#and riding the wave of inspiration and just having fun with it! yay!

[gilears]

it's so hard to believe (but i'm trying to change)

1.4k, fig missing scene, canon-compliant

Fig follows Quincy home after warlock class for two reasons and two reasons only—the first reason is because he’s suspicious and may pose a security threat for (future) President Applebees. The second reason is because he’s a narc and a shitty bitch. (or: fig goes on a walk and thinks about gilear.) (read on ao3)

this week's follow up is about the fact that gilear still hasn't, like, even reached out to fig at all to let her know that hes gonna be gone for... a year? because what the fuck, man.

[airi-p4]

Miraculous escape - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |

Thank you @alittleshycat for the header and wanted posters pic! 💙 Thank you @brickercupmasterx3​ for proofreading! 💙

I’ve been into comedy lately for some reason... This chapter has been finished for a while, but I’ve been writing more of this story. It’s fun to write because they’re all stupid XD

A/N: Remember this story is Lukanette + Adrigami endgame.

Chapter summary:

The fugitive and disguised men arrive to Milan and set in their Hotel rooms and Rose holds a girls' pajama party.

AO3

_________________________________

Chapter 2: Arrival to Milan

The train arrived at Milan later than scheduled. Not that it surprised any of them - except probably Adrien who always rode bullet trains instead of cheap ones. Delays were part of the public transportation's everyday life (at least in Southern Europe).

It took them eight hours to reach the Italian city, and Adrien and Luka had mostly spent the time either sleeping (from exhaustion of the day before) or daydreaming about the girls that caught their attention. Juleka glared at them more than a few times too, reminding them to focus on their acting, but they pretended not to notice. She seemed to be having a good time with the short haired blond lady seated next to her, anyway.

During the ride, Madam Mendeleiev also assigned their hotel rooms: two members per room, sharing it with the person beside them during the train ride. That meant Luka and Adrien were assigned the same room, and Juleka and Rose and Marinette and Kagami would share theirs too. The men were relieved with the assignments- at least they could drop their acting during the night.

After arriving at the hotel, and leaving their suitcases at their respective rooms (courtesy of XY, who didn’t miss his chance to flirt again with ‘Lucia’- ew ), the band members reunited again to have dinner. Too bad for them, they didn’t get to share a table with Marientte or Kagami, but shared it with Juleka and Rose.

“Hey!” Rose called for their attention. “Why don’t we have a girls' pajama party here later, when Madam Mendeleiev is asleep?” she suggested.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea-” Luka started, but was blunty cut by Adrien.

“Oh, yes! A party! Yay! Let’s do it! It will be soooo much fun!” Adrien exclaimed happily, amicably joining the palm of his hands with the grinning Rose's.

“Yay! I’m going to tell the others!” Rose said, running to the other areas in little hops.

Juleka and Luka could only facepalm at Adrien’s reaction. It was probably his first ‘pajama party’, of course he would be excited. ‘Just be careful’, Juleka warned them, giving up at Adrien’s puppy eyes.

A few hours later, after assuring Madam Mendeleiev was pleasantly asleep, the boys changed into old fashioned nightgowns and moved to the Hotel’s bar, where almost all the ladies were already chatting and drinking together. Luka was disappointed to see how Marinette wasn’t there, and he soon left the party. On the other hand, Adrien was completely enjoying himself with the ladies. Chatting, laughing, singing, playing cards, fortune reading… The rich boy had never had so much fun in his life. Kagami had left early, but Adrien had made sure to stare at her as much as he could before his eyes couldn't follow her anymore.

Meanwhile, sick of his acting, Luka moved to a closed common room nearby. Dark and cold as it was, he didn't expect to find Marinette sleeping in one of the coaches, next to an incandescent lamp.

“Hey, are you ok?” He asked, shaking her a little. Marinette’s eyes opened all of a sudden, almost giving Luka a heart attack.

“Oh! Sorry!” She apologized. “Where am I?”

“You fell asleep in the common room. Can you walk...?” Luka asked her. She stunk of alcohol- lots of alcohol. Marinette nodded but almost fell down on her knees as soon as her feet hit the floor. Luka sighed. “Where's your room? I'll take you there”

“206” she answered, and Luka lifted her body to carry her in princess style. She was very light and he was probably enjoying her in his arms more than he should.

“Wow! You're so strong for a girl!” she said, in fascination, between hiccups.

Luka froze. *Shit* ‘ She’ll find out I'm actually a man at this rate! Think Luka, think! I need an excuse! ‘“It comes with carrying a guitar everywhere” he answered nervously.

But Marinette wasn’t really thinking. “That's amazing!” A short pause followed. “Wait! Put me down!” she demanded, and Luka obeyed, seating her on the coach again. “Let's have some girl talk before going to sleep!" she grinned.

Marinette's begging eyes were too much for his enamored heart and his body automatically answered. "Okay"

"Yaaay" she said loudly in a celebrating tone, between hiccups.

Luka gulped. She looked absolutely defenseless and beautiful in her pajamas. If he hadn't already fallen for her, he would have again at that moment. His long fingers threatened to betray him any moment, longing to feel her perfect skin under his touch. He bit his tongue trying to suppress his predator instincts and act like the woman Juleka expected him to be.

"Won't Madam Mendeleiev get angry if she finds us?" Luka asked, looking for an excuse to leave.

"She won't!" She assured, pouring more alcohol into her cup and taking a sip. "We'll just turn off the lights and hide, and that would do. Here." She offered him a glass. "Have a drink with me"

"Thank you. I could never say no to a drink" 'Let's hope it distracts me enough from my ‘naughty’  thoughts...'

"You know?" Marinette started, stopped by another hiccup. Luka carefully listened to her dreamy voice. "I thought you were a man at first…"

Luka choked on his drink. 'Oh, no. We've just arrived! Have I been found out so easily? I can't let her find out yet! We need to escape and-'

"Hahaha- really? No way. See? Breasts" he quickly answered, lifting his fake breasts awkwardly.

"I knooow. I'm just joking" she giggled, making Luka sigh in relief. "I haven’t introduced myself, have I? My name is-"

"Ma-Ma-Marinette, right?" Luka giggled, but stopped immediately after noticing her hurt expression. "Sorry, I didn't want to make you feel bad"

"No, it's ok. It's my fault for being so clumsy…" tears had started to form in her eyes and Luka felt his own heart hurt in regret.

"No, no! I should have been more sensitive. Sorry." He sincerely apologized.

"Thank you ugh- sorry. I don't think I caught your name…"

"Lucia" 'God I hate this name'

"Lucia. Pretty name. Are you from Spain? Or Southern France?" Marinette asked, curious.

"Yes, I'm from the Basque region" he lied to add credibility to his act.

"That explains your strength!"

"That's just a stereotype, Marinette… but who knows? Maybe I should try tearing a trunk in half with my bare hands sometime" Luka joked and Marinette laughed.

"You're so funny!" Her laugh sounded like the most beautiful melody in his ears, inspiring him to compose hundreds of songs. "Want more?" She offered him her bottle of alcohol.

"if you insist..."

Marinette opened the bottle to fill Luka's glass, but her trembling hands made her spill the alcohol on Luka's lap, surprising him.

"Oh, sorry! Your sleeping dress…" She lamented.

"It's fine. I'll ask for the hotel’s laundry service to clean it tomorrow and it will be fine" he smiled. 'how could anyone get angry at those beautiful regretful pure eyes? Impossible'

"What are these voices! Is anyone here!?" Madam Mendeleiev shouted from the aisle.

"Oh no! Hit the lights and hide! Here!"

Marinette pulled Luka's body strongly to hide him behind the coach, hugging him. During the minute they spent in that position, Luka forgot how to breathe, in awe of her softness and unexpected precise reflexes.

Madam Mendeleiev later moved toward the room where the girls’ party was taking place, and Luka could only feel sorry for Adrien. ‘ Good luck, my friend’ . But actually, he was more worried about himself, since the chest of the woman he liked was pressed on his face.

"Ufff… she's gone. Sorry!" Marinette stood up, offering her hand to Luka.

"No, it's fine…" he recomposed himself, shaking his head. "We should go back…" 'before the alcohol controls me and I do something stupid'

"Yes…Thank you for keeping me company, Lucia." She smiled.

“My pleasure" he smiled back. "I’ll go get Ad- Noirette first. Will you be fine on your own?”

“I guess so?” she answered, dizzily.

While Luka helped Marinette stand up, Kagami called for her friend, running towards them. “Marinette! I’ve been looking for you! Don’t tell me you’ve been drinking again? Are you ok?” she said, passing her arm under Marinette’s to help her steadiness.

“I’m perrrrffffect!” she said in a hiccup. “Thanks to Lucia! She’s soooo strong, you knowwww?”

Kagami’s eyes narrowed at Luka, giving him chills. But soon she apologized for her friend’s behavior, bowing her head at him. She also informed him she would take her to their room and thanked him for having looked after her friend. Luka excused himself to go look for ‘Noirette’. Kagami’s eyebrows frowned at his comment and started walking with Marinette.

“See you tomorrowwww, Luciaaa. Goood niiiiiighttttt”. With an exaggerated waving salute, Marinette almost fell straight to the floor in front of the elevator. Thankfully, Kagami made it in time to prevent the accident.

"Good night, Marinette. See you tomorrow" Luka waved back, blushing at her clumsiness.

'This is bad' Luka thought. His heart beat faster than ever. ‘ This girl is too damn cute. I’m going to fall in love for real if this continues... ’ Luka shook his head to snap out of his thoughts. Time to get Adrien back.

Back at the elevator, Kagami kept looking at ‘Lucia’ with judging eyes.

_____________________________________________

When Luka arrived at the party room he could see the girls (and Adrien) being scolded by Madam Mendeleiev. Not daring to show himself, he waited until they all returned to their respective rooms to meet with Adrien.

“Adrien! Are you ok? I saw that witch scolding you. Did you have fun at least?” Luka patted his back.

“Luka! Where were you? It was so fun until that old woman arrived… I’ve never had so much fun before! We drank, sang and played games… I love this band already. Do we really have to leave…?” Adrien mumbled, looking like he was about to cry. Luka could sympathize with his feelings.

“Sorry, Adrien. You know what will happen if your father ever finds us… I’m happy you had fun, though”

“Thanks. Where were you, by the way? I’ve been asking for you, but nothing”

“You won’t believe it! I got to spend some time with Marinette! Man, I thought I would pass out due to her cuteness. She’s too much for my heart…” Luka answered, grinning like a lovestruck fool.

“At least it went well in your case… I couldn’t even exchange a word with Kagami before she left, and she avoided my eye contact…”

“Tomorrow is going to be another day, don’t worry. It will go better next time, you'll see. Remember we have rehearsal all day tomorrow. We should sleep” Luka said, removing his wig. Adrien mimicked his action, nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, the door opened and the two men froze. ‘Oh no’

“It’s not what it looks like!” Luka screamed, followed by Adrien’s “What he just said!”

Juleka rolled her eyes from the door, going inside the room. The clueless musicians sighed in relief.

“Are you stupid? Why didn’t you lock the door before removing your wigs? Do you want to be found out when the escape just started?” she scolded them, who made apologizing puppy eyes at her. “I’m here to discuss your escape plans”

“Oh” they both responded, making Juleka sigh at their dumbness.

“It seems no one has figured out your true identity yet. The police are still looking for you in Paris and France, so you should be fine- at least for now” she informed them.

“Good thing there’s no internet or mobile phones in this story! That would make things very easy for them to spot us when we play with the band” Adrien said, more to himself or someone not present in the room than to his interlocutors.

“Ad, man, what are you talking about? What the heck is intern- whatever you said” Luka asked, confused.

“I don’t know. I had the feeling I had to mention it. Nevermind- I don’t know it either. Go on, Juleka” Adrien shrugged and let Juleka continue with her explanation.

“See? This is the band's schedule. We’re spending this week in Milan, then Verona, and then the band is going to perform in Venice. I contacted mom with my radio and she’s going to get us a motorboat ready to escape. I’ll have a radar prepared with the coordinates so we can meet in the sea with the Liberty- mom’s ship” she clarified for Adrien. ”That’s your escape plan. Make it to Venice, and it will be your win. Don’t screw it up! Understood?”

“Yes M’am!” they said in unison, doing a salute pose.

“Good. I’ll be here early in the morning for your make-up. Good night” she said, reaching for the door. “And lock the door next time” she warned before closing it.

Luka immediately hurried to lock the door and let his body finally relax and fall to the bed. “Let’s go to sleep… It’s been a long day…”

Adrien agreed, and just like that, the men fell asleep under dreams of beauties and the feeling of being chased by the demon himself.

[fizzingwizard]

Digimon Adventure: Ep 19!

Wow! That certainly was an Episode!! It was pretty fun from start to finish, though nothing mind-blowing, but it was definitely the ending that made me gasp. Not wholly unexpected to an old turnip like me, but promising lots of fun (and angst!).

Picture of the week: MIKO, THE TRUE STAR OF THE SERIES!!

no for serious are the writers reading my reviews? they keep giving me what I want. within reason I guess. They seem to have an extremely limited budget as usual x’D

but Miko is still adorbs

ok I’m really looking forward to recapping this one so let’s get to it!

So last week I thought the kids sans Taichi and Yamato were abducted by Devimon, but apparently that either isn’t the case, or it was, but then Devimon decided it’s best just to dump the kids back on Earth and hold on to their partners. Because that’s the current situation. While concerning that the kids are separated from their partners, it’s probably best this way, since Devimon appears to be sending Gesomon(?) and Parrotmon(?)

to the human world, if I remember right. It’s hard to remember what happened in the first fifteen seconds kay So when the kids find their partners it will probably be in the human world and they can fight back.

Meanwhile Taichi and Yamato are alone and very Confuse

Taichi tries frantically to contact Koushirou. The others too... but especially Koushirou.

Finally he gets him!! He’s so happy!! My Taishiro heart flutters!

But I was fully expecting it to be a trap. When I saw this still here, my first thought was “Devimon’s forcing him to tell Taichi a lie by threatening him with a gun!!”

of course thats not whats happening. Koushirou is relatively fine and there are no guns (yet). What’s happened is the other kids have been sent back to the human world for reals this time!

This show is not even bothering to hide its Taiyama angle.

They spend the entire episode giving each other Significant Looks like this. The entire episode.

Now where’s Jou through all of this, you ask?

He went to talk to the police. He’s shocked they don’t believe his story about monster attacks and the world ending (well, at least Tokyo ending). I freaking love how taaaaall Jou is. Though it makes Koushirou look like a bean x’D

Jou = beansprout / Koushirou = bean

Koushirou has a much easier time dealing with the news that the police don’t believe them. He’s a denizen of the Internet. He knows how people’s minds work. And he has tons of chat logs to prove it.

People are chatting and spreading gossip and disbelief and complaints, but my favorite is the comment that just says “It’s a flood of fake news” xP

The home team runs into Mama Yagami! Who Sora literally calls Mama Yagami! x’D I mean I know that’s how kids generally refer to their friends’ parents but I still lol’d.

So un... Jou is almost as tall as Mama Yagami. LMAO. I’m gonna assume she’s short. Jou might indeed be quite tall for his age but Sora and Mimi are pretty close to Mama Yagami’s height too. I guess we haven’t seen Taichi standing next to his mom yet! With his hair he’s probably taller than her.

So Mama Yagami is HILARIOUS and I’m so glad that’s a continuing thing in the reboot! She was already that way in 99 Adventure, but we’re just seeing a lot of it now - like every time she’s around. (And we didn’t see it in Tri so I missed that.) Basically she seems like a basketcase. Not a totally irresponsible one, more like just... generally the carefree go with the flow type. Which is not bad. She just also seems a bit, uh, ditzy?? I think Taichi probably grew to be so serious by necessity. Dad’s busy with work and someone’s gotta make sure mom doesn’t leave the house without her keys!

The way Sora just stares at Hikari like “explain??” after Mama Yagami thrusts Miko at her and runs off to get her car with a big smile as if they hadn’t all nearly died recently... bahahaha.

also I love how she doesn’t even bother asking her son’s good friend if she knows where he is after not seeing or hearing from him for three full days

^The face of a boy shouldering the weight of nuclear family life and all its batshitness

Taichi and Yamato determine their priority is find the Holy Digimon. I wish they were a little more concerned with what happened to their friends’ partners, but I guess this is the only goal with solid clues. Anyway before they can do anything they are attacked by Bulbmon Looks like subtitlers went with Valvemon which also works, who looks like a Lego monster creation by an eight year old (and probably is).

He has the Domo face. Grrraaah

Domo is NHK mascot by the way. bahahaha

Next these guys come swarming out of Valvemon. (And if we didn’t already get it, apparently Digimon can construct other Digimon as we’ve seen before.) Nothing is quite as freaky as gas masks. They are commanded by Minotaurmon/Mintaromon whatever.

They too have the aim of Stormtroopers though so our heroes will be fine...

... probably...

... then Leomon finally shows up!! Yay! He looks good! All beefy and scarred and sounding exactly like Zaraki Kenpachi. Uhh. Is it the same VA?? Nothing comes up in the Google search so maybe not but it sure sounds like him. (Minotaurmon and Ogremon also sound like Leomon... while it’s normal for VAs in kids shows to voice multiple characters esp minor ones, it literally sounds like Zaraki Kenpachi is the voice of all the characters in this episode besides the main ones. And Mama Yagami of course because that would be weird.)

Leomon may look cool, but his ride... and his friends... uh, less cool x’D I want to strangle that ostrich thing with its own scarf somehow it inspires violent emotion in me

In the smallest, most shocked voice, Yamato says, “Leomon...?” It’s honestly kind of adorable. He’s clearly remembering what Neemon said about Leomon leading the resistance way back when.

Leomon helps them escape. Taichi very considerately and cutely helps Agumon aboard the fashion disaster ostrich emu thing.

