#eden stages are especially so funny to do

[justhere4kpop]

Orion-versary!

Pairing: Yeosang/Hongjoong/Wooyoung x reader

w/c: 847

genre: Fluff!! Headcanons!

rating: Sfw

networks: @cromernet, @wonderlandnet, @illusionnet

divider: @cafekitsune (please go love and support they're amazing!)

a/n: This is for my very special one-year anniversary with one of my best friends in the world!!! Happy Orion-versary @nebulousbrainsoup!!! This is only part 1 because I wanted to do all your biases but I liked the Ateez one too much to wait. heheh you've been stuck with me a whole year bestie.

-Hongjoong

- Either plans the whole day around it or forgets, no in between. - When he does remember it’s romantic, man has a heart of gold. - Debates if he should blindfold you so you don’t look at others - He definitely writes a song for you -he is probably way too shy to sing it live but will when you get home - Ask for your input on the new album, yes you get to hear it before anyone else even Eden. You love hearing his raw vocals like that. Probably asks for you to be there while he’s recording some of it. - Calls Jjoongrami your son - Takes you out to dinner at your favorite spot - Flowers, gifts, the whole nine yards. He loves spending his money on you (sugarbaby??) - Has everything planned down to midnight, if it’s a big anniversary you’ll be traveling, if it’s just a normal one he’ll make it special if he’s performing he’ll make the crowd sing for you, or at least the guys on stage. Maybe bring you up so they can smash cake in your face since you thought it was so funny when it happened to him. - if he forgets, he’s rushing to make it up to you, your favorite takeout, your favorite movies, a pillow fort, flowers, he’s doing everything he can to say sorry. It’ll be hilarious when you have to admit you forgot too because you’ll be sitting there wondering why this man is doing so much. “Joongie you ok?” - Realizes you truly are perfect in every way, of course, you both forgot…

-Wooyoung

- This man will cook a glorious feast! I’m talking about all your favorites. 100% about you. - If he doesn’t know how to make one, he will definitely call your mom or dad to get the recipe or at least the name so he can look at a recipe. -is he a romantic? Absolutely. Showers you in affection all day. -cuddles, hugs, kisses, shoulder rubs, naps together, -He asked for the day off, he had to otherwise he couldn’t set up everything he wanted “No no no! Close your eyes it’s not ready yet!!!” “Wooyo I’m sure whatever you’re planning is more than enough…” -If he’s planning something big he starts to blabber and stumble and stutter since he wants everything to be perfect, especially popping the question. -Sounds like he’s rapping because he’s getting too flustered and off-track -He has a plan but also doesn’t mind being spontaneous if the moment arises -Sure he planned a picnic but there happens to be a fair in town? Yeah, absolutely you’re going. It starts raining halfway through a walk and you happen to be by a waterpark? Why not! It’s hot and you’re at the beach and ice cream is available? He will be buying every flavor to try with you. Sorry. -He wants to show you off in his way so he’s just posting you all over his Instagram story with captions like “My baby” “My baby so pretty/so cute” “Look at my perfect person!” “Gotcha!” “Caught in 4k” “Should be in jail for looking so fine.” -At the end of the day just wants to wrap you in the coziest things and keep you tight against him, no one else is allowed to even look at you…he’ll bite their ankles.

-Yeosang

- Yeosang is socially a quieter person so his way of celebrating is def somewhere where you’re both comfortable, that doesn’t make it any less he just has his way of doing it. - He’d probably set up a movie marathon, or take you out shopping, he’d love to play games and build things with you. He’d try to keep work things to a minimum but he’d also maybe ask for your feedback on the dance he’s learning. Might even teach you a few dance moves himself. - Asks what his contact name in your phone is. “My Doberman?” “Hehet..finally” He probably has you saved as “Dober-them” or “Doberwoman.” But in reality, it’s defo “Love of my Life.” “My Sunshine.” “Blue Bird.” - You have an entire collection of Hetmongi and Hethetmon. Those are your children. He’ll take them with you to the park - Wants to get a dog with you. “No, we’re not naming him Hetmon.” “Aww come on it’s cute!” - He listens to everything you tell him and stores it in his brain in a filing cabinet labeled you. He remembers your favorite flowers, colors, foods, candies, and drinks. He knows not to let you and San go drinking together because you get loud. - You and San fight over him and he secretly loves it. “Fine, I’ll let you borrow him.” San pouts. “Oh yeah, I’ll borrow MY boyfriend.” “OUR BOYFRIEND!” - Maybe you plan the dinner so you can spend it with all the people you love, but in reality. He has his gift waiting for you at home, on his nightstand so that way it can be a private moment…so he doesn’t get nervous the guys will hoop and holler when you say yes…of course you’ll say yes.

[samejimamitsunari]

Hi! 👋

Do you have any recommendations on where to start with the sensei stuff from the ! era? Or is there a master list floating around somewhere? I just got into enstars a while ago and have been starving for old man content. I have no clue in hell where to look TT.

Have a good rest of your day/night!

- 🐑

hi anon! thank you for your ask and your interest in the senseis :)

enstars used to have a ton of translated stories on the wiki but until august 2021, translations were forced to be deleted by happy elements themselves. thankfully, some stories are uploaded on other sites.

here's a general timeline of sensei centric stories:

liar's idol (2016) -> the first sensei story to release on april fools. covers the foundations of jin and akiomi's dynamic (young and es1) and their idol philosophies and work ethics. cute old people reminiscing on their only youthful memories...

guilty of perjury (2017) -> the second sensei story to release on april fools. goes deeper into jin and akiomi's idol eras and the transition to a new era within the idol industry. more so focuses on jin's super idol perspective. this story was not uploaded to another site due to the translator's wishes. the way people have access to it is by using the wayback machine or through archives. please let me know through message or non-anon ask if you need help.

saga * rushing up rainbow stage (2018) [1] [2] -> aka rainbow. the third sensei story to be released as an actual ranking event. the first to not be an "april fools joke" and the first time and only time a sensei character was given a 5 star card. takes place in es1 era where jin takes up an idol project called "project saga". project saga was made to revive retired idols, to generalize. which he forms a temporary unit with chiaki, hokuto, and tori (rain-bows) while akiomi forcibly forms one with madara, mika, and sora (ba-barrier). not only is it the most important story in regards to sensei lore, but crucial to the development of every main cast character involved. i regard it as akira's magnum opus in enstars. it's 50 chapters long, but i promise you won't regret reading it.

saga * clashing rebirth live (2018-2019) -> aka saga. the sequel to rainbow, which seiya hidaka (hokuto's father) is introduced into the series to join project saga with jun and hiyori. it does focus more on eden and the main cast characters. i can't say much considering that the story isn't fully translated online, but i do think it's an important story in regards to how jin's relationships with jun and seiya are portrayed. it's still in the process of uploading chapters, so please support the proofer!

lullaby (2020) -> the first sensei centric (?) story to be released in es2 era on april fools! if you've seen the ensemble taisou mv, this is the related story for it. though, i do think it's more focused on jun rather than the senseis as a whole. considering that it is jun's fever dream! there are some interesting things revealed by akiomi towards the end of the story...

PORTRAIT (2022) -> this story was marketed to be a model trio story, but it's clear that it's... quite the akiomi centric event. akiomi shows up in all of the chapters except for one, which makes it funny that she's not the five star but a measly 3 star card (when it was released it... felt like a 5000 star card to me if i'm being honest). PORTRAIT is an extremely important akiomi centered story that reveals an immense amount of information regarding her model era, demeanor, worries, and goals at the time. it's also important since we never had a story that was so heavily centered on akiomi, especially with the fact that she wasn't a mere foil to jin this time. it reveals akiomi's importance to the model trio's lives and one of the leading reasons why she left the modeling industry. the first 3 chapters are translated however i cannot link the source publicly. like stated above, message or send a non-anon ask if you'd like to read it.

that's all the sensei centric stories! very crucial reads if you really want to get into the senseis.

however, there are also non-sensei centric stories that i consider to be supplemental reads:

test of courage (2015) -> 2wink centric story. foreshadows akiomi's past with jin, which was later revealed again in liar's idol! you can access that story through wayback machine.

good-for-nothing son and a bad teacher (2019) -> kaoru and jin centric gacha story. only 2 chapters long but drops a bomb on kaoru and jin's parallelisms in regards to their idol images....!? jin gives kaoru a hard-luck story that resonates deeply within him. kaoru finds great comfort in his words and even asks if he could talk to him again if he's having a hard time. it's way too important for the both of them... for a small two chapter story. i'm pretty sure this story is accessible through wayback machine as well. ** i have to warn you about sexual harassment in the first chapter. akira tends to use jin for sexual harassment jokes, where the story literally could've stayed the exact same if we didn't have those bits otherwise. akira does this multiple times and it's extremely ooc to jin's character. (tldr: blame the writer)

antique legend (2021) [available in engstars now!] -> a valkyrie and double face centric event. this was the event where jin and akiomi got their first ever es2 story cameos. they were essentially the spectators of the entire ordeal between the main units, filling in anzu what they know. they also have more personal statements and relate things back to their current working philosophies and how they're treated within the industry. seiya is also there. for what is a spoiler for me to say. but she doesn't directly talk to jin and akiomi in the story (neither do jin and akiomi interact with each other), so you get to see her talk to hokuto and anzu.

fragrance (2021) -> an arashi centric knights event. akiomi is the main cause of arashi's troubles due to the fact that she's offered a job from akiomi's "favorite" perfume company. this was the story where akiomi and arashi became closer to being equals. unfortunately, i can't say much. it's been a long time since i've read it. i'm probably getting punched somewhere...sorry guys... again, i cannot link the source publicly. message or send a non-anon ask if you'd like to read it.

SHINSEKAI (2021) -> a valkyrie and switch centric event. this story fully introduces the SSRVR system (a vr system created by switch). in this event, jin and akiomi were given 3 star cards and players were able to unlock their idol era homescreen outfits. jin and akiomi themselves weren't actually in the story. the idol era jin and akiomi you see in the story are actually just avatars in the vr game and were controlled by es employees. it was implied by natsume that jin permitted the use of his super idol avatar but under the condition that akiomi's idol era avatar would perform alongside him. natsume theorized that it might be because jin and akiomi never got the chance to perform together during their idol eras and wanted to see that dream manifested within vr. this is all you have to know about shinsekai in regards to jin and akiomi. -> seiya and gatekeeper were also there controlling the 2 madonee avatars. seiya also interacts with mika in accordance to his plans of making mika her successor. this story is not accessible, as it is locked.

as an elder (2021) -> madara featured scout 3 star idol story featuring ba-barrier! unfortunately, not all of them interact at once. in this story, madara asks akiomi for assistance with idol work. an argument over a cafe bill. it's a sweet story. give it a read!

bankara (2022) -> jun centric gacha story. this story essentially serves as the gateway for new fans to get a glimpse of what jin had to experience during his idol era. jin gets invited to an idol tv program and accidentally ends up at a female idol tv program... yeah. though, this is the story where tension between jin and jun begin to cease. jun is next in line for jin's hard luck stories and retorts to jin that he doesn't have to keep forcing himself to take up these idol jobs. bankara didn't offer anything new to the table for sensei fans but their interactions were very nice.

graduation (2023) [livetweet] -> third year students / trickstar centric event. due to supervillains' popularity and public desire for jin to show up in the show, rain-bows performs once again. reveals what jin knows about yumenosaki's current situation (more accurately lack of) and how he's taken care of subaru over the years.

phew... was starting to lose steam there, but i think that's everything i wanted to cover! i could cover every sensei appearance if i wanted to but let's not overdo it, me... i could answer questions and refer to them if needed though. but yes, these are all pretty important stories in my opinion. it's not much compared to other characters, but jin and akiomi are one of the best written characters in this franchise. i really hope you can come to appreciate them upon reading their stories.

this was very fun to answer though... it's nice to have these laid out on a list like this. i hope this could be useful for you and others who decided to give this a read!

if possible, for stories that aren't fully translated, it's possible to search up if someone made a livetweet thread. i'm pretty sure most es2 stories have livetweet threads. i don't have the energy to look all of them up right now, but it could be something i could do if asked directly.

if links are broken or need help retrieving a certain story, don't hesitate to reach out. thank you again for the ask!

for translators, if you would like me to remove a link leading to your translations, please reach out and i will.

[a-student-out-of-time]

//I TOLD YOU ALL I’M NOT CRAZY!

*Ahem*

//But alright, let’s go over everything one by one:

WHAT I GOT WRONG:

So I was incorrect about where I arranged Eden and Hu’s secrets. Eden likes girls, and we still don’t know what Hu’s deal is, but it’s not looking good for her

Admittedly, while I thought it would be thematically appropriate, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Eden could simply have chosen to be kind in spite of everything

So Nico is claiming they attacked Ace? Okay, fine, but I still don’t buy it.

WHAT I GOT RIGHT:

I knew Whit’s mom was dead

Shout-out to @newdanganronpaanotherv3​ for that detail about jockeys and their eating disorders, I never would’ve called that one on my own, but we were all correct

I knew everyone was gonna accuse Nico of being the murderer, but I remain adamant that they didn’t do this. Something is up with that entire moment and I don’t get it. It feels too staged for it to be genuine, and I’m wondering if this was something the actual killer of this case instigated somehow.

MY SPECULATION:

First off, I’d like to say that David is even more suspicious than ever before. There is no fucking way he got Xander’s, I absolutely refuse to believe it. Not only because it makes zero sense for Xander to be the mastermind, for the mastermind to already be dead, or for him to have anything other than the secret regarding survivor’s guilt.

No, David is talking out of his ass on this matter. He went last so he could bullshit an explanation, I’m certain. It’s going to be established that Xander and Min’s secrets were swapped and the two of them got each others’. It makes no sense on any level for David to have Xander’s secret.

Secondly, I’m 100% convinced my switch theory is correct now

Why do I say this? Well, look at the way that J’s been acting this trial. For one, she’s pretty verbal this trial, and it’s only episode one. Not just that, but look at the ways she’s been acting and the things she’s been saying.

