#[-*eyyyy thank you for the ask mate!! ^^*-]

[despairforme]

Is there a particular reason he hates women so much?

❝ Oh 'fer fuck's sake, this fuckin' shit again. ❞ How many FUCKING TIMES did he have to address this? WHY did everyone think he hated women? He didn't! Having opinions about something didn't mean you necessarily hated said thing. Nnoitra simply stated the truth - that women were weaker than men. In general, they were all WEAK. Of course, there were exceptions that defied the natural order of things. Nelliel, for example, or Harribel. But generally speaking, women were weaker than men. There was a reason why most Hollow and certainly most Arrancar were male. Because female Hollow didn't survive for long in Hueco Mundo.

Nnoitra DIDN'T like the thought of a woman standing above a man on the battlefield, because she shouldn't be there to begin with. It was not natural. She was prey. She was weak. This had nothing to do with him hating women. He simply valued strength more than anything, and in that department, women fell short. That didn't mean there couldn't be other uses for them. There were plenty of tasks they could perform, but they better not fucking be put in a position where they were above him in rank.

Even so --- If they treated him decently, even them outranking him, he would ( reluctantly ) accept. He didn't have that much of a problem with Harribel.

Nnoitra was a primal being. He saw women as either something for him to fuck, or for something for him to eat. That was all. Did it make him an animal? A beast? SO WHAT!?

[atierrorian]

Headcanons of Silver, Trey, Malleus and Jamil with a reader who's great at making desserts and sweets and they make the boys (and their dorm mates) some whenever there's a special occasion going on?

Ice cream sundaes for our beloved waka-sama, coffee spiced cake for Silver, and lots more.

Tysm!! Have a great day or night!!

Mmm~ Anon you're making me hungry with these Ice cream Sundaes 😍 But besides that Have a great day or night as well!

Can be read as romantic or platonic btw!

Warnings: None

-Eyyyy desserts that's not from Lilia!!

-Silver is grateful first of all like everyone in this posts.

-Anyways Coffee spiced cake is really good with a rich and sweet flavor and that's just what Silver really likes! So thank you [Name]!

-Silver does have a tint of blush on his face when you first presented him the dessert during like a special occasion and thanked you and ate it while watching you giving some desserts for the other Diasomnia members including Malleus.

-And as he does watch with such glee and delight from the dessert you made, all his really thinking is the fact that you gave him something so delicious and so sweet and it came from you!

-And he make something for you in return with the help of his little animal friends!

-Sometimes he wants to ask you to make some for him again but doesn't know how and is a little bit too shy to ask you so that's that.

-But eventually he does manage to make you more for him with a little nudge from his animal friends and he still gets more from special occasions so It's such a win to him!

-Overall Silver loves the dessert and he loves you too!

-Yay another one that enjoys baking and is good at it!

-Trey is very happy that you gave him a dessert!

-Which btw is a cheesecake cause I am not that creative with desserts but shh

-Of course he still reminds you and everyone else who received a dessert from you to brush your teeth because it is needed

-But other than that he still thanks you and eats it while you gave some of the desserts to the others

-He thinks it's delicious btw (and the more I think about desserts the more my stomach grumbles)

-Asks you if you want to bake with him for other occasions like unbirthday parties or actual birthdays and etc etc.

-He helps you make some new desserts and stuff and gives you like tips and stuff and reminds you to brush your teeth cause yes

-Overall Trey is grateful and he also loves the desserts and you!

-Oh my god child of man just gave me some dessert and it's not from Lilia!

-Pretty glad it was you who made the dessert and not Lilia

-Anyways besides that again, Malleus is just so happy you, child of man, had gave him a very delicious treat and he couldn't be more thankful!

-And Malleus absolutely loves the ice cream sundae and practically wants more cause it's so delicious and good!

-When you first gave Malleus the ice cream sundae from like an event again, he was confused until you told him that it was an ice cream sundae and that's it's a dessert and it tastes really good

-He took it and ate it had such a big grin on his face while you smiled at him and went to where the others were and gave them desserts as well

-And on another nightly walks or something, he asks you for some more if you have time which you gladly agree

-Malleus loves desserts so a treat from you just makes it better!

-Overall Malleus is a dessert lover and loves the desserts you make and loves you too!

-Jamil is quite surprise but nonetheless still grateful for the dessert you made!

-Now as we all know, Jamil is used to doing stuff for Kalim and not the other way around, so when you made a dessert for him during a party that Kalim had hosted (As usual) He was surprise for momentarily but still thanked you and you smiled and went about your day to give the other desserts to some of the others that were in the party

-Alright so you know the drill, he eats it he grateful for it and smiles with the knowledge you made it

-You can tell I'm running out of ideas and I'm lazy :)

-He hesitates to ask you for more but eventually does ask and is glad cause he gets more desserts and is happy

-Wants to bake together cause yes and because like I said running out of ideas

-Basically you both are like the parents for Scarabia and is glad you are their and enjoys the desserts you make as well which puts a smile on Jamil's face

-Overall you make the best desserts and he loves it and he loves you!

You could tell I was running out of ideas and I was lazy! But anyways hope you guys enjoyed that and finally FINALLY I got this out of my drafts!

[justanotherinterneruser]

HAYO MATE! I adore your writing so much and when i saw you had this question game i couldn't resist lol, i was wondering if you could do Dean from SPN using the numbers 9 and 10?

Have a great day mate - Robin

EYYYY ROBIN HELLO!!!

Question 9 is: Could you be roommates with this character?

Answer is yes. I could absolutely be roommates with Dean. Is Dean a good roommate? Probably not. He’s messy and halfhazard and busy, but so am I! We both have pretty terrible sleeping habits and fast food indulgences, so I think we’d bond easily and get along well. Plus. I’ve had terrible roommates before. I do not think Dean would be as bad as them 🤣

Question 10 is: Could you be best friends with this character?

Once again, hell yeah. Dean and I have extremely similar characteristics, habits, and hobbies, which has been noted by several of my friends. I think we could bond over similar feelings towards our siblings and certain struggles, and we are both nerds in pop culture so I think we’d get along super well. Sometimes I joke I’m just the female form of Dean minus the confidence 🤣

Thanks for this ask!! This was super fun

[mechanicalkindness]

📁[silverfurball,btw]

Julius has named every single one of his creations- yes, even all the Egg Pods. They all have names. ALL OF THEM.

[thousandsunnywrites]

How about law meeting a girl who has the same energy as Luffy and tends to touch him in some way all the time, her favorite being ridding on his back. He has long since given up trying to get her to stop, only to find out when he teams up with the straw hats she’s Luffy’s sister by blood. The oldest of Ace Sabo and Luffy.

Law

Law x f!reader; romantic

⤷ a/n: g o l l y this ficlet was a whopping 2.7k words 😭😭i really do love picking on law; also ps this isn’t proofread yet so enjoy the rawness ty

----

“traaafFFFYYYY!” He stumbles forward to balance the sudden weight tossed on his back, hands instinctively grabbing the legs wrapped around him. His life was never like this, until you came around.

It was a regular night in the submarine, Law doing his routinely watch through the sub’s finder. What the hell is that, he zoomed in to get a better view of the blurry image, hm, what is that?

He found a floating bucket under the sea with a tightly sealed lid and a hole carved on the upside with a plastic straw sticking out. Confused and hoping it was some lost gold, he made Bepo fish out the container and check it out. Instead of finding what he hoped to uncover, he discovered a limp body of a young female.

“It’s not breathing, captain! What if it’s been purposely tossed into sea... what if...” his words begin to trail off when the horrid realization of the sea being the graveyard to rest the corpse crossed his mind. He shrieked. They messed with the dead! They’re going to die! He watched too many Asian horror films to know where this is going.

Not before long, Law sighed out of annoyance, moving Bepo’s paw from the right side of the chest to the left, instantly calming down his tremors and leaving the poor bear sheepish.

Footsteps approach Law’s office and busted through the door. Low and behold, it was no other than Penguin and Shachi.

