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joon-ipersgirl · 4 years

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O7 - “the promising proposition”

genre: mafia!au, angst, fluff, slow burn, mystery-thriller

pairing: namjoon x reader (f)

word count: 5.1k

warnings: cursing (if i miss any, let me know!)

summary: charismatic. beautiful. fearless without question. the ambitious team of seven young men in charge of spiral, downtown district’s hottest new club go above and beyond to provide 100% satisfaction to their clients.

after an eventful night out, you have no choice but to join the team for property damages greater than your intern salary. challenging a series of events that can no longer be left to coincidence, secrets threaten to burst at the seams as your professional and private life collide, and another - more sinister - debt is added to your total.

how far are you willing to go to pay back your pound of flesh? remember, nothing is ever as it seems...

a/n: it’s been a minute but we’re back! winter break is here and i’m determined to write so here’s part 7 as i still work on my tae halloween fic (whew) and some more holiday related scenarios/oneshots. thank you all for being so patient and i hope you enjoy this next part. i only have one more pre-written part for this story so updates may be even slower lol. as always, send your reactions as they make me super happy lmao. thank you vi for beta-reading this and enjoy everyone!

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The four of you sit in Manager Kim’s office, tense. Well, three as Paul had ruined his chances during last week’s meeting but you know he can feel the heaviness in the air as you wait for Madeline’s decision. She sits comfortably behind her large desk after calling you in to tell you who’d be assisting her on the Cavallero project. Her large, black fedora is propped on her head at a dangerous angle as she has her feet kicked up on her desk, her signature steel toed boots accentuating her full black outfit. You’d spent the previous days in the breakroom trying to figure out what made this project a higher priority than the rest of the contracts you’d acquired and who would be the lucky winner.

“Lovely of you all to join me, though Paul you were not really needed.” He tries his best to hide behind Laura from Manager Kim’s disappointed stare, but to no avail. “I know you all have been eagerly anticipating which one of you lucky interns will have the privilege of working with me on the first part of the Cavallero contract. You’ll find out shortly as his assistant will be dropping off the final notes on what he expects to see at the event; I’ll send one of you down to fetch him. We’ll have a brief meeting afterwards and then get to work. The rest of you will work under that person, following their orders diligently. Now, I need updates on the rest of our projects. Where are we?”

You barely listen as James rattles off what he was able to accomplish with the Emmerson’s engagement party. You think his design is doable, chic for an event planned in spring, but lacking in some of the finer details you know the future Mrs. Emmerson would appreciate; she’s a woman after your own heart with her love for champagne, meals created by chefs with Michelin stars, and exquisite fine china. Of course Madeline would pit you against each other for this job though. Not that you mind, you’re more than capable of fighting for what you believe is mine. It’s just less work when it’s given to you nicely packaged. Like the gifts you’re sure future Mrs. Emmerson would like to receive from her future husband’s wealthy friends.

“Y/N?” You focus back on Manager Kim who’s waiting expectantly, her glasses slipping down her nose. “The Williams’? What’s going on there? Or have you not made any progress?”

“The Williams have signed off on the zoo theme for their son,” James interjets before you can gather your thoughts. “We’re looking into finding the best face painters in the city and we’ve almost secured a catering contract for the 150 vegan cupcakes Mrs. Williams ordered. The invitations are currently being designed based on the chosen theme and will be ready for client approval next week.”

“Very good, James. Please send me a copy of your notes to be added into the file. Y/N, I expect better from you. That’s everything I have for today. You’re all dismissed,” she finishes with a wave of her hand, her glasses sliding down her nose once again as she searches for one particular document on her desk.

You don’t wait for the rest of them to follow as you make your way back to the tiny cubicle-like room you share. Manager Kim normally never calls you out in front of the rest of them and you’re fuming. Tossing down your legal pad, you whirl around as the three of them enter the room.

“What the fuck, James?!” you hiss as he calmly sits behind his desk and resumes typing on his computer.

“Looks like the Princess is upset,” Paul stage-whispers to Laura as he too sits down. You ignore him. He’s just as irrelevant beforehand as he is now.

“What do you need, Y/N? I have to send the notes from the meeting to Manager Kim,” James responds, not looking up at you. Your face further sours.

“You read my fucking files?! That wasn’t your event to handle and you know that!” you yell.

“Well, you took too long to respond -”

“I had barely opened my mouth -”

“- and Manager Kim needed a response, so I responded,” he finishes, ignoring your outburst.

“Y/N, please calm down. We don’t want to make a scene,” Laura pleads.

“Calm down? Laura, he made me look incompetent,” you argue.

“But you are, Y/N.” You pause and turn to James once again. Disbelief is written across your face as you stare each other down. You were the imcompetent one? “You should be ready to answer any question about any event J&M has going on whether it’s your’s or someone else’s. It’s not my fault that you were never taught the basics of efficiency in a company. The job has to get done and I completed the task. Simple,” he finishes. His incessant typing is all you hear as you stare at him. James had never been this bold before. Especially not with you.

“Watch your mouth, James,” you tell him coolly.

“Furthermore, your failure in that meeting shows that you’re incapable of handling bigger projects. I mean, you couldn’t recall the most straightforward details of a birthday party for a six-year-old child. Why should Manager Kim trust you to work on the coveted Cavallero contract? You’ve given her no reason to. All you’ve done is eliminated yourself from the running, effectively leaving Laura and I. Which is no challenge because - no offense Laura - you’re not really competition. I just hope you guys can maange when my hands are full with this project.”

You laugh as Laura cowers. You weren’t sure whether it was from the sound or James’ particularly harsh words, but the atmosphere in the room was much worse than in the meeting. Biting back the words you really wanted to tell him, you heed Laura’s advice and decide to not cause a scene. This is a professional establishment and you need this job. There are goals you want to accomplish and you wouldn’t let a slimy bastard like James Carter distract you. He’d finally shown his true colors - what he really thought of you - and you’re only grateful the others had been around to witness it.

“Alright, James. It seems like you’ve been holding back on us. Just remember: a word once let out of a cage cannot be whistled back again,” you tell him as you resume your duties at your desk. Flipping open a new page of your legal pad, you write neatly at the top: Emmerson Engagement. If James thought he had bested you, he had another thing coming.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Laura asks as she joins you in the staff room for lunch.

“Never better,” you reply, sipping on your iced coffee as you warm your leftover lasagna in the microwave. Gods bless your sweet, sweet roommate.

“What James said to you this morning was pretty harsh,” she says as she makes herself a steaming cup of green tea. Always the health conscious one that girl.

“James seems to be tired of our shit,” you chuckle. “I’ve heard worse though, Laura. Don’t worry about me. He said some pretty harsh things about you, too.”

She nods. “I didn’t think he could be so mean! And counting me out?! I worked really hard on my designs!” Laura’s voice doesn’t sound too sure, but you nod in agreeance.

“Your bridal party design last spring was very well done,” you tell her around a mouthful of lasagna.

“Exactly!” she says in a huff as she plops down across from you, nearly burning herself in the process. “And your event was really good too! The one you did a few months ago,” she trails off. You laugh.

“Which one was that?”

“You know, the one for the family with that really fancy theme? And lots of people came...”

“Oh, the Winter Wonderland scene on the ice rink?”

“Yes, that one!” she exclaims.

“That was Marie’s project before she got transferred to Jenson’s team,” you say with a laugh. Laura almost chokes on her tea as you wipe your mouth clean. “No need for you to try and make me feel better by pretending to remember something I’ve worked on. I’m honestly fine,” you chuckle again.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry -”

“Y/N?” James stands in the doorway looking quite displeased. You raise your eyebrows at him in response. “Manager Kim would like to see you in her office. Please make it quick as I’m going to get Mr. Cavallero’s assistant soon.” You laugh loudly.

“Of course, James. I’ll be sure to let Manager Kim know you’d like her to rush her meeting for your convenience.”

He scowls as you brush past him, your half-eaten lunch and coffee in hand. Mercury must be in retrograde for James to think that he can make demands of you any type of way. It seems that you need to put him back in his place; he’d gotten too comfortable with the little office jokes you all shared. Grabbing your legal pad and pen, you smooth down the little flyaway hairs and your white button down shirt; you couldn’t receive another lashing looking unkempt. Knocking on the door, you wait for Manager Kim to answer before you enter.

“You asked to see me, Manager Kim?”

“Yes. Please take a seat, Y/N. I’ll be with you in a second,” she replies as she finishes typing on her computer. You sit gingerly in the unoccupied chair as you’d done this morning and wait for her to rip into you. “Right. Let’s get to it. What was that this morning?” You inhale deeply.

“Honestly, I was thinking about James’ event and mentally noting changes I would make as possible suggestions to him when you called on me. I wasn’t dozing off because I was bored,” you answer.

“Hmm. And what changes would you have made?” she asks curiously as she gives you her undivided attention.

“Well, the future Mrs. Emmerson is a woman of prestige. Class. While roses are a classic choice, white tulips are pre-on-trend and I think she would enjoy being a part of that group. He also chose the Dom Perignon champagne, but I thought Veuve Clicquot would be the better option. High price doesn’t always mean high flavor. I do agree with his choice of venue though. The high ceilings will look great in the low afternoon light and the white lights in the evening will make for great photos,” I finished. “But of course, the client is always right and if this is her chosen design, we’ll go with that.”

Manager Kim stares at you until you start to feel slightly uncomfortable under her gaze. You know you hadn’t overstepped and she had asked for your honest opinion, but when sitting in front of one of the best event designers in the game, second guessing yourself is inevitable.

“You didn’t think to say anything earlier in the meeting?” she asks.

“I wasn’t aware that giving opinions on other people’s events was ideal during a regular updates meeting.”

“You should speak up more. Your ideas aren’t as bad as you think they are,” Madeline says as she leans back in her chair. “How else do you expect to lead any major project?”

Just as you’re going to respond, a knock sounds at the door. “Come in!” Manager Kim yells.

“Should I leave? James did say he was going to collect Mr. Cavallero’s assistant,” you trail off, getting ready to stand.

“No. No, you’re fine,” she says with a wave of her hand. “Ah, Mr. Carlisle - oh! And Mr. Cavallero! What a surprise! I didn’t know you would be joining us,” Manager Kim says as she stands and you follow suit.

“I happened to have some free time and decided to tag along as Lewis was dropping off the notes. I hope you don’t mind. I thought it would be helpful to have me here in case you had any questions that needed direct attention,” Mr. Cavallero responds. “And please, call me Jonas.”

Mr. Cavallero, or Jonas as he would like to be referred to, is dressed in his typical big spender suit: a deep navy blue suit with a pristine white buttoned-down shirt and pre-released Versace patent leather monk strap shoes. His aura fills the entire space, though he only stands in the doorway of Madeline’s office. You can practically feel the gel between your fingers as you look at his salt-and-pepper slicked back hair; the sheen is almost as bright as his shoes.

“And Miss Y/L/N, yes? What a pleasure to see you again. Will you be sitting in on this meeting as well? Lewis could only sing your praises after you left,” he asks. You struggle to keep your face neutral as James’ searing gaze washes over you. You know Manager Kim’s ears must be red as her secretive meeting is foiled by her best client.

“Actually, I was just -”

“- going to bring the file for the event as you were previously suggesting. Right, Y/N?” Manager Kim says as she turns to you with a stiff smile. “You are our chosen intern, afterall.” You can barely contain your gasp as she says the words. You had gotten the contract?! James does not try to hide his shock at her statement as his eyes widen and his mouth nearly falls open.

“It’ll be a pleasure working with you again, Miss Y/L/N,” Mr. Carlisle says with a smile.

“Of course,” you reply with a deep head nod. “I look forward to working with you both as well. I’ll be back with your file shortly.”

“Thank you, Y/N. And thank you James for going to get them. You may leave now,” Manager Kim adds as she turns her attention back to her guests, inviting them to sit and make themselves comfortable.

You walk calmly, though you feel anything but that, across the room as James holds the door open for you. Pleading with the gods to be on your side, you race ahead of him to the breakroom for fresh, new bottles of water - a sight to see in a knee length pencil skirt and the infamous 4-inch stilettos that are apparently still required in this day and age. Your office is filled with hushed whispers until you round the corner and enter the small room.

“You got the Cavallero project?!” Paul exclaims. “Holy shit! You’re better than I thought, Y/N!” You laugh as you search your desk for the copy of the previous plans you’d developed from that day’s secret meeting.

“Congratulations, Y/N!” Laura cheers, bouncing up and down. “Your first real major project. Isn’t that exciting, James?”

“Sure. If you can be happy for someone who fucked her way to get the position,” he says biterrly. “Lewis could only sing your praises after you left?” James scoffs. “Sounds like you worked really hard in that meeting.”

“James!” Laura gasps.

“Oh it’s fine, Laura. If you think that James, I can’t stop you,” you say with a shrug. “But I’ll be happy to discuss my scandalous sex life with you after I meet with our coveted client.”

You prance out of the office with a smug smile on your face. Of course James would resort to a low blow because he didn’t get what he wanted; he was worse than the six-year-old child he had reprimanded you about. Tucking the fake file under your arm as the real one is still in Madeline’s office, you carry the bottles of water back to the meeting. After passing the bottles to your clients, you stand diligently behind Manager Kim with your notepad at the ready.

“Please Miss Y/L/N, take my seat,” Jonas says, standing.

“Oh no, I couldn’t.”

“I insist. I do my best thinking standing up.”

“He does this often in his office,” Lewis agrees. Glancing at Manager Kim, you gingerly sit down on the end of the chair after thanking Jonas again.

“You had mentioned that you enjoyed the designs Y/N had developed, but as you know these are drafts and can be changed as you deem fit, Mr. Cavallero. Are there any things that come to mind or can we work on finalizing these details?” Madeline asks. You watch as Jonas strides around the office, seemingly in thought.

“You proposed hosting the event at one of the upscale hotels downtown, but I was wondering if you had any other options. We want the environment to feel lavish, but not over the top,” he replies. “I was actually thinking of something -” he pauses “ - more intimate.”

Writing down his wishes, you rack your brain for places that fit his description. Most clients of his caliber wanted something extravagant, but Jonas was proving to be a very different man. Quite the surprise that you were not expecting. “Would you like something with more modern architecture or classical?” you ask.

“I have always been a fan of French architecture; the European style also seems to be popular among our own clients. Most of them come from European backgrounds,” Jonas answers.

“They might find the interior design reminiscent,” Madeline thinks aloud and jots it down.

“It could be very good for signing contracts, sir,” Lewis adds.

“I may have a suggestion. Chateau’s is a little outside of the city, but the view is magnificent. It’s family owned so that may benefit you with your clients as well. It also has a rooftop that would look great in the afternoon sun as well as the late evening should the event last longer than expected,” you suggest. “I’ve also read great reviews saying that the food is well prepared too.”

“This could lower your costs for your first event and more money can be reserved for the benefit gala you’re also organizing,” Madeline sneaks in. She’s right, of course. A benefit gala planned by Madeline Kim would require much more than what Mr. Cavallero had said he was okay with spending, but he didn’t need to know that right now.

“Hmm,” he ponders turning around. “This sounds doable. I’d like to see what you can come up with for designs for this new place as well as scheduling a visit to see it for myself. All of this can be done before the initial deadline of securing a venue, yes?”

“Absolutely,” Madeline responds and you keep your composure as you review your mental calendar of events knowing this would be difficult to pull off. Brunch is scheduled a month and a half from today’s date meaning you had to somehow convince Chateau’s to take on your client, create an acceptable menu, and allow you to make any decorating changes within two weeks to make the deadline. Madeline is batshit crazy, but it would have to get done to secure the benefit gala - the whole reason for the company even accepting this contract.

“I can have all the details typed and sent to you within the next week. I’ll also keep the downtown hotel as an option if Chateau's is unavailable for your intended date. I’m sure we can use the rooftop of a hotel to create an intimate setting that your guests would enjoy,” you add. “I would also like to request the location of the benefit gala. I understand this is a very important event for your law firm and I would like to begin drafting plans for your approval at the earliest convenience.”

“Yes, of course. We use the Finca Corte as they have the best grand ballroom in the city. Lewis, please send Miss Y/L/N the past itineraries of the event so she may have a better understanding of the atmosphere we wish to create for our guests.” Lewis nods and makes his own notes, before his wrist watch alarms.

“Ah, Mr. Cavallero. Your 4pm meeting is on time this afternoon. We should leave now so you aren’t late,” Lewis warns. Jonas nods and you all stood to say your goodbyes.

“Please, if you need anything, reach out to Lewis and he’ll get in contact with me so I can answer any of your questions,” Jonas says with a smile as he shakes your hands.

“Of course, Mr. Cavallero. Please feel free to do the same,” Madeline replies though you can hear the tightness in her voice and for the third time, you wonder what her relationship is with Jonas. They had to have had some history for her to always seem on edge in his presence.

“Let me walk you both downstairs,” you offer. J&M isn’t as large as Hastings and Lewis, but there are many twists and turns on each floor that guests could get lost in.

You don’t turn your head as you pass your tiny office space and head for the elevator. You wouldn’t give any of those fuckers your attention in the presence of high quality clientele. It’s cramped inside but not uncomfortable as you ride down from the fourth floor. Jonas turns to you once again as you stand in the lobby.

