#anyway it's a GREAT exercise and i think it's genuinely informed a lot of how I engage with fiction as primarily a meta writer re: works

[utilitycaster]

something I keep repeatedly realizing, and then not writing about, is how wiki summaries and meta usually end up focusing on completely different things, and not even in the sense of "your wiki summary should be as neutral and factual as possible whereas meta is inherently making an argument" nor "wiki summaries tend to focus on the story itself whereas meta on actual play frequently, though not always, incorporates analysis of mechanics" but rather "meta is, 99% of the time, about a conversation that can be summarized in a single sentence if that."

[i-am-snowils-admiral]

oooooh roomate's shitty boyfriend tea? that you could rant about for a while? please do!

(or don't. i'm acknowledge i'm being nosey.....)

PLEASE be nosy about this I'm so down to talk about it my only limit is how many words I can type. I'm gonna refer to him as "J."

The first thing you should know is that my roommate is 27 and J is 41. Honestly they're both adults so there's nothing inherently wrong about that but I think it says a lot about him, and it especially says a lot about him because we genuinely couldn't tell that he was so much older because the maturity level was pretty similar.

On the first day I met him, we went to an estate sale across the road from our house. I saw a decorative teapot that I really liked but when I pointed it out, I said "oh, I really like this, but I have nowhere to put it and I don't want to have to store it." He tried to convince me to get it anyway but I reiterated that I had thought it through and decided not to get it. I went back to the house and he stayed at the sale. About 20 minutes later, he comes back to the house WITH THE TEAPOT and is all "you should have things that you like :)" and gave it to me. This seemed kind of weird and rude to me, but I let it slide because we'd just met and maybe he was trying to make a good impression or something. I didn't realize at the time that this was what they refer to as "foreshadowing." If J thinks a decision you made is wrong, even if it's about something that doesn't involve him at all, he'll take steps to stop you! Great! Love that! He does this frequently.

He's competitive to a somewhat pathetic degree. I had a good friend of mine over once and all three roommates + my friend decided we wanted to play Boggle, which we enjoyed. J, however, knew he wouldn't win this game because he wasn't familiar with it and wasn't very good at word games, so he first tried to claim that "nobody wants to play this" despite the fact that he was the only one that didn't want to play and THEN when he didn't get his way he sulked through all the games in a way that would've gotten me sent to bed early if I'd acted like that when I was like, ten years old.

Roommate #2 (G) has very specific things she wants in life. Many of those things require being financially stable enough for her to own a house, because she wants to run a daycare out of her own home and you can't do that in a rental. I'm not quite shallow enough to dismiss a man entirely based on his financial resources, but J is making no moves to even pretend he is going to support this dream of hers despite the fact that he's declared he intends to marry her (though he hasn't proposed yet). He has not bothered to save any money. He has not tried to move to a higher-paying job (he works part-time as a church musician). Every once in a while we hear him floating some weird vision of the future to her where he joins a band and they travel around the country for his performances. This man is 41 years old.

He doesn't make any long-term plans of his own but then if your plans conflict with the ones he came up with last minute, he's upset about it. He called up G the day before her mom came to visit and tried to organize the schedule for the visit, and was confused and offended when G informed him that she already had plans. With her own mom!! Buddy that is not your business!! If you wanted to do stuff with the both of them, you should have said so ages ago!

G wakes up very early in the morning to exercise (like 4 or 5am sometimes) and therefore goes to bed normally at around 8 or 8:30. J has absolutely no respect for this. When he stays over (not for long haha) he keeps her up past midnight talking. When he can be bothered to actually take her on dates rather than just hang around the house like a freeloader, he takes her to midweek concerts an hour and a half away that start at 9. She's frequently exhausted and can't seem to figure out why but she has no consistent schedule!!! She doesn't sleep!!! I'm gonna smack him.

I could keep going but now I definitely need to go to bed myself. His annoying text was only the latest. We are so worried about them both and G is desperate to marry this guy but like??? She could do so much better??? I genuinely worry that their relationship is going to end in her being controlled and manipulated. He'll ruin her dreams and be confused when she gets mad about it because he's getting everything he wants so he won't understand why she's unhappy. Ugh. Throw the whole man away.

Thanks for asking, though, I needed this rant.

[pinksatinsashes]

Hi hannah! recently there’s been some controversy of being “that girl” and how it’s glorified on tiktok. I love self improvement tumblr because it’s the best thing that’s happened to me and im sure a lot of us! it’s a sense of community! It’s giving me anxiety that “that girl” is being looked down upon when it’s a motivator factor for me to be my dream girl

Hi angel!

Honestly I don't get the controversy and hatred of the trend if I'm being completely honest. I'm not sure if it's because I've made an effort not to get annoyed or bothered by things that don't matter or what but my ultimate verdict is:

It's really not that deep.

I live a life of not stressing my self out about things that don't matter so when I see others doing it, it's just like? Why?

When I see something dumb I go "well that's dumb" then I scroll along. I don't go on about it and ruin it for other people.

Anyway, you want my opinion so lets get into it.

As I said I get both sides.

The Positive Side

The "That girl" trend has inspired a lot of people to take better care of themselves. Do regular exercise, eat better, take care of their mental health.

And seeing as right now things that are being glorified are:

Getting plastic surgery to fit the beauty standard (which is literally always changing)

Victimising yourself in literally every way possible.

Talking bad about yourself as a form of "humour".

Binge eating unhealthy food for views.

Doing drugs and binge drinking.

Trauma dumping

Sharing literally every detail of your life for full on strangers to see.

Being a bimbo????

The That Girl trend is absolutely not the worst thing to come out of tiktok or social media in general.

Now do I think the 'That girl' trend is the best thing ever? Absolutely not.

The Negative Side

Now I'm not even going to talk about how people think its unrealistic and unattainable because I completely disagree and wholeheartedly believe that people are trying to make excuses.

Because waking up early drinking green juice, working out, journalling and meditating really isn't that hard.

I can genuinely do all of that before 9am if I wanted to. Do I? No, because I don't want to.

I don't like green juice and it's really not that great for you. By juicing the fruit and veg you're removing the majority of the fibre and leaving a bunch of sugar with reduced nutritional value. Now this would be fine if it actually tasted good, but it doesn't to me. I'm not trying to act like I'm better than anyone but if I'm going to drink something with very little nutritional value it better taste good.

I don't like waking up "early" to go work out. I wake up at 7-8am every day and that's good enough for me. I also don't like working out in the morning, it tires me out. I work out at 4pm, get home, cook and eat my dinner then chill for a few hours and go to sleep. I always get the best sleep when I do this and it's what works best for me.

I also don't like meditating or journalling in the morning either, I do both those things right before bed.

This all leads to my biggest problem about this trend.

While scrolling through tiktok the other day (before I deleted it) I saw this girl showing the behind the scenes to her self care account. The things she shows in those videos she didn't actually do. She'd get into her shower, film turning it on and never get in, film the face masks and never put them on and lay out pyjamas that she never wore.

It got me to thinking, how many people on the "That girl" trend are actually doing the things that they show and how many are just holding the pose for a second or two for the video then go pig out on the sofa.

My biggest problem is that people are doing it for the trend, for the aesthetic.

The that girl trend is an issue because of what it is.

The that girl trend is about becoming THAT girl that everyone sees on social media that has their life together, and while that isn't inherently wrong, the problem is that it's not really about being "That girl" it's about LOOKING like that girl.

No one is really doing the exercise to look after their body and become healthier, they're doing it to post it on their stories.

No one is drinking green juice because they like it or because it's good for them, they're drinking it because of the trend.

That's the problem, people aren't actually improving themselves, they're just pretending to.

Because self improvement isn't about waking up early drinking green juice, working out, journalling and meditating.

It's about doing things in that are actually achievable and can be maintained. There is no way that I can maintain waking up at 5am everyday to go to the gym, I tried it and I hated it. Now I wake up when I want to and go to the gym at a time that makes sense for me.

Self improvement isn't about journalling because of a trend, it's about journalling for whichever reason that you want to journal. I journal to organise and make sense of my thoughts which VASTLY helps my mental health. Others my journal just so they can look back on their previous days.

Self improvement isn't about eating healthy because of a trend, it's about eating healthy because listen, you only have this one life and this body and if you're going to be here living you better make the most of it and look after yourself.

When you do things because it's trendy, you miss the point a lot of the time. For example, half the 'healthy' meals I see aren't even that healthy. And also what's healthy for me may not be healthy for you.

Self improvement is about improving yourself, not about trying to come across a certain way for social media.

That girl isn't being looked down upon, "That girl" is inspiring but guess what, she does what she does because she wants to and it makes sense for her. not for social media.

Lastly, my love to answer the rest of your question.

"That Girl" Tikok vs Self Improvement Tumblr

I honestly don't think they're the same at all, though they can be if you only follow the aesthetic accounts on Tumblr.

I find that self improvement Tumblr teaches you ways to improve your life. Teaches you how to set boundaries and how to make yourself feel and look better. I've seen so many posts speaking out about being yourself and not following trends.

Self improvement Tumblr is about ACTUAL change. It teaches you how and TikTok just shows you the aesthetic and not so much the hard work that it takes to get there.

TikTok doesn't explain why you drink green juice, just that ooh it looks so pretty with this filter on it.

I've never seen a blog tell you to do something without telling you why, this way you can make an informed decision instead of just taking peoples word for it.

-

I hope this makes you feel better as I understand where you're coming from. Theres nothing wrong with being inspired by the trend or motivated by it. That's the whole point of it. But it's just not helpful when you're making moves to improve yourself because it doesn't tell you how to do it, it just shows you the final product.

Doing all the things that girl does won't make you that girl. Nor should you want to be. You should be the best version of yourself, not someone else.

And also, don't let other peoples thoughts on a trend take the fun out of it for you, you are more than capable of forming your own thoughts and opinions and you should.

Anxiety is hard I know. But there's such a beautiful freedom that comes from not caring about others opinions on you and doing what works best for you.

MUAH xx

[rantingwriter]

Accidentally in Love (Hawks x Civilian Reader) pt. 2

Trigger Warning: Strong language, long hospital stay, lots of anger, depression, and more angst than last time. I swear there will be fluff later...starting in pt. 4.

 “Damn it,” you grumble as you try to support your weight with the parallel bars. 

“You are doing great, [y/n], just a little bit more.” Mayu, one of the physical therapists helping you with your recovery does her best to encourage you. 

The door slams open and you lose your concentration, collapsing to the floor. “Fuck!” 

Mayu cringes at the angered tone, “Ryo!!” 

The man who barged into the room bows apologetically, “I’m so sorry, I was running late,” he hurries off to the changing room for the employees. 

You feel your frustration boiling over, “this is pointless!” 

Mayu turns her attention back to you and her features soften, “Please don’t say that, you’ve only been at this for a week and you are making good progress.” Her positivity only serves to frustrate you more.

“What progress?! I can’t even stand for longer than a couple minutes at a time!”

“I understand your frustration-” 

“How could you possibly understand this?!” You gesture wildly at your legs. “You can stand and walk and you still have both of your feet!” Your chest rises and falls rapidly as you glare at the therapist. 

She simply sits on the floor with you and gives you a very soft smile. “You are right, I will never understand fully what you are going through. So, tell me, what is causing the most frustration and I can do what I can to help.” 

“All of it!” You raise your arms up like you are surrendering. “Trying to stand on these limp noodles, trying to get out of my stupid wheel chair, even getting out of bed…” Your anger quickly morphs to sadness, “it’s just too hard…” Mayu gently pats your shoulder. 

“It’s a process,” She shifts to sit next to you. “Healing can be a very long and difficult process, especially when you lose an ability you’ve been able to do so easily until now.” You feel a lump form in your throat, trying really hard not to cry...again. “I’m not going to lie and say this is easy, but I know you can do this.” 

You wipe your eyes and sniffle, “I’m sorry for yelling…” 

“It’s alright, I understand you are frustrated, but I am here to help.” The employee door opens again. “So is Ryo when he actually shows up on time.” The teasing tone and Ryo’s exaggerated response brings out a soft ghost of a laugh. “Are you ready to give it another try?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” she helps to get you off the floor and on your shaky feet. You grab the parallel bars and repeat the exercise you’ve been doing all morning. A light tap on the window near your station alerts both yourself and your physical therapist to a note on the glass. “What does it say?” You feel your arms give out, but you are able to land in your wheelchair this time.

“Let’s see,” The older woman walks up to read it aloud, “when you are free, please come to the roof. HaWkS!?” Her voice cracks at the name, “who, wait, who is he talking about?!” 

You hold your hand up, “probably me, he said he was going to pop by once I was awake.” You were starting to think he forgot about you. 

“Oh my goodness!” Mayu covers her mouth and looks at you, “are you two friends? Are you dating?!” She gets closer with each question, her eyes shiny diamonds that scream ‘tell me everything!’ 

“He kind of gave me a concussion,” you watch her expression drop into one of horror. “Not on purpose, it was during that big fight that landed me here.” 

“I see, well, we are actually done for today if you want to head on up.” She goes to grab her clipboard and record the progress from today. 

“Does the elevator even reach the roof?” You can feel a knot form in your stomach, why are you so nervous? 

“Yes, the recreational therapy team has a community garden up there for the patients. I can get you some information if you would like to join them for a session.” You never heard of such a thing, it does strike a cord of curiosity, but that is for another time. 

“Sure, just send some to my room when you have the time,” you wheel your way to the exit. “Oh, and uh...thanks for the pep talk.” You rub the back of your neck to hide your embarrassment. 

“No problem, if you need anything just let me know.” Mayu smiles and waves as you leave to go up to the roof. Sure enough, the elevator opens right in front of the door. You push the button to get the door open and find rows of box gardens, some raised, some lowered. 

“Wow, this is neat,” you take a closer look at some of the plants bearing fruit, when you spot your mystery visitor. Your eyes are instantly drawn to the huge red wings on his back. The same ones you saw before you went into your coma. You clench the wheels of your chair and swallow your nerves. “Um…” He appears distracted by something, as he scans the city streets below, his feet hovering off the ground. “Hello? Are you Hawks?” He looks over his shoulder and his features light up with recognition. 

“Hey! Glad to see you up and about!” He lands and folds his wings in a bit before approaching you.

“Yeah, mostly…” You weren’t entirely sure what to say to him. 

He doesn’t seem too sure either as he pockets his gloved hands. “Uh, what’s your name?” 

“[Y/n].” More silence follows, wow the awkward tension is a little too palpable. “Why exactly are you here?” 

He looks taken aback, his wings puffing up a small bit, “I just wanted to see how you were doing.” 

“Well, as you can see, I’m doing just great.” You can’t help the sarcasm as you move your wheelchair. 

His features fall, his eyes aimed towards what’s left of your feet. “I’m so sorry, I made a bad judgment call and you got hurt because of it. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” 

“Unless you have some means to turn back time, there isn’t much you can do.” 

“There has to be something,” he lifts his gaze back up to plead with you. “I’ll do anything, just say the word.” 

You can’t tell if he is being genuine or not, before you can open your mouth a glint of something from the nearby building catches your attention. You wheel closer to the fence that lines the top of the building and spot a man with a camera aimed at the two of you. You whip your head around to face him, “is this some kind of joke to you?!” 

“What?” His golden-brown hues are full of confusion as you struggle to turn your wheelchair around. 

“Look, if you just came to Peacock for the camera’s or throw some kind of a pity party for yourself. I don’t want any part of it!” He looks between you and the nearby building, his feathers get ruffled at the sight of the camera. 

“No, wait, this isn’t what it looks like!” He holds a hand out to try and stop you from leaving. 

“Thanks for checking in, you can leave now.” You try to wheel your way back inside, but something is caught in one of your wheels. 

“I swear I’m not with that guy, he must have noticed me fly up here after I left my note.”

You aren’t paying any attention to him, you are too focused on getting away. “Stupid thing,” you try to muscle through the clog, but you end up tipping the whole thing over and landing on the hard surface of the roof. “Son of a bitch!” You slam a closed fist on the ground as you push yourself up. Tears of frustration and pain leak from your [e/c] pools. You feel a gloved hand on your shoulder but you quickly shove it away. “Don’t touch me!” 

“Please just let me help you,” he tries to reach for you again, but you stop him in his tracks.

“I’ve had enough of your help! Your ‘help’ is the reason I’m here!!” Your voice echoes around you, you wouldn’t be surprised if the camera man heard you. 

You can see the hurt in the hero's eyes as he backs away, his wings drooping as your words settle somewhere deep within himself. 

“Just go away…” you get your wheelchair back up and haul yourself into it again. You can hear the sound of his wings as he takes off, the force of the air blows your hair all over the place. You cover your face as you allow the tears to flow freely. If you were completely honest with yourself, you didn’t truly blame him. It was just easier than accepting your rotten luck. A couple of nurses hurry onto the roof and rush over to you. Apparently someone on the street heard you and told the staff in the lobby. You are immediately wheeled back to your room to rest and have your vitals checked. Your body is exhausted and so was the rest of you. You look out your window at the clouds rolling in, “nurse?” 

“Yes?” The kind man responds as he gets your table ready for dinner. 

“Would it be possible to send a letter to a hero agency?” 

He hums in thought for a moment, “I believe so, why?” 

“I...was just curious…” The nurse drops the topic and leaves you to your thoughts. “Doubt it would make a difference anyways.” You roll onto your side as your eyelids drooped, the sound of rain lulling you to sleep. Your dinner is left for you on the little table, along with a can of coffee with another note. ‘I still owe you a coffee, good luck with your recovery. -Hawks.’

[idnek83]

Gundham giving souda his first animal

Soda off handedly mentions wanting a dog one day, Gundham overhears and starts just hammering him with questions (How big is your yard. how often would you walk it, how experienced are you with dogs, do you know where the closest vet is to your home, etc.) and Soda’s just kind of overwhelmed and like ‘Okay! I was just saying! I’m not actually gonna go out and get one right away, calm down!’ even though he was considering adopting one pretty soon. Soda kind of reevaluates it because Gundham brought up a lot of stuff he didn’t think about.

A few days later, Soda asks Gundham to hangout and asks him to meet up at a café near a dog rescue (’Whoa, didn’t even know that was there haha well now that we’re here we might as well check it out since you like animals so much haha’). 