“Cap’n!! What’s wrong? We heard Bepo scream!—” Penguin tugged on Shachi’s sleeve, forcing his attention to the corpse curled in the bucket. Bepo covered both mouths before a squall was ripped from their throats, “Shh... it’s alive.”

“Room,” the iconic blue sphere encapsulates the room as Law unsheathes his Kikoku, “Scan.” The sliver glint of the sword flickered against the blue hue as it perused the physique. Producing no results, he sheathed his sword. “None” was all he could report.

“Oh thank god!” Penguin leaned over the large wooden pail, examining the face of the woman. “She’s kinda cute,” his hand reaches out to caress her cheek. “Mind if I say that I saved her?” He bantered with a sly smile.

“Move outta the way, lemme see!” Shachi shoved Penguin, an instant grin apparent inside his face.

“Stop fucking around.” Law jostled the apologetic duo to hoist majority of the body’s upper half out the bucket. “Bepo-ya, grab the feet”

“Roger!” He saluted before doing as told.

“Pen-ya, Shachi-ya,” their attentions turned to him, responding with a “Yes, boss?”, to which Law replied, “Get out.” As they left, the captain and first mate transfer the patient to the resting ward and laid her on a more comfortable bed.

“Catch some sleep, Bepo-ya.”

“What about you Captain? Who’s gonna watch her if she wakes up?”

“I will. Go ahead and sleep. Lack of sleep isn’t good for your fur.”

Bepo bowed, trusting all will go well since the captain was watching over her, and left to do as told. Meanwhile, Law pulled out a chair and raised his feet atop the bed. It was going to be a long night.

Surely, he must’ve fallen asleep because next thing he knows, he’s the one in bed and his crew bustled in the kitchen. It was a different ruckus this time; it wasn’t the same morning liveliness he knew, no, it was something more like... a party?

He made his way to the kitchen, head slightly pounding due to the loud vibrations bouncing off the walls. Swinging the kitchen door open, he’s faced with a festive bunch surrounding a stranger. Who the hell is she and how’d she infiltrate my ship?

Now on alert, he reached for his sword, preparing to attack but was stopped by his lovable white bear, who had multiple syrup stains resting on his fur. “Captain!!! Look!! She’s awake!!”

Who?

Oh yeah, the bucket girl.

“Yeah man that was suuuuperrrr crazy! I really thought I was gonna die out there!” A guffaw rumbled in the room, the crowd listening intently to what you have to say, “dude there was this big—and I mean big— whirlpool! With nowhere else to go, I just hid in a good ol’ barrel and hoped for the best.”

“Woah, you’re so cool Y/n!” The crew chanted as Law made his way through the crowd, sitting rightfully at his bench, head against his propped up hand.

“Hey, you must be the captain!” You greeted him with a hearty laugh while you reached over to the opposite side to pat his back, unintentionally thrusting his body forward with every rough pat.

“Don’t touch me,” he pulled away and dusted himself off, “I take it you’re better. Any pain?”

Completely ignoring his question, you continued, “Yeah how rude of me, I’m Y/n!!! I’m sorry for intruding so suddenly, it’s just I thought I was gonna die out there because—“

He held up a hand and finished the same sentence you said prior, “Yeah, yeah, there was a whirlpool and you thought you were gonna die, so your pea-sized brain said to stuff yourself in a barrel and hope for the best, yes, I’ve heard it earlier.” He said all in one breath. This amount of stupidity reminded him of a certain captain he was supposed to meet soon.

Instead of feeling offended, a big cackle bursted in the suddenly tense room. “I like you!” Slamming down your fist on his table as a sign of determination, he saw that same look of craze. Oh, how he could never forget that gaze.

“From here on out, I’m your crewmate now.” Cheers erupted from your mates, picking you up in rejoice to congratulate your recruitment.

“No, everyone quiet. You are not a part of my crew. Find yourself another place to loiter in. We don’t accept stowaways here.”

“Yeah no, it’s fine! I’ve been looking for a crew anyways.”

“I am captain of this ship and when I say I will toss you overboard if you insist you’re a Heart Pirate, I will toss you—”

“Y’all I’m hungry, got any food? Preferably meat, yeah?”

“Do not feed her.”

They feed you anyways despite his protests. He didn’t need another one like him on his ship, let alone in his crew.

“By the way, what’s your name Mr. Captain?” A piece of meat was ripped right off the bone. What a slob, Law grit his teeth, and as if I’ll accept her messy behavior. I’m tossing her right off the sub when she’s done.

“It’s Trafalgar Law!” Penguin chimes in, beating the captain to his own introduction. He grunts in annoyance. “Address him as Captain or doctor,” added Bepo.

“MMmmmmm,” your face twisted comically after a brief ponder, “Too boring, how ‘bout Lawsy?”

“No.”

“Trally?”

“Not a chance.”

“Gar.”

“Just shut up, I’m losing brain cells from you. Address me accordingly.”

“Okay, Traffy.” You burped as you chugged down the last of the juice.

Law could only sigh, because even if he threw you overboard, he’d still be stuck with you.

And that’s how it all circles back to Law giving you a ride on his back while walking along in the designated plaza. This is how his normal looks like nowadays. And nowadays, he doesn’t complain, even if he hates being ordered around, he just does it. His crew speculates him having only a soft spot for you, but he denies it every time. It was obvious though.

Today was the day he and Luffy agreed to meet at Dressrosa to take down that son of a bitch named Doflamingo. Everything was going as plan.

“Hey, Tra-guy!” The strawhats called putting from the other end of plaza, stirring a commotion contrasting the daily chatter of the citizens. He scans around and only sees Zoro, Usopp, Robin, Franky out of the troublesome gang. Where’s Luffy?

His grip tightened to hold you in place after your legs thrashed around in excitement, that never leaving irksome grin plastered on your features as always. “Stay still,” he sneered as he forced your legs to settle.

“Woah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Y/n,” Usopp whispered to Nami, to which she nodded in agreement.

“My, they have gotten quite close,” Robin’s chuckle was covered by her hand.

“Wow!” Franky drawled out, his stance in his usual super pose, “Since when did you two get together?” The glint of his shades gleamed as Law approached.

Law simply responded with a “Never” and carried on with discussing the plan that Luffy and most likely his crew won’t follow suit—but it was worth a shot. Hell, he didn’t even bother to explain it to you, knowing you’d do your own thing anyways like what you were trying to do now.

“Traff, Traff, Traff!” With every chant, you kicked your legs outwards to catch his attention.

“What, what, what.” He propped his arms upwards to readjust your sagging position caused by the sudden movements. The strawhats paused their chatter, noting that the stoic doctor had no sign of vexation on his face. That was a first.

“I’m hungry,” you smooshed his cheeks together. With a lilt, you asked, “Food?”

He casually nods, telling you “Later”, inattentive to the cheek smooshing and now cheek pulling. Nobody said anything, but it was obvious he had a soft spot. I mean, nobody can touch him—let alone his face— like that. If they tried, they’d be in a million pieces.

“Guys!!” The scream approached fast along with a mob of angry citizens following, “Got the meat! Now run!” The strawhat captain zoomed by, dragging the rest of his crew and allies along with him until stopping at a hidden alleyway.

During the time of escape, you hung your head down as Law transferred you from his back to his chest, face-to-face, in one swift motion, so you never caught a glimpse of the runner.

“‘Eyyyy, Tra-guy! Didn’t even notice you’re here!” The man gnawed on his meat while stuffing the leftovers into his big orange bag.

“Glad to see you too, Strawhat-ya,” he greeted back, eyes meeting with yours for a hasty second before trailing his gaze to your relaxed lips. It was intimate, seeing you close to him, bodies pressed together, arms around his neck and waist whilst his rested on the underside of your thighs. You and him always been together since the day he was held at gunpoint to recruit you, so it was normal for him to have some form of physical contact, whether it’d be hand holding to prevent you from straying away or the constant elbow hitting the back of his head while you whistled a verse or two. Giving you piggyback rides was common, so why did his heart start racing? This is what he always did, what was so different that could make him feel heated?