Yamato also considerately helps his partner but rather less cutely xD

Leomon takes them to his hideout and gives them your standard fare of weird-looking Digi fruit. He then proceeds to tell them about Devimon and that he is trying to infiltrate Valvemon yadda yadda.

Taichi is freaking ADORABLE, immediately concerned that by saving their asses, Leomon’s battle plans have been ruined. Leomon waves that aside though. Yamato is equally adorabibble when he asks after Neemon and gets told that they made it to Leomon safely.

Leomon plans to try to get into Valvemon again because he knows Devimon’s put something related to the holy Digimon in there. Taichi is determined to join in. He doesn’t have much of an argument as it why they should be allowed when they just got their butts kicked so easily, but he has a trick up his sleeve: the Burning Eyes of Fiery Passion.

Not to be outdone, Yamato shoots off his Icy Eyes of Cold Determination.

Faced with this twin assault, Leomon has to give in. Ahh, I remember last week when we saw the trailer for this ep and I naively thought Leomon would train them like Piximon did in 99 Adventure. Nope. They’ve just met and they’re already spy buddies.

Okay, okay, yeah Leomon does seem to have some knowledge of the “Chosen Children” and that’s his real motivation. Still.

They break into Valvemon and we get the excellent invention of Agumon riding on Garurumon. I assume because of Garurumon’s advantageous speed. That seems to be recurring thing in this show.

Idk I just capped this because he’s so darn cute

I don’t know why I capped this one though.

They enter some sort of central space where Leomon tells them something relevant to the holy Digimon is being kept. (Lol I already forgot the details of what he said.) There are two protectors, Minotaurmon and Bullmon. Leomon tells the kids to take Bullmon while he faces down Minotaurmon. These guys might have been somewhat intimidating if we hadn’t already got Perfect level evolutions mastered, not to mention the occasional Jogress :P Sooo I didn’t feel too worried.

... uh, never mind x’D Taichi what are you doing

Yamato saves his idiot butt and almost gets in a bind himself. Once again I’m just wondering why they are sticking at Adult level. Whatever. They win of course

Leomon uses his Fist of the Beast King to maim Minotaurmon. His brilliant one-liner? “I have more than one first.”

Bully: *punches you*

You: ow

Bully: *smirk* I have more than one fist.

You: That’s funny, I only have one, but it’s made of titanium *You punch the bully straight through the stratosphere* Quality over quantity!!!!

*cough*

Our heroes approach the secret compartment supposedly holding something to do with the holy Digimon... Yamato gets a look inside and gets the black shadow of true terror over his eyes

becaue floating inside like some kind of Weapon X experiment is... Takeru!!!

Hold on while I put in my ear plugs. Okay, ready, screech all you want now.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

So... okay. First of all, baby Takeru is sooooooo cute <3 I had two predictions about what happened to Takeru last week. Either he ended up in the digital world and was now on his own, or he got abducted by Devimon. I thought the former was more likely, but in hindsight, it should have been obvious that it was the second. This show misses a lot of points where I feel like they could have developed some relationships or thrown in some drama, but it never passes up a chance for Yamato angst.

So yeah, this is pretty much gonna destroy Yamato xD Not only is the baby brother he wanted to protect no longer at home where he can easily protect him, he’s now in the digital world and in the enemy’s clutches.

I BETTER SEE REALLY TRAUMATIZED YAMATO NEXT WEEK. Of course, I expect him to be cool-headed enough to try to save Takeru, but I will be very disappoint if this goes off with no break downs at all. Takeru is always Yamato’s number one priority!

Super exciteddddd

So I give this ep 7.5/10. The .5 is pretty much for ending with a killer cliffhanger. My one real complaint about this ep is how highly plot-based everything is - we finally got the team all together only to split them up, and on top of that, once split up, we don’t even get all that many character moments between Taichi and Yamato. As I said, they give each other lots of Signifcant Looks, but man cannot live on bread alone. However this is par for the course for this show and I know I should stop mentioning it every week because I doubt it’s changing. We will get the big shockers when we get them and not a moment before.

I just want Yamato to cry in front of Taichi and make him all uncomfortable x’D That’s what made 99 Adventure so great bahahaha

Some cool bits from next week’s trailer:

Surprise surprise, Angemon is the holy Digimon! Or one of, anyway. And he is indeed trapped. This makes the “Angemon is Devimon” theory less likely. Let’s not forget that our heroes’ Digimon partners were evidently a band of powerful warriors in the past, but they’ve forgotten much of it. I won’t be surprised if the result of that war played a part in Angemon’s abduction.

Next week they’ll have to fight to save Takeru from being drained, I guess.

And then!! Digi egg! Excite. Also I only just noticed that his hate says TK!!!

Takeruuu <3 My first fav when I was 10. Though my heart has belonged to Taichi for many long years, I still have a special spot in it for Takeru only <3 Even if he does dress like a celery stick

[stclla]

hello loves! my name is bri and i’m so excited to get the chance to write with all of your beautiful muses ♡ i just turned 24 (ew), my pronouns are she/her, and my timezone is est (luckily i live about an hour outside of nyc, and plan to move there permanently in 2021 yay !!!) 

tbh it’s been at least a year since my last rp group and i’m a little rusty, so pls feel free to share your tips and lmk how i’m doing :) my writing style is pretty flexible and i match length, pov, etc. and now !! a little bit of info about my beautiful chaotic bby stella:

ABOUT.

estelle “stella” celestine evans was spotted in the fashion district adorning gucci ankle boots , with some airpod pros on . they’re most likely listening to heat waves by glass animals . you may know them as @stella or as that sydney sweeney lookalike . their twenty-second birthday just passed . while living in the upper east side , they’ve gained a bit of a reputation . they’re known to be reckless but on the other hand warmhearted . wonder if they’ll be the next person to hit the headlines .

BASIC INFO.

Full Name: Estelle Celestine Evans

Nickname(s): Stella

Age: 22

Date of Birth: August 4, 1998

Sun Sign: Leo

Moon Sign: Cancer

Rising Sign: Scorpio

Hometown: Beverly Hills, CA

Current Location: Upper East Side, NY

Gender: Cis female

Pronouns: She/her

Orientation: Pansexual

Political Affiliation: Liberal

Occupation: Supermodel, socialite, influencer

Career Highlights: Victoria’s Secret Angel, high fashion runways, print & editorial work, music video appearances, photography, art direction

Goals/Passions: Photography, art direction, fashion design, makeup, social media

Career Claim: Gigi Hadid

BIOGRAPHY.

When your mom’s a legendary supermodel and your dad is a smooth talking Hollywood talent agent, it’s safe to say that you were probably born with a silver spoon in your mouth. But don’t you dare say that shit to Stella Evans. Although she definitely enjoyed the finer things in life growing up and was practically gifted a spot in wealthy elite by her parents, Stella likes to believe that she did it all herself. And underneath it all - the glitz and the glam and the money and the flashing lights - maybe she actually did.

While this blonde haired, blue eyed beauty might be the spitting image of her mother with a few (okay, a lot) more extra curves, Stella tries to distance herself from her family heritage as much as possible. It started in kindergarten when she renamed herself. After all, being named after the notorious Estelle Evans doesn’t make you a lot of friends when you’re five. It makes you the subject of ridicule from your peers, and makes your teachers treat you as if you were the one posing topless in Italian Vogue. And when your mother made you model for a big Baby Guess modeling campaign at the age of 2, kids tended to talk. So she became Stella. Just Stella.

From then on, she did everything she could to separate herself from her parents. If her parents said to stay in, she went out. If they told her to get good grades, she failed her classes in retaliation. Their attention was all consuming, especially her mother’s. After the once popular cover girl had retired, she turned all of her attention to her daughter. Stella’s modeling work had been paused at the suggestion of her talent agent father, Arthur Evans. He wanted her to focus on school and get an education so she could take over the talent agency one day. But when Estelle and Arthur divorced when Stella was 10 years old, all bets were off.

Her mother hopped from loveless marriage to loveless marriage, dragging Stella along for the ride. Her father moved to the Upper East Side, vowing to see her at Christmas each year, while Stella jetted around the world against her will. 6th and 7th grade in Sweden, 8th grade in London, 9th and 10th grade in Paris. It was a long and lonely adolescence, but Stella filled it with booze, bars, and boys and girls to keep her company. Partying was her only escape. And she was damn good at escaping.

She had her first real relationship when she was 16. He was an older French financier who was content to spoil her rotten and show her a good time. Perhaps too good a time. Stella was introduced to the things that would become her vices - namely, drugs and alcohol. Her mother proved to be overbearing but oblivious. She would do things like criticize her daughter’s makeup, clothing, and body, but be completely unaware that Stella was doing things like snorting coke to get thinner. She’d call her trashy for going out to clubs, then look the other way when Stella would wear a short mini skirt when leaving for “study sessions” at the library. With Stella’s clever wit and electric charisma, it really was too easy. The drugs combined with the alcohol made her feel better because she didn’t really feel anything at all. Plus, if her parents hated partying, then Stella would learn to love it.

Shit hit the fan when Stella was arrested in France. Something about being an accomplice to international drug smuggling and being under the influence of a controlled substance - whatever. 16 year old Stella got off with a slap on the wrist due to her connections, promising to move back to New York with her dad until she was 18 and legal. The Upper East Side was her new home, and weirdly enough, she actually kind of liked it. It was easier to start over in New York, where no one cared about her washed up mother. But they did care about money, wealth, and excess, which Stella was more than an expert in, whether she liked it or not. This made her presence in the New York social scene almost magnetic. People would flock to her, drawn in by her ethereal beauty, effortless charm, and “fuck it all” party girl attitude.

Attention was a dangerous drug for a girl like Stella, who had spent her whole life freeing herself from her mother’s tarnished legacy. And when she had finally done it, had finally succeeded in making people call her “Stella Evans” instead of “Baby Estelle”, it made her wild with reckless abandon. All her new friends and lovers wanted to buy her shots and make her feel good any way she wanted, and it was only polite for Stella to let them do it.

The next few years were filled with exclusive clubs, raucous spring breaks, glamorous yacht parties, champagne kisses with boys and girls, social media notoriety, and juicy headlines that cemented her status as an it-girl. Her modeling career resumed with a promise to her father that she would go to college at the same time. Armed with a golden reputation, endless connections, and natural charisma and talent, Stella began to walk all the major runways and was in talks to appear in Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret. Unlike her mother, she proved that she had both high fashion attitude and sex appeal. Stella was unstoppable.

Until she wasn’t. After a night of drinking and an ill-timed bet that she could parallel park her date’s Range Rover (despite the fact that Stella didn’t have a license to speak of), the police charged her with a DUI. This time, she didn’t get off so easy. Her father pulled as many strings as possible to keep her image clean in the press, but word got out anyway. Fucking instagram.

Faced with the threat of losing her big modeling campaigns, Stella agreed to clean up her image. Think rehab, charity work, inspirational interviews. The whole shebang. And it worked - kind of. It’s hard to navigate a world filled with temptation, but Stella doesn’t know how to survive without the glitz and glamour of the wealthy world. She dropped out of college against her dad’s wishes, officially surrendering herself to the New York social scene. Rich girls have more fun, anyway. But sometimes she hates it and wants to be “normal”. Even so, she knows that she never will be and embraces the beautiful chaos that her life of excess brings to her.

As far as rich kids go, Stella is almost down-to-earth. Kind of. She likes to think that she is, but she’s also the kind of girl who would never be caught dead on the subway. Or a taxi. Black cars and private jets only, please. Underneath it all, Stella wants (and frankly, needs) real connections in her life. People who genuinely care about her and have her best interests at heart are extremely rare, so when Stella lets someone get close to her, they’re with her for life. Her reckless, carefree attitude can definitely get her into trouble, so she can be a handful.

But one of her shining traits is that she doesn’t judge, at least not as openly and viciously as her peers. Stella’s life of wealth and status is definitely ingrained in her, but she is also openminded and accepting. Her friends don’t need to be old money. They just need to be real. You can catch her being the talk of the town in her native Upper East Side, but also vibing with the up and comers in Tribeca. Below the layers of superficiality and obsession with the finer things in life, this supermodel has a heart of gold. But don’t fuck with her. Stella is dangerous and defiant when she wants to be, and nothing can get in the way of her getting what she wants. Even if what she wants could destroy her one day.

*** her bio is still a wip and i’m working on some inspo for wanted connections, but definitely lmk if you have any questions or think stella would be a good fit for connections with your muses ! 

[huacheng-zhu]

Pandemic Mental Health Check In

I was tagged by @sweetlittlevampire, thank you!

How is everyone holding up?  

Last two weeks have been Rough, but there’s one less thing off my list of things to be anxious about for the next two months, so there’s always that I guess. Otherwise let’s say that if it wasn’t for my friends and the tgcf donghua coming up and 2ha destroying me on my own terms, I would Not be holding up as well. Surprisingly I’m not yet doing worse than I was last year at around the same time. Probs won’t last.

What are you doing to keep healthy?

Just as always, drinking only water. Otherwise my ‘healthy’ habits (like eating less sugar and less snacks) have decreased a bit since the first lockdown. I still did pretty good for the first few months, buuut yeah. Not doing good now. It’s not bad but I’ve definitely been paying less attention to these things.

Are you working, not working, working from home?

I’m following a training course. In person. Which I like better than working from home BUT given the situation right now, please please can we go back to working from home?

Anyone caring for kids or elders?

Nope. Though I really want to argue that my dad counts.

What was you best/worst day?

Best days were all out of class, and always when talking to my friends. I don’t have any specific days in mind per say, mostly little moments. Immersing myself in Animal Crossing, getting to hug my best friend again, live-reading/live-watching reactions, realizing that wow, I still know how to write after all this time, and people like it!, and so on and so. Just, little things, most of them shared, scattered over the months.

Worst day..... there was one not long ago but I was super out of it so I don’t even remember what day it was. Things just piled up too high, with bad news and anxiety-inducing things being added to the pile at the same time. I’m still riding that mud wave right now but today I’m a bit better.

What inspires you?

In general? To hold on? To do stuff? My friends and the things I’m into at the moment. They make me want to do things and keep doing them when it gets harder, to look forward to the good things that come next and that we can scream and write about together. I’ve always placed a lot of my inspiration and my reasons to look forward to the future in my interests and the feeling of sharing those interests with the people I love.

Are you taking up hobbies?

I got back into writing! After a year of no writing, and even longer of no writing with an actual passion for what I was writing about. And reading?? I read more in four months than I did in the past six years or even more than that. Last time I’d read something was three years ago like what the fuck.

What kind of content helps keep the joy on your dash?

My dash is almost only danmei, and that’s just what I need. Even with it’s MORE ANGST. 

Has life gone back to “normal” where you are?

It kinda had for a little bit, but it still felt like something was different, obviously. That said I wish we hadn’t gone back to “normal” because the situation is now worse than it was at the beginning of the pandemic, so YAY. If they’re not idiots again, we should be going back into lockdown pretty soon, but heh. 

What are you doing for fun?

Reading and writing! At the cost of barely playing video games anymore (besides Hades, and still a little bit of ACNH) and being super late on Critical Role [lies down] Hard to follow a 3+ hours show when suddenly you’ve got a one-track mind and your old hobbies resurface again. 

Tagging @ecthelions, @consideringhobbits, @forgotten-envies but as usual, don’t know who minds being tagged in these, so!

[artificialqueens]

Level Up, Chapter Eight (Branjie) - Holtzmanns

read on ao3 | word count: 4082

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m not late, we still have t minus one minute before we’re supposed to leave, so you could say I’m early, hello!” And there Vanessa is, skidding to a stop in front of the group and wasting no time in holding up a fist for Monique to bump.

Brooke doesn’t know why everything becomes so much more fun when Vanessa’s around. Maybe it’s the way she’s always smiling, or how her energy level never really dips. Maybe it’s the commentary. But Brooke does know that she’s never going to be tired of any of it.

AN: Hey, it’s been awhile. Real life has been exhausting both physically and mentally, but a burst of inspiration today has led to a completed chapter, yay! I hate having ages between chapters but life means that for this fic, it has started to happen. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless, and as always, please do tell me what you think! Thank you writ for being the best beta and friend, ily <3

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Cool, right?” Kameron leans against the vehicle, seemingly unbothered by Asia’s aghast expression.

“Cool? It looks like a kidnapper van!”

Asia raises an eyebrow, and Brooke has to admit that she’s kind of right. The van has a good five rows, enough space to fit all of the athletes going to the tournament and then some, but the white paint job and blacked out windows does make the vehicle look a bit suspicious.

“It was the economical choice!” Kameron sniffs, and hoisting her bag over her shoulder. “Get in losers, we’re going road tripping.”

Brooke holds out a hand in front of Kameron, using her other one to shield her eyes from the sunrise casting pink glows against the brick wall of the gym. “Keys? Want me to drive?”

Kameron twists the key ring on her index finger, shaking her head. “You were asleep five minutes ago at your desk. I’m not gonna let you run all of us off the road because you’re drowsy.”

Brooke wrinkles her nose at the phrasing. “Fair. Shall I navigate, then? Actually…”

She trails off when sees Asia walking up to the group, duffle bag slung over her shoulder, and turns back to Kameron, who’s straightened up her posture after spotting Asia. “Maybe I’ll leave that to Asia.”

Kameron frowns. “Huh? What does that mean?”

“Asia! Wanna tell Kameron what to do for three hours straight?” Brooke gestures at Asia to come closer, and Kameron lets out a groan at the sudden realization.

Asia, for her part, looks positively delighted, opening up Google Maps on her phone. “You bet I do. Also, Kameron, if we don’t get to stop at Starbucks I’m personally going to wrangle the wheel from you ‘cause that just isn’t right.”

Brooke presses her lips together when Kameron gives her a long suffering look. “You’ll thank me later. It’ll be fun for both of you.”

