#and Rouge’s but that's more of a story thing than the straight up outfit

[reploidbuddy]

Post #2 of the remaining pictures I have to upload back in the fic: new outfits and the final colored art <3

[teamdarkweek]

Let us consult the text of origin together:

My thoughts under the cut, but you can just enjoy the video.

General observations:

Let us never forget Rouge's wings are pink here. In sa2 they were black, they have since been purple. I think it's possible she covers her wings in some kind of think fabric or latex to match her outfits and maybe protect her - but primarily for the matchy matchy

In the shiny toy-ish style of heroes, Omega looks incredible. He looks so much better than everyone else.

Team Dark take in turns to be the most determined; it genuinely feels to me like they all do want this. Nobody is just in it for the loyalty or ride.

Team Dark should get to fight Team Rose. I would love them to duke it out with the Girl Scout commander and his two most loyal members.

Opening Cutscene:

First let us appreciate: Rouge just broke in to Eggman's again. Iirc she inserts herself into SA2 basically the same way. Plot driving queen.

It is odd to me that Rouge had no idea what she was finding, but did know the code. This 'happening upon' Shadow has always seemed strange to me and I am suspicious of it. It seems to me they might have wanted her to be looking for him, but bottled it at the last chance. Especially because she doesn't seem to be working for GUN here, this is just very convenient.

Omega is legitimately scary when he's first introduced, with a lot of the hallmarks of classic horror monsters in this first sighting of him (the close ups, the prey-through-predators eyes shot, all the action shots to keep you confused, minimal speaking etc.. I have no statement on this, it's just neat.

It must be quite a traumatising thing to wake up to, but Shadow takes little time to react. I really like that he doesn't recognize his name when Rouge says it.

It is weird to me Rouge just sits in shock at being shot. Was she not expecting a trap? Perhaps she got hit in the head or something?

Omega's aiming just before Rouge splits them up is so funny. I said I wouldn't use screenshots so this post doesn't become too slow to load but look at this:

His hands just circle around wildly. Shadow is going straight for you. Either you're not aiming for him or you're not calibrated correctly my love.

Rouge's exhausted and shocked face is adorable and I love it so so so much. This is peak Rouge IMO

The fact we see Eggman's base trashed - loudly trashed - and he does nothing about it could be a first nod at his current predicament we see in the Chaotix story, but I may be reaching.

I love the start of the chorus as they're coming to an understanding. I love This Machine, maybe more than I love my boyfriend but not more than I love my cat. It's so up there though.

Rouge bounced Shadow off Imega when she scooped him over and he rebounds into a defensive stance. No notes just cute.

Shadow's eye roll as she makes them all put hands together. You just woke up how are you so sassy? Amazing. No notes.

The actual skipped conversation must have been quite short, since Shadow knows nothing and Omega is a new robot, but I hope it included Omega inteoducing himself at least a bit. They don't say his name in this cutscene, or Rouge's but the audience probably knows her. Its just odd to me because I feel like team sonic say eachothers name a lot, but my memory may be faulty.

Seaside Hill + Ocean Palace + Egg Hawk

"Immediate destruction if distracted." Omega fully threatens to kill them if they don't work hard enough. I am not complaining, but he is a scary boy and we should remember this.

We should have known this wasn't Eggman because he reacts to Omega (an obvious E series robot) and not Shadow (a literal living weapon he had had locked away that should not be walking around). But me personally was a dumb kid who was too bad at video games to get to play team darks story before I had to go home so here we are.

Grand Metropolis + Power Plant + TC

Rouge has the least reason to be targetting Eggman, but she is quite determined here. I would suppose it is on behalf of Shadow, since she doesn't know Omega that well to be heart broken for his plight. It's nice to see that she too expresses her sentiment by violence, something often reserved in fanon for Omega and arguably Shadow.

Further to the above: she starts a fight with Team Chaotix literally and only because she is in a fighty mood. They were fr walking away, minding their own business. I also think that Espio's assumption that they might have it in for the client is valid, since they've probably been jumped by enemies of clients before. Rouge is literally just on a warpath and mad at the world. Iconic of her.

Casino Park + Bingo Highway + Robot Carnival

I do wonder what Rouge was wondering. If she was wrong, perhaps? Or what the Chaotix were doing? She couldn't suspect they're working for Eggman, could she?

Omega works in metres because he is no fool

Shadow is actually very calm talking to Eggman here. It suggests that either Rouge has not filled him in on anything much about Eggman, and/or he wants to learn for himself and isn't taking her and Omega's hatred at face value. This may make him seem a bit dozy here, but I actually think it's a sign of how untrusting he is, and with good reason. I have often seen the take that Rouge should have told him what's going on, but I propose that it is possible she told him some, he didn't believe her easily, and so she stopped telling him before the crazier stuff, because he'd never believe that. A bit of a leap I know.

Rail Canyon + Bullet Station + Egg Albatross:

This is the first time I think Shadow seems really determined. I propose it's because Eggman snubbed and disregarded him, and that is literally a tortuable offense. Joking aside, it's nice to hear the change in his voice now he's more set on his target.

Rouge is less sure of herself now. Tbh, it's probably been a really stressful day for her. She may need a rest.

Shadow offering Omega his revenge instead of fighting him for it is a nice touch. What a good team player!

Omega's shaking fist at the fake Eggman gets me. I love it. It's so ott and goofy but also a great way to communicate with his limited face.

The Shadow Android scene is actually quite frightening, like with Omega's introduction it has a little touch of horror. Imagine how you'd feel, if it were my android clone I would feel pretty nauseous and scared.

'Ultimate Life Form Data' - Metal answers the question of 'is Shadow a Robot?' As soon as it was asked, but nobody has ever listened to Metal Sonic about anything, and they aren't about to start today 🥰❤️. But did Metal know what Shadow was? We presume it had seen the Shandroids, and knew they weren't him, otherwise Metal would have just copied one of them.

(Frog Forest + Lost Jungle) + TS

"Talk about being stubborn and full of surprises" is so uncalled for from Shadow's perspective. He's never met this guy, how dare he read him like that.

This fight is so stupid, I almost believe it's just them being friendly. You know Sonic's pretty freaked out at seeing Shadow again, but I have had kittens before and sometimes they just have to show their excitement with biting. I think this might be that? Because Rouge left no particularly bad blood with Sonic. Now if she and Knuckles started it, I would understand the hostility, but Shadow and Sonic totally start this one.

Do you think Sonic felt bad that he went straight in to fight Shadow when Shadow fully just had no facts in his head to help him make good choices? I'd feel bad lol.

Hang Castle + Mystic Mansion + Robot Storm

Shadow tefuses to answer Rouge's question then proceeds to loudly answer it to himself with her just metres away. Keep being you, Shadow.

I like that they refer to Omega to ask if it's the real one, even though he can't - nice team trust moment.

Egg Fleet + Final Fortress + Egg Emperor

'Even if I'm not real - I'm still the Ultimate Life Form' resolving Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) before it even begins. In seriousness, it's quite a contradictory statement, probably because he doesn't know much about what that means. Has Rouge told him? We haven't seen someone explain that in the cutscenes, so I presume so.

Rouge immediately turning away from Eggman's body is so funny to me. 'K cool bye'

The first time I'd forgiven her not seeing that it was clearly Shadow in the goo. But Rouge, come on now. Why would they all be the exact same alien goo container with a spiky starshaped thing in them? You have seen Shadow Android. This shock is not necessary.

Why is there not enough goo to cover the ears? They can hear you guys.

'Hey Omega, did I ever tell you that Shadow is a Robot? And, well, nevermind - good luck." ARE YOU TRYING TO GET HIM KILLED? I also have to presume she genuinely believes this here. It's such a weird line.

Omega is so smart. He has been dumbed down of late, but he's not stupid anywhere here. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the one kept separately with it's own guard robot is at least more important than all these mass stored without an E unit dedicated to protecting it.

"Some things never change, do they?" How would you know? Did she tell you this? That's such a funny portrait of herself for Rouge to paint. Forever unsuccessfully trying to steal chaos and master emeralds, generally predisposed to being rude and disobedient? Or did he just observe that himself.

They leave it off like Omega may not be a recurring character from here. I wonder if they weren't sure if he'd be liked, since in SA2 they killed off a character that ended up being the most popular thing they'd made since the series began. Nobody is competing with Shadow's cult fanbase, but I wish more people like me loved big robot boy.

[fancylala4]

My opinion on all the precure seasons:

Precure: great start to this franchise. However, I really don’t like how they sidelined cure white in favor of cure black and I wish we could have seen more of her character.

Max heart: it ok but not as good as the first season.

Splash star: extremely underrated. It’s a great and the characters are cute. Though cure bloom’s outfits were super ugly.

Yes 5: one of my favorite. The villains were fun and the characters are great except for milk.

Gogo: straight up trash and deserves to be deleted from existence. First season in the franchise that was awful.

Fresh: way better than the last. This one was amazing and the costumes were cute.

Heartcatch: a masterpiece. It was great from start to finish. Cure blossom is my favorite cure of all time and I wish there was more cures like her.

Suite: a train wreak. It was trash from start to finish. The very first original season that was awful. The outfits were terrible, the characters were stupid af and the story was a mess. I also wonder how toei let the guy behind this trash be the director for sailor moon crystal. He should never be allowed near a magical girl show again.

Smile: way better than the last trash ass season. It’s iconic and all the cures were great. I liked the fairy tale theme and I learned a lot about Japanese fairy tales from this season.

Doki Doki: there are no words to describe how bad this season is. The characters were either poorly written or completely pointless. The story was awful and the morals were terrible. At least the music is great.

Happiness charge: bootleg heartcatch. It’s like Toei wanted another season like heartcatch but didn’t put anything effort into the season. There was only one good character in the season and the story was a mess. It was so forgettable too.

Go princess: it had a few issues and I didn’t like some of the side characters like that loser tennis player but I liked the season. I loved the princess theme.

Maho: technically this season was poorly written but I loved it so much! It’s so cute and charming. The characters were great and this season had the best romance between the two main cures. It’s the gayest season of the show!

A La mode: this season was bad and toei should feel bad for making this trash! It had so much potential and I loved the theme but toei just fumbled it.

Hugtto: way better than the last one and I liked it. However, there was major issues with the story and it was kind of confusing.

Star twinkle: like the last one, this one had major flaws with the story. It was ok but I liked the designs of the characters.

Healin good: it was alright but I did love some of the storylines and themes in the show. It was ironic how this season happened during a major health crisis.

Tropical rouge: great season. Though I didn’t like how it heavily focused on Laura and how some of the cure were underdeveloped but I still loved it.

Delicious party: it was so forgettable. I can’t even remember what happened in the show other than black pepper. I would take it over other awful seasons like suite and Doki Doki though.

Soaring sky: it was great. I loved everything about it and it was amazing from start to finish. I did wish that cure wing had some more scene time.

Wonderful: straight up trash. It’s so boring and the season just started . Taking out fights is one thing but making the conflict uninteresting is what kills it. No villain to fight against, no goals to fight for, nothing! How would a kid find this interesting to watch? It makes a la mode look like a masterpiece and that is really saying something.

[mysticdragon3md3]

Everyday I lament that there are still no Nendoroids for Fire Emblem Three Houses, even 4 years after its release.

And maybe I just want to vent conspiracy theories, but I blame Figma Edelgard. Good Smile likes to do this thing where they test out the waters of a fandom. If the first figures for a series sells well, they'll make more. That's how we got so many Touken Ranbu Nendoroids, more male figures, Orange Rouge, Jujutsu Kaisen Nendoroids, and likely all the Vtuber Nendoroids/Figma. We pestered Good Smile for male figures, male Nendoroid accessories, and male figures in general so much, that within a couple months, they had announced the Orange Rouge line, dedicated to male figures, with a mission statement citing "the demand for more male figures". Yuji Itadori's Nendoroid sold out preorders so fast, they had to open a second preorder, before his first preorders even shipped out! Those Vtuber figures sold out so fast, it was all over the comments section of every preorder announcement posts. If the first few figures for a franchise sell well, THEN Good Smile will consider making more Nendoroids/Figma for that series.

Figma Edelgard was Good Smile's first FE3H articulated figure, and Figma usually go hand in hand with Nendoroids. I'm sure that if Figma Edelgard had sold well, then we would have had a whole set of FE3H Figma. And if those sold well, then we'd have a whole set of FE3H Nendoroids. But we don't have any FE3H Nendoroids or Figma. All this points to Figma Edelgard not selling well.

I can see how Good Smile would have wanted to choose Edelgard for their first FE3H Figma. Intelligent Systems mentioned during interviews that early polls into the FE3H fandom showed that Edelgard's house was the most chosen. They even then commented that that seemed natural, since she was the only female lord of the 3 major House leaders to choose. And I'm sure Good Smile, still crawling out of their reputation of focusing on pretty girl figures, heard that and thought Edelgard would be the safe bet. They all thought the house lord most like waifu bait would sell well.

Or maybe Intelligent Systems told Good Smile that Edelgard was their primary focus character, and that's why she should get a Figma, even before the player avatar, Byleth. It's not a concrete theory, but the fact that Edelgard's route was probably the first to spinoff from FE3H's first written route of Silver Snow, the fact that FE3H's opening theme song seems to have lyrics that could be from Edelgard's (or Rhea's) perspective, and the fact that Intelligent Systems said they wanted FE3H to be a story about no one being fully righteous nor without flaws, and Edelgard's route seems like giving an audience a front-row seat to a tragedy with a villain-protagonist---all these seem to point to Edelgard as the intended focus character.

Why shouldn't she have been the best bet for the first FE3H Figma? First of all, FE3H is a game where 3 of the 4 story routes have Edelgard as the antagonist. Some fans see her as a straight up villain. If we assume the FE3H fandom is equally split between fans of different Houses/routes, then the mere setup of FE3H guarantees that 3/4 of the FE3H fandom would not want to buy an Edelgard figure. Most FE3H fans pick a favorite House or favorite lord, and tend to care less for the others. And for the 3/4 of the fandom that prefer routes/lords other than Edelgard, a good portion may actually actively dislike her, while other fans don't consider her their favorite enough to justify spending $70-$90 on her Figma. And that's not to mention the Black Eagles route fans / Edelgard fans who simply don't want to spend that much money on a figure, especially of her Academy version (I've learned lots of Edelgard fans prefer her post timeskip outfit) or are not figure collectors at all. But the most fundamental problem in choosing Edelgard as the first FE3H Figma, is that guarantees that 3/4 of the FE3H fandom either doesn't like her or doesn't like her enough to spend on her Figma. She was never going to sell well.

Honestly, if Good Smile wanted to make good sales on FE3H Figma, the safe bet would have been Byleth. Byleth is the player's avatar and people who played FE3H have an intrinsic, subconscious attachment to Byleth. Plus, Byleth is a character for whose side you are always on, regardless of route preference.

And if I'm being even more honest, I think post timeskip Dimitri would have also been a safe bet. People LOVE post timeskip Dimitri. As someone once posted, there are certain fictional characters that internet artists draw like they're a Renaissance painter commissioned to put murals on a church, and Dimitri was on that list of characters. Dimitri isn't even my favorite FE3H lord, and even I would spend $70-$90 on a Figma of him. He is very agreeable. Also, he's not the villain of 3 out of 4 routes! He's the villain of Edelgard's route, the protagonist perspective of his own route, and though an antagonist of Claude's route at Gronder, he feels less of an enemy than the Empire at Gronder. I can't remember Silver Snow well, but wasn't he an ally to the player's perspective? So if Dimitri is the villain of only 1 or 2 of the 4 routes, then he has a much better chance of not being disliked by most of the FE3H fandom. The people who despise him as the villain of Crimson Flower, are only 1/4 of the FE3H fanbase (again, if we assume an equal split among people's favorite lords/houses/routes). And fans of Claude's Golden Deer route have no real reason to hate him, are on board with Claude's attempts to call a truce with him, and if they've seen the Azure Moon route, even see Dimitri as an ally to Claude. In the same way Edelgard would be expected to be disliked by most FE3H fans, because of the fundamental structure of FE3H, it would be expected for Dimitri to be liked by most FE3H fans. And that equates more figure sales likely with Dimitri, than with Edelgard.

It's such a fundamental blunder, I don't blame Good Smile for seeming to choose their next FE3H figures by following Fire Emblem Heroes' recent popularity polls. I'm sure they were blindsided by the presumed low sales resulting from Figma Edelgard, and wanted more solid proof of which characters were popular enough to sell figures. Fire Emblem Heroes' polls are frequent, up to date, and thus a pretty active guage of the fanbase. This is why Good Smile's FE3H Pop Up Parades seemed to be random, in terms of character roles. Instead of choosing to make Pop Up Parades of the 3 House Leaders plus their loyal retainers, or plus their rivals, which would have made clearer sense, they instead chose to accompany the House Leaders with the other most popular characters from each house. This is how we got Pop Up Parades of Felix, Bernadetta, and Lysithea, even though their roles within each House have nothing in common. The only thing they have in common is being popular characters. And as someone pointed out, they are also the popular characters who made high rankings on a Fire Emblem Heroes popularity poll around the time of their figure announcements.

So I blame Figma Edelgard. She was doomed to have low sales, and discourage Good Smile from believing FE3H Figma/Nendoroid would be profitable or worth making. I don't know what else we can do to convince Good Smile that FE3H is popular enough to sell Nendoroids and Figma. I tried to spread around the official Good Smile figure request form, but it's not working, like it did in the Persona 5 fandom, for even the LEAST popular character (at the time). It leaves me with a sense that the FE3H fandom is too fractured and divided to come together to advocate for any one thing, even Nendoroids of our favorite House Lords.

Right now, Fire Emblem is getting the most sales from Good Smile's static scale figures. (The $250+ figures, not the $40 Pop Up Parades.) I don't have any sales figures to prove that, but Good Smile announced so many Fire Emblem static scales in the past few months. There's no way they would take the chance and expense to make all those high-end figures, unless they were confident they would sell. Maybe past Fire Emblem static scales have had good sale numbers. And Good Smile does love to chase a sales trend.