That’s just funny, sure, but here’s one that confused me.

J, sweetie, we’ve known all about that for days now. I kinda would’ve thought you’d be used to it by this point. Also, why are you suddenly all embarrassed about it all over again?

And then there was this bit regarding Nico and Ace, which really interests me:

“Even if the person you tried to kill is still alive” feels a little too specific to include in a situation like this. She could’ve easily just said “Even if you didn’t kill Arei, you still tried to take a life.” But she added that extra bit there.

All of this feels very odd, especially when you also take into account what Whit’s been doing this trial as well: derailing the hell out things and refusing to give a straightforward answer. What did he say about revealing who the manipulator is?

That’s it. No elaboration, just “nah.”

And what happened when Teruko started asking Eden about the note? Whit chimes in again.

It’s like he’s trying to stall for as long as possible.

Meanwhile, Eden is adamant that Arei didn’t commit suicide, either by herself or with any assistance, but she’s refusing to elaborate as to why, exactly. She asks Teruko to back her up, but won’t give her exact reasons.

You know what I think is going on here? One that explains why, if my theory is correct, Arei hasn’t revealed herself yet, and it’s quite simple

Arei has a plan going on behind the scenes, and Eden and Whit are both in on it. Switching clothes suggests J was also in on, it, and given that Whit and Charles are super close now, that implies he’s also part of it

We have a conspiracy of possibly as many as five people who have their own goal in this trial, and it has something to do with the murderer and/or the manipulator. This group of people know some shit is up, and they’re trying to sort through the bullshit to figure it all out.

So there’s another thing Teruko’s distrust has earned her: being left out of this conspiracy gang, despite Eden hinting that she knew something and wanted to let her in on it too

Eden clearly knows more than she’s letting on, and it has to do with that torn note

[twotwinks]

Adam, Even, and Eden

Adam

OH HEY WE FINALLY GOT A BINGO

the adam half of this relationship is just ibara evil laughing and getting up to Shenanigans while nagisa is like "as long as you're happy dear" they've committed so many crimes as a result. also it's so funny when nagisa decides to remind ibara he's the leader for a reason and ibara briefly turns into a Wronged Woman in return. i don't have many coherent thoughts about them but i feel their entire relationship can be summed up with "maybe i can't fix him but i can definitely fuck him" and sometimes that's all you need.

the inventors of gay people, Even (yes i saw that)

definitely one of the most canon couples in the entire franchise, it's hiyojun! they're idiots who love each other no matter how inconsiderate they act towards each other sometimes. in direct opposition to the adam half, these two are probably the only things stopping each other from being gay doing crimes...most of the time. they're so cute with their simple honest affection and casual need for the other's presence. also it was so iconic when they kissed on stage (all three times) man what a time to be alive.

Eden, the second poly unit i ever loved

the fascinating thing about polyeden as a whole is that even though the individual halves enable and even sometimes encourage each other's worst behaviors (especially adam) together they are all actively working to better themselves and each other. nagisa is learning to act on his own and become his own person. ibara is unpacking his childhood trauma and unlearning the things he's been conditioned to do and to think about himself. hiyori is learning that sometimes it's worth it to do something warui hiyori for the sake of the people he loves. jun is learning not to think so little of himself and stand alongside the others as equals. and they all love each other so much, eden is so important to every single one of them that if you even so much as lift a finger against it or one of its members you're in for a world of hurt. they're family too and at this point they wouldn't know what do to without each other. again i really don't feel like i can articulate how i feel about them but just know that there's so much love there even if it looks way different from the usual.

[nikikyuuun]

you have asked and I shall deliver /j

may i get a hc on the differences between jun, adonis and rei with their ✨professional✨ personality/facade and how they are in their private lives with s/o?

also i hate that im slowly becoming a junp bcus of u i despise you

-🍭

HELLOOO BELOVED i hope your junp conversion is going smoothly 🥰🥰 this is a lot shorter than usual cause apparently my brain cant do a venn diagram in my head and resorts to. two columns. category a and category b. there is only one item in each. like our singular brain cell ♡

❧ adonis, jun, and rei's public personas vs. how they are in private

content warnings: none

❧ honestly, adonis isn't much different onstage as compared to, well, everywhere else. in jobs, and meet and greets, and interactions with the rest of undead in public, he tends to come off as very genuine—which makes for a sharp contrast and good complement for rei's and kaoru's practiced charm, and koga's brusqueness overall. the "adonis" that's widely known to the public is rather reserved, but kind and gentle nonetheless. it adds to some of his charm as an idol, no?

❧ with you, adonis isn't much different—but there's a thoughtfulness to him that the fans rarely get to see. the way he lightly tugs you closer to him on a crowded train, or the way he gently combs tangles out of your hair. he may not have some kind of elaborately-scripted public persona, but the difference in everything from his demeanour to his body language is undeniable—as genuine as he comes off on stage, adonis is just that more himself, around you.

❧ as a member of eden, jun has at least some semblance of a reputation to uphold. he wouldn't say he's at the level where he needs a script to follow like nagisa, but... it's more of his conduct—posture, and tone of voice, and word choice, and outfits, and... he supposes it's a bit of a price to pay, so he often just sucks it up. to the public, jun may not be as popular as, say, nagisa or hiyori, but his fans have come to know him as polite, and good-natured, and down-to-earth.

❧ jun is a lot less subdued with you, though—less picky with his words, less uptight. hanging out with you after a long day of smiling and waving in front of cameras feels a lot like taking off a heavy coat when walking into a warm building. it's honestly rather funny how quickly he seems to slump over, one hand stuck in his pocket and the other working the stiffness out of his neck—mumbled profanities leaving his lips all the while. jun is very casual around you, even if you're his partner: laughing or pushing away your face in those cutesy photo booths around the mall, or challenging you to a little mini-competition at the arcade.

❧ rei likes to think that his rather unique way of speaking is what distinguishes him to his fans—a vampire like himself must also speak with dignity, no? it doesn't matter if he's a guest on a talk show, or simply entertaining his audience with idle chatter in between songs onstage; rei's words always fall smooth and calculated and charming from his tongue, each motion of his hand or inclination of his head practiced and neat—not scripted, per se, but the ease of it all adds to his image, doesn't it?

❧ while rei has no qualms about looking cool in front of you, too—fufu, i must give my best efforts in courting my dearest partner, after all—he doesn't lay on it as heavily as he might in public. especially during the day, or in especially hot summers, he's almost straight-up lethargic, shamelessly teasing you about how he needs an energizing kiss from his beloved to wake him up. it's not as far a cry from how he is on stage as some may think, but just enough for you to be able to tell that he doesn't intend to hide things from you.

[simonsrosebud]

How did Dalton react when he saw the famous Kathy interview with Niel Kev and Riko? I’d like to see how he reacted to that and all the post game interviews (especially the iconic Kevin one where he “has never gone skiing before”). I think Dalton must have come across one interview and just went down the rabbit hole. Maybe even Neil’s roasts?? Sorry this is a looong ask post

no i LOVE this!!

he knows he shouldn’t, not unless kevin says it’s okay, but dalton googles kevin after he leaves maryland to go back to south carolina.

it's not like he’s going to find anything bad.  and plus, he loves kevin.  and kevin loves him.  he’d just told him this week for the first time.

the top result is a buzzed article titled “kevin day had a near photoshoot with fans in times square, and we’re definitely jealous”.  below it are the most recent things like him coming out, and videos of him playing.

dalton refines his search.  specifically to last spring and fall.  his first year stepping onto the foxhole court as a player.

the first thing to come up is an interview with kathy ferdinand, neil josten, and riko moriyama.

dalton knows enough about riko moriyama for it to make his blood boil.

he also doesn’t realize that the brunette in the cover photo for the video is neil until he watches him get introduced to the stage.  he’s known from the second he saw neil that he’d been through some tough shit, but he didn’t realize it was all from last year.  the neil in the interview is clean.

also, he’s gawking over neil by the end of the interview.  he has to rewatch it to fully get it all.  kevin’s talked about neil and his attitude, and dalton’s experienced it maybe once, but holy shit he tore riko moriyama to shreds.

the only reason he isn’t laughing at how badass it is is because he can see how traumatized kevin looks.  if he hadn’t known him, he wouldn’t have noticed, but dalton knows his body language by now.  seeing him truly terrified with his abuser right there makes dalton want to wrap his arms around him.  he wishes he wasn’t already back in south carolina.

he runs his hands over his face and reruns neil’s words in his head.

“i don’t think you’re telling Kevin to sit out because of his health. i think you know this season is going to be a disaster for your reputation. you and kevin have always played in each other’s shadows. you’ve always been a pair. now you have to face each other on the court as rivals for the first time, and people are finally going to know which one of you is better. they’re going to know how premature this was. i think you’re scared.”

it gives him more insight on kevin and riko’s relationship, and while he wishes he never had to see it recorded, he’s glad he does.  with the way neil’s talking, it seems like he’d known all about it, too.  or else he wouldn’t openly be hating on riko the way he was.

after that, and after calming himself down from literally seeing kevin’s abuser and thanking god that he’s dead, he continues on.  the majority of the other videos are from press duty after games, and he clicks on a reoccurring one titled “KEVIN DAY NEVER BEEN SKIING???”  dalton knows this, and he also knows that the public thought that he’d broken his hand in a skiing accident, so he’s curious enough to click on it.

he gasps so hard.  it’s just such a blunt statement that so obviously dumbfounded all of the press trying to interview them.

he keeps going.

and they’re never-ending

“every time kevin day yells to neil josten in french”

or “29 times andrew minyard comes up behind kevin day but just stares into the camera”

“kevin day being approached by fans”

“kevin day and riko moriyama speaking japanese”  he doesn’t watch that one.

“compilation of neil josten being a pain in kevin day’s ass”  that one’s twenty-eight minutes long.

“kevin day looking stressed every time neil speaks”

“kevin day yelling neil’s name, except every time he does the pitch gets higher”

“kevin day’s fist pump every time they win a game”

“i ran into kevin day every time i went to eden’s nightclub last fall and had the same conversation about how to say croissant’s every time”  there’s videos from each time, some with the phone camera unknowingly recording him, some with the view of their chins from below, and some of the floor as if she “wasn’t recording”.  he doesn’t seem to remember her from before in any of the videos.  at the end there’s 7 pictures of them, with the same pose, all from different nights.  drunk kevin is funny.

dalton wishes he could see it, but he knocks that thought right out because he’s proud of kevin for being sober.

“speaking french with kevin day at the mall: AWKWARD”  that one is from this summer with subtitles at the bottom.  the girl goes up to him, and he doesn’t seem to see her coming until she’s in front of him.  “bonjour!”  kevin says, “oh, hello.”

when she continues in french to ask how his day is he makes the switch.  “do you speak english?”  “yes, i just knew you spoke french, sorry”  “oh… it’s okay, uh, do you mind not recording me?”  she lowers her phone a little.  “it’s still recording.”  “it’s not, anymore.”  “okay, well, i’ve got to go”  neil calls him you can see his feet shuffle.  “bye.”

then there’s one’s where he’s roasting interviewers.

“why don’t you smile for us?”  “smiling won’t make a difference in any of my answers.  next question.”

“you came out, just this week, to be dating a man.  any change in positions, if you know what i mean?”  she laughs.  kevin leans back, catching matt’s eye.  “what an embarrassing question.  that’ll be all.  matt, let’s go.”

“i’m sorry about the death of riko moriyama, but the way.  to have someone of a brother go in such a way must have been hard for you, yes?”  “well, good thing we were never brothers.”  he adds on.  “i don’t appreciate you actively trying to get a reaction out of me.  i think we’re done here?  yes?”

“now that he’s off his drugs, is andrew minyard a threat to the team?”  “why would you think that?”  “well, we all know his timeline, his history”  “time is a social construct.  i’ll go find andrew to take my spot, if we’re not going to focus on the game.”

“surely you guys must get plenty of girls drooling over you, with what such an intense workout regimen does!”  “girls aren’t animals.  educate yourself, please.”

that’s the one that dalton sends to carmen.  he can’t help it.   she loves it, texts him back a series of keyboard smashes and heart eye emojis.  A FEMINIST. 

the next time dalton uses his laptop it’s to look up a tutorial with kevin.  he stops and turns the screen when dalton scrambles to open a new tab.

“so how much have you seen?”

dalton cringes, but sinks into kevin’s side.  “kathy?  and... the croissants,” he whispers, and-

“jesus christ.”  kevin gets up and heads to dalton’s bathroom to shower.  “it’s pronounced croissant!”

[adorethedistance]

Unbiased Source - Actress!Reader x Owen Patrick Joyner

JATP masterlist

Words: 2149

Warnings: Swearing, I think that’s it (?) it’s very tame

Summary: Grabbing sushi with friends is a joy but especially when they strategically sit you with your crush, and you talk about embarrassing moments, first kisses, and falling on stage.

A/N: This is the sequel to Say No to This, but it can also work as a stand alone fic for the most part. Thank you to everyone who read the last part and left such sweet messages on the post, in the tags, in my messages, everything! It means a lot to receive support for doing something I love.

After splitting up rides and deciding who’s riding with whom, all the members of dressing rooms A and B made it to the agreed upon sushi restaurant in our land-locked state. Eden tried to pull some tricky bullshit and get Owen alone in a car with me, but things didn’t work out that way. Probably for the better. I’d be so nervous that I’d start driving like an idiot.

In the parking lot in front of the shop, I lock my car behind me and place my keys inside my bag. As I approach the restaurant entrance, I see none of the group is waiting outside.

“Did they not wait for us?” I turn around to see Owen tucking the keys to his car into his pocket.

“I guess not.” Stepping in front of me, he opens the door to let me in first.

“After you.”

