#i just. unfortunately. have been unable to think of a realistic alternative here :

[bookwyrminspiration]

Relating to your last ask on how Sophie handled your parents, I'm always interested as to what alternatives could have been. Could they have done a fake boarding school esque situation, possibly having to use Beguiling or the like to convince her parents to let her go? Could they have erased only Sophie but kept the rest of their memories intact (but they might still have to remove them from their location)? If that's beyond an average telepath's capabilities, is that something Sophie might be able to do (likely with the training she didn't have at the time)? Could she have brought them to the elven world with her and in doing so become the beginning of rebuilding the bridge between humans and elves? What do you think would be best for all parties, if the situation had been approached differently and with more care than the elves showed in canon? Would it inevitably be a tradeoff between keeping Sophie in her parents' lives and keeping her parents safe?

Oo okay alright alright! Very interesting. I'm going to go through these and assess them based on what problems may be encountered and whether they'd be a plausible alternative--but! this is just for fun and my opinion, please don't take it against you, I'm doing this enthusiastically not critically :)

Fake boarding school: I feel like this is close to an idea Sophie wondered about, and the main obstacle here would be getting them to agree--hence the beguiler thing. But then we also encounter the problem of how long would the beguiling last? Would they need to be continuously beguiled, and would the council approve using a beguiler for that when they could use an alternative? Probably not. This also requires Sophie to continue constantly lying to her parents--even more so than before--which was something she didn't think she could keep up much longer. It's not impossible, but the technicals of this seem difficult and strenuous

Erasing only Sophie: Possibly! But like you said, that level of skill is probably beyond the average telepath, making it significantly more difficult. And given what we learned from Damel, until he worked alongside Sophie, he'd never washed memories without risk of triggering them back. There would be so many things that could trigger those memories. Another question would be: how many memories are left after that? Sophie has been integral to their lives for over a decade, how are they going to fill that gap? What's Sophie-free? I think it's a plausible solution, but would be very very difficult and time consuming, and have a good risk of triggered memories (since Sophie wasn't able to help yet).

Bringing them to the elven world: At the time, the council was involved and overseeing things. I can't imagine any situation where they'd knowingly allow three humans to live in the elven world just because Sophie didn't want to leave them. There's also the fact that they are human. Sophie moves to the Lost Cities for many reason, but one of them being that she's an elf who doesn't belong in the Forbidden Cities. Her family would be just as out of place if not more so in the Lost Cities, and I don't think Sophie could do that to them. They don't speak the language (although it can be given, as we saw with Amy), they can't light leap without help, they're not going to be treated kindly by anyone else if anyone else even knows of their presence. Amy said in Nightfall that as amazing as the Lost Cities were, she could tell that she didn't belong and wanted to go back home.

I've said this before, but honestly? I don't think there is a better option than what we saw in canon, or at least I haven't encountered it yet. There's no good option, it's inherently an immoral and unethical situation, and I just can't envision one where everything works out best for everyone and could actually be implemented. Your second suggestion about erasing only Sophie could be an improvement, but I worry that retaining the rest of their memories would inevitably lead to triggered memories of Sophie, and that can only happen so many times before they'd just erase their memories fully because it wasn't working.

If everyone was super super agreeable and realism disregarded, the closest I get is if Sophie's human parents are made fully aware of the situation and then knowingly allow her to attend Foxfire and engage in the elven world while still living with her. But the elves won't let that happen and that puts a huge target on her family, who are human and can't defend themselves against the Neverseen once they enter the story more fully. It can't last

So for now (and my opinion may change) it does seem like an inevitable trade off. I don't think they're good, but the two options presented in canon (fake death or erased) are the best of a bunch of shitty options. I'm not sure what I would've picked between the two if I were in that situation, but I think Sophie picking what she did was in character, and therefore the better option for the story.

But again, these are all just my thoughts and opinions and how I've engaged with the story. There's no right answer here, and I say this all as part of an enthusiastic analytical conversation, not as critical judgement of anything :)

[matsbarzal]

for the august prompt list!!! random au 11. prince/princess with andrei svechnikov? :)

au 11. prince/princess

pairing: andrei svechnikov x fem!reader word count: 1.5k warning: alternative universe, mentions of arranged marriage, potentially only part 1 of a series

Andrei knew what was expected of him as the second son, and the younger brother of the Crown Prince. He’s known his entire life what was expected of him, the path he was meant to take, the choices he was meant to make. He was a diligent son, and he loved his brother and his parents, he knew he would do anything to guarantee the success and prosperity of his home.

As the sister to the Crown Prince of your Kingdom, you knew it was inevitable you would one day have to do your duty to guarantee the prosperity and reign of your country. It was something you had been dreading for so long, dreading the inevitable unhappiness that would one day come to guarantee the safety of your country.

“It’ll all be worth it in the end; do you know how many families you’re saving from being ripped apart? How many young men you’re saving from the hardships of a never-ending war?”

It was the sentence you had heard from everyone, everyone telling you that the arrangement was for the best. Not only did it guarantee the end to a decade-long war, but it also instilled that you would do anything to guarantee the success of your Kingdom and its people.

“I’ve heard he’s a real catch, ya know? Heard he’s one of the most sought out bachelor’s in Barnaul. And I’ve heard he’s very handsome, even better looking than the Crown Prince.”

Groaning as you looked at the girl, a cheeky grin flying your way. Lyra had been the one and only lady-in-waiting you had accepted to come on the journey to Barnaul, a tight-knit friendship forming over the years.

“Ly, I don’t care if he’s the most handsome bachelor there is. Do you know how dehumanizing it is having to marry so your younger brother doesn’t have to deal with a war basically caused by a cockfight between my father and my future husbands’ father? It’s pathetic.”

Shrugging her shoulders with a sympathetic smile, the girl smiled tightly in your direction. “Maybe you’ll end up liking him, just because the situation itself isn’t the best, doesn’t mean he’s awful.”

The trip to Barnaul wasn’t a long one, the time flying by and before you knew it, your father and his guards were walking into the throne as you and your mother trailed in behind him, guards flanking both of your sides.

“Ah, King Igor! It has been far too long, my friend.”

You tried to hide the grimace that started to cross your face when you observed your father and your future husband’s father embrace. It was a tense hug, years of animosity floating through the room, everyone on edge as they waited for what was to come.

“Y/N! Come here please, darling,” obliging, the guard’s allowed you to pass by them so you could stand next to your father.

A curtesy was directed towards King Igor, a pleasant smile overtaking your lips as you observed the man in front of you. His accent was strong as he addressed you, the kindness in his eyes the only reassuring measure of his persona.

“Even more beautiful than your father said, you and my son will make a beautiful pair,” gesturing with his hand behind him, you followed his gesture to meet the eyes of a tall man. His hair was gelled back, a maroon suit covering his skin as he made his way forward. It was easy to tell that this was Andrei, your intended, the man you were meant to marry to unite your kingdoms.

At least Lyra was right about one thing… he was incredibly good-looking.

Bowing towards you, a curtesy was met in return before he grabbed your hand to place a gentle kiss on the back of your knuckles. A warmth instantly shot up your neck, your body tingling at the feeling of his lips pressed against your skin.

“Princess Y/N, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Welcome to Barnaul.”

His voice was smooth, but deep and heavily accented. He had a kind and happy exterior, his smile bright and his eyes welcoming.

“The pleasure is mine, Prince Andrei. I’ve seen only a small amount of it, but your home looks incredibly beautiful. I look forward to seeing more of it.”

Your response was met well, a proud smile adorning King Igor’s and your father’s faces, Andrei smiling slightly in your direction. You had forgotten that he too was being forced into a situation, unable to choose his future bride or the person he wanted to marry. He was just as much of a victim as you were, you couldn’t blame him for the actions of his parents, regardless of how much you itched to do so.

The days in between your arrival and your upcoming wedding passed smoothly, there was only minimal interaction between you and your fiancé, as you opted to remain with your parents for the short duration they had planned to stay in Barnaul.

The day of your wedding came quicker than you were expecting, observing yourself in the full-length mirror as the white silk was slowly wrapped around you. You couldn’t deny that you looked beautiful, the dress fitting to your body in all the right ways, the makeup adorning your cheeks a beautiful addition.

You didn’t hear the small tap on the door until Lyra hoisted it open, just to slam it shut immediately.

“You can’t be here! It’s bad luck!”

The knock against the door was heard again, Lyra pushing herself out of the room to confront the person on the other side, who you could only assume to be Andrei if it was bad luck that they were here. Who cared about luck when you were already marrying just to prevent your Kingdom’s from destroying each other more?

The door opened, but instead of Lyra, Andrei popped himself through, gently closing the wood behind him. No point in hiding yourself now.

“You know, it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding,” quirking an eyebrow at you, all the man did was shrug his shoulders as he grabbed one of the empty champagne flutes from the table.

“We’re getting married so our fathers don’t put each other in an early grave. I don’t think we had much luck to start with, darling fiancé.”

The attempt to hold in the snort that dropped from your lips failed, a grin taking over his face at your reaction. He had a nice smile, you could admit that, realistically you knew that if you had met him under any other circumstances, it probably could have turned out wonderfully, but it was hard to determine how an arranged marriage would come to be.

“I wanted to come and… talk to you before we had to vow our lives to each other. I know you’ve been spending time with your parents before they leave, and I’ve respected that and didn’t want to overstep. I just… I can’t force myself to marry someone I’ve had one conversation with in passing. I don’t want a loveless marriage, Y/N.”

Scoffing slightly at his words, you rested your arm against the couch as you sat down across from him. “Would you like me to be honest, or would you like the diplomatic response I’m sure you’re expecting?”

“I’d prefer the honesty, but if you’d rather the diplomacy than that’s your choice,” shrugging at your words, he pressed the edge of the champagne flute to his lips and sipped at the now-filled cup.

“I’m sure you’re not an unlovable person, you actually seem quite lovely. And maybe… to a certain degree, I have been avoiding you, but I’m not sure what’s expected of me here. I can’t force myself to love someone I barely know, I didn’t even have a choice in this marriage, but I sure as hell have a choice in my own feelings.”

Nodding in understanding, you watched Andrei’s hands shake as he placed the champagne flute back on the table in front of him before he stood up and made his way to the couch you were sitting on, gently occupying the seat beside you.

“I don’t expect you to love me yet, but I hope you’ll at least give me a chance. I promise there’s a little bit of substance behind my pretty face, not much, but some,” rolling your eyes with a small laugh at his words, you shrugged your shoulders slightly.

“I never planned on not giving you a chance, I just hope you don’t expect it to work-out overnight. Unfortunately, it took me two years to even like my younger brother. You’ve got a lot to live up to.”

A mock scoff dropped from his lips as Andrei smiled towards you again. “Good thing we have until death do us part, huh?”

note: ah anon i know you weren't technically asking for a series... but that may be what comes from this. even if it doesn't, i hope you like it!!! thank you for sending one in <3

[jeonqqin]

man up. [m] | pt. 2

h. jisung x reader | netflix teen rom-com au

— ❝Even with classes, annoying brothers, and an unrequited crush, you still figured your first year of college was going pretty well. Until you managed to get your first boyfriend, and suddenly your brother and his stupidly attractive best friend were attached to your hip for the whole damn ride.

or alternatively;

Why did Jisung care about you so much, and had his eyes always been that pretty?❞

WORD COUNT: 5.2k

CONTAINS: brothers best friend au, teen rom-com au, sorta crack fic, love triangle au, college au

WARNINGS: nopee, well ji looking at readers butt?

A/N: are u team Chan or team Han?

▸ request

CHAPTERS:  01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 +

blog masterlist | ⟲ fic song

© jeonqqin 2020

After your afternoon class with Jisung, he quickly noted that you were absent for the rest of the day.

Sure, you didn’t have any other classes, but normally you would be hunkered down in the library with your nose stuffed in some sort of book, or wandering around campus with Felix at your heels. You were either cramming due to your procrastination or roaming around procrastinating. Jisung also knew you weren’t a fan of staying in your small dorm room since your roommate loved flaunting the fact that she had a boyfriend and how she wasn’t shy about anyone witnessing their ‘acts of love’.

So he really had no idea where you were, and it bugged him a little more than he would like to admit.

But outwardly, he didn’t want to show just how worried he was. You were his best friend’s sister, it wasn’t his job to make a fuss about something so trivial. It would be weird if he went looking for you… but if Minho just so happened to get word of his little sister’s sudden disappearance, Jisung would have to help his dear friend search for you.

It was only common courtesy.

“Minho, I think Y/n was kidnapped.”

“You WHAT?!”

Okay, starting the phone call with that probably wasn’t the best choice, but what other choice did he have. Jisung was an impatient guy.

“Yeah, I don’t know what happened.” He replied casually, already able to hear the panic on Minho’s end of the call. “She was here and then she wasn’t.”

Not only was he impatient, he was a(n idiot) songwriter; his words articulate and poetic.

Minho was silent for a second before cutting back for the call.

“I texted Changbin and he said she just ran off.”

Jisung frowned. “Do they know where she went?”

“Apparently to beat some sense into me.”

The two friends knew then where you were and a rush of panic filled their chests all at the same time.

“Fuck—”

“—Chan.”

Jisung nearly dropped his phone in the process of hanging up, immediately taking off towards the familiar apartment.

His worst nightmare was coming true—Chan was an unknown in Jisung’s mind. He was handsome, charismatic, and an older guy, so it was realistic to imagine you falling head-over-heels if you were to ever meet him. Unfortunately, it seemed like fate wasn’t in his favor and he was in deep shit if you were really at the apartment alone with Chan.

Alone with Chan.

He shivered at the thought.

The only brightside to the ordeal was that Minho was also aware of the dangerous situation. Out of everyone, he would be the only one to prevent any feelings from sprouting between you. Jisung counted on Minho every time and he never once failed to preform.

Dear god, he hoped he didn’t decide to stop now.

Arriving at the complex, he almost rammed full speed into Minho, who was also going as fast as his legs could take him. They only shared one glance before trampling over their feet to get up the stairs, no doubt bothering the neighbors along their way.

Minho was the one to swing the door open, his head on a swivel as he walked in. He was ready to break up any inappropriate business with as much force necessary—he didn’t care if Chan’s bicep was twice the size of his head, he had leg power on his side. And if he saw your tongue anywhere near Chan’s, Minho was going to be swinging.

“Chan?”

“Y/n?”

Thud.

There was a crash behind the closed door of the office, and both heads perked up at the sound.

Minho hurried forward, arm outstretched to grab the door, “No. No no no—”

Jisung never wanted in his life to see you involved with someone else. With your pretty eyes hooded and shining with desire, and your chest heaving heavily against the tight fabric of your blouse. It had been difficult enough to watch you fill out and grow into an attractive woman, he didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that you were old enough to meet other guys and moan their names.

He certainly didn’t want to hear you moan Chan’s name—of all people, why Chan?

“Shit, Chan—”

Jisung felt his face heat up as Minho pushed the door open, ready to pull his friend away to avoid the scene on the other side.

“—get your head away from my ass! The power strip isn’t even near there you prick!”

“Hey,” Chan defended with a laugh. “In my defense, all you said was it was over here somewhere. How do I know that somewhere isn’t next to your ass?”

The position that the two of you were in was compromising—though not in the way that Jisung had originally expected. It caused the two newcomers to freeze, their brains struggling to really understand what was happening.

The two of you were surrounded by thousands of cables and wires, black foam scattered across the floor as well. You were on your hands and knees, the only visible part of you was your bottom half with your head tucked underneath Chan’s mixing table doing who knows what. As for Chan, he was crawling around same as you, on his hands and knees with an extension cord wrapped around his shoulders.

“Uhm…” Minho gaped, eyes unable to focus on one part of the scene.

Jisung had no trouble at all, his eyes locked solidly on your raised ass.

You turned your head to look over your shoulder, eyes locking with Jisung’s and immediately widening. You couldn’t be in a worse situation—fucking hell.

In your haste to get out from under the table, you slammed the top of your head against one of the sturdy table legs and winced as Chan cracked up from your side.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class—Jesus, ow…” You asked, your hand moving up to rub the forming bump.

“What’s going on?” Minho asked, his eyebrows brushing his bangs.

“Y/n wanted some help with her stats class and I needed someone to help me upturn this room and make it into a recording room.” Chan snorted at your little dramatic groans, completely unfazed by the growing frustration on Minho’s face.

But before Minho could say anything to Chan’s statement, Jisung stepped in.

His lips twisted sourly, “I thought Seungmin was going to help you with your stats stuff?”

You shook your head with a huff. “I will not subject myself to that kind of torture and I refuse to let anyone convince me otherwise.”

“Well you could’ve asked me.”

Defeated and jealous; Jisung could no longer hide it.

The two older boys could see it clearly in the way he looked at you with big sad eyes, though neither of them said anything. Chan’s brows furrowed in thought, it looked like you had someone else infatuated with you.

You laughed. “Uh-huh, because you’re the resident genius here. Jisung, you dropped two of your classes last semester because both professors were minutes away from giving you an administrative failure.”

“Yeah, yeah. Jisung’s head is full of rocks—” Minho dismissed, unsympathetic towards the scandalized boy next to him. “Why the hell are you turning my storage room into a junkyard?”

Chan finally stood, pulling the cord from his neck and throwing it to the side in favor of helping you up.

“It was already a junkyard, bundle-boy.” You said, voice clipped and annoyed. Who wouldn’t be after smashing their head against a solid piece of metal? “We were renovating.”

“Like hell you were. I thought I said no to the recording room?”

Minho’s rage was just about completely directed towards Chan, but to your surprise, the guy gave minimal to no reaction. His face stayed indifferent, wide shoulders relaxed and eyes set.

You’ll be dammed, the fucker wasn’t scared.

Chan wasn’t afraid of your brother.

There was someone on the planet who didn’t go running when Minho looked at them funny, and he was standing right next to you in his beautiful sleeveless glory. If you weren’t currently suffering from a possible concussion you would be dropping to one knee and popping the question then and there.

“Oh, so what you said earlier was a no?” Chan (very unconvincingly) feigned innocence. “Sorry, the phone connection must’ve been bad.”

“I was yelling to you from the other room.”