They go in and Soda is trying to be casual, but every time he likes a dog he calls Gundham over and starts asking him a million questions about that dog breed (which Gundham happily answers) and he reads over the dog’s information very carefully, so it’s pretty obvious he’s actually considering adoption haha. 

They eventually find a Pitbull whose super sad and isn’t coming over for pets like the other dogs did. She looks like she’s been going without food for a while as well and Soda is just taken with her. He just relates to how sad the dog looks and remembers being scared and hungry like that back when he still lived with his dad. He looks around a bit and sees that there's no adoption sheet and Gundham explains that some shelters try to rehabilitate dogs like this before putting them up for adoption and Soda’s like ‘oh, makes sense’ but he’s definitely a little disappointed. It’s okay though, he wasn’t actually going to adopt a dog that exact day, just wanted to take a look with Gundham.

Gundham heads back to the shelter 2 weeks later cus he can’t get the image of Soda’s sad face out of his mind, and he wants to check on the dog. To his surprise, as he approaches the building he sees Soda in the fenced area behind the shelter playing with some dogs. He calls out to him and Soda gets pretty embarrassed but greets and lets him in as him as a bunch of dogs swarm around them both trying to get them to play haha. Turns out, Soda came back the next day cus he couldn’t stop worrying about the Pitbull and noticed the shelter was looking for volunteers, so now he helps with exercising the dogs and cleaning up around the place in his free time.

Gundham is starting to realize that maybe his crush on Soda is a little more than just a crush as he watches him easily handling the dogs around them lol.

Gundham asks about the pitbull, she’s not one of the dogs running around, and Soda tells him that she’s put on some weight and is starting to make some social progress, but is still mostly the same. Gundham asks if he can see her and Soda’s like ‘sure’. He gets one of the other volunteers to keep an eye on the dogs outside and takes Gundham to the pitbull, telling him not to get too excited, cus she really hasn’t made a lot of progress.

When they get to her room Soda tells Gundham to wait outside for a minute and goes in (The room has big windows for people to see the dogs through). Gundham watches as Soda sits on the ground, away from the dog, and extends a hand. To Gundham’s surprise, the dog almost immediately gets up and pushes her head into Soda’s hand after a few sniffs. Soda starts petting her and Gundham can’t tell what he’s saying but he can hear him speaking to her in a gentle voice and all he can think about is how stupid Soda is for thinking that this dog is ‘ mostly the same ‘ as she was before. 

Eventually, Soda motions for Gundham to join them so he does. He knows how to approach a scared dog and doesn’t need Soda to tell him, but as he half listens to the instructions Soda is giving him he realizes that Soda is really invested in doing his best at the shelter and Gundham is falling in love with him.

They spend a bit of time hanging out with the dog and talking quietly before Gundham heads home, leaving Soda to finish up his work.

A few weeks pass and Gundham is sure to ask Soda for updates on the pitbull regularly, and comes by the shelter sometimes to check on her (and to check Soda out while he’s a little sweaty and running around with the dogs in the yard lol). He asks Soda if he wants to adopt the pitbull once the shelter decides she’s ready to leave and Soda says he doesn’t know. He’s thought about it a lot but he knows shes going to need a really loving and dedicated owner and he’s not good enough for her. Gundham holds his hand and points out that Soda is loving and dedicated, and that there’s no way the dog would have made such good progress without him and Soda just has a moment where he’s like ‘oh’. He’s staring at their hands and having two big revelations at once.

The next day Soda is super excited and calls Gundham telling him that the shelter is gonna put the dog up for adoption told him that she’s his if he wants her. Gundham is really happy for him and they go out for dinner to celebrate. (They kiss. Soda’s in such a good mood he forgets to be self-conscious and he kisses Gundham on their way home, completely out of nowhere)

When the day arrives, Soda asks Gundham to come with him to the shelter and holds his hand the whole way there because he’s so nervous about being a (pet) dad lol. He’s already got all the supplies he needs at his house, he just needs to pick up the dog now. Gundham asks about a name and Soda sheepishly answers that he’s been calling her ‘Tana’ for a while. It takes Gundham Tanaka a minute to figure it out, but once he does their both blushing and happy.

Once they get there, the shelter already has Tana ready to go and Soda immediately starts crying and hugging her and the everyone else is just laughing and happy for him. After filing the paper work, Soda and Gundham head back to Soda’s place and Soda can’t stop gushing about his new daughter lol.

They spend the day getting Tana comfortable and playing with her in the yard and by the end of the day all 3 of them are exhausted. Gundham says he should probably go home and tries to leave, but Soda holds his hand and asks him to stay the night. He does. Turns out they both had a little more energy left in them ;)

Anyways, Gundham ends up spending a lot of time at Soda’s house because Soda is worried he’s not taking good enough care of Tana and is constantly asking for his help (Soda is a great owner, Gundham genuinely isn’t sure if it’s an excuse to spend time with him or if Soda is actually that anxious about it).

A few years later Tana is confused about the big party her dads are throwing in their yard and wondering if the ‘marriage’ thing people keep talking about is something she can eat lol

[lloydskywalkers]

call the police and the fireman

I have zero explanation for this except that during the rare occasion of me working on my original novel, it occurred to me that out of all the dragon characteristics Lloyd could have, I’ve been short-changing him on of the coolest ones possible. Also @ninjawhoa did not talk me down so here’s Lloyd ignoring his one brain cell. 

In his defense, Lloyd most certainly had not been trying to completely eviscerate the inside of his throat. That hadn’t been like, anywhere even remotely near the end goal. Was it something he'd wanted? No. Was it something he’d planned? Of course not, his plans aren’t that bad. Was it something he probably should have expected?

….well, maybe, but it’s too late now.

Way too late, Lloyd thinks to himself, as he finishes hiding the last specks of the incinerated fire alarm in the bathroom trash and immediately retreats to sticking his head beneath the running faucet again.

The thing is, though, smart as he normally is, Lloyd’s had it — well, he’s had it not so great, lately. It hasn’t been the easiest of times in his life, which is saying something, compared to the rest of it. So maybe he’d gotten a little too focused on the barest shred of good news he’d received during the entire thing, sue him.

You try being told you’ve actually been part-dragon your entire life, what would your first move be? And having grown up with dragons as a normal staple in his life, Lloyd’s had a whole lot of inspiration on that front.

In hindsight however, Lloyd thinks, as he tries not to cry over his poor, mutilated throat — he probably should’ve stuck with like, trying to give himself claws, or something. Or even the flying thing. The flying thing would’ve been way better.

The worst part is that it actually looked so stupid cool. Kai would lose his mind over how cool this is, and Lloyd can’t even show him, because he might lose his mind in an entirely different and much less enthusiastic way.

Lloyd tries for a tentative “hey guys”, and immediately doubles over in a bout of wheezing gasps, wishing he’d tried for the sweet bliss of unconsciousness-via-head-bashing instead.

Stuffing a towel in his mouth so the rest of the team doesn’t hear him hacking like a chronic smoker, Lloyd wonders 1) how long it’s going to take the green power to fix his throat, 2) how long he’s going to be able to get away with not speaking, and 3) how much of this he can blame on his great-grandmother before she vaporizes him.

He comes to the conclusion that he’s just gonna blame the whole thing on her.

******************************

Despite the circumstances they’d met under, Lloyd likes his great-grandmother. She’s pretty cool, as far as family members go, and he enjoys talking with her, even if ninety percent of their conversation ends up devoted to lecturing him about what “an absolute scumbag your great-grandfather was, child, truly the spawn of *garbled dragon curses*."

Actually, all their conversations tend to end that way, but Lloyd doesn’t mind too much. It’s kind of like if his great-grandparents has just divorced like normal people, instead of being otherworldly, immortal god-like beings who went to war with each other.

He hasn’t been talking to her for that long — it’d taken a lot of finagling the means of reaching the First Realm from his uncle, for one, and then he’d had to make sure he could get back home, of course. The whole thing ended up being pointless anyways, since his great-grandmother ended up coming to visit him, because he’s the only family member she hasn’t considered barbecuing at some point, apparently. (Yet.)  

“—and you do look just like your father, back when he didn’t take after your thrice-cursed *garbled dragon cursing* of a great-grandfather,” she had said, inspecting him with her large eyes. “I was quite fond of him, you know. He was a true terror, as I’m sure you are. Or perhaps not, you have a sweeter look in your face. It’s the cheeks, I think, you’re not nearly as threatening as he ever looked.”

“Um, thank you,” Lloyd had awkwardly replied, as he’d had little to no reference point of whether or not she genuinely liked him at the time, and was being extra-cautious, because certain recent familial encounters had left him with the mindset that it was best to believe everyone related to him probably wanted to murder him.

Fortunately, his great-grandmother was not one of those types.

“I don’t know about the wings, little one,” she’d informed him as he’d dangled upside from her tail, eyeing him mournfully. “You seem to take too much after your mother’s side.”

Lloyd had been less than thrilled with that response, but he’d swallowed his disappointment the best he could.

“Now the teeth, though,” she’d said, her eyes gleaming. “Those, we can work with.”

That was how the fire-breathing had come to be in the first place — which, as you should note, was entirely his great-grandmother’s idea. She’d reasoned that since Lloyd not only appeared to have manifested most of his dragon characteristics in his mouth, but also had a direct connection to the element of fire, he might be able to both successfully breathe fire and survive the attempt.

“Wait, there’s a chance I wouldn’t survive?” Lloyd had asked, blinking.

“You’re exhaling fire through your little mortal throat, hatchling. Of course there’s a chance you wouldn’t survive. A very small one, mind you — I happen to like you a good deal, and it’d be a terrible shame if all I was left with in the world was the rest of your *garbled dragon cursing* family.”

She had also reasoned that since Lloyd seemed to have an excellent handle on both languages — even if Dragon did sound like butchered yowling in his accent, she bemoaned — perhaps there was a connection with the throat there. At any rate, they had both agreed that Lloyd would be far more likely to breathe fire from his throat than he would be sprouting wings anytime soon.

Lloyd had deliberately mentioned absolutely none of this to his team. If Kai ever learns that he’d been warned dying was an option and continued to try it anyways…

Well, it’s breathing fire. Lloyd’s staking his hopes on Kai being so impressed with how cool it is that he totally forgets about all about murdering his reckless little brother.

******************************

While his great-grandmother gives him all sorts of throat exercises he’s supposed to do — apparently the actual fire’s supposed to come from his chest, but the throat will take the worst of it — he doesn’t get the chance to actually test it out until a week or two later, when he’s walking home alone from the grocery late one night.

All he’s picked up is an extra-large bag of M&M’s and like, four things of cereal, so Lloyd’s in good spirits as he crosses one of the older alleyways. He’s also relaxed enough for the first time in about three months to let his guard down a bit, so it’s a real shame that he immediately gets jumped by thugs the second he does.

“Hands up, kid, nice and easy,” the biggest guy says, waving his gun at him. “We don’t want any trouble, just your money.”

Lloyd bites back a retort. Yeah, sure, they can have all fifty of his cents he’s got left. Lloyd’s a real billionaire here, in his training shorts and Zane’s old sweatshirt, who’s even teaching these guys how to pick targets—

“He said hands up, kid!” the second guy barks at him, his own gun leveling out somewhere wildly above Lloyd’s shoulder. “And drop the bags, too!”

That has Lloyd scowling. He spent the last of his junk food money on this, he’s not leaving it on the city streets, gross. He sighs, shifting his arms and beginning to call up his power, when an idea hits him. Lloyd’s mouth curves into a deliberate smirk.

“Hey kid, we said — hey, stop that creepy grinning, we’re pointing a gun at you—”

Lloyd just grins wider, opens his mouth, and breathes an explosion of streaming flame toward their faces.

If he were his father, Lloyd would call out something terribly impressive, like “may my hellfire vanquish you back to the eternal pit of misery you crawled out of, foolish scum” — but he’s not his father, so he’s been figuring he’ll end up saying something along the lines of “stop right there, sucker” because he was raised by a bunch of teenagers with the combined schooling level of mid-high school.

Unfortunately, all he ends up actually saying is a bunch of strangled screaming, because he’s currently forcing a miniature bonfire through his throat, and wow, he definitely did not calculate how much this was actually going to hurt—

It does the trick, at least. The thugs’ faces lose all their color faster than he can blink, and they jump back screaming in terror, dropping all their guns in their haste to escape.

Lloyd would be cackling like he hasn’t since he was about nine, but he’s too busy trying not die inhaling smoke through his scorched throat.

“Son of — hngh—”

Smoke is billowing out from between his teeth now, and Lloyd sucks in a strangled wheeze, his eyes tearing up as the smoke stings against them. He feels like he’s swallowed a blast from Kai, his throat hurts so bad, but it doesn’t feel deadly. He can already feel the buzz of green power doing it’s job, and the pathetic whining noises he’s making reassure him that his vocal chords are still there, even if it feels like he’s flambéed them.

“Worth it,” Lloyd croaks through his abused, raw throat, before collapsing on the street and nearly passing out.

******************************

The next morning is awful. If Lloyd hadn’t developed such a high pain tolerance as he has, he’d be in serious trouble right now.

Not that it makes it any better, he thinks to himself, trying not to whine as he accidentally swallows, his throat vengefully reminding him that he tried to charbroil it last night.

“Morning, Lloyd,” Cole says cheerfully. Lloyd gives him a weak smile in return, adding a little wave for flair, and hopes it’s enough.

“How would you like your eggs?” Zane asks him. Lloyd jerks a shoulder up in a shrug, trying to look as tired as he can. If he can convince them that he’s just exhausted, instead of slowly dying inside because he breathed fire through his throat last night—

“I want scrambled,” Jay says through a yawn, saving Lloyd from Zane’s quizzical gaze. “Make ‘em all scrambled, Zane, with that cheese you use.”

“A ‘please’ would be appreciated once in a while,” Zane mutters, but he’s already reaching for the fridge again.

Lloyd grits his teeth, trying desperately to ignore how much his mouth tastes like ash. Like, actual ash, which is disgusting. Lloyd’s never gonna be able to eat burnt marshmallows again, which is a true tragedy.

The price you pay for being a badass, Lloyd thinks to himself mournfully.

Kai comes in about then, still scrubbing at his eyes, yawning as he sits next to Lloyd. “Sleep alright?” he asks, words mangled through the yawn.

Lloyd nods, then tries to hide the wince that runs through him as his throat twinges. He’s apparently unsuccessful, because Kai narrows his eyes at him, suddenly looking much more awake.

“Hey, are you okay?” he says, sounding concerned. “Talk to me, bud."

Lloyd bites his lip. If Kai keeps asking, the others are gonna start looking over, and then that’ll be more suspicious. Maybe he can just tell him he’s got a cough? Yeah, he can do that. Just one small sentence, a few little words. He can handle that.

“I’m—ngh—”

Lloyd’s voices catches on the first word, squeaks like a broken recorder, and then coughs a burst of bright fire across the breakfast table.

A chorus of high-pitched screaming rings out across the breakfast room, Cole and Jay jumping back from the flames as Nya and Zane rush toward him, quickly putting out the fire that’s caught the wooden table. Kai’s dancing around Lloyd as he doubles over in hacking coughs, sounding two seconds from a panicked breakdown.

“—coughed up fire, that was fire, Lloyd what the FSM was that?!”

“M’a dragon,’member?” Lloyd wheezes, as he’s stared down by his family’s terrified faces. He coughs again, waving at the tiny puff of smoke that comes out, before giving them a shaky grin. “S’cool, right?”

He’s met with five blank stares.

“Oh dear,” Zane finally says, looking like he’s come to the conclusion that Lloyd is going to kill himself with this. Which is rude, Lloyd can’t be cool as heck if he’s dead.

“This is worse than the lightbulbs,” Cole says, faintly.

“Lloyd, how,” Nya breathes into her hands.

“Dude that’s sick!” Jay bursts out in excitement, immediately cementing his place as one of Lloyd’s favorite people ever. “You can breathe fire, what the heck!”

Kai shakes his head at him in awe, his voice reverent. “That’s so cool, that’s not eve—ennn oh my god he’s dying—!”

Kai’s excitement turns to a horrified shriek as Lloyd coughs up a mouthful of blood.

“S’okay,” Lloyd croaks, waving everyone off they crowd him, wiping at his mouth. “S’normal too. Throat’s just raw. It heals up after a bit.”

He’s met by five of the most unimpressed stares he’s seen all month.

“I’m making you a doctor’s appointment,” Zane sighs, tapping at his phone. “And you’re going over this with Sensei Wu.”

“And you’re not breathing fire anymore,” Cole scolds, eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“Without us,” Jay adds. Cole elbows him, and he scowls. “What? C’mon, this is super cool.”

“Jay,” Nya says, a warning in her voice.

Jay laughs nervously. “I mean, super dangerous, haha! Real, uh, really dangerous. You’re coughing up blood, that’s bad.”

Kai hovers by his shoulder, still looking torn between dreadful concern, overbearing overprotectiveness, and most importantly, an vicious kind of curiosity.

As Lloyd had hoped it would, curiosity wins out. “D’you think it’d work with me?” he finally asks him, a gleam in his eyes. “Since I can control fire, do you think I could breathe it too—”

“No,” Zane says, quickly.

“Absolutely not,” Nya says flatly. “Not a chance. Neither of you are going to try anything else with fire. If I catch you coughing up smoke, you’re both toast.”

Lloyd and Kai both nod dutifully.

“Of course,” Lloyd assures her, through a creaking rasp.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kai echoes.

******************************

Nya storms out of the monastery at one a.m. that night to find both Kai and Lloyd in the middle of the training field, half the dummies burning down and both sprawled out on the ground. Lloyd is still hacking smoke up, having been responsible for the flames on the right side. Kai is on his hands and knees, his face pale and sweaty, responsible for the fires smoldering on the left. In terms of breathing fire, he’s only been able to trigger his gag relax about seven times, but in terms of enthusiasm, he’s contributed to the blaze on the whole by boosting Lloyd’s flames by eighty percent.

Nya spends about forty-five minutes alternating between yelling at them and dousing them with twin jets of water from her hands. Neither Kai or Lloyd mind getting sprayed by that point, but the yelling definitely doesn’t do wonders for the headaches they’ve both got from smoke inhalation.