“Oh, thank you,” I smile shyly. Slipping past Owen, we enter the dimly-lit restaurant, searching for our friends. They’re all located against the back wall of the room at a long, rectangular table; the only open seats are in the middle of the table, directly across from one another. Sighing, I turn to face Owen in mild dismay.

“Do you want to crawl into the booth, so I can have the chair?” He doesn’t seem very keen on the idea.

“I’ll rock, paper, scissors you for it?” He quirks a sheepishly optimistic brow. I roll my eyes before securing my bag against my body.

“This is so juvenile.”

“Do you wanna just go ahead and crawl in?” he challenges. I narrow my eyes in response.

“Do you do ‘shoot’?”

“Yeah.” Primed and ready to go, Owen and I chant together,

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.” Owen chose scissors, and I smile in triumph as I fortunately picked rock.

“Best of 5?” he flashes his teeth in an awkward smile after I pretend to crush his scissors under my rock.

“Get in the booth, pretty boy.” His smile turns genuine but I can tell the teasing remark has embarrassed him by the way his face flushes pink. Approaching the table, Owen is still embarrassed as he crawls into the empty space in the booth next to the guys. Somehow, we’ve managed to put all the boys in the booth and the girls in the chairs. It seems like a happy accident, but I know better. This is purely Eden’s doing so that Owen and I would be forced to sit together.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Becca sips her drink playfully, to which Eden adds on,

“Hope you don’t mind, we grabbed our seats first.”

“Mhm. Yeah, that’s real fuckin’ funny, Eden.” I place my bag across the back of my chair. “How did we manage to sit in our character couples?” I comment on the seating arrangement of Owen with me, Lucas with Becca, Brad with Dawn, and Devin with Eden.

“Oh are we? I didn’t even notice,” Dawn solidifies the fact that the six of them are much acting stranger than usual. Owen and I spare our friends a glance of playfully knitted brows, but upon meeting eyes and taking notice of our identical expressions, we break into a fit of sincere giggles. Then, our waiter arrives and sets menus down in front of each of us before taking drink orders.

“Oh, they only serve full rolls,” I accidentally announce to the table and subsequently lower my voice as a result, “I don’t think I’m gonna eat the whole thing and sushi is not meant to be leftover.” I say to myself, skimming the menu for a smaller portion of food to no avail.

“I’ll split one with you,” Owen softly offers from across the table. His volume is lowered to talk directly to me, but our friends quiet down as well to hear our conversation. Noticeably so that Owen begins to blush, and I come off more defensive than intended.

“Can we help you?” I swear they’re acting like actual middle schoolers. The group backs off, and we all place our orders accordingly. I tried to get Owen to agree on a specific roll but he simply told me to order what I wanted and that he’ll eat whatever. After taking our orders and menus, the group then enters into a conversation about tonight's rehearsal.

“Can we talk about how I almost ate shit on my entrance tonight?” Rebecca says while opening her chopsticks.

“Singing as Velma Kelly is hard enough, and Dina put me in 3 inch character heels for what?”

“At least you didn’t fall all the way off the platform like I did.” “Okay, that was on the first day of blocking, Dawn. That’s not the same caliber as the last rehearsal before opening night.”

“Well I beg to differ-”

“Hey, that brings up an interesting question. What’s your most embarrassing moment?” I ask the table which silences Dawn and Becca’s bickering. Everyone seems hesitant either out of embarrassment, shyness, or careful consideration.

“I’ll go first, since I don’t have many regrets and you all seem to be grasping at nothing,” my overconfident demeanor pulls a small laugh from Owen’s lips. A delightful sound I aim to be the reason behind again and again.

“When I was in my senior year of high school, I went to a music shop with this guy I had a crush on. It was like a small family owned business kinda feel, and they had this wall of CDs. And he was a huge music buff, but I didn’t really know anything, so I spent most of the time just listening to him talk about music. He’s going down the aisle explaining the different vibes of the music, so he’s like ‘this is stoner music’ and ‘this is the kind of music white people use for dinner parties’ and kept going on and on.

So, he gets to this one CD and says: ‘this is the kind of music that people fuck to’ and it caught me so off guard I turned bright red in the middle of the store. I was hoping he wouldn’t notice but he saw and totally made fun of me for it. I was absolutely mortified!” the entire table erupts into laughter at my misfortune, and I’m glad to break the ice of whatever awkwardness that was lingering from rehearsal.

“Yeah, I definitely don’t have any stories like that,” Dawn laughs through her words.

“That’s pretty good, but I think I’ve got you beat.” “Oh?” I raise my eyebrows at Owen’s challenge, which launches him into a full story.

“It’s my first kiss story. I think I was a Freshman in High School? I had met this girl at the movies and we were watching something really stupid, I don’t remember what, I was not into it. But I stuck it out to be a good boyfriend. So, we leave the theater after it ends, and we’re standing out front waiting to be picked up just talking. Then we get to the whole ‘I had a great time’ routine and I can tell she was hoping I’d kiss her. So I decided to go for it… but I didn’t know you were meant to like, turn your head a bit. So I just went straight in and we bumped into each other so hard, I made her nose bleed.” My jaw drops in shock and I try to conceal my growing smile.

“I’m not laughing I promise,” I lie through shallow breaths before giving in.

“How forceful was that movement that you made her nose bleed?!”

“I don’t know how we did it, but it was awful I felt so bad.”

“But that begs the question, Owen...” Eden begins mischievously, “...have you improved since then, or have you retreated into celibacy for eternity?” I laugh along with the rest of the group, but secretly hope for an answer. The tip of Owen’s tongue darts out to cover his lower lip as he forms an answer.

“I haven’t ‘retreated into celibacy’ but whether or not I’ve improved is inconclusive.” “What the hell does that mean?” I take a sip of my drink following my snarky question.

“Well, my opinion is biased since it’s in my best interest that I improved.” The teasing nature emanating from Owen’s words is comically intense, but I stand my ground regardless.

“It’s in your best interest?”

“No he’s right, Y/n,” Dawn breaks the stream of tension between me and Owen. “He is biased, which means… for accurate results the information has to come from an unbiased source.” Owen and I exchange a glance of confusion and bite back our lingering smiles.

“Meaning what exactly?”

“Meaning the only way to tell if he’s improved is to ask someone who has kissed him recently.”  My lips part in realization; my cheeks grow hotter than the surface of the sun at Dawn’s conclusion. All eyes at the table are centered on the two of us.

“So tell us, Y/n. Has Owen improved?” Suspense looms over the entire table. Before I can say something against my better judgement, I deflect the situation entirely.

“Well, I didn’t kiss him back then so for the most accurate results it’d have to be the first girl, right?”

None of my girlfriends are pleased with the response, but they let it go thank god. I was hoping they could read my hesitance for what it was.

“But at the very least is Owen a good kisser?”

“...Alexander is an excellent kisser, but whether or not that’s also Owen isn’t something I can factually confirm.” I’m playing interrogation dodgeball out here, someone help me!

My prayer is answered as our waiter returns with the first trayful of plates. Everyone has their food with the exception of a few soy sauce dishes, and we begin to sporadically eat among our playful chatter.

We talk some more about first kisses, performance fails, and the entire rehearsal process before the waiter returns and tries to break up the bills accordingly. As he comes to the middle of the table, I reach into my bag, fishing around for my wallet. Just my luck that it’s my turn and it’s buried under all the shit in my bag. Before I can even open my wallet, the waiter has moved on from standing behind my chair, and I look up in confusion.

Upon seeing him swipe Eden’s debit through the tablet’s card reader extension, I turn back to the table before connecting eyes with Owen. He’s slipping his card back into his wallet before tucking it back into the pocket of his jeans. He shoots me a reassuring wink.

“Owen, you can not just let me choose whatever roll I want to eat and then pay for it, too!” I nearly whine in the middle of the restaurant. He shrugs wordlessly as if to say ‘I don’t see why not’ and takes one last sip of his water as the group begins vacating the table.

We all file out of the sushi shop, but I decide to hang back a tiny bit to walk with Owen, creating a little distance between us and our friends. Reaching into my disaster of a bag, I retrieve a pack of gum and take a piece before offering one to Owen, saying,

“Do you have a Venmo?” Accepting the gum from my smaller hand, Owen shrugs again before laughing through a toothy smile. I roll my eyes in an unconcealed moment of frustration.

“How about this,” he stops us right outside the restaurant, but barely within earshot of our friends. “Since you’re so desperate to pay me back, we’ll get dinner after tomorrow’s show. Sound good?” The sly bastard with his nice hair, and his dumb pretty face, and his pearlescent smile.

“I’d agree but something tells me you’re not gonna let me pay for that either.” He laughs harder, and smiles just that much wider.

“Am I really that transparent? Whatever, tomorrow’s a new day which will erase your debt. I’ll pay for dinner and you can cover dessert, yeah?”

How Owen is being so bold tonight is truly stunning, especially for how shy he’s been in this entire rehearsal process up until now. I don’t want to give in, but I also don’t want to lose the chance to spend time with him.

“Fine, but dessert has to be more expensive than dinner.”

“You are so stubborn!” “Uh huh. And what else do you like about me?” Owen shakes his head with furrowed brows, but he can’t conceal his unyielding grin,

“What do you mean? I don’t like you at all.” I pretend to be offended and nudge Owen off balance with my right shoulder. It’s his turn to feign offense before knocking me off balance as well.

“Do we have a date or not, Mariah?”

“It’s a date, Alexander.”

***

JATP taglist: @caitsymichelle13​ @kaitlyn2907​ @itz-jas​ @crybabyddl​ @kcd15​ @kinda-really-lost​ @calamitykaty​ @morganayennefertyrell​ @n0wornever​ @yikesgillespie​ @dream-a-little-bigger-x​ @thesweetestsinner​ @imsydneywalker​ @lovesanimals​ @thebloodthirstyvampress​ @bumbleberry-pie​ @losers-club6​ @dmcfarland1​

[richincolor]

Ahead of Latinx Heritage Month, here are four books by Latinx authors we read and loved this year!

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado Holiday House || Group Discussion

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing--he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.

A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Quill Tree Books || Review

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Simone Breaks All the Rules by Debbie Rigaud Scholastic || Review

Simone Thibodeaux's life is sealed in a boy-proof container.

Her strict Haitian immigrant parents enforce no-dating rules and curfews, and send Simone to an all-girls school. As for prom? Simone is allowed to go on one condition: her parents will select her date (a boy from a nice Haitian immigrant family, obviously).

Simone is desperate to avoid the humiliation of the set up -- especially since she's crushing on a boy she knows her parents wouldn't approve of. With senior year coming to a close, Simone makes a decision. She and her fellow late-bloomer friends will create a Senior Year Bucket List of all the things they haven't had a chance to do. On the list: kissing a boy, sneaking out of the house, skipping class (gasp!), and, oh yeah -- choosing your own prom date.

But as the list takes on a life of its own, things get more complicated than Simone expected. She'll have to discover which rules are worth breaking, and which will save her from heartbreak. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria HMH Books for Young Readers || Review

Dani and Eden Rivera were both born to kill dragons, but the sisters couldn’t be more different. For Dani, dragon slaying takes a back seat to normal high school life, while Eden prioritizes training above everything else. Yet they both agree on one thing: it’s kill or be killed where dragons are concerned.

Until Dani comes face-to-face with one and forges a rare and magical bond with him. As she gets to know Nox, she realizes that everything she thought she knew about dragons is wrong. With Dani lost to the dragons, Eden turns to the mysterious and alluring sorcerers to help save her sister. Now on opposite sides of the conflict, the sisters will do whatever it takes to save the other. But the two are playing with magic that is more dangerous than they know, and there is another, more powerful enemy waiting for them both in the shadows. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

[juniorgman187]

Serpent of Eden (Reid Series - Part 3)

~ Reader’s one-night-stand with Spencer turns into a year long semester ~

Summary: After a month of smooth sailing, Reader and Spencer finally cross paths on campus and spoiler alert - it’s not pretty. Couple: Fem!Reader x Professor Spencer Reid Category: Angst, Fluff, (eventual) Smut, Series Word Count: 1.7 (ik i promised no small chapters but this ones slightly more spicy and its in preparation for better, longer chapters) Content Warning: Age-gap, teacher student relationship A/N: POV switches from Reader to Spencer indicated by “_ _ _”

PART 2 HERE!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

It was easy to maintain a romantic relationship and to believe that everything was alright when we never had to see each other at school.

What’s harder was being in a professional setting and forcing ourselves to confront the reality that what we were doing was wrong. 

Just plain wrong.

We must’ve lucked out in the first few weeks of our relationship because it was smooth sailing for the entire first month. We’d even gotten into a routine - found our groove, if you will. 

Most often, we would meet at a place far from Hollis, where we knew we wouldn’t run into anyone who would recognize us. There we could just be (y/n) and Spencer; and there I would get lost in the good times and the bliss of the moment to the point of forgetting that we weren’t just (y/n) and Spencer - we were student and teacher, too. Other times, I’d come over to his apartment, but given my living situation, he had never come over to mine. 

It was somewhere around our one-month anniversary when our luck ran out. 

Holly had come into the room while I was finishing (or at least attempting to finish) reading a court case. 

“Are you going to the Promotional FBI Seminar?” She slid a large pamphlet on my desk, never minding the fact that she’d just haphazardly thrown the pamphlet in the spot where my book lied, causing me to lose my place on the page. Though I didn’t outwardly display my frustration, my agitation did grow beneath the surface. 

“What’s that?” I asked her, not out of sincere curiosity, but more so because I wasn’t even really listening to what she’d said before, and I’d pushed the pamphlet out of the way before I even read it. 

“A couple guys from the FBI are coming to talk to us about the job, like all the requirements to be hired, how much it pays - stuff like that.” 

Holly’s voice didn’t make for great background noise, especially when she started rambling while I tried to continue reading. 

“Are you going?” I asked. Again, this wasn’t a sincere question, just a way to make it seem like I was listening. 

“Yeah, and I really want you to come with me. I think you’d like it. You’re really into crime stuff, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah, yeah…” I said in a daze, obviously distracted by my other priorities.

