#but really if you ignore that one line (which i do lol) then he's fine he's just not there

[dawnquafam]

It's been a week and I still can't believe I don't have to hallucinate a happy ending for Orm and the Aquafam

[spncvr]

HIII I kinda suck at writing so maybe you could take my idea and use your amazing writing skills and make something of it? (Only if you want ofc!!) hear me out yk how Spencer rambles about random facts and everything at the bau imagine if he had a partner (was a profiler as well) and that knew a lot about musics or movies and would ramble about it to him?

Ignore this if it sounds stupid 😭

rambles | s. reid

summary: you talk a lot, spencer doesn't mind.

pairing: spencer reid x reader

warnings: okay so idk if this counts as gn!reader?? but reader wears a dress lol. drinking, and again my terrible english,, lmk if i missed anything!

a/n: hey beautiful!! this deffo does not sound stupid i had fun writing it but this is so bad im sorry i didn't do u justice *crying emoji* also im so sorry this took me forever to finish LMAOOO

masterlist

YOU CAN FEEL it.

In your spine, in your ears. The song’s quiet but it had you in its grip, tight and firm—music’s always been like that to you. It didn’t matter if it was Hendrix, Queen or even Chopin; it has always been the one thing to make you stop dead at your feet. It’s a feeling you can’t quite put your finger on. There wasn’t a word in the English language that could possibly describe how it made you feel. Perhaps, you think humorously, you ought to learn another language, or two. 

You’re wearing this dress. This sweet, white silk thing that sweeps against your knees each time you take a step. The taste of expensive wine sits against your lips, lingering. The glass rests idly around your hand and your grip is careful. Expensive red wine and a cheap dress don't usually mix well together. 

“You okay?” 

You smile, teeth and all. Spencer who’s found his place next to you, furrows his eyebrows worry painted against his soft features. He looks tired. But he’s here, with the rest of the team; he always is.

“Fine,” you say, blasé. “You, Dr. Reid?”

His eyebrows raise slightly, “Yeah, fine.” then, “nice dress.” It’s a small whisper. 

You brush your tongue against the wine on your lips. The comment catches you off guard—especially when he’s dressed like this and looks at you like that. So, all that leaves your wine-stained lips is a small: “Oh.” then, because you remember your manners you say, “Thank you.”

The song changes, and Spencer smiles, “The songs—” he says “they’re nice.”

“I—” You stop yourself from rambling because really, they’re more than nice. It’s Elle Fitzgerald. She’s—Her voice, her instrument is clear as a bell, with diction that’s almost impossible to misunderstand. Her rhythm is— well it’s, you can set her as the metronome for her own band. Which, well, isn’t exactly easy to do. The way she’s able to scoop and bend her pitches with such precision is, beyond, nice. So the song, really it’s, more than nice, it’s a masterpiece it’s—

“Uh, yeah, s’nice.” you pause, “More than nice, really.”

Spencer smiles, amused, “More than nice?” he echoes.

You clear your throat, “It— yeah. I mean, it’s Fitzgerald, you know…”

“I don’t know,” he says simply.

Figures, you think. “No, yeah. She’s, like, got this tone in her voice, you know? And it’s like she’s the one leading the band— with the rhythm, I mean. As in like, instead of the drummer, which isn’t exactly easy to do. You know, actually, some people say she — she’s got the voice of an angel. Or something along the lines; can’t really remember and—” you pause, slightly embarrassed at how much you’ve been talking.

“Er, sorry,” you mumble sheepishly. The edge of your shoes had suddenly become increasingly interesting. “didn’t mean to go on a tangent.”

Spencer kisses his teeth, and you look up to find him grinning. “No, uh,” he scratches the edge of his eyebrow. “You don’t need to apologize for talking about something you like.” He seems to think about his next words as he brushes his hand against your arm. It sends a shiver that lingers longer than the touch itself. Spencer Reid could be so cruel sometimes. 

“I love listening to you talk.”

Your dress ends up wine-stained, anyway.

as usual my inbox is always open for requests (or just to talk lol) but it will take 192374 years to actually finish it,, reblogs are soo appreciated !! (u guys r always so kind idk why im asking for them) so is feedback btw!! (despretely in need of some)

[freyito]

Hello! How are you?

I got an idea~

Can I request Boothill with the Vidyadhara reader (male, but if you want, you can use gn) ?The reader is always calm and quiet, but gets very nervous and blushes when Boothill flirts with him or hugs him (Secretly he just loves it) . The reader's tail wags nervously. And he also has sensitive horns.

If you don't like the idea, then feel free to skip my request!! (♥´∀｀)／

✭ pairing(s): boothill x male vidyadhara reader

✧ a/n: THIS IS SO CUTE!!!!!!!!! i got it the night before my job interview i think so i owe it all to you anon for getting hired on the spot. my last fic as an unemployed man... i got this job so i could whale for boothill tho. lol.

🗒 cw: male reader, vidyadhara reader, SMALL 2.2 SPOILERS, itty bit of lore building (made the vidyadhara look a little more like the yan siblings from arknights), just fluff, not proofread

✎ wc: 1.4k

ꜱᴄᴀʟᴇꜱ & ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ

Being a Galaxy Ranger, Boothill is well-read on the species of the universe. Sorta. Given the lack of his education, a lot of what he learned was through word of mouth or having someone explain it to him, aside from text to speech.

Aside from the Galaxy Rangers and his home world, he is the most versed on the Xianzhou, seeing as they follow Lan, as well. But that doesn’t mean he won’t treat it like it isn’t a spectacle, and the Vidyadhara have always been intriguing to him.

He’s only met a couple, namely Dan Heng, and Lady Bailu, the latter only in passing. He’s sure he’s met another somewhere, and there’s surely a Vidyadhara Ranger as well. But none of them stick out to him like you do.

He’s only visiting the Luofu, there to pick up some information about the IPC from some shady courier. He doesn’t mind this, as long as it’s honest work, and he’s been in contact with this courier for quite a while. The benefit of becoming a cyborg is that when his contacts are long life species, he has a trustworthy ally for quite a while.

The problem was, the courier had told him to get it from a cycrane in Aurum Alley. Which was all fine and dandy, normally, Boothill remembered the Alley to be rundown and quiet, dead, even. But when he’s met with a stream of people like it’s a shopping mall (which it is), he was taken aback. How was he supposed to pick up information when the Alley is so… lively? The courier reassures him that it is okay, to not act suspicious, and boy, does Boothill mess that one up.

For the first time ever, he’s fishing out a letter from the cycrane’s box, sweating with the most guilty look on his face, like a dog that had just stolen some food off the counter. He stuck out like a sore thumb, as opposed to the business owners and recipients who frequented the roost. Paired with his outworlder appearance, it’s no wonder that a couple of concerned citizens came forward, even if it was just to watch.

Now, Boothill didn’t want to be considered wanted by the Xianzhou Alliance. Not at all, his deal was with the IPC and he’d rather not have the cloud knights tailing him whenever he visited. But all thought processes stop when he spots you. Whatever price the Cloud Knights puts on his head for this info is nothing in comparison to just how stunning you look to him.

He does his best to brush this incident off as not being able to find mail, and decides a couple more days on the Loufu wouldn’t be too bad. He spends the next few days attempting to court you, as he says. Really, it’s just over pretentious flirting. You do your best to ignore it at first, you think he’s just some awe-struck outworlder, but each day that goes by, your walls crumble.

You don’t return anything really, simply give him little looks and grin and bear it. But every time he says ‘Ain’t you a pretty thing?’ whenever you simply enter his line of sight, you start to feel your cheeks heat up.

Of course, Boothill notices. And he only increases his antics. You’d be attending to your duties in the skyfaring commission and he shows up to interrupt your shift, throwing all sorts of cheesy one-liners that make your head spin. There are times where you just can’t keep up and you blush so hard you fizzle out, your mind working on auto-pilot and making you turn away on your heels.

He starts to show up on your breaks, too. With food he’d think you’d like, (which is any food he buys on the Xianzhou, essentially) and the gifts start there. It’s… thoughtful, really. When he can, he shows up to Xianzhou with something in hand from wherever he’s been. It can be a rock to the most coat you’ve seen. Which, he learns, clothes aren’t exactly the thing to buy you. Not that you would look bad in them, but he decides that Xianzhou attire really does fit you. It is then that he notices the color that extends from your claws to your bicep, and he realizes that you’re ‘pretty all over’. (His words, which don’t fail to make you red in the face.)

When he starts giving gifts, that’s when your tail starts wagging. You curse your body for betraying your want to be calm and collected, which ultimately leads to a life bound by how easy it is to fluster you. Of course, Boothill notices. He thinks it is just too cute, and good Aeons, it takes him all his strength not to cup your face and say that directly to you, to make sure you hear him. Not that he won’t say it regardless.

With all of these instances, he only becomes more insufferable. And you find yourself falling for his charms. It isn’t so bad that you have someone to eat with on your breaks, and someone who’s so eager to see you when you’re working, (even if it disrupts your work Madame Yukong seems okay with it) even if he’s a very high-profile target.

And boy, he can TELL. You’re still a flustered mess around him, anytime he calls you cute, or handsome, or pretty, any silly little pet name like ‘buttercup’ or even just ‘darlin’’, your tail is wagging furiously. You do your best to hide your sheepish smile and your blushing face, but Boothill always finds a way around it. At some point, he starts grabbing your hands and pulling them away from your face, staring into your eyes. That is the death of you.

From then-on, it seems you two are semi-official. Boothill wants so badly to ask you to be his boyfriend, but he lays back with just how shy you are. He pampers you, takes you out on all sorts of dates, from just shopping to the most romantic little tea dates, where the artificial sun sets and it feels like it’s just you two. He loves it, he revels in your reactions. Ever time your cheeks are dusted pink, to where your tail won’t stop wagging that it feels like a hazard, he’s laughing it off and making it even worse.

He grows bolder with touching, too. He starts to greet you at your work with back-hugs, whispering little compliments in your ear while your tail wags, a distinct ‘wap, wap, wap’ sounding everytime it hits the leather of his chaps. He blows kisses at you when you have to focus on your work, he holds your hand any chance he gets, he plays with your hands, too. Compliments the color of your scales, traces your palm, anything and everything that can and will make you blush more. Doesn’t matter if you two are months into this flirting, he’s got you blushing.

The day Boothill plans to ask you to be his official boyfriend, he gets overly interested in your horns. Standing outside the Skyfaring Commission, he catches you before your shift starts. The artificial sun is just rising, and the streets are empty. He stands in front of the Commission, hat off and held to his chest. It’s like a scene out of a movie, really. He starts off with your name, slowly slipping from his tongue, his twang much heavier now, reaching out to you. It feels like his eyes are sparkling– like the world is sparkling, more like. He’s akin to a…. What's the name… Knight of Beauty. You heard the trailblazer talking about them with Yukong.

Your head spins, and all you can stammer out is a ‘y-yes!’ in the middle of his speech. You can’t tell if you can’t take it anymore with how warm your body is running, or if you’re just… eager. Both feel equally embarrassing. Before he can kiss you to seal the deal, he runs a steel finger against one of your horns. A jolt of electricity runs down your body, making you yelp and whine, and in the middle of that, he kisses you, holding his hat up to shield your faces from the few people out this early. It’s a soft kiss, just as romantic as his silly display of want, and he smiles against your lips. His hand comes down, slightly carding through your hair, to cup your cheek.

You try to walk off your embarrassment as you enter the Commission, taking note to text him later about what just went down. Of course, Yukong notices, but all she gives you is a soft chuckle and a smile. Thank Lan.

© freyito, 2024 | masterlist | queue | kofi | star header by roseschoices

DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN, REPOST ON ANY OTHER PLATFORM, OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[runningfrom2am]

empty threats // LTPF

summary: you get in trouble at school, and don't want to go home just yet.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 3.4k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: capitol brat!reader, maybe slightly ooc coryo, idk i tried my best. they're just little in this one :'), so no real warnings. besides r being a little violent and threatening, but what's new lol. non-descript mentions and implications of abuse.

a/n: hi! thought i'd post this before s2 of cold nights bc,,, i'm not ready to let this series go just yet lol. this was (kind of) requested a couple of times so i do intend to write another thing ab them before the series! maybe p2 to 'the finer things in life'? lmk

(also would y'all call me crazy if i said this was based on something i actually did in middle school? yes? okay in that case that was a joke. thanks.)

series masterlist // playlist

You were having a bad day. A bad week. Bad month. The academy had not been treating you well this year- nothing really was. But school especially was kicking your ass.

You did well, consistently. A's, A+'s, and it was only at the small cost of your sanity. You hardly slept anymore- which is part of the reason your father started allowing you to wear makeup at the beginning of the year. To hide how dark the circles under your eyes were- how pale you were getting from lack of sunlight and exercise, and the bruises that happened to be visible on warmer days where you weren't required to wear your blazer.

You hadn't slept in a week, you were sure. It was hard to tell. Days and nights blurred together; you were effectively a zombie at fourteen. Even you knew that wasn't right.

"Y/N/N." You didn't realize you were falling asleep leaning on your palm, elbow pressed uncomfortably against the surface of the desk.

"Huh?" You blink rapidly, looking over to the source of your name.

"You okay?" Coryo chuckles quietly, looking you over as he almost always did.

"Never been better." You sigh, shaking your head to refocus yourself on writing the notes on the board.

"You sure about that? I'm not exactly inclined to believe you."

"Yes." You nod, having to lean to the side to even see the board. You didn't notice when Arachne finished her notes and stood right in your line of sight to talk to Livia, who was sitting in front of you.

Yes, your teacher had allowed you to discuss upcoming assignments when you were finished copying down the paragraphs on the board, but that didn't mean Arachne should block your view.

"Arachne." You say, waving for her to move when she looks down at you.

"Have you no manners?" She asks, tilting her head at you.

"Move. Please." You really don't have the patience to argue.

"No thank you, I'm alright here." She smiles, sickly sweet, before promptly returning to her conversation.

You close your eyes, taking a deep breath in before slowly letting it out through your nose. "I'm trying to write, and your massive head is blocking the entire board. Move, now."

Coryo snickers beside you, his notes already long done as he sits back to watch.

"We're trying to have a conversation. Some of us have lives outside of school, you know." Arachne digs her grave deeper, crossing her arms as she stares down at you.

You grip your pen in your hand so tight you're afraid it might break.

"Don't." Coryo says to you, reaching out to grab your shoulder in an effort to calm you. He knew this look on you; you looked like you were about to detonate.

You ignore him, trying to look past her again, but she takes a sidestep to the left intentionally blocking your view now. Back and forth, whichever way you lean she's conveniently moving to be right in your line of sight. You try to listen to Coryo and not cause a scene, you really do, but your patience was deteriorating by the second.

"Arachne, I swear to god I will hit you so hard with this book if you don't get out of my way that you'll have worse memory loss than usual. Move."

"Y/N/N, here, let's just switch. You can see just fine from-" Your friend suggests, already standing up to move and open his seat to you.

"Oh, is that so?" The girl laughs at you. "It's not like these notes will ever matter to you. You probably don't even know what that-"

Within a second you're standing, grabbing the textbook from your desk and swinging it at her.

It hits the side of her head with a loud crack that has her stumbling back. Other students are laughing, you can hear it, but only echoes as you breathe heavily.

You smile as she clutches the side of her head, stumbling down into her empty seat. "Thank you." You nod, moving to sit back down and resume taking your notes. Suddenly, you're feeling much more awake; refreshed at being able to channel your frustration into something physical.

Coryo stares at you, almost in shock. Almost, because Arachne should have known that coming from you, there was no such thing as an empty threat.

"Miss Y/L/N!" Your teachers voice bellows as Arachne starts to cry.

God, she's such a baby.

You aren't given the chance to defend yourself before Coryo is speaking up for you. "Sorry, Sir. She's just had a tough week." You shoot him a look and you can see the panic in his eyes, wracking his mind for a way to excuse your violence in a forgivable manner. "I'll take her down to the office." He's helping you up out of your seat before grabbing your books and your bag for you.