She turns away from the two of them as Asia starts to go over routes that they can take, scanning the faces of the athletes who have already arrived for their bright and early drive. Some are still in sweatpants, topknots balancing on their heads while others toss coffee back like they’re taking shots, and Brooke’s not sure who is actually more relatable. However, the person that she’s looking for the most, the one who’s always loud and excited even at such an early hour doesn’t seem to be here just yet-

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m not late, we still have t minus one minute before we’re supposed to leave, so you could say I’m early, hello!” And there Vanessa is, skidding to a stop in front of the group and wasting no time in holding up a fist for Monique to bump.

Brooke doesn’t know why everything becomes so much more fun when Vanessa’s around. Maybe it’s the way she’s always smiling, or how her energy level never really dips. Maybe it’s the commentary. But Brooke does know that she’s never going to be tired of any of it.

Vanessa’s drops her bag onto the floor with a thump and stands on her tippy toes to wave to Asia before she freezes mid movement, and the sudden eye contact makes Brooke’s breath hitch in her throat, too, no matter what a good friend of hers Vanessa is by now.

“You’re coming with us?” The hopeful tone in Vanessa’s voice is unmistakable as she bounds closer, stopping right in front of her and Brooke has to stop herself from reaching out and doing something ridiculous like putting an arm around her or hugging her.

She keeps her grip tight on her bag instead, shrugging a little. “You think I’d leave my student to compete on her own?”

Brooke’s been noncommittal over the last week, volleying her options back and forth in her head about whether she should go with the others. Her immediate instinct had been to say no when Kameron had asked, because why would she even want to go to a competition in the first place, when the atmosphere is one that she’s been trying to avoid for so long, if only to stay away from the memories that are bound to resurface?

But there had been a small voice in her head that had spoken up just a little bit louder than it usually did, reminding her that this tournament won’t be about her. She won’t be going to compete, or to reconcile feelings or trauma and what kind of coach will she be if she leaves Vanessa to get into a competition headspace on her own, especially in one that will be at a higher level than she’s ever competed at before?

Brooke’s going for Vanessa. After every morning practice, every evening training session and lifestyle change that she’s put Vanessa through and the hours and hours that they’ve spent together, Brooke’s going to go.

And from the way Vanessa’s beaming at her, she’s definitely made the right decision.

“In the van guys, we’re gonna be late!” Kameron shouts the words as she throws the driver’s side door open, and it’s the cue that the group needs to pile in.

A tug on Brooke’s arm as she’s squeezing her way through the aisle makes her let out a surprised yelp, and it’s no surprise that Vanessa’s the one behind it, from the way she’s grinning as Brooke falls into the seat beside her.

“Field trip buddies? I got dibs on the window seat.” Vanessa tucks her bag onto the floor before pulling her legs up onto her seat and crossing her legs.

Brooke doesn’t mind the aisle, really, not when her limbs are lanky enough to need the extra space. “How is that position even comfortable on a long bus ride?”

“Some of us aren’t built like Gumby, that’s why. Kidding, kidding!” Vanessa holds up her hands, letting out a screech when Brooke reaches underneath to tickle her sides instead. “I’m being attacked!”

Brooke notices a hand tap Vanessa’s head, and turns around to see a very tired Monique in sunglasses obstructing the majority of her face. “Vanessa, I love you, but it’s not even seven yet and my caffeine isn’t due to kick in for another half hour, and there’s only so much my fragile person can take. Please, for me…shut that trap.”

“Absolutely. Scout’s honour.” Vanessa solemnly lifts her right hand to her forehead in a mock salute and Brooke can’t keep in the laugh that bubbles over, clapping her hand over her mouth when Vanessa breaks into giggles, too.

“She’ll forgive me later. She loves me.” Vanessa whispers once Monique has settled back into her seat, and the conspiratorial look on her face makes it hard for Brooke not to crack up a second time.

“You’re ridiculous.” Brooke turns her body to face Vanessa, resisting the urge to pull her legs up behind her on the seat. “We’ll have to keep quiet, though. Half of the bus is falling asleep.”

It’s true. The bus is mostly silent as they pull onto the freeway, save for the faint bickering emanating from the driver and passenger seats up front from Kameron and Asia. It makes sense, for the early hour - though Brooke’s body doesn’t feel like it can join them, not when she’s reminded of the fact that they’re headed to a competition, where Vanessa’s going to have actual matches and it’s not going to be training anymore-

“Boring. Wanna play Heads Up instead?”

Vanessa’s question cuts through the way Brooke’s thoughts are starting to rev up and it’s a welcome distraction, especially when Vanessa’s expectant face is one that even she can’t resist. And it works, with the first hour of their drive flying by with ridiculous impressions and charades that make Brooke laugh until her sides hurt. When they play through the various categories enough times to know all of the answers, resting back against their seats doesn’t seem like such a bad idea anymore.

“It’s starting to get all light outside now.” Vanessa mumbles the words beside her as she sinks further into her seat, rubbing her eyes. “Just as I’m getting tired.”

“Good thing we still have at least an hour and a half to go. You have enough time for a nap, and you’ll need that energy later today. Sleep.” Brooke shrugs, taking a sip of her coffee. She’s not sure that she’s going to be able to join Vanessa, but it’s not a bad idea.

Vanessa makes a face. “How am I supposed to fall asleep with the sun and all the talking and ruckus on the bus? At home I got one of those white noise machines. Ocean sounds and shit.”

“Ocean sounds, really?” Brooke raises an eyebrow, pressing her lips together. “You somehow strike me as the last person to use one of those.”

“I like sleeping in comfort,” Vanessa sniffs, “and sometimes that means pretending that you’re on a beach.”

But Vanessa closes her eyes, pulls her sleeves over her hands nonetheless, and her breathing begins to even out as Brooke hits the second commercial on the podcast that she’s listening to. Vanessa’s head threatens to slip forward as she dozes, her neck pulling back at the last second as her breathing catches and nearly jerks her from her sleep.

It doesn’t look comfortable, and the last thing that Vanessa needs to wake up with is a neck cramp. So it’s a smart coaching move, really, for Brooke to guide Vanessa’s head towards her shoulder to lean on, a soft surface that she can’t slip from. And the way that Vanessa burrows into her shoulder is natural, too, just second nature as she sleeps, Brooke knows that. But Brooke doesn’t want to move or disrupt Vanessa’s dozing, do anything to wake her because the way her eyelashes are fluttering is almost mesmerizing, as is the way Vanessa’s hands are folding in on their sleeves.

A lock of hair falls in front of Vanessa’s face and Brooke doesn’t even have to think twice before brushing it back, tucking it behind her ear. She rakes her fingers through Vanessa’s hair, smoothing it down and the movement makes Vanessa mumble and snuggle herself more into Brooke’s side and it’s hard not to melt, it really is. Brooke keeps up the movements, forcing her fingers to comb through Vanessa’s hair as slowly as she can, her touch gentle and careful not to tug on the locks or rouse her.

And maybe Brooke’s shoulder is little uncomfortable from their position, but she’s not about to move, not now, not when they’re sitting like this. Because part of Brooke wants to stay like this forever, as the rising sun casts beams of light around the bus and Vanessa’s warmth beside her makes her feel like she’s under a blanket, ready to fall asleep herself.

“Psst. Psst. Wake up.”

“Huh?” Brooke rubs her eyes, trying to ignore the way everything is so bright and the sensation of something incessantly poking at her ribs.

Vanessa’s leg is jiggling as she bounces with entirely too much energy for a morning, and Brooke realizes it’s her hand that’s poking at her side. “We’re here!”

Brooke yawns, turning around to look and it’s true, because outside their window is the convention hall that’s supposed to still be three hours away, and the other girls around them are already picking up their belongings, climbing out of the van.

Huh. So maybe Brooke had fallen asleep too.

“C’mon, get out already! We’re gonna be the last ones off at this rate.” Vanessa looks like she’s about to explode out of her seat and Brooke snorts, standing up to grab her things so that she can put Vanessa out of her misery.

The convention centre reminds Brooke of her early competition days, before she went pro and everything had been big and new and she still had so many ladders to climb, so many goals to strive for. She’d hoist her equipment bag over her shoulder, refusing to let her dad carry it for her and it feels strange now to not have one while surrounded by other athletes and coaches and spectators milling about in the lobby. A part of Brooke has missed this - the athletes getting themselves registered, the sponsor tables with gear on sale, the coaches trying to yell over the noise to get the attention of their athletes. It’s organized chaos, one that hadn’t necessarily been present when she’d gotten into the pro scene. This feels more organic, more novel, even from her lens as a washed up athlete who isn’t competing.

The magic is somehow still there.

“Damn. This is huge.” Vanessa whistles beside her, craning her neck to look around the lobby. “We haven’t been to a tournament this big before.”

“First time for everything. Keep on climbing, right?” Brooke nudges her side, but Vanessa doesn’t return her smile, instead biting her lip.

“And you’re telling me I’m gonna compete at the highest level? Who knows what kinda Olympic level bitches are gonna be here. Jesus.” Vanessa’s fingers tap against her side, the nerves radiating off of her and Brooke grabs her shoulders, turns to face her.

“They’re here, but so are you. Tell me, would you be allowed to sign up and compete at this level if you weren’t qualified for it?”

“No, but-”

“Would I even let you fight if I didn’t think you were at this level, or above it?”

“Now you’re just trying to make me feel less nervous.” Vanessa sighs, and the vulnerability is a rare sight, one that makes Brooke’s heart clench.

“Doesn’t make it less true. You’ve been pushing yourself for months. You’ve competed in many novice tournaments. And guess what? You’re here now. You’ve earned it.”

The words are sincere coming from Brooke’s mouth because she believes them, really believes them. She’s challenged Vanessa and made her work harder and harder and Vanessa’s not only a better athlete now, but a stronger one too. One who has technique but also has the drive to push forward that extra mile.  

“You’re here because you deserve to be here, and you’re competing at a high level because it’s your level. You’re not a beginner anymore, Ness.” Brooke nudges Vanessa’s side, and the way Vanessa’s shoulders are beginning to relax let Brooke know that the words are beginning to sink in.

“No longer the girl popping into the gym in full face and asking you what the place is like, huh?” Vanessa grins, and Brooke can’t help but do so too at the memory.

“And a full set of nails too, don’t forget that.”

“They were press ons, bitch! I still wear ‘em now sometimes!” Vanessa sticks her tongue out, crossing her arms and Brooke doesn’t hesitate in returning the facial expression.

“Next in line, please!”

Though it isn’t until Vanessa traipses off to get ready with the other athletes that the reality of the situation really begins to sink in for Brooke. It’s a competition. A more prestigious competition, with Vanessa competing at a higher level than she’s ever done before. And sure, Vanessa’s trained more, worked her ass off and she’s a better fighter now than she’s ever been, but…

What if something does happen?

Brooke’s brain is used to falling down this cycle of thoughts, agonizing about possibilities and things that could happen even if they’re not in her control, but there’s a voice in her head - albeit a small one - that disrupts the routine. Knocks the cycle onto its side a little.

Sure, this situation is not in Brooke’s control. But it also means she’s done everything she can for the things that are.

Vanessa’s as ready as she’ll ever be. She’s competing at this level because it’s her level. Brooke’s coached her to the best of her ability and now?

All Brooke can do is wait and see what happens.

Sure, she’ll bite her nails due to stress in the meantime, but she’ll survive.

Her and Vanessa both will.

“Okay, so if we were pros and the like-”

“Girl, you ain’t never been a pro-”

“Shut up, let me finish. If we were pro boxers,” Monet crosses her legs on the bench, looking between all of them, “what would you want your names to be?”

“Wouldn’t we just use our real names?” Monique’s expression is skeptical, and Monet rolls her eyes.

“No, bitch, you’d need a cool stage name. A fighting name.”

“What would you call yourself?” Vanessa leans forward, tying her shoes, and Monet pauses as she thinks.

“I’d want something cool like ‘The Hurricane’ or ‘The Assassin,’ y’know? Something that would sound hella dramatic when announced on a microphone.”

Asia rolls her eyes. “Out here calling yourself assassin when you cried last week because there was a beetle in the locker room. Unbelievable.”

Monet scoffs. “Fine then, what would you call yourself?”

“Something like ‘K.O.’ or something because I’d be K.O.ing everyone.” Asia presses her fist into her palm, and Vanessa has to admit, it’s kinda catchy.

Monet rolls her eyes. “You’ve never even K.O’d anyone yet. Poser.”

“Well, that’s why it’s a future name!” Asia huffs, and Vanessa has to hold in a snort.

“What about you, V?” Monet asks, and Vanessa leans back on her palms as she thinks.

“I dunno,” Vanessa shrugs, “never really thought about it before. Maybe something unique? Like connected to an actual nickname.”

“You want to be called Vanjie as your boxing name? But then that’s just your nickname.” Monique doesn’t look convinced.

Vanessa thinks. “Maybe if I just make it sound fancy. Add a ‘miss’ in front of it.”

“Miss Vanjie?” Asia lets out a giggle as she says it, and Vanessa can feel her face redden.

“What! It’s kinda cute.”

“Miss Vaaaaaanjie.” Monet drawls out, and even Vanessa can’t hold in a giggle when she does so. “I kinda like it.”

“Me too. At least you’ll know no one else will ever have your nickname.” Monique points out as she stands up, picking up her equipment. “Miss Vaaaanjie.”

“Are you guys just going to keep saying it for the rest of the day?” Vanessa snorts, but she can’t deny that it’s catchy. The name is definitely beginning to grow on her.

“Maybe so, Miss Vanjie, maybe so,” Asia grins, “and I’m so changing your contact name in my phone to that.”

“Unbelievable.”

Kameron and Brooke are waiting for them outside of the change room as they walk out, and Kameron motions for them to huddle against the wall, out of the way of the doors. She turns the clipboard in her hands to face them, pointing at a scrawled out list that Vanessa has to squint to be able to read.

“Y’all are all in different divisions, which doesn’t make it easier, that’s for sure. But I think I’ll be able to run between your matches in between rounds. I feel like a dance mom with too many kids to support, Jesus.” Kameron taps her clipboard with her pen. “Monique, you have a match in ring four, then Asia’s up in ring two, then…”

It’s hard for Vanessa to focus on what Kameron’s saying, her voice turning to static in Vanessa’s brain because her limbs are itching to move and get started. She hates this part of competitions, the calm before the storm that doesn’t seem to go by any faster no matter how much she tries and wills the clock to do so. Her eyes jump between the athletes behind them, the pink scrunchie in Monique’s hair, the service dog in the hallway that’s sleeping beside its owner, the set of double doors leading to the rings that athletes are already beginning to file into. But then Kameron’s yelling for all of them to pile their hands on top of one another and to shout ‘Hytes’ Boxing on three!’ and Vanessa joins in just a second too late, and they’re starting to walk in towards the boxing rings, too.

“You okay with me being the one with you? Like Kameron said just now?” Brooke materializes beside Vanessa, nearly making her jump. “She’s got too many athletes to follow around.”

Not that Vanessa’s heard what Kameron had said but Brooke doesn’t need to know that, so she nods anyway, the idea making her heart flip in her chest. “Uh huh. Ain’t you my main coach anyway, by now? I train more with you than I do with Kameron.”

“True. Just wanted to check, since this is my first time coming to a tournament of yours.”  Brooke’s eyes are twinkling as Vanessa feels a hand grab hers and squeeze it. “I know you’re more used to her.”

“I’d rather have you.” The words flow easily because it’s true, when Vanessa thinks about it.

Brooke has the ability to read her body language and know what’s going on in her head when she’s boxing to push her more, making her even better. She knows how to calm her down, how to make her laugh when she’s too wound up. It works in the gym, and here in a competition?

Vanessa really needs it.

“I’m glad.” Brooke’s voice is uncharacteristically soft, just for a second, before she uncrumples a sheet of her own. “So, first there’s a knockout round in your division which will be the quarters, then semis. You pass through those, you can make it to the finals. That’s going to be three matches in one day, if you win them.”

“Damn.” Vanessa gulps, because the hall that’s filled with rings in a grid formation suddenly looks bigger than it did five minutes ago, the athletes just a little bit more intimidating. “That’s a whole lotta fighting in one day.”

“Nothing you haven’t done in the gym with me. Why do you think I push you so hard?” Brooke grabs Vanessa’s bag from her, hoisting it over her shoulder.

“Let’s hope it’s enough preparation, sensei.” Vanessa giggles at Brooke’s furrowed eyebrows at the nickname. “Teacher? Ninja master?”

“Really now?”

“How about papa?”

“Carry your own bag.” Brooke snorts, heaving it back towards Vanessa who catches it with a snicker.

“I think the last one really suits you.”

“I think you need to get ready for your first match, that’s what. We’re almost at the ring.”

“Roger that, sensei. Now or never, huh?” Vanessa nudges Brooke’s shoulder before setting her bag down, and the butterflies in her chest begin to flutter and take flight, because she can already see the girl on the other side of the ring pulling on a helmet of her own and shit, she’s really doing this.

With Brooke here this time. Doesn’t exactly help with the adrenaline.

“Call me sensei again and I’m gonna cheer on your opponent.” Brooke taps Vanessa’s nose, a smile on her face, and Vanessa knows she isn’t serious. “Five minutes to warm up. You’ve got this.”

“I better.” Vanessa rolls out her neck, starts to bounce on her toes to get the blood flowing in her body.

“Remember. First and second rounds to dissect her fighting style and her tells. Third and fourth rounds to take advantage of that knowledge and stay one step ahead of her.” Brooke peeks over her shoulder at Vanessa’s opponent, and Vanessa follows her gaze, the girl’s bright yellow shorts making her wrinkle her nose. “You figure out how she fights, you can beat her at her own game.”

It’s what they’ve done in the gym - Brooke sparring her while favouring a certain side over the other, a specific combination, waiting for Vanessa to catch on and be ready to counter her. Vanessa has to force her brain to step back and see the overall picture of the fight while her blood is pumping and her limbs feel like they’re moving faster than her mind but it’s good practice, because now she doesn’t just throw moves that come to her on instinct. She’s learned to plan.