******************************

After that fiasco, Lloyd is officially banned from breathing fire, influencing anyone else to try and breathe fire, or even mention breathing fire.

Lloyd declares that this is a prejudiced offense against him being half-dragon.

“You are a prejudiced offense against the entire health world on the whole,” Zane glares at him, tying off the last of the bandages he’s been wrapping around his throat. Lloyd makes a face at him. The bandages are overkill, and Zane knows it — all the damage is on the inside, anyways.

Next to them Nya is still chewing out Kai, who’s steadily chugging at the glass of water Cole forced on him. “I don’t care if you think you’re fireproof, and I don’t care if you—” she stabs an accusatory finger at Lloyd. “Have special elemental powers that’ll heal you eventually. If I so much as see a spark of fire from either of you, anywhere near your mouth, I’m going to super-soak you with the illegal water gun Jay built last summer.”

Kai and Lloyd pale in unison. Kai speaks up hesitantly, “Wouldn’t it just be easier if you hit us with your powers—”

“No,” Nya hisses, her eyes flashing murder. “Because it’s making a point. It’s the water gun of shame.”

Kai and Lloyd exchange commiseratory glances.

Cole and Jay don’t say much until Nya and Zane have wandered from the room, at which point they surge forward, eyes gleaming.

“Tell me you got video of it,” Jay whispers.

Kai grins. “Duh. Wait ’til you see what he did to the balance beams.”

******************************

After that, unfortunately, Lloyd really does have to stop breathing fire. Mostly because he’d like to be able to speak again without doubling over in wheezing coughs, but also because Nya’s legitimately terrifying with her water gun.

Also because Kai’s too scared of Nya as well, so Lloyd’s lost his claim to a bad influence.

Ah well, Lloyd mopes to himself. It’s a nice card to have up his sleeve in a pinch, he guesses, but clearly it was never meant to be a natural thing. He’s just too human. (Or too Oni — maybe that’s influencing it? He’ll have to ask his great-grandmother, next time she goes off on another rant about them.)

The important point is, he has every intention of not doing it again. Every intention.

But then he visits his father in prison again, because his dad’s chatty like that now, apparently. Which isn’t a terribly bad thing on its own, because Mr. Self-Proclaimed (or was it Harumi-proclaimed?) Emperor Garmadon has at least mellowed out a bit since the whole “wreck half the city in a rage” thing. And Lloyd’s been called here in person to check out the new security measures they put up, so he does have a good reason.

No, the breaking point comes when Lloyd’s trying to leave in peace, and his terrible dad of a father decides to make some snarky comment about how “boringly quiet you are today”, like Lloyd’s supposed to be his entertainment, or something.

Normally Lloyd would just ignore it and storm off, but his throat’s been killing him this whole time, and the vein in the upper right corner of his forehead is throbbing just a little too much. So instead of leaving, he whirls on his father, eyes flashing as he growls. Garmadon’s teeth bare, prepared to snap at him, and Lloyd opens his mouth to snap right back—

And promptly breathes a campfire’s worth of bright flames at him instead.

Lloyd claps a hand over his mouth in horror as the flames blossom out against the glass barrier, before doubling over in ragged coughs, smoke streaming through his fingers. A clamoring of alarms goes off, and that’s the only warning Lloyd gets before the emergency sprinklers come on, soaking both him and his father. At least they’ll hide the brimming tears from the smoke in his eyes, Lloyd thinks miserably, watching as his gi soaks through.

Garmadon is dead silent. He stares at him with wide eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open. He closes his mouth, blinking twice, his jaw working. Then, finally— “That is undeniably unfair,” he growls. “She taught you how to do that? I’ve been begging her since I was six.”

Despite the intense agony his throat is in, Lloyd beams. “It’s so cool, right?” he says, his voice sounding like a malfunctioning blender. “Totally awesome. No idea why she wouldn’t teach you. Must suck to be—”

Lloyd doesn’t get to gloat much more than that, because he starts wheezing again and the security guards come drag him out “for his own safety”, but for the look on his dad’s face?

So worth it.

[favoniuscodex]

Hewwo I really love your writing and I want to improve my own to a form similar to yours. If it's okay, can I ask what your writing process is or if you have any writing tips? Sorry if you already answered questions like this. I am not a native speaker by the way, can i also ask about how you built your vocabulary as well? Thank you very much in advance and I hope you're having a great day/night! Drink lots of water and don't forget to eat three meals a day.~

hello, anon! you’re actually the first to ask about something like this and i’m honored you think my writing is good enough for me to give advice on (and honored that you think it’s good enough to take inspiration from!).

i have two different writing methods, which are as follows:

long fics (10k+ words)

i write an outline and have my friends look over it to make sure that the scenes are both impactful and enjoyable, along with being organized. the most important part of writing a long story is making sure the timeline is coherent and that you have proper buildup to the climax of the story.

before i write a scene that contains foreshadowing to a future event, i write down what themes i wish to convey with this scene, along with any future information that will be relevant later in the story. this is helpful because you never write something all at once if it’s this long! you might forget important details, so having notes is always nice.

if i’m hesitant on writing a scene, i’ll talk it out with some of my friends and see if i’m still comfortable with writing it.

one of the biggest things i can recommend is being adaptable! being willing to change your story plans is crucial, because (typically) the first idea you think of isn’t always the best one. in my own experience, i change my ideas a lot as i write something. this is because i will get bored writing otherwise.

this is from my own experience, other writers may disagree, but i NEVER set word count goals for myself. i write when i want to write, otherwise i will get discouraged when i do not meet said goals.

take breaks or you will hit burnout fast!

have a glass of water and set a timer every 15 minutes to relax your eyes from your screen and drink some of it. it gives your mind a chance to soothe itself from the bright lights of a screen and also gives you a short break. and you stay hydrated!

short fics (<10k words)

when i write short fics, i typically don’t have an outline (unless if it’s a series) and i just go with my gut

if i don’t really like where a story’s going and i know it’s short, i finish it anyways because a finished product is better than giving up in my eyes? at least i know what not to do next time!

sorry a lot of these tips don’t pertain to actual writing! they relate more to planning. :( i’ve been writing stories for fun since i was 6 or 7 (i have journals upon journals of my first stories in my basement!) so most of what i do is just... gut instinct at this point? i apologize if that’s not very helpful of me to say. ;.; i don’t think of myself as very talented but like... i wish to say this in case it happens: please don’t compare your writing to mine! i’m sure your writing is lovely in its own right.

now that that’s said, here’s some stuff i can actually help with, which is under the cut because this is getting long:

word choice / vocabulary

first off, the best thing you can do for yourself is read something complex. like... the type of book where you have to pull out your phone and look up what words mean. if you’re not exposing yourself to new words, even if it is annoying to have to pause, you won’t learn new words.

this typically means ditching the fanfics and looking for actual published novels, typically older ones. i love fanfics (i write them lol), but the word choice in fanfics is typically limited to casual conversational language as they are written for fun, not necessarily to challenge the mind.

next, the best thing you can do is use a thesaurus. i personally use thesaurus.com but it’s different for everyone! but this is dangerous. using a thesaurus can be one of the worst things you can do for your writing if you don’t use it properly. you use a thesaurus to get synonyms for words that are commonly used, but may have a lot of other alternatives (i.e. happy, sad, etc.) and NOT super specific words.

ONLY use words listed as synonyms in a thesaurus if you know them and it’s safe to assume your readers likely know them as well! for example, i used the word ‘insouciant’ as a joke in my last fic. however, if i used that seriously, that probably would’ve been bad as it’s a SUPER rare word. nothing will ruin a reader’s experience faster than a story that blatantly uses too many words from a thesaurus and, worst of all, uses them improperly.

let me give an example:

starting text: “she was happy to see that he had returned safely. she could see relief in his eyes that she was safe as well. he smiled happily at her as she ran into his arms.” this is good enough, but it’s rather plain. it’s an easy read, but nothing about it is super engrossing.

good thesaurus example: “she was overjoyed to see that he had returned without harm. she identified relief in his eyes that she had stayed out of harm’s way as well. he smiled enthusiastically at her as she sprinted into his embrace.” it sounds a lot nicer before and definitely more polished, but nothing about this requires someone to whip out their phone in frustration to google a word. the point of typical writing is not to challenge your reader’s intelligence but to entertain them.

bad thesaurus example: “she was jocular to perceive that he had reappeared in an unharmed manner. she prognosticated solace in his blue orbs that she was guarded as well. he smiled jovially at her as she charged into his forelimbs.” this is a bit of an exaggerated example, but this is actually how i feel some authors tend to write. it’s very blatantly using a thesaurus, it uses words incorrectly, and it overcomplicated things to where it feels like the reader has to do a mental exercise to read it.

tl;dr for this section: if you don’t know a word, do not use it. if you are familiar with a word, it’s probably good to use as long as your writing still seems natural. thesauruses are your friend but can be your enemy.

i would like to clarify that i am a native speaker and it’s not necessary to read books forever in order to keep your grammar and word choice up to date. i have not picked up an actual published book within the last 4 years (don’t laugh at me i know this is bad). however, in learning to expand your grammar, reading books is essential.

some miscellaneous writing tips i have include:

you don’t have to take every request that comes within your inbox if you do decide to do tumblr writing. i probably, much to the behest of the people that submit, throw a good chunk of my requests out. write what you’re passionate about and your writing will improve and your followers will be happier.

if someone criticizes your writing, this does not mean they’re trying to criticize you (usually. don’t go on twitter if you want this to remain true). they are providing something most people don’t want to offer: advice. many times you will find yourself surrounded by people who will applaud you for writing nearly anything. this is not good. living in an echo chamber will ensure that your writing never improves. you want to ask people for advice and find those who will give you genuine advice, even if it may hurt to hear.

try to discern what authors you like do with their writing versus authors you don’t like. consciously making these comparisons will allow you to directly apply them to your own writing and help you emulate someone’s style as well.

please don’t write meme references into your work. it will get outdated fast. try to write something you can look back on within a few years and not cringe at. :) this is just my personal opinion lol, someone might disagree.

i do not proofread my writing. it makes me second guess everything. everything on my blog, as you see it, lacks proofreading, aside from inheritance, in which i had a beta reader glance over it. for beginner writers, this is probably shit advice if you’re not used to grammar BUT that’s just how i roll and i wished to share that.

the most important thing i do for my writing is have a good music playlist in the background. NOTHING will make you write better than listening to music that fits the mood of what you’re writing. find a premade youtube playlist or slap together a spotify playlist of songs you think fit the mood and get grooving to it. you’ll find that you’ll write better and you’ll enjoy the process of writing much more with the mental stimulus.

don’t write jokes in which you have to overexplain them. if you have to explain to the reader what the joke is, it won’t be funny. humor is difficult to write, but no jokes involved are better than a bunch of failed ones.

don’t worry about pinpointing fanfic characterization of a specific character perfectly. i get praises for my characterization of diluc and kaeya within inheritance a lot, even though i specifically altered them from canon (??????? this confuses me a lot that i get praised for this but anyways) and haven’t even read the webtoon. as long as it’s within reasonable expectation, you should be fine. zhongli shouldn’t be written as going off the walls crazy with excitement just like venti shouldn’t be written as super serious about frivolous matters. as long as you get the general gist of a character, people will enjoy it.

try to find some writer friends. they don’t necessarily have to be in the fandom, but being able to shoot off ideas with other people is amazing at improving both your plot and your writing overall. (shoutout to @shannara because for as much as i annoy him, he’s always willing to listen to me blab about any story and any idea, even though he doesn’t read reader-inserts nor should he care about my dumb OCs, but he cares about mine because he’s a cool dude)

don’t get discouraged if a fic doesn’t get good reception. in fact, it’s probably better if your first few fics don’t blow up in popularity if you do post them because it’s humbling and you can decide if you’re actually writing because you enjoy it or if you’re just doing it for clout.

i hope this made sense and if you (or any other people reading this!) need any more writing advice, my ask box and DMs are always open. if you ever want me to beta read something, please send a DM and i’ll see if i can as long as it’s like... not super long and i have spare time.

sorry this turned out to be so long but it turns out i had far more to say than i thought! good luck writing and i believe in you!

[osakaso5]

Fragments Of Love CD Bonus Rabbit Chat Part 2: MEZZO"'s Fragments

Part 1

Tsumugi: Finding MEZZO"'s fragments: Mission 3!

Tsumugi: "Your opposite personalities are rooted in your upbringing. Why don't you just tell each other exactly what sorts of childhoods you had?"

Tsumugi: This is from Iori-san!

Tamaki: Iorin gets straight to the point

Sogo: We don't really talk about our families, do we?

Tamaki: You mean YOU won't talk about your family. You and Yama-san have the same "don't even ask" vibes.

Sogo: I never meant to give off those sorts of "vibes"... You're fine talking about your family, then?

Tamaki: Yep. I've answered a bunch of questions about them on TV anyway.

Sogo: I'm fine talking about mine, too. It's just that you've never bothered to ask.

Tamaki: I asked if you had servants that one time.

Sogo: And I already gave you an answer.

Tsumugi: P-please don't start fighting..! If neither of you has a problem talking about your families, you could take this chance to ask for more information about each other!

Tamaki: Hmm

Tamaki: No thanks

Sogo: I told you, I don't mind.

Tamaki: I'll ask you when you get back. Since you're all alone right now

Tamaki: If I slip up and say something wrong, you'll start getting weird ideas in your head

Sogo: I won't.

Tamaki: Yeah, you will. You always do!

Tamaki: I'm not gonna get embarrassed anymore, so can you come back already?

Sogo: But you're the one who needed a break...

Tamaki: Come. Back.

Sogo: Fine. I'll head back

Tamaki: King Pudding

Sogo: Okay. Manager, I know Iori-kun must've put a lot of thought into this mission, but can we drop it here?

Tsumugi: As long as it got you talking to each other. Thank you for being so cooperative..!

Tsumugi: Finding MEZZO"'s fragments: Mission 4!

Tsumugi: "Could your lack of progress stem from your anxieties towards one another? If there is anything that might cause MEZZO" to disband in your opinions, perhaps you should discuss it now?"

Tsumugi: That's from Nagi-san! Well... is there anything that might make you consider disbanding MEZZO"?

Sogo: No.

Tamaki: Yeah

Tsumugi: Really?

Sogo: Really..?

Sogo: Do you mind if I ask you what it is?

Tamaki: If you ever collapse again, we're disbanding.

Tamaki: Not because I hate you or anything. If you overwork yourself like that again, it'll be my fault. And I can't keep doing that to you, right?

Tsumugi: What do you think, Sogo-san?

Sogo: I'm going to be very mindful of my health from now on.

Sogo: I want to keep doing this, as long as the rest of you will let me.

Tamaki: You've never told me that before!!!

Sogo: I never had the chance to. Besides, I didn't want to be a burden.  I feel bad enough telling  you this now...

Tamaki: Are you sad?

Sogo: Of course I am, now that I know there's a chance we might disband. But I'll make sure to take care of myself, so we can both be happy.

Sogo: I'll return to the store and get some health drinks before coming to the hotel.

Tamaki: I never said we were disbanding! Get back here!

Tsumugi: You take everything so seriously, Sogo-san..! >< I think Tamaki-san is just genuinely worried about you.

Sogo: I know that. Thank you. But that's exactly why I need to work on myself, too.

Tamaki: Uuuugh I'm gonna come get you. Are you at the store downstairs?

Sogo: I'll be back in a second, don't worry.

Tamaki: Ah

Tsumugi: What is it?

Tamaki: Crap

Tamaki: I left the key in the room

Sogo:

Sogo: How many times does this make? I kept telling you not to forget your key..!

Tamaki: 

Tamaki: And I'm still in my slippers, lmao

Sogo: This isn't   funny.

Tsumugi: W-will you be alright?

Sogo: We can ask someone at the front desk to come open the door for us, so we should be fine. Just try not to worsen MEZZO"'s reputation by causing the staff any more trouble, okay?

Tamaki: I'm going downstairs. Are we done with the missions now?

Tsumugi: This next one is your final mission!

Tsumugi: Finding MEZZO"'s fragments: Mission 5!

Tsumugi: "Sou doesn't really express his true feelings when he's sober, so I got him drunk and asked him a bunch about Tama. I'll send you the audio I recorded, let me know what you think."

Sogo: Huh!?

Tsumugi: That was from Yamato-san!

Tamaki: Wow!!! He really recorded it!

Sogo: How could you do this to me, Yamato-san!?

Tamaki: Whoa...

Tamaki: Drunk So-chan's like, all droopy and stuff...

Tsumugi: And he's even more drunk than usual here! lol

Sogo: This can't actually be what I sound like, can it?

Tamaki: It totally is, lolol

Tamaki: You keep whining about me, lol You're so mad, lolololol

Sogo: I'm not like this, I swear.

Tsumugi:

Tamaki: And now you're praising me all of a sudden, lololol

Sogo: I told you, that can't be me. Stop listening! Please!

Tamaki: Huh? Now you're starting to compliment Yama-san?

Tsumugi: Yamato-san must be great at leading people to say what he wants, lol

Tamaki: You're just praising him now???

Sogo: What is this..?

Sogo: Did I really say all of this to his face..?

Tamaki: Ah, now it's my turn again

Sogo: Please make it stop... I want to die...

Tamaki: You're saying some pretty embarrassing stuff, So-chan

Tamaki: When did you start saying "BFF" anyway

Tsumugi: 

Sogo: I can't take this...

Tsumugi: It's nice to see you acting so happy, Sogo-san! You must really care about Tamaki-san.

Tamaki: Found So-chan clutching his head downstairs

Tamaki: I'll ask the dude at the front desk to open the door

Tsumugi: Please do!

Tsumugi: Well, what did you think of our meeting?

Tamaki: I think we might actually be better friends now

Tsumugi: I'm glad to hear that! I hope you'll stay that way..!

Tamaki: 

Tamaki: Yeah

Tamaki:  You can count on us

Tamaki: But don't you have a mission for us?

Tsumugi: You want one from me? Well then, you can answer this when you get back into your room...

Choices/outcomes:

1. Send me a picture of you having fun together sometime!

Tamaki: Sure. We'll take something like the ones Re:vale does

2. Sing a nice, friendly duet for me sometime!

Sogo: We'll try our very best...