“These walls are very thick, Minho. It’s your apartment, you should know that.”

“Do you want to be homeless?”

“Define; home.”

That was it, he was your one true love.

As Minho began to cross his arms over his chest, squaring up to Chan with the glare of a certifiable killer, you slid out of the way to avoid the oncoming fist fight.

Or explosion, whichever route Minho decided to take.

But then the unthinkable happened—Minho sighed, dropping his arms to his sides and turning towards you.

Both you and Jisung stood speechless, because you just witnessed someone give Minho an attitude and not get beat down afterwards. Hyunjin had once attempted the same thing and had been chased around the quad for a good forty minutes until the taller man had gotten tired and your brother had become uninterested.

Felix told you that they were both reemed during dance practice that night for being too tired to execute their choreography.

Minho shook his head, “You and Changbin were probably going to convince me anyway. Might as well save the wasted time and get it done now.”

Either your brother had a fat crush on Chan, or the Lee Minho was afraid of someone.

You knew Chan was older than him, but someone had to have some sort of super power to keep Minho from kicking their shins and shoving a knee in their face.

“What is happening…?” Jisung wondered, eyes wide and mouth open.

Chan smiled, striding over to clap Jisung on the shoulder, making the shorter boy jump in surprise.

“Good news. We’re getting a recording studio.”

And you would like to get married to one Bang Chan please.

You joined Chan’s side.

“Now you can finish that song you were working on.” You said, nudging Jisung’s shoulder.

He was just going to ignore the sudden wave of excitement at the fact that you remembered that he was working on a song.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jisung laughed tensely. “Looks like I’ll be around more often.”

“Yeah, definitely…”

You nodded absentmindedly, eyes locked on the exposed skin of Chan’s arms. Chan himself didn’t acknowledge your stare, but couldn’t help the smug smile that slid onto his face.

Jisung watched the exchange and groaned, looking over to glare at Minho for failing him the only time it truly would end badly for him. Because of course Minho had to be soft for Chan and of course Chan had to be moving in.

Why couldn’t Chan just be ugly?

“Okay,” Chan sighed, placing all the wires he held into a pile on the floor. Suddenly, he turned to you, “You held up your end of the bargain. Let’s work on some stats, huh?”

Your eyes widened for a second, caught in headlights.

“Oh,” was your smart reply. “But we didn’t get to finish?”

Chan waved it off. “The only reason we tried to get it all done was to make sure Minho couldn’t say no. Now that he’s accepted it, we don’t have to rush.”

As much as it bothered him not to finish a project.

You laughed at the little punch Minho threw at Chan’s shoulder on his way out of the room, mumbling something about “going to bed before Changbin comes home to beg for food”. He also made sure to pinch your cheek before leaving.

After swatting at Minho’s hand, you grinned.

“Okay, well… Let’s figure out how we’re going to do this.”

Chan mimicked your smile with a nod.

No way, Jisung thought as you followed his older friend out into the living room, no fucking way.

You just left him without an acknowledging glance his way, and all of a sudden he had a really terrible feeling about leaving you and Chan alone together. Anything could happen—kissing, fucking, god forbid you talk to him. You could become closer and gain feelings for the guy, which would not be a hard task considering Chan was basically the human embodiment of the sun and every damn person seemed to be pulled into his orbit after the first meeting.

Dammit, it was even difficult for Jisung to be mad at him. The guy was too lovable.

Cursing under his breath, Jisung all but ran into the living room to prevent any and all touching or deep talks, because heaven knew how much Chan talked about deep shit.

Ew, he sounded like Minho.

“You don’t have any notes at all?” Chan asked, eyebrows raised. “What do you even do in there?”

You let out a sigh.

“Stats is where I usually do my biology work.”

“Then what do you do in biology?” He questioned bluntly, his eyes skimming all the lost files on your computer that you had given up on ages ago.

“That’s where I write all my essays. The teacher—”

“—never stands up from his chair.”

With wide eyes, you laughed in surprise. Your mouth formed many words but nothing stumbled out, perhaps for a good reason because what you had in your head wasn’t very coherent on its own.

So you just pointed at the snickering Chan, “You…?”

His head shook and your mood dropped.

“I don’t do work for other classes,” he corrected, the mischievous smile slowly sliding onto his lips giving you a little hope back. “I actually produced a whole song in that class.”

Was Jisung dreaming or were you looking at Chan with those big bewildered eyes? Was that what was happening right in front of him? Could he be seeing things?

For once he really hoped he was going insane.

“I knew I wasn’t the only one that slacked off in that class!” You chirped, bouncing a little in your seat.

“And I still got a one-hundred on my exam.” He told you pointedly before passing on the laptop and leaning back on the couch.

Normally, smugness wouldn’t have been attractive to you but on Chan it was something else. His eyes lit up in a way that was almost pretty.

There was a pull towards him as he just sat there and looked at you. It was something that set you on edge in the same way it put you at ease, he just had such a conflicting presence and you really didn’t know how to process it. So your body pushed you forward on it’s own, and with no complaints from him, you felt your hand come to rest on his knee—

But out of the fucking blue, Jisung was throwing himself between you two, his thinner body fitting snuggly in the unfilled space. You sputtered and Chan nearly yelped, holding his hand to his chest to placate his thudding heart.

“Jisung—what the fuck?”

“Did you just jump over the back of the couch?” Chan frowned looking over his shoulder to really determine the path Jisung took to get there.

Jisung smiled obnoxiously, “I just figured I’d help you guys out. Considering I’m also in that class.” He wiggles a little more to separate the two of you even more. “And three brains are better than two.”

“Not when yours is nonexistent.” You quipped, feeling your lips pull into a pout at the intruder.

“Ah, how I love your humor.”

Jisung poked your nose with a tight lipped smile.

Sending Chan a look of apology, he shrugged, falling back further into the couch.

“Sure, why not?” Was his response, shoulders lifting up and falling back down with a huff. “Let me help you set up some proper notes.”

Jisung brought his hands together once to create a near deafening sound that had you even more irritable. His happy-go-lucky mood wasn’t funny when you were on the receiving end of the annoyance.

One nice thing—you couldn’t have one single nice thing ever.

Between your brother and his dumb best friend (that you may or may not have sorta feelings for) you couldn’t do anything. Your prime years were being wasted on sucky romance movies with Felix and Hyunjin and cat fights with Jisung. You couldn’t afford such bullshit for much longer.

“You know I love you, Y/n.”

“Stuff your love up your ass.”

The rest of the week passed by smoothly with minimal conflict on your end and grades that didn’t have you contemplating slamming your face into a wall. On weekends you usually spent most of your time at Minho’s apartment while Changbin dicked around at the gym and your brother slept for the forty-eight hours that he had to himself. You could watch movies and finish your homework with no distractions.

That was until Chan decided to move in and steal your attention every moment he could. You were even starting to suspect that he was doing it on purpose after the time he walked out of the bathroom in only a bath towel and responded with a “oh, I didn’t notice you there”.

You also concluded that Felix was a snitch and no longer deserved your friendship, because once you shared with him your encounter with Chan, everyone in your group of friends was wired in to everything that concerned you and Chan.

Especially Jisung. Which eventually caused—

“Jisung why the hell are you following me?”

The boy in question didn’t bother to acknowledge you, instead he simply continued to walk at your side, hands stuffed deep in his pockets and hair just a little messier than usual, “What do you mean? This is how I get to my next class.”

You snorted. “Last time I checked, you had dropped your two-thirty class. And even then, it was on the other side of the building.”

Jisung couldn’t help but roll his pretty brown eyes.

“Stalker…”

“Says the guy who’s been up my ass all day.” You chirped, taking pride in the way he glared at you.

Jisung threw his hands up in frustration. He knew what he was doing was out of character, sure. But did he want to be called out on it?

“Can I not hang out with you? God, Y/n. We’ve known each other for years, I’d think you’d get used to me being around.”

You merely shook your head with a laugh, continuing forward.

“You’re really something else.”

He snorted, “So you’re being an adult now?”

“When am I not the adult when I’m with you? There’s no room for stupid energy with you around.” You replied cheekily

“Well I’m sorry for hogging all the ‘stupid energy’, damn…”

The way that Jisung held up the air quotes for “stupid energy” had your cheeks aching from how hard you smiled.

“Well, I’m going to lunch with Felix and Hyunjin right now. So unless you want to be subjected to their combined stupidity, I would suggest you go back to your dorm.” You sent him a small smile over your shoulder, just barely missing the way he tripped over his feet because of it.

Felix had called you in a rush right as you were getting out of your last class of the day and asked you to come eat lunch with him and Hyunjin. It was a one sided conversation that lasted almost ten seconds but you figured you had no other choice but to comply. Whatever reason he had for being in such a hurry was enough for you to listen.

“But you can come if you want, Sungie. I’m sure they won’t mind.”

Sungie.

It had been a while since you last called him that nickname—possibly way back when you were in primary school. It sent chills down his spine to hear you call him that again.

Jisung caught up to you easily, slinging his arm around your shoulders just as he used to when you began calling him Sungie. Over the years it had started to put a strain on him since he found it hard to differentiate what was friendly and what was too friendly. He had a girlfriend after all, and there were only so many things he could do with other girls that was acceptable.

But of course you were just Y/n. The little sister that bothered them all day and called him Sungie.

He didn’t have to feel embarrassed to hug you or tease you or hide his insecurities behind stupid pick up lines. Now matter how much it made his heart pound in his chest, you were still Minho’s baby sister—you were Jisung’s baby sister.

“I’d like that, my dear.” Jisung said, stuffing his free hand into his pocket and pulling you closer.

So close that it almost felt domestic.

Y’know, as domestic as it could get with someone who was like a little sister to him. He had a beautiful girlfriend too, so the domestication was more like a… family comfort and less like how it would feel if you were married and he was allowed to hold you as close as he wanted—

“Ah, you’re warm,” you hummed, making a small fuss of tucking yourself further into his hold. “It always looks like it’s going to be nice outside, but it seems like the weather changes its mind just as much as Hyunjin.”

You didn’t notice but Jisung was completely lost to everything you said after “you’re warm”. He just continued to hum and nod as if his brain wasn’t completely fried.

Jisung was in the midst of a mental breakdown when you somehow managed to lead him to the small restaurant right outside of the university. It was a popular place since it was so close and dolled out cheap food in a matter of seconds, which definitely appealed to its main demographic.

You spotted Felix’s head of purple hair immediately, a bright smile etched onto his face as he spoke animatedly to the waiter standing at the ready. The boy was cute, black hair and pretty dimples that made him appear younger. He also looked friendly with Felix with how he spoke with a wide smile that showed his perfect teeth.

You approached the table, shrugging Jisung’s arm off of you and ignoring his whine in protest.

“I made it,” you announced, gaining the attention of your friends—

And fuck.

You met eyes with Seungmin sitting in the seat beside Felix, and felt your shoulders slump as he flashed you a smirk.

“Glad you could come, Y/n.” Seungmin all but sang at your visible distress.

But Felix had a hold on your arm before you could respond with attitude, tugging you dangerously close to the waiter at your side.

“Y/n, this is Jeongin—” Felix gestured towards the boy who lifted his hand to wave. “He’s a school friend of Hyunjin’s.”

“It’s my last year.” Jeongin added with a shy laugh.

Peeling your eyes away from Seungmin, you got a good look at the boy in front of you. The unexpected cuteness both startled you and made your stomach flip. You really had to withhold from squealing and pinching his cheeks. He was so cute.

You smiled genuinely, “It’s nice to meet you, Jeonginnie.”

A small wave of red covered his ears at the sudden nickname, his long eyelashes fluttering in surprise.

Jisung just about combusted in his spot. He was getting pretty sick and tired of keeping tabs on all the boys you managed to hook around your finger, it was starting to get out of hand. Okay, maybe he was the stalker.

In a bout of frustration, Jisung grabbed your hand and interlaced your fingers, sliding into the booth beside Hyunjin and tugging you after him. You made a noise of surprise as your ass connected harshly with the cracked red cushion of the booth, sending Jisung a glare.

Though, he kept his eyes on the table, avoiding the amused looks on everyone’s faces, even going as far as swatting away Hyunjin’s poking fingers. But for whatever reason, he couldn’t bring himself to release your hand from his.

Jisung’s palm was sweaty in your hold, but strangely enough it was something that you didn’t mind.

Jeongin looked between you and Jisung for a moment before quickly coming to some sort of realization that only Felix seemed to understand. His mouth formed an ‘o’ shape and a small smirk was suddenly on his lips as he asked what drink you would like.

Whatever that was about, you didn’t like it.

“I’ll just have a water.” You answered skeptically, finally managing to pull your fingers free of Jisung’s grip.

“Water for me too.”

Jeongin didn’t bother to write down your orders, instead he just nodded and left with that same goofy smile on his face.

Why did your friends have to corrupt the poor kid?

You sent a glare towards Felix, ready to grill him about what the hell just happened but his eyes were on something else above your head, his lips forming into the same smirk that Jeongin had on. Whatever what’s either above you or behind you was either a stupid compilation video of League of Legend funny moments or your next victim.

“Care for one more?” Came from behind you.

And both your and Jisung’s heads swiveled around at a dangerous speed to see the beautiful image of Chan, and damn was he beautiful. He was dressed for the weather, arms now covered in a long black sweater that hugged every one of his muscles so so nicely, and instead of sweatpants, he was wearing jeans. You could definitely tell the difference between a casual day around the house and one where he was going to be seen out in public—was that makeup?

And Jisung frowned. It had been going so well.

It was his turn to send Felix a glare.

The purple haired boy mouthed something along the lines of “girlfriend”, but Jisung couldn’t (could) really make it out.

“Sit down.” You managed to choke out, motioning toward the table.

“Hey!” Felix greeted, standing up to fully embrace Chan in a hug.

You were floored.

“You know each other?”

Felix’s eyes flickered towards you, “We both grew up in Sydney.”

And you thought your eyes were going to pop out of your skull.

“You’re Australian?” You gaped, watching Chan as if he had sprouted a new head.

He then proceeded to spout off some heavily accented words that you could barely make sense of, and you could feel your heart practically flutter in your chest. After meeting Felix, you never thought you’d ever find an Australian accident sexy as hell—but Chan’s was, in fact, very sexy as hell.

“Wow,” Hyunjin whistled. “What does it take for one to become Australian, because fuck.”

You didn’t think you would ever agree with Hyunjin so much in your life.

Chan snorted. “I think you have to be born in Australia unfortunately.”

“Or you know,” Felix tossed sarcastically. “Live there.”

“Damn. Always the catch.”

You sighed, almost going as far as face-palming yourself and/or slamming your forehead against the table.

Instead you just sent Chan an embarrassed smile. “You can sit down if you aren’t planning on running away.”

“Thanks.” He laughed.

Unfortunately for you, there were already three people in your booth and he wouldn’t be able to fit beside you.

Fortunately for Jisung, there were already three people in your booth and Chan wouldn’t be able to fit beside you.

But when Chan began to slide in the seat next to Felix, Hyunjin suddenly jumped with a yelp, glaring at the suspicious looking Felix in front of him. The two had a very strange conversation with their eyes before Hyunjin was huffing a sigh and maneuvering himself to slip under the booth and (clumsily, you may add) pop out on the other side of Seungmin, ignoring the spectacled boys' complaints as he sends Chan a smile.

Stupid plotting assholes.

“Just wanted to sit next to my… uh—”

“Boyfriend?” You supplied, blinking at him dully.

“Yeah, my boy—hey, fuck you!”

“Sorry, were you waiting to tell people?”

He took the liberty to be the kicker instead of the kickee and sent his foot into your ankle, making you hiss with a glare.

Felix nudged Chan’s hip to direct him into the spot beside you, his mouth open in a wide smile as you are further squished between both Jisung and Chan. With one boy being very broad and the other being very clingy, you barely had any room at all.

“Y/n, you look a little cramped, why don’t you scoot over here a little more—?”

“Jisung, if I get any closer to you, I would be on top of you.”

Hey, he wasn’t completely opposed to that plan.

Jisung certainly would rather have you on his lap than Chan’s. He couldn’t even think about that without grasping for your hand again, though you were too fast and managed to wiggle out of his grip.

“Yeah, Y/n. Why don’t you just scoot over?” Hyunjin sang, his mouth curled up in a coy little smirk that he always had carved onto his face.

“You scheming little—”

But your words were cut off by the clearing of a throat.

Seungmin leaned over the table, and the way his sleeves were rolled to his forearms was suddenly very noticeable. He looked at you with the intention to kill, and had he not been a prudish reincarnation of the devil, you would’ve thought he looked hot as fuck.

“Do you want me to retell the little incident that took place at last year’s Christmas party?”

A collective gasp went around the table, Chan being the only one who was absolutely clueless.

Felix whispered something under his breath about how “that was sworn to secrecy”, and Hyunjin’s wide eyes stuck to the side of Seungmin’s face like glue.

Even Jisung broke out of his jealous stupor to gulp.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would.”

That was the true form of Kim Seungmin. 

“What? Do dinners like this happen all the time?” Chan asked. “Do you ever actually eat?”

As if on queue, Jeongin stepped up to the table, notepad in hand and wide eyes sparkling. “Are you guys ready to order—?”

But Felix was dragging the boy down to his height, whispering something quickly into his ear, causing his eyes to widen. After enlarging, his gaze flickered back and forth between you, Jisung and Chan. 

“I… will give you guys a few more minutes.”

Jeongin scurried off and you wanted to kill everyone at the table. 

“Well, I’m going to answer my own question here and say no. There will be no eating food today.” Chan hummed, tossing his menu onto the table similarly to a petulant child. 

You huffed. What did you ever do to deserve any of this?

With both boys at either side of you, it seemed to create a visual representation of the conflict in your mind. And Seungmin looked like he was ready to pass out with how hard he was trying to hold in his laughter as Felix and Hyunjin simply smiled your way. 

To say that the two boys were completely clueless, would’ve been an understatement—

With Chan too busy thinking about all the food he wouldn’t be eating and Jisung preoccupied trying to grab ahold of your hand, they didn’t once notice the way that the three little devils stared holes into their heads. 

“I literally can’t stand any of you.”

