#and 2. I’m pretty sure my classmates (some more than others) would rather fail the class than be bothered to pay for study resources lol

[corvidat]

wtf why is it only thursday. thats fucked up :[

anyway fun lil quizlet streak that idk why I’m even keeping at this point

[nellynee]

The makings of greatness, or why, as a ride or die Treasure Planet stan, I’m glad there’s no Treasure Plant 2

You ever see somethings that makes you unreasonably angry? Yes I understand exactly what I’m saying, and how that indicates that my emotions and opinions on this are exactly that. Opinions. There’s a good chance I have some objective truths mixed in, but that does not make my opinions based on those truths truth. If you disagree or have different tastes or opinions or interpretations, cool, let me know! maybe you’ll change my mind. That being said.

The plot synopsis for the Treasure Planet sequel makes me angry. Not like, actively so, just annoyed enough to be in a bad mood. And now you guys all have to be in one as well. Why?

Reason 1, and probably least important: Disney sequel syndrome.

Ok so Disney sequels aren’t inherently bad. I’ll stan the Aladdin sequels to my grave, who knew Cinderella could world build, obligatory Rescuers Down Under (the first one was better) blah blah blah.

But there is an inherit problem with sequels in general, and that usually has to do with cast and crew. An original piece of fiction has to grab the audience yes, but there’s also freedom in that. Media touches people in different way. The worldbuilding can mean more to some than others. Some are in it for the animation, or the character developments, or relationships. What connects with one person won’t connect with another. The problem with sequels is that different people who worked out the original material might and usually do not work on the new. And those new people are already working on that new material with their own personal lenses and experiences and interpretations coloring the old. The reason sequels (and remakes, and big budget presentations of other materials like books into movies) tend to bomb hard is because you are essentially being forced to accept someone’s fanfiction into the canon material. Usually, there’s a pretty strong correlation between more successful franchises/extension material, works staying true to the core material, original crew working on the material, and the enjoyment of the audience.

And sources say very few of the original crew remained. Some yes, but mostly voice cast. Even worse, TP2 was a DisneyToon production, not even a mainline feature. Now I’m not saying the new people weren’t talented, or passionate about the project, or were lacking in experience. It doesn’t really matter if any of those things are true or not. It’s the warping of their personal lenses I don’t trust. Fanfic I can disregard, meta I can disregard. This would have been canon.

And reading the Artbook makes is abundantly clear that the parts that touched me personally would have been missing. The very core of Treasure Planet for me was the relationship between Jim and Silver (and their exquisite animation budget). However you choose to interpret that relationship, you can not deny that Treasure Planet is a powerfully emotionally romantic movie. It’s quiet moments and emotional resonance shaped my views of intimacy with a sharp and fine touch. Silver and Jim’s bond is as undeniable and powerful as it is compelling and awe inspiring to witness unfold.

And a lot of that is owed not only to  the voice acting of Joseph Gorden-Levitt (Jim) and Brian Murray (Silver), But to animators Glen Keane and John Ripa, who were the head animators of Silver and Jim respectively. Not only did Gorden-Levitt and Brian Murray deliver stunning performances, but made sure to work together and jointly play off each other in ways most voice actors don’t have the opportunity to do. And the Masters Keane and Ripa took an already stellar and carefully crafted vocal rapport and took it one step further. I highly recommend the Artbook as a good read, both Keane and Ripa talk about the journey of discovering who Jim and Silver were with delight, acting out entire scenes together using their own body language to build the characters together, using the same animation reals to animate, tag teaming in and out of the program rather than do it separately, becoming so attuned with their characters attitudes and mannerisms that you can tell they poured entire pieces of themselves into Jim and Silver.

I’m not saying the Sequel would have been inherently bad because it’s a sequel, or because a new crew worked on it, but I am saying I wouldn’t trust it with a ten foot pole.

Reason 2: Thanks I hate it (I’m saying it’s inherently bad because the plot is bad and I hate it)

I’m sorry for the length, but for you to really understand just how bad this is, I actually have to pick through every single line and tell you why it fails critically at some junctures and where it would be so simple to fix. For those of you who were unaware that there was a sequel in the works at some point, I’m pulling these quotes pretty much wholesale from the AnimateVeiws article Buried Treasure: The ill-fated voyage to Treasure Planet 2, specifically the interview with Jun Falkenstein who was set to direct the now canceled sequel. Spoiler warning, I guess?

So, from the begining

“The sequel was to pick up where the first film left off, with Jim Hawkins going to the Royal Interstellar Academy. At the Academy, he is a hotshot “natural,” but he doesn’t follow the rules very well.” - Strong start but then dropped the finish. I think the interstellar academy would be a very compelling starting point. I see no fault in it at least, it’s a good opportunity to world build. Clemence and Musket like to make a point that Jim was crafted to connect with the emotionally wounded and distant youth in a age of divorce, so showing what happens when that youth hikes up their britches and gets to work can extend on that theme aaaaaaand you dropped it. Dropped that strong start. Yes, Jim was more than a bit of a bite back rebel in the film, but that was a reactionary response to the bad place he started in. Jim was abandoned, and tied his self worth into that abandonment. His kickback against society was a reaction stemming from an inability to see his personal worth and any sort of future he could craft from it. He outgrew this, his very character development was about this in the film. His character arc was about realizing his inherent worth, embracing a sense of confidence and learning what he could do. Even disregarding that, bonus material outside of the film shows that Jim has a very strong sense of respect for Captain Amelia, her military career, and the hard work she put into it, and he’s there on her recommendation. Why would he act out in this? He is a natural yes, but the film shows he’s incredibly sharp and intelligent, if unlearned, and more than ready to learn given opportunity.

“Hence, he gets off to a shaky start – especially with his classmate Kate, who is very smart and has a type A personality. Kate’s father is Admiral Blake, the Commander of the Navy. Jim and Kate vie for top of the class but have very different skills.” - So building off this to fix the problem before. I guess the dynamic they are going for is something like “the kind of a jerk hotshit hotshot who’s got it all figured out and the straight laced rule fallowing stick in the ass rival”? I’m not apposed to to a rivalry, but lets tweak this, given how “hot shot natural jerk” isn’t really where Jim settles at the end of the film. Jim is a natural talent, who excels under tutelage, but more importantly, he has practical experience. While the time period spent on the RLS Legacy is not defined, they do sail to a deep and unexplored part of the galaxy, probably well outside of regular settlements, so no small distance, though Jim is young enough that a very long period of time would be noted in physical growth. Given comparisons to classic nautical sailing of the source time, months, perhaps up to a year? That’s a long time to spend, learning the rough and tumble basics, tying knots, experiencing food and water rations, extreme temperatures, playing with the rigging and mechanical aspects of the boat. Jim knows what it’s like to actually sail. Meanwhile, this is the Royal Academy, who probably takes in upper class second born children and pumps out military accolades for well learned mathematicians and strategists. Jim doesn’t fit in because he can visualize, he can think outside of the box, he can weld a damn engine to a hunk of shrapnel and ignite it freefalling against a metal hellscape and outrace a boat in a high adrenaline situation. He adapts where the other’s frantically look through their notes for the answer. Worse yet, he’s poor and not classically educated. Make it a class issue. In this aspect I do like Kate. Being the Daughter of the Commander of the Navy, she probably has a very technical and far more expansive understanding of navel ships, particularly the running of them. In this way Jim and Kate are perfect foils. Jim representing the poor, instinctually and practically knowledgeable crew, and Kate the upper-class, technically knowledgeable command, a dichotomy representing the haves and have nots in their skills, experiences, an class.

I don’t want to post a picture and break the post, but I do love Kate’s design. I do recommend looking up the article and checking it out. that being said, being a feline species, they messed up not spelling it Cate.

“Captain Amelia is dean of the Academy, which has a brand-new vessel: the Centurion.” - I… why, why is Amelia the dean? Additional material shows that Amelia broke ties with the military because she didn’t like their rule stickling ways and red tape. Why would she want a red tape position? She helped with a war and then bailed first opportunity to become a freelance captain so she could fallow her own rules. Even if you don’t know any of that additional material, you do know that she is a freelance captain. Why is she dean? what happened to the old one? Are they dead? Did DisneyToon kill them? Did Disneytoon kill the old dean?

“Designed by Doctor Doppler, the Centurion is the fastest ship in the galaxy.” - HE’S NOT THAT KIND OF DOCTOR!

“B.E.N. is its pilot”. - NO

In all seriousness all three of those statements show a serious problem, in that none of those characters are in fact those things. Amelia I’ve already explained. But Doppler was a debatably youngish bachelor with too much money who was fascinated by astronomy specifically and who suffered from ennui. And BEN was a navigational unit, so maybe it makes sense for him to be a pilot, but why is a robot who was functioning under a galaxy feared pirate for who knows how long given any kind of agency over a brand new incredibly important ship? These decisions were probably made to incorporate as much of the old cast as possible, to not exclude fan faves. But any decision that makes BEN a prominent part of the plot and thus gets more screen time is a BAD one.

“The pirate Ironbeard desires to commandeer the Centurion. This ruthless villain is relatively all iron – almost nothing of whom he originally was, inside and out, is left.” - On the one hand, I have a weird feeling that this would somehow violate the 30-70 rule. Buuuuut on the other hand, the Artbook does describe the decision making process of what and how was mechanical on Silver (my favorite tidbit was the wheel on his head representing his constant thinking and assessing) and states that that they in a way represent the pieces of humanity he gave up looking for Flint’s Trove. Extending that to a pirate who has given up everything could be a powerful thematic tool if used right (or intentionally)

“He leads a group of pirates to hijack the Centurion while Jim and Kate are aboard.” - ok, yeah, I’ll buy that. If they are butting heads constantly, I could see them sneaking off to the new piece of hardware to one up each other on who knows their stuff, or maybe bond over wanting to learn about the said new tech and being frustrated with restrictions.

“The Navy can’t catch the Centurion, due to the vessel’s speed and armor.”- sure

“Jim and Kate escape the Centurion. Jim decides he needs a pirate to help catch pirates. They find his old buddy Long John Silver in the Lagoon Nebula, where he is running a smuggling ring. “ - So what Jim just goes “I know just the pirate to help us” and then finds him? That journey of itself deserves it’s own movie, anything less is a disappointment. Alternative. Jim and Kate escape onto a particularly lawless planet. Jim has some tricks to keep them safe and fed, maybe he even excels in ways he’s been straight up stop gapped at the academy. Maybe his knowhow is appreciated by others who society also rejects. But Kate is a frustrating fish out of water, getting offended and worked up over things that are big deals to an average citizen but not criminals and pirates. But such reactions are putting them in danger and she needs to get perspective fast. It’s plausible maybe that Silver tracks them down through interesting rumors, but more than that, let it be fate. Neither having any idea the other is there till the second they see each other. Bonus points if Jim and Kate get in a bind and Silver is the leader of the harassers. Better yet lets add some thematic mirroring not only to the scene where Silver saved Jim from Scroop, but directly contrast it to the scene where Silver doubled back and down against the notion of caring for Jim when called out before the mutiny. *kisses finger* Touching and hilarious.

“ Silver agrees to help when he hears about the Centurion. “ -  Silver agrees to help when he hears about the Centurion without Jim even having to ask. Storywise, lets make some kind of deal over how Jim, an upstanding enrollee of the academy, apparently is chummy with a pirate. Tension doesn’t just have to be external, and Kate is the daughter of the Commander of the Army. Maybe she’s recognized and this gets them in trouble. Maybe Kate has issues with her identity outside of her father’s career and need to learn a lesson about being outside of a rigid social structure?

“Jim and Kate receive a tracking signal from B.E.N. – who is currently hostage aboard the Centurion – and follow via Silver’s creaky vessel. They discover the Centurion docked near the Botany Bay Prison Asteroid. “ - While being the fastest ship yet is a good excuse for wanting it to get stolen, my suspension of disbelief breaks a little at any ship, let alone a creaky little pirate vessel, catching up to the fastest ship yet, or the tracking signal being the only way to track it to a guarded prison. Seeing as how I’ve written BEN out of this scenario lets fix it. After the events of the movie, the Royal Military swoops in after to confiscate the debris of Treasure Planet. For those in the know, canon lore states that the Planet was a giant computer, and it and the map were the byproducts of an ancient and advanced civilization. Studying the debris led to the Centurion, notable not for it’s speed, but for it’s stealth. It can cloak itself. Which is why no-one can find it. Meanwhile Silver lets it slip that he snagged the map from it’s pedestal as they escaped the planet as a souvenir. (handwave why the portal was still open with a “the whole thing was exploding, the computer froze). The map is able to track the remnants of said planet, aka the Centurion, meaning Silver has the only means of tracking the cloaked ship

“Ironbeard is using the Centurion to disable Botany Bay’s security systems. Jim, Kate and Silver sneak aboard the Centurion, where Silver reveals to Jim that he wants to take the Centurion for himself. He asks Jim to join him.“ YES. YES YES YES YES YES YES! Understanding that  Jim’s decision to not go with Silver in the first movie is key here. He rejected Silver’s offer the first time because Silver had shown him he had intrinsic value, and Jim finally felt that the natural gifts he had were worth cultivating, that he did have the chance to explore who he could be on his own terms. Jim was comfortable being on his own, because he felt capable. Now, Jim and Silver bring out the best in each other, and the time apart has done them harm. Jim’s strings of social rejections are starting to fell like a glass ceiling he can’t overcome, and is finding more and more comfort in being a big fish in a pirates small pond, and the emotions of of being wanted that come with Silver is a powerful drug. But it’s a one way ticket away from any opportunities he could work towards, not to mention his barely repaired relationship with his mother. Meanwhile Silver has been slowly slipping back into the colder, more selfish self he was, a necessity for his lifestyle, and doesn’t want to loose his connection to Jim and what Jim brings out in him, but is still far enough gone to make the offer and try for the boat anyways, even if he knows it’s not what’s best. It’s an emotionally compelling decision. You want them to say yes, you know they shouldn’t

“Kate overhears this and is horrified, especially since the two have, of course, started falling for each other during the adventure.” - Hate. this I hate. Leaving shipping to they way side, what’s that “of course”? why do they have to fall for each other? Why the Disneytoon sequel love interest? I have a feeling her characterization would come at the cost of it. Why can’t they be rivals? why can’t they develop a mutual respect outside of attraction? Why can’t they both learn an individualized lesson about finding their own place in the world outside of social constraints as foils without macking? I hate this concept. Kate overhears, and is horrified, because Silver is a Pirate which is actually in universe get yourself hanged offense, and Jim is considering this, and they are going to steal a VERY IMPORTANT BOAT and and leave her stranded in a dagerous prison, and are making an objectively morally bad decision.

“Ironbeard discovers the intruders, charging into a fight in which Silver is injured. Meanwhile, the other pirates throw down ladders to the prison below, allowing swarms of elated prisoners to climb up into the ship. Silver, Jim, and Kate exit the Centurion amidst all the confusion. However, Ironbeard shoots down Silver’s ship. They plummet to the prison asteroid below, crash-landing” - cool. Drama. But for my purposes, lets tweak it so Silver isn’t injured yet. But I really want to emphasize that this attack does not interrupt before Jim can react to Silver’s offer. Even something as tentative as “I’m not sure” has consequences. None of this “misunderstanding” BS.

“ Kate is angry at Jim and storms off. “- again, make it clear that Jim showed a real chance of agreeing to steal the ship. if she’s angry before he had a chance to answer that’s contrivance for drama’s sake. Give her a reason to be mad

“ Jim is about to blow her off as well when Silver tells him to give her a chance. He reveals a part of his past through a flashback, when a young (non-cyborg) Silver screwed up a relationship with the love of his life – a decision which directly led to his life of piracy. “ - nope. nope nope nope . I’m gonna put a big old * here because this is reason number 3 why I hate this potential movie, and I will get to that believe me, but here’s me, putting a pin in it. That being said, have Silver selfishly try to double down on getting Jim to join him in a three way argument instead. This is the conflict of the film. Kate, who was learning to grow outside of the strict restrictions of her life and do her own work, make her own way, is being rejected. She is as morally repulsed as she is hurt that she wasn’t included, and hates herself for that hurt as well. Jim is torn between the freedom of what he could be after the academy paired with the strict social constructs around it, and the freedom of a life “full of himself and no ties to anyone” but running from the law and the two friends they represent. Silver is the aggressor here. He likes Kate, he does, but he loves Jim and only has one place in his heart, and has spent his life being selfish. There’s already a crew on board, and Iron beard is hooked into the Centurion. With having the only other means to navigate, they take down ironbeard, the rest will surely fall in line. This is paydirt. A fantastic ship, a bloodthirsty crew, and Jim.

“Silver has a very dangerous cargo with him that he had been trying to smuggle and sell for a fortune, which has the power of a neutron bomb. Jim, Kate and Silver reconcile and work together to fix Silver’s ship and prevent the Centurion, filled with the most evil pirates in the galaxy, from going on an insane robbing-and-killing spree. At the last second, Silver reluctantly gives up his “retirement fund” in order to destroy the Centurion, with Ironbeard and all the pirates on board.” - this entire section needs rewritten. That’s a mcguffin Silver put it away. I have retconned the mcguffin to be the old map, so that is now moot. Now to not blow up the ship. Afterall, Silver and Jim have both already overcome what Treasure Planet represented with it’s destruction. Rather, B plot

If we are that desperate to have past characters in, let’s have Amelia and Delbert back home. When the Centurion is captured, Amelia immediately volunteers to fallow, feeling responsible for Jim and secretly pining for some adventure. Delbert feels the same, and he to a bit of an adrenaline junkie after the events of the first movie, but they have the children to think about and only one can leave. Delbert is the one chosen to help by the navy officials searching for the Centurion. While Amelia bickers with the Admiral Blake over his pragmatic but emotionally distant decisions over the situation of his missing daughter, Delbert is an astronomer, and is blah blah blah science meta, fallow the flashing  and bending lights around the cloaked ship to find it. As in Delbert is helpful. Amelia in a reflation to Admiral Blake, is torn between her family and commandeering her own ship to help. Blake is frustratingly headstrong in his decisions, and the script makes it seem like that emotional distance is disinterests, but reveals to the audience that it incorporates a great deal of suppression of his anxieties and worries over his daughter, and trust in her abilities, though he has issues expressing this pride to Kate herself. Amelia, Delbert and fam make what is probably a poor decision in commandeering a ship and leaving on their own to track the Centurion, the navy hot on their heels.

Back to A plot, the navy is approaching. Jim has to make a decision. He is the only one who knows how to unmask the ship using the old ones tech without training, as it’s based off the map. While Kate and Silver are distracting iron beard, he has to either steal the ship and sail off, or uncloak it for the navy. Iron beard is taken down, but not without Silver getting injured. Jim decides that Silver’s life is worth more than anything, and after agreeing with Kate that she’ll commandeer a doctor and wont let Silver die, uncloaks the ship. The Centurion is retaken in a blaze of naval glory that is the action climax. The pirates fight back up are over run. Maybe Kate gets taken hostage as the Admirals daughter, as an opportunity for a resolution with her arc as Blake’s distant daughter, though obviously said resolution comes at her showing her abilities in taking care of herself and the practical skills she has learned.

“Silver again parts from Jim and Kate, telling them to take care of each other. A few years later, Jim and Kate graduate with honors, while a proud Silver secretly watches from the shadows, smiling” - Boooooo. Kate and her dad make up, and she challenges him that she’s going to one day Captain the Centurion, with him understanding that she needs less a mentor and more an emotional support while she works her way up the ranks. She invites Jim to be her first mate, to which Jim accepts as a navigator, (a thing I’ve pointed out to be his real strength in another post). But to Silver, who has been “pardoned” for his part in retaking the Centurion, the movie hinting that he to would be on the eventual crew there I fixed it fic to come I s2g.

yeah there’s a lot of good there, but it’s so easy to fix the bad it’s frustrating. which brings me to

Reason 3: that little pin

“ Jim is about to blow her off as well when Silver tells him to give her a chance. He reveals a part of his past through a flashback, when a young (non-cyborg) Silver screwed up a relationship with the love of his life – a decision which directly led to his life of piracy. “

Nope nope nope I’ll tell you why.

First of all, sources like the artbook say that Jim is so Important to Silver because he’s the first person Silver has ever let become important. he’s specifically stated to have no family, never married, no children. And that’s something he cultivated actively. His life of piracy, his metal limbs, his loneliness and moral failings were all gleefully accumulated for one reason and one reason only

Treasure Planet.

Treasure Planet was the great love of Silver’s life. It was a lifelong obsession. It destroyed his body, took his youth, his opportunities and nearly his life. He broke Jim’s heart over it.

And he let it go. For Jim.

And Jim understood this

This is the crux of treasure planet’s very themes. This is where Jim found self worth. Another person finally looked at him and said “you matter, you matter more than anything. I like being around you and I choose you first.” and it made Jim realize he’s someone worth choosing.

The treasure was EVERYTHING to Silver, and Silver let it go, for Jim.

That one line there, attributing the start of Silver’s fall to a girl? that actively retcons the entire theme of the previous movie. IT rewrite the emotional linchpin of Silver’s sacrifice of the gold. And actually fuck that. right into the ground. I do not accept. I do not pass go. I refuse. Fuck you non existent movie. That makes me mad. every single time. Hate I shall never let go.

No

[yandere-ac]

Can you write a little bit Mondo x Girly! Reader?

Yandere Mondo Owada X Girly Reader

Promise

⚠️ Spoilers for chapter 2 ⚠️

Ever since Mondo was little he’d have one thing drilled into his brain. When a man makes a promise, he has to keep it, even if it kills him. That is what his brother Daiya had taught him and that was something he was never going to forget. And he never did, no matter how difficult it could get he never ever broke any of the promises he made. So when it finally happened, the shame hit him hard.

He had remembered his utter confusion when he first woke up at hopes peak academy. He had rested on a desk in some classroom all by himself, which only confused him more. Why was he here? He was just walking into the school and now he was sleeping on a desk? Had he just...slept through a lesson or something? As he gazed around the room he saw a big clock hanging above the big blackboard. Nope, he couldn’t have slept through any lesson. There was still 15 minutes left before the school started. So why was he here? Never mind, he had to get to the entrance.

Walking out of the classroom he felt a sudden shiver up his spine as dread crept up his back. He didn’t know why, but something about this place was freaking him out. But he hadn’t had any time to process this new uneasiness as he heard the faint sounds of footsteps running towards him. Immediately he tensed up and got ready to defend himself in case anything happened. But he hadn’t gotten any time to process this new threat as something, or rather, someone ran into him. They had turned a corner in the hallway and didn’t seem to see him before it was too late. As they crashed into him they fell backwards and landed on the floor. Mondo was pushed back slightly by the crash but unlike the person before him, he didn’t fall. It only took him a few seconds before he regained his posture. Letting out a grunt he turned to the person still on the floor.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING DUMBASS!" He could now see the other person more clearly. They wore a puffy white blouse which they tucked into a pink skirt. They had pastel pink knee high socks that reached their thighs and they had a small bow in their hair. They were rubbing their head as they groaned slightly. After a couple of seconds they looked at him and their face immediately turned from dazed to panicked. "Oh my god I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to run into you like that!" They apologised to him profusely as they put their hands together, still on the floor. Mondo rolled his eyes and extended his hand to them. "Quit fussing. I’m not gonna hit you or anything. Just get up." Their face turned slightly pink as they realised they had been rambling. "Oh, yes of course." As they grabbed his hand Mondo could feel something in his chest for a split second. But he quickly brushed it off as he pulled them up off the ground. As soon as they stood up, they let go of his hand and brushed off their skirt. And that for some reason made Mondo a little bit irritated, but he didn’t understand why.

"Well, since first impressions are out the window," the person began as they smiled at Mondo. "Hi! My name is Y/N L/N. It’s nice to meet you!" As you introduced yourself to him you gave him a little bow. Mondo had eyed you up and down. You looked to be about his age, but you seemed nothing like him at all. You were like the personification of the colour pink, cute, polite, feminine. It wasn’t his style at all. And yet, something about you, it intrigued him. "Names Mondo Owada." He stated bluntly while putting his hands in his pockets. "So I’m guessing you’re a student here. What class do you belong to?" You gave him a slight smirk while you asked this. Something about it seemed almost endearing to Mondo. "Yeah, Class 78th. I was just heading to the entrance ceremony." This made you perk up. "Oh? Me too! I was just going there actually. That’s why I was running before. Sorry about that again." You flashed him a smile as the two of you continued. So you were his classmate huh? He didn’t know if that was good or bad. You sure seemed to like chatting, that’s for sure.

And that’s what you two did on your walk to the entrance. During said walk he learned that you were the ultimate makeup artist. And it really showed, you’re face was full of makeup. And Mondo would be lying if he said that it didn’t look good. But he would never admit something like that out loud. Still, you had given him a compliment about his makeup, the eyeliner he wore specially. Which made him kinda happy, it was good to know he was doing it right. But sooner or later, you came to the entrance. The two of you weren’t the first ones to arrive. There were about 8 other students there, standing around and waiting for something to happen. But what was weird about said entrance was that the door had been replaced by a giant vault door. Suspicion was rising in Mondo as everyone started talking to you both.

The way you two met was...less than optimal. But you hadn’t let it get in your way at all. You hung out with Mondo a lot. You kept reaching out to him, which he appreciated. You made him feel strong. From little things like grabbing his arm whenever you felt uneasy or uncomfortable to telling him you felt safe with him. He felt good around you. Like he was actually as strong as you beloved him to be. But the one thing that you ever did that made him feel good was after the Sayaka trial.

