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lucientelrunya · 4 years ago

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Like a lonely house pt 12

@gaiahenshin: I was a little torn between 'feral' or 'hurt' but then I thought to myself 'why not both?' @kholran: I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with Ba Ye, right? @thesporkidentity <3 @nope4ever: Yes, I guess they really are soft. For now. Oh who am I kidding, they'll only go from soft to disgustingly sweet :) @xcziel: Wow O.O I mean, thank you so much! I needed to sit down for a moment after reading those tags. I tend to go a little (a lot) overboard with the whole 'What is driving this character to do what they are doing?'-thing, so it's nice to know it's appreciated :)

Hmmm I don't think there is anything to warn about in this chapter, so here we go:

When he gets back Ba Ye has already started to clean up the table, putting away the leftover food. For a while they clean up the kitchen in companionable silence, until Ba Ye clears his throat awkwardly. “Um- can I ask you something?” he asks uncharacteristically shyly, staring at the pot he is currently drying. “Hm?” Zhang Rishan prompts, but Ba Ye keeps staring at the pot that is long since dry, avoiding his eyes. “You don’t have to answer if it’s none of my business, I know I tend to be nosy but I can’t help but wonder. You were a couple, Liang Wan even called you ‘son-in-law to be’. How come you are just friends now?”

Somehow he should have expected that question, but it still makes him sigh softly. “The simple answer would be that we weren’t really in love with each other,” he says and Ba Ye glances at him thoughtfully. He doesn’t voice it, but he looks like he wants to say ‘If there is a simple answer, there must be a not-simple answer, too’. And there is, and Zhang Rishan finds that he actually wants to tell Ba Ye the truth, even if he doesn’t really like to talk about it. Ba Ye might not understand. Or comprehend. Liang Wan couldn’t comprehend it, at least not wholly because she had loved other men before, but she had accepted it.

“Of course it’s actually more complicated than that. You’ve asked me before if I ever wanted to marry. I didn’t. I don’t. I realized that I’m actually not interested in people that way. I don’t feel drawn to them like that. I’ve never been in love with anyone and I don’t think I ever will be. I don’t know if you can understand that.” Although, thinking about it, he can’t help but wonder. As far as he knows there had never been anyone in Ba Ye’s life. No potential wife. Or someone else. But he also knows that he isn’t good at reading these things with people, so maybe there had been someone and he just didn’t know, because there was never a need for him to know.

Ba Ye frowns slightly but not unkindly, like he has to contemplate that to find out if he can understand, finally putting the pot away to take a new one. He hums thoughtfully and nods very slowly without any trace of surprise on his face. Like he had already been aware of this. It’s confusing, so Zhang Rishan continues. “But that’s just me, Liang Wan is - different,” for a moment he considers saying ‘normal’, because he still feels ‘not normal’ in that regard. But Liang Wan hates it when he does that and it seems to have left an impression on him. Ba Ye looks over at him like he heard the unspoken word and doesn’t approve either, his frown deepening and now Zhang Rishan is the one looking away, down at the sink to fish the last pan from the soapy water. Maybe Ba Ye had really already been aware, maybe because he is also like him or because he is able to read these things.

“As it turns out it was actually a good thing for her, it helped her figure out what she really wanted and that she wasn’t in love with me either. That she was just unwittingly trying to please her mother by finding what she considered the perfect husband and making herself believe she was in love with me,” he continues, because while there had been a really awkward phase where they were both trying to understand what was wrong, where he really tried to be what she wanted him to be it turned out that what either of them thought they wanted was neither what they really wanted nor what they needed. Thankfully they had never tried to push the other to do anything they would now regret. They had been really good for each other in that regard and had managed to transition from relationship to friendship without any problems.

“I have to admit it’s a bit hard for me to imagine never having been in love with another person, especially since you have already lived so much longer than I have.” So Ba Ye is not like him and there is a certain sadness to his tone that makes Zhang Rishan wonder if Ba Ye had been in love with someone he had left in the past and is grieving along with all the other people. But it’s a strangely fond kind of sadness, not the raw, painful sadness he had seen before. Maybe it’s rather a sadness for Zhang Rishan, for having lived so long and never felt love. Because that’s the same thing Liang Wan expressed. The sadness for someone not being able to feel that kind of love. But he still thinks it might have saved him from even more pain.

“But it really seems to have worked out well for the two of you in the end. It’s so easy to see that you mean a lot to each other.” When he thinks about how much he had tried to keep her away and out and how much she had fought for a place in his life, it really had worked out in the end. It had been a risk and he had not lied to her when he had told her he didn’t want to live with anyone because they would age and die and he would not. She had waltzed right through that defense and even though she is not living with him now, he is still not alone. He wonders for a moment if that is why he didn't hesitate at all when Ba Ye said he wanted to stay with him, even if he had not imagined it to be like this at that moment. Or if that's because it's Ba Ye and there is just no way he could have refused him (ignoring the way he had ended up here in the first place, which is not something he wants to think about now).

Liang Wan had to fight her way in and make room for herself, make him let her in, when he hadn’t wanted to let anyone close ever again after - after everything. But Ba Ye already had that room, there was never a need for him to fight for anything (or maybe he had, back then, but Fo Ye had assisted him so it was never that hard). He fit right into this new life Zhang Rishan had, like he had never been gone. Like there had always been a space he was meant to fill.

Ba Ye puts the pan away and wraps his hands around Zhang Rishan’s arm, leaning his head on his shoulder while he yawns loudly. “This is still alright, though?” he asks and Zhang Rishan can’t help the little huff of laughter. Ba Ye had never asked for permission to touch him before or at least not that he can remember. “Ba Ye, if it wasn’t alright you wouldn’t be able to do it.” Ba Ye hums in a pleased way, looking up at him with a smile. “Good. We should do this more often, it was a great evening. I’m actually tired of laughing so much, I’m going to bed now. Good night.” He yawns again as if to make a point before he wanders off. “Good night,” Zhang Rishan replies, smiling to himself, because Ba Ye is absolutely right, it was a great evening. And he only has to drain the sink before he can go to bed, too.

He still gets up as usual for his morning training on the roof that he has been picking back up in the last few days. In the middle of a sword form his phone rings and he glances at the screen to decide if it’s important enough to interrupt his training. It’s the appraiser, so it’s definitely important enough. She tells him that the dagger is really old, older than 4000 years and she still has no idea where it’s from. She had reached out to a few colleagues, but no one had been able to help her so far. After cleaning it she had found some delicate carvings which were really unusual but no help at all in finding out where it came from. At least he has an idea where to look for further information timewise now.

“And about the other thing,” she starts and he is instantly all ears again. “Yes?” It sounds like she is yawning at the other end of the line. “Well, I did find some remnants of - something. Strange whitish-grey flakes. I managed to run a few tests before they literally crumbled to nothingness right in front of me. I can’t tell you what it is. It’s nothing I know. According to the few tests I managed, it’s nothing at all.” That’s even more disappointing, but not really surprising. He thanks her for her hard work and tells her he will come by later to pay her and get the dagger.

After he finishes his training he leaves to get the dagger back, because Ba Ye is obviously still sleeping. It’s one of his rare, free days and he is a little torn between wanting to delve right back into research now that he has a time period or offering Ba Ye to do something he would like to do. But research won’t disappear, while Ba Ye might go back to the past, depending on what they’ll find out in the end.

Ba Ye joins him in the kitchen right at that moment, before that thought can make him sad and he can distract himself by telling Ba Ye the news. Or rather the lack thereof. He doesn’t seem surprised either, just sighs quietly and sits down to inspect the dagger. “I have never seen something like this. It’s so delicate, almost beautiful,” he says, turning the dagger in his fingers. “Be careful, it’s also really sharp,” Zhang Rishan warns him, because the dagger doesn’t have a sheath.

As it turns out Ba Ye is delighted by the idea of spending at least half of the day not on research, because he had wanted to see a little more of the city and it’s also the day of the Yuanxiao Festival. Zhang Rishan hasn’t really kept up with any festivals in the last years and Liang Wan had often worked at strange hours because of her shifts so she hadn’t been too observant of them either. But it seems like a really good idea to balance some more frustrating and fruitless research with a festival full of lanterns and light and delicious yuanxiao.

They delve into research until the early afternoon and Zhang Rishan texts Huo Daofu the not-news about the liquid before they leave. He doesn’t really remember visiting the festival before. First there was a war and then - there was a different kind of war. But it’s undoubtedly nice, beautifully crafted lanterns and complex light installments everywhere, dragon dances and lion dances, music and so many people having fun. Ba Ye is delighted at all the different kinds of yuanxiao he can try and solves at least three lantern riddles, only to whisper the solution to some children so they can get the prize.

It’s one of the last nice evenings for a while. The hallucinations return after four days, then six, then five again. There seems to be some kind of pattern so he learns to roughly calculate on which day the next one is to be expected. But he has no way of knowing when on that day they occur, there is no pattern at all, nothing to identify what may cause them at those specific moments.

After Yin Nanfeng happens to witness two more hallucinations even she starts to openly worry and ask questions. Ba Ye gets more anxious with each one, and Zhang Rishan barely manages to convince him that the hallucinations don’t seem to be dangerous. At least until Ba Ye says, “It’s like in that illusion of white qiao village! You don’t move, at all! What if it happens while you drive and you get into an accident?” And with everything else he hadn’t even thought of that. But Ba Ye is right, it might happen and he has no sense of time during those hallucinations, so it’s not hard to give in to the demand that Luo Que should always be there to drive him, especially on those days. And they still haven’t found anything remotely useful.

Zhang Rishan is torn between trying to make the hallucinations last longer in the hopes of learning more about what he is seeing and blinking them away as fast as possible so nobody has to worry. Since Ba Ye started to spend a little more of his free time with Liang Wan, she is entirely on his side in any arguments and frequently teams up with him to drag Zhang Rishan away from his research to do something - anything really - else. And if it's only an evening spent at a nice restaurant.

Even Luo Que seems to be more on Ba Ye’s side in that regard, even though he doesn’t seem very fond of him in any other way. (The first time Zhang Rishan had asked Luo Que to take Ba Ye somewhere and keep an eye on him after he returned from rain village he had made a face and Zhang Rishan had wondered if he had made the same face at Fo Ye, back when he had been ordered to look after Ba Ye for the first time. He definitely feels reminded of himself, whenever those two interact with each other.)

