#but yeah everyone used to call them ginkgo

[i-eat-deodorant]

Ginkgo Who Guards The Sunrise, they say; Died to the axe that bloodied day. Broken divinity, piece by shattered piece, Shed the flesh; keep the fleece.

Lone Lamb, Nameless Vessel--take heed: Char your wrath, make them bleed. The soul cannot sit upon two lives, When bitterness festers and hatred thrives.

Usurper, God Killer, what was your fury for? In the wake of a slaughter, the quiet after war No more bishops and death uncrowned. Let it all go and put your weapons down.

Build life out from rubble of the past, New friends, new family, peace at last.

(And in the quiet of forever, a little sheep Drifts into the afterlife to sleep.)

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Somehow I had forgotten that bibarel was a water type and not just a normal one. I do like the idea that Iscan has an qwilfish, the fact that it has such a prickly body and personality matches the irony of him having a ghost type noble when he's scared of them. Cyndaquil being used as a portable heater, probably pretty much from the start since nights seem like they'd be colder in the fieldlands than they are in the mirelands, is so cute. It's gonna be a lifesaver once she gets up where it's cold. The real reason the go to the icelands last and the highlands second to last is that she wants to put off being that cold for as long as possible and they have no reason not to accommodate her lol.

She's so eager to do hair care for pretty much anyone that when she sees him start brushing Sneasler, who is very happy to sit there and let him groom her, she offers to help. She's surprised by how much she likes it, and how much the all of the pokemon like it because so few people are willing to let her play with their hair. Lol, the Ginkgo Guild spreads the word about all the neat things they're doing in this place called Jubilife and suddenly they've got an influx of tourists and have to expand.

Makes me wonder if being around Lilligant would make him feel a kind of loss and nostalgia, or if he'd unconsciously start to mirror that, becoming a bit more talkative and getting a little of his pep back. I've seen it a lot before where people have Sneasler as not really being interested in battling, so I think it'd be fun if Lilligant loved fighting, but because she's a noble she doesn't really get to. But Ingo and his team are more than happy to! And as that's the time when he's at his most lively I can see that being when they most mirror and feed off each other's enthusiasm.

Pokemon rabies! Good going Volo, you introduced rabies into Hisui. That'd actually be kinda cool to explore as part of the whole "seek out all pokemon" thing, since the one surefire way to break it is to catch them. Arceus was being literal, seek out and capture all of the pokemon in Hisui in order to break any traces of the frenzy "virus" growing in them. It'd be very catch-and-release, like feral cat neutering programs lol, though they'd have to find a way to tag them to know they were already caught before.

From the original premise you wrote, Giratina tearing rifts open all over the place is continually breaking the hall of origin, which sounds really bad. It probably means that Arceus couldn't leave even if it wanted to, because it has to be there it mend things as they break. So stopping the distortions would be a priority, but the problem is how they would know that. Ingo also needs to go to the hall of origin to retrieve the part of him that's stuck there lol. So in order of urgency: 1. Close the distortions and find out what's causing them to stop them for good, 2. Catch all pokemon to stop the spread of the frenzy (if we go that route). 3. Get Ingo and the protag into the hall of origin to fight Arceus, get Ingo's missing piece back, and secure them a way back home. Not sure how we could fit the massive mass outbreaks into this, though it'd be nice if we could. If we wanted to deviate even more from canon, we could also say that the distortion bubbles, while not as common as they are in the game, are worse because not all of the pokemon leave when it closes, so now you have disoriented, violent, infected, potentially non-native pokemon running around wherever they were. But that might be too much.

YEAH shkjshjkh everyone else is like no offense ingo but your home/clan's home is too cold and it sucks and we don't want to go there until we absolutely have to. and he's like no that's fair i get it it's my least favorite thing about it also. and yeah, i think even the fieldlands are fairly chilly depending on the season so arezu Will very much appreciate cyndaquil. maybe that's even why she was given it in the first place? bc she's just like, cold constantly?

kamado's so mad he's like STOP BRINGING POKEMON INTO THE VILLAGE but nobody else is listening, sorry, they've been lured by the siren song of income. jubilife is The pokemon destination now and he can't stop it. but yeah, pokemon do probably enjoy being groomed i think! especially ones who can't do it as well themselves and don't already have a trainer/warden to baby them. so arezu will have plenty of happy customers

i wonder if it's more like, seeing her like that suddenly makes him hyperaware/self-conscious of how much he's changed? bc like, yeah, a lot of it was in that initial fall, but then a lot of it is also just from existing in hisui and being like... adrift without much human contact and vaguely purposeless. and also the decay from the hall of origin, that's not helping. but then he sees lilligant and has that moment of oh, that used to be me, and now has to confront that he's... not. anymore. and that's probably not a great sign. sneasler not being into battle is, interesting? if anything i feel like it'd be the opposite and battling is like, the only part of being a noble she is vaguely interested in. but still, i think calaba says lilligant's been looking forward to another battle if you rechallenge her in the postgame (i think?) so it would make sense that she enjoys battling, too

yeah lol. and then it's not even that the nobles are specially targeted, it's just that they're susceptible, so all it takes is a bad exposure and suddenly they're falling prey to it, too... mmm i do like that, just vibeswise. and then lol, yeah. have them wear the pokeballs like the bell collars for cats

ooh, what if, to expand on what you said—the distortions aren't just leaving pokemon behind, but they actually won't close at all until the protagonist does something to them? maybe they need to catch all the pokemon inside them or like. point the arc phone at it. or something. point is, it mirrors the breaking/mending of the hall of origin bc hisui itself is also getting the constant rift cracks. and maybe part of the protag's job here was to fix them, bc if they accumulate too long, reality will start to fray and it'll mirror into the hall of origin and the whole edifice will start to collapse. so instead of just defrenzying the noble of a region and leaving, job done, they're constantly running around between all the regions as the rifts appear and resealing them? idk, it's a thought

[flamyangelwings]

Angsty Submas Reunion AU Part 5

The Final Chapter! All ends here!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

To start, with Sinen

Sinen was found unconscious in the words a few miles from Azalea town by an old man named Masao

-Masao was very old and did not like civilization

With the help of his Pokémon, who were all also getting up there in years, Masao brought the unconscious young man back to his home and healed him up

Sinen was very grateful

-Not that either of them understood the other’s language

Sinen, after being healed, headed in the direction Masao pointed him

-He spent ten minutes in Azalea town before returning, looking terrified

–He didn’t know why but everything about that place screamed Wrong to him

He returns, pantomiming that he wants to stay

-Masao was confused but happy

–He was getting too old to thrive in his chosen lifestyle, he could barely chop wood anymore and his Scyther passed a few years prior

—Now he can stay in his home, because of this technophobic, Poképhobic kid who helps out

He lives a few more years before passing peacefully and Sinen buries him in the small graveyard he’d made for his Pokémon as they’d moved on.

Sinen gets more used to Pokémon as the years pass

-He even has a few that stay with him, a little Budew and a Zubat.

–He refuses to use Pokéballs though

He even has a little Pokémon friend that comes to visit him regularly enough that he leaves berries out for it.

-He calls it ‘Beebee’, since that’s what it says the most

–Meanwhile Celebi is waiting for when it can send this guy Home. It can tell he’s not from Now, but something is blocking it from sending him Then

—That something being Arceus

Then comes the day Sinen accidentally buys the textbook on Hisui

-He reads it because ‘why not?’

—But it’s weird. He recognizes things in the book, the logos of the Diamond and Pearl Clans, the map of the region. Was he a history student maybe?

Finally he reaches the section on the Wardens. The chapter on the Wardens of the Coronet Highlands

-And the sees a picture of himself

–Sinen passes out and Dreams his entire life

His first thought upon waking is ‘Oh Almighty Sinnoh! Everyone must think I’m dead! Melli must think I’m dead!’

His second thought is 'I can’t believe Melli stole my job! He never even wanted to be a Warden!’

-Because yeah, Sinen never realized why Melli started to act, from his point of view, so prideful and boastful all of the sudden

–He’s hurt that Melli took advantage of his death to become Lord Electrode’s Warden

—That Adaman let him!

He’s not sure he wants to return, if there's a place for him now! Everything he's been working towards is gone!

-Though he knows he does, since he’s in that photograph alongside another set of twins

–So Sinen continues living as he had been, waiting for his future to bring his past

That day comes not a week later

Meanwhile, with the Unovans

They know where Ingo is, they know when Ingo is.

-They just need to figure out how to get there

Looker is the one who suggests using a Legendary, as some of them are easy to find and appease, if you know where to look

So off to Sinnoh they go!

The reach the shrine, and Celebi is there, waiting for them

Celebi leads them to Sinen, who they recognize from the photograph and who recognizes Emmet from the same thing

“I guess this is happening now, then?”

And then Celebi lets out a cry and everything starts to spin

-Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Finally, Back in Hisui

The Pokédex is finally complete, Akari has just returned from Fighting God

-After defeating Arceus she got her memories back, and so she tells everyone her name is Dawn and she is from the future and thinks Warden Ingo is too.

Both the Clans, the Ginkgo Guild, and the Galaxy Team are all going to search for Volo to be put on trial

-Attacking a Noble Pokémon is a crime, and he attacked The Almighty Sinnoh, causing the Frenzies.

Then Dawn reveals that Arceus sent her here, and can probably send her back.

-And Ingo if he wants

Ingo…Isn’t sure he does want to go back

-He still doesn’t remember most of the details of his home, but surely his family has mourned him and accepted he was dead by this point

–And wouldn’t it be cruel for him to go back and get their hopes up Emmet might return as well, when Emmet is gone?

It’s Melli who convinces him to consider it

-Not because he wants Ingo gone, but because he knows there’s still so much Ingo misses, even without remembering it.

Melli has chilled out a bit after the conversation with Adaman

-Not that anyone else knows that’s what caused it

–Most of the older members of the Diamond Clan assume that seeing another person lose their twin finally made him process Sinen’s death and stop trying to live up to a ghost

—Because all the adults in the Clan put up with Melli’s behavior because they knew what he was trying to do

Everyone goes to Prelude Beach, all the Wardens, both Clan heads, the higher ranking members of Team Galaxy.

-They all want to see this

Dawn pulls out the fragment of Arceus she caught

“I want everyone who was displaced by the time-space rift to have the option to go home. What do I need to do?

Arceus stares at her

Everyone stares back

Arceus blinks once, nods, and a strange cry echoes through the area

-Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

AND FINALLY! THE PART YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!