“Again Miss Y/L/N, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. Lewis would be happy to answer any of your questions if you can’t get in contact with me,” he says and hands you his business card.

“I actually did have one question before you go. Well two actually. Finca Corte - it isn’t a chain, is it? Just one location?”

“Right. On 17th and Main near the Grande Theatre, but the next block over,” Jonas replies.

“And there’s no need to call and reserve the date? The notes Lewis had given us hadn’t mentioned anything about the date or a deposit,” you state.

“No, the firm takes care of those details. The benefit gala is always reserved for the third Saturday in May every year,” Lewis responds. Three months from now, you think.

“Oh, wonderful. I know you have to get going so I’ll email you any other questions, Lewis. Thank you again. Please return to the firm safely,” you say cheerly and wave. They return it and you wait for them to get into their sleek town car before you let your face fall into a frown. You’d never been to or heard of Finca Corte before, but why did the location seem so familiar? You try not to dwell on it too much as you head back upstairs. There are more pressing matters at hand, like putting James back into the roach-infested place he’d crawled out of. You grin as you head off the elevator.

Rosalia greets you as you enter the old two-bedroom apartment you share. Slipping off your heels that you’re sure has blood crusted into the toes from excessive wear, you scratch behind her ears as she purrs. She’s one of the better things to happen to you in your life and you’re grateful for her little pieces of affection even though you’re positive she had made some attempts to smother you in your sleep so she could have your bed.

“You’re home?” Amaya calls out from her hidden position on the couch.

“Yeah! Did you make dinner?” you ask as you follow your nose to the kitchen where a large pot stews on the stove.

“Of course I did. We all know you’d starve if I didn’t cook,” she says as she bumps you out of the way to check on the food. You mock her as you sit down at the antique metal table that you rarely ate at, choosing to have your meals in the much more comfortable living room on the sofa.

“I could survive!” you yell, trying to defend yourself, but Amaya isn’t having it.

“You couldn’t. Was the lasagna okay today, though?” she asks, changing the subject.

“The best. You should really consider opening a restaurant and forgetting all this computer engineer stuff,” you tell her seriously.

“Ha! As if that would pay off these loans. Either way, this is an investment. Once I’m done with this degree, I’ll be able to program computers to make these dishes for me and rake in a ton of money to get us out of this place,” she says with determination.

Amaya is a third year computer engineering student at Oberman University. Surprisingly smaller than you, she carries as much kick as you do, the two of you getting into numerous instances of mild misdemeanors. Amaya had actually hacked a few systems after she had found out that you weren’t really registered for classes at the University so you could get some credit; she’s a computer genius. Thanks to her, you technically have an Associates degree, but of course Oberman would never grant it to you unless you actually re-enroll. Amaya doesn’t take anyone’s shit though she looks like she’s 12 with her big green eyes and short blunt bob, the bangs a little too long and falling into her eyes.

“Thank you for including me in your plans for world domination, Aya,” you say while taking your hair out of your bun.

“Of course. You know you’re family to me, even though you leave your fucking dishes in the sink,” she replies while placing a piping bowl of beef stew and white rice in front of you. You thank the gods for her as you tuck in, burning your tongue in the process.

“I love you. So, so, so much.”

“Are you talking to me or the stew?” she asks with a laugh as she blows her food to cool it down. You laugh in response. “How was work? Oh my gosh, did you get the project?!”

You grin and nod. “I did!” She squeals in delight and claps her hands. “Though James was extremely displeased. He actually called me incompetent -”

“Hold on. He called you incompetent? Has he seen his progress report? And wasn’t he the one that forgot to submit his file that made that whole project you did a few months ago late?”

“Right. He was so shocked when Madeline announced it was me, even insinuated that I fucked my way to get the position. Kim was heated that Jonas mentioned our meeting while he was in the room though because it was supposed to be a secret,” you explain.

“Of course he would say something like that.” She rolls her eyes. “There seem to be a lot of secrets happening around you. Speaking of which, when do you head back to Spiral to snoop?” Amaya asks. “Do you think you can find anything in the hallway? Maybe you should break into Suga’s office or something,” she suggests.

“Friday night and I don’t think Suga would leave anything lying around like that for me to see again, not after I’m pretty sure he caught me reading his papers a few weeks ago,” you reply, pushing the rice around the plate. That had been extremely careless and might have killed a lead to your mini investigation before it had even begun.

“The one with all that information right? Gosh, I wish you had my photographic brain, that way you could have written down what you had seen and we could solve this whole mystery,” she groans.

“Oh no, Aya. I don’t want you getting involved with this. It seems way too dangerous and you -”

“- have my whole life ahead of me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. But I want to know where this guy went. Like what if he’s still out there and looking for you?” she questions.

“I know, I know. I don’t want you worrying about it though. I can handle it,” you promise. “I feel like I’ve seen the address before though, but I can’t figure out where.” You rub your forehead as if you could magically make the numbers appear in your mind again. Aya’s photographic memory really would have come in handy.

“What about the date?” Amaya asks. “Or the name? You said the name was weird, unusual.” You nod. What had it said?

“There was a date, a location, and a name with an amount of money. Like a contract or something,” you sigh. “It looked really similar to the ones we have at work. Fuck. I don’t know. Between this and planning the benefit gala, my brain feels like it’s going to explode.” Amaya laughs as she finishes her dinner.

“Please don’t hurt yourself. It’ll come to you,” she says, giving your shoulder a squeeze. “Well, I have Calc 3 homework to finish and these theorems won’t do themselves so I’ll see you in the morning. Wash your fucking plate,” she finishes and pointes her finger at you. You hold up your hands in surrender as she leaves hers in the sink for you to clean. It’s the least you can do as she made all your meals.

Grabbing your purse and lugging it behind you after washing the dishes, you head to your room, Rosalia following in tow. Surprisingly, your bed is still intact which means that Amaya had made sure Rosalia hadn’t gotten into your room. Bless her. Not that there was much to get into as you the minimum possessions a person could have: a bed, a few photos, and enough clothes to last you a few weeks without doing laundry. You place your files and notepads onto your bed, eager to go and take a shower before organizing your notes in preparation for the debrief you would no doubt have to give to the rest of your colleagues tomorrow.

“Was your day as long as mine, Rosalia?” You scratch her head as she hops up on your bed and makes herself at home between your papers, a few of them scattering to the floor. “Apparently not as you want to make mine even longer,” you murmur as you bend to pick up the loose sheets of today’s meeting notes from the Cavallero project. You pause.

Jonas. That was the name that was on top of the paper in Suga’s office. What would be the odds that the Jonas on the paper would be the Jonas Cavallero you were working for? If that Jonas was the same Jonas, then was the location on the paper one of the events you were working on? How would Suga have that information? You sit against the side of your bed. Unless -

Yanking your phone out your purse’s side pocket, you google “Hastings & Lewis benefit gala”. Just as you’d suspected, the information is public knowledge: the third Saturday of May at the Finca Corte. There is no way in hell that Spiral is catering that event; they weren’t ritzy enough to be hired by the likes of one of the most expensive hotels in the city for one of the biggest events on the city’s calendar. Something is going on and you just know all of this is connected somehow. You just need proof. Maybe Maya is right. You’d broken into a few places before. How hard could it be to get into Suga’s office?

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#bts fanfction #namjoon x reader #namjoon fanfic #bts mafia au #bts fanfic #fic: double entendre

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mackenzie-lukasiaks · 4 years

Note

This “I would not be friends with any trump supporters/republicans” speech is exactly what got him elected in 2016 lol. And what surprised everyone this year when literally half the country voted for him. Black people vote for him to, you know...I’m one of them

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/dance-moms-alum-chloe-lukasiak-on-if-she-can-remain-friends-with-trump-supporters.html/

I have receipts.

“literally half the country” lmao no. trump got 46% of the electorate, biden got 51%. 46% is not half.

if you mean that people voted for trump to fuck over the rest of the country because they perceived liberals/democrats/leftists/clinton supporters/biden supporters/whatever as weak or sanctimonious or unpatriotic or cucks or whatever, okay maybe. but it is not as simple trump supporters did note vote for him because people said they wouldn’t be friends with them lmao like what kind of political analysis.

“black people vote for him too” yes lmao I know this. I didn’t assume you were white anywhere in my original response.

to the article (under the cut bc it got long lol):

loving that this came out on my birthday. anyway, did you read this? because like. she’s being a lot more diplomatic than I would’ve been lol. some quotes:

“I think this answer is different for everyone and a couple of years ago my answer would have been different; but nowadays, yes it is,” the Dance Moms alum shared.

I feel like this tracks with what I said in my other response, because I find it next to impossible to understand how people could vote for him again after these four horrendous years. this quote suggests that chloe feels similarly.

“And it’s not because they don’t agree with my political views,” Lukasiak continued. “But, oftentimes, people who have differing political views, to me, all that says is that you care more about your money than you care about human rights. Umm that you care more about your political party and unimportant things more than you care about Black Lives Matter, LGBTQIA+ community, women, uh minorities.”

do you know how many people vote republican simply because republicans are reliably anti-abortion, and that’s the only issue that a sizable amount of the us electorate cares about? or how many people voted for trump specifically because he was “not afraid” to be a huge fucking bully to anyone and everyone, but particularly to women, black people, disabled people, etc., due to this idea that democrats are too ~politically correct~ and trump is just ~saying what we’re all thinking~? chloe is correctly pointing out that many trump supporters, either through malice or ignorance or both, don’t care about the rights of marginalized americans. there is the possibility that, with trump’s supreme court picks, abortion access--even birth control access, if amy coney barrett got her way--could be outlawed, which would lead to thousands of preventable deaths from unsafe back alley abortions. that’s something people voted for in 2016 and again in 2020.

and the money thing......you know how many people were like “biden is going to raise my taxes!!!!!” even though the biden tax plan proposes raising taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year and would use that money to provide government services that can benefit the whole country. that is people putting their wealth (or perceived wealth, because a lot of people who freaked out about it were like. demonstrably not going to be affected due to their yearly salary) above the needs of others.

“I wish I could say no [that politics hasn’t affected friendships] because it’s created some awkward situations recently,” Lukaisiak confessed. “I don’t know. At my core, I can’t un-know that, if that makes sense. I’m like ‘OK so we have different core beliefs and values and morals’ and that’s OK. I’m still going to wish you kindness and happiness and good things but all I hear is that you don’t care about me, so it makes it hard to be friends with you.”

she doesn’t wish ill on kendall or kalani or other trump supporters. she just doesn’t want to be friends with them. and no one is obligated to be friends with anyone. she did not sign an ironclad contract with kendall or kalani swearing, on damnation of her immortal soul, to always be their very best friend. things change! people change! relationships change! and yeah it can suck when friendships fall apart, but that’s part of life, and this fallout in particular is not even about something that I think could be considered “petty.” this isn’t chloe icing them out of her life because they thought “midsommar” was a better horror movie than “hereditary.” this is about the political direction of this country, which is pretty fucking important. just looking at the pandemic, when you look at how other countries handled this vs. how trump handled this, he is responsible for so many of the preventable deaths from covid. he has been basically useless throughout this entire crisis. and voting for that does say, to me as well as chloe, that so many trump supporters just don’t care.

tl;dr: fuck trump. no one is obligated to be friends with anyone else.

#anonymous #answered #i wasn't even surprised by the amount of voters trump got this year #it's completely on brand for this country #i was more dismayed than anything that so many people looked at his record and were like 'seems good to me'#he called nazis good people like how is this even an argument #he called soldiers who died in the world wars losers and suckers!!!!#he's so dumb and mean it's just--

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mautadite · 5 years

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october book round up

19 books this month, which brings me to 125 for the year, and i’ve officially completed the yearly challenge! :) a little later than last year, but still earlier than i expected. i don’t imagine that i’ll read as much as i did last year, but i can still get a good bit done in two months i think. this month was pretty much just different flavours of romance, once again all audiobooks.

poison kiss - ana mardoll ⭐️⭐️⭐️ mixed feelings about this one. urban fantasy/paranormal with a neat setup and world building, but i feel like the author didn’t tell the story in the most effective way? not enough time spent on certain sections, time skips that were not needed, too many flashbacks. the poly romance was really sweet, though i didn’t much care for the love at first sight aspect when the third character was introduced. but this was a good book overall, with a unique plot and cast; might revisit the series.

the best boy ever made - rachel eliason ⭐️⭐️⭐️ very cute coming of age/ya romance. a conservative country girl is at first shocked when her best friend comes out as trans, but she slowly finds herself becoming his biggest champion, and then falling in love with him. took me a while to warm up to it bc i found the protagonist to be kind of obnoxious. and some of the later plot events were kind of ham-fisted. but i definitely liked it, mostly for sam and how good and kind he was.

i wish you all the best - meason deaver ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ BRUH I’M CRYING IN THE CLUB. this was a really fucking sweet ya romance. the main character finds themselves homeless after they come out as nb to their parents. they move in with their sister, enroll in a new school, and find themselves making friends with (and slowly falling for!) a literal ray of sunshine. this was great, another one of those books i wish i could have read when i was younger. dealt with coming out, depression, anxiety and first love, had great writing, and i’m still thinking about how great the ending lines were.

the neighbour - gerri hill ⭐️⭐️ eh... a book that COULD have been good (woman with a stunted career as a writer moves back home to take care of her ailing mother, finds herself falling for the rich lesbian player next door) but both main characters were so thoroughly unlikable lmao. judgemental, snooty, made jokes about harmful things, kind of elitist... there was one aspect of this book that i really liked (the main character changed careers later in life and it wasn’t seen as a failure, just moving on) but otherwise this was a disappointment.

the turner series - cat sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ historical romance!!! always a fave. this was a pretty fun series; first three m/m, last one f/f. a bit of mystery and intrigue in all of them, good humour, and a great cast of characters through and through. the second one was probably my favourite; one of the mcs suffered from anxiety attacks in an era where there was a lot of wrong information about mental health, and his love interest (a cheat and a scoundrel) ended up being the best thing that happened to him. although now that i’ve said that i just remembered how very much i love the third book’s protagonist (the rake, to be specific). standout character for sure. the last book has a dear place in my heart bc even though you can tell that the author doesn’t often write f/f, and it was a pretty short novella, it’s still historical lesbians, and i eat up historical lesbians with a spoon. (i could make a pretty bad joke here but lo and behold; i have GREAT self control.)

the secret casebook of simon feximal - k.j. charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ when k.j. charles is good, SHE’S REALLY FUCKING GOOD. this is a paranormal-mystery/romance book styled after the adventures of sherlock holmes (if you must know one thing about me it’s that i’m a slut for acd holmes, don’t fucking @ me), set in the very universe itself. not quite a pastiche but close enough, and it was so well written, with great world building around the magic and paranormal events, great characters, GREAT ROMANCE. told as stories published by robert, simon’s biographer and lover. i adored this and will definitely reread.

puppy love romance - georgia beers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a trio of f/f novels centred around an animal rescue, and the women who work and volunteer there and fall in love there. each of these novels was really sweet, grounded in a way that i like for contemporary romance, and they all had adorable dogs in them. and i feel like beers really knows her way around plotting and pacing a novel, especially small town romances. but i also had pretty sizeable nitpicks for each of them lol. part of it is that i just got tired of beers’ writing style (as you can see, i took a break between the series). this is such a weird complaint but oh my god she uses too many adverbs lol. also there was always an emphasis on how amazingly stunningly gorgeously beautiful all six women were and it got so tiresome. idk who wants to read about women who are physically perfect all the time, but it’s not me. and one half of the romantic pair in each book (lisa, emily and sydney, in that order) had attitudes that i found obnoxious and were not resolved and i felt bad for their girlfriends having to deal with them. a fun read all in all, but some of those things rubbed me the wrong way, and i’m ready to take a break from this author.

bound series - ava march ⭐️⭐️ a resounding meh. historical m/m romance that wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t anything great about it. i only read these like maybe a week and a half ago but i’m struggling to remember details. there was bdsm, which i didn’t hate, but i also didn’t care. the plot was bleh, the sources of conflict were weak, and one of the dudes was kind of an asshole. /shrug emoji

reverie - eliza andrews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ god... GOD. the ride i took with this book was like... a really sexy butch took me out to dinner, wined and dined me, and in the very last course she leaned over and spit in me food. the premise: a woman on the run from her abusive ex-husband settles into a small town where she find herself drawn to the only out lesbian in town, a sweet butch ex-marine, and her mysterious nurse of a neighbour. this book was soooooooo well written, so well crafted, so moving, so beautiful. a paranormal mystery that actual kept me guessing. i was ready to name it the best f/f book i read this year, if not the best romance period. and then the ending. the FUCKING ENDING. i’ve rarely been so let down in my life. i’m looking at the four stars i gave this and wondering if i should go lower because SERIOUSLY. thinking about it is getting me kind of upset. this book could have been SO good. uuuuuugh.

brothers of the wild north sea - harper fox ⭐️⭐️ this is tricky because like. this book was definitely like, not good lmao, but it was good enough that i almost feel guilty giving it 2 stars. this is a historical romance that takes place more than a thousand years ago between a viking and a monk. it wasn’t badly written, probably wasn’t historically accurate but i mean, i don’t care. but it was too long, i didn’t care about the characters, it was badly plotted, and just really confusing overall. i think harper fox is great at writing romance, but all other aspects of this novel fell flat.

escape velocity - anah crow, dianne fox ⭐️⭐️⭐️ sci-fi m/m romance. a linguistic researcher and a pilot struggling with his religious beliefs fall into a whirlwind romance. pretty cute. i found it too short as i find most novellas, but i think the authors did a lot in relatively few words. definitely wish there was more worldbuilding. kind of hope the authors have plans to make this a series.

nowhere ranch - heidi cullinan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a sweet romance between a farm hand and his boss. i didn’t think i’d like it much, but it was pretty enjoyable! very simple writing stuff that fit well with the gruff, no-nonsense, trying to shut everyone out protagonist. i really liked him; identified with him a lot, and his journey into opening up, dealign with his anxiety and self-worth issues. and the romance was sweet (though oooof, some of the sex scenes were too much). the book went from being really raunchy to really domestic and i kind of liked that. the resolution came a bit too quick, but i enjoyed it nonetheless.

that’s it for october! still currently unemployed, waiting for the people i signed a contract with to call me. since i don’t want to dip too much into my savings i’ve been doing odd jobs here and there, and might take a more steady part-time job in the meantime? all of that to say: i probably won’t be reading as much in november. i’m currently reading the first book in the spencer cohen series, and not... really loving it, lol, so i might pass on the others.