“So you’ll come?”

I should note that I faintly recognized the name and premise of the seminar, but I couldn’t quite place where I remembered it from, and I was far too preoccupied to pay any further attention to the topic, so it slipped out of my mind almost as fast as it entered it. 

It was this moment here where Spencer’s eidetic memory would’ve come in handy. 

You see, the reason I weakly recalled the seminar was because just three days ago, Spencer had told me he was going to be a guest speaker for it. But again - I didn’t remember that, and so without any recollection of this information, I told Holly I’d go just so she’d stop bothering me about it. 

Unbeknownst to me, I’d just agreed to attending my own personal hell. 

I woke the next morning to Holly violently shaking me. 

“(Y/n), we gotta go! We’re so fucking late!”

Still half-asleep, I mumbled, “Huh?”

“The seminar started at 9:42 and it’s 10:36 right now.” 

This was enough to jolt me awake and get me out of bed.

There was just something about the pressure of being late that forced me into a mode where I could get ready in an ungodly short amount of time. I could never get ready that fast unless I was late for something, which makes no sense. 

Holly and I ran from our dorm, through the courtyard, and into the classroom, somehow managing not to trip once on the way there. I was actually quite proud of that. 

I couldn’t tell you if it was our breathlessness, our late departure, our struggle to find open seats, or a combination of the three, but we’d commanded the attention of the entire room - and the attention of someone I had yet to notice, too. 

“There’s a free seat over there. I can sit in the one over here.” Holly told me, suggesting that if we wanted to sit anywhere, we’d have to be separated. I followed her finger to the empty seat, shuffling awkwardly and apologizing profusely to the people I disturbed by approaching. I was so caught up in the hysteria and chaos to even bother looking up at the stage, hindering my ability to meet my impending doom any sooner. 

On the way to my seat, I noticed the copious amounts of notes being taken by virtually every student in the room, so rather than taking any time to look up, I was searching my bag down below me for note taking materials. 

But as they say - third time's a charm. 

After I’d settled into my seat, I finally looked up from the floor and it was then that I was transported back to a month ago - an eerie parallel to this exact moment. 

“Holy shit,” I muttered, earning sneers from the people sitting next to me who I’d clearly disrupted with my profanity. 

“Sorry,” I whispered to them, for I was truly sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. When I saw him, my stomach dropped. I had a feeling he’d already seen me, but I was too disorderly before to notice. 

I did, however, notice how he eyed me from the stage, even doing a double take when we locked eyes. 

“Most of us have done extensive work in areas such as …” His voice faded while my mind swirled.

We have got to stop meeting like this, Spencer. 

Our eye contact was too much for me to handle, so I was the first to break away. Through the entire question-period, I kept my head down to avoid any eye contact I could. 

“Well, that’s all that we have for you today. Before you go, please hand in your applications if you filled them out.” The other lecturer advised. 

I was well on my way out of the room even before he dismissed us, but I was drawn back by the sound of the sentence, “Excuse me, Miss? Could you stay back for a moment?”

I briefly walked backwards before turning on my heels and meeting those eyes that I desperately didn’t want to. 

“I noticed you came in late and I thought you might want to know the information you missed -” Spencer paused to look over his shoulder, noticing his colleague was attending to someone else and therefore, too engaged in that conversation to interfere with ours. 

“(Y/n), what are you doing here?” He asked me in a hushed tone, a stark contrast from his sweet tone from before. 

“I’m so sorry, Spencer. I completely forgot that you were a speaker for this seminar. I didn’t even know I was coming until last night when my roommate asked me to come with her. I would’ve warned you if I knew. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in this position.” 

My apology was sincere seeing as I promised Spencer we would never run into each other. In fact, it was the sole reason we agreed to stay in this relationship - the mutual guarantee that we wouldn’t be put in these situations, but here we were. 

In this fucking situation. 

“No, it’s fine. I was just surprised to see you, that’s all.”

Spencer could tell I was flustered and truly apologetic for my ignorance, and he was almost about to reach out and rub my upper arm comfortingly when his actions were cut short by the looming presence of his fellow guest speaker. 

“Hi there. David Rossi.” He introduced himself by extending his hand into the space between us. “And you are?” 

“(Y/n) (y/l/n).” 

_ _ _

“(Y/n) (y/l/n).” 

It was like watching my worst nightmare come alive. 

If I ever imagined introducing (y/n) to my work family, this certainly wasn’t the plan. I just hoped to God that if Rossi and (y/n) ever met again in the future, he wouldn’t suddenly obtain my eidetic memory and recall her familiar face from this exact moment. 

“Got any questions for us?” Rossi coyly asked her. Once more I prayed to God that his profiling skills hadn’t just improved drastically and that he could sense the tension between the two of us. It almost seemed like he asked that question just to tease her because he knew what was really happening. But then again, that was probably just my paranoia speaking. 

She looked mortified when he asked this, even glancing back at me briefly as if to ask for a reprieve. “Um, no not really. I-I was just telling Dr. Reid that I’ve applied to audit his class before, but was always rejected.”

“That’s a shame. Well, maybe I can look into that. You know, put in a good word for you.” Rossi chuckled, nudging (y/n)’s shoulder to suggest he’d help her. She only shyly laughed and took a step closer to the door. 

“Oh, no you don’t have to do that for me.” 

“Nonsense. I’d be happy to do it.” 

“Thanks, Mr. Rossi.” With a thankful smile, (y/n) pranced out the door, closing the lecture hall door sharply behind her without one look back. 

“Nice girl,” Rossi acknowledged. “But it would be nicer if she could be on time.” 

I laughed, despite not finding (y/n) to be at the butt of the joke to be funny at all. 

“Um, are you actually gonna put in a good word for her?” I followed Rossi with my eyes, searching his face with a desperate hope that my question didn’t reveal too much. 

“Yeah, why not? I figured you would’ve liked to have another student audit your class.” 

“Yeah yeah…” I murmured in false agreement. 

Herein lies the trouble.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

PART 4 COMING SOON!

comment to be added to the taglist!

taglist: 

@andiebeaword​ @rexorangecouny​ @rip2myyouthjpg​ 

[atinybitofau]

[PART 6] S A N ⇲ royal series au

RECAP: san is king of eden, you’re queen of elos under one nation along side 7 other lone kings. while the two jung brothers assist your coronation attendance list back in Elos. you’re formally invited to San’s kingdom. except it’s just you he wants.

• series masterlist •

⇩ PART SIX ⇩ , click me to read part five.

“3 Dukes.”

You face the emotionless Yunho with a pleading expression.

“You want 3 Dukes, 2 Barons, and 5 princes? Not a single King.” He repeats in annunciation.

You pout tugging at Yunho’s dress shirt, his fingers shaking as he held your hand-written invitations with distaste. “Oh come on, Yunho. They’re handsome, well rounded and rich at most.”

“It pains me to know I can’t even refuse. A baron? Taking a place of a King? That’s ridiculous.”

You look to his brother who was mindlessly eye candying one of your hand maidens. “Woo-ah, you’ll approve, yes?”

“What?” he blankly stares at you unsure of the right answer. “Of course?” Yunho barks a stern hard glare at his younger brother. “N-no. NO absolutely not. I detest!” Wooyoung concedes right after.

Your lips form a straight line before you’re begging at Yunho’s side yet again. “But Baron Chan is so handsome and so well fit! I met him once on my travels and he fights aside their Kingdoms soldiers as well. Don’t tell me that’s refutable.”

“Oh it is.” Yunho quickly prevails. “How could a patron be allowed to fight at war?”

You huff now crossing your arms over your chest in disapproval. “Jongho fights his wars. Song Mingi too. Your own brother? Tell me what’s so wrong with a Baron.”

Yunho points at the invitations with his long fingers. “A Baron makes decisions for his King. If he fights wars for them, he lives his life poorly— what more if we give him a crown on his head.”

You fail to find a plausible defense.

“I promised you I wouldn’t show my intention with deciding who shows up to your coronation, but lord knows I despise your decisions.” He seals your invitations with obvious rage but places them untouched in the sending bill. “I assure you no funny business will go down during your coronation celebration, Queen y/n. That is my demand.”

“Yes, King Yunho.” You playfully cuddle into his arms and he sighs at your revelling touch.

“But know Seonghwa may not be happy with your decision. Your father passed with our promise to guide you,” Yunho leans in, taking you as the warm heart you are. “But I also made a promise to do what I seek right for you, y/n. And if making you happy means losing my interests, so be it.”

“You spoil me, King Jung.”

Wooyoung wiggles his eyebrows. “Now posh posh with the bloody invitations. We shall find the material for your dress!”

You eagerly run towards the handsome Jung brother who takes you by the arm smoothly, his sex appeal none other. He’s always been the most mischevious of the two and maybe why you were always ecstatic to play with him. He may be too much for his own good but never for you. You walk side by side towards the seamstresses when you’re suddenly bombarded by a crowd of marching soldiers.

“Is it just me or am I seeing a hoard of knights in your corridor?” Wooyoung leans in to whisper.

“No.. I think I see them too..”

In your castle?

“By order of King San, we present ourselves honorably to you, future Queen of Elos— your grace.”

They bow in unison, something of stage presence always being a strong suit not only in San’s kingdom but his almighty troop. You raise a skeptical eyebrow glancing to Wooyoung whose normally fun tempered state was infiltrated by nobility. He bows his head once towards the soldier but the man waits for your call.

“I’m sure this is important.” Wooyoung clears his throat. “Considering you managed to slither through Princess y/n’s own kingdom guards.”

The man who bears the colors of San’s prideful kingdom lifts off his bronze helmet in respect. “King San has requested Elos’ future queen to his castle at once. For matters undisclosed.”

“Any hints?” You’re wondering why your lonesome in the distress call. “Eden is okay.. I’m hoping.”

“The Kingdom bears no misfortune though it seems King San feels otherwise.” He glances at Gyro’s King Wooyoung beside you with careful eyes. “He’s only requested you, Princess.”

You sigh to yourself mumbling incoherently, “He knows my coronation is in three days.”

“He will return to Elos with you bidding dusk tomorrow. King San insists it’s urgent.”

Wooyoung tugs at your dress, leaning his lips to your ear in private. “I cannot plead no, y/n. This is completely your decision. In treaty, we mustn’t interfere in other kingdoms affairs. Nor demonstrate personal judgement.”

How bad can you going be? It’s not like San could kill you that easily.

“I’ll be accompanied by my soldiers. I refuse to make a bargain. I hope that idea had crossed his mind before sending you all here.”

The knight bows in place.

“Of course, your highness.“ He brings his legs together and firms a salute. “And we will do our best under your honor to accompany you with full effort.”

Wooyoung’s stunned behind you and well? You are too. “I’m sure that’s merely to accommodate.”

With an odd glint in his eye, he hoods the lids of them before answering, “King San has made it clear to take great lengths to protect you, your highness. With full effort and nothing less.”

Wooyoung snickers beside you making your clueless mind drift more.

“It looks like King Song has some competition.”

“What was that?” Unclear in your ears, you hiss at Wooyoung to repeat his statement again.

“You must get ready for your departure, Princess.” Wooyoung bows briefly towards San’s kingdom’s men before bowing back to you. “I’ll inform the third party of the situation and I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong in midst of your absence. Let’s just try to make sure you’re back in one piece.”

You don’t miss the sneaky wink the conniving little Jung brother sends you.

“You’re despicable, King Wooyoung.” You wave him away not before you ask him a favor. “Please. Let’s try to keep things under control..”

Wooyoung notes the color in your eyes. The difference it made when being indirect. You’ve never been one to keep secrets and this one was a little odd for you to keep. Especially in the likes of Park Seonghwa and Wooyoung’s own brother.

Maybe there was something about Choi San that Wooyoung never understood. But if the little girl Wooyoung remembers trusts a man like him of his history? Maybe he’s got have faith in San a little bit. There’s gotta be something deeper than just the greed for power he’s forced to believe.

“You have my word, Queen y/n.”

He salutes you playfully before skipping towards the library where Yunho last was— probably going to reenact every bloody thing that happened in the wrong connotation.

Shaking your head with small hope, you face San’s men again.

“Let me quickly change my attire and pack some things before we set for Eden.”

You think of San again.

How clever of him to invite you in such a grand manner. It’s almost touching. You now find yourself sitting in a carriage for four hours until you arrive to San’s Kingdom with heavy nervousness. Regardless of not knowing why you were being summoned, you’re ushered into a beautiful Kingdom with beautiful people being welcomed for nothing at all.

You see San, in a glorious light, staring out at the beautiful view of his kingdom and stampeding horses on a summer’s noon. The weather here was warm and humid and the air was always busy with sound— human and nature combined. He gets to see nature’s beauty everyday. Maybe why he never cares the time to indulge it the way you do. Not when he gets the chance more than what’s granted to you.

His hair is midnight black under the orange rays of the sun, uniform clothes red and indigo. His men and female counterparts visibly held him in the highest regard, their smiles showing that they felt no distress in the illiberal rule of their King. He seemed humble, softly smiling at what his subordinates had been saying— leaning against the wooden fences to brush through a stallion’s mane.

This was Choi San in his home. Where he felt most comfortable, most safe. What was more entrancing is that watching him smile made you feel oddly at home too.

You’re spun off your thoughts when escorted by hand to San and curtsy in his charming presence.

“I’ve been requested?”

@atinybitofau

[silverselfshippingchaos]

Ash goes to Edenhall to find Yaag during the destruction of Cocoon. Warnings for light swearing, injury and blood, mentions and discussion of death, and an overall glum mood. Also some endgame spoilers for the first FF13 game.

"What the hell..." Ash found herself whispering as she looks down at the sight below her. From her airbike, she could see the full view of Eden. Or, well, what was going to be left of Eden, that is.

Her eyes went wide in horror at all the Pulse beasts, the crushed buildings, the civilians crying for help. This is horrible...

