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snowblossomreads · 5 months ago

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Day 12 - Missing Mirth

Pairing(s)/Character(s): Jamie, The Metatron

Summary: In where Jamie plots to get Nina to move on.

Tag(s)/Warning(s): mentions of death

A/N: Omg two new characters appear! Here is a short little something about our cellist annoying our beloved exasperated voice of god. I had a longer plot planned for it but no time! Maybe one day haha. Enjoy!

Who would have thought, that a lousy sore throat, paired with a lousy anesthesiologist, would land Jamie in the afterlife with a bunch of other ghosts who seemed adamant on hanging out with the living? And during the holidays as well?

Just his luck.

He really didn't believe in these things when he was alive, being an atheist and all, but it did leave him in a position to practically haunt his grieving girlfriend, and try to make her get over him. Which he thought was pretty nice of the big man, or woman or whatever decided to let him roam the Earth after death.

His preference though was to be alive, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and it did make him happy to at least be able to see what she was doing from time to time.

Though most of the time, he would find her crying and although he was a ghost, it still broke his heart so much to see her so distraught. His once vibrant Nina now totally dull from heartbreak, and he had to find a way to help.

That wasn't his only problem, as he was also left in the care of a being who was supposedly the Voice of God, who he had to say looked just like him sans the mustache. And maybe also that strangely styled hair, that Jamie pointed out made him look like some sort of emo punk band boy member.

That comparison only drew a scoff devoid of mirth from the man? Angel? who seemed to have zero patience for the newly instated ghost.

When asked why he looked just like him, The Metatron, which was a title not a name Jamie pointed out to the annoyance of the Angel, responded with,

"We are simply mere images of God, and he seems to have a particular liking for this form. There's been quite a few of you, or more accurately, those who look like you, and more to come in the future."

Huh. Well, that was nice to know that God liked his design so much that he decided to cut and paste him. It filled him with joy, he guessed.

"But if god liked this design so much, what was the point of killing me with a sore throat of all things? He could at least have had it to be more eventual with I don't know getting ran over by a bus or something! But a sore throat?"

"Technically it was the anesthesiologist who got lazy and didn't read that you were allergic to one of the ingredients they used in your anesthesia and well, here you are."

"And it's your god that let them do it! I would like to have a word with him, or whatever it is," Jamie responded with a frown as he was still beside himself about that whole dying thing.

Rolling his eyes, placing his hands on his hips, and practically shrugging with his wings, Metatron just shook his head. Why did he have to be the one to deal with this? Oh yeah because God had a sense of humor and enjoyed watching him deal with these beings called humans.

Couldn't she had made them with less free will? It would have solved most of the problems in the world. But nooo, she had to be all compassionate and such. It really was a pain.

"Whatever words you would like to say, sh-," he cleared his throat before looking at Jamie who narrowed his eyes before 'correcting' himself, "he already knows and is busy so don't even bother. Just be a good little angel, which again, I don't know how you even managed to get up here being a non-believer and all," Metaron added, still not understanding why God let another one of her favorites in when they didn't even believe. "And just watch over your human. I heard she's been getting rats in her flats. No need to let the plague come back."

Jamie could only glare at his fellow angel, who did the weird disappearing thing that basically felt like he had moved them to another room. God that was still going to take a long time to get used to, but the good thing about being dead was well…you literally had all the time in the world.

But right, now his focus was now getting the rats to leave Nina alone because he knew how much she hated them. She had told him how one had chased her around as a child, and she never got over that so he had to help.

And with all the infinite knowledge he had, again a perk of being dead and such. He came up with a plan that would not only get the rats out, but get her to move on. It was as simple as just showing up, and making it cold enough so that those pests would leave her alone, but also get her so heated with him that her memory of him would be tarnished.

With that, hopefully, she would be able to move on because while it made his heart swell with unending love for her, it still hurt to see her so broken up about his untimely death. It wasn't fair to her, and he was going to have some words with God one way or another. Who would have thought, him having a row with the creator of all.

A smirk crossed Jamie's lip as he thought about the plan.

Yes, this was perfect. Now all he had to do was to get some more ghost friends on board, which was easy. He already made friends with members of the orchestra that was on the Titanic when it sank, finding it fascinating as they retold the story of how they continued playing to the very end. Most of them had been allowed to come into Heaven, on the requirement that they play in the orchestra there, and what mortal soul would have said no.

Being in the orchestra was also something Jamie would bring up to God later because why wasn't he offered a spot? He was a talented cellist. Where could he audition for a spot on the grandest orchestra of them all?

That was for later him though, as the group agreed to forcefully serenade Nina when the time came because surely, she would hate a crowd of undead ghosts in her living room playing a concert without warning.

Oh yes. By the end of it, his memory would be tarnished, but at least she would be able to move on.

Well, as long as the Metatron didn't find out, because Jamie was sure that he'd go ballistic. A small price to pay to bring mirth back to Nina who had been missing it since he died.

#rickmas2024 #jamie #the metatron #truly madly deeply #dogma #alan rickman #alan rickman fanfic #blossom writes

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connieslover · 1 year ago

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𝙞 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣

⋆｡𖦹°‧★ ࿐ a shy cellist finds himself falling in love with a mysterious girl who visits him every afternoon (part two).

𝘪 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪'𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘪'𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦

☆ princess!oc x cellist!anton

☆ fluff, slight angst, royal au

(suggested songs ; laufey lovesick, mitski my love mine all mine, taylor swift daylight & enchanted)

the next night, akira didn't show up.

and she didn't show up for the rest of the week.

yet, anton constantly checked the time on the clock, perking his head up whenever someone the bell rang and he remained staying at the store past midnight in hopes that she would show up again.

he was confused, concerned, and worried as to why she suddenly just disappeared. he recalled what she mentioned a few days ago about how her parents found out she was sneaking out and thought that maybe they found out that she was sneaking out past midnight. he was utterly worried that she was in trouble.

anton dreaded coming to work over the past few days, just because the person he looked forward to seeing wasn't there. what worth was it to get ready for work, to tidy himself up in the morning only for her not to be there?

his close friend, sohee noticed that he wasn't acting like his usual self and took it upon himself to try and comfort his friend.

"what's wrong anton?" sohee asked, dragging a chair to sit beside his friend.

anton let out a sigh and rested his head in between his crossed arms, "nothing's wrong sohee,"

sohee rolled his eyes, "come on now anton i know you. something's clearly wrong. i can tell that you've been feeling out of it."

"what would you do if someone you liked suddenly just disappeared?" blurted anton, taking sohee by surprise.

"suddenly disappeared?" repeated sohee, "well i would be confused and hurt. and worried of course. i'd try to find out what happened. search every part of town for her if i could,"

anton brought his head up from his arms, "search every part of town for her? why haven't i thought of that?"

anton immediately stood up on his feet at sohee's response and hurriedly took off his work apron, grabbing his messenger bag and slinging it over his head.

"woah there where do you think you're going?" sohee followed suit, placing an arm on his hip as he watched anton fold his work apron.

"i'm going to town to search for her," sohee's jaw fell open, astounded that anton actually took his words to heart, "wow she must be really something,"

anton nodded sheepishly, "please tell the owner that something important came up,"

sohee gave him a thumbs up, "good luck anton!"

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ::✼✿　　✿✼:ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

anton let out a sigh, realizing that this was already the second time that he passed by the same bench again. he had walked around the town, discreetly checking the neighborhood, parks, stores, and restaurants in hopes that he would bump into akira.

"where could she be?" anton asked himself, his eyes observing the area around him.

as he walked past the fountain which was located in the center of the town, his ears perked up at a conversation shared between a group of teenage girls.

"did you hear? they're holding a ball this friday in honor of the princess!" squealed one of them with short hair.

"i read that she was to be engaged to prince wonbin. isn't he the dreamiest? i heard that they were childhood friends as well. it's such a love story. i wish i was a princess," cooed the other with long blonde hair.

"oh i'd love to be princess akira. she's living the dream,"

anton froze in his spot.

"princess...akira?"

he repeated it over and over again. princess akira. princess akira. princess akira. princess akira. princess. akira. suddenly he felt like his knees were growing weak and that he was seconds away from falling onto the ground. he was hit with a realization that made him physically dizzy.

everything made sense now.

she always wore a hood, to hide herself from the public in case someone recognized her. she had a specific curfew because she was sneaking out. her parents didn't want her to go out. she wore a different dress nearly every single day, and her hair was always neatly tied. she always had a pristine, royal aura that was indescribable.

everything made sense.

the reason why she stopped appearing was most likely that her parents found out that she was sneaking out again or that there was something else going on that anton didn't know about.

anton rushed over to the group of teenage girls, "she's to be engaged to prince wonbin?"

the girls looked at each other, startled by his sudden appearance.

"have you read the paper? apparently, she's to be married to prince wonbin. their parents have been friends for ages and they were planning on expanding their kingdom," explained the blonde girl while her friends furiously nodded in agreement.

"here look," the short-haired girl shoved the newspaper into anton's hand.

right there on the front cover of the page was a photo of her and the said prince. she had a delicate smile on her face which mirrored the one the prince had as well, their arms linked. he had a gorgeous face and it was evident that god really took their time making his face. as much as anton wanted to deny it, they looked perfect for each other. anton felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. a wave of uneasiness clouded over him and his mind was in disarray. there was a gnawing anguish that terrorized him, misery written all over his face. he felt the tears well up in his eyes and he forcefully tore his gaze away from the paper.

anton handed the paper into the girl's hand and walked away before he started to pick up the pace and started sprinting, eyes blurring with tears. he needed to go home.

anton fell onto his bed, an arm over his eyes as he tried to swallow the information. he couldn't believe it. he didn't want to believe it. the photo of them together was haunting his mind, making his insides clench together.

she was to be married to a prince. and anton was far from a prince. he didn't live in a castle, he didn't have a kingdom, he was just a normal teenager working at a bar, serving customers and selling instruments. he didn't stand a chance against wonbin who was a prince. he was just a nobody. a normal person. and akira was a princess. someone who was at a much higher status than him. he didn't even deserve to be in her presence.

the whole time that they hung out together he could only ask himself, why did she hide the fact that she was a princess? why couldn't she ever tell him? was all the secret smiles, the fluttering heart moments they shared for nothing?

anton's body wracked with the force of his sobs, his chest was hurting from trying to breathe. he was heartbroken. he was hurt.

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ::✼✿　　✿✼:ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

it was the night of the ball and anton was curled up in his bed, listening to the sounds of the wind blowing, the loud music that was playing in the bar a few miles away from him, and the sound of his quiet sniffles.

"anton? are you in here?" sohee asked from the opposite side of the door, "come on anton you can't stay in your room forever. i've run out of excuses to give to the owner!"

"go away sohee," mumbled anton, just loud enough for sohee to hear.

"i'm not going to go away until you tell me what happened,"

anton removed the blanket from his legs and trudged his way to open the door to his room. sohee nearly tumbled down to the ground as he was leaning against the door.

"well you look like you've been going through it," sohee cleared his throat, noticing how disheveled his hair looked and his tear-stained cheeks.

"it's over sohee. can you believe it? im in love with the princess," anton whispered sitting on his bed there was an evident tone of sadness in his voice.

sohee's gaze on him softened as he took a seat beside him, "so she was the girl huh? who would've thought that a princess would've been visiting our store,"

"she's to be throned to someone else. a prince," anton whimpered, "how am i supposed to compete with a prince? he's probably proposing to her right now,"

"maybe she's not in love with him. just because he's a prince doesn't mean that she's infatuated with him. for all i know maybe she's in love with you too. haven't you thought about that?" started sohee, patting anton's back, "it doesn't matter if she's a princess, you love her for who she is right? and if you never let her know how you feel, you'll live with that regret."

anton wiped his nose with the sleeves of his shirt, "i think that might've been the wisest thing you've ever said to me,"

sohee threw his head back laughing, his eyes forming crescents, "i feel flattered. thank you. now come on, you have to tell her how you feel before it's too late."

"but how? how the hell am i supposed to get into the castle?"

sohee grinned deviously, "oh anton, leave that to me,"

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ::✼✿　　✿✼:ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

anton fell onto the luscious fresh grass with a thump. he got back up on his feet, dusting off the grass off his pants and wiping his hands on his shirt.

sohee knew of a secret passageway to the castle garden that he accidentally came across a few months ago. and luckily for the two of them, there were no guards in their paths or people. however, anton did have to crawl through a passageway that nearly crushed his body as well as climb over a wall.

anton cautiously walked around the garden. there were rows and rows of flowers such as roses, lavenders, and daisies as well as wall bushes that made the garden feel like a maze. anton found himself at a secluded part of the garden where there was a small fountain in a shape of a heart, as well as a figure sat on the edge of it, head in their hands.

anton took a sharp inhale of air, his heart hammering against his chest.

"akira...?"

the said princess stood up in a rush, eyes widening as she watched anton walk closer to her. for the first time, her brown hair wasn't tied and instead, it was let down in waves with a dainty tiara sitting on top of her head. she wore an off-shoulder pale rose-colored dress with layers of ruffles going down to her ankles. a crystal necklace wrapped around her neck, glimmering under the moonlight. her eyes were teary, indicating that she had been crying previously but despite that, she looked more beautiful than ever. there were no words in the dictionary that could describe how beautiful she was.

anton felt underdressed considering that he was only wearing formal pants as well as a fitted blouse. in this moment he felt like he wasn't suited to be in the presence of a princess.

