#// I'm probably late to this but how could I dismiss that opportunity

[muses-inn]

[⭐]  "Kissing day? Heck yeah! Everyone knows that I am the best kisser out of the Battletoads!"

[🚀]  "Oh come on, not this again! Everyone calm down, he's only the best at kissing his own hand. Which is disgusting by the way, don't try it."

[winterrrnight]

hey angel, please could you write a fic with soft rafe x reader where they have been best friends for years and are finally in a relationship after admitting feelings for eachother and they have cute happy moments where they remember they’re not just friends theyre finally in a relationship now?

Tysm x

oh my goodness, this took me so so long than it should've and I'm so sorry about that! I love and adore this idea so much, but for some reason I never felt satisfied with how I was writing it so there were too many restarts. But we finally have the final product! It's inspired by your request, I don't think it's exactly what you requested, but the main idea was kept in mind throughout. I hope you like this and is up to your expectations 💞

memories

PAIRING: soft!rafe cameron x gn!reader

SUMMARY: a little collection of some of your favorite moments with your best friend, lover, partner in crime all rolled in one: rafe cameron.

WARNINGS: small mentions of alcohol, but mostly fluff and two lovers being mean to each other because it's their love language 🫶🏻🤭

EDITH SPEAKS: thank you to my bestie @runningfrom2am who helped me out with this fic! she told me all her favourite memories with her own boyfriend and that resulted in this very cute fic so thank you sooo much raye 🥹🥹

There is a little KC Undercover reference in the fic, which is like, probably one of the most iconic dialogues of Ms. KC herself and I had this beautiful opportunity to use it so I just couldn't pass it up 🤭

I hope you all like this!! Please ignore any little grammatical/spelling errors. And please like and reblog if you like this 🪂

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It's so easy for you to say how your life has changed for the better when you and Rafe finally became official. He has been your best friend since you both were little, and now to see you both expand your relationship which you had formed since such a small age, always makes you feel like the happiest person on this planet.

It's no lie that it took you some time to finally get to the dating stage. After realising your feelings for each other, you both needed a lot of pushing from your friends to finally confess.

"He looks at you as if you're his whole world! Why aren't you telling him?" Your friends would groan, as they would catch you with your mouth almost agape as he walks past you and gives you a smile.

"No, I don't think he does," you would dismiss your friends' thoughts and before they could say anything else, you would be rushing to your class.

Now, fast forward to three years later, you both are in university and live in a shared apartment. You took your own time to reach to this stage of your life with each other, but you're so grateful where you are now, because there's no one else you'd rather do it with.

"When we'll grow old, we'll be roomies forever!" Rafe would tell you in his little squeaky voice when he wasn't even seven years old. You would giggle at him and eagerly nod. Who knew those little dreams will come true, and you both will be a lot more than just friends?

Sharing an apartment with Rafe is everything you've always imagined it would be, each night feels like the sleepover you had when you were little. Except this time, you don't have this fear of laughing a little too loud that a parent is on their way to scold you for being up for so late. You can laugh and talk as loud as you want to, eat whatever your heart desires and talk about any topic you feel like.

You both have your moments where you tend to forget you're dating and aren't just two best friends who share an apartment solely because they thought it would be fun. One time, you had one of your oldest albums in your camera roll opened, and you were laughing at all the pictures.

"Dude look at this one!" You laughed, finding a hidden gem. Rafe feigned shock as he looked at you.

"You did not just call me dude." He said, deadpanned. You pop a crisp in your mouth from the packet you're both sharing.

"What's wrong with that?" You asked shrugging.

"I'm your boyfriend, that's rude,"

"Whatever bro," you giggled, averting your attention to your phone.

"That's even worse!" He whined.

"OH MY GOD!" You yelled as you laughed out loud, the next picture on your phone seeming pretty unbelievable. It's from a Halloween night years ago, and you both totally forgot you dressed up very poorly as Barbie and Ken. But the thing is, you were Ken and he was Barbie.

You both were dressed in a hot pink from head to toe, and your make up is loud and proud. "You need to be Barbie again," you laughed, as you teased him by nudging his arm with your elbow.

"Definitely not," he chuckled, shaking his head.

It definitely doesn't stop here. It was your aunt's birthday and she had a big party, inviting a lot of your family. It was towards the start of your relationship, and you definitely weren't used to calling this idiot your boyfriend.

"And this is Rafe! He's my uh, my boyfriend! Yes, boyfriend, oh my god!" You said out loud, your aunt laughing at your reaction.

He only shook his head at you and flicked your ear. Your reflexes acted up instantly and your hands went to his hair to completely mess them up.

One thing about you both is that have been extremely competitive since you were little. You've always wanted to beat him in whatever game you're playing, bowling, basketball, or even just Uno. And when one wins, they make sure to remind the other about it every minute.

"Oh my god I totally crushed you!" You yelled, attracting attention from people around you as you jump up and down, looking at the final score of your bowling match with Rafe.

"I won, you lost, I won, you lost," you sang as you danced in front of him, and he just stood there, looking at you.

"Oh shut up," He groaned, walking away as you're there dancing to yourself. You laughed and ran to catch up to him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and he instantly picked you up, you now on his back with your legs around his waist.

"I'm sorry bub, but I did crush you big time," you mumbled kn his ear. He groaned again, and then threatened to drop you on the ground. You let out a squeal and tighten your grip on him, which in turn made him laugh.

But you both are a whole another level of competitiveness when you are a team. There's not a single game invented which you both cannot win as a team, and the adrenaline rush you both get after you win results in some of the most crazy victory couple dances.

You found yourself at a party, and the game of beer pong is at an edge as people are watching you and him compete against another couple. It was the tiebreaker point, and if Rafe made the shot, you both would win.

"You can do this yeah?" You said, your hands holding his face as you looked him straight in the eye. "Just take a deep breathe, and shoot." He nodded at you and you handed him a ping pong ball.

He took his position and took a deep breathe in, clutching onto the ball in his hand. He shot the ball, and you watched from the side expectantly, your hands clutched together. It felt as if everything was in slow motion as the ball made its way to the other end of the table. You heard a soft plop as it landed in a cup of beer, and everyone around you started to cheer out loud.

You ran up to Rafe with the biggest grin on your face and he picked you up and spun you around. One of your friends came up to hand you the cup of beer. Rafe drank half of it, and then gave you the beer left to drink.

Everyone came up to you to congratulate you and hype you up even more, getting an occasional pat on your back. You looked at the couple who you both defeated, and Rafe made his way to them with you on his heels.

"Ding!" He said out loud. "That's the sound of the elevator, because you're not on our level!" He teased them and everyone around you gasped and cheered out loud, as you hollered around. The couple just gave you both a dirty look and leave, and you just looked at Rafe and gave him a high five.

"That'll tell 'em not to challenge us anymore," he said, wrapping his arm around your waist and kissing your head.

But what was the most concerning yet your favorite moment between you two was when he had this urge to be your knight in shining armor, but he also wanted to be the reason you needed help.

You were planning to take a little boat ride with all your friends, and as you all were standing on the dock, Rafe gave you a little nudge and dropped you in the water.

You screamed out loud as you went into the water, but quickly resurfacing as you swam up. You wiped your face with your hands as you pushed all your hair back, and when your eyes regained their focus, you saw everyone on the dock looking at you with utter shock.

You were gasping as you felt the cold water on your skin, when Rafe quickly removed his t shirt and came closer to the edge of the dock.

"Don't worry darling, I'm coming to save you!" He yelled with his chest wide as if he's a hero. You watched him jump into the water and swim up to you, and just as he reached you, you punch him in his arm, hard.

"What the fuck is this?!" You yelled, and Rafe came closer to you and wrapped his arms around you.

"What do you think this is? I'm here to save you," He said with a proud smile on his face.

"You asshole, you dropped me in the water," you said as he started to lead you towards the dock.

"What are you saying? You tripped off the edge and I'm here to save you. Did you hit your head on a rock or something?" He shook his head. You scoffed as he helped you get onto the dock. "I'm your knight babe, I'll always save you whenever you need to be rescued."

"What a relief." You said, rolling your eyes.

What he said that day is totally true though, all these times you've wanted help from someone, he's been there for you without fail. He picks you up everytime you fall down, even literally (but after he finishes laughing at you).

He makes you the happiest you have ever been. You'll always be so grateful for him.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @saccharinesammie @maybankslover @totalswag @madelynie @chenslucy @ietss @elle-mp3 @viawritesstuff @wallsdreams @tahliac11 @sadfury

(If you want to be added, check out the 'join my taglist' post on top! + send in requests if you have any, but please read the 'requests' post first!)

[taurusdaylight]

seven days to say i love you

summary. you and jeno can't get enough of spending time together even when you are practically glued to each other's side at any given opportunity. but spending seven days a week for eternity with your favourite person doesn't sound like a bad idea, right?

pairing. college boyfriend! jeno x fem! reader

genre. hockey player! au, college! au, established relationship! au, friends to lovers! au, fluff

word count. 5,108

warnings/tags. none, this is 423% fluff <3 (but please let me know if i did miss out anything!)

a/n. (repost because there was an error... 😔) but hi!! i'm so sorry for the inactivity, i was so busy and couldn't put out my fics like i wanted to. but i'm back with a small something (my first non-jaehyun fic,,) i wrote this a while back and changed like 3/4 of it, and i hope it'll be a fun read!! i also came back to 2.8k notes on jaehyun bolton fic (is that what we're calling it now? yes.) i don’t reply to every comment/reblog/tag because by the time i see them it’s already so late, but i promise i read through and appreciate every single one of them,, thank you a million times!!!!!! i am working on more stuff now that i'm a little more free... so, as jaehyun likes to say, to be continued... :) hope everyone is well!

–

01 MONDAY.

The beginning of the week never failed to come to you in a dreadful manner, as if to make sure that you felt the full force of what most people like to call the Monday blues. Whoever was in charge of making sure that you would experience it, they certainly did not miss you out today as well.

Not that you enjoyed seeing other people suffer, but if there’s one thing that you’re grateful for, it’s the knowledge that you’re probably not the only one who feels this way. Though, the blaring sound of your alarm ringing at seven in the morning is too eerily similar to having someone have a personal vendetta against you, serving as a very unfriendly reminder that it is also the start of the school week. Perhaps, your disdain for Mondays could be attributed to this… but there’s always an exception, right?

Despite your reluctance to attend your morning lecture, you were somehow seated in the lecture theatre by nine, giving you more than enough time to lay out your laptop and the reading materials that you needed for the lesson before it started. 

Your boyfriend, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Often only going to sleep when the sun is about to rise, Lee Jeno has an unhealthy habit of pulling all-nighters, which causes him to miss his alarm because he’d be so deep in his sleep that he would only be able to hear it after the seventh alarm has gone off, which by then, was most likely the time that he needed to leave his house if he wanted to reach on time. The worst part of this is that he was up all night for the sole reason of wanting to break his record in his mobile games; and he plays so many that even you find it difficult to keep up too. Even when you nagged at him and said that you would complain to his mum, Jeno often dismissed your words as empty threats, still not breaking his bad habit. Reading his text message to you about how he was going to be late again, you could only let out a helpless sigh as you left his message on read.

Jeno announces his appearance by quietly opening the backdoor of the lecture theatre thirty minutes later. He makes his way over to his seat next to you, genuinely appreciating how even though sitting in front is better for your eyesight, you still opted to sit around the last few rows so that it’s easier for him to join the lecture when he comes in late without causing a loud disruption to your peers. 

“Good morning, pretty,” Jeno bends down to whisper in your ear. Removing his crossbody bag, he leaves it in the empty space between you two. Once he settles down, Jeno slides a Venti-sized Hazelnut Latte from Starbucks over to your side of the desk. The rest of the lecture goes by quickly with you and Jeno making silly commentaries about anything and everything.

“Why did you still get me coffee?” you ask Jeno after the lecture had ended, a deep frown etched on your face. “You were already running late, Jeno. You really didn’t have to.” Being late was one thing, and making an additional stop at the café is another, especially because you knew that it was definitely not on the way. 

“Just because,” Jeno replies with a loving smile. The kind of smile where his eyes would curve into beautiful crescents, his pupils almost disappearing because of how wide he is smiling at you. The kind of smile that you’d never get tired of seeing, so much so that you wordlessly lean in to give him a quick peck on the lips to say thank you. 

Perhaps you like Mondays. Mondays with Jeno where you learnt that words left unspoken speak much more volume in expressing one’s heart.

02 TUESDAY.

It’s Tuesday, which means that you and Jeno have some spare time to meet up and study at the café near campus before his hockey practice starts. Study dates with Jeno are admittedly not as productive as you expect them to be, mainly because you often distract each other from getting any actual work done. Because of this, the both of you become public nuisances of some sort, so you had no choice but to study at a café instead of the quiet library. Imagine getting kicked out of the library… that would be an embarrassing sight.

“Jeno, how do you work out the answer to question five? I wasn’t paying attention when Prof taught this...” You look over at Jeno with a sheepish smile, earning a chuckle from him. He isn’t even surprised by your question, guessing that you probably spaced out or dozed off during the lesson.

Without saying a word, Jeno tucks a pencil behind his ear and grabs a piece of rough paper before getting up and shifting to the empty seat next to you, leaving you confused. As if he could read your mind, Jeno speaks again before you could question him. “So that it’ll be easier to explain it to you," he mumbles.

Ironically, the close proximity between the two of you only makes it harder for you to focus, but easier for you to admire his handsome features. Puckered lips, furrowed eyebrows and his gold rimmed glasses slipping down slightly to rest on his nose bridge–Jeno couldn’t look any cuter in this moment as you watch him diligently scribble on the piece of paper. He is seemingly deep in thought about how he should explain this concept to you. Watching how focused Jeno was, you took the chance to lean in, giving him a peck on the cheek before retreating back quickly, chin resting on your palm as your gaze lingers on him, slyly pretending that nothing happened.

“You broke my train of thought!” he grunted. Jeno puts his pencil down and turns to you with an annoyed expression on his face, but swiftly looks back down on the scribbled paper upon making eye contact with you. 

It only dawns on him now that you were staring at him the entire time.

“Don’t do that, you’re distracting me.” His voice is quiet, eyes basically glued to that piece of paper. 

“Sorry, I can’t help it. You’re so handsome and cute.” You pause, seeing a bashful smile appear on his face. “Did you know that a guy is the most attractive when he’s focused?”

“Do you still want my help or not?” Jeno asks with a grimace in his voice.

“Yes, yes, I do. I’m sorry,” you apologise with a small smile. It was difficult to resist the urge of calling him cute again, but you decide not to tease him any further for the sake of his sanity.

“Good. Now pay attention, I need to leave for training soon and if you still don’t get it by then... that’s on you.”

Jeno lied. Even after long hours of training, he still went on FaceTime that night to thoroughly explain the concepts that you were unfamiliar with, not minding that he was practically fighting for his life trying not to fall asleep on you. 

That Tuesday night, you went to sleep with the widest grin on your face. Heart carrying so much love for your boyfriend who coincidentally asked you out for the first time ever on a Tuesday too.

03 WEDNESDAY.

Wednesday's child is full of woe. If there was a sentence that could explain how you feel about this particular day, this would be it. Mid-week crisis should be an actual thing if it wasn’t already one. Not only did Wednesday feel like the longest day of the week, you’d also feel extremely restless, wishing nothing more than for the weekends to come quickly.

Back-to-back seminars for six hours with only a short forty-five minute break in between had to be the most unappealing thing known to mankind, and you’d most certainly file a complaint if it was possible. Then again, this is perhaps part of the university experience. 

However, this still isn’t the most devastating part. What truly makes this a tragedy for you is that Jeno isn't there to accompany you through it all due to conflicting timetables. He also had training again, this time outside of school, which meant that he’d only be free after that.

You’re so used to being around Jeno all the time that you can’t seem to spend even the littlest amount of time away from him even though you pretty much see him almost every day of the week. Talk about being clingy.

The feeling’s mutual for Jeno though. Just like you, he seems to hate the idea of not being by your side too, evident from the numerous messages he sends throughout the day despite knowing that your replies would take longer than usual to come in.

You’re not complaining. Because in one way or another, you feel like that’s his way of being by your side, albeit not physically. It is his text messages of checking up on you and ensuring that you didn’t skip your meals that make this unbearable day a little more bearable. Most of all, you look forward to being on FaceTime with him at night, having him all to yourself after such a long day.

Jeno usually ends training at seven-thirty in the evening, but sometimes it could overrun till eight. Thereafter, he still has to travel home for an hour or so, get dinner and wash up. He hides this from you, but very often he attempts to rush home because he doesn’t want you to stay up too late waiting for him, and because he wants to talk after an entire day of not seeing you.

Jeno makes sure to call before eleven, always starting the conversation by telling you how much he misses you, as if he didn’t already tell you that through text. He goes on to ramble about his day, how he saw the time match the digits of your birthdate and it made him think of you, not forgetting to also ask you how did your day go. Not long after, you’d notice his breaths becoming louder, his speech slightly slurred, and that’s when you know that he’s going to fall asleep soon. Even so, you don’t say anything, simply watching him slowly fall into a deep slumber.

“Good night Jeno,” you whisper softly, careful not to wake him up and taking one last look at how peaceful he looks before ending the call.

04 THURSDAY.

Due to how busy the both of you were, you are grateful for the small gap that Jeno has between classes and practices, just so that you’d still be able to see his face. Once it's about time for him to leave, you get ready to say goodbye to Jeno with a warm hug , when he suddenly stops you by placing his hand over yours.

“Do you want to watch me train?” he asks. “You can say no. But I just thought we could get dinner after so we can spend a little more time together,” Jeno adds, his thumb rubbing small circles against your knuckle. An air of expectancy fills the small booth that the both of you occupy in the reading room as he awaits your answer. 