I really was hoping that the FE3H Pop Up Parades would sell so well, that it would encourage Good Smile to make even more FE3H figures, then hopefully Nendoroids. But it's been all quiet on Good Smile's end. They would have announced more FE3H figures by now, if the FE3H figures so far, had proved profitable for Good Smile. They've already had many figure events since those Pop Up Parades, and still no announcements for more FE3H figures. Maybe those FE3H Pop Up Parades all sold badly, for all I know. It would be the most likely assumption. But I keep waiting for the next WonHobby, the next WonFes, the next WonHobbyGallery, or Anime Expo, for Good Smile to announce that "Oh hey, those FE3H Pop Up Parades did sell well and prove that FE3H figures would be worth making, and here's our lineup for those plans!". But I've been fooling myself, because more FE3H figures never get announced. ;_;

Figure collectors constantly complain that Good Smiles makes figure announcements so far in advance, or their production schedule gets subsumed by more popular series taking priority away from figures that were announced ages ago, and then we're just waiting and waiting for those old figure announcements to finally get some progress. But at least you guys know that there are definite plans to make figures for those characters/series! Before the FE3H Pop Up Parades, there were literally NO FIGURES for Claude and Dimitri. They didn't even have gachapon! I have gachapon for freaking Claymore! And considering how popular everyone said FE3H was, enough to bring lots of new people (including myself) into general Fire Emblem fandom, it just boggles my mind that FE3H doesn't have more figures. What the hell… x_x;

Tangent addendum. During Anime Expo 2023 at the beginning of this month, the only FE3H Pop Up Parade that Good Smile's booth offered for sale was Dimitri. Now for this coming week's San Diego Comic Con, the only FE3H Pop Up Parade offered at Good Smile's booth is Edelgard. It'll be interesting to see what the results of those sales will prove to Good Smile Company. I hope it shows that Dimitri would sell better, because right now, Good Smile is wondering why Figma Edelgard didn't sell well, when everyone said FE3H was popular, and must be thinking all those reports of FE3H being popular must be mistaken. Then they gave FE3H a second chance with those sets of Pop Up Parades, since they're cheap and fast to produce. But maybe the FE3H Pop Up Parade sales weren't enough to motivate them to announce more FE3H figures. Whatever the case, it discredits the popularity of FE3H and makes producing figures for FE3H seem not worthwhile. If the only problem in sales is the choice of Edelgard, then when Good Smile sees other characters selling well, they could call Edelgard's low sales a fluke, and would be incentivised to make more FE3H figures.

I just want more FE3H figures…A Nendoroid of Claude von Riegan…I've been waiting for 4 years. I have so many Nendoroids from obscure anime… Why can't we get some Fire Emblem Three Houses Nendoroids, huh???? …Ok. I'm done venting.

[moonchildsaurora]

Darling, Dance for Me?

✤ sniper!San x female exotic dancer!reader ✤ genre: Mafia AU // 30% fluff, 60% spice, 10% platonic flirting with Woo  ✤ t/w: mentions of guns/shooting, mentions of alcohol, mature clubbing themes, highly suggestive in the second half (but not smut), rated M  ✤ count: 2k+

a/n - this was suppose to be for Valentine’s Day but, oh well! Enjoy some spice with one pink haired Sannie, coz we all know even though he looks soft. . . .he’s just a devil in disguise. This is probs my most suggestive writing till date as well, it was fun and am looking forward to writing more spice in the future hehet 💙

✛ play these vibes: BOBBY - ‘DeViL’, Sunmi - ‘Black Pearl’, Kai - ‘Mmmh’ ✛

“Mother told me, never to dance with the devil, So I danced for him instead.”

Cherry rouge.

Not your usual go-to, but a special occasion calls for some special exceptions. And damn did you look like fine wine tonight. Giving your styled curls another spritz of hair spray, you took one last inspection in your vanity mirror.  

Work was throwing a Valentine’s event and thus you found yourself having to dig through the back of your wardrobe to find a suitable outfit for tonight. Bold burgundy lace hugged tightly around your body replacing the mellower neutral tones you’d wear on any other night. Your roommate had even shoved a pair of thigh highs and heels on you to match the garter.

And cherry lips to bring the whole look together.

“You’ll thank me later! Hell everyone in the club would, for presenting god’s gift to them!”

You had laughed at her supportive enthusiasm, waving her away with embarrassment though you greatly appreciated the pre-shift hype.

When you headed for the kitchen, you could hear the TV in the lounge and glanced to see your roommate watching the evening news. She turned to call out for you but stopped mid-way upon realising you were already out of your room.

“Damn girl…you’ll sure be breaking hearts tonight with that fit!!” she yelled-gasped, brows waggling for a cheeky added effect.

“Well that’s no good. Dancers are supposed to be Cupids of the night, maybe they should’ve given me Aphrodite instead.”

A smile tugged on your lips as you saw your roommate falling back on the sofa snickering. Grabbing the bottle of Ten to One from what you both named ‘The Life Juice’ shelf, you started to fill your rose gold hip flask with the white rum. The debonair bartender at the club would usually be more than happy to concoct you a cup of much-needed poison to get you through the night. However, on such a busy event, you might not even have time to swing by the bar – so plan B was in order.

Also, whoever thought to invent garter pouches was a genius in your eyes. The amount of times you had snuck in a sip or two up on the podium without missing a beat or being noticed had to be one of your greatest feat till date.

Except maybe for the one who bought said pouch and flask for you. Seeing the shadow of their pleased smirk whenever you donned on something from them never failed to coax the goosebumps across your skin. Perhaps that garnet embellished choker would be the icing on the cake then. You made a mental note to put that on before you headed out.

“Hey honey…”

The tone of your roommate turned a little more serious.

“On the news just then, another one of those random sniper attacks happened along Soleil Street. Shit, that’s only two streets away from the club.”

The city has gotten used to such news every now and then. All leads of the serial sniper always went cold, not that they left behind any substantial traces for the authorities to begin with.

The law wasn’t the only ruling force in the area. Everyone knew that.

So long as one didn’t attract the wrong attention, they’d be free to go about their business.

“I’m dropping you off, are you ready to go?”

“Wait! It’s alright, I don’t want to trouble you.”

Your roommate gave you a look before swiping her car keys from the counter. “What would trouble me is not knowing whether you’ve made it to work and back safely. Now c’mon, the night is awaiting that cute booty of yours!”

“Yes mum.”

How lucky were you to have an angel for a roommate?

“Give me a heads up if you intend to bring anyone home tonight yeah? I’ll be sure to vacate the apartment before any sinning begins here.”

Or not.

A euphoric buzz filled every corner of the club tonight. Whether it was due to the special occasion or not, everyone was getting drunk off the atmosphere. The bar was a never-ending fountain of liquid luck and smoke veiled corners of the venue where patrons dealt cards and wits. A sea of bodies dominated the dancefloor, curling around one another in ecstasy as the thumping bass set the rhythm for them.

The centre podium was where the real magic unfurled.

Up on there, you felt powerful. Up on there, was your domain to rule.

Long have you enticed all those who returned back to ‘The Blue Butterfly’. So close, yet so far, for most could only have the visual satisfaction. Of watching you, along with your fellow dancers weave around golden poles and offer hands to those who sat in plush velvet chairs closest to the podium. Only to sashay away the last minute.

How bees are drawn to nectar and moths to light, the people keep coming back.

Tonight the club was decked out in a more sensual feel to fit the Valentine’s vibe. Long drapes of rose silk hung around the podium and you used those to accentuate the flow and movement of your body curves. The silks caressed the bare skin not hidden underneath your outfit and you pretended to take shy peeks around the fabrics at the audience. Sending a lucky wink or flying kiss their way.

In the middle of a mid-air twirl, you saw a familiar figure heading towards your side of the podium. You slowly lowered yourself back down to the floor, using your legs to wrap around the silks as leverage. Not missing the opportunity to be playful – you mimed shooting an arrow towards the club’s top croupier.

Wooyoung instantly clutched his heart with his hand that wasn’t occupied with holding one of Mingi’s own cocktail infusion. Letting out a hearty giggle, you slid over the podium floors to the edge where Wooyoung had propped himself up on.

“Don’t you look simply irresistible?” he crooned at you.

You could’ve said the exact same for him. All fitted to a tee in Givenchy with a classic choker that demanded attention for prominent collarbones.

“Now, how may I be of service to you tonight handsome?” you spoke over the music.

The youthful charmer leaned in towards you, shaking dark wavy strands out of his eyes. Eyeing his cotton candy pink drink, you ducked your head and took a few sips from the straw before Wooyoung drew it away. It tasted vaguely like pink lemonade with hints of vodka and vanilla.

“Ah ah, this isn’t for you poppet. Besides…” he tipped your chin back up with two fingers, “…wouldn’t want to waste your appetite before your main course tonight, would we?”

That made you perk right up.

“V.I.P Room Aurora has kindly requested for you. Drinks have already been sent up and the room’s been booked for the whole night.”

Not that booking was really needed since it was your room. It was just for formality.  

Wooyoung helped you off the podium and smoothly guided you through the crowd, placing you in front of him so as to avoid being grabbed by uninvited hands from behind. You both stopped at the foot of the polished glass stairs that led up to the V.I.P guest rooms.

“Off you go now! Oh and try not to make too much of a mess for our cleaners, they really ought to get a pay rise from some of the things they’ve witnessed in those rooms.”

You would’ve kicked Wooyoung for his brazen tongue, but you did well to remind yourself that would be rather impudent on your part. Whilst you have a jovial bond with him, it still doesn’t erase his high-standing status within the inner circle. You knew better than to cross that line of respect.

“Won’t make any promises I can’t keep, Jung!”

You left him with a soft pat on his cheek and ascended towards your utopia that awaited.

Swinging the golden embossed doors open, sultry melodious tune of a saxophone greeted you. Like molten dark chocolate, it was rich and tantalizing. The crystalline blue hue of the room’s lighting was fitting for the slow jazzy blues.

A spacious circular sofa curved around a glass table in the centre, providing a perfect view of the bejewelled podium. The wide one-way windows were especially designed for privacy. You could spectate over almost the whole club below, something you quite enjoyed during your breaks. The countless types of people that you observed stepping into your world; from the timid newcomers to the seasoned hedonists and the stories they brought with them of their journey to ‘The Blue Butterfly’.

But there was no time for that tonight. Not when you see broad sculptured shoulders that your hands have meticulously memorised the planes of – right in front of you.  

Still clad in his all-black incognito leather fit, you couldn’t help but stay by the door to appreciate his form. A huge bouquet of ivory and deep red roses sat on the glass table with an open box of what you suspected were chocolates inside. A loud pop of the champagne bottle went off. You bit your lips when you saw his toned arms flex as he gripped the bottle in one hand and tipped a stream of golden bubbles into two flute glasses in the other.

As the music picked up, you decided it was time to make your presence known. Walking with confident steps over the velveteen carpet you went to wrap your arms around his cinched waist. Resting your cheek on the cool leather vest of his back, you took his scent in.

Smoke and city musk lingered around.

You figured he must’ve come straight from his assignment. What better reason to use than to spoil him extra as post-work relaxation? His hand came up to wrap around yours and you felt the dancing of lips leaving petal kisses across your knuckles.

“You stink…” you mumbled lightly against his back.

San let out a low chuckle before setting the champagne bottle down and turning around to snake both arms around you. Calloused hands from the years of gripping guns instead of supple flesh imprinted their warm touch into your skin.

“Oh? Then I’m sure you won’t mind helping me freshen up, right Princess?”

“San!” you squealed when you felt him deliberately rub sweat against your neck before attacking it with more love bites.

“You taste like sweet temptation.”

You arched your neck out of habit when you felt his tongue swipe across it. Teeth bit down lightly around the garnet choker San bought for you for Christmas.

When you felt hands travelling down west towards your garter, you gave San a light shove backwards to the sofa.

“Not so fast, Choi.”

His predatory feline eyes took its time to rake down your body, committing every inch to memory. You made a show of bending over to grab the two champagne flutes off the table, the sharp intake of breath behind you made you preen with pride. You took your seat on your throne, not at all surprised to feel how much pent-up tension San had through the tight leather.

Clink. A toast made for the love of two.

“Happy Valentine’s, darling.”

“Thank you, San. You sure know how to spoil a lady don’t you?”

“Only the one who’s sniped right through my heart.”

Oh the irony.

You smiled when he pulled you close and claimed a proper kiss, whispering a, “You sap,” against his wind-chapped lips. Tasting the fruit acidity from the golden bubbles as you both exchanged kitten licks.

San’s rouge-stained lips chased after yours when you broke off from the kiss to place your champagne flute back down on the table. Hands anchoring your hips in place as you reached to pluck a couverture chocolate-covered strawberry from the box. Turning back round to San, your lips formed a small pout noticing that his freshly dyed hair was still hidden underneath his cap.

He let you discard it behind the sofa and you could’ve sworn he purred with satisfaction when you ran your hands through his cotton candy pink strands. Hands gave your bottom a firm squeeze and San begun to run his fingers along the hem of your lace. The husky vocals from the record player drifted back, interlacing with the saxophone.

That was your cue.

“Eyes on me.”

You held San’s gaze, fire reflecting fire. The strawberry gets slipped past the seams of his lips and all the while San chews intently, his eyes never wavered. He’s got his precious pearl all to himself, just the way he loves it. And you have the city’s most lethal hitman watching your back from dawn to dusk. San was the dangerous game you played, only to win the safest love.    

“Darling, won’t you please dance for me?”

“With pleasure, Sir.”

[supercasey]

So I've been playing The Hades Game like fucking mad for the last few weeks, and although I'm not very far in it (at least, I don’t think I am; I’ve only beat Hades once!), I'm absolutely in love with it! Anyways, a certain idea has been kicking around in my head for awhile now, so I thought I'd share it with y'all; feel free to tell me what you think of it! (Warning: spoilers for when you beat Hades the first time!)

Anyways, I've already seen a really cool AU post for if Demeter raised Zagreus on the surface by herself (which you can find HERE; please check it out, the outfit for Zag alone is an amazing concept, and I love the artwork!!!) but I keep thinking about an AU where, after Zagreus dies at birth, Persephone runs away and takes his wrapped up body with her.

On the surface, she reconnects/reunites with her mother Demeter, and with her aid, the two of them manage to resurrect the newborn baby, though now he has more white in his hair than anything else. After that, Persephone sends Hades a letter to tell him that Zagreus is alive and well (because she actually has some fucking class), before proceeding to raise Zagreus on the surface with her mother, far away from the entrance to hell. The Olympians also help her out a bit, but mostly they just help by hiding Zagreus when it’s necessary.

(The rest is under a cut ‘cus this got a bit long, sorry!)

Years pass in relative peace, until Zagreus is about as old as he is in-game (I think he’s around 20-25ish???) and is living well, working with his mom and grandma to take care of their gardens and live peacefully away from mankind; he especially loves tending to the animals and guiding lost mortals to safety. However, one day while foraging for fruit in the deepest corners of his mother’s signature garden, Zagreus happens across a strange man in long robes, who introduces himself as Thanatos.

The two men get along swimmingly from minute one, and after agreeing to meet with each other again soon, they leave and tell their families/friends all about the experience, having no clue who they are to each other. After all, Thanatos was told growing up that his lord’s first wife died giving birth to their first and only child, who was a stillborn, and Zagreus thinks his father died of disease (his mom didn’t have to heart to tell him anything bad about his dad). Needless to say, they’re gonna be in for quite the shock soon.

Cue Hades losing his shit and calling on Thanatos, Megaera, and Achilles to go find his progeny and bring him home; he gives them special permission to leave the Underworld without any resistance, trusting Than to lead the way back to Zagreus. Achilles is less than thrilled to be performing such a morally grey task for his master, but Meg and Than are eager to prove themselves, so he begrudgingly agrees to help, even if it hurts his conscience to do so.

Persephone and Demeter also freak the hell out on their end, scared shitless by the fact that Death incarnate has just met their son/grandson, and they’re worried that he plans on coming back again soon. Demeter suggests sending Zagreus to live with the Olympians until this all blows over, but Persephone disagrees, wanting her son to stay nearby in case he grows ill (it’s implied that she’s a bit overprotective of him, mostly because she’s afraid of him dying again; this also means she refuses to let him know that he’s in any danger, believing it would only make things worse for him in the long-run). Frustrated but understanding her daughter’s pain all too well, Demeter at least convinces her to call on the Olympians for aid, which Persephone agrees to do.

The gods promise to help of course, but... well, they're low-key lying; they wanna see how this plays out first.

After several days of traveling through hell (literally), the “let’s kidnap Zagreus” gang makes it to the surface, and they immediately head to Persephone’s garden. All this time, Zagreus has no idea that he’s being targeted, so he goes about his chores as usual, only to run into Than again, and hey, he brought some more friends for him to meet! Zagreus is friendly with all of them, being raised to be very polite by his guardians, and while he’s busy chatting with Than and Achilles, he doesn’t notice Meg sneaking behind him. Just as Zagreus is rattling on about how the animals have been faring this summer, Meg stabs Zagreus in the back with a blade coated in Hades’s blood, cursing him to belong to the Underworld again.

With Zagreus now unconscious from a sedative that was mixed with the blood, the trio hurry off with him back to the Underworld, but not without Persephone seeing what they’ve done to her son. Horrified, she begins to sob, and winter arrives in the mortal world without so much as a fall season in-between this and the summertime.

When Zagreus comes to, he finds himself in a bedroom similar to the one he has in the game, but it’s much cleaner and has less objects of personal value to him. Hades is standing at the foot of his bed when he wakes up, and very calmly, Hades tells Zagreus that he’s his father, and that from now on, Zagreus will be living in the Underworld with him and his people, where he so obviously belongs. It’s a shame his mother can’t be here, of course, but they just need to wait awhile, that’s all; surely she’ll come to her senses and return home soon, now that her husband and son are here.

Zagreus jumps out of bed and faces his father as soon as he’s done monologuing, ready to tell him off for what he’s done, but to his shock, Hades hugs him as soon as he’s on his feet, and admits that he’s waited for this day for a long, long time. He asks his son to please just accept that this is his home now, and despite still being a bit surprised (and subtly hugging Hades back because Longing), Zagreus tells him straight up that he can’t, that he has to get home, especially with winter coming in a few months!

Dejected but not overly surprised, Hades simply nods in acceptance, but he still warns Zagreus that it’s no use trying to fight it; he’s stuck here, now and forever, so he may as well get comfortable and try getting along with him, because no one’s going anywhere anytime soon. Zagreus is horrified, but he nods nonetheless, unsure of what to say or do just yet.

Later that night, as Zagreus is struggling to sleep in this new, unfamiliar place, Achilles comes to him and apologizes about what’s happened, and although he can’t magically fix everything for him, he tells Zagreus that it actually is supposedly possible to escape; it’s just that no one’s ever done it before. Driven by his desire for freedom and the thought of reuniting with his mother, Zagreus tells Achilles that he’s going to find a way out, no matter the cost. Achilles congratulates him on his tenacity, but warns him that it won’t be easy. Still, he’s willing to help Zagreus as much as he can.

From then on, I imagine the game playing out very differently from the original, with a rather frazzled and scared Zagreus trying to get home to his mom and grandma, but with none of his training from Achilles in this AU, he has to rely on something his mother taught him; his connection with earth and all it’s inhabitants. Or, in his case, his connection with the spirits of animals (a cross of his dad and mom’s powers). That’s right, I’m making The Hades Game into a fucking Pokemon-ripoff, but still with some rouge-like elements mixed in (mostly with Zagreus not keeping his animals after runs).