He remembered it clear as day. It was nighttime, a couple of hours after the first ever class trial. And it had hit him hard. That Sayaka was dead, that she had tried to kill Leon and blame it on Makoto, that Leon had been executed in such a horrible and gruesome manner. It fucked him up. He sat up in bed, just staring at the floor while he rested his head in his palms. Sayaka had always seemed so nice, so sweet. She and Makoto very obviously had a thing going on. So to know that someone like her would blame it all on him in order to escape, it made him question who he could trust. Sayaka had been the first to attempt something like this, now that you had gone over the line of comfort anyone could be next. He couldn’t die now, not after years of maintaining the Crazy Diamonds. He couldn’t fail Daiya! He couldn’t-

Knock knock

Someone had knocked on his door. No, he was not answering that. He wasn’t gonna become a victim like Sayaka and Leon. But the knocking continued, and continued, and continued, until he couldn’t take it anymore. He walked up to his door, and opened it slightly. Through the small crack in the door he could see it was you. And you saw him. You’re eyes were glossy and your nose was red. "Could you let me in? I’m not armed I promise." Mondo hesitated for a few seconds, should he? He knew you. You would never hurt someone, let alone him. But...he thought the same about Sayaka. Mondo looked at you once again. You were hugging your sides and wiping your tears off your cheeks. You didn’t have any makeup on, which was unusual for you. But most of all, you just looked so small. You were pretty much cowering together as you waited for him to open the door. You couldn’t be here to kill him. He refused to believe it and mentally cursed himself out for even thinking about the possibility. With a swift move, he opened the door and let you inside. You thanked him as you walked into his dorm.

"Are you okay?" That was the first thing he asked you after he closed the door. You sat down on his bed, clutching your hands together as your eyes fastened to the floor. You didn’t give him an answer, you just stared at the floor, just like he was a couple of minutes ago. After a couple of seconds of silence, Mondo sat down next to you. He let out a sigh and used his hand to stroke your back. "Hey it’s okay, or well- it’s not okay right now but uh..." Damn it. He wasn’t very good at this was he? "Hey, look at me." He cupped the side of your face in his hand as he turned it towards him. "It’s gonna be okay, I promise. This shit sucks, it’s fucking insane. But you’re going to be okay." You let out a sniffle and a sob as he stroked your cheek. "But how can you say that? Two of our classmates are dead! How can I, how can any of us be safe when two of us has died!" You cried out, and as your voice cracked under pressure Mondo could feel his heart break. "...Y/N, do you wanna know the one thing that my brother made sure to teach me? When a man makes a promise, he has to keep it, even if it kills him." Mondo told you, now letting go of your face and grabbing your hands. "It’s something I’ve always told myself, every single time I ever make a promise, I think of that. And I have never in my life broken a promise. So when I tell you this I want you to listen. You’re going to be okay. You’re gonna survive this shit, no matter what. I promise you will Y/N. Do you wanna know why?" You looked at him as you let out another sob. "Why?"

"Because you have me."

You spent that night with Mondo. The two of you keeping each other company and keeping each other calm. That night Mondo not only made a promise to you, but to himself. He had to protect you. It didn’t matter if he thought he could or couldn’t, he had to. He wasn’t gonna loose someone like you.

And for the most part, he was able to keep that promise. There hadn’t been any other deaths until then and Mondo was happy about that. What he was also happy about was that you and Taka got along well. After all, it would be a little awkward if his best friend didn’t get along with his...partner? Friend? He didn’t know. You two hadn’t made anything official or put any labels on your relationship but it was obvious that it wasn’t strictly platonic. You and him have shared a bed multiple times, much to Takas dismay. But it didn’t matter, because you and Taka got along. He wasn’t sure why, but Taka was the only guy that he felt comfortable with you being around. But anytime you hung out with any of the other guys he felt this burning sensation in his chest. He didn’t blame you or anything, he knew you weren’t gonna get with one of them, but it still felt bad. Like they were trying to take you away from him. He wasn’t so sure about the girls since he didn’t know if you were into that, but you were into him, which meant you were into boys. He hadn’t told you about this, he knew that wouldn’t be a smart thing to do. So he just kept all his feelings inside of him. Which also wasn’t a smart thing to do. He already struggled with a lot of self worth issues, so mixing in the paranoia about the other guys only made it worse. What if one of them convinced you to leave Mondo? And what if you realised that he wasn’t as strong and tough as he made himself out to be? What if you left him? He couldn’t loose you. Not now. Not ever.

But strangely, you didn’t spend much time with a lot of the guys. You mostly spent time with the girls. Him and Taka were the only guys you seemed to hang out with most of the time, but most of the time, it was with the girls. The one you spent most of your time with was none other than Chihiro Fujisaki, the ultimate programmer. You and her talked a lot, which at first annoyed Mondo slightly. An annoyance which you noticed pretty quickly. So when you asked him about it and he answered, you couldn’t help but laugh slightly. Which only made him madder. With a quick peck on the cheek, you explained to Mondo that you and Chihiro were like best friends. "Don’t worry Mondo. Chihiro is like my Taka." Chihiro was like your Taka. Once you had put it like that Mondo felt better. He started to wonder why he was even worried in the first place.

But then came the accident.

It had been a rough evening for Mondo. Monokuma had given all of you new motives in order to get you all to kill. This time it was embarrassing or scandalous secrets. If a murder didn’t happen within the next 24 hours he was gonna reveal them all to the outside world. He had wished his motive was just one of the embarrassing things he had done when he was little. But no. His secret was the murder of his big brother, Daiya. He remembered the pit that had formed in his stomach as he read his motive. Everyone in The Crazy Diamonds were gonna find out. After keeping the gang together for so long it was all gonna be ruined. He felt shitty, he felt MORE than just shitty. And he didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. So when you had asked him what was wrong he simply stated that he wanted to be left alone. Maybe a bit more aggressively then he wanted to. And he beat himself up over it. Why couldn’t he just talk to you! Why did he have to be so stupid! That day he spent hours in the gym, working out and releasing his anger. But it wasn’t working. His thoughts kept flowing back to Daiya, and you, and his secret. What would you think of him after you found out? What if you started to hate him? He couldn’t let the last conversation you had with him before you find out be the one you had before. The one when he snapped at you and stormed off when the only thing you did was ask if he was okay. What had he done?! He had to find you!

But right as he opened the door to the gym he was met with Chihiro. She let out a slight yelp as Mondo had opened the door rather violently. "O-Oh! Mondo. There you are. Is this where you’ve been all day?" She asked him. "Yeah, what’s it fucking to ya?" Mondo answered, once again getting more aggressive then he wanted to. Chihiro frowned slightly as he raised his voice at her. Damn it, he knows he shouldn’t yell at Chihiro. "...I’m...did you want something or what?" Mondo asked, his voice a little lower then before. "Huh? O-Oh yes! I wanted to ask you...could I train with you?" This question caught Mondo completely off guard. "...train with me? Can’t you just train with Sakura and Aoi instead? How would you even get into my training room?" Mondo asked. Chihiro looked a little uncertain for a moment before taking in a deep breath. "Because..." she grabbed the door to the men’s room and closed it. Then she pulled out her tablet and pressed it against the automatic door lock. And with a small click, the door opened. Mondos eyes widened as he saw this. Soon he looked down at Chihiro. "I wouldn’t be able to get into the girls room..."

Chihiro told Mondo about her secret, or rather, his secret. How he’s been dressing up as a girl his whole life. How he’s always thought of himself as too weak. How he...how he wanted to change. He told Mondo about how he’s tired of hiding, tired of living a lie. He wanted to be like Mondo. He wanted to be strong like him. He told him that he admired Mondo. Admired him and his strength. As Mondo listened to him, he couldn’t help but think how, how did he have this much courage?! How could he face his flaws like it was nothing? He was so strong...and it just showed how much weaker Mondo was. Chihiro was strong, he faced his problems and wanted to change. But Mondo, Mondo was the opposite. He had hid away the entire day, working out just to distract himself. He had kept it all inside of him and refused to work on himself in any way at all. He had lashed out at one of the people he cared about simply because he didn’t want to be vulnerable around them...he was nothing like Chihiro...Chihiro Fuji-fucking-saki. That bastard. How dared he sit there and act like Mondo was as strong as him. As if he was anything but a coward.

"Are you making fun of me?! I’m strong? Are you fucking with me right now?" Mondo raised his voice slightly as anger seemingly seeped through him. "I’m not making fun of you. You really are strong Mondo." Chihiro tried to explain himself, thinking that Mondo got the wrong idea. "What do you want me to do? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to just sit back, let my secret get revealed and ruin everything? Let my best friend and partner know I’m a murderer!?" Now Mondo started to shout. "Wh-Whats wrong?" Chihiros voice became fearful and worried as he tried to approach Mondo. But Mondo quickly snapped at him, turning his whole body towards him rather violently as he looked Chihiro dead in the eyes. "Why did you have to tell me all that? Are you trying to rub my failure in my face!? Huh?! Is that it!?" Mondo started to approach him as more and more fury built up inside of him. "N-No, I just- I really admire you! I admire your strength! I promise Mondo, I just want to become as strong as you are!" Chihiro backed up, but for every step he took, Mondo took one as well. And soon enough, Chihiro was backed up against the wall. He was shaking. Tears spilled out of his eyes as the taller male towered above him. "That’s right, I am strong...I’m strong! I’m strong! Stronger than you ever will be! You hear me?! I’M STRONG!" As Mondo shouted this, he bent down and picked up the object closest to him. A dumbbell. "Mondo you’re scaring-"

THUNK!

Chihiro didn’t get to finish his sentence as Mondo struck him with the dumbbell. With one hit, Chihiro fell down. With one hit, blood started to pour from his head. With one hit, the ultimate programmer known as Chihiro Fujisaki was dead. Dead and gone forever. One hit. That’s all it took. And with that one hit, Mondo came back to reality.

"....o-oh...oh fuck. Fuck! FUCK! CHIHIRO!" He fell down to his knees as he grabbed ahold of Chihiros shoulders. He started to shake him slightly. "Chihiro? Chihiro get up man! This isn’t funny! Wake up!" But his pleads fell on deaf ears. Because Chihiro wasn’t there. Chihiro was dead. He was dead because of Mondo. Chihiro trusted Mondo enough to tell him his secret and ask for help, and Mondo had killed him. Tears started to prickle Mondos eyes very soon. He let out one last breathy "fuck" and brought Chihiro close to him as he realised what he had done. He used to be the one that feared what someone might do to him. He used to wonder who he could trust, who might betray him. But in the end it was him, him who betrayed someone. Someone who could barely defend themselves. Someone who trusted him. And he betrayed that trust. "Chihiro...I’m so sorry..."

•••

And that brings us to where you all were right now. Mondo hadn’t said much during the trial. As everyone was discussing who might have killed Chihiro, the guilt was eating at him. He was a monster. He had killed someone who looked up to him and wanted to be like him. Every time he would try to focus on something else his mind just repeated what Chihiro had told him. Chihiro was strong. Strong enough to not hide away from himself. Unlike Mondo. Mondo did it when he was informed about the motives and he was doing it now...he couldn’t do this. As he looked around the room he saw that everyone was deep in their discussion. He looked at you, you had a frown on your face, he remembered the scream of pain you let out once you found your best friend tied up in the girls gym, blood pouring from his head. And even if this case clearly hurt you, you had to focus. You were gonna find out who did this. Your eyes were intense with raw emotion. That is, until you felt Mondo staring at you. You turned your gaze over to him, and as your eyes met his, they softened slightly. And that broke Mondo. He promised to protect you. And here he was, trying to get away with murder. If he got away with this, you would be executed. But if he spoke up...he would be the one dying. And as his hands started to shake he remembered what Daiya used to tell him. When a man makes a promise, he has to keep it. Even if it kills him. "Even if it kills him...." he said to himself in a very low voice. He had promised to protect you, that you would make it out alive. So even if he had to die, he had to do this. "Hey. Hey!" He said loudly, quickly getting everyone’s attention. Even if it kills him. "I have something to say..." for the first time in his life, for the last time in his life, he was gonna be strong. He was gonna be strong, like Daiya.

Like Chihiro.

Even if it kills him.

“WHY MONDO!? WHY WHY WHY?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! HOW COULD YOU KILL HIM!" As his best friend shouted at him he felt like curling up and hiding away. His words cut deep into Mondos heart, even if all the words were true and justified. But what hurt the most were the words he didn’t hear. Taka was screaming at him, but you, you just stared at him in silence. You looked at him with hurt and betrayal in your eyes, and yet, not a word left your mouth. Tears were running down the sides of your face, tears that he was responsible for. “It would seem like you’re all ready to vote!” Monokuma said gleefully, much to Kiyotakas horror. “W-Wait! No! Hold on!” Taka cried out as he wanted to get answers from his best friend. “No more waiting! No more holding on!” Monokuma trailed on. But Mondo didn’t listen. He knew what was going to happen. He was going to die. But at least he died for the people he loved. He looked at you. You had tear filled eyes and a big frown. Suddenly, the levers you were all supposed to pull appeared. As everyone pulled their levers, only you, Mondo and Kiyotaka had been yet to vote. “Y/N! This can’t be happening! Tell me this isn’t happening! We’re not...WE’RE NOT VOTING FOR MONDO!” He yelled out as sobs escaped his throat. “Hey...Taka...Y/N...” Mondos voice rang through the trial room. You both turned to him. “It’s okay...vote for me...be safe...” and so, he grabbed his lever and placed his vote. “No! Don’t do this Mondo! Don’t do this!” Mondo gave the lever a big yank. Finalising the vote. He looked at you, you looked at him. Through your tears you saw him nod at you. And so, you pulled your lever.

•••

Taka was violently sobbing into the long coat that you had placed on his shoulders, Mondos coat that flew off him during his execution. It was the night after the trial. And Taka was completely destroyed. He was hysterically crying, letting out a sob in between every single breath he took. You stroked him on his back while trying to calm him down. “Hey...shh...shh...it’s...it’s not okay right now. I know that. But it’s going to be okay. We’re gonna get through this Taka. You and me. For Mondo. For Chihiro. He looked at you for a second before pulling you into a hug. “It’s gonna be okay. You and me, we’re gonna get out of this alive. Because...” you trailed off for a second. “....because you have me.” Kiyotaka only started to sob more after you told him this. And you just kept stroking his back. “And I have you. We have each other. And we’re gonna be okay....”

“I promise you...”

[symphonic-scream]

Oh hey I've got more

Differences in the Jocks Kwami Swap AU

More from season 2!

Troublemaker

The moment has finally arrived

Really at the start not much is different, Penny is having trouble controlling everything that's happening around her, but I'm thinking I might swap what they have Jagged do-

I don't know for sure yet but I'm considering my options. Either way Penny gets pushed to the limit and gets akumatized

Chartreux and Crimson are fighting her as they normally would, while Kitsune is having a whole ass crisis cause her plans aren't working

She kinda collapses on a roof, watching the other two heroes do their thing all chaotic and remembers her motto, the advice she received and follows religiously;

"Life your life with no regrets"

And she starts to realize that the duo make tons of mistakes and never seem to get down on themselves despite how much they should regret their decisions

Kitsune realizes that she's been thinking about the advice the wrong way. It doesn't mean to do everything without flaw the first time, but to have fun and live in the moment, have fun and enjoying life for what it is

So she goes feral

Jocks style

Joins the fight and just follows the flow and in the end the new Jocks Trio are victorious

However, Fu isn't so pleased. He can't take back the miraculouses, but he has to stop this mess before it gets worse

So he and Wayzz go for a walk, and are saved by a certain classmate, who gets invited back for tea

Gigantitan

Ugh the baby

Episode starts with Max learning about the miraculous and Fu and stuff from Fu, who hands him the turtle and asks him to become the leader the team needs

Max isn't sure about the idea at first, because if he can't even keep Kim and Alix out of danger, how can he protect his fellow heroes?

He gets a pep talk and agrees

Meanwhile the class has gathered to scheme a way to get Adrien out of his schedule to hang out with them. They were all assigned secret roles and invited by a "mysterious mastermind"

It's just Kagami

Newly living her life her way, she comes up with something so ridiculous it might just work

Only it doesn't and the Gorilla is about to be akumatized but instead it's the baby

The trio transform to fight it only to receive messages on their devices from a "Shell Shock", which they promptly ignore

When the Turtle Hero does show up, he saves their asses and pulls them aside to tell them the plan and of course none of them are too pleased

However they go with it and they win. Shell Shock explains that he was chosen to be the team leader and the corespondent between them and the "Guardian" and tells Kitsune that he will message her through the magic system thing for when she's needed. Otherwise she is to stay away from the fight

Yeah she's not happy

Episode ends with Adrien joining the class for some hangout at the park after his next shoot was cancelled due to the akuma attack

Riposte

The day has finally arrived for Kagami to try out for the fencing academy in Paris and a lot is riding on her acceptance. If she fails to get in, her grandfather will have her and Tomoe moved back home again. She'll lose her newfound freedom, her friends, her secret identity

Still upset about essentially being called a sidekick, Kagami isn't ik the right mindset for fencing. She and Trixx have a little chat in the locker room before she puts her necklace and ring in her locker

Marinette, Alix, Kim, and Ivan (the last three having just stayed past their lacrosse practice) are there to cheer Kagami on and show their support

Kagami and Adrien are paired up to fight, but they don't have any mats to practice on because they're being cleaned. While they're fighting, Kagami steps on a wet part of the floor and slips, losing in the process

No one liked that

The instructor says that since she lost she can't join and says his decision is final when people mention how unfair he's being

Kagami just walks out, trying not to show how upset she is when she calls her mother to share the results. When asked to challenge the decision and do a rematch, she states that in her family there is no room for second chances and leaves

Then haha akuma time

Having not gone back to her locker, she doesn't have the fox miraculous so it's a normal akuma

Might change some things about Riposte not sure yet

Shell Shock messages Kitsune that they won't need her at the start of the fight but things get rough for a bit there, and he can't help but think that Mirage would have been useful then

The heroes end up winning, Kagami's mother tells her to "stop being stubborn" and to accept a fair second match, deciding to keep her loss a secret from her grandfather

For the final bit, Kagami gets her proper rematch, and kicks Adrien's ass. And with that, she's in the academy and gets to stay in Paris

She goes and puts on both her ring and the fox miraculous, apologizing to Trixx for what happened while they were apart

Befana

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINETTE

The class is preparing a surprise party for her, everyone pitching in something to make it extra special

Some of the classmates discuss their gifts to her while preparing, Nino with his playlist for the party, Mylene with a plush from one of those animal charities, Alix with a collection of recipes and some spare fabric she got from her grandma all the way from Egypt

And Juleka with a CD of "background noise" music she and Luka made with Marinette in mind

As that's happening Gina (?) Shows up for her annual Nonna and Mari day, which Tom forgot about because of how excited he was for the surprise party idea

Rather than what happens in canon, Gina and Marinette take turns choosing a small activity to do together, just like every year. After a trip to some candy shop, Gina's about to have her final turn where she planned to give Marinette her gift

That's when Alya calls Marinette and claims that she's got a huge scoop and needs her trusty moderator to help her out

Marinette doesn't want to miss out on the little time she gets with her Nonna but Gina just insists she go cause it sounded important. She leaves after saying she'll see Marinette back home later

The Birthday Girl shows up to the surprise party and she's actually surprised this time cause she was so focused on picking the perfect activities for her and Gina that she didn't see the clues

Befana happens when Tom tells his mom that Marinette is at a birthday party and she gets mad that her own granddaughter felt the need to lie as if she wouldn't let her go to her own party if she asked

There's a bit of a detail about Marinette not even taking any of the candies with her, even though it's both of their favourite

I liked Befana's powers well enough, I thought that it was pretty cool. It's based on La Befana, who I believe is basically Italian Santa?? It's cool

The heroes struggle to sneak away while some of their classmates are turned to stone or into those weird angels, all while trying to keep Marinette safe

Shell Shock and Chartreux are the most successful, since Kagami and Kim are trying to protect the birthday girl

They do get a chance to transform and Shell Shock comes up with a complicated plan to stop the akuma

So obviously it gets screwed up at some point

Once the fight is done, Marinette tries to talk to Gina and explain everything, making it clear that she loves their days together

This is when Gina gives her the gift, er, gifts. First is a bag meant to allow Mari to bring some if her sewing stuff on the go

The second is a jacket just like Gina's, only it has the little blossoms from Marinette's shirt and shit, and announces that she's staying in Paris for a while longer, promising to take Marinette on a proper bike trip

Here's the next four episodes planned! I'm nearly done with season 3 now and I'm gonna wait to do another Differences post while I figure things out with 2 and 3 lmao

I hope y'all like my plans for these episodes, so let me know what you think! Suggestions, complaints, compliments, I'll take em all

[prismatales]

Late Bloomer: Faltering (Part 1)

Word Count: 3.3K

Bingo slot: Free

Pairings: None

Tag/Warnings: Slight angst.

Synopsis: Sometimes, life throws some unexpected circumstances that can bring doubts.

Here's Part 2 of Late bloomer!

Unfortunately, as much as I would've loved to make this chapter longer in order to introduce Dabi at once, I've been struggling with some heavy writer's block and burnout for these past weeks, but when I said part 2 would be out this week it was a promise, hopefully you guys will enjoy it!

<< Previous - Next >>

Isn’t it strange that the most gentle of hearts belong to all the souls on fire?

-Michelle Schaper

“That will be all for today’s lessons. Make sure to enjoy your break, everyone!” Midnight exclaimed, a cheerful smile on her face while all her students were busy packing their stuff, eager to leave and prepare everything they needed for the school break. If luck was on your side, maybe you would be able to plan something out with your siblings once Shouto came back from the training camp. 

“Todoroki. Before you leave, principal Nezu would like to speak with you.”...Or maybe not.

“...Is this about what happened during the exam?” you couldn’t help asking the teacher, nervous about the idea of being in trouble for the little stunt that occurred during your exam. But that couldn’t be the reason the principal was calling, right?

“He just told me to send you to his office. But if this helps out, I think your father was there too.”

“…Of course he is.” You had to hold back the urge to groan in front of the teacher. Blood already warming up just by the mention of your father of all people being in the principal’s office, if this was another attempt to make you switch classes, you’d be having none of it. 

“Did you put confetti in Bakugo’s gauntlets again?” Ren and Hatsume approached you after class, both of them snickered when they remembered the look on the blond’s face as he chased you around the school like a wild beast. The attempt to muffle the laughter failed miserably by the reminder.

“Nope. But if my dear old man’s there, I know what this is about. Anyway, see you next Monday, guys!” They both waved cheerfully before walking away, their figures became smaller and smaller with each step taken until eventually they could no longer be recognized from afar. 

As soon as you began heading towards the principal’s office, a small knot began growing into the pit of your stomach from the nerves. Once you finally stood in front of the door, the first thing you did was knock twice, staying put before the principal’s voice called out through the other side. “Come in!” 

The door was slightly pushed, just enough to peek inside the office. Just as Midnight said, principal Nezu was sitting on his chair and your beloved father was standing nearby with arms crossed. Both of them turned to look in your direction before the principal welcomed you with his characteristic smile.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” You ask out of formality, partially nervous about the attention. 

“Yes, please come take a seat!” He didn’t move from his spot, and neither did your father as they both watched you step inside the office and advance forwards before stopping in front of the principal’s desk. Quietly, you pulled a chair in order to sit down, effortlessly ignoring your father’s presence as subtly as possible.

“There’s something we’d like to discuss with you. It’s not about the exam if that’s what you’re worried about.” You couldn’t help placing a hand over your chest, exhaling in relief with eyes closed. Endeavor’s stare could almost dig a hole at the back of your skull from that reaction, but he’s ignored in favor of looking at the principal. “It’s about your quirk...It’s already been a few weeks after the sports festival, but it appears you’re still having some difficulties controlling it...don’t you?” 

For someone who had as much authority as him, the principal’s question didn’t hold a single speck of malice or mockery behind it, almost sounded like he’s talking to a small child. Which made the situation way more uncomfortable in your eyes, because not only was he mentioning a fact you’ve been trying to so hard to hide, but he was also mentioning all of this in front of the last person you’d want to find out.

Insecurity grew deep inside as you looked down, avoiding eye contact with both males for as long as possible, gripping the fabric of your skirt with a firm grip that dug your nails painfully harsh into the flesh of your thighs.

“The principal’s asking you a question.” Just hearing your father’s voice was enough to make your blood feel like it was boiling, if any of them were able to see under the bangs hiding your face from view they would’ve seen a pair of glowing eyes. Nobody was supposed to know about the lack of control you’ve been struggling with for the past weeks, but it seems that it was more obvious than you thought.

When you looked back at the principal with doubtful eyes, they were no longer filled with that golden light that had already vanished. Hesitating, you finally answered the question.

“Yes, sir…”

“And you didn’t tell anyone this, because?”

“Because, I thought it would be something temporary...and eventually, I would be able to control it on my own.” He observed you with unpredictable eyes, pondering for a moment.

“That’s understandable,” he gave a slight nod with eyes closed “but you have to consider that as a school, it’s our responsibility to help the students grow and this includes helping them learn to control their quirks. There’s also another factor to consider…” 

This time he looked at you straight in the eye. “Remember what happened during the sports festival?” How could you ever forget it? The day your quirk manifested will forever be branded into your memories. “As harsh as this may sound, we’re concerned that this difficulty may end up with something similar happening in the future. Please don’t take it personally.”

It’s understandable that the principal worried about the risk of somebody getting hurt. And yet that didn’t soothe the ache growing inside you. Distracted by these thoughts, you didn’t pay attention to the rest of the conversation between the principal and your father. 

“My suggestion would be for her to attend the training camp alongside the hero department, the training could be a perfect opportunity to learn to control her quirk.” The principal turned his attention back towards you “While it’s not our place to make this kind of decision on a student’s behalf, this is a special case. I hope you understand our reasons, Todoroki-san.”

Nodding silently, your lips were pressed into a thin line in resignation over the school’s decision. But when you thought about it through the adult’s eyes, they were right. It could be dangerous to lose control and potentially getting someone hurt because you decided to be stubborn and handle this on your own.

But who could blame you when that’s pretty much how you grew up? Becoming independent at such a young age in order to lessen the burden on your sibling’s lives. 

“Well then, it’s decided. Look at the bright side, at least your brother will be there as well!” Nezu made an attempt to light up the situation, and you appreciated it. Kind of ironic how someone that’s not even related to you is doing more than your own father. who somehow, had such a feeling of pride radiating from him that if it wasn’t for who was in the room as well, you would have smacked him right in the face with your belt.