Having so many people worry about his well-being is new and utterly stressful, because he doesn’t want to worry anyone. He spends more and more time on the research, evenings bent over books and scrolls and the laptop get longer and longer. Sleeping less and less at least doesn’t seem to affect the strange rhythm of the hallucinations. Seven days, six days, eight days, seven days, nine days. They don’t get better but they don’t seem to get worse, either.

Until blinking away the latest one causes a jolt of pain that goes right through his head. He inhales sharply at the unexpected pain and presses one hand against his head and it’s enough to alarm Ba Ye. “What happened?” he asks and is already around the table and at his side before Zhang Rishan even opens his eyes again.

“Just a headache,” Zhang Rishan answers, because he can’t be sure if it’s in any way related to the hallucination and he doesn’t want Ba Ye to worry even more than he already does. Because Ba Ye can get very snappy when he worries too much and feels like Zhang Rishan is not taking those worries seriously enough. “Just-,” he splutters indignantly, “Okay, that’s enough, you need a break.” His tone is sharp, but Zhang Rishan still shakes his head. He doesn’t need a break, he needs answers.

“As much as I want to get to the bottom of this and cure you of these hallucinations, this is not working,” Ba Ye says sternly, putting his hand over the text Zhang Rishan had been reading before. But those hallucinations are only one of the things he worries about. Part of him still thinks it would be better, would be only fair if he found a way to undo all of this so Ba Ye can go back to the past where everyone was still alive. It constantly clashes with the part that has grown to like this, the way they are living together, the easy friendship Ba Ye has with Liang Wan and with Wu Xie. Even the way Luo Que would get annoyed at Ba Ye’s antics. He doesn’t want to lose that but he isn’t sure if he is even supposed to have it in the first place.

And also, “It’s not only that. I need to know what I set free. What if it’s a bad thing? What if it’s going to come back and haunt us? What if I unleashed some monstrous thing?” He worries about that, too. Until this day nobody seems to have realized that an entire forest has vanished (or maybe they have and have kept it away from the public). There was no other news that would indicate that he freed some monstrous thing that would go and seek revenge for it’s imprisonment, but that doesn’t mean it won’t still happen.

“But nothing happened, did it? It’s already been two month! It was only the forest that was destroyed, and they only made it grow by imprisoning that god, so that’s fair. Nobody died, nothing else happened. And we don't even know for sure if this god meant to destroy the forest or if it was just an inevitable consequence of setting it free.” Ba Ye still sounds stern, but his voice has definitely grown softer and he is right, of course he is right. Except that something did happen.

“It ripped you out of your time,” he says, looking up at Ba Ye. He still doesn’t understand anything about that paradox and how it came to be, but the god did that because of him. He caused that. “What if there is a way to undo that? What if I can find out how to return you?” And somehow Ba Ye looks devastated at those words, like it’s not something he would ever want to happen. Like he doesn’t want to go home.

“Return me? Like some - some unwanted present?” Ba Ye hisses, taking a step back. Zhang Rishan’s head still hurts and he doesn’t quite understand how Ba Ye can think of himself as an unwanted present. This is not about what he wants, it’s about what is right. It’s about the fact that Ba Ye has lost everyone and everything else by being here and now. That Zhang Rishan caused Fo Ye to lose someone he held so dear. And how can he be just okay with that if there might be a way to change it? To set things right? Of course he likes that Ba Ye is here, with him and he had thought that Ba Ye knew that. But the price seems just a bit too high.

“No. Return you to the past, to everyone and everything you lost because of me," he clarifies, shaking his head. “I just - you lost everything because of this. That’s not right, I can’t -” But Ba Ye interrupts him, his voice sharp and stern again, “You’re still here." Zhang Rishan closes his mouth, looking down at his lap. How is that in any way compensation for everything else that is no longer there? Even if Ba Ye had no wife or children or another kind of partner he knew of and wasn’t really close with his family, he lost his home, his friends and everyone he knew. One person couldn’t ever replace all of that.

And he would be in the past, too. The same Lieutenant Ba Ye remembers, it’s not like he would lose him. “But I would be there in the past, too. It’s not like you would lose me, you would just get back everyone else,” he says. Well, all the new friends Ba Ye has made until now would be lost to him, but he hasn’t known them as long as all his friends from the past. Wouldn’t that be a worthy trade?

“What if they were right and I was meant to die that day. Or the next day. What if it was meant to be like this? What if I told you I calculated my fate and it was just this? None of that matters. The past cannot be changed, no matter how much we want it to. And your past is that I vanished, that I was gone for 80 years, and you won’t change that, no matter how much you try. You know that, you know it makes sense that you cannot go back and change the past, because then you would have no reason to have gone back in the first place. And I’m not gonna watch you ruin yourself trying to do impossible things because of me.”

Adding this to the heap of worries Ba Ye already carried had not been his intention. He had truly forgotten the first time, but Ba Ye had reminded him enough times by now that he would take care of him on Fo Ye’s behalf. But if he truly believes there is no way to change this fate, to change the past, he could do what he wanted with this new life of his. There is no need to take care of Zhang Rishan, even the hallucinations are not that threatening, they are just an inconvenience. An unexplainable, annoying inconvenience, but nothing life-threatening. Nothing he could not learn to live with. Ba Ye only has this one mortal life, he should be able to do what he wants to do with it, not what he thinks other people want him to do.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry so much about me. And you are probably right, I can’t change the past, but I still need to know as much as possible about this god and the people who captured it. I freed it, it’s my responsibility. And I don’t know how these hallucinations are related to the whole thing. But I hope you know that you don’t have to stay and help with this. You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to take care of me just because you promised Fo Ye-”

“Zhang Rishan!” Ba Ye interrupts him yet again, looking really angry now. His whole body is an expression of his anger, shoulders tight, hands clenched into fists, brows furrowed and that furious curl to his lips. He points his finger at Zhang Rishan accusingly and almost pokes him in the forehead with it. For a moment he just fixes him with narrowed eyes, but when he speaks again his voice gets a little softer. “Zhang Rishan, I want to stay with you not because you are the only person I have left from my old life or because I feel obliged to take care of you in Fo Ye’s stead. I want to stay with you because I want to.” He does poke him now, but it’s gentle.

Oh. Had the caretaking-thing turned from a chore to something Ba Ye truly liked to do, just like Ba Ye had turned from someone he had been told to take care of to someone he wanted to take care of? Someone he considers one of his ‘favorite people’ as Wu Xie had so nicely put it? He remembers Ba Ye saying that Zhang Rishan would have to be his home, because his real home wasn’t there anymore. Had that also been more about him than the fact that he was the only one left to fill that role? He watches the shift from anger to something that looks like a mixture between annoyance and fondness on Ba Ye’s face, not sure how to answer, but it seems like Ba Ye doesn’t really expect an answer.

“Aiyah," he shakes his head at Zhang Rishan before he half sits on the armrest and throws his arms around him to pull him against his chest quite forcefully. The embrace is tight despite the awkward position and Ba Ye doesn’t let go right away, clucking his tongue. “And of course this means I will also take care of you, because I want to and you obviously need it. Unless- unless you don’t want me to?” Ba Ye’s voice goes softer, a little hint of worry creeping in.

“I mean, you know that the same applies to you, yeah? You don't have to take care of me because of Fo Ye or because you feel obliged to. You don't have to let me do things you don't like or do things you don't want to make something up to me. Like this? You don’t have to let me hug you if you don’t like to be hugged," his voice gets even quieter and he sounds actually sad at the end. His grip on Zhang Rishan slackens, like he wants to allow him to free himself of the hold if he doesn’t like to be pressed against Ba Ye’s chest. But Zhang Rishan doesn't want him to let go or let Ba Ye think he doesn't like this.

If he thinks of the way Ba Ye just does this, just grabs him or throws his arms around him and pulls him close, he doesn’t mind at all. It’s just something he is not really used to. But it’s worlds apart from that time when Chen Jinshui had put his arms around him and embraced him, acting all worried and friendly. He had not liked that one bit. As a person of authority people don’t just come up and hug him. If they do, they want something, which - admittedly - doesn’t have to be inherently bad. Wu Xie had hugged him to convey his thankfulness. Liang Wan likes to hug him, just because she likes to. He doesn’t mind that either.

So he wraps his arms around Ba Ye’s middle and leans his head more comfortably against Ba Ye’s chest. “Yes, the same applies to me. And I already told you that you wouldn’t be able to hold me in any way if I didn’t want you to.” Because while he generally lets Ba Ye do as he pleases in terms of touching him or grabbing him and pulling him along, Ba Ye should have learned by now that there is a limit to it. If he doesn’t want to go, Ba Ye won’t be able to move him.

Ba Ye relaxes against him, tightening his hold again and resting his cheek against Zhang Rishan’s head. “Good,” he says and relief is clear in his voice. “Because this is good for you. It’s good for your Qi flow. It’s relaxing.” It does feel relaxing. Ba Ye is always so warm and like this he can hear his heart beat steadily, if a little fast. It’s calming. He closes his eyes for a moment and can actually feel himself relax more and more, just as Ba Ye’s heartbeat slows down to a normal pace.

“I also need you to know that while I am very very curious how I travelled through time and how these people managed to trap a deity in a cave, the most important part of this research is about you and about how to cure you. Of course I still miss all of the people I lost, but I have accepted that I can't just go back. I like it here, I want to stay here, now, with you. So from now on I want your focus to be on yourself, too. Finding out what causes the hallucinations and how to get rid of them is the most important reason for this research. Everything else is just mere curiosity. And I'd say it's pretty safe to assume that this won't be quick, so I won't have you bury yourself in this research and forget to live. You said I can do whatever I want and I want to spend time with the people I hold dear - yes, you, too - not bent over dusty books and doing research. So, no more research for today. We will go to that spa Pangzi recommended.”

Although his tone is still soft, it’s definitely his ‘no arguing, I want what I want��-tone, so Zhang Rishan just hums in confirmation. He might need some time to accept the part about letting go of trying to fix this. But he had just told Ba Ye he could do what he wanted and if that is what he wants then Zhang Rishan should not go against it. Ba Ye looks at him a little doubtfully, like he doesn’t believe it can be that easy and he amends, “I’ll try.” Because Ba Ye is also right, this is not going to be quick and Zhang Rishan knows he will get carried away with this research again. He sighs softly and lets go of Ba Ye. “Okay, which spa?”

