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jasonbehrs · 3 years

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i wanna read every word, chapter 2

by airauralintensity (aka me, jasonbehrs!)

“Have you ever fallen in love with someone you’ve never met?” “Uh, do you mean like we’ve-been-doing-long-distance-slash-online-dating or like I’ve-been-crushing-on-the-cute-barista-at-the-library-cafe?” “Ummm, more like I’ve-read-their-poems-and-sure-they’re-very-talented-but-their-handwriting-alone-makes-me-smile.” “… That’s oddly specific.”

fandom: kpop, super junior characters: eunhyuk, ryeowook; guest appearances by the rest of sj-m and yesung ship: eunwook genre: romantic comedy themes: alternate endings, strangers to lovers, handwriting, identity reveal setting: college chapter: 2/4 word count: 5.2k

read it below or on ffnet, aff, wattpad

A/N (6.6.2021): Welcome to the next installment folks! Some clarifying things:

- This is the first of two alternate endings to the story, which answers the question, 'What if Ryeowook finds out first?'

- I got some interesting reviews/PMs about the last chapter? Eunhyuk isn't pining after Yesung or anything, and I didn't mean to indicate that would be an aspect of the story. If you were looking forward to it, I'll be disappointing you today haha. Feel free to let me know how much you hate me in a review ;)

Also, today would have been my grandmother's 102nd birthday, so I'm dedicating this chapter to her since she always loved seeing me write. Love you, Nanay!

~~~

He and Hyukjae haven't hung out alone before, but he's sure this won't be awkward. Their only real link may have just been Yesung, but Hyukjae successfully ingrained himself into their entire friend group in the short weeks since they first met. Besides, even if Hyukjae weren't so willing to help him with his twisted scavenger hunt for love, Ryeowook thinks he'd like to hang out with him some time anyway. He's grown to like Hyukjae, really.

At least, that's what he tells himself when he turns the corner and sees Hyukjae sitting alone on a bench in the quad with his legs crossed, a laptop over one knee and an open notebook on the other, waiting for him to arrive.

Ryeowook takes a breath to steel his nerves then heads over to plop himself right next to the other. He doesn't say anything and takes out his own work instead. They don't have to start with the crush thing.

"Ah, my favourite person under 5'2". How do you do?" Hyukjae snarks without pausing his typing.

In response, Ryeowook uses a single finger to tip Hyukjae's notebook onto the ground without remorse.

"Ya!" Hyukjae picks up his notebook and slaps Ryeowook with it.

On the downswing, Ryeowook freezes.

"Oh shit, did I hit you that hard? Sorry, I didn't mean to," Hyukjae hurriedly apologises, but that's not it at all.

Ryeowook had caught a glimpse of the notes hurriedly scrawled across the open book. He would recognise that handwriting anywhere.

"Why don't we get started then," Hyukjae offers uneasily, eyeing how Ryeowook's stance hadn't relaxed yet. "Um, did you bring a copy of one of the notes like we discussed?"

Of course he did. Ryeowook was so excited to be one step closer to identifying the person behind the song lyrics that took up as much space in his brain as his Food Sciences lecture notes, he had brought the whole ass scrapbook with him, eager to show off his favourites to a new and willing audience.

But now, Ryeowook is panicking. He found the object of his affections much sooner than for which he was ready; and said object is sitting right next to him, staring at him expectantly and eager to help.

Not letting himself think it through, Ryeowook rummages through his bag looking for viable scraps of paper. There is no way he is going to hand Hyukjae's own work to him, so he makes do with what he's got.

He bypasses the lyric samples he actually prepared for today's meeting and found ones of his own making which he had intended to recycle weeks ago but never got around to. He silently thanks himself for this terrible habit as he frantically smooths out the small squares of paper before handing them to Hyukjae.

The other raises his eyebrows as he reads through the papers. "Damn, I was hoping that maybe one of these things had even a little similarity to an assignment we've heard so far, but no dice."

Ryeowook nods, affecting understanding disappointment even as he privately rejoices.

"Do you mind if I keep these? I can, like, surreptitiously check people's notebooks during group assignments," he offers with a laugh. "Pearl blue sticky notes can't be that common in a class of 50, right?''

Ryeowook smiles, wide and fake. "Fingers crossed!"

~Even though we're making awkward conversation, it's clear that we're happy to be together.~

Thus proceeds their search for Poem Person. (The gender-neutral nickname Mi had come up with stuck even after Hyukjae revealed those were not actually poems being left behind. Alliterative nicknames are just so catchy.)

"Okay, what if we tie a balloon to your chair and hope Poem Person likes balloons enough to take it with them around campus?" "No way, they won't take it." "How could you possibly be so sure?"

Sometimes, it's Hyukjae coming up with ridiculous plots.

"Trust me. They curl their lowercase L's." "I'm gonna let this go, but I want you to know that makes zero sense."

Plots which Ryeowook foils with equally ridiculous reasoning.

"''We might have never known each other, but we crossed faraway paths and came together. We crossed the distance of a stranger that's farther away than space.' Huh, not bad." "You think so?"

Sometimes, it's Hyukjae asking to read more of the scraps that Ryeowook collects, partially so Hyukjae can make fun of him, but mostly so that he has more clues.

"Yeah. I mean, it doesn't help me at all, but your man's got a way with words. I wonder why he doesn't submit any of the stuff you've shown me for class. It's worth critiquing."

An ask which forces Ryeowook to wrack his brain for passable imitations of song-lyrics-that-could-be-mistakenly-construed-as-poems and to get used to writing with his nondominant hand.

"Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass." "Really? You're passing on Park Hyungsik?"

Today, neither of them are feeling very motivated, so Hyukjae pulls up the Facebook profiles of his classmates and let Ryeowook play smash or pass because "it's fun to hear strangers' opinions on people you know."

"Oh, absolutely. Does that guy look like he cares where he dots his i's and j's? Hard pass," Ryeowook maintains.

Hyukjae shakes his head in amazement as he pulls back his phone. "You'll meet him one day, and you'll regret this moment; mark my words. Hyungsik is universally loved. Honestly, I'm not convinced yet Poem Person isn't him. He fits basically all of your criteria."

Ryeowook has to actively smother a knowing smirk. "What a shame."

He didn't come clean to Hyukjae in the quad that day because he panicked. Ryeowook was not mentally ready to meet the object of his affections so soon, much more confess, so he acted on impulse to buy himself some time.

Once he had it, he got curious.

It's no secret that Ryeowook had built up an idea of what Poem Person is like. The lyrics provided some insight, of course; but most of his intuition came from the handwriting itself. From what he could see, Poem Person was supposed to be intensely passionate, excitingly impulsive, and almost sickeningly romantic.

"Okay, how about this guy?" Hyukjae asks as he passes his phone over again.

Ryeowook takes one look at the screen and snorts. "Very funny. Pass."

The app is opened to a photo of Hyukjae himself posed unnaturally on a couch wearing a forward-facing snapback perched atop his head and an awkward half-smile, and Ryeowook refuses to look at it any longer before he does something he'll regret, like coo affectionately.

"Pass!?" Hyukjae repeats with mock-incredulity. "Don't you think he looks charming and witty and oh-so-loveable?"

Ryeowook indeed had a lot of thoughts about what Poem Person would look like, and 'charming,' 'witty,' and 'oh-so-loveable' have indeed flitted through his mind. Actually, Ryeowook finds that Hyukjae and Poem Person aren't altogether dissimilar.

Hyukjae is passionate about his craft, to be sure, but it doesn't occupy every one of his waking moments like Ryeowook expected. He is as much of a romantic as the next person is, but really Hyukjae is poetic, a distinction Ryeowook learns and appreciates very early on. Hyukjae is a little too thoughtful to be so impulsive, but his quick wit and ability to do/say/become whatever a situation calls for more than fulfill the quota for chaos that underlay Ryeowook's original supposition.

So yes, Ryeowook is withholding the truth so that he can slot the person he made up in his head into the person Hyukjae is, but it's been worth it.

"He looks like a brat and like his feet smell." "YAH! My shoes don't breathe!" "Get better shoes, then." "Give me the money, then." "Get a job, then." "That's not fair! Helping you find Poem Person is basically my part-time job!" "Consider it more of an unpaid internship."

Before Hyukjae takes his turn to volley back, his phone rings in his hand.

"Ah, as much fun as this was, I gotta go. I have a mini-showcase coming up, and I've been slacking on rehearsals." He shakes his phone towards Ryeowook, and the latter could see an alarm screen that reads "get your dumb ass to the gulliver center!"

Ryeowook's heart beats a noticeable thump thump all of a sudden. "Can I come with?"

"S-sure," Hyukjae says, shocked by the offer. "But why?"

That's a great question. For now, he says, "Because your internship is getting in the way of your studies, and I feel bad," but later, he'll know it's because he didn't want his time with Hyukjae to end so soon.

A grateful grin spreads across Hyukjae's face, and Ryeowook will add that onto his list of reasons later as well. "An audience is always welcome."

In no time, Hyukjae is in a practise room in the athletic center stretching his limbs every which way while Ryeowook watches as intently as possible while feigning interest in literally anything else in the room.

The bass-heavy noise music that Hyukjae puts on startles his attention back onto the dancer, and Ryeowook can no longer hide how blatantly he stares.

Hyukjae moves through the choreography so fluidly it almost looks lazy. He goes from jagged angles and harsh lines to sinewy curves and rolling waves to strong stomps and high jumps with no hesitation. He plays with the rhythm of the music, and he makes full use of the space available to him. Ryeowook is barely processing one impressive move when Hyukjae executes another one; and before he knows it, the performance is over.

"So," Hyukjae pants, "what'd ya think?"

"It's…" Jaw-dropping. Powerful. Hot. "… impressive," Ryeowook says at last.

Hyukjae smiles tightly. "Thanks. It actually needs a bit of work for the showcase, but I don't think the routine is all too shabby."

Ryeowook watches as Hyukjae watches himself through the mirror, redoing parts of the choreography over and over again at different tempos just to fine-tune his movements, and he can't help but feel like Hyukjae needed more from him.

"Um, I wonder if maybe it's lacking emotion?"

All movement halts. "What?"

Ryeowook didn't mean to say that; but now that it's out, he finds himself needing to continue. "You move well, um, obviously," he gestures awkwardly to Hyukjae's person, fighting a blush. "It looks physically difficult, sure, but what is it that you're trying to say? Like, I'm guessing you chose that song, too, right? So, why?"

Hyukjae stands in the middle of the room, arms limp by his side, and staring at Ryeowook with an unnervingly blank look on his face. Ryeowook hastily backpedals, "But hey, what do I know? I'm sure your professors will watch you and see all the nuances I can't with my untrained peon eyes. I was just… talking to talk, I guess."

"No, but I think you have a point," Hyukjae interjects.

Ryeowook perks up. "I do?"

"Yeah, like… I was so focused on trying to show what I can do with something only I could do, but that means basically nothing when any one of my classmates could learn my routine with only a week of practise. The only way I would be able to stand out is from whatever I put into it, but you made me realise I didn't put anything into it." He plops on the floor, eyebrows furrowed in consternation.

Ryeowook shakes his head adamantly. "No, no! There's clearly something there! You just need to, like, bring it out more. You have that whole idea—that this is something only you can do. You can take that, morph your routine into a testament to your need to prove yourself. Start with some trepidation, throw some desperation in the middle, and end with triumph. Honestly, I think I saw a little bit of that in your performance already. Maybe it was an accident, but now, just… do it on purpose."

"'Do it on purpose,'" Hyukjae repeats to himself. His head is down, so Ryeowook can't immediately tell what he thinks of the idea. He's ready to apologise again, even offer to go home so that Hyukjae can concentrate better, but then Hyukjae raises his head. "Alright, let me give that a try."

His eyes are filled with will and determination. Ryeowook, of all people, put those there.

He sits back and watches Hyukjae rehearse his routine over and over again, getting better and more evocative each time.

The Hyukjae before him is not a Hyukjae Ryeowook would have been able to guess based on his handwriting and lyrics alone.

Ryeowook knows basically nothing about dancing; but over the past few weeks, he's really come to know Hyukjae. He's noticed how the other is prone to express himself through movement, like when he accentuates his stories with body language and physical reenactments. It belies a comfort and confidence with his body and what it can do with which Ryeowook could never empathise. It's a subtle thing, but impactful nevertheless.

He smothers it down because he doesn't want to give Hyukjae the wrong idea, but he wants to laugh.

Only he could fall for a dancer's words first before anything else, and only he could fall for the same person twice.

~Where should I start? When should I say it? Darling, our seconds, our minutes together were beautiful.~

"Ryeowook, why haven't you asked to see my handwriting yet?"

"What?"

They had commandeered a study room in the library, but honestly neither of them are making a lot of headway in their respective assignments. Ryeowook didn't want anything to do with Organic Chemistry, but this conversation is making him reconsider his previous stance.

"Isn't that what you're into? Trying to infer people's personalities based on their handwriting?"

"I'm not into it. It just happened."

"Okay, sure, but aren't you, like, good at it now? Read mine! Tell me what it says about me."

Ryeowook, desperate to squash this idea immediately, blurts out. "It… It won't work!"

"Why not?" Hyukjae pouts.

Ryeowook scrambles. "Because I know you already. Yeah. I'll see and interpret things in a way that confirms what I already know."

Hyukjae eyebrows furrow in what Ryeowook can presume is consternation. "Sorry," he offers feebly.

Some more time passes, and Ryeowook makes mild progress on his O-Chem work, before Hyukjae speaks up again. "So if you can't do me, can you do my friend?" he asks with an excited tone that makes Ryeowook wary.

"I do not want to do your friend." You, however…

"NO! I mean: can you interpret my friend's handwriting? Here. He left it at my place last time we studied together."

Hyukjae's smirk radiates smug self-satisfaction, and with one look at the paper, Ryeowook understands why. He actively controls every muscle in his body to prevent the facepalm that's threatening to break loose.

He has to give Hyukjae props, though. If Ryeowook weren't already so intimately acquainted with the handwriting on the page before him, the other's ploy could have worked.

Regardless, he still finds himself in the position he was trying to avoid in the first place.

All the best lies are based in truth, right? "So I can tell your friend has a very high-stress major. The handwriting is cramped and small, like he can't waste a single stroke or else he'll miss something he needs to write down. Ah, see how he doesn't fully cross his t's and dot his i's? He thinks he'll be able to read his own handwriting later. He probably has decent memory or just has a lot of faith in himself."

Hyukjae nods with an impressed frown. "Huh, not bad."

It would be so, so easy to stop there, but Ryeowook can't. He loves Hyukjae's handwriting too much. "And look here," he points excitedly to a cross-out near the center of the page. "He could cross out his mistakes with a single line or a little squiggle, but he completely blocks it out instead. It suggests he has more confidence with the obvious; but really, I think he needs the reminder. Like, 'Yeah, I made a mistake. I'll move on, but I won't let myself forget. That way I don't do it again.'"

A moment later, Ryeowook realises with a jolt that he had been holding and smiling at the scrap paper a little too tenderly. He whips his head up in embarrassment, an explanation-slash-apology at the tip of his tongue, but Hyukjae doesn't seem to notice.

In fact, Hyukjae has been silent the whole time. Ryeowook chuckles awkwardly. "Am I right?"

"Huh?" Hyukjae intones as he's brought out of his reverie. Ryeowook thinks he sees something in his eyes when their gazes meet, but Hyukjae blinks and it's gone. "I'm sorry, what did you ask me?"

"I was wondering if I was right. About your 'friend,'" Ryeowook reminds, air quotes clear in his tone.

Hyukjae shuffles uncomfortably in his seat. "I think you're more right than even he's ready to admit," he says with a hand at the back of his neck and a sardonic quirk of his lips.

The sight causes an unexplainable swell of affection within Ryeowook, and he turns away. "He can take his time," he assures, eyes trained on his textbook even though he can't read a damn thing.

Hyukjae nods his thanks and turns back to his homework, but Ryeowook doesn't feel right letting it end here.

"Hey, wanna give my handwriting a try?"

~You always lift your head to look up at me. I want to take my big hands and cup your small cheeks.~

Next time they're meant to hang out, it's the weekend; and Hyukjae texts him to meet him at Bomnal.

"Both of us were here just two days ago, and we have to be here again in two days. Don't we spend enough time in Bomnal as it is?" Ryeowook complains as soon as he enters the atrium of the academic building.

"Think of it like a field trip. Come on, Wook," Hyukjae says as he leads them to the second floor lecture hall.

"Pretty sure field trips are meant to take us out of the classroom, but sure, whatever," Ryeowook grumbles as he follows along.

He's testy. He knows it, but he can't help it.

This is the first time both of them will be in Bomnal 235 at once. It feels like a turning point, like he's going to learn something today whether he wants to or not. He wonders if Hyukjae feels the same sense of impending that he does, or maybe it's just worse for him because he's in love.

As soon as they open the doors, the automatic lights flick on and douse the room with a very awake yellow.

"So… where do you normally sit?" Hyukjae asks as he motions to the empty seats before them.

Ryeowook freezes. Now that it's upon him, he can definitively identify this as the thing he was anxious about.

What if he tells the truth, Hyukjae realises Poem Person is him, and he feels awkward about it? Their comfortable but still-very-new friendship would evaporate on the spot, and Ryeowook won't have him in any capacity, much more a romantic one.

So, in another impeccable display of judgement, he decides to lie again.

"Oh, you know… I change it up," he mildly comments as he moves to somewhere near the middle of the first row. He sits down and gives an unassuming grin to his friend, who makes a face. "You're one of those people? Haven't you heard of the same seats code of conduct? You fed me some crap about curling L's when really it's your fault the balloon trick wouldn't have worked," Hyukjae jokes in that way where he's completely serious but is phrasing it with humour.

Ryeowook feels a genuine, fond grin spread across his face before he can help it, and he quickly ducks his head. "Why are we here, again?" he asks instead of dwelling on the validating comfort of being known.

"Why not?" Hyukjae asks as he moves to sit down. "This is the place it all began, right? Might as well."

Ryeowook, for his part, only stares.

Hyukjae went up to a seat in the rear right quadrant of the lecture hall. Ryeowok's own, real seat is directly in front of where the other is sitting. That can't be a coincidence.

"Um, I'm guessing that's where you sit?" he asks as casually as possible.

"Huh? Oh! Haha, yeah. It's funny, I didn't even think of sitting anywhere else. My feet just automatically guided me here."

"So funny," Ryeowook squeaks out.

"Yeah, my friend in the class actually used to sit with me, but it became very apparent very quickly that we would never get anything done if we did, so he moved down there." Hyukjae points with his foot to Ryeowook's seat, and Ryeowook's breath hitches in his throat. "Sometimes when I'm bored, I just can't help but throw stuff onto his desk just to annoy him." Hyukjae mimes a free throw shot towards the desk and smiles.