“I’d love to, Jen.” Flipping his hand over so that you could intertwine your fingers together, you jokingly rush Jeno to pack up his things, telling him how excited you are to finally sit in and watch him train for the first time ever. You’ve only ever heard funny anecdotes of his teammates from him every once in a while, and you’re beyond elated to finally meet the people who bring so much joy into his life.

On the way to the hockey rink, you ask Jeno more about the sport and various positions. You weren’t a sports person but thought that it’d be a good time to know more about it, especially because of Jeno’s immense passion towards hockey.

“So what position do you play?” you glance over at him with curious eyes.

“Centre,” he says, a sense of pride in his voice. Before you could ask him what that position entails, Jeno beats you to it with a rather cheeky explanation. “You just need to know that it’s called centre because I’m supposed to be the centre of your attention.”

True to his words, Jeno remains as the centre of your attention for the entire duration. You’d never admit this to him, but he becomes even more charming than he already is when he’s on the rink. Especially during the friendly match that his team had with a neighbouring school towards the end of practice, his entire demeanour changed so much that you’d think that you were watching an entirely different person.

The way Jeno plays is extremely captivating to watch. You’re not sure how he does it, but you can see him mentally strategizing his next move as the clock ticks. Even down to the last minute of the match, Jeno had not let his guard down, the fire in his eyes so prominent that anyone could see that he was determined to end this with a bang. 

Skating across the rink, Jeno moves at the speed of light, making it hard for his opponents to catch him. He is the ace of the team after all, so it wouldn’t be that easy to mess with him. His eyes follow the puck, set on scoring yet another goal despite their favourable lead. The opponents are in full defence mode too, though it wouldn’t make much of a difference since there's too short of a duration left for them to catch up. Speedily, Jeno intercepts the puck from the opposing team, skating away at high speed, still vigilantly guarding the puck with his stick. With the help of his teammates who effectively block the opponent from getting to Jeno, he manages to catch both your eyes and heart in that moment, making you hold your breath in anticipation as he skilfully shoots the puck into the goal at the very last second.

In the matter of a few minutes, Jeno returns to his usual self, smiling widely and cheering loudly with his teammates to celebrate their victory. And of course, he turns to look at you, giving you a smile that holds some semblance of shyness. It’s fascinating to watch how different he is on and off the rink, but it also reminds you how in love you are with the many sides of him; those you have seen and those that you have yet to uncover.

As promised, Jeno takes you to the burger joint down the alley near your university afterwards. During dinner, he still reenacts the funny incidents that happened during training even though you were present when they occurred. Though, this sweet gesture admittedly warms your heart because it makes you feel even more included in his life, as though he is gradually inviting you to be a part of his world, just as you do the same when talking about your interests and hobbies with him.

Time seems to slow down whenever you’re with him but that’s okay because time is merely a social construct. What matters is that you get to spend time with Jeno, who is now walking you home. With his hand in yours, Jeno slows down his footsteps to match your pace. The atmosphere is filled with shared laughter, along with Sweet Nothing softly playing through Jeno’s airpods, both of you taking one side each. It would have been wired earphones, but a certain someone claims that it gets in the way… of what, he refuses to elaborate. 

It is also a homely moment like this that makes the both of you wish that time could slow down even more as you basked in each other’s comforting presence, sharing the same sentiment of hoping that the walk to your house will last a little longer. Anything to prolong the time that you spend with each other, right?

05 FRIDAY.

Friday may be your favourite day of the week because it is when Jeno is finally free after three consecutive days of training. It is also movie night, where you and Jeno would take turns to go over to each other’s place every Friday evening. 

It was a few weeks into freshman year, when the two of you made this pact after discovering that you were neighbours. How is it possible that you’ve never noticed Jeno before anyway?

Funny enough, it all began with you telling your mum that you made a new friend in college who goes by the name of Jeno. That name clearly rang a bell, prompting her to start narrating her grocery adventures with Jeno’s mother, excitedly telling you how close they were. In her words, “Jeno is a really sweet boy, I’ve been dying to introduce you to him but it slipped my mind so many times!” Gushing about the said boy, she hurried you to invite his family over for dinner, rushing into the kitchen herself to whip a meal up in no time.

The awkwardness of the dinner was enough to kill you from the inside, to say the least. Mothers being mothers, you had to admit that you were amazed at their ability to jump from topic to topic in the span of a few minutes. Together with Jeno’s and your father laughing, they also joined in the conversation from time to time. Meanwhile, you and Jeno sat in silence side by side, and spoke only when necessary.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can we excuse ourselves? It’s my first time at your house and I was wondering if ____ could show me around.” Jeno asked, giving your mum a polite smile as he glanced sideways at you momentarily.

“Of course! The two of you should get to know each other better. Ah, young lo–”

You cleared your throat, preventing your mum from completing her sentence. “Friendship,” she corrected herself.

Believe it or not, you had no idea how dramatic of a person she was up until this moment, or maybe it’s because there was something about Jeno that reeled in her overflowing sense of, you’re guessing, motherly love? That would also explain why the old ladies at the school cafeteria were so nice to Jeno, constantly giving him extra servings. You didn’t know what to think of Jeno’s suggestion since you’ve only known him for a few weeks, and being alone with him couldn’t be any better after having such an awkward dinner. At that time, however, it seemed like it was the next best alternative that you had.

“Let’s go.” You stood up abruptly to disrupt the conversation so that the adults (specifically, your mum) would not have an opportunity to say anything else to make the atmosphere any weirder than it already was. Jeno trailed behind you like a lost puppy, quickly following you upstairs to your room.

“I’m so sorry, my mum doesn’t think before she speaks sometimes. I hope you don’t mind what she said.” You broke the silence, not knowing where this conversation was going exactly, suddenly regretting speaking at all. You took a quick look at Jeno, who was now leaning against the doorframe, standing quite a distance away from the edge of your bed where you were sitting.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a soft smile while shaking his head lightly.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” you asked, the smile on his face now replaced with a frown as he gave you a quizzical look.  

“You’re still leaning against the door?” you asked again, even though it was meant to be more of a statement rather than a question.

Jeno bursted out laughing, “I thought I was making you uncomfortable!” He raised his hand to rub the nape of his neck. He moved away from the door to sit next to you, still leaving a small space between you two.

“Want to watch The Lion King?” you suggested, mindlessly browsing through Disney Plus.

“Are you kidding me?” 

You creased your eyebrows in confusion. “No... why?”

“I love Lion King!” Jeno said a little too enthusiastically, his eyes widening at how there were so many movies in the world, yet you somehow suggested watching his favourite Disney movie.

With the awkward tension in the atmosphere finally gone, you and Jeno made yourselves comfortable on your bed. Unknowingly, the both of you scooted closer to each other’s side as the movie played. By the time the credits scene started to roll, the both of you were already fast asleep, your legs tangled with each other’s under the sheets. 

And as most people would like to say, the rest is history.

However, Fridays weren’t just reserved for movie nights. Soon enough, Friday nights also turned into sleepover nights, which meant that other than your usual movie marathons, you and Jeno end up doing other things too.

Like now, the two of you just ended a karaoke singing session that you would most probably never have again. It was far too loud in the night for your neighbour’s liking, causing them to lodge a complaint, making you and Jeno permanently cross that out of your sleepover activities. 

Jeno comes up with a better idea of setting up a cosy outdoor blanket fort in your backyard to lay on. The sense of tranquillity is like no other, you and Jeno having a heart-to-heart talk in hushed whispers with crickets chirping in the background.

In the end, you fall asleep first, feeling burnt out from the entire school week. Although Jeno knows that you’re already asleep, he still makes sure to pat your head lightly, pressing a gentle kiss on your forehead. “Good night angel,” he breathes, wrapping his arms around your waist before drifting to sleep.

06 SATURDAY.

Saturdays are without a doubt, the most exciting for you. As a matter of fact, dating Jeno is a thrill in itself; but what makes Saturdays exceptional is Jeno taking you out on proper dates.

You and Jeno have been together for slightly over three years now, yet every date always feels like the first. The butterflies in your stomach? They never go away. 

Initially, going on a date with Jeno seemed to be nerve-wracking to you because he’d always bring you somewhere new. Naturally, you thought it was the suspense of not knowing what he planned that made you feel this way.

Deep down, however, you knew that you simply felt this way because it was… Jeno. 

“Why don’t I have anything to wear?” you shout in exasperation to no one in particular as you rummage through the closet to find a perfect outfit for your date. It feels like Jeno has already seen you in everything that you own, and you’re this close to going on Pinterest for outfit ideas. 

That is, until you hear a text notification sound from your phone. It was a text message from Jeno informing you that he's coming over in five minutes. You give up searching, hastily picking out a white turtleneck, layering an autumn brown velvet overall over it. 

“You look pretty today.” This is the first thing that Jeno says to you when you open the door, once again leaning against the door frame with a mellow smile on his face. You can feel the heat rushing to your cheeks because of his compliment.

And there it is again, the butterflies. Lee Jeno looking as flawless as he could be, a cosmic latte dress shirt tucked with a pair of black pants along with a brown leather jacket draped over his shoulders, coincidentally matching your outfit. To top it off, he’s wearing a beret today too, suddenly making him look cuter. It’s as if he travelled back in time, turning into your Victorian boyfriend. 

“But... why are you dressed like this?” Jeno asks, rudely interrupting your staring session.

“Why? Is there something wrong with my outfit?” you were perplexed by his sudden question. Did he not like it? Should you change out of it? He said you looked pretty though. Besides, what else were you going to wear? You stare intently at Jeno, anxious about what he's going to say next. You hope it isn’t something bad.

“I thought I told you we were going cycling...” He stops mid-sentence, brows raised as he purposefully gives you a once-over again.

The tension in your shoulders disappears upon hearing his words. You roll your eyes at him, pushing his right shoulder lightly. “You’re going to ride a bicycle in a leather jacket?”

“Nevermind, please pretend I never said that.” Jeno makes a sulky expression upon realising that he did not plan out his joke well. But he is also quick to shoot you an endearing smile. “I love your outfit, baby.”

“You’re so lucky you’re cute, Lee Jeno.” And that I love you.

Thank goodness though, you were definitely not prepared to make another mess out of your wardrobe to search for another outfit when you’ve painstakingly organised it ten minutes ago.

In many ways, dates with Jeno always feel like the first. A simple thing, like the slight brush of your shoulders against each other as you’re walking down a random shopping street was sufficient to send your heart racing. Jeno’s hesitation to hold your hand in a crowded amusement park even though he really wants to, but he doesn’t know when is the right time to grab it–you can feel it, he fumbles with his fingers, reaches out every now and then, but pulls back immediately when his fingers accidentally meet yours.

And the memory of today that you can’t seem to forget. It’s spring, so Jeno thought that it’s a perfect time to bring you to a flower field located at the outskirts of the city. He’d once seen you looking at pictures of it on Instagram, making a mental note about it before he went home to do more research that night.

It wasn’t an uncommon thing for Jeno to take pictures of you, but when the both of you arrived, he didn’t stop at all, you swear he probably has a thousand pictures of you just from today.

However, what surprised you more was that when you asked Jeno to pose in front of the daisy fields, he happily did, even though there was still a hint of shyness within him since he wasn’t exactly comfortable with being photographed at times. He even went as far as to ask the other visitors to help take pictures of the both of you together, which was something you usually did. It wasn’t something extravagant, but it sure was endearing, and you’re positive that discovering a new side of Jeno made you giddy. So giddy that you never knew how it was possible for your heart to be swelling with so much love for another person.

Just like how daisies symbolise new beginnings, you hope that it's the same for you and Jeno’s story too. To not have endings, but only new beginnings.

07 SUNDAY.

Being certified homebodies, you and Jeno wholeheartedly enjoy staying in. It is also perhaps an excuse for the both of you to cuddle and nap together. You’d think that by the end of the week, you’ll be tired of seeing Jeno’s face for the seventh time. You joke that you are, but in reality, you could never bring yourself to grow tired of being together with your favourite person.

You usually go over to Jeno’s house in the afternoon, which is the ideal time to take a nap. Sometimes, you prayed that it would rain, so that you’ll have an excuse to steal one of his hoodies. Even so, he lets you take them as and when you want to. What is he supposed to do, say no? Of course not. 

Napping wasn’t supposed to be your favourite hobby, but if it meant that you could enjoy the warmth and comfort of being in Jeno’s embrace, then clearly, any other hobby in the world couldn’t possibly compare to it. Like a baby, you snuggle close to rest your head on Jeno’s chest, putting your arms around his neck, taking in his soft cotton scent. The faint sound of his heartbeat and gentle breathing lulls you to sleep, it is very much like a lullaby on its own. 

The best feeling in the world is to wake up the same way you fell asleep–still in Jeno’s arms. Not wanting to awake him, you slowly loosen your arms from his neck. Carefully, you brush his hair to the side, getting a clearer view of his face as you tenderly caress the mole below his eye, and then his cheek. He has pretty eyelashes, you’ve come to notice.

“Jeno,” you call out softly, in hopes of waking him up, but not wanting to be too loud at the same time. You wanted to let him continue sleeping, but the sky is already dark.

“Jeno, it’s time to wake up,” you try again. The clock on his side table reads half past six in the evening, indicating that it is almost dinnertime. His eyes were still shut, but he let out a groggy sound to let you know that he was awake, mumbling something shortly after. You didn’t quite catch it, but you think that he asked you to let him sleep for another five minutes. Typical Jeno.

“But it’s time for dinner,” you try to sit up, only causing Jeno to hug your waist tighter. You could barely move an inch with the way he was holding you.

“Just five minutes.” You let out a sigh, giving in to him.

“Jeno?” 

He hums in response, which you take as a cue to ask your question. “Would you still love me if I were a worm?”

His eyelids finally flutter open, sleep still evident in his eyes. He appears to be in deep thought about your question before he answers. “Yeah. I’d still love you.”

“Hmm…” You narrow your eyes at him. “That took you a while to answer.”

“I just woke up,” he retorts.

“Fine.” You close your eyes and move closer to Jeno’s body, enjoying how he feels like your personal human pillow.

“Okay but what if there were other cuter worms? Like if I weren’t your ideal worm girlfriend, would you still date me?”

“Baby…”

[loz-furbies]

Spirit Tracks Zelda

We've reached the surprise S-tier Zelda!

Design

Her princess look is the usual reused Toon design again, and this time it bothers me extra much since the game goes out of its way to namedrop Tetra as her ancestor. If you actively want me to think of multiple Zeldas in one game, you should give them different looks!

The Phantom design isn't really what I'm usually into, but it is cute when she retains her princess personality even when using a hulking suit of armour, and the Phantom isn't made any girlier (other than a slight pinkish purple colour scheme) just because a girl is controlling it. Though I wonder how much that is affected by the risk that little boys wouldn't want to play the game if the cover art had a girly suit of armour on it.

Character

The Sprit Tracks Zelda probably has more screen presence than the other Zeldas put together, and the extensive screen time is also luckily used to make her a more interesting character.

She starts out already as a mature and responsible ruler of her people (there's no king in this game), which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity, as you could give her more character development if she wasn't already so competent at her job. Regardless, the plot starts to happen and the bad guys steal her body to use it as a vessel for the resident big bad, and her now disembodied spirit gets to show quite the range of emotions and participate in comedic scenes as well. Like her horror at having her body kidnapped for end boss resurrection is played for laughs, because her first thought is just that the whole idea is gross.

Once her body is stolen, she gets both incredibly motivated to get it back, and starts bossing other characters around while she just sits back. One of the funniest scenes in the story is when she gets closer and closer to Link's face with each sentence as she pushes him to take the job. When the mentor character Anjean says that Link needs a companion, Zelda first goes through every NPC she knows, and Anjean has to be the one to suggest that Zelda go herself.

The way she is depicted about this changes more sympathetic once she starts to look just really helpless about the situation and that her not taking more action was more about that she didn't think there was anything she could do than just selfishly demanding others to do all the work. When it's eventually settled that she'll be the one to join Link, we end the scene with Link's exasperated sigh, which does give the whole thing a somewhat "great, now we need to drag this useless annoying girl along" vibe.

For the most of the game, Zelda has a friendly and cheerful personality, and feels more energetic than many of the other Zeldas. The opening credits where she flies alongside Link's train are so cute! One of her lines when boarding the train is an excited "Aaall aboooard!" too, which I was always happy to see.

She keeps her personality in her Phantom form too, so we get to see the Phantom do a giddy pose and say lines like "eeek!" and "hee hee". And while she initially complains how unpleasant being inside hot scrap metal is, she quickly becomes excited at her new power, and starts the Phantom gameplay sections confident that together they'll be able to get through. Once she takes part in a mini boss battle she even gets a little cocky and comments how good it was that she was there to help, but this doesn't lead to any plot line about her being overconfident or anything like that.

At first Zelda appears more concerned about getting her body back than preventing the end boss from taking over the world. Also after Anjean has done the "you two escape, I'll hold the enemy back" mentor thing, Zelda expresses vague worry. The player then gets to ask if she means Anjean, and Zelda's response is a pretty dismissive "oh right, her too", which felt really weird because this is pretty late in the game and she should have bonded with Anjean more at that point and shows concern for other characters at multiple points. While she is clearly heroic in the grand finale, I wish the plot line about her initially selfish motives (or I mean I think it's pretty fair for her to want her body back but she's portrayed somewhat flippant about it) had gotten a more concrete wrap up.

Another thing that quite didn't hit the mark is the possibility that even if they manage to drive the end boss out of Zelda's body, she might not be able to return to it. Zelda is understandably worried, but all this amounts to is one encouraging line from Link/the player. This does get some payoff when she is actually incapable of entering her body again and only manages to pull it off after a pep talk from a villain-turned-ally, so the plot line isn't completely pointless. But it does feel like it sort of fizzles out.