Too much had happened too fast, and she hadn't quite had a chance to process it all. But it finally hit her. Eden was being destroyed. This was likely the end of Cocoon.

She had gotten the report of Cid Raines being dead not too long back, and it still felt surreal. The idea of him once being a Cocoon l'Cie was just as jarring. Him being appointed to Primarch too.

l'Cie or not... He was my friend. And now he's gone.

All she could hope for now was her family and Yaag making it out alright, but one of those seemed a lot more likely than the other. Yaag had left in the Proudclad, hoping to protect Edenhall all by himself. That idiot...

PSICOM soldiers were still pursuing the Pulse l'CIe after their appearance earlier that night, but she was not a PSICOM soldier. She had a different goal. She was going to find Yaag and make sure that she didn't lose anyone else.

“I guess Edenhall is my best bet...” She takes a deep breath and flies towards the heart of the city on her airbike.

~~~~~~

Ash never had much experience with on-field work. Or any of this. She wasn't a soldier, and nor did she want to be, but she did help PSICOM. She helped them defend Cocoon, and even helped with the Purge. Maybe not personally with the weapons, but it was some of her intel that led to the Pulse l'Cie hunts. Who was to say that she wasn’t as bloodstained as the soldiers themselves?

Edenhall, the heart of Cocoon, was off-limits to the public, save for some higher-up officials. She had never gotten a chance to go, but she knew that Yaag had multiple times to meet with the Primarch. Even images of the inside weren't revealed to the people. The Sanctum, in their own words (Cid had given her the intel), saw the people as nothing more than cattle.

She was grateful to the fal'Cie for everything they had provided her. A comfortable home, warm food everyday, an education in multiple fields, everything she considered to be "hers" was all because of them. The education system of Cocoon worked in such a way where anybody could pursue their areas of interest and have it fully paid for, and that only helped cultivate her passion for learning.

It was difficult for her to open her eyes to the truth. Even now, there were some blank holes, but what she had gathered was that the fal'Cie weren't right. Whatever happened to humanity, even if it was their downfall, should be all because of humanity. Not some self-proclaimed god with an ego as large as Cocoon itself.

She had felt this way for many years, but meeting with the Cavalry, learning who they really are, and talking to Yaag when he's not working had only solidified her opinion. Yaag had believed that perhaps the fal'Cie's rule would be best for the present and future prosperity of Cocoon, that maybe the Primarch wasn't entirely horrible. Somebody in his position couldn't afford to have doubts.

After all, he was the officer in charge of orchestrating the Purge, the massacre of all those innocent people in the name of Cocoon's peace and betterment. It was then when his hesitation to oh-so blindly follow the fal'Cie grew.

Ash flew into the building through a large hole in the roof, maybe caused by some kind of winged monster. It's not that she couldn't fight, she just didn't have much experience, so hopefully she could avoid confrontation.

Hopping off of her bike and grabbing her bag of essentials, she runs deeper into the building. It was large, and she couldn't help but feel small. Her footsteps echoed in empty halls, now cluttered with debris and things of the such.

Near the pale walls, however, she spots crystals. She stops, slowly approaching it. "It's... It's dead." And a Cie'th, no less. She shakes her head, stepping away. She had to keep going. She needed to find Yaag. She had already lost a lot, and she wasn't going to lose him too.

When a l'Cie, a human chosen by a fal'Cie, failed to fulfill their Focus before their brand reaches stage 13 and is fully developed, they're done for. They turn into a Cie'th monster and are forced to roam the world while wallowing in their own failure. If they did fulfill their Focus, then they'd slumber eternally as a crystal. Although Ash had heard things of crystalized l'Cie coming back to life hundreds of years later. Regardless, it seemed to be a lose-lose situation.

She thought back to Cid. And the Cavalry. His Cavalry. She had always agreed with their cause, and it would be a lie to say that she hadn't assisted them sometimes. Especially before the Purge. They were all a team back then.

Perhaps not to the point of betraying PSICOM, but she a small part of her couldn't help but wish to see them prevail. What could be better than a free Cocoon? She was sure that Yaag has caught on, but he didn't seem to say much. From what she had gathered, they were old friends. Apparently they went to school together.

Ash always liked seeing Yaag as happy as he was when he was with Cid. Well, happy was a questionable term. Cid always had a way of getting under Yaag's skin, and Ash found it somewhat entertaining. Yaag wasn't the easily flustered type, so Cid's slight teasing was always a blast in her eyes.

Cid was a l'Cie, made one by Barthandelous. Or something. The details were fuzzy. The truth had only come out recently. They all thought he was human. He must have felt terrible and filled with nothing but pure dread. He had both the power and the supplies to make his dream of a free Cocoon reality, but... He couldn't do that when he was just another slave.

"Rest well, my friend." Ash mutters, shaking her head. No use dwelling on what's done.

This is a new beginning. I need to move on.

As Ash ran through seemingly endless grand halls, she saw more and more Cie'th. "There were never this many l'Cie. Only the six... And Raines. But he's done for." She added with a sigh. "So who could all these people be? The only people tasked here were that one PSICOM elite squad..."

She gasps in horror as realization hit her.

"No..."

No, no, no, no, no... Please no...

She looks at her hands and notices how much they're trembling. She tries to steady her breathing. "The only ones with the power to do this are the fal'Cie, but they wouldn't. They wouldn't..." She tried to tell herself. But they would, and she knew that well. She just didn't want to believe it. She'd known that for so long, but this was horrific.

"Yaag... This didn't happen to him, too... Right..?"

She gulps, taking a deep breath. And let's hope that this doesn't happen to me either.

Ash turns around to keep moving, but abruptly stops upon hearing static in her PSICOM issued communication device. I thought communication lines were done for... Thank goodness.

"This is... This is PSICOM Director Rosch.." The voice rasped out, and she gasped. Yaag! He's alive!

"Attention all PSICOM and Guardian Corps units." He took a shaky breath, "Suspend l'Cie operations. I repeat, suspend l'Cie operations. All units should focus their efforts on evacuating the civilian population." He pauses.

Ash's eyes go wide at the order.

"I do not issue this order as an absolute. You are free... to make the choice." He seemed to rush the last part, as if it pained him to even speak. All she heard after that was something falling to the ground. And then more static.

"Director? Yaag? Please, come in!" She called, but nothing came through.

Shit.

~~~~~~

"Stay alive. We'll see you when it's over." Is all the blond l'Cie, (Snow Villiers, if Yaag's memory proved correct) said before leaving.

Yaag clutches his side, and he can feel the blood soaking into the black leather of his clothes. His ears rang, the pain in his head nearly unbearable. It all hurt so much. His left leg was numb. He would move it, perhaps adjust himself into a more comfortable position, but he knew that would be more than a stupid idea and would only cause him more pain.

All he could see was the pale walls of the hall, blurred and unfocused. These halls where he had walked so many times. All in the name of protecting Cocoon.

Yaag thought back to Ash. She would like it here, wouldn't she? Perhaps she wouldn't be too great a fan of Sanctum business, though. He chuckles, a bitter and raspy noise. That was always his department. She had often expressed how the military, let alone the Sanctum was not for her. Funny, considering how things ended.

He would be leaving her behind, but what could he do? He was helpless, bleeding out onto the floor of Edenhall. He drank his last potion in the battle against the l'Cie. Shockingly, they spared his life. But from his current situation, he realized that he was probably going to die anyway.

Yaag thought back to his mother and father. His father was PSICOM, through and through. Just like Yaag. His mother was Guardian Corps, but she had perished in battle when he was a teenager. He remembers the day vividly.

The rivalry between PSICOM and GC was always intense, and he had heard that his parents were no exception. His father had once spoke about how he and his wife absolutely despised each other at first. Clearly that didn't last long.

Yaag thought back to the way his father seemed to light up when speaking about his mother. "You have your mother's eyes..." A rare look for a man known for his serious demeanor. Ash had often talked about how serious and intimidating Yaag could be, too. Perhaps it ran in the family?

How did he even end up here...? He had always wanted to join PSICOM, and not just to follow in the footsteps of his hero, his father. He wanted to protect people. Ever since he was young, he had always feared the fal'Cie. Humanity was ruled by them, and it frightened him. Humans such as himself were so small and pathetic in their hands.

It made him feel less small, telling himself that he's fighting for the people rather than the fal'Cie. He remembers the words he uttered to himself before what he assumed would be his final battle. "This is for humanity. Nothing else."

The main purpose of the PSICOM division of the Sanctum military was to fight threats from Pulse. It was what they specialized in. Yaag knew that he could do all his drills in his sleep, but it turns out that it still wasn't enough.

He didn't want to stop the Pulse l'Cie. Of course, he didn't have a choice. They were a threat from Pulse, after all. So the responsibility of seeing them through to their executions fell onto his shoulders.

He felt strongly about wanting to stop them at first. It was what the people desired, but it seemed that his views had grown over time. He realized that perhaps he was on the wrong path all along. Everything he used to feel so strong about then just felt stupid now.

But all of his doubts, his slight hesitation, none of it stopped him from going through with the Purge orders. None of it stopped him from having all those civilians murdered in cold blood because of him.

A soldier's duty was to follow through with their orders regardless of what their thoughts, and he understood that. A pawn of the Sanctum, a pawn of the fal'Cie. That's all he was. All the fear he had as a boy came flooding back.

He can feel the blood trickling down his forehead. "This is... my punishment, isn't it?" He gasps for air, "Very well,"

After everything he had done, all the blood spilt under his orders, this is what he deserved. He had lived fighting for Cocoon, and would die having fought for it until the bitter end, even if it was all a lie. He knew since the very beginning that it was all fake. But he had fought for it regardless. All he did was for the people.

Or so he told himself.

He smiles. "I accept it..."

And with that, Yaag lost track of time, dizzy vision turning to black.

~~~~~

Every single one of the hallways, all once illuminated by Phoenix through large, glass ceilings, seemed to lead to one door. It was so quiet. It felt easy to ignore the absolute apocalypse happening just outside, all within the city Cocoon proudly called its finest. She looked up at the door, and then back down again. If not here, then...

By her foot is another Cie'th, but this one still seems to be alive. Barely, with it's body half crushed by a pillar, but it was reaching to her. She crouches down, gently touching the cold crystal of its body, "... You're hurting, aren't you?"

She takes a closer look at the beast, and within all the crystal was the face of a soldier, twisted and contorted with pain. She knew quite the handful of PSICOM soldiers since she was always hoping to make new friends, and found this face to be quite familiar. No...

Her heart ached, so she figured that maybe her best bet was to put it out of its misery. If she were to help it, there was nothing it could do to become human again.

All of the Cie'th bodies she had seen throughout Edenhall weren't branded. They were made Cie'th by the fal'Cie by not giving them a Focus, yet still making them l'Cie. That's cruel and disgusting. It was said that Cie'th didn't think nor feel, but she didn't think that was the case. This one seemed sad and alone.

She reaches for her blade. "I'm so sorry."

~~~~~~

Putting her blade away, she gently pushes open the doors. Small chunks of white had been floating through the air ever since the portals from Pulse had opened, but the effect seemed to be heightened as she traveled deeper within the building.

As she pushes the double-doors open, she's met with a cloud of black smoke. She coughs, but pushes through regardless. All of the rooms she had been to so far had been huge, but this one was much bigger than the rest. Intricate patterns ran across the floor, which seemed to be a bridge above the ground floor, and in the center was the ruins of a huge machine.

It was the Proudclad, Yaag's personal airship and normally his weapon of choice aside from his trusty sword. Destroyed, it was barely recognizable. The black smoke was coming from it.

Ash's eyes drift over to a body laying face-down next to it. She could recognize that black uniform from a mile away.

Before she had a chance to register her own thoughts, she was sprinting towards him. She crouches down, gently turning him around so she could see his face.

"Yaag!"

He was unconscious, his face covered in his own blood. His uniform was in tatters, pristine and dark fabric covered in dirt and grime and blood and god-knows-what.

For a moment, Ash feared that she was too late, but he was still breathing. Barely. His side was drenched in his own blood, and Ash stared at her now-red hand in horror.

"Oh my..." She was already on-edge, but seeing him like this broke her heart. What if she hadn't have found him? Then what?

Ash digs through her bag, "I know I have Phoenix Down somewhere..." She rummages through the inner pockets and triumphantly pulls out a tuft of Phoenix Down. First-aid wasn't her expertise, but hopefully she could wing it.

(Get it? Wing it?)

Perhaps Ash would have laughed if she wasn't freaking out. She holds the glowing feathers to his body, and was relieved to see that they had worked, fading into thin air. Legend had it that the feathers of a phoenix allowed a lost fall to be returned to its body, and she had thanked her past self for buying some extra from her local terminal.

In her arms, Yaag stirred. Ash let out a sigh of relief and gently brushed his bangs out of his face. She pulled out a spare cloth and began dabbing at the wound on his forehead, wiping away all the blood.

Yaag groans, silvery eyes fluttering open. "Ash?" His own voice sounded foreign to him, and all he remembered was being ready to die after a hard-fought battle against the l'Cie and even his own soldiers, now turned Cie'th.

"Yeah. You're not getting rid of me that easily." She whispers, giving him a gentle smile. He tries to push himself up into a sitting position, but he found himself clutching his side and unable to move his left leg.

"Damnit."

Ash helps him up, propping him up against the remains of his own ship.

"My... My apologies... You shouldn't have to see me like this.." He says through gritted teeth, but Ash places a finger to his lip. "Nope. None of that. I'm not taking any of it. I'm here to take care of you and get you to safety."

"You... You always have been there to save me. Thank you." Yaag whispers. It's all he can manage, and Ash leans forward, giving him a small kiss on the scar on his forehead. That had always been her favorite spot to kiss him, and even though he was barely alive, he still found his heart fluttering.

That's right. She had been there for him when he had gotten shot in Palumpolum as well. It seemed like ages ago, but it truly wasn't that long ago. So much had happened so fast.

