#how to write in third pov

[3hks]

A Quick(ish) Comprehensive Guide to Writing in Third Person Limited

When we write, one of the very first aspects we consider is the perspective of the story. Is it in first person? Second person? Third person? Third person point-of-view is arguably the most flexible perspective, but that also makes it difficult to fully grasp and harness.

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INTRODUCTION

Let's begin with the fundamental questions: what is third person and why do people use it?

> What is Third Person POV?

Third person POV is simply a narrative style in which the narrator has a broader view of all the characters and their thoughts. Unlike first person, which is seen through the eyes of one person, calling for the use of pronouns such as I, me, or my, third person uses pronouns such as he, she, or they to refer to everyone, including themselves. As the reader, we aren't meshed into the main character and viewing the story that way. Instead, we're moreso hovering from above and observing collective events, actions, and even thoughts.

There are three MAIN types of this perspective: third person omniscient, third person objective and third person limited.

Omniscient is where the narrator knows everything about the characters, events, and emotions, revealing many, if not all, of these aspects of the readers.

Objective is when the narrator focuses solely on the actions and behaviors of the characters, without providing insight to thoughts or emotions. It's an objective narration style.

Limited is where the narrator focuses on one character (which would likely be the protagonist) and centers the story around that character.

> Why Use Third Person?

To put it simply, third person can allow you to write more. You have access to multiple POVs and there is often less bias. In first person, the narrator is the character, which can cause warped views influenced by their bias.

However, for third person, the narrator is an external voice (oftentimes you), so while there can be some bias depending on the character you're hovering, there is significantly less.

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THE BASICS

In this post, I won't be talking too much about third person omniscient because it's more uncommon in writing. Instead, I will be talking about a popular variant of third person limited in which we use the POVs of multiple characters one at a time.

> Using the Correct Pronouns

In first person, we use the pronouns "I, me, my, we, etc." to describe the narrator. In second person, we use the pronouns "you, your, etc." to describe the protagonist. In third person, we use the pronouns "she, he, they, etc." to describe the protagonist.

Avoid using first or second person pronouns unless you're writing thoughts or dialogue.

> Making the POV Clear

Since we're using the perspectives of different characters (at different times), it's imperative to clarify who the perspective belongs to. You can do this simply by listing the POV before writing the part or by starting a new paragraph, which begins with a sentence starting in active voice by the focused character.

EXAMPLES

Lexi's POV: She was astounded when she realized that... V.S. Lexi was astounded when she realized that...

Both examples are in third person and evidently centered around Lexi.

> Be Consistent

Be consistent with pronouns; unless you're writing thoughts and/or dialogue, make sure you're always using third person pronouns to address everything. It's easy to let it slip, but it's important not to.

Ex:

WRONG: She stares at the mirror. My hair is kind of messy, so I grab the brush. CORRECT: She stares at the mirror. Her hair is kind of messy, so she grabs the brush.

Another thing to consider is keeping the type of third person POV consistent. If you're writing in third person limited, don't suddenly switch to omniscient. Granted, many readers may not be able to identify this kind of mistake, but it's good to practice consistency!

***

GENERAL TIPS

Now, let's discuss some general ideas to keep in mind when writing in third person limited.

> Use Names

You might be thinking what? No duh I have to use names, but I'm being dead serious. In third person, you might find yourself writing out names of characters more often than when you might be using first person. This is because pronouns get confusing. If there are two girls talking, then which one is 'she'? Remember that your protagonist is also an outside character.

Use names, use different ways to identify people (the taller student, the younger employee, etc.), because even if you know who is who, the readers might not.

> Objectiveness

One of the pros of using third person to storytell is the objectiveness that it grants. First person comes with many biases, which can warp how the reader views the characters, actions, and events of the story.

However, in third person, you want your narrator to be as unbiased as possible. Be objective. Describe things as they are. Sure, sometimes a character's opinion might influence the story, but it shouldn't be too excessive.

> Be Descriptive

I'm sure I've said this only about one million times now, but third person POV is broad. You can talk about anyone, anything, and you can even explain events unrelated and outside of your protagonist's bubble, which you normally can't do in first person.

So be descriptive. You don't have to worry about how a specific may view something because we're in third person. There's so much more for you to describe, you just have to take advantage of it.

You can describe your protagonist's enemy with both distaste and detached neutrality; you can describe minute details of a tree without making your main character seem overdramatic--you just have to do it.

***

ADDITIONAL TIPS

> When to Change Perspectives

In third person limited POV, it's common and often necessary to change the character the narrator hovers around. This is because only following the protagonist is, well, quite limited. So, when do we change which character we follow?

Show Events Outside of the Protagonist: If you have part of the cast (such as the antagonist) that's taking action outside of what the MC is aware of, and you want to show what's happening, this is a good time to switch perspectives! ----

Show Different Reactions to the Same Event: Let's say an intense incident just occurred that affected multiple people. Switching perspectives here can be quite useful because it allows you to show how different characters handle and view the same situation. This also helpful because it gives the reader deeper insight to the characters!

> Incorporating Character

I talked about this alone in a separate post, but I'll reiterate it again. Many people believe that third person POV is less interesting because there's "less personality" in its writing compared to first person.

This is mainly due to the standard objectivity that comes with third person, but it doesn't mean you can't include hints of character within your writing outside of dialogue and thoughts.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to word choice and a bit of sentence structure. Different words and phrases have different connotations, and though it seems like a very subtle detail to focus on, it does impact your writing.

Try to use vocabulary that fits the character you're hovering. Vocabulary that they might use.

If you're writing from the perspective of an angrier character, maybe you'll use cruder language during their section. If it's a more dramatic character, perhaps you'll use more theatrical language and flowy sentence structures mixed with choppy ones.

EX:

1. He felt stupidly annoyed at the man's assumptions. 2. He felt irritated at the man's assumptions. 3. He felt fed up with the man's assumptions.

Those three examples all have similar meanings and identical sentence structures. However, you'll notice that there are slightly different connotations per each sentence.

For number one, it sounds like the character is upset that he's so annoyed. This offers the idea that the character feels he shouldn't be as annoyed as he is, quietly hinting that he isn't the type to get ruffled easily or at least, not towards such assumptions.

For number two, the statement is very direct. The character is irritated. He might not be as displeased as number one or three, but he is still annoyed. However, the forwardness of the statement might suggest that he's a pretty straightforward guy who's expresses his emotions frankly.

Lastly, for number three, the character sounds more tired and possibly angry. He's done with the assumptions. It can be assumed that he's the type who's more likely to take action than the other two.

Now, these are really simple examples, but you can see that the word changes do slightly alter the meaning of the sentence and evoke separate emotions based on the character of the perspective's owner.

If the character uses the word "excessively" instead of "very," we might think that the character is more eloquent.

Yes, all of these descriptions technically belong to the narrator, but there's no linear way to write the narrator. In this case, they act like a mirror, reflecting the voice of the character.

CONCLUSION

We're at the end! This was a MUCH larger post than I expected to write, so kudos to anyone who's read more than 50% of this LOL.

All in all, third person POV isn't actually terribly difficult to get the hang of. You'll need some practice, as with anything, but you'll understand it better the more you work on it--with or without my help!

The biggest point is to make sure your pronouns are in check. Don't use "I, me, my or you, yours, you're" unless you're writing dialogue or thoughts!

Hope this has been helpful! Reach out to me for any questions; I'd love to answer them!

Happy writing~

3hks <3

[bayetea]

I think it's really annoying that leo has completely falsified memories of jason too and this is barely acknowledged in the books

[lylacynth13]

And the Universe Said You Are Not Alone

Word count: 3803

An ambush leaves Kanade in the clutches of the Zoo Rangers, and it’s up to the rest of the Fussy Eaters to bring her back.

It only took three words for Rui’s blood to run cold.

“Boss was captured.”

He was on his feet immediately, the invention he was tinkering with swiftly forgotten. Activating his Coda, Rui practically sprinted through the door. No time for transformation sequences, he thought, before turning his attention back to Ichika on the line.

“What happened?” She’d had enough insight to send her coordinates before calling, meaning he wouldn’t have to waste time figuring out where she was. “Who’s over there right now?”

“We were facing the Zoo Rangers when FOW joined in and caught us off guard. Rin and I were able to slip away but Boss got caught,” she said hurriedly. Rui frowned for a moment; an ambush of this scale was unusual. “There’s no sign of White Crow, though. Or HopeHopeHeart.”

“Where are CBNEL and Devoted Evil?”

