#10/10 would KAK again

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 21/10/2023 (Fred again../Jozzy, Troye Sivan, Drake/SZA)

Content warning: Brief mentions of mental health, violence, emotional abuse and death

For a second week, Kenya Grace leads the pack with “Strangers” - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start the episode off with our notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. Firstly, we see a couple top 40 debuts exiting as soon as they entered, like “Normal People Things” by Lovejoy, “Toxic” by Nines featuring the Bad Boy Chiller Crew, “You & Me” by JENNIE and “American Town” by Ed Sheeran, as well as “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo prematurely dropping off thanks to the three-song rule. Then we have some of the more long-term hits dropping off like “The Weekend” by Stormzy and RAYE, “0800 HEAVEN” by Nathan Dawe and Joel Corry featuring Ella Henderson, “Popular” by The Weeknd, Playboi Carti and Madonna - that lasted way longer than I expected - and despite the recent gains, “Snooze” by SZA.

There is just… a lot of everything this week, but particularly gains. We do have some re-entries too, with “Style” by Taylor Swift back at #73 before her re-recording is even out, followed by “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #71 - what did I tell you? - and bizarrely enough, “Pompeii” by Bastille all the way up at #37 thanks to an orchestral version with Hans Zimmer. Alright then. As for our notable gains… let’s just run through it: “Another Love” by Tom Odell at #59, “Party All the Time” by Hannah Laing and HVRR at #58, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift at #39, “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta at #38, “Would You (go to bed with me?)” by Campbell and Alcemist at #35, “Got Me Started” and “Rush” both by Troye Sivan at #36 and #27 respectively - more on him later, “Back on 74” by Jungle at #25, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan at #18 “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift at #14 thanks to the new versions, “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies featuring Hannah Boleyn at #12 and Mitski gets her first top 10 with the fantastic song “My Love Mine All Mine” at #8 - more on that later in the year.

As for our top five, we have “Baddadan” by Chase & Status and Bou featuring their posse at #5, “Water” by Tyla at #4, “greedy” by Tate McRae at #3, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 and of course, “Strangers” at the very top. Now for our list of new songs, and it’s a lot - not a ton of it makes all too much sense either. As you can clearly tell with…

NEW ARRIVALS

#60 - “Just How You Like It” - K.A.D and Kak Hatt

Produced by K.A.D

I listened to a regional BBC Music Introducing show a couple weeks ago and heard a variety of stuff. One of the songs that stuck with me was a pretty mediocre but charming hip-house tune by some guy and it went “give me some time, I’ll have a Rover, lookin’ like a four-leaf clover, tell that girl, come closer”. It’s honestly probably terrible but it was at least honest fun, ending up comical not because he tried to be, but because it was a bit of a genuine fun, not trying too hard to offend anyone or even pretend he was a talented rapper. It was just stupid, and that was okay. This song, with the guy’s Bitmoji in the cover art, seems to think very highly of itself despite the fact it sounds worse than a clearly amateur recording from a guy who I’m sure has way less than the millions of streams this has. It’s pretty easy for me to tell when a song is devoid of personality or anything that personally interests me, but it’s rare that we can get a song devoid of talent - or at least any interest in getting any better. Hope this falls off quick.

#56 - “Black Hole” - boygenius

Produced by Collin Pastore, Jake Finch, Ethan Gruska, Calvin Lauber, Marshall Vore and boygenius

And for a change of pace, we have indie-rock threesome boygenius, consisting of critical darlings Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, with this coming as a bit of a surprise but they did carry some streams from the rest, a little accompanying EP for their debut album from earlier this year. I have yet to listen to any of the collaborative stuff from boygenius, even if I do like a fair bit of Baker’s and Dacus’ solo work. The song starts minimally with Baker despairingly mentioning the few stars she can see in the dark, as the lowered cacophony of strings, glitches, and plummering percussion start to rumble into prominence, battling with a lo-fi piano recording that just sits there, is let hang in a really awkward, but again, despairing way. Eventually, there is a full ruffling of drums but it’s distorted and busy, way too much so to feel organic or natural, so the seemingly endless verse of contrasting phrases from Dacus and Bridgers float across it, way further in the mix, like a cry for help in disaster - “my thoughts, all noise […] sometimes, I need to hear your voice”. It’s a great line to end on to, as the song dissipates out into the next on the tracklisting through a clattering software break instead of anything that sounds like it actually functions or resolves the song’s conflict. It’s a bit of a short, depressing tune, but it gets its point across pretty damn well. Wouldn’t mind more boygenius charting in the future, or just good alternative rock in general… just saying…

#52 - “WORTH IT” - Offset featuring Don Toliver

Produced by CHASETHEMONEY, Heavy Mellow, Cory Rose, OTTI, BEAM and Dave-O

The amount of producers on these big-name rap projects is getting out of hand. Does Offset really need six guys on the boards? To be fair, this was originally a song just by BEAM and CHASETHEMONEY that got deleted and repurposed into this track, which itself samples a Busta Rhymes classic “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”, which peaked at #16 in 1997, as well as the reggae-pop hit “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” by Dawn Penn, which hit #3 in 1994. Yet somehow with all those samples, nothing of interests pops out. I guess this has a vague reggae rhythm to it thanks to the shaking percussion, and I mostly like Don Toliver on this kind of sound - he fits really well! Offset is here, on his #62 album that somehow charted two songs in the top 60 thanks to big-name features, and he just is entirely alien to this kind of song. There’s nothing that screams “chill reggae-pop” about Offset and it doesn’t seem like the mastering engineers cared much to rectify that. I don’t mind some of the melodic flows he ends up with, but they’re not anything I’d give a second listen. Maybe Offset’s next track will impress me?

#49 - “SAY MY GRACE” - Offset featuring Travis Scott

Produced by Vinylz, FNZ, Maneesh and Tom Levesque

Ever read a song’s title, artists and producers and know EXACTLY how it’s going to sound? This elevated, staccato luxurious trap beat was not a surprise to me at all, and I could even vaguely predict Set’s flow on this, which is sadly a bit more awkward than it should be when he’s asking God some genuine questions about why the people around him are dying, why there is systematic racism in the American justice system and… how his pinky ring cost him a Phantom. Travis Scott comes in saying he flooded the crib with cars and anything genuinely challenging or exciting about the song leaves with his verse, as the atmosphere mutes itself to a compressed synth for the entirety of his substanceless garbage that is sadly now not atypical of Travis. It had potential, but ended up honestly pretty bad.

#45 - “the grudge” - Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Dan Nigro and Ryan Linvill

I was secretly hoping that no extra songs from GUTS would end up charting because I have very few good things to say about them but also very few good reasons for why I don’t like them. I can appreciate them as songs but they don’t resonate with me and particularly not this one, in her typical wordy fashion with those distant pianos and breathy delivery about a manipulative relationship where she just doesn’t have the strength left in her to forgive, which she really doesn’t need to. It is completely in her right to hold that grudge, and the framing of the song doesn’t entirely absolve her on that front, which is interesting, pretty disagreeable to me at least to me but I just wish the song gave me more actual melodic resonance outside of what acts practically as speaking over solid enough piano backing. It’s just lacking in some of the essentials for me, sorry.

#43 - “THIS YEAR (Blessings)” - Victor Thompson featuring Ehis ‘D’ Greatest

Produced by Samduke and Henrietta Thompson

This is a Christian Afrobeats song, I’m pretty sure, and not an awful one at that. Thompson is a Nigerian gosepl singer, and whilst the production is expectedly cheap and messy given a budget I assume just isn’t there, given that Christian music isn’t the mainstream market in Nigeria either, the delivery from these guys is so devoted it is pretty impressive, especially with Ehis’ shaky falsetto. That hook is insanely catchy also, and the slightly minimal, flexible Afrobeats groove is a solid foundation for two very slippery vocalists. I like the little screech that comes in every few measures, the choir vocals are beautiful as you’d expect - I love pretty much any use of choir in music - but why is this charting? Afrobeats is big, but these guys aren’t, and devoted Christian songs don’t often chart. There is a “French version” with Vacra and a sped-up version so I can assume some global TikTok virality… oh. Gunna is on the remix. There was a hidden Gunna song in here all this time. He’s not even bad here, though a bit strained, you can tell his passion is there even if the lyrics are generic. It’s an odd fit but not the worst, I suppose.

#31 - “DArkSide” - Bring Me the Horizon

Produced by Zakk Cervini, Oli Sykes and Daisuke Ehara

And straying as far away from possible as Christian Afrobeats songs featuring Gunna, we have the newest Bring Me the Horizon song, and man… this one’s about the “dark side” winning, going for a semi-introspective semi-populist touch that ends up just being gross in how it explores mental health. It goes for an anthemic pop-metal throwback to their mid-2010s days but without the specific narrative of POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR or the same level of sheer angst that I’m not sure they have in them anymore. It feels like an attempt by record label executives seeing the success of Bring Me the Horizon to make a song that could still be a hit whilst sounding like Bring Me the Horizon, with a touch of iffily-approached mental health lyrics that basically amount to “you wouldn’t be able to handle me when I’m crazy!”, furthered by the quirky vocal layering, obnoxious 2012 electronics and mostly substanceless, surprisingly rote songwriting. This is just nothing - there are no risks, there’s no interesting turns of phrase. It’s not even three minutes. It’s just depressing to see a once innovative band caught in this cycle of repeating themselves.

#28 - “Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute to Amy)” - Skepta featuring Amy Winehouse

Produced by Skepta

So in 2007, Amy Winehouse released “Tears Dry on Their Own” as a single, and in all honesty, I don’t like it. It is heavily reliant on its interpolation of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, a classic duet that it clearly tries to flip in how she and Salaam Remi built a pretty ambivalent song over one of the most recognisably upbeat, motivational anthems, about not feeling too bad about a relationship breaking up because it wasn’t made to last. Yet fittingly, it never really made me feel anything. It peaked at #37 on release then upon Winehouse’s death re-peaked at #27. Now as a tribute to the lost singer, UK rapper Skepta has remixed the track but not in a style you’d expect. It’s just a straight future house song and disappointingly not very interesting at all. Sure, it has a bit more fuzz and static than the usual house cut, but it doesn’t feel exactly on purpose, just moreso that Skepta can’t fully pull off atmospheric house, considering the factorial percussion and very flat-feeling pads and synths that coat Winehouse’s organic vocals. I may not be a fan of the original song but at least I’m able to admit her vocals will never really fit that perfectly on something that isn’t in that soulful vibe. It does pain me because I do want to enjoy this, it seems like a genuine tribute and re-imagining of a song he loved from her, but I don’t really like the execution here, it feels like it could have been done by anybody, which for Skepta, is kind of sad. Sorry.

#21 - “Rich Baby Daddy” - Drake featuring Sexyy Red and SZA

Produced by Gordo, Klahr, LIOHN, BNYX, TheLoudPack and UV Killin Em

This may be my favourite Drake song. To be fair, there is some healthy competition - and it is completely expected for me to like this kind of song, at least when you boil it down to its essentials - but the amount of Drake songs I genuinely love probably doubled with the release of For All the Dogs. “Rich Baby Daddy” appears to be the fan favourite as well, or at least the one going most viral on TikTok, and I couldn’t be happier. This is a straight-up Atlanta bass record based around a heavenly pad and angelic vocal sample from Jessica Domingo that elevates the song immediately into a state of transcendence, to the point where the pitter patter of the typical Miami bass percussion is more a sprinkled decoration than main rhythm despite the fact that it is still absolutely hypnotising. Of course, Sexyy Red of all people is here and her tonally void club-ready chant about shaking that ass for Drake is perfect for this kind of bop. Drake contrasts her staccato constant with a feeble warble that flexes, sure, but drenching himself with the same paranoia present throughout the album, with the lyrics about a girl dragging love out of him seeming reminiscent of those questions asked by the vocal sample: “I could be enough, is it all?”. SZA kills it as always, going for a fast-paced, sometimes incoherent sliding delivery, and I love how the vocal sample re-appears as prominent in the mix during her verse, it’s a great mix of vocal layers that compliment each other, especially when SZA is desperate to turn this one-night stand into something further. Ms. Red has a pretty short verse but her leaving the track to run bare, just repeating “I’m lucky” as an ad-lib before the hook comes back in definitely doesn’t sound like an error, it sounds like the emptiness of the song - which it has down even to its minimal instrumentation - creeping in, of course before it becomes increasingly obvious with that abrupt beat switch to a downtempo track of Drake crooning. Now, I’ve heard this song with this part excluded, I read a lot about how it ruined the song or at least the momentum, and I completely agree, but Drake’s best weapon in his arsenal is to make the audience hear conversations they never wanted to even know of. So of course after his incredibly accessible dance banger about masking the fragility of a relationship with the fun you’re having, he gets in his feelings about how much he did for this girl yet how distant and inexperienced she still is. Is it gross? Yes, of course it is, especially over those eerie looming synths. But Drake also latches onto some killer melodies and awful lines that make me recoil into my skin a little bit. Because he’s Drake, that’s what he does, and he’s doing it best here. That strained “You know I’m the one” is a great thing to leave in the air, because it sounds far from sincere. This is an excellent song, I’m glad it’s probably going to be a hit, and if this is the last song I talk about from that Drake album, just know I still think it’s his best and I know my opinion is garbage. WIth that said, how out of all of the songs on there the Yeat one still in the top 10? I would never have predicted that.

#17 - “One of Your Girls” - Troye Sivan

Produced by OZGO

As you can probably expect, so, say it with me now: No, I did not listen to the Troye Sivan album. Who do you think I am? Someone who likes pop music? You would be correct in that assumption and I was tempted to check it out when “Rush” was the only single but “Got Me Started” tempered me very much so. And wow, isn’t this a terrible inclusion to the list of singles? First of all, he sounds like Harry Styles over this murmuring synthpop instrumental, and secondly, he implies support for copyright law, which is nothing we here at the deadcactuswalking establishment can support. I would respect the rejection of the song’s sound to add five unnecessarily blaring synths before the acoustics come in the pre-chorus, if they didn’t sound like a scary logo compilation from 2011, and then a different synth tone comes in the outro - it is clearly a purposeful attempt to sound ugly, and for such a comforting and warm song lyrically, it puts me off from even wanting to come back to it, apart from it being generally dull. A few weird moments does not make an experimental song… or even an interesting one.

#16 - “ten” - Fred again.. and Jozzy

Produced by Fred again.. and Tony Friend

Interestingly, I can’t find the origin of this song’s samples, maybe it’s an unreleased set of tracks from sessions with Jozzy and Jim Legxacy, or just from sample packs, or stuff genuinely too obscure no one has found yet, but it definitely doesn’t sound like it was made for the song. In fact, “ten” has that same blue, jumbled sound as “adore u” but the lack of frame of reference regarding the lyrics may actually help because as a result I can fully submerge in this as what it is, which is practically an instrumental. The song immediately captures the club-ready set with that “back it up and dump it” refrain yet seems to pull you away or at least follow you on the road with its cold, limping synths, punctuated by a lo-fi chipping of drums, wherein Jozzy’s vocals act as another instrument at Fred’s disposal, manipulated not to make sense but to fit with the song and reach the exact melodic impact he wants, which is a great decision considering this song is about missing home. Lyrics that felt solid and developed, especially on the heavily-filtered, subtle and minimal atmospheric house beat would be almost a distraction. They simply want you to carry on with this one, as any homesick person with responsibilities may want to do also: just stick with it despite feeling completely out of it, and as someone who has recently moved home and is feeling particularly fatigued, it hits pretty hard. I do usually snark at the whole slow-down outro thing, but it works pretty well here considering it’s that moment of feeling absolutely lethargic and unsure of yourself before it picks up once again, actually speeding back up to pace for the true outro, with even more twinkling synth patterns and a whirlpool of distortion that eventually completely devours the song… yet it still goes on, like life always does. I don’t know if the song was made to be about stretching yourself unnecessarily just in order to get through life, but it sure feels like it and it hits home as a result. This is fantastic, and I hope it has a run like “adore u” did.

Conclusion

I mean, obviously, whoever the hell featuring who gives a damn gets Worst of the Week for “How You Like It”, but it’s sad to say that “DArkSide” by Bring Me the Horizon wasn’t far behind with the Dishonourable Mention. As for the best, it was kind of difficult but it is very difficult to reach Drake’s best so he gets Best of the Week for “Rich Baby Daddy” featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, with a tied Honourable Mention between boygenius’ “Black Hole” and “ten” by Fred again.. and Jozzy, both pretty incredible songs. As for what to expect upon the horizon, I don’t know and this episode was too long for me to care. Thank you for reading, see you next week!

[yandereforelorn]

re the choose violence ask game: 1, 10 and 13 for jjba <3 and homestuck even tho i don't know anything about it explain it to me like im 5

!! thank :D

“1. the character everyone gets wrong”

for jjba: no one gets giorno like me. he’s incredibly morally gray and constantly justifying things to himself and constantly straddling the line between his joestar and brando ancestry without knowing it. he is not bland, and he is not a pure cinnamon roll. he tortures multiple people. he’s my baby girl. also doppio. also—

for hs: I think this is said relatively often now but: rose is not actually more mature or more put together than any of the other beta kids!!! she has just as many funny immature moments and is just better about hiding her “irony” than dave. the fact that I don’t see people exploring her relationship with mom and the alcoholism more makes me. sad

“10. worst part of fanon”

jjba: I can’t think of any I particularly hate? I guess I’m not a huge fan of the AUs where kaky0in lives, despite me liking his character! they’re mostly used for jota/kak fluff which I’m just. not interested in XD

hs: again, have a hard time thinking of any I super hate, though I’m sure they’re out there and I’m forgetting fjdjfng. I guess I wasn’t a huge fan of the extended classpects, considering the classes and aspects aren’t the Clearest in canon already, it seems like creating more stretches the definitions of what makes a certain player blood aspect or a witch even murkier. I don’t have anything against them, though

“13. worst blorbofication”

I don’t know exactly… what blorbofication means? I would guess like “woobiefication”? :?

jjba: literally any of the part 5 guys except like. trish djdnfg. like. I woobify them myself. but they are literally all murderers and part of the mafia and I wish that was taken into account more often!!! please!!! mista is stone cold when killing people!!! he’s not just funny number man!!

hs: listen. you’re thinking vriska. I’m thinking vriska. she’s incredibly complicated and i hate boiling her down to her horrible acts or her virtues! hmmm, aside from her, I really haven’t seen TOO bad stuff aside from some ppl taking away all of the alpha kids flaws (aside from dirk of course XD)

[julsdsweet]

2010 Testimonials

Couple Name: Zaiyanah and Akhbar Wedding Date of Event: 4 - 5 December 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Zaiyanah Yasin Zaiyanah Yasin on January 17 at 10:19am

hello kak juls~~ the only mak andam tt i wnt!!! hihi sorry fr d VERY late review...manyak2 sorry hor...ok kak,

i want to say a HUGE "THANK YOU" for the amazing and magic touch u did on my wedding. amazing, professional,friendly, outgoing and always taking so much care and attention for her bride. always remind me to smile when i look so kachiong.. thank so much kak juls..u r the best!!! my wedding day has been the best day of my life and it ws fantastic and u were a special part of it, as through your lovely personality and ur professional skills make myself look and feel amazing and confident...theres no other word to describe it..thank you so much n we wish u every success.. luv yana & akhbar

Couple Name: Rosnizawati and Reza Wedding Date of Event: 24 - 26 December 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Ros Rezz Ros Rezz January 4 at 11:19am

Assalamualaikum Kak Juls!

I hope you are doing well. :)

We just came back from our honeymoon. Can't wait to meet you to pass ole-ole...heehee!

No words of gratitude can ever express how thankful I feel for having you for the 3-days event. Not only did you doll me up beautifully, you also calmed my nerves before the nikah ceremony, you cracked me up with endless jokes (remember the butt-crack dagu? lol!) and you generously shares advises/stories/experiences.

You are like the elder sister I never had and I'm truly amazed by your make-up skill and more importantly your humble & friendly nature as a person. *hugs!*

Looking at all the gorgeous photos, I'm glad I was a kiasu bride-to-be (then) and booked you way in advance. No regret! Macam nak naik pelamin lagi (to the same person of course!) just so i can have you to doll me up again...hehe!

Reza & I would like to wish you all the best in all aspects of your life and I look forward to meet you again. :)

Lots of Love: Ros & Reza (24-26 Dec 2010)

Couple Name: Hafidzah and Muhammad Noorman Wedding Date of Event: 27 - 28 November 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Fiyyah Fidzah Noorman Fiyyah Fidzah Noorman December 28 at 2:46pm

Salams Kak Juls, the best Mak Andam ever! Love you always Kak. I hope you dont mind I would prefer to do this in malay :) Dari hati yang ikhlas dan gembira. Jazakillah Khairan Kathiran untuk Kak Juls! Banyak memberi nasihat, tunjuk ajar dan kata-kata peransang disepanjang hari kita bersama terutama sekali pada 27hb dan 28hb November 2010 iaitu hari bersejarah bagi saya.