Your teacher clearly doesn't have the energy to get into it with you today so he nods, waving for the two of you to go.

"It's just, you know, lady problems." Coryo says as you pass the teacher on his way over to Arachne, who now has Livia fanning her face with a book as if that would help.

"Just, get her out of here." Your teacher says again.

"Of course you would know- just get your insane girlfriend away from me. I can't look at her anymore." Arachne whines, still clutching the side of her head.

You grit your teeth and jam your elbow into your friends ribs at the unnecessary comment right as you exit the doorway.

"Ow!" He winces, looking back to make sure no one saw. "I helped you!"

"I am not on my period, Coriolanus." You hiss, glaring up at him as he walks beside you. "You're such a pig."

"How am I supposed to know! I just know you assaulted Arachne and that's a hard act to excuse. I tried my best."

"You're lucky I'm not. If I was I'd gut you like a fish right now." You grumble, pulling your bag from his shoulder and giving him a shove back.

"I'll count myself lucky then." He chuckles. He never took anything mean you say to him too personally or too seriously. Your threats only ever seemed to be empty when they were directed at him.

"Coryo! Y/N/N! Wait!" You turn and cross your arms as you wait for Sejanus who's speed walking down the hall to catch up.

"Oh, you're late to the party." You grin, raising an eyebrow at him.

"He sent me to escort you guys, didn't want you to sneak off before actually going to the office." He explains as the three of you continue down the hall.

You groan, rolling your eyes. "Ugh, him too?"

"Gross." Coryo mutters.

"Excuse you, that was rude!" You laugh, bumping your shoulder against his arm. You didn't notice when he started to get taller than you, it seemingly happened overnight.

"And I stand by it." He replies, shaking his head at you as you gasp in mock offense.

"I'm wounded, Coryo. Truly."

"Yeah, you guys are never beating those allegations. Sorry." Sejanus laughs.

"True, but it would be nice if he didn't act like i'm repulsive all the time."

"I do not act like you're repulsive!"

"You guys argue like an old married couple. It's cute."

You don't know what prompted you to walk here. Anxiety, maybe, after the receptionist at the office was instructed by Dean Highbottom to call your father this afternoon while you were in the office.

You stand outside the entrance to Coryo's apartment building, pacing in your academy uniform. You stop, staring at the call panel.

"Level 12 Penthouse: Snow"

You chew your lip, looking down at your watch. It was almost five, you wasted time sitting in after school detention staring at the wall. Just press it. You didn't walk all this way just to go home anyways. Press it.

The buzzer is ringing out of the speaker before you can overthink it.

"Uh, hello?" His voice is crackly on the other end, hardly even audible if you weren't panicking over who would answer.

"Coryo, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Uh, hold on. I'll come down." His voice cuts out and you wait for the buzzer that signifies the door is unlocked, but it doesn't come.

You try the handle anyway, but it remains locked. You groan, peeking in for the first time through the large glass windows that made up the entrance to the lobby.

It was a damn mess in there. Garbage bags everywhere, it looked like the floors or the walls hadn't been cleaned in years. Why on earth was there no maintenance in his building? You knew he had a driver, a chef, maids to clean his own apartment, or so he said. Would it be so hard to have the building cleaned every week?

It's a good few minutes before you see your friend open the doors to the stairs, and looking over at the elevator while he walks up to the door you see there's a maintenance sign on it. That was broken, too. Your brow furrows as he walks up to the glass door, shoving it open.

"Y/N... What are you doing here?" He asks, and you give him a once over. He's still wearing his academy uniform, just like you, but without the skirt that drapes around his legs. The buttons are partially undone and buttoned unevenly.

"I, uh..." You start, giving a slight shake of your head. "Why are you still in your uniform?"

"I haven't had the chance to change.." He lies, eyeing you quizzically. He definitely won't be telling you that his only casual clothes are noticeably too small on him, ankles showing in the only pyjama pants he owns so he had to throw this back on in a rush. Usually, he just sleeps in his boxers and only leaves the house in dress clothes. "What's going on?" He asks, changing the subject.

You take a deep, shaky breath and shake your head. "I... was just hoping you'd want to hangout." You smile, but it's not convincing enough for him.

"Oh, uh, I'm a little busy right now..." He glances back inside.

"Of course. Yes. I'm sorry." You nod, slightly disappointed.

"But, I mean, it's just homework. If you have your stuff we could work on it together." He suggests, sensing your discomfort.

"Came straight from school!" You grin, patting your bag where it hangs at your waist.

"Uh, okay..." He chuckles a bit, checking the time on his watch before reaching past you to buzz his own apartment.

You wait for a moment before another voice rings out.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Coryo, did you lock yourself out again?" His cousin sighs.

"Again?" You gasp, covering your mouth as you laugh quietly at him.

His cheeks flush. "No, I didn't. I was hoping you could bring my school bag down to me, Y/N and I are going to hers to work on homework."

Your smile fades as he volunteers your home. The reason you came was because you didn't want to go back there. Not yet.

"I'll be right down!"

You hear the click of it disconnecting and he smiles at you. "Just give her a minute."

"We can't- Uh..." How to word this without sounding weird. "My brother has friends over, I think. They're always super loud so that's why I came here..."

"Oh, okay. Well..." He looks back inside again. "We can find somewhere else to go. My grandma'am is sleeping, that's all."

You're both lying to each others faces and neither of you knew.

"Sounds good." You nod. "My brother and his friends are just like, so annoying. I wish they would just get together and like... read or something..." You laugh nervously, rubbing your arm.

"I get it." He hums and you laugh.

"As if, Coryo, you are that younger brother."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"This is exactly how my little brother fights with me so..."

"Except I don't have siblings. So that's impossible."

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't."

"You do!" You laugh. "You realize the genetic components have like... nothing to do with that, right? Tigris is effectively your sister. You live together, for christs sake. Besides, I know I'm right because of... everything." You gesture to him vaguely and he glares at you.

"That's why we get along so well." You smile sweetly at him. "I'm a big sister. I know exactly how to handle little brothers. And you're used to having a big sister around, so you tolerate me."

"Tigris is not my sister, and you are nothing like her."

You playfully roll your eyes. "I wouldn't know. But I would bet money that we have more in common than you know."

"Definitely not." He protests, shaking his head as Tigris steps out of the stairwell with his book bag in hand. She smiles and waves at you as she comes up to the door, opening it to hand it out to him.

"Thank you." He nods, and she turns to you, blocking the door from closing as she stands there.

"Y/N, how are you?" She smiles, holding her housecoat around herself. It had been a long time since you'd seen her- she left the academy before you were old enough to study in the same buildings.

"I'm well, thank you." You smile. "Yourself?"

"I'm good." She nods. "How is school treating you?"

You laugh, shrugging and reaching up to rub your eyes. "Well enough, I suppose. Gives me something to do."

She smiles, sadly, and nods. You look over at Coryo quickly. "Should we be going then?"

He nods. "Yes, we should. Thank you, Tigris."

"Of course." She grins, waving you off as you make your way back down the steps ahead of him.

Coryo throws his bag over his shoulder, rushing to follow you as he notices his mismatched buttons and quickly tries to fix it. "Where do you want to go?" He asks, and you shrug.

"Maybe the park? It's a nice day out." You offer.

He looks around. It wasn't that nice- there was a thin overcast of clouds that suggested it may start to rain, and there wasn't much time before the sun would set. "I mean, it looks like it's going to rain. Noise doesn't bother me, we could just go to your house."

You sigh, looking down at your feet as you walk in no particular direction, kicking a stone across the broken pavement. "No." You quickly dismiss it. "What about the old bomb shelter? I know how to get into the one on my block. There's an unlocked door."

Your friend wrinkles up his nose at the suggestion. "Isn't it gross and dusty and dark?"

"It's not that bad." You laugh. "Don't be a baby."

"Do you remember the bombings?" You ask, pushing aside an old curtain in the underground shelter.

"I don't think I could forget if I wished to." Coryo mutters, looking around. It was dusty, but you had found a light switch very quickly. The lights overhead flickered after years of not being used, but for some reason, power was still connected. Like they were still on standby, waiting for another flood of terrified people to swarm in during the night after years of being left untouched.

"Me neither." You hum, adjusting your bag over your shoulder. "We slept over there." You point vaguely to a far corner of the vast space of old bunk beds and tables.

"Cozy." Coryo mumbles, stepping around a crack in the ceiling where water had dripped down into a puddle on the floor.

You laugh as you place your bag down on a table, quickly removing your blazer to dust off the bench next to it so the two of you could sit. You won't get in any more trouble for dirtying your uniform than you already are for hitting your classmate.

You lay the red material down across it and use your palms to wipe the table so your friend would be more comfortable placing his stuff there. "Here, sit." You smile, patting the spot next to yourself.

"Thanks." He nods, eyes locked on the yellowing bruise that falls around your wrist. It was previously unnoticeable under the shadow of your blazer sleeve, but now with only your blue dress shirt slightly folded up, it was clear as day. To him, anyway. His eyes flick up to your face as you dig through your bag, so blissfully unaware that now he knows why you came to him instead of going home. He hadn't thought of it before.

"Well?" You turn, raising an eyebrow at him when he doesn't make an effort to move. "You scared or something? I don't bite."

He shakes himself out of his stupor of realization. Maybe one day he would say something, but that certainly wouldn't be today. "I'm pretty sure you do." He jokes, sliding into the spot next to you.

"Oh, how you think so little of me." You laugh as he starts pulling papers and books out of his bag. A small smile tugs on his lips, but he doesn't look at you. You tilt your head a little bit, watching his movements closely. He's so sophisticated for a boy who just turned fourteen.

"I was working on math before you showed up. Want to do that first?" His lips are moving suddenly, and you only notice after that he's looking at you.

"Oh, yes. Sure." You smile, quickly turning back to your own notebooks and pulling out the right one. You didn't want to work on homework, not at all, but it was better than being at home.

"What page are you on?" Coryo asks absentmindedly, flipping through his textbook to note both where he is and where you are. You didn't need his help, but he was happy to offer it.

"236. You?"

"250."

"You're fast." You giggle, shaking your head as you look at him.

"Well, I had an hour when I got home, so..."

"Right." You wonder as you stare at his blonde curls if they get poofy when he brushes it. It must. He clearly hasn't had a haircut in quite a while. You twist the ends of your own hair between your fingers. You haven't either.

Coryo's brow is furrowed in concentration as he tries to read in the mediocre lighting, copying down the equation he was working on.

"Why are you friends with me?" You ask impulsively, and his writing hand freezes for just a moment.

"Because... You're nice to me." He answers simply, resuming the question he was on.

"I'm not that nice to you." You giggle. "Everyone is nice to you, mostly."

"Yes, well, you're funny too. It seems that all our classmates have monkey brains, or something."

"So you think I'm smart?" You tease, leaning your chin on your palm.

"Aren't you?" He deflects the question back to you, not risking looking your way.

"I like to think so." You shrug. "But that's not a good reason to be friends with someone."

"Then why are you friends with me?"

You bite your lip, picking up your pencil and suddenly finding an interest in the bite marks you've left in the wood over the last week. "I don't know." You say honestly. "You're nice to me... I suppose." You laugh, seeing the irony in your response.

Coryo finally looks at you, smiling knowingly. "See?"

"Okay, fine. But I like to think we get along really well, don't you think?" You really don't want to do your homework, deciding it would be better to just talk anyway. That's why you went to him, you realize. You wanted to talk.

"Sejanus said we bicker like an old married couple." He chuckles.

"Well, yes, but he's wrong. Besides, an old couple wouldn't be married if they didn't at least get along most of the time."

He nods, tapping his pencil against his notebook. "I guess you're right." He agrees. "But we don't really fight, it's just... pretend. You know that, right?" He looks at you hopefully, trying to pick up on a sense of understanding in your eyes.

"Well, duh." You giggle nervously. "If we really fought I wouldn't be your friend. I'd hit you with a book, as we know."

He nods, but doesn't laugh at your joke. "I wouldn't hurt you on purpose. Ever." Don't look at her wrist, don't look at her wrist, don't look at-

"I know." You nod, speaking quieter now as you feel the seriousness in his tone. The smile on your face is genuine, but he can tell it's forced beyond sadness. "Maybe that's why I'm friends with you."

"That's a good reason." He says softly, matching your smile. "Trust is the most important thing."

You think he doesn't know how much that means to you, but he does. You force yourself to look away quickly, torn between the urges to both cry and kiss him. You'd never kissed anyone before, but you'd decided when other girls started having boyfriends who they only stayed with for a week that if you had to pick anyone, it would be Coryo. Something tells you he wouldn't break your heart.

"So you trust me?" You ask, blinking away tears as you pretend to focus on your schoolwork.

"Of course I do."

taglist:@totallynotkaibiased , @stelleduarte , @klplynn , @secretsicanthideanymore , @bejeweledreverie , @gloryekaterina , @andrewgarfieldsbitch , @queenofspades6 , @pepperonipastas , @ladybug0095 , @lunamothwrites , @sbrewer21 , @mus-tbe-a-weasley , @splxtscreen , @unclecrunkle , @karmaswitch , @coconut-dreamz , @nekee-lilac02 , @ooooglymoooogly , @riddlerloveb0t , @lovedbalances , @notyourwildestdream , @snowlandson-top , @too-lit-for-fanfic , @utopiakys , @deafeningballoonnacho , @roosterschanelslut , @chmpgneprblem , @cosmoetik , , @urvampgfsworld , @carolanns-world @nan-nie , @shakespearseclipse , @iovemoonyy , @notyoursweetheart-honey ,  @xyzstar , @eatpizzasass, @slytherinholland , @queenofshinigamis , @elodiebeau , @soulessjourney , @that-veela-girl

[pedgito]

i just saw your post about glasses!eddie munson and whenever you have the time, would you be able to write a cute series of reader finding out about his glasses ITS JUST ADORABLE

author’s note: this was meant to post sooner than now but here it is lol, i finished this pretty quick but got sidetracked. glasses!eddie has invaded my brain and it’s never leaving.

cw: sfw, glasses!eddie, eddie’s not so subtle flirting, acquaintances to friends, once again another fic where everyone bullies eddie (give this man a break), if i missed anything lmk!

word count: 2.5k

“Do you wanna switch seats with me?” Your voice is soft, leaning back toward Eddie, whose eyes are nearly closed from how hard he’s focusing on the board, blindly scribbling something down on the paper. He’s lost on where the voice comes from until you’re in focus, looking back at him with a smile.

Eddie wasn’t a friend, but he wasn’t an enemy either. He was the boy who got picked on relentlessly and as much as you wanted to help, you weren’t sure it would change anything. Plus, he didn’t seem that bothered by it—or he was just really good at faking like he wasn’t.

“Oh,” Eddie replies, still confused, “I’ll be fine—Mr. Donahue’s handwriting is always shit, I can barely understand it.”

It wasn’t a total lie, but it was still legible.

“Munson!” The teacher's voice rings from the front of the classroom, “let's stop trying to distract other classmates and focus on our own work, okay?”

And if it wasn’t the condescension in his tone that pissed you off, it was the way he so quickly blamed Eddie for the interaction. He shrinks slightly, sending you an apologetic look.

It happens a few more times that week, catching Eddie glancing at the board as if it’s nearly impossible to see—and maybe he was telling the truth, but it’s also obvious that Donahue hates Eddie for no other apparent reason than just because he thinks he’s up to no good, which isn’t fair to Eddie.

You show up early to class the following week, bag resting in the chair of the desk beside you—Eddie’s usual seat, waiting. He’s always bordering on being late, making it to class as the bell rings, looking more frazzled than the others.

You weren’t sure what he got up to between classes, but he definitely seemed overwhelmed.

“This seat taken?” He asks with a smug smirk, pointing at your backpack. You smile slightly, reaching for it.

