#i put so much effort into this when it's just a hairstyle meme but it was rly fun to use it as an excuse to flesh her out a bit !

[zellk]

I am finally done with this o|-< - "Blorbo thoughts through art memes : Lana edition"

[policemanofprincesspark]

H in his top class look will forever be H in 2019. Maybe it´s because I joined the fandom and I romantise this year in general (because it was the last year before things got sh*t in every possible way) but yeah, H in 2019 was somewhere else for me. I will probably blame O and her shitstorm for those 2 years that made H age much faster and he should and there´s no way back. Like I love him no matter what, because I am aging as well and was shocked when I looked at my photos from like 2014 vs now so at least I´m not the only one. I lowkey wish H will look older and older every time he pops up in public and so those harries who are there only for his fake semi-god of s*x persona will leave/move on to someone younger. And at the end of the day, no matter how old H and Louis look and how much we dislike it, what matters most is if they find each other attractive because they both are aging together. P.S.: Have you seen how much Shawn Mendes aged/how old he looks? That literally horrible if you add the fact he´s not even in his 30´s!

I don't think Olivia had a thing to do with it. Like many others, I think it was his Marvel contract. He needed to get ultra fit for his role in Eternals (which never went anywhere and has presumably been scrapped).

I think Harry really started looking good to me in 2014. Course, that's also when I joined the fandom. But I think his long hairstyle was beautiful before it got too long in 2015 and 2016. By then he was looking like Tarzan. Not a good look.

Then he had it cut in that dashing, almost 50s style.

That looked really nice, made him look younger again, and suited his face. His hairline also wasn't as receded. I mean, look at the difference between these foreheads:

Now that his hairline has receded so far back, he's going to need to adopt a different hairdo. He can't slick it up and back like that anymore. It doesn't look good. There's a reason true haters call him Pennywise.

Though the hair isn't even the big issue to me; it's the face. He's obviously had to put on weight to put on muscle, and I don't know his body fat percentage but it's probably higher than it was in 2017. Putting his face now side-by-side with his 2017 one really shows how wide his face has gotten. Not a good look.

You can see the mandibular angles stick out more, but he already had a good jawline before, so they didn't need to widen. You need balance for a good jawline—just about equal amounts of vertical and horizontal. It looks too square now, which could be a result of not properly mewing (yes, I know that's a funny-haha meme nowadays, but it's real). Case in point:

His jaw is just a little recessed, as most of ours are. Nothing abnormal. But if he adopted proper tongue posture and worked on it, his chin would appear a tad longer, which would really balance out the current width of his jaw.

His skin also just... doesn't look as smooth as it did seven years ago. I think he looks slightly pudgy in the cheeks too. Not significantly, but enough to noticeably change the way he looks overall.

Nothing all that wrong with this, by the way. I am by no means saying that he's ageing horribly. He's just ageing, and with age, if you want to keep up your looks, you have to put in a lot more effort than you did when you were younger. I don't blame musicians; it must be stressful touring. Right now he's on a break, but being exposed to all kinds of good food when you're in Italy and going out to eat a lot will do a number on you.

I know his weight and muscle mass fluctuate as it does with everyone, so don't bring up certain months this year or last when he looked better because that's not the point I'm getting at here. I understand he'll have times he'll look good and times he won't, as is the case for most people.

(As for Shawn Mendes, I think he looks fine. He's nearly 26 and looks his age and doesn't look unkempt or like he's gained weight. Looks good to me!)

[wickedapostate]

for Hawke: canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all? for Zinnia: change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change? for Nazari: armor: What kind of armor does your OC wear? Is it well kept? Bonus: where does it come from? Is there a story behind it?

Meme / Accepting!

💖

Garrett

He does have a significant amount of scars all across his body, he is frequently putting himself on the frontlines as a tank and taking damage so he can be even more dangerous as a reaver. Scars from this he makes no effort to hide and no effort to really show off. If asked about any of them though, he'll tell you a story about how he got it, about 70% of the time the story is true (the rest he earnestly forgets when he got)

He also has top scars after his twin Marian was able to blood magic off his boobs. These he tries to conceal unless around friends, in which case he'll happily show them off

His ears are pierced though he rarely wears any earings as they're too likely to get grabbed and pulled out

And lastly, across his nose, he has a large slashing scar. It was at Ostgar that he got it, a strike that would have killed him had he not bashed his shield into the path of the sword and changed its course. Originally he wasn't trying to hide the injury when he swiped across his nose to try to get the blood to stop running down his nose. In Kirkwall though, he eventually started using some war paint to swipe across his nose both to give the smugglers something to remember him by, and so people would stop asking about what happened. Then one thing lead to another and it became a Hawke family copyright, whoops

Zinnia

Yes! They have actually quite a lot! Spefically get hair changes a lot throughout the game

At the start its a braided bun, that one in the default character creator, she is heavily wound up and holding back from just about everything

Then after Hawke is lost to The Nightmare, things really really stink in as serious on a personal level, and she tries to pivot to being pragmatic above all else. The bun goes, and her braid becomes a tight one that goes along where her middle part would be, no stray hairs, no time to mess around

Then her and Solas have their fateful talk, she's already drank from the well, they already are overwhelmed, they're already questioning the pantheon. She ends up letting Solas remove her vallaslin. It's next to impossible to adjust to seeing her face bare again, it makes them feel like a child

Between Corypheus' defeat and trespasser she changes up her look again. Firstly getting a new vallaslin, one that she's designed, it's a full body one with elements on pretty much every part of their body. Secondly, they start wearing their hair in twin braids that she wears over her shoulders, and let's herself have some loose hair framing their face. Their presentation is still considered, but far freer than before

I'm still figuring out what they'll look like by the time of Veilguard but right now I'm thinking they've changed their hairstyle to one large thick braid along with hair framing their face

Nazari

A very good question, unfortunately... Nazari doesn't really wear armor. There's none that fit her comfortably, and she's confident with her barrier spells

You could maybe count her gloves as armor cause they're made of a tiny bit of metal? She pretty much just made them to look cool. Here's an example of what they look like

I do also have a description of her combat/adventuring outfit

"A sleeveless layered top, the under layer is a elegantly patterned deep purple toned turtle neck, the top layer is a v neckline that slightly pops out around the neck in a dark violet velvet. It is tucked into black trousers held up by a belt, the sides are cut out and stitched back together with black cord in an X pattern, a move to make the pants fit better on herself. The pants are tucked into caff height black leather boots which have had it's straps dyed purple-ish."

The funniest part of this all is that originally Nazari was gonna be a warrior

[angrennufuin]

Ranking meme: 1. Worst kissers, 2. Best Dancers, 3. Best... hair? O:

Three!!!! I'm gonna answer these in different posts and just link back.

Best Hair

An excuse for me, Mirkwood Angrennufuin, to talk about hair?? Ohoho. >:3

Aysel - I latched on to a blog post about Lhazaareen pirates being very proud of their hair and extrapolated wildly! So Aysel has midback-length black hair (she shaved it when she was young and mourning, but it has grown back) that she keeps meticulously trimmed, oiled, and otherwise cared for. Nobody else on this list spends even a fraction of the effort on hair health that she does, or has as elaborate and specific a hairstyle. I haven't worked out what all her braids mean, but they definitely mean something -- I like the idea of Aysel braiding prayers or good-luck charms into her hair every morning. I'll put Alis's design notes on her hairstyle at the bottom of this post, but the idea was to give an impression of wild, free-flowing hair that nonetheless is kept out of her face in high winds.

Sûl is an elf and therefore has great hair by default, but doesn't get to be top of the list because she in no way places as much importance on her hair as Aysel does. She has wavy, light brown hair that she mostly wears up or half-up; it's prone to frizz in humidity and a little damaged from her periods of illness. She likes her hair well enough, but has no qualms cutting or dying it as needed. Privately thinks she could rock the bald look but Would Prefer Not To.

Linmir has very silky, very smooth, very straight hair that WAS a beautiful silver-grey and has now turned moon-white, and she doesn't do much to it. (Half-)elf privilege strikes again! When she was younger, she wore it loose (slicked back with camellia oil whenever her aunt could grab her for long enough), and then started wearing it in a high ponytail and dying the ends maroon at the suggestion of her ex. She kept it like that until she got a Dramatic Haircut just before the final battle; a dramatic use of her paladin powers had turned her hair white (with a single gold streak), and she bobbed it.

Rosenrot has long pre-Raphaelite curls in dark brown that she does a moderate amount of maintenance on but largely just keeps in two big braids. It was a great trial to her as a kid, because it's a lot of hair to keep track of for a little girl, and she would sometimes cry while trying to get it untangled. Even now, she usually wheedles Bene or his mom Philomena into doing her braids for her. I don't think she's ever cut it, and I don't think it would occur to her to do so. She loves having it played with.

Silence's hair is bobbed because it's the Fantasy 1920s, but also because when she was ten she got chewing gum stuck in it and it had to get chopped. Her mom's declaration was that she can grow her hair out again when she can prove herself responsible enough to care for it, but Silence kinda likes it short. It only takes ten minutes to brush! It's also lavender and thick but almost pin-straight; she's got major my little pony vibes.

Nee has very wild blonde curls that she has NOT been caring for or maintaining properly lately. She was okay at them in Wizard Grad School, but she's been living rough while on the adventure. And magic makes them do strange and arcane things, so she's largely just clipped them back and given up.

Hongyan has lovely hair (black, hip-length, tiny bit of wave) that he almost certainly has not brushed for the... Month? Two months? Ish? That he's been human. He has been bathed but mostly with like, bar soap. It's a mess. He preens it occasionally but he doesn't understand how hair works, really.

Asa is most frequently perceived as an amorphous blob of wild green curls, which they absent-mindedly tie trinkets and treasures and plants into whenever they feel like it. It's great hair! I love it! It is not, by most people's standards, a candidate for Best Hair.

Aysel hair design:

Asa's mushroomy head:

Next two asks:

[Best Dancer]

[Worst Kisser]

[maxenceandrebisset]

YUTA as a boyfriend || NCT

So you are here for our cherished Osaka prince? Then you are lucky because this one is longer than the other ones I have made so far.

Let's just state right at the beginning of this, that you and Yuta are for sure absolute soulmates if you started dating each other. Many people have prejudices towards him if they don't put the effort and time into getting to know him better - they think that he is rude, veracious, or that he doesn't care a bit about others, but that's not the truth, and you know that.

With this being said, it is obvious that you two would be friends at first - because he is quite social, and not scared to go literally anywhere, it is hard to tell where the two of you would meet. It could be a café, thrift shop, restaurant, convenience store, a gym, or just in the busy city center. Either way, you would have to stand out in some sort of way for him to notice you and start to pay attention to you more than he regularly does to people - unique hairstyle, clothing, you having a cute-ass dog who would go up for him for petting, you being confident in comparison with other girls around you either in the way you would speak or just present yourself to people, or you being Japanese, to begin with because I strongly believe that Yuta would like to stick up to Japanese girls even though he looks like a dude who would love to experiment more than other members.

I would see him experiment with a few girls - something like a one-night stand sort of thing - but this would hardly ever turn into something more like a relationship or a regular sort of thing. We all know that this boy is quite an experience one when it comes to the love life (you all know what I mean and why I am saying this), but because he would really want to take his time before starting a serious relationship, I think that he gained these experiences and knowledge from this so-called "experimenting".

So, you two would be friends for quite a while - going out quite regularly, visiting each other, and watching movies or anime together to early morning hours, constantly calling and texting each other whenever you would have a free minute to do so (even if you didn't), sending memes, funny videos, and stuff like that to each other every single minute, and waiting with pure excitement for the response fo the other one. And then after a few months of you being extremely close, filled with relying on each other through the hard times or whenever you wanted to enjoy a bit of quality time with someone, you two just casually made out while watching a new episode of your favorite TV show on the couch in your apartment, giggling like two idiots, any exclaiming that it took both of you long enough.

He would be both extremely soft, but also quite "rough/cocky" with you. It would really depend on the situation and on the mood you would be having. 

After a tiring day in work behind, whenever one of you would have a downcast mood - being sad or disappointed about something that happened to you or to someone around you, which would deeply affect you in some way -, or simply when you would have a soft mood for no reason, you two would just lay in bed or couch for minutes or even hours, cuddling, talking in soft-spoken words, complimenting each other or just discussing a completely random topic that would pop up in your heads at that moment. He would shower you with loving pecks all over your body, borrow you his clothes, that would be extremely cozy for you as it would be a few sizes bigger than your regular clothes, or he would buy some big bar of chocolate, wanting you to eat as much of it as possible while repeating several times that he doesn't care if you gain weight because if it softens your spirits and cheers you up, then it is worth.

He would want you to do the same thing for him as well, even if he didn't ask for it directly and tried to hide his own sufferings from you, because we all know how many times he has been angry, down, or frustrated because of the treatment he is getting in the group and because of the way some people think of him. Here the long period of your friendship, in which you got to know each other in every single detail, would be helpful because you would see in a second if Yuta is going through one of these moods, even if he tried to cover it. For a few seconds, he would try to change your mind and repeat that he is completely fine, but after the initial rejection, he would just break down in front of you and let you comfort him and raise his spirits with some good meal, you would cook for him, with you taking him out to some shopping mall for a shopping spree, with you taking him on a walk for some fresh air, or with you gifting him with some attention in the privacy of your home.