"I'm just doing my job. Don't try to force yourself to talk, okay? You're really beat up right now." Her hands go to take off his coat, but she stops, "May I?"

Yaag nods, and she starts by unlatching all the straps that ran across his chest before undoing the buttons on the coat below, slipping it off his shoulders. She was careful to not accidentally hurt him. That was the last thing she needed right now.

His bare chest is no new sight to her. In fact, it's one of Ash's favorite sights. Firm muscle carved by endless battle experience, long-healed battle scars, the wounds from the gunshots in Palumpolum. But even so, Ash gulps at the sight of the wound on his side and the bruises running across his body. “They really did a number on you, huh?” And Yaag couldn’t help but agree.

Ash never was fond of the sight of injury, and that was made even more clear by how much her hands shook as she tended to his injuries. . Yaag shakes his head (or at least, tries to), "You don't need to. Just allow me." He tries reaching for the cloth, but his hands tremble and it pains him to even move. Pathetic...

"You are in no state to take care of yourself right now. I'll be fine. Just, uh, focus on staying awake for me, okay?" Ash pulls out a few more supplies from her bag. Not only did she try to stay prepared for any possible situation, but she had become close friends with many of Yaag's soldiers, and she knew just how dangerous their jobs could get, so she tried to carry extra healing supplies.

She starts tending to his wounds as best she can. She's not great, not by a long shot, and her constantly squirming at the sight and lack of experience only made it more difficult, but she tied a knot in the bandages she wrapped around him and buttoned his coat back up.

Yaag's vision shakes, but he tries to keep his breathing steady. Ash pulls out a flask and pops it open, holding it to Yaag's mouth. "Drink it. It's a spare potion."

Yaag nods and gulps the liquid down. He can already feel himself becoming more awake at the sweet taste. He feels guilty that she has to see him in such a pathetic state, but can't help but feel grateful nonetheless. She had saved him. Again. She truly is my everything, isn't she?

"Do you think you can walk?" She asks, and Yaag takes a look at his good leg. "I think I can manage."

"Alright. I'll be right back, okay? Gonna go grab my bike. It was a long walk here." Ash gives him a smile, and he tries to smile back for her as best he can. She runs out of the room, and comes back only a minute or two later. She's panting, but hops off of her airbike and back next to him.

Yaag attempts to push himself up from the ground, but he pathetically crumbles back down like a sack of rocks. He mentally curses himself. He couldn't afford to be this weak.

Ash wraps an arm around his shoulders, and he's thankful for the support. He's a good head taller than her, so the position was a bit awkward, but he managed to pull himself back to his feet thanks to her help.

"We're almost there, Yaag..." She says, helping him limp over to the bike. Helping him onto the seat, Ash then sits down. "You doing alright?" She asks.

The numbing of the potion had begun to wear off, and Yaag found himself unbearably tired. But he needed to stay awake. He was pretty sure his leg was broken, and clearly his left arm was not in its best state either. His head hurt. Ah, probably a concussion, He softly groans, resting his head on Ash's shoulder.

"Will be... alright. But what of my... my soldiers?"

"Really is always about work with you, huh?" She chuckles, "They're working on relocating the populace to Gran Pulse, just like you ordered."

Yaag nods.

"But you can worry about all that later. Just stay awake. Some of your - No, our - people set up a medical camp nearby." She puts her hands onto the handles of the bike and begins driving, her pace slow.

Ash can feel Yaag's gentle breathing on her neck, and she's glad. She's so glad. "I love you a lot, you know."

"... love you too." He mutters, "Was... prepared to die... Thank you."

Ash smiles. "I don't want to lose you. Ever." She stops, just feeling the weight of his body against her, his gentle breathing tickling her neck, "Save your strength though."

"Mhm..."

Ash kept driving, but she always made her to check on him every once in a while.

"...'alk to me." Yaag whispers.

"What was that, my dear? Did you say something?"

"Talk to me. I want to... hear your voice... Need to stay awake."