“Sorry—I just wanted to make sure I could sit beside you.” You tell him honestly. It throws Eddie off, his eyebrows furrowing together slightly before relaxing, eyes roaming over you curiously. “You said you can’t understand his handwriting, I was gonna let you copy my notes.”

“Can I copy your work too?” Eddie asks jokingly, but you can tell he means it. “I’m barely scraping by with a D in this class.”

You snort out a quiet laugh. “Let’s worry about the notes first.”

Eddie spends most of the class still struggling, forehead creased up as he sifts through your notes, writing things down sparingly. It’s almost like he’s trying not to be mean, focusing a little too hard on one word every now and then as he looks over, your papers perched on the corner of the desk.

“If my writing is horrible you can tell me,” You say, which makes Eddie chuckle, “seriously, I won’t be offended.”

“It’s not that,” He assures you, “it’s just—the angle, it’s a little hard to read them—“

“Oh, well,” You grab the papers in a bunch, extending them toward him, “here, just take them.”

Eddie ignored you, his fingers wrapping around the leg of your desk to pull it flush against his—it’s quick enough that it doesn’t make much noise, only a slight shifting that draws a few eyes.

“Or…that works too.” You say shyly, face heating up at his straightforwardness. “Better?”

He glances over, shifting the papers to his side and gives a subtle nod as his lips pull together in a tight line, “Yeah, actually.”

And it’s almost blissful silence as Eddie copies them down, asking a few questions when your words meld together out of habit when you’re writing too quickly, he still leans in slightly but you don’t pester him on it—eventually Eddie’s actions are noticed, all eyes shifting toward the back of the classroom.

When you look up, everyone is staring back, including the pensive and threatening eyes of your teacher.

Eddie mumbles a soft, “Sorry.” as he pushes your desk back.

“Do I need to remind you two that this isn’t a matchmaking class?”

And it’s a ridiculous comment to make, but it has Eddie scoffing slightly underneath his breath.

“I’m letting him copy my notes,” You say innocently, “is that okay?”

You can’t remember having a problem in any of your classes, either flying under the radar or one of the usual favorites—you’ve never felt this tense, staring down the entirety of the group that was staring right back, though your gaze was focused on Mr. Donahue.

Eddie looks at you briefly before settling his eyes toward the desk, fiddling with pen in his hands to soothe his anxiety.

“If Eddie has a problem, he can come sit up front,” He says coarsely, “I don’t think you have the wiggle room to be socializing, do you?”

And suddenly his gaze on you is forgotten, flicking toward Eddie.

Eddie doesn’t give him the satisfaction, shuffling his shoulders forward in an effort to hide himself, scribbling something random down on the paper in front of him—it’s something he did when was bored or uncomfortable, even, a comfort.

You catch Eddie toward the end of class, gripping his sleeve before he can sneak away.

“How far behind are you?” You ask him, peering up at him curiously. Eddie looks sheepish, glancing away for a moment.

“Uh, I haven’t really taken notes all semester—I kinda just..scribble shit down so it looks like I’m working.”

Your eyes slant down slightly, in an ire of disbelief as your mouth parts, “Eddie, are you serious?”

He shrugs, reaching a hand up to scratch his jaw. You huff through your nose, snatching the pen perched in Eddie’s pocket and uncapping it before shoving it into his hands.

“Give me your address.” You insist, holding out your arm to him. Eddie seems skeptical, fingers wrapping around your arm gently, shifting your sleeve up, “I’m getting you caught up—don’t look at me like that.”

And truly, he’s not sure how to respond. Kindness and niceties weren’t at all familiar, feeling like there was always some ulterior motive. Still, he scribbles down the information with slow strokes, careful that it doesn’t smudge—leaving a small smiley face out of spite, forcing a similar expression onto your own face.

“I’m free after six,” He tells you, “so unless you want to get caught up in awkward conversation with my uncle, wait until then.”

You laugh at that, pulling your sleeve down.

“How else am I supposed to uncover all of your secrets?”

Eddie smirks slightly, eyes averting toward the floor.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know—you just have to ask.”

He spends most of his nights—sans the ones where he’s performing for the small audience at The Hideout or hosting Hellfire meetings—organizing campaigns and writing down random things that come to his mind, feeling the need to get the thought out on paper, even if it’s song lyrics or a drawing.

He adjusts the thin rimmed glasses up his nose, eyes hurting from the strain he’s forced them through all day. He knows he should spend a few minutes resting, even just closing his eyes for a moment, but he can’t help it. Eddie knows it’s his fault, the beginnings of a headache forming as he tries to focus, his finger sneaking up to rub at his eye—he can feel the haziness, willing it away.

But then you’re knocking at his door and every thought is thrown out the window—part of him never expected you to show, his heart thrumming in his chest as he leaps from the bed, tossing the papers away haphazardly and forcing the glasses up into his hair without a thought, pushing his bangs away from his face.

Eddie whips the door open, causing you to startle slightly.

“Hi.” You say wearily, a soft smile on your face.

“Hi,” Eddie responds slightly out of breath, before clearing his throat and offering a smoother, “Hey.”

Your eyes glance up, noticing the difference in his face. His bangs were like a trademark, constantly hiding his eyebrows. You point up curiously, speaking before you can think things through.

“You wear glasses?” You ask, eyebrows knitting in confusion.

“No—no uh, of course not.” Eddie responds quickly, adamant in his refusal. “Why would you—“

He’s clearly caught off guard, standing awkwardly in the doorway, eyes crossing as he follows your finger, only realizing his mistake when you drag the glasses down slowly, pushing them gently up the bridge of his nose.

“Well, that is definitely an interesting pair of non-existent glasses.” You say jokingly, grinning at his embarrassment, cheeks flushing a deep red.

It’s hard to explain how perfectly they fit his face—like it’s the missing piece that pulls him together. He’s not dressed up like usual, in a faded graphic shirt and gray pair of sweats, no jacket or rings in sight. It’s natural—and it’s in that split second you can see the real Eddie. Not the threatening, menacing Eddie Munson that everyone played him out to be.

Eddie nods wearily, beckoning you inside.

“I won’t tell anyone,” You promise him with a tinge of amusement, rounding on him as he closes the door, shoving the stack of papers at his chest, “—if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Eddie pulls the glasses off of his face, folding them up.

“It’s not that,” Eddie tells you, “—didn’t mean for you to find out about them, it kinda ruins the whole image, you know?”

Image. It makes you laugh to yourself silently.

“You didn’t seem like you were trying to hide them,” You giggled slightly, “besides, I don’t think they ruin anything.”

“I kinda forgot you were coming.” Eddie lies, knowing he had been riddled with nerves since he stepped foot inside of the trailer that evening, not understanding why he was so anxious to begin with.

“Look, I don’t mean to overstep or anything—“ You stop briefly, sighing softly, “but if you need a tutor or even just…some help, I don’t mind.”

Eddie doesn’t really know how to take it, staring at you like you’d grown a second head.

“I study with Nancy a lot,” You explain, “it’s really not a big deal.”

“I’m a lost cause,” Eddie admits with half-smile, “there’s no saving me.”

“I don’t believe that,” You tell him honestly, approaching him to shove the glasses back toward his chest, his other hand still stuffed full with the papers containing your notes, “—seriously, put them back on and I can spend a couple hours seeing where you’re at.”

Eddie listens, though skeptically, placing the glasses back onto his face—you smile without really thinking, causing him to react similarly.

“It’s okay to let someone be nice to you,” You assure him, “as many assholes as there are at Hawkins, there’s still a few of us who mean well.”

“I can’t be taught, I’m just warning you now.” Eddie remains adamant, leading the way toward his room. You follow behind eagerly, taking in the abstract way of decoration littered around the trailer.

“Fine—you can at least show me your drawings then.”

Eddie looks back at you briefly, a confused grin on his face.

“I’m really observant,” You tease, “and curious.”

“Promise not to tell anyone?” Eddie asks.

“I’ve already got one secret to keep,” You respond, teasing him lightly, “what’s one more?”

“How bad is it?” You ask him, staring up expectantly.

“What—oh, my eyes?” Eddie asks, “Uh, kinda bad. It’s okay, though—I manage.”

You crease your eyebrows together, motioning for him to remove the glasses. He does, watching as you reach for a paper, holding it up in front of him.

“Tell me when you can read it clearly.”

Eddie nods, squinting as you move the paper closer and closer, until it’s only a few inches from his face, your eyes widening in shock.

“Eddie,” You stress, “you can’t be serious?”

“I told you I manage,” He argues with a slight laugh, “but it’s bad, I meant that.”

Your expression remains the same, arms falling to your side as you discarded the paper.

“They look weird,” Eddie defends, “that’s why I only wear them at home—I already get enough shit at school anyways.”

“Bullshit,” You say boldly, “they do not look weird.”

Unfortunately, you did see all of the relentless teasing he caught at school, that wasn’t lost on you.

“You don’t have to lie,” Eddie says, “it won’t bother me.”

“I’m not,” You counter, smiling as the glasses returned to his face, his eyelashes touching the lenses, bangs brushing against the rim, “they fit you—they’re…cute.”

Eddie snorts in disbelief, “Okay, enough.”

You smile to yourself, watching as his cheek flushed a faint pink.

“Can I try them on?”

Eddie doesn’t answer outright, pulling them away from his face and handing them over—they’re a little bigger, his more prominent facial structure different from yours and causing the glasses to slide down your nose slightly. You push them up with your finger, squinting at the strain it puts on your eyes.

You can see Eddie smiling over the rim, admiring how perplexed you look in the moment, “Don’t look at me like that,” You say playfully, “these things are really strong.”

Eddie shakes his head, “It’s—nothing, nevermind.” He pulls the glasses from your face gently, placing them back on his own.

And Eddie’s never been shy, but suddenly he can’t force the words out, afraid of the mix of both rejection and embarrassment.

“I like you like this,” You tell him, hoping it eases him, seeing how tense he was—clearly unloved by many, “I mean, I like you both ways but this—it’s nice.”

“You’re the first.” He says flippantly, not aimed at you for any specific reason. He’s not immune to the words thrown at him, they do start to wear on him after time, even if he brushes them off for the most part.

“They’re insane,” You tell him with a surety, “all of them.”

“Careful,” Eddie treads, “Jason would have a fuckin’ field day if he heard you say that.”

You shrug, smugness in your expression.

“He’s terrified of me.”

“Jason—terrified of you?” Eddie asks, begging for more clarification.

“Our parents are friends—I’ve seen…a lot.” You say cryptically, not wanting to dive into details, “I’m not one for blackmail but I’m not totally above it.”

“You’re so interesting,” Eddie speaks candidly.

“I’ll take that was a compliment?” You respond, “Hopefully.”

Eddie nods with a subtle smile.

“Well—like you said,” You start, repeating his earlier sentiment, “I’ll tell you anything, just ask.”

You hold your finger up as his mouth opens—

“But, notes first—secrets later.”

Eddie pushes his glasses up comedically, forcing a quiet laugh from you—it’s the exact reaction he wants. He settles, agreeing with your rules.

“Deal.”

Please consider a reblog if you enjoyed this fic! It’s makes a huge difference. ♡

[runningthroughthegarden]

you were never mine

summary: you absolutely hated your coostar. a fake relationship was something you never expected. now that it's begun you have no idea where it will take you.

a/n: a very quick intro to a new story!! had to write it while i was motivated lol

you hated jack champion.

and not in a teasing friendship way. there was such a burning hatred for everything he did. of course, you couldn't explain it, it was just a feeling. a feeling you couldn't set aside and ignore.

ever since filming began you had made it a point to stay out of his line. unfortunately for you, your characters were slow developing love interests. you just had to remind yourself that this was nothing more than your job, a task you had to complete.

so while your character was in love with ethan landry, you hated jack champion.

as filming was coming to a slow end, the whole crew was preparing goodbyes. of course you still had the press tour left, but it was bittersweet to be leaving the set that had become home.

packing up your things from your trailer, your set assistant called you in to talk to some PR people. you thought nothing of it, half expecting to go over interview schedules and premieres. that thought was hurled out the window when you saw an all too familiar curly headed boy sitting in the next open seat. saying a silent prayer you plop down onto the seat next to him.

"y/l/n"

"champion"

no gaze exchanged, the usual uncomfortable tension arose.

"so we called you guys in today to go over some marketing moves we have planned." says the PR manager.

"as we all know, your characters are love interests which we think the fans are absolutely going to love. what we think they'll love even more is if their onscreen favorites were offscreen lovers." they explain.

you and jack sit there, no words, no glances, no expressions.

"what this means is that you two will make a couple public experiences. y'know the usual pda, hand holding, hugging, longing stares. which let me tell you, you two look absolutely ecstatic to do!" they laugh, trying to somewhat cut the tension.

as their words finally hit you, you and jack turn to each other.

"there's no way i'm doing that with him!"

"there's no way i'm doing that with her!"

"look i know this isn't an ideal situation for either of you. but we all believe this would really help sell your characters and create a buzz for this movie. just put it this way, complete this one last task, and you never have to see each other again. ever." they finish.

silently muttering agreements, the two of you exit the office ready to part ways. you can already feel anger boiling over so you try to leave as fast as possible.

"$20 bucks says you'll fall in love with me" jack teases leaning against the wall.

"in your dreams champion." you reply feeling pure annoyance.

"don't be too sure of yourself" he replies, just inches from your face.

pulling away, he walks away laughing.

your left to huff in annoyance and go back to packing up your trailer.

-

finishing up for the day you begin gathering your things. closing the door behind you, you shriek slamming into something. pulling away, its non other than your least favorite person. ever.

"jesus, champion what's your deal" you ask, catching your breath.

"the PR manager said i have to start getting to know you." he huffs.

"oh my god" you reply, tilting your head back.

"look i don't want to do any of this just as much as you do but god can you please make this process slightly more bearable." he asks.

you stand there pondering for a moment.

"no thank you!" you reply, cheerfully walking away.

"y/n!! cmon lets just get this over with." he pleads, pulling you towards his car.

"fine fine!! jeez"

getting into the seat of his car, jack starts the engine.

"hello?? its locked!!" you slightly yell.

"oh. is it really??" he questions.

"this was your idea please just open the door"

"just cause it was my idea doesn't mean i don't get to have a little fun" he smirks.

finally opening the door, you buckle yourself in. finding a pack of cds on the floor you start flipping through it.

"who even still uses cds" you question.

"i do. be careful with those." his mood instantly turning annoyed again.

"you have shitty music taste" you comment.

"and you're just shitty" he replies.

simply rolling your eyes at the comment you finally find a cd you like. popping it into the car you immediately skip to your favorite song on the album. head over heels by tears for fears slowly starts playing.

"i hate this song"

"yeah well it's your cd"

turning to the window, you start mouthing the lyrics to the song. jack starts tapping the beat against the steering wheel. a slight smile spreading on both your faces.

in an environment of pure hatred, something else was growing.

a/n: quick blurb of a beginning of a story :) requests are open!

[silverskye13]

The Shakespeare line "you egg? (He stabs him)" Is totally Hels towards Wels lol

Lin you're hilarious lol

"What. Are you doing?" Welsknight asked, trying not to sound as confused as he was.

Helsknight glanced up from the book he was reading to regard him with obvious disdain. "That question doesn't deserve an answer."

"Okay fine." Welsknight rolled his eyes. "Why are you here, on Hermitcraft, reading a book."

"Because Shakespeare was made to be read in the sun, and on the stage," Helsknight sniffed. "I'm not putting on a one-man-performance, and there's no sun in hels."

"So you're here."

"No, I'm on the moon."

"You don't have to be so touchy," Wels scowled. He took a breath, and decided to try his best to be civil. "I like Shakespeare."

Helsknight dropped his gaze back down to his book, "Congratulations."

"He's a classic." Welsknight continued steadfastly. "Which play are you reading?"

"Don't you have something better to do?"

"Obviously not."

"Get thee gone, go mind your own damn business." Helsknight closed his book again, keeping his thumb on the page he had last been reading, and smacked Wels none-too-gently on the leg with it. "Out, damned spot."