With this being said, we move on to the part of him being "cocky" with you. Many times, you gifting him some attention when he would be upset, would turn into something more heated than you planned. And I believe that we all know how much of a favorite and enjoyable activity this would be with someone as experienced as Yuta (he would always want to try new things in this, spice it up every single time, make it heavenly for both of you), but because this is rather a soft version of him being a boyfriend, I won't be going to nasty details about you sleeping together. 

Him being cocky would mean a lot of PDA as he is quite shameless when he is in his confident mood - holding hands, kissing in public, hugging, being clingy, slapping each other's ass in a teasing manner, or going as far as a little more wild touching when the two of you would get drunk late in some pub. Yuta would casually whisper nasty things into your ears, flirt with you without caring a bit if others are listening to you, and compliment every single thing on your body or the activity you would do, which would make you aggressively blush mostly because of the number of compliments you would be receiving from him.

Dates would be really colorful - it would be a wide range of dates, from the stereotypical romantic ones like restaurants, cinemas, picnics..., the artistic ones - you going to get a tattoo together, designing your clothes, shoes, visiting a gallery of modern art... to the "physical ones" like going on walks, riding bikes, going on a hike, to the gym together, or him teaching you football if you didn't already know how to play it. But every time, he would want to make sure that is a hell of a special one for both of you as they wouldn't be as regular as at normal couples because of his idol life and hectic schedules.

But unfortunately, I think that fights might be a normal thing in your relationship. Both of you would be really strong-minded, sometimes too stubborn and honest for your own good, so these traits would just add the oil to the fire during your arguments as you can all easily imagine. You would definitely scare the hell out of people if you started to argue in front of them, but the thing is, that you would be absolutely okay after a few hours, maybe even minutes because you would get the things like this off your chest quicker than if you tried to talk them out, so even though it would be quite terrifying, it would be a way in which you would solve your problems.

When it comes to the family, we all know that Yuta is definitely going to be a big family guy, despite the fact that he might not look like one to some people. He would want to introduce you to his family even before the two of you would officially start dating, and here comes his preference of Japanese girls in place because his family seems to be a Japanese traditional one - they would maybe accept his girlfriend being Korean, but I am not that confident about them being okay with him bringing home a western girl. Of course, he is someone who doesn't give a damn about what people usually think of him, at this point, but at the same time he treasures his family so much and I think that he himself really wants to marry a Japanese girl one day and live the "traditional" Japanese family life as he misses his homeland in Korea so much.

I can imagine him wanting to have a boy - of course, he wouldn't mind a girl as well, but I think that he really wants to have a son in his life. You know, teaching him a football, being this super active, motivating dad, who would hype him up, and would be considered extremely cool and funny by the boy's friends. The one who would be open to his son about everything - every question, every problem, or whatever discussion his son would want to have with him -, creating a special close bond thanks to this.

Well, and the two of you would of course never stop being the cool, edgy, but deeply loving and caring couple.

[chaosbound-official]

Semi-advice post: tips for sending interaction asks!

Ok, so I've had this ask blog for a bit, kinda dabbled in being active in the fantroll community, and while I myself do still struggle with this I think there needs to be like, a post breaking down some simple tricks to come up with asks for rp blogs. So here's what guidelines I use to fall back on if I want to send in an ask but don't know what to say:

FIRSTLY - it's ok and probably even encouraged to treat interactions as call and response. If someone else sends an ask and the character says something that grabs your attention, follow up on it! If you sent in an ask and only get something vague, keep the topic going! Having someone send in a one-off ask that could have gotten into so much more can be disheartening sometimes, especially if there's clearly a topic the author has put thought in involved like backstory or lore.

Pretty much anything is free game for questions - including really basic stuff like questions about clothing items or hairstyles. This gives you a jumping off point to start a conversation if you don't have any burning questions in your mind! It's ok if it seems stupid or basic, because the character may give you something more enticing to work with. For example: "(ask) I like your hair! / (Character) thanks, my quad helped me do it! " - can lead into a conversation about their quadmate and love life!

Getting repeat questions > not getting any interactions at all. Some blogs can be daunting to leap into if you're a new follower and they have a bunch of characters, I get that. You may worry about asking something already mentioned thats now buried in the blog's archives. But by and large, even if it's something asked at one point, the mod will appreciate someone showing interest, and they can either link you the previous question, or if they really don't want questions of that nature, put it somewhere.

Feel free to dig up an old conversation point and bring that back if it mentioned something you want to know more of! If you're going through a character tag and see something mentioned in passing that then didn't appear to get followed up on, ask! Say "hey (character) a while back you mentioned x, can we hear more about that?"

Check out the blog layout and pages if possible! This can be harder when on mobile, but if the blog owner has gone to the trouble of coding character pages and mobile links, please give their blog a perusal if you're stuck for material to ask about! Even if you don't come up with a question, if something sticks out to you you can still send in a compliment to the mod, that'll make them feel like the effort they put in to set it up is all worthwhile!

If there's an ask meme up, send something in even if it's a random combination of prompt and character - ESPECIALLY if you're going to reblog it! Most prompts use emojis or numbers so really if you're not feeling inspired, you can easily pick a prompt at random and a character name and toss it the owner's way. That way they get their interaction and you get the prompts post and nobody's unhappy! It's not a set in stone rule but it is generally considered poor manners to reblog an ask prompt without sending something in first.

There's probably more, and if anyone has extra tips feel free to add on!

Finally, some basic don'ts when following this question guide:

Don't ask invasive questions unless you know the blog owner is ok with it - by this I mean about, say, a character's 'three sizes' or about their sex life. Stuff that generally may be uncomfortable territory for a conversation starter if you don't know each other well.

Also more generally, avoid anything crass directed towards the character, or even Too forward - this is dependent on mod to mod, but sometimes getting asks that are 'too forward' (all I can think of atm is 'step on me' asks but there's other stuff too) can be uncomfortable even if it's intended purely as a compliment or even just For The Meme. Hardcore flirting with your own character without checking with the mod first may also be a little uncomfortable and put the mod in an awkward position if they aren't looking to rp or to fill a character's quads. If a mod shuts you down, please show understanding because even if you didn't mean to, you overstepped a boundary and whether you knew it was there or not doesn't change that.

Reiterating a point from above: Don't reblog ask prompts without sending something in! This can be a major pet peeve for many in the community, because they're looking for interactions and if you take that without giving them anything- especially if you end up getting interactions without them getting anything - that can be incredibly frustrating. Send in something random if you must but at least send in something!

Don't try to start fights or send ask prompts to attack characters unless it's ok - this would fall more in line with trying to rp with someone, but some mods don't do so well with (unplanned) conflict, even imaginary ones! Check first or even have your character be ooc if you aren't sure their normal response would be ok in this situation.

Hope this helps, and mods feel free to add on if there's anything else that you think should go on this list! Good luck!

[blossattic]

"I really want to feel your hands on me”

✦ Ignis Scientia x Carmen Mirabile . : Word count: 1106 . : Warnings: SFW. Romance. Fluff. Original Character.

Summary: Ignis reminiscence about the way Carmen used to caress his back and help him relax. Inspired by the prompts of the Intimacy Meme by melamemea, at Tumblr ;)

The memory of her touch was burnt into his memory. No matter how much time passed, he could recall the pressure of her hands on his back, making him relax without much effort.

Ignis had to admit that the first time it happened, he had felt rather… shy.

At that time, Carmen used to rest on her back for a few minutes when she arrived from work. After a nice shower and changing into comfortable clothes, she laid back and closed her eyes to enjoy some quiet time alone without a thought in her mind. However, when she felt him walking around, she would open her eyes just a bit, extending her arms to him when he looked more tired than usual or just plainly stressed. No matter how many excuses he gave, nothing would have made her drowsy gaze and open arms waver.

Ignis had been careful when lying down, making sure not to put his whole weight on her or squeeze her. Carmen was patient, letting him find a comfortable position, only to reposition him so his head was on her chest and her hands were all over his back. Once more, no amount of excuses or complaining would make her yield in her loving hold. So Ignis, blushing and stiff as a result of his shyness, let her do as she pleased.

With the palms of her hands open and moving slowly like she was trying to memorize the expanse of his back, Carmen softly caressed him. That was the first thing he found hard to get used to in the beginning. It felt so comforting and yet so intimate. Ignis had closed his eyes and willed himself to only focus on the motions. There was nothing to worry about.

Carmen followed her touches with ones more delicate and persistent. Drawing random patterns over the soft fabric of his shirt. The pad of her fingers wrote a language he didn’t know but his body accepted as an encouragement to let go and rest. He found himself sighing and enjoying the simple massage as she went, mindlessly playing a tune on him without even opening her eyes.

Minutes passed and he felt himself grow more and more distracted, in the best way. At long last, he found himself dozing off. Carmen had found a new spot to massage that had effectively lowered all his defenses. Her fingers carded gently from the long hairs at the nape of his neck and into the back of his head, teasing his scalp with more gentle touches as the soft ashy brown hairs on the front caressed her skin in return.

Ignis didn't want to admit it, but after that exchange he had felt infinitely pampered, wrapped in an almost maternal warmth.

That became a routine, whenever she needed his company or he needed close contact after a particular taxing day.

He remembered fondly how in their more playful days, Carmen would venture on his hair and comb it with her fingers into all kinds of strange hairstyles, the vibrations of her soft laugher reverbing on his cheek or chin as he moved to look at her. She made cat ears, a disheveled look, combed it all back, combed it all to the front, tried to braid it… Ah, so many random styles he had messed up in favor to either tickle her, hold her close or kiss her to distract her.

In that private part of their lives, so close and meaningful, Ignis had enjoyed it all as much as Carmen. When he was upset, when he felt defeated, even when she was distraught or in the quiet moment that followed intimacy. Those were his minutes of calm and togetherness.

After Altissia, everything was terribly different…

They had spent so much time on their own, mourning what they have lost, learning to live with pain and loneliness. With some regrets, a touch of sadness and without knowing how to properly achieve that level of trust and intimacy they once had. There were so many things that couldn't be fixed after everything that had happened but the longing was there when their paths crossed again.

Time always found a way to reconnect people, and they were not the exception of that. It was time that slowly helped them mend what was broken and helped them come closer once more. A new bond formed, a touch more mature and empathetic, intense and hardwired in a mutual understanding that some lost senses and understanding helped build.

So as they grew older and both more patient and bolder, the intimate moments they shared to relax and melt into one another became a regular thing, almost. A way to remember them of happier and simpler times, but also served as a way to keep themselves connected to one another in a deeper manner. The trust, the love, it all worked in their favor to live day after day with renewed strength.

 One day, Carmen looked at him in confusion when he moved on top of her smaller frame like a lazy coeurl ready to cuddle with its mate. No visor to cover his eyes, no products on his hair, he had freshened himself and came to her with simple clothes. Ignis felt her fingers gingerly comb his hair back before they settled at the nape of his neck when he gently lowered himself to rest comfortably in a familiar position over her. Carmen kissed the top of his head and waited. Time had made her more patient and willing to savor the moments without spoiling them, just as it had taught him to be more direct and sincere in his displays of affection. Ignis, in return, left kisses at her collarbone and rested his head on her chest, sighing slowly and willing himself to relax. His voice carried a confession, words that were too scandalous for him to say in the past and now reflected the wishes of his heart genuinely.

“I really want to feel your hands on me.”

Carmen smiled, closed lips and soft eyes before her hands drifted lower down his spine to his lower back and roaming all the way up once more. The gesture was repeated a couple of times more before she began to trace random patterns over the flannel of his shirt. The way he sighed and melted on her made Carmen close her eyes and enjoy the moment as much as he did, focusing on making him feel good, comfortable and secure. A loving, almost maternal hold making them drift into a moment suspended in time. Even if it was for a few minutes.

* :· ✧ ·: *   * :· ✧ ·: *   * :· ✧ ·: *   * :· ✧ ·: *   * :· ✧ ·: *

[barbika1508]

Hiwaga (Vampire! Jeongguk x Reader)

Part 3

Words: 13,9k

Genre: Soulmate AU, Reincarnation AU, Enemies to Lovers, Action, Romance, Smut

Pairing: Vampire! Jeongguk x Reader

Warnings: Angst, Gore and Blood, Beheading - Violence, Fighting, Death

Summary: Life was good, playing out better than it has been ever before. My future was bright and full of promises and wishes coming to realization. All up until she showed up. She stormed though the front doors ruining everything along the way by her mere presence derailing my goals and purpose in life. A puny mortal, a child, a complete nuisance, and yet…The key to an unimaginable life, to the truth all along.

Author's note: Hiwaga – mystery; full of wonder Words in italics are dialogues or thoughts that Jeongguk reads from others. Dictionary is down bellow if anyone is interested by certian words Appearance of Monsta x, K.A.R.D., Got7

Jeongguk’s POV:

‘’Well isn’t this very ominous. Not a vibe.’’