Other notable characteristics about Zelda are that she's ready to work with the aforementioned villain ally so she appears pretty forgiving, and also shows a dorky side of herself when she starts shadowboxing the air when she claims she'll "have words" with him later. She can also stand her ground and talk back when the situation requires it, and Anjean notes that she's feisty like Tetra.

It's also nice that Zelda gets some lines to just talk about herself, like that she used to visit the ocean world village during summer and hopes to come back again to swim together with Link, or that her grandmother playing the spirit flute used to calm her down as a child, or that she misses the castle and wishes she ate more of her favourite foods while she had the chance. She also hates bugs and tells Link to go to the forest village alone, but changes her mind since she doesn't like the thought of waiting at the forest train station alone with the bugs either.

In addition to her dislike of bugs, she is also scared of mice, which becomes a gameplay mechanic when she can't move if there are mice enemies around. Having your female lead get paralysed by fear from the sight of a mouse is kind of stereotypical and I wish they would have thought of some other way, but at least it's set up first.

Finally my analysis may make her seem more selfish and flippant than she is in the actual game experience; in most of the scenes she's perfectly friendly, shows concern for others and puts in the work herself. It's just that some scenes felt somewhat inconsistent and didn't have a proper payoff. Overall Spirit Tracks Zelda is a really strong character with many sides to her, but I do wish her character development was better defined by giving her a clear moment that references her initial inelegant reaction to losing her body and makes a note that she's different now.

Role in the story

The basis of the plot is the usual fare: Zelda senses that something is up, but gets kidnapped before she can do anything about it, and in the finale she does some big magic stuff to neutralise the end boss. But as we know this is the one mainline Zelda game (before EoW that is) where you get to play as her and she is present through the whole game, which makes a huge difference. Her presence makes it easy to keep in mind what's at stake at all times, and even if many Zeldas make great (and bigger/more dramatic) efforts and sacrifices that are essential to saving the kingdom, the player getting to be an active participant in all that just hits different.

Through the whole game and especially the multi-part final battle I was holding my breath for if Zelda would be damseled after all, but luckily that was not the case and she remains playable for the whole thing. The final scene where Link is pushing the sword into the boss's head and Zelda runs over to help really hammers it home that this was a team effort. A+ for that!

During my playthrough I got an unscripted moment where I was running away from an unkillable enemy and Phantom Zelda happened to stand in the way, so she was able to hold the enemy off for a moment while I made my narrow escape. Which was one of the most memorable things to happen in the game for me, moments like that just feel so much more meaningful when they're not in a cutscene. And in the context of the loz franchise it was cute for the roles to be reversed for once since Link spends so much time rescuing Zelda.

Gameplay wise Phantom Zelda is good as well. Or the sections where she is present include a lot of stealth and it's been well documented on this blog how much I hate that, but the puzzle and action parts with two playable characters who have different abilities are pretty fun.

Also a point in Zelda's favour as a companion is that I didn't feel like she was disruptive for the gameplay. Even if an NPC is likable, if they constantly interrupt the player their presence can quickly become a bother, but I thought that Zelda's lines didn't take too much time, and generally she shows up in situations where you would be reading NPC dialogue anyway.

Relationships

This time Link and Zelda aren't already friends, and instead meet for the first time when she officiates his train engineer graduation ceremony, and then requests his help to sneak out of the castle to investigate the Spirit Tower (because you need to go there by train). Which is a pretty logical way to get them working together, like sure she does trust a total stranger pretty fast but whatever.

Their relationship doesn't really get developed during the story, and is mostly just based around the implicit knowledge that going on such an adventure together naturally brings you closer. Zelda does regularly compliment Link for doing well so there's that at least, but I think most of their relationship relies on the player growing to like Zelda through the game and transferring those feelings to Link. They do end the game holding hands, which probably puts them in the top 5 canon Zelink couples, though I'd rather see it just as two friends who have gone through a lot together finally getting some relief; I don't remember anything else in the game that could be seen as romantic. Regardless it's cute that both of them move their hands at the same time so they're clearly on the same wavelength.

As for the other characters, the mentor Anjean feels more of a mentor to Zelda than Link, since she's the one whose emotional state is discussed a lot more. Aside from that one weird comment about being seemingly dismissive about Anjean's fate (or maybe Zelda was sure she was ok and thus didn't even think to be concerned about her safety? That wasn't my reading of the scene though), they care about each other and Anjean ascending to heavens at the end hits Zelda specifically.

The villain's henchman and a former student of Anjean's becomes a somewhat important character to Zelda as well. Once he's betrayed and incapacitated by the end boss (duh) Zelda becomes concerned for his well-being immediately, though it's not really explained why. I guess she's just empathetic? Him being Anjean's former student probably helped. Zelda doesn't directly say that she has forgiven him (not that he apologised), but she does say she has a bone to pick with him after they're done with the end boss in a very non-serious way, so I feel that it's implied. He is presumably moved by this and sacrifices himself in the final battle, and the failure to save him is the big bittersweet moment for the finale. This didn't really do much for me since their relationship wasn't that developed, but I guess it's nice that he got to do something at least.

Zelda's old teacher is also a prominent NPC and the two clearly care for each other, though this doesn't really get explored that much. Zelda does comment that the teacher would have loved one of the puzzles Link solves, and hopes to bring him to see it too. She also has a mutually respectful relationship with Link's engineering teacher and a former soldier.

[thedo0zyslider]

The third death game has certainly been an experience so far. Maybe a more negative one for Scar. The whole soulbond gimmick wasn't really working out for him, and probably hadn't been since the first day. It was working out fine for everyone else though...

Well, mostly everyone else.

The sun's starting to set now, as Scar travels the server on foot. Normally, at this time of day, he would be hauled up in the Red Velvet Keep, feeding Jellie and taking care of his pandas. But Scar didn't feel like staying ag the Keep today, so he'd feed his pets early, told Jellie she was in charge, and headed out. (He's pretty sure Jellie fell asleep right after he left, but she was a very good cat! She'd wake up and sort out any trouble if she needed too!)

He didn't know where Grian was, and probably didn't want to find out. Maybe he was baking bread with his secret admirer again. That did seem to be his teammates favorite hobby as of late.

It really was a coincidence he ended up by Ren and Bigb's box. Normally, he would've gone towards the Ranch go bug ol' Timmy, but he's pretty sure Tango would've actually set him on fire. So, Scar took to wandering around the server instead.

And his wandering had brought him here.

Scar approached the cobblestone box lazily, not thinking anyone would be out. It was almost dark out, after all! And fighting monsters wasn't really an ideal pasttime in this game. Then the sound of movement, of blocks being moved and placed, comes from nearby, and Scar's not so sure about his assumptions anymore.

"Is that a Ren-diggity-dog I see?" Scar says, spotting quite the familiar figure outside Box. He doesn't know what Ren is doing with those blocks, since his base seem to be done. Maybe he's trying to Box jelwey, or something like that. He did quite enjoy decorating the outside walls, for whatever reason.

"Scar!" Ren exclaims, looking over at his base's newest guest. His tail starts wagging behind him happily. Scar mentally compares him to an excited little puppy, which is basically what Ren is at all time. "How are ya man?"

"Oh, I'm good!" He smiles, remembering why he hsd left home and wandered out in the first place. Scar was not doing good at all, no siree. "Found out my soulmates seeing someone else, but I'm doin' amazing!"

"Er, right." Ren mumbled, leaning against Box's wall awkwardly. If Scar noticed how his tail stopped wagging, he didn't make an indication of it. "Forgot about that."

"It's fine Ren, it's fine!" Scar says, waving his hands dismissively. Ren isn't the one cheating, after all. He has nothing to be sorry for. BigB and Grian are their own people who could make their own choices, and they had apparently decided that soulbonds and their shared lifeforce meant absolutely nothing.

"Well, I do feel a little bad." Ren shrugs, not noticing how his sunglasses slide down his face. Seeing his eyes made his friend's expression look all the more troubled. "Your soulmate is messing around with mine."

"It's not your fault! I didn't expect you to have BigB on a leash or anything." Scar reassures, reaching over to give his friend a firm yet gentle pat on the shoulder. A very reassuring pat, if he does say so himself. Scar is very good at making people feel better. Usually.

Ren smiles up at him, seemingly reassured by the pat; if only just a little bit. (Which meant his pat had been a success! A small one, but a sucess nonetheless!) "Heh, yeah."

"How are you doing, Ren?" Scar hums, changing the topic away from his feelings at the first opportunity. He came out here to get away from all those gross complicated feelings about Grian and being cheated on! He doesn't want to talk about them on his nice relaxing walk! Not that Ren could've known that, of course.

"Uh, kinda not good, my dude." The dog admits, leaning against one of his base's walls. His tail has started to droop now, as well. "But it'll come to pass."

Scar frowns, idly resting a hand on hid hip. It's unusual to see Ren this sad. The sight is definitely more than a little worrying. "The cheating really bothering you, huh?"

"Is it not bothering you?" Ren counters, raising an eyebrow at him. Scar stiffens under that gaze, feeling the resentment and the hurt bubble back up again. He pushes it down before speaking.

"It is." Scar mutters. He doesn't say much else, and doesn't want too. Ren seems to sense that, and nods; not prodding any further like he might’ve normally done.

Scar shuffles his feet, feeling awkward. Neither of them say anything. He doesn't think there's anything to say. Sorry my soulmates seeing yours sounded lame. They didn't need to apologize for it anyways. Ren and Scar didn't need to say sorry fir anything, unless they started kissing each other too.

Oh, that was certainly an idea. A very good idea for payback. And giving Grian a taste of his own medicine sounded like a very good plan at the moment.

Scar hums, not giving himself any mkre timr to think about or doubt his brilliant new plan. "I did have a little idea though..."

"Really?" Ren asks, his tone playful and a smile returning back to his features. "What kinda of 'idea?' Another scam?"

"Oh, very funny Ren!" Scar laughs softly, taking a few steps forward. They would need to be closer for his plan to work, after all! "But no, it's not a business plan this time. It's something very different!"

"Different in what way?" Ren studies him, interested. His tail thumps against the cobblestone wall behind him lightly, now like a curious little puppy instead of a happy little one. Scar can't help but smile.

"Well, how about some payback?" Scar asked, a slight smirk spreading across his face. It's his salesman smirk, though he isn't selling anything this time. Unless he decides to make Ren pay up after the fact....

"Payback?" Ren ask tentatively, feeling his right ear twitch. Scar can almost see the cigs turning in his head as he studies their positions. But the light blub hasn't quite lit up yet. So he decides to give it just a hit more electricity.

A second later, Scar leaned forward, until thier noses were almost touching. Ren blinks back at him, said light blub finally lighting up in his brain. Something sparkles in his eyes. Scar wants to find out what.

"Oh, payback." He muttered, not moving away. Scar thinks Ren actually gets pulled in closer, like a magnet is drawing them together. The universe must agree with his plan then, if its pulling them closer!

"I take it your on board?" Scar asks, raising an eyebrow. Tentatively, he pushed Ren back a little, so he's backed into the wall. Ren lets him.

Ren snorts, rolling his eyes fondly. He takes one of Scar's hands in his own, and laces their fingers together. Scar tries not to blush too hard at the action. "Obviously. Now shut up and do it already!"

Scar smiles at his friends enthusiasm, and wastes now time after that. He kisses Ren softly, finding himself suddenly unsure as he pressed their lips together. Ren kisses back with a hum, clearly finding it enjoyable.

The kiss deepens after a moment, and after Scar has time to gain a bit of his confidence back. Not too deep, but deep enough to leave them needing air and pull away gasping. Which is exactly what they do, by the way, when locking lips and the lack of air because of it become a bit too suffocating to handle.

"That was....cool." Ren mumbled quietly, pushing his sunglasses back up his face. It doesn't do anything to hide how hard he's blushing. Scar has to hold back a giggle at the sight.

"Yeah." Scar agrees, just as breathless as he feels. (And probably looks, too.) He had to admit, Ren was a surprisingly good kisser! "Wanna do it again?"

"Of course, dude!" Ren agrees, laughing softly. Scar leans in to kiss him again, and is met in the middle. It's the closest thing to heaven he's felt all season, and he wants more. (And hopefully, Ren will be here to give him more tomorrow...)

He hopes Grian is happy.

[mischiefmanaged71]

Let’s Fall In Love For The Night - (2/10)

Summary: Being the eldest daughter of a Duke and Duchess means that Lady Y/N has been prepared for society; to fulfil her duties as the next heir to her family name and estate. However, she dreams of so much more than that, particularly, finding someone she truly loves rather than a political match. Intrigue sparks an idea with the introduction of Tom Bennett, a soldier she meets on a Press tour - forming a new relationship that could either make or break her apart should things turn against her favour.

Pairing: Tom Bennett x fem! reader

All of her attention fell onto the book in her lap as Y/N poured over the pages. The overcast sky shrouded the enormous front lawn in a dull light, suiting for the crisp weather. She found herself drifting from the pages, lost within a daze. Her thoughts wandered to him.

The young sailor she had met those days prior. Tom Bennett. His behaviour would have been presumed as controversial and arrogant, to ask such questions. And yet, she found his conversation quite refreshing. He was respectful in the way he treated her, not gawking at her as many men did. There was much to appreciate in both his conversation and his appearance. She wouldn’t deny there were many parts to his appearance that drew her in. His blonde hair neatly brushed atop his head. Those soft blue eyes which grew mellow with the contrast of the sky and sea. His strong bone structure, the curve of his lips-

Her train of thought was cut off with the approach of footsteps, followed by her door swinging open. She groaned as her youngest brother, Matthew, leaped into her arms. A laugh escapes her mouth as she excitedly embraced him back. "Someone's very excited today." She smiled, "What are you up to?"

Her smile dropped, meeting her mother's concerned gaze from the doorway.

"Something distracting you?" Her mother asked.

Y/N raised her eyebrows, releasing her arms from her brother's shoulders as he wandered off, probably to find some entertainment.

"You seem distracted, as of late."

"It’s nothing. I find myself absorbed in my books." She replied, eyes distant.

Her mother smiled, accepting the answer "How was the tour?"

Y/N didn’t meet her gaze, "It was perfectly fine. Although I wouldn't say I'm comfortable with the attention."

"I'm sure they were stunned for many reasons. It's not every day they grace a Lady."

"Yes, but they are also deprived of female attention." Y/N pointed out. "You should see the way they stare."

"I know how they do." Her mother replied.

"It's disconcerting. And dehumanising." she stated.

Her mother agreed, but what else was there to do within their world?

"I understand your father spoke to you already, but I’ve thought over it. Are you sure there isn't any possibility out there you haven't considered? Is there anyone-"

"My answer is the same, mother." Her expression hardened, "I do not desire the same things as you and father. I don't care for any of the men you’ve proposed."

"And that is okay. There are plenty of opportunities to meet someone."

Y/N sighed, "I do not believe I will find a suitable partner in the current circle you have me entangled in."

"Why not? Why have you dismissed them all?”

She raised her eyebrows, "Mother-if you'd only speak to them, you would understand. Many of them are ludicrous, pompous and entitled. The appeal ceases to be seen."

"But, not all of them will be like that." 

Y/N sighed, shaking her head. Her mother was relentless in her questions. She loved her parents, but their persistence on certain matters threatened to drive her to insanity sometimes.

"One of the things I adore about you, my daughter, is your passion and imagination. I've always hoped you would hold onto that keen sense of the world. But I'm afraid the kind of dreams you pursue aren’t a reality, especially for people like us."

"Ah, yes.” she smiled sardonically, “We are most proud of living with zero ounces of happiness in our lives in favour of supplicating the opinions of others." Y/N strained a smile, standing from her seat to cross her room. "Of course, one cannot be happy in our realm of the world, right, mother? Not with all our privileges, wealth and status."

"What has caused this pessimistic behaviour of recent?" She breathed in a low whisper.

The smile fell from her face as she stood tall before the woman, “I'm just being realistic, mother. Isn't that what you wanted?"

The Duchess' strained jaw and unwavering stare told her otherwise.

Her daughter sighed, grabbing her coat from the rack, "I'm going out. Don't wait up for me."

"Y/N-"

"-I'll be back later.", her tone of voice was curt.

"Take care of yourself." Her mother left her with that.

***

Usually Y/N would take the chauffeur and car, but that day she felt up for travelling without the extra pair of eyes. She headed to the garage, collecting the keys to her Jaguar for a trip.

It was freeing, pulling away from the winding roads of the manor to the main road and off to somewhere further. An enticed feeling rushed through her as the wind flowed through her hair. The time gets away from her while the towns pass by. Many hours have left her before she stopped in the nearest town. It was by the sea too, which was a grand idea to her in the moment. Another upside was, she'd never stepped foot in the town, increasing the appeal without, hopefully, too many wandering eyes.

Y/N wandered the street, scanning her surroundings with interest. Many identical buildings lined the street - evidently flats and store fronts on the opposite end. There was an essence of freedom laced in her veins as she wandered the streets aimlessly, studying her new scenery with interest.

A giddy feeling stirred in her chest at the sight of the beach in the distance. It was still daylight, although later in the afternoon, which was the perfect timing for a stroll. While the Manor was certainly lovely with its picturesque setting, horse paddocks, and gardens - it could not compare to the serenity of the ocean.

She slipped off her heels, digging her toes into the sand as she walked along the shore. A deep sigh left her chest, the calming crash of the ocean and the quiet swallowing her overactive thoughts.

Tom Bennett strolled down the street from his house after departing once again for some fresh air. In his running streak of behaviour, there always seemed to be something for his dad or Lois to pick out. Not that he wasn't perpetuating these behaviours. He was an instigator of many fights and arguments, inside and outside of his home. That's what made him a bit of a troublemaker and arrogant sod. At least that is what he'd heard.

He exhaled, a puff of smoke releasing from his mouth. The man halted in his steps, closer to the turn off toward the beach. Perhaps a walk would clear his head. Not that he didn't already spend enough time in the ocean.