Pertemuan yang tidak akan pernah dilupakan. Perkhidmatan yang Kak Juls berikan disertakan dengan kasih sayang, ramah mesra dan yang paling penting ikhlas. Maka itu dengan keizinan Allah juga jadinya tersangatlah cantik! Sehinggakan ramai yang terpegun... melihatkan saya yang "bulat" ini bertukar menjadi (tetap bulat lah hehehehe) tapi terhias anggun dan berseri-seri. Alhamdulillah!!! Dengan berkat usaha dan kerja keras Kakak. Sebenarnya tidak banyak yang saya lakukan.. hanya mengadakan diri sebagai pengantin dan membuat pemilihan warna baju. Lain-lain perkara dari solekan, dandadan, aksesoris dan bagaimana semuanya Kak Juls yang aturkan dan lakukan sebaik mungkin, sejujurnya dan amanah. Hebat kan! Dengan kepercayaan yang ada dari dua pihak semuanya tersusun rapi dan berjalan lancar. Mutu kerja Kak Juls sungguh baik sekali. Layanan seperti adik dan kakak. Tiada ketengangan macam orang dulu-dulu kata mak andam garang.. takut oi! Tapi ia tidak berlaku pada saya. Kak Juls berbeza! Moden, yakin dan tegas.

Hakikatnya inilah perbezaan antara yang biasa-biasa dan hebat. Saya merasakan tenang, selesa dan paling penting gembira di hari bahagia. Kak Juls sering disisi dari saat yang paling mendebarkan ketika memikirkan hanya berapa minit lagi bakal menjadi seorang isteri sehinggakanlah pada hari persandingan itu sendiri. Perkhidmatan dan layanan sungguh memuaskan!!! Alhamdulillah! Semoga Allah memberkati kehidupan Kak Juls sekeluarga. Terus maju dan sukses! Amiiin!

~Hafidzah dan Muhamad Noorman

Couple Name: Siti Fadhillah and Mohamed Firmanis Wedding Date of Event: 18 - 19 December 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Mat Firskrim Mat Firskrim December 22 at 10:35am

Hi kakak. On behalf of my wife, faddy. Or rather that she's lazy to log in into her account. Let me extend my appreciation on your wonderful touches and advises for the two memorable days.

Your presence gave us the assurance we need.

Thank you so much for being part of our smooth "sailing" majlis on 18 & 19 Dec.

Couple Name: Nuraini’s Engagement Date of Event: 4 December 2010 via E-mail

Between You and Aini Jamil Aini Jamil December 21 at 1:11am

Dear Kak Juls

Sorry for taking my time in writing up this testimonial for you so here goes...

You have done a really good job in making plain me look ravishing for my engagement day. You really make me look the way i visualized myself in fact the outcome was alot better. I love the way i look and i smile everyday just thinking about that day. Thank you again and insyaAllah i'll get to experience your magic touch on me again during my big day...

Couple Name: Faradila and Mohammad Imran Wedding Date of Event: 11 - 12 December 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Fafa Antoinette-Farran Fafa Antoinette-Farran December 15 at 7:46pm

Hi kakak!!

No words can ever describe how blessed i felt during the two days that you were with me. You gave me the assurance that everything will be fine, you calmed me down when i can't control my tears after the akad nikah. You're like the sister i never had. Thinking back, how i wished we can go thru the process all over again, and i can get to enjoy you dolling me up and be by my side all the time. And not only me, every single person in my family (inc my bridesmaids), love you to bits.

People have been telling me that your touch completely transformed me. You're like my fairy godmother i should say. khehehehehhehehe. You delivered more than i than i expected. Kudos to you kakak!!

I am not goin to recommend, but i will STRONGLY recommend all the bride-to-be out there to seriously consider taking you as their makeup artist/ mak andam. Definitely no regrets!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!

Many2 hugs & kisses, Fara & Imran (11th - 12th Dec 2010 Wedding)

Couple Name: Norlyana and Junaidi Wedding Date of Event: 30 - 31 October 2010 via Email

Salam to our beloved Kak Juls....

First and formost, let us apologize to you for this long awaited testimonial from us. Sorry to keep you waiting. Please accept our sincere apologies. The reason we sent this late testimonial is because, we are trying our very best to find the words that best describe the excellent service you've rendered on our big day.The service given is not only excellent but "FABULISTIC" (With both FABULOUS and FANTASTIC words combined). Hah~!! There you go, by chance, we've said out two words that best describe your service rendered. However, that's not all. The list can go on and on and on and on and on................

Okay, on a serious note. We knew we've made the right decision when we chose you to be our "Mak Andam" for our big day ater seeing what you did to our close friend on her engagement and wedding day. Plus, your 'portfolio' in the MULTIPLY website is simply "FABULISTIC". The make-up, the costume, the 'before/after' transformation effect on the bride is truly superb.

We are truly amazed with your friendliness shown during our first meet. So chatty and never failed to lighten up the atmosphere. You got that 'HAPPY AURA" lah Kak Juls. That character of yours is what we both need to keep us relaxed and stay jovial on our big day. TWO THUMBS UP for the attitude shown.

On our big day itself, sings of praises came from family and friends on the transformation you did. All of them mentioned that the BRIDE looks veeeeeery different. Simply gorgeous and beautiful. Even the GROOM's side mentioned that the BRIDE looks different. All these, thanks to your magical touch.

With this, we end this long-awaited testimonial. Thank you again for EVERYTHING, the transformation, the service rendered and the advices. May we cross our path again someday, INSYAALLAH. We wish you all the best in everything you do and in your future endeavours. WE LOVE YOU and DO KEEP IN TOUCH~~!!!

May peace be upon you.... Norlyana and Junaidi

Couple Name: Nur Asrina and Mohamad Narul Azrin Wedding Date of Event: 7 November 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Nur Asrina Nur Asrina December 5 at 2:13pm

Hi Kak

Azrin and I would like to thank you for your services on 7 Nov 2010. We are fully satisfied with everything that you provide on that day and it was beyond our expectations. You were so calm and cool eventhough we all (my galfriends and the rest of the crew) can be "kecoh" at times.

I was so glad that I got you to be my 'mak andam' cause after viewing the photos on your multiply I just fell in love with the clean and simple look of the brides. I will never get tired of looking at the photos of all the ladies who were dolled-up by you. I also appreciate that you gave tips and advice along the way which really helps me alot.

Kak, thank you once again and hope that our paths cross again one day. We wish you all the best and stay happy always :)

Couple Name: Nor Arliana’s Engagement Date of Event: 6 November 2010 via Email

Dear Kak Juls,

Farhan and I would like to thank you for kind and friendly service aside from the excellent makeup artistry which you have showcased on our engagement day. The make-up was simply flawless and the overall look definitely surpassed my expectations. Aside from sharing your talent and expertise with me, you were also generous and sincere in giving me the advice that I need to survive the day and the days ahead leading to our impending life together. It showed that you cared about my well-being too and that’s very much appreciated, thank you!

We feel ever so grateful to have shared our engagement day with you. We wish you great success in your business and may Allah bless your kind soul. Take care and keep in touch!

Couple Name: Siti Radiah and Shahrom Wedding Date of Event: 31 July - 1 August 2010 via Multiply

Oct 25, '10 10:34 AM by diyashah for users julsdsweet and diyashah

thumbs up for JULS !!!

Salam Kak Juls,

Firstly, our deepest apologies pasal dah overdue! jangan marah ye...

Diya and hubby would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts to have you as our Mak Andam on our Big Day. I felt that i am so lucky to meet you. My biggest worry is whether i will look good on the very day.

I am so proud to say that not even my hubby compliment about you but my family and hubby's family praised you of your great talent and attitude. Many of my relatives and friends came up to my parents and commented that they liked my make-up and i do looked natural and not over! hehehe... In fact, you do have a great talent as well as a great heart!

Our wish for you is semoga kakak become the next entrepreneur in this line and of course, DONT FORGET US OK...KEEP IN TOUCH!!!

Couple Name: Nurain and Ismail Wedding Date of Event: 2 - 3 October 2010 via JulsDsweet Facebook Page Review

Between You and Ain N Is Ain N Is on October 21, 2010 at 10:47pm

Assalamualaikum Kak Juls. I contacted you after viewing ur past brides on ur multiply. At that time, I didnt even bother to scout around any bridal shops. I knew you were doing it as a freelance, but I was too in love with how natural your make up looks on photos, and the way you do your tudung (simple, neat and not like a christmas t...ree) styles that my heart was set on you. I wont say anymore about your skills because the evidence is in the pictures, and how different and special I looked on my big day.

Let me focus on your service and you, as a person. I believe the personality of a mak andam is very important because the bride will be spending the nerve-wrecking few days with her. You made me, my bridesmaids, my family and my husband feel at ease with your experience and professionalism that it was kinda one less thing to worry about. You were always full of smiles, but always giving me tips and advice when I looked nervous. I was praying and hoping that you won't be the uptight kind of mak andam who only focuses on her work but does little to make the bride feel at ease. You were the exact opposite, thank goodness for that. You could even click with my bridesmaids =)

My family, friends, hubby and myself are still raving abt ur service til today. I was actually sad when I was bidding you goodbye after the majlis, for it felt tt you weren't just there on a job, but rather to just be there for me. Thank you Kak Juls, may our paths cross again insyaAllah, maner lah tau, other big occasions that will require to help to doll me up again =)

Couple Name: Nur Hilda Yana and Muhammad Ariff Wedding Date of Event: 9 - 10 October 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and La Dolce Hilda La Dolce Hilda October 14 at 8:06pm

Salam Kak Juls!! 1st of all thank you so much for making me look nice & different on my big day. Salute from my mom & the others. Arep said 'WOW' but dalam hati je. hehe having you as my mak andam was definitely one of the best decisions i made for my big day. Engaging your services was the first thing I did in the wedding preps. That was 2 years back.. haha kiasu betul kan. Thank you for your awesome make up skills and service such as layan-ing my nonsense, keep asking me to smile.. nyahaha now i can't stop browsing tru my wedding pix. All because of ur magic touch kak. Love it to the max!! Last but not least, wish u all the best in ur andaman profession. Do keep in touch aite!

Love, Hilda & Ariff

Couple Name: Norhafizah and Mohd Azri Wedding Date of Event: 24 - 25 July 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You & Norhafizah Azmi Norhafizah Azmi August 23, 2010 at 1:02pm

hi kak juls! sorry!

hello kak juls. my deepest apologies, this is very much overdue! =)

well it may be close to a month since my wedding but looking back at the pics and memories, having you as my mak andam was definitely one of the best decisions i made for my big day. You were all that i wanted and more!

thank you for being not only a mak andam (and a fabulous one at that!) but also a friend. thank you for listening and paying attention to all that i need and being ever so patient with the little details. thank you for making me look all nice and pretty on my big day, i dont have a single regret!! and also thank you for being the lively, happy person that you are! you have no idea how much azri and me appreciate it! =D

kite doakan the wonderful skills and passion that you have in this will always continue to bring you the wealth and happiness you deserve. insyaallah till we meet again soon, we love you kak juls!! =)

much love, fiza and azri

Couple Name: Siti Norhidayah and Firdaus Idris Date of Event: 10 - 11 July 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You and Miz Daya Miz Daya July 31, 2010 at 2:36pm

Haloo Kak Juls,

First of all I would like to thank you many many for making me sooo super beautiful on my biggest day!!! I made the right decision by choosing you as my make-up artist 2 yrs before my wedding. Since you are fully booked on my engagement day, I knew I had to have you. After the worse experience with the previous mak andam for my engagement (u-noe-who), I knew I had to book you ASAP. And it was a decision I never regretted.

I chose you mainly because of love at first sight through your multiply. The way you magically do the eyebrows to the stunning eye makeup.. I was so amazed that I called you immediately and paid deposit without even looking at the bajus. Then when we finally meet you after 2 years waiting for the selection of the outfits, we were so delighted that the outfits were all so gorgeous. With your calm and interesting personality, you calmed me down even during the most excruciating moments. All the advices and the silly jokes make it even more memorable for me. The best part of all, when u put on the makeup, every single stroke of the brush is done with passion. Being a perfectionist, even a single lipstick needs at least 30 minutes or so for you to apply, which i love about you. Kak Juls..I simply adore the way you put on the hijab and the hairstyle, you make me look pretty in both. And trust me the make-up is easy to remove even though it lasts for one whole day.

I would recommend to all brides-to-be, even my younger sister (provided you haven retired) and my girlfriends to book you. Coz I know you will make their biggest day a memorable one..like mine. We are glad we met good people like you and Abg Im. May you both be in good health and be happy always. Keep in touch.

Lubs Lubs, Yaya & Quek Wedding on 10 & 11 July 2010

Couple Name: Nur Rashidah and Ridwan Wedding Date of Event: 17 - 18 July 2010 via Multiply

Jul 26, '10 11:55 AM by indah for users julsdsweet and indaheightyfour

Salams Kak Juls!

It's been a week since the wedding and I can't forget how wonderful you were in making it a dream come true. Engaging your services was probably the first thing I did in the wedding preps. I was super picky about the mak andam (wan boleh confirm heh)- i wanted someone who could do great makeup, neat hairdo and tudung (ni a must hee) and would be understanding and flexible enough to accomodate to our requests. when i saw your work on multiply, i was truly amazed by your makeup skills, and more importantly, i could really see how passionate you are about your work and bringing out the best in your brides. That instantly convinced me that you were the right choice. And truly i am grateful to have made the right decision, alhamdulillah. I loved how you expertly customised my makeup by highlighting my best features and truly made me look special (no carbon copy looks yaay!) yet kept it tasteful and not overdone (no drag queens and wayang looks yaay!). Kembang seh dapat banyak compliments from our friends and relatives! =P The bajus were perfect- macam nak frame up je that gown haha! And you really helped me be at ease, with your calm advice and girlish giggles =). you were professional, kept cool and did great work even during the stressful and kelam kabut moments (sorry about that!) and went along with our running around on the 2nd day (penat seh tu...). Thank you so much to you, Kak Yati, Kak Zu, and Abang Im for all that you did to make our day. May you always be blessed with much love, happiness and rezki.

Love,

Your neighbours Shidah and Wan (hee)

Message wrote by Cik Ramlah (bride's mother) at 4:15pm on July 21st, 2010

Thanks yg tak terhingga jules for making my "princess"look like a "princess"on her most memorable day:)...(cik Ramlah)

Couple Name: Nurul Ashirin and Mohamed Imran Wedding Date of Event: 26 - 27 June 2010 via Facebook PM

Between You & Lola Nurul Ashirin Lola Nurul Ashirin July 16, 2010 at 1:02am

Kak Juls........... I adore you. Since I met you the first time at Mary's engagement. I love your work on your brides and I've already known who to choose for my Big Day. It had to be you. Really.

So when I finally got you, I was abit nervous. For someone who rarely uses make up, I was scared & worried of how I'd look for the wedding. But I shouldn't be because you are that good with the gift you have. Alhamdulillah. And I turned out to be the Princess! Haha. Everyone said I looked like a super duper pretty princess.. They loved my dresses too..

Thank you Kak Juls.. for tolerating my nonsense during that 2 days (what's with the songs playing, the constant scratching, the frowning, the asking you lots of qns)..

Thank you Kak Juls.. for the useful advices that you gave me.. I will need more from you!

Thank you Kak Juls.. for using the gift that God gave you to make me pretty cute-sy adorable on that day.. =p

Lastly, thank you Kak Juls.. for being sooo lovely and sooo professional.. And for spreading the virus on that day! Hahahaahhaha..

Love you Kak Juls.. =)))))

Rin....

[little-ature]

2023: to travel

Hi B

I just got back from my summer trip to Hong Kong. Life has been great this year. Adulthood wasn't so bad afterall, B. People said life is gonna be different in our 20s, and you'll start to see there are so many paths in life which each of us uniquely has. There's no more structure--ga ada lagi tuh 'framed' path kayak habis SMP ya SMA lalu lanjut kuliah lalu lulus dan kerja. After graduating, the options are endless. I've seen some of my friends are in their climbing the corporate ladder phase, some are getting married, some are still in uni trying to graduate, some are seen feeding their babies on instagram, some are switching their career to be an internet person, some are traveling, some are resigning, and all other things I couldn't put one by one.

Sejujurnya, gue rasa hidup gue baru benar-benar mulai begitu gue sudah bekerja dan earn my own money. Liberty ain't free, no? I luckily get to live the way I wanted to when I was a kid: I got a job that brings me to liberty to buy the things I want and go to the places I want to visit.

B, I have made it to Japan this year! :') It was surreal. Such a great start to begin the year. My 10 years old self would be proud that I finally go to places I've only seen in those shoujo manga; Shibuya 109, Shibuya crossing, those red bright shrines, people in yukata(s) and kimono(s), all those japanese weird ice creams and puddings, eating kaisendon exactly just like what Aji no Suke Tokugawa made in Cooking Master, etc! I witnessed my first snow and snowfall ever in Kanazawa. It was beautiful and serene.

Speaking of Japan, jadi inget obrolan gue dengan Dida beberapa waktu lalu. Gue sempet ngerasa tahun lalu (2022) was such a dull year. I felt unproductive that the year passed in a blink without significant growth. But she made a good point afterward saying that I did my best with what I know at that time, it wasn't insignificant. Mungkin gue bisa ngerasa happy di tahun ini e.g by traveling karena hal yang gue lakukan di tahun kemarin. Gue bisa ke Jepang karena tahun 2022 gue nabung. Hiks :') emosional sedikit. For others, going to Japan might be just 'a thing', kayak liburan ke Bali, but to me is something big, something beyond an ordinary trip. It was a trip to nurture the child inside me. Seneng banget selama bawa Mama & Papa pergi mereka juga seneng dan terkesan banget by the places we went, the people, the food (there's absolutely no chance untuk makan makanan yang ga enak, serandom apapun itu). Definitely will go back to explore other cities.

I've had a fresh start at the beginning of the year in terms of career. I got to learn from zero all over again, engage with all new faces, face different challenges and catch up with different pace. It was something.

On March, Davi & I went to Singapore for Harry Styles' Love on Tour concert. Traveling with Davi was so easy, we made such a great team & almost always on the same ground at making decision. Agenda kita kesana ga hanya nonton Harry Styles, tapi juga nonton Candlelite Fever's solo piano concert yang bertemakan movie soundtracks. The ambience was very romantic and intimate. We got to see the pianist really close.

After lebaran, I went to Pontianak on May to gather with Mba Yaya, Kak Tasdik & Boba. My baby nephew has grown so much, I miss him so bad :') I discovered a lot Pontianak's delicacies. Nggak ada yang ngalahin choi pan bengkoang a phio, gue tiap hari gofood 20 biji! Ancur deh tu makanan. I kinda miss 2020 when my family got the chance to gather up and live day by day under the same roof, something which didn't occur for years before covid happened.

My family & I just went back from Hong Kong. It was our first buzzing summer trip. The heat was crazy. Lesson learnt, ga usah deh pergi traveling pas musim panas kalo tujuannya bukan ke pantai & leha-leha di daybed seharian. Our energy drained twice faster due to the heat. What can I say about Hong Kong? Hong Kong definitely was not the friendliest country. The people I've encountered are almost always rude. Everything was overpriced, even a bottle of water costs 10 HKD at least. The meals were not exactly matched with our tastebud. Waters from leaked AC everywhere accross the street. My parents got stuck in the elevator of our building. I never wanted to go home that much while traveling. For me, traveling to Hong Kong once in a lifetime is enough. On the other hand, I find Hong Kong admirable and picturesque.

I travel quite a lot throughout half of the year, until work almost felt like an in-between moments. I decided that's my plan for these two years, before it's time to settle down.

Greater things are coming

[kashi-prompts]

Flowers For A Shinobi

Chapter 10: A Feeling

Word Count: 2,765

Pairing: Kakashi x OFC

Previous Chapter ❀  Archive of Our Own Link  ❀  Wattpad Link

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Ka-ka-shi. 

The image of his first teammate's soft brown eyes gaping back at him sauntered into his dream as though it had just happened yesterday. Blood dripped from her lips. 

Kak-ashi. 

Obito's crushed face stared back at him distantly. A cough of blood. Dozens and dozens of other shinobi who died before him whirled in his mind. The resolve he made never to let his comrades die only came to be after seeing so many of them perish right in front him. All the instances where he was moments- no, seconds away from saving someone and their lives had quite literally slipped from his hands. 

Ayame's face swirled in his mind. The streaks of orange in her braid and her light green eyes that always catch in the sun. The tension from Rin and Obito's faces dissolved. She reached for his face, touching with hesitancy and admiration as a soft smile drew across her lips. Her fingers felt like small shocks of electricity against his cheek.  

Something grabbed her by her abdomen, drawing her back into an abyss. The shared intimacy quickly swiveling to panic as he jolted forward, calling her name only for it somehow to fall on deaf ears. He reached for her, watching something pull her into the ground, her delicate hand reaching up towards him. 

Kakas-hi!

Kakashi inhaled sharply, both eyes opening immediately to scan his surroundings. A bead of sweat dripped from his hairline and over his silver brow as his eyes rested on Ayame. His ninken stared up at him, curiously concerned for their master's abrupt awakening. Behind his tight ribcage, his lungs felt like a sponge trying desperately to grasp hold of a puddle of water to soak itself. A weak hand lifted to his collarbone, rubbing it uncomfortably to calm his breathing. He noticed his jonin jacket was unzipped. 

