#I guess I might eat part of a dolphin if that dolphin personally was an asshole

[kvotheunkvothe]

was talking to my brother and saying that for years now I hadn't felt I could, ethically, eat squid or octopus because of their intelligence (which is sad because calamari is delicious, but it's a personal choice) and because we had no "social contract" with them like we have with some smarter barnyard animals that let them proliferate and be protected from predators in exchange for their flesh (get domesticated, idiot). I noted that, given the opportunity, I also wouldn't eat monkey or elephant or dolphin for similar reasons.

"or humans," I added, as an afterthought. "...but only generally. there are some people whose hearts I would eat in the marketplace."

"what about squid-people?" my brother asked. "like Zoidberg, maybe?"

"oh I'd eat Dr. Zoidberg," I answered immediately. "...he knows what he did."

[curewhimsy]

Vocal Synth Total Drama Island AU Concept (so far)

———Very Short Character Introductions——— (56 campers in all, aged 14-18) Haku Yowane- A sweet, lonely, sensitive girl with a lot of heart. Age 17. Neru Akita- A courageous tomboy who is misunderstood. Age 17. Miku Hatsune- A bubbly, cheerful, outgoing girl with a lot of friends. Age 15. Luka Megurine- An artistic girl who has a bit of anxiety. Good friends with Meiko. Age 18. Teto Kasane- A bubbly, cheerful girl with an unexpected temper and badass side. Age 15. Megumi “Gumi”- A bit shy, but underneath, she is very brave and resourceful. Age 16. Meiko Sakine- The Mom Friend. Confident and likes to help people. Age 18. Momo Momone- The nicest girl, to the point of being a pushover… Age 15. Rin Kagamine- Unhinged gremlin sibling 1. Loves causing mayhem. Age 14. Len Kagamine- Unhinged gremlin sibling 2. Loves causing chaos. Age 14. Eleanor Forte- The mean girl and drama queen. Cause of lots of drama. Age 17. Kaito Shion- The dorky boy who always has a cheesy smile on his face. Age 17. Akaito Shion- The moody playboy. More serious than Kaito, but bad-tempered. Age 18. Koto Fuuga- Nature girl. Knows all about bird calls, animal behavior, and more. Age 16. Taya Soune- An extremely polite guy. Always dresses formally. Always. Age 15. Ruko Yokune- Despite her height and quirky love of coffee, quite level-headed. Age 15. Ritsu Namine- Loud and obnoxious, but has a caring and wise side? Age 15. Merli Aoki- A snobby, pretentious girl. Not Like Other Girls. Age 17. Lapis Aoki- Mischievous and up to trouble. Merli’s sister. Age 15. Gakupo Kamui- He’s… just strange. And eccentric. And awkward. Age 17. Miku “Zatsune”- A wannabe goth. Basically, she’s in training. Thinks she’s edgy. Age 15. Uta “Defoko” Utane- A sarcastic, moody teenage girl. But she does have a sweet side. Age 15. Dell Honne- Haku’s grumpy, angsty half brother she hasn’t seen in years. Age 18. Yuuma- The popular boy. Eleanor likes him. Can be materialistic. Age 18. Dandy “704”- A very arrogant and vain guy. Quite selfish and loves to show off. Age 18. “Lady” Parsec- A commanding bully who demands and orders people around. Age 17. Yuu- A cheerful guy who likes parties and fun. Age 16. Wil- A somewhat quiet, mysterious guy who keeps to himself. Age 16. Kyo- A wild guy who is impulsive and kind of dumb. Age 16. Daina- Basically, she’s a furry. Her fursona is a fox. Age 17. Dex- Basically, he’s a furry. His fursona is a wolf. Age 17. Ruby- A girl who likes memes and is basically just vibing through life. Age 16. Yukari Yuzuki- A modest girl who has a crush on Ruby. Easily impressed. Age 16. Shian- An innocent girl who is also quick-tempered and pouts easily. Age 14. Muxin- A kind, knowledgeable boy. He loves history and astronomy. Age 14. IA- A bit mysterious and seems cold and expressionless. Age 16. Piko Utatane- Shy, quiet, and cold. Gets along with Muxin due to similar interests. Age 15. Genbu- Overly-enthusiastic and brash. A bit of a loudmouth. Age 18. Chiyu- Bold, brash, and brave. Kind-hearted and strong. Age 17. Haiyi- Talks a lot. Usually has something up her sleeve. A prank perhaps? Age 16. Leeds Kasumiga- A timid girl with a mysterious heart illness that inhibits her. Age 14. Mew- A real goth, unlike Zatsune, who is a goth-in-training. Age 18. Tei Sukone- A dastardly, manipulative villain who fools people, then bites. Age 16. Cider- A smug, self-absorbed inventor of elaborate but stupid inventions. Age 17. Bruno- An agreeable, outgoing guy who likes spreading good vibes. Age 18. Clara- Bruno’s girlfriend. A little bit timid, but always kind and optimistic. Age 17. Aku Yamine- Quiet and a bit melancholic. She’s… a different type of goth. Emo? Age 14. Lily- A tough high-school delinquent who stands up for the weak. Age 17. Amy- Cheerful, optimistic, yet quite chill. Doubts herself often however. Age 16. Chris- He might be a big guy, but he is quite shy and very gentle. Age 18. Kaori- She seems confident and bright on the outside, but hides sadness? Age 17. Ken- He’s talkative, smart, kind of a dork, but very focused and brave. Age 17. Iroha Nekomura- Innocent and sweet, but agile, with cat-like reflexes. Age 14. SeeU- Energetic, hyperactive, makes bad puns, silly, makes bad puns… Age 16. Kiyoteru Hiyama is the host of the game show. Big Al is in the role of Chef. ——Episodes——— Prologue 1- Introduction to concept. Characters see the advertisement for the game show and contemplate going on it. The winner gets a million dollars! Prologue 2- Introduction to characters via their audition videos, part 1. Kiyoteru chooses contestants. Prologue 3- Introduction to characters via their audition videos, part 2. Kiyoteru chooses contestants. Episode 1- Everyone arrives at Total Drama Island and meets each other. Some get along, and many clash. Notable big-drama-causers include Tei, Eleanor, Dandy, Parsec, Cider, Merli sometimes, and Zatsune sometimes. Koto, Genbu, Ritsu, Haiyi, Daina, and Dex stick out for being especially wild. But really, everyone’s unique personality contributes to the drama and pot of chemistry in their own way. Another camper who sticks out is Gakupo Kamui, who enthusiastically boasts about his skills in martial arts and how ready he is to win Total Drama Island. He begins to get on the nerves of the other campers. “I can out-run, out-kick, out-sing, out-wit, and even out-PISS anybody else here.” Gakupo says. “Well, can you do us a favor and GET-out?” Meiko says. Episode 2- Campers have to jump off a one thousand-foot cliff into a shark-infested lake. Then they have to pull some crates back to camp, and the team from before with the most people who jumped get carts to help them. Then they have to build a hot tub from material found in the crates. The team with the best hot tub wins the challenge. The campers who were too scared to jump off the cliff have to wear chicken costumes for the rest of the day. Despite his incessant bragging previously, Gakupo is one of the few campers who does not jump off the cliff, because it is revealed he is scared of heights, sharks, AND deep water! He even pisses himself and dramatically faints when he gets close to the edge of the cliff... and then he faints off the cliff! However, his jump isn’t accounted for, because Gakupo was not conscious during his fall. Luka has to be the one to jump in after and rescue him! This causes Gakupo of The Dangerous Dolphins to be the first campter voted off. “Well… I guess he was right about out-pissing everyone here.” Neru laughs. The other campers too scared to jump are Taya, Dandy, Eleanor, Clara, Muxin, Chris, and Kaito. Haku is at first too scared, but her best friend Neru encourages her to be brave. They jump together and yell funny things on the way down. Even though Eleanor is scared, she ends up going over anyway after Chiyu pushes her off the cliff, being sick of Eleanor’s arrogance. However, it isn’t even accounted for, because Eleanor did not jump by her own will. Clara is too frightened and doesn’t make the jump, which is surprising, because she was so enthusiastic before. However, her boyfriend Bruno jumped without her… Taya takes one look down the cliff and starts backing away, crying from fear. He feels ashamed that he’s so scared, but he cannot help it. He gets pats on the back from Clara. Dandy makes an excuse as to why he can’t jump. He says he has an open wound from a fencing accident. In reality, Dandy does not fence. Muxin is too scared, but asserts that he doesn’t have to jump off the cliff if he doesn’t want to, and that the challenge is ridiculous. He then comforts Taya, who is curled up sobbing, and tells him not to feel shame. Taya and Muxin become friends, but sadly are on different teams. Chris is too scared and actually starts crying too. People don’t expect it. Kaito is scared to jump, panics and makes a bit of a scene, and is then picked on and belittled by his brother Akaito for the rest of the day. Kaito then vows he will become braver from here on. Braver, and stronger! Leeds actually does jump from the cliff, but it causes her heart to become weak and she has trouble walking for the rest of the day. Some of the members on her team rudely deem her a nuisance, but others tell her to take it easy and understand her. Afterwards, Clara gets a bit sour at Bruno, who is her boyfriend, for jumping the cliff without noticing she was too scared. Koto jumps the cliff and she actually has fun. But afterwards, she wears a chicken suit anyway, because she loves birds. Episode 3- The challenge is to stay awake the longest in the "Awake-A-Thon" after running twenty-kilometers and eating a huge meal that includes turkey, which is known for making people sleepy. Dell of The Killer Porpoises gets voted off for falling asleep first. He generally has a bad attitude and is apathetic. Haku feels heartbroken because Total Drama Island was the first time she had seen Dell since her parents’ divorce (by complete chance, even,) and he is not the warm person he used to be. Also, the time was so short. But unexpectedly, Dell acts nice to Haku right before he leaves, calling her to his room when he’s packing to go off the island. They have a nice conversation. Before Haku says goodbye, Dell says “Listen, I’m just not cut out for this wacky game. So you better win. I KNOW you can do it.” Haku begins crying and hugs Dell. Just like when they were kids. There will eventually be a list of who falls asleep first to last, but that’s quite convoluted. So I will say Dell falls asleep first, and Ruko second. Campers were not allowed to drink coffee during the challenge, rendering our Long Sleeper without access to her “secret weapon.” Koto stays up the longest, because she is a bird lover and loves birds too much to consume them. She was the only one who didn’t eat any turkey with her meal, and therefore didn’t become as sleepy. Also simply because she is badass and feral. Episode 4- A best-of-five dodgeball game. Five people are randomly chosen on each team. This is repeated three times for a total of three rounds of dodgeball. The Dangerous Dolphins win 2 out of 3 games. Zatsune of The Killer Porpoises gets voted off for being scared of dodgeball. It was a fear ingrained into her from her elementary school days, when the “dodgeball kids would bully her.” Sadly, since Zatsune always acts so cocky, nobody feels much sympathy now. Taya and Muxin want to spend time with each other. Being on different teams, they can’t, and are deemed traitors. But when Tei, on Taya’s team, suggests Taya could get valuable information about the other team via Muxin, Taya refuses to sabotage their friendship. This causes Tei to begin picking on Taya… Episode 5- A three-on-three talent show contest. Dex of The Killer Porpoises gets voted off for no reason. He wasn’t even in the talent show! Dandy wanted to get chosen by his team, the Dangerous Dolphins, to be in the talent show, claiming his “talent” was unmatched. However, he wasn’t chosen because he didn’t exactly have any real actual skills despite his claim! Taya, Luka, and Gumi are eventually chosen by the Dangerous Dolphins for their talents in music. Luka will play piano, Taya will play the violin, and Gumi will play the electric bass as they all sing a song cover. This causes Dandy to criticize their every note and call them amateur. Given Taya and Gumi’s low self-esteem, Dandy’s criticism gets to them before the final talent show. As for the Killer Porpoises, Yuuma, Ritsu, and IA get chosen as the team’s musicians. They form more of an idol dance group, with a pre-recorded background track. (It will also be a cover.) The Dangerous Dolphins actually win. If they were to have lost, Dandy would’ve probably been the one voted off for being a prick. Episode 6- Campers have to go to the forest, stay out there overnight, then race back to the campgrounds in the morning. Yukari of the Killer Porpoises gets voted off. See, it wasn’t really Yukari’s fault, but… she got attacked by a bear and is now too injured to stay for the game, so the voting off was mandatory, even though the Killer Porpoises otherwise won. Everyone becomes more-or-less traumatized at this, and feel very hurt for Yukari. Episode 7- Campers have to face their worst fear, specific to each camper. Yuuma gets voted off. Koto’s worst fear is the perfume department from Spongebob, because that scene scarred her as a little kid. So the host of the game show, Kiyoteru, magically opens a door to the perfume department at a real department store and Koto has to walk through it. Koto only makes it 5 steps in before she runs out, screaming. She does not pass her fear test! Yuuma is scared of the Crab Rave because there are too many crabs. So he is taken to a part of the island overrun by crabs, and Kiyoteru turns on the Crab Rave song and they all start dancing. Yuuma dives into the water screaming. But the crabs chase him. He doesn’t pass his fear test. Taya attempts to outwit Kiyoteru and pretends he is afraid of strawberry shortcake, which is actually his favorite food. But everyone remembers how scared he was in the first challenge at the cliff. So Taya’s specific challenge is to jump off the cliff this time… Episode 8- Row a canoe to Boney Island, portage across the island, start a bonfire, and canoe back to camp. Wil gets voted off. Episode 9- Hunt the other team dressed as deers with paintball guns, or if one is a deer, avoid being hit by them. Piko gets voted off. Episode 10- Create a three-course meal for Kiyoteru to judge. Three chefs are chosen from each team. Miku gets voted off. Episode 11- Participate in a set of three-out-of-five trust exercises. Shian gets voted off. Episode 12- Make it through Big Al’s life-threatening and disgusting boot-camp challenges. IA gets voted off. Episode 13- Participate in three extreme sport challenges. The challenges are "sofa skydiving", riding a moose while avoiding being tossed off it, and water-skiing on mud. Lapis gets voted off. Episode 14- Eat a nine course meal of disgusting food made by Big Al. Drink shot glasses of blended cockroaches. Yuu gets voted off. Episode 15- Episode 16- Episode 17- Episode 18- Episode 19- Episode 20- Episode 21- Episode 22- Episode 23- Episode 24- Episode 25- Episode 26- Episode 27- Episode 28- Episode 29- Episode 30- Episode 31 Episode 32- Episode 33- Episode 34- Episode 35- Episode 36- Episode 37- Episode 38- Episode 39- Episode 40- Episode 41- Episode 42- Episode 43- After this challenge, the teams are disbanded. It’s now every camper for themself. Episode 44- Get through several rounds of torture, lasting at least ten seconds in each one. Eleanor gets voted off because she can’t take torture. Episode 45- Receive a clue to find a key hidden somewhere in the island to open a treasure chest containing a prize. Ritsu found a dud chest and his prize was… getting voted off. Episode 46- Avoid getting sprayed by Big Al’s water gun in a game of hide and seek. Parsec gets voted off. Good riddance! Episode 47- Build a bike from scratch, and then race it. Who rides who’s bike? Anyway, Dandy gets voted off. Probably because he’s 7 foot 4 and huge. He probably broke all the bikes. Episode 48- Watch a horror movie and then avoid being captured by a "deranged killer". Gumi gets voted off because she was scared. Episode 49- Catch the specific animal assigned by Kiyoteru and bring it back to the campground unharmed. Taya had to bring back a raccoon. He came back first. Koto had to bring back a bear. She came back second. What a total beast! And I’m talking about KOTO! Genbu had to bring back an eagle. He came back third. Leeds had to bring back a frog. She came back fourth. Kaito had to being back a squirrel. He came back fifth. Haku had to bring back a moose. She came back sixth. Tei gets sent off because she couldn’t bring back a mere chipmunk. The little chipmunk was trained in king-fu and ended up beating her up! Hooray! Episode 50- Compete in the following while handcuffed to one of the other campers: eat disgusting food with your hands behind your back while the person handcuffed to you feeds you, return a fragment of Haku’s cursed tiki idol to Boney Island, and assemble a totem pole with the wooden heads of the voted out campers in the order that they are eliminated. Taya gets voted off. Episode 51- Campers have to find Kiyoteru and Big Al after being washed away by a storm. Leeds gets voted off because her condition came to its worse. Her weak heart had finally failed on her and she suffered a heart attack. She was doing so good in the game despite her shortcomings, and will serve as an inspiration for many. Leeds will not die. She is in good hands. She will get top medical care. Now, a twist is revealed to the audience. Everyone who was voted off actually went to go to a beautiful island resort. The remaining campers still don’t know about this. When Leeds finally gets consciousness back, she finds she is in paradise. At first, she thinks she is dead. The room then fills up with everyone else voted off, and she begins crying. “They really killed you?” She cries. “No, Leeds!” Yukari says. “You’re alive! You made it… to Paradise Island!” Episode 52- An episode dedicated to the Island of Losers, which is actually a five-star island resort paradise. Yukari has fully recovered from her injuries. Gakupo and all the others who were eliminated early finally get their time to shine! The losers will also be involved in the episodes to come, as they will be the audience. Episode 53- The campers have to find their way back to camp after being left in the wild with limited supplies. Unexpectedly, our total beast, Koto Fuuga, comes back last. Rumors have it, this is because she found a bird sanctuary and got distracted. Episode 54- Survive a series of dares, given by the eliminated campers until someone drops out. Haku is forced to do something horrible by Tei. Tei dares Haku to joke around and portray offensive stereotypes. On national TV. She just can’t do it… She drops out, but not before insulting Tei to her face. But Kaito says Haku made the right choice. She sacrificed her chance to win a million dollars so that Tei didn’t have to force her to make a choice that could hurt people when they see it on TV. Kaito thinks Haku deserves an amazing consolation prize. Genbu respects Haku for this as well. Episode 55- The two remaining campers have to climb a pole and retrieve a flag, walk across a board on top of shark-infested waters while carrying an eagle's egg, and run a race to cross the finish line. Kaito is about to give up… but… There is ice cream at the finish line! Kaito makes a mad dash to the finish line and wins Total Drama Island!! Episode 56- Kaito won! But there is a twist. In order to actually win the million dollars, he has to find the a case containing the $1,000,000 and bring it to the Dock of Shame before anyone else does! This is a race between him and all the other campers! If any of the other campers being it to the Dock of Shame before Kaito, there will be a whole second season of Total Drama Island, and Kaito will have to win all over again before he gets his million dollars… ———Teams——— ———The Dangerous Dolphins——— Taya Chiyu Meiko Kyo Koto Tei Momo Neru Akaito Clara Gakupo Gumi Shian Dandy Luka Merli Daina Haiyi Lily Len Amy Ken SeeU Cider Teto Haku Uta ———The Killer Porpoises——— Yuuma Zatsune Mew Eleanor Ruby Dell Kaito Ruko Ritsu Wil Leeds Genbu Dex Bruno Iroha Miku Piko IA Chris Kaori Yuu Parsec Rin Lapis Yukari Aku Muxin ———Notable relationships——— Familial- Akaito and Kaito are brothers. Lapis and Merli are adoptive sisters. Haku and Dell are half-siblings who don’t live together, and haven’t seen each other in years before Total Drama Island. Rin and Len are twin siblings. Haku and Miku are cousins. Amy and Chris are cousins. Kaori and Ken are twin siblings, yet distant. They didn’t grow up in the same household. Ruko has a close cousin named Rook, who isn’t on TDI. Momo has an older brother, Momotaro, who isn’t on TDI. Uta has a younger sister, Koe, and two older brothers, Hibiki and Kanade, who aren’t on TDI. Teto has an older brother, Ted, who isn’t on TDI. Leeds has an older brother, Loop, who isn’t on TDI. Yukari has a little sister named Akari who isn’t on TDI. IA has a little sister named One who isn’t on TDI. Friendship- Miku, Rin, Len, and Luka have been a group of friends before TDI Haku and Neru were best friends before TDI Dex and Daina were best friends before TDI Momo, Teto, and Uta were best friends before TDI Ruko meets Ritsu and they become best friends Taya and Muxin become unlikely friends, despite being on different teams Romance- Bruno and Clara were dating before TDI Teto and Momo’s friendship eventually becomes romance. Haku meets Luka and they form a budding romance Amy meets Kaori and they form a budding romance Taya meets Uta and they form a budding romance Muxin meets Piko and they form a budding romance Lily meets Gumi and they form a budding romance Crushes- Len has always a crush on Miku. Tei has an obsessive crush on Kaito. Yukari has a crush on Ruby. Leeds has an embarrassing crush on Genbu. Eleanor has a crush on Yuuma. Ken has a crush on Chris. Dandy has a crush on Parsec. Akaito has a crush on Haku. Zatsune has a crush on Mew. She denies it. Gumi has a crush on IA. Dislike- Dandy and Cider always fight… with a weird sort of tension. Akaito and Uta don’t get along Miku Zatsune and Miku Hatsune don’t get along Lily and Merli don’t get along (MORE COMING SOON)

[rjalker]

so if a human is taken as a host can the human be asleep and the visitant be awake and walking around and doing stuff? Can they modify our brains so we’re like dolphins? Can they just bypass the brain entirely? Do only parts of the brain shut down? how does this work. Is the mind somehow separated from the brain via Magic™ so the disconnected mind can sleep while the brain is still working?