#book talk #long post

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scrayas-blog · 6 years

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hey sisters ! my name’s 𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖈𝖍 ( yes, after the iconic peach salinger ) and i’m super excited to be here ! not gonna lie, i had a different idea for soraya way before i started writing her intro ( like how i wanted her faceclaim to be laura harrier but then zendaya kept calling my name lmao ), but i like how she came out !my only hope is that you guys like her too & that my intro isn’t too poorly written. it’s been a while since i’ve written a character intro, so please don’t roast me too much ! anyways, here’s my bbg soraya !

a zendaya coleman lookalike was strolling down broadway street in their louis vuitton star trail ankle boots. soraya belanger just had a birthday bash for her twenty-third birthday. she has been living in new york city for twenty years. i hear she tends to be pernicious at parties, but also kind of soigné. ( cisfemale & she/her ) [ peach, 22+, eastern & she/they ]

statistics !

name : soraya evangeline belanger.

nickname(s) : sora, ray, raya, & so-so ( but only by her family ).

age : twenty-three.

birthday : january 2nd, 1996.

zodiac : capricorn.

gender : cisfemale.

pronouns : she/her & they/them.

height : 5′10″.

hometown : malibu, california.

nationality : american.

ethnicity : african american, german, & scottish.

occupation : former television personality, model, entrepreneur, & fashion insider.

label(s) : the aesthete, the gregarious, the sovereign & the trendoid.

aesthetics : sexual tension, the glow of your phone at night, sharp eyeliner, glittery eyeshadow, long hair blowing in the wind, scented candles, long eyelashes, flushed cheeks, making out with someone for hours, your favorite song playing from another room, expensive perfume, rose petals on silk sheets, taking long showers, hickeys, waking up on the wrong side of the bed, gold piercings, shoes with red soles, bubble baths, golden sunsets, harsh honesty, concerts, blind faith, & red lipstick.

background !

zorina nelson was a woman with a dream since she was a young girl and dressed up in the clothes in her mom’s closet. she loved dancing around in her heels & messily putting on her makeup – her mom never deterred her daughter either, supporting her &her seemingly outlandish dreams. she wanted to go to college for fashion, & even though she came from a family of little means in arizona, zorina’s parents worked hard to ensure that their daughter could attend school in california. four years later, zorina graduated but found herself struggling to get her name out there. she didn’t have connections like some of her classmates & didn’t know where to turn, so she began working retail while designing on the side. she was working at barneys in order to get the bills paid, but she was sad that her career hadn’t taken off the way she wanted it to.

one fateful day, though, zorina picked up a shift on what was originally supposed to be her day off & encountered a customer that was struggling to find something to wear to an event. now, call it weird, but zorina always kept some of her pieces in the backseat of her old toyota & she ended up allowing the customer to wear her dress. the customer tried it on, loved it, & decided to wear zorina’s dress to the event. little did zorina know, but the customer was an influential woman in fashion ( think someone like rihanna but in the 90s ). skipping ahead, that same year, zorina’s brand really took off & now she was selling her clothes like hotcakes. also during this time, zorina met & married businessman nicholas belanger. the couple married in a secret ceremony in big bear, california & their relationship was known as the ‘ cinderella marriage ’ in the media.

after a few years of marriage, zorina & nicholas welcomed their daughter soraya into the world. soraya would be their only child & the couple spoiled her almost immediately – she had any & everything she could have ever wanted. soraya spent the first three years of her life in malibu, california, but they family moved to new york city ( soho, to be exact ) due to zorina wanting to be closer to her company’s headquarters in manhattan. soraya attended some of the most elite schools that new york & money could get her, so she grew up surrounded by people of wealth & influence. by the time high school rolled around, soraya was a girl who knew what she wanted & how to get it. she wanted to be student body president ? bribe the voters. she wanted a specific superlative in the yearbook ? be fake friends with the yearbook staff. in a way, soraya was a spitting image of her father’s ruthless personality in business meetings.

of course, it was no surprise that when her senior year rolled around, soraya was named as prom queen & most likely to be successful, or something silly like that. remember how james charles went viral by taking his ring light to take his senior pictures ? well soraya did it first, honey ! her pictures spread like wildfire all over twitter & instagram, so she soon found herself signing a lucrative modelling contract with img models ( worldwide ). her first year was rather strenuous as she was walking in hundreds of shows, but when she walked for saint laurent ss14 that’s when her career really blew up ( imagine zendaya with kaia gerber’s walk ! ). then, her covers list began to grow as well including vogue, allure, glamour, seventeen, cosmopolitan, instyle & essence, just to name a few.

last year, soraya was cast on the e! docu-series model squad ( *devon windsor voice* do you know how hard it is to be blonde ? ) & was one of the few models uninterested in walking the victoria’s secret show. during her time as a model, soraya began dipping her toes in more than just runway & covers, including designing, collaborating, & taking a break from runway as a whole for the time being. now, she can be seen attending fashion dinners, secret shows, panels, parties & everything in between. she recently did a collaboration with colourpop & designed a collection with revolve !

personality !

like her app says, soraya is very pernicious & soigné. as for her negative trait pernicious, it basically means that she’s super sneaky in getting what she wants. not only that, but she’s that kind of sneaky mean where people wouldn’t expect it. in front of the cameras & the important people in her life, she’s sweet & charismatic, but outside of that realm she’s the girl who doesn’t mind spilling someone’s secrets when she knows the tabloids are around or incredibly hostile around those she might not like very much. as for her positive trait soigné, it basically means that she never leaves the house looking like less than an eleven ! her edges are laid, her highlight is poppin’, & she’s dressed to the nines even if she’s only going to get lunch. all in all, soraya can be very fake sometimes & has an affinity for all things luxury.

quick facts !

100% the girl who spends most of her day in her underwear & an oversized shirt when she was nowhere to be.

never leaves the house without her bag of essentials & will cry if she’s forgotten it home.

cries very easily when things don’t go her way.

if someone asks why she’s late, her usual answer is either her eyebrows, her hair, or both.

she lives in a super cute penthouse at the four seasons which she moved into about a year & a half ago.

the way to her heart is via concert tickets, namely, rihanna & beyonce.

connections !

now, i can’t guarantee that i’ll make a page of connections or write a post, but a few from the top of my head include:

high school boyfriend !

friends with benefits / exes with benefits / enemies with benefits !

a modelling rival !

best friends !

former friends !

flat out enemies !

i’m a big ol’ sl*t for some angst, so i’d love that too !

exes on good terms / exes on bad terms !

any kind of connection from high school ?

any kind of connection from her career ?

any kind of connection at all ( i’m desperate lol ) !

#wealthyhq:start #i still need to make snapchat icons but it's midnight

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crafiet · 6 years

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1-50 of the writer’s ask thing, go!

BITCH UR RUDE AF

The Basics1. Do you listen to music when you write?mostly yeah but it depends on my mood2. Are you a pantser or plotter?both, i was a complete pantser up until recently but ive been trying to outline big scenes so i know where im going3. Computer or pen and paper?computer for drafting. pen and paper for outlining/planning4. Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published?not published, dont wanna be5. How much writing do you get done on an average day?none but yesterday i wrote 2k /shrug6. Single or multiple POV?usually single but ive been trying multiple!! its hard!!! idk what voice is!!7. Standalone or series?ugh again mostly standalone, but ive been dabbling in series8. Oldest WIPmy spies one which went though a fantasy and scifi phase and was originally dystopian9. Current WIPmy mages! i have no titles bc who10. Do you set yourself deadlines?nup

The Specifics11. Books and/or authors who influenced you the mostuhhhh to be fair im v easily influenced so if i read a book and really like it i subconsciously try to implement that style of writing or try out that genre in my own work12. Describe your perfect writing spacea desktop next to a big open window where i can play music without headphones13. Describe your writing process from idea to polisheduhhhh i dont have a finished wip yet so idk lol usually: idea→ characters→ plot→ spur of the moment 10k word vomit→ more planning, outlining→ more words→ repeat planning and drafting until finished14. How do you deal with self-doubts?i just take a break, read some bad books, read some good books, look at writing tumblrs and just marinate for a bit before going back in15. How do you deal with writer’s block?i perpetually have it and since i dont have deadlines or a publishing contract i just ride it out, writing is strictly a hobby for me16. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?i edit as i go, im onto draft 2 of my mages but its technically a rewrite bc i changed most of the plot17. What writing habits or rituals do you have?i have none atm, but i usually pick a time where i know i wont be disturbed/distracted so usually at night18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?idw collab sdkksdlkbnsd die19. How do you keep yourself motivated?i just really really like my worlds lol conceited 20. How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?i have!!! 5?

The Favourites21. Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write?oh mannngggg i like all my protagonists, ary is the easiest bc shes the one i work with the most, but its super entertaining to be in remy’s head, and i like calyp’s bc hers is so different AAHH22. Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write?remy and seth orrr red and kieran. if im answering this correctly? or do u mean types of pairings lol idk23. Favourite authorhummm idk every author i really like have books i dont like so i cant say24. Favourite genre to write and readfantasy25. Favourite part of writingworldbuilding *.*26. Favourite writing programgoogle docs. it would be word but im too poor to buy it lol27. Favourite line/sceneidk if this is my favourite but“I am at least trying to be civil.”“I am being civil. You want me to yell at you? Turn into a wolf and fight it out like you’d want?”Kieran closed the file and stood. “I don’t—rem—”“Remember.”“I don’t remember you being so—” He searched for a word, but gave up and growled instead. Red got the idea.“Angry? Callous? I ought to reteach you the English language.”“I know how to speak,” Kieran blurted. “Remember, I spent twenty-four years a full human.”“And look how fast that’s disappeared.”28. Favourite side characterwhat are side characters lol ENSEMBLE CASTS29. Favourite villainossssshhhh probably michael bc i love him30. Favourite idea you haven’t started on yetive started on all my wips im one of those bastards who can multitask

The Dark31. Least favourite part of writingactually drafting lmao32. Most difficult character to writeprobably christine bc shes meant to be relatable and down to earth and thats boring smh33. Have you ever killed a main character?yes, not a pov one though34. What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?probably any scene that requires a lot of research on a topic i know nothing about, like hacking or sword fighting or whatever35. What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?bridging scenes suck theyre necessary but they SUCK

The Fun36. Last sentence you wrote“My plan would go smoother with you involved, but I can find others. Many want his head.”37. First sentence or your current WIPShe squinted in the harsh light.38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever hadugh this girl who could see deaths coming and she worked for the fbi but she was like 15 so she still had to go to highschool lol39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever hadprobably her, only bc i was 13 when i created her and was reading this banshee series but somehow didnt connect??? and didnt realise she was a banshee?? without the screaming40. Share some backstory for one of your charactersomg all of my characters have purposefully murky backstories bc i find that trope cool af lol. i guess ary has that typical woe-is-me backstory where her parents were killed, she spiraled and got involved with the wrong people and then was betrayed and arrested lol

The Rest of It41. Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?literally i swear by: trying anything out. fiddle with pov, tense, perspective, genre, character identity, hell take a story you like and try to put your own spin on it. writing as a craft only gets better with practice and my best work is when im going outside of the box/my comfort zone42. How do you feel about love triangles?is this even a debate anymore, this trope got flamed so hard i havent seen it in ya in years. i dont really care about it43. What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?good lol my outlines are usually done on the spot and i come up with more creative plots/scenes if i can think on it a bit44. How much research do you do?i edit as i go so i research as i go. my pre-drafting research extends to saving links on things i might wanna write about and thats it lol. i would say i dont do as much as i should45. How much world building do you do?a lot lol i LOVE worldbuilding. but i find it hard to incorporate it into my draft naturally so a lot of minute details get cut 46. Do you reread your own stories?all the time lol i forget what i wrote half the time47. Best way to procrastinatetwitter–OR if u wanna seem “productive”, writing blogs are a good way to get distracted48. What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?bitch there was a time where i only wrote self insert characters lol49. Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?im too lame to hang out with any of my characters. they would be nice to me but i wouldnt get to know them like how i know them from an author perspective50. [Other question—ask me anything]u didnt ho

#writing #cloudybookash #sorry for the long post

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lucalicatteart · 7 years

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★ School systems in Nanyevimi ★

A bit of misc info about school types (magic schools, skill schools, etc.) and how some of them function and just general realm wide education system stuff etc. !! (okay not “a bit”, it actually became quite long so I will put it under a read more lol... bhbbb... why can I not... be.. brief and to the point about, Anything..)

----

There are a ridiculous amount of different forms of school given how varied the cultures within the supernatural realm are, some are exclusive to certain areas, some are exclusive to certain species, some are exclusive to teaching only one particular type of skill or magic, some are more broadly specialized, some are formal, some are informal, some have grades, some don’t, etc. etc.