Since he just had one of his hallucinations it’s safe to assume he won’t have another one and Ba Ye doesn’t protest the idea of him driving them. The place is grand and noble and also practically empty. The hot air of the sauna is really nice and relaxing and he leans back comfortably, actually allowing himself to relax. It takes him a moment to realize that Ba Ye is staring at the tattoo slowly appearing on his skin. “Is that-,” he starts, obviously confused, because he had never seen Zhang Rishan’s tattoo before, or at least not that Zhang Rishan was aware of it. They had spent so much time in close proximity and in different states of undress, but it had always been somewhere too cold for the tattoo to appear.

“Is that the same tattoo Fo Ye had? Is that how he knew you were from the same family?” He doesn’t know if Ba Ye had ever seen Fo Ye’s tattoo, because while his own is very similar to Fo Ye’s it’s not the same. But it had been how Fo Ye knew he was a member of the northern branch of the Zhang family. He makes a slightly affirmative hum while Ba Ye scoots closer to study the tattoo.

“No, that’s not a qiongqi,” Ba Ye already corrects himself, before Zhang Rishan can say anything. “Right. It’s a qilin and it was how Fo Ye knew I was from the Zhang family.” Ba Ye touches his arm, following the swirls with his fingers and then gently moves his arm so he can have a look at the qilin coiling itself around Zhang Rishan’s chest and onto his back. “How come it only appeared now?” he asks, still obviously fascinated.

“It only appears when the skin gets warm. It’s something everyone in the Zhang family has, but different ones for the different branches.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees so Ba Ye can see the parts on the back and gets a little smile in return. “It’s beautiful,” he says, but then his eyes get caught on something that makes him frown. Zhang Rishan can imagine what it is even before Ba Ye asks, “What caused this?” and touches the scar that cuts a white line through the tattoo, following one of his ribs around his side.

“A japanese bayonet,” Zhang Rishan answers and Ba Ye draws his hand back and leans back with a strange expression on his face. “I’m sorry,” he says after a moment. “We are meant to relax here, not think about the war. Don’t you think we should do this more often? Oh, and I wanted to ask Huo Daofu to recommend some movies or shows about time travel so we can watch them together. The books he recommended were very interesting. We could even invite Liang Wan, too. It can be research, too, but in a fun way.” Zhang Rishan hums again, because watching TV is not really his favorite past-time, but Ba Ye had taken a liking to going to the cinema with Liang Wan, so it’s at least a compromise.

“Yes, okay,” he accepts that, leaning back again. It would be nice to get an idea of what exactly had happened with the whole time-travel-paradox-thing and there is no place else to look for that than in fiction. Just to understand it, not to reverse it, he tells himself, because that is not what Ba Ye meant by suggesting it. “But Ba Ye, you can ask things about the war, if you want to know. I don’t mind,” he adds, because the story about the bayonet is really not his worst memory by far.

Ba Ye smiles at him, surprised, but in the eye-crinkling happy kind of way. “Oh,” he says and completely relaxes, almost slouching against the wall behind him. “Okay.”

#zhang rishan #ba ye #fuba #qi tiezui #mystic nine #dmbj fic

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shadoedseptmbr · 4 years ago

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Writing tag game

Oh! Wow, I was tagged by @whirrlinginrags @jicklet and @theoriginalladya

I’m pretty sure everyone on my dash has done this? Maybe not? HI YOURE TAGGED!

How many works do you have on AO3?

104! O.O

What’s your total AO3 word count?

640529

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In Cupid’s Little Bag of Trix (Marvel/MCU, 1479 k)

Shelter (Dragon Age 2, 158 k)

apodyopis (Marvel/MCU 134 k)

Steal Away Home (Dragon Age 2, 114 k)

Unsaid (Dragon Age 2, 90 k)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do my very best. I usually at least try and say thank you. Sometimes the brain is unwilling :D But I always want to thank people who make the effort to let me know they enjoyed something about the story AND I’ve made some excellent fandom friendships in comment chains <3

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

if we go with published on AO3, then it’s dolore which was written for a tumblr angst challenge years ago.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I am told that I am bad at happy endings and that even the stuff I think is happy is bittersweet. I thought Violets to Bloom at Her Feet was a happy ending? But maybe things will change now that I’m writing Mass Effect. lol.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

not really. I have occasionally alluded to a drive by sort of someone pops up in an odd world.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes! Well, more in the past than i do recently, but yes! Um...hopefully sexy? I have generally written M/F pairings but I have written F/F in the past and will probably write M/M

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

only once, and then i ended up writing the whole thing. I’m sure my next experience will be much more fun and satisfying!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

See, that’s tricky. If I’m writing? I’m still partial to my Sebastian/fHawke period. I’ve been pretty safe reading other people’s Clint/Darcy. I’m a big fan of shenko but i’m all kinds of picky.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

all wips are ALWAYS in progress. I have a couple that I may not use as they are, but the writing will get filtered into something.

What are your writing strengths?

Fanciful, small, poetical bits. And dialogue, i have an ear for the voices and the quirks.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Lots of those. :D Sometimes i get far more abstract than I should. I like whiplash pov and I have definitely over used it. I’m not great at combat writing.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

there’s a technique to it and it needs good beta work from a speaker of that language, but I’ve done it and i will again.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Black Stallion. (book not movie) If we’re going with internet era, then Trixie Belden. It’s probably still out there somewhere. The first ones I have on AO3 are probably BtVS

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

hush you, they’re all my favorites.

I am, currently, really in love with my ME stories. I did a good job with shore leave :D

#sept is writing #fic meme

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darth-bagel · 4 years ago

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30 Questions Tag Game

Tagged by: @mercurypilgrim. Thank you a bunch 💙✨

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 5 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

Name/Nickname: Well, Bagel is self explanatory, but my friends usually just call me Molly.

Gender: Female--but i’m feeling more and more comfortable with skewing towards genderfluid

Star sign: Cancer ♋

Height: 5′0″ (yes. im p smol)

Birthday: June 29th. And my favorite way to spend it is by playing dnd with my friends *stares suspiciously at 2021*

Time: As I write this, it’s 2:41 PM. I got home early from work and I’m gonna make dinner and play swtor. Two days off, finally~

Favorite bands: I listen to a looot of music, so it’s a huge mix, also just a few songs from most artists but-- so uh, the best indication of my favorites are my character playlists. It’s all over the place. So like, Dire Straits, Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy (just asserted itself with 5-6 songs and stayed) The Score.

Favorite solo artists: Also see above. But: Hozier. Possibly the only solo artist I know and listen to every single song from.

Song stuck in my head: currently? The entire Hozier (Special Edition) Album. I brought it on myself by listening it to sleep.

Last movie: Shawshank Redemption, last week I had a movie morning. I watched Green Mile just before it. It was a day tm.

Last show: I’m still slugging through iZombie, like 4th time. I’ll finish it one day damn it.

When did I create this blog: Good question. Somewhere last year, late summer? At least the darth-bagel one. My main was around since like, 2017? I was nearly an adult before I discovered tumbler xd

What do I post: random swtor things, but mostly just a lot of screens and my army of oc’s. also ramblings, and writing. i try to keep it all swtor oriented tho.

Last thing I googled: okay, it was ‘tresor berlin coins’. some delivery guy dropped few pink plastic coins with “tresor berlin” on it and i was very curious. it’s a night club with underground music and techno-- now we all know.

Other blogs: my main blog a.k.a @elvhenyoung . I have AO3, there’s nothing on it yet. and that’s most of it.

Do I get asks: I do! I am working on them, slowly. Maybe not a huge amount but they, accumulated on me. I have so much writing to do xd

Why I chose my url: So. I am working in a bagel shop, it’s my third year at this point-- and one day I just made a joke about a Darth Bagel sandwich we could make-- we never did. But the name stayed with me. So. Now I am a Darth Bagel. (I started calling my one other coworker a Grand Moff Bagel so. we are on brand)

Following: 712 (that’s a lot o.o)

Followers: 65.

Oh wow, hellow there! 💙✨

Average hours of sleep: I try to do 8 hours, bc work. I am still v tired all the time. I could use more xd

Lucky number: Idk. But 13 seems appropriate.

Instruments: I tried piano, but eh. I like singing tho, I’m not good at it, but I like it.

What am I wearing: Layers. It’s like -14 C today. But I just got back from work so I have some black pants, Leia t-shirt, sweater and a hoodie. I’m probably gonna change into something more comfy soon.

Dream job: I don’t know. This job I have is not so bad--my boss is an insufferable ass, but it pays well enough.

I once wanted to have my own cafe tho? With games and dnd and ungodly amounts of good tea. But for now I’ll just settle for a stable job that doesn’t drive me mad.

Dream trip: I’d love to visit all my friends in America one day. And see some of the cities as well, although at this point I do have friends all over. So, uh. I’ll make a list one day XD

Favorite food: things with cheese. and spicy. idk, i just like food.

Nationality: Polish.

Favorite song: NFWMB by Hozier. I am predictable yes, it just reminds me of things.

Last book read: Dragon Age: The Calling by David Gaider. But I also have the Prequel Trilogy Novelization started-- i’ll get to it eventually.

Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in:

1. SWtOR (duh, I’m gonna bunk on Sylvas's ship)

2. Dragon Age (yes, i know, shh)

3. Can I like... Critical Role’s Tal Dorei?

Tagging: @chaoticspacelesbians @thedinalixlegacy @sith-nb @blueburds @ajoloart (no pressure from this bagel, so only if you’re comfortable~)

#tag meme #get to know me questions #kinda. sorta.#this was interesting!#thank you for tagging me!#bagel about bagel

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simpingforthisonedeer · 5 years ago

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Chapter 5: Knife To The Neck

Summary: The aftermath of an assassination attempt; Meet Arthur; Everyone's simping for Julius except Holly(she aint buying his shit); There's a world organization or two; oop there's fae and some more magic lore; what??? is?? Julius??; someone who likes to edge himself apparently; magic paintings and shit, man; also more forbidden magic shtuff :)))

Notes: There's NSFW Julius and Aika art under the "Julius & Aika" tag and julius thirst from urs truly on my page ;)))) This chapter was gonna be like 10k words long but i didn't wanna scare yall off so have half of it ;))) Oh, and uhhh most chapters will have some explicit here and sometimes the whole chapter will be explicit like the next chapter is going to be a fuckfest O.o (what did you think Julius meant when he said "hOlD mE") So, if you're not into that, I don't suggest reading this fic lmao but hey, if you are, please continue ;)))

“Oh my fucking god, we all nearly died.”