"Oh, of course!"

~~~~~~

Ash finishes her story about some of her school days just as they arrive at the camp. She opted for a fun-filled story instead of their current events, not wanting to overwhelm him. He chuckles. I could listen to her all day...

"Alright. We're here." Ash parks her airbike, stepping back onto the ground before reaching for Yaag, helping him down as well. He held her as support, trying to keep his weight on his good leg.

Ash clears her throat, her tone firming as she addresses the PSICOM team, "Hey, everybody." She puts the hand she wasn't using to support Yaag up, "It's Ash. I've got Director Rosch with me, and he's not looking good. Do your thing."

Yaag gives the medics a firm nod as they carry him away into a tent, and Ash watches him leave before taking a deep breath. Welp, no time to rest.

"Hey, Ash." Says one of the soldiers standing guard around the area. Monster attacks would be more frequent now that they didn't have the luxury of being protected by the fal'Cie.

"Heya!" She grins at him, grabbing one of the spare guns they kept around, "I'm going to go help some of the people near the relocation area now. Look after the Director."

"Stay safe, Ash. The Director'll rip me apart of anything happened to ya." The soldier laughed, "And he's already intimidating enough as is."

Ash chuckles, thinking back to when she first met Yaag. It was hard to even stand in his presence without feeling absolutely terrified. They’d come a long way since then.

"No kidding." After giving the soldier a friendly high-five, she turns around. "See you!"

Ash leaves to return to her trusty bike. "I'm no soldier, but it's my responsibility to help the people." She says to herself as she sits down, grabbing her keys.

Regardless of what happened, she knew that she had to do the right thing.

[you-are-my-neverland]

“That’s a shame,” Professor Laurier said. “If I may give you a word of advice, Ms. Beaulieu, I would say that you need to figure out what you want, not what you think you need to.”

- F I V E 

[ a/n: and we’re officially on november 20th, 2/3rds of the way through with national novel writing month twenty twenty. this novel remains unnamed, but my word count is, as of the 20th, 43.5k, which is a bit insane. i attempted to actually make this post nice to look at. we’ll see what happens ] 

songs i one hour looped to.

sleep thru ur alarms by lontalius

it’s not love by lontalius

wings by birdy

grace by lewis capaldi

nym by phlux

praying by kesha

girls by girl in red

writing thoughts.

i’m really proud to have kept up my average so far, especially since the middle is usually really lagging. i wrote almost four more chapters and half of it is literally just like pages of prose, thoughts, character introspection, and generally filler dives into the mind, but while i am a bit frustrated that it feels like this wip is really dragging it’s feet, i have been enjoying myself immensely. right now, it’s really just setting the stage and starting to build the bones of bare character dynamics/relationships that will all develop later on - necessary (i mean probably not 40k worth, but yeah...) but lengthy.

as excited as i am to get to some action, like even just the first teeny tiny start of the mountain, i am having a lot of fun fleshing out my characters. i feel like i’m really getting to know them (and also finding out that i am projecting onto ophelia and eden hard lol, geez). of course, i have a really large cast for this wip that will be of varying importance throughout at least this book, but that also is a bit messy, because i’m trying to weave them all together and make sure they get set up for later arcs.

on that note, i still want to call this wip these violent ends, but considering it’s technically the first of a trilogy idk how that would work out...i’m really attached to that title though lol. 

anyways, here are some favorite lines - tried to pick some out, might like chapter six a bit too much..

some favorite lines. 

three.

“So I’m throwing a fucking party,” Thaleia added. “And we’re all going to have so much fucking fun.”

four.

Ophelia opened it to find Sebastian methodically lacing up his tennis shoes, which looked too ordinary to be real against the soft white of his clothing, as if a medieval peasant had walked into a Nike shop and simply selected a pair of sleek shoes that matched.

“I love your dress, by the way,” the other girl added. “Red looks good on you.” “You, too,” Ophelia said, and then flushed, correcting, “I mean your dress looks good on you. It’s very pretty.”

five.

Ophelia hadn’t thought that he was the type to like to disappear, but then she had thought about it more, at a night when she’d missed home a little too much, and realized that not everyone wanted to disappear in the same way, that not everyone was like her brother to a T.

They had been six or seven or eight when the Red Revolution had started, and like their parents remembered how it had started in waves, they had been raised in a changing world and tumultuous times. She remembered the air raids, the practice lockdowns and the sheets that had come in the mail, demonstrating what to do in an emergency, or if they had to suddenly evacuate. Wanted posters, with constantly changing pictures. Missing posters—and those had been the worst. Ophelia remembered one coming in of a little girl her age, with pigtails and gap teeth. She couldn’t recall much from that period before eight—a few scattered memories of the Revolution, Des and Tian and her, but more emotions attached to events, short in her mind—but she remembered that girl on the missing person’s poster. They’d found her body a week later.    

Ophelia blinked, at a loss for words. “I do belong with my brother,” she said, finally. “There’s no situation where I wouldn’t actively choose to be with my brother.” “And does your brother, Sebastian, was it, feel the same way?”

six.

But Vincent was dirt poor and used to empty cabinets and red numbers on unopened bills, so he had stopped worrying about why his mother had left and died in the first place—all that mattered was that he was alone, now. He couldn’t hide the aura that surrounded him, that showed itself in his old clothes and his broken shoes and his undernourished body, in the bloodshot eyes and the slight tremble of his eyes and the smell of smoke that accompanied him wherever he went.

Well, his teachers back home probably thought his life would not amount to anything more than dying early as a drug addict, and Vincent wanting to do something more than that was seen as just daydreaming. It was funny, how they told kids like him they could be anything and then turned tail and said that they were shooting too high by wanting to ever get out of that town or their poverty line lifestyles. He was getting out of that town. He would never live at the poverty line again. 

“No,” Asriel cut in. His voice was calm and smooth as glass. “What was the government doing that was so wrong that some Mages felt the need to overthrow it in the first place?”

Happiness and warmth gave Vincent as much power as the other side to the coin, the wrath and the chaos that came after the smile, or the laugh. For Asriel, he thought smiling might be a bit of a death sentence, because when Asriel smiled, it gave the impression that he had given something up, taken down a bit of his walls, in order to do so, and that was dangerous.

Even if their ghosts didn’t remain, the memories mired in the streets he walked daily held him with bony fingers, reminding him of the pasts so many people had lived. Pieces of soul left behind, ghostly forms that stayed behind on scraps of emotion: vengefulness, anger, sadness, and regret; nobody died without one of them left behind. For all the brave stories Sebastian had read about soldiers or people who had died ready for it, embraced it with open arms, he had yet to meet a ghost that had been ready to leave.

They told him to hate the ghosts, and so by sheer power of will, Sebastian loved them instead.

taglist > @semblanche

if you think this wip is cool and would like sporadic updates, express your interest explicitly, please!

[western-writer]

The Most Loyal Traitor

Fandom: Far Cry 5

Warnings: slight gore, blood, swearing, mentions of sex and suggestive speech

A/N I had no idea how to tag this so I just tagged it to the best of my ability. 

Summary: (Y/n) was one of the most loyal fighters for the Resistance. That was until she was blamed for deaths that weren’t her fault. When the Resistance turned their backs on her, she did the only thing she could to survive.

The Junior Deputy rounds you like the wounded animal you are. One of Jess’s arrows sticks out of your leg as you sit against a tree. A hard boot connects to your face which lands you in the dirt. You laugh, pushing yourself off the ground to sit against the tree again. 

“Did you think you could really get away?” Rook questions you. 

You grin up at her, blood spilling from your nose and staining your teeth red. “Nah,” you mutter. “I like a good chase.”

“You think this is a game, traitor?” Jess barks at you. You chuckle at the nickname you’ve managed to coin over these past few months. “What’s so funny?” 

“Ignorance,” you answer flatly. “You and the whole fuckin’ Resistance.”

Rook kicks you again, now staining her boot with your blood. “We’re not the ones that turned their back on the Resistance.”

“There you go again makin’ accusations without knowin’ the whole story. Seems like you Resistance fighters are real good at that,” you spit.

“The fuck are you goin’ on about?” Jess growls, stalking toward you. 

“Does it really matter, Jess? Whatever I say won’t change anything and definitely won’t make the Resistance change how they feel about me.” 

Rook comes and kneels on one knee next to you. She grabs your face, seemingly examining you and chuckles suddenly. “And here I thought lust was a sin,” she mocks you, turning to Jess. “Looks like Eli was right. She’s a little more than just Jacob’s favorite soldier.” Rook flicks what looks like to a hickey on your neck and gets back to her feet. “Does Joseph know? I can’t imagine what he’d do to you both if he knew.”

You roll your eyes. “If that’s your way of trying to scare me, you’re doin’ a horrible job.” 

Rook shakes her head, twirling a knife in her hands dangerously. “Nah. I’d be a bit disappointed if that scared you, to be honest. See, the reason we tracked you all the way out here is because Jacob has really pissed the Resistance off. Why doesn’t really matter, but they left it up to us to try to get it through his thick skull that he won’t win. What better way to strike fear into the heart of a cold-blooded killer like Jacob than to mess with what he values most? Obviously, we can’t get to his brothers, or even Faith, easily. So you’re the next best thing-his little play toy.”

Suddenly, Jess grabs your left wrist and pins it to the tree you sit against. Rook walks over and places her boot close to the wound on your leg, creating agonizing pressure as she goes to work cutting your left pinky off. You scream, struggling against the two women, but are no match for the both of them. The sickening crack as Rook cuts between your top and middle knuckle makes you dizzy and seeing your severed finger in her hand only intensifies this feeling. 

She presses the severed finger into the palm of your injured hand. 

“You make sure Jacob understands that if he ever does anything like that again, we will find you and we will cut off all your fingers until he finally does understand. Got it?”

You nod slightly, glaring up at the deputy. 

A small, satisfied smile graces her lips as she looks down at your bloody hand clutching your own finger. 

“If you’re lucky, they may be able to reattach it.” She nudges your jaw with her fist and stands up. You watch as they leave you alone to bleed in the middle of the woods. You cut off some of your shirt and wrap it around your finger. 

“Jake?” you say into your radio. “Jacob, I need some help here.” 

No response.

“I’ll be honest with you,” the doctor says. “I don’t know if reattaching this will work. And if it does, it may not be for the better...” you wince as he moves the finger. 

Jacob stands by, arms folded over his chest with a hard, blank glare on his face. Deputy Pratt stands by, unable to comprehend that Rook, the new deputy he had known, did this to someone. This was different. Very different.

“Leave it off,” you say, surprising the doctor a bit. “Statistically speaking, I’ll probably only get half the use out of it anyway. It’s not even vital to my hand.”

The doctor stares at you for a second. “Okay, if you insist. Let me fix it up so it won’t get infected. Jacob’s eyes focus on the bloody stub and he turns abruptly. He speaks into his radio, rather harshly from the looks of it, and you only realize what he’s saying when a few days later the deputy turns up in one of the cages. 

Every time you see her in one of those cages you can’t help but laugh a little bit. It reminds you how easily Jacob could end everything for her. 

“Well, well, well,” you say, walking up to her cage. “Seems you forgot how easy it is for Jacob to have you here.” You kneel in front of the cage. You’re vaguely aware of Pratt walking up behind you. 

“If it isn’t the traitor in her natural habit, being Jacob’s little bitch.”

“I think that title is reserved for your colleague over there, don’t you?” you question, looking back at Pratt. Truth is, you actually get along with him quite well and you keep Jacob from injuring him too much. You just want to get under her skin, and from the look on her face, it worked.

“Traitorous bitch,” Rook spits at you, literally. A bit of saliva lands on your face and you wipe it away with your left hand. Her eyes lock onto your wrapped finger. 

“You keep callin’ me that...” you start, wiping the spit on your jeans and making eye contact with her. “but have you ever had the intelligence to investigate why I’m a traitor for yourself? No? Didn’t think so...” You chuckle to yourself and pull up a chair. Leaning over, you stare at Rook. “See, at one point, I was one of the Resistance’s most loyal fighters. Even before you stumbled into the picture. I was always out there stickin’ it to the cult,” you laugh, gesturing with your arm. “I was so trusted that Mary May and Pastor Jerome would let me lead groups to go gather supplies and such. 

Rook’s eyes stay focused on you. 

“I warned them to not go after that stash. Told ‘em that it’s too suspicious, that it’s too out in the open for the Peggie’s to not be planning an ambush. Low and behold, they didn’t listen to me. One of ‘em hit a trip wire which caused smoke bombs to go off. Peggie’s shot ‘em up, bullet’s rippin’ holes through ‘em like Swiss Cheese. I didn’t even recognize the people I called my friends.” 

“Why didn’t they kill you, too?” 

“Ah, yeah, that... See, I never killed the Peggies if I didn’t have to. One of the people I spared was there and decided to spare me. Imagine this. Me, a little younger, stumbling back into Fall’s End covered in the blood of my friends, only for Mary May to scream at me for not being a better leader. I tried and tried to explain that I warned them and that they didn’t listen, but she, much like them, didn’t listen either. And then, she banished me. Kicked me out of the Resistance.” 

You lean back in your chair and look up at the sky. 

“I stumbled around from one Resistance post to another only to be threatened and sent away. I begged and begged for them to listen, but no one cared. Not even your beloved Dutch. I was thinking about just getting the hell outta town, but then you just had to start the fuckin’ reaping and I was stuck.” You lean forward, glaring into her cage. “I did the only thing I could do to survive.” 

“You... joined the cult.”

You huff out a humorless laugh and lean back again. “I still remember the look on Joseph’s face when I limped my way into the church. I was...” you look back to the sky, your voice softening. “I was days away from death. I barely made it onto the church pew, even with John helping me.”

“I can’t believe it. The Resistance’s most loyal fighter comin’ in here,” Jacob said as John set you down on a church pew. 

Joseph stepped down from the small stage-like area. “What brings you here?” he questioned. 

“Survival,” you answered, only continuing on because of the confused look they gave you. “The Resistance kicked me out,” you continued weakly. “I figured I was dead anyway, so why not?”

Joseph looked at your fragile state. Your eyes were bloodshot, your skin was pale and sickly looking, you were thin-too thin. He knew just by the looks of you that you were telling the truth. 

“You wish to join us?” 

“Don’t make me say it.”

Joseph gave you a small smile, walking over to you and gently pulling you to your feet. “You are safe, do not worry.”

“After I was nursed back to health and formally accepted into Eden’s Gate, I went to Jacob. And I guess you know what happened after that.” You shoot her a sly smirk as you lean back for the last time. “So yeah, call me a traitor all you want, but it wasn’t me that turned my back on the Resistance, it was the Resistance that turned their back on me.”

“And you just expect me to believe you? Why should I? Your whole story could be bullshit.” 

“Believe me or don’t, I don’t really give a shit, especially because I’m on this side of the cage with Jacob in my corner. It’s the truth, though.” You stand and turn, seeing Pratt coming closer. 

“It’s true, Rook...” he mutters meekly. He begins to talk more, but you walk away. Unsure of where to really go, you make your way up to Jacob’s office and are slightly surprised to not find him there. You sit down on his desk and clutch your finger, the pain still radiating through the severed digit.

“Still hurts?” Jacob says, entering the room silently. You head snaps up at him. 

“My finger was cut off, Jacob. Of course, it still hurts.”

Jacob cocks an eyebrow at you. 

“That came out harsher than I meant. Sorry,” you mutter, looking down at your hand. He walks over and forces you to look up at him before pressing a kiss to your lips. He starts off soft before gradually becoming rougher. He cups your face, deepening the kiss even more. “Wait, Jake, is now really a good time for this?” You look behind you to see that the sun is setting.  

“Yup,” he answers, sucking on your neck. You groan, grabbing his bicep. Suddenly, he lifts you and walks you both to his bed. He drops you and gets on top of you as you both undress each other.

There you both lay, bodies naked under the sheets of the bed. Jacob’s arm is wrapped around your waist, holding you close to him. Your head rests on his shoulder with your left arm on his bare chest. You stare at your hand, still unable to believe that your finger is gone. Jacob reaches up and grabs your hand, pulling it to his mouth to kiss the injured finger. You smile slightly and press kisses to the side of his neck. 

“This is the first time you haven’t kicked me out of your bed right after...” you mumble.

“Maybe I’m goin’ soft,” he mumbles back. 

“Don’t let anyone else hear you say that,” you tease him. 

He sighs. “Never did I ever imagine us endin’ up like this when you stumbled into that church. I had my doubts about you, but you proved your loyalty.”

You laugh a little bit. “I’m the most loyal traitor.” 

Jacob laughs, which takes you by surprise. Then he rolls over and kisses you once more. “Round two?” 

[nokikissa]

Whooooooooo did it, beat the story of borderlands 3 now. It took me 42 hours but I think I got still like some of those fight wave of enemies arena things I could do but I’ll look into that later, I did all the crew challenges and side mission outside of those type of things.

Story and character wise it was a bit of a mixed bag, there were a lot of things I like and couple things I really didn’t like, but all in all I had fun, the gameplay was excellent, and most likely I will play it again, to co-op with buddies or to try out different vault hunters.

Putting more in-depth thoughts about some story and character things under the cut, extreme major spoiler warning as I’ll be talking about like big plot moments and such.

I quite like most of the new characters they introduced in this, I’ve only played Fl4k and loved them, but from everything I’ve seen I feel like I’ll love the other new vault hunters as well. The Calypso twins were delightful villains, very entertaining but also like I couldn’t wait to get to kill them lmao. And then there’s like Ava, I loved her and her relationship with Maya that was good stuff. And Wainwright I quite liked as well, and I was very happy that Hammerlock finally has a boyfriend and is in a good relationship. And also Lorelei and Clay were both good too, tho I probably like Lorelei more of those haha.

How it handled some old characters tho.... That’s a bit mixed. Like I liked a lot of them: Lilith, Eliie, Tannis, Maya, Zer0, Sir Hammerlock.... Even Rhys! They got Rhys down surprisingly well in my opinion! Obviously he was bit more comedic and doofy but like it was still reminiscent of how Rhys acted in like comedic moments of tales, I could recognize where they got his personality from and so on, it was fine!

...Which makes it even more baffling that they fucked up Vaughn so completely that with Vaughn it feels like the writer maybe got a super vague description of the character at best which had been passed down through multiple people twisting it around like a game of broken telephone. I just don’t understand where they pulled some character traits for him at all.... During the game I tried my best to ignore his existence, which worked well for a long while until the game made you go back to pandora and made him story relevant again, god every time he spoke my reaction was like “please shut up...”

But. I knew that was coming. The Commander Lilith DLC and promotional pics and so on made it clear ahead of time that I would not like Borderlands 3 Vaughn. I had had time to go through the stages of grief and resign to being all well I’m gonna be one of those salty tales fans and keep on drawing content of like tales Vaughn and ignore the rest of the canon for him.

So anyway I was really liking the story during like the Promethea Atlas Vs. Maliwan Arc actually, Rhys and Zer0 and their interactions were fun, Katagawa was an enjoyable villain as well, I just hope the fandom don’t make him annoying to me... So yeah that arc was good and fun.... and then the Promethea Vault happened. I am still a bit on the fence about how I feel about Maya getting killed off. On one hand, I did not see that coming and it did get an emotional “Nooo D:” reaction out of me, which well I’ve seen games with similar character getting killed off scenes that are supposed to be a big deal but my reaction is just like “ok”, like Borderlands 2 with Roland for example. But like yeah I didn’t want her to die, and it feels like kind of a waste cos let’s face it in 2 she didn’t have that much personality since the game didn’t do voice lines for the vault hunters reacting to the story etc. So now she was finally getting to be her own character I feel like aaaand then she dies. :/