"You're reading Macbeth?" Welsknight smirked. "Of course you're reading Macbeth."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"It's just very on brand." Welsknight laughed. "You wouldn't read any comedy. You've got no sense of humor."

Helsknight let out a long breath, trying valiantly to maintain hold of his dwindling patience. He reopened his book and glared down at the pages, doing his best to stubbornly ignore Wels. Welsknight watched him. Admittedly, if he were a Shakespearian character, his fatal flaw would be his inability to let sleeping dogs lie, no matter how wise it was to walk away and let Helsknight read. He wasn't hurting anyone, and Welsknight didn't particularly feel like getting into a fight.

But how many chances did he get to really annoy his evil half?

"So, how far in the play are you?" Welsknight asked, earning himself a long half-groan, half-growl from his other half. "Have they killed Duncan yet?"

"Spoilers."

"You just quoted Lady Macbeth's nervous breakdown at me. You've read Duncan's death before."

"Maybe I've just heard the quote somewhere."

"Out, damned spot," Welsknight mused. "Past that then. From the damnéd spot to the candle, perchance?"

"Excuse me?"

"Fair Lady Macbeth's demise!" Welsknight proclaimed, reveling in the chagrined expression Helsknight shot him. "Out, out, brief candle? Why, life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more!"

"It is a tale told by an idiot," Helsknight glared, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

"I'm going to pretend you were just finishing the stanza, and that wasn't an insult."

"It was an insult."

"You're probably not even reading Macbeth," Welsknight smiled, ignoring the jab. "One of the other great monologues maybe."

"Don't you dare--"

"Fie, fie! Unknit that threat’ning unkind brow," Welsknight exclaimed, eyebrows raised, his barely contained grin undercutting his attempt at a dramatic gasp. "And dart not scornful glances from those eyes to wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor. It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads, confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds, and in no sense is meet or amiable."

"Would you shut up?"

"Come, come, you froward and unable worm! My mind hath been as big as yours, my heart as great, my reason haply more, to bandy word for word and frown for frown."

"Wels I swear--"

"Not taming any shrews, then?" Welsknight continued, undaunted. "Probably not. You're probably reading something violent and full of itself. That matches you best."

Helsknight got to his feet, his hand on his sword hilt, his book forgotten in the grass. Welsknight took a few steps back, giving himself a little distance to work with in case Hels decided to lunge at him. He smiled and bowed low. "I do protest, I never injured thee but love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love! And so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own, be satisfied."

Helsknight's fist tightened on his sword hilt. "I have had just about enough of you."

"No no, you've got the verse all wrong," Welsknight tutted in mock dismay. "The next line belongs to Mercurio, saying: O calm, dishonorable, vile submission! Alla stoccato carries it away."

Welsknight drew his sword with a theatrical flourish and declared, "Helsknight, you ratcatcher! Will you walk?"

Helsknight narrowed his eyes. "What wouldst though have of me?"

"Good king of cats! Nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out."

Welsknight expected Helsknight to draw his sword then, and respond in kind as Tybalt had. Instead, Helsknight simply stood there, studying him contemplatively. A few seconds passed, and then a full minute, and Welsknight lowered his sword, pointing the tip towards the grass.

"What's the matter Hels?" Welsknight smirked. "Too much of a brute to memorize Romeo and Juliet?"

Helsknight raised an unamused eyebrow. "What, you egg?"

Welsknight blinked, incredulously. He had enough time to place the line in Macbeth, and enough time again to remember when in the story the stupid line took place. And then he didn't think much of anything, because Helsknight had stabbed him.

"Rude." Welsknight managed.

"Young fry of treachery," Helsknight finished the line. Then he bent to pick up his book, and Welsknight respawned with Helsknight's parting words ringing in his head. "If you must know, it was Sonnet 73."

Welsknight sat up in his castle, shuddering off the last ghost of his respawn. He rolled his eyes at the unpleasantness, and then, because he was curious, padded over to his shelf to grab his book of Shakespeare's sonnets from his collection of books.

[Sonnet 73]

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire,

Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Welsknight read the poem again, an eyebrow raised. "All that drama, and he's not even reading a play."

Welsknight rolled his eyes. "Whatever Hels."

He shelved the book.

[ganondoodle]

not sure if i have talked about this before but i also really hate how gorons are treated in totk

they are one of my fav and i know they are unpopular and were always kinda slot into the "big fat stupid rock people" role, but i do think totk is one of or the worst case yet; all regions get some life threatening event (ignoring how stupid it is to put the issues you need to solve in the exact same spots as in botw with most changes being also reversible so the actual changes to the environment of the map are largely some small rocks sprinkled about) and they get .. drugs (haha)

like i dont wanna downplay anything but their problem being that they are obsessed with eating (>_>) some drugged rock that makes them mean and lazy (even if the reason is fine ... if i remember right and didnt make up that they had to dig elsewhere for food bc of death mountain losing its lava flow, the execution is my problem -like the vast majority of this game is a ok to great idea with passable to horrible execution of it) and arent even a danger to you (which i thought at first when you approach goronia the normal path and two gorons start to walk towards you if you come near saying creepy shit- i thought they are gonna attack me or lure me into a trap but again .. only to find them wanting me to pay to be let through (i think??) and all other drugged ones are largely just ... eating or lying around ........

like it would have been cool if that drugged rock stuff made them actually agressive, like the friendly easy going rock people being turned into something akin to a starved animal after eating poison bc they were at risk of starving sounds alot more .. impactful and scary (even if it would still be about food, which idk about you but the only kind of fatter npcs, even if non human, being made all about food is .. hm, aside from other possibly bad implications from this, but im trying to roll with the idea of it)

and then poor yuno being put in a stupid (stereotypical?) wrestler outfit and hes LITERALLY being mindcontrolled is so ...... ugh (again, idea is ok but- you get it) and then him being told by two CHILDREN that that obviously not zelda might not be zelda and it not only being the only time that idea is openly said until its "revealed" that hhhwhat?? it was a fake one?? in the mid battle of the "story" and he doesnt even believe it (both bc haha hes stupid and cant understand such a thing and also link not being able to tell anyone ... even his friends ....... ) is just so disrespectful, its ok not to be the smartest guy in the room (tho in totk pretty much anyone is made so much dumber for no reason...) but it being so clearly the gorons that get treated like this just annoys me so much, you know no one of the other races would be treated like that

(not to reach a little but it also plays into how koga is portrayed, like i love him to death and there are things that largely the gameplay only implies of him not being that incompetent, but hes clearly meant to be laughing material, the boss of the band of 'evil' assassins being lazy, incompetent and 'childish' is funny right?? and although i hc that the either super thin or super beefed up appearance of yiga members are just an appearance like their disguises of normal people to seem more unified and less indentifyable- that is still only a hc and then koga being the only character that is visibly fatter (aside from ... the gorons and .. king dorephan??) it puts a pebble more onto the pile of pebbles of little annoyances)

also yuno saying, post mid "story" battle, that no one actually knows anything about ganondorf aside from him being evil and it going complete ingored and never mentioned again feels like the type of thing a games does when they are critized for soemthing and instead of changing it they put a line in the game essentially saying "yeah we know but we are not gonna do aynthing about it lol" (like thinking of the line ashe from league of legends, whos design has been critized alot bc shes running around in a stupid tiny dress in the snow lands of their world, got when her dialog was updated that made her say sth like "yes im wearing a little dress in the forever winter land, deal with it lol" which perhaps was supposed to be a joke but it just feels like a "lol we know, fuck you")

[prettypei]

“AND MY MAN, THANK YOU TO MY MAN.”

plot: in which they (try to) save you from embarrassing scenarios; fluff!

reader: gn! Reader, but in geto’s part reader has a period

warnings: icky scenarios (in an embarrassing way), blood in getos part (but like in period blood)

parings: gojo, geto, yuuji, yuuta x reader

(a/n): some of these are from personal experiences lol also names used in yuuji’s part are purely fictional ☝️

✰GOJO isn’t afraid of awkwardness. He’s well aware of the tension, but he mostly chooses to ignore it. He just doesn’t care enough. Until now. After your “particular loud outburst of gas” on the subway, everyone’s staring at you. Right now gojo is faced with the (probably) most important (and hilarious) decision of his life: save his soulmate from embarrassment, or stare at them as well, pin pointing the blame on them? He sees you trying to advert gazes, looking at the floor and anywhere but the faces of those who are staring at you in a disgusted manner. He then feels a little annoyed too. It’s hard to hold it in! What’s the big deal?

“*clears throat* ahem…. I was the one who farted. You can stop glaring at (name) now, guys.”

Everyone then immediately looks away, swiping on their phones or pretending like they weren’t even looking at his lover in the first place. You look at him, an expression of bemusement and awe on your face. He shrugs and gives you a cheeky grin. Well, it was worth it to see your smile.

✰you and GETO were on a date at a restaurant before you excused yourself and went to the bathroom. And when you come back with a mortified expression, he expects the worst. “What is it?” He’s asks. “I-uh….” You fiddle with the hem of your T-shirt. “My…pants are…stained…” Geto gives you a confused expression. “Huh? Babe what do you-“ “BECAUSE it’s that time of the month, suguru.” Geto’s eyes widen. “Oh. Oh!” Cue the awkward silence. You speak up: “Im really sorry suguru, we have to cut this date short…I didn’t expect this I-I am so so sorry.” He looks at you once again, and stands up.

“Let’s go to my apartment, Kay? You can borrow my jacket to cover yourself up.”

“But I might stain it!” “Well, I can wash it anyways. It’ll be fine! Plus I love you more.” he chuckles while adding a short peck to your cheek.

✰YUUJI and you were just coming out of the cinema, laughing about the comedy you and him just watched. “Ohmigosh did you SEE Angelina’s face when Ryan fell for her best friend?” You howled. “She got what she deserved, that bitch.” “Angelina was like, like that one meme.” Yuuji takes out his phone and scrolls through his photos, finally finding the photo. “THIS.” He snickers. It was then you just couldn’t stop laughing. And laughing. And laughing, until you earned a few glares from strangers. “Y-y-Yu-yuji.” You gasp for breaths. “I-I can’t-“ you continue laughing. Yuuji then notices your face red from laughing… and he laughs too. And laughs. And laughs. “(n)-(name)!” He sputters. “Y-you look just like that seagull, y’know? The meme?” You both look at each other, pausing for a second before bursting into laughter together. He then pauses to smile at your face.

“Y’know, it feels better to laugh with you. Is that weird?”

you smile back. “No, not at all.”

✰YUUTA was just looking for you because boy, the line for the bathrooms sure were long at the amusement park. “(name)? (NAME)!” He calls, searching for your familiar face. “I’m here!” You wave your arm, squeezing out of the line and walking towards your boyfriend. It was then yuuta noticed something stuck on the back of your shoe, and the line of people snickering and taking pictures of you. A long white roll of toilet paper was being dragged by the back of your left sneaker, and you were completely oblivious to the fact. You stand in front of him and grin. “Let’s go ride the roller coaster then, is that okay?” “Sure. Uhm wait I just dropped my ring, give me a sec.” You stand while yuuta walks behind you, pretending to pick up the ring while taking the toilet paper wedged under your shoe. He throws it away in a nearby trashcan, sending a glare to the people who were giggling at you. They all turned quiet. “Found it!” He says in a sing-songy voice, before lacing your arm in his and heading towards the rollercoaster. “Hey what was that about? The line suddenly turned quiet, did you see what happened?” You ask.

“No. I think someone tried to cut the line or something, I don’t know.”

[mikuni14]

The Sign - Ep 7

First of all, as always, I will officially ignore all the cop stuff, the doctor discussing his patient's condition and giving his data without a court order, how a person with a mental disorder is treated, and the meme quotes from Paulo Coelho 🙃 (It's interesting that the Dr. Chewconcretemotherfucker treated both art Art and Tharn 🤔)

It never ceases to amaze me how much Phaya has NO control over his face and his behavior in Dr. ChUNT's presence lmao. And how all Tharn gives him is basic politeness, and how it must be apparent to anyone interested (including Dr. Changinghisnameisapublicservice) that Tharn, his heart, and his body belong to someone else. So what exactly is he trying to achieve? The only thing left for him is to actually end this relationship in a drastic way… "So don't worry, I will see him to his bed" I bet your ass that you will Phaya! 😆 I'm 100% sure the only thing your bird brain registered is "I" and "Tharn" and "bed" 👍

Somehow, in this episode, Tharn was able to de-escalate the situation between Phaya and Dr. Chanceyougettharniszeroyoucunt (with just one sentence), and he was also able to confess why he was the way he was (it took him one sentence as well). This is what I wanted in last episode, but what we only got now to fit the plot… *sigh*

I really liked the scene of Phaya trying to explain himself to Tharn: he's freaking out, not controlling his emotions, grabbing Tharn's hands.. and those broken sentences, grimaces on his face, visible nervousness and distress. And how Tharn is worried about what he sees (that deep crease between his eyebrows), trying to hide his worry, comforting him. Phaya's line: "Just tell me you forgive me and all these symptoms would probably go away" floored me. That's some old romance novel shit, it gets me every time! 😍

Phaya and Tharn's conversation in the archive was great, making Phaya's position on being in a relationship clear. Tharn's reaction to what Phaya says and when he asks what would he do? Really nice, as Tharn shows mostly with his eyes how much it all affects him..

I love Phaya and how persistent he is, how he doesn't give up, how he treats all obstacles to his happy relationship with Tharn as something that simply needs to be overcome and that's it 😄 That's why he follows him like a dog, uses every opportunity to be with him and creates his own opportunities. Like inviting Tharn to his nest house to disarm him with his family, food and cat and ultimately WIN him. Which of course works! Who would have guessed, Phaya actually has some game after all lmao

The scene at Phaya's house was so sweet! Tharn is so loving and gentle with the cat, immediately noticing Namami, unconsciously petting him just beacuse he is within his arm reach, which is what cat people do without thinking. I love how everyone just passed the cat between them lol

I liked Tharn having fun, being relaxed, the way Phaya shows him around his nest, the way he talks to him about himself. Tharn staring at the eagle painting…

Ohhh, and we have a perfect confession. As it should be, because Phaya is so serious when it comes to Tharn: it was long, honest, romantic without exaggeration or cringe. It's nice that Tharn didn't interrupt him and made an emotional confession himself. I'm not surprised that Tharn gave in because everything had been building up to this point. The way he saw Phaya freaking out, the way Phaya kept pushing, the whole "love" atmosphere of their current case certainly made him think too. Tharn himself tells Phaya not to press him, suggesting that he doesn't have the strength to resist, because as Tongthai even said earlier, you can't "fall out of love." You can't just shut down your feelings and desires. And Tharn FEELS it and oh god how much he wants it. And what I think convinced him was that Phaya didn't dismiss his worries with the traditional "don't worry" or "everything will be fine" or worse, "you're exaggerating, it's just a delusion." No, Phaya took his fears upon himself, saying that HE would try not to leave THARN, taking the burden of keeping Phaya alive off Tharn's shoulders. "I'll do whatever it takes so that you won't be sad or lose me", because his life is his responsibility, not Tharn's. What Phaya did was notice Tharn's worry, recognize it, take it upon himself, and let Tharn relax. That's why I'm not surprised that Tharn allowed himself a moment of happiness, to reach for what he wants. Perhaps it's a moment of weakness that he will regret later, but come on, Tharn is not made of steel! He's just a cute lil' guy and he's in love and horny! 😭 Oh, but this confession had its beautiful moments: "I really want to have you by my side in every day of my life" "This is the best I can do, please don't force me" "I promise not to leave you"

Love scene: YES. I love Phaya when, before they started, he takes a deep breath, as if he's finally at peace, because this is it, he FINALLY has everything he wants, everything is right with the world. And then he just go for it. I fucking love predatory, hungry Phaya. I love the pliant Tharn, how he's almost always with his back to Phaya in an act of sweet submission and ultimate trust. Phaya had moments as if he couldn't believe that they were together and when he realized that yes, this was really happening, he became even more passionate, as if he couldn't get enough of Tharn. It was incredibly hot. There was a lot of heavy breathing, pulling on skin, tight embraces, intense caresses, hungry looks. And am I seeing things or there was a scene of Tharn nodding his consent and implication that Phaya was preparing him? 👀 Anyway, the scene was an intoxicating mix of Phaya and Tharn's fantasies: it was pretty, pink, emotional and hot.