Having royally fucked up in not stepping in sooner to protect Zagreus, the gods end up helping him out by sending down animals associated with them for the young god to tame for a run (I’ll come up with them later). They usually offer a selection to choose from, and from there Zagreus can build up a team and use it to try and escape the Underworld.

To replace weapons, I like to think he’d have “signature” animals that can help him out for any of his runs, specifically ones from Achilles, Poseidon, Zeus, Demeter (once he reaches the surface at least once), and eventually even Hades gives him one if they bond together enough ((yes, it’s Cerberus... kinda; it’s a puppy version of him, otherwise he’d be OP as fuck)). Zagreus’s signature animals can all be given names, and they keep certain skills that they pick up through enough experience battling in the Underworld for Zagreus.

As for story-line stuff, Zagreus ends up in a very fish out of water situation as he tries to get to know everyone in Hades’s house (he’s still our kindhearted Zag, after all, and he knows most of them aren’t to blame, not even really Than!) while also focusing on his goal to get home to his mom. Hades ends up being a lot nicer to him in this AU, perhaps overly so, as he’s trying to make his son like him more in order to make up for lost time (and fill the hole in his heart that Zag’s initial death as an infant and Persephone leaving with him created). It’s part of the reason he’s even letting Zagreus try to escape; he wants him to learn that it won’t work on his own terms (and maybe also scare the kid so bad that he comes running to him for comfort afterwards).

Also, I should really note that Zagreus is 100% a sweet country farm boy in this AU, and he has no idea what the fuck is going on with pretty much anything in the Underworld, much to everyone’s astonishment. For example:

Meg: Gods, it must be weird getting used to everything down here, huh? Sick of stepping in bat shit yet? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it, and Dusa’s pretty good about cleaning it up to begin with. Zagreus: I mean, I guess? It’s not that different from chicken shit tbh. Meg: What the fuck is a chicken???

After that... yeah, I dunno. I’ll try playing Hades some more, see if I think up anything else that could be interesting, but for now, I hope at least someone ends up liking this dumb AU (if not, I’ll still like it... might even try my hand at drawing for it a bit tbh). Again, please check out the person who’s post/art I linked earlier in the post, ‘cus their art is really awesome and inspired me to include Demeter more in this AU!

[365days365movies]

May 9, 2021: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) (Recap: Part Two)

So, this is an adaptation of Pinocchio, right?

I mean...yeah, it definitely is. It’s a story about an artificial boy, brought to life and given to a parent to raise, learning lessons about humanity all along the way. Hell, they use the Collodi story as an element of the plot, so there’s no way it isn’t an adaptation of the original story. Here, I’ll break it down.

First, he’s given life by Hobby, who represents both his creator and the one who gives the artificial boy life. In other words, he’s a portmanteau of two characters: the Blue Fairy and Geppetto. The latter created him, while the former gives him life. Really, I’d argue that he’s more of the Blue Fairy.

So, who’s Geppetto? Obviously, Monica. She’s the (semi) loving parent that ACTUALLY makes David her son...literally. Remember the Winter Soldier awakening sequence? Monica is a flawed parent who obviously doesn’t quite know how to care for the little artificial boy, similar to how Geppetto is normally portrayed. And, like him, she never gets to teach her new son about the world before releasing him into it.

Of course, Geppetto didn’t physically abandon Pinocchio in the woods, but whatever. At least this Pinocchio’s been left with his Jiminy Cricket. Unlike the traditional version, though, this one is fuzzy.

Teddy, the stuffed bear supertoy, is clearly meant to be Jiminy Cricket, the conscience meant to guide David along his way, and along his journey. He subtly guides David, giving him advice that he sometimes ignores. And, given that David probably wasn’t built with a conscience, it makes sense to give him an internal one. Speaking of, let’s talk about David, because this simile might actually be more important than one would think in understanding this film.

David, of course, is creepy as FUCK. He’s trying hard to be a real boy that his mother can accept, but he’s so goddamn creepy. And initially, I thought that this might just be bad acting or direction. But then, I walked away for a little bit, and I realized something: what if that’s on purpose? Because here’s the thing: David isn’t real. And neither is Pinocchio, but with Pinocchio, you KNOW that.

Pinocchio is, after all, a puppet. And that point is obvious visually, both in the basically flawless Disney film, and in the original book. But David is, after all, played by an ACTUAL real boy, and therefore appears real to the audience. So, how to make him appear artificial? By emphasizing the fact that David’s behavior and actions are not natural. They are programmed and artificial. And so, when the journey begins, David hasn’t yet learned to be a real boy. And therefore, he isn’t yet real. And now, of course, he’s on the journey not only to become a real boy, but also to earn that chance. Just like Pinocchio.

But we’re only one-third through this film, and a LOT more happens in the story of Pinocchio. I’m not suggesting that this movie perfectly follows the book or Disney film by any means, but it’s definitely following some of its structure. And if Pinocchio is known for anything, it’s known for its most iconic villains and adversaries. I’m talking these guys:

And I’m...looking forward to seeing how these guys are adapted? Wait, wait, wait, hold on...I railed HARD against Act One (which you can read right here), whose writing and plot I still think were poorly thought out. But, after this mental recontextualization...am I actually enjoying this movie?

Shit, maybe. Thinking about it in these terms actually helps. OK, Kubrick, Spielberg...hit me with your best shot.

Recap (2/3)

With Act Two, enter Gigolo Joe (Jude Law). Yes. Really.

Gigolo Joe is a “lover Mecha”, a model built specifically for sexual gratification. Joe’s an interesting case, as he’s obviously built to be quite seductive, in a physical and a sensual manner. He’s been hired by a woman trying to get away from her abusive husband, and proceeds to woo her with sweet nothings, easing her discomfort with the idea of sleeping with a Mecha. And I’m gonna be honest: Joe is a CHARMING motherfucker, smooth and slick as a robot ought to be, with the ability to change his appearance and voice to please his customers.

And as I’m watching him, trying to figure out if he’s the Fox or the Cat, or both combined, he’s suddenly framed for murder by the jealous husband of one of his clients! Shit! Understanding exactly how fucked he is, he takes the necessary precautions and removes his identification chip. I’m not entirely sure who he is, but I’m interested in revisiting that plot, that’s for sure.

David, meanwhile, is wandering around in the woods, where he comes up with the idea to find the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio, who will surely turn him into a real boy. But while wandering through the woods, what does he find but another group of robots like himself, scavenging from parts that’ve been dumped in the woods. And the CGI here is absolutely fantastic looking, as the robots outfit themselves with technology.

Also stumbling upon this display is Joe, on the run. But as they all appear in the same place, the moon suddenly rises. And it’s gorgeous.

This is not the Moon, but a gorgeous hot-air balloon from something called the Flesh Fair. With men on the ground on specialized motorcycles called “Hounds”, and with an eye-in-the-sky belonging to commander Lord Johnson-Johnson (Brendan Gleeson). He and his men hunt down Mecha to take them to the Flesh Fair, where robots are destroyed for the sport of human observers.

They chase down and capture all of the robots assembled, including David, Joe, and THIS spectacular special effect.

Yeah, holy shit, that’s amazing.

Anyway, it’s here that David loses his conscience, as Teddy falls out, only to be brought to the Flesh Fair and taken as a lost toy, placed in the lost-and-found. And, now that we’re here, it’s time we acknowledge what this appears to be: Stromboli’s Circus.

Given the fact that the “puppet show” is clearly replaced by the abuse and destruction of robots (including one weirdly resembling and voiced by Chris fucking Rock of all people), and that it has a ringmaster in the form of Johnson-Johnson, this is definitely meant to be a replacement for Stromboli’s puppet show. Albeit, one colored by anti-Mecha racism, but whatever.

A little girl wanders up to the cage where David’s kept, and confuses him for a human child. She goes to her father, who’s astonished by the existence of a robot child, and he goes to Johnson-Johnson, who gives not a single shit, and brings him up to be destroyed with the rest in the flesh fair. Dude REALLY doesn’t like robots. David, understandably scared, has his Damage Avoidance System kick in, and he grabs onto Gigolo Joe for safety, dragging him along to their deaths.

As he’s about to be melted by concentrated acid in front of a crowd (all of whom are affected by seeing a child be melted, robot or not), David cries out in fear. This leads to the audience STRAIGHT-UP REBELLING, as they refuse to believe that David is anything but human. He immediately takes off, alongside Gigolo Joe and Teddy.

We head back to Cybertronics, where it’s revealed that David is actually a facsimile for Hobby’s departed son. Which is...weird. Real talk, this is extraordinarily odd, and Hobby clearly has some massive issues he needs to figure out. In the forest, Hobby and Joe get to know each other. He recommends getting to Rouge City to find the Blue Fairy, whose location they will ask for from a “Dr. Know”, as there is nothing he doesn’t.

Also, Jude Law’s giving a fuckin’ soliloquy about robot prostitution right now, and I’m not gonna lie to you; I can dig it. It’s a Queen Mab speech about gettin’ down on that robodick, and it’s actually quite entertaining. And with that, we not only head to Rouge City, but we also discover who Joe is meant to represent. If Rogue City is Pleasure Island (and it OBVIOUSLY is), Gigolo Joe is meant to be both the Fox (AKA Honest John, AKA J. Worthington Foulfellow), AND Lampwick. Neat! Anyway, Rouge City...

...is not even a little subtle, goddamn. It’s literally a sex-island. And yet, once there, David is introduced to Dr. Know (Robin Williams), a kiosk where you pay for information, which makes me appreciate Wikipedia so goddamn much. To the good Doctor, they ask for the location of the Blue Fairy. And by accurately using keywords (a skill under-appreciated in Google Searches), they get an eerie reading of Hobby’s book, beginning with a Yeats poem.

With this information, they discover that Hobby (and the secret to David becoming a real boy) is at the end of the world, in a place called “Man-hattan”. David is filled with new determination, but Gigolo isn’t quite sure if this is real. David fights back, saying that his mother loves him and that the Blue Fairy must become real. But Joe insists that she likely did not love him, and simply liked how she made him feel. And while David refuses this idea outright...he’s almost certainly correct.

They go outside, and Joe is about to be taken away by the police, presumably for that murdered woman. However, the helicopter they came in is taken by David, who plans to use it to get to Manhattan. Joe escapes and joins him, and the two head to Manhattan.

End Act Two. See you in Act Three!

[multifandom-girlie]

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠

Imagine requested by @theshyprincess : You take his virginity

Pairing: MG x Vampire!Reader

Warnings: smut

Disclaimer: I am not supporting minor and adult relationships but for the purpose of readers backstory, we are allowing it. Especially considering that is basically what all the shows are about if you think about it. Also I have nothing against MG but I just thought it would be a surprise to not have them dating. Also I thought the idea of the boy being the Virgin is a little more unique considering all stories I've read for this particular request are all girls having their virginity taken, so I thought I'd be different. Also the age of reader isn't completely known to me but I wanted her dating Kol when she was 16 and since they dates for 3 years she must be 19 but I'm not sure if you can stay longer at the Salvatore school unlike normal school. Hope you enjoy !

Since I started the school, Milton's always had a little crush on me but of course me growing up and developing into a women only intensified that crush and here we are. He's not a bad person but I haven't ever seen him in the way he wants me to. But of course he asked me to the back to school dance Lizzie thought would be a good idea to through and of course I couldn't say no. See a few weeks ago, he wouldn't have even dates asking me considering my ex boyfriend is not only and older more intimidating man, not just a vampire but a Mikaelson. Yup, you did hear that right. It wasn't supposed to happen but it did.

See Hope was going home to New Orleans to visit all her family at Christmas around 3 years ago and since I didn't have anywhere to go she invited me. So I went with her met her family and everyone was really nice, but her uncle Kol was particularly nice to me. We were only meant to be staying until the 28th of December and then going back home but Hope was convinced to stay till New Years by her Uncle...Kol. So there we were New Years in New Orleans, drinking champagne. The countdown began, Kol and I were stood in the back and three bottles of champagne had been shared between us both alone. It didn't take long for him to make his move that night, 5 minutes after midnight we were both intoxicated, horny, hot and naked. The amount of times it happened that night, without us giving a care in the world. That was what most of our relationship was like, but I'm afraid it got to careless and he cheated on me with a girl called Davina. He tried apologising but I wasn't hearing any of it, three years down the drain because of lack of loyalty and a bottle of white.

So here we are present day, 20 minutes before the dance and crying into my pillow. Just because I wouldn't hear Kol out doesn't mean the thought of him isn’t heart-wrenching. I pulled away from the pillow, praising myself for using waterproof mascara accidently. I walked to the mirror ran my fingers through my hair, wiped the fresh tears off my face and straightened out my dress. I walked out the door and locked it behind me, walked down the hall and down the stairs to the big hall, where the dance was. I pushed the mahusive brown door away from me and walked into the hall, MG greeted me at the bottom and led me to the middle of the floor.

He grabbed ahold of my waist and hand and started swaying us to the music.

“Look y/n I know that your probably heart-wrenching about breaking up with Kol, so this is the only time I'll mention it but I am sorry. Even if it worked in my favour.”

I looked at him, tears pooling in my eyes. I don’t want to tell him I can't see him that way but I have too eventually, so it might aswell be now.

“MG look. You are the sweetest man I've ever met and your funny and incredibly handsome and any girl would be lucky to have you, but I don't see you like that. I think your amazing but it's going to take me a while for this Kol thing to blow over and I can't give you hope for something to happen when it's more than likely it won't. I appreciate you asking me to the dance and always being there for me but we aren't ever going to date MG, I am sorry.”

He looked down at the ground a gripped me tighter. He looked back into my eyes. 

“Eh it was a long shot anyway. It just sucks that you don't feel that way about you, I don't think you quite realise how much I do really like you.”

I smiled slightly and looked him the eyes, I giggled slightly before I spoke.

“What you mean, when you spend hours getting Josie to teach you how to bake everytime I'm upset so you can bring me some food? when you sprain your wrist getting Lizzie to teach you how to dance to impress me? when you sit in your room crying to yourself when you think about me with someone else? when you blackmailed Kaleb into teaching you how to fight property so you could protect me ? I do see all of this Milton and I've tried so hard to feel the same way, it makes me the only girl who wouldn't fall for it. But at the end of the day, would you not rather have me as a really good friend and never lose me or date me, something goes wrong and then we never speak again.”

He had tears in his eyes and he decided to twirle me.

“You saw all that ? I guess I would rather never lose you.”

We looked deeply into each other's eyes and grinned.

“Okay so we can either continue dancing and be boring or go steal Ric's bourbon and Emma's red ?”

He laughed and dragged me out the hall. We snuck into Alaric's office and grabbed the drinks we then took ourselves to Emma's office and stole her brand new, very tasty, expensive bottle of red. 

Around 1 hour later, we were waltzing around the halls together with empty bottles in our hands and stumbling into everything around us. We then heard Alaric calling us from round the corner so we opened a cupboard and slotted ourselves in. It was the janitors closet, so I watched through the grates in the door so find Alaric. He was looking around completely clueless and I was silently laughing until I realised how close in proximity me and Milton were. The fact that we were intoxicated probably didn't help. His member swiftly brushed against my behind and turned me on more than I realised. His hands travelled down my waist and his mouth did the same but to my neck. His warm breath fanned on my neck.

“We might be safer in here, away from innocent minds and prying eyes.”

His big soft lips brushed against my neck and my eyes rolled back. I suddenly sobered a little but he wasn't completely with it. I turned around so we were facing eachother and his member was definetely an important factor in the conversation now.  

“Milton, honey... have you ever done this before ?”

He shook his head and still continued his movements. Points to the guy for confidence, seriously. I mean what's the worst that could happen, I can't get pregnant because I'm a vampire and he's drunk anyway so he wont't remember that it even happened. I'm still not entirely sure I will yet.

I lifted my dress up and kissed him roughly.

OUTFIT

He pulled away from the kiss.

“Wait stop. Just before we do this... you looked really beautiful tonight.”

I smiled at him in awe and kissed him again.

“Thankyou Milton.”

I ripped the buttons of his shirt and kissed down his chest down to the waistband. He started breathing really heavily.

“Milton, calm down.”

He nodded and slowed his breathing. I smiled and undid his belt and slipped his trousers down. His buldge prominent through his black boxers. I used my hand to stroke his clothed member whilst placing little kisses around his man region. His eyes started to close with pleasure so I ripped his boxers off and flicked my tounge out to collect the pre cum dripping from his tip. His breathing started to quicken as I took his whole cock into my and swirled my tounge around it as I did. His tip collided with the back of my throat and already his dick was already throbbing. I jumped back up before he came and I kissed him passionately. He grabbed my throat and pinned me against the wall.

“I’m okay with teasing but that was too far. Let's see how you like it.”

He lifted me up and ripped my panties off. He held me on the wall and thrusted his cock into me with no warning. It was a very surprising gift. He kept doing it until I was just about to cum, he pulled out and kissed me. We made out for a couple of minutes and he then lifted me higher and stuck his face in between my legs and stuck his tounge straight into my entrance. I was nearly at my peak again when he pulled away.

“Okay Milton, I've learned my lesson. Just please let me come.”

He lowered me into his dick once again and my orgasm was fast approaching. As soon as he's finished his fourth thrust, I released all over his cock. Squirting into his stomach and my legs. He started to rub my clit and I squirted even more. I couldn't handle the pleasure. It was overstimulation at it's finest.

I jumped down with a grin on my face and pulled my dress back over my head. Milton was putting his suit back on before he spoke up.

“The no panties thing was lucky wasn’t it. It's like you knew it was going to happen.”

I laughed and shook my head, I opened the door.

“Don’t get to cocky Milton. It wasn't for you Kol was meant to be coming tonight and whether I forgave him or not, I've been super horny all day. I needed some release and I knew he would give it to me.”

He laughed with me and he walked me back to my room, where there was a surprise waiting for me.

“Kol?!”

He looked at me in horror and walked into my room slamming the door behind him.

“Milton thank you for tonight, it was great. But I need to make sure he doesn't go rouge.”

He smiled and I left him alone. I walked into my room and I'm telling you, i'm dead meat.

Tags: @akshi8278 @theshyprincess

 MASTERLIST

[medea10]

Medea’s Worst Year of All-Time Anime/Game Superlative

Nobody saw this year coming…except for maybe Barbara Walters! Who could have predicted that this year would bless us with Australia burning, the entire west coast of the U.S. set on fire, stupid people setting fires because they wanted to reveal a baby’s gender, murder hornets, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying, an almost war with Iran, serial killer mascots arrested, policemen killing unarmed black folks for having a counterfit $20, policemen killing unarmed black folks for breaking up a fight, policemen killing black folks for holding sandwiches, policemen killing unarmed black folks for fucking sleeping, a wide variety of “Karens” coming out of the woodworks, the end of Bojack, the end of Steven Universe, the end of Empire, and a pandemic so huge it’s killed the economy, canceled fun, and given the U.S. president the dumb-fuck idea of injecting bleach to kill the virus!?