Well, if there were any doubt before in Ryeowook's mind that Hyukjae was Poem Person, it has summarily been erased.

Ryeowook hums but says nothing else, letting a companionable silence stretch between them as he acknowledges the warmth that settles into his chest when he confirms with himself that yes, he is glad that Hyukjae is Poem Person.

"Why are you helping me?" he asks, curious and without judgement. The abrupt question startles the other out of whatever reverie he had settled into during their respite, but Hyukjae bounces back quickly, as he always does.

"You know, I had to figure that answer out myself," Hyukjae answers with a laugh. He leans back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head, staring out at the empty lecture hall. "I told you I would at first because it was obvious that I was the only one in a position to actually help. It wasn't even an option in my mind that I wouldn't… But even after my sense of obligation ran out, I wanted to keep going.

"You're cool, Ryeowook. You're fun to be around, you're sassy, you're down to try anything once. You're totally comfortable being yourself, and your 'self' is crazy. Like, who else trusts in their gut enough that this person you're chasing after is worth the effort? Who else would go to the lengths to which you're willing to go just to meet him? Honestly, I think that's pretty awesome. I don't know if I could have that same confidence you do."

He tilts his head towards Ryeowook then and gives a close-lipped, self-convinced smile. "If anyone's gonna find love based on a few scraps of paper and a dream, it's gonna be you."

Ryeowook nods mutely. He hopes the distance between them is enough to disguise the blush on his cheeks.

Hyukjae faces forward again. "If I think about it, I guess I'm being selfish, too. I want to believe a love like that is possible; and if I help you find him, I'll get to see it happen for myself… I really hope this guy is worth it, Ryeowook. I think it would break my heart as much as yours if he weren't."

He is, though. He's so worth it. "Me too."

~Longing is a beautiful pain I thought I could endure.~

Ryeowook walks out of the campus mail room, and life couldn't get better.

He just picked up a care package his mom sent him; he got a 94 on his last Nutrition Essentials quiz; and Hyukjae loves the new low-fat, protein-enhanced strawberry scones recipe he tried out yesterday.

Speaking of whom, he thinks this whole Poem Person plot is going to wrap up soon. The last time they must have actually worked on a strategy to find out who Poem Person was, like, two weeks ago at least; and Ryeowook's glad he can stop pretending he has any interest anymore.

Their friendship has wholly evolved beyond the point of needing a project to work on in order to spend time with each other anyway. Why pine after a fictitious man when he has a whole Hyukjae right there, who buys him coffee lattes simply because he's Hyukjae's dongsaeng and who helps him study for his quizzes even when Hyukjae himself is stressed.

Ryeowook tells himself that with some more time, the whole mystery will just fade into an inside joke between the two of them, a white whale they can reminisce about when they're sipping soju and reminiscing… preferably cuddled on a couch and with his head on Hyukaje's shoulder.

However, his friend group did not get the memo.

"So, uh. What happened to Poem Person?" Henry asks one weekend while everyone is at Ryeo-Mi's apartment.

"Shut up!" Kyuhyun admonishes with a slap to the back of Henry's head. "Ryeowook hasn't annoyed us with that in weeks. Aren't you grateful?!"

"I actually am very curious about what happened there. Weren't you and Hyukjae supposed to find him together?" Yesung asks.

"The gen—" "Maybe I'm manifesting, Mi! Ever think of that?"

Ryeowook cuts in before Mi's feelings get even more hurt. "Yeah, we were, but honestly I've kinda given up on the whole thing."

He expects some shock, but he couldn't have predicted who would be the most affected. "You're just gonna give up on finding love!?" Mi despairs.

"Actually, the potential for a romantic relationship was never confirmed," Henry quips. Yesung gives Henry a high-five.

"It was just a little crush," Ryeowook defends. "I've moved past it, as I was bound to do eventually." He says this last part to Kyuhyun, who he knows was the most annoyed with his actions back then.

"'Eventually' doesn't end in time for finals week, Wook," Kyuhyun retorts.

"Well, now you never have to worry about it, Hyun."

"Is love dead?" Mi desponds aloud, but no one pays him any mind.

Ryeowook pats his roommate's shoulders in a half-hearted attempt at consolation. If Mi turns out to be the only casualty in this whole ordeal, Ryeowook will count this as a win.

What he doesn't count on is the fact that Hyukjae would invariably hear about it.

"Is it true?" Hyukjae corners him after Ryeowook picks up his order from the on-campus cafe.

"You know, I don't think so. I think she's just Henry's accompanist for rehearsals," Ryeowook responds genuinely, certain that the latest gossip about Henry's potentially secret girlfriend is what Hyukjae must have been referring to.

"What? No!" Hyukjae stops in confusion but stomps after Ryeowook once he gets his bearings back. "No, I heard that you gave up on finding him, that you gave up a while ago. Is it true?"

Ryeowook hesitates to sit down at the open table he found, and Hyukjae's entire posture seizes in betrayal. "Alright, got it," Hyukjae says with an edge to his tone. "Do me a favour, yeah? Never talk to me ever again."

"Wait!" Ryeowook calls once Hyukjae turns on his heel and storms off. "Hyukjae, wait!" He pays no mind to the fact that he's abandoning his belongings as he chases Hyukjae outside. "I get that you're angry, but don't you think this is a little much?"

He reaches out for Hyukjae's upper arm, but the other immediately shrugs it off. Ryeowook flinches and retreats slightly. Despite the other's obvious fury, Hyukjae is stopped in place and seems willing to actually talk to him, and Ryeowook holds onto that hope instead.

"No, actually," Hyukjae sneers. "I think this is the perfect amount of much when you find out your best friend has been wasting your time for who knows how long!"

Of all the things Hyukjae could have said in that moment, Ryeowook didn't expect that reaction at all. It stings more than he expects, cuts through his defensiveness; and despite his position in the situation, he can't help but need comfort. "What do you mean?" he asks in a confused, desperate voice.

"What do I mean?" Hyukjae repeats exasperatedly. "Ryeowook, we spent weeks together trying to figure out how to get you your dream guy! We never even got anywhere, and, and… And it's all because of you! You shot down basically every one of my ideas practically from the beginning, even after I told you how much it would personally mean to me. That is, like, the textbook definition of a waste of time!"

"You weren't having fun?"

"What?" Hyukjae demands incredulously.

"All that time we spent together," Ryeowook clarifies as he steadfastly meets Hyukjae's angry gaze. "You didn't have fun?"

Hyukjae is silent, and his body posture screams obstinate defiance, but his eyes remain trained on Ryeowook.

"You didn't come to look forward to spending time with me? You didn't spend your free time thinking of ways to make me laugh?"

Hyukjae rolls his eyes. "So what? What does any of that mean when you were just stringing me along? You… you weren't even using me!?" he exclaims, voice rising in a hysterical question. "That was literally the whole basis of our friendship, and you couldn't even do that? Like, what could you have possibly gained from lying to my face like that for all this time?"

Ryeowook gives a watery smile at the non-answer and looks down at his fingers fidgeting together. "I did, too," he says in a voice so quiet it was like he intended to keep that to himself.

It's silent for a long time after that admission. Hyukjae's lividness has dissipated, and he is only left with a disappointment so painful he doesn't want to dwell on it any further. He moves to leave Ryeowook alone outside of the cafe, but Ryeowook's voice stops him.

"W-What did you say?" Hyukjae asks with apprehension.

Ryeowook ignores the tears falling from his eyes as he repeats himself. "I'm in a rush to catch you, but you're in a hurry to leave. Should I just surrender? Now we're like an old and worn notebook filled with scribbles."

Hyukjae simply stares, and Ryeowook takes that as his cue to keep going. "Take your beautiful smile with you. Don't leave it here. You saw me with tears in my eyes."

By heart,

"I was a selfish man, but my life is divided into before and after I knew you."

Ryeowook recites lyric,

"When I first saw you, it felt like a miracle."

after lyric,

"I'm thinking of you more today. I wonder how tomorrow morning will be. Will I miss you more than I do today?"

after lyric;

"I'm honest because I don't know lies before love."

and before he knows it,

"I'd place my feelings on the thawing snow. I'd hang my wish on a disappearing star, but only if you ask me to."

Hyukjae is within arm's reach.

"It's me?" Hyukjae whispers into the scant centimetres between them. "It's really me?" he asks again when Ryeowook had simply nodded.

Ryeowook can't even help it when he recites, "Even when you ask me again, for me, it's only you." with a breathy laugh as he shyly looks away.

Hyukjae moves to gently hold Ryeowook's hand. "And you're okay with that?"

Ryeowook wants to laugh and melt and cry and run away, but instead he settles for an earnest nod and a hesitant smile. "Are you?"

Hyukjae answers him with a kiss, and it feels like a dazzling melody.

~Together, we can make all our unfulfilled dreams come true.~

#super junior #super junior fanfiction #eunwook #eunhyuk #ryeowook #jaso*#iwrew

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iwillhaveamoonbase · 4 years

Text

We Could Be Heroes Ch. 4

Rayla made her way as quickly and quietly as possible back to her dorm. Claudia had texted back that she would wait in her car up the road. It was already after 8, so everyone was either in their dorms or studying in the library. ‘No clue what I’m going to tell the girls. I’m moving in with my boyfriend is the truth, but they’ll start asking questions. Maybe I’ll say nothing. I don’t tend to sleep there as much anymore. Too much risk running into Bandlr.’

By the time Rayla had put her building key in the lock she was no closer to an answer. Rayla went up to her floor and poked her head in her room. ‘Good; no one’s here. I’ll just grab my clothes and my books and I should be good to go. Anything else I need, Callum either has or will get.’ She grabbed a bag and began shoveling her textbooks and notebooks into it.

“Where you been, Rayla?” Rayla gulped as she turned to her roommate, Zaras, a Skywing elf, standing in the door way. Her wings looked as soft as ever while her pale blue skin looked a tad darker from the all sun she must have gotten since it became March. With long black hair and a sweet face, Zaras looked just as soft as her wings. No one ever saw her sharp tongue or heeled boots coming. Zaras had her dark eyebrow raised as she lightly brushed dust off her right wing.

“I’m just getting my stuff.” Was her voice shaking? ‘Confidence, Rayla. Runaan always said to act confident.’

“I see that,” Zaras gave a small smirk. “Where you going?”

“I’m going to stay with my boyfriend for a bit.”

“Why are you staying with Prince Callum?” Rayla felt her heart stop. “I haven’t told anyone.” Rayla’s heart started beating again as she relaxed just a bit. “If anyone asks where you are, I always say you must be in the library or at the 24-hour gym in town.”

“How long have you known?”

Zaras shrugged before sitting on Rayla’s bed. “The whole time, if it’s been more than a year. You spend a lot of time with him and you always look so happy after you spend the night at his place. Why do you think I insisted we be roommates again this year?”

“Because I’m the only person that tolerates your granola habit at three o’clock in the morning?”

“That and I like him, too. He has been nothing but respectful to every elf on campus. I have never seen him so much as raise his voice unless he was being provoked. He’s more aggressive with the humans who push him to try dark magic than he is with us. He also asked my honest opinion on the Sky arcanum and if I knew any good books of spells. You got yourself a good man, Rayla, and I don’t want you to lose him just because someone didn’t like him.”

“Thank you, Zaras. Bandlr is going to go public with this tomorrow. He found out and he’s acting like it’ll just ‘slip out.’” Zaras hissed as she shook her head. “I know. He’s an asshole and I would kill him if I could. I might, anyways. I think I would be doing everyone a favor.”

“Bandlr is going to be the least of your worries. You know that a lot of the humans on campus don’t like you, right? Just purely based on the fact that you freely admitted that you are, technically, an assassin. Even if you haven’t made a kill, you’re still trained and still able.”

Rayla put her head in her hands as she groaned. “I know. I also know that I don’t want to walk away from him. Even though it would be easier and would save the both of us a lot of pressure and harassment.”

“But you love him.” Rayla turned to see Zaras looking at her with a genuinely happy smile.

“That I do.”

“How are you going to get your stuff to his place?”

“His friend, Claudia, is going to help me. Her car’s already parked and she’s waiting for me.”

A quick clap of her hands and Zaras was up and already rifling through Rayla’s drawers. “Well, let’s get packing. Do you want anything out of the bathroom or can I have it? I really like the smell of your moonberry shampoo.”

“You can have all of it. Except the bubbles. Those are mine.”

“Noted. Where’s your other bag?” Zaras quickly helped pack while keeping an eye on the door. It was better to know who was and who wasn’t in the suite so that they could leave with as few questions as possible. “Do you seriously not have any sexy underwear? I have several pairs just to make me feel good on a bad day.”

“Callum might have a heart attack if I did. You know my bra with the front clasp? I wore it one time and he almost fainted. In about five years, I’ll try the front clasp again.” It had been a complete accident that he had even seen the stupid thing. She was changing at his place and he had happened to walk into the room. Callum had blushed bright red and stammered when he saw her take it off before leaving the room, stumbling the whole way.

“Pfft. That is just too adorable. I don’t know how anyone can think that dork is dangerous.”

“I don’t either. The most threatening thing he’s ever done was tell Bandlr to back off after he busted into Callum’s apartment.”

“You might need extra security, then. My dad knows people who work in the security industry. I’ll give him a call if you need it.”

“We’ll let you know. I can’t tell you how much it means to me, to us, that you’re helping me. That you’ve been helping me.”

Zaras shrugged, a thoughtful expression taking over her features. “I told you, he’s a good man. He’s also a talented mage with zero percent of the overconfidence that I see in a lot of the mages here on campus; human and elf. I have no idea how he got the Sky arcanum to work for him, though. From what he told me, he understood that the wind was a part of him, of everything. He also admitted that it was after he broke a primal stone, so take that as you will.”

“He’s explained it to me a bunch of ways and he loses me halfway through. He understands how he did it but he can’t explain it in a way that makes sense. And now that he’s planning to try with the other arcana, he has to make it make sense. He’ll always be dangerous if he can’t make people understand why he was able to access primal magic as a human. There will be people who accuse him of using dark magic to succeed or that he made a deal with someone like Aaravos.”

“I wish him all the luck in the world. I also wish you luck. You’re gonna need it.”

“Thanks. I’ll need every last bit of luck you have. Where’s your lucky coin again?”

“You’ll take my lucky coin over my dead body.”

“I can arrange that.” They chuckled as Rayla did a quick sweep of the apartment. “I think that’s everything.”

“Let’s go, then.” Zaras made sure to walk out the door first, after grabbing Rayla’s bubbles, and kept the conversation on classes and the latest movie. “I’m telling you, Rayla, you need to go see this one. I’m normally am not a fan of human cinema, but this guy just cried as he rode off into the sunset. Wonderful. I need eight more.”

“You just have a thing for men crying.”

“Who doesn’t? I also really like girls in tight pants. Really tight pants.”

“Are we going to discuss your kinks all night? I’ll need a drink if we are.”

“Buy me some hard liquor and I’ll be sure to tell you every last one of them.”

“Name the time and place. There’s the car.” Zaras nodded and let Rayla lead the way from there. Claudia waved them over and quickly popped the trunk. “Thank you, again, Zaras.”

“You’re welcome. You owe me that drink. And I want you to tell me what’s going on. I’m here if you need me.” Rayla was normally not really a huggy person, but she quickly wrapped her arms around Zaras in thanks. It took a moment for Zaras to return the hug, squeezing Rayla with all her strength. When they separated, Zaras smiled at Rayla again before nodding her head to the car.

“Right. Good night.” Rayla hopped in and Claudia hurried down the road. Zaras waved before quickly turning back to the dorm. “Do you think anyone saw you?”

“Doubt it. Soren got a message from King Harrow today.” Brow raised; Claudia looked at Rayla out of the corner of her eye. “Apparently, he’s going to be officially stationed here?”

“I asked for him. I needed more people in our corner.”

“That sky elf looks pretty in your corner.”

“She is. I’ll introduce you sometime. Make sure you wear super tight pants.”

“Ooh. My kind of girl.” It didn’t take long to reach the apartment complex. Claudia drove to the back and grabbed a bag after parking. “Callum texted that he’s still at the store. I’m going to take his key when he gets back and get a copy made for you. You two can’t leave the apartment until I get back and that might not be until tomorrow night, okay?”

“As long as I get it before classes start Monday, I’m good to go.” They went in and up the elevator. Claudia suddenly got a big smile on her face as she laughed. “What’s so funny?”

“I’m helping my ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend move into his apartment. And we have to keep everything a complete secret until tomorrow. I feel like some sort of secret agent.”

“How do you feel about that?” For all of Claudia’s prodding, Rayla had never known if Claudia was actually alright with watching her ex-boyfriend move on or was putting on a front because they were still friends.

Claudia shrugged and turned to Rayla. “Honestly? Not nearly as bad as I thought I would. Neither one of us was mature enough or in a good place for a real relationship. I’m a little jealous, but I think that has more to do with the fact that he’s moved on and in a steady relationship while I’m still going on speed dates. He was everything I was supposed to want; we just didn’t fit together. He has drawn such a thick line in the sand concerning dark magic and, well, dark magic is the only thing that’s allowing my brother to stand anymore. Callum has really pushed for me to learn healing from the other elves here. The only problem is that my father is Lord Viren and he hates elves. No one wants to teach me or help Soren because they’re scared that I’ll take their life force to heal Soren or we’ll take the secrets back to our dad.”

“You wouldn’t, though. Callum told me that you two are Team Soren and Claudia. You’re your own side and you wouldn’t jeopardize Soren’s health to get back in your father’s good graces.”

A chuckle and a shake of her head was all Rayla got for a moment. “He’s right. Viren’s our dad and we want nothing to do with him. He told Soren to kill Ezran while he and Callum were at the Banther Lodge a few years ago, before anyone knew just how treacherous he had become. He also told me to leave Soren to die if it was between him and an artifact that was supposed to amplify magical abilities. The things he’s called Callum and Queen Sarai…. I understand why my mom left him. Soren and I wish we had picked her all those years ago. He’s not going to be nice about this. All the hatred he’s felt towards Callum and Queen Sarai is also going to fall on you.” The elevator opened and the two got out, sitting on the floor with Rayla’s stuff to the side.

“Why did he hate her? She saved his life and died doing it.” Claudia looked conflicted for a few moments. Rayla could see the wheels turning in her head. She genuinely didn’t know what had made Viren turn on Sarai and Callum didn’t seem to have an answer either. If she knew, maybe she could be better prepared for anything Viren launched against them.

Finally, Claudia nodded her head, looking back at Rayla. “Don’t tell Callum this. Or Ezran. You have to promise you will never tell them.”

“Is it that bad?”

Claudia held Rayla’s stare and lightly shook her head. “You have no idea what he has called her. If Callum found out, he might kill my dad. I think King Harrow finding out about it is what ultimately led to he and my dad falling out.”

