#I meant to post this here yesterday but completely forgot oops

[actual-lea]

oops I meant to post this yesterday and completely forgot

AO3 | First chapter | Previous chapter

Daniel stares at the ceiling in stunned silence. The back of his head is throbbing, now, from hitting the floor, and the air has been forcibly knocked from his lungs and replaced by an uncomfortably heavy pressure on his chest. It doesn't hurt, exactly; at least, not yet.

He starts to lift his head but quickly drops it again with a groan, squeezing his eyes shut and placing a hand over his thudding heart. He's almost surprised to find his ribcage hasn't been caved in completely, that the bullet didn’t punch right through the vest, through fabric and skin and muscle and bone, that there isn't any blood soaking his clothes.

He opens his eyes to see Sayid standing over him, gun in hand, and adrenaline forces him to scramble away, as much as he can when every movement hurts like an ice pick to his chest. “Sayid,” he gasps out, pressing his back to the wall, “What are you–”

“Keep quiet and don't move,” Sayid orders in a low, deadly calm voice, and Dan falls into a terrified silence. “Do you know why I'm here?”

He blinks, his eyes locked onto the end of the gun. The attached suppressor isn’t there for intimidation; no, this is a weapon meant solely for killing.

“Do you know why I am here?” Sayid repeats, more forcefully, stepping closer and kicking aside the bag Daniel had dropped.

“N-no, no, I'm sorry, I don't, I'm–” He shakes his head. “I– I don't understand–”

“For a long time now, I've been tracking down the men who work for Charles Widmore,” Sayid says, and Dan's blood turns to ice. “These are bad men. Dangerous men. And so I've been finding them, and killing them. All of them.” A pause. “That’s why I’ve come to Los Angeles, to find the next man on my list.”

Daniel's pulse pounds in his ears and he shrinks back, holding out a hand. “Wait–”

“When your name came up, I thought it must be a mistake. After all, the last time I saw you, it was after you had nearly drowned trying to save a stranger's life.” Sayid kneels beside him. “I would like to believe that you’re a good person, Daniel Faraday. That you have a good reason for whatever you've done. And that's why I'm giving you a chance to convince me.”

“But you just–” Daniel's breath catches in his throat; he coughs, once, and nearly faints outright. “You shot me,” he wheezes, clutching his chest.

“But you're wearing a vest,” Sayid states, and he reaches forward to tug at the black fabric peeking out from beneath Dan's collar. “And so I haven't killed you.”

The unspoken yet hangs in the air between them, and Daniel shifts his weight with a wince. “How... How am I s'posed to convince–”

“You can start by telling me how long you've been on Widmore's payroll.”

He shakes his head. “It– It's not like that, I'm not–” Sayid shoots him a glare that silences him; he'll just stick to the basics, then. “It was a couple years ago, uh... October. 2005.”

Sayid's eyes flash. “When in October?”

“I don't...” He blinks back tears, panting a bit. “Um, the end, I think. What–” Then he realizes what he's being asked and shakes his head, horrified. “Sayid, you don't think I was involved with– with what happened to...”

“Nadia,” Sayid breathes. “Her name was Nadia.” There's a dangerous edge in his voice as he leans closer. “Were you?”

“No,” he replies, so forcefully that it hurts. “I swear to you, I had nothing to do with that. I wouldn't.”

After a long, long silence, broken only by Dan's shallow, shaky breathing, Sayid slowly nods. “So, what did you do for Widmore?”

Daniel swallows against the lump in his throat. “He...recruited me, to find his daughter. Penelope.”

“Find her?”

“After we left the island, he didn't know where she was, and...” He shifts his weight and winces again. “I guess, he thought she was in danger, somehow, so he made me track her down.”

“Why you?”

“Because...” He exhales. “He knew that Penny would be wherever Desmond was.”

“I'm not sure I understand.”

“Yeah. Me neither,” he says with something between a laugh and a groan. “Uh, Desmond is... I have a sort of... A connection, to him.”

“What do you mean, 'connection'?”

“It's– Well, it's a bit...complicated, to explain, but...” Dan clears his throat with a grimace. “Details aside, Widmore knew about it, and knew that I would be able to find him.”

“And it never occurred to you that this pretense of protecting his daughter might be a lie?” Sayid says with a frown. “That perhaps he was tying up loose ends, and that Desmond was the real target he was interested in?”

“No, it– It did occur to me, but I...” He swallows, and nods, squeezing his eyes shut. “It did, yeah.”

“And did you find them?”

“Yes.”

Sayid looks dismayed. “Why?”

“He didn't... Widmore didn't give me a choice,” Dan gasps, barely above a whisper.

“What did he offer you?”

“Nothing, he–” He bites back a curse as Sayid's hand twists in his collar, pulling him closer.

“Did he threaten you, then? Tell you that this was the only way to save your life?”

“N-no, it's not–”

“Then what is it?” He jabs the end of the gun into Dan's neck. “What was it that made you decide to help this man, that you knew to be dangerous?”

Daniel chokes on a sob. “Sayid, please–”

“What was it?”

“He threatened someone else,” he says in a rush, his voice breaking. “Someone that I– That isn't even involved in any of this, and if I don't do what he says, he'll...” He shakes his head. “God, I don't even know what he'll do, but it won't be good, and that's why I– I have to cooperate, because if I don't, if I run, if I try to do anything...”

Sayid stares at him in silence.

He's no longer speaking in past tense, he realizes suddenly. “He'll find me again,” he explains quietly. “Sooner or later.”

“Why, Daniel?” The pressure on the gun eases, just a bit, but it doesn't move. “What more does he want from you?”

“I've...been...” He shuts his eyes tight. “I've been trying to find the island.”

Sayid releases his hold on Dan’s collar, letting him slump back against the wall.

He takes a deep, painful breath and continues, “To– to figure out where it is now, based on...a lot of really complicated theories, about what exactly happened when it moved.” He wraps an arm around his chest. “Because I'm, you know, I'm a physicist, this is... It's what I do,” he adds with a helpless shrug.

“And Widmore?”

“And Widmore...” He swallows, hard, and looks down. “He's trying to find the island, too, so...”

“So he'll have you find it for him.”

“That's...what I'm afraid of, yeah,” he whispers.

Sayid exhales heavily. “This person that he threatened. What’s her name?”

Dan winces. “Theresa.”

“Where is she?”

“W-why does it matter?”

“The sooner you answer my questions, the sooner this will be over.”

A shiver rolls up his spine as he contemplates the meaning of the word over. “Oxford. She… Her sister takes care of her, they live in Oxford.”

Sayid is silent for a few seconds. “And you can't take them somewhere else, keep them safe from Widmore?”

“No, I can't.”

“Why can't you?”

“Because I can't keep anyone safe! That's why I–” A fresh stab of pain in his chest forces Daniel to suck in a sharp breath and start over. “That's why I have to find the island before he does, because everyone that we left behind, they're still...” His voice shakes. “They're all in danger, as long as they're still there. As long as he's still looking.”

“And what if your finding the island is exactly what he wants?” Sayid says. “You could be playing right into his hands.”

“Not if he doesn’t know where I am.”

At that, he stands up to his full height. “Then he can’t be allowed to find you,” he states. “You need to disappear.” His voice would be gentle, almost, if it weren't for the gun in his hand.

Daniel watches him with wide eyes, feeling small and helpless and far too terrified to be ashamed of the way he cowers against the wall.

And then, inexplicably, Sayid pockets the gun and walks away. He lifts the phone off the nightstand and places it on the floor, and he says, softly, “Wherever you were hiding, go back there.”

Dan blinks. “You’re not…gonna kill me?”

Sayid shakes his head, and relief floods Daniel’s chest around the pain. “I’m going to disappear, too.” He nods to the phone. “Wait five minutes before you call for help.”

“Okay,” he gasps, nodding vigorously. “Yeah. Okay.” He lets his head fall back against the wall as Sayid heads for the door.

He opens it, then pauses. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry.”

“Thanks,” Daniel says, and he means it.

With a final nod, Sayid shuts the door behind him.

(next chapter)

[pigeonwithapen]

Made another fake cover! Spent way too long fussing with this one but oh well

[darkfrostclan]

this went from “I might make this a breeding project if i can come up with some lore idk” to “This dragon died and possessed the marionette he was killed with and it’s set up like he’s some kind of creepy murder puppet but he’s an absolute sweetheart and I need this dragon to exist and am looking up tutorials on how to make my own real-life marionette of him as we speak” way too fast

[tsukikento]

Too Fast For Your Own Good Part 1

(part 2) (part 3)

Pairing: Takami Keigo (Hawks x Reader)

Words: 4814

Summary: Soulmate!AU - the first words your soulmate says to you is written on your body in ink.

Genre/Warnings: Nothing? Fluff maybe?

A/N: I got carried away and this got too long so now it’s two parts! Hahaha oops sorry. Anyways, pls enjoy I spent hella time on this! Also posted on my ao3 @ allie_win

When Takami Keigo turned 13, a small tattoo formed on his back, just between his wings. 

The first thing he remembers was the burning sensation he felt in the middle of the night. He remembers yelping from the pain, turning on the light, and looking in the mirror to see what it was. 

Takami was worried that something was happening to his wings, but he was relieved to see that it was his soulmate mark, something he completely forgot about. 

I know I am.

Takami spent that night staring at the marking, admiring the way they curved around his wings. Finally, he had the promise of love.

The next day, Takami came to training sleep-deprived yet still shining happily. He remembers telling a man at the company about it, only for him to brush it off by saying, “Don’t think about your soulmate mark, you will be a hero with no time for romance.”

After that, Takami did not anticipate the meeting of his soulmate. Those words got Takami through a lot of tough situations. They pathed the way for his personality to form.

~~

When Y/L/N Y/N turned 13, a small tattoo formed on your back, just between your shoulder blades.

The burning sensation that you woke up to in the middle of the night scared you so much that you accidentally stopped time. The colorful world turned gray and you took this chance to turn on the lights and check the new mark.

Your parents expected this and preemptively explained the situation to you. They did not, however, describe the pain you were currently feeling.

You spent as much time as you could looking at the words on your back before turning off the lights, getting back into bed, and letting time once again flow without immediate interruptions.

So apparently you’re faster than me?

The words didn’t leave your head that night, and your parents also questioned the meaning when they saw it in the morning. 

A thought that frequently crossed your mind was that obviously you were faster than them. You could stop time! Granted, you couldn’t breathe while you were stopping time, which meant you had to spend time training your breathing, but you could currently go a whole minute without feeling your lungs heat up.

The idea of speed eventually made sense when you were signing up to take the entrance exam at U.A. High School. The professor signing you up asked to see your quirk, to which you paused time, moved to stand next to the professor, and started time.

“Wow, teleportation!” The professor complimented.

Although you were about to correct him, he gave you a number and called the next person up, not allowing you to speak. 

Regardless of how many times you tried to correct someone about your quirk, they constantly interrupted you and didn’t listen. Eventually, you gave up, deciding that deception may be the best choice for you.

From there, and into your graduation, you were known as Teleportation Hero: Telethon.

~~ Present Time - Age 20

When you awoke from a deep sleep on your first day off in two weeks, you were greeted by cool air and birds singing on a bright Sunday morning. You yawned, stretched your limbs, and relished in the warm sunshine coming through your windows that juxtaposed the wind passing by your exposed leg.

Today, you had plans. Relaxation plans specifically. A Swedish massage and celebrity-scale facial were waiting to meet you at your 2 pm appointment today, giving you ample time to eat and get ready. You had been anticipating this appointment for the past month, allowing the excitement to push you through the tough and tireless month you had faced. 

What made this appointment all the more worth it was the effort you put into yesterday’s mission. An earthquake villain appeared in the city and sent down multiple buildings in their wake. The entire situation was incredibly tiring, from the hours spent stopping time and carrying people out of buildings to the paperwork you filled out till midnight yesterday.

You turned onto your side and grabbed your phone off the side table.

You had a few push notifications from various apps as well as a couple texts from your friend, Kaoruko Awata, regarding the dinner plans you both had and your boss Edgeshot, wishing you a good day off. You smiled at the text and responded before putting your phone away. You would love to spend time responding to fans, but you wanted to use less time on your phone today, choosing to focus more on life and nature.

Eventually, you made your way out of bed and got dressed in some exercise clothes. Your stomach was growling at this point, and you were really craving some waffles and a cup of coffee.

Once done cooking, you turned on the television and reached across your coffee table to grab your coffee and felt your muscles ache, reminding you once again of the day previous.

You got the call seconds after the earthquake, and you immediately rushed over. 

Multiple buildings were crumbling down, some were ablaze in wild, red and yellow fires. Heroes were scattered across the scene, all rushing around to help the hundreds of civilians harmed. Some flew through the sky, others working to stop the fires. You didn’t spend much time taking in the scene, opting to begin the rescue mission; you of all people knew the importance of time.

The world thought you could effortlessly transport people from location to location. Opposingly, the process of saving people was rather tedious. You knew the importance of this mission, and you spent as much time as you could in the gray and frozen world you effortlessly created, but you still had to hold your title as Teleportation Hero. At this point, if the world found out you were lying about your quirk, they wouldn’t be able to trust you.

Oh, the hole you had dug yourself was deep and there was no one to help you out of it.

Around 12 pm, you finished your food, turned off the television and pulled out the book you were currently reading. With your busy schedule, you had very little time to read, but your New Year's Resolution was to read more, and this was one of the few days you could stick to that goal.

Regardless of the interesting story, you found yourself drifting back to yesterday’s events.

You had arrived so quickly to the scene that you had no communication earpieces set up and ended up stopping a healing hero to hear about the ongoing battle. 

“You okay?” The healing hero asked first and foremost, ignoring your question.

“Just quirk overuse,” You breathlessly replied. “How is everything going?” You asked again.

“Good, but it’s a slow process,” They replied. The healing hero grabbed a few serums off their belt and mixed them together in a small bottle. “The villain isn’t caught yet, but apparently they are narrowing in on him. He’s on the run right now.”

You nodded in response, silently praying that they catch him to ensure that no one else was hurt. 

“Here, drink this. It’ll give you a burst of energy,” The healing hero said while holding out a vile of blue liquid.

“Thanks,” You replied and immediately downed the shot. It burned down your throat and you felt the energy immediately rush through. It was definitely increasing your adrenaline. You handed the healing hero the bottle back and stopped time to rush into a new building. 

When you realized you had been daydreaming instead of focusing on the story, you silently scolded yourself and grabbed a cup of water to clear your head. You saw the clock read 1 pm, and you decided to get ready now instead of being perpetually late like usual.

You fondly reminded yourself how lucky you were to have a time manipulation quirk that helped counteract your horrible habit of being late.

~~

You ended up finishing the entire process of your massage and facial appointment around 5 pm, giving you less than two hours before your dinner date with Awata. The plan was for her to come over around 6:30, with food in hand, she had just texted you 5 restaurant options for you to judge. You lazed around your house as you looked up each restaurant’s menu and selected your top 2.

From your two, Awata ended up choosing the pizza place and told you that she would call to order right away. About 20 minutes later, you got a text from Awata letting you know that she was on her way.

You replied and went into the kitchen to grab out plates for the pizza. You downed the rest of the water you had been sipping periodically and walked across your small studio apartment to change into a more appropriate outfit than the one you had worn to your appointment.

Once in a comfortable yet surprisingly cute outfit, you moved back into your living room to wait for your friend. It was so uncommon that you got a whole day off without any training or any extra errands to run for work and you were going to utilize every second of rest. You laid down on your couch and quickly got lost in your thoughts.

Your mind wandered to Awata, reflecting on your great friendship with her. Although she was incredibly quiet and soft-spoken, she had the true heart of a hero and craved helping people. Not only that, but she had slowly been getting funnier and funnier due to her job at Sir Nighteye’s office.

You still remembered the smile on her face when she told you that she got the job with a silly joke.

Around 6:30, Awata texted you to buzz her up, and by the time she got upstairs, you had moved the plates and two full cups of water to the coffee table. You got up from your couch at the sound of a knock at your door.