His chain of thoughts broke when you ripped yourself off of him to hug Luffy. “It’s been so long,” the shorter make cried, “I missed you Y/n! So nice seeing you out here! Especially with Tra-guy.” Seemingly impossible, your arms drew him tighter to you. “I missed you Luffy. God, I’m so happy to see you alive, I read all those articles. Really making big moves out there, kiddo.” Dramatic tears flowed out both his and your eyes, basking in the nostalgia and memories you shared.

To you, it was a touching moment; but to others, it was a cloud of confusion.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Usopp’s question dripping in disarray. But, their confusion was unparalleled to Law’s. That’s who you reminded him of—Luffy. He fell in love with someone who’s basically Luffy. He fell in love with Luffy’s sister. He fell in lo— no. No he’s not in love, what is he thinking?

“Huh, that’s a shocker,” Law’s lips were dry, mouth slightly agape as he watched the two monkeys hit it off.

Parting ways as the sun retired for business, Law took you to the hotel he had a reservation for. He was definitely gonna ask about Luffy. Grabbing the keys, it was a nonstop travel to the bedroom. Gotta hand it to Mingo, the bastard is a sick fck but he has some classy taste. The hotel was flooded with the natural shine of the moon, decorations silk and simple to compliment each other and the luxurious smell that was hard to miss.

Immediately upon entering the room, the first thing you checked was the fridge, searching for sweets whilst Law leaned idly against the doorframe as he watched.

“Yes, they have kinder eggs,” you shoved an egg in his field of view, “See?” He lowered your hand away from his face and ran his calloused fingers against his hair. It was a long day today, and he was tired as hell, but in this moment, all he wanted to do was to watch you.

“Want some?” Already munching on the Cadbury you found, you waved your face in front of his to break his daze.

“What?”

You simply pointed and broke off a piece to lay it against his outstretched palm.

“No wonder you seemed familiar to me,” he started, “You’re his sister.” Responding in a hum, he continued, “How did that happen? Sister by blood or by choice?”

“By blood dummy,” you popped a jawbreaker in your mouth, “We grew up together. If Ace and Sabo were being a jackass, I’d beat their ass flat. They were such bad influences! But seemingly in a good way..? They were like brothers to me too, ha, I was kinda like their mom if you really think ‘bout it,” Your mouth stopped sucking as the words you said became more and more sentimental. “I miss them. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy. But I’m happy. I guess it’s just... with everything... it’s nice seeing him alive and laughing. Enjoying life. And happy! Must’ve been hard on him all by himself. Besides, I can’t bear to lose another brother, not again.”

“I understand,” naturally that was his response, being that he could empathize since he did lose a sibling, a mother, and a father—twice— because of people. The world was fucked up. No other words were exchanged, effectively ending that convo.

You dug through the multiple bottles of wine, haphazardly throwing them away to search for more candy. A set of hands joined you on this search, crouching right beside you.

“Seems like you need help.” He offered a tiny, yet genuine, smile, to which you smiled back.

After endless digging, you found a can of whip cream and laughed as you sprayed a heaping load on the doctor’s nose before running around. He chased after you, grunting and hitting his long limbs against the small obstacles you placed, and lost you after he moved said objects to clear the path. You climbed onto the wall and pounced on his back, causing him to fall down completely, the cream crushed against his pointed nose and marbled floor.

“I win,” you sat on him as he struggled like a caught spider underneath your weight.

“Okay, I concede. Get off me.”

You flipped him over so his face was towards the ceiling, which was dark after you turned off the lights, and laid back on his chest. His chest had a subtle, yet rhythmic rise to it and made you fall asleep without trying too hard. You peeped a sigh of content before snoring away.

He admired how peaceful you looked when he wasn’t busy babysitting you. The moonlight doused your features in a soft light, turning even the harsh features into something delicate like a flower. The way your lips parted to let out obnoxious snores, the way your hair is tousled in a perfectly imperfect manner, the way your eyelashes contrast your skin tone, the way how there’s something about this moonlight that makes him wanna just lean down and plant a chaste kiss on your lips.

So he does.

You barely felt it graze against yours.

His hand caressed your hair with feathery light touches and his other brushed against your cheek.

Only the moon knew about the endearing look hidden in Law’s eyes that night; it was that same endearing look that showed he was in love.

[sunsetinmyvein]

The Radio Station - Chapter One - Think About How to Think

"I’m still not quite used to these proper radio interviews.” He said as he reshuffled the headset over his clean shaven mohawk. “It all… feels so professional.” She laughed in response to that, “Well, it’s nice to know I’m doing my job right, then!”

Eyyyy, I’m back! A sort of different story compared to what I've done in the past. Small snippets in time, across quite a bit of time, focused around radio interviews. Almost all of Matty's interview answers are verbatim transcribed from various interviews, but it's what happens around those answers that's the important stuff.

Taglist: @dot-writes​ @imagine-that-100​ @robinrunsfiction​ @tooshhhy​ and feel free to give me a shout if you wanna be added :D

6th of December, 2012

Adjusting the microphone in front of her, she watched while the last few seconds of the song played out. “You ready?” She asked the man sitting in front of her. He looked up from picking at the sleeve of his jacket, nodding apprehensively as she switched the microphones back on. “That was Sex by The 1975 - and as promised, we have here Matthew Healy of The 1975 with us in the studio this morning.” She spoke, turning on the radio presenter voice.

He leaned towards the mic slightly before speaking, “Hi.”

“How are you doing?”

“Yeah, erm… good?” He said with a small laugh, sounding unsure of himself. “A bit nervous.” He admitted as an afterthought.

“About your show tonight at Barfly?” She asked, remembering her conversation earlier in the day. Her managed warned her not to drag the interview out too much as they had a gig later that evening to prepare for.

“Uh, yeah, that, and I’m still not quite used to these proper radio interviews.” He said as he reshuffled the headset over his clean shaven mohawk. “It all… feels so professional.” He shrugged, looking around the studio for the millionth time. When he’d come in, the process of actually having to check in through a receptionist and wait before he was ushered through was fairly intimidating.

She laughed in response to that, “Well, it’s nice to know I’m doing my job right, then!”

 She figured it would be best to just get the ball rolling to try and give him something better to talk about than his nerves, “So, you guys have two EPs out now. How many more are there on the cards before an album?” She questioned, glancing down at the sheet of question prompts in front of her.

He appeared instantly more comfortable as soon as the topic switched to something that he had better familiarity with, straightening up in his seat and looking more engaged, “There’s probably another couple to come out before we bring out the full album.”

“It seems that the band is getting some good traction with what you already have out.” She pointed out with a nod. Over the last few weeks at the station she’d had a chance to hear the EPs in passing, and she thought that they were pretty decent. But the station itself had been receiving a fair number of requests for them and pretty good feedback whenever they were on the air.

“Yeah! We’re really humbled that we’ve been given the opportunity to live this past year, and we’re only getting closer as a band.”

  “Is there a strategy with how you’re releasing things?” She asked. “Is this all part of some grand plan,” She saw him smile at that, “or a secret to getting your name out there?”

He thought about that for a second, “Kind of a bit of both? When we wrote the first EP, shortly after we’d written the majority of the album, we kind of… I dunno, we just wanted people to…” He paused, taking a short breath as he recomposed his thoughts. “If we were gonna do it, it’s such a personal endeavour, this band. If people are embracing the music, we wanna do it properly. We want people to fall in love with a band the same way you fall in love with a person – the more you know about somebody over a longer period of time, the more you both invest in the relationship.” She was taken aback somewhat by his statement. For a band just starting their career, that was a pretty profound thought process. “That was kind of…” He continued, clearly debating over his words slightly. “We had ideas for a lot of material. We wanted records that went against the grain of most EPs nowadays that are just a single. We wanted to release these little records that kind of almost culminated in a debut record.”

  “That all sounds pretty well figured out.” She noted, still rather surprised at the extent of his answer. It was intriguing watching him stumble over his choice of words to try and get across exactly what he meant. “Does that mean that the tracks from the EPs are going to be on the full album?”