Rayla didn’t want to keep secrets from Callum and keeping one from Ezran would be more difficult than her training with Runaan. But this was also a chance to get another perspective on Callum’s history. She didn’t trust the news and she didn’t trust what most other people said because they didn’t know Callum; Claudia did. “I don’t like it, but I promise I won’t say anything.”

“OK. I’ll hold you to it.” Claudia sighed as she leaned against the door. “You know that Queen Sarai wasn’t a noble, right?” Rayla nodded as she adjusted herself. She had a feeling Claudia was going to be giving her a lot of information and that this was a lot more complicated than she thought. “Well, when Queen Sarai and King Harrow were kids, they met when his father took him to visit his best general. That was Queen Sarai and General Amaya’s mother. Harrow was instantly smitten with her. They spent a lot of time together during that visit and Harrow was convinced he would marry her. He was right, eventually.

“Queen Sarai didn’t have those same thoughts. She viewed herself as a warrior first and that her job would be to protect the future king. And then she met Marco, Callum’s father. From what I heard; he had no prospects beyond his artwork. He didn’t come from a family with any kind of wealth or status, couldn’t use a bow and arrow or a sword and always questioned why the world couldn’t talk about peace instead of continuing to fight whenever the war was brought up. He was also opposed to dark magic; calling it the reason why the peace had been shattered in the first place. He was probably the last person who should marry a future military leader, but he came to their home one day to paint a portrait of Sarai and Amaya and that was that. They got married a year and a half later and Callum was born about two years after that.

“Marco died when Callum was only a year old from a bad fall. He was painting a client’s ceiling and someone on the ground wasn’t paying close enough attention. Queen Sarai was devastated and she buried herself in her work and raising Callum. Her work brought her to the capital and to Harrow. By this point, he and my father were close and my dad was pushing for Harrow to get married and have an heir before he was crowned king.” Claudia chuckled as a sad smile took over. “Harrow instantly fell back in love with her and he loved Callum immediately after meeting him. It didn’t matter to him that Callum was from his love’s first marriage. He was part of Sarai and that was enough.

“Dad didn’t think it was…appropriate for a future king to marry a woman who already had a child. It didn’t matter that she was a widow. She had a kid and she wasn’t noble; that should have taken her out of the running. He brought women from all over the Pentarchy and Harrow still chose Sarai. And it got really, really ugly between Sarai and my dad. She asked him what his problem was and he called Callum…well, he called Callum a mongrel son of a street urchin. He then said Callum wasn’t fit to lick Soren’s boots, let alone be the son of a king. That was before he proceeded to call Sarai a two-bit gold-digger who was only interested in Harrow because she wanted another man in her life and Harrow happened to be there. He told her she was nothing more than a whore who would lead Harrow to his own destruction. None of that was true, but my dad was so blinded by his devotion to Harrow that he didn’t see the truth anymore.

“Sarai said her piece by calling Dad a self-serving, egotistical asshole. She made him a deal; she wouldn’t tell Harrow what he said if he backed off. Dad knew a good deal when he saw one and agreed. Harrow would have believed Sarai in a heartbeat. Sarai and Harrow got married and then had Ezran. In between, Sarai began to let it be known to the rest of the world about her distaste for dark magic. She thought it was a shortcut and resisted every time it was brought up as a solution. This university was all her idea. She had taken what her first husband had said to heart and she wanted peace between the Pentarchy and Xadia. She instilled that in Callum and Harrow and they’ve instilled it in Ezran and General Amaya. And the four of them have started to instill it in the rest of the Pentarchy.

“They tried to get along for Harrow’s sake but my dad would just rail into her when he thought it was safe. Called her power hungry and manipulative. Soren and I heard things that no one should ever utter about anyone. Sarai died protecting my father because she knew how important he was to Harrow. She thought they would both make it out alive and they had just saved her sister. Dad had a high opinion of her for a little bit, until Harrow started implementing her ideas. The university and this town started to be built less than a year after her death. He pushed for more peace talks and gradually started to reject any of Dad’s ideas if they involved dark magic. Eventually, Harrow started to call for Dad for council less and less.

“Dad blamed Sarai for losing his best friend. The truth is, Sarai was right. Dark magic is a shortcut. It’s the only one we have, besides primal stones, for humans to learn magic. And it’s impossible to get primal stones. There are days when I listen to Callum and agree with everything he says. I wonder if dark magic has twisted my dad beyond repair and if that’s why he’s like this now. He used to be kinder and more understanding. What if dark magic does that to me one day?” She twisted the white lock in her hair and bit her lip. “But I also love magic and don’t want to give it up. I’ve always been a mage, and I’m really freaking good at it. I taught Callum how to use the primal stone and his first couple of spells. Callum can’t explain how he unlocked the arcanum in a way that anyone understands and I refuse to stop using dark magic to help my brother until I have another answer.”

Rayla had heard a lot of this from Callum, but to hear just how this animosity between Sarai and Viren and how that led to Harrow and Viren’s own relationship to deteriorate put new light on everything he had told her. “Callum really doesn’t know?”

Claudia shrugged, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. “He knows about Dad’s feelings towards him and he knows Dad didn’t like Sarai. To my knowledge, he has no clue just how deep that hatred runs and for how long it has. Neither does Ezran. In their minds, Sarai was a saint; why would anyone hate her with all of their being? Harrow doesn’t want them to know what my dad called their mother. Callum also doesn’t know about the deal they made or the argument that it came from. As far as Callum and Ezran know, Dad just gave up and told Harrow to be happy. If they find out, it needs to be from Harrow. The only reason I know is because Dad got drunk one night and told me and Soren everything. When we told Harrow that we knew, he asked us to keep it quiet and never, ever tell Callum or Ezran. That was the same day that we told Harrow about his plot to kill Ezran. We picked Harrow’s side that day and Dad wanted nothing more to do with us and we wanted nothing more to do with him.”

“Why can’t they know?”

“Would you want your sons to know that someone you believed was your best friend and your biggest supporter thought their mother was anything less than honorable, even after she saved his life?”

Rayla thought about it for a moment. If she and Callum had children and were put in a similar situation, would she want their children to know something like that? “No, I don't think I would.”

“See?” Claudia asked not unkindly. “It's one thing to say that Viren didn't like Sarai, it's another to say the words he actually used. I don’t want to tell Callum or Ezran and neither does Soren. It’s not something you feel good about knowing. The only reason I told you is because you need to know what you’re going up against. Dad may say all of those things and worse to anyone who will listen and you have to be prepared. Don’t focus on what they call you. Don’t let anyone get the best of you with name-calling. Only state your and Callum’s truth. If you spend any time saying anything besides that and that you and Callum love each other for who you are, then they would have won and they will keep coming back. I’ll step in if I have to on your behalf. I like you, Rayla, and I like how happy you make Callum. No matter what, he is one of my best friends in this world and I don’t want him to lose you over something neither one of you can control.”

“He’s not gonna lose me. I’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of this relationship at this point.”

“Good.” Claudia hugged her knees to her chest and rested her head on them. “When Callum and I dated, it was before Dad was disgraced. To a degree, it was always assumed we would get married for political reasons. It wasn’t really a big deal to anyone until we broke-up. That’s when the gossip came around. I can’t imagine what the two of you must be feeling right now.”

Rayla stretched her legs out and folded her arms over her chest. “Nervous. A bit relieved. Like we’ve done both the smartest and stupidest thing we ever could. He wanted to give up when Amaya told us I didn’t have an out the second the public knew. He told me to go back to my uncles and I told him that if I did that there would be no second chances. We either stand together now or he will lose me forever.”

“Good for you.” Claudia had a big grin on her face at Rayla’s statement.

“I wasn’t going to let him give up. I think Bandlr’s threat to tell the world and then hearing his aunt tell him I had to stay at the border got to him. He finally came back to his senses when he saw I wasn’t going to run away and was going to take this media nonsense head-on.”

“I understand if he’s concerned about the media. It’s not easy to live the way he does. This is the most freedom he’s had since his mom married Harrow. Every move he makes, every outfit he wears, every person he meets is dissected to death. There are articles and videos out there about whether or not Harrow actually loves Callum and that has hit Callum so hard. They talk about body language this and Callum didn’t go to such-and-such event that and they don’t know anything that goes on behind closed doors. I have never seen someone love their kids as much as Harrow does Callum and Ezran. Harrow’s distance was because he didn’t want Callum to feel like he was replacing his father not because he loved Callum any less. It took a long, long time for Callum to call him ‘Dad’ and being constantly reminded that he is the ‘step-prince’ didn’t help.”

Before Rayla could respond, the elevator opened to reveal Callum, laden with groceries. “Hey, guys. I’ve got enough food to last a month. Or a week since you’ll be here, Rayla.”

Rayla did a quick eyeroll. “Ha ha, Mr. Skinny. It’s all muscle unlike your noodle arms.” Raylan and Claudia stood, each grabbing one of Raylas bags.

“You like my noodle arms.” A quick smirk at Rayla and Callum unlocked the door so they could head inside. Claudia and Rayla quickly put Rayla’s stuff down so Rayla could help Callum put their groceries away. “You’ll be so proud of me. I only got one more piece of fruit for the fruit bowl.”

“You’re eating that, too.”

“I’m drawing it tomorrow and then I’ll be done and we’ll spend the rest of the day eating fruit and Earthblood honey. And the day after that. And maybe the day after that.”

Rayla picked up said piece of fruit and glared at it. “I swear, if your plan is to slowly replace the rest of our diet with your fruit bowl, I will make you eat the actual bowl.”

“Do you hear what I put up with, Claudia?”

Claudia shook her head as she walked over to the two. She looked at the fruit bowl and then back at Callum. “Do you really need all that fruit for art?”

“It’s called still life and I haven’t done it in a while and drawing helps me relax in stressful situations. Also, please lay off my fruit.” Callum handed her the key to the apartment. “Let us know when you get the copy.”

“Got it. I’ll give you the bill then, too.”

“I can give you cash now.”

“Nah, I know you’re good for it. I also know where you live. Night.”

“Night, Clauds.”

“Thanks for the help.” Rayla followed Claudia to the door and locked it behind her. “Alright. We need to talk about something.” Callum gulped as he suddenly found his shirt very interesting. “I’m not still mad at the whole ‘run away while you can’ thing if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Oh, thank god. I was going to have a heart attack.”

“It’s about how…. calmly we bring up marriage. We teased each other about you marrying me because of honey and how strong I am. When Ezran talked about me being his big sister, I almost said ‘yes.’ And then, you called Runaan and Ethari your ‘future-in-laws.’ We’ve been bringing it up for months without ever really talking about it.” Rayla went back to the kitchen, lightly drumming her fingers against the counter. “Do you want to marry me?”

“I’m not opposed to it,” he hedged.

“Callum.” Rayla needed him to be as honest and serious as possible about this. She didn’t want to start planning a forever with him in her mind if it hadn’t even crossed his.

“Fine,” Callum grabbed her hand and looked in her eyes with those suddenly far too green ones of his. “I know we haven’t been together that long, but I know I want to marry you someday. I wouldn’t have asked to meet Ethari and Runaan if I didn’t. I also don’t want to do it for a few years. We’re still young and there are so many things to see and do first.”

“Do you already have a ring?”

“No. I actually have one planned, but I’m going to have it specially made. I’m thinking,” he raised her hand and separated her middle finger out, “a band of platinum that has been twisted. I’m also thinking a moonstone sunken into the band. Nothing jutting out, so you won’t be able to cut someone when you backhand them.”

“But that’s the best part.” Rayla looked down at her hand as Callum stroked the base of her finger. “You’ve really thought about this.”

“More than thought about it. I've drawn it a hundred times.”

“Have you now?” It was supposed to come out cocky and self-assured, but instead, Rayla felt anticipation and curiosity step in.

Callum looked at her finger again, biting his lip. He went over to the bookcase, going to his shelf of sketchbooks. He quickly pulled out the one he was looking for and flipped through the pages. “This is the one I settled on.”

Callum came back to rest the book on the counter, open to a page with a single ring design. The top of the band was braided platinum with the moonstone embedded in the center. Not only that, but one side had a red stone and yellow stone while the other had purple and green ones. Each stone was also embedded. Callum had also drawn what he wanted the inside of the band to look like. So far, it was just the moon and sky runes, but plenty of room to add more. The uneven towers of Katolis were right next to the moon rune. “It’s very detailed,” she breathed.

“I just thought about it one day and I couldn't stop. I actually spent weeks of my summer vacation creating the perfect design.”

Rayla looked up at him. “You were thinking about this when we couldn't even see each other?”

“Well, yeah,” he sheepishly replied.

It was mindboggling to her. He had had this in his head for that long? “We hadn't been together for very long. Officially at least.”

“I'm not ready to get married now. I just know, even back then, that I want to marry you.”

“Is that a proposal?” Rayla let a grin come over her features. Teasing Callum was her default for whenever she became overwhelmed. And she was insanely overwhelmed.

“No, it's a plan.”

“Sounds like a proposal to me. You got a sketch for the ring; told me you want to be with me until you die.”

Callum put a mock affronted look on his face, hand going to his chest. “I did not use those words.”

“Maybe not. But that's what you meant.”

Callum flushed. “It’s not a proposal.” He paused as a small bit doubt entered his voice. “What do you think about the ring?”

“It’s beautiful. And if you had already had it made, I might have said ‘yes’ just now.” Callum glared at her teasing for a moment before her entire statement caught up with him, eyes going wide and mouth slightly ajar. Rayla blushed, quickly turning her attention back to the sketch. “I thought diamonds were traditional among humans, though.”

Callum let her change the subject, probably still processing her acceptance of his ‘not proposal.’ “We,” a quick point of his fingers between the two of them, “are not a traditional couple. I thinks something a bit more symbolic and unique to us would make far more sense. My mom didn't have one on her rings, either. My father could barely afford the plain silver one he gave her and Dad knew that Mom valued simplicity and creativity over showy. That ring was also braided, but it was gold and had my birthstone. Dad said it wasn't so much an engagement ring as it was a promise to love both Mom and me for the rest of his life.”

“You always talk so highly of her.” Rayla hadn’t noticed it before, but Claudia was right; Callum viewed Sarai as a saint. There was always a reverent tone in his voice whenever he talked about her and it seemed like she could have done no wrong in his eyes.

Callum shrugged. "She was my mom. She stood by my father and Dad through the tough times and believed in putting in the hard work for peace, love, and justice instead of taking the easy way out. I never doubted that she loved me and Ezran equally. I remember her being full of love and warmth, with a serious sweet tooth. Only a fool got between her and jelly tarts.” He chuckled. “There’s actually this great story Aunt Amaya tells. When they were kids, someone tried to take a bite of Mom’s cake and she stabbed their hand with her fork. Everyone knew to stay away from her dessert after that. I really miss her sometimes. I think about what life would be like if she were still here. I actually have this pair of socks she tried to knit when she was pregnant with Ezran. They were for me, but the sizing was so off and it looks like she tried to add a thumb at some point. I can never wear them, but I also can't bring myself to throw them away.”

“Do you think about what life would have been like with your father?”

A guilty look crossed his features. “I don't really remember him. It feels like Harrow has always been my dad. Everyone says I take after my father. I'm terrible with weapons, talented in art, and have his eyes. Even my smile is supposed to look just like his did. And it's nice to know that, but, it's hard for me to think ‘that's my father’ when I see a picture or someone mentions his name.” Callum started to absently flip through the pages of his sketchbook. “His grandparents died shortly after I turned six, so I don’t even have anyone to go to for stories about his childhood. My mom left me everything she had, but it was just a stack of documents that didn’t say much beyond medical history and the family trees with a handful of photographs. I have all of his art pieces that aren’t in a museum or were for clients, though. You know that portrait of my mom?”

Rayla turned to the picture in question. It was a replica of a very soft, gentle-looking Sarai. Rayla had often wondered if that portrait had been done while she was pregnant with Callum or was holding him. Sarai had always had a reputation in Xadia for being strong and excelling in combat, even with her talk about peace and understanding. To see her look so sweet had been a little jarring at first. “Yeah.”

“My father painted the original shortly before he died. The actual painting is hanging in an art museum in the capital, right next to the one he painted of Mom and Aunt Amaya. Me, Dad, Ezran, and Aunt Amaya all have painted copies. Trust me, the original is much better and I can’t wait to take you to see it someday. You can tell with each stroke just how much he loved her, and how he carefully chose each color to bring out the softness he saw in her that a lot of people didn’t because she was so good at being a warrior. That's the one thing that makes me go ‘yeah, that’s who my father was.’ Do you think about what your life would be like if your parents raised you?”

Rayla shook her head. “Not really. I couldn't have asked for better than Runaan and Ethari. My parents are members of the Dragon Guard and it’s a big honor, I just don't get to see them. As far as I'm concerned, Runaan and Ethari are my parents. If my mum and dad came here and told me they didn't approve of us, I can't imagine I'd really care. I'm not even sure when I can tell them.”

“You can't call them?”

Rayla shrugged. “That's only really used in emergencies. You have to hope that they call you. Letters are better. It’s getting late. Do you wanna go to bed?”

Callum looked like he wanted to continue the conversation, but looked at the clock before nodding. “Yeah, let’s go to bed. We’re gonna need to be well rested for tomorrow.”

“Is it wrong to hope tomorrow never comes?”

“Well, we’re not leaving this apartment until Monday, so we’ll just pretend it didn’t.”

“Like you’re pretending you didn’t propose?” Callum groaned as Rayla chuckled.

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

Notes:

Up to chapter 12 is actually already up on AO3, I just keep forgetting to post this here. Sorry!

We don't know that much about Sarai in canon, sadly, and we know nothing about Callum's father or that side of his family, and both of them, plus Viren's relationship with Sarai, are going to play a big part at some point. It's a bit of an info dump, but I needed some background laid out and Claudia was happy to help.

I don't think canon Viren thought of Sarai quite like this, but I saw some resentment brewing when Harrow didn't want to leave Amaya, and Sarai, behind when they went to go help Duren.

#rayllum #rayllum fanfic #we could be heroes #the dragon prince #moonbase fanfics

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thesummerstorms · 4 years

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Rev Recaps Hard Contact (Chapter 20)

Final chapter at last!

CW: Violence & blood. Decapitation.

TL;DR Recap: Darman and Etain make it back to the gunship with the injured Atin and Uthan in tow, but Etain refuses to let Zey leave without Omega. Niner lures Hokan into a trap and Hokan is decapitated. Zey offers Etain a choice, but 12 years later the framework still makes no sense.

Beginning Kal Count: 39 Ending Kal Count: 42

This post includes my favorite scene in the book, and has probably double the expected word count because of that. Long-Ass Post.

We open with a Kal Quote. I am ignoring Kal Quotes this far into the game because I am already very informed on Traviss’s opinions, but that does raise the Kal Count to 40 already.

Instead, we focus on Darman writing poetry to a gunship.