"anton? what are you doing here? h-how did you get in here?" she asked frantically, taking in the sight of the person in front of her.

anton didn't answer her question but instead sat at the edge of the fountain, "why did you just disappear without saying anything?"

the two were embraced in silence as akira sat beside him, fiddling with her fingers.

"ever since that night, a lot of things happened. i- i wanted to tell you about who i was. i really did but i couldn't find the right time to do so. i was afraid that you'd see me differently or treat me differently. i would've hated for you to change the way you acted just because i'm a princess. i didn't want you to see me as royalty," akira started, her voice quiet and honest, "the store was my only getaway from this place. this castle. i've been cooped up here nearly every day of my life and it felt so suffocating. that was until i sneaked out one day and stumbled upon you and the store. it was like a breath of fresh air to finally be somewhere where i was treated like a normal person. where i could be myself and not have to worry about my duties, my parents, and everything else. i really did want to tell you anton,"

she took a deep breath before she continued, "but my parents found out that i wasn't in my room during the afternoons and i was watched over by the maids. so i could only sneak out during the night when everyone was asleep. that night that i was supposed to see you, they found the tunnel i used to sneak out. it was barred and there were people taking guard so i had no way to see you. it was frustrating and i didn't know what to do. and on top of that, i had to prepare for the ball today. i really did want to see you anton. i'm glad i got to see you again,"

anton felt his heart slightly at ease that she didn't get into deep trouble by sneaking out. but there was something else that bothered him.

"what about prince wonbin? i heard that you were to be throned to him," he stammered, biting his lip.

"prince wonbin? oh no i only see him as my friend and nothing more. though it is true that i was supposed to be married to him, we both agreed that it wasn't something we wanted. i don't see him as a lover," anton felt the heavy-hearted feeling leave his chest and he could finally breathe again. he felt so relieved.

at this point, anton wasn't really sure what she was talking about anymore. something about how wonbin and her were childhood friends and their parents being friends. but his focus was on her facial expression, how she was furrowing her brows and grimacing at the thought of dating him, how her plump lips were moving, the sparkle in her eyes, and how the moonlight made her look so angelic. he felt bad for not paying close attention to what she was saying.

when akari was done rambling, she noticed the soft tender look in anton's eyes, as well as the smile that was displayed on his face. he looked adorable. she swore that she had never felt butterflies in her stomach until now.

anton slowly closed the distance between them so that their shoulders touched. his pinky reaching out for hers.

"can i kiss you?" breathed anton, his voice quiet and shy. but he couldn't help himself. to be with her was all he wanted right now. his heart was pounding so loud he could only hear his heart ringing in his ears.

anton caressed her face, as she leaned into him, closing the distance between the two as their lips collided with each other. once they separated, anton's face flushed, looking away. he felt like his heart could burst at any minute.

building the courage to look back at her again, his heart raced even faster as she laughed at him, her cheeks as rosy as the roses in the garden.

hearing the sound of the ensemble finally playing, akira stood up, offering her hand to the boy, "would you like a dance with me?"

anton rolled his eyes jokingly, grinning as he accepted her hand.

"just so you know, i've never danced before," confessed anton, placing a hand around her waist and the other on her shoulder while both of her hands rested on his broad shoulders.

"well i'm glad to be your first then," smiled akira as they swayed to the music, basking under the moonlight.

"you're everything i've ever dreamed of, princess," gushed anton.

"don't call me that," snorted akira. she leaned her head against his chest, hearing the fast pacing of his heartbeat.

"is it okay? for a person like me to be in love with you. i mean. i'm just a normal person," spoke anton, a hint of sadness in his voice, "i work at a bar and you...you're a princess,"

"i'm just a person like everyone else. and i want you to see me as me," akari stopped swaying to the music and lifted her head to face anton. she brushed away a long strand of hair that covered his face, "and besides, i love you as you are my prince,"

anton felt like he could've died happy right there and then. if it was even possible, he was blushing even harder.

"and i love you as you are,"

tilting his head down, anton closed the space between them again, his soft lips meeting hers as he brought her closer by the waist.

under the moonlight, they professed their love for each other and shared a happy ending.

#riize #riize x reader #riize imagine #riize au #riize ff #anton au #anton ff #anton x reader #princess #slay #kpop

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cataztrophi · 1 year ago

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TAZ November Celebration 6: Truth

Just a short, kind of silly one for this @taznovembercelebration ficlet! My card was "truth," so here's one about Magnus trying to lie, to the despair of actual professional liar Taako.

Taako was a champion liar. It was a skill he'd honed through years of practice and one that had saved his ass more times than he could count. He could lie unabashedly, about anything, to anyone, and he'd do it while looking them straight in the eye. He had once convinced Barold that he was both SCUBA and forklift certified.

This deception-based superpower of his had only one weakness, and that was one of his dumbass friends opening their big mouth before he could spin his web of lies. Unfortunately, this was precisely the situation he now found himself in.

He had been helping Magnus pick out an engagement ring, and doing–in his opinion anyway–an excellent job at keeping him somewhat sane. No, Julia wouldn't care if the stone was lab-grown. Yes, the whole ‘three-month salary' thing was made up by diamond sellers. No, Julia wasn't one of those penguins that courted each other by exchanging rocks, and she would probably say yes even if he proposed with something from Dollar Tree.

Everything had been going rather well, all things considered, until the shop bell rang and in walked Julia herself. Her face lit up when she saw them.

“Julia!” Magnus exclaimed, completely failing to look unsuspicious. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm picking up my dad's watch for him, he sent it here to get the band fixed. What are you doing here, hon?”

Taako opened his mouth to deliver one of his trademark bulletproof cover stories, but before he could get a word out Magnus charged ahead with his own panic-fueled explanation.

“I'm helping Taako!” he said. Not a bad start. “Pick out a gift!” Plausible, even if Magnus wasn’t too high on the list of people Taako sought jewelry advice from. “For his boyfriend!”

Ah, fuck, there it was. Rule one of crafting a believable lie: don't invent something that will invite a lot of follow-up questions. And that was exactly what Magnus had just done, as evidenced by Julia's face lighting up like a neon sign.

“You didn't tell me you were seeing anyone!” she exclaimed.

Taako jerked his head noncommittally. “Eh, you know me, I tend to keep it pretty chill.”

“But you like this one?”

“Yeah, he's pretty great.” Well, he wasn't going to have a shitty imaginary boyfriend.

Julia shifted her canvas grocery bag to a more comfortable position, signaling that she was prepared to discuss this for a while. “Well, what's his name?”

“Kravitz.” Hmm. He just sort of had that one ready to go, huh? That would warrant a little pondering later. Then, because he knew Julia wasn't going to be satisfied with just that, he added, “He's a cellist.”

“Wow, that's awesome! You'll have to introduce us sometime. In fact,” she laid a hand on Magnus’ arm. “We're having a little get-together on Saturday, just a few of us. I don’t want to push, I know meeting the friends can be weird, but I’d love it if you and Kravitz could come!”

“For sure,” Taako said, his control of this lie slipping with every second. “I mean, I'll have to check in with him about his work schedule, he's pretty busy right now.”

Julia nodded. “Well, I hope you can make it! Good luck with your gift shopping.” She gave Taako a smile and Magnus a peck on the cheek before walking over to the store clerk. As soon as her back was turned Taako glared at Magnus.

“What?” Magnus mouthed with a shrug. Taako rolled his eyes and pretended to peruse the men's rings until Julia left the shop.

“So,” Magnus said once the coast was clear, a broad grin spreading across his face. “Tell me about this Kravitz guy.”

Right, Kravitz. Taako’s hot goth neighbor Kravitz. Kravitz, who really was a professional cellist, with strong hands that Taako could imagine doing all sorts of things. Kravitz, who he saw at the farmer's market sometimes, who always asked him what mushrooms to buy or which wine went best with whatever he was making. The guy he had completely normal, neighborly feelings about.

Taako rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing to tell, my man. I had to tell her something to cover up your shitty lie.”

Magnus had the audacity to look hurt. “What was wrong with it?”

“Well, for starters, you’re making me fabricate an entire relationship in four days.”

“I mean, you could just tell her you’re busy.”

He waved this suggestion away. “No, no, I can make it work, you’re just gonna owe me for it.”

Magnus’ shit-eating grin returned, undeterred. “Okay, but you gotta let me be the best man at yours and Kravitz’s wedding.”

Taako glared at him. “That’s gonna be real hard to do from six feet under, Burnsides.”

Little though Taako felt he deserved it, he helped Magnus through the rest of the ring-choosing process. He settled on a reasonably-priced sapphire with a silver band molded into the shape of a flowering vine, and he left the store with the box clutched in one hand like he never intended to put it down. Once they climbed into his truck he stopped for a moment and turned to Taako with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

“Hey, I really do appreciate you doing this,” he said. “It means a lot.”

Taako shrugged. “Don’t mention it, my dude. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find out if I’m going to have to move to a new building next month.”

He took out his phone and pulled up Kravitz’s contact information, which he had spent two weeks figuring out how to get. He had been planning to use it for a leisurely flirtation that would eventually end with him figuring out that Taako was the hottest thing since Pompeii. Instead, he pulled up their chat and prepared to send a message that would either get him blocked or into a stellar fictional relationship.

hey, so whats ur general opinion on schemes, plots, and shenanigans?

#taz november celebration #taako #magnus burnsides #julia burnsides #kravitz #taz balance

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moochilatv · 1 year ago

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Red Fast Luck presents: Three-Run Homer

New single from San Francisco sonic explorers, Red Fast Luck.

Red Fast Luck is a Bay Area-based improvising duo consisting of multi-reed sorcerer David Boyce (aka Black Edgar) and electro-acoustic percussionist PC Muñoz.

Their EP, “Live in San Francisco”, is one of the featured albums on the San Francisco Public Library’s new curated streaming service, Bay Beats. Their first studio album, “Everything You Do Controls the World”, is out now (2024) on bandcamp

David Boyce/Black Edgar

Originally from NYC, David Boycegraduated from Cornell University and taught elementary/junior high school in the Bronx. After his plans to move into the city became thwarted due to gentrification and high rents, he moved out to San Francisco just in time for the Loma Prieta earthquake. In 1991, he co-founded the iconic AfroFuturist jazz trio Broun Fellinis (31 years running) and became an active freelance musician involved in many musical pursuits across multiple styles. He performs with Broun Fellinis, Black Quarterback, Red Fast Luck, Shimmering Leaves, Radio Sofia, 6Roses, The Supplicants and Black Edgar's Music Box.

PC Muñoz

PC Muñoz is a musician, producer, and writer based in San Francisco. His body of work as an artist and producer includes GRAMMY®-nominated contemporary classical music with composer/cellist Joan Jeanrenaud as well as recordings with rock legend Jackson Browne, kulintang master Danny Kalanduyan, rappers DEM ONE and Kev Choice, violinist Matthew Szemela, poet/chanteuse Ingrid Chavez, and many more. Muñoz is a recent (2022) Quinteto Latino Composer-in-Residence, a current Mosaic America Fellow, and one of the featured writers in the latest collection from University of Hawai’i Press, “New CHamoru Literature” (2023). Visit: pcmunoz.com.

#Red Fast Luck #Spotify #Bandcamp

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cdyssey · 2 years ago

Text

Sea Barbara

Summary: One year after her divorce with Gerald, Sea Barbara is a little in love with everyone... including, and perhaps specifically, her best friend.

CW: Alcohol Use, Suggestiveness, Catcalling

AO3 Link

—

Sea Barbara is three-and-a-half cosmos in and she’s a little in love with everything and everyone right now: the sweet waitress who keeps generously plying her with alcohol and the mosaic rim of the martini glass. The plump statue of Aphrodite stretching her marbled back next to the bar. The color of the sky outside the smooth, curving windows.

Peach with creamy clouds.

A golden wafer sun.

She’s in love with every stranger who so much as glances her way on the crowded casino floor and the kaleidoscope of lights from all the various games that she doesn’t play. And the cellist in the house band with a beautiful gap-toothed smile. And the delicate tinkling of so many cocktail glasses, flashing through the air, brilliant and prismatic.

She is in love with the chemistry of this moment, with this intoxicating cacophony and stew of so many diverse people, impressions, colors, and sounds.

Because love is less of something that Sea Barbara meticulously doles out to a select number of people than it is an indescribable rush frothing forth from the carefully maintained sanctuary of her soul.

It is an outpouring and an overflow.

An anointment that trickles over her head and through her like soft and cleansing rain.

And, naturally—being gloriously indiscriminate with her affection right now—she can’t help but be a little bit in love with Melissa Schemmenti too, who is radiant tonight in a green jumpsuit that highlights all her ample curves. Her hair is wild and wind-tossed, drifting like fire across her exposed shoulders, and she’s wearing the golden hoops that Barbara bought her for her birthday last year. Her slender wrists shimmer with matching bangles that chime with every movement that she makes.

Oh, how gloriously that they sing.

Sea Barbara is in love with everything about Melissa right now, from her hair to her hourglass hips to the way her nose always crinkles when she smiles.

(It only vaguely crosses her mind that her current tipsiness has nothing to do with it.)

“C’mere,” the other teacher gestures at her, wrists pealing. Though her cheeks are rather rosy from the Manhattans that she’s been downing, she’s otherwise unaffected. It takes more than a few cocktails to turn her friend into a saccharine mess. “There’s a machine that I was doin’ hot at last night. I wanna try it again.”