There’s a swirl of lights and colors and suddenly there’s a large group of people there

-A larger group than anyone in Hisui expected

–Irida gasps as she recognizes several of them from Ingo’s drawings

The Unovans look around, looking at all the people and the old clothing styles, hoping they’re in the right area

Drayden sees Ingo first, and gives a sigh of relief “It worked.”

From behind Drayden “It worked?!”

-Ingo hadn’t seen Emmet at first, because he’d been hidden behind Drayden’s frame

–“INGO!!!”

–“EMMET?!?!”

The twins run to each other and crash to the ground in an embrace

-E: “I thought I’d never see you again!”

-I: “I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!”

-E: “What?! Whyy??”

-I: “We! Your coat! In a landslide! I- I thought you’d been crushed! and then fallen into a river! I finally remembered and you-” He squeezes tighter and buries his face in Emmet’s shirt

–At this point Drayden reaches the twins, pulls them both up, and pulls them into a hug that Elesa joins a moment later.

Melli watches this with a pinched look on his face

-He’s happy for Ingo, he is!

–But it’s not fair! After all that Ingo gets his twin back?!

He forces himself to look away, to see who else is-

Melli gives a strangled cry and falls to his knees, Adaman looks at him in concern before following his eyes to

“SINEN?!”

The present members of the Diamond Clan freeze and look.

-Yup, that’s Sinen.

Sinen plasters a grin to his face, and lets Adaman yank him into a tight embrace

-He’s still unsure he wants to be here, if he has a place here anymore

–Even though he understands it, that the Clan can’t stop whenever someone dies

—And that someone had to become Lord Electrode’s Warden, and Melli had been there for his training

Sinen pulls back from Adaman and looks at Melli, who hasn’t moved since he fell to the ground

–Melli is in shock

—Mai is the one who drags him up and over to Sinen

—-Once in arm’s reach, Melli starts crying and clings to Sinen

—–“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I never meant it! I’m sorry!! I-”

——Sinen had forgotten about the argument, but even without knowing what Melli was talking about, he knew one thing: he wanted Melli to stop crying

——-“I know you didn’t mean it, Smelli, I’m not an idiot”

——–WHY DOES THAT MAKE MELLI CRY HARDER?!

———Sinen is confused!

While sitting on the sidelines of the party, not used to so many people anymore after living with just one old man and some Pokémon for years, Sinen makes an offhand comment to Adaman about how well Melli apparently handled his death, becoming Lord Electrode’s Warden and all

There’s a party to say goodbye to Ingo and Dawn

-Ingo says goodbye to Lady Sneasler and his family (HIS FAMILY!) help gather his possessions

--His notebooks and drawings

--Interesting rocks or shells that he gathered or that Akari Dawn or one of the baby Sneasels had brought him

--The remembrance altar he'd set up for Emmet, with his uniform and the photograph.

---Everyone got a bit choked up when they realized what that was.

-He’s not angry about it…anymore. Just a bit hurt

Adaman thinks it’s a joke at first, before realizing Sinen is actually serious, and actually hurt by it

-Adaman quietly pulls Sinen further aside to talk in private, ecause this is apparently a conversation that needs to be had

–“Sinen. Melli barely moved for a month after to…left. We had to force him to eat and drink. He didn’t talk for two months. Do you know what the first thing he said after that was?”

–“No?”

–Adaman pokes Sinen in the forehead “The first thing he said to me, to anybody was that he wanted to be Lord Electrode’s Warden. BECAUSE-” Adaman raised his voice when it looked like Sinen wanted to say something- “If you couldn’t fulfill your dream, he’d do it for you.”

—“Oh.”

—“Yeah. 'Oh’.”

—-Adaman also gives Sinen some extra perspective on the whole Thing He Never Saw

—–And tells Sinen Melli how blamed himself for the Incident

—–“Oh, that’s what he was apologizing for! I hadn’t remembered that. Of course he didn’t mean it!”

——Sinen is ashamed of himself quite a bit, once it’s all lain out for him, but Adaman drags him back to the group before he can spiral

Melli grabs them both into a hug, he panicked was worried for a second when he couldn’t find see them. He thought for a second that he’d imagined it.

Anyway, the photo is taken

The Unovans go home

Melli and Sinen have a heart-to-heart and Sinen talks about all the things Melli was actually good at, without having to

-The sort of things Sinen talked about to anyone who would listen before his Incident. Like cooking, making clothes, foraging for the best plants, he has a whole list

–Just…not in front of Melli, who always seemed to think Sinen was joking

—Which upsets Sinen now that he realizes Melli thought he was just teasing him and felt like he wasn’t good at anything

Melli almost breaks so many protocols by trying to just hand Sinen the Warden Bracer out of the blue

-Thankfully only the two of them and Adaman were there

–Adaman bops him on the head and tells him that they have to do the formal ceremony, idiot

–Sinen does become Warden, and Melli gets to become a seamster and make clothes, because let’s face it, that guy likes fashion

AND FIN!

[purple-cat-demon]

Forever Starts Under the Ginkgo Tree: Part 1

Pairing: Gavin x Hazel

Word Count: 1732

Genre: domestic fluff

Warnings: none

A/N: I've finally got this one in motion after a somewhat gnarly writer's block. I hope y'all enjoy~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, 12pm, Loveland Police Station

Gavin tapped his pen in a frustrated manner while looking over a report in front of him. It was his fourth one and before proceeding any further, he decided to take a break and rest his mind. In doing so, his mind wandered to various places to potentially propose to his girlfriend, Hazel. Another officer happened to pass by his office and noticed an out-of-place blank stare on his face.

“You okay, sir,” the female officer inquired, breaking Gavin’s trance.

“Oh, hey V.T. Yeah, I’m okay,” he answered while rubbing his eyes, “just trying to figure out something.”

“Is it the proposal again?”

“Y-yeah, I just don’t know where would be a good place…”

“Hmm, and of course you don’t want to be obvious about it either.”

“Yeah.”

A buzz came from Gavin’s phone at that moment, it was none other than his girlfriend.

‘Geez, were her ears burning,’ the officer mused.

She had sent a text message with an attachment. Upon perusing the link, he was taken to a page talking about a giant, ancient ginkgo tree at a temple. His phone buzzed again, it was Hazel continuing her message.

~{What do you think? Would you be interested in checking this out sometime soon?}~

A little dumbfounded at the timing of this message, he showed the site to V.T. The junior officer gave an excited gasp as her eyes lit up.

“Do you know about this place?” Gavin asked.

“Oh yes! My girlfriend and I went there last year,” she replied as she hastily took out her phone and thumbed through her photo gallery, stopping at the one picture she was looking for. She then showed Gavin a selfie of her and her girlfriend in front of the ginormous ginkgo tree in all its golden-hued glory.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous in person!”

Gavin contemplated for a bit then sent a text back to Hazel.

~{How’s your project going? If you’re done by this weekend, do you want to go see that ginkgo tree?}~

“Oh, I better get back to my desk. Let me know how it goes, yeah?” V.T gave her senior officer a wave and left.

“I will,” Gavin called back as she hurried down the hall. A few minutes later, Hazel replied,

~{Almost done with the project. Should be completely finished by Friday. But do you have any missions scheduled?}~

~{So far, no. I can make it to where I won’t have any missions, if you’d like}~

~{??? You can?! How?}~

~{Just leave it to me}~

~{Sure thing, my love, see you later}~

Gavin closed out the text message and went back to the reports in front of him. He had the start of a proposal plan in the works, and that gave him the needed energy to go through the reports.

Meanwhile, at AEC, Hazel was beaming over the text conversation she and Gavin just had. Anna noticed the goofy grin on her boss’s face.

“What’s got you in a good mood? Talking to your boyfriend?”

“Mhm! Now I really need to get this project done,” she cracked her knuckles and resumed typing her reports. The possibility of spending a weekend with her boyfriend gave her the needed incentive to work hard (more so than what she already did).

A few hours later, an email containing Victor’s approval signaled the end of the workday for everyone.

‘Well, that’s one day down,’ she mentally mused as she closed her laptop, ‘just four more days to go.’

Hazel came bursting through the door of their apartment causing Gavin to shut his laptop abruptly. He got up from his spot at the dining table and met with Hazel approaching the kitchen.

“You seem to be in a great mood, a good day at work?”

Hazel beamed at her boyfriend.

“Yes! Got LFG’s approval and we’re all set to continue the project as scheduled! I just hope everything goes well these next few days,” she fretted a bit. Gavin gently caressed her cheek.

“You have the incredible tendency to overcome any obstacle that gets in your way. You got this, my love.”

She leaned into his hand with a content look, then kissed it. She was about to bring him in closer for a kiss when her stomach loudly voiced its displeasure in being hungry.

“Let’s have some dinner,” Gavin chuckled as he went to open the fridge, only to be greeted with the bare minimum of ingredients.

“Yeah, we haven’t done any shopping yet…” Hazel sighed, “let’s go to the convenience store for tonight.”

“Okay,” he replied, shutting the fridge door, “but, you just got home; do you want to order in?”

“Hmm, nah, I want to take a walk with the man I hardly see anymore~”

Gavin blushed faintly, “okay, let’s go”

They headed to the nearby convenience store, hand in hand, passing by businesses closed for the day. One particular business caused Hazel to slow her pace, then stop, making Gavin stop abruptly and turn around. His gaze went from his girlfriend to what was in the window that caught her attention. There on display was a beautiful, white wedding dress; mermaid style with a lacy bodice, and a veil nearly as long as the dress itself.

“You wanna wear that?”

The sudden whisper in her ear caused her to jump slightly, she flashed an embarrassed grin to her boyfriend.

“Y-yeah, someday~”

‘Someday might be sooner than you think,’ Gavin mused as he returned his hand to hers, continuing their jaunt to the store.

Gavin grabbed a basket as they entered the store, going one way while Hazel went towards the hot food display. She took a quick glance, noting the potato croquettes still available, then headed to the prepackaged dinners. She finally settled on a pork cutlet curry plate, foregoing the potato croquettes. As she picked it up, Gavin walked up beside her,

“That looks good, could you grab one for me too?”

“Sure~”

“What kind of drink do you want?”

“Milk tea, please.”

“Are you sure? It won’t keep you up?”

She pouted a bit, “do they have the small cans?”

Gavin glanced back towards the cold drinks wall; “yes,” he replied, then proceeded to go grab one. He returned to a brightly smiling Hazel holding up a small cake, just enough for the two of them.