Or would the visitant just have to just chill out not doing anything while the host is asleep.

this is me thinking to myself but you can also add on ideas or examples, mainly I’m trying to figure out how this would work for my Brain Worms (giant magical caterpillar things from a dream that take hosts by eating the host’s brain and then becoming their brain [I swear they’re nice it’s not as horrifying as it sounds. they only take willing hosts and there’s this whole ceremony and stuff.]).

Like, whatever the heck they’re called, those giant slug people from Star Trek, their hosts might be able to “sleep” while they’re still awake, since they’re like, not anywhere near the brain as far as I can tell, but they don’t really count since I think they blend their personalities entirely with the hosts so it’s more like one person rather than two sharing a body....

Though I guess with the Brain Worms, since they still have two separate minds and there’s like, zero brain left in the equation, the different minds can just go to sleep at will(ish), whether they’re in a host body or not. They’ll be affected by the host body, so if the body has been up and running for two days straight they’ll probably both (or all, lol) fall asleep, but they can also just sleep whenever.

(I say visitant since this applies to both parasites and symbiotes, and while the word symbiont includes both of those, I have dyslexia and I want a word that’s visually distinct and not confusing.)

[purplesurveys]

1264

Who are you subscribed to on YouTube?  Oh man, I’m probably subscribed to over a hundred, if not 200. I’ve subscribed to channels relevant to interests I’ve had over the years, and since it’s not my habit to do spring cleaning on my feeds, the subscriptions have just keep piling up even if I no longer keep up with literally like 98% of them.

Do you like to go to the farmer's market?  I don’t think I’ve ever been in one yet. They aren’t very common here and the ones we do have are pricey and mostly inaccessible to the everyday consumer, I’m sure.

What will (or was) the color of your wedding dress be?  I wouldn’t want any other color than white.

What's your favorite melon?  I don’t like fruits.

What was the name of the last pet of yours that died?  Arlee. Technically my family mostly considered her as just Nina’s pet, but the sting was felt all the same when we learned she died.

When was the last time you wished the day would just get over with?  Yesterday, because it was Friday. Pretty self-explanatory, I wanted to get to the weekend so I can finally let go of work for a couple of days.

Name one person you've never had a fight with:  Andi. I think we’re both afraid of pissing the other off, which works out for us lol.

What are you currently listening to?  I can just hear the really loud whirring of my electric fan because it’s a grossly humid day today.

What would you rather have: cat or dog?  Dogs.

Who is your least favorite person in real life?  I have a lot of uncles I just don’t like.

Do you ever watch anybody's live stream of... anything, really?  Technically, yeah. I will sometimes tune in to livestreams of lofi music on YouTube, but I do it to listen, not to watch. 

Does your house have security cameras?  No.

If you go grey as you age, would you dye your hair or let it be?  I think I might dye it for a certain period of time, but I also think I would eventually reach the point where I’ll just accept it and slowly let go of the dye.

What was the last establishment you stopped going to due to bad service? What happened?  I haven’t run into much bad service, but I’ll never forget how long my order and bill took for Mad Mark’s. I never really vowed per se to never go back there again and I definitely didn’t confront the staff, but I haven’t eaten there since that incident.

What soundtrack do you listen to the most?  Not a big soundtrack listener.

Was there a family secret you weren’t told about until you were an adult?  Nah, they’re kept from us until now. The biggest one I’ve heard about was having a kleptomaniac in the family but we were never told who it is.

Do you have an opinion most people you meet seem to disagree with you?  Yeah, my dislike for fruits.

What’s something you like to have many options to choose from?  Clothes, I guess, like bucket hats. I don’t shop a lot and clothes aren’t a priority in my budget, so when I do pick out clothes, it has to be exactly what I want so that I don’t feel it was a waste of money.

What’s the strangest decorative object you own?  We have several quirky, disconnected decor in the living room from gifts we’ve acquired over the years. One object I can tell you about is the polar bear glass figurine we have on the coffee table.

What’s a thing you couldn’t imagine doing with your life right now?  Dating around.

What’s been your proudest moment?  Managing to stay alive this year and turn my life around for the better when I thought there was no hope.

What’s the filthiest non-pornographic movie you’ve seen?  Eyes Wide Shut, probably.

Do you know anyone who doesn't seem to be fond of animals?  I don’t think so. Like any animal...? I would find that quite odd, honestly. And I wouldn’t want to be friends with them if we weren’t already close .

Are you planning any outings or trips anytime soon? Whereabouts?  No, nothing set in stone. I do want to fly out to South Korea soon, though.

Do you know anyone who has a phobia of a certain animal?  I know a few people who are afraid of dogs.

Is there a particular brand of technology/electronics that you prefer?  Yeah, Apple.

Is there a singer whose voice gives you goosebumps/chills?  Hayley Williams and Jin, especially when he’s belting; and I don’t listen to her much, but I find that Billie Eilish has a unique voice that sounds really nice.

And is there a singer whose voice you simply can't stand?  Selena Gomez for some of her songs, Meghan Trainor for most of her songs.

Are there any authors that are particularly dominant on your bookshelf?  No.

Have you seen any photographs or videos that made you smile today?  Sure.

Which item in your fridge are you most looking forward to consuming? My aunt sent over this gigantic-ass slab of salmon that I can’t wait to eat as sashimi. I already had a few pieces last night and it was hea ven ly.

Has anyone you know got into a new relationship lately?  Hmm, I don’t think so. I know my coworker Dev got into a relationship a few weeks ago but it fizzled out as soon as it started because the guy was shitty.

If you menstruate, do you experience much PMS prior to it?  Only on the emotional side; I rarely get physical symptoms. I usually feel down or emotionally heavy a few days before my period.

Have you ever had a tattoo covered up or added to?  No, I don’t have any tattoos. Can you remember the last time you had a sudden change of mind?  Hmm, like last night. I wanted to stay up to maximize the weekend, buuuut I decided against it and slept instead since I had been up since 2 in the morning.

When was the last time you did something on a whim?  Two weeks ago when I impulsively dropped a thousand bucks to have cheese tarts delivered to Angela and Reena, hahaha.

Were you raised by both of your parents? If not, then who raised you?  My mom, grandma, and one of my aunts were the main people who raised me. Dad works overseas, so he was never at home much.

Have you ever began a relationship with someone you knew for less than a week?  No, I wouldn’t do that.

Has one of your friends ever tried to ‘hook you up?’  Mik tried to pair me with one of his friends just days before I finally implied on social media that I was no longer in a relationship. It was a cool ego boost but I declined, since my emotions were still super turbulent then. Andi tried to initiate sex with me once too, but I also declined.

What is your card game of choice?  I hate card games; I can never seem to understand them lmao, though that’s really more of a me problem than anything else.

What is your favourite books series?  Growing up, I really loved the Septimus Heap series. But the thing about it was that I got into it while the series was still ongoing; and with how bad my attention span is, I always forgot the events/plot whenever the newest book came out. 

So whenever that happened I had to read the entire series from Book 1; eventually the number of books I had to reread/revisit became too many (it was a seven-part series) and I simply just lost the time to read and I never got to know about the conclusion.

Do you prefer landmarks or street names when being given directions?  Street names – more precise. Landmarks to me can be pretty subjective – a green building might look blue to me, and I could just end up being lost.

Do you read the prologues in the beginnings of books?  Sure.

What was your favourite gym class moment?  If I genuinely like or already play the sport that was being taught. That’s why PE table tennis was a lot of fun for me.

Do you think that ocean boardwalks are fun?  I’ve never been on one but I imagine they are fun, yeah.

Do you dread when people ask you to sign their yearbooks?  That’s not a tradition here.

Do you have a favourite Scooby-Doo movie?  No. I was too young for Scooby-Doo in a sense that I do remember watching the movies as a 3/4 year old as they were kept on in the background at home, but I didn’t get any of the plots/didn’t really appreciate the films.

Do you think it’s cute when toddlers try to run away and fall down?  Sometimes, yeah. If the fall looked nasty I would obviously be concerned.

Do you enjoy listening to your grandparents tell stories of their past?  Honestly, only one of my grandparents would be the type to do this but he’s been dead for six years now. It’s a big shame he passed before I could bond with him the way I had always wanted to. My three other grandparents are either too closed off or too quiet to share stories from their youth.

Do you have a crush on someone? Nah, nothing more than a celebrity crush.

If so... what does his/her name begin with? 

What attracts you to them? 

Do they know that you like them? 

If they don't know, why didn't you tell them? 

Name two people that you miss:  Angela and Laurice.

Have you ever seen Titanic?  More times than I can count. I’m sure I memorize like 80% of the script, too.

Have you ever swam with dolphins?  No. I’m not so sure if I’ve seen dolphins, either. Maybe I have? Or maybe I’m confusing it with whales...idrk.

When was the last time you had a stomachache?  Wednesday.

What's going to bed early for you?  11 PM or midnight.

Do you want to have a big family in the future?  I used to, but I don’t think that’s the future I want anymore. One or two kids should be okay.

What was the last thing you did that gave you a rush?  Technically speaking, an orgasm, I guess?? Lmao idk

Favorite Nicholas Cage movie?  I don’t think I have one.

Have you had your Covid vaccine yet? Which one, if you have?  Yeah, I’m fully dosed. Sinovac.

If you've had your vaccine, did you experience any side effects?  I was suuuuuuper tired right after my first dose and I wanted to be knocked the fuck out, but I went right back to work after the shot because I am allergic to filing leaves hahaha. Second dose went smoothly.

What's the next item of clothing that you intend to buy for yourself?  A bucket hat or maybe one of the Fila x BTS shirts because the collection is actually quite cute!

What Facebook groups have you found the most helpful?  I join Facebook groups to be entertained, not because I actively look for advice.

Do you like your butt? Why or why not?  Yeah. It...has a good form hahahahahaha.

Have you ever personally been a victim of homophobia?  Yes, a few years ago I went to a food park with my ex-girlfriend. I was already not feeling my best that day to begin with, so having to see an old woman stare daggers at us for what felt like years really stung. I felt small under her look and almost cried, but in the end I felt angry that I momentarily felt shame about my relationship. I decided to just piss the woman off on purpose and do PDA right in front of her.

Do you think you’d be happier if you had a pet? I have two dogs at present and I know they make me extremely happy.

Who was the last person you went on a date with?  Gabie.

Were you ever hospitalized as a little kid?  No. The first and only time I was hospitalized (other than being birthed), I was about 12, I think.

What’s your favorite way to curl your hair?  I don’t do that. I rarely style my hair.

At what age did you start swearing?  I was 11.

What is something you physically can’t do?  Ride a bike.

What do like better, apples or oranges?  I don’t like any fruits; but in terms of flavored stuff, I like orange-flavored food, especially chewy candy, slightly more.

Around the holidays, do you hope for snow?  Well, no.

What are your top two favorite bands?  Paramore and Against Me!

How many people do you 100% trust?  There are a handful. I generally trust easily just because I like to believe all people are kind and loyal – but I can also take it away in the snap of a finger.

Do you care what others think about you?  Not so much.

Has anyone ever called you a bitch?  Sure.

Did you watch Teletubbies when you were younger?  Yeah but just super super faint memories. It wasn’t one of my main shows.

Do you have any licenses other than your driver's license?  I don’t.

Could you live the rest of your life without eating meat?  I doubt it. I could try, but I think I’d get cranky and start looking for meat way earlier than I would like to admit.

Have you ever had a rolling backpack?  Yup, if you mean a stroller. I think I’ve answered this on a previous survey.

Did you make any money today?  No, because it’s a weekend. What was the highest place you've ever jumped from?  Nothing dramatically high. I’ve had acrophobia-themed nightmares in the past, so even though I don’t actually have a fear of heights, the idea of jumping from a high place still makes me antsy.

Have you ever gone swimming in a river?  Not that I can recall.

What was the last souvenir someone got you?  I dunno if it counts but Andi bought merch from the AEW shop but made sure to also get a CM Punk sticker set for me :(

Do you have a favorite remix of a song?  Remixes have never been my thing. What do you think is the most saddest sounding instrument?  Piano.

Do you really pay attention to the ratings on movies?  Yeah they can definitely affect the level of appreciation I hold towards a film. For instance, if I genuinely enjoyed a movie only to find out it has average to bad reviews, it invites me to think more critically about the movie.

Do you have a favorite species of wild cat (tiger/lion/cougar/etc.)?  No.

If you had $500,000, what would you do with it?  Give half to my parents and let them do whatever they wish it. With the remaining P12,500,000, I’d probably get myself my own condo and have it fully furnished, then get braces, then get a new phone and laptop. I’ll have a bunch of money still left, I’m pretty sure – the rest of it I’ll save.

Did the last person you touched lips with have a kid?  No. I mean, I have honestly no clue what’s going on in her life now, but I know she doesn’t want kids so this is very unlikely.

"First loves are never really over." Is this true for you?  It’s true in a sense that she left me a lot of trauma and self-esteem issues that will irrevocably always be a part of me now even though I’ve worked hard to resolved most of them by myself.

Did you like Michael Jackson before he died?  Yes, because he has always been my favorite singer’s role model.

What are some things that would make you break up with someone?  I don’t know how to answer this question, honestly. All the red flags were thrown and tossed and slapped into my face and down my throat for six years yet I never left. I don’t actually know what my limits are, and I believe it’s because my coping mechanism has to just accept things and suck them up no matter how bad they get. That’s what I’m trying to change for myself now.

What was the worst breakup you've ever had?  I’ve had two breakups with the same person, and the second one was worse.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #451

“taste the waste of their god’s grace & spit your hate upon your young”

Who are you subscribed to on YouTube? A shitload of people. Do you like to go to the farmer's market? Yeah, sure. What will (or was) the color of your wedding dress be? Probably black. What's your favorite melon? I don't really like melons, actually. What was the name of the last pet of yours that died? Teddy. :( When was the last time you wished the day would just get over with? Literally every day. Seriously. It's funny, I dread fighting to sleep at night, but I also just want it to be time to sleep so time will pass. My life is just so fucking boring that I just... wait for something exciting to happen. Name one person you've never had a fight with: Tez. What are you currently listening to? "Sex Metal Barbie" by In This Moment. What would you rather have: cat or dog? I prefer cats. Who is your least favorite person in real life? Probably my sister's husband. Do you ever watch anybody's live stream of... anything, really? I'll sometimes watch live let's plays. Does your house have security cameras? No. If you go grey as you age, would you dye your hair or let it be? I'll be dyeing it. What was the last establishment you stopped going to due to bad service? What happened? I'm not sure. What soundtrack do you listen to the most? Silent Hill 2's, definitely. Was there a family secret you weren’t told about until you were an adult? I don't know if it's really a secret, but I didn't know until this year that my dad did some really dangerous drugs before us kids were born. Do you have an opinion most people you meet seem to disagree with you? Yes. What’s something you like to have many options to choose from? Food, ha ha. Feels great to have a full kitchen after a grocery trip. What’s the strangest decorative object you own? Nothing "strange" to me. What’s a thing you couldn’t imagine doing with your life right now? One biggie is having a baby. I just... could not imagine. My life would plummet. What’s been your proudest moment? Graduating in the top percentile in my high school graduating class. What’s the filthiest non-pornographic movie you’ve seen? Omfg, Sausage Party. That movie was so gross. Do you know anyone who doesn't seem to be fond of animals? Thankfully, no. I don't even think I could befriend someone who doesn't like animals. Are you planning any outings or trips anytime soon? Whereabouts? No. Do you know anyone who has a phobia of a certain animal? Yeah, like me with whale sharks. Is there a particular brand of technology/electronics that you prefer? Not really, no. Is there a singer whose voice gives you goosebumps/chills? Amy Lee's. And is there a singer whose voice you simply can't stand? Yeah, such as Bob Dylan. Are there any authors that are particularly dominant on your bookshelf? Tui T. Sutherland, but only because I read their series Wings of Fire. Have you seen any photographs or videos that made you smile today? I'm sure on Facebook at some point. Which item in your fridge are you most looking forward to consuming? Does the freezer count? If so, this Healthy Choice grilled chicken pesto bowl I have in there. I am like addicted to them. Has anyone you know got into a new relationship lately? I don't know. If you menstruate, do you experience much PMS prior to it? It varies month-to-month. Have you ever had a tattoo covered up or added to? I had my Markiplier tattoo essentially redone by a better artist. I also plan on getting my "ohana" tat covered, as well as my "how rare and beautiful it is to even exist" one (I adore the quote, but it's not an original design, which I don't like having anymore), and I want to move and redesign my "perfectly flawed" one because I want a bigger tattoo in its location. Can you remember the last time you had a sudden change of mind? Yeah; I'm pretty sure I like-like my friend Girt now, something I was never entirely sure about. When was the last time you did something on a whim? *shrug* Were you raised by both of your parents? If not, then who raised you? Well, I guess both, but Dad didn't do a lot of the teaching part about life and stuff. Have you ever began a relationship with someone you knew for less than a week? No. Has one of your friends ever tried to ‘hook you up?’ Yes. Colleen tried that with me and Girt and only succeeded in making us very uncomfortable. She said something I wanted to slap her for that I won't repeat. What is your card game of choice? Magic: The Gathering. What is your favourite books series? I think my favorite series of all time was the Shiloh trilogy. I adored both the books and movies. Do you prefer landmarks or street names when being given directions? You'd better give me landmarks, ha ha. Do you read the prologues in the beginnings of books? Of course. What was your favourite gym class moment? There're such things as GOOD gym memories in school? Do you think that ocean boardwalks are fun? Yes. Do you dread when people ask you to sign their yearbooks? No, I always thought it was very flattering that they even wanted mine. Do you have a favourite Scooby-Doo movie? The Phantom Virus one. I had the video game as a kid, too. Could never beat the damn thing. Do you think it’s cute when toddlers try to run away and fall down? No? I don't like seeing children - or anyone - fall. Do you enjoy listening to your grandparents tell stories of their past? So, this really only happened once, and it was coincidentally the day I learned of her pancreatic cancer, but before Mom told me. I had an assignment to interview someone of an older generation about how various sources of media affected their lives, like the development of TV and such, and she really got into it. It was very interesting to learn about. Do you have a crush on someone? I guess I do idfk. If so... what does his/her name begin with? "D." What attracts you to them? More than anything, the fact he's been there for me without fail. Both single and when I was with Jason and he was interested in me, he's just... been there and has made an effort since high school to be in my life in one way or another. Do they know that you like them? Not anymore, no. We dated for a few months, but I broke up with him because he felt more like my brother, so I would assume he doesn't think I do. Maybe he still is family to me. I really don't know what I feel. If they don't know, why didn't you tell them? I might at some point, idk. We just haven't talked in a while. Name two people that you miss: Jason and Megan. Have you ever seen Titanic? When I was in the hospital, yes. Everyone was crying, lmao. Have you ever swam with dolphins? No, but I would. When was the last time you had a stomachache? Now. Mother Nature finally visited me after three whole fucking months and is v angry. What's going to bed early for you? Like 7:00. Do you want to have a big family in the future? Of pets! Human kids ain't for me. What was the last thing you did that gave you a rush? Hell if I know. Favorite Nicholas Cage movie? Ghost Rider. Have you had your Covid vaccine yet? Which one, if you have? Yes. I got Moderna. If you've had your vaccine, did you experience any side effects? I did on my second dosage. I was OUT of it the day afterwards, but then I was fine. What's the next item of clothing that you intend to buy for yourself? I need new bras badly. What Facebook groups have you found the most helpful? It's called "Not Just A Pet Rock (Python regius)" and is a group for advanced ball python husbandry. It is very informative, but I will say there is a SHITLOAD of very rude elitists. Do you like your butt? Why or why not? NO because it's a PANCAKE and I want CAKE. Have you ever personally been a victim of homophobia? I personally think so. When Sara visited and we were trying to go to my older sister's so she especially could meet her, Ash entirely ignored Mom's messages. I know her homophobic husband well enough to nearly be able to guarantee he didn't want us coming over because the kids "don't need to see that." Ash kinda does what Nick says, so... you know. Do you think you’d be happier if you had a pet? I know I'm happier with pets. Who was the last person you went on a date with? Sara. Were you ever hospitalized as a little kid? No. What’s your favorite way to curl your hair? It's too short to do that. At what age did you start swearing? However old I was in 7th grade. What is something you physically can’t do? Clean up vomit lkdsjal;sdkjfa;lkwd. I can't clean up my pet's or even my own. I literally can't. My mom has to. What do like better, apples or oranges? Apples. I don't like oranges. Around the holidays, do you hope for snow? Yes!!! What are your top two favorite bands? Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica. How many people do you 100% trust? Like two. Maybe. Do you care what others think about you? Way too much. Has anyone ever called you a bitch? My grandmother has. Did you watch Teletubbies when you were younger? Omg yes, I was obsessed. Do you have any licenses other than your driver's license? I don't even have that. Could you live the rest of your life without eating meat? No. Not because I don't want to, because I do, but I would have an extreme protein deficit if I did that. Besides meat, I don't like enough protein-rich foods. Have you ever had a rolling backpack? Yes. Did you make any money today? I haven't made any money in a very, very long time. I'm only ever paid when someone hires me to take pictures for them. What was the highest place you've ever jumped from? I don't know. Definitely not very high. Have you ever gone swimming in a river? Yes. What was the last souvenir someone got you? I have zero clue. Do you have a favorite remix of a song? Hm. Perhaps this techno-y remix of "Psychosocial" by Slipknot. I don't know for sure, though. What do you think is the most saddest sounding instrument? Either the violin or piano. Do you really pay attention to the ratings on movies? Nope. Do you have a favorite species of wild cat (tiger/lion/cougar/etc.)? Probably clouded leopards aesthetics, but I think lions overall. If you had $500,000, what would you do with it? Pay off school debt as well as help Mom with various financial issues, buy new glasses, buy Mom and I a new house and car, get Venus a great tank with all the optimal supplies, get LOADS of tattoos, donate to various charities, adopt a few specific pets, travel to Yellowstone, get laser hair removal on my legs and teeth whitening... There are a lot of possibilities. Did the last person you touched lips with have a kid? Just scaly ones. :') "First loves are never really over." Is this true for you? Yeeeep... Did you like Michael Jackson before he died? I didn't really have an opinion on him. I know/like a couple songs, sure. What are some things that would make you break up with someone? If they became abusive, started doing drugs, acted arrogantly, didn't understand my mental conditions and were unwilling to be emotionally supportive, stuff like that. What was the worst breakup you've ever had? Ha, the one with Jason. For. Fucking. Sure.