“Nearby, in hiding. We’re all waiting for a plan.”

So the odds weren’t hopeless. Rui quickened his pace, mentally composing a course of action.

“Tell CBNEL to create a distraction that will lead away FOW,” he told Ichika. “And send Devoted Evil out to find HopeHopeHeart and keep them away from the Zoo Rangers.”

There was a bit of shuffling on the other end, and Rui could hear Ichika tell Rin to relay his instructions to the other groups. “What about White Crow?” He paused. It was rare for White Crow to not be there, but they’ve always been able to handle her in the past.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Do they seem to be doing anything?” 

“Nothing but ask her questions,” Rin said suddenly, taking over the phone. “They’re trying to get her to reveal information about the villain league.”

“Alright. I’m almost there, we can talk more once I arrive.” Rin and Ichika both let out a noise of acknowledgement before ending the call.

Rui couldn’t help the dread that sunk in as he approached the location Ichika sent him. As a whole, the Fussy Eaters were more than capable of handling the Zoo Rangers. It was practically routine, even. Letting Kanade handle things on her own was different. Reliable as she may be, Instant Boss could get reckless if she was dealing with a situation alone.

That’s our Boss, I suppose. Rui chuckled to himself humorlessly. Despite being evil she’d never do anything careless that could put a fellow villain in harm’s way.

He could only hope she wouldn’t do anything that would put herself in harm’s way before they could reach her.

🎵🎵🎵

Admittedly this wasn’t Kanade’s proudest moment. Restrained and unable to use her powers, Kanade could do nothing but warily eye the heroes surrounding her. They’d been trying to get her to reveal information to them for the better half of an hour, but seemed to finally realize they weren’t getting anywhere. Instead they took to standing around, trying to figure out what to do with her.

“Hey, are we sure this is Instant Boss?” Orange Eagle turned to the rest of the Zoo Rangers. “Looking at her now she seems kind of…I don’t know, pathetic?”

“Urk…” Kanade winced at the words like they had physically slapped her. 

 “Of course, Orange Eagle!” Pegasus Man Red let out a laugh that managed to shake Kanade to her bones. Just how loud could one person be? “She was with Bread Eater and Picky, so she must be Instant Boss! Though, it's unfortunate that the other two managed to escape…”

I guess that’s one good thing about this, Kanade thought to herself. At least I know that they got away. Speaking of absent team members…

“Where’s White Crow?” Her question made the heroes turn to her in suspicion, but her curiosity was genuine. It was odd for Mafu- no. For White Crow to be a no show.

“She’s on her way!” Salmon Pink was quick to speak up for her absent teammate. She stared at Kanade with wide eyes filled with determination. Maybe it would be a good idea to recruit someone with this much enthusiasm…

“Not that it’s any of your business,” Orange Eagle moved to stand between Kanade and Salmon Pink, as if protecting his fellow hero. He quickly led her away, but Kanade could still hear him whisper to Salmon Pink, “Ignore her. We just need to wait for the rest of ‘em to show up. Doesn’t mean we need to strike a conversation.”

Having lost the attention of two Zoo Rangers, she turned towards the members of FOW. Internally, she wished she had paid more attention to their files. Cafe Master and Teardrop…I don’t remember if they have any food dislikes. What did Rui tell me about Cute Ribbon? Something about hot food? No, that’s too broad. Vivid Rum…tomatoes I think?

“Say, Vivid Rum,” Kanade started, drawing the hero’s attention. “Are there any foods you absolutely can’t stand?”

“Hm? Well I guess there’s-“ Vivid Rum cut herself off suddenly. “Hey, wait, if you’re trying to recruit me it won’t work!”

“But what if I told you we could get rid of all the food you don’t like?” She implored. “Including dishes that incorporate tomatoes? If you help me, then we could make sure you never have to worry about them ever again.”

“How did you- wait, a world without tomatoes…?” Vivid Rum paused, sounding almost mystified by the idea. “Maybe…no. I won’t join your side!”

“Why not?” She was so close…Kanade didn’t understand. “Why wouldn’t you want to live in a world where you’re free to eat whatever you want?”

“Well I sorta already live in that world,” Vivid Rum explained. “Tomatoes aren’t difficult to avoid if you ask for them to be removed. Besides, I have a duty to protect!”

How noble, Kanade thought. But that nobility is getting in my way right now!

Sensing the end of the interaction, Vivid Rum turned to talk with one of the other heroes. Sighing, Kanade tugged experimentally against the binds around her wrists. She knew they were magic but couldn’t determine much else. Maybe they were connected to the Coda? Rui would probably know more. 

Aside from being able to block out her powers, the restraints didn’t feel any different from a normal rope. A well-timed strike and they’d probably come right off. 

That may be exactly what I need, she considered. They’d left her legs unrestrained, probably because they assumed she wouldn’t try anything while surrounded by heroes. If she could get them to throw an attack her way…

Kanade bolted suddenly, aiming for a space between the heroes that was large enough for her to weave through.

“Wah!” Salmon Pink let out a cry of shock. “Hey! Come back!” As soon as the words left the hero’s mouth, an abrupt boom echoed through the street. Four more immediately followed.

She risked a look back as she ran, seeing five towers of smoke rising in the distance. CBNEL’s calling card.

“Now of all times…?” Kanade heard Vivid Rum mutter. “We’ll deal with it! Get Instant Boss!”

The members of FOW took off as the Zoo Rangers gave chase. A guttural shout was Kanade’s only warning as a blast of heat shot past her, grazing her arm but just missing her restraints. Orange Eagle.

“Careful!” Pegasus Man Red scolded his teammate. “That fire is dangerous! If you don’t watch out you could seriously damage something!”

“Is now seriously the time to be yelling at me about this?” Orange Eagle shot back. “Instant Boss is gonna get away!”

“Not if I can help it!” Salmon Pink declared. Vines and roots shot out of the ground, reaching for Kanade. 

She tripped as one of them grabbed her foot, hitting the ground with a harsh thud as her face collided with the pavement. A metallic taste filled her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue when she hit the ground. Wearily, Kanade lifted her head. The Coda is meant to boost my stamina and endurance…but I guess there wasn’t much to boost in the first place...this is definitely going to bruise…

She turned to face the heroes as they approached before stopping as her gaze landed on a small bramble bush.

Salmon Pink must have summoned it, she concluded. If I can reach it then maybe…

“Wowww!!” Pico-Pico Rainbow let out an ecstatic cry of awe. With the Zoo Rangers’ attention turned towards the blue-haired hero, Kanade reached her wrists out towards the thorns. “That was so cool, Salmon Pink! The way you made the planties burst out like that! Can you show me how to do that?”

”Oi, you know that controlling plants is part of her Coda only don’t you?” Orange Eagle scoffed. “Besides, we don’t have time for- hey, what do you think you’re doing?!”

Kanade let out a yelp as she was roughly grabbed by the collar of her outfit. Orange Eagle picked her up with ease, keeping her away from the bramble.

“Agh! I’m so so so so sorry!” Salmon Pink let out a hurried stream of nervous apologies, quickly doing away with the bramble bush. “I should’ve put that one away! I didn’t realize she was going to try to cut her restraints! Forgive me!!”

“Yeah, yeah, calm down,” the orange-clad hero grumbled. “It’s fine. No harm no foul, right?”

“That’s right!” Pegasus Man Red loudly chimed in. “Besides, it was your swift action that managed to stop her! Your work should be rewarded!”

“R-really? You mean it?” He nodded. The salmon themed hero turned to look at Orange Eagle, her expression asking for his approval.

“I said it’s fine, didn’t I?” Orange Eagle sighed. He turned his head to look at Kanade as the others started a new line of conversation entirely. Something about stars? It was probably better to tune them out.

“…could you let me down now?” Kanade couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at being handled like this. She was a respectable villain, not a cat to be domesticated!

“You think I’m falling for that again?” came Orange Eagle’s reply. “You obviously can’t be trusted not to run off. Better to just keep you like this until the rest of your group mates show up.”

“Oya? It seems we’ve arrived just in time then.”

That voice…! Kanade raised her head and immediately spotted Rui descending from the skies, standing atop a drone. Ichika and Rin were nowhere to be seen. They must be hiding somewhere close.

“About time, Death Veggie!” Pegasus Man Red let out a hearty laugh. “Have you finally come to surrender your ways as a villain? We have your boss after all!”

”Keeping a hostage?” A grin spread over Rui’s face. “Fufu~ Sounds like villain work to me.”