Tom considered whether it was luck, fate or some other being at work. It was probably pure coincidence as he recognised the woman walking along the shore.

"What brings you back here so soon?" He called out, seeing as she was less than twenty paces away. He didn't want to frighten her by standing so close and addressing her straight away.

Her head whipped around in confusion, not expecting attention. Y/N gasped and faltered in her steps, recognising the man upon meeting his gaze.

"I'll be honest. I don't really know." She confessed, "I just kept driving."

"It's a bit far, isn't it?"

She nodded, "I needed a getaway."

"Troubles at home?"

She glanced at him, hesitant to answer. Tom continued, stepping closer.

"Nah, I know all about that." Breathing another puff from his cigarette. "What are you doing here then?" He gestured.

She shrugged, "I needed space, and this is the most quiet I'll get. It's so peaceful."

"I best be going then." He said, turning to leave her to her quiet/

"No-um. You can stay." She waved a hand, taking a seat on the sand. He smirked, enticed with her flustered face as she recovered. Tom watched her push the hair from her face. "I promise, it's fine."

"Alright." He agreed, taking a seat next to her, "I'll stay."

A silence passed for a minute or so as they watched the waves crash on the shore. It was a comfortable silence that stilled over the moment. And yet, Y/N felt something stir in her stomach as she anxiously thought over something to say. Tom broke the silence.

"So, what's got you down here? By yourself.”

She glanced from him back to the waves while the tightness in her chest returned, "My parents can be...overbearing sometimes."

Tom raised his eyebrows, allowing her to continue.

"They keep persisting about this one thing no matter how many times I've told them of my place." She continued, shaking her head in exasperation. "Do you know how infuriating it is? It's like they don't even want listen to what I have to say at all."

"I can understand that." he tilted his head, leaning his arms across his knees, “Have you tried another approach or...”

She huffed, shaking her head. What options did she have besides badgering her position over and over to a brick wall. “I couldn't possibly know what's good for myself, or what I want. As a woman, it doesn't matter. In the end, everyone judges me no matter what decision I make."

He glanced at her, his lips tucked in a tight line “What is it that’s bothering you, exactly? That is, if you don’t mind sharing.”

Y/N opened and closed her mouth, "They expect me to meet people. To be married one day to some pompous Lord, or even a Prince, despite my heavy dispute of the matter."

"Why? You don't like those posh types?" A smirk lining his lips.

She sent him a ludicrous look, "I do not want to spend the rest of my life under someone else's thumb. If you met any one of the possible options my parents put forth, you'd agree."

"Don't think I'd have to meet them." he murmured, humour in his tone.

Y/N continued, unloading the weight on her mind. "They are arrogant, overconfident pricks - expecting of a wife to do everything but share her thoughts."

He nodded, "They sound lovely. It's a wonder the bastards get so far without a personality."

“Yes, they all seem to share the same patronising stare and snobbish look.”

They laughed together, the conversation flowing back and forth for long until they realised it was hours later.

"It's been nice. Talking with you." She ducked her head, "I do hope to see you again. If that's possible." glancing at him briefly.

"Sooner rather than later." He smiled, leaning closer.

"Your crew leaves in two months." she stated.

Tom nodded, "Ready to ship me off to the next battle. Be lucky if we manage to sink their ships before they do ours."

"Be careful." She mustered a small smile, "It would unfortunate to lose you so soon after we just met."

"Worried about me, love?" He teased, "Don’t be. I've been told I’m stubborn, so they'll have to try very hard."

A beat passed before she whispered, “Are you ever afraid?" 

Tom swallowed, tilting his head "All the time. All it takes one mistake, one hit and we could all go down. What I’ve learnt is -you have to look out for yourself." He stated, "The world is fucked up. We're paying the price for someone else's war."

The breeze drew through her hair as she looked down at her hands, listening to him.

"I can't say I know the same struggle as you, but I can hope to understand your fear. I have two younger brothers...I fear what would happen to them if they were forced to fight. It is not fair that others should have to fight, while we reside comfortably in our homes."

"I assume your family don't share that view."

She sighed, a breathy laugh escaping her mouth "No. Many of them do not. Many of my relatives regard me as rebellious for my opinions. Because a Lady should not speak her opinions, no less controversial one's regarding them."

Tom laughed, and she chased the lovely sound, looking at him with wonder. "You'd get along with my sister."

"What is she like?"

"Lois is smart, and caring. We get along right. She takes care of me and Dad." He smiled, something sad there, "My mother died when I was young, so Lois took on a lot of her roles. Keeping us boys in check."

"I'm sorry." Tom looked down at her hand covering his. He hummed, clasping her hand as he nodded.

"It was a long time ago. Lots happened since."

"And where do you see yourself later?" She asked, bringing his gaze up. "You know, when you get back?"

"Why you asking?”

She shrugged, leaning back on her hands. "Just wondering. A lot can change in two months.”

"No plans." He replied, moving closer to her. There was only a small space left between them now.

"Have you travelled much?" Y/N asked, meeting his gaze. His eyes were this particular shade between blue and grey that she could find herself lost in. The subtle scent of something citrus and spiced filled her senses.

"Round England. That's about it. I haven’t really had a reason to travel.”

She mustered a smile, looking down "Maybe you could show me Manchester sometime? I could show you around where I grew up."

"Just say when and I'm yours." Her cheeks flushed and she turned, gasping at the gap between them. Tom's smirk fell into a stare as his eyes darkened, glancing between her eyes and lips. She felt her heart pound in her chest at his stare and the his warm breath mixing with her own.

Neither of them said anything, Y/N's own eyes falling to his full lips that seemed to instinctively twist into a playful smile that drove her mind into overdrive. Her eyes fluttered shut against her better judgement as she felt him lean closer and all logic left her with the thought of a kiss sending a rush of vertigo through her veins. That's what the feeling was with him, the brush of his hand and that stare sent shivers along her skin.

Something twisted in her gut as she suddenly realised what she was doing. She had only just met Tom. It wasn't suitable, and she wasn't going to rush into things. Y/N's felt her face flush as she exhaled. Her breath brushing Tom's face cheek as she pulled back.

"I should go. It's late." She smiled apologetically.

"Right." Tom nodded, his eyes glancing around before he helped her off the ground. She was hesitant to let go of his hand, allowing him to walk her to the car. 

She finally broke the silence, deciding to just go for it "What would you say if I came back on Monday? Around noon?”

"I'd call it a date." a grin grew on his face as he shut the door for her, "Drive safe, love."

TAGS

@pearlstiare @dothrckis @aemonds-sapphire @xcharlottemikaelsonx  @filipinamultifandom ​ @padfooteyes ​ @aemondsvhagar @batsyforyou @yentroucnagol @cl-0-vr @viviartsy @h3k3t @arcana-greenleaf  @yummycastiel @amysnowflake92 @lauraneedstochill @ladybug0095 @rntrsna @schniiipsel

[cosmicjoke]

Hi hi! ☺️

How often do you think Levi visited orphanages after getting kids from the underground? I think Levi has a soft spot for children and I have a feeling that kids love him since they are so innocent and can tell when a person is kind-hearted

Hi there,

I like to imagine Levi visited as often as he could. I'm sure Levi must have been pretty busy, given he was one of the only remaining senior officers left in the SC, but whenever he had a chance, I'm sure Levi used it to visit the orphanages, just to check in and see how it was going, etc... I definitely think Levi has a soft spot for kids. We see him either interacting and/or helping them in some way throughout the story, so I can easily imagine a scenario like that, where he stops by to check in, ask how everyone is doing, etc... He's specifically mentioned as having thrown his support behind Historia's idea to bring all of the children from the Underground up above, which tells us that he's definitely passionate about it.

It's cute to imagine all the kids running up to and surrounding him when he does. I agree that kids would love him. Levi strikes me as the type of person who would understand that children don't want to be talked down to or treated like they're dumb. I think he would treat them like little adults, giving them the same consideration and attention as an adult, etc... I think it's likely that Levi himself got dismissed a lot because of his height, that he got mistaken for a child a lot, even when he was probably in his late teens, early 20s, and treated like he didn't matter or wasn't worth consideration as a result. Levi seems a little sensitive about his height, and that might be one reason why. I always bring up the incident with the clown in Marley too, and how put off Levi was by what happened there. It's a comedic moment, but Levi seems genuinely disturbed by it. He seems more freaked out than he is in the middle of combat situations, where his life is being threatened, and you have to wonder why. It might be due to some kind of trauma related to being mistaken for a child throughout his life. Also just anyone sneaking up behind you and whispering in your ear, coming from where Levi comes from, and the general danger levels of the Underground, that incident probably rang all of his alarm bells.

Anyway, that got a little off topic, lol. But yeah, I definitely think Levi would have taken every opportunity he had to visit the orphanages and that the kids no doubt loved him. It was probably the highlight of their day when he came for a visit.

[fainting-fat-cat]

Things you probably didn't realize are dismissive and often times demoralizing; a non-comprehensive list:

-Chronically ill or disabled person says, "Man my body hurts, I wish I could transplant my brain into a pain-free body."

Friend responds, "I think everybody feels that way sometimes."

Uh, no bitch. I mean, yes, bitch. But also, no. The pain we are talking about is VERY fucking different.

-Chronically ill or disabled person says, "I'm so tired. I slept 12 hours and I feel like I never slept."

Friend responds, "You shouldn't be tired! Just have some caffeine and quit whining!"

Or alternatively, "I'm tired too. We're all tired."

I know you're tired. But your tired came about because you stayed up too late doom scrolling and mine is because my body hates me and chooses violence at every opportunity. It doesn't really matter how much or little I sleep because I'm in some awful place where sleep is imaginary and rest doesn't matter.

-Chronically ill or disabled person says, "I'm just feeling really defeated, you know? It's hard to lose so much of what felt like me."

Friend responds, "You've just got to be positive! It'll get better."

Ah yes, the power of positive thinking. Well, Karen/Kyle, I think you say that because my supposed bad attitude makes you uncomfortable and quite frankly I don't give a fuck about your comfort in this matter.

-Chronically ill or disabled person choosing to disclose something about their condition in order to safely interact with someone, "Just a heads up, I have this condition and it can make existing difficult in this way that pertains to you."

Coworker/acquaintance/friend says, "Oh my god, you're such an inspiration. You're so strong!"

Or alternatively, "You're just trying to get out of this thing."

OR, "Have you tried yoga? My cousin's sister's dog's nephew did yoga and it completely cured everything that's ever been wrong with him."

I'm seriously going to punch the next person who says this shit to me in the face and have no remorse. And no, they're not just trying to be encouraging. Get fucked.

[sleekervae]

The Neighbour [3.8]

Masterlist

A/N: I laugh when I think about how I wanted to have this chapter up my Halloween. Whoopsie lol. Anyway, who's been listening to Fever Dream on repeat? Because my go-to-jam is Off with the Head and Toxic in You -- highly relatable 😂

Little shoutout to @imabee-oralizard for inspiring me to finish this latest smut-venture with King of the Damned. I could write a better in-depth version but this pretty much enlists all the qualities I love about that song.

Little disclaimer: There are drugs mentioned within this chapter. I'm not implying that any of the members of Palaye do these specific drugs, it's purely there for plot purposes. But we're also adults and some drug use is referenced in some of their songs so... don't @ me pls.

Warnings: smut ahead, mentions of drug use, alcohol consumption

---

They sat curled up together in the back of an Uber, the hills quiet and glimmering with the eerie haze of orange decorations. This time tomorrow, the neighbourhood would probably be crawling with kids zipping up and down in their costumes, toting giant bags for candy and never being satisfied when parents would assure that enough was enough.

Eva always liked Halloween, though she hadn't embraced it as much these past couple of years. She was excited when Remington suggested matching costumes for the season, never having the opportunity before with past exes. And the gleam in his eye when he pulled out his Halloween decorations was all too endearing to her.

His hand stayed firm on her thigh, just creeping over the hill of her knee. He looked too good in his suit, hair messy and dark makeup smudged beneath his eyes. He reminded her of that meme; "looks like they could kill you but are actually a cinnamon roll" type of joke. He didn't help her case by conveniently going without a shirt under that suit jacket.

"Emerson's gonna' be late," Remington huffed, glancing at his phone.

"You guys live in the same house," Eva pointed out with jaunt.

"And I'm not his keeper," he replied, "One day, he'll just be Shy's problem,"

"Somehow, I doubt she's complaining," she chuckled, "So, besides Caity, will I know anybody at this thing?"

"Of course. Andy's there, Hannah, Ash, and if you meet anybody you don't know, you just tell them you're my girl," his eyes crinkled over his mask.

Eva simpered, "... Or your wife," she joked.

His brow popped and he shifted closer, "Maybe one day you'll be doing just that," he murmured.

"What? Being your wife?" she chuckled, "I'm only twenty-four, Rem,"

"I always forget you're a little younger," he replied.

"Because I don't act like it?"

"Because you're too smart for me,"

Eva slapped his arm, "Oh cut it out, honey,"

A bemused giggle rumbled from his chest as he leaned over, nuzzling her nose through their masks. It was all they could do within the Uber, despite the driver's dismissive glances in the rearview.

"You look amazing in that dress, babe," he whispered, his eyes shooting up and down the expanse of her little black dress.

Eva blushed, squirming in her seat when his hand moved further up her thigh, "You're not so bad, yourself,"

"You know it's not too late," he surmised, "We could ask this guy to turn around, go home, pick out a movie and not watch it,"

She rolled her eyes, "Wasn't that my idea?" she queried, "In fact, weren't you the one who assured me we weren't going to be staying long? And besides, what about our driver?"

"I'll leave him a good tip," he whispered.

"That's very kind of you," the driver suddenly said, and Remington and Eva jumped apart, "But we're here,"

And sure enough, they had pulled up in front of Caity's house. Remington hopped out first, running around to the other side and opening the door for Eva before she could reach the handle. They wished the driver goodnight and made their way inside

It was only nine o'clock and already Caity's house was in full swing of an adult frat party. Billboard hits played in the background to incessant and random chatter, all of it getting lost amid the clinking of empty bottles and raucous laughter from strangers. Eva held tightly to Remington's hand, walking just a foot behind as he tried to look around for Caity. Despite her fears, Eva was put at a little ease seeing there weren't as many people here as she thought.

"Heyy!" Caity suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She threw her arms around Remington first, then Eva, "You guys came!"

"Of course we did," Remington grinned, bumping Eva gently with his elbow. Eva nudged him back.

"Caity, you look beautiful," she commented, and she couldn't lie. Caity was dazzling in her silken black pantsuit and silver heels, her long skeleton acrylic nails clinging to a blue solo cup.

"What about you? You look like the modern-day Vampira! Where did you get that dress?" she beamed back.

"-- Shy," Eva shrugged sheepishly.

"God, she always knows the best places to shop," Caity looped her arm with Eva's, "Remi, I'm stealing your girlfriend! Hayden just bought this delicious apricot whiskey -- you have to try it!"

Eva took one more fleeting glance at her boyfriend, giddily agreeing as she was pulled into the kitchen.

"Caity, play nice with her!" Remington warned.

"Always," The slender blonde winked at Eva before pulling her along.

Caity's kitchen was beautiful as always, and on the counter sat a variety of different liquors, sodas, and juices to mix up whatever the guests wanted. A group of girls were crowded around the bottles, chatting like starlings on a spring morning.

Caity shouted for their attention, "Ladies! Shut up and pay attention!" she hollered, "This is Eva, she's Remi's girlfriend,"

Eva waved politely, "Hi,"

One of the girls, a darker blonde, scoffed dismissively, "Another one?"

"No idiot, this is the same girl from May... right?" a short-haired brunette asked.

"Yes," Caity assured with a huff, "And get off Remi's back, Thea,"

The blonde shrugged listlessly and continued to sip on her drink. Another brunette came running over to Eva, "Don't mind Thea, she's a monogamy-is-a-prison-type of person. I'm Amy! Let's get you a drink!"

Remington meanwhile took a seat beside his pal Andy, watching as he and a few other guys were immersed in a poker game.

"Who's winning, boys?" he asked.

"Ash thinks he is," Andy said.

"Andy's cheating," Ash counterpointed.

"These guys can't keep a good poker face to save their lives," Hayden deduced

Remington simpered, "Deal me in next round. I'll show you a real poker face,"

"You're on, Leith," Ash challenged.

Just out of the corner of his eye, two boys got up from their spot on the wall. They had been chatting between each other when they saw Remington come in, and they couldn't resist striking up a conversation.

"Hey Remington! Long time no see!" Carson, a skinny hipster type with long hair, greeted him first. Andy refrained from rolling his eyes beside Remington, trying to focus on his cards.

"Hey! What's good, boys?" he fist bumped them both.

"Where you been, man? We missed you at the last few get togethers," Sam, a shorter and somewhat stout counterpart to Carson, pointed out.

"He's been busy," Hayden told them.

"Oh, you back in the studio?" Carson asked.

"Sort of, yeah," he nodded.

"He's also been spending his time with somebody who's got long, pretty eyelashes," Ash scooted closer to the singer, mockingly batting his own eyes at Remington. Remington laughed him off.

"Shut up! You got a girl, hot shot?" Sam asked.

"I do," he confirmed.

"Lemme' guess --"

"No, she's not a groupie," Remington stopped Carson short.

"She's not?"

"No! Rem pulled himself a college educated sweetheart," Andy beamed, nudging his friend in the ribs.

Remington rolled his eyes, "C'mon, I didn't exactly 'pull her',"

"That's not what Sebastian said," Ash grinned.

"He's being modest," Hayden added.

"Well, congrats man. Love to meet her, sometime," Carson said.

"She's in the kitchen! I'll introduce you later,"

"Great," Sam then adjusted the lapel of his suit jacket, sitting over his suit and tie t-shirt, "Hey by the way, if you guys are interested we got a new stash in this week," he lowered his voice as he spoke.