The four types of schools that I’ll cover here are Magic Schools, General Schools , Specialty Schools, and Global Learning Centers. The most info probably being about Global Learning Centers, since those have the most specifics to cover , whereas the others are much vaguer categories (like they totally depend on area and individual school, are not as uniform or cohesive as GLCs).

~~~ Magic Schools ~~~

Magic schools are, just like the name, specialized schools catered specifically to different types of magic in the realm. These are the second most common type of school, though they are technically just another form of specialty school, magic is still vaguely common in some parts of Nanyevimi and can be a large part of people’s lives, so I’m grouping them separately mostly due to that and also a few differences in how they’re run compared to most specialty schools.

These schools are somewhat similar to other specialty schools in that they can vary a lot depending on the area, but they are often more cohesive in organization and style, as there are higher forces regulating most of them. There are councils for just about everything somewhere in the supernatural realm, so of course, certain people oversee the teaching of different forms of magic (for info on different types of magic, who can use them, effects of magic, I have written a post about all the basics of magic, which should be easy to find on here) , particularly for the most common forms of magic. There are usually smaller councils of experts in a magical field spread out pretty evenly across Nanyevimi that may take on the role of regulating (or , at least attempting to regulate) the teaching of magic in a certain area, which may answer to a larger more broad magical council overall.

This is, at least mostly, due to safety of procedure the the immense dangers that can come with utilizing any form of magic, especially when dealing with young children or otherwise untrained individuals (like, people regularly die at magic schools, even though there are a lot of preventative measures in place it’s still just kind of , A Thing That’s Going To Happen When Training Hundreds Of People In Something That Is Both Deadly And Difficult To Control),, but some also criticize the wide reach of magical councils, with similar complaints as what you may find in certain academic circles, that councils end up gate-keeping, being overly precise about The One Right Method To Do Things and trying to enforce their own Traditional ways, and can sometimes be intentionally abstract and inaccessible to common people in an attempt to guard or hide knowledge.

Though this also depends a lot on the local council, as there is no Global Magical Council* , so magic councils in one area may be accepting and lenient, while only a short while away they’ll be strict and overbearing with tedious rules. Regardless of this variation though, probably like 85% of magic specialty schools are under the influence of some form of magical council who oversees the curriculum and does safety checks and instructs how to teach certain things.

These smaller local councils will communicate with the larger area wide council, and despite like, a million years of infighting constantly at all times, they’ll still mostly come to some form of agreement of just basic stuff like what order to teach things in and etc. , so magical schools, at least content wise, are generally decently uniform in a particular given area.

* (well, there is a global magical council but like with anything in Nanyevimi that tries to be broad reaching and global despite the massive amount of variation, their reach is limited and small isolated communities are just going to do whatever the hell they want lmao. International organizations can be very useful and organized, especially in global cities and places like global learning centers but, in terms of widespread effectiveness you’re just never going to reach everyone, or even half of everyone, considering a majority of the entire realm just minds their own business and has no interest in global policy or communicating with some random ass council from 5,000 miles away that they’ve never heard of in their lives)

Schools are usually separated by particular type of magic (like solely elemental magic, solely physical magic, etc.), though there are some Broad magic schools that teach the basics of many different forms of magic, it’s pretty rare and really only occurs in areas with an extremely high population of advanced magic users (like in large Jhevona cities).

While most schools just teach straight up whatever knowledge is needed to practice the one particular form of magic and not much else, some schools will mix magic subjects with complementary non-magical subjects, so the main focus is still always magic but with helpful additions (so like an elemental magic school also offering a focus in gardening, or a mind/soul magic school having additional focus in psychology, a physical magic school (healing and health focused physical magic specifically) also having classes on anatomy and non-magical medicine, or just any magic school offering combat or physical training skills on the side, etc.).

The common-ness of a type of school is basically the same organization as in the list of most commonly used magics (again, refer back to that general magic info post), as of course, most commonly used magics = most commonly available magic school. Likewise, there are no OFFICIAL schools for reality and illusion magics, as both formally unrecognized and illegal forms of magic condemned in a majority of areas, especially by magic councils (one of the very very few things they can agree on). Though a FEW illusion magics “schools” are known to exist (no reality magic schools are known because quite literally maybe only 300 people in all of existence can even use that type of magic). But most of them, due to the nature of what they’re practicing, are fairly shadowy organizations, usually with no formal campus or anything, just maybe a group of students and a few teachers who constantly are on the move, never staying in one place for too long, finding like , obscure caves and stuff to practice and teach magic in where people won’t hear about it and report them, etc. Even then, they’re still rare just due to the fact that hardly anyone possesses the ability to do such powerful magics in the first place, even if it was legal and you founded an illusion school in the most populated city in the realm, your student pool would still be tiny as hell, once most people realize ‘oh yeah, i just 100% legit do not have the inherent energy level necessary to do this type of magic without just dying or something, whoops’

(side note: so to speak in weirdly simplified ‘not-really-how-it-works-but-accurate-enough-to-explain-my-point’ video game terms like: If the average magically capable individual has about 300 magic points of energy to use in spells, the average basic magic action (conjuring yourself a sandwich or something) would take like, maybe 20MP , doing a basic illusion magic action (discounting the extremely minor commonly used ‘hiding your presence from others’ skill) would be like 4500 MP, and even the very simplest minuscule reality magic feat would take 26,000 MP. Most people just legitimately, no matter how hard they try, simply do not have the capacity to perform the action, even if they increased their skill and inherent ability, most people can never increase it anywhere near to the point that an action worth 26,000 MP is like, something they can just do casually when they need to like with other magics lol ).

Like with most stuff, architecture and uniforms and language spoken and etc. will all be dependent on the area it’s in (Elven native magic schools will use Elven architecture and clothing styles and will be taught in whatever local Elvish language, etc.). Pricing of magic schools will also vary wildly depending on the area, some countries don’t have official monetary systems, some will trade you 5 years of education in exchange for a barrel of foreign fruits you’ve brought, some do have an established monetary system but offer free schooling to everyone, some overprice the fuck out of everything, some will pay YOU to go to school (if you sign a suspicious possibly life binding contract), etc. etc. Food type and whether food is even provided as a part of school depends on the area too.

Many magic schools have dorms for people to live in while attending, but a few of them don’t for whatever logistical or cultural reasons. Magic schools for adults and magic schools for children are usually separate, or at the very least will be completely different buildings on the same campus where both groups are kept apart nearly all the time. Likewise, skill groups will be separated as well, pretty much all for safety reasons (like if you’re practicing dangerous high level magics you don’t want to be doing that in the same room as a defenseless 6 year old and some newbie elf who couldn’t produce a quick spell to defend himself from the explosion to save his life (literally)).

~~~ General Schools ~~~

The most common types of school. Basically just, literally any school anywhere could be considered a ‘general’ school. Often the subjects of schools, layout, class sizes, etc. will all entirely depend on the culture of the area. Many places in the supernatural realm don’t have a formal education system, so often this is just local schools in small groups taught by random ‘leaders’ of the community, mostly focusing on whatever skills the particular group finds important, such as farming, specialized magics, history, combat skills, etc.

Like for examples, to use five species I’ve established (to show some differences they can have) :

— General schools for the Ythrili …

would be in the form of like, extremely loose groups of people getting together to meet someplace to learn a skill from one of the particular experts in that skill. As mentioned in their info, Ythrili often fall into certain roles and to some degree try to keep balanced sets of people in a few particular skills that are most helpful to society (so some will be crafters, some will be food harvesters, some will be artists, etc.),, so usually it would be people in these designated roles teaching those under them who wish to study to be in the same role. Like a wood craftsman holding a small class with 5 Ythrili students early in the morning just out by a grouping of trees in the forest or something, working with them and guiding them on their individual projects they’re crafting for hands-on learning. They don’t receive grades/scores or qualifications or anything for completing tests of skill, they’re just kind of there to be informally taught and are considered to know the information once they know the information, people in the community will believe them if they say they have a skill (especially since Ythrili are a pretty small and well connected group, if someone is learning to be a gardener or something, people have probably literally seen them out in the morning doing gardening work or etc.) or the one teaching the skill can vouch for them later. There technically aren’t actually formal school BUILDINGS (they don’t have many buildings in general anyway, usually live more in open wooded spaces), but since they do have some form of organization to the way they teach others, I’m kind of still counting them as having a ‘school system’ and etc. , even if it’s using a lenient definition.

— General schools for the Fanyiniri (elves from the country of Fanyin specifically)…..

Are like the complete opposite of the Ythrili, extremely strict and formal and organized. There's a lot of broad societal organization things that would be too much of a side tangent to go into at length here, but their society is divided into strict rankings (with each citizen class being mostly relative to how close you are to the upper class (Cit 5), but also your ability to bring ‘beauty and perfection’ into the world can affect your cit class level as well). All common children (below Cit 4) are actually raised in school facilities, nobody really has families where it's like birth parents and children, they more go directly from a birth hospital to a place to be raised by the staff of what are essentially like, large nationwide boarding schools. Children attend these facilities from usually birth (though at first it's more like a daycare and they don't start getting taught much until maybe age 4) through usually age 14 or 15, where they will then be assigned work (though you can leave facility earlier than that if someone in Cit 4 or Cit 5 "adopts" you, or if you seem to have special skills that are in high demand owners of businesses can "adopt" you as well to use you for said skills, etc. ). Children there are kept under very strict schedule and meticulously organized while learning a usually fairly broad curriculum. Though sometimes classes can be individualized later on once children start showing more distinct personality traits and the staff can try to guess what cit level they'd fit into (like if they can tell you seem stringent about laws, intolerant of other students misbehaving, have violent tendencies, and seem to like to impress authority and follow orders and etc., they may kind of assume you'll be assigned to Cit 2 in the future (mostly law enforcement and government workers), so they may put you in extra classes tailored for those skills. Though most students just get a very general education, usually just stuff like (limited) math, science (only some of it), combat skills (though not magic, despite elves being inherently magic capable species, magic is banned in Fanyin outside of government or corporate use, so this is just physical training), manners and culture, languages, pretty biased accounts of """history""", gardening and food preparation , housekeeping, Cultural Study Of Beauty, reading and writing, lots of exercise and physical fitness classes as well as team sports (to let them relieve stress yet still maintain and foster the whole competitive environment thing) etc. They have a weird thing about wanting to boast the most educated and advanced population possible yet simultaneously having certain areas of study literally illegal or forbidden from most of the population so, the curriculum can be quite extensive with a heavy workload and a lot of information up to a point, but then other classes will randomly be like, entirely busy work with maybe a small vague discussion of what the subject is about but never explaining much further. There are 10 grades (you go up one grade yearly, from age 4/5 to 14/15) which students are usually separated by for the basic curriculum. Extra skill classes can be more mixed, but still try to keep students within mostly the same grade range. Classes occur daily for about 6 hours a day, sometimes up to 12 hours depending on the extra skill classes you're assigned to take, or if you're being punished. Every few months there may be a week or so without classes for holidays, or periodic 'Necessity Breaks' (like if over 50% of students start showing suicidal ideation in their bi-weekly personal evaluations, the staff may decide to give everyone a school wide break for a little while), but for the most part you're just in general schooling centers everyday for 15 years since birth. Later classes will start to prepare you for the outside world, usually around your 6th or 7th year of school, since all children are pretty much raised on these campuses in fairly closed off cities and generally haven't even left the small area once in their lives, so part of preparing them for work is also taking them on more trips to the outside and letting them tour job facilities and etc. and get used to like, what the actual world outside of the boarding school property they were raised in looks like. Like your 10th (last) year of school is usually mostly job and Outside World Education related, there's very little actual school subject related content at that point. These facility schools are usually extremely competitive, with a high focus on uniformly meeting standards and high achievement (students are often made to wear certain rankings on their uniforms, grades are posted publicly, minor physical punishment (like not beating the complete shint out of someone, but slapping them in the face or kicking them or throwing something at them) is common and allowed, bullying is allowed and even condoned for the most part as it's just seen as “necessary social pressure to encourage proper behavior and standards, which will positively nurture the student’s ability to fit in correctly and learn from their mistakes, through receiving generous cooperative lessons from their peers”, etc.). Most schools also have pretty much the exact same layout, uniforms, food menu items, color scheme, etc. with little variance by area (though they are often pretty beautiful, intricate bright architecture with hanging plants and gardens everywhere, etc. With the Fanyiniri, the setting and appearance of most places usually seems oddly mismatched to the oppressive, overly controlled, and bland daily life under the surface (like you’d expect, plain uniform undecorated gray buildings or something lol), but it is supposed to be 'A paradise of the elven people' or whatever, so I guess they keep up appearances by slapping colors and plants and (government approved) art on everything), with the apparent reasoning for this being that they’re made so that students can seamlessly be shipped around to other schools if needed and not really feel much culture shock or difficulty getting used to a new layout. Which might actually be at least partially the truth, since they do regularly exercise their right to move citizens around at random without notice, and it may indeed be useful for everything to look the same.

— General schools for a group of Jhevona in southern Nanyevimi….

(I’m just choosing a random group to focus in on for this one, obviously demons as a whole are too broad to really summarize what they all would be like, similar to other larger species like elves, it’s just hard to generalize, and I don’t really have much worked out about smaller groups and subcultures of demons so I don’t actually have a name or anything for these people but I guess, they’re, maybe on an island, somewhere in the south, just basing off of the very loose bits of info i have so far about jhevona cultures in different areas)). Would be somewhat of a ‘’typical’’ school setting, usually organized in a series of multiple wooden single classroom buildings all located on a fenced in campus, though it may depend on the exact area (usually when building into hills they separate out buildings, if on flat land it may all be one large building, but overall they’d still use wood mostly and whatever other materials are available in the area (sometimes mud and stone or clay). Each individual building (or each classroom, in a connected building) is for one level of school, with all subjects being taught by one teacher usually to a pretty small class size, then them all moving up in grade to the next building as a group, etc. Unlike the Fanyiniri school, this educational system is not very competitive, and is more focused on adding important skills to the community than on competing with other schools or meeting strict qualifications. School subjects are usually a decent mix of practical skill and academics, depending on what the one room’s teacher is capable of explaining, but usually an average curriculum to cover in a year for a class of middle grade students (like 10 year olds or something) would be: physical training, safe magic use practices, advanced language and writing, principles of self control (very important in the type of magic they do), nature science, biology, math, advanced history, early elements of mechanics (southern demons are known for building things and having pretty advanced technology so like learning how to build small machines or create things of some sort is usually culturally passed down), a bit of foreign language, advanced geography and cultural context info (now that the kids are a bit older, getting into like, politics of local areas, the different groups around them and their cultures, etc.), food preparation/hunting/gathering/etc., and then maybe a few other life skills thrown in like certain crafts and healing magic/health stuff etc. Magic is of heavy focus of course, as Jhevona are the most inherently magic capable species known and it usually plays a big part in their culture, though the type of magic would depend on the specific group in a certain area within the country (many southern demons are of subspecies that have particular inherent ability for soul magics and elemental magics, but even within a small town it will vary). There are also special side classes offered in some schools by members of the community, particularly things that the main room teacher may not be able to teach, like computer science or how to do surgery or how to breed animals or etc. Kids attend from about 7-ish to maybe 18 years old, though again it’s pretty relaxed, especially with most people in the country living in small spread out communities rather than clustering into a few big cities, it’s commonly like that sort of thing where everyone has probably grown up with everyone else, and all the locals will know whatever's going on (so like if most members of the community get together in a communal meeting area and say ‘hey, we should take about a month off of school so the children can help us with the big festival’ everyone just , kind of goes along and agrees, etc.) so there’s not much of a strict schedule about it. They do require the kids to finish school and there are certain knowledge requirements expected of most everyone in the community to attain (especially in relation to emotional control and regulation of magic use), but since it’s such a locally focused thing, the actual scheduling of when the information is given can be a bit lenient. The USUAL case though is about 6 days a week children attend school for 3 hours in the morning, then a two hour break, then three hours again (due to the emphasis of familial importance in a lot of southern Jhevona cultures, food isn’t offered in school, children usually return home in the middle of the school day for a few hours in order to have meals with their family and have a bit of a break and then return back to school ). They have no official breaks so I guess would go 6 days a week every week of the year if uninterrupted, but again, due to the informality of schools in the area, it’s likely the community members would agree on some sorts of breaks whenever necessary for practical or cultural reasons (like so children can help with farm work, or for a holiday in the community, or because an illness is going around, etc.). Once a kid has been declared as having completed necessary schooling and done a few tests of skill (particularly magic and survival focused, but there is an academic testing element as well) to prove they possess what general knowledge and abilities are expected of the average member of their population, they’ll usually seek extra mentoring in something they’re interested in (either by going to a more specialized skill or magic school, traveling to a Global Learning Center, or just meeting someone already in their field of interest and having them teach them privately), or especially in this area where family is super important, they may just settle down to do whatever their family does or work at the family business/skill/trade/etc. that just about every family in the community has. School is basically always free in areas like this with no real monetary system where most goods are freely shared/equally distributed among the group or things are simply traded for. There aren’t any uniforms. Kids usually sit at group tables rather than individual desks. Sports aren’t school affiliated and are usually something done for fun after school rather than like an actual part of the school day or curriculum. Though every teacher has different skills and it’s one persons job to teach every group of students (usually about 8-10 students in one individual grade (so maybe 10 students per single classroom wooden building), there are guidelines by age group decided by the community or small local government, so like, most kids even in different areas will be taught roughly the same things around the same times, even it it varies a bit by town due to the more casual nature of school and the ability of the community to influence schedule and subject focus and etc.

— General schools for both the beach and cave dwelling group of Verrucalt …

Don’t exist at all (I wanted to include one that has no schools just to show differences), they don’t formally teach each other anything in any sort of organized way. Though children are raised fairly communally in both groups (moreso the beach group than the cave group), and do have a wide variety of people in their lives that help them grow up and learn important skills and etc. , it’s totally dependent on the individual and there’s never like, any sort of gathering of people to learn things or etc. Not even loosely cohesive lesson groups like with the Ythrili. The Verrucalt really just don’t have any form of education at all beyond maybe some random community member taking a kid to fish and teaching them how, but there’s really not any form of ‘Classes’ or anything.