“And what am I supposed to do?” She raises a brow that she doesn’t have a fool’s prayer of looking serious. “Stand there and look pretty?”

“Stand there and look pretty,” Melissa agrees, laughing deeply, taking her hand. “You can be my good luck charm.”

And Sea Barbara, weak-kneed, not exactly sober, soft, allows herself to be dragged along, centering herself in the warmth of Melissa’s palm scraping against her own, their life lines touching.

Melissa has been a godsend since Barbara’s divorce—a quietly sad affair, but both she and Gerald had known that it was time. Their conversations had started to fizzle out as soon as Gina moved away for college a few years ago, and all that was left was for the adult Howards to come to terms with the fact that for the last three decades, most of their conversations had revolved around their girls. Their grades. Their recitals. Their awards. Their romantic partners. They had so much to discuss about their daughters that somewhere along the way, neither of them had realized that they had fallen out of love until they were sitting alone at the dinner table night after night with nothing to say to each other except, “How was your day?”

“Fine.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes.”

Melissa, having already weathered a divorce and all of its unholy heartbreak, has unfailingly been there for her through it all—every time Barbara has asked and even when she hasn’t, helping her move into a new apartment, handing her tissues in the lounge when she’s needed them, coming over nearly every weekend to keep her company. They’ve played board games together and watched countless episodes of horrible reality shows. They’ve drunk cheap wine and made good food and laughed about the time that they accidentally burnt their damn sugar cookies in the oven. Barbara has cried on occasion, missing Gerald even though she’s not in love with him anymore. She’s missed his companionship and his stability, the divot he once made in their king-sized bed. And Melissa, who had once said the exact same thing about Joseph, has unfailingly rubbed circles into her back every time, whispering gentle words into her ear, soothing the pain away, gradually becoming the piece of herself that she has lacked.

Barbara doesn’t know when it happened—can’t identify a direct moment, time, or place—but one day, she woke up and suddenly believed that there is such a thing as soulmates.

And that she has never had one until she met Melissa Schemmenti.

She can't live without her.

As friends, naturally.

She loves her.

Quite platonically.

She has vivid dreams about her sometimes, wearing lace bras that are the exact shade of her scarlet hair—

—that she neatly chalks up to having a little too much wine.

They've been close for the past twenty-seven years of their friendship, of course, but now, since Barbara's divorce, they’ve seemingly unlocked a new dimension of their intimacy and been utterly inseparable—picking each other up for work on most days, knowing the other's coffee order as intimately as they do their own. Getting a couple’s discount at their favorite breakfast diner and not bothering to correct anyone—simply for the discount, obviously. Falling asleep on the couch together, side-by-touching-side, on one of their weekly movie nights. (More than once, Barbara has woken up with her head pillowed on the other woman's lap, one hand casually resting over her thigh.) And now, on the first winter break since the divorce was finalized nearly a year ago, she and her dearest friend are cruising to the Bahamas at Melissa’s insistence—presumably to get Barbara away from the aching sadness of an empty house. The girls did Thanksgiving with her, so they’re doing Christmas with Gerald, which is fine, and she’s good, and she’s glad that Taylor and Gina are with him…

… but still.

She’s grateful for the distraction.

And she’s entirely indebted to Melissa Ann Schemmenti for giving one to her.

For not being yet another absence.

For being present and lovely and so totally here.

She could kiss her even.

Her inhibitions lowered, every cocktail she’s had tonight warm in her bloodstream, fizzling pleasantly, she sometimes wonders if maybe she should—studying the shape of the other woman’s lips with far more deliberation than she has ever allowed except in her wildest, most wine-soaked dreams.

(None of this counts when she’s at sea, or course.)

(She allows herself this one indulgence, content that she is subjugating hundreds of others within the well-organized system of her mind every day. Self-abnegation. Masochism that is the proof of her own staunch faith.)

(Sea Barbara, though, she’s a different woman altogether. She wears big, floppy sun hats and drinks piña coladas on the beach. She gladly lays her crosses aside, half-buried in the sand.)

(Sea Barbara is happy.)

(Sea Barbara is free.)

“Shit!” Melissa groans, mere minutes later, having lost nearly forty dollars already. With her last pull, she’d almost landed triple sevens, but the third slot ticked over to a blank at the last second. “Fuck me sideways.”

“Maybe later, Red,” a balding guy, who is sitting two machines over, winks at the second grade teacher lecherously, immediately sending Barbara into a tailspin, a conniption, a Biblical, almighty fury. How dare he objectify her like that? Has he no manners? No sense of decency? Did his mother raise him to be a godless heathen? But just as she opens her mouth to say something that she wouldn’t once regret, Melissa’s already rolled her eyes and flipped the sleaze off like it’s nothing.

“Up yours, weirdo,” she only snorts, never once losing her cool. “Go back to nursin' your future hangover.”

Flushing, the man grumbles something indistinct under his breath but thankfully looks away, rattling the whiskey glass surgically stitched to his hand, and Melissa—with the slight smirk she always seems to get when she trumps someone with her own cleverness—withdraws her player card from the machine and stands up.

“C’mon, Barb,” she yawns, touching Barbara’s elbow before threading their arms together tightly. “I ain’t spending my entire Christmas bonus on this machine.”

And so they’re off again, weaving their way through the bright lights and the people and the noise. She might be starting to feel the last half-Cosmo she drank trying to kick in because her boundless love for all humankind is slowly ceding to a headache that ricochets between her temples.

Granted, it doesn’t help that she can’t get that catcaller’s expression out of her head—the visible hunger that had dilated his pupils as he raked Melissa over, undressing her with just his eyes.

“How do you do that?” She demands when she can't take it any longer, a little bit in awe at her friend’s nonchalance and somewhat irritated by it too. Melissa Schemmenti is an unflappable force of nature—sure, undoubtedly, powerfully—but she wishes she wouldn’t be so cavalier about things like that.

Men with no social filters.

Men who have nothing but sex on the mind.

Men like Joseph Lombardo, Melissa’s first husband.

Men like all the other men Melissa ever seems to date.

(The women, though—the ones whom Melissa sometimes dates—are notably different: usually bright and fun, clever and always beautiful. And Barbara, who tends to find a flaw in every person her friend gets involved with, finds it harder to do so with the women. They’re chosen more carefully. Some of them are even good for Melissa, and she hates that too.)

(At least with the men she knows they’ll never last.)

(It's awful of her.)

(Selfish, really.)

(She sometimes thinks she stakes too much on her best friend's total availability.)

“What do ya mean?” The younger teacher asks as they pass through the double doors that lead out onto the top deck again. The tropical air is balmy but not humid, soothing after the sharp coldness of the casino. All the same, Barbara shivers when Melissa looks up at her—still a little shorter than her even in heels—her long lashes delicately curved above her eyes.

Lord, she is gorgeous.

A goddess in the flesh, down to the way that the bronze saints on her neck are laying just above the visible divot of her cleavage, perhaps worshipping their good fortune, kneeling upon it.

“Let comments like that roll off your shoulders,” she continues in a somewhat constricted voice, forcing her eyes upwards again. “I’ve seen you threaten to cane someone with your baseball bat just because they stole your parking spot… but you can just simply walk away from someone saying something so��crude about you?”

Pedestrian even.

Melissa Schemmenti is anything but.

“One,” her friend readily chuckles, holding her index finger up, “Mr. Gill had it comin’. If I’ve told that douchecanoe not to park there once, then I’ve told him twenty flippin’ times. Two”—she flips another finger—it’s not that big of a deal. Drunk and horny old men kinda have a thing for me. Happens all the time."

An electric pause as Barbara swallows that last sentence like it’s lead.

As Melissa inexplicably grins like it’s the funniest joke in the world.

“That’s frankly even more disturbing,” she frowns deeply and wishes she could capably articulate the why.

She’s never liked when people make light out of holy relics, and here Melissa is, unfazed, participating in her own desacralization like it's comedy night at the bar; she shrugs a shoulder and gently unlinks their arms.

“To you, maybe,” she returns, a smile still touching her red lips. “But it’s no skin off my back, Barb. Lighten up.”

And then Melissa is suddenly walking again, half-lit by the silvery glow of the moon, the sea breeze making magic out of her hair, whirling it into endless configurations.

And Barbara deeply misses the feel of her friend’s skin pressed against her own.

The warmth of that.

The familiarity.

She follows dutifully, trails behind her like smoke.

“It should be, though,” she argues pointlessly, well-aware that Melissa is quite literally trying to move on from the sticky conversation, but the gentle buzzing in her head is an anesthetic, dulling every part of Land Barbara that might have objected to continuing in such dangerous waters. Here they are, almost openly talking about sex and desire and the particulars of lust.

No barriers between them.

The sky an infinite canvas of stars above them, watching silently, with ancient patience.

But no one else, though.

The part of the deck they’re on is empty, everyone else inside—at dinner or the cruise’s nightly shows or in the casino.

It’s just her and Melissa and one billion twinkling lights freckling the heavens.

“No one should ever feel comfortable enough to disrespect you for your looks, Melissa,” she insists, fervent and convinced. Self-righteous? Always, even when she's Sea Barbara and has lost the high ground upon which she so comfortably stands.

“My looks, huh?” Melissa laughs playfully without ever once looking behind her, her glittering hips undulating with each step, bangles clinking, heels clicking rhythmically against the salt-warped wood.

She is a dance.

A performance.

An endless masterpiece, this miracle of a woman.

And Barbara thinks she could just sit in the front row and watch her forever, already a master in religious adoration. She bites her tongue between her teeth just to feel something other than worship.

"Yes," she just barely exhales.

“What exactly does that mean?” The other woman asks, throwing the question over her shoulder with a teasing snicker, but she suddenly stops short—freezes entirely—apparently seeing something in Barbara’s expression that annihilates the easy smile from her mouth and her flashing eyes, the entirety of her physiognomy.

Because Barbara is simply standing still, a hand just touching her abdomen, as electricity radiates outwards from her stomach and all the way through her central nervous system, tingling. And there is guilt, of course. There is always guilt. Irrational guilt that she’s betraying the man she’s been divorced from for nearly a year. Personal guilt that she’s betraying herself and everything Land Barbara has conscientiously erected herself to be. Ingrained guilt that she’s betraying God and His edicts, God and His rules, God and all His codified laws...

... but there is also the all-encompassing darkness of this night, giving her permission to simply exist without a porcelain facade, to believe in a fantasy world—if just for a few hours—where no one is looking and caring about the way she presents herself on a silver platter. And there is the sloshing of the wine-colored sea all around them, the gentle sifting noise in her ears, her head, her bones, needling her to go on.

Urging.

Pleading.

But it’s not about her body. It’s about the words that have collected at the tip of her tongue for the last eleven months since her divorce—and maybe even longer that if she’s being completely honest with herself—stuck there.

Now finally coming unglued.

Because there is Melissa, stunning in the moonlight, staring at her from the depths of wide and vulnerable eyes.

And she finds that she cannot run from this moment—as she always does—cannot hide from it, like a coward.

She can only live it.

“It means that you are radiance reconciled, Melissa Schemmenti,” she murmurs and only hesitates a little before she reaches upwards to move a strand of hair behind her ear.

The tips of her long nails skim that smooth, creamy skin.

The column of her exposed neck.

The delicate shell of her ear.

And then back again, though she doesn’t entirely withdraw her hand, cupping the other woman’s jaw, tenderly thumbing her pink cheek as she's dreamed of doing so many times before. And every time she's done so, she's scolded herself, despised herself, prayed to never dream that dream again. Stopped drinking alcohol for a while. Made her deepest fantasies yet another inhibition to store under the floorboard with the rest.

“But I would never say such a horrid thing to you,” she continues as Melissa’s mouth slightly parts at the touch, a perfect ‘o’ of confusion and surprise. “I would never reduce you to your body.”

“You’re tipsy,” Melissa instantly breathes, her champagne sweet breath gently blowing over her face, uncoiling her insides, simply fermenting them. “Drunk even.”

“So what?” Barbara replies a little recklessly, gently studying the shape of Melissa’s jawbone, relishing every stroke, savoring the texture of her.

“So everything,” she retorts, a delicious snap in her voice, a visible uncertainty in her eyes. "You wouldn’t be doing this sober, Barb.”

It's hurtful—makes her flinch even—but it isn't exactly a lie.

Perhaps that's why it stings as much as it does.

“No,” she agrees quietly, finally letting her hand fall away—empty, desolate, still grasping—next to her side. All the same, whatever there had once been of space between them is nonexistent now, a distant memory, Melissa having leaned forward at the touch, as though magnetized. “Because then I would finally be telling the truth.”

“Oh,” Melissa breathes, the weight of those words enveloping them both.

A warm embrace.

A horrible vice.

“Oh,” Barbara agrees, having lived with these burdens for years upon unfathomable years, quashing them all beneath the perfection of her well-constructed mask.

But they're in the open now—now Melissa can see.

I love you.

I have ached for you.

She’s not entirely sure who makes the first move, but the next feeling she knows is the sensation of Melissa’s lips clashing against her own, her hands in the younger woman’s hair, Melissa’s fingers twisted into the back of her silky shirt. And then they’re against the nearest wall, and then they’re pressed against a metallic railing, and then, incapable of keeping their hands off each other, stumbling all the way, they’re miraculously in Melissa’s room less than five minutes later, and she's is on top of her on the bed, kissing the exposed line of her collarbone.