3. Tell me where you think MEZZO" will be in ten years!

Sogo: Ten years... I'd hate for Tamaki-kun to be held back by me for a whole decade, but other than that, it sounds like a fun thought exercise.

Tsumugi: I'll be waiting! Thank you for today..!

Sogo: Thank you, too...

Tamaki: Thanks

Tamaki: We'll get back in our room as soon as the door's open. Then we'll have a toast with pudding and health drinks

Sogo: I'll never drink alcohol again.

Tamaki: Sure you won't

Tsumugi: It looks like we found plenty of MEZZO"'s fragments. Well done, both of you!

Translator’s notes..? 

next up, nagi’s RabbiTube Rabbit TVs! 

[ailuronymy]

Hello! I was searching for some trans warrior cats post on Google when I saw your account, I would really like some advice for handling a trans warrior cats character I'm writing in my AU.

He presents as a she cat at the beginning but later on comes out as trans, I was wondering about how should I approach the transition itself. The first ideas I had are: for him to do vocal exercises with the medicine cat which will help lower his voice (that is one of his main insecurities) , his clan mates will switch to male pronouns and he will get extra food so he could grow larger and more masculine looking (Cats that have a stable diet while they're growing are going to be bigger and stronger) along with herbs that are supposed to stop/repress ovulation in she cats (I'm not that great at biology but I think that would also affect his hormone levels)

Do you have any other ideas?

PS: Thank you for your help and time!

Hello there! Thank you for writing in, but I’m sorry, this blog is not here to provide this kind of help. If you look in the tag here, I’ve done what I can in the past and I hope some of it is useful to you, but as I’ve said before, I’m not looking to talk more on the topic. It’s not wrong to want to write about trans characters, so you’re not in trouble for asking or anything, but I’m not comfortable being consulted for this information.

In fact, if I’m totally and maybe a little brutally honest with you, I think that if you’re at the stage of writing about a complex and highly personal experience where you’re asking random strangers on the internet for advice, you’ve probably got a little way longer to go before you’re ready to actually write about the topic and I’m sorry if that’s difficult to hear. My guess is that you’re probably not transgender yourself, because otherwise why would you be asking me about it? Surely you know your experience better. 

I don’t think that means you can’t write about this topic eventually and I think there is genuinely a good intention in trying to seek out information, but please consider the sources from which you’re seeking this information. There are literally books (both fiction and nonfiction) written by transgender people and I feel like reading work by those people--i.e., the people who have first-hand experience--is a great place to begin learning about how to write on this topic. 

I know you’re coming to my blog because it’s about Warriors and you’re looking to write about a transgender cat, but I think before you can try to transpose this concept onto the world of Warriors, you need to really learn about the concept itself in detail from a variety of sources and then you can focus in on how it might be interpreted in a different context--i.e., in cats. 

For example, you’ve mentioned “male pronouns”--but actually there’s no such thing as male pronouns. He/him is traditionally assigned to men, but there’s a lot of lesbians who also use those pronouns. There’s nonbinary people. There’s a lot of transgender women who haven’t come out. I understand what you mean to say when you say that, but pronouns are actually just one aspect of identity and performance of self and they’re as fluid and open to interpretation as the rest. 

It’s all constructs and I personally think if you want to write in a space that is actively discussing gender and what gender is and what gender can be and the kind of inherent boundary-breaking and remaking and reworking that comes with that territory, it’s worth really sitting down and thinking about these things and being careful with how you actually want to position your character and story and the language you use, etc. etc., and again, I think if you’re asking me for guidance, there’s probably a chance you’re not quite there yet. 

I want to mention as well that “coming out” stories in general are greatly over-represented when it comes to ‘queer’ stories by non-queer writers in mainstream media. You’re writing fanfiction for fun and that’s allowed and okay, but it does seem that the story you’re looking to tell is ultimately about this character coming out. You’ve focused a ton on the transition aspects of this character and if I’m totally honest with you, that strikes me as maybe not a great move, since it’s a very cis approach to writing about transgender characters to fixate on the “process” (often with an invasive, objectifying kind of lens). I’m not saying that your intention or necessarily what your story would be, but I do feel it’s worth pointing out so that you can be sure to avoid it. 

Also, as a side note that might interest you, cat voices don’t actually work like human voices. In human sexual dimorphism, testosterone levels rising in puberty result in a low voice--but cats don’t experience this in real life! Male cats don’t have lower voices than female cats, and the spectrum of “normal” cat voices can span from the very high to the quite low and gravelly regardless of the cat’s sex. To offer an anecdote, I have a skinny old Siamese who has an extremely deep yowl (which his mother also had) and a fluffy ginger cat with a very high, squeaky chirp, and they’re both male and desexed. So basically what I’m saying is transposing human experience onto cats (or frankly any animal) in this instance might be less straightforward than you’d expect, depending on how many cat characteristics versus human characteristics you want to include. 

Anyway tl;dr: I strongly recommend undertaking genuine research into lived transgender experience as written by transgender people before attempting to tackle any kind of story like this. You’re welcome to look through the tag I’ve got on this blog for ideas on adapting that research to a Warriors context when the time comes but I really have to stress that this is a topic that requires effort, humility, and a willingness to both learn and acknowledge the limitations of your own perspective as a writer. I’m sorry if that’s not the feedback you wanted to hear, but I can’t in good conscience not say it. 

[selfindulgentpoorlywritten]

Scratch (Frederik Andersen Imagine)

The 100 followers imagine, posted at 11:30pm because it’s quarantine and time isn’t real.

Rating: T

Pairing: Frederik Anderson/Reader

Words: 

Warnings: none

Requested: yes/no

Summary: You volunteer at an animal shelter outside of Toronto and make an unlikely friend.

Volunteering at an animal shelter is somehow both better and worse than people seem to think it is. Worse because people seem to assume that all you do is sit around and play with animals all day, completely ignorant of all the hard work that goes into caring for animals on a somewhat large scale- and definitely unaware of how much paperwork is involved in the adoption process. Better because not only do you get to play with animals sometimes, but you get to celebrate when they get adopted. Like this morning when a pitbull who’s been at the shelter for longer than you have finally found a home. She was the sweetest little lady with the most beautiful brindle coat, and she always had some kisses to spare for anyone who spent time with her. Guess you’ll have to get your kisses somewhere else, now.

That’s been the highlight of your day so far, which has otherwise been pretty boring.Two families had come in to look at the dogs this morning, and a couple teenagers wanted to see the litter of kittens that had been born a few days back, but overall you were less busy than usual. You were just finishing up swiffering the pet hair off the lobby floor when the door opened, and you thank whoever may be watching over you for postponing cleaning the cats crates. The new arrival from Tuesday has been spraying ever since and you’re not looking forward to seeing what mess she’s made this time. You wipe your hands on your jeans and get some sanitizer from the counter before turning to greet the visitor, already halfway through your greeting spiel by time you look up (and up, and up) and see who it is. Only by the grace of habit do you manage to finish what you’re saying, because that’s a whole lot of man and you might be a bit dumb struck that a Leafs player just walked into this little shelter.

“Hi,” he greets, deceptively soft for someone his size, offering a hand for you to shake, “I’m Freddie, I’m looking to adopt.” You shake his hand politely, refusing to get caught up in how rough and warm it is. If he’s looking to adopt, you’ve got a job to do. You’re sure he has the financial means to adopt, but you’re a little iffy on how much time he spends away from home, if you’re being honest. But plenty of hockey players have pets and take good care of them, apparently, so you’ll worry about that later. Plus your boss will probably grill him within an inch of his life to make sure he’s a proper home anyway, and she has good instincts about that kind of thing. So right now all you have to do is introduce him to the residents.

“Great!” you reply, “I’m Y/N, I’ll help you out. Do you know what you’re looking for?” Some people come in with an idea in their minds of exactly what they’re looking for, others have a general idea, and some just know that their apartment is big and lonely.

“Ah, not really,” he seems a bit sheepish, so you’re assuming he’s definitely the third kind, “Just figured I could look around and see?” You’re still trying to get read on him and what he may like, but it’s still pretty open.

“Definitely,” you say, beckoning him to follow you as you start toward the back, “Did you want to look at cats, dogs, or both?” You nod to Steph, the receptionist, as you pass, and she gives you a wide-eyed look and mouths “what the fuck” in return.

“Both, please,” he responds, and Steph’s reaction had almost made you forget what you’d even asked. You give an “of course” and decide to start with dogs. Most hockey guys (and guys in general) went for dogs, and it’s better not to disturb the cats if you don’t have to.

“Do you have any breed restrictions?” You ask as you push open the heavy door to the dog section. Each dog has their own space indoors, connected to a small grassy outdoor area so they can get air and exercise. It’ll be easier if he has some type of guidelines; otherwise you’ll be looking at every animal in the place.

“No,” he says. All right, looking at every animal, it is. Not that you’re complaining about having to spend more time with him, or watching him play with pets, but your hearts been racing since you saw him standing in the doorway and you’re not entirely convinced you’re not going to have a heart attack. Nonetheless, you walk him down to the end of the section, going just slow enough so that he can get a first look at the residents and you can catalog who his eyes linger on for reference.

The bigger dogs stay in the back, so people who are afraid of them don’t have to walk past. You start introducing them, giving Freddy little tidbits of information about the ones he looks closer at. He takes pretty well to a retriever, letting her smell him through the fence and lick his fingers, but he still moves on to the next after a few minutes. You do your best to discreetly write down her name in the notepad from your back pocket as he greets a boxer, not willing to risk forgetting any possible matches he may want to see later. The dogs get smaller as you go along and he seems to do a little better with them, relaxing into the process of greeting. He listens intently to everything you tell him, asking questions here and there. You’re surprised how quiet and gentle he is, how careful with the dogs. It’s not really a shy or insecure way about him, just a calm confidence that sets you at ease despite the way your heart had been racing at first.

“Do you still want to see the cats?” You ask, once you’ve made your way through the halls of dogs. He nods and says “please”, following easily as you lead him back toward the obnoxiously heavy door. Before you can even get a hand on the door, he’s reaching past you to push it open one-handed. He’s taken off his coat somewhere along the way, and you spent the last 15 minutes staunchly refusing to acknowledge his mostly bear arms and when he fills out his T-shirt, and effort which is now for nothing. It’s kind of impossible not to notice the flex of thickly corded muscle under his smooth skin when it’s right in your face, and it’s all you can do to mumble a “thank you” and scurry through the door before you get caught staring. Maybe you walk a little too quickly around the corner to the cat room, but you hardly think you can be blamed. Okay. Deep breath. Move on.

You tackle the cats the same way you had the dogs, introducing them one by one. Then you let him wander the room a bit, examining the cats and letting them sniff his fingers cautiously, careful not to stick them into the crate until the cat has brushed up against the metal to invite it.

“So, how long have you worked here?” He asks suddenly, not looking away from the tabby he’s trying to coax out of the corner of her cage. You startle just the slightest at the unexpected sound, but shake it off.

“Little over two years,” you respond. It hasn’t been too long, but you know what you’re talking about, it that’s his concern. He gives you an inscrutable look that morphs into a small smile, before he turns his attention back to the Tabby, who has ventured out far enough to sniff him, if she stretches. He keeps on like that for a bit, asking more questions about yourself instead of the animals, slowly shifting more and more of his attention to you. You answer as much as you’re comfortable, which is more than you usually would be, for some reason.

“I’m sure it gets you attention on dates,” he says, “Working here, I mean.” The question itself is enough to throw you off, but the look that accompanies it has your face heating as you turn away, flustered. What does it matter to him? Like yeah, people tended to think it was cute, but that usually lasted up until they realized this was volunteer, which means you also have a normal paying job, which means you don’t have a whole lot of time to devote to a relationship. Not that you wouldn’t mind a relationship, just. People get weird when you spend more time cleaning up cat shit than hanging out with them. Probably fair.

“Kind of,” you laugh the littlest bit. You’re not sure you want to explain it to him, but he looks so genuinely interested that you can’t stop yourself. He listens intently, nodding in understanding.

“It can be the same for me, too,” he says after you finished. Oh shit, right. Professional hockey player. His schedule probably makes yours look like a vacation. He doesn’t talk like that, though, drawing comparisons between the two of you as if you were equal. It’s an improvement over your lawyer ex-boyfriend who had decided your “silly pet project” was nothing and insisted you change your entire schedule so you could spend more time with him and at home, cooking and cleaning. Needless to say, you dropped him rather than the shelter.

“Do you want to hold any of them?” You ask an indeterminate amount of time later, realizing you’d both just been talking to each other for who knows how long, rather than finding him a match. He agrees, asking for the Tabby he’s been coaxing out. She’s been here longer than you have, too shy and distrustful for most peoples tastes. Not many people care to put in the time and effort to get her to trust them, especially as she’s gotten older. You’re one of the few that’s allowed to handle her, because she’ll claw up anyone but you and your boss by trying to get away from them. You’re not sure you want to risk bringing her out, but she immediately comes to the front of the crate when he approaches, so hopefully it’ll be okay. Freddie doesn’t seem like the type to freak out and, like, sue if he gets scratched, anyway.

You unlock the crate and carefully take her out, making sure she’s cradled safely in your arms like she prefers,  motioning with your head for Freddie to follow you into the next room. This one is carpeted and scattered with cat toys and cozy chairs, meant to be comfortable for people to get acquainted with the cats before they make a final decision. Sometimes you just take cats in here to give them some time to run around and play, especially the ones who have been here longer and don’t get considered much anymore. You squat down low to put her down, not keen on her jumping down and scratching you up on the way. She rubs up against your legs as you stand, making her way over to Freddie to do the same.

“She’s never liked anyone this much before,” you comment as he slowly sits on the floor, smiling at Alice and scratching behind her ears.

“I like her too,” he replies. He looks up to give you a dazzling smile when Alice climbs into his lap, nudging his hand with her head until he resumes petting her. You’ve never seen her like this with anyone, and you’re not sure if you were jealous that she talk to him so quickly or that she gets to sit in his lap. Either way, you sit cross legged across from him to supervise. Alice comes over to get some attention from you as well, purring like a motorboat all the while.

“So, what’s your favorite movie?” He asked after a moment, watching intently when you look up from Alice. The two of you get caught up in talking again as Alice has the time of her life going back-and-forth between your laps. You’re engrossed in the story Freddie is telling about Mitch Marner and a bath bomb when the door opens just enough for Steph to peek in, ripping you out of whatever little bubble the three of you had been in. You’re expecting Alice to bolt across the room to hide in the corner, but instead she hunkers down in Freddie’s lap and hisses. Interesting.

“Hey Y/N ,” Steph says, “It’s two, do you want me to take over so you can go?” How was it two already? Damn, you really had lost track of time. You looked at Freddie and then back to Steph, suddenly feeling every bit like you’ve woken up at 5 AM on your day off and worked seven hours, which you did. But if Alice is finally going to find a forever home, you want to get a chance to say goodbye. But Freddie still has to talk to your manager and fill out all the paperwork, and you’re so fucking ready for a nap. And anyway, he’ll probably have to come back to pick her up tomorrow anyway, with how your boss likes to make sure people are completely certain before taking an animal.

“Y/N?” Steph calls you again. It snaps you out of your thoughts and you reply without thinking about it.

“Yeah, thank you,” you say, not happy to let this experience go, but knowing it’s for the best. Freddie stands when you do, Alice cradled in his arms. Steph introduces herself and puts Alice back in her cage, suffering a small scratch along the way. Freddie follows you back out to the front in silence, walking much closer than he had when he’d gotten here. You duck behind the front desk to grab your things, and are more than a bit surprised to see Freddie still standing on the other side of the counter once you’ve got your bag and coat in hand.

“Thank you for showing me around,” he says politely, looking a bit more subdued than he had just five minutes ago. Then again, you feel the same.

“Yeah, of course,” you reply easily, “My pleasure.” And you mean it. Usually when you say that it’s just out of habit or manners, but you’d actually had quite a bit of fun today. The two of you stand there silently for a probably too long stretch of time, neither quite willing to let this end. Finally, you make a decision and tear yourself away from where you’d gotten lost in his eyes. You grab a post it note and pen from behind the desk and scribble your name and number on it, because fuck it. Once in a lifetime, and all that. And if you’re wrong, no harm no foul, right?

“Let me know how it works out with Alice?” You request, handing him the note with a small smile. You really do want to know how it works out with her, but you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t mostly a selfish endeavor. His face lights up when he looks at the paper, smile firmly in place when he looks back to you.

“I will,” he says, a promise you’re sure he’ll keep. He folds the note in careful thirds, letting the adhesive strip hold it shut as he slips it into his pocket. Your heart is racing again, but in a much better way this time.

“Anyway, I should get going,” you say, extending a hand for him to shake, “It was nice meeting you.” He looks at your hand for a moment before turning his gaze back to your face, painfully deliberate when he takes your hand in his own and shakes it twice, lingers until you can’t help but think about how big and warm his hand is around yours. You both drop the hold at the same time, and Freddie’s smile returns, much softer this time.

“See you around, Y/N,” he says, and he will, if you have anything to say about it. Your boss comes in as you’re shrugging on your coat, and you watch him turn a bit more professional, greeting her and shaking her hand briskly. You throw your bag over your shoulder and dig out your keys before heading out the door, one more glance over your shoulder in case this is the last time you see him. He’s already looking.

Once in your car, waiting for it to warm up, you let out a sound that had been trapped in your chest since he came in, and rest your head on the freezing steering wheel. Holy shit. You just gave Freddie Andersen your phone number. You flirted with Freddie Andersen and then gave him your number. Alice provides some plausible deniability, but you’re pretty sure you both know what this is really about. You think about it the entire drive home, considering what to do if he actually does text you, and how to not seem like you have a pathetic schoolgirl crush on him even though you do, and how he had been the one to initiate non-pet-related conversation, and if that means as much as you think it does, and a million other things. You’re so caught up in your thoughts that you don’t think to check your phone until you get through your front door, which is probably good for traffic safety, but whatever. You force yourself to hang up your coat, put away your bag, and take off your shoes at the door before daring to touch your phone at all.

Nothing.