:’) Dar has similes and metaphors down at least. Some unnamed clone troopers (white-armored) and a medic come running out and dismiss Darman when he tries to tell them everything that happened to Atin because he’s already adequately marked Atin’s armor. They’ve also taken Uthan, so with, finally, nothing left for Darman to do, he turns around to watch Zey and Etain.

So Etain doesn’t ask who Zey is at all anywhere in this scene, which even with the Force telling her he’s a Jedi and logical clues telling her she’s outranked, you would think that she’d want his name. She also uses his name in her narration later without being told it on screen at any point. So that makes me think they’ve met before this, at least briefly.

On the other hand their greeting is “formal”/ “etiquette” , not Etain being relieved that fucking finally, here is an adultier-adult whom she knows and trusts, so I don’t think they know one another well.

I’m sure the formal greeting vs “scene from a nightmare” thing is meant to be pointed, but whatever, we’re moving on. Well, except, I do have to point out:

The ARC, who I am calling Maze until I have evidence he’s not, takes off his helmet, doesn’t say shit to Darman, just stares at him. I don’t know why that makes me laugh.

Valaquil departs off the gunship, Darman praises Jinart, and Dar hopes the Republic will keep their word to the gurlanin because “they deserve it”, but we’ve long passed the point where I gave a shit about the gurlanin.

Zey’s priority --> mostly tactical, get this shit show of a mission over, but does try to reassure Etain

Etain --> where are my people???

I love how Dar expects Etain to “soften” because he knows that she longs to be confirmed as having worth and value, has learned this even after a very short mission, but Etain is also deeply loyal and her priorities have shifted.

Um, Maze, buddy? You want to chill?

OH OUCH MY HEART.

We as readers know that their helmets were shut down by the EMP, but here’s Darman, assuming that he’s just lost another half a squad and that just like Geonosis, he’ll never know for certain what happened to them. The flashback is heartbreaking.

Etain’s ability to use Force-sense is so weirdly inconsistent and plot-selective in this book, but I love her already being able to tell from a distance that Omega squad is okay, even to tell where they are. This is the precursor to her being able to feel Darman “across star systems”, but on some level she’s formed some version of this bond with all of them.

And you know, no one in this book ever explains why the Republic wants Uthan so bad, but knowing from Order 66 that Palps wanted to use her for his personal goals always pisses me off.

Darman has become familiar enough with Etain and her expressions that this expression immediately sets off his “oh shit” radar, and it’s not even the first time.

The one boot on the gunship and one on the soil is actually a nice tiny bit of symbolism- caught between what the Jedi expect of her and what she’s learned under fire from Omega- if you chose to interpret it that way. And I can actually sympathize with Zey’s annoyance here because Etain, tactically, is being pretty stupid here. If Uthan dies before they can get her proper care, if they can’t get off the planet, then it’s all for nothing.

But. I wouldn’t want her to react any other way. This is exactly my favorite moment of hers. (Which is why I have the entire damn thing highlighted before anyone calls me out for that lmao.)

Listen, Zey, you know ilu, but bringing up her dead Master in a less than complimentary way was supposed to... do what exactly for your argument? He also completely ignores Darman’s attempt to keep the peace, but we just upped our Kal Count to 41 with the talk of Etain’s loyalty being a mirror.

Again, tactically pretty dumb I’m sure but oh holy hell do I love it. Especially that underlined bit in red. “Darman thought she had changed her mind, but that wasn’t Etain at all.”

Darman desperately not wanting Etain to be targeted by whatever Jedi mind powers he thinks Zey is about to use on her. Darman thinking about how Zey doesn’t know Etain at all, that Zey is taking 100% the wrong approach, but if Darman was just allowed to talk to her-

That bit in red? That and the response Zey’s about to give are two of my favorite lines in the entire book.

Zey gives in. Darman tries to get Etain to stay anyway, I think because he’s worried about the fallout of this moment landing on her, although it’s kind of too little too late for that. But Zey, as tactically expensive as this could be, as annoyed as he has been, is still proud of Etain.

It’s just one little tiny moment that says so much about Dar and about Etain and even about Zey. That little moment of pride lets me think they were better suited to Master and Padawan that maybe either of them recognized or would later accept.

Unfortunately, we now have to leave my favorite scene ever and return to Hokan’s POV. Hokan is injured and doesn’t know where Fi has gotten to, but as expected, Niner’s screaming has caught his attention.

Hokan has this weird double consciousness, this deeply rooted aversion to mercy or anything he sees as weakness or softness. It’s still a really... delicate little moment?

Listen, I know that Niner’s not wounded and this still is upsetting.

Kal Count 42.

Hokan still is vacillating between thinking of Niner as an it more than a person, and “abomination” and thinking of him as a Mandalorian man who’s been unfairly used. Again, it’s this weird moment of double think, but it works in Niner’s favor, because nobody wants to know what would have happened if Hokan hadn’t taken the time to talk to him, or had decided to use the lightsaber.

The sheer irony of Hokan avoiding the lightsaber because it was too much like what happened to Jango on Geonosis... and then Etain decapitates him... with a lightsaber.

Niner says he doesn’t like to complain, but. Also, still very fair. And a much needed laugh after that last moment.

“Probably okay” Fi.

Also This raises SO MANY questions because Mando armor is supposed to hold off Jedi if it’s beskar, but this isn’t, which means Fi spends the rest of the series hoarding and or wearing armor that isn’t beskar.

Etain is trembling, we’ll find out from her POV, because she’s still reacting to hearing Niner scream like that, and it rattles her deeply. Which again, I sympathize with, because it makes me upset.

But I mean, even if Traviss forgets it... there has to be a lot of emotion to being handed Kast Fulier’s lightsaber. He was the only one who was kind to her in the Order, at least from her point of view, she failed him, he was tortured to death with that lightsaber, and now it’s being returned to her. This is the closest she’ll ever get to closure, because as with Omega’s original brothers, there are no bodies left for burial. KT completely ignores the weight of that... but I think about it a lot.

Darman being gentle with her and praying that Fi doesn’t open his mouth makes me feel soft, though. And Niner gives her a tiny bit of the acknowledgement/respect she's wanted.

We go to her POV next:

Same, Etain. Same. Again, as she points out... Niner’s heard that before. And none of the rest of the squad who was there for it even really seems fazed?

She’s also guilty about not being Jedi enough of course, but that’s nothing new at this point. And I’m sure Fi and Niner can appreciate her not-Jedi instincts. (Or does Zey’s tacit approval mean actually her stunt with the gunship is rooted in some Jedi ideals, even if it’s tactically stupid? idk.)

Maze & Zey take turns doing the pacing, confirmed. It’s just funny because earlier Zey was annoying the shit out of Niner by pacing and breaking up the holos at the briefing.

ZEY BACKSTORY! ZEY BACKSTORY! IDGAF ABOUT KAL; WHERE’S MY ZEY BACK STORY.

Ahem.

Anyway, the conversation turns to what actually happens to Etain now. She is, after all, an orphaned Padawan in the middle of war time.

“Etain could think of nothing worse than staying on Qiilura, with its terrible memories and uncertain future... She was alone again and scared.”

Okay, so we can debate what Etain’s duty is in this scenario. As Zey says, she knows better than anyone what Qiilura is like, and that’s info Zey can’t attempt to replicate, even if he reads Omega’s reports. It wouldn’t be the same as having Etain’s first hand experience.

But that... still leaves Etain “alone”, “scared”, stuck on a planet that is “full of terrible memories” and is associated deeply with at least three months of trauma. And she’s going to accept that, because she’s being guilted with the Jedi values of non-attachment and duty to the Republic. But I don’t know that this is the healthiest way for her to finish out her training. Like. Do the Jedi not have counselors or something, Zey?

It’s just... really sad to me.

a) Note to self about the body language here again. “dug her nails into her palms”, tried to compose herself.

b) oh shut up about what’s expected of soldiers; not everything has to be comparative

c) I had a conversation with samwichwilson about this scene that’s probably still in the tags somewhere.

But the framework of this choice makes absolutely ZERO sense to me.

Like, my kingdom for the AU where Etain chooses to go with Omega squad and spends the next nine months learning to blow shit up with them. I have no idea how that would work since she’s a Padawan and still technically needs a Master’s supervision, but I would enjoy it. She would definitely be happier than she’s gonna be on Qiilura.

But... while the narrative is presenting this as serious-ish options... like, there’s no way Zey would have actually go through with that last one, right? Point about working undercover aside, if he’s offering to let one clone stay, he might as well offer all 4, and he specifically narrows it down to one of the squad, not all of Omega.

So while Etain typically seems to believe an even lower opinion of her than KT actually writes (to match her low self-esteem) I have to assume that she’s right and she’s being tested here? But Zey, what the hell were you going to do if she said yes and asked to go with Omega? Much less if, when she accidentally caves here in a moment, Darman had said yes and agreed to stay with her.

She would have failed the test, and you can’t really let them start dating under your supervision... so what are you gonna do about that?

Anyway, it doesn’t matter. As unfair as it is, the choice is not really a choice, and Etain has been guilted into remaining in this place she hates. She’ll probably even end up working with Jinart again. Bleh.

Etain seems to be taking these options as if they’re really, truly serious here, but as a reader, it’s incredibly hard to see them that way. Because again. What’s Zey gonna do if she fails the attachment test.

(Unless you want to argue that the predilection with Jedi non-attachment and rules breaking is 100% in Etain’s head here and her guilt and mental conditioning just won’t let her see that Zey is 100% truthful and kindly letting Etain go off with these people she’s become so desperate to attach herself to. But that doesn’t fit like... any canon about the Jedi Order. Or ANY of Traviss’s writing tbh.)

I mean, at least Etain knows herself pretty well here. Her brain is going “abort abort, abort” but can’t actually stop her from doing the stupid thing. She’s also trying to communicate to Dar that this isn’t her abandoning him, this is her still caring.

Listen, you can point out Dar’s lack of experience and still miss all the “child” bullshit. And honestly, his response to her saying that she’ll miss him comes off... almost a little cold. “You’ll miss me. I’m going to die in ten years, but don’t worry about me because I’m going the closest I have to home.” Maybe he’s trying to reassure her / also not to admit to someone who is now an Officer again that he’ll miss her too. It just sounds weird, even if we get the line that he was “considering it seriously.”

Or I guess what really annoys me is that in this moment that should be really personal and painful for these two characters, this just sounds... weirdly preachy?

Also...like... again Etain had to know that it wasn’t an actual option, even if the rest of the series will pretend that it was, including when she looks back at it in Triple Zero. But I’m choosing to read it more as a mark of her desperation- being so desperate and lonely, and, yes, a little trapped that her emotion overrides what she knows to be true.

💔💔💔

There’s some lines about how she’s a better Jedi Forever now because of “a soldier faith in her” but I have mixed feelings about those because they’re followed up with a bunch of bullshit about how she should learn from him because he had accepted his fate and had no self pity, and I don’t have time for ANY of that. You are allowed to feel bad when bad things happen to you, even if you are a woman or a Jedi.. Fuck off, Traviss.

Sweetheart.

Listen, you know and I know that she’ll see them again, she and Darman will fall in love, she isn’t trapped on Qiilura, a place of her nightmares, forever.

But it still feels like a real fucking downer of an ending.

Still, we have now officially made it to the end of Hard Contact. I haven’t decided if I’ll make posts for Triple Zero or if they’ll follow this format if they do. (Your thoughts/comments/feedback are welcome, as always.)

Final Kal Count was 42, which is actually impressive for a 20 chapter novel in which he DOES NOT APPEAR.

#Rev Recaps RepComm #Republic Commando #Hard Contact #RepComm #Etain Tur-Mukan #Darman Skirata #Niner Skirata #Atin Skirata #Fi Skirata #Arligan Zey #Captain Maze #I think

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lothirielswan · 4 years

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Writing Introverted Individuals: Guide and Sources

Hi Awesome Adventurers! So I’ve had to write about a few introverts on my journey through writing so far, and I’m sure you can find a butt ton of stuff like this, but I wanted to make this easier for you guys and offer up some things that I’ve found. Scroll down to see insightful videos, characters, tips, and more!

First off, here is a list of well-known characters in fiction that are incredibly introverted to study (no, there are no spoilers listed with character descriptions):

Ron Swanson — from Parks and Rec. Ron is definitely very far down the spectrum and could be considered the “stereotypical introvert.” Ron Swanson avoids and nearly despises any social conduct with people, yet he does it in a comical way. If you are writing an incredibly antisocial introvert with zero respect for other life forms, I’d look into Mr. Swanson (bonus: you get to watch Chris Pratt, our lovable extrovert, at the same time!).

Loki — from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The star of Tumblr. I’m sure all of you are familiar with him, and the best thing about watching Loki is seeing his introverted nature compared to the biggest extrovert in the nine realms: Thor. This gives us both sides of the spectrum, and it’s a great thing to watch when you’re trying to differentiate the traits of extroverts and introverts. Loki proves that introverts can be funny and witty, but most accurately shows the con of being the introvert: constantly feeling neglected/left out of things.

Everyone from the cast of The Big Bang Theory, besides Penny — well, not quite, but this show has tons of introverts and is one of the best sources to watch. One thing to keep in mind from this is that The Big Bang Theory is focused on a group of close friends—introverts have social circles, too. Introverts can be loud and boisterous around people they know well (the show has multiple examples of this). However, when these introverted individuals are put in a more crowded setting, some get social anxiety, some can’t talk to women, and some find it exhausting. This show is a landmine for studying introverts, and I extremely recommend it for this topic.

Tyrion Lannister — from Game of Thrones (I’ll repeat this again because I know you: NO SPOILERS). Tyrion is more social for an introvert, but it’s been shown that he likes to spend his free time in solitude. Tyrion is a very independent thinker (a big introverted trait) and is very well read. However, he jokes with people, he is gifted with words (just because introverts have a reputation for talking much does not mean that they are not witty), and is sexually active.

Hope Van Dyne (the Wasp) — from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hope has a very direct way of thinking, and prefers getting stuff done instead of dealing with “fluff.” Hope also had a very cold, loveless background, and while introversion can be considered genetic, it’s interesting to note how the background/backstory of a character plays a role in the level of introversion.

Bruce Banner — from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (played by Mark Ruffalo). This little cinnamon roll keeps to himself, I recommend watching him onscreen and how he interacts with his Avenging coworkers (when he’s less green!). Especially in social situations, where you’ll notice that Dr. Banner is very quiet and keeps to himself.

MARINA — No, Marina, is not a fictional character; she is a singer that is very real, but she deserves a spot on this list of “introverts to watch”. I’ve listened to Marina’s songs for years, and every album shows the struggle of how introverts struggle to just be in the world. One of her most famous albums, Electra Heart, actually describes her trying to change herself to fit in with this extroverted world. If you want to know more about introverts, I suggest listening to one—and this one sounds like a goddess.

Some of you may be new to introverts, so bring over some books and blankets to wrap yourself in like a burrito as we explore/review this: what is the introvert?

Okay, there are a lot of myths associated with the Introvert that we should dispel here: NOT ALL introverts are stuck-up or shy, however, their independent nature sometimes leads people to make these assumptions. Instead of thinking of introverts as the Grumpy Cat and extroverts as the excited golden retriever, let me differentiate them a little:

The main difference between introverts and extroverts is how their bodies react differently. When people hang out with friends, it releases a “happy” drug in our body called dopamine. Introverts and extroverts react differently to this.

When extroverts hang out with friends, this releases dopamine in their body, which energizes them and makes them feel good. However, with introverts, dopamine can be overstimulating and overwhelming, making most introverts start to feel tired after hanging around people. This being said: introverts do not hate people. Interactions have a tendency to fatigue them over time. But this reaction can affect introverts’ opinion on social activities, and can discourage them. Back to sciencey terms, there is a drug that introverts experience that they cope better with than dopamine: acetylcholine. This drug is more of a “slow burn” feel to it, that is turned on when you focus on something or are doing something creating like drawing. Introverts favor this chemical reaction, hence their desire for independent activities. (You can find more about this here)

Introverts also tend to be decisive thinkers, and are at peace when in solitude. As the writer, it’s up to you to decide how sensitive your introvert is, but please, do not make the mistake of assuming your beautiful creation hates people for no reason!

I’ve written about a couple introverts by now, and I am one myself, so here are some experiences, tips, and suggestions on what introverts go through:

What I said above is true about getting overstimulated: I met a good friend of mine about a year ago, and I remember we were hanging out at a Wendy’s (this was back when I was just getting to know her), and after 1-2 hours I just started to feel tired, out of it. There wasn’t anything wrong with her, or me: over time, I could spend more time with her before that tired feeling set in again. Other introverts also experience things like this, but it may not be at the same rate.

Now you understand introverts, and that is awesome! But most people don’t. And that’s a good thing to keep in mind when you’re writing: when you have your introverted character interacting with others, depending on the other character, they may be critical of the introvert’s natural ways. One thing introverts face the most is getting talked over/interrupted when they try to speak. Be aware of your introvert’s unique presence!

Introverts are also very perceptive: they are brilliant observers, and catch more things than the average bear. This seems like something quick to dismiss, but hear me out: introverts can be as perceptive as the deaf. Another personal experience: I cannot tell you how many times I’ve spoiled shows for myself, not because people tell me outright, but because I simply browse the internet (with no intent at all whatsoever), I see pictures, I overhear little details; I start picking up little clues that don’t say it outright but it hints, and eventually I go, “crap, not again.” This is how the introvert’s mind works: it can catch the smallest things, and they’re usually smart enough to stumble onto the right conclusions (this sounds cool, but it can be a real pain in the ass).

I hope this has been helpful so far! Here are a few links I found to videos on Youtube that have some more insightful information about introverts:

8 Strengths of Introverts

The Power of Introverts: Susan Cain (TED talk)

A Day in School as an Introvert (the Struggle)

Thank you so much for reading, Awesome Adventurers! I’d love to hear what you think about introverts or if you have anything to add, and if you’d like to talk more about this, go ahead and shoot me over something! I hope this helped you out before you go write your fantastic story that will light up the world! Love, fortune and glory to you!!

#introvert #writing #writing tip #writing tips #writing guide #extrovert #about introvert

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phantomphangphucker · 5 years

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He’s Shifting The Shape Of Possibility - DannyMay - Day 11 ShapeShift

Summary: Awareness of change is the most powerful change of all.

(Continuation of my fic Fenton Is That Broken Character)

“Phantom! Hey!...Phantom!”, Jack shouts and waves at what he’s just assuming to be the long black and white silhouette of Phantom, as he flies against the backdrop of the night sky. Waving his hands a bit more as the form loops around and stills in the air, floating in place for a bit before slowly flying down.