He sighed restlessly, closing his left eye slowly as his head fell back against the stone wall. He took in a deep breath, the scent of morning dew and garbage mixing offensively in his sensitive nose. Shifting his head, he looked down at Ayame, her shoulders moving just out of sync with the rhythm of his own breathing. 

His mouth felt dry as his mind wandered back to his dream. What did it mean? Why was he dreaming of her? It was typical for the restlessness of his career to catch up with him in his dreams. But the vision of her affectionate gaze coupled with the imaginary touch of her fingertips to his skin caused an unfamiliar twang in his lower stomach. He swallowed hard, turning his head back to close his eyes. 

A wet nose nudged at his fingers. Shiba's standard rigid glare was soft with regard for his master. Kakashi lifted a hand, petting the dog to comfort his unsettled eye. 

Beyond their makeshift shelter, the maturing sunrise was climbing over the row of hoveled buildings. The orange glow soaked their surroundings in warmth. His breathing finally relaxed as his fingers wove between the hounds grey mane. 

His mind wandered back to the mission assigned to them. A pit arose in his stomach, thinking of those men back in Konoha. He could only hope that Pakkun made it back to the village before dusk, as the Hokage had ordered. If those men died because he was too weak to return to the village on time, he would never forgive himself. Ayame had done her part, causing her to remain unconscious until her body recuperated from the strenuous amount of chakra she had used. 

Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, dusting off the prior day's dirt he had neglected to clean from himself. He shook his head, scolding himself for the rash decision to rest last night rather than pushing on. It was not like him. But his body was weak from whatever it was he had inhaled. 

As he coolly acknowledged his ninken, he wondered again how he hadn't perished from whatever it was that filtered through his lungs yesterday. Perhaps it was only a temporary toxin meant to knock him out. Still, his body continued to feel off from whatever it was that had entered his airways. 

"I'm heading back to the village now," Kakashi told the dogs, their ears attentive to his words. Each nodded, understanding that they were no longer needed. One by one, they all disappeared from his sight, leaving small puffs of smoke in their wake. 

Kakashi sighed as he knelt in front of Ayame, touching her wrist carefully. He counted her heartbeats. 70, 71, 72. Normal. He exhaled. 

Gingerly, he tucked his hands around her shoulders and the backs of her legs, picking her up and holding her tightly to his chest. The earthy musk of yesterday's work mingling with her natural floral scent reached his nose intriguingly. 

As he began to walk towards the village's gate, he made an effort to look straight ahead. He knew if he looked down at her at such proximity, his whole body would flush. There was something about her that drew him to her, like a mariner to a siren. He could deny it all he wanted for the last two days, but the tightness in his chest as he carried her back to Konoha certainly told him otherwise.  

He felt absurd, like some little schoolboy with a crush on a classmate who would go above and beyond to deny it to anyone who asked, including himself. What would happen if he just ignored it? Perhaps he would leave her at the hospital and never see her again? The mission was complete, he thought. He would never have to deal with these strange feelings of attraction again. 

That is what he would do - ignore it. He didn't need this type of distraction in his life. He had a job to fulfill and a village to protect. It's not that he couldn't have had a relationship before if he wanted one. He could have easily pursued some of the women in the village. And yet, he didn't. The number of people he had lost in his life was a strong indication that whoever was near him died. He didn't need to add to that number. 

He thought of Minato. The way he loved Kushina was something that very few shinobi find. He wished they could have been around longer to see Naruto grow and become the man he was now. He wished Minato could have been around to see who Kakashi had become. Perhaps he would know what to do in this instance.  

The morning light sliced through the forest's tree leaves, reflecting off Ayame's auburn braid tucked around her shoulder. It caught his eye, and he glanced down. All at once, an electric shock ran through his body quicker than his lightning blade could ever penetrate someone. The warmth of her body against his wrists generated a prickle to travel over his skin. He shook his head, taking a deep breath. Looking back up, he began forging ahead on his journey back to Konoha, feeling a strange sense of comfort. 

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"Kakashi!" Izumo called out from behind the green gates of Konoha. His partner, Kotetsu, promptly ran out from behind the watch stand to greet the tired jonin. 

"You look exhausted, Kakashi," Kotetsu pointed out as he reached him. He looked down, observing the bundle of auburn braided hair tucked away in his arms.

"She needs medical attention," Kakashi told them passively. His arms felt numb from the hours of carrying her, but he needed to make up for the time he slept last night while she laid next to him, passed out. 

"Do you need help carrying her?" Izumo questioned, quirking an eyebrow curiously at the copy-ninja as he strode past them, headed in the direction of Konoha's hospital. 

"I've got it," he told them both calmly. He knew she would be alright, he told himself. But there was still that ounce of guilt he felt for getting himself into such a predicament the previous day where she needed to support herself with such little chakra she had. She was not a properly trained shinobi, yet she defended herself favorably. He thought again of how lucky she was even to be breathing. 

The cool air of the night tickled at his exposed cheekbones, causing them to burn the longer he stayed in the cold. He gripped her thighs and shoulders closer to him, feeling that her skin was chilled against his fingers.  

The end of a weekday night was wrapping up as Kakashi made his way towards the hospital, curious eyes accompanying him. Villagers and shinobi alike returning home after an honest day's work. The path to the hospital felt longer than usual, his bones weary from the long trip coupled with whatever it was that he had inhaled the previous day. His body yearned for the comfort of his bed. 

Looking down at Ayame, she stirred slightly against his chest. She grimaced in pain, despite remaining unconscious. The streetlamps above him illuminated the constellation of freckles across her wrinkled nose. He quickened his pace. 

When the two finally reached Konoha's hospital doors, Kakashi believed he might faint. Carefully, he handed Ayame off to a petite nurse with unexpected strength and a troubled gaze. As she left his arms, the warmth she had provided him quickly vanished, and the cold, sterile environment of the hospital enveloped him instead. 

With his mind in a haze, he caught the nurse's upper arm as they followed the petite one. He spewed everything he thought may help her to the nurse. 

"Thank you, Hatake-san," the nurse responded, perturbed by the interaction. "We will take good care of her."

"Kakashi-" he heard from behind him, his shoulders pushing back at the sound of the voice. Turning, Tsunade strode towards him with stern eyebrows. Nurses all around scattered. 

"Oi," He nodded respectively, "Hokage-sama -"

"Come with me," she interrupted him, curling a finger to indicate for him to follow her. Kakashi looked back in the direction the nurses had taken Ayame. He wondered about her condition. Another feeling of guilt washed over him. He had beaten the situation to death in his head as he had traveled back to Konoha. Different strategies he could have applied passed through his head continuously. It was a beginner's mistake.

The Hokage led Kakashi into an examination room, pointing immediately to the examination table to sit down. 

"Did Pakkun-?" Kakashi asked tiredly, his shoulders aching. 

"Yes, he made it back yesterday evening," Tsunade responded, her back towards him as she shuffled medical equipment around on the counter. He could feel his blood pressure rising the longer he stayed in the building. 

"We were able to successfully formulate the antidote, thanks to Ayame's quick thinking. Pakkun relayed the message to me. I'm glad you both made it back in one piece. Although I'm a little disappointed in the way things played out." 

Kakashi hung his head, examining the dirt under his fingernails and restlessly picking it out. 

"All the shinobi that came in have been treated and are on the mend now. Although their chakra levels will suffer, at least they are alive." 

Kakashi looked up, feeling the weight of the mission lift from his chest. He felt relieved to know the mission had been a success. 

"So tell me what it is that happened," Tsunade questioned, turning around to lean against the counter. Her arms folded against her busty chest, her caramel-colored eyes stern as she assessed him. 

Kakashi rehashed the knowledge he had acquired over the last few days. His eyes felt heavy as he told her of the state of Rōtasuagekure, the enemy they had unexpectantly encountered in the cache, and the toxin he had inhaled. 

"Obviously, this man has something to do with the poisoning of our men," Tsunade said firmly. "We need to find out more. You indicated this Daichi is a part of a group, it seems. We have to find out where they are from and how they acquired such a technique. And why they are targeting Konoha shinobi." 

Kakashi nodded, "I agree. It seems their jutsu is similar to Ayame's, more so in the sense of plant-based jutsu mixed with poison. I am unsure if Ayame is capable of creating poisonous foliage, but I'm sure it is not too far-fetched."

"Do you think these men are from Rōtasuagekure?  Or what is left of it?" 

"It could be," Kakashi held his chin, pondering the question as his mind flashed back to the desolate path that wound through that village. He thought of that boy that laid dead against the brick building. What could have happened there in such a short few years for such famine and decay to occur? 

"This Ayame girl," Tsunade began cautiously, "what do you think of her?"

Kakashi looked up, "she seems very capable."  

"I agree," Tsunade nodded, tapping her chin. "Pakkun's report was favorable. She saved herself, you, and Konoha's men. She may not have the shinobi academic background, but she could certainly learn. We could use another earth style on the force." 

Two silver eyebrows knitted together, "what was Pakkun's report?"

Tsunade looked down at Kakashi peculiarly, smiling lightly. "Although he hadn't seen the whole ordeal, he had seen what had happened after a hole had erupted from the ground where you two had disappeared through. He said he had smelled some fumes and came over." 

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow, "had he seen how she had killed Daichi?"

Tsunade nodded, "he said she had used some form of vines to asphyxiate him. It was unexpected of her, to say the least. And the chakra it took was evident by her fainting afterward, just as she did in my office."

"I'm surprised she had enough chakra to use the scroll," Kakashi said thoughtfully. 

"I know," Tsunade nodded in agreement. "Pakkun watched her produce that field. She fainted quickly afterward, and the other ninken kept her safe until you were awake. Her chakra levels are still low, but if she has gone from fainting at the quiver of a leaf to somehow being able to produce vines strong enough to kill someone, she has potential." 

"She learned to meditate," Kakashi explained to the Hokage. "I told her the general basics of chakra levels and how to acquire more through training. She seemed to have grasped it pretty rapidly."

"Well, that explains some," Tsunade mused, looking over at him. "You seem to have formed a good working relationship with her thus far. Perhaps you could train her." 

"I don't know about that," Kakashi waved a dismissive hand. He wanted to avoid her, not spend every day with her.

"With Sakura under my wing and Naruto off with Jiraya, I could easily grant you the time to provide her with proper training." 

Kakashi sighed heavily, rolling his shoulders to relieve the tension. 

"I'll think about it," he said finally, "we don't even know if she wants to be a shinobi."

"Think quickly. And as for you, I need you to lay back so I can examine you." 

"I'm sorry?" Kakashi questioned uncomfortably, his eyebrows lifting to under his silver bangs. 

"The amatoxins that you inhaled could have severely damaged your liver. If not for Ayame giving you the oral antidote, you would have died there slowly and painfully." 

Oral antidote? Kakashi asked himself. He reached up, touching his sternum where his jonin jacket had been unzipped. The tightness in his chest had just barely dissipated. The sticky substance underneath his mask made the realization evident that she had to have seen his face to give him the medicine. 

"Lean back, please," Tsunade demanded impatiently, her palms glowing green. 

Slowly, Kakashi lowered himself back to the examination table, his mind whirling from the influx of news he had just received. She had saved herself, him, and the Konoha shinobi with such little chakra, he couldn't believe she was even alive. 

As Tsunade's hands hovered over his side, Kakashi looked over through the glass door, and down the hallway the nurses had brought Ayame down. He considered Tsunade's words, her recommendation for her to become a Konoha shinobi. He wondered how she would react to such an offer. Would she want to be a part of such a system? To hone her skills and dive back into nature she had left behind in Rōtasuagekure? 

"She'll be alright," Tsunade said to him abruptly, her eyes glancing over at him. 

He turned his head back to look at the ceiling, not feeling himself. 

"I know." 

[walkitoffsoldier]

I posted 709 times in 2021

82 posts created (12%)

627 posts reblogged (88%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 7.6 posts.

I added 164 tags in 2021

#soldier rants - 45 posts

#soldier writes - 28 posts

#bucky barnes - 17 posts

#super soldier arm candy - 17 posts

#bucky barnes x reader - 11 posts

#marvel - 11 posts

#loki laufeyson - 10 posts

#loki - 9 posts

#steve rogers x reader - 8 posts

#girls night riots - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 91 characters

#imagine him doing this to readjust his arm before he comes over to rail you into next month

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

How You Meet (N.R.)

Read this first! Also I know this is super short, please don’t murder me ;-;

"Natasha?" You say, looking at the red haired woman. She smiles at you. "Do you have any formal combat training?" She asks and you nod before you answer. "Um yes, I've been training at Shield with Agent Hill for the past two years actually. I guess I should have mentioned that." You laugh a little, playing with your fingers a bit as she looks at you, smiling still. "Well if you ever want to train sometime just let me know." She winks at you, leaning back in her chair, her legs crossed and a smirk on her face. You blush, turning away from her quickly and looking around to answer someone else.

43 notes • Posted 2021-06-01 05:53:21 GMT

#4

When I See You Again (P.M.)

Author's Note: This is one of my old fics from Wattpad. I edited some of it but some of it I just left as is. It's a song fic so listen to the song below while reading.

Song: 'See You Again' by Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: Angst, fluff, and more angst (also the gif of Pietro dying at the end)

It's been a long day without you, my friend. And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again.

He was gone. The love of your life, your other half, your soulmate. You weren't sure how to react, so you locked yourself in your room. You pulled the box of your belongings out from underneath the bed, grabbing the slightly damaged photo album before sitting on the bed, legs crossed as you laid the photo album down and opened it with shaky hands. You looked through pictures you had taken back in Sokovia, before everything happened, flipping through the pages as tears rolled down your cheeks. You were wearing one of his shirts, the faint smell of his cologne still lingering on it. You watched as a tear fell onto the photo of when you and him had first met, remembering that day with a sad smile on your face.

We've come a long way from where we began.

You were studying abroad in Sokovia. You had just arrived and were walking along the streets, smiling; you were happy to be here. You stayed silent, you weren't fluent in Sokovian and you didn't want to make a fool out of yourself. You rounded the corner to see a dark-haired woman and a blonde? No, silver-haired man next to her. It looked like he was handing medicine to a man. You stopped at a little street store and listened as they spoke in English to one another. You could tell that the silver-haired man was a local, so was the girl. He held up a ball to a blonde-haired woman and told her; "This is for your brother". She gave him a small smile and then he held up a very skimpy, silver colored dress. "And this is not for your brother." She mumbled something you couldn't hear when the dark-haired girl walked by, "Is every girl in Sokovia getting a dress? At least that one looks warm." She said and he chased after her. They had a conversation you couldn't hear and then he hugged her and they walked back towards you. You started looking at the beautiful necklaces that the street stores were selling. "That one would look very pretty with your eyes, krasivaya (beautiful)." The man from earlier spoke, pointing to a (your birth stone) necklace. You looked at him and smiled, deciding to purchase the necklace. You started to leave when he stopped you. "Wait, what is your name?" He asked and you smiled. "My name is Y/N, kak naschet tebya? (How about you?)" You said and he smiled brightly; "I'm Pietro."

The good things we've been through, That I'll be standing right here talking to you,'Bout another path, I know we loved to hit the road and laugh.

A few weeks after meeting Pietro, he asked you out on a date. He told you to dress casually, but since you wanted to look nice you wore a royal blue dress and black flats. It was casual, yet cute. He told you he would pick you up at 3pm and it was currently 2:45. You fixed your hair, applied lip gloss to your over lips and grabbed your purse. At exactly 3pm, you heard a knock on your door. Pietro was wearing a simple royal blue shirt, blue jeans and the Adidas shoes he always wore. He was holding a bouquet of y/f/f (favorite flower) in his hands as he smiled at you from behind them. "Hello porumbelul meu, shall we go?" He cheerily spoke as he stepped by you and into your small apartment, looking around. The nickname made you raise an eyebrow; he had never called you that before and although you were getting better with the language you didn’t recognize that. “Of course, um, what did you call me though” You asked as you moved to put the flowers in a vase. “It means ‘my dove’.” He gave you that bright smile from where he was still standing at your door. “Oh.. That's cute.” You smiled as you sat the flowers on your table and then both headed out. He had setup a beautiful picnic, away from the busy life of the city. You two spent the whole day together. It was full of laughs, sweet glances and deep conversations. When it got dark, you both laid next to each other and looked at the stars. It was silent for a while, until he spoke up. "Y/N, ty budesh' moyey devushkoy? (Will you be my girlfriend?)" He said it quietly, leaning on his side with his head propped up on his elbow as he looked at you. You thought for a moment, trying to figure out what he said and then you blushed, "Konechno ya budu Pietro. (Of course I will)" He smiled and leaned in; kissing you sweetly.

How can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?, Everything I went through you were standing there by my side.

You and Pietro had been dating for a few months and you had gotten very close to Wanda as well. One day, you got a call from your mother telling you that your grandma had passed away. You were supposed to see Pietro that day, but you were too shaken up to see anyone. You didn't even get to say goodbye to her, you weren't even there. Pietro had come to your apartment and found you curled in a ball, clinging to a stuffed (favorite animal) and crying your eyes out. He didn't know what to do besides take you in his arms and hold you, softly rubbing your back and kissing the top of your head. When you eventually calmed down, you told him what happened and you both started talking. You weren't close with your mother because she left when you were young and your father had passed away a few years ago. You didn't have allot of family already, and now the person who practically raised you was gone. Pietro and Wanda were basically all you had. And you were basically all they had as well. Your own little beaten and bruised family. But it was enough for all of you. You had found a home in one another.

So let the light guide your way, yeah, Hold every memory as you go, And every road you take, will always lead you home, home, It's been a long day without you, my friend.

Sokovia was falling apart, piece by piece. A strange metal man floated in the sky and started speaking. You didn't hear what he was saying because there was already so much noise. Sokovia was floating, people were running and screaming, and the Avengers were fighting. Pietro and Wanda had left a few days ago and joined the fight. You were trying to get to safety, to get to one of the life boats but you had to block falling debris, gun shots and everything else, but you failed and a large piece of debris landed on your left leg. A man dressed in red, white and blue approached you, throwing the piece of debris off of you. You realized then that it was Captain America. "Are you okay ma'am?" He asked you and you shook your head. "No, no my leg is hurt." He nodded and picked you up effortlessly, carrying you to the new life boat and sitting you down. You noticed that this was the last boat. You sat there, watching all the people, watching your dear Pietro. You heard a woman screaming and looked over; her child was trapped under a piece of debris. A man with a bow and arrow turned around, running to the boy just as a jet was approaching; rapidly shooting bullets. The man used himself as a shield to protect the boy and you squeezed your eyes shut, not wanting to witness death as you had seen enough of it on this day. You expected the mother to begin screaming, but everything was silent so you opened your eyes. Standing there was your beloved Pietro, multiple bullet holes littering his body, blood starting to seep through his shirt and as he fell to the ground you let out a deafening scream. Despite your leg, you ran to him, holding him in your arms. It didn't last long though because eventually you were brought back to the lifeboat, along with Pietro. You quickly rushed back to his lifeless body, laying your head on his chest and holding onto his bloody shirt as you cried your eyes out. Your love was gone...

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45 notes • Posted 2021-07-26 00:55:17 GMT

#3

How You Meet (L.L.)

Read this first! (e/c = eye color)

Loki watched you closely as your eyes trailed along the room of people, all of their hands in the air including his own. Your e/c eyes stopped on him, pointing a finger towards him. "Loki?" You said and he smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are your thoughts on me, darling?" He asked, watching you as you processed his question. "Do you want me to be honest with you?" You asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Of course, love." He replied. "Truthfully, I think you're kind of an ass." You shrugged but the smirk remained on Loki's face as he looked you up and down. "Looks like the new recruit doesn't like you, Reindeer Games." Tony laughed out. You snapped your head towards Tony. "That's not what I said, I said I think he's an ass. I think the same thing about you." You told Tony and Loki couldn't help the wide grin that came across his face. "I like her." He spoke as he looked at you, the grin still on his face.

58 notes • Posted 2021-06-05 19:04:35 GMT

#2

Super Soldier Arm Candy (J.B.B) (Part 2)

Part 1 HERE

Author's Note: This is EXTREMELY LONG so I am sorry about that, it's worth it though I promise. Also I haven't had the chance to proofread this yet since it's 7:30 am and I should've been in bed hours ago but I really wanted to finish this and get it posted, I will go back and fix any mistakes there might be later.

Prompt #30 from here; you’re drunk, with your lover, you stumble into an empty room together, laughing loudly, while drinking champagne, straight from the bottle. you wrap your hands around your lover’s neck, taking another sip of the champagne. you lock eyes, and start kissing each other passionately. you drop the champagne bottle on the ground, because the world is spinning, and you don’t know what you’re doing, and you’re so wrapped up in your lover, and so out of it, all you can think about is how good it feels to kiss them

Word count: 12k (y'all aren't ready)

Warnings: NSFW, adult language, mentions of drinking, jealous!Bucky, mentions of blood, fingering, dom!Bucky, sub!Reader, choking, some fluff and two idiots in love at the end

If it’s in italics and *asterisks*, it’s the reader’s thoughts.