After the final arrangements were done, you and your father walked out of the principal’s office, but unlike him, the look on your face was so very sour that it could make a lemon taste sweeter than honey.

You didn’t have the chance to say anything to the man walking in front of you, since he began talking first.

“Before you accuse me of talking the principal into this. They were the ones who called concerning this situation.” He wouldn’t even turn around and it made you feel even more bitter than before, realizing you were the only one to blame for this.

“I do not care if you had anything to do with it. It’s obvious this is just an excuse to try moving me into the hero department.” In an angry fit, you stopped and glared at his back “I said this before and I’ll say it again; Nothing you can do will change my mind, camp or not, I’m staying in the support class!”

Unfortunately for you, that small fit of rage was enough for the ends of your hair to light up, right at the same time he turned to give you a look. “Focus on getting control over that power and then you can say that again with your head held high.”

With fists clenched into a fist, you just marched away with a huff. As much as you’d love to give him a piece of your mind, it was time to prepare everything for the trip.

A few days later, you stood near everyone from class 1-A, getting on the bus that would take everyone to the training camp. At least Shouto’s classmates were kind enough not to make you feel like an outcast, and it really helped out that you already met them before. After they saw you talking with your brother about his new costume and making fun of the first one, much to his embarrassment.

“Can I ask you something?” Shouto asked quietly from beside you, trying to avoid catching the other’s attention.

“Mhm.” You looked up from the screen of your phone, where a meme was displayed, courtesy of Mina who had quickly added your phone number into the group chat.

“You were doing so well the first time we trained together...so what happened?” He noticed the way your hand clenched around the device harshly, with a little more strength the screen would’ve almost cracked.

Nervously, you turned away from him with a nervous look all over your features but still managed to smile softly at him despite everything going through your head at that moment.

“I’d rather not talk about it...please?” The small plead caught him off guard, but Shouto still respected your wish...

The bus finally stopped in the middle of nowhere, it gave everyone the chance to walk out and stretch their bodies after sitting inside such a cramped seat for hours. 

And then, a pair of women showed up to greet everyone. Watching their costumes made your eyes light up in joy once you recognized the pair standing in front of everyone. But unlike Midoriya, you could only fangirl silently at the sight of the wild wild pussycats, or at least at the sight of the two that were talking in front of the whole class.

“I thought Hawks was your favorite?” your brother had to cough into his fist to hide the laughter when he saw the look on his twin’s face, that quickly turned into embarrassment when some of his classmates heard their banter.

“S-Shut up!” You shoved him by the shoulder at the same time your whole face got warm all the way down to the neck, it quickly began getting warmer the moment most of the girls overheard Shouto’s comment and gave you a teasing look. Now it would be impossible to live that down. “This is why Natsuo’s my favorite brother!”

That was the last thing you could tell him before the ground began moving underneath everyone’s feet, courtesy of pixie bob’s quirk. Everyone quickly tried to get back inside the bus to no avail, for all of you had been thrown into the forest. The last thing you heard from Mandalay was how those unable to reach the camp before noon would not be allowed to have lunch. 

While everyone fell down, some people noticed you quickly pulling your shirt open, and you could have sworn at least one of them yelled out panicked until they noticed a black tank top under the uniform. And also a familiar belt from the sports festival.

Quickly, two metallic claws sprung out from the back of the artifact, digging their way deep into the wall so they could slow down the impact. 

You were probably going to get an earful from Aizawa, but wearing this belt and the trusty bracelet over your right hand became a habit too hard to avoid, these ‘babies’ -yes, Hatsume had become quite an influence- were like a part of you, something you spent so much blood, sweat and tears developing from scratch.

Once your feet reached the floor again, the claws retreated back inside the belt. “Is everyone alright?!” You called out as the others dug their way out from the layers of dirt, luckily nobody had gotten injured during the fall and even if they had, it was a good thing there was a healer among them.

A thunderous roar could be heard, making you look at the direction where it came from, just to see this horrendous creature towering over the smallest guy from the group, what was his name? ah yes...Mineta.

After Koda tried using his quirk to calm down the creature, you realized they were not living creatures, most likely controlled by one of the pro-heroes supervising the school trip.

As soon as Midoriya managed to rescue his classmate and get rid of the first creature, another three appeared right after. This race against time was going to be harder than everyone thought. So might as well hurry up and lend everyone a hand.

“(Y/n)! behind you!” Turning around, you came face to face with another beast. Quickly, your hair began glowing with energy, growing until it reached the lower back and your arms became surrounded with a reddish aura, that somehow was acting differently than before, it started flickering wildly rather than flowing into smooth waves.

The beast lunged forwards, instantly being hit by an attack that ignited into flames as soon as it came in contact with it. Burning its whole body in a matter of seconds.

The more you kept running, the more of these creatures appeared and were taken care of just as fast. You had to admit it, everyone in the hero course was incredible in their own way.

It was strange using your quirk this long after spending so much time trying to avoid it. But if it meant no longer worrying about losing control, then you’d go through as much training as you had to endure.

Finally, after a long struggle in the forest, everyone managed to come out in one piece. But after using your quirk for so long, the only thing that didn’t hurt was your eyelashes. Every muscle in your body cried out in agony, exhausted, and begging for some rest, the same thing could be said about your irritated eyes.

“Arriving at noon my ass…” Nobody said a thing when you dropped face down on the floor, muttering a bizarre combination between nonsense and profanities. Too tired to pay attention to everything happening around you, like the moment poor Midoriya got punched in the crotch by Mandalay’s nephew, Kouta.

“Shouto, if you drag me inside I’ll treat you to the cafe for a whole month…”

“...Sorry, but you’re on your own.” 

“...You traitor.”

The meals were exquisite, every dish could almost be on pair with your sister’s cooking. And just as you expected, right before leaving for the hot springs, Aizawa made sure to confiscate your belt and any equipment you had left.

“All of it, Todoroki.” 

“...” 

With a defeated grumble, you took off the earrings as well before following after the girls.

The hot water felt heavenly against your sore body the more you sank down in the spring. If it could be possible, you’d stay underwater forever if it wasn’t for this little thing called ‘oxygen’. Swiftly your body rose up to the neck, leaning back against the edge of the spring between Jirou and Hagakure with a relaxed smile adorning your whole face.

“Ahhh, this feels so nice˜” your hands brushed some stray, damp locks away from your soaked face. The girl’s chatter was a pleasant noise in the background as every thought slipped away into nothing but a white noise inside your head.

“(y/n)?” Uraraka’s voice snapped you out from the little daze you fell in, when you turned to look at her it wasn’t only the brunette looking at you, but all of the girl’s attention was focused on you.

“Yes? What is it?” The grogginess in your voice and face was too funny to ignore, judging by their fits of giggles.

“How did you come up with the idea to make your equipment to subtle? It’s amazing!” Mina was the first one to speak, there was a glint of excitement in her eyes just thinking about the gadgets you used during the sports festival. In fact, all of them seemed interested in the subject, leaving you amazed by their reactions.

A huge smile appeared on your face upon realizing how fascinated they seemed about the equipment.

“Well, I know that sometimes equipment can make a difference for heroes, but it can also get in the way if it’s something too bulky or difficult to handle.” You explained to the small audience, not even aware that in the middle of the explanation, your hands wouldn’t stop moving all over the place as you spoke with enthusiasm.

Or how small ambers of gold began escaping through the corners of your eyes the more ecstatic you became during the explanation.

“So I thought of creating something that could be both subtle and practical at the same time, like-” 

“Ummm, (y/n)? Your quirk is going off again?” Jirou’s voice had a hint of concern, that made the words die instantly at the back of your throat when you looked at the reflection in the water and in fact, the glow in your eyes just kept growing.

They kept watching in silence, worried as you curled into a small ball at the edge of the spring, taking deep breaths that aided with the focus, until they specks of golden light finally disappeared.

“I…I’m sorry.” You couldn’t muster enough courage to look at any of them. Feeling ashamed of yourself, like a burden for everyone because you were unable to do something as simple.

“Wait, we didn’t mean it like that!” Looking up, you were met with many pairs of worried gazes that reminded you of the day everyone at school found out there was more than one Todoroki at U.A. but at the same time, it was a complete contrast as well.

Because these people were genuinely worried about you.

“Please don’t think you’re being a burden to anyone here, (y/n)“ Momo approached your curled self in an attempt to be reassuring. As a matter of fact, everyone else was doing her best to help out. “Besides that’s why you’re here with us. And if there’s anything we can do to help, we will!” 

Everyone else nodded and you’d be lying if you’d say their actions didn’t make something warm stir deep inside. It was...nice to know that including your friends in class, there were more people out there trying to help out.

With a grateful smile, you looked at every single one of the girls sitting around the spring “Thank you, guys….”

Soon you were all engaged into some playful chatter, from stuff like school, trying to get better grades on a certain subject -which you and Momo eagerly offered to help with- to being curious about tomorrow’s training….and other things as well…

In the midst of all the chatter, you were able to hear some commotion from the boy’s side of the baths. It was pretty vague, but Iida’s screams of “Restrain yourself!” were easily a hint of the chaos about to unfold.

And then Kouta’s small figure appeared at the top of the wall that faced the guy’s side of the baths.

“Learn what it means to be a dignified human being before aiming to become a hero.” The little boy spoke with such indifference as he pushed Mineta away.

“Do you guys deal with that every day?” You had to ask, and when more than one girl nodded their response left you perplexed enough to sink back into the warm water.

“Some week this is gonna be.”

You had no idea just how hard the following days would really be...

@bnhabookclub @gallickingun @godtieruwu @hanniejji @mysticalite @samanthaa-leanne @savagetrickster @shoobirino @bnha-ra @hawks-senseis @sugacookiies @unbreakableeiji @wesparklebitch

[binniedeactivated]

saint. || soobin🌪(3)

🖤┊𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱 . ೄྀ࿐ 𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌: 𝖘𝖔𝖔𝖇𝖎𝖓 𝖝 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖗𝖊: 𝖘𝖒𝖚𝖙/𝖆𝖚  𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙; 1893.

the both of you halt and open your eyes swiftly. Soobin’s eyes widen at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. He lifts you off of him and carries you to his closet, telling you to shh before locking you in there. As soon as the closet door shuts his room door opens, and it happened to be his mother. she looks around his room for any proof that he was studying. 

“soobin-ah did you hear me? What have you studied?”. 

soobin awkwardly clutches the handle of the closet door trying to stand as normal as possible. 

“well hello to you too mom. yes I had a good day today. yes i ate today”. 

she narrows her eyes at him. 

“don’t disrespect me choi soobin”. 

“I’m not. But you haven’t asked me those things for as long as I can remember. What does it matter if I studied? Don’t you care if I’m okay?”.

“You know I care about you soobin I’m your mother after all”. 

“so why do you treat me like i’m one of your church goers?”. 

“soobin ah! You will not talk to your mother like that do you understand me?”. 

His father’s booming voice was overly audible down the hall. you bit your lips nervously trying to keep still before you knocked anything over. 

“We’re not doing this again soobin. We had this talk already. you need to be prepared for the sin outside of this house and since I’m your mother I’m going to make sure you’re well armored”.

soobin scoffs rolling his eyes. 

“All you care about is sin”. he mumbles not expecting his mother to hear it but she did, and she heard it clearly. 

“Excuse me what was that?”. 

“Mom when’s the last time you actually really checked on me instead of checking on this biblical catholic shit?”. 

she gasped. and so did you, quietly of course. there he was. that was the Choi soobin you knew. 

“This is my house soobin do you hear me?! mine! and as long as you’re living under this roof you will not use any type of profanity are you hearing me clear?”.

“maybe I wouldn’t have to use profanity if you would treat me like your fucking child for once! For once!”.  he repeats becoming angry. 

“soobin get in here right now”. your father called overhearing the both of them. He brushes past his mother down the hall to his parents bedroom. His father was currently undressing, taking his suit jacket off and hanging it up in his closet. He keeps a stern look on his face. It was cold. harsh. mean. And that’s how it stayed for as long as soobin could remember. It was the look he always gave him when he misbehaved in school or failed tests. 

“you know what I’m about to say to you soobin”. his father addresses. Soobin raises his eyebrows in distress. “But dad! It’s true and you know it”. his father glares at him. “Why are you still going and why are you raising your voice and cursing at any adult in this house? That’s 20 licks”. 

“dad!”. 

“25 shall we raise it any higher?”. 

soobin sighs in defeat. he hated this. He removes his shirt tossing it on a chair next to his father’s bed. He gave his father a deathly glare before he places his two hands on the bed. His father reaches in his drawer and grabs the flogger. He looked at soobin’s bare back one more time before slamming the flogger down on it, to which soobin winces at how hard he did so. “Count!”. he demanded before taking the flogger and whipping it across soobin’s back again, watching his skin welt red. 

“2″. soobin says breathlessly, trying to keep himself together so he could withstand the pain. He should’ve been used to it by now but he wasn’t. It had the same burning and stinging sensation it did every single time. Merciless, his father whips him again and again while his mother watches from the doorway. Soobin could feel his arms shaking as he struggled to hold himself up. He felt the skin on his back grow redder and redder with each hit, and whenever his father whipped the same place (which he often did) it left aching bruises for weeks. 

“15″. soobin uttered feeling his eyes well with tears. You overhear everything, you didn’t know when would be the proper time for you to go or how. You knew his mother had left the room though, and this was the chance to make your grand escape. You open the closet door slowly and shut it softly enough for no one to hear. Not that they’d be able to hear anyways over the sound of soobin’s cries. 

soobin’s cries. you would love to say the jackass deserved it. that you hope he felt every lick with deep pain and sorrow. but you wouldn’t wish abuse on your worst enemy. Not even Choi soobin. It broke your heart the way he was crying, his dark voice getting choked up as he counted. you eye the rest of your surroundings making sure the coast was clear before you stroll down the stairs and exit out the front door as silent as you possibly could. 

“now that this is out of the way, i want you to apologize to your mother and I don’t want to see you come out that room until you’ve finished studying. Do you hear me?”. 

with his face red from his crying soobin nods, painfully trying to stretch his arms to put his shirt back on. He grimaces at the feeling of the wool touching his wounds. 

“i’m sorry”. soobin stated while looking in her eyes with the sincerest look he could give. She nods her head and accepts it, dismissing him. He goes to his room and shut his door. He forgot you were in the closet and dashed to open the door. Only you were gone. He was relieved that you got out on your own. He also couldn’t help but to wonder what you heard. 

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

It was a rainy day at the Academy of St. Joseph and the fourth years had mass in the morning. The bell on top of the temple rung obnoxiously. You had been in your biology class finishing up work. you hurried to scrawl your name across the top of the page before pushing it into the completed work bin. All of your classmates gathered at the door while sister Agatha stands in front of them all urging them to be quiet. As if they’d listen. These children barely prayed when they’re told and you expect them to be quiet? You collect your books and swing your bag over your shoulder. 

“I have a date with Choi soobin friday night”. you overhear your classmate Mia say. She was chewing her gum way too wildly and curling her blonde dead ends with her finer. Mia was pretty. She had these big glassy blue eyes and long eyelashes that were to die for. She was also considerably well dressed, making her a target of many guys. You didn’t hate her. She was just one of those arrogant girls that you paid no mind to. Her friends scoff in complete disbelief.

“No you do not!”. they laugh. “I do! he’s going to take me to a fancy restaurant in his metallic mercedes benz. We’re going to look like barbie and ken in human form i can’t wait I’ll take pictures to show you guys”. you had to admit even if she was lying she was selling it pretty well. But you had this small conflicted feeling each time she said it and you didn’t know why. 

you enter the church and sister agatha is guiding your class to fill up the pews. you would be the less fortunate one to not be able to sit with your class but to have to squeeze into a pew with a different one. You hated that. At least you could tolerate your biology class. You didn’t want to have to tolerate some other. She directs you to a different pew. You weren’t surprised at all that you were seated next to soobin. you knew you’d run into him sooner or later. you were all directed to pray. everyone slides off their seats and gets on their knees, pushing their hands together to really sell the idea. you know most would be secretly sleep anyway.

you push your hands together. you always prayed for real even when no one else did. Soobin prepares to pray too. Only he spent most of his time watching you pray rather than doing any praying himself. Feeling his eyes burning holes through your face you flutter them open to meet his gaze. His face was closer to yours than you thought.

“can you stop staring at me like a weirdo?”. you whisper, looking around making sure none of the sisters heard. he swiftly looks at your lips and then fixes his eyes on you again. 

“did you hear anything yesterday?”. he whispers back. 

you swallow, giving him a sorrowful look. 

“Is your back okay?”. 

“yes jesus healed me overnight”.

“I’m sorry soobin”. you whisper. you really were sorry though. 

“Don’t be. My parents are assholes”. 

“makes sense”. you nod, trying to make it look like you were praying at least before you got in trouble. 

“do you want to come over again? my parents are going to be gone for a conference until the end of the weekend”. 

“are they ever home soobin?”. you ask curiously. he shakes his head. 

“no they aren’t”. you felt sorry for him. honestly you did. i mean, your parents weren’t the best people either but at they least stayed around.

“I guess. What time?”. 

“we can go after school”. 

“alright. I’ll tell my mom I’m going to study group again”. soobin chuckles silently. It was refreshing to see a smile on his face after what he endured. 

“what’s so funny?”. 

“you’re cute. telling your mommy where you’re going”. 

“is that bad?”. you asked curiously. He shook his head and just smiles, laying his head back onto his folded hands. 

Before you went over soobin’s house it was normal to see his mischief in your everyday life. but while you went from classroom to classroom it was weird seeing him with his friends skipping class or teasing some kid. It was hard to believe this was the same soobin that asked you if you were hungry and was willing to feed you if you were. He’d just got finished putting laxatives in the coffee grounds in the teacher’s lounge before he approached you. You were taking your books out of your locker. 

“are you ready?”. he questions holding his backpack strap. you jump, startled at his voice and he laughs. “Do you ever announce yourself?”.

“hey soobin!”. mia calls from across the hallway. he turns around waiting for her to say something. 

“what? are you going to continue talking to some unknown weirdo or are you going to hug me goodbye?”. she says loud enough for everyone to hear. Loud enough for everyone to laugh. 

“seriously soobin who is that and where did you find her?”. His friend Jacob called out joining in the party. His group of friends laughed from across the hall. soobin glances down at you. you were embarassed to say the least. All eyes were on you now. And couldn’t help but to think about how stupid you looked next to him. seriously who did you think you were? 

you’d never fit in with Choi soobin. 

“I--”. 

“just go soobin”. you wave him off. 

“what?”.

“hello! are you going to keep me waiting? I’m pretty sure church girl has nothing relevant to say”. Mia calls again. 

“just go to her. I’ll be fine”. you mumbled shoving your books in your bag. Soobin sighs, he jogs his way over to Mia. You glare at them both. Maybe they were Barbie and Ken together. maybe you actually did look like a fool next to him. 

you swing your bag over your shoulder and started your walk home. 

“I’ll see you this weekend”. Mia flirts, kissing him on his cheek. It was an unexpected kiss that made soobin uncomfortable. It made her friends squeal though. He gives her a head nod and rolls his eyes once he turns around. he looked across the hall to see you gone. 

you were halfway down the hill once you saw a car driving slowly beside you. At first you thought it was a predator until the driver’s window rolled down and you saw soobin’s face. you should’ve known that it was soobin driving such an expensive car. 

“what are you doing?”. he yells so you could hear him. “I’m walking home. What does it look like?”. you retort. 

“I thought you were going to come to my house? I was going to drive the both of us”.

“no i’ll just go home soobin. besides, mia is probably tracking your every move as we speak”. 

“so?”. 

“so I’d rather not get humiliated by the whole school because of some guy that I kissed”.

soobin smiles as your cuteness. he knew it was a serious moment but he couldn’t help it. 

“we did more than kiss”. 

“shut up soobin”. 

“come on why are you being such a downer now?”. 

“why do you care now?”. 

soobin shakes his head smiling, muttering a ‘pfft’. 

“can you just get in the car? i’ll drive you home”.

“no thank you. I’ll walk. my house is only around the corner. I need the exercise anyway”.

“Walking around the corner isn’t much exercise. No serious calories are being burned”. 

“oh yeah? since when did you get so smart?”. 

soobin drives his car in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of you to stop you from walking the rest of the way. He gets out of the front seat and approaches you. you didn’t want to hear anything he had say, if we’re being honest. 

“listen i’m sorry about mia today. she’s a real bitch and that’s pretty much the type of girls I attract I can’t help it. she shouldn’t have said that stuff to you. it isn’t true anyways”.

you fold your arms. Choi soobin? apologizing to anyone? Was the world ending?

“oh yeah? and what about your friends?”.

“they’re all jackasses and you know that. Why do you care about what they say anyways and why are you mad at me for it? it isn’t like I said it”. 

“whatever soobin”.

“so? are you going to get in the car now? because I’m hungry and I want Mcdonalds”. he pouts. you wrinkle your nose to keep from laughing. he was a big baby. 

“fine”. you agree, walking to the other side of the car. He slides in the driver’s seat as do you in the passenger’s, and the both of you buckle up. The inside of his car was very well kept and expensive looking of course. His parents probably hire people to clean his car for him. 

lucky jerk. 

“what’s a millionaire like you doing eating Mcdonalds anyway?”. 

“I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday. Mcdonalds is like a five star meal compared to that”. you laugh. 

“what? you think I just sit around eating filet mignon?”. he questions again eyeing you before looking back at the road. 

“yes pretty much”. 

“no. I’d rather waste my money on food I enjoy. Rich people food is gross and it comes in small portions”.

“at least you’ve had that experience”.

“do you want to experience it?”. 

“what?”. 

“I can buy you some if you want to dip your feet into that lifestyle. negative 1/5 would not recommend though”. 

“you don’t have to do that soobin”.

“you sure?”.

“yes i’m sure”.

“I’m glad. you wouldn’t want that food anyways”. soobin expresses before he pulls into the mcdonalds drive thru and practically orders the whole menu. To your surprise the workers knew him very well and brought his food out quickly. He parked his car in a random parking spot. 

“wait you’re going to EAT in here?”. you ask looking around at the clean interior. Soobin pulls the lever to his seat to recline it a bit. he had no space with all those bags in his hand. 

“yeah why not?”. 

“you’re not worried about getting it dirty?”.

“no because I don’t clean it myself”. 

you knew it.

he digs into the bag and hands you a huge wrapped burger and fries. He lifted the tray beneath him and puts a milkshake inside of your cup holder. 

“soobin seriously i’m not hungry”. he looked at you while chewing on a fry. 

“just try it. it’s good i promise. I think that’s a peanut butter banana smoothie you have”. 

“wait really?”. you mumble picking it up. you sip it. it was sweet yet delicious. the flavors were blended so perfectly together, you haven’t tasted anything like it. You never had time to go out to eat often.

“Is it good? I’m getting jealous”. soobin chuckles before biting into his burger and making the biggest mess ever. 

“it’s amazing”. 

“really? let me try it”. soobin opens his mouth waiting for you to put the straw to his lips. you turned it away from him. 

“don’t you have another straw? I don’t know where your lips been”. 

“on you”. he mumbles before biting into his burger again. you smack his chest and he laughs. 

“what! it’s true”. 

“whatever soobin. you’re making a mess again”.  you fish through the bags to find some napkins. You swipe his lips and pick the contents off his shirt. it didn’t make sense how messy he was. he practically had pickles and onions all over his lap.  you used another napkin to pick them up, trying to make sure he was as clean as possible. 

He watches you while he chews, waiting for your eyes to meet his. and to your dismay they did. And there was that stare again. It was even more awkward this time around for you at least, considering the fact that you were bent over in his lap. Soobin never thought it was awkward though. He admired you. 

“You know, I’d kiss you if I didn’t have an onion slice halfway down my throat”.

you reach up and pluck his nose. 

“you’re a dork, soobin”. he scrunches his nose and smiles like the baby he was.

[phantom-curve]

find the strength, find the melody pt. 7

lmfao I love how I posted an update 2 days ago like “this fic will have sporadic posts! idk when they’re coming!” and then I spent the last two days writing this. when that insomnia inspiration hits ya gotta just go with it!

this chapter went in a completely different direction than I had planned on soooo yeah...honestly not sure where this is gonna end up! the characters from my OC novel that I’m loosely basing this story around didn’t have a connection before they ran into each other so when Julie gave me this I almost cut it because I genuinely wasn’t sure where it was going. I think I’ve almost figured it out and I’m pretty sure I know how this will end. and now we all get to laugh at me together because it’s definitely gonna be more than 3-4 chapters. it might even be more than 6. Luke’s POV will have roughly the same amount of chapters I think, possibly longer because boy oh boy does he have A LOT to say (most of it about Julie). fair warning: this one has an awkward cut off because of the way I need to set up the next chapter. sorry about that.

and now something I probably should be embarrassed to admit: I don’t remember writing the part where I managed to sneak an “I’ve Got The Music” reference in so now we know for sure this show has infiltrated my brain. it’s fine, I’m fine, at least I WILL BE WHEN WE GET A S2!!!! KENNY!!!! SAVE ME HERE!!! MAKE MY UNHINGED OBSESSIONS WORTH IT!!!!!

taglist: @blue-hat-girl, @lwhoscribbles, @bluefyoto94, @5sosmukefan, @moonlightxnder, @leahthewonder​, @kat-maybe-not​, @lukewearingbeanies, @imastrugglingartist​​

It was no small miracle that Julie made it through the afternoon without Ray asking for details about her supposed ‘plan’ to play with the Sunset Curve boys. She didn’t think she would have been able to pull off spinning a story quite as well as Luke had earlier. She had expected at least a small amount of interrogating about when she had started playing again, but apparently the news that she was playing at all, let alone with other people in front of an audience, was enough for Ray to ignore all of the other plot holes involved in this scheme. He seemed to have almost forgotten the meeting with Principal Lessa entirely, humming on the drive home, kissing her forehead and turning her loose to freak out alone in her room while he sat down to work on his computer in the dining room. Julie took full advantage of the time alone to restlessly pace her room and send Flynn a 911 text. Her bestie’s contact photo lit up the phone screen 30 seconds later.