Jack watches with an eager grin as Phantom lazily wraps his ghostly tail on and around a tree branch. Resting his torso on the branch as he puts his chin on his hand, “please tell me there is not some other small fry ghost running around? And could you even tell that was me up there?”. Jack can feel the humour in the ghost's words even if Phantom looks a bit annoyed, “not a lot of ghosts are black and white you know! Besides! If it was some other ghost then I’d get to shoot it!”. Jack laughs a bit and Phantom laughs along but much quieter, “true, you are a Fenton after all. Not some groupie”. Jack nods strongly, “yup! Us Fenton’s are a tough bunch”. Digging in his pocket as he continues speaking, “developed some new tech actually! It’s not a harmful one or anything so was wondering if you’d feel up to playing test subject? Help advance the field of ghost hunting and all that”.

Jack can clearly see Phantom’s chuckling as he waves the, officially named, Fenton SpookSense in his direction. Phantom rests his cheek on the branch and replies with a smirk, “and now what does this one do? And just what sort of advancement could you mean? Pretty sure you hunters are advanced enough”.

“Nonsense! There are always improvements to be made! But this ones more for cataloging, you guys can be a bit tricky to keep track of and figure out how to deal with”, Jack taps on the device, “so this little baby just reads a ghosties ecto-field and tells us how strong you are. How much of a potential threat, not that you’re really a threat though”.

“Many of us are not, strength doesn’t determine if someone’s dangerous”, Jack can tell Phantom’s a bit unimpressed. Shrugging at the ghost, “honestly, Phantom. You really are the only friendly I know I’ve met. I’m sure there must be others but something tells me they don’t come out of the Ghost Zone to play, much. You really are an anomaly”. Phantom smirks down, words laced with sarcasm, “wow, you’re just great at convincing me to offer up my glow for testing aren’t you?”.

Jack grins goofily and rubs the back of his head, “well, you haven’t ran off so I must be doing something right! Plus, this is really more for knowing what kind of action to take if there actually is an issue. Needs touch ups of course”.

Tilting his head at the Spook as he realises Phantom really shouldn’t know that Jack pretty much needs permission to test this, “though, how’d you know I needed you to let me near your ecto-field to test it?”. Jack just barely catches Phantom looking a bit nervous before that emotion flickers away. Phantom rolls his eyes, “because the only way Jack Fenton would ask before testing something on me, is if it was either, harmful or needed a willing participant”. Jack would feel insulted if it wasn’t for the rather affectionate tone Phantom used. Jack sits down on the bench beneath the tree, leaning back to look up at Phantom, “you’re not wrong, Phantom. But you’re also not exactly the easiest to get a hold of to even ask. This little guy needs to actually be touching your ecto-field to scan you”. Phantom laughs loudly at this, “well that makes it pretty useless for any non-friendlies then! Sounds like it needs more than just some touch ups!”. Jack joins Phantom in laughing lightly, “well that’s only for the full strength one, still need to rebuild the little one. But I’m sure I’d need the full strength one to get a result off you. No point blowing up another mini!”.

Phantom snickers as he lowers himself down a bit, “what can’t handle all this raw power?”. Jack shakes his head amusedly, Phantom always has quite the sense of humour about him. Even at the expense of himself or in frighteningly dangerous situations, it’s admirable really, “no clue really, I know you were a seven years ago but no way you haven’t grown stronger. Besides this one’s already made and we get along now, right? So it’s feasible enough that you’d agree”. Jack’s not exactly sure why Phantom stares at him funny for a few seconds before responding, “I always got along with you and the rest of Amity. You just needed to get along with me back. Which, if I’m honest, took longer than it should have”.

Jack can’t help but feel a bit guilty, Phantom, from nearly day one, seemed to be making a point that he was the good guy. But it took him saving the entire town for anyone, well any adults at least, to see him as anything other than a menace. And Jack knew he and his wife were the worst for that, having only stopped hunting him in the past two years. Nodding up at Phantom, “yeah, yeah it did. You really were a case of the kids knowing better, my son especially. Just like you, he always seems to just know things. Both of you are little anomalies, maybe the “Danny” name is cursed or something”. Jack can’t help but laugh at the mixture of embarrassment, amusement, and out of place paranoia, on Phantoms’ face. Phantom rolls his eyes, crosses his arms and slides his tail out of the tree; before changing to his legs. Floating slightly above the seat of the bench, “you have no idea”. Phantom flicks a finger at the device, “so what in all does that thing tell you, exactly?”.

Jack turns the screen on and points out the fields, leaning a bit towards Phantom but making it clear he has no intention of getting the SpookSense in range to test him without permission. “PL for power level, which us hunter’s rank from one to thirty. Technically there’s a zero level but that’s just for plain ol’ ectoplasm. Though I doubt you don’t already know about power levels”, chuckling at Phantoms’ knowing smirk as he continues his explanation, “class is more something Fenton made. Tells me how much of a potential threat or danger you could be. It’s based on a bunch of things from power level to powers and age. The title section really only applies to ghosts given some specific duty by the Zone. Like being a Ghost Zone cop or the highest knight of some ghost kingdom”.

Phantom laughs and leans back, letting himself stop floating to come into proper contact with the bench, “well, for telling you only three things, that little guy will give you more information than you think”. Jack has no idea what to make of that, because how could this give any further information? And he fully expects Phantom to be strong so, “can’t say I know what you mean, ghost. I expect your PL to be high and since my son says he wouldn’t be surprised if you’re a class six, then neither would I. And even with the title section, you’re well known and who knows just how powerful of things you’ve faced and won. You also clearly have a sense of justice and protection, so I fully expect you’d be a cop or maybe even a knight”. Tapping at his chin, “maybe even a title related to Amity. Like Amity’s keeper or protector”.

“Wow, you’re opinion of me sure has changed. I’m pretty sure I’d have had a heart attack years ago if you even implied I was Amity’s protector”. Jack can’t help but smirk at that unusual Phantom humour poking its head up, though he can tell Phantom’s not really joking around here. He means what he said and Jack does feel a bit guilty at that, “yes well, I was wrong”, chuckling a bit, “though if you have a heart attack, none the less a heart, that is a flat out scientific marvel. An utter impossibility, since you’re a ghost”. Jack can’t help but feel more amused as Phantom tilts his head back and laughs heartily, “I am a totally impossible enigma!”. Jack is always impressed at how Phantoms’ smirks and smiles seem to fill his face, that’s ultimately what disproved the Fenton idea that ghost didn’t feel. No way anyone or thing could fake a smirk as playful and shit eating, as what Phantom was currently displaying, “and that is precisely why that little machine will give you answers you never expected. Even if they’re not the kind of answers that show up on screen”. Jack only grows more confused as Phantom says through a laugh, “you could say it might just shapeshift you perspective. Transform your known reality. Really change exactly how much of a little anomaly the local town enigma is”.

“Phantom...I'm not really sure you could be any more unusual”, Phantoms further laughter is both confusing and mood lifting to Jack. Jack can take being a bit confused, especially if he gets to see just how much of a powerhouse this Spook really is. “Oh I wouldn’t go writing me off just yet, Jack”, Jack’s a little startled as Phantom seems to instantly become more serious and looks him straight in the eyes. Jack’s glad Phantoms’ toxic green eyes carry friendliness at all times, otherwise it might be hard not to flinch back from his intense ghostly gaze, “but who needs all the answers, and you might find that some secrets are better left untold. A shift in the shape of your reality may not be ideal to you, in the end. I’d hope otherwise, but I make no claim to what the future holds”.

Jack clues in that what Phantom is getting at here is that somehow, the reading this machine gives him is going to reveal some mystery about this anomaly of a ghost. Which honestly excites him more than anything else, “when it comes to ghosts there’s nothing I don’t want to know!”. Poking at Phantom, “especially about you! You’ve been a constant anomaly, the odd one out in every piece of research, and somehow do things that ghosts shouldn’t be able to do. Heck! I’m pretty well positive that you somehow don’t even need to be in the Ghost Zone at all! And that doesn’t even get us started on how you become randomly immune to sensors and shields?!” Jack knows full well he’s rambling a bit but how could he not be excited at finding out even one little mystery of Phantom?

Grinning wide at Phantom, who’s eyeing him both amused and with something like pity, “even your ectoplasm samples mysteriously disappear. I’m a scientist Phantom, I want to know”.

“And what would you do? With this new found knowledge? Whether it’s something that only mildly shifts the shape of some theory; or utterly obliterates every idea, belief, and thing you thought you knew. Reinvents your world view”, Jack admits he’s close to worried now, just how massive of an oddity is Phantom? Or is Phantom just riling him up, like he so clearly loves to do to pretty well everyone. Even if it’s always good-naturedly, as Phantom continues speaking but in a more soft tone, “I know you carry some guilt over our past...interactions, which you understandably should; though you really don’t need to. I worry that, should you understand, truly understand, that guilt might elevate crushingly”.

Jack blinks a bit, thrown off by the genuine concern and worry. The kind he’d often steal away for only family, especially his strange son. Seeing this from Phantom is incredibly odd but somehow understandable, “you really do care for everyone in this town don’t you? But I’m certain, whatever your little, or more likely big, secret is; this Fenton can handle it”. Jack adjusts himself to face the, slightly taller than him, ghost. Even Jack gets that secrets often need to be kept, “I’m not going to tell though. Excluding us Fenton’s”.

Jack’s not sure why that makes Phantom smirk, “Oh I know you won’t. No, you might just protect what you know more fiercely than I do”. Jack has no clue what that means, but can tell there’s some deeper meaning as Phantom looks up to the starry sky, “protection of others is always stronger kept than self-preservation”.

“Pretty sure you’re talking mostly about yourself there, Phantom. But you’re also not wrong. I’d give anything to protect my family”, Jack follows Phantoms’ gaze, “and I guess I would protect you too. I think you’ve more than earned it. Starting to think you never even needed to earn it, that if something happened I’d help you, truce or not”.

Phantom nods and offers his hand/arm to Jack, “you’re right, I would know. It’s happened, after all, you just don’t remember”. Jack is blatantly shocked but decides not to question the strange ghost, who’s clearly thought of something rather funny in his sky focused musings.

As Jack is lifting up the device, Phantom chuckles, “ah ah ah, we’re doing this my way”. Phantom covers up the screen with his other hand as Jack is just plain confused, “you’ll get your results”, Phantom shrugs with a playful smirk, “just one at a time”. Jack’s confusion is cleared and he can’t help but laugh as Phantom makes his fingers invisible one at a time, revealing each section one by one.

“If that’s the game I have to play, then I’ll play it for science! And Fenton curiosity!”, now both of them are laughing, though Jack does notice that Phantom is slightly nervous; as he puts the device inside Phantoms’ glowing ecto-field.

Jack has to restrain himself from nagging at Phantom to reveal the first section, which Phantom is clearly snicking about baiting him with.

Laughing, “Fine Fine, behold and marvel at my stupidly over-powered butt”.

Jack definitely is marvelling, because holy cow, as he reads the screen.

PL: 25

“Wow! That is way over-powered! You would have busted the mini for sure!”, smirking at Phantom, because holy hell was he glad this ghost was a good guy. And thinking of all the ghost craziness in town, “Amity is pretty well lucky you’re so strong though! Who knows just what sort of nightmares you’ve protected us from! And consider me very glad that the old theory of ghost all being evil, being wrong. Especially about you”. Jack’s not sure what about that makes Phantom frown, “yes, well, you do not know how true that is. An evil Phantom would be your, and everyone else’s, worst nightmare”. Jack is not about to question the knowing and almost haunted look in Phantoms’ eyes, not wanting to sour the previous happy mood. Smiling at Phantom, “I’m doubting you even have a bad bone in you. If you had bones that is”.

“Pfft, that you know of”, while that makes no sense to Jack he’ll take it. Poking at Phantoms’ fingers, even if he’s positive on what his class reading will be. Because honestly, if his son, a human being, with a subdued rating of twenty-three, classed as a six, there’s no way a full-blown ghost with a level of twenty-five wouldn’t. Jack damn well knows Phantoms’ got some kind of super-powerful power, but whatever it is, he rarely or just doesn’t, use it.

Phantom chuckles, “well I doubt there’s any surprise here but...”. Phantom trails off as his finger becomes invisible, revealing, to no one surprise, his class.

⚠️ Class: 6

“Yup. Class six alright. Now the question is what crazy strong power you hiding. Cause you’re not exactly old, are you? Heck! You used to look like a teenager! Which really is another oddity about you. Ghosts don’t change so gradually”, that really is something that’s confused Jack for a while. It’s not like ghosts who look young are actually young or “grow up”. Heck, just look at that Youngblood ghost!

“Well, I was a teen! I just grew up”, Jack shakes his head at Phantoms’ smirk, clearly giving away that Phantom is not going to enlighten Jack as to how that’s even possible. “Like I said, Jack. I’m an enigma, an impossible enigma”.

Both of them are looking down at Phantoms’ fingers, covering the last section, “and know this is where things get interesting. So let me just say that however unusual, powerful and important; to you, Amity or the Ghost Zone; you think I am. I am drastically more so. If you do not understand what this means right now and wish to think on it, then feel free to seek me out when you do understand. If you really understand, you will know where to find me”.

As Jack is wondering just what kind of title Phantom could hold to be so enigmatic, Phantom removes his hands entirely; revealing the screen in its entirety.

Title: ghost king

Jack stares down at the screen dumbfounded and utterly confused. Here’s Phantom showing not only the, arguably, most powerful title a ghost should be able to hold but also the same one as his son? Jack was pretty much sure that his sons’ title must have been meaning that he’d become the ghost king upon his death, but this clearly proved that wasn’t the case.

Looking up from the screen to squint at Phantom, before looking back at the screen to make sure it still reads the same thing, “ghost king? How? Can...can there be more than one? Or place holders?... I’m confused”. He feels Phantom pat him on the back, “told you I was much more of a mystery. But to answer your questions. I gained the title by defeating the previous Ghost King, and there can only be one. I am the only one who bears that title unless someone defeats me as well”. While Jack’s pondering how that’s possible, because he has blatantly had two different people show up with that title, Phantom laughs lightly, “but since I’m no lair destroying power crazed madman, it’s doubtful any would try to usurp me from power. I’m pretty well liked, even by those who met me in fights”.

“So you, you think fondly of even those who are clearly a danger, an enemy? And they, of you?”

Jack listens and watches Phantom, a bit stunned as he hears the same words come from Phantoms’ echoy voice as have come from his son many times, “why wouldn’t I? Ghosts, like humans, are not wholly one thing or another. Every bad quality has a good to follow suit. Besides, fighting is just part of how ghosts socialise and come to understand each other”. Jack turns his head to look out across the park as Phantom watches the night sky. Jack’s not sure what he’s thinking but even the grass looks like it’s shifted under the weight of some profound world shifting secret.

“I think...I need to head home and talk to my son, Phantom”

Jack barely hears Phantoms’ reply as he walks off, noting how everything has a slight out of focus blur as he thinks, “yes, I think you do. Something tells me he’ll be up”.

Walking into his home, Jack easily spots his son shoving an overfilled fork of sauceless spaghetti into his mouth. Hearing the clink of his sons' teeth on the fork as he approaches, still a bit dazed.

Standing in the kitchen doorway, with Danny’s back to him, he glances down at the SpookSense’s screen, rereading Phantoms’ results before look back up to his sons’ sitting form. Something tells him, his son knows he’s there but is just waiting for him to speak, so he does, “you were right son, about Phantom”.

Jack can’t help but feel lighter and a bit amused as his son tilts his head backwards and speaks with the fork and noddles stuffed in his mouth, “hmm?”. Jack sits, places the SpookSense on the table and knits his fingers together as Danny’s face follows him with a raised eyebrow. Jack speaks as he taps the screen and looks to his son, “you...and Phantom. You read almost identical”. Images and words filter though Jack’s head, unfiltered, of all the behaviours and things said that are oh so similar of the two Danny’s. Blinking a bit as the lines between who said or did what blur and shift their shapes, “it’s not just that, it’s all identical”. Shaking his head a bit, “no, that’s not quite true. One reserved, one bold. One gentle, one strong. One fades to the background, one stands in front. Like...” Jack trails off not quite sure where his own mind is going, “like...”. Jack blinks and slowly goes wide-eyed as he speaks, while images of shift-shaping and blending blues and greens swirl in his mind, “like to sides of the same thing. The same...”, looking up and whispering at his son, “person”.

Jack’s mind has pretty well completely stalled as he watches a wide smile inch its way across his sons’ face. He can’t help but place the image of Phantoms’ face, from the tree, over top of the mirroring playfully bold smile now plastered on his sons’ face. Not a line of his face, hair or even the slight twinklings of amusement and embarrassment in his eyes; is out of place. Danny chuckles and rubs his neck, glancing away, “and so everything transforms now”.

“How?”, Jack’s not sure why his question earns him a smirk. “Everything transforms or shifts its shape in some way. Sometimes it’s just a bit more...literal”, Danny’s tone is soft, though Jack can sense there’s some nervousness there.

His heads still a fair bit muddled so he repeats himself, “how?”. Scrunching up his face, “you?... and Phantom?”, but then shaking his head a little, “are Phantom?”. Jack watches as Danny nods and rests his chin on his palm, again like Phantom in the tree. Mentally changing out black hair for white, Danny’s doesn’t move with gravity-defying floating but otherwise, “not two but one. One person...how?”. Now Danny looks a bit concerned and Jack realises he must have missed something here, as Danny sort of repeats himself softly, “think werewolves. Shapeshifting. But with ghosts”.

“So you can change into Phantom? How? You’re not a ghost?”, Jack mutters at the table, “is Phantom not ghost? What?”. He feels Danny poke him in the arm so he looks up at Danny’s equal parts amused and slightly worried face, “what are werewolves dad?”.

“Not real?”, Danny bursts out laughing at this. Jack’s glad to hear the laughing though far too confused as Danny wipes at his eyes a bit, “dad, obviously. What I mean is, what are they? What makes someone a werewolf in mythology”.

Jack’s not entirely sure where his son is going with this, “a person being half wolf?”. After a couple seconds though, something dawns on him as he repeats himself rather excitedly, “half ghost? Half ghost!”. Jack watches as his son struggles to hold in a laugh while nodding. While gears are turning in Jack’s head, no wonder his son sets off everything! It all senses ghosts! And he’s one! Sort of one? Part one? Exactly half? Or is it like all ghost and all human but able to switch? Somehow? Whispering at him both confused and excited but with some affection, “what are you?”.

Jack instantly regrets that though, as his son looks rather paranoid and cringes a little, “Danny, your son?”. Jack’s, again, confused by this response and not sure why Danny looks to be boring holes of worry and pleading? into Jack’s face. “Well, of course?”.

Danny facepalming was not the reaction Jack was expecting. Jack’s pretty sure his answer was an obvious one, of course his son is his son. Watching Danny rub his face and noticing that he’s actually blushing a bit, “um yeah, of course. The word’s halfa. Half human and...half ghost”. Jack can practically feel the caution in those last two words, but he’s a bit too excited to really dwell on that. Being a scientist faced with a brand new discovery, not only that but one that solves nearly every mystery he’s ever had about Phantom or, and?, his son. “Are there others?! Like a unique species?! Fusion?! Hybrid?! Could it be genetic?! Or...”, Jack trails off, losing his steam, as his son looks progressively more and more paranoid and stiff.

