For some reason, that is the straw that breaks Stiles' back. "Just get in the fucking blanket fort, Derek!" he yells.

Surprisingly, after a few quiet moments, Derek starts shuffling to the fort. When he pokes his head in, Stiles smiles at him, which earns him a glare. Once Derek is seated at the very edge of the fort, he lifts his eyebrows expectantly. Stiles glares at him instead of giving him a verbal answer because Derek is smart and can figure shit out.

With the most dramatic and heaving sigh, Derek shifts so his back is against the couch like Stiles and his legs are splayed in front of him. He even grabs Stiles' favorite pillow and holds it to his chest.

Stiles rewards him by reaching behind himself and handing Derek a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream (the heathen's favorite) and a spoon. Then he pulls his laptop closer to himself and plays the first episode of Matt Smith's run as the doctor, which is also Derek's favorite doctor and really the man has such poor taste. It's not that Derek's wrong. It's that there are better options.

Once the laptop is set down near their feet, Stiles relaxes and takes his own spoon to the now opened container of ice cream. Mint chocolate chip isn't the worst flavor, but as Stiles says, there are better options.

It takes three episodes of Doctor Who for Derek to actually start relaxing. The ice cream is long gone and has been set aside on the towel Stiles thought to bring in ahead of time. 

As the end credits start to roll and Stiles reaches to play the next episode, Derek shifts. Stiles looks over at him, and it looks like Derek is about to talk, so Stiles puts his hand back in his lap. Netflix asks if they're still watching, but neither of them click the answer.

"It's the anniversary of the fire," Derek mumbles without looking at Stiles.

The words hit Stiles hard, but his feelings aren't the ones that matter right now, so instead of saying anything, Stiles leans forward and plays the next episode. When he leans back against the couch again, he rests his arm on the bottom cushions not quite on Derek's shoulders, though.

By the halfway point of the episode, Derek finally relaxes into Stiles' touch and leans against his side. Wordlessly, Stiles starts running his fingers through Derek's hair. When Derek nuzzles Stiles' shoulder, he knows the man is asleep. Carefully, he closes his laptop when his socked foot so he doesn't jostle Derek too much. He's not sure Derek has gotten a lot of sleep this week and is desperate not to wake Derek up.

With one hand, Stiles pulls up his comforter around the both of them and curls into Derek, holding him close. In response, Derek tucks his face into Stiles' neck and clutches his shirt. They've never cuddled, not like this at least. They've been more tactile in recent years, but this feels a bit more intimate than Stiles is used to. He finds that he doesn't mind at all as his head falls onto Derek's and his eyes close.

Stiles wakes up feeling warm, but not in a bad way. He's more comfortable than he remembers ever being and sighs contentedly. Rubbing the back of the person curled into him, he starts to think maybe he'll drift off to sleep again, but then he remembers who is curled into him.

As Stiles' heart rate spikes, Derek shushes him.

"Are you actually awake?" Stiles whispers. "Like you are aware of your current surroundings?"

"Yes," Derek grumbles, and fuck, his scratchy morning voice is the cutest sound Stiles has ever heard. "Relax, please."

"So you're not mad about this?" because Stiles can't not ask.

"If I was, would you still be in my house, Stiles?"

"No...?"

"No," Derek confirms. "Are you mad about this?"

"No," Stiles quickly says, not even having to try to lie. 

Derek hums contentedly, his thumb sweeping the skin of Stiles' hip because apparently his shirt has racked up a little. "Thank you," Derek says so quietly that Stiles isn't sure he heard him correctly because to be fair, he has been focused on not popping an inappropriate boner as if he were still a teenager.

"No problem," he squeaks out.

Finally, Derek lifts his head and looks down at Stiles. His face is softer than it has been all week, and something inside Stiles melts. As if Derek could sense that, he smiles a little until his eyebrows furrow slightly and he looks at Stiles as if there is something important to say.

"Can I kiss you?" is the absolute last thing Stiles expected Derek to say.

"Do you want to?" Stiles asks, his brain suddenly moving so slowly even though right now would be a great time for it to pick up the pace and solve the puzzle in front of him.

Derek just nods, his eyes darting down to look at Stiles' lips.

"Oh my god," Stiles says, knowing his words sound a bit freaked out because he is. Doesn't matter. He rushes forward to kiss Derek but ends up knocking their foreheads together. "Fuck!" Stiles groans, his head dropping back down as he rubs his head.

Derek laughs softly, nudging Stiles' hand out of the way with his nose before pressing a soft kiss that takes away all of the pain in Stiles' head. Before Stiles can comment on magic kisses, Derek is cupping his cheek and kissing Stiles' lips. It's chaste and soft and Stiles can't fucking breathe because it's perfect and nothing at all like he imagined. It's so so much better.

"You're never getting rid of me now," Stiles mumbles against Derek's lips.

Derek pulls him closer as he kisses him. Pulling back ever so slightly, he whispers, "Is that a promise?"

[fizzingwizard]

Ok well! Episode 5 was a huge improvement! This genuinely felt like Digimon, at least early Digimon anyway. It was fun and action-y, and not completely devoid of character moments. The heart of this episode was Koushirou and that is SO EXCITING. I have crossed all my fingers, toes, and even my eyes that Koushirou will continue to be muy importante, just as much as heavy hitters like Taichi and Yamato are. None of this “backseat crunching numbers” nonsense!

I was disappointed last ep that we didn’t get to see the actual first meeting of Koushirou and Tentomon, but I suppose it probably went something like this:

Tentomon: Koushirou-han! I’ve waited for you!