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 3, episode 1 reaction

So! It’s a million years too late, but I decided to talk about wtFOCK season 3. 

I had fairly positive feelings about S1 of wtFOCK. It was the scrappy underdog of the Skam remakes, in a way, and what it lacked in polish, it made up for authenticity. I was very willing to overlook its flaws because of what I perceived as genuine attempts to connect with teenagers. I was really, really holding out hope that future seasons would improve on its flaws. And ... well. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t seen S2. Sorry! I just failed to keep up with all the remakes and S2 is my least fave so I didn’t feel that motivated to make it a priority, even though I did like Zoë a lot in S1.)

Heads up - I didn’t care for this season. A lot of people did, and I would never, ever want to ruin someone’s enjoyment of something, even if I personally didn’t like it. So please take this as a warning that I have a lot of negative things to say, and don’t read if it’s going to harsh your buzz for a pairing or a story that you deeply love. However, I didn’t want to just be grumpy and angry the whole time, so I tried to think of constructive ways to fix certain problems I had with this season. No guarantees that they’re satisfying solutions, but it was an interesting exercise.

Also, I didn’t watch this in real time, and I paid barely any attention to fandom reactions and/or drama, so it’s very possible that I am missing context, or that pacing issues didn’t register with me quite as strongly, etc. If one of the actors ate a live dolphin on Instagram, and then got into a fight with fans on Twitter about their right to eat live dolphins, and now fandom has canceled the problematic dolphin-eating actor, I legit do not know, do not come at me if I’m like “This actor is doing a good job” with “Wow, didn’t know you stanned dolphin-eaters??? YIKES.” Honestly, for the purposes of just grading this season on a storytelling level, I would prefer not to know anything about the cast or crew unless it directly has an impact on the show itself.

Clip 1 - House party

OK, I did like this flashy intro shot, immersing us in the Wild ‘n’ Crazy Teen Party of Wild ‘n’ Crazy Youths.

Amber rejecting every dude in site … When Will Gay Vilde Rise. (I know there have been some f/f storylines in the remakes, but if there’s one involving an actual Vilde, please let me know.)

Luca saying “We’re not walking around in a high school drama” - you can hear the rimshot.

I do like the transition from the party up to the bathroom, that’s a cool shot. wtFOCK’s directing so far is more ambitious than it was in S1.

Robbe is clearly a mess and they acknowledge his problems at home right off the bat.

We go back downstairs. wtFOCK’s version of Magnus knocks his drink on Amber and she gets pissed. She gives him the finger and he falls in love. Still a better love story than S3 Daphne/Basile.

It’s a small point, but I don’t get why we didn’t get this moment before jumping up to the bathroom with Robbe and the others? It would be a far smoother transition, just on a practical level and also in the sense of fully immersing us in Robbe’s POV after a quick update with the other characters.

Belgian Magnus joins the guys in the bathtub and announces he’s in love. They roast him when they find out it’s Amber and start talking about hot chicks. Moyo starts grilling Robbe about his type of girl, in a crass, sexual way.

This is honestly not a bad start to Robbe’s story at all. Robbe is clearly more reluctant to get into his interest in girls than Isak was - Isak was more fuckboyish from the start, Robbe seems like he’s about to start squirming and doesn’t really give an answer to Moyo’s questioning. Which is fine! I think it’s fine to start off the POV character at different stages of performing heterosexuality, as long as it’s taken into account in the writing of the character’s whole arc. The fact that the boy talk is so crude and sexual just ramps up Robbe’s alienation.

I swear, I will never understand how the girls in this scene just go into the bathroom and pee in front of strange boys … like maybe I am just a ~prude but that seems like a recipe for disaster and I would not trust those little fuckers to not be secretly recording me on the toilet.

Her peeing is kind of a power move, like marking her territory.

Also L M A O at Robbe starting to flirt with the girl while she is pissing … like now this comes off as a kink thing. OK, Robbe. Jokes aside, this gets across the same meaning as the scene with Isak: he starts to flirt with her because he was encouraged by the other guys.

Uh, flush the toilet, lady. And use some TP.

Now this version of Emma seriously radiates some Natalie Portman in The Professional vibes.

She orders him to stand up and then starts kissing him. I get way less of a vibe of Robbe’s mad game with women (like how Isak negged Emma into kissing him) and more like this girl is the love interest out of an indie romcom, all mysterious and spunky. She kisses him like once after taking his jay and then leaves. The boys all crack up. Moyo tells Robbe it’s his responsibility to get the weed back which lmao, no it’s not, all you assholes were there and could have intervened.

This scene is perfectly fine and even effective! Not entirely the same vibes as OG, but it still has a purpose and some obvious cause-and-effect, and there are some nice stylistic choices.

Clip 2 - Party pt. 2

Robbe is now making out with mystery girl. We already have a divergence in characterization from OG. Isak was being performative about making out with Emma and shut it down once the guys left. Robbe is making out with this girl because he wants to be straight, I guess? If it’s not to appeal to his friends, it’s likely that this is for himself. Again, I have no real problem with this change if it’s incorporated into Robbe’s overall arc and characterization. My thing is, if you’re writing this scene, do you realize the differences in characterization? Or do you think this is interchangeable from what happened with Isak? The latter is where you run into problems, because then the writing shows lack of nuance. I bring this up here because, well, you can guess how I feel about later events. 

Luca seems rather aggro about the mystery woman, which I assume is because she still has the hots for Robbe?

It makes me laugh that we got this first-person POV as Robbe leaves through the garage, because of the “Smack My Bitch Up” song being played in the last clip (the song had an infamous music video, banned from MTV in the ‘90s, that was from a first-person POV). But again, WTFock is trying harder with the cinematography and direction, good for them.

Robbe ditches the cops by jumping on the bike with Belgian Emma. OK, I get it, Belgian Emma is too cool for school. 

I have kinda mixed feelings on that, actually. I mean, I’ll be honest - I don’t see why any Emma has to be made into someone more palatable. Definitely don’t demonize her or present her in a misogynistic way! She deserves sympathy and dignity as much as any character on a Skam. But … it’s fine if she and the Isak aren’t like, amazingly compatible except for his sexuality. The Even character is supposed to be the one who really shakes up the Isak’s world! The Isak is supposed to be lost and confused and drifting and then Even comes in and is someone he can really open up to. Not just because he’s another guy who’s into guys, but because Even’s personality meshes with Isak’s so easily while still challenging him and introducing him to new things. In a way, it does kinda diminish the effect of the Even if the Isak meets ANOTHER mysterious stranger who’s an awesome person. Or at the very least, it lessens the feeling of the Isak’s detachment from everything.

And again, this could work if the writing realizes it. You can totally craft a subtly different arc from the pieces of Isak’s season. It’s just that (speaking from the future) I do not feel this is what happened.

Clip 3 - Tagging time

I don’t think it’s necessary to break up all the parts of a longer scene/set piece into a bunch of different clips. If you start a scene at 16:00, it’s OK to have the clip take place over several hours. You don’t need to chop it up unless there’s a reason why this pacing might benefit the story. Honestly, if you’re watching in real time, I think this method is often less effective at building tension/emotion/etc. But wtFOCK is not the first remake to try this tactic.

... this part where Robbe and Noor put on masks sure hits differently in 2020.

Belgian Emma’s name is Noor and she takes him to a warehouse, or something? It’s very secret and Cool Kid. And IDK, it’s fun, but again… I think making the Emma that much of a fun mysterious cool exciting person is very much diminishing the effect of Robbe’s isolation. We had a good start with establishing that alienation while he was in the tub, but now his reactions to her rad hipness feel way too sincere and act against the major character conflict of his season. He seems nervous to go with her, but not because he’s with a girl, just because it’s a risky scenario.

Noor hands Robbe a spray paint can and leads him to tag a wall. There’s  a guy taking pictures. So I’m assuming one of the guys in masks is the Even? The POV seems to shift to the photo guy briefly, like we’re seeing Robbe through his eyes. And even though I’m not a fan of POV breakage, I do think this is a cool way to introduce the Even without really introducing him, you know? If that’s him. (EDIT from the future: Ummm, so that wasn’t Sander, right? I’m rewatching and it doesn’t look like him. Soooo that part has even less relevance than I originally thought. Got it.) (EDIT from the future beyond the future: @hellswolfie tells me that this actually was Sander, so I am just bad at recognizing people, lol.)

Robbe and Noor take off their masks briefly to kiss. Uhhhh, did the scene really just … cut off there? Because L M A O what a weird choice. We don’t get to see what Robbe creates on the wall, which could be a great way to establish his character, AND we end with him on a smiley, contented note which does not boost his POV at all. It legit just makes him seem like a guy who’s into this girl, and sorry, even if that’s his public persona at this point in time … that’s not what we, the audience should be getting at all. 

Clip 4 - Boy squad morning after

Robbe skateboards to meet up with the guy squad. Again, the directing is far better IMO than in S1.

Robbe got the weed back so that conflict is over, I guess.

He gets a call from his mom and stops laughing with the guys and gets serious. He walks away to take the call. Then he starts to open up to Jens about his mom freaking out, and then Moyo spots some girls so they all ditch Robbe to go chase girls, and WOW, Jens, please turn in your Jonas card. 

Don’t love that we didn’t hear his mom on the phone. There’s no reason not to let us hear what she’s saying since it would be in Robbe’s POV AND as it turns out, they just tell us about the situation with his mom right off the bat, anyway, so it’s not like there’s much point in hiding it. 

This was effective in a sense to establish how girl-crazy his friends are, as well as setting up Robbe’s isolation, which I was worried wouldn’t come across as strongly after meeting Noor. But I think they could have NOT mingled in his mom issues to make this part more effective. Like if the goal was to show more of Robbe being alienated because he’s gay, then that’s not entirely successful, because there are non-gay reasons why Robbe wouldn’t join his pals on the girl chase. I mean, even a horny hetero Robbe might not want to chase girls with his bros because talking to his mom is a downer, so it’s not necessarily because of his sexuality. Plus he just found a girl he liked in Noor, so apparently, he’s not on the prowl. What this part IS communicating that the Belgian guy squad doesn’t have much interest in their friend’s family struggles, which ... ehhhh, maybe not great in the grand scheme of the storyline? These guys can be flawed, for sure, but we do need them to care about Robbe’s well-being. And Robbe tried to open up here, so the flaw is not in him, it’s in his friends. I’m going to let it slide because Jens was offering to help Robbe in the first clip, so it’s not like he’s been a totally insensitive friend this whole time. 

Clip 5 - Phone call from Robbe’s dad

Noor jumps on Robbe and they make out. She shows him the garage and they talk about the tagging world or w/e. Again, not sure why they are portraying Noor as like … a legit love interest. I don’t get much of a sense of discomfort from Robbe. Isak was just not into Emma and was uncomfortable when his bathroom flirting came back to haunt him. And I don’t think it’s TERRIBLE not to follow that route, but you can’t just make this huge change if you don’t account for it in future episodes and Robbe’s overall arc. (EDIT from the future: Which I don’t think they do, otherwise I wouldn’t care.) Every scene should count in furthering Robbe’s character, especially this early in the season where we’re just getting to know his particular struggles. If Robbe is trying to convince himself to like girls, then I want to see definite vulnerability in how that’s portrayed.

I blame the directing/writing more than the acting for the lack of discomfort, since I sensed Robbe’s lack of comfort just fine in the bathtub scene.

Makeouts get interrupted when Robbe’s dad calls. Again, not sure why we aren’t hearing both sides of the conversation? Because we’re in Robbe’s POV. Why wouldn’t we hear them? This seems like they just want to create some suspense or mystery over the situation with his parents. But it’s perfectly possible to do so while still letting us in on the phone calls. In fact, it’s arguably more intriguing to let us listen to some phone calls where we get some vague details but nowhere close to the whole story. It’s not like Robbe’s dad is going to explain the whole situation to his son in an exposition dump. We can get some crumbs to tease us, while still keeping us in Robbe’s POV and not feeling like the show is cutting corners.

Robbe gets mad at his dad and tells Noor he needs to be alone. Closeup on Noor as Robbe walks away. OK … why? Why on her and not Robbe when it’s his POV? Why the focus on Noor’s feelings when we really need to be establishing our protagonist’s mindset in the beginning of this season? I’m not saying her feelings don’t matter, I’m saying that well, this isn’t her story. It would be better to see Robbe’s pained reaction as he leaves.

Clip 6 - Robbe’s dad drama

Jens comes running up while Robbe is being sad. Robbe says that it may be necessary for him to stay with Jens because Robbe’s mom has been committed to a mental health institution and Robbe doesn’t want to stay with his dad. Ah, so I guess we’re hearing that right away. Which honestly makes not hearing his phone calls to his parents even funnier - like you lock us out of his POV arguably for the suspense, but then you end the suspense anyway by just telling us what happened a scene or two later? All right. I guess there’s suspense in that we don’t know exactly what’s up with the mom, mental health-wise, or the root of Robbe’s problems with his dad.

It occurs to me that maybe they just didn’t want to hire people to voice Robbe’s parents? Or put in the time to film both sides of the conversation? I have a hard time believing either of those because it’s so lazy, but. 

I mean, just turn the phone conversations into text conversations if you’re not going to let us listen to Robbe’s parents on the other end.

They go and play football without really resolving the situation. Sad music plays while Robbe joins in. Also, someone was calling Robbe, and I assume it was his dad, but it’s not shown.

These clips are VERY short and choppy so far. You could easily combine the last two, so Robbe is with Jens instead of Noor when he gets the other phone call from his dad, leading into this conversation.

We know immediately about Robbe’s mom’s situation instead of it being a mystery, like with Isak. Which, again, isn’t inherently wrong, but then I want them to DO SOMETHING with it. 

Clip 7 - Jens and Jana

Oh hey, Jana got her braces off! IDK if that happened last season or this one, but it was something I liked, seeing a teenage girl with braces on a teen drama. That rarely happens unless it’s a joke or a plot point.

OK, they really need to film Robbe’s phone so I can actually see who’s calling…

Jens tells Jana about Robbe’s parental situation. I’ll note that first she asks if something’s up with Noor, so news of the Robbe/Noor relationship must have traveled really fast since they’ve only just gotten together. Like Robbe and Noor are clearly dating, going off Jana’s comment, and not just hooking up. Then Belgian Magnus wants to know about hooking up with Amber. Meanwhile Robbe is having a conversation off screen with his dad? Guess it wasn’t important!

And that’s the problem, obviously. It’s his POV season, anything you decide to show SHOULD be important to his storyline. 

Also … it’s fine that we’re focusing on Robbe’s shit home life since that’s relevant to his story, but almost nothing in these clips has set up Robbe’s attraction to men, and only slightly his lack of interest in girls, which was negated by him seeming very interested in a girl afterwards. And knowing how long this season takes to get going with the Even character, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

So we don’t see Robbe’s phone call with his dad, but he gets snappy about it when Jens asks. One of the boys (I can’t tell who) says that Robbe’s on his period.  Gonna be real, I don’t care for this squad so far. 

What was the point of this clip? We already know Robbe is having problems with his dad, which is the most relevant part to the plot here. We shouldn’t be wandering from Robbe’s POV so much, but even taking that into account … we already know Belgian Magnus likes Amber, so that’s not necessary to establish. And we didn’t need to see Jens tell Jana something we already know. I assume he tells her so Zoë can find out and offer a room, but there’s no reason to see Jens tell Jana this, so. Filler clip. 

Clip 8 - Zoë and Robbe at the lockers

Yeah, Zoë offers Robbe a place to stay here, but again, we didn’t need to see the news travel down the Jens-Jana pipeline. It could have been condensed more efficiently.

Robbe doesn’t want to because he says his dad wouldn’t approve. Zoë says she hopes things get better with his mom and Robbe at first snaps and tells her to leave it, then says thanks. This is an actual good interaction, writing-wise, kudos.

I liked Zoë a lot in S1 and I like her here again. I really should watch her season despite my Noorhelm allergy. The scene of them kinda smiling at each other across the hallways reminds me that this is probably the strongest relationship in the whole season, tbh.

Why was this clip so short? So many of these clips could have been combined into one. I mean, Zoë could have said, “I heard from Jana who heard from Jens...” without us needing the previous clip. Although, did Robbe really want anyone else to know about his home life? Lol @ Jens just blabbing Robbe’s private business.

So I guess they didn’t set up the Eskild situation in S2 that would lead to Eskild offering Robbe a place to stay? 

Clip 9 - Robbe gets roommates

Robbe is in Zoë’s room. He sees her “everyone you know is fighting a battle” quote next to the mirror, which is a detail I actually quite like in context with the rest of this storyline and Even’s condition. It’s a good Skam thesis overall.

I guess Zoë met with Robbe’s dad. Zoë calls him a tough cookie. Robbe doesn’t want to speak to him. They bond a little over their parental problems. Again, a nice detail.

Belgian Eskild appears and teases Robbe a little before announcing that Robbe’s dad has agreed to let him stay in the flat. Yay!

Oh, so Senne is staying there, too? At least they didn’t do a pointless Noorhelm breakup in this version.

Milan (the Eskild) tries to go in for a hug and Robbe isn’t cool with it, so at least that’s something with Robbe’s issues with men. (I think? The thing is, Robbe also does not really know Milan, so it’s not as weird that he’s not ready to be affectionate with a near-stranger.)  (EDIT from the future: Keeping the S2 almost-kiss that’s referenced in the next clip in mind, I can rationalize this moment as a continuation of that awkwardness from Robbe’s POV.) 

They chat with Lisa (Linn) who wants to direct Robbe on what he is and isn’t allowed to touch in her room, heh.  Milan and Zoë have cute interaction, and Robbe looks happy. I do like the flatmate vibe so far, they seem fun.

Clip 10 - Robbe and Milan

Senne and Zoë get cute. I haven’t seen S2 so I can’t give my opinion on their version of Noorhelm, but I did think a few things about them were less creepy in wtFOCK’s S1 than in OG. Milan talks about how they’re a Disneylike couple and Robbe laughs.