“Mom!” Holly threw her arms around Aika and buried her face in her neck. She wrapped her arms and held her daughter tightly as her head spun.

“I'm so sorry,” she whispered, holding back tears, further exacerbating the growing headache.

Julius kneeled next to the pair and laid a comforting hand on Aika’s head, unwilling to interrupt their moment.

“It’s okay, everyone’s fine,” Holly assured.

“Yes, but you had to—”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t actually scared. Remember what you told me? You told me to think logically if I ever feel scared and logically speaking, the moon is up tonight and dad would’ve been fine. The man needed me alive to leverage me so I would be fine too.”

“I think I would’ve felt better if you blamed me instead of growing up so quickly,” Aika grumbled.

Julius let out a laugh, drawing attention to himself. She untangled herself from Holly and scanned him for any injuries.

“Are you alright, Julius?”

He waved her off and rubbed his eyes. “Besides the impending headache from the monster of a report I would have to write, I’m fine,” He looked at them intently. “You all need a security detail if this really is a common occurrence.”

“Oh! That won’t work!” Holly piped up. “My dad and I don’t even live on this continent and mom’s always travelling or bothering Uncle Ray at work. It’s okay,” she gave him a thumbs up. “My mom can take care of herself. She’s really scary. My dad and her friends are too. That’s why you shouldn’t hold her hand. If anyone fin—”

“Holly!” Aika exclaimed in horror, her cheeks inflamed with embarrassment. She threw an apologetic look at Julius. “He’s a Magic Knight Captain. He can take care of himself.”

“Ohhhh. That’s why he smells so much,” she muttered to herself, nodding as if everything made sense.

“What!” Julius whipped his head around, trying to check himself.

“Holly, no!” Aika stifled her laughs as she tried to catch his attention.

“You don’t smell, Julius. My daughter has Magic Synesthesia. Please forgive her. She’s just trying to say you have a lot of mana.”

He let his jaw drop in awe. That was an incredibly rare and fascinating condition! People with Magic Synesthesia were incredibly sensitive to magic, detecting unique mana from incredibly long distances. In fact, the world’s most famous bounty hunters and trackers had some form of Magic Synesthesia.

“Wait, really?! Then what do I smell like?”

Aika was going to stop Holly before she said something offensive again but it was too late.

“You smell like a warm, jelly-filled pączki in the middle of a lightning storm. It’s a good smell. It’s cold and warm at the same time,” she sniffed and wrinkled her nose. “But it barely covers the whiskey smell.”

“Oh, that was what the sweet smell was,” Aika nodded to herself, not unlike her own daughter. She rather liked pączki…

Holly narrowed her eyes at her mom. She has good magic sense with her nose too but she has to be really close to smell something distinct like that. When did she get so close to him?

“WOW! That’s amazing, could you tell me—”

“I’m glad you lot are still alive.”

The trio turned towards the front of the house as a handsome, black-haired man with glittering, emerald eyes stepped into the moonlight as he rolled his bleeding shoulder with a groan. He tossed his braid behind him and raised his brows at Julius.

“Did that handsome Magic Knight over there take that assassin out?”

Julius blushed furiously as this man, whom he was assuming was Arthur, winked salaciously at him.

“Listen here, you useless himbo.”

Holly stifled her giggles as her mom tore into her dad. It would get funnier when she realizes he was drunk too.

“You had one job and that was to keep Holly safe. An assassin throws some iron at you and you fall like a bag of bricks? It’s a freaking miracle you’re still alive after all these years.”

Arthur shrugged and winced at the pain.

“Your concern is touching, but what can I say? The Gods don’t want me and the Devil isn’t done with me. I’ll live.”

Aika rolled her eyes as she stood up and Julius with her.

“But really, what happened to the assassin?”

Julius ran a hand through his hair as he spoke up.

“The assassin had explosive runes on his chest and inside of his mouth. He already activated the runes so Aika threw him high and I contained the explosion. It was the only way.”

“Woah, he has a nice voice too.”

Holly groaned internally. Not her dad too.

“Dad.”

“Sorry, that was rude.” Suddenly he was in front of Julius, bowing as he took his hand. “My name is Arthur. What’s yours?”

Aika slapped his hand away as Julius looked on in shock.

“Don’t answer that question, Julius,” she said seriously as she threw a warning look at Arthur’s way. He shouldn’t use his fae magic if he doesn’t want to bring unwanted attention to himself. With that sentence alone, she made sure Arthur knew Julius’ name indirectly and thwarted his plan to assume control of the unsuspecting man. Trust him to think with his dick.

Holly groaned out loud this time. She didn’t understand what the weird tension between the three was, but it was disgusting. She shook her head as she walked back into the house. She didn’t want to be there if they got worse.

Arthur’s eyes flickered up to his forehead where the star lay on his forehead in interest.

Is this the Time mage she was looking for?

His eyes slid down to Julius’ chest as he subtly reached out with his mana. He noticed that this man seemed to be hiding a significant portion of his mana and wore the Grey Deers crest.

Oh, lord. Is he that Magic Knight Captain?

“Holy shit, you’re that Captain no one knows the attribute about. Good thing that, considering the Pascere Syndicate went through so much effort to cover up Aika’s Time Magic,” he added.

“The Pascere Syndicate?” Julius frowned. He heard about them. “You mean the Assembly of Nations?” He knew he would have to attend at least one of their conventions after he gets appointed the Wizard King. It was a giant committee that sought to maintain peace, prevent magical wars and forbidden rituals on a global-scale that could destroy the world.

And wait, cover up Time Magic? How does he know that I have Time Magic?

“Yeah, them. You’ve been doing a good job of covering up your Time magic so far,” he said, looking pointedly at his forehead. “but please try not to catch any unwanted attention from the international community,” Arthur laughed nervously. The last time that happened...Oh, he did not want to think about it. He didn’t particularly care if there was another Time Mage, especially since it looked like Julius kept his low-key, but people who would want to use it for themselves often took down many in their path to get it.

Julius nodded hesitantly at the unexpected advice.

“I’ll keep that in mind...”

“What are you doing here in the countryside anyways? Isn’t there a war going on?”

“He was just escorting me home,” Aika said as glared at Arthur. She slowly wrapped a possessive arm around Julius’ waist. He looked at her with a pleased grin and pulled her closer to his side.

Arthur’s mouth dropped into an “o” when he realized what they were actually here for and threw a knowing smirk at them.

Seems like the Time mages are getting along quite nicely…

He laughed as he slapped Julius’ back jovially but immediately recoiled. He quickly covered that up as if he was rolling his shoulders at the expense of the sharp pain that shot through his body. He willed his beating heart to calm down as hysteria threatened to crawl up his buzzed brain.

What the hell was that?

“I’m so sorry, Julius,” Arthur stepped back with his arms raised. He nodded at Aika calmly, though his eyes were filled with no small amount of fear, hoping she would spot it.

She just threw a grateful look at him and shared a smile with Julius. Arthur’s shoulders slackened an inch when he saw genuine affection in their eyes. Oh. That was surprising...

But whatever it was, he needed to get Holly away from here. He needed to leave anyway due to the custody contract and someone will notice the assassin gone and will investigate. Whatever this Time mage was, he was trouble too.

“I’ll take Holly home and bring her around tomorrow afternoon,” he declared with forced nonchalance. “Holly!” he called out. “Come on, dear! We’re leaving!”

“Wait, I need a statement from you two,” Julius stepped forward officiously, choosing to ignore his bizarre behavior for now. He had noticed how Arthur let go of him and the way his eyes shook in their sockets as he looked at Aika as if to warn her. He seemed scared of Julius all of a sudden, but whatever it was, he needed to get a word from them before they leave. Plenty of time to investigate later.

“Could you please explain how a foreign assassin got to Hage?”

Aika reached out and touched Arthur’s arm to heal it. He smiled tightly as he answered,

“Holly and I were exploring the continent—because it was our week off,” Arthur quickly explained when Aika opened her mouth to berate him again. “and we were in the Spade Kingdom touring your alma mater,” He motioned at Aika. “when the assassin, who had been tailing us the whole time, finally found an opportunity. We realized too late and were going to teleport away but he caught up to us as we ported here and there was a little scuffle,” Holly jogged back to her father’s side, unamused. “I got injured, Holly was restrained and held hostage for approximately an hour, then you two came along and you know the rest of the story,” he finished as he rushed at the end. He really needed to leave. He was getting antsy to get Julius away from Holly.

“Ah, thank you, Arthur!” Julius took his hand and Arthur suppressed a shudder at the wave of goosebumps and unnatural cold followed by warmth that settled over him.

Julius raised an eyebrow at the way he tensed and the distinctly different mana he was giving off.

That’s very interesting...

“It was really nice meeting you two,” He expressed sincerely.

“Of course,” Arthur said lowly, injecting false flirtatiousness into his tone. He needed to stay in character.

“Aika, can I speak with you for a moment before we go?” His hand twitched as he reached for Holly. He didn’t want to leave her but he needed to avoid suspicion.

“Of course!” She turned to Julius and quickly pecked his cheek. Arthur’s anxiety shot up. “I’ll be right back Julius,” she said as he grinned sheepishly. Holly rolled her eyes at the display and crossed her arms across her chest.

Arthur squared his shoulders as Aika silently led them to a tree on the front yard. He needed to warn her.

She turned to him with a raised brow.

“Is everything alright?”

Arthur shot a cautious look at Julius. “No, it’s not. Your new boytoy isn’t human.”

She threw a sharp look at him. “First of all, don’t call him ‘my boytoy’ and second of all, what do you mean by that?”

“I mean that he doesn’t have a heart. His heartbeat is fake.”

“Oh, I knew that.”

“What? ”

Aika crossed her arms. “I had my lips to his pulse. His heart was supposed to be beating quickly at that moment, but at the speed he was going, he was either having a heart attack or he was orgasming,” she rolled her eyes. “But we got interrupted before we could even get that far. So yeah, his heartbeat is fake. So what? That doesn’t make him inhuman. His blood still flows, I can assure you that,” she added smugly.

Arthur shook as he stifled a smile. “Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that his mana is completely different from normal humans.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “Well, forbidden magic can make a human mana seem inhuman. He doesn’t have any weg,” her eyes widened. “But didn’t I say that the seal on my forehead could double as a seal for weg?”