[onyxiana-is-obsessed]

BRO YOUR IMAGINE WHERE S/O WAS KILLED AFTER THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE HER ABOUT THE CLONE THING WAS AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! can I ask for a part 2 or an Alternative ending? Where the body the police found wasn't the reader, they somehow find that the villains used the reader to transform her into a Nomu!! Like hearing her distorted voice blaming them PLEASE I WANT TO CRY MORE xdd

I’m glad you liked it! I am so sorry this is so late! I decided to make this a part two instead of an alternate ending! You did say you wanted to cry more so I did my best to make it as angsty as possible! I hope you like it! Length: 2k Pronouns used: She/her

Warnings: Swearing, details of a murder.

Disillusioned (Part 1)

Tag list: @shiggi-trash @neon-tries-writing @happynoodle @boku-no-dumbass @peachy-yabbay

Lost Again

The weeks following the incident with the villain were hard for the Big 3, especially Mirio. They hadn’t been the same since meeting her… or him. They hadn’t been the same since the day (f/n) disappeared, and it didn’t go unnoticed. When the trio had brought up meeting the villain to the heroes, they were all extremely concerned.

The biggest concern was whether or not (f/n) was alive. Thanks to what the villain had said, the police had reopened (f/n)’s investigation, going so far as to exhume her body and have it tested.

Unfortunately, the results were the same. Multiple forensic teams had tested her DNA, but all they came up was natural DNA. Meaning the body they’d found was actually her. However, the villain had mentioned being able to create clones, what if this (f/n) was just a realistic clone? The reopening of the investigation stirred the public, causing a bit of backlash.

Why didn’t they know the first time? Why did they exhume her body? Exhuming her body meant disrespect to the family. Why didn’t they do a thorough investigation the first time? A young girl died and no one took it seriously until the Big 3 brought up the villain. How did no one realize the villain had kidnapped her? How come her family hadn’t noticed?

The backlash was rough. Not only for the heroes but for Mirio and (f/n)’s family. They did their best to comfort Mirio and he did his best to comfort them. He’d apologized over and over for neglecting to see that (f/n) wasn’t herself, but her family disagreed. Even they couldn’t tell it wasn’t their (f/n). The villain had perfectly portrayed her, to the point where it was terrifying. If they could do that, that meant the villain could be anyone.

The police quickly got the pro heroes involved with their investigation, doing everything in their power to find (f/n) or at least the villains who did this to her. They didn’t have many clues to go on. There was only one thing that was extremely odd in her case.

Why did they clean her decapitated head?

The idea was baffling, why did the villains want her to be recognized? Cleaning the head meant people would easily identify her, barely any effort needed to be put in. When committing a crime, no one would want the victim to be recognized, yet here the villains were doing the exact opposite. It didn’t make any sense.

However, as odd as that was, there wasn’t anything concrete that led them to the killers or the original villain, who had kidnapped her. In fact, even a few weeks after, the police had little to no information on who was responsible.

“Mirio?” Tamaki called, seeing his friend enter Fat Gum’s agency in his hero suit. Behind him, Nejire popped her head out. She gave him a wave as the three came close together, greeting each other.

“Hey, Tamaki. Good to see you.” Mirio greeted, waving to his friend. Ever since (f/n)’s disappearance, Mirio hadn’t been the same. He wasn’t as cheerful, his smile always seemed forced, and there was always that lingering regret in his eyes.

The trio had been through therapy, and was still going in fact, but it didn’t do much. Their change was drastic and only one good thing came out of all of this. It fueled their need to be heroes even more. They were much more aggressive, more willing to take risks, and always second-guessed anything they found even a little bit suspicious. 

“You’re here, are you ready?” Fat Gum asked, walking to the three. They nodded, wanting to hear more information. “It’s that abandoned warehouse we’ve been passed, numerous times. We think there’s a villain base there and today we’re going to find out.”

“I thought it was empty. I’ve been in there before, but I’ve never seen anything.” Nejire explained, making Fat Gum nod.

“It was empty before, but recent witnesses started seeing activity there. From what we’ve gathered, multiple villains gather there at least once a week. We’re not sure what’s in there, but none of our agents have been able to get in. So, it’s our job now.” The trio nodded, ready to go. It wasn’t a big team by any chance, just Tamaki, Nejire, Mirio, Fat Gum, Ryukyu, and some police officers.

***

The team had arrived at the warehouse and were waiting on the signal from the officers. Mirio took a few deep breaths, trying to get in his hero mindset. He needed to push everything else out of his mind and perform like a hero.

The sad thing was, (f/n) never left their minds. No matter what they did. When they’d wake up in the morning, they’d think of her, when they went to class, when they went to lunch, when they saw their hero suits… that one was a big reminder. Seeing their own hero suits would remind them about how they’d failed to help. Just their suits alone would taunt them and that was only one thing.

The three pushed all of these cruel thoughts out of their head as they got ready for a fight. However, before any orders were given, the door abruptly burst open. A woman with black hair and piercing green eyes glared at them. She waved her hand causing green energy to throw them away. They all flew away and landed on the ground, immediately pushing themselves to stand up.

Nejire was the first one to get to the villain, however, a large purple beast got in her way. The nomu quickly grabbed Nejire, slamming her down onto the ground in front of it. She let out a pained cry as it kicked her away, making Tamaki catch her with his tentacles and bring her back down, safely.

The large nomu let out a loud scream, making the heroes prepare for a battle. The woman smirked as she pointed to the trio and laughed.

“That’s them! Doesn’t it hurt?!” She yelled and they glared at her. The nomu let out another cry but… this one was different.

“No…” Mirio whispered as his resolve shattered right then and there. That shriek was bone-shaking and so familiar. He could feel his heart speed up, there was that feeling in the pit of his stomach, that sinking feeling, it was almost like a bad nightmare. It was a bad nightmare. “No. NO! (F/N)!” The same reaction went through Nejire and Tamaki as they listened to the garbled mess coming out of the Nomu’s mouth. When they focused, they could hear words.

“Your fault!” No. Please no. Anything but that. Mirio ignored all logic and ran to the nomu, throwing himself at it. After his initial shock, all he could feel was intense remorse and regret. He felt the need to beg for mercy and forgiveness. But most of all, he needed the nomu to be some miserable hallucination of his. He couldn’t let this monster be his (f/n).

“(f/n)! I’m sorry! Please! Please don’t let this be you! I’m begging you!” He said, looking at the villain. “Tell me this isn’t her! This isn’t my (f/n)!”

“Oh? Can’t you tell?” She responded with a laugh. Mirio barely had time to respond before the nomu threw him away. Once again, Tamaki caught his friend and set him down.

“Th-that’s he-her!” Mirio cried, tears sliding down his cheeks. Both Nejire and Tamaki were also crying, unable to help it. Her distorted voice, the way it sounded so pained physically hurt them. It was almost as if something was repeatedly stabbing their chests. They felt nauseous and dizzy, it was both disgusting and so fucking sad.

So, the villain lied. The situation was actually worse. At least the other way, (f/n) would’ve died, but here… she was still alive and thinking. Clearly, since she was blaming them.

She sounded just like herself… but at the same time, she didn’t. The trio had frozen up, unable to move or think. Their minds started to shut down, unable to process anything but the fact that their (f/n) was a nomu.

When the pros realized this, the trio was told to leave. No one blamed them, fighting villains was hard enough, but to now have to fight their friend, their cherished loved one, was something else. So, the pros decided to handle the situation.

As the trio was leaving, something clicked for Mirio, and he refused. He knew if (f/n) was still alive and well, she wouldn’t want him to leave her like that. (f/n) was a good person. That last thing she’d want was to be turned into a fucking nomu. A villain to hurt her friends and the other heroes.

“We… have to finish this.” Mirio said. Just those words were enough. No need for an explanation, no need for convincing, because all three of them were thinking the same thing.

So they went back, ignoring the pros. They took a stand and they pushed past their fears. (f/n) wasn’t (f/n) anymore, so they weren’t hurting her. They were hurting the monster she was put in.

The trio worked like never before. It was almost like they were able to read each other’s minds, being able to synchronize their attacks. It was deadly, and that’s exactly what they were trying to do.

“I’m sorry!” Tamaki yelled as his large tentacles threw her away. Nejire flew up into the air and used her super move to take (f/n) down. Mirio was quick to deal the final blow. As much as it hurt and as wrong as it felt, he knew he had to.

They frowned and watched as (f/n) fell over, a pained groan leaving her mouth and her body landing on the ground with a loud thud. She wasn’t going to survive and the three sat by her as she slowly started to slip away. Before she did, though, they had something to say.

“I’m sorry, (f/n). I should’ve believed you. I’m sorry I didn’t, I… I wish I could take it all back. If I could, I would do it in a heartbeat. I love you so much, so much it hurts, baby. I was an awful boyfriend and an awful friend and I’m so, so sorry. I wish I could make it better. I wish I could make you better. I’d give my life for you right now. If we could switch places right now, I’d take that chance so quickly.” Mirio mumbled and only a weakened whine left her mouth. His hand gently grazed against her face. Tamaki reached out and touched her hand, sniffling as he spoke up.

“I-I’m sorry, I should’ve known it w-wasn’t you. I’m s-so sorry (f-f/n). I’m so sorry, I f-failed you. I f-failed as a fr-friend a-and hero. Like Mirio s-said. If I could sw-switch places with you, I w-would. I’m so, so, so sorry, (f/n). I’m so sorry.”

“(n/n)? You’ll be ok,” Nejire sniffled, sitting behind (f/n) and gently rubbing her large, muscly shoulder. “It’s ov-over. I’m sorry too! I wish I knew better. We should’ve trusted you, you had no reason t-to lie or, or do what you did! Y-you w-would never h-have hurt Amajiki. I-I’m so sorry! If I could, I’d give my life for you. I’d… I would trade places with you too, if I could. You don’t deserve this but we do. We… we do.” Her tears slid down her cheeks, landing on (f/n)’s shoulder and sliding down to her collarbone.

Unfortunately, the last sound that left her mouth wasn’t comprehensible. It was the same garbled mess but if this was, in fact, (f/n)… then she knew they were sorry. She knew they regretted what they did… not like it made much of a difference now. 

(f/n) was still gone. They still lost her and it turns out the outcome was worse than what they thought it was originally. How long had the villains had her like this? Did they take care of her? Did they abuse her? Why didn’t they just kill her? Why?

It didn’t matter. There was no one there to answer their questions. All they knew was the body was, indeed, fake. (f/n) had been turned into a nomu… and now she was gone. Again.

[wollfling]

Hi Allie! I wondered if I could ask you for some advice. I want to draw really badly and create art but I really don't have any skill! I know that in order to get better at art I have to actually do it, but I feel so overwhelmed by how I'm not where I want to be with it right away, and also with where to start with learning to draw. Do you ever feel that way when you draw? And if you do how have you gotten past it?

[I am literally so sorry this is so long oh my God. My mind has been very jumbled lately so I accidentally rambled too much, but I hope it still helps you in any way orz] Oh sweet little anon.. ;^; I do feel that way, a lot of the time if not all of the time! Just recently this week, I felt like I just couldn't draw despite picking up my pencil and scribbling, it just wasn't working partly for that exact reason! Overwhelmed by not being where I want to be with it! These things happen and its frustrating. It's hard for me to imagine as a beginner artist because I've been drawing since I can remember but I will still do my best to offer you some meaningful advice!

But first, to answer your very last question, getting past it can be a little random sometimes. This whole week after being unable to draw, I was laying in bed trying to sleep while reflecting on some heavy feelings ive been having and memories. Suddenly part of an image flashed in my mind and I got up to immediately try drawing it. (The drawing I recently posted and captioned "parade"!) I worked on it completely driven by my heart, and so it didn't matter at the time if it looked good or was anatomically correct, etc. Right now I am working on another heart-driven drawing, but if I tried to work on lets say a study or character drawing instead.. I dont think i could!

My point in all this is that, I think that its important to know/understand why you want to create art, and I think my advice would change slightly depending on your answer. For me personally, I am an emotional artist. I create art that (usually) reflects how I'm feeling or topics I am emotionally drawn to. Illustrations, drawing characters, writing comics, etc.. I think this week, while I'm definitely struggling with my skill level, I was so burdened by some things I've been feeling lately that I couldn't focus on or enjoy anything that I was trying to create, until I was able to release it all in a drawing. (And I'm still not done with them hence why I am now working on another related drawing, but im making SOMETHING and feeling passionate which cannot be said with any of my other attempts this week.) So since these drawings purpose outweigh my current issues regarding my skill, I am able to work on them. If that makes sense?

Okay im sorry with how long-winded this all is so far and all about myself orz but I wanted to give context on how I view art and I think if you asked someone who creates like. Hyperrealistic drawings their answers would be completely different. So! I wanted you to be able to judge if my advice would work for you if that makes any sense at all...!!! Moving on to my actual advice then..!

This is a little general ofc because I dont know what sort of art you are creating, or what your passion behind it is. And if after this you would like to tell me more about your art I would love to hear! 🥺💗 you are welcome to dm me or if you send another anon/ask i think that would be good too since.. well other artists who see can also give their own advice too!

Okay. So anyways lol, first I want to tell you that your desire to create art makes you an artist, despite your skill level. And therefore, everything and anything that you make even now has value. Even if right now you're drawing wonky shaded spheres and cubes! I understand its frustrating when wanting to make something but you feel like your skill isn't "there" and how that can prevent you from making anything to begin with!! But I really want you to try and work through it! Ignore it, disregard it, give your worries about your skill the silent treatment!! And I know its near impossible to do but if its getting in the way of you actually creating well.. thats the worst! We can't have that. If you really want to draw, then you really NEED to draw, you know what I mean? You deserve to draw! The hardest part for like 80% of artists is working around their skill level. I promise you will get there, but for now, you can't let it get in your way. And I realize me saying "oh you feel like you're not good at drawing and its hindering you from doing it? Just do it" sounds like Chad advice but ;---; unfortunately its the reality that comes with being an artist. If you tell me more about what you like to/why you want draw then maybe we can find some alternate lines of thinking that will help you (for example "this tiger i drew looks like shit but drawing all of her stripes was therapeutic and made it worth it!" If lets say you draw as a stim, opposed to "this tiger im drawing looks so bad I can't even look at it anymore " dhsjhd I really hope that this all makes sense lol.)

Moving on, learning how to draw.. this also depends on what you enjoy drawing but my main piece of advice here is study from real life. I grew up drawing cartoons and anime, and now that I want to draw a little more realistically.. its so hard!! If you study real shapes/people/animals/etc it might be easier later on when you understand fundamentals to bend them if you decide to create stylized or surreal art. However if right now you like to draw stylized art, I would recommend to keep working on your personal style while studying from real life on the side simultaneously! Any way you look at it, understanding how shapes, lighting, colour, etc work in the real world will help you out even with the most obscure pieces. And since art is a learned skill yknow you need to build those brain..pathways..and such. Im not a scientist but you get what i mean. Studies are the equivalent to lifting weights! I would recommend the website quickposes (com) they have a library of images that they throw at you at random. The site can explain itself better than I can lmao, check it out!!!

I really hope i was able to offer you something of value here, I didnt mean to ramble so much. I'm excited for you to grow as an artist, I love when I hear about others deciding to learn how to draw ;-; please feel welcome to ask for any clarification (as im having a hard time articulating my thoughts lately) or if you really just want to ask or say anything! ♡♡♡ again sorry if this was more than you bargained for length wise dhsishskshksj

[askiisoft]

FAN ART FRIDAY: Triple Dragons

Imagine dragons. It can be the European winged lizards or the long, windy Asian ones, it doesn’t matter. Now imagine that, like most lizards, it molted its skin every so often. But afterwards, that shedded skin came to life, put on a suit, and started trying to take over the identity of the original, creeping out its friends and war buddies in the process.

That’s the sordid history of Gamma Fifteen, a.k.a “The Dragon of New Mecca”. I think no one behind Katana ZERO imagined he’d become the game’s breakout character, receiving more fan love than the rest of the cast combined. But we’re not here to talk about him...or at least, not just him. Thanks to the raw talent and wild imaginations of fans, there have become at least three different versions of Fifteen in fanon.

So buckle in, because today we’ll be going on an expedition into the urban jungles of the Third District, to get a look at the three species of The Dragon in the wild.

Thanks to @55_yamisan for drawing all the species illustrations below! You can see the original artwork here.

[WARNING: Contains plot spoilers for ‘Katana ZERO’]

Ssshhh. Stay low, and be careful of snapping twigs underfoot. Just through the brush, we can see a juvenile Dragon in its natural habitat. Here, have a look.

Don’t be fooled by his boyish charm—at the tender age of 15, this NULL specimen is already a proficient killing machine. From this juvenile form, a Dragon can eventually grow into one of three different forms depending on its diet, habitat, and artist. 

—

Exhibit A. Here, we have most prolific and successful species of The Dragon. Using his long, spindly legs, he prowls the Earth’s upper atmosphere for small birds, passenger planes, and other prey.

One of the mandates for Katana ZERO’s promotional art was that spoiler characters like Fifteen and Headhunter couldn’t be shown. It was a smart move for hiding the game’s various late-game twists, but as a consequence, fan artists had nothing but his in-game sprites as reference material. 

This led to debates about whether he wore sunglasses or had cat ears, until natural selection produced the perfect assassin; a bishonen-yet-deadly apex predator.

by @IERotAK

I love hatched lines. They’re useful for drawing the eye or adding texture, shadows, and folds without the use of color. Unfortunately, a combination of shitty tablet drivers and my own unsteady hand means I can only draw lines a couple dozen pixels long before they start losing their straightness.

That’s clearly no issue for IEROtAK, who manages to convey the distinct textures of glossy leather gloves, a dark suit, and cold steel using nothing but amazingly neat hatched lines and negative space. The thick webs of intricate lines dazzles the eye from afar before it slowly makes out the clean shapes and low perspective of this masterpiece. Real badasses don’t look at explosions.

by @PsykoShipht

One of the best ways to make dynamic action is by accentuating movement; things like Batman’s cape, Strider Hiryu’s crimson scarf, or Rad Spencer’s dreadlocks billow and sway with their every movement, giving a sense of momentum and a clear line of action. 