Then Robbe apologizes for something that evidently happened in S2, where Milan tried to kiss Robbe at a party? Again, I didn’t see the scene. Milan says he’d never try to do that. He offers Robbe a hug, which he accepts - tbh I don’t know if Robbe SHOULD accept based on where he is in his character arc, maybe he should have more skittishness? But it’s a nice character moment, at least. They really have to make up for lost time with the Robbe-Milan relationship, so I can get that they need to establish some closeness fast.

Not being in the wtFOCK fandom, I kinda wonder if there was backlash to that scene from before and this is damage control, LMAO.

I feel like you could’ve tweaked this to be more representative of Robbe’s issues, like have him stress here that he’s not gay, because it’s a sweet scene but again, I don’t feel like this episode built up Robbe’s internal dilemma very well. You could make this not just about smoothing over whatever bump there was in this relationship, but also about setting up some internal tension with Robbe’s sexuality issues. Multi-tasking - it’s great!

EDIT from the future: OK, I tracked down the S2 scene, and yeah, while it illustrates some of Robbe’s internalized homophobia, I really think you needed to carry this through to this clip. Because that was a very public situation, and they made a point of emphasizing onlookers’ reactions. I feel like you need to show that Robbe’s internalized homophobia isn’t just about external reactions, but internal struggles, because ... so far, that’s what it is? Like what is he doing with Noor otherwise? 

Clip 11 - Housewarming party

Party is underway. Yasmina is there and is friendly with Robbe. It sounds like they’re working on a school project together. Aaron (Magnus) and Moyo are talking about hot chicks again.

Noor arrives and the boys tease Robbe about how far he’s gone, Robbe looks pretty chill and happy until Moyo says Robbe’s getting laid tonight and you can see the nerves and reluctance take over. Okay! A character detail that actually works for his arc! Yes!

Partying, makeouts with Noor … sorry but they are wasting a lot of time with this relationship. ROBBE ISN’T INTO HER. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to demonize any of Evak’s female “love interests,” right? It’s pointless anyway because Evak is the endgame pairing, Sonja and Emma aren’t “threats” in the end, but also because they’re not bad people just for wanting to date these two guys who happens to want each other instead. And I think you can do interesting things with Sonja and Emma as characters. I’ve read Sonja fanfic that’s really good!

But when it comes down to it … this is not the story of Robbe/Noor, and there’s a point where it feels like there’s too much development for something that is really intended to be a speed bump in Robbe’s journey. 

I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine when gay stories devote a ton of time to het relationships, to the point where it begins to overshadow the main gay relationship. Love, Victor did this to an absolutely ridiculous degree. (I actually made notes for Love, Victor reactions, but hesitated to post them because 60% consisted of me typing I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE STRAIGHT ROMANCES.) And I GET it, this is an experience many gay kids go through in their coming out journey, but also, less charitably… you don’t need het romance to dominate everything. You don’t need to make this about how a gay person being gay hurts a straight person. I genuinely appreciate that once Isak kisses Even, it’s fucking over with him and Emma, that plot thread is done. 

Anyway, Noor tells Robbe he’s so fucking hot and Robbe looks more uncomfortable, moreso when she wants to see his room and he goes off like he’s headed to Mordor.

Aaron checking out Amber … okay, again with all the het. I don’t care!!! This is not important right now!! 

Noor pushes Robbe onto the bed, ugh please don’t have them Go There.

She takes off her top and Robbe touches her boob like he’s sticking his hand into a porta-potty. We see his discomfort so at least this part is effective and relevant to Robbe’s arc. Noor is taking off her bra when the boys come into the room, wanting the weed. Okay, you dumb fucks, you’re teasing your bro about getting laid and yet you think it’s cool to enter his room when he’s with a girl? I mean, that’s a lucky break for Robbe, but his friends are extra stupid.

The mood is killed, Robbe goes hunting for weed. Episode ends.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Lmao, some of my changes sounded a lot like “be like OG Skam S3.” Because Skam S3 was well-written and made sense. But I tried to think of edits that worked with what wtFOCK was presenting, not just repeating OG.

(I’m also repeating a few things in this section that I said above, btw)

While this episode doesn’t make me angry or anything, it’s got a serious problem with dithering. The first clip is a solid start to the season, but afterwards, so many of these clips feel like filler. There’s a lack of substance to them. It was hard to write about them because they ended up feeling like two minutes of nothing. 

Did we need to see repetitive mentions of Robbe’s troubled relationship with his dad? No, it’s an important plot detail but we could have established that more concisely in fewer clips. Did we need to see the process of how Robbe comes to stay with Zoë, Senne, and Milan? No, not really. Or at least not dragged out over at least three clips. 

I don’t feel like I’m in Robbe’s head to the extent that I should be  so far. Some of this is because the show just flat-out locks us out of his POV, like not showing the phone call in the Jens-Jana clip. But a lot of it is also because of the narrative dawdling. There’s just not as much to analyze unless I bring in Skam season 3 and project what we know about Isak onto Robbe. And that’s not a good way to adapt a story.

The framing of Robbe/Noor needs to change. Combine the bathroom intro with the aborted sex scene - the boys are sitting in the tub, teasing Robbe about getting laid, so he makes out with Noor and they go into a bedroom where he’s clearly not into this, and then Moyo and Aaron come in asking for weed because Robbe still actually has the weed from the bathtub at this point. Or do what Skam France did (can’t believe I’m referring to Skam France) and have the arrival of the cops interrupt the makeout/sex session and Robbe takes his cue to exit.

But frankly, it’s not great to have Robbe acting or looking too cozy with Noor, like this is a legitimate romantic arc except when it gets to the sex. The point is that this isn’t a romance. Even if you want to show some cuddly, non-sexual scenes with Noor, you have to show more of Robbe’s reluctance and fear throughout. 

Show Robbe’s fucking phone conversations with his parents!!!! Good Lord. He’s not ordering a pizza. These are important aspects of his story. Capitalize on that family tension, show us what a bad place Robbe is in at the start of this season. 

Now, about the lack of Even in this episode. Not introducing Even is a bold move, but not necessarily a smart one. Even’s introduction in Skam is not just the intro of “the love interest” - he’s the catalyst for almost everything in Isak’s story. Consider that in episode 1, Isak is seen mostly unhappy and bored - he’s distraught after kissing Emma, he’s checked out of his friends’ lunchtime girl talk, he zones out staring at his teacher’s boobs, he doesn’t want to be at kosegruppa. Isak is actually very passive and just going through the motions, doing what people tell him to do. But once Isak meets Even at kosegruppa - well, that’s when Isak wakes up. In the next few clips, we see Isak taking action. And sure, they’re small actions, searching for Even online, watching the Even video over and over, asking Vilde if there will be more kosegruppa meetings. But we can see that Isak now cares about something, he’s paying attention. Of course, Robbe’s story doesn’t have to follow the same arc. However, it does the season a huge benefit to get him intrigued by something at this point, so we the audience are not just sleepwalking along with him for a few episodes.

There’s also just the simple fact that we have only 10 episodes to establish a love story and make us care about the Even character, and it’s a very risky move to waste too much time. If you are really killing it with the rest of Robbe’s arc, this could still work, but ... well, that’s not what’s happening here.

If they didn’t want to full on introduce the Even directly, one thing they could do is subtly and indirectly find ways to include him in the narrative and create some mystery. Let’s say Robbe sees the Even’s artwork somewhere and is like whoa, that’s cool, and we can tell that it resonates with him. Or he admires Even’s graffiti, or it makes him laugh, whatever. Basically Robbe has some kind of emotional reaction to a thing the Even has created or done, which helps to set up that relationship even before we officially meet the Even.

If we want to add a little more, perhaps Robbe sees a mysterious dude in a mask tagging a wall, but they get interrupted by the cops or something and have some kind of brief but intriguing interaction with each other, and Robbe’s like, who was that guy in the mask? Or Noor takes Robbe to the tagging place, the police/security bust them, Robbe and Noor get separated, and Robbe gets helped out by the Even so he can escape. So it’s an important moment, lots of adrenaline, we can frame it like there’s a sudden ~charge~ between them (ooOOOooo the Even helped Robbe stand up and their hands touched like this was a fanfic, etc.), but he doesn’t learn Even’s name, maybe he doesn’t even see his face because Even has a mask on, so Robbe spends part of the next few episodes trying to figure out who that guy is, casually asking Noor if she knows a guy like that, keeping his eyes open. Maybe we have some fakeouts where Robbe thinks he sees the Even again but it’s just a false alarm. He’s on edge, eager to know more about that mystery guy, and so are we. Bam, we have “awakened” Robbe from his deep sleep. 

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Get Down, there’s even a scene like this where Jaden Smith’s character gets caught tagging by the cops, he runs and flees with another young dude, and they have a moment where they recognize each other as graffiti artists they admire. While watching that scene for the first time, without any context or spoilers, without even knowing if there would be LGBT content in that show, I immediately thought, “This guy is his love interest.” Not even because it was overtly romantic. Because the way it was written and shot told us that this meeting was important. Because they had an instant connection. Something similar could have worked for Robbe and his Even. But in any case: it would have been best to establish something between those characters, even if it wasn’t an “official” introduction.

Stop focusing on Aaron/Amber when it’s not in Robbe’s POV. Reverse the scene at the beginning with Aaron videotaping and Amber getting spilled on. She gets pissed, he falls in love, and then we follow him upstairs and we meet the boy squad. That is a very obvious, very clean transition that doesn’t interrupt Robbe’s POV as it technically hasn’t started yet. So IDK why they didn’t do that, lmao.

Some changes with the Milan relationship:

Tweak the apology scene to be more representative of Robbe’s issues. Have Robbe apologize while still stressing that he’s not gay. Have Milan be chill and not question that statement, but maybe Robbe is so defensive that it comes across as unconvincing. 

Then have Milan be the one instead of the boys to interrupt the Noor almost-sex scene. Milan wanders in acting drunk, haha Milan, he’s wacky. Robbe doesn’t realize it (though the viewers do if they’re paying attention) but Milan is only pretending and is “subtly” rescuing Robbe because he realizes, based on the earlier scene, that Robbe might be struggling with his sexuality and he wants to give him an escape option. (Although I still think it’s best to combine the not-sex scene into the opening clip, but this could work, too.)

Basic questions we need to be asking, clip to clip: what is the conflict? Where is Robbe’s head right now? Why is this scene necessary? How did this scene come to be - what’s the cause and effect here? How does it advance Robbe’s story? Is it redundant? How do we tell this story in a narratively economical manner? 

[sasuhinasno1fan]

White Day confession

@searleine hi, I’m your Secret Santa for @voltronsecretsanta! I’ll be honest and did plan on writting a different fic, but I got really busy so I still hope you enjoy this. I got the idea from the DNAngel episode when we find out Disake’s parents. Happy Holidays and enjoy!

Lance squeezed past the gate right before the security guard closed it, dashing to the shoe lockers. He opened his, barely paying attention to the notes that came falling out. He quickly changed his shoes and scooped up the letters, running off to his class. He barely made it through the door before the bell rang. Mr. Shirogane, shook his head, waving him off to his seat. There were a few gifts on his desk that he shoved inside where his books were along with the notes.

“Alright everyone. We have a few announcements before classes start, but first, happy White’s Day.”

White’s Day, March 13, the companion holiday to Valentine’s Day. In their town, the took the white part seriously, giving people white items as presents. Of course, usually the girls would get gifts on White’s Day, but Lance seemed to be special. Maybe it was because he misunderstood the holidays when he first moved down to Japan. He thought he was supposed to give stuff on Valentines and then receive on White’s Day. Even as he went to different schools, the trend still followed, Lance McClain was gifted a white item from his admires on White Day. Usually he’d smile through it, getting very used to his large fan club. He was a foreign guy who looked nice, part of the swim team and genuine a nice guy. Girls liked that and crowding around him. After a while of pretty shallow crushes, he started to get bored. He liked the idea of White Day, a day where you could tell a person how you feel and all the pressure wasn’t forced on Valentine’s. Plus…last year he received the best present.

It was such a simple one. The main reason it caught his attention was because of how simple it was compared to the rest of the gifts he received. A handmade white and blue bracelet. There was no name, no flowery letter, no immediate cry to be noticed. It was a simple gift that he was meant to enjoy and he did. He wore it since the day he got it. He hoped by the end of the day, he might receive another, or even better, meet the person who just wanted to give him a gift. A really selfish part of him hoped it was that guy from the train. Since he started high school, there was a guy on the same train as him. He attended the private high schools, based on the uniform. He looked like he didn’t belong though. He had long hair, a mullet. It was usually pulled back into a ponytail, allowing the many earrings on his ears to be seen. In the warmer months where he was in his summer uniform, he had a very visible tattoo on his arm, an odd-looking symbol. He’d seen the older train riders turn their noses up at it, but something about it – who was he kidding, everything about him drew Lance’s attention. He wanted to talk to him but he was always so nervous. He might look like a rebel but he could easily be snobby and rude and Lance only had so much self confidence to deal with people like that. Maybe be could finally pluck up the courage to do it today.

He let out a yawn, feeling too slow to cover his mouth. Assuming he didn’t fall asleep on the train. He had stayed back at school late for practise and there was a good chance of that happening again. He was hoping that the captain having a girlfriend would keep him too busy to call for practise. He also had a headache. All these late nights were starting to catch up to him. It was fine though, all he had to do was get through today.

                                                   ____________

“Wow.” Rachel said as she watched Hunk help Lance bring in his White Day gifts. She also noticed her brother was pouting, but she knew it couldn’t be because of the gifts. He had gotten used to the large amount received on Valentine’s and White Day years ago. They would usually be regifted to family members. “is it bigger this year?”

“Does it matter?” Lance sulked, dropping the items in the living room and stomping off to his room.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at Hunk, who tugged at the orange ribbon tied around his wrist. At first, she was confused. He used the ribbon to push his bangs back if need be. Then she understood. It wasn’t the ribbon, but it being around his wrist, like the unnamed bracelet around Lance’s. if he was sulking, then…no unnamed gift came.

While her mother came in, greeting Hunk and offering him food, while marvelling over the gifts, she went up to Lance’s room. He’s unpacking his bag, putting books for homework in the middle and making sure he pulled out his swim stuff to get washed. She noticed he kept rubbing at his wrist. The bracelet is missing.

“So, where is it?”

“My bag. I didn’t get to put it back on after practise.” He pulled it out from the bottom of his bag and sets it on the desk. “Not that it matters. There was nothing new from them.”

“Can’t be the only reason.” He seemed even more upset for no gift giver to not show up.

“Remember that guy I talked to you about? The guy from the private school on the train? Guess what I was hoping to do today, if he was actually there?”

“He wasn’t there?” Rachel had heard more than enough about this guy, Lance talked enough about him, about the small things he noticed and how cute he looked. She was hoping to one day here he got up the courage to go talk to him but of course things couldn’t be that easy.

“And if that’s not enough, I’ve got a huge paper to finish, because our English teacher is horrible.”

“Hey, at least you can speak the language. I guess you also forgot about babysitting duty tonight?” any other time, she would have taken over for her younger brother, but she had a date with the guy from her college she’d been crushing on for weeks. She wasn’t about to give that up.

Lance groaned. “I’m going back downstairs. I saw macaroons, and I’m not letting Hunk eat them.”

“Hey, I know this sucks now, but think about it this way. If the person who gave you gift doesn’t think you’re worth it, that’s on them. and as for the guy on the train, if he’s really a rebel, he’ll realise how amazing you are, even if you take a bit more time to go talk to him.”

“Yeah, here’s hoping.”

                                                _______________

Lance was drained. The kids thankfully only had an hour of going insane before they calmed down and he was able to get them to bed, but with how tired he was, Japanese, Spanish and English were all messing around in his head. It took twice as long to finish his assignment, not to mention the text from the captain about practise in the morning. Lance didn’t love taking the train early, cause it was always packed. His usual time wasn’t as bad, but being chained off for a while so the platform wasn’t packed with people like it was the last train, was something he could do without. He yawned, ready to take a nap, even if it took 30 minutes to get to school, but it was either sleep on the train, or stay home and sleep and deal with annoyed and anger swim captain.

“Alright, this way please.” The barricade was moved and the station staff waved the group of people up the stairs, to take their places in the correct areas. Lance was able to get a spot near the front under his area. Usually he’d people watch, take note of the different groups, but his eyes kept slipping shut. And his sight was doubling and moving? Or was that him?

“Look out!” something grabbed his arm and yanked him, just as the sound of the train registered. He landed on a firm chest, that took him as he felt his legs give out. He blinked, to realise the train was pulling into the station and station staff were quickly approaching him. Had he been so tired he almost…? “Are you ok?”

He looked behind him and there he was. The private school student, the one he shared the train rides with. He noticed his eyes were dark, kinda like gems.

“Sir? Are you alright?” a staff member asked

“yeah. Yeah, sorry. I felt dizzy.”

He was helped up and the staff directed them to the station office. Lance felt his legs tingling, like he’d walked too much after being lazy for a while.

“Do you still feel dizzy?” the private school guy asked.

“A bit.”

He watched him stand up and dig into his pants pocket, pulling out a wallet. And something else.

“I can go get you some water.” But Lance wasn’t paying attention to that. He pulled the white and blue bracelet from the guy’s hand.

“This is…”

Like a light switch, the guys face went red and he looked embarrassed. He was kept from saying anything as another staff member came in with cups of water and a sugary snack for Lance. They wanted him to stay until he didn’t feel dizzy before letting them call his school to let them know what happened.

They were left alone and Lance sat waiting. The guy could have run off the moment he had a chance, but he sat there, sitting still.

“My name’s Keith. I’ve seen you on the train for almost 2 years now and I’ve wanted to talk to you. you’ve got quite a name for yourself. Even people in my school have heard of you. last year, I had a gift get taken to your school and when I saw you wearing it the next day, I almost went over and told you it was me, but I chickened out. So I said this year, I’d do like a big gesture to give it to you.”

“except you messed that up by pulling it out with your wallet.” Lance pointed out, laughing. Keith’s face got redder and he pouted. “So why a bracelet?”

“Well, you got so much stuff from what I understood and I don’t know. Something small and simple seemed to fit you. I mean, I can tell that bag is old. The mascot you have on it really faded, so you’ve had it for a long time.” He said, nodding to the dolphin plush he had on his bag. “the sleeves on the hoodie you wear in the winter months have frayed edges, but it’s not like you can’t afford to get a new one, you just wearing to death. I wanted to give you something you’d have for a long time. So, yeah.”

Lance felt happy to know that Keith seemed to notice things about him, like he’d done to Keith.

“Can you help me put it on?” Lance handed Keith the bracelet back and gave him his wrist, ready and waiting. His chest felt fluttery as Keith tied the bracelet around his wrist, right on top of the old one. “So, I might just end up walking home and sleeping for the next couple hours, but we have half day tomorrow for that national teacher training thing. What about you?”

“No school.”

“So, if you’re up for it, why don’t you come pick me up from school and we can go hang out? Maybe as a date?”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me. I’ll make sure to catch you again if you end up fainting.”

“Who knows, cute guy, great day? It might be in the cards.”

[imaginepirates]

Leaving

For @paljonkaikenlaista​, who wanted a Lizzie x reader where the reader is bad at talking about/expressing their feelings. I felt like we all needed a little post AWE Lizzie and calm environments in trying times, so enjoy! 