When I finally see them together, I'm as happy as Phaya with a naked, tattooed, wet Tharn in the shower 😄💖🥳 everything is right with the world.

[axelsagewrites]

Jon Snow*Blind Date

Pairing: Modern!Jon Snow x f!Reader

Platonic: Sam, Gilly, Cregan, Robb, Sansa, Theon, and Tormund

Summary: Jon's friends bully him into going on a blind date he's sure he will regret but by the end he is head over heels for her

TW: Swearing and inuendo but nothing major

Word count: 3459 (I got carried away lol)

Masterlist Here

“Dude, I said no,” Jon said rejecting Sam’s offer yet again.

Sam and Gilly sat across from the stubborn Snow as they ate lunch and Sam questioned why he even tried. “Why not though?” Sam asked.

“Because I don’t need you to set me up with someone. I can find my own dates,”

“Really?” Sam said staring at Jon in disbelief. Gilly let out a giggle as her boyfriend began to berate the boy, “Last week all you did was write poetry about how alone and sad and moody you were. You’ve went full emo,”

“First of all, that was for class,” Jon glared at Sam only receiving a smirk in return, “Secondly I thought that was private,”

“And if you had a girlfriend then you would know-nothings private,”

“He’s right you know,” Gilly pipped up. Jon liked Gilly. He liked Sam. He liked them together. But right now, he wanted to slap the pair's heads together and storm off. But Jon chose to rise above and be mature.

“Yeah, well fuck you both,” he grumbled as he began to almost stab the food on his tray with his fork. “I’m happy being single,”

“Since when were you happy?” Cregan asked as he sat to join them for lunch.

“Im trying to set Jon up with my mate but he’s being stubborn. As always,”

“Ooo which girl?” Cregan asked before quickly adding “Or guy or whatever it is you’re into. You are into people, aren’t you?”

The three laughed as Jon’s attack on his food increased, “People that aren’t assholes yeah. I don’t get why you’re so insistent on this,”

“Because one day Jon,” Sam folded his arms, leaning on the table, and began his tale, “I’m going to realise I haven’t heard from you in a while and decide hey I should check on him. So, me and Gilly are gonna come over to your sad little apartment and break in. And what will I find? You dead on the couch and Ghost circling your body like a vulture. And I don’t wanna Gilly to see that,”

“Ghost isn’t gonna fucking eat me when I die,” Jon snapped, “Do you really think im gonna die alone? Do you think I can’t get a date that badly?” Gilly, Sam, and Cregan all shared a look “Okay fuck all of you,”

“I just think it’d be good for you to get out the house,” Gilly pipped up and the other two nodded in agreement before she added, “Besides you’ll be less tense if you get laid,” making everyone’s jaws drop, “Im serious. I used to be even more stressed than you Jon and then I met Sam and ever since I’ve just been- “

“I don’t think we need to talk about that darling,” Sam cut her off.

“Seconded,” Cregan said, “but she’s right. You need to get laid,”

Jon sighed and Sam looked between his friends and questioned his life decisions, “While I’d prefer you didn’t just ‘use’ them for sex, I genuinely think you would like them,”

“We didn’t say to use them for sex,” Gilly said but Jon ignored her.

Jon sighed and pushed his tray away since his food was now closer to mush than anything else from his stabbings, “Fine. One date,” Jon said, and the group let out a cheer, “but I swear to god Sam they better not be crazy or something,”

“By something he means ugly,” Cregan said, and Jon slapped the back of his head. “Ow dude wtf?”

Sam grinned, “Don’t worry. I know your type. You’ll like them,”

Jon Snow’s mystery date was all the talk of their friend group. Robb had found out, Tormund found out, and Theon had found out. He even got a text from Sansa about it. all of them bombarded him with tips and tricks and lines to use. Sansa demanded he Facetime her to pick his outfit out.

As Jon was getting ready to leave his room was filled with all said annoying friends bar Sansa but she was texting him so much it felt like she was practically there. “And when you get to the restaurant- “Cregan started, and Jon let out an agonising groan.

“Shut up,” he whined, “I know what to do on a date,”

“We know mate but,” Tormund began, “you haven’t been the same since Ygritte. We just don’t want you giving up if it doesn’t go to plan,”

“I’m not gonna give up,” Jon said as he looked at himself in the mirror. The outfit Sansa bullied him into was a white button-up and weird checked trousers that were ‘trendy’ right now. Jon sighed as he began to unbutton it, “Besides Ygritte was a long time ago,”

She had been his first-ever girlfriend he got the week of university. It was good at first, but they were always fighting and bickering. They were constantly breaking up and getting back together. The whole ordeal lasted a year and messed Jon up. Especially since he didn’t realise, they weren’t getting back together until he found out she was seeing Orell.

“You’re not cancelling,” Sam warned Jon who in return through his shirt at him.

“Im just changing shirts calm down,” he said as he pulled out a black shirt and black jeans. “Do I at least get to know anything about this person before im trapped at a table for an hour with them?”

“They’re in my history of medicine and herbology class, from Kingslanding, same age as us, funny, and extremely sarcastic,” Sam listed.

“Is that it?”

“You’ll have to find the rest out yourself,”

“Do I at least get a name?” Jon asked as he began to tie his doc boot laces.

“(Y/N),”

“Oh, I like them!” Robb pipped up, “Yeah, they tutored me in Dornish lit last year. Only reason I didn’t flunk out,”

“Oh, yay maybe I can study tonight,” Jon deadpanned before turning to look in the mirror, “How do I look?”

“Perfect,” Sam said.

 “Very emo,” Cregan chimed in with a smirk causing Jon to roll his eyes.

“Hot bro,” Theon blew Jon a kiss and received a slap on the head from Cregan. “Can’t a bro appreciate another hot bro?”

Theon was ignored and Robb spoke up, “Sansa’s gonna kill you but you look good dude. Don’t worry. It’s just a date,”

“Im not worried,” Jon lied as he continued to try straightening out his already straight shirt.

Robb grabbed Jon's leather jacket and helped him shrug it on, “Of course not,” he said as he held Jon's shoulders, “You’ve got this,”

Jon was standing outside the restaurant with his gaggle of hens following him, “You’re not coming on this date with me you know?”

Sam rolled his eyes, “I was just gonna point them out then we were gonna head to the The Wall bar encase you need us,”

“I won’t need you,” Jon said causing Sam and Robb to share a look “Shut up,” Jon grumbled as he looked into the restaurant, “So who is it?”

Sam pointed them out and the nerves instantly flooded Jon's system. They had got there early and were already sitting down looking absolutely gorgeous. They weren’t even trying. They were just sitting there playing with a fork and staring out a window and yet Jon was already feeling his mouth go dry, “Dude they’re well out of my league,”

“I said the same thing about Gilly and look at us now. Now go get em tiger,”

“I hate you,” Jon said before walking up to the restaurant door, “Here I go,” Jon took a deep breath and forced himself into the building, throwing a quick glance back to where Robb and Sam were giving him a thumbs up like some kind of child.

“Table for one?” The hostess asked.

Jon cleared his throat, not even sure what name the reservation was under, “I’m meeting someone here. For a date,” he began to stutter and cursed himself mentally, “I think they’re- “

“Jon?” she asked, and he nodded as a blush began to flush his cheeks, “They were sat a few minutes ago. Come with me,” she said and led Jon to his table who was desperately trying to walk normally and not fall into a deep hole and die. “Your dates here,” the hostess grinned as Jon sat down across from his mystery date who even the hostess knew before him. “Here are your menus. Have fun you two,” she said before leaving.

“Hi- “

“I’m- “

“Sorry you go- “

“You go first- “

The pair let out an awkward laugh before she quickly jumped in, “Hey,” she said with a smile stuck to her lips that were perfect just like her smile.

Jon found his face flushing yet again, “Hey. A friend of yours im guessing?” he asked nodding to the hostess who kept glancing at them.

“Yeah,” she laughed despite him not making a joke, “That’s Baela. Sorry if she keeps spying on us. She traded a shift just to watch me crash and burn,” Jon laughed and smiled as a blush filled her face instead of his for once, “Not that I think im gonna crash and burn im sorry let me start again. I’m (Y/N),” she said as she stuck her hand out to shake his and Jon saw her cringe at her own actions.

But he just grinned and shook her hand in return, “I’m Jon,” she took her hand back and his hand had never felt colder.

“Sorry about the handshake,”

“No, it’s good. Handshakes are good,” Jon reassured her, glad that it was not only him sweating buckets over this date. “I’ve never had a date shake my hand before,”

“I’ve never had a blind date before,”

“Me neither. Sam practically bullied me into this. He wouldn’t even tell me your name,”

“Me too,” she grinned. “Well, he let me know your name, but he forbade me to look up your social media,”

“You wouldn’t find much im afraid,”

“Not an Instagram guy?” she asked, and Jon shook his head, “Hmm I suppose I can forgive you,”

“Oh, so kind of you,” Jon said, and she laughed, “I guess we should probably look at the menu. That waiter looks like he’s ready to pounce,”

(Y/N) smiled, opening her menu, but it dropped once she looked up to the waiter, “Oh fuck,”

“What?” Jon asked, dropping his menu and looking to see what she had been staring at. It had been their waiter who had skulked off as soon as she had looked up. “Do you know him?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she said as she tried to shake it off, but Jon kept looking at her causing her to sigh, “That’s my ex. Baela swore he was off tonight or I would’ve said somewhere else,”

“Is it okay? Do we need to leave?” Jon asked, fully ready to walk half the earth for this girl he had only had half a conversation with.

She sighed and took a second to think “Nah it’ll be fine. Yeah, no it’ll be fine. He broke up with me anyway plus it was like a year ago so like yeah, its fine. Plus, they do a really good cheesecake I wanna get for dessert so its fine,” Jon couldn’t help but find her rambling adorable, but his silence caused her to look at him, “As long as you’re okay with it?”

“As long as the cheesecake as is good as you say,” he joked.

She laughed and picked up her menu, “Oh I promise its more than just good,”

After the pair had looked at the menu their chat was interrupted “(Y/N),” their waiter greeted not even glancing at Jon.

“Ramsay,” she said giving a tight-lipped smile, “How are you?”

“I'm fine. What can I get yous?” he asked and Jon's face contorted at how he didn’t even pretend to be courteous. (Y/N) also appeared shocked as she began to stutter her order and he wrote it down. “What about you?” he asked not even looking at Jon. Jon was so baffled that he didn’t even respond causing Ramsey to ask again “Well?”

“I’ll have the gourmet burger and a coke,”

“You’ll have the Pepsi,” Ramsey said as he turned and walked away from the table.

Jon and (Y/N) looked at each other with a look of half horror half confusion, “Was he always such an asshole?”

“I mean yeah but I assumed he’d at least pretend at work. Im so sorry,”

“Don’t apologise for him,” Jon assured her “Why did you even date him?”

She laughed but her face was anything but happy, “Can we save toxic ex stories for date two?”

“I understand. I mean like. I get it,” Jon said, and relief flooded her face, “We’ve all got some shitty stories I guess?”

“Yeah, but let’s focus on the good ones for now. Baela will kill me if I scare you off before dessert,”

“Good thing I don’t scare easily,”

From there the conversation flowed so easily that even Ramsey's bluntness couldn’t ruin the night. They had so much in common and Sam was right. She was funny and kept up with his quick tongue.

“You’re an idiot if your serious think Aegon the conquering was- “

“Dessert?” Ramsey interrupted their debate as he began to take their plates away.

The pair shared a look before (Y/N) spoke up, “Could we get the cheesecake and- “but she was cut off by his scoff, “What?”

“Do you really need the cheesecake?”

Jon felt a hot rage go up his spine as he glared daggers into Ramsey. (Y/N) went instantly red and was stumbling to even get a word out so Jon spoke up. “Give us one of each dessert,”

“You want four desserts?” Ramsey finally actually looked at Jon whose gaze could cut metal right now.

“Yup. Problem?”

“Whatevs. Coming right up,” Ramsey said as he sauntered off to the kitchen.

“Don’t listen to a word that guy says. He’s an asshole. I don’t understand why you ever dated him. And you said the dessert was good so we’re trying each one no arguments,”

(Y/N) smiled and Jon almost forgot the anger at the sight of it, “He was nice once. I think. Im honestly not so sure now,” she laughed but her voice was fragile.

Jon grabbed her hand without even thinking, “You deserve someone way better than him. You’re so,” Jon shook his head trying to think of the right word, “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so perfect,”

“You barely even know me,”

Jon sighed as he debated if he should go against everything his friends had told him and lay himself out on the table, “I had my own Ramsey. And well, there’s a lot to that story but long story short she just. She was just not good for me. Now I don’t even know why we ever dated but she messed with my head, and I haven’t gone on a date since until now. And I can honestly say I’ve had more fun tonight than I did in the whole year I knew her,”

He expected her to run, to excuse herself to the bathroom and climb out a window, but she squeezed his hand instead, “I get that. I really do. I was thinking the same thing about Ramsey this whole time. How could I date someone as pig headed as him- “she said causing Jon to chuckle, “when I could’ve been with someone like you,”

“Maybe blind dates aren’t so bad after all,” Jon said, and she smiled. They stayed looking into each other’s eyes till Ramsey ruined it yet again by ungraciously dumping four plates and 2 spoons on the table.

 They didn’t let it ruin the mood and spent another hour sitting and chatting as Jon experienced the best cheesecake of his life. They must’ve been too happy for Ramsey's liking who decided to dump the bill on their table without even asking but made sure to add, “Remember it's rude not to leave a tip,”

“Its official. I have better taste than you,” Jon joked as he pulled out his wallet.

“Hey, I need to stalk this Ygritte girl before you get to judge,”

“Fine fine,” Jon said as he began to take cash out, “It was 38.50 but I only have $20s and I don’t wanna leave him $1.50,”

“Here I have change,” (Y/N) said as she pulled out $18.50 in cash, “You can pay me back by getting me a drink at The Wall on our next date,”

“Oh, can I? your so kind,” Jon said though internally he was bouncing off the walls at the idea of another date with this perfect specimen.

“I know,” she said as she scrunched her nose up and Jon thought he may die from her cuteness, “Do you have a pen though? I wanna leave him a ‘tip’,”

Jon passed her a pen and tried to watch what she was writing but she hid it and closed the bill holder with a grin, “We should go. Now,”

The pair rushed to the host stand for (Y/N) to say a quick goodbye to Baela. As she was telling Baela she’d text her they heard a “Hey!” from across the restaurant and the pair turned to see Ramsey pushing through tables to get to them.

“Go, go, go,” (Y/N) laughed as she grabbed Jon's arm and hauled him out of the restaurant, and ran across the road, narrowly dodging a car.

Ramsey flipped them off, unable to leave the restaurant but as soon as he walked back in the pair broke out into a laughing fit, “What did you write?”

(Y/N) laughed harder, “I told him how to find the clit,” she said, and Jon laughed even harder.

“Oh, my gods I love that,” He was almost crying at this point, “This is the best thing Sam has ever forced me to do,”

“Im glad,” she laughed as she looked up at Jon, “It’s getting late. My roommate said if I didn’t get back by 11, she was calling the cops,”

“Well, I don’t need to get arrested again,”

“Again?” she asked, and Jon laughed, “Am I dating a gang leader or something?”

“I’ll tell you as I walk you to your dorm?” Jon offered.

(Y/N) grinned and nodded as the pair began to walk back to campus, “At least you’re a gentleman gang man,”

Jon was disappointed as they reached the door to her dorm knowing he would have to wait to see her again, “So if you don’t do insta do you at least have a phone number?” (Y/N) asked as she leaned back against her front door.