"Some of the cleanest blow we could get our hands on," Carson added, "But just because we like you guys, we'll cut you a deal,"

Hayden was the first to shake his head, "Not tonight, man. I'm not feeling it,"

"Neither am I," Ash agreed, "I'd rather drink my poison tonight," he raised his beer can to make his point.

Carson pouted, "Aw, come on. Andy?"

"Count me out," Andy huffed, "Last time I took that shit my head was pounding for twenty-four hours straight,"

"Ah, it's their loss," Sam sighed, "Come on, Remington. You never let us down,"

"Yeah! How about a couple lines?" Carson suggested.

Much to their chagrin, Remington too denied their offer, "Sorry boys, I'm with them,"

"You serious?" Carson huffed, "Lemme' guess, the girl told you she didn't like coke and you're pussying down to get her --"

"Bite your tongue, Carson!" Andy warned.

Remington's grin turned into an unimpressed scowl. Sure, he had done some coke before, he had done a couple of different drugs before. He and his brothers liked to experiment. And he was honest when it came to Eva, he never wanted to hide anything from her -- especially when it came to some of the more explicit poisons. She didn't like the idea of cocaine, and Remington didn't blame her -- he was already hyper enough without a line, so he decided that he would avoid it when he could; especially when he had Eva with him.

"He's got a point, Remi! You used to be one of our best customers!" Sam said, "Is that why we haven't seen much of you?"

"Does the girl even know you did coke?" Carson asked.

"Yeah, of course I told her! And I'm sorry, guys," he shrugged, "I'm just not interested tonight. Someone else here probably would be,"

"That is if Caity doesn't catch you trying to deal," Hayden reminded them.

Sam scoffed, "She hasn't caught us, yet,"

"And the night is still young," Remington pointed out.

"You guys want in on the next round?" Ash asked them.

Carson shook his head, "Nah. Would love to stay but we have a quotta to meet,"

"Good luck, fellas," Sam waved them off as they sauntered off to schmooze their next potential client. Hayden simply rolled his eyes.

"I don't know why Caity has to keep inviting them," he muttered.

"They went to high school together," Andy said.

"You still hang around with your high school drug dealers?" Hayden asked.

"Mine is shipping Bring It On CDs out of his mom's basement," Ash said.

Andy nudged Remington again, "Dude, you told Eva you did coke?" he was smack astonished at the notion.

"Well, it's not like I was doing it every week," he said, "I told her, though, I did it now and again. I don't want to lie to her about that stuff,"

Ash glared at Remington, almost studying him. He then picked up a lower valued poker chip and tossed it at his head. It bounced off of his cheek.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked.

"Clean shaven, honest, denying drugs... who are you and what did you do to Remington Leith?" Ash asked.

"He's the healthier version," Hayden pointed out.

"The version who's in love," Andy awed.

Remington rolled his eyes, shoving at Andy to shut up when Ash suddenly threw down his cards.

"Full house, fellas! Read 'em and weep!" he announced with pride, showing off like the acclaimed Poker Masters on TV. Andy relented and threw his cards down, sulking in defeat, "Declare me the Poker King!"

"Nice play, man," he huffed.

"Not so fast, Poker King," Hayden then put down his cards, much to Ash's chagrin, "Four of a kind,"

Remington leaned over next to Ash, smirking coyly, "Read 'em and weep,"

"Fuck," and Ash pushed his money over to Hayden.

Eva pursed her lips as the whiskey simmered down her throat, coughing up a little hint of the apricot essence. She wasn't much of a whiskey drinker, but she could get used to this sweeter stuff.

"So, how's your mom doing?" Caity asked, keeping quiet enough so the other girls were out of shot.

Eva shrugged listlessly, "Alright, I guess. I haven't spoken to her yet,"

Caity cocked a brow, "Then how have you --"

"My dad. I think this is the most we've talked since... I don't know. Since I went off to college," she explained.

"And you're leaving this week?"

"Yep,"

"So you're gonna do it?" Caity asked, pointing at her torso, "You're gonna go and... snippety snip?"

"I don't know," Eva refrained from laughing, "I have to get some tests done and then we'll see,"

"Is Rem coming with you?"

Eva shook her head, "No, it's not the right time,"

"To meet the family, you mean?" Caity asked, "Is there ever a right time?"

"Probably a better time than having your estranged mother on dialysis," she shrugged back, "And then to have my sister picking at me: 'you wasted your money on your degree! what the hell did you move to California for? How much money are you wasting over there? Go get an actual job, Eva!' And so on and so on,"

Caity smiled empathetically, "You know you won't scare him away, right? If that's what you're afraid of; the guy's been through hell-and-back himself,"

"I know," Eva nodded, "It's not about me scaring him off though, it's just about the people in my family picking and pulling apart our relationship and then maybe scaring him off,"

"But he loves you anyway, regardless of whether or not you come from a crazy family. Hell, show me a family that isn't crazy,"

A loud smash suddenly echoed from the other room, followed by one of Caity's friends hollering a panicked "Sorry!"

Eva snickered, "I see your point,"

"My actual point," Caity interjected, pouring them both another shot of whiskey, "Is that Remi loves you enough that he wouldn't get scared off by your family; no matter how strict, scary, and dramatic they may be. I mean -- how bad are they, really?"

Eva scoffed, "You know the family from Shameless?"

"Yeah. That bad?" they shot back their whiskey.

Eva held her breath momentarily and swallowed, sputtering out, "Just as toxic but without substance abuse,"

"What if I came with you?" Caity jokingly offered, "Give me a bottle of pinot and a platform stage and I'll Jenny Jones the whole thing,"

Eva paused momentarily, "Um... Caity..."

Caity raised a finger at her, "I'm not promising that it won't end in murder, you see," thus prompting an amused snigger from the writer.

"Don't tempt me,"

Emerson and Shy arrived a bit later, much to Eva's relief as she was becoming lost in a cluster of chattering, sparrow-like girls, trying to keep up between those trying to get to know her and others all-together ignoring and steering conversations elsewhere.

One of the girls, the short-haired brunette with a Tinkerbell face and chunky purple platform heels, had taken a particular interest in Eva. Her name was Gigi, also a Seattle native, and once she found out that she was dating Remington, she had a plethora of questions. She was obviously a little drunk from the way she exaggerated and slurred her vowels, though nonetheless, Eva found her to be quite entertaining.

"There's no way!" the young model gabbed in awe, "There's no way in hell Remington could land a girl like you!"

"Wha -- how come?" Eva queried.

"Because!" she exclaimed, "You're -- like -- super smart and pretty and he's... he's Remington! The boy likes to -- like -- hang upside down and howl at the moon!"

Eva laughed in surprise, "I -- I've never seen him howl at the moon, but -- okay," she replied, "How did you guys meet?"

Gigi smiled casually at her wine glass, "I was -- like -- a model in a music video! Don't Feel Good or something like that; I don't remember. But it was a lot of fun! Oh, the boy was sooo cute! You should've seen him! He was so scrawny and kinda shy but -- oh mama! He got -- like -- a sexy-ass voice!"

Eva brought her glass to her lips, slyly hiding her smirk as she sipped her drink, "He certainly does,"

"Has he asked you to be in a video with him? You should for real do it! It's so fun!" Gigi beamed.

"He has -- I mean, I have!" Eva nodded, bouncing along as Gigi's bubbly attitude began to rub off on her, "I have. I think it'll be out in a couple weeks,"

"Ooooh! What did you do? Do you model, too?"

"No," she chuckled shyly, "I was just an extra. I'm a ghost writer, actually,"

Gigi gasped like a little kid then, "Oh shit! You mean you -- like -- write ghost stories?"

"Uh -- not exactly, I --" however, she was cut short when Thea walked by, casually bumping into Eva to get to Gigi.

"Hey," she tapped her shoulder, hardly acknowledging Eva at all, "I'm going to the bathroom, come with me,"

Gigi pouted, almost appalled at the notion of being dragged away, "What? Why? I'm -- like -- talking to Eva!" she whined, "She writes about ghosts!"

Thea glanced sideways at Eva, nodding dismissively. Eva grinned politely, "Ghost writer,"

"... right," Thea droned, then she took Gigi's hand, "Come to the bathroom with me. Let's go!"

"But Thea --!" Gigi hardly got the chance to protest as Thea dragged her away from Eva. Eva glanced at her shoes, at a loss for words as she looked around the kitchen. Shy came up behind her, tapping her long stiletto nails against her solo cup.

"I never liked Thea," she admitted, "Girl walks one runway in Paris and suddenly she thinks she's Kendall Jenner,"

Eva scoffed, "Is she like that with everybody?" she asked.

"Pretty much," she huffed, "Caity can't stand her,"

"... Then why is she here?"

"Friend of a friend," Shy shrugged, "Besides, someone probably told her Remington would be coming, anyway,"

Eva's eyebrows popped up, "... Why does that matter?"

Shy huffed, "She and Remi hooked up once -- years ago! Like, I don't even think they'd put out their first record yet, she was just a model for a video. Anyway, he told Emerson about it and Emerson told me once because she was being a bitch to me, too,"

"So, what's her problem, then?" Eva asked, "She wants what she can't have so she takes it out on us?"

"I told Caity to stop inviting her to these things but Caity doesn't want the drama," Shy shrugged, "I doubt Remington even knew Thea would be here, he doesn't talk to her anymore,"

Eva wasn't upset over Remington and Thea, it wasn't her business and quite frankly she couldn't care less if they had been close in the past. In the past being the optimal point. Thea wore her disdain for Eva on her sleeve, and if she was going to continue to be disrespectful towards her then they were going to have a problem. Eva didn't take well to confrontation most of the time, however she always stood up for what was fair; after all, it wasn't her problem that Remington wanted her and not Thea.

Gigi bitched and whined the entire time Thea dragged her to the bathroom, tripping over herself in her platform heels and bumping into a few others.

"Thea! Slow the fuck down!" she huffed as she was yanked into the bathroom. Thea slammed the door shut with a loud slam, pulling up her purse and aggressively digging through it.

Gigi pouted some more, "Why are you --like -- upset? Are you mad at me?"

"No!" she snapped angrily, "I'm mad at Caity!"

"Why? I know Caity doesn't have Ciroc but that's -- like -- no reason to be so bitchy!" Gigi replied.

Thea glared at the stumbling brunette, "Gigi, she fucking invited Remington but she didn't tell me that he had a new side piece with him!"

Gigi stared at her friend, completely dumbfounded, "Thea, she's not a side piece. Remington's -- like -- in love with her! Ask anybody! Ash said he's been like a puppy dog all year --!"

"Oh, would you just shut up?" she snapped again. She pulled out a small bottle of nasal spray, shoved the spout up one nostril and inhaled deeply. Gigi meanwhile was plastered against the bathroom door, still watching her friend with hazy eyes.

"Is this all because you -- like -- sucked him off for -- like -- thirty seconds and then he never called you? Are you still mad about that?" she queried.

"It wasn't thirty seconds," Thea grumbled, feeling herself now beginning to calm down, "And yeah, Gigi, he fucking humped and dumped me and the next time I saw him after he could barely look me in the eye. What a fucking creep!"

"Ugh! Who cares?" Gigi whined, "Why are you still so mad about it?"

Thea shifted the conversation, "Did you tell her?"

"Tell who?"

"Eva,"

"Tell her what?"

"About me and Remington!"

"What about Remington?"

"Oh, for fuck sakes!" she threw the nasal spray back in her bag, "Did you tell her that we fucked?"

"No! Why would I do that?" Gigi asked, "It's not her business, and he doesn't like you anyway so what does it matter?"

Thea shook her head, completely ignoring Gigi's rambling, "I could hear Andy going on and on: oooh! She's so pretty! Ooooh! She's so kind! She's got a bachelors degree! Whoopti-fucking-doo! What's she got that I don't? Hmm?"

Gigi stared silently for a moment, her jaw hung open until she drunkenly blurted, "She went to college! You didn't!"

Thea rolled her eyes, "And?"

"... and she's --like -- nice to me," Gigi admitted, "And she doesn't pull on me,"

A raucous commotion suddenly broke out outside, muffled by the door, though it was obvious that whatever was going on had captured almost everyone's attention.

"What's going on?"

"Probably beer pong, I don't care," Thea grumbled, "All I need is one shot. I mean -- how great is she really? She's not in the industry! She could never keep up with his lifestyle!"

"You really -- hicc -- need to move on, Thea," Gigi groaned, "Eva's really nice. You should give her a chance. It's not her fault --like -- Remington fell in love with her and not you,"

Oh, how those sentiments echoed in Thea's mind. She couldn't help the way she felt, she was attracted to Remington -- unhealthily so but it was an attraction nonetheless. She found him fascinating, handsome, edgy and so damn charming! Thea was so young when they'd met, she had stars in her eyes when she -- a young model on one of her first casting jobs -- got to make the acquaintance of a rock star. So he wasn't a full rock star, yet, so what? He was so fucking beautiful to her!

And yet when her opportunity came, when she followed her gut and trusted him, she was left in the dust to pick up what was clearly nothing special to him. It broke her heart, seeing him over and over with different girls who were all the same. They all had the same thing that she did, and just when she speculated that her time had come, he waltzed in with this -- child -- with liked to bat her doe eyes and ramble on about dead poets. What a fucking downgrade, she thought, what does she have that I don't? Honestly!

Whatever rationality that had possessed Caity to pierce his ear on the spot was gone as Remington pinched his throbbing, bleeding lobe. Liquid courage was more to blame than anything else, that and his own willingness to try anything once. Perhaps later on he'd ask Emerson about earring care -- that is if he wanted to wear an earring. It had never really been his thing.

He dabbed droplets of blood between his fingers, reaching absentmindedly for the bathroom door knob when another body collided into him. Gathering his surroundings, his demeanour deflated when he met eyes with Thea.

"Oh! Sorry, Remington!" she awed, quickly smoothing out her velvet skirt.

"It's cool, Thea," he replied swiftly, not eager to get trapped by her again.

Gigi exited the bathroom after, stumbling around Thea and she met eyes with Remington briefly, "Hey Remi. Oh shit! Are you bleeding?" though she didn't stick around for his answer.

Thea however found her opportunity, immediately spotting the stain on Remington's ear and fingers. She reached out with her hand, "Woah! What happened?" she touched his lobe with two fingers, eyeing the wound cautiously.

"It's nothing," Remington pulled away casually, "Caity wanted to pierce my ear,"

"And you just let her?" Thea queried.

He simply shrugged back, "I'll try anything, once," he tried to slide past her again, "Anyway --"

"How've you been?" and like that, the bleeding lobe was suddenly disregarded.

"I've been pretty good!" he nodded, "Busy, but I'm doing well,"

"And your brothers?"

"Them too,"

Thea nodded eagerly, "Oh good. So, what have you been up to? We haven't seen you around in a while. Feels like you're almost forgetting about us," she tried to tease.

Remington smiled politely, "Well, we are smack dab in the middle of a pandemic so I've been distancing myself from a few people. Listen, I hate to do this but --" he pointed to his ear, "I really want to clean this up before it stains my jacket,"

"Oh, of course!" Thea nodded, her gaze momentarily flickering to Remington's jacket and the lack of shirt underneath. An idea then popped into her mind, "Why don't I give you a hand?"

Remington nearly bit down on his tongue from how quickly he refuted, "Uh -- no. That's okay, but thank you,"

It wasn't that Thea was a bad person; well, she was a bit self-absorbed, and she knew how to put her foot in it without realizing. But mostly, Thea represented a time to Remington that he would most rather forget. He was fine acknowledging her, he could be polite and move on; but he was astounded that it had been well over five years and she still didn't get the hint that he wasn't interested in her the way that she wanted.

"Oh c'mon, it'll only take a second!" she urged, stepping closer and closer into his personal space. Her hand reached out again to touch his ear, clammy and cold and not a pleasant feeling.

Before he had the chance to fight her off again, another voice slithered in and cut their tension,

"Pardon my interrupting," it was as though Eva had appeared out of thin air, her arms crossed over her chest and her dark blue eyes staring down both Thea and Remington.

Remington swiftly batted Thea's hand away, panic swelling in his gut, "Eva! It's not what --"

"Sh!" she held up a finger, moving to step between her boyfriend and the pushy model, "Thank you for your help, Thea, but I can take it from here," she assured, "You can move along, now,"

Thea scoffed, "You're the one who can move along, sweetheart. I was having a private conversation,"

"With my boyfriend," Eva pointed out, "Who -- seems to me, anyway -- made it very clear to you that he didn't want you to touch him,"

"But --"

"So I'm going to take him and get him cleaned up. And you can go and do... something else," she shrugged, smiling as politely and stiffly as Pan Am flight attendant, "Thanks for looking out for him, however,"

Thea's lips popped open, either from the shock of being talked back to like that or she was trying to muster up some cocky come back. Needless to say, Eva was smug as she stormed off in a huff. Remington meanwhile was still when Eva turned to meet his gaze. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous, but he'd seen Eva be confrontational enough to know that he wasn't eager to be on the receiving end on one of her tell-offs.

"Eva --" she cut him off when she smiled up at him, chuckling to herself when she finally acknowledged his bleeding ear.

"Is this what everyone was yelling about over there?" she asked incredulously, "I didn't know you wanted to pierce your ears,"

Remington was paused momentarily, mustering up his voice while trying to calm his fluttering chest, "I didn't. Caity just talked me into it. How does it look?"

Eva wasn't an expert on piercings my any means; she only had two herself. Though she had gone with enough friends to Claire's to get an idea of what ear piercing entailed.

"It'll be okay. C'mon, we better clean that,"

Remington sat on the toilet (lid down) as Eva ran the cold water and wadded up some tissue. The door was shut and effectively blotting out the other guests and pulsating music. He continued to pinch his lobe, now slippery and sticky from the ooze and it overall wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

"Did it hurt much?" she asked.