If it’s in bold, italics and *asterisks*, it’s the characters thoughts.

everyone knows this but y/n = your name

y/s/n = your siblings name

h/c = hair color

e/c = eye color

y/f/c = your favorite drink

y/f/c = your favorite color

y/f/m = your favorite movie

You groaned, shoving your face into your pillow as the sunlight peeked in through the sheer white curtains. You laid there for a few minutes before you realized the sun wasn’t gonna go away no matter how much you tried to will it to and rolled over onto your back. You closed your eyes and rubbed the sleep off your face with your hands, laying them at your sides when you were done. It was then that you realized the spot beside you in the large bed was empty. You could have sworn Bucky was lying beside you when you fell asleep last night. You raised an eyebrow and sat up, swinging your legs over the side of the mattress and standing up. Your thoughts starting to run rampant as you approached the door of the bedroom, swinging it open. The wooden floors of the main part of the hotel room felt like ice under your bare feet but you were on a mission. You had to find Bucky, especially if you had done something to upset him last night. The two of you did get pretty drunk before you passed out last night. You turned the corner of the hallway into the opening of where the open concept living room, kitchen and dining space were and saw Bucky’s large body sprawled among the small, plush couch, a pillow from the bed behind his head and a blanket he must have found in the linen closet draped over his body. You stood there for a minute, all of your negative thoughts drifting away as you watched the slow rise and fall of Bucky’s chest, his mouth open just a little bit as soft snores came out. *Damn it’s hard to be mad at you when you’re so damn cute Barnes.* You decided it was probably best to just let him sleep as you turned back around, heading back to the bedroom, even if you were mad and confused at him for sleeping on the couch and not in the bed... with you. You let out a frustrated sigh as you shut the bedroom door, walking over to the bed to grab your phone and check your text messages. Your phone sprung to life and you took a quick glance at the time, 10:30 AM, letting out a content sigh when you seen it was still fairly early. You then started looking at the assortment of notifications on the lock screen, the photo of a beach sunset you had set as your lock screen almost completely covered by the number of notifications.

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87 notes • Posted 2021-06-04 11:41:44 GMT

#1

Super Soldier Arm Candy (J.B.B)

Author’s Note: This was supposed to be a short fic, that obviously didn’t happen... There will be a part 2 with smut (; Part 2

Prompt #5 from here; Have your characters go to a wedding, just as each other’s plus one’s. During the ceremony with the bride and the groom, they can’t help but steal glances from one another. 

Word count: 7.7k 

Warnings: Adult language, mentions of drinking, just two idiots in love and lusting after one another really. 

If it's in italics and *asterisks*, it's the reader's thoughts.

If it's in bold, italics and *asterisks*, it's the characters thoughts.

If it's in italics and “quotes”, it's a text message.

most people know this but y/n = your name

y/f/c = your favorite color

e/c = eye color

y/f/d = your favorite drink

h/l = hair length

h/c = hair color

y/a = your age 

You were sitting on the bed in your room of the tower, flipping through TV channels trying to find something worth watching. It was a lazy day which after everything with Thanos the rest of the team and you deserved it. You wore an oversized graphic t-shirt and spandex shorts along with a pair of fuzzy socks, your hair thrown into a messy bun. You let out a sigh, setting your remote down to pick up your phone, sending a text to Peter that read, “I think I'll take some of those Netflix show recommendations now.” You tossed your phone back on the bed and groaned knowing that when Peter finally seen your text your phone would be dinging for 5 minutes straight as Peter sent you separate texts for each show he wanted you to watch, along with painfully detailed descriptions to entice you into watching them. You leaned back into your pillows just as you heard a knock at your door. "Come on in." You stated, sitting back up, your legs still in the crisscrossed position on the bed. Steve strode into your room, a cream-colored envelope in his hands. "Hey some mail came for you." He said, sitting down on the bed when you lightly tapped the y/f/c comforter for him to do so. You and Steve weren't best friends but you had gotten closer since you became part of the team. He handed you the envelope, looking around your room, taking everything in. He hadn't actually been in your room before. You laughed a little as you watched him, his cheeks tinted slightly pink. You and Steve both knew it wasn't like that between the two of you, especially since his best friend had a crush on you, unbeknownst to you of course. But Steve could see the way Bucky looked at you, he hadn't seen him look at anyone like that since the 40s. "Steve, calm down. There's no need to be flustered just because I'm a girl and you're in my room, sitting on my bed." You would've laughed again when his cheeks turned a shade of red but you noticed the name on the envelope. It was from your ex. By the looks of the fancy cream colored envelope with the bright red wax crest it was a wedding invitation. You couldn't control the slight tremor of your hands as you held onto the envelope, looking over the name again and again. You wanted to tear the envelope up into a million pieces and burn it but your ex's family was close with yours so you relented. Steve noticed the way your face dropped and your hands started to shake and he gently placed a large hand over the envelope making you look up at him. "Hey.. you okay? What's wrong? What is it?" He asked softly, taking note of how glossy your eyes were when you looked up at him. "Uh yeah.. Yeah.. I'm okay." You stated, faking a smile even if you knew he knew you were faking it. "Don't lie to me y/n, what's going on?" He said firmly. *Oh so that's the captain voice I've heard so much about.* If you weren't feeling so many types of emotions right now you would've teased him for it but you didn't have the energy. You sighed, setting the envelope on your nightstand as you spoke, "It's a wedding invitation." Steve looked at you, waiting for you to finish because he knew there was no way you were this upset over a simple wedding invite. "To my ex's wedding..." You said, chewing on the skin of your bottom lip as Steve just looked at you unsure of what to say. You sighed again, looking up to meet his blue eyes. "His family and mine are extremely close so I all but have to go. But I hate him. I hate him so much..." You laughed, your way of pushing down the tears that threatened to spill out of your e/c eyes. Steve was still at a loss for words, he had never seen you cry before and now that you were sitting in front of him, tears prickling at the corners of your eyes he didn't know what to do. You sighed again, letting out a breath as took your hair down and ran your hands through it, letting it fall naturally. "You know, I honestly don't care that he's getting married to someone else... I care that he broke my heart into a million tiny pieces and left me to clean up the mess while he ran off with my supposed best friend... and now they're

getting married. What kind of sick joke is that?" You laughed again, rubbing your face with your hands. "I'll go with you... When is it?" Steve blurted out, it was the only thing he could think of to even somewhat help the situation, at least you wouldn't have to go alone. You waved him off, smiling sadly at him. "No, it's okay Steve, I wouldn't want to put you through that." Steve frowned at you before grabbing the invitation off your nightstand, ripping it open. You watched him, eyebrows raised as he took out the cream-colored invitation, a bunch of gold glitter and little golden bell confetti falling onto his lap when he took the papers out of the envelope. You covered your mouth with your hand, trying to hide the laugh that slipped past your lips when Steve looked at his lap with fear in his eyes... there was glitter and confetti everywhere. He continued with opening the invite anyways, sorting through the few papers in his hands to find one with the wedding date on it. "March 16th. I'll put it in my calendar." He said, finding the actual invite and taking his phone out so he could put it in his calendar just like he had said. *March 16th... at least that gives me a month to prepare myself.* "Steve, really, you don't have to go with me, I promise you I will be okay." You stated, watching Steve carefully. "Do you have a pen?" Steve questioned as he locked his phone and slipped it back into his pocket, completely ignoring you. "Uh yeah here you go." You said, reaching over to grab a pen from the top drawer of your nightstand, handing it to the blonde-haired man. "Thanks." He smiled and shuffled the papers in his hand, stopping on one and writing something down on it. He smiled again, handing you the papers and your pen. It was just your typical wedding invite, the invitation itself along with a card and small envelope for you to mail back letting the couple know if you were attending and if you were bringing a plus one, Steve had vigorously marked the 'bringing a plus one' box, giving you no options at this point. "That... that was really clever Icy Pop." You said, looking up at him with surprise. He laughed, at the nickname and also at the surprise in your voice. "I know." He said, smiling at you as he stood up. "Oh... shit." He said, looking at your bedroom floor where he had dropped all of the glitter and confetti. You would've been absolutely furious but all you could hear was, "STEVE SAID A BAD LANGUAGE WORD!" being shouted over the speakers of the Tower by Tony.  

- A Month Later-  

It was two days before you had to leave for the wedding and you were packing your suitcase, singing along to the music you had playing as you folded your clothes. Upon further reading of the wedding invitation, you realized it was a destination wedding at your ex's family's private beach resort in Greece. They were shutting the whole resort down for the week, two days for the wedding festivities and the other 5 for the couple's honeymoon. *Rich people...* You rolled your eyes, thinking of your ex's family. Your family wasn't poor by any means but they just weren't as... extravagant as the Ellison family. You heard a knock at your door, quickly pressing pause on your music to call out that your door was open. Steve walked into your room, a sad look on his face. "Hey Icy Pop, what's wrong?" You asked, folding a pair of shorts and placing them in your suitcase. He sat down on your bed, your suitcase slightly bumping his side as he did but he ignored it. "I can't go with you... Fury just called and I have to go on a two-week long mission. I am so sorry y/n." He stated, looking up at you sadly. You smiled softly at him, shaking your head. "Hey it's okay, I'll uh just ask Nat to go with me." He made a face, looking down again. "Or not because she's obviously going on the mission." You sighed and ran a hand through your hair. You knew you couldn't ask Peter because he was still in school and if he took anymore random weeks off then he wasn't going to graduate, even if he had all A+'s and a 4.5 gpa. You mentally checked off all the couples on the team, knowing you couldn't get any of them to go with you as you could only bring one other person. Steve watched you, he could practically see the gears turning in your head as you tried to figure out who else you could ask. Besides Wanda, Natasha, Peter and him you hadn’t connected with anyone else on the team yet. "Don't worry y/n, I'll find someone to go with you." Steve stated, standing up and walking towards the door. Before you could protest he was already out your door, closing it behind him with a soft click. You sighed again, looking at your suitcase. You picked your phone up, pressing the play button on your music and resuming your packing. *At least I can distract myself with this for now...* 

-The Next Day-  

You checked over your packing list one last time to make sure you had everything before setting your bags by your bedroom door. It was almost 7pm and Steve had yet to tell you if he had found you a replacement date. He had to leave for his mission early this morning but he promised you he would find someone to replace him. You sighed, grabbing your phone and a throw blanket off your bed and walking out of your room, taking the elevator to the main part of the tower and walking to the kitchen to get yourself a snack. After grabbing yourself a snack and something to drink you walked over to the couch, taking a seat and grabbing the remote for the TV. The tower was super quiet, a little over half the team had went with Steve on the mission while the others were either at their own homes or in their respected rooms. You were sitting on the couch for a little while, watching "New Girl" on Netflix, one of the shows Peter had recommended to you when you heard the elevator ding behind you. You turned your head, seeing Bucky walk out of the elevator in nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants, his dog tags hanging from his neck, bouncing slightly against his toned chest as he walked. *Damn...* You couldn't help but watch him walk into the kitchen, chewing on your bottom lip as your eyes trailed down his chest until... *well hello...* You looked away from him quickly, eyes shooting back to the TV where the characters were all drunkenly chanting "KISS!" to Nick and Jess from the other side of the metal door. You chewed on your lip harder releasing it from your teeth when you tasted the familiar metallic taste of blood on your tongue. You forgot about Bucky's presence a few minutes later though when Nick and Jess finally shared their first kiss on the show, shouting and throwing your hands in the air. "ABOUT DAMN TIME!" You heard a laugh and whipped your head around to see Bucky standing behind the couch, a glass of water in his right hand. Your right hand shot up to your chest and you looked up at him with your eyes wide. "Damn Bucky... a warning." You said, turning away to look back at the TV. He chuckled and walked around the couch, sitting a few seats away from you. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep so I came to get some water and then I got distracted by the TV." He said, taking a sip from his glass. You glanced at the time on your phone. 10:45 pm. Steve still hadn’t texted you.. "It's okay, you just gave me a heart attack is all." You said, setting your phone back on the couch and laughing a little, turning your attention back to the screen. Bucky sat there for a minute, just watching you... admiring you. You had on a simple white tank top and black sweatpants, wearing a y/f/c jacket to keep you from being cold, along with a blanket draped over your legs. Your hair was in a messy bun and you were smiling happily as you watched the show in front of you. It was then that Bucky got nervous. Steve had come to Bucky that morning, asking him if he would go with you to the wedding. Steve explained the situation to him and assured Bucky that it wasn't a scheme to finally get him to make a move on you, but that he wouldn't be upset if Bucky finally did make a move. Also that if Bucky didn’t go with you, his only other option was to ask Loki. Neither of you spoke for a while, you quietly watching the tv, yawning every so often and slumping further into the couch as you grew more and more tired. Bucky's eyes were everywhere except you. He just didn't know how to bring up that Steve had asked him to go with you. You had been living in the tower for about 6 months and he had barely spoken to you, so how the hell was he supposed to spend two days alone with you in Greece? A few more minutes of silence passed by as Bucky gave himself a pep talk inside his head, telling himself that if he could survive the war, falling off a train, decades at Hydra, an alien army not once but twice, being dusted, Wakanda and putting up with Sam every. single. day. that he could spend two days alone with you. Besides, it was you. You didn't even know it but you had him

wrapped around your pretty little finger from the day you stepped into the Tower. He hadn't felt this way about someone since the 40s and even then, he hadn't ever been so infatuated with someone who he hadn't said more than 30 words to in 6 months. He decided then that maybe this wasn't such a bad idea, hell maybe it would even be good for him to get away for a little while. He cleared his throat then, making your head snap towards him from the sudden noise. He fought the blush that threatened to creep onto his face when your breathtaking e/c eyes stared into his steel blue ones, waiting to see what he had to say. "So, Steve asked me if I would take his place as your plus one. If that's okay with you, that is?" He said, his mouth suddenly extremely dry as he watched your face carefully. "Yeah, that sounds great. I think we could both use a vacation from this place." You laughed lightly, turning your attention back to the TV. Bucky felt like he could fight God, or a God for that matter, in that moment. *Well Loki is only a floor above us...* He shook his head at the thought, but damn he was just so relieved you hadn't rejected the idea of him coming along and that made his heart swoon as he smiled, watching you for a moment as you yawned loudly, stretching your arms over your head. He couldn't help but watch the way your white tank top slid up a little, slightly revealing the y/f/c waistband of your panties which he followed upwards, his eyes trailing along the soft skin of your stomach towards your chest where he could see that your nipples were slightly hardened through the fabric of your shirt, most likely from how cold Tony liked to keep the Tower, going as far as putting a voice activation on the thermostat so no one else could use it. It dawned on him that you weren’t wearing a bra in that moment and... fuck did he think that was hot. He looked away quickly to focus on the TV, the blush creeping on his face impossible to stop this time. When you weren't looking, he casually grabbed one of the throw pillows from the couch, setting it on his lap and resting his arm on it to make it seem more normal. It was at least 20 minutes later when you spoke up, looking over at him as you turned the TV off. "Well... We should probably head to bed." You said, standing up and stretching your body out again. Bucky didn't know if it was the way you looked stretching out right now, the slight moan you let out as you did so or how you so casually said we but if he thought he was flustered earlier he was really flustered now. *Oh god I have to get out of here...* He cleared his throat and nodded up at you, but still he remained unmoving from his spot on the couch, the pillow still in his lap. "We have to be at the airport by 5 am and Steve told me once that you can be grouchy if you don't get enough sleep, so come on Buck." You said with a small laugh, grabbing your blanket and phone from the couch. If you had been anyone else he would've told you not to call him that name but you probably thought nothing of it as Steve usually calls him that most of the time. Besides, it sounded like heaven coming out of your mouth so who was he to correct you? You were facing him now, one arm of your jacket hanging off your shoulder as you looked at him. "You go on ahead, just gotta refill my glass. I promise I'm going to bed though." He stated simply, a soft chuckle leaving his lips as he picked the empty glass up off the side table and waved it a little. Steve was right, he was grouchy if he didn't get enough sleep. You yawned again, nodded at him and walked off towards the direction of the elevator. He waited a moment before getting off the couch, tossing the pillow back on it as he walked quickly towards the kitchen to get more water. *If it hadn't been for you he wouldn't be so damn thirsty...* 

-The Next Morning-  

You woke up at 3 am, groaning at the alarm on your phone before shutting it off and reluctantly rolling out of bed. You grabbed your phone, slipped your slippers on and walked towards the bathroom, flicking the light on. You rubbed at your eyes and yawned, taking in your appearance in the mirror and groaning again, stalking off towards the shower to turn it on. It took you about 45 minutes to shower, put on some light makeup and get dressed. You threw on some leggings and a hoodie, a sports bra and tank top underneath and put your wet hair into a braid before you were in the kitchen making coffee, eggs, bacon and toast for yourself and Bucky. Airport food was ridiculously expensive and plane food is usually disgusting. The sound of the elevator dinging startled you as you were in a fight with the bacon grease for your bacon. You finally managed to turn the burner off and move the pan off it, turning towards Bucky who tiredly walked into the room, leaving his suitcase by the elevator before he took a seat in one of the bar stools at the island "Good morning." You said smiling softly at him. He was wearing a pair of black sweat pants and a plain black hoodie and from what you could see a navy-blue t-shirt underneath. "Mornin'." Bucky mumbled out, sleep still thick in his voice and it sent a shiver down your spine. "Um... coffee?" You asked, turning towards the coffee pot to try and hide your blush from Bucky's sleepy gaze. He only nodded in response and you grabbed his simple black mug from the cabinet above the coffee pot, pouring the coffee into it and setting it down in front of him. This wasn't the first time you'd made breakfast for Bucky, but it was the first time that it was just him and you in the morning. You fixed yours and his plate, setting his in front of him as he mumbled out a 'thank you' with a smile as he set his coffee mug down. You both ate in a comfortable silence, Bucky washing the dishes for you while you went and grabbed your bags. Bucky finished putting the rinsed dishes in the dishwasher, turning it on before he sat back down on one of the stools, checking his phone while he waited for you. He had a text from Steve, “Hey Buck, I hope you're up and ready for your flight otherwise I'm gonna give y/n permission to beat you up” He let out a little laugh, he absolutely believed you could beat him in hand-to-hand combat, he had watched you take Thor down at one point and he had a hard time doing that but for some reason the thought of you trying to beat him up was funny to him right now. He texted Steve back, “Fight me yourself punk.” before slipping his phone back in his pocket, his mind drifting as he almost wished he wouldn't have woken up to see what exactly you would've done. His mind started to drift off further, thinking of less than friendly things you could do to wake him up... The elevator pulled him from his thoughts as it opened with you stood inside it, waving at him to come on. "Come on, we gotta go." You stated and he got up quickly, grabbing his suitcase and walking into the elevator with you. Rhodey had offered to drive the two of you to the airport instead of having to take a cab, but also so he could make sure for Tony that neither of you took one of his cars. The main reason being that Tony really didn't trust you with any of his cars. The other reason being that Tony didn't trust Bucky with any of his cars either. To be fair, Tony had valid reasons as to not trusting either of you. You rode up front, Bucky in the back seat as you all talked about work, your teammates and other random things on the drive. You and Bucky made it to your gate just in time, the metal detectors not being Bucky's friend. You couldn't help the laugh that slipped out when he walked through and the beeping started immediately. He had that grumpy old man face on as the airport security walked over to him with the handheld metal detector, hovering it over Bucky's body, the thing going crazy when he hovered it over his left arm. He let out a sigh and rolled his sleeve up a little, showing the man his metal arm

and he nodded, letting him go on. "Can't even walk through a metal detector." Bucky had grumbled as you walked away from airport security, another laugh slipping past your lips. *Peter and Sam are going to find this hilarious.* Tony had unexpectedly upgraded your seats to first class a week prior to the trip, telling you that no member of his team will ever be spotted in coach. You had rolled your eyes at the time but now that you were on the plane you didn’t mind. It was quieter and roomier in first class. Once the plane took off a blonde-haired flight attendant sauntered over to Bucky and you, making flirty eyes at Bucky as she did so. “Can I get you anything, handsome?” She blatantly flirted with him, leaning one of her arms on the chair in front of Bucky, he had let you take the window seat. Bucky looked up from his book at the lady, completely unfazed by her flirting and shook his head, turning to you. “You want anything, doll?” He asked you, the pet name effortlessly slipping past his lips as he smiled at you. You couldn’t even control the blush that crept on your face at the pet name, but you did your best as you smiled back at him. *This is just his way of ignoring her advances...* “Yeah can I get a y/f/d. Thank you.” You smiled at her and Bucky turned back to the woman, the smile on his face gone. “Actually, I’ll have one of those as well.” He said smiling to himself as the woman walked away with a huff. “Bucky... Can you even get drunk?” You asked later after the flight attendant brought back your drinks, bringing the glass up to your lips to take a sip. You were going to need at least three more of these to put up with your family, your ex and his family. And that would only be enough for the first hour you’re there. He looked over at you, taking a swig of the drink and setting it down on the table in front of him. “Yeah, but it takes a lot... Like a lot.” He stated simply, mind going back to when he was in hiding and how much liquor it took him to numb the pain. He shook the depressing thought out of his mind and began reaching for his backpack that was tucked between his legs on the floor. He pulled it onto his lap and began unzipping the small front pocket, reaching inside of it to retrieve the sleek metal flask Thor had given him the same morning Steve asked him to go with you to the wedding, as well as letting Bucky know where he could find more Asgardian liquor, at the bar, in Thor and Loki’s rooms and hidden randomly around the tower. He even had a map; it was all very strange but now Bucky was thankful for the liquid courage. “Unless of course I have this.” He flashed you a devilish smile, waving the flask at you. You raised an eyebrow at him, “What’s that?” You said, watching him as he twisted the cap off and began pouring a good bit of it in his glass. “It’s Asgardian liquor.” He said, smiling at you as he poured a small amount into your drink with a wink. Your eyes widened happily and you smiled at him, picking your drink up again, holding it out in front of you, towards him. “Thank Thor.” You giggled and he laughed a little, picking up his glass to clink it against yours before you both took a sip. You both sat back and enjoyed your drinks, talking about whatever random things came to your minds. By the time your flight had landed you and Bucky were both drunk. As you stepped off the plane, his right arm linked with your left, your other hands dragging your suitcases behind you both as you slightly leaned on each other and laughed about stupid things as you walked through the airport and outside into the warm air. It made you both pull away from one other to take your hoodies off, Bucky tucking his in his backpack and you tying yours around your waist. “Where to now?” Bucky asked, still a little drunk as he looked around at the beautiful sights around him. “Uhm lemme check hold on.” You mumbled, pulling your phone from your back pocket to pull up the directions/instructions to get from the airport to the island your mom had sent you earlier that morning. “We have to walk from here to the docks