“Forget about forbidden magic!” he hissed. “Okay, he’s not as straight-laced as he looks. Okay, whatever, but I know how forbidden magic feels like on a person. This isn’t forbidden magic, it feels more lighter, and it’s not elf magic either. What kind of magic allows you to not have a beating heart, and feel light and dangerous?”

Aika’s cheek twitched. “Fine,” she conceded. “I’ll keep an eye on him. But I think you’re worrying about nothing. He’s had many opportunities to cause any harm but he hasn’t. He was actually really gentle and vulnerable with me. He is also a respected Magic Knight who is on his way to becoming Wizard King.”

“I know and it looks like he may have some rather large skeletons in his closet.”

“Arthur, we all do,” Aika sighed heavily. “Look, he is good. I can assure you that. You know what he wants to do when he is Wizard King? He wants to end classist discrimination in Clover Kingdom and he was genuine about it. Look, I’m surrounded by liars and I can smell one from a mile away. He hasn’t lied to me.”

“Yet.”

She growled in annoyance. “Are you worried about me or something?”

“Am I worried about the mother of my child? Yes, and I still stand by the fact that he doesn’t feel remotely human.”

“You’re not human either, idiot. I don’t care if he isn’t. I mean, as long as he isn’t conspiring anything malicious, I don’t have any problem with him being not-human and/or using forbidden magic,” she snorted. “I’d be a hypocrite if I did.”

“Okay, I’ll drop it for now,” Arthur shook his head. Maybe she’ll see some sense after she’s had her way with him. He smirked at her.

“I guess you would be biased,” he quirked his eyebrow knowingly. “I see you eye-fucking him.”

“Oh, please as if I’d let that cloud my judgement and besides,” she threw a long look at Julius on his knees as he talked to their daughter. “As soon as you two leave, that wouldn’t be the only thing I would’ve done by the end of the night.”

Arthur relaxed a bit. While his instincts screamed that Julius was hiding something about himself, it doesn't necessarily mean he’s hiding something heinous or harmful. If anything were to happen, he believed that she could take care of herself.

“Be careful, and if you two continue your little tête-à-tête and you’re still alive, let me join sometime,” he winked as he added playfully.

“Oh, come on. The last time we both got into the same bed, you came out at the end of it looking like you lost a fist fight.”

He stuck his tongue out childishly. “Too bad I’m into that.”

He dodged as she smacked his arm with an indulgent laugh.

Julius kneeled in front of Holly with a forbearing smile.

“I really like your mom,” he admitted plainly. She scoffed derisively, all manners to the wind.

“Did I do anything to offend you? If so, could I do anything to fix it?”

“All of them are like that,” she snarled bitterly as looked at her nails. “Your type only likes my mom because she’s pretty and nothing else,” Holly braced herself, ready to cut him down if he moved to attack her, but he only stayed silent. She looked up to see Julius looking at her mom by the tree with a smile that threatened to overtake his face.

“Yeah, she’s pretty,” he agreed as he tore her eyes from her to look at Holly. “And she’s kind of scary too. She has a mean hook,” he huffed as he looked at Aika from the corner of his eye. “But she’s super smart and really cool. She knows a lot about magic and I want to learn from her. I want to work with her and the time I spent with her so far has been... freeing ,” he admitted shyly. “I want to know more about her and I want us to get along because you are her daughter and she loves you a lot. One day, I hope she could even show me a sliver of that love,” Julius sighed deeply. “Could you please tell me what she likes or where she might want to go?” He looked at her pleadingly. “I’d love to take her on a date.”

Holly stared at him, eyes as wide as saucers. The lump in her throat made it hard for her to breath. No one’s ever talked about her mom like that to her face…

“Um,” she squeaked as tears gathered at the edge of her eyes. Holly looked up and blinked rapidly, willing them to go away. All of her mom’s past lovers have always avoided her because she wasn’t their daughter. No one’s really come up to her and told her that they sincerely liked her mom. They might have loved her but she didn’t know and she didn’t understand it anyway. But the way Julius looked away at her mom while Holly composed herself made her chest constrict.

She cleared her throat, bringing his attention back to her. He looked at her searchingly to make sure she was ‘okay.’

“Sh-she likes to stay in during winters with hot cocoa and blankets and just talk. She likes to listen to people talk about their day,” Holly breathed in deeply. If he was sincere, and if he would continue to look at her mom like that, then she could afford to help him a bit. “If you want to get her something, don’t . But if you really want to, make her something, like food or a bracelet or something like that. She likes personal things like that.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate that.”

They both turned their heads when Aika and Arthur burst out laughing. Jealousy shot through Julius when Arthur laid a hand on Aika’s shoulder.

“Say...How close are your mom and dad?”

Holly shrugged. “They’re best friends. There’s not much to say besides that,” she raised a brow at him. “But if you’re asking if they like each other that way, I’d say ‘no.’”

Julius nodded, slightly relieved, and stood up as the grinning pair made their way to them.

“What are you two whispering about?”

“He was just keeping me entertained,” Holly quickly covered as Julius threw a grateful smile at her.

Aika and Arthur shared a disbelieving look. Their daughter was good at lying, but she wasn’t going to fool them , her teachers.

“Thank you, Julius,” Arthur said, looking better than he did before. Aika walked and stood next to Julius as she laced her fingers with his. Holly quickly hugged her mom and took her father’s hand.

“We’ll take our leave,” he said quietly and nodded at the two with a wink. “Have fun.”

“Bye!” Holly chirped before they vanished from sight.

“They didn’t have to leave at my expense,” Julius began as he turned to Aika with a neutral smile. She waved him off and looped an arm with him as she led them back to her house.

“They didn’t leave because of you,” she tightened her hold on him. “They left because of the custody contract. Holly can only visit me during weekends, holidays and extenuating circumstances. After that, she has to leave.”

“Arthur is very nice for a fae,” Julius said nonchalantly. He caught Aika as she stumbled over her own feet.

“What? How did you—”

“He wanted your firstborn, apparently iron is deadly to him going by your words, you stopped me from saying my name directly, his mana was not human and you have a pact with him; All clues point to him being fae. I wasn’t really sure because he recovered from the iron but your reaction confirms my suspicions,” he grinned in satisfaction as she stared at him in shock.

“I-Yeah, I mean you guessed right.” It made sense how quickly he connected the dots. Julius was going to be the Wizard King for a reason.

He leaned forward with an excited grin. “So your daughter is half-fae right? Does that mean she has two attributes? One is Spatial Magic, what is the other one? Can I ask Arthur questions about him being fae if I ever see him again?”

Aika stared at him for a moment, completely caught off guard by the cute expression on his face.

“Her other attribute is Sun Magic and y-yeah, you can,” she looked away with a blush. She really needed a sober-up potion. Julius tilted her face back with a finger and slotted his lips against Aika’s tenderly, much to her shock. She stared at his closed eyes and thick eyelashes and melted into the kiss and cradled his face. Their lips moved slowly and patiently against each other until they reluctantly pulled back to breathe.

Julius leaned his forehead against her’s. “Could I ask you a few more questions for my report,” he asked breathily against her lips.

“Of course,” Aika whispered back.

They linked hands with a shared smile and walked up the stony path to the house. He opened the door for her as she asked,

“Where did you learn to speak Greek?”

“My father and stepmother are children of Greek immigrants. I grew up speaking Greek and Latin,” he answered as he handed off his cloak and cape to her. That little information about his stepmother piqued her interest.

“Woah, that’s really cool!”

“Where did you learn?”

“I was in Athens for a few months, picked up the language on the go.”

“Wow! You were in Greece?”

“I’ve been everywhere,” Aika answered with a proud smile as she hung the cape and cloak on the coat rack. “I’m going to go wash my feet. Could you please take out the sober-up potions from the cabinet left of the kitchen sink for us?”

Julius nodded as she took a turn down a hallway off to the side. He examined the living room more carefully. It was modestly decorated with a few bronze accents pieces and dark brown furniture, but the walls were decorated with landscape and abstract paintings by Aika’s father. Some were of a view he would expect to see outside a cabin in the middle of the woods or at the edge of the sea and some were chaotic depictions of fire, water, lightning and metal curling around each other, tightly linked and unwilling to let go.

He shook his head and strode into the kitchen as he went over the questions he was going to ask. As he reached for the cabinet where he assumed Aika kept her potions, he was hit with a wave of unnatural dread from the window above the kitchen sink. He strained his eyes to look outside in curiosity and extended his mana zone in the direction of the backyard. His dread increased when he detected recent activity of forbidden magic. It was like a parasite that crawled over scorched Earth and flowers which surprisingly thrived despite the oppressive mana. It was all Aika’s magic.

His chest tightened at the thought of her doing forbidden magic but Julius could feel it so vividly. She had been doing forbidden magic. He wondered how he couldn’t feel it on her…He took out the potion and swallowed it thickly as any warm feeling he had of her shriveled up and died. He blinked as his vision grew clearer and leaned heavily against the kitchen countertop. He had such high hopes.

“Boo.”

Julius immediately pivoted on his heel, fingers pointed at Aika’s neck as they sparked with mana. She stared at him, fresh-faced as she cocked her head.

“You’re under arrest for the use of forbidden magic,” he growled as he glared at her. Her eyes lit up in understanding and smiled cryptically.

“That’s kind of hot,” she giggled as her hand traveled up his tense chest.

“Wh—” And before he could finish his sentence, he was slammed against the wall, his wrists crossed and pinned above his head. He forgot she was Time Mage too. She could be just as fast as him.

Aika breezily opened her potions cabinet and downed the sober-up potion.

Julius strained against the invisible, hand-like force on his wrists to no avail. She flipped a dining table chair around with a flourish and leisurely sat on it as she crossed her legs, looking like the very image of grace as she adjusted her skirt.

“Does Master Raymond know you use forbidden magic?” He spat as he struggled to uncross his wrists. Julius flared his mana threateningly as he activated mana skin but even then he couldn't break the bonds holding him. She quirked an eyebrow at him as she answered his question.

“Know?” she cocked her head at him. “He sanctions it.” Aika supressed a smile as Julius stilled in shock. “I’m sure you had questions about how I knew the forbidden runes on Sven’s body. A better question would be how you, a Magic Knight Captain, knew.”

Julius stayed silent as they both stared at each other, wearing equally neutral expressions.

“I like to read,” he finally said.

“Oh no, I knew that already. The question is why you would be reading about forbidden runes.”