Koushirou: A digimon! I must analyze your data!

Tentomon: Analyze my...? *blush* At least buy me dinner first!

more under the cut...

Well we also get Plotty McPlot stuff right off the bat. Remember the old series where we knew nothing about anything till like right before the first big boss battle?? They ain’t beating around the bush this time. Not sure how I feel about that - as I’ve said before, I loved the “where are we! guess we have to rely on our own incompetence!” concept of Digimon Adventure that siphoned off some of the blatant “this is an RPG” aspect. We don’t have that too much this time around - Taichi is REALLy goal-oriented and seems to even have magic powers?? as in he can read digi-code. My guess is they ALL can, courtesy of their digivices (and maybe I’ve already forgotten if Koushirou or Yamato already did this earlier?). How convenient for the plot that there’s no trouble reading secret messages at all!

^Also appreciated that this literally meant feel the words. As in, touch them.

So Taichi and Sora have had no difficulties finding this special shrine and learning the lore of the digital world. There was a Great War that shifted the balance of light and dark. We are right back in RPG territory.

We see a bunch of familiar faces. I’m not sure if this is the same makeup as previous ancient guardians in other seasons, but it’s got the essential theme at least.

And then some even more familiar silhouettes:

Now who could that be xD Mega evolutions for all confirmed!

So I don’t know if this is supposed to mean Agumon & co are literally reborn versions of these great warriors, but I think that’s what Agumon and Piyomon suddenly bursting into tears while wailing that they don’t know why they’re crying is supposed to be hinting at.

Taichi: I warned not to touch your eyes after chopping onions!

Agumon does not remember being Omegamon or jogressing with Gabumon, but Taichi remembers it. As usual, the children are an essential ingredient to transcending even evolution. The internet is the path that connects the two worlds and is the reason why the human world can be affected by what happens in the digital world if it bleeds through.

Yep, it’s Digimon Adventure. Nothing has changed

^Not even trying to be subtle xD So my current theory is we probably won’t see Takeru or Hikari as full time players until mid-season. I’m kind of hoping the kids find out they can talk to Seraphimon and Ophanimon and specifically go to meet them, only to find out they’re babies now and need constant looking after and don’t know anything helpful at all bahahaha

And here’s another familiar face err loin cloth! Although we already knew he was coming! I love Ogremon. And I find it it not-coincidental that his first real appearance precedes a Mimi episode.

Tentomon and Koushirou have restored my faith in the bonds between children and Digimon in this show.

... Yep, it’s goddamn Digimon Adventure and nothing NOTHING!! at all has changed xD

So I had thought this was DemiDevimon. I think it’s clearly meant to harken back to him but it’s too cool. Soundbirdmon. Not sure how sentient it is. Creepy lil thing. Hikari would still give it a 10/10 would hug

Capped this because I love Piymon protectiveness <3 (Sora’s there too ofc)

The kind of tech Koushirou carries around puts CSI to shame.

So he’s been in the digital world (well, the network) for like an hour and he’s already trying to get himself killed. Protectiveness masquerading as cold pragmatism. Koushirooooou. You should have some sense of self-preservation. He clearly needs Tentomon - Taichi would need a brick to the head before he’d understand this kid is not being logical here, he is in total panic mode.

Tentomonnn. I can always count on you <3

... aaand he immediately drops him x’D Tentomonnnnnnn

oh well it’s the thought that counts!! lol

Thus ends Izumi Koushirou. His voice actor peaced out. “Too many lines, too many kanji, also I don’t like not having wrists.”

This is the face he makes when he realizes “holy hell, I think I might be having an Emotion.”

first Taichi, now Tentomon... Koushirou’s going to be so buried in praise trust and friendship that he won’t be able to see his way out. Like one of those foam pits at the gymnastics center. You cannot escape and you don’t want to

I’m in hell

Okay seriously what is this. WHAT IS THIS.

^see what I mean? no wrists!

One Track Mind Yagami reminds us that we did Plot in this ep...

... only to then recall that after that, we did Koushirou stuff, which is vastly superior. I mean look how happy he is.

Taichi: Darling Koushirou!! You’re okay!

Koushirou: Yes, thanks to Kabuterimon!

Taichi: I’m so glad! Wait, Kabuterimon? ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME!?!?

Koushirou: *making bad connection noises with his mouth* g-gotta go..!

Koushirou is ready to admit he loves his partner a lot faster than old Adventure Koushirou was...

... or maybe not.

GAWD WHY ARE U SO CUTE

I love their little back and forth here. “You were talking about me!” “N-No I wasn’t!” “Yes you were!” “Was not!” Please keep giving us this quality content Toei. Tsundere Koushirou. I never thought of it. I WANT MOOOORE.

Interesting how he didn’t quite do this to Taichi though. Maybe because Taichi’s compliments were about how talented and awesome he is, whereas Tentomon’s just like “I love you bruh youre my best bruh.” Taichi, get over yourself and tell Koushirou you love him before he leaves you for a literal bug.

Welp.

So this turnip/radish village is just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And I loved the silence of this ending bit. This really did feel like Digimon, a bit more creative and intriguing than anything in episode 4. (Except for Sora and that knife.) This gives me Hope.

But it is WEIRD seeing Mimi get the “mysterious girl” treatment. Hahaha. You’d expect to discover she’s like the lost princess of the digital world. Well, she is. But she’s also going to scream whine cry and make you eat kimchi fried rice with whipped cream and strawberries xD

Mimi!!! I can’t wait to see you!!!