“H-Hey!” Salmon Pink protested, shaking her arms around wildly. “We’re not the bad guys! You’re the ones always causing chaos around the city!”

“Oh?” The drone lowered closer to the ground, and Rui jumped down when it reached a safe height. “And here I thought two wrongs don’t make a right. Honestly, what sort of example are you hoping to set for the children you perform for?”

“That’s not what we’re getting at and you know it,” Orange Eagle growled out. “Where are the rest of you? There’s two more of you Fussy Eaters, aren’t there?”

“They’re scheduled to arrive soon.” Rui let out a mischievous chuckle. “I’m sure they’ll be here in a flash.”

As if on cue, a burst of light appeared from behind Rui, hitting all of the heroes and Kanade. Orange Eagle let out a cry of shock and let go of Kanade, momentarily blinded. Dazed from the light herself, Kanade could do nothing to stop her fall.

Suddenly, two pairs of arms wrapped themselves around her, grabbing her and leading her away from the heroes. As the stars in her eyes faded, she could make out black and yellow hair.

“Ichi- er, Bread Eater?” Kanade’s vision began to clear more, letting her fully see Ichika and Rin’s concerned faces. “Picky?”

“Boss!” The two of them cried out simultaneously, faces morphing into expressions of relief. Ichika quickly took notice of the burn on her arm as Rin got to work on her restraints. “You’re hurt!”

“It’s not urgent,” she tried to reassure. She looked around them. It looked like the two of them had sought out safety in a hidden alley. “Where’s Death Veggie?”

“He brought his army of robots,” Rin said, finally doing away with the binds around Kanade’s wrists. She rubbed them, the restraints having made them sore. “He’ll be fine.”

“He’s alone with the Zoo Rangers?!” Kanade stood up urgently, stumbling slightly. “We need to go help him!”

Ichika caught her arm before she could run off. “Boss, wait. Are you sure you can handle going back? Rin just said Death Veggie has his robots, he’ll be able to handle the Zoo Rangers just fine.”

“What kind of boss would I be if I let one of my own face the heroes by themself?” Ichika and Rin exchanged worried glances before looking back at Kanade.

“Alright,” Ichika relented. “We’ll all go.”

Kanade nodded, satisfied. She let Ichika and Rin lead the way; she wasn’t actually sure where they had brought her. As they reentered the street, it was clear that Rin and Ichika had been right. Rui stood on one side, smirking smugly as the heroes chipped away at his robots on the other end.

Reaching for the shadows with her Coda, Kanade willed them to wrap around and restrain the Zoo Rangers. Startled, they flinched away from the darkness, but couldn’t stop it from restraining them.

“Boss?” Rui looked at Kanade with worried eyes, but his voice betrayed his relief. He gave her a tense smile. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t be content with leaving me here. Forgive me for not having more faith in you.”

“It’s fine-“ Kanade began, before an arrow embedded itself into the ground just next to her foot. She stared at it in shock before recognizing the design. “White Crow…”

The hero in question emerged from behind her fellow Zoo Rangers, who took advantage of Kanade’s surprise and freed themselves from her shadows. “You’re late.” Orange Eagle bristled, annoyed. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry,” White Crow responded, not sounding particularly apologetic. “I had some trouble slipping away.”

A wave of understanding washed over the Zoo Rangers, and Orange Eagle’s demeanor softened slightly at her answer. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the Fussy Eaters also caught onto the implications of White Crow’s response. They were perhaps the only villains to know of the hero’s true identity, and they went to great measures to make sure no one knew they had this knowledge.

Whether White Crow herself was aware of the fact that they knew her identity was uncertain, but as far as they knew she had never brought up the topic with the other Zoo Rangers. 

“Boss.” Rin tugged at Kanade’s sleeve. “What’s your Coda level at?”

Kanade grimaced internally. Between keeping up the identity protection glamour, containing the damage of the burn, and her shadow manipulation just moments ago, her Coda levels were running thin. If I told her that then she’d insist I sit this one out. It’s better if she doesn’t know.

She gave Rin what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” Rin frowned, unconvinced, but let the matter drop.

“Let’s deal with this as quickly as possible.” White Crow shot off another arrow towards Ichika, who managed to swiftly move out of the way.

“Little late for that, don’t you think?” Despite his irritated words, Orange Eagle readied himself into a fighting stance.

Kanade locked eyes with Rui and gave him a nod. At his command, the small army of robots advanced. Immediately, White Crow and Orange Eagle took to the skies while the other Zoo Rangers fended off the robots from the ground.

Ichika willed the sunlight to lessen, allowing Kanade to bend the newly made darkness to her whim. She directed a shadow beam towards Orange Eagle, who deflected it with a burst of firelight. White Crow let out a barrage of arrows, forcing the Fussy Eaters to back away in order to avoid them.

One arrow whizzed past her head, catching her off guard and making her lose her balance. Seizing the advantage, White Crow prepared another arrow and fired it her way. It grazed her shoulder and Kanade winced at the sudden sting. Before she could fall, Rin caught her, helping her stand properly.

Kanade’s eyes widened as she noticed a cut across Rin’s cheek. “You’re bleeding!”

“So are you,” Rin pointed out. “If you’ll be fine then so will I.”

Unable to argue, Kanade turned her attention back to the fight right as Ichika shot a beam of light towards White Crow and Orange Eagle. It clipped one of Orange Eagle’s wings, and he faltered in the air for a moment before landing with a grimace. White Crow masterfully dodged the attack and fired off one of her own.

Rui threw a device towards the arrow, and it formed a shield around Ichika as soon as the objects collided. Ichika shot him a grateful look before the two rejoined the fray. While all of the other Zoo Rangers battled on the ground, White Crow remained hovering above them, eyes narrowed and locked onto Kanade and Rin.

“Picky, you need to step back,” she warned. “Your illusions won’t be able to protect you here.”

Before Rin could respond, the sound of an arrow flying towards them caught their attention. The two turned to find the projectile responsible for the noise headed their way, aiming straight for Rin. Without another thought, Kanade released a burst of shadow that simultaneously destroyed the arrow and burned through the rest of her Coda.

The glamour dropped, revealing her identity to anyone looking. White Crow, being anyone, did nothing but stare at Kanade with wide eyes.

White Crow’s not just anyone though, she thought as panic began to settle in. She’s Mafuyu. And now she knows.

Rin wasted no time in setting up an illusion of Kanade’s outfit. It wouldn’t fool the Zoo Rangers forever, but it was a substitute glamour that would last long enough for them to escape.

Not that it matters. Not now that Mafuyu knows.

Kanade felt distant, like her soul had been separated from her body. The world around her turned fuzzy. She could hear Rin’s voice call for a retreat, but it sounded far away. There were hurried movements all around her, leading her away.

When the movements finally stopped, the voices began, too blurred for her to fully make out what they were saying. Something about a smoke screen  and the Zoo Rangers and Mafuyu-

“She knows…” Kanade muttered, almost deliriously. The voices around her went silent. “Mafuyu knows and she’s going to hate me-“

“-oss.”

“-I told her she could trust me but now she’s never going to trust me again-“

“Boss!”

“-but I can’t just leave her with her mom! This is all my fault, if I hadn’t gotten captured, if I’d managed to get away on my own, if I’d done something right for once-“

“Kanade.”

Startled by the sudden use of her real name, Kanade paused her mad rambling. Lifting her head, (when did she start looking down? What sort of leader becomes so out of it they lose track of their whole body?) she looked up to see Rui, Ichika, and Rin watching her.

Ichika and Rui smiled softly at her, but she could see the worry in their eyes. Rin, meanwhile, wore her concern clearly. Her knuckles were white from how tightly they were grasping the fabric of her skirt.

“I’m sorry.” Kanade blurted out. Her hands shook as she clenched them into fists. “We had to retreat because of me. You should’ve left me there instead of coming to rescue me.”

“Enough of that,” Rui softly chided. “We would never leave you behind. You’re our Boss. And above that, you’re our friend.”

Ichika nodded in agreement. “Us Fussy Eaters have to stay together.”

“Kanade.” Rin stepped forward. Slowly, as if waiting to see if Kanade would back away, she let herself lean into the white-haired girl, pulling her into a hug. The physical contact said everything the normally touch-averse girl couldn’t.

Shakily, Kanade lifted her trembling arms up and wrapped them around Rin. Her vision blurred for the second time that day, this time with unshed tears. “What are we going to do…?” Kanade whispered. “She knows.”

“We’ll figure that out when we get there,” Rui said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “For now, I say we all get some rest. Today turned out to be much more stressful than any of us anticipated.”