“There’s a lead track off each EP on the album, yeah.” He nodded eagerly as he leaned forward in his seat. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding that our material works chronologically. We wrote the album pretty much before we wrote the EPs. We took singles off the album and wrote EPs around that to take a bit of the story and embellish it a bit. Create a feel for what the album is gonna be like.” He explained, his hand motions getting more enthusiastic the more he spoke.

She made a soft noise of understanding at his answer. Thinking back to the vibe of the two EPs she had listed to, what he was saying made sense. “From what we’ve heard from you so far, it seems The 1975 has a knack for creating upbeat music with fairly deep lyrics in comparison. Is there a reasoning behind that? Is the album going to be similar?” She asked as she flipped her notepad over.

  He let out a sigh as he stared up at the ceiling of the studio, “I dunno… we’re just a band… for ourselves? We just wrote music for ourselves and have since we started when we were kids.” He started, leaning back into his seat. “Because we grew up in punk and pop punk playing around, we were kind of a bands band? Our music just became very, very personal and very, very kind of…” He made a vague gesture with his hands, “I suppose, it’s our only expression? It’s the only thing we’ve ever known how to do. It’s the only form of honest expression we’ve got. A lot of the time it’s quite self-deprecating for me – lyrically. I kind of find solace in it. But I suppose now it’s been romanticised a little bit.”

She wasn’t entirely sure if that answered her question, but pressed on. “Certainly songs like Sex seem to have a lot of girls romanticising you.” She threw in with a laugh. He cracked a grin at her remark.

“I think that is a reflection of our music – coming across as sexy. Not just because of, y’know, all this.” He shot back with a wink as he held a hand proudly on his chest. Any awkwardness he had been carrying at the start of the interview seemed to have dissipated now.

  “All right, we are gonna play another 1975 song and then we’ll be right back. This one came off of the first EP. This is The City.” She announced, happy to segue away from having to discuss whether she thought Matthew Healy was or wasn’t sexy on live radio. As the track started, she lowered her headphones to sit around her neck, the man across the desk from her following her lead. “You’re killing it.” She reassured him.

“Yeah?” He smiled.

“Yeah.” She chuckled, his enthusiasm now that he was on a roll was contagious. “You obviously know what you’re about.”

“Well, I’ve been fuckin’ thinking about it all for long enough.” He laughed loudly. “We spent ages working out what to do before stuff finally started happening for us.” He added for clarification.

“You’ve been the same group since you were kids?” She asked out of genuine curiosity. He looked like he was in his early twenties now, which would mean that they’d already been a band for quite some time. It seemed odd if that was the case, that they’d only had these two releases.

“Yeah, the four of us since we were fourteen or something. Just messin’ about trying to work out what sounds good.” He confirmed.

“Fourteen? That’s pretty young to start a band.” She said in astonishment.

“Yeah, well… I’d just moved to Manchester; I grew up in the very north of the country…” He started, looking like he was about to launch into another story. Part of her wished she had saved this line of questioning for the interview, but another part of her was secretly mildly honoured he was only giving this information to her. “But I went to high school and there was this kind of thing that was going on where the council were letting old people’s kind of bingo halls be used by kids to start bands. And after a couple of weeks it became this scene and everyone started making punk bands.” He explained.

  “So, you got dragged into it by your mates?” She asked.

“Well, in the end our whole social group oriented around that scene.” He shrugged. “We started there at fourteen just because of how fun it was. The fact that we realised we could be genuinely creative but also really indulgent? It was the most fun we could have.” He had a fond smile playing on his lips as he spoke.

“Plenty of time to experiment and work out what you want to be as a band.” She nodded in understanding.

“Exactly.”

“And clearly it’s starting to pay off.”

“You reckon?” He had a genuine look of disbelief.

“I’ve liked what I’ve heard,” She admitted, “and we’ve had nothing but good things coming in about the EPs.”

He scoffed as he ran a hand through his hair, “That’s a lie and you know it. I’m not oblivious to the critics.” He rolled his eyes, but was still smiling. “Thanks, though.”

  They had some more casual chit chat between them until the song came to an end and she switched the audio back over. “And we are back!” She said into the microphone, pulling her headset back on. “Still here in the studio with Matthew Healy, the lead singer of The 1975. Now, I believe that you guys had a few name changes before you finally settled on this one?” She asked as she crossed that prompt off of her list. In an effort to be prepared, she’d tried her best to find out as much about the band online as she could to form some half decent questions. She hated feeling like her interviews were just the same as everything else out there.

“Yeah, we did, but that was when we were just a live band, really. We didn’t really wanna put any music out officially until we were really ready. There were also issues with the old names that we had picked. One of ‘em there was another band called that already, Big Sleep, in America, so we couldn’t call it that. Another we didn’t really like, The Slow Down…” He said with a shrug. “People like to idealise quite a lot of things… in the end, it kind of became our thing? Changing our name. We didn’t really think people cared about our band, anyway.” He laughed softly.

“They certainly do now.” She smiled across at him, earning what appeared to be a delighted look in response. “So, is there any importance to what you finally settled on?”

  “The date doesn’t have any, no.” He said as he shook his head. “It’s this story, that’s been quite over dramatized, to be honest. When I was like… nineteen? I was on holiday with my family. There was an artist who lived in the village who was kind of a local drinker who befriended everybody. I spent a couple of days with him at his house, and he gave me loads of literature to leave with, like Kerouac and beat poetry, you know. Basically one of the books I ended up readin’ six months later, and it had kind of been treated as a diary by the previous owner. And it was dated ‘first of June the 1975’. The use of ‘the’ I felt was quite interesting.” He answered.  “It just stuck with me as a kind of… why? What made them write the 1975? I don’t know, but I think it really works with the fact that we were discovering a lot about ourselves, and we weren’t really sure who we were.” He gazed off into the middle distance for a second, looking like he was zoning out. “George felt it was a bit long at first, because you know, seven syllable band name. But once a band name becomes a band name it’s just there. It’s like that Pavlovian reaction. But I think when we went in for a meeting with our publisher, we’ve always liked to pitch things left of centre, we said ‘we’re gonna call the band The 1975‘ and they said ‘absolutely no way, it’s too long and there’s never been a big band that’s just been numbers.’ And then we looked at each other like ‘that’s the name.’ so I went and got it tattooed on my arm that day.” He laughed loudly. “Sent them a photo of that-” He held out his arm to emphasise the numbers inked there, “-like ‘that’s the name of the band now!’ As soon as they said there’s never been a big band that’s just numbers, we just thought… excellent.”

“The impulsivity worked in your favour, then.” She noted with her eyebrows raised in surprise. To go out and get something like that tattooed as an act of defiance to your creative project was impressive. “Good thing you’ve not had to change it again since.” He just chuckled.

  “It seems to fit in quite well, though, the name. What with the whole black and white aesthetic that you guys have created.” She continued, eager to hear what he had to say on this image that they had surrounded themselves with. Everything she had been able to find out about their ‘look’, how they presented themselves, it all seemed highly thought out and planned. But thinking back to what he had mentioned before, if they’d been a band since they were fourteen, it probably had been.

“If you’re quite altruistic in personality, that’s normally twinned with a certain amount of self-awareness. Because you’re exposed to many situations where you’re putting yourself out there a lot.” He started as he fiddled with the cord of his headset. “I think if you’re an artist and you’re like that, you find solace in maybe… detaching yourself from reality a bit? Because you’re not as exposed as normal. We find a lot of comfort in everything being in black and white, because… Yeah, that’s it, you’re not fully exposed.” He explained as if he was mostly talking to himself, or trying to sort out his answer as he said it. “But it really works for our band because it makes it… a bit out of reach?”

“How do you mean?” She frowned.