"Not really," he shrugged back, "Liquid courage definitely helped, though,"

"Well, you know if you wanted to get your ears pierced we could've just gone to Claire's. You get a free jab with a starter kit," she mentioned, crouching down so she could clean the ear.

Remington chuckled at the notion, inhaling sharply at the cold sensation that rippled down his neck and spine, "You're not upset with me, right?" he asked timidly.

Eva withdrew the tissue, seemingly perplexed by his question, "Why should I be upset with you? This isn't the craziest thing you've done, and I doubt it'll get infected --"

"Not the piercing. Thea," he replied, "I didn't know she was gonna be here tonight, I should've told you about her,"

She moved her hands to his lap, rubbing his knee reassuringly. He was staring at her like a puppy that had just been scolded, even mid-sulk he was easily the cutest person she had ever known.

"Thea," the name rolled off of her tongue with a edge of bitterness, "It's funny, I thought I left girls like her behind in high school. I guess it's true what they say, though," she reached up to clean the piercing again, "We never do grow up,"

"Eva, I'm --" Remington took her hand down, holding it tightly.

"Do you like her?" she asked suddenly, "Just in general, do you like her?"

He shook his head quickly, "No. She's so fucking self-absorbed and whiny. And clearly obsessive," he replied.

"Did you ever feel anything for her?" she asked.

He breathed in slowly that time, "Once, barely a fleeting thing, though,"

"And do you ever think about her outside of when you see her?" this time she squeezed his hand, staring up at him with those big doe eyes that made his heart swell every time.

"I don't have the time because I'm too busy being obsessed with you," he smiled with a false air of smugness.

Eva smiled too, genuinely however, "Then why are you getting ready to apologize for something that you didn't do wrong?"

"Because I do all the time," he huffed in a fit of pity, "I never want you to get the wrong idea and lose trust in me. That shit's my worst fucking nightmare,"

"Rem, I came out with you in a little black dress, mingling with a bunch of strangers I don't know while we're smack in the middle of Rona. I wouldn't do that if I didn't trust you," she explained, "I trust you regardless of where we are or what stuffy wannabe models try to flirt with you. It's my bed you sleep in, anyway,"

He simpered, pushing some of her loose hair behind her ear. His fingers trailed and traced the line of her jaw, basking in how soft and warm her skin was, "Your bed is really comfy," he pointed out.

"Even more so when you're in it," she dabbed at his ear a couple more times before standing and discarding the tissue, "You want to see it?"

Remington stood up, reaching across the bathroom counter and studying his new piercing with intrigue. It still throbbed from the after pain, and God only knew he would probably feel it more in the morning. However he had to admit, it didn't look too bad.

"What do you think?" he turned to Eva. She leaned back against the edge of the counter, eyeing the subtle puncture while shamelessly ogling the rest of him.

"Sweetheart, you can pull off literally anything," she replied, dropping her voice into an almost whisper, "It's kinda hot,"

His gaze shifted from the mirror to her reflection, her sweet and. sultry body outlined in that silky, velvety dress that he could probably tear right off of her in one fell swoop.

"Speak for yourself," he took hold of her hips, fingernails scratchy at the soft velvet, "I didn't know you could be so possessive -- especially over me,"

Her lips curved to match his smirk as she reached out with her right hand, her fingers slid up the smooth lapels of his jacket until they met bare skin. She felt him shudder through her touch, and like a switch had been flipped the color had disappeared from his eyes. The scolded puppy was gone and a lustful predator stood in his place.

"Well, I don't appreciate people trying to take what's mine..." her voice was barely above a whisper.

Remington chuckled gleefully, his spiced cologne flooding her senses as he came down to whisper in her ear, "Aren't you the one who told me that I belong to myself?"

"Absolutely," her left hand traveled a different path, coming down to palm him through his slacks, "This is reserved just for me, though,"

Remington's only rational response was to reach out and lock the bathroom door.

And that was how they'd found themselves here...

Like a claw lock his hands gripped her hips, holding her against him as she sat up on the sink counter top. Her once-cold hands were warmed up under the thin material of his suit jacket, pleased and exhilarated that Remington chose not to wear a shirt underneath. He was so close to her, consuming her every sensory receptor and yet she couldn’t enjoy him fully. How easy it would be to unwrap him from his jacket and slacks, and yet Eva had to wait like an impatient child to get her presents on Christmas. Her only reprieve was rocking against him gently, grinding her hips into his. And from the way he clutched and pawed at her, Remington was restless. On the one hand, he enjoyed teasing her relentlessly; on the other, all he wanted was to take her hard and fast against the bathroom counter.

Caity would fucking kill him if she ever…

Though all thoughts of pause and rational action were scarce to them both. Eva clung desperately to him, her head tossed back as he tasted the sweet salt of her neck with his tongue, soothing the love bites with gentle kisses that made her heart flutter and her stomach coil. His right hand slid under the soft velvet of her dress hem, crawling higher and higher up her thigh until he could stroke over the wet spot of her panties. When she shuddered against him, his smile mirrored that of a smug demon, bending her to his will with hardly a touch.

Just behind her, a long bathroom mirror reflected back their image in what little light was available to them. Remington stole glances between kisses, his dark brown eyes glued to the curve and ripple of her spine, mesmerized by her hair swaying briskly from side to side. He couldn’t bear to tear his gaze away from the mirror, watching her undulate beneath him was the most mesmerizing thing.

"Fuck... you're so pretty," he whispered coarsely against her ear.

His attention refocused on the fingers pulling at his clothes. First it was his jacket being unbuttoned, then it was his belt. He could feel her touch magnified, slathering and stroking him and ultimately undoing his pants. He loved when Eva became needy, watching her sweetness slip away in favor of desperation drove him wild. Her fingers were cold to the touch yet blended so deliciously against his warm skin, and his breath caught when she grasped him.

Eva suppressed a cunning grin, slowly moving her hand up and down. She circled his head with her thumb, Remington bit down on his lip so hard Eva feared momentarily he may draw blood. His eyes fluttered closed, his head falling forward in pleasure; they both giggled as he almost knocked into her.

Remington pulled back from her neck, glaring up at her hungrily. He yanked her in for a quick kiss as his hand slid around to pull at the dress zipper. He was in awe when he found she wasn't wearing a bra. Remington ran his thumb over her left nipple, the sensation of cold hands against burning flesh made her shiver. He latched his mouth around her right nipple, sucking and swirling his tongue around the bud before pulling away with a pop.

Eva never let go of his cock once, fumbling her rhythm but she stayed determined to get him off.

The music continued to pulsate outside, voices echoed and carried and there was always the fleeting fear that someone may try to open the door, or Caity or Hayden may have come along and demanded to be let in, so they stayed as quiet as they possibly could in their circumstance. Nevertheless, the thrill far outweighed the crime.

Without uttering a word, Remington stilled Eva's hand, instead working hastily to rid her of her panties. Eva bit down on her lip to suppress the gasp that echoed when he pulled her closer to the counter's edge. He pushed his swollen tip against her pussy. She moaned softly, now pressing her lips together. Remington pushed further into her, thrusting in and out during the process. Eva bit her lip as he pushed further and further, sweaty and relieved exhales leaving them both when he began to fuck her.

He grunted softly when he felt how tight she was, "You okay, baby?" he gripped her hips for better leverage. Eva's eyes began to water from the sensations, every nerve with her body was hot and needy.

"Yes," she nodded swiftly, one hand clutching the counter edge while she stayed clung to him, "Please, Rem,"

"Ah, ah! Don't make a sound," he teased, "Imagine if Thea could hear you right now," he laughed when she punched his bicep.

"Maybe she should," she whimpered, "Listen to how I make you fucking come for me,"

His hips snapped faster and faster, rubbing deliciously inside of Eva. Remington was going to come any minute, and judging by her heavy eyes and stifled moans, Eva wasn't far behind.

"I love when you talk like that," he grunted, shuddering and shaking as he spilled inside of her. And she came not long after, burying her face in his neck to muffle her lustful cries.

They settled down together, the bathroom was still and silent, minus their exhausted panting. Eva sat back on the counter, reaching to push Remington's hair off of his sweat-slick forehead. His lips turned up into a blissed-out smirk, he felt deliciously satiated paired with a rippling sense of pride. He had made a mess of Eva yet again, and yet every time he loved watching her slowly regain her senses. She was a sight to behold; her dress was hanging off of her shoulders, her lipstick kissed away to a faint tint and her dark blue eyes heavy.

He took her in his arms, laying kisses from her jaw and up to her forehead, whispering darkly in between, "Mine,"

Eva whined sweetly as she kissed him, following with a keen grin and a sudden, but brief, lick to his cheek.

"Hey!" he turned his head, giggling like a child, "What was that?"

"I'm laying claim," she decided, "You know the sentiment: I licked it so it's mine?"

He laughed harder, pulling her in to kiss her again, "May I?"

Eva chuckled bashfully, tilting her head back, "You may,"

[irresistiibles]

was that dev patel? oh no no, that was just jonathan sims, a canon character from the magnus archives. they are thirty one years old, use he/they, and are not aware that they are not actually from washington dc. too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

how long has your character been here

probably like 8 months but he believes he's lived here 13 years.

what is your character’s job

he works as an archivist for the national archives (and has worked in the past at george washington university as an archivist and honestly preferred that and might wind up going back to it especially once he's aware again)

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom

see that's a great question and kinda why he's unaware until i finish this relisten. he's not gonna be unaware too too long but i'm trying to figure out if i want him more middle of the series around season 2 or 3 or more at the end. if other people bring characters i'll probably see about potentially matching that or not to cause problems

has any magic affected your character

memories are gone!

more info:

**i'm going to keep spoilers light though it will mention some abilities jon has which are spoilers for like season 3? but i won't go into details about how or why he has those abilities

so unimportant but according to the wiki both john and jon are fine as spellings and i'll mostly be using jon.

head archivist from the magnus archives it's jon's job to go through statements from people about things of potentially paranormal activity

it's a horror podcast so obviously things devolve pretty fast but i won't get too far into it.

he's not the easiest to get along with in first meeting. he can come across as pretty rude and dismissive and condescending. he prioritizes his work over being nice and isn't the best at being social

but they are nice, they just aren't very good at being nice. jon can get very in his own head and tends to trust himself far more than others, which obviously leads to him being uh, just kinda obnoxious sometimes idk how else to say it

he thinks he moved to dc at 18 from britain in order to get his bachelor and masters in the us and wound up staying there after being offered a good job opportunity he couldn't turn up, so while he didn't grow up in dc he's been here a while

they're aware of the weirdness in dc, and have been doing some independent research on it, though jon is sure there's a reasonable explanation for it all that just hasn't been discovered yet

records all his research on a tape recorder of course.

honestly right now he's easier to get along with than he would be with his memories. yeah, they're a bit standoffish, and too smart for his own good with a tendency to pry, but jon is relatively nice beyond that and can be a bit of a pushover and easy to get around.

has some light powers of compulsion but does not know this at the moment and definitely has the chance to do it by accident. this is mostly used in terms of compelling people to answer questions he asks and we can definitely plot stuff with this is desired

asexual and biromantic

potential plots:

anyone he knows from work. government officials who have gone to him to retrieve records, students, what have you. listen my knowledge on legit archivist work is light but we'll make it work

a roommate as long as they're cool having a cat

some friends? honestly he's not hard to push into friendship if you can deal with their personality

definitely friends that drag him out to a bar or cafe or whatever because otherwise he will work late nights and weekends the guy needs to get out

someone they butt heads with, maybe met through work or something similar. jon is so easy to butt heads with if you take first impressions seriously.

maybe a barista jon sees all the time. he gets a lot of tea and would have a preferred particular order so

someone could absolutely get him hooked on energy drinks

some one off dates either past or present

since he's trying to research washington if your muse is aware and wants to talk about home or any of the crazy events jon would love to do an interview

i'll come up with more as i add him to my plot doc.

[inexplicifics]

I'm curious about a Perspective Flip for Geralt's view of the auction scene for Stop One Heart From Breaking, but you've mentioned Geralt's perspective is difficult for you to write, so again, maybe not. (Unless you feel inspired!)

So I suppose what I'm wondering/asking is either a Time After Time for They Have to Take You In (which I really like!), and seeing their conversation/Geralt trying to make it up to Jaskier and/or any Perspective Flip for Gods Don't Save Me.

(Also, if you really wanted to do some emotional damage, you could do For Want of a Nail for I Would Beat With Your Heart As It Beats. Specifically, what if Eskel *was* that one minute too late? But I think most of your readers could probably guess how that Bad Ending plays out, and I'm frankly nervous to ask. (And arguably that's a major detail. But I want to gift this terrible thought to others.) )

Sorry for the long ask, but I got excited.

Apparently I Shall Not Live In Vain Geralt is more talkative than AW AU Geralt!

*

Geralt hates omega auctions as he hates very few other things in the wide and terrible world.

They stink of fear and misery, and the omegas huddled on the stage are too thin, too cowed, too broken. Omegas are meant to be cherished, but even mated omegas among humans are too often treated as chattel…and ‘ruined’ omegas are treated worse than any peasant would ever treat dog or pig or cow. If given the opportunity, Geralt would cheerfully slaughter every single slaver, every leering beta and gloating alpha who gathers to watch and bid on the battered omegas on the stage.

He would have sent one of his pack-brothers, but…no. Eskel, even-tempered and patient as he always is, would be able to do this without showing any of the anger roiling beneath his calm facade, but Eskel is given so much crap by humans who fear his size and scars that Geralt can’t bear to think of making him endure yet more of it. And Lambert, their little hothead, probably would end up stabbing someone, although whether the injury would be fatal is rather a coinflip. Maybe when they had Remus to keep them all on an even keel, Lambert could have borne it…but then, if they still had Remus, none of them would need to come to an omega auction.

And Geralt’s senses are the keenest; of all of them, he is best able to find the omegas’ scents in the mire of other smells in the center of a town.

So here Geralt is.

He has been to four auctions in the last two months, and hated every one worse than the one before. Which, given that he hated the first one worse than seeing Eskel get mauled by a katakan, is saying something.

The worst bit - one of many worst bits - is that he has to get up near the stage, close enough that he can smell the omegas as they’re brought forward. If he picks an omega whose scent won’t mesh with his pack’s, this whole miserable endeavor will be for nothing.

It might still all be for nothing. A compatible scent doesn’t guarantee the omega will be what they need. Whoever it ends up being may well have a terror of witchers - or of alphas - that can’t be overcome, or be utterly unsuited to a life of travel, or hate them all on sight. But Geralt has to try. His pack is fracturing at the seams, for all that Eskel tries to hold them together, and there aren’t going to be any more Wolf omegas.

So.

He waits with painful patience as omega after omega is dragged forward; he can’t pay attention to the auctioneer’s patter, not without losing his temper immediately. As if people could be reduced to nothing but what’s between their legs, what pleasure others can wring from them before they die.

Not that Geralt himself is any better. He hates himself, quite a lot, for standing here, for sniffing as each omega is brought forward, for dismissing them one by one for lack of the scent he needs. Knowing that if he does choose one, he and his pack will be far better to them than any human alpha would be, is no sort of consolation. But he would do far worse than this for Eskel and Lambert.

He would do anything for his pack. Anything at all.

Eight trembling, miserable omegas have been brought forward and sold, and Geralt is wishing quite ardently that he could draw his swords and slaughter every single alpha who has bid, and the beta auctioneer and slavers for good measure, when the ninth omega is brought forward:

A tall young man, brown-haired and blue-eyed and quite pretty, though that’s not really relevant to what Geralt needs. Geralt breathes in, trying to ignore the scents of misery and filth, and almost staggers.

Cinnamon and citrus, bright and warm and perfect.

Geralt waits until the bidding is nearly done, and names a price that’s high enough that no one even dares attempt to challenge it.

The omega smells even better up close. There’s clear intelligence in his bright eyes, and he doesn’t scream or faint or try to flee.

That’s good enough to be going on with. Geralt will let his pack-brothers handle the explanations. He’s done his part.

He’s found them their omega, and someday, perhaps, the omega will forgive him for it.

Someday, he might even forgive himself.

[djarinsbeskar]

Idk if you're taking requests right now. I'm trying to get pregnant, but my body decided this morning that this month still just isn't it. I am FEELING it, and Din and Medic are absolutely Legend Level Couple to me. Could you maybe write something about how these two beautiful idiots in love would cope if they were having a hard time making little warriors? (Obvi this would be so far off for them, and if it would mess with canon, I totally get you saying no. I still adore you and your work!!)

Hello darling anon!

I'm sorry February wasn't the winning month, but it is coming! I personally don't have firsthand experience with the struggles of conceiving so forgive me if the below is a little inaccurate or if I get the emotions wrong! But this was a lovely piece to write truly. It's definitely something I have planned for Din and Medic in the future (just a bit different) so I'll pop this under one of the one-shots alongside Antigen for those intersted!

Negative

Pairing: Din/Fem!Reader

WC: 1.4k.

Warnings: Pregnancy/attempts to conceive, a tinge of angst and some lovely fluff. Unedited because I just kinda went with it~

“Seven…three—”

You weren’t manic perse.

You just wanted to be absolutely, one-hundred percent certain you counted correctly.

For the eight time because you couldn’t trust that you hadn’t forgotten to bring over the one or drop the zero.

But no…you were correct, as usual.

It had been over ten years since your late teens. Ten years since you were at your most fertile. Math wasn’t your strong suit, but you tried to work out the probability in your head with age as the dominant factor.

The answer—even if you had plucked it from the air—was grim.

The shuck of the coarse bristled brush against surgical basins you were cleaning in your clinic was loud, the water running in a stream from the faucet distracting. Not to mention the basin hadn’t even been used yet. It was adequately clean before you decided it needed a deep scrub.