SERIOUSLY, WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED ALL OF THIS WAS GOING TO FALL IN OUR LAPS LIKE HOT COFFEE ON THE CROTCH?!

At least there was anime this year.

…

At least there was SOME anime this year.

…

Biden won the election and Vickeblanca came out with Black Catcher this year.

Hey internet, it’s Medea here to give you her trashy opinion on this years anime and games that she’s watched or played. Because for some reason, my loser-ass loves to do out-dated as fuck memes! I shouldn’t complain, this shit brings a lot of attention to my page every year when I do this. Yes, 2020 was a complete dumpster fire so large that Domestic Girlfriend is crying foul. Many of us had to go on lockdown and ended up binge-watching the entire 957+ episodes of One Piece. I did no such thing. I am one of those “essential workers” so I didn’t hunker down for 9 months straight. But when I was home, I was watching anime. Actually, I would have done that even without the pandemic. I’m an introvert and find the human race to be deplorable.

You all know how this goes. I go over the best this year had to offer me. I had to search really hard to find the good in this year, especially in the anime world. Many things had to be put on hiatus or were delayed to a later date. Just a reminder, I don’t discriminate in what year the anime or game came out. If something came out in the happier times of 2007, that anime or game counts! Let’s get at it!

First Fandom of 2020: Interspecies Reviewers

Did anyone expect a fan-favorite of 2020 was going to be a hentai? Did anyone have on their batshit 2020 bingo card that a hentai was going to grab everybody’s attention? At the beginning of the year, my mind was set on the Railgun sequel and Eizoken. It wasn’t until licensors, streaming sites, and TV stations in Japan dropped this series that I started to pay attention. And got immediately hooked! It’s about three men going to different brothels and reviewing their time with the ladies. And these ladies are of different species! So with every bang comes possible enlightenment, new kinks, or a night of having your dick sucked off more than humanly possible. This anime blew away all of my skepticism and first impressions right out the window. Maybe it’s because I’m a degenerate and am often curious about sexual content, but this was a guilty pleasure of mine this year.

Favorite Main Character of 2020: Moroha from Yashahime

I know the majority of this story is going to revolve around Towa and Setsuna, but can we please focus a little more energy on the spunky, quarter-demon girl?! I know they’re pitting Moroha as the comic relief, but I’m hopeful that she’s going to surprise us one day. We fans of InuYasha would spend the past decade and some change wondering what InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter would be like. This year, we got our answer with Moroha. She’s got this wild side to her, probably due to the fact that she’s spent her entire life on her own. And while she’s silly at times, she can get down to business in a pinch. She has her father’s sense of smell. She has a sword. She’s able to shoot sacred arrows much like her mother. And to top it all off, she has this special rouge that if she puts it on, she’s able to unleash that ¼ demon power inside her and become Beniyasha! Yeah, I know the power only lasts a minute, she’s only 14, give her a break! I will gladly go through another week scratching my head at the confusion this story gives me if I get to see one more second of Moroha and her crazy antics or her bad-ass slaying.

Favorite Villain of 2020: The Devil Believers from Black Clover

This was one hell of a year for Black Clover. It would have been an easy choice to pick the devil and possible super devil that appeared during the elf fight. But I’d like to give a nod to the filler arc villains. And you can’t blame this group for wanting the power of the devil. They’re literally the bottom-rung of the Clover Kingdom and ones with little to no power or mana. So I can agree with why they would want the power of the devil. For one thing, they’d have more power. And for another thing, they’d be able to exact revenge on those who have wronged them. On some occasions I agree with exacting revenge and when it comes to the nobles and some characters in Black Clover, some folks do deserve death. I mean, have you met the king of the Clover Kingdom? Plus, this town and many other poorer towns get looked over by the kingdom. Peasant uprise! Anyways, I thought these people were really crafty in their crimes. I mean, they were able to knock Asta out on his ass with specially made poisons. I was actually hooked to this story of Black Clover (despite it being a filler arc). I know we’ll never see them again as they have been exiled, but it did have me semi-rooting for them.

Favorite Video Game Character of 2020: Honey from Pokemon – Sword & Shield (Expansion Pass)

Sorry Raymond from Animal Crossing!

Honey is the saucy wife of Mustard…I did not expect that to come out the way it did, but here we are! She has one hell of a team you can fight once a day. She looks out for her husband, the dojo, and the students of the dojo like they were her own children by providing food, drinks, and others. However that does come at a price as you do have to give up a sizable chunk of your watts that you collect in raid dens. I’m sure a bunch of MILF chasers were more than happy enough to give her all their hard-earned watts just so they can have their one-on-one moment on the beach with Honey.

What won me over was when that one guy from a rival dojo bad-mouthed her husband’s dojo and she…I think she kicked this guy’s ass herself. I don’t think she used any of her pokemon. Game Freak won’t show it, but we all know she kicked this guy’s ass to a point where he’s begging for mercy.

Honey, for the win!

Favorite Game of 2020: Animal Crossing New Horizons

This game was just Zen for me. I know the release of this game came with some controversy like Gamestop saying it’s an essential business and will remain open for people to get their copies of the game. Hell, I was one of those assholes in line waiting to get a copy on March 20th. Did I predict that a pandemic was going to rage out of control when I got a prepay copy of this for Christmas 2019? NO! I only predict political things, not deadly pandemics! The good news, we social distanced, didn’t catch the covid and got the game.

Anyways, this game has been a non-stop calming and fun ride. I can even forgive their botch-up of Bunny Day. They even have events for holidays I never thought they would ever touch. I mean, does anybody know when Museum Day is? Probably not until Animal Crossing had an event for it! I’ve been able to let my freak-flag fly with designing my island. And this goes way beyond New Leaf for the 3DS. I can make a sign post with the words “Fuck Trump” on it and post it in my yard. I can dig up trees and plant them elsewhere. I can poop in a toilet. I can craft furniture and put my own design on it. My furniture can have Tracey Sketchit’s beautiful mug on it. I can sit on Tracey Sketchit’s face. I am a sick fuck and I don’t care. I can give Raymond and Bob maid outfits. Magical time in my game! My hopes for next year…I don’t know, get the Festivale furniture, get Papi and Olivia to join my island, maybe visit Danny Trejo’s island, who knows, sky’s da limit!

Favorite Het Couple of 2020: Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzaki from Tonikawa

This is one of the most unorthodox marriages I’ve ever seen. But in this 90 Day Fiance world we’re living in, I shouldn’t pass judgement on these two getting married in episode one and not knowing much about each other. Nasa meets Tsukasa as he was about to be plowed by a truck. Tsukasa saves his life. Nasa says she’s beautiful. Tsukasa says she’ll be his girlfriend if they get married. He agrees. She disappears. Four years later, Tsukasa appears in front of Nasa’s front door with a marriage registration form. Congratulations buddy, you’ve got yourself a waifu! In some way, this felt like watching Yamato and Takeo from My Love Story. I was fascinated with them progressing through their relationship. The only difference is that Yamato and Takeo took the old-fashioned route. This couple did everything ass-backwards in terms of having a relationship. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship during each episode. I find them cute.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2020: Karin Asaka x Emma Verde from Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

AAAAAAAAAH! I’M IN IDOL HELL AGAIN! Yeah, no kidding! I came this close to putting Miu x Nicole from that abomination 22/7. But thank God for Love Live! There’s no telling if any of the girls from the Love Live franchise are confirmed to be lesbians. But fuck it, all of them attend all-girl schools, no males exist anywhere, and Sunshine gave us Kanan x Mari! Yeah, you know Kanan and Mari is canon as fuck, don’t at me. So naturally, I found more third-years to ship in the new Love Live series. Now I know I should have put up Ai x Rina or Ayumu x Yuu. Especially the latter due to recent events! But Emma x Karin is my OTP.

Now Emma is an exchange student from Switzerland and in coming to Nijigasaki, she first meets Karin and they became instant friends. When Emma said she wants to become an idol, Karin helped her quite a bit. Even though Karin had no interest in being an idol as her modeling career is starting up, Karin would occasionally help Emma out. And surprise, surprise, Karin ends up fascinated with the idol world and Emma helps her come to the light to be herself there. Okay, I’m totally reading this in some fragmented way, but I’m currently playing Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars and the app game has a lot more stuff involving stuff the anime has yet to talk about. Confirmed or not, Karin x Emma for the win!

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2020: Eiji Okumura x Ash Lynx from Banana Fish

It took me a while to get here, but I finally made it to 2018’s overlooked gem. Forgive me for not being fully caught up, but from what I’m watching at the moment, I’m sticking to my guns and supporting the hell out of this. I mean, I could have mentioned The Titan’s Bride here…but fuck no, I ain’t goin’ down that mess! Ash has gone through a lot, I mean a helluva lot in his past. His cute boy looks have made him a target on the streets of New York, with mafia dons, and with prison inmates. But dude can kill if you mess with him. Then you have Eiji, who is just a literal example of a “pure cinnamon roll (until episode 8)”. These two are as opposite as you can possibly get. Ash is from New York and Eiji is from Japan. Ash likes hot dogs with everything on it. Eiji likes grilled fish and natto. Ash spent the majority of his life killing on the streets. Eiji was a track superstar. You get my meaning. But when we got these two together it’s quite adorable. Ash is really able to change when he’s around Eiji. Ash isn’t some heartless killer on the street about to kill a thug with prosthetic fingers. When he’s with Eiji, he’s a joker that can easily get scared of pumpkins. And even in later episodes, you got these two acting like a husband and wife.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect to Get Into: Les Miserables – A Girl Named Cosette

Let me explain a little something. Les Mis! I have never seen the play, watched the movie, or read the novel prior to picking up this anime. Not a single one of those! And that’s a bit of a head-scratcher when you realize I was a bit of a musical theater nut in my teenage years. But one thing I do like is when Japan does an anime based on plays or historical events (like Romeo x Juliet or Rose of Versailles). The second I popped in Les Miserables the anime, I wanted to binge watch the whole 52 episode series. It is by no means a perfect adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Several key players end up surviving all the way up to the end of the story! But because this was my very first viewing of anything Les Mis, I took to the story of Cosette and was eager to see what was going to happen next in her tale. Unlike the movies and play, Cosette was the main focus of the story besides Jean Valjean and Javert. And thanks to watching the unfortunate stories of Cosette, Jean Valjean, the Thenadiers, Javert, Marius, and the rest, I thought it was time to watch the OTHER adaptations to Les Mis.

…

Russell Crowe sucks.

Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Higurashi or When They Cry is one of my favorite fandoms of all time! So naturally when we heard that it was making a comeback, I was excited. It was also very odd that Higurashi was given this sequel or reboot. Ahem! There’s another franchise that needs a face-lift. Umineko still deserves a better treatment. Plus, now that this series was out of the faulty hands of Studio Deen, Higurashi will get the special care it deserves. Believe it or not, it wasn’t just the anime that made a comeback for me, but the manga as well. Since 2009, I’ve read several volumes (out of order) and would every now and then come back to read the story. Back to the anime, this reboot or sequel…you know what, I’m gonna call it a “rebooqual”! This rebooqual sucked me back to the town of Hinamizawa and all the murders. Every week, I find myself comparing the current episode to one from the 2006 version. But then the fourth episode of each arc seems to catch me off guard.

Where are they going with this story and these twist endings to our favorite arcs? I did not expect Rena to turn a simple attempted murder into the end of School Days! I didn’t expect Rika to die in the most disgusting fashion they could think of. Could someone kill Teppei fucking Hojo? I will pay ¥5000 for someone to do that job. So yeah, because I know how much of this plays out and who does what, I’m usually watching and reading while making wise-ass remarks. But I still have fun with it.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Konosuba

In a year where I caught up with the popular Isekais like Shield Hero and Re:Zero, I found the wacky misadventures of Kazuma Satou to be amusing as all get-out. From the first 5 minutes, I found myself laughing at Kazuma’s misfortune. Seriously, how the fuck do you mistake a tractor for a car, have a heart attack, piss yourself, and fucking die in the first couple minutes to the series? You can only get away with this shit in gag animes! But it’s not just Kazuma’s dumbass, there’s a mage who only does explosions, but loses all her energy after one blow-up. Then there’s a busty, blonde who gets turned on by getting hurt and can’t strike anything with her sword. Anime’s biggest masochist or Cheryl Tunt incarnate, I haven’t decided which one to believe! Then you have this loud, crazy goddess chick named Aqua. She’s also useless about 86% of the time! Watching their unfortunate missions is all the crack that I need to get through this year. Seriously, Darkness is just all kinds of fucked up, but we love her.

Last Fandom of 2020: Yashahime

That’s right, the InuYasha sequel gets top spot here! Even though week after week I find myself asking more questions than when the episode started, I’m still hooked. If you’re like me, you watched and fell in love with the series InuYasha. So if they’re doing a sequel, you’re expecting to see all of your favorite characters from the prequel like InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Sesshomaru, Koga, Rin, and the rest. Actually, no! Quite the opposite! We’ve got Sesshomaru’s daughters, but no Sesshomaru. Rin is sleeping in a tree we think! We’ve got InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter, but they’re M.I.A. None of the girls even know a thing about their birth parents.

Now are these new characters a catch like the ones from the previous series? Some are! The three main girls, yes! Especially Moroha! I’ve already praised her name earlier in the superlative. Towa and Setsuna do take on some personality traits from their parents. Setsuna is definitely serious like Sesshomaru and Towa sometimes has a carefree yet loyal aura to her like Rin. I know I’m always skeptical when a series gives us a sequel featuring the offspring of the main characters. Especially when you’ve got some lame examples like Boruto and Eureka Seven AO (I might retract my diss on Boruto later)! As each week gives us a new episode, we’re unraveling new clues into a lot of things involving our old favorite characters, as well as the new ones. So I have high hopes for Yashahime for the time being!

[cilldaracailin]

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Hello my Tumblr lovely’s.

Here is the next part in this story.

Hope you all enjoy.

Thanks so much for all the love and comments on this one so far :)

Suze xx

3 “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

“So, what was that all about? The ID?” Asked Taron as they sat down on the base of the stone statue, the little green area on the opposite side of the canal much quieter than the town and where the parade had been, only a few people walking around heading home after the parade and duck race.

“Jane is in the musical society and is a fan of yours.” Robyn smiled. “She knew who you were as soon as you walked up even with the green hair and shamrocks on your cheek.”

“And that I wasn’t Dean Edwards?” He chuckled.

“She is a huge Elton John fan and adored your performance in Rocketman. Believe me, I saved you from an onslaught of questions and pictures.”

“You really haven’t told anyone about me, have you?” He asked her quietly, pulling at the orange fabric on the duck in his hands.

Robyn looked to Taron, taking in his strong side profile, noticing how he kept his eyes on the duck in his hands. “Not really no.”

“Can I ask you why?”

Robyn looked away from his face and to her own hands. “It’s not that I haven’t been sharing the news around that I know you and of course my friends and family know what happened in Florida as well as the gospel choir and musical society and of course the parents and the girls in work…”

“So, a lot of people really know.” He interrupted with a little smile.

“Those who are important to me know Taron. I am not keeping you a secret, but I am not shouting from the rooftops that my new best friend is a wonderfully talented actor with a heap of awards under his belt. You know how much I love you Taron and how important you are to me, how important our relationship is to me and I have seen first-hand how horrible the unwanted media attention is for you and for me too that I don’t really feel the need to share what we have with those who don’t deserve to know about it. You are a very special person Taron and only those who I can trust get to know about you.” Taron reached over with his free hand as she spoke and held her right hand tight in his left. “I know it’s a bit different for you because at times you live your life in the public eye and I am there with you too and you know I am ok with that Taron, you know that.”

“I do.”

“But I only share the most precious things in my life with those I fully and truly trust and believe it or not, it doesn’t include most of Kilcreen. By only introducing you to those I have full faith in, means my home will always be a sanctuary for you Taron, a place you can come to when you need too. Somewhere you can freely walk around without your hat and eyes on the back of your head on the constant look out for a rouge photographer.”

“And I know that means a lot to you too. Even though you accept that aspect of my life, I know it is something you can find difficult.”

“Taron you know I don’t…”

“I know Robyn and when you accompany me on the red carpet and stand willingly with me, I know you are there to fully support me and be there for me without a question and the way you keep protecting me is something I don’t think I will ever get used too but I appreciate that being photographed when you are just out getting a coffee with me is something very unsettling for you at times.”

“At times.” She agreed. “So like I said, it’s not that I don’t want my world to know about you, I just want to keep a bubble for you when you need it and Taron, I honestly don’t mind getting photographed with you. It gives me more photos for my wall!” She laughed as he let go of her hand and went straight to tickle her. “But on a serious note, I am always here for you ok? No matter what and like I said, it’s not that I don’t want to share you, it’s just I need to be absolutely sure those I can share you with will be respectful to you.”

“Jane’s not one of them?” He asked.

“Oh, she is. Don’t worry but it’s not the time or place for a photo opportunity and I already gave her the piece of paper you signed for me when we went to The Prince of Egypt together.”

“The one you pushed into your bra.”

Robyn laughed. “Yeah that one.”

“You still gave it to Jane after it had been in your bra?”

Robyn’s nose crinkled up as she looked at him. “Jane has boobs too and wears bras.”

Taron laughed a little nervously. “Not where I was going with that chicken but ok sure. Just you gave her the piece of paper you had in your bra.”

“She really didn’t care Taron. It had your signature on it and I really didn’t need it.”

“Or to sell it on eBay.” He added.

“Nope.”

“Robyn?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks for asking me to come over for St. Patrick’s Day and for keeping my bubble for me when I need it.”

“Anytime rocketman.” Robyn slipped right arm around his waist, inching a little closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder.

Taron looked at the duck in his hands, which was now looking a little bit sad, his costume and feathers destroyed with water. “Poor rocketman.” He pulled a very soggy orange feather from the duck. “Though to be fair, after I had finished filming in that outfit, I looked pretty much the same. It was so hot and I was so hot and was melting in that onesie.”

“I can only imagine.”

“And the weather was so unbelievably heated and humid. It was so uncomfortably muggy.”

“Some of those outfits looked very heavy and stifling.”

“That dress was a killer.”

Robyn chuckled. “Your face never showed that though.”

Well I am an actor.” He replied. He pulled the envelope which he got from Jane with the prize money from winning the duck race from his coat pocket. “This is yours.”