“Gimme your phone I’ll put it in,” he said, and she complied.

“This better not be a fake number Jon Snow,” she teased as he handed the cell back to her.

Despite his anxiety at the beginning Jon felt his confidence grow with every joke and come back. He didn’t even think as he stepped closer, leaving only an inch between them, “Don’t worry its very real. I promise,”

“Good,” she grinned as she brought her hands to rest on his shoulders, “I had fun tonight,”

“Me too,” Jon said as he leaned in closer, placing his hand on her waist. “I really wanna kiss you right now,” he confessed as his lips ghosted hers.

She leaned in ever so slightly so that her lips brushed against his as she said, “Then do it,”

His lips fell onto hers and her arms pulled him in closer, so they were pressed against each other as their lips moulded together perfectly. Jon wanted it to last forever but as he grazed his teeth against her bottom lip she pulled back slightly, “If we don’t stop, I won’t be going into my room alone,”

“You’re lucky im a gentleman,” Jon said as he forced himself to pull back, letting her turn to unlock her door, “Another time?”

“I’m free tomorrow?” she offered.

Jon laughed but nodded, “Tomorrows great. Text me,”

“As soon as im through this door.” She said, “Goodnight Jon,”

“Goodnight,” he said as he stepped away and let her return to her dorm.

Jon was barely out the dorm's front door when he checked to see if she had indeed texted him. She had. A text from an unknown number saying, ‘Guess who?’. Jon laughed to himself as he texts her back before looking at the bombardment of texts his friends had sent him. But they could wait. He wasn’t gonna let Sam find out he was right ruining his night. Turns out blind dates aren’t always a bad idea.

[familyabolisher]

can you elaborate your thoughts on 'the bear' show? i keep seeing it all over my dash and it looks interesting but i wanna know what to look out for since you said the politics isn't handled well.

having now watched all of the second season—a major problem sticking out to me is that the show can’t quite decide what tone it wants to strike. in season one, you had these dream sequences intended to communicate carmy’s [in]ability to process his feelings about michael, spliced with an otherwise v realist tone—but the show never really leant into either consistently using a surrealist external world to represent something internal to a character or going straightforwardly realist. season two has, eg., a moment where syd sees the text on the rapidly generating tickets change from table orders to like “fuck” over and over, and, like—it’s the same thing again, it’s the use of an obviously not ‘literal’ physical space communicating the mental headspace of the character whose perspective we briefly occupy, but, like, the show can’t quite commit to the tone that this slightly trickier technique demands, so it just feels awkward and clumsy and like a cheap way of communicating a character’s internal state. i thought the bit in season one where carmy dreams he’s on a cooking show that goes horribly wrong was really tonally effective and an excellent segue into the rest of the episode, but, like, they just kind of pull this conceit out when they need it and ignore it when they don’t. and i wish they’d try to do more with it! shit or get off the pot.

the dialogue is also just … pretty weak at points. there’s a lot of like, characters launching into anecdotes as a technique of exposition, which … i can put up with once or twice, but when it just keeps happening, i can’t help but think of it as lazy writing. season 2 also seemed to spread itself far too thin; we have different episodes dedicated to different secondary characters, which if handled well could be effective—the idea is that they’re a team, that everyone contributes something and everyone has to pull their weight, and we spend time with each individual before seeing how it all comes together at the end. that did kind of half-land in the final episode, but on an individual level, the episodes just weren’t tightly constructed enough for any one storyline to feel complete. tina and marcus in particular felt … underused, underdeveloped, i feel like i barely have more of a sense of their characters than i did at the end of season 1. marcus’ episode especially felt incredibly flat; we learnt (through Dialogue Exposition) about his relationship to his terminally ill mother, which i think worked well enough, but other than that, the process of learning new baking techniques felt half-assed and lacked any real tension, will poulter’s character was completely forgettable. glad we got some pretty shots of copenhagen, but like, what was the point.

ideologically it sucks lol. there’s a chef who’s fired for doing drugs which the narrative is v much fine with, there’s pithy comments about people coming into the restaurant in groups and buying one thing so they can sit around, there’s … just no real sense of the ways in which restaurants are classed spaces, service work is a denigrated form of labour, hospitality is a v abusive industry … richie’s episode in season 2 focuses on him learning some nauseatingly bootlicky hospitality shit as a barometer of Character Growth to the point that i was laughing when i watched it because i couldn’t take it seriously at all. (there’s a line where a manager says that serving fine dining guests can be compared to looking after people in hospital in terms of the level of care you bring to the job … i guess that’s why they call it … Hospitality … and i was just sat there cackling. like, be serious.) there’s just no drive to interrogate the hospitality industry & how the impression of servitude and deference is built into the world of fine dining and what that means, no serious criticism of restaurant work beyond carmy’s flashbacks to chefs being abusive to him that become a discursive dead end when the show doesn’t develop them to tackle the nature of fine dining itself.

my final big problem is that it’s very thematically flimsy. the conceit of the show is that carmy has to interrupt his career as a fine-dining chef to come and work at michael’s v modest sandwich shop whilst emotionally processing his suicide—so it seems pretty clear to me that this would play with tensions between the culture of fine dining and that of a failing sandwich shop, right? like, clashes when the fine dining chef tries to bring fine dining techniques to the new place, in the end we all learn a valuable lesson about what we can all teach each other or whatever? and season 1 does do this, but even at the points where it seems to want to criticise the fine dining industry, by season 2 it seems to have pretty definitively joined the war on fine dining on the side of the fine dining. there’s not really a drive in season 2 to interrogate what it means to turn a neighbourhood sandwich shop into a fine dining establishment; how do regulars feel about this? what about the locals who might now be priced out of it? what about the question of gentrification? none of these are ever really brought to the forefront. in season 1, we got the sense that carmy’s fine dining world was sterile and alien where it wasn’t actively abusive, and the sandwich shop allowed him to escape that world—so why aren’t we asking questions about what kind of restaurant culture is really valuable, what really makes for good hospitality? even in a show that obviously doesn’t want to ask serious questions about restaurants under capitalism, there are all these little channels of negotiation that season 1 seemed to set up only for season 2 to let them drop.

so, yeah. i’m not convinced the show really has a strong sense of direction. season 2 felt very all over the place, and seemed to want to juggle so many things at once that it ended up not really landing any of them.

[scruus]

Hiii how are you today?

I would like to request for Luocha × Reader(Gn) fluff? Like, maybe reader and Luocha out on a date?🤔

It's okay if you ignore this. Have a nice day though <33

(This is my first time doing this lol)

👋 hello, i am fine! thank you for sending this in cause it made me write something non smutty after so long haha.

Also props to you for sending your first ask🫨

★̶̲ [ 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 ]

✎ luocha + gn reader notes: a bit angsty at first, wholesome end; this took me so long to write cause I wanted to capture Luocha perfectly and idk I still feel icky but i hope it came out good.

lıllılı.ıllı.ılılıı ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ flowing flutes - Sdorica

“So you mean to tell me…that you have never being gifted flowers?!”, you gasped, surprise and offense written over your face. Luocha chuckled a small laugh, before nodding to your question.

Absolutely ridiculous, your eyebrows scrunched together, if this man doesn’t get any flowers, I should forget receiving even one in my lifetime!

Luocha and you were on another one of your, and you quote, “exploration-time”, where you both roam the Central Starskiff Haven side by side, under the dusk moonlight and just silently observe the mundane lives of the people around you. Simple, happy and living.

You may sometimes notice Lady Yukong out on her nightly duties or even spot Tingyun selling a few photocards of General Jing Yuan. Where she seemed to get them was always questionable.

But Luocha seemed indifferent to it all.

You met him a few days ago, within the artisanship commission, where he was healing your wounds after you were attacked by a marastruck soldier (you won though).

At first, it was alarming. A suspicious looking pretty blonde man appearing out of nowhere with such a huge coffin(?), kneeling beside you and trying to offer help?

Is he a grime reaper?, was your first thought.

And so being the aggressive cloud knight you were, you raised your weapon at him, and his coffin. Fearing that something may pop out of it and suck the soul out of you.

It was not until later when you found out that he was a foreign merchant, and a great medical superior associated with the Xianzhou Yuque. You apologised to him, profusely, after the introduction and internally decided that you shall make it up to him.

Which leads to the current situation.

Bunking your shift and disguising yourself as some noble lady of higher ranks, while showing an extremely gorgeous man around a town he had already been to several times was not as difficult as you had thought. Well, if you ignore the few stares from the desperate maidens whispering around you two.

Could you really blame them though?

Luocha was a gem. A mystery. Always observing, and quaint while doing so. Its like he had several layers hidden under that calming, sober face of his. A multitude of secrets.

But dear heavens, was he not charming? Every time he spoke, his deep short laughs, the crinkles around his eyes while his lips twitched into a smile, the lingering gazes on you which he succeeded in peeking at when you were turned away; it made your heart jump.

“So um…Luocha”, he eyed you from his side. “Have you ever fallen in love?”, you mumbled, before biting your bottom lip in. You shouldn’t have asked that. This was overstepping the imaginary boundary between you two.

Luocha’s eyes suddenly shifted into an odd silence, his mouth pressing in a thin line and his steps slowing down to a halt. That wise brain of his seemed to be rumbling. Pushing pieces together to give you an answer.

Your curious gaze pulls him out of his thoughts, and he blinks. “Love….it’s a very peculiar thing, don’t you say?”, he resumes walking, his voice sounding a lot more solemn and older. It sounded pained.

“I have met several kinds, several species and lived through several exhilarating experiences, but-”, he grows quieter, “I, unfortunately, have never felt it for myself”. Your heart tugs in your chest when he confesses. It appeared as if love was a subject he never wished to be familiar with. An alien entity.

“It’s a natural need in everyone, this ‘love’ ”, a sad smile appears on his face, “but only a chosen few get the chance to live in it”. He looked up at the dark sky, trailing each of the stars with his green eyes, searching for something.

This didn’t feel right. Your gut was wrenching inside and your chest felt heavy as if burdened with a responsibility. A sudden discourse of hurt was running through your veins as you stared at his face. You have never felt like this before.

“I apologise for the misbehaviour”, your booming voice startles him, “but I feel that if I do not do this now-”, a fire in your eyes, “-I will never get the courage to do again so”, sneaking your hand in his and clasping tight around it, you run off, dragging him with you.

“W-wait, [y/n]-“, his pants and requests are ignored by your ears as you lead him to a place you pray he has never seen before. Ugh I wish I was more into sightseeing, you cursed yourself while pushing yourself through the crowd of the people. Grunts and complains were thrown at you but you didn’t stop.

You treaded up the steps carefully, to not amiss your balance lest both you and luocha shall fall. And even though your palms were sweating because of the warmth between your skins touching, the voice in your head told you if you let go of it now, everything would be ruined.

Finally, you two reached the top of the stairs, your eyes glaring with an intensity at the huge brown doors a few inches in front. Closing your eyes, you prayed he had never seen this door or the place inside before.

You turned to him. His face reddened, lips parted a bit as they released short heavy breaths, and eyes fluttering shut and open.

Looks like he doesn’t run much.

“As much as I would like to give you a training in using those feeble feet of yours at a rapid pace, I shall save that for another day”, you grinned, teeth glittering.

Luocha turned to look at you, still gasping for breath, but with a hint of a smile creeping up on his face.

You freed his hands from your gasp and signed to the door in front. There were no guards assigned at its sides nor was there the magical jade abacus preventing outsiders from entering it.

Luocha blinked in hesitation, turning to you in question but calmed his nerves when he noticed the surety in your eyes. Yes it may be foolish of him to enter a place with not a single soul in sight but just a cloud knight, but then again, mistakes are what makes us human.

He pushed the doors open, stepping in slowly and his breath hitched in his throat. It was a water garden. Small yet ambitious. Newly bloomed pink cherry blossoms on a huge tree, beyond the divided stream, demanded his attention.

He walked down the steps carefully, breathing in the marvellous attempt of the little waterfall beside him. The water playfully flowing in relaxed waves yet the water lilies and lotuses remained undisturbed. The red lanterns hanging on the erratically placed rocks glowed with a red hue helped him to see.

Luocha’s eyes drifted in wonder at the stone path on the water stream and then back at shaped boulder and the broken dragon ring behind the tree. Magnificent. How beautiful….

His hands moved in swift action, picking the bladed sword sheathed under his coat and placing it at your neck when heard a shuffling behind him. Eyes widening in surprise, “I-I am extremely sorry”, he mumbled frantically, “I didn’t mean t-”

A bouquet of flowers appearing out of nowhere in front of his face silenced his cries. He could see your smiling face through the stalks of the freshly born buds, comprising dahlias, lilies and roses. “Its alright”, your eyes finding his, “this was intentional”, you pushed the bunch further in front of him.

The strain in his jaw relaxed, gaze softening and his breath slow. But not a single nerve in his body was calm. They were toppling around. Rushing in panicked motions and confusion as this unknown feeling settled inside him. A sensation he believed he had shut off.

“Thank you….”, Luocha took the bouquet from your hands. Holding them with care and fragility, in fear that a momentary movement will make them disappear.

A sense of pride creeped up in you. Whatever you had done now was a step closer in peeling off that mask of his. It made you feel victorious as the only thing that mattered right now was that shy smile on his lips while his fingers threaded between the flowers, examining the petals closely.

“Well, you can cross one of your wishes off your bucket list”

“Huh?”, he raised his eyebrows.

“You got flowers!”, you chirped, putting your hands behind your back and tangled your fingers in an attempt to hide your nervousness. “Now you can’t say you have never received flowers”.

Luocha stared at you, speechless.

“Next time you visit here”, your head turned to the petals falling from the cherry blossom, the shine of the moon lighting your face up in adoration, “I pray you shall have someone in your heart”. Orbs glowing with a spark, a smile so blinding it made Luocha’s heart tremble inside.

But he never pulled his eyes away. He couldn’t.

“I don’t think I can reject that plea of yours”, he laughs after what felt like eternity, his voice striking the strings in your heart. “But if my oath allows me-”, he plucked a dahlia from within the bunch, handing it to you, “I give you my promise”. You look down at your palm.

Dahlia symbolised eternal love.

Exhaling a soft sigh, you clenched the dahlia within your palms, with love. Your head jerked back, a tender gaze tracing his face slowly.

Pulling yourself back, you mumbled quickly, “Well then, i’ll be looking forward to it” before turning on your heel and running away from Luocha and his words. Legs rushing towards the same path that was followed earlier.

The dark night did a poor job of hiding your blushing face, I am so in trouble.

And as if the moon was a secret accomplice, Luocha’s expression was vividly burned inside your mind.

The face of a young boy who had fallen in love for the first time.

[bthump]

Ik what your stance is on liking Griffs character and I have nothing against it because Griffith's character is arguably one of the best written characters in Berserk, he's actually my guilty favorite.

But sometimes, I catch myself SILENTLY judging ppl who like characters that do morally incorrect things like Mori from Bungou Stray Dogs who's a straight up p*do or same with Hisoka or many other characters who tend to be p*dos and r*pists.

so i guess my question sorta fall in, when do you draw the line in liking a character?

I mean, Griffith did unfortunately rape casca (a horrible writing decision, really). anyways, I guess I sorta try to seek justification like "Oh but Miura wrote the rape scene in such a ridiculous way that I can't seem to really fully have the idea that Griff is a rapist in mind"

or sometimes i just yk, love the character design and how he was written (esp post eclipse god, he is awesome!!)

but sometimes...I see ppl who are justifably upset that I like a character that happens to SADLY have a stupidly written key point where he rapes a character.

And I don't blame ppl who hate Griff for raping her, bc theres been times where I also hate charcters for how they were pedos or also SA'd someone...so why is the line so blurry when it comes to liking Griffith and how can I ig put myself in a position where I don't feel bad for liking him?

tbh I don't have a line when it comes to fictional characters.