PsykoShipht gives Fifteen’s stylish ponytail a life of its own; I can already picture it straightening with each Chronos Rush attack or forming zig-zags and right angles and he navigates platforms. Even Fifteen’s comparatively lanky proportions and clean silhouette scream ‘agility character’ before he even draws his sword.

—

This species is a rare sight in the wild, and thankfully so. His briefcase is lead-lined, so even X-ray scans have been unable to reveal its contents.

It all began in The Concept Art of Katana ZERO and seemingly normal piece of concept art by Kenju, depicting an alternate version of Fifteen bearing a green sheath, green hair, and what looked like mild burn scars on his face. 

by Kenju

Fan artists immediately took the idea and ran with it, inventing a bizarre, disfigured, and delightfully mad doppelgänger—first dubbed “Proto Fifteen″ and later, “The Snake” or “The Serpent”. He carries around that mysterious silver briefcase and a creepy yandere obsession with Fifteen’s old comrade, Zero. 

Is he a failed clone? A bizarro-version from another dimension? And what’s inside that briefcase? We may never know. But the idea of having a stalker with Fifteen’s level of speed and swordsmanship is an utter nightmare...

by @55_yamisan

Why drown a drawing in rainbows when just a few spots of color makes all the difference? 

Adding red eyes to Yami-san’s black-and-white art style immediately leads one’s gaze in a serpentine spiral, from the snake’s glare and up its graceful coils to The Serpent’s cocked head and seductive smirk that distinguish him as the ‘evil twin’. Even without the green in his hair or his signature briefcase, it’s easy to tell this is a totally distinct character from The Dragon. 

Let’s hope Zero can tell the difference, too...

“There’s something important inside.” by @moryu​

When Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction hit in 1994, everyone had their own guesses about what was inside the ‘mysterious briefcase’. Diamonds. Nuclear launch codes. Perhaps even a human soul.

In this case, however, my guesses are a lot more morbid, as anything The Serpent holds dear is likely slick, smelly, and related to Zero in some way. The way fan artists took a discarded detail from concept art and transformed it into The Serpent’s central conceit is beyond impressive.

I shudder to think of the kinds of reference photos @moryu​ used to achieve such realistic-looking burn scars in this picture. It doesn’t stop there, though; the mottled glow of The Serpent’s suit and hair and dull metallic sheen of his briefcase add an extra dimension of warmth to this otherwise creepy portrait.

—

“The Crocodile” is a relative newcomer to this ecosystem, but has carved out a niche of lifting his prey with a single arm, then drowning them in a toilet or other convenient body of water.

Truth be told, this one’s on me. When drawing some Steam Backgrounds for the game’s PC version, enough time had passed that The Dragon was fair game for publicity material. What I drew ended up like a blood-spattered cross between Clint Eastwood and Owen Wilson.

by @godsavant

This sent shockwaves rippling through the Katana ZERO fan community. Where was the sharply-dressed samurai prince everyone thirsted for? Surely this stomach-kicking, mobster-torturing beefcake couldn’t be him, thus earning him the moniker “The Crocodile” or “The Alligator”: muscular, deadly, and singularly obsessed with revenge.

by @sbserpent

Dragons are a consistent theme in art across many Asian cultures; for example, the Chinese once believed their emperor was descended from dragons, and thus bore their wisdom and benevolence. Here, sbserpent demonstrates just how frightening a human embodiment of a dragon really is.

Where The Dragon carries himself with an air of calculated composure, The Crocodile exudes sheer terror. The thick, angular brush strokes evoke Japanese sumi-e artwork, yet blotchy ink spots and harsh shadows are a far cry from the koi fish and bamboo forests of those traditional paintings. 

by @Zebralineku

Chiaroscuro is a technique that uses bold contrast between light and shadow to leave certain parts for the viewer’s mind to fill in. 

Here, Zebra gives us an imposing film-noir bust of The Crocodile as glimpsed through narrow blinds or a slat in a dark alley: the foreboding red mixed with heavy shadows evoke a hitman staring out at crimson neon signs, and his dark suit mixes with the black background to make him almost a shadow. Yet we can envision the other half of his face and ponytail in our mind’s eye from the scantest details; truly the touch of a master.

—

Remember, the specimens we’ve observed must be viewed from a safe distance; should you spot any of them in the wild, do not approach!

If you’d like some artwork featured on a future Fan Art Friday, just use the Submit Button on this blog!

by @Kazzang3

[scripttorture]

What are some clean tortures (other than explicit rape) used for behavioral compliance, maybe something akin to "slave training"? The story is set in an unspecified alternative universe in modern times and there's leeway for fictional tools/medicines.

Rapeisn’t a clean torture. Rape can, and does, leave obvious physicalmarks. Not always, but often enough that I would never describe it asa ‘clean’ torture.

Areyou familiar with the work of Dr Denis Mukwege? He’s won the NobelPeace Prize, the UN Human Rights Prize and African of the Year 2009.He’s a specialist in reconstructive surgery following sexualviolence. He and his family have been attacked for his work.

Youcan hear him speak about his work, and how important it is thatsurvivors gain some kind of official reparation, here.

Whetherthat’s relevant to your story or not I recommend reading thearticle and listening to him. People like Dr Mukwege are the heroes Ilook for in every atrocity. The people who are quietly, tirelessly,doing the right thing.

Youmay also want to look up the life of Stephen ‘Donny the Punk’Donaldson who was one of the founders of JustDetention.He was repeatedly raped while imprisoned for nonviolent protests. Hethought that at least some of these attacks were set up by the prisonguards, including the attack which lead to him needing reconstructivesurgery.

Ican help you out here and I can give you a list of clean torturesthat were used against slaves but I’ve got some serious misgivingshere.  

Thequestion seems to imply that rape and torture can ‘make’ someoneobedient, that ‘slave training’ works.

Iwould suggest that the sheer scale of armed uprisings and nonviolentresistance across the New World is evidence it does not. Haiti, Cuba,Brazil, Jamaica- There is an entire Brazilian martial art andsubculture that grew out of protracted resistance to slavery. Haitiantroops defeated not only the slave owners of Haiti but the English,French and Spanish troops in the region.

Thequestion also suggests a… lack of detailed knowledge about modernslavery. For which I refer you to the work of Kara as published byColumbia University Press. Amazonhas a collection of his works here.

Realisticallyyou just can’tforce the kind of long term, obedience you’re suggesting. Peoplecanget put in situations where it’s difficult to resist effectively.They can stop physically fighting. They can comply in the short term.But that’s not the same thing.

Lookum- this sounds kind of like a BDSM fantasy.

Idon’t think there’s anything wrong with writing that kind offantasy. But at the same time I think it’s important to acknowledgethe difference between fantasy and reality.

Thesekinds of fantasies are not realistic. The reality is horrific and itis happening at a scale that is almost beyond belief.

Currentestimates put the number of slaves globally today at between21 and 46 million people. That’s the size of a country. Itis a staggering number, even at the lowest estimate. At the high endit’s the population of Spain.

Treatingthe issue as something purely historical chiefly benefits slavers.Lack of public awareness of slavery now is hampering globalefforts to stamp it out.

Imight be reading this wrong, you might not be intending it as a BDSMfantasy. But whether  that’s what the story is intended as or not,there’s a real lack of understanding of slavery here. And if thisis a story you want to tell I think you should take steps to correctthat.

I’veonly got one of Kara’s books; his general overview of slaverytoday. It is a difficult read but it’s presented in an engagingstyle and the information is easy to take in. It contains a lot ofinterviews with victims, former slaves and the people who exploitthem.

Istrongly recommend it to anyone writing about slavery.

I’dalso recommend consulting the WalkFree Foundation website and the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO).

Slavestoday are tortured. They are denied food, water, appropriateshelter and medical attention. They are beaten. They are raped. Butslavery today is a diverse global industry and does not have anoverarching ‘style’ of torture.

Itis also highly misleading to suggest that torture is how slaves are‘controlled’.

Slavesare systematically isolated. In a lot of cases they’re transportedacross states and countries to a place where they can’t speak thelocal language. They are often told that if they report their abusersto the police then the slaves themselves will be arrested for illegalimmigration.

Thisis sometimes true.

Inthe drug industry in the UK, enslaved people are often told theirfamilies will be murdered if they do not comply. These threats arecredible.

Inthe Thai fishing industry, enslaved people are simply prevented fromsetting foot on land for years at a time.

Slaversgenerally go out of their way to create a situation where theenslaved people feel their best option for survival is to comply.They are fed (sometimes distorted) information on what is legal, whatwould happen if they went to the police, what would happen if theyran away and so forth. They are isolated as completely as possible.They are often put in situations where leaving or refusing to workwould put them at risk of considerable physical harm (eg being unableto get food or water).

Alongthe Saharan slave route, people who refuse to comply are often leftin the desert to die.

Thepeople targetted are the most vulnerable members of society. They areoverwhelmingly the poor, uneducated, ethnic minorities, linguisticminorities and low caste. They are the people with the leastavailable options and the least chance of legal redress.

Slaverscan not ensure compliance. And the turnover in modern slavery sort ofhighlights that: historically people were usually enslaved for theirlifetime, now the figure is generally around 5 years.

Historicallyclean tortures used against slaves included falaka (with silk ropes),clean beatings, pepper, stress positions (varying with region) andrestraint tortures. Slavers would also commonly withhold food, wateror shelter.

Thetortures that are currently common in modern slavery are starvation,dehydration, lack of shelter or hygiene facilities and beatings.Other tortures occur but this is a global problem and it’simpossible to generalise between geographical areas and differentgangs.

Istrongly recommend you think about your story and take the time tothoroughly research modern slavery before you go any further.

Iknow this is a difficult subject to engage with and that it’s notalways easy to access the best information. But treating modernslavery as if it is a historical hangover rather than a global crisisis hugely misrepresenting the situation. A misrepresentation thatslavers benefit from.

Treatingrape as if it is always non-scarring is inaccurate and ignores theexcellent work done by some of the most prominent global anti-rapecampaigners.

Treatingtorture as if it leads to obedience is torture apologia. I’m unsureif that’s what you’re suggesting in the ask but the wording isvague enough that it seems a distinct possibility.

Onceagain please, read Kara, read the websites I’ve linked you to, readsurvivor accounts.

Theabuses we write about are not fantasies. They are happening to realvictims across the world as we speak.

Thosesurvivors deserve our respect and if we are choosing to write aboutthem then we should represent them as best we can.

Becausethe unfortunate fact is that more people are going to read our worksthan theirs.

Disclaimer

[kcwcommentary]

VLD1x04 – “Some Assembly Required”

1x04 – “Some Assembly Required”

This is probably my least favorite episode out of the first two seasons of the show, and I don’t like saying this, but it’s because of Allura. I really don’t like her arrogance and lack of empathy in this episode. I don’t like how the narrative tries to retcon it being her plan all along to unite the Paladins through their annoyance/anger against her. It’s not that that isn’t a viable plot – it’s certainly been done in other stories – it’s that this show makes it a whiplash heel-turn at the end. If the narrative of this episode had been openly setting that up so that we viewers knew she was doing that while the Paladins themselves didn’t, it would be totally different. The suddenness of her change from being overly demanding to pointing out how the team unified as a result of her being their common (temporary) antagonist is just too narratively dissonant.

This episode isn’t anywhere near all-bad though. It gives us Shiro doing pushups in his spare time.

Allura’s first rant is that they didn’t all get to the bridge fast enough for her fake red alert. Unless she has had a meeting with the team before hand to tell them that she needs for them to be ready to go on a moment’s notice, then it’s unrealistic and unfair to then complain that they weren’t ready and waiting on their own. Realistically, there are always degrees of alert status. And no one, for their own psychological health and well-being, can remain at red alert constantly. Now, if Allura had this expectation but was eventually called out on it by another/other character(s), or if the narrative resulted in her realizing on her own that this doesn’t work, then that would be a different story. As is, the narrative is written as if she were right when she’s not.

“Coran and I have been up for hours,” Allura declares. Congratulations. You’re not currently in an active combat situation, so there is this thing called duty shifts. Maybe this is a manifestation of unrealistic American society that perpetuates the idea that a person is supposed to be working constantly to the point of absolute exhaustion, but this is not sustainable. At the very least, unless it had been established among the crew that they needed to be on duty at a certain time, complaining that they were sleeping is just wrong.

Hunk tries to call Allura out and get her to recognize the significant change the Paladins have gone through from being students on Earth to being combat pilots in a universe-spanning war. Of course, Allura doesn’t even slightly try to empathize with them.

“Negative, Number 5. I have you ranked by height,” says Coran. I think this might be one of my favorite Coran jokes. I don’t remember us ever hearing him call any of the other Paladins by number though.

The sequence of the Paladins transitioning to their Lions makes the process look ridiculous. Allura was complaining about the amount of time it took the Paladins to get to the bridge, well then what about the amount of time it takes for them to get from there to their Lions? That route/journey through the ship to get to each respective Lion is way too long and is indicative of poor engineering/ship design. Realistically, fighter pilots would be on duty near their craft, not on the bridge. And of course, this show has to make another, this time extended in duration, fat joke about Hunk.

Forming Voltron is put in terms of ill-defined feeling-like-a-team, and not a mechanical process. If that is indeed how Alfor designed and built these ships, then that is bad design. I get it, the show wants to be about teamwork and the Lions forming Voltron works as a symbol that the characters are functioning as a team. It might be written in poetics, but only being able to access higher functions of a computer system/weapon when you have well-running psychology is not realistic.

I like the call-back to “I’m a leg!” from the previous episode.

“Shiro’s the head!” Keith says aggressively. “All the time?” Hunk responds. It hurts to hear Keith being so supportive of Shiro and his position of leader, knowing that this show unceremoniously rips Shiro from that position and tosses him aside.

“Feel the bonds with your Lions. Now channel your energy into forming Voltron.” This non-defined “energy” is definitely in my list of disliked tropes in fiction. It is cheap writing wrapped in pretentiousness as if it’s profound.

Allura’s callous decision to attack the Lions without prepping them for such an assignment is bad leadership. “…and inspiring you! I believe in you, Paladins. Let fear be your guide,” she says. This is ridiculous. This isn’t how you get people to trust in you and your leadership. She’s blatantly proclaiming, all with a smile on her face and a laugh in her voice, that she wants them to feel afraid for their lives. That is a dangerously dissonant perspective for her to have. Again, if this episode was about her learning to not do these kinds of things, I could be okay with this, but the episode treats her behavior as if it’s right.

Meanwhile, Zarkon is a tyrant. Haggar is creepy. They’re cartoon villains.

The Paladins are taking a break, and Allura gets annoyed. Actual training requires breaks, but Allura acts like that’s an absurd idea. Unfortunately, the show tries to assert the idea that no one is allowed breaks through Shiro in this scene too. Ugh!

Second reference to Shiro as “the Champion.” I like that the show uses several episodes to build up to the reveal that Shiro had to fight gladiatorially to survive.

On to the training deck. First up, the protect your teammates from drone attacks. Given that Hunk is surprised that his suit can create a shield, clearly the team was not prepped for this exercise before-hand. This is not how training actually works (it’s almost like it’s become an unintentional theme with this episode). Then, the invisible maze. The maze sets up its being used in later episodes by Pidge as a defensive maneuver against attacking Galra sentries and to provide a cloaking system for the Green Lion (why she never installed a similar cloaking system on all of their Lions is baffling). I think there could have been so much more to the maze scene; it had the elements needed to actually put some character development in the episode.

Back in the Lions, nosedive. “This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn’t attempt until you’ve been flying for years,” Coran says. If that truly is so, then, again, this is not how training works. Also, if Coran can remotely black out a Paladin’s helmet so they can’t see, then that system can be hacked; it’s a point of vulnerability for them if some outside influence can make them suddenly unable to see.

The animation sequence of Shiro and the Black Lion’s eyes and faces aligning was a really nice visual way of representing the psychic connection possible between a Lion and pilot.

Then we have the clear-your-mind scene that gives us holographic displays of what each Paladin is thinking about. This scene does some characterization work. Keith thinks most about his small home in the middle of nowhere back on Earth. Lance thinks about his family. Hunk thinks about food, which honestly is not characterization work but borders again on a fat joke. Pidge’s image of her and her brother, which at this point because of the dialog regarding that photo between Hunk and Pidge in the first episode we’re supposed to interpret as Pidge and a girlfriend, juxtaposed to Coran’s narration about not keeping secrets is sign that we’re supposed to realize what we think we know about that image isn’t correct. And Shiro is focused on the Galaxy Garrison and its space missions; his deep desire to be an explorer is so endearing! If this visualization training has been available this entire time, then this is precisely where the team’s training to form Voltron should have begun, and they shouldn’t have progressed to actually attempting to actively form Voltron until they were successful at this exercise. Working on this exercise first would have been realistic training.

“I’m just… I’m just tired, okay?” Pidge says (with really good voice acting!). And Shiro (unlike in the previous break scene) recognizes the appropriate need for a break. I so love the animation of Shiro sitting cross-legged on the floor with this look of adorable curiosity on his face about the beverage that Coran hands him. Even Coran in this scene recognizes the need for a break. But…

In walks ridiculous Allura who yells at them. That Allura was a dictator in that alternate reality in 3x04 “A Hole in the Sky” is entirely plausible given how she behaves here. Juxtaposed with Zarkon in this episode, she and he have a lot in common. If Allura had been like this for the whole show, I would not have been able to stand her.

Now to fighting the Gladiator. Shiro’s PTSD results in his going up against the Gladiator triggering traumatic memories of him fighting for his life against Galra sentries, distracting him and letting the Gladiator nearly get him. Keith comes to his defense (I love their friendship!). It’s nice that at least someone has enough interpersonal insight to be able to see that something happened to Shiro. But then Allura again. Ugh! “That combat simulator was set for a level fit for an Altean child,” she says. Several things, one, she failed to notice Shiro’s psychological distress, two, I don’t see her demonstrating she’s capable of hand-to-hand combat and thus in any way credible to critique others’ fighting skills, three, she’s being beyond arrogant here. These Paladins are humans, not Alteans, so even if that combat was what Altean children do then it still has nothing to do with what humans are capable of. A good leader would easily recognize this. And again, if this episode was about showing Allura having to grow as a leader through recognizing the capabilities and limits of this team and adjusting herself to better work with that, then the episode could have been good. But the episode never calls her out as wrong on any of this. As much as she complains that the Paladins aren’t working as a team, she herself never demonstrates herself as capable of being a team-player.