“You want that, too?”

She nodded eagerly as he chuckled lightly, “okay, we have dinner and dessert.”

They bought their food and headed back home. After dinner, Gavin opened his laptop to show Hazel the itinerary in the making for that weekend. He had the train tickets purchased and the hotel booked already. They were now checking out the restaurants and eateries that were near both the hotel and the temple. There were so many to choose from that they ultimately decided to check them out when they get there.

“I’m excited for this weekend,” Hazel chirped as she cleared off the dining table. Gavin smiled as he closed the laptop and went to make some tea for the both of them.

“It’s something we both need. Our work schedules have been packed lately,” he added, setting the kettle on the stove range.

She came up behind him and gave him a hug while nuzzling into his back. He lightly caressed her left hand in response, subtly paying more attention to her middle finger. Thankfully that small gesture went unnoticed by his girlfriend. They stayed like that until the kettle started whistling. Hazel let go of her boyfriend and grabbed two cups from the nearby cupboard. Teas in hand, they headed to the living room and sat down on the couch. After a few minutes of debating on what to watch, the two decided to continue a series they had started last week. The nightly entertainment was short-lived as Hazel fell asleep against Gavin’s shoulder. A faint smile graced his face as he carefully got up from his spot, laying Hazel down in the process. He then gently picked her up and carried her to their bedroom. Just as he set her down on the bed, she woke up with a small start.

“Oh! I fell asleep, I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry, you were tired,” her boyfriend reassured.

Hazel pouted.

“But I want to spend more time with you and I can’t do that if I’m tired all the time.”

Gavin lightly sighed at her grumbling, “well, we do have this weekend to ourselves, there’s that at least,” he tried to offer solace to his disgruntled girlfriend.

“Yeah, I just need to figure out how not to be tired all the time…”

“Well, you can start by going to bed at a decent time and not staying up late. I will try and do the same so we can keep each other in check.”

Hazel grimaced at the idea for she knew a lot of her projects required some gnarly all-nighters, much to Gavin’s dismay.

Hazel then got up and headed to the bathroom to do her nightly routine while Gavin changed into his pajama bottoms. He walked over to the bathroom doorway, patiently waiting for his turn as he admired his girlfriend; a smile adorned his face. Hazel noticed the expression and as soon as she spat out the toothpaste, she inquired about it.

“What are you smiling about?”

‘Busted,’ Gavin quickly regained his composure, “Oh, nothing, just admiring the most beautiful woman on the planet.”

She rolled her eyes as she spat one more time; rinsing off her toothbrush, she then reached for her facial cleanser.

“I don’t know about all that,” she said as she wet her face and dispensed the cleanser in her hand. Gavin rolled his eyes in response.

“Listen, I know beauty when I see it, okay?”

She patted her face dry and relinquished the bathroom to him; as he got ready, she changed into her pajamas and got comfy under the covers. No sooner than when she got settled in, Gavin came out of the bathroom; Hazel whistled at her handsome boyfriend. He flushed slightly at her admiration causing her to giggle.

“Why are you embarrassed? I know handsome when I see it,” she commented.

“Using my words against me, huh,” he said as got into bed next to her.

“Yup, goodnight my love,” she responded as she kissed him on the lips.

“Goodnight, my everything.”

[succulentsunrise]

Where the Fire Lilies Grow

Content: SFW - small note of undressing, but nothing is described!

I’m so sorry it took so long, but I really wanted to nail in those first interactions with Mereoleona!!

Tag list: @thoughtfullyrainynightmare, @lyranova ❤️

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Chapter 6: Calefaction

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.”

Alfred Tennyson

Whatever was happening at the castle, it was bad. However, Tani and the others had no time to worry about it: there was plenty happening outside of the castle as well. There was a large number of people who had turned into these “elves”, as they called themselves. In their ruthless hunt for victims, they destroyed and tore down buildings and structures all around the capital. Tani, Icree and Luka mostly concentrated on evacuating and protecting people, but it was difficult to stay out of the way of the elves. Whatever had sparked their aggression, it had clearly consumed them. Many Magic Knights struggled in their fights against them, and the team could not ignore that. They found themselves quickly joining a losing battle against one single elf. Despite their advantage in numbers, it was not going well, and Tani soon found herself being tossed around the battlefield.

“「Ginkgo’s Embrace」,” Tani whispered tiredly, rising one finger into the air.

She was lying on crumbled remains of a house. She could feel blood trickle down her forehead. Her finger trembled slightly. Somewhere beneath the stones, a tree began to grow. It did not wrap around her, however - it wrapped around the civilian she had seen just before her body had hit the wall, who was now crushed under rubble and stone and herself. The bark began pushing through the stone as the last of Tani’s magic flowed into it. She watched as the tree sprung from beneath her, knocking her off her resting place. Someone, somewhere, called her name. She was tired. The tree’s leaves were battered violently in the wind, but she knew that the man - the civilian - was alive inside it. Another wall of the house was crumbling. Tani closed her eyes, promising to herself that it was just for a brief second. Just a small rest. She could feel one of the ginseng flowers die off of a friend’s shoulder.

Again, someone called her name.

When Tani opened her eyes again, there was a strange light in the sky. A man was kneeling next to her. He had brunette hair and simple clothes. His face was a little blurry. Or maybe that was Tani’s vision. He was bloodied. Maybe he needed healing? Somewhere in the sky, white branches were growing and connecting to something. Someone? Perhaps she was still maintaining her spell. She had protected this man before, hadn’t she? He should be inside the tree. Its branches had never been white before, though. Why was there so much shouting and noise? Exhausted, Tani closed her eyes again. The darkness was so much more soothing. The only problem was - the steps, the noise, they were coming closer. A female voice, calling her again. Someone’s hand on her. Tani opened her eyes briefly to see a cloaked, white figure leaning over her. There was a red-haired woman right next to the figure, calling her name. Over and over again. As the cloaked figure began casting magic, warmth enveloped Tani. Shouldn’t they heal the civilian right next to her? She closed her eyes again, annoyed. The darkness was so much more soothing.

The next time Tani opened her eyes, the darkness of the night had receded to an early morning. She was lying on the ground, amidst the broken remains of buildings. She was covered by a white, fluffy cloak that smelled of strawberries. The perfume gave it away immediately - Icree must have left it with her. Tani couldn’t quite orientate herself yet. What had happened? She tried to push herself to sit, but instead let out a pained yelp. Her left shoulder felt like it was in flames, and it didn’t help that she fell back down to a lying position. Her head ached horribly. She blinked a little, trying to adjust to the situation. Somewhere further away, she could see a boulder move on its own, and some shouting. It wasn’t panicked, though. A sharp pain shot through her head. Tani pressed her right hand against it, feeling something else than her hair - bandages. She must have hit her head. The memory returned to her: the civilian and the falling rubble. Someone had dug her up from there. Icree and Luka, likely.

“Hey,” a familiar voice called out. “What are you just lying there for?”

Tani’s gaze drifted to the orange locks and the tattered, black robe of the Royal Knights. Mereoleona Vermillion stood there, crowned by blinding sunlight. She looked almost better off than she had before. No matter how beautiful the sight, Tani was too hurt to feel the flutter in her heart. Instead, she let out a small scoff.

“What does it look like, ma’am?”

“It looks like I was right,” Captain Mereoleona answered with that wide smile of hers. “I heard you protected a civilian while getting your head bashed in. Good job.”

Tani let out a short laugh in disbelief. She wished she had more energy to talk properly - this would be her chance! - but she had none. She just wanted to close her eyes again.

“Sounds like an exaggeration,” she said with a wince.

“Well, it’s time for you to walk yourself to the infirmary. You’ll be of no use here.”

Tani answered the accusation by creating the strong roots of the ginkgo tree once more, but this time so that they pushed her to a standing position. She was tired, but she wanted to make an impression of some kind. She wanted to not be brushed aside. She was careful not to touch her left shoulder - it was either badly bruised or broken. Considering the pain she was in, probably broken. Getting up so suddenly made her feel dizzy, and the roots were suddenly not enough to support her. She fell forward unsteadily, the pain preventing her from catching herself with her hands. Instead, a fiery paw seemed to cradle her mid-air, its gentle warmth almost soothing in a way.

“What are you doing?” Captain Mereoleona questioned, one eyebrow raising. “If this is your condition, I’m not sure you’ll make it to the infirmary.”

Tani rested on the paw, letting out a sigh. If she could only fall asleep on it.

“Where are the others?” she asked, concentrating on staying up as the paw pushed her back on her feet.

“The others?”

“My team. Azure Deer. Icree Papillo. Luka--Luka Diffidus.”

The Captain shrugged, looking around.

“Probably helping, since they aren’t here,” she said casually. “I was looking for my knights, when I saw what I thought was a dead body. Don’t worry about them - let’s get you to the infirmary.”

Tani nodded carefully, ready to attempt moving, but stopped shortly. The Captain’s paw hovered near her, as if to catch her again.

“Is the battle over, ma’am?” she inquired.

“Yes,” Captain Mereoleona confirmed, her gaze travelling to the ruined upper parts of the capital. “Someone will fill you in. Don’t worry about it for now.”

Tani turned to walk away, if not to hide that rising warmth to her cheeks. Though the captain did not remark anything more, Tani could see the fiery paw follow her stumbling walk. Luckily, it did not take her long to find Icree and Luka, as the two had elected to work near where she had rested. With a little help from both, she was soon carried to the infirmary to be taken a better look at. Icree explained the situation on the way: the elves had been freed from the bodies by the captains and the royal knights, the castle had returned to normal and the Kings were alright. There was a considerable amount of casualties, both civilian and Magic Knights. As soon as everyone trapped under the rubble would have been rescued and temporary housing had been arranged, they’d have some time to rest. Tani, however, would get to rest immediately - though she had managed to avoid lethal injuries, she had fractured her shoulder rather badly. Icree helped her onto a bed at the infirmary. Many of the healers were still busy, but one would eventually come to take care of her.

“Sleep a little more, or make friends with the others,” Icree suggested with a smile.

Tani could see that she was injured too: when Icree walked, she limped slightly, and there were bandages visible underneath the clothes. Tani sighed, glancing at the other beds next to hers, occupied by other wounded knights.

“Will you be alright?” she asked quietly.

Icree sat on the bed, her fingers fidgeting a little bit. She smiled at Tani, but her eyes were tearing up.

“Yeah,” she said with an almost stable voice, gently taking a hold of Tani’s hand. “Just be safe and rest now.”