— General schools for the Avirre'thel…………

Would probably be the most “”“"normal”“” (more just in the sense of being recognizable to most of the earth humans reading this) of the four. School in Navyete is pretty individually focused, kids usually start short schooling hours (4 hours or so once or twice a week initially, then gradually increasing until it’s a full 6 days (vampiric time keeping is different in many ways, one of which is them having 10 day weeks, instead of 7)) when around 5 years old. They attend 4 years (from roughly ages 4 - 9) of this Introductory School, which essentially just teaches the most basic of concepts , mostly centered on: emotional health, physical health, survival skills, important cultural background knowledge (like what sorts of things are dangerous for their species ('don’t ever ingest or play with unknown blood since we can have severe allergic reactions to a TON of blood types’ 'don’t go near wild animals because they will attack you’ etc.), food preparation, how to read and write, and conflict resolution/managing emotions and interpersonal effectiveness skills ,, usually adding a focus on stuff like history and math and science and languages in the older years, but those are not considered as culturally significant to teach younger children and they usually focus more on building 'Practical Life Skills' type stuff first, more about basic survival and mental health and developing learning skills and etc. in general, as opposed to focusing in on specific more abstract studies. At age 9 (after Introductory School) is where it starts to be pretty individualized, each person goes through school at their own pace and can mostly choose their own subjects based on areas of interest, which they’re allowed to change at almost any time. There’s an initial introduction month before the first year of Real School actually starts, where children can sample all sorts of classes, kind of like a big career fair or something (except with school subjects). They basically just spend about 28 days picking and choosing whatever (you have to have 4 classes, but it doesn’t matter which, one day you could take “writing, woodworking, chemistry, and anatomy” and the next you could take “music, food growing, computer science, and psychology”. The point is just to see what you’re passionate about). Once that period is over, children choose their focuses for the year and start their classes. You accumulate points for completing classes (usually broken into 4ths, even if you decide a subject is not for you and you quit ¼th of the way through, you’ll still get some points for the 4th you finished), and basically you just have to have enough total points to graduate to the next level of a given class, and to have enough overall (which is basically just like, points for all mandatory classes and then maybe multiple levels in a few other focuses that interest you.) Though there is some focus on grades for individual assignments, their scoring system is more lenient (like one super bad grade isn’t going to totally ruin your average) about stuff like, if someone’s doing well overall but one particular chapter just happened to be bad for them, etc. etc. They’re mostly focused on individual competency and understanding of the work overall, regardless of if the person misses a few tests or etc., and usually put higher weight on the hands-on experience tests rather than like, just testing scores (like if you don’t do as well on tests in chemistry but then when they let you sample out working in an actual lab for like 2 weeks you do extremely well, they may overlook the test scores since obviously you’re literally able to do the job in practice even if for whatever reason you have issues putting it onto paper*). ((*where applicable, obviously some subjects (like medicine and etc.) have to be a bit more strict, but this is the general rule)) School is usually about 5 hours a day 6 days a “week” (10 day periods), with breaks for all different holidays and etc. in between (so there’s no like large continuous break with months of time off, but more like, every month you probably get a few days or more off for all the different events that go on in vampiric culture. Also you get 4 days a week off by default, which would be organized depending on the schedule your particular school follows. Like if A = days you attend school , and B = free days, your week would usually either be organized like ‘A A A A A A B B B B’ , ‘A B A B A B A B A A’ or ‘A A B A A B A A B B’ , either way you get four days off a week, so that can help as well with relaxing despite not actually having any designated stuff like 'summer breaks' necessarily. ) There are a few mandatory classes along the way (sex education, continued conflict resolution and emotional management courses, health & safety, usually some form of self defense or combat focused class, and basic language/science/etc. classes just to make sure that like, everyone can do basic things, like communicate, read, write, resolve conflicts, identify basic health issues common in the population, defend themselves, follow the rules for safe blood feeding, etc.), but a majority of the school system is very individualized to the student’s preference. Which works well for how their society is structured (most people work specialized skill jobs on a small scale (like most stores are just little shops on the street, most things are handmade by craftspeople, most all unnecessary work is automated and most people working are just doing it because they like to, because it’s fun, etc. Most everything is bought just from your local market and etc.), as people generally have jobs solely out of passion rather than than necessity, and if they ever want to change skills or do something else, school is free so, most people just pick something they really like and specialize in it fairly early on, working at it out of personal interest, changing later if they want. It's not as big of a deal if people hop around from subject to subject, or choose a specialty they end up hating later or etc., since their survival doesn't depend on getting and keeping a steady job in a certain field. And if you are still totally interested in the same exact focus you picked out when you were 10 and stay passionate about it and end up working in that field without ever trying any other skills out or switching careers, then that's fine as well. They feel it’s mostly not necessary to teach people things they won’t use and just culturally lean towards focusing more on promoting the population having a mix of a lot of practical skills (which is mostly leftover from the thousands of years of war time where it was absolutely necessary to focus on practicality and safety and unity above all else, so more of a focus on survival skills and ability to get along effectively in groups and such) and individual specialized passions, putting more of an emphasis on school being for personal development and bettering one’s life and community, rather than it being more strict and abstract achievement based (especially personal development, since if you’ve read the basic intro post about the Avirre’thel you know their historical focus on reaching perfection through self development just for the sake of doing so and etc.). Basically they just want you to know how to keep yourself and others safe, how to get along with your community, how to survive out in the world, and how to defend yourself, but other than that, you can choose to focus on whatever skills or ideas you find interesting. (also, keep in mind they are an immortal species.. so, it's pretty much assumed someone is going to have multiple skill focuses in life. It's rare someone lives 4,000 years and keeps doing the same exact thing with no interest at all in any other topics whatsoever, so they're also more casual because it's like.. you're probably going to end up changing your focus and hobbies and goals like, 40 times over the course of your life anyway, as long as you have a grasp of the basics, who cares how many times you switch what you want to spend your time on or what area you like to study, with every new thing you try out, even if you don't stick with it, you're still adding to your knowledge base and personal development so.. its all cool with the Avirre'thel.. just, do whatever you want dude lol) If you get full points in a particular area of education, you can graduate at like 13 years old, while some who work slower or have to repeat classes may graduate at 25. Neither is shamed and both are socially acceptable. Average age to graduate from schooling is about 16 - 20 depending on which academic subjects or technical skills the person is focusing on (and sometimes people stay in school longer to learn more, like if you had gained a full amount of points taking all levels of biology and chemistry classes, you could still always decide you wanted to stick around another year to take some music classes or something, even if you don’t need them to “graduate”). You can go onto a further school from there (a global learning center, or local specialty schools like medical or law), or you can just be done and use the skills you have (sometimes if your passion is very particular you may only be able to take related interest classes to get your points but then have to move on to a specialty school to get a deeper knowledge of it, like if your particular General School doesn’t teach neuroscience, you may just initially take psychology and biology and etc. then once out of general school go to a specialty school just for that). Schooling is usually mandatory up until completion of enough points, but there are life aids and extensive counselors all throughout schools who can help with any issues or give special help or allow you to take a few years off of school (or make a case for you quitting all together) if you’re in a bad situation, or can help you access free housing and food or etc. and get in a better situation before continuing. School appearance and etc. usually varies a decent bit depending on the area, though most still fall in line with typical vampiric architecture, with them being large buildings made of carved stone with tile or stone floors and ornate metal detailing. They do serve food daily, despite Avirre’thel not really needing food to survive, since it’s mostly dependent on an individual vampire’s feeding style, they usually allot for all of that by providing optional food daily but also allowing students to sit out and do studies instead or something while others eat. Students often cook for other students (like those in culinary classes and etc. will handle lunch time under the supervision of the adult kitchen staff/chef teachers), so usually the food served at school is similar to that which is eaten most often in the local culture of the area, with specialized popular dishes and local ingredients gathered by the community being used in cooking. Uniforms vary a lot by area, but are usually some sort of gender neutral layered robes, like a lot of more traditional Avirre’thel fashion tends to be (maybe down in southern Navyete they have slightly less layers but especially in like, northern areas where it’s regularly - 30F and stuff, uniforms have to be pretty warm as well lol). Though they don't wear traditional headwear and stuff or use the same patterns as ancient avirre'thel clothing, it is usually the same thing of just.. kind of flowy tailored robes that are warm but also easy to move around in, usually with scarves and gloves included if in colder areas (heating buildings isn't like.. super popular in Navyete? their culture is more just like 'yeah idk we'll just wear 8 layers of clothes inside our own homes, why would we waste energy on heat?'. Though some schools do have electric heating systems and stuff, culturally, it's not considered weird at all to just... sit in school all day with scarves and gloves on in a huge frigid stone building lol. It would be the same way most students live at home so it's just like, they don't care I guess lol. As long as they have warm clothes, they're well used to being in icy freezing environments 24/7.. that's just how it is in Navyete most of the time)

Bhhgbb I know the Avirre'thel is longer than the other ones since obviously I have the most developed about them as my current Focus Species or whatever, but hopefully even with the other ones being less detailed, the five examples can show how different schooling throughout the realm can be. Your general schools and broader school system are really just going to depend a lot on where you are and the local culture of the people and society you’re in.

~~~ Specialty Schools ~~~

As the name suggests, these are really just, schools that specialize in something particular.

Many areas in the supernatural realm are organized in smaller isolated communities, so the specialty schools offered in the area will vary a lot, some having none, others having a lot, all subjects usually being different. It’s probably most common for specialty schools to be based around subjects like medicine or building construction, or metal working and etc., usually things that are necessary for the community but not inherently intuitive or easily taught by most people (though there are definitely some small communities where like, everyone is raised knowing how to do healing magic or etc. etc. , generally, skills like that will be treated more as specialty skills).

In a majority of places in the realm, people are taught from a very young age how to prepare and harvest and grow food, so specialty schools for stuff like cooking or gardening tend to be some of the rarest, as in most places it’s just common knowledge. In areas where creative talents are highly culturally valued, many specialty schools will be for music, art, writing, pottery making, etc. It’s especially common for general schools to involve Practical Life Skills (like combat, survival, maybe some basic history and language but not much else), but then for there to be many individual specialty schools where people can learn more creative crafts, especially ones that are also important to the community like clothes making and etc.

Which is pretty obvious I guess that most of it will just depend on the focus of the people.

Like for example a group of demons who are of the subspecies that mostly works through dreams and the mind, may have a great deal of specialty schools in the area involving things like psychology and neuroscience and etc. , despite otherwise being fairly lacking in science study opportunities and most every other skill school in the area being more focused on food or primitive medicine or construction. Sometimes due to random cultural reasons people will be very advanced or overly focused in a few specific areas even if they aren’t in others, which is especially the case for more isolated communities. Or like, Navyete having a lot of specialty schools for working with stone and metal, due to like 90% of their architecture style just involving carved stone with metal roofs or detailing,, or them having many many different schools of combat and different physical training styles, due to their history of being at war with magical species (who obviously have the upper hand since.. uh.. . they can like blast energy out of their hands lmao) and a big thing in past society having been that everyone needs to be pretty strong and agile and adept at hand to hand combat to ever stand a chance,,, or also how they don’t have many schools focused on cooking and food, considering that most Avirre’thel don’t have to eat daily to live and have wildly varying feeding schedules, so things like cooking, while to some degree culturally important, really aren’t seen as necessary skills in a population where like 30% of people only feed less than once a month and etc. etc. Basically specialty schools are vague, and the subjects taught are going to depend a lot on the culture and community needs of the area the school is located within.

~~~ Global Learning Centers ~~~

The most broad but also least common type of schools are those classified as Global Learning Centers, which are basically just massive schools that cater to any type of student, and teach a huge variety of basic skills: basic trades and craft skills, basic languages that are the most prominent in the realm, basic forms of magic, etc. etc. The topics at the schools are usually pretty broad reaching, with most schools offering about 170 - 800 total course subjects (not including different levels of the same subject, if you counted the multiple levels of each topic as well then it’d probably be more like 460 - 3,000+).

These really only exist in larger Global Cities, which are like, cities in Nanyevimi with a huge variety of people all in one place***** (< I elaborate more on the context of global cities and etc. at the very bottom of this info, but since it’s more of a side tangent about the organization of the world rather than about schools i tried to put it at the very end lol). There are about 45 such schools in existence, usually each enrolling around 8,000 - 26,000 students each. GLCs (global learning centers) are usually still under influence of the local country or government of the lands they’re located in, but they are additionally regulated and managed partially by international councils and relevant other groups. Especially things like inter-species communication groups and etc., as they generally have to employ a lot of external resources in terms of allotting for the correct housing and food and what language should be spoken in classes, etc.

Like for example, if you were to host a small group of Vampiric/Avirre'thel students from Navyete at a GLC, you’d need to consider things such as:

their native language is Avirrekava which is a small isolated language unlikely to be spoken on the rest of the campus (so they should be spoken to to decide which language they’d like to be taught in (for example if they knew a second language that was more widely spoken, or if you should provide them an enchanted item that automatically translates words for them in real time or etc.)

temperatures above 70F can make them sick (so you should make sure they’re not required to go into hot areas of the school, ensure that they room with other species who need a cold environment, or provide them enchantments to help with it)

they will need some supply of blood to stay alive (talk to them about their feeding patterns and what the cafeteria would need to import for them)

many wild animals will attack them on sight (either give them an enchantment for this or ensure that their classes take place away from parts of the school that host animals, don’t require them to take classes with animals)

they can not touch certain metals and minerals (give them an enchantment for this or else make sure that none of the things they have to touch to get around (door knobs, etc.) are this sort of material, don’t require them to work with these materials, give them special gloves, etc)

they are an inherently non-magical species (so always have a non-magical way of doing things (for example if the only way to get to the second floor was a personal magic powered elevator, they wouldn’t be able to use it and would need stairs, etc) and don’t put them in any classes that require them to do things magically (or else just have a second optional non-magical form of the classwork, etc)), etc.

So because of stuff like that and the huge variety of things to consider with any species (maybe one person needs sunlight to live, another person’s flesh will burn off if it sees the sun, so you have to find ways of meeting both needs), there are often different representatives and special councils involved to help advise the school staff about like, blood incompatibilities and cross species diseases, cultural history of certain groups, most particularly health needs and survival needs of different groups, language accessibility, etc. etc. And often outside groups of mages are contracted to make all of the enchantments needed.

Usually a school will settle on a baseline way of operating that works for the maximum number of students possible, and then any adjustments that need to be made can be added by giving the other students enchantments (like say if a vast majority of the population was okay with an average room temperature of about 50F, but then a few students will die if they’re not at a constant 80F and some will be harmed if they’re not around 30F, then the outlier students may be given enchanted rings that regulate their temperature independent of external room temperature or something (free of charge, with free magic recharges) to wear for the full duration of them attending the GLC ).

So anyway, overall the schools will be reasonably unique in architecture and layout and etc. and a lot of those sorts of choices are made by those in the local area who own the school (so a place in elven lands may have their traditional elvish architecture, elvish as a main language, etc.), but often many decisions are also influenced by external organizations and advisors, for the sake of everything running smoothly and just due to the massive amount of information you have to take into account when dealing with anything in the realm on a broad scale.

(side note: Managing all of this information is especially significant in global areas, like most places in the realm can get away with being inaccessible or etc. because it’s their own place, like you wouldn’t go on a day trip to Navyete, which is 2,000 miles away from your home city, and expect all the signs to be in your own very specific language or etc.****. Though a good many places in the supernatural realm do have at least some resources for foreigners, there is no uniform globally enforced established requirement for them to do so. However in all global cities and places where the entire point is being accessible and open to literally everyone and easy for them to get by living and working and etc. in that area, there’s usually A LOT of thought put into city layout, housing, resources available, etc. etc. and the same goes for GLCs like… you by nature HAVE to provide equal access to things for all of your students, which in most cases you literally wouldn’t be able to do without the aid of external councils and etc. to help guide and educate you and help with planning. Whereas a non GLC, like maybe just an Elven mage’s college or something, would be under no obligation to not just have every class in elvish and provide only elvish food and etc. etc. And of course you can still attend if you can deal with that or use enchantments to make up for any differences or etc.,, and they may also take it upon themselves to offer extra resources or etc. , but they’re not literally by nature REQUIRED to as is the case with GLCs (just like an average elven city is not held to the same standards of inclusivity as an official Global City).

So basically it’s like, any person can for the most part attend any school they want (depending on the school system in the area), but in more homogeneous areas, you’re kind of taking a big bet on whether your experience will be made easier or not (which i don’t mean like, just plain culture shock or language barriers or something...but like literally, extremely serious issues in some cases. Like a vampire trying to attend an elven school that is within a country where it’s just 100% illegal to produce, harvest, or consume any product derived from any part of a living animal, and the school does not supply alternatives or other options for foreign students then it’s like? well?? lmao?? you’re just going to rot without access to blood?? maybe you can take a 3 hour trip out of the country borders every once in a while to refill?? maybe you can risk breaking the law ? how do you ever feed?? do you just,,stay sick permanently from lack of blood access?), whereas if you’re attending a GLC you pretty much are guaranteed to be provided whatever you need for it to be an accessible experience for you, so it’s not just up to random chance whether the country the school is in has those policies or not.

Most of the point of GLCs are for it to be a more secure and reliable option for schooling, especially for species with rarer or more incompatible needs than the average person. You can choose any school, but GLCs are usually ideal for a lot of people since they’re such a safe bet, especially if there’s no schools on the topic you’re interested in within your local area and you’re having to travel outside of your native land for schooling. If you’re already isolated away from home alone in a foreign country, it’s usually safer to go to a place that’s legally by nature required to be accessible and helpful to you, than to just kind of randomly hope that whatever other school you find will be able to do the same.

****(though this obviously differs depending on context, in some cases it would be expected of or legally required for a country to make changes to be accessible to others, like in the case of bringing in a lot of outsiders for work reasons, due to destabilization in the area, etc. but here I’m meaning like, just a single solitary traveler that isn’t there due to broader societal , economic, or cultural reasons in which it would actually be necessary or morally/legally expected for the country in question to provide extra aid to them)

(extra side note: Safe areas like GLCs are especially important for groups with negative associations, like how many people mistrust Jhevona and etc. While legally they may be able to attend any school, it'd be much safer for them to just try to attend a GLC where they're guaranteed respect and accommodation, because their experience may be awful if they just went to any random place, where people weren't monitored by international standards and were free to be as biased in grading and treatment as they wanted to. Especially since travel through the realm is already so dangerous, if you end up going to the wrong school, alone, far away from all family and friends, with no supervision or any regulations to look out for you, especially as a member of a commonly disliked group, you may end up just getting killed by the students and staff or something. Random schools that are unaffiliated with broader overseeing councils and standards (like all GLCs are) are under no obligation to accept you, tolerate you, cater to you, treat you equally, or keep you alive. Though I left the vague brutality of the realm out of my earlier explanation, since really that sort of thing is usually common sense, and it's rare for people to walk into an area where they'd be in danger and not know about it first.