“Erm nope.” Robyn lifted her head from his shoulder and pushed it back towards him. “That is your prize. Your duck won.”

“Because you bought it for me.”

“Because you wanted one Taron.”

“Because it is a Kilcreen St Patrick’s Day tradition. This is yours.”

“Absolutely not Taron. It’s your prize.” Robyn took the envelope from him and pushed it inside his coat. “Yours.”

Taron took the envelope out again. “It’s ours and we keep it for when we meet up and do things together, like having dinner later or a few drinks. So…” He opened the envelope and took the notes out and split the money in two. “You keep half and I keep half and when it’s gone it’s gone so we spend it wisely and keep cwtch away from it.”

Robyn laughed and she put the money in her purse, while Taron did the same for his wallet.

“I can’t believe you bloody won. I have had a duck in this race since it started and never won.”

“I told you Robyn. You are my good luck charm. Have been since I met you in Florida.” Taron leaned over and went to kiss her cheek but we met with a face full of hair as Robyn turned her head as the loudspeaker set up on the green for the day squeaked as a voice started to speak.

“And now we have a performance from Kilcreen’s Gospel Choir, directed by Maddie Lyons.”

“Shit!” Robyn scrambled to her feet cursing. “Shit fucking shit balls!”

“Robyn?”

“The gospel choir! The performance after the duck race! I bloody forgot!” Taron started to laugh as Robyn brushed herself down. “What are you doing! We need to go!”

She bent down and grabbed his hands, yanking him to his feet and took to a run, still holding onto his right hand, almost dragging him behind her, until he caught up. She sprinted up the stone steps and down the bridge and road that led into the The Square, glad that Taron kept up with her. They moved through the crowd, Robyn apologising as she bumped into people as they went, still hauling Taron behind her. She stopped suddenly, Taron bumping into her.

“Stay with my mam.” She instructed him a little breathless from their quick run and with a mouthed apology to Maddie, snuck into the choir group, finding her place in the front row, still trying to catch her breath as she joined in with the song they were singing, picking up on the harmonies easily.

Lizzie looked to Taron who was grinning and trying to catch his own breath. “And you were?” She asked him.

“On the green by the train station. Lost track of time.”

“Hmm I am sure.” She looked to his hands and saw the duck he was holding. “So, you won then?”

“Ahh yeah, I did,”

“What did Robyn decorate that duck as?”

Taron blushed a little. “Erm it’s actually like one of the costumes I wore for the Elton John movie.” He explained. “Feathers and all.”

“You wore something like that?”

Taron chuckled. “It was a bit more elaborate but yeah I did.”

“I actually think I remember.” Lizzie replied. “The one at the start of the movie?”

“That was it.”

“And Robyn made the duck look like you?”

He laughed again. “Not me exactly but more so the outfit.”

“Uh-huh.” Lizzie answered turning her attention back to the choir as they started to sing another song. “Sure Taron.”

Glancing at the duck in his hands, Taron looked up to where Robyn was standing in the choir, his heart hammering in his chest and not from the quick dash they had made to get to her choir. He caught her eye and immediately saw a blush rise to her cheeks and knew it matched the ones on his.

“So, you invited Robyn to another event of yours?” Asked Lizzie having heard the choir sing the song they were currently singing many times before, she was happy to miss it and engage in a little chat with the man beside her, not yet having the chance to talk to him on his own.

“Yeah I did. It’s the premier in London for the movie I finished filming in February.”

“The one that was stopped because of what happened in Florida?” Asked Lizzie.

“That’s the one. Matthew, the director, put a lot of hours in to make sure it was ready for the original release date in April and I really want Robyn to go with me. It’s because of her that I was even able to finish filming.”

“Robyn was telling me you are working on a new film at the moment too?”

Taron nodded. “Yeah. That was the reason why I was late coming over. My schedule is pretty full on and it changed at the last minute. Matthew is the director for this one too and he finalised his cast at the weekend and organised a last-minute script read through. Just something I had to go to.”

“But you still made it here.”

“I promised Robyn I would.”

“And when I first met you, I asked you to look after my daughter and you promised me you would.”

Taron heard the change of tone in Robyn’s mothers voice and he closed his eyes as he waited for yet another lecture from another strong woman. “Lizzie…”

“I know you love her Taron.” His words were not only cut off but caught in his throat and he turned to look at Lizzie seeing so much of Robyn in her features and his eyes moved to meet hers. “And I also know she loves you too and you don’t need to look at me with that doubtful look. I don’t want to bring the subject of New York up but for Robyn to still be fully giving her all to you after that, I know she loves you. It’s been a while since I have seen her excited over a weekend away or a phone call or a teddy bear.” Taron smiled. “You made her day with that present, believe me. Even I tried to find one for her and could not.”

“Sometimes my job does have its perks. I was so happy to find something to make her smile.”

“You make her smile Taron, frustrate her too but definitely make her smile.”

“I try too. Lizzie, I can’t explain to you how important your daughter is to me.”

“You don’t have to Taron. Your actions, the majority of your actions show me that, but I just want to say one thing Taron. Robyn has been deeply hurt in a past relationship. I don’t know if she ever talked to you about Keith?”

Taron nodded. “She mentioned him once or twice.”

“Fucker, if you excuse my French. I tell you something, if I ever see his face again…” Lizzie’s words trailed off. “Sorry Taron.”

“It’s ok. I don’t actually know the whole story but I know he was a fucker as you call him.”

“As her mother you can understand that I will never let any man hurt her again and I know you are not him Taron and from how Robyn speaks about you after she has been with you, I know you treat her with the upmost respect and to be fair, I don’t think I need to worry about Robyn standing up for herself.”

Taron nodded his agreement. “I have seen it first-hand. It is not something you need to be concerned about.”

“But I just need you to promise me that you will look after her. She has this strong exterior but underneath she is a vulnerable young woman who just needs to be loved without question. I am not going to lie to you Taron, some aspects of your job worry me.”

“The media.” Sighed Taron.

“Got it in one.”

“I can’t promise you that I can keep every photo taken of us together from the media Lizzie, but I can do my best to try. I have a wonderful team who work with me.”

“And I have already seen how hard they work for you and I very much appreciate what you have done for Robyn so far but just the things people write about the two of you, about Robyn.”

Taron groaned. “Please don’t read them Lizzie. Robyn doesn’t read them. I don’t read them. I understand it is hard not to, but it is the only way to deal with it, by not reading it. Unfortunately, it is just something that comes with my job and it is very unwanted attention I get.” He reached for her hands. “Mothers just have a knack for knowing things and you are right, just like mine was. I love Robyn and I mean properly love her like head spinning, goose bumps and racing heart love her. She has been a constant comfort in my life since I met her and gotten me through some tough times and saved my life but please trust and believe me that I am always there for her too when she needs me and always will be no matter what. She is a beautiful, intelligent woman who literally holds my heart Lizzie and I promise to treat her with the respect and love she deserves, the same she has shown me.”

Lizzie smiled. “Thank you, Taron.” She leaned in and gave him a close hug. “And before you even think about it, Robyn hates massages.”

“Sorry?” Asked Taron confused.

“My daughter is very good at giving them but hates them.”

Taron felt his whole face flush and as the hug ended, he saw a wicked smile on Robyn’s mother face. “You heard about that then.”

“I am her mother. She tells me things.” Lizzie watched as his blush stretched to his neck. “And I need you to make sure you look after yourself because I need you to look after her.” She smiled at him. “She loves anything to do with her hair though.”

Taron smiled back. “I figured that one out already.”

Lizzie lifted her hands and placed them on his cheeks. “From what I have seen Taron, you are well fitted for her, but she is my only child.”

Although Lizzie’s tone was a little light, he could hear the warning in her words and nodded under her hands. In the same way as Robyn did, Lizzie stroked his cheeks a little before her hands fell from his face and she turned her attention back to the choir.

He had expected a speech at some point from Robyn’s mother and it wasn’t the angry one he had been waiting for but rather an almost plea for him to look after Lizzie’s most precious possession, her daughter. Her words spun around his head. Robyn loved him? Well he knew that. He knew Robyn loved him; she had told him herself. In fact, she had told him less than ten minutes ago as they sat on the green but Lizzie spoke as if Robyn’s feelings ran deeper.

“Hey Taron!” Robyn’s dad came and stood beside his wife. “Enjoy the parade?”

“Yeah I did.” He answered, his thoughts still on the conversation with Lizzie. He shook his head, deciding he just didn’t have the energy at the moment that it would take to think it through and turned to look at the choir as a cheer went up around him and Robyn took the few steps forward to the microphone.

“Happy St Patrick’s Day!” She spoke. “Thanks so much for sticking around to listen to us having a good old sing song. We have been working on a new song and sure we’re going to give it a whirl and see what happens with it. It’s not what we would call performance ready but if you know it sing along.” Robyn looked for Taron in the crowd and gave him a quick little wink and before she moved and picked up her guitar, Taron recognising the instrument as hers straight away having played it himself. He stared her down and once she started playing the opening riff, his whole body rose with surprise his face going straight into a smile.

“Know this one?” Lizzie asked him seeing his face light up.

“Might just know it.” He answered, his eyes closing as the music for Tiny Dancer filtered through the speakers, Robyn taking the lead vocal as she played guitar, the choir supporting her with a wonderful chorus of harmonised ohhs and ahhs.

Taron pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly opened his camera to video the performance. He wanted to keep a copy of it but also have one for Elton too, knowing he would want to see this and would thoroughly enjoy not only the gospel take on his song but the fact that Robyn was singing it. For the second verse, the whole choir joined in with Robyn and she took a step back from the microphone, so her voice didn’t carry louder the others. He naturally just sang along, enjoying how the crowd around him joined in too, the beautiful acoustic version of the Elton John song along with the crowd making it an exquisite version. Robyn stepped forward to take a solo verse again and her eyes locked on his the whole time and he knew she could see him singing along and he gave her one of those full grin smiles he had when he was truly in his happy place.

This song was more than just a song from the movie he was in, more than just an Elton John hit. It was the song he had in his head as Robyn taught him to control his breathing in the 7/11 when he was panicking, the one she had gently sung to him as he lay in pain in the ambulance and the song he had taken to singing while he was in her kitchen when he visited her, even videoing himself singing it on Robyn’s phone for her. It was their song, one that they had bonded over, one that brought a tear to his eye as he just closed his eyes and listened. It already held such a special place in his heart from his time filming Rocketman but now it held such a different emotional connection and he would always associate it with Robyn. He had heard Kilcreen’s gospel choir perform before, even joining them for a rehearsal and their harmonies were so on point, the difficulty increasing as the song moved through to another verse, Taron hearing Robyn’s voice taking the chorus herself again. He didn’t even think about singing along and naturally did so, his own voice louder than those around him but he didn’t care. He had to sing along and even with the slight crackle and wobble in his voice from tiredness, he didn’t stop until the song had finished, only himself and Robyn ending the song, Taron a little flustered that he had kept going when everyone else had stopped but he was so caught up in the music he hadn’t noticed.

As a huge cheer went up for the performance and Taron was brought down to earth as he had been floating on a music high. He looked to Robyn and saw that once again her eyes were locked with his and he mouthed ‘thank you’ to her and she nodded back to him, before she moved to put her guitar back taking her place back in the front row. The choir sang for another ten minutes and had finished their set just as a few drops of rain started to fall, the crowd starting to disperse quickly as the rain threatened.

“Taron, John and I am going to head on home. We normally have a meal with my sister who lives next door us on Patrick’s Day. She cooks us up a proper Irish meal.”

“Robyn isn’t going?” Asked Taron, wiping away a single raindrop from his forehead.

“She normally does but don’t you have plans for the day? Something about Guinness and a céilí?”

Taron nodded. “Yeah that was the plan but if she normally has dinner with her family…” Taron’s voice trailed off.

“Robyn can have dinner with us whenever she wants Taron. She only gets to see you for two days. She planned a completely Irish themed evening for you. Go and enjoy yourself.” Lizzie gave him a quick hug. “She wants you to have a good night so go and do so. It was so lovely to see you again.”

“Thank you Lizzie and you too. I will look after her for you.”

“I trust you completely with her.”

With another goodbye to her parents, Taron then turned to look toward the choir all of who had already left, just Robyn and Maddie staying behind to tidy up. He strolled over to them. “Need some help?” He asked, getting a big grin from Robyn who nodded. “What can I do?”

With some instruction from the two woman and with his help, the three had all the wires, cables and speakers put back in Maddie’s car as well as the microphone stands, music stands and keyboard within fifteen minutes.

“Thanks so much Taron. That made my life a lot easier.” Said Maddie.

“No problem. Thanks for the performance. I think Kilcreen gospel choir might be my favourite.” He laughed.

“You are already a member Taron, no need to suck up to the musical director.” Laughed Robyn as she swung her guitar case on her back.

“You know where we practice Taron and are welcome whenever you want.” With a quick goodbye, Maddie hopped in her car, giving the horn a beep as she drove off.

“So Tiny Dancer?” Asked Taron as he turned to Robyn. “Who came up with that song choice?”

“No idea.” She answered him, shrugging her shoulders and it was an awkward hug that Taron gave her as he held the duck in one hand and he couldn’t wrap his free arm full around her guitar. “Guess you liked it then.”

“It was beautiful. Haven’t heard it sang like that before.”

“Heard you singing along.” Robyn answered him as he let her go. “You should have come up and joined us.”

“You didn’t need any help and I thought you didn’t play in front of people.”

Robyn shrugged her shoulders once more. “Guess I changed my mind. We should make a move before those clouds actually break into a proper shower. I just need to drop this home before we head for some food.”

“That is fine by me.”

[mountainleafuniversity]

Linneaus: Undertow Pt 1

Artwork by: @warrior-kitty

Special thanks to: @gemellath

This story is rated PG-13 for content. You have been warned.

It was a beautiful day for the citizens of Charluftton as the Wild Waves Festival was in full swing. The plaza was full of vendors selling t-shirts and frozen ice, the bar was full of all kinds of live music, including bands like Boil, The Lost Tapes and Art House, and even the beach was full of fun events such as volley ball, sailing, and even a beach 5k obstacle course. Boaters were out fishing and tubing and just all around having a good time. However, for the shapeshifting vixen, she was lying home in bed wearing her work cap, a buttoned jacket and khaki work pants. On her nametag was the name “Kit Rouge”. She was a shy fox who was diagnosed with a disorder that caused her to have trouble controlling her shapeshifting powers, and today, due to the events that occurred at work, was no exception.

“All I did was get grossed out…” she muttered. “Yet of course I turned into a fox bug like I always do when I’m disgusted. And of course, everyone thinks I’m too old for this to happen. I can’t control it…”

Kit had a busy day at work with lots of fishermen and families out buying things from pool toys to bait and couldn’t even stop the lines from the shoppers just itching to get their stuff and hit the water. She swore if she saw another sailor she would transform into her angry form and chuck them off their boat.

Her cellphone rang, and Kit answered.

“Hey Vixie!” Coin started, wearing sunglasses. “Work was rough today wasn’t it?!”

“Oh! Hello Coin! It was rough! Like the time that giraffe all jacked up on cocaine went up to you and-“

“Didn’t you remember our plans for today?!” he interrupted.

“What plans?” the khaki-clad kitsune asked.

“To go tubing with us!” Rio said.

“But I thought we were going to go to the beach!” Kit cried. “I want to lie down, get a sun tan and eat all the cannolis I can think off!”

“The beach is tomorrow and the next day!” Coin replied.

“Just get changed, pack some sandwiches and don’t forget the tube! See you in a half an hour.”

With that they hung up.

Kit thought about it for a second and decided to just go embark with her friends on the boat.

The young vixen put on a yellow one-piece swimsuit and covered it with a Zelda t-shirt and her khaki shorts from her work uniform. She then put on her special waterproof contacts, so she doesn’t turn her friends into her clones again. Finally, she made her friends sandwiches to eat on the boat while they hung out. Kit opened the garage to find Coin’s boat tube and sighed, knowing that none of their days out ever go well.

When she arrived, she saw her jackelope friend in his salmon trunks, purple t-shirt and sunglasses, with Rio harvest mouse perched on top of his antlers. She was in a little sailor’s outfit with a cap.

“First mate Rio! Ready to embark!” she said with glee.

“Hey Kitty!” Coin blurted. “Just put the tube in the back, were going to go fishing for a little while.”

“I thought you had a fear of fish.” Kit replied.

“My dad wants us to get fish for the Braun’s fish recipe!”

“You hate the taste of fish as well!”

“I’m getting paid if I do this.”

“Fair.”

And with that, they entered the boat.

Kit untied the ropes from the hooks, while Rio and Coin brought the buoys into the boat.

“Hey um Kit…” Rio said. “I think you might want to put your sunhat in the cabinet, so you don’t lose it.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Kit said without concern. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

As Coin and First Mate Rio pushed it to thirty miles an hour, Kit began to scream as her body grew more multicolored fur, whiskers grew, and her body became feline. The scared cat held onto her hat as hard as she could while the boat tore through the river.

“I retract my previous statement!” screamed Kit. “This is way too fast! My hat’s gonna fly away if you’re not careful!”

“Too fast?” replied Coin, seemingly unaffected by the rip-roaring speeds they were currently travelling at.

“No way! Calm down, will you? If you didn’t want your hat to get blown off, you should’ve at least stored it in the compartment.”

Begrudgingly, he and Rio slowed to boat down so that Kit could hand the hat over to Rio.

“Honestly,” she said, “We should’ve insisted on it in the first place.”

As they continued to sail, the trio began to develop an appreciation for the architecture of the waterside houses. Rio would wonder aloud who lives there, or there, or there? Enough time had passed for Kit to have calmed down; one tug of her tail later, and she was back in her fox form.

“Right then,” she said, retrieving her hat at last, “What are we up to first?”

“Sandbar, of course!” replied Rio as the boat sailed towards the spot where the ocean embraced the shore.

The little stretch of sand was surprisingly full of people sunbathing, dipping their toes in the water; anything to make the most of the fresh heat.

“Oh, nice! We can all have a game of keepie-uppie!”

Kit casted her line out towards the water and waited. Soon enough she had something on her line, reeling it in as hard as she could to discover she had caught a gar.

“Nice!” she said, pleased with herself.

“Hey, look guys I caught this cool long-billed thing!”

The crowd looked over, but only saw the fish worth jack squat and laughed.

Kit became slimier and turned grey, with white hair growing until she was now her sad form, the fox slug Granny.

“Dang nabbit!” she muttered to herself before casting the line once again…only to this time catch a sea bass…

“Did you bring the football?” Rio asked.

“Sure did!” Coin said, holding the old pigskin.

“I said the football!” Rio growled.

“This is a football!” Coin responded, perplexed.

