#but look man sometimes convenience over privacy wins)

[lxserkawa-inactive]

Late Night Showers {K.B}

GENRE: Fluff, Slight Angst

WORD COUNT: 1.5k+

SUMMARY: One wrong turn leads to so many right choices.

WARNINGS: Mentions of insecurity

A/N: Hehe self-indulgent Bokuto x Chubby!Reader content 

Bokuto had a habit of getting lost. It wasn’t a good habit, nor a convenient one, but it was one he had. He even had a habit of getting lost places he’d been before. Places like Shinzen High. He’d been here multiple times for training camps, and yet he found himself lost.

It was around 10 pm, and while everyone else was either asleep or getting ready to, he was out searching for the bathrooms. Maybe his current situation would be different if Akaashi had not been out like a light right after 9.

Speaking of lights, one shone from underneath the door in front of Bokuto. Thinking he had finally succeeded in finding his destination, he happily opened the door. He immediately froze.

This was not the boy’s bathroom.

Bokuto let his jaw drop at the sight of a girl- a very pretty girl- halfway through stripping off her clothes. He had almost no shame as he let his eyes scan her body, seeing the way her plush thighs pressed against each other, and how her hips looked a lot wider and softer than other girls he knew. 

No, this was certainly not the boy’s bathroom.

He was quick to make a surprisingly silent exit, but not before imprinting her figure into his mind and ignoring the blood rushing to his face… and somewhere else. In another swift movement, he made his way down the hall to the boy’s bathrooms.

***

You weren’t an idiot. You were well aware someone had walked in on you and quickly left. Part of you was glad, they didn’t have to see any more of you and you got your privacy. But that twisted, insecure corner of your brain laughed, thinking of how no one could even bear to see you.

You stepped under the warm water of your late-night shower, your mind fogging up like the mirror you had spent too much time in front of earlier. Being so horribly, deeply insecure was honestly tiring, and these showers were some of the only time you got away from that. 

You did, however, dread when it came time to go back to the room you had with the other girls. All the other managers, including the ones from your own team, didn’t look anything like you. You couldn’t help but feel less than them.

As the second 3rd year manager for Karasuno, you’d seen Kiyoko be hit on a million times, by your own team too. And now with Yachi, you could already sense she’d get some longing gazes, considering how adorable she was. You… you’d been with Karasuno since your first year and all you’d ever received were quick glances, that were either filled with humour or disgust.

Sighing, you made your way back to the girl’s room. Shinzen High had a ridiculous amount of staircases and hallways to get through, and you were glad you had a relatively good sense of direction.

However, that sense of direction was quickly cut off by someone barreling into you and knocking you down the stairs you were halfway up.

It seemed you were the one who had been hit hardest, as you tumbled down the stairs alone. Whoever had knocked you down gasped from above you, and you could hear heavy footsteps as they came down to help. You went to push yourself up, but two unnecessarily strong arms pulled you up on their own.

You almost gasped yourself. They had managed to pull you up alone and did it effortlessly. Finally looking up, you immediately recognized Fukurodani’s ace player, Kotaro Bokuto. The owlish boy had basically adopted Hinata (who you had already adopted the first day you met him) the second he saw him. 

“I am so sorry oh my god I was trying to get back to my room before Akaashi found out I got lost again but I got lost again and then I hit you and now you’re at the bottom of the stairs and so am I cause I helped you up and whoa you’re really pretty up close but I’m sorry!” 

It was a long-winded apology, but his last comment brought heat to your cheeks. You, yourself, couldn’t deny that Bokuto was incredibly attractive, and the fact he thought you were pretty was enough to have your flushed and stuttering. You also couldn’t help the fact you were staring into his golden eyes and he into your E/C eyes.

“Bokuto, there you are.” The calm voice from the top of the stairwell finally made you pull away from his gaze. Both of you were flustered and awkward, Bokuto almost tripping up the stairs as he made his way towards Akaashi. You stood frozen for a little longer, wondering if any of that had been real.

God, you hoped it had been.

***

The rest of training camp past as smoothly as a bunch of rowdy boys playing volleyball non-stop could realistically go. You’d had a few more run-ins with Bokuto, but none as intense as that first one. Nothing was going between you.

Sure, you shared glances across the gym, and maybe all of Karasuno and Fukurodani had picked up on it, and Bokuto found himself falling asleep to the thought of you and sometimes you would be so distracted by his games that you forgot to keep score, but nothing was going on.

You were walking out of the gym, Yachi and Kiyoko beside you, when all three of you heard an enthusiastic shout of “HEY HEY HEY!!!” from behind you. You hadn’t even noticed the dopey smile on your face at the sound of his voice until Kiyoko spoke up.

“So… when did this happen?” You could almost hear the smirk on her face, making you stop dead in your tracks. The small giggles from Yachi didn’t go unheard either.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about ‘Yoko…”

“Oh, yknow, just you and Fukurodani’s ace. What’s up with that.” Yachi couldn’t hide her giggle at your red face. You stuttered over your words, before simply choosing to walk away from the pair. Their laughter could still be heard behind you.

Was there something going on between you and Bokuto? You didn’t think so. He was just… a friend. You were just… his friend. Oh shit. You found yourself hating saying that. You already knew the thoughts of you and Bokuto would be haunting you all day, so you tried your best to bury them down.

That didn’t last long when the boy of your dreams thoughts bounced up beside you. It wasn’t hard to see how excited he was, and you found yourself utterly enamoured by his demeanor. You wondered if it had been his previous win against Ubugawa that had made him so excited, or (your face burned at the thought) had it been you.

“Good afternoon, Bokuto-san.” You smiled. Your new found habit of calling him ‘Bokuto-san’ had come from the many times you had heard his friend Akaashi address him as such.

“Y/N,” He drew out the last syllable of your name, a cute pout appearing on his face, “I told you to just call me Kotaro. Especially if I get to call you Y/N.”

Well, who were you to say no to that pout.

“I’m sorry. Good afternoon, Kotaro.” His pout immediately switched into a wide smile, which made that familiar feeling bubble up in your stomach and chest again. You’d barely known Bok- Kotaro a week, so why did he have such a strong effect on you.

“So!” His loud voice caught the attention of everyone nearby, and you didn’t miss your Karasuno boys winking and making kissy faces. Sighing, you turned back to the owlish man, a soft smile on your face. “I was wondering if I could ask for your number…”

That caught your attention. 

“And then, um, I was wondering...” You had to admit, you hadn’t seen Kotaro this awkward since your first encounter. He always seemed so confident and boisterous. “If I could maybe ask you out on a date.”

Frozen. That was the only way to describe how you felt right now. In your frozen state, you hadn’t said anything, leaving Bokuto to become quickly dejected. Just as he went to walk away, you crashed your body into his. It was an awkward hug, kind of like when he knocked you down the stairs.

“I’d… I’d love that, Kotaro.” 

It surprised you. You had expected to go your whole life alone, wallowing in your insecurities, accompanyed only by a few stray cats as you grew old and gray by yourself. But here you were, only on the cusp on 18, holding onto a boy who had made you feel more special in only a week than anyone had in so many years.

And as years would pass, and you and Bokuto would grow older and add a house, ring and child to your story, you still took those late night showers, forever remembering the fateful day you fell, in more ways than one.

[sansugar]

An ultimate secret

Pairing: Wooyoung x Female Reader

Word count: 4.2k

Genre: Smut

Warnings: rough sex..?, fingering, maybe something else I’m forgetting

--Finally sharing one of my first writings. This is potentially a 3 part series, let me know if you want to read more. Hope you enjoy!--

The train pulled to a halt and your suitcase knocked against your knees, startling you out of an upright doze where your head had been falling forward and jerking back for 45 minutes. A voice over announced the next station and you realised you were already in Seoul. After signing up for a 3 month, intensive course right in the middle of the city, you were excited to be given a second chance at your getting dream job, especially since the end of high school hadn’t worked out because you had been terribly sick. Luckily for you, your brother Seonghwa lived in a dorm just twenty minutes from your new school. With your small savings pot from years of working late nights at the convenience store and not having to pay rent, you would be able to focus all of your time on your studies. Or so you thought.

Exiting the confined tunnels of the station you emerged onto the street, squinting over the blurred, buzzing crowd. Though you recognised the faint smell of tobacco and deep fried chicken, and the clopping of heels across the pavement, you had to take a moment to get your bearings. As you hesitated in the middle of the path, a man leaning casually against a tree caught your eye. He reminded you of a cardboard cut out, slender with hard features, dark hair hanging across one eye. His navy blazer hung open, revealing a band t-shirt underneath, jeans and a belt buckle that caught the sun. You barely recognised your own brother.

“Seonghwa?!”

His face softened with a genuine smile as he strode towards you, arms out. He smelt expensive, like a brand name you’d seen on a billboard, but his enveloping hug was the same as it always had been, like he could wrap his arms around you twice.

“Was your train delayed? I thought maybe I’d missed you.”

“No I don’t think so” you replied, distracted by the of rainbow of advertisements flapping in the street above every shop.

You let him pull your backpack off your shoulders and take the handle of your suitcase before leading you out of the crowds.

“Are you hungry?”

You hadn’t realised until that moment that you had been starving.

“Yes please let’s get something good” you whined, pulling on his arm.

He chuckled, taking you down a maze of side streets to a tiny, hidden restaurant.

The food was delicious and you couldn’t stop yourself from ordering way more than you could eat, especially because you knew Seonghwa would pay. You talked with him more than you had in years. He told you all about his experiences as part of a rookie idol group and you told him all about life back home with your parents. You were lucky that he had just finished album promotions and had some time off to spend with you between training sessions.

When you arrived at the dorms you were quickly introduced to the other members of ATEEZ in a whirl of handshakes and tentative hugs before Seonghwa ushered you to his room to get you unpacked. It had all gone so fast that your mind began to replay Yunho’s warm touch, Mingi’s toothy grin, Wooyoungs constant chatter and San’s smouldering stare. Somewhere in the pit of your stomach you felt excited. How were you going to get any studying done with that around you 24/7?

You placed your suitcase on the bed and began to rummage around in your disorganised mess of clothes when you heard a knock at the doorframe. It was Hongjoong.

“Y/N. Do you mind if I quickly grab something? I left my charger in here” He pointed past you to the bedside table.

“Not at all, go for it”

He knelt down to pull his charger plug out of the wall when it clicked in your head that this was his room.

“Did Seonghwa kick you out of your room? Am I stealing your bed?”

Hongjoong chuckled and shook his head.

“It’s yours for the next three months. I’m happy to bunk with Yunho and Yeosang. A girl needs her privacy. Well, you will be in here with Seonghwa but…you’ll be comfortable”

He smiled at you as he swung his hands around his sides, unsure what to do with them.

“Hongjoong, haven’t you got somewhere to be?” Seonghwa said, appearing at your side.

He gave him a look that you couldn’t quite see and Hongjoong slipped out of the room without a word.

Seonghwa pulled a handful of clothes from your suitcase and began to fold them carefully. You crawled up onto the bed and sat with your back against the wall. The room was small and mostly bare but cosy. Seonghwa’s immaculately made bed was opposite yours and you were reminded of when you had shared a room with him when you were younger. You closed your eyes, feeling content in your new home. But that relaxation was short lived.

“Have you studied today?” Seonghwa asked, brow furrowed as he tried to match your socks.

“No? Classes haven’t started yet”

“But surely you have some work to do? To get a head start?”

“I guess…”

“Y/N. I hope you’re taking this seriously. You’re not always going to have a second chance”

You scowled at your brother, starting to remember why you had celebrated when he decided to become an idol and moved out in the first place.

A few weeks later, classes had started and you had settled into life at the dorm. Like you, the boys were in and out constantly but once a week you all had dinner together, and soon enough you were just a regular member of the team. You played mobile games with Wooyoung, watched dramas with Mingi and had regular arm wrestles with Jongho who was sometimes kind enough to let you win. Yunho would ask you about what you were learning while San tried to teach you to do pull ups and Yeosang would send you song recommendations every other day. Seonghwa had been overbearing and wary at first of the boys stealing too much of your attention but over time he relaxed, appreciative that there were 7 other people looking out for you.

It was a Sunday evening and you were sitting on your bed after a few hours of actual studying to watch a movie on your laptop, the room shadowed as the sun set behind the other buildings. You were snuggled in your blanket, completely engrossed when Seonghwa thumped into the room, flicked on the blinding light and yanked your headphones off your head.

“Hey!”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you studying?” He scolded.

“I have been studying! Get off my back.”

This had been such a regular argument over the past few weeks, you felt like your responses were scripted. But today, he seemed to have had enough.

“You seem to think you can just get through life with a pretty face and no work Y/N but it doesn’t work that way. I won’t let you laze around here and waste our parents money on a course you don’t even seem to care about”

“What are you talking about? I already studied today. I’ve done all my homework”

Seonghwa grabbed your laptop out of your lap and closed it forcefully.

“This look likes you’re working really hard. Really practising well” he chided.

You glared at him.

“Look Seonghwa, I don’t know what your problem is…”

“My problem? I’m just trying to look out for you. You sit around here all day, wasting time on your phone, watching TV. This isn’t a holiday Y/N. Anyone would think you don’t even want to be successful and employed. If you’re not careful, you’re going to fail this course just like you failed high-school.”

You threw your blanket off your knees, stood up and shoved him. A painful lump rose in your throat, which you held in place, determined not to let him see you cry.

“I had pneumonia you asshole. You were there. How dare you stand there all high and mighty when you did absolutely fuck all with your high-school degree. I’m so sick of you pretending like you’re better than me when all you do is prance around in tight pants on stage.”

His face was like stone as he stood motionless in front of you.

“I know the real you Park Seonghwa and I can see straight through this facade you put up for your fans. You and your fake superiority can get fucked”

You stormed out and slammed the front door behind you with one goal in your mind. You had to get away from him. The lump in your throat became suffocating and tears peeked at the corners of your eyes. Your face felt hot but the hairs on your arms prickled and in that moment you wished you had had enough sense to grab your phone or a jacket on the way out. You walked aimlessly down the road, staring up at the dusty sky, willing your tears to suck back in so the passersby with their dogs would stop looking at you. You replayed his words in your head and saw his constant disapproving face, wondering what had happened to that soft and kind brother that had taken you for lunch those weeks ago. Your brother had always been a bit criticising, but never this cruel. You felt the sudden urge to hurt him, the need to see his face in shock, for once unable to predict you. But how? He had always been the stronger one, the smarter one, always two steps ahead.

You found yourself outside the dance practise building the boys often visited after hours. The lights were still on so you let yourself in, shivering and rubbing your arms. You wandered down the hallway, looking in each of the little square windows when you noticed a familiar brunette in a practise room by himself, music blaring. You slipped past the door and sat on the couch to watch Wooyoung dance, still oblivious to your presence. You had never seen him like this before; wearing a tank top and grey sweatpants, leg muscles straining against the fabric. You watched wide eyed as the bass of the music surged through your chest, playing your heart like a drum, captivated by his lunges that shook the floorboards, the intricate patterns he drew with his body and facial expressions that made you feel all kinds of things in your lower half. He almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed you.

“Fuck Y/N!” He said, running to pause the music on his phone. “You scared me half to death”

“I’m sorry. I just saw you dancing and I…” you trailed off, acutely aware of how flustered and tearful you must still look, trying to hide your face with your hair.

The smile on his face fell as he approached you.