and ask for a man named... Sebastian.” You said, looking back up at him as you locked your phone and put it back in your pocket. He nodded and looked around for a sign of some sort to lead you both towards the docks. He finally found one, a sign saying “Boating Docks” with a large arrow pointing towards a stone footpath. “This way.” He stated, linking his arm with yours again when you swayed a little bit. “Thanks.” You giggled as you both started heading towards the docks. It wasn’t that far of a walk and you were met with a couple of small boats and a small wooden shack sitting at the beginning of the docks. You walked up to the shack, smiling at the blonde-haired boy behind the counter. “Hi we’re looking for Sebastian.” You said, leaning both your arms on the counter to support your weight, Bucky a few feet behind you looking out at the ocean. “That would be me. What can I help you with, dollface?” He winked at you, smiling widely. He was cute... A little young, probably no older than 20, if that, but still cute. You giggled a little, at the pet name and because he kinda looked like a young, blonde Bucky. * Definitely a cutie...* “Perfect, we need a ride to Ellison Island Resort. I can pay of course.” You said, reaching for your backpack when he waved his hand at you. “For you gorgeous, free of charge.” He winked, stepping out of the shack and walking over to you and Bucky. “Grumpy old man included?” You giggled, grabbing onto Bucky’s right arm. *He’s awfully stiff..* Bucky glared at the boy, feeling a sense of pride when he saw him take a small step back and swallow before answering you. “O-Of course..” He said, turning and walking towards the boat at the end of the dock. You smiled and slid your hand down Bucky’s arm to intertwine your fingers with his, pulling him with you as you followed the blonde down the dock. If it wasn’t for the liquid courage and the super soldier serum pumping through his veins, he surely would have passed out from how fast his heart was beating with your hand in his. Sebastian took your suitcases and sat them in the boat, Bucky stepping into the boat with ease and moving the suitcases over. Sebastian reached his hand out to you to help you down into the boat but you had already taken Bucky’s outstretched hand. Bucky helped you into the boat, smirking at Sebastian as he did so although you had no idea of the silent war that was happening between the two as you swayed slightly in the boat. Bucky quickly took notice to the way you were swaying and placed his hands on your hips to steady you. “Hey doll, look at me.” He said, looking down at you. He did not need you to get sea sick right now. You looked up at him slowly and he noticed the way your skin was flushed red and if he didn’t know you were drunk, hot and borderline sea sick, he might think you were blushing... *But of course you weren’t...* Sebastian rolled his eyes a little at Bucky’s actions before walking away to untie the boat from the dock before stepping inside to take his place at the wheel. You smiled sweetly up at Bucky, bringing your hands up to rest on his chest. “Hmm?” You mumbled; his eyes were brighter here... as blue as the ocean and sky surrounding you. “You alright? You aren’t gonna get sea sick on me, are ya?” He chuckled, looking down at you, relishing in the feel of you in his arms like this. “No, of course not. I practically grew up on and in the ocean.” You laughed out but you didn’t move from his arms, continuing to look into those beautiful blue eyes. He didn’t move either, gazing back into your breathtakingly e/c eyes and God... He could just get lost in them forever and he knew he was putty in your hands. “I’m gonna need you two to sit down so I can move the boat.” Sebastian grumbled from behind the steering wheel of the boat, gesturing towards you and Bucky, breaking you both from your trance as you scrambled away from each other and sat on opposite ends of the boat. The boat started and soon you were making your way across the ocean to your own personal Hell for the next two days. You might not be sea sick

but the anticipation of what was coming was enough to make anyone want to hurl. You decided to just relax, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. You closed your eyes, allowing your body to relax as you took in a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the ocean, enjoying the breeze in your hair and the soft misting of ocean water on your face. *God, you had missed it..* On the other side of the boat Bucky was cursing himself for putting his hands on you the way he did, even if he had thought you were going to be sea sick or fall over. *It’s gonna be a long two days...* He snuck a glance over at you to see you facing the sun, the breeze blowing your h/l h/c hair back, the sun shining on your face and he swore you never looked more stunning. It was probably the liquor still coursing through his veins but he pulled his phone from his pocket, opening his camera app and taking a photo of you. He sent the photo to Steve along with, “I think she’s enjoying herself so far..” He returned his phone to his pocket before looking back over at you. He would tell you about the photo later but right now he didn’t want to disturb you, not when you looked so peaceful. He decided maybe you had the right idea and did what you were doing, closing his eyes as he faced towards the sun, the warm beams contrasting with the cool breeze and sea water misting onto his face and as he took a deep breathe in and out, he swore he felt a sense of peace for the first time in decades. *Guess you did have the right idea..* It wasn’t much longer and you arrived at the dock of the island, stepping out of the boat with Sebastian’s help this time as he had all but bolted off the boat to do so making you giggle and take his hand, stepping onto the docks and looking around. *Looks the same as last time...* You let out a small sigh and turned towards Bucky, smiling softly at him as he stepped onto the docks with your suitcases. He returned the smile, walking over to stand beside you as Sebastian finished tying the boat the dock. You smiled at Sebastian, trying once again to pay him for the ride here but he only declined again, letting you know that he comes from a wealthy family and he’s just doing the boat thing as a side job. You smiled at him and nodded, understanding how it feels to just want to lead a normal life. “Would you mind if I took a photo of you? You just really look like someone I know and I want to see if my friend agrees..” You stated, pulling your phone from your pocket. “Sure go right ahead, just as long as I can have your number after.” He winked at you, posing for you as you opened the camera app and took a photo of him. You gave him your number after, a deal is a deal, allowing him to take a photo of you for the contact image. 

See the full post

116 notes • Posted 2021-06-02 17:55:32 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[cesca-untoldstories]

some people really do think that a character's gender makes any difference. Anyways Cesca is a wonderful crusader mwah

I think what bothers me the most, dear nonnie, is that it is seen that depending on your sexuality you have certain and enchanted attributes. for example; To say that there cannot be a female protagonist in SDC since they are all virile and muscular men and it would "overshadow" the male aesthetic of the series a lot?

I faithfully believe that regardless of the gender of a character, and I am not just referring to those imposed by the old society, it can perfectly adapt to whatever is necessary for the series. I always like to mention that when he created Francesca it was a mere personal purpose to see SDC and feel that he needed a character who would identify the female audience with someone strong and who would never give up even if the world fell apart and he had to start all over again. (More when Anne had potential but they began to shadowbanning her, because of course... Hayato and Emporio can have a space as an empowered 10-year-old boy, but what about Anne? I think that's when I started to question creating Francesca and that's why she is not 17 like Kak and Joot but 15 or even 14 when she started the bizarre travesy for herself)

Thank you a lot for your words my dear! thank you for considering 'Cesca a crusader, even if I don't believe she would be called a crusader, but now more than ever I feel like she indeed fit as a crusader!

thank you for the confidence you all are giving me ;w; <3

[minipliny]

Sometimes writing a letter works!

It’s that time of the year again, and by that I mean THE most important winter holiday: Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign.

I have been a member since high school, which is how I threw the least fun and least attended human rights themed teen party in the world. One of the maths teachers turned up, but only because he thought we had thrown him a surprise birthday party and I didn’t have the heart to tell him no. The barbed wire decorated balloons we had spent hours blowing up jostled in a sad mass around our feet.

But - especially if you are feeling isolated and powerless right now - writing a letter (or email, or Tweet) can be powerful and can change things, and in my life it’s been my go-to when I don’t have the time or energy to do any more. I’ll never forget writing a card and posting it to a political prisoner and then getting a reply back from them in prison - realising I’d touched someone’s life directly and let them know that they weren’t forgotten, and that that pile of letters and cards could mean better treatment for them. 

Anyway, this has been an awful year, there are a thousand and one things to get to solving, but I just wanted to link to Write for Rights with Amnesty USA  and Write for Rights with Amnesty International, where you can take about 5 minutes to stand with Indigenous land defenders, the women who campaigned for the right to drive in Saudi Arabia and remain in prison as a result, a human rights campaigner jailed for 32 years in Burundi, Turkish LGBT rights activist, a Black teenager in Chicago shot at a gas station, and families detained by ICE. 

And I also wanted to share some of the good news stories from Amnesty, because it’s really easy to feel like nothing you do makes a difference:

“I am very honored to be among the cases that you have selected for your Write for Rights campaign. I am honored to know people like you who denounce the injustices committed by the authorities and governments. You have brought joy into my heart. Thank you.” - Mahadine, Write for Rights 2017

Mahadine, an online activist in Chad, was released on April 5th, 2018 after spending more than 18 months in prison on fabricated charges. He had been facing a life sentence for a Facebook post critical of the government.

“Receiving your letters really comforted me when I was in prison. Thank you!” - Muhammad Bekzhanov, Write for Rights 2015

Muhammad Bekzhanov, a journalist in Uzbekistan, languished in jail for 17 long years until his release in 2017. His prison sentence was handed down after an unfair trial and severe torture, and arbitrarily extended by the authorities for Bekzhanov’s political activism. At the time of his release, Bekzhanov was one of the world’s longest prison-held journalists.

“Thank you very much each and every one of you. Not just for campaigning for my release, but for helping to keep our hope and our beliefs alive.” - Phyoe Phyoe Aung, Write for Rights 2015

Phyoe Phyoe Aung is a human rights defender and Secretary General of one of Myanmar’s largest student unions. On March 10, 2015, she and 50 other students were arrested by police for their peaceful protests against an education law that limits freedom of education. She was freed in April 2016.

“I am happy to finally be free after more than 17 months of imprisonment. I thank Amnesty International and all those who fought in one way or another for my release. I look forward to seeing my family and friends to continue the fight for democracy and freedom in my country.” - Fred Bauma, Write for Rights 2015

Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala are human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were imprisoned for their peaceful human rights activism and were considered prisoners of conscience. They were freed on August 30, 2016

“I feel joy, and so much emotion. To everyone who has stood by me, I give my heartfelt thanks. Without this support, my freedom would have been almost impossible.” - Yecenia Armenta Graciano, Write for Rights 2015

In July 2012, Yecenia Armenta was taken into police custody in Mexico and brutally tortured. The police beat her for hours, raped her and threatened to kill her children. In spite of medical evidence that torture took place, the ‘confession’ was used to charge Yecenia. She was released in 2016.

“I am alive today, after 33 arrests (it's now far more), because members of Amnesty International spoke out for me." - Jenni Williams, Write for Rights 2011

Activist Jenni Williams, is a founder of the social justice movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), who has endured dozens of arrests and beatings for leading peaceful protests. In 2003, Williams co-founded WOZA with the late Sheba Dube to demand social and political reforms in Zimbabwe under the brutal rule of Robert Mugabe.

"Thank you to Amnesty International’s supporters! Your campaign has been successful, as my release shows. We can achieve the most success when we all work together.” - Yorm Bopha, Write for Rights 2013

Yorm Bopha is a Cambodian housing rights activist, previously imprisoned for defending her community’s rights at the former Boeung Kak Lake in the capital Phnom Penh, where thousands of people had been forcibly evicted since 2007. She was released in 2013.

"I’d like to thank our friends at Amnesty International and Amnesty USA for their remarkable support these last years, culminating just recently in the Write for Rights Campaign." - Albert Woodfox, Write for Rights 2015

On his 69th birthday, February 19, 2016, he walked free – 44 years after he was first put into solitary confinement in Louisiana. He was the USA’s longest serving prisoner held in isolation. For the first time in more than four decades, Albert Woodfox was able to walk outside and look up into the sky in 2016.

[deidaratheartboi]

A Day In Life With The Akatsuki Pt 2

A/N Before I go into this I just wanna say thank you guys for reblogging and liking my posts I didn't know it would blow up so fast so thank you guys and enjoy!!

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

10 Minutes Before ✨chaos✨

Akatsuki Group Chat

Konan: Ok everyone Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu

Deidara: What did I do?

Konan: Nothing yet. Now listen we are going on live tv I expect you to act like it. Don't argue, try to kill each other, booby trap each other's rooms, steal cats or anything other thing that could make us look bad, understood?

Sasori: Yes ma'am

Deidara: Yeah yeah

Hidan: Okkkkiiii

Kakuzu: Hmph

Itachi has went online.

Kisame has went online.

Itachi: So when are we going on?

Pain has went online

Pain: 5 minutes use the time to prep.

Everyone has gone offline.

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

Kevin: Now everyone only 3 minutes left all you have to do is act natural and let the cameras do their job. You all will get pulled everyone once in while for what we call "confessionals". Now we are rolling NOW!

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

Deidara,Sasori And Tobi

Deidara: Now what?

Sasori: I guess we do what we normally do?

Deidara proceeds to showoff in front of the camera.

Sasori: -_-

Tobi: YAY SENPAI

Sasori: Don't encourage him damnit

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Kisame And Itachi

Itachi: I don't see why boss wasted our time with this pointless show.

Kisame: I guess it's a way to promote our group and get more members. Deidara is enjoying it.

Itachi: Hmph of course he is. I'm going to make a sandwhich

Kisame: Ok

The camera follows Itachi

Itachi: Stop following me with that thing

Continues to follow him

Itachi proceeds to roundhouse kick the camera

Kisame: Damn-

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Hidan And Kakuzu

Hidan: Sooooo what are we gonna do???

Kakuzu: You are going to leave me alone

Hidan: Hmmmm nah I don't want to

Kakuzu: Leave

Hidan : No

Kakuzu goes to his room and locks the door

Hidan: Awww come on Kakuzu

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Pain, Konan And Zetsu

Pain: I wonder how the boys are holding up

Zetsu: I heard a crash in Itachi's room so I went to check it out. He either punched it or kicked it.

Konan: Doesn't seem like something he would do but, he was against this whole thing to begin with

Pain: Guess he needs his space

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

Sasori Confessional

Sasori: Man Deidara is annoying

Interviewer Person: Oh really? Well I think he is too. What do you think about Tobi?

Sasori: Don't even get me started he encourages his bad behavior and as I try to fix it he does it again. Half the time he's hanging with Deidara and not me. I'M HIS PARTNER NOT HIM!

Interviewer Person: So you don't think they should be together?

Sasori: For the sake of my sanity and the group no.

Interviewer Person: Are you sure your not just jealous?

Sasori: This conversation is over.

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

Deidara Confessional

Deidara: Wow this show is nuts thanks for having me.

Interviewer Person: Heh no proble. Say what do you think about Sasori?

Deidara: Oh danna? Yeah he's cool I kinda admire him but, don't tell him that. He's always been there for me ya know? Kinda like a brother.

Interviewer Person: Now what about Tobi?

Deidara: He's an annoying little shit. Don't get me wrong I love people admiring my glory but, he takes it too far. Taking pictures of me in the shower really? But, I guess he means well

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

Tobi Confessional

Interviewer Person: So what do you think about Sasori and Deidara?

Tobi: TOBI LOVES THEM BOTH

Interviewer Person: Are you sure? Not even an ounce of dislike for one of them?

Tobi: (In A Deep Voice) Your television tricks don't work on me.

Interviewer Person: 0-0

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

Hidan: Why the hell am I here?

Interviewer Person: Confessionals

Hidan: I have a lot to confess then. Once I ate a battery, I stole Kakuzu's money more then once by the way, I ate one of Dei's clay thingies, I also got a tattoo on my bu-

Interviewer Person: Um these confessionals are more show related.

Hidan: Oh well then is this the part where you make me say mean stuff about the people around me, edit only the bad parts show it to the others and start a whole ass war?

Interviewer Person: Uhhhhhhhh

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

Kakuzu Confessional

Kakuzu: Why am I here?

Interviewer Person: Confessionals

Kakuzu: But, I have nothing to confess

Interviewer Person: Well you have to

Kakuzu: Why?

Interviewer Person: Ratings

Kakuzu: Why would I confess to people I don't even know?

Interviewer Person: It's called television

Kakuzu: It's called mind your own damn business.

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

Konan ConfessionaL

Konan: Hello

Interviewer Person: Hi how do you think the show is going so far?

Konan: It's wonderful

Interviewer Person: Anything you'd like to say to the camera?

Konan: I don't see the point of talking to inanimate objects

Interviewer Person: But, this camera allows other people to see and hear you.

Konan: Oh in that case if your in the Sound village watching this might wanna watch where you step sometime next week :)

Interviewer Person: I-

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

Pain Confessional

Pain: I am Pain

Interviewer Person: Yeah I know

Pain: And?

Interviewer Person: And what?

Pain: You said you know

Interviewer Person: Yea because I do

Pain: But, do you really know pain?

Interviewer Person: Yes I know you

Pain: No I mean pain

Interviewer Person: Huh? Wait why are you coming close to me? Hey put the chair down!!!

Pain: You shall know paaaaiiiinn.

Camera fee cuts

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

Zetsu ConfessionaL

Interviewer Person: So how's the show going?

Zetsu: Fine so far other then the broken camers sorry about that.

Interviewer Person: Yeah it's fine

Zetsu: And sorry about Pain

Interviewer Person: Why did I chose this job?

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Kisame Confessional

Interviewer Person: So how do you like the show?

Kisame: It's fine as long as no one records me in the shower.

Interviewer Person: Yeah no one wants to see that

Kisame: So are you saying I'm ugly?

Interviewer Person: No it's just tha-

Kisame: You see me as a monster

Interviewer Person: No not a-

Kisame: No it's fine the only person who saw me as a person was Itachi I was foolish to think other would come to accept me like Itachi did.

Interviewer Person: But, I never said.

Kisame: It all started when I was a mere child-

Interviewer Person: We're done here

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

Itachi Confessional

Interviewer Person: Why did you kick the camera?

Itachi: I don't like being followed

Interviewer Person: Kisame follows you

Itachi: I know him

Interviewer Person: But, if you don't like being followed wouldn't it apply to everyone?

Itachi: In your mind yes

Interviewer Person: Hm I see. So how do you like the show?

Itachi: How do you think? Strangers coming into your house following your every move. Filming you. Making you look like a fool in front of millions of people. You can answer that yourself.

Interviewer Person: I guess you ha-

Itachi: I Know I do

Interviewer Person: It's rude to interrupt people

Itachi: I'm sorry did you say something? I don't speak bullshit

Interviewer Person: Damn rude.

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

It won't let me add the konan taaaaaaggggg so I had to put akatsuki in front of it. Anywho hope you guys enjoyed

[cassyapper]

loving you may mean losing you but i dont mind (jotakak playlist)

dont talk to me about the title of this thing im embarrassed enough

anyway but okay so!!!! very excited to share this!!!! this has been in the works since september but my picky ass finally found an adequate amount of songs so here it is!!!!!! my jotakak playlist (:

special thanks to my lovely and wonderful friend jade for helping me finish this this thing <3

track list nd why i picked the songs that i did under the break!

1. the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us! by sufjan stevens i chose this song because it’s all about internalized homophobia and being in love with your best friend as a kid which RLLY resonates w jotakak imo. esp cause in the song, stevens’ friend ends up leaving abruptly, leaving stevens to wonder about what couldve blossomed if they had stuck together and worked through the difficulties together, which JOTARO....THAT IS JOTARO-CORE esp cause kak also “leaves” (dies). so this song was a v obvious choice for me and in fact this song is what inspired me to create this playlist in the first place

2. we are beautiful, we are doomed by los campesinos! this song is abt being in love with someone but you both have ur issues so it’s kind of a mess. considering jotaro and kakyoin’s (to point it quite frankly) trauma and the fact that both of them do jack shit to try and cope with it healthily, this song DEFINITELY fits them. esp cause this song mentions physical fighting and the imagery that goes with it (”he got his teeth fixed/im gonna break them”, “i’ve got a fist on fire”, etc) and the entirety of the bridge/last verse rlly gives me these two’s vibes so! ya (:

3. love love love by of monsters and men this song is the singer feeling like shes completely unworthy of being loved by this important person in her life, particularly because she has NO idea how to show affection and love the (for lack of better word) “acceptable” way, or any way at all really. this REALLY has jotaro vibes cause he is one repressed motherfucker and as we see the entirety of his story, jotaro is full of love he loves so much it’s just he has no idea how to properly express it cause he’s scared essentially. but that didn’t stop people from loving him, in this case, that being kakyoin. hhhhHHh

4. ribs by lorde this song is about being scared of growing up but due to the lyrics being written the way they are, i kinda spin the interpretation of it to be the fear jotaro and kakyoin had on the crusade to egypt, as they were the youngest and didnt know if they’d make it back and everything is just incredibly overwhelming there is so much going on all the time those 50 days. i can do a full analysis on why but that would be kinda long LMAO. for now let’s leave it at they have a very Unique fear of growing up but it still fits with the lyrics. particularly the last bit of the song with the “youre the only friend i need” verses,,,makes me think of these two...