“Hey, Ms. Hero Allstar,” Awata said as she waltzed into your condo with two personal-sized pizzas. “So, what’s it like?”

“What’s what like?” You mumbled, more focused on the steaming pizza that was being handed to you. You both were already drooling at the prospect of gooey cheese and carbs.

“Being so famous!” Your friend yelled as she took on her shoes before plopping down on your love seat.

You scoffed at her comment and rolled your eyes before opening up your pizza, “I’m not even in the top 2,000 heroes.” You grabbed a slice and moved it onto your plate.

“Not after today,” Awata replied, as she joined you in opening up her own pizza.

You looked up at your friend with a confused face, not able to reply because your mouth was filled with pizza.

“Wait, do you really not know?” Awata asked. She reached over and grabbed your television remote, switching it onto a local news station.

The image of two anchors came onto the screen. The view of them quickly switched away to a video of the wreckage from today. “They saved a total of 137 civilians in the span of only two hours. Additionally, no additional damage was caused in the process. This success skyrocketed Telethon to top charts online.”

The screen cut to a scene of you using your quirk to grab multiple people in only a few seconds. You gawked and looked over to your friend. 

“It was truly impressive, but what can you expect from a member of Edgeshot’s agency” The female anchor spoke as the screen cut back to them.

“It is,” The male agreed. “In fact, we have some quotes from yesterday about the situation.”

The healing hero from before popped onto screen. “I worked with Telethon for only a moment today, giving them one of my serums to help give them the energy needed to save people. I feel honored I got to be a part of this record-breaking defeat.”

The screen cut to a young boy, possibly 12 years old.

“Telethon was so cool yesterday!” Their face was bright and it warmed your heart to see their support. “Not only were they fast, but they were fast for hours! That’s endurance! Most speed heroes don’t have that, they might even be faster than Hawks!”

The screen cut back to the chuckling anchors and you looked over to your friend as they talked about the multiple videos circling the internet that almost all had millions of views.

“Holy shit.”

Awata nodded excitedly. “I know.” Although quiet, she could get just as excited as you during great events. She was smiling wider than you were right now.

If you were in your right mind, you might have noticed the correlation between the speed comment, Hawks, and your soulmate mark. However, you were too excited about this new fame to even think about it.

The rest of your night was spent celebrating with Awata, both of you having a few drinks and stuffing your faces with indulgent American-style barbecue.

~~

As weeks passed, the fame for you continued to rise. Your rating approval shot through the roof and you were being stopped more often to give autographs and take photos.

Not only had your fame been rising, but so had the idea of you being faster than Hawks. Although you admired Hawks, you kept away from the drama, opting to focus more on improving your skills to meet the new expectations you were being given.

~~

After about a month of this challenge circulating, Hawks couldn’t help but make a comment. He was so much more popular and powerful than this wannabe, and no one was going to stop him from being the fastest hero. He was being bombarded daily for a comment about the speculation of someone being faster than him. Not only did he hate the attention, but he hated how the doubt of his strengths got to him.

One day, when paparazzi were surrounding him and pestering him about the challenge, he snapped and shouted into the camera.

“There is no way Telethon is faster than me and I will prove it! This is my official challenge for them to come out of hiding and actually race me!” He looked straight into the camera and spoke eerily calm, “I am too fast for my own good.”

~~

You still remembered the fear you felt when you watched the clip on the internet only a few hours after it went viral.

You will admit that you made a connection between your soulmate mark and Hawks’ words at the time, but you brushed them off. Too often were you disappointed after talking to a cute boy that you had been admiring. 

It’s not like you could focus on relationships as a hero anyways.

~~

The next day, your manager told you that he contacted Hawks’ manager and arranged an obstacle race for that Friday.

“It will be great PR,” They claimed, “Even if you don’t win!”

You reluctantly agreed, not like you had much of a choice, and awaited the email that would contain everything you needed to know from the time and date to the price of tickets.

The prospect made you incredibly afraid. To you, the debating of who was faster was more fun than anything. The idea of having to prove yourself was driving you crazy.

What if you couldn’t hold your breath long enough? What if Hawks was so fast that he beat you before you could even stop time?

You sighed and leaned farther back into your soft couch, wishing that the cushions would swallow you up. Maybe this was all a dream and a nice nap would wake you up?

You bit your lip and read through the email, your thoughts drifting off periodically. 

~~

Over the next couple days, you worked privately at expanding your air capacity. Your manager wasn’t allowed to tell you anything about the course, so you had to work hard to perfect your breathing and your speed.

You laid down on the floor of the gym, no one was there because of how late it was. 

Your mind got lost in the thought of how you could technically even win a speed race. Sure you would have to run through everything, but to everyone else, it would just look like you were flashing from one place to the next.

A few years back, you met someone else with a teleportation quirk. They described it as flashing place to place, although they were restricted to only moving about 15 meters. You always thought of your quirk as a time stopping quirk rather than teleportation, but it did help you in battles that people just thought it was teleportation.

Grunting, you got up from your spot on the ground and got back on the treadmill. You stopped time and continued to run for as long as you could, dreading the competition tomorrow.

~~

You woke up to your alarm, the sky was gray and a chilly air flooded through your room, making you cling to your blankets. You heard the sound of rain outside and groaned. You checked your phone, but were too tired to respond to any texts you had received that day.

You got out of bed, your muscles aching and started preparing an ice bath. You hated ice baths more than anything else in the world, but they still dramatically helped your aching muscles. As you stepped into the freezing cold water, you tried your best not to focus on how much it hurt to sit in an ice bath.

After only a couple minutes, you practically jumped out of the water, deciding that you had been in their long enough. You wrapped your body in a towel and started drying off as you made your way to your room. 

You threw on a sweater and sweatpants to keep you warm and started stretching your muscles. From there, you grabbed yourself a freshly brewed cup of coffee and began applying the makeup involved in your hero costume. You made sure to apply a thick foundation and powder to make sure you didn’t appear too greasy in the photos.

You grabbed a snack once done with your makeup and grabbed your bag with any necessities or costume things you would need. Your manager told you to change there so you simply packed everything you would need. 

After double checking that you had everything necessary for the day and competition, you stopped time and casually made your way to the stadium, watching the still rain water in your own gray world.

Luckily, the place wasn’t too far away from your house and you were able to make it there by only needing to start time again a couple of times and take a breath. When you arrived, you were whisked away by your manager who had you immediately get dressed. You then had a couple people fix up your makeup and style your hair.

As this was done, your manager informed you that you would be starting the day with an interview, yours being right after Hawks’. He told you a couple questions they were going to ask and steered you to answer in certain ways.

“We don’t want to give too much away, just make it interesting and fun,” You manager said as the hair and makeup team finished up and left quickly.

You looked at yourself in the mirror and admired the way everything came together before your manager ushered you to the calling curtain. On the other side, you could clearly hear the interview going on between the woman and Hawks.

“So, Hawks, how are you feeling about this whole situation?” The interviewer asked. “You seemed quite angry at all the attention Telethon was getting.”

From your position, there was also a small television that pointed directly at them. You saw the expression of the interviewing as she asked Hawks the question. Her voice was practically dripping with sensuality as she tried to keep Hawks’ attention.

The camera cut to Hawks who was casually sitting back as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Honestly, I wasn’t. I was upset that I was getting attention. I don’t like when paparazzi follow me everywhere.” He looked from the audience to the interviewer and smirked. “I’m happy that Telethon is getting attention, they deserve it. Granted, I wholeheartedly doubt their faster than me.”

“Oh, really?” The lady inquired. You could tell she was reaching for strings to create drama. She leaned forward and you noted how her skirt inched up just slightly

“Well, I am too fast for my own good,” Hawks replied, grinning and waving his hands to prove his point.. “I’m happy that Telethon is gaining attention, they are a great hero. However, no one will ever be faster than me.”

“Well, Hawks, I’ll be looking for you at the finish line then,” The lady smirked at the blond hero.

You groaned at the obvious bias the interviewer had.

“Anyways,” She started, “That’s all the time we have for Hawks. We are going to take a short break and be back with Teleportation Hero: Telethon!”

The audience clapped and Hawks waved goodbye to the crowd before making his way towards the back. In fact, he was making his way towards you. You gulped down the lump in your throat as your manager began making a few more notes in your ear about what to say in the interview.

You looked down as Hawks approached you, too nervous to look up at him. Not only was he the current number two hero, but he was also your maybe soulmate. You hated to dwell on love like so many people nowadays, but the idea that the Takami Keigo could be the love of your life could make anyone nervous. 

He smirked at you as a sound person came up and started taking his mic off of him and putting it onto you.

Your sense of smell was suddenly crowded with a deep musk, that smelled of woodlands and cherries. The smell was airy and delightful and you noted that it had to have been coming from Hawks.

Finally seeing the number two hero up close made you painfully aware of how handsome he was. 

His dirty blonde hair naturally swept back because of how much time he spent flying. His golden skin practically glowed as he smirked down at you, making you all the more self conscious.

Most of all, you couldn’t take your eyes off his wings. You were sure your face was mirroring their crimson color based on how hot you suddenly felt. They looked so soft and beautiful and you felt a strong pull to touch them as if someone was whispering in your ear.

As you felt the mic being clipped onto your hero uniform, you attempted to bring yourself back into reality. You swallowed your nerves and looked up at the smirking hero in front of you. You could tell he was amused at how obviously starstruck you were. Even with his mic off, he seemed to linger for a few moments to watch you, his eyes trailing up and down your body.

It made you all the more nervous.

You watched as his mouth opened, as if he was about to speak. However, you were quickly pushed by your manager as they ushered you onto stage.

“Wave at the fans!” They said as you were pushed through the red curtain.

You focused back on the crowd as the flashing lights filled your vision. You tried your best not to squint and wave at the people around you. You were making your way to the chair and the interviewer that was awaiting you, when you suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed. You took a few deep breaths and tried to calm yourself.

You gingerly sat down in the seat and smiled brightly at the woman in front of you.

After the applause died down, the interviewer became speaking. “Welcome, Telethon, we are happy to see you today.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine,” You replied. Although annoyed, you could still be nice and spread positivity for your young fans. “As a fairly new hero and not very high ranked hero, it is incredibly surreal to be gaining so much attention and thanks for my work. I keep reminding myself to try my best for all the new fans I’ve gained.”

The audience erupted into applause and you could tell the lady was a bit annoyed that you were coming off as so nice and humble. You brushed off her attitude, knowing that you were being true to yourself.

Regardless of how you acted in your own life, you were a hero nonetheless and wanted to be a good role model for aspiring heroes.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you’re loving the attention,” The lady, who you still didn’t know the name of, said. “However, do you really think you are faster than the number 2 hero?”

You smiled politely at the woman in front of you, even though you were silently wishing she would be hit by a train. “Actually, I’m here for the challenge. Regardless of whether or not I win, I am always looking for a challenge to better myself and gain new experiences.”

“Oh, so you are just doing this to get close to top heroes like Hawks?” The women interjected, stopping you from further explaining yourself.

“No,” You sternly replied. “Like I said, I personally want new experiences and to keep reaching for ways to become a better hero. For example, I’ve been training for the past two days to prepare, and I know my speed has increased, and I’ll be proud of that even if I don't end up winning.”

The interviewer was practically pouting from your ability to easily recover from her questions meant to stump you. From there, the interviewer asked you a few easier questions, such as one about your employment at Edgeshot’s company.

Eventually, she prompted you to say goodbye to the audience and you politely waved and she asked people to tune in at 4 pm today for the competition.

You waved goodbye as you walked off stage and were immediately meeted by the sound person and your manager.

“That was great,” They cheekily grinned at you, knowing full well how annoyed you were with the rude lady.

“Thanks,” You replied, glad your manager was able to understand you so well. “You mind if I take a breather?”

“Not at all, just be back in half an hour,” He replied, “Your bags are in the green room.”

“Thanks,” You mumbled as you made your way around the building to find the green room. Everyone was rapidly walking around and the whole building was incredibly busy. You groaned and stopped time, using this as a chance to search around a quiet area and find the room.

Not only were you pissed that the interviewer was treating you like a child, but you were ridiculously nervous for the competition. You knew it was supposed to be a casual competition, but Hawks made it seem serious for him. He was the number two hero for god’s sake! If he lost to you, it could ruin his career.

Not only was the moral dilemma of letting Hawks win vs. trying your hardest bothering you, but so was Hawks. In the brief minute you were around him, your body filled with uncertainty and you felt intoxicated on his smell and appearance. Maybe it was you getting caught up in the idea that he may be your soulmate, or maybe it was your body telling you he was.

Regardless of your nerves, you were currently most caught up in anger for the interviewer. You entered the green room, and stared straight at the glorious display of food. You didn’t bother to look around the room as you started time again and groan in frustration.

“So you are just doing this to get close to top heroes,” You mumbled, changing your voice to match how annoying it sounded coming from the interviewer’s mouth. “Like I need it, I’m Edgeshot’s top employee and she would have known that if she did any research before the interview.”

You groaned loudly again and turned to face the couch. No one could explain how flustered you felt when you saw Hawks sitting on the couch, eating a plate of fried chicken. When you met his eyes, you felt his golden eyes bore into his soul.

He adjusted to be sitting up straight and moved to place the plate next to him. He cleared his throat and took a sip of water. You watched him the entire time, too embarrassed to speak.

“So,” He finally began, “apparently you’re faster than me?”

[flowercrown-bucky]

That Old Black Magic

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Modern!Loki x Reader, Modern!Thor x Reader, Loki x Wanda

Series Warnings: Cheating, affairs, swearing, legal alcohol consumption, smut later on, mention of smoking

Summary: What do you do when you fall in love? Embark on a clandestine affair with their brother, of course.

Authors’ Note: This is very dialogue heavy towards the end. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya. Oh, and hold tight, it’s a long one.

I was supposed to post this yesterday but forgot oops

Start At The Beginning | Series Masterlist

Chapter Five - Regarding long dismissed feelings that must, as ever, be addressed.

TAG LIST: OPEN (PLEASE COMMENT OR MESSAGE ME IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE ADDED!)

“Y/N?” He muttered into your hair.

You murmured in response.

"I love you."

"What?" A spluttered, incredulous laugh left your lips. "Sorry, Loki, for a moment, I thought you said you loved me."

This was it, Loki thought. This was his do or die moment.

"I did." He mumbled. "I do."

Your whole body froze. You couldn't believe what you were hearing. His words echoed in your ears.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I. Love. You.

It wasn't possible. Loki didn't love you. Loki couldn't love you.

You'd played this game since the very first time you'd met. Dancing around each other, skirting around your feelings. Secret, exciting, harmless. You were drawn to him and he you, there was no denying that. Since you'd first met, you'd been drawn together, as if dictated by the will of some cosmic force.

But it was never anything serious. Never anything real. You'd had your moments, quiet and tender and clandestine, hidden away from prying eyes. Moments where you'd wondered how things would pan out if circumstances were different. If - and it was a big if - you weren't engaged to his brother.

As you closed your eyes, hundreds of Lokis' filled your mind.

Loki at the garden party. Loki half-smiling at a joke you'd told. Loki laughing so hard he spat beer out his nose. Loki sleeping on his brother. Loki in the sea under the moonlight. Loki gently embracing Wanda. Loki gently embracing you. Loki that night on the roof, mere steps away from pouring his heart out to you. You looked at the Loki before you. His bottom lip trembled slightly, his eyes glassy.

"Wanda..."  Your voice trembled as you spoke. "Thor."

He stepped closer to you, wrapping his arms around you, cradling your body.

"It doesn't matter about them." He murmured, his voice low and soothing. "It doesn't matter about anyone. All that matters is me and you. So long as I love you and you love me, everything will be ok."

You said nothing, trying very hard to disguise how every muscle in your body was tensing under his touch. You weren't fooling anyone.

"You do love me, don't you?" He stepped away, trying to meet your gaze. "You love me too, right? Y/N?"

You turned your head as shame filled your body. Tears filled your eyes, and you worried that if you looked at him you might start bawling uncontrollably.