As if to disagree with Rui’s suggestion, Kanade’s communication device rang. Rin detached herself with a frown. She pulled out the device, but hesitated as she hovered her finger over the call button.

Rui extended a hand. “Would you like me to take care of it?”

“Yes.” Kanade nodded. ”Could you…put it on speaker please?”

Rui made a hum of affirmation as he picked up the call.

“Boss?” [E]’s voice came out from the other end of the line.

“It’s me,” Rui responded. “Boss can’t come to the phone right now. There’s been a bit of a…complication. We’ll explain more later. Did something happen on your end?”

“[C] got hurt.” [E]’s voice was shaky. “She’ll be alright, I think, but I don’t know if she should go back to her house tonight. She seems like she’d rather not be there.”

“Bring her over to Safe House Gamma,” Rui instructed. Kanade startled as she finally realized where they had brought her. “We can assess her injuries and share information here. I’ll tell Devoted Evil to head this way too.”

“Alright,” Ena agreed. “We’ll be there soon.”

The call ended and Rui stepped away to update Devoted Evil of the situation. A wave of exhaustion hit Kanade all at once, and she could feel her eyelids grow heavier. This didn’t go unnoticed by Ichika or Rin, and the two led her over to one of the safe house’s couches.

“Get some rest,” Ichika told her. “We’ll wake you when everyone gets here.”

Despite how tired she was, Kanade felt obligated to wait for the others to arrive. She tried to protest but was quickly stopped by Rin, who looked up at her with worried eyes. “Please? For us?”

Hesitantly, she laid down on the couch. She closed her eyes as Ichika hummed a gentle melody and Rin carefully placed a blanket over her. Distantly, she heard Rui’s footsteps, and he let out a soft chuckle as he approached. Finally drifting to sleep, Kanade couldn’t help but smile.

Their company…it makes me feel warm.

[lemonyinks]

In case you were wondering, Jiang Cheng has never once raised a hand to his nephew, nor has he ever thought about it.

chap 10

chap 81

chap 99

chap 102

And I'm positive Jin Ling knows with absolute certainty that his uncle would never hurt him; he has never been scared of his uncle, not even once.

chap 35

chap 47

chap 110

Don't let anyone tell you Jiang Cheng is abusive when it's just not something supported by canon at all in any way shape or form. He is literally the best uncle in the whole world. I cannot for the life of me see why other people seem to think otherwise...

[crazy-fangirl2524]

Tsc 2 should end with the Trojans winning the championship just like how tkm ends with the foxes winning

[glowingghosty]

guy wakes up in a place he recognizes but doesn't know why or how he got there. he's a bit confused but he lives out the next few hours just like he normally would, just a bit dazed. but once he goes to sleep, it immediately restarts back to where he woke up.

he realizes this is a time loop... but something is different about it.

he realizes pretty quickly that this is some sort of dreamscape. it's a time loop, but for some reason, things around him do change, and he can pretty easily change things too just by thinking of them, like a lucid dream. but he always wakes up in media res once it gets to some sort of end point, and no one else around him remembers previous loops.

as he's trying to figure out what the goal is to end the loop, he's suddenly thrown for a loop when he's attacked and killed by someone he's never seen before. he wakes back up, shaken, but at least it was something new and out of his control.

he starts to go about as he had been but is killed again. faster and faster, sooner and sooner after he wakes up, he's killed by increasingly horrifying ways, all because of this other dude. finally, it stops when he manages to get a word in to the other guy before he's killed. turns out this guy is also in the time loop, and our guy was the first thing he saw that was different. thinking he was the test, or had something to do with it, he attacked him. his time was reset, so he knew he was onto something, hence the repeat killings. he was obviously taking this a lot harder than the first guy.

they decided to work together and figure out a way to stop the loop. they could both affect things with their lucidity and they tested what they could do. they could do a lot, though none of it seemed to matter. if one of them died, or got to some sort of "end point," they'd both reset. they slowly stopped really trying to get out and started just enjoying their time. they imagined things they'd always wanted to experience or see, and it would happen. it was fun.

eventually, they started noticing a certain girl was around more than any other person. she didn't seem to also be in a time loop, but she wouldnt completely forget who they were with each reset, either. they decided to befriend her and bring her along because it was nice to have company after all this time. she enjoyed the experiences they were conjuring but didn't find it incredibly impossible like a real life person would at seeing what was essentially magic. typical dream-based character acceptance behavior.

at one point, they're sitting on the pavement of a parking lot watching the sunset they thought up of, just talking casually. guy one notices that the sunset starts moving backward and forward in time, rhythmically, preventing the sun from setting. things would "escape" their control sometimes, but he realized the sun was going up and down at the same rhythm that the girl was rocking back and forth. she simply looked upon it in calm awe, not acknowledging that she may be influencing it. before guy one could say anything, guy two reached past him and shot her in the head.

time did not reset.

things went on, as much as it does in a dreamscape time loop, and they had settled into some kind of pattern of normalcy. most days they didn't even talk about trying to get out of there. they were able to carve some comfort out of their situation.

eventually, guy two runs up to guy one with the girl. he's excited and says he's thought of another thing to try to get them out. he says they just need to get into a truck and drive backwards really fast. confused, guy one asks why he thinks this would work at all. guy two says he has no idea. he just knows it'll work. he has a feeling.

so they go to an open nature area with a long road and conjure up a pickup truck. guy two is driving, with guy one in the passenger seat and the girl in the small backseat. guy two revs up and barrels backwards, whooping and celebrating the stunt, saying they're getting out of here.

guy one sees the trees whip by. they go over a bridge crossing a lake. the sky is bright with sun. he looks at guy two. his eyes are wild, his mouth in a gruesome open smile as he hollers. the girl in the backseat simply looked on in ignorant bliss.

guy one knew then.

he opened his door and jumped out, tucking and rolling. as he did, he thought about the truck barreling backwards off a cliff. when he stopped and got up, he saw just that. time slowed as the truck lost traction with the road and started to soar. guy two's face fell as he saw guy one standing there, looking down at them from the edge, face solemn. a look of shocked realization spread across his face as he descended towards the ground below.

then i woke up with a splitting headache. so. i guess i escaped the time loop???

[amtrak12]

Okay this excerpt is super late night notes and not a narrative at all, so a) don't get hung up on the wording and b) I don't know if this will come across the same way it does in my head -- but this is the latest character discovery in my fic that is making me lose my mind:

(Context: Maris has kicked Niles out for fic-specific reasons, set somewhere in early S2 timeline)

Daphne’s witnessed a lot of men after they were dumped. It seemed one or another of her brothers were always pissing off the woman they were dating or they found out their girlfriend was messing around on them. Regardless of who was at fault, her brothers all reacted the same way: by partying harder, flirting more, and talking shit about the now-ex-girlfriend. Niles doesn’t breathe a word against his wife.

*deep inhale to steady myself* I really like writing Daphne's POV, you guys.

[3hks]

Adding Personality Into 3rd Person

Some people find third person point-of-view boring in comparison to first person because "it lacks character". Well, I'm here to tell you that's not true! You can most definitely infuse personality into your 3rd person limited narrative (beyond just thoughts and dialogue); it's SUPER easy, and I'm here to inform you how!

For starters, identify the character that's being focused on in the story. More often than not, it'll be your main character, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, the perspective shifts.

The key here is to pretend like it's that character who's telling the story. They're narrating themselves, like in 1st person, only, y'know, it's in 3rd.

Why does this matter?

Words, words, words. How we use them determines not only our story, but also the mood and tone, which is crucial to understand right now. With that being said, the vocabulary used can both subtly and blatantly add personality to your writing!

For example, let's say the "focused character" is more likely to use the word "super", instead of "very" or "really", so they use it once or twice when "narrating".

The sky was super dark that night.

The mirror was super shiny.

The man looked super suspicious.

And guess what? That's already adding your character's voice INTO the text! The use of the word "super" added a more childish tone to the text, avoiding what otherwise could have been rather flat.

Let's look at some more examples:

❀ Maybe your character is more serious. This might lead to a more "standard" style of storytelling, but it's something nonetheless!

❀ Maybe your character is more negative, so their pessimistic viewpoint may affect and/or warp the actual, objective situation!

❀ Maybe your character LOVES a certain show(s), so they occasionally drop references when comparing stuff!

So, if you ever feel like your writing is getting a bit plain or repetitive, this might help you out!