@emdrabbles​ @tesserphantom​ @viper-official​ 

~3100 words

~~~~~~~

          The air smelt of salt. Waves lapped at the shore, creating a soothing sound. You walked barefoot over the sand, picking up shells as you went. You’d put them back in the house to decorate the windowsills and counters. You lived in a little house next to the ocean, long, waving grasses being the only things that separated you from the beach. It was a peaceful place to live, away from the hustle and bustle of large amounts of people. The only other person in the vicinity was Elizabeth, and she lived alone.

           She lived in a house much like yours, with white walls and trim painted seafoam green. The previous owner had been an elderly fisherman, and, wanting to spend his last months with family, he moved to the city. He’d left his boat behind, and you saw Elizabeth take it out sometimes. She never returned with fish, but you didn’t think that was the point of her exploits.

           You often helped her with things like baking and caring for her garden, which she loved dearly, though you didn’t think she’d ever worked with plants before. She was a fun woman, and she was always up to something new. The two of you would sit and talk over tea and whatever one of you had made to eat. She avoided most personal questions, like where she’d moved from, but you didn’t mind too much. She was nice, and her life was her business, so you didn’t mind her keeping it that way.

           You walked back up to your house. Elizabeth was outside, as she was most days, and she waved to you. She sat in a chair on her front porch. Embroidering, you guessed.

           “I have a lemon bread in the oven!” She called. “I can’t eat it all myself.”

           “I’ll be right over,” you told her. In truth, you enjoyed her company. The fisherman had kept to himself for the most part, and it was nice to have a companion after so many months in solitude.

          You washed your feet in the bath, scraping the sand from under your toenails. Slipping on some shoes, you went back out. Her door was open, and you slipped in. The smell of lemon permeated the air. Elizabeth had a weak spot for sweets, and she was constantly baking them.

           “I see you took a walk this morning,” she said. She brought out two plates, setting a piece of bread on each. “Tea?”

           “Yes, please.” She handed you the plates, and you put them on the table. “It’s nice outside. The air is fresher in the mornings. What were you embroidering?”

           “Birds.” She set the tea on the table, then disappeared into the next room. She came back with her embroidery hoop, white fabric hanging taught inside it. The bird in question was small, and only half finished, but you could tell by the round brown body and small beak that it was it a sparrow.

          “I didn’t know you liked birds.”

          “I have a certain fondness for sparrows.”

         The way she said it made it seem like there was a hidden meaning, but you didn’t press.

           “You said the day was nice. Would you fancy a ride in the fishing boat?” She asked. She hadn’t invited you to go with her before, and you accepted. “It’ll be lovely. I find turtles sometimes.”

           The aqua waters surrounding the island you lived on were full of marine life. Turtles, dolphins, and whales lived nearby, not to mention a thousand different species of fish. Tide pools on the rocks housed fish the size of a fingernail, and hermit crabs crawled across the beaches.

           A small dock led out to the fishing boat. It had a single mast and tattered sail, and its light blue paint flaked off in places. Though old, it was sturdy. Elsewise, the fisherman wouldn’t have used it every day. Elizabeth expertly unfurled the sail, untied the ship from the dock, and pushed off. Ropes lay on the deck, and she deftly avoided them as she waltzed up to the helm.

           The wind ruffled your hair, and you watched the waves dance beneath you as you sailed. The boat was slow, but the water was no less beautiful for it. It was clear enough that you could see beneath the surface. Schools of colorful fish darted in and out of your vision. It had been a long time since you’d last been on a boat, and you found yourself enjoying the ride.

           Again, you stared up at Elizabeth. Her golden hair hung loosely over her shoulder, her eyes fixed on the horizon. Freckles dotted her face. Her hands were steady, resting on the ship’s wheel, steering with confidence. You wondered where she learned to man a ship. The ease with which she managed sails and lines told you she wasn’t new to it.

          “Can you fish?” You asked.

          “No. I never learned. Can you?”

          “No.” A woman who can sail but who can’t fish. There weren’t many of those.

           You speculated about her sometimes. She’d moved out to the coast, a lovely young lady with so much life in her. She seemed to like your company, and you sometimes found her starting letters that she never finished or sent out. Bright, and exuberant, and full of energy, she didn’t belong alone on the seashore. You could only think that some scandal or horrible event had put her with you. But she didn’t seem sad, just wistful, sometimes. You often caught her staring out to sea. What did the ocean hold for her, that she was always chasing it?

           There was little to talk about. You almost always knew what the other was up to, and neither of you could plan to do anything exciting, seeings as you were the only two people living in your area. There was a little town that you stopped in to buy food, but there was nothing to do there, either. For the moment, you just enjoyed her company.

          In fact, you enjoyed her company in general. You hadn’t had another person your age around you for a long time. Elizabeth was the energy you needed, the companion you hadn’t known in too long.

          That wasn’t all. She was beautiful; her hair constantly caught the light when it filtered through the window, her smile brightened every room, her laugh was a new form of music, and the map of freckles across her body begged to be traced. Your fingers itched to memorize them. Her body was a landscape of valleys and ridges, her eyes two deep pools of molten amber. You loved her. You had for days, for weeks, but you could never say when it started. Maybe it was the first time you had tea, or the first time you worked in the garden with her, or when you first saw her. But somewhere along the way, you’d fallen for her.

          You sailed back to shore, the afternoon light slowly fading into evening. The horizon blushed pink, a soft orange light quickly following it.

          “Join me for dinner?” Elizabeth asked. “I know you’ll like it. I’ve been meaning to ask you over for ages. We haven’t had a dinner together yet, and I thought it might be a nice change from tea. Not that tea isn’t nice. I just know you better now, is all.”

          “It sounds lovely. I’ll bring something over from the garden.” Your garden was home to all sorts of trees and bushes that produced fruit. Mangos, guava, and papaya all grew around.

          You walked to her house only after a bath and a change of clothes. Despite living in such a secluded place, you still had the habit of maintaining the customs of proper society. At the door to her house, you noticed a slip of paper tucked close to the door. Curiously, you pulled it out, finding that it was an envelope. One side had a single name, ‘Jack’. The other had a drawing of a sparrow.

          Your chest tightened. ‘I have a certain fondness for sparrows.’ That was what she meant. There’s a man. You could physically feel the disappointment coursing through your body. She hadn’t told you- but why would she? It was none of your business. There’s always a man.

          You stepped inside, feeling like something was caught in your throat. The letter you left outside, deciding to tell her after the night was over. Surely she’d be thinking about it all night if you gave it to her now.

          Your appetite gone, you made your way to the small dining room. Delicious smells wafted around the room, but they only made your stomach turn. Elizabeth, though, was smiling as always, and you did your best to be happy, for her sake.

          The food was, in fact, delicious. You made conversation over the dishes, talking about your next projects. Yours was to build another gardening plot where you hoped to plant vegetables for cooking. Hers was to paint rocks as decoration. She felt her home was bereft of art, and that the white walls made for too little color variance.

          “I want to make them bright, but I don’t have any bright paint. Do you think there would be any in town?” She asked, her fork halfway to her mouth.

          “It’s worth a check,” you said. You weren’t thinking much of anything, if truth be told.

          The subject abruptly changed. “How long have you lived here?”

          You were surprised by the question. Even though the question was a perfectly normal one, Elizabeth rarely asked about your personal life, nor you about hers. “Years,” you answered.

          Elizabeth sighed. “Is there anything you would leave for?”

          That was a strange question. “Maybe. I don’t know what it would be, but maybe.”

          She sighed again, blowing an errant hair out of her face. “It’s lovely here, and I enjoy living next to you, but is it bad of me to want to leave?”

          The air left your lungs. It felt like a blow to the chest, even though it was only a few words. A few breaths of air. “Is there somewhere you’d rather be?”

          “Yes? Not permanently, no, but I long to be elsewhere sometimes. Do you ever wish that you could relive certain moments, certain feelings? I want to recreate those things for myself, the things that made me happy and alive, but I can’t do that here. I want to be able to come and go as I see fit, to find adventure out in the world and then come back home.” She sighed again, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m enchanted with living here, but I’m enchanted with other things, too.”

          “What things?” You knew you shouldn’t ask, that you should be content with her explanation, but you wanted to know more about her, about what she wanted and craved. You needed to know what she desired, and if it could ever be you.

          “I want adventure. I want… well, there are a great many things I want, but I want my life to go back to the way it was before.”

          “Will you leave, then?”

          “With the right prompting, yes. I just have to wait until it happens.”

          You left the dinner feeling more confused and hopeless than you had when you’d come in, wishing that Elizabeth would just tell you about herself instead of hinting at things that you couldn’t grasp.

          As you stepped outside, you remembered the letter. You picked it up, turning it over in your hands, and called to Elizabeth to show it to her. She walked to the front door, and her eyes immediately glued themselves to the letter. She gasped, plucking it out of your hands and staring at the picture of the sparrow.

          “I found it out here just now. It must’ve been left during dinner,” you lied. It took all of your strength not to wilt at the look of excitement in your eyes.

          “Thank you,” she said, disappearing back inside.

          The door in front of you closed quickly, and you were left alone in the darkness. You trudged home, sank into bed, and stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. How were you supposed to tell Elizabeth that you wanted her to stay, that her leaving would devastate you? How could you convey how sad you’d be without her? Even if someone else took her place in that house, you would only ever think of it as hers, and you’d be alone again, no matter how many people lived next door.

          You couldn’t. You couldn’t tell her all the negative emotions bottled up inside. Even if you tried, the words would get stuck in your throat, and you wouldn’t be able to get all your emotions out. She would never know, and you would live with that forever.

          She won’t even know that I love her. It hurt to think it, but you were bad at expressing your feelings, and you knew they would continue to go unsaid. You could drown in your feelings without anyone ever knowing. It frustrated you to no end, but even when you tried, your words never matched your emotions. Elizabeth would leave, never knowing what she meant to you.

          The worst was her reason. To go back to how life was before. The letter was from a man. There was only one explanation, and it destroyed you to think of it. Of course she had a lover before; she was walking brilliance, a sun trapped inside a human being.

          When you finally fell asleep, it was to the lull of the waves. At least asleep you could hide from your sorrow. Once you woke, you’d be plunged back into the bitter reality, but nothing could touch you in sleep.

          The sun crept through the window timidly, its rays barely visible through a cloud of morning mist. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes, preparing for the day. You kept your mind busy by thinking of the things you needed to do. You needed to spread dirt for the vegetable garden. For that, you would need to dig a pile of dirt from somewhere nearby. For that, you would need a shovel. You kept going with this line of reasoning, thinking of where the shovel was, and that you’d probably want gloves. Then you set off, repeating everything to yourself, tucking everything else to the back of your mind.

          The tactic shattered the moment you saw Elizabeth on her front porch, completing her embroidery. The same bird that was on the envelope sat on her lap, made from a thousand tiny stitches. She waved, beckoning you over. Even though you felt like it might break you, you went to her.

          Just inside the door of her house were bags, bags which you assumed to be full of clothes and necessities. “Are you leaving, then?” You asked. There was something in your mouth, you were certain of it, sitting there and making your mouth almost too dry to talk.

          “Yes. The letter was from an old friend. It looks like I’ll be able to relive some of those times after all.”

          The happiness on her face hurt you all the more. The reality set in. She really was leaving, leaving you behind. It wasn’t fair of you to think that way; she had no reason not to leave. If it was what made her happy, she had every right to do it. You just wished you were part of her happiness.

          “I won’t be leaving forever. I’ll come back and paint my rocks at some point.” She smiled as she spoke, sending a fresh jolt of pain through you. How long would it be before you saw that smile again? “When will you be back?”

          “I don’t know. But when I do, you’ll be the first person to know.”

          You smiled sadly at the joke. “Why come back if you want to leave so much? Why not just go where you want to?”

          “I have so much here. A home, a garden, a fishing boat, a peaceful place to live, a….” She trailed off there, leaving you to wonder what she might have said. “I like it here. I just need something different sometimes, is all.”

          “I wish you would stay,” you whispered.

          “If it’s company you need, I can find someone to live here for a while, if you like.”

          “No, I….” You stared at her hopelessly. What were you supposed to say?

          Understanding seemed to flash through her eyes. “I’ll meet you inside for tea in a little while. How does that sound?”

          “Nice, thank you.”

          You returned home, shuffling about purposelessly. You went to your bedroom, alternating between sitting on the bed and pacing around the room. She still wanted to talk to you, but what would you say? You’d probably scared her, even just with your hint of love. You couldn’t properly communicate how you felt.

          At some point, you knocked a book off a shelf. You stared at its cover blankly before registering the name. The Modern Pyrate. Symbols were dotted across the front, and you found yourself staring down at a little sparrow etched into the leather. Of course!

          You walked back to Elizabeth’s house with a little more hope in your chest. She sat in the kitchen, worriedly working at a piece of lemon bread, tearing it apart with a fork. She perked up when you walked in, talking right away.

          “I don’t want you to think that I want to leave you. You’re one of the best things about this place. I adore you.” Her words came out all in a rush.

          You smiled softly. “I understand. You just wanted to find the adventure you used to have. I don’t know how I didn’t realize it before- you’re a pirate. Or you were, and you want to be again.” Elizabeth looked stunned, but you went on. “I’ll still be here when you come back.”

          “Thank you. For understanding. I was afraid I gave you the wrong impression.”

          “You said you wanted your life to go back to how it was before. I was afraid you didn’t have room for anything new.”

          “Of course I do. I just wanted to be a pirate again. I wanted to have that same adventure in my life. But you’re an adventure, too, and I want to explore every bit of you, if you’ll let me.”

          Stunned, you stood still as she rose from her seat and stepped towards you. You were so close, your noses were almost touching. Slowly, she cupped your cheek with a hand, planting a soft kiss on your lips.

          “No matter how many times I leave,” she assured you, “I’ll come back.”

[llamamicrowave]

My Big Family on AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25871098/chapters/62862025

Summary:

Jojo sibling AU Stands still exits. Jonathan has a slightly stronger version of hermit purple. And to compensate for such a weak stand he and Joseph learned Hamon. Johnny and Gappy are their cousins who live in America. Ships in tags

Notes:

Pure cringe. Beware..

Chapter 1

School Sux PT.1Chapter Text

Ships (Minor but exist)

-JonaErina (The only important one)

-Joseph x Suzi Q x Ceaser (Leave me alone)

-JotaKak

-Very minor GioTrish

-Jolyne x Ermes

-GyJo

Jonathan POV

Hi! My name is Jonathan Joestar! A little about my self? Well, I'm 26, I have 4 younger siblings that I take care of since my father is always working. But it's fine I love taking care of them! I have a girlfriend, her name is Erina Pendleton and I'm planning to propose to her soon! Please don't tell her that, or any of my bothers, I don't want them to roast me for being a softy again.

Even though I am the oldest I can't be there some times, so when I'm not there my brother Joseph is in charge. But Joseph sometimes can be... How can I say this without sounding rude? Stupid? Immature? Idiotic? Well, yes to all of those.

Since Joseph can be a bit dumb at times, dad gives responsibly to Jotaro. He's pretty chill but sometimes can come off as rude. It's all a fake though, he loves marine life (especially dolphins lol) and when he was ten he told me he wanted to be a Marine Biologist! So in short, he's a dork.

Then there's Josuke and Jolyne the twins. There the youngest in the family. Josuke is the oldest by a few minutes. He's a goofball but can be serious if needed. Like if someone insults his hair he could go as some might say, Apeshit.

Jolyne, our only sister. Her personality is much like Jotaro. She just says whatever she wants, whenever she wants. I can't really say much about her since I'm being blackmailed by her and Jotaro. They're so alike it's scary.

I know I said I only had 4 siblings but there's another I didn't mention. 3 years before Joseph was born my father adopted a "friend" of his's son, Dio Brando. Dio was, excuse my language, a dick ever since we were kids. He ran over my dog Danny with one of his "friends" cars. As soon as Dio turned 18 he moved to Italy to become a lawyer. But that wasn't the last time I saw him.

While in Italy Dio, had a child with a woman he didn't even know. That woman neglected her son and allowed her husband to abuse him.

"She would leave days at a time and leave little food for him." I looked at the toddler sleeping in his arms, he had black hair and a cute bowl cut. "He's only a kid, he can't survive like that," Dio said to me.

"..."

"I can't let him have the same childhood as me." he looked dead into my eyes. I finally understood where he was coming from torturing me all these years.

"..." I stayed quiet.

"But I'm not taking care of this kid."

And now he lives with us! His name is Giorno Giovanna-Brando-Joestar. He is only a year younger then Josuke and Jolnye. And that's my family!

And remember when I said my dad works a lot, that was a lie...

He died on Jotaro's 11th birthday. He and my stepmother were hit by a drunk driver. Jotaro blames himself for the crash. It's not his fault though, he had no control over it. He was only a kid. I'm sorry to drop this on you now but with my father's death made me like a father figure to them. Dad would be proud.

Ages,

Jonathan- 26

Johnny- 22

Joseph- 20

Jo2uke- 19

Jotaro- 17

Josuke- 16

Jolyne- 16

Giorno- 15

Narrator POV

Jonathan woke up first as normal and recapped his schedule,

Ok, so I have to make breakfast, Make sure they're ready for school, go to work, and meet up with Erina, and? What else do I have to do? ...Oh yeah! Take away Joseph's phone for getting arrested yesterday! Next time he should, you know, not try and run over his WHEELCHAIR BOND COUSIN! Goodness, I got angry again, sorry about that.

Jonathan arose from his bed and began his morning routine. He showered, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and got ready for the day.

He then started to make breakfast for his big family.

Joseph likes bacon with coffee.

Jotaro likes toast with coffee.

Josuke likes eggs with juice.

Jolyne likes yogurt with coffee.

And Giorno likes vegan pancakes with tea.

Oh yeah, Johnny, and Gappy and/or Jo2uke are staying with us! I wonder what they want? I'll just make them eggs.

A door opens from upstairs. Giorno walks out from his room to the bathroom to get ready for school. He liked waking up before the rest of his family.

When Giorno was done getting ready he walked down the stairs, and greeted Jonathan as he sat down.

"Good Morning, Jonathan."

"Good Morning! Did you sleep well?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, I think s-" He was cut off by a door slamming shut. Very loudly.

"Must be Jotaro. Jolyne must have gotten in the bathroom first." Giorno commented.

Jonathan laughed. "I guess so."

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good Morning, retards!" Jolyne came prancing down the stairs.

"Jolyne, that isn't nice," Jonathan said sternly.

"You're right, Joseph isn't here right now." she sat down. Jonathan sighed. saying nothing back to her, defeated.

"Where is Joseph anyway?" Giorno asks.

Jonathan scoffs, "I told him to be awake at 6:00 sharp."

"Why 6:00?" Jolyne asked

"That's his punishment for trying to run over Johnny yesterday."

"Ohh yeah! I remember now!"

"Your next line will be, 'The things he'll do for 20 bucks,'!" a voice from inside the pantry spoke.

"The things he'll do for 20 bucks- JOSEPH!" Jolyne yelled.

Joseph popped out of the pantry fully dressed and looking proud.

"I've been up since 4 am!" he said proudly.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Jotaro said sarcastically walking down the stairs.

"Yes actually, Ocean Man!"

"What did you say?" Jotaro asked sternly. Even though Joseph was 3 years older than him they were about the same size.

"He called you, OCEAN. MAN! O-C-E-A-N M-A-N!" Josuke called from the upstairs bathroom.

"Fuck off." Jotaro sat down. "Langage, Jotaro!" Jonathan told him.

"Joot, you seem more pissy than usual, are you on your period?" Jolyne asked smugly.

"Jolyne, I'm not in a good mood and I want you to know I will not hesitate to choke you out and then feed it to your simp."

"Anasui is not a simp!" Jolyne defended.

"Funny, how you knew who I was talking about without saying his name."

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have fun at school!" Jonathan yelled at his younger siblings.

"Yeah, fun and school don't mix well," Jolyne yelled back.

Joseph usually carpools with Ceasar and Smokey. Jotaro drives him and his friends to school with Jonathan's car. (Jonathan drives there dads car to work). Jolyne caught a ride with her girlfriend Ermes. Josuke walked with his friends Okuyasu and Koichi. And Giorno either walked by himself or ride with his older friend Bruno, today he was alone with his thoughts.

Joseph POV

"Ugh, collage sucks!" I groaned. "Suck it up buttercup It's only the beginning of the year," Ceasar said, reading a book.