We get our first look at a Robeast in this episode. It’s just a bit, and it’s nice seeing the show being willing to pace itself with action from the antagonists given how out-of-control the show’s pacing is in the last two or three seasons of the show.

And finally, the food fight scene. “Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” Allura asks. I don’t know about Earthlings, but Allura certainly doesn’t ever stop complaining. Shiro starts the process of calling her out on it, but unfortunately the narrative is written to make Allura right. Again, if this had been written so that we knew she was trying to get them to bond through their anger at her, then it would work better. Instead, the reveal is sudden and only here at the end, written almost more to excuse her behavior than to explain it. As is, it’s a failure of narrative structure and a disservice to Allura’s character.

[threedaybreakdown]

Rematch

Word Count: 3937

AO3 Link

Carolina was a champion MMA fighter who lost her title when aggressive newcomer Texas entered the scene. Carolina spends a year training day and night for a chance at reclaiming her title.

~~~~

It was late at night. How late? Carolina had no idea at this point. All she knew was that her form needed to be better. She needed to be better. This is all she could think as she repeatedly attacked the punching bag. Her grunts of exertion mixed with the sound of the from a top sports commentary broadcast were the only sounds to fill the large and deserted gym.

“We haven’t heard from Carolina in awhile.”

“Yeah, now she wants a rematch. Does she actually want a shot at winning?”

“Who knows, maybe she’s been doing nothing but training since their last match.”

“For her sake, I sure hope she has.”

“Even if that was the case, would it even be enough?”

“It’s Texas. No amount of training can truly prepa-”

The broadcast clicked off and was replaced with a new voice.

“You really shouldn’t be listening to that shit. Especially not while training,” said a man from the doorway. Carolina didn’t need need to turn around to see who was intruding upon her space. It was York. Whether she liked it or not, he was always there looking out for her.

“Did I ask your opinion? Did I even ask you to be here right now,” said Carolina, still not diverting to her attention from the bag.

“No, but seeing as it’s one and you never showed up to the dinner plans we had, I got concerned.” Carolina didn’t respond, but her movements slowed, but only minutely. “I just wanted to know that you were alright is all. You weren’t answering your phone.” She didn’t respond so York kept talking, “You see, I figured ‘She’ll be fine. Just a late practice. She’ll respond eventually.’ But after a few hours I figured you could be doing one thing.”

To Carolina's surprise he stopped talking. Their conversations normally ended after telling her not put this much pressure on herself. That losing to one person didn’t make any less of a talented of a fighter. He would ask her to rest. To find a moment where her only thoughts weren’t about beating Texas. They’ve been having this conversation since she lost the bantamweight title to Texas a year ago. Carolina was almost happy for the change of script. That inspirational introspective crap was the last thing she needed to hear right now. York may not like it, but Carolina was determined to work herself to death for a mere shot at reclaiming her title, mental and physical well-being be damned. This didn’t stop her from feeling a twinge of guilt though. Carolina knew that York only had her best interest at heart, and that every time she pulled a stunt like the one she did tonight she was not only hurting herself. She was also hurting the person she cared for the most.

Carolina stopped training and rested her face against the punching bag for a brief moment. Her exhale was deep and heavy. When she lifted it again she felt a twinge of fatigue strike her. The toll of her training finally started to catch up to her.

“I’m sorry York. I couldn’t focus on anything but this all day.” She turned to face him. “I just can’t relax knowing that the rematch is only two weeks away.”

“So destroying your body before is the answer?”

“You’re right, and I’m sorry for standing you up and not answering your calls, but this is what I need to be doing. If I don’t win…” She couldn't finish the sentence. Failure was an idea that she could not entertained at this time. “I need to win, York.”

He sighed, “You’re going to stay here no matter what I say, aren’t you?” She held his gaze. “Fine, then I might as well stay here too.”

“No, you’re not.”

York took a seat on the floor by near the wall, “What, so when you collapse from exhaustion no one will be around to help you?”

Couldn’t argue there. The less she moved he more her fatigue caught up to her. “I’ll start my cool down,” was her only response.

After another thirty minutes Carolina finally finished for the night. With her muscles feeling like lead, she let York drive her back to her apartment. She’ll just take an Uber to the gym to get her car tomorrow.

The car ride was quite. The only words exchanged were their goodbyes once they finally got to Carolina’s place. She took a quick shower and fell into her bad without drying her hair. It’ll just go back in a braid again in the morning so who cared.

She fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes and not much later did she have the dream again. The closer the rematch got the more she had the dramatic retelling of her biggest regret.

It was that night one year ago. She was in the octagon waiting for her match against the newcomer Allison “Texas” Church to start. Tex might have won all of her previous matches with can only be described as brutal efficiency, but she never faced Carolina. She has never lost either making this match the most anticipated of the year.

The bell rang.

Everything after that was a struggle to keep the upper hand. Carolina never faced someone who can even be considered on the same level as her. So finally facing someone matched her skills with an unchecked rage to to boot made this fight nothing short of stressful.

Tex got in a well-placed shot on Carolina’s face. Her lip most have split because she was suddenly tasting blood. Ignore it, she thought as she countered. She seemed to be taking more damage than she was dealing, but that didn’t mean anything. As long as she was still standing there was still a chance she could knock Tex on her ass. Unfortunately that was her last thought before everything went dark. She was now standing outside of her body. Nose broken and bleeding on the mat as her title was given to Texas. Her corner came up to see if she was okay. She was roused and helped out of the ring. Her form disappeared from the scene altogether as everyone else cheered on Texas. The new reigning champ.

Carolina woke up. It was seven am. She cursed. She should have already been on her morning run.

That’s how she spent her time leading up to the fight. Exhausted and stressed but refusing to stop moving. She only stopped to sleep, and eat. She didn’t want to think, because every time she did she just remembered her own failure.

It was time for the weigh-in, and Carolina waited for Texas to arrive. This would would be the first time she saw Texas face to face since their last match. She dreaded seeing that blood-thirsty gaze again, but seeing her just meant that she was that much closer to knocking it off.

She kept that confidence going up until she caught sight of her opponent across the room. She stared motionless at her. Carolina had been anticipating this but it just didn’t seem real. The Tex of her nightmares seemed more corporeal than the one she was looking at. Just then Tex turned and caught her gaze. Carolina remembered herself and gave a nod in response.

This wasn’t right. This was not the look received at their last weigh-in. Texas’ eyes weren’t filed with rage or contempt. Instead they seemed calm. Relaxed almost. Was she really that cocky about their rematch? Regardless, this was a whole new level of arrogance.

Soon enough Carolina was called up to the stage to. She stepped on the scale. She made weight. No surprise there. She weighed herself everyday after all. Then it was Texas’ turn. Again, no surprises. It wouldn’t be like Tex to screw herself like that. Carolina still couldn’t get over the look in her eye. Even when they faced each other and shook hands she could not find a single trace of hot-head she fought a year ago. This was wrong.

They parted and the announcer came over, “Carolina, you haven’t had a match in a year. How are you feeling going up against the woman who beat you after all this time?”

“It’s just another fight. Her beating me once doesn’t make her special.”

When she came home for the night anxiety consumed her. The closer the fight came the more distorted her dreams got. They used to be semi realistic only getting distorted after she lost. Now her entire match was five seconds, and she watched it from outside of her body. She briefly considered not sleeping, but that would just set her up for disaster. She paced her bedroom thinking of alternatives. Calling York was an option, but she doubted he could help. At least that’s what she convinced herself. Meditation is bullshit, and herbal tea wouldn’t do shit. In the end she rewatched her last fight with Texas as well as Texas’ most recent fights. Again.. Studying how an opponent fought wasn’t that unusual but keeping tabs on Texas became something of an obsession for her. She needed to know if Texas was acting calm today because she already beat Carolina, or if something else going on.

Her dream that night was different than the rest. She was dressed for her fight, but she wasn’t in the octagon. She wasn’t anywhere. She existed in an expanse of black nothingness.

“Didn’t think you’d actually show your face, Carolina,” said a voice from behind her.

She turned to face her opponent, “You think I was just gonna leave you undefeated?”

“You showing up isn’t going to change that.”

The second Texas’ voice stopped Carolina was knocked to the ground. ‘How did that bitch get to here so fast?’ she thought. Caroline tried to fight back but she couldn’t move. Something was holding her in place.

“Now what did I tell you? You can’t win, Carolina,” Texas said with a casual tone before she straddled her. Her face looming over her own.

Being unable to get up would be enough for a fight to end but that didn’t seem to matter to Tex. She punch Carolina’s face without restraint. First, Carolina’s lips split. Her mouth filling with blood. Then her nose broke. The pain was enough to make her scream. Her vision was blurring as blood ran down her face. She struggled to get free. To make this stop, but the invisible force kept her still as Texas unloaded on her.

She snapped awake to the saving grace that was her alarm. Today was the day. She shoved her residual fear aside and got ready.

It was now or never. Carolina could hear the shouts of a probably full crowd through the metal doors. They were all cheers for Texas of course. Why would she still fans after all this time. She shook the thought off. This was her chance to get her life on track and she wasn’t about to let such superficial things get in her head.

The doors opened and she walked into the stadium. Carolina almost forgot how bright the lights could be, or how loud it all was. It was a bit overwhelming, but she kept reminding herself that she's done this countless times before. She redirected her attention from the spectators and the cameras, and focused on the ring. With all of the chaos that surrounded her in this vast space that was the only thing that seemed grounding. This is where she was meant to be. Her coach was talking to her, but she didn’t hear him. Her skin was crawling and she couldn’t stop moving. She just needed to get into the ring already.

The cheers got louder. Texas was making her entrance. Carolina started to grind her teeth. God, did she want to knock her out. It’d be poetic justice really. Humiliating Texas in the same fashion she was all Carolina really wanted.

They stepped into the ring, and the match started. Last night Carolina learned that Texas no longer tries to throw a punch right out of the gate, but Carolina still expected it to happen. That absence made her feel uneasy, but not uneasy enough not to try to kick Texas in her left flank. Her intent must have been written all over her face because her foot was caught with ease, and quickly countered sending Carolina onto the mat. She rolled and got back on her feet. The match continued in a similar manner for awhile. Every attempt Carolina made was was countered like it was nothing, and yet all the while Texas seemed unwilling to do any major damage. Carolina felt like she was a mouse being toyed with. Was she not worth any real effort? Why wasn’t she trying to knock her out?

Carolina had now lasted longer than she did last time, but this match still felt harder. Everything seemed to drag on for eternity even though she knew it was still only round one. Hell, they were probably only three minutes into the fight. Carolina’s rage was making her irrational and her attacks were proving less and less effective. She needed to calm down, but how could she when she was up against this arrogant asshole. She needed to change strategy. If she could just get in close maybe she could get her that way.

She deflected one one of Tex’s shin strikes. Carolina took that as her chance and closed the space between the two of them, and struck Texas in the head. Or she tried to at least. Texas blocked and then hooked Carolina’s ankles thus sending her to the ground yet again. She tried to recover, but it was too late. Taxes had her pinned. As Carolina struggled to break free the ref began to count. She fumed and fought, but she couldn’t get any leverage. The familiarity of this made her panic all the more. And just like that the match was over.

Texas got up and accepted her victory. Her face face barely held a smile. Only a slight upturn of her lips. She expected victory Carolina decided. That thought made something go cold inside of herself. She left the ring. On her way out she ignored everyone around her. Granted, only her team and vulturous reporters wanted her attention, but she couldn’t find a reason to care about their existence. She didn’t even care for what York had to say. He came to see the fight of course, and found Carolina the second he could get to her. She told him to get lost. He refused. She wanted to chew him out for this, to make him hurt, but she knew that’s not what she really wanted. Instead she told him she needed to be alone. He squeezed her shoulder, said he’d call her later, and left.

This fight didn't sit right in her. At least in the last one she had a clear failure, but this one felt like it didn’t really happen. All this time she thought the only option was a knockout on either side. This was like an option that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

She was on her way out when she caught Texas. Her mind went dark and as if on autopilot she stormed over and unleashed everything that’s been bothering her.

“What was that?” Carolina demanded.

Tex look shocked and confused at the sight of Carolina fuming before her and simply said, “I’m sorry?’

“Don’t act confused. That fight. Why did you pin me?”

Texas started to shake her head ever so slightly, “I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

Carolina wanted to punch her, but decided against it, “Why did you treat me differently this time. Why didn’t you try to win by knockout?”

“You wanted to be knocked out?”

“No I didn’t want to be knocked out you idiot. I wanted to win. I just want to know why you went easy on me. So spit it out already.”

“Carolina, I didn’t go easy on you. I just fight differently than I did a year ago.”

“Are you kidding me? What kind of excuse is that? Just admit you don’t see me as real competition.”

“I don’t know where you got that Idea but understand, this is just how I fight now. This has nothing to do with you.”

That was not the answer Carolina wanted. She opened her mouth to say more, but she froze. She saw that the few people who had access to this part of the building were watching them. More importantly, some had their phones out to capture her melt down. Not wanting to give them anymore satisfaction she left.

By the time Carolina got home her rage faded to sadness. She lost to Texas, again. She didn’t even make it to the second round. She wished she was still raging. She wished she could just scream to get her frustration out, but instead she empty. Like nothing mattered, and maybe it didn’t. Who the fuck knows. With a loss of what to do, Carolina did the basics. She showered, and got ready for bed. As she dried her hair, she noticed her phone ringing. It was York. She couldn’t stand the thought of talking to someone, not even him. She let it go to voicemail and continued drying her hair.

She didn’t dream of losing that night. Instead she dreamed of her meltdown in front of Texas. She re-lived it all over and over again. She couldn’t seem to escape her own child-like rage. As much as she regretted how she fought in the ring, she regretted making a fool of herself just as much.

She woke up feeling sick to her stomach. She lied in bed not moving for as long as she could. She didn’t want to face the world, but she knew she had to sooner or later. She dragged herself in to the kitchen made a pot of coffee with her too heavy limbs. As the coffee brewed she convinced herself to turn on the TV to see what people were saying about her now. Immediately she was confronted with her own yelling. It was a video one of the maintenance people took of her when she confronted Texas. Seeing her rage matched with Texas calmness made Carolina hate herself all the more. She switched to other sports channels but it was just more of the same. The only thing that anyone could talk about is how she finally lost it. She tried to watch a few more minutes, but was too disgusted with herself to do so.

With the TV off and the mere thought of ingesting anything twisting her stomach, she dumped her coffee and slumped against the counter dumbfounded. She considered going back to bed, but doubted she could. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to for fear of more nightmares. The sound of her own voice screaming that Texas was messing with her rang through her head. Why did she do that? Why couldn’t she leave and get drunk like any other person whose unable to cope with their situation? She replayed all of her mistakes. Starting with yelling at Texas, to all the places she went wrong in the match, to the past year, their first fight, hell she started to analyze her whole career. Everything she did lead her to this mess. She just need to figure out how.

She stayed like this until she heard her phone ring. She walked towards the source of the ringing. Oddly enough she left it her bag. She was surprised it still had a charge.

She stared at the name on the screen for a bit before answering, “Hey, York.”

“God, I’ve been trying to reach you since last night. I was starting to think that you were never gonna pick up... How are you?”

She didn’t respond so York continued for her, “You saw the footage, huh?”

“Of me exploding at Tex like a crazed idiot, yeah I saw it. It’s everywhere. How could I not.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Oh yeah, did you hear what people were saying about me. They said that my year off only made me worse. That I’d sooner die in the ring then lose like that again. Worse yet, I’m starting to think they’re right and I hate it.”

“You were stressed for a year straight, and you snapped. It happens, but you can’t let other people tell you how to feel. That won’t help?”

“I’m not letting anyone tell me how to feel. I let myself stew in fear and regret for a year and now, now I’m worse than I was before.”

“I can’t begin to imagine how you are feeling, but you can’t do this to yourself. If you hate that you stewed in all of that for a year, maybe fight someone that isn’t Texas to get yourself back into the swing of things. What do you think?”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You don’t have to decide anything right now, but I want you to know that I’m here for you, and as long as you’re willing to fight so am I.”

“York, I… ” she pressed the heel of her free hand into into her eye, “I can’t. I can’t do this.”

“Of course you can. You’re the most resilient person I know. If anyone can bounce back from all of this it’s you” He sounded so hopeful and that only made Carolina feel worse for what she was about to say.

“No, I mean I can't do any of this anymore. Not the interviews, not the training, and most importantly, not the fighting. I’m done.”

“Carolina.” His voice was stern, yet soft. “You can’t quit after only two losses. You’re better than that.”

“No, I’m really not,” her voice started to break, “I lost once and I stopped fighting for a year. I lose again and I explode at my competition for not breaking my nose a second time. Who does that sort of thing?” She could now feel tears building up, but she fought them off. If she started crying now she knew that York would feel guilty that he wasn’t there to comfort her. She wasn’t about to do that to him.

“Carolina, please think about this,” he pleaded.

“I have, and I can’t live with this kind of stress anymore. Between the expectations, people trying to narrate my every move, the hard days, and the nightmare filled nights, I just can’t.”

“It’s okay to feel that way, but please let’s talk through this.”

“No, the only thing I can do is quit. Goodbye, York.”

“Caro-”

The second she hung up she sank to the ground and cried her eyes out. Her tears flowed like waterfalls and her sobs were loud and ugly. She stayed like this for longer than she would have liked, but she knew that she needed this. She didn’t cry or let herself think about anything except winning and regaining her title for the last year. This was the accumulation a years worth of frustration, anger, and fear coming out of her all at once.