Well, it’s only been like half an hour, so that’s reasonable, right? He’d just gone into a meeting when you left, so he’s probably just still busy. Yeah. You’re actually tired, so you settle in for a nap before dinner. Maybe you toss and turn for longer than usual, and maybe you dream of tabby cats and empty inboxes, but no one can prove any of that.

You wake up groggy after the sun has set, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s particularly late, this time of year. The clock beside your bed says it’s not even six yet, which isn’t bad at all. After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, wondering what you should get your brother for his birthday and not coming up with anything good, you haul yourself out of bed to make dinner. The plan had been to heat up some leftovers, but you’re kind of in the mood to do something with your hands right now, so you make some chicken and rice and green beans. Typically you would be listening to music as you cook, but you left your phone in your room, so you just sing little snatches of whatever songs come to mind.

After a dinner eaten while not-really-watching some show on Netflix your friend had suggested, you go back to your room. Maybe you should just go to bed early tonight. It’s not like you have anything else to do, or even really want to do anything. Luckily, you’re still in your sleep clothes from your nap, so you just cuddle back up in bed and habitually grab your phone to scroll social media for a bit before bed. Maybe you should read some more of that book you haven’t touched since last week. Except there’s a message from an unknown number amongst your notifications, and you don’t even consider anything before immediately opening it.

Hey Y/N it’s Freddie from the shelter. Thanks for your help today.

Okay, this is fine. This is totally cool, and you’re not clutching your phone to your chest like a teenager.

You’re welcome! Did it work out with Alice?

You’re expecting to have to wait again, because guys are like that when it comes to texting, but his response only takes a minute or two.

Yes, they said I can pick her up tomorrow

There’s a little smiley at the end, which you aren’t expecting from such a seemingly serious guy. The grey bubble with dots pops up and vanishes, comes back a second later and is replaced by a message.

Will you be there?

You won’t, because Sunday is your one true “day off” every week, but you find yourself considering showing up anyway.

No, it’s my day off

You tack on a :/ face, making sure it doesn’t get replaced with an emoji, because everyone knows nothing conveys the emotion of :/ . Again the dots pop up and disappear, over and over. You’re starting to think it’s just a glitch when it stops, but nothing comes through for long moments.

You could come visit her at mine some time, if you wanted. I’m sure she’ll miss you.

Alright, cool. Cool cool cool, totally not a big deal, everything is chill. You’re not screaming into your pillow at all, not even a little bit. Okay. It takes a moment to collect yourself and figure out what the fuck to say to that, but you don’t want him to think you don’t want that, so you eventually give up and press send with whatever’s in the text field.

Sure! I’ll miss her too.

And maybe when you say “I’ll miss her too” what you mean is “I’ll miss you”, but no jury could convict you. You’ve known him for a day and you already know he’s going to be stuck in your brain for a long time.

How’s Friday? I could make dinner.

That’s like. That’s definitely a date, right? Like this is all a very thinly veiled excuse for a date. You’re like 98% sure. And even if it isn’t, you’ll still get to see Alice, so it works out either way. You agree to Friday and a time, chatting a bit afterward about nothing in particular. You fall asleep with a smile on your face, looking forward to Friday, whatever it may be.

When he kisses you good night a few days later, you figure yeah, definitely a date.

[inkatheart-fandom]

Ranty Plot #003

Oooh look, it’s my favorite fandom. I know, not many people are into HTTYD stuff and see it as weird. I don’t care, here we go.

Fandom: How To Train Your Dragon - Race To The Edge

Ship(s): Viggo/Hiccup, Hiccup/Astrid

Tags: Rarepair, uncommon ship, ‘dark ship’, somewhat unhappy ending, villain to ally, enemies to lovers, age gap, pining, violence

So this takes place directly at the end of Triple Cross, with a slight deviation:

Figuring himself for dead anyway, Viggo admits to Hiccup that he had never poisoned Toothless. That he'd just needed Hiccup to work with him. Hiccup looks to the Skrill, then to Toothless, and finally to the arrows in Viggo's back. Viggo tells Hiccup that he'll hold the hunters off for as long as he can. Hiccup asks him why, why he was doing all of this, and Viggo admits his deep admiration for Hiccup and the Riders. That he wishes he could do better, but doesn't have the time. As he goes out to face the hunters so that Hiccup can escape, Hiccup refuses. He grabs Viggo and pulls him onto Toothless, and the four of them make their harrowing escape out of the cave. Viggo, however, is in bad shape. He knows he's dying, but he silently admires Hiccup for thinking he's worth saving. For thinking he's worth something at all. The one person in the world he wanted had turned those caring eyes on him, even after all of the horrible things he'd done. He tells Hiccup his final goodbye before he feels the last vestiges of his energy give out and he falls from Toothless's back. He's saved by the Skrill before he hits the water.

Viggo is surprised when he wakes up. He has been bandaged, and taken somewhere that feels safe. Familiar, even with the gray storm hanging overhead. When he looks around he and Fishlegs spot each other at the same time, and Fishlegs informs Viggo that he's been ordered not to let Viggo go unsupervised. It's not surprising though. Fishlegs has Meatlug go get Hiccup. While she's gone, the two discuss what happened between Viggo's fall and now. Viggo hears the scream of the Skrill somewhere on the island, and learns that it had come with Hiccup back to the Edge and has been hovering around making everyone nervous. Hiccup returns and relieves Fishlegs of his post, then tentatively takes a seat next to Viggo's bedside. When questioned about why he would save the life of his enemy, Hiccup explains that if someone like Dagur the Deranged could change for the better, then anything was possible. He hadn't hurt Toothless, and he'd formed a bond with the Skrill of all dragons. He goes on to say that if Viggo was telling the truth before, about wanting to do better, then Hiccup would give him the chance. But if he double crossed Hiccup again, there would be no redemption. Viggo wholly understands that, and gives him a sincere thank you.

It isn't long before the Skrill becomes a problem. It makes all the dragons nervous, and has a storm constantly hovering overhead. It comes to a head when a lightning strike sets one of the huts on fire (again). Hiccup and the Riders come together to discuss what to do about moving the Skrill, and Viggo listens from the outside. He makes the decision to go see if he can calm the Skrill himself. Viggo, still injured and completely unarmored, makes his way into the forest to find the Skrill. He finds the beast and seems prepared to be mauled, only to find that the Skrill calms when he sees Viggo. Viggo is able to approach the dragon and pet his head, further calming the beast. Viggo finds himself amazed at the intelligence and strength he finds behind those eyes, the power beneath his hand. With a dragon like this, a man could take control of the Archipelego with ease. He's forced so sit, weak and winded from his injuries. This is how Hiccup and the Riders find him, with the Skrill's head in his lap and the storm overhead finally calming. Hiccup explains that whatever happened, the Skrill must have formed a bond with Viggo. After a long moment of contemplation, Viggo decides on a name: Talon.

Viggo tries to help around the Edge, but none of the Riders trust him with any task. Only Hiccup seems willing to put up with his company, but everyone seems to want Hiccup's attention all the time, and further, the Riders are territorial of Viggo near Hiccup. It's understandable. When he isn't with Hiccup, he's being watched by one of the other Riders. Attempts at conversation are met with either ridicule or suspiscion. Bored and feelingly uncharacteristically lonely, Viggo falls asleep in the stables one night with Talon. He wakes to find Hiccup watching him. He asks after Viggo's injuries, then sits down with Viggo. He explains that he understands how painful it is to have nobody like or trust him. Viggo trades, explaining that he grew up the runt of his family as well, but he didn't get a Nightfury to change his life. He talks about how he had to prove himself to a viking family, how he was mocked for never being strong enough to slay a dragon without trickery. It led to him blaming dragons for his shortcomings. They stay up talking, and Hiccup falls asleep against Viggo's shoulder.

Viggo understands why he isn't trusted by the Riders. As the weeks go on, when his injuries have healed and Fishlegs deems him recovered, the Riders make the demand that Viggo leaves. Hiccup tries to levy for Viggo, because with Viggo's skill with tactics and the raw power of a Skrill on their side, it would be a huge advantage against Johann and Krogan. Their discussion is interrupted then dragon flyers attack the Edge, everyone goes out to fight. Viggo hopes that this could be his chance to prove himself. Without a saddle, he can't ride Talon without being killed, but he knows the other Riders can control their dragons off the saddle, so perhaps he can too. He tries to control Talon from the Edge, but the two are uncoordinated and don't understand how to give or take orders. A Singetail lobs a fireball at Viggo, Talon intercepts and in his rage, lets loose a powerful lightning blast. An errant bolt hits Viggo and sends him toppling off the ledge. Hiccup and Toothless save him.

Viggo wakes up in what he's come to accept, lately, as 'his' bed. For the first time since he'd been at the Edge, he's alone. After a moment he quickly recalls the events before he was struck and jumps to go find what happened. He finds Hiccup at the blacksmith, working along on a new project. He has the blueprints and the starting leathers for a new saddle. Viggo's saddle. After querying, Hiccup admits that he was impressed by Viggo's attempt to help. The Skrill, though, is a dragon that can't be handled like most others. They'll need to find a way to keep Talon's lightning from hitting Viggo. Together, the two work on the plans. Fishlegs and Snotlout appear to voice their disapproval of giving Viggo a saddle. In the end, the saddle has to have a rubber base, and Viggo's armor has to be given a similar treatment. Getting to work alongside Hiccup, though, is thrilling. Viggo gets to see, firsthand, how Hiccup's mind works and solves problems. In the end, even Fishlegs has started to help out. Once finished, Hiccup announces that tomorrow, they'll begin Viggo's training.

Viggo stumbles onto a meeting of the Riders where everyone seems to be ganging up on Hiccup, calling him insane for giving Viggo the ability to ride the Skrill of all dragons. Hiccup coming to Viggo's defense, especially when Viggo isn't there, touches Viggo in a way he doesn't want to admit. He wants nothing more than to claim Hiccup for his own, to have that ferocity and loyalty all to himself. But to do that would mean hurting Hiccup, would mean revealing himself as the monster that Hiccup is trying to insist that he isn't. He goes to find Talon and contemplates leaving; he'll never be trusted by the Riders and he could save Hiccup a lot of stress if it left. But leaving would be the cowards way out, and he knows he can be useful to Hiccup and his mission. He resolves that he's going to prove to Hiccup (and the others) that he can be trusted. And maybe, somewhere in his heart, he hopes that Hiccup might look at him with the kind of reverence he looks at Astrid or dragons.

Their first riding lesson is rocky. All of the Riders insist on being there, and get in Viggo's way and make things more difficult. Talon is hard enough to control, as it getting Hiccup's lesson through. It's not about controlling Talon, it has to be about trusting and working with him. Hiccup's constant encouragement, though, does get through. He ends the first lesson sore and a little humiliated. Hiccup comes to his hut that night and gives Viggo encouragement, he thinks the man did well despite the trouble the other Riders gave them. Viggo is nearly overwhelmed by the desire to touch or kiss Hiccup, being so close to the man, all alone. He resists, though only just. Hiccup tells Viggo meet him before dawn at the stables. They're going to go to a more private training area where the other Riders won't come barging in. When Viggo lays down that night, he can't help but touch himself to the thoughts of Hiccup. He should be thinking about training, about the thrill of flying with Talon, but all he can think about is Hiccup, and how badly he wants to claim him. He finishes himself, and falls asleep feeling a little guilty.

Viggo meets Hiccup as promised. They fly to a nearby island with the hopes of not being distrurbed. This lesson goes much smoother, and by the end of the day he feels confident on Talon. A few days later, their next lesson begins, trust exercises with him and Talon. Then a little more advanced, with verbal commands. Then hand signs. Hiccup seems genuinely impressed at how quickly Viggo and Talon are progressing, and determines the two of them to be a great match. Viggo goes to bed each night with thoughts of Hiccup, mental retellings of the day wherein Viggo gets to touch or kiss Hiccup, and it's slowly driving him crazy. Soon enough, Hiccup and Viggo are practicing much more advanced maneuvers, and in one case, Viggo manages to knock Hiccup off Toothless and pin him to the ground. It's a tight, tense moment where Viggo has Hiccup beneath him, both of them staring into one anothers eyes (eye). Viggo is a breath away from a kiss and Hiccup doesn't seem like he's going to stop him when Toothless intervenes to save his Rider. Both men are a little dazed and off balance. Just as Hiccup is about to call it a day though, Viggo grabs his wrist and yanks him in for a kiss. He isn't at all surprised when Hiccup pulls away and flies off without a word.

Their training lessons stop, though Viggo knows it's as much because he's competant on his dragon as it is for what he did to Hiccup. Hiccup seems more subdued around him, and Viggo finds himself worried that Hiccup would never look at him the same way. He'd made a grave mistake. When the Riders discuss Krogan's supply of Singetails, Viggo helps them determine the correct location. He hadn't been a direct part of Krogan's dragon capturing, his job had been to figure out the Dragon Eye and its lenses. Hiccup, though, decides that this will be Viggo's first mission with the Riders, despite everyone's complaint. They fly to Singetail island and find the Deathsong. As they discuss battle tactics, Viggo makes his suggestion. Krogan's men expect the Riders, but they don't expect Viggo and Talon. The other Riders agree, only because Viggo will be hanging back and out of the fight until a more opportune moment. Hiccup seems reluctant to agree, but he does. Sure enough, when the hunters have Hiccup and the others pinned down, it gives Viggo the perfect opening to strike from behind. With the success of the mission, and both Deathsongs freed, Hiccup gives Viggo that proud look that makes his heart do funny things. The Riders still seem reluctant, but not outright hostile.

That night, back at the Edge, Hiccup finds Viggo in his hut. He has a box in his arms and he sets it out on the table. It's revealed to be a Maces and Talons board and Viggo recognizes the peace offering for what it is. They settle down to play a round as they talk. Hiccup was impressed by Viggo's plan, it worked well. Viggo admits that it's difficult knowing that he'll never be fully trusted, that Hiccup will always have a small part of himself that will doubt Viggo's new alliance. Hiccup, however, surprises him. He admits that if he could trust Dagur the Deranged as wholly as he does now, after everything the man did, then it's possible for Viggo to be the same in the future. It won't happen overnight, but slowly the doubts will ease away. Viggo can never wash all of the blood from his hands, and he knows that no matter how many good deeds he does, he's destined for Hel for the sins of his past. Hiccup doesn't seem so sure, and it's that naive optimism that melts some of the ice from Viggo's heart. He admits out loud that once upon a time he wanted to crush that optimism, to make Hiccup as cynical and dark as Viggo. When Hiccup queries about now, though, Viggo admits he wants to protect it. He wants to give Hiccup a reason to be optimistic about the world and about him. The game ends in a draw, but neither man makes to move. Hiccup inquires about the kiss. Viggo admits his absolute admiration for Hiccup, and how badly he's wanted to do that since the two of them met. Hiccup stands, but instead of leaving he comes around the table and pulls Viggo into a kiss that's curious and uncertain. Viggo is more than happy to return it, and when the kiss gets more heated, he pulls Hiccup into his lap. They grind against each other until they both finish, and Hiccup leaves shortly after, confused and dazed.

A few days of quiet pass. Viggo has been entrusted with patrol routes since his successful mission at Singetail island. He's happy enough to be given the responsibility - perhaps it was as Hiccup said. He could earn trust slowly over time, prove that he was their ally. When he spots another Dragon Rider he halts Talon from immediately attacking - it's not a Singetail so chances are it's an ally. It's Dagur and Mala, but when they see who's on the back of the Skrill, they attack. Viggo tries only to defend himself, but Mala lunges and knocks him from Talon's back. He yells for Talon to put up an SOS as the fight is taken to the ground, and he barely manages to keep the furious woman from killing him. Between Mala and Dagur, by the tim Hiccup arrives Viggo is injured and barely able to keep Talon from trying to kill. Hiccup arrives with the other Riders and Viggo goes to calm his dragon. Hiccup struggles to convince Mala that Viggo is no longer their enemy, and when Mala looks to the other Riders and finds that they're still somewhat skeptical, she remains unconvinced. He tries to get everyone back to the Edge. Later, he tends to Viggo's wounds in his hut and admits that he's relieved and even proud that Viggo had refused to hurt Mala or Dagur. They kiss, and Viggo pulls Hiccup into the bed this time. They get a little further, but still end up not touching one another below the waist. Hiccup leaves, and Viggo decides that his injuries were well worth it if it got Hiccup in his room.

Hiccup summons a summit of his Berk, the Berserkers, the Defenders of the Wing, and the Wingmaidens. He wants to talk strategy for Johann and Krogan, and he also wants his allies to understand that Viggo is indeed on their side. The summit devolves into an angry mob, nobody wanting to trust Viggo, which he understands is for good reason. Not even Hiccup can keep up with the fury around him. It gets even worse when a terror mail arrives and reveals that Defenders of the Wing island is under assault by Flyers. Everyone immediately turns on Hiccup and accuses him of treason, leading them away from their homes while Krogan and his men attack. Viggo breaks in and states that the mail is a ruse, that Krogan and Johann sent it to divert the attention of the Riders away from their real assault, they're going for the lenses at Wingmaiden island. Hiccup struggles with a decision, everyone in arms, and orders half of his people to Wingmaiden, and half to Defenders. He then asks Viggo to stay behind and watch the Edge. He does so, but he can't help but worry about Hiccup. When Hiccup and the others return, Viggo finds out that he was right. Krogan and his flyers attacked Wingmaiden island, and with the Riders split up, Krogan and Johann got away with the lenses. Hiccup is injured, but as much as Viggo wants to help him, the other Riders don't let him close enough to do so. So Viggo makes a reckless decision. While everyone is tending to Hiccup, he saddles up Talon and takes off into the night.

He knows it's paramount to a suicide mission. He doesn't have time to set up a trap for Johann and Krogan, so all he can hope is that letting Talon attack at full power will be enough. He gets to the island where Johann and Krogan are based and, using some clever tactics and Talon's full strength, does significant damage to the enemy forces. He separates from Talon so that he can go after the lenses, and comes face-to-face with both Johann and Krogan. The battle is hard fought, but he manages to get the lenses and get away, though very badly injured.