Or maybe more accurately, my line isn't which characters people like, but how they discuss them. I wouldn't judge someone (morally, I might judge their taste lol) for liking any character ever, no matter how awful, because I don't know what they like about them, what their lines are, what they feel comfortable ignoring or reasoning away or happily playing up because they like dark shit in fiction, etc. It's all fair game as far as I'm concerned. If they like a rapist I don't assume they love real rape, I assume they like dark fiction and consider them a really well-written villain, or they like other aspects of the character and the rape doesn't ruin it for them, or they like the character design and don't care that much about fictional crimes, or maybe they have a rape kink which is also perfectly fine, etc.

But yk, when people use harmful rhetoric to discuss a character they like, that's when I start judging. Eg I'm fine with people who love Guts. I'm not fine with people who say things like "Casca should forgive Guts for the assault because he stopped himself before going too far," eg. I'd be fine if they said "Casca should forgive Guts because it would make for a more satisfying story" though - I'd judge their taste in fiction and ability to analyze the story lol, but I don't think that opinion would make them a bad person. I'm fine with people who love Farnese, I'm fine with people who prefer her to Casca, but I'm not fine with anyone who might frame it like, Farnese is better than Casca because she's rich and white and from a respectable family. (I've never seen this take lol, but yk, as a hypothetical.)

Also in my personal experience I find that people who like characters due to their own offensive biases tend to have a hard time hiding it, so it's pretty easy to judge them by their own character, rather than their fictional preferences. And in my own experience the worst kinds of people tend to like heroic characters more than villains lol. If anything I find that liking characters who do "morally incorrect things" is often a sign that I'll get along with that person.

There's also something to be said here re: watsonian vs doylist perspectives. I think people who view media from a purely watsonian perspective, ie kind of buying into the fictional story as if it's real, attempting to understand the characters the way someone would understand a real person and relate to them on those terms, are going to have a harder time dealing with morally dark characters.

I tend to view media from a doylist perspective, which means I view the characters as constructions that help tell a story, and I generally judge them on what they bring to that story and how effectively they serve it. I wouldn't want to be friends with most of my faves, and I like a lot of characters who do terrible things, because those characters are fun to watch and read about. So disliking a character just because they did a bad thing doesn't really make sense to me on a personal level. I get why other people feel that way, but I don't care about fictional harm. I'll hate a character for being mildly annoying when they're on screen, but I generally won't hate a character for committing atrocities, unless they're depicted in a way that pisses me off lol. Like, I love Femto, I hate Isidro. Femto is cool even with the obnoxious rape scene, Isidro is annoying even though he's an innocent kid.

(Also I guess to be completely fair I'd judge someone for liking a character who exists solely as like, fascist political propaganda. But I do mean solely, like I'm talking shit like The Turner Diaries, not like the MCU or cop shows lol. Or like, if someone says they love the protag of Atlas Shrugged they'd better clarify that they disagree with the political messaging and they like him for xyz reasons, because it's such an infamously libertarian story that I'm gonna side-eye anyone who likes it by default, bc I feel like in this day and age very few people are reading Ayn Rand for the story lol. So I do technically have some lines in terms of judging fans of characters, but they're pretty uncommon lines.)

tl;dr I don't think you should feel bad for liking Griffith and idt you should even feel like you have to justify it by saying the rape scene was badly written. It was, and I think it's totally fair if that helps you like Griffith more, but even if the rape scene was super well-written and respectful to Casca and thematically significant etc etc Griffith would still be a fantastically written character imo.

And I don't know the other examples you gave personally, but as a general rule I think it's better to judge people for how they behave than for what kinds of fiction they enjoy. I do at least have friends who like Hisoka, presumably because he's a fun, entertaining character give or take the creepiness, and they're awesome people.

I don't think you should have to like those characters yourself ofc, rape/pedophilia/etc etc is a pretty understandable line to draw in terms of your own enjoyment of a fictional character, but other people have different lines and I think that's reasonable too.

[valeriianz]

Would you ever write a.....Fairytale adventure type AU (ﾉ*･ω･)ﾉ? (idk how to explain it ajbdkjvakdv)

(Kinda like...maybe Ghibli movie vibes....ABDHBAHCBKAC)

HYPER HUGS

ahhhh always a privilege to see you in my inbox, Mere 😻

(this post gets long, pls bear with me lol)

fairy tail itself, no. im really not into fantasy or fairy tails, sadly (which sucks cos like, that's half of dreamling AUs right there lol).

but ooh i do love some adventure! especially Ghibli-style! i know that's kinda fantastical but i'd be very into it.

my mind immediately went to a Princess Mononoke AU, a film i havent seen in ages, but Hob and Dream in that scene??

Dream: "I'll cut your throat! That'll shut you up!" Hob: "You're beautiful."

or, OR! have you seen that Castle in the Sky AU??

so, in short... yeah, probably haha.

OH SNAP! i just remembered i have a Little Red Riding Hood au that i had been attempting like, in early 2023 after THAT fanart but i could not figure out how to write it, and i got so frustrated with it that i just gave up. below the cut is what i'd written so far, starting with some ramblings to myself before some "proper" writing... i'll never finish it ;_; sorry.

Hob is still a Red Riding Hood/Hunter type character and he is the only one "brave" enough to visit the witch in the woods, aka Johanna when his village requires medicine/care. The whole village is deeply superstitious and so Johanna stays out of the village for her own safety and it's taken a lot of convincing from Hob (who is one of the only capable hunters so he is Important) that she is fine and won't curse the whole village. The only time Johanna forbids Hob from coming to see her is on the night of the full moon.

But then EMERGENCY happens and Hob sets out for Johanna's on a full moon and runs into Dream. Cue fanart scene. Hob fights Dream and somehow manages to hold his own. Maybe they bang here, maybe Dream gets Hob to open up about why he's out during the full moon and then lets him go. Because Hob has zero survival instincts he goes out again on a full moon just to see Dream. Johanna thinks he's an idiot.

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

There is a witch in the woods; the villagers know this and remain wary of her provocation. She is all powerful but she is also a hermit– quiet and bloodless, when ignored. Many elders in the village have spun up stories, history between them and her. Though it seems all unfounded, Hob had never been anything but curious, growing up with these tales of offering sacrificial goats in place of the children they believed her to steal, before moving on to setting up traps on the edge of the woods where their small hamlet lay.

Hob had also heard stories, though not many, of how she’d been run out, that there may be more of her kind hiding in secret within the community. This too, Hob doesn’t allow to bother him. He is surrounded by superstition and pays no mind to any of it.

Which is all to say, he’s encountered the witch on several occasions. 

And whatever tales Hob had grown up hearing of her comes to a screeching halt the day he first met her.

“What the ever loving fuck are you doing out here?”

Snapping up to attention, Hob had regarded the woman. He’d been a boy of 15 the first time they’d met, and had the notion of fright abandon him by watching his mother die in childbirth to what was supposed to be his little brother, as well as his father being robbed and beaten to death by bandits while he cowed away behind a tree. 

Hob would never be that cowardly again. And he made up for it by going out into the woods nearly every night, despite the warnings from his neighbors. His friends would egg him on but then chicken out the closer they got to the edge of the clearing, lined by dense forest and rustling leaves.

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS VERSUS SONG Bloody Night Animate Tokuten Drama CD ”The Contest is the Smell of Money!? ~The Vampires’ Desire~”

Original title: コンクールはお金の香り!?～ヴァンパイアたちの欲望

Source: Diabolik Lovers VERSUS SONG Animate Tokuten Drama CD

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Toriumi Kousuke, Katsuyuki Konishi, Midorikawa Hikaru, Takahiro Sakurai, Kimura Ryouhei & Morikawa Toshiyuki

Translator’s note: Once again, the Vampires prove that they are more human than anyone else because their number one motivator in life is...sweet, sweet money. xD They’re all so thirsty for cash 99% of the time, it’s honestly hilarious. I wonder what else you could push them to do, just because there’s a large amount of prize money on the line. The climax of this CD kind of caught me off guard because I expected they would just royally fuck up on the day of the concert but no...They never even got to enter lol. Great move by the MC. They don’t really hint at what her explanation for not submitting the application on time was, but I want to believe that she did it on purpose to get revenge for all the times they treated her like trash. You go girl.

*Rustle*

Ayato: Haah…God…The fuck is this? And here I thought I’d head straight home to pick on Chichinashi…Oi, you. Have you heard anythin’ ‘bout what’s goin’ on?

*Flip*

Ruki: Hm…

Ayato: Oi, bastard! You’re just gonna ignore me, huh!?

Ruki: Was my lack of a response not clear enough of an answer?

Ayato: Aah…!? 

Ruki: Haah…

Ruki closes his book.

Ruki: I haven’t heard anything. Now relax. I am sure we will find out sooner or later.

Ayato: But you know…Whoever decided to gather this group of people here must be fuckin’ bonkers. I feel like we’re bein’ set up for some weird shit.

*Rustle* 

Kou: Well…I guess I can’t blame you for feeling that way…

Carla: Heh…

Ayato: Anyway, how come you’re here as well, Carla? I can’t imagine you’d actually show up under normal circumstances. 

Carla: Is my appearance truly that puzzling? 

Ruki: Well, I do believe you must have a solid reason for doing so. 

Kou: I mean, Mr. ‘Almighty Founder’ doesn’t even show up for class usually, does he~? 

Carla: I had nothing better to do, that is all. 

Ayato: Smells fishy.

Kou: Right? I can only imagine you have some kind of ulterior motive.

Carla: You fiends…Who do you think you are talking to…? 

Ayato: Hah!? You wanna throw down!? Fine, I accept your challenge!

Reiji: Come on now, everyone. Please stop getting up in each other’s faces like that.

Ruki: Hm? This voice is…? 

Reiji enters the room.

*Rattle* 

Ayato: Reiji…? Don’t tell me you’re the one who…?

Reiji: I had no other choice. Otherwise you lot would have never shown up. 

Carla: Oi, you. You are the one who summoned me here. So it must be safe to assume that you had a good reason for doing so? 

Reiji: You are rather impatient, are you not? I shall explain shortly, so please wait a few more minutes.　ーー For starters, I would like all of you to take a look at this. 

Reiji starts distributing flyers. 

*Flip* 

Carla: …Hm? …This isーー!? 

Ruki: Could it be…?

Ayato: Haah!? A music competition!? 

Reiji: Exactly. We will participate in it. 

Kou: Eh? You’re joking, right?

Reiji: No, I am dead serious. 

Ayato: …!? Are you out of your mind!? You want to sign up with the people gathered here? 

Reiji: Yes. I have carefully selected a group of people who would aim for victory.

Ruki: I see…You are after the prize money, correct?

Kou: Hm? What do you mean? 

Carla: Take a good look at the flyer. Especially at the part about the prize.

*Flip* 

Ayato: …!? For real…!? The winner gets…ten thousand dollars!? (1)

Kou: No way!?

Ruki: It must be a print mistake of some sorts, right?

Shuu: Sounds too suspicious. 

Reiji: Oh my, Shuu. Seems like someone has finally woken up.

Shuu: You really think I could sleep with you guys making such a fuss? 

Reiji: I believe it is more likely that it was the prize money which caught your attention…But oh well. Ahem. I have already contacted the organizers about it. It would appear that our school would like to shift their focus on attracting promising artists, so to catch the attention of potential stars from all across the country, they have chosen to attach a bountiful prize to the contest.

Kou: I see. I expected no less from Reiji-kun! Nothing gets past you.

Reiji: Of course not. …So, what will you do? 

Ayato: What do you mean? Are you askin’ us whether we’ll participate or not? 

Reiji: Yes…According to my data, the people I have gathered here have the highest chance at success. 

Shuu: And how exactly? We’re the only ones who have any sort of musical talent, right?

Kou: Excuse me!? I have published my own CDs, you know!? 

Shuu: Those are not even worth mentioning. 

Kou: Haah!? 

Shuu: I mean, think about it. We’re joining a musical competition, not some kind of concert. Unless you’ve actually taken proper vocal music classes? 

Reiji: Shuu…It would appear to me that you don’t understand the true meaning of a contest. 

Shuu: What do you mean?

Reiji: In a contest, the winner is decided by the judges’ votes. In other words…By people. 

Ruki: I see. So appearance is an important factor as well. 

Reiji: Exactly. I am glad you are quick to understand. 

Kou: In other words…Since I’m a good-looking idol, it’s possible that I could appeal to the judges? 

Ruki: Exactly. Humans are so easily won over by appearance. It is possible they will let you get away with making some mistakes because your looks make up for it. 

Kou: Ruki-kun, how mean…That doesn’t make me happy at all. 

Shuu: Then what about the other two guys? Ayato most likely has zero experience with music whatsoever, and I can’t imagine old man Carla (2) over there playing music either. 

Carla: You fiends…You really do not hold back at all, do you? Calling me elderly, a fossil or even an old woman!

Kou: Wait, nobody ever called you an old woman, did they? 

Ayato: I actually took violin lessons many, many years ago!

Reiji: Exactly. I remember. 

Shuu: Are you talking about when aunt Cordelia forced him to start taking classes in hopes of competing against us? 

Ruki: Heeh…The eldest triplet plays the violin, huh? That’s new information to me.

Shuu: If I recall correctly…He gave up after just one week and smashed his instrument. 

Ayato: Just so you know, that wasn’t my fault!

Shuu: Hm? 

Ayato: That hysteric old hag destroyed it during one of her crazy moments. I mean, I was glad that I didn’t have to bother with those lessons anymore. 

Shuu: …I guess destroying violins was her thing, huh? 

Reiji: …W-Well…Anyway! He isn’t a complete amateur when it comes to music, so his chances are somewhat higher than any of the other guys. …And you, Carla, you are none other than a Founder, aren’t you?

Carla: …!

Reiji: The cream of the crop of all Demons…A First Blood. Therefore I believe it is only safe to assume that you would have no issues mastering music, a human invention? 

Carla: W-Well…

Ruki: I guess it might be tricky after all? 

Carla: A-As if…! I am a First Blood! A Founder! There is nothing I cannot do!

*Clap clap clap* 

Reiji: A true Founder!

Shuu: …I wonder. 

Reiji: That being said, what will you all do? Will you participate? 

Ruki: I would like to ask one question. I assume that we will be splitting the prize money even amongst all participants? 

Reiji: Hm? Of course. 

Ruki: In that case, I’m in. Kou as well. 

Kou: Eh!? Excuse me!? Why!? 

Ruki: Don’t play dumb now. Whose fault do you think it is that we have to be so careful with our spendings? 

Kou: …!? W-Well…

Ruki: It is your fault for being such an impulsive buyer. Isn’t that right?

Kou: Nnー...

Ayato: …I don’t want to! Joining a contest sounds like a big pain in the ass. 

Reiji: Hooh? Is that so? What a shame…If you were to win, then the ‘takoyaki pool’ you have dreamt of for years might just be able to become reality. 

Ayato: …!? 

Shuu: I’m skipping out as well. It’s obviously too much trouble. 

Reiji: Oh dear, is that so? I mean, I personally don’t mind since the less people participate, the less people we have to split the money between. …You might just be able to buy the antique gramophone you’ve been wanting so badly though. 

Shuu: …!? 

Reiji: Ah, right, right! The jamon iberico you love so much, Carla, you should be able to purchase a few logs of it with the prize money. 

Carla: …!! You shall not bribe me with such a thing!!

Reiji: Ahaha. Of course not. You are a lofty Founder after all. You must not let yourself be won over by money, correct? 

Carla: Exactly!

Reiji: However…It truly is a shame, isn’t it? It would be such a perfect opportunity to get an entire log of the finest quality jamon iberico. That vaguely nutty flavor spreading inside your mouth…growing stronger and stronger as you chew. Seasoned to perfection.

Carla: …Ah…

Reiji: I suppose you three do not want any of those things. It is a shame, truly. 

Ayato, Shuu & Carla: …

Ayato: G-Guess I have no other choice…If you insist…I suppose I do have some free time on my hands anyway. 