“What happened? Are you ok?” He dipped his head to look into your eyes, softly touching your shoulders, so close you could feel the heat radiating from his body. “Was it Seonghwa again? I swear to god if he’s been on at you again I’ll…” he paused and reconsidered. “I mean I probably won’t do anything…but I will if you want me to”

“I really don’t want to talk about it”

Wooyoung wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close to his chest. He smelt like sweat and deodorant which you inhaled deeply, leaning into his embrace.

“Do you want to get some food?” He asked, stroking your hair.

“No, I’m not hungry.”

“What do you want to do?”

A momentary idea popped into your head. “Could you teach me to dance?”

Wooyoung pulled away far enough to look at your face, a hint of concern and uncertainty in his eyes.

“To dance?”

“It would take my mind off things…teach me the part you were practising”

He laughed nervously but when he saw you were serious, he nodded. You followed him to the middle of the dance floor and he stood just in front of you, legs in a wide stance.

“Okay, so first you go like this…”

Wooyoung showed you sequence and then broke it down into steps. You were shaky at first, but with his help you started to get it, dancing the choreography almost to speed once he turned the music on. You quickly forgot the fight, laughing whenever you got it wrong and Wooyoung playfully yelled at you for not listening to him.

“You’re not low enough. Squat lower! Yes like that. Now thrust your hips. More. Make it bigger. You’re still not doing it right!”

Wooyoung ran over to pause the music and you sighed loudly.

“The hip thrusts are embarrassing” you whined, fanning your hot skin with your hands.

“They are not. Confidence is sexy. You are sexy. Now come on, your form isn’t right”

You caught your breath as he came behind you and ran his fingertips lightly down your sides before settling them on your hips. You felt your body stiffen and skin prickle in anticipation, desperate for him to either slide his hands lower or to put a metre of distance between you.

He did neither, instead putting pressure on the juncture of your thighs to make you squat lower and lean slightly right, his chest flush against your back, sweaty shirt pressing against you. You could feel his hair tickling your neck as his hands slid down your arms to grab your hands and raise them above your head. It took everything you had to stop your thighs from shaking, body completely new to such a low squat position. You didn’t dare move as he analysed you in the mirror, brushing a strand of hair out of your face.

“Just like that” he said dryly as his hands came back to rest on your waist, dark eyes fixed on yours, unconsciously licking his bottom lip

You looked away, at anything other than his intense stare. Were you reading this right? Or did all dancers guide each other with such alluring invasion of personal space? His body shifted and you felt the light press of his bulge against your ass, shattering any notions that this was a normal dance lesson. His breath fanned your shoulder and you thought you should move away, pull his hands off of you, tell him off, anything to remove yourself from the precipice of turning your relationship into something else.

But your hips took a mind of their own and you felt yourself gently grind back against him, drawing an involuntary groan from deep in his throat. You craned your neck to look at him over your shoulder, frozen in the painful squat your mind paid no more attention to. Time stood still as his gaze flicked to your parted lips and you slightly inclined your head in a permissive nod. Before you realised you had moved, he had flipped you around and pressed you hard up against the mirror, licking into your mouth and hands roaming over every inch of your clothed chest. His hips bucked against yours and you reached down to the outside of his sweatpants to palm him, drawing a another long groan from him against your lips.

“Please don’t stop” he panted, planting breathy kisses along your jaw to your collarbone, pausing to inhale your scent and pulling down your t-shirt collar to grant him further access to your skin.

“Can I…” he started to ask, but his hands were way ahead of him, travelling up your shirt, kneading your breasts through the fabric of your bra, forehead pressed into the crux of your neck.

You fingers played on the edge of his pants as you briefly questioned yourself again before diving down to take hold of his hot length, earning a simultaneous groan from both of you. You held tightly but didn’t move, causing him to shamelessly buck up into your hand, his touch abandoning your chest in search of your core, which at this point was embarrassingly wet.

You knew there would be no going back the moment his hand slid down the front of your panties. His middle finger swiped up your slit, flooding warmth into you and you instinctively clenched your walls to feel some friction.

“Holy shit” he breathed, mostly to himself as he inched two fingers deep inside you to curl against your spot, causing you to shudder helplessly beneath him. You were insatiable, weeks of pent up curiosity, fantasises and late night masturbation in the shower caused by living in a house of 7 gorgeous men. It was wrong, it was forbidden and you were intent on riding it straight to hell.

“Please fuck me Wooyoung” you whimpered to the ceiling, shaking at the intensity of which he fingered you, tongue pressing into your neck, drinking you in.

He growled into your skin and captured your lips again with both hands holding your face, the fingers which he had just had inside of you rubbing your own juices on your cheek. You suppressed a laugh at his eagerness and pulled his sweatpants down to his thighs as he pulled your shirt over your head, unclasping your bra and burying his head between your breasts, sucking and grabbing at your flesh.

“Fuck I want you so bad” he said, muffled into your nipple, pulling it between his teeth.

In the space of a breath, he hoisted your leg onto his hip, bunched your skirt up around your waist, pulled your panties to the side and entered you in one swift motion that had you both gasping out.

Time stopped again as he bottomed out, pausing with his forehead pushed against yours, inhaling deeply, fingers digging into your thigh. Your walls were screaming with the sudden stretch and you suppressed a painful sound when he tentatively pulled all the way out and pressed back in. You wrapped your arms around his neck to keep yourself upright and balanced on your one standing leg. He tested a few more erratic thrusts and the pain began to mix with pleasure and an overwhelming desire to be pounded into the mirror but Wooyoung paused his movements.

“I don’t know if I can control myself” he mumbled with shuddering breaths, hair hanging in his eyes.

“Then don’t”

He snaked his arm around the small of your back and jerked your hips closer to his, your head leaning on back the mirror like a rag doll in his hold. He drew his cock back again and you felt every ridge of him before he thrust up into you, setting a bruising pace that made you gasp for air.

“Fuck, I’ve imagined this so many times” he kissed below your ear, bouncing your body with every thrust and your hands fell back flat onto the mirror to hold on for dear life. “You walking around the dorm in your cute sundresses like you don’t know what you do to me.”

Pleasure started to rise from your core to your stomach and you wrapped your leg tighter around his hips, chasing the promise of your release. You leaned back in to capture his lips in a kiss, deeper than you had all night. He held you in that kiss until the pleasure became too much and you had to pull away, sucking in a desperate breath.

“God you’re so fucking perfect. Tell me-ugh…tell me how good it feels”

You moan as the pressure builds, pleasure sparking in multiple directions, but the pain of your wobbly standing leg starts to pull you away. As if reading your mind, Wooyoung pulls out and turns you to face the mirror, spreading your legs with his feet and pulling your hips back onto his cock. You cry out as he reaches deep inside you, igniting a fire as your walls clamp down on him and your hand automatically drops to rub your clit.

“I’m not going to last” he says, inhaling your hair. “Are you close?”

You moan again as if that is a response and rub your clit faster, knowing your release was within reach, just over that figurative hill, if he could just…

“There, a-ah fuck Y/N, I’m there. God-fucking-yesyesyes”

Wooyoung stands on his toes, boosting the angle of his cock to rub directly on your back wall and pound erratically into your spot. Like the crack of a whip, you inhale suddenly, almost choking on air as he hurtles you towards your orgasm, cock twitching as he cums deep inside you.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop” you pleaded, reaching back to hold the back of his thighs in case he dared to pull away from you or reduce his blinding pace.

Your torso was almost completely horizontal now, back arching, thrusting yourself back onto his cock, his cum dripping down your thighs. Your release hit you like a series of waves breaking, eyes squeezed shut, mouth open in a silent scream as your walls convulsed erratically, spreading a wet warmth throughout your core. Wooyoung continued to pound you, fingers coming down to press on your own, rubbing harder into your clit.

Riding you down from heaven, stars and colours swirling behind your eyes, Wooyoung began to slow. Your knees gave way and you threw your hands out in front of you to stop yourself hitting the wooden floor too hard. Wooyoung wrapped his arms around your stomach and dropped to his knees with you in an attempt to keep his softening cock buried inside of you. His chest heaved against your back but you were both quiet, letting the sound of the squeaky fan and creaks of the building fill the silence.

“Fuck, Y/N I should have asked if I could come in you”

“It’s fine, I’m on the pill”

“Even so” he mumbled, pressing a kiss between your shoulder blades and slowly removing himself from you.

You remained awkwardly on your hands and knees, panting at the floor as your senses returned and the reality of what you had done clicked from blurry to sharp in your mind. Wooyoung handed you a towel and you wiped the cum from your thighs, gazing in disbelief up at your smudged handprints on the mirror. Wooyoung was speaking, possibly to you, but you couldn’t focus on his words, caught in a state of ecstasy that wasn’t just post orgasm bliss. As you both got dressed, he tried to catch your gaze, but you barely noticed him, focused on the incredible feeling rising in your chest.

“Hey-where are you going?”

You were halfway out the door when you turned to look at him and forced a smile.

“I have to go back”

You left Wooyoung dumbfounded behind you, revelling in the complete elation of having just done something that would make Seonghwa burst a blood vessel if he knew. You emerged into the night air again, cold wind soothing your red, sweaty face. You felt bulletproof, like there was nothing more Seonghwa could hold over you. Not when you had such an ultimate secret over him.

You heard low voices when you reached the dorm and opened the door to find Hongjoong and Seonghwa sitting at the table, several empty bottles of Soju between them. Something about the way your brother looked at you, eyes glazed over and swaying slightly, told you that the drinking had been one sided.

“There you…I was so…worry” Seonghwa mumbled, standing up to give you a hug though he ended up almost pushing you over and Hongjoong had to step in and hold him up.

“It’s ok, I’m fine” you said, patting him on the back and mouthing a thank you to Hongjoong, who shrugged a smile. You looked up at your brothers’ flushed and puffy face and in this moment you pitied him, a pang of guilt stabbing you somewhere in the gut.

“I wish I…I shouldn’t have-“ he started but you cut him off.

“Let’s get you to bed”

It was a short but slow stumble from the kitchen to your shared room.

“I’m such a screw up” Seonghwa whined, head lolling backwards before you and Hongjoong dropped him on his bed.

“Go to sleep now” you said, smiling to yourself at your brothers complete inability to hold his liquor.

“You’re my sister and I…always…” he trailed off, squeezing your hand, eyes fluttering shut. Hongjoong turned off the light, leaving you sitting on top of Seonghwas quilt in the dark room, listening to his breathing as he started to drift off. You bit your bottom lip, wondering if maybe you had gone too far with Wooyoung tonight.

But your guilt was fleeting as the next morning, a hungover and humiliated Seonghwa berated you over breakfast for leaving the house without your phone.

“What the hell is wrong with you Y/N? What if something had happened to you? It just baffles me how you can be so damn stupid sometimes”

You sat at the table, staring ahead and calmly eating your cereal as he brought up more reasons and memories where you had been what he considered irresponsible. But you didn’t take the bait this time. You felt above that now, addicted to the power of what Seonghwa didn’t know, of how Wooyoung had melted at your touch, and how mere centimetres from your brothers disapproving face, you plotted your next pursuit.

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 13

Summary: Ex and Hels go to meet other Hermits but a certain butcher throws Hels into a panic attack.

Characters: Helsknight, Evil Xisuma, Doc, Xisuma mention, Giran mention, Scar mention, and Beef is there briefly

TW: Panic attack, asthma attack mentions, stuff like that.

Yes, I gave scar asthma for this bc I needed a reason for something in this chapter

———————

After that whole ordeal, the two continued to meet at other areas in the map for the next week. Ex proposed the idea to give Hels a little tour, mostly sticking around the shopping district.

“And this is Grumbot, they said he got all messed up so they built a little private world for him,” said Evil Xisuma. They landed on the perch just in front of a small window and peeked inside. “Still happy as ever,” he mused.

“What does it do? Does it have some kind of purpose?”

“Ah, well while I was still staying in Xisuma’s base, they had some kind of election for a mayor of the shopping district. Grumbot if I’m correct was supposed to help Mumbo in winning.”

Hels nodded slowly at the answer. “Alright then...Did he win?”

Ex shook his head with pursed lips. “No, Scar won. He got all the diamonds everyone spent on plots of land for their shops to use for repairs and new stuff and whatnot.”

Hels hummed in response. “Well no wonder Grumbot was so upset. I hope he’s a good leader. When you had me meet him, he didn’t seem much like the leading type. He’s all soft.”

“Soft, yes. But he’s kind to the Hermits and myself. I believe he’s had quite a rough past which probably made way for some kind of pity vote here and there if you ask me.”

Hels gave Ex a pointed look, completely disregarding Ex’s last statement. “Rough past?”

“Yeah, I dunno if you saw that he’s covered head to toe in scars, which is probably where the name came from, but he’s said something here and there about some people he’s come across a long time ago.” The man shrugged. “I don’t know a whole lot about it.”

Hels looked back at the smiling Grumbot. “Well, with a good origin story emerges some kind of hero, I suppose.”

“That’s odd coming from you. I think you’re spending too much time around Xisuma.” The knight merely responded by playfully punching him in the arm.

Then Hels wondered. “Why wasn’t Xisuma the mayor, though? He’s the ruler of-“ Hels gestured around them vaguely “-All of this.”

Ex shook his head. “I thought so too, but he said he’s not the one who makes all the decisions around here and he’s not fitting for the job anyways. Apparently everyone helps with all the decision making and whatnot.”

Hels hummed, considering the thought. “Alright then, shall we continue? I believe there’s some Hermits you haven’t introduced me to. I’ve heard that there’s a creeper-cyborg-guy running around. Something about goats?”

Ex laughed at the thought of Hels meeting Doc. “I actually think the two of you may get along quite well! Same with Joe Hills. His poetry and your dramatic speeches certainly go hand in hand.” He eyed Hels with a grin while the knight rolled his eyes. “But yes, we can continue. Though, I would like you to meet Beef as well but Wels lives near his place. I think it’d be cool to meet the person who practically created you.”

“Well, the vessel anyways.”

“Right, let's head off then and give Grumbot some privacy.”

With that, the two lifted off once more, this time coming across a weirdly shaped mountain miles away accompanied by a large house split into halves. As they landed, they spotted Doc hardly a few meters away. The creeper was too busy moving items to different chests repeatedly, probably sorting, to notice the new company.

“Hello, Doc! I’d like to introduce you to a new friend of mine that’s gonna live on the server for a while!”

Ex must’ve startled the old man. An easy assumption when Doc quite harshly smacked the back of his head on the lid of the chest while standing. Glancing at Evil Xisuma, he rubbed at his neck.

“Next time, I’d rather not have people sneaking up on me.” His eyes then landed on Hels. “Woah, did Wels go through an emo phase?” He chuckled at his own joke.

“Hardy har har. I’m his evil clone.”

Doc merely rolled his eyes. “I’m not surprised. Beef was asking for some help regarding his cloning machine after you were created.”

Hels raised a brow at the comment. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Doc just shrugged. “Dunno. Probably doesn’t want more evil clones running around.” He clapped his hands together. “Anyways! What can I do for you guys, I’m a bit busy at the moment so you’ll have to be quick,” Doc ended with a pointed glare at Hels.

“Just needed to introduce him to everyone and we’ll be on our way. Nothing much else than that. I’ll just let him wander a bit and look around if that’s alright.”

“Fine with me, just don’t use my villagers, farms, or break anything that takes a lot of effort to replace.” Doc waved a hand dismissively as he walked back over to his chest, beginning to sort again.