"Y/N." His voice was low. "Do you love me?"

Your silence said it all.

"I'm sorry, Loki." A tear escaped your eyes, rolling down your cheek.

"You do, Y/N." His voice was almost pleading, his hands catching your biceps. "You do love me, I know you do. Everything that's happened, everything between us, I know you do. Say you love me."

You had been right. The sight of him had, in fact, caused you to sob uncontrollably, your body trembling under his firm grasp.

"Say it, please." He begged you, tears rolling down his face. "Please, tell me you love me. Tell me the truth. Please."

"I'm sorry, Loki." You repeated.

"You do, you do." It seemed like he was trying to convince himself as much as you. "I know you do."

"Loki, stop." You pushed him away from you. "I'm sorry, Loki, but I don't love you."

Loki felt like he'd been stabbed, your words like a knife driving straight through his heart. His breaths escaped him, as if he'd taken a heavy fall, his lungs suddenly feeling as if they'd been shattered. He'd never felt this way before, he felt almost as if his heart was about to quite literally break into two pieces, taking out most of his vital organs in the process. How had he been so wrong? Could he have really misjudged everything that had happened so badly? He thought back to the first time he'd met you, the way you'd looked at him then.

He thought about the way you were looking at him now.

"You don't.... Love me?" He whispered, his eyes brimming with tears.

You wiped the teardrops from your eyes uncomfortably. You weren't sure what to say.

"I should.. I should probably go." He rubbed at his eyes, turning and all but running for the door. "Just, don't tell my brother, okay?"

Your heart lurched in your chest. Could you let him go that easily?

"Loki!" You called after him. "Loki, wait!"

You were met with nothing but the slamming of the door.

Loki slammed the door of his flat with force it had never known before. Was he angry? Was he sad? He wasn't entirely sure.

He'd headed for the Kraken when he entered his kitchen, his fingers unscrewing the bottle as if it was of their own accord, pouring himself a more than healthy portion of rum. He sat himself down on the balcony, his fingers trembling as he attempted to light his cigarette. It took five tries but eventually, the zippo gave in and his Marlboro Lite was smoking .

After three drags of his cigarette and two sips of his rum did he eventually allow himself to cry. Tears rolled down his face, his nose filling with snot. Every contraction of his throat and chest felt like it might be his last. It felt as if every single sob might shatter his rib cage. How could he have been so wrong?

Thor had found you curled in a ball, crying, and more than slightly tipsy.

"I'm sorry, my love." Was all he'd said, wrapping you tightly in his arms. You'd been scooped up gently, and placed in your bed, the duvet tucked around you.

"Loki didn't come round, did he?" He asked, climbing into the bed next to you. "I forgot I'd invited him."

You shook your head violently.

"Look, I'm really sorry." He reached over to you, wrapping you into his chest. "I shouldn't have stormed out like that. I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too." Your voice came out in a whisper, unable to look him in the eyes.

How could something so right feel so wrong?

Meanwhile, Loki had been living the endlessly grey shades of life. It wasn't as if anything had changed. Anything but, really. His life had remained exactly the same.

He woke up every day at 6:05 and went for his daily jog. Monday through Friday, his breakfast would be a largely uninspiring bowl of porridge, following a shower that had, for a week, been cold due to his boiler's diverter valve sticking. He'd arrive at his office between 8:35 and 8:50 AM (Traffic-dependent), which gave him precisely enough time to make himself a large coffee - black, with one sugar - and read through his case notes before his first client meeting of the day. His working day would often overrun by an hour or so, which he didn't mind on days he was on his own (The exceptions to this being Thursdays and Fridays, Fridays being date night). Honestly? He happily stayed at the office until 7PM, giving him just enough time after he'd cooked and eaten to wallow in misery and self-pity, followed by an hour of half-hearted chatter with Wanda on the phone before he decided bed was the wisest option.

On Thursdays, he stayed at Wanda's. This typically meant he had to leave the office before 5:30, else she'd worry. They'd have a perfectly pleasant meal and a few glasses of wine before settling on the sofa to stream Netflix shows, before retreating to her room to fuck before going to sleep. The sex, as the chatter, had also become half-hearted, and this, he could tell, was something Wanda was becoming increasingly suspicious of.

It was a Thursday such as this that Loki had bailed on. He wasn't feeling well, he'd told his girlfriend. It wasn't entirely untrue.

You had hurt him unbearably, and that, was not a well feeling.

Not to mention that the pretence was killing him. Pretending you were in love with one woman when you were truly in love with another was no easy feat (Not to mention you'd soon be his sister in law, which would make his feelings a little too Game of Thrones for his liking), nor was pretending to be insanely busy so as to avoid both aforementioned women and the latter's fiancee.

Not to mention how you'd crushed his heart under your proverbial heel, leaving the proverbial shatters in the proverbial dust.

He'd wondered briefly on his drive home if he'd ever catch a break.

So, he lay sprawled on his sofa, a large wine in his hand, trying to ignore the phone lying next to him that was constantly notifying him of his girlfriend's concern for his welfare, and trying not to dwell on the fact that he could not dispel the image of your face from his mind every time he fucked said girlfriend.

So, naturally, the knocking on the door had really pissed him off.

He stormed over to the door, internally condemning whoever it was who'd decided to come visit him. What was so important they couldn't have just texted? If it was a door-to-door salesman or an evangelical believer, he would have to utilise extreme restraint in order to not knock them out. He flung the door open, ready to snap at whoever it was.

He was not expecting it to be you.

"Hey, can we talk?" You turned to face him. The smile on your face was small, shy, reassuring, but it still dazzled him.

He wasn't sure what to say. In all truth, he was completely dumbfounded.

"No." Was all his mouth could conjure up.

He'd been dreaming of this for weeks, of you rushing into his arms and declaring your undying love for him, but now that you were here, all he felt was anger. Anger for how you'd humiliated him, anger for how you'd hurt him. As if his body knew better what was good for him than his brain did, his arms reached out by themselves and slammed the door.

If Loki thought you'd leave him alone at that, he was very much mistaken. You clenched your hands into little fists, banging on the door with each alternately. You'd come to talk, and you were not someone who would leave things lying down. You were a fighter, and you'd be damned if one man thought he was going to change that.

His confession had deeply unsettled you. Panicked you, even.

You knew he felt for you. After all, he’d made no real attempt to hide it. Regardless of your own feelings, pushing him away, you knew, was the best thing to do for everyone. You loved Thor, and Loki would get over it. In time, he would come to see that you’d made the right choice.

You did not like the little voice in the back of your mind that constantly reminded you that it was him clouding your thoughts as you drifted off to sleep in his brother’s arms.

"Loki!" You yelled. "I know you can hear me."

Your banging on the door continued for another minute until you heard shuffling from the other side.

"Will you shut up?" He grumbled. "I have neighbours, you know."

"Then let me in." You argued.

The sigh that came from the other side of the door came from a man who sounded like he was really, really done. The door swung open, revealing a man who looked as exhausted as he sounded.

"You have five minutes." He told you, his arms crossed over his chest.

Loki was not sure why exactly he had let you into his flat, but there you were, sat on his sofa opposite him.

"I'm sorry, Loki." You said, looking up at him.

"So you've said before." He but his lip, staring down at his shoes.

"I humiliated you." You said.

"Yeah, you did." A bitter laugh left his mouth.

"I hurt you." You continued.

"That too." He brought his hand up to his throat, undoing his top bottom.

"Can you just stop, and listen, just for a second?" You asked. "Yes, I hurt you, yes, I humiliated you, and a whole lot more, too, I would imagine. But I want to move on from this! I want us to be the way we were! Is that too much to ask?"

"Y/N, you didn't just hurt me." His voice was low, quiet. Calm, even. "I held my heart out to you, and you trod it into the dirt. I told you I love you, and you didn't love me back. That, I can live with. But now, you say you want back in on my life? To what, to laugh at me? Why the fuck are you even here, Y/N?"

You bit your lip, trying very hard not to cry. It wasn't working.

"Say something." Loki rose to his feet, standing roughly half a foot from you. "Fucking say something! Why the fuck are you here, Y/N? To throw it in my fucking face?"

"Because I do." You whispered, covering your face with your hands.

"What?" He asked, stopping in his tracks.

"I fucking love you, Loki!" You shouted, suddenly finding your voice, and in the more literal sense, your feet. "I fucking love you and I'm engaged to your fucking brother, and that's so many kinds of fucked up I don't even know where to begin."

To say Loki was stunned did not even scratch the surface.

He stared at you, his mouth opening as if he were about to speak, but no words came out. For so long, he’d ached to hear those words, but now you’d actually said them, he wished you hadn’t. He almost wished there was some way he could push them back into your mouth, make them unsaid.

“You do?” Was all his brain could think to say.

You nodded, suddenly bashful, unable to look into his eyes. You stood, awkwardly facing each other. Your heavy breathing was the only noise in the room, sneaking glances at each other when you thought the other wasn’t looking, to see if they were looking at you. Who would be the one to break the silence? He reached for you, tugging you into his arms. Your head fell against his shoulder, your body contained in his arms as they wrapped around you. In spite of yourself, you let out a heavy sigh.

‘Push him away, it’s for the best of everyone’, the voice in the back of your mind chided. Bang goes that theory.

You opted to ignore it.

“Hey now, stop with those tears.” His tone had become soft, a world apart from the anger from just moments ago. “You’re much too beautiful to cry.” His hand came down to cradle your face, wiping the tears from under your eyes with his thumb.

“We shouldn’t be doing this.” You whispered.

“I know.” He replied.

“It’s wrong.” You continued.

“I know.” He repeated.

You nuzzled your head into his chest, relaxing under his touch as your arms wound around his neck.

“Loki.” You whispered, your voice hoarse. “Loki, I want you to kiss me. Please.”

He blinked at you in disbelief. He’d waited a year and a half to kiss you, and now you were actually asking, his body seemed to be betraying him.

You looked up at him, one eyebrow slightly quirked.

All he could think was how pretty your eyes were.

“Well?” You asked.

Chapter Six - I Put A Spell On You

—

[Also, little known fact about me - I’m a professional copywriter. I wrote this in between some other pieces and I can hear my professional voice coming through in this where I’m usually able to separate the two, but I sort of roll with it here. So you know, like, soz. I guess. #sorrynotsorry. Also, while I’m here, don’t cheat on your partners kids.]

—

SERIES TAGS:

@jessiejunebug @sherlockfan4life @soapbox-moments @amour-delicate @milea @writingforthelonelysoul @justyourneighbourhoodretard @chxrryycola @erinlaufeyson @marvelousell @rogerrhqpsody

[mylifeincinema]

My Week(s) in Reviews: December 7, 2020

I really meant to post this yesterday, but forgot to move it from drafts to queue. Oops. Anyway, because of that, and the fact that it’s been so long since I’ve had anything to offer, I’m gifting y’all with a very rare Monday edition of My Week in Reviews. Here it is!

Mank (David Fincher, 2020)

I’ve been seeing some coldness toward this one. And honestly, I get it. If you’re not interested in/knowledgeable of the world of Old-Hollywood and its mechanics/politics, a lot of this could feel muddied.

Thankfully, I’m not one of those people, because this was an incredible piece of showbiz cinema. Mank is a celebration of the rebellion behind the creation of one of the very best pieces of cinema to ever come out of Hollywood, and an introspective glance at the destructive nature of alcoholism and ego. Fincher weaves together a fascinating character study that skewers the political and creative hypocrisy of 1930s Hollywood while simultaneously reveling in its subject’s own hypocritical air of moral superiority.

Jack Fincher’s screenplay is razor-sharp, and while controversially leaning heavily toward the unpopular opinion that Orson Welles had very little to nothing to do with the writing of Citizen Kane, it does so in a way that takes the stand through Mank’s own eyes, therefore making it the only obvious stance or the film to take. His dialogue is electric, and brought to life with biting attitude and voracious wit by a staggering cast led by the always mind-blowing Gary Oldman (who better see another Oscar nod for this performance) and a truly magnificent Amanda Seyfried (who not only better be nominated for an Oscar, but damn well better win).

Erik Messerschmidt’s cinematography is gorgeous. David Fincher’s work is unlike anything he’s ever delivered. His direction, here, paired with Baxter’s flawless editing, creates something truly unique and utterly captivating. - 9.5/10

Happiest Season (Clea DuVall, 2020)

The problem here is that the only three characters that aren’t completely loathsome (Jane, John & Riley - brought to life perfectly by Mary Holland, Dan Levy & Aubrey Plaza, respectively) are so painfully relegated to the sidelines that they’re damn-near wasted. Oh, and the total lack of any genuine chemistry between our leads. - 3.5/10

Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2020)

Riz is fantastic, and wholly encapsulates the frustration, fear and all-out rage that comes with such a sudden, life-changing event. The film around him is at its best when celebrating the community he’s thrown into but never fully embraces. Oh, and the film boasts some of the most effective sound design in recent memory. But sadly, overall, maybe through its vagueness or emotional detachment, this one ended up falling kinda flat for me. - 6/10

Enjoy!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Iruma-kun 10 - 12 | Shinchou Yuusha 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Dr Stone 22 - 24 (FINAL) | BnHA 72 - 74 | Stars Align 9 - 12 (FINAL) | No Guns Life 10 - 12 (FINAL)

Iruma-kun 10

That mascot is still around to annoy poor Kalego, huh? (LOL) I also noticed the demonstration demons have horns like oni.

Oh no! This means Azz-Azz is a prime target for Iruma!

(I was going to write something. Then I got so engrossed in the action, I forgot to…)

LOL, Sabro’s too heavy for Team A to lift!

Oh, Iruma’s hair isn’t tied anymore…

“…pruning this cactus.” – Does Eggie-sensei like plants?

Ooh, the first double-parter ever for this show, I think it is.

Shinchou Yuusha 9

Apparently ep 10 got delayed…*sigh*

LOL, thre’s product placement for a certain ice cream brand in this episode, huh?

Can we not with the boob grope???

*Rista takes care of Mash and Elulu* - Rista’s such a mom sometimes…

Stars Align 9

This one scene with Nao looks really blue…it’s almost unsettling.

Oh dear…I understand the sentiment of an inferiority complex all too well.

Dr Stone 22

Now we’re back to good ol’ science vs. survival of the fittest philosophy clash. Now, see, that’s the Dr Stone I like best!

Torricelli’s law.

Why is mica like baumkuchen? Probably because it has a lot of layers…

Wow, for WSJ – which encouraged fangirls all over the world to make yaoi/shonen ai ships – they sure tossed out the yaoi/shonen ai option real fast…

Skarn. I’ve never heard of it until now.

Magma, staring at the product of magma…LOL.

I…don’t get it. Even after watching the bit again, I don’t understand why Magma was trying to save Senku.

So…as is said for most WSJ series, the treasure was the friends we made along the way…LOL, what a way to acknowledge a trope.

Lemme guess…surprise birthday party? (Sorry, when I was reading up on Magma earlier, I saw that Magma helps with a birthday surprise for Senku and I found out what it was.)

I wonder if Rei is still up there at this point…? (Who’s Rei? You’ll find out if you read the Byakuya reboot…)

Well, “Rock Day” only works in Japanese. The language would’ve drifted over thousands of years so it shouldn’t work in the year 5731 (or whatever year Dr Stone is set).

Dr Stone 23

One episode until the end…but I’m away over Christmas, so I’ll have quite a bit to catch up on when I’m back. Update: I never did end up going away over Christmas.

Senku is much more of a trickster hero than an action hero. That’s been pretty obvious all the way through, but here it’s at its most obvious.

Oh, so Kaseki made the village bridge? Is that a correct assumption…? Update: I think the answer was yes from the manga.

How much chemistry does Gen know, anyway? Assuming he’s a humanities person because of psychology and his tricks, it must only be basic, right?

Thse intense stares…I’ve been reading JJBA: DiU lately, so I’m expecting an 80s-style “!!” to appear over someone’s head at this point, LOL.