“I could ask you the same,” Julius said, his expression icy and eyes that were dull to the point where they seemed black in the dim torchlight of the kitchen.

Aika raised her hands as she shrugged. “I’m an open book. I’ll tell you where I learned if you tell me.”

He jerked against the restraints one more time before he slackened in defeat.

He sighed. “There’s a secret section of the Royal Library,” he growled, refusing to elaborate further.

“Oh, is that all?” Aika sighed in relief. She read everything in there already and it only had elementary books on forbidden subjects. “If that’s where you learned then that’s okay. It would be a problem if you were actually interested in forbidden magic and sought after it in other places,” Aika nodded as she crossed her arms.

“I learned forbidden magic in the Spade Nation War College for four years since I was 16. That was almost twenty years ago,” she explained as she hugged herself. She smiled wickedly when Julius’ eyes strayed downwards to her chest.

“Did you know,” Aika began as his eyes flickered up to her’s with an embarrassed blush. “That using forbidden magic and having weg is a symbol of power in the rest of the world? It’s taboo on this continent only because someone opened the Qliphoth Tree over 600 years ago and let out a lot of demons into the world. The rest of the world actually still hates the Four Suits continent because of that,” she shook her head with a wry smile. “It’s no matter,” she leaned forward as if she was going to tell him a secret.

“I’m not particularly a patriot or a nationalist—I’ve been around the world way too many times to be one—but serving the Wizard King was and is a pleasure. I do forbidden magic for the Wizard King. I keep my hands dirty so the Wizard King doesn’t have to—but that doesn’t mean Master Raymond’s hands are entirely clean,” she snorted as she said, “He did choke the life out of an entire army with their own blood and drown another. Did you know that he’s known as The Leviathan around the world for that?”

“Just because Master Raymond sanctions it, doesn’t mean it’s legal. Using forbidden magic means losing your humanity.”

“Yeah, if you don’t use it carefully. There are safeguards against that but there are some rituals where you can’t avoid that. But if you mean losing your emotions, I mean it happens, again, if you’re not careful. And besides, it’s legal if you have a license, and guess what? I have a license. I’ve saved lives with forbidden magic and if you try to have it revoked, you will be hard-pressed by many factions ready to defend me.”

Julius sighed and closed his eyes in relief. In order to be approved for a license, it takes years of thorough background checks, psychiatric evaluations and high-level government who "okayed" it. If she’s been approved, then she can be trusted. “You could’ve just said that. Please let me go. I won’t attack you.”

She giggled as she shook her head. “Sorry, I just felt like monologuing like a villain,” she said as she winked.

Julius laughed as he looked up at his restraints. “Could you please let me go?”

Aika’s languid eyes roved over his stretched out form. “No, I don’t think I will,” her lips twitched up into a suggestive smirk. “I rather like the view.”

A thrill shot through Julius as he resisted the urge to squirm. Her predatory gaze wasn’t doing anything to help the burning heat growing in his lower belly.

“CAPTAIN!”

They both jumped as a screen materialized in front of Julius’ face.

“What-Where have you been? The meeting was over hours ago! Why are your hands above your head like that?!”

“Marx! Ah, I am just stretching my arms,” he laughed nervously. Aika let go of her hold on him with a silent laugh. She couldn’t see who this Marx character was but she spared Julius the indignity of someone witnessing him being tied up like that.

Julius dropped his arms and rolled his shoulders as he smiled wide.

“I’m kind of busy right now, Marx. I have no doubt that the squad is up right now partying their Friday night. Well, tell them to party harder because tonight is that last night before we begin preparing for the final battle! By this time Saturday, we either win or lose the war.”

“The final battle? Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes, I am, Marx. Join your friends or just relax because tomorrow, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“Yes, sir...Aren’t you coming back to the base? You could look at Magic later, sir…”

“I’ll be there,” he smiled kindly. “but don’t expect me.”

“You could look at magic later! You have to inform the squad yourself now! A final battle? I can’t even begin to imagine what we need to start preparing!”

Julius raised his hands as he cringed from his berating.

“I’ll be there soon as soon as I can!”

“Alright, you better be!”

The screen fizzled out and Julius pressed a hand to his chest and exhaled in relief. Aika found it strange, for a passing moment, that he was still making gestures as if he had a heart that could beat.

“Oh, that was embarrassing,” Julius huffed as he leaned his head back against the wall.

“You should go, you know,” she said softly.

He gasped dramatically and pouted as he strode to where she sat.

“You want to get rid of me already?” he asked as he cocked his head down at her. She tugged him hard onto her lap but he readily straddled her legs and threw arms around her shoulders as they both looked at each other challengingly.

“I think you know the answer to that,” she whispered and leaned forward to nip at his exposed neck. “But you shouldn’t slack off work for my sake.”

“I’m just letting my squad have one night off before I work them to death.” Julius squirmed as Aika bit harder. He slowly knotted his hands in her hair and pulled gently. She hummed as her hands slid from his hips down to his ass and squeezed as he moaned.

“Who knew that a man of your stature, and the future Wizard King could be so submissive. ” She slid a hand down his front and cupped him through his pants. Julius shamelessly humped against her hand with a whine, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He buried his face in her shoulder as he panted.

“I’m expected to be the opposite,” he admitted breathily. “But it was quite nice when you took the initiative.”

Aika brought her hands up to his face with an amused twitch of her lips and pecked at the little dimple at the corner of his mouth.

“Well, you are absolutely adorable. How could I not?”

He shook his head with an embarrassed grin and looked around and his jaw dropped at the framed painting that covered most of the kitchen’s West wall. It was gigantic but he didn’t notice it in his lust-filled haze.

“Holy—That’s amazing! Did your father paint that?” Aika nearly groaned out loud when he jumped off her lap and moved closer to the painting to examine it closely.

It was a small, raven-haired boy caught mid-dance as the rain and wind swept his hair and clothes as lightning curled around him. The stormy sky in the background was lit with stray lightning and some even seemed to strike the ground around him. Julius couldn’t help but gape at the magic depicted so delicately and with such detail. He could almost feel the mana through the canvas.

Aika studied the little boy’s face with a sad smile as she stood next to him.

“Yeah, he did. We caught my brother summoning storms again when he was 10 and gained full control of his magic. My father found the scene very picturesque so he spent months painting and perfecting it. ”

Julius stared, starry-eyed as he touched the lightning on the boy’s cheek.

“He was summoning storms at 10? He must be a really strong mage now! Where’s your brother now? Why have I never heard of such a strong lightning mage in the Magic Knights? Didn’t you say he wanted to be Wizard King?”

“Oh, my brother’s in the backyard right now,” she said casually as she willed her face to stay neutral.

“In the backyard?” he craned his head to look out the window. “At this time? What’s he doing?”

“Staying dead.”

Julius clamped one hand over his mouth to stop an inappropriate guffaw from bursting out. He let his hand fall and pursed his lips as Aika continued.

“The painting is called ‘The Symphony of the Lightning God,’” she continued as she motioned at the painting with a giggle.

“I-I see,” he snorted. “I’m so sorry. That was so rude of me.”

She sniggered. “No, it’s perfectly fine. My brother told me to make that joke.”

“He told you? When did he die?”

Aika paused. “Over 23 years ago...He was thirteen and I was sixteen…”

Julius’s face grew somber as he wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.

“I’m sorry...I’m sure you miss him…”

She snorted. “No, I don’t. I saw his dumbass yesterday. What do you think the forbidden magic in the backyard was?”

“Huh?”

#julius novachrono #black clover #julius novachrono x reader #julius novachrono x oc #julius x reader #oc: aika tolliver #julius & aika #they gon fuck next chapter dont worry ;)

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blackkatmagic · 5 years ago

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Oh wow, that's a lot of tagging. o.O We're lucky you have the fortitude.

I do try to keep things organized. Tbh i should have been tagging them as i answered them, but I didn’t think I’d get so many.

#roedusk #kat answers

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quilloftheclouds · 5 years ago

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Bingo Binge 3/?

Oh no Quill did even more of them whoops. (And there’s even more in my bookmarks holy stars o.o) Find 7 more wip bingo cards under the cut!

Click the links for Bingo Binge one: [x] and two: [x].

@rumpixel No bingo but ah, this made me think hard about what D&D classes my characters would fit into! Celestine is definitely the thief, and Rose the rogue, and even though my bard is stuck as a dog for most of the book, I’m still counting it. XD Also I did a count and two major characters get stabbed, one of them twice, good job me. Link~

@insearchof-solace aDLKGJSLKJFG WE’VE GOT A LOT IN COMMON MATE. LOTSA BINGOS. The heckin’ quotes made me laugh aloud heck XD And technically I realize it’s just “dog” singular for OSS buuuut I still counted it anyways. Also my token straight character is Sheila! Who’s not even on the main cast wow. And crying. So much crying due to those shticky brains, ‘yunno? Link~

@ardawyn Woo! That a two bingo! And even though it technically takes place on an alternate Earth I’m taking the real names in fantasy setting for my sirens who have normal first names~ AND YES SWORDS!! And badass ladies to handle said swords!! Backstory of the backstory of the backstory happens because Celestine lost her memories twice and it’s a hectic time as she tries to get her past back yeah. Anyways yes this was Very Fun indeed! (And very pretty!!!) Link~

@eluarii Double bingo!! There’s a lot in common between our wips despite the difference in story, but I imagine that’s a piece of the reason of why I love your wip so much! Quill is biased, whoops. But seriously, a lot of these tropes are just so much so my favourites. Link~

@cirianne Double bingo again yeah!! Which is interesting indeed because I didn’t expect to fill out so much with the differences in our wips’ settings, but it seems the magic and story has some similarities! I was real tempted to tag off guns & grenades too, but grenades don’t show up until book two. ^^ Also I do have a female lead, but that’s only one of four so I wasn’t sure? Hm! Link~

@shadeshadow234 No bingo but pretty darn close! I wasn’t sure about body mods because a character gets physical changes through magic exposure (and not just like... shape shifting, I’m talking how Dio gets fangs at some point), but that’s not usually how I think body modification is? Idk. Also magic clothing! Does jewelry count? I have magic jewelry. Link~

@goldbonne Near the sea and ON the sea! All of the yelling is because it’s Celestine’s default volume. Also! Yes swearing! We’re talking sailors, here! And also a reminder that Colin is a Pirate and Pirate Kill People. Sorry. Anyways THIS IS REALLY PRETTY and although I didn’t get a bingo, very fun to see the similarities! Link~

You can probably expect another of these posts coming up soon. ^^’ Unfortunately there’s just too many of these for me to do all of them, so I’m mainly gonna be focusing on wips I’m familiar with. If you haven’t already and you want to, I have a bingo card for my own wip One Siren’s Soul, that you can find here!