“Okay, I’m hiding in the basement girl’s bathroom, so you’ve got exactly 5 minutes before I get too grossed out to stay here.”

Julie’s chest loosened at the sound of Flynn’s comforting voice. There wasn’t anyone else in the world that loved her the way Flynn did. It was reassuring and made it easy for Julie to let loose.

“Lessa told Dad about the music program and then You-Know-Who ambushed us outside of her office and basically forced me to agree to perform with them.”

“Voldemort was at Los Feliz?!”

Flynn’s gasp was overflowing with sarcasm.

“Flynn!” Julie whined. “Be serious! Luke showed up out of nowhere again! And he did the thing again! The charming his way into getting what he wants thing! And now I have to play with his freaking band! What the hell am I supposed to do?”

There was silence for a moment. When Flynn spoke again her voice was softer, more serious.

“You don’t have to play with them, Jules. You can tell them no, and they’ll have no choice but to respect that. The only person who can make you do anything is you. But...I kinda think you might want to play with them.”

“What?! No!”

Julie’s exclamation was a second late. Flynn didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Julie sighed.

“Okay fine. There’s something about Luke that makes me want to play again. Are you happy? He gave mom’s song back to me when I thought it was lost forever. He’s the only person who’s heard me perform it, and he...no one else has ever made me feel that good about my music before.”

Julie thanked her lucky stars Flynn wasn’t in the room to see her blush. There was a long moment of contemplative silence on the other end of the line. When she spoke again, there was that extra note of take-no-shit in Flynn’s voice that made Julie sit up and really listen.

“I think you should give it a chance. Who knows, maybe this is some sort of sign from your mom. You said it was a miracle he would have even found that song in the first place. You said it felt like she was there with you when you were playing. Maybe she made sure it would find its way back to you when you were ready for it.”

Julie didn’t say anything, just worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Her heart beat a little faster in her chest. It had felt a little too perfect to be just a coincidence. The way Luke kept appearing in her life at the exact moments she needed him someone or something to help her keep moving forward. Flynn sighed.

“Look, I’m not saying it is your mom. But I’m not saying there’s not some kind of greater power out there that keeps pushing the two of you together. I think you should give it a chance. If nothing else, you can get back in the music program and we can bring Double Trouble to life in time for our Junior Showcase!”

Julie couldn’t help laughing. Her eyes felt misty, love for her best friend welling up in her heart.

“I never agreed to that name you know. But thanks, Flynn. I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Now. I gotta get the fuck out of this grimy ass bathroom. Love you, bye!”

Flynn waited for her to return the sentiment before hanging up.  Julie flopped back on her bed, letting her breath out in a loud whoosh as she hit the comforter. A glance at her phone told her she only had a couple hours until Luke and the other boys would be out of school and on their way to her house. She tried her best to ignore the way that thought made her stomach roll with a type of nervousness she would rather not name. It was easier to blame it on nerves over playing with new people rather than nerves over playing with Luke. Except...now that she actually thought about it, she had played with Luke before. Her head spun, eyes fluttering shut as she remembered the one music class she had shared with Luke last year.

She had only been a freshman, stuck in a lowly Introduction to Composition class. It was supposed to be for new songwriters. Julie had a little more experience than the rest of the class, after all she’d been kind of composing with her mom for a few years now, so when it had been time to write a duet for their final big project she had gotten paired up with the classmate whose skill level most matched hers. It was supposed to be a way for them to challenge each other and grow as writers instead of one person doing most of the work. Julie had been paired with Luke.

He’d been a grumbly sophomore, held back for failing his last semester of Intro to Comp the year before. He had been stuck there only for the second semester, forced to double up between their class and his second year Composition class. Julie hadn’t been all that excited about partnering with him. He hadn’t really seemed to care about the class at all, and even though Julie also sometimes felt like it was holding her back a little bit, she never once voiced that thought. It was a privileged mindset, and Julie was well aware that she had an advantage over her classmates since her mother was a professional songwriter. Luke, on the other hand, had made it well known that he felt like he was wasting his time just waiting to get through the semester so he could move up to the Advanced Composition class that he felt he truly belonged in. Julie could usually do no more than roll her eyes in those moments.

It was true that Luke was talented. His guitar playing was impressive, his lyrics were heartfelt and sometimes even downright poetic. Julie just didn’t think anyone deserved specific things in life because they happened to be naturally talented at something. Their songwriting experience had been...interesting to say the least. And short. It had ended abruptly when Julie’s mother had died 5 days later. In the end, they’d only worked together for two 40-minute class periods before she had been lost in the fog of grief that consumed her in the weeks following the loss of her mom.

Julie shot up in bed, eyes wide. She didn’t even fully remember what had happened with the half-finished song they had been working on. Errant notes echoed in her head, like a song that had only existed in dreams until now. She absently wondered if Luke had held onto that as well. It was no wonder she had kept that particular memory suppressed all this time. That time in her life had been particularly painful. Luke had been gentle with her though. Almost all traces of his typical arrogance gone in the two short class periods they’d had to work together. He had kept things light, steering their songwriting in the direction of a rock ballad more than a true duet. Julie hadn’t minded. She had been floating through classes by then anyway, on edge every second she was away from her mom’s bedside. It had been easier to work on something that didn’t have as many sappy emotions attached to it.

She groaned, burying her face in her hands. No wonder Luke had been so sweet with her. He must have had a front row seat to her breakdown throughout the last year. She hadn’t even realized it. Had never before seen the way he watched her from a distance, checked in on her during class. She should have. Now that she was thinking about it, trying to identify every instance, she could name a million. How had she missed it for so long? How had he gone so long without saying anything? The Luke she remembered was terrible at keeping his mouth shut. He had always been ready to speak his mind, never afraid to start a discourse. It didn’t track that he had been holding himself back. Unless...it was more about her musical ability than anything else. She remembered now; Luke had been thrilled to partner with her for the duet. He had made some remark about how her sound was the perfect complement to his. Maybe he only cared about the ways they would mesh as songwriters. She could only hope that’s what his words had meant.

She felt more secure in her footing as a musician when it came to dealing with Luke than she ever had as a simple teenaged girl. If it was just about the music she could compartmentalize better, keep herself from getting too emotionally invested. Music had always been a safe zone, neutral. She breathed in and out deeply, remembering the technique Dr. Turner had taught her to slow her breathing and recenter her mind. She could do this. It was just about the music. They would play a song together, Julie would get back into the music program, and life would move forward much in the way it had before. Except Julie would actually participate in class this time. She had the music back in her soul, she wasn’t ever going to let it go again. On her next exhale, she heard the doorbell ring. Showtime. Julie zipped down the stairs, ripping open the door before her dad had a chance to get more than three feet away from his computer. Luke, Alex and Reggie all stumbled back a step as she tumbled outside, pulling the front door shut behind her. The three teenaged boys shared a look.

“Studio. Now.”

Julie raced down the path to her mom’s studio before they could react, not even waiting to see if they followed her. If they were smart, if they truly wanted to do this, they would. She hauled the garage doors open, only turning around when she had the piano at her back. The wood felt warm and solid, almost like she had her mom as a support behind her instead of an instrument. The boys appeared seconds later, Luke leading the way. He stopped a couple feet inside of the studio, studying her with wide open earnest eyes. She let out a deep breath. Reggie spoke up before she could get a word out.

“Woah, Julie, this studio is so cool! It’s like a tiny home! A musical tiny home in a botanical garden!!”

His green eyes were wide, expression awed as he spun to take in the space that Julie and her mom had spent countless hours turning into theirs.

“How did you get chairs on the ceiling?! Are you, like, a witch and a siren?!! Man, you and your mom must have made some serious magic in here.”

Luke’s arm shot out faster than lightening to backhand Reggie’s bicep. Reggie cringed away, a soft owww! just barely audible over the loud sigh Alex let out as he buried his face in his hands. Reggie shrugged, looking back and forth between his bandmates before giving Julie a confused yet apologetic glance. What had he said wrong this time? The giggle that bubbled out of her was as unexpected as it was welcomed. Warmth blazed in her heart, memories of the time she had spent in here with her mom washing over her with a kind of hazy bliss she hadn’t ever experienced before. She gazed at Reggie, letting that same feeling of motherly love from the night before fill her up. It was all she could do not to react to Luke’s jaw dropping when she gave Reggie a soft smile.

“We did. We made so much magic in here.”

The words were gentle and filled with a kind of genuine love that overshadowed all other feelings of awkward nervousness. Alex and Luke relaxed instantly, Reggie’s face losing all traces of uncertainty as he beamed at her with a smile so large it almost looked painful. Julie couldn’t help but let herself return it, just a little bit. The silence that settled between them was more comfortable, the tense moment from earlier broken. Julie studied the boys in front of her. She hadn’t ever thought of them as friends per se. They knew each other, would say hi if they encountered one another outside the walls of the high school, but at the same time, they didn’t actually know each other. Julie’s little run in with Luke the night before had made that painfully obvious. She wasn’t really sure what to make of them.

“Are you guys actually serious about this whole Showcase scheme? Did Luke even tell you about his dumb plan?”

“Hey! That plan is genius. Even your dad agreed. He seems pretty cool.”

Julie couldn’t help the fond way she rolled her eyes. Alex was quick to reassure her that they did, in fact, know about the plan.

“Not that I actually think it’s a particularly well thought out plan.” He stated with a lingering glare at Luke’s back.

The planner in question did his best to ignore the skeptical look on Julie’s face.

“Julie, you really don’t deserve to be out of the music program.” Reggie’s voice was soft and sincere. “You have the voice of an angel. If we can help convinced Ms. Harrison and Principal Lessa to give you your spot back it will be so worth it. And even if we don’t, it’ll be worth the looks on their faces when we rock the pants off that crowd!”

Julie laughed in spite of herself, slightly reassured even as she chewed nervously on her lip. Luke took a few bouncy steps forward, pulling her attention to him completely. His eyes locked on hers and she was sure she was drowning, throat tightening at the look he was giving her.

“You got this. I wouldn’t have come up with this idea if I didn’t believe it 100%.”

Honestly, that was what scared her the most about it.

“We don’t even have anything prepared.”

Her voice was barely a whisper, unsteady and wavering. Luke took a few more steps towards her, Reggie and Alex ghosting along silently a few feet behind him. Julie didn’t even notice, so laser focused on the brunette boy in the cut-up tank top in front of her. She watched his muscles flex as he reached into his back pocket, flicking out a piece of folded up paper in a move scarily reminiscent of when he had given her mom’s song back to her. He bit his lip, head ducking a little to be closer to hers as he unfolded the worn sheets of scrappy notebook paper. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, focusing on the messy handwriting in front of her.

“I thought you would say that.”

The smile on his face was so soft and sweet it should have been illegal.

“It’s called ‘Bright’. It’s a Sunset Curve song that we never performed because it’s missing something. Look,” his bare shoulder brushed hers as he shifted to point at the notes, warmth seeping through the thin material of her t-shirt, “it’s perfect for your range. I was thinking, if we add a little bit of piano here and here,” fire blazed a path up her arm as his fingers traced along the opening notes and chorus, forearm flexing against her own, bare skin brushing in teasing licks, “it’ll be perfect.”

Julie forced herself to focus on what he was saying, eyes roving across the paper. She hummed a little under her breath, hearing what he described in her head. His eyes lit up when he saw her get it, feet springing up and down as he dipped even closer towards her and started to sing.

We will rise, through the night

You and I

We will fight to shine together

Bright forever

His voice vibrated in her chest, the sound filling her with an emotion she couldn’t fully identify. Alex and Reggie bobbed along behind him, Reggie’s fingers plucking out the baseline on an invisible guitar while Alex nodded along to an unseen beat. Julie could envision the way the song would sound with a complete band, could practically see herself fitting seamlessly into the mix with her piano and vocals. She couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips as she joined in, reading the lyrics off of the page.

And rise through the night,

You and I

We will fight to shine together

“Go up high.”

Luke cut in, fingers twirling towards the ceiling. Julie automatically made the adjustment in notes to harmonize her voice with his for the last line, holding the final syllable for a beat longer than him.

Bright forever

“Yes!”

Luke’s arm pumped up and down, bicep flexing and distracting Julie momentarily. She dropped her head shyly, trying to hide her blush. When her cheeks cooled a moment later she looked back up at the boy in front of her. His eyes were glowing, smile stretched a mile wide as he stared at her. Unconditional belief in her was practically oozing from his pores. She felt her face soften as their eyes locked, giving him her own sweet smile that was meant just for the two of them. She thanked him with a gentle murmur, heart melting as he simply bit his lower lip and nodded.

A throat cleared in the background, and Julie was snapped out of their private bubble by the sound. Her entire face felt engulfed in flames as she looked over Luke’s shoulder to see Alex and Reggie still standing a few paces behind him. Reggie’s face was bright, his sunshine temperament back in full force. Alex was a little more guarded, but he was giving her an encouraging smile and there was cautious optimism swimming in his sage green eyes as he fiddled with one of his drumsticks. She inhaled deeply and let her breath out in one smooth exhale. The same sort of peacefulness from the night before settled over her.

“Okay. Okay, so we’re doing this.”

Luke’s whoop was so loud both her and Alex jumped. Reggie raced forward with a cheer to sling one arm around Luke’s shoulders and the other around Julie’s, pulling them so close to his chest that their noses nearly touched. Julie saw the blush staining Luke’s cheeks and felt her own warm to match. Alex coughed again.

“Reg, c’mon. Let it settle for just a sec before you go all human octopus on the poor girl.”

“Oh, right! Sorry, Jules!!”

Reggie released both of them quickly. Julie flicked her gaze between the three boys, enjoying the glimpses at their band dynamic. Alex’s words had sounded a bit exasperated, but there was a fondness running through them as well. He gave a half-hearted roll of his eyes at Reggie’s abrupt movements and reached his own long arm out to pull the dark-haired boy close.

“Help me unload the van? I still don’t trust our little Lukey boy with my kit.”

“Hey! That was one time!”

Luke sounded downright offended. The dark look Alex leveled at him in response had Julie choking back a laugh with a badly disguised cough. Clearly once of whatever he did was enough. Luke pouted, arms flexing as they crossed over his chest.

“You put your foot through my bass drum, and you think that isn’t reason enough not to trust you with it ever again?”

Luke sputtered, eyes flicking to Julie and back to Alex as his ears reddened.

“I told you I didn’t see it!”

“It’s the biggest part of the kit, dumbass. Literally the hardest thing to miss.”

Alex’s voice was as unimpressed as it was dismissive. Luke threw his hands in the air as the other boys headed out of the studio, laughing amongst themselves. It was clear this was a regular argument between the two, no heat or anger left in it, only a loving sort of tease. Like the way Carlos still brought up that time she accidentally gave him a concussion double-bouncing him off of their neighbor’s trampoline when he wanted something from her. Or the way her Tía would still laugh as she remembered the time her mom had almost gotten them both arrested for a bar fight on her 21st birthday, Ray affectionately filling in the parts that she tried to leave out. Warmth bloomed in her chest. This wasn’t just a band, wasn’t just a ragtag trio of friends. These guys were brothers. This was a family. And they were letting her into that intimate circle.

The thought was both humbling and nerve-wracking. This Showcase was a big deal. It wasn’t just some school assignment. This could impact their future as a band career-wise. They were all trusting her with this, fully believing in her, or at least, fully believing in Luke’s faith in her abilities. She wasn’t sure anyone had ever believed in her like that. Not anyone that hadn’t known her since she was in diapers. Her head swam, knees feeling a bit weak. She stumbled her way over to the couch, collapsing onto it with a barely audible huff. Luke was in front of her instantly, crouched down so they were face to face. His hands twitched in his lap, but he didn’t reach for her.

“Hey. Julie. Breathe.”

She sucked in a breath, zeroing in on nothing more than his face. After a few seconds she realized he was breathing in and out slowly, just loud enough for her to hear over the jumble of thoughts running amok in her brain. She matched her own inhales and exhales to his, the room slowly coming back into focus as her head cleared. He gave her one of those soft smiles she was starting to think of as hers.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. But I wouldn’t have stopped you in school if I didn’t think you were gonna rock it. I heard you last night. I listened to you for years before last night.”

His chin dropped in embarrassment for just a second before he pulled his gaze back up to hers. Julie felt like she was on the edge of a cliff. Not for the first time she wished she knew how long this version of Luke had been lurking under the surface. It took everything in her not to let herself step off that ledge and fall.

“Music is in your soul. It’s a part of you. Not everyone is like that, but you are. Your life without music...”

He tapered off like the thought was physically painful to him, eyebrows furrowing in a slight wince.

“Living without music would be like living in a world without stars: dark and empty and uninspired. You deserve galaxies, Julie. You deserve the chance to shine exactly like the star you are, and the world deserves the chance to hear you. Please, just...have a little faith?”

She saw it then. As he gazed at her with those bottomless ocean eyes, with that special smile on his lips and sincerity bleeding through every word, she knew. Luke was like her. Luke got it. In a way that no one else except her mom ever had. That’s what this was. They were kindred spirits, two sides of the same coin. And that feeling? The wind rushing through her hair and stealing her breath away while her limbs all turned to jelly feeling? That was definitely her falling head over heels off of the cliff and into Luke Patterson completely.

“Okay.”

She breathed out, and his answering smile set off the butterflies she thought had finally left her stomach. He stood up and held a hand out to her, easily pulling her to her feet in one smooth movement.

“You know,” his smile turned rueful, “eventually you’re gonna have to answer one of my questions with something other than ‘okay’. That’s a pretty passive word, and I’m not really a passive type of person. I wanna start hearing some ‘hell yeah’s and ‘awesome’s pretty soon.”

Julie rolled her eyes, moving away from Luke to set up her keyboard. He gave her a bouncy little shrug of his shoulders, and she let the levity of his joke wash over her, releasing the last bit of nerves. She could do this. Luke believed in her. Her mom believed in her. Hell, Alex and Reggie believed in her and she barely even knew them. She could do this, just like her mom had said.

Noise from the other boys making their way up the driveway had her rushing to pull both doors to the studio open so they could haul in Alex’s drum kit. The three of them left together to grab amps and guitars, Julie finishing the rest of the set up in the garage. Before she had time to overthink things or freak out again, they were all settled into their spots and Alex was counting down for their first run through. Fingers against the keys, Julie breathed out, opened her mouth, and began to play.

[polymetis-23]

Diary Entry Aug. 30th, 2021

Day 1 - Move In 

    Hey All! Well, I'm not sure anyone is actually out there but I'm gonna use this place to put down my thoughts as time goes on. I feel that it is important to have somewhere to organize the thoughts running around your head, so here we are in the infinite world of the internet. I've just finished moving into my new room in a castle. Well, it isn't actually a castle but it kinda looks like one from the outside so it's a castle. Everything in my room is just perfect. My view of the river is framed by my curtains above a window ledge seat. My photos decorate the walls, pens all lined up according to color, everything just where it needs to be before I start my college career.

I have been given the opportunity to attend a program prior to our freshman orientation called "Explore Mechanical Engineering". Supposedly we are going to make robots to compete in some sport, but I am looking forward to learning what machines are available for students to use. 

    See, I have been sketching the designs of some gear I'd like to make for ages now but I've never had the tools to build them back home. I tried making them out of household materials but it just didn't work - so here I am, at one of the best engineering schools in the world to build my dreams from childhood.

Day 2 - Meeting the EME crew

    First day of the EME program and I've already fallen in love, the people here are great. We have 32 of my fellow classmates and 8 upperclassmen mentors. Well, 7 active upperclassmen mentors, one of them, Alex, just seems real distant and is always disappearing so I guess she doesn’t count. We were split into eight teams of four to work on our robots and thankfully the mentors float between groups so no one group is left without help when needed. These football bots are surprisingly hard to make, but we were given a great introduction to all the tools in the machine shop, most of which we won't be using now but are open for students' personal projects. Unfortunately, today was too group-centric to start working on my gear, but I'm hoping to start tomorrow.

Day 3 - Crossbows V1

    Today I started working on converting my ideas into reality. I started with my wrist crossbow since it is small and I can let it 3D-print in the background. I left breakfast to go to the bathroom (set up the print) and planned to come back for it during our next break. Unfortunately we were working in the shop until then and the whole time I was worried someone would notice the print and wonder what was happening, but either people are used to the mechanical background noise or they're just really blind. Anyway, by the end of the day I had the first version of the crossbow printed! And I also learned that I knew nothing about properly 3D printing as the crossbow was a blob on the end of the print head.

… :( I'll try again tomorrow.

Day 4 - A new friend!

    So I may have been mentally absent from my group a little and that may have been noticed, we're all good though. One of the members, Oliver, decided to hang back before lunch today to see what was going on. He's a nice guy who has apparently been working with robotics since the middle of elementary school (I wish I could've done that), so it is nice to have him on our team. I hate making other people do the work in group projects but his presence has left me with more brain capacity to think about the bow- but I didn't get to work on that today cause we ended up talking forever after lunch. Long story short, I now have a new friend!!

Day 5 - Nearly getting kicked out before school starts

    So close to making the crossbow work, when disaster struck. (sorry, is that too dramatic?) Basically, I was going back to the shop to retrieve my latest print and test it out and I could already tell from a distance that it would be great. The head of the printer was clean, there was a cross bow shaped piece of plastic on the bed and some rubber bands in . No one was there so I headed for the machine when I heard from behind me, "What are you doing?" It was that counselor who kept disappearing - Alex? She made me jump, doesn't she know it's not cool to sneak up on people like that? So inconsiderate. Anyway I told her I wanted to perfect my robot before the competition tomorrow and hoped she bought it, otherwise I'd be expelled before classes even started. Talk about a world record. I like being the best, but this is one area I would rather fail in. 

Day 6 - Pew Pew (the crossbow works!)

    It works! Okay, well it doesn't actually work, but it looks cool! Everyone was distracted today with the competition, although only one person from each team was needed to operate the robot so I was able to disappear pretty easily. I retrieved the crossbow that had ended up getting left overnight and snuck out to find somewhere to test it. First I looped the rubber bands I brought with me on the pegs I made and got ready to nock the first bolt. I set up some old newspaper I found in the shop as a target so I didn't leave a mark on the wall. And the arrow flew! … right into the wall about a meter to the left of the newspaper and left a small mark on the wall, but I don't think anyone will notice. I tried a few more times mimicking a fight scene with jumps and dives and such before I realized this was going to be a lot harder than I expected. List of problems with crossbow design:

Not enough power

Aim is terrible (or am I just bad?)

Too small to practically load

Where do I store the arrows?

3D printed limbs are brittle (no I most definitely didn't break them…)

Fingers too weak to properly load crossbow

… I'm sure there's more but I need to sleep before orientation starts. See everybody next week!!

[theleagueof13]

Rewriting the Entirety of SGE: The School Years

All of this is solely up to my own preference. Yes, some parts may be messy because I am inexperienced. I don’t even know what a plot is. Here we go.

I didn’t have any major problem with Book 1 until Agatha’s Glow Up, so we’re starting there.

Canon: Agatha realizes she was beautiful all along and literally two minutes later Tedros falls in love with her.

However, I think it would’ve been so much more impactful if she simply changed her perspective on her “ugliness” from a negative light to an objective standpoint.

We already know that Agatha is badass, so I think she should view herself that way. Insecurity is nothing if she amounts her features to the raw human ability that they possess. Her frame is tall and skinny because she’s athletic, her big eyes serve her the purpose of seeing. Agatha may not be pretty, but every bone in her body was made so that she could eat, breathe, laugh, fight, do parkour around School for Evil.

It’s obvious that Ever Girls only care about their appearance because they want to impress boys (in School for Girls, they are shown as letting themselves go). Agatha is characterized as having no interest in boys, and therefore she doesn’t need to be pretty in the first place. Now, I know that princesses need a prince in order to have their fairytale, but Agatha already thinks that’s bullshit -- why not go against it?

Also, this is extremely minor, but I'd rather have Agatha have some kind of deformity, like a cleft lip or crooked spine. It would really sell the idea that she was different. As a kid, even if Soman screamed in my face that Agatha was canonically ugly, I couldn’t imagine how she could be if the features she was described with were SO normal. Of course, her deformity remains throughout the book, because that is Not Cool if it’s magically removed.  

I’ve said this before in my I Don’t Really Like Agatha post, and I’ll say it again. She is ungrateful for the opportunity she could have at School for Good. I’d literally kill to be there, I’d sit through every mind-numbing, subtly sexist class about smiling and posture just so I could practice magic, and I’m sure a lot of people think the same.

[edited: didn’t mean to sound so callous, it’s only an opinion]

Agatha isn’t even using this to expand her power. She uses her wish a total of 2 times in this book, and it’s not like she didn’t have time to use it. It’s disappointing.

So, imagine that Agatha just GRINDS in her school-work. Sure, she fails the challenges related to Strategic Blushing and Matching Outfits, but everything else she excels. At first she just didn’t want to be turned into a plant, she was only studying to survive. Now, it’s more than that.

Agatha is introduced as having a fondness for villains, and it’s apparent that beauty is irrelevant in their success stories. Although she is hurt when Sophie alludes to how she’d “fit in” with the immature, trigger-happy Nevers, she can apply those values of dismissing outer appearances while still being Good. It’s not as if Agatha is greedy or deceitful. She saves the Wish Fish, forgives Sophie countless times, and doesn’t do anything outright vicious. There’s no reason to question that she’s NOT a Never. She can be ugly and an Ever at the same time, wasn’t that the original message?

Hypothetically, she gains more knowledge and strength in spells and potions and such, and just like Sophie, even if everyone doubted her, she could rise through the ranks. There’s no point in worrying about your looks when you’re the most powerful girl in school. (Did I make Agatha too close to Evil? Maybe. But she doesn’t need to push people down to bring herself up, she’s just a natural like that.)

Also, if she needs a boy to ask her out to the Snow Ball, she 100% hates that. She could just talk to Dovey, are they really gonna fail the baddest bitch there?