Soon an argument erupted between the two of them, until they decided to just toss the ball around. The jackelope through a spiral throw towards Rio, who then responded by nailing her personal perch in the chest. Coin got up, picked the football off of the bar and tossed it again. After a while, he was getting nailed in the face, chest, and even in the groin by the sailor mouse’s throws. He called for a time out to see Granny still trying to catch fish.

“Hey bud.” She said. “Could you give my tail a pull?”

Coin turned her back into Kit.

“Thanks”

“So what’s going on here?” Coin asked.

“I”ve been catching nothing but sea bass and gar…”

Coin looked at her in disbelief.

“Kit there aren’t any sea bass in here…you mean sea trout.”

Kit blushed a little.

“It’s alright, you caught like five of them already!”

So, they waited and caught a decent amount of fish to put in the cooler.

After sunbathing for a bit, the Trio decided it was time to go tubing. They packed up their chairs, their belongings and the fish, which were placed in a water tank on the back of the boat.

“Alright guys!” Rio shouted with excitement. “Time for tubing!”

Coin took off his shirt and glasses, leaving him with only his trunks, while Kit dressed down to her swimsuit. Both of them then put on life jackets and hopped onto the tube.

“Um…” Kit said, somewhat nervous. “I’m not sure I want to do this…”

“Oh we’ll be fine. I’ve gone tubing dozens of times.”

“Get ready you guys!” First Mate Rio shouted as she pushed on the gas. She pulled it forward and the two cryptid creatures were yanked screaming. They narrowly missed other boats and shores, but soon the wild mouse got carried away. At a wedding reception between two mice on a dock, the two burst through and destroyed the dock the mice were on, leaving Coin with a face full of tiny wedding cake, and Kit with the groom in her mouth. Next, the two of them flew over another boat’s wake, which was sunk as soon as the tube landed on it. Finally, they neared an exclusive gated community residence, and ended up going through the yards of the tenants. Statues, trees, and rocks pelted them with pure bruises and scratches. At one point, they broke in through a beaver business man’s house and destroyed his kitchen, his teenage daughter’s bedroom, and his priceless wine cellar.

After breaking out of the last wall, a ramp was seen straight ahead for the duo, and with the ramp, Kit flew off of the tube and belly flopped into the water. Coin, luckily, stayed on, but ended up getting dragged through marsh grasses and oyster beds. He was all chopped up, so when Rio stopped, Coin fell into a million pieces. He healed himself, as always when he got this injured, and pulled into the boat.

“Hang on, where’s Kit?” the crazy driver asked.

From a groan they heard, the two saw her bobbing in the water. Coin spun it back around to collect Kit, who wasn’t very amused about the whole situation once she climbed back on board.

She was trying her best not to snap at Rio, as the jackelope got her a towel to wipe off the water.

Rio than then tried to fire up the engine but called Coin over. After a brief and worried discussion, the rabbit sheepishly confronted his fox friend.

“Umm…Kit….”

“What is it?” she snapped with her eyes already glowing.

“The boat…it’s out of gas…”

Suddenly Kit screamed as she transformed into DemKit, with his voice deepening into a roar. He picked up the cowering and flailing jackelope and chucked him off the boat. Then moved on towards Rio and held her up, shaking her around.

“WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW FIRST MATE RIO?!?!” he roared.

“Calm Down!” Rio said. “Coin can just call the boat tow.”

DemKit dropped Rio and blushed a little embarrassed.

“Sorry Coin!” he yelled out.

“Try to grab the tube.”

Coin swam towards the tube, failing to notice the fin behind him. He climbed onto it, but as he was being pulled in by the fox monster, a shark leapt from behind him and bit down on his swim trunks, ripping them and pulling them into the water. His two friends screamed with DemKit frantically pulling on the rope harder, but it was fruitless as he pulled it in to find the shark had cut it in half. Coin, meanwhile, had a censor bar over his special area and watched as whale watchers and fishermen boated by laughing. The shark returned and pulled the censor off of him, causing DemKit and Rio to blush and look away.

“How can this get any worse?” the mouse said to herself.

“There they are!” an angry woman said, with a crowd of people on a police boat. The officer looked to see a sailor mouse next to a steering wheel, some fox monster, and a naked jackelope behind them.

“Oh crap.” DemKit said to himself, embarrassed.

Later on, Kit, now back as her normal self, and Coin were eating the fish they’d caught in the estuary with their families at Coin’s house.

“I’m glad they found out I was just transformed.” She said. “And they found the shark with Coin’s compressions lodged in its throat at the hospital. He said he needed clothes to deliver to someone.”

“Who?” Gunda asked

“We don’t know yet, but because he pulled my censored bar away he now has to register as a sex offender.”

“As for Rio?” Kit’s father asked.

“Well because she was recklessly driving to the point of bodily harm and property damage, and we didn’t do anything wrong, she has to spend the Festival in jail.” Kit replied.

“It’s a good thing you guys called to get the trout out.” Jonas said. “Proud of you son!”

“Thanks dad! How was the nautical golf tournament?”

“Well, we placed second.” He declared to Margaret. “We have to go to the plaza tomorrow. You are performing tomorrow night correct?”

“Yea, I’m meeting Harry and Roxie at work tomorrow, and D’Arcy is setting up her clothing tent at the beach market.”

“Apparently someone sent a threat to her earlier this afternoon.” Kit’s brother told them. “They’re investigating who sent it.”

“Well, it’s probably nothing we should worry about, but we should tell D’Arcy once we get to the beach.”

Meanwhile the salmon trunks sank into a cave where a sea serpent sat waiting and grabbed it.

“Nice…” she said. “A sample of clothing from one of that jersey devil’s friends.” She smiled with glee. “He could be useful to me… in finally bringing her down…” she laughed as her factory workers continued to work…

[everlarkbirthdaygifts]

Happy Birthday, elricsister!

Apologies for the delay, @elricsister​ (my bad!). We hope you had a wonderful day yesterday, surrounded by loved ones, and topped off with delicious cake! To bring your party back, the lovely @historywriter2007 has written a story just for you!

A/N: Happy Birthday Elricsister!  I hope you are having a great day! I had you for the Secret Santa exchange and had an idea for this one, but I went with the more Christmasy prompt. I’m glad I got to put this together for you.  I choose the song El Tango de Roxanne from Mulan Rouge, I thought it sounded angsty enough for an enemies to lovers story. Hope you enjoy it.

Two to Tango

Rated T (suggestive)

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

Katniss took a deep breath as the other team finished their act, of course, they would go last, just one more way this entire situation screwed her over. It had been her second season as a dancer on Dancing with the Capital. She was thankful for the opportunity to be on the show, especially since it paid for her sister to go to college and for once they both had plenty. Unlike many of the other dancers, Katniss had to rely on herself to learn since she had to quit lessons at 11-years-old when her father died. At least she had enough of a base to continue, not to mention the Capital loved a survival story, as the producers put it. She should have known things would not be in her favor when it was announced that the powers that be wanted to add a show to the very end of their season.

Less than a week before they pulled everyone together to announce the additional episode, it would be a dance-off between the dancers, instead of the Capital darlings. They would all be paired at random, then given the song, it would be up to them to come up with the dance. The winners would get a bonus, something Katniss would be able to put away for Prim to use. She quietly prayed to be set up with anyone besides him, but of course, the first two names picked were Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.  

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Peeta, in fact, she hated Peeta. He had started the same year she did, and at first, she thought they could be friends, but he showed his strips in the first few weeks. As soon as his dance partner, Cashmere showed up. He also bragged about the new movie deal he had received, some stupid action movie where he would undoubtedly show off his muscular arms and chiseled stomach, not that she noticed any of that. Things only got worse when Haymitch, one of the producers, showed up to tell them what song they had to dance to. El Tango De Roxanne, they thought it would be great to do a nod to “Old Hollywood” since he was now going to be a movie star. Haymitch reminded them that the Tango was filled with passion, and hatred would be just fine, then he laughed as Katniss scowled at him, apparently, everyone knew how much they hated each other.

She felt his presence before he spoke, “Do you want me to say something to piss you off before we go out there? You seem to do better when you’re especially angry at me.”

Katniss turned to look at him, for a moment she forgot herself as she took in his outfit. Black pants that stretched over his strong thighs, she was sure his ass looked great too, and a white shirt with only a couple of buttons done. Her eyes finally reached his face and found his giving her a smirk, “Just you being here is enough to piss me off.”

The could hear the judges telling Clove and Cato how they had done, any moment they would be introduced. Peeta’s face seemed to soften a bit, “One more time? For the crowd?”

She smiled back and nodded just as their names were announced, not giving her the time to think about how his eyes seemed to carry a bit of sadness.

Katniss stood in the center of the dancefloor, trying not to feel embarrassed. One more thing she hated, her outfit. It was little more than a corset with a small skirt and fishnet tights. The music started and she felt Peeta come up behind her, just as the practiced. The moves in the dance were passionate, angry and sensual. She had to admit, Haymitch was right, her anger seemed to work just fine with the Tango and especially with the song they choose.  Doing some happy Jitterbug dance would have never worked for them. Enemies would have a really hard time acting happy.

They danced their hearts out, even though she was sure Peeta didn’t need the bonus he at least seemed to want to win this competition. Maybe it was because it was his last night. The final moves put Katniss fully at his mercy, one wrong move and he could drop her, but it was flawless. The judges praised the dance giving them 9’s and a highly coveted 10, meaning their score was the highest. All the dancers came to the stage for the announcement, Katniss and Peeta had won! Katniss jumped into his arms, hugging him before she could register what she had done. The moment his arms wrapped around her, without the guise of a dance move, she felt a spark run through her. She quickly stepped back, and they said thank you’s before leaving the stage.

Peeta walked with Katniss toward the dressing rooms. When she got to her door he stopped her. “I’m glad we got to dance together. I’m not sure why you hate me so much, but I just wanted to let you know I never disliked you. Good luck Katniss.” He turned and Katniss watched him walk to his room.

She stormed through her door, how dare he do this on his last night. Why wouldn’t she hate him, he was just like the Capital Darlings he danced with, manipulative and full of himself. She still remembered the way Cashemer looked straight at her when she announced she and Peeta had taken their “friendship” to the next level. She never thought someone like him would sleep his way to the top, she was wrong about him. Katniss then started noticing the little things, how he would whisper to others, many times looking her way. He was just like so many of the others that wrote her off as less than worthy of her job.

Katniss’s hair now hung loosely behind her, removed from the updo next she ripped off her outfit and put on a t-shirt and yoga pants, then to remove the pounds of makeup they always seemed to put on her. All the while she was getting angrier, why was he doing this now?

Against her better judgment, she stalked the three doors down and banged on Peeta’s door. She had to know what he was up to. Peeta’s blue eyes widen comically when he saw who was knocking. She noticed he had changed into jeans and a grey t-shirt already and took the gel from his hair, allowing his wavy hair to fall onto his forehead.

“Katniss, is everything alright?” He asked.

She glared at him, he honestly seemed sincere in his question. “Why did you tell me all of that?”

Peeta moved to the side and motioned for her to come in, she guessed he didn’t want a fight to get posted to the internet and cause issues for either of them. He closed the door and turned back to her. “I don’t know what I did, but I know you hate me and after a while, I just figured it would be easier for me to dislike you as well. The thing is no matter how much I tried I couldn’t. I’m sure I came off as more of an asshole than I meant, I just felt like I was being forced to go so far from how I really felt.”

“How did you really feel?” She whispered, afraid of what she’d find out.

Peeta’s shoulders deflated. “I like you and have from the day we met. But all of a sudden you changed and I didn’t know how to react. Self-preservation won out.”

Katniss shook her head, she couldn’t be hearing him right. “But you were with Cashmere, she made it a point to tell me all about it. Then your whispering with everyone behind my back.”

Peeta gave her a puzzled look, “What are you talking about? I’ve never done anything besides dance with Cashmere, in reality, she drove me nuts.”

“She told a few of us you did, she looked right at me when she did.” Katniss spit back, she was angry again.

Peeta raised his hands in surrender, “I swear I never touched her in any way that wasn’t professional.” Then realization came over his face. “She must have found out.”

“Found out what?” Katniss demanded.

“That I had a crush on you. She tried to get with me, but I didn’t take the bait. She must have done this to hurt me and you.” Peeta slowly reached for her hand, giving her plenty of time to pull it away. When she didn’t he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles and looked her straight in the eyes. “I swear on everything that I never did anything with her. I only wanted you, even when you made it apparent you wanted nothing to do with me, I couldn’t get passed it.”

Katniss narrowed her eyes for a moment as she tried to analyze everything he was saying. Had she really been that wrong about him? “And the whispering?”

“Some of the guys knew about my crush too or at least figured it out. They would try to get me to talk to you so I could fix it. Anytime I tried though you glared at me and I was too afraid.” Peeta spread his legs a bit so he could be closer to face level with her. “I’m leaving here soon, if you never want to see me again that’s fine but I don’t want you to leave thinking something that’s not true.”

Katniss looked him straight in the eyes, she always felt she was a good judge of if people were lying, it came from her rough childhood, and what she saw changed everything. “I don’t want that. I...maybe we could.” she couldn’t find the words, those were never her thing, instead she leaned in and kissed him.

His shock was apparent as he stumbled back into the door, breaking the kiss. She pulled back mortified that she had read it all wrong. He said he had a crush in the past, not that it was still there, especially after the way she’d treated him. Before she could apologize he regained his composure and put his hands on each side of her face and kissed her again. She felt the kiss flow through her body to her curled toes. She pulled him closer and could feel the effect she was having on him. A few steps away was the small couch, she lowered herself down pulling him with her. It was awkward, given his size and the size of the couch. It wasn’t going to work, but she wanted more.

He pulled back and pushed some of her hair behind her ear while giving her a sweet smile. “I want you, but not here, not like this.” He kissed her gently once more as if to make sure she believed him. “Come back to my place, I’ll cook for you and we can go from there. No expectations, just dinner.”

Katniss smiled, “That sounds nice.” He grabbed his wallet and keys, then walked her to her dressing room to get her bag. As they left she grabbed his hand, she’d already decided, they’d wasted enough time, tonight was all theirs.

[macgyvertape]

Final Cyperpunk2077 playthrough thoughts

Finished the game finally, general thoughts above spoilers, then a log of actions/reactions below cut

overall the game was #fine  Not even discussing the bugs I had and CDPR’s issues as a studio, the game felt shallow as a puddle outside the main quest and a few side quests. Driving is bad, combat quickly became boring, there isn’t much divergence as promised with your origin, so why replay it from the beginning? But the larger flaws are not just technical issues like how poorly cars handle, but design choices that make a lot of side quests “go here kill enemies loot documents“ boring. Comparing the yellow ! quests, with Witcher 3 monster contracts: they had a deeper story sometime, and you had a to fight enemies with different combat styles. A lot of the skills and perks shown in E3 material that would have made for more interesting builds were either removed from the game, or don’t work. 

I took a week off from playing this game, because I got to the point Of no return, and was finishing up side quests and hit a bug. Then i was thinking: is this it? For a game that I took the release week Friday off work to play because I wanted to experience the story with no spoilers; its just indicative of how somehow along the way I became apathetic with both gameplay and story.

the bit where Saul says Panam was right he was wrong, then gives her a hug. Just omaze. Wasn't expecting to pass out, but i love how all the aldacados greet you when you wake up and ask if you are ok.

really enjoy how Takemura hates all the awful food that is present in the future in Night City, and yet will still get pizza for the stake out. Seeing the cat, hearing about his backstory, who am i to just him for his corporate soldier backstory. "there are no clean hands but it is important how they become dirty"

apparently for Pisces quest you get a different ending if you do nonlethal to take down Maiko, so I reloaded a save and did that. Judy is a lot happier. She gave me a KISS, versus being shaken and upset.  I don't see Clouds being independent going well, they probably should join with the Mox

(had to relaunch the game here, since there was a bug that didn't let me hack anything)

After that I made sure to do nonlethal taking down Oda. Quickhacks and jumping away from attacks ftw.

I like how one of the reporters is there and you can repeatedly walk into her shot, and ruin it.

Of course I went back for Takemura in the apartment. I've played Deus Ex, and didn't save Paul the first time, so of course I had to go back for the rescue.

Johnny gave me his dog tags, and said that when the time comes it's his life for mine. I wonder if this dialogue would change any depending on the choice.

the scene where Johnny takes control drives home just how much an asshole he is. I just muted my headphones, and skipped through it b/c it wasn't exactly fun to sit through. I really like Rouge, her line of "I could never confuses the two of you", like I want her to like V for V

I drove out to the dump, because I knew you could find Dexter Deshawn's corpse. Also found the corpse of Bartmoss the guy who destroyed the net in a cooler nearby. It's neat that there are these things you can stumble upon in the world, but like the world is so big I needed to look up a guide to find where in the dump was Dexter's corpse. (update the bartmoss quest was kind of a let down, I just got some quickhacks not much story)

The dump through is good worldbuilding, is massive, and when i was there a dust storm blew in obscuring everything. Absolutely horrifying for their world, it's environmentally fucked.

I had decided to go with the Judy romance a while ago, and finally did that 3rd quest. It's sweet the build up to the date in the phone call and the different convo choices you have leading to sex; even though the 1st person sex cutscenes are still awkward af. Compared to the River one where there's a mood, here they just flash a lot of tit and vaguely suggest oral. Judy then invites you to move in with her, which you can then acknowledge it's literally playing the "lesbians move in with eachother quickly" trope, completely straight (pun intended). But I really like Judy's arc over the game as she gets to know V better, and you asking her to be with you is what stops her from leaving night city (I'm guessing friendship might stop it too, or just have a different ending).

The diving mechanic was cool, though I think this is literally the ONLY swimming mission in the game, so kind of a waste of a mechanic. I kept thinking, wow it sure would be bad if V passed out inside a building deep underwater: then "suprise pickachu face" guess what happens. Also not shocked to learn the tiger claws struck back at Clouds, without support from another gang it was bound to happen.

I like quests with Rogue, she's kind of a snarky ass just like V. I went ahead an executed Greyson I didn't trust him. Nice of Rogue to get me a jacket, but at the same time feels weird, accumulating more of a dead person's outfit piece by piece. Rogue is attractive, female silver fox way, but also i can't tell if its just to give gamers fanservice.

Wow after a few quests going "never again give Johnny control", he sounded so down talking at his non existent grave, and regretting that he was an asshole to everyone he knew, that I agreed to help him finish things with Rogue. (wonder if any choices you make change that dialogue)

Rogue: "is johnny asking me on a date or you" SURE WISH IT WAS BOTH ROGUE. I chose the kiss option but I get why Rogue says it wouldn't have been fair to her. AS V THOUGH, I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE BEEN DOWN.  Though Johnny did behave himself, glad to see trust wasn't betrayed.