Happy writing~

3hks <3

[foxstens]

challenge: write a fic without referring to kevin as a coward

difficulty impossible

[artemx746]

I think it's kinda sad how the culture around fanfics is so obsessed with writing something perfect and accurate to the source material rather than creativity

[rainbowsandwhumperflies]

whumptober day one :]

(this is my first time participating in this so lmk if I tag or label things wrong lmao)

No. 1: “But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps.” Safety Net | Swooning | “How many fingers am I holding up?”

cws: none, I don't think!

“Let’s sit you down, okay?” Whumpee blinks hard, trying to reorient themself as they get pushed into a sitting position.

“This is stupid,” they mutter. “I’m fine. Really. You’re being dramatic.”

“Mm. I actually don’t think you’re being dramatic enough. How many fingers am I holding up?”

Whumpee drags their eyes up, trying to focus on the hand that was in front of their face. Six, they think, but there aren't that many fingers on Caretaker’s hand, so they let their head drop again. “I don’t know. Leave me alone.”

[cetoddle]

i do like writing in second person. but i hate trying to get other people’s opinions on it because they either don’t actually understand what i mean or try to make it about h*mestuck

[mechazushi]

Salt Kick {a Sk8 the Infinity story} [Renga]

Preamble] I'mma be honest with ya'll.... I don't like how this turned out. I made this almost three? years ago I think? and I just.... some parts of this feel off. I hadn't finished Sk8 the Infinity ( I still haven't, mainly because I had watched all the crack vids on YouTube before I watched it so I already had a jist on how it goes. I just wanted to have the ability to say I watched it and finally figure out what scenes went in what order. I stopped at the beach episode, I know what comes next and I still can't bring myself to watch 😭) But I had enough of a hyperfixation to push this out. Much like giving birth, the more you make, the easier it gets, so consider this my first child that had me completely unprepared for the amount of labor I was about to go through and might of screwed up the initial parenting on. I will say this... I only really hate it because Reki feels out of character, but that's because I sacrificed his development to push a more Langa focused story (its entirely from Langa's perspective) I only threw in a few lines on his end because I wanted to imply that the pinning might be mutual without outright saying it until the end, but I hate how I handled it. That being said, this will not be getting a rewrite. I passed GO and collected the money years ago and this is how it will be staying. Hopefully, I will have finished the show before I write the next ones.

Notes] Nothing here to worry about, really. Just Renga. And Kissing.

Summary] Langa develops the worst salt tooth, but can't find anything to satisfy it. Can he figure it out before it drives him into an asylum, or is he past the point of no return already?

Can somebody who's in the Sk8 the Infinity fandom read this because I want this peer reviewed before I put this on Ao3.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From the moment Langa woke up, he felt off. He wasn't sure what it was about exactly, just… nothing clicked into place inside his head this morning. Which, if you knew him, is pretty much par for the course. He went through the motions. Got dressed, got his bag and school work together and met his mom at the table for breakfast.

"Morning Langa!" his mother, Nanako chirped, plateing something from a pot that was simmering on the stove."You ready for another day?"

"Morning." he said simply, sliding into his seat at the table, his brain seeing it only fit to process the bare minimun today.

"Now, I know you're a little hesitent when I try cooking new things, especially first thing in the morning, but taste tests show that this might accually be pretty good!", she said, confidently putting down a bowl of congee in front of Langa, cooked in chicken broth and served with eggs, bacon, and sauteed mushrooms, arranged like how a ramon bowl would. Langa, absent of mind, started spooning the meal into his mouth.Wait. Hold on. This was... good. Not that his mom ever made anything truly horrible; anything she made was, for the most part, edible. It was...just... missing something? He reached for the salt shaker, dusted his next spoonfull with it, and...

THERE. Right there. That's what this was missing. What he felt like he was missing all morning. Salt. He was just salt deficent. Which was odd for the amount of junk food he injested on a daily basis. Langa then preceded to almost violently shake the salt over his bowl of food.

"Wow. I know I forget to season things sometimes, but I thought it was okay?", His mother said, somewhat astonished at the speed her son was shoveling the now overly salted breakfast into his mouth currently. Langa paused and looked up at her, taking a second to think about what she just said.

"Oh! Sorry, I'm just… Really in the mood for salt today.", he said.

"I can see that.", Nanako quietly chuckled. The meal was quickly wrapped up, with the mom needing to head into work and Langa to school. Before he left however, he snagged a bag of potato chips of the top of the fridge, not stopping to see what flavor they were. Langa grabbed his skateboard and raced to his spot by the lampost, eagerly awaiting his… well, to be honest… he couldn't really think of Reki as a friend anymore. It had just been a few months after the race. The one against Adam… The one after Adam, too. And a WHOLE lot of other races afterword as well. Fun, personal ones. Just between Reki and him. Gun to his head, Langa would describe them as… almost… intimate. Crusing through the hills and tracks, the morning light or the evening dusky atmoshere blanketing them…just the two of them and whatever bubble of a world they found themselves in whenever Reki and Langa skated together, oblivious to everyone and everything. Maybe you wouldn't even need the gun to get him to say it.

' You might have to with Reki, though.' Langa thought as his personal ray of flaming sunshine came cruising down the sidewalk.

"GOOOOD MORNING LANGA!" Reki cheered, power sliding to a stop in front of him. They did their morning fist bump ritual and proceeded to cruise down the hill toward their school, with Reki leading the way. This was how it almost always went, Reki in the lead and Langa not far behind. Unless he had a trick he though he could pull off that would impress Reki, Langa almost never pulled ahead. Content to let the impressively red-headed high schooler light the path forward. Just the two of them, skating infinitely together. Langa popped open the bag of chips as Reki managed to land a rail grind in his somewhat restrictive school uniform. How he managed to fit his hoodie of the day under the jacket, Langa will never know.

He knew Reki didn't think of himself like this, but Langa always found him to be impressive and talented . He was always aware of how Reki's skateboard building skills were amazingly inventive, since he was the proud owner of a truly custom board. He felt Reki's talent was practically unmatched, next to Oka's of course. But Oka more or less just filled in paperwork and managed inventory, he hardly completed the boards he started nowadays. It was Reki's eye for detail and constant desire to improve everything that made all of Dope Sketch's boards unique.

That was another thing about him. Constant determination. It never mattered what it was applied to, Reki could always set his mind to the grindstone for it; you know, when he wasn't being completely scatterbrained and actually had motivation. Langa could go on forever about all the hidden strengths he thought his skating buddy had, but he knew Reki wouldn't hear them.

'Getting Reki to accept a compliment is like trying to teach someone to ollie for the first time' Langa chuckled at the thought, 'It takes a few tries, but it gets though. I know.'

After everything their friendship went through, they promised each other that they would get better about talking to each other. Not letting feelings bottle up and fester and making attempts to communicate genuinely. Neither one wanted to go through that feeling of loneliness and abandonment ever again. This was mostly for Reki's benefit, but Langa guessed he would have to lead by example if he was ever going to get Reki to open up in the first place. Speaking of open, he put a chip in his mouth and recoiled.

"BLAAA, wasabi flavored." he said, disappointed.

"You OK?" Reki said, turning to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just picked up my mom's wasabi chips by mistake. You want them?"

"Yeah, sure. Could use the wake up this morning.", Langa sped up to hand off the bag to his friend.

"Do you think we've got time to stop at a vending machine before we head in?" Langa asked.

"Why? Didn't get the chance to inhale the whole fridge today?" Reki said jokingly, pouring the contents of the bag in his mouth and wincing.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Just felt like something salty before class." Reki's presence had managed to distract Langa from his cravings for a short while, but the chips had caused his brain to hop back on its unyielding track.

Which, of course, got worse as they neared the school grounds and heard the final bell for class

"Whelp, guess thats a no!" Reki laughed.

Langa groaned, thinking that this better not somehow ruin his day.

The pair sped to class and, by a miracle, both of them made it in without repercussions. The two sat down and settled in as the teacher walked in to start the lesson.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The day went by as you would normally expect. Take notes, change classes , raise hands or duck questions depending on if they could answer them or not. You would think that the day would pass by uneventful, right? Yeah... about that.... This was Langa's third class period, and this salt addiction of his was really starting to grate his nerves.

'Only one more period, then lunch. Few more minutes and I can have all the salt I can get my hands on. I can survive until then. RIGHT?', Langa panicked in his head.

This wasn't just bad, he felt like he was shaking.

'Maybe I can play this up and head to the nurse's office. There's a vending machine along the way, I think?'. At this point, he lost all capability of paying attention. 'No, That's stupid. I'm not going to let this control me.' Langa felt a little tap on his arm and looked at his classmate.