Barbara can feel warm tears pricking her eyes, rivering down the weathered crevices of her cheeks.

“You’re crying,” Melissa notices. She always notices, and she just as quickly pulls back, breathing heavily, panting. Her fiery hair falls over her shoulders, dripping like a waterfall. “Are you okay? Do you wanna stop?”

There’s fear in her wide eyes.

Sudden and powerful reluctance.

For as long as she has known her, Melissa always prioritizes how others feel—thinks it is her God given duty to be emotionally uncomplicated for the sake of the other person in the room.

But Barbara wants all of her, every last bit of her—even the messy parts.

Perhaps especially them.

She has always envied what she doesn't know how to love within herself.

“No,” she protests immediately, the sound welling from deep inside of her, raw and visceral, as she wraps her arms around the other woman’s neck, reeling her in. Her shirt is still mostly buttoned and something feels so wrong about that.

“Don’t force yourself into anything you don’t wanna do,” Melissa warns again, lips hovering just inches above Barbara’s own. Her breath catches in her throat, pulsating there, throbbing, like a tangible ache.

“Never,” she croaks.

All the damn time.

Barbara forces herself to be someone she is not every single day, painting an impeccable smile on her face, wielding her morality and her goodness and her Christianity like an impregnable shield and sometimes matching sword.

But not here.

Not now.

All of her reservations laid bare before the altar of Melissa Schemmenti.

“Okay. If you say so, but—“

“I say so,” Barbara adamantly interrupts the sentence and punctuates it, lowering her hands until they’re on Melissa’s hips, fingers curled into the thin fabric of her jumpsuit there.

“Melissa,” she begs, more tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “Please.”

She isn’t entirely sure what she’s asking for.

Sex.

Melissa’s presence.

Melissa’s love.

Maybe all three at the same time, a holy trinity.

All she knows is that when Melissa’s slender fingers obediently unravel the clasps of her blouse, undoing what had once been so perfectly done, she is no longer sure where Sea Barbara ends and Barbara Howard begins.

The two are finally one and the same.

Utterly and unrepentantly free.

#work wives #barbara howard #melissa schemmenti #abbott elementary #s: abbott elementary #reginianwrites #y'all are getting this one because I went to a casino a few days ago #and got inspired hdioshf

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tomionefinds · 2 years ago

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Hi this is kinda specific, but are there any tomione fics where T & H are dancers or actors forced to work together? Thank you <3

Hey Anon,

This was a interesting ask. I found a couple few also some where they were musicians just in case you were interested in them as performers of some sort. -JD

The Foil by WildKitsune E/Ma | WIP | 13k The girl didn't look like anything special. He had passed right by her without evening noticing her existence when entering Principle Dippet's office. Tom looked at her again after getting instructions to show her around and make her feel welcome. It was the part of being student council president he hated the most. He was expected to be nice to people far below his interest. But the position afforded him other privileges and powers that he counted as worth such a price. Very loosely inspired by Highschool Musical.

On A New Year's Day by Kitwriting M | WIP | 14k Paris 1960, Harry Potter is a down on his luck actor who moved to Paris to reignite his career. After months of no real work, his childhood friend, an aspiring screenwriter, Hermione Granger visits on New Year’s Eve, one last night before he plans to leave. But a chance meeting as the clock strikes midnight leaves them both intrigued by the possibilities the city has if they stay. Aka, The French New Wave AU no one asked for

i will collect you by cithrin M | WIP | 9k It was Hermione's dream to enter the prestigious Hogwarts Dance Academy. But she had no idea that her ruthless mentor would push her over the edge. Tomione.

The Two Compaies by tellmesomethingnew T+ | One Shot | 1k McGonagall's dance company is different than most. As a project to test her students, her and the rivalry dance company owned by Grindlelwald team up. The day before dress rehearsal for their upcoming special performance workshop, the two company owners blindly pair their students together. Hermione has no idea who she's paired with until now.

Cupid Crystal Cave by Winterblume T | Complete | 6k Hermione is forced into a strip club and – oh, how embarrassing – who would show up there? Of course, none other than her old school nemesis, Tom Marvolo Riddle.

The Conductor and the Violinist by ourultraviolence M | WIP | 51k 1906, Riddle, a conductor, is a prodigy at the Royal Opera House. Hermione Granger is a brilliant violinist but he does not seem to agree on that. Tomione.1906, Riddle, a conductor, is a prodigy at the Royal Opera House. Hermione Granger is a brilliant violinist but he does not seem to agree on that. Tomione.

Closer by Sharkdiver1980 E/Ma | WIP | 29k Lord Voldemort is taking the music industry by storm, and when Hermione and her friends get invited to an exclusive party featuring a private performance by Lord Voldemort, Hermione learns what all the fuss is about . Non-magic AU, Tomione. Crack!

Con Sentimento by heybabydoll E/Ma | WIP | 22k Hermione dreams of becoming the chief-of-medicine at St Mungo's Medical School, so she's decided to fluff her medical school application by double-majoring in both biochemistry and classical piano performance. This is much to the distaste of the Director of Piano Studies at Slytherin School of the Arts, Dr Thomas M Riddle, who values jazz piano performance over all things.

Liebestraum (Beyond Words) by desirable (countertop) T+ | WIP | 4k YOU ARE GOD, WHICH MEANS YOU ARE BOUND TO A HEAVEN.(alternatively: Hermione Granger, a student at Hogwarts University, goes missing. A cellist turned writer turned stranger. Tom Riddle loses Hermione Granger, and the search is all part of the prose, or so he thinks.)

Tommy Played Guitar by PacificRimbaud E/Ma | One Shot | 3k Tom Riddle takes his coffee black and plays in a rock and roll band.

Daddy Dearest by ImmortalObsession M | Complete | 108k Lady Hermione isn't quite right in the head. Her kingdom resides in a manor full-of-monsters. She has regular conversations with the Devil and fancies a dark knight who wants to kill her in her sleep. If not for the wonderful library, she might have lost her wits completely by now. Instead, she passes the time with music lessons and plots of murder.

#tomione #muggle au #drama #tom: thesbian #hermione: thesbian #Hermione: musician #Tom: musician #extreme au #crack

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liyuesbian · 4 years ago

Text

liyue characters (+ childe) and what instruments i think they'd play

part two of my genshin characters and what instruments i think they'd play series! part one / part three

beidou

bass guitarist!!!

plays in xinyan's band

the incredibly attractive band member who everyone in the audience fawns over

good luck trying to get her number after gigs, she's most likely got the whole crowd tailing her already

chongyun

idk why but i think he'd suit the ukelele

was probably the one quiet, talented kid whose friends (i.e. xingqiu) made him audition in a famous talent show and guess what? he actually ended up winning

is now one of those quirky, aesthetic, softboy youtubers who posts covers of him singing and playing his little gay guitar

ganyu

guzheng

feels so powerful when she puts on the finger picks

looks so refined during a performance even while doing the notorious musician head-bobbing haha

leaves the string players in constant awe like how can she do vibrato with those picks?! AMAZING

hu tao

tuba player

never takes rehearsals seriously... or her instrument for that matter

is the one making the "tromboner" jokes and telling the strings: "how do you finger your instrument again?"

was also the one who convinced everyone to play the mii channel theme music as a prank in rehearsal

bet it was the only time the whole orchestra played so harmoniously

keqing

parents wanted her to play a traditional chinese instrument. if not, at least the piano or the violin

all hell broke loose when she came home with a synth

"electric instrument eh? keqing, i will electric chair yo-"

oh well, it's kinda like a piano... right...? *ancestors rolling in their graves*

ningguang

erhu player ("chinese violin")

fell in love with the instrument after hearing a busker playing it

tears run down her cheeks when she's practicing alone because the sound is so fuckin' beautiful :'DD

"damn, i'm so good"

qiqi

clarinet

"i'm sorry... what's a reed again?"

definitely forgets her entrance

is only here because she forgot she was actually supposed to join the gardening club and walked into the wrong place

xiangling

drummer in xinyan's band

goes stupid, goes crazy on those things

tries to do the stick tricks (like throwing it in the air midway through playing) she saw on youtube during practice but fails

legend has it she's still trying to this day

xiao

dizi, essentially a "chinese flute"

man is so emo he sometimes goes out to his garden and plays a sad tune :(

maybe does it with his eyes closed and his neighbours probably avoid him around 2pm—his daily sad song hour :((

xingqiu

ok, guys, hear me out. this boy is the personification of that one vine that goes "is there anything better than pussy? yes, a really good book!"

therefore, xingqiu is a pianist

his parents are definitely the asian parents who want their child to be a musician as a brag-worthy hobby (bonus: if he wants to pursue the piano as a career, they will absolutely not be okay with it)

xinyan

honestly, i think she could be an all-rounder with the usual band instruments

guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, vocalist etc.

is, quite literally, a one-woman band

loves rock so much she has become the rock

yanfei

plays the french horn

always has her part down pat

loves to share techniques with her section

during rehearsals, you can hear her more than you can hear her instrument

zhongli

cello. he's a cellist. and a first chair

"do you want to fucking be me or do you want to be fucking me"

the 2nd chair tries to convince him that he'd suit a conductor more in hopes that they'd finally get 1st chair without zhongli being in the way

thing is, this mfer takes it seriously and actually becomes the conductor

why's he good at everything?

tartaglia

"and the trumpets they go—"

EGO EGO EGO EGO EGO EGO EGO EGO

but he actually has the skills to fill up that ego >:(

and the lungs because, jesus, where are my earplugs?!

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if-tomorrow-never-comes · 4 years ago

Photo

spicerlife

To Margate, Thanet, to write about the

@lovecafemargate

the v cute foodbaby of

@gizzierskine

@carlbarat78

@edieandeli

and the jumping beam

@ronnietraynor. I did a lot of Margate-y things. Only a tiny bit of what crammed into 18 hours made it in to a two page story, which is in @theststyle

today also with delight @jakegyllenhaal on cover in 👶🏽 🩰

Sorry for the crap crop of first pic it’s 5am.

Good luck with the caff y’all. It’s quite a place, bespoke

@zombiesqueegee

wallpaper (see last picture), mayonnaise made with bone marrow and fond (the sticky marmitey bits at the bottom of the meat pan), tea urn and white bread. Boldly old school with awesome ingredients.

There’s never enough space for all the words I want to write, that’s the job really. And these two didn’t get enuf props

@ronnietraynor

who is about to reinvent recovery with a new take on sober fun and has also quit her job in music biz to focus full time on Love and wellness and spreading

#soberfun

and the sprite cellist, musical polymath and Mum punk

@edieandeli

fell by the editing wayside because famousness is what. it. is. A magic spell ✨ now with added breakfast energy.

And finally. Most crucial factoid is that

@carlbarat78

sunglasses pic 1 & 3 are from

@madampopoffvintage

Thank you. That’s The News this week

#Brilliant!#Love Cafe #Margate #carl barat #carl barât #Edie Langley #Gizzi Erskine #Ronnie Traynor #carlos barat

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victoriareyloficlists · 4 years ago

Text

Single Parents

Updated 10 November 2021

Rest of the Masterlist.