5. can i call you tonight? by dayglow i interpret this song to be about trying to figure out what, exactly, your feelings are for this very specific and important person in your life. since jotaro and kakyoin r both repressed and also suckers of internalized homophobia, i think they fit that theme very well. particularly with the whole “i feel like we’re close, but maybe we’re not actually? what are we?” theme going on in the lyrics, this whole song makes me think of jotaro and kakyoin figuring out their intense and sudden (cause again only 50 days but also, those 50 days had So Much going on) feelings for each other. also the “now i’m no longer alone” line in the chorus HHHHHHH that’s them

6. la la la love song by toshinobu kubota ft naomi campbell SO I KNOW THIS SONG IS KINDA JUST FLUFF but we need some light-hearted moments in this thing hjgg;. ALSO toshinobu kubota is canonically jotaro’s favorite musician so i wanted to reference that and this was my fav love song of his that i’ve found so far so (: also the “you are my shining star” line,,,heh

7. truce by twenty one pilots so this song is very soft. it’s about tending to wounds and taking a moment before continuing to push on. it makes me think abt jotaro and kakyoin taking care of each other on the journey (for example the lovers arc/n’doul fight). also the whole “stay alive, stay alive for me/you will die, but now your life is free/take pride in what is sure to die” makes me go fucking nuts that is. that fits these two to a T fuck

8. this side of paradise by coyote theory this song has big “two lonely people are in love with each other for the first time” vibes and OHHHHHHHHHH THAT’S JOTAKAK.... there are a lot of little lines that make me specifically think abt these two, such as “love so strong it makes me feel weak” (jotaro-core...), “if you’re lonely come be lonely with me”, “i’ll be yours if you’ll be mine” (wanting some security while ur in love for the first time is common but especially for these two i think it works spectacularly) but yea this song as a whole is just...ohhh them. theyre in lvoe HK;FNJFL

9. i saw you in a dream by the japanese house EVERY. SINGLE. LINE. OF THIS SONG IS POST-EGYPT JOTARO. EVERY SINGLE LINE. and the ghost the singer talks about seeing? they hadnt changed at all? they were such a pretty vision, a perfect hallucination? BRUH... just listen i could do a whole analysis on this song it all just fits jotaro mourning kakyoin throughout the years so so so so well it makes me feel nuts holy shit i just. literally every line. every line fits i am not joking. i cried when i first heard this song LMAO

10. video games by the young professionals SO LMAO obviously kakyoin’s epic gamer moves are being referenced but beyond that i interpret this song to just be the fun parts of being in love esp when ur young (backed up with the “kissing in the blue dark” and the “watching all our friends fall” lines). also the chorus just makes me want to cry cause just, happy jotakak moments PLEASE. “the world was built for two only worth living if somebody is loving you, and baby now you do” THEYRE NOT ALONE ANYMORE THEY FOUDN EACH OTHER IM GONAN WAILLLLLLL oh my god. im nuts theynkjNJKNJF also “i heard that you like the bad girls” please. these two shitty teenagers

11. ikanaide by sohta ft. yuki kaai this song is abt not wanting someone u love to leave u cause youll miss them obviously but also ur scared of how the time will change you and if it’ll make you unrecognizable eventually. big post-egypt jotaro vibes 😔 especially cause one part of the chorus translates to “i shouldnt cry, i shouldnt cry, but the truth is i want to say dont go” and im jus like OHHHHH NO IT’S JOTARO FINDING OUT KAKYOIN DIED jkfnNKJFNJDhkld

12. therefore you and me by eve ALRIGHT. god this song is one hell of a doozy. i interpret this song to mean being sincerely in love but youre in the wrong place/wrong time. considering the uh Whole Situation in part 3 there were definitely better times to fall in love for these two. jotaro and kakyoin try to be happy w the moments they do have (i think the second verse in particular adds to this sentiment what with the selfish ghosts part) but they want a better environment understandably so theyre also just kinda ignoring things until they can properly care for a relationship. but well...who knows if theyll live to make it to that better environment ):

13. mayonaka no door/stay with me by miki matsubara this song is a v sweet sentiment abt like “it’s not just heat of the moment!! i do care about u a lot!!” and asking the person u have feelings for to stick around. big kakyoin and jotaro vibes as it would be easy to call what they have a fling considering how relatively short of a timeframe they had but i genuinely think their relationship was deeper than just that and this song nicely reflects such. “jotaro and i will share a room cause we’re both students” fuckin head ass

14. a thousand years by sting oh sting.... so since sting is kakyoin’s favorite musician canonically i had to add one of his songs here as well but beyond just that i do think this song fits them!! it kinda gives me big “if not in this life, then the next” vibes which is a big uhhh thing for jotakak. they may be doomed to tragedy but the moments they have together make the tragedy worth enduring ironically i feel like this song is mostly from jotaro’s pov considering i dont think he ever completely got over kakyoin and this song def has that kinda sentiment but hey it fits them...

15. mr loverman by ricky montgomery SO FUNNY STORY i actually REALLY. REALLY didnt wanna add this song at first cause i felt it wouldve been...idk too cliche? i guess? and i was ALL kinds of picky when choosing songs for this playlist HOWEVER. eventually i relistened to it and read the lyrics while thinking specifically abt jotakak and it actually rlly does fit quite well KJDFN; another jotaro mourning song ): it’s not just the chorus tho the whole song fits jotaro immediately post-egypt but also i feel like some time around part 4 this sentiment would come back to him cause Yknow. Gays In Morioh and the mess of his family life back in america. it just aches for him cause while he’s happy josuke is happy he wishes he couldve had that for him and kakyoin too but yea jus ... them

16. you by petit biscuit an instrumental?? in a ship playlist?? yes that’s right much like mr loverman i was hesitant to put this song in cause it’s harder to justify since i dont rlly know much abt music (and not to b controversial but interpreting lyrics and interpreting music r two different things) however i really think the vibes of this song fit jotakak. it’s got a somber melody but the keys of the piano are high which im taking to mean “light in the dark” which. jotaro and kakyoin (along w the rest of the crusaders) were each other’s lights in the dark. also the ending samples a conference/lecture talking about space flight and like. star platinum. space symbolism. jotaro. yeah

17. saturn by sleeping at last MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. this song is all about losing someone very close and important to you, but reflecting on the good they brought into your life rather than the pain of losing them. this song also has HEAVY space imagery which stardust crusaders is absolutely chalk fucking full of so also it’s a very philosophical song and considering that jotaro and kakyoin are both Nerds and both got a nice view of the stars/space in the desert with each other, im sure they had conversations similar to the one highlighted in the song. i think it’s a good note to end the playlist on cause kakyoin is dead and jotaro is the survivor but it’s not a mourning song so much as jotaro taking the love he had for kakyoin and pushing forward with it allll th way into part 6

but yeah that’s the tracklist! i might add or take away a song or two but this is mostly it (: hope yall enjoy!

[officialhanayuri]

Fuyu [part four]

Anastasia tiba di puncak bukit rekreasi kira-kira jam 6 pagi. Dia menyalakan pondok gazebo dengan lampu camping selepas membentangkan alas nipis untuk dia mengerjakan ibadah fardhu pagi itu. Selepas memastikan arah kiblatnya, Anastasia mengerjakan sembahyang dua rakaat seperti yang diperintahkan Tuhan. 

20 minit kemudian, Anastasia melakukan regangan kecil menghadap ke arah matahari terbit. Dia melakukan senaman ringkas sehinggalah cahaya menerangi dan mentari mulai keluar daripada celah-celah bukit. Daripada beg sandang, Anastasia mengeluarkan Surface, alat elektronik nipis menyerupai komputer riba yang sentiasa dibawa ke mana-mana.

‘Ana, bila nak balik KL?’ chatbox nya menyala sebaik sahaja Surface dihidupkan. Pesanan daripada Hanis a.k.a boss besar yang ditinggalkan semalam selepas dia mengambil keputusan untuk menutup telefon bimbitnya buat sementara waktu. 

‘Soon’

Setelah memastikan pesanannya dihantar, Anastasia mematikan connection internet yang bersambung dengan wifi percuma di sekitar pekan itu. Tanpa melengahkan masa, jari-jemarinya mengetuk papan kekunci, tenggelam dalam dunia karya yang membawanya berlayar ke alam magis. 

I asked my mother what would happen to me if I woke up tomorrow and learned that the sun was gone. 

Mother said ‘I don’t know’.

I asked her again, 

what would happen to her if she woke up tomorrow and learned I was gone.

Mother said nothing. 

She hasn’t said anything since.

“Mama cakap akak dekat sini,” 

Anastasia menoleh ke kiri. Hani sedang berjalan ke arahnya sambil memeluk mangkuk tingkat yang dibungkus dengan furoshiki; kain balutan yang sering digunakan untuk membalut bento atau apa-apa bungkusan. 

“Selamat pagi, Hani,” Anastasia meletakkan Surface ke atas beg sandang, dia menganjak sedikit memberi ruang kepada Hani untuk duduk di sebelahnya. Namun, anak muda itu tidak menyambut sapaan Anastasia, sebaliknya menghulurkan bungkusan tanpa memandangnya. Memahami karenah Hani yang tidak pandai berinteraksi, Anastasia menyambut huluran itu lalu diletakkan ke tepi. 

“Mari sini,” Anastasia menarik lengan Hani, memaksa remaja itu mengikut langkahnya. Tiba di hujung lembah, pegangan dilepaskan.

“Cuba kamu tengok sana,” Dia menunding jari ke bawah, ke arah pekan kecil yang memberi penghidupan kepada penduduk disini. Walaupun di Fuyu, Anastasia dapat menikmati pemandangan bandar koboi daripada tingkapnya, dikedudukan yang lebih tinggi, dia dapat melihat jauh lagi.  Pekan yang disimbah dengan matahari pagi menjadikan pemandangan daripada atas bukit kelihatan indah sekali.  

"Cantik, bukan?" 

Hampir setiap hari Anastasia akan memulakan harinya diatas bukit rekreasi ini. Awal pagi lagi sewaktu langit masih gelap gelita, dia akan memulakan larian anak, mendaki dan menghabiskan masa dengan menulis sambil melihat keindahan alam sehinggalah sekitar jam 9 pagi. Pondok gazebo yang disiapkan oleh pihak berkuasa umpama studio kerjanya. Meskipun dia tidak menulis cerita baharu mahupun memenuhi dateline, menulis adalah sebahagian daripada hidupnya. Anastasia lebih gemar menulis idea, mengeluarkan apa yang diilhamkan Tuhan dalam catatan-catatan ringkas sebelum disusun menjadi storyboard. Daripada situ, ideanya akan diteliti dan dikembangkan dalam bentuk penceritaan. Kadangkala, dia akan bekerjasama dengan mana-mana editor atau Big Boss Hanis bagi mendapatkan hasil yang baik. Sahabatnya Hanis itu kadangkala ideanya jauh lebih terhadapan, lebih praktikal dan logik, membuatkan Anastasia tidak lokek untuk berkongsi idea awal setiap karyanya. 

Anastasia mencuri pandang ke arah Hani. Remaja awal 20-an itu tidak menunjukkan sebarang reaksi. 

“Jom makan,” Anastasia memusingkan badan, kembali ke pondok tanpa menunggu respon Hani. Ikatan furoshiki dibuka, menyerlahkan mangkuk dua tingkat yang diisi dengan kuih muih tempatan di tingkat pertama. Tingkat bawahnya terdapat bubur pulut hitam yang masih suam. 

“Hani!” Anastasia memanggil Hani sambil melambai tangannya. Perlahan-lahan Hani mendekatinya. 

“Duduklah,” umpama penukul dan pahat, satu-satu Hani menuruti perintah Anastasia. Mulutnya masih berat untuk bercakap. Selepas memasukkan sepotong kuih cara berlauk ke dalam mulut, Anastasia memulakan perbualan. 

“Hani gaduh dengan Ayah?” 

Berkocak seketika raut wajah Hani. Lambat-lambat dia mengangguk. 

“Mana...Kak Ana tahu?” dengan suara yang rendah, Hani bertanya. Anastasia automatik mengangkat kening sebelahnya tanpa sedar. Inilah kali pertama, dia mendengar Hani memanggilnya Kak Ana. Selama dua bulan di Fuyu, Hani tidak pernah menyapanya malah tidak pernah menyebut namanya. 

“Hmm… akak teka?” Walhal sebenarnya dia tanpa sengaja terdengar perbualan yang tegang antara Ayah dan Hani beberapa malam yang lepas sewaktu hendak membasuh baju di ruang laundry berhampiran laman belakang.  Anastasia menolak mangkuk kuih ke arah Hani. 

“Makan,” Arahannya dipatuhi lagi. Anastasia menyambung syarahannya. 

“Dulu pun akak pernah bergaduh dengan ayah juga. Fasal belajar, masa depan dan kerjaya. On one side, rasa menyesal sebab tak dengar cakap ayah. Tapi dalam sisi yang lain, I am glad I voice out my feelings and thoughts. Jadi, Hani tak perlu rasa sedih. Nanti dah reda, minta maaflah dengan ayah. Cuma jangan pernah rasa Hani sentiasa salah. Menyuarakan pendapat tak salah pun,” 

“Ayah kata saya patut belajar kursus yang membolehkan saya inherit Fuyu suatu hari nanti. Tapi…,” Hani menggigit bibir bawahnya. 

“Tapi saya bukan macam Mama atau Ayah. Saya juga bukan macam Abang Noah. Saya tak pandai nak bermesra dengan orang luar. Saya tak suka jumpa orang yang saya tak kenal,” Hani meluahkan apa yang terbuku dihati. 

Noah?

Anastasi merasa aneh apabila nama itu dipetik Hani, namun bukan itu yang menarik perhatiannya. 

“Hani nak sambung study apa?” Meskipun Hani sudah masuk 20 tahun, dia baru sahaja menduduki peperiksaan SPM tahun lalu. Kelewatan pendaftaran sekolah semasa kecilnya membuatkan dia ketinggalan beberapa tahun di belakang.

“Saya nak jadi barista. Hani nak kedai kopi sendiri,” balas Hani tanpa teragak-agak. Anastasia menganggukkan kepalanya beberapa kali. 

“Mama kata apa?” 

Hani tidak menjawab pertanyaan itu dengan lisan, dia hanya menggelengkan kepala tanda Mama tidak bercakap apa-apa mengenai perkara yang dibangkitkan olehnya.

"Nak dengar cerita akak?" Buat masa ini Anastasia kehilangan idea untuk menenangkan Hani. Situasi dan gelora jiwa yang dihadapi Hani tidak jauh bezanya dengan yang dia alami hampir 10 tahun lalu.

"Masa akak buat keputusan untuk belajar dekat Malaysia, ayah akak bagi dua pilihan. Boleh belajar di Malaysia tapi dengan pilihan kursus yang ayah tetapkan. Ayah akan sponsor study akak untuk pilihan nombor satu. Pilihan kedua, masih boleh belajar di Malaysia, dan jika memilih kursus yang lain daripada yang ayah nak, ayah tak akan sponsor akak lagi. Kalau akak memilih pilihan yang kedua, maksudnya akak terpaksa self sustaint atau dapatkan biasiswa,"

"Jadi akak pilih yang mana?" sampuk Hani.

"Pertama. Dan kemudian kedua," ujar Anastasia.  

"Maksud akak?" Hani sudah berhenti menyuap kuih lepat pisang. 

"Akak habiskan 2 tahun pertama dengan saving duit yang ayah bagi dan buat part time sebagai persediaan untuk buat pilihan kedua. Orang kata akak membazir masa dan usaha. Walaupun akak punya planning untuk exit dalam 2 tahun, akak tetap belajar dan lulus semua subjek. Akak juga sudah mula menulis artikel dan novel dalam 2 tahun pertama di universiti," 

"Kenapa akak tidak setuju dengan kursus pilihan ayah? Akak ambil apa mula-mula?" Soal Hani.

"Medic," Sungguh Anastasia rasa jika masa dapat diputar semula, dia akan berusaha untuk lari daripada jatuh ke dalam lubang yang sama.

“Medic?” hampir tidak percaya Hani dibuatnya. 

“Hmm. Medic. Kelakar, bukan? Akak tak minat. Akak tidak dilahirkan untuk jadi doktor. Menyelamatkan nyawa manusia bukan kerjaya idaman akak,” 

Mother said I have old eyes.

“No mother, my soul is old. My eyes aren’t” or so I supposed. 

“Akak nak jadi journalist. My dream was to travel and write articles. Going from places to places, mingling with natives, experiencing new things.  Funny was, akak stuck dekat studio for years,” Anastasia menghabiskan ayatnya dengan nada sesalan dihujung. Mungkin sukar untuk pembaca gambarkan realiti kehidupan sebenar Anton. Buku-bukunya sarat dengan perjalanan hidup, berlatar belakangkan sesebuah lokaliti yang berbeza, sentiasa dalam ‘pace’ turun naik sesebuah kehidupan. Namun, hidupnya sebagai Anastasia hanyalah berkisarkan studio, kedai kopi di bawah apartment, dan pasaraya seberang jalan. Dalam lingkungan 1 kilometer radius, Anastasia menjadi Anton, penulis fantasi yang kini diambang kejatuhan. 

“Sebab itu ke Kak Ana lari ke sini?” 

Anastasia mengangguk. 

“Akak tinggal sendirian hampir 10 tahun. Kadangkala, akak lupa apa perasaan duduk bersama keluarga. Apa perasaan bila ada yang menyapa dengan ucapan ‘selamat pagi’, apa perasaan bila ada yang bertanya ‘awak okay?’, apa perasaan bila akak pulang dan ada makanan diatas meja. Akak lupa semua itu atas keghairahan akak menjadi penulis. Akak lari daripada keluarga bagi memenuhi kehendak akak. But deep inside my heart, I know I’m longing for a family,”

“Kalau macam tu, kenapa Kak Ana tak balik Russia?” Soalan daripada Hani sukar untuk dijawab. Anastasia menghela nafasnya yang terasa berat menekan dada. 

“Because they won’t be there anymore,” Anastasia menurunkan nada suaranya. 

“Mak...mak..sud Kak Ana?” teragak-agak Hani menuturkan, dalam kepala sudah terbentang pelbagai andaian. 

“Masih ingat insiden kehilangan pesawat penerbangan 6 tahun lepas?” Anastasia bakal membuka luka masa silam yang masih berbekas dalam hatinya. 

“Hmm,” Hani mengangguk. Masakan dia lupa, seluruh dunia bercakap mengenainya. 

“My family were among them,” Anastasia mengetap bibir bawahnya, menahan diri daripada berlebih-lebih dalam beremosi. 

“Sorry Kak Ana..I’m sorry,” pantas Hani memohon ampun kepadanya kerana bertanya. Anastasia menggosok kepala Hani perlahan.

“No Hani. it's ok,” 

I woke up the next morning, want nothing but answer

“If I were gone, what would happen to mother"

I walk from room to room, from kitchen to porch,

She was nowhere to be found. 

"Tiada siapa tahu sama ada mereka masih hidup atau tidak. Hanya Tuhan sahaja yang tahu," 

"Kak Ana harapkan yang mana?" 

"Sebagai manusia biasa, of course akak harapkan mereka masih hidup. Selagi mana tiada bukti yang kukuh, akak mahu percaya mereka masih hidup. But Hani, hope can be a cruel thing. On one side, it keeps us living. But on the other side, it stops me from moving forward. Akak pun tak tahu berapa lama manusia sepatutnya berpegang kepada harapan sebelum harapan memusnahkan kehidupan. Jadi Hani, bila ada masa, bincanglah semula dengan mama dan ayah. Kita tidak tahu masa hadapan. Sekurang-kurangnya buatlah pilihan yang nanti awak tidak akan menyesalinya,"

"Adakah Kak Ana menyesal tak ikut kata ayah?" 

"If I could turn back time and choose.. I'll still choose to be a writer. Cuma, akak akan pastikan ayah faham pilihan akak bukan bermaksud akak berpaling daripada ayah. Tetapi, meraikan perbezaan pendapat bahawa bersetuju untuk tidak bersetuju juga merupakan satu pilihan yang baik. Bukan memudharatkan," jelas Anastasia. 

 'what if' dan 'kalau' tidak seharusnya bertapak di dunia. Berharap kepada sesuatu yang telah luput hanya akan mengurung diri dalam relung masa lampau yang merugikan.