Reki held a small piece of paper between two pencils, held like chopsticks. Langa took the note quickly, as the teacher turned around. He opened it up and read it.

"U OK?"

"Need Salt :(" Langa scribbled quickly before taking two pens and, in a similar fashion, snuck the note back to Reki.

Reki shook his head and handed the note back again, this time writing "THAT BAD?!? BRUH." Langa couldn't believe it either. Cravings never got this bad. He actually couldn't remember the last time he HAD a craving.

While running memories through his head, an important reminder popped in the forefront of his mind. He had packed a snack in his bag for emergencies. This was days ago so he wasn't sure what they were, but Langa would take anything at this point. As stealthily as he could, Langa leaned forward and tried to sneak his hand into his bag that was hanging off the hook connected to his desk. It was so tantalizingly close.

Now all he had to do was find what should seem like a snack package. Books, notepad, erasers, more notepads… There! Langa pulled out a small bag of… something. He had Reki tell him what they were and had practiced pronouncing it several times. Jagar…something. All he could remember was that it was made of potato and, most importantly, was SALTY.

He tried to open the package as quietly as he could, but it made a bit more noise than he was comfortable with. Had Langa been his right mind, he wouldn't have be comfortable with this at all. It's amazing what addictions can do to a person, cause this stopped being a craving the second he stepped into class. Reki caught onto this as well, looking at Langa like he had lost his mind.

"Dude?" He mouthed, wondering why Langa thought now would be a good time to risk it all for food. While this was Langa we're talking about, the craving had just become too much. Langa was so close. He forced himself to clear his throat loudly as he opened the package the rest of the way. This little maneuver earned him some strange looks from class and teacher alike, but thankfully no one interrogated him about it.

Reki threw his head back in dramatic disbelief as Langa tried his best to shake out some sticks from the pouch. A couple of sneaky handfuls later and Langa felt another tap on his shoulder. Reki made a pitiful attempt to persuade Langa to hand him some as well. Langa looked around the room nervously, wondering if he should take the chance. Looking back, Reki had turned on the puppy dog eyes on full blast, causing all doubt to be cast from his head. Of course he should. Just because he's severely salt deficient, doesn't mean he should leave his friend out to starve.

Langa shook a few pieces into his hand under the desk. They had to wait for the teacher to turn around, which was taking forever. For a moment the teacher turned around to write on the board. He waited half a second to make sure he wasn't going to turn around, stretched his hand out and-

"Mr. Reki. What do you think you're doing?" The teacher called.

Well, shit. The happiness Langa felt by not being found out was immediately replaced with fear as he nor Reki had an excuse on hand to give the teacher.

"Well?" He said, waiting with an air of exasperated patience.

"Aahh, erh… uhhh?", Reki uttered, floundering for a response.

"I was… asking him a question." Langa belted out in defense.

"And why didn't you direct the question to me instead?", The teacher replied, questioning the legitimacy of the answer.

"Because?�� It was a… dumb question?" Langa replied, shrugging into himself. The teacher sighed as threw his head back in aggravated contemplation. The air was thick with tension as the two waited for a response, wondering if today would be merciful. The teacher drew his head back into position and decreed,

"Whatever it is that you're doing, stop it. Do it again, and I'm holding you both after class.", pointing to the two of them before turning around and resuming teaching. Langa and Reki let out a sigh of release after which they exchanged the handful Langa was holding onto and didn't acknowledge each other until passing period.

"Okay, are we going to talk about what happened or…?" Reki said, leaning against the locker neighboring Langa's as the snowy bluenette changed out books in his book bag.

"I wanted a snack, I got a snack. Just… not used to sneaking in bites in class."

"Yeah, as much as you eat, you know better than to pull that kind of shit during class. What is up with you today?"

"I don't know. I'm just… really salt deficient today.", Langa replied, shutting his locker and walking away.

"No, that can't be it. You're not acting like you're deficient, you're acting like a crack addict jonesing for another hit. I know I shouldn't really be concerned, but I'm getting concerned." Reki said, hop-walking to catch up to Langa's long legs. Over the din of the bustling hallway, the pair heard Reki's text alert go off on his phone, causing the two to momentarily pause to see what it said.

"Oh, cool! Joe just sent over a game plan before we head to 'S'. Looks like we're meeting up with Shadow at the restaurant and carpooling over." Neither of them had to work that night, so after a change of clothes and dinner at Reki's, meant a long, glorious night of high-octane fun and excitement with the whole group!

"Sounds great! Can't wait to get out of here.", Reki said, looking up and catching Langa's smile.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Come on! We're going to be late!" Reki yelled, blazing down the smooth sidewalk.

"I don't know why you're worried. Its not like they're going to leave us behind.", Langa yelled back

"Shadow's the one driving and I wouldn't put it past him!", the redhead shouted back, pushing forward for more speed. Langa threw his head back and laughed, thinking that it does sound accurate.

"Maybe you shouldn't have done such a good job washing the dishes!", Langa retorted.

"After you ate mom out of house and home? It was the least I could do!" Reki threw back with a laugh in his voice.

The two continued to speed down the sidewalk onward to their destination without a care in the world, despite the desperation in Reki's tone earlier. Langa started to feel more like himself than he had all day. Nothing felt more grounding than skating behind his friend, his partner, his infinite companion. It was moments like this that he caught himself thinking things differently… about the two of them. Langa wasn't unfamiliar with thinking that, maybe, he and Reki could be… more than friends. Langa thought it was unavoidable at this point.

The two of them and been through so much, taught each other so much. He had long since came to terms with him thinking like this, feeling this want, this…longing? Yeah. You know what. That's what this was. Longing to tell Reki, to show Reki, that deep inside… Langa loved Reki. Again, he felt it unavoidable. Felt like that this was what he felt all along. Ever since the night at the skate park where they made up. The two hadn't ever said anything explictitly to each other, but it had come up in conversation once or twice that Langa might be into guys differently than most others.

To him, He felt Reki was trying to say the same thing too. With his preferred phrase being "Straddling the fence about it." Langa was never sure though, with his brain always coming around and saying that it's just wishful thinking. That Reki didn't want to say anything controversial, or it was just his way of trying to show support to Langa. He wasn't sure, and in the end just figured he'd play it safe. It wasn't like he wanted to change what they had, just thought they could make it a... special brand of better? Yeah, that sounds... right?

"Man, this salt kick is messing with my head if I'm thinking like this." Langa thought.

The friends finally made it to the restaurant a little later than they were supposed to, but found out there was a saving grace waiting for them.

"Joe went to the bathroom, since it looked like you two were going to be a little late tonight." Cherry mentioned, leaning on the side of Shadow's new van. The surprising reasoning behind the decision to carpool tonight.

"Sorry!" Reki laughed, "The dishes sorta piled up on me tonight. "Nice van Shadow! Looks very roomy."

"Thank You! Its technically the 'company' van, but my name's on all the paperwork and stuff. And another thank you for ACTUALLY appreciating it, unlike SOME people!", He said, pointedly nudging a small, occasionally bratty catboy.

"It's pink and it's got fold down seats. What's there to compliment?", said Miya Chinen, the brat in question.

Like most nights, these two started to argue like they do every time they get together. Everyone began to ignore them as they waited for Joe to come out so they could leave. Which, if the time frame was anything resembling the situation of Joe coming out of the closet about his feelings to Cherry, this could take all night. And with the wait, came the resurgence of Langa's salt deficiency. He bounced around on his toes as Reki and Cherry talked about new board designs they've seen. Suddenly, Langa quietly excused himself and went into the restaurant looking for something. The Sia La Luce might be a fancy Italian restaurant, but it wasn't above salt shakers at the table. However, these were fancy crystal shakers and Langa was pretty sure Joe wouldn't look too kindly hearing about Langa swiping away with one.

But he has bought take-a-way here on nights when he or his mother didn't feel like cooking. There was a counter close to a side door where you pick up your food after you ordered it. And if he was right, there should be a container full of paper salt packets they throw in as a courtesy. Making sure no one was looking; which, how could there be, the restaurant was closed. He leaned around the counter and grabbed a small handful before booking it out of the building. As Langa jogged-walked back to his group of friends, Joe finally emerged from the mysterious depths that was the men's bathroom.

"Great! Everyone's here and we can finally leave!" Shadow grabbed Miya by his jacket, tossed him in the van, and slammed the door before the now rabid child could retaliate. Cherry locked his bike and everyone piled into the comfortably roomy van.