#wip bingo #bingo #other people's wips #i wanna do them ALL #but i have nowhere NEAR enough time and energy to do that oops

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tenshibeth1 · 6 years ago

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Fic Writer Meme

Thanks for the tag, @chierafied ! <3

----------------------------------------

Author Name:

Here and a few other places my author name is Tenshibeth1, which was a username I'd created back in high school some...gosh, ten years ago now? Time flies! But, it was created in part by my group of friends then. I was in the goth group, but they always said I was the nicest and most innocent of the group, like an angel. My nickname in reality is Beth, short from Elizabeth, and I've always been big into Japan, anime, and manga and all, so Tenshi seemed a fitting choice to add onto my name. Tenshi means angel. The one stands for the fact that it was my first author username. Now, Reflection of a Broken Dream (RoaBD) came later in life, when I felt everything I am and was, was broken. It came after my divorce from an abusive and terrible man...he had me believing I was nothing. I could do nothing right, I was a pest to everyone, and my dreams? Get real. I could never make them come true. Writing has always been a balm for me...and even though I believed few would read or like my stuff, I did eventually begin posting stuff again. To my shock, people liked what I wrote...they wrote me such kind words and pleas for continuation. Everyone who liked and commented on the stories gave me hope again, and confidence in myself. So thank you to everyone who read and commented! I'm where I am now because of you all. ,^.^,

Fandoms You Write For:

SessKag and SessOC from Inuyasha, KuraKag and HieiKag from Yu Yu Hakusho and Inuyasha, KuraOC from Yu Yu Hakusho (although I'm not sure if I've posted any...), and, a long while back, I used to post ShinoHina from Naruto. I also wrote some KakaHina, GaaraHina, SasuHina, and ItaHina from Naruto...I don't know if I ever posted any...but I ship it.

Where You Post:

Mainly on here and on Dokuga. I once posted on Spark a long time ago...and I was posting on FFnet, but something went awry when I tried to get the app...and now I can no longer sign in to my account and no staff members will help me, so I'll probably make another account. I also have an AO3, which I need to update. ><

Most Popular Multichapter:

Here, it looks like the SessKag Alpha is in the lead with 104 hits. With Dokuga...holy crap, it's Cursed with over 12k reads! O.O On FFnet it's Overprotective, which is a HieiKag...and it looks like it's the favorite on AO3, too! Oh, wow. I need to go back and write on so many stories...T.T

Favorite Story:

Ahh...most of them hold a special place in my heart...but there are a few that are a little more...sentimental than others. Cursed, for example, would be one of the top ones. I began writing it when I was living with my ex-husband. It is one of the few reasons I stayed sane...and the original version of that fic was warped...just like my mind at the time. If anyone's curious, I'll tell that story later...but know that it will end well. Rising From the Ashes is going to be a good story if I can ever finish it. It's a bubbling of hope from the darkest recesses of depression...something I suffer and struggle with everyday and have to rise from. Very Merry Christmas With You is going to be a healing fic, Sesshoumaru helping Kagome heal from a trauma that happened to her as a child. They have the relationship I desire most. Same with Alpha, but it's a more recent trauma that reminds me much of my past marriage. The Unexpected, a ShinoHina, was a much earlier echo of this, with an abusive relationship in the making with her arranged betrothed in the Snow. And I just have a special place for Overprotective and All That is Meant To Be because...I do. They were works when I wasn't as confident as I am now, and I really loved and worked on the stories vigilantly outside of what I posted. I kept writing and re-writing to see which directions I wanted to go with them...I need to re-write them both with more detail and post them...

Story You Were Most Nervous to Post:

That's a tie between Arranged Marriage, a ShinoHina, and Cursed, a SessKag. Arranged Marriage was the first real fic I worked on that I posted after several years and the abuse I went through. The anxiety I suffered to post it was...unbelievable. I thought I might pass out. I expected people to boo me out of there since it isn't a very liked ship...but, happily, I found that wasn't the case. And Cursed... I was revamping it to be made public after realizing how messed up it was, and how messed up in the head I'd been... So, I was understandably nervous and trying to make it better. Real. Believable. And not the dark hole it once was...

How Do You Pick Titles:

Erm...I'm with Chiera, I pick whatever feels best. Mostly, I try to pick something short and sweet...and easy to remember.

Do You Outline:

Define outline. Haha. I do try to kind of figure out which events I want in the story and roughly figure out the ending...but I don't always do that. On the ones I have more of a feel of, I do. Ones I don't? I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants and go on the journey with my readers. Some, I still have no idea how they're going to end. We'll find out when we get there. XD

Complete Stories:

Ai yai yaiii...roughly eight. The Best Antiques will get a oneshot sequel or two, but...yeah. Not very impressive. I have a bunch of unfinished published works...and about seven hundred more on my computer... >.>;;

The list of completed fics:

FFnet

The Best Antiques

Things That Go 'Thump' In The Night

Butterfly

Waiting for You

Hinata's Favorite Insect

Dokuga

Written in the Stars

Now and Forever

Someone to Protect

In Progress:

I am currently working on The Pact, Alpha, and Cursed actively, with some work-ins on the other SessKags. I want to work on them all more, and get back into some of my KuraKag, HieiKag, and ShinoHina.

Coming Soon:

I just posted The Pact chapter 5! Dancing With Your Ghost, a SessKag one shot that likes to rip my heart out every time I write on it. I Found You, a SessKag one shot exploring alternate realities. Romancing, a SessKag series of Sesshoumaru trying to wordlessly woo Kagome. The Dark Guardian, a SessKag I hope to write for Halloween! An interesting take of Sesshoumaru as the deity of death that I started, like, a year ago and forgot about... And I'm working on a fic called The Child, an eventual KuraKag with a rough start. ...I'm also working on another KuraKag in little bits, it's currently unnamed and will revolve around Genkai's secret love child she didn't even tell Toguro about... Yes, I know I'm working on a lot at once. Because of my medicine change I have days where I struggle to focus on any one thing...so I write a little here and there. And some days I don't get to because work kills me sometimes and I have do things after work for work other days. -shrugs-

Prompts:

I love them and am open to them if anyone wants to suggest or send them. They might even help with what I'm writing. The Dark Guardian was created from a prompt. ^.^

("Unbeknownst to you, Death was watching you from the corner of the hospital room when you were being born. Fascinated by life, it imprinted on you. As the years went by, Death often saw you being bullied at school and couldn't do anything but watch; as taking the lives if your bullies would have been too much of a verdict. However, you have just been kidnapped and Death is pissed.")

Upcoming Story You are Most Excited For:

It's a tie between The Dark Guardian and Romancing! I'm excited to explore the role of Sesshoumaru as something loosely like Hades with Kagome as his Persephone...just in a very different way. (If you follow the telling of the story in which he does not rape her. The one I found, she could read the inscriptions and said it did not explicitly say he raped her, just whisked her to Hell.) But that isn't exactly the way the story is going, just that Kagome is his light in the all-consuming darkness. Romancing...is going to be sweet and funny, with a bit of drama added in. And frustration. Why does she not understand?! XD Poor Sesshy... If I could get my act together, I would work on The Youkai Games...something I've been working on, off and on, for the past ten years or so...

Five Authors:

@bearpluscat

@therebelalchemist

@dreaming-of-the-midnight-sun

And anyone else who wants to try! ^.^

#fic writer meme #pass it on #try it #kinda fun #you get to learn about people

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murfeelee · 6 years ago

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February! Weekend Replies!

My whole schedule’s shot to heck. I had something else planned for this month, but, pfft, THAT'S not happening. So I'll just keep chugging along -- eff it.

bmit04 replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt3a - The Sickness *cough cough* “Mighty kami,...”

So much work and the results were fab!

THANK YOU! Lemme tell you, doing this gameplay is driving me effing crazy. These sims just don’t cooperate half the time -- Imma start docking their wages. XD

simsmidgen replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt4b - Mother “Tsukihime-Sama~~~!” “Oh,...”

I love the colour palette you used in all these pics, it's just beautiful <3

I’m floored, omg, thanks! I just knew everything had to be ♪ Green ♫, LOL!

omgdoubleume replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt4a - Golden Bridge of Heaven “Welcome to...”

Whoaooowww! 😍

omgdoubleume replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt4b - Mother “Tsukihime-Sama~~~!” “Oh,...”

I just.... LOVE everything about this story 💙💚💛💜

I always feel like crap when I see your posts; you’re such an inspiration, WOW! Thank youuuuu~!

psychetrip replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt1b - The Shrine Maiden After the heavy rains...”

You know... I was wondering if Cinderella was in the mix?

LOL, no, no Disney, or effed up Grimm’s tales here. XD

Kaguya’s raking/sweeping because as a miko, keeping the shrine clean by sweeping away the dust and leaves and other impurities (or demons) is an iconic daily ritual they do (you see it a lot in anime & video games).

But I just really wanted an excuse to use that Raking Mod. XD

psychetrip replied to your post “You got it!”

No jokes! He was messed up. Voldemort turning into a basilisk! Kubo is super sad, but that’s what makes it compelling

That poor kid, I know, right!? Who wants to be the one at the Parent-Teacher Conference with effing Voldemort as their granddad? XD

slade-the-neko replied to your post “Playlist Tag - Anime & Games!”

YESSS! 😃

I should have done 15 or 20 like you did, cuz 10 is just too few!

enchandycorn replied to your post “Playlist Tag”

Yay! Thank you for doing this! :D

Thanks for the tag! I love doing questionnaires & meme posts! ^_^

CC REPLIES

ktarsims replied to your post “Butterflies!”

O.M.G. o.o

One of my favorite creations in a long time!

lifeasasim replied to your post “Hōzuki Decor Set”

This is beautiful! Thanks murf!

They’re just so freaking cool; I wish I had some I could grow IRL!

simsmidgen replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt3d - The Jade Slippers “Don’t worry,...”

The shoes are gorgeous!

Thanks! They’re a conversion I’ve been wanting to do for A WHILE. Finally had an excuse with this gameplay.

psychetrip replied to your photoset “Moon Medicine (月の薬) - Pt4a - Golden Bridge of Heaven “Welcome to...”