(like for example, the unconditional personal rights laws in Fanyin (and Mippya) technically only apply to those of Cit 5 (which does not include travelers or students), which means like... technically.. stuff like murder, kidnapping, violence, etc. is not.. illegal? Or at least can be, depending on who does it and where (Cit 1 murdering a Cit 3 under any condition would be awful and illegal, Cit 3 murdering a Cit 1 even if in broad daylight right on the street would not be illegal at all, unless it were done in the presence of tourists, in which case it's only illegal because it would make the country look bad and crimes should be done in private to keep the streets beautiful. etc. Most laws are like that, where they're.. ridiculously conditional on a lot of things, like your social status, location, loyalty to the government, etc.), but as a foreign student you're not actually guaranteed ANY sort of protection AT ALL. While the government of the area does their best to keep stuff like this a secret so it doesn't hurt tourism and public reputation, it's common enough knowledge that MOST people wouldn't consider going to school there, just out of basic common sense, since it's like.. "yeah my stay may be 100% fine and I have a great time in school...however there's also technically plenty of conditional situations in which it would be legal for someone to kill me and face no repercussion??? so????? maybe another place??" lol)

So it's like, usually, it's just a choice between two reasonably civil school options, but maybe the GLC seems nicer or etc. etc. If you're looking into travel or going to outside schools in general, you'll likely be pretty aware of places to avoid, so it's often not a life or death scenario or anything. People are mostly aware of where they do and don't belong, and what areas would be safe for them and which parts of the realm they're likely to just be killed by the locals in lol. )

GLCs are sort of like colleges, but are not restricted to a certain education level, as school systems vary so wildly throughout the realm there’d really be no way to tell (one person’s “middle school” is another person’s “high school”, some people just don’t even have a local school system, curriculums vary, two people may both have graduated top of their local school system but one school system taught primarily how to grow beets and write books and the other mostly focused on abstract philosophy and elemental magic, etc. etc.), so it’s really just “we don’t require any background qualifications to get in at all, just give us your personal info and sign up and then take the entrance exams relevant to the particular few classes you’ve decided to take and then you’re in”.

(which the entrance exams usually aren’t too extensive, it’s not like you have to know everything about the class you’re taking (unless you’re applying for an upper level class where they’re starting off assuming you already have a certain level of knowledge), a lot of them are more just ethics questions and personal stuff like why you’re interested in taking the class and etc. just to weed out people who may treat the material poorly or don’t actually care about being there (like if there was only one spot left in the class and it was between someone who answered about how this was their life passion and how they had traveled 400 miles on foot just to get here to take this class and then another person who was just like “idk me mum told me i had to sign up for some dumb shit so you know whatever, idk why im here just trying stuff out”, then based on those entrance exam answers it’d go to the first person lol).

So because of this as well, there’s no set age, though you do usually have to be at least “at an age of relevant maturity” to attend, which for humans would be around 24, for elves (who physically age slower) would be around 34, for vampires (who age slightly faster than humans but are just able to stop their physical age at a point bc Immortality Complications) it’s usually around 20, for some very slow maturing species it could be up to age 50, etc. It depends (mostly on when it’s agreed upon that your brain is fairly developed and you’re able to make reasonable decisions, are not affected by lack of experience or mood and personality changes due to growth and hormones and etc.).

Younger people can attend in special cases, but usually have to be separated and escorted specially and are not allowed to live on campus (not due to lack of trust in the young people, a 10 year old in a class would be treated equally to an elderly person, as long as they understand the material nobody really cares at all. The extra rules for younger students are exclusively due to having to protect them, with them being more vulnerable to harm or predatory behaviors). Which is actually somewhat rare, as most schools in the realm don’t actually have a definite age you have to be to attend, while they will separate students by age or skill level or etc. many schools are not as strict about this as GLCs are.

GLCs usually have most students living on campus, especially since they’re common places for people to travel just to attend school (so like, 90% of students probably don’t already live and work in the local city, likely 80% of them aren’t even from the area the school is set in, they may have literally just arrived from a 50 day trip solely to come to access the education they’d like). Housing and necessities are provided and specialized to some degree depending on the student (like they’d probably house people together that have similar environmental requirements, compatible sleep rhythms, etc.), as well as food which at least two meals a day are guaranteed (with more, or larger, meals for species who need to eat more to survive of course. It’s just the ‘three meals a day’ thing really is not a concept in many places in the realm with it varying a lot between people eating once in the morning, once at night, once every few days, multiple small meals throughout the day, four times a day, whatever their culture calls for, etc.etc. So most GLCs as a middle ground for that will just offer like two meals a day officially, but students can get them at any time , you could pick up both your meals at once and eat them at 7 am, or get them early and space the contents out into 5 meals at regular intervals, you could just not have their food at all and cook your own meals, etc. etc. ) which are also specialized to the needs of the students if necessary (importing a small supply of blood for Avirre’thel students, etc.) .

(they also often feature food courts with little restaurants and communal kitchens and small grocery stores on campus, so people have even more options for buying and cooking their own food without having to go out into the local cities to do so, but at a bare minimum they do at least always provide you with the two meals a day)

GLCs just about always have uniforms, but they are pretty loose with how they’re worn and offer a lot of different alterations or modifications and different versions for students with very different anatomy, and even with pretty standard humanoid anatomy they offer a lot of choices (so like instead of ‘bottoms are either pants or a skirt!’ it’d be more like you can choose from: long skirt, overalls jumper dress, shorter skirt, medium skirt, split skirt, shorts, skort, long loose pants, long tight pants, short shorts, knee length shorts, capris, overalls shorts jumper thing, pants with a skirt over it, pants or shorts with like kind of skirt flaps surrounding them in segments, etc. etc. etc.), and will for the most part let students wear it however and modify them (cutting the sleeves off of a shirt, adding cute bows to your outer jacket, choosing never to wear the outer jacket at all, etc.) as long as you’re not changing it to the point it’s unrecognizable (like dying the fabric a different color), since the one of the main points of uniforms is mostly to be able to easily identify and keep track of students on campus. The uniform specifics (color, style, etc.) will usually vary by school.

There isn’t much structure aside from just, make it to your classes on time, take care of your needs, and follow the rules of conduct. Class length and start time totally depend on what class you’re taking and usually operate on their own independent schedules, the cafeteria is open at all times and people just come get their two meals whenever they want (if they want) and there’s no set time to eat, most places on campus like libraries and etc. are open at all times as well to accommodate different schedules, there’s the occasional area that may have a curfew or time that it closes and students shouldn’t be there, but it’s usually pretty open with the times things occur and etc. There’s no bed times or quiet times officially, aside from the dorms being separated to allot for different schedules (like rooms for people who sleep during the day and wake at night being all the way across campus from those who do things during the day and sleep at night), and just general rules to be considerate.

Leaving and entering the campus is reasonably regulated, you have to provide identification and pass through the usual non-magic areas (due to the prevalence in Nanyevimi of stuff like enchantments and shapeshifting, usually public areas where your identity is important to confirm (like workplaces, schools, etc.) will have rooms you have to pass through that are enchanted to override all current magic, so like if you’re shapeshifting to steal someone’s identity, when you pass through the room, your shapeshifting magic will be cancelled out and you’ll be temporarily rendered into a natural state free of all magical modifications where you’re unable to use any form of magic, meaning like… you’re going to go back to yourself and they’ll find out obviously you’re not actually who you were pretending to be lol)), and there’s usually a log kept of the people coming and leaving*.

(*mostly since a majority of people at the school are foreign students who are there entirely alone with no connections or support system in the nearby areas. They take responsibility for the students, so like if they leave and it’s been 3 days since their last return log and they’ve missed classes and stuff, the GLC has to notify people to look for them and etc. Since in general, the population of GLCs is pretty vulnerable to kidnappers or murderers or etc., considering they don’t have a family or job or apartment or anything that would notice if they went missing, really the only people who even know about their existence in the area would be the school and maybe their Friends at the school if they have any, thus staff at the GLC have way more provisions in place to secure the safety of students and track their movements, make sure everyone's still alive and nobody has been kidnapped or gotten lost, etc.).

(side note: GLCs are actually a common area for people to stalk to find targets, especially with stuff like the blood market, or scientists who aim to kidnap and study rare species and etc., foreign kids with no support systems in the area are a good catch, so the GLCs are usually like.. VERY guarded and protective, and new students get introductory classes about the land layout and social climate of the area, suspicious groups and behavior to look out for when traveling etc. etc.)

While some schools in the realm of course are more focused on making money, looking good on paper with high score statistics above all else, promoting a very specific agenda, or etc. , the point of a good majority of schooling systems in Nanyevimi is just to give people access to learning skills that they’re passionate about in order for them to improve themselves, their community, the local workforce, etc. etc. and to spread important knowledge and trades across the population. Likewise, that is the focus of all GLCs, so they don’t really require any unnecessary classes or hold very strict rules about timing or etc. You graduate essentially whenever you’ve mastered the skills and completed the courses of the particular studies you chose. There are certain levels of qualification you can attain that will have certain requirements (like if you want to be able to legally call yourself an “[insert name of your GLC here] Certified Medical Doctor”, you have to have taken and passed a particular set of classes ), but you can mix and match whatever you want, if you just wanted to stop by and take a single music course and then leave the school with a certificate saying "i passed the level 1 music course at my GLC", that would be fine, or if you wanted to stay on campus for 15 years taking a huge variety of classes to meet 5 different levels of qualification and leave school with 80 certificates declaring all the levels of education you’ve completed, that’s fine too.

It’s usually on a course by course basis, with some influence from if you’re attempting to meet one of the higher qualifications or not, but pretty open to customization and you just learning whatever random things you like until you feel that’s enough. Average stay at a GLC is 3-5 years. You can also re-try classes how ever many times you want, whether it takes you a full school year, half of a school year, or 3 full years to master the material of a given course, you’ll still be given your certificate accordingly just whenever you’ve got it down. Though their scoring system is a bit more strict than some schools in the realm (since they try to keep education and requirements fairly uniform across GLCs, one school’s low score isn’t another school’s high score, etc.), it is a little evened out by you getting as much time as you need to learn things.

GLCs by nature are required to be free to all students who pass the entrance exams to their classes , though this can be difficult depending on the area. In some cases they have to limit or put a restriction on the number of students that can be attending school at any given time and hold off new students until a certain number have finished or etc. (in the case that the school is still charged for supplies and thus spending money per student but not receiving any, they may have to limit student body to only how much the donations from outside organizations and etc. will cover) , or they may have to limit classes (some areas are fine with the school being free but want to limit what they’re able to teach, like in an area where non-violence is a major concept in their culture, they may allow the school to operate free of charge but require that they do not host any form of combat classes, or that if they do, the classes are paid for separately), or in some cases call in external defense force to protect the school (in some places where the governments or culture are extremely profit focused, so many people take issue with the concept of something being offered without anyone making money from it that there are regular attempts to like, shut down the school, attacks by the citizens themselves or local law enforcement meant to frighten everyone out of the area, etc. etc. so to protect students and etc. they’ll have to have more extensive guards and etc.

( Though this is rare since obviously GLCs want to avoid this and try to not host schools in areas where this would even be an issue in the first place, or any other place where they could foresee other dangers (for example countries like Fanyin, places in the middle of wars, militarized countries where it’s legal for the leaders to basically just do whatever the hell they want and ask people with weapons to enforce it (so they could walk up on the school and kill everyone and it would be perfectly legal and okay aside from like, probably being condemned/possibly starting conflict with the countries around them, but not if they cover it up well), etc. just anything in general where it would be putting the students at too much risk to host a school there), but there are still like, a tiny handful of cases where maybe a school has been in an area thousands of years but the area just now recently is starting to have those sorts of issues, or where like, it’s an extremely good area to host a school due to it being near a major travel hub or something so it’s very convenient and accessible for students but just like, ONE of the local governments is wild as hell but the pros outweigh that con, etc. )

But in general, most GLCs have no issue with this, since like, the broad majority of places in the realm have free schooling anyway (also most GLCs are in global cities so like, those areas are already going to be open to the concept due to the nature of the area as well), or have their monetary system organized in such a way that it’s something that’s easy to set up, or don’t even have an established monetary system so it’s not much of an issue in the first place, and there are plenty of groups who offer funding if it’s necessary, like international councils for the support of learning and education or etc. etc. But yeah, for the most part all GLCs are by nature, free of cost to the student, though there may be a few limitations or the occasional thing that is expected to be paid for depending on the cooperation of the local area, usually certain councils will offer to pay student fees in those situations, or etc.

Legally, GLCs kind of operate almost as an incredibly small country within their own campus, though like mentioned, they are still under the laws and control and etc. of the local area and the founder of the school, at the same time they do also have those requirements set on them by the larger councils and external groups who help manage the GLC, so sometimes like in the case of finances the GLC sort of acts as it’s own like, independent group, negotiating terms with local governments on it’s own behalf, or having certain laws and regulations that are applicable on campus but may be different off campus, etc. It’s usually a kind of weird situation, but works out since almost always both parties are in agreement, but again with stuff like money or being caught in the middle of local land disputes or etc, especially schools that have been established in an area for a long time will kind of act as an independent party trying to negotiate with local nations or governments as a separate entity with their own interests and etc. when necessary.