“I will,” Tani promised. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Icree smiled at her, but when she turned away, Tani could see her dry her eyes with her sleeve. It hit Tani rather suddenly - Icree knew a lot of people. She was a social butterfly that spent time with commoners and nobles, who knew knights from all the squads and participated in every event there was. This attack had a lot of casualties. A lot of those people might be people Icree had known. Tani wasn’t quite sure how to offer comfort to her, and so she did not stop Icree from leaving. Perhaps they could talk about it after she would be out of the infirmary.

Three days passed in peace, with Tani receiving treatment and care in the infirmary. Though the healing magic fastened the process, it would still take weeks before she’d be able to use her left shoulder. Still, they would not keep her there for long, as they had other, more critical patients, and Tani was promised that she could leave in a day or two. She was rather grateful for that - the first day of sitting around had been enough for her. Now that her head had cleared, twiddling her thumbs and sitting in bed was no longer amusing. Her thoughts kept returning to the battles and the dead, to the soldiers and the civilians. To Mereoleona Vermillion. It felt wrong. She had been lucky to miss the most dangerous fights and had the luxury to think so carefreely of the billowing orange hair framed by flames. The amount of critically injured knights was huge. She saw it first-hand in the infirmary. There wasn’t even space to treat them all properly. Still, Tani’s thoughts kept returning to that one specific person. It was frustrating. It felt wrong. The approaching steps in the present caught Tani’s attention, snapping her out from her thoughts. She recognized the short, blonde hair and the soft facial features - but the man that approached had lost his usual relaxedness. Gamma looked rather sad as he walked past her bed. The hunched way he was walking made him look tired and defeated. Even the flowers that he carried were more hugged against his chest than held properly. It didn’t seem like Gamma had realized she was there. She watched as he walked to a man three beds away from her. As far as Tani knew, that particular patient had not woken up since he had been brought here. He had suffered severe head trauma on top of other fractures. She couldn’t remember if he was one of the Crimson Lion Kings. She looked away, allowing Gamma at least the privacy of not having someone stare at him. The boy stayed with the other man for a good while. Tani decided to get his attention when he began to leave.

“Hey, Gamma?” she called out as he was about to pass by her again.

Gamma’s eyes widened as he finally recognized her. He moved quickly to her bedside, a little bit of light sparkling in his eyes.

“I didn’t almost recognize you!” he exclaimed, a small smile playing on his lips. “You look different like this-- in the gown and all, I mean.”

“You mean when I’m not dolled up and in the uniform?” Tani asked playfully.

She wasn’t wearing any of her jewelry or make-up, which admittedly changed her look a little bit. It did good to have someone to talk to that wasn’t injured. Based on Gamma’s appearance, he had only suffered superficial wounds.

“I suppose so! They got your shoulder?” he replied, pointing at the arm sling.

“Snapped when one threw me into a house through its wall. The thing apparently crumpled on me.”

“That sounds painful.”

“I’m relatively alright, luckily. My friends protected me from the worst.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Gamma said sincerely. “I ended up not getting a lot of injuries due to the other members as well.”

His tone was once more a bit sad, as if he found it regretful.

“Did you hear? Our Captain is back on his feet again,” he quickly continued, trying to jump into a happier topic. “He saved us back at the headquarters, too.”

“That’s a relief. So Lady Mereoleona is stepping down, then?” Tani asked carefully.

Gamma shrugged and scratched the back of his head.

“I’m not quite sure what��s the situation, if I’m honest,” he confessed, slightly embarrassed. “It seems that for now, both of them are in charge.”

“Oh, well--that’s good?” Tani suggested uncertainly.

“Definitely! She is going to take us training again--oh.”

The tone of the boy quieted, as he seemed to have realized something. His eyes scanned over her arm sling.

“The Captain--or rather, Lady Mereoleona agreed for you to join,” Gamma explained, his tone still apologetic. “But your arm…”

“If you are going, I’ll be there as well,” Tani responded quickly. “I’m mostly fine. It’s just a little broken.”

Gamma sighed, though she could see him smile.

“There are dangerous beings there, formed by the elements.”

“I’ll have you with me, won’t I?”

The boy’s smile widened.

“You put a lot of trust in me,” he remarked happily.

“I’ve fought by your side once already,” Tani replied, smiling as well. “I know you can do great things, if someone helps you control your magic.”

“Then, I’ll come get you when I know we’ll go there!” Gamma promised, starting to get up. “We’ll be training in no time again!”

Tani thanked Gamma, and watched him leave a little happier than he had arrived. Small things in life made people happy. For Tani, right now it was the thought of figuring out Lady Mereoleona. She had never been one to get infatuated with people. Certain types of people interested her, for certain - people with certain magnetism. People with confidence and passion. Yes, they were interesting. Partly because one could read and see that desire to do things in their eyes, but partly because they inspired people around them with it. Lady Mereoleona was like that. She had a magnetic personality, both terrifying and inspiring to those around her. Yet her actions were not that terrifying - many of them spoke of a caring, though independent nature. Tani found herself wondering on more than one occasion whether that fire applied also to the lady’s personal life. When you terrify and inspire people, who gets to come close? Still, she was starkly aware that theorizing and constructing an idea of a person in her head was the wrong way to go about it. If she thought about it too much, she would create a wrong image of Lady Mereoleona in her head. Why was the woman then so hard not to think about?

The day that Tani was discharged, two days after her meeting with Gamma, was also the day that the training was to be. Gamma came to get her from the infirmary, all excited about the new attempt at climbing the mountain. The hot springs were located outside of Clover Kingdom, in a neutral region filled with volcanos. These kinds of mana-heavy places were called “Strong Magic Regions” - not a very creative name, but it was descriptive. These zones were exceptional in the ways mana was concentrated around them, pushing elements to their extremes and making them hazardous for normal people. This mountain trail, called the Yultim Volcano Trail, had a high concentration of fire-based elements. The group, consisting of a small number of Crimson Lion King members and Tani, stood in attention in front of Lady Mereoleona.

“Do you know why you are here?” she asked them, arms crossed in front of her.

“Yes, ma’am!” the Crimson Lion Kings shouted in unison.

Tani did not join the shout, mostly because she wasn’t sure what the answer was. She knew why she was here, but it sounded like the squad had a different reason. There weren’t very many of them here.

“Good! Then go!” Lady Mereoleona commanded, pointing her finger at the top of the volcano.

Tani stared at her in confusion. She wanted them to go to the top of the volcano, where the lava was spewing from? Did this crazy squad bathe in lava?

“Come,” Gamma said happily, pulling on her arm. “I’ll explain on the way.”

Tani followed, her eyes still glancing to Mereoleona. The woman seemed to be looking after her squad with a shrewd, evaluating gaze. She wasn’t here just to put them through heat and lava. She was most definitely testing them. Tani jumped down to the earthen path with Gamma, feeling the heat immediately attack her skin and lungs. It was suffocating. Next to her, Gamma cast a spell on himself. It was one of the most common spells, called Mana Skin. It was a reinforcing spell that formed a thin magical barrier around the knight that used it. Gamma seemed to be using it to push the pressure of the natural mana here, relieving its hold on himself. Following his lead, Tani also cast the spell around herself. It was one of the most basic spells, one that she had mastered a long while ago, and yet it was hard to concentrate on it here. Her plant magic was not very compatible with fire. It raised another question: Gamma’s magic should be very good here, so how come he said he had never succeeded in this?

“So,” the boy started cheerfully. “The hot spring is on the top - or rather, the volcano is special, in a way. When night falls, it stops bubbling up all this lava, and instead produces nice, hot water!”

“That’s a strong magic region for you,” Tani sighed, the logic of this natural phenomena going over her head. “There’s something I don’t understand, though. Won’t the water be scalding hot?”

“I haven’t gotten to the hot springs yet, so I don’t know,” Gamma confessed happily. “Everyone always looks very relaxed and praises it, though, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“That’s a relief,” she answered to him, looking at the long trek in front of them. “How come you’ve never reached it?”

“There are element-based life forms lurking here that seem to not take kindly to visitors. They seem to be specifically drawn to my magic, since it’s the same element. They expect to find friends, they find me, they get angry, we fight. Due to my control of my magic being so poor, well--I tend to let go of my mana skin when it gets fun, and then I collapse.”

“Have you tried hiding the presence of your magic?”

“I’m not very good at that, as you might remember from the exams.”

Gamma sighed heavily, his breathing starting to already become a little laboured. They were running up at a good pace, and his mana skin seemed to slip already when he was just concentrating on talking.

“Here,” Tani offered, creating with little difficulty one of her magical plants. “For helping you upkeep your mana skin.”

Gamma accepted it with a delighted smile, putting it again behind his ear. The path to the hot springs was much more difficult than Tani had anticipated. As the boy had said, some elemental life-forms seemed to be drawn to his similar magic, and she and him had to battle several of them to go forward. Not only that, Tani’s arm gave them trouble and they were on a time limit - if the night fell before they were on top, they wouldn’t get to go to the hot springs. However, their teamwork was rather good. Gamma took care of all the fighting, while Tani made sure he was maintaining his mana skin and that they moved forward constantly. She had a major disadvantage with her plant magic and small pool of mana, but not having to fight eased the pressure off of her. As the last rays of the sun disappeared to the horizon, the two of them found themselves laying at the top of the volcano. They were sweaty, exhausted and the last ones to find their way there, but - they made it there before the nightfall. They could feel the piercing gaze of Lady Mereoleona on them, but all they could do was gasp for breath.

“So you two made it up, eh?” Lady Mereoleona asked challengingly, wearing a smile on her face that Tani could only describe as terrifyingly charming.

“Yes, ma’am!” Gamma huffed, a victorious grin on his young face.

Tani averted her eyes from Lady Mereoleona to get up with Gamma’s help. The coolness of the night air was a blessing, but the hot spring would be even more so. She could hear bubbling from nearby, from where usually lava would spew out. Instead, hot water seemed to be rising up. Many of the Crimson Lion Kings’ members were eagerly already undressing to go relax in it. Gamma hurried to join them, leaving Tani to look around. Lady Mereoleona seemed to be heading to her own bag, pulling a bottle and a mug out of it. A hopeful glint appeared in Tani’s eyes - perhaps she could get the lady to share her drinks. She did not dare to approach instantly, rather first moving to the women’s side of the hot springs and undressing. The arm sling caused her most trouble. She obviously couldn’t take it to the water with her, but removing it by herself was difficult. The arm still needed support somewhat - there had been no miracle recovery for her. Tani’s plan had been to support it with a bit of her magic, but now she was all out of it. She’d have to wait to regain some mana before stepping in. In all honesty, with how difficult it was to work with the arm sling on her own, she might be able to do so in that time. She’d worry about supporting it once she’d get the arm sling off.