Asshole.

We were in the library supposed to be studying but I got a bit distracted. See Suzi Q was also in the library, by herself. Nobody around her, the perfect opportunity to ask her out, but this blonde bubble-blowing bitc-

"Stop staring at Suzi, it's starting to get creeping now," Ceasar said still looking at the book.

"And why should I?"

"1. We should be studying, and 2. Your so small no girl wants to date you." that asshole wrote something in his notebook.

I. Was. Annoyed to say the least. I mean it's true, BUT YOU DON'T SAY IT! So I did the only rational thing, put him in a headlock.

Good thing the library was empty except for a couple of people who were used to our bullshit by now.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU BUFFOON!?" Ceasar said, or at least tried too.

Ha, get rekt, bitch.

Jotaro POV

"Ugh, I hate school."

"Can you stop being edgy for 5 seconds?" Polnareff asked.

Dick,

"Can you guys stop arguing and actually help!" Avdol said while he was doing the science assignment, I don't know why. Fucken dork.

"Kakyoin is literally sleeping!" Polnareff wined.

"Kakyoin has had a long day."

"Yeah... what are we talking about?"

"So, sleeping beauty is finally up," I say.

"I know you meant that as an insult but I'm taking it as a compliment, Aurora was fabulous!" Kak laughed like the maniacal little gay shit he is.

"Aww, you guys are so cute!"

"Polnareff focus on the experiment!-" the test tube cut him off, by exploding.

"..."

"Finally something exciting," I said because it was fucking epic.

"I mean this would not have happened Joot and Kak weren't flirting with each other."

"Wtf."

Josuke POV

"Math is hardddddd."

"It's not that hard, Oku."

"Bullshit."

"Okuyasu, you should probably pay attention to my lesson instead of complaining." our math and gym/Hamon teacher Lisa-Lisa said to my friend Okuyasu, and trust me no one wants to get on her bad side, the last person to do that was Joseph, he still has nightmares, and he graduated.

"Yes, Josuke?"

"Is this going to be on the test?" I ask so I could know what to remember.

"Most of it will. But if you're asking me if you should listen in class or not, the answer is yes." it felt like she stared into my soul at that list part.

The bell rang

Lunch finally! Freedom at last!

"Your homework is to study for the quiz I'm giving you on an undisclosed date!"

Giorno POV

I walk over to bleachers outside of school where my friends (And Abbacchio) usually eat.

"Hey, guys." I quietly say. Right now there is only, Bruno, Abbacchio, Mista, and... Trish. Anyways as soon as Fugo and Narancia get here the peace will be ruined. Right now Bruno was talking to Mista and Trish about some party this Friday, and Abbacchio was on his phone with headphones on.

"Hello Giorno, how was your morning," Bruno asked.

"Eh, it was fine. Jolyne almost got ORAed."

"What else is new," Trish said drinking her mineral water. Wow shes really pretty, what?

"SUP BITCHES!" Narancia ran up to the bleachers with Fugo following behind him, sighing. Well, that was fun while it lasted.

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Christmas

(Story Post; ART AT END)

Christmas day, Köbi convinced Sydryn that they should visit Aoife and Reid. Aoife had gifted the dragon a batch of homemade pink cupcakes at work the week before so it was only fair to return the favour. They showed up to the apartment with gifts and wine, and they gathered in the living room for merriment. Syd didn't personally enjoy the idea of Christmas: too many people, too much noise, too much gingerbread. But in Aoife's apartment, it was just the five of them (Aoife, Reid, Samara, Syd and Köbi), they weren't a rowdy bunch, and no one had thought to get gingerbread. “Nathan sent you a gift,” Aoife was saying to Reid, placing a gift bag in his lap. “You should open it.”

Reid blinked and then focused on Aoife before looking down at the present in his lap. “Oh. Aye.” He straightened up in the chair and took the tissue paper out, rooting around. “Card first, right? Did he send one... Here we are.” Aoife sighed and sat back in her chair. Samara came around from the kitchen and handed her girlfriend a mug of hot chocolate with a kiss on the crown of her head. “Oh, look at that...” Reid said holding up the card. “It's got the twins on it in little red and green onesies. Um... Their names...” “Probably inside the card if you can't remember,” Samara suggested. “Right...” He opened the card. “‘Wishing you a relaxing holiday and a quick recovery. It's the season of miracles and I couldn't have had mine without you. Merry Christmas, Dr. Gardi, and a Happy New Year! Love Nathan, Dax, Grace and Gabriel’.” “There you go. That's really sweet of him,” Aoife said. “It is...” Reid said, placing the car back in its envelope and leaving it on the coffee table. “I still feel bad that I missed the birth.” “Wish I had,” Sydryn admitted. “You've never had to calm and sedate a labouring werewolf...” “I guess so...” Reid sighed. “Syd. Did you get my gift?” “Yes.” “And?” “I put it in my hoard.” “On display?” “Yes. It's with the other dragon statuettes I own.” “Nice. Is it the biggest one?” “No. Eat a cookie Reid.” Reid leaned forward and took one from the plate. “Samara, these are amazing.” “I already told you, Aoife made them,” Samara groaned. “Oh. Sorry...” Reid looked down and started nibbling at his cookie. “You can't just get mad at him for not remembering...” Köbi interjected. “It's part of the dissociation.” “It's okay, Köbi,” Reid said. “Samara has every right to be upset.” Samara frowned. “No. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be condescending...” “Reid's getting better,” Sydryn said. “You should only have to put up with it for a short while longer, hopefully. And you don't even live here, so technically the one who should be complaining is Aoife.” “I'm a nurse. I'm just doing my job,” Aoife said. “You say that like we're not even roommates,” Reid complained. “We hardly are. You haven't been home in months,” Aoife said. “I paid my share though.” “You did.” “Well, you say it like we're not even friends.” “We are, but now I have to see you 24/7. If I don't treat you as a patient, I might go mad too, and end up like you.” “I didn't go mad, I had a breakthrough,” Reid countered. “Well, you can't even tell us what the breakthrough is, so...” “I can! I um...” Reid tried to think hard. “...That's not really a nice way to talk to your patient. Learn some bedside manner.” Aoife sighed. “Do we want to watch a movie or something?” “I should head out...” Sydryn said, getting up from the couch. “Reid's doing well. I came to drop off gifts and check on him.” “You don't want to stay for dinner?” Köbi asked. “Not really, no.” “What if I want to stay for dinner?” “You can find your own way home.” Aoife crossed her arms. “Syd, you gotta stay for dinner. It's Christmas.” “You act like that means something to me.” “You brought gifts, didn't you? It must mean something to you.” “I brought gifts because I knew I'd be receiving gifts and I didn't want the guilt.” The dragon put their hands on their hips. “Köbi, you can stay. I have other places to visit so I'll pick you up after...” “Oh, okay. Thanks, Syd.” Köbi smiled. “Where are you off to?” “I have to go visit Camilo and Rheni. I have news for them.” “Not bad news. You can't deliver bad news on Christmas.” “It's just news. How they receive the information is up to them.” “Okay...” Köbi got up to see them out. “Drive safe. Yeah?” “Oh, Syd. Hold on.” Aoife grabbed some cookies and went to the kitchen for a baggie before heading back. “Give these to Camilo and Rheni. And, um, before he says anything, yes, I did tell Camilo you'd sit in on his pregnancy group.” “Are you mad?” Sydryn said, lowering their voice as Samara wasn't supposed to be privy to the knowledge of their pregnancy. “I'm not going to a pregnancy group. My condition is private.” “I only told him you could be beneficial as a doctor,” Aoife said. “You know how worried pregnant people can be. They'll spread home remedies and false information.” “Thank you for letting me know so I can tell Camilo myself that you were mistaken and I will not be attending.” “Syd. You should go.” “In what way would that benefit me?” Sydryn asked. “You’ll be able to learn to care,” Aoife said. “And I’ll stop nagging you about it.” Sydryn clenched their jaw. “I don’t want to.” “If you don’t, I’ll make you take Reid. He can live with you. His hair’s basically pink now. He’ll fit in. Köbi can be his nurse.” “Absolutely not.” “Then go to the group. Think about it. Sleep on it.” Sydryn groaned and just pulled on their coat. “You're a bully.” “If I have to be. Happy Christmas.” Sydryn rolled their eyes and just left.

A quick text to Camilo placed him at Fay's house as the dragon expected. He hadn't yet arranged for Rheni to move back in with him and while they were getting along, Camilo still didn't feel like he could forgive so easily. Sydryn supported Camilo's decision so long as he had the necessary support at home to help him navigate the world as a pregnant man. With Marcita around, it helped a lot. Pulling up, Sydryn immediately noticed a big bundled coat sitting out on the porch. When they approached, it became clear that the figure was Fay and he didn’t look too comfortable. Frowning, Sydryn feeling safe enough in this rural forested area, blew a flame into their palm and wrapped it into a ball, offering it to Fay. The merman took the ball of flame hesitantly, but it floated an inch off his fingers and only warmed, not burned. “Thanks…” “What are you doing out here?” the dragon asked. “Escaping Christmas…” “Ah.” “I don’t do Christmas. I don’t like Christmas. I’m not Christian. My religion is the sea and I’m barely practicing that…” “I’m not fond of it either. Christmas that is,” Sydryn stated. “Yeah. I assume it’s the people?” “Precisely.” “Dari’s not even a practicing Christian.” “It’s these North Americans… They’ve made it part of their culture, whether everyone likes it or not.” “I wish I’d banned TV as soon as Arianne was old enough to understand. Right now, it’s the only way any of them would’ve learned about Christmas, other than from Dari.” “Mm… Yes, perhaps that would’ve worked.” “I assume you’re here on business?” Fay suggested. “I came to speak to Camilo, yes.” “Well, good luck in there.” “Fay, you can’t stay out here. You’re not a cold-water fish.” “I know. Give me a bit more time.” “Alright.” Sydryn headed inside. Immediately commercial Christmas music blared throughout the house and there were lights and decorations everywhere. Siv was the first to appear and weaved between the dragon’s legs to hide behind them, but at the same time Arianne jumped into the hall and pointed right at him. “I see you!” she yelled. “You can’t hide!” “No!” Siv yelled. “Can’t see me!” “I can! You have to help me find Otter!” she yelled back. “Nooo!” Siv yelled again. Sydryn just moved on, removing their coat and boots and walking into the living room. The living room had a live white fir in the corner and stockings hanging over the fireplace as well as snacks on the table. A big garbage bag full of used wrapping paper and opened toy packaging was beside the tree and various toys, clothes and candy were strewn across the floor. Among it, Milo was sitting playing with Katia who looked to have received a new stuffed dolphin for Christmas. Not seeing who he was looking for, Sydryn moved into the kitchen. Dari was in the kitchen mashing potatoes with Zoe strapped to his back. He heard Sydryn come in. “Fay, I need your help with the—Oh, Jesus Christ! Syd!” Dari nearly jumped when he looked back. “Don't scare me... When did you get here?” “Just now,” Sydryn said. “I'm looking for Camilo.” “Upstairs with Rheni I think,” Dari reported. “You haven't seen my husband, have you? I can’t do this without him.” “Porch.” “Of course...” Dari sighed. “I don't know why he has to be such a scrooge. We agreed we'd do Christmas a long time ago.” “I bet that was before your numbers tripled.” “Still. He can't just mope about. I need help.” “I'm sure he'll be back in shortly,” Sydryn stated. “I only gave him a two minute flame.” “A what?” “Don't worry about it.” Syd headed towards the stairs. “Merry Christmas.” “Merry Christmas!” Upstairs, Sydryn found the light on in a room down the hall and figured it was their destination. As they drew near, they could hear chuckling and wet noises from the room with its door slightly ajar. They shivered in disgust and just reached out to knock without looking. “Hello?” “Ah, dios mio!” Camilo was heard startled. “Rheni, stop! Come in.” “I don’t think I want to,” the dragon hypothesised. “Syd?” Camilo came to the door, pulling a shirt down over his stomach which had purple kiss marks all over it. “Hey! You came over fast.” “You seem light spirited,” Sydryn observed. “Well, uh... Es Navidad,” he said blushing. Rheni appeared behind him, passing a hand over Camilo's back. “Hey, Syd! What's up dude?” I'm sorry this took so long, but I've had a lot of work to do in Gardi's wake, and your issue wasn't of high urgency. Anyway, I have your results for you,” they stated. Camilo blinked then looked at Rheni. “Wait... So is the baby Rheni's?” “I never doubted that he was the one to impregnate you,” Sydryn said. “It's the process that I find more interesting. But technically, no the child isn't Rheni's.” “What?” Rheni said, his arms dropping to his sides. “I'm not the father?” “You two don't seem to be listening. Go sit down,” Sydryn said. Camilo went back into the room and sat down on the bed. Rheni sat next to him but didn't touch him. “Good. Now...” Sydryn pulled out their rose-coloured work tablet. “I analysed the sample that you collected from Arrhenius. As I suspected, when performing sexual acts, Rheni's body is capable of producing human DNA completely different from the DNA in the cells that make up Rheni's body. Instead of simple slime gametes like your first pregnancy which were incompatible with Camilo's egg, human male gametes are produced with human DNA which successfully impregnated you with a human child.” “So, I am the father?” Rheni asked. “Well, the thing is, your body had to get the human DNA from somewhere,” Sydryn stated. “Your body is learning from it's environment. It wouldn't just create human DNA from nowhere. It would need to replicate DNA it has access too. But it has access to every human around you: Camilo, Marcita, Dari, etc. But we have record of their DNA and—” “You do?” Camilo interrupted. “Yes, of course,” Sydryn said. “Have to make sure the humans really are human. Also if you were wondering, you're very much human, Camilo.” “I mean, I figured.” “Anyway, the gametes provided to me did not match any of those records of those around you. But...” Sydryn turned over the tablet and showed them a picture. “It does match his.” The pair blinked and stared at the picture. It was an ID portrait of a young man with black hair, a soft face with a defined jaw. “Who's that?” Camilo asked. “That's missing person Michael Zhao,” Sydryn said. “He was attending post secondary school in BC when he was reported missing seven years ago.” They continued to stare at the picture then Rheni moved a hand up to his own face and touched his cheek. “...Is that...Is that me?” “It would be very difficult to conclude otherwise,” Sydryn said. “He is the father of Camilo's baby.” Camilo covered his mouth and tears started rolling down his face. “Oh god, Camilo...” Rheni started rubbing his back. “Are you okay?” “Am I okay?” Camilo sobbed. He pointed to the picture. “It's you!” He sniffled and wiped his eyes. “We found you!” Rheni started nodding quickly, tears coming to his eyes as well. “It is... I know it is...”

[nuuneyraegon]

summer

okay. lord. so i was planning something COMPLETELY different for my 10th fic on ao3. and it’s still going to be my 10th fic, that’s not changing. this isn’t going to be posted there until i finish the other thing i’m working on.

but i had a sudden burst of feelings last night and hammered this out in about 4 hours. i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it. 

The night is quiet. The window’s cracked open ever so slightly, letting the gentle summer air waft through the room, carrying with it the sound of crickets. The two of them sit there on the bed, as they usually do, Kakyoin with his Famicom controller in his lap, Jotaro perched on the edge with that large, soft, weighted dolphin lying across his chest. It’s not a school night, so time passes without much of a fuss, the plates that once contained sandwiches and snacks growing colder. It feels comfortable, and just fine in a way that Kakyoin can’t place.

It’s when the clock in the corner of the room reads just after midnight, (visible by the light of his game of F-Mega) that the quiet in the room is broken. 

“Kakyoin.”

Kakyoin doesn’t respond for a few seconds, half-intensely concentrating on the game and half-not quite registering his friend’s voice. He lets out a small “hmm?”, his eyes remaining fixed on the CRT TV balanced haphazardly on his dresser. 

“What...what’s it like to be dead?” 

Jotaro doesn’t sound like himself at all. It’s the same voice, the same general cadence that he’s used to, but the question he poses is so hesitant, so odd, so completely out of nowhere, that for a second all Kakyoin can do in response is laugh. 

“What kind of a question is that? We’re just sitting here in my bedroom, eating and playing games, and suddenly you’re asking about death?”

“You know,” Jotaro shifts over, closer towards where Kakyoin sits, and the latter feels the movement of his weight across the mattress, tilting slightly so as not to get thrown off balance, “You know what being dead is like. So I’m asking you because I want to know.”

“Give it fifty or sixty years and you’ll find out for yourself.”

“Fuck you.”

Kakyoin laughs, again, only for that laugh to turn into a groan when his car is sent careening off the tracks due to his lapse in attention. The game over screen pops up, and he sighs, setting the controller down on the futon and turning towards the source of the weight. He’s still sitting there, facing the wall, his feet propped up on a nearby chair. He’s always been on the subtle side in terms of expressions, so the slight crease in his brow catches Kakyoin’s attention almost immediately.

“Do you actually want to know?” 

“That’s what I said, asshole,” Jotaro hisses. “Don’t make me say it again.”

“Okay. Sure. So…” Kakyoin reaches to switch the console off, not even bothering to save. “While it’s true that I was clinically dead for around six minutes, I’m not really sure if I can talk about what being dead dead felt like. But I guess you already know that, and-” He leans over, poking Jotaro’s cheek with his index finger. “I also guess you’re not going to take no for an answer.”

“Do that again and I’m biting it off.”

“Good to know. Anyway, I’m not really sure that I can say much on that subject. Truth be told...I just don’t remember most of it. I’d lost a lot of blood. I was unconscious for nearly a day. But I think there is a thing or two that I can recall?” Kakyoin lifts up the console, sliding it under his bed, then scoots over, closer to where Jotaro is sitting. “Like being punched by DIO. I remember that. I remember...all of that.”

Jotaro tenses up for a second, instinctively reaching for the brim of his hat. He doesn’t say anything, though, and Kakyoin takes it as an invitation to keep going.

“I was just blown across the city in a split second. It was like everything just happened all at once. I know you weren’t there, and Mr. Joestar probably already told you, but...yeah. I figured out what his Stand could do, sent that message, and then I just...fell asleep. I was so tired. It felt like I hadn’t slept for days on end.” 

“I wasn’t there.” Jotaro’s voice is so quiet that it almost blends into the ambient noise from outside. “I didn’t even know that this was happening.”

“That wasn’t your fault, you know,” Kakyoin murmurs. “There were so many other things that you had to worry about. You were doing as much as you could.” He takes a breath, then, “Should I keep talking?”

“Mm.” Jotaro nods.

“I think the most interesting thing was...I had a dream when I was unconscious. It really was like I was just sleeping, even though by that point my heart had probably stopped. Like I said, I don’t remember most of it. But I know that I had it. And I know that in that dream, I couldn’t move.” He thinks to himself for a moment, before getting up, taking a sketchpad off of his desk. “Do you mind if I try to draw what I remember? I think it’s easier than explaining.”

Again, Jotaro nods, and Kakyoin takes a pencil from his school bag, sitting back down. He puts pencil to paper, making a rough sketch of a dark, vaguely humanoid form, its face indistinct. 

“This is what I saw. I was lying down on the ground, and this person...or whatever it was, was standing over me. They were talking to me. I don’t know what they were saying, and it went on for so long that I thought I might have landed in purgatory.” It’s an attempt at a joke, but it doesn’t land. After a second of awkward silence, Kakyoin just decides to continue. “Anyway...they said one thing that I remember well. I did realize that I was dead at this point, I think. I was thinking about a lot. The fact that I was only seventeen and lying dead in a water tower. And, do you know what that person told me in response?”

“They responded to you thinking?”

“It was a dream.”

“Right, okay. Doesn’t have to make sense.”

“But yes, they did know what I was thinking. It’s not like I could talk. I was completely paralyzed. They heard my thoughts, I guess, about how I was only seventeen, and they told me, ‘no, you’re already seventeen’. I think I woke up not long after that. The next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed, more bandage and machine than human.”

Then he laughs again, but it’s so much more tense and half-hearted than ever before. He doesn’t know why, but Kakyoin finds himself touching the scars on his face, fingertips trailing across the rough, keratinized lines bisecting his eyelids; then they slide under his shirt to ghost across the jagged, round scar just under his diaphragm. 

“My body’s broken, Jotaro. They got my heart beating again, they got me breathing again, they even managed to get me walking when they thought for months that I might never be able to move my legs again. But when I woke up that day, my organs were torn. My liver was destroyed. My vertebrae were in pieces. I was so scared. For the first time since I left Japan, I wanted my parents. I wanted someone near me. I was half-anesthetized, and I cried for someone, anyone to come help me, like a small child having a nightmare. It...honestly scared me, how weak I’d become. And those were just the injuries from DIO.”

Jotaro tilts his head over towards Kakyoin, eyes narrowed questioningly.

“You know how in movies they always show CPR as...easy? Clean?” Kakyoin asks, and Jotaro gives a vague nod. “Yeah. When I woke up three of my ribs were broken. They don’t care, you know. I was bleeding out and in cardiac arrest, and hell, those broken bones weren’t much of a problem compared to the hole in my stomach. Better than being dead, as far as the doctors are concerned.”

“They didn’t have to,” Jotaro suddenly says, and Kakyoin turns to look at him once again. “If I’d known about...you. I would’ve started your heart again without breaking your ribs. I’d do it for as long as I needed to.”

“I feel like there’s something I’m missing here,” Kakyoin replies. “But alright. That definitely would have helped. I know that having you around would have helped no matter what.”

Jotaro touches the brim of his hat once again, this time pulling it down, over his eyes. He’s refusing to look directly at Kakyoin, turning his body away and focusing his gaze on nothing in particular.

“I didn’t do enough,” he mumbles. “I didn’t do enough. You can still barely walk. You’re in pain almost every day. You had to be in the hospital for months. I’m not someone...worth thinking of like that.”

“JoJo. No. Look at me.” Kakyoin reaches over, grabbing Jotaro’s face with both hands and turning his head to meet their gazes - this probably isn’t the best move, but he does it without thinking. “I’m alive. I’ve always been hurting, Jotaro, ever since I was born. This is a different kind of pain, but it’s pain that I can handle. The pain that I felt when I was younger, of being alone, being worthless, being used...it’s not mine anymore. I never regretted traveling to Egypt. I don’t have any regrets, because I’m no longer alone. If I have to trade this physical pain for being known and understood, then I will.”