By the time he returns to the Edge, everyone had been looking for him. They're all shocked when Viggo returns with all of the lenses, and all but collapses. When he awakens, covered in bandages, Hiccup is there immediately to scold him for being so reckless and idiotic. Viggo is shocked when Hiccup starts crying because Viggo was very nearly dead, and he realizes how much he'd made Hiccup worry. Viggo pulls Hiccup down to hold him, and after the younger has calmed he finally thanks Viggo for retrieving the lenses. The next day, when he comes face to face with the other Riders, he finds that he's being regarded with much more respect. Hiccup had been right all along. It was possible to be trusted given enough time and good will. That night, though, when he goes to find Hiccup, he finds the younger talking with Astrid about their future. Viggo knows he wants Hiccup all to himself, but at the same time he knows he wants Hiccup happy, in the end. He retreats to his room.

When Stoik is attacked, everyone goes to Berk to help defend it. Viggo struggles upon seeing Hiccup so broken up about possibly losing his father. He's surprised when, late one night, Hiccup seeks him out and all but throws himself at Viggo, begging the man to give him something else to think about. Hiccup is suffering, and Viggo wants to help - Hiccup is handing himself over and this could be his only chance. In the end, Viggo takes Hiccup to his bed and pleasures him until he falls asleep. He gets the opportunity to run his fingers through Hiccup's hair and enjoy the feel of him, but leaves before morning so nobody finds them in a compromising position. When Heather shows up with news about Vanaheim, Hiccup struggles once more with what to do. Viggo offers to stay behind and defend Berk so Hiccup can go. Both Hiccup and Viggo are surprised when the other Riders seem to agree with the idea.

When the Riders return, successful, they also have the final Dragon Eye lense they need. It's off to Dramilion island to head off Johann and Krogan. Hiccup makes a quick plan as they find Krogan and Johann already there. Knowing Talon's full power now, Viggo agrees to assault the ships. Hiccup is shot down into the sea by a Flyer, and Astrid jumps to save Hiccup. Viggo goes for Toothless. With everyone still struggling with the battle, the Dramilion is captured and Viggo tells Hiccup something he knows the other won't want to hear. If they want to keep the King of Dragons out of Johann's hands, Viggo can kill it. Hiccup is enraged by the idea, and in his anger says that Viggo hasn't changed at all. It's a slap to the face, but Viggo knew it wouldn't be met favorably. He just tells Hiccup that they have to be prepared for the concequences of Johann having the dragon.

They find the Dramilion, abandoned and dying, and take him back to the Defenders of the Wing. Mala orders Viggo to be bound, and Hiccup, still upset it seems, doesn't stop it. Viggo doesn't fight it. While Mala and the others are trying to save the Dramilion, Hiccup goes to Viggo and apologizes. What he'd said wasn't fair, but Viggo has to understand that killing dragons is never the answer, no matter how dire the circumstances. He lets Viggo free, and Viggo takes the opportunity to steal a kiss. Shortly after, they find out that the Dramilion isn't the King of Dragons, and race for Berserker island.

The final battle begins. Hiccup needs to get beneath the island and leaves Astrid and Viggo in charge of commanding their forces. Viggo goes for the ships while Astrid takes the Flyers. Krogan moves to stop Viggo, and as the two fight, Viggo gets an opportunity to take out Krogan and his dragon - he knows that the dragon won't leave if he just takes Krogan from its back. But remembering what Hiccup had told him, not wanting to disappoint the man again,  he refuses to take the shot and gets shot down because of it. Talon can't fly, and Krogan assaults them both from the air. Krogan calls him weak, and when he finally gets to the ground, he and Viggo continue their fight. He drives home that Viggo let his infatuation with a child break him, that he's become weaker, he was always the runt of the hunters, but now that he's lost his ruthlessness he's nothing. Just as Krogan is about to deliver the final blow, Astrid swoops down to the rescue. Viggo is surprised, but the woman helps him to his feet and reminds him the Riders look out for each other. The roar of the Dragon King turns all the Flyers' dragons against their riders, and the tide of the battle quickly changes. They are victorious.

When they return to the Edge, for as much as Viggo wants to celebrate with Hiccup, to finally and fully claim the younger for his own...he finds Hiccup and Astrid already embraced. He realizes then that if he pushed himself to Hiccup, he would be forcing the other to choose between a life with his best friend and lover, or the man whom the world barely trusted. So, that night he pens Hiccup one final letter and leaves it in his Maces and Talons box, then takes Talon and leaves for good.

[elle-ja-bell]

Among Us fic

So I have recently gotten way to into Amoung Us and I have been just dazzled by the little fandom surrounding it. I don’t know what it is about this game but it makes you feel things. Anyway I decided I had to add my two cents. This is a vast and endless idea and this is just the beginning but hopefully I can manage to post it in chapters. That will be new. 

A vast and endless sky by Ellejabell

“We’ll use suit color identifiers, names in private if you have to, but for all official communication stick to colors.”

The captain, Blue, was striding up and down the pod running them through ship protocol before they launched for The Skeld.

“Remember, try to stick in groups of two for the first couple of weeks. We haven’t had an imposer incident in MIRA in over two years so we’re not too worried but it’s protocol for a reason. Finally,” she stopped pacing and turned to face them “I want you all to remember the mission objective.”

They knew this information already but listened attentively anyway.

“We are going to recover The Skeld, one of the most impressive space stations in MIRA’s fleet before a series of imposter incidents ten years ago led to it being abandoned. I know there are rumors of it being cursed,” some light muttering at this “yes I know all about what people were whispering back at the facility and I just want to say I won't have that in my crew.” She looks each of us in the eye one by one “We’re going to do our tasks, reboot the station and get home again. 10 weeks. We can do that. So no curses, no rumors, if there is a problem you bring it to me. Got it?”

The crew immediately shouted back an affirmative but all the talk of curses had left a note of tension in the air. Blue stepped up to the front of the shuttle where Red was manning the controls.

“Whenever you’re ready,” she said and strapped herself in beside him.

The engine threw itself into motion and after the uncomfortable feeling of passing through the atmosphere the crew was able to relax a bit. It would take 9 hours to reach The Skeld and people started to pull out tablets or chat with their neighbors. Black looked to be already asleep.

“I’m Pink” chirped a voice to White’s right and she managed to hide the slight start that gave her. Slowly White turned to look down at the girl in the pink space suit beside her.

“Clearly,” White said after several long seconds. Pink blinked up at her but that bright smile of hers didn’t dim.

“I’ve never been off planet before. First time for everything I suppose! I wish there was a window though, I’d love to see everything. It’s just crazy isn’t it? All of this. I mean, wow, being here with you guys, and everyone seems so nice already. I’ve never really spent much time in groups. I wonder what everyone is really like, you know?” Pink rattled this off at breakneck speed, at once exuberant and obviously nervous. She kept glancing around the cabin as if looking for someone but her eyes slid across everyone, never catching. White regarded her cooly and didn't say anything.

The shuttle lurched slightly and Pink shrieked, clutching hard at White’s arm.

“Is it supposed to do that? Are we going to die?” Everyone was looking at them now, or they were looking at Pink, but with the girl wrapped around White’s arm she too was the center of their attention.

“What are you all looking at?” She growled and most of the crew went back to what they were doing, only a few shooting back the odd glance.

White turned back to Pink and then shook her off, perhaps harder than was strictly necessary.

“Let go of me,” she snarled and the other girl recoiled a bit, her smile finally dimming. “It was-- just a bit of turbulence” White muttered, slightly more gently “It happens all the time on shuttles. We’re not gonna die.”

“Oh,” Pink laughed a little, her smile lighting up her face again. “Sorry,” she blushed, “that was silly of me. I’ve never been on a shuttle before.”

White frowned at that. They had all had to ride on shuttles in training, she didn’t think anyone was exempt from those exercises.

“What do you specialize in?” she asked and Pink looked delighted to be asked a question. Then it seemed to register and her eyes pinched slightly before her expression cleared.

“Oh this and that,” she said, “I’m a bit of a jack of all trades, you know?” White didn’t know, she had thought everyone on this mission was there with some kind of specialty. Obviously they all had training in the major areas, electrical, mechanics, navigation, but each of them had been selected because of their specific skill sets. The Skeld had been floating empty for a long time, a certain degree of expertise was required to get it up and going. She opened her mouth but was cut off with--

“What about you?” Pink’s smile was wide and genuine, nothing about her radiating anything but eagerness and curiosity. White allowed her suspicions to unclench a little.

“Weapons,” she ground out and Pink’s eyes went wide.

“Oh,” she whispered “that is insanely cool, and I guess it makes sense, you’re huge.” She blushed again “I mean, that's a good thing, obviously. I-- god I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry!”

“You’re tiny,” White replied nonsensically.

“Yeah,” Pink smiled again, “Always have been. The others used to make fun of me and I hated it! But it makes me really good at slipping into small places. I can sneak around just about anywhere,” her eyes went big again, “I mean if I have to obviously. I always had to sneak around back home. It was the only thing I was really good at so that’s why they sent me here, I mean, shit, I’m not making any sense. Just ignore me. Sorry.” She buried her face in her hands and was blushing so hard White could see it through her fingers. There was a lot to unpack in what the girl had just said but White wasn’t particularly keen on conversation in general, or on people for that matter, so she decided to take the easy exit.

“There’s a window in the back.”

“What?” Pink’s head snapped up and White could see her eyes were damp. Good lord, this girl was emotional.

“A window,” White said uncomfortably while Pink wiped her eyes, “You said you wished there was a window? There’s one in the back.”

“Oh great!” Pink brightened immediately and started unsnapping her restraints. White closed her eyes and leaned back, waiting for Pink to get up and leave. When she didn’t White cracked her eyes back open and found Pink standing in front of her.

“Aren’t you coming?” She said, extending a hand and White wasn’t sure why, but she took it.

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

They’d stood at the window for hours. Pink pointing out every little thing like it was something worth noting, something amazing. White wondered how this scrap of girl who had obviously never even been to space had gotten listed on a mission as important as this one. White had practically grown up in space, her parents both high level agents with MIRA. She was here because she was the best and had assumed everyone else was too. She’d planned to spend this time reviewing the system requirements for The Skeld’s weapons and shields, reviewing the workload and making a plan for max efficiency, but here she was looking at a landscape she had seen a million times before. Pink pointed out another asteroid, gasped as they lurched to the left to avoid a collision, and claimed she could still earth, though White knew Earth had been gone for over an hour now.

“I’m tired,” Pink said suddenly, a huge yawn wrinkling her features.

White snorted.

“What?” Pink said, indignantly.

“Being that excited about everything must take it out of you,” she drawled.

“Yeah,” Pink said, seemingly immune to White’s customary biting tone. Then the smaller girl slumped against her and White almost stumbled in surprise.

“Okay back to your seat, you can sleep there.”

“Okay,” Pink yawned again.

White steered them back to their seats, and practically growled when Pink dropped her head on White’s shoulder.

“Goodnight,” Pink murmured, and then she was out.

White stared at her in shock. She didn’t know this girl. This girl certainly didn’t know her, but here she was asleep like she was safe, like she trusted her.

You’re never safe White wanted to say, afraid to move in case she woke the other girl.

She stayed there the rest of the trip, stiff and still, glaring at anyone who looked their way.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 83

First, and most importantly: Happy Transgender Day of Visibility! To anyone who was given the wrong gender at birth, I see you and you are safe here.

If you don’t read further because of that? Well.... I don’t want you reading my stuff. The Ark is welcoming and loving. So.

If you are still with me: I actually had to start a second google doc for the story, just to continue with this chapter.... It’s mind blowing that I’ve gotten so far.  With everything going on in the world at the moment, this story has been a great escape and something worth carving out time for.

THAT SAID... Please don’t hesitate to send me asks, messages, or submissions.  I love hearing new ideas, or having the chance to talk about the things that just don’t make it on the page. Even if your ask/message/submission isn’t story related, shoot it on over.

Thanks for this chapter goes out to a whole host of people: @satan-parisienne, @baelpenrose, @zommbiebro, and @charlylimph-blog (I don’t care how often this site unfollows me from you, I will chase you down!). I genuinely don’t think I could have created so much, so consistently, without all of you.

Charly and I chose to walk to Xiomara’s office rather than take a transport.  Even though I was a bit shaken by what happened with Jokull, the exercise gave us both an opportunity to burn off nervous energy.  By the time we arrived, both of us were calmer and had our thoughts together.

Once access was granted, the door slid aside to reveal not just Xiomara, but Tyche.  I wasn’t sure if Xiomara wanted her to hear what happened, given how much stress my fellow Councillor placed on secrecy for her operation. “I need to report an incident involving Jokull Bjornson.”

My glance at my sister was met with a scoff. “Do you really think I believe you won’t tell her what happened?” Xiomara stared me down like I was an idiot.  “First things first: are either of you ladies injured?”

I shook my head carefully, while Charly grinned sheepishly. “See, here’s the thing - “

“Charly Harper, why is there blood in your mouth?” Xio’s eyes darkened as she leaned forward intently.

A hand flew up to cover the younger woman’s mouth as her eyes got wide. “Oops…” She started fidgeting with the strings on her sweatshirt. “We were minding our own business, I swear, just walking along, and - he’s so rude!  Obviously he could see Sophia wasn’t paying attention, so he stood in front of her, because he’s rude.” She started gesturing frenetically, like she was reenacting the events.  “I pulled her out of the way so we could just go on minding our own business, like we were, but he kept stepping in front of her, and then he kind of sideways called her stupid and refused to use her title like the sexist pig I bet he is, and then he, I dunno, hit on me? It was gross.” I nodded and shrugged, making her wince.  “But anyway, Sophia tried to stop him and then he was so mean and all standing over her, and I thought he was going to hit her so I shoved her out of the way, and I was right, because he hit me instead, and I may have.. I mean, I did obviously - “ she gestured at her mouth “ - but I only remember his clavicle, not his arm, and - “

“For the love of life, please take a breath,” Xiomara interrupted, throwing her hands in the air.  “What did you do?”

Before she could respond, I cut to the chase. “She bit the shit out of him. Twice.” I ignored Tyche’s snort and turned to Charly. “I thought he hit you after you bit him?”

“Well yeah, then too, but he hit me the first time trying to punch you.”

“I didn’t see that part,” I murmured.

“Duh. You were on the ground, silly.”

The sound of a cleared throat brought us back to the task at hand. “So, you were approached by a suspected cult leader, who seems to have instigated an altercation, and Miss Harper’s first reaction was to bite him?”

“No, I told you, I pushed Sophia out of the way first.”

There was the slightest upward twitch in Xiomara’s mouth. “And you say you were provoked?”

“Yes! He tried to hit Sophia, and hit me instead! I was protecting her.”

“She’s capable of defending herself.”

“And? You wouldn’t ask Tyche these questions.”  Charly stared Xiomara down, frowning.

I had no idea what was going on here.  We came to report something that might be relevant to the operation to infiltrate the cult… Why did it seem like it was turning into Charly being grilled?

The silent tension in the room drew out agonizingly before something broke.  I jumped with a dignified squeak when Xiomara threw her head back and laughed.  “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I just… the mental image of our attempted-Viking-overlord being attacked by a woman half his size is just…  That’s the best thing I’ve thought of all day.”

“He was very confused,” I agreed.

Tyche stood, hands on her hips. “Hang on a sec.  You said he hit you twice?”

“Ugh, he hits like a baby,” Charly whined before pausing.  She tilted her head and turned towards me. “Actually, that doesn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.  

Xiomara abruptly stopped laughing and snapped her head around to stare at Charly intently. “Yes. Please explain.”

Charly scratched her cheek absently. “We stopped at a medbay… Sophia insisted in case he had something yucky in his blood, seeing as I got a mouthful of it.  Even the red marks he left on my face were mostly gone by the time I was scanned.”

“Okay…” I mean, I was there, I already knew all this.

“This guy is freaking huge, you all.  Like Xiomara pointed out, he’s literally twice my size.  He should have hurt me a lot more, just by accident.  There is no way his knee-jerk reaction to being bitten twice, and hard enough to draw blood, is to just tap me on the face hard enough to make me let go.” Her face screwed up in confusion.

“I thought he knocked you down?” Xiomara asked for clarification.

She shook her head vigorously. “Nope.  He hit me just hard enough to hit the nerve right here.” She pointed to the hinge of her jaw. “It basically made my jaw all fuzzy and tingly, and I couldn’t hold on. Gravity did the rest.”

Tyche’s eyes narrowed, and she turned to Xio. “So do we think dumb luck from a wuss, or very deliberate action?”

“I don’t know,” came the response. “Either way, he clearly didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Wrong. So wrong,” Charly argued. “The first time he hit me, he was aiming for Sophia, and would have hit her pretty hard in the kidneys.  He just managed to get me in the upper shoulder, instead, since I’m shorter.  I think it’s clear he didn’t want to hurt me, but he definitely wanted to hurt her.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me, and I felt sick to my stomach. What the actual fuck did I do?

Xiomara nodded intently, which was pretty much expected. When I looked at my sister, she was nodding, too, biting her bottom lip like she was thinking about something.  That wasn’t the part that concerned me.  What concerned me was her loose posture, leaned over with both hands on the back of a chair, while she stared into space.  For anyone who didn’t know her, it looked like she was trying to wrap her mind around the information I just gave her about her partner.  No white knuckles, no clenched jaw.  It made no sense.

Why wasn’t she mad? “Why me though?  I don’t even know this guy!”

Xiomara pulled up her datapad and flicked a file at me.  When I opened it, my eyes got wide. “Yep. His psych profile. Read ‘em and weep.”

As I read the information in front of me, repeating it out loud. “Ambition, enhancement, memory, clarity.”  That right there is why the Miys picked you. Empathy, enhancement, memory, clarity. Those are your defining attributes. I heard the ghost of Simon’s voice echo in my head from when I first woke up here. “He hates me, because he sees me as a weaker version of him?” I asked hesitantly.

“It’s a distinct possibility,” Xiomara confirmed. “He doesn’t have access to those profiles, unless someone hacked in, and Derek says they haven’t been touched.  But he may see you being in a position of power as an insult.”

When Tyche rubbed her face with one hand, it clicked. “You fucking knew,” I whispered, too betrayed to speak any louder. Snapping around to face Xiomara squarely, I resisted the urge to scream at her. “I thought you weren’t keeping us in on this?  The whole point of bringing this to you was to keep my family out of it, for once!”