With that, Hels looked up at the mountain near them. “Hey, what’s with the mountain? Looks like an animal head.”

Without removing his focus from the chest, Doc simply replied, “It’s a goat.”

“Alright then.” Hels looked over at Ex. “I don’t believe there’s too much to look at over here, we can move on. If you’d like me to meet Beef now, we can do that.”

Doc couldn’t help but to glance at them after Hels’s suggestion. “I thought Wels doesn’t want you near his base.”

“Mind your business old man.”

Doc glared at the knight once more and turned back to his chest, grumbling something under his breath along the lines of ‘I’m not that old’. The pair snorted at the scientist.

“Okay, let's go then.”

It wasn’t a very long flight this time, much to Hels’s surprise. He thought Beef lived much farther away than where he settled. The sandstone village came into view within hardly a couple minutes.

But for some reason, Hels found the village intimidating.

“I wonder if he’s here, he’s not around a lot,” Ex prefaced. As if on cue, the butcher came into view from the blacksmith, several iron bars and end rods piled in his arms. “Ah, nevermind then. Let’s say hello!”

Before Ex went approaching Beef, he was caught short by the wrist. He turned and found the knight gripping it quite harshly, a frown deepening on his face.

“Hels, would you please let go of me?”

The knight pulled him back a foot or two behind the building. “Um, actually maybe we can just do this later. He seems busy.”

Ex cocked his head to the side. “That didn’t stop us with Doc, Mumbo, Grian, Star, Xisuma, Stress, Ren-“ Hels shushed him quickly.

“No, I don’t care. Let’s just go.” Hels tugged on his wrist once more, Ex not budging from his current placement. Worry suddenly became evident in his expression.

“Is something wrong?”

Hels just shook his head, a flush creeping across his face, but oddly enough, Ex recognized that it wasn’t the good kind. “No- Please will you just come with m-“

“Is everything alright over here?” The knight stopped mid pull. To his left, Beef stood with purple glittered hands on his hips. “Why are you pulling on him like that, let the dude go.”

Without hesitation, Hels slipped his hand away. “Sorry,” he mumbled. He exhaled shakily.

Beef raised a brow almost in unison with Ex. “You’re not looking so hot, are you feeling okay? There’s a library behind you if you wanna sit in there.”

“Hels, I dunno if you know this but you’re pale. Like really pale. Do I need to call Stress and Xisuma?”

The knight shut his eyes tightly, shaking his head again, harder this time. “Beef please leave,” he croaked. With a slight nod, the butcher left. “I um-“ Hels swallowed thickly, “-Ex, remember when uh- when I said that I get scared sometimes and cry in a corner?”

Ex had to think for a second before his eyes widened. “Is that what’s happening right now?” He looked around frantically. “There’s not really any good corners here-“

“No- No, I just- please just take me somewhere else, I need to be out of this village. What’s uh- where’s the nearest place?”

“Closest place is Wels’s base but we can’t go there.”

Yeah, that would probably make it worse, especially if the other knight was at his base. Then, Hels had an idea.

“Chorus fruit,” he exhaled.

“What?”

“Do you have chorus fruit.”

Ex nodded with an “Oh” and pulled the round purple fruit from his inventory. Immediately, Hels snatched one from him.

“Take a bite on three and hold my hand.” Ex did so. With the final number, the two took a bite and, almost too conveniently, they landed at the greenhouse. Hels didn’t let go of his hand, however, the grip only became much tighter while he dragged them both to the floor.

“Do I need to get someone?”

Hels shook his head, screwing his eyes shut.

“What do I do then?”

The knight struggled for words through vigorous shaking. He just kept shaking his head and leaned into the other, taking the held hand into both of his own.

Ex honestly had no clue what to do. He’s never seen this happen to any of the other Hermits, let alone Hels. But one thing he did know is that a person shouldn’t really be breathing that frantically.

That then tied to a memory back to an event involving Scar. The terraformer had asthma, he knew. He could vaguely pinpoint a moment where Grian had helped him out of an asthma attack. And while he did so, he had Ex retrieve Stress. The evil hermit caught on to the breathing exercises the two followed before following through with his task.

Would that work? Hels didn’t have asthma. Ex wasn’t even sure if those exercises were even for whatever was happening right now.

“Hey- Hey Hels, I’m going to try something. This will be stupid, but bare with me.” He lightly tapped the other on his shoulder with his free hand and Hels lifted his face ever so slightly to face him a bit more. “Good job,“ he repeated the words from Grian. “I need you to breathe with me, can you do that?”

Initially, Hels shook his head once more. But a second after he stopped, there was a small hint at a nod.

“Awesome, just follow my lead.” Ex inhaled slowly through his nose while the knight followed his first step, albeit shakily. He then exhaled out of his mouth, letting Hels take his time to follow again after another bout of shallow breaths. “You’re doing great,” he parroted again. “We’re going to do that a few more times.”

And again, they did. Inhale through the nose, exhale out of the mouth. Granted, when Scar was having his troubles, he had some kind of machinery next to him to help him breathe, but at least this was close. Inhale again through the nose, then exhale out of the mouth.

Absentmindedly, the evil hermit trailed his fingers over the other’s back lightly. He didn’t honestly expect this to work, he thought someone was going to have to come help him. He knew for sure that he was going to have to tell someone about what happened but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.

Soon, Hels had his face tucked into the crook of Ex’s neck, much to Ex’s dismay. He loved the guy but he’d rather his suit not be wet with tears. Still, he kept his own firm grip in the tangle of fingers between their legs and the attack died down into minimal shaking.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He proposed. Hels pulled himself away from the other’s chest and Ex practically felt his own heart break at the sight. There was the courageous and merciless knight, red faced and puffy eyed, a few tears still making their way down his cheeks, others merely sticking to them. Hels wiped at them pathetically.

“Yeah.”

“Okay then, what happened? What caused it?”

Hels meekly shrugged. “The village I guess. I dunno for sure.”

“Was it Beef? You wanted him to leave almost as soon as he came to talk.”

The knight stuttered. Ex was a bit too blunt for his liking when it came to asking questions. “I- I don’t know- He’s not even that bad. There was…” he took a deep breath. This was pathetic. Here was one of the strongest and most powerful people in Hels talking about his feelings. “The village kind of did it before we even landed,” he finally concluded.

Ex shifted in his spot. “Well, would it help to tell you about something I’m afraid of? Or at least used to be? Xisuma does it sometimes when I’m scared.”

The corners of Hels’s mouth twitched upwards just slightly. “Sure.”

“Flowers.”

“F...flowers? You’re afraid of flowers and you own a flower shop and a greenhouse?” The knight sat up more.

Ex wagged a finger with his free hand. For a second upon noticing this, Hels let go of his other hand. “I said ‘or at least used to be’. I’m not afraid of them much anymore, a little unnerving with some specific kinds, but they’re my favorite thing in the world right now!”

The evil hermit knew he must’ve been doing something right when Hels let out a snort. “Flowers….who would believe.” He shook his head, lightly this time.

“Xisuma certainly found it odd. When I was still in my bad guy days, I came through this portal and everything and I told him I was gonna kill him. He was like ‘What’s stopping you?’ and at the time he was holding flowers.” The knight nodded along to his story. “After that I just ran away and-“

“The Lord of Darkness called you an idiot. I remember that because everyone in Hels heard it.”

Ex pulled a hand to his chest in mock offense. “He did not!” He laughed. “Okay maybe he did.”

The two fell into silence, now noticing the sun falling behind the hills slowly. A minute passed.

“What’s Xisuma afraid of?” asked Hels.

“Xisuma? Oh, he’s afraid of a lot of things. A lot more than me, I think and I’m scared of everything.” Hels chuckled at his phrasing. “Hm, I think he said one time that he was actually quite terrified of Enderman. But he’s not like….run away kind of scared. He’ll attack them when they scare him.”

“Fight or flight,” Hels muttered. Ex took notice to the setting sun.

“We should get going, I don’t want you falling asleep in here again. Are we going to go back to Beef at some point? Or we could meet him somewhere else.”

Hels shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it'll be fine if you give it a couple days.” He yawned. “Jeez, that wore me out.”

[onewaywardwitch]

Just A Typo (10/?)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Hacker!Reader

Summary: It was a simple challenge between a very competitive group of friends. A challenge that ended very differently than anticipated.

Warnings: Pure fluff

Word Count: 1941

A/N: I’m back! Yay! Thank you all so much for all your kind words, I’m really loving writing this series. Exams are finally over which means regular updates! Imagine that... 

There is a small scene in this part that was not my idea. I got it from a tumblr post that I saw ages ago and can no longer find. So full credits go to the person who came up with the idea! There’ll be a series of  ***** beside the scene.

“I'm going to miss being able to feel my arms,” I groaned as Nat knocked me down to ground once again.

“Come on, get up,” she said, smirking at my exhausted form on the floor. I didn’t answer her at first. Instead I slowly got into the fetal position and covered my eyes.

“If I don’t look up, she won't be there, if I don’t look up, she won't be there,” I muttered repetitively. Her laughter from above me confirmed that my chanting did nothing.

I crawled as slowly as I possibly could until I was facing her and scowled.

“This is pointless.”

“Stop slouching.”

We had a mini stare off before I coped on that I was arguing with Natasha Romanoff and I should probably just shut up and get this over and done with.

I didn’t notice Bucky and Steve coming in to watch us train. Or rather, watch Nat look bored as she effortlessly knocked me down.

“Shouldn’t you actually teach me instead of just acting like I'm capable of defending myself?”

“I've found it's better to learn on the job.”

“You just wanna hit me.”

She shrugged in reply, not easing my nerves in the slightest.

She swung her fist in my direction, and instead of attempting to block it, I just walked off the training mat.

“I cannot be anywhere near her. This woman is trying to kill me!”

Steve shook his head at my statement. “Come on, I'm sure you're learning plenty.”

“Well, I did learn what a treadmill looks like,” I replied gesturing in the general direction of where the treadmills were across the gym. “But all I've learned from Nat is that I'm hopeless.”

“Here, try this,” Bucky said, holding out a knife to me. I stared at him in disbelief. Steve raised an eyebrow at his friend, but Nat wasn’t fazed in the slightest.

“A knife?”

He looked surprised at my reaction, as if he expected me to welcome the idea of knife-wielding. I'm sure he thought he was being helpful. “You're shockingly terrible at self-defence without any weapons. This might help. How else are you going to defend yourself?”

“I figured my winning personality would be enough for them to leave me alone.”

“And if not?”

I paused for a moment, mulling over my other options before I muttered in a small voice, “A very loud battle cry.”

Steve snorted and even Nat tried to hold in a laugh. Bucky shook his head, pocketing the knife and walking out, a defeated look etched onto his face.

~~~~~

Angie and Becca decided they would grace me with their presence and managed to save me from another training session with Nat. Tony took it upon himself to make sure the kitchen was always fully stocked with tea for Angie and a lot of Haribo for me. He didn’t get anything for Becca. Instead, he swore that she had his full permission to attack any of the Avengers with pillows if she felt they screwed something up. Or if she just felt like it.

The kitchen was empty for a change. Some privacy was rare in a tower as busy as this one and I was grateful for the time to catch up with my friends.

“What’s it like living here?” Becca asked while admiring the toaster (“It's just so shiny!”). “Is it as awesome as everyone imagines? Do they spend all their time training? Does Captain America just walk around with his shirt off all the time, or only sometimes?”

I thought back to how I spent nearly forty minutes explaining the difference between regular flour and self-rising flour to Bucky yesterday. “It's definitely an experience.”

Angie raised an eyebrow at me, a small smile playing on her lips. “You realise you're living the dream millions of people have had?”

“Yeah, well when you watch Captain America try to work a laptop it starts to lose its appeal.”

*****

“Hey, have any of you seen Bruce anywhere?” Tony asked the few Avengers that were gathered in the kitchen. Unfortunately, his words were drowned out by the sound of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ blaring throughout the room.

A few of the teammates looked surprised. The rest just sighed.

“Not again,” Steve muttered. Him and Tony shared a knowing look. Bucky stared at Steve, a frown on his face and he looked around for where the music came from. He glanced at Wanda who was giggling at the look of pure exhaustion on Tony’s face. She noticed him looking at her and explained the situation, grinning widely.

“Y/N’s got bored lately so she hacked into F.R.I.D.A.Y. and has her play certain songs every time certain people walk into the kitchen,” she explained and Bucky couldn’t help but laugh.

“You can laugh now,” Steve said, folding his arms across his chest and huffing. “It's not funny when you get up at three in the morning for a glass of water and the American anthem starts playing at full volume.”

Sam laughed, choking on whatever it was he was eating. Bucky retaliated by whacking him on the back with his stronger arm. Sam went flying off the sofa, glaring at Bucky who looked away innocently.

“I don’t blame her for being bored cooped up in here, but why don’t you just get F.R.I.D.A.Y. to stop it?” Clint questioned Tony.

It was a fair question, and everyone turned to Tony, waiting on his reply. His ears tinged the faintest shade of pink, which was a rarity for the ever-confident billionaire.

“Becauseshelockedmeout,” he mumbled quickly.

“What was that?”

“She locked me out! I have no idea what she’s done but she changed F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s protocol so the one thing I can’t access are the speakers around the tower. I'm incredibly proud and impressed but, I gotta say, my ego’s taken a hit.

~~~~~

At that precise moment, I walked in, failing to notice the array of looks I was being given. From exasperation to pure amusement, everyone seemed to have mixed feelings regarding my antics.

It took a moment for me to feel the number of eyes glued on my figure. I immediately decided to play the nonchalant, nothing-is-going-on card.

“Who had the last poptart?” I asked, looking everywhere except at Tony, Steve, and Nat, who were the only people I had edited songs for. So far.

Steve cleared his throat, but I focused my attention on Wanda.

“Was it you? I knew you were eating all my food.”

He coughed slightly again so I turned to him.

“I have a great doctor in the city if that cold is bothering you.”

Tony tried his hardest not to smile, stepping forward to talk to me.

It took nearly twenty minutes for our discussion to end, during which he asked (begged) me to turn off the music. My immediate response was accusing him of trying to inhibit my creative musical expression.

I could tell Tony didn’t know how he felt about meeting his quick-witted equal. We were similar in more ways than he would admit. The only difference was that I didn’t flaunt my abilities as he did. I preferred to remain under the radar while he enjoyed the life of celebrity genius. It gave me an idea of what my life could have been like, had I shown my skill to large companies years ago. The thought of it made me shudder. There was no way I would have been able to cope with the press Tony does all the time. Each day I spent in his company made me respect him even more. It was refreshing to see him as a real and generous person and not the self-centred man the media often painted him as.

~~~~~

Bucky was looking for absolutely nobody because for once he had nothing to do and was planning on finally understanding all the hype around ‘Game of Thrones’, when he caught sight of Y/N sitting on the floor against the wall of the corridor with her laptop on her lap. She hadn’t seen him yet and he contemplated going a different way so he wouldn’t make a fool of himself in front of the tower’s resident hacker. God knows every time he was left alone with her, he said something stupid or tripped up. He was convinced she thought he was an idiot, and he couldn’t blame her.

~~~~~

I looked up as I heard heavy boots approaching me. Bucky was nervously chewing on his lip as he stood in front of me. There was silence for a moment, both of us wondering if we should be the first one to speak up.

“How are you?”

“What are you working on?”