A Beautiful Mess by MizuPhoenix (AO3 2018 Rated E Complete, 5 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben/Kylo is a new dad, left with a baby and note from a one night stand. Rey is his flighty loud neighbor, who always has way too many friends at her house and doesn't make things easy on his new lifestyle. They argue relentlessly, until one day an emergency calls for her help with the baby and spawns them into the path to something heated in a different way. ) Baby Fever by HerSistersKeeper (AO3 2019 Rated E Complete, 6 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Single dad Ben Solo is fine staying single, even if he does find Rey, the teacher who lives a floor up from him and his son, attractive and charming. His toddler, Matt, has other ideas.) Baby Shark by Melusine11 (AO3 2020 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire can handle a lot. Fights over who is the leader in line for the day, crying over not getting the right color crayon they want, puke after gym time, but the one thing that consistently raises his blood pressure is one damnable song.) Bearers and Builders by AverageEpaulet (AO3 2021 Rated E Complete, 10 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: In which Rey needs a nanny for her daughter Hazel and Ben happens to be the just right for the job. TW: previous infant death.) Butter Crisp Sandwich by DarkMage13 (AO3 2021 Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: “Mr, I insist you join me for a tea party today, at precisely noon. My teddy will be there.” Ben glanced at the boring clock on the wall. Ten minutes until noon. He swallowed in fear. There was no escape. Or: Ben Solo cannot say no to an adorable hazel-eyed little girl's request for tea.) Choreae Lucis by Shestoolazytologin (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 3 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo takes his daughter to her ballet classes and forgets his heart there.) chosen dreams by blessedreylo (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Single dad Ben Solo is struggling with a fussy baby that won't stop crying. Ben's new neighbor Rey hears the crying and knocks on the door to see if she can help.) Close Enough to Kiss by Somewhere_overthe_Reylo (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey's daughter comes with her to take a final exam. Dr.Solo ends up being soft for babies.) Expanding The Family Tree by WaterlilyRose (AO3 2018 Rated E Complete, 9 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Life didn't turn out exactly the way Rey imagined but she never imagined she could be this happy. Ben and herself were a good team with their daughter and proved themselves to be good parents.So if it worked once... why not again?) Father Knows Best by American_Punk_1990 (AO3 2016 Rated M Complete, 20 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo is doing all he can to be the best single father that he can but he is in desperate need for a good baby sitter. Rey needs a new job and the absurdly tall, kind of goofy looking guy with the world's cutest baby seems to have a perfect solution.) Go And Catch A Falling Star Chapter 17 by Ayearandaday (AO3 2020 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: As a child, Rey is mesmerized by ballerina Leia and grows up to become one. Single dad Ben and his daughter Stella fall for Rey.) Goodnight Moon by LittleAndikin (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben's 3 year old daughter Lily won't go to sleep without listening to the library's podcast reading of Goodnight Moon. When she's in the elevator with her father & a neighbour, she recognises Rey from her voice as the person who reads to her every night.) Halloween Wishes by danceinmystorm (AO3 2020 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo tries his best to make sure that his daughter gets to trick or treat and get candy for Halloween. Just as the night feels like a bust, their next door neighbor invites them in for a fun surprise.) Have My Everything by MotherofScavengers (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: After months of convincing, teacher Rey is at last dragged by her friends to a strip club and gets gifted with a lap dance. When she's alone and waiting, she finally meets the dancer: Usually shy Ben, the single father of her favourite student. ) Hot Cocoa and Cinnamon by ABeautifulBreakdown (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When a trip the the park leads to her child wandering off Rey is left in a state of panic. Distraught and over run with emotions she hunts down her little boy only to find him standing with a strange man who upon closer inspection doesn't actually seem so strange.) i found love where it wasn’t supposed to be, right in front of me by Lutrosis (AO3 2020 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben’s the sweetheart nanny to Rey’s twin daughters. When her new boyfriend is frustrated that he’s lower on her list of priorities than her children, he dumps her. Rey texts Ben and comes home early to find her kids tucked in, and Ben, ready with ice cream.) I need a teacher by kyoloren (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Single dad and photographer Ben Solo sets up to take photos of fashion model Rey at her place and accidentally stumbles upon her massive dildo collection. Rey, forever sexually unsatisfied, decides that maybe she should try the real thing…) I Was Lost (For You To Find) by LadyReylo (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 19 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: “On Friday we received a visit from a man and his lawyer.” Mr Kenobi opened the folder on his desk. Rey instantly recognised it, her eyes widening, dread filling her. “What... what do you mean? What is going on?” She said, her tone firm. Whatever this was, if it involved her son, she needed to know the truth now. “His name is Benjamin Solo. And he claims his son was illegally put up for adoption eleven years ago without his consent.”) In Full Bloom by deedreamer (AO3 2019 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When high school teacher Rey Kanata gets flowers with a cryptic message, she freaks out, thinking she's being hit on by one of her students. On a mission to find out who sent the flowers, she meets Ben Solo -- single dad and owner of the little florist down on Main Street. When the flowers turn out to be a delivery error, Rey knows her job's no longer at risk. But what she doesn't know is that she's about to fall head over heels for the man who keeps sending her flowers day after day because he's a goner for her, too...) In the Bleak Midwinter Came a Rey of Light by Reylo_of_light (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey's luck had run out. No purse. No phone. And now her car had broken down and her toddler is crying. Lucky for her, her knight in a shining Tesla is about to pull up. Perhaps there are miracles at Christmas.) Island Holiday: A Reylo Christmas Story by Rey_KnightofRen (AO3 2019 Rated T Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Violinist Rey Niima is traveling to Hawai‘i to perform in her best friend Finn’s destination wedding the week before Christmas. She’s supposed to be playing a duet with cellist Ben Solo. Although Rey and Ben were rivals back in college, several years have passed since then and Rey discovers that Ben is now a VERY attractive and VERY eligible single dad. She starts to hope that her suitcase isn’t the only thing she’ll be bringing back with her from Hawai‘i…) Liam's Friend by Lady_of_Haven (AO3 2020 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Neighbor Maz watches Rey’s son Liam while she works and goes to school. Maz pushes him in his pram at the park everyday at 12, which is when Ben walks his dog Kylo. Little Liam loves Kylo and Ben. One day, Rey is out with Liam at a coffee shop when he recognizes and reaches out for Ben.) Lizzy Solo by Hellyjellybean (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 3 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Its bring your kids to work day and little Lizzy Solo meets Rey for the first time. "Are you the same Rey that my dad told Uncle Hux he was half in love with?") Locked Out by INTPSlytherin_reylove97 (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Single mom Rey has never accepted help from her neighbor Ben. But when she gets locked out of her apartment with a crying toddler, Ben is there. And Ben wants to continue to be there for them.) Love is Strange by SpaceWaffleHouseTM (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 7 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Or the one where Rey lies and tells her coworkers she has a loving husband and a son. Now the annual picnic is coming up and she needs a fake picture-perfect family. Fortunately, her friend Ben fits all the requirements.) Love's Mystery by Hartmannclan (AO3 2020 Rated G Complete, 14 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo only needs one lady in his life; his daughter, Hope. So he is surprised to find himself intrigued by the masked woman who just spilled a drink down the front of his costume. Maybe this year the company Valentine's day dance won't be so boring after all? And what happens when he has to leave suddenly.....) lunch thief by thisismelodrama (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 34 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: In which Rey’s son steals Ben’s daughter’s lunch and chaos ensues.) maybe we're from the same star Chapter 4 by INTPSlytherin_reylove97 (AO3 2018 Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Living together was supposed to be easy. Another person to help with the kids, they already spent most of their free time together anyways.) My Dad Will Not Date Miss Palpatine (But Maybe He Can Marry Her) by AnneAnna (AO3 2021 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Annie Solo is perfectly happy with her Dad and brother and the last thing she needs is her dad's high school sweetheart coming to town and ruining everything. But maybe just maybe Miss Palpatine will be far better than she expected.) Neighborly by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey and her son move into a new apartment and meets her new neighbor Ben and his cute dog.) Now I'm In It by crystanagahori (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 6 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: So Rey might have accidentally told her boss that she was bringing her loving husband and sweet two year old son to the fundraiser. She does not, in fact, have either. She does, however, have her neighbor Ben and his two year old son Noah.) Off guard by TheReadingNook (AO3 2019 Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: The last thing Rey is looking for is love. As a single mom, her plate is as full as she wants it to be, but her son seems to think otherwise. And when he sets out to fill that void, they learn some interesting things about life, love, and the bonds of family and friendship.) Our Karate Kids by Theyna_Shipper (AO3 2020 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Rey drops in on her daughter's karate class for Halloween, she meets Ben Solo, another single parent, and watch their children spar.) Overboard by Biekewieke (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 10 Chapters, Overboard AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Organa-Skywalker is a rich snob who hires her to clean his party barge, making her life difficult and fouls her mood. After a freak accident throws him overboard and Rey ends up saving his life. When he wakes up, it turns out he has amnesia. Rey sees it as the ultimate answer to all her prayers. She gets to take his arrogant ass down a peg or two AND she has someone to help around the house and with the kids for a while.) Please be my Daddy! by erney007 (AO3 2019 Rated E Complete, 5 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Raising a child while having to do such demanding job is hard. Rey, an ICU nurse, accidentally finds out that her asshole neighbor, Ben Solo, is quite good at babysitting. After plaguing her child with Elsa obsession, Obiwan starting to call him “Papa”. And Ben kind of likes it.) Raincheck by Hormonal_Trashbag (AO3 2019 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben's 7 year old son tries to ask out his teacher Miss Rey on behalf of his father.) Rey's Braids by Magdalane (AO3 2021 Rated M Complete, 6 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben's little girl falls in love with braided hairstyles. He watches video from the popular YouTube channel in which Rey teaches different braiding techniques. After weeks of failure, he DMs her on Instagram, desperate...) Say It With Feeling by amybeegood (AO3 2018 Rated E Complete, 18 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Meet Rey, the Maid/Escort who really needs a solid day job and Ben, the reclusive, virgin billionaire who doesn't have a clue about real life or how to hire household help.) Something About November Chapter 18 by SpaceWaffleHouseTM (AO3 2019 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Ben's adopted daughter finds a box of love letters he wrote and never sent, she decides she wants him happy for Christmas. With help from her Aunt Gwen, she sends her the letters.) Something Missing by Hellyjellybean (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, 3 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: An angst-free AU where Ben takes his kid to work and loses track of him only to find him eating contraband candy with Rey from IT.) Take Me Out To The Ball Game by empirestrikesben (AO3 2020 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey is sitting with her daughter next to Prince Ben at a baseball game. Her daughter sneaks popcorn while her mom's distracted. The video goes viral and Queen Leia invites Rey and her daughter to the palace.) that's where you take me by blessedreylo (AO3 2020 Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Single dad Ben asks his daughters nanny Rey to live with them during quarantine so she can help take care of her while he works remote. Lots of domestic proximity and mutual pining ensues.) The Ties That Bind by Telcontarian (AO3 2020 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Professor Ben Solo rules the classroom with an iron fist and he is not generally known for his kindness or for his understanding. However, when Rey approaches him to ask for help with her daughter, Kira, Rey finds that Ben is more gentle and caring than she originally thought.) To Play Pretend by SuchaPrettyPoison (AO3 2020 Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Single dad Ben Solo is tired of being hit on by some of the mums from his daughter's kindergarten class. He asks his friend Rey to come with him to pick up his daughter as his pretend fiancée.) To Say Good Night to You by dawninthemtn (AO3 2020 Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben is living a lonely quarantine when he gets a FaceTime call from a random toddler. He makes friends with the child, and eventually, her mother.) Violet Solo Turns 5 by hellocienne (AO3 2021 Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Little Violet Solo is Ben’s entire world. His daughter is the most precious person in his life, and he is adamant about doing anything it takes to keep his little girl smiling. Despite Violet’s obvious charm and charisma, not even one of her invited classmates went to her 5th birthday party, and she is about to get an intense meltdown that not even Ben—super dad extraordinaire—could keep under control. Enter Rey Niima—Ben’s coworker who he might or might not be in love with for the last three years. She’s Violet’s (other) favorite person in the whole wide world, and this woman will truly do anything for Ben’s precious little girl. Even if it means sending a group text to her friends who all live in different parts of the city, and inviting their children to attend a spontaneous birthday party.)

#reylo #reylo fanfic

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joonclouds · 4 years ago

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The Price Of A Wish | 3

The third time you meet Jung Hoseok, you realise the last ten years has done nothing to the way you were drawn to him, with a force as sure and inescapable as gravity.

CHAPTER INDEX

Hoseok x Reader

Genre: Idol!Hoseok, Chaebol!Reader, OT7 bangtan show up too, Slow Burn, Unrequited feelings, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Fluff, (we might include some other things later let’s see)

_________________

You meet Hoseok for the first time when you’re seventeen. It's in the early days of March - you remember because it's the time where Spring isn't quite here yet, so the evenings are still chilly. Getting to wear your favourite sweaters a few weeks longer is something that you still get a small thrill out of. You're a lot younger, a lot less jaded than you are now.

Leaning against the wall a ways off from the main crowd, you watch the guests in disinterest. It was laughable for a party of forty, at most, to rent such a colossal space. Surely even if it was a selection showcase, it was excessive.

Your family’s attendance to an event meant no expense was spared. The dress code is smart casual but a grand hall has been rented, with towering ceilings and a sprawling expanse of space. There was a live string quartet and champagne and little degustation canapes. Everyone talked in hushed voices, as if afraid to disturb the air around them. And what were they feeding with these canapes? Mice? You can’t even have real alcohol, just this stupid fizzy grape juice in a fancy glass. You think about the amazing grilled cheese that Madam Han, your housekeeper, makes and you groan internally, wishing to be anywhere but here. You’re sure your face says just as much.

“Yup, me too.” Turning in surprise, you find someone next to you.

His height is the first thing you notice. A good head taller than you are, and all black looks good on him, a silk shirt hanging loose and ripped jeans tucked into boots. He looks familiar, but you can’t put your finger on it yet, so you shelve that thought for later because well. There were more important issues at hand.

As a general rule, you thought all that "love at first sight' type thing was bullshit. You didn't buy into that sort of malarkey, and even if you did, it’s not something you got to have. But what was a girl to do in the face of .. well, a handsome face? Despite the remnants of stubborn pre-teen chub around his cheeks and a smattering of acne on his chin - things you're sure he'd grow out of in time - he's just your type of trouble.

Maybe you didn't know that yet, but all you do know is that when he turns slightly to give you a half smile, you freeze and your heart jumps like it's about to launch itself out of your body.

“Well. Someone's having fun.” He clarifies, fiddling with the stem of his champagne flute. You quickly look away, but not before noting his similarly bored demeanor.

"As much fun as you are, clearly."

“Yes, this is a riveting time.” He deadpans back, and the snicker he garners out of you breaks the ice like sugar glass. The both of you return to surveying the small crowd, but make no move to leave, enjoying the feeling of sharing in a certain kind of disjointed camaraderie. What is it they always say about shared trauma?

“You’re old enough to drink?” You tilt your glass in the direction of his.

“I’ve been old enough since three years ago. But legally, no. This isn’t alcohol.”

You sigh, but then a thought pops into your head. “Wanna sneak into the kitchen with me? The servers often leave the open bottles unattended.”

“Not your first rodeo, huh.”

“And certainly not my last. I can’t wait to be legal so these things become more tolerable.” You take another sip of your non-alcohol.