A deep sigh follows ‘’Can you stop with the vibe meme thing?’’ curiously I glance towards Yoongi hyung who is for the first time actually looking annoyed by the human’s behaviour. I’ve always expected her to act as she is right now actually, having been laughing and joking around with Jimin and Hobi hyung not even 5 minutes ago, the three of them watching a comedy special. I did join them mid-way having gotten used to her less now bothersome laughter, that I think I can pick up on from anywhere in the house.

But this is the first time that hyung - who showed favouritism and defended her even when she was acting like a complete brat – is actually annoyed. Glancing at my brothers they’re all looking grim the situation demanding us all to behave accordingly and serious. But looking at the girl she keeps on a bright grin having arrived last – human’s bodies are useless, having to eat, sleep and go to bathrooms is just time consuming and at have inappropriate timings too.

She raises her hands up in surrender lips going into a thin line in an attempt to stop smiling.

I hold back the eyeroll in favour of focusing onto the meeting instead – and acting accordingly. I’m standing near the corner of the table, with Yoongi hyung standing on my left in the middle of it and Taehyung having staked claim to stand on his left side. Jin stands at the head of the table, the human opposite of him clearly missing the whole point as she loudly tugs out the heavy wooden chair having clearly underestimated its weight as it rattles against the ground loudly. She does have some decency and blushes but makes quick progress of sitting herself down, not making any extra noises after that. Across us are Hoseok hyung, Namjoon is in the middle with scrolls stacked before him and his notebook that’s scribbled to the brim it looks like. Jimin hyung is next to him standing relatively serious, hair looking brightly neon orange as he re-dyed it yesterday.

The table the last time I saw it was a chaotic mess of stacked books, papers and random things strewn around it like cups, scattered pencils and so on. The library reflected the chaos the last time I’ve helped Y/N moving things around, and sort of cleaned piles of books she’s gotten out carelessly…okay we’ve gotten preoccupied discussing Overwatch strategy, and talking about music and filming things in general. It was odd to find her interests being so similar to my own and her actual knowledge at some points that greatly preceded my knowledge.

Back to the matter at hand – the library was put back in place. I know it was dusted and whipped down as the smell of a wood cleaner is present and lingering in the air. The table has improved as well containing much less contents and miscellaneous items, while books and like I’ve mentioned some scrolls remain. But the topic of our sudden meeting is the purple and golden detailed piece of folded paper that has been placed in the middle of the table. It’s staring at us menacingly in a way.

‘’We’ve all been graciously invited to the Crown Prince’s ball, as you might have guessed yourselves from the bold invitation that was sent to us.’’ Jin hyung starts standing straight but has both hands placed onto the table ‘’Its due to happen in South Chungcheong Province. 3 days from now.’’

At the human’s obvious movement, my eyes almost automatically dart down as I watch her sort of crawl over the table, hand reaching for the letter. Nobody stops her to my surprise as she snatches it and backs into her seat, her lazy-like manner now gone as she sits straightened up eyebrows furrowed as her eyes dart over the paper, examining it all around.

‘’That’s a very short notice isn’t it? Unorthodox.’’ Hoseok murmurs standing with one arm crossed over his chest while the other resting atop of it, as he’s propping his head with his hand looking lost in thought.

‘’Doesn’t it usually take a week for the word to get out?’’ Jimin asks eyes focused on Taehyung who is nodding, and shifts onto his left foot.

‘’I’ve already asked around, but judging by the tone of the messages the lower tier covens and some individuals weren’t invited.’’ He explains the whole circumstance suspicious making my stomach churn which in usual settings wouldn’t be even a bother ‘’They laughed at the mere location when I mentioned it more to detail.’’

‘’Well they all have good reason to!’’ Jimin states ‘’It’s very unconventional of Wangja to organize anything in a smaller city as Nonsan is!’’

I simply nod in confirmation not having much to say about the matter. I’ve found it’s usually best to listen to Namjoon and Yoongi hyung who always know the ins and outs on any sort of manner. Crossing my arms, I shift on my legs out of habit to look more human than for convenience.

‘’The Prince has some ties to that province.’’ Namjoon hyung starts ‘’I’m sure he has bought out a business there, farms of strawberries or rice. But I doubt that’s the reason that he wants to brag about.’’ He looks at Yoongi hyung who has his eyes averted. I try following his eye line and at what he’s staring at – a pile of books? But as I narrow my eyes, I do get an inkling of which books he’s interested in. The golden one.

‘’Nonsan you say?’’ Y/N says for the first time in a while. She has slumped back into the chair, holding open the invitation one hand propped on the table the other one sort of wrapped around herself. Silly human, even though we’re going through summer in the midst of it, this mansion is big and luxurious, the marble providing coldness rather than containing heat. So, it can get cold for the human if she’s underdressed, the night providing more of the difference in temperature than day. And currently it is night-time.

‘’Modern equivalent of what used to be Deogeun and Hwangsan.’’ Yoongi speaks up gently, his eyes like a hawk watching the mortal, as she places the invitation onto the table atop of papers carelessly. She meets hyung’s eyes briefly, both of her hands sort of hugging herself, the white spotted blouse she has on clearly not providing enough heat. She’s sort of in a business attire today, the pants being grey-ish beige, meaning Taehyung must have dressed her. The particularness of the blouse is that her chest is sort of just there, two of the top buttons undone. Her collarbones nicely stand out, the golden necklace’s she’s wearing a perfect addiction to highlight her sun-kissed skin. The scars aren’t even bothersome, they just add something more to her. And unlike her usual pulled back hairstyle, she has actually put effort and has curled her hair, that fall over her shoulders nicely in waves.

‘’That’s oddly specific, history wise.’’ Hoseok is the first one to comment on their exchange, everyone starting to look between the two in confusion. Y/N sigh still looking unbothered frowning, as she fiddles with the edge of the book that’s closes to her. Something is bothering her.

‘’History buffs.’’ Yoongi replies ‘’Its why she’s here.’’ Everyone turns to look at him. But even as nerves are starting to eat at me, I can’t take my eyes away from her, noticing more details like the makeup which she put on. I kind of prefer her without it. Of course, the mascara lengthens her lashes, but the powder hides her natural tone and small imperfections that she has. Her lips do look plump the rosy nude lipstick making me think that she must taste like peaches for some reason.

‘’Yah Y/N-ah not only do you speak languages as in plural and many, you’re also learning our history as well?? Next thing you’re going to tell us you were a general in your previous life!’’ Hoseok jokes, prompting everyone to smirk, as they stare at her.

But the smile she puts on is fake and half-hearted. I’ve learned how to read though her facial expression rather easily, and how she can mask away her inner feelings which reflect on her heart beat, and breathing steadiness.

‘’You wish.’’ She mumbles almost awkwardly ‘’So the invitation…’’ she straightens up, goosebumps rising over her forearms ‘’…he wants me to come.’’ Her expression hardens like I haven’t seen before. She is sort of glaring at hyung in accusation.

‘’Yes, and that comes out of the question.’’ He immediately states crossing his arms, as I let my own fall to my sides, finger itching to the end of the bombard jacket I’ve put on earlier, wanting to try it out finally.

‘’I second that.’’ To I think everyone’s surprise Namjoon speaks up.

‘’Agreed.’’ Jin nods, staring seriously at the human girl.

‘’It’s not like he’s giving us the option.’’ She replies back almost through grinded teeth as she crosses her arms, hands briefly running up and down her biceps as to warm up.

‘’No Y/N-ah.’’ Yoongi persists, while I start to shrug off my jacket ‘’You do realize you’re a lamb wanting to walk straight into a pack of bloodsucking leeches, right?’’

Silently I had her the jacket, which she accepts without questions sparing me a glance. Her eyes seem to have hardened, lips in a thin line briefly softening once her gaze is on me. But she’s quick to sober up so to speak, slipping her arms into the too long sleeves.

‘’Not to be rude or anything, but where exactly am I as of right now?’’ she narrows her eyes at him. To everyone’s surprise Yoongi hyung growls, the action prompting me to take a step to the side towards her. It isn’t until a moment later when hyung’s red eyes find my own, that I realized what I’m doing.

‘’Its different Y/N-ah. We want to protect you, that’s not that hard to comprehend.’’ Jin speaks up as I continue and hold onto Yoongi’s glare ‘’It’s obvious he wants to take advantage…’’ he doesn’t directly say but we know he what he means and why exactly the prince wants her for himself ‘’…and we are not going to let him do that. He isn’t entitled to you or anyone. He isn’t even a member of the ancients for fuckssake he doesn’t have that much power.’’

As Yoongi’s gaze flicks away I turn to watch the human as she rolls up the sleeves until her hand peek out. Tugging the front together she sorts of disappears into the jacket, looking smaller and younger all of the sudden. Anger begins to crawl underneath my skin, at the mere thought of the prince having his way with her. Even if she knows how to fight with a sword, she is defenceless.

‘’He really doesn’t.’’ Taehyung starts standing with his hands in his pockets looking very serious and almost angry ‘’I can get the guards of the ancients to pay attention to this matter. Just need a few days, but in the mean time I’ll get you the best of the best to keep you safe…’’

She’s already shaking her head ‘’I’m not staying behind.’’ She says standing up, the chair that she pushes away making a gods awful noise of protest in the tension of the room ‘’And this is reason enough as to why I cannot, and most definitely won’t stay behind.’’ she grabs for the invitation and raises it up, her hand quick to grab for the lighter that was discharged on the table, next to the candle on the candle stand. Nobody stops her as she turns the lighter up hovering the flame over the corner of the fancy paper.

I simply blink a few times tilting my head, as I watch it not take aflame. Instead the purple starts to fade out, a mark making itself present to all of us. I’ve missed that completely earlier when scanning the page – sparing a glance to the others so have they.

Just as she’s done burning the page, Namjoon is at her side taking the paper gently from her delicate fingers. I don’t miss once she lets go of the lighter, she rubs her fingers together. Careless human.

‘’A lion with an open and closed book. Side by side.’’ I frown at the symbol not being familiar with it. Shouldn’t it be a tiger as they are a symbol of Korea? Why are lions making so many appearances?

‘’What does that mean?’’ Jimin asks right behind Namjoon, who is examining the invitation once more, making sure he’s looking at every inch of it.

‘’Lions? Aren’t they tied to Europe? Egypt? Iran?’’ Taehyung mumbles walking human speed over to the three while Hoseok’s gaze is fixated on Yoongi, who is glaring at the golden book, Jin hyung’s jaw set tight.

‘’Venice.’’ Y/N replies instead holding a defensive position as she has her arms crossed as well, looking indifferent at this whole situation ‘’A lion with an open book means peace. Closed means war. Its rather simple.’’

‘’Start a war or maintain peace.’’ Jin states gathering everyone’s attention back to him. He looks conflicted eyes darting from one to another ‘’If Y/N-ah doesn’t come, that means we’ll be engaging ourselves into a war. And if Y/N-ah does come…’’ he trails off nose scrunching up for a moment as he looks away.

‘’A spoil of war.’’ Yoongi speaks up finally voice low ‘’In either case.’’ He glances at me briefly but his eyes snap to Y/N. She’s actually pacing back and forth side to side, a spring to her step confusing me. She was all grim and serious a moment ago, that typical stubbornness she tends to show more often than not newly present – and now replaced with something that I can’t exactly put my finger on.

It has me itching to move, itching to just shake her. Shake everyone else. We are being blackmailed. Nobody dares to do that to our coven, to Jin hyung let alone Yoongi who is a well renowned elder a general, a fighter and great conqueror even.

‘’It’s not going to end like that.’’ Jimin says upset stepping back over to the table ‘’He won’t just outplay us like that! We’re better than these petty mind games and childish treats.’’ He snarls in the end, Tae at his side, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

‘’We’re not going to bow down that easily.’’ He confirms eyes for a moment flashing icy blue the motion showing how upset he really is.

‘’We can’t just defy him either.’’ Hoseok states angrily ‘’I don’t need to remind you what happened the last time, that prick didn’t get his way.’’

His words only spur my anger on, the helplessness that floods me for a moment enraging me as this whole situation has my lungs losing air. It’s suffocating. Not having entirely, the upper hand its odd – we’ve worked years to establish ourselves in the world and for others to leave us alone. Right now, all that hard work is toppling down. And all due to a mere human. She’s going to die in two decades either way! Why is everyone stressing out so much to protect her?! Why am I filled with so much dread, that it stops me from breathing, or moving at all as I feel like any wrong more, I’m going to cause a domino effect and cause it all to head to ruin.

Thinking about Hoseok words we’ve all heard the slaughter of the whole town that happened 60 years ago. The prince wanted a newly turned vampire girl that was supposedly destined to her maker. The Crescent Moon coven, was a strong one fit with warriors from the Joseon Dynasty – they were all ready to lie their lives down. And that’s exactly what happened. The prince a weakling himself armed with a measly ability of brief paralysis never gets his hands dirty – he bid other covens sister covens of the crescent moon coven to kill them all off. So, in the end he got his toy, and in the process a reputation that has even other covens on other continents hesitate.