The group finally arrived at S. The place seemed absolutely thrumming with energy tonight, almost bordering on sensory overload. Had someone come up to a younger Langa and told him that this place would become one of his most favorite spots on the planet, he would have considered them crazy. The wild flashing of the light, the pounding of music and voices, the heavy scent of… everything. One would have a hard time placing a scent, let alone describe it. And the night air, whipping up everything into a frenzy on the moutain. This place was the definition of free and untamed, and Langa loved it. He was itching to hit the race strips, but there already seemed to be a line for the top. Reki asked Joe and Cherry to reserve them a spot as the pair signed a waiting list, then the longtime friends hit a different path to the factory.

While the factory was considered part of the race track, that consideration only applied to the upper levels. The ground floor had plenty of debris and obstacles to pull tricks off of. Langa and Reki blew most of their collective energy grinding on the broken rails and kick-flipping off old wooden boxes. None of this was of course safe, but then again, when has that ever stopped them. As Langa popped off junk left and right, not caring about what the tricks were, just happy to be in the air, he was interrupted by a stranger.

"Hey You! You're the one they call Prince, Right?" A blonde, thin gym rat looking man in ripped jeans and an equally ripped sleeveless white denim jacket approached the pair in the far corner of the building.

"Yeah, I guess." Langa replied plainly, stopping his board to face the guy. "Prefer Langa though."

"Heard you're a good racer. One of the best around. That true too, 'LaNgA'?", the newcomer mocked, clearly showcasing how new to these parts the stranger was.

"Depends on who you talk to. Why?" Langa already had an idea what the stranger wanted. It's what all people new to "S" wanted, a beef with the legend that went against Adam and won. Honestly, this was already considered tiring, nearly turning onto outright obnoxious. But he was Canadian, it was polite to ask. Who knows, maybe he would get a break this time.

"I challenge you to a beef with ME!"

Nope.

Langa sighed in disappointment loud enough to attract Reki to his position.

"Oh, balls, not another one." Reki whispered to his friend. Knowing how tired his friend was of this and proceeded to take over the conversation.

"Look man, I know you want this to be personal and all, but we're signed up to go next on the track." He said, gesturing to the two of them. "Either you race against the BOTH of us, or you wait. And it's a long line tonight, by the way."

"Fine enough. It's not like it'll matter anyway, since you'll both be eating my dust!" the blonde asshole laughed.

Langa and the stranger shook on it, (again, He's Canadian), And the pompous douchebag walked off to take his place at the starting mark.

"Can't ever just be a nice night, can it?" Langa moped.

"Ahh, the cost of being talented… Wouldn't know what that's like!" Reki laughed, nudging Langa playfully and racing him to the starting mark.

The three of them, as well as others, took their places at the starting mark. The tension began to run high as everyone was waiting on the final signal light to drop. Lights flashed green as honed, practiced reflexes took over all the skaters as the beef began, with the main three in question taking a big chunk of the lead for themselves. Langa blasted out front of everybody, sacrificing style over speed in the hopes to make it a quick race. Only to see the stranger pulling up rapidly behind with Reki in the back, phasing in and out of their combined dust trails. Langa and the stranger began fighting for dominion of space on the high, sharp turns. Trying not to get too close, as at this speed, getting either board too close to each other would surely result in a wipe out.

'This guy is better than he looks.' Langa thought. He took a second to dance his board over some rocks that would have caused him to crash, just to see his opponent kick flip off a boulder and gain the lead.

'Of course this wouldn't be a problem, if I actually got my head in the game!' He screamed to himself.

Over a hundred of these races, against hundreds of skaters, professional and otherwise, and this one is practically kicking his ass because he can't stop thinking about salt! Langa pulls out a stolen salt packet from his pocket, only to lose it to the tailwind of Reki passing him as well. Reki had seen Langa pull it out and, thinking it was important, managed to snatch it from the air. Upon closer inspection however, threw Reki into a fit of laughter.

"Still going on about THIS?" He yelled back. "Well, if this is that important to you, guess you're going to have to catch me for it!" Reki turned on his board and angled his body in such a way to gain a burst of speed.

Langa made it a point to ignore the irrational part of his brain that kept saying he had more in his pocket and used the indignity of the situation to fuel his need to regain the lead. Popping over a bush, chaining the jump onto a ledge that lead to a short grind and using the momentum to launch himself from a tree branch over a small cliff, all linked together to form the most impressive retake of a gap in the history of "S". The order was now having the stranger being in the lead with Langa and Reki being neck to neck, if only for conversational purposes.

"Head back in place yet?" Reki playfully catcalled.

"It will be after I win!" Langa confidently declared back.

"If you lose, I'm taking your illegal salt stash away!" the cocky redhead wiggled the snatched salt packet threateningly.

Langa just snorted and continued to try and over take the talented new guy, finding it disappointing in himself that the threat was motivating. Having skated through this track so much he could do it blindfolded, Langa knew that the finish was only half a kilometer away. And at the speed at which the finalists were going, it was arriving frightfully soon. As they were coming out of the final turn, Langa gained enough momentum to fully flip himself over his opponent, rightfully gaining back his lead. The joyous moment was soon dissipated as the stranger, feeling indignified at the reality of the moment, had decided to pull out one last trick up his sleeve.

Reki's hackles began to raise as he saw the newcomer pull something out of his pocket. Langa couldn't see and Reki wasn't about to find out what it was. He could only manage an incoherent shout of warning before he sped up and rail grinded around the stranger to tackle his friend out of the way. As Langa looked back to see what the was doing that had caused Reki to warn him, the redhead was bent forward as his hands locked around Langa's waist in a defensive position. The combined momentum caused the two of them to slip out of control and break the railing to their right.

Langa's initial panic was swayed by the fact that he had been in this situation before. This was like Adam's Love Hug all over again. Langa took charge of the moment, righting his boardsin air and made his friend place his feet in line with his. He managed to land the board on to a beam under them and had to keep the balancing act up as they rail grind down its length. Their hands instinctively fell into the unmistakable tango position and held each other close, causing the wind to be sliced past their combined closeness.

As they reached the end of the beam, Langa planted a foot onto it and used the other to launch the board in front of the two of them. Reki pushed off as well, using whatever momentum they had to circle langa around to fling him into the air and toward the main track. Langa grabbed the board and tossed it down to the metal walkway, planting his feet solidly onto it. Keeping the momentum going, he turned to face Reki and guided him back onto the board, barely keeping them both upright as the skateboard zoomed past the positively stunned strange.

This is how they won. The two of them, absolutely inseparable since they met, just as so passing the finish line into the gathered crowd. All were cheering for their dramatic upset. They slowed their skateboards to a stop as the partners looked at each other, faces visibly showing the shock at what had occurred.

"Did you… just… Love Hugged me? And save me with it?" Langa asked as he stared at Reki, stunned by the experience and finding himself refusing to let go of his hand.

"Uhhh… yeaaah? Maybe? Look, all I saw was the asshole was reaching for something and I panicked and,-"

"Hey! Its… okay. You're… okay. We're both okay… Thanks to you." Langa professed soothingly, taking Reki's other hand in an attempt to ground them both. They tried to take a breather, but with the crowd closing in, along with the stranger starting to riot at his unexpected loss, the friends were starting to get overwhelmed. Along came the rest of the friend group, with Cherry and Shadow doing crowd control and Joe dealing with the stranger causing a fit. Taking the chance to slip away, Langa led Reki outside the old factory to a metal bench at the far wall and sat down in between other people. Langa started to rub his face in his hands. "That… got crazy there, right?" mumbling

Reki straddled the low bench, laying his board over his knees and nodding his head. "Honestly, yeah. Didn't know I had it in me to pull.. whatever that was off." Reki went on to fiddling with Langa's board and inspecting the trucks for damage.

Langa just sat there, watching Reki with unfocused eyes. His mind drifting back and forth, between the last five minutes and to the stash of salt in his pocket. To holding hands with Reki and back to his addiction to salt. Lapping between those two trains of thought, like waves on a beach. Almost like the salty water he soaked in on his vacation that he shared with Reki. Like how he and Reki liked to pass sauce containers on a skateboard when they shared a salty chicken nugget meal. Like when Reki passes his tongue between his teeth when he's concentrating on fixing his board. Similar to what he's doing now. Those teeth that are brushed with salt… crystal… toothpaste. Oh no.

"Heeeyyy… Reki?" Langa asked tentatively.