After a moment you ask again - “So? Kitchen?”

“You have no idea how much I wish I could, but this night is a sober one. Nerves and alcohol don't go well together for me.”

“Aaaaaaand he turns out to be even less fun than this party.”

This earns you a chuckle from him. It’s warm and inviting, a little buzz of electricity in your veins. Feels like if you’d been drinking actual champagne that evening. He nudges your shoulder playfully with his own when you cross your arms and angle your body slightly away in a small show of sulking.

“I have no choice, cowboy. I’m the showhorse. Gotta do the parade if I want my scholarship."

“Ah, Jung Hoseok.”

The puzzle pieces fall into place and you give him another once over out of the corner of your eye, this time with more recognition than before. Now you knew why he looked familiar - the identities of the artistes were all kept secret until after the selection showcase, but since you were your father's daughter, you'd seen the lineup beforehand.

"Yup, that's me." Hoseok downs the rest of his drink, grimacing. "And this entire thing is a show by a pretentious businessman who's already decided who's going to be selected."

"Looks like it's not your first rodeo either, you know how this works."

"Boy, do I."

"So why stay sober for it anyway?"

"I like dancing."

Hoseok's answer makes you go quiet. Whatever sarcastic banter you had lined up was halted in the face of such a simple, honest admission.

After a moment, he adds - " and I have a feeling it might reflect badly if I turned up tipsy to my first performance in front of the panel of directors.”

You shrug. "You know what they say about brooding artists and alcohol."

Suddenly, a thought comes to him. “Wait. You know me?”

He turns to you, and you can see him trying to figure out who you are, why you know him but he doesn’t know you.

“Of course I know you.” You state a matter-of-factly. “Jung Hoseok, the parading showhorse.”

“And you’re…. Mirae? The….cellist?” He takes a wild guess at one of the other performers in the showcase lineup that night.

“Nope.” You reply, popping your lips in amusement when you realise he has absolutely no clue who you are.

"You're not competition, are you?"

"Wrong again."

Hoseok squints in confusion and turns fully to face you, taking you more seriously now. “So who are you?”

Leaning in closer to him you tilt your glass in the direction of where the biggest group of people congregated in the middle of the room, deciding to at least have a little bit of fun tonight if you couldn't get your hands on the drinks. Albeit at the expense of someone else’s embarrassment, but it’s not like you two were close anyway. Consider it a trade off of sorts.

“See that man in the gray suit?”

“The CEO of Aurarts?” He frowns slightly. “Why?”

“He's the one who gets to decide if you get your scholarship or not, right?”

“Yes.” He drags the syllable out hesitantly. “Where is this going?”

“Well. In the direction of him being my very pretentious father. I'm sure you'll know my name soon enough.”

The colour drains from Hoseok’s face.

“Fuck-“ He begins, but quickly catches himself and bites his lips together when he decides that swearing in front of the daughter of the business magnate he just badmouthed, and who is coincidentally also funding his scholarship, isn’t the best first impression.

“Sorry. I. Uh.” He rubs the back of his neck with one hand. Gone is his easy charm - he’s now visibly perplexed, turning red and refusing to make eye contact. It makes you giggle, a bright pealing sound that seems to cut like a warm knife into butter. As it happens, the emcee’s voice crackles to life over the speakers, cutting your laughter short and inviting guests to take their seats as the performance is about to begin.

"There's your cue, and mine."

You sigh, quite content with your fun for the evening; Hoseok is pretty cute when he’s flustered. He's opened and shut his mouth three times and still trying to find a way to dig himself out of the hole he's in, so you decide to put the poor boy out of his misery and leave first. Pushing off from the wall, you offer him a small wave and mouth a ‘good luck’ over your shoulder. He manages a tiny wave back.

Between accompanying your father amongst the guests and making small talk with them after the performances are over, don’t get a chance to talk to Hoseok anymore for the rest of the evening. Sometimes you catch a glimpse of a silky black shirt and a charming smile, but not long enough of a look to know if he was looking back.

But you do get to watch his performance - it’s the last one of the night, and you don't know if it's intentional, but they’ve saved the best for last.

Hoseok walks onto the makeshift dancefloor, barefoot, and one more button on his shirt undone. Perhaps you didn’t notice it before, but there is a power with which he holds himself in his beginning pose, facing away from the audience, stance wide and hands crossed in fists behind his back. His head is turned, just enough for you to see his side profile, and you know he sees you sitting in the front row. You feel a shiver of excitement at the base of your spine. It pulses in rhythm to the opening beats of the dance track.

When he starts, you understand why he’s in tonight's lineup. Each movement of Hoseok’s body is fluid but perfectly controlled, matching the heavy bass tempo on the dot. Never early, never late. The music slowly starts to pick up, and his eyes turn dark, expression changing with every turn of the music. Joy, fear, passion and desperation tell the story of escape from old demons and rebirth into a new self. As everything reaches a crescendo, it’s like his presence expands into the cavernous hall that seemed to swallow every one of it’s tiny guests earlier, filling the space until you felt like the walls might burst.

One fist clenched and shaking in the air, Hoseok ends his performance kneeling atop a raised dais in the middle of the stage. The air is so silent and heavy with awe you can hear his laboured breaths. His smile is so bright and victorious, you think you might be dreaming when it is literally blinding you in the shine of spotlights. It's then you realise he's actually got braces on. Your heart gives you a quiet, endearing sigh, and you agree with her.

Applause erupts, a standing ovation is given. It takes you a little longer to collect yourself, but you stand with the crowd too, and clap until your palms heat and sting.

He’s not dancing to the music, you think. He is the music.

_________________

PREV | NEXT

A/N: And with that we’re all caught up with the chapters I’ve also posted on A03! You can check me out there if you prefer A03 hehe. Will be releasing future chapters at the same time from now on. Hope everyone is having a ✨great day✨ xoxo

#joonclouds #POAW #hoseok #jung hoseok #hoseok fic #bts fic #hobi #hoseok fanfic #bts x reader

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harmony-and-the-multiphonics · 6 months ago

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We're Harmony and the Multiphonics! Come and say hi!

My name is Harmony, and I'm a travelling musician in Unova. I play all sorts of saxophones, and direct my band of pokemon, the multiphonics. Things are great! Even if we're a little down on our luck right now...

It's my life goal to someday play alongside Meloetta. If any of you have any leads on finding her, I wouldn't mind getting some help!

Good news! As of a little while ago, I am now the chosen of Meloetta! We're currently gigging in the Unova area, please please please hire us I promise it will be the show of a lifetime. Also, my hair colour has changed accordingly. So, I'm basically Miku now :)

Oh, yeah, you should probably...

Meet the band!

Maestoso the cricketune: My first partner and the wonderful cellist in the band. Gets anxious in his pokeball, so stays out of if most of the time

Marcato the maractus: A beautiful and extremely cuddly maractus who plays a mean grass whistle. Try not to get too drowsy! Also stays out of her pokeball for similar reasons. Very spoiled, needs cuddles every night

Soprano the chatot: Our lead singer! Very stuck up and a little picky, but he loves singing and performing. Just please don't teach him any curse words...

Adagio the loudred: plays some crazy subtones through his speakers. It's honestly a little scary... He's down to earth, and the chillest member of our little band.

And, of course, the newest member, Meloetta! Currently performing alonside Soprano for some amazing duets. It's honestly such a dream come true to have Meloetta with me... she's unsurprisingly sweet, as long as you don't interrupt her practice sessions...

Please feel free to interact!! We are broke and could use the marketing!

//ooc below

Hey there! I'm Band of @nbtelethia

Doing a little pokeblogging :)

Pelipper mail/unmail/malice: on, but no cash donations or nuggets or anything of the sort. Harmony being broke as hell is plot relevant

Musharna mail/malice: on!

Magic anons: lite mode enabled

Union circle: on!

All blogs free to interact, no exceptions

^ There is the picrew I used for the refs

#pkmn irl #rotomblr #pokeblogging #pokemon irl #pinned post #new pinned #intro post

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dustedmagazine · 4 years ago

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Slept Ons: The Best Records of 2020 That We Never Got Around To

Tattoos and shorts! How did we miss the Oily Boys?

It happens pretty much every year. After much fussing and second-guessing, the year-end list gets finalized, set in stone really, encapsulating 12 months of enthusiastic listening, and surely these are the best ten records anyone could find, right? Right? And then, a day or a week later, someone else puts up their list or records their year-end radio show, and there it is, the record you could have loved and pushed and written about…if only you’d known about it. My self-kick in the shins came during Joe Belock’s 2020 round-up on WFMU when he played the Chats. Others on our staff knew, earlier on, that they weren’t writing about records they loved for whatever reason — work, family, mp3 overload, etc. Except now they are. Here. Now. Enjoy.

Contributors include me (Jennifer Kelly), Eric McDowell, Jonathan Shaw, Justin Cober-Lake, Bill Meyer, Bryon Hayes, Ian Mathers, Andrew Forell, Michael Rosenstein and Patrick Masterson.

The Chats — High Risk Behavior (Bargain Bin)

High Risk Behaviour by The Chats

Cartoonishly primitive and gleefully out of luck, The Chats hurl Molotov cocktails of punk, bright and exploding even as they come. They’re from Australia, which totally makes sense; there’s a sunny, health-care-subsidized, devil-may-care vibe to their down-on-their luck stories. Musically, the songs are stripped down like Billy Childish, sped up like the Ramones, brute simple like Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Most of them are about alcohol: drinking, being drunk, getting arrested for being drunk, eating while drunk…etc. etc. But there’s an art to singing about getting hammered, and few manage the butt-headed conviction of “Drunk & Disorderly.” Its jungle rhythms, vicious, saw-toothed bass, quick knife jabs of guitar frame an all-hands drum-shocked chant: “Relaxation, mood alteration, boredom leads to intoxication.” Later singer Eamon Sandwith cuts right to the point about romance with the couplet, “I was cautious, double wrapped, but still I got the clap.” The album’s highlights include the most belligerently glorious song ever about cyber-fraud in “Identity Theft,” whose shout along chorus buoys you up, even as the dark web drains your savings account dry. The album strings together a laundry list of dead-end, unfortunate situations, one after another truly hopeless developments, but nonetheless it explodes with joy. Bandcamp says the guitar player has already left—so you’re too late to see the Chats live—but it must have been fun while it lasted.

Jennifer Kelly

Oliver Coates — skins n slime (RVNG Intl)

skins n slime by Oliver Coates

2020 was a year of loss, of losing, of feeling lost. Whether weathering the despair of illness and death, the discomfort of displacement or the drift of temporal reverie, English cellist Oliver Coates creates music to reflect all this and more on skins n slime. Using modulators, loops and effects, Coates employs elements from drone, shoegaze and industrial to extend the range of the cello and conjure otherworldly sounds of crushing intensity and great beauty. Beneath the layering, distortion and dissonance, the human element remains strong. The tactility of fingers and bow on strings and the expressive essence of tone form the core of Coates composition and performance. If his experiments seem a willful swipe at the restrictions of the classical world from whence he came, the visceral power of a track like “Reunification 2018”, which hunkers in the same netherworld as anything by Deathprod or Lawrence English, the liminal, static bedecked ache of “Honey” and the unadorned minimalism of “Caretaker Part 1 (Breathing)” are works of a serious talent. skins n slime is an album to sit with and soak in; allow it to percolate and permeate and you’ll find yourself forgetting the outside world, if only for a while.

Andrew Forell

Bertrand Denzler / Antonin Gerbal — Sbatax (Umlaut Records)

Sbatax by Denzler - Gerbal

Tenor sax player Bertrand Denzler and drummer Antonin Gerbal released this duo recording last summer which slipped under the radar of many listeners. Denzler is as likely to be heard these days composing and performing pieces by others in the French ensemble ONCEIM, playing solo, or in settings for quiet improvisation. But he’s been burning it up as a free jazz player for years now as well. Gerbal also casts a broad net, as a member of ONCEIM, deconstructing free bop in the group Peeping Tom, or recontextualizing the music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik along with Pat Thomas, Joel Grip and Seymour Wright in the group Ahmed amongst many other projects. The two have worked together in a variety of contexts for a decade now, recording a fantastic duo back in 2014. Sbatax, recorded five years later at a live performance in Berlin is a worthy follow-up.

Gerbal attacks his kit with ferocity out of the gate, with slashing cymbals and thundering kit, cascading along with drubbing momentum. Denzler charges in with a husky, jagged, repeated motif which he loops and teases apart, matching the caterwauling vigor of his partner straightaway. Over the course of this 40-minute outing, one can hear the two lock in, coursing forward with mounting intensity. Denzler increasingly peppers his playing with trenchant blasts and rasping salvos, riding along on Gerbal’s torrential fusillades. Throughout, one can hear the two dive deep in to free jazz traditions while shaping the arc of the improvisation with an acute ear toward the overall form of the piece. Midway through, Denzler steps back for a torrid drum solo, then jumps back in with renewed dynamism as the two ride waves of commanding potency and focus to a rousing conclusion, goaded on by the cheering audience. Anyone wondering whether there is still life in the tenor/drum duo format should dig this one up.