Maybe, it’s going to be enough. Maybe, the morning and evening and weekend practices, and the conditioning, the sparring, the discussions about techniques will now all be worth it. Even though Vanessa’s fighting in the highest division she’s ever fought in before, even if she’s now a small fish in a big pond? Maybe all of the preparation means she won’t be gasping for air while treading water.

And if it’s not enough? She’s got Brooke swimming beside her, too.

Tags: brooke lynn hytes, vanessa vanjie mateo, branjie, lesbian au, boxing au, level up, holtzmanns

[rainbowsandcoconut]

Just Saw you like getting questions, so here goes. A followup on the travel favorites. You mentioned it was difficult to narrow down. Would a top ten be easier? I always look for new inspiration LOTR being your first fandom but have you ever been into something no one else understood? 😊

HIIII! 💕 This totally made my night. I am honestly so surprised anyone would care enough to send me an ask, this is so sweet 🥰 Anyone wanting to talk or ask anything should absolutely feel free, I’d love it!

I’m gonna start with the last question since the travel one will definitely be longer 😊

I’ve been into a lot of things no one in real life understood haha. Like Supernatural back during seasons 1-3 ish when I was obsessed and my friends would get tired of me talking about it all the time (thank god for LiveJournal), or cycling (road and track) that I got super into watching one summer and ended up going all over the country to see races and do some photography for, for a few years.

Now traveling. Oh man, you’re really making me miss the days where travel was allowed and where I could afford it lol. Thanks for this question though, it’s really put me in a good mood to remember some of my trips, I hope these don’t disappoint. In case anyone hasn’t seen 3 of my fave travel memories, they’re over here. And now I’m going to spam you all with 10 more of my fave memories from trips. I had to try to go with ones I could find my pics from and I mostly managed, apart from Norway, so here we go:

1. Flying an airplane in Wanaka, New Zealand 🛩 

I got to actually fly a plane! It only fit 2 people (and a cat) and I feel like I was allowed to do waaay too much, likely because it was my instructor’s first time taking someone inexperienced up so he let me do most of take off and also fly most of the trip, and then he even offered to talk me through landing it but I’m not insane so he ended up doing that part on his own. It was super freaking cool, and the view was absolutely breathtaking.

2. Seeing the Northern Lights, Tromsø, Norway

My best friend did her master’s in Tromsø so I went to visit her for a week in November 2018. I was a bit worried it was too early in the season to see the Northern Lights but one night the whole sky was full of dancing green light! We went up the top of a mountain and stayed there until we couldn’t stand the cold any longer, and it was just an incredible night. I didn’t manage to get any good photos with my phone so I just stole this off Google but it’s pretty accurate

3. Meeting Rachel Bloom in NYC last year

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of my favourite shows, and it’s really meant a lot to me. Yes, it’s a comedy with musical numbers but it also portrays struggles with mental health more realistically than any other show I’ve seen and that’s something I’ve really both needed and appreciated. Rachel is a comedic genius, and her show has helped me through a few tough times, so being able to not only see CXG live at Radio City Music Hall but also get to talk to Rachel after the show made it an incredible night.

4. Watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The history of the Angkor temples is so fascinating, and I managed to get myself up early enough to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat several times. For anyone who may want to go, my advice would be to not elbow your way to the front of the lake, but stand a bit further back while the majority of the tourists scramble to get a good spot. About 90% of them will disappear into the temple once the sun has offically risen and it’s gotten light out, but you want to stay by the lake. The sun takes longer than you think to actually rise above the temple, and by the time it gets there, most people will have left and the area will be much quieter and more peaceful and will give you a chance to really take in the sunrise. Each time I kept thinking maybe the sun wasn’t super bright or the clouds would cover it some because it seemingly took so long, but staying is absolutely worth it.

5. Early morning Alms Giving in Luang Prabang, Laos

This almost felt like a moment I wasn’t supposed to see but the owner of the guest house I was staying at assured me I was fine to watch. I wasn’t staying in the center of the city, and I was the only tourist out to watch the long procession in this neighbourhood which made the experience feel extra special and authentic as opposed to how crowded I’ve heard it can sometimes be in the city center.

6. Going to Lawrence, Kansas in 2009

Seeing as I mentioned being very into SPN above, I’ll include my trip to Lawrence, Kansas on this list. I went solely because my friend and I thought it’d be funny to do so because of its connection to Supernatural. We got invited to lunch by the owner of a souvenir shop who was delighted to hear I was from Denmark because her husband had a friend whose dad had once been. We stayed in Kansas City, and I got lost on my way back from the post office one day. An older lady in a car stopped by the streetlight I was at and offered me a ride back to my hotel which I gratefully accepted, only I started to rethink that decision once I realized that the footwell of her car was so full of bibles, I had to step on them, and the passenger door could not be opened from the inside. Obviously I realized this after I was in the car but while I was somewhat freaked out, I still agreed with her that us going past the McDonalds Drive Thru before my hotel was a good idea so her and I could get to know each other a bit... I was way too trusting back then but hey, I didn’t die so yay?

7. Driving a moped for the first time on Phu Quoc, Vietnam

I don’t have a license for any kind of vehicle and I have never driven any either (apart from a car twice on completely deserted, straight roads) but the owners of the hostel I was staying at insisted it was the best way to get around the island. Once of them tried to show me how it worked on her own moped, then let me try for a couple of minutes and then declared that she’d rent me one for the next day even though she was too afraid to sit on the back while I was practising because my accelerating and breaking were super abrupt. So the next day off I went. I drove into a tree and a sign in the street, got a lot of concerned looks, and I probably broke any and all traffic laws but I had such a fun time and I got to see some incredibly beautiful beaches that I don’t know how I could’ve gotten to without the moped. Important note for anyone doing this: remember sun cream! I sadly don’t have any photos of the moped, but I did take this photo of one of the beaches I visited:

8. Going to Obama’s first inauguration in January 2009 in Washington DC

I’ve always been into American politics and that interest peaked around 2008, so just in time to watch Obama get elected, and I knew I had to try to go to DC when I started planning my first ever US trip for 2009. I didn’t manage to get onto The Mall as I only made my way downtown around 6 am but I got a spot on Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade. I have never been so cold in my entire life but I’ve also never experienced the kind of euphoria and excitement from a crowd that I did that day. There truly was a feeling of hope for a real change, and I talked to the absolutely friendliest, kindest people while we waited. Plus I got to see Barack and Michelle Obama wave at me (in my direction anyway) as they were walking down Penn Ave which I’ll forever remember.

9. Going to Kangaroo Island, Australia

I love kangaroos. So much. I will never get over how cool they are. And I got to bottle feed joeys (baby kangaroos) on this island, as well as pet a bunch of tame adult ones, and see sooo many wild ones. Plus I got to see lots of koalas and other wildlife, as well as the beauty of the island. My friend did technically hit a kangaroo (or wallaby) when we were driving after dark but she’s Australian and didn’t take it quite as hard as I did.

10. Seeing the Colosseum in Rome, Italy

I’ve just always loved this building. And seeing it in real life did not disappoint.

[tokumusume]

tokumusume’s list of best and worst movies and dramas watched in 2019:

There’s a new category this year. Inspired by kpopalypse, welcome the Honorable Mentions! Movies that weren’t exactly bad but also weren’t good. Movies and dramas are qualified to enter if I watched them for the first time this year, not that they were released this year. Click on ‘keep reading’~~

Best Movies:

1.      Parasite

Another masterpiece from the director of Snowpiercer (let’s pretend Okja never existed). A poor family con their way to a rich household. Choi Woo-Shik from The Witch (see below) is the eldest son and mastermind, fabulous as always. Definitely the best movie of this year. For me, movie of the decade.

2.      The Witch Part 1 The Subversion

This movie is amazing, hard to describe without spoilers. A perfect mix of Stranger Things and Hanna. Choi Woo-Shik can come to my house and kick my ass anytime. I can’t wait for part two.

3.      Death Trance

Visually stunning, kinda like Amemiya Keita’s style in early Garo or Mad Max. I wish the movie was longer and the characters were better fleshed out, Ryuen the monk and the little girl had so much potential... The most interesting thing about this movie is how sexualized the main male character is compared to the female ones, and apparently, the swords were designed to look like veiny penises (can’t find a source for this info), and yes, they do look like veiny penises. The final showdown is heavy with sexual energy. Have I already said that Ryuen deserved better? #RyuenRights

4.      Gintama 2: Rules are made to be broken

The barber shop scene is a fucking cinematic masterpiece. I never laughed so much like I did with this movie. The way it doesn’t take itself seriously, the meta jokes, everything is perfect. Even better than the first one.

5.      Kingdom

While I think that some fight scenes were way too long (like the bamboo forest one), the dynamics between Shin and Hyou/Eisei were highly entertaining, at least in my shipper eyes. I like that (SPOILER) the King of the Mountain People is a woman and not once they try to call her Queen. She is a King. Hashimoto Kanna is adorable as a Ten, Kanata Hongo does a great job as Eisei’s psycho brother, Sakaguchi Tak waves his sword around, the usual stuff but with added layers of dirt and sweat.

6.      Bravestorm

A movie I lovingly call “Japanese Pacific Rim”. Full of Kamen Rider stars (Hino Eiji! Misuzawa Haruka! That girl from Heisei Generations, the one with a sword! She has a sword in this as well!) and giant robots (god, I love giant robots!), I waited so much for this movie and it exceeded my expectations. I just wish I could’ve watched in theaters, it had a limited showing in my country.

7.      Twelve Suicidal Children

What begins as a murder mystery ends with a twist you won’t see coming. All of the actors are amazing, but special mention to Sugisaki Hana and that guy from that one boy group I forgot the name but can’t be bothered to Google.

8.      Gakkou Gurashi

Four girls and their teacher try to survive the zombie apocalypse trapped inside the school. This one destroyed me for days.

9.      Forest of Love

I’ve watched some Sono Sion movies but nothing prepared me for this. Be aware of extremely gory sequences and sensitive topics. Hinami Kyoko is so amazing as blue-haired, punk girl crush Taeko that I totally didn’t notice she was AkibaBlue in Akibaranger.

10.  The Host

After watching Parasite I decided to go on a Bong Joon Ho binge and watched this horror movie. Not as good as Snowpiercer and Parasite in my opinion but heart-wrenching nevertheless. The little girl is the star of the movie.

11.  The Hungry Lion

A story about the dangers of social media and slut-shaming. I want to punch Mizuishi Atom in the face.

12.  Cromartie High

A little absurd comedy about yakuza-style high school boys (played by middle-aged men lol) forming a club to battle aliens summoned by themselves just because. It made me laugh like a child. A hidden gem.

Honorable Mentions:

1.      River’s Edge

Depressing as fuck. Warning: the cats die. It’s not graphic but it’s traumatizing. Yoshizawa Ryo is a gay boy who sleeps with old men for money. There’s a graphic sex scene (not Yoshizawa, sadly) where my only thought was “That thing is gonna get stuck in there! Use a condom!” Can’t remember much from it except for these three scenes.

2.      The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Yamazaki Kento has the acting chops of a dead fish but it comes handy for playing a teen with psychic abilities and zero social skills. Hashimoto Kanna is one of the prettiest girls in Japan. Yoshizawa Ryo with white and blueish hair looks more like Sakata Gintoki than Oguri Shun in the Gintama live action. The end is a huge let down but the fun ride is worth it.

3.      Ano ko no, Toriko

Congratulations to Yoshizawa Ryo, he has FIVE movies in my list of favorite movies this year! This is to make up for crowning GIVER as the biggest waste of time of 2018, this list is totally not biased, lol. “Ano ko” could be just another romance movie but the (very) little insight into how the entertainment industry works and not focusing on school life made me love it. Poor Sugino Yosuke being left behind again, when will this boy get the main girl?

4.      Monstrum

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it’s pleasant enough to fill a rainy afternoon with a lot of blood and spilled guts. Hyeri of Girl’s Day is the heroine and Choi Woo Shik is the commander she falls in love with.

5.      Weirdo Go

I confess I watched this one just to see Ji Li (aka my snake son Nie Huaisang) dressed as a woman but it was enjoyable and not that problematic.

6.      Real - Kanzen Naru Kubinagaryu no Hi

Directed by the same guy that did “Creepy” and “Before we vanish”, there are lots of twists you won’t see coming. And a dinosaur. A fucking dinosaur.

7.      Tomodachi Game: The Final

The movie loses its focus halfway through then picks up again minutes before ending. Yoshizawa Ryo delivers again as the sadistic Yuuichi, much like his role in Gintama. The plot twists are the star of the movie.

8.     The Living Dead

Sorry Wen Ning. I saw the plot twist coming in the first 30 minutes of the movie, not very smart of the writer. His personality did a 180° turn for worse and I’ll demote the movie to an honorable mention for it. Gao Han is cute though, I would like to see him as a better character.

9.      Backstreet Girls

Some recycled scenes from the drama to situate the viewers, a completely new story for the movie, it is certainly funny and enjoyable, if you can get past the forced gender reassignment surgery background and transphobic jokes (you shouldn’t get past it btw). I like the soundtrack.

Best Dramas:

1.      The Untamed

Do I need to say more?

2.      The Tale of Nokdu

This Korean romance had everything to be a mess but it wasn’t!!! *claps* I don’t hate the main female character and the whole palace politics actually kept me interested until the end. The complete shift of atmosphere mid-season was strange at first but ultimately very welcomed.

3.      The Naked Director

Netflix original Japanese content is amazing. This one is a look at the life of a legendary porn director in the late 80s, I learned a lot about the history of Japanese porn and censorship (yay pixels!) and went looking for his, erm, works. Very graphic, 69/10 don’t recommend watching with people in the house.

4.      Channel wa Sonomama!

I don’t remember it well but it’s about a news station and what is like to be a journalist and it was very interesting and funny.

5.      SCAMS

Forgettable. Sugino Yosuke with black hair cons old people via phone calls.

Worst Movies and Dramas:

1.      The cat in their arms

The cats spend 90% of the movie in human forms, and halfway through it they simply abandon the cats’ plot to show a fucking long montage of a weird guy painting a picture of a nude girl. It’s also super creepy to see a grown-up man acting like a cat, getting belly rubs and eating cat food from a bowl. Yoshizawa needs to choose his roles more wisely.

2.      Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

A waste of Suda Masaki’s talent. Can Japan stop casting Tsuchiya Tao already?

3.      Samurai Marathon

Almost two hours of dirty men running through a forest. Maybe Japanese History experts will enjoy it, because I certainly didn’t.

4.      Lady Vengeance

While there are legit great moments, I didn’t find this “classic” to be anything special. The animal cruelty was too much for me.

5.      Hot Gimmick

This movie makes Bohemian Rhapsody’s editing look like a work of art. There are more flashing cuts than a T-ARA music video. I have no idea who likes who, who’s banging who, what even are they saying. Too much poetic shit for my like. I wanted to see Shimizu Hiroya naked. I was bamboozled.

6.      The Divine Fury

While some parts were interesting, at the end I still don’t know if the protagonist is possessed by a demon (if yes, then why would he help a priest destroy his friends?) or if he was blessed by God when his father died and talked to him (the glowing hand thing, why and how??). The exorcism parts are really, really scary, or maybe I’m just a chicken, but I had to avert my eyes. The best (only) part is that the protagonists are hot. Hello Woo Do-Hwan, you can sacrifice me to Satan any time…

[multifandom--mess]

Sunkissed - Dad!Michael AU

A/N: I apologize in advance for this piece of crap. Literally wrote this in two hours while sleep deprived and had a random spark of inspiration.

Michael was awakened by someone determinedly trying to force his eyelids open. He finally gave in and opened his eyes to the excited face of his daughter. Once she saw that he was awake she bounced up and down on his bare torso, earning a few uncomfortable grunts in response.

“Wake up daddy! Wake up, wake up, wake up!” she persisted.

Michael sighed but he was soon all smiles. Nothing could brighten his mood like his little angel. He noticed she was wearing her swimsuit and sat up confused.

“Why are you wearing your bathing suit, angel?”

“Because it's hot outside and I wanna go to the beach!” she said, throwing her arms in the air.

Michael sighed, stretching, before standing and going out on the balcony. His little angel was right, it was a sunny, hot day in California and there wasn’t a cloud in sight; it was perfect for a day at the beach. But Michael was a busy man. He was always caught up with work and hardly ever had days off. But today would be an exception. He knew his little girl was often missing him when he would pick her up late at night after work from Ms. Mead and the woman would scold him for not spending enough time with her.

“Okay. We’ll go to the beach. It’s Saturday and I know daddy is always working. Today will be our day.” he says, smiling, picking her up and holding her against his hip.

“Yay! Thank you, daddy!” the child says, wrapping her small arms around her father’s neck and pressing her tiny cheek against his.

It only took about thirty minutes for Michael to pack all the necessary items they needed for the beach. He packed lunch for them to eat once they were all tired and hungry from being in the heat and a bunch of various beach toys for y/d/n to play with.

“Can we take the surfboard, daddy?” y/d/n asked.

She had somehow managed to dig it out of their ‘clutter closet’. Michael bought the surfboard as a souvenir years ago during his Hawthorne days when he tagged along with some classmates to downtown Los Angeles. He never put it to any use, it would sit in the corner of his room as a decoration and over the years it became nothing more than just something he tossed in the closet. Now his little girl could make memories with it.

“Sure, why not. It’s never been used.”

Y/d/n squealed in delight as Michael took the surfboard and tied it to the top of the car.

Once the car was packed with all their things, they were on the road. It was only a twenty minute drive to get to the beach. The parking lot was nearly full but luckily Michael found a spot after driving around aimlessly for five minutes.

It was a hassle carrying everything out to the sand but Michael managed. The second he set everything down and hunched over to catch his breath, y/d/n was running off to get in the water but Michael stopped her using his telekinesis discreetly.