Ooh, hardware. In fact, it looks like the inside of a computer…or, more relevant to this case, a phone.

So it’s not “rules are rules” anymore? Now Kinro’s changed his words to reflect his faith in Senku…hmm! Interesting! (Update: A quick google says Kinro is 18. Senku is about 18 (+ 3700 years). Plus, after they start dragging Ginro away, Kinro says his trademark line.)

Wouldn’t the coal smoke alert Tsukasa of the village’s location, though…? Then again, thanks to Homura and Hyouga, Tsukasa already knows their location…oops.

Rochelle salt.  

I saw that one shot of the world from the 1st OP and I thought there was meant to be a post-credits segment…LOL, nope.

Dr Stone 24 (FINAL)

The “acquisition message” basically said “We didn’t (just) need one cell phone, (so) it was useless!” Notably, it uses the counter for large items (like computers) for the phone.

Having finished the Byakuya reboot now, I wanna cry every time I hear about the guy…

Oh! The eyecatch is a record!

Basically, what records do is that they recreate sounds by using vibrations created by the grooves of the disc. Sound is a set of vibrations.

“Astronauts are science elites…” – Except maybe Lillian Weinberg…

I like Shamil out of the guys from the Soyuz the most. He’s a cross between Tsukasa and Senku. Stoic yet skeptical, a voice of reason for Byakuya’s sillier outbursts.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the shield was made with CGI, tbh.

Byakuya’s humour here is betraying the emotional capacity of the scene…it’s gone from “100% tear-inducing” to “confusing”.

Please sing Tsubasa wo Kudasai, Lillian…*crosses fingers*

I didn’t get what I wanted, but oh well. This song is good too. (I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the record player was CGI too. It’s good CGI for sure.)

LOL, Puyo Puyo! Even Sherlock Holmes! Dragon Ball, Nintendo Switch, VR, Saiyuki! It’s like a treasure trove of references!

Normally the s2 announcement comes after the credits, so I was thrown for a loop when it was announced before the ED…anyways, this is the end of the s1 coverage. See you for s2!

BnHA 72

[no notes, sorry!]

Iruma-kun 11

Robin looks like Iruma…(this vaguely annoys me.)

I noticed Keroli (sp?) is in the back left, alone…that’s kinda sad.

Sabro is hella tall…even taller than Azz-kun, and that says something.

Ah…I love Eggie-sensei. He’s so funny!

Really? I thought Sullivan wrote them (the rules).

I wanna see an episode where Eggie-sensei can’t turn into his fuzzy form and has to do familiar activities with Iruma. That, or an episode where Eggie-sensei has some human parts and some familiar ones (although that would scare some little kids, I think…)

What a Machiavellian mindset Eggie-sensei has!

Iruma’s got wine, people! Underage drinking is a no-no! (partially joking)

Good on ya, Clara! Go kick those girls to the kerb!

The butterflies are so beautiful in this show!

So basically school clubs.

Hmm…it’s almost a Fordist approach. I mean, “freeing yourself up to do other things” is basically the entire ethos of that.

NGL 10

I was reading JJBA: DiU today and Colt seriously looks like a Jojo’s character…

“Your face is just like…”

N-No way! You mean, the Victor Mary’s wanted to see all along…is the other gunhead…?! Geesh, what a plot twist!

Stars Align 10

“We all play to win.” – That’s very Maki of you, Maki.

Shinjo/Oshimi???? That must be Ryoma…! By the way, what’s up with these Itsuse twins…?

Who’s Hatanooka? Update: That’s the team with Joy in it…and those fangirls who busted Mitsue up.

F*** it…Arashi, I wanna pummel you someday.

LOL, you can sell your temmates out with chanpuru, huh, Arashi?

Did Maki suggest something subliminally…?

*Maki and Toma run around* - LOL, this play is completely unorthodox, haha. I can tell even if I’m no expert.

Shinchou Yuusha 10

We’re back after another week’s break…

Come to think of it, how do fantasy worlds have concepts of “hours”?

LOL, how convenient it was that there just happened to be a dude needing healing walking past! (partially sarcastic, partially meaning it since the circumstances foreshadowed it)

“Talent”, eh? *stares at the camera, which is showing Rista’s boobs, with disapproval*

The Demon Spirit Orb is basically a monster cell from OPM 2, isn’t it…?

If Seiya came from our world…then I’m sorry, Wolks, but whoever told you is completely and utterly wrong. *gestures at all the conflicts around the world, including political turmoil*

“Are you calling…”  

No Guns Life 11

Second-last ep!

Oh great…another yandere?(I read JJBA: DiU hardcover vol. 2 yesterday, so I’m still thinking about Yukako Yamagishi…)

There’s a convertible in the OP, though…I wonder if that will come into play later. Update: Even if it does come into play in the future, it doesn’t happen in ths cour.

Stars Align 11

It was like Joy was showing off to the camera…LOL.

Apparently, Joy’s name is a weird reading for yorokobi (happiness).

This feels like a final episode…

Hmm. I thought Yonex sponsored this. Turns out that’s a parody logo after all (or at least, here it’s a parody).

One of the Itsuse bros looks exactly like Maki, so it’s confusing…

I’m still confused as to why Shijo Minami’s shirts say nantei on them. The minami might be nan in another way of reading it, but…the shi can only be read kokorozashi otherwise and while the jou can be read many, many ways, tei isn’t one of them.

Ume = plum blossom, so that purple-pink colour really suits them.

BnHA 73

Eri’s name means, literally, “to break reason”.

This scene with the stars and the dancefloor…that’s new.

Iruma-kun 12

Sometims you forget this dork *points at Azz* is more powerful than Iruma and Clara…

You can see Clara and Iruma in the shot of Azz-kun.

The reason why I like calling Kalego “Eggie-sensei” is because he doesn’t like it! 

I love how the narrator is even aware it’s been mentioned several times Iruma can’t decline requests.

New Magic is basically science…?

Oh, it would be hilarious if this character Iruma just bumped into and he (Iruma) would be in a Battler together…but I’ve read spoilers, so I know what Iruma will join…

Is this some kind of allegory for technology…?! *eyes sparkle* Yes, I want in! Iruma! Join this club!

Even this demon’s clip is a book! Amazing!

Clara! She dab! In a pot!

Come to think of it, in the basic premise, Iruma-kun (the show) is Kenja no Mago, right? The Wise Man’s Grandson…sort of.

Shinchou Yuusha 11

Almost at the end…I’ll sorely miss this show.

Is Tiana some former version of Rista…?

How old is Seiya again…? Update: Apparently he’s 17…and if he’s the same age as he used to be in this flashback, then…kinda squicky, no?

Stars Align 12 (FINAL)

I heard this show dropped the ball and that Nao’s mother got a rant, but otherwise I don’t quite know what happens here…so let’s finish what we started. Update: Nao’s mother’s rant was in a previous episode.

Oh hey! It’s that running thing Nao and Taiyo were doing…I think. (I don’t think I’ve grasped everyone’s names, even over 12 eps, so I had to check Taiyo’s name up.)

Oh, these gremlins…*sighs happily but also exasperatedly* No wonder this show took out a top 10 position for my 2019 list.

I’m worried now…there’s always a last minute thing to ruin an episode on this show.

I always thought Ryoma’s hair was pretty nice…(small LOL). That’s just my bias for bishonen showing though.

I’m…scared now…Maki’s dad must’ve come back and the red in the sky really sold that moment…

Maki…no!!!!!!!! Aw, f***, that’s the final seconds…geesh, way to end the series. If this were a 2 cour, I’d definitely watch the next one, but since I heard through ANN that this is all we have so far, really, the only thing I can do for a passion project is hope another cour gets funded and (maybe) purchase what I can to help out. Well, that’s it, folks, skedaddle out of here until next time.

No Guns Life 12 (FINAL)

This pendant reminds me of the mana compass I saw in Fate/Zero yesterday.

I bet Danny planted those footprints…or something like that. Update: Yup, he did.

Come to think of it, is Juzo still missing his arm from last time…?

“You weren’t my client, little lady.” – There’s one of two possible options here, I think: 1) the hands guy was or 2) Danny was.

I wonder, will the hand Extended ever become his (Juzo’s) left hand? Or will he get an Extension for it?

Wow, second huge end-of-season cliffhanger! Juzo got a new buddy, it seems…anyway, see you in spring!

Cautious Hero 12 (FINAL)

If the Valkyryja (sp?) isn’t magic…what is it???

That one guy lying on the side of the fountain, looking all drunk…LOL.

Geez, you make me wanna cry, show!!!

Even the alarm clock is dejected…geez…

This is…the best conclusion of the fall season in that Seiya defeated the Demon King and the story wrapped up properly, but the worst in that Seiya died. No one died in Stars Align, even if they failed a tonne! So…I dunno. I guess it should be happy it ended optimistically…anyways, enough of my moping. See you next time.

BnHA 74

Shin Nemoto = “the truth of the origin of the sound”, if you stuck the particle no between each character.

Tintin got scary, LOL.

Lemillion, making “no capes” go out of fashion again (LOL).

Wow, talk about a clip show…! This is really one.

Check the end of the episode, don’t forget to watch the post-credits segments, people.

[veterveter]

Hey hey, it's gay bike anon again! I'm more than honoured to get my own tag!!! I definitely would like to keep talking to you <3 And only love for you too <3

I'll gladly wait for your response to my ask (or asks??? we'll see one day ehehehe)! I feel you, when people cite some of my text messages from a few months (or more) ago I'm often like "nope, nah-ah, that's not me, you're wrong". Same for older essays, I often can't believe I wrote those. And even with things I wrote late at night a few weeks ago, sometimes I'm like "I wrote that? That monstrosity??? Okay, I need more sleep before writing". (My capacity of writing in correct English grammar usually goes to sleep before I do, same goes for varied word choice). But sometimes I'll see this project I've worked on YEARS ago and exactly recognize the pieces I wrote? Since the ask would be fairly recent, I suppose I would recognise my writing style and word choice and since I didn't wrote it whilst sleep deprived (I hope??) I'm setting my chances of recognising it pretty high. But we'll see one day, the mystery will marinate for a while... [I am rereading this in the daytime, and this is EXACTLY what I meant, at night I make the weirdest word choices?? I’m definitely not changing it though because I might find it kinda funny]

I snorted so hard about the way you talked about your almost-name, I'm giggling here like crazy. Apparently my name means something alike 'dedicated to God', but my parents aren't really believers, so gotta love that. The meaning of my sibling's name is 'summer', but I'm the one born in the summer, whilst my sibling is born in autumn, oops. Guess my parents never checked one of those sites/ books where you can find the meaning of a name hahaha.

I love how my ask was so weird and chaotic that you sent a screenshot to a friend. I LOVE that she had no idea what was going on. Then again, I watched the semis (obviously hahaha) but I had no idea what was going on either... But honestly it was peak Dutch culture, water and bicycles, I would just add an ode to 'hagelslag' and voila, the entirety of Dutch culture summed up... [Also: if you don't know: 'hagelslag' is just sprinkles which we eat on bread, yes, on bread, we do not not only eat sprinkles as on cake or on donuts, like in any other country, no, we put it on bread. It's actually a really popular sandwich topping here. My ultimate favourites are the chocolate ones, but you also have them in several fruity flavours (like forest fruit) and anise flavour.] Thank you, perfect chaotic energy is an ultimate goal I strive towards *bows like I'm Victorian royalty or something*

You're absolutely right, it went EXACTLY like that. Specifically, I would be studying for my exams, explaining topics to myself like I always do, so I'd tell myself "The six possible origins of economies of scope are indivisibility, specialisation, marketing, research and development, GUESS WHAT.. SUBWAY DRIVER GANDÍA... ehhh... what was I doing again??" OR: "one of the most detailed and most used models of responsive regulation is Brathwaite's piramid. His enforcement piramid visually shows, nope not important, SUBWAY DRIVER GANDÍAAAAAA" And I'd laugh, continue explaining theories and calculations to myself until my focus started lessening again and my thoughts would wander off again. I am VERY glad I'm not the only one who thinks about it from time to time, and I'm glad you're not suing me for any mental harm yet.

Yess, those pictures I saw from Promising Young Woman look so beautiful and aesthetic!! I'll probably watch it somewhere after the 16th, because I'll most likely have finished my last exams by then. I'll tell you what I thought about it! Thank you SO SO SO much for all the luck wishes!!!! I had an exam last Friday and I absolutely rewarded myself, because it went better than I expected and I passed an earlier exam and a paper too! I didn't buy myself a tricorne (yet), but I did buy funko pops (my inner economist said it was 100% rational because it was a really good deal hahaha). I still have two exams to go, so I could always buy a tricorne for finishing either of those, OR. EVEN BETTER. I'll ask my parents (or my grandparents) for one for my birthday. I mean, that would be hilarious. They'd be so confused. They've never seen S3 and S4 of LCDP so they'll have no idea, even if I tried to explain it. It would be so incredibly funny (and really really weird for them), I am laughing like crazy just at the thought of it.

I've never been in Finland before, but those temperatures do not sound legal indeed. I have no knowledge of Finnish law, but maybe article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the prohibition of torture, would work? If I was the judge I’d 100% agree, so we should all sue the weather sksksks. I'm glad to have brought you rain though (and that I apparently possess the power to do so - magic weather controlling pirate seems like a nice enough job to me)!!! I hope the temperature has become at least somewhat lower. You're right, climate change should just... stop... right away. The weather is pretty weird here, right now: one day it will be super sunny and (at least) around 27 degrees and almost melting away, and the other day it will be raining and I'll be wearing my warmest sweater. Like, why the extremes??

I love that I am able to make you lose your coherent thoughts (that's probably why we have one brain energy about Underwater, because I, too, have the ability to make myself lose my coherent thoughts). I'm glad for your faith in my impersonation of Martín. I even started Duolingo Spanish again, and now know the phrase, "Yo bebo leche" (I drink milk) which obviously would be very important to him. Now I'll just need an Argentinian accent to go with it. Leaning menacingly on a cane would be GREAT, I love the idea. I'll open job applications for a Denver. Maybe my cat could help me, she, much like Denver, is super loud and she is super aggressive towards other cats, so there is potential there. And guiding dogs and even tiny guiding horses exist, why not a guiding cat?

I always assumed I would follow a more... you know… legal... career path, maybe even literally a career in law. But, my accounting professor also showed us how to manipulate financial statements ("so you can notice when people are doing this", uh-huh sure, sure that’s why) and another professor of mine also said that a criminal career sometimes could be the more rational, rewarding choice over a legally acceptable career. So, I suppose I should not be surprised by this sudden change of career plans. I should have seen this coming. And what better way to be able to avoid the laws than by knowing exactly what they are and how far you can go. And if that plan doesn’t work out, the books of law I have (they’re combined in two huge hardcover bundles) are really heavy and you could probably harm someone with them if you hit hard enough… Well, I suppose you can even leave “hard” away, just by hitting someone softly with those books you can bring serious harm to them… Ah, and like that one professor would say: in this scenario it would be a rational choice to become a pirate instead of a privateer. Oh dear, not Arturito :/ Mutiny would seem like a good option, I’ll take over the ship and become Palermo the Pirate. Sounds much and much better than “Arturo the Pirate”, since that isn’t an alliteration, sooo mutiny is reasonable even for that reason. And then there’s the fact that it’s Arturo, I mean, that says enough.

YOU LOVE UNDERWATER TOO????!!!! I completely forgot that you posted that! It seems we do indeed already have one shared braincell energy my friend <3

Last week has been pretty good (except for having to make a test at 9:30, what a godless time, I’m usually barely awake by then ehehehe), I think I aced the test I had, got back some good grades and finally got my first Covid vaccination (and only shortly slight dizziness as a side effect, so that's pretty great). And thanks so much!!! For now I’m safe from Gandía, but somewhere in mid-July I’ll have to take an exam on campus, so I’ll might be able to bring out my inner Palermo then.

How was your week? If the weather is still unkind to you (well, also if the weather *is* kind to you), treat yourself to your favourite ice cream and a break every now and then <3 Do you already have holidays or hasn’t your academical year ended yet?