Michael Rosenstein

Kaelin Ellis — After Thoughts (self-released)

After Thoughts by KAELIN ELLIS

To be sure, “slept on” hardly characterizes Kaelin Ellis in 2020. After a trickle of lone tracks in the first months of the year, a Twitter video posted by the 23-year-old producer and multi-instrumentalist caught the attention of Lupe Fiasco, quickly precipitating the joint EP House. It’s a catchy story from any number of angles — the star-powered “discovery” of a young talent, the interconnectedness of the digital age, the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic — but it risks overshadowing Ellis’s two 2020 solo records: Moments, released in the lead-up to House, and After Thoughts, released in October. It doesn’t help that each album’s dozen tracks scarcely add up to as many minutes, or that the producer’s titles deliberately downplay the results. And some, of course, will judge these jazzy, deeply soulful beats only against their potential as platforms for some other, more extroverted artist. “I’d like to think I’m a jack of all trades,” Ellis told one interviewer, “but in all honesty my specialty is creating a space for others to stand out.”

Yet as with all small, good things, there’s reward in savoring these miniatures on their own terms, and After Thoughts in particular proved an unexpected retreat from last fall’s anxieties. Ellis has a poet’s gift for distillation and juxtaposition, a director’s knack for pathos and dramatic sequencing — powers that combine to somehow render a fully realized world. As fleeting as it is, Ellis’s work communicates a generosity of care and concentration, opening a space for others not just to stand out but also to settle in.

Eric McDowell

Lloyd Miller with Ian Camp and Adam Michael Terry — At the Ends of the World

At the Ends of the World by Lloyd Miller with Ian Camp and Adam Michael Terry

Miller and company fuse the feel of a contemporary classical concert with eastern modalities and instrumentation. The recordings sound live off the floor, and give a welcome sense of space and detail to the sensitive playing. Miller has explored the intersection between Persian and other cultural traditions and jazz through the lens of academic scholarship and recorded output since the 1960s. With this release, the performances linger in a space where vibe is as important as compositional structure. The results revel in the beauty when seemingly unrelated musical ideas emerge together in the same moment, with startling results.

Arthur Krumins

Oily Boys — Cro Memory Grin (Cool Death)

Cro Memory Grin by Oily Boys

The title of this 2020 LP by Australian punks Oily Boys sounds like a pun on “Cro-Magnon,” an outmoded scientific name for early humans. It’s apt: the music is smarter than knuckle-dragger beatdown or run-of-the-mill powerviolence, but still driven by a rancorous, id-bound savagery. The smarts are just perceptible enough to keep things pretty interesting. Some of the noisier, droning and semi-melodic stretches of Cro Memory Grin recall the records made by the Men (especially Leave Home) before they decided to try to make like Uncle Tupelo, or some lesser version of the Hold Steady. Oily Boys inhabit a darker sensibility, and their music is more profoundly bonkers than anything those other bands got up to. Aggro, discordant punk; flagellating hardcore burners; psych-rock-adjacent sonic exorcisms — you get it all, sometimes in a single five-minute passage of Cro Memory Grin (check out the sequence from “Lizard Scheme” to “Heat Harmony” to “Stick Him.” Yikes). A bunch of the tunes spill over into one another, feedback and sustain jumping the gap from one track to the next, which gives the record a live vibe. It feels volatile and sweaty. The ill intent and unmitigated nastiness accumulate into a palpable force, tainting the air and leaving stains on your tee shirt. Oily Boys have been kicking around Sydney’s punk scene since at least 2014, but this is their first full-length record. One hopes they can continue to play with this degree of possessed abandon without completing burning themselves to down to smoldering cinders. At least long enough to record some more music.

Jonathan Shaw

Dougie Poole — The Freelancer's Blues (Wharf Cat)

The Freelancer's Blues by Dougie Poole

A cursory listen might misconstrue the heart of Dougie Poole's second album, The Freelancer's Blues. When he mixes his wobbly country sound with lyrics like those in “Vaping on the Job,” it sounds like genre play, a smirking look at millennial life through an urban cowboy's vintage sound. Poole does target a particular set of issues, but mapping them with his own slightly psychedelic country comes with very little of the postmodern itch. His characters feel just as troubled as anyone coming out of 1970s Nashville, and as Poole explores these lives with wit and empathy, the songs quickly find their resonance.

The album, though it wouldn't reach for pretentious terms, carries an existential problem at its center. Poole circles around the fundamental void: work deadens, relocation doesn't help, spiritual pursuits falter, intelligence burdens, and even the drugs don't help. When Poole finally gets the title track, the preceding album gives his confession extra weight, a mix of life's strictures and personal limitation combining for a crisis best avoided but wonderfully shared. The Freelancer's Blues comes rich in Nashville tradition but finds an ideal fit in its contemporary place, likely providing a soundtrack for a variety of times and spaces yet to come.

Justin Cober-Lake

Schlippenbach Quartett — Three Nails Left (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)

You might say that this record has been slept on twice. The second recording to be released by the Alexander von Schlippenbach, Evan Parker and Paul Lovens (augmented this time by Peter Kowald) was released in 1975, and didn’t get a second pressing — on vinyl — until 2019. So, Corbett Vs. Dempsey stepped up last summer, it had never been on CD. But this writer was so stumped on how to relate how intense, startling, and unlike any other free improvisation it was and is, that he just… slept on it. Until now. Even if you know this band, if you don’t know this album, well, it’s time you got acquainted.

Bill Meyer

Stonegrass — Stonegrass (Cosmic Range)

STONEGRASS by Stonegrass

Released on the cusp of a tentative re-opening for the city of Toronto after two months of lock-down, this slab of psychedelic funk-rock was the perfect antidote to the COVID blues when it arrived at the tail end of a Spring spent in near-isolation. The jam sessions that became Stonegrass were also a new beginning for multi-instrumentalist Matthew “Doc” Dunn and drummer Jay Anderson, who reignited a spirit of collaboration after a decade of sonic estrangement following the demise of their Spiritual Sky Blues Band project. Listening to these songs, you’d never know they spent any time apart. The tight, bottom-wagging jams on offer are evidence that these two are joined together at the third eye. Anderson’s grooves run deep, and Dunn — whether he’s traipsing along on guitar, keys or flutes — is right there with him. There’s enough fuzz here to satiate the heads, but the real treat here is the rhythmic interplay. Strap in and prepare to get down.

Bryon Hayes

Bob Vylan — We Live Here EP (Venn Records)

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Bob Vylan flew under the radar in 2020 successfully enough that when someone nominated them for the best of 2020 poll in Tom Ewing’s Peoples’ Pop Polls project on Twitter (each month a different year or category gets voted on in World Cup-style brackets, it’s great fun and only occasionally maddening), most of the reaction was “is that one a typo?” Nobody had that response after listening to “We Live Here” — my wife also participates in the poll, so we just play all the candidates in our apartment, and Bob Vylan was the first time both of our jaws dropped in amazement; the song got played about ten times in a row at that point. Bobby (vocals/guitar/production) and Bobbie (drums/“spiritual inspiration”) Vylan’s 18-minute EP lives up to that title track, fireball after fireball aimed directly at the corrupt, crumbling, racist state that seems utterly indifferent to human suffering unless there’s profit in it. Whether it’s the raging catharsis of the title track or the cool, precise hostility of “Lynch Your Leaders,” Bob Vylan have made something vital and essential here, that very much speaks to 2020 but sadly will stay relevant long past it.

Ian Mathers

Working Men’s Club — Working Men’s Club (Heavenly Recordings)

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It’s been evident these past few years that I’ve retreated from music and committed myself to the slower world of books as a way of giving my mind a break from the accelerating madness outside, but I could never really leave my radio family the same way I could never really leave Dusted. Another great example why: A fellow CHIRP volunteer played “John Cooper Clarke” in a December Zoom social I actually managed to catch, and I’ve been addicted to Working Men’s Club’s debut LP from October ever since. The quartet hails from Todmodren, a market town you won’t be surprised upon listening to discover is roughly equidistant between Leeds and Manchester; the album screams Hacienda vibes in its seamless integration of post-punk signifiers and dancefloor style. It’s easy to bandy about names from Rip It Up and Start Again or even The Velvet Underground in 12-minute closer “Angel,” certainly one of the most arresting tracks of the year, but the thing that struck me immediately is that this was the record I’d always anticipated but never got from Factory Floor — smart, aloof and occasionally calculated, yet still fun enough to play for any crowd itching to move. Until the community of a dance party or Working Men’s Club live set is once again possible, patience and a fully formed first album will have to suffice. You’ll have to imagine the part where I corner you at the party to rave about it, I’m afraid.

Patrick Masterson

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thestorytellersapprentice · 5 years ago

Text

Pulled out of Orbit

Pairing: Jo Yeong/Myeong Seung-ah

Fandom: The King: Eternal Monarch

Tags: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff

Summary: Being in a possible courtship with Jo Yeong sucked. One minute, he could be so sweet (albeit also such a grandma), but next he could act like such a prick, she wanted to throw something at his head.

Notes: Unbeta-ed. Post drama. A direct continuation to "Over Booze and Buzz", and references "Duality of a Man", but the two fics are not absolutely required to read and enjoy this. This can also work as a stand-alone, though their relationship in this fic will feel more natural if you’ve read the mentioned fics as companions :)

Link: ArchiveofOurOwn / Fic Master list on Tumblr

~ How would you feel, if you had this crush on someone who you thought was really, really cool, the best on his field, the shield of the nation, the personification of an action hero, just, like, insanely cool and all, okay, and said crush had just swooped in and whisked you away from - well, at the expense of sounding a little bit dramatic - death? Would you even have any brain capacity to put together even a coherent thought?

No?

Yeah, same here, Myeong Seung-ah concluded.

“It's just a graze,” the doctor, a kind-looking man in his early seventies who had tended to her, had said after inspecting her wound.

Seung-ah blinked several times, trying to scare the blurriness away.

She was vaguely aware that she was still vertical, sitting somewhere inside the medical van. Her entire body was still kind of sore from the impact, and some part of the back of her head still throbbed, ever slightly. She tried to hold up the ice pack against her head properly, but her arm felt like jelly, nearly with no energy left.

“You might have a mild concussion," the doctor continued as he finished up bandaging her upper arm. "Make sure you have someone staying with you tonight."

Seung-ah nodded at that, but her mind was not really there. Instead, she flashed back to the series of events which just happened.

One minute she was standing to the side, busy composing and drafting posts of the King’s opening speech for the official Royal SNS account, and the next thing she knew, gunshots rang out loud inside the stadium and chaos ensued. She barely had time to register what the hell had just happened when she caught him on her line of sight: the shooter, a masked man with the black baseball cap. He was emptying his gun blindly among the fleeing crowds before turning his aim at her general direction.

If someone had asked her what thought crossed her mind at that fateful time, then Myeong Seung-ah could only answer with: nothing.

It all happened too fast.

She just knew that she was completely frozen, rooted on her spot, and then another gunshot rang out - too loud, why is it so loud - and then she just remembered the blur of a shadow came in between the bullet and her, tackling her to the ground, hard.

It took Seung-ah a while - felt too much like a lifetime - to realize that it was Jo Yeong.

The Captain had her pinned down, his body covering her view completely from the madman as he wasted no time barking orders to secure His Majesty away and take the assailant down. She remembered taking a peek over his shoulders in muted awareness, seeing his fellow royal guards swarming in on the shooter. A couple of guys from the special forces, identifiable from their all-black uniform, also joined in, all of their weapons drawn up.

So, yeah, basically, she was almost shot.

If the Captain hadn't tackled her to the ground, then she was sure that her body would be decorated by bullet holes by now. She knew how extremely lucky she was that the bullet just grazed her. If it was a couple of centimeters more to the side, then-

Seung-ah stopped that trail of thought.

Her head spun.

She could not stop herself to recall that it was not her first time being rescued by the Captain. Curiously, it just happened that both times involved a madman with a gun.

If she was a believer that there was no such thing as mere coincidences, only fate, then Seung-ah would definitely interpret it as a clear warning sign from the Universe: stay very far away from this man, he’s dangerous.

She turned in her seat, seeking him out.

Her head throbbed even more from the movement, but she was more overwhelmed by how it felt like her heart just made a weird flip inside her chest as she realized that the man in question, Captain Jo Yeong, was still there, on the exact same spot she last saw him after he had rushed her to the medic.

He was still standing on the edge of the opened van, his gaze directed slightly to the side, sporting a hard expression on his face. He looked like he could and had every intention to murder someone.

Yeah, he definitely is dangerous.

“She’s okay, Jo daejangnim,” the elderly doctor got up to approach the Captain. He ducked his head to avoid the ceiling. “Mild concussion, perhaps, but as long as she’s careful, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Thank you, Doctor Byun,“ Seung-ah heard him say quietly.

The doctor patted the younger man on the shoulder before he exited the vehicle, presumably to talk to his team.

Directly after, the Captain climbed into the van and took the seat beside her. He kept a calculated distance, but it was still close enough for their shoulders and knees to touch.

His gaze first landed on her newly bandaged arm, before moving up to her face and lingered there. Their eyes locked. “You really feel okay?”

“Guess so,” Seung-ah replied, probably a beat too soon, but what else could she respond to that? It was not as if she could tell the man beside her that it took a great deal of her self-restraint not to just lean on his shoulder right there and then.

She wondered briefly if he would let her. He did allow, and even initiate, things to happen between them already, so it was a fair assumption that she had the privilege. But she thought better of it.

She just felt extremely tired and wanted to sleep, so, so bad.