He hummed thoughtfully to himself before speaking, “There’s a great quote by Kafka, which is that ‘a camel is a horse designed by a committee’…” He said with a pointed look. “Which is like… one person’s vision is always going to be a lot more concise than something that’s been diluted or compromised by a committee. If you want to project a certain image it needs to be an individual’s own vision in order to be really palatable and really concise and really consumable. So, it’s all about creating something that isn’t that accessible, because we live in an industry where accessibility is paramount.” She was starting to realise that this man truly had very roundabout ways of answering questions. However, it was fascinating listening to his unfiltered thought process as he tried to work out what he wanted to say. She couldn’t say she’d had a lot of interviews with people are interesting as Matthew seemed to be.

  Taking a quick look at the time, she could see that they had to wrap this up shortly. Between the long-winded questions and the songs, her twenty minutes had gone by quite fast. She’d better start winding this down. “What’s next on the agenda for you guys?” She asked, looking back over to him.

“Uh, let me think…” He racked his brain for what their immediate plans were for the near future. “We’re heading out on tour after Christmas, and then pretty much we don’t stop ‘til sometime next year.” He confirmed.

“Sometime?”

“We’re in high demand, what can I say?” He said with a laugh.

“That’s not surprising, I’m sure it’ll only get harder to get a hold of you guys in the future.” She concurred. “Well, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you, Matthew. All the best for the tour and for the next EP.” She nodded. He looked caught off guard for a second. Glancing down at his phone, he was surprised to see how much time had gone by. “Thanks for coming in.”

“No, no. The pleasure’s all mine, truly.” He grinned. “Thank you for having me on.”

“I’m sure we’ll be hearing again from you soon.” She finished up, switching his microphone off as she did her outro spiel. He took his headset off, stretching his arms up above his head before standing up and heading towards the studio doorway. It took her a second of seeing him linger in her peripheral vision to realise that he was waiting to say goodbye. As she started the next track, she slipped her headset off and spun her chair to face him.

“Erm, thanks.” He said as he scratched at the back of his neck. “I’ll see you around?” He asked hesitantly. It was curious to see him go from charismatic interviewee to nervous guy in her studio so fast.  

“As I said, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from you soon. You’ll be back here in no time.” She assured him. He nodded to himself, looking pleased as he headed back outside.

  It was another twenty minutes after Matthew stepped out before her shift ended. Thankfully, she was able to get out of the office pretty quickly. Sometimes she ended up being held back for up to a couple of hours if there were meetings and such that required her attention. And today wasn’t a day that she wanted to deal with any of that. It had been a pretty shitty Thursday to start with. She’d had terrible traffic on the way in, couldn’t find a parking space, had to trudge her way to work in the cold, dropped her coffee when someone ran into her on the way – she just wanted to end a long day. It was approaching evening as she stepped out into the brisk winter air, letting out a sigh as she looked around the street. She started making her way to her car only to catch sight of a familiar mohawked man standing at the side of the station building, smoking with a few other guys. As soon as he spotted her, he shouted her name and waved her over. She debated whether she should go over and talk to a group of more or less strangers or not, but he seemed pretty keen on her joining them. He turned briefly back to the guys he was standing with and as she approached she heard the tail end of him explaining what had happened in the interview.

“This is the band!” He said excitedly.

“Oh!” Instantly, that made a lot more sense than him larking about with a bunch of random people. She took in the other three men he was standing with, noting that they were all quite a bit taller than he was. “You guys could’ve come in to the interview, you know.” She said as she wrapped her arms around herself to try and block out some of the cold threatening to seep in through her jacket.

“Nah, it’s fine.” One of them with somewhat of a beard shrugged.

“We’d rather let him do the talking.” Another quietly agreed.

“He’s loud enough for all of us.” The last one, that also had a kind of mohawk thing going on, spoke up.

“Hey! Fuck off!” Matthew shoved the last one with a loud laugh.

She stood around with them for a bit while they smoked, listening to Matthew talk about the interview and answering the odd question that the band members had for her. This man seemed far more sure of himself than the uncertain one she kept seeing in the interview. He prattled on excitedly about tour and the next EP and just generally seemed more confident. The band only spurred him on as well, encouraging him and getting into in-depth conversations about the tiniest details. She could see where those long-winded answers had come from in their interview. If he held this level of passive confidence and enthusiasm in a casual environment, it was only a matter of time before that started shining through in his career. And it was truly no surprise after speaking with them that this band was getting popular at the rate that they were. They were obviously talented, and had enough drive and direction to push themselves through whatever challenges they faced. She could tell that The 1975 were only just beginning their music industry journey. It was after about fifteen minutes that she figured she had better excuse herself and actually go home – she didn’t really have any reason to hang around here, even if it was nice to chat with such an interesting group of people.

  She waited for a lull in the conversation (which wasn’t very forthcoming) before finally making her move, “I might get going…”

Matthew’s face fell a little before he recomposed himself. “Why don’t you come down to the pub with us for a bite?” He suggested.

“Ah, thanks for the offer but I’ve got places I need to be, and I don’t usually mix business with pleasure as they say.” She chuckled lightly. “Nice to keep things separate.”

“It’s also nice to make exceptions sometimes.” He shot back; a challenging eyebrow raised. “But it’s cool.” He said with a shrug as he dropped his cigarette onto the ground, snuffing it out with his shoe. “For real, though, thank you for all the kind words about the band and the music in the interview. A station with as many listeners as yours… your words mean a lot.” He nodded, looking pensive about whatever was going on in his head.

“It’s really no problem. I meant everything I said.” She smiled back at him. Before she could get on her way, he pulled her into a tight hug. She hadn’t overly expected that from the man she’d known all of about an hour, but she hugged him back regardless, happy for the brief warmth after standing in the icy street. “I’ll, uh,” She cleared her throat, attributing the heat she could feel in her cheeks to being in the cold for so long, “I’ll see you at the next interview.” She said as she finally headed towards her car, leaving Matthew staring after her before heading back to his band mates.

Next Chapter

[rwbyremnants]

Here you go! Might be a minute before this fic continues, but I will try to make it not TOO long. In the meantime I hope you guys are enjoying Lady Stardust!

=Chapter 16

Life was good for the next few days. Though Weiss hated having to sneak around town the way she did, at least it meant she could be with Yang. They spent every available moment with their lips locked together, hands sliding up and down lightly-sweating backs. Maybe they never found a good time to go any further than they had thus far, but she wasn’t overly concerned; they had all the time in the world.

Despite the allure of the depot’s solitude, it was also slightly dangerous due to the neighbourhood, and getting increasingly chilly. This was the reason the most recent of their “dates” occurred somewhere a little unconventional for the besotted couple.

“Great chicken, Mrs. B,” Yang said around a mouthful as Kali returned from the kitchen for the eighth time.

“Thank you,” she sighed with a weary smile as she sat at last. “Sorry for running in and out, girls. I’m just trying to make sure the cassata doesn’t burn.”

Blake shrugged in a weary manner. “You know I could go look for you. Stop being a martyr.”

“I’m not a martyr,” she said in an overly-affected tone. “I’m just a housewife without a husband. Doomed to wander this earth alone!”

Weiss had just been rolling her eyes. Then she felt the tip of a shoe prod her under the table; it was coming from Blake. She hissed, “What?”

“This is your line.”

“Huh?”

“Mom’s ‘alone forever’, and you’re supposed to rescue her,” she said, though she was looking at her mother the whole while instead of Weiss. “Isn’t that right?”

“It was supposed to be a soliloquy,” she cackled as she stirred the chicken and pasta around on her plate, preparing to scoop some up.

“Oh, Kali!” Weiss said, pressing both hands to her heart. The elbow movement made Yang duck out of the way instinctively, even though it would have missed. “I cannot bear to hear of your loneliness! Say it isn’t so!”

They all clapped, and Weiss waved at them to leave her alone. Then Blake said, “You oughtta join the drama club. Maybe you could play Emily in ‘Our Town’.”

Swallowing her current bite, Yang put in, “I heard they’re gonna put on ‘Oklahoma!’ next year. Might not happen until we already graduated, though.”