You’re also right - this is conversation and we’re friends now <3 And I absolutely do like cookies! I would say my favourites are american cookies (though stroopwafels are reaally good as well) but honestly there are only a few kinds of cookies that I don’t love that much. And anything with chocolate in it is GREAT. I do also love apples and bananas, though grapes (which I just had) are even better! What’s your favourite kind of cookie?

Also, I know I have been giving you so many prompts already, but I saw this one in that list you reblogged and it gave me so much Berlermo energy: you live in an apartment with your best friend. the two of you always fall asleep in each other's arms, but one day, your friend isn't there. they've fallen in love with someone else. it's your other best friend, who recently moved in with you. and that's when you realize, that those nights you spent together, weren't so platonic after all. I would love it if you’d write it, but if you decide not to that’s absolutely fine too, no worries <3

By the way, I was going to post this quite a bit earlier, but my laptop (unlike me) decided yesterday night, when I was finishing writing this, that it was time to sleep, so I had to quickly dump this whole rant in Google Docs (it’s almost two and a half pages what the heck) and I was busy all day so I only was able to upload it just now. I swear I can ractually espond faster than after a week :) Have a lovely evening, much love from the gay bike country <3

Heeeeeeey you are back!!! How happy am I to see my favouritest gay bike anon return to my inbox!!! 💕 [Author's note: You can tell I started this reply right away because you've sent me three or four asks since this one and one can tell you are indeed back hahaha]

Yeeeeeees this is how one makes friends!! You know, I was just thinking the other night of how "gay bike anon" shortens to GBA, like the Game Boy Advance, you know. Make of that what you will, but it pleases me to know that you can also have a cute nickname for your cute nickname. Nicknameception.

Yes, exactly that, "I did not write that, and if I did in fact write that.. No I did not." Also, "the mystery will marinate"??? That's an amazing word choice and some day I will absolutely use it for something, just you wait. I think it just goes to show that you should write everything while tired, haha.

Haha I love that naming convention for you. It may make very little sense, but....... but. Also, happy birthday for whenever it is, presumably in the nearby past or future!! Lots of love!! You're the summer child while your sibling is... a summer child, but like, different.

Since you appreciated my almost-name story, I'll reward you with the rest of it: so my name is Tuuli, which is Finnish for "wind". My mum originally wanted to name me Pilvi, which means "cloud". And then she was like oh no this child is not at all serene and cloud-like??? and thus, a new me. I'm glad she had second thoughts, although I wonder if having such an ill-fittingly chill name would've done anything to alter my personality? Nomen est omen and all. There's some kind of an alternate universe where all of that played out, but I'm glad it's not this one.

Yeah either you watched the semis and have no idea, or you didn't watch them and have no idea. There is no way to get what was going on there, I'm certain they themselves also didn't get it. I had no idea about hagelslag but thjipgnhefjpihjo that's amazing, I love that for you!!!! There was absolutely no reason to go there but you as a country just... did that. Amazing. Please have some and report to me so I can live through you. And also, you are absolutely legit Victorian royalty [or something] *bows in return*. Also, I do love how you say "I watched the semis (obviously)." Imagine if you didn't and this entire time I was tragically misinterpreting the nature and intentions of your ask and you were just rolling with it because you've no idea what I'm on about but are also too polite to tell me that. Khhhhhhh

Your brain has priorities!!!! And they're honestly beautiful. Well done, brain. Subway driver Gandíaaaaaaaaaa~~~ My brain is filled with Berlermo quotes that come @ me at random times during the day and leave me just a tad shell-shocked, remembering how it all went down. I'm eating my morning yoghurt and my brain goes yo te propuse fundir oro juntos, and I'm just there like :)))))) Real nice, brain.

Have you had the opportunity to see Promising Young Woman yet? Hhhhh it's so pretty, every time I work on this reply [it's a lot of times, okay, I'm very diligent about this, I stare at this ask and craft snazzy replies in my head all the time, that's why I'm so slow in... actually replying] I'm reminded of that. I'm not a very visual person but the colours and the framing... that was really nice.

I am somewhat glad you've not been to Finland yet, you must hit me up when you come visit, I'll take you for coffee!!! It's actually cooler now (bless!!!!!!!!!!!), the last... four days have been reasonable 14-20 degrees, after four consequtive weeks of 25+. Kkhhhh thinking back to it makes me feel a little ill, but now beret weather is back. I own a lot of berets, dear gay bike anon. I'm going to my university city for the weekend and I'm already wondering which beret(s) I should bring with me. This is an important decision with potential long-lasting consequences. I don't know if you've played any of Telltale's games (The Wolf Among Us and the first two seasons of The Walking Dead are the best ones, fight me), but when you make a decision and the game goes "This character will remember that." and you instantly go oh no what have I done??? That's how I feel about choosing the perfect beret for my city outing. But yes, weather extremes are just the worst. We've been having the longest drought I've ever seen here (it's still not properly rained, for the record, on Tuesday it rained for an hour or so) while in other places there's awful flooding. That's awful.

Ahhh I'm so happy you're continuing your Spanish-learning!! I took a beginner's course at uni in the spring semester, I'm going to take the next one when uni resumes in September. And yes, I'm studying it for LCDP. I mean I love languages in general, but I never had a particular need to study Spanish, until this year I suddenly did. I'm also Duolingo-ing it! Very slowly and steadily. Also, I adore the idea of your cat being your Denver. What's your cat's name??? What do they look like?? Tell me everything, you can't just leave it at my cat, you simply must allow me to meet them. Also, you know why guide cats aren't a thing? Because cats are the worst. I love cats, but you can't just teach them to do useful things. They'll do them if they want to. As I type this, my cat is trying to catch flies at my feet. Her name is Muusa.

I studied accounting for my undergrad!! So I can join you in [[[preventing]]] tax fraud and [[[recognising]]] tampering with financial statements. We can make a totally legitimate business out of it. No but truly, I'm certain we were taught some of those things with the expectation that our future employers would expect it of us. Capitalism is so fun :)))))) And you shouldn't be surprised, academia is but a stepping stone to crime, honestly. Any dark academia book will tell you this. You start out learning Latin and wearing turtlenecks, you end up with murder. That's just how academia works. And you seem to have already chosen your weapon... you're well on your way. :) Palermo the Pirate sounds great!!! I support your mutiny. I don't think I said, but this is my favourite word of the English language. Mutiny. Mutiny????? It doesn't sound very serious. It sounds cute, actually. I love it.

I'm so happy to hear you got your covid vaccine!!!! I had mine a month ago or so - I typed you a reply to the subway Gandía thing on the train ride back, actually. I was really stressed about getting it on my right arm, because I'm left-handed, and last time I got a vaccination (like a decade ago) they insisted on giving it on my left arm and I was sad :( But this time!! I got it on my chosen arm and was very pleased. So anyway, that was a segue. I'm glad you got your covid shot and were side effect -free!!!

My week has been good, thank you!! I went to my uni city for my niece's birthday on Monday, and as said I'm going back on Friday (tomorrow). So this time in between has felt like exactly that, time in between. I started reading Call Me By Your Name. I had my Korean class last night. Now I'm hanging out with my cat (she has stopped chasing flies and climbed to my lap) and talking to you. My holidays started already in May! And uni resumes in the beginning of September, but I'm a tutor for new students so I need to show up three weeks earlier for the orientation weeks. Yes, we do three weeks of orientation (read: three weeks of drinking). It's a bit insane.

Now I need to ask you again how your week has been, since I'm so slow. How has your week been?? Are you free from your exams?? When does your uni resume?

Stroopwafels are so good ahhh I'll have to buy them when and or if I see them. Possibly when I'm in central Europe but haha I can hope to be lucky and see them at a store with imported stuff, you know. My favourite cookies??? Omg maybe these ones - they have this truffle filling, and they're fun to eat (this is important in cookies, you see):

And of course they're Fazer. Because Finnish people have only one setting, apparently. Or maybe that's just me. But all cookies are great, honestly. I like making American cookies, that's always a fun pastime (and you get to have cookie dough, that's like half the fun). I've actually not made them for a lifetime??? Maybe I should, soon. I'll keep you updated. Also, brookies. I love making brookies, they're great.

I really really appreciate being given prompts, I hope you know that!! Thank you!! Consider me pocketing this prompt and maybe eventually some day theoretically getting back to you about it!! You're right - it has Berlermo energy. Insofar as either of them actually have other friends. :)

Thank you for this kind message, dear gay bike anon <3 I'd apologise for my slowness in replying but I think I'd rather you just assume that I'll get back to you, and thank you for your patience <3 Your kind and funny and chaotic asks always brighten my day. I hope you'll have a great rest of the week and just... all the nice and fun and good things and great vibes in life. All the best, dear gay bike anon <3 Take care!! And greetings from Muusa as well - she just yawned and I presume that means "greetings".

[fanfictionconnectionwordpress]

Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | VanderwoodxOC Cerise - Tagged | Ch. 18 Proposed Cooking Lessons

***My apologies for last week's lack of post. My puppy was diagnosed with a dreadful disease which we are lucky he survived followed by myself getting a terrible cold. I hope this week's sweet fluffy chapter will help. There is a deleted scene chapter before this available to my patrons. It’s called ‘Preparations Apart,’ and is all about Vandy gettin that ring and there are shower selfies involved. ~Let’s Connect! FFC***

*Remember, this is a sequel to Vanderwood Backstory, and Cerise has a bio. You can support my writing on patreon and get access to my VIP Discord Server or other goodies like early chapter releases and hidden scenes.  Tagged Chapter Directory*

They had spent the last day apart, and boy did he feel it when he woke up. Vanderwood pulled away from the mass of pillows that he’d cuddled into because they smelled like her, grumbling softly as he hadn’t slept nearly as well without her. He’d gotten her ring yesterday, that and hurt himself again by exercising after their exchanged after-shower selfies had caused him a pants tightness problem. Jesus…by now she’d probably also gotten her pills, too, not that that would do him any good. Yet. Bloody Hell, what kind of a man was he that that was what he was focused on?

He sent her a good morning text, assuming she would still be sleeping. It took him a while to get up and make breakfast, opting for toast again and some juice to wash down pain pills. He felt exactly like he had yesterday now, so he really had set himself back a day. At least it wasn't horrendously painful. Vanderwood didn't have much time left before he was going to be asking the love of his life to marry him. It was all so fast, but he knew she was the one for him, and he knew that she felt the same way, even though he was still anxious and nervous. He snorted at himself, only because he’d gone from, ‘I’m going to ask her someday’ to, ‘Now.’

Vanderwood kept practicing the words, hoping they would come out right. As much as he had practiced, 'Will you go out with me,' he had found that, 'Will you marry me' sounded incredibly different. At least it had been good practice in learning more words? Vanderwood showered and got dressed, opting for his v-neck shirt and black shirt over the top rather than a t-shirt. He should look at least a little nice, right? They were going to stay together tonight, so he packed up a little bag and grabbed the ring box, placing it in his pocket with a deep sigh, trying to release all the nerves that were building in his gut. It was nearly time. Vanderwood sat on the edge of his bed as he watched the minutes tick by, sending her another text. `I'll see you soon, shortcake. I miss you.`

***

Cerise was woken up by the sound of her phone going off. Groggily, she unlocked it to check her messages. It had been from her boyfriend...He was going to come over soon. Cerise stretched and hopped out of bed, scattering a few pillows about as she did so. She padded over to her bathroom and discovered that she somehow looked like an absolute mess. Her hair was all over the place. "...Did I fight a fricken leopard in my sleep?" She mumbled to herself as she tried to tame her messy locks with a brush. When she was satisfied, she clipped off a section of her fringe to keep it out of her eyes and set off to find something to wear.

She opted for a pair of shorts instead of a skirt and a tank top with tennis shoes. Cerise threw a cute jacket over the top and didn't skip the stocking, because it was still winter, after all. Finally, she brushed her teeth and put on lotion before plopping down on her couch in the living room and turning on the television. Now she pulled out her phone to reply, a smile on her face. `Miss u 2. I'll b waiting <3`

***

His phone pinged, and by now he was tired of waiting around. Surely, she wouldn't mind if he came a little early? The anxiety was eating at him, and he felt like he needed to ask her now. Hell, he probably wouldn't make it through the front door at this rate. Vanderwood sent her a quick text before grabbing his things and tossing them in the car. `Can't wait. Coming over now.` The drive seemed even longer than before. It wasn't really that long, maybe 20 minutes, but eternity stretched out before him before he had finally parked and was at her door, taking a deep breath as he knocked, hand finding the little box in his pocket. This was happening, and it was happening right now.

***

Her phone pinged and buzzed again, causing her to grin. It was cute that he couldn't wait to see her; she felt the same way. Cerise was eager to see him again after spending a night apart. Judging by how her hair had been that morning, she’d probably tossed and turned all night. She decided not to text him back, since he was driving, and she didn't want him to be tempted to check his phone while on the road...Not that he would. He was so much smarter than that.

She didn't know how much time it had been before she heard a knock at her door, causing her to jump up and all but run to it. Cerise flung it open and threw her arms around him, forgetting that he was sore. "Oops!" She let go and laughed sheepishly, "I kinda forgot...I just missed you." Cerise tried for a hug again except a lot gentler that time. She just felt like she was brimming with so much affection and excitement just by him being there; she felt like she could burst.

Vanderwood grunted at the pain of her embrace, but it was swiftly followed with one much gentler. He wrapped an arm around her as he kept his other hand in his pocket. "I missed you, too...Cerise....I have to tell you something." He stepped away from her just a little, his hand finding her chin and holding it, so he could keep his chestnut brown eyes locked with her honey gold. Cerise was about to complain that it was really cold out there and that they should probably head inside if he wanted to tell her something, but the look in his eyes were so intense and captivating she couldn't find the words. All she could do was stare up at him, the cold making her breath visible in the air.

"I can't remember being so happy as I am with you. You've given me everything, and I can't help but want to do the same. You're ma moitié, my everything, the only woman I'll ever need." The words were coming so easily, flowing perfectly even as blush rose in his cheeks. "I need to ask you something...something really important." Here it came, he'd practiced over and over and now was the moment of truth.

The words that came out of his mouth made her blush, he was being so sweet this early. Did he really miss her that much? She nodded when he said he needed to ask her something important, but she got worried for a moment when he suddenly dropped to one knee and visibly winced. Marion was in that much pain? He should have stayed in bed. Cerise was about to interrupt him and tell him that he was in pain and needed to come inside to rest, that they could talk later, but his next question threw her off.

"Iras-tu sortir avec moi...No....wait..." No, no no, that wasn't right. A look of confusion washed over her face. He...was asking her to go out with him. For the third time now. Was this some weird British thing? Vanderwood bit his tongue as he tried to remember. He had royally screwed this up, beautiful. Think, you dunderhead. "Veux-tu m'épouser....Yes...veux-tu m'épouser?" God, he couldn't blame her if she said no and made him ask again later, because that really sucked. Vanderwood felt stupid on many levels, but he produced the little ring box anyway.

Before she could try to interrupt again, once she broke out of her confused daze, he had asked his apparently corrected question. Did he realize what he was asking her? Apparently, he did, because he also produced a ring box. So here he was, proposing to her in her apartment doorway. Tears began to brim in her eyes as she dropped down with him and threw her arms around him, hugging tightly and forgetting again about his soreness. This wasn't something that she had expected this early in their relationship or...at all, really. She would have been happy just being by his side. "Of course...yes. Yes, I'll marry you." It didn't matter to her that they'd only even known each other for a short while, Cerise already knew that she and him were meant to be together. Why prolong the inevitable?

He saw the tears first and when her arms wrapped around him just a little too tightly, he knew. Vanderwood knew she was saying yes before the words left her mouth. Even though he was a cheesy, rather blunt, damaged idiot, she still wanted to marry him. Vanderwood wrapped her up tighter in his arms, despite how much it was hurting his back and leg to sit there like this. Cerise was going to marry him, and he couldn't be happier. He shifted just a little to open the ring box for her and take out the ring to place it on her finger. "This was my errand yesterday...I'm so happy you liked it..." And he was, probably happier than he'd ever been.