“Trouble?” Lady Mereoleona asked her, seemingly having noticed her struggle.

“It’s a pain in--,” Tani started, cutting herself short to not curse. “It’s a pain.”

The smirk on Mereoleona’s face indicated she knew exactly what Tani had meant to say. Tani continued to work with the arm sling, pulling at it fruitlessly and muttering under her breath.

“Here, I’ll help,” Mereoleona said frankly, but the fire flickering up the length of her arm suggested she wasn’t quite as serious as her tone suggested.

“I’ll still need it after the bath!” Tani snapped back, twisting her body away from Mereoleona.

The fiery paw grabbed her and pulled her closer by her waist, while another paw settled on her arm to support it. Well - to support and to burn the cloth.

“Hey!” Tani shouted, but their closeness made even her flustered.

She wasn’t often the type to blush and get embarrassed, but this sudden act had caught her off-guard.

“It’s already dirty anyways,” Mereoleona commented boldly, continuing to keep her close and supporting her arm.

The burnt parts of her previous arm sling fell down at their feet, even as Tani began to push the woman away from her with her good arm.

“That doesn’t give you any right to burn it off!” she retorted. “You could burn my arm!”

“Oh?” Mereoleona’s voice rose a little, as if challenged. “If you struggle, it will burn you.”

Even if it sounded like a threat, it was probably quite a real problem. So far she had controlled the fires with surprising preciseness, only burning off the arm sling. If Tani started moving, however, the preciseness could hurt her. With a sigh, Tani resigned to her fate.

“We really need to talk about boundaries,” she remarked. “This is not alright.”

Lady Mereoleona smiled at her widely, as seemed to be her habit. It showed very well that one sharp canine that kept poking out of her mouth.

“This dirty thing would have to be changed anyways,” Lady Mereoleona replied, burning the reminder of the sling to ashes.

“That should be my choice,” Tani retorted, finally managing to push herself a little further away from the noblewoman. “Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.”

Mereoleona nodded thoughtfully. Tani was slightly ashamed of herself - here she was, lecturing a previous Captain and a member of the royal families. What happened to everything her family had taught her? Don’t mess or talk back to your superiors. This woman was, in every way, her superior!

“Then, my apologies,” Lady Mereoleona said courteously, though the bright smile she wore on her lips made the apology seem a little disingenuous. “I’ll get you a new one at some point.”

Tani sighed and shook her head. She had enough mana to create a small, simple sling of her plants to support her broken shoulder. She waved dismissively with her other hand, as if to indicate it was all good. She really needed to take a step back and get on track with respectfulness.

In any case, Tani had gotten where she wanted to be.  Now just to figure out the next step...

[hargrove-mayfields]

A Stake of Holly in Her Heart Pt. 6

Pt. 1   Pt. 2   Pt. 3   Pt. 4   Pt. 5    

Back inside the house for the night, Max avoids her nightly routine, going straight to her room to hopefully avoid any punishment until the morning comes.

There’s something she really needs to do, so she waits and waits, watching the minutes tick by on her digital clock until the house quiets down and she can be sure Susan and Neil are asleep.

She perches on the end of her bed and just listens for the TV to shut off in the living room, for her mother to pad up the steps toward her room in her fuzzy slippers, and for every light switch in the house to click off. Once she’s sat in complete silence, she presses her ear to the door so she can decide if she’s in the clear.

There’s a writing desk in Billy’s room, along with the last of his furniture they haven’t put out to the curb yet, put there because, well, he wouldn’t be using the room anymore, and Susan thought the space should be utilized instead of just being a memoir to a dead boy, so it became an office of sorts. And that was where Max needed to be right now.

Making as little noise as possible, she tiptoes from room to room, gently shutting each door behind herself, her heart stopping when the lock clicks into place.

Before she takes another step into the room, she listens for a floorboard to creak, or a voice to shout at her to go back to sleep, but there’s nothing but the sound of thick snow gently hitting against the window pane.

The lamp clicks on on the desk so she can see what she’s doing as she carefully fishes through the drawers of the bureau until she’s found a sheet of paper, the only one she could reach without making too much noise is printed with a border of holly branches, a red ballpoint pen, an envelope, and a stamp.

Max sets it all out in front of herself and thinks long and hard. What she’s about to do leaves no room for making mistakes, because she’s going to write a response to Maria.

It takes a lot of workshopping, cutting out bits of information she would rather share in person and trying to make it as blunt as possible, but eventually she decides on this,

“Dear Ms. Hargrove,

I’m not sure if Billy ever told you about me, but I’m his stepsister, Max.

I got your card in the mail Christmas morning, and I’m sorry to tell you, but he didn’t get to read it.

Your son Billy died on the 4th of July.

Please, if you get this letter, come and see him. He’s in the cemetery on 101 Cedar Street, Hawkins, IN, plot 206 B under the ginkgo tree.

I’m sorry, Maxine Mayfield”

Max folds the paper as neatly as she can manage and seals it into the envelope, copying Maria’s address from the first letter onto the outside, and sticking the little stamp, a picture of a Christmas tree, to the corner.

Putting everything back and pulling the chain on the lamp, it’s like she was never even there.

But she must’ve gotten careless, must’ve been too caught up in the moment to remember to listen for footfalls because, when she opens the door again, she’s face to face with a disgruntled Susan.

Arms behind her back, Max slowly slides the envelope into her pocket before her mother can see it. “What are you doing in here?”

“I-I was just, uh, thinking about Billy again.” She lies through her teeth, bringing her arms up to hold the door frame so Susan wouldn’t notice she had something hidden behind her back. “Wanted to be in here for a while, I guess.”

Susan frowns and rubs her eyes. “You know you’re not supposed to be up this late.”

“Yeah, I know, I just, couldn’t sleep.” She shrugs and offers a tired smile, hoping that’ll help her case.

“Well next time, just try to stay in bed.” Susan’s tired, a little tipsy, and generally unhappy with Max, and it shows in her tone, but she’s too tired for reprimanding, so she makes an attempt at advice, saying, “It doesn’t do you any good to dwell on it.”

“Won’t happen again.” The answer must be acceptable because, shaking her head at her daughter, Susan finally retreats. For extra points, Max calls after her, “Goodnight, mom.”

Max stands in the doorway waiting for Susan to start climbing the steps again, then, once she’s absolutely positive her mother’s no longer paying her any mind, she returns to her own bedroom.

The envelope finds itself in a hiding place under her mattress until she can mail it in the morning, just in case of snooping parents, and for the first time in a long while, Max gets a good night's sleep, the events of that day easing her off to dream.

It’s the feeling of hope, of having found a friend and having done the right thing that sends her off into a restful sleep like she hasn’t had in forever, her guilt no longer plaguing her in reality or in dreamland, and her grief soothed.

By sunrise the next day, she’s already up on her feet, dressed and ready to go before her parents are even awake.

She leaves a note taped to the refrigerator door explaining her absence, lying about going to help Mrs. Byers with something she had mentioned at last night’s party, and hurries out the door, letter in her pocket, before anyone can stop her.

But, as the hinges on the front door squeak, she steps out onto the front porch, hearing Neil’s gruff voice behind her before she can close it. “Where’re you going?”

“Mrs Byers. She, um, w-wanted me to come over and help El with uh, packing.” It sounded great on paper, but out loud it sounds exactly like a lie if she’s ever heard one. Neil doesn’t look upset though, so she decides to keep going. “They leave for Chicago soon.”

Neil nods, a look of complete disinterest on his face, and says “Tell her she can keep you if she wants to keep having you over there all the damn time.”

Then he turns away grumbling, and slams and locks the door in his step-daughters face.

Her first winter around snow and ice, something that never lasted long enough back in Cali to be a problem, she’d learned the hard way that her board didn’t work so well on the salt covered sidewalks, so she has to get to the post office without wheels.

She realizes though, that the walking route, unless she wanted to add an extra half hour or so to the trip, meant going right past the Sinclair’s house. Halfway down the sidewalk, when she sees Lucas' little sister outside, she knows that, after the luck she’s been having, she’s not getting off easy.

Erica is all bundled up in layers of coats and sweatpants, sitting in a pile of snow in the front yard, and rolling out a collection of very tightly packed snowballs when she looks up and meets Max’s eyes. Turning her head back towards the window, Erica shouts to her brother, “Hey nerd, your girlfriend is here!”

Before Max can even correct her or try to explain to her that she was just passing through the neighborhood and it was no big deal, the front door is being yanked open, and Lucas comes skidding down the sidewalk towards her.

He’s out of breath when he gets to her on the sidewalk, having run from somewhere in his house, and his voice is laden with concern. “Max! Where were you?”

“I was just busy. My parents said I couldn’t come.” She explains.

“We assumed the worst when you and Steve didn’t show.” He's bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “Why weren’t you on the line all night?”

Max shrugs, “Like I said, busy.”

He eyes her suspiciously, obviously trying to find some secret meaning to her words. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, they just took me out for Christmas dinner.” She appreciates the concern, she really does, but she gives him a look anyhow. “You know not everything has to be the end of the world, right?”

“Yeah, right, ‘course.” He agrees, still sounding unsure, then doubles back on it. “You’re positive you’re alright?”

Giggling at how excessive he is, Max rolls her eyes, though not really out of annoyance, and affirms, “Yes, Lucas.”

“Okay.” There’s still more he wants to ask about yesterday, she can tell, but he gives it up, choosing instead to ask, “Where are you headed, then?”

“The post office. I have a thank you card for my grandma I'm supposed to send.” She lies again, but it doesn’t feel the same as when she lied to Neil and Susan or Aunt Nicole, where she was trying to hide how she felt, trying to be someone she wasn’t. This is more like she’s just trying to protect her personal life, and she thinks that’s fair enough.

Lucas flashes her his most charming smile. “Mind if I join you?”

There’s no way she’s going to actually turn down the offer, but she pretends, turning her nose up and saying, “I don’t know. Don’t think I really want you slowing me down.”

“You just don’t want all of this,” Lucas motions to himself with a goofy grin, “to make you look bad.”