“You really think so?” Weiss said with a wider smile. “You know, I’ve always thought I could be very dramatic…”

“No kidding.” At the tone, she frowned at Yang and sat down quickly. “I’m just kidding, Weiss! Wow, didn’t think it would rattle your cage that much.”

“If I’m so dramatic, why are you with me? Hm?”

“Because the drama is exciting.” They leaned closer and closer, Yang grinning wolfishly, Weiss frowning as deeply as she could be - even though the frown was quivering with her efforts not to burst out laughing. In the end, she lost, and they giggled before going back to their food.

Blake sighed. “I know this is dinner, but I’m about to lose my lunch.”

“Sorry,” Yang laughed. Weiss glanced at her with slightly more concern, due to the private information to which only she was privy, but Blake didn’t meet her eyes. “We’ll keep it a little less friendly.”

“Don’t on our account,” Kali chuckled, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “I’ve seen it all before - and done most of it myself.”

“Mom!” Blake hissed.

“What? Your dear old mother’s supposed to act like she’s dead now?” Even as Blake was rolling her eyes, she pushed up from the table. “Be right back.”

“Again?” Yang asked. “C’mon, sit down. Let it go a little longer.”

“Not if we want dessert! This time, I’m sure it’s ready to come out - and then I have to do the icing. This is my fault for not getting it done earlier when I knew I should have…”

As she left, Weiss was glancing between her and her daughter. Blake had been a little sullen ever since they got there. Before that, she had been doing quite well with the situation all week; cracking jokes the same as anyone else during the few moments she dared stop by their table. It was infuriating, having to keep from talking to them in the hallways lest her annoyance of a brother take it upon himself to report back what he had seen, but this was the situation in which they found themselves. All they could do was make the best of it - and keep her jacket in Pyrrha’s car trunk.

But now, she had to do something for her other friend. Standing quickly, she said, “Let me help you with that icing!”

A little late, she realised Blake was doing the same thing. “Oh… uh, why?”

“Don’t worry about that!” Kali said with a genuine smile. “You’re guests! Why would I ask that of you?”

“Well… I want to help! Might be fun!” That sounded like a pathetic excuse, even to her own ears, but it was too late. “You get started, I just have to ask Yang something.”

As Kali shrugged and went through the door, Weiss waited impatiently for Yang to stop blinking at her and get up. In a whisper, she ordered her, “Talk to Blake.”

“What? I mean, I have been. What do you mean?”

“She’s feeling…” There was no way she could divulge the whole truth, since that would be a breach of Blake’s trust, so she had to compromise. “I think she’s been a little lonely. You’re best friends, aren’t you? But you’re spending so much time with me that I think she’s feeling left out. So just… try, while I’m helping her mom?”

Yang had started to glance over her shoulder at Blake, but caught herself just in time before she made it obvious that was what they were talking about. “Oh. I mean… you really think so? Wow… chee, I never thought- I’m a real butthead.”

“You’re not. I think we’re allowed to be real gone for the first week after confessing our undying affections.”

“Yeah,” she said with a shy grin, and Weiss grinned back. She leaned forward and left a peck on her cheek. “Go on, I’ll see what I can do.”

Weiss returned the cheek-kiss herself, then passed through into the kitchen. She just barely caught Yang going, “Eyyyy, so…” before the door swung shut and she couldn’t hear the rest.

Presently, Mrs. Belladonna was just setting the cake on top of her cooling rack, which was perched on the stovetop range. Luckily, she was clothed this time - in a black halterneck dress with white polka dots, high-heeled pumps to match, and gold earrings and pearls to accent. Really, she looked phenomenal, even if most housewives certainly wouldn’t wear something so light and flirty for a simple dinner at home.

“How can I help?”

“By going back in and talking to your friends,” she said pointedly, shooting a brief smile over her shoulder. “Honestly, I don’t know why you want to be in here when you’re our guest.”

Trying to come up with an excuse that didn’t involve admitting that she thought Blake needed more time with her girlfriend, strange as that would sound, she said, “Because! Um… obviously, I didn’t do as well in Home Ec as my friends did, and… and I would love to watch a master at work! Yes!”

The woman’s amber eyes - a hereditary trait, apparently - narrowed at her for a long moment. Then she said, “Sugar.”

“What? Hey, I’m being serious!”

“You’re sweet, but you aren’t sugar,” she snorted, gesturing to the counter behind her. Embarrassed, Weiss picked up the large jar. “I need five tablespoons in this bowl. I’ll get the orange liqueur and the ricotta.”

In short order, the two managed to make the “sciroppo di zucchero”, as Kali called it; it looked like syrup to Weiss. Then they set that aside and moved on to the frosting, which was made up of a fresh-squeezed lemon and confectioners sugar - the latter of which got everywhere because Weiss thought it would pour the same way as regular sugar. Kali laughed for quite a while, even as she got a wet dishcloth to wipe down her grumpy face.

“This is ridiculous!” she groused, arms folded over her chest. “I thought I knew how to bake, at least a little, and I’m making a mess!”

“It’s not that bad, signorina,” she tittered. Weiss tried to pretend having the older woman dote on her didn’t evoke two very different kind of feelings at the same time; an odd fluttering of excitement, and a dull ache of loss due to her own mother not being part of her life in that way. But there was no sense in putting either of those on Kali. “There, all clean. Now, we start building.”

As Weiss returned the cloth to the sink for her, she asked, “Building what?”

“The cake. Here, watch.”

Not that there was much to watch. Kali was so practiced that all she had to do was take a knife, hold the cake in the middle, and take one horizontal swipe so that it turned into two thinner cakes. First try! Weiss knew that no matter how much work she put into it, she would never be that effortless in the kitchen.

“Now pour the syrup onto the bottom layer,” she instructed. “Evenly as you can. This is what I always let Blake do, because you can’t really ‘hurt’ the cake during this part.”

“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” she grunted, and Kali laughed again. But Weiss had to admit, it felt good to be able to help without fear of ruining the whole confection. Once the syrup was drizzled on, Kali added a layer of ricotta, then they repeated both actions with the second layer once it was placed upon its mate.

“There. Now we just let this chill for about an hour.”

“Good.” She watched as she slid it into the refrigerator, then eased it shut. “So… what now?”

“Put a towel over the icing. And hand me that small Tupperware of candied fruits.” Weiss obeyed on both counts while Kali wiped down the counter quickly, ridding it of the rest of her confectioners mess. “Those will be ready to go once it’s chilled. Though sometimes, you’ll have to add a little water to get the right consistency.”

“Wow, there’s so much to remember,” she half-laughed, and Kali grinned at her. “I don’t remember the cakes in class being anything this complicated.”

Her index finger raised for emphasis. “Ahhh, but they weren’t Italian cakes. We pride ourselves on making everything far more complex than needed.” They both shared a little giggle. “Take my daughter out there. She really got herself in a pickle, didn’t she?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Letting you slide in and steal the woman she had her heart set on.” When Weiss looked shocked, she held up a hand to forestall her. “No, it’s alright. It’s Blake’s fault, not yours. You did what came naturally when you felt an attraction to Yang.”

“You knew she liked her? And… and you didn’t try to stop me?”

Shrugging her shoulders, she went back to wiping down the counter, even though it was nearly spotless. “Should I have? I think you two really suit each other. And my Blake and Yang could have suited each other, but if they were meant to be, it would have come to pass. One of them would have made a move to close that gap between them. Alas, no such thing happened - and I don’t even think it’s my daughter who’s to blame. I believe fate plays a larger role in love than we foolish mortals like to believe it does.”

“Fate, huh?” she sighed, leaning back against the stove. It was still a little warm, but not bad enough to burn her by now. “Wish I could believe that. Instead, I feel like… like I stole her. Exactly how you put it.”

“Ohhh, honey.” Kali walked over to hold her shoulders bracingly. “You can’t steal anything that isn’t a possession. Yang is her own woman. The same way if I tried to turn your head, I wouldn’t be ‘stealing’ you, and if Blake finally made her move, she wouldn’t be ‘stealing’ Yang. You and Yang are the ones who have chosen to be together, and that is the choice that matters most. Really, it’s the only one that does.”