No. They’re not.

Okay, here’s the biggest part that everyone will hate me for. No Tagatha. At least, not until TLEA.

When Agatha comes out of the Groom Room having just kickstarted her self-esteem and everyone’s drooling, Tedros is attracted to her instantly. I guess that’s fine. Reasonable. But consider this:

Agatha doesn’t love Tedros back.

When Tedros asks her out at the Circus of Talents, she declines. Because if she really knew her own worth, she wouldn’t say yes before making friends with him first. That’s only fair. Actually, I’d say a part of insecurity is settling for any guy who gives you attention (aka Tedros). Y'all are gonna hit me with the damning “We accept the love we think we deserve”.

EVEN IF SHE BELIEVES SHE DESERVES HIM NOW, IT DOESN’T MEAN SHE’LL JUMP AT THE CHANCE TO DATE HIM. THAT’S MESSED UP.

Okay, I know Sophie threw her bitch fit because Agatha was being a hypocrite and dating Tedros. So, tweak that and have Sophie throw a bitch fit simply because Tedros asked Agatha out in the first place. That still makes sense with her entitled selfish personality.

In the stupid war of Evers and Nevers, (which was like, strange considering they’re kids but they’ll have a similar conflict for the next two years), Tedros and Agatha are not together. You could throw in a bit of “Tedros wants to prove to Agatha he’s a hero” but for god’s sakes we are NOT putting in that little chauvinistic “how dare a princess question me”. That one line gave me a bad feeling about Tedros — foreshadowing for AWWP? And it’s crazy that Soman wrote that, along with his lack of brain cells. Are you trying to make readers bully him in memes and instagram group chats? Not from personal experience.

Oh, and this is more of a complaint. But, why did Soman make Sophie bald, pockmarked, and toothless in her transformation of embracing Evil? I thought this was about breaking stereotypes.

The Evil stigma that’s drilled in their heads about being pretty and in general taking care of yourself, is completely inane to me. I can’t believe that Sophie’s “trickery” of Tedros was so revolutionary. None of the Nevers, in 200 years, thought of that?

Instead of her beauty regressing, I’d actually want it to be heightened. It’s what set her apart from the Nevers the moment she walked in. It should be the icing on top of the cake. When Sophie is at her peak of power, she’s a princess. Who could kill you.

If you’re worried about reducing women to be pretty objects or seductresses, stop. It’s okay. Sophie has other powers like summoning ravens, wasps, locusts, bats, using her singing voice for torture, and she is skilled in curses and death traps. In short, the Hot Evil Lady trope works for her. (I think. Someone correct me.)

At the end of SGE, Agatha chooses Sophie over Tedros. Needless to say, Tedros feels betrayed. If you wanted to make him an idiot, with anger issues, daddy issues, and an inferiority complex, this is the easiest way out. He’s under the misguided impression that Agatha belongs with him simply because 1. He loves her. 2. He’s the prince of Camelot, damnit. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?

Not to mention that his father pressured him not to make the same mistake. And Tedros thinks that School for Good is his pool of suitors since Arthur married his classmate Guinevere? There is no line of logic in this man at all, did you miss the part where Guinevere cheats and runs away? Maybe Ever Girls isn’t the only place you should look! There are thousands of other girls in the Woods and you intend to find your soulmate at 14?? Goddamn. 

In conclusion, Tedros’ hurt feelings continue to AWWP. Easy.

And if y’all gonna come for me about how Tedros is easily swayed by looks (he’s convinced that Sophie and Agatha are in the wrong schools for half the book) I’d want to make him a bit smarter. I know that’s impossible.

In canon, Tedros turns on Sophie because her true colors showed, and her witchy phase gives him that confirmation bias. He goes feral with testosterone and heroism, as we know.

I’d like him to understand that just because his solely physical attraction to Sophie grew when she’s evil and pretty, it doesn’t mean that she’s not any less dangerous. If Tedros, of all people, learns the difference between appearances vs reality, it would really drive the point home.

All right. You’re still here?

Here’s some extra headcanons you could add in here and here.

In the meantime I’ll think of more.

If there were any hard-hitting themes I was supposed to include, please tell me, I usually gloss over them while reading. 

But anyway, thanks for reading this far.

[dear-selena]

Sketchbook (Peter Parker x Stark!Reader): Chapter 1

Peter Parker x Stark!Reader (Female) 

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

Summary: (Y/N) never understood science based subjects, despite putting all her efforts into studying them. Kids at school bullied her, her father, Tony Stark, was disappointed in her, and the Avengers looked the other way. Peter Parker, her best friend and secret crush for almost two years, was always there supporting you when you needed someone. However, since he became an Avenger and your dad’s ‘favorite kid’, you don’t know how much longer he’ll be around for you. 

You find yourself struggling to exist with everything working against you, and instead of asking others for help, you turn to your sketchbook. 

Warnings: angst, bullying, mentions of depression / suicide 

A/N: Hey everyone! This is a story idea I’ve had for a while, and I have to say this is the most intense writing I’ve ever done. Because of how massive I’m making the character development, and the fact that I’m going back to college in two days, my updates for this story will not be quick. I can guarantee that I will not drop this story, as I have already written half the chapters. All I’m asking from you, if you’d like to follow this story, is to be patient with me as I update. I was planning on creating a mood board and everything, so I really do have confidence I will complete this story XD. 

With that said, this story is going to have heavy themes of depression and suicide, especially in future chapters. If this is triggering to you in anyway, please feel free to skip this story. I will be tagging the triggers, and will warn of any serious themes throughout this story. If there is anything else I can do to be aware of safety for my readers, please reach out! 

Hope everyone is well! Enjoy the first chapter of Sketchbook! 

Chapter 1: Flashes and Shades

Words: 1962

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

Shaking your leg under the desk, you anxiously wait for your chemistry midterm to return to you. 

As your teacher, Mrs. Smith, slowly passes exam books back to each student, you couldn’t help but pray for a good grade. ‘Please, at least a B this time… at least a B’ repeats in your head over and over. You studied your butt off the past two weeks for this exam, yet nothing would click in your brain. For some reason, balancing equations, differentiating the elements on the periodic table, and identifying every single scientific law known to man never came easy to you. 

You hope the extra studying you did would finally pay off. 

Mrs. Smith eventually came up to you and hands your exam back to you face down. Not being able to hold in your anxiety, you flip the packet over immediately, only to be met with disappointment and a wish that you never got your exam back at all. 

Written and circled in a bright red marker, a D+ mockingly spat at you. 

Eyes going wide and heartbeat accelerating, you quickly hide your exam, making sure none of your classmates saw your poor grade. You look around at your classmates to see them showing off their grades to one another, most of them with A’s or B+’s. Before you could let the significance of your peers get to your head, the bell rang. You quickly shove your failure into your backpack, and make your way to your next class, English. 

English wasn’t a hard subject for you. In fact, you enjoy the readings that were assigned and always participate in discussions. However, that didn’t really matter at Midtown School of Science and Technology, one of the top college prep schools in New York. Subjects like physics, biology, and calculus truly matter to faculty and students. 

Too bad you practically failed those classes. At least in English you could breathe easy for 90 minutes. 

As you make your way to your next class, you feel eyes following your every move. When you would look up however, students quickly look down, as if they weren’t watching. You knew they were. You’re (Y/N) Stark for God’s sake, daughter of Tony Stark, certified genius and team leader of the Avengers. Even though you were a Stark, you were a certified idiot, and everyone at Midtown knew that. 

You absolutely hate it. 

Negative thoughts start to come into your head, ones you wish you could push away. You mostly thought about your existence, how it would be for everyone if you simply weren’t there. Before your thoughts could elaborate and get more intense, your phone vibrates in your pocket and you see that Peter Parker, your best friend for the past two years, has texted you. 

From: Peter

I hope you did well on your chem midterm! I can’t wait to see you at lunch :)

You smile at your phone, practically beaming at Peter’s kind words. Peter always knew how to cheer you up and snap you out of your bad thoughts. You have no idea how he does it, but nevertheless, you love that about him. You’ve loved Peter for a long time, ever since your father took him in as his successor. But you knew he was out of your league. One day though, you hope you can share your feelings with him. 

Before you could respond to your best friend, a booming voice calls out to you. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Miss Stark herself.” You look up to see none other than Flash Thompson approaching you with a cocky grin, ultimately souring your mood. Flash likes to pick on Peter with dumb nicknames, but with you, he’s a bit more relentless. “How’d that chem test go?” 

You raise an eyebrow at him. “Why does it matter to you?” 

“I’m just looking out for you sweetheart,” Flash leans in close to your ear, grabbing your shoulders firmly. “You know, so you don’t flunk chemistry again.” 

Quickly pulling away from Flash, you try to hide your face so he can’t see the tears starting to burn in your eyes. He’s right. You took chemistry last year with Flash, Peter, and many other students in your grade. Peter would try to help you in class, and that helped a lot. However you didn’t quite make a passing grade, and when you saw how disappointed your dad was, you knew you had to retake the class and get a better grade. 

“Oh sweetheart,” Flash coos in a mocking tone. “You don’t have to be ashamed around me. A pretty girl like you can always cry on my shoulder.” If you weren’t in school, and if you weren’t your father’s daughter, you’d have spat at him. 

“I have to get to class.” You quickly say, trying to walk away. However, Flash never made it easy. 

“You don’t have to run from me (Y/N),” Flash starts, and you reluctantly turn around. “So what that you aren’t at all smart? At least you can still go here with all the money your daddy’s paying for you to stay in. That’s some lucky wealth you have at your fingertips.” 

Before Flash continues, you turn and quickly walk to the nearest bathroom, tears already falling from your (E/C) eyes. You hate it when people brought your father’s name and wealth into the picture. Logically, someone that fails classes at Midtown, especially a science one, wouldn’t have a GPA high enough to stay enrolled. But despite your poor grades that never seemed to improve, you still roam the halls of Midtown. You knew your father has something to do with it, but you’re too ashamed of yourself to talk to him about those logistics. 

As you find your way into the bathroom and lock yourself into a stall, you let your frustrations come out, silently sobbing. Things Flash would say directly to you was ultimately what your peers would say behind your back. Almost everyone at school knew you were the dumbest kid there, and they made no efforts to hide their thoughts. No matter how hard you studied or how well you took notes in class, your efforts were never enough. 

It made you struggle to find a reason to stay around. 

------------- 

Lunch rolls around quickly, and after humiliatingly walking into English late, you want nothing more than to see Peter. You knew Peter always supported you, but you didn’t know how much longer he’d be there for you. Sure, you love Peter, and he likes you as a friend (at least you hope he does). But he’s been getting all your father’s attention for quite some time now, practically taking the spot on the Avengers team you’ve yearned to have for so long. You never know what your father says about you to Peter, and you really don’t know if he thinks you’re worth it anymore. 

You’d rather not think about that right now. 

You were also close to Ned and MJ, but you found yourself super cautious around them. They never brought up how you were a Stark or practically failing school, but you never knew what they truly thought of you, and that was scary. 

At lunch, Peter saw you gloomily walk into the cafeteria and immediately knew it meant bad news from your exam. Instead of asking you about it however, Peter compliments your outfit, a gesture that makes you blush. 

Peter and Ned were talking about their AP Physics assignment, you longingly listening into their conversation, when MJ comes over and sits next to you. 

“Hey (Y/N), small question.” MJ proceeds to take out her sketchbook and open it up. “I feel like something is off in this drawing but I can’t figure it out. Can you help me?” 

She slides the drawing over to you, and you start to admire her work. It looks like she started a portrait of someone, and you have to say it looked really good! The line work was already traced with pen and she started coloring the character in black and white. However, you did notice what was off about her work. 

“Oh! You didn’t highlight their face all the way.” You say simply. She raises her eyebrows curiously, but hands you her pencil so you can explain further. “You got the dark tones on their face just right, but there’s not really any white tones to balance it.” You start to lightly erase some of the pencil work. “I like to leave white sports around the nose and cheeks like this to give the face more depth.” You hand the pencil and sketchbook back to MJ. “You try it.” 

MJ takes the pencil back and starts erasing lightly, starting to see what you mean. “Oh! Thanks (Y/N). I tend to forget about that stuff.” 

“It’s all good. It comes with practice.” You say, going into your backpack and taking your own sketchbook out. Your sketchbook was practically a safe haven, filled with doodles, designs, and poems from over the years. Whenever you find yourself struggling with negative thoughts or even wishing you were gone, you turn to the moleskin covered book and just let your mind wander. Over time, the simple doodles and haikus turned into intricate drawings and full on hand-written stories. 

Opening your sketchbook up, you turn to one of your early doodles, a drawing of your father in his signature Iron-Man suit. “I drew this of my dad a few years ago, and you can tell I didn’t know what I was doing.” You laugh at yourself. 

MJ’s eyebrows furrow. “What are you talking about? This looks amazing!” You look back at the drawing in confusion. MJ just rolls her eyes. “I mean, it’s not shaded, but you got some really good detail on your father’s suit. It kind of looks like you can even see wiring in it.” 

Sending MJ a small smile, you can feel your cheeks turning red. “Thanks… I just think my more recent drawings are a little easier on the eyes.” With that, you turn to some drawings you worked on last week, ones you did after a typical scolding from your father about your grades. These drawings were more intricate, small shapes dancing across the pages in a contemporary pattern. 

MJ’s eyes pop out of her skull. “Whoa… Can I just look through these for a bit?” 

You nod, letting her know of some pages to avoid. You told her they were crummy sketches, but in reality, those pages were filled with words that… might cause some serious concern. 

As MJ intently looks through your most prized possession. You feel eyes on you again. At first you thought your classmates were pitifully staring at you again, but to your surprise, you see Peter looking at you, biting his lip in an attempt to hide a smirk. 

“What?” You ask innocently, unsure of why Peter would be staring at you that way. Was he trying not to laugh at you…?

Peter blinks, realizing he’s been caught. “Oh, n-nothing.” He sends you a sheepish smile. 

You simply smile back at the boy, a blush once again creeping onto your cheeks. Before he could see it though, MJ starts to ask you some questions about the drawings in your sketchbook. In moments like this, you were thankful that something distracted you from your crush. After all, you were nowhere in his league. He’s a superhero with crazy abilities, one of the smartest kids in school, and your father’s most cherished mentee. 

All you are is a dumb girl with a sketchbook.

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

-Peter Parker Tag List-

@sweetcoffeeblandtea // @house-arya // @jovialpeanut

-Permanent Tag List-  

@mindset-jupiter // @romance-geek // @imcharishope // @fakindob // @cutiekoa // @wowursofunny

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

I can’t believe it, 2020 is finally over. Or at least, it will be on the day this goes up. From where I’m writing it, we’re nearing the finish line, but haven’t yet reached it. Part of me wishes I could have finished season 1 in the same year I started this blog, but I’m getting close to there anyway, so I shouldn’t despair. This episode...yeah, looking at the episode title, I cannot remember for the life of me what the Shiatsu Technique is. By next paragraph, I’ll have rewatched the episodes, and I’ll know. See you in a second!

That was an...interesting direction for Shampoo’s introductory arc? I mean, it’s her second episode, and she’s barely in it. I think I’ll have quite a bit to talk about, but I will say once again I’m holding off on doing a Shampoo Character Spotlight just yet, just because I want to have more material to discuss.

So, anyway, the episode starts with the Tendo’s asking Akane to wake up Ranma, and it’s made clear once again just how angry and jealous she is over the whole Shampoo situation. That doesn’t get any better when she relents but finds that Shampoo is snuggling in Ranma’s bed with him, without him knowing. She dumps water on them, activating the curse, Shampoo tries to kill Ranma, he turns back, she wants to kiss him, it’s a bunch of hijinks.

As Ranma and Akane walk to school, they bicker a little more fiercely than usual, now that the spectre of Shampoo’s affections have come into the picture. Ryoga is chilling on a nearby rooftop, and he’s actually ready to leave. He’s being very angsty, upset that Akane only likes him as P-chan, and knows that if Akane ever admits to loving Ranma, it would break his heart. He tries to head back on the road, only for him to get hit by random water throwing lady’s water, at which point Shampoo finds the piglet in the road.

Next scene, the amazon breaks down the wall of Ranma’s classroom to give him lunch, which as it turns out is Ryoga, though he hasn’t been killed or ever really cooked. Still, Akane and even Ranma are concerned, even if Ryoga doesn’t really appreciate the latter. Angry at Akane ruining her plans for Ranma several times now, Shampoo gives Akane the Kiss of Death, but Akane doesn’t back down, and is ready for a match, despite the fact that Ranma seems absolutely sure that Akane has no way of winning.

By the time Ranma gets to the place they are fighting at, the match is already over. Shampoo is gone, and Akane is unconscious on the ground. When she wakes up, she feels rather refreshed, but is more than anything confused: Akane has no clue who Ranma is. It isn’t regular amnesia, either. She still remembers her classmates, Ryoga, even Ranma’s dad.

After a lot of Ranma trying over and over again to remind Akane who he is, which even fails when Ranma activates his curse, they eventually go to Dr. Tofu. As it turns out, he knows what did this: the titular Shiatsu Technique. It actually has a much longer name, but I will stick with that. Anyway, Ranma’s dad was passing by and saw the whole thing. The move is actually just washing and styling the person’s hair, but using specific herbs and massaging scalpel pressure points to specifically remove memories of a single person.

The only way Dr. Tofu can imagine curing it would be with more Chinese herbs, so Ranma takes Akane out on the city to try and find Shampoo and get what they need. Only thing is, Shampoo shows up at the clinic right afterwards, because it turns out she’s been living there, working with Dr. Tofu.

So, that’s the episode. I’m going to start with some things I didn’t like as much, before getting into what I thought actually worked. The entire premise is just a bit...odd? Like, I have to admit I’m kind of down on amnesia plots in general, just as a matter of personal preference, but even if I wasn’t I feel like using one in the middle of a main character’s introduction arc is a tad bit strange.

I talked a bit last week about how I find that shows using jealousy as a way to show much a person cared about another is kinda sucky, so I won’t go over it again, except to say I’m still not a fan. I’m even less a fan of the fact that Akane is still being looked over as a fighter. First she never really got to fight Kodachi, and now that Shampoo is here they get...a fight we don’t see that only lasts a few seconds.

Shampoo is an amazon warrior, I get that. But I just find it annoying that they completely sideline that conflict for the amnesia one, when giving Akane an opponent to fight who is better than her would be a great way to make her grow. Even if we got a real fight and she lost, it could be something to build on later, a way to see where Akane is as a martial artist. Sadly, this series doesn’t really take Akane seriously as a martial artist, so that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Only other small thing to cover in the negatives column is that I didn’t really like the whole comedy bit of, “Uh oh, Ranma shows Akane his curse, but she thinks he’s a cross-dressing pervert!” It’s just...yeah, I don’t have the mental energy to dive into that topic, let’s just say it left a very bad taste in my mouth.

So, what did I like about the episode, then? Well, quite a lot. As much as I dislike the general idea of doing an amnesia plot here, I liked some of the specifics of it. The fact that not only had Akane forgotten Ranma, and only Ranma, but that it seemed as though she couldn’t even form new memories of him, no matter how much he or others tried to make her understand, definitely added urgency. In a good way.

I also found myself liking the technique itself, strangely enough. The fact it’s just washing the person’s hair, but with special martial arts stuff, is just kind of amazing, ridiculous in that exact Ranma 1/2 kind of way. The fact that all of the characters treat it dead seriously, none of them laughing at the idea, also helps make it even funnier.

Speaking of funny, the slapstick was pretty on-point this episode. It wasn’t quite as funny as some other episodes, but I definitely was at least smiling for a good portion of it. The whole scene of their class trying to help Akane remember Ranma was pretty funny too, in English and Japanese.

For something more heartfelt, I love that after half an episode of Ranma teasing Akane, of so many episodes of Ranma kind of being a jerk, his immediate response to her forgetting him is to do everything he can to fix it. It goes uncommented on so far, but he clearly hates the idea of Akane never knowing who he is. It could just as easily have been done with Ranma not caring in the slightest, being an aloof jerk, but this shows that Ranma does genuinely care about Akane, even if he often has a bad way of showing it.

Ooh, also, on the characters front! Ryoga! My boy! I haven’t really talked about it in a while, but I’ve been kind of unhappy with how Ryoga is being portrayed for a while now. Ever since his arc, he’s just been chilling as P-chan, only turning back to try and take Akane from Ranma in some way. He’s been very scheming and underhanded, which doesn’t fit what I remembered of his character at all.

This episode was much more like it. Ryoga fits so much better as the brooding boy, stuck in the moral dilemma of what to do about his position with Akane, scared of how she might really feel. More of this, please, and less of him making schemes to steal her.

So then, how does this episode shake out, on the whole? Well, I don’t think it’s a surprise that I wouldn’t say it’s as good as last week’s. In fact, it’s dropped quite a few places. Just barely in the top half of episodes I’ve seen thus far, I’m putting this episode just above the Ranma vs Ryoga fight and one spot below the big fight that ended Kodachi’s arc. So, here is the new ranking.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Next week, I think we’re finishing this arc? I’m not completely sure? We’ll have to see? All I know is, the penultimate episode of the season is titled “I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye”. Sadly, unlike Ranma, I do have to say goodbye, but only until next week. See you all then!

[sondepoch]

Day 1

10 Days (Jumin Han x Reader)

You didn't expect to find yourself locked in an engagement to Chairman Han, but with your own mother forcing you into it, you have no way of denying her. But as time continues and things change, you begin to develop affections for your fiance's son: Jumin Han. But the sad truth is that there's nothing either of you can do to stop the marriage, and you only have these 10 days before your future becomes reality. 10 days with Jumin Han.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | ✔

MASTERLIST 

Perfection.

Your entire life, that was all you sought.

Perfection.

Your parents had raised you in an elite neighborhood, surrounded by the most prestigious of company, with the constant expectation that you'd be the best student in your school. Your room had been a paradise, your skin better than a model's, and you'd gone through years of training to always be the most ladylike in every room.

Perfection was never something you sought - but rather something that had always been expected of you.

From the day you were adopted at three years old, your parents had made it clear that the reason they had selected you of all the children was because you seemed the most moldable. The least resilient. The most willing.

And that much was true. You did everything they ever asked from you.

Now though, now that it feels like your whole life is about to end and your world is about to come crashing down: you can't help but think about that fateful day. You'd accepted their explanation at first, but now, you suspect that the reason for your adoption was because you best conformed to the image of what they wanted their child to look like. Just like your adoptive parents, you had (e/c) eyes and were (h/c), so to the public eye you looked like a natural daughter. And years of learning dance had toned your body to give you all the right curves and edges: true beauty, to any man who gazed upon you.

Even when your father had passed at the young age of forty years old, after protecting you from a drunk driver, he'd gazed upon you on his deathbed, telling you how much he loved you and how perfect you were.

But this whole time, I was incomplete, wasn't I? You think bitterly, as you stare at yourself in the mirror. You wish you have the courage to ask those words out loud to your mother, who's smoking a cigarette in the hotel room next to yours, just a call away; but why bother when you already know the answer?

No matter what you did, from bringing home trophies in middle school to skyrocketing the stocks of their company, your role as a daughter has never been fulfilled.

Until now.

You drop your gaze to the diamond band wrapped around your ring finger.

Perfection.

It's the ring that completes your package as the perfect daughter. In your life, you'd been slowly achieving all your parents' needs from you. Their demands had started superficial, with the requirement that you were beautiful and graceful. Then it delved deeper, and you had to make sure you were always ladylike and polite. Soon, your responsibilities turned to being the top student in all your classes and placing first in all your extracurricular competitions. Then, it had been soaring through college and working as the Director of Internal Affairs at your parents' company, BC-Sonic.

Yesterday, there had been only one thing left that your mother sought from you: an engagement to the wealthiest man in all of South Korea.

And as always, you'eve fulfilled their expectations.

Perfection.

There was no other word anyone could use to describe you.

If only you could feel the same way.

"(Y/N)," You hear your mother call from the other side of the wall. "Are you ready yet?"

You take a second glance at yourself in the mirror.

To please your fiancé, you'd changed into a stunning red gown with diamond jewelry to match the ring he'd placed on your finger just yesterday. It's the kind of dress that men love and women hate. The bottom of the dress hangs low, just barely scraping the floor when you stand upright in your heels, but there's a slit that reveals your provocative legs, trailing all the way up to wear your 'birthmark' is. As if that weren't enough, though the top half of you is far from modest and your back and shoulders are almost entirely bare, making you feel naked.

But you know you look radiant.

"Yes, Mother," You respond swiftly, satisfied with your appearance.

The woman wastes no time in entering your room, and she immediately comes over to you. Cigarette in hand, you can't help but tense at the sight of the burn stick even though you know it won't touch you.

"Chin up," She commands. "Shoulders back, jaw loose. Don't move your head when you walk, or your hair will come undone. Come here, sweetling, yes, perfect. Back straight, (Y/N). There you go, make sure to hold your posture. Eyes up, don't stare at the ground."

If your father was here, he'd scoff at your mother's remarks and tell you how pretty you look, and how Chairman Han won't back out of this marriage over something trivial as drooped shoulders.

But he's gone. And all I have left is Mother.

Your mother stiffens. "Remember, (Y/N). You will be a proper lady at all times. Just because your last name is changing doesn't mean that the media won't continue to associate you with me. Every public appearance you make must be perfect, hm?" The woman's eyes are cold as she reminds you of your duty. "Do not allow the paparazzi to waste the years of training that has brought you to this moment. Do not forget who you are for even a moment."

You swallow nervously, but don't allow your fear to show. "Yes, Mother."

"Are you ready to meet Chairman Han for the first time since the formalization of your engagement?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Good," She says, before looking at you quizzically. "I leave for my flight in fifteen minutes. I do not want any calls from you saying that you've messed this up. Do you hear me? Do not ruin this, (Y/N). Of all things, do not ruin this."

You meet her eyes for perhaps the first time today, and you can't decode the look in her eyes. What is it hidden behind that seemingly infinite abyss of (e/c)? Resentment? Wariness? Concern? You've never failed her before, she shouldn't have any reason to think ill of you.