Unperturbed, Xiomara held up one hand for permission to speak, and I nearly slapped it back down.  Instead, I growled and crossed my arms. “She’s helping in a different capacity, one I have requested she not disclose to you.  It is essential that what she is doing be kept secret. So, yes, she knew, for about two hours longer than you have.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh. Oh. This is… this is recent.  Like, today recent.”

“Yes, today recent,” she confirmed, leaning back with a sigh. “And yes, I was prepared for the chance that he would approach you.  No, I wasn’t just going to leave you to the wolves, but it turns out that wasn’t even necessary.” With one hand, she made a sweeping gesture at Charly. “Between her, your sister, and your partners, I am reasonably certain you should be safe at all times.  Just don’t take any chances, okay?  Have Maverick, Conor, or both walk you to and from your office every day… so sweet, right?  Eat lunch with  someone we trust. That kind of thing.  Nothing really changes, just be alert to your surroundings.”

I groaned loudly. “Xio, I just got my personal shadows to let me walk to work by myself.  They are never going to let me live this down.”

“There are worse things in life than having loved ones who want you to be safe. I think you’ll live.”

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[tsarinastorm]

Stare Blankly-Adam Sackler/Reader- Part 1, Chapter 4

Part 1:

Chapter 1     Chapter 2    Chapter 3 

Adam can’t remember the last time he had an enjoyable argument. Or if he had ever had an enjoyable argument. God, he felt so damn alive. Y/N was frustrating, intelligent, beautiful, and stubborn. He knew those traits would spell the end of him. He watches the sway of her hips as she walks away. He can’t take his eyes of her, though he knows that she more than likely hates him after that exchange. He should have played it cool after the yuppie comment, maybe he took it too far, and scared her away already. Why couldn’t he be normal and just accept her initial compliment. Adam can’t help but wonder how he could approach her if he ever sees her again. He’s so lost in his thoughts of Y/N that he doesn’t even notice that Jessa’s moved in close to him.

“You know, you should totally fuck her,” Jessa says in her typical accent. Adam’s not sure if he’s heard her correctly so he crooks his head to watch her face to see if she’s serious or being an asshole.

“What are you saying, Jessa?”

“You obviously want to fuck her. Get it out of your system. Go for it, she’s hot, you’re hot.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that, I think she’d more likely to push me in front of a train than fuck me.”

“You don’t know that. That argument you just had was full of passion. Something will happen between you, I’d be willing to bet on that.”

Adam laughs and shakes his head. Jessa offers him a cigarette and he follows her out for a smoke. But he can’t help but think of how much enjoyed that conversation with Y/N even if he was arguing with her.  He couldn’t wait to find more about her. He didn’t think he could feel that way again and here he is. He feels hopeful, invigorated, and almost giddy. Jessa is standing close to him, and she’s looking at him with heavy lidded eyes. He finishes the cigarette then realizes that he needs to get away from Jessa. He knows her and he knows that look, she’ll try to go home with him again, or pry into his thoughts on Y/N, so she can find a way to destroy that too. He makes up an excuse to leave, and emphasizes that he needs to be alone. Jessa takes the hint, and doesn’t follow him. Half way back to his new place, Adam remembers that he didn’t even ask for Y/N’s number, he’ll just have to get it some other way.

Several days had passed since Marnie’s gig, and you were going shopping with her. You finished paying for your coffee as the two of you walk. She takes a sip of her coffee as you finally ask, “So what’s the deal with Adam, Hannah, and Jessa?”

Marnie takes a deep breath before recounting to you the whole Adam saga. She talks about how he was there for Hannah, then moved on, then came back to her. Then he moved on with Jessa, but they didn’t even tell Hannah, she had to find out a theater event. She goes off on a sidetrack by adding what a shit friend Jessa is, and according to her, that was even before the Adam thing. You listen contently as you process the information you’re getting and let her vent. Marnie finishes by adding, “I don’t understand his appeal at all. He’s into a lot of weird stuff sexually, and I found him drinking milk while on the toilet. Drinking milk on the toilet, Y/N!”

“That is pretty weird, he never gave me weird vibes. He’s definitely different though. What do you mean weird stuff sexually?” You do your best to hide your interest in that topic, but you were incredibly curious to find out what she meant by that. You could see him being the kinky type, maybe into BDSM or something. She says, “He was always doing intense dirty talk according to Hannah, and when he made a movie about his relationship with Hannah, he included a big part with a whole scene where he spanks her before they fuck.”

I knew it, you think to yourself. You could see him as the dominant type. You were going to have track that movie down and watch it for yourself. While making a movie about a past relationship didn’t sit well with you, you were more than interested in observing that one scene. You can’t help but smile as you and Marnie continue on your walk. Marnie keeps complaining about her studio apartment and how she needs to look for a new place but hasn’t found the time, or a roommate. You needed to move out your apartment too, and you would prefer a roommate because you got lonely and combined incomes could help you both afford a nicer neighborhood. You were successful as an author but you only allotted yourself so much of your income to live on so you wouldn’t fly through it. And money was easy to fly through in New York City. You told Marnie your big idea, “Marnie, we should be roommates. I need to move out of my apartment because the lease expires soon and I want to live somewhere else. Roommates are normal in the city, we get along, so why not?”

“That’s such a good idea! We could probably get a nicer place with both of our incomes combined than we could get on our own too.”

“What neighborhoods are you thinking?” You ask her and hope she doesn’t choose somewhere like the Upper Eastside, or Staten Island. She says, “Let’s look at Greenwich Village. I have an old friend who may be able to help. I mean I used to hook up with him, so he owes me.”

“Sounds great. We’ll see what happens.”

You’re sitting at one of your favorite bookstores working on outlining your next novel. You’ve had three cups of a coffee and a raspberry scone already but you can’t seem to concentrate. When you’re about to get up to walk around, hoping that some exercise may help you focus. Upon standing, you lock eyes with none other than Adam Sackler. What is he doing here, you think to yourself. Continuing in your direction, he stops and gets himself a coffee, before sitting across from you. You watch him with curious eyes, he must be able to read the surprise on your face, because he answers your question without you having to ask it out loud.

“A friend of a friend of a friend told me you’d likely be here. I just wanted to say that I hope I didn’t take our ‘discussion’ too far.” He says while making the air quotes gesture when pronouncing discussion.

“Oh no, it was fine. I went to law school so an intense argument doesn’t scare me or offend me.” He raises his eyebrows at your last comments and snickers, “I should have known. You are very opinionated and argumentative.”

“Want to share more of your controversial opinions?” You say as you laugh at his reaction. Somehow you’re able to tell that he has plenty of controversial, or unique opinions, and you’re not getting any work done anyway. He smiles before he starts babbling on about how he hates ice cream. You can’t believe that!

BING! BING! Your phone goes off in the middle of your heated conversation, and Adam stops talking when he realizes that you’re reading the text you received from Marnie instead of listening to his point.

“It’s Marnie. We’re looking for a place, she got a lead on a great place.” You say as Adam hisses in response.  He looks around nervously before he finally says, “You need to find a new friend group.”

“Really? I think it’s pretty clear that you liked at least half of that friend group.” You snort.

“You’re bringing that up? You weren’t even around when that happened.” Adam says with a slight bit of venom in his voice.

“I wasn’t but I am here now to see the results of it. If it makes you feel better it probably won’t be a friend group for much longer.” You say as you internally debate changing the conversation or talking it out. This could be a difficult topic to discuss but you were genuinely interested in what his feelings were about it. He dated two friends, what was he thinking? He had to know the risks and consequences.

“It was always fucked up. Even before me. Tell me what you think, I can tell you’re holding something back.”

“I think it was a dick move. It seems like you went for Jessa because you knew it would hurt Hannah the most, then when it was convenient for you, you went back to Hannah knowing it would hurt Jessa.”

“Unbelievable. You’re being a judgmental bitch about a situation that you know nothing about.”

“Probably so, but you’re still an asshole who pulled a dick move.” You say as he walks away this time. Damn, he was frustrating. He had to know how that love triangle looked and seemed. He provoked the conversation then got offended when you told him what you thought. Luckily, it was a big city and you’d likely never see him again.

***********************************************************************

Adam sits there with his face in a frown, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. He was what may be the worst blind date of his life. The redhead named Leah (at least he thinks that was her name) continues to ramble on about something on her social media account, and how annoying it was to have so many followers. Adam tries to come up with some plan of escape. He wonders why he agreed to this date, but he wanted to find someone else and move on like everyone else has. He’s moved on in every other way but his love life. And that clearly wasn’t going anywhere tonight.

               He scans the room as the waiter approaches and asks if there’s anything else he can do. Adam tries to get the check but that is destroyed when Leah orders dessert. Then his eyes catch Y/N heading over to the bar. Of course she’s here, it’s the worst date of his life, there are eight million people in this city and he runs into her again. She looks amazing, as she has the other times he’s saw her. She doesn’t take his shit, she doesn’t coddle him, or even pretend to, which is a breath of fresh air from Jessa and Hannah. Though, her harshness does anger him, but he knows that she’s right. He is enraged by, intoxicated by, and aroused by her all at the same time; it’s a frustrating mix of emotions.

               Y/N locks eyes with him and nods her head to acknowledge that she sees him. He moves his head in response, trying not to look miserable, but she must notice it because she watches him and his date and throws her head back to laugh. Great, if he ever sees her again, she’ll definitely bring it up. Then he notices his phone is ringing, and his date is too busy dining on her cheesecake to notice what’s going on. He answers and is surprised by the voice that talks to him, “Use this as a way to leave the date. Say it’s some kind of emergency or something.”

               Adam had forgotten that he had exchanged numbers with Y/N at their last encounter before they argued and he stormed away. Here she was bailing him out, he never would have guessed that she’d try to help him out. He assumed she’d like watching him squirm, yet she found ways to surprise him and keep him on his toes. He looks to Leah and tells her it’s an emergency so he’ll have to leave soon, but he’ll get the check before he goes. Leah has no problem gathering her bag and heading out, and mercifully doesn’t mention ever seeing him again. He lets out a sigh of relief, then after paying the bill he heads over to where Y/N is perched at the bar. Taking a seat beside her, he says to her, “Thank you for that, I appreciate it. I was about to crawl under the table or fake an injury.”

“No problem, I’m a humane person. I can’t stand to see any other human or animal suffer. And that looked like the kind of torture that violates human rights treaties.” She says and takes a sip of her drink through a straw. Adam feels a rush come over him by talking to her again, and likes her sense of humor and sarcasm. He has a strange sense of humor and a lot of weird habits so he can appreciate them in someone else, especially in a beautiful woman.

“That was a terrible blind date.” He says in a mater-of-fact way, but he’s sure she noticed that it was an arranged date already.

“You should never talk to whoever set you up on that date again. They obviously hate you.” She says with a hint of laughter in her voice this time. She makes eye contact with him again, and turns her seat so she’s facing him. His eyes wander over her body from her long legs hanging over the chair up to her chest that’s rising with her breath. He remembers that he’s been glancing at her chest long enough that he fears she’ll notice so he pulls his eyes back to her face.

“Our talks are bad, but still not that bad. That was a ring of hell not mentioned by Dante.” He says, and she laughs at his response. He’s happy that he finally made her laugh, though he’s sure that he’ll soon say something and ruin the moment.

“Though, I do understand her horror at realizing that she had to socialize with you. You’re an acquired taste.” She smiles at him. He really notices how perfect her smile is: her teeth are straight and white, but don’t look like the fake perfect smiles that people buy. Her red lips are plump and practically mocking him. Fuck, I’m getting too deep, he thinks to himself.

“Like a fine wine or aged cheese.” He says in a voice that shows nothing but pride. He likes this banter between them, it’s not typical flirting, but it’s them and it’s pleasant.

“Look I don’t particularly care for you and you don’t particularly care for me, we’ve established that already. But do you want a drink?” She gestures to the bartender and he turns to head their way.

“No I don’t drink, I’m a recovering alcoholic.”

“Oh well, that’s good for you. I mean that seriously, that’s good you’re sober and got help. But I’ll see ya around, my guest has arrived.” She smiles at him and he saunters off to the door. This was the first of hopefully more pleasant exchanges between them. Adam thinks that his blind date may not have gone as planned but something good did come out of it.

*****************************************************************************

“What else can I get you, Miss?” The bartender (or mixologist) asks you, jerking you out of your trance, Adam seemed to have that effect on you even when you were arguing with him, and you seemed to be in your own little world. You go choose something different, a Manhattan, rather than your normal drink of choice: vodka tonic. The restaurant has great classic foods and a great bar, so you chose it to meet up with Marc. You hadn’t told Marnie about your past as a sugar baby and you wanted to ask Marc not to mention it to her. You’d like to keep that aspect of your past as discreet as possible. You never did anything morally wrong but it wasn’t something you were proud of because of the stigma that came with it. Marnie was excited that she got the job, apparently it went both ways because Marc was also impressed with her, and actually thanked you for recommending her. When he’d thanked you, you suggested grabbing a drink just to catch up.

               You took an opportunity to take in the rest of the restaurant and saw a number of people ordering drinks, getting food, or otherwise engaged. Then you saw Marc walking your way, and you were glad that he was as punctual as usual because you didn’t appreciate the nerves that came with waiting around. Marc sits next to you and he orders a whiskey sour. He breaks the silence, “It’s good to see you, Y/N. You look beautiful.”

“Hi, Marc, good to see you too. I hope all is well.” You say back as you try to hide your nerves and take another drink.

“I can’t thank you enough for sending Marnie my way, she’s perfect for the position. I think it’s going to go well.” He says and the way he’s watching you reminds you that you need to get to the point of this meeting.

“Look Marc, can you please not tell Marnie about how we met? She’s my friend and I haven’t told her about that part of my past.” He shakes his head in agreement and tells you, “Yeah, of course. I understand and I wouldn’t want to overstep my place. Can I tell her that we dated?”

“Feel free to tell her that, that won’t be an issue.” You say as you realize that you’ve finished your drink and that you need another.

[albatris]

Hey hello I sent in an anon about starting tarot a while ago (I do not know when I know it was post quarantine starting but...time is wild) and i was wondering if you answered it? This isn't at all me trying to pressure you please please don't read it that way, i totally get it if you didn't! I just know that tumblr's search function is very broke and I'm scared I missed your answer, which would be sad. (I hope this doesn't sound like a bother it's genuinely all good if not I'm just checking!)

YES oh my gosh holy shit hello hi yes hi anon my dear I did in fact completely fucking forget to actually answer your original ask I am so sorry lmao

thank you for reminding me ajhdfgjhsdfg and again I’m so sorry it took me forever anyway I’m gonna just uhhhh look up your original ask real quick

OKAY so resources and starting decks! there are lots and lots of people who know more than me so I feel a little unqualified to answer this but I can tell you my thoughts?? but I definitely recommend looking into what other folks have to say on starting out, I’m sure there are lots of different opinions and ideas! :D

also sorry, it’s me you’re asking, so you’re not gonna get nice neat dot points and I’m not great at being concise, I’m just going to ramble if that’s ok, very sorry, very sorry

under the cut rambles

so........................

for learning meanings........ it’s a lot of work, there’s a lot of detail and a lot of different things to think about during readings, I’ve been learning tarot for around seven years on and off and I still don’t remember everything! 

so IMO it’s best not to come at tarot with the intent to Learn Everything before you start! it’s the perfect thing to learn as you go! my advice would be to just kinda throw yourself in. when you first get a deck, go through the cards and vibe with them some and look at their meanings, but mostly just kinda contemplate them, don’t try to memorise everything at once. start doing readings, look stuff up as you go............. I would recommend keeping a journal where you document your readings............ which will help you with memory and picking up on patterns and connections....... uhhhh

I really like using apps as a companion as well!  they can be a super good resource even if you don’t want to use them FOR readings necessarily

I use Galaxy Tarot as a convenient way to look up meanings and summaries of the cards when I just need to kinda jog my memory (though the descriptions aren’t super detailed), and it has a function where you can either do a reading with the app or you can do a reading yourself and then plug the cards you’ve drawn into the app, and it can help you with pointing out recurring themes and symbols and connections between the cards, which can be handy when you’re first starting out and maybe feel a little overwhelmed by the Amount Of Information you’re trying to take in

uhhhh another one I’ve used in the past is Labyrinthos Tarot, which is an app to help you learn and memorise the cards and their meanings., from what I can remember there are sorta, games and exercises to help with it, I forget exactly how it works since it’s been a while since I used it! but maybe that’s a good one to check out too?