When her breathing became easier and the tears let up she moved into the kitchen and retrieved a large garbage bag. If she was going to give up on her professional career she wanted a clean break. Her mind was made and she rounded up all of her gear, and started to think of a life outside of the ring.

[freedri]

Anamorphosis, Chapter 1

Summary: When Gaara finds himself in an alternative dimension, the differences are immediately apparent - his parents are alive, his father is still Kazekage, his sister is much more interested in a certain weapons mistress than Shikamaru and Rock Lee is in love with him. However, what remains the same is harder to discern. 

Gaara awoke to the sound of chirping birds.

Even now, after all of his visits to Konoha, the sound was peculiar. The desert was full of vast stretches of nothing but sand, so the trees, cacti and other vegetation birds liked to roost in were a rare sight. At least, when compared to the forests that surrounded Konoha, never mind that there were plenty of trees inside the village itself. Life was so much more abundant here, it seemed.

He could tell he’d slept longer than usual if even the birds had woken up before him. It was rare for Gaara to get more than a few hours of sleep, but it was more than he’d ever got as a Jinchūriki. Rarer still was a good night's rest in a village other than his own.

He forced his tired eyes open. From a single window, the orange light of early morning illuminated a room Gaara found unfamiliar.

This wasn’t the room he fell asleep in.

Not to mention the disconcertingly warm weight besides him.

Gaara froze for a few seconds, eyes now wide open. Feeling no movement besides him, he quickly sat up and turned to see what the disturbance was.

Rock Lee.

Gaara watched his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. His head was buried into his pillow and his body was haphazardly strewn around the bed, yet he seemed undisturbed by Gaara’s sudden movements.

The Kazekage untensed, letting the sand that had automatically accumulated in the air around him out of defense fall to the floor. There was a sense of relief in having woken up besides a friend instead of an enemy or stranger. Gaara ruled out a kidnapping attempt, but there were still so many other possibilities swirling in his head. Of course, Lee was someone he trusted and as such there was likely a reasonable explanation for this situation.

Reasonable was probably not the right word to use when it came to situations involving Lee though.

Gaara tried hard to remember anything he could from last night besides falling asleep in the hotel he and his siblings were staying in, but had no luck. He was currently in Konoha for diplomatic reasons and had finished a round of meetings the day before, with more scheduled for this afternoon. He had no time for something like this.

Waking up next to a friend after a night he couldn’t remember didn’t seem like something Gaara would do without external influence and his friends were apt for mischief. Especially Naruto, despite his age. In fact, age had probably made that worse, what with adulthood opening up certain avenues of influence and all. Lee, on the other hand, just had the unfortunate habit of being unable to say no to spending time with friends and was always eager to come along for the ride. Gaara doubted this had much to do with him really. He could think of a few situations that would result in a lack of memories like this and for all of them it was wise to keep an eye on the affected party. Lee had probably just been looking out for him.

Something else nagged at the back of his mind, however. The last time he’d had this good of a sleep, there had been consequences.

Logically he knew he no longer needed to worry about Shukaku and, on his own, he’d never been a sleepwalker. But still, it was hard to forget fifteen years of anxiety over falling to sleep. It didn’t stop him from worrying if something had happened to both the hotel or his siblings. Gaara knew it was unlikely. Even more so that he’d manage to sleep through it, being the light sleeper he was.

He stopped trying to speculate. If anyone had the answer, it would be Lee.

So, with a bit of hesitation, the Kazekage gave the sleeping man a nudge.

Lee must not have been a light sleeper like Gaara because he proved harder to wake than the red head expected. The nudge turned into a shake, but Lee remained unstirred. Gaara had to contemplate what to do next; he didn’t want to hurt Lee after all and he’d never had to wake someone up before.

“Lee…” He rasped, shaking the leaf ninja’s shoulder once more. No response.

“Lee!” Gaara tried again, louder this time.

The sleeping man groaned. That had apparently worked.

Lee’s black eyes peeked out from behind heavy lids and his brow furrowed in annoyance at the sudden awakening. When those eyes finally focused on Gaara however, a sleepy grin appeared.

“Hey…” He gave a mumble, barely awake.

Gaara gave him one look and got straight to business.

“You’re going to tell me why I’m in your bed,” He demanded, as serious as always despite the strange nature of the situation. It only earned him a laugh.

“That’s such a silly question…” Lee replied, face still half sunk into his pillow. With a big yawn, he adjusted his position into something more comfortable.

Lee wasn’t making sense; at least from Gaara’s perspective. Slouching out of frustration, he realized he’d have to explain the situation.

“I don’t remember falling to sleep here,” He admitted softly, his discomfort obvious.

Big eyebrows met in the middle to form a V and Lee stared back at him in silence for a moment.

“Wha…?”

Gaara considered repeating the statement before Lee continued.

“Are you feeling okay sweetheart? This is not some kind of joke, right?” The leaf ninja seemed concerned and sat up in an instant.

With an arm extended towards the red head, Lee reached for his face. Gaara simply turned his head to avoid the contact. Lee let his hand drop back to his lap, but a worried frown stained his features.

“What are you trying to do?” Gaara asked, deadpan.

Lee took a second.

“I… I wanted to check if you had a fever,” He answered, tilting his head to meet the sand ninja’s gaze, “You are acting strange, maybe you are sick?”

Gaara furrowed his brow. “Sweetheart…?” He inquired skeptically.

It was an odd thing to call a friend, but then Gaara remembered that Lee himself was odd and that he was no stranger to his overly affectionate shows of friendship. Gaara had gotten quite the shock the first time the leaf ninja had hugged him and, to be truthful, anytime since.

Lee seemed to ignore the red head, continuing his questioning, “Uh, please tell me you have not woken up with amnesia...”

It was weird to consider, but the Kazekage supposed forgetting an entire night could be considered amnesia.

“Perhaps,” He replied as he kept staring at Lee suspiciously, before he returned to his own line of questioning, “Lee, what did you mean by sweetheart?”

“Oh my. Okay… u-uh…” The leaf ninja stammered and Gaara held his gaze, “You have forgotten? That much? R-really?”

“That’s what I said, yes,” He answered, getting a little annoyed at Lee’s continued refusal to answer things.

“Wow…” Lee mumbled. It didn’t take long before that usual enthusiasm returned, however, “Well then, I guess I will just have to win you over again!”

Gaara blinked.

“We’re already close friends Lee, I’m not sure-”

He stopped when he felt Lee’s hand touch his cheek.

Gaara noticed the faint blush dusting Lee’s face as the leaf ninja stared intensely at him. He could feel every movement as the man’s thumb kneaded little circles along his jawline.

“I think I can help you remember…” Lee began, taking the opportunity to invade Gaara’s personal space further, “Close your eyes and trust me.”

They were close enough for their noses to touch. Gaara only looked more skeptical, however.

“Are you trying to kiss me?” He asked flatly.

While Lee seemed stunned into silence, the red head’s gaze narrowed. He didn’t buy it.

“That’s not how things work,” Gaara stated, giving Lee a puzzled look.

Lee couldn’t be foolish enough to actually think kissing would return his memories, could he? There had to be another reason for the suggestion, but Gaara couldn’t think of one. Well, besides the obvious connotations of a kiss, but that wasn’t happening right now, was it? Lee didn’t feel that way about him, right?

Maybe it had something to do with last night.

“We can try…” Lee whispered, leaning in ever closer.

Gaara leant away.

Lee really was trying to kiss him. Gaara was speechless, he could only gulp.

“...Or maybe that is not such a good idea,” Lee winced and it seemed like he’d realized that yes, trying to kiss the confused Kazekage in your bed wasn’t a smart thing to do. He’d moved away again now, as had the red head, whose arms now sat crossed over his chest.

“I thought the things in Temari’s romance novels weren’t meant to be realistic…” Gaara mumbled. He’d borrowed them solely for research purposes, of course, but his sister had been sure to warn him about not taking them too seriously. Despite that, this was beginning to look like something straight out of one.

Of course, Lee had heard him. He laughed. “What kind of romance books does your sister read?”

Gaara didn’t want to acknowledge him.

“I would have thought they do not make the sort of stuff she is interested in,” The leaf ninja seemed to find the idea amusing, but probably more so as a distraction from what had just happened, “Ah, but you would not be reading something like that. Perhaps I of all people should not be making assumptions about Temari-san…”

“Lee, be quiet…” Gaara sighed. He didn’t care to hear the leaf ninja try to joke around right now.

Lee looked at him, but kept is mouth shut.

They sat in silence before Gaara eventually spoke up.

“You like me…” He mumbled, after a few moments of careful thought.

An attempted kiss was like a brick in the face. It was something even Gaara, as inexperienced as he was, could recognize as clearly unplatonic. That didn’t mean it made any sense, however.

Lee laughed again, this time more nervously. “Yep!”

“You shouldn’t,” Gaara stated matter-of-factly, turning towards Lee with his arms still crossed. It was then that he decided to get up.

He frowned, realizing how cruel it sounded, but that didn’t mean he was wrong. There were a myriad of reasons why Lee shouldn’t be his friend, let alone feel this way about him. Of course, it was easy to say that without knowing any of Lee’s reasons; all Gaara had was a list of negatives.

Gaara might not have understood the finer details of romantic love, but since Naruto had married and his sister had started dating Shikamaru, he’d tried to learn a little about it for their sakes. He knew that what came from love was weighty and meaningful and not something one should decide on after a single night. Gaara couldn’t begin to understand why Lee wanted that from him.

He spotted a familiar bag propped up against the bed and quickly grabbed it. “I’m leaving,” He said, adjusting it on his shoulders awkwardly.

“If you have amnesia, then it is dangerous for you to wander off on your own,” Lee suggested, and though he sounded concerned Gaara paid him no mind.

He could remember where the hotel was; he didn't need Lee’s help. Besides, he’d prefer to be alone right now.

Gaara didn’t look back as he walked out the door.

Thank you for reading! This is some trashy silly fun because I wanted to write something that wasn’t serious.

[friedmanjake]

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[operationrainfall]

Title Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ Developer Otomate (Idea Factory) Publisher Aksys Games Release Date March 30th, 2018 Genre Visual Novel, Otome Platform(s) PS4, Switch Age Rating T for Teen Official Website

What do the collective works of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Jules Verne, Maurice Leblanc and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all have in common? All are considered literary masterpieces, all continue to remain in circulation, and all have seen various adaptations across other mediums. Additionally, these works were also first published during the same span of time (19th century into the early 20th century). Aside from these basic observations, they also heavily contribute to the heterogeneous mixture of concepts and ideas presented in Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~.

When I picked this one up, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had not seen any coverage or descriptions of this game prior. My basic understanding was that it was an otome visual novel split across two smaller titles: Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ and Code: Realize ~Future Blessings~. The first of those initially saw a release on the PS Vita back in 2015 (2014 in Japan). That one is comprised of just the main story, having a clear conclusion for each path. The second title was released in March of 2018 (2016 in Japan) and is essentially a collection of side-stories and “where are they now” events. This PS4 compilation that I am taking a look at released in March of 2018 as well.

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The story in Guardian of Rebirth is structured into a single path of 8 chapters, after which an important decision must be made. Those first 8 chapters are entirely from the perspective of the protagonist and most of the decisions are fairly inconsequential. Towards the end of chapter 9 though, you are given a very important decision: which potential love-interest will you go exploring with to find clues. Depending on your answer to this question, chapters 10-13 will be entirely different. I don’t mean that you will see the same story told from another vantage point, I mean the story will take a complete detour and you will end up with a totally different conclusion for each one. No pressure at all, right? With this in mind, there are only 13 numbered chapters, but given the option of 5 different routes, there are a total of 29 unique chapters. Each chapter is a little over an hour in length and the last 4 focus on the protagonist becoming closer to the person who she chose to go with.

So who are these eligible bachelors? You may have heard of some of them already. The first is Arsène Lupin, the world-renowned gentleman thief who pulls off all of his heists in style. He is the self-appointed leader of your party and you are unable to follow his story route until all of the others have been cleared (they saved the best for last?). Next is the genius, albeit childish, engineer, Impey Barbicane. Though his long-term goal is to land on the moon, Impey makes it his short-term goal to flirt with the protagonist. Then there’s the alchemist turned terrorist, Victor Frankenstein. He’s a former researcher from the Royal Alchemical Society and is currently on the run from the British government. Moving right along, your next choice is Abraham Van Helsing. A legendary marksman and hero of the great Vampire War, his past decisions have made him moody and hard to get along with. And finally, there’s the kindhearted aristocrat who puts up with the rest of the party while offering them free room and board. Count Saint-Germain is an eccentric young man who often pays for the expenses of the group and wears a perpetual smile. Not much is known about his past or where his wealth is drawn from.

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Perhaps just as eclectic as Lupin’s band of “specialists” is the storyline that brings them all together. It’s the late 1800s in an alternate reality Great Britain where King Edward ascended the throne instead of his brother William IV. The UK (specifically its capital city of London) has advanced itself to a level of technology that is unparalleled by the surrounding nations. Renamed Steel London, its various steampunk-inspired technologies were brought to life by a prolific scientist named Isaac Beckford. It’s here where our protagonist, Cardia, looks for answers. Cardia is a young woman who, at the onset of the game, lives isolated in an abandoned mansion outside of Wales. Her memories of who she is and why she is in that mansion only reach back 2 years into the past. To make matters worse, she is regarded as a monster by those in the neighboring village, as her skin is poisonous to the touch and causes things to disintegrate and die. She leaves the mansion not long after the opening events of the game, spending the rest of it looking for answers to her questions about her past, present, and future.

In terms of story presentation, each chapter is roughly the same length. I appreciated this because it helped me anticipate how many chapters I’d be able to get through in one sitting. What I didn’t appreciate was the lack of a visual flowchart to help me keep track of my decisions and where I was in the story. From the main menu, you can navigate back to previous chapters that you’ve already completed, but there is no indication of what choices exist within those chapters or which ones were chosen. Having said that, I did appreciate that regardless of which love interest I chose to pursue, the chapters for each were segmented in the same way. I also appreciated that while each bachelor’s story was wildly different, they all had similar threads that linked them together in the end (a “true” ending which I won’t spoil).

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The story itself is one of the biggest pros and cons of this game (depending on how you look at it). The borrowed concepts from Dracula, Frankenstein, and Sherlock Holmes (to name a few) are meshed together really well. All of them fit perfectly with that turn-of-the-century steampunk vibe that the game is going for. Even though the examples listed above have little to do with one another, they are married quite well and don’t seem overly forced. All literary references aside, one of the things that both drove me crazy and made me happy was the sheer abundance of deus ex machina moments presented throughout the story. Nearly every problematic encounter that the adventuring party must overcome seems impossible. Without fail though, there’s always some sort of miracle that happens or some unrealistic foresight on the part of the characters that “explains” how they are able to get by unscathed. I say that this is both a pro and a con at the same time because none of these moments feel natural or realistic, but I’d be lying if I said that they weren’t entertaining and added to the charm of both the story and its characters. I think it’s very interesting to see Victor Frankenstein exchange banter with Abraham Van Helsing and then arrange for a meeting with Queen Victoria of England. It’s absurdity of the greatest kind. Overall, I’d say that the story was very enjoyable and the characters were developed really well.

In terms of artwork and sound design, I was also very impressed. The background music wasn’t overly memorable, but it did fit the mood for each scene appropriately. The voice acting was a sizable step above and the actors did a great job conveying each character’s personality. The art was also quite striking. The backgrounds were very reminiscent of what one might expect of a Thomas Kinkade painting. They were all surprisingly detailed and full of color. Obviously Kinkade never included anime-styled character portraits in his paintings, but the portraits in Code: Realize all fit quite well with the backgrounds. There are more than enough distinct emotions for each character that they didn’t seem stiff or uninteresting. It also wasn’t too noticeable that they were overlaid onto the backgrounds, as the edges seemed to blend right in. The character portrait for Impey’s dog, Sisi, was a bit disappointing though. In porting both titles to PS4, the transparent background for Sisi was not maintained. The result is a completely visible transparency grid that was jarring to look at whenever Sisi was on screen.

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Some lesser issues that I found include the English translation, the glossary feature, and some of the random changes in perspective. As for the translation, I can’t recall finding any spelling mistakes. There were however some missing words and a number of grammatical errors peppered throughout both titles. At one point, the subtitles for Victor’s dialogue refer to Delacroix II by his name in the Japanese version. These issues are rather unfortunate, but understandable for these types of localizations. The aforementioned glossary feature is one in which the player has the option of pressing a button during a scene to display a brief explanation of words that appear in bold. The basic idea behind this is nice and even allows you to revisit these explanations from the main menu. The execution of the idea isn’t as nice though. Half of the time, the bold words don’t directly correspond to what is actually being described. Additionally, it often felt like every other screen had one of these glossary items pop up. This felt a bit excessive and initially took me out of the experience. In that same vein, the changes in perspective were also bittersweet. Near the end chapters especially, there will be random jumps from the protagonist’s inner thoughts to those of another character. This was a nice change of pace since 90% of this inner monologue is from her perspective, but these switches were never announced or explained. Context clues will be your only guide to understand these switches. All three of these “pain points” are relatively minor, but they do deserve consideration nonetheless.

In contrast with the first title, Future Blessings is segmented into 5 short follow-up chapters for each love interest, each just over an hour in length. There are also 3 side stories that span about 3 to 4 hours each. These side stories were by far my favorite parts. All of them take place either right before or right after chapter 9 and take the story in some really new directions. One has you getting caught up in some violent problems within the London Mafia. Another shows you an alternate retelling of chapters 10-13 from Finis’ perspective. Yet another let’s you follow along with the adventures of Lupin’s arch-rival, Herlock Sholmès. This extra content was by no means needed given the satisfying endings of the first title. Having said that, it is more than appreciated and feels right at home with the original content. It may not be as long as the first title, but it feels like a natural extension of it.