How convenient that we both spoke at exactly the same time. I could only imagine that I had a blush on my face that matched the one growing on his.

I nodded at the screen in front of me. “I'm just changing around F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s protocols before Steve wets himself every time he goes into the kitchen at three in the morning. Which, apparently, is a regular thing.”

Bucky chuckled. “Yeah, he doesn’t have the best sleeping schedule.” He gestured towards the empty space beside me and I patted the ground, not even hesitating for him to sit beside me.

He kept silent at I worked on my laptop. He was watching what I was doing but I could tell he was completely lost.

I glanced over slyly and nearly laughed as his eyes went back and forth at record speed, doing his best to scan and understand what the lines of numbers and words meant.

“All of this is F.R.I.D.A.Y. You're looking at everything she’s responsible for.” I pointed at a specific few lines, drawing his attention instantly. “See that there? That’s the code that stops unauthorised individuals from entering the private floors. And down here,” I moved down the screen. “is how she analyses fight patterns.”

“And this is how Tony gets an immediate notification whenever someone blocks the disposal with coffee grounds.”

Bucky’s eyes widened and he stared at me in shock. “He knows about that?”

“It's a common problem.” I giggled slightly, casting my eyes down the corridor. “I'm surprised no one has come down this way yet. This is normally one of the busier hallways.”

~~~~~

Becca came to visit her friend and just so happened to bump into Tony as she searched the tower. They walked together for a bit, casually chatting about nothing in particular. That’s when they came across Y/N and Bucky, sitting very close together. Becca grabbed Tony by his shirt and pulled him back around the corner and down the halls they came through, as quickly and quietly as she could manage. By the time she let go of him, he appeared relatively flustered.

“What the hell was that?”

“Y/N has been babbling on about Bucky for ages. They're sitting there talking and being all obliviously lovey dovey, so nobody is going to interrupt them, capiche?”

Tony took a step back, the intense look on Becca’s face scaring him ever so slightly.

They stood guard a few corridors away from the couple, stopping anyone from heading down that way. It wasn’t long before Steve tried passing them, to no avail.

“Come on guys, what’s the issue? The closest bathroom is down that way,” he complained.

“Sort out your bladder issue somewhere else, Rogers. My best friend’s love life is on the line here.”

That got his interest.

When Bruce attempted to cross them, he was stopped by Steve who had joined the cause.

“Bucky needs to get a life” was Steve’s only response.

‘Just A Typo’ Taglist (open):

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[the-lupine-sojourner]

Chestnutfest 2k19 Prompt 2: Summer Festival/Height Swap

Why can I not get these done before midnight?! >.< 

Ah well. For this one, I thought it might be fun to combine the two prompts. This probably doesn’t make sense, but, um, hope you like it! 

Once again, this Krillan/18 fest is all thanks to @chestnutisland! Go show them love for setting this awesome event up! :)

And, again, Here is the Link to the post with more info on this event. 

Okay now onto the story! 

P.S: I wanna see if anyone can guess what I’m not-so-subtly hinting at with 18 here, okay? :)

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

“Why are we here again?” Android 18 asks. She never knew Krillan to be the fair or festival type, but...here they were. 

“Aw, c’mon honey.” Krillan urges. “We need a break, right? We’ve been training and working a lot lately. I think it’s about time we took a night off and had a little fun.” He explains. Android 18 smiles. She could agree that they needed a break, but a festival?

“Alright, but why this festival?” 

“The farmer that’s been buying Goku’s crops set it up and runs it.” Krillan confesses. “So I thought we’d check it out.” 18 nods. 

“Alright then.” They walk together, hand in hand. 18 looks down at their joined hands, smiling a little. 

It was always a little odd, the height difference between them. Of course, neither of them would hold it against the other (aside from light teasing every once in a while), but they could see the stares they got, choosing to ignore them. 

The festival grounds weren’t super crowded, but there were a decent amount of people wandering around. The aromas of the food stalls hit 18’s nose and she was surprisingly tempted to try some of the food. Normally, she wasn’t too keen on eating. Mainly because she didn’t need food. But recently her appetite was slowly increasing. More and more, she was wanting to eat. Which was a little odd. 

So far, Krillan just took it as his wife simply wanting to try a few new foods. 

But 18 was mystified. Why was her interest in food suddenly increasing? Regardless, she could wait a little while to eat. First, she’d see what Krillan wanted to do. 

This was a martial arts and food festival, so there were big bough guys for overconfident husbands to attempt to defeat to show off to their wives and earn a bit of cash. Likely, Krillan would want to defeat a few of those burly men as a light exercise to work up a bit of an appetite. She walks with Krillan, eyeing some of the stalls selling cheap gis for higher prices than they were worth because this was a festival and people would buy them. The only problem was they were way too small. 

Maybe if they ever had a child...18 smiles. The thought was also becoming ever so slowly more attractive to her. She envisioned a little child running around their house, laughing and running as Krillan attempted to tag her in a game as 18 made dinner. 

When did she become such a domestic housewife?! Regardless… “Krillan, what do you think of this gi?” She asks. It was labeled as a ‘Dusty Rose’ color, suitable for a girl. Krillan stops, blinking. 

“...It’s cute, honey, but way too small for you.” She almost gets angry, then remembers in the nick of time that he couldn’t read her thoughts and she hadn’t actually verbalized her subtly growing interest in having children. 

So she smiles, moving to a more gender-neutral, orange-colored gi. “I was meaning...if we ever happen to have a child.” She mumbles. Now that she’d accidentally opened the door to the conversation on children, she may as well go all in. Krillan was stunned. 

“Wait...you want a kid?!” He asks. She sighs, turning to face him fully. 

“It’s just...something I was thinking about recently. What if we had a child?” Krillan’s head tilts. 

“...Not to seem insensitive, but, uh...is that even possible for us?” She nods. Until now, she had been reluctant to discuss a lot of her past with Gero. 

“Yes it is. All Dr. Gero did was remodel me and my brother to be superior warriors. I still have many of my internal organs, including...the reproductive ones.” Krillan blushes, and 18 feels a little uncomfortable. They hadn’t talked about this before, so they walk somewhere a little more private to continue the talk. 

“I had no idea.” Krillan mumbles, fiddling with his fingers. She nods. 

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it mattered.” Krillan laughs. 

“Well, now I know, I think it’s a great idea! If you are really okay with it…” He deferred to her, and that was why she loved him so much. He was always making sure he got her input and respected it, discussing things with her rationally and as equals. 

Android 18 nods. “I think I am.” They return to wandering, happy in the revelations they’d shared. 18 felt relieved she’d gotten it off her chest. She was still learning that it was okay to talk through her emotions with people who cared about her, and especially with her husband. 

Krillan then noticed a particularly burly man challenging anyone for 1500 zenni. He turns to 18, smiling. “What d'ya think? Should I?” He asks, amused. She chuckles. 

“Why not? Just don’t hurt him too bad.” She replies. A few people overheard and snickered. 

“Oi, you won’t last ten seconds in that ring.” One bystander notes, laughing. Krillan scoffs. 

“You know it’s rude not to look at the person you’re talking to.” he replies. “You should be facing my opponent.” The man starts in shock. 

“You are a cocky lil’ one, ain’t yah?” Now his voice was testy, aggravated. Krillan smiles. 

“No. I just know I’ll win.” With that, he squeezes his wife’s hand, strutting confidently into the ring. His opponent put on a show of getting ready, but Krillan couldn’t sense much of a power level at all. This wouldn’t last long at all.

“Let’s get this goin’, shall we?” The man snickers, getting into a stance.

Krillan smirks, hands in his pocket. “You can have the first move.” His opponent, fed up listening, charged, roaring mindlessly. Krillan sighs. Predictable. His eyes close for a second as his legs bend. Then his eyes open as he leaps out, sending him soaring up and toward his opponent. His foot slams into the man’s ample shoulder. He goes soaring into the poorly made fencing making up the ring, crashing through it and into a few unlucky bystanders. Krillan lands and jogs over to help the people up. “Sorry about that.” He says, smiling at the stunned onlookers. “Tried to hold back. Obviously, it didn’t work too well.” Everyone was stunned. The man who held the prize money was shaking as he handed Krillan the 1500 zenni. “Thank you.” Slipping it into his pocket, Krillan dips his head in respect before taking 18’s hand again and walking away. “That was kinda fun!” He chuckles. 

18 smiles. “And we have extra cash.” Krillan nods. 18 was always worried about money, so it was nice to bring home some extra zenni when he could. 

The next thing he stopped at was an adult gi stall, the fabric and manufacturing seeming of a higher quality. 

He then spotted an orange one similar to his in what appeared to be 18’s size. He grins and pulls it off the rack. “Hey honey look at this! We could match!” He laughs at her expression. Part confusion and part ‘hell no’. “Aww c’mon! It’s just a joke.” 18 then surprises Krillan by walking over and taking it from him. She kisses his cheek (the secret to making him do whatever she said) and smiles. 

“Want me to try it on?” She asks. He grins dopily at her and nods a few too many times. 

“Yes please.” He replies, sounding incredibly dopey. She chuckles and walks over to a small changing area with a curtain for privacy. She slips in and Krillan comes out of his trance when he sees stilts a little ways off in a different stall, with built-in shoes to make using them easier. He grins. 

This should be fun. Running over and pulling out the money for it (more than he knew he should pay for stilts, but hey a prank was a prank) and purchasing them eagerly. He slips them on easily and clumsily walks back over to where he’d left 18, conveniently just as she walks out of the changing room. 

“What do you thi--uh...what are you doing?” she asks, more than a little surprised at the sudden change in height before she notices the stilts. Krillan laughs. 

“Saw these and thought ‘what better way to get to your eye level’, but, um, I didn’t judge the boost very well and here we are.” He now stood as tall over her as she stood over him normally. She smiles, cranking her head back to smile up at him. 

“Please tell me you didn’t pay money for those.” His nervous laugh was all the answer she needed. She shakes her head amusedly at her husband’s antics. 

Sometimes he could be so...unusual. He did and said things sometimes that didn’t appear to make sense, but also made her laugh, which she supposed was the entire point. “Well, enjoy it while it lasts, honey. Those are coming off when we leave.” Krillan nods. 

“That’s probably as long as I can stand them.” He replies, leaning down to kiss her. “Love you.” She smiles, cupping his cheek in her hand. 

“Love you, too.” 

[officialleehadan]

Secret Words

Tora passed through the crowd, pausing here and there to murmur greetings or trade a few words with passing dignitaries.

Her gown was heavy with crystal beads that shimmered against silver-grey of her gown. A sheer overgown trailed from her shoulders, so light it might have flown away if the edges weren’t lined with more of those tiny glittering beads. Her face was half-covered by a delicate mask that was woven of spiderweb-fine silver wire and set with diamonds.

An elegant wrapping for a king’s daughter. Halad was in the market for an alliance, and proudly offered up his daughter as an enticing prize to his possible allies.

After all, soulmates didn’t matter, when you were a princess, and the price of your hand could buy an army between two lands. It was a growing trend among the nobility to keep soulmate bonds platonic and to save their romance, or at least their marriage, for somebody more to their advantage.

Of course, this caused problems for those who did not wish to deny their Other Half at least the chance to win their hearts.

Tora ran her thumb over the wide silver cuff that glittered with gems and hid something even more precious. Her soulmark, turned from inky black to shimmering gold upon the words being spoken by a man whose’ face she had yet to even see.

It was a small mercy that Halad cared little for his oldest child and only daughter except as a means to an end. If he was more attentive, he might already know about the secret that bound his daughter to his greatest enemy. The lone surviving son of the ruler he murdered for the throne.

The exiled prince, who was now grown, and hungry for the revenge his youth denied him for so long.

“Stay still, Princaessa,” a man whispered into her ear, and a gloved hand caught hers before Tora could do more than gasp. The words seemed very different now, spoken with longing, rather than menice. “I don’t mean you harm, today.”

The words around her wrist warmed, just a shade under painful.

“You should have grabbed one of the boys,” she whispered back, and turned to meet the eyes of her soulmate, who should not be here under the nose of the king who would do anything to see him dead. “My father would thank you for killing me.”

Like her, his face was covered by a mask, although his was of blackened steel. Behind it, his eyes were green, and his hair deep brown with lighter streaks from his time spent in the sun. Her necklace glittered at his throat, an intricate silver knot on a fine chain. The only token she could spare for him during their brief meeting.

There was something cautious and hopeful in his eyes, like he wasn’t sure what his welcome might be.

Tora understood and found herself nervous, for herself and him.

“Will you dance with me?” he murmured, and bowed over her hand when she offered it by long habit. “I cannot stay long, but I had to see you again.”

“Of course I will,” she said, and ignored the way her stepmother’s eyes focused on her as she stepped onto the dance floor with him. Her dances were not promised to anyone, but she was supposed to be courting favor from the attending nobles.

No doubt, dancing with her own soulmate was not the quickest way to her father’s impossible approval, particularly when Rhaes Fel Dakkheld was a man with a royal bounty on his head.

And yet, with only a few moments filling the space between them, Tora felt like she could breathe for the first time since those first whispered words on the pitching deck of a ship.

“I know your name, and you know mine,” he said as he guided her through the slow dance with only the slightest uncertainty. Exiled as he was, Tora wondered where he had even learned to dance at all. “But we have never met. My name is Rhaes.”

“Tora,” she replied softly, and tangled her fingers with his, the one intimacy they were allowed with eyes, many of them hostile, watching their every move. “Where are your Words?”

“Here,” he brought her hand up, just below his left collarbone. “Guarding my heart. Where are yours?”

“Under my bracelet,” she told him, and ran a fingertip over the place where his soulmark rested. He shivered, and something dark shimmered across his gaze. It was entirely inappropriate, and probably unwise as well, but she let him slip her bracelet up, just enough to see the edges of his own writing on her skin. “I wondered how they would sound in your voice, and then I wondered if I would have to watch my father kill you.”

Rhaes winced at the memory of precisely what he had said to her that first time, and let her bracelet fall to obscure her Words once more. Tora reluctantly kept an ear on the music. Too long, and they would be noticed and he would be in danger.

“I’m not so easy to kill as that,” he promised her fiercely, and squeezed tangled their fingers together tightly. “When my Words appeared, I was afraid for you. That your father would be pleased at your death… I was afraid I would lose you before we ever met.”

“I dared to be born a girl, and look too much like my mother,” Tora admitted, long used to the bitter truth. “And she died without giving him an heir. He will never forgive her for that.”

“Was she his soulmate?”

“Yes.”

Very few survived the death of their soulmate, once the Words were spoken. Certainly, there were those whose’ soulmates died in childhood and who were cursed to live with Words that greyed, and faded slowly into nothing. Sometimes new ones came, but not often.

King Halad survived the loss of his beloved queen through sheer determination, but the loss turned him from a kind, stern man into a vicious one who found joy only conquest.

The same conquest that turned her own soulmate from a prince, to a pirate.

His second marriage was one of convenience. Tora had never quite gotten up the courage to ask her stepmother if she had a soulmate somewhere, thrown aside for the suit of a king.

“He will always be my enemy,” Rhaes said quietly as the music swirled dancers around them like brightly-colored leaves in the wind. “He murdered my father, and would do the same to me. One of us will die before this is settled.”

“I know,” Tora said sadly, torn between the father she cherished in the golden memories of her childhood, and her newly-discovered soulmate. The line between them was fine, and razor-sharp. “And I doubt I can stop either of you. But give me this, if only this. My brothers- they don’t deserve to die for our father’s wrongs against you.”

He almost stumbled, no doubt surprised by her words, although he rallied well. “They are a danger. Their father might be a usurper, but he is still the king, and their claim is true to his supporters.”

“Trust me to keep them from that,” Tora pleaded with him. Her brothers were one of her few true joys, and she would give anything to keep them safe. “Please, Rhaes.”