‘’Well, with that lovely set of bad news, I’m gonna go get drunk. Who’s with me?’’ her voice is way too cheerful for the situation and the mess she’s in the centre of. I look at her incredulously as she lulls backwards clapping her hands once, the smile unfitting to rest over her softened features. Even though her eyes seem to remain stony her whole demander changes.

‘’Y/N-ah.’’ Yoongi mutters sounding exasperated and very tired, looking paler than usual as he looks at her in defeat.

‘’Hey, I know this is a lot right now, but I really don’t think that...’’ Jin hyung is cut short as she waves her hand in dismiss smirking.

‘’Oh, no, I was going to do it anyway. This just gives me a better excuse.’’ She replies cheerfully, her heart speeding up slightly, which she’s trying to mask by patting her thighs, as her hands keep moving around. She even winks as she glances at me. That’s what gets to me. All the dislike I’ve felt since she entered is back hitting me full force. This pesky mortal, this bug, this menace, this poor excuse of a human…

‘’Oh, so now you’re just going to go drink, are you?’’ I snap not holding myself back ‘’Drink away your sorrows and troubles, acting like a child instead of dealing with what seems to be your impending death?!’’ my voice rises in the end as I turn towards her properly ready to just…ugh!

‘’Jeongguk-ah.’’ I pick up on Namjoon’s voice which usually I’d listen to and turn to him but it’s too late. This is between me and her.

She simply stands there and blinks at me perplexed heart beat picking up in speed ‘’Aren’t you afraid mortal?’’ I step forward right into her space glaring down at her ‘’You want to die, don’t you? You are just asking for it? You hide behind your neatly crafted masks, talking so much but not saying anything that matters! Nobody can say that they know you, the real you as you keep avoiding questions and situations…who even are you?!’’ I laugh manically in a way gaze hardening as she glares at me ‘’You’re disregarding everyone right now, you are spitting in their faces and laughing in the process at us!’’

‘’Don’t…’’ she starts sound angry, her chest almost rumbling like a growl for moment, but I’m not sure as my chest feels inflated ready to burst from how angry I am.

‘’Every single one of them cares for you! They are trying to come up with a plan, a fucking plan to keep you away and safe while you flaunt yourself without a single care in the world! I can end it all right now!!!’’ before I can properly think it through my hand reaches out fingers curling around her throat without actually putting any pressure.

But my sudden action has everyone jumping towards us, ready to intervene – with a single thought and expansion of my mind they all stop in their tracks their angry thoughts filling my mind at first, before I silence them up ‘’Just say the word and I’ll end your pathetic life, that you are so happily wasting away without a care of the men that practically took you in as one of them. I dare you.’’

Throughout this whole exchange, since the moment my fingers came in contact with the warmth of her skin, she hasn’t even flinched. Not even as I forced her head higher bending it awkwardly meant to frighten her. She keeps glaring at me in defiance, breathing harsh as I’ve got a hold on her oxygen path but that’s just her body’s natural reaction rather than fear. There’s no fear in sight. Just matching anger that radiates right back at me, and something akin to hurt, that’s brewing behind the wetness that’s slowly but surely gathering across her lower eyelids.

That’s slightly unexpected in the fact that this is such a human response. Despite the brief hesitance that washes over me, I don’t loosen my hold making sure she has enough air to breathe semi-normally. He nostrils are flaring breathing sounding extra harsh in the silence surrounding us. Hyung’s remain like statues locked in place around us.

‘’Do it.’’ her words are brief monotone. I hesitate again not expecting this outcome and acceptance ‘’This is your go ahead, so do it Jeongguk-ssi! End my misery which you seem to know all about huh?’’ she bites in the end, the way she addresses me has me flinching again. The others have gotten used to the her informal friendly manner of addressing them while she keeps being so formal to me…when all I want is for her to be more comfortable with me…specially with me ‘’What are you waiting for?!?’’ she bellows hands coming up to grab at my wrist but not to move it away, but to tighten my hold on her ‘’DO IT THEN!!! END IT! Save yourself and your hyungs! You claim I don’t care, but this is its Golden boy.’’ She snarls ‘’This is me handing you all the reigns to solve this! I know that you’ve hated my guts from the moment I’ve walked in, so here’s your chance.’’ Her hold is minuscule compared to my own the tightening of her hand doesn’t do anything ‘’Do it.’’ she grinds through her teeth glaring at me looking completely pissed off and ready.

Every never in my body is on edge, every cell has come to a standstill at the last two words that she snarls. She’s being serious about this – she’s serious about dying. Her eyes as hard and cold – a complete contrast of the warmth that’s always there - legitimately frightening frankly. She looks like a completely different person…I don’t know this Y/N. It’s just so surreal that a look from a regular human as herself has me cowering almost.

She doesn’t falter as she simply waits for me there’s no flicker of anything on her expression or in her eyes. Humans are fickle creatures; they can be strong headed one moment and in the next they change their whole behaviour and point of thinking and attitude.

I’m completely startled and thrown off by her. The hurt that is spreading all over me is so foreign that I have no idea how to deal with it. How to deal with her. It hurts so much.

It’s not even anger anymore entirely - I despise her I know I do right now especially, the carelessness the obvious and easy acceptance of her faith her destiny…I hate her. I fucking hate her, don’t I? Why does it hurt so fucking much? My heart having been stopped all those year ago aches…feels like it’s going to burst. It gets overwhelming all of the sudden…her skin feels blazing hot.

I let go of her, taking half a step back as if she’s fire itself. Her body falters but only for a moment – she’s up on her feet posture straightened as a soldier almost, head rising up pridefully.

Her eyes are glossed over as she blinks and what breaks my heart further is them darting behind me. She looks towards Yoongi. But no tears leave or fall her down her cheeks no. Her breathing seems to calm down, heart still hammering against her chest, painfully sounding. She ends up nodding some sort of determination, washing over her.

‘’And I’m the pathetic one then huh?’’ it just feels like a punch to the gut the anger that starts to radiate of her. She takes a moment to glance around at hyungs that have remains the same, my control of them having shifted into subconsciousness. I’ve never achieved this before. ‘’I’m going whether you like it or not. The time has come.’’ She takes a step back hesitating briefly ‘’My time has come.’’ She mumbles more to herself, glancing away and back at me blinking away fallen tears but she’s quick to turn around and march outside, hitting the heavy wooden doors with more force than its necessary but also more force than a human can display, as both swing open with ease.

Maybe that’s just my mind playing tricks on me. We all listen to her march away, her footsteps echoing in the spacious corridor. I let go of my hold of the others, having to really concentrate and even close my eyes to figure out this newfound strength that seems to be awakening. Once I hear them start moving, the dryness of my throat that hits me isn’t unexpected.

Nobody says anything at all, as I pull myself together gathering the mess that others thoughts have left in my mind. Blindly stepping forward I reach for the pushed back chair and sit myself down on it, hand automatically reaching for my temples. I don’t have a headache per say, but it sure does feel like one, dull throbbing paired up with hunger.

The hurt still lingers, it lingers like a freshly cut wounds from a sword or from a whip. A painful reminder of my human life ghost over me, over my back but it brings back the memory of Y/N back. Fuck. Fuck!!! Why am I aching all over? Why is it so hurtful to even think about her? I can’t shake off the memory of her shouting, and screaming so desperately for something, or someone. It suddenly fills my mind, the sigh of her in terror, but also the relief and the way she said ‘my love’ as she looked straight at me.

My dead-unbeating heart aches, longs for something. Something I don’t think I’ve ever felt before. Maybe I felt it briefly with Na-yeon, but this is in a different way and thousand times more intense. More real. I can’t wrap my head around it what’s so ever, it doesn’t make sense. This anger, this hatred this pain this agony that has my knees shaking, and has me wanting to sob, and shout and scream. Just as I’m on the verge of doing so, hands settle over my knees.

‘’Jeongguk-ah.’’ Yoongi’s voice calls out softly ‘’Hey listen to me. Just focus on my voice okay.’’ he starts the notion, his position very similar to the time when he turned me. I was so confused and absolutely terrified with the burning, and blinding hunger that was taking over every part of my being. It’s almost as overwhelming as whatever this is now – the spiralling thoughts about the mortal won’t stop. The added images of her in armour, and her grins and cheers of my name make no sense. Did hyungs think about her like this?!

Dressed in a simpler dress running across a field of flowers? A flower crown on her head, brightening up her being? The image of her naked body, decorated with less scars but cuddled up to my own? The sight of tears of joy that spill from her eyes, as I find myself on my knees offering a humble looking golden ring?

‘’…you���re alright Jeonggukie, you’re alright. Nobody is mad at you okay? Just focus on me, I’m here like I always was and will be remember?’’ Hyung still continues to talk bringing memories back when he turned me, and how he helped me calm down.

I was such a hot head, wasn’t I? I still am just more focused on my actions. Specially since she came into our lives, wreaking havoc.

‘’In another life.” the declaration is full of sorrow, voice cracking at the end as tears spill and glint in the sun. It’s a very similar image to the way Y/N acted before walking away.

‘’In another life, things are going to work out with us. There won’t be duties nor any betrothed nor anything else to keep us apart.’’ The promise is meant wholeheartedly, even though the voice sounds faint as if losing battle.

‘’In another life’’ The echo was melancholy, full of emotion full of…of…

‘’Hey.’’ I didn’t even realize I opened my eyes until I realize I’m staring at Yoongi hyung, his eyes full of concern glowing brightly red as he stares at me frighten as well.

‘’Hey.’’ I sigh realizing that I’m half slumped forward. Looking up all the hyung’s are still in the room, none looking angry. They are relatively unmoving only Namjoon hyung listing through a thick red book.

‘’You alright there maknae?’’ Hoseok asks trying to put on a smile of reassurance, others doing the same. I simply blink a few times trying to see what book Namjoon is listing through but give up as I straighten and turn to Yoongi. He remains kneeling a moment further and then stands up, hands leaving from where he rested them on my knees.

‘’I think so.’’ I mumble glancing towards the doors.

‘’We might have an upper hand here boys.’’ its Jin that speaks up suddenly. Unlike others I can’t find it in myself to turn to him, but continue to stare at the ajar doors, trying to listen and pin point where the human went. It feels off not hearing her. I know she found a room at the very top of the mansion, a small quarter that belong to a maid previously – we can’t really hear here from here.

‘’That might actually work.’’ Namjoon says as I turn to the hyungs all huddled together next to Jin, that looks actually hopeful others slowly following suit ‘’We just need to figure and calculate the odds.’’

I’ve clearly missed a bit chunk of the conversation, rather focusing on locating the mortal. Some sort of panic rises in my lungs, my throat closing in at the lack of heart beat.

She left. Glancing towards Yoongi he’s already staring at me but with a softened expression Took a car and probably went for a drive. She’ll be back soon enough, I’ll send Jimin and Hoseok to keep an eye out. Don’t worry we’ll get her back safely.

I simply nod at his thoughts only slightly pushing down the panic. It’s weird. What occurred, and the words that were spoken and…it’s all just weird.

In another life huh. Those words bring an additional heaviness that settles, lodges itself into my soul…what’s left of it anyways.

*D-Day*

‘’Déjà vu much? Or is that just me?’’ I can hear the smirk in his tone. Sparing a glance to my right I watch as Yugyeom smirks cockily, clearly very amused by me.

‘’Hm, the song, or?’’ he chuckles shaking his head pushing me slightly playfully as he comes to a still at my side. I half laugh along with him, readjusting my posture keeping an eye out on the smaller ‘throne room’ the scenery unchanged as vampires keep on dancing. Of course, the ones higher in rank are mostly in the middle of the room whilst vampires as myself sort of bodyguards are positioned all around the spacious place. Seeing most of the Prince’s coven around has my nerves tingling uncomfortably. The positions they’ve chosen to stand in are very strategic – something that Namjoon hyung predicted impeccably.

‘’So, what do you recon my fine less handsome than me friend?’’ the question is expected. I glance over to the Prince’s people trying to see if anyone is interested in us. Remaining silent for a few extra moments, I focus on their thoughts finding out nothing but boredom and uninterest in most of what’s going on. Specially once the Prince’s laughter rings out the ballroom.

Something’s very wrong isn’t it?

‘’The usual. Anything caught your eye??’’ I reply out loud The prick has his eye on our human. My guess he called you just to rub it in our faces when he attempts to take her.

‘’That girl in the green dress. From Busan supposedly.’’ He wiggles his eyebrows annoyingly, putting on a boyish demander He’s testing JB-hyungs and our covens’ loyalty. He knows we’re close. He just wants theatrics doesn’t he.

‘’Hmmm. Decent.’’ Unimpressed I take the pointed-out girl in, spotting another red head dancing next to her ‘’Dibs on the Illsan chick.’’ I don’t know exactly what he wants, but he isn’t getting anything tonight. Specially not Y/N.

‘’The one in purple? Ah Jeongguk-ah have your standards fallen?’’ he’s quick to tease me placing one hand over my shoulder nudging me You’ve grown fond of her, haven’t you? What happened to you absolutely despising her guts my friend? Even though she’s rather very attractive for a mortal.