“I want to get in the ocean!” y/d/n exclaimed as Michael led her by her hand back to their spot.

“I know but you need sunblock. Do you want to get sunburned?” Michael asked her as he began to lather the white substance on all exposed areas of her skin.

“No,” she said.

She stood still just long enough for Michael to finish and then proceeded to take the bottle from him and squeeze a large amount into her hand.

“Now it’s your turn, daddy.” the child said.

“Do you want to get sunburned?” she asked, repeating the same question he had asked her only minutes before.

Michael only smiled.

“No,”

He removed his black t-shirt so his persistent child could smear a more than necessary amount of sunblock all over his back. Personally, Michael was not a beach person. He hated wearing minimal clothing and staying out in the heat for long periods of time. Bad enough he already ran at an abnormal body temperature. But if being at the beach meant he could spend time with his daughter then he was all for it. As long as she was happy he was fine with pretty much anything.

After y/d/n was finished covering Michael’s body with sunblock she took him by the hand and started to lead him towards the water.

“Come on, daddy! It’s too hot and I wanna get in the water!”

“Okay okay, I’m coming.”

When they reached the water, y/d/n practically dived in, the water sloshing over her body and splashing her in the face. She laughed excitedly at the feeling and continued splashing around. Michael stood back just far enough so the water only barely touched his feet. Y/d/n had stopped splashing to look at him before running over to him.

“Why don’t you get in the water, daddy? It’s not that cold, see?” she hopped around to show him.

Michael shook his head,

“Nah, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me. You have fun,”

But she wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.

“Are you scared of the water? Come on, I’ll hold your hand so you won’t be scared.”

Y/d/n grabbed her stubborn father by the hand and let him into the water. Michael knew there was no arguing with her now. She led him into the ocean as far as she could until the water grew too strong for her. Michael picked her up and sat her on his shoulders.

“I wanna go out there, daddy!” she pointed out to the deeper part of the ocean where some older children and adults were swimming and surfing.

“Can I we ride the surfboard now, daddy?”  

“Sure,”

They were so far out in the water that there was no way in hell Michael was walking all the way back to their area on the sand. So, he did what any normal dad would do. He used his powers to conjure the surfboard. He closed his eyes and willed the surfboard to appear. Once he heard a faint splash next to them he opened his eyes to see the white and blue surfboard sitting on the water.

“Wow, daddy, I wish I had magic like you,” y/d/n said in awe at the surfboard suddenly appearing out of thin air.

It was true, y/d/n didn’t have any powers. Either she would acquire them as she got older but for now she seemed to be normal. After all, her father was the Antichrist and her mother was a powerful witch, she would at least have some magic in her if not a great amount that she would obtain in her future.

Michael had absolutely no idea on how to surf.

He watched others around them surfing like professionals and some seemed just as lost as him. Not even magic could help him figure this out. If only he had an instruction manual of some sort to show him.

Y/d/n was growing impatient as she sat silently on the surfboard.

“I think we have to be on the sand first, daddy.” she said, watching as the woman ties the ankle piece around her ankle and walk into the water before laying on her board stomach first and wading out into the water.

“Maybe you’re right….” Michael agreed, but still very confused.

Back on the sand, Michael repeats the same process as the woman he took secret guidance from earlier and soon he and y/d/n were struggling to balance on the board. The waves were picking up and it only complicated things. Michael grew frustrated and resulted to using magic to steady the board. When they were steady, Michael tried to ride the small waves that rippled across them.

They continued this until y/d/n shouted,

“Daddy, look! A big wave is coming!”

Michael turned his head, and sure enough a massive wave was heading their way. A few surfers were riding it but Michael and y/d/n were only just learning to stand up without falling. Michael held y/d/n close to him as the wave crashed over them, causing them to get knocked underwater. Michael brought them both back up and y/d/n was crying.

“Wasn’t that fun? Hey hey, what’s the matter?”

“My eyes burn, daddy!” she cried, rubbing her eyes.

“Shh it's okay,”

Michael covered her eyes with his large hand, using his magic to stop them from burning. She stopped crying almost immediately and clung to him tightly.

“I wanna go back to our spot now,” she whimpered, still clearly not over the ocean hurting her.

“Okay. We can eat our lunch and you can play with your toys in the sand, okay?” she nodded and laid her head on his shoulder.

~

Sitting on the towel within the shade of their large umbrella, Michael and y/d/n ate their homemade turkey and cheese sandwiches and drank their Caprisuns in silence.

When they were done, y/d/n was ready to play some more. But poor Michael was so tired so he took out all of her beach toys and watched her play in the sand for a while. She found tons of seashells and filled her bucket to the brim with them. Then she attempted to build a sandcastle but became discouraged when the sand kept sinking back into the ground.

“Stupid sand!” she grunted angrily, kicking the sand with her little feet.

Michael found this so amusing for some reason and burst into laughter at the sight of his daughter getting angry with sand. When y/d/n saw him laughing at her, she only grew more angry and stood with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

Michael only laughed even harder.

After another hour, Michael noticed that many people were beginning to pack up and leave. The sun was starting to set slowly and it would be y/d/n’s bedtime soon. Michael began putting everything away while y/d/n stood in the tide. He called her over when he finished packing and told her it was time to go home.

She was not happy to leave, to say that much. But the second the car was packed and they were driving home, she was fast asleep in her carseat. Michael had to carry her inside and wake her up so she could have a bath and eat dinner. He fixed them both mac & cheese and they both ate while watching Moana, courtesy of Michael letting y/d/n pick the movie.

However, she fell asleep before the movie could finish and Michael carried her to bed and gently tucked her in. He placed a kiss on her forehead and whispered goodnight.

Michael called Ms.Mead right before he went to bed to tell her about their day. She was proud of Michael for doing the right thing and spending some much needed time with his daughter. Michael promised that from now on every Saturday would be daddy-daughter day for himself and y/d/n.

Michael went to bed that night feeling happier than ever.

A/N: Okay soooo this ended up being a lot longer than anticipated but I wrote this at 2am randomly and it just started pouring out of me. It probably has hella mistakes but whatever. I’m sleep deprived and wanted to write something so this was the result lmao

[midnightmarev]

Hide and Seek

AO3 link.

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Platonic everyone. But if you squint, you might see some Loceit and Remile.

Summary: Ever wonder how Virgil always wins in hide and seek? Well, wonder no more, for I have the answer right here!

Author’s note: This is inspired by an incorrect Sanders Sides quote I made on Twitter. That quote was inspired by me writing down cosplay ideas, Virgil and Patton playing hide and seek with each other and Virgil "cheating", finding Patton super quick ;)

This is basically just fluff and Virgil being a sneaky bean.

Hide and Seek

A knock sounded on his door. Virgil groaned. Why couldn’t he just sleep? It was only, what? 11 am?

“Hey, kiddo?” Patton. “Roman and I have arranged a day out in the Imagination. Are you even up?” he added after a moment of hesitation, sounding disapproving.

‘No, I’m not, but it’s not like I can say that to you’ Virgil thought to himself. “Yeah, I’m up. Just, uh, dosing of a bit. I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Yay!” Patton left. Ugh, what did they have planned this time? Horseback riding was bad enough; his rear still hurt a bit, by the way, Princey!

Virgil got out of bed and got dressed before he went to his bathroom to put on his make-up. What? He still liked to keep up his aesthetics even though they weren’t filming. Sure, they were going outside in the Imagination, and it would probably be ruined, but he still liked it, okay?!

It’d been about ten minutes since Patton had knocked on his door when he finally ventured downstairs to the commons. Patton was bouncing on his feet, keeping himself from jumping Virgil with a hug. Logan sat on the couch reading. Looked like he didn’t want to be there, either, but when faced with Patton, one can’t say no. He’ll only give you his puppy-dog-eyes, and you’ll be in a puddle on the floor.

Roman was sporting his outdoor clothes. He always did when they went into the Imagination. Didn’t want to ruin his prince outfit. He looked rather disgusted with something Remus had said before swatting his playfully on the arm. Same old.

What surprised Virgil was that Deceit was there. He usually didn’t want to partake in outdoor activities because of his reptilian traits. Roman and Patton must have made sure it was the perfect temperature. Dee was currently leaning up against Logan, eyes closed, basking in Logan’s body heat.

As Virgil came to a stop in front of Patton, he heard another door open and close. Virgil opened his arms to give Patton permission to hug him. And hug him he did!

“Alright, babes! Save some of him for me, would ya?” Virgil’s eyes widened. Patton invited Sleep as well? Or Remy, as the fanders had dubbed him. A name he now proudly wore.

Patton slowly released Virgil from the embrace. “Heya Remy! So happy you decided to come! Is Emile coming as well?” Wait, Patton invited Emile, too? Who else did he ask to join? Anton, the Critic? Antagonist? October?

“Yep! My boo will be down any moment now. Had to wrap up practising some lines for Thomas’ upcoming Cartoon Therapy episode. Now, as for you, Virgil,” Remy said, turning to look at Virgil. “You better stop pulling those long nights, mister! I am missing out on so many parties because you keep Thomas up all night with me trying to put him to sleep!” Remy exclaimed before pulling Virgil into a hug, this one lighter than Patton’s.

“You stayed up all night again, Virgil? That’s why you sounded so sleepy when I knocked on your door,” Patton chided. Virgil winched.

“Yeah, sorry, Pat. Bad habit,” Virgil said, very apologetically. Time to change the subject, because now all eyes were on him and he did not like that! “So, eh, what are we doing in the Imagination?”

Patton’s eyes lit up. “Hide and seek!” he exclaimed excitedly. Roman’s eyes lit up as well, as did Remus’, mostly because now he had an excuse for getting in the dumpsters. The rest of the sides gave off groans of various lengths and volume, the most pronounced being Logan.

“Ugh, again?” Virgil asked in disbelief. That was just as bad as horseback riding! It was physically requiring! You have to actively do something.

“Awe, come now Emo Nightmare. It’ll be fun! Or are you just scared because you know you’ll lose?” Roman smirked at Virgil. Oh, it was on!

“In your dreams, Princey. I know I’ll win. I always do. Remember?” Virgil snarked back. Virgil had the perfect strategy, one they always fell for no matter how many times they played hide and seek.

“Ooh, sounds like we need to settle some drama in a game of ‘Hide and Seek’,” Remy interjected, always one for drama.

“What’s that about drama and hide and seek?” Emile now entered the commons as well, his usual outfit in place. A young figment at his side was something they weren’t expecting, though. “Oh, this is Qikkie, by the way. I’m training her to become a therapist so she can help the other figments when I’m too busy,” Emile explained at the curious, and confused glances sent their way by the sides. Well, all except Remy, but he had his own young figment under tutorage, so of course he wasn’t surprised by Qikkie.

“Salutations, Qikkie, and welcome to the common rooms of the mindscape. Will you be joining us in the Imagination today?” Logan questioned, speaking up for the first time. Deceit still sat at his side, eyes now open at the mention of a new member to the famILY.

She looked up at Emile, who nodded at her. “I think I’ll skip this time, mister Logan. Reina is getting addicted to coffee,” Qikkie said, giving a pointed look at Remy. “And I’d rather she doesn’t go too far, like a certain someone in this room, right now.” Everyone looked at Remy, giving him variously pointed and disapproving looks.

“What?” Remy drawled, innocently taking a sip from the Starbucks coffee cup in his hand.

“Anygay,” Roman broke the silence. “Now that we’re all here, should we get going on an adventure?”

“Sure, Princey, if you call it an adventure to lose in hide and seek,” Virgil quipped, not missing a beat. That earned him a few offended princey noises. Virgil snickered.

“Play nice, kiddos. Roman, if you would?” Patton asked at which Roman responded with snapping his fingers and they all appeared in the Imagination.

They appeared in a rather large garden out in the country. There was a henhouse built into the messy garage leading out to at rather spacious chicken coop. The chicken coop had half-walls made of large roof tiles dug half into the ground to keep foxes from digging under and getting in. The chickens were outside in the coop. Usually, they would be out in the garden, but there were young chicks amongst them, so they stayed inside the coop to make sure they made it to adulthood — no doubt due to Patton’s presence.

There were fields to each side of the house accompanying the garden, and a small forest in the far end of the garden. Bushes and trees stood spread all over the garden as well as a swingset. One tree, in particular, stood out as it was the biggest of them all and held a treehouse in its treetop. Over-the-top, just like Princey.

All in all, the garden looked like a mess, chaos, but with a system in it, just like Virgil liked it best.

“Alright, Panic! At The Everywhere,” Roman broke Virgil from his thoughts. “If you think you can beat us, why don’t you start counting?” Ignoring the playful nickname, Virgil smirked.

“Gladly, sir Sing-A-Lot. Prepare to lose,” Virgil quipped back, lifting his hands to his eyes, starting to count to one hundred. This was going to be easy.

Virgil heard a lot of rustling while counting from the other sides and two figments finding hiding spots. Oh, this was going to be fun.

“…98…99…100!” Virgil made sure the last three numbers were audible to the entire garden. “Ready or not, here I come!” he sing-songed.

Virgil smirked to himself before shouting one particular fraise. “I HATE MYSELF!”

A distant “WHAT?!” was heard from behind the chicken coop, as well as some rustling. Before long Virgil could see Patton’s head. “I WILL PHYSICALLY FIGHT YOU!”

When Patton saw Virgil staring at his with a smirk on his face, Patton’s face contorted into one of understanding of what had just happened. “Oh, darn,” Patton said with a gesture of his arm before getting up and walking towards Virgil.

“Don’t worry, Pat. It was a good hiding spot,” Virgil smiled at Patton while giving him a pat on the back (pun intended). He then turned in the direction of Logan’s most likely hiding spot and shouted “INFINITESIMAL!”

A faint voice was heard from the henhouse, Logan’s pride, but soon grew in volume. “That was oNE TIME!!!” He always reacted when you mentioned that word, no exceptions.

With a smirk still on his face, Virgil walked to the henhouse and stuck his head inside the door to view Logan in the corner next to the door. “Hey, Lo.”

Logan slightly jumped before narrowing his eyes at Virgil. “Mother fu-” And that was Virgil’s cue to back out. As he walked back out from the garage to Patton, a series of unintelligible swears and grumbles could be heard from the henhouse. Virgil couldn’t help but snicker at that. Logan was no doubt pacing from wall to wall, fuming. Best to let him cool off.

“He’ll be out in a minute,” Virgil said when Patton gave him a questioning look. “Now. I have a pretty good idea where Princey is buuut; I wanna watch his reaction.” Virgil was wearing an evil smile. Oh, this would be so much fun. “DISNEY MOVIE NIGHT IS CANCELLED!”

A pained (and affronted and indignant) cry was heard from the treehouse. Definitely Roman.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! OH, CRUEL WORLD! PLEASE LET IT NOT BE TRUE!!” Roman cried out before his head popped out of a window.

Virgil stood at the base of the tree’s trunk, smirking up to Roman. “Found you, Princey,” he said, and before Roman could react, Virgil had left again.

Patton just sat at the tables and benches set in the middle of the garden field, laughing at their antics. He soon waved Roman to join him so they could chat. Logan still hadn’t come out from the henhouse, so Patton really wanted some company that wasn’t the adorable mix-breed black dog, Happy. She matched his personality so well, but Patton would also like some human company while Virgil worked on finding the rest.

Virgil smiled to himself. This next one should be a piece of cake. Or rather, a piece of deodorant. He lifted his hand towards his mouth to form a trunk and shouted “FREE DEODORANT!! NEW FLAVOUR!!”

Not even a split-second after he had uttered those words, a demonic screeching followed by a loud “WEEEEEEE!!!” was heard from behind the outer walls of the house from the dumpster area. A streak of green was all you could see, and not even a second later, Remus stood in front of Virgil. If he had a tail, he would be wagging it furiously.

He pouted when he realised he had just lost the game and it was just a ruse. No deodorant. Well, he would just have to manage with the two deodorants he had in his shoulder pads.

Logan still hadn’t come out of the henhouse and Roman was taking his sweet, sweet time exiting the treehouse, grumbling to himself. Patton was playing fetch with Happy, and Remus had taken out on of his deodorants from his shoulder pads and went to join them.

Who to choose next? Remy or Deceit? Both were quite easy, after all. He looked over towards Remus who was munching on some deodorant he got from who knows where. Virgil then smirked. “Remy it is, then,” Virgil said, filling his lungs with air. “FREE STARBUCKS IS CANCELLED!!”

Fwump. Something, most likely some wood, fell to the floor in the garage. “Oh, you better be lyin’ hon!” A loud slurp was heard a moment later. Virgil peeked his head inside the garage once again, smirking at Remy. “Oh, you are so dead, Virgie. I’ll get Logan out of the henhouse,” he added when he heard Logan’s grumbling from the henhouse.

Virgil had no doubt that Emile was close. Those two never hid far from each other. But Emile was a bit harder to flush out. He needed to think. What would get Emile super-hyped (cartoons) or make him react in outrage? Hmm… OH! Steven Universe Future was about to air!

Once again, Virgil called out, albeit quieter. “Steven Universe Future just got cancelled!!”

Bump. “What?!” Emile came into his vision with distress on his face. “They can’t! It’s supposed to be even better than the movie!”

Remy had finally gotten Logan to chill and came up Emile. “He’s using dirty tricks, babes,” he winked.

“Huh? Oh, right. I knew that!” Emile went outside with Remy, Logan and Virgil. “Oh, you’ve found everyone already!”

“Nope, not yet. Still missing Dee. And I have the perfect way to get him out of whatever hole he crawled into,” Virgil smirked, lifting his hand. A whoosh was heard, and in Virgil’s was now a bowler hat. Deceit’s spare one.

“Oh, you’re so dead, babes. DeeDee will be piiissed,” Remy snorted.