Seung-ah crossed her arms purposefully. Her hands were still shaking, slightly, but she hoped he didn’t notice.

There was no such luck, though, she could see it from the way one his eyebrows twitched slightly upon her lie. But he did not make a comment.

Instead, he just let out a long, low exhale, before continuing on, his voice soft and steady, “Come on, let’s get you home.”

In the car, the next thing Seung-ah did after giving him her address was to call Choi Soo-ji, her childhood friend. She did hear and remember the kind doctor's advice not to be alone, and she intended to comply.

If she was being honest with herself, of course she wanted no one but Jo Yeong himself to stay with her that night. But even at her most self-serving state, Seung-ah knew how crazy it sounded and she would not even entertain that idea any further.

She chose to focus her attention to Choi Soo-ji instead. "Soo-ji-ya, can you come over and stay with me tonight?"

"Right now? What's the occasion?" Soo-ji was a cellist and Seung-ah knew that she was currently busy preparing for her solo recital, but she just felt awkward phoning her other friends. She mostly got estranged from most of them except for Soo-ji when she was living in Canada. Choi Soo-ji was kind of her only hope.

"I-"

Seung-ah thought it over quickly, thinking of how much she should tell her. Her friend would find out the truth from the news pretty soon anyway, if she hadn’t already. Seung-ah assumed it was futile to try dodging the question, so she finally settled on the following, "I banged my head at work today. Need you to monitor me, just in case I grow two heads or something."

At the end of the line, her so-called best friend just responded with: "Don't you have those already?"

“Yah, Choi Soo-ji,” Seung-ah chided. But actually, she was glad that her friend chose to joke about it. There was a lifelong understanding between them, and she was really not in the mood to answer any more questions than what was necessary.

The cellist chuckled. “Alright then. Some heads up, though, I’m gonna raid your chocolate and ice cream stash. I’m this close to losing my mind!”

After they both said their goodbyes, Seung-ah stole a glance sideways at the Captain as she ended the call.

For some reason, she found herself at a loss for words, wondering what she should open their conversation with. It was weird, really, because she usually had no problem teasing him or anything. But at that moment, her mind just went blank.

True, they had kissed that night during the King's birthday, not just in the locker room, but also at the secluded halls of the palace. (It was one of the perks of getting it from a Royal Guard who knew precisely where all the CCTV cameras were by heart.) And Seung-ah had to stress that the kissing part was good. More than good, actually.

It was intense, and a little bit rough.

It was everything she imagined it would be and then more-

But they hadn’t even had the chance to have the talk.

Both were practically swept away with their respective responsibilities right after the party ended. Him, with the security debriefing, and her, with the event photos and publication which needed to move on tight deadlines.

After that, the following few days happened to be a busy period for the Captain, something that Seung-ah herself was also privy to as a staff of the PA Office. The King and Royal Court always had several public appearances scheduled right following his birthday, many which she also helped to organize, and she and her coworkers had been working around the clock to accommodate the sudden changes which always seemed to happen around such events.

Between the two of them, phone messages were exchanged and short calls were occasionally made, but they all happened sporadically. Often, he would reply to her messages on all sorts of odds hours. In return, she would feel bad engaging him in extended trivial conversations, so their message thread was a mess of half-baked inquiries and choppy attempts at discourse.

She was even worried that he was not getting enough sleep as he should, so Seung-ah had to practice a whole lot of self-restraints.

Being in a possible courtship with Jo Yeong sucked.

Of course, she would like to know where they stood too. Were they considered dating already? Were they still strictly coworkers, but he's still trying to court her? Was it still the other way around, her chasing him? Or all of it didn't mean anything to him?

Seung-ah was pretty sure it wouldn't come to the last option, though. She was not a genius, but the fact that the Captain of the Royal Guards chose to stay with her and take her home instead of guarding the King in the aftermath of such a huge incident felt like a declaration already, coming from him.

So, why was she being so nervous, all of the sudden?

It should be the uncomfortable silence which fell between them. He didn’t even turn on his radio, no surprise there, but even for his standards, it was a new level of quietness.

It unnerved her.

What really did not help was that his cell phone, which was connected to his car systems, kept ringing and ringing, and he kept declining the calls. He had even taken off his earpiece too, she realized belatedly when she noticed that his right ear was bare, no device in sight.

She really tried to make sense of the mood - his mood, to be more specific, but she was only able to come up with one easy assumption: he must be furious.

"Daejangnim?" she started, testing the water.

He did not even give her any indication that he heard her.

"Are you....angry?" She took a pause, unsure if she should continue. But she did. She wanted to know. "With me?"

Seung-ah watched him carefully as his furrowed brows deepened upon hearing the question.

"No,” he replied. Icy. Curt. Dismissive. What he said totally contradicted how he said it.

At times like these, she just hated his monosyllabic tendencies.

He confused her further though, by finally turning to look at her as they stopped in traffic. “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?" He had said, his tone was tender this time around. "I'll wake you when we've arrived."

Seung-ah decided she would just agree to his suggestion. Her head did feel heavy, and his ever changing moods were a bit too much for her to also deal with at the moment.

Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the window, and soon drifted off.

"Be sure to give the hospital a call on the first sign of discomfort, okay?" He reminded her, seemed to revert back to his gentle self when he escorted her to her front door. "Watch out for any ringing in your ears, nausea, or even if you experience any sleep disruption."

"I will. Thank you for taking me home, daejangnim," she said, basking in his attention.

"Has your friend arrived already?”

“Hang on.”

Soo-ji knew her passcode, so Seung-ah just needed to key in her code and check her apartment’s entryway for her friend’s shoes to know the answer. And right on cue, Soo-ji’s bright red pumps greeted her sight. They were already lined up neatly beside her boots and heels, in exchange for one of her room slippers.

“Ah, yes, she’s here already,” Seung-ah informed him, feeling a pang of disappointment. She would not get the chance to invite the Captain inside for a quick tea after all. She was not ready for him to meet any of her friends just yet, even if said friend was Soo-ji. Especially Soo-ji, with her Spanish Inquisition.

“Okay then,” Jo Yeong had said. He nodded his goodbye greeting and then turned on his heels. She caught the sight of him instantly re-attaching his earpiece as he started to go down the stairs.

Seung-ah stayed put, leaving her door open as she watched his receding back for a while. The Captain finally took his phone out and answered his call. “Cut it out, Heok-pil. You don't have to keep calling me. I've told you, I'll deal with it after I got back-"

She could still hear his frustrated sigh from her doorway, before his voice became fainter as he expanded the distance. "Fine, might as well. Just put him on.”

Seung-ah visibly deflated.

Being in a potential courtship with Jo Yeong totally sucks, big time.

At first, she thought that it should be a mistake.

But then she reread and reread the latest email that the Captain of the Royal Guards had just sent to the whole PA Office regarding their latest proposal, and then she just went angrier by the minute. No, enraged.

She never thought such a day would come. Not that soon, anyway.

"Where is Jo daejangnim?" demanded Seung-ah to her Royal Guards acquaintance, Park In-young, whom she encountered just outside of the Royal Guards Headquarter which also served as the Palace’s Control Tower.

The Royal Guard in question had just closed the door to said office behind her. “He’s inside,” In-young replied.

She should have noticed the fire in her eyes, because In-young continued a beat later, her tone urgent, “Hey, you don't want to disturb him right now, Miss Myeong Seung-ah."

Why the hell not, was what she’d like to say, but it was not In-young she was furious with. So, Seung-ah settled with, "Why not?"

"He had been pulling all-nighters for several days now. Heok-pil had gotten such an earful about some minor typos in his report, Jo daejangnim looked like he’s this close to explode. He is scariest whenever he’s trying to hold it in instead, you know.”

Ah, so he still retained his murderous mood from the incident, Seung-ah thought.

“We all have been walking in eggshells,” she concluded. "Tread with caution."

“Thank you for the warning,” Seung-ah replied, even though she felt like she did not give a damn.

At that time, she would bet that she was even angrier than him, though strictly only for professional reasons. On the personal front, her relationship with the Captain was having very little progress since he had dropped her off last week, but it was indeed peak season for both and they took their respective jobs very seriously, so she had no complaints on that subject as of yet. What also helped was his last text to her, which was stamped at 5:02 a.m. that morning, consisted of a sincere morning greeting and a gentle reminder to bring her umbrella to work that day because of the weather forecast. She had been woken up to it with a smile on her face.

Jo Yeong could be sweet when he wanted to (albeit also such a grandma).

But he could also turn into such a prick at work.

“Jo daejangnim, I would like some explanation, please," she wasted no time stating her disapproval right after she entered his office. She marched up towards his desk. "You can't just-"

Seung-ah stopped herself when she finally arrived in front of him.

He looked bad. Well, that was such a quick way to describe it, actually, but it did sum up the sight before her at that moment.

When she approached, he was in the middle of pinching his temples with one hand, rubbing them with his thumb and middle finger in circular motion. The Captain stopped what he was doing, though, once he clearly registered her voice. When he lowered his hand, Yeong looked weary, the dark circles under his eyes were unmistakable, and he was slightly paler than usual.

He let out an annoyed exhale as he rose up from his seat to meet her gaze.

His voice came out scarily level then, like it took him a great deal not to chew her up right then and there. "I've sent memos to the Royal Public Affairs Office about our code of conduct, have I not? You cannot just propose a new event, on such an open space, consisting of such outrageous proposals to involve so many civilians on divided fronts, with just a week's notice to the Royal Guards. I have explained it all in the documents, which now I doubt you read."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the remaining Royal Guards in the room try to shuffle quietly towards the door.

"But you cannot just make the recommendation to dismiss the whole event. We've worked hard for months on it-”

"I can, and I just did," he stood his ground. At that point, he gave her an unflinching glare.

Seung-ah felt like crying in frustrations.

The Royal Public Affairs, especially she, had been working on the event for months. They planned on revamping the Royal Court image to reflect the modern times and promote science and knowledge all at the same time by inviting carefully selected digital influencers from various backgrounds to a single conference: from biotechnology scientists, startup practitioners, financial advisors, to entrepreneurs and digital marketers. There should be a packed schedule of interactive presentations, and each of the influencers would be prompted to stream the conference’s contents to their own platforms. Offline and online spreading of knowledge and networking opportunities, all at once.

The King, being a man of science and knowledge himself, had been reviewing the initiative with enthusiasm right from the start. He had even volunteered his expanded time to collaborate on-site with a few of the influencers.

To say that the event was a big deal for Seung-ah was a bit of an understatement.

"I'm just trying to understand," her voice quivered slightly then.

Yeong closed his eyes at that, his eyebrows knitted even more than usual as he let out a long exhale. "Please, not now, Miss Myeong Seung-ah."

When he reopened his eyes, she was stunned to see the resigned plea in his eyes. "My head hurts," he said, quietly.

She softened in an instant.

"I'm sorry if I make it worse," she said, her anger evaporated. “I just-”

She did not finish her sentence. Everything she had been prepared to counterattack him with felt awfully childish then. She had never seen the Captain like that. He made her both confused and slightly terrified at the same time.

They fell into a pregnant pause.

Yeong threw his gaze away from her after a while. And then, after drawing in a breath, he finally confessed, "I- I did not even think about Pyeha when I dived in to save you."

Seung-ah froze, taking his admission in. The patterns and connections started to form in her head.

He should have felt lost, she realized. Jo Yeong, the best swordsman of the nation, whose single focus for almost the entirety of his life was to protect His Majesty and His Majesty only, suddenly had his life priorities yanked from under him.

How was she supposed to know that her initiative to have both the King and herself circling the conference independently all day long was enough to push the Captain over the edge?

He looked absolutely terrified. "Look what you've done to me, Miss Myeong Seung-ah."

Seung-ah rushed over to him then, hugging him real tight. Her heart ached seeing him that way. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I make it harder for you. I didn't know you feel that way."

He burrowed his head on the crook of her neck, returning her embrace.

They stayed like that for a while.

"I'll follow your stupid rules, then,” Seung-ah relented, her voice half muffled by his shirt.

Yeong let out an incredulous chuckle.

Finally, Seung-ah thought, the tightness in her chest instantly dissipated. She would have to overhaul her proposal, but she supposed it’s worth it. She realized that she was way too lenient with the man.

"Thank you," he replied quietly. He broke their embrace to look at her properly. “Just this once. Next time, give me much more time to prepare, will you? We can go over the best course of action together."

“I need to make sure I can protect both you and the Majesty at all times,” was unsaid, but he didn’t need to spell it out for her. She could see it in his eyes, loud and clear.

“It’ll be my pleasure,” she replied, already pulling him into another hug.

A few minutes passed, and when it should’ve dawned on him that she probably wouldn’t budge anytime soon, Yeong finally voiced his concern, "Uh, Seung-ah?"

"Let me be," she said. "Just for five minutes more. I just had a fight with my captain, I need some time to calm myself down."

Somewhere above her, she heard Yeong made a mortified noise.

She just stood there, comforted by the sound of his beating heart. Strong. Steady. The one who's worried for her. Her protector.

Seung-ah's smiles got wider as Yeong started to caress her hair.

Being in a courtship with Jo Yeong can be so wonderful, her heart is full.

#jo yeong #myeong seung ah #myung seung ah #woo do hwan #kim yong ji #king: eternal monarch #because there's not enough fics of them #because they're just too cute #for some reason my post doesn't show up on feed #hm curious

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