It was the first time she had spoken his name. She wished it was a kinder moment, but savored it anyway.

He hesitated, battling against the vengeance set so deeply in his bones that it defined him, and the soulmate he risked everything to see, if only for a few stolen moments. Tora wished this conversation could wait, at least until they knew each other a little more. She was asking a great deal from a man who, despite their connection, knew her not at all.

“Only for you,” he agreed at last, and she breathed an almost-silent sigh of relief. “You can keep them from rising against me?”

“Their mother would gladly trade a blood-oath of loyalty for their lives,” Tora promised quickly and held tight to his hand. Their dance was ending soon, and she tried to think of a way to steal just a few more minutes together. Help came in the form of a particularly combative old duke who, despite his difficulties, was one of Halad’s strongest supporters. The king would be tangled up with him until he managed to foist the old man off on someone else. “When this dance ends, follow me.”

The music came to a close, and Tora pulled her soulmate into a secluded corner and a beautifully draped tapestry. Clever building made the corner nearly invisible to the ballroom, which was convenient to anyone using the secret door hidden behind the heavy woven fabric.

Rhaes went along, willing, but surprised. This was not the castle of his own childhood, and its’ secrets were new to him. Not so to her, who grew up the unwanted daughter, barely supervised until she was old enough for a chaperone to be necessary.

The passages she found in the stone walls were, as far as she knew, her domain and hers alone. Rarely used, they were nonetheless a quick way to escape from almost anywhere in the castle.

That they also brought a few precious moments of privacy was a blessing.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Rhaes pulled her into his arms desperately. Tora clung to him, and almost felt the moment their hearts began to beat in unison, one of the earliest marks of an accepted soulbond.

“Say the word and I will take you from this place,” he whispered as she pressed her face into his shoulder and tangled her fingers in his hair. “We can find somewhere- anywhere- I have allies who would hide you if I asked.”

“I have to stay,” Tora said, and held on tighter despite herself. By rights, a bond started the moment the Words were spoken, but the bond took time to develop, even when neither party was fighting it. The longer they could be together, the sooner the bond would settle and ease the distance between them. “How do I help you? What can I do?”

“I can’t ask you to fight against your own father,” he said reluctantly. “My enemy he may be, but he remains your father.”

“Yes,” Tora admitted, and smiled sadly even as she brushed his hair out of his eyes, and carefully unfastened his mask. He closed his eyes under her careful touch. “But give me my brothers, and I will help you overthrow him with no regret in my heart.”

He freed her own mask and set it aside before cupping her face with one hand. His eyes were very serious in the half-dark of the dusty tunnel “It will be dangerous.”

“Defying him is no more dangerous than being Bonded to his greatest enemy,” Tora pointed out, surprised at her own daring, but determined. Sooner or later, her father would find out that she was Soulmated to Rhaes, and she was not foolish enough to believe he would spare her once he knew. “How do I help?”

“I always knew you would be brave,” he murmured, and rather than answer, leaned down to steal a kiss that promised much more when they finally had more than a stolen moment together. “From the first moment when my knife was at your throat and you barely skipped a breath, and then you were saying my Words and all I could think was how close I came to losing you at my own hand.”

Tora held onto him for all she was worth. In a moment she would have to return to the ball, and he would have to go, but this one moment was theirs and theirs alone.

“Tell me how I can reach you,” she said, and pulled him down to take a daring kiss for herself even as she pressed this memory into her mind to cherish while they were apart. “Until he has a reason to notice me, I am invisible, and more than that, I am meant to be here. I can find things out that no one else possibly could.”

“I knew you would be brave,” he repeated, and pressed their foreheads together. “Write to Prince Tallast of Jaeg’lor. He is my closest friend and strongest ally, and he will make sure your letters get to me.”

“I will,” Tora promised, and kissed him once more, already preparing herself for their parting. “I have to go, and so do you. Take the left passage, and then the first right, all the way to the end. It leads out of the castle… or back in. Promise me you will be safe?”

“As safe as I am able,” Rhaes promised, and looked down the dark tunnel, repeating her instructions soundlessly before bringing his gaze back to her. “Be careful, my Princaessa. I will come to you again as soon as I can.”

With that he was gone into the shadowy tunnels, boots quiet on the stone.

Tora carefully tied her mask back onto place, and forced her fear for him into a small, hard knot in her stomach where she could pretend it wasn’t there.

And then she stepped back through the hidden door, a perfect smile on her lips, even as she made a plan to steal the throne out from under her own father.

+++

Written on Skin:

First Words Spoken

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[effieworldwide]

Winner Spotlight: “Vodafone Sakhi” by Vodafone India & Ogilvy India

September 12, 2019

2019 APAC Effie Awards GRAND EFFIE

All images and videos courtesy of Vodafone & Ogilvy India.

In 2017, a sinister new form of sexual harassment emerged in parts of India: local mobile phone retailers were caught selling their female customers’ phone numbers to predatory men – often for less than a dollar – subjecting victims to lewd messages at all hours within their own homes.

In response, Vodafone (India’s second-largest telecom provider) and agency partner Ogilvy India developed a free service, “Vodafone Sakhi,” which generated decoy phone numbers to safeguard women from predators. In addition to keeping women safe, Vodafone earned customers’ trust and loyalty in a challenging category.

“Vodafone Sakhi” earned the Grand Effie at the 2019 APAC Effie Awards competition, plus seven Effies across the 2019 Effie Awards India and APAC competitions (see below for the full list). Vodafone has also been ranked among the Effie Index’s Top 5 Most Effective Brands globally since 2013.

We asked Hirol Gandhi, EVP & Integrated National Head of Team Vodafone, and Kiran Antony, CCO, Ogilvy South & Team Vodafone at Ogilvy India about their effective case below.

Effie: What were your objectives for “Vodafone Sakhi”?

HG & KA: In 2017, mobile phones went from being a tool of empowerment to a channel of harassment. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India records a crime against woman every 1.7 minutes. In Uttar Pradesh (UP), women’s privacy and safety was under threat from a new front - a government helpline for women in UP received over 500,000 complaints from women about being harassed by unknown men via their mobile phone.

This was being facilitated by a bizarre new scheme: Prepaid phone subscribers had to share their phone numbers with neighborhood retailers to top-up their calling cards, and journalists uncovered several unscrupulous retailers in Uttar Pradesh selling the mobile numbers of their women customers. Numbers were valued based on their appearance; an ‘attractive’ woman’s number could fetch close to Rs. 500, while an ‘ordinary’ looking woman’s number would fetch Rs. 50. These victims were subjected to lewd messages and calls at unearthly hours.

Women in UP now had to be wary of unwanted attention in the privacy of their own homes, leading to declining usage of mobile phones.

Our objective was to grow share and usage in an underpenetrated segment - women subscribers in one state of India, Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Project Grow for Good: Vodafone needed to make more women in UP feel confident about using their mobile phones more frequently, leading to a higher ARPU (average revenue per user). To accomplish this, we set ourselves the following objectives:

Increase Vodafone’s acquisition of new women subscribers in UP.

Increase usage amongst women subscribers of Vodafone in UP

Increase average revenue per user amongst women subscribers of Vodafone in UP.

Increase retention of women subscribers of Vodafone in UP.

Effie: What was the strategic insight that led to your big idea?

HG & KA: The fundamental problem: In order to continue using their phones, women had to share their numbers with men they couldn’t entirely trust – for Prepaid calling card recharges, they had to share their phone number with retailers.

An advertising campaign was not going to help solve the problem.

To overcome this problem, we drew inspiration from a tried and tested tactic that women used to avoid sharing their number with undesirable men.

Women in urban India give out fake numbers to avoid sharing their real numbers with people they don’t trust. They sometimes switch the last two digits around or provide entirely fake numbers. This provided us with an elegant and workable solution.

Strategic Approach: Enable Vodafone women subscribers to give retailers they didn’t trust a fake number, to recharge their real number.

Effie: How did you bring the campaign to life?

HG & KA: A woman’s best friend in a man’s world The emphasis of our new service was on making women self-reliant. We wanted our offering to evoke a feeling of familiarity and trust amongst women. We named the service “Sakhi” which literally translates to “close female friend” in Hindi.

Vodafone Sakhi – A friend that helped safeguard women’s privacy While we had developed a solution, communicating it was another problem entirely. Traditional mass media such as radio and television would result in massive spillover, as it would also reach men. Vodafone also ran the risk of painting honest retailers with the same brush as unscrupulous retailers who were trafficking women’s numbers.

A service for women, propagated by women, at women-only touchpoints We created a communications ecosystem comprised of only women to promote Vodafone Sakhi. From explaining the service, to enrolling women, to verifying subscribers – every step was carried out by women. To ensure zero spillover, we used three women-only touchpoints:

Primary Health Camps: We enlisted women health workers at primary health camps, which women usually attended only with their friends or their female family members.

Women’s colleges: Safety sessions were conducted for students after classes, where students were taught how to activate the service.

Activation instructions in wrapping paper: We provided jewelry stores and women’s clothing stores with branded wrapping paper which contained instructions on how to activate the service.

To enroll non-Vodafone customers onto the service, we created a special Vodafone Sakhi information pack. Teams of female promoters were used to promote this pack at the touchpoints.

Effie: What was the greatest challenge you faced when creating “Vodafone Sakhi,” and how did you navigate it?

HG & KA: Developing a solution that would work for smartphone and featurephone customers alike, given the limited penetration of smartphones amongst women subscribers.

We put forth the question – Would it be possible to credit prepaid calling card recharges using an alternative 10-digit number that was mapped to a woman’s original cell number? 

This would allow women to continue with their existing recharge behavior without compromising their privacy. The product team responded with a simple and effective solution.

Product Innovation: An industry first service that combined the convenience of the neighboring retailer while assuring complete privacy via a proxy number

To maintain anonymity, we created a system wherein a machine-generated proxy 10-digit number could be delivered to individual phones. The request for this number could be generated by sending an SMS (Private to 12604), to ensure that feature phone users and smartphone users alike could avail the service. Women could give this number to the retailer and specify the amount they wanted to recharge while protecting their privacy.

This service could be activated via a missed call from any number. Once Vodafone Sakhi was activated, Vodafone call centres sent out a verification call to authenticate that the number was owned by a woman, to prevent misuse.

Effie: How did you know the work worked? What was the most significant result of the campaign?

HG & KA: 

1. Women on Vodafone Sakhi showed a higher usage on both voice and data. 2. There was an increase in APRU amongst Vodafone Sakhi subscribers. 3. Churn amongst Vodafone Sakhi subscribers was reduced.

Effie: What were the biggest learnings you took away from this effort?

HG & KA: Creating inclusive innovation The usage and penetration of mobile internet is limited amongst women subscribers in India. Creating a solution that used SMS, instead of a mobile internet-based solution, helped increase the adoption of the service amongst smartphone and feature phone (mobile phones without internet) users.

Building communication ecosystems composed entirely of women Women-only communication touchpoints helped create safe spaces where women could talk about the issue at hand with other women who faced a similar problem. Partnering with women influencers and promoters helped Vodafone demonstrate a greater level of empathy for the problem and added to the solution being offered.  

Building on existing behavior With Vodafone Sakhi, women didn’t have to change their existing behaviour. Because they could recharge at the same retailer without revealing their number, there was little hesitation around adopting the service.

***

Hirol Gandhi is Executive Vice President and Integrated National Head of Team Vodafone, Ogilvy India Avid biker, cricket player & enthusiast, and die-hard F1 fan.

Hirol Gandhi happens to share his last name with the great Mahatma. And that adds a lot of weight on his shoulders. He started with Trikaya Grey in 1998. As a part of his first assignment, he made colour televisions accessible to millions of households in India with Akai. After a brief stint at Contract, Hirol joined Ogilvy at the start of the new millennium. He spent his first 6 years urging Indians to dip only Parle Biscuits in their tea. The next 3 years were devoted to showing India how to celebrate joyous occasions with Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, instead of Mithai (Ironic, given his fondness for Indian sweets). Eager for new challenges, he spent the next 6 years consolidating the market leader position for Unilever tea portfolio, Bajaj Motorcycles and SBI Life insurance. In the last five years, he has dedicated himself to making Vodafone, the most loved telecom brand in India.

Hirol is a hardcore cricket fan and is hoping that India will win the next T20 cricket world cup. This to him would be a fitting farewell for India’s best ever captain – ‘Mahendra Singh Dhoni’. Even though cricket is his first love, most of his weekends are spent watching F1 races, when there is no crisis that needs to be averted.

Kiran Antony, CCO, Ogilvy South and Team Vodafone, Ogilvy India

Kiran Antony joined Ogilvy as an intern way back in 2001 and shortly after that began working on Orange/Hutch. He has been an integral part of all major campaigns on Hutch/Vodafone over the years. In 2004, he moved to Ogilvy Bangalore to work under V Mahesh (late) and Rajiv Rao who were the creative heads leading Ogilvy South at the time. Other than Vodafone, he has also worked on brands like Ceat, Bru, Federal Bank, Mid-Day, Star Sports.com, Akanksha Foundation, Poker Stars, Lenovo, Future Group, Vedanta, Al Jazeera, L&T to name a few. 

Kiran is also the recipient of several national/international awards at Cannes, CLIO, London International Awards, Kyoorius and the Creative ABBY Awards. 

Awards earned by “Vodafone Sakhi”:

2019 APAC Effie Awards: GRAND EFFIE GOLD – IT/Telco SILVER – Positive Change: Social Good – Brands BRONZE – Branded Utility

2019 Effie Awards India: GOLD – Small Town & Rural Marketing GOLD – Direct Marketing SILVER – Positive Change: Social Good – Brands BRONZE – Services – Telecom

Read more Winner Spotlight interviews >

Read more posts from APAC Effie >

[smokyrie]

diamond on a landmine 5/?

Her gaze was one of adoration towards her lesser Diamonds, a separate and diseased look that suggested she found much more fun in terrorizing their lives slowly than immediately hurting them in other ways. Leading them, leading subjects into situations that would play out in front of her in a quiet entertainment suggested she watched far more than she should and was one of the few things that shuddered Yellow's light.

The drastic upturn in their relationship was echoed in Yellow's work, as for the first time in a long time she herself decided to attend her battlefields. In the success, she found herself longing for the days so long ago that she'd seen entire planets overturned under her armies' feet. It was so strange to her servants, who hadn't been commanded to prepare for leave in such a long time, so strange that she'd had to give her order twice. That was already a black mark that made everyone else skitter away quickly, wanting not her sometimes unbearable irritation and the results thereof.

Unfortunately, the news drew White Diamond closer, and Blue had barely the time or the ability to warn her before their leader decided to give Yellow a graced visit. Her face fell as she closed the communication, Blue's voice echoing dully in the air. This was never a delightful visit in her case, her reclusive nature a pet peeve of White's. It had been a few weeks since she'd seen Blue for more than short-lived visits, and they never seemed like they were enough for either of them.

When the doors opened and she heard the click of those shoes, she didn't draw her eyes up from her work. Only when White's hands touched her desk did she bother to acknowledge her. “Yellow,” she said, a hand rising to stroke her hair, “What's this about... A visit to the front lines? Are you honestly considering this? It's... Very out of character.”