Virgil just shrugged and called out as loud as he could. “I HAVE DECEIT’S SPARE BOWLER HAT!! AND I CAN DO WITH IT AS I PLEASE!!”

The ground trembled a bit next where Virgil stood. He looked down and noticed a snake hole. Of course.

In 5 seconds, a snake emerged, and Deceit shapeshifted to his normal form to stand next to Virgil. “You WHAT?! I told you not to touch my shit!” Deceit said, grabbing at the bowler hat. It disappeared as soon as he touched it. An illusion. Deceit blinked once. Blinked twice. Then looked around him to see the others. “Oh. I totally didn’t fall for that.”

Virgil coughed to gain the others’ attention. “Found you all. Now let’s go back to bed.” And with that, Virgil turned around and walked away, back to his room, to continue sleeping.

Roman had now joined the others at the tables-and-benches set and had an unreadable expression on his face.

“… why do we keep falling for that?” he asked to no one in particular.

---

Inside the mindscape, Qikkie and Reina were laughing their asses off. They had conjured a mirror that was linked to the Imagination so they could follow the events of this day’s game of hide and seek.

“Oh, my! They are so stupid! I can’t even-” Reina laughed. “I can’t breathe!”

“Those boys are a bunch of idiots, alright!” Qikkie agreed.

Their laughter had calmed down a bit when they saw that Virgil was on his way back. He could’ve easily just sunk out, but - even though he would never admit it - he liked the theatrics of a dramatic exit.

Qikkie still had her focus on the rest of the sides in the Imagination when she heard a slurping sound followed by an “Ah”. She then slowly turned around. And pounced.

“Give me that!” she demanded when Reina evaded her.

“Never!” Reina laughed, running off, coffee cup in hand. “You’ll never get me alive!” she said over her shoulder.

Virgil entered the mindscape, watching the two newest figments chase after one-another, smiling to himself as he closed his door to once again return to the sweet, sweet thing called sleep.

All the while, Qikkie chased Reina all around the mindscape.

Endnotes: Alright. The garden and animals I described, was my garden and animals. I finally found an excuse for writing Patton meeting my dog, Happy. We don't have a treehouse though. But we do have chickens and a garage and a henhouse built into the garage. And the situation with the chickens is what we're facing right now. We lost all our chicks and almost all our hens last year to either the fox or some disease/weak immune system, so we're doing everything to make sure they grow up and such.

Qikkie and Reina are my original characters as well as my Morality and Creativity. In that order.

Please leave a comment/reblog. I would love to hear what you thought about this.

Come check out my Twitter and chat with me, if you want to, that is.

Thank you for reading. Take it easy guys, gals, and non-binary pals!

Ba-bye!

[lokikingofasgardslover713]

Sea Maiden {Oneshot}

Masterlist

JOTUNN Loki Laufeyson x Plus Size Mermaid Reader

Prompt: Backstreet Boys – as long as you love me

This is my entry for @fadingcoast and @fandom-and-feminism    MCU vs BSB Writing Challenge!

Warnings: SMUT! Some fluffy Loki.

Summary: Reader is a MERMAID! Yay for mermaids! The reader and Loki have an established relationship. The team were sent by Fury to recruit her and they haven’t a clue as to what she is just that she is strong, fast, and unrelenting in a fight. Her secrete is revealed by Thor and Sam who decide it would be fun to throw her into the water at there day off at the beach. Loki is present and before he realizes what is happened, it is to late and the reader is upset her talent was revealed along with the traditional Tattoo of the Maori people.

A/N: I hope this makes since. I post links to what I am speaking of such as the Maori people and Tattoo. I didn’t use the song for say in my fic but I took the general meaning of it for the inspiration. I hope I did this justice!

“Love look at me,” came the quiet plea of the god in the driver’s seat. The passenger covered in a large beach towel gazing straight ahead. Hair soaked, body shivering with anger as she looked through wet lashes, eyes red but not shedding a tear as she continued to tune him out before finally speaking.

“This was stupid. I should have… Things were OK… Then… let’s just go back to the compound,” was all she uttered, keeping gaze fixed on the sky outside the windshield. Sun kissed hand holding tight to the towel. Not realizing it had blown up to expose heavily tattooed thigh, glimmering with bioluminescence, one gifted from the Māori people of New Zealand. The skin of said thigh shimmering with grey iridescent, reminiscent of the shark skin she had shown earlier.

Loki hated Midgardian transport. It was so outdated and agitated him, but he had a feeling the silent ride was what the woman; no, she was what was referred to as a mermaid, needed. One with a sparkling gray iridescent tail resembling a shark, but it was even more entrancing since it was covered in the traditional Tattoo of the Maori. He never realized it was hid with a simple spell, one that glowed with blue bioluminescent making her all the more attractive.

The tangles of patterns that flowed from the tips of the fingers on her left hand, covering her entire arm, flowing along voluptuous curves. It coiled down her body, over plump hip and around her entire left leg. It only ended at the tip of her toes on the same foot, the winding path of the blue glow enthralling.

Though the way it was revealed was wrong. Thor along with Sam had grabbed her from the blanket she sat on and tossed her into the ocean while kicking himself for not acting fast enough to stop them. The god having been coaxed out to the beach to sit in the back of her jeep to watch the idiots throw her, a tail appearing moments before she hit the water. The black tipped shark like tail thrashing too get just beyond the surf. Her baleful shimmering blue eyes telling them all it was a thing she wanted to keep hidden.

Everyone knew Y/N had abilities, she was stronger, more agile than the others, even the captain but no one knew what she was. The woman stormed out of the water, minus the bottom half of her bathing suit, the top held tightly at her back in a black taloned hand, the sharp spiked dorsal fin had split it. Legs sporting the decorative blue iridescent Maori Tattoo that ran leg, plump side as well as her shoulder to her finger tips but only on the left.

It was delicate and obvious it covered an old wound as she stomped to the blanket to grab the towel  to wrap it around her in place of the shredded suit. The spiked fin folding over her spine as the shark skin shimmered in the sunlight with millions of colors, not looking at Loki as she got into the passenger side of the jeep to sit quietly.

The god had been quick to close the back and curse the idiots before getting in the drivers side to take her back. Loki knew she hid something from him, that there was a reason she refused to shower with him when he invited her. Though they were intimate it was as if she was afraid and had left him wondering if she was embarrassed because it was him. The traitor, the outcast that she had fell in love with, but now it was much deeper than that.

The god seeing his chance when she kept the towel wrapped in one hand as the other fell to her thick thigh. He never held her hand, nothing that would truly be a public display of love but this warranted it. Taking his time, he slipped his hand into hers, lacing long fingers with it feeling her wanting to resist but it seemed she was heartbroken. It felt as if she didn’t care or at least until the hand in hers turned cooler than normal, ridges appearing under her fingers as she finally looked over the hand she held.

No mistake, it belonged to Loki, but it was blue, a deep blue with raised markings. Unable to let go as she looked up to him, his face taking on the same markings. Finally, he stole a glance at her to reveal crimson eyes that made her heart stop, trying to grasp what she seen as she shook her hand out of his grasp. Releasing the towel, she reached up to touch his face because she had to know. It was perplexing and wonderous at the same time.

The god pulling to the side of the road to allow her to do what she wanted. Turning to face Loki, the towel pooled in her lap as calloused fingers gingerly touched his face, surprised he was allowing it as a blue hand traced over the bioluminescent Tattoo. A tingle under his fingertips making him wonder it was alive as it even glowed brighter before he laid the hand on her cheek pushing their foreheads together.

The silence between them was enough for the moment, Loki knew she needed time to process it. He had explained to her he was not like Thor, he wasn’t Aesir he was Jotun, a frost giant but never showed what it meant. It was obvious in her mind it was just a person that didn’t look any different from the next. Carefully he laced his fingers into her wet hair, he could tell she was upset, nervous about him finding out.

The god knew she kept hiding something from him, but he just guessed it was her nature since she was living alone in the middle of the wilderness in the Rockies when they found her the first time he ever allowed Thor to convince him to help the Avengers. Y/N was very standoffish with them all when they sat foot on her plot of land, surprised them all with how fast she was and how well she fought them back. They had only been sent by Fury to speak with her about joining, not a fight.

Y/N couldn’t help but shiver slightly, it was one of relief actually, that she didn’t have to hide it any longer. No fear of rejection since it appeared Loki was hiding as well, and it felt like it was enough.

“Lets go enjoy the beach to ourselves lover. This is beautiful,” Loki breathed hinting to her true self, cool breath fanning over her lips as she nuzzled at his nose. She knew he would never admit to enjoying it when she done that to him, but that was just fine, she would just make sure she done it when he silently asked for it.

The god laying his freehand on her thigh to caress over the Tattoo that was there. Looking down he noted the sparkle of her skin was gone. What was once the shape of a beautiful shark tail that glimmered with all the colors of an oil slick was now mortal skin covered in the blue art. “I would like to see it again if you permit it.”

“You're not upset because I never explained what I was? I know your temper Loki,” Y/N finally spoke after her long silence. The lump in her throat threatening to cut her off if she continued to speak.

“We all have our reasons little shark,” he smiled leaning in to place a gentle kiss on her lips as she fell into him, not caring if the bathing suit she once wore was in shreds thanks to the tail and the spike fin along her spine that had rendered it useless.

“Go for a swim,” she smiled as they parted, and she tugged the towel around her shoulders.

“I thought you would never ask lover,” Loki smiled. With a flash of seidr he was standing next to the passenger side door, opening it to jerk her into his arms with a yelp. The jeep gone in the blink of an eye with a quiet reassurance it was in it's parking spot at the compound as he carried her to the shore.

Sitting her to her feet in the surf Loki could honestly not believe what he was witnessing when the sea water splashed over her legs. The skin turning to the shimmering grey flesh of a shark but staying separate as the Tattoo sparkled for a moment. Y/N turned to face the god, stepping flush to him to stand to black tipped toes to place a kiss on his lips before flinging the towel in his face and taking off running into the surf. A quick dive in and she splashed back with a beautifully made sharks tail. The god smirking as he pulled the towel away and watched her head pop up beyond the breaking waves.

“Well?! Are frost giants afraid of the water,” Y/N yelled back, the water just below her shoulders. The gods smirk even bigger as he realized he was still donning his blue skin, the pants he wore soaked, a flash of seidr and he was gone.

“Think you are a sly creature do you Y/N,” came Loki’ calm voice behind her. She knew he was going to do that, turning to realize he wore a black rash guard, shark tail curling around his legs that had to kick slightly.

“You could charm a tail,” Y/N spoke up looking into his still crimson orbs and swearing he was enjoying being himself.

“I could, but that would take the fun out of it,” he smirked looking down to note the top of ample breast were exposed just before she dipped under the water, tail surfacing to splash at him.

The god felt the swirl of water as she circled him for a moment then jerked him under with her, pressing lips to his to realize she was able to help him breathe. Taking note that her process of breathing had to still be same as on land, as he felt no gills as he caressed over soft curves to place his hands around her neck to hold her close. Her body arching out, tail wrapping around him before uncurling to move strongly to take them back to the surface to break the kiss.

“Besides lover, I would never look as beautiful as you,” he smirked as she kept him afloat, pressed flush to him as they bobbed in the water, still he kept his blue lined skin.

“Mmm, blue is my favorite color by the way. It looks handsome on you, and the red eyes, beautiful,” she breathed as he pulled her for another kiss. Loki was surprised as legs wrapped around his waist having never realized she had drifted them far enough back to the shore to stand, hands caressing over voluptuous curves as he reached to grip her waist the spike fin folded against her spine.

“Let’s go back to the compound and take that shower you have always asked me about joining,” Y/N smiled showing a set of sharp fangs, three on each side of the two front teeth both top and bottom.

“You don’t have to ask twice,” Loki spoke up as Y/N smirked at his impatience as with in a blink they where standing in the large shower of his room.

Still he kept the Jotun blue skin. He surprised her by putting her to her feet, having her turn to look over the fin on her back and trail his fingers over the spiny appendage. Y/N smirked at his curiosity of her, crimson orbs looking over her bare buttocks as he ran fingers over the Tattoo again obvious it was the most fascinating.

“Here I thought you would be more intrigued by my tail or the skin that covered them but my Tattoo mesmerizes you more,” she spoke, Loki tugging her hip to return her to face him realizing he was now bare before her. Loki not backing away as she reached up to touch over the lines on his chest, smiling at him, it was clear she was more intrigued by him than he was her.

“What is the markings for,” he finally asked as she turned to cut the shower head on, keeping her legs that where covered in the shimmering iridescent shark skin that traveled to just under her breast to end in a point between them. On her back it traveled her spine to end at a point somewhere under her hair, a shiver making it's way up her spine as he ghosted is fingers over the flesh next to the fin that was covered in blue Tattoo.

“They mark me as a warrior,” she began turning back to look up at Loki smiling as it appeared he was keeping the blue skin just for her. “When I was younger, I had been drug onto a ship of merchants and treated… Well let’s just say that they were cruel. When I wouldn’t give them a show they lashed me to the mast to bake in the sun, or so that was the idea. It's not that easy to kill a mermaid. But I managed to get free somewhere around New Zealand.”

“Did they do this to you,” he began hinting to very faint edge of a scar at the base of her skull, cobalt fingers touching over it as she turned and tugged him under the rain head.

“Yeah. My entire left side was splattered in lamp oil. They sat me on fire, scorched my skin, my hair before I could plunge into the ocean. Killed several before I jumped, by that time the Māori noted the ship and me. Thankfully they are very accepting of my kind. They hid me from the trade ship, healed me, accepted me and marked me as one of their own.”

“So, you’re older than 36,” Loki smirked at Y/N who smiled to show the same set of fangs as he pulled tighter. This left nothing to the imagination of how he felt about her, erection pressing into the plump stomach he happened to love to lay his head on.

“Hmm. All that dramatic swashbuckling and all you take from that is I am older than I originally told you,” the woman chuckled up to the god that was leaning down to press lips for a chaste kiss before pulling away. “ I was born in the summer of 1701. I was captured when I was 16. So technically I am 318 years old, but still not as old as you.”

“Glad you survived love. Sorry I didn’t know you then, so that I could have prevented this,” he spoke quietly hinting to the iridescent Tattoo that he felt tingle under his fingers before smashing his lips to hers in the heat of passion.

Blue lined hands falling to her thighs to squeeze them and lift her with ease to place them around his waist. The god swallowing her breathy moan down, drenched folds rutting over erect man hood. Loki continued to hold her tightly, her hands snaking into his hair as sharp nails raked his scalp and she nipped at his lip with sharp fangs making him jump, pulling away to look her over.

“You are a feisty little shark,” Loki grinned as she rutted to tease throbbing cock with dripping hole that begged for him. Her thumb rubbing over his bottom lip to smear the dark blue blood that had ebbed out, crimson orbs flickering to the sharp black nails she sported.

“Have to be to survive,” her voice quivered as it dawned on her his shaft was covered in the same raised markings, the chafe of the ones over his torso making her even more excited as she teased the head of his cock with a quiet whimper.

“Thank the Norns for that,” he breathed as he lowered her over throbbing cock, feeling velvet folds clinch around his girth as she moved her hips to seat fully over him.

“Your beautiful lover. Never hide this again,” he breathed out, not waiting for her to adjust before setting a bruising pace but evident by the whimpering moans she let out it didn’t matter.

Pleasure ran her spine as she captured the gods lips once again, allowing his tongue to dance with hers while matching his thrust as deliciously lined cock hit all the right parts in sinful cunt that threatened to squeeze even tighter. Y/N filling desperate as she rubbed throbbing nerve against the god with every perfect thrust into needy cunt. Lined girth hitting the right spot that made her cry out to the room.

Lewd noises hung thick in the air while her nails dug into his shoulders to draw a thin trickle of blood. A cobalt blue hand going to the nape of her neck to prevent her from pulling away like he could feel her doing. Holding her head so she had to look down at him, crimson orbs burning with desire.

“Cum for me lover. I want to drink in your form writhing over me,” he rasped out, filling her body quiver. He knew her all too well, knew when she was fast approaching her undoing and loved to watch her fall to pieces before him. Now, and now he had her right where he wanted her, she was perfect, she was his and there were no secrets to hold them back any longer.

He felt the quiver working it's way through her body, knew she was coming undone as velvet cunt squeezed tight around already spilling cock. One last harsh thrust had her crying out to the room as he kept crimson orbs on her, gazing up at her as they finished the chase and pulling her head to his shoulder.

Carefully Loki looped an arm under plump buttocks while tracing over her shivering back and the fin that was there in efforts to soothe her. Her legs trembled as she remained wrapped around him, body spent. A quiet admittance of love whispered into her ear as he kissed the Tattoo on her shoulder while she slipped to her feet.

Both looking over each other, letting the water clean them before Loki turned it off. Watching as it seemed her skin soaked up the moisture and her iridescents began to fade. The bioluminescent Tattoo staying prominent but not glowing as much.

“Keep this love, it's all I ask,” he spoke hinting to the Tattoo, watching as it dulled to a deep blue that still didn’t look natural but appeared to be where it stopped.

“Then promise to show me this side of you more often? I understand about having to keep certain things hidden. This will be our peace to ourselves,” she bargained, caressing over the raised markings on his face as they began to slowly fade back to his Aesir form.

“I swear to the Norns that I will,” he breathed, pulling her into his arms to carry her out to the bedroom. In no time he was laying her on the king size mattress delicately to fall between her legs rutting at her as she done the same.

“I was worried I was losing you love,” the god finally admitted as she paused to look up at him. Never had she thought how it must have made him feel that she refused to accompany him to the shower or refused to allow him to step into the shower when it was just her.

“You weren’t. I was just hoping I could find a way to show you before what happened today. This wasn’t how I planned it,” Y/N smiled as she felt him still over her, he was ready she could fill him hard and pressing at her readied cunt.