You know I want your cc 😉 *shameless*

And you know I’m shamelessly excited to see you use them! :D

simsmidgen replied to your post “Murf’s Important Update! Pt2!”

thanks!

purespirithorses replied to your post “Murf’s Important Update! Pt2!”

you are pretty amazing :)

samkat10423 replied to your post “Murf’s Important Update! Pt2!”

Just browsed through it, and yes, you are truly amazing. Thanks for sharing.

All I can say is thanks to everyone for being patient with me all this time, as I noob my way through simming, creating CC and blogging. XD

Happy simming, everyone!

#replies

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sonatanotwo · 7 years ago

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SO! Imma talk more about Flame Out... More coherently this time. XDb

Yeah, I like... re-read my original post and realized a bunch of my typing wasn’t even really readable... in my defense, it was 4am and I was on a rather old and slow tablet. XDDD

Oops.

ANYHOO. Let’s try this again. :D With caps and stuff this time. 8Db

I am still all GOSH THIS EPISODE. And still all super OMG SEE? I KNEW IT. I said Virgil was a giant, lovable, cute, dork. So adorkable, my gosh. (I also have never really gone into detail, but I kinda headcanoned Virgil could get shy and stuff around like girls he likes and such. I never spoke much of it since I didn’t really have much in the way of evidence WHY I thought he might act that way... WELL. THANK YOU, EPISODE. I feel like this really could be a thing now. XDDD)

Boy, his brothers must not have paid any attention ever to his bookshelves if he has books and even an action figure of Kip. XDa

So, of course, I’m wondering when/how Virgil found out about Kip. Did Kip know Jeff? Seemed like it, given him noting Virgil looked like their Dad (Which I’m like OMG YES, to. People say Scott looks like Jeff, but my gosh, look at Virgil and Jeff in TOS. There is even more resemblance there, eyebrows, set of the eyes, nose, cheeks (chin and dimples are then more what Scott got.) Gosh, I can’t wait to see what TAG! Jeff will look like.) in a way that seemed more than just knowing a little about Jeff to feel Virgil was ‘a chip off the old block.’ (Man, this ep was so chock full of oldish and very American sayings. XD)

Did Jeff introduce Virgil to the guy’s existence? =Oa

BUT yeah, as I tried to type, but mangled... It’s exciting and interesting that it seems like Virgil had influence on him doing what he does well beyond simply his father. Obviously Kip was a huge one! And someone who does more what Virgil does than what, from what we can tell, Jeff probably did. Jeff’s about technology and space, but Virgil is definitely more mechanical, engineering and stuff like fires and explosives etc. *chinhands*

Man, it could potentially even fit together nicely... If it was even older teen Virgil who found out about him... if he still went to college in Denver... I mean, Colorado is still VERY the westerny. (I lived an hour south of Denver for 7 years. XD So, yeah. XD) LMao Maybe that’s where he got the action figure. XDa Man, I wonder where Kip was meant to be from... it was definitely a southern accent---don’t think quite Texas... at least, not some parts of it. (...Oh, his actor was a UK one. GOSH. I wouldn’t have guessed THAT. XD Same person who’s played the balloon Dad and Dr. Peck XD)

ANYHOO.

Side note... did anyone notice Grandma when she descends into the seating area?

LOOK AT HER, smoothing her hair. XDDD Man, I missed Grandma. <3

I flailed a lot about Virg being ambidextrous, so I won’t flail much again. Just a little. <3

...TANGENT TIME.

It’s always interesting to see how things have been moved or outright changed. I keep wondering if they have a second Tracy Island or are they able to film where they display the house for the tour? o.Oa THINGS I WONDER when I see changes. ( But yeah. Look at the shelves here:

Then here’s in EOS:

Then this old shot from the website, where clearly it was a WIP or something, cause books are falling off and backwards. lol

Just... interesting. XD From what I can see, it was the same setup as EOS in season 2 as well, but yeah. The books have changed in S3 and that one statue on the top there has gone completely MIA. (Also can actually JUST make out the spine of one of the books! =O Bottom shelf, far left... It appears to say “Catching Fire” ...which could possibly be Hunger Games reference, since I gather that’s the name of book 2? lolol I’m sure all those books are references. lmao)

Also that one statue over near the pool table?

I was pretttty sure it was Mozart.

WELL.

NOT ANYMORE. Thiiiiink it MIGHT be Aristotle? Bye Mozart. ;A; The other statue is gone too. Sadness. And yeah, these books have been changed up too. I wonder why. =Oa Well. If it isn’t a secondary set anyways.

In fact that whole side is a bit different (other than being shot at a different angle XD)

ANYHOOOOOOOOOO... wow that really was a heck of a tangent.

Uh.

Where was I.

RIGHT.

Oh gosh, Virgil, you are too cute. That look he’s giving, Scott, gosh. XD That’s a pleading look if I ever saw one.

I just love how it looks like Gordon is plotting Virgil’s utter DOOM...

...Then doesn’t actually do anything, since Virgil is embarrassing himself without any help what-so-ever. XD Poor, poor Virgil. He must have been kicking himself. (The “I’m meant to be helping you!” line definitely suggests it. lol)

BUT I JUST. It’s so strange even in a way to see Virg just... absolutely freeze up.

Since Virgil like... so rarely loses his cool. Man... I wonder how he’ll react to seeing Jeff again. =Oa

Man, does Kip not board aircraft much? Most do have wheels, Kip. Even the GDF flyers do. XDa Taxi-ing is a thing they do. lololol Though I suppose TB2′s are sorta hidden...ish.

Poor Virg. YOU KNOW, this might be the first time a note about Virgil that was in the annual might’ve actually sorta been a thing. =Oa It said sometimes he forgot his own strength... We’ve really never seen it used in any way, making it seem like a bit of out-of-date marketing. (Especially since being an artist and piano player, Virg is pretty good at being gentle. ^.^) But a distracted Virgil can seemingly cause some problems lolol

Gosh, I laugh at Gordon’s line still all ‘I’m not messing with them, they’re messing with me!’ lolol

And Virgil finally pulls himself together. \o/

I just really like how Kip’s leaning on TB2′s dash there to look out the windshield.

...I also really like how Kip’s stubble looks...

Like, gosh, this season so far has had some really nice new character models.

AND THEN KIP JUST PULLS OUT SOME OLD SCHOOL TNT. lmaoooo

Remember, Virg is their demolition specialist... he uses explosives, but he doesn’t just carry around random sticks of TNT. lolol AND they just kinda ran away from a HUGE explosion and gas. And. Kip had this. On him.

...

Yeah.

I’m with Virgil here.

AND YOU CAN JUST SEE IT IN HIS FACE. I look up to you and I trust you...

But those are sticks of dynamite right there and they could have exploded earlier.

CONFLICTED FEELINGS HERE.

Ugh, can I just side note that the animators are doing so amazing in general this season so far? Just all the faces and emotions Virgil goes through in this sequence alone. GOSH.

Aww Virg. He wants to do the thing.

“I’m meant to be helping you...” ...Yeah, he’s feelin’ bad for being a wee bit useless earlier, I think.

AND...

That face. ;A; He doesn’t want to say it and seems to be guilty for thinking it. I mean, and Virgil knows better cause I mean... GRANDMA and all. BUT STILL, he feels like he should still. ;A;a

Ugh this isn’t nearly all the faces he even makes. SO many feels.

“By not getting blown up?”

He’s still totally thinking about the dynamite.

ANYTHING. My heart.

My heart, guys. Just. Look at this sweetheart. Look how lovely and everything he is. I knew what I was talking about all this time!

GRANDMA! ...you know, I have a feeling she really might be the Grandma type who’d go and whip out baby photos. She is so unbothered at embarrassing her grandsons. XDDDD I do so love her.

OKAY. TIME FOR ANOTHER MOMENT OF ANIMATION APPRECIATION. RUNS. They’ve been animating them REALLY well so far this season too. Sometimes we’ve seen Virgil’s run be a litttle, uh, stiff. But his run down to the seating area earlier and this... Very nice. +o+b

You can really feel the weight and all the motion has such nice follow through and stuff. Just. Hrrrg. It’s good guys.

Oh my goodness, eyes. VIRGIL. ;A;

Of course, Kip’s fine and Virgil assumes the pose he borrowed from his puppet counterpart. X3b

OKAY, ANOTHER THING ABOUT THIS SEASON... animation errors have been so few and far between... they’ve got John in the loop and their IR insignia’s are properly glowing.

A+ Also some very nice texturing and stuff on the truck.

Nothing really. Just it was a nice cap. *chinhands*

Oh Grandma, your boys oh so love you. Virgil’s face. ahahaha but he’s asking. XD

And Gordon’s backing him up. Aww Gordo. <3 Like I said, I love my Big Brotp, but these two have a place in my heart too. ^.^

“Just do us a favour? Leave the dynamite at home.”

He was really thinking about that. XD

This is a dinner I wish we could see. lololol

Is this my longest episode post ever? ...it might be. It won’t surprise me if it is.

UM.

CONGRATS IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR. :DDD

SO. Now to wait for who knows how long. o.o; I’m kinda wondering if they’ll break the season into three parts... 9/9/8 (or 9/8/9) It would make the waits between possibly smaller... I guess we’ll see. =Oa Hopefully won’t be too long, especially with their teaser. lol

I’m on the fence about who it is, except no, I REALLY don’t think it’s Kyrano. It’s all in the accents... Kayo and the Hood are decidedly from the UK so I rather doubt Kyrano would have a decidedly American one. lol That just would seem... odd. Part of me is wondering if it’s Jeff, but obviously it’s a bit... not rich enough to seem quite like Jeff, although it is pretty heavily radio distorted, but still. Erf. It also might be a bit TOO accented compared to the boys... ANYHOO, I guess we’ll see, anyways.

SO YEAH. Uh. tl;dr? I LIKED THIS EP A LOT AND VIRG IS ADORBS. 8Db

(Boy, I hope this’ll actually post and not error or something...)

#~OOC Post #Virgil Mun Speaks #Thunderbirds Are Go #TAG Spoilers #Virgil Tracy #Episode: Flame Out #TAG Season 3 #THIS IS A VERY VERY LONG POST #I'm sorry not sorry XD #tangents ahoy!#omg this post really is longer than my life signs one #and that was a LONG one #ahahahaha XD

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