He kissed her ring softly before nuzzling her nose, his hands on her cheeks, wiping away a few stray tears. "Je'taime, Cerise...You've made me the happiest man in the world already." Vanderwood really hadn't made it past her doorway after all. The relief and joy washed through him now; the joy he could see in her eyes, that was worth making a fool of himself on her doorstep, even though his leg was starting to cramp up.

So, that had been his errand...he did say that he thought she'd like it. Cerise absolutely loved it. The ring he had picked out was simple but completely beautiful. He really knew how to pick something out to compliment her. As much as she annoyed him and wasn't good at much of anything, this man had asked her to marry him. Her, out of all the people in the world. "I love you too, Marion." Cerise sniffled a bit before standing up, holding onto his hands to motion for him to follow. It was really cold outside, and she didn't want him to get sick on top of all the pain he was in.

Vanderwood tried not to wince too much as she pulled him along into the house. He really had cramped up, but with how happy she was, it was so incredibly worth it. Once they were inside and the door was closed, she was embracing him again; she didn't want to let go. Cerise was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the man currently standing in front of her was going to be her husband and was now officially her fiancé. There was such an intense feeling of joy that she had never experienced before now, and she wanted to remember it for the rest of her life.

If Cerise had been taller, she would have just kissed him, but she wasn't going to ruin the moment by hopping around like some deranged bunny just to reach him. "Thank you...for choosing to stay with me. And for putting up with me." She nuzzled her face into his shirt, still holding him. "You make me happy~ I don't think there's even an emoji that can express what I'm feeling right now. "

His heart wouldn't stop fluttering, all thanks to her. "Cerise..." She just kept holding him, and he didn't want to stop holding her, although he did want to kiss her. Could he manage the pain to do that? Cerise was his fiancée now. It almost seemed surreal, but there it was. This woman, who for all intents and purposes should have run away from him, should have turned him away the moment they met, had agreed to become his wife.

Her comments had him smiling and pulling her closer. "I would choose you over anyone. And I'll ‘put up’ with you for the rest of my life." He gently stroked her hair, his heart warming further. Of course, she would want to use emojis to describe it. There was no resisting it now. To Cerise’s absolute delight, it seemed he was going to kiss her.

Vanderwood pulled away from her solely so his hand could cup the side of her face as he kissed her, deep and slow. He poured his love for her into that kiss, wanting her to feel just how much it meant to him that she cared for him, that she wanted to take care of him at all, the joy that she brought to his formerly bleak world. His Cerise, immature and irritating, but wonderful, strong, caring, open-minded; Vanderwood couldn't come up with enough praises, because nothing would ever be enough. His body was reacting to her now even past all of the excitement, so he pulled away, blush hot in his cheeks.

Just from that one kiss--their first as an engaged couple, he told her wordlessly how much she meant to him and how much he loved her. Cerise loved these intense moments where words weren't needed. She poured her own heart into her kiss, getting lost in the flood of their shared affection. It felt like he’d pulled away far too soon for her liking, but she could understand why...She was starting to get worked up, so she could only imagine how he felt. The blush on her cheeks matched his as she took his hand and led him to the couch. "Sit here while I make some warm tea for my future hubby~" Just saying it made her heart leap.

He was thankful to be sitting down, and now he was blushing even harder at being called her future hubby with such a sweet voice. He was a little cold; he realized that now. The winter air had sunken into him but not been felt past his excitement. Vanderwood watched her as she made the tea, taking in her appearance. She was wearing shorts and a thin top with only her stockings and jacket to really provide any true warmth to her. He bit his tongue looking at her. His future wife didn't know how to dress for the weather apparently...but she sure dressed in a way he liked. Vanderwood internally slapped himself, sinking into the couch instead.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she examined the ring he’d gotten her. It was real. He had really asked her to marry him. That cheesy vanderjerk. The blush was still taking up residence on her face as she brewed a cup of tea. She added only a little ginger to some green tea with lemon and a small bit of honey. While she was at it, she made herself a cup, too, sans the ginger and with a lot more honey. When she was done, she carefully brought his cup to him with a smile. "Here~"

Her sing-song tones would be the death of him. "Thank you...future wife." Vanderwood reached for her, gently tapping her lips with his pointer finger. "I feel like I don't tell you enough just how beautiful you are." Attack of the cheesiness. She really was, though, and the outfit only made her look even better. He shifted to indicate he wanted her to snuggle up to him, not worrying about soreness, just wanting her close to him. After their night apart, he didn't want to be away from her at all.

Cerise felt like she was on cloud nine, and nothing could bring her down. Him calling her his future wife made her feel like she was falling in the best way. The color dominating her face was redder than her namesake. The word 'wife' felt like it couldn't apply to her quite yet--she was only twenty. People got married that young, right? How old was he, even? She figured he couldn't be that much older than her, even if he did act like such a stick in the mud sometimes. Cerise couldn't help but giggle a little. He was being so very cheesy today...Though he had every right to be, especially if he was as elated as she was.

"Oh~?" Cerise took him up on his offer, snuggling up to him closely. "If you think I'm so beautiful, maybe we should start going out or something." She teased him and carefully reached over him to where she’d put her own cup of tea on the side table. Vanderwood wrapped an arm around her as she snuggled into him. Her tease had him coughing softly in embarrassment. "Yeah, I think I really would like to go out with you."  He was about to say something to her about how much he liked her outfit, his hand at her hip so he could reach out and touch the soft fabric of her top. Vanderwood started absentmindedly playing with it, but then she completely broke his train of thought. "You know what, though?" Cerise took a sip of her tea and looked up at him, grinning. "I still think you look better in a skirt than I do~"

Fucking Seven. "I..." Vanderwood felt his eyebrow twitch just a little in irritation at the redhead. Someday, somehow, he would get that little shit back for showing that picture of him in a maid’s outfit by embarrassing the kid. If that were even possible. "I have to disagree with you." He bit his tongue before having some of the tea she'd made for him. There was a bit of ginger in it, but it wasn't nasty like the last time, and he would have been grateful for it even if it was. "Did you want to help me with lunch after we finish our tea, fiancée?" It felt ridiculously silly to keep repeating that she was in fact going to be his future wife, but it also gave him that warm fuzzy feeling he was coming to enjoy so much.

"Oh, but I think you're mistaken, dear Marion~" Cerise was definitely going to have to ask the red-headed man for any copies of that picture that he might have. She was sure that Vanderwood would protest as soon as he found out, but she'd find some way to convince him to let her keep it. He had repeated the word again; he was definitely as excited and giddy as she currently was. "I would love to help you, but I can't believe I get to have such an attractive teacher. Good thing I'm the only student, huh?" She took another sip of her tea. "Can't have the others getting all jealous that I'm marrying the teacher." Cerise glanced at her ring again, unable to get over how pretty it was or how well it had fit on her finger. How did he even know her size? She didn't even know her size.

Vanderwood snorted softly. "I'm more worried about me getting jealous if someone else were teaching you." That was most certainly true. It was a new thing for him, but he was definitely more jealous than the average person, and he had a feeling that his jealousy could be lethal in the right situation. Cereise nodded, talking into her cup of tea. "Would suck to be that person, huh?" She had already seen small glimpses of his jealousy, and there was no doubt he'd be quite a force under the right (or wrong) circumstances.

His eyes fell to her ring. It suited her so perfectly, and that just made him smile all the more, not only because she seemed to love it, but also because he felt damn proud of himself for picking something that matched her so well. "Does the ring fit okay? I made an educated guess." His fingers had continued absentmindedly playing with her shirt as he drank his tea, by chance slipping just under the fabric to brush against her scar.

"It fits perfectly, actually. I was surprised, it was a really lucky guess." They both sat there in silence for a little while just drinking their tea and enjoying each other's company after their time apart. While cuddled up to him, she could hear him breathe...it was such a comforting sound along with his steady heartbeat. She felt his fingers brush over her scar once more. Did he feel guilty?

Cerise tried not to think about that day, the words he had said. He didn't mean them, yet they still came out of his mouth. She shook her head and pushed those thoughts away. Of course, he didn't mean them, it probably hurt him to say them as much as it hurt her to hear them. Marion wouldn't have asked her to spend the rest of her life with him if he didn't want her around, if he didn't care for her--didn't love her.

Vanderwood had been tracing her scar for some time now, but then his fingers slipped down over the much smoother skin of her hip. He moved his hand, placing it up on the couch. Even just that one small touch to her skin had made him react to her. It had been too long and too stressful since the last time he'd had sex, clearly. He bit his tongue before taking a big swallow of tea, trying to hide just how red his face was.

When his hand moved from her scar to her hip, she began to automatically respond with a blush. Just as quickly as he had done it, he’d pulled his hand away. She looked up at him with a questioning expression, finding his face was totally red. Cerise was happy that he was doing so well, that he had so much better impulse control now. If he hadn't been so sore, she might have tried at teasing him just a little. Instead, she opted to just let him have his moment, pretending she hadn't noticed how flustered he was...which in turn made her more flustered.

He placed his tea to the side. Why was it that he already wanted to put his hand on her again, wanted the contact? Addiction based or just because he loved her? Really, he was doing much better than he thought he would ever be able to at controlling himself, although he still worried. She deserved the best of this world, and he only hoped he could make that happen...only hoped he would be able to keep her from getting hurt in his presence any further than the times she already had.

Just a day before after her brush with painkillers he'd said...some things. In the moment he'd meant them, and it was a fear for him that he would ruin her life, but...Vanderwood looked down at her. He would keep that from happening, and she was willing to risk everything to be with him, just like he was to be with her. She had that right just as much as he did.

Cerise kept her head down and focused on her tea. The silence was starting to be a little uncomfortable for her.  "Marion...I never really asked you. How old are you? I guess it's kinda silly asking that now considering..." Cerise found the hand that he rested on the couch and began to play with his fingers. "I'm twenty...but I'm sure you already know that. Being a super-secret agent and all.”

Her question pulled him out of his thoughts. "Oh...well..." That's right, he'd never told her. "Yeah...I've known since the day after I brought you to the first hotel. Seven sent me a file...but I could only read the first sentence. Didn't feel right to read the rest." She probably had some idea of how old he was already, so it wouldn't be a huge shock right? "I'm 28. I'll be 29 soon."

Okay, so he was eight years older than her, that wasn't bad. At the mention of the word 'soon' her eyes lit up. "Soon? When is your birthday?" Cerise loved celebrating things. Holidays and birthdays made her so excited, but the birthday of her fiancé? Sign her right the Hell up! She was totally going to learn how to cook by then, so she could surprise him with something she made that wasn't terrible and burned. By now, she was pretty much hovering right next to his face, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Holy shit, why was she so excited? He leaned away just a little, furrowing his brows at her. It was just a birthday. Hell, he'd never even done anything for his birthday. "It's...December 23rd. Just about a month from now...but I'd rather not dwell on it." Vanderwood couldn't even remember people saying happy birthday to him. No wait, he could. Caleb. Caleb was the only one who remembered. Vanderwood wrapped his arms around Cerise, pulling her into his lap tightly and burying his face in her hair. His heart had felt like it was being suddenly crushed, her presence in his arms easing it somewhat.

She didn't even have a chance to ask him why he seemed so upset before he was pulling her into his lap. The atmosphere felt sort of…gloomy all the sudden...Had something happened on his birthday? Did he just not like celebrating it? If it was bad memories he had...she wanted to do her best to replace them with good ones. He was twenty-eight...and probably hadn't celebrated his birthday in a while. Cerise had a lot of work to do if she wanted him to look back fondly on it, but now she figured they had their entire lives ahead of them to make that happen. He had buried his face into her hair, probably not wanting to talk right now, so she just nuzzled into him, letting him enjoy the silence as he held her there.

The silence and just her warmth, it was comforting. It was exactly what he needed. After a few minutes, he felt like he could talk again. "I'm sorry..." He mumbled into her hair before he released her slowly. "That was a little sudden...Just...unpleasant thoughts." Vanderwood gave her an apologetic smile and a soft kiss to her forehead. "You do whatever you want for my birthday...but I can't promise you I'll be in a good mood."

Cerise shook her head and gave him an understanding smile. "Don’t worry, you know? We're gonna make happy memories." God help him if she forgot. Vanderwood internally winced at the idea, but Cerise wouldn't forget...judging from how excited she had been...she wouldn't forget. His hand found the side of her face, cupping her cheek as he had a tendency to do before he gave her a kiss, nice and slow, pulling away to kiss her nose. "Now...is my beautiful fiancée ready for her first lesson? I'm a little hungry."

He didn't really feel like talking about it right now, as much as he had promised her his honesty...it could wait. Those childhood memories were more painful than the stories of his scars and were overshadowed by Caleb's death in ways that made him feel like he couldn't breathe past the pain in his chest. It was strange; usually he'd never think about those memories, they were just locked up behind a wall of pain, but this memory, as painful as it was, it also felt good. His brother had loved him. Vanderwood bit his tongue to keep from turning into a mess again.

She didn't think even in a million years she would get tired of his kisses. Each one never felt like the last, but all of them were enough to always take her breath away. "I'm so ready." She hopped up off the couch and towards her kitchen at an incredible speed. Not only was she really hungry, but she was really eager to learn from him. Cerise turned around and motioned for him to follow. "Come on, slow poke! At this rate we'll be celebrating my birthday before you get your butt over here."

"Alright, I'm coming." He snorted softly at her enthusiasm, that and her birthday was almost a full year away, and he couldn't possibly be that slow, even injured. Vanderwood couldn't help but smile like an idiot as he looked at her, thinking about just how much she meant to him. "Let me go get the groceries. Wash your hands while I'm gone...And maybe find me a hair-tie?" Cerise teasingly saluted him and found him the hair-tie he had asked for before washing her hands. They were going to be cooking, so she made sure to wash them extra well.

He had left the groceries in the car in his excitement to propose, so now he went to get them before entering her house again and placing them on an open space of counter. "Alright...so we're making omelets with some vegetables, not too difficult and pretty healthy." Cerise was drying off her hands when he reappeared back in the house with the groceries, nodding as he spoke. Omelets sounded pretty easy, and vegetables weren't that scary either. She could totally impress him with how quickly she could pick this up. Eggs and vegetables were nothing. "That sounds delicious! I can't wait~" Cerise handed him his hair-tie. "So, what's first, Teach'?"

"I'm probably going to start by teaching you how to wash and cut the vegetables while I whisk up and cook the eggs." Vanderwood chuckled at her enthusiasm. Cerise was a marvel to him sometimes. He put his hair up before looking her over. She had a Hell of a lot more hair than he did. Considering the mess she'd made the last time she cooked, it was probably better for her to have her hair up, too. "But...I think you should put your hair up first, too."

He was not risking her lighting that on fire. Vanderwood loved her hair, more than he really cared to admit. "Oh, my hair too?" Cerise nodded and disappeared out of the kitchen and into her bedroom before returning with a thicker hair scrunchie and handing it to him. "You do it~" She didn't give him a chance to answer before she turned around, shaking her hair out with her hands for a moment.

A light blush appeared on his face. He loved messing with her hair, really, so putting it up, as dumb as it sounded, it was a little on the intimate side, at least for him. "Alright then." Such a simple task shouldn't really make your chest feel warm and fuzzy should it? Vanderwood took the hair scrunchie and put it on his wrist as he gathered her hair up carefully before sliding the scrunchie from his wrist to around her hair, making sure to get it tight enough that it would stay but not so it would hurt her head.

He gave her a quick kiss to the top of her head then moved to grab some carrots and broccoli from his grocery bag, handing them to her. "Alright...so, first we get them out of the bags. Then we wash them off. The carrots will need peeling, but the broccoli just needs a good wash." Vanderwood washed his hands quickly, leaving the water running to wash the veggies. "So...let's wash the broccoli first, since that doesn't need peeling."