And then we moved on to the Eden 6 arc and initially I was excited all Oh get to meet Hammerlock’s Boyfriend! But soon my excitement soured............

So Aurelia’s evil now huh.... And like cartoonishly evil...... Man I hate what they did with Aurelia in this game, it really smashed my good mood coming from the promethea arc to this.... Like in pre-sequel sure she kept claiming herself to be evil and a bitch and so on, but yet when Jack did like actually horrible shit she did not agree with those, she felt bad about Felicity’s fate and didn’t agree with Jack killing the scientist, she even objected when Jack was killing off all claptraps! But nah here’s she’s evil, murdering people left and right and also fucked Troy Calypso cos idk she evil now  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Like god............ I really didn’t expect Aurelia of all the characters whose portrayal I’d be having this much issues but here we are... I guess I’m more pissed about it atm cos as I said with Vaughn I knew what was coming, but with Aurelia I kinda feel Bait and switched by the promotional material cos in all of those that I saw they showed like both the Hammerlocks and Wainwright standing next to each other so you know I was expecting her to be an ally, like maybe she and Alistair had started to tolerate each other and so on but NOPE! Go kill this character you like! Thanks a lot gearbox...

That’s the major issues I had with characters I suppose, Tho it is a bit disappointed Maya and Zer0 were only vault hunters from 2 that showed up. Would’ve been fun to get more personality for more of them. I did find some echo logs involving Krieg at one point which were interesting, aaaand according to like the sort of background filler assets Axton does porn now lmao. Also hmm where were Athena and Janey? Fiona and Sasha? So many characters missing... I know they’ve said probably more characters show up in dlcs, but still. Story wise kinda funny tho, like did Lilith contact the vault hunters from 2 for help at all? Were all of them like “sry I’m busy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “??

Also one weird bit about the Eden 6 arc, it felt kiiinda out of place for borderlands that there were npcs being all “Oh man I sure love the Jakobs family they treat me well”, borderlands has sorta been all “the gun corporation suck” beforehand... I suppose the Promethea arc was bit too pro corporation in some way, but with that at least mostly the npc I saw were like “Rhys says he’s trying to do good with atlas... hm we shall see how that’ll pan out...” suspicion, but with the Jakob there were characters being all oh Jakobs is so great such good corporation :)

At the end side of the game you could get sooo much lore about like sirens which I loved, translating the eridian artifact things like clarified on like how sirens come to be and all which is great! According to that siren in her life can choose who specifically inherits her powers after she dies, or “release her powers into the unknown” which when described kinda gave me the impression that it’ll pass those onto some baby that’s born at some point, which yay clarification on the whole are sirens born as sirens or do they get their powers later: answer is both!

And it appears that Angel decided to pass her powers onto Tannis before she died? Which is interesting. And aw Maya chose Ava to inherit her powers.

That ending tho..... uhhh isn’t Elpis an inhabited place? How did that whole thing affect the people living on elpis lmao....?

And god that ending credits song, it is fitting but I just can’t take it seriously asfsfdggs...

i guess I’ll now move onto talking about the gameplay....

The gameplay was great. Same old Borderlands gameplay except with some improvements making it better, and that is exactly what I wanted from the game.

I especially love the way the guns are now and how much variety there is between the manufacturers, and even within them! Like previously I rarely liked to use shotguns in borderlands games, but in this one I fell in love specifically with the Maliwan Shockwave shotguns, and when one I had started to be too low leveled I desperately tried looking for new one everywhere lol.

And also Atlas gun’s smart bullet gimmick is so good especially now that I played on console, I know I joked about that before the game came out I’m sorry Rhys lol.

I really enjoyed the environments in the game, the planets looked cool and unique, and the maps were interesting. And god some of them are so huge! Which does cause some issue tho... They are weirdly stingy with ammo vending machines. In previous games they usually had ammo vending machines before like boss fight rooms, but in this one nope! Most of the time they only have those in like beginning of the map or like where fast travel points are? That’s annoying... And another issue is that the maps are big and sorta maze-like at times, so even though you have the mission marker in the mini map, I still needed to constantly open the map to see how to get to it, you can’t just go straight in the direction of the mission marker.

Gotta say, I was bit disappointed that we only visited Athenas to get Maya, I was hoping we’d return there cos the planet was very pretty but nope....

Fl4k’s gameplay was really fun, I got the skill that lets fl4ks pet heal you and man that skill is a lifesaver, there were some boss fights I survived purely because of Mr Chew keeping me alive by reviving me lol.

I did encounter few glitched that caused me to have to restart the game cos some mission objective got stuck somewhere and I couldn’t advance, that was a bit annoying. But it was only very few and like well into the game, compared to the hours I played it feels like a pretty good track record for playing a game right on it’s release haha.

So uh yeah. In summary again: Extremely fun gameplay, mixed bag story and characters. Had fun, will play again.

[dyns33]

Eden locks (6/?)

The international tour started, as well as the problems. Coco is adorably naive Reader keeps her secrets, and Michael has a heart... shame he's stupid and gives it to the wrong person.

I had fun with this chapter... Even if Michael and Reader are not in the same country and they can’t scream at each others for now. 

             "Michael and Delia, sitting in a tree, k-i-s..."

           "Shut up James !"

The situation was totally new for the band and Michael : he was in love. No, it was probably a bit too early to say that, but in any case he had a crush for the organizer of the London concert, Cordelia Goode. As soon as he had seen her, he had found the woman magnificent, and not only because she was very beautiful, but especially because she exuded a charm and a sweetness unequaled. Even though he had done everything to hide it, remaining professional and concentrating on the concert, the band had noticed the looks he was giving her, and they had begun to spoof him, asking him what had happened to him, the great romantic, with his discourses on soulmates. What they did not seem to understand was that Michael was convinced that it was her, the chosen one. Certainly she was older, but it did not bother him at all, he even found it logical because of his difficult relationship with the women of his life, in a way she would replace his mother. She was smart, she was funny, she was calm, she was all he had dreamed of. And, above all, she kept touching her right ear, to put a lock in place and nervously, when she spoke with him. It was a sign, she was sending him a signal ! Of course she could not know if their marks were identical, but they shared a real connection, Michael could feel it. He was kind to her, he talked to her a lot, but not too much, to get to know her, to know where she came from, and if she liked living here. The more they spoke, the more he liked her. When the concerts were over, he would ask her to show him her mark, but not before, because if it was her, he would drop everything to leave with her, and if it was not her, he would be desperate and he could not sing properly. Greedy by the possibility of finally finding love, he gave everything on stage and the audience was delighted to see him so crazy and full of energy. Liz and the rest of the band... were very worried about what would happen, whether Cordelia was his soulmate or not. Kai was the most agitated because he had known Michael when he was at the lowest, and he did not want to see him in such a state. Before going on stage, he patted him on the shoulder :

           "Mate, we're here, whatever happens. Do not forget what (Y / N) said."

           "Who ? Kai, we have to go ! We will fire !"

Hearing this, they were all surprised, because Michael had not stopped talking about (Y / N) and her secretiveness when he was on the plane. If he had already forgotten her, could he forget all the others once he was in a relationship ? It was not good, not good at all.

                                                                🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

             Coco was on a mission. Well, she had two missions, given by two different people, two idiots she liked a lot, and if she had never seen them together, she could have said they were made for each other. (Y / N) had asked her to try, as discreetly as possible, as soon as he returned from the world tour, to know what was Michael's mark, to "help the poor boy to find his half." Strangely, a few days later, Michael had asked her the same thing, saying "I want to prove to her that she can not resist her soulmate." He had also added that if her friend refused to tell her where her mark was, she had to ask her if she did not have something to say to her. Coco did not understand, she had a headache because of them. This little war between the two was becoming ridiculous, but at the same time she really wanted to make them happy : her favorite singer would thank her for finding the person he had been looking for for years, and (Y / N) would finally stop being grumpy ! She had a plan : at first she found the mark of (Y / N), so Michael would see that he could trust her, and then, Super Coco was getting closer to him, looking innocent, and she was throwing a look at his mark ! The rest was not ers problem. And as they had asked her the same thing, she would answer that it was just justice, as everyone knew the mark of the other. She immediately took action.

           "(Y / N), you never told me where your mark was."

Her friend immediately went on the defensive, looking at her with suspicion.

           "None of your business"

           "But you know where mine is and what it looks like, like that, if you meet my soulmate, you can tell him about me... and so..."

           "Why are you saying that ?" (Y / N) asked quickly, as if she was caught in the wrong, Michael said something ? Bastard !"

Oh shit, did she understand ? Already ? Coco knew she did not have enough talent to become an actress, but still ! It was marked "Langdon sends me" on her face ? Or (Y / N) could read the thoughts and she had hidden it for all those years.

           "Get out of my head !"

           "What?"

           "Nothing ... Listen, Michael just told me..."

           "No," said (Y / N), interrupting her, "I know what you're going to say, I'm so sorry, I just wanted to protect you, it's just that I know you want a man and I do not I'm not sure you accept the situation. "

Hold on. What was she talking about? Is... ? No. NO.

           "Oh my God..."

           "I know Coco, it's terrible."

           "You are my soulmate ? Oh. My. God. And you know it from the beginning ? And you did not say anything ? Why ? Oh yes, because I was talking about a husband, but what an idiot. I would not have rejected you (Y / N), I love you very much ! We can be happy together !"

Seeing the expression of (Y / N), both shocked, tense and embarrassed, Coco quickly realized that she had understood absolutely nothing, and she had just ridiculed herself. She slowly laced her hands.

           "... that's not it, right?"

           "No Coco."

           "But... you know who my soulmate is then ? And it's a girl ?"

For any answer, (Y / N) sighed, lowering her eyes. Yes, she was a girl. Coco would have thought that this kind of news would demoralize her, but no. The mere fact of knowing that her soulmate did not live far away, and that she was looking for her was... a real happiness.

           "Will you take me to see her?" she asked shyly.

           "If that's what you want."

So she took her friend in her arms, and she began to cry.

           "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you !"

Michael could wait, everything could wait, she was finally going to live the happiest day of her life !

                                                                🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

             Everyone was unanimous, this concert was the best of their entire career, and if the whole tour was like that, the band would go down in history. Unlike usual, Michael did not stay to greet the fans or to sign autographs, he ran to the box to take a shower before going back to Cordelia. Liz did not approve of this attitude at all !

           "The fans before the relaxation ! They will wonder why you did not come and they will be offended !"

But Michael did not care, they could think what they wanted, only Cordelia's opinion mattered. But she could not be found, no one knew where she had gone. She could not have left the show since she was in charge of everything and she had to make sure that everything went well until the group left. Unless she had an emergency... He went around the building looking for her, and he finally heard some noises coming from an empty box. Someone was having a good time in there. Fear then took him to the guts, to the idea that the woman he heard moaning could be his sweet Delia. No, she would never do that... and with whom ? She told him she was single. Without thinking, he opened the door and what he saw was like a stab in the heart. It was Cordelia, who was being fucked from behind by... Kai. When the drummer saw his friend, he panicked.

           "Mike, wait, I can explain !"

The punch went off by itself, and smashed against Kai's nose and mouth, who was thrown back. Cordelia screamed, covering herself quickly, then helping Kai who was bleeding and had lost a tooth. The screams attracted security and Liz, who took her head in the hands when she saw this disaster. Michael was leaving, but James held him back. He thought for a moment that the twin was going to want to avenge his brother, but he did not seem surprised by what had happened.

           "Kai told me 'if she does not have a mark behind her ear, I fuck her'. I told him that you will hit him anyway and he said 'so be it, at least we'll be fixed'. Keep cool pal, she was not the one."

Dandy smiled at him sadly, and they left him alone. So he was wrong ? But he was sure it was her... She was exactly what he had imagined. What a desappointment ! (Y / N) had told him that yet, and now he understood her dilemma with Coco. He could not believe that he had almost acted like the asshole that served him as a father. He knew it though : what we wanted was not always what we needed. Maybe it would be better if his soulmate was not as romantic as him, so they will make sure that he kept his feet on the ground. Like (Y / N) he thought, laughing. Yes, like (Y / N), but less pessimistic and grumpy... It would be perfect.

Tag : @allyadarth @kahhlo @sloppy-little-witch-bitch26 @alexcornerblog @avesatanormalpeoplescareme @naughtygranger @heda-mikaelson @moonagecordelia @peachyybbyyy

[seeinganewlight]

Falsettos Matinee 3/24/19

Saw the Falsettos tour this afternoon - thoughts + stage door under the cut

I’d seen Falsettos once before this, the Lincon Center recording filmed with the 2016 cast. Truthfully, I am not really a fan of this show. For me, the show would be much more enjoyable if they took the few songs that establish the characters/their relationships in act 1, added them to act 2 and then had the show be a one act. In my opinion Falsettoland is much more enjoyable than March of the Falsettos.

My biggest problem with this show is that I don’t feel a connection to the characters. While they all have their funny moments, most of them annoy me for the majority of act 1. I’m Breaking Down is definitely my favorite part of act 1. Act 2, however, gets much better for me. I actually really really enjoy act 2, it’s got a lot of great numbers (Welcome to Falsettoland, The Baseball Game, A Day in Falsettoland) and the addition of Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia (Cordelia is my favorite character). As I said before, I really do think that it would be better to just have the introductory songs from act 1 and add them onto Falsettoland for a one act musical.

Max Von Essen is fantastic as Marvin. His vocals are fantastic (as we all know) and he commands the stage. I would say that I spent the majority of the show watching him and not just because he’s one of my favorite actors. It’s just hard to take your eyes off of him in this role. He does so well at playing the conflicted, selfish and manic parts of Marvin in act 1 and the way he softens during act 2 is beautiful. I liked his Marvin much more at the end of act 2.

Nick Adams is perfect as Whizzer. His swagger and demeanor is seriously on point. His voice is amazing and the way he harmonizes with Max is beautiful. I loved listening to them sing together. Nick plays the change in Whizzer throughout the show beautifully and watching him sing You Gotta Die Sometime was heartbreaking.

Eden is sooooooo amazing as Trina. Her voice is incredible and she is hilarious during I’m Breaking Down. I laughed really loudly at many parts of the song. She’s so dynamic on stage and the vulnerability that she brings to Trina in act 2 is beautiful.

There are many moments where Nick Blaemire steals the show as Mendel. I’ve been a fan of his since the recording of The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown and I just love his voice! He was running around all over the place during Jason’s Therapy and the choreo there was great. It looked like he was having so much fun. He was definitely one of my favorite parts of the show.

Bryonha Marie Parham’s voice is FIRE. She started singing and I was like YAS GIRL GET IT. I love Dr. Charlotte and she played her so well. I could listen to her sing all day. Oh my gosh, when she’s yelling during The Baseball Game I was like “IT’S ME! THIS IS ME WATCHING BASEBALL!” #relatable. She had such lovely interactions with Audrey (obvi), Max and Nick. Unlikely Lovers was a really beautiful moment for the 4 of them and I really really loved that song.

As I mentioned before, Cordelia is my favorite character - she just makes me laugh and I love her so much. Audrey played her wonderfully. We all know how much I love Betsy and I thought Betsy slayed that role, and I thought that Audrey did as well! Her energy was so great and she has amazing comedic timing. Especially when she’s moving around the hospital room trying to make people eat the gefilte fish. Her delivery of the line ‘You save lives and I save chicken fat, I can't fucking deal with that!’ was fucking hilarious and I loved it.

I knew I wanted to stage door this show because of Max and Eden, but I really love everyone in this cast.

Nick came out first and he was so kind! He asked everyone what their name was while talking to them. I told him that I love The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown and that I listen to it all the time so I was so excited when he was announced as Mendel and he was so excited about that it was adorable. Then he started talking about Jenni and Patti and I was like “Yes! I just saw Patti in Frozen last year!” and he was saying how Stephen Bogardus played Sam’s dad and was in the original cast and I was nodding and he was like “Why am I telling you this? You know!” and it was really adorable. He then asked if I wanted to take a picture and I was like “Yes!” he was super sweet!

Okay so real talk I was freaking out about meeting Max? I just really respect and admire him and I’ve wanted to see him in a show for so long and meet him and I was just kinda having a moment lol. I told him that he was fantastic and he thanked me. I told him I was so sad that I missed him in Anastasia and he said “It was really hard to leave that show” and then we chatted about his album for a bit which was really cool. He was so so so nice! I’m so glad that I finally got to see him perform and meet him. Also, I posted this on my insta story and he reposted it so I’m dead (he also replied to my comment on his post with 2 of the winky kissy face emojis and I’m dead, and yes I took a screenshot)

Nick A. came out after (I don’t know why I didn’t ask for a photo lol) and ya’ll he is very very attractive in person and actually I feel like that might be why I chickened out of a photo lol. But he was really nice and we told him that during his entrance in The Baseball Game he totally looked like a guy we went to school with and he laughed. 

Audrey got to us and she is also super super pretty in person (I didn’t ask her for a photo either #fail) I told her that she was great and that Cordelia is my favorite character so I was really looking forward to act 2 and she said “Aw thank you. I love that girl (in reference to Cordelia)” and when I mentioned looking forward to act 2 she goes “Me too! I get to spend the whole first act just hanging out”

Bryonha came out after her and we told her how much we love her voice and how when she first started singing we were like “YAS GIRL SING IT” and she was so kind and sweet and just adorable??? I love her???

Eden was right behind Bryonha and she borrowed her pen to sign and the following conversation happened: Bryonha: “Where is your pen?”  Eden: “I forgot it!” Bryonha: “What have you been doing for signing?” Eden: “Using other people’s pens!” And the Bryonha looked at us and went “Ugh! This girl!” it was so funny. So Eden was super super sweet! Since I didn’t have a sharpie I just had a regular pen, but it says “What would a mermaid do?” and each time you press on it it says a different thing like “make friends with a crab” “brush hair with a fork” etc. and Eden was super excited about it and kept clicking it to see what it said lol. I also told her that I love the Tangled Series and the Cassandra is one of my favorite characters and she got so excited! Her face like lit up and she said “I love Cassandra!” it was real cute and I still can’t believe I met Eden bye.