“Well, either way, it changes nothing Y/N. I fell in love with you and not the creature you are,” he smiled, knowing she was still sensitive as he teased her carefully before slowly sinking into readied cunt. This time would be slow, meaningful. Y/N gasping out as he filled her up once again.

“Agreed. I love you as Loki, and only Loki,” she smiled up at him enjoying the slow fuck this was turning into.

Tags open! And re-blogs are ALWAYS welcomed!

Tags: @dark-night-sky-99  @prettybubblesintheair  @gramaeryebard  @reallyheckinggay  @jovanna-shewolf  @andiyholly  @katstablook   @nickyl316h  @beets1bears1battlestargalactica @aslandia726 @moonfaery @furstinnajoelle   @itsbqueenthings @lookwhatyoumademequeue @whovianwookie86-captainxev@jazzieomega  @tomhardy41 @get-loki @drakonwild

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus IV: Fall of the Sun

Thirty-Four: Maari

Last Minute camaraderie (or Parenting..?)

             Merry was worrying. Merry was morally opposed to worrying. It was bad for one’s health and bad as a prayer and offering to her Dad.

           They rode through the clogged streets of Manhattan with the wind whipping against Sam Datta’s windshield. She alternated between reviewing Sam’s notes on how to use fundamental probability to track the trends in polio outbreaks in Syria and the Congo and updating Sam on their plan of action.

           By now, Sam definitely preferred hearing about the jazzy-spazzy mythological side of things instead of his midterm. Merry would have wanted it the other way around because she thought Athena and studying where the sexist, jazziest-spazziest things in town.

           “So this whole plan pivots on the assumption that Mr. Stoic, who has betrayed you before, won’t betray you again, Poison Ivy, who’s losing her mind, stays sane enough to help, and your spineless friend has enough of a spine to keep a stubborn sociopath and a well-meaning idiot from destroying some camp,” Sam summed up her explanation of Axel, Euna, Kally, Alabaster, and Pax.

           “Psychopath, honey. No need to be polite here,” she hummed. She tapped her burgundy, music-playing jacket sleeve, absently flipping through various songs.

           Merry still wondered exactly how Kally had “taken a fancy” to Alabaster, as Calex had warned. Pax made sense. Pax was a well-meaning bad boy that had a nasty combo of being gullible AND unlucky.

           Alabaster, as far as Merry was concerned, was just a dick.

           With the chill leaking in through the windows and Sam’s heating system deciding to kick out at the same time, Merry wished she had her Teddy Bear here to keep her warm. Or Leo Valdez: the spiciest of space heaters. Calex might be offended by that one.

           “And there’s some punk kid up in a tower, threatening to kill someone’s baby sister, Series of Unfortunate Events style? You know, I have a tire jack with a removable metal pole in the back. I could come upstairs with you and give him a proper greeting,” Sam offered.

           His excited, dark eyes glanced over to Merry with the same skepticism that Axel’s had. Maybe seeing them in a big group made this life-and-death stuff all fun and fancy free. Seeing Merry by herself (all five foot ten inches of apparent helplessness) going up to chastise a kid younger than her half-brother (“Bad! Bad Pax baby! No more kidnapping!”) for attempted infanticide… that seemed to inspire doubt in people. Though, from what Merry remembered of Hiro’s tiny form, she could defeat him by sitting on him if he stayed still long enough.

           Assuming he didn’t shoot her or cut off Percy’s little sister’s fingers or send the baby on a 300 foot roller coast ride with an unfortunate, sudden stop.

           “I would prefer you remain Sam Datta: the most Epic of Bystanders,” she said. After a pause, she gave him a shaky smile. “But, call the cops if I’m not down in forty minutes, would you, honey? This girl plans to have summa cum laude written on her gravestone, and I can’t do that until I’ve graduated university.”

           The closer they got and the more she recognized buildings, like the Greco-Roman columns and lion guardian statue outside the New York Public Library (where she had occasionally taken Nikhil to study when their mother decided to throw a raucous party on a weekday) the queasier her stomach felt.  

           Merry wanted to goad Sam into chatting with her in Tamil, a language she could understand with ease, but that sounded like a woodchipper coming from her unpracticed lips (much to her adopted appa’s irritation, she and Nikhil tended to respond to he and Am’ma in English). Since no one could speak it at camp, she missed hearing it, but the thought of Am’ma’s silky, buoyant voice made Merry miss her mother and worry that the social workers had already come to Am’ma’s house.

           That made her more nauseous. Yay!

           “We can listen to a song for more than thirty seconds, you know,” Sam said.

           Merry lifted her finger off her parka. She didn’t realize she had still been sifting through songs. “I wanted to assure you had a full comprehension and appreciation for jazz throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.”

           The statue of Atlas came into view on the next turn. Merry’s stomach gave serious thought to emptying here. Then, it wouldn’t have to go into the Cathedral.

           “Music Theory 210: A Crash Course,” Sam said. He pulled up next to the Cathedral, ignoring the blare of horns behind them. His energetic eyes examined her. “So, uh, you don’t have any weapons.”

           “A clear and sharp mind is the most powerful weapon, honey,” she said.

           Her eyes fluttered to the icon Sam kept on his dashboard of Sarawati, a four-armed goddess playing a lute. Merry offered a quick prayer to this goddess of wisdom and knowledge and another one after to Athena. They were good ones to pray to, right? This was like a test, one where people died if you failed.

           They needed Percy and Annabeth in the upcoming fight. She thought about the campers that might perish at camp, her friends, and her half-brother on the god-side. Realistically, Percy wouldn’t be able to sit by and watch as people died. Percy would stand up to fight and Hiro would murder his little sister in response.

           So, no pressure if she failed corralling Hiro.

           Merry unclicked her seatbelt robotically. “Nanri,” she said.[1]

           “Parkkalaam,” Sam said,[2] “I mean it. You come back down here in ten minutes, you hear?”

           Merry paused to examine Sam. This might have been how it would feel to have responsible adults in her family, the kind of parenting she had missed out on. She never could explain to other kids how jealous she was when they got grounded. Getting grounded meant that your parents cared. It meant they were present in your life.

           Sam seemed like someone that would ground a cousin if a parent wouldn’t. Though, judging from his maniac interest in the world, you’d have to majorly mess up to get grounded.

           She suddenly realized how helpless this boy—man several years her senior—felt.

           “Shouldn’t you be worrying about your biostats midterm instead of little ol’ me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes as she opened the passenger door.

           Sam smiled and gave her a shrug. “I already missed it. It was early this morning.”

           Merry hopped out of the car, shutting the door behind her without a word. As cheerfully as she could, Merry waved her hand at the taxi-van and forced a bounce into her step as she walked on the concrete sidewalk towards the Cathedral. That way, she hoped Sam wouldn’t see that his kindness had broken her.

           Merry choked back tears as she proceeded forward, alone, to stop one of the world’s tiniest psychopath from mutilating and killing Percy’s little sister.

Sorry I’m running late! I hope you guys enjoyed this quick chapter :D Tune in next week for Maari’s chapter: Stairs: The Real Villain in This Series Part I.

Footnotes:

[1] Thank you.

[2] See you. More leaning towards, “I better see you.” Unless I have the wrong one. Someone yell at me if I have the wrong one!

[scribblesofabeloved]

Greetings for surpassing your junior years!

Wherein you discovered lesser rest yet

Yet full or jeers

Now get ready to present your very best

Trust me to choose Humanities and Social Sciences

For you will overcome not just a paper, but even a life test

In here, creative writing can move you into different ambiances

This is also where counseling and social work collaborate

As well as Philosophy let you learn in few glances

If you’re also fond of participating in a debate,

Have fun in speaking and thinking critically

So take HUMSS now, mate!

WELCOME DEAR!

It’s my pleasure to be with you here in my so-called “hood”. So maybe you’ll gonna ask if what is this for. Actually, I was just busy jotting down my ideas until I realized that I have to quit wasting time since this is for a scheduled task. (Hahaha!)

Anyway, let me introduce myself first.

My name is Camille and I’m 17. I’m in grade 12 right now and taking Humanities and Social Sciences strand under the academic track. Be joyful kid, because I’ll be your “not-so-pretty-but-just-tall” advocate for this time!! But before anything else, I want you to be informed about this blog.

This isn’t about your favorite love quotes

This isn’t a site for online dating so stop browsing on my account!

We’ll gonna learn how to become a good student here. (Believe me)

This is a serious business so I’ll be letting you to grab your daily dosage of happy pill right now. Hurry!

Now count 1 to 10 and we’ll gonna start!

So, what is it?

Under the academic track there are four main strands, namely Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Accountancy and Business Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) and General Acadmic Strand (GAS).

If you’re one of a kind having a deep passion towards literary, communication skills, psychology, counseling and law, well, welcome to the club! You’re maybe one of us–having creative minds, passionate souls and soft cinnamon hearts (the last word isn’t a joke!) because those things belong to HUMSS. Dealing with the subjects and lessons within this strand wasn’t difficult, neither easy too. All you have to possess are the following, in order for you to survive:

Two cups of patience (one for yourself and the other for your teachers (oops)

An abundant supply of papers and pens (those are tools for survival!)

ENOUGH self-esteem

A very courageous heart with a deep breath and an immortal soul

LOVE (since it conquers all. even your seatmate)

On the other hand, it is so enjoyable to study HUMSS since it really discuss about humans, society, politics and everything in it. Hey I’ll be sharing you some of my stories about being a HUMSS student for you to find out why did I choose HUMSS and why must you should do the same thing.

“Simula ng Huli” the making

I have the best pals

The first one was the called “best”

Next was only “pal”

In our Contemporary and E-Tech subjects, we had been given a task by our teachers to create our 10-minute short film. We decided to create something different since our fellow classmates agreed to come up with horror films. We made a drama out of a spoken poetry. We do not have dialogues instead we act the scenes that the poem portray.

Share some?

The story began when a Senior High School girl, Marisol, decided to step outside her shell. From an introvert, she made friends with some other people. Now, just like the usual scenarios, they made memories and shared struggles as well. But the sad thing happened then when many of her friends chose to part ways and everything about there friendship ruined. The story ended not in a blissful one, thus, remained melancholic.

The Sample Script

Pero siguro kailangan ko na nga talagang maniwala Maniwala na nasasaktan na ako at kailangan ko nang sumuko Dahil mahirap nang maibalik yung mga parte ng pinunit na pahina nitong bawat kabanata ng ating istorya Mahirap nang manatili sa isang sulok habang naaalala kung pano lang kayo nagparanas ng ligaya pero nagpalit din ng sugat na kailanman ay di na nga mabubura Pero Salamat parin, Salamat sa pagbibigay ng aral sakin na hindi lahat ng nagdudulot ng kasiyahan ay mananatili kailanman Siguro ito na nga ang panahon para matanggap kong ito na..

Ang Simula ng Huli

NOW, LET”S ESCAPE FROM REALITY!

Let us now talk about creative writing

What comes in your mind when hearing it?

Did you know that it is more of thinking?

Writing your thoughts might have spirit!

All you have to do is to hold a pen and sit

So you people with imaginations as high as a mountain’s peak,

Here is where you really fit

In the real world, let us come out and sneak!

It isn’t just about writing guys. It’s actually more on about thinking creatively and separating yourself from this world. And if you will gonna ask if what can I use to describe Creative Writing subject, I’ll just answer you with one word and would expound it..

AMAZEMENT! 

Now, ponder of what does being amazed means and you will be able to understand what message you’re intended to receive right now. Just kidding.

Creative writing subject is a break from the real routine of this world. Maybe in a newspaper, it is the feature page. It is the desert in a heavy main course. It is the apple of a pie and can be the water break of your practice. But it doesn’t mean that you’ll have to forget about your self and the society where you belong. No. Creative writing only wants us to breathe and pause amidst the fast run of a train. It wants us to have a short break while watching a long and annoying TV program. To sum it all, it intends to let us escape for a while in this real world through our own imaginations wherein we’re able to create our own world.

To share some, the most unforgettable moment during our creative writing subject was when we’re asked by our teacher to write our own ending of a particular story. Moreover, we wrote also our own short story inspired by a song. But it did not end there, because we usually ought to make a role play out of those stories. Amazing. Aside of those, writing or composing poems with different rhyme scheme is one of my favorite activities too. 

To learn isn’t just the goal of this subject, but rather, to make our experiences alive.

”Experience is the best teacher” as the cliche goes, because in my own perception it really gave us the grades. (HAHAHA!) I mean, our experiences and the emotions within those always lead us to a better piece of a story or stunning lines of a poem. This is the reason why many loves this subject. (including our teacher, yay!)

Oh, speaking of experiences, let me share you my great travel ever!

Three Days In the Paradise!

If you are lonely,

Keep in mind that you are best

And made splendidly!

Last June, I and the worship team members of our church had gone to a vacation. From San Jose del Monte Bulacan, it took us 4 hours and 20 minutes to arrive at Bongabon, Nueva Ecija. We spent our first day in Simple Life Resort.

The pool’s water wasn’t very strong with chemical contents since it came from the mountain brook. The staffs were very cheerful, the entrance fee was only 20php while the cottage rent costs 100php to 1000php and that made us stayed there until 7 in the evening. 

Simple Life Resort

The “Batanes of The East” and the Lighthouse in Aurora

After an enjoyable swimming and bonding, we headed our way to Dingalan Aurora. The travel time was only 1 hour and 5 minutes. That was the place where we’re really going to stay until the third day of our vacation. The people welcomed us in a certain beach resort  and they were very friendly. There, we had rented two cottages. 

The sea was so tidy  and the waves were very calm that’s why we almost lived there. Incidentally also, we’re fortunate to witness the opening of the town feast happened. The boats made up of flamboyant colors with patrons and bands paraded on the sea. 

I and my fellow youths together with our youth leader also did not let the day passed without even visiting the famous white beach resort in Dingalan. We did not actually went there for swimming, but for mountain climbing. It took us about 25 minutes riding a boat from the island where we’re staying in to the white beach resort, and so we’re welcomed by an abundance of jellyfish. It took us almost 30 minutes climbing the two famous mountains in Aurora. But even though my heart almost fell on my soles, the mountain view did not disappoint me. It actually made my breathe away! Believe me, my tears fell when I saw how beautiful and wonderful the scene was when we reached the peak of the second mountain (which was my favorite also), the so-called “Batanes of the East”. The temperature wasn’t that high that time that’s why we really enjoyed our climb. The mountain was still full of green tall trees and the ocean behind us was said to be a part of the Pacific ocean. I almost cry aloud when I thought how Great God is. The aesthetic made me realize that if God alone shaped these majestic things, how special we are, since we were the most important in all His creations.

Humanities and Social Sciences is perfect for your run, 

It isn’t as harsh as a bullet of a gun

But just as bright as the splendid sun

Now trust me because for sure, you’ll really have fun!

Hey! I hope that I inspired you and encourage you as well as you read through. If you’re still confused about the strand that you’ll be taking for your Senior Years, keep in mind that you have always to follow your passion. 

In HUMSS, maybe you’re not going to study numbers, but you will know the importance of those. You’re not going to balance an equation, but you will learn how to find equality and justice despite of the world’s realities. You’re not going to compute for a product’s value, but you will know how to value one’s life and the society’s products. So if you want to become a future world changer, having a passion for humanities and looking forward to a better society, be one of us! Choose HUMSS. 

[elysianinsignia]

DIARY ENTRY

                                             by: Christine Dosa

(December 18, 2020)

Gosh! Today is the day! After being quarantined for almost 2 weeks in the facility and fortunately getting a negative result for covid 19, finally, we are free! We packed our things and waited for my uncle to go fetch us to finally get home.

The rain is pouring, and a cold breeze embraces me as I watch the trees dancing along with the strong wind, from the outside of the car’s window. It feels strange looking at the place I used to live in and I cannot help but to be mesmerized by its beauty.  Almost everything has changed; the basketball court is now wider compared to what it was 5 years ago and even the street that used to almost had an “croaking” sound of the birds, is now busy. I can’t help but to feel content and happy to be back to my mom’s hometown, Leyte.

Anyway, we did nothing but sleep all day given that we’re all tired travelling from the facility and I also  think the weather had something to with it, Gosh! I can't wait to roam around the village tomorrow! 

(December 19, 2020)

 I don’t know what this feeling is called, but I cannot help but to wish that this would last forever. We had a usual morning- preparing breakfast, laughing between sipping on our coffee, sharing memories and exchanging stuff going on in each of our lives and I think that’s perfect. I miss this! Some things never really changed, just like our family’s bonding, quality time with my aunts, uncles and cousins.  After that, we just did what normally happens in every household. Cook, eat, watch television and some of the adults even decided to drink when the sun goes down which I think doesn’t include what a family usually does? I’m not sure though. 

Although I’m a bit frustrated that we failed to roam around the village today,  it’s fine ‘cause we still had a lot of time to do that on the following days. 

(December 20, 2020)

I know it's a bit late to set up the Christmas tree and other decorations but knowing Tita Rowena? She’ll never let every occasion pass without having a little razzle-dazzle in our home. Some of my nieces decided to “help” her but we,  my older cousins and I, used that chance to get away from her and roam around the village. 

We walked around until we got hungry and decided to find something to eat while having endless conversations about anything. We ate barbecue after finding seats on the boulevard, near the shore. The air from the ocean feels refreshing and I remember looking at the sky til it changes its color from orange to scarlet which makes me remember that we needed to come back home since our parents probably have no idea where we went. 

(December 21, 2020)

Today we went to the house of one of my aunts and decided to stay there for a day. We had a good time singing karaoke while drinking. It feels like we’re just in one of the clubs in Manila since some of my uncles are already drunk and started dancing along with the upbeat melody of the songs playing. We almost died laughing whenever Tito Jake would crack a joke, the youngest and funniest one. 

If tita rosemarie’s house was as clean when we got there and peaceful as the moon on that night, while every corner of the house is in complete chaos. Well then, I guess, tables really have turned— literally.