Visiting Kerry, sure why not the visit with Rogue went well. It’s weird how friendly johnny is to you zig zags between side quests.

Going to find Nancy, I'm glad Dum Dum and Maelstrom showed up again. Was worried they would never follow up on that plot. Then i of course chose Denny, she had her house wrecked. But I do think its funny, I have all this Silverhand gear and no one but Rogue comments on it.

Here’s hoping male V’s get more from Kerry, you get the questline of reuniting the band, and then after talking at the bar you get repeatable dialogue prompts, and thats it for content.

Nice that you can go talk to Rogue and Judy and they will comment on the parade going poorly.

  NOTE:  I went to do a side quest Fortunate Son, and got a persistent bug where I thought quickhack was broken (turns out you just can't quickhack police) and the game wouldn't let me skip time. At this point I put down the game for a week and went to play something else, because it was the final straw. Also, that quest is poorly designed, it makes you fight a bunch of cops you can't just run away. So much for freedom of play.

Apparently I don't get the secret ending because my approval with Johnny is just 60%, and i didn't pick the specific dialogue choices required; so I went with the Rogue ending because feels like it completes her narrative more than attacking with the Aldacados

I looked up the Arasaka ending before I made changes, and wow that ending is depressing af (as to be expected)

Rogue is the best, but i was more tired of playing the game than sad she died, anyway thats what fix-it fanfic is for.

But for fucks sake, the first fight with Adam Smasher, he jumped to the upper platform, and the game bugged out so i couldn't even decide his fate. It's bugs all the way to the end. I think the ending choices were also bugged, V was attacking Johnny talking about the well, no matter what choice was prompted for bridge/well.

Then the ending. I chose for Johnny to go on with Alt.  I get why people have said they were disappointed with the endings. The Johnny ending has everyone wondering why V is now ghosting them, makes sense because this ending proves Johnny is an asshole.

Wow for saving Takemura in the hotel, he calls me and tells me “rot in hell kuso ama“ (rot in hell fucking bitch). So thats great /s. Can see that he’s obviously upset I didn’t take the arasaka offer and now the company is in turmoil. So much for thinking we were friends and guess saving Oda literally doesn’t matter for anything

But the return the body to V: V has presumably very short time left to live, the calls you from friends and acquaintances talk about how she doesn't call or visit them any more, your love interest talks about how you've been distant with them. I guess the delemain dialogue differs based on attack choice and how you resolved the Delemain quest, since it's different in a similar playthroughs on YT. As for endings for other characters it seems people are better off the more you help them, which makes sense.

But I still had this feeling not just that the ending was bittersweet, but that this didn’t in character for the V I had been playing. That Heck the Judy ending with attacking Arasaka alone/with Rogue, has her leaving Night City without you. Which fair, you knew that as you got into a relationship with her. But still feels like a downer. She's a lot happier in the Panam attack ending. I appreciate that you get different options, and options within those options, but I’m just like what narrative arc did V undergo? What personal journey was actually resolved?

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 162

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 14 - “Karen, The Troubled Student Council President” Date watched: 3 December 2019 Original air date: 6 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/ZVrof8Y Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Karen has a big think

It’s Karen’s turn to hold the character development conch. This time, we get to see how she handles pressure from all directions! We also find out a little secret about Otaka-san and the school’s leadership. Good stuff, so let’s dive in!

The Plot

Various clubs approach Karen, aggressively requesting budget increases. The futsal club can’t afford new balls, the drama club can’t afford costumes, the judo club can’t afford new weights, the list goes on. Karen is taken aback and tries to explain the complexities of the situation to the students, but they are insistent. After trying to come up with a solution, she approaches the Vice Principal and explains her situation, requesting a budget increase for all the clubs. He is reluctant to change the budget that’s already been agreed upon for the year, but because he respects her decision to approach him, he will take it up with the principal. The VP goes to the Principal, revealed (to the audience) to actually be Otaka-san the lunch lady, but she insists that she doesn’t believe they need a budget increase, and there are still solutions the clubs haven’t yet come up with to resolve their budget woes. Komachi talks with Karen, commending her willingness to work hard for the clubs where before she probably would have simply said that the budget was already decided and they had to make do with what they had. The influence of their determined young friends is rubbing off on them.

Coincidentally, Nightmare is also having budget issues of a sort. Although they aren’t in a pinch, Kawarino is scolding Bunbee for blowing a lot of money without producing any results, and implies that his subordinates are useless and the whole department could get restructured. Bunbee decides to go fight the girls himself to get some results.

Back at school, Karen is still being hounded by the clubs, and her attempts at de-escalation aren’t working, so Otaka almost steps in, but Komachi is actually the one to put her foot down, startling everyone. She reminds the club leaders that they agreed to their annual budgets before the proposal was sent to the school administration, and that Karen alone cannot solve everything. With help from Nozomi, she gets them all to line up and explain their problems, to see if they can work together and figure out alternative solutions within their existing budgets.

The biggest offender is the drama club, which is going way over budget because they’ve picked a play with lots of extravagant costumes. However, Komachi gets them to work with the sewing club, who were looking for a platform to display their work, and the two split costs in this mutually beneficial agreement. The Judo club couldn’t afford to buy new weights AND new uniforms, but they also got the sewing club to patch up their uniforms so they could buy heavier weights, and donated their older ones to the futsal club. Now that she doesn’t need to buy weights, Rin can afford new balls, and donates the old ones to the art club, who find their shape and texture very inspirational.

I’d like to point out that the dumbbell Nozomi is struggling to lift is only 5 KG, that’s about 11 lbs.

With everyone’s issues resolved, the girls enjoy a moment of peace as Rin takes her new dumbbells to her club space, but on the way, Bunbee shows up to cause trouble. He turns the dumbbells into a Kowaina and taunts the girls about his own superiority. They transform and fight back, but he is pretty strong. When Mint shields one of the monster’s attacks, he launches a missile that breaks the shield, and he easily dodges when Rouge and Aqua try to fight him in the air. Dream and Lemonade have no luck fighting the Kowaina and they’re all left on the ground, defeated. Bunbee boasts about how much easier it is to do everything himself, and Aqua scoffs. She says she used to feel that way, but now she knows they’d never win if they did that, and the team springs into action. Bunbee tries to missile them again, and again Mint uses her shield, but this time Aqua also blocks it with Aqua Stream and this weakens it enough to bounce off the shield. Dream and Rouge restrain the Kowaina while Lemonade attacks it with Lemonade Flash, then the two throw it and perform their finishers. The Kowaina is destroyed and Bunbee retreats, self-justifying the day by saying you have to spend money to make money.

Back at the lunch table, Nozomi observes that Komachi might actually be stronger than Karen, which gives them all pause. Otaka comes over with a basket full of yakisoba bread, claiming the principal told her how they avoided a budget crisis, and suddenly people from all the other clubs appear, all vying for some of the free bread. Nozomi cries because the crowd beat her to the stuff she really wanted, and that’s the ending card.

The Analysis

What a fun episode. Karen’s commitment to the students is really earnest and inspiring. You can see why she’s the president, and even how much progress she’s made since the start of the show. Old Karen just cared about order, new Karen has the best interests of the students in mind and wants to meet them where they’re at. She fields the ire of the various clubs like a champ, trying not to get overwhelmed, and explaining the delicate balance that is adjusting budgets: since the budget has already been agreed upon, for her to allocate more to one group than previously agreed means the money has to come out of somewhere else, and that could put the other party in a pinch. Important financial lesson for the kids in the audience, too. And when her advice isn’t sufficient for them, she goes to bat for them by requesting assistance from the VP. My only criticism is that she probably should have asked why they needed more money first to see where their funds were tied up at, but honestly I would probably do the same thing, jumping straight to “let me get them what they say they need” and not “let me look into the situation more”.

When they get to the drama club and find out the reason they’re so over budget is because they decided to produce an expensive-ass play, I about died. LOOK AT THIS OUTFIT.

gosh I wonder why

There’s a lesson in here somewhere about working within your limitations. Urara suggests they do a simpler show like Kintarou, which would have costumes and props they could reuse in other shows, but from the club president’s response I get the impression they’ve done far too many shows like that and are sick of it. Also can’t fault them for doing something different. I remember in my junior year (11th grade), my school put on a production of “High School Musical” (this was when that was still a pretty fresh and hot property) and it sold like crazy, so the next year they were able to perform “Little Shop of Horrors”, renting the Audrey II puppets from somewhere. It’s okay to dream big, but you gotta make sure you can afford it. (inb4 ok boomer) However, working with the sewing club was a very good compromise. They get a platform to showcase their work, the drama club gets good costumes for cheaper, and they split the costs. Some of the other deals are a bit more one-sided but as long as everyone’s happy, it works.

By the way, Komachi’s restraint when the club president goes “oh yeah we spent all our budget on that one outfit and we need a bunch more” is remarkable. (I looked it up and I see similarities to Les Miserables: it’s a famous story that takes place over multiple generations and features LOTS of recurring characters) Komachi is, thankfully, very good at keeping herself in check, but if you manage to set her off, she is downright scary. That’s a common attribute for shield-based Cures, and it started here.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, since they only have a few of the costumes done, the drama club president is only ever seen in-costume, looking like a prince with a pencil mustache drawn onto her face. If we take the bold assumption that this all occurs in one day, even one lunch period, then this makes sense enough, but it’s still kind of silly.

The first half of this episode is so good, and tells a pretty complete story, that both times I watched it I forgot what kind of show it was because I was so absorbed in the antics of the clubs, so I thought the resolution was just going to be sorting out their budgets, when that was actually only the halfway point. The fight with Bunbee in the second half, while good, feels incomplete. I’m not sure if something got lost in translation for the subtitles, because he seems to indicate he spent money on a better Kowaina mask but the subs don’t reflect him saying this, only the girls’ response that it looks the same as normal. I do like them switching up their fighting style, and it comes with one of the strangest calls to action I’ve ever seen:

previously unsaid sentences in human history

The context is that, earlier in the episode, Nozomi and Urara traded lunch items, and now Karen is reminding them all to trade opponents and work together to beat the monster. Hilariously, even though Nozomi was the one who wanted to trade in the first place, she’s the last one to get this coded message, after Rin explains it to her.

She is special.

The elephant in the room here is that Otaka-san, the humble lunch lady who always adds a million onto every order, who appears a little disheveled, is in fact the school’s principal. Books and covers, ya know. I don’t recall if the girls every learn her secret, but it’s revealed to the audience here. I assume she serves as the lunch lady in order to get close to the students and understand what’s going on without calling attention to her position of authority. That’s the thing about power, even if you act relatable, if someone knows you’re way above them on the totem pole, they’re going to act differently, so she has put herself on the level of students. It’s like Undercover Boss except she never reveals the ruse. And honestly, it’s a very good ruse. She is approachable to the students and they all love her, so she can listen to their problems and make sure that the school is running well from the ground level. Also, as the lunch lady, she wears plain clothes, an apron, and flat shoes. Her only accessory is her trademark silver brooch. As the principal, she wears a suit, her hair is more tamed, she wears lipstick and earrings. She even speaks differently between her roles, sounding more raspy in her disguise, while she adopts a more formal and stern tone while acting as the principal. It’s impressive. I know she appears in this role at least one more time in the show, so I look forward to seeing that.

As usual there were some great moments of comedy, wonderful facial expressions, and you can see those chronicled in the gallery.

Next time, in Precure Daily, Nozomi’s mom is sick, so she has to do the housework! How badly will this end?

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 kettei!

[pathofcomet]

bride of ice (1)

{dragon age: inquisition | g. | female trevelyan/iron bull | 2.9k}

| https://archiveofourown.org/works/23533642/chapters/56444983|

There is some kind of comfort in their name, and the knowledge that they will always be part of House Trevelyan, that there’s always the safety net of their title and of their family, and all that it taught them. When uncertain, just follow Andraste’s words and your better’s orders, and pray it goes well. Sometimes, life is as easy as that.

Even if it isn’t fair. Even if it doesn’t leave space for questions.

She was born on a holy day, her mother’s birth-giving pain’s screams mingled with the joyous ringing of the bells from the Chantry. That’s how her mother knew, as her desperate wish has been, that this one last, late child will be a girl. Or at least that is the story that her mother says when she feels particularly fond over the fact that there’s only one of her children left in her house, or to nobles visiting hoping for the young lady’s hand in marriage, or when she wants something from her sole daughter and has to preface her request with emotional manipulation.

The young Trevelyan looks out the window of her carriage, frowning, knowing exactly what her mother wants from her this time before she even has to voice it.

“You cannot, mother.”

“Of course I can,” her mother smiles back at her. “I am your mother and I am your lady and I am sending you on a trip with your brother, not to marriage against your will.”

It is a bait, and a reminder of all that her mother has already done for her: postponing her marriage for this long already, despite the disagreement from other nobles and her own husband, asking in return just from some obedience when she outright needed it. Like right now.

It was the Conclave after all, and an important meeting for her family. Not only was her own brother in the Templar order, alongside cousins and uncles, but most of their relatives were also spread in the ranks of the Chantry. At this point, it was equal parts family reunion and political orchestration for her. It is also an out, one last taste of the world before she knows, with certainty, that she will be made to choose her position in her family’s expectations: become a wife or a Chantry sister. Her time is running out, and this is why she doesn’t want to spend the last of it calming down centuries of hatred over diner.

She turns, to glare at her mother. At least, she doesn’t want to do it without her. There isn’t any political party that she hasn’t navigated thanks to the patient guidance of her mother. But whereas once her mother had dark, black hair – it is now faded to a grey, and when before, during her childhood, her mother used to do this trip to the Chantry by horse, her daughter laughing between her arms, she is now preferring the rest of a carriage. Her daughter grew, but she just got old. It is a startling realization for the young woman to have, in the golden light of the morning, that her mother is now frail and aging. Even if she wanted to do it, her mother couldn’t physically withstand the long journey, or the cold weather upon the arrival.

It was an escape as well: given the opportunity to prove herself, and carve a path straight between the crossroad the destiny was putting her at. She wanted to laugh then, to agree just to please her ingenious mother. She was her only daughter after all, and she was born alongside the joyous ringing of the Chantry bells, and her mother had taken one look at her baby girl and was determined to give her the world, or as much of the world as she could give to another woman.

But before she can answer, the carriage halts to a stop. Her mother wipes her fingers alongside her daughter’s lips, erasing a mark of stray rouge, and pulls at the thin, lace veil she is wearing to cover her head, making it more presentable. It is a light colour, matching her dress, and it is a pious imitation of the statues of their most holies. Her father has insisted on this outfit for her, just an image of their reputation and a reminder of their role and quality in the world.

She links her arm with her mother’s, eyes trained to the sky. Even after years and years of doing every week, she cannot get used to the murmured thanks of the poor, who have just been sent coins by her father’s men, or the enthusiastic greetings of possible suitors, or the envious glances of fellow nobles. As time went by, it felt less like her finding a connection with the Maker of the world, and more like a theatre play that she cannot take part in, because she’s unsure of her role or of the script she has to parrot.

So she walks, tight lipped, taking her seat inside the Chantry, offering a chair to her mother, and her dropping on her knees to the cold floor, palms held together in front of her, eyes casted down in a perfect picture of modesty and belief. She feels pity towards her dress, washed just the night before, and she can feel the hilt of her daggers digging painfully in her thigs, at least needed support in keeping her awake during the preaching. She’s not sure if the Maker is supposed to hear you better just because you are in pain during your pleas, or because he’s seen your face in his house more often than others’, or because your house has the largest donation ever given in the history of the city.

It is one’s own badge of pride that they decide to rely on. She’s not sure she wants hers to be as fickle and unsure as religion’s teaching. Even now, the sermon that they are given is against what they’ve been told just three weeks before, and yet no one seems to notice, or to consider it the least queer.

The bells start ringing, above their head – and slowly, people begin to rise and trickle out into the street. Her mother slowly pats her head and her back, reward for another of these days spent together. Her father is supposed to be busy ruling, and her brothers each with their own titles – so it is the women of the Trevelyan that have to show their faces to the world, stand proof of their ties and their history. People will believe a great many things if they are shown they can rely on said beliefs. And their house has been just a great constant, and such a stable pillar for their people, such an easy path for their own.

The young lady sighs, wondering when exactly this stopped pleasing her, given that she’s gotten nothing less than what she could have possibly wanted, sometimes even before she knew she wanted it. As they ride back towards their estate, she thinks it must have been around the time her brothers placed a dagger in her hand for the first time, and she realized she doesn’t want to let it go.

It is with that same pure glee that she greets her second brother on the entrance steps, hands cupping his cheeks to get a good look at him, then having him pull out his tongue at her and throw an arm around her waist, raising her up effortlessly and spinning her around. She screams into the air, servants turning around to laugh alongside them. Behind them, she can hear her mother clearing her throat, and he puts her down slowly, to go and place his hands in his mother’s, kiss her forehead.

He still stinks from the road, probably back just a little while before them – and his sister turns around, stops one of the chamber ladies, demands a table to be set as soon as possible for them all, and a warm bath to be drawn for him. Out of all of her siblings, his is the only room still kept intact: although he has his own place within the Templars, being situated just outside the city, he has always been just half a day ride away – and it has always been her family’s delight to summon him among them for any and all possible excuses. Out of all her siblings, this is the one she loves the best, he is the one that taught her the most, that cared the most about the small girl who came into his life well into his teenage years.

She cannot remember him without the Templar uniform. Even with all the silks awaiting him at home, out of pride, he wears the cotton shirts of his peers. She finds him magnificent and an idiot for this choice. He also forces her in leather pants and shirts, demands spars and duels from her, and laughs when it is way too easy to best her. He is the only one who seems to care if she can fight on her own, though it is an activity that no one interrupts them from, which means it must be approved by the Bann. Her only weapons are gifts she’s gotten from him, alongside the stories about all the female Templars among his ranks. There’s a fierce protectiveness from him that translates into actual actions, rather than advice that paints her in nothing more than beautiful furniture.

If she wasn’t the only daughter, if she wasn’t so precious in securing a political tie because of her good blood, she wonders is her parents would have agreed to her following the steps of her brother. Though, when he joins them at the table after his bath, he is carrying an empty vial, and she knows things aren’t as easy as he would like to make them seem behind all his blinding smiles. After all, that’s the entire purpose of the Conclave that the two of them are supposed to attend together.

His fingers move to pull at her veil, teasing her even more by unknotting her hair-do when she tries to protest against it.

“Ass,” she mutters under her breathe, though her mother’s leg kicks her under the table and she bites her tongue as a result. He laughs again, leaning to plant a loud kiss on her cheek, and she stuffs a pie in his mouth just to make him stop.

“So, sister. I heard you almost let me be the only suffering Trevelyan out there.”