Shuu: I had been thinking it was about time I picked up the violin again…I guess this is the perfect opportunity. 

Reiji: Oh my, is that so? I am glad. 

*Rustle* 

Reiji: Then, what about you, Carla? 

Carla: Hm…I shall help you out. It is one of my many duties as a Founder to show compassion towards the lower masses after all. 

Reiji: I see. I am terribly grateful for that. 

Ruki: Seems like we’ve come to a conclusion. In that case, we should apply at once. I shall head to the agency at oーー

Reiji: Ah! About that, I suggest we leave that up to her. She does not seem to have anything better to do after all. 

Ruki: Hm. I understand. Let us start practicing at once then. Time is money. If we want to aim for victory, then we have no other choice but to practice as much as we can. 

Kou: But what exactly will we do with our group? We can’t pull off an orchestra, can we? 

Reiji: Please do not worry about that. I have come with a plan. We will participate in two groups of three members each. 

Ruki: I see. To get as much out of it as we can, correct?

Carla: What do you mean? 

*Flip* 

Ruki: According to this flyer, a prize will be awarded to both first and second place. If we participate in two groups and get both prizes…

Reiji: The combined prize money would be fifteen million yen. Split amongst us six, it means each of us would get a total of two million fifty thousand yen. 

Ayato: Woah…! Amazing! 

Reiji: Right? As for the groups…I suggest Kou, Carla and myself as one group and Shuu, Ayato and Ruki as the other, effectively splitting up Shuu and myself as we have the most experience with music. 

Ruki: I believe those are well-balanced groups. 

Reiji: Why of course. I put them together based on precise, evidence-based data after all. 

*Rattle* 

Kou: Ah! M-neko-chan~!

Ayato: Chichinashi!

Reiji: Oh dear, what’s the matter? Is there something you need?

You explain. 

Reiji: I see. You came to check up on us? Well, I suppose you would find it intriguing why the teacher would lend us the music classroom and its instruments. 

Ayato: Perfect timing! Chichinashi, you should join our team!

*Rustle*

Kou: Eh? Hold up! M-neko-chan is coming this way…She’s joining our group!

Ayato: Haah!? Excuse me!? 

*Clap clap clap* 

Reiji: Stop right there, no fighting! While we may have split up in two groups, we are still on the same team. 

Ruki: Exactly. Now is not the time to have a fall-out. …Oi, Livestock. You shall listen to our performance as we practice and act as our advisor. 

Shuu: Well, I guess we need someone who can give us some objective input. Let’s not question whether or not she’s the right person to do so though…

Reiji: Ahem. Well then, I suppose we should discuss within our teams who will play which instrument first.

*TIMESKIP*

*Rustle* 

Reiji: Well then…As for our team, I believe it makes most sense to start by asking which instrument each of you feels most comfortable with and then we can decide on our line-up based on that. 

Kou: Hm…Why not? Seems like the most logical solution. 

Carla: I am a Founder. You can assign me any instrument you like. 

Reiji: What…do you mean by that? 

Carla: That I can play each one with ease. 

Kou: Really!? 

Carla: Why would I lie about such a thing? 

Reiji: I see. I suppose you were not simply bluffing earlier. In which case, I shall randomly assign you an instrument…Kou, what about you? 

Kou: Um…I could probably handle the end-blow flute, the triangle, the tambourine… 

Reiji: Any string or wind instruments? 

Kou: Hm… For percussion instruments, maybe the djembe, ngoma? (3)

Carla: What are those?

Kou: They’re African instruments! The locals taught me how to play them when I visited the area during one of my on location photo shoots. 

Reiji: Those are some awfully niche choices…As an idol, are you not capable of playing any instruments with a little more flair? Like the piano or the flute? 

Kou: Hmー I can play some simple tunes with one hand on the piano…

Reiji: That simply won’t do…

Carla: I mean, we do not actually need to play for real, do we? 

Kou: Huh? What do you mean?

Carla: All you need to do is pretend to be playing. Say we go for a violin trio, then only Reiji and myself need to be able to actually play the instrument. 

Reiji: I see. I suppose we have that option as well. 

Carla: Exactly. One cannot get delicious cured ham by only playing fair. 

Reiji: Exactly. …Nor will I be able to get my hands on that high-tech built-in kitchen…

Kou: Huh? Did you say something just now? 

Reiji: No, not at all. 

You try to convince them to keep things fair. 

Carla: Excuse me? Did you say something just now? 

Reiji: Hmー Well…I suppose it is true that we risk losing our prize money if they find out that we cheated. 

Kou: I’ll do the vocals instead then! Although I haven’t actually ever taken proper singing classes like Shuu-kun mentioned either. 

Reiji: That sounds good. Let us go with that. You should not have any complaints then either, correct? 

You nod. 

Reiji: Well then. From the various scores I have brought with me…

*Flip flip*

Reiji: This one should work. Let us practice this for about an hour and then we can try to put everything together. 

Carla: I can go right here, right now. 

Reiji: Oh, come on. At least check the score first. 

Carla: Hmph. 

You start walking away. 

Carla: Oi, you. Where are you going? 

You explain. 

Carla: Ah…You want to go check up on the other group? …Well, I am somewhat curious as well. Now that I have decided I will participate, I definitely do not want to lose to them. 

Kou: Eeh~? We don’t really need to compete amongst each other, right? As long as one of our groups wins, we’ll split the prize money anyway. 

Carla: That is not my style.   

Reiji: Hm…I guess you have a point. I believe it only makes sense to want to aim for first place with our group. 

Kou: Hm…Well, I guess being ‘first’ sounds kind of nice. 

Carla: Oi, woman. You heard us. I shall allow you to investigate the other group. Once you are done, I expect you to report back to me at once. Understood? 

Kou: M-neko-chan, we’re counting on you~! Off you go~!

You head towards the other group.

*Rustle* 

Shuu: Well then…About our group…The two of you don’t need to do anything. Or rather, please don’t. 

Ayato: Aah!? The fuck!? What do you mean!? 

Shuu: I don’t want you two to hold me back. 

Ayato: That tone of yours is really pissin’ me off. You usually don’t give a shit ‘bout anythin’, so what makes today different? 

Shuu: My gramophone is on the line here…Besides, music is kind of dear to me. Oh well, my reasoning doesn't matter. Anyway, it’d obviously be better for me to perform a solo act than to try and force some weird instrumental trio. 

Ayato: Look who’s talking when you haven’t even heard me perform yet!

Shuu: I’m saying this because I unfortunate have heard you play.

Ayato: Ah!? For real!? 

Shuu: Back in the past, I thought some idiot was playing around by opening and closing some rusty, old door of our castle, when it turned out the sound was coming from you playing the violin. 

Ayato: …!!

Shuu: Besides, you haven’t touched the violin in years, have you? 

Ayato: W-Well…

Shuu: I’m spot on, aren’t I? …As for you, Ruki, I’m pretty sure you grew up in an environment where music was the least of your worries? 

Ruki: It appears you have quite the faulty image of me. I was actually rather good at playing the violin. 

Shuu: Heeh…That’s surprising. In that case…Why don’t you show me what you’ve got? 

*Rustle*

Shuu grabs one of the violins and plays a bit. 

Shuu: …You can choose any song you want, try and play a bit. 

Ruki: Very well. 

Ruki plays the violin as well. 

Ruki: …As easy as pie. 

Ayato: …Kuh!

Shuu: …Heeh. You’re not half bad. 

Ruki: What do you think? I bet you wouldn’t mind letting me join the performance now? 

Shuu: I mean, I have to admit that you are miles above Ayato in terms of skill. 

Ayato: Ugh…Fuck off! Do you really have to put it like that!? I can easily pull that off as well!

Ayato grabs the violin. 

Ayato: Gimme that!

*Rustle* 

Ayato: Now listen closely, ‘kay? ーー Kuh!

Ayato plays the violin badly.

Ruki: Ugh…What a disaster…

Shuu: Kuh…Cut it out! You’re making my ears bleed!

Ayato: …Huh? That’s weird…? Fuck! One more try!

*Rustle* 

He plays just as badly. 

Shuu: …Enough!

Shuu steals the violin from him as you walk up to them. 

Ruki: …Hm? Oh, it’s you, Livestock. Why do you look terrified? 

You explain. 

Shuu: Hm? Screams? Ahー That was Ayato playing the violin. You’re not wrong to compare it to someone screeching. 

Ayato: Chichinashi, you bitch…!

Ruki: Well, I guess you realize why you have to give up now? 

Shuu: Just pretend you are playing instead. 

You protest.

Shuu: …I know you’re against cheating but you heard his performance earlier, didn’t you?

You offer for Ayato to sing instead.

Ruki: Kou will be singing for the other group? Which means…

Shuu: Vocals, huh? 

Ayato: …I just gotta sing, right!? 

Shuu: Guess we have no other choice. Let’s go with that. 

Ayato: I’ll blow your socks off with my beautiful voice!

Shuu: Anyway, you got a feel of what the other group’s doing, right? How are things coming together? 

You explain. 

Ruki: I see. The other group as well. I cannot wait to show them what we’ve got.

Ayato: I mean, as long as we do a half-decent job, we shouldn’t lose to them, right?

Shuu: Anyway, we should probably get some practice in as well and then come back together after an hour. 

Ruki: Agreed. 

*TIMESKIP*

Reiji: Well then, we should probably show each other what we’ve got so far. 

Ruki: We just gathered together again. I believe your group did as well? 

Reiji: Yes, exactly. …You seem very well informed. 

Carla: You must have a lot of time on hand to eavesdrop on our group from the shadows. 

Shuu: She’s the one who informed you guys as well, right? We’re in the same boat then. 

Carla & Reiji: …!!

Kou: Why are you guys being so competitive towards each other when we’re all working towards the same goal…? I mean, whatever. Anyway, let’s just get to it. This isn’t the real deal yet. We’re only practicing. 

Ruki: Even so, we still have to try our best. 

Reiji: Exactly. Well then, how will we go about this? I believe this is the prime opportunity to decide which one of our groups is superior in terms of skill. 

Carla: Fufufu…I shall show you something truly breathtaking!

Kou: Uwah~ It’s no use. His switch got flipped. 

Carla: Oi, woman! You shall judge who is the superior group, understood? 

Ayato: Hey, bastard! Don’t be threatenin’ Chichinashi now! She’s gonna get scared and favor you guys as a result!

Carla: I am not intimidating her in the slightest. Once you hear our performance, it will be clear that we will come out victorious. …Oi, Four-Eyes. Let us begin. 

Reiji: …’Four-Eyes’, could you be referring to me, by any chance? 

Carla: You are the only one here wearing glasses, are you not? 

*Rustle* 

Reiji: …I am rather displeased by that remark. 

Kou: Let’s get this party started~! …Ah, by the way, you’ll have to wait to hear me sing until the actual performance day~

*Rustle* 

Reiji and Carla start playing the violin.

Shuu: They’re not bad…

Ruki: No, wait…Take a look at Carla. 

Carla: Haah…

Ayato: Haah? 

Kou: Eh!? The bow’s moving by itself…!? Could it be…?

Ruki: It’s magic! He’s using his magic to play the violin…!

Shuu: Haah…

Carla: Phew…There you go, I did not even break a sweat. 

Reiji: Hahaha…First place is as good as ours. …Right? Hey, you!

*Bzz bzzt*

Reiji: …!? E-Excuse me!? 

Carla: Do you have a problem with our performance!? 

Kou: I mean, you can hardly blame her. Any normal person would be in shock after seeing that performance from earlier. 

Reiji: …! Carla! This would not be an issue if you would simply use your hands as you play!

Carla: T-That’s…

Reiji: Hm? Don’t tell me…You cannot? 

Carla: …!!

Shuu: Fufu…Hilarious. 

Ayato: This competition is ours!

You point out that they have yet to play. 

Ayato: …Ah? I mean, sure, we haven’t performed yet, but it’s so obvious. 

Ruki: I mean, why not give them a listen? 

Shuu: Haah…It’s a drag but I guess we have no other choice. I’m sure they’ll admit defeat after hearing us play. 

*Rustle* 

Shuu: Anyway, for now, we’ll let you hear the violin part. Let’s go. 

Shuu and Ruki start playing.

Carla & Reiji: …!!

Ayato: Hehe! How’s that? Pissin’ your pants? 

Kou: Both of them are actually using their hands to play! I had no idea Ruki-kun was gifted at the violin!

Reiji: …!! …This is rather infuriating. 

False notes start mixing in. 

Reiji: Hm? …T-This is…!!

Carla: What is going on…!? 

Kou: Aah! Ow! What a horrible noise…Stop! Time out!!

Shuu: …!! Oi, Ruki! What was that just now!? 

Ruki: What do you mean? I played the violin. 

Kou: We know that! You started off great but then it all went downhill halfway through!? 

Ruki: Ah, about that. Oh well, do not let that bother you. 

Reiji: How are we supposed to do that!? 

Ruki: It’s the first few notes which truly matter. In short, as long as I can make a good first impression, the tone has already been set for an amazing piece. 

Shuu: Haah…In other words, you can only play well for a couple of seconds? 

Carla: Hahaha! I guess that means we have won. 

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi! What’s the verdict of this competition?

You frown. 

Kou: I’m pretty sure both groups had issues of our own? …But I doubt these guys will let this pass without there being a clear winner. 

The other guys act competitive towards each other. 

Kou: Hm? What was that? We should wait for a winner to be declared until the day of the actual competition? Makes sense. It’s not like there’s any point in fighting over it right now.

Shuu: Oi, Ruki. I expect you to master the rest of the score by then. 

Reiji: Carla! You should learn to play with your hands as well! Come on, start practicing at once!

Ayato: …Seems like those two got stuck in between Shuu and Reiji’s personal conflict. 

Kou: Oh well, whatever. All that matters is that we get our hands on those ten million yen by winning both first and second prize! We better give it our best shot. 

*TIMESKIP*

Ruki: ( ーー And so, we continued to practice playing the violin from dusk till dawn for days on end. ) 

Carla: ( It was more challenging and daunting than any task I had faced in the past. )

Reiji: ( All I want is to surpass Shuu’s team! )

Shuu: ( I became more serious about honing my violin skills than ever before, all for the sake of that gramophone. )

Ayato: ( Even I - who wasn’t too thrilled about the whole idea at first - got very serious about the competition. )

Kou: ( Everyone held tightly onto their violin’’s bow, as the moment of truth arrivedーー )

*Rustle* 

Ruki: …Ridiculous! Can someone please explain this to me!? 

Kou: R-Ruki-kun, calm down…

Ruki: How am I supposed to keep calm in a situation like this!? 

Shuu: Unbelievable…

Reiji: You! I am fairly sure I told you to submit our application in time so how has this happened?

You explain. 

Reiji: Haah…I was a fool for entrusting you with this task. ーー Well, all of us know how to properly play now, so let us put those skills to good use at the next given opportunity, I suppose. …Right, Carla? 

Carla: …W-Wha…? 

Ayato: Oi, do you also smell trouble? 

Kou: Yeah, you’re right…

Ayato: Let’s dip before it’s too late!

Kou: Good idea…

Ayato and Kou sneak away. 

Carla: Haha…Hahaha…

Reiji: Good grief…Laughter is the only thing coming out of him.

Carla: Ahahaha…!

Shuu & Ruki: …!? 

Carla: You bastards…!!

*WOOSH*

Reiji: …Carla!? R-Relax! Everyone makes mistakes! Let us remain calm and talk it out!

*BOOM*

Carla: My Iberico serranoーーーー!!

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes 

(1) 一千万 or ‘issenman’ is 10.000.000 or ten million yen, when converted to dollar, it would be around ten thousand dollars. 

(2) Shuu calls him 化石男 or ‘kaseki otoko’ which literally means ‘fossil guy’. 

(3) There’s one third instrument he mentions but I could not find what it is for the life of me. To me it sounds like he’s saying ‘zunzun’ or ‘zunzu’ but I couldn’t find any African instruments with that name.