For a second or two, she took that in, letting out a couple of sighs as Kali pet up and down one of her shoulders. Then she smiled up at her. “Thanks, Mrs. Belladonna. Or… Kali, sorry.”

“Better. Or ‘Kali-carina’, if you want.”

“Oh, is that your middle name?” A shake of her head. “Maiden name?”

“It means ‘Cute little Kali’,” she purred in a seductive voice. But by now, Weiss was just barely able to tell that she was teasing, even if her teasing was slicker than that of the younger Dragons.

“Ha, ha.”

Her smirk was still coy, but at least she stood back a little further. “Wow, you really are growing up. It makes me want to chase you around the kitchen even more.”

“Stop that!” she laughed, and Kali brought up her manicured nails to form scary wolf-claws. “Hey!”

“Something more delicious than my cassata has wandered into this kitchen! I… I can’t control myself!” She pounced, but the move was so telegraphed that Weiss could easily dance to the side, giggling even louder.

“Enough! I’ll put you out with the fire extinguisher!”

“Hold still so I can catch you, little mouse!” This time, when Weiss scampered away, she didn’t follow, merely laughing and holding her stomach. It took a moment or two for her to recover enough to groan, “Ohhh… oh, that’s too much fun! I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.”

Wiping her eyes, Weiss returned to stand near the counter, still braced to run if she needed to. “Don’t you and Blake play around like that at all?”

“Oh, no. Well, we used to, but I’m afraid she’s a bit too old to want to ‘play with Mama’ anymore.” Her eyes turned bittersweet, but she looked contented with the way things turned out. “Such a big girl now, I almost can’t believe it. Feels like someone stole my baby and replaced her with an adult.”

Weiss’s heart went out to her. “Well, I’m not too old.”

“I daresay you aren’t. Since… you had a significant portion of your life with no mother?” When Weiss only blinked in surprise, she shrugged. “You don’t have to explain. Though last I checked, Jacques Schnee is not a widower.”

As briefly as she could, Weiss explained, “They aren’t happy. And Mother drinks to pretend she is. The mornings, before she’s had her first drink… she’s the most miserable person I’ve ever known. And the rest of the day, she’s a stranger.”

“Ohhhhh,” she breathed in a voice of such real disappointment and sympathy that Weiss had to turn away from her completely. She didn’t want to be pitied, didn’t want to see that in someone’s eyes when they looked at her. She didn’t want to think about just how awful her home situation was for any longer than necessary, nor be reminded of it by unwelcome pandering. “I am sorry.”

“I am, too. So let’s not worry about that, since there’s nothing we can do.”

“Agreed.” Though Kali still looked a bit shaken by the revelation, she forced a smile onto her face as she gently took Weiss’s elbow. “I think I took you away from the last of your dinner, so… so let’s go polish that off while we wait for the cake to chill.”

As Kali's arm fell around Weiss's shoulders, she found herself leaning into the comforting presence. Probably because of their most recent topic of discussion. As usual, the woman seemed to know when teasing would not be ideal, so she definitely did nothing of that nature as they paced out into the dining room.

Only to find it empty. Of course, the table and their leftover meals were still there, but Yang and Blake were nowhere to be seen. They only had time to glance at each other before they heard a distant voice from upstairs.

“Oh, did we lose them?” Kali muttered as she headed for the stairs, pausing to listen. Weiss bumped into her from behind, having expected her to keep going. “Oh!”

“Ah, sorry!”

“It’s alright.” She was already cupping a hand around her ear, tilting her head. After a moment, she sighed, “Well, it doesn’t sound like ‘fun noises’, so shall we go see what we’re missing?”

About halfway up the stairs, Weiss finally figured out what she meant by ‘fun noises’ and nearly tripped.

Once heading down the hallway, she heard more clearly that Yang was speaking. They were just getting close enough when she caught, “...so we can have a normal conversation?” The response was muffled. “Well, we can’t do it this way, you germ-head!”

“What’s all this about?” Kali asked softly.

“Oh, your brat is being a… a brat!”

“Care to elaborate?”

“I am not!” Blake shouted through the wood of her bedroom door. Which at least cleared up why Yang sounded so frustrated.

“She’s mad because she figured out Weiss asked me to talk to her,” Yang sighed. “And maybe it’s not a problem anyway!”

“Shut up!”

Pushing her hand into her face for a moment, Kali muttered, “Perfect. Creating problems where they didn’t exist before.” Smiling sweetly at the two girls she could actually see at the moment, she asked, “Do you mind going back down to finish your supper? I’ll see what I can do with my daughter.”

Something about the sweet smile felt a little ominous to Weiss. Based on that, she caught Yang by the elbow and dragged her back downstairs.

“Sorry,” she sighed wearily. “I didn’t mean for her to figure it out. I just ran out of stuff to talk about, and she guessed. What was I supposed to say? I didn’t wanna lie, but then she got even madder when-”

“It’s okay,” Weiss headed her off, petting up and down her shoulders. “Really. Just… c’mere.” Leaning up, she kissed her cheek. “Thank you for trying. And I bet Blake will appreciate it later, when she’s feeling less…”

When Weiss never finished her thought, she glanced up toward the ceiling. “Less like a bitch?”

“Less betrayed. She probably feels like we had some big plan we discussed before we got here, and she was in the dark. Hard to blame her.” With a put-upon sigh, she turned back to the table. “Well, I guess we should eat, since it’s what Kali told us to do.”

“And you always do what you’re told, huh, good little girl?” But Yang sat down, anyway.

They barely had time to finish off their meal before a yelp came from the ceiling, followed by steps on their way down the stairs. Not long afterward, the Belladonnas returned, and one of them was being pulled along by the shell of her ear - and it definitely wasn’t the mother.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“Apologise to your friends right now. For what you said, and for your behaviour.”

Though Blake looked quite sullen, she also looked so embarrassed that Weiss had a hard time watching her at all. “Alright! I’m sorry!”

“For what?”

“For-” Annoyed beyond her limits, she pushed the hand off, and Kali took a step back so Blake could apologise on her own terms. Still looking at the floor, she went on, “For getting too upset about nothing. You were trying to be nice, and I lost my head.”

“You got jealous,” Kali corrected.

“Jealous?” When glancing between them yielded no answers, Yang asked, “Jealous of what, me? If you want Weiss that bad, you can have her.”

“HEY!” Weiss yelped immediately. “I’m not a bargaining chip!”

After a moment of tense silence, Yang trying to find a way to gracefully backpedal from a joke gone wrong, Blake sighed. “No, not that. It’s just… you spend so much time together now, and sometimes it feels like I never see you anymore. Stupid, I know. But I can’t help it.”

“That’s what Weiss told me. And I’m sorry,” she went on before Blake could snap something unkind at the princess. “It’s my fault, okay? My fault for… kind of ignoring you, even if it wasn’t on purpose. You know that, right? I’m just figuring out how me and Weiss fit together, that’s all. But you’re always gonna be my right-hand chick. You know that.”

“Really?” Blake whispered. “Even… when you two are married and living together?”

“Like we could do that,” Weiss scoffed. “Marriage is for straighties. But… yes, even when we’re old and gray, we’ll still be your friends. I hope, anyway.”

It only took her a minute or so to think through her feelings, sigh in defeat, and walk forward to give Yang a quick, “manly” hug that mostly consisted of a few quick pats on the back before they stepped away from each other again.

“Glad that’s settled,” Kali sighed. “Now, I need to borrow one of you again to frost this cake. Weiss, would you like to volunteer? Or would you, Blake?”

“No way,” she grunted, still rubbing her ear. “I don’t want to be within an arm’s length of you for the rest of the night.”

Laughing merrily again, she gestured for Weiss to join her. Once they were in the kitchen, she could hear the conversation start up again, but decided to get back to work on the cake before she caught any words. After all, as she was fast coming to understand, some things just weren’t her business.