She puts a mock sympathetic hand on his shoulder, and says, “Keep telling yourself that, dweeb.” but there’s a wide smile on her face as she says it, even after Erica tells them to get a room and throws a handful of her snowballs at them.

The rest of the walk into town is only a few minutes from that point if they take the shortcut behind the neighborhood, so Max isn’t all that worried about Lucas tagging along.

Mostly though, it’s because, unless he miraculously overcame his hangover and decided to search the treeline with a pair of binoculars, there was pretty much no way Neil was going to see them together, and they were out early enough that any of the nib-nose neighbors who might’ve snitched on them weren’t even awake yet.

Besides, even if Neil was one hundred percent guaranteed to catch her, she feels in a good enough mood that she doesn’t know that she’d care.

Outside of the post office, as she opens the mail slot and lets the letter fall into the collection box, she can tell Lucas catches a glimpse of the name on the envelope just by the sudden frown on his face, the worry in his eyes as he looks over to again her.

But Max, she isn’t bothered by it. She’ll tell him later what’s going on with her and Maria, once the whole thing is over. She thinks she owes it to herself to be a little more abrasive, to not just let everyone in on every last detail of her life so they can make her decisions for her.

So she doesn’t bring it up, just smiles at him and takes his hand, and lets him walk her back home.

After that morning she checks the mailbox constantly to make sure nobody else would find any letters from Maria before she did. Lord only knows what Neil would do if he found out she’d been in contact with his ex-wife.

Day one, all she finds is an issue of the beauty magazine Susan has a subscribed to, a notice for a late water bill, and a day old Christmas card from Uncle Don down in Texas.

The next day is more disappointing, nothing inside the mailbox but spam and a grocery store catalog.

There’s no mail service on Sundays, so she spends the whole of the third day fretting, wondering if her letter her made it, and if she should try to send another.

On the fourth day, there’s finally a letter in the mailbox addressed to Maxine Mayfield. Her heart stutters as she slides the stark white envelope out and gently tears it open.

It simply reads,

“To Billy’s sister, I’m on my way.”

Read also on ao3!

[a-marlene-s]

Floating White Lotus

Book One: Water

Title: “Ginkgo Biloba Tea”

Chapter: Beginning - Previous Chapter - 5 - Next Chapter

Masterlist

Rating: T (curse words mainly.)

Genre: Humor, Drama, and more humor.

Summary: Floating White Lotus, a former fire nation ship that was converted into a traveling tea shop. The shop is led by the rumored the Dragon of the West, (No knows if this is true or not… yet) and his nephew who wishes to forget the ever lasting war. Well, until a certain someone decided he’d be the perfect fire bending instructor.

Archive Of Our Own: Floating White Lotus

Fanfiction.net: Floating White Lotus

Wattpad: Floating White Lotus

Ginkgo Biloba Tea

The benefits of drinking this tea includes, improved thinking, memory and social behavior. May alleviate anxiety and improve vision by keeping one’s eyesight for longer. Not for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or have thin blood. It will interact with other medications.

Zuko, Iroh, and Jee, all dressed in modest Earth Kingdom traveling clothing, that signified they were well off, but not enough to have anything to give them a second glance. They were talking to the guards that were posted at the front gate. The paperwork was in order and they were not bringing in anything that was against the laws.

The gates are opened for them and Zuko swore he heard a familiar voice. Resisting the urge to turn around as he was wearing a straw hat that had fabric wrapped around it to hide his more notable features…

Once they were given the okay to get through, they made their way in when he heard very familiar voices. He turned around in time to see Aang, who looked to be wearing a disguise out of Appa’s fur and calling Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third. Zuko regretted turning around as he made eye contact with Sokka right before the gate closed breaking eye contact.

Taking in a deep breath to ward of the rising anger that seemed to grow within him. It was like the universe and spirit world is out to get him. Why couldn’t he just go somewhere and not somehow feel like he can’t even take a single step there without running into the Avatar.

WHO HE WAS SUPPOSED TO CHASE AFTER!

NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!!!

Not the other way around…

At this point, Jee had to wrap his arm Zuko’s shoulders to make sure he did not stray away or bump into the wrong person. “What’s wrong, kid?”

“I just saw the avatar…” Zuko muttered under his breath.

Jee looked back, by now there were many people walking around that obscured the view all the way back of the front gate, he saw Sokka and Katara walking through the gate with a badly disguised…Avatar. Oh. “You have shitty luck. It seemed like the universe is telling you to train the avatar.”

“Tell me again, why you are here again?” Zuko questioned the Captain of his ship. “In another lifetime, you’d be dead by now.”

“You value me far too much to have me dead.” Jee jested. “That and you’d be dead without me out in sea.”

“….Touché.”

-.-

“Of course, Zuko would love to ride down the chutes!” Iroh pushed Zuko towards Aang, Katara, and Sokka’s direction. Jee had taken the cases of tea related items from him before he also pushed the gob smacked former prince into the hands of the Avatar.

Iroh and Jee watched as Aang and Sokka carry away the ever sputtering Zuko to their misadventures.

“He’s going to hate us for doing this to him.” Jee commented offhandedly, before he continue on with the much needing shopping.

“Long as he gets it into his mind, that teaching the Avatar is possibly his destiny… that or the fact he needs friends his own age.” Iroh chuckled before he followed Jee back to the market. Maybe he’ll find a new Pai Sho board…

-.-

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Zuko said under his breath, as he, Sokka, Katara, and Aang, had managed to get in one of the earth crate. How they managed to squeeze into said crate, he does not know, and he is debating if he should try to escape… again.

Oh, cruel irony…

“Here… we… GO!” Aang yelled out, using air bending to push the cart forward. Causing everyone to start screaming in either shock, laughter or whatever else. All Zuko knew was that, the moment that a package of spears started to follow them, he clung onto Sokka screaming at Aang to move faster.

-.-

“Did you meet up with your contact?” Jee asked Iroh, as they made their way through the market area into a quieter area of the market. Both of them were carrying many bags or had them strapped to their persons at this point.

“I did, he made mention of a minor settlement in the western Earth Kingdom, near the Mo Ce Sea shoreline…”  Iroh hummed lowly, he pulled on his beard deep in thought. Thinking over what his friend had told him about the mining village. He would have to talk to his nephew… is that screaming he’s hearing.

Iroh and Jee looking around as the sound of screaming became louder and louder. They looked up into the sky to see… a crate that held the Avatar, two water tribesmen, and Zuko… that is soaring through the sky. The create landed right on top of a cabbage merchant’s cart.

“MY CABBAGES!!!!”

Jee’s mouth went agape at the scene before him, especially when the four were quickly surrounded by guards and were promptly taken away. To be punished by the King of Omashu.  He and Iroh slowly walked away before running off before attention could be brought upon themselves.

“What are we going to do?” Jee hissed out at Iroh, who is still making a double check nothing had fell during the run.

“Nothing. We simply wait until they come out of there.” Iroh laughed easily, causing Jee to rub the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

“For all we know, Zuko could be sent to his death if we don’t do anything.” Jee continued to press.

“The King won’t allow that to happen.”

-.-

‘I’m going to die today… It would be Uncle and Jee’s fault. Death via growing and glowing rock.’ Zuko thought to himself as he watched the ‘creeping crystal’ began to encase his finger. He looked over the balcony to see Aang staring at the waterfall, trying to figure out how to retrieve the key. ‘Air bending isn’t going to work along with diving right into it, the force of the water is too strong…’

Zuko attempted to ignore the ever growing feeling of the jennamite growing over his hand now. By the time Aang managed to retrieve the key, the jennamite managed to grow up his, Katara, and Sokka’s arms. When the second challenge was called out to begin, the crystal’s growth started to speed up to the point, it encased the three from their necks all the way to their knees, showing no sign of stopping any time soon.

Zuko took in another deep breath, quickly regretting his action as the jennamite grew in that exact moment, halting his movement. His breaths are now shorter, and he really started to feel claustrophobic. Oh, he’s going to give Uncle and Jee a piece of his mind once he gets out of this situation. He better get out of this alive, so that could very well happen.

When the second challenge started, Zuko really wondered about the King of Omashu, Mad Genius Bumi. Spirits, why would the king have Aang look for the king’s lost pet, Flopsie? Yeah, catching a rabbit, could be a hassle but… the rabbit isn’t Flopsie.

Flopsie is the giant goat gorilla.

Well, at least it was amusing to see Aang being chased around by the real Flopsie. A tamed, goat gorilla, now that’s a sight to see. Zuko watched as Aang ‘returned’ Flopsie back to Bumi before demanding for the final challenge to begin.

Zuko truly wondered if any of the challenges have any meaning to them. He, of course, have heard the rumors and did some investigating on the city, along with it’s king. None of them made sense, let alone the reason why King Bumi has Aang doing this challenges. So when the last challenge came to be, he, Katara, and Sokka were completely covered them except for portions of their faces and their feet.

When Aang was told he had to pick an opponent to fight and picked Bumi to fight against, Zuko knew the twelve(one hundred and twelve) year old was screwed. Bumi is a master Earth Bender and Aang picked him to fight against. What did catch the fire bender’s attention was how the old King kept goading at Aang for him to fight. It reminded him one of the many time Sokka will try to get him fight against the water tribesmen.

“Excuse me?” Zuko managed to call out, catching one of the guard’s attention. “How old… is the King?”

“One hundred and twelve.” The guard responded, with an eyebrow raised.

“Katara, what was the name of Aang’s old friend he mentioned earlier?” Zuko asked out.

“Bumi? What does that hav-”

“BUMI?????”

The fight stopped as Aang stared at the old king, who in turn, began to laugh.

“Well, it seems like the fire ferret is out of the bag. Right, Aang?” Bumi laughed at his friend’s gob smacked expression.

Zuko and the others were quickly friend from their growing prison and were taken down to were Aang and King Bumi are having a touching reunion.

“How did you know this will get him so stop?” Sokka loudly whispered to Zuko, pulled at his arm repeatedly.

Zuko rolled his eyes and yanked his arm away from Sokka. “I didn’t. I just started to think why the old King of Omashu would be so interested in the Avatar. Who is just as old…? That and I’ve visited the city many times to know the King is known to be… eccentric.”

“So this crazy king, is your old friend Bumi?” Katara asked once they made their way to Aang and Bumi.

“Who are you calling old!”

Pause.

“Okay, I’m old.” Bumi conceded.

“Why did you do all of this, instead of telling Aang who you where?” Sokka asked, with an obvious raised eyebrow at Bumi.