The two just stare at each other for a bit before Danny looks down and plays with what’s left of his food, with a frown, “I’m not an experiment and I’m not going to be”.

“What? Of course not! You’re family not a... oh.. OH”, Jack can see Danny cringe as Jack remembers how Danny is always avoidant of and off-put by the inventions. How Jack’s been suspicious that some hurt him. And...how he talks about ghosts around his son. Feeling extraordinarily guilty over all the very excitable times he’s gushed over experimenting on them, realising his son probably felt like that included him.

Judging by how his son is clearly looking around at exits and trying to make himself smaller, less of a...target. Jack’s positive he used the wrong words again, putting his hands on the table to hopefully ease his son up some, “you’re family, Danny. And if you’re Phantom then Phantom’s family all the same. Ghost or not”. Jack’s not sure why that makes Danny look more awkward that comforted, as Danny rubs his neck a bit, “yeah, I know. Always did. Glad to hear it though”. Jack decides to wait for his son to talk, but his son apparently has the same idea. As Danny finishes up his food while Jack runs his fingers across the SpookSense, he’s honestly a bit amazed at how right Phantom, his son, was. This little thing had pretty well solved two of the biggest mysteries in his entire life. The oddness of the Danny’s, which turned out to be just one Danny. He’s feeling a bit guilty again, having not noticed. How could he, one of the most ecto-knowledgable people in the world, not realise his own son was one? Half of one? And he hunted him, tried to kill his own son. Jack jerks his head up at Danny, as Danny interrupts his mental self-berating, “I don’t want you to feel bad about the past. It’s ok, it was expected. You never would have or could have done me real harm”. Jack frowns a bit knowing full well that he really had been trying to destroy Phantom, but he doesn’t get a chance to comment on that, as Danny keeps talking, “like I said, I know I’m family. And I know because you’ve found out before. You just don’t remember”.

Jack blinks at that, reminded of his conversation with his son, as Phantom, before, “you said that, earlier. Still confusing, how could I not remember? Heck! How are you even half ghost? you're not...dead?”. Jack’s not sure why that’s funny but he’s glad to have successfully fixed the mood. Even if he still feels guilty, while Danny tilts his head back and laughs, “my deadness is debatable. Half human and half ghost. Half alive and half dead. Sometimes I go with half dead, and other times I go with fully dead and fully alive but at the same time. For all accounts and purposes, my very existence is impossible. I go against the laws of nature. A little impossible enigma, like I said”. Danny shuffles a bit, “and as for the not remembering thing, time is a strange thing. And time travel makes it even weirder. You’ve found out at least three times, I made you and the rest of the world intentionally forget though. Kind of had to, for my own safety”.

This makes Jack clue in that his son has been up to some seriously dangerous stuff, deadly kind of dangerous. But at the same time, his scientific curiosity nags to throw safety out the window. “Ok first off, you shouldn’t be doing such dangerous things. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Phantom get impaled more than once”, Jack can’t really maintain the glaring as he gets a bit excited, though he kind of wants to keep glaring, as his son waves off his worry over his injuries, “second, are you sure about the half-dead thing, what about your organs? Heart? Breathing? If you exist, and are half dead, then clearly it’s possible. But yes it shouldn’t be, so how?”

“I’m durable dad, questionably so. And well no, not really possible. It’s considered factually impossible to be both dead and alive. Those two things are the most mutually exclusive things out there. And yet...”, Danny snickers a bunch to himself, “as for my organs and what not, most function to half the degree they should. My heart beats half as much and pluse is also half. My natural body temp is way below hypothermia. I have no clue if most of my organs even do anything anymore. My heart is pretty well the only organ that I haven’t lost at some point, so they’re all kind of useless. I breathe but I don’t really need to. My bones are just plain confusing, sometimes I have bones and sometimes I don’t”. Danny shrugs, “all very impossible. Not to mention illogical”.

Jack’s a bit shocked by the info dump, though he can’t help but find it amusing that his son obviously checked this stuff, and yeah, it makes pretty well no sense, “how the? How does your human body? Form? State?, maintain itself at all? And I’m still not happy you’re getting hurt so much”. Jack can tell Danny’s getting a good kick out of this now, obviously he finds humour in causing mild confusion. Watching Danny smirk as he responds, “I go with human form and by defying reality and all the known laws of nature? Being able to shape-shift into a ghost is already downright nutty, so makes sense that everything else is weird too”. Danny rubs at his neck and Jack can easily see the rather apologetic look on his face, “it’s really better to not try and figure out just how the hell my body can even function. The other, much older, halfa is a major scientist himself and he hardly knows how this all works. Though he gets the genetics of it to a scary degree”. Jack mutters, “so it is genetic”, before noticing Danny’s rather intense gaze. He can’t help but ponder on how differently Danny’s blue eyes convey an intense stare than his green ones, probably something to do with ghostly energy or maybe it’s because his green ones glow. As Danny is clearly trying to make a point, “don’t worry about the injuries. It’s part of the job, protecting people and Amity, the occasional bigger thing. I expect it, I know how to handle it and wounds aren’t the same for me. I heal from most things in minutes. There’s even a very good chance that I’m flat out indestructible”.

Jack’s not sure whether to find that worrying or to be happy. But he’s pretty sure his son’s exaggerating a bit, he doesn’t even have to say anything though. Since his son is clearly good at reading people, judging by how he comments on Jack’s mild disbelief, “my ghost protects my human and my human protects my ghost. The standing theory is that both sides of me would have to be instantly and simultaneously destroyed otherwise my sides would shield and heal each other in an unending loop. It would be like trying to count to the end of Pi”.

Jack’s surprised that actually makes sense, though still shouldn’t even be possible. Deciding to take his sons advice on not trying to figure it out though. “Wow, well I’d still you rather not get hurt. Speaking of jobs though”, Jack taps on title section of the screen, “do they just not care you’re part human? And something tells me your life is way more complicated than I thought”.

“Halfas are by our very nature stronger than regular ghosts. And ghosts respect strength, so the king being a halfa is actually a source of pride for many. I’m pretty much viewed by them, as a ghost who’s able to exist on the human plane. None really see me as a human, but rather a ghost who can shape-shift into a human”, Jack’s not sure why that’s funny to his son, because Jack finds it concerning. He’s glad his son’s respected but he’s more of a human than ghost, right? While Danny laughs, “just like how every human who knows, views me as a human with ghost powers. CW is really the only one, besides me, who truly sees me as equally both. Which is what I am. I’m not more ghost than human nor more human than ghost. Just like how a coin isn’t more heads than it is tails. It doesn’t matter what side you can see or what side was made first, they’re equal”.

“But you live a mostly human life, right? And you live here, not in the GZ”, Jack feels he doesn’t even need to mention that Danny’s family and friends are all humans. Though he’s certain Danny has ghost friends, which is rather weird.

“I spend most of my time in human form yeah, but what I do as Phantom takes precedence over everything. Phantom’s what I do in life, my purpose. The hero, the protector, the watchful eye, the saviour, the king. There’s not really anything human I could do that would ever be more important, so lifestyle wise; I’m more ghost than human”, he knows his sons’ got a point there, even if he doesn’t really like it. Danny was human first, had a human life first; this ghost stuff was just forced on him, wasn’t it? But he lets his son finish before commenting on that, “I guess while I view myself as equally both species, I don’t really hold them at equal weighing. I know if I had to choose, I’d choose ghost every time. I could begrudgingly tolerate being full ghost, but I couldn’t tolerate being full human again”. Jack can tell that Danny knew he wouldn’t be happy to hear that, even if he does like the rare honesty from his son. Jack really can’t grasp how anyone would rather be a ghost than human, even if they had powers. It makes him a bit worried that his son’s power-hungry or that his mind has been altered by all of this. Which now that he thinks about, of course his sons’ mind has been altered; it would actually be really weird if it hadn’t. “You like the power of it that much? Which I guess the ghost aspects of your mind would. I’m not sure how you couldn’t resent something forced on you though”, Danny looks a bit confused but apparently figured out whatever was confusing him, judging by the slightly embarrassed smile.

“Becoming half ghost was unintentional in the beginning yeah. But the accident that made me a halfa actually got reversed at one point and as soon as I found out I intentionally made it happen again. So I chose it ultimately. And while yes, I like the power, it is rather useful. It’s what I do with that power, that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate giving up. Fighting ghosts, protecting people, resolving ghost skirmishes, teaching and guiding new generations of either species, occasionally saving the world. It’s who I am, failing to be that would destroy me, not literally”.

Jack’s honestly a bit in awe at how mature his son is now. It’s pretty clear he’s thought about this too, Jack still doesn’t really like it though. Even if he’s glad his son is clearly proud and happy with it, “you could do that human, but...I guess you couldn’t do it the same. Could you?”. Danny shakes his head a little sadly, “no. I really do need my ghost everything. CW likes to say I’m an old soul who could only ever exist as a guardian. A guardian to both sides of the world and the world needs me that way. Though I wish it would stop reminding me of that”. Jack finds it a bit amazing how Danny makes this all sound so mundane, “so the “saving the world” thing, was pretty literal then. And I’m going to guess this “CW” is a friend? Ghost friend?”.

Danny’s knowing smirk makes it clear to Jack that he’s right, before Danny even opens his mouth, “you have no idea. One second GIW idiots are trying to blow up the entire Ghost Zone, which would also destroy the earth by the way. The next second some future jerk destroys almost all of humanity and ghosts. And then on Tuesday some moron releases a chemical weapon into the earth's core. Some times I swear, the world actively wants to be destroyed”. Even Jack can’t help but laugh, “well thanks then!”. Danny humorously stabs his finger on the table and chuckles, “I’ve got my licks in too though. Had to stop my future self from destroying everything no less than three times. And that’s why the Observants hate me, too much power they say. Which they’re not really wrong about, but I don’t like them either so”. Jack’s not really concerned by that, since it’s pretty obvious his son’s overpowered. Throwing in shapeshifting just makes him more so. Plus there’s no way his heart of gold son, would ever intentionally destroy the world. He’s practically still a kid, he’s going to mess up; even if his mess ups, apparently, have major consequences.

“And CW, or ClockWork as he's actually called, is more than a friend and more than some ghost. He’s my mentor, might as well be family really. He’s one of the only ghosts who can truly hold a candle to me power wise. He’s a guardian, so to speak, himself. He controls time itself and is responsible for making sure the time-stream doesn’t get damaged or destroyed. I watch over earth and zone, he watches over time, and the Observants watch over existence. We all do jobs for each other sometimes, though both me and CW make a point to annoy the hell out of the Observants if they ask us to do anything”. Jack’s not sure if he feels more impressed or worried about his son intentionally pissing off clearly powerful ghosts. But if his son sees this ClockWork guy as like family, then he wants to meet him. Though wait a second, “did you just imply you’re the most powerful ghost?”.

Now Danny just looks embarrassed, “technically, I am. But CW’s power is basically a real-life ultimate cheat code. There’s no real way to win against him in genuine, which is why he has restraints and rules pretty much binding him. He can’t act or interfere unless absolutely necessary for the sake of the time-stream, existence or reality. On top of that, he’s got a bit of a trump card on me as he’s actually responsible for me. He majorly cheated so I could exist and continue existing; if he wanted to, he could just erase me from existence”.

Jack doesn’t even get a chance to voice how much he does not like that and how he’s officially not so ok with this ClockWork guy. As Danny waves off his worry, “CW has a massive soft spot for me. And he can see every single possible future, the only way he’d erase me is if there was absolutely no possible future wherein I didn’t need to be. In which case, I’d fully agree with his choice and actions. And he knows that, so chances are he’d give me a heads up. Everyone calls me a self-sacrificial idiot for a reason”.

Jack’s still not impressed, at all, “there’s nothing you could say to make me ok with that son. And this guy has way too much power”.

“And I don’t? All power needs checks in place. CW’s restraints are his and CW is mine. I’ve seen what happens if I don’t have him and it’s majorly bad. Likewise, CW doesn’t do well alone. Two overpowered weirdos with odd senses of humour need a brother in arms. And if you think my death jokes are bad, listen to his time ones”, it’s kind of hard for Jack to be bothered now, what with Danny’s mischievous snickering, that looks to be verging on flat out laughter.

Blinking, Jack realises this is the most he’s seen his son laugh in months, maybe even years. Well, as a human anyway. Which is more than enough to make him decide that all of this was a good thing, that his son being this way is a good thing, and that ClockWork might really be good for him. Though he’s not sure he could handle being around two pun machines, “you’ve got a point there son. And I guess I can’t find this bad, since it clearly makes you happy. You never laugh or smile this much”.

Danny rubs his neck awkwardly, “well, a good chunk of my Fenton time is spent keeping things a secret and maintaining appearances. Plus I’ve made a bit of a show of Phantom being a jokester, I can’t have Fenton acting the same as Phantom. In just the same way, I overact the whole “hero” thing as Phantom. No one can see Phantom ever appearing weak, so I make sure they don’t”, gesturing to himself, “so only those who know what I am, really get to see who I really am as a person. Which I realise is kind of shitty but it’s out of necessity, not me being mean or anything. My sides have to be separate to the public and any who don’t know. But who I am as a person, is both. So I guess, you’re kind of meeting me, the real me, for the first time in a very long time. Uh, sorry?”.

Jack knows kids often hide part of themselves from family so he’s not really bothered by that. More bothered that his son is way too grown up and clearly has been for a while, “what even was your childhood?”.

Danny blinks, Jack’s guessing that was not the response Danny was expecting, “most kids wildest dream? I’m a literal superhero, that’s most kids greatest fantasy. Sure it’s serious and painful but I enjoy it. Always did. When I first changed, I pretty well hated being half ghost and I wanted to be normal again. But one real ghost fight and I was in love. Saying everything clicked into place is cliche, but very true”. Snickering now, “who knew hundreds of pounds of cooked meat would be what slapped destiny into my face. Well, that and the Fenton Thermos. Which literally slammed into my face”. Jack can’t help but laugh a bit himself, “that is ridiculous. Still though, kids are supposed to play around and goof off”.

“Sneaking into the girls bathroom, prank wars, jumping inside of video games, pelting the Box Ghost with styrofoam circles. I’ve goofed around plenty, still actively do. My mundane fun is just a bit more ghostly”, Danny pauses as Jack yawns, which is apparently funny to Danny, “my fun is also a lot more used to sleep deprivation”. Jack really doesn’t care that he’s tired, this is way better than sleeping. He’s tolerated lost sleep in the name of science plenty of times and he’s far more willing to do the same for family. “The biggest mystery of my life just got solved and you’re being, well, you! That’s worth some missed sleep Danny-boy”.

“I’m not going anywhere, dad. I’ll be here tomorrow for you to pepper questions at. And the day after that, and the next, and so on. Though everyone could use some reality-defying before bed”, Jack’s not really sure what Danny’s thinking or why he’s smirking like a devil. A face he’s all too used to seeing on Phantom, and yeah Danny’s right, if his sides or forms acted the same he’d get caught. His sons’ goofy grin and how he’s lazily resting his chin in his palm makes it seem more like he’s talking to Phantom. But that kind of makes Jack feel good, it means his son is happier than he used to think. He was just pushing his joking nature and silly side all onto Phantoms’ persona. Which leaves him wondering which persona is more accurate to the real Danny, he’s got a gut feeling that Phantom is closer.

“I’m not sure what’s got you grinning like that, but I’m glad to see the humour!”, Jack chuckles to make it clear, cause really he just wants a happy son. Even if he has to be the pretty well strangest thing in the world to be happy.

“I’m a funny man. A funny punny man. A shockingly shapeshifting one at that”, well at the very least, Phantoms’ humour is a real Danny thing. And yeah, Jack still finds it admirable, “I can see, now anyway. But I guess that means you really are ok. Though I hope to see a lot more of my son, the real one”. Jack’s almost a bit excited to know how much of Phantoms’ over the top personality is actually real, but he’s also a bit sad over missing out on it over the past years. Danny obvious is a bit guilty about that even if he clearly is still finding something quite amusing, “Oh you will, mind you, old habits die hard. Even if dying comes pretty naturally to me. I do it all the time and I’m damn flashy about it”. Jack squints at that, which prompts Danny to talk again, “Death jokes, lots of death jokes. My whole shapeshifting thing is basically dying on command, so how could I not?”. Jack has to admit his sons’ got a point there. Ghosts are dead and he literally becomes a ghost. Still weird to know his son is partly dead or only sometimes alive. However it works. Yawning again as Danny glances at him, clearly a bit nervous but also snickering, “so, care to see? Insult the laws of reality by bearing witness to a dose of half death before bed?”. Jack’s confused for only a few seconds before clueing, smacking the table and nodding excitedly. Danny runs a hand through his hair before drawing Jack’s attention to his waist by pointing. Jack quickly gets the “flashy” comment at the sight of the pretty darn bright rings. Instantly curious as to what the hell they're made of. Some kind of ghost energy? Ectoplasm? Or is there literally life or death energy? Human cells? Even more stunned as his son literally shape-shifts body parts as the rights spread over him, while looking like this is utterly natural and easy to do the whole time. Which Jack guesses, probably is easy and natural to his son now. Zone knows how many times he must do this in one day, let alone over the years!

Jack can’t help but chuckle a bit as Danny instantly starts floating, Danny rubs his neck, “yeah the floating is automatic, which is actually very convenient. And I can change the position or direction of my rings. Up and down, side to side, make mini ones over my limbs. Managed to change a couple times without the rings at all. And before you ask, they’re composed from my cores energy”.

“Core! Not a lot of ghosts have those! That’s like a whole new organ! Half ghost core? Half of a core?”, cores are a pretty unique thing, Jack really didn’t know a lot about them. He figured Phantom had one but there’s no real good way to check those out without dissection and no way is he even considering going there, not now. Danny pats at his chest, “all halfas have one, snuggled up next to our hearts; mine’s an ice core. Hence my cold body temperature and ice powers. A core has to be formed with a mixture of ghost and human DNA to be able to make the halfa rings. My core is complete and fully mature, so it’s not literally half of a core”.