"Baik. Balik ni, saya akan berbincang semula dengan ayah," Hani akhirnya mencapai kata setuju untuk bersemuka dengan ayah angkatnya.

"Good girl," sekali lagi Anastasia mengusap kepala Hani.

"Oh ya.. by the way.. kenapa Hani sebut nama Noah eh tadi?" 

"Abang Noah? Ohh.. Abang Noah anak saudara Mama dan Ayah. Atau dengan kata lain sepupu angkat saya,"

"Huh?" Anastasia melopong. 

"Kak Ana tidak tahu?" 

Masakan dia tahu, Adam dan Yulia tidak pernah bercerita tentang perkara itu. 

"Apa lagi yang akak tidak tahu?" Anastasia tiba-tiba sahaja berminat untuk tahu lebih lanjut mengenai Noah.

"Abang Noah adalah pewaris tunggal kepada kilang ubat di hujung sana?" 

Kali ini Anastasia hanya mampu terkebil-kebil tanpa suara. 

End of part 4.

[jjba-arni-reblog]

Games and chill

[The last raffle work for @triggs-jpg. This one is streamer/youtuber AU with multiple small stories of you and your group trying different games. Implied Kakyoin/reader relationship. I wrote for a variety of  games I know and played myself.Thank you]

Pairing: Kakyoin/reader.

Time: wholesome AU(?), present times, ages not specified.

Words: ~ 3.1K

[Uno]

The idea to play Uno was going to be either a blessing or a curse. But it was an idea nonetheless and you and Noriaki asked Jotaro, Polnareff and even Dio if they want to participate in a video. Polnareff eagerly accepted the offer, asking if he needs anything to buy for the small ‘party’ you were to have. Jean even asked if he could bring Iggy to the party. Even if the dog wasn’t the friendliest one, he was sure eager to get free food from your group. He knew that you and Kakyoin would be the ones to spoil him. Jotaro was reluctant at first, not quiet used to being recorded but upon hearing that Dio himself accepted the offer, the man became interested in annoying Brando. Dio Brando himself accepted rather quickly, mostly to advertise himself as well as hopefully annoy Kujo.

And so your group placed different snacks on the big table, getting comfortable for the first round of Uno. The rules allowed to pretty much ‘spam’ anyone with cards, whether based on color or number. After eating all the cola flavoured gum since Polnareff forgot to hide it well enough, Iggy decided to sleep next to you, not quick eager to disturb the game today.

~

“Another 4” you said, choosing a card to place down, quickly starting to annoy Jotaro who was the one to receive it. You could only evilly chuckle as the man was so close to winning, only to lose his chance right away.

“And another” Kakyoin suddenly joined in, adding to the annoyance of Kujo.

“Okay, you can stop now” Jotaro said, hoping to not provoke any more actions from you two. At this point, he had 10 cards already. And before that he had 2 cards, hoping to win.

“And here is more” Pol put the nail in the coffin, laughing as more cards appeared in Jotaro’s ‘hand’

“What the fuck are you doing?” the latter spoke angrily as your group laughed.

“Winning, unlike you” Dio answered proudly while looking at his cards. He only had 2 left and the man was pretty confident.

As Dio was approaching victory rather quickly, he became more relaxed. Trying to get rid of the one of the two remaining cards, he was quickly shut down by Jotaro, whose hand represented a fan due to how many cards did he have. At least he would have fun this way.

“Un-“  Brando was about to say.

“I don’t think so, bitch” Jotaro cut him off as the blonde scoffed at him, getting two cards from the desk.

“We’ll see about that” Dio glanced at him, smirking a little at the clear contrast between them.

At the end, Polnareff won the match. Kujo was fine with that, as long as it wasn’t Dio it was alright.  

~

“Okay, new game, new rules. Whoever will win will decide on the dinner” Kakyoin announced, getting comfortable near you. Polnareff went to get a drink, urging you four to play without him. Iggy, hearing the footsteps towards the kitchen, quickly woke up in hopes to get a treat from Jean.

“Also, check if the camera is recording” You told Jean, hearing the man mumble the answer. Jotaro was quick to glance at you, as if an unspoken plan appeared in your minds. You quickly nodded, understanding what the man had meant, silently agreeing with it.

“It’s recording” Jean notified the group, now sitting on the couch with his drink, watching over you four.

“Skip” you said, placing the card to annoy Dio who sat next to you. You felt Kakyoin nudge your shoulder, praising your actions and smiling widely.

Next was Jotaro’s turn. The man placed the same type of card, only in a different color, his face without emotions.

“Same” he simply said, not commenting on the surprised gasp that Kakyoin let out. He wasn’t expecting such betrayal from his friend.

“Again” you put another ‘skip’ card, making Dio growl irritated at another lost chance for him.

“Another” Jotaro continue, placing one more ‘skip’ card. At this point, Dio and Kakyoin started to worry about their chances of winning.

“Since when you two work together to be a pain in the ass?” Dio asked, glancing at you two. Noriaki could only nod, not quite on the same aggressive level as Brando.

“Since you announced the that the winner will decide what to eat” you answered, looking over your cards, hoping to win at the end.

“I am tired of cherries and wine for dinner” Kujo rolled his eyes as you chuckled at his typical straight forwardness.

“Hey” Kakyoin objected, then turning his eyes towards you “can’t believe I have been betrayed by you of all people” he said dramatically clutching his chest.

“Well, no mercy” you winked, getting comfortable, hoping to eat something different for once. As long as you and Jotaro worked together. Polnareff was equally as interested in the game, watching as the tension got stronger around you four. He was having fun, watching as you tried to outsmart each other. Iggy joined him, getting ready for another nap.

Somehow, you and Jotaro managed to win, gaining yourself a healthy meal for once. Kakyoin, still ordered himself a cherry desert, teasing you about not sharing. Another evening well-spent.

~

[Minecraft]

Playing something as relaxing and nostalgic has been on your mind for a while. It is nice to have a gaming series where you can just all relax and have fun. Minecraft was a nice start for that. Kakyoin himself was quite eager to delve back into the known game, messaging your group, asking if they want to play with you two. And so the group reunited once again.

Surprisingly, Dio knew how to play it. He reluctantly admitted to playing the game with Jonathan when he was younger, even if the primal reason for it was to purely annoy Joestar kid.

You had to explain Pol and Jotaro how to play, while Kakyoin was getting the first resources. Dio was complaining as usual. It took you five a while to get situated, choosing a nice and cosy place in the woods. Dio insisted on building a big mansion. By ‘insisted’ he meant that ‘someone should build it and he, Dio Brando, will decorate it with his fine and precise sense of style’. Kakyoin then told him that dirt house would accompany Brando just as well, earning couple of swears from the blonde.

~

As time went on, the five of you established a nice and somewhat big place, each one of you having your own rooms. Jean got himself a dog, after hearing that you could turn some animals into pets. Jotaro was enjoying the soundtrack, mostly killing mobs and travelling whenever he wished. Brando was pretty much useless after getting the mansion built, instead now focusing on the décor of the house, pretty much making it a banana house using bright colors. Overall, it was a nice experience for your group

~

One evening, while everyone was off, Dio was playing on the server. Suddenly he had a random idea to push Jean’s dog a little bit closer to the open fire. Not really expecting it to actually burn, Dio ended up killing the dog by pushing it into the fire.

“Damn, this feels awfully familiar…” Dio mumbled to himself, not quite sure what was it that made is so particularly familiar. After realizing what he has done, the blonde was quick to place a sign on the wall next to the open fire.

Killed your dog, lol -   Dio xoxo

Later Jean destroyed his room, making Dio rage quit playing Minecraft for a week.

~

“Would you like to befriend a cat” You asked Dio next week, after he returned to the server. The man was facing the multiple cats scattered across the village.

“I am not a cat person” Brando answered, scoffing at your suggestion. Nothing unusual.

“You are nobody’s person to be fair” you rolled your eyes.

“Alright, go to hell” Dio replied, earning a snarky laugh from you. How typical of him.

“Okay, how do I make the cat my friend?” Polnareff suddenly asked, after hearing the delightful information from you. Hopefully, this pet will survive.

~

“There are also dolphins, turtles, coral reefs and tropical fishes by the way” Kakyoin mentioned to the group but most importantly to Jojo. He tried not to show any reaction.

“Whatever” Jotaro answered. However, you knew better.

After a couple of minutes, you heard Kujo speak again.

“So where are they?”

~

“Hey, Dio, I decorated your room a little, hope you will like it” Kakyoin casually mentioned, making you look at his screen. He winked, noticing the mischievous look you had. You were absolutely loving his idea.

“Don’t you dare pull off something or I will end you, Kakyoin” Dio said, not quite liking the tone he had. He decided to check it out later as he wasn’t playing for now.

Later when Dio arrived at his ‘mansion’, he opened the door, seeing a small flag on the wall together with a sign that said:

‘Don’t ever forget your origins’ - Kak

Seeing the flag, Dio found himself greatly annoyed. It was a flag of Scotland after all.

Brando was quick to open up Discord the type in ‘I am not from Scotland, you moron’, earning quite the reaction from the two of you. It was worth it.

~

Today, Brando seemed to be in a good mood, which made your group question what caused such effect on the usual annoyed Dio. But good Brando was the key to a good stream and communication. That is, until Jotaro noticed blonde being quite cocky.

“Hey, Dio” Jotaro’s tired voice called for the blonde as the group was in the voice chat. You and Kakyoin didn’t pay much attention to the conversation, instead checking if the recording program worked as well as the game.

“What?” the man answered, already feeling himself getting annoyed just from listening to Kujo’s voice

“You got mfat?” Jotaro asked emotionlessly as you and Kak suddenly stopped chatting. You knew where this was going, and you couldn’t get more excited.

“What?” Dio became more annoyed. Everyone else was suspiciously silent “What is mfat?” he asked, half-confused, half-tired of Jotaro’s shit.

“My fat dick in your mouth” the man answered, making the group burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe you felt for that, Brando” you said, laughing together with Noriaki.

“Fuck off, Kujo, go fuck yourself” Dio angrily answered, almost yelling.

~

[Hatoful boyfriend]

Today, you had something different planned. You were supposed to stream with Kakyoin for a while, however you decided to start a little bit earlier to try a new game. Today, you decided to stream a dating sim game. A bird dating game. Hatoful boyfriend. You checked if the equipment properly worked, then greeting the audience and introducing the plan for the next video. At first, you were amused and laughed everything off, joking about the dialogue lines and interactions as the chat noted the weird vibe the game was giving off. However, later, you felt yourself being immersed in the gameplay that Hatoful Boyfriend had to offer. The chat was as equally interested, commenting both ironically and unironically about the ‘hotness’ of each bird.

You were enjoying yourself, when you heard a door being open as the voice called for you.

“Did you see-” Kakyoin stopped in his tracks, noticing the equipment “Ah, shit, sorry” he was quick to apologize, then noticing your pc screen.

“What are you doing?” he approached you, looking at the screen with a puffy bird on it. He sat down next to you to fully absorb the image before him, baffled at the weird choice of a game.

“Well…” you chuckled, not even trying to explain yourself. You could the chat being as equally interested in Kakyoin’s reaction as you were.

“Am I not enough?” he suddenly dramatically asked, hiding his face behind a hand and striking the most bizarre and dramatic poses of them all while leaning back on the chair.

“Are you a bird?” you decided to tease Noriaki, raising an eyebrow at his question.

“No?” he was confused of what to say to this, chuckling confusedly.

“You just answered your own question” you simply answered, turning back to your lovely bird boyfriends, while Kakyoin stared at you for a couple of seconds.

“Wait a minute”

The chat was full of ‘F’s to show respect to the fallen soldier who lost against birds.

~

[Cuphead]

Your group was up for a challenge. You decided to try out Cuphead. Seeing the lovely artstyle and hoping that the game might spice up the recording/stream, you were eager to try it out. After multiple hours of practice, you felt yourself getting better at the game. Kakyoin was also catching up pretty quick, asking when weapons do you use for certain bosses.

“You can use parry to get it quicker” you explained to him.

“Ah, alright, got it” Noriaki smiled at you, hugging you closer as you two relaxed together. You still had couple of hours before the stream, so you decided to make the best out of it. While streaming was fun, occasional quiet hour was equally as important. You two simply lied down, talking about preparations and everything that came to mind. You felt him nuzzle your neck as he hugged you closer.

“Don’t fall asleep on me here, Nori” You brushed your hands through his soft locks.

“Then just wake me up before the stream” he half mumbled.

“Are you going to complain afterwards?”

“Yes, but I will wake up” Kakyoin answered back, chuckling a little.

After couple of minutes, you decided to speak. It seems like Kakyoin wasn’t going to sleep anyways.

“5 dollars on Dio rage quitting the game”

“10 if he will break something afterwards” Kakyoin answered back, excited by the idea of seeing someone get angry.

“Deal” you two shook hands while giggling. It was always fun to bet on stuff like that.

~

Dio wasn’t very good at the game, to say the least. The man didn’t have patience, always trying to rush forwards and eventually dying without reaching the end or killing the boss. Somehow he managed to beat the first world, proclaiming that he is getting ‘so much better’. The next boss he chose whoever, was getting on his nerves.

“Fuck this piece of shit clown” Dio growled, getting fed up with endless dying,

“That’s quite the self-love here” you answered back, hearing Polnareff and Kakyoin laugh.

“Shut up” Brando could only curse at you, replaying the level once again.

~

Jotaro being Jotaro, didn’t really get the excitement and panic over playing Cuphead, instead he was grumpy at the endless amounts of swears from dying.

“Why bother with the game if you lose so much anyway” he asked.

“That’s what games are for, Jotaro” You explained to him, not really wanting to waste your time to prove him wrong.

“Go try it yourself, Kujo” Kakyoin said “show us the results later” he teased the man, knowing that Kujo would eventually try the game.

“Will do” Jotaro answered, not bothering to continue watching

~

About two days later, you get a message in the group chat.

‘I broke my screen’ Kujo wrote. It was followed by multiple ‘lmao’s from you and Kakyoin, because of course he did.

‘You WHAT?’ came the message from Pol.

‘I broke it, alright, now stop asking’

After that, Kujo had to endure a week of teasing from your group, once again establishing himself as an ‘angsty’ man…together with Dio that is.

~

[Nekojishi]

“Hey, Nori, what are you doing there?” you asked, opening the door to see what he was up to.

“Ah, just playing a small novel game” Noriaki explained, hoping that you won’t be interested in further inspection of the said game. However, seeing the chat being exited you had your doubts.  Deciding against prying and finding out for now, you left the man alone.

That was the part of the plan. As you waited for Kakyoin to go grab himself water, you quickly entered the room once again, greeting the audience and reading the text that was on the screen, so far it seemed like a normal game. The aspects of the talks were mostly about sacred placed, which made you slightly confused. That is, until you found one of the characters, just as Kakyoin returned with his drink.

“Hey, oh…” he stopped, standing still as you eyed the screen.

“Kakyoin” your tone was serious.

“Yes?”

“Why is there a buffed tiger?” you turned towards him, chuckling at the confused look he had.  This wasn’t what you had expected.

“Well, first of all, guardian tiger” he corrected you out of nowhere, now approaching and sitting next to you “second, Lin Hu and third, I am trying to take his route and get the ending” Noriaki finished.

“So I guess you are a cat person, huh?” you asked, turning towards the tiger to take a good look once again.

“Well, certainly not a bird person” Kak commented back as you two laughed.

“Alright, you got me there. Go have fun with your tiger” you rolled your eyes a little, standing up to brush Kakyoin’s hair affectionately before taking your leave.

Seeing the chat enjoying the interaction you two had, Kakyoin couldn’t help but to note.

“Okay, I am not VERY into this game of course” he tried to find a small excuse for himself “but there is something about this guardian tiger…” He mumbled to himself, eyeing the buffed catman before him.

The chat quickly typed multiple Fs for your defeat against the buff tiger.

~

[Broforce]

Having the game named Broforce, you just had to engage in the whole ‘bro’ atmosphere to fully experience the game. So you and Kakyoin joined the voice channel, getting ready to play this indie game and checking the equipment. You decided to record this let’s play instead of streaming.  Jotaro and Jean had other plans today and Dio was nowhere to be seen. You two decided to join the group voice channel, not really expecting anyone to appear. Rushing through the game, you didn’t notice that Dio joined the voice channel. Not until he asked you about the next stream. You two decided to joke a little to slightly annoy Brando.

“Bro, I got you” you said with a deep voice, killing the enemy that almost shot Kakyoin.

“Thank you, Bro” he answered back, mimicking your low voice.

“Bro, no problem”

“Appreciate it, bro”

“Can you shut the fuck up with your bro shit?” Dio suddenly spoke up, annoyed at the whole ‘bro’ act you two pulled off.

“Damn, chill bro” you said back, earning a chuckle from Kakyoin.

Dio could only growl, exiting the voice channel in hopes of not hearing any more of that. Not today.

[hopeaterart]

I’m gonna be there Chapter 10

Joot and Kak vs Rubber Soul

(WARNING: Rubber Soul, at some point, uses a language that implies Kakyoin and Dio were an item back when Kakyoin was under Dio’s control. I’m gonna say now it wasn’t the case, but still. If you’re sensible to that kind of stuff, be careful while reading.)

Noriaki blinked, shocked at the sudden accusation. He then frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Her- their eyes are too dark,” Jotaro started, “they’re too tall, their voice is too deep and flat, their mouth is too wide, and my mom isn’t a passive-aggressive bitch.”

Noriaki slowly nodded, taking a hold of Jotaro’s hand that wasn’t busy with his iced coffee. “Come on, Jotaro-kun. We don’t want to keep Seiko-san waiting.” As they started walking behind ‘Holly’, their voice switched to a whisper, not letting the imposter hear them. “Maybe she’s just in a bad mood?” The redhead proposed.

Jotaro just shook his head. “Mom in a bad mood looks like when she was fighting Polnareff.”

“... so when your mother gets mad, she starts acting like you? Or is it the other way around?”

“What?”

“Did you base your entire delinquent persona on your mother when she’s mad, Jotaro Kujo?” Noriaki asked, looking genuinely curious.

The taller teen spluttered, his cheeks reddening. “N- not all of it-” he got out as Kakyoin snorted, but the quickly calmed down as ‘Holly’ turned toward them.

“Well? Why’re you boys dragging around for?” The imposter asked, and Noriaki heard Jotaro’s teeth gritting more than he saw them.

He waved his hand dismissively, putting on his best attempt at a smile. Time for a test. “Don’t worry, Holly-san. Just talking about school stuff.” ‘Holly’ rolled their eyes and shrugged, resuming their walk as Noriaki nodded to himself.

Holly had insisted for the redhead to call her Seiko, at least in public.

“See?” Jotaro hissed. “Not mom. What are we supposed to do?”

“On one side, we could leave and go find Seiko-san.” Noriaki mentioned. “It’s very likely something happened to her.” Jotaro’s face twitched with worry at the mention of anything bad happening to his mother. “On the other one, this person is likely to have been sent by Dio. If we take care of them now, we can go find your mother without worrying about being found.”

“What if they have someone else helping them?” Jotaro asked.

Noriaki shook his head. “Unlikely, Stand Users attract each other, but there’s a reason most of them decide to go live in isolation. Most of the time, being a Stand User correlates heavily with being a world-hating jackass.”

“Oh.” The taller teen seemed to think for a moment. “Can you punch them first? I don’t feel comfortable punching someone who looks so much like my mom.”

“Oh, I can do much better than punching.” Noriaki assured Jotaro with a smile that would be too wide on anyone’s else face, but fit just right on his. “Can you hold my icecream?” As the taller teenager did so, he took a few step backs, propped himself to take a running start, called out Holly’s name, yelled ‘wanna see me do a flip?’, and cartwheeled himself, using the momentum to launch himself to kick them in their face. 

He heard their face crack and felt his foot sink into it, quickly jumping off and landing on the floor in a low crouch. ‘Holly’ turned toward him, their face deformed and eyes glowing a sickening yellow. “What was that for, you little shit stain!?” They yelled, their deformed voice clearly not Holly’s.

Noriaki got back up as Jotaro came near, fury barely concealed on his face. “Knew it.” The taller teen muttered.

“You need to work on your acting skills.” The redhead told the imposter. “Jotaro-kun knew the moment he took a look at you. And you didn’t get your facts about Seiko-san straight.”

“Who the fuck is Seiko!?”

“My point exactly.” Noriaki nodded to himself.

“The point is,” Jotaro hissed as he moved to stand next to the redhead. “we know you’re not mom, the jig is up!”

“Oh, really? In this case...” ‘Holly’ started, their face gradually starting to melt before melting off in yellow goo, their whole body going with it and revealing a man that was naked from the waist up. “No need to hide my beautiful face anymore!”

“... so. When is disguise coming off?” Kakyoin asked with a raised eyebrow, and had the situation been any less dire Jotaro was pretty sure he would’ve laughed.