Out of character? She grimaced. Had it really been that long? “It shouldn't be out of character but expected of me to serve my people,” said Yellow, bored as she drew her eyes up to White. Neither said anything for a while, until White let go of her. She hated the way the other felt she could do as she pleased to the both of them, Blue and herself. “What, I must ask to do my work?”

“I never said that. However, it is very strange. Does this have to do with your recent visits to Blue?”

Yellow leaned back and White smiled, sitting down in one of the chairs facing her. Folding her legs, her hands followed suit upon her thighs and Yellow felt as though she were about to begin to walk the paved road to hell, the guide too pure to be believed as such. Of course she'd know about that, Blue wrapped around her fingertips like a doll. Perhaps it was her fault, but Yellow couldn't stand her voice let alone her touch. It was something Blue dealt with herself, as Yellow remained in her own palaces without guilt or hesitation.

“I didn't know my life had reached your ever-listening ears, White. I suppose I should have expected as such. Were I to tell you no, you would not believe me regardless. So, let's continue this conversation based on 'yes', because my words are meaningless anyways...”

“Perhaps I am open to listening to you, but you are correct in one thing: as to Blue, everything you say is meaningless to me. I am far older than you, and have seen more than my fair share of trysts.” from a sleeve, she drew a data pad and tossed it idly upon Yellow's desk. She hesitated at taking the thing, fingertips drawing across the metal until she did so. Turning it on, the machine interfaced with her desk and she leaned back. Immediately a full profile of herself began to run through the holographic screen. “But I am surprised at your forward thinking. Maybe I am curious as to how your chasing her has affected your performance. What, do you intend to give your winnings to her? Much more dignified than the sacrifice of lesser gems, from eons ago.”

She shut her eyes and leaned back in her own chair, fingers rubbing her temples before she'd simply pinched the bridge of her nose. It wasn't pleasant, the knowledge that her activities had been logged. Blue knew how to command a conversation and she knew that whatever drawn out of her was to be chaste, changing the subject entirely. Opening her eyes after a while's thought, she chose her words carefully. There was no winning with this woman, man, whatever she happened to be; Thankfully she didn't have to guess, defaulting to 'she', for her frame was covered in robes. Always so elegant, Yellow wondered if she'd ever had a bad day in her life by the way she looked. However, that innate disgust reminded her that she certainly had.

“I believe that the present and future are what matters. If I have to drag Blue kicking and screaming from the hellish grief she has thrown herself into with full intent, I'll do it. If I can do something about the decline of our empire before we're a laughingstock to the universe, I'll do it. I am only doing what is right.”

“What is right, or what is convenient?”

“Convenience implies I work not for my accomplishments, taking the easy way out. I assure you I have been clawing through the star charts looking for answers, and want nothing more than to assess my troops. I want to see what is working, what is not, and what we need most. Whether or not I visit her matters not in the grand scheme of things.”

A smile curled on White's face. “I have missed your aggressive neutrality towards me. It's quite the difference from absolute silence.”

Yellow was surprised at the footage that began to play once the scrolling was over, eyes narrowing considerably when she witnessed herself attacked by Blue, and a brief audio of what came next. Throughout it, White kept still and calm, just as she always was. What a mess, something that sent her into a rage barely concealed behind her royal exterior. She wouldn't let White have this to laugh about, gritting her teeth. “You promised privacy except in the case of true emergency. How long have you been watching? Do I need to find those cameras, smash them in my hands?”

“I only wanted to be sure of the truth towards your visits. Besides, I am your Supreme Leader,” she said, voice dripping into a dark warning. “And I can do exactly as I please, in the care given to my trusted, devoted, lesser Diamonds. Besides,” she laughed, the darkness in her eyes fading away. “I do enjoy it so, when the both of you tolerate each other...”

“My life is not your entertainment.”

“I'll have to visit you more,” said White, who leaned forward to give her such a profiling gaze. “You need socialization. A pity, Yellow; You are devoted but disobedient to me. Why is this? I have given you everything, as your creator. I have even allowed you space in your difficult times, hoping and praying that you both find some way to move past your horrors. Yet, you are no closer to me...”

When their eyes connected, she could feel that familiar power, that coaxing that was hard to draw away from. Though she practically left Blue to her own misery under White, Yellow refused to fall for her cursed arms. Their history, all of them, it read like a horror but the desperation of a post-apocalyptic scenario. They had been through this millions of times, and nothing good came of it. Their complicated interpersonal problems left much to be desired in times of need, finding only silence and servants bound by bloody, threatened rule.

She thought about Blue and it felt distorted again, her image. Yellow could only see white, territorial arms curling about their bodies. Her claws sunk in hard but her gaze was one of adoration, a separate and diseased look that suggested she found much more fun in terrorizing their lives slowly than immediately hurting them in other ways. Leading them, leading subjects into situations that would play out in front of her in a quiet entertainment that suggested she watched far more than she should was one of the few things that shuddered her light. Yellow wasn't one to question what White actually did with her time, but she and Blue both felt familiar unease.

“Pink Diamond was very pretty, but gone too soon.”

This snapped her out of her thought, giving White a long-suffering look. Her face didn't change, implying either disrespect or forced calm. Either way, she didn't like it. “Do we have to do this?”

“We can go on pretending that things are fine, forcing me to monitor the both of you as though I were a parent. I truly wish to spend my time doing anything else, anything else than watching her cry and you throw out yet another guard for breathing incorrectly! But it can be entertaining, regardless of how disappointing your lives have become. If you wish to go, you may. But go with clear mind and conscience, as you will be at the front of conquest; These are jaded women, obviously. I fear you forget your role during this troubled time. So yes, I shall repeat myself...”

Yellow cringed a little, and hoped it wasn't noticeable.

“Pink Diamond was very pretty, but gone too soon. I think it's wonderful that you both are connecting again, but I implore you to act as a grown, mature Diamond should. I want no distractions, if you truly are devoting yourself, finally, to your work. I am so fatigued of dealing with what you two should be.”

Yellow scoffed, literally smacking a fist on the power pad, the screens turning off. “I thought you enjoyed your role as alpha dog and megalomaniac?” she asked, sarcastically.

“Do not disappoint me.”

Even the air felt weird as she ignored Yellow's comment, standing from the chair she sat in. They didn't need to breathe but she needed to exhale without White there. Her hair, luxurious and held back with pins, almost swished in the air as she turned. So fluffy, sharp with points, it moved in the air as she walked. The doors were opened hastily as she exited, ornate clothing dragging behind her as she left. That delightful, missed clang of the doors led to Yellow's slump onto her desk. Her cheek squished against the smooth surface, her Pearl rushing over immediately as another knock came forth.

“Tell her she can stimulate her social gland elsewhere, for I am entirely exhausted of stalker behavior and carefully crafted threats. I --”

“My Diamond, the visitor is...”

The left door opened and Blue slipped inside, minutes later. It was clear that she'd waited until White had left by warp, laughing echoed in the hallway. She had a concerned look, shutting it behind her. She waved away their servants, wishing for privacy. Hands folded in front of her, she scuttled forward to Yellow's desk. The warrior didn't look up for a moment, hoping that it wasn't just another repeat performance. A blue hand came down to begin stroking her hair, Yellow slowly drawing up to look at her. Oh, she was so relieved! She took her long-sleeved arm, kissing her hand as her eyes shut again.

They didn't have to speak, knowing too well what those visits were like and what they could turn into. But Blue pulled her up, Yellow's eyebrows raising in question once she'd stood up fully. She let go of the other, her slim hands traveling up her chest. “You are to travel,” she said, almost excitedly. “Another adventure, the reclusive knight pulling from her silence to rally her troops...”

“I simply long for... More exciting work, I suppose.”

“But it means that we will be separated.”

Each Diamond had their set work, and Blue's court was far less violent than Yellow's own. But it did draw a laugh that made Blue quite confused, tilting her head in question. Cupping Blue's face in her hands, she smiled slowly, pressing their foreheads together. She was so confused but accepted the touch, her hands still from force to keep the telltale shake from affecting this moment when they'd risen to touch Yellow's own. Sighing, her hands slid down to rest on Blue's hips.

“Do you wish to accompany me?” asked Yellow, but hesitantly. Blue was sensitive, empathic towards issues of violence. It was difficult to press her to war, but she loved her empire enough to do what was necessary when the times came. “The idea of it... Working together, Blue, it reminds me --”

“'Of the days when you both cared of things other than yourselves',” mocked Blue quietly, of White Diamond. This drew a still from Yellow, before a smile curled on her face and Blue let her go, hands drawing to her mouth to laugh quietly. “I will go, if only to cease her voice filling my halls like an auditory plague. Yellow, I wish to see your progress. With my help, perhaps... Perhaps we can do as you were saying. Our combined power would do nothing but good, so long as we continue to... Play nicely.”

“I want nothing more,” said Yellow almost too quickly, which led to Blue putting a finger upon her lips. Hand lowering after, she leaned upwards to press a kiss there, which was returned after the brief shock Yellow knew would go away once they had been together for longer... If it was meant to be, this time. They both were horrible pessimists but perhaps they could find a way to accept the cup half empty or half full, the relationship on an easy curve to the wrong places if they slipped just a bit. Pulling back, Blue nodded.

“I will pull together what I need. Ah, I used to find the planning of such long outings so abysmally boring, tedious... But this will be something I shall find excitement in.”

“If it keeps you from your ocean of tears, I'd be happy to let your procession walk alongside mine if only for the sake of our sanity.” She stroked Blue's face for a moment before letting go. “When... Shall I see you again? For this must be planned perfectly before we set foot upon any craft.”

“Privately, or for work-related reasons?”

The shrewd woman! Yellow rolled her eyes, letting any air of lust or laughter fade away. “Tsk, Blue... You know yourself that I would see you, regardless, so long as you and I are not sitting in absolute, wordless silence. You know how much I hate that.”

“I'll call for you if you attend court seven cycles in a row,” promised Blue. “But you must do so. After all, we must at least look as though we are serious in our roles. White will want nothing less, of course. I will be far too busy, and will look forward to that time as I draw my work to a close. Please, try not to disappoint me,” she teased. At least she was nicer about this than White was, unable to shake that black void and White's arms from her mind.

Expectations set forth, she turned, beginning to walk away from not only Yellow's grasp but her sight, too. “I want to believe this will be different,” said Yellow. “I did not and do not enjoy the games we've all navigated through, like an unplanned mine field.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” quipped Blue, before the large doors shut. It was far too silent again, Yellow left only with the warning White had tossed upon her desk. They were being watched, and it was up to them to do something about it. They needed to be leaders, regardless of their interpersonal relationships. But if it came with such... Perks, Yellow would never complain. Returning to her work, she had a long pilgrimage to plan, especially with the tiring headache that was coordination with the Blue Court. Though she would enjoy the time spent with her, this trip meant much more than that. She had to be a leader, and Yellow was fully intent on reminding her of that.

1|2|3|4|5

[beautiful-liu]

Chapter 16 - Remember me - Kryber

Title: Remember me

Pairing: Kryber [Amber Liu x Krystal Jung] Fandom: f(x) Genre: Drama, romance

Summary: The bad ass androgynous girl Amber Josephine Liu with a sex, drugs and rock-‘n-roll attitude whom everybody seemed to fear and admire at the same time, with the flash of a smug smile on her handsome face, and a sigaret or lolly pop in her mouth, depending on her mood. A leather jacket always hugging her shoulders, ripped jeans and a loose tank top that displayed just a tiny bit of her sports bra when she lifted her tattoo-filled arms. Everyone was weak for Amber Liu. Krystal simply didn’t see it. Until that one night she accidentally met her, and met a whole other person than the stories she had been made to believe. Word count: 4300 Rating: T A/N: Excuse the grammar mistakes. This is my first time writing a multi chaptered fic. Hope y'all enjoy the progress!

Read it on: AO3 & asianfanfics

Moodboard: x

They had to stop because they were out of breath. Krystal's body shook like she had just ridden out an orgasm and she had to be supported by Amber although the other girl didn't seem to be at the top of her strengths too. They let their foreheads rest against each other, looking down whilst trying to get their breathing under control again. After a few moments, Amber lifted her head up a few inches, so she could look at her. "Come with me tonight." Her voice sounded hoarse and willingly, wanting, full of desire, but there was a hint of smallness in it too, like she was being an 18-year-old again, waiting for Krystal's approval. "Kai...-" she started, but then the most genius plan erupted in her head. A smile covered her face and she quickly pecked Amber's lips. "Forget what I said, just follow my lead." Amber frowned her eyebrows weirdly when Krystal grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the restrooms. Had it been five minutes since they had left? Or ten? Krystal didn’t know, but when she returned, she saw that Kai’s glass was empty – and her’s too – and that he was playing rather bored on his phone. Hay Day, she thought with a sigh. It had kept her up all night a couple of days ago because he kept getting messages that his cows needed to be milked. When Kai noticed them coming – Krystal quickly let Amber’s hand go and tried to distance herself from the other woman – he looked up and smiled weakly. “Hello dear,” Krystal greeted. She kissed him on the cheek and sat down next to her fiancé. Amber sat down in front of them on the other couch, a frown on her face and her shoulders tensed. Krystal shot Amber a gaze and smiled, causing Amber to frown even deeper. Maybe it was a little mean to kiss Kai in front of her, but hadn’t she done the same with Luna all night? Because of the kiss, Krystal immediately felt a lot happier. This time, she started the conversation, with Amber. She asked about her life, how it was now, what she was up to, if she still lived in the same crappy apartment. Amber started to talk, mostly to her, and described how she now was hired as a manager and song writer at SM Entertainment. Writing songs for Luna, Red Velvet and EXO, she had managed to get a rather good reputation and the label had awarded her with a good penthouse in LA. Since Amber mostly worked from the United States – visiting Korea often – she was mostly here and send in her lyrics. Krystal listened to her with an open mouth, often sighing at the idea of a job she utterly liked. Amber seemed to have it all, once again, and she couldn’t help to be a little bit jealous that she seemed to be so happy without Krystal in her life, whilst she had to drag herself out of bed every day that she shared with a man she didn’t love to go to a job she didn’t like. An hour passed and it was now 1.30 AM. Kai had given up to try to nod along to Amber’s stories and was now playing on his phone the whole time. Eventually, when there was a little pause in Amber’s talking, he sat up straight, putting on a bright smile that Krystal knew was faker than the breast implants most women at the inauguration party had here, and turned towards her. “Sweetie, isn’t it time to get home? I can call a driver-“ “I think I’ll stay. You go ahead!” Krystal immediately interrupted him. Kai’s eyebrows shot up confusedly. Even though she didn’t love him, he still knew a great deal about her and he knew that Krystal despised parties and loved to get out as soon as possible. “Then how-how will you get home?” he asked worriedly. Before Krystal could answer, Amber did. “Well she’s a grown woman, ain’t she?” Amber chuckled. “She can take care of herself.” “Maybe I can drive along with Amber?” Krystal suggested. She immediately looked in Amber’s direction and caught a glimpse of her gaze. Amber’s eyes had darkened a bit, and her smug smile had grown wider. Krystal smiled sweetly, hoping that Amber knew the hint she was trying to give her. If only Kai would say yes. But he frowned his eyebrows and cleared his throat. “But she has drunk a great deal too,” he said stubbornly, with a voice that was a bit deeper than his own. “Well, I can call for a taxi, can’t I?” said Amber. Kai looked from left to right, from the troublemaker to his fiancé. He knew he was obliged to say yes, even though it was obvious he didn’t like it a single bit to leave Krystal behind with a woman who he secretly was rather scared of. “I guess I’ll