“Oh, and I would have done it gladly if someone –” here she stops to bite into an apple, staring pointedly at their mother “didn’t insist upon my presence. I am not even qualified to breathe in those meeting rooms.”

“Nonsense! You’d make a fine serving girl!”

“Ass!” This time she says it out loud, and her mother slaps, loudly, against her wrist. It leaves a stinging, red mark behind and she glowers at her brother, blaming.

“You know it doesn’t suit you to whine like a petulant child,” her mother says, calmly. “If you are aware of your own faults, then work on them. If you’re not willing to do so, then do not complain when others point them out to you.”

“Yes, mother,” she murmurs.

“And both of you will be on your best behaviour out there, I hope. I did not raise fools who bark at each other out of boredom.”

“It’s out of love we do it, mother,” he says from her side, and he pats her leg, where she keeps her daggers, asking for peace. She smiles in her bowl of soup, hides it behind the rim.

His spine straightens. “We are Trevelyans, mother.”

With that, he says a whole history in a sentence. It means they will do what must be done of them, and they will honour the name that they are wearing. It means she is a good daughter and he’s a loyal Templar – and no matter the place, no matter the time and no matter the setting, they will do right by this first and foremost.

This calms her, better than anything her daughter might have tried. There is some kind of comfort in that knowledge, that there’s always the safety net of their title and of their family, and all that it taught them. When uncertain, just follow Andraste’s words and your better’s orders, and pray it goes well. Sometimes, life is as easy as that.

Even if it isn’t fair. Even if it doesn’t leave space for questions.

After lunch, they retreat in their father’s study, discussing the details of their departure the next day. There’s a stiff bitterness in his tone whenever he talks to his daughter, and she can imagine exactly how displeased he is with having her go. But someone still has to be just a Trevelyan, and nothing more, and his choice is limited, at the moment, to her – his oldest would never be sent to such a meeting to begin with.

So he must agree to letting her have her own horse, have her own say in their family’s matters. She tries not to take it personal, that he lacks any more trust in her – it is just that, as much as her mother wished for a daughter, he aimed for a son. He didn’t quite make peace with the fact yet.

Only after all this, her brother double checking their servants’ work, are the two finally left alone. He calls her over in his room, where a big, wrapped present is waiting for her, his hideous scribbling accompanying the rope keeping it together. There’s no hint of what’s inside from the text, just normal teasing for the spoilt baby, and he patiently waits for her to open it.

Inside, the pieces of a leather fighting gear. The smell is faint, and the sewing high-quality, and her brother must have spent quite a considerable part of his pay for this. She blinks away her tears before they can fall, the awe still there, her fingers still touching at each surface they can find.

“Thank you.”

Murmured, softly, overwhelmed.

“The Conclave is more of a war gathering than they’d like to let you believe, sister. You won’t be left powerless if I can help it.”

“I have Andraste,” she says, but he just scoffs, incredulous.

“Because that worked so well so many times before.”

That makes her laugh, at last.

“Thank you,” she says again, because there’s nothing more than that that she can say to express how truly grateful she is.

“I’m glad you are coming, sister.”

But she can’t quite say the same, even if the next day she wears her brother’s gifts, proudly.

 _______________________________

The travel itself is pleasant enough, spent in good inns and with good food, sharing memories of their childhood with her brother. They add layers as the weather turns colder and admire the landscape around them. One evening, he plays the lute – the next, she sings by voice. Halfway through, their party meets up with their uncle and aunt, working as escorts for the elder couple – as they arranged weeks prior through a letter. Her aunt immediately presses a silver hair pin in her hands, a beautiful gift that she puts to use the following morning. Her uncle spends one afternoon sharpening her daggers, and she’s reminder that their daughters won each hunting game between their families for the past three years.

Once their destination reached, she situates herself by their side, among the civilians present for the Conclave. Her brother hugs her goodbye, before joining his friends, and later in the day, a second degree cousin, now Chantry sister, finds her and they spend some time catching up. The tension is palpable in the air, but everyone is doing their best to stick to their own and try not to start anything. Divine Justinia is a wonderful respite in the midst of all; her kindness oozing off her, a softness in her voice that manager to lift the angriest frown, a power in her presence that silences even the rowdiest person.

Honestly, Lady Trevelyan admires the woman, finds some hope that the Conclave might actually come to an agreement after all, if she is to judge over all of it. And yet, in this world, everyone wants as much as they can get, and then even more if they can fool others into giving it to them. The negotiations are not that different from her own arguments with her tutors, spoiled and exasperated sides equally certain that they’re in the right.

So the days pass by, and at least the food is nice, and the wine flows freely in the evenings. She’s seen enough drunken Mothers. If bored, in the long afternoons when they aren’t allowed to be present to the talks, the guards ask her for a fight, and she trains alongside them until she knows her fingers will turn red in the water basin as she tries to wash away the dirt from her clothes. She reads out loud holy texts with the sisters in the morning, plays chess with the older participants, writes the letters for her aunt who left her glasses at home. Sometimes, a servant slips her a note – most from her brother, Kill me written out of boredom and exasperation, some from admirers trying to tell her that she’s pretty, but only making crass comments that she immediately throws into the fire.

It’s life – but life as far from the one she knows as she will likely ever get.

And then, it all blows up. Or that’s what people tell her, because she cannot remember –

[tanirath]

Remember to Hate You

A story written by its3am

Original on Ao3

Notes:

Slight AsraxJulian, Slight ValdemarxOC, LucioxMC, the third chapter contains explicit content

italics are flashbacks

You can read the first chapter here

Chapter Two

It was as it was when she was among the tribes. They would have to be aware of their surroundings of course, there could be danger, or an opportunity for food, and they had to be alert at all times for either. It was the eerie feeling that she was being stalked, watched, as if she were prey. She tried not to show her fear, focused on walking faster to get to her room. Click. Click. Click. Footsteps to her left. She didn’t dare look, she wasn’t even properly clothed! She took off, sprinting toward her room when- “I beg your pardon” An unsettling voice cut through the air as her body collided with someone directly in front of her. Stifling a scream, she looked up to see- Red eyes staring widely down at her, a mask now covering their mouth, hiding the unsettling set of sharp teeth. “Sorry-“ Athenia gasped, backing away and fixing her eyes on her door up ahead. She walked around them and scurried to her door, looking back once more to see glowing red eyes staring right through her. She shut the door firmly, then locked it. She dropped her clothes onto a nearby chest, hung her towels on the doorknob and climbed into bed, heart still racing. She was hoping to be relaxed after her bath, but it’s only seemed to put her on edge. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. In, out, in out. In. Out.

The sun was shining brightly through the gauzy curtains, its golden light filling the room with warmth. A knock sounded on the door. “It’s me!” Portia called out in a singsong voice, “I have your breakfast!” Athenia scrambled out of bed, wrapping herself in a sheet before unlocking the door and opening it just a little bit. Portia’s smiling face greeted her on the other side. She couldn’t help but smile as she opened the door, allowing her to bring the tray of pastries inside. “Perfect day for a par-tay!” She said enthusiastically, wiggling her hips a bit. “Are you excited?” Athenia couldn’t help but be a little excited, Portia’s positive energy was certainly contagious. “Yeah, I need to get home first though-“ she began. “Nah, I have the perfect outfit for you, don’t you worry. Just relax! It’ll take all day to get you home and back again.” Portia reasoned. She was right. Athenia sighed in defeat before plucking a scone from the tray. Portia waved goodbye and slipped out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

It was almost time for the party. Portia had brought her a stunning dress, the color matched her skin tone perfectly, the gold accents and tulle made her feel like a princess. She couldn’t help but smile when she peered at herself in the mirror after slipping it on. She pulled her hair up into a loose, elegant bun. Curls fell from the sides, framing her delicate features. She rubbed her lips together, rubbed her fingers over her cheeks as to even out the rouge that Portia had let her use while they started to get ready together – before Portia was whisked off to the kitchens to assist with bringing out the food. She took a deep breath before turning away from the mirror, opening the door ever so slightly to peek out into the hallway. The sound of the music could be heard from the ballroom, a faint whisper as if a dream. She stepped out into the empty hall and followed the delicate rhythm to the party that awaited her.

Satchel at her side, she breathed the warm air that she was starting to grow accustom to. She’d been in town for a week and it was already starting to feel like home. She made her way among the crowd to the coliseum, not quite sure that she would be prepared for the show that awaited her. She’d planned to leave after scoping out the Count that she was hearing so much about. The dust seemed to kick up under the hundreds of feet that moved excitedly in the same direction, the vibrant colors of their clothing, both the rich and the poor, like a rainbow river streaming into the coliseum. She could make out whispering in languages she didn’t know along with the common tongue, the city’s inhabitants’ anticipation was palpable in the thick summer air. Once arrived, she carefully found a place to sit, she didn’t know any of the faces that surrounded her. She looked around the stands for someone familiar, picking out the baker’s plump face, the same face that she went to for her sweet bread. Only this time he wasn’t beaming like he usually was, his expression stoic, as if he didn’t want to be there. Scanning, she spotted Dr. Julian Devorak chatting with someone with white fluffy hair, tanned skin, clothed in ethereal colors and a mystical glow to match. Dr. Devorak seemed mesmerized by his company, and wasn’t paying attention to anything else around him. His partner, however, was scanning the scene with a furrowed brow before settling on the speakers box that waited vacantly for it’s announcer to arrive. The minutes seemed to drag on forever, as the moments passed the crowd became more and more rowdy, voices shouting across to each other in various tones, a chorus of chaos. After it couldn’t possibly become any louder, the crowd went silent, the air stilled eerily as everyone turned their heads to the announcement box. Her gaze followed the rest, eyes settling on flashy red velvets, glittering accents of gold, pale skin that reflected like the moon itself, and an unmistakable blonde head of hair. The coward himself, Montag Morgasson.

Ball gowns swirled as the music played, the dancers skillfully stepping and turning in unison as if they were toy ballerinas in a jewelry box. She scanned the room, taking in the glamour of the party, everything was just a touch over the top from the clothing, the gold décor, the red carpets that lined the floor with their shimmering tassels. The buffet table shining under the glittering decorations that she and Julian had meticulously placed earlier. There was a certain magic in the air, a shimmer above her amongst the decorations that wasn’t there before… the magician, perhaps. It was like a fairytale. She looked down at her own dress, tracing her fingertips over the elegant patterns that adorned the silk, the netting of the tulle that lay underneath. “Athenia!” A voice called, she looked up to see Julian approaching her, dressed in finery as the other gentlemen in attendance. She smiled. “Hey, when did you get here?” She asked him, wondering if she had missed anything important. “Well I got dressed then came back out to finish setting up.” He said softly, cheeks turning pink. She happened to glance behind him, her eyes settling on a breathtaking watercolor swoosh of silk, fluffy white hair and gleaming shoes sparkling even more than the floor itself. Julian hurriedly glanced behind him to look at what she was seeing just as the magician caught her gaze and waved. Julian turned back to her, face scarlet. “I’m going to go check out the garden!” He said anxiously, his voice an octave higher than usual. “I hear it’s all lit up-“ And with that he scurried off in the opposite direction of the rest of the party.

The masquerade began without a hitch, guests had arrived and were enjoying the rooms, dressed up and fragrant with the scent of the most delicious food and drink imaginable. White roses in crystal vases the centerpiece of each pristine table, set to look as if it were straight from a painting. The night continued as she sipped her bubbly and observed the crowd. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, even as the hour grew later and later. She had greeted acquaintances, explored the bubble room as well as the winter room that had reminded her far too much of her roots, and was now wandering around the garden with some of the party goers that were trying to catch their breath before heading back in for more dancing. The fountain glimmered at the edge of the hedge maze, she made her way over and seated herself at the fountain’s edge, taking a sip of her champagne and gazing into the swirling depths of water, lit by an array of colored lights. She could hear happy voices around her, glasses tinkling together as the guests made cheers to this and that. Breathing in the early autumn night air, she closed her eyes. Everything felt right. Breaking through the quiet chatter of the crowd was a whining, familiar voice. Her eyes snapped open as she willed herself to disappear. Not tonight, she thought. This was supposed to be a good time. She came out to see the masquerade, sure, she had been planning all week for her outfit, the matching mask. But she was also celebrating, as Dr. Devorak had finally noticed her talents and asked her to come on to the clinic staff full time. She was thrilled, and knew it would be a stepping stone to greater things to come. This was her night.

She found herself wandering out to the garden, sparkling red wine in hand. She strolled leisurely out into the cool air, the chill of winter barely registering in her mind after spending years in the cold southern region. The night was refreshing, perfect for a celebration. Glittering lights like stars seemed to shimmer mere feet over her head wherever she wandered, she was sure it was the magician’s magic that was responsible for the finishing touches, making the whole party’s atmosphere seem almost ethereal. She wandered around the bouquets of white roses, noting the flowing fountain of red wine that the Countess had mentioned earlier, placed on a beautiful table alight with faerie lights delicately glowing on the table, artfully circling the fountain and cascading down the table’s legs in angelic swirls. Conversation seemed to pick up at the entrance as a small crowd spilled out into the garden, the lit area suddenly becoming alive with the buzz of excited party goers. A woman giggled, a man seemed to be recalling a most impressive story – surely fabricated for the enjoyment of the onlookers, another woman cooed. Men laughed and clinked their glasses in celebration. Athenia filled her glass with more wine from the fountain and glanced behind her to see what all the hubbub was about, her relaxed features tensing as soon as her eyes landed on a single figure, smiling arrogantly as his eyes flitted over the women fawning over him, desperate for his attention.

She peered over her left shoulder as blonde hair flashed into view, contrasted by the usual bright red of the fine silks and satins, a velvet cape to match. She rolled her eyes as she saw his perfect face, it disgusted her. She still couldn’t understand how such a man had become the Count of Vesuvia. What were the odds that he would magically be in the same place that she ended up, the same place she decided to start a new life, away from her past? But of course he would. He was an awful man and awful men tend to ruin things. She was glaring in his direction, noting the pout of his lips, the bratty expression on his face, when his light eyes darted in her direction. Breath escaped her lungs as he held eye contact for a long, miserable moment, a flash of some unrecognizable emotion flittering through his expression. Surprise? Disgust? He didn’t even know who she was. He never paid her any mind. She averted her eyes as soon as her senses came to her, standing to walk in the other direction, the long way around the hedge maze to make her way back to the safety of the crowded party.

As if he could sense her presence, his smile dropped as his gaze darted upwards in her direction. She was already full of such rage, such loathing that she had to make an effort to change the unpleasant scowl that was etched into her pretty features. Try as she may, she couldn’t bring herself to be pleasant toward this man. Instead she turned her back to him as if she never saw him, downed the glass of wine and fixed her eyes on the doorway, walking defiantly past the crowd that surrounded him. The music hardly reached her ears as she stormed back into the Palace, trying to hide her displeasure. What an arrogant ass. Cowardly little brat of a man child. She hated his stupid pretty face. He didn’t deserve it, if only he was as ugly on the outside as he was on the inside then people would treat him how he deserved. He was disgusting, a monster. Her daze was broken by Julian waving excitedly at her, cheeks pink and eyes glazed. No doubt the result of too much wine. “Atheniaaaaa daaance with meeee-“ He sang, before twirling off. She laughed, following him into the crowd of dancers. She needed something to take her mind off things. The song ended and the next one began, a more upbeat tempo, a cheerful melody that would certainly refocus her attention on trying to keep her footing. One hand in Julian’s and another on his shoulder, he twirled her around the dance floor like he’d had years to practice for this day, he never lost footing as he guided her in elegant circles around and around the room. She smiled broadly as she realized that they were attracting attention from the other dancers, some of them began whistling and cheering as Julian skillfully spun her like a little ballerina. She looked up at him, his eyes closed in concentration, an easy smile on his lips. He was certainly a skilled dancer. The song ended and Julian dipped her low, her head mere inches from the shining floor before effortlessly pulling her back upright again, eliciting applause from a few people nearby. “You’re amazing!” Athenia said, laughing at Julian’s proud expression. “No, youuuu-!” He slurred, swaying and sashaying over to the buffet table. Athenia shook her head and laughed, taking a look at the couples who have once again congregated on the dance floor for a significantly slower dance that had just begun. The lights went low as the music played, shining specks of glitter hovered overhead in the air as if the stars were just within reach. She swayed with the tune, a hauntingly beautiful yet melancholy number, as the couples before her grasped each other and swayed like bright flowers in a summertime breeze. A cool breeze swept through the room, gentle and refreshing. She hummed along to the tune as she munched on a brownie with colorful swirled frosting. She swallowed the treat and spun around, feeling eyes on her. She saw nothing out of the ordinary as she looked around the room, of course there would be people looking at her. This was a party after all, and she was dressed in a ball gown fit for a princess. She smiled and plucked another brownie from the picturesque display, popping the bite sized treat into her mouth.

She cursed him as she walked through the dancers, brow furrowed in frustration. He didn’t deserve to be Count. He didn’t deserve to be loved, didn’t even deserve to be hated. He deserved to be no one, forgotten, alone. But he wasn’t. He was loved as well as hated here, his stupid perfect skin, stupid perfect hair, his pretty features clouded her mind as her footsteps became heavier as she made her way across the floor toward the buffet table. She needed another drink to scrub his face from her mind. She was finishing her second glass of champagne since returning to the party as the air changed behind her. She turned cautiously to see the dancers moving, as if they were the red sea parting for someone of utmost importance. A dramatic swish of red and blonde could be seen through the crowd as the Count made his way through the party and toward the stairs to his hall. The music continued, but softer as his whining voice could be heard throughout the ballroom, complaining about his complexion and the late hour, prior to making his way up the carpeted stairway to retire to his bedchamber. She sighed in disgust, secretly hoping that he woke up with wrinkles, black circles, and maybe an extra 50 pounds to round out that disgustingly perfect waistline of his. Athenia downed another champagne and headed out to the carriage to make her way back home, unable to enjoy herself after suffering through having to see his face and hear his voice. She shuddered, remembering the way his gaze landed on her in the garden. He certainly couldn’t recognize her. There was no way.

A hand on the small of her back startled her out of her trance as strong hands circled around her waist, grasping her hand, pulling her onto the floor. Dizzied, she followed lead, wondering when Julian was going to head to bed. Her head buzzed pleasantly, the taste of the sweet wine on her tongue. “How long are you going to hide from me, pet?” A smooth voice whispered in her ear, rocking her back and forth to the music. A shiver ran down her spine, cold as ice as she looked up into the frustratingly pretty face of none other than Montag himself. Her jaw dropped and she stiffened, unable to move away or think or run. He smiled charismatically down at her, still gripping her hand in a delicate yet firm grasp, his hand on her waist sending shockwaves through her distressed body. “You-“ she began, a low growl.

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You can read the third chapter here

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