Though for her, this is by far the greatest task she has requested of you in your entire life. You'd tried your best to hide your mislike for Chairman Han, but she was your mother. Not biologically, but still.

Does she sense your apprehension at marrying Chairman Han?

"I'll make you proud, Mother."

Whenever your thoughts fail you, those words won't. Because each time you speak them, you sincerely mean them.

No matter what your parents asked of you, you would do it. That's how it always had been.

Marrying Chairman Han will be no exception.

***

"Let's not order yet, my love," Your fiancé murmured, placing his menu down next to his plate.

Despite your confusion, you do the same. "Is something the matter?" You inquire, already fearing for the worst. What if the reason Chairman Han doesn't want to order is because he doesn't want to have dinner with you?

Horror floods your senses as you internally prepare for the worst.

What if he wants to cancel the engagement?

You try not to imagine your mother's fury if such a thing were to happen, already acutely aware of your trembling hands.

"Don't be nervous, (Y/N)," Chairman Han says, placing a hand on your cheek. His hand is gentle, but you have to remind yourself not to physically recoil from his touch. "It's just that I've invited my son to share dinner with us. Now that we're engaged, I think it's well past time he meets the woman I'm going to share the rest of my life with."

You smile softly at the Chairman, relieved that it was nothing more serious. "Your son agreed? The same man who declined all our previous invitation to dine together?" You laugh lightly, not truly offended by your future step-son's refusal to meet with you. It's no secret that Chairman Han is a womanizer, and there's no doubt that his son had thought that you were just another senseless fling.

"Don't be offended by him, he's just a little...clueless when it comes to some social cues."

You smile, unsure of what to respond with. You're about to compliment Chairman Han's tie when his gaze flits above you.

"Ah, Jumin! You're here!"

You freeze.

Jumin?

The man takes his seat at the round table and turns to greet you with a bored look in his eye.

As soon as his gaze meets yours though, his eyes widen. And yours do too, at the realization that this engagement will be far worse than you'd ever expected.

Of course, you think to yourself. How could you forget? Jumin Han had been your classmate nearly a decade ago when the two of you were in high school. The two of you hadn't been especially close—distant enough that you hadn't pieced together the fact that it was his father you're marrying—but still acquainted to the point where you knew a good amount of information about him.

Like the fact that he, your future step-son, is older than you by a good six months.

"Jumin, I'd like you to meet my fiancé. This is (Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N)...or, I suppose," The Chairman flashes you a bold grin. "(Y/N) Han."

You shift your gaze from the Chairman back to Jumin, terrified. What do you say? 'Nice to meet you?'

"It's been very long since I last saw you, (Y/N)," Jumin says stiffly, a cold expression on his face. "You've changed."

You swallow and try to remember your mother's instructions back in the hotel room. Be natural. Shoulders back, jaw loose. Back straight, eyes up.

As you force your body back into its proper posture, you feel yourself become more ladylike and somehow, your tongue unties itself and the words pour out of you. "Too long! How have you been, Jumin?"

You try not to cringe at the fakeness of your tone, but desperately hope that Jumin doesn't pick up on your fear. Of all the things to shake the foundations of your engagement, the fact that it's Jumin's father you're marrying is the worst.

Without a doubt, he's capable of convincing his father to cancel the engagement.

And that's the one thing you can't let happen.

"You two already know each other?" The Chairman asks.

Before you can respond, though, Jumin speaks up, his tone ice cold.

"Yes, I actually had the pleasure of knowing (Y/N) for four years when we were students. I suppose that's considerably longer than you've known her, Father?"

The Chairman raises an eyebrow, not liking the attitude he was getting from his son. "Excuse me, Jumin? It's true that I've only known sweet (Y/N) for a few weeks but our love is genuine, and I don't appreciate your implication."

"Your love is genuine?" Jumin responds swiftly. "Father, this girl is younger than me. You're marrying someone who should be your daughter."

You feel like this is a part where you should butt in and say something about how much you care about Chairman Han, despite his age, but thankfully the waiter interrupts the two men before you have to.

"Gentlemen, lady, might I take your orders?" He asks, and the tension in the room seems to settle.

Jumin orders his 'usual', whatever that is, but you haven't even had the opportunity to look at the menu. Momentarily flustered, you glance at your fiancé for help, but much to your relief, he orders for you.

He smiles generously at you once the waiter is gone as he pours you a glass of wine that had been brought to your table, and you try to ignore the fact that you won't be able to eat half of what he ordered for you.

"So, how is C&R doing?" You ask, trying to make conversation. "My family was checking this morning, and it seems that your stocks are faring extremely well."

"Business is going brilliantly, darling," The Chairman says, taking your comment as an invitation to regale you with all the details of how he secured two new investors in one day. You try to stay interested in what he's saying, but you find it difficult not to lose focus when the older man starts to rant about his theories for when the next depression will hit.

You spend the next few moments lost in your thoughts as you stare mindlessly into the man's eyes, seeming interested in his conversation but worlds away in mind. It's only when he dons a suspicious smile and slides his hand onto your thigh that you instinctively flinch, spilling wine on yourself.

You immediately stand up, apologizing for the mess while excusing yourself to the bathroom, finding an escape from the situation as fast as possible.

By the time you're in a stall, tears have already welled up in your eyes and you have to bend your body over and stare straight into the ground to prevent the tears from falling onto your cheeks. You can't risk ruining your makeup. You can't let Chairman Han think anything is wrong.

Calm down, (Y/N), You reason with yourself. If you're truly going to go through with this marriage, then you'll have to get used to Chairman Han touching you like that. You'll have to be prepared for even worse.

But just beginning to think about such awful things brings such a wave of nausea through your body that you decide it's best not to think about it at all, and you instead focus on your dress, dapping toilet paper at the small spot that's still wet.

You hear the bathroom door open, and initially pay it no mind until a familiar voice calls out to you.

"(Y/N)?"

Your heart nearly stops.

"J-Jumin?"

The voice pauses, before sighing. "Yeah. It's me."

Slowly, dreading the moment that's about to follow, you open the bathroom stall door and face the man, praying for this encounter to be over quickly.

"This is the woman's bathroom, in case you hadn't realized." You frown.

"I had." Jumin crosses his arms. "But I doubt you want to have this conversation in front of my father."

You stay silent.

"You spilled that wine on purpose," Jumin says. There's not an ounce of hesitation in his voice, and the way he says it, you can't even pretend that he's lying.

"On purpose, yes, but I do love your father." Woah. The way you said that so readily, you almost believe yourself.

Jumin takes a step closer to you, tilting your chin upward so he can better see your face in the fluorescent lights above. "You were crying," He says. Another fact.

"This was a nice dress. It's made me sad that I spilled wine on it."

"I don't recall you being that superficial."

"Why do you care?" You ask, taking a step back. Jumin's penetrating gaze bores into you, and you have to look away before your eyes can reveal how your heart feels.

"You've managed to convince my fool of a father that you're in love with him, and while I could not care less about you, I do mind what happens to him."

"I care about your father too," You say, but you can tell Jumin doesn't believe you.

"You care about him? Why, only ten seconds ago, you loved him. How much longer until you reveal your true intentions? I saw how fast you moved that wine glass, you can't tolerate his touch any more than you love him."

"I felt uncomfortable with you there," You respond swiftly. For a second, Jumin is taken aback, unsure of how to respond, and you take that as a victory. Have you finally said the right thing?

"Why are you doing this, (Y/N)? You could have almost any man you want, but really—my father? Your company is doing well enough that you don't need our finances, your family has more than enough connections, and it's not like..."

Jumin trailed off, his eyes narrowing.

"Is BC-Sonic in legal trouble?"

You practically roll your eyes at Jumin's absurd suggestion. "No!"

"Then why?!" Jumin asks. "Why have you targeted my father, of all the weak men in the world? What do you stand to gain from this marriage?"

You swallowed your doubts and took a step forward, knowing that if you had even the slightest hesitation when you uttered the following words Jumin wouldn't believe them. "Because I love him, Jumin."

And in that moment, it very well may have been true.

Near fifteen minutes later, the three of you are seated back at the table, making polite conversation about how C&R's export expansion goals would benefit from BC-Sonic's business connections in the Americas.

In fact, from a distance, the three of you look united. Jumin even smiles at you when you made a joke, and you feel a smidgen of hope flutter in your stomach when you realize that the three of you look almost like a family.

Your mother would be proud, you tell yourself, ignoring the fact that, to any outsider, they'd assume you to be betrothed to Jumin rather than his balding father.

Chairman Han is about to give Jumin some additional business advice when suddenly, he receives an emergency call from work.

You watch him from afar as he answers the phone, the pit of worry in your stomach growing stronger and stronger as you recognize the lines on his face contort into exasperation, then concern, and finally anger.

"(Y/N), darling, I'm afraid I have to fly out tonight," Chairman Han says, already wearing his jacket. "There's been some kind of security breach with our Director of International Communications and he's refusing to speak with me over the phone. I'll try to be back as quickly as possible, but..." The man trails off, and you realize where he's leading.

Where will you stay?

The words your mother said to you right before leaving suddenly seem more ominous than ever.   

I do not want any calls from you saying that you've messed this up. Do you hear me? Do not ruin this for us, (Y/N).

Does this count as a mess-up? What will your parents say? Can this cause the engagement to be canceled?

"Jumin, would you mind allowing (Y/N) to rest in your apartment for the night? I'll be back as soon as I can, and I don't want her flying all the way out to the BC-Sonic headquarters just tonight."

You bite your lip.

Staying with Jumin, horrible as it sounds, is still better than admitting failure to your parents. You gaze at him with hopeful eyes, and when he reluctantly agrees to his father's request, you have to physically prevent yourself from jumping for joy.

Chairman Han still seems apprehensive about the situation, regret painted on his features even as he rushes out of the restaurant, but suddenly your entire world seems brighter without the prospect of entertaining the older gentleman for the evening.

Unfortunately for you, though, Jumin picks up on your newfound happiness.

"You say you love him, but the first genuine smile I've seen from you all night only comes after he's gone."

You frown at Jumin, mood dampened.

"And how would you know what one of my genuine smiles looks like?"

Jumin sighs, putting down his fork. "(Y/N), we were in the same class for five years. My memory isn't so poor that I'd forget something so memorable that easily."

"'Something so memorable?' Are you saying that my smile is weird?" You accuse Jumin jokingly, hoping him to distract him from the topic of your engagement to his father.

"Of course not," He blurts, but it feels like the tips of his ears are the slightest bit pinker than they were one second ago. "Just eat your food so the two of us can be out of here as quickly as possible. I'm sure you're as eager for this night to end as I am."

You ignore Jumin's rudeness, glancing down at your plate. You awkwardly stab the corner of the dish and take a hesitant bite of it before butting your fork down, immediately realizing that your entire dish is inedible to you.

"What's wrong with the food?" Jumin asks. "Did the chef make a mistake while cooking it?"

You drag your eyes away from Jumin, suddenly hating the situation.

You want to be anywhere but here, doing anything but this.

"(Y/N)?" Jumin asks again, more gentle this time.

"I can't," You murmur under your breath, too quiet for anyone to hear. But Jumin's expectant expression forces you to repeat yourself. "I can't!"

"You can't what?"

"I can't eat this meal."

"...Is there a reason?"

You stay silent, already knowing that if you tell Jumin the truth, he'll just use it as ammo to ridicule the engagement between you and Chairman Han.

But as the silence stretches from uncomfortable to unbearable, you force the words past your lips. "I'm allergic to tomatoes."

And the dish Chairman Han had ordered for you was tomato-wrapped scallops with pineapple quinoa.

"And you two claim to be in love," Jumin mutters under his breath, scoffing. Wordlessly, he switches his barely-touched plate for yours and makes no further attempts at conversation.

You don't need to read his mind to know the mocking thoughts flitting through his mind, ridiculing the fact that your own fiancé didn't know such a simple fact about you.

The rest of the evening is spent in silence. But from the way Jumin stabs his scallops, you sense something deeper. Cruelty? Anger? Hate?

Resentment.

MASTERLIST

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 |  ✔

Word count: 3.6k

Notes: And that's the first chapter of this series! Some general info: As the name indicates, this work will have 10 chapters total (no epilogue planned), and right now I plan to be updating once per week on Saturdays :) And heads up - this WILL end in angst

Comment & Like

Next Update: 4/04/20

I do not own the rights to Mystic Messenger or any of the characters within it.

[houseisekai]

FE3H:HI Shadowbringers - Part 2: Forward, Relentlessly

House Isekai Shadowbringers AU Masterlist Here

----

Being awoken by a familiar voice, Class VII find themselves stranded in unfamiliar territory, separated and confused, and set out to find their classmates.

Meanwhile King Dimitri plans a daring mission, gambling his entire kingdom and perhaps all of Fodlan if he fails...

----

[Trouble Outbreak - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST]

(Boy's voice) "...-uctor? Instructor!"

Sara slowly opened her eyes, holding her head.

She felt as if it was about to split wide open.

(Sara) "Ugh...Oh, good we’re alive...I think...”

As her vision adjusted to the area they were in, she could see Rean right next to her, alongside Emma using some sort of healing spell.

(Emma) "Instructor Sara, are you feeling okay?!"

(Sara) "We just fell down into a bottomless pit, how do you think I feel?”

(Emma) “...She’s okay.”

Rean sighed in relief and stood up, looking to the rest of Class VII.

The area they were in appeared to be somewhere in the north, judging by how cold the wind was.

Looking to his left, he saw half the class talking with each other, also trying to get a bearing on their surroundings.

To his right, Valimar was kneeling with the other half near him.

Rean frowned when he examined Valimar.

At this point he had done it several times while everyone was waking up, but the Divine Knight was in such good shape considering the circumstances.

Valimar should have been destroyed in the fall. Then there was the question of how anyone was still alive.

...Shaking his head, he decided to turn his attention back to the present. He'd have plenty of time to worry about that later.

When he turned around, Emma was helping Sara get to her feet.

(Sara) "What happened?"

(Emma) "It looks like we were saved. How, we don't know."

(Rean) "Right now we're trying to get ourselves situated before we start investigating the area. Sharon should be back in a few minutes to tell us what she's found."

(Sara) "Right. Hoo, alright just give me a few minutes I'll be ready...!"

Rean nodded and walked towards Valimar as Emma tended to Sara.

Crow, Towa, Elliot, and Alisa were right next to Valimar, and noticed Rean coming to them.

(Crow) "Hey look, Sara's awake."

(Elliot) "Whew, thank goodness! I was starting to worry something was wrong."

(Alisa) "It's a miracle that we managed to get up as fast we did, honestly."

(Towa) "I suppose we should just be grateful everyone is okay. That fall was pretty scary!"

(Rean) "Hah, that doesn't even come close to describing it...We still haven't seen any sign of our other classmates have we?"

(Crow) "Nope. It's just been us as far as I could tell. Maybe we should ask Valimar if he can sense them."

(Towa) "He can do that?"

(Alisa) "I thought that only worked on Class VII since we were the only ones to activate him?"

(Elliot) "It might be worth a shot at the very least."

Rean shrugged.

(Rean) "Yeah, can't hurt to try. Valimar."

The Divine Knight's lenses flared to life with a bright green shine.

(Rean) "Can you detect any other member of House Isekai?"

(Valimar) Negative. A magical disruption in the area is preventing my scanners from working properly.

(Crow) "Well good, it does work, but the hell is causing the problem?"

Two figures watched from on top of a hill covered in trees.

They could see Emma walking over to the group, most likely being asked if she could sense anything.

The woman in black turned to the man on her right.

(???) "Lahabrea, we should attack them before they return to full strength. They're weak, we have the upperhand-"

Lahabrea shook his head.

(Lahabrea) "Patience. It'd do you well not to underestimate the professor's students. ESPECIALLY, the wielder of the Ashen Knight."

(???) "Our orders were to destroy any member of House Isekai and-"

(Lahabrea) "-And we know our higher ups are idiots. They seek to destroy this wild card because it threatens our plan. I like to think otherwise."

The woman's facial expressions weren't visible, but he could tell that she was fuming.

(???) "Just because you were put in charge of this operation does NOT mean you can just use this as an excuse to further your little pet project!"

(Lahabrea) "Hah! You have the nerve to refer to what I’m doing as a ‘pet project’? You know full well if Thales were to continue we'd-...It is VERY rude to eavesdrop, I'll have you know."

Sharon stepped out of the trees, her signature smile still present. Her hands were over one another, in front of her apron.

(Sharon) "My apologies. I just overheard someone threatening my class and had to make sure they would not have the opportunity to do so. You cannot fault for that, can you?” 

(Lahabrea) "I would not, in fact. Forgive us, perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. My name is-"

(???) "Is this some sort of joke!? Why are we bothering to give her any pleasantries when we should kill her!?"

(Lahabrea) "... My name is Lahabrea. My uncivilized companion is Gaia. I am quite familiar with who you are."

(Sharon) “Oh, so polite! It’s very nice to meet you! Now, could you please leave us? I would hate having to be forced to kill you.”

(Gaia) "Hah! And what could a single maid possibly-?"

Lahabrea cut Gaia off by shooting a dark spell at her feet, a bundle of wires unfolding themselves.

(Gaia) "Wha?!-"

Gaia noticed that Sharon was covering the beginning of the wires in her hands.

(Lahabrea) "And THIS, is why I say not to underestimate ANYONE of that house. You invite death by doing so. Since you are so hellbent on the mission, then leave me!”

Gaia mumbled something under her breath and teleported away.

Lahabrea bowed once she left.

(Lahabrea) “My deepest apologies, Miss Kreuger. We will meet again later when the time is appropriate. While my colleagues would rather show hostility towards House Isekai, I would offer friendship. But, that conversation will come later.”

Lahabrea began to teleport away but spoke one last time.

(Lahabrea) “You are near Fhirdiad, by the way. Make your way south towards the gates, and you will find your friends. I recommend doing so with the utmost haste. Farewell for now.”

Lahabrea vanished, leaving a trail of dark purple smoke before it faded into nothing.

Sharon went down the hill and to Rean. All of Class VII went to Sharon, awaiting the news.

(Rean) “Sharon, did you see anything out there that might give us an idea of where we are?”

(Sharon) “I have found out our location, but...”

...

(Towa) “T-Those people who attacked Remire Village are here?!”

(Laura) “Not only that, they are watching us...”

(Sara) “The real question is why didn’t that guy named Lahabrea give the order to attack?”

(Millium) “Yeah, he would have kicked our butts while we were sleeping!”

(Sharon) “That is the next part I was about to bring up. He freely admitted that his friends would like nothing more than to kill us, he said he offers his hand in friendship.”

(Alisa) “I’m not sure I’m ready to believe that considering what his group’s done to us.”

(Rean) “...So, after that he said our friends are in Fhirdiad, right? Does that mean the rest of House Isekai is in there?”

(Crow) “Wouldn’t get our hopes up, honestly. First of all we’re in Fhirdiad, from what I remember from our history lessons, Faerghus actively supports them.”

(Gaius) “And it’d be safe to assume we’re basically wanted criminals of the Church AND Faerghus.”

(Machias) “Well, what better choices do we have than to go to Fhirdiad? There isn’t any other town nearby for miles.”

(Rean) “We should at least go and see how bad the situation is over there first. It’ll give Valimar some time to recharge anyway.”

(Vailmar) I will have recharged back to full power by the time you need me.

(Fie) “Alright, then let’s go.”

Throne Room in Fhirdiad...

[Will and Reason - Tales of Berseria OST]

Knights of Seiros clad in ornate white armor walked past the guards towards a blonde man who sat on a throne next to his advisors.

(Knight Captain) “King Dimitri, you will heed our words and do so carefully!”

(Dimitri) “Very well. You have my full attention, Lord-Captain.”

(Knight Captain) “Several of our own have claimed that you have been conspiring with heretics these past few moons-”

(Dedue) “By what right do you accuse his highness of such treachery?!-”

(Dimitri) “Dedue, you will stand down.”

(Dedue) “...I beg your forgiveness for my outburst, your highness.”

(Knight Captain) “Hmph. These claims originate from knights, laborers, and even of your own forces. We are not so keen to pass judgement, lest we would have sent inquisitors instead of myself.”

(Dimitri) “Your trust is most grateful, Lord-Captain.-”

(Knight Captain) “And that trust has its limits, King Dimitri. You will quell these rumors by following the order of Seiros without fault by the coming days, or you will answer to the goddess herself!”

The knights turned around and marched out the room, letting Dimitri take a sigh of relief, sitting back into his throne.

(Dimitri) “I think it would have been best if you remained silent, Dedue. Their inquisitors have been known to behead those even showing any slight signs of antagonistic feelings towards the Church.”

(Dedue) “They do have to believe we’re on their side, with all due respect.”

(Dimitri) “Fair enough.”

Dimitri stood up and walked to a room nearby.

Several people wearing red armbands turned to the door and saw Dimitri open it, shaking his head.

[Troubled - Persona 3 OST]

(Dimitri) “We’ve been too careless with our actions as of late.”

(Minato) “Think they’re onto us?”

(Minako) “Psh, you hear how pissed off that guy was? Definitely!”

(Mitsuru) “Then that means we need to get out of here before they start sending Inquisitors.”

(Dedue) “Agreed. All of our group is ready to leave. What about the rest of S.E.E.S?”

(Mitsuru) “We’ve gathered our things and ready for the order.”

(Minako) “I’m worried what will happen to the Capital when we leave though...”

(Minato) “Almost everyone follows the Church more than Dimitri anyway, I think they’ll be fine. They don’t know the truth like we do after all...”

(Dimitri) “We leave for Enbarr in the dawn then. We’ll figure out someway to liberate Fodlan from their madness.”

A knocking came at the door, which made everyone go dead silent.

Minato, Minako, and Mitsuru slowly reached for their evokers while Dimitri and Dedue stood at the doorway.

Dimitri cleared his throat and shouted at the door.

(Dimitri) “What is the meaning of this interruption? We are in the middle of an important meeting!”

(Sylvain’s Voice) “Jeez, what’s crawled up your butt toda-”

THWACK!

(Sylvain’s Voice) “OW! H-HEY THAT HURT!”

(Ingrid’s Voice) “If you don’t take this more seriously, I will make it REALLY HURT. Ugh, apologies your highness! It’s just us two.”

Dedue opened the door for them as they walked in.

Shutting the door behind them, Ingrid bowed while Sylvain continued to stand firm.

(Sylvain) “Our remaining forces have agreed to make sure the Church doesn’t burn the place down while we’re gone.”

(Ingrid) “And we have our stories in place for when we depart.”

(Dimitri) “Perfect, my thanks. Now let’s-”

(Ingrid) “Actually your highness, there was one more thing I wanted to report. It...might cause some complications in our plan.”

(Minato) “What kind of complication?”

(Ingrid) “I just received a report from a pegasus knight patrol that stated they found some sort of statue kneeling by itself in the outskirts of Fhirdiad. It wasn’t there before, and looked far too heavy for someone to have just placed it there overnight.”

(Mitsuru) “Were they able to see what it looked like?”

Ingrid nodded and turned to the S.E.E.S members.

(Ingrid) “They ran back to me as soon as they found it, so I went to investigate myself. It looked like an Ashen Knight.”

(Minako) “An Ashen...-” !!! “Rean?!”

(Mitsuru) “Class VII!”

(Sylvain) “Oh, great! That means our caravan just became that much more secure!”

(Dimitri) “Ingrid, Sylvain, we are heading out right now to find Class VII, then we journey to Enbarr, alert everyone to the news!”

(Ingrid) “Yes, your highness!”

(Sylvain) “Got it!”

Dedue grabbed a nearby sword and shield as Dimitri went out of the room.

(Dimitri) “I will get Areadbhar, I trust you to find your classmates, S.E.E.S.”

The members of S.E.E.S nodded as Dedue and Dimtiri left.

(Mitsuru) “Fuuka, do you hear me?”

(Fuuka’s Voice) “I do, Mitsuru-senpai!”

(Mitsuru) “Good, we’re beginning the operation! Intiate Phase 1!”

...

Church in Fhirdiad 

Mercedes sat in one of the pews, making a silent prayer to the Goddess.

She was one of many attending the service that day. Unlike them, she was praying that everyone in all the territories would be saved from this ruthless tyranny that made a mockery of the real church she knew.

And that Those Who Slither in the Dark would find defeat at their hands.

Once she finished, she saw Annette take a seat next to her.

(Annette) “Mercie, we’ve got to go now.”

Mercedes nodded and the two of them stood up. As they were leaving, they were stopped by guards.

They were Knights of Seiros.

(Knight 1) “The service hasn’t ended yet, and you just got here.”

(Annette) “S-Sorry! We have an important meeting to get to is all and-”

(Knight 2) “-And you would forsake the teachings of Seiros? You might as well be a heretic with what you’re doing little girl!”

(Mercedes) “We are supposed to be learning the words of the Goddess, not Seiros herself!”

The knights stepped closer to them, but Mercedes did not back down.

(Knight 1) “Speak your next words very carefully...”

Mercedes smiled.

(Mercedes) “Can you get these two out of our way, please?”

(Knight 1) “What?”

It was then that knight noticed that everyone’s shadow was completely enveloped by something far larger than them.

The knights slowly turned around to see what was behind them.

They dropped their weapons upon realizing who it was.

(Knight 2) “G-GODDESS HELP US...”

Doomguy motioned to Annette and Mercedes towards the door. 

They nodded and made a run for it as he grabbed both of the knights by the head, and tossed the first one towards the front of the pews. 

Several people screamed once they saw Doomguy walking up, still holding the second knight in his hand.

(Woman) “W-Who is that?!”

(Man) “H-He bears the mark of the beast!”

(Priest) “BACK DEMON! THE POWERS OF SEIROS WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN IF-”

The second knight grabbed a knife that was on his belt and attempted to stab Doomguy’s arm.

Using his free arm, Doomguy grabbed his hand and with a loud crack, snapped his wrist to face the opposite side of his arm.