see you at home then,” Kai muttered. He stood up, wiped the dust from his suit, bowed down to kiss Krystal’s forehead and smiled weakly to Amber. “Don’t worry to much, I’ll be home before you know it. Don’t wait up for me, though, just go to sleep.” That made Kai frown even more, but eventually sighed and nodded. He looked at both of them for another few seconds, before he said his greetings and left Amber and Krystal. They waited until they knew Kai was out of the building before they left too. Giggling like school girls who just got away with bashing the principal's car, they ran hand in hand out of the building, leaving the faint music, the alcohol, the people they both dispised and Jung Internationals behind them. They got their coats quickly and walked outside. It didn't take long before they had found a taxi. "Your place?" asked Krystal. Amber nodded immediately. "Wouldn't want Kai to join us, would you?" she smirked, before telling the taxi driver the adress. Krystal didn't recognize the address, meaning it wasn't close to her own place. Good, she thought. She didn't want to be reminded when she was there that Kai could be only a few blocks away. How do lovers pass the time in the backseat of a taxi at 2 AM at night? Kissing, of course. It took them only five minutes before they asked the driver if the partition between the two front steats and the backseat could be up so that they could have a little privacy. Knowing better than to argue with two half-drunk adults, the driver immediately pulled it up. It only took a moment before Amber was on her and Krystal loved every part of it. With her back pressed agianst the car window, her legs spread a little and Amber in between they kissed until they were short of breath. They were deep and full of passion, as if they win back the kisses they hadn't been able to share in those eight years. Her fingers were intertwined with Amber's hair to keep her close. Their lips upon each other was the best thing she had felt in a long time and she could not understand how she ever could've been so stupid to break up with her. It took half an hour to get at Amber's building. Krystal paid the driver with her credit card, even though Amber obliged. The taxi still had to drive away when they almost ran into the building, trying to get upstairs as soon as possible. Krystal couldn't recall that she had ever been so excited, especially if you remembered that she was cheating on her fiancé and didn't even care. Kai simply had never been able to stir so much inside her all at once and it felt so damn good to relive them again. Krystal didn't have time to admire how good the entrance hall already looked, nor the elevator. It only took the machine a few seconds to bring them upstairs, but that was too long for Amber not to push her lips upon Krystal's. For the change, she had pushed the troublemaker against the wall and kissed her smiling lips when they heard the soft 'ping' before the elevator doors slid open. Amber grabbed Krystal's hand and dragged her out of the elevator. There was a small corridor that led towards the only frontdoor on this level. Next to the door hung a small sign with the number "39" on it and Amber's name together with a bell. They quickly made their way through the corridor, sometimes not being able to help themselves to slow down a bit to press a kiss upon each other's lips. Amber took out her key and kicked the door open. The lights in the apartment had been shut off, causing them to be swallowed by the darkness as soon as the front door fell shut behind them. The thing that made sure Krystal didn't immediately trip over her own feet was the light that the moon cast through the wall-sized windows on one side of the penthouse. Her back hit the wall of the hall, right next to the small table on which she threw her keys. Amber pressed her body immediately to hers and pinned her arms above her head, making sure she was not able to move. As if she would wanted that. Amber's face was already close, the huge, smug grin decorating her face because she knew she would get her way tonight no matter what. And Krystal smiled back, for the exact same reason. They had both longed for this for a long time and nothing or no one would stop them now. The big advantage of wearing a dress was that your partner has easy access, especiall when it was a topless dress. That meant there was no bra involved. How convenient. They tried to make it to the bed before their hormones took over their bodies and made their minds shut off, but they were too slow. Or their hormones were too fast. Krystal got her first orgasm against the wall of the livingroom, with her dress skirted up over her hips, still on her heels and her panty down on her ankles. Amber didn't even have to use her mouth, her fingers and her lips in her neck were enough. When it ripped through her body, the only thing she could think of was how Kai had never made her feel like this. No one had, except for Amber. And she hadn't even fully started yet; this was just a warm-up. They tried for the second time make it to the bedroom, but they ended up on Amber's lounge sofa. With Krystal's head between her thighs, her nails digging into her flesh, her head thrown back and her fingers entangled with Krystal's hair, the Amber rid out her first orgasm as well. With both of them satisfied at least for a little bit, this time they found the bedroom. The two of them fell in a giggling mess onto the kingsize bed. Amber immediately zipped down her dress, taking it slowly off of her and throwing it carelessly somewhere in the room. With no bra and her panties somewhere in the livingroom, she immediately was completely naked, causing Amber to immediately start kissing her breasts. Krystal laid down on her back, with her eyes closed and her fingers intertwined with Amber's whilst she let the other girl twirl her tongue around her already hardened nipples. When she tried to move down, Krystal stopped her. Confusedly, Amber looked up. Her lips were wettened already. "It's not fair that I'm here naked and you are not," she whined, causing the other girl to burst out in a laugh. Krystal wrapped her legs around Amber's middle and with a quick movement made sure that Amber was now lying on her back and Krystal was on top. "Have you learnt some new tricks?" chuckled Amber. Krystal bowed down and placed a long kiss upon her mouth. "Even if I had, I am not going to tell you," she said. Krystal gave her a wink. Amber grinned and rolled her eyes. Krystal started on her blouse, buttoning it down until there were only two buttons left. She ripped the last two, making Amber chuckle again. Quickly she took it off, together with her jeans that still hung loosely around her hips. It had been taken too long to take it off in the living room, so they had just pulled it down until there was enough space for Krystal to do her job. It only took her a moment before she had taken Amber's sports bra and boxer shorts off too. Her eyes dwelled off over her body, taking in every inch, every curve that wat Amber's. Had her breasts grown a bit? Her abs at least hadn't dissapeared, nor her slightly visiable v line. "Stop staring," chuckled Amber eventually. Krystal snapped out of her daze and shot her a smile. "What, does it make you nervous?" she asked sweetly. "Of course not. I'm just eager to start," Amber grinned. Krystal rolled her eyes. She had hoped for a second that she might've discovered another of Amber's weaknesses, but clearly that thought had been in vain. There was very little that was able to affect Amber and she had only seen one weakness thus far yet: the day Krystal had broken up with her, Amber had been devastated. Amber placed her hand in Krystal's neck, roughly pulling her down for another kiss. Krystal could only chuckle and Amber's need for her. It only took a second before their tongues found each other too, deepening the kiss with desire. They rolled over, causing Amber to be the top again. She brought her face close to her ear. Her breath made goosebumps appear all over body. "It's your turn, Princess." It was 3.30 AM when they finally laid next to each other, their chests still rising quickly trying to get their breathing under control. Drips of sweat were covering their bodies. Krystal let the tip of her finger trail circles around the sore spots in her neck and on her breasts. "Does it hurt?" asked Amber her. Krystal turned her head and smiled. "No. Does your back hurt?" Amber laughed. "No, although I'll be a bit sore tomorrow," she said. Krystal placed her hand in front of her mouth to hide her giggles and her red cheeks. "I'm sorry," she said, trying to hold in her laughter. Amber chuckled too. "Don't be sorry, I think you'll be sore tomorrow too," she answered. Krystal laughed and nodded. She moved a bit closer, pulling up the sheets all the way up to her chin even though she still was very hot. "Let's not apologize for anything when we're with each other. Everything has to be sincere, honest," she muttered. Amber moved closer too, softly placing her hand upon Krystal's cheek, carassing the skin with her thumb. "Deal," she said. Amber placed a kiss upon her lips. Krystal turned around on her side and Amber immediately got the hint: she snuggled up to her from behind and placed her arm around her waist. Krystal loved being the smaller spoon, it just made her feel so protected, as if nothing in the world could hurt her. She placed her arm over Amber's, intertwining their fingers and closing her eyes. She could feel Amber's steady breathing in her neck. Whenever Kai did that, she would push him away, or turn around so that he wouldn't anymore, but with Amber it was simply different. It made her feel even more secure, because it was a sign that she was near and that she stayed close. With Amber, she felt safer than she had ever felt. They fell asleep pretty quickly, not leaving each other's side. A couple of hours later, just before dawn, Krystal woke up, almost in panic. Heavily breathing, her eyes shot open. At first she didn't even know where she was. The room was dark, the bed was unkown and the arm around her wasn't muscled and hairy like Kai's. It was smooth and tender and the hand that was attached to it was small. Krystal slowly turned around, looking over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of the person next to her. When she saw it was Amber, she couldn't calm down. In fact, she started to breathe even faster, until a point in which she was almost hyperventilating. With shaking hands, she lifted Amber's arm that was still draped over her and laid it next to her. She could feel her pulse beating in her ears when she slowly, as quietly as possible, stepped out of bed. Krystal held her breath, not daring to make any sound. When she had safely gotten out without waking Amber up, she started to seek for her clothes. Her mind was dazed and she had trouble to remember what had happened last night and where Amber had taken off her different garments. With her hands covering her breasts and her lady parts, she hopped through the open door back to the living room. It was lit by the upcoming sun, making the room appear in a red-orange glow. It took her a moment to orientate herself, but eventually she found the spot of wall on which they had started off their evening. Krystal took her panties from the floor and sighed. Quickly she put them on, only to curse after when she remembered that she had to get back into the bedroom for her dress. Really smart, Krystal. And you're supposed to be a CEO? As silently as possible, she tip-toed back into the bedroom. Krystal immediately saw her dress, somewhere in a corner. She looked at Amber, who was still peacefully asleep. For a moment, she smiled. The sight was too adorable. Krystal knew that Amber usually woke up first, so she had never been able to see her sleep. It was really cute, because there was this constant frown on her face that made her look really concentrated, as if she was solving a diffecult maths equation in her sleep. She snapped out of her daze and took her dress. Luckily the zipper was already down, so she was able to step into it without much diffeculty. When the dress was in place, she tried to zip it back up, but it was hard to do it alone. During the struggling, she heard the sheets ruffle, but didn't pay attention to it. Perhaps she should have. "Krystal... you aren't sneaking out on me, are you?" She yelped in surprise when she heard Amber's sleepy voice through the darkness. With wide eyes, she pointed her gaze at the other woman. Amber had barely opened her eyes, but she now laid on her belly, revealing her back muscles, and watched her put on her dress. The sheets ended half past her back, around her waist. She caught herself staring for a bit. "H-how long have you been awake?" stuttered Krystal. Amber chuckled weakly. "Does that even matter? Why are you leaving, it's 5.30 AM." Krystal looked down and ran with her fingers roughly through her hair. A sigh left her lips. "Kai expects me home-" she began, but she stopped when Amber started to laugh. "C'mon, are you leaving because of Kai? You can just make up something that we were too drunk and that you decided to stay over at my place. He won't mind that," said Amber. Krystal pressed her lips together. "You don't know him." "No, but I know you." "And what is that supposed to mean?" she hissed. Amber looked a little more awake now, perhaps it was because of that cheeky grin had returned to her face. "That you don't want to go, but that your pride is nagging again. To cheat on your boyfriend is not something someone of your position is supposed to do, especially not with me, so you want to leave to make it stop." Krystal looked at her for a moment, utterly wondering why what Amber said was always right. Did she really know her or was it just so obvious? Kai had never understood her so well. "I assume out of your silence that I'm right," said the other woman. Krystal sighed and let her head fall backwards. "And so what? Is that weird?" she eventually asked. Amber shook her head. "Of course not. But it'd be unwise to leave now. Stay here, with me. Sleep. And when you still want to go first thing in the morning, I'll drive you home myself. You'll feel better then." "Can you promise?" "What?" "Can you promise me I'll be fine?" asked Krystal softly. Her lower lip had already started to shake but she didn't want Amber to see. She had trouble to blink her tears away. Amber chuckled. "You know, you're probably the person that is least likely to be okay in the morning because you simply overthink everything. But I promise that I'll be there for you, so that you're not alone." Krystal looked down to the ground whilst she thought, weighing the concequences. Half past, she stopped, realizing that perhaps she did overthink everything. Would it matter if she came home the next morning with a pretty white lie? Was Kai smart enough to figure out Amber and she were more than just old friends? Did he even consider the option that she might've slept with her as well? If she went home now, she could avoid a nasty conversation if he found out. Krystal wasn't good at laughing things off, like Amber was. As soon as he would guess the right thing, she'd have to admit to it. But on the other hand, Kai wasn't a jealous person. Or smart. He wouldn't mind. And even if he would, would she mind? It was her life. And she wanted to stay. "Can I borrow one of your shirts?" she asked shyly. Amber smiled welcoming and nodded. "Just take one out of the closet," replied Amber. Krystal nodded. She walked up to the big black closet, almost invisible in the darkness of the room. Opening it up, she took the first thing she saw and held it up to Amber. "Is this one okay?" she asked. Amber nodded. It was a black t-shirt with small lightnings. Krystal turned her back towards the bed, reached for the zipper and pulled it down again. The dress fell from her body back onto the ground and she quickly put on Amber's t-shirt. Even though it was clean, it still smelled like her. It calmed her quickly beating heart a bit. Amber hadn't taken her eyes off of Krystal, not even when she had turned around to change clothes. Normally, it would make her feel really self-concious, as if she had just eaten spinach and had to do a photoshoot with little pieces of green leaves between her teeth. Amber's gaze only soothed her more, because it was so soft and admiring that she simply couldn't think of it badly. Krystal got back to the bed. Amber held the sheets up for her so she could climb back in. She immediately installed herself in the same position she had fallen asleep a few hours ago: with her back pressed against Amber's body and her arm under her head. She being the smaller spoon. Amber snuggled up to her, pulling her closer by wrapping her arm around her waist. She felt a light kiss in her neck. "Just relax, and sleep." Krystal took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then nodded. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, like Amber said. But the moment she tried to fall back asleep again, all she could think of was how hurt Kai's face would look when she'd admit into sleeping with Amber. Would he throw a tantrum? Would he accuse her of being a slut? Would he tell her dad? Would he not want to let her touch him anymore, disgusted of his own fiancé? Did such people still exist? As soon as she asked herself that question, she almost had to laugh bitterly. Her parents. Her parents were disgusted of anyone who wasn't like them. People of another race, with another sexuality, they were all too different for them to understand. "Krystal, relax," sighed Amber. "I am relaxing," reacted Krystal immediately. She heard a huff. "No, you're not." "I am." "No, I can feel your abs." Krystal looked over her shoulder. "I don't even have abs. I haven't worked out in days." "Then how can I feel them? Just empty your head." "Sometimes I wonder if you can look inside my mind, you know that? How did you even know I was thinking of.. stuff," she asked shamefully. Amber laughed softly. "Well, maybe I can." Krystal chuckled. "Hmm, then what am I thinking of right now?" "Sex," answered Amber carelessly. Krystal turned around to slap her. The other woman tried to duck away but was too slow and ended up getting hit. "No!" she said annoyedly. "Try again. Be more specific." Amber thought for a moment. "Your father?" Krystal shook her head and smiled cheekily. "Our first kiss," she said. Amber's face lit up and she started to grin. Krystal grinned too. "Gosh, so cheeky!" she answered, half in digust. Krystal laughed and bowed down to kiss Amber's lips. "Well, think of that while you're trying to sleep, okay? Not something else, just that," said Amber, when they broke up. Krystal smiled and nodded. They kissed each other good night and laid back into their previous position. This time, it took Krystal only a few minutes to fall asleep.