“First of all, it’s pretty fun messing with people.” Bumi stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

The only one that seemed to agree to this is Zuko, who shrugged and nodded for Bumi’s reason. This earned him a glare from Katara and a snort from Sokka.

“See, he get’s it.” Bumi snorted at Zuko’s attitude. He then turned his attention back at Aang. “Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the last hundred years, you’ve been gone. It’s the duty of the avatar to restore balance to the world…. By defeating Fire Lord Ozai.”

At the mention of his father, Zuko saw King Bumi a pointed look before paying attention back at Aang. Zuko felt his mouth go dry and his stomach had dropped massively at that small action. The only one that took note of his change of behavior was Sokka, but he waved him off before trying to regain his bearings once more.

“-and it looks like your in good hands. You’ll need your friends to defeat the Fire Nation.” Bumi continued on to say, he smiled when Momo climbs on Aang. “And you’ll need Momo, too.”

“Thank you for your wisdom, but before we leave, I have a challenge for you.” Aang said to Bumi, causing the others to look at him in dismay at the possibility of another challenge.

-.-

Zuko pulled on Iroh and Jee’s clothing, leading them out of the Market section of the city. He had just left the palace and just wanted to leave. All he knew was that King Bumi knew who he is and has yet to do anything about it. This had the warning bells to ring excessively in his mind that kept telling him to ditch the city and never return. Ever again.

“Why the hurry, Dear Nephew?” Iroh laughed, wondering why Zuko is in such a hurry.

“What happened in there, anyway, kid?” Jee asked, trying to get Zuko to talk.

“He knows about me.” Zuko finally said but did not stopped trying to get them to leave Omashu. “He knows about me. I don’t want to be here any-”

Suddenly, right in front of them, Iroh and Jee felt like Deja vu happened again at the sight of another crate landing right on top of a cabbage stall which caused the seller to cry out. “My cabbages!!!”

TBC.

Tag List: @amynchan, @aliendoodles2, @darkshadowguardian

A/N: I have created a discord for the Floating White Lotus story. If anyone is interested in joining it.

Ps. I had planned on uploading the chapter yesterday, but my laptop decided to do a restart and not save my stuff...

[sufferthesea]

Hi sweetie I have one more ask.. Could you do another one with Genma with a shy reader that's not a ninja that's turning 21 maybe the reader knows one of ninjas from the leaf and they decide to ask their fellow shinobi friends to help celebrate reader Birthday but it's the readers first time meeting everyone else?

So after the disaster that involved me permanently deleting my 1st draft of this story on accident (*sobs*), I wrote this all yesterday, edited it today and now I’m posting it way earlier than I thought! I was going to wait until December since that’s your b-day month, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting! And you’ll notice I made this a prequel to one of your other requests! I hope you like it! 

The Best Birthday Gifts Are A Surprise (aka how many names can I make up for Genma before it’s not funny anymore?) 

Words: 2.542 Pairings: Genma x Reader Also on AO3 Prequel to TheBest First Date Ever - Considering It’s Flu Season (Tumblr) (AO3)

If there was ever atime when you wished to disappear, it was now.

Kurenai,one of your friends, had spent all day with you for your 21stbirthday. She picked you up at your apartment early in the morning(too early for you, but you managed to get enough caffeine in youbefore she arrived so you didn’t look toodead), took you out to breakfast, and then walked you through thevillage to do some window shopping. A little before noon, Kurenaiexcused herself to run into a shop to “pick up a few items” sheneeded. You waited outside for a while before she reappeared with tworather high-end shopping bags on her arms and a happy smile on herface.

“Do you want toget lunch?” she suggested.

“Sure! Where didyou have in mind?”

Kurenai guided youdown the street, the bags swinging on her arms as she took the lead.“There’s a nice little place just up here. I think you’d reallylike it.” Kurenai walked you towards a small building and steeredyou into a casual-looking cafe. The walls were full of large, clearwindows without curtains or blinds, letting in the afternoon sun; thecafe was filled with sleek wooden tables and bright yellowupholstered chairs. It was surprisingly busy and there was already alarge group of people in the cafe, sitting at a row of tables in themiddle of the room that they had pushed together. The tables werelittered with cups and sake bottles, but no food. You tried to edgeaway from the loud group and towards a window seat but Kurenai seemedoddly drawn to the people and she grabbed your shoulder, smiling assweetly as ever.

“Where are yougoing?” she asked.

“O-Over here? Ithought we could sit … uhm, no?”

Kurenai shook herhead and pushed you forward towards the large group. “I think weshould sit over here.”

“But why?”

A few of the peopleat the tables looked over and perked up, waving at Kurenai.

“Oh,”you said, voice thick with dread, “you knowthem.”

“Yes, I do. And Ithink it’s about time I introduced them to you. Don’t you want tomeet my friends?”

“Not really … Imean, no offense!”

Kurenailaughed softly and nudged you forward. “This’ll be good for you.They all want to meet you. And I’m pretty sure there may be one ortwo you’d love tomeet.”

“Right …”

Kurenaistood before the tables and proudly announced your presence to thegroup. Then she went about introducing them all to you - handfuls ofdifferent names you barely had time to remember, one thrown at youright after the other. You realized they were all ninja, and it putyou on edge a little bit; you were the only non-shinobi in the cafeat the moment. Would you even have anything to talk about with them?You knew nothing about weapons or fighting or the politics of keepingthe village safe. Would they like you? Would you even be able tospeak to them? Therewere so many of them … and they were all total strangers. All theireyes on you, watching you, taking you in.

Suddenly in a chorusof a dozen voices, there was a loud cheer (some more enthusiasticthan others, you were pretty sure some only grunted) of, “Happybirthday!”

Yeah, you definitelywanted to disappear.

Turning to Kurenaiin horror, you muttered, “You planned this!”

“Ofcourse I did,” she said, still smiling as she guided you to yourseat between herself and the silver-haired ninja she called Kakashi.“It’s your 21st birthday and I wanted to do something special foryou. Now sit down! We’re going to order you lunch and then we canall get to know each other. I mean, youwill be getting to know them.”

With as muchbetrayal on your face as you could manage, you sat down reluctantlybetween the two ninja and folded your hands in your lap.

“So … what doyou like to do?”

You looked up to seea ninja with shoulder-length hair and a bandanna on his head staringat you. What was his name? Genna? Gamma? He chewed on a long needleand narrowed his eyes at you. Your face flushed red at the attentionand you stammered.

“Uh, th-things.”

“Things?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. What kindof things?”

You shruggeduncomfortably and pressed into the back of the chair, wishing youcould escape. “Just … things.” Quickly you looked away, afraidof what kind of judgmental gaze he was giving you. Instead you metthe sparkling eyes of the ninja dressed in a green jumpsuit; youremembered his name - Gai. Not like you could ever forget someonelike him. He gave you the brightest smile you’d ever seen in yourlife and a big thumbs up.

“Happy birthday!”he bellowed, but his cry didn’t bring any attention which surprisedyou. He must’ve done stuff like that quite often. “I hope youhave a truly joyous and youthful day! You deserve only the best! Weappreciate you spending this most special time with us! You have awonderful friend in Kurenai!”

“Yeah …” youmuttered, momentarily reconsidering your friendship with thekunoichi.

“How’d you meetKurenai?”

Youturned back to see the same needle-chewing ninja as before, staringat you intently. He leaned his elbows on the table and folded hishands together. Drat, what washis name? Gebbo. Ginkgo.

“Oh! Uh …w-well, I actually hold private dance sessions. She asked if I’d doa few lessons with her students to teach them different moves andstretches that could help them with their, er, ninja training. Youknow, m-many athletes take dance classes!”

“Is that so?”

“Y-Yes.”

He nodded as ifthinking it over and rolled the needle to the other side of hismouth. “So you dance? You any good?”

“I-I think I’mfair. I … make a living teaching other people how to do it. So …yes?”

He nodded again.“Okay, so you dance. That’s something you like to do. Right?We’re making progress. What else do you like to do?”

You looked toKurenai like a child seeking its mother for help but she was busytalking with Asuma - the only other person who you knew at thisparty. Admitting to yourself that you weren’t going to get anyhelp, you turned back to Grab Bag or whatever his name was and rackedyour mind for what you liked to do. “I … like movies.”

“Yeah? Whatmovies?”

Crap. “Uhm … youknow, like … the ones they show in the movie theater here.”

“Huh. Descriptive.Do you read?”

“Mhm.”

He pointed beyondyou, “You read that?”

You looked over toKakashi who was holding a bright orange book and seemed unperturbedat being a reference point. You tried to glance over his arm at thecontent but he seemed to sense you and shifted away. “I … don’tthink so.”

A waiter appearedand you realized you hadn’t even given the slightest glance to themenu. Scrambling to look it over, you frantically tried to choosesomething inexpensive and easy to make.

“It’s yourbirthday,” Kurenai said gently, touching your shoulder, “don’tworry about it, okay? I’m paying for you.”

“You can’t -”

“I can and I willand I’m going to. Just choose what you want. You only turn 21 once.You should enjoy it.”

Through your guilt,you decided on a menu item and ordered alongside the other ninja atyour table. The conversation shifted among the small groups aroundyou, but Goku (Gazebo? Godzilla?) continued to try to get answers outof you. How long have you taught dance? Did you like this cafe? Howoften do you hang out with Kurenai? Do you know any other ninja? Thequestions weren’t too invasive but they came at such a rapid speedyou were having a hard time processing what was happening, but youmanaged to reply nearly as quickly - though you couldn’t quiterecall what you’d said. It was almost like he was trying to sizeyou up to see if you were a suitable addition to their friend group.

Halfway throughlunch, a ninja with a burned face - you remembered him to be Raidou -turned to the ninja with the bandanna and said, “Are you up fortraining later, Genma?”

Youslammed your hand down and shouted, “Genma!” Thatwas his name.

Five people turnedto look at you, including Genma. He quirked one eyebrow and rolledthe needle over his tongue.

“Yeah? What do youneed?”

Was it possible tohave this much blood rushing to your face? You shrunk away and lookedat your plate. “N-Nothing! S-Sorry, I just wanted to say I - I alsolike … music.”

A playful smirkcrossed his face and he looked at Raidou. “Yeah, that’d be fine.”

Feeling foolish, youstuck your fork into your food and mashed it until it wasunrecognizable. Lunch ended, most of the people paid and left with afew parting words of “happy birthday” or “happy 21st” andscattered into the village. Soon it was just you, Raidou, Genma,Kurenai, and Asuma. The atmosphere of the cafe seemed to changeimmediately and Kurenai stood, placing the two bags on the table.