I hold back the growl that threatens to leave my throat at his mere thoughts, and quickly turning erotica images of Y/N ‘’What’s the issue is that you’ve raised your own too much.’’ I manage to stiffly say turning my head to glare at my friend, who raises his eyebrows in surprise and the narrows them, looking knowingly at me.

You like her. I immediately start glaring at him and his thoughts That’s very poetic sort of there Jeonggukie!

‘’Are you sure it’s me?’’ he adds out loud daring me on all of the sudden fully leaning onto me. I glare at him in anger, hating that he’s quick to read me even though he doesn’t have any mind related abilities, having been graced with an elemental ability of controlling the earth.

I do not like her! We’re not 5 you oaf! Ridiculous. Hyung’s have taken a liking to her, and it wouldn’t be fair to them to not stand on the same page it’s all. ‘’Judging by your ex-es I’m 100% sure.’’ I reply to which he feigns hurt stumbling a step back hand placed over where his heart is.

‘’Oh, you wound me brother. Wound me deep!’’ he ends up giggling peering at me with one eye closed the other peeking. I shake my head at his antics glancing around the room meeting Yoongi hyung’s eyes. Whatever makes you sleep better, as they say.

His amusement is annoying as he ends up gigging stepping closer to me again. I keep my mouth shut waiting for hyung to approach us, my eyes unwillingly shooting over to the loudmouth Prince that is shouting praise holding hands with a very clearly uncomfortable Y/N. To everyone else her mask is perfectly crafted the big grin reaching the sky, her eyes cutely crinkled, the blush fitting for a human look of innocence – to me I can see that she just wants to get away desperately.

‘’Hyung.’’ my best friends voice brings me out of my slight daze as Yoongi reaches us as well as Jaebeom, the leader of the White Moon 7 coven. I quickly greet him and bow down respectfully to which he simply smiles looking more relaxed that Yoongi who has kept a serious face all evening. It’s weird seeing and knowing that he’s nervous.

‘’It is nice of Wangseja to have invited us together once more. We don’t see each other enough as it is.’’ Jaebeom starts politely with a friendly smile on his face as he looks between me and Yoongi that finally cracks a smile.

‘’We should change that somewhat.’’ Looking at hyung I simply observe as the two older vampires start up a conversation with ease, completely distracted at the moment.

Jeongguk-ah are you there? ‘’Yes, very charming when he wants to be.’’ I’m left startled for a moment figuring that they are talking about me the two other chuckling quietly.

‘’Sorry.’’ I apologize out loud and in mind quick to set up a link between Yoongi and Jaebeom. Outside our own coven, Yugyeom and Jaebeom are the only ones that know about my ability. Everyone just assumes I’m stronger than the average vampire, and that is how Yoongi portrayed me ever since changing me, keeping my mental ability as a secret which turned out helpful in many situations.

‘’Where is your lady at? Surely you didn’t leave her at home.’’ Yoongi teases the younger leader, crossing his arms as he smirks eyeing the sudden shyness that Jaebeom portrays.

‘’Yes well, we’ve agreed for her to stay behind…’’

‘’Much to her dismay.’’ Yugyeom adds smirking earning himself a smack over his head flawlessly so may I add. I quickly spare a glance barely finding the human girl trapped between two chatty vampire ladies.

‘’…and take care of things at home in peace. Vampire royalty and gatherings as these aren’t really the right scene for her in my opinion. Politics can be draining, mortal or not.’’ my eyes remain on the human girl now standing at the side of the dancing vampires clapping along to the lively song, as others dance. A guy is talking to her, leaning in to close for comfort. But she’s not pushing him away.

Forcing myself to look away, I make work of focusing and expanding my mind; it’s hard to explain how my ability works its sort of like an expanding bubble sometimes – other times it’s like a bungee rope expanding and shrinking. Tonight, it’s a mix of both, as I make sure that whoever is paying attention to us or has at least a suspicion of anything - I slip a random thought into their brains averting them completely.

Glancing between the three vampires I set the link between our leaders trying to maintain the enclosed radius keeping guard of others thoughts while, I shield away their minds.

‘’…we’d be glad if you came over. I’m sure your human will get along with my beloved just fine.’’ The sentiment is genuine and welcoming, but I cannot say the same for the second ongoing conversation. As Yugyeom starts to explain on what renovations they did, I tune the outside world to out focusing on the conversation in my head.

…you can’t ask me that hyung. I blink in confusion at the strain that’s coming from Jaebeom.

I’m not. I wouldn’t ask that of anyone. But you will have to pick a side as a leader. Yoongi remains calm, face twisted in a gummy smile which is far from what’s boiling on the inside.

You know friendship wise…no brother wise I always have your back. I could never replay you for what you’ve done for us, for me… I glance past Jaebeom not wanting to be obvious, seeing the brief hurt on his features before he smooths it out with calmness as he adds in commentary correcting Yugyeom that continues to blabber providing the perfect coverup.

Jaebeom’s words have me curious. I know Yoongi knows his from way back…I mean he isn’t that old as a vampire but he’s old enough, and has been through things. I’m not surprised that Yoongi helped him, just at the gratitude that’s coming from the White Moons coven leader.

Friendship aside Jaebeom-ah you need to think what’s best for your coven. You’re the only one that can decide on it. You cannot ask neither Jinyoung neither Jackson on this. They will agree with you, with hesitance at first but your opinion matters in the end. I look at Yoongi whose own eyes skip and meet my own. Well there goes plan B sort of.

Like Yugyeom said previously that prick invited mostly people that are loyal to him – covens known to be cutthroat and eager to reach higher statues as quick as they can doing whatever the need to, to reach their goals. While they keep up appearances of wanting peace and good grace, everyone knows them. It’s why everyone leaves them alone and are befriending them. My friend’s coven makes sense as in added theatrics as well as drama and flare putting them in the position of choosing their loyalty. There’s of course our sort of sister clan from Busan named Kard. I know Namjoon secured their support just earlier having seen him convers Matthew. A big guy easily distinguished from the crowd, loud but generally friendly.

I’m not sure about the point of view from Monsta X as they call themselves. Nice dude’s but not sure why they were invited exactly. Maybe Jimin or Tae will work their magic on them.

Why so invested in her? Judging by the carefree nature… Jaebeom trails off gaze trailing over to Y/N. To my surprise she’s standing with the Shownu. He is known to be friendly as well on a human level nice despite looking like an absolute giant specially now standing before her in comparison. I know most humans wouldn’t dare approach him – neither some vampires.

I watch sort of entranced at the way Y/N smiles genuinely ending up in giggles, hand not really covering her mouth as most girls do.

Her dress tonight is more modern, still draped from her waist down but unlike her proud showing of her scars and skin the last time, this time the top does hug her curves precisely, but the boat neck cut prevents from showing extra skin. The colour doesn’t make her stand out being a dark navy blue, with golden detailing woven into the torso. Compared to other women here it’s rather simple at first glance. She has once more a cuff strapped to her bicep showing of her slightly more built figure. Hair pulled back, only a few curled-up strands are elegantly falling down.

She looks royal in a sense. She holds herself as one actually and not in an arrogant way. Her attitude is much calmer than it was back home…actually it’s been tamed since the argument from the library 3 days ago. Nobody expected for her to retract in on herself, barely speaking to anyone of us.

What hurts the most is her blatant ignorance for me. It stings like an open wound thinking about it. My main anger lies in her wish for death. She revealed much of herself – the wish for death not expected from any one of us. Maybe with the exception of Yoongi. It always brings a bitter taste to my mouth, sour uncomfortably at the thought of them together. Seeing her so cheerful across us spewing jokes making vampires thrice her age laugh is the perfect illusion isn’t it?

There’s always more than meets the eye. I can’t help but to say silently in the back of my mind. I feel both hyungs eyes on me, while I keep my own on her. The agitation like a small tidal wave begins its climb, masking my emotions with it. This is not the time nor place to rethink my past decisions, let alone hers and her actions. No weaknesses.

‘’A pleasure but I’m going to have to decline.’’ I pick out her voice though Yoongi mind. Just as I was about to back away from them let them talk more, she comes into the front. I think all of our eyes dart towards her standing near the opening that leads to the side and Japanese inspired garden that’s not at all anything to brag about.

I don’t recognize the vampire but judging by his posture which seems to be overbearing her and his sort of puffed out chest he’s clearly underestimating her and undermining.

‘’…just one dance, mortal. To show you how a real dance occurs, show you the magic of it.’’ que Yugyeom fake throwing up noises next to me.

‘’Who does he think he is?! Ugh.’’ My best friend adds sounding annoyed. I can feel Jaebeom’s eyes on me, but I keep staring at how the male vampire takes a closer step hand reaching out for Y/N’s hand her arms remaining at her sides, fingers fidgeting. Her right hand is bent where her sword would rest on her hip.

‘’I’ve been shown quite enough of magic that will last me my life time thank you sincerely for the offer but my answer is still no.’’ She shots him once more, bowing to him respectfully but half-heartedly taking a step back with the intention on clearly moving away, but he simply steps before her preventing her from leaving.

‘’You’ve never been with me, little lamb. Can’t say that until you try me.’’

I don’t even wait for hyung or anyone to give me permission. My body starts moving forward on its own as I avoid vampires moving around swiftly, hand reaching up grabbing onto the prick shoulder.

‘’Is this guy bothering you?’’ I find myself asking tugging him aback gently enough to dislodge him and break his bravado, as I stand sort of in between them acting as a shield to Y/N, her eyes darting to me. I put my hands together before me, squaring up my shoulder not being able to help myself but to up him puff my chest out a little bit. He’s leaner in posture than I am, and judging by the immediately brief snarl he’s an entitled brat.

‘’No, no, no.’’ Y/n shakes her head, her hand that wraps around my left would make my heart flutter up my throat if I were still alive, specially her proximity as she steps forward and stands next to me ‘’The gentleman was just politely asking for a dance in your absence it’s all.’’ her smile is Oscar worthy as she looks at me.

Barely composing himself he nods his head and puts on the fakest smile achievable ‘’Indeed, the lady looked lonely. Nobody should ever leave something as delicious looking all alone.’’ The comment has me narrowing my eyes, body tensing. The caresses coming from Y/N’s hand that’s running up and down my forearm do help.

‘’I’d suggest that you step away before I punch you in the face.’’ his cocky demander disappears, into one of shook and offense as she glares at me. Giving him a pointed look with a raised eyebrow he’s quick to start moving away without even properly bowing or anything. Glancing after him he’s running of to his sire, I’m sure.

‘’That was unnecessary.’’ Her comments irks me to no end from the get go as I turn down to look at the girl. She’s shorted than last time, not wearing any heels unusually so. She still tall enough to be able to reach my lips…hmm her lips do look nice too…snap out of it Jeongguk-ah!!! You hate her, right?!

‘’But very welcomed.’’ I simply blink at her baffled once more at the change in attitude from annoyed looking to a genuine smile which she offers looking up at me, still not having unhooked her hand from my own.

‘’So, I take it that you’re done with dances for the day?’’ I ask instead treading on what feels like a millimetre thin ice. Last time she paid me any mind it ended up bad. The ache returns of course, even though I thought to myself that I’m not going to let it get to me – with a single touch, I’m back at square one.

‘’Yes.’’ She half groans throwing her head back, the action childish as she closes her eyes briefly exposing her bare neck to my eye and my eyes only. It has my blood speeding up so to speak, the sight of her flawless neck so close to my hands offering such temptations…close to my mouth ‘’Done with dances forever.’’ The mumble follows which has me chuckling quietly again at the kid like reply. Straightening up I notice how her chest expands and deflates eyes taking her surroundings quickly ‘’Maybe one dance would hurt.’’

Her cheeks are quick to intensify in colour and warmth that she radiates, her hand that has come to a stop over my own suddenly lays there noticeable. Her fidgeting is back as she bends and stretches her fingers slowly.

‘’Is this your way of asking me to dance with you?’’ I ask grinning immediately completely enamoured for a moment at the sudden shyness that she’s portraying not meeting my gaze even though I’m standing right in front of her in her personal space.

‘’Bad idea huh? I’ll just go…’’

‘’No, no I accept.’’ I quickly interrupt her as she’s quick to let me go and untangle herself away. But it’s easy to capture for her hands, readjusting one over my shoulder and the keep a gentle held off her right one her fingers for a moment tapping against my hand. She looks up at me almost bright red, blinking sort of innocently as I lull us to the side trying her out more or less.

Her eyes remain firmly on my own feet easily following my movements, as I take charge and lead the dance, keeping us to the side but still in the circle of the ongoing dancers, music still being played by the live orchestra that’s situated on the other entrance of the mirroring garden. Cocky of that bastard to hire more musicians that we had. It’s the little details of pettiness.

‘’I’m surprised you’re not drinking tonight.’’ Instant regret!!!!!! I straight out start to shout at myself in my mind every curse word that I know of resurfacing and aimed at myself. What the fuck was this!!! I was given a chance to make things right and here I am fucking it all up asking her the one question that should never have left my mouth!!!