[tendance-news]

Last year Erin Bligh, the proprietor of Dancing Goats Dairy in Newbury, Mass., planned to introduce a new cheese — hard, with spicy peppers — called Madam President, in what she assumed would be a fromage homage to a historic election.

Then came the unexpected result: hard cheese indeed, in the Evelyn Waughsense of the phrase.

“I’m like, ‘Oh damn, this is awful,’” said Ms. Bligh, 29, who has four full-time employees overseeing a herd of 45 goats. She renamed the cheese General Leia Organa, after the Rebel Alliance leader in “Star Wars,” and sent chunks to fortify friends attending the women’s march in Boston. “This is my small piece of the resistance,” a local customer told her, brandishing a wedge.

Photo

The Ruth Bader Ginsburg cheese, center and right, a cow and goat Cheddar jack made with whole black peppercorns, and Josephine Baker, left, an all-goat-milk Sardo, are available at Dancing Goats Dairy.

Credit

Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

Soon thereafter Ms. Bligh decided to name cheeses after Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Cheddary, enrobed in black) and Josephine Baker (Sardo-style, with a natural rind and slightly sweet). “We’ve got a Misty Copeland, we’ve got a Marie Curie,” she said. “We’re just releasing our Jane Goodall, and we had an Amelia Earhart — two wheels of it and it sold out in a second, because everyone’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s my girl.’”

Along with all the noisier revolutions of late, there is a quiet if pungent one happening in dairy cases across America. Cheese, traditionally named for a place of origin — Brie, Stilton, with the occasional Jack or Brillat-Savarin muscling in — now often broadcasts its inherently feminine constitution.

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The Dancing Goats Dairy. 

Credit

Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

“As it should be,” said Seana Doughty, 46, of Bleating Heart Cheese in Tomales, Calif., who has created both Fat Bottom Girl, named for both a Queen song and its lovably variable shape, and Shepherdista, alluding to Ms. Doughty’s proud fondness for fashion. “Last time I checked, you couldn’t milk boys!”

Rrright?

At a moment when assault and harassment revelations are creeping across male-dominated industries like so much unwanted mold, independent American cheese making stands as an obvious if undersung exemplar of the ultimate matriarchal workplace.

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“We’re all women here,” said Rhonda Gothberg, 63, of Gothberg Farms in Bow, Wash., a former nurse who offers a cheese called Woman of La Mancha — the sharpest in her catalog, naturally. “We do have one man who cleans our pens for us, but all my milkers, all my farmers’ market people — it’s not a requirement that they be women, it’s just worked out that way,” Ms. Gothberg said. “We’ve tried a couple of guys, and they were not patient and kind and clean.”

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A goat being milked at Dancing Goats Dairy. 

Credit

Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

Cheese was historically woman’s “indoor” work while men were outside plowing the fields, as the New York City cheesemonger Anne Saxelby details in a useful “5 Minute History” last spring, in which she proclaimed that “The Future (And Past!) of Cheese Is Female.”

Then came the Kraft brothers and their convenient processed singles of midcentury; the slick bricks of Velveeta, Philadelphia and Cracker Barrel.

Second-wave pioneers taking back the land in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s included Judy Schad of Capriole Inc. in Greenville, Ind.; Laini Fondiller of Lazy Lady Farm in Westfield, Vt.; and Sue Conley and Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station, Calif.

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The cheese maker Mark Gillman, of Cato Corner Farm, slices a wedge of Womanchego in the farm store.

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Sherry Peters for The New York Times

Last year Ms. Schad, 75, introduced Flora, named for her grandmother, who made cheese under less than ideal conditions on her back porch. It joined Piper’s Pyramide, inspired by Ms. Schad’s own first, redheaded granddaughter (“bright and spicy — just like her namesake!”); Sofia, for a longtime friend (“a queen at any age!”); and Julianna, after a Hungarian intern. “Beneath her wrinkly exterior lies a complexity not often found in such a young cheese,” reads Capriole’s description of the Wabash Cannonball, a popular, prizewinning cheese named for the folk song about a fictional train sung by Johnny Cash.

“I think these cheeses are women — and sometimes they’re ladies, sometimes they’re not,” Ms. Schad said. “But the flavor is subtle. They don’t hit you over the head with a rolling pin.”

A commonly cited fantasy Plan B among urban paper-pushing professionals, the artisanal-cheese business has surged in recent years, with more than 900 specialty cheese makers in the United States, according to the American Cheese Society, a nonprofit trade organization in Denver. The A.C.S. does not keep data on gender, said its executive director, Nora Weiser, but compared with the bro-centric field of craft beer, where female brewers have struggled to get respect and recognition despite significant contributions, cheese making is a relative haven. Membership has more than doubled since 2005 and now numbers 1,800. “There aren’t many breakoff groups, because there don’t need to be,” Ms. Weiser said.

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The Cheese Shop at Cato Corner Farm. 

Credit

Sherry Peters for The New York Times

The A.C.S. said there were over 2,000 entrants in the Annual Judging & Competition last July, a kind of Golden Globes for the curds-and-whey crowd, up from 89 in 1985. Winning second place in the category of “Farmstead Cheeses Aged 60 Days+ With a 39 percent or Higher Moisture Content (Cow’s Milk)” was Womanchego, a familiar sight near the She Wolf Bakery booth at the farmers’ market in Union Square in Manhattan, where many high-powered restaurateurs shop.

“It’s very quickly the one that people gravitate toward the most, and now they are extra-delighted because of the sexual and political climate,” said Mark Gillman, 48, a founder with his mother of Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, Conn., which has manufactured Womanchego since 2004. The farm later added spinoffs: Wise Womanchego, aged more than one year, and an elusive middle-aged version, Mrs. Robinson (all christened by women, Mr. Gillman hastened to add).

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Bearded Lady cheese from Prodigal Farm in Rougemont, N.C.

Sarah Marcus, 49, who formerly worked for the music industry, named her Briar Rose Creamery in Dundee, Ore., after a song invoking Sleeping Beauty, a woman who wakes up to her passion. On its roster are Freya’s Wheel, a Norse name for the constellation more commonly known as Orion; Iris, after the Greek goddess of the rainbow and, for a goat cheese washed in beer, Lorelei. “She’s delicious and luscious, but Lorelei is a river mermaid, a siren,” Ms. Marcus said. “She lured sailors to their doom.” Happy Thanksgiving!

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The Dirty Girl cheese label.

Down South is Kathryn Spann, who practiced international law in New York City for a dozen years, for a time alongside Eliot Spitzer when he was attorney general. She is now an owner of Prodigal Farm in Rougemont, N.C., and sells, among other cheeses, Bearded Lady, a reference to her goats. There is also Dirty Girl: a reclaiming of sorts of an often-pornographic phrase used as recently as 2010 as the title of a movie about a sexualized high schooler distributed by the now-disgraced Weinstein Company.

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To Ms. Spann, 49, Dirty Girl connotes something different. “To me, in my head, it’s always a little farm girl in overalls,” she said. “She’s innocent, she’s a working girl. She’s not being foofy and image conscious, she’s just herself.”

A new label in progress for the cheese shows an image of this girl: flanked by animals, smiling as she looks hopefully toward a boundless sky.

[its-btrz-blog]

Caraval (by Stephanie Garber) Book Review

Caraval is the first novel of author Stephanie Garber, published in 2017 by Flatiron Books.

What made me want to read it:

It's a new book on a genre I like and it received a lot of promotion. I've been seeing it everywhere and it seems like everyone has been reading it and enjoying it.

What is it about (no spoilers):

Scarllet Dragna lives with her sister Donatella under the tyrannical roof of their father, who has arranged a marriage with a mysterious count for her, with whom she corresponds.

She has dreamed, ever since she was a girl, of visiting the magical Caraval, a performance that happens once a year. This year, Scarlett receives an invitation, and along with her sister and a mysterious sailor, goes to Caraval. Once she gets there, her sister has been taken by the master and finding her is the way to win this year's game. At the same time, her wedding day approaches and so she has to find her sister and return home as soon as she can.

What I thought about it (no spoilers):

If you read the book's summary, you think you're going to be swept away to a magical world where you can get lost in. That's hardly true. I'm going to start with the world besides Caraval.

The protagonist lives on a colonized island and her father is the governor. The world seems basically some version of 1800's Britain, in terms of technology, fashion (more or less, basically the girls just wear pretty dresses anytime), morality (I guess? Since propriety and virginity seem so important). For some reason the colonized island and the island where Caraval takes place are Spanish-inspired. We get some vague mentions of continents and other colonized territories but it's barely there. There's a religion that is basically some modified Catholicism: angels, God, saints, heaven, novices, priests and a version of  a confession. You can see there wasn't much effort put into this. I guess what really mattered was the magical Caraval so the rest of world was just some slight modification of a vaguely inspired historical setting.

As for Caraval itself, it seems a weird mix of Oz and Wonderland, with colorful and odd-shaped architecture and a touch of Venice, with travel by boat in the channels. It is exhaustively described with so many metaphors and pretty words and adjectives that it gets overwhelming. However, you don't really get a grip of what Caraval is. There are magical shops, selling magical objects for unconventional paying (secrets, fears) and it's said that many people go there just for that. But the magic itself is left unexplained. Supposedly magic doesn't exist and it's simply a myth of Caraval, but you get there and that's actually not true. But we never get a hint or an explanation of how this magic works, or how it is acquired, who possesses it or not. In this way, it feels lacking because it's just used as it is convenient.

Moving on to our protagonist, Scarlett. To put it simply, she is stupid, selfish, shallow, and a hypocrite. That's not how she describes herself, or how other characters see her, but it's what you get from reading the text. Let's start with stupid. She jumps into the cold sea fully clothed and with shoes. She is told specifically not to do that, but she is oh so modest that she does it all the same (one of her more irritating traits is her obsession with being a proper young woman – points for being shallow). Guess preserving your modesty is more important than preserving your life, oh, and others' lives too, since she ends up having to be saved by someone, putting their life also at risk (selfish, no?). Then, at some points in the game, she is given clues to find her sister. One of these mentions a very specific trait that one of the 3 people she's met has. Instead of figuring it out, like someone with a normal intellect, she spends a chapter or three after the wrong person. I find it very hard to relate to dumbed down protagonists and seeing them chase after clues that we know are obviously wrong is not entertaining. She is so obsessed with an informed trait of the master of Caraval (people say he wears top-hats) that she thinks that, of course, he is in a top-hat shaped store and everyone else didn't figure it out because she is so much smarter than them (oh, it's so obvious they ignore it). What's worse is that she think she's smart:

“She knew when she was being deceived”.

Since she is deceived by everyone and their brother, over and over again, I think it's safe to see this as a blatant lie. She accepts sleeping in a stranger's room because he's handsome, too. Life-saving skills here. Then, we are constantly, and I mean constantly, being told how much she loves her sister and how it's the only thing she can think about. Except… it's not? There is more than once instance in which she has a choice to take an action that will help her find her sister. You know what? She wastes the effort for a guy she barely knows, the first time, because he's handsome and maybe he's her true love! She can feel something special in him. The second time:

“She felt as if it shouldn’t even have been a choice. But it was a choice, which made her feel like less of a sister. Or maybe (...) mattered even more than she realized.”

At one point she says her biggest desire is to find her sister and a truth-telling device doesn't accept it. So, honestly, trying to make her this altruistic character who loves her sister so much was a very poor choice, being obviously contradicted by the actions but enforced by the narration.

We are also told she never really cared much about how she looks, but we get a detailed description of everything she wears (and others, for good measure). When meeting someone she doesn't like, her immediate reaction is:

“She imagined her to be sullen and unattractive.”

As for her hypocrisy, there are two glaring instances of it. The first is when she tells a guy that they should both turn around so they can't see the other changing clothes. After securing her modesty and her proper lady status, she then proceeds to turn around to admire his back with its hard muscles or something. He didn't ask for privacy, but she insisted on it and then does this. The second one is more hilarious, since, she is absolutely in love (and thinking of a possibility of marriage) with a person she has known for 5 days, more or less. When her sister tells her she is engaged to a man she has known for the same amount of time:

“Tella, this is wrong (...)You can’t be in love with someone you just met.”

OK, I'm going to stop talking about her. The other characters are: her sister, who cares as much for her as she is cared for, since she makes plans for both their sakes and thinks keeping her in the dark is a good idea; their abusive father, whom at last she recognizes for what he is and stops blaming herself for the abuse; her mysterious suitor, whom she never met but who sends her loving letters; the dark, handsome, mysterious stranger who is love interest number 1; the dark, handsome, mysterious stranger number two, who is the decoy and serves to complete a pseudo love triangle, or at least to create jealousy; the more mysterious Legend, whose face is unknown and who is the mastermind behind Caraval and Donatella's abduction. There are some more characters who are mostly part of the background.

About plot and narration. The plot is more concerned about Scarlett's love life than about her sister, although it tries to disguise it by repeating five times a chapter how much Scarlett loves Tella. It also keeps telling us (and everyone else) about her fiancée and how she can only stay 2 days because of her marriage. It's supposed to be some sort of obstacle for the romance but it only occupies space. Authors need to understand that their readers can retain a piece of information, even it is only mentioned once.

Also, this protagonist has a very interesting trait in that she sees her own emotions as colors. However, colors are used to such an extent, along with some nonsensical metaphors, in descriptions that sometimes I didn't even know what I was reading anymore. I get it that it's trying to be different and deep and beautiful and magical, but there are limits and this crosses over to the ridicule.

“She felt five different shades of berry-colored foolish.”

“ (…) yet she felt… disappointed. It came in cool shades of forget-me-not blue, which wrapped around her like evening fog”

It's a bit silly, but could be excused if not used to exhaustion with some very elaborate and idiotic prose. Her sister's smell is “Sharp molasses and wild dreams”. Other things are “smelling of flowers and flutes and long-lost love.” And then:

“Death was the color purple. Purple wallpaper and purple temperatures.”

“Cerulean blue. Apricot orange. Saffron yellow. Primrose pink.”

We also fall on the ridicule and end up with redundancies like this one. Cerulean is a shade of blue already, isn't it? It's not evocative of a specific shade from an object, like the other elements, so it destroys the effect. This is trying too much.

To finish, the handsome men have “a look made of lies and sinful things”, “smile turned seductive, all shameless curves and immoral promises”, and are  “made of polished boots and neatly tied-back hair.”  and “all kinds of tragic and lovely”, with eyes “two hungry pools of liquid amber fringed by dark lashes” and “Light brown, the color of caramel and liquid amber lust.”

Enough of these, then. I'm only going to add (without spoiling) that the story itself ended with little impact and that the recourse to some events for shock effect and angst and dramatic declarations followed by making them inconsequential the next chapter is a cheap recourse that I personally hate seeing used.

Conclusion:

As a fantasy it is a lame attempt and as a romance or as a compelling story it is equally mediocre. If you like easy reads and simplistic stories that make you not think and are a fan of elaborate senseless prose that is good for pretty quotes, and some splash of instant romance (I wouldn't call it that) with handsome strangers, maybe this is for you. It wasn't for me though, and I rated it one star.

[My review of this book is also here.]