(December 22, 2020)

Today has been the most productive day I had since we got here.  After doing the household chores; cleaning, washing clothes and washing the dishes, we decided to have a road trip. I look at the sky, letting my hair dance as the wind welcomes my whole face making my eyes squint a little as I ride the motorcycle. It's a sunny day yet the touch of the heat on my skin didn't hurt. The road was peaceful which makes it easy for us to have a smooth flow in riding. We roam around 'til we get tired and have decided to go home.

The road trip inspired and motivated me to write not only two but three short poems about the appreciation of the beauty I witnessed a while ago and how it made me feel something I can name but cannot find the right words to explain--- freedom. 

(December 23, 2020)

Yay! Christmas is coming and I can feel it! If I thought that yesterday was the most productive day I had, then I'm probably wrong. Everyone's busy and has their own responsibilities. Some were in the kitchen, preparing food for tomorrow's celebration, some were having fun and singing the same song for the nth time while all the youngsters were responsible to create a little razzle dazzle in the living room.  We also prepare a mini program and parlor games for tomorrow because we're not only celebrating Christmas but also the reunion of our family. 

In short, there's a lot of things going on in every corner of our home and it's exhausting to mention it one by one. I cannot write any longer than this because whilst writing, I could already feel my eyes slowly flickering to darkness. But another thing I wanna share is that, I cannot wait for tomorrow's event!

(December 24, 2020)

"Merry Christmas!" 

I've been hearing those lines since the firstlight. We've been busy today and I can't feel even a little bit of exhaustion. I love this, how I wish everyday would be like this.  We also attended the mass and I saw some of my childhood friends. They can still remember me and decided to approach me after the mass. Even though it's a little awkward, I only reciprocated all their hellos, a smile and a wave. It's cute tho, how even after years they're still approachable as they were after all the years had passed. 

We went home after the mass and decided to start the program. There's a lot going on and for the second time, every corner of the house has been in complete mess. I still cannot get over  the fact that I lost a game against my niece! Yes, my 10 year old niece! Gosh! But at least, my uncles pay me for my  "talent fee", singing three songs for them. 

Although there's a lot of things that happened, I wish to remember every detail of my Christmas day here. And for sure, I will. 

[dangerouslyclosetothesurface]

Saturday

Yesterday I was looking at the map and I decided I wanted to bike to Pescadero. Two reasons for this: I wanted bread. Also, I wanted to test my gearing and setup.

Before COVID blew up, I was planning to bikecamp to LA this year for bike anniversary (mid-May; it’s flex.), and get ice cream (bike anniversary always calls for an ice cream ride) at McConnell’s in Santa Barbara on the way, and visit my OG bicycle mentor Muneeb. SF to LA is a mandatory ride that many people I know, some of whom are not even that into cycling, have done. Also I was inspired by Matt Reyes doing the ride in 6 days on 47x17 and 47x19. (I know my strength and I would do it on a lower gear.) But now that dream is dead.

Gear setup: - gangster with 47x19, wide bars - I put a patch kit and CO2 kit in a tiny seatpost bag. - I used my Tunitas bum bag to hold my water bottle, a battery pack with iPhone cable, wallet, an old tube for bungee in case I needed to tie something to my bike, a strap from Box Dog Bikes (similar purpose), a sharpie (to deface things), and my phone while I was riding. - I wore some Rapha bib shorts that Ariel gave me (thank you forever Ariel) plus a Montiel sports bra, and my Underarmour hoodie. I don’t bother with jersey anymore. Fuck it. I want the all-over tan. Also wore some Spoke Easy socks which I really like, Heavy Pedal gloves, and my Adidas running shoes which I got many years ago from the boys youth section.

Pre-ride: - Moisturizer, sunscreen, kale salad with meal-prepped beans and corn and bell pepper and three flour tortillas I fried lightly and melted horseradish cheese (yo I love this horseradish cheese) on. - Light stretching in my lobby, then roll out at 7:57 according to Strava

didn’t take many photos

Ride: Strava - By now I know the deal to get onto Highway 1. Slightly difficult Skyline bit that is between Fort Funston and Olympic Club, and then slightly more difficult two block stretch that goes from Valero gas station to the water tower thing. Then the terrifying (I hate descents, ok) descent on which I have to make a left on Crenshaw and get on Palmetto, which I always overshoot because I’m busy being terrified. This time I paid attention. I wasn’t terrified. Because I got my skids back and spinny ratio makes me feel invincible. - After this I went through Pacifica, then fixiecoasted down into Pacifica State Beach, then up that narrow winding bit to Devil’s Slide. - During the tunnel my music cut out so I just turned off my headphones and talked to myself the rest of the way. Flats are good for unwinding. - Then Half Moon Bay, then those three climbs that I did with not too much difficulty. Did some more fixiecoasting down the backs of those climbs. Passed by a fair number of cyclists going the other way and waved at them. - Got to Pescadero an hour ahead of schedule and thus bread was not open. Did not want to wait around so I just refilled my water bottle (ugh the water tasted like metal) and turned back around. - Climbs going back were not so bad. One in particular was a bit long, and the ground texture was bumpy. Descents were nice because I fixiecoasted them, plus I reveled.in the fact that I had climbed that same stretch just hours prior. Good job, self. Pat on the back for you. Got really comfortable with fixiecoasting (footbrake at the ready but rarely used). (Not a super useful skill but it is fun.) - I read that people don’t recommend LA to SF because it isn’t as enjoyable to ride on the inside of Highway 1. I would just like to say I disagree with this. I thought it was equally enjoyable. I liked looking at the plants. HAHAHAH. I didn’t take any photos (duh, I was busy riding) but there was a fabulous display of different lupines and Erigeron glaucus and I even saw a Sisrynchium bellum! I have never seen that in the wild. Also some Sambucus, some Eriophyllum, and some Castilleja. And a lot of poison oak. LOL. Thickets of it. Damn. Be careful y’all. - Seeing as I didn’t get any bread, I instead stopped at Dunkin Donuts in Half Moon Bay and picked up a few of my favorites. Then I ate 3.5 of the 4 donuts after realizing that I had no carrying capacity. I saved the remaining .5 for... - The last climb (and in my opinion, the only major climb), Skyline (the reverse of the descent that terrifies me). I misremembered it as four blocks. I think it is more. I lost count because I was focusing on 1) keeping my shoulders relaxed and 2) believing in myself. HAHAHAHA. Also I forgot to stop and eat the last half donut because I was so relieved the climb was over that I just kept going. - Made it the rest of the way home; super easy. Google Maps says it is like 47.5 miles each way, so I was trying to add some distance to make it an even 100 but my GPS messed up so I didn’t know how many miles I had gone. I think I only hit 98, but that’s fine. It was really annoying to try to add miles in the city because everyone was everywhere.

Post-ride: - Got home, showered, ate the same kale with beans and whatnot (that is all I eat these days), and the last .5 donut. Also drank a bunch of non-metallic water.

What I thought about on this ride: - This was a test ride, but it was also useful in being a means of catharsis for my life and the past week. I thought a lot about what I want out of my life, and who I want to be. I think that in life, my main objective is to feel capable. I know what I can do and what my limits are, and now I’m gonna try and push those limits a bit. Widen my comfort zone, little by little. It’s not about being comfortable with everything, so much as it is about knowing that I could reach a level of comfort with anything. So this ride is about me getting comfortable with the fact that I can do it. (...by doing it. HAHAHA) I’ve already done this ride, with Conrad last September, on Emily’s Bianchi. But I’ve not done it brakeless (btw first century on the gangster! yay little gangster), and I wanted to test my mental fortitude for if i were to ride to LA on this setup. Now i know the gearing is right (at least for this stretch), and I’ve also gained confidence, so that’s good. - During the three nontrivial climbs, I thought about 1) relaxing my shoulders, 2) all the people who love and support me and would be cheering me on at that moment, and 3) all the people (the same people) who inspire me to do this. Not just to ride, but to live life, and take advantage of that opportunity. I hope that I can return the favor and inspire them in the same way. I often source my motivation and power from anger, or self-flagellation, or other negative emotions. It’s not ineffective, but I am trying to make the shift towards more positive and self-empowering thinking. Also I made a mental list of powerful women that have influenced me and that I hold in high regard. Thank you for being my role models. (There are also powerful influential inspirational men in my life; thank you also, but I did not make a mental list of y’all during this ride.) - I biked past a lot of beauty (California, and Highway 1 especially, is known for that) and I thought about edges. In ecology, edges are the most productive in biodiversity and growth and resources. I think in life that is also true. When you have a collaboration between people, or a fusion between genres, that’s kinda like an edge. You get the best of both worlds, and something magical can thrive in that intersection. The result is greater than the sum of its parts. I look forward to one day being part of some sort of collab, once I have better defined myself and determined what I bring to the table. - What else did I think about: ummm. Mostly just loose/disorganized thoughts about life and people around me and work and how I can be more focused, and how things do get easier if you put in the work and the time, and how when I am biking I carry with me the people who support me, always. I hold you in my heart. lol.

[seokjingiggles]

Just the Beginning

genre: fluff

member: seokjin

words: 1797

A peaceful picnic playdate with your husband and two children.

w o w I’m in love with seokjin

Anticipate the other members x kids soon? teehee

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for 20 followers! Some may say that’s not a lot but it feels like a boatful to me! I made this account for my own enjoyment but I guess 20 of you joined the party! I promise to work harder and bring you meaningful stories for the boys! You guys are very sweet and it means a lot to me that someone likes my stuff. THANK YOU XOXOXOXOXOXO 💓💓💓💓

As always, pls enjoyyy ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ )

Your morning started as sweet as ever. Sunlight was streaming through the blinds of your bedroom window. The ticklish willow tree outside swayed angelically in the summer breeze. A bird flew down on the windowsill and peered inside, reminding you that it was time to start the day. You were suddenly aware of your husband’s arm draped across your body. His head was nuzzled into your hair and you could feel the slow, warm breath of his sleeping figure. You smiled at the realization that this was your reality. You were living the best possible life imaginable, the kind you only saw in movies. You had a happy family of five, including your dashing husband, two precious fraternal twins, and a little one on the way. The twins were anticipating their upcoming fourth birthdays. Seokjin and you had prepared a special trip to Disneyland in a few weeks for them.

Ever since you met Seokjin, everything felt like a dream. You had never been exposed to this kind of love. The kind of love that made your heart swell and your cheeks grow pink. The kind of love that made you want to run and jump like a child in the middle of a field of wildflowers. Seokjin gave you the kind of love that made you appreciate the beauty in everything. He made you love yourself. And now, you had so much more to love. Your house, your friends, your marriage, your family...you had an endless supply of love for everything and everyone, and this was just the beginning.

You carefully shifted your body to face Seokjin. You quietly gasped at his charming beauty. Even after six years, it always caught you off-guard. You soaked in his divine features, from his feather-like eyelashes to his plump, rosy lips. You were in awe at how gracefully his chestnut bangs cascaded over his closed eyelids. Every day you were reminded of how much you focused on detail. Seokjin was a gift from the gods who deserved to be cherished and appreciated infinitely.

You stroked his cheek with the back of your hand. His skin was as soft as a rose petal. He stirred in his slumber and grinned, eyes still closed. His hand took your hand that rested on his cheek and he kissed it.

Seokjin opened his eyes and giggled.

“What’s so funny?” you asked, scooting closer to him.

“You are so cute,” he swooned as he draped a leg over you.

“I love you,” you gushed.

knock knock

“Mommy, may we come in? I’m hungry. Can Daddy make waffles?” Ji Hun, your son, and Soo Mi, your daughter, tiptoed into the bedroom.

This time, you giggled and cooed, “You guys are so cute.”

Seokjin got up from the bed and picked up Ji Hun. He kissed his son’s tiny nose and turned to face you.

Similarly, you held Soo Mi in your arms and brushed her hair with your fingers.

Your family shuffled to the kitchen. The twins sat at the dining table, babbling on about a silly TV show while you made cereal. Seokjin began cooking waffles. As you poured milk into two bowls, you began humming a tune from your childhood. Seokjin joined in and sang the words. He walked towards you and hugged you from behind. He smelled like pancake batter and syrup. You leaned your head back and kissed him on the lips.

“Ewwww! I can’t look!” Soo Mi exclaimed as she turned her head. Ji Hun squealed and covered his eyes.

Seokjin let go of you and set the plate of waffles on the table. He cut the fresh waffles into little pieces and added whipped cream and syrup in the center. He gave each child a plate and proceeded to ruffle Soo Mi’s hair.

The four of you sat at the dining table to eat breakfast. Ji Hun began talking about his dream from the previous night.

“Guess what I had a dream about?! We were at the park with all the yellow flowers! Mommy was pushing Soo Mi on the swings. Soo Mi looked like she was about to throw up,” Soo Mi scoffed and Ji Hun continued, “I was on Daddy’s shoulders and he was running around making airplane noises! I held onto him while he threw his arms out like a plane! It was the best dream ever!”

“You know what, kiddo? I had the same exact dream, except it was just Mommy and me. She had this beautiful lace dress and her skin was glowing in the sunset. She kept on laughing at a joke I made. Then, out of nowhere, I kneeled down and handed her a very shiny ring. I was really nervous. So nervous, in fact, that the ring slipped out of my fingers and almost shattered on the sidewalk! I picked it up and put the ring on Mommy’s finger. She started to cry and I did, too.”

Seokjin was obsessed with describing the moment he proposed.

“That wasn’t a dream, babe, that was a memory.”

“Wait...why was Mommy crying? Did she not like the ring?” Soo Mi questioned with concern.

“Well, a few months later, she told me she hated the ring. But, turns out she liked me...a lot.”

Soo Mi cried out in adoration. She enjoyed hearing about love stories and happy endings. Ji Hun just stared at his father in awe.

As you were picking up the empty plates from the table, you came up with an idea.

“Hey, let’s go to that park with the yellow flowers! I’ll prepare a basket of food and the kids can play on the playground!”

The twins shrieked excitedly. “YAY! WE’RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN!”

Seokjin’s face lit up even more (as if humanly possible) and he added, “We can stay late and watch the sunset! But this time I’ll try not to cry...”

Soo Mi giggled and ran off to her room to get ready. Ji Hun and his father trailed behind. You leaned against the kitchen counter and followed them with your eyes. You couldn’t help but smile at the scene playing out in front of you. Soo Mi was asking Seokjin for his opinion on a yellow dress she picked out. “To match the flowers!” she squealed.

Your husband ushered the twins into the bathroom to freshen up. He sang the ABC’s along with them while they fooled around with the faucet water. You heard Seokjin gasp as Ji Hun flicked him with water. Soo Mi snickered and copied her brother.

They truly were your everything. You made a mental note to remember this moment forever.

The car ride to That Park with the Yellow Flowers was stuffed with Seokjin’s lousy dad jokes followed by several groans. He would look at you eagerly for a reaction and you would muster out a fake laugh. You had to admit, his jokes were hilariously terrible, but you couldn’t let him win the “funniest parent” status.

It was already lunchtime when you arrived at the park. You let the kids play while Seokjin helped you set up for the picnic. You placed the basket of food on the grass.

“I forgot the blanket! Be right back!” you said, jogging to the car.

When you came back, you found the most heartening scene take action. Ji Hun was laughing on Seokjin’s shoulders as your husband dashed in circles, arms outstretched, making airplane noises. Soo Mi was skipping towards the swing set. You ran after her and helped her into the swing. You gently pushed her as she pumped her legs to go higher. The shrieks of the kids, Seokjin’s squeaky laugh, and the stupid creak of the swing chains were enough to make you weep. Your emotions drowned you in galloping waves. You bawled and laughed at the same time, still pushing your daughter on the swing. The warm tears flowed down your cheeks and onto the brown mulch.

This moment was complete and utter joy. Your heart was thanking you for the fuel you were giving it. You were laughing so hard that your stomach began to hurt and you had to sit down on the ground to catch your breath. Soo Mi’s swing slowed to a stop and she trotted over to you. She squatted down and removed your hands from your eyes.

“Daddy! Mommy’s crying! ..Again!” With her short and chubby arms, Soo Mi attempted to wipe your tears away, but ended up spreading the wetness across your face. Regaining control of your emotions, you sniffled and pulled her into a hug. You cradled her as you kissed the top of her head, her eyes, her nose, and, finally, her cheeks. 

Seokjin approached you with Ji Hun in his arms. He crouched down to meet your eyes. He peered at you and smiled once he realized you were smiling, too. He helped you stand up and directed you to the picnic spot he finished assembling.

You ate Nutella sandwiches (at the request of your still-a-kid husband) and drank from juice boxes. Soo Mi crawled into her father’s lap and curled up. Seokjin pet her hair and began humming a melody. Ji Hun rested on the blanket with his head against your thigh as a pillow. You played with his stubby fingers until you could hear both children softly breathing in their slumber. Which dream would inspire your next family playdate?

You turned your head to observe the much-discussed yellow flowers. They were the color of saffron and honey. The delicate petals quivered in the warm breeze. So frail, so innocent, yet so heavenly. You pulled your gaze away from the blossoms.

Seokjin’s eyes were waiting to meet yours. He smiled broadly and his eyes turned into crescents. His ogle lingered as you blushed and looked down at your ring twinkling in the sunlight. This was the ring that started it all. The small piece of stone was so important to you. It signified the dawn of something new. Something you had to feed and water and tend to. Something you watched thrive and prosper. In the reflection of the jewel, you saw four yellow flowers swaying peacefully. A butterfly landed on a fifth flower and pushed the bud into view. Your lips widened into a sweet smile. The summer draft shifted in your direction and you could smell Seokjin’s distinct scent. It was the scent of a father, a lover, a best friend. You clung to your smile and deeply breathed in his aura.

He sighed at the enchanting sight in front of him. He held back tears of joy and nodded to himself.

This is mine. This is ours. Ours to keep and love forever, to cherish and nurture. And this is just the beginning.

Thank you for reading!

I’m accepting requests for anything :)