She hums instead shrugging her shoulders ‘’They supposedly bought the best of the best red wine for me. The label best doesn’t always mean or guarantee quality though.’’ I smirk at her quick dismissal of their pitiful efforts ‘’Besides red wine gives me acid reflux so that’s just a bummer.’’

I legitimately laugh at her predicament the genuine misery in her tone adding to it. She smacks her lips together portraying her detestation ‘’As lacking as our…’’ the last word goes unspoken masked with a slight cough as we both glance towards the Prince, that’s at the side chatting with his advisor vividly. The seriousness the older looking advisor has and calculating eyes ranking the vampires gives me all the bad vibes as Y/N would say. Twirling her around, I make effort to perfectly spin her out, and receive her back in my arms. The fond smile that has made itself present remains on, as I watch completely smitten by the share grace she effortlessly embodies, her dress floating along making it seem like she’s gliding along, moving in tune to me. Once I pull her in the second time, her dress gently brushes against my front, her arms arched in such a way as if she’s a professional dancer and has been doing this with me for years.

For a moment I’m left mesmerized as she easily picks up the pace and keeps up with me, body pressed tighter and closer to my own, the tuxedo I’ve got on feeling restricting after a while.

‘’I swear…’’ she starts and sighs sounding very annoyed out of the blue ‘’Firs the lack of beverages, then no functioning bathrooms, and the tip of the iceberg is the lack of Chrysaor. Aish.’’ She whispers the last part angrily almost looking at me pointedly.

Chrysaor is the name of her kopis, that she had to leave at the entrance. Even though others have weapons some as mere decorations on them, others just out of habit she wasn’t one of the very few guests that weren’t allowed to carry their weapons inside. To be fair someone had a spear, thinking it would make him look cooler than he is – it’s a fact because I’ve accidentally read his mind.

‘’I’m curious.’’ I speak up curiously watching as the annoyance disappears and she looks at me with an open expression easily maintaining her composure switching the steps up ‘’Why the Greek elements?’’ everyone has been wondering her relation to what seems to be a seemingly Greek background. But she never specified it, and upon certain situation she reacted completely differently, indication another proposition and notion of her belonging to other cultures. At one point, it was debated if she was from Canada. Another one someone placed her, to be Italian. I think Taehyung even propositioned that maybe she grew in Japan, as that’s another language which she showed in being extraordinarily fluent in a mere week ago.

Yoongi merely smiled at any of our questions, ignoring Jin’s persistent nature in finding out the truth as upon the first initial question of ‘Where is she exactly coming from?’ he was left puzzled, and realized that he forgot, and mixed it up in his head.

She snorts at my question I think having expected it at one point or another ‘’Its same if I’d ask you why are you so Korean?’’ she shoots back gaze piercing through me ‘’People could easily confuse you for something else with a different cultural background. Same can be applied to me I agree with you on that.’’ I glance away out of embracement and awkwardness at her rather defensive reply.

‘’But also, to answer your question, I do have lineage reaching years, centuries, millennia back to Greece. Like Yoongi has to the royal family.’’ It’s a well-known fact in our coven that Yoongi by birth right is actually higher up that Wangseja himself is. And I think other covens know this too, but due to hyungs blunt nature they are wise to back off and not engage into political games with him.

‘’You’ve done research about it?’’

A small smirk draws itself on her lips, face turning away to the left. For a moment she gets this faraway look, but then turns to look at me ‘’You could say that.’’ Before her answer can puzzle me further and raise more questions, she’s quick to return the favour ‘’What about you? Are you curious about your history, your ancestors, previous lives all that?’’

For the first time I feel as if her complete attention is on me, eyes unmoving having softened actually. Her heart remains steady, breathing having calmed down, and even her feet are lighter than before, sliding against the polished floor like a breeze ‘’Once upon a time, yes I was curious.’’ I find myself admitting looking in between us as the closeness we’re holding one another at, her hand feeling warm in my own ‘’But I didn’t get many answers.’’ due to the chandeliers above us, the light reflecting in her eyes resemble stars.

‘’Yes, humans do have a poor way of recording history. And have a reputation of destroying it as well as replacing it.’’ the curt laugh gives away the tinge of bitterness that’s she’s feeling about this matter.

But what’s intriguing is her wording. The way she keeps addressing humans as if she’s isn’t one herself. I know I must be overthinking, it’s probably nothing. She’s tired of her race as we are of our species at times when idiots poke their heads out into the sunlight – literally.

‘’Maybe one day I’ll find out more. Yoongi lived through most of the history, and from what he’s been telling me about certain stories not much made it to the light of day.’’ Her smile widens at my words, body moving and moulding as I bend her over for a moment, following along the other dancers the difference between us that we are both half-ass-ing it sort of, the others seemingly putting effort. And yet the two of us are the ones most in tune with one another.

We fit like puzzle pieces in a sense, as she moves and I follow right on point, and with a slight nudge from me she’s already adapting just as I’d imagine it in my head. It feels right, how harmonious we actually are.

‘’I bet…’’ she quickly shuts up, as everyone goes quiet the music ending, claps suddenly rising in volume. Startled I look up around us, not even following along as everyone has turned towards the orchestra, fake smiles present. I quickly spot Taehyung and Jimin in the front, both with dancers of their own while Hoseok is hanging back with Namjoon. Yoongi is standing near Jaebeom still across the room, while Jin is somewhere in the middle.

I look at him in confusion feeling Y/N shift in my hands. Glancing down she offers a nod towards hyung, understanding whatever message he sent her whilst I wasn’t looking.

‘’Thank you for the dance Jeongguk-ah.’’ The thanks is unexpected along with the loveliest smile I’ve ever seen in my life. If I were still alive this would be the time when my heart would just jump out of my chest, and I’d be red head to toe. She called me Jeongguk-ah. Hehe.

‘’Ah your welcome, thank you.’’ I reply completely perplexed and awkward taking a step back still holding onto her hand as I bow down properly almost 90 degrees. She chuckles at what a dumbass I am, nodding her head simply hand leaving my own with hesitance. At least it feels like hesitance.

I put on a smile easily because it’s her, but maintaining it once she walks away is tricky. I can still feel her hand on my own, as it remains warm. Placing both hands before me I take a step back, my intention is to back away and sink into the ground, from how dumb I am.

How does she have such a big impact on me? A fucking smile has my knees weak and wobbly.

You are totally into her, pfff what a softie!!! instead of sparing my best friend a glare I look back into the crowd completely ignoring the Prince as he begins another speech addressing everyone, probably ready to close the night off by bringing in humans. Maybe that’s why Jin hyung got Y/N’s attention, wanting to get her out. She shouldn’t see this ever. Or be a part of it!

‘’Ah JK, JK, you won’t even look at me.’’ Yugyeom states disappointed immediately after ending up chuckling clearly amused by my predicament.

Just making sure she’s safe that’s all I reply back frowning to myself, as her back is turned to me. But judging by Jin hyungs agitated expression something must be happening ‘’I’ve seen your ugly mug enough already.’’ I reply back looking around the room, noticing the lack of “guards”. The area near the main entrance is sort of empty.

Aha that’s what they all say. That’s what Jaebeom hyung said too for his mate I raise my eyebrow turning to him briefly the word mate suddenly ringing in my head. Mate.

‘’Oh, what’s happening?’’ just as he asks that and I tug my mind back from going into overdrive at an inkling I get in my gut, the lights get suddenly cut off. Some ladies even though are vampires do shout out like humans do in their horror movies. What’s surprising is that most of the chandeliers were lighted up by candles. As far as Namjoon’s hyung research went the Prince had a wind manipulator in his guard.

I immediately look towards the centre of the room air getting sucked out of my throat as the boulder of nerves that makes itself present once more with full force sinks his claws more into me. As people shift around, I completely lose sight of her in the crowd barely picking up on Jin hyungs purple hair. Before I can run after them, a hiss gets my attention a man dressed in the royal guard’s officer clothing raises his arms up holding a sword steadily between his hands.

There’s moonlight faintly shining inside enabling us to see enough not to be left completely blind. The advantages and disadvantages here are also that some vampires have better and worse night vision from one another. And they don’t call me Golden Maknae for nothing.

It’s easy to push Yugyeom away and take a step back intercepting a dagger in its wake of lodging itself into my heart. I’m met with glowing red eyes, as the man hisses mind screaming KILL loudly. He acts fact moving back and reaches forward again, the larger blade of the sword rendering a hinderance to his intent of cutting me, than the dagger he holds in his other hand the image of him cutting of my head with it very unrealistic. As I reach forward this time using his hesitance to my advantage I grab onto his forearms, and simply squeeze my ability coming through.

The scream he lets out is sort of a human habit, pain half reduced thanks to our genes. The scene is what gets to him more likely, bones sticking out as his forearms and limp hands sort of dangle, the crushed and bent shape of his forearms moulder to my fingers plainly creepy looking.

As his hands give out, the blades start falling down immediately. I headbutt him unnecessarily so yes, but it has him stumbling back while I kneel to pick up both blades before they can chatter to the ground.

And it’s just in time, as another man is suddenly at my right-side dagger inches away from the side of my throat. But it’s Yugyeom that pulls him back, the ground around us shaking. Nothing happens expect that the man’s neck cracks as my friend takes care of his previous attacker, who lays on the ground with a weirdly bent leg and neck. Turning to the fallen guard, the dagger in my hold mimics the image he had in his mind – it gets swiftly lodged in his chest instead of my own.

For a moment I want to leave it in, but decide against it switching the weapons in my hands, knowing I’ll do better with the Geom he wielded, dagger at the ready for extra damage or to deflect attacks.

The goal is simple really – get to Y/N. I bet my hyung’s are on the same thought as I am, but what fuels me is much deeper than they could ever understand.

It’s weird that the guards and the men fighting against us, let go most of the guests to run to the gardens as the entrance seems to be blocked completely. The colour of a blue dress gets my attention mid-way as I stare bewildered at the human girl cursing out loud not keeping quiet at all. She’s banging against the door, shouting ‘’GIVE ME BACK MY KOPIS YOU COWARDS!!!’’

I can’t even take a moment to shake my head at her, or call her out on it as a woman jumps onto my back, her hiss sending a cold shiver down my spine fangs close to ripping into me. This is what happens in war or in fights – you lose your focus for one second or stop moving and you are done for.

I half expect the blood curling scream that rings in my ears slightly painful only a second after. But the dead-beat weight and gurgling that follows is welcomed. Shaking my shoulders, she falls down, behind me hands tearing at and into her own throat, blood spilling from every nock and cranny of her face I’ll put it like that. Glancing up Yoongi offers a brief nod my way, as he moves to stand behind me. A cold shudder runs down my spine, the sight of him using his abilities rare for a reason.

Focus Jeongguk-ah focus

This is exactly why he has trained me for all those gruelling never-ending one on one hand combats lessons lasting years – they are paying off tremendously. Just not in a way I’d expected them to, having Y/N as my main priority to protect and not myself.

We need to get to Y/N hyung

I barely can focus on replying as I intercept more blades going our way, guards seemingly doubling number wise as well as individual attackers. Besides having a vague sense where my brothers are, I’m tremendously grateful for the handpicked friends that have chosen to fight by our sides, Jaebeom’s choice in standing with us, bringing warmth to my heart.

Upon punching and knock a man into a half dead state watching as he falls heavily to the ground, I turn up ready to lodge the dagger into the next asshole that is planning to stand in my way. I’m met with a composed fellow that has his tuxedo ripped and is breathing heavily as he glares at me with bright red eyes, fangs out. Isn’t he the leader of the newest clan with the unorthodox name? An orange hair man stumbles behind him confirms my thoughts, as I know Jooheon hyung, having met him through Namjoon and Hoseok. He’s the one that nods his head urging his leader forward.

Getting frustrated with the nonstop attacks, I’m tempted to just force everyone to a stop quick to rile myself up more by imaging Y/N – the memory of her smiling at me encourages me with ease. But the man that stands before me and grins cockily ready to fight, suddenly has his eyes rolling to the back of his head body crumbling on the ground, something bursting as blood splatters hit my trousers.

‘’Now is not the time Jeongguk-ah.’’ Yoongi growls ‘’You need to go get Y/N and get out of here.’’

For once I don’t hesitate or second guess his notion. Not that I ever did, but at some requests you have to stop and rethink things. But this time, I’m in sync body and mind. Making way for him, I move past Matthew who sends a wink my way continuing on to crush a guy’s skull with his bare hands, his second in command a grey-haired girl right next to him, pushing away another girl with ease.

I notice that the entrance has been busted open by force. Our library doors come to my mind briefly, wood splintered at the handles like back home. But these are much, much heavier doors than ours, this house having been a fortress and armoury a long time ago. Meaning the walls are thick, as well as the passages, and these doors included.

And yet someone managed it – what’s so shocking is that I’m the one that’s considered being one of the strongest vampires maybe in the world - and I know it myself that I’d have a great difficulty achieving whatever happened to the doors.

A shout of anger has me backing towards its direction voice falling quiet, but cuts and grunts persistent. Once I manage to get myself out of a noose that I find myself in with another girl that’s clearly on our side I do take the chance to look towards Y/N.