"What's up?" Reki chirped, looking up from his skateboard maintenance.

"Do you… still use salt crystal toothpaste?"

Reki craned his head back in disbelief. "Aww Ma gawd, LANGA, salt again! Are you hoping it'll fix something in your head or is this considered a last resort?" Langa just shrugged as he weighed his options. If he followed through on this absolutely crazy stupid idea of his, this would totally change the course of their friendship, for better or for worse FOREVER. BUT, this might be the one thing that cures him of this obnoxious salt kick, if he's RiGHT. Thus, the risk.

"Reki, would you mind if I… did something potentially…stupid?"

"Depends. Does it involve me?" Reki replied, innocent of Langa's intentions

"Yes." However, at the rate his brain is degrading from the lack of salt intake, this might just have to be a risk Langa will have to take.

Langa scooted closer to Reki, straddling the bench as well. He took his friend's face in his hands. God, he was so nervous. Langa could barely look him in the eyes. Those beautiful, incandescently golden eyes. The ones gazing into his, filled with innocent confusion and... awe? Before his nerves completely blew a fuse, Langa used his thumbs and pulled Reki's headband over his eyes as he dove onto his lips. He was gentle with it, not wanting to do anything to completely scare Reki, but hopefully enough to see if Langa wasn't crazy.

Crazy to think that this was what he was craving all along. The kiss lasted less than a second, with Langa only briefly making contact and just lightly sucking on Reki's lower lip. If Langa was in his right mind, he would have broken this off. Took his hands off his friends' face and apologized. But... he wasn't. Langa was not in a logical mindset in the slightest, for the smallest, slightest taste of Reki's lips was everything and more.

It was everything he was craving all day and everything he didn't know he was. Salt with sweet cherry chapstick mixed with spices from dinner earlier and… just… Reki. Some sort of flavor that couldn't be described, only named. Something so explicitly wild and spicy and sweet that it could only come from a source just as superb as the taste itself. Langa immediately swiped another kiss, this time whispering his tongue over the bottom lip again before forcefully pulling himself back from his friend. He did it. Langa kissed his best friend. Someone he vowed to skate forever with. And now he's gone and thrown a potential wrench in the mix.

Reki leaned back as he lifted the headband off his eyes. All they could do was stare at each other, expressions filled with more shock and awe than ever before. Cheeks were turning hot and red at the realization of the moment, and all they could do was just breathe and stare. A lifetime had passed between them before Reki decided to be the first one to break the silence.

"Sooo, uhhhh…. Was it everything you were looking for tonight?" He said, sheepishly. Surprising Langa by not turning and running for the hills.

"Would you believe me if I said… yes?" Langa turned his head away, not sure what to do with himself at this point. He was honestly shocked that they were still talking.

"Honestly… not really." Reki said with shocking confidence. Langa whipped his head back up, wondering why, of ALL responses, he would say that?

"To be fair, that kiss was kinda short, so I can't really believe that you actually tasted anything. Sure you don't wanna… try again?" Langa was stunned. Stunned that his friend, the one that always said that he 'wasn't sure', didn't express that he was interested in him EVER, would say something like that so casually.

"But… I thought…" Langa said. Confused, but grateful at the miracle that landed in his lap.

Reki righted his headband before taking a breath and spoke, "Look. I know I talk about girls a lot, and that I've been 'straddling the fence' about this. But that kiss...and everything that happened tonight and maybe during some moments that we've had together over the past month or so just... made me realize that... I'm not as much on the fence as I previously thought. And I want you to know that this... is okay." Reki took one of Langa's hands and brought it over the skateboard and held it, curling the blushing bluenette's fingers into his and lightly stroked his thumb over the knuckles.

"So… is this an open invitation to… try again?" Langa muttered, leaning in close to Reki. Their foreheads almost touching.

"Well, yeah! Gotta be sure and all. Else you're going to screw up your taste buds devouring salt packets all night!" The two of them quietly laughed at the thought before leaning closer in, sensing another intimate bubble world forming around them and this moment. Just the two of them, all over again and again. Langa rubbed his nose next to Reki's, hoping to indicate that he would like another kiss. Reki got the hint as they started to lean closer to each other and-

"I get this is probably a first time for both of you, but could you not? It's disgusting." Miya said. He was the only other occupant on the bench at the moment and was playing on his switch while chilling in the now shockingly brisk air.

"I'm… sorry?" replied Langa.

"exCUSE YOU?" screeched Reki.

"It's not that I'm against you two getting together or anything, but can you really not find a better place to do… all that? I'm trying to concentrate here." Miya said, drawing his hood over his head and returning to his game.

"Well, tough luck pussycat! I'm going back for another round." Reki almost threw his skateboard from his lap, He indignantly grabbed Langa's collar and went back to kissing him forcefully, pushing his "Prince" down flat on the bench and crawling onto his lap. This essentially traumatized Miya, especially after Langa joyfully started to reciprocate.

"JOE! CHERRY!! SAVE ME!!!" the child screamed in terror as he ran into the surprised arms of his (unofficial) surrogate parents that had just turned the corner, looking for the oblivious pair. Joe picked up Miya and held him close, wondering what could cause him to scream like that, Cherry began scanning the tree line, preparing to take his board and swing for the fences when he found the violator, only to see Reki and langa committing a mild case of public indecency.

"Are they-?" Joe said first, finally seeing the familiar red and blue mass on the bench.

"It appears so. Honestly? About time." Cherry replied, putting Carla down.

"Make them stop!" Miya whimpered, shivering in disgust and looking away.

"Avert your eyes kid, it's only going to get worse." Joe shifted Miya to one arm as he and Cherry walked away and back into the building.

"Should we warn Shadow?" Cherry asked.

"Na. With the way those two were going at it, he'll find out soon enough."

The three of them went out the other side, up the path to the top and left the intertwined teens to their now and forever present need for privacy.

[lesbiansanemi]

I’m gonna make it through the rest of Kyojuro’s backstory for this damn role swap AU even if it fucking kills me

[dearestaeneas]

Epilogue.

For a moment, the world burned with the deepest orange before fading to blue. The little rat loved the dark, although his already blurred vision became all the more useless. His whiskers and nose did well to steer him in the right direction as he made sure to take the appropriate time to mourn the loss of the burning light’s rainbow. It did not matter that it would be back tomorrow: The specific moments he savored could never truly be repeated, simply recreated in a similar likeness.

The little rat squeaked with delight just thinking about it.

He did not wonder at just how many of those bright and colorful moments he had left, because such a thought served no purpose. There was no answer that could change the wonder he was so blessed to marvel at, leaving no reason to ask the question in the first place.

Despite its age, the rain and the wet hadn’t fully infiltrated his home. The beams he scurried across remained dry, the older ones occasionally creaking quietly, but respectfully, under his weight. He appeared to be in a great rush, finding himself back on the ground floor in far less time than it took him to leave it.

He exited the wall, running toward the study.

Pappappappappap!

The little rat heard the squeaking before he could make out his fellow little round shapes. Before him lay a carnival: several smaller rats fought playfully as those around them fed or curled themselves into one another as they slept. Although the little rat’s home was now dark, pale moonlight shone into the room through the tall, arched windows. As the moon rose, more and more of the sleeping little bodies began to stir.

Before long, the little rat found himself in the middle of the colony, squeaking enthusiastically. He fed on beetles that crawled their way across the walls of his home, as well as seeds that fell through broken windows from trees. Some of his meal even consisted of raspberries that had begun to grow across the house’s front stoop. As he ate with his friends in the home he loved, the little rat forgot the grief he’d felt thinking about his fleeting glance at the sun.

He did not hold still for long- none of them did. The little rat scurried about, pouncing on his companions and swishing his tail back and forth excitedly. He didn’t like to be alone and only did so at sunset. Although, as he played and squeaked and ran, he wished he could share all of his life with those around him.

If only they knew! If only they knew the wonders the house had for them, just waiting to be found! To be loved!

But wouldn’t it be cruel to disturb their sleep? No, maybe it was okay to keep such a treasure to himself. He would not force his choice on those he loved, and instead began to wonder what treasures he could possibly be missing out on.

His home did not love him less for not knowing all the marvels it had to offer, did not love his friends less for not knowing the beauty of the chandelier at sunset.

The little rat’s little feet pattered against the wooden floor, smooth and worn after years of those who came before him.In a sea of identical little noises, his own little pappappappappap! added to that legacy. Those who were to come after him would not know his unique squeaks or the way his specific feet sounded, but they would know their own, acting as a similar enough likeness.