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And that’s basically stuff about schools I guess!!! I have trouble organizing what exactly are important details and probably have added some unnecessary things or left out some important details that I just didn’t think to elaborate on lol but, this is mostly just a very vague run down of how schools and stuff work in the realm, just for reference if I ever end up mentioning them or etc. !

~~~

***** Aforementioned side ramble context for the whole global cities thing and how the supernatural realm (Nanyevimi) functions as a whole:

In most areas of the supernatural realm it’s pretty uniform depending on where you are, there may be other groups at certain travelers hubs or other areas, but for the most part, anywhere you are will be primarily inhabited by like 1-3 main cultures or species. Even though the supernatural realm has a ton of different groups in it, many stay isolated mostly in their homeland or centralized area, as travel can be costly and dangerous, and just plain difficult.

The way that everything is lined up is like,, in one country everyone is one specific type of elf and they all mostly speak their own language and they use magical technology and have cell phones and computers and rooftop gardens and they use a silver coin with a star in the middle for their currency , but then you travel just a mere 300 miles away and suddenly EVERYTHING is completely different, it’s a country primarily inhabited by orc-like people who all speak a totally different language and use fire to light their homes, communicate everything by letter and travel on foot, they use dried animal pelts for currency and have no conversion for the currency you’ve brought from the previous land, etc. etc.

Things like language barriers and cultural differences are easily overcome, especially if in a group that can use magic, but sometimes things like people existing literally on a nearly different timescale than your own (thus processing the very nature and importance of events and perception of their entire existence differently than you), or having such vastly different biological needs from you (one can only live in the heat, one in the cold, one must eat metals to live, other is allergic to metal, etc.), the uneven spread of technology, and stuff like magical areas vs. non-magical areas, can sometimes make it much harder to relate to or trade with others (at least harder than it would be if most people lived generally around the same timespan and had similar physical needs and the technology to effectively communicate across longer distances).

Which isn’t to say they dislike others, there are not many groups that isolate themselves out of hatred for their neighbors, and most cultures are at least reasonably welcome of travelers or visitors or negotiating with the people near them, but it’s more of just like, they just don’t feel the inherent need to expand themselves or go many other places, generally, especially species with a slower growing population or those in already kind of isolated areas that don’t often have large scale internal conflicts or etc. (since there wouldn’t even be much logical reason for them to travel elsewhere other than out of curiosity, but not the type of urgent necessity like what happens in wars or when there’s not enough resources for a group or etc. ).

Like for example if you’re a small 2 foot tall squirrel species that lives in trees and has a lifespan of just about 50 years old on average and your highest daily concerns are just making cool huts out of grass and finding enough berries and writing cultural story songs in your language to pass on to your offspring before you die, you’re probably not going to be very concerned with the giant 19 foot tall humanoid water creatures that live a little off the coast of your forest and live for 8,000+ years and spend most of their time building underground monuments to their group of 22 celestial gods and eating fish and that don’t speak any language you think you could even come close to understanding because you literally can’t even produce the same noises with your mouth anatomy. And yeah, they take small pebbles from the shore sometimes, but overall they don’t bother you or interact with you and they’re just so far outside of the scope of any of your most pressing daily concerns and you feel like you couldn’t even comprehend the way they’re living anyway so, you kind of just leave them be? And sure, if they were being killed or needed resources or something (assuming they’d even be able to communicate that to you), you’d help them out since, why not? You have nothing against them. But, for the most part you just don’t think of them, you’re busy with your grass and your songs. Maybe a few members of your squirrel group get curious and go out to attempt to talk to the others occasionally, or create a religion based off of these strange water beings and leave them flowers at the shore from time to time to maybe gain luck from them or something,, but overall they just seem so abstract to you, never make contact with you, and aren’t causing you any harm so?? you just don’t think about them often.

Like almost in a way there’s SO MUCH variance in so many ways between different groups and species and etc. that it ends up being difficult to establish a more concrete sense of uniformity or unity across the realm. Small areas can group together, and plenty of species can exist alongside each other and etc., but the wide variance in biology and technology and inconsistent travel and communication systems and isolating environmental factors and etc. make societies exist more in little isolated centers and tiny civilization pockets around the world, rather than all being one huge interconnected system where everyone knows about everyone else and trades with everyone else and etc.

( though there are plenty of global organizations and international councils that try to promote unity and safe travels and will help represent you or give you a translator or etc. if you have to be traveling between a lot of countries,, trains that run between large areas and etc.. and a handful of broad sources of global connection on a large scale that are present and available and at least somehow accessible from some areas. and of course, global cities and stuff. But these things aren’t present everywhere, and are not super widespread)

The current state of Nanyevimi is kind of just like, a bunch of little distinct pockets of people (towns, cities, villages, etc.) within slightly larger distinct pockets of people (countries) all of which likely don’t really have much to do with the pockets of people beside them (with the exception of a few major conflict areas, or major areas of unity where there’s a lot of alliance between groups in the area) and just kind of sit alone doing things in their own ways, with the occasional like, interference of a global council or something asking permission to build an international railway through the area or asking if it’s okay to escort travelers through the lands or etc. Other than communicating for only the most utterly necessary of trade or resource exchange, most groups don’t go forming political alliances with other groups or trying to integrate others into their culture or take over their lands or etc., they just want to keep to themselves.

BUT ANYWAY, this is context on why “global cities” are kind of an actual distinct thing, since you would think like, “every city is a global city”, but usually cities are pretty much just the people in the area and not much else. Like for example, most large cities in Navyete still are mainly populated by vampires, since the entire population of Navyete is like over 96% Avirre'thel due to them being an extremely isolated people generally. Even though they’re still large bustling cities with many inhabitants, those inhabitants are mostly all people who speak the same language and are from the same culture. Then compare that to some of the major coastal cities in Asen, which, though they are right next door to Navyete, have a massive variance in population and are usually places where you find businesses and schools and groups and species and cultures from legit all over the entire world collected in one place.

(Asen is a very “global country” overall, despite being originally founded by the Fanyiniri and elves still being the slightly dominant population in the area by most measures (especially if you count rural areas), Asen has operated as an independent country free of the Fanyiniri for like 10,000 years, and it just so happens to be really conveniently located for hubs of global trade and etc).

So, yeah. Something being a 'global area’ (cities, learning centers, travel hubs, etc.) is actually fairly unique and uncommon in the realm as a whole. Though there are many attempts to unify the realm (like people always suggesting ‘universal languages’ or like, having every living species classified in a registry to keep track of them all, or to have like, established communication networks or councils involving every culture/nation in the world, etc.), these usually, hardly ever work or even get off the ground as an idea (since with most things there’s a lot of criticism of if that should even be a goal in the first place, implications of that, etc. etc. It’s usually some professor brings up an idea and then his colleagues split into groups of differing opinions on the matter and argue about it for a few years and then eventually drop it) , so , Global Cities and stuff are usually the closest thing to a unified society that exists. Little tiny pockets of the world where, at least on a smaller scale, you can find the extremely rare event of like 90+ unique humanoid species all chilling and trying to get along with each other in one space.

#worldbuilding #idk really what to tag this as lol

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supergirlimaginesfic-blog · 7 years

Text

Lena Luthor x reader (Preventative measures, and one welcome threat)

a/n: no one asked for this one either but... I’m gonna do the thing anyway just because, and I thought about how absolutely dumb it would be if you were this cool, unflappable bodyguard but you’d become profoundly useless the moment you saw Lena put her hair down or like, do something vaguely hot and you’d just... become totally non-functioning LOL

Anyway I’m a trash person and I have trash ideas so here’s the trash thing! It’s not all that serious, I wanted it to be all fun and giggles lmao. This is really indulgent and like, six different levels of unprofessional but then I realized THIS IS FIC WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT Y’ALL!!! YAY!! it’s a little shorter and I think I can get away with making another part for it. Moreover though, I think Lena has had too many bouts with death and TBH I think she should just get a break dammit! Don’t we deserve better than that? Maybe we do... ;)

- - - - -

You would never really consider yourself a storyteller, but you’re beginning to understand that’s just what you’ve become. For all the questions people ask about your job, you have just as many anecdotes that for some reason, people find just absolutely fascinating.

Yours is a humble beginning - no, you didn’t always want to be a personal bodyguard. No, you didn’t go to school for it. Yes, like most things that have occurred in your life, opportunities presented themselves and you took the chance.

In fact, when you were five years old you were convinced you were going to be an astronaut when you grew up... or a dog-walker. You certainly did not think you’d be someone who was hired for the sole purpose of protecting vaguely important people you really had no idea about, nor could care to know about.

The job, you’ve realized in your own personal experiences, is a whole lot of rich people travelling around to gamble or to partake in other high-risk trade-offs, and still, you always think no one should have any right to carry around that much money, let alone own that much at all to warrant needing personal security in the form of another human being.

Still, it pays itself, and you couldn’t find yourself complaining heartily about the injustices of the wealthy elite and their various extravagances when you’ve made a comfortable life for yourself out of their paranoia.

As it was, you find yourself waking up at 5 in the morning for some ungodly reason you will never get used to - you know a good portion of your colleagues live for the thrill of going for a run in the early hours of the morning, rising before the sun and riding the high of productivity that a mere mortal civilian could never appreciate.

Perhaps, you think, that this logic made a mere mortal civilian out of you since you’ve pressed the snooze on your alarm five times and you’ve finally, but forcefully, shoved yourself out of your bed and onto your floor a good hour and a half later than you were ideally supposed to get up.

Still, even with your eternal vexation of having to be an early riser, you wake up significantly quicker than you think you would, and you give yourself credit for it everyday.

Your next assignment, you’ve been informed, is not necessarily a direct request - rather, you’ve been hired on behalf of someone else, which isn’t uncommon. You’ve yet to find out if your presence will be a surprise to your actual client in question, but that’s a problem for later, and that’s what your superiors are for.

You’re an armed bodyguard, and you’ll be working full-time which means you’ll be with your client for however long you’re required, and you’ll be sticking around them 24/7.

With your duffle bag already packed and your suits cleaned and pressed, you make your way into your Range Rover after you’ve made sure that your gun and your knife are both in their holsters hidden under your suit before you set off for the address that’s been sent to your phone.

For someone with rather impressive credentials and an even more eclectic resume of personalities you’ve been hired for, you’re still a little bit shocked when you discover yet another secret branch of the government - this time, you’ve been hired by an organization called the “DEO”, and you wonder just who exactly you’re supposed to be watching if every one of these agents is allegedly specially trained.

You’ve already been screened, processed, and vetted by the organization before they even considered hiring you through your company, who in their part were rather amenable to whatever the DEO wanted to do with you considering the hefty paycheck they were offering for your services.

Even still, you brandish your ID, your driver’s licence, and even your passport to the guards standing at the door, and watch as four guards examine your weapons, and two separate guards frisk your person for any other hidden contraband.

You take all your IDs out again for the people at the desk, and finally you’re escorted into a conference room lined with what you’re sure is a one-way mirror on all the walls where you’re sat across a tall black man with an inscrutable face.

He’s got your file on the table in front of him and he only glances down for a moment before he stares at you silently.

You stare back sitting perfectly still and relaxed in your chair and recognize the tactic for what it is. You don’t break eye contact with him as you wait for him to say something.

After what is seemingly a mildly uncomfortable amount of time to be silently staring at a stranger, the man speaks up and addresses you by name.

You nod your head in recognition and then he says, “Welcome to the DEO.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’m sure you understand, the entire process is lengthy but it is to ensure the utmost safety not just for our client but for yourself as well.”

“That’s understandable.”

“You may have also noted we’ve plenty of adequately trained agents here who would be more than qualified to do your job, but this is a matter of subtlety and we’ve thought it best to outsource a security detail rather than risk one of our agents for this particular duty.”

You nod again in acknowledgement - in its own variably twisted way, you’ve become used to being expendable, but that’s where the matter of you having to be good at your job comes in, so that you’re not expended.

After the brief conversation, if you would even call it that, the man stands up and approaches you with a hand outstretched, and you meet him halfway. He gives you a firm handshake and he passes a small, folded up piece of paper into your hand as he does so, and you ball your hand into a fist, not blinking at the exchange.

He sends you off and you realize you don’t know his name, but you suppose you don’t really need to know, and this time you don’t need to be escorted and you retrieve your belongings as you leave.

When you get back to your car, you unfold the paper and see just a singular thing written on it and you raise your eyebrows slightly at the sight. You rarely allow yourself personal opinions regarding your jobs, but you can’t help the anticipation and the wonder in your mind as you consider your new client.

You’re not exactly surprised, but your curiosity is getting the better of you gradually. You drive towards downtown with the tune of some Little Mix song stuck in your head for absolutely no definitive reason at all that you can think of apart from it just being a really damn catchy song, and you hum Black Magic quietly to yourself until you see the infamous “L” on your target building.

You grab your own files and make your way inside the building once you’ve parked in their lot, your eyes squinting minutely in scrutiny at the evident lack of security in the lobby, and the only person around to question you is a guard doubling as a receptionist.

You sign your name on the list and hand the guard your ID as she examines your signature before allowing you to go through, not at all bothering to check anything else of you.

You figure you have to go to the top floor, so you wait in the elevator as it takes you up. When you get out, you scan the floor quickly before you make your way toward the desk.

The secretary glances up at you and double-takes as if trying to determine your face. She furrows her eyebrows and you take the distraction to read the gold-plated name plate on her desk that says “Jessica”.

You look back to her and you watch as her eyes blatantly trail up and down your figure, not once but twice, and her expression is otherwise unreadable apart from the slight quirk of her eyebrow when her gaze lands back on your face.

She’s silent for a moment before she speaks up, “Ms. Luthor requires an appointment ahead of time, which is usually within a week or two depending on the urgency of the matter.”

You feel the scrutiny of her gaze again as her eyes trail over you again, and you clear your throat when you remember you’re supposed to say something.

“Right, of course. I guess it should be expected that my arrival is a bit of a surprise, sorry, here-” you say, as you reach for your business card, your official letter from your company, as well as your contract with redacted names of the DEO’s involvement and your ID.

You place them all onto her desk and she regards them with a look you know is pretty much universal of and who do you think you are exactly?, which is usually only ever present at the tail end of the sentiment that begs the question what nerve?

Her eyes never leave yours as she reaches for your papers, her eagle-eyed watch on you shifting with expressions of doubt and disbelief as she finally looks down and reads for a moment, taking note of the official stamps and signatures on your papers as she looks at your ID. Eventually, she puts it on her photocopier and waits.

“These mean nothing,” she says.

Despite yourself, you smile widely at the observation as she continues.

“These could all be fake, but at least I’ll have a copy of your alleged identity.”

You reply, still grinning, “I assure you, that’s the least of my intentions, but I commend your diligence.”

She squints her eyes at you and the printer continues humming, obtrusively loud given the near dead-silence of the room apart from the printer. You see her jaw tick and she tilts her head imperceptibly, you know this as a slight act of defense.

“I’m not paid to trust anyone.”

You almost laugh, catching yourself before you do, and you just smile at her show of tenacity.

“I guess you and I have that in common then,” is all you say.

For what it’s worth, you think this secretary, Jess, is more than enough to make up for the lack of security downstairs. If you were a weaker person, you knew you’d crumble under her interrogative stare.

She merely hums in dissent as the copying finally finishes and she hands back your original, not before demanding you to sign and date her copy of your ID.

“Don’t think you can just walk in here and pretend to be some third-party hire, I’m not stupid and Ms. Luthor certainly isn’t either - you’re not the only person with the lame, trite idea to do so,” she stares you down meaningfully and waits a moment to see that you’re still following.

She gestures vaguely to the space around her, “there are cameras in every nook and cranny of these offices you’re not aware of, and they will be used as proof to corroborate any shenanigans you think you can pull, and I will personally build a case against you myself if you think to try anything out of line here.”

She shoots a hardened stare at you and you just feel the unspoken don’t test me that pierces through you, and you really think you’re beginning to respect this secretary under all your amusement.

You nod your agreement and still try to assuage her aggression, but you know it might be for naught.

All she gives you is an unimpressed, “mhm,” before she’s picking up her phone and looks at you disinterestedly as if to convey that your abrupt interruption has inconvenienced an entire empire’s worth of productivity.

“Ms. Luthor, you have a guest just before your next meeting, I’ve deemed six minutes to be enough for this brief appointment,” she pauses, and then, “of course, Ms. Luthor.”

She hangs up and gives you the go ahead to walk into the office, but not before she sends you a final warning look and you nod in acknowledgement.

“Thank you,” you say when you collect your things and make your way to the door.

You knock before a muffled “come in” is heard from the office, and you wait a moment before you open the door and go through.

Lena Luthor sits at her desk and types momentarily before finishing up whatever it was she was doing and she looks up at you, smiling pleasantly as she stands.

You know you don’t show it, but your breath hitches just the slightest when you get a look of her face and her pale blue-green eyes take you in.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asks you.

“The pleasure is mine, Ms. Luthor. My name is (Y/N), I’m not at liberty to disclose anything at this very moment, but I do have several documents you can read to inform yourself of your new arrangement, and after then we can discuss any questions you have, should there be any outstanding,” you say as you hand the file folder to her, taking your cue as she motions for you to sit in the chair across her desk.

She looks at the folder questioningly and glances back up at you, an expression of total confusion on her face which tells you enough of her knowledge of the real reason for your presence.

Apparently, all it’s taken for her is one glance at your company’s letterhead as well as the non-redacted version of the DEO’s contract for you before she sighs in recognition.

“I suppose this isn’t totally out of left field. I’ve insisted this isn’t required but it looks like they’ve deemed otherwise,” she says with a bit of a wry smile.

“I understand,” you say, and you do.

You don’t really know what it’d be like to have other people making decisions for you, and now that you think about it, it is just a little bit messed up when other people get involved and make you do things without your prior knowledge.

You think you feel for her a little bit then.

“Well, now that you’re here, I don’t intend on making this any more uncomfortable or unpleasant than it needs to be - this isn’t exactly my first song and dance. If we’re going to be around each other for as long as we will be, we can skip the formalities, if you’re okay with that, that is.”

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.”

She cocks her eyebrow and smiles expectantly, you blink and clear your throat when you have to snap yourself out of your little daze.

“Right... Lena.”

She regards you a moment longer than necessary and smiles again, softer this time, and remembers herself.

“Now, I suppose I should let my secretary know I’m still alive - though there is always that slim window of opportunity in which you severely harm me in the moment between now and when I walk towards my boardroom, but if you do spare me that, you’ll see I’ll be dealing with an equivalent small death in the form of an unsavoury businessman,” she tells you as she moves to collect her belongings and your file which she places at the bottom of her pile.