Doomguy dropped the knight as he screamed in pain, slowly walking up to the priest.

(Priest) “IF...I-IF...!”

Doomguy looked at the statue he was standing in front of, one that looked similar to Rhea.

Doomguy wanted it gone.

He picked up the priest by the collar and tossed him behind him, making everyone get up in fear.

(Man) “GODDESS! A MAN OF UNTOLD STRENGTH, A MAN WHO HAS THE MARK OF THE BEAST?!”

Doomguy pulled out a rocket launcher and aimed it at the statue-

(Man) “IT’S THE DOOMSLAYER!”

-And pulled the trigger.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

Mercedes and Annette saw several knights rushing into the temple as people left it screaming.

(Mercedes) “Phase 1′s going off just as planned! Now we need to find a way out of here.”

(Annette) “Right! Ashe said he knows a way, so let’s get to him fast!”

...

Rean looked at the entrance to Fhirdiad and saw several Knights of Seiros alongside Faerghus soldiers.

(Fie) “No way we’re getting in. Too much security.”

(Angelica) “Doubt anyone from House Isekai’s in there.”

(Jusis) “Then we’re better off asking where our classmates are in another location.”

They all nodded and prepared to move before-

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

[Atrocious Raid - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST]

Everyone in Class VII turned around and saw the smoke rising in the distance.

(Machias) “The hell was that?!”

(Elliot) “An explosion?!”

Several of the soldiers looked back in confusion, turning to each other and giving out orders.

All of the security force began to scramble as more explosions occurred throughout the city.

Several soldiers were blown back by another explosion. From the smoke, students with a red armband ran out the gates and away from the city.

(Towa) “Look, it’s the Arisato’s group!”

(Sara) “Hmph. Looks like that bastard wasn’t lying after all!”

Several knights chased after S.E.E.S, making Class VII unsheathe their weapons.

(Rean) “Class VII, with me!”

(Everyone) ‘Right!”

...

“PERSONA!”

Both of them spun around and pulled the trigger on their evokers, summoning the Persona, Thanatos.

Some of the knights following them faltered in their steps seeing such a ghastly figure being summoned, but the veterans charged without hesitation.

The first knight was completely knocked into the air as if he were a ragdoll by Thanatos swinging his sword.

The second knight tried going for the legs, and ended up getting kicked by the Persona.

The veterans stopped in their tracks seeing what happened, trying to figure out what to do.

Before any of them could form a plan, Thanatos disappeared, leaving Ken and Junpei standing in front of them, evokers to their heads.

(Junpei) “HERMES!”

(Ken) “NEMESIS!”

A wall of fire erupted in front of the knights, making all of them back away and they continued to make their escape.

As S.E.E.S moved closer to the nearby forest, they were cut off by several pegasus knights.

(Akihiko) “Damn it!”

(Pegasus Knight) “YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY, HERETICS!”

Another group of knights rushed behind their flank, beginning to surround them.

(Shinjiro) “Tch, we got a plan B?”

(Yukari) “Yeah, fight our way out!”

(Junpei) “Oh, that’s a greaaat, idea! You got enough arrows in that quiver for all these bastards thats after us?!”

Fuuka’s Persona formed around her and she scanned the area.

(Fuuka) “Everyone, we have energy signatures incoming!”

(Ken) “Crap, are they inquisitors?!”

(Fuuka) “N-No! Wait, that can’t be right...I think Lucia is detecting-”

(Boy’s Voice) “SECOND FORM, GALE!”

A red blur sped across the pegasus knights, with that blur ending up in front of S.E.E.S.

(Akihiko) “What was that?!”

Rean turned around and saw the weapons of the pegasus knights fall apart, all of them looking in confusion as to what happened.

(Minako) “Rean!”

(Minato) “Heh, saves us the trouble of finding you guys at least!”

Emma and Elliot casted a spell in the middle of the pegasus squad, the explosion knocking everyone away.

Machias blasted the heavier knights with his shotgun, catching them all by surprise.

Before they could get back up, Jusis jumped in with Machias.

(Jusis & Machias) “ARCUS, ACTIVATE!”

Jusis’s rapier sliced the weapons away from any knights attempting to counterattack, with Machias aiming his gun at the knights coming from their sides.

A wire shot out from the trees at their legs, making the teams fall, unable to get back up.

Sharon giggled as she hopped down the trees and brandished her knife.

(Sharon) “It is good to see you again, everyone!”

The rest of Class VII joined S.E.E.S and had their weapons ready to fight.

(Sara) “Don’t you worry your little heads, your teacher is here!”

(Minato) “Hah, not yet they aren’t!”

A lone pegasus came riding down from the skies, with everyone pointing their weapons at him, until realizing who was on it.

Numerous small black objects dropped from the rider, with incoming knights looking at their feet.

An explosion of ice froze them all on the spot completely solid.

Jumping off the pegasus, with it wildly flying off into the air, Doomguy took out a shotgun.

(Minako) “NOW they’re here!”

(Angelica) “Ouch, how’s that feel Instructor?”

(Sara) “S-Shut up you guys!”

Towa giggled as she reloaded her pistol.

(Towa) “Welcome back, sir!”

Doomguy gave them a thumbs up, with more soldiers starting to surround them.

This time, it was Kingdom soldiers instead of knights.

The soldiers made way for Dimitri as he stepped forward.

Dimitri was wearing a bright white and blue battle armor, wielding his relic weapon.

(Dimitri) “House Isekai! You trespass on holy grounds! Surrender yourself to the Church, or we will kill you!”

Class VII intensified their battle stances.

Doomguy slowly inched his way towards Fie as Dimitri continued talking.

He poked her in the arm without trying to draw too much attention.

(Fie) “What is it?”

He pointed at her belt, which had several grenades on it.

(Fie) “Here, take the frag-”

Doomguy shook his head and pointed more aggressively.

(Fie) “...My flashbang?”

Doomguy nodded.

She shrugged and gave it to him.

(Fie) “Whatever you’re doing, make it-”

Doomguy fired his weapon wildly into the air, and put the flashbang into his shoulder cannon.

(Fie) “...Subtle.”

The soldiers stepped back in confusion, and the flashbang was fired into the air.

(Fuuka) “EVERYONE, GET DOWN!”

With the flashbang going off, everyone became blinded, except for House Isekai, and Dimitri.

Knights and soldiers struggled to see what was going on as Dimitri was dragged into the bushes by an unknown hand.

(Rean) “What the?!-”

(Familliar Voice) “Psst, guys!”

Looking to his right, Ashe revealed himself behind a tree.

(Ashe) “Get in before they see you all!”

S.E.E.S moved in without hesitation. After seeing them do so, Class VII joined in soon after.

The soldiers recovered and saw that their king and House Isekai was nowhere to be seen.

(Knight) “They captured King Dimitri?!”

(Soldier) “Not for long! MEN, SPREAD OUT!

The soldier looked at the knight.

(Soldier) “We’ll look for his highness, we’ll-”

(Knight) “AND WHO ARE YOU TO GIVE ME ORDERS?! Fine, look for the king, we will restore order to Fhirdiad!”

The Knights of Seiros quickly moved back to the city as the soldiers of Faerghus scrambled.

(Soldier) “...Prick.”

(Soldier 2) “Their escape route is secure, now let’s get ‘looking’ shall we sir?”

(Soldier) “Right. I sure hope those kids know what they’re doing...”

...

(Dimitri) “Agh, Felix, you didn’t have to drag me that hard...”

(Felix) “Shut up. It had to be believable.”

(Ingrid) “Felix, you should be a bit more respectful!”

(Felix) “Alright. Shut up, your highness.”

Ingrid sighed as the rest of House Isekai was catching their breath.

(Ashe) “I’m not sure where you guys came from, but we’re happy to have you!”

(Rean) “Hah, thanks Ashe.”

Rean looked around and saw the rest of the Blue Lions together, some conversing with members of S.E.E.S.

(Sara) “So, assumed we interrupted something?”

(Dimitri) “Yes, our escape. We would have let you known if...well, we knew you were coming. We had to improvise at the end there.”

(Sharon) “I’m sure it will be a riveting tale, but I think we should get moving, your soldiers are looking for us as we speak.”

(Dedue) “I would not worry about them. The soldiers are aware of our plan, and are helping to lead us out of Faerghus.”

(Rean) “Outside the country?”

(Minato) “We’ll let you know what exactly we’re doing soon. For now, I’d say we take Sharon’s advice and get out of here.”

Everyone nodded and began to move through the forest.

Accidentally bumping into Faerghus soldiers “looking” for them, they were guided to a path that was to be secured for their escape out of Faerghus.

(Dedue) “We are now approaching the city’s border, and will be out of Fhirdiad territory soon.”

(Junpei) “Ugh, my legs! You think we could’ve taken a carriage out of here or something?”

(Crow) “I’m with Iori here, if we’re seriously walking out of here on foot, I think I’ll die.”

(Woman’s Voice) “No, you’ll die regardless.”

(Everyone) !?

[Those Who Sow Darkness - Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST]

Gaia teleported in front of the group, making everyone draw their weapons.

(Sharon) “Ah, these are the ones I confronted in the forest. Though there is quite a few of them now.”

(Dimitri) “What is the meaning of this?!”

(Gaia) “House Isekai cannot be allowed to live and interfere with the grand plan!”

(Dedue) “What?! We had a deal with Lahabrea!”

(Class VII) ?!

(Gaia) “Lahabrea is a traitor, and I will deal with him too, after I have seen your corpses!”

(Rean) “You made a deal with them, knowing what they did?!”

(Dimitri) “We will talk of that later, Rean!”

Dimitri pulled out his lance.

[The 13th Dilemma - Kingdom Hearts 2.5 OST]

Gaia’s hand went over her mask, a red crest symbol forming and glowing in front of the mask.

(Gaia) “Lahabrea seemed so afraid of you all, but I will show him that he was wrong to fear you children! WITNESS THE POWER OF THE AGARTHANS!”

Crow, Machias, Fie, Towa, and Doomguy raised their guns and opened fire, the bullets being absorbed by a dark circle protecting her.

Gaia teleported farther into the air and summoned multiple fireballs to rain to them.

Emma and Elliot summoned a protective sphere to shield them from the blast, but after the first one collided, the shield broke. 

The second one was about to hit them before they dodged out the way, igniting the ground into flames.

Sara reached for her pistol, only to be met with nothing in her holster.

(Sara) “Byleth...!”

Shaking her head, Sara forced herself to ignore that. This was not the time to remember something like that.

Ashe got behind Gaia’s line of sight and let loose an arrow. It slipped by the magical shield and grazed her arm, leaving her robe cut and a small bleeding wound.

Teleporting back down and directly behind Ashe, she raised her hand to his head ready to blow it off.

Thanatos’s sword slammed down in front of her, her head instead almost getting cut off.

It roared into the air as her hand quickly formed another spell, firing it into Thanatos, sending the Persona into a tree.

Minato and Minako felt the blow in their backs which made them kneel over in pain.

Laura swung her sword downwards at Gaia’s position.

The force of the sword’s impact obliterated the ground beneath them, making it fly upwards with chunks of debris flying into the air.

Gaia tumbled over into the trees, surrounded by Blue Lions and members of S.E.E.S.

(Sylvain) “Come on, a pretty lady like you should know when to surrender!”

(Ken) “...Really, Sylvain?”

(Gaia) “HAH, IT IS YOU ALL WHO SHOULD KNOW WHEN TO LIE DOWN AND DIE!”

With a swipe of her hand, they were all blown back.

Everyone with a firearm aimed at Gaia again until her crest glowed even brighter and an ear piercing screech came from below the ground.

A massive horn erupted from the ground, sending them into the air and falling harshly onto the floor.

A skeletal beast that resembled some sort of horned wolf screamed into the air, looking at everyone.

(Annette) “Crap, demonic beasts?!”

Doomguy was slightly disappointed it didn't have guts he could tear open, but he made do with it.

Jumping directly into the fight with it, he activated his wrist blade and slashed at its body, bones from its stomach area flying off, but having almost no effect.

Sharon used her wires to surround the legs, but it was too strong for her and snapped them off with ease.

Felix, Sylvain, and Ingrid had their weapons strike the beast’s head at the same time, but they failed to even make a scratch on the bone.

(Millium) “LAMMY!”

A contraption spawned behind Millium and flew towards the front of the beast alongside Laura, Dimitri, and Dedue.

They all used their brute strength to meet its swipe, but they were flung to the side, all landing on each other.

Jusis and Gaius’s weapons deflected off the beast when they tried to attack from behind, the monster roaring in response.

(Gaia) “AHAHAHAHA! THIS IS WHAT LAHABREA WAS AFRAID OF? CHILDREN WHO CAN’T EVEN FIGHT AGAINST ONE OF THE WEAKEST SUMMONS?!”

(Rean) “Alright then, we’re up next!”

Gaia turned to Rean, raising an eyebrow underneath her mask.

[Awakening - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II OST]

(Rean)

“Heed my call...

Despite being miles apart, Valimar’s eyes glowed in response.

Valimar stood up, scaring the multiple knight and Faerghus soldiers investigating him.

Bending its legs, Valimar jumped and flew off into the distance towards Rean.

Gaia sensed a magical energy that was beyond her comprehension and spun around, seeing Valimar overhead.

(Sara) “Hah, you’ve done it now!”

(Minako) “WOOO! GIANT ROBOT FIIIGHT!”

(Minato) “KICK HER ASS, REAN!”

Doomguy raised a hand into the air, forming the “rock on!” sign.

Valimar behind Rean, kneeling down.

(Rean) “Valimar, let’s take ‘em down!”

(Valimar) Acknowledged, Awakener!

Rean teleported into the cockpit and the camera turned on, seeing the skeletal beast in front of him.

The skeletal beast made the first move, its jaws grabbing onto Valimar’s arm.

Valimar spun around, the momentum sending the beast into the trees, making several fall over from the impact.

It got back up an ran back to Valimar, Valimar sheathing the greatsword in response.

Right as the beast was about to bite Valimar again, the sword struck upwards.

The strike cut off half the body and part of its leg, the bones flying off into the distance.

The beast landed into the floor, scrambling to get up.

(Gaia) “I-IMPOSSIBLE!”

Gaia prepared to fire several spells before Valimar’s head turned to her.

The spells fired off from her hands and made its mark, but the spell had no effect on Valimar’s body.

Valimar leapt forward, swinging the massive sword into the ground, shaking all the trees in their area from the impact.

Gaia was too slow, and got an arm severed from Valimar, making her scream in pain.

Parts of her mask was blown off from the strike, and she fell onto the floor unable to get up.

The beast rushed towards Valimar, only for Valimar to step to the side, dodging the attack. Valimar planted the sword downwards into the monster’s skull.

It pierced through from the top of the skull to the jaw, the sword being planted deep into the ground.

In an instant, the beast stopped moving, but Valimar left the sword in the head and moved to the body.

Valimar grabbed the tail of the beast and moved backwards, severing the skeletal head from the rest of its body.

Throwing its body into the trees, dark energy left the head as it crumpled into dust.

Seeing Gaia bleeding profusely on the ground nearby, Valimar sheathed its sword and knelt down, letting Rean teleport out.

(Gaia) “Hah...S-So this is the power of House Isekai...!”

She slowly stood up, with everyone’s weapons still drawn. Her mask was still barely intact, but they could now see an eye and her mouth.

(Gaia) “R-Rest assured...this is NOT the last you have seen of me!”

She attempted to teleport, but nothing happened.

Gaia noticed that everyone was now looking behind her, something suddenly making her entire body jolt.

(Man’s voice) “Didn’t I tell you to have patience, my uncivil companion?” 

[Those Who Sow Darkness - Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST]

They could see her eye go wide, her mouth slowly opening, blood slowly coming out of her mouth.

(Lahabrea) “And would you look at that? Your overconfidence caused your downfall by the Ashen Knight.”

He walked to her side with an arm still behind her.

(Lahabrea) “And you have caused my guests unnecessary trouble. I don’t think I will forgive that.”

Gaia fell to her knees and into the ground, a knife sticking out of her back.

She was reaching her hand out, trying to say something, but all that came out was blood.

(Lahabrea) “You could have lived long enough to see the new era unfold, but alas you are too rooted to our worthless traditions. A pity.”

Raising his hand, he fired a spell that covered her entire body, making it slowly disappear into a dark cloud.

Lahabrea pulled out a vial, and her essence was transferred inside of it.

He turned to the others and took a bow.

(Lahabrea) “I do hope none of you came under harm due to her treachery.”

Class VII kept their weapons out, but S.E.E.S and the Blue Lions stepped forward.

(Dimitri) “I trust this will be the only time an interference like this occurs?”

(Lahabrea) “Of course. I always work alone, but was forced to bring her along. I will say she...hm...Died to an inquisitor, that will work.”

(Rean) “Dimitri, what’s going on, why are you guys working with them?!”

(Dimitri) “...When did you wake up, Rean?”

(Lahabrea) “Not too long ago, Class VII awoke this morning in the outskirts of Fhirdiad.”

(Minato) “Hm. Fortunate.”

(Minako) “We’ve only been here for a month, but trust us, we need his help.”

(Lahabrea) “You will be here for quite some time if you talked, so I recommend pickiing up the pace.”

Lahabrea bowed again and raised his hand to teleport.

(Lahabrea) “I must be off on an errand, but we will see each other soon, King Dimitri.”

Dimitri nodded and gestured goodbye, Lahabrea nodding in response and teleporting away.

(Dimitri) “We will explain everything on the way to Enbarr. It has been a long four years...”

(Crow) “Enbarr? Why Enabrr? I thought you hated Edelgard.”

(Dimitri) “I did...Before I knew the truth. Before Byleth told me.”

(Sara) “Byleth, he’s alive?!”

(Dimitri) “He is, but he left as suddenly as he appeared. That was about three years ago now. I have no idea as to what he’s doing now.”

(Sara) “I...I see.”

(Dedue) “We will divulge the full story another time. We must make our way to Enbarr now.”

(Rean) “Why, what’s happening at Enbarr?”

(Minato) “They’re under siege by the Church, but we have no idea if they’ll still be alive by the time we arrive.”

(Rean) “Then we need something a bit faster than carriages!”

The members of House Isekai turned to face Valimar.

(Valimar) Acknowledged. Opening Spirit Portal to Enbarr..

-----

Garreg Mach Monastery, Present Day...

[Mezame no Waltz - School-Live! OST]

Sitri sat alone in Jeralt’s old room, reading his journal of what had happened during those twenty years she had been dead for.

Yuri was kind enough to give it to her while they waited for any signs of other classmates approaching the monastery.

She had finished it yesterday, but couldn’t help herself to reread it again.

Jeralt had truly loved her...It must’ve been tough to raise Byleth alone, but from what everyone’s told her, he grew up to be a good man.

While she was reading, she heard a loud crash from outside the room.

She yelped in response and slowly went to the door, seeing Kazuma and Yuki at the end of the hallway.

(Kazuma) “Ah shi-...I mean dam-Agh!”

(Yuki) “Um...y-you can swear if you want to, Satou.”

(Kazuma) “Ugh, no I can’t! Your classmates and Megunee would kill me for letting you hear all that stuff.”

(Yuki) “I don’t think swearing is as severe as...well...all of this.”

Yuki looked to the floor sadly with Kazuma struggling to say the right thing.

(Sitri) “Um...-”

Both Yuki and Kazuma jumped.

(Yuki & Kazuma) “AGH!”

Sitri couldn’t help laugh, quickly covering her mouth, but still smiling.

(Sitri) “O-Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you! Is everything okay?”

(Yuki) “Ye-...N-No. We dropped the food we were going to give you while you were here...”

(Kazuma) “Yeah, sorry ‘bout the mess.”

(Sitri) “Do you need some help cleaning up?”

(Kazuma) “Huh? N-No, we couldn’t make you clean up OUR mess. I’d hate that if it were given to me.”

(Yuki) “But you don’t like doing any work Satou-”

(Kazuma) “Shush, Yuki.”

(Sitri) “It’s no problem, now let me see...”

After a few moments, they cleaned up the broken plate shards, and threw them away.

(Yuki) “Thank you, Miss Eisner!”

(Sitri) “Oh, you don’t have to call me that. Please just call me by my first name.”

(Kazuma) “Uh...T-Thanks, Sitri.”

(Sitri) “Of course.”

Kazuma couldn’t look her in the eye.

Sitri reminded him too much of Wiz. And just like Wiz, Sitri seemed to have the kindest personality massive boo-

(Kazuma) No. Kazuma, head out of the gutters and into the right place. Right betwe-NO. THIS IS THE PROFESSOR’S MOTHER.

(Yuki) “You know, you remind me a lot of Megunee, Sitri!”

(Sitri) “Megunee...? Oh, you mean Megumi Sakura! Why’s that?”

(Yuki) “You’re super pretty and nice! Even though you really don’t know us that well, you’re looking out for everyone!”

Sitri blushed a little and laughed.

(Sitri) “T-Thank you, Yuki. That’s high praise from what you’ve told me about her.”

(Kazuma) “Anyways, sorry for bothering you. Do you want us to bring you some new food or?”

(Sitri) “No no, I’ll come down to eat with everyone.”

(Kazuma) “Alright let’s-”

(Ainz’s Voice) “Kazuma, do you hear me? Kazuma?!”

(Kazuma) “Eh? Yes, I’m Kazuma-”

(Ainz’s Voice) “We have people approaching with Class VII, S.E.E.S, Doomguy! We think they’re the Blue Lions!”

(Yuki) “D-Dimitri’s here?”

(Kazuma) “On our way to the gates, see you there!”

Everyone nodded and moved towards the entrance.

-----

[Rain (Deference for Darkness) - Halo 3: ODST OST]

Year 1, Faerghus territory, nearing the border of the Adrestian Empire...

Byleth woke up with a violent jolt in his body, eyes wide and breathing heavily.

After a few moments of silence, he slumped back and sighed.

Another nightmare...

A distant explosion brightened the dark skies as he got out of a ruined building, stretching.

He stared with indifference to the battle happening far below him.

Imperial and Faerghus soldiers clashed into each other, trying to gain this territory for the war effort.

Byleth would be long gone by the time this battle would end. 

He passed by a man dressed in black who was leaning against the door.

(Lahabrea) “Finally awake, I see. And where are we going?”

Byleth walked silently past Lahabrea, holding tightly onto Sara’s pistol as he did.

Byleth did his best to try and forget about that nightmare, but it would always come back to him. The battle of Garreg Mach had only been a month ago, so it’d make sense that it was still fresh in his head.

That fact didn’t make it any more comforting to him.

As he felt rain start to drop onto him, he thought about his plan on how to kill Edelgard and Rhea.

He was one man with a sword against 2 armies that controlled entire parts of Fodlan.

When the rain intensified, he put his jacket over his head and continued.

He heard footsteps behind him splashing in the rain but he refused to let his thoughts break off.

Even with his divine pulse, he would be severely out manned. Without help, he would die before he reached his goal.

(Lahabrea) “You’re headed the wrong way, you know-”

(Byleth) “Why are you following me?”

(Lahabrea) “I’d be lying to you, and you’d be an idiot for believing me if I said I was helping you for completely altruistic reasons. We both want to take Seiros down, but you need to focus hatred to the right people. We need Edelgard alive.”

That made Byleth stop in his tracks completely.

(Byleth) “...What?”

(Lahabrea) “Stop to think about it. Does Edelgard seem like the type to like what us Agarthans did, ESPECIALLY regarding Kronya, Remire village, and your fath-”

Byleth spun around and pointed Sara’s pistol at Lahabrea’s head.

(Lahabrea) “...Forgive my careless words. But my point stands.”

(Byleth) “...”

(Lahabrea) “Edelgard, like myself, actively voiced against attacking those innocents, and anyone of House Isekai. Why do you think she offered her hand to you so many times in the tomb?”

(Byleth) “So she could use us. We would have been tools for the Empire, just like we were tools for the church. Just like you Agarthans are tools for her.”

He stopped aiming the pistol at Lahabrea and continued to walk on his way.

(Lahabrea) “And so you think the Agarthans are completely loyal to her cause? We are to her, as I am to my own organization. We have the same goals, but different ways of achieving it. The demonic beasts that attacked the Monastery, Remire Village, and all those you encountered throughout that year was ours. Your hatred should be focused on the Agarthans, NOT the Empire.”

(Byleth) “Speak plainly of why you’re telling me this, Agarthan.”

(Lahabrea) “Because both Agarthans and Seiros must be put down before we end up blowing up this world all the way to the seven hells with the Javelin of Liberation.”

(Byleth) “...Explain.”

(Lahabrea) “Meet me at House Arundel’s territory, and I will reveal all I know.”

He began to teleport away, but looked at Byleth once more.

(Lahabrea) “Not only will you avenge your friends and family, but you can put an end to this vicious cycle of war that WE started, forever.”

With that, he disappeared.

Byleth stared at Sara’s pistol for a moment before finally holstering it, making his way to House Arundel.