I feel like apps is something i should’ve mentioned at the end but anyway moving on to the rest of it

most decks will come with a guidebook of some sort! so you’ve got the traditional rider waite tarot deck (which is probably the default deck most people think of when they think of tarot), and there are plenty of resources online such as Biddy Tarot which can give you a fairly detailed rundown of the card meanings! these meanings can be applied to variations of the rider waite cards, but lots of decks are a little wild and a little funky and are off doing their own thing while still following the basic rider waite structure, and if you receive a guidebook with a deck, that’s definitely an invaluable resource!! ‘cause it’ll give you the artist’s kinda interpretation and their meanings, their own personal touch, even if you then look up the card in more detail online

ALSO tarot is just a whole fuckin tonne about intuition as well though! so as much as it can feel like something where you need to focus on all the details and try and keep them all rigid and by-the-book, you might do a reading and feel yourself drawn in a certain different direction or just get a “feeling”, so you should definitely be open and flexible and listen to what your gut tells you as far as meanings go! plus, you will develop your own relationship to the cards and maybe draw your own personal meanings and associations! that’s definitely not something to fight against and don’t worry about whether that means you’re doing it “wrong” - you should listen to those feelings, those r important!! :D

lastly I will say, it can be helpful to have someone who is more experienced with tarot around who you feel you can ask for advice from or get second opinions from if there’s something you’re confused about! or who can give you tips and tricks from firsthand experience. like, it doesn’t have to be something you learn alone, and having a teacher or companion can be really helpful in terms of bouncing ideas and getting new perspectives! I throw this out there because I always forget to say things like this, ‘cause I forget that other people Are Not Me and other people like being around people lmao rip

and as far as starting decks go........... it really depends so much on what you want and what’s important to you! some people will say start with the traditional rider waite tarot, and if you decide to do that, you will certainly have a lot of resources at your disposal! it’s a valid place to start for sure

but there’s also SO many different decks out there with all sorts of themes and art and personality, and IMO......... I’d kinda urge you in the direction of choosing something you’re personally interested in and engaged with! it can make connecting with a deck easier and can help you stay interested and engaged during learning! but that’s just me

when I got my first deck the lady in the store kinda just took me to the collection of decks and just asked me which ones I vibed with and which one kinda called out to me or one I was drawn to, then she let me take a look at some of them and she showed me how to handle them and use them!! this was my first experience, n I was told just to go with what Feels Good And Right

n there’s so much cool art out there! and many interesting themes! you might not know which one you’ll latch onto until you see it, so take some time to look around and see what speaks to you c:

for instance, certain themes like cats or flowers, certain art styles, maybe certain series you’re into (I have two welcome to night vale decks n the raven’s prophecy by maggie stiefvater), or queer friendly decks! I have the Numinous Tarot which I ADORE, which is a deck with gorgeous artwork and extremely queer, all gender neutral language and lots of diverse designs, etc

so it depends what you’re into! take some time to feel it out, my friend

I would also like to throw out a mention to oracle decks as well! I actually started with oracle decks long before I used any tarot decks c: 

I am................... very tired. and blanking on the best way to explain the difference between oracle and tarot decks, but you can look into this if you’re interested! lots of people use both or use them in conjunction with each other and there’s benefits to both n so on and so forth........

but in terms of Starting Out, and getting comfy with doing readings? they can also be really helpful in this regard! I found since oracle decks can have any number of cards and are less “structured” than tarot decks in a way, it can be really helpful as a way to get comfortable with things if you find, just, the Amount Of Detail that is involved in tarot decks overwhelming!!

it was something that helped me get the ~feel~ of doing readings and sensing with the cards and vibin and such, n get some practice drawing connections between cards and deriving meanings from the stories the cards present! but in a way that’s not quite as...... overwhelming?? as traditional tarot decks?? I was SUPER intimidated by just how extensive tarot decks were when I first started and I thought I’d never figure out what I was doing HAHAHA

but again, it’s just practice, I think!

where tarot will follow the same 78 cards and structure and is very traditional and I guess “rigid” is not exactly the right word?? but yeah?? oracle decks are a lot more flexible in what they represent and a lot more loose in the structures they can take

I do love oracle decks because of how varied they are!! each one is its own little system and its own unique universe and it’s really quite lovely, even if you aren’t into Actually Doing Readings with them, y’know?

but then, I find tarot decks the same way, what will all the different art styles and different people’s interpretations and renditions of the same story, like, it’s really fascinating!! 

this has just turned into me rambling about how cool they are now

point is, do a little research into what sorts of decks and themes you might like to buy, when you get a chance I thoroughly recommend visiting a store so you can speak to someone who has some experience with tarot decks, they can help guide you when it comes to picking one and giving you some tips!! remember that it’s about intuition and following your gut as much as it is about memory and precision, so you should pick a deck that Feels Right

and uhhhhhhhhhhh

just kinda throw yourself in!! that’s literally my best advice!! you’re never gonna memorise everything beforehand (I’ve been learning on and off for seven years and I still often have to consult guidebooks and webpages) but you WILL absolutely learn as you go

it might feel very clumsy starting out, but as with any craft, you will improve with practice and begin to feel more comfy and confident with it as you go!

I hope this helped out some!! maybe!! possibly!!!!! ok goodnight!!!

[bpro-cardstories]

Tatsuhiro Nome SSR

2020 ー BIRTHDAY DATE [BIRTHDAY DATE]

“My neck. Hold on tightly.”

Part 1

ーA knock at the door.ー

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, I am coming!’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Hey, Sumisora.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Nome-san, I am sorry that you took the trouble to come here. Please sit down.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah, thanks.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Though, I also have to apologize. To suddenly intrude on you, I thought the timing was right and you were close by….. Did you have other work to do?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘No, I am completely fine. I am very thankful that you let me do the interview as soon as possible.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I see, then it’s all good. Then, should we slowly start?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, I will be in your care! As I sent in JOIN earlier, today’s interview is about the publication of Nome-san’s birthday report….. The content will consist of Nome-san’s latest information. First is,『Favourite Type of Girl』.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Aah…..Yeah. That was it….’

At remembering the kind of questions for the Birthday interview, Tatsuhiro turns red and stammers out his response.

Tsubasa: ‘Eh?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘No…..Even though I read Yuta’s report, I completely forgot about that.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Right. This year is, this…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah…...E-Ehm, I….. I am sorry….! I should have given you the details first.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘If you find it difficult to do, you could fill in the answers in the questionnaire instead…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘No, it’s alright. Let me finish it now.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘A-Are you really sure?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah, it’s no problem.『Favourite Type of Girl』, right? It’s a question I answered a lot until now. That’s why, well, my『Favourite Type of Girl』is…..’ 

With a slight blush, he answers the question honestly, albeit a bit embarrassed.

Tatsuhiro: ‘.....That one, it has to be that one.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘......Something like a cute smile….. That one.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘......! People with a wonderful smile are attractive regardless of gender, are they not?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah…..I agree. You don’t need to force a smile…. The eyes are drawn to smiles that naturally brighten the surroundings.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘When you say that, Nome-san’s smile as well brightens your surroundings. It is a gentle smile.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Eh…..No, ahー...... W-What’s the next question?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Eh? Ah, ehm….. It is about the hairstyle. What do you like more, long or short hair?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘The hair length? Well, anything’s fine but…..  Long’s better….  It’s not something I have so... It seems to take up time and care. To be able to do so, I respect that.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘I see…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘On to the next one, which type are you attracted more to, someone that is good at talking or good at listening?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Let’s see….. If it’s the person you like, you can listen to them forever since it doesn’t get boringーー’ ________

Tsubasa: ‘Thank you very much, that is all for the interview.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘That just now, will it be okay….?’

Tsubasa: ‘Of course, it was perfect. I think everyone will have fun reading the report as well.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I see….. Then I’m happy. Thanks for keeping me company, Sumisora.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘No, you are welcome. Next is…..Checking the schedule of the special project’s photoshoot.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Aa, special project, huh……? Special project, right…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘.......!’ 

Part 2

Tsubasa: ‘D-Do you want to look at Yuuta-kun’s report once again?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘No, I’m fine!’

Tsubasa: ‘But……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘It’s okay, I completely read it. That’s the…..『Birthday Date』, right?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, Nome-san decides the date plan for celebrating『Her Birthday』and will do a virtual photoshoot in regards to this plan.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘ Was it that I can decide what type of partner it is…..?’

Tsubasa: ‘That is right. And, the image of Nome-san’s partner is…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘You’ll say it now?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘That is what I planned….. Is it no good?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Ahー, no, it’s not like that…..’ 

He steels his nerve.

Tatsuhiro: ‘Okay. Tell me, Sumisora.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Y-Yes. The image of Nome-san’s partner is 『Sports Girl』.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘.........’ 

Tsubasa: ‘........Nome-san?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Ah…...No, sorry. I’m just a bit relieved…. If I couldn’t imagine my partner, I would be troubled. 『Sports Girl』it says, someone who likes to do sports is good, isn’t it?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘I agree. I wonder if it’s an image of someone that likes to move around and is cheerful?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I see…… If so, then I want to exercise together.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘If we do it together, badminton, tennis…… But I think sports that compete in scores are somewhat different. If that’s the case, then going to the gym together may be fine as well. Something like reviewing forms, and encouraging each other during the hard training.’

Tsubasa: ‘Hard training….. W-Will I be able to, I wonder?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Eh?’

Tsubasa: ‘Ah, I am sorry. I forgot to tell you….. Continuing from Yuuta-kun’s photoshoot, I will be in charge this time.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I-Is that so…..?’

Tsubasa: ‘Thankfully, the photos I took at that time were well received within the company.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Ah…..True, it was like it was taken by a professional.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Really? Thank you very much……!’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Y-Yeah….. But, yeah. If I let you participate then it can’t be too hard of a program…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Not at all, please do not be worried! I am a bit concerned but….. I will definitely try to match with Nome-san.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Sumisora…..Really?’

Tsubasa: ‘Really! That is why, please make your plan as you wish.’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Heh….. If so, then I will.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘But, since it’s a date for her sake, to be able to have a good time until the end, I’ll try to think about various things.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, please do so.’ 

(.......A gym date with Nome-san, huh.)

(Until that day I need to work on my stamina, and I want to study more about the camera….. Let’s give it my best!) 

Part 3

ーThe day of the photoshoot.ー

Tsubasa and Tatsuhiro are, as she assumed, in the gym.

Tatsuhiro: ‘ーーFor now, let’s stretch. Put the camera down for a moment. You can take photos after it.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Y-Yes. But if I can get some before…..’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Then, okay. Is it fine if I stretch your arms?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘That helps a lot….!’

Tatsuhiro: ‘How is it?’

Tsubasa: ‘Thank you very much. It seems to be fine.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Good. Then, come here too. If you get injured, it will be troublesome, we're carefully doing a warm-up.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘First of all, put the soles of your feet together and to get your hip joint loosenedーー’ ________

Tatsuhiro: ‘......Alright, that’s enough for stretching. Now we’ll go into muscle training.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Sumisora, do you know how to use the equipment?’

Tsubasa: ‘No, to be honest, I do not know them well….. This is for training your legs, right?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Correct. The leg press works for quadriceps. First, we adjust the chair.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Then choose a weight. If you're a beginner….’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah, Nome-san, please stay still.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Eh?’

Tsubasa: ‘......Hmー......’

Tatsuhiro: ‘.......What?’

Tsubasa: ‘No, I am sorry. I thought that your figure while explaining created an atmosphere of『A Reliable Lover』and it was wonderful. But the angle was not too good…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Is it fine to shoot from a different angle?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Y-Yeah….. Is it okay if I do it like this?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, look down a bit.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Like this……?’

Tsubasa: ‘........’

Tatsuhiro: ‘........You don’t seem to agree?’

Tsubasa: ‘I am sorry…… I will try a bit harder. Can you continue without worrying about the camera?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Understood. Don’t hesitate to tell me if it’s something I can do.’ ________

Tatsuhiro: ‘ーーSumisora, you must be tired. Drink some water.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah…… Thank you very much.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Quite the depressed look, huh. Show me the camera for a second.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes……’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Hee…...Aren’t those great. I thought it would be okay since you always inclined your head to the side, if it’s like this then there shouldn’t be a problem with what pictures to choose for the page.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Really……? It makes me happy if you say so. But….. I feel like there are ways of taking pictures to make the fans even more pleased. To emphasize Nome-san’s good qualities even more…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘My good qualities, huh….. If we just talk about my face, I feel the same no matter where it’s taken from…… Maybe because it’s my face.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘There are a lot of fans that write to me that they like the dark mole under my eye or the beautiful bridge of my nose. Then, it was the…..lip? To be honest, I didn’t understand too well what they meant with a cool upper lip….. Anyway, it looks like there are also fans that think like that.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Mole, nose, lips….. As I thought, the fans do want to look closer at Nome-san’s beautiful face.’

Her genuine compliment makes him blush, yet another unexpected moment for him. 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I-I don’t know about beautiful but….. It may be like that, huh.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Hm….. In that case, we may need to take a bit more photos from the front. However, those will not make use of the gym situation……’ 

Tsubasa: ‘......Sit-ups?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Eh?’

Tsubasa: ‘If you are at the gym, you might be using a machine but if you are on a date, it is not weird to have your ankles held down by your lover and do sit-ups, right?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Well…..The gym has space, so there is no problem, I think?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Then Nome-san, is it fine if you hold down my ankles?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘You, you don’t possibly intend….. To do sit-ups while taking pictures?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘I will attempt to. Please.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I-I see….. I don’t mind.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘If you do it forcibly, you may hurt your back. Be aware of that, do it slowly, okay?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Understood, let me try!’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Uuf……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘......Is that fine?’

Tsubasa: ‘That is good…..! One more…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Buuh….. Haha…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah, that smile too……. Please wait for a bi,.......’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Haa…… My abs are……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Haha…… What’s this, Sumisora, you’re too amusing…..! To do such a photoshoot.’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Haha…..’

Tsubasa: ‘Like this, please stay like this!’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Puhaha!!’ 

Part 4

Both left the gym to take pictures with a different background.

Tatsuhiro: ‘Sumisora, are you really fine without taking a break?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Of course! My abs are hurting a bit but…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Hehe….. Whenever I remember that earlier I have to laugh.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘P-Please do not laugh. I was serious…..!’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Aah, I figured. Sorry. But you know….. Haha.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Geez….. But, I did my best because I was able to take a lot of pictures of Nome-san’s smile.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Next we are going to run, right?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah. When I think about the birthday date, it may be weird….. In my opinion, I would go home and eat cake or delicious food together. With that in mind, I thought that if we exercised well, the other party would be able to enjoy the birthday meal to their heart’s content.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I, to be honest, don’t think I want my partner to train as much as I do. I don’t care about the body shape either…..’

Tatsuhiro: ‘As expected about this, there are many that care about this, don’t they?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘I agree. If you are a sports person, you seem to be highly aware of it. This way of spending the birthday as well seems to be very pleasant.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah. I hope everyone, too, will think like that…..’

Tsubasa: ‘Please do not be worried. Because I am sure Nome-san’s consideration will be conveyed.’

Tatsuhiro: ‘.....You’re right. Thanks, Sumisora.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘And, how do we proceed with the photoshoot?’

Tsubasa: ‘Let me see….. While running slowly I think I want to shoot while running side-by-side with you for a while.’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Next to me? Isn’t it easier to zoom from afar?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘We will do that with another take. It is better to run and take photos, it brings out a sense of realism.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I see….. But, be careful, okay?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes, thank you very much.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah. Then, I’ll slow down the pace considerably and start.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Understood!’ ______

Tatsuhiro: ‘.......How is it, can you go with it?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ehm…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Everything is perfect! Next, can you look at me?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Waah, the feeling to the photos are amazing…..’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah…….’ 

That little moment does not go unnoticed by Tatsuhiro. His eyes widen at the small noise of hers.

Tatsuhiro: ‘Sumisora? You, just now…..’   

Tsubasa: ‘Ah…...I-I am sorry. I only fell down a bit. Let us continue as it is!’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘You sure?’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes!’ ___

(W-What should I do….. My ankle seems to be a bit strained. But, if I stop here now, it will worry Nome-sanーー)

Tatsuhiro: ‘.......Quit it, Sumisora. Stop.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Eh…..’

Tatsuhiro: ‘It’s your ankle right now, isn’t it. Your running changed.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Eh…...No, it is nothing big…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Don’t be unreasonable. Let me see it.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘How is it here? Does it hurt?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘.......O-Only a bit.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Maybe it’s swollen…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘It’s not too big of a twist and isn’t that bad but it’s better to treat it now.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Sumisora, put your arms around.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Eh……?’

He comes close to her and…….

Tatsuhiro: ‘My neck. Hold on tightly.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘P-Please wait. I can walkーー’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘I’ll lift you up.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Ah……..’

Tatsuhiro: ‘The bench…… There?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘I-I am sorry…… I, this……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘It’s not something to apologize for, so don’t.’

(What to do, I’m letting Nome-san carry me in his arms…..) 

(......But, this could be a chance, maybe.)

Tsubasa: ‘......U-Uhm.’

Tatsuhiro: ‘What is it?’

Tsubasa: ‘To take a picture of your face at this moment is difficult, isn’t it……?’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Bah….. You, how serious are you……’ 

He has to blush at her almost stubborn seriousness. 

Tsubasa: ‘I-I am sorry……!’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Haa, good grief…..’ 

Part 5

Tsubasa: ‘Thank you very much for the photoshoot. If I had not caused you trouble, we would still have a bit of time I think……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘You didn’t bother me. Apart from that, doesn’t your ankle hurt?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘It truly is a mystery….. I think it is because Nome-san took care of it adequately.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘If that’s so, then it’s good….. If you think it feels weird, be sure to go to the hospital.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘I will.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Hm, then it’s fine. ……. Thanks to Sumisora today, I was able to do a relaxing photoshoot. Besides, I had a good laugh…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Heh, really, thanks.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘No, it is thanks to your cooperation that I was able to take a lot of good photos. Please check again if you go through them.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Then I will call for a taxi so you can go home…..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘..........Sumisora.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Yes?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Are you packed with work after this?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘No, I intend to return to the company for now……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘So, how about having a meal? I only had protein drinks since the morning I just thought….. You too, right.’

Tsubasa: ‘Now that you say it……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘When I realize it, I’m super hungry.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘That’s why, how about it? I’m treating you.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘No, I cannot let you……!’

Tatsuhiro: ‘I’m not saying it’s for free.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Eh?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Instead, go with my choice. Okay?’ ___________

ーIn the store that they’ve decided to eat at.ー

Tatsuhiro: ‘And, delicious?’

Tsubasa: ‘Yes……! This hamburger steak is very delicious…..!’

Tatsuhiro: ‘I figured. The meat’s taste is strong, and the amount’s large. For a while, I came here with Hikaru three times a week.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Three times a week…...!? …..But, I can understand your feelings very well.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Aa, this meat soup’s quite excellent…..’

Tsubasa: ‘Especially after exercising.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘True.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Hnh….. It’s really delicious……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘........Heh.’

Tsubasa: ‘Ah…..I am sorry, I unconsciously……’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘No, if you like it this much then bringing you here was worth it.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Here, this soup’s also delicious.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Fufu…… I appreciate that a lot, thank you.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah.’ ____

Tatsuhiro: ‘.......Birthday date, huh.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘If it’s the person you like, it doesn’t have to be something special. You can be happy even with just eating a meal like this.’

Tsubasa: ‘.......? Did something happen?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Ah, no……..’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘Heh….. You have sauce on your mouth.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘Eh!?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Haha, the other side.’ 

Tsubasa: ‘T-Thank you very much…….’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Hm. …...Alright, I’ll add one more set?’ 

Tsubasa: ‘One more set?’

Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah. I feel like I can eat any amount today.’ 

Tatsuhiro: ‘That’s why, stay with me for a bit more. Okay, Sumisora?’

END