The lower part of her dress has ben sort of torn and half cut away, her bare feet peaking specially as she kicks a man very Spartan style, while her bronze blade glints magically almost in the cascading moonlight that’s peaking from the gardens, the huge open walls proving a disadvantage somewhat from the removed previous doors that guarded this room.

She’s standing rather close to our way out luckily and for all my doubt she looks like she’s holding perfectly fine on her own, the many bodies that are disintegrating into ash at her feet are a huge indication that she is no stranger to carnage as this one. She skilfully even more skilful than Yoongi or Hoseok hyung combined are, glides across the ground dodging the quickly paced attacks of what I know seem like blurred figures and movements to human eyes. And yet here she is intercepting every blow as if she’s one of us.

That’s not right. By logic she shouldn’t be able to see us move so quick, let along deflect fatal blows like that. A growl leaves from her lipstick stained lips, as she mercilessly cuts down another woman similar in height leaving her crying out in pain pushed harshly to the ground. I watch as Y/N moves her kopis as if it is an expansion of herself, easily across the woman’s head, cutting it clearly off. Her eyes lift up meeting my own in the massacre.

But it’s as if the cosmos slows down, and connects the pieces of a giant infinite puzzle that for the first time slots together into one.

Because her eyes…I’ve seen them before. I’ve admired them many, many times. In more serene times, and much bloodier than this.

‘’Duck!!!!!!’’ her shout is quick face turning into one of panic. I blindly follow her words, falling to my knee’s half turning back to see a rapier being thrust just above my head. Hand shooting up, I twist the guys own hand completely pulling his arm out of his socket as I turn and stand around lodging the dagger into one of his eyes. I’m not sure in which as I don’t bother making sure, Y/N being in danger bringing my own panic to the front.

Before my brain can process what’s happening, my body freezes tiny bits of shocks of electricity force my muscles to tighten up. I groan through my teeth, falling down onto my right knee as my body clamps up. The hold that’s on the juncture where my neck meets my throat is the strong, long nails digging into my skin but not piercing it.

I try to move immediately, despite my body wanting to curl in on itself I fight against it achieving no difference in the end as my body continuously gives out. I do manage so semi-successful tugs but nothing prominent, as I freeze up all the more, the static intensifying making me cry out as fuck this shit hurts.

‘’I’d advise you to stop dear.’’ The Prince’s voice is condescending. I try to get a look at him, but he has me in his grip in a way that forces me to stare forward, eyes darting around trying to find my hyungs – no one is in sight. Only Y/N that’s twisting and turning her blade which is lodged in a man’s chest, her hand holding him up somehow by his throat. I bet she’s responsible for the doors – but more importantly she lied didn’t she. The display of strength…

‘’Ah just when I was starting to have real fun.’’ Her voice is heavily sarcastic as she spares the Prince a glare, and then pushes the disintegrating body away, her blade remaining covered in fresh blood that she brings to hold on her side.

‘’Indeed fun. It was well worth hiring extra lackies for you to play around with.’’ The Prince brags happily almost ‘’Your reputation precedes you daimones. I hope you’ve been appeased by my gifts.’’

I stare at Y/N as she clicks her tongue looking very unamused as she swings her sword around for my guess a dramatic effect and examines it for a moment. She nods her head more to herself as she walks towards the middle of the room actually keeping her distance from us ‘’Wouldn’t call whatever you’ve presented necessarily gifts, Cheob.’’

The word she addresses him with, I think has not only me rising an eyebrow in interest. It’s a highly unusual insult to use on a male let along on him. She could have literally used any other name, or cuss word to degrade him and yet this one in particular seems to hold meaning.

‘’Now, now no need for immediate name calling. We’re all civil beings here.’’ He tries to approach this in a polite way not even denying her implication.

‘’Says the man that’s holding my protectee under his hand.’’ I stare at her with widened eyes. Protectee is a term I’ve heard from Jin hyung before when he explained about titles and some laws, we as vampires have. This word reaches out globally, and can have any creature stake a claim of protection to their own species or another one.

‘’Its only out of precaution, you can understand that from my point of view can you not, general L/N? Or should I follow in your footsteps and address you by your real titles huh?’’ she doesn’t even flinch at his teasing as I think he expected her too ‘’The famous Death bringer, Reign ender, Atlantean leviathan and the of course the most known one; the Ghost of Sparta. Just to list a few names ladies and gentlemen.’’ He cheers in the end, clearly wanting to clap but he’s currently preoccupied with having me paralyzed and hostage.

But even without his “help” in the matter of incapacitating me, I’d definitely have to take a moment to process this information as my mind starts running a thousand miles per hour. All of those titles…I’ve heard them. Some from games and the current pop culture, some from Namjoon hyung as his random discoveries during out years together took him around the whole world. He even took time to explain to me whenever I was curious about his studies. None of this makes sense. When I look at Y/N I can’t even begin to imagine her as either one of those things that the titles hold myths about.

‘’Should we add former protector of lowline vampires as well to that list?’’ the shout crawls up on me unexpectedly as his fingers dig into my flesh deeper, nails piercing skin blood quick to raise and start flowing from the open wounds. But that’s barely noticeable in regards of pain tolerance – what fucking gets me to tremble and shake is the amplified pain the electric current that seems to be frying off my nerves is entering my system directly. My body has barely time to heal itself before its being wounded. Besides all that to worry about, the sensation feeling and sort of state of mind fogginess is what creeps me out. Even if I wanted to read into his mind and stop him, right now it feels like it’s next to impossible to even attempt.

The asshole twists his fingers deeper masochistically forcing me to brace myself on my hands as my legs fold into a kneeling position. He keeps me upright enough head still twisted to the right, my neck exposed to anyone. He’s positioned me like a fucking dog, ready to have his head chopped off at any moment.

‘’Spare us the theatrics Cheob, you’ve lost your audiences and so-called loyal followers a while ago. Stop trying to gauge my interest.’’ She replies keeping up a relatively indifferent attitude.

It does cross my mind as things are now coming up to light that she might not even care about me, as much as I care about her. I might be considered a bystander her main goal being Yoongi. Maybe after all she really is involved with him romantically. She seriously might be doing this just because he’s my sire and my death would hurt him more.

‘’C c c, did old age bring you impatience darling daimones?’’ he doesn’t let himself get phased voice turning unnecessarily higher, my breathing remaining harsh due to the constant zaps and what feel like small wildfires spreading and crawling over every inch of me ‘’The night is relatively young. And we haven’t even brough snacks in yet.’’ I bet his grin is menacing – I bet the prick is trying to look intimidating for no good reason. The twitch in Y/N lips is evident to it, as she shifts from one foot to another, bringing her sword to her side properly, still lifted up pointing finger that’s situated on the blade tapping against the metal. She’s imitating her heart beat. Hmm.

‘’Might be Cheob.’’ She says eyes meeting my own for only a second ‘’And as much as we are both fans of drama and its twists and turns it would be very much so appreciated if you’d let go of my coven. Along with Jeongguk-ah first. I’m sure any favours you wish to get granted aren’t worth by killing yourself slowly by holding the youngling hostage hmm?’’

I’m surprised that she knows of his weakness. Even though his ability has been added to the unofficial A list, it comes with a huge downside to it – he’s draining himself as we speak, of his energy and life essence actually. As much as it is threatening the ability is deadly more so for himself.

‘’On the contrary my lovely daimones. You’re worth every drop of blood even if it’s my own at the moment.’’ His reply is way to cheerful, the eerie silence breaking at again an unwanted shout that turn into growling and hissing noises as I breathe heavily, my chest starting to burn. My teeth sharpen unnecessarily, senses somewhat focused, body detached from my mind. This isn’t good. Shit. He’s managing to keep my mind hazy and distracted, and with the onslaught to my body he’s achieving a dissociation to start occurring.

Again, heeding to his warning, my head on its own falls limply forward, the small amount of control that I did have now gone. Even my thinking capabilities are getting leaden ‘’See?’’ he cheers ‘’It is so fun to have the drama the flare, the pain!’’ he taunts shifting me his breath fanning over my exposed neck, as he must have knelt down ‘’To control ones prized possession as a mere rag doll, or dog to be completely frank with you.’’ He’s pissing me off for real now anger spiking over the pain that’s being delivered steadily ‘’And I know that you’ve been looking for him for over a thousand and more years, haven’t you?’’

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, watching as something drips down from my face staring at the first droplet of darker coloured blood as it hits the polished stone floor ‘’You’ve pointed out twists and turns earlier fittingly my lady.’’ He continues on grip starting to become agonizing, the mumbles uncontrollable as is the hiss coming from my chest. His grip shifts to the back of my hair, head being forced to turn upwards ‘’They are unexpected and completely breath taking, aren’t they?’’ his head is close to my own, probably grinning widely like the clown he is.

Opening my eyes narrowly I can see that Y/N is absolutely fuming on the inside, her eyes evidently ablaze in the darkness, rimmed with gold. Her body is at a complete standstill, chest barely moving even thought her heart and breathing are normally functioning. That’s good, that small fact eases my worry. Her posture is exactly the one Yoongi hyung has taught me to hold. Good.

‘’Does he even know sweet Y/N-ah? Opps Y/N-nim. He doesn’t does he?’’

Y/N tilts her head instead the motion sort of familiar as hyung’s have pointed out that I tend to do that whenever I’m confused. She’s not even close to being confused or lost at the moment. Her finger tapping against the metal is still present in the stillness.

‘’You know…’’ she starts intaking a breath calmly ‘’The nickname’s as fun as you find them, do hold a meaning to them Cheob. Yours not so much for yourself but I’ve made peace with my actions.’’ One side of her lips stretches up into a crooked smile, the glint in her eyes frightening as her face shifts into a menacing expression ‘’So are you really ready to test my already thin patience and challenge me Cheob?!’’ she pronounces the last word clearly, and slowly her taunting way more efficient than his one was.

Because of the brief silence that follows it seems as if she struck a nerve, murmurs starting but ending quickly, as my body wants to bend down and over. I start to uncontrollably shake, teeth cracking under the pressure of how tightly my jaw is pressed together. Besides the complete physical shut down, I use my last energy resorts from not calling out to her, or making any noises. Even if she doesn’t care I don’t want her worrying.

‘’Stop calling me that!’’ he snaps the exclaim sort of echoing around ‘’I am Taewang of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and of the existing kingdom that is today!!! You will address me as such daimones! You are below me in stature and as a being! You will bow down and pledge your immortal life to serve me or face the consequences of your foolishness with the price of your soulmate’s head.’’

His shouting tirade isn’t as frightening as one might think it’d be. Of course, his words do send my blood to run faster, the following probably not promising anything good for Y/N or even my hyungs. If I were alone…I look up at Y/N that looks unphased still. But the smile she was sporting is gone. So is her more leisure position. She has straightened up perfectly, like a soldier, like a fighter with her core balanced, mind in tune. She is ready for anything. Even though her kopis has been put and hidden behind her, the tapping against the metal of the blade still remains.

Wait…wait…soulmate? What is he on about?!! Did I hear him right?

My body begins to buzz when her eyes dart down to me irises bleeding golden. I’m not entirely sure if the room gets brighter or if she has put on a sheet of glow around herself – but I can say for sure that she is absolutely gorgeous, her aura shining, being draped in gold.

‘’Touch him, further and I’ll chop of your tongue.’’ Her tone is rid of the scratchiness that it usually contains ‘’I haven’t made a promise in over a thousand of years but I’m promising you this parasite.’’ I can feel how the Prince tenses behind me hearing the undertone clear in her now more melodic and entrancing voice ‘’If you harm one more hair on his head, I will end you all. And I will do so smiling while I bathe in your blood.’’

The promise sends chills over me, but I’m at my ends here. For the first time since I’ve been turned, I can easily describe this abyss that I’m falling towards as sleepiness. I feel sleepy, on the edge of being pushed or simply blown and sent over the edge into the darkness that is encompassing my vision. The only thing keeping me present is the sort of angelic aura that radiates from Y/N.

I should be concern for myself, for the wellbeing of my hyungs that faintly I start to pick out their voices that seem to be shouting in the back of my mind. But she’s the thief of my attention, my whole meaning of existence. An entity bound to the earth.

‘’Get her!!!!!’’ the man behind me shouts, but it sounds like it’s coming from a bubble. This time as the agony just forces my body to succumb and give in the fight, healing coming to a full stop no shout or call ring out into eeriness that’s replaced with a tantrum of warlike cries.

My gut twists in worry, mind wanting to remain awake and get up and fight – but I’m just so tired. I don’t want to leave her alone.

‘’Jeongguk-ah, Agápi mou closer your eyes.’’ her voice reaches my ears like a sweet lullaby. I can taste sweetness from peaches, and citrus from another fruit on my tongue. My eyes fall closed for a moment – still seeing her eyes which are so beautiful and breath-taking as they focus solemnly onto me. Looking like molten gold, and blazing sun they look at me with gentleness and what’s most important – love. And wanting, and endearment, and, and…

That’s when my word gets consumed by nothingness.

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 (Final)

Copyright 2020© by barbika1508. All rights reserved.