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At the end of the day, my playthrough of Guardian of Rebirth clocked in at right around 39 hours. Future Blessings was shorter and disjointed, but it still took me about 16-17 hours to complete.  In total, the Banquet of Rainbows compilation took me somewhere in the ballpark of 55-56 hours to complete. Despite some issues with the translation and the lack of a viewable flowchart, I was quite pleased with my time investment. Interestingly, there was an anime adaptation of the first title released in late 2017 and there is a follow-up game planned for localization sometime in 2019. If it’s any indication of my feelings towards the story, I plan to give both of those a look too. Code: Realize ~Banquet of Rainbows~ is available exclusively for PS4 (in North America) at an MSRP of $49.99 USD. There are also the Vita versions of Guardian of Rebirth and Future Blessings. A Switch version was recently released in Japan, so a North American release of that is also likely at some point. Given the abundance of content and its overall quality, I’d say this one’s definitely worth your time.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4.5″]

  A review copy was provided by the publisher.

REVIEW: Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ Title Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~

[renegaderoots]

BASIC INFORMATION

♚┋FULL NAME: Theodor De Vries ♚┋PRONUNCIATION: Theo-dor (German pronunciation) ♚┋NICKNAME(S): Teddy, Theo ♚┋TITLE: The Gargoyle  ♚┋OCCUPATION: shop owner / contract killer  ♚┋~AGE: 36 ♚┋DATE OF BIRTH: 15 August ♚┋GENDER: Cisgender ♚┋PRONOUNS: He/Him/his ♚┋ORIENTATION: Homoromantic Demisexual  ♚┋NATIONALITY: German  ♚┋RELIGION: the best to describe it would be...a religious atheist?  ♚┋SPECIES: Human ♚┋AFFILIATION: technically, his son. Realistically, the Morrison family. ♚┋GENERATION: third  ♚┋THREAT LEVEL: for somebody born to be a vicious killer willing to fight dirty, Espen’s threat level is low. He isn’t aggressive or malicious, nor does he take any pleasure in violence. 

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

♚┋FACE CLAIM: André Hamann / Chris Hemsworth  ♚┋EYE COLOUR: Green ♚┋HAIR COLOUR: dark blonde  ♚┋DOMINANT HAND: ambidextrous  ♚┋HEIGHT: 184 centimeters or 6′0 ♚┋WEIGHT: 158 lbs ♚┋TATTOOS: Just...too many to possibly list. Think up every imaginable gothic cliché in existence and you’ll probably find it somewhere on his body - along with a cupcake on his left butt cheek because he’s an idiot.  ♚┋SCARS: predominantly burn scars. ♚┋PIERCINGS: snakebites  ♚┋GLASSES: in theory, yes, but the lazy bastard doesn’t even know how to put on two matching socks so, like, what do you expect here?

PSYCHOLOGY INFORMATION

♚┋JUNG TYPE: ISTP ♚┋SUBTYPE: Logical ♚┋ENNEATYPE: 7w8 ♚┋MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral ♚┋TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine/Choleric ♚┋SCHEMA: VH, SI, NP ♚┋INTELLIGENCE TYPE: Visual-Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Logical-mathematical  ♚┋~IQ: 132 ♚┋NEUROTYPE:  Unsure as of yet.  ♚┋AT RISK? Well, I mean, solely based on environmental factors, there’d be ample reason to believe he may be at risk. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

♚┋HOMETOWN: Cologne, Germany ♚┋CURRENT: Dublin, Ireland ♚┋LANGUAGE(S): German (mother tongue), Dutch (native speaker level), Irish (lower-intermediate level) ♚┋SOCIAL CLASS: upper middle class ♚┋DEGREE: Master’s degree ♚┋SUBJECT(S): Forensic nursing  ♚┋PARENT #1: Gerrit De Vries, deceased ♚┋PARENT #2: Beatrice De Vries neé Hoffmann, deceased ♚┋SIBLING(S): Lena De Vries, deceased, Alexander De Vries, deceased ♚┋MAIN SHIP: Espen/Sam (bromance) ♚┋RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single ♚┋CHILDREN: Oliver De Vries, alive, three years  ♚┋PET(S): none ♚┋ADOPTED? Yes. After his parents’ death, Espen was adopted by his paternal grandfather.  ♚┋RAP SHEET? Nothing yet. ♚┋PRISON TIME? Not yet. 

VICES / HABITS

♚┋SMOKES? like a chimney.  ♚┋DRINKS?  Yes. ♚┋DOES DRUGS?  Used to, yes. Stimulants (i.e. ecstasy) and hallucinogens like LSD ♚┋IS VIOLENT? Not at all, ironically enough. This is so hard to believe because Espen’s family consisted primarily of criminals, including former intelligence agents, one might be quick to falsely assume that their natures - violent, predominantly - are irrevocably ingrained in his being; but this couldn’t be further from the truth. If at all necessary, Espen will only react defensively, thus defending himself physically, when there’s no other way.  ♚┋HAS AN ADDICTION? Not anymore.  ♚┋IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE? Yes. ♚┋HABITS: perpetually confused about what clothes are - likes to walk around his flat completely nude. Unsurprisingly, he also sleeps without any clothes on. Cannot sit on chairs like normal people. Hello bad blood circulation.  ♚┋HOBBIES: sewing, alternative fashion, taxidermy, reading (mostly Gothic literature because he’s extra like that), taking care of baby bats, vblogging, weaponry, medieval history, travelling around the world to visit castles, tarot card reading, make up (both theater and alternative), book reviews on youtube, gaming ♚┋TICS: grunting (especially when stressed or extremely anxious. It’s happened before that that’s all he does while he completely shuts down normal communication.)  ♚┋OBSESSION(S): none ♚┋COMPULSION(S): has to arrange food a certain way on his plate lest he won’t eat it 

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

♚┋HOUSE: Gryffindor  ♚┋VICE: Wrath ♚┋VIRTUE: Temperance ♚┋ELEMENT: Fire ♚┋ANGEL: Uriel  ♚┋MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE: Vampire ♚┋ANIMAL: black cat  ♚┋MUTATION: time manipulation  ♚┋WOULD SURVIVE POST-APOC? No. Sadly, he has morals. 

STATUS INFORMATION

♚┋DEVELOPMENT: Semi-developed ♚┋SHIPPING: Shiplocked. Not to a particular ship, mind you, but because of Espen’s background and personality, it would be ooc for him to commit to multiple ships (even if they’re regarded separately).  ♚┋VERSE: Multiverse ♚┋VERSE TYPE: crime, slice of life ♚┋CANON: crime ♚┋PLOTTING: open  ♚┋CREATION DATE: August 2017

CHARACTER SUMMARY

After five minutes, you’ll have no better descriptor for Espen other than fucking weird – and rightfully so. Everything from his demeanor down to his most perfunctory mannerisms, the man defies social conventions without even trying all that hard. Raised to patch up his mother’s career as a discharged intelligence agent, Espen grew up isolated from his peers, trained and groomed mostly and certainly not treated like a son. Eventually, their renegade ways caught up with them; the result being murder in the first degree. Following these events, he was adopted by his paternal grandfather and Theo became Espen. All tragedies aside, his golden heart and warm eyes give away his personality at first glance. There’s compassion in his actions that shouldn’t be feasible given that his body count is heavy. Now that there’s another life in the picture, namely his kid, Espen is determined to find the exeunt to his tragedy. Good morals and good character, unfortunately, don’t mean shit when you’re indebted to a crime cartel.

APPEARANCE DESCRIPTION

Physically, the guy is average and contrary to what one might believe, he doesn’t really stick out from the crowd save for his colorful sleeve tattoos. Standing 6’0 tall, Espen isn’t exactly a frightening, towering figure either. How he manages to stay fit with the serious sweet tooth that he has is a mystery, but his build is, without doubt, rather muscular. His accent is quite a minuscular detail yet, still, a faint German accent can be heard. What will certainly turn some heads, however, is his clothing. True to his decade-old fondness for the Goth subculture, you won’t ever see him wearing anything that isn’t various shades of black. When he can be bothered to dress up, Espen likes to wear a combination of Edwardian and Trad Goth attire, though the classic ’90 aesthetic of the vampire is also something he wears daily. Due to his appearance, his demeanor is key and he knows this. You can’t just be withdrawn or aloof looking like him, so he goes out of his way to be kind and courteous – especially towards elder people.  Since his wardrobe is black and then black, his light brown hair and green eyes are accentuated even moreso, his look always attentive. And when you’re close enough to him, you will smell a few drops of a vintage perfume for women, namely Guerlain Shalimar; a coveted assortment of vanilla, tonka beans and castoreum musk.  

PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION

Espen is the pinnacle of wasted brilliance and proof, as he says, that one’s IQ is relative if there’s not a grain of ambition in your body. That’s pretty much his lot in life; a double-edged sword, if you will, with which he has accidentally stabbed himself more than once. His intelligence is only outmatched by how much of a fucking sloth he is. He’s Snorlax personified, essentially, and if nobody actively pestered him to be productive, the guy would probably just suffocate in his own filth. As the common genius stereotype would suggest, Espen is emotionally inhibited and socially inept, unable to function in social settings. This, while somewhat true, isn’t entirely accurate either. Sure, his tact is less than ready to tango and he often comes across as remorselessly crude because he has only a rudimentary grasp on what is socially acceptable. Simultaneously, however, he is not content to just build a wall of silence around him. No, Espen tries his best to tune in to what others are partial towards, reacting accordingly. There’s also always a kernel of humor in his interactions, one that might imply he doesn’t take anything seriously. Because if he does, it matters. Be that as it may, a cold, malicious asshole he is not. He could be; would have enough reason to be – yet he is not if his numerous flaws can be reined in. Even his humoristic take on pessimism is charming. He’s the type of person who knows his odds, yet still does the thing to crack others up. In contrast to this, though, Espen isn’t idealistic – he knows the world is a shithole. Often a devil’s advocate and a complete shut-in when stress hits him, emotions still make him feel insecure and incompetent – every emotional response might be the wrong one, after all.

SKILLS / COMPETENCES

Espen doesn’t really care for languages, yet can communicate on native speaker level in three languages – English, Dutch, German. Where he really shines is his creativity and fashion sense. He loves giving baby bats fashion advice, quickly one to offer help when things are tough at home, too. Of course, he shouldn’t be underestimated either. Though not proud of this skillset, per se, he is nonetheless adept at social engineering, sociology, basic psychology, martial arts, vehicle and foot surveillance, marksmanship, and, naturally, hand-to-hand combat. As mentioned above, giving in to his benevolent and amiable side, Espen pursued a master’s degree in forensic nursing. Beyond that, he is also excellent at forgetting important dates, being late, being tired and eating everyone’s food. Oh, yes, and an obscure knowledge of medieval and Celtic history to boot, he’s really into medieval markets/costumes.

INTERPERSONAL MANNER

In a word, odd. Just plain fucking odd. Here he is not even able to survive without somebody constantly kicking his ass to get his shit together; here he is with barely an idea what decorum is and he still tries to be kind, even though it’s technically not in his nature to be any of that. Although Espen may come across as secretive, private and somewhat shy at first, any worries are forgotten as soon as mischief, fun, or sweets are involved. Now, ever since his family died, Espen has been somewhat clingy with the few people he has in his life, much like a cat demanding instant and constant attention. He doesn’t take well to being ignored, and won’t stop until he has your undivided attention. As for romance, Espen isn’t really made for that; not in the conventional sense. A very solitary creature by default, it is very hard for even him to tell whether what he feels are genuinely deep emotions or just what he feels compelled to feel. Either way, if you express interest, Espen will go to great lengths to ensure you feel nothing but wanted and validated.

INSPIRED BY: the guy on Lie to Me, Edmund (King Lear), Deadpool tbh 

[furiousharmonykryptonite-blog1]

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I'm 20, I will be 21 in a month. I got my Provisional Drivers License today. I have a toddler, and am pregnant. We live in Calvert County, Maryland. My fiance and I live with his parents, we rent 2 rooms. His mother is 69, and has All State car insurance, not sure what plan. Can I legally drive her car infrequently, like to the grocery store, or to OB appointments here and there without having insurance myself? Does it depend on her plan? She's going to call them tomorrow to see, but I'd just like to see what answers I get on here tonight. Any help would be appreciated, thank you. Will it cost money or make her insurance more expensive to have me added as a driver to her policy?""

Best value Florida auto insurance?

I just moved from Illinois to Florida and am looking for auto insurance because my own company is upping my price from $125 to $275 a month with the same coverage (100/300K BI, 50K property, 100K UM, and roadside assistance) with the move. Upon obtaining quotes, the best I've gotten is with Esurance which is just over $200 a month. It seems that adding BI to any auto policy ups the price pretty heavily. Are there any mid-level or local insurance companies in Florida that generally offer better premiums than the heavy hitters I've been quoting with? I'm in Port Richey.""

Affordable health insurance?

Whats a good site for getting lots of quotes at once? thanks

Were do i get classic insurance for 91 calibra 4x4 turbo.?

Were do i get classic insurance for 91 calibra 4x4 turbo.?

Does geico insurance policy with full coverage cover a stolen car that was left unlocked?

Does geico insurance policy with full coverage cover a stolen car that was left unlocked?

How to go about getting car insurance?

I live in California and I am moving to Texas in June. Im 23 and I dont have a car currently but I will buy one when I move to Texas. I dont know how to go about getting car insurance, though. What is the process of getting car insurance? When should I get it? Before I buy the car? How do I get it (or where do I go)? Do I need to give the insurance companies any documents to get the car insurance? What do you recommend that I do right now? Thanks.""

Which insurance company is the cheapest for a 18 year old?

iv just passed my test, and bought a citreon saxo 1.1, iv been on many comparison sites and the best quote i get is 3500 third party only which is way too much. Can anyone help me find a better quote Thanks""

First Time Cars With Low Insurance?

I'm going to be starting Driving lessons soon and want to start thinking on what car to get as my first one so I can save up, though I don't know much about cars at all. So I'm looking for some advice on a good, but cheap, car (Either New or Used, if used I would like to know the general life expectancy from new in order to work out how long it will resonantly last) that will last me for at least 4 years and get me through my first Degree, I also would like it to have a fairly low insurance for a beginner driver as I am a college student, currently, and plan on doing my Masters (Starting next year) then my PHD, so I won't have a massive pot of funds. If anyone can help me I will be very grateful as I know nothing about cars, all my vehicle knowledge is of Motorbikes.""

Car insurance?

what company is the best to get car insurance from? I want to fill out the progressive direct (as they show you online) but I am nervous about my credit score going down. Help.

Rear ended someone with the same insurance (AAA California). Deductible is waived. Who pays for damages?

If insurance pays for damages to their car, will my premium increase? The estimate of damages is larger than my deductible but since it is only cosmetic damages is it worth the risk ...show more""

Does car insurance in america cost less than the uk? Is it the car thats insured for any driver?

Is the car insured for any driver or do you have to insure the driver for the car. eg. would it cost a 20yr old the same as a 50 yr old to insure a car regardless of the car?

Car Sales/Insurance Sales?

OK, so just want an opinion. I just got a job to sell cars. Its slow right now, they said avg salesman sells about 8 cars a month. its a 1,000 draw,. $500 per month, and %25 to %30 commission. But I also got accepted to be an insurance agent for Farmers, all I have to do is pass the license test. But this could take up to a month. And Im not sure how the pay works, if its 100% commission, or whatever. I might not be making money for a while when im first starting up. If they offered some type of base pay then I am leaning towards the insurance agent, but then again the economy sucks right now. Any advice..which would you take? I am thinking of just doing the car sales for a while, save $$ and then get into insurance afterwards, but I might lose this opportunity. What do you think...thanks.""

How much insurance for a Mustang?

i'm 16 years old, female, and am wanting to get a 2000 year GT Mustang. My insurance company is Farmers with full coverage and they do discount for good grades.. I live in California. How much is a monthly payment for insurance on this car?""

Does Lowest Quote Wins really lower your insurance to $15 per month?

I saw one of their ads on a car today and was obviously intrigued. How legit is it?

Car and home insurance together...?

I recently purchased a new car and will close on a home in 2 weeks. I am looking for auto and home insurance in NJ. I called Geico today - got a decent quote. But they dont have home insurance in the area. All State gave me a quote for their platinum one and told me they'll give me the other packages in a minute - put me on hold for 25 mins and I hung up (again they dont have home insurance in my area). Anyone has any experience with TWG insurance? My car dealer gave me their info. I searched for reviews in NJ - nothing, They're TX based and have both home and auto...not sure if it is good for NJ. This is my first car and home. Any advise on what to look for esp for my car. What are the grey areas that they can con you? What are the most important points to look for? Any suggestions on good plans in NJ?""

Disability Insurance Questions?

what does disability insurance mean and who gets it's benefits

What medical tests should a 53-year-old man have?

I know there's tests that men should have when they're around the age of 50. My dad hasn't been to the doctor for years because he doesn't have health insurance or a job(he's living with my grandma who's 76). He's resisted going to the doctor and says I'll go once I get a job but he's not really been trying. My brothers and I are worried and some have even offered to pay for a doctor's visit but he's just said no and that he can wait. I'd like to know what tests he should have and how much they cost on average. He's been a generally healthy man, but skin cancer runs in our family and when he was around 40 he had a thing growing on his neck that was some sort of cancer. He had it removed and it hasn't come back but it there some sort of test for things like that? All three of my brothers and I are either English or History teachers and if what my dad needs is affordable we'd all like to pitch in. I know this is sort of scatterbrained- I'm in a rush, so thank you if you can answer this in advance.""

What is the difference between comprehensive and third party car insurance and which one is more beneficial?

What is the difference between comprehensive and third party car insurance and which one is better. I have a 2005 wagon r lxi and wants to renew the insurance which one should i opt for.?

How much will my insurance inflate?

Okay so this is my first year driving and my insurance was about $1100-1200. I was backing out and someone was in my blind spot so I hit the side of his car. My car had no damages but unfortunately I caused a slight dent in his, it wasn't that serious but it was still noticable. How much will insurance go up now that I've had my first accident that was completely my fault?""

""Free/Cheap health insurance for low income in LONG ISLAND, NY?""

I am 19 years old and i go to school part time, so i am not able to get my moms insurance, and i also work but dont get insurance there either. I come from a low income family, so i ...show more""

Car Stolen with Keys - Insurance Claim Issue?

Hey guys need some help My partners car was stolen last night and we have just noticed this morning The keys to said car was in another car (within a handbag) parked beside the stolen car what has happened is the car with handbag in it was broken in to, handbags were raided, found keys to the car beside and it was then driven off with What way will insurance see this? I know if the keys for car are left within that car and its stole most insurers dont pay out but what way might this situation pan out??? any advise greatly appreciated""

Where can i get cheap car insurance?

iv found a car ita a puegout 206 n its 2002, 50000 miles n its a 1.1. i expected the insurance to be cheap but everywhere i look i keep getting insurance quotes which are around 2000 quid im like what the hell!!! so does anyone know anywhere tht gives gd qoutes???""

What are my best options for cheap car insurance?