“Why would every halfa have one? Does being part human make them easier to form? And I guess your core is a constant then? You’re always cold to the touch, not just as Phantom”, snapping his fingers, “that’s why your breath fogs up! A ghost being around makes your core act up!?”. Jack’s flat out proud that Danny looks impressed as he nods, “that’s exactly right, a chill passes through my entire body and yes, both my core and heart are there regardless of form. As for why all halfas have them, you’re pretty close. Halfas are more stable ghosts, have more stable ectoplasm, because of the support of our human side. Stable ectoplasm is what makes it possible for a core to develop”. Danny’s snickering again but Jack’s too curious to care why, “if I’m near seizure inducingly flashy, I can actually make my core visible while shapeshifting. Other ghosts find that mildly terrifying”. Jack hopes he doesn’t even have to mention he wants to see that, his son is clearly good at reading people, so him excitedly clapping Danny’s shoulders should be more than enough. Clearly, it was and his son wasn’t kidding, this is hard to look at. Like his son just became a black void with an intense light blue light in his chest. Blinking a bunch at his, human again, son, “wow that is bright. Not too mention big, how does that even fit in there?”. Danny laughs, “well some of the bright light is literally just energy coming off of my core, so it’s not that big. It’s around the same size as my heart and my heart sits a fair bit more to the left than a regular humans, to make room for my core. Like you saw, my core’s in the exact centre. And my lungs just move around it”. It’s pretty obvious to Jack that his son likes his core, as Danny pats his chest rather affectionately, “you know how you can feel your heartbeat or hear it if you pay attention? Well, cores have something like a humming and faint vibrating”. Jack tries his damnedest to stifle a yawn, full stop his son is probably the only way he’ll ever learn about cores. Clearly, he didn’t do a good enough job, as Danny puts his hands on his hips playfully, “if I let you hear it, will you go to bed?”. Jack’s way to excited to say no even if he would far prefer to keep talking through the night, “ok ok, yes. But you knew cores were something of a complete mystery to me didn’t you?”. Judging by Danny’s smirk, Jack’s right, not really surprised though.

“It was my get-dad-to-actually-sleep trump card, yes”, Jack gapes a bit incredulously as his son just phases a stethoscope out of the table. Realising Danny must have put that there before Jack even got home, “and I thought you were good at reading people before. Do you just hide stuff in things all over the house?”. Jack takes the stethoscope while Danny blushes, obviously, he has been doing that. “Lets just say, you should warn me if you ever hire someone to do major house Reno’s. Unless you want to really confuse and possibly scare them. Especially my room”, Jack’s laugh turns into a yawn as he waves the stethoscope a little. A bit caught off guard as his son changes again, “it’s more noticeable when I’m a ghost”.

That makes total sense to Jack so he puts it to his chest and yeah, no wonder Danny refuses doctor check-ups. The deep powerful hum, like being inside a massive cave with drum reverberations all around, is very noticeable. It’s honestly eerie and the occasional deep solid thump, which Jack is assuming is Danny’s deathly slow heartbeat, only makes it more creepy. Perfectly suiting for a strong ghost, really weird to hear from his own sons’ chest though. Pulling back, “that might just give a doctor a heart attack, sounds strong though. Which I’m assuming is a good thing?”.

Danny laughs a bit, “the school nurse hounds me because I never let her give me checkups ever. And yes that’s a good thing. Soft or quieter core means I’m hurt, bad. Just like a weak pulse”. Glancing at his sons’ hand, as Danny pokes him with a gloved glowing finger, “so now you sleep. With the sound of my impossible existence in your head”. Speaking of sound though, “people can hear their pulse and heartbeat hammering in their head when they really exert themselves! Your core?!”.

“Dad, bed. But yes, if I exert a bunch of ectoplasmic energy”, Jack was going to comment but Danny is clearly having none of that and uses a powerful commanding, and very Phantom, tone, “bed”.

Jack will admit it’s pretty hard to say no to him whenever he uses that tone on people, especially with the echoy power laced in his voice. So he nods and rubs the back of his head a bit embarrassed at his son pretty much playing the role of parent here, “alright, but that’s a heck of a voice you’ve got”. Danny chuckles as he follows Jack up the stairs, “you have no idea”.

End.

#danny phantom #phandom #dannymay19 #dannymay #danny fenton #jack fenton #danny is op #phantom is op #reveal #shapeshift #part 2 of another fic #phantomphangphucker #have a fic suck my dick #phanphic #fanfic

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bloodraven55 · 5 years

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Sun said he likes Blake to Neptune & he still has feelings for her yes he didn’t pursue her romantically but that doesn’t mean his feelings magically disappeared. And I’ll take a blush & a cheek peck as a sign of mutual interest over nothing romantic being stated about bb outside of shippers thinking that way because they ship it. Until in show Blake says she only sees sun as a friend & yang as a romantic partner & vice versa Blksn is romantic bb is platonic. Lgbt shippers bait themselves a lot

Him liking her doesn't inherently mean romance, but he did have a crush on her, so I'll approach this from that perspective because unlike you I don't need to wilfully blind myself to the other side of the debate to make my argument. Though the official canon manga does have him specifically refer to Blake as his friend only, which according to you makes their relationship platonic, so 🤷‍♀️

But anyway it's funny, you see, let's look at what Sun says about Blake. The answer is not a whole lot.

He confesses that the whole reason he's initially interested in her is that she's a Faunus, the exact last thing she wants because she doesn't want her race to be a factor in people's opinions of her.

The only time he ever says anything whatsoever about her personality is to criticise her for being herself by asking if she's “still being all Blakey?” while she's trying to deal with her trauma that he never has the slightest clue how to help her with because she doesn't trust him enough to open up to him.

The only time she talks about her past to him it's pure exposition about the White Fang and she never says anything about Adam to him beyond the fact she used to work with him.

The only two moments between Blake and Sun with emotional weight are both immediately brought back to being about Yang (“No, not again” when he gets injured and “I can promise Yang would say the same” after he wakes up) and the only two moments where she reciprocates his flirting to any extent whatsoever are a single blush which could simply have been embarrassment and “my hero” which is instantly turned into a joke by Kali falling through the door.

As a romance their relationship has zero depth, zero substance, zero connection to the plot, and no serious emotional weight.

On the other hand, Yang never treats Blake any differently because she's a Faunus, which is exactly what Blake wants.

Yang opens up about her own issues to Blake alone, and sees Blake's strength of character even when Blake herself can't see it (“You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake”).

Blake tells Yang all about her relationship with Adam without any prompting, and directly contrasts Yang with him as people dear to her, thus putting her own feelings for Yang on the same level as the romantic feelings she had for Adam. But she compares her helping Ilia, her friend, to Sun helping her, putting her platonic feelings for Ilia on the same level as her relationship with Sun.

Not to mention that Adam, the person who knew Blake well enough to manipulate her for years, can tell Blake has no romantic feelings for Sun and so isn’t at all threatened by him hence calling him only her classmate, while he can tell that Blake does have romantic feelings for Yang hence identifying her as someone Blake loves and his insane levels of jealousy with “What does she even see in you?!”

Yang loses her arm for Blake solely because of how much Blake loves her, as Adam literally states that his reason for maiming Yang is Blake's feelings for her, which directly causes Blake to go back to Menagerie and discover the White Fang plot against Haven and take the Faunus army to stop it. Thus Blake and Yang's relationship is the entire reason that the relic from Haven isn't currently with Salem or Raven as if Adam hadn’t been stopped there the good guys might well have lost.

Sun... has no comparable involvement in any part of the plot, no development or backstory despite having been around for six Volumes, and no scenes with even half that amount of emotional depth with Blake.

Blake and Sun had a crush on each other at one point, sure, and maybe Sun is still somewhat attracted to Blake, but their feelings for each other have never been expanded beyond a few instances of shallow flirting, the only time their relationship actually grows is when it becomes a friendship instead, and nothing they have ever had even comes close to comparing to the entire arc Blake and Yang have had building a genuinely emotional connection that actually serves the plot and the growth of both characters involved.

B/lacksun is simple, superficial, and static. B/umbleby is multi-layered, deep, and contains actual growth. I thought B/lacksun would happen all the way through until the end of V5, but they had their chance to canonise it and they didn’t take it, and then V6 finished the job of sinking it romantically while putting B/umbleby beyond the realm of plausible deniability.

And no, you refusing to take “it was never about [romance]” as the platonicisation of B/lacksun that it was doesn’t mean that B/lacksun still has a chance in canon. It's called good, natural writing, but the problem is that a small number of people like you can't be bothered to use even one of your braincells to apply some basic narrative comprehension because you'd rather shove your heads up your own asses so you can keep pretending that B/umbleby isn't happening.

If you try and send me more kernels of bullshit, you'll be blocked. As many times as it takes to finally get rid of you. All of the asks you spam me with in your pathetic temper tantrum will be deleted, but I'll screenshot them before I get rid of them for a nice video I'm planning on making so it's up to you if you want to keep giving me more lovely examples of your stupidity to include in it.

I have been meaning to address the differences between B/lacksun and B/umbleby in the narrative for some time, however, so thank you for giving me a reason to explain why B/umbleby is ten times more interesting as a romantic relationship.

#r/wby #b/umbleby #b/lacksun #asks #anon asks #raven answers y’all #raven is salty about stuff

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rwbyconversations · 5 years

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The weaknesses of Volume 6

As someone who had sub-zero expectations going in, Volume 6 was overall a really good season of RWBY- in fact I’d called it the best overall Volume since Volume 3, if not overall, the best season we’ve had so far. Everything seemed to come together for this season, and most of the fandom has agreed that the opening salvo of episodes was the best the show had, and that the season hadn’t had a dud episode until the group reached Argus. I know some parts of the fandom don’t love the Argus episodes but I found something good in nearly all of them so I can’t say it was a complete waste of time.

But, every cloud has a silver lining, and while Volume 6 was unmistakably a huge improvement over the previous Maya seasons, especially Volume 5, there are still several areas the show can seek to improve on as the show moves to the chilly frozen north of Atlas. So in this essay, I’m going to highlight the (ultimately small but notable enough to warrant talking about them) weaknesses I found in Volume 6.

1) The show needs to more efficiently handle its villains (and why Cinder and Neo’s plot was a drag)

Weird that I’m saying this in the season that gave its longest episode to exploring Salem’s origin story, but Volume 6 had a lot of difficulty managing the pacing of its villains, and the largest subject of its focus arguably didn’t need to be in this Volume. I’m talking of course about Cinder and Neo’s plot this volume.

Now on paper, giving Cinder more spotlight should be what I want. After all, I wrote an essay last year detailing why parts of the fanbase weren’t fond of Cinder, so giving her focus should ideally be able to remedy those problems, right?

Well, that’s the problem. In that essay, I talked about how Cinder’s two biggest flaws as a character were that she was very boring, and how her lack of backstory made it difficult to really care about her as a character. Cinder has effectively been the same character for six volumes in a row and much like Volume 4, the show has a golden opportunity to finally change that and give her a new narrative arc only to waste it.

Volume 6 should have been a drastic wake-up call for Cinder. Unlike at Beacon, where she lost due to Ruby’s sudden intervention and the awakening of her Silver Eyes, Cinder lost at Haven entirely thanks to her own failings. Raven beat her handily in straight combat and goaded her into the entire train-wreck of an operation to begin with, which for a power-focused individual like Cinder, should have really been an igniting spark to get her to begin seeking some introspection on why she’s lost twice in a row in failing to burn down the Academies. But sadly, just like in Volume 4, right as Cinder appears to be getting an arc about her recovering from her loss at Haven, she just ignores it and goes right back on her murder-Ruby train, as if she’s stuck in a Groundhog Day loop.

Cinder’s refusal to move on from a basic arc of “Plan to destroy an academy, enact the plan, get slaughtered, blame Ruby, rinse and repeat” has made her easily the least interesting villain in the entire show. At this point we’re six years in and barring a few contextual clues, Cinder has no backstory, no sympathetic traits, not even any character development to differentiate her from her Volume 1 self. And this after the season where she dominates the villain screen-time until the final third when Adam hijacks the plot.

Cinder’s plot in Volume 6 is therefore largely just setup for Volume 7, in that it explains how Cinder survived Haven and how she reaches Atlas. Along the way, she encounters the in case of bad season break glass button Neo, whose out for revenge and gets a really cool fight scene that’s ultimately just there for fanservice.

Let me repeat. Good fight, really liked it. Let me also repeat- just there for fan-service. This is not an inherently bad thing, but it does have weaknesses.

Neo was always coming back to the show and part of me feels like she was always being held in reserve in the event of a really bad season, so that the next one could have her return and generate some hype since her fan-base are that loyal. And sure enough, Neo’s return did see a notable collection of fans who had dropped the show after 4 and 5 coming back to see their ice cream queen return in a non-Chibi format. I won’t fault the crew for using a plan that worked. Where I take umbrage is that this fight was not necessary. It was a good fight, but I’d have much rather taken a Cinder scene of her actually recovering from Haven and thinking about why she lost again. Instead, Cinder and Neo effectively hijack all the villain screen-time for the rest of the season. And as someone who doesn’t adore Neo like her fans, this made their arc very tiresome, especially when the hints we got of the other villains were far more intriguing. I could talk a lot about the symbolism and thematic choices of the Mercury/Emerald scene in Chapter 9 but I’d struggle to find a lot to say about Cinder’s plot that wasn’t just “Setup for Volume 7.”

The other problem of course is that the rest of Team WTCH are sorely underdeveloped. Hazel at least is interesting again now that he’s several miles away from Ozpin, Tyrian came back and was a delight and I loved seeing him all-but-begging Merc and Em to run so he could hunt them, but Watts remains crucially underdeveloped. He really needs to step up in agency in Atlas because his sardonic wit can only carry him so far, and the man’s voiced by Christopher Sabat, what more reason do you have to give him more to do? The man made the virus that Cinder used to cause the Fall of Beacon, can he be given some agency now please?

Ultimately, Cinder’s plot didn’t need to be the focus for the villains and yet again, the fragments of focus they got showed how much more interesting they were as antagonists. While ultimately Volume 6 did finally give Mercury and Emerald more screentime than Volumes 4 and 5 combined and reminded the audience why you should be paying more attention to them, the rest of Team WTCH desperately needs development, Watts in particular. Cinder remains the worst villain in the entire show in my opinion, and it’s a shame that she’s almost guaranteed to be the one that makes it to the end of the show. I can only hope in Atlas she finally gets time devoted to what makes her tick, but at this point I’m almost at the point of not caring. It’s been six years, I won’t start caring for Cinder now if the show finally remembers to tell us why she joined Salem.

... also I just think Cinder’s new costume sucks and I’d rather Em and Merc get new ones over Cinder and Neo buying extensions for their wardrobes.

2) Cordovin was a joke and she really shouldn’t have been

Show of hands, who actually took Cordovin seriously? Yeah, me neither.

Even during the fight scene, the heroes don’t take it seriously. Having a fight the characters aren’t taking seriously isn’t an inherent flaw but it does mean you can’t expect us to turn around and take it seriously five minutes later.

Cordovin was a wasted character, and one that the show shouldn’t have undershot in all of her scenes by making her the punchline of nearly every joke. Her long-winded rant at the gate scene in Dead End is a huge factor in why a lot of fans, myself included, consider it the weakest episode of Volume 6 despite picking up in the back half. It just drags on for so long that Cordovin outstays her welcome from her first scene.

Additionally, the show not taking her seriously steals a lot of gravitas from the mech battle, and plays a large role in why I think the mech fight failed to really excite a lot of fans outside of key moments like Ruby’s missile run and canon shot. Being alongside Adam’s confrontation with Blake and Yang didn’t help but even on its own, the mech battle drags. Not quite to the same extent as Haven dragged, but on rewatches I was making liberal application of the skip button. That lack of gravitas itself goes on to hamper Cordovin’s serious moment in the season finale where she realizes that her ego allowed the Leviathan a straight shot on Argus and undergoes a soft redemption to let team RWBY leave the city. However, this moment of taking Caroline seriously comes after the plot has made it clear that the entire reason the Grimm attacked Argus was because of Caroline over-reacting to Maria and breaking out her mech instead of scrambling fighters as Qrow predicts they will. Caroline is solely at fault for the Leviathan getting as close to destroying Argus as it did, so it’s difficult to care when she pulls her head out of her ass to do her job.

A lack of investment also means a lack of emotional dedication, which I think showed in the lack of fanart Caroline has generated since her reveal. Her design being very drab and militaristic doesn’t help matters but unlike say, the Yang/Adam rematch where the stakes were present on an emotional and thematic level, Caroline failed to excite the audience beyond a few funny memes.

The additional problem with lacking in emotional dedication/investment is, again, we don’t have enough interest in Caroline to take her seriously, she goes in one episode from the Kooky Racist Grandma to someone we’re expected to sympathize with. And additionally, asking the fans to sympathize with a character whose opening scene includes a not-too-subtle dig at her Faunus traits was asking a lot of the fandom, especially after the previous years showed that the show’s handling of the Faunus racism plot was... varied in quality.

In short, Cordovin basically took a shotgun to her own foot in her first scene. Establishing her as an over the top comic relief character before expecting the audience to care when she broke out a walking advertisement for gen;LOCK was an extensive reach for the writers to try and unfortunately they fell flat. Trying to make the audience care for the problem she herself created is a similar long-reach. Hopefully this extended comedy sequence depiction of the Atlas military will be left behind as Volume 7 heads into the heart of darkness itself.

3) Oscar desperately needs limelight

Oscar’s been in the show now for three volumes. He spent much of Volume 4 on his own, much of Volume 5 as Ozpin’s meat-sack, and now in Volume 6 he finally gets to... get some clothes. I like them, but they’re not suitable compensation for the character development that he clearly had stolen from him.

Oscar is easily the most underdeveloped main hero right now, and it’s a problem that’s haunted the series since Volume 4. Oscar wants to be a hero much like Ruby herself did as a child, but this sole fragment of backstory is never used to make a connection to Ruby. Aaron Dismuke, bless his heart, is giving this show his all and his impression of Shannon McCormack’s tones must be applauded, but much like Cordovin he’s not given much to work with. In a way, he’s almost the hero’s version of Cinder- a character who keeps finding themselves in situations where they should realistically develop as a consequence... only for each time they do, it either gets shuffled into the next volume or relegated to offscreen happenings.

Volume 6 really should have had Oscar undergoing some kind of arc, be it his fear at being persecuted by Team RWBY and Qrow due to harboring Ozpin, his fear as his days as himself become more and more numbered, his acceptance of the fight against Salem or, most glaringly, his running off while the team is in Argus. But every time, Oscar just powers through these circumstances and never gets to develop from them. He never holds it over Qrow that he attacked a child, that Yang indirectly called him a bastard, he never thanks Ruby for having his back after the train crash, and he brushes off Jaune’s apology for smashing him into a wall and alleging he’s Ozpin masquerading himself as Oscar.

Argus is really where Oscar should have stepped into his own. I was looking forward to him going solo and having to fend for himself for a short while, maybe have a scene where he forces Ozpin to come out and talk or gets to chat with Ozma himself about his place in the war against Salem. Have him be scared of losing his personality and just becoming another body for Oz to inhibit, have him be angry that his dreams of being a hero have been cruelly dashed on the rocks for some agenda he never signed up to. Oscar should be an emotional hurricane and instead he’s just a gust of wind.

Seriously show, you had a golden opportunity for an Ozma and Oscar scene since we know Oz can speak to his past selves, and you know Arron has enough range to do both roles at once, why do you spite my farmboi.