Stars, you have never even had a pregnancy scare before. Was that weird? You always counted yourself blessed for that reason. That you were so careful, so on top of your cycle and contraception, that there had never been a moment—apart from your first time—that you ever thought you had been knocked up.

Maybe it was a sign.

Maybe you had always been infertile and just never knew it.

It wasn’t as if it was life-threatening, or commonly presented itself symptomatically. There was no reason for you to have ever gone to another medic to be checked. How would you know? Answer; you didn’t. And not knowing anything drove you up the wall.

The datapad on the counter beside you continued to draw your gaze, a tempting opportunity of pixels and information that you could drown yourself in.

No.

Fingers itching, your distracted them with cleaning instead. You mind—treacherous little thing—lied that you would only be checking your cycle chart, double check your dates. But the brutally self-aware side of you knew that charts would lead to internet searches. An internet searches would lead to moping in bed thinking you were as barren as Arvala-7.

It wasn’t as if you and Din had been trying for very long. And it might have been a bit presumptuous to expect to become pregnant as soon as you had your implant removed. Then again, the man fucked you every night—multiple times if he could.

Were you wrong to be worried?

Were you just overthinking?

Or was there something…wrong with you?

A stone dropped with a sickening plop in your stomach. Just one look then. The datapad was in your hands before you knew it, fingers swiping up to dismiss the days schedule in favour of searching for a research study you recalled reading a few years back about the effects of long-term contraception on fertility.

You distinctly recalled the tests they had done hypothesising how different supplements or dietary changes could assist in improving a woman’s egg count. What was that medics name… fuck, you couldn’t remember.

But the burning need for answers warranted no time to sift through the intergalactic medical library for the single needle in a haystack. So, you did something you would usually never recommend.

You went onto GalacticMed and ended up adding an obscene amount of foodstuff and supplements to the supply order before you knew it.

“You’re thinking very loud.”

Din’s voice came from the doorway, having caught sight of you on the way to the armoury on board that sat beside your clinic.

You jumped, sweeping the contents of your thoughts to some shadowed place out of sight lest the Mandalorian surprised you with the sudden ability to read minds.

His visor tipped to the datapad you hid behind your back with curiosity. Bantha balls.

Shoulder against the doorframe, he observed you quietly—watching you sweat and taking in the nervous jump of your eyes, a trampoline of movement that refused to let you land on something longer than a few seconds.

You looked guilty.

Din sighed.

He knew.

“I’m…I was just ordering some stuff—” you stammered out quickly, the emotion at another failed test suddenly lodging in your throat, “I think I have a vitamin B deficiency so I uh—it might help…next time.”

Pushing himself up to straighten his spine, he filled the doorway. Made you feel tiny. But not in the way that left you insecure and weak. There was a comfort in his size, in how big he was shielding you from the insensitivity and judgement of the outside world.

He stepping inside your clinic, and the sudden snail-trail tightening of your skin under tears struck you.

“Kitten.”

You dropped your gaze, embarrassment flooding you at the realisation that you were actually upset over this. Maker, this was nothing to be crying over—it was just a single line instead of two on a test you peed on this morning.

“Sorry,” you chuckled watery, rubbing the heel of your hand across your cheek to destroy the evidence, the Mandalorian coming to stand in front of you when your apology weighted heavier than being just for a few tears, “…I’m sorry.”

He silenced you with a gloved hand to the back of your neck, the smallest of pressures under your skull grounding you instantly. He stayed silent, rubbing the back of your neck slowly, holding your waist and thinking.

The man never offered empty placations. Anything he said was significant. And when he finally opened his mouth as you looked into that obsidian visor, you wondered why he never thought himself particularly good at communicating.

“Why do you automatically assume it’s your fault?”

You gaped, blindsided.

“I—um,” you blinked, the warrior sighing and releasing your neck so he could lift the beskar helmet off his head and place it on the counter behind you, dark eyes immediately softening on you, “I don’t know?”

“You’re not in this alone, kitten—” he rasped, thumb tracing up the arch of your cheekbone lightly—wary you might break under any more force, “the burden isn’t on you to make this work by yourself.”

Something about the way guileless chestnut eyes revealed so much…sincerity in them. The way he had no notion of concealing his emotions without his armour. It plucked at something sensitive inside you, and you crumbled against his chest plate.

Forehead buried against the polished steel warmed by the body it covered, his arms folded around you without a thought.

“You’re the only mother I want for my warriors, understand?” he rumbled thickly into the top of your head, words muffled by the strands and low enough that you might have missed them, “That’s worth the wait.”

“But I’m—”

“Perfect.”

He interrupted you, full lips hooking into a smile against your hair.

Well, okay smooth talker.

The fluster he left you in made it impossible for you to reject his sweetness. So, you nuzzled closer. Wishing you could hear his heartbeat from over the armour and comfort yourself with how strong it always felt under your ear at night.

“You’re a softie,” you accused with a weak laugh.

“And you’re a ball of stress,” he pulled back enough to look down his nose at you, that same grin edged up the side of his lips.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

You rolled your eyes, already feeling much better. There was a lingering disappointment sharpened with fear for the next month to come, but it was significantly duller than before. More like a butter knife than a sword with Din there with you, darksaber at his side ready to cleave the approaching enemy in two.

That very warrior cocked a heavy brow, dropping his mouth to your ear hotly. “You will carry my children, and by the time your belly is swollen and heavy—you’ll be cursing me to Malachor and back.”

You flushed, smile softening at the fantasy—the future—you both wanted. He finished with a kiss beneath your ear. “But charts and cycles and stress are not the way to go about it.”

“Oh?” You pulled back to look at him. “You have a better idea?”

“I do, actually.”

Din dipped his hands to the swell of your ass to drag you closer to you, the sweet chestnut of his eyes melting to the seductive molasses of temptation—sticking to you and painting your lips in sugar.

“Practice.”

[stylistiquements]

Introduction : three older brothers

𐐪𐑂 Pairing : Sapnap x fem!reader {Playlist} 𐐪𐑂 Summary : When Sapnap learns the news, some questions are resurfacing.

𐐪𐑂 Word count : 1.1k

𐐪𐑂 Warning : none (for once lol)

Masterlist | Next

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・　　 .・゜゜・　　・゜゜・

I’m coming to see you in Florida, your voice plays again and again like it’s some kind of song stuck in the back of Sapnap’s mind.

In the lull of the afternoon, a nest of merriment peaks in the crest of his chest and threatens to overflow, but honestly it’s more a promise than anything; bare feet stomping euphorically against the wooden floor without a hint of withhold and the humid air twirls around his fists as he punches a not so silent victory.

Fifteen years of friendship, two years of longing and four months until the world both crumbles and harmonizes again.

129 days until my best friend comes home, Sapnap processes ecstatic, acidic. Peonies hatch in the depth of his heart, where light shouldn’t reach but still does somehow.

The heel of his palm presses against the phone a little tighter, where your voice ringed high and low just minutes ago. He forgot to ask how long you were planning on staying with him and Dream. Somehow, he forgot how to think about anything else but the fact that, soon, late night texts and virtual calls are to be bad dream-ish flashes. But it’s so easy to put everything behind, so easy to dismiss when you’re about to appear in front of him, soft as a smile and real.

When the celebration falls breathless, Sapnap isn’t sure what to do with himself, throwing his body over the bed that bounces up and down and the movement is so swift he’s left tasting all fuzzy. He’s transported overseas, heart streaming over the sheets. They wrinkle and frame his body like a restless picture.

This could just be a dream, he reasons; he waited so long for you to say those words that, for all he knows, he might have been asleep all along. The threads of lights that escape the window fondle his hair and wash up two soft cheeks and, in an attempt to seal the wish, he closes his eyes and lets the sun flood the back of his eyelids.

What is printed there, between orange light and imaginary shapes, is an old memory that slowly unfolds; a brushed wound on your knee during one of those skateboarding afternoons.

Sapnap huffs. God, you used to love skateboarding so much it drove him crazy.

But it was, after all, his duty to carry you home. Like a princess, you said, eyes sparkling and smile so promising. He whined, complained the whole time about you being heavy, but it didn’t matter; what colored his skin was how important you gave him the opportunity to be. And the truth, although diluted, remains indelible to the passing time.

It’s funny, he recognizes, that the memory decided to collide with this very moment. Just as if a boiling impatience molded itself into a wave of memories. And when the nostalgia fades away, he imagines what it would be like if you were right in front of him; the shape of your eyes and the curve of your smile. Something old, something new, something blue, he thinks ironically, though it probably only makes sense to him.

“What the hell, Godzilla?” The door cracks open and welcomes a swirling breeze. Dream fakes the annoyance, but his tone betrays; boyish amusement. His silhouette intertwines with rays of lights and though his shadow elongates enough to hide Sapnap from the merciless sun of Florida, one glance at the man forces him to squint in order to not be completely blinded. Sapnap tunes into reality once again, heels sinking into the mattress.

“129 days,” he mumbles, willing to answer a question that hasn’t been freed yet, knowing it’s not too much of an answer yet everything he’s capable of for the moment given, still stuck into the ethereal.

“Cryptic,” Dream sighs. His scoff stops when he lies on the bed next to his friend, a small rattle falling out of his lips.

In the interlude, met by two green eyes and the chirping of the birds outside, he gives in, “I haven’t seen y/n in two years and now she’s coming back in 129 days.”

Dream’s head rises effortlessly, unimpressed, little birdie tells Sapnap he probably knew much before he did.

“Then why are you not as happy as you should be?”

“I’m not sure,” Sapnap shrugs. “I mean-- I am, but it’s weird. It’s like super long and super short at the same time.”

Dream’s hovering smile twitches slightly devious, slightly smirk-ish. “Maybe you’ll finally be able to tell her how you feel.”

Betrayal, he noticed the way his lashes flutter when your name is mentioned in a conversation, the way he secretly flusters every once in a while when the boundaries between what is and what could be are drawn too blurry. Sapnap’s eyebrows arch in a hypocritical confusion.

He gulps with a little bit of coyness, “It’s just not the right timing.”

“Things don’t always need to be complicated, you know.”

His jaw clenches in a sour agreement, but to be so desperately in love with his best friend, there is only room for difficulty.

It’s like magnets with the same polarity. Sometimes, too caught up by the pursuit of your own selves, sometimes kept apart by the fear of losing the most precious thing life has given the two of you. And if one second he thinks he could catch a glimpse of hope, too tangled with the force field to think, the next he never even dares to think about it.

“I’ve heard how you interact with each other, being all flirtie flirtie and stuff,” Dream notes high and daringly. The smirk blooms, Sapnap flinches.

“Right, as if. She also has three older brothers, you know? Kinda don’t want my ass to get beaten.”

“You’re being a giant baby.”

“You’re a giant baby,” Sapnap repeats to mock. “Shut up.”

And soon the air is filled with hands aiming to attack each other, weltering between a mound of sheets and choked out laughter. The introspection blows in the wind for a second before reappearing as easy.

Once Dream’s power has made its own point, Sapnap surrenders, “Fine. Oh my god, you’re so annoying. And if I tell her that I’m in love with her and she rejects me, what then?”

Heaving chests and remains of chuckle, the sun fades out for a moment to give them a rest.

“And if you tell her that you’re in love with her and she says ‘me too’, what then?”

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・　　 .・゜゜・　　・゜゜・

Taglist : @open-minded-chip-101 ; @itsoakaa

A/N : I'm so happy to finally post something again I feel like it's been years lol!! Hope you guys appreciated the intro. it's a bit shorter but once again its just the intro and if you're used to the length of the sorcerer's chapters then this is gonna defo be a lot shorter. Anyway lmk what you think!! I think I'm going to publish one part every sunday but can't really promise anything. Until next time (ɔˆ ³(ˆ⌣ˆc)

[final-fantasy-imagines]

Hmm. Hi?

I've been consuming your writings for about an hour or so, now and I have to say that I'm really enjoying my time here. Really, like a LOT! 😍

Since you opened the ask box, I would like to ask a headcanon with Vincent Valentine, Tseng and Cloud with a really good cook girlfriend? Maybe proving her food for the first time?

Hope I'm not being too much obnoxious with this request.

Have a nice day/night/week-end!

😘😘

Hey there, dearie! Thank you so much for your sweet compliment, you have no idea how happy it makes me to know that you enjoy my content so much! <3 And don't worry, your request was perfectly fine and I really enjoyed working on it. I hope you like what I came up with and don't mind that I decided to keep the reader gender-neutral since I felt that gender didn't matter with this request! Have a good day/night too and stay safe! <3

Reblogs are very much appreciated.

characters: Vincent Valentine, Tseng, Cloud Strife

Having an s/o who’s a great cook (gn!reader)

Vincent Valentine

Vincent is someone who wants to know his partner as good as possible, so he’s probably well aware of the fact that you’re a passionate cook. However, since he spends a lot of time away from home, he never had the opportunity to try one of your dishes and therefore has no idea how awesome your cooking actually is.

When you suggest cooking something for him after he returned from a mission he surely won’t dismiss your offer, not only because he’s hungry and exhausted but also because he knows how much you enjoy preparing food, especially for others. He even asks if he can help you with anything, although he’s not the biggest fan of cooking and any related tasks. So, if you tell him that you don’t need his help, he’s really relieved but a tiny part of him still feels a bit bad because you’re doing all the work alone.

He joins you in the kitchen nevertheless, careful not to get in your way, to keep you company while you cook. There’s something really calming about watching your routine, and it also gives him a sense of home which is something he rarely experienced in the past and therefore cherishes very much. It’s also a nice opportunity to have a little chat about the things that happened while he was away and o catch up with each others’ lives.

Vincent is absolutely taken aback by the quality of your cooking. He rarely gets excited over anything but you know him well enough to notice the subtle changes in his behavior, e.g. how he stares at the food for a few seconds after the first bite or how he starts to eat very slowly because he wants to savor each bite. He doesn’t have to tell you that it tastes amazing since everything about his behavior shows how much he enjoys the food but he still makes sure to compliment you for your awesome cooking skills every so often.

Tseng

Tseng knows how passionate you are about cooking and trying out different recipes and he’s also aware of the quality of your cooking. To say that he’s a big fan of your dishes would be an understatement because Tseng absolutely loves your cooking. There’s literally nothing you can’t turn into a tasty dish which is something he really admires about you.

He knows a few basics about cooking and can actually prepare food without setting the kitchen on fire, so the two of you sometimes try to cook together which often leads to him getting a bit frustrated because he can’t do anything right in your eyes. It’s not that you get into a full-fledged argument about the correct way to chop up an onion but since Tseng really likes being in the right it always ends up in a playful discussion. However, if things get too serious Tseng will always apologize afterwards because he realizes how stupid it is to start a fight over something like that.

It’s not a secret that some of his colleagues are quite jealous of him because he always brings the best meals for lunch, be it leftovers from the previous day or something you prepared especially for him. The others usually get something from the cafeteria which doesn’t taste half as good as your cooking, so they sometimes try to convince him to bring a bit more, so that he can share the food with them.

He never misses an opportunity to compliment you about your dishes, especially when you try out some new recipes and are insecure if the result is actually good if it there’s anything you could do to improve the taste. Sometimes, Tseng makes a few suggestions about adding some different spices or herbs but most of the time, there’s really nothing to complain about when it comes to your dishes.

Cloud Strife

Cloud can’t cook at all, even if his life depended on it, so he’s more than grateful to have a partner who’s good at it and also enjoys it as much as you do. You sometimes tease him about it and joke around that he’d be starving to death if he didn’t have you, and he always rolls his eyes and insists that you’re absolutely over-exaggerating – which you’re definitely not.

It’s probably best to keep him out of the kitchen because he’d set it on fire before producing something that’s actually edible. However, if you have the patience to teach him, he’s willing to learn at least some basics to help you with the preparations and stuff like that. He’s a quick learner but you’d still have to be patient with him because he won’t master the correct techniques right away. These cooking lessons are always quite funny and, much to the surprise of you both, end with an actually tasty dish most of the time.

He’s really thankful that you always offer to prepare a quick meal for him when he comes back home. Other days, when it’s particularly late and you have already gone to bed, he often finds a little note from you, right next to the fridge or a container of food you have cooked earlier. He appreciates that you always make sure that he gets something to eat, no matter what time of the day it is.

Since he’s not a picky eater at all, he’s willing to try even the weirdest dishes you cook. He’s like your personal human guinea pig when it comes to new recipes, although he can’t really tell you if there’s something missing or what else you could add to improve the taste. He also tries his best to cheer you up when a dish doesn’t turn out as good as you would have liked it, reassuring you that you’re still the best cook he has ever encountered because he wants to see you smiling again.

Taglist: @cosmicdarlingx @thevoidwriting @sixdaysofsilverashes @fandomatakeover18 @randomfandomimagine

[thevindicativevordan]

On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.

[lepusrufus]

To bargain for immortality pt.4

The first thing to come to her conscious mind as soon as she woke up were always the faint distant sounds of her home. Faint, as not only was Cassandra's bedroom on one of the higher floors, but any staff members knew better than to make noise while their mistresses were sleeping. Distant barking made its way past a window left ajar, accompanied by scribbling noises.

Nicole turned around, legs tangled in the blanket that was shared until not long ago, to look for a colder spot warranted by the warm May weather. The realization that she was alone in bed made its way through the haze still remaining from sleep. That, in itself, was not unusual as Cassandra almost always woke up first and busied herself with something while waiting for her to wake up.

"Cassandra?" She called out quietly, voice still groggy with sleep and eyes not even bothering to open.

"Just a moment," came her response from the other side of the room, likely the desk, as the scratchy sound of pencil on paper stopped.

The chair was pushed away and a handful of steps took Cassandra to the door, where a maid was waiting outside as per routine. After a couple hushed instructions, the door clicked shut again and she finally approached the bed, looking down at her wife with fondness. She bent down to leave a kiss on top of messy auburn hair.