PART 2: END

[Escape - Darling in the FranXX OST]

The forecasted rain wets us

What should I say to you, as you tremble? My soaked blazer is cold and heavy

I feel as helpless as a chick who's left its cage. I felt that my dreams were on the other side of the heavy clouds

I digested only the sweet pain that spread in my chest

I wonder if it'd be better if I'd never met you

Hey, I can't even see the stars

Hey, my tears won't fall either

To Be Continued in:

[riveir]

wishlist plots & aus.

i’ve been meaning to do this for a while but because i’m a person that really strongly prefers plotted interactions and also runs into problems with actually getting those more developed things going, i figured compiling wishlist stuff and stuff that comes from my own brain might be helpful. i’ll keep this linked in the pinned post if anyone ever wants to draw from it for a starter call or whatever, and to also make it easier for me to find if plotting ever hits a road block.

peace corps. this would technically fall under the umbrella of one of river’s canon au verses, the one in which he lives but is in the less realistic scenario where he rejects his parents’ wishes and goes ahead and joins the peace corps. this could be a really good way to get muses from two different canons / universes / etc. to meet, because the organization brings all these people together into one group sent to work somewhere overseas. river works as an english education teacher, and where they’re working can be totally open. could be used as mentioned before, but also as sort of a stepping stone for river to start a life beyond the states / open up opportunities for him that will take him away from home, etc etc. just a fun way to take him out of his usual settings and throw him in a new place under new circumstances, whether your muse is in the corps with him or if they’re just in the same place and they meet under different circumstances.

political dynasty. rather than holding a high position with goldman sachs, river’s father has an influential political position ( like a diplomat or foreign ambassador, which could explain river living years of his life at least somewhat abroad ), something that would put the family under a microscope on a national scale. could be a very kennedy-esque thing where politics is sort of just like the family business and river would be expected to carry that mantle as well ( which, obviously, he doesn’t really want ). this could go a number of different directions because the barkleys would be considered high profile individuals: bodyguard stuff, danger stuff, etc. i’m open to anything here, this would just be the groundwork to set up some conflict that would be more specific to your muse and their circumstances, since this is pretty adaptable on river’s end. i’d also be willing to write river older than i usually would ( as a younger adult ), because i think being nationally known would change his circumstances a bit and yada yada i can elaborate on that more if anyone asks, if we wanted to go the route where river himself is the political figure, probably a junior congressman or something. he could pretty controversial, as mental health advocacy and gun control would probably be two of his biggest agendas / two of the most important components of his platform.

modern royalty. similar to the above, but rather than coming from a political family, river comes from a monarchical family. obviously not based in the united states but could open up similar plotting opportunities as listed above. for one example he could still be attending a traditional university, and could open up opportunities for your muse to be a classmate of his ( as a friend sure but maybe there’s some benefit your muse could gain from making friends with him or something shadier like that ), or maybe you’re super annoyed that he’s there because like who cares about the royal family and why does he get so much attention, or maybe your muse knows he hates the attention and it gets to a point where he actually has to be fearful about it and there’s some way your muse can help him out.

fake dating. this is a jam of mine always. river could have several reasons of his own to be in a fake relationship, and this could work especially well in another au like the political dynasty or modern royalty scenarios, but it could totally come more from your muse’s end as well. it could also be a thing where river’s parents are trying to set him up with your muse if that would make sense, because that’s a very wasp-y rich people thing to do. 

period aus. this one is super open but river could work really well for this type of thing, especially because his family is so old fashioned in a lot of ways and very traditional in how they expect their family to be and how they expect river to be and all that. also could work super well for this letter writing plot i have in my wishlist tag.

ghost!river. this would have to be plotted for sure because the way river’s “ghost” canonically manifests is as an extension of the other person; he exists to give them advice or as their moral compass/conscience or something like that. it can be different depending on the muse, but he manifests at their own will and serves some sort of purpose for them. he’s more of a guiding force of some sort rather than an actual ghost coming back to reveal new information or anything like that. he wouldn’t do anything that the other muse wouldn’t think he would do, and wouldn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know. the exception to his in river’s canon is when the protagonist has a near-death experience and sees river in the afterlife and they have an actual conversation as two separate entities, and that could definitely be something i’d be up for, too.

champagne problems. this song off of evermore has enormous river energy. from the genius description of the song: “’champagne problems’ tells the story of a woman who shocks her would-be fiancé and their loved ones by turning down a marriage proposal right before christmas ... the song depicts ‘longtime college sweethearts [who] had very different plans for the same night, one to end it and one who brought a ring.’ the song implies that the protagonist has a history of mental illness, which the town subsequently stigmatizes in their gossip surrounding the failed proposal.” river could be either of the people in the couple for obvious reasons ( either the wealthy person from the well-to-do family all expecting the proposal, or the person who breaks it off and is subsequently - or, maybe, already is - the subject of that gossip ). the circumstances of the breakup can vary depending on the specific relationship between the muses: maybe they were really in love and had a great relationship but the influential family just had too much influence and pressure, maybe the stigmatization and gossip was a bit too much, maybe neither of their hearts were really in it and it was just an advantageous thing that appeased the big family but the other person ultimately just decided they couldn’t go through with it. as i am with everything i’m totally open here. it also totally doesn’t have to match the exact circumstances and can just be based on the general idea. ( in the same vein, here’s a link to some cool folklore-based plots )

apocalyptic danger. or to be honest, any sort of scenario that creates a life or death (or near life or death) situation for one or both of our muses. in all honesty i just love raising the stakes.

musician or actor river. even though it’s not my favorite alternative path to explore for him to seriously pursue acting or music as a career, it could open up some potentially cool dynamics that i’d be down with. maybe river plays piano in a bar or restaurant or whatever at night during college and your muse loves open mic night. maybe they’re doing a show together in college or maybe even out of college if i think it would make sense that river could get to that point in life. maybe river’s actually achieving some level of success and has some degree of notoriety. idk this is just an option that could be cool if we develop it enough ( cause like i said, without that development and specificity to our muses i’m not as into this route for him specifically)

childhood best friends to lovers. ( or some variation ). self-explanatory, just my favorite trope. some wishlist stuff here.

wishlist post #1: “i just want a plot where it’s two rich kids who live in neighboring estates and their families always throw parties together and they have vacation homes in the same spots and their elite parents are too busy to notice when they sneak off to fuck in that second guest bathroom that no one uses or get high in the back library and makeout”

wishlist post #2: “give me a we broke up because i had to move away because of school and we knew we couldn’t do long distance but oh my god i’m home for christmas and you’re still beautiful and we’re wine drunk slow dancing to the sound of elf on the television and you smell like hot chocolate and i miss you so much please don’t let this end again plot !!!!!”

wishlist post #3: “someone give me “you live in the apartment across the hall and you’re so fucking hot but i get so awkward around you even though you act completely normal and i stutter every.time. you’re out of my league anyway but then one night my stupid roommate locks me out and i forget my key and you see me sitting the hallway so you invite me in. and obviously i say yes but holy crap what is happening” plot pretty pls”

wishlist post #4: “au where it's a blind date gone wrong/really awkward first time/two people who just get off on the wrong foot but keep on running into each other and then slowly fall for each other”

wishlist post #5: “give me best friends who harbor feelings for each other . they’ve acknowledged the feelings but they don’t do anything about it , because the friendship is too precious . and when one of them is finally ready to say “ fuck it, let’s take the risk ” , they see the other making out with another person”

i also always just want more college things and things in pre-established canon universe aus ( all linked in my pinned post, but including hogwarts, gossip girl, legacies, riverdale, etc ). i’m also always down for plotting ships.

[hcpefulmarshmallow]

Anonymous said:

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to reply! Know that you say it, it's true that both Akechi and Nagito share some kind of character archetype. I was mostly curious because, although they share similarities, they are different in other things. I tried to like Akechi, I really did, but the fact that he doesn't seem to feel remorse for his actions and sometimes is sadic when he kills shadows. (1/2)

And (SPOILER!) he worked for Shido to gain his trust and eventually kill him, but somehow was surprised to learn what Shido really thought of him?. Yes, Akechi sacrificed himself in the end to help the Thieves (I'm not fond of the "sacrifice redemption" thing) but doesnt excuse his actions. Meanwhile, Nagito cares for his classmates, tries to do what he thinks is best for everyone (but is bad ofc) and is kinda influenced by his illness. (2/2)

Then again, i watched the game on youtibe so it's not the same experience that playing it myself....

Here’s the thing, Anon: as someone who began Persona 5 feeling a deep, debilitating rage every time Akechi showed his stupid fucking face onscreen, to possibly maybe shedding a tear or two for him by the end, I’m not going to try and convince you to like him. Partly because it’s a silly endeavour, but partly because I understand that he just isn’t an easy guy to like. And I say this fully recognising that, just before, I called him extremely likeable. I hold the same to be true for Nagito, as well. It’s one thing to tolerate a character’s flaws when you understand their deepest and most sympathetic motivations; it’d be another if you met them in real life and were blindly subjected to the worst of that their personality has to offer. 

(continued under a cut for heavier spoilers and length i guess)

 That said, I’d argue Nagito is just as remorseless and ruthless as Akechi is. In his mind, so long as an action is committed to further a great hope, it is justified. I suspect their differences are less a matter of contrition, and more a matter of time. I found Nagito easier to sympathise with at first, because it’s easier to see his humanity than it is to see Akechi’s. Despite his habit of pushing people away, Nagito remains so desperate to be recognised, he seemingly can’t help letting his cheerful, apathetic veneer slip here and there, giving glimpses of his true motivations from the beginning. It also helps that, as Hajime, we - the player - notice it early on. Hajime observes pretty quickly that Nagito has probably been through a lot, and that he seems kind and understanding if a little strange. On the other hand, due to the nature of the game, Joker’s initial opinions of Akechi are entirely up to the player. You won’t see much of his true personality early on unless you’re really looking for it. This, for the longest time, he’s nothing more than a vaguely antagonistic presence with who knows what motives.

 Furthermore, Nagito’s betrayal of the group comes much sooner which, I’d also argue, helps ground his character. It gives us time to explore those motives, the implications, and how he might still fit in a group dynamic. Whereas, by Akechi’s about-face, we’re pretty late in the game and he still isn’t wholly part of the group, having distinguished himself from the PTs by demanding that they disband in exchange for his help. 

 In all, while Nagito is willing and eager to make his true self known, Akechi hides himself until the very end, making it harder to understand and explore his character. Even in the third semester, with his demise imminent, he’d rather keep the other characters at arm’s length than live his final month or so in good company. He really is that ruined for other people. With time and patience, he could become as open as Nagito is, but the game simply doesn’t have that time to give at this point. And that, I suspect, is the cause for the trouble you have with his character and not Nagito’s. Akechi isn’t allowed to be a person for very long. Anger, hostility and fear trickle through as unadulterated sadism, because we aren’t privy to his whole side of things as thoroughly as we could be. 

 With regard to the Shido thing, I kind of read that as a rare moment of his emotions getting the better of him. He’d always wanted to get back at his father for abandoning him and his mother. Make him pay for the hellscape of a life he trapped them in. Much like Joker, he’s met with a perceived injustice, and he wants to right it via his own means. Of course, whether what he’s doing is “right” is up for debate, but I digress. To find out that Shido knew who he was all along and was still, after all this time, willing to discard his own son must’ve hurt. To realise he never stood a chance, for his life’s work to suddenly become nothing. You know, the whole “My expectations were low, but HOLY FUCK” thing? The game puts a heavy emphasis on Rotten Adults failing kids, but with his charm and sophistication, it can be easy to forget that Akechi is one of those failed kids too. I think he reacted like a child because, deep down, he is: a child fueled by a childish anger, and that’s why the game doesn’t condemn him the way it does Shido himself. There’s this implicit hopefulness that, through atonement and support, Akechi could change himself. Become a better person. But, because of his terrible, horrible, bad, bad father, he’s once again robbed of a chance of a better life, and it’s all he can do to make sure he doesn’t drag others down further than he has with his bad choices. 

 Yeah, I’m not too fond of the Sacrifice As Redemption trope, either. I would have preferred a proper character arc. But, I do think it demonstrates an ability to be selfless and contrite, if not a willingness. Stripped of his dreams and left with nothing, he really could have done anything in that moment. And he did That. 

 Of course, it’s possible that my interpretation of Akechi is a little charitable, do bear that in mind. I have a weakness for these types of characters, and my perception may well be biased. Due to my experience with other complex characters (like Nagito), I kind of just want to see the best brought out in him. (What can I say? I grew up shows like Avatar, complicated characterisation and quality redemption arcs Do It for me.) That said, it’s not at all invalid to find Akechi’s arrogance, selfishness and disregard for others offputting, with or without a reason for him to be such. The way he exists in his story vis-à-vis the whole foil thing I discussed in my last post is similar to Nagito’s role, and they share a lot of characteristics that are fun to discuss. But they are, ultimately, different characters. It’s okay to feel wildly different about them. 

[minjoonalist]

Better Than Before. | KSJ 18+

pairing: Ex!Seokjin x Reader

genre: smut, BDE!Jin, a pinch of Angst., what is Humor?

words: 3.1K

warnings: none :)

summary: why is that everytime you attmept to be a social butterfly your ex-kim seokjin appears and you’re suddenly a raging alcoholic. AKA- seokjin is on a persistent mission to get you alone again.

song inspiration: “Always” by Arin Ray

*** ***

You’ve never been the type of person to attend big celebration or even stay afterwards for further socializing. But you either had to choose between another Saturday spent watching re-runs of old sitcoms or actually going out to do something with your life and seeing as you were a full fledged nurse with barely enough time to take a piss… yeah it was probably time to interact with others.

The soft spot for your closest coworker had took it place once she asked for your assistance as a bridesmaid. An unfortunate event of one her friends getting extremely sick due to a spreading Flu had only ended with the poor thing being short just one person. Little did you know the sweet natured girl had actually considered you to be another close pal of her own and couldn't think of any other to put above asking you next. Originally you had planned to miss the event all in itself , even when you were just a guest. Practicing in your mirror to give the sweet girl a stern ‘hell no’, but it's Fairly obvious to see by now that, that didn't go as planned.

The air felt hot, you were sure your dress had a huge sweat stain on the back and you couldn't control the throbbing need that was slowly making you delirious by the second.

“You may now kiss the bride” the words spoken by the elderly priest that stood only a feet away from you. You looked to him. a firm smile placed on his slightly chapped lips that had everyone cheering, including the beautiful couple who were currently leaning into each other to seal their vows of commitment. It was perfect to say nonetheless, all white spreading throughout the pure rustic styled garden and the sun was shining throughout the clear blue skies showcasing the Event in all it’s beauty . You wanted to bask in it and soak up the rare moment you were apart of , but there was no use .

No, Not when there's a pair of dark occupied eyes staring your body down throughout the entire celebration.

“ I dont know whats more messed up. You- attending the same wedding as me or the fact that the next time I ever see you it's when you're in the same wedding as me” the undeniably gorgeous man that you’ve known as your Ex- Kim Seokjin- or well Jin pressed you into his side tighter just as you were following the groom and bride down flower filled path.

Wild light brown hair, pouty plump lips, and mischievous black eyes- If there was anything that made you regret going along with this decision, it was certainly him.

“Seokjin. Let. me. Go.” the venomous words slid through your teeth just as you waved towards the ederly woman in one of the rows and whom you could only assume was the groom’s grandmother.

“sheesh , still bitter I see” He glances down at you, a firm smirk still in its place when he does not-so-exactly as you wished. His long arm that was pressing you rather possessively into his waist loosened its hold and only came to grab your soft empty hand. It gave everyone the simple illusion that you two were a perfect couple when really you were anything but.

It was a couple of years ago in a situation similar to this one, you’d ended up attending a special occasion for an old colleague. It was a birthday party that your classmates happened to be throwing for seokjin and you’d reluctantly allowed your roommates to drag you there. There wasn't really much else to it since you could barely remember, you caved into downing 5 shots as you tried to drown out your boredom and completely blacked out. The only thing you could recall after that mysterious night , was waking up naked and sore next to the birthday boy himself. You’ve both only dated for a couple of months, when rumors of the popular boy’s conquests arose and you were in no mood to deal with them.

In other words- you dumped him.

“Shot of whiskey and make it dark please” you smiled innocently towards the cute dimpled bartender who busied himself cleaning cups. He nods back at you, his blonde hair falling forward as he momentarily slid his eyes over you and you vice versa. He then rolls up his crisp white button up to lean towards you, your eyes running quickly over his name tag that read ‘namjoon’ on it. “Sure thing miss” he sends you a wink , just before turning to prepare the requested drink.

“I wonder. are you going to keep batting your lashes at Virgin- juice boy over here or are you going to keep downing shots until I convince you to let me fuck you somewhere private? Preferably the latter but without the convincing part.” Seokjin’s velvety voice mumbles shamelessly into your ear making you shudder.

“As if that’ll ever happen” you scoff , just as the bartender namjoon hands you the small glass making sure to flash you his dimpled smile one last time. You raise the liquid towards your mouth, downing it in one go. Already the calming sensation spreading up from your legs and throughout your body, making the annoying Ass next you a bit more bearable . Only when you finally notice the long and intimidating gaze he has set on you. You decide to go in for more “ Another please.”

Seokjin’s nearly evil smirk never falters “ If I do recall and I truly do. Pretty little y/n downed 5 of my birthday shots and let me lay between her legs” he says way too loud for your liking. Your cheeks blushed and not from the fact that he just aired your sexual history in front of namjoon (who was handing you your next shot), but that the man had just called you pretty. Even more so that the simple compliment actually had you pressing your thighs together.

“I think we both can agree that years ago pretty little y/n made a huge mistake”

“You’re right about that” he chuckles with a nod. In return you roll your eyes, reaching for the next shot in front of you and downing that one as well. You make eye contact with namjoon once again, his soft eyes connecting with the empty glass in your possession “just one more please” you sheepishly smile and he bites his lip, silently laughing at your cuteness.

Once again a shot glass is slid your way. It was then that you noticed seokjin had moved significantly closer towards, the smell of his intoxicating cologne running up your nostrils and a large flat palm resting on the small of your back. When the hell did he put it there?

“ g-good so we agree. Maybe now you’ll finally leave me the hell alone” you attempt to ease away from him. The familiarity of the situation , bringing lost memories of how you once tried to resist the highly convincing man before.

“I never said that I agreed with what you said y/n…” he says , voice becoming husky and soft. You hated to admit it, but it was pulling you in just like the sensual gaze he never failed to keep on you. You didnt know whether to blame it on the alcohol or that you just havnt had sex about 2 seasons of big bang theory ago.

“Bu-but you just did-”

You were reaching for what was going to be your last shot , when seokjin comes in and snatches it from your grasp. You pout in return , not wanting to have to ask the dimpled boy for another. “I said you were right, only because you did make a mistake. You broke up with me when all I ever did was make you happy. Even worse, you did it right before we graduated and then you blocked me ” the slight sadness in his voice would have had you wanting to console the man had it not been for the fact that he was the one who messed up.

“Seokjin, you cheated on me. Did you really think I was going to stay with you after finding that out?” you sputtered out.

He was midway through downing your shot, when your words had caused him to gasp and choke on the harsh drink. Immediately his cool is lost, the poor man doubling over to hack his lungs out before he oddly finishes it anyway. “I did not cheat on you. Where the hell did you get that stupid Idea?” he frowns rather disappointedly at you.

“Oh please you're just saying that so I’ll let you slip your excited little hands up my dress” you shake your head but a small part of you just can't get over the sincerity that was in his stare. A silent second passes by and seokjin’s trance is broken before he asks you “how did you find out?”.

Your heart skips a beat. His soft voice riddled with no such guilt but he wanted to know how you discovered his unfaithfulness. In his eyes , he now seemed a bit curious more than concerned and it made an unsettling feeling appear in your stomach “I was told.” you swallowed “by some sorority girl - actually she was at your party” you then confessed.

“Blonde hair? Pouty lips.. And a permanent bitch face right?” he lists easily and the description matches the exact culprit who informed you of all his hidden lies. You guessed he must’ve gone off the way your eyes had wavered with uncertainty because seokjin had then let out an incredulous huff of disbelief. He hangs his head , his shoulders shaking from the small laugh that escapes his mouth “y/n. That was my ex” he says finally.

You gasped.

“You let my ex-girlfriend get into your head. If there's one thing I remember about her, its that she’s very manipulative, but also bitter and anyone with common sense knows thats not a good combination” he looks to you, only to see the disheartened look on your face. Your eyes full of guilty sadness now that you easily pieced two and two together.

“I-I dont know what to say-....I’m sorry seokjin” you managed out.

Sure you felt bad but your relationship was years ago. In-fact you’ve barely thought about him since honestly. He smiles tenderly towards you, the warmth from his brown eyes seeping slowly through your guarded shield but only now , you almost don't mind to let it down a bit.

“ Its fine, to be honest I should've known she would try something like that. You were probably too innocent for me anyways- I could’ve ruined you” he jokes though you don't laugh, your mind staying stuck on the innocent part.

“Remember I'm the girl who stole your shots and took you back to her dorm” you say catching both him and yourself completely off guard. Your eyes then widen from the risky remark, heart hammering in your chest when seokjin quirks a teasing brow at you.

You then turn back towards the bar, the dimpled blonde smiling your way when you tap the empty space in front of you “ a double would be great” you say but then for the first time seokjin acknowledges him as well. “Trust me. No it wouldn't.” he smiles a bit too sweet at the poor boy and you notice namjoon’s own smile falter from the slight animosity. Seokjin then grabs at your hand, his thumb slightly stroking the inside of you palm as the other finds its place again on your back. The intimate actions bringing your attention fully back to him when he speaks again.

“Now that the convincing part is done. Lets go somewhere a bit more private”

Honestly if you were shocked by the fact that you’ve once again allowed seokjin slip under your skin...well…that would be perfectly okay. It didn't take a second thought for you to let seokjin lead you to what looked like tiny shed, the both of you slipping in easily unnoticed as everyone else focused on the beautiful couple dancing away into their new marriage.

You're bent over slightly, Seokjin’s hands coming towards your hips to pick them up and raise your ass towards him. Immediately he groans in his spot. the delicious sight of your pussy lips glistening with your arousal reminds him just why he was so fucking whipped for you back then. You were gorgeous...everywhere and his mouth was watering just to get a taste of you again.

A finger swipes gently at your exposed slit, sending a cold shiver down your back from the subtle friction.

“You were always so sensitive for me weren't you baby?” He whispers, but by the way he confidently pushes the Long calloused finger into your unsuspecting hole, his own question is already answered.

“-J-jin…” you grunt out the broken moan in appreciation. His finger is pulling away and pushing right back in , causing you squirm and whimper from the much needed pleasure. “I can't wait to fill you up” a tiny squelch is heard as another finger is added to his torturing movements. His body coming forward onto your bare back and you could honestly melt just from the way it arched perfectly into him.

The tight knot in your stomach begins to loosen as you try your hardest hide your loud whimpers from any outsiders. Your legs trembling and you so badly want him to just fuck you already.

“P-please…” was all you could manage.

Seokjin’s fingers that were once pumping into you at a moderate pace turns to a more vicious route and you can't help but to squeal when the two lengthy digits forces your quivering pussy into its first orgasm in months. It leaves you breathless, weak and you were just about ready to collapse onto the neat shed’s floor.

“ Tsk, You haven't gone soft on me have you?” Seokjin chuckles down at you, a wicked glint prominent in his midnight eyes and when you shake your head in return. you could only shiver as the smile drops and the tiny space goes cold with his next words

“I’m not done with you yet Pretty girl…”

Next thing you knew you were being flipped onto your back and seokjin’s. strong hands had reached greedily for your underwear only to slide them completely off.

He then meets you on the ground, his body leaning back just a bit to unbuckle his black slacks. A noticeable swallow from your end driving the man a bit more mad with lust and he would swear he could cum right then and there just from that cute innocent gaze you were giving just when he pulls himself free.

“O-h…” you could barely say, your mouth completely dry. Your watched anxiously, a bead of precum already oozing out through the thick red Mushroom head of what you could definitely remember was his above average cock. The hard veiny muscle not having any shame to rub said cum swiftly down your exposed slit.

“You’re so fucking pretty baby, did you know long I’ve held this for you?” He growls out, deep carnal lust stuck in his voice as he inches closer above you. You weren't given the chance to answer him because as soon as you could , his fingers had wrapped within your once neat bun to pull your head back even further.

You could only then let out what sounded like a breathy moan. Your lungs almost giving up on you when you feel the head of his cock prying it’s way into you. His mouth laying open mouth kisses onto your exposed neck ,making his way up to towards your chin and finally landing on your mouth.

As much as you wanted to resist his kiss, the way Seokjin’s tongue had begun to dip swirl onto yours had your toes curling just from the passion of it and your entire body melting in pure bliss.

Your legs are spread out a bit wider for him, his hands latching onto the back of your knees to do so. “So cute. So good for me” he whispers out his praises into your ear, his hips jerking forward to shove his member deep into you and you nearly scream from the intrusion. Instantly you feel full, your body humming with pleasure as seokjin finds his paced rhythm. His hips slamming down onto yours with such a force that it has your eyes rolling to the back of your head.

“ so good! Yes just like that!” You exclaim out to him when the change of his angle only ends with your g-spot getting rammed into over and over.

“Look at pretty y/n. taking Daddy’s big cock like a good girl” he says, each sweet thrust matching his words. It was at this point where seokjin’s hand had ended up slipping from under one of your knees only to drop one of your legs. During the slight mishap seokjin was mid-thrust into you when you yelped and jerked your hips from the even more intense pleasure.

“Oh? Did that feel good baby? Maybe I should make you feel like that some more hmm?” He chuckles when you shake your head. Ignoring your response to switch you on your right side and sit himself on top of your right thigh, your left thigh being pushed against you as he proceeds with his wreckening.

What once was a difficult task had become impossible to withhold your loud moans. The new position allowing him to fuck further into your walls, burying himself to the hilt and maybe even deeper than he probably should be. It has your body jumping, your hands instantly bracing themselves on his highly active hips as tears started to leak from your eyes.

“So fucking cute. Pretty y/n don't ever run from me again - let daddy take care of you.” He pleads and praises you in your ear as he leans forward. “O-Ok-kay!” You unthinkingly gasped trying to catch your lost breath, his surged strokes turning your mind to mush and you could feel your orgasm climbing terrifyingly fast.

“Angh! Jin! Im go-ing to c-cum!”

You didn't have to tell him for him to know. Seokjin could feel his balls tightening with every brutal squeeze of your core- it was like you were trying to milk the man’s dick. He chuckled from the thought, his harsh grunts being masked by an unbelievably deep sexy laugh “thats right baby, milk me. Make me cum S-so I can fill that pretty pussy of yours.”

As if on cue your body gives out. Sweet burning pleasure pushing up throughout your entire body while you thrashed uncontrollably under Seokjin’s relentless thrusts.

“Mmmm!” You screamed, but your mouth is immediately muffled under one of his hands. The grip of it suddenly becoming unbearably tight once seokjin finds his own release in you.

You hold your breath, his body collapsing next to you once he slips out with a satisfied sigh.

“That was....even better than before”