Cerise bounced in place excitedly as he talked before taking the broccoli from him. “You got it~” Easy stuff; she was practically a broccoli-washing pro! Cerise hummed excitedly to herself before turning the broccoli over. He watched her, shaking his head a little. Lord, she was in adorable form. At least he could trust her to wash broccoli, right? That wasn't so hard.

Vanderwood had gone to open the bag of carrots, so they could wash those as soon as she got the broccoli cut up, and then his thoughts were violently interrupted when he was splashed with water. She had managed to somehow make the stalk fling water at the both of them, getting in her eyes. "Sorry!" Cerise apologized and rubbed her eyes. She didn't know broccoli could be so...rubber-bandy and flingy. He looked over at her to see that, yup, somehow she had managed to mess up washing, but at least the broccoli was clean? He carefully took the broccoli from her and placed it on a cutting board, trying not to be bothered by the fact that there was a wet spot on his back. "That's alright." She really was rather clumsy.

Did he trust her with a knife? Vanderwood cut the stalk of the broccoli off himself before motioning for her to stand in front of him, demonstrating cutting the broccoli apart from the little cluster. He hadn't expected her proximity to be a problem for him, but she was so close, and he needed to get away before problems arose, so to speak. Vanderwood did just that, shifting away from her directly after showing her how to cut the pieces apart. "So...just cut them away from the bigger portion while I wash the carrots." She could get that, right?

"Yessir!" She answered with another salute, trying to ignore how close he had been to her. Cerise had cut things before. That shouldn't be hard...At least she couldn't get splashed. Except with blood once you manage to cut your finger off. Cerise froze. Whoa, what a terrible thought. She shook her head; she wouldn't be cutting any appendages off today. Carefully, she did as he’d instructed and managed to successfully cut the florets away from the stalks without much of an issue. How in the world could she do that but not wash the goddamn thing correctly?

Vanderwood had started on washing the carrots, snorting at her salute. Thankfully, cooking was a good mind clearer, but he kept glancing at her to make sure she wasn't cutting herself. Her voice got his attention. "I think I did this right." As he looked over, his eyes widened. "Yeah, you did great. And no blood." That was supposed to be an internal thought, but now it was out. "Um...I wasn't expecting any." He resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck, because then he'd just have to wash his hands again. "So...um...put that in a pot, and let's wash and peel some carrots."

Cerise couldn’t help but feel a little flush in her cheeks as he, apparently accidentally, pointed out the obvious. "It's okay...I'm actually surprised too." She confessed with a nervous laugh. That probably wasn't reassuring at all, but there it was. Cerise deposited the broccoli into the designated pot. "Okay...carrots." He seemed to be busy with washing them...which was fair considering how she had treated the broccoli, so she could just start on the peeling.

She grabbed the peeler and a carrot. He hadn't really shown her how to do it, but it couldn't be any harder than chopping broccoli. Vanderwood was surprised to see her grabbing the peeler already, apparently wanting him to wash the carrots while she peeled. Did she need to be shown how? Probably not…Holding the carrot, Cerise applied pressure with the peeler and peeled the top skin off. Well...it was more like half the carrot...which as she applied pressure to get the chunk of carrot off, suddenly shot across the room. Cerise just stared blankly and she watched the orange torpedo hit the wall and then the floor. Why? Why was she so bad at this?

He had been watching what she was doing, a little confused by how she was choosing to hold the carrot, but he wasn’t expecting the orange missile situation. Vanderwood just kind of stared at the carrot on the floor for a minute. "Um...let me help you with that." He tossed the carrot, grabbing another, a little wary as he took her hands from behind her again. His head bent to lightly press a kiss to the spot just behind her ear, an easy task with her hair up, before he bit his tongue and returned to the task at hand.

No time for nonsense...Vanderwood took the carrot and placed it in her hand, showing her how to properly hold the damn thing, because apparently that was too difficult for her clumsiness, God, she was cute...and slightly terrifying. Cerise cooking could probably be weaponized. Vanderwood had to suppress a snort as well as control the little side of fear that gripped at him as he envisioned her shooting carrots at someone. He shook his head before he helped her peel a few lines off the carrot. "It can peel both ways, but I think you should peel in the direction away from your body...To be safe." His concern for her safety was outweighing his concern for how close he was pressed to her like this.

For a moment, he seemed to be thinking, maybe in more reverent silence over what had happened to that poor carrot. Cerise was still having her own little moment of silence over that, quite frankly. It was becoming apparent to even herself just how bad at this she was. His comment about peeling away from herself for her own safety made her scrunch up her nose for a second before her face relaxed. "You know...that's fair." She peeled the carrot like he had shown her away from herself, and once she had started, she found it rather easy, as long as she held it correctly.

He stepped away to start on the eggs, but Vanderwood had found himself mostly watching her rather than dealing with the eggs out of worry. After the first carrot, it looked like she was doing okay. She managed not to maim any more defenseless carrots and successfully peeled the rest he had washed as he cracked the eggs into a pot for stirring together.

Cerise figured that cutting them was next as she finished, placing the peeler aside along with the final carrot. "Done with this part~" She sang out and went to go and grab her knife. Unfortunately, she had completely forgotten that she might not have peeled them over the trash can, causing her to slip on the orangey peels. The kitchen was not her friend. Cooking was not her friend. The Gods above obviously hated her.

He had snorted softly at her sing-song tone, having moved to place the eggs on the counter, and then he noticed her slipping. Vanderwood's heart was in his throat as he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her into his arms successfully before she could hit the ground. Cerise had closed her eyes in preparation of hitting the floor, but it never came. She opened one eye to see that he had grabbed her before she could. It was a good thing she hadn't managed to grab for the knife; that would have been a disaster. Vanderwood was about ready to curl up in a ball in the corner. The mess too…the carrot peels on the floor he hadn’t noticed out of concern for making sure she didn’t launch the carrots about the room.

Obviously, she simply wasn't meant to cook. It was fate, clearly. Life had prepared him to be the housewife for her, because his future wife sure as Hell wasn't one. He realized he was holding her rather tightly and let go slowly. "Are you alright?" When he finally let go, Cerise looked down to see what it was that made her slip. Yep. That figured. She knew she should have peeled the orange traitors over the trash can. Cerise looked back at him and blinked. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Despite her saying so, he still felt the need to check her over, apparently. His hands went to her shoulders, moving down her arms and then to her waist and over her legs as he searched for any sign of injury, his face slowly turning redder. It was sweet how much he worried over her, even for super simple things. God, she was so clumsy...Maybe cooking would never be her thing. In theory, it seemed so simple, but she just was not able to pick it up. Maybe in time...who knew?

When he was done checking her over, she noticed that his face was at a new level of red. The touches were innocent, and she thought nothing of them, but the way his face was flushing only made hers match it, and she couldn't help but to look down at her feet, letting her hair obscure her face again. Marion moved to press a soft kiss to her forehead, which didn’t make it easier. "I think you've learned enough for one day, shortcake...Please go sit down before I have a heart attack..."

Cerise wanted to argue with him, tell him that she wanted to stay in the kitchen and learn more, but he did have a point. If she stayed in there today, she was either going to kill herself or kill him in some ridiculous freak kitchen accident. She didn't even blame him for shooing her away. Cerise stalked over to the couch and plopped down with a bounce, turning her head so she could watch him in the kitchen. It made her feel bad that she sucked at cooking so much that he basically had to do everything. Maybe she was just good at other things and hadn't realized it? Cerise let out a sigh and pulled her phone out, stopping to glance at her ring. If she was going to be someone's wife...his wife--shouldn't she be better at these things? Some woman she was...but she didn't think he was the type of person at all to ask her unless he was absolutely sure that she was what he wanted. She had time to learn things.

A smile played on her face as she opened the camera and took a selfie of herself with her ring in view, making sure to angle it to where Vanderwood could be seen cooking in the background. Cerise had her doubts about being a good wife, but she wasn't going to let that dampen her excitement. She figured she must have added like fifty tags to that photo and surprisingly opted not to put stickers all over it. It was a great picture how it was and didn't need any decorations--Cerise's ring was decoration enough.

As expected, as soon as she uploaded the picture, her phone began to blow up with messages and notifications. She couldn't help but giggle and read through the well wishes and congratulations. There were a few salty people, but she tended to ignore them. They were going to have a beautiful relationship, haters or no.

Vanderwood really wasn't sure he could take more kitchen mishaps, focusing on taking care of the mess that was making his skin crawl before he could start cooking again. Occasionally, he peeked at her from his periphery. It looked like she was on her social media. A little smile crossed his face. How had he, a guy who had tried all his adult life to avoid having any online presence whatsoever, fallen in love with a woman who was virtually famous?

It struck him as incredibly ironic. On top of that, it was a bit dangerous, but...Cerise was the love of his life, and he wasn't about to let any more danger come to her. It might show up at the doorstep, but he would take care of it. Vanderwood let the veggies cook while he worked on the omelets, adding a little cheese, which hopefully she liked. "Lunch is almost ready." He looked at her there on the couch. That woman, that perfect little obstinate woman, was going to be his wife.

Cerise perked her head up at his announcement. No doubt if she had stayed in there, it would have taken ten times as long. This incredibly domestic setting made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. There were no issues to worry about, no secret threats to speak of. Cerise hopped back up off of the couch and made her way back to the kitchen, coming up behind him to wrap her arms around his torso as he’d turned around. It could have waited, sure, but she just really felt she needed to hug him right then.

Vanderwood was portioning the veggies onto the plates with the omelets when she wrapped her arms around him from behind. He hadn't been expecting that at all, but his heart flipped in his chest, and his hands found hers as he hung his head and closed his eyes. It was such a simple little thing, just a hug, but he felt so happy, a moment of peace and quiet with his soulmate. His finger stroked lightly over her ring, the ring that said she was his wife to be. She felt him relax into her arms and they were able to share a quiet little moment. It was nice to just be near him, especially when they had recently spent so much time apart. Cerise decided she hated being apart from him and hoped that there was never another situation that he had to be away for so long, because his absence was definitely noticed.

How long did they stand there like that? It felt never ending, and maybe that's just what it was like to be truly happy. Vanderwood gently moved her hands away to grab her plate and turn to hand it to her. "I love you, shortcake...I'm so glad you said yes." He felt blush in his cheeks again, but that was just how today was going to be, it seemed. It was the best day of his life so far. "I love you, too." A light blush dusted her cheeks. Marion sounded so soft and sincere, and it made her heart flutter. "I'm glad you asked me. " Cerise shot him a smile before she was headed back to the couch with her omelet, waiting to start on it until he joined her. Not only had she gotten the cooking lesson she was promised today, but she’d gotten a proposal for something much better.

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Tagged Chapter Directory

[voyageviolet]

Just for the hell of it, I’m going to post the responses I’ve been writing for the Great Homestuck Reread.

DAY 1

I could have sworn I wrote something for this day, but apparently no??? Weird.

DAY 2, PAGES 127-247

Favorite Panel: John: Scold TT

This one's just cute to me.

Favorite Pesterlog: John: Answer chums.

Rose is being high-and-mighty about the FAQs while John panics about impending doom; meanwhile Dave is talking to himself about planet fucking Jupiter. These kids are a disaster.

Favorite Flash: S: John: Take a bite of the apple.

There's not a lot of competition for "favorite flash" in these pages, but I do think it's a great way for the story to really get started with a sense of urgency.

Missed Moments: Not much, but is that oil on Rose's wall? And I've never noticed John's shirt changing color.

Today's Question - Is Act 1 actually bad or are people just not giving it a chance?

I think Act 1 is great, but I didn't the first time I read it. It takes a while to get past the initial "What the fuck am I reading" response, what with the captchaloging and the cruxtruding and the other fake words. I started reading and gave up twice before I finally buckled down and decided, "I am going to find out what the deal is with the candy corn horns I'm seeing everywhere if it kills me." But if you decide to just relax and enjoy the ride, Act 1 is a lot of fun. It's just frustrating for the people who've been sold on Homestuck being this great epic adventure to have to get through the kids screwing around in the beginning.

DAY 3, PAGES 248-384

Favorite Panel: Dave's little gasp here. ~SO COOL~

Favorite Pesterlog: And here we have the first example of two of the gayest kids in Homestuck calling each other gay. These two are so much alike in their mostly-playfully-adversarial ways; they crack me up.

Favorite Flash: [S] YOU THERE. BOY. I'm the kind of RPG gamer that walks around and talks to every NPC and checks every little corner for items or info, so the walkaround flashes are always especially fun for me.

Missed Moments: -In the [S] YOU THERE. BOY. flash, WV knows who John Cusack is, as if he's some kind of universal constant.

-When I first read Homestuck, I didn't expect this quote to be referenced again: "You wonder if this rain will ever let up. It's driven since the month began, perhaps long enough to forget its purpose. It no longer even knows to assuage fire. Somewhere a zealous god threads these strings between the clouds and the earth, preparing for a symphony it fears impossible to play. And so it threads on, and on, delaying the raise of the conductor's baton. "

-And for something I missed this time around: Does anyone know what songs used to be on the [S] on page 338? There's still "Harlequin" and "John do the windy thing," but some have been removed, probably for copyright reasons. (If you're not sure what I mean, click the four corner buttons on that page.)

Today's Question - Who was truly at fault in the Rose/Mom pseudo-imaginary feud?

I talked a bit about this yesterday, but to simplify: It's Mom's fault, simply due to the fact that she's the parent. It's the parent's responsibility to engage with their child in a way that the child can understand and appreciate. Mom reacted to Rose in an overbearing way that had more to do with her own feelings than her child's feelings. For example, when young Rose asked her mom to have a funeral for her cat, she wasn't asking for an elaborate permanent monument; she was asking for help saying goodbye to a friend and coping with that loss. In spite of what I assume to be her best intentions, Mom failed to provide that. Their house is filled with this sort of elaborate expression of affection that completely fails to provide any real emotional connection.

Let me state for the record that Roxy is one of my favorite characters in Homestuck, but she's the version of the character who managed to pull herself together and support the people she cares about. For whatever reason, Mom is the version who didn't.

DAY 4, 385-509

Favorite Panel: ==> I forgot about this one, but John flying around the room with the pogo and the shaving cream is still hilarious.

Favorite Pesterlog: Dave: Pester Rose. The first crack in the cool kid's facade.

Favorite Flash: [S] Rose: Youth roll right out the front door. This is SO dramatic, what with the "empty suicide threat" and the "ironic negligence," and yet it's presented in such a cartoonish "lol whatever" manner. I wish we got more detail about their relationship at some point in the story - something like Dave's introspection and his interaction with Dirk - because this flash presents a pretty bleak picture.

Missed Moments: -From page 404's commentary: "Also, I like how WV is now helping out with the Con Air references through his terminal commands. He shows a striking ability to adapt to and participate in running gags. He is the type of guy who just "gets it", you know?" I definitely didn't pick up on this before. It's hard to pinpoint the places where the commands stop being authorial input and start being characters' input.

-424's commentary: "Judging by the commands, WV is just as caught up in the story as John is. Let's agree this is adorable." Definitely adorable, but I wonder, does WV know at this point that this is the story he was already caught up in?

-447: "There's the PUPPET CHEST he stores LIL' CAL in when he takes him out on gigs." BRO TAKES LIL CAL ON GIGS. LIKE GIGS IN PUBLIC? THERE IS NO WAY ANYONE WHO'S NOT A TRAPPED 13 YEAR OLD WOULD EVER ENTERTAIN THE IDEA THAT VENTRILOQUIST RAPPING COULD BE COOL. BRO WOULD GET DESTROYED ONSTAGE.

I always assumed that the puppet thing was exclusively online, but it sounds like Bro's life may be weirder than I ever realized - which is pretty fucking weird to begin with.

Today's Question - Is WV really just a one note joke character? No, I don't think he is. Every character in Homestuck is a joke to some degree, but that doesn't make them flat. WV has an emotional journey and narrative development that starts with his his silly obsession with eating green things, evolves through flashbacks of his rebellion against a corrupt monarchy and his friendship with PM&co, and ends with him starting (what seems to be) an egalitarian democracy on new Earth. He also serves to explain to the audience what happened to the old, now abandoned Earth without resorting to boring exposition.