"Good morning."

Her answer came in the form of a returned kiss and impatient tug of her hand, that she gladly indulged by sitting down on top of the soft cushions that she had priorly abandoned. Nicole wasted no time in wrapping an arm around her waist and nuzzling into her side, happy to feel the cool skin underneath a thin grey robe. Cassandra decided that her wife seemed awake enough to receive news, despite the obvious refusal to even crack an eye open.

"Bela wants to go into town later and asked if we'd like to come."

There they were, emerald eyes finally open and staring up at her in surprise.

"Did you say yes?"

Cassandra scoffed. "And finally get the chance to go out and stretch my legs after being locked up in the castle for all winter? Absolutely not."

That got her an eye roll. "In that case I'll keep on sleeping through the whole evening," Nicole said, pretending to go back to the dream she had just left unfinished, something the mild tiredness that had settled in her body seemed more than happy about.

"Oh no you don't."

Two strong hands gripped her shoulders and shifted her into Cassandra's lap, thin lips intoxicatingly close to her ear. "I even prepared the perfect outfits for the two of us, I simply cannot believe you'd pass up this opportunity for some extra sleep."

Nicole laughed at the feign offense, voice finally clear and free from the morning raspiness. She stretched her arms upwards with a few satisfying pops and then let her hands rest on Cassandra's shoulders.

"My, that's so thoughtful of you," she said, leaving a soft kiss on her lips. "Good morning."

The moment was kindly interrupted by a curt knock on the heavy door. Nicole groaned and moved back on the bed, pulling a nightgown that certainly did not belong to her loosely over her shoulders. When she was covered enough to not put on a show, Cassandra chuckled and addressed the still closed door.

"Come in."

A young woman entered the room, one of the latest additions to the kitchen staff as per Cynthia's request, with a tray expertly balanced in one hand, while the other held the leash of one of the thankfully well behaved hounds.

"Eris!" Nicole greeted the black dog, who snapped its big brown eyes in her direction and started wagging its tail. Thankfully for the girl holding the leash, the dog was expertly trained and did not lunge away to its owners. Instead it followed along, not tugging on the leash until both were just by the bed.

"Breakfast, my ladies."

A small assortment of drinks, together with a plate were placed from the silver tray to the small table on Cassandra's side. One wine glass was filled with fresh crimson blood, a cup of hot tea was sitting right beside it, steam rising up from the liquid inside and, in the smaller cup, dark coffee. On the plate, a freshly baked croissant and a small assortment of berries were waiting invitingly.

"And Eris, as you requested."

The girl held up the leash, but Cassandra simply waved a dismissive hand. "Just let her go. And leave the leash on my desk."

She did as was instructed, unhooking the leash with a soft metal click and placing it, coiled up neatly, on the carefully polished wood of the desk. Then, with a slight bow, she left the two alone once again.

Nicole didn't acknowledge that, too busy patting the spot by her side for the black hound to jump up. Cassandra opened her mouth to protest, but was a second too late as the dog was already in her wife's lap getting head and neck scratches. She sighed. At least all the hounds were kept squeaky clean outside hunting sessions.

"Stop spoiling our hunting dogs."

"Oh darling don't worry, I have no power over Carolina's training," she emphasized by snapping a finger and pointing it to the far side or the bed, direction that the dog followed dutifully, curling up on top of a folded blanket. "Good girl," she cooed at the furry beast, which elicited a tail wag.

Cassandra shook her head with a small smile tugging at her lips. She passed the small coffee cup to her wife, who took a tentative sip to test the temperature. It was lukewarm, as it always was, the routine of all the family ingrained into each and every staff member to the dot. They knew how Nicole liked her coffee, what tea to pair with any kind of breakfast and, probably most important for their sake, exactly how much blood, down to the milliliter, Cassandra liked to drink in the morning. Well, early evening, but who kept track.

The bitter liquid was downed in mere seconds, the taste accompanied by a sour grimace. Nicole did not like coffee in the slightest, having lost any possible appetite for the bitter taste after drinking one too many, or a thousand too many, cups during her days in med school. Unfortunately, it still did its job of waking her up, so a compromise with a sweet cup of fruity tea right afterwards had to be made.

She passed the empty cup back to Cassandra, who replaced it with the tea.

"I have to say, seeing your face scrunched up in disgust every morning is most entertaining."

"Happy to see my attempt at waking up is enjoyable for you," she replied with a pointed look thrown over the porcelain edge of the mug.

The look however was replaced by a content sigh upon sipping on the tea, the prior bitter taste slowly replaced by a blissful blend of fruit and lavender. While their cook Cynthia was downright an expert at preparing all kinds of meat, human included, her biggest talent was creating the best blends of tea, never too overpowering but always with a balanced taste. At least according to Nicole, and she would hold that opinion to the day she died.

While waiting for the liquid to get to a more drinkable temperature, her attention went back to the dog now sprawled on its side. "Why did you ask for Eris?"

Cassandra took another long sip of her drink, far more elegant than one would expect from a woman who had no issue regularly walking around covered in blood. "I just thought we could bring her along, I know she's your favorite," she finished with a smirk.

"That's not true," Nicole quickly replied, as if she were a mother accused of having a favorite child, which only made Cassandra's grin grow wider. She cleared her throat in an attempt to save some face. "I love all our dogs equally, Eris is just… particularly well behaved, yes."

Her wife simply chuckled, not having bought any of her excuses for playing favorites. Not that Cassandra wasn't guilty of that either. Her first response to picking a favorite would be not unlike Nicole's, but she had a particular fondness for Freya, one of their Finnish hounds, who always seemed so eager to sniff out prey on the hunts. She would be lying to say that she didn't entertain the idea of asking her mother to infect some of their best dogs from time to time, their short lives feeling like blinks of an eye compared to her own immortality.

She placed the now empty glass back on the table, not quite as graceful as her mother always did after a meal. They had plenty of time, so getting up was not yet in either of their schedules.

"Are we going somewhere in particular, or just out for a stretch," Nicole asked in between sips.

"Bela has to pick something up and Dani, surprising to precisely no one, wants to visit the bookshop," Cassandra started with a slight eye roll, leaning on her side on top of the cushions and starting to toy with the hem of Nicole's sleeve. "Since we're doing none of that boring stuff, I thought you'd like to choose."

Nicole tapped a finger of the white rim of her mug, nail making a soft clink. She sighed. "Just a walk around town, I'm really dying to get out too."

"You do realize you're not confined to the castle during winter like I am right," Cassandra laughed.

"And leave my beloved wife all alone while I go out and about," her reply was overly dramatic, complete with a hand gingerly placed over her heart almost as if such an idea was close to blasphemous. It only gained her a small snort.

"Should I remind you that I've spent decades in this castle? I promise I can bear it."

Okay, grandma.

With the tea finally gone, Nicole placed the tall mug on the nightstand closest to her, effectively freeing her hands. Free to trace tender fingers up Cassandra's arm, her neck and around the intricate lace of her choker to toy with the fine chains decorating it.

"You sure about that?" Her voice was sickly sweet, all too aware of her unbeatable talent of making someone as sadistic as her wife melt with little more than a hushed tone and gentle hands.

Cassandra did not respond right away. She was nothing if not a prideful person and admitting to the fact that yes, she would miss her, even for a handful of hours, was not particularly high on her list of things to be said out loud. It was almost an unbearably clingy kind, their relationship. Or at least that's what someone who did not know better would say. Truth be told, they were both the kind of people that looked almost desperately, although a desperation worn with odd grace, for comfort in other people. People they would then fight tooth and nail, or more accurately fang and claw, to keep close. It was obvious in the way Cassandra took on the role as protector of the family, nevermind the fact that Alcina would cut any possible threats to pieces before any of them had time to lift a finger. Obvious, also in the way she was so protective over Nicole herself, the beautifully engraved dagger always strapped to the redhead’s side either under a lab coat or at the belt of a dress rendered little more than a fancy accessory.

Cassandra chuckled, wrapping long fingers around her hand and taking it away from her necklace. "Why don't we get dressed before Bela comes to nag at us mm?" Then black lips were gingerly pressed to the skin, leaving a small kiss on top of bony knuckles.

With a shrug and a less than gracious stretch accompanied by a yawn, Nicole got out from under the covers, the red velvety fabric of the robe flowing after her like an impromptu cape.

"Are you wearing my robe," Cassandra's voice came from behind her, together with hands placed on her waist.

Duh.

Not that Cassandra ever truly complained. Finding the oversized clothing her wife often wore quite endearing.

"It does look quite charming on me you have to admit."

"You're practically swimming in it."

Nicole rolled her eyes which only prompted a small laugh.

They fixed themselves enough to be semi presentable for the small distance that separated the bedroom and the dressing room. Nicole was about to suggest wearing something more casual, but the fact that going out for the first time after the long winter months was almost reason for a small celebration for all three of the Dimitrescu sisters made her shut down that train of thought. No harm in being fancy on occasion after all.

The outfits Cassandra had picked out were nothing short of perfect for the occasion. Matching black dresses, Nicole's a tad lighter with a lacy collar and frilly hems complete with a white vest-like corset, while Cassandra's was made out of a thicker fabric and went down almost to the floor, surely due to her tendency to get cold easily.

Not being the kind that lingered in the dressing room too long, that was more Daniela's style, it took little for them to get dressed. The occasional helping hand for small things that one could maybe twist and turn to do themselves, but why bother when you have a perfectly willing to help spouse, was something they both enjoyed and took a couple extra precious moments to let a hand linger or fingers to trace expertly done sems. After some makeup was applied and the leash was hooked back to Eris' collar, they finally made their way downstairs.

They were close to fashionably late it seemed, as Bela, Daniela and Anita were already waiting in the main hall, the eldest throwing a miffed expression their way upon seeing them descend the grand staircase.

Nicole noticed the absence of one of their usual party members. "Isn't Laura coming with us?"

"She had to go to Donna's this morning. Spring preparations and all," Bela's reply came dangerously close to being accompanied by an uncharacteristic pout.

Oh. Someone's in a sour mood.

They made their way down the stone paved road that connected the castle to the town in relative silence, interrupted only once by Bela telling them when they would meet up to head back home. Other than that, they just enjoyed the short walk. And for good reason, the road was surrounded by beautiful rose bushes on both sides, with pine trees expanding beyond them and the sounds of birds and nocturnal animals beginning to wake up blending together in a quiet murmur so typical to the forest.

Once in the town square under the familiar angel statue, Bela wordlessly left them in favor of making her way down a small street. Daniela and Anita seemed more courteous and said their goodbyes and see-you-laters as they turned around, chattering about something only they understood.

Left alone, with their dog whose leash was attached to the same belt Cassandra's sickle was, they started walking down the quiet streets. It was almost sundown, so even the small crowd of people usually going about their business was almost non-existent, knowing better than to be out at night without good reason.

Something that Nicole was yet to grow bored of, even after a few years spent at the castle, was the small architectural oddities around town. It looked quite regular, albeit old, at first glance but a closer look would reveal the rich symbolism resulting from the centuries of being quite literally broken off from the rest of the world and almost frozen in time.

The go to flowers planted in front of buildings were crimson roses, the familiar patterns of swirling vines and leaves engraved into walls and lamp posts. A bakery they passed by had three sickles hanging behind the glass, complementing the harvest theme the entire shop had, together with dried wheat in vases and warm inviting colors on the walls. The one fishery that everyone in town knew had a mermaid gracefully swimming in a panel just above its entrance and horseshoes were nailed to most doors leading to houses or small apartment buildings. Even a toy store had a suspiciously Angie-like doll, although without the cracks and signs of time its original counterpart sported, looking out at any passersby.

One thing that could never go unnoticed however, were the crows. Statues of the birds, big or small, could be seen anywhere, from street corners to rooftops and atop building entrances. Some had their wings spread out, ready to take flight were they not trapped by stone bodies, others had their bills open wide in a silent croak and some were simply looking on. Real crows were also incredibly common, replacing the pigeons any other city had in favor of the black birds, ironically roosting on the statues of themselves quite often and kindly providing the city background noise with their caws. Nicole inquired about their presence once, and Cassandra had explained how the locals see crows as good luck, being a symbol to Mother Miranda. Many people fed them and even had buildings upon which small towers were erected with the purpose of giving the birds space to make nests.

Nicole had a strong suspicion that some of the birds were a little more than they let on, especially after seeing their so-called goddess break into a flock on multiple occasions. Sometimes, you would look at one of the crows perched on a power line connecting two buildings, and icy grey would stare back, the depth in those eyes far too human to belong to any bird.

Her slight glare towards one crow that seemed to look at them from a windowsill was interrupted by the memory of a small list she had tucked in her pocket before leaving.

"Oh, I need to pass by the pharmacy to pick up a few things we ran out of."

Cassandra simply shrugged. "Sure," and she looked around for a moment to find the street that would take them there fastest. Not like they had any plans other than enjoying the pseudo freedom that being out of the castle gave them.

The pharmacy was oh so conveniently located on the other side of town, adjacent to the hospital near the reservoir. Ever since Miranda had found ways to lessen the negative effects of his mutation, Moreau was the designated town doctor, but due to the still somewhat volatile transformations he was still mostly confined to the place and it's murky waters, a fact that he despised greatly. It was an obvious choice, then, to erect the hospital there. It was a small building not unlike the rest of the town's architecture when it came to size, no more than three floors high and with a small staff that Moreau himself had to teach the ins and outs of medical practice. If memory serves right, even Miranda and her assistants had taught some people particularly well versed in the sciences how to operate the equipment and patients alike. Medical training seemed to be hard to come by around here and Nicole had a gnawing suspicion that it was the reason she was still alive.

The building coming into view behind the trees and the paved road that cut through the small stretch of woods separating the town and reservoir looked oddly new in comparison to the rest, as it had been erected only a couple decades prior. Attached to it, a smaller house with matching tiles on the roof and a sign that read Farmacie above the entrance's double doors.

Dogs were normally not allowed inside, but who was going to stop them of all people from marching right in, black hound happily walking by their side. They were the only ones inside, save for a short woman sitting behind the counter, panic flashing in her eyes when her gaze fell on Cassandra's tall frame, hand in hand with Nicole who was at the moment too occupied with pulling out the list of meds she had written. She gave it a once over and, sure that she had everything down, passed the paper to the pharmacist, who knew better than to ask if she had any prescriptions.

"You could've sent someone to fetch these for you," Cassandra said, eyes following the woman as she disappeared behind tall shelves full of small boxes and pill bottles.

"I know, I just didn't want to wait. I don't like running out of supplies," Nicole shrugged.

Plus, Nicole was way less likely to be questioned on why she's buying twenty different kinds of meds than a random maid. Partly because the pharmacist recognized her and partly because any sane person here knew better than not obliging when Cassandra was looming behind her. A small smirk graced her lips at the thought and a sly look was given to her wife, who was too busy playing with the dog's floppy ears to notice. Eris raised her head at the unforgivable offense, playfully trying to nip at the gloved hands that were tickling her, getting a giggle out of the brunette.

All three were distracted by the soft clink of a bell hanging above the door, indicating that someone had entered the pharmacy. It was an older man, looking to be in his sixties, heavily leaning on a crutch held in his right hand.

Cassandra's features morphed into a scowl and Nicole could practically hear the man-thing going through her mind. The man was probably on the verge of doing a complete one eighty and exit the pharmacy, when a voice called out from behind the counter.

"Ah Andrei, I have something for that infection of yours, hold on a moment," the pharmacist called out, before handing Nicole a sizable paper bag full of what she had requested.

She felt an unwelcomed whiff of decay as Cassandra took the bag from her hands, and sniffled in an attempt to ward off the stinging sensation in her nose. She fumbled with the credit card, mentally cursing the payment for not transferring quicker when the smell was starting to make her eyes water the slightest bit.

"Is everything alright my lady?"

The man's voice, full of genuine worry came from behind them, having moved closer upon the pharmacist's urging, and the putrid stench of death and decomposition flooded Nicole's senses together with the slick sensation of blood running down her face. She had to force down a gag as she shoved the card back into a pocket and all but ran out the door, worried wife in toe.

"Nicole what-" Cassandra swallowed any words she had at the sight of the blood flowing down and staining the until moments before immaculate white of her wife's corset.

Nicole made her way to a corner of the building that nobody seemed to go to, and leaned against the wall, eyes squeezed shut and trying to ward off the lightheadedness.

For someone who spent years working on dead bodies in various stages of decomposition, one would think that the smell of death did not bother her. And it didn't. But this was different, the stench seeming to make its way into her skin and clinging to her senses, coating her throat as if trying to choke her out in the most disgusting way possible. Not to mention that there was no actual dead body around.

She coughed out the blood that didn't make its way out of her nostrils and instead decided to go the throat route. Her hands were a crimson mess and so were her face and dress, a pang of guilt shooting through her for having ruined the outfit picked by Cassandra. At least the bleeding seemed to stop and so did the horrid stench.

Cassandra didn't seem to care, nor even notice, the ruined fabric. Instead she pulled out a handkerchief from a pocket and started to gently wipe the blood away from pale skin.

"What's wrong?" She asked and Nicole could only shake her head.

"I don't know. I don't know why this keeps happening," she almost ran her hands down her face in frustration but had enough clarity of mind to remember how dirty they were. "I thought it would go away, and for a while it did. I don't understand what the hell is wrong with me," she added, voice rising the slightest bit.

Cassandra grimaced, trying to get her face clean. "We can talk to Mother when we get back."

A defeated sigh made its way past bloody lips. Nicole had her doubts that Alcina would know any more than them on the situation, which was nothing. They knew nothing.

She grabbed Cassandra's hand to steady herself back on her feet, mind drifting to what she didn't want to think was her only solution.

If there was anyone who could get to the end of this, it was Mother Miranda.