I have just passed my driving test and I am looking to buy a car. I'm 21 year old female, and obviously I haven't got any no-claims or anything! Ideally I am after a little 1.0lt KA or Corsa. I've had a look on Compare the market etc and I've been quoted at 2,100 as being my cheapest offer on my own policy! My dad drives, but he is taking some convincing when it comes to insuring me on his policy! Basically I am wondering what the best way is to obtain cheap insurance!""

I need health insurance in california?

i really need health insurance i have a really bad sinus problem & ADD i already had a surgery in the past for my sinus problem and i had healthy families insurance and they paid for it and they used to pay the office visits too my mom only paid $5 copay and since i turned 19 i cant have that insurance anymore is the some other insurance that is full coverage and is not very expensive? i already tried getting medical but did not qualify and i dont have a job because everyone is getting laid off over here

Can I buy a used car without insurance?

I'm only 18 and I got accepted for a car loan. It's about $200 a month but I can afford the car insurance rate now. I'm buying the car from a dealership. Can I buy the car then drive it home and let it sit till I get insurance? Or can they deliver the car? If I drive it home rate away wouldn't it be like a test drive for the used car?

What do insurance brokers do?

1. What is an insurance broker? 2. What do you have to do as an insurance broker? 3. If you are an insurance broker, how is your job related to the law? 4. What is your typical day like? 5. What are the educational requirements to become an insurance broker? 6. Why did you want to become an insurance broker? 7. What do you enjoy most about being an insurance broker? 8. What's challenging about it? 9. How long have you been an insurance broker? 10. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to be an insurance broker?""

How does car insurance work when making a claim?

What happens when a claim is made after an accident? If a car is written off how much does this insurance company pay? If a car is repaired by the insurance company what happens then? I guess they pay for the damage, but do they pay any extra? If the car is repaired then the value of the car will drop, therefore leaving the driver out of pocket even though the damage was not the drivers fault. How does it work? Cheers""

Insurance cost for a 16 year old with a 1986 iroc camaro?

I'm 16 have a 1986 iroc camaro 350ci and i live in an average neighborhood in western ny i'm a male. any insurance guestimates? I'm gonna need to be on my own plan.

Affordable health insurance?

Whats a good site for getting lots of quotes at once? thanks

Auto Body shop quote and Insurance quote?

My insurance adjuster came out and cut me a check for 1,200. The check issued is a fair price.The shop i trust gave me a quote of 1,300 which means I will only have to pay 100 out of pocket. My deductible is 500. Do i still have to pay 500 even though the check will cover most of the expenses?""

What reputable health insurance companies are out there?

My mom doesn't have health insurance and my job doesn't give insurance to family members. I would like to pay monthly to a health insurance company so my mom could get health check up when she needs it. Do you know any health insurance companies that can accept low monthly payments since I don't get paid that much?

How much do you pay for Insurance in your state?

I live in New Jersey and the Insurance for an auto is so high here. I pay $168 a month for a 2003 ford explorer that is loaded. I have no tickets, my record is clean. I also have lived in Utah and my Insurance was only $50 a month. Just wondering what everyone pays in different states?""

If i buy a car how much car insurance does people usually pay per year? ?

if i buy a car how much car insurance does people usually pay per year?

Is a Kawasaki ninja 250 or a Kawasaki KLR650 cheaper insurance?

I'm looking for a first bike, I am 16 years old, 150LBS, 5'11''. Money is an issue so I will be getting maybe an 08 ninja or an older duel sport bike. Anybody have any estimates and anybody have any suggestions? I will only have about $3000 to spend. I am looking for liability insurance.""

No Insurance!?

No Insurance!? How much do you think a tooth will cost to be pulled?

How much would it cost to insure another car on my mom's insurance?

Im 16. I really want to get a car but my mom claims she can't afford to insure 2 cars. I have discounts though. I took drivers ed in school, i have a job, and im a girl. She has mercury car insurance. She claims that her car insurance will go up 2000$ to insure another car. the car she has is a 2011 toyota camry. I think shes lying and just doesn't want to pay for it. I don't think its that much because there are a lot of people at my school who live in project housing or don't make nearly as much money as my mom does and have their own cars so..im asking, how much would it really cost to insure another car? If you know of any other insurances that are cheap to insure 2 cars, 1 for a 16 year old, feel free to enlighten me. Thanks! btw, I offered to pay as much as I could in insurance but she said I don't make enough money. :(""

How can I get the cheapest car insurance in the UK?

I am 29 and have had a driving licence for 11 years but in another country (non EU). I just got my UK licence and am looking for a cheap insurance. the cheapest quote I have found is over 2000 which is too much. I have a 1.6 automatic Golf. Is there any company that accepts my previous licence as my experience? I also tried to get my No Claim Bonus letter from my Insurance company but they simply don't answer me as the system is different in my country so no chance of getting that. thanks

Looking for a good insurance company to represent in California?

I'm a licensed insurance agent in California. I've been through 3 firms in 3 years and did not make much money at all. Now I'm working retail waiting to get back in the game while my license is just wasting away. Please, no AFLAC or World Financial Group referrals. Training is non-existent at AFLAC and the WFG people were absent of integrity. Could anyone recommend a good company to work for that is structured and has a good training program. Thank you.""

What cheap classic car would you recommend for a 17 year old?!?

I turn 17 in October and so i have began to start looking for cars and the insurance that it will cost me. from looking on go-compare, i've found that the cheapest cars to insure are old classics like the VW beetle or Rover mini. I would really like to know if there are any other cool looking classic cars out on the market that would suit a 17 year old? they will have to have a small sized engine as well. recommendations would be great! thanks""

What is the Mustang classed under for insurance?

i was told that insurance companies class it as a sports car and will the insurance be high for a driver who: has slight ADD, 20 years old, just got my drivers license (2 months ago), lives with parents, has not the best grades, works part time, and isn't going to school at the moment? if it will be expensive what would you say would be a good first car? I'm driving a V8 4.0 litter engine Durango (year 2000) so i am familiar with a big powerful heavy car but i want a small car that drink a lot of gas and is cheap to insurance! thanks (please no smart A** remarks please)""

About how much would insurance cost for a 2004 subaru wrx?

for a 16/17 year old im a student and i took driving course does the subaru impreza RS have alot cheaper insurance i dont need exact price just a bout how much how about a 2002 or 2003

Car insurance who is responsible ? He lives on his own but the car is in my name?

My son is twenty three and lives at a different address. The title for his car is in my name. Who is responsible for car insurance?

What would the insurance be on a 2004 Saturn Vue?

My parents are being extremely kind and letting me get my license. Along with the license, they are offering to pay half of the price for a car for my and my brother. We are extremely tight on money, but they are being incredibly generous, so I thought it would be good to get an older, but safe, fuel-efficient car. I thought a Saturn Vue would be perfect. I'm 16 and my brother is 18. We are all going to be on the same insurance plan, and we are both (in my opinion) very good drivers. Does anyone know how much the insurance would be on a 2004 Saturn Vue? If it's too much, we would go with either a Ford Focus or a Honda Civic (we wanted a bigger car because we have both been rear-ended in our car driving home from high school. Both cars needed thousands of dollars of repairs and we needed rehab from our injuries as well. The bigger the car, the safer it is...while still keeping that fuel-efficiency). Thanks so much!""

What's the insurance for a lamborghini gallardo?

NO! i'm not looking foward on buying one.. Cant afford it. People told me insurance for this car was $1000 a MONTH.. but i asked a couple people with lamborghinis in gas stations ...show more

Do i need to add extra car insurance?

Hello. My father has a BMW and i am 16. When i am 17 i want to share the BMW with my father. My father has insurance on the car already. Its a full cover insurance. When i am 17 do i need to add extra insurance to the car or do i just leave it as it is? Do i need to add my name along with my dads name to the owner of the car?

Insurance premiums?

How much is a family coverage for insurance premiums? Just an average, not sure what insurance we will have yet but it should be a ppo. Trying to figure it out because my husband got offered a higher paying job, but the job he has now they pay his insurance so we have no clue what to expect to pay""

How many questions are on the California Fire and Casualty insurance exam?

I am currently attending online classes at AD Banker for Fire and Casualty insurance. Does anyone have any idea how many questions are on the state exam?

How much will my Car insurance go up?

I hit a car in Los Angeles and I have State Farm. The guy I hit drives a range rover and all I did was scratch his driver's side door. The body shop wants $1200 to repaint the door, which I think is insane. I would pay cash, but $1200 is a lot of money. Does State Farm have accident forgiveness, or will my premium go up if I claim this on my insurance?""

How much would the in insurance be on a 1985 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z28?

i just turend 16 and ill get my licenes in about 3 months and i saw a 1985 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z28 the other day that im thinking about buying and i was wondering about how much the ...show more

Live in FL need to know were to get low car insurance rate for my daughters 2001 saturn sl1?

She is going to need comp and collision because she owes on the car she is 22 and has 1 speeding ticket cost per month now is approx 170.00 any help would be great she has progressive now

Why do people expect medical insurance to pay for everything?

Auto insurance doesn't pay for oil changes. Homeowners insurance doesn't pay for remodeling.

How much does it cost to put car insurance on a bugatti?

How much does it cost to put car insurance on a bugatti?

Will my insurance rate go up??PLZ HELP:(?

I was parked in front of a kroger at the parking lot ...I came out of the store and saw that my cars been hit! Its an 07 mustang gt i took it for an etimate it has damages worth 1300 I have full coverage insurance with a 500 dollar deductable I pay 110 a month for insurance I live in Michigan..will my rate go up? I mean i wasnt in the car i came out and it was hit?Also I have only one claim with my truck thats it and a perfect driving record no points ever.

Who is covered with car insurance?

if I let my friend use my car is she covered under my car insurance? I've heard that it is the car that is covered, not the specific person... is that true?""

Affordable health insurance?

Whats a good site for getting lots of quotes at once? thanks

What is the cheapest car to insure for your first car?

im going to be hopefully doing my driving test in mayish and im just wondering what would be the the cheapest car to insure, im looking for something a little decent but i just need a few ideas of whats avaliable with these:- - 5 door car - Hatchback - Buying used car price- under 1,000 - Cheap insurance, maintenance and tax - Power Steering - Automatic taa for any help/advice""

Insurance and baby drama?

My boyfriend has another daughter that is placed on his insurance as is our daughter. Will this other kid effect my daughters benefits for being on his insurance along with the other kid?

What are the best health care companies?

I'm in my early 20's, have no real health issues, and take no meds. I can not get affordable insurance through my job, and i just can't go without it anymore. I'm trying to find not just the most affordable plan, but the best company who wont try to screw me over at every turn (which i know is hard to find). I did some searching on my own, but the only list i could find of top rated companies were all state specific.""

What is the best way for me to compare California Health Insurance companies?

It's open enrollment time and I would like to compare health insurance companies without having to go into each and every individual insurance website. Is there a website with a grid for this? If there isn't, someone should create one! Thanks for any advice --""

Is this a reputable health insurance company?

Does esurance.com list reputable companies or do they list just any company? It looks like I have found a really good deal for student indemnity insurance from a company called Time. Does anyone know if this is a good company?

Which insurance company is best ?

im 15 going on 16 and i need car insurance im getting either geico which is my mom's insurance or farmer's which is my dad's my mom had farmers but farmers is too expensive the car i will be driving is a 2000 Nissan Sentra SE (automatic) http://www.edmunds.com/flipper/do/MediaNav/styleId=9585/firstNav=Gallery it looks exactly like the red one except its green and it has brown leather seats and a new radio system :]] its my brothers old car he hardly uses it since he has a brand new 2008 Nissan Altima so my Sentra is free :]] my dad will probably pay for my car stuff .or they will split it . i live in a city around the houston area . p.s can you give me your guess of how much i will be paying a month for insurance or perhaps every 6 months ? and which insurance company should i get ? p.s idk if this helps but my mom drives a 2004 Infiniti G35 Sedan and my dad drives a 2001 Jaguar XJ8 .

How do I go about getting health insurance for my baby?

Me and my husband just got married this year and found out that we were pregnant a few weeks later. We both just got jobs mine does not have insurance and his offers insurance but it will not kick in for three more months and our baby is due in one month. Right now we are both on our parents health insurance my dads includes maternity but will not cover anything for the baby after he is born. We now make too much for Medicaid but are still struggling financially. Should we wait until my husbands insurance kicks in and pay out of pocket for two months or get him on a private plan so when the baby comes we can add the baby to that private plan? Most of the plans that we can afford have like a 10,000 dollar deductible before they cover anything anyway.""

Anyone know a cheap Health Insurance Cover for myself?

Im single, 27 years old and living in Victoria/Melbourne""

How much is car insurance nowadays for a 16 year old male who has a B average.?

How much is car insurance nowadays for a 16 year old male who has a B average.?

What is the cost of car insurance with out drivers ed.?

I am an 18 year old girl, looking to get a small used car something like a older civic. What would the average monthly payment be. I live in NH and I have good grades, never been in ...show more""

Will a sports car make my insurance more expenisive?

Im 18 years old and my parents just bought me a sports car. No, I'm not spoiled. They got it for me because its miles were under 100k, it was only 2000 dollars, and it wasn't ...show more""

GuRLS CAR INSURANCE??

IN california, how much cheaper is girls insurance from guys? Also, If I have a C average for my grades, can I get a discount?""

Which company in New Jersey has the lowest Car Insurance?

Which company in New Jersey has the lowest Car Insurance?

""First Car, insurance price etc :)?""

Hi all, I'm going to go into more detail and search more etc. when I get the car's reg, but for now I can only ask all of you :) I'm going to buy 1.6 ltr ford focus off of my friend for 800, 5 door, 2000 model I think so what kind of insurance would I be quoted on it usually? I don't want links to websites as I havent got all the details... but I havent passed my test yet and it will be my first car, plus I'm 18 so it could be a tad expensive I know :S Thanks for reading :)""

Can i get cheap insurance on vw scirocco for first car?

im going to be getting my full license soon and im thinking to buy the scirocco for my first car but have been put of by the insurance that i will need to pay as im gonna be a new driver, the price id need to pay yearly is 4500 which is a lot and pretty much the same as owning a jeep GCsrt8 for your first car. i was wondering is there cheaper option?""

What are some good dental insurance carriers with affordable premiums and copayments?

I live in Southern California ( High Desert area ) and I am looking for a good dental plan and dental carrier with affordable premiums and copayments. I need mostly restorative dental work, like replace too llings, bridges, crowns, root canal and braces.... I currently have Kaiser medical insurance and would like to try Kaiser dental and I am also considering Aflac or Delta Dental.... anyone have experience with any of these carriers or have any good advice for me? Thanks in advance!!""

How much would insurance cost for a 2011 mustang v6?

I am 18 years old, I currently have an 03 Tacoma 4 door Prerunner and my current insurance rate is around $210 a month. I live in Louisiana, I average around a 3.0 GPA and I have saved up and I am really close to owning a 2011 mustang and I was curious if someone could give me an estimate on around how much the insurance might cost. Thanks""

Getting insurance under my name?

In NJ, it states that you need proof of insurance to transfer a title. How can i get proof of insurance if I don't have the title under my name? Can I get insurance before tranferring the title, or can i get insurance without transferring the title? Title is transferring from my dad to me.""

""Annuities and life insurance, please help?""

I am 35 yrs old and I recently purchased Index Universal Life insurance for the tax free money, guarantee return flat rate, and protection from market loss. I also have $100k in my 401k and my insurance agent suggest I rollover to an index annuity to get the best maximum return. I will get a 10% bonus and both the interest and 10% bonus will be compounded for next 30 yrs. If I withdraw at age 55 at 4%, my yearly index return rate is $9.261. I can see for the first 11 years, the annuity company is giving back my original amount. If I live through age 86, I would have withdraw total amount $185,200. Everyone keeps telling me life insurance is a bad investment because of fees and the agent is trying to get a big commission off me. After running and looking at the numbers, it seems annuities and life insurance are the best savings program. Is there something else about the numbers quoted I should be aware of?""

Can I drop my non-owners insurance policy after I get my revoked license back?

I got a DWAI a while ago, and I will be eligible to reapply for a license soon. In order to do this, I have to apply for non-owner's car insurance and fill out an SR-22 form. After I have gotten my license back, can I legally drop the non-owner's insurance? I have never owned a car or had insurance before, so I have no idea how car insurance policies work.""

AFTER BUYING A CAR..INSURANCE? HELP?

I just bought a car (used). bought from the previous owner. AND NOW IM STUCK....? i dont have my licence yet; i am 18 though. im going to register the car in my name and the title and all that stuff. i also need to do emissions testing. I know i need to do all of that be for i take my drivers test. My thing is with the insurance. The car needs to be ensured for the test. Q: can i get insurance with out a license?

Car Insurance in California?

Anyone know a good low cost auto insurance company in California? Someone w/ a suspended licsence that is now released?

What's the purpose of medical insurance for students?

I'm in Australia and I need medical insurance which is very costly and it doesn't even cover anything like dental checkup. I don't think I'll ever a use a single penny from that insurance. Why are they robbing us of our money for no reason? If I get ill, I'll use my own money to pay for treatment. And I heard they don't get any interest from the money so where does all that money go? In the air?""

Insurance Groups - HELP!?

Ok im looking to buy my first car, and ive found a 1.4cl Ford Escort which im interested in, it says its in insurance group 5E, is that a good group to be in (is it cheap or expensive), thanks for any help :D""

High school sports insurance Florida?

Hi, I'm a 15 year old varsity baseball player in Florida. On the 19th of March, I had a partial tear of my biceps tendon in my right elbow along with a suspected injury to the RCL, and LUCL (MRI results). I don't have primary health insurance (even though my Dad's a doctor haha) but my school carries insurance for student athletes. I'm going the the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, FL. What do you think my coverage will be like? I know it's a rather hard question but thanks for anything!""

Affordable health insurance?

Whats a good site for getting lots of quotes at once? thanks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/car-insurance-cheaper-i-drive-my-mums-daryl-preisentanz"