You smile at her admission, “I could be wrong, but it seems as though aggressive vigilance is a trait shared between you and your secretary.”

Still, you take a mental of the alleged businessman and you wonder if you have to step in at all, but you figure that’s not the type of tussle you need to get into.

You follow Lena as she walks through her door and she smiles at Jess as she passes by, Jess smiling back and instantaneously reverting to a neutral expression when her glance falls on you, and your mouth quirks slightly into a small smile.

She stops abruptly and you’re just several paces behind her when she sighs deeply, bracing herself for whatever this meeting holds and your day officially begins.

“Mr. Heaton,” Lena greets the man in the room.

“Lena,” he all but grunts back.

You take your place by the side of the door and you already feel mild irritation at the man.

You watch as Lena takes the man’s verbal pestering in stride and he’s practically hounding her, using poorly disguised intimidation tactics that you’re sure she can see through, and she continues to smile and correct the man when necessary.

Sometimes, and there are many instances, you’ve seen a threat of a challenge rise across Lena’s face, but it’s gone as quickly as you could spot it, and she merely leans further back into her chair which apparently only aggravates the man further.

You watch as he leers and begins to fall into taunts, downright refusing to entertain pleasantries as he presses harder and continues to push Lena’s buttons in some low blow attempt at undoing her.

You realize then just how differently the businessmen you’ve protected act around each other and how they act when they’re around a woman who is not only their equal but could in fact be a superior.

You can only watch in growing distaste as you watch Lena duck and dodge each thinly veiled accusation and every unsolicited comment, and you know very well your job doesn’t involve saving people from heckling in the form of business matters, but objectively, you wish you could knock this guy out into a sleep.

Still, you’re silent as you keep your post by the door, only able to watch the ordeal and you can only imagine how Lena must feel - she must be used to it by now, and somehow, the thought makes you more repugnant about the state of the world which really, is a bit of an impressive thing to do to you, as your being jaded of the current state of affairs leaves little room for surprise cynicism.

Before you can even contemplate the blatant injustices of corporatism and the workplace and society, Lena can probably detect your growing enmity radiating toward the other two occupants of the room and she cuts the meeting’s end, graciously thanking Mr. Heaton for his time and she will be in contact with him within the next month or so.

You watch as he gets up slowly, ogling Lena’s figure shamelessly and the tension gets heavier when neither refuse to extend a hand for a handshake.

He merely moves to leave after he’s done eyeing her, and then he looks at you, but you’ve already moved your gaze politely toward a spot on the wall ahead of you.

He moves in a way that will force your look, you pull your gaze to meet his and your jaw involuntarily clenches at the sight of him and his unwarranted arrogance.

You tilt your head slightly in challenge and in question, wordlessly beckoning him both to walk away but also to try something on you, just so you can feel some satisfaction of roughing him up just a little bit.

He opts for the smarter option and moves on without further fuss, and seemingly both you and Lena relax at his departure.

“Never again, please,” Lena says to no one in particular as she rubs at her temples.

She turns her chair to face you, and then she’s got her face in her hands as she inhales deeply. The rattling from your suit jacket makes her look up and you hold out a small migraine pill bottle to her and she smiles.

“Do you honestly carry that around everywhere or is that just for me?”

“Not necessarily, I could benefit from them too.”

She huffs a small laugh at your remark, “strange, I thought you were all supposed to be elite super-soldiers with no ailments, or without ties to the human condition.”

You smile easily, “that might be easier, but then that’d take away the basic human element of compassion, and I think that’s a pretty integral part they don’t teach you when you’re meant to be protecting people’s lives with your own.”

“You make it sound like it’s not about the money,” Lena says cheekily.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, the money is so great,” you say as you smirk conspiratorially. “But it’s easy to get jaded and lose track of yourself and the big picture - the difference between me and a machine is that I choose to do this.”

“Don’t you ever think what you do isn’t worth it?” she asks.

“Often... more than I’d willingly admit. Majority of the time, my presence isn’t ‘worth it’ or really necessary. I’m usually just for peace of mind, and I think that’s well worth it to be safe than to err on the side of risk.”

She looks at you and is silent as she thinks of your observation, before she smiles again.

“Right, of course,” she says dubiously.

“And I mean, usually I’m hired by people to protect them or their things or whatever else you could think of. You start to see a pattern if you do this enough times, you get to see what really matters to people when they think they’re in danger.”

You pause, realizing you might be speaking just a little out of line, but you can’t really go back on it now.

“I think, in this case, if nothing else comes from me being around you, I think one thing you can take from this is that there are people out there who care a lot about you and want the best for you.”

Lena looks at you and searches your face, her expression significantly softer than you’d seen it throughout the entire meeting.

“And you’re saying you’re the best?” she finally asks jokingly.

“That would be your words, not mine,” you grin at the jest. “I can only try to be better than I am at this moment.”

She hums in consideration, smiles at you again.

“Alright, poet, how about we get through the rest of this day and you can tell me all of your ruminations of life after.”

Before you know it, she’s stood up and gathered her belongings, walking swiftly past you and you fall in step behind her.

The remainder of the day is spent with no more aggravations, the rest of her company and her tasks are much more agreeable than the one unruly man you unfortunately had to witness that morning.

Lena insists that you sit on the couch, or at the very least pull up a chair beside the door if you really ought to be right there, but you decline and instead opt to switch up your posts in a way that is still in a good proximity to the door and with your eye to her balcony.

You begin to get the idea that perhaps you’re making her a bit nervous, and you concede and feel guilty about distracting her when you glance towards her, but she’s still typing away steadily at her computer, occasionally pausing to write notes.

Sometimes, you catch her gaze, and sometimes she catches yours, and more and more often you’re both just glancing at each other and the day passes with the cyclical give and take.

Eventually, it’s time to go home, and you’re rather surprised the infamous CEO Lena Luthor is going home at a decent time, but you decide to keep your presumptions to yourself.

When you reach the parking lot, you look up at the sky under the guise of taking in the night, taking note that there is very minimal possibility of some aerial attack.

You look around the parking lot and feel mildly uneasy about the vastness of space where you can just see all the possibilities of an ambush and how they would pan out.

Still, it remains quiet and Lena walks wordlessly beside you, the light rhythmic tapping of her heels the only sound that you can distinguish.

You scan your surroundings only moving your eyes, using the most of your peripherals and not bothering to turn your head as you walk calmly to your SUV.

You raise a hand to gesture Lena to stop - you’re alone on this task, and you figure if something were to happen to your car at this moment, having Lena in such a close proximity is a bit of a moot point, but you figure at least you’ll have her in your sights.

You turn your back on her briefly, wanting to make this quick - you get to the ground swiftly and check under your car with a flashlight, searching for some telltale flashing or anything out of place behind your tires, in the rims, anywhere else something can be hidden.

You glance to see her heels still near you, and when you get up she looks at you with perplexity and vague amusement, but she thanks you nonetheless when you open the car door for her.

She gets into the backseat and you lock the door briefly - you know that the habit is a bit pedantic but you also know if there are people who are as equally skilled as you are, all they need is just a few seconds of opportunity for everything to go haywire.

Still content that you’re alone in the lot, you unlock your car again and get in quickly, locking the door again and turning on the ignition in one fluid motion before you’re driving away from the lot.

Seemingly instinctively, you start humming to yourself again, and it’s still the same song you’ve had stuck in your head all day and you wonder if you’ll go to sleep with that as your final thought.

You drive around several blocks to see if anyone could be following you, but when you’re satisfied that no one is going to spontaneously tail you, Lena finally fills the silence.

“You’re not lost, are you?”

“No, I’ve memorized several different routes to take in varying emergencies, and I have a few back up plans for several worst case scenarios.”

“There can be more than one worst cast scenario?” Lena asks.

You take a very brief moment to glance in the rearview mirror at Lena and give her a small, tight-lipped smile. You look away again and scan the streets and the sidewalks, looking for something you might not find - and you hope you wouldn’t.

“Have you ever had to kill someone?”

You smile and shake your head. Her small talk really gets straight to the point, but you entertain her.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve drawn my weapon a handful of times though, can count the instances on one hand. That’s like the last thing you should do, and shoot only when our lives are in immediate danger.”

Lena hums, and then, “that must be quite scary for you. I don’t know how you’d deal with that.”

Involuntarily, you recall the ordeal with Lena and the Venture explosion, and the whole debacle of her brother’s attempts on her life and how she’d shot an assassin in a police uniform.

You look up into the mirror and see her gaze fixed outside her window.

“Well, you do what you have to do to survive. It’s not just self-preservation, it’s going against every instinct of your being that’s telling you to be fearful and to be at the mercy of your peril. Surviving against the odds means having to be your own hero in your most dire moment.”

Lena’s quiet for a moment, and you start to wonder if you’ve said too much.

“Is that how you manage your feelings with your job?”

“I just convince myself the money is worth it,” you say jokingly.

“I don’t believe you do it because of that though,” Lena says, and you glance into the mirror again and catch her gaze.

“You may think you do it because of the money, and you think your mask of selfishness can safeguard you, but personally, I think what you do is one of the most selfless acts of service.”

You’re quiet for a moment and you ponder Lena’s remarks. You appreciate it, and you understand it, but you don’t want to admit what it might really be - you haven’t wanted to admit it aloud for a long while.

“Or it’s just the reckless disregard of my life,” you mutter softly.

You don’t think Lena’s heard you when she says nothing, and it’s quiet for another moment before she speaks again.

“Whatever it is, you still do it because you choose to and not because you’ve been programmed to. The difference between you and a machine is that you can fathom gratitude, and the reward, and the risk and consequence of doing what you do. However way you twist it, that seems like the markings of a hero, don’t you think?”

You continue driving, your eyes still scanning your surroundings and even without the distraction of vigilance, you don’t think you have anything of substance to reply to Lena.

There’s a lull in the conversation and you hum the song that’s been stuck in your head all day, the steady rise and fall of your chest as you breathe putting you in a calm state of mind - you’re close to Lena’s loft.

“I didn’t take you for a Little Mix fan,” she says suddenly, and you’re overcome with the sudden, overwhelming desire to punch yourself in the face for how instantly you blush at her comment.

“I didn’t take you for one to recognize a song,” you retort, hoping you don’t sound too defensive.

You don’t need to look up in the mirror to hear Lena’s smile when she replies.

“Not me, no. It’s my friend, Kara. She has such an affinity for pop music and boy bands and girl groups.”

You huff in laughter and clear your throat, more than relieved to be pulling up to the private parking entrance below the building.

When you park in the lot she points out, you do your routine of getting out first and locking the door, checking around you, and unlocking the door and letting Lena out when your evaluation of the place is to your standards, and she thanks you again as she gets out.

She leads the way as you get into an elevator that will take her directly to the loft level, and you wait with your suits and your duffle bag in hand.

When she stands in front of her door with her key in hand, she waits expectantly and with great humour, watches as you acknowledge her silently.

You put the hangers for your suits in your mouth and bite down to hold them, your duffle bag hangs on your shoulder as you brace with your one hand hovering just near your concealed gun and the other in the ready position for an attack.

You look ridiculous, refusing to let her carry any of your belongings, and when she unlocks the door, you make quick work of going through without busting her door and you inspect the immediate area because you just never know.

You can’t ever get out of work mode, but Lena practically forces you to be casual when she walks past you with a smirk on her face and moves to take her coat off and shuck her heels off in one motion.

You decide it’s finally time to stop looking dumb and you take the hangers from your mouth. You look around the loft most definitely by virtue of having to know the space well and not at all to take in whatever personal stories you can parse from Lena’s home.

Lena’s voice comes from somewhere down the hall, “I wasn’t expecting a sleepover tonight, you can go ahead and order whatever food you’d like, I’ll foot all the expenses.”

You feel yourself flush again and you wonder if it was just absolutely necessary for her to word it like that, but you still linger around the space and wait for something to do.

“You’re like a vampire, aren’t you? Am I to invite you to do everything? You can put your belongings away, you know,” she says as her head pops up from around the corner, her eyes teasing as she watches.

“Of course,” you say, but you still don’t move.

You’re quickly becoming aware of how really useless you are not only when pretty girls are concerned, but when pretty girls are concerned and you’re meant to be around them in a job setting, but the entirety of you is wishing for circumstances that were anything but a job setting.

You ought to reel yourself back in; you know quite well how your superiors would react if they caught wind of your current misgivings.

You stand up straighter and fix yourself in an attempt to snap out of whatever inappropriate reverie you’re in, and you’re still standing awkwardly near the front door when you see Lena again in sleeping shorts and a loosely hanging shirt.

She looks at you quizzically when she sees your stare, an amalgamation of question and realization when she seems to figure out your expression.

“Darling, don’t tell me you thought I slept in business attire?” she says teasingly.

You’re slowly losing most of your senses and you’re reeling at her term of endearment, and you don’t even realize she’s come up to you until she’s just under your gaze - she’s a bit shorter now without her high heels.

“Not all of us sleep in our formal suits,” she says as she pats you on your chest. Your eyes widen even more and you don’t realize you’re holding your breath until she saunters away, smirking at your apparent uselessness.

“And please at least set your things down, you’re making me nervous just standing there for as long as you have.”

Finally, you concede and you find the least intrusive place to put your duffle bag and your suits. Lena gives you a slightly admonishing look when you let your suits crinkle on their place in a chair, and she takes them wordlessly and hangs them in her coat closet and eyes you meaningfully to make sure you don’t take them back.

After a round of polite, but suspiciously playful bickering about delivery choices that feels too familiarly domestic, Lena’s finally convinced you to sit on her sofa and you’re eating pizza on the farthest end of the couch as she looks on at you amused between commercial breaks of whatever TV show she’s left on.

She’s allowed herself one glass of wine tonight, to which you’ve adamantly declined for yourself and she doesn’t give too much of an argument.

At some point in the night, Lena’s fallen asleep curled up on the couch and you saw the progression of it but still didn’t say anything. Now, you can’t exactly suggest for her to transfer to her bed, and you most definitely will not carry her there, but you contemplate the pros and cons and even you know rather well how inconvenient a sore neck is from an uncomfortable sleeping position.

You’re a coward, however, and instead of waking up a peaceful slumbering woman you opt to just take the blanket that’s draped over the couch behind you and put it onto her sleeping form, and you suppose it’s safe enough to just stand up to get her a glass of water.

When you come back with the water and have shut off the rest of the lights in her loft, she’s murmuring in her sleep and breathing slightly erratically.

You merely watch and wait for it to subside, but she only gets louder and more distressed, and you realize she’s having some sort of bad dream and you move to rouse her from it when she wakes fully and sits up roughly to get her bearings.

Her breaths come fragmented and hollow when she looks around her, and she startles before realizing who you are and you suspect that your hovering presence is probably not the most comforting sight in a dark room after having a nightmare.

“Sorry,” you murmur quietly, “I was just getting you water, I guess you were having a bad dream.”

Lena just rubs a hand over her face, and you can see the exhaustion in her eyes illuminated by the TV light. You hand her the glass without another word as you take your place beside her.

She thanks you softly before setting it on the coffee table after she’s taken a sip.

She moves to lay down on the couch again and you’re just a little late in remembering to use your voice, but you think you know better than to appeal to a sleepy woman and you just let her fall asleep beside you.

You’ve left your gun and knife stuffed into your side of the sofa in between the cushion and the couch.

You took off your jacket and dress shirt some time in the evening and it left you in a white tank top. You know better than to sleep in your suit pants, but you just can’t bring yourself to change into something else - not when you’re fine as you are anyway and it’s not totally imperative to sleep in something comfortable.

You suppose you’re not going to do much sleeping anyway, which is a bit of a bad idea especially on your second day of the job, but there’s a plethora of reasons why you can’t sleep and these reasons will keep you up for an undetermined amount of time.

Eventually, somewhere between 4am and 5am you suspect, you finally fall asleep sitting up with your arms crossed and your head leaning back against the couch.

At 6am, you open your eyes just briefly to find Lena’s changed positions in the night and her head is pressed up against your leg, and you grin sleepily as you fall back to sleep.

About an hour or so later, you wake up to some commotion and your eyes snap open, you stand up quickly and realize that was probably not the best thing to do the very first thing in the morning.

Lena’s gone, but you smell something coming from the kitchen and you turn around and see her working around the space, coffee and a plate of food in hand and she finally notices your figure.

“I suppose one con of working for me is having to get up when I do,” she says in jest.

“There’s coffee, I don’t think I’m complaining,” you say hoarsely, your voice still rough with sleep.

You watch as she works easily, her hair tied up in a messy bun and her shirt just a little lopsided as it hangs off a shoulder. You know you’re staring, but you’re waiting for her to tell you to come over and sit.

She feels your gaze on her and smirks when she looks up, raising her eyebrows slightly in expectation as she tilts her head to beckon you to get over here.

You decide you’re a little bit too sleep deprived to deal with whatever hold Lena’s apparently got on you, and the whole point of you is to make sure nothing surprises you, but this is a fight you’re willing to concede.

You sit down tentatively and she smiles, her gaze lingering on you unabashedly and she nudges a cup of coffee to you.

You regard her soft, pale eyes trailing over you. You’re captivated by how objectively beautiful she looks, a total juxtaposition of the sharp, cultivated lines of power and grace you’ve seen of her business look.

You can merely sit there wordlessly and watch her taking you in.

“How do you like it?”

“What?” your eyes widen and you try to ignore the blush that’s rushing to your face - somehow, you’ve successfully managed to trip over one simple word.

Lena smiles widely, an eyebrow raised in what you realize is a look you’ve seen too often and one that could very well cause trouble for you.

“Your coffee, how do you like it?” she elaborates.

You blink owlishly at her and then your eyes snap down at the cup.

“Right, uh, just two cream one sugar.”

Lena still hovers near you, leaning closer as she reaches for the cream and sugar containers and your eyes widen again with bated breath.

You know for certain Lena’s aware of your inner turmoil, what with her hyper-focused attentiveness on you, and you thank her feebly as you take a drink and try to make you burning your tongue on it look gracefully intentional.

You’re a mess and you both know that.

“Are you ready for another day with me?” she asks innocently enough when she’s finally sat down near you.

No, this is more difficult than I’d thought, and for entirely different reasons, you think.

“Of course, hopefully it’s as smooth sailing as yesterday,” you manage to say.

You think you should pat yourself on the back for your great effort of composure, and you’ve got this. You’re finally getting back into the swing of things and doing your job like you were meant to.

Just then, Lena winks at you and smiles behind her coffee cup, and the crashing revelation of you don’t got this comes falling all at once and you inhale sharply at her teasing.

You smile back - perhaps it’s more of a grimace, in reassurance and Lena’s eyes dance with mirth.

She picks up a piece of french toast with her fork and you demand your entire body to ignore the elegant fluidity of her motion - however, that requires physically moving your entire self away which is more work than you care to do at this time of the morning, so you concede to watch, fixated and entranced.

You have to tear your eyes away when your gaze lands on her lips. Frankly, you’re quite impressed by how close you are to falling off your chair even when you’ve been completely still, but it’s when her tongue comes out and licks the maple syrup from her lips that makes you feel like the entire Earth is shaking.

You understand, then, that you have only two options to deal with this arrangement, and it goes as such: you can make things difficult for yourself and deny every blatant reaction you feel to literally anything Lena does, or you can go along for the ride and fight worthier battles.

You concede to the latter and watch as Lena still misses the drip of syrup that’s fallen a little below her lip, and you wordlessly get a napkin and reach over to her slowly, her eyes widening imperceptibly as she watches you approach.

You bring your hand close to her mouth and linger, making eye contact with her and grinning slightly before you wipe the errant syrup away.

Lena looks at you, her jaw slightly slack, as you lean back and continue to work through your breakfast, smirking at your own apparent hold on her, and you really wonder just how much more interesting this job will get.

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