Plus he's adorable and everyone loves him, so there's that.

Bonus Question - WHAT'S YOUR POGO MINIGAME HIGH SCORE???? Yeah I can't say I spent much time on that, but I did enjoy the song.

DAY 5, PAGES 510-644

Didn't get time to respond to this yesterday, oops. I'll make this quick.

Favorite Panel: Vaulthalla, baby.

Favorite Pesterlog: Rose: Answer Dave. Still love these kids, and the fact that Rose makes up a poem on the spot is pretty impressive.

Favorite Flash: Well, there's only the one, so...

Missed Moments: None this time.

Today's Question - Which of the items in your house would you combine to make a cool weapon? I'm gonna be a dumb nerd and admit that I'd like to see what I could make with some anime figures. I've always thought that umbrellakind was kind of fun, so why not mix animu figures with that. Like, a Sailor Moon figma with an umbrella could make a cute cheesy magical girl wand. I also have an old biting pear statue that I'm sure could make some interesting things.

DAY 6, PAGES 645-759

Favorite Panel: Democracy. The deadpan faux-seriousness combined with WV's cuteness is just delightful.

*Favorite Pesterlog: * There really weren't any of note in this section. This day's all about WV.

Favorite Flash: WV: Ascend. I've always found the longer flash videos a bit confusing; there are so many things happening at once. Damn if they aren't fascinating, though.

Missed Moments: -Page 721: "All of the chess moves were copied exactly from a famous game played by Bobby Fischer. I forget which one exactly, but it was super famous among dudes who bone tight up on their chess." Never would've guessed that. For some reason, it never even occurred to me that these would be valid chess moves rather than WV just throwing things around. -"The station's terminal is meant to "control" the client player of the kid whose house once existed where that station is. So WV's station, which was in Rose's location, gives commands to John, because John is Rose's client player, and she commands his game similarly. And the apple station commands Jade, because she'll be John's client player, etc. Did you realize this?" NOPE

Today's Question - What would WV's classpect be? Mayor of Can? I dunno, I've never spent much time on classpect theorizing. It's too complicated and too heavily based on speculation for me.

DAY 7, PAGES 760-885

Favorite Panel: Jade's holographic computer. Her life is ridiculous and otherworldly. Seeing the crazy things that are a mundane part of her reality is pretty great.

Favorite Pesterlog: A rare Jade-Rose pesterlog. Best appreciate these when you can.

Favorite Flash: [S] Rose: Ascend. There are a lot of fight scenes in this section, but this one is the most fun, and the one involving the least amount of child abuse.

Missed Moments: -"I wonder which troll named her Farmstink? Do trolls even have farms? Maybe they call them musclebeast pastures." It never even occurred to me that it was the trolls typing in names. I just thought of it as reader input.

-"With the (playable!) FRESHJAMZ playlist, we are provided with the implication that these are all songs produced by the kids collaboratively. Their icons indicate who was involved with the songs. Just another sign earlier in the story that these kids have some musical talent and this is the sort of thing they do with their spare time." I don't think I ever noticed everyone's icons next to songs, or if I did I didn't put it together that they were the ones making this music.

-"It's almost as if Bro is training him to face the last boss. Or it would be if last boss had the slightest thing to do with this creepy puppet, which of course is preposterous." Never connected those dots.

Today's Question - Is early Jade a good character? Why or why not?

Yes, on the grounds that she is precious and delightful.

More seriously, though, I think she's as good of a character as any of the kids, but she doesn't get as much narrative attention or development as I'd like towards the end of the comic. Early Jade, though, is arguably in the most fucked up situation out of all of the kids: Her grandfather took her to a deserted island and died when she was very young, leading Jade to assume he committed suicide, and leaving her with the responsibility of emptying out his innards to taxidermy his body (?!?). Ok, there's no way that last part ever could have been played straight, but the point remains that Jade has had to grow up in a pretty bleak and lonely situation, but she remains unfailingly positive and friendly. She's never had any hope of leaving her island and interacting with the rest of her planet before the game destroys it, but by watching the clouds on Prospit and by enjoying her friendships, she stays happy and hopeful. I can't see that as anything but impressive.

[justjoeyyy-blog-blog]

Day 30-35

6-13-17 Day 30: I was told that I wasn't approved to leave a week before my sign off date for my cousins wedding and papas birthday. My mom already bought my plane ticket and everything. My mom emailed the lady who denied the request so hopefully something can be changed. We're technically over staffed so there's no reason for it to not get approved. I would only be leaving a week early, that's it. I also went to st Nicholas (the resort) and laid out. It was so relaxing. And it feels good to wake up and not sleep all day. After work me and Rain went to the crew mess to see what food they had. We started walking and saw something weird from the side door. So we kept walking and sitting there was an entire pig completely cooked and cut open. It was terrifying. And it was stuffed with all of this weird stuff. I completely lost my appetite. Tomorrow is day at sea so it's gonna be a long day. And of course I'm still awake at 3am. It's hard when I don't get off until 1ish and I'm wide awake. 6-14-17 Day 31: sea days fucking suck. I started at the slide. We have 3 with only a worker at 2 of them. Some random worker comes up to me and just hands me a walkie talkie and then walks away. Doesn't say a word. I was switching through all of the channels until I finally heard a police signal. They were looking for a red mustang and were saying all of these codes. I was so confused. Finally I found a worker and asked him which station I should be on. I then had a parent come up to me complaining about how there wasn't an attendant on the little slide. He said there were tons of kids getting hurts as well as one of his. He was not happy and was putting it out on me. I apologized and said I would let someone know. And at this time I didn't know which channel we were supposed to use for the walkie talkie. The communication here is terrible. And the language barrier obviously doesn't help. Some girl came up to me and said you're the first American worker I've met! Which is true. We have a steward that comes and makes our beds everyday and changes the towels. For the past 4 days he's come in and made my bed as well as given us fresh towels but has not touched rains bed. We never see our steward so we haven't been able to ask him. It's so confusing yet so humorous at the same time. Our room looks so nice and then rains bed is all over the place because he hasn't touched it! We have this thing where guests can submit feedback and if they mention our name we get a shout out. If we get 10 shout outs we get a day off. I got 2 last week and 1 this week. It seriously feels so good that I was the reason someone had an amazing vacation. And that these guests went out of their way to recognize me and my hard work. A mom came in today and gave me and Alina gifts. They were rocks she had painted herself. They were so cool. She was Israeli too 😋 I met a family in camp today. They have 9 kids and another one that passed away. Their mom home schools them because they're moving to Honduras in September for a mission trip and are living there for a year. The oldest is 21 and the youngest is 1. It's so cool to get to know these families. And when the kids hug us goodbye and the parents thank us and truly mean it, it's means the world to me. I also met another family with 9 kids. It's crazy to me. And the youngest 2 were twins and were so cute yet so annoying. I miss my kids back at home so much. Typical kids are so annoying and have so much drama. My kids at home are exciting and bring something new to me everyday. There's actually a huge amount of kids who come on the boat who have autism but I don't always have them in my age group. Right now it's 3:03am. I went to crew bar after work. I met a new girl a few days ago from Tennessee. Her name is Candace. She sings in one of the bands. She's super nice and I love having another American around. Because she's a singer she has her own room. Today we got a list of boats and the positions they need. Rain and Alina are signing on to the breeze in September and October. That boat has a circle c position starting in November which is a huge possibility for me. I need to request it tomorrow before it's too late. I need to find somewhere to bring my laptop and eat where there's good wifi. Thankfully packages will come tomorrow too. I haven't been taking a few of my medications the past few days because I ran out and they didn't get here in time. Which is probably why I had a bladder spasm today and yesterday. NOT GOOD. Also got some paperwork today that said MR again. I've corrected them so many times and they can't get it right. Kinda like the Filipinos (I finally spelled it right) who don't know the difference between he and she and her and him. The notes they write to the parents are comical. "You child great. She love play with toy. The boy make a friend and has polite." No joke that's what they say. There's also tons of mistakes in the schedules we give out to guests which is super frustrating. This week my name wasn't on the schedules given out to the parents which sucks because they reference those when it comes to writing reviews. There was names of 2 girls who I've never even met...aka they were on the boat 2 months ago. If I see a mistake I just circle it and put it on our supervisors desk so she doesn't know who did it. Oops 😶 I want it to be tomorrow so I can sleep and get stuff done! I also forgot to write about what happened this morning. In the Kiera of my dead sleep I hear loud weird music. I sit up and realize it's coming from the announcements. The bridge (where the captains are) accidentally turned their awful music on and everyone who was in their cabins could hear it. It went on for a good hour as I smashed my head between the pillows. It was comical at first and then I was just flat out furious. 6-15-17 Day 32: today I got off in Long Beach by myself. I took an uber to a local outlet mall where I sat at Starbucks and got some stuff done with the wifi. We were given a list of positions needing to be filled for the rest of the year so I went and did some research on all the boats. I also set up my account on how to get paid from here. They give us a debit card that the money goes on. We can do direct deposit but it wasn't working for me :/ I also sent my dad a Father's Day gift card online. Then I went across the street and ate at California pizza kitchen. I got to face time my mom and update my phone and stuff. Then I learned there's a bus that I could've used for free that goes from the terminal to the outlets. Poop. I didn't know how to use it though so I just took an uber back too. I asked my supervisor about requesting a boat and she said I can't do it until I have my evaluation. When I asked her when my evaluation would be she said "before you leave" well no fucking shit before I leave. I told her the position I want is going to be taken by then and she didn't respond and just kept looking at her computer. She's such a shitty person it's like humorous. We have this other lady we work with who acts like she's our supervisor and she's not. I've literally never even had a conversation with her yet she thinks she can boss us all around. She confronted me about how I turned off the tv and how I didn't do it right. There was a sign saying to not turn off with a certain button and that's the one I turned it off with. Obviously if I would've saw it I wouldn't have touched it. It was a mistake lady...speaking of mistakes, so we are all required to write notes to the parents about their kids and how they've been doing (it's meant to help us get good ratings) well today I decided to read some and I was totally taken aback. These people do not know how to speak English. I felt embarrassed giving them out to the parents because the letters make absolutely no sense at all. It's so awkward. And one of the ladies wrote all the same things on all the cards and put a line where a name would be. Once she met the kids she went in and wrote their names on the line. Like obviously a parent is gonna know what that means, it means everyone is being given the same card and they're just going in and writing all the names down which isn't the point of them. Went to go pick up my packages today and my medication still isn't here. So I haven't been on 3 of my medications since Sunday. And my mom called Sunday and they said they would over night them here which obviously didn't happen. None of them are super serious but I've definitely been getting bladder spasms now that I'm off one of the medications. I'm also off my thyroid medicine as well as my medication that helps me stay awake during the day. I'll have to call my mom tomorrow and tell her but there's nothing she can do because we can't get mail until Sunday. 6-17-17 Day 34: I had no time to post yesterday. I've been so exhausted I sleep every chance I can. Even when I need to eat a meal or shower I've just been sleeping instead because it's so needed. There's been so much unnecessary drama around here it's crazy. Yesterday we had a mom come in asking to talk to "Ms Candy" because supposedly she called her daughter big and chubby. We apologized to the mom on behalf of ms candy (she wasn't there anymore) and explained to her that there's a language barrier and was probably the main reason behind the comment. The mom was understanding but that's hard for a 10 year old girl to hear. I can't believe our playlist cast is leaving tomorrow. I've gotten to know all 8 of them so well. It's very bittersweet. I'm excited to see how the new cast performs though. It's hard to imagine that anyone could possibly do any better than what we have now. I met a family yesterday who has 5 biological children and fosters 3 on top of that. And their youngest son has autism, so of course I'm already obsessed with them. It's crazy how many kids come on the boat who have autism. I love being able to interact with them. Everyone always asks me advice on how to work with them and make it a great experience for the child. I seriously talk about my kids back at home so much I feel like everyone is so sick of hearing it lol. I saw a shit ton of dolphins today. They were right next to the boat. I might get off tomorrow and go to the beach at Long Beach. I HAVE to get my hair cut it's like humorous how awful it looks. It's like I'm a human paintbrush and my hair is the bristles. Rain did my laundry with hers :p so blessed lol. I went to the candy store today on board. They have the cutest stuff there. They're starting to put them on all the ships. We have some people from the office on the boat. They told us that they have 4 new boats that they're working on. They said eventually they're gonna have a boat that sails to china. I'm actually really content on work at the moment. Yeah I'm really tired but moving in with Rain has helped a lot. It feels good to have someone I can go do stuff with and I conveniently always know where she is. There's obviously a lot of negatives about my work environment and my supervisor who has a stick up her fucking ass, but there's so many positives that come with it as well that make this experience so much fun. I worked night owls this whole week (10pm-1am) last pickup time is 1245 and the parents are told this every time. Yet we still are calling parents at 1 having to remind them that their children are in our care and they need to come pick them up. It's so irresponsible. And half the time the parents are wasted. Parents are also allowed to check out a phone but just return them before 10pm on the last night which never happens either. Tonight one of the late parents came in and literally just threw his trash on the ground. These poor kids are passed the fuck out, so tired, and their parents leave them there all night. I'm off now and I'm eating at crew mess alone. Which I'm okay with besides the stares. I've had a headache all day though so I needed to eat something. We have to be at a meeting tomorrow at 930 to meet with some people from the office. I seriously need to sleep in so badly but not sure when that's gonna happen. I start in circle c tomorrow. It's so weird switching back and forth. And being alone in there is hard as well. Especially during high count which is now. 6-19-17 Day 35: I finally got my haircut yesterday. Winslow picked me up. Got about 3-4 inches off. The lady charged me way too much though and she didn't even wash my hair. I was so mad. I didn't question it though because I was in a rush ugh. I started my week at circle c yesterday. No joke had 30-40 kids in there at one time it was not okay. One of the moms asked if I was alone and when I said yes I could tell she was worried for me. She told me I was doing a good job though which was nice. A lot of the kids think they're too cool for my club and it makes me so mad. Like then don't come if you think it's too babyish. I got to sleep in today 🙌🏾 I had a training at 130 that only lasted 30 minutes. Such a waste of time I could've been sleeping! It was an environment training. They train us on the weirdest things. Yesterday 2 of the people from the office came. They're the ones that hired me. I talked to one of them about not getting approved to leave for my cousins wedding and she's going to look more into it for me. She thinks the week I'm requesting to leave we'll actually be overstaffed because of an event on board so it may work in my favor! We got to talk to one of the ladies about issues we're having. She said Circle c is going to be getting an iPad that kids can request songs on. Right now we're using cds...and the most recent is from 2015. The office thought we had one this entire time...she was also confused as to why I was only here for 3 months and why I'm switching on and off from camp to circle c every week. Seems like the office doesn't know their shit. Even today when I signed in at my training it said my position was club O2. And the other day one of my papers said MR. So frustrating. It's 230 and I have work at 4. I'm gonna take a nap because I have nothing else to do and I'm tired af. Tonight I got to see the rock show with the new cast. Not. Good. They don't even come close to our old cast. It kinda made me so sad. People come and go here so fast it sucks. I have 2 brothers in my club. One of them has autism and the other one supposedly doesn't. The one who "doesn't" is out of control. He is constantly in my space and not listening to me. He asked me for just dance 16. I told him we didn't have it. He asked me at least 4 more times why we don't have it and if we have it. I told him no and then he asks if he can look in the office just to make sure we don't have it. I told him no and that they are not allowed in there in which he walked right in. There's also been numerous times where I've been talking to a parent and he'll come over and interrupt because he wants me to do something. I don't have a problem with having him in the club but I wish his parents would use a little common sense and supervise their kids more. They come and go as they please which is okay, but the mom never knows where they are and doesn't understand how their behavior towards me and the other kids is hard on everyone. At first the boys registered themselves so we didn't even know that one of them had a disability. On top of that I have tons of kids this cruise which makes it hard and I'm getting sick.