He half-expects Jotaro to back away, or snarl at him for suddenly touching him, but he just sits there, his eyes locked on Kakyoin’s. His face is warm. His cheeks have a slight tinge of pink that’s barely visible under the low light of the room.

“Okay,” he says, finally, eyes flickering down towards his lap. 

“I’m so glad I get to spend this time with you. Being with you...it makes me happy. It’s strange, being known by someone else, but not minding one bit. It’s strange, but it’s the best feeling I can imagine. And,” Kakyoin says, trying and failing to keep the grin off his face, “I’m glad I can keep my fingers this time, too.”

“Gimme a break.” It’s the single most insincere display of anger that Kakyoin has ever seen. “Bastard. Don’t think you’re safe just yet.”

“Wow, this is a plot twist. I survive getting impaled by a vampire, have four surgeries to fix all of my broken body parts, go through months of physical therapy and a liver transplant, all just so I can get killed by my own best friend in my own house.” Kakyoin breaks apart from Jotaro, then collapses face-first on the futon. “Wonder what they’ll have to tell my mother.”

“Kakyoin, you shit. Get up.”

“What happened to feeling bad for me? I kind of want to go back to that.”

“Nope. Not happening any more. No more pity.”

“Shame.” Kakyoin reaches over, grabbing for the remote and flicking the TV off. “Also, as long as we’re being brutally honest here, you don’t have to keep referring to me by my family name. I’m pretty sure we passed that point a long time ago. Call me by my first name.”

It’s so worth it to look up and see the flush return full force on Jotaro’s face, hear a choked, punched sound slip out of his throat. Anything even remotely resembling emotional intimacy has that effect, and as Kakyoin learned a while ago, it’s one of his favorite things to see.

Even if it comes at the cost of his own heart rate getting a little elevated, too.

“Noriaki.” The word comes out husky, yet strangely soft, in that wonderful timbre that Kakyoin finds himself wanting to listen to as long as he can. “There. I did it.”

“Good. Now say it again.”

“You are really, really pushing your luck, motherfucker.”

“That’s not my name.”

The next thing he knows, Kakyoin’s being pressed into the surface of the bed by something big and heavy sitting right on his back, the weight and texture cluing him into the fact that it’s almost certainly Star Platinum. He can barely breathe, but it’s more comforting than anything else, having his best friend in front of him and on top of him all at the same time.

Jotaro’s scowling, but much like his voice, it has that air of softness to it that makes every action of his reassuring. Kakyoin honestly wouldn’t mind being pressed into the bed for a few hours if it was going to be like this.

Yeah, this is definitely fine.

[krreader]

Monsta X scenario → soulmate!au.

pairing: monsta x x reader fandom: monsta x warnings: soulmate!au ; language genre: angst ;fluff ; crack

a/n: so, this is the person that I’m currently in seoul with, her name is nathalie and you all know her by me mentioning her name so many fucking times, SO HEY BABE I HOPE YOU LIKE IT even tho you probably won’t see this until we’re back, so SURPRISE BITCH ♥

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son hyunwoo

You were just enjoying this beautiful, sunny day, eating ice cream and not giving a damn about anything, when suddenly something yanked you back and your ice cream fell from the cone to the ground.

“Nooooooo,” you whined, more focused on the ice cream on the ground than the fact that something had formed on your pinky and kept pulling you back.

You were yanked back, couldn't do anything about it but let fate play out.

Until you were suddenly bumping into a.. very firm chest.

You looked into the eyes of a man who seemed to be as shocked as you were.

“Well.. hi there,” he grinned, “I'm.. Hyunwoo.. your soulmate, I guess.”

You cleared your voice, taking a step back as you watched the red string disappear from your pinkies that appeared once you and your soulmate were close to each other, “Well, Hyunwoo. I'm.. (Y/N) and you owe me ice cream.”

“Is this.. our first date then? As soulmates?”

“Mh, maybe.. depending on what kind of ice cream that you like. You can tell a lot about a person by what sort of ice cream they like, you know?”

Hyunwoo chuckled, “Alright then. Let's get some ice cream.”

shin hoseok

Everyone did this when they were young. When they were around nine or ten, they would gather in a circle, all of them having a random flower in their hand and play the good old soulmate game.

You rip out petal after petal, you start by saying: “Meet me, meet me not,” and if you're lucky enough to ever meet your soulmate in your life, you will know after this game, because it was always, absolutely always right.

However, you had never played this game, because you had seen the effect it had on people when they didn't get the result they wanted.

Most of your friends that were left with 'meet me not' were now unhappily married, single parents, drunks or hating their life, simply because they knew they would never meet their designated other.

However you were becoming older and you still hadn't met anyone close to someone you might call your soulmate and you were beginning to think that you never would.

And the only way to be sure about it was to play that godforsaken game.

“Here we go, then,” you sighed heavily, sitting on the rooftop of the building you were working in, ripping out one petal after the other, starting with meet me, like you were supposed to.

You were slow, with each fallen petal your heart began to speed up and the more petals piled on the floor, the more your hand began to tremble until there were only a handful left on the flower.

“Meet me.. meet me not.. meet me.. meet me not.. meet me..-” you started at the last petal, your heart sinking in your chest and your shoulders dropping as you sadly sad, “Meet me not.”

And as you were too busy staring at the last petal, Shin Hoseok followed a friend of his across the rooftop area with a small smile, “Thank you for having me today. It was a great meeting.”

“Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer? This area is great..”

“Uhm.. no. I need to fly back home tomorrow morning, so I'd better get a good night's rest. But thank you for the offer.”

He would have said yes if picking the petals had ended with meet me.. he would have fallen in love tonight.. you would have.

But you two were robbed.

Robbed by fucking destiny.

lee minhyuk

Sometimes you hated the voice in your head.

Mostly when it, or you, decided to laugh.

Well, just sometimes, though. Because it sounded so.. horrible.

Like a dolphin.. but dying?

“Hey, are you okay?” your friend asked with worry on his face when you rubbed your temples.

“Yeah, sorry.. it's just.. the voice.. my soulmate.. his laugh can be very annoying..”

“What does it sound like?”

“It's like a dying dolphin? But.. he's kind of laughing.”

“Sounds like you, hyung,” Jooheon laughed, nudging Minhyuk's side when they had overheard your conversation with your friend at the coffee shop.

Jooheon went up ahead to order, but Minhyuk kept staring at you.

“Can you say fuck for me?”

“What?” you furrowed your eyebrows. Deeply. Was this man okay? Mentally?

“Please.. I know it sounds weird, but.. can you please do it?”

Your friend just shrugged, you were confused as hell, but you said: “Fuck?”

“Oh my god, it's you!”

Should you be worried that he realized you were his soulmate because you said a swear word? Probably.

“You're the guy with the dying dolphin laugh?”

“I don't laugh like that. Well.. only sometimes.”

“Yeah,” you laughed a little, a bit overwhelmed right now, “Only sometimes.”

yoo kihyun

You were both too busy being on your phones to notice that you were about to walk into each other.

You were texting a friend of yours, asking her for directions to the restaurant you wanted to meet at because you were a little lost, he was texting his members, asking them if anyone wanted anything from the grocery store he was walking towards.

And then BOOM.

“Fuck,” he said.

“Shit, I'm..-” but just as you wanted to finish your sentence, both of you started to feel pain in your shoulders.

You in your left one, him in his right shoulder.

He tried to tell himself it was because of practice, but then you pulled down your blouse a little and you saw..

“Kihyun? Is.. is that you?”

And he immediately pulled down his own shirt, only to find: “(Y/N).. is that yours?”

Both of you stared at each other for a good amount of time before you both let out a laugh.

“Well, fuck.. wouldn't have thought to run into my soulmate today. Literally.”

Kihyun chuckled now and nodded, “If I had known I would have dressed up and not worn Adidas sweatpants and a shirt with a stain.”

“It has its charm,” you grinned.

chae hyungwon

Hyungwon had always worn your name on his wrist proudly.

Other idols were trying to cover it up, but he didn't give a shit. He was one of the few who was trying to find you, no matter who you were.

And thankfully so.

Because that's how you found him.

“How do you know it's him? I'm sure there's a lot of Hyungwon's out there with your name on their wrists, doesn't mean it's you,” your mother tried to reason when you walked out of the house with a suitcase.

“I won't know until I try, mom.”

And you were willing to try.

So you booked the first flight to Seoul that was available, looked up the address for their company and then you walked inside, smiling at the girl at the reception and showing her your wrist.

“I'm here for Hyungwon? Chae Hyungwon?”

You thought she'd be happy. Or at least smile. But she looked unimpressed.

“You and the last five girls that came here with that tattoo.”

“There.. were others?”

“Yes. And they all turned out to be the wrong girl, so don't get your hopes up.”

But she brought you to a meeting room anyways.

And then you waited, anxiously, your mother's words echoing in your ears now that you knew there were others before you.

But when Hyungwon finally entered the room, you both knew that this was it.

He knew that you were the real (Y/N). He could feel it. You could feel it.

“Want me to get rid of her?” his manager whispered in his ear.

“No,” Hyungwon smiled, “I found her.”

lee jooheon

Some people would say that you were the luckiest girl alive, but you didn't see it that way.

You were fortunate enough to have Lee Jooheon as your soulmate.

Yes, Monsta X’s rapper Lee Jooheon.

And because everything that your soulmate ever recorded, be it voice messages, videos, audio in general.. it would all get sent to you.

So, as a Monsta X fan, you were lucky, because you got to hear what he was working on all the time. But as a soulmate, you weren't so lucky.

Because you knew that you couldn't reach him.

Well, sure, you could send voice messages and videos and he'd see it, but you and him both knew that this wouldn't work out because of who he was and who you were.

Your life's weren't compatible, even if you being soulmates said otherwise.

So each time your phone buzzed with another notification of him having recorded something new, you opened it with a sad smile, listening to the newest amazing thing that he had come up with.

And as Jooheon was writing his verses, he received a voice message that you must have sent to a friend.

“I wish we were different, you know? I just wish he'd be normal like me or I was talented like him so that I could be with him.. but it will never work out. And I'm just.. so proud of him.. of who he is and who he will become.. but at the same time I'd just wish he wasn't like this..”

Yeah.. so did he.

im changkyun

You had seen countless of movies where this shit happens.

Where the same day repeats over and over again. One time it was a horror movie and the guy kept reliving the day that he died, but kept dying differently. That one was bad.

But this was different, because this was what everyone went through once they were close to their soulmate.

Usually people were excited, really.

But you were fucking tired of it, because of all the places that you had to find your soulmate, it was the fucking airport.

“Listen to me,” you started, staring at the security guard angrily, “I've been trying to find my stupid soulmate for at least four weeks now, I know you don't remember me, but I remember you, George. I fucking remember you. So let me through, because this is the only part that I haven't looked for him and he has to be in there.”

“I'm sorry, Miss, but I can't let you through unless you have a boarding pass.”

“Fine.. you know what? I'll buy one. I'll buy one right now.”

You were tired of this bullshit, you just wanted to return to your normal life and not see these asshole airport people that were rude and hated their jobs.

So you bought the cheapest flight ticket they had to offer and then checked in, forcing yourself not to flip George off.

And as you were already through, you could see someone walk out of the Terminal out of the corner of your eye that was clearly in a hurry.

He saw you, then you saw him and you both immediately knew it.

“Ah fucking hell, where have you been, I was..-” but just as you wanted to turn back around, George shook his head.

“You can't go out this way.”

“George.. I am about to get really, really, really angry.”

“You need to go all the way around to get back out.”

Your soulmate better be worth all the trouble.

But when you looked back at him, Changkyun grinned at you sweetly and.. well.. he might be.

[tessatechaitea]

Justice Society of America #7 (1993)

The fantasy: old white men are the heroes. The reality: old white men are the villains.

A Facebook memory from my friend Doom Bunny in 2012 came up today that made me cry. Not sobbing or anything! It just made me feel loved and noticed and, sure, proud of my past self. I'm not good at earnestness so please don't mock me or I'll retreat back into the safety of cynicism and sarcasm!

Doom Bunny might have taken the advice a bit too far.

One of the defining moments in my life that helped shape me into a better, more empathetic person was when I killed a massive wolf spider that had gotten into my room and was headed for my gerbil's cage. I caught it in a huge jar to take outside. The spider was so massive you could hear its fangs clink on the side of the jar. I went to go release it outside and was struck by a sudden terror that it would come back. Not the kind of terror that involves life and death decisions. More like the kind of terror that is just a rush of creepiness and discomfort at the prospect of the spider coming back and crawling on my while I slept. So, you know, not terror. But I treated the uncomfortable feeling like terror and decided I should probably kill the spider. Now, if it had been a small spider, I, like millions of people every day, would have probably crushed it without a thought and gone on with my day. But this spider was massive, probably the size of my palm. It wouldn't be a simple swat and done procedure. I tried filling the jar with some kind of cleaner in the hopes of poisoning it but that didn't work. So then I took a stick or something and began smashing it. It didn't die easily. It struggled and it put up a fight and it took multiple attempts to really smash it while in the jar. And even before I had delivered the killing blow, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. This spider didn't deserve this death. This wasn't a struggle to live. This wasn't part of nature. This spider was struggling against the pettiness of one human individual. The spider's only offense: giving me gooseflesh. But once I'd maimed the spider, I had to finish the onerous job. I cried afterward. I sobbed. I mourned this wretched beast. And maybe that's why Doom Bunny's memory made me cry. But I didn't just kill the spider that day. I killed a part of me. Luckily, it was a part of me that was useless and selfish and a thing I was well rid of. Maybe, as a rational justification to make a bleak act I participated in seem more uplifting, I can take solace in the idea that the spider, in death, was able to rise above its natural station. It was the Jesus Christ of spiders, dying so that so many more spiders could live. Who knows how many hundreds or thousands of spiders survived because of this one? And not only that, it was this sentiment (and seeing a documentary on Japanese "fishing" of dolphins) which turned me into a vegetarian. So the spider not only saved many spiders but many other (arguably higher-tier! Is that bad to suggest?!) creatures. Now, I'm not a vegetarian anymore. I was for about ten years and then got, well, a bit lazy and maybe a little less passionate. I got older and dumber. But I'm not what you'd call a meat-eater! I prefer lentils over steak (which is an easy comment to make because I can't even remember the last time I ate steak. I never really cared for it before I went veggie. The main reason I liked steak as a kid was the steak fries soaked in a little bit of steak juice (you know, blood?)). When I eat meat now, it's usually chicken or turkey. Not great, I know. I probably need to get out there and murder a turkey so I can be reminded how fucking terrible it is to kill something with your own hands. But that's part of it, you know? I'm not against eating meat. But we're going about it all wrong. It's too easy and too harmful. We should probably develop a system where people can only buy live animals and must do the killing and butchering themselves. Of course then only sadists will have the option of a delicious chorizo omelette at breakfast! The point is, yeah, I still eat meat. But I also don't rationalize my eating of it! I'm wrong in doing so. It's better for the world if humans, who have a choice in the matter being sentient and rational beings, would choose to stop. I try not to eat it much but that's just a little bit of a little thing and it doesn't make me "less wrong." I'm still just wrong. And I'm tired. And I'm old enough to hope the younger generations do better while I just get the fuck out of the way. Who are all these old people fighting change?! Why do they need to get so worked up about a world they're not going to be part of for much longer?! Let it go already! Especially old people with loads of money. I don't get how they still need to be angry about everything! You're set, you dolt! If you don't want to participate, go live in your vacation house and don't participate. But certainly don't actively try to hamper change! Christ, you're just obstinate dumb ass fools! Did I rant enough against old rich guys to distract from the fact that I had some turkey tacos for lunch? I hope so! Anyway, I guess the rant about old people hurting the world is a good enough segue back into this comic book about old people hurting the world. Not that the JSA is actively hurting the world! But their old man foes certainly are! Plus, I understand if you're old and powerful and rich and immortal, how you'd continue to fight change. But then again, if you're immortal and you've seen how you can never fight change, generation after generation, perhaps by continuing to fight against change, you're just showing how stupid you are? The JSA might not be actively hurting the world but it's still troubling that they think they need to be an active part of it. Just retire already and let the young heroes take over! Maybe, as Alan and Jay wanted at the beginning, stay accessible as mentors. But don't be dicks trying to push your old timey beliefs onto the young heroes' new and modern attitudes! Especially the ones that are sex positive and enjoy showing a lot of skin in their choice of costumes. Hooray for change!

Enough with being earnest! Let's now pretend her dad's advice was sexual in nature!

Jesse wanders into a part of the island that's off limits and after being attacked by guards trying to detain her for trespassing, she decides she now has a right to trespass. That's how law works, right? If I'm falsely accused of murder, I get to do one free murder! Ted Grant has been taken into custody by the Bahdnesian government because he interrupted a boxing match and beat the crap out of one of the fighters. Just because somebody is in a ring boxing doesn't mean anybody can enter the ring and start punching them. That's assault and I'm all for Ted Grant being arrested. Asshole thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he thinks of himself as a hero. Well, no more, old white man! There are consequences to your actions now!

The Atom doesn't think it's wrong to interfere in another country's arrest of a foreign national assaulting one of their own. No, what would be wrong is exposing the Justice Society of America's plans to infiltrate and spy on this nation.

The Atom rushes off to tell Alan and Jay about Ted being kidnapped. They heard Ted was injured and taken off for treatment which is a lie. Al tells them the truth but tries to make it sound like it was unjust. "Ted walloped some creep in the boxing ring and the guards dragged him away." Yeah. Of course they did! Ted wasn't supposed to be in the ring! IT WAS FUCKING ASSAULT! By the end, when we learn that the nation's king or manager or president, St. Germaine, is some villainous creep, all of the Justice Society's actions will be justified. But I want to point out that they have no justification for anything but observing right now! It's like that time in Star Trek: The Next Generation when one of the Captains of a Federation starship begins blowing up Cardassian science stations and supply vessels. They might have been up to no good but there was no proof! Picard does the right thing, in the end, by arresting the captain. Sure, the asshole captain was almost certainly right about the Cardassians being up to no good. But there was no proof! You can't just blow Cardassians up or disappear people from the streets of Portland simply because you suspect them of being up to no good. Fucking assholes. Jesse Quick runs into Doctor Mid-Nite who has found the Bahdnesians and a whole lot of other islanders as well. They're locked in cages underground because they're too sick or infirm to work in the tourist trap topside. So I guess the Justice Society of America has a right to start tearing this nation down. I guess. They're just lucky their instincts were so dead on or else Ted Grant's temper would have started an international incident with a happy-go-lucky nation. Doctor Mid-Nite has a plan to free the people from their cages.

It's not like she can, you know, run at super speed to do the same thing that distracting them with her tits did.

If The Flash had run into Doctor Mid-Nite, would the plan have been for Jay to strut out from the dark with his balls hanging out? Although it was a terrible and unnecessary plan, it might be one of my favorite bits because now I know Liberty Belle loved flashing her tits for justice. Johnny Thunder goes on a day trip to the place he first got his Thunderbolt genie. He discovers that after he left the island with their genie, the entire place fell apart. See, now that's appropriating a culture! Being white and selling burritos out of a burrito cart is just called having a job. The rest of the Justice Society just hangs out until they can hear from Doctor Mid-Nite. That doesn't happen until he interrupts St. Germain's speech about how great and beautiful and the best his island nation of Bahdnesia is.

Oh! The days when you could describe a terrible country treating its people in the worst ways imaginable and the first thing you would think of is Nazi Germany instead of present-day America!

St. Germain's plan was to create a sham utopia and then find a job as a consultant with other governments. After he was offered a job, he would blow a nuclear weapon in the volcano and destroy the place. But when the Justice Society appears, he throws his plan out the window and yells, in front of everybody at his press conference slash job interview, "I've got a bomb in the volcano and I'll blow up the entire island!" So I guess that's his reputation blown! Like the guy in The Dead Zone who uses the kid as a human shield and ruins his entire political career! Sort of. Anyway, that's a thing I just remembered that seemed somewhat like what just happened here, so it felt like a smart thing to add. During the tussle, Ted Grant knocks the detonator out of St. Germain's hands and it sets off the bomb. The volcano explodes but it doesn't destroy the island until the Justice Society can completely evacuate it. St. Germain just looks on and shouts, "My utopia!" That guy might need to get his head straight to decide what he really wants out of life. A utopia? A consulting job? Revenge on the Justice Society? In the end, Thunderbolt reveals that the only actual Bahdnesian left is Kiku, the young girl who has become Johnny Thunder's sidekick. So I guess that's the mystery solved that could have been solved two issues ago if Johnny had just thought to ask Thunderbolt one simple and direct question. Justice Society of America #7 Rating: B-. St. Germaine was yet another immortal guy who was once a Nazi. I think there's some legendary St. Germaine that's supposed to be immortal or something but I'm too hot and uncomfortable in my office to do any research about it right now. There's a similar character in Warren Ellis's Castlevania on Netflix. And, no, I don't want to discuss Warren Ellis. I don't actually want to disucss the Justice Society of America either! At least I only have three more issues to go!