But he got a coat now so I guess that’s technically development. Kerry admitted in the Rewind for Volume 6′s finale that some parts of the season got pushed to the next one as they usually do, and I can only hope that Oscar finally expressing emotion was one such scene because Christ alive, he needs it after all the times he just got over crap offscreen this year. I want to like Oscar, he could easily have one of the most tragic arcs of the entire show if they went with it, but the show really needs to give me something to like about him in the first place. Or else he really will become the heroic Cinder, trapped forever in a nightmarish world of never getting to properly develop in spite of countless opportunities being handed to them on a silver platter.

... I still think Oscar lifted Qrow’s wallet for that costume btw.

4) The reaction to Jinn’s story felt lockstep

I don’t have as much to say on this point but I find it rather saddening that all of the characters have much the same reaction to the truth of Ozma’s past- “Salem can’t be killed, you were leading us on for nothing”- when the weeks around the Ozma reveal had the fandom reacting to the story in a far more diverse way. Even in the hiatus we still have arguments over whether Ozpin was truly in the right or if the story was painting Salem as the true innocent party, to say nothing of the takes that Salem and Ozma’s relationship could be seen as an early iteration of Arkos or even Taruadonna with Salem as the abuser.

The fandom had such a diverse range of reactions to Jinn’s story, with everyone seeming to have their own take on the episode and the truth wherein. Some people even used this to ponder if Summer Rose had learned the truth during her time and tied it in with Red Like Roses 2, where she laments having made a necessary sacrifice, to ask if Summer had learned the truth and bitterly signed on to the war against Salem in the hopes that she’d be able to turn the tide thanks to her Silver Eyes.

“Just because I have to give you this origin story doesn’t mean you’re gonna take the right lessons from it.”

Some idiots even decided that this meant Oz was the main villain now, but I’ve learned to drown those people out.

But the show itself has a very flat range of reactions, with nearly everyone in-universe only taking away from the story that Salem cannot be conventionally killed and that therefore their entire journey is pointless. Everyone had the same reaction, with the only levels of variance being how angry they were at Ozpin and Oscar, ranging from Ruby’s “ask first if they have a plan and then be angry at Oz specifically” to Qrow and Jaune’s “physically assaulting a fourteen year old child.”

It almost makes me wonder, if the characters themselves didn’t take anything from the lesson barring Maria connecting the Silver Eyes to the God of Light and that “SALEM CAN’T BE KILLED,” why should the fans? No one took this and went “OK so we can’t stop Salem with force, maybe try talking her down?” Their minds all immediately went to not just being able to shoot her.

Jinn’s story was great, but the reaction to it in universe felt very lacking and I only worry that the more people are told about it, the more chances we’ll get to hear a variant of “Salem can’t be killed.” It’s a shame that such a morally gray out of universe debate has been stripped to its raw components in-universe.

Conclusion

Volume 6 was really good, I really liked a lot of it and it still warms my heart that I can say that about a season of RWBY post Volume 5. But there’s still a lot of work that can be done behind the scenes to fix up the flaws remaining. I chose three big flaws here but there are a few more I could bring up for quick points (mostly: Weiss getting shafted entirely in V6 feels like an overly corrective backlash to her constantly getting slaughtered in V5, Ruby’s agency does not substitute for a character arc and she still needs one, the introduction of the Faunus in Ozma’s flashbacks felt very contrived, Ren and Nora continue to feel useless to the wider plot but at least this time Ren wasn’t getting bodied every fight, so on and so forth), but ultimately we got more good than bad, and you don’t throw out an entire batch of apples just because of one rotten one near the top. I can forgive a lot more when the overall product is good, and Volume 6 certainly was a good season. Hopefully with these smaller problems fixed, which mostly just extends to “Give Cinder and Oscar onscreen development,” Volume 7 and onwards can keep the show moving forward into a brighter future and a better tomorrow.

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fictionerd · 5 years

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Good to see you, friends!

We’re starting off the spring season a bit late, but welcome all the same as we look at Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO. Henceforth I shall refer to this series simply as Yu-No. I hereby decree the Spring Season of Let’s Talk Anime BEGUN!

Synopsis: We’re introduced to... Oh crap I think we’ve got another Blue Idiot here, folks. [sighs] Well his actual name is Takuya Arima, but until further notice I’m going to stick with “Blue Idiot” since some one has to carry the torch.

Blue Idiot is the son of an archeological researcher who recently died in a cave-in, but enough background it’s time to meet the potential romance routes our fearless Blue Idiot has a shot at!

We have: Overly Sexy Teacher!

The Tsundere!

The Flirtatious Older Woman!

The Mysterious Transfer Student!

And the Naked Girl from another world!

Would you look at all these lovely ladies? I wonder what twists and turns this romantic whirlwind will take us o- Oh! Right there’s plot. SHIT!

So amidst all the introductions to the ladies we get introduced to Professer Sketch who’s all like, “Your dad was a great research partner. I want to carry on his research despite the fact that I primarily work at this school There’s nothing strange about this at all. Oh by the way did your dad give you any priceless relics of a bygone era for safekeeping?”

Fortunately for our no-doubt honest hero of the most upright moral fiber he had not, in fact, received such an artifact at that time. That all changes when he returns home to find a package waiting for him. Inside is [gasps in mock amazement] An artifact from his dad!

Of course we need to pace things out so there was no letter with this package, but then the next day Blue Idiot gets another package! With his dad’s research notes! And a letter explaining, “Hi, son, I’m not dead I’m just chilling in some parallel universe or some shit. Now follow my mysterious instructions to take the artifact I left you to a random cliff-top where you’ll meet the Naked Girl from another world.”

So Blue Idiot does. he meets weird elf girl. She calls him Yu-No or introduces herself as Yu-No or something then she kisses him. She then vanishes as quickly as she arrived via magical fairy dust and Professor Sketch shows up to try and extort Blue Idiot, but there’s a flash of lightning that Zaps Blue Idiot across parallel universes or something before Professor Sketch can shoot the crap out of him and we arrive at the next day(?) where Professor Sketch has no clue what happened the night before, Blue Idiot has a splitting headache, and so far nothing is making sense.

Yeah, that about does it. Over to you, Aria.

Aria’s Thoughts: So it’s painfully obvious that this was a visual novel. The slow start is doing the series no favors whatsoever. We came here for mysterious dimensional shenanigans, not Waifu Runway.It’s just a bit frustrating that we sat through the whole first episode and don’t have clue #1 what we’re really doing here. Believe me, I get it. I’ve seen (PLAYED) SEEN FIC play visual novels before. There is always that awkward slow start where you need to introduce all the potential love interests/supporting cast in the beginning. There can’t be a lot of wiggle room to work around that sort of thing, but I feel like maybe we could have had a little more substance in between all the introductions. I mean, Steins;Gate didn’t feel the need to drag us through the slowest part of the VN in the first episode. Yeah I’ve gotten my frustrations out. Justine? You got anything?

Justine’s Thoughts: So the introduction was a little slow. In my opinion it’s a little early to tell one way or the other how this series will go. Gotta admit, Takuya attempting to prank the transfer student and getting absolutely zero response was pretty funny. The premise of the magical timespace transcendant artifact is well-worn, but I’m interested to see if they go anywhere worthwhile with it. Let’s just say I’ve seen no reason to drop my optimism on this just yet.

Thanks, you two. Personally I fall a bit in the middle here. I’m interested, but they’re going to have to pull out the stops next week to keep me interested. Until then I’ve been Fictionerd.

I’ve been Aria.

And I’ve been Justine.

Keep Talking Fiction, friends! We’ll see you soon.

#Anime #Let's Talk Anime #Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO #yu-no: a girl who chants love at the bound of this world #yu-no #Fictionerd #Aria White #Justine Beacon #In-Character #Spring 2019 #Spring Season 2019 #Spring Anime 2019

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surveys-at-your-service · 4 years

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Survey #267

“you can take my heart, you can take my breath - when you pry it from my cold, dead chest.”

When did you last talk to the last person you kissed? Last night. Do you think people have any misconceptions about you? Oh, I'm positively certain. What’s something you wish you could understand better? There are a great many things, but the first that came to mind are certain political/moral beliefs that I REALLY do want to understand, but I just don't. When was the last time you cried really, really hard? About a week back when I woke up shrieking and sobbing from a nightmare about Dad. Have you ever injected a drug? No. How many people have you liked in the past 5 months? I've been COnfuFSSeD!!!!!! Are you currently in a relationship? Nope. Probably for the better. Have you ever touched a dead body? Animals, yes. I may have at an open-casket wake, but idr. I was young. Ever played Grand Theft Auto? Nope, but oh man, good memories of those stupid games with my neighbor back when I was younger... He loved that game just to fuck around, and I liked watching. Then Jacob and Jason played it together at the apartment a lot, and those are warm memories, too. The last male you spoke to … is he attractive? That would be my 3-year-old nephew, so it'd be fucking weird to call him that. He's one handsome little boy, though. We all know he's gonna be a lady killer one day. If your ex called right now, would you answer? Yeah. Is there a dictionary on your bookshelf? I don't even have a bookshelf. Do you have any pet names for the person you love/like? Not anymore. Who was the last person you had a serious conversation with? What is your honest opinion of that person? Mom. I love her to death. Who was the first person you dated? What is your honest opinion of that person? Aaron was my puppy-dog love, and I have not the slightest clue what he's up to now, but I have faith he's kept that good head of his. Ever fallen in the shower? I've passed out while getting *out* of it. I've slipped a number of times too, but not truly fallen. Do you think that things will get better? For me, I genuinely don't know. Ever been to a bonfire party? Yes, by my cousins' friend's pool for a b-day party. It was cool. Their house was fuckin' wild. Movie theater inside and all. Is your dad bald? Just about. His head is just mostly shaved. Have you ever slept at a member of the opposite sex’s house? I mean yeah, all the time when we were together. Have you ever hooked up with someone to hurt someone else? Wow, no. I don't do "hook-ups" anyway. Do any of your relatives actually pinch your cheeks when they see you? No. Have you ever made a member of the opposite sex cry? Ugh, yeah. Do you know the last person you kissed's parents? Yes, I adore them. Do they like you? I think so. Name a couple things you can cook. ... Literally just scrambled eggs, if you mean something pretty much from scratch. Well, I could probably still do pasta if I read the box. Who was there to help you last time you were puking? My mom. I am absolutely terrified of vomiting, so she's kind enough to somehow manage to stand in there with me and talk to me. Are there any boxes of tissues in your room? What’s the design on it? No. Are you in high school? When are you done? No. I graduated in 2014. Are you embarrassed to say if you’re a virgin or not? More like confused and awkward, because I genuinely DON'T know for sure. Have you ever met someone you thought you’d be with forever? It was "certainty" to me. That's partially why the breakup was so traumatizing. I MEAN IT when I say my brain couldn't even fathom the idea. It was "impossible." It simply couldn't happen. Then it did. ^Where are you two now? We haven't spoken in three years. Has your best friend ever been in love? Yes. What was the last magazine you bought? I've never been a magazine person. Will the last person you kissed get you anything for your next birthday? *shrugs* Do you think Family Guy is funny or just stupid? It can be both. Have you ever stayed with someone who treated you like shit just because you liked them so much? NO SIR-EE. You'd never see me stay with someone who treated me badly. Would you date someone all your friends and family hate? If I REALLY liked them, but if everyone hated that person, I would seriously consider why that is. Are you already looking forward to your wedding? Ha ha, not really, in most ways. Like, I hate getting all fancy and such. Have you ever spit on someone? No. Would you rather cuddle or make out? I MEAN, that depends on the mood??? Has your best friend ever been cheated on? No. Do you text with one hand or with both? Both. Are your parents left or right-handed? Right, to my knowledge? What was the last photo you took of? Something on FB I wanted to show to Sara. What topic always interests you and you will never tire of? C R Y P T I D Z Are you more or less tolerant than the average person? If you mean of varying beliefs, stuff like that, definitely more. If someone were to rate your life, what film certificate would it receive? PG-13 or R, idk. Actually, probably R for all they profanity lmaooo. Do you mind eating cold fries or are they disgusting? Ewww. What song makes you cry? What about it makes you cry? I physically cannot listen to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin because of Jason joking at prom that the music sucked and we could dance to something like that, then once he took me home, I played it from my iPod over his car speakers and we danced in the headlights of his truck and it all felt like a fairy-tale. I'm emotional just typing it and it makes my stomach hurt, so moving on. If you could remake a movie, which movie would it be? Silent Hill: Revelation. As a fanatic over the series, I enjoyed it decently, but, objectively, it sucked and was ALL over the place. How about if you could rewrite a book's ending, which one? Why? I don't think I'd change any. Maybe a clearer answer to The Handmaid's Tale, but it's still g. What colour hair does your sibling(s) have? Brown, except Misty and Katie. Theirs is black. What gemstone would you like on your wedding ring? A dragon's breath opal or rose gold would be gorgeous. What are you looking forward to in the near future? We're throwing my little sister a surprise graduation party at our older sis's house. Thanks to the quarantine, her senior graduation isn't *actually* happening, so. How is life going for you, anyway? Be honest. IT KINDA S U CKS!!!!!! What time did you get changed this morning? I haven't changed out of my pj's. I almost never do (besides obviously after a shower) because I have nowhere to go, like ever. Have you met somebody that you want to spend the rest of your life with? Yeah. Have you ever dressed up as a Disney character? Which one? Maybe as a kid? Have you ever played chess? If so, are you good at it? I’ve never played it. If I wanted to buy you a chocolate bar, what kind should I NOT get? Ew, Snickers. Of all your close friends, who have you known the longest? Sara. What was the last song you heard, that made you feel emotional? Hm. Maybe "Disguise" by Motionless In White. I wonder all the time if that's how Jason felt. Plus it's his favorite band, so that's a double whammy. When was the last time you took a selfie? Maybe about a month ago. As a child, did you ever have any scented gel pens or markers? Oh, I remember those! Yes. Name an alcoholic beverage that you dislike. Hell, most that I've tried. I hate strong stuff. Can you recall the last time you were on a dancefloor? When I was shooting someone's wedding last year. Do you own any color-changing mood jewellery? No, I have zero faith in those. What was the last thing you heated up in your microwave? Ummm pizza rolls, I think. What was the last flavor of ice cream you had? Moose tracks. Do you have an online game that you play often? I play World of Warcraft daily, and I enjoy the Dragons of Atlantis app a few times a day. I was into it when it was still a game on an actual website, and I more recently downloaded it on my phone. What’s your favorite cookie? Soft chocolate chip... yum. How long would you have to date someone for before moving in together? I think this depends very much on the relationship, BUT LIKE, definitely not TOO quickly because you need to test the endurance of the relationship. I'd at the very least give it a year and seriously consider how healthy the relationship is. Moving in with each other shouldn't be an impulsive "this is working great omg I love him/her let's do this!!!!". What's your favorite kind of sushi? N/A How much was the last bill that you paid? I've never paid a bill... wow, that's sad. What was the cause of the worst low point you've had in your life? A very abrupt, traumatic breakup. What are some of your favorite types of cheeses? Really just American. When did you last feel like your privacy was invaded? I'm not sure. Do your parents volunteer anywhere? No. Do you own more than 50 books? I have my Warriors books stocked somewhere. Probably in the attic. Do you have a bachelor's degree? Bitch I wish. How old were you when you became financially independent from your parents? I'm 24 and still aren't independent. Does your kitchen have an island? No. Have you ever bought or sold something on Facebook Marketplace? No. Do you know anyone famous enough to have their own Wikipedia page? No. What was the last appointment you had? With my psychiatrist over the phone because yeah quarantine. Why did you last feel like crying? I woke up from yet another nightmare. I'm so, so tired of them. They make me dread sleep. Do you keep your friends secrets/private information to yourself? If it truly is private, yes, and secrets, absolutely. What negative quality do your friends bring up the most? "I... don’t think I’d like to be friends with people who have a habit of bringing up 'negative' things about me." <<<< This. Do you often "jump" to conclusions? ONLY ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about the world do you wish you never found out? Christ, there's a lot. For some reason, the first thing that came to mind is the dogmeat trade in Korea. A girl in my first semester did a presentation on it, and just... wow. I never had the slightest clue it was a thing. Does the sight of blood make you feel sick? No. Does someone's background affect whether you'll be friends with them or not? Well, yeah. I'm not gonna be friends with a rapist or something. How about their religious background? Depends on if they push that shit on me or not, as well as things they believe. If someone admitted cheating in a past relationship of theirs, would you trust them? NNNNNNNNNOPE. Do you drink tea and/or coffee every day? There are so many tea/coffee questions in surveys... and no. I don't like either. Did you ever want to be a cook as a kid? No. Do you wish that magic was real? Well, it depends on what the magic is. Do you prefer fire or ice? Fire is cooler. Do you rap along with rap songs? No. When happy, do you become more talkative? WAY MORE. Bowling or sailing? Why? Never sailed before, but bowling is fun. Especially with the lights off but all the neon and signs lit up. Do you prefer sitting in the front or back of a car? THE FRONT!!!!!!!!! Sitting shotgun and being able to control the music is everyTHIIIIIIIIIIIING. How about in a train? On the bus? I don't really have a preference here. Do you care about politics? I should... Are you offended easily by non-politically correct language? No, honestly. Do you think the censors/fcc go a bit too far or are just right? Definitel too far. Have you ever taken a martial art? Which one(s)? No. Do you know anyone who is scared of you? No. I am so unintimidating. Do you like watermelon? Not really, no. Can you remember the month of your first kiss? April or May, p sure. What do you think is the most interesting thing about you? Uh. I dunno, man. Do you have a photo album? Mom has tons. What was your biggest fear as a child? Thunderstorms. I was fucking terrified. Can you remember all your past teachers' names? The majority. Do you find people taller than you intimidating? Generally tall men do, but not always. What's your favorite thing about your country? We have a lot of freedom. What's your least favourite thing about your country? We're greedy as fuck. What websites do you have bookmarked? I have a few on my personal laptop, which I don't have access to now so can't recall well. What TV show scared you as a kid? Courage the Cowardly Dog... though I watched it anyway lmao. What is one thing you regret having done or not done in your life? There's a lot. Let's not focus on it. Which parent do you identify with the most? I guess Mom. What embarrasses you the most in front of other people? laskdjflawe admitting I RP is almost ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE to others, especially in-person. If you had to choose one thing you were most passionate about, what would it be and why? Politics, 'cuz that's shit that seriously matters and affects the world. Who are you most envious of—real or fictional—and why? Probably an old friend who's an award-winning, quite successful photographer here in the state. She's shot fashion and model stuff professionally. She's absolutely gorgeous, does the coolest stuff... What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard? Good Lord, I know so many. "UR A WOMAN NOW" by Otep is one, then there's "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade, "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance... wow, I'm so surprised they're not just rushing to me. How about the sweetest song? Biiiiiih "Here For You" by Ozzy Osbourne laskdjfk;awe Do you know how to play dominoes? No. What food will you absolutely not, under any circumstances, eat? Exotic/endangered animal meat. What is one thing you’re embarrassed to admit you want to try? Uhhh I'm really not sure. Which famous person would you like to be BFFs with? Shane Dawson is MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Is there something you wish you had said sorry for but never did? Many things.

#survey #surveys #random questions

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