[ratmonologue]

You know the drill, all tHE ASKS

Why

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? I don’t actually use any of them

is your room messy or clean? Room is okay, but desk looks like a war zone

what color are your eyes? brown

do you like your name? why? Yeah? It’s fairly unique but it’s spelled how it sounds, which is nice. And I’m used to it so

what is your relationship status? in a polyamorous relationship with about a dozen fictional characters

describe your personality in 3 words or less um…. obsessive, spontaneous, triestobeagoodfriendbutidkhowconsistentlyisucceed (that counts as one word right?)

what color hair do you have? brown

what kind of car do you drive? color? 20 years old and don’t have a driver’s licence eyyyy

where do you shop? At stores? Mostly of the grocery variety

how would you describe your style? Pretty casual I guess. Jeans and tanktops/t-shirts, dark colors, boots, army jacket

favorite social media account Does the OT count as social media? If so that

what size bed do you have? Sad little twin-sized mattress with very broken innersprings (yay college apartments)

any siblings? one younger sister

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? I’m honestly loving Edinburgh so staying here for the time being would be great

favorite snapchat filter? don’t have snapchat, so don’t know

favorite makeup brand(s) whatever’s cheap and doesn’t smudge

how many times a week do you shower? Usually every other day, so, like, 3-4. If it’s hot out then closer to 5-6

favorite tv show? FIREFLY. With additional special mentions to Blackadder, M*A*S*H, and Merlin

shoe size? US size? UK size? European size? CAN YOU TELL I’VE HAD A CONFUSING TIME SHOE SHOPPING OVER HERE??? (US 8, Euro 39, UK a Mystery)

how tall are you? 5′5″

sandals or sneakers? COMBAT BOOTS (but converse are second place so sneakers)

do you go to the gym? pfffft no

describe your dream date A ride in the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo would be pretty cool

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? *checks* around £55

what color socks are you wearing? not wearing socks

how many pillows do you sleep with? two

do you have a job? what do you do? college student who really does need to start thinking about an actual job, seeing as how they’re graduating in a few months

how many friends do you have? I think that number really depends on where you draw the what-defines-a-friend line but, um, a decent enough number I guess? I do need more irl friends over here though

whats the worst thing you have ever done? Some high school friends and I were kinda shitty to this one girl in our group, so maybe that. Idk, I’ve done a lot of small-ish terrible things but nothing super dramatic so it’s hard to pick one as the /worst/

whats your favorite candle scent? IKEA had this one green-apple-scented candle that to this day I wish I would have bought.

3 favorite boy names That’s so hard to narrow down and now all I can think of are fictional characters that I like. Um… *throws darts at mental dartboard* Sam, Nathan, Adrian. Although those might be pretty heavily influenced by the fact that I’ve met awesome people with all of those names so. For fictional characters, Kaz Brekker is a fantastic name, as is Han Solo, as is Ronan Lynch, and…. I should stop. There are so many names that I like though

3 favorite girl names Same problem as above. *throws more mental darts* Sierra, Lyra, Clare

favorite actor? I’m currently in watch-everything-that-Diego-Luna-has-ever-been-in mode. More long-term favorites are Harrison Ford and Richard Armitage

favorite actress? Catherine Tate is pretty fantabulous.

who is your celebrity crush? I like how the question asks for “crush,” singular

favorite movie? Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? Not as much as I used to. Favorites (yes, plural) include The Book Thief, Six of Crows, Illuminae, Inkspell, The Dream Thieves, Half Moon Investigations, and so many more…..

money or brains? For me or in others? Either way, both is always nice xD

do you have a nickname? what is it? Well the OT crew knows me as Clary so. My camp counselor name was Coconut

how many times have you been to the hospital? I’ve been to the ER once or twice, but I don’t think I’ve ever stayed overnight in a hospital

top 10 favorite songs How dare you. Okay, um…. *tries to pick from a variety of bands and not just my 1-2 faves* Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back (MCR), Daze (Poets of the Fall), When Everything Comes to an End (Plan Three), Brush it Off (Plan Three), Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day), Morning Tide (PotF), Subrosa (Plan Three), What About Now (Daughtry), Ambulance (MCR), Rogue (PotF)…. that’s ten…. that didn’t even come CLOSE to covering them all (and so much for a variety of bands, heh)

do you take any medications daily? nope

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) Pretty normal? Maybe slightly on the oily side

what is your biggest fear? jellyfish and plane crashes

how many kids do you want? ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA, NONE, KEINE, NUL. NO THANK YOU.

whats your go to hair style? Well seeing as how my hair’s kinda too short to do much with it, either down or in a partial ponytail

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) grimy old student apartment woohoo

who is your role model? Nina Zenik

what was the last compliment you received? I have no idea

what was the last text you sent? “Honestly though I can’t say I’d mind if he actually did invade my hotel room. He’s one of the few people that could get away with it ;D” …..I’m not sure whether the context would make this better or worse

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? 8, maybe? There was never a dramatic earth-shattering reveal; understanding was kinda gradual

what is your dream car? a spaceship

opinion on smoking? it’s disgusting why would you ever

do you go to college? yes

what is your dream job? underwater archaeologist by day, bestselling novelist by night. space pirate is also an option.

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? Can I just say smack-dab in the city center? Is that not an option? Because that’s where I am now and I’m loving it.

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? No but the last hotels I was in provided instant tea/coffee/hot chocolate packets and I stole all the hot chocolate packets

do you have freckles? no

do you smile for pictures? usually

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 1248. I need to delete a bunch.

have you ever peed in the woods? Yes, many times. I’ve also peed in the desert many times.

do you still watch cartoons? Yes, although different ones than from when I was a kid

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? Neither, honestly

Favorite dipping sauce? There’s this one place in San Francisco whose french fries are, like, award-winning and they have a zillion dipping sauces, one of which is a lemon saffron aioli and it is heavenly.

what do you wear to bed? a t-shirt and sometimes pants, if it’s cold enough

have you ever won a spelling bee? no but I think I was in the top ten?

what are your hobbies? wasting time, reading, watching movies/tv shows, writing and drawing when I have the motivation

can you draw? Kind of?

do you play an instrument? Clarinet for 11 years, plus saxophone, mediocre piano, and mediocre guitar

what was the last concert you saw? Poets of the Fall. I died. Many times over.

tea or coffee? neither honestly, though tea if I absolutely had to pick

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Don’t really care

do you want to get married? If I somehow find a way to make fictional characters come to life, sure

what is your crush’s first and last initial? S.B.

are you going to change your last name when you get married? Unless I marry someone with an impossibly cool last name, no

what color looks best on you? probably black. purple and olive green look good too

do you miss anyone right now? The SOAR Squad

do you sleep with your door open or closed? Considering I share an apartment with five other students, closed, always

do you believe in ghosts? not really, no

what is your biggest pet peeve? When people are unwilling to look facts in the eye

last person you called? Maybe my mom?

favorite ice cream flavor? COOKIE DOUGH

regular oreos or golden oreos? Does golden mean no chocolate? If so then regular, why would you take away chocolate

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? always chocolate

what shirt are you wearing? a purple one that for once isn’t fandom related

what is your phone background? Sir Gwaine in sunglasses

are you outgoing or shy? It honestly depends. I think I’ve gotten a lot better at pretending to be outgoing

do you like it when people play with your hair? Depends who that person is

do you like your neighbors? I’m gonna interpret this as apartment-mates and while I don’t really know them too well yeah they seem pretty alright

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? Whenever I shower

have you ever been high? Only on sugar and sleep deprivation

have you ever been drunk? Yes, but not enough to black out or give me a hangover

last thing you ate? Cheesy bacon-ey mushroom-ey salsa-ey scrambled eggs

favorite lyrics right now “And now assassination is just the only waaaaayyyyyy…..” by the cowboys in Dr. Horrible

summer or winter? Winter if there’s snow, but summer’s great too. idk

day or night? Night

dark, milk, or white chocolate? All of the above?

favorite month? October has the best weather

what is your zodiac sign? go away

who was the last person you cried in front of? My friend Josh (some of you might know him as medieval dude 1.0) because I went to see Rogue One with him