[fictional-semantics]

For the Lost: “Rivrin’s Transformation”

View Part 1 here

FLLLOOOOMMMM

I hit the water with a loud splash, sinking beneath the waves as if I was transparent. Pressure squeezed my insides, reminding me of the damage I had taken from the fall.

Praying with all my might that this would work, I exhaled through my nose, concentrating on the threads I used as a medium. I gave them an experimental tug, focusing on drawing in a small space.

I inhaled clean air, smiling to myself in relief. My spell had worked. A good thing, too, because if it hadn’t I probably wouldn’t last down here.

This deep in the sea, even through my second skin, I could feel the temperature of the water drop. It wasn’t like a winter chill, bringing a shiver to the skin, but more like the welcome coolness of an autumn breeze.

I turned my head to see how Rivrin and the others had fared from the fall. From what I could see, they all looked fine, but Elias looked extremely unhappy. Rivrin also looked a bit anxious. It wasn’t hard to understand why.

Down here, his senses were a bit disabled. Everything was distorted, even from me, a person who could see perfectly fine. I knew that he would never admit it out loud, though. He despised being weak or a burden.

“Rhea,” I signed. “Call the Sirens.”

She looked extremely concerned at that request. “Are you sure?” She replied. “If something goes wrong—“

“Please just trust me,” I begged her. She gave me an apprehensive look before she nodded.

“Give me a minute.” She signaled before she swam away, going in the direction of one of the underwater caves, determination crossing her face.

“What are you guys saying?” Rivrin asked, sounding frustrated.

“We’re calling the Sirens,” Elias supplied, not looking happy about it. “Not sure why you’d want to, mind. The Sirens around here are extremely temperamental.”

Yeah, tell me something I don’t know. “Oh, that’s a great idea,” Coro said sarcastically. “It’s not like they’ll try to eat us or anything.”

“That’s actually a stereotype,” Rivrin replied. “The Sirens in the Mediterranean are peaceful and vegetarian.”

“Well, we’re not in the Mediterranean,” Coro said. “So, it looks like they’ll eat us.”

“Alexos,” Shynah said warningly. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but—“

Rhea then swam back into view frantically. “I managed to find one, and she’s coming!” She signaled quickly. I mentally braced myself as a golden figure appeared in the water, heading straight at us with an aggressive speed.

From a distance what had appeared to be a mane of golden hair was actually shimmering golden scales from an inch above her golf ball sized beady fish eyes, up over her head and down past her shoulders.

Her skin was shiny like the scales and had a glowing look about them. Her nose was small and flattened with small nostrils. Her hands were webbed and instead of legs she had a powerful tail covered in glistening scales of silver, electric blue and brilliant yellow.

Upon seeing me, she snarled, “You! We told you to stay away, land brat.”

“Yeah, I remember,” I replied, trying to stay calm. Sirens attack when they sense fear, I reminded myself. I watched her without turning my head, my heart was hammering but I had to keep my gait casual with no hint of hesitation.

“Why show your face now? Do you have a death wish?” She asked me, tightening her grip on her spear.

“No, we just need to speak with the chief.” I said calmly. Coro tightened her grip on my shoulder as the Siren hissed in response.

“Land brats are not fit to be in the presence of the chief,” the Siren sneered, pointing her spear at us. “Not with the assassination attempt five moons ago.”

“That was the Superiors, not us!” Elias tried to protest.

“Silence!” She yelled at him, her rage becoming more monstrous. He did as he was told. 

“Listen, Salty,” Coro stepped, or swam forward. “Can I call you Salty?”

“No!”

“There’s a potential Slaughter!” Shynah argued, shoving Coro aside before she could insult her any further. “Every species will suffer, not just you! We want to help!”

“You land brats are all the same! You think that you can walk all over us, and not face any consequences! We told your friend,” she gestured to me. “That we would kill him if we saw him again, and we are people of our word!”

Lightning quick, she lunged at me, teeth bared, ready to sink into my neck. There was no way I could move in time.

“NO!”

Before I can comprehend what had happened, Rivrin had thrown himself in front of me, and the Siren’s teeth sunk into his neck.

His scream tore through me like a great shard of glass. I felt my eyes widen and pulse quicken, my heart thudding like a rock rattling in box.

“Rivrin!” I heard Shynah yell. I was frozen in place, unable to utter a sound.

“I’m... okay...” he managed to groan out.

Blood trickled from his neck into the water. Rivrin, with a grunt of effort, he grabbed the Siren’s head and pushed magic into his palms.

With a screech, the Siren was propelled away from him. Clutching his neck, Rivrin grimaced painfully and groaned. “Well, that’s one way to do it.”

And before my eyes, he began to transform. Green-blue scales began to stretch along his arms, leaving bloody trails in their wake. His skin bubbled with magic as webbing stretched between his fingers. Gills scored themselves along his throat. His eyes glowed a poisonous green.

Down his hips his scales began, small blue and green iridescent plates that reflected the simmering light of the lake. His legs were merged into one single body at his thighs, and continued well beyond where his feet should have been. At the tapered end, two fins flared out, horizontal like a dolphin. He was a freaking merman. I couldn't believe it.

“Not a merman,” Rivrin corrected me, holding a hand to the wound in his neck. “A Siren.”

“Pesky bender,” the Siren that tried to bite me snarled. “How dare you take our sacred—“

Rivrin flung his arms out, pushed magic into his hands, and she was sent flying back again, this time straight into a rock, where she crashed violently. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said nonchalantly. “I’ve heard it all before.”

“Rivrin...” I murmured, and he turned towards me.

“That was your plan, right? Have me transform into a Siren to get us to the chief?” He said with a playful smile.

I really shouldn’t be surprised that he had figured it out, but he still managed to stun me. His smile slipped a bit at my lack of response.

“Yeah, it’s... um, a bit weird, transforming,” he said. “I’m sorry if I—“

“No...” I cut him off, my voice coming out a bit breathless. “It’s fine.”

I let my gaze wander down his torso and I burrowed my fingers in the sand of the ocean floor to stop myself from reaching out to touch him. To see what it was like. My heart thudded in my chest.

He winked at me playfully before swimming over to the unconscious Siren. Regret flickered across his face as he reached for the chains she had wrapped around her waist. “Usually I would show more respect,” he said. “But that was just rude.”

“She did try to eat us,” Elias reminded him. “I think you can let it slide.”

 “These are chains, right?” He looked towards us for confirmation.

“Yeah,” Coro replied, blowing bubbles out around her as she spoke from her air bubble. Rivrin nodded in thought before he beckoned us.

“Alexos, come here,” he ordered.

I saw what he was thinking. “You’re going to chain us up?” I guessed. ““And escort us as prisoners?”

“Classic Tactics,” Elias recalled with an approving nod. “Clever thinking!”

“Normally, I’d be all for the compliments, but we don’t have much time before Salty here wakes up,” Rivrin gestured towards the Siren. He had a point.

“What about the bite in your neck?” Coro asked in concern.

“Minor setback,” Rivrin shrugged dismissively.

“Right,” I held out my wrists. “Chain me up.”

Rivrin grinned, but said nothing. It was time to see if we were truly capable of what no one had dared do before.

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[szopenhauer]

How was your day?: it wasn’t good.

Would you ever try to count to 5,000 for $5,000?: I’d try

When is the last time you took a picture of yourself?: last days

When did you last take a shower?: I’m going to take a bath soon

What song are you listening to?: The Weeknd - Blinding Lights

Last sentence you said aloud?: not sure what was last

What is the point of scented pens/pencils/erasers? ppl like to smell stuff I guess Do you buy/wear band-aids with cartoon characters on them? they’re usually not sticking well enough  What do you think your reaction would be upon entering the White House? meh, they could spend those money better by helping ppl, nobody needs such a big house - president or not, we’re not in medieval times and guards would have less to do 

Do you buy and wear crazy looking socks? I would like to Would you run down the street wearing a tutu, fishnets, & flippers? topless? for how much tho  Have you ever grown your own sea monkeys or dinosaurs? nope

Did you ever own an Etch-a-Sketch? yes, I loved it so much, I miss it Do/did you ever have glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling? on my wall and furniture, I still have some left Does your house have an attic? it does Have you ever gone white-water rafting? no and don’t want to Does your grandma wear an apron when she cooks? she did How often do you need “me” time? all the time? :x Does it bother you that almost everything is done on computers now? sometimes, a little bit Have you ever gotten stuck in a revolving door? I haven’t What animal do you most resemble while eating? dunno but it reminds me of that yt video - how animals eat their food lmfao Would you play Jumanji, if given the chance? someone already plays it this year

Do you text/call while going to the bathroom?  I might but prefer not to Do you always make sure your cell phone is charged before going somewhere? and powerbank too Did you get Happy Meals just for the toys as a kid? only once, I got Eeyore that I still own Have you ever seen your parents cry?  of course

Do you often shift blame towards others? usually it’s other way around? Do you ever feel like you’re smarter than your boss? I don’t have a job Your very first best friend: Is he/she STILL your best friend? not counting my family - no Have you ever witnessed a crime? minor What’s the coolest personalized license plate you’ve ever seen? I saw a bunch :D Do you write grey or gray? grey, it doesn’t have 50 shades

If you make surveys, how do you decide about its title? I don’t add titles as you can see, that’s stupid

When are you going back to school? never?

What do you do when you tell a really bad joke? my jokes are so bad that they’re good if you know what I mean ;)

Do you like having a huge group of friends or would you rather have few close friends? few close

Do you watch the TV Show Skins? If so, who’s your favorite character? fragments

Can you get a strike at bowling? I never tried bowling but would like to

Do you swallow chewing gum? wtf

Were you into the Beanie Baby craze? nah Would you ever wish to ride a dolphin? nope, I’m not fond of dolphins Do you ever watch the news just for the weather forecast? my parents did and that was dumb, I don’t like/believe in weather forecats If your remote was missing, where is the most likely place you’d find it? in dad’s stuff Ever considered the thought that kangaroos technically have fanny packs? hehe

When was the last time you blew bubbles? not that long time ago from what I remember Did the last doctor’s office you were in have a crappy magazine selection? it did indeed  Have you been to a restaurant where they cook the food in front of you? bakery only The last ball you threw was a… (baseball, basketball, etc.) childish ball for my niece Have you seen how much candidates for president are willing to spend for their campaign? it’s insane  Have you ever caught a friend snooping in your room? I have and that’s why I am afraid of leaving ppl alone in my room  Quick! Name the longest word starting with the letter ‘J’ you can think of: jurisdiction was the first that came to my mind  Do you still write letters to people, even though there’s e-mail now? no longer but not because of e-mail’s existence

Have you ever taken a survey with a friend, listing both answers?: I tagged my friends in the past 

Do you know a guy who has hair longer than yours?: not currently

What color was the last cup you drank out of?: it’s a llama mug (minty color)

If you’re in school, what do you do to fill in time between classes?: there was never enough time for me

Where was the last place you got lost?: mall or park

When was the last time you had cheesecake?: this year

When you last shed tears, was it because of a person?: partially

Other than yours, whose house did you last fall asleep at?: John and P

Have you ever had a significant other whose parents didn’t like you?: looks like it

What’s so unique about your computer?: what’s on it - pictures/memes/documents

What’s one thing you have never done? I didn’t do lots of stuff and don’t want to many of them actually

What is one trend you wish you have been a part of? I’m not into trends in general

Do you enjoy reading fanfictions? About who? Or do you write fanfictions, too? nah

What is something you own that you wish was in your favorite color? it’s not that important

Is there someone from your past that you wish you had dated? used to think that way, no longer

Can you snap with both your hands? If not, which hand can you snap with? both but not every single time

Do you like cosplays? I tried cosplays but it’s not for me and I’m a bit traumatised by it due to experiences from the past, they remind me of someone and not only so I prefer not to follow/look at those related to anime mostly

If you were to participate in one, what/who would you dress up as? I’d dress up as characters I relate to

Do you sometimes answer surveys with “Idk”/“Idr” because you’re too lazy? I just realized that I don’t, wow, I used to do that all the damn time

Are you usually open to trying a new food that you aren’t familiar with? am not

Have you ever acted like a bitch and used PMS as an excuse? I don’t use PMS nor period as an excuse as it’s actually a stereotype and shouldn’t be an argument besides painful/uncomfy/annoying physical sensations and being unable to do some stuff due to that fact 

Do you know someone who brushes their teeth in the shower all the time? *shrug*

Have you ever tried doing that? Did you like it? Why or why not? tried and it’s not that good

Are you patient when it comes to instructing others? I’m not, sorry...

Do you listen to Panic At The Disco? nah

Name a band/artist you like that isn’t that popular.: I like many bands/artists that seem not very popular

Can you lift your significant other (your best friend if you’re single)?: can’t :(

Have you ever lost a pet you were attached to?: we had to give away

You can read minds; Whose mind do you snoop around in first?: hmm...

Do you ever talk to inanimate objects?: stuffed animals, kettle and fridge 

Have you ever tried to fold a piece of paper more than 7 times?: possibly

Your best friend needs a kidney to survive; Do you give them one of your’s?: oh my...

Your brother breaks into your house; Do you press charges?: ... ghost?

Would you rather have a huge cat or a tiny dog?: tiny dog <3

Do you use your hands when you talk to emphasize what you are saying?: do I?

Are you afraid to ask for help when you know that you need it?: depends

Should adopted kids be allowed to find their birth parents if they want to?: I guess

You’re writing a novel; Is it horror, mystery, romance, etc.?: sci-fi/fantasy

Will you usually admit it when you’ve made a mistake? would say so

Does your name begin with a B, L, R, or T?: Z

Could you go a day without texting?: but she couldn’t and we don’t want to

Do you have a step-parent?: I don’t

If so, do you get along with them?: -

Do you have any nieces or nephews?: one

Does your current/last job require that you wear a uniform?: one of jobs that I had

Who is your 23rd phone contact and how do you know them?: I don’t have this many

If the last person you kissed proposed to you what would you say?: try me

Where is your dad right now?: sleeping 

Are there any writing utensils close to you? several

Look up, what do you see? ceiling

Do you have a bigger upper or lower lip? lower

Do you have any screen names with spelling errors? luckily not

Open the nearest drawer and tell me what’s inside it: I know it’s empty, don’t have to open it

How many other rooms can you currently see into? my door is closed

Do you need to take the trash out? already done

Do you need to clean out a litter box right now? we don’t have a cat anymore

Are these questions reminding you of things you put off to do this survey? nah

How many days have you been wearing those clothes? 1

Do you like listening to 60’s music? some songs

Can you move your nose? many ways

Can you wiggle your ears? my dad can

How many songs have you downloaded this week? I don’t download songs

Would you rather be a pirate or robot? robot, can’t robot be a pirate tho?

Would you rather be a ghost or a zombie? ghost 

Have you ever considered living in a bomb shelter? I’d be scared to live underground

If I gave you a piano and told you hit middle c, could you? nooo

do you think it’s weird for someone to have never tried soda?   not really

which floor of your house/building are you on now? there’s basement under me and attic above me

would you ride a motorcycle if given the chance? (or have you?) I would, haven’t yet

what are your thoughts on reincarnation? (have you ever read up about it?) it’s possible

does your home have a balcony/deck/porch? balcony

how would you feel about traveling abroad alone? anxious

do you have an interesting passport? I don’t have a passport

what happens to your old clothes? I donate them, give them to ppl I know, reuse them, sell them etc.

who supports you financially? my parents 

if you wanted to go to the movie cinema, how would you get there? walking then by bus then walk again

have you ever had a crush on a sibling’s friend or a friend’s sibling? minor

do you know much about feng shui? (do you use it?) not much, I don’t use it

what’s your favorite spot to read? librocubicularist

did you know that buddha is not considered a god to buddhists? ok

do you save tickets from movies, etc.?   saved some

without looking him up, who was jim morrison? vocalist

do you have a nervous habit? several

would you be/are you a good role model to a younger sibling? nah

[converginglives]

Do bloops count as Christmas presents? (I hope you don’t get tired of seeing me here lol) Five bloops for Aither, Five for John and another five for any Character you like. And because tis the season: Which characters celebrate Yule? Which of your characters is most likely to dress up as Santa for their kids on Christmas?

Thanks sweetheart @fragrant-stars

They do in my book! Bloops are awesome! I totally won’t, I adore the random asks with questions and bloops! Even if sometimes super slow to answer *nods*. I know you wanted Jon after we discussed it, but since it says John I’ll do all three of the boys since this is so late! 

The other questions are under the cut as they are also long.

Aither:

I have a habit of buying up community centers and libraries, putting Network members in charge of them so they can be restored and active in the community once more

I considered going into Genetics, as that’s just the operating code for humans

I can fight in heels, I wouldn’t suggest it however and often wish to slap movie producers and dimwits who think that actresses need them. 

On that note, I think I will open my own movie producing company sometime to get some common sense going. *adds to notes*

I was a shark kid, rather than dolphin kid

Jon:

Tetris is a long standing favorite of mine, every one of my devices has a copy for me to use as a way to unwind

There is very little in the way of food I dislike, mostly because we were always traveling and I got to try a wide variety of stuff growing up. 

Picking locks was a skill Pops did not appreciate Da teaching me, Mum thought it was hilarious 

I’ve tried gardening multiple times, maybe it’s cause we were always on the move, but I don’t have a green thumb for the vast majority of plants

Cooking is not a strong skill of mine.

John S.

I was raised by a single mum who wanted me to understand that different people live different lives based on their circumstances. That meant we spent time actually living in them. I have to say, it was an eye opener. 

I’m non-religious, not because I don’t believe there’s a deity or higher power, but because I like to study the different faiths, and the parts that call to me are what I follow. If asked I say Spiritualist 

My mum praised my work as I got my doctorate, particularly when I turned my focus towards helping those who can’t get help elsewhere or only able to accept certain levels of help for personal reasons. 

I love both sets of my partners - my soulmates were amazing, as are my spouses - equally, even if it is not the same sort of love. 

When I first started seeing Rory and Amy, I was nervous about Jon, as I could see so much of myself in him and wanted to make sure I did right by him. I never would have guessed I’d be the parent he was closest too!

John B.

Becoming an assassin wasn’t something I planned on, it just sort of happened because of my skill set and mentality. 

I didn’t think I had soulmarks, not until I had a mark explain the unseen variety of soulmarks. 

I didn’t kill that mark like I was supposed to, it was the start of me moving away from working for the Company. I didn’t realize it at the time, and the next time I saw that mark, years later they smiled at me mischievously and belonged to the Network.

I love baking, though I rarely do any

I make it a point to learn how to help Aaron with his chronic pain, whether it be through the extremely rare massages, foods and drinks, or any other small things. 

Which characters celebrate Yule?

Stepan 

*nods* every year I do.

It starts the day before by handing out small gift bags that include fresh baked goods (from the bakery as I rarely manage anything but cookies), and little items based on the person’s traits and needs. 

The day of Yule starts with candles and prayers for the coming year. Most the day is spent in reflection, sometimes I cook, but more often I review journals and medical charts. I make sure I have a candle going the entire day, one lit from the first of the day’s flame. At the end of the day, I go room to room, asking for the coming year to be better before blowing the candle out as I go to bed. 

The following morning starts with making me family bread recipe, and saying the Winter into Spring Blessing. Sometimes I miss having others to do that with, so it’s not uncommon for me to take it to the office so others can eat and enjoy after it’s done baking. First though, I use the special soaps kept aside for rituals and cleansings to clean up and dress in my best outfit. Often I’ve purchased it for the new cycle. 

Throughout the day, I give little gifts to those I’ve acquired them for. It is mostly friends and family, but I also do gifts for others such as the kids I see regularly, my coworkers, and anyone else that might come up. 

At the end of the day I return home, lights a candle I’ll allow to burn itself out, made to last til dawn before getting ready for bed, saying one more prayer, and laying down. 

Pavel

There was a few years I didn’t, but as my faith returned, I’ve been celebrating once more. Depending on who I’ll be with is what sort of celebration I’ll hold. It can be anything from making baked goods to give away to hosting a full feast with gift giving. 

Which of your characters is most likely to dress up as Santa for their kids on Christmas?

Sparks for one as the younger kids adore it. 

[Author’s Note: there’s probably others I just don’t know about yet.]

Send a Bloop (or multiples) and get facts on the characters!