“Here you go,”she said.

“What’s this?”

“It’s yourbirthday present, of course. You didn’t really think I wouldn’tget you one, did you?”

Stuttering out athanks once you realized it was useless to refuse it, you tried tobow but hit your elbow on the table and the dishes clattered againstthe wooden top. Genma and Asuma laughed not unkindly and you coveredyour face in shame. At least you hadn’t faceplanted into yourplate.

“Asuma and I aregoing now. Will you be alright …?” Kurenai’s eyes shifted tothe two men sitting across from you and a knowing look settled on herface.

“I think so …thank you, really! For breakfast and - and lunch … and my gifts! Ireally don’t deserve so much kindness!”

“Youdo,” Asuma said quickly, “and now if youwould be so kind, we have our own date.” He ushered Kurenai out ofthe cafe, leaving you alone with Genma and Raidou.

Raidou cleared histhroat and stood from the table. “I should be going too. I’llmeet you at the training grounds?”

“Mhm,” Genmareplied.

Raidou gave you aquick nod and a soft “happy birthday” before leaving as well. Youclutched your gift bags to your chest and rose suddenly, bumping intothe table again.

“Well I better begoi -”

“Why are you insuch a hurry?” Genma reclined in the chair, arms behind his head,smirk on his lips. “Do you not like me?”

“H-Huh? N-No -”

“No?”

“I mean - no, I …I … d-do?” You weren’t really sure what you were saying anymoreand you weren’t sure if it mattered.

Genma sprang forwardand jumped to his feet, nodding towards the door. “You want to go?”

“Are … Are you …telling me to leave?”

“No, I mean didyou want to take a walk with me?”

“Aren’t youmeeting your friend?”

Genma chewed on theneedle some more and shook his head, walking around the table. “I’llmeet up with him in a bit. But I want to talk to you first.”

“Why?”

“Jeez, you’redifficult aren’t you?”

“I - I don’tmean to be! I’m sorry!”

Genma eyed you for abit and when you decided to look away he pulled the needle out of hismouth and said, “How about dinner?”

“What?” youmumbled, unsure if you heard him clearly.

“Dinner? You andme?”

“R-Right now …?We just had lunch.”

“No - what? Notnow.”

“Later? Today?That’s n-nice of you but I don’t think I can accept anything morefor my birthday.”

Genma’seyebrows pulled together and he stared at you with a serious look ofconfusion. “Not today.”He took a deep breath and said slowly, “I want to take you out todinner - like, a date. How about in two weeks? I’m pretty busyuntil then.”

Youreyes widened in shock and you stared at him in silence, hands shakingand bags trembling against your chest. Was this really happening? Youhad barely said three words to the guy (okay, more than that butrepeating “Mhm” and “Yeah” didn’t really count), and now hewas asking you out? This didn’t seem right. What was his deal? Youweren’t even a ninja, so why would he bother? It’s not like you’dengaged in a rousing conversation during lunch; you merely spat outsingle-word answers to his version of 20 Questions. HadKurenai set this up? You made amental note to passive-aggressively get back at her for this.

Genma must have readthe confusion and apprehension on your face because he quickly said,“You know, you’re really cute when you act shy. And I figured ifI didn’t ask you out, we’d never get anywhere.”

You? Cute? Were youhearing things? The cafe suddenly felt warmer than a sauna and youwere sure you looked like a tomato. You forced yourself to speak, aspainful as it was.

“Y-You want to goon - on a date? With - with me?”

“Yeah. Is thatalright?”

You nodded, movingto cover your face with your hands but hitting yourself in the chinwith your bags instead. “Ow! Uh … y-yeah, that’s f-fine! I mean… it - it’s great.”

“Good. How aboutthis curry shop outside of the village? It’s kind of small andpretty far removed, so there shouldn’t be a lot of people there.You … don’t strike me as the social type.”

You would have beenembarrassed if it wasn’t so true. You bit your lip and slowlylowered your arms to your sides. “That … That sounds w-wonderful.I … I’d r-really l-lo-love to … to do that.”

“Alright.” Genmapopped the needle back into his mouth and smiled. “Two weeks fromtoday. Meet me at the village gates and we’ll walk together to theshop. Does that work?”

“Mhm.”

Genma huffed throughhis nose in a sort of laugh, “It’s a date then. I’ll see you intwo weeks.”

Totallyflabbergasted that you’d been able to make such plans with such acute guy with such few words, you merely nodded and watched him headtowards the cafe exit. When he reached the doors, he turned aroundand gave you another smile. “By the way - happy birthday.” Thenhe left the cafe and strolled down the street.

You collapsed backinto your chair and squeezed the bags in your hands. Had that reallyjust happened? You pinched yourself to make sure - yep, it had. Youcouldn’t believe it, but it was real.

Barelycontaining a squeal, you hurried out of the cafe and back to yourapartment. Your date wasn’t for another two weeks but you had toget home and scour your closet immediately.It’d take you at least fourteen days to decide on the perfectoutfit - and maybe go over a few imaginary conversations in yourhead. Maybe Kurenai making you meet all her friends wasn’t such abad thing after all.

Maybe,just maybe, when you saw her again, you’d thank her.  

[dreambreathing]

handy guide to san francisco for star trek fic writers

hey so san francisco is a strange and singular place. beneath the cut are some notes about its weather and other idiosyncrasies that could be useful for you if you write stories set in - or want to visit - this fine city. 

-- san francisco is not like the rest of california. see geography note** at the bottom for some info on why it’s so much colder and wetter.

-- there is NO SUCH THING as a warm san francisco night. while the temperature doesn’t technically get THAT low - 40s or 50s Fahrenheit at night - the fog and ocean air make it chilly and damp. the kind of chill that settles in your bones and makes you shiver, shiver, shiver. it’s like that all year round, ESPECIALLY in the northwestern part of the city by the golden gate bridge and the park.

-- the average temperature range during the day is 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit. days might begin with some mist or fog, but once the sun’s risen to a respectable height it burns off. the sky is almost always blue for the rest of the morning and afternoon; it can get up to the 70s before the wind kicks up sometime around 3pm and the fog rolls back in. you dress in layers so you don’t boil during the warm hours of midday or freeze during the chill of evening and early morning.

-- BUT there are sometimes long stretches of days where the fog squats over the city and the sky is an awful flat grey-white. it weighs on you. it is blank and chill and maybe gives you a headache in its utter, boring blankness. these are the days you look down and tuck your nose into your scarf as you hurry to your destination. you bolster your spirits with hot beverages, stiff drinks, books, studying, and other pleasant indoor activities.

-- speaking of blankness, being in a thick fog bank is wild. being on the golden gate bridge in a thick fog bank is INDESCRIBABLY WEIRD. you can’t see anything more than a few feet away. ahead of you, the bridge disappears into nothing. behind you, nothing. the cables above you stretch away into pure nothing and, while you can hear the crash and roar of the pacific against its base, you look over the edge and see, at best, the barest hint of motion beneath the grey nothing. it’s totally trippy.

-- when the fog rolls in, it’s breathtakingly dramatic. the very air seems to be alive with movement; you can stand and watch the dynamism of the almost-invisible motions of the billowing air ahead of the thick white fog as it catches the light. sometimes it’s huge and blots everything out; sometimes it’s a low flat blanket creeping down the hills.

-- san francisco has its own seasons. in what I call summerwintertime, from approximately June through August, it is COLD AND FOGGY AND GREY. I always felt badly for the summer tourists shivering in their shorts and sandals. I often wore my heaviest winter coat during the summer months. Messed Up. 

-- in September and October you get what I call autumnsummertime: a late summer of clear skies and relatively hot temperatures. for SF - and it’s always SF or The City, never San Fran, and never Frisco unless you were born there - “relatively hot temperatures” means in the high 70s and 80s. SF is not built for these temperatures. it is not pleasant. everyone is outside at the beach or in the parks every chance they get. probably they’ll have figured out indoor temperature control by the 23rd century, or the city will have been half demolished by the next big quake, so it’ll all be new and fancy instead of victorian and edwardian oh now I’m sad

-- winter and spring are supposed to be the rainy season - and BOY does it rain, in big sheets, for days at a time. everything is wet. when there’s a drought, these seasons are green and pleasant during the day and cold and cloudless at night. regardless of drought status, SF is always startlingly green in winter; some trees do lose their leaves, but many don’t. in autumn, the ginkgo trees turn bright gold and their fan-shaped leaves stain the sidewalks russet brown. I love them.

-- eucalyptus trees are enormous and smell really, really good combined with the ocean air, fresh and clean. it heals your heart and probably clears up your skin. they line the roads and paths of golden gate park, the panhandle, and many other parks and streets. their seed pods are so cute! there is a perfect star! google them, they’ll make you smile.

-- the sound of the fog horn at night is eerie and, if you want to get sentimental, either a lonely or comforting sound depending on your emotional state of being. it makes you feel as though are living on an enormous ship moving very, very slowly through a misty sea. on the other hand, the emergency system’s automatic citywide test broadcast that goes off every tuesday at noon makes you feel like you’re entering a post-apocalyptic nightmare. “(haunting banshee siren wails across the city) THIS IS A TEST of THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM” yeah thanks for that i needed to leap right the fuck out of my body for a second. due to the ever-present threat of earthquakes, there will definitely still be a need for some kind of emergency broadcast system in the 23rd century. maybe in the future they’ll have invented some kind of regular test that doesn’t cause you to astral project, but who knows.

-- birds are weird. there are gangs of identical green parrots flying all around the city; see the documentary The Birds of Telegraph Hill for more info. also in May there are very, very, very territorial birds that will dive-bomb you if you walk underneath their nests. it is horrible. they usually don’t do much damage but they smack into your head from behind, beating their wings, and scare the bajeesus out of you.

** GEOGRAPHY NOTE: san francisco is often as much as 10 degrees cooler than the east bay (oakland, berkeley, etc) or marin county to the north due to the fact that the mainland heats up, that hot air rises, and cold air off the ocean is drawn in. the ocean air and fog pass right over SF, keeping it cool and damp most of the time but especially in summer when the mainland is at its hottest. ergo, “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in san francisco.”

THANKS for coming to my ted talk. you’re more than welcome to hit me up in the ask box if you have questions or want further anecdotes about this fine, weird city that starfleet has chosen as its headquarters!