“If I was you, I’d be more scared of my Yellow Temperance.” The man sneered, before pointing down at Noriaki’s foot. The same yellow goo that was surrounding him was slowly creeping up his shoe, the redhead frowning. “It’s going to slowly eat you. Do you understand that? And if you try to get it off, it’ll just spread faster-”

“You do realize I can simply take my shoe off, yes?” Noriaki asked, raising an eyebrow as he started kicking his shoe off. “Demonstration:” The redhead then back flipped, his shoe flying off and hitting the enemy straight in the face. He yelled, clutching his nose and groaning as the teenager turned toward, flipping his hair out of his face and grinning.

“You think you’re so smart, uh!?”

“I mean, you’re the one getting his ass beat by a skinny teenager right now.” Jotaro sneered. “Seriously, Kakyoin-kun’s light enough for me to throw him around. Literally.”

“It’s not our fault you’re an idiot.” Noriaki sing-songed, his smile wide and mocking. The smile left his face as their enemy started laughing lowly, slowly morphing into something higher pitched. “What’s so funny?”

“No, no, it’s just funny that you of all people think you’re hot shit.” The man sneered. “With all the stuff Dio did to you, I would’ve thought you’d be more spineless.”

“... What are you talking about?...” Noriaki asked in a shaky voice, feeling a dull throb start in his head. Worry started pooling into his chest. 

“I mean... you always did do everything he asked you to.”  The man started, sending a leery look at the redhead. “I’m sure you enjoyed how he treated you.”

“It’s not- I had a fleshbud in my head!” Noriaki snapped. “I wasn’t in control of my actions!”

“Still, Dio seemed pretty attached to his little toy. He wants someone to bring you back to him.” Ice ran through Noriaki veins as the man started bragging about how Dio was going to reward him, memories of sickly sweet words being whispered into his ears and sharp pain he did not ask for erupting into his mind.

He started breathing heavily, not noticing the person next to him leaning down.

“Kakyoin-kun?” Noriaki snapped his head toward Jotaro, who seemed worried at the look of panic written all over the other’s face. “Are you... okay?”

“I... I don’t know.” The redhead admitted, averting his gaze and doing his best to ignore their enemy's laughter.

Jotaro turned toward the man, anger starting to take a forefront at his mind. He handed Noriaki their snacks from earlier. “Hold this.” He then started walking toward their opponent.

Said opponent just laughed. “What? Don’t you think it’s a little too late to defend the sl-”

[ORA!]

“ACK!” Noriaki blinked in surprise. Jotaro had called out his Stand, the purple spirit punching the shapeshifter in the throat with a furious look on his face, who was now coughing and taking a step back, part of his Stand having faded away.

“Look.” The teenager started, his hands coming out of his pockets to crack his knuckles. “No one is ever going to say that Jotaro Kujo is a nice person. When I get into a fight, I tend to overdo it and send everyone in emergency. I didn’t like a teacher, so I made sure he would never walk again. I often don’t pay when I go at restaurants. And you’re just a guy doing his job.” One of his hand came up behind his neck. “The thing is, I’m just serving justice when no one else will. I never throw the first punch. The teacher was harassing girls at my school. The restaurant’s food is lousy. And you’re trying to kill us.”

“Wh- what’s your point, shithe-”

[ORA!] Noriaki nearly snorted as Jotaro’s Stand punched it’s opponent in the throat again.

“Don’t. Interrupt. Me.” Jotaro hissed, bending down so he was at eye level with the guy. “It’s rude. And you’ve talked my ears off about how this Dio guy took advantage of Kakyoin-kun, so you’re gonna deal with me talking about justice. And unlike you, I have a point to make. Evil,” the teen pointed his finger for empashis. “is when you use the weak for your own gain. And good is when you punish evil, yes? Let’s just say that me not being nice won’t prevent me from being good.”

“You- did you really just- why did you give me such a long-winded speech!?”

“To make you understand just how badly you and Dio fucked up.” Jotaro said, standing back to his full height and looming. “Had you kept your mouth shut, I wouldn’t have gotten involved in this fight. And had Dio not decided to go after my family, we would’ve never heard about him. Do you understand? You opening your damn mouth is the final nail in Dio’s coffin, aka the one my family’s gonna bury him in. And as for you...” 

Earlier, during his discussion with Noriaki, Jotaro had smiled for the first time in a long while, happy at having found someone who understood him.

Now, he was smiling again, his teeth showing in a display that looked more like he was barring them. 

“I’m gonna enjoy bringing justice down on you.”

[ORA! ORA! ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!] Jotaro’s Stand bellowed out, Noriaki watching in amazement as the shapeshifter was pummeled to a paste. [ORA!!!]

Their enemy then flew onto the lower floor, landing into a fountain just as Holly came into view. The blonde woman blinked, looking at the man in the fountain, before turning her head up and looking at the two teenagers. “Boys, what’s going on, here?”

“Don’t worry, Seiko-san.” Noriaki yelled from his point, giving his iced coffee back to Jotaro. “It’s just an enemy Stand User with shape shifting abilities. He pretended to be you!”

“Oh!” Holly exclaimed as vines started wrapping around of her legs, moving to stand close to the defeated. “In this case.” She then kicked him the crotch and electrified him with Hamon, making him cry out, before calling down the two teenagers. “Are you two finished with your shopping? I’m gonna go load the groceries in the car.”

“Coming, mom.” Jotaro yelled, before turning toward Noriaki and taking his hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

The redhead nodded, following the taller teenager as they made their way down, finishing his ice cream. “Jotaro-kun?”

“Yeah, what?”

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re very nice.”

“... Thanks.”

[southeastasianists]

The remaining families are holdouts who refused a November 2014 offer from the authorities whereby they could keep 10 percent of their landholdings if they let OCIC take 40 percent and let Phnom Penh City Hall take the other half.

Such an offer is unfair to families who settled on the once-undesirable land as far back as shortly after the Khmer Rouge’s 1979 fall, said 62-year-old Chea Sophat, a community representative who had 4,000-square-meters seized in 2010.

Approximately 1,300 families had lived on the 387 hectares of land granted to OCIC in a 99-year concession in 2011, with the majority settling on their land in the decade of resettlements following the Cambodian civil war’s end in 1991.

Sophat said the land from holdouts refusing to give up their prime real estate to OCIC, which notably also developed Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich island after forcing out its local residents, fell alongside the Tonle Sap River and National Road 6A.

“The villagers do not agree to receive back 10 percent of the land offered by City Hall. That is an injustice,” Sophat said. “My land was 4,000 square meters, so if I accept 10 percent, it means I’d receive 400 square meters, which is very small.”

“If the law stipulates something like this, I cannot accept it,” he added, noting the residents had multiple government-issued documents proving their ownership of the land since the 1980s, when private holding of land started to be recognized.

“I will still demand my land back,” he said.

Sophat said a reasonable offer — for example, the families keeping 50 percent — might be accepted. But he said City Hall and OCIC had refused to negotiate.

In fact, City Hall and OCIC have bothered little with the protests from holdouts.

On May 27, Chroy Changva district authorities carried out what they termed “administrative measures” and completely bulldozed the fencing and longtime home of husband-and-wife Bos Chamroeun and Hol Savoeun, whose property lies alongside National Road 6 in the district’s Prek Lieb commune.

Unfortunately for the couple, their property fell within the limits of OCIC’s satellite city development zone. They said they had not accepted the offer to vacate the land that had been earmarked by the developers as part of a road extension.

Savoeun said she and her husband steadfastly refused to give up 90 percent of their land, terming it clearly “unfair compensation.” She said they had first bought a small parcel of land with the appropriate ownership documents in 1994 and then bought neighboring land to expand their holding to 2,300 square meters.

However, knowing the political connections of OCIC and Pung Khieu Se — a Canadian-Cambodian who was one of the first overseas Cambodians to return to the country in the 1980s and legitimize Prime Minister Hun Sen’s post-communist normalization of Cambodia — Savoeun said they had tried to make a deal.

She said they had given up 1,500 square meters of their land — or about 65 percent of their property — to OCIC in hopes of keeping the rest. But OCIC and City Hall were not placated, and continued to insist they keep only 10 percent.

When the couple still did not accept, the Chroy Changva district officials arrived to enact their “administrative measures” to allow for OCIC’s development.

“So I had been left only 800 square meters of land — and now that has gone through the forced eviction on the 27th of May, 2020,” Savoeun said. “The authorities came and demolished it without providing any compensation.”

“I could not accept what they have offered us: 10 percent of the land — that is unfair,” Savoeun said, explaining the home had been a sanctuary for her adult daughters aged 32 and 30 as well as her son, 21, and young daughter, 12.

“I did not know what to do next,” she recalled of watching her home bulldozed. “My tears dropped as I looked upon my land being taken from us so violently.”

It is a familiar tale for Phnom Penh families over the past few decades, with longtime property owners finding that their legal documents hold little value when a wealthy and well-connected developer forms an interest in their homes.

More than a decade after the debacle of the Boeng Kak lake forced evictions started in Phnom Penh, and even with intense international attention, little has improved, said Soeung Sen Karuna, spokesman for rights group Adhoc.

“As in these cases, we have often seen the authorities taking measures to force the evictions of the families,” Sen Karuna said. “It’s a violation of their human rights, because we see no negotiation or attempts at a suitable resolution.”

“They just carry out the measures to forcibly evict people from their homes.”

Sen Karuna noted that many developers did not even put on a show of trying to be fair to property owners whose land they wanted, while local authorities such as those in Chroy Changva seemed to just follow what companies told them.

“The authorities should be protecting the people’s interests ahead of the private companies, as the authorities are meant to serve the people,” he said. “But we rarely see the villagers receive any justice when they have disputes with powerful men, especially with business tycoons who have both influence and wealth.”

“With cases like this [OCIC’s project], there is no prior social impact assessment or environmental assessment. They just go ahead with their development.”

In many ways, things were in fact getting worse, with developers learning from the mistakes from past forced evictions and adopting sinister new tactics.

Vann Sophath, coordinator of the business and human rights project at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said it appeared developers were keen to avoid the protests and community campaigns of decades past by picking off the land plot-by-plot now, thereby avoiding the spectacle of mass forced evictions.

“The authorities and OCIC have started using tactics to evict and grab these people’s land family-by-family, rather than evicting all the remaining families at one time, which causes strong, serious and aggressive protests,” Sophath said.

“So the remaining families [in Chroy Changva] are concerned the same approach from the authorities and OCIC would be taken against them in the near future.”

OCIC project manager Touch Samnang declined to comment on why the developer would not negotiate fairer settlements with the 65 families in Chroy Changva, and referred questions about the evictions to municipal authorities.

“We have a committee to resolve land disputes, for which Phnom Penh City Hall and the district-level [authorities] are in charge. Please ask them,” Samnang said.

Both Chroy Changvar district governor Klaing Huot and deputy district governor Huy Sarun declined to comment. Prek Leap commune chief Preap Mony said only: “I am busy, I have no time to talk,” and hung up his phone on a reporter.

However, City Hall spokesman Met Measpheakdey defended the evictions.

He said it was unreasonable for the 65 holdout families to ask for more than 10 percent of their land. He said that other families had accepted the compensation in the years since 2011 and that offering more land now would be unfair to them.

“What we offered was a policy decided by the government,” Measpheakdey said. “If we now offer them more than 10 percent, is that justice for the other families who previously accepted the 10-percent policy provided by the government?”

He said that officials would further attempt to convince the holdouts to accept the 10-percent figure and hoped that further forced evictions could be avoided.

“We do not want to use any of these measures because we understand they have occupied and lived on the land for a long time, so we try to resolve it,” he said. “We encourage people to join with the government to develop our city.”

For most of the holdouts, though, cooperation is predicated on compromise.

Sophat, the former landowner who lost a 4,000-square-meter plot to OCIC in Chroy Changva, vowed not to give up and to assert his rights to his land.

“Now the authorities even accuse me of being from the opposition,” Sophat said.

“But I would like to announce I have only one oppositional stance — and that it is for my sake alone, because you have violated me,” he said. “This is a violation of our rights, as we have legal documents that assert our status as land owners.”

[dolphin-enthusiast]

I know you did this already, but my friend gave me this idea and I need your energy to accomplish it.... blindfolded just dance reader vs gamer man kakyoin. Who will win? Alpha gamer or dumbass, crackhead energy?

Top 10 anime fights

- It would basically be one of the most epic battles in history, both world wars are fucking s h a k i n g. Everyone knew just how talented you were since you could pull off insane moves whilst blindfolded, so it kinda threw you off when Kakyoin menacingly approached you one day and oh so politely challenged you to a Just Dance duel. Gamer to gamer.

- And it’s really no surprise that Kakyoin was almost as good as you at Just Dance, the man succesfully completing song after song without slipping at all. That’s when you decided to change it up a little and offered the gamer man that was currently trying to catch his breath a blindfold whilst tying another one around your head. It was o n.

- Just like that you two waged war against eachother while being fucking blindfolded. Kakyoin kept surprising you further since the man didn’t slip up at all even when deprived of his sight. It’s as if he was made to be your Just Dance archnemesis really.

- After hours and hours of countless dancing, the results were shocking. As you two took off your blindfolds, you were (once again) surprised to see that both of your ultimate scores were in fact equal. At this Kak merely chuckled whilst congratulating you for being as talented as always. But don’t think that it’s over, oh no no no no. Epic gamer boi will be back for revenge soon.

[prismatic-cannon]

uhm sis (or bro or whatever u prefer i just call everyone sis) pls reblog more fics like i need some good ones and pieces was hella good

Ahhh i’m really glad you like Pieces!!! It deserves more love for sure and the feels are only going to get better I can promise you that hoho \o/ (and I’m good with both sis/bro, I don’t mind either or it’s cool)

So far I’ve been blindly going through the AO3 tags for jojo fics so I’m not sure if my fic recs would entirely appeal to you … but if you’re interested you could definitely take a look at some of these faves! (Do mind the fics’ tags if you’re sensitive to certain tropes) Most of these are going to be heavily skewed towards part 4 and 7 (absolutely no one is surprised), but there’s other parts under the cut too!

Part 2

see you again by efthemia (6k oneshot with background Part 7 ship) - A Caejose reincarnation fic! This is set in a modern day au where Joseph and Caesar meet in another life … by crashing vehicles into each other lol

Can You Ever Go Home Again? by alexclusive (4k oneshot, contains Part 4 spoilers but is mostly centred around Part 2 and 3 characters) - I don’t want to spoil too much for this fic so I’m just going to copy paste the fic’s original summary here: “A few months after his adventure in Morioh, Jotaro goes on another personal errand at the request of his grandfather, and ends up discovering yet another lingering ghost.” A lowkey fix-it with feels!

Part 3

Torture Me by Xyloto (nsfw 2k oneshot) - The SDC gang walks in on jotakak inappropriately using their stands lmaooo enough said

Young Flame by greenteafiend (nsfw 7k multichaptered) - More Jotakak! Takes place during the Devil-Yellow Temperance part of SDC where Jotaro and Kak share that hotel room in Singapore lol

Kiss With A Fist by nevermordor (nsfw 6k oneshot) - Tempers and egos flare between Jotaro and Kakyoin as they make the long tenuous journey to Egypt – Fistfights inevitably happen. I really like how much of a cold hardass bastard Kakyoin gets in this lol

time after time by dimolto (11k oneshot) - TIME LOOP TIME LOOP TIME LOOP!!!! God time loops are one of my favourite tropes of all time, I don’t think I could get sick of it. SDC canon compliant (kinda) – Jotaro is the only person that’s aware of the loop and has to work his way out of it somehow. It’s jotakak too!! Highly rec this fic

Part 4

No place where we can’t go by tjesje (4k oneshot) - Josuyasu! Two dudes slowly fall in love over the course of their summer break. OP really nails the friendship between Josuke and Okuyasu – the banter flows so easily you can’t help but get caught up in how close and in sync they are with each other. Also, the summer vibes are super strong in this fic! Always a big plus with duwang content lmao

electric word life by Fluffifullness (8k oneshot) - More Josuyasu mutual pining + confessions, suuuuper sappy and sweet with some light post DiU angst.

Just Let Me Know, How Do You Feel? by hushroom (6k multichaptered) - Post DiU – Set during their college years, Okuyasu meets up with Josuke for the first time in a while, and they work towards overcoming emotional distance caused by the strain of long distance relationships and misunderstandings. Aged up Josuyasu content is always such a treat and this one doesn’t let down!

Bosozoku Boys by VulpesVulpes (nsfw 4k oneshot) - Takes place a few years after DiU. One night during a sleepover Josuke accidentally stumbles upon a porn mag under Oku’s bed – midnight confessions and feels ensue. This fic always has a soft spot in my heart just because of how vulnerable Josuke gets, argh my heart it aches

Crashing Waves by chamomilekai (7k multichaptered) - Post DiU – Josuke and Okuyasu deal with the lingering effects from the final Kira fight. It’s a slow burn romance with heavy feels where both bros find comfort and support in each other, very delicious part 4 h/c sob x10000

Part 5

the passenger by havisham (nsfw 5k oneshot, contains Part 6 endgame spoilers) - A Brugio fix-it …. of sorts. Ten years after Vento Aureo ends, mob boss Giorno somehow finds himself sent back in time with the opportunity to save Bruno and the others. I really like how desperate and jaded Giorno is in trying to save everyone, and how despite everything things still don’t go entirely the way he wants them to …

DIOmestic by writers_haven (4k oneshot) - Yep, it’s modern au mudad lmao. Some JonaDio here and there but the focus is mostly on Dio+Gio father-son fluff. It’s stupidly cute and there are little nods to canon material that I love to bits, like Hamon being reimagined as a fancy form of new age yoga ahahaha

Part 7

Riches and Wonders by etymology playground (8k oneshot) - A lighthearted gyjo fic that takes place during canon events – Two weeks after Sugar Mountain, Johnny and Gyro spend some R&R at a stand-powered onsen lmao. This was one of the first few fics I read right after finishing part 7, and it really helped to soothe the post SBR pain … not that I’m completely over it yet but then again would anyone ever be lol

Laundry by Petronia (2k oneshot) - Another lighthearted canon gyjo fic with lowkey ust lol – Johnny and Gyro take time between travels to do laundry. Idk, there’s something about gyjo domestic downtime that’s so comforting sob

i’ll see your face again by queenieofaces (2k oneshot, Part 7 endgame spoilers) - Oh boy this one … It’s a reincarnation au where Gyro experiences deja vu and misplaced memories from Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency during the events of SBR. 10/10 lots of feels bc reincarnation aus pair so incredibly well with gyjo gosh

nowhere to go; I’m already inside by librisdedita (31k multichaptered, major Part 7 spoilers all around) - A canon compliant gyjo fic – Johnny’s perspective on life is especially bleak in this one. OP tore my heart asunder by the end of this fic but oh man I wouldn’t have it any other way lmao

Cowboys Ain’t Easy To Love by jotarosgirl17 (36k multichaptered, Part 7 spoilers) - A series of interconnected slowburn gyjo canon compliant fics, suuuper heavy on angst and period-typical homophobia and internalised homophobia. Very good for a cry … or ten lmao

see you when the sun sets east by mourn (nsfw 2k oneshot) - Two cowboys sit five feet apart from each other not talking about their repressed feelings yeehaw. Jokes aside this is a quick but intimately tender glimpse into the beginning of Johnny and Gyro’s relationship

Spin This! by polyphenols (17k multichaptered) - A modern day office au where Diego works at a new tech startup named Steel Ball Run. Honestly, I don’t think I could ever properly articulate how much I love this fic – It’s full of sooo many nods and easter eggs to all the bizarre eccentricities that happen in part 7′s canon, and I think nearly every major/minor character gets featured one way or another, if not all (everyone works in the same horrifyingly open air office space after all). The witty banter and dialogue between characters are so snappy and succinct you can’t help but smile or laugh while reading along. Diego in particular stars as the long suffering Straight Man and audience surrogate into the madness that is SBR, with a lowkey crush on HP that slowly builds as the fic progresses (there’s background gyjo too!). While there’s more of a central focus on Part 7 at first, characters from other parts also make an appearance and gradually become more involved as well. I can’t rec this fic enough!!!

Diamond Ball Run by polyphenols (15k multichaptered, Part 7 endgame spoilers) - A gyjo fix-it of sorts … Johnny takes up Funny Valentine’s offer and asks for an Alternate Universe Gyro. The fic is mostly told from Alt Gyro’s perspective in the later half, and argh this makes my heart ache in so many ways I didn’t know were possible god help me –

happy new year, johnny by 3kanite (7k oneshot, Part 7 endgame spoilers) - Aaaah I just read this one today lmao – The fic is written from Johnny’s POV over the course of several new year celebrations – pre-race and during SBR canon. It really nails Johnny’s characterisations and personality shifts down nicely and makes the last year spent with Gyro that much more bittersweet and heartbreaking oh why won’t these part 7 feels stop coming for me

desperado by 3kanite (35k multichaptered) - Features missing scenes that take place during the events of SBR – Admittedly I’ve only read the first two chapters so far and haven’t fully processed things yet but I’m already so caught up in these pre-slash gyjo feels that I can’t help but rec this one catch me crying behind Owson’s @ 3am bc it’s just that good urgh I need an adult Could possibly be nsfw but I haven’t gotten that far in yet obvs

Aaaand that’s about it for now! Hopefully some of these interested you haha. Go show these wonderful OPs some love because they deserve it!!!