Dictionary: Taewang - meaning "Grandest of all Kings" Wangseja - Crown prince, the son of the king who appointed as heir to the throne. Kopis - a heavy knife with a forward-curving blade / the Ancient Greeks often used single-edged blades in warfare, as attested to by art and literature. Geom - is the generic term for "sword", but more specifically also refers to a shorter straight-blade, double-edged sword with a somewhat blunted tip Daimones - The word is derived from Proto-Indo-European *daimon "provider, divider (of fortunes or destinies)," from the root *da- "to divide". Daimons were possibly seen as the souls of men of the golden age acting as tutelary deities In Greek mythology, Chrysaor (English translation: "He who has a golden sword"), was the brother of the winged horse Pegasus Cheob /Korean/ - (in polygamous societies) a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives.

[soullistrations]

AO3 Wrapped (and various other writing meme questions)

I was tagged by @lynne-monstr to do this about two weeks ago, but at that point I only had 4 publicly attributable works on my ao3 for 2020, so I decided to wait. In the meantime, I came across some other good questions (thanks gumi!) so I figured I’d answer those as well!

Total Word Count: 16,860 --way higher than I thought! (even after i subtracted those two spn fics I wrote 7 years ago but only uploaded this year)

Fandoms: Stranger Things, Still Star-Crossed, Critical Role, Quan Zhi Gao Shou (The King’s Avatar)

Top 5 fics by word count: (here’s where things get hilarious)

i am no icarus (Still Star-Crossed): 5514 words of OC-heavy court intrigue, written over the span of about 4 days. more than twice as long as anything else on the list. I don’t know what about this yuletide prompt possessed me, but MAN did it possess me.

summer’s best hairstyle (QZGS): 2387 words of fluff. Not what I usually write but the image wouldn’t get out of my mind!

Stuck (Stranger Things): 2340 words. Honestly, I am proud of this one, even though it’s a bit sloppy and not my best work, because it got me back into posting things again, and more importantly got me into actually finishing things instead of writing them halfway and then deciding that no one else was going to read them so why put effort into finishing them. It’s the joy of the process, people. and also the joy of going back and reading my own work again because I am my first audience member for most things.

pics or it didn’t happen (QZGS): 2319 words. This one was...so much fun. It was so dumb, but so much fun. I think my favorite thing about it was asking wack, “can i do this? is this too weird?” and then just giving myself permission to be totally wacky.

Take the Hurt (Critical Role): 2300 words. I’m finding that I do well when other people prompt me, because the two “possessed by an idea” fics on this list both stemmed from other peoples’ prompts. Thanks, wren, for this prompt!

Clearly I have a sweet spot, because 4 of my six fics for this year are all within 87 words of each other (and the last is at 2k, so not that far away).

Top 5 fics by kudos: (lots of duplicates, because I only have 6 fics on the list)

Take the Hurt (Critical Role): 269 kudos.

A Different Patch of Sky (QZGS): 52 kudos

Stuck (Stranger Things): 31 kudos

summer’s best hairstyle (QZGS): 28 kudos

pics or it didn’t happen (QZGS): 26 kudos

I think this is where the difference between a big fandom and a small fandom are very apparent. I feel like for most of these fics, everyone I really wanted to see these fics saw them and liked them, and that’s all that really matters.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2020? I mean I had never even heard of The King’s Avatar/QZGS/cdramas in general in January, so that was definitely a surprise. I also never thought I would do an exchange because writing for someone else is so much more stressful than writing something for yourself.

What’s your favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest. This is a hard one--I like all my fics for different reasons. The one I’m most proud of at the moment is ‘i am no icarus,’ because I tried something different with that one and I think it paid off well. But I also really enjoyed writing “A Different Patch of Sky.”

Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year? Honestly, my goal for this year is just to keep writing, and keep finishing things. I have some plans for fics that I’d like to do, and I want them to live as fully fledged fics, and not just bullet points on my drafts page before the end of the year. But even though one of my goals is to finish stuff, I also want to learn...when to let go of ideas, I guess? I feel like this year I rediscovered a lot of joy in the process of writing, and the fact taht even when the words don't come easily or I have to throw an idea out altogether, none of it is wasted writing. I got halfway through a fic for yt before realizing that it wasn't going to work and tossing it, and it was from trashing that idea (that I really wanted to make work!) that I got the inspiration for i am no icarus. I also want to work with a beta more consistently, because I love when I do, but I don’t often reach out--and I SHOULD reach out more!

Tagging: most of my writer friends have already done one of these, so this is an open tag to whoever wants to do this!!

[btsroleplayblog]

Bakery/Cafe AU

Every time I walked pass by the cafe with delicious treats, I always stop and stare at the newest creations of the cakes displayed. But, I always back out because I'm not that rich to effort the beautiful cakes besides the simple strawberry cheesecake.

And that cheesecake is my favorite!

But lately, I started to see my boyfriend less and less. He's rather busy in his new job after finishing law school while I'm still trying to figure out if I want to work in my parents company as a Digital Artist or go freelance on my last semester of my college. My boyfriend is older than me and his family is really wonderful whenever I see them. At least, I thought so at first from my perspective. My boyfriend's name is Luke Jongin Darkwood, a half Korean and half British man. He's handsome, honest about his opinions and a great man that you can hold debates with. The only problem that we have is the age difference and that I'm from a different culture. I'm half German and half Russian, a rather plain wallflower with a pop of color like every other Nude Eyeshadow palette that has been released these months.

One day in particular, I couldn't get more excited. We've been together for 3 years already and I was hoping to get some sort of closure if we can move in together. My place is closer to his job and his place is the closest to my college, so I wouldn't mind going through extra miles by train to get there by 8AM. If you loved someone so dearly, you don't mind the distance.

Dressing up more prettier than ever since the cafe is above my price class, I put on 'The Jeans' that ALWAYS gave me compliments from Luke and his favorite hairstyle on me, which is a neat bun with my side bangs loosely framing my face. I fell in love with his courage, his sincerity, and hid flaming self respect. And it’s these things I’d believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that he wasn’t all he should be. I love him and it is the beginning of everything.

I then looked at myself in the mirror, checking out my makeup and applying a bold red lip as I normally wore that color at work. My mother always told me that if you wear red lipstick while being in a relationship, you might as well go for more guys at the same time. So I never thought about wearing it infront of him, until now. Because I'm 21 years old and we're adapting to the new century, Karen.

-_-

Walking inside the cafe to try to find my boyfriend, I then tried to hug him as a greeting before he held me by the shoulders to inspect my face. "Why do you look like that?", he asked me in a surprised expression and gave me a once over, "Were you walking around like that the whole time?". "Yes, I did. I thought, maybe I should try out something new and surprise my love with more vibrant colors", I said as I smiled gently at his direction before taking his hands to hold them in mine, "I'm sorry about making you wait for me for so long, love". "You look...fine.", he said with a small pause and motioned for me to sit down with me on the free table. Not even 10 seconds in and he already looked inside his phone as it vibrated with a small smile. "Who's that? One of your colleagues?", I asked him curiously and holding one of his hands tightly in mine. He looked up at me as the smile faltered slightly and nodding gently, "My co-worker just sent me a Meme, that's all". Whenever Luke lies, he always has the habit to look away from someone and gulping at the beginning of each lie. It's hard to notice when eating though. 'Maybe his co-worker send him an dark humor Meme, as always.', I thought to myself as I believed it despite the signs.

"It's a wonder why you called me this morning, aren't you working on that case now?", I asked him as I then take out the menu to order a coffee for me as I'm not quite hungry actually. "Oh...that.", he began and calling up a waitress to take our order while I waited for his response to my question. "Well, we're deeper in it than ever. It's hard to get it solved and done with as it always is on my mind to the point where I can't sleep at night", he began to explain and furrowed my brows at him as I listened to him with my fullest attention. "That sounds horrible, have you thought of taking a break from it? Go somewhere to relax and get a clear mind?", I asked him in concern and placing a hand on his shoulder to give him a feeling of my support, "Even if I don't know much about the Korean law system, I can help you out if you let me". "In order for me to relax, I have to let go of this baggage from the past 3 years.", he said as he then stopped to smile at me and looked deep in the eyes, "You."

To say that I wasn't shocked would be an understatement, I couldn't think straight anymore. So I slowly let go of him and placing my hands on my lap before looking at Luke with an unreadable expression, "Alright. Throw away those 3 years and my hopes to move our relationship to the next step." My tone was monotonous, cold and distant. I felt a shiver up my spine and my eyes welling up with tears, but I'm not someone who cries in public. He stands up slowly, without any glance at me and when he tried to say something, I didn't react to it. My heart broke in thousand pieces and I felt empty. I loved Luke. Now, I don't even know if he ever loved me back in the first place.

-_-

As the waitress gave me the third coffee, I continued to look outside the window to watch the passerbys walking through the busy streets. I felt those pitied stares on my back, I just got dumped by my boyfriend 2 hours ago. And I didn't want it to be reality.

Until...it was time to close up the cafe that I paid for my coffees and stood up from my seat, my gaze downwards to the white tiles of the floor. A complete contrast to my earlier confidence and I felt like utter dirt of myself. Until I bumped into a hard chest that I fell on my butt harshly. "Oww-I'm so sorry about that", I said as I looked up at the person who I bumped into and accidentally cut myself at the shattered shard on my hand. I kneeled down to pick up the bigger shards that I ignored the blood flowing down my hands to the ground.

Jungkook had walked into the bakery to check all was well, after all it was his. He'd been on a training trip for his new creation the past weekend so popped in to see it was in order.

He collided with her in his rush and bounced her from his chest to the floor. "Hey oh my God I'm so sorry!" He rambles as he helps her clean up but grabs her hand. "Stop.. your hurt. Let me help you." At that point he meets her eyes for the first time, they were beautiful and deep but they seemed sad and wet.

He went to get the first aid kit and treated her relatively small wound gently to not hurt her. "Are you feeling okay? I'm sorry I was rushing."

[comicteaparty]

February 24th-March 1st, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from February 24th, 2020 to March 1st, 2020.  The chat focused on Whispers of the Past by Crona J.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Whispers of the Past by Crona J.~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 1st, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

FeatheryJustice

So far, first impressions, holy cow the art is amazing.

Ash🦀

1. My favorite part about the beginning was the style. It immediately drew me in how everything was lovingly rendered in color that made me feel like I was seeing the world for the first time. It made me want to paint, too! 2. When we first see the man. Whoo buddy. Whoooooooo buddy. That was... a finely sculpted painting there. I could’ve framed him and hung him on my wall if the artist would let me. WHOOOO BUDDY. 3. My favorite character so far is Martel. I don’t write them often, but I love seeing kids in media, and I love the design of her hair. I know it’s a random thing to make me like her but I just... really like her hairstyle. She’s cute, and I’d guess she’ll be a breath of much-needed light air later in the story. 4. Mystery man and Martel are precious. 5. I point to answer 2 here. That lovingly sculpted chest? My heart was a-flutter I tell you what. 6. The art style is just... SO LOVINGLY RENDERED. The quiet moments of baking bread juxtaposed against a chaotic battle was SO. GOOD. Aaaaaah Could also be that that particular part is my favorite part of making bread so it was extra special aaaaaaah 7-8 I haven’t seen enough of the story to answer these yet! But the art is banging and I can’t wait to read more. Subscribed.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've read this before and the art and story aren't really my thing. Since critique is allowed I could give art comments if CronaJ would find that kind of thing helpful? But even though I won't be following the story I was still impressed by how much care the author puts into it. Both from looking at their comic and from reading their comments on this discord and on the tap forum it's clear they've put a ton of effort into the art and story, and haven't cut any corner.s And all the panels are so rendered. I wonder how long it takes to draw a page?(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hey everyone! I'm the artist and writer of Whispers of the Past. I want to thank you all for your kind comments and observations so far. It really means a lot to me to hear what others think of this heartfelt project. I know that the story is in the beginning stages right now. But I'm looking to post the end of the first chapter this week, so hopefully a bit more will be revealed soon. Please feel free to ask me questions about anything, or (to answer @Eightfish (Puppeteer)'s question), to offer critiques for how I can improve what I'm doing.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@FeatheryJustice & @Ash🦀 I'm glad you enjoy the artwork. The painting process is probably what takes me the longest when it comes to pages. In response to @Eightfish (Puppeteer)... It takes me around 30-40 hours per page, and I try to post 2-3 page updates. Obviously, the amount of time spent per page varies depending on several factors, such as: the number of panels, the level of complication of poses, how many characters/background elements there are, and sometimes just whatever weird reason my brain isn't working that day ^^; So for my average 5-7 panel pages, they typically take longer than, say, a full-page spread. @Ash🦀 I'm so happy that the first few pages pulled you in! I spent a lot of time deciding on how I wanted to draw those panels, and what style to use, etc. I actually redrew the first 3 pages at least 5 times before settling on them as they are. And, you can hang and frame the image of our male MC if you want, haha, I actually don't have prints of it, but it is something to consider That particular panel was a one-page spread, so I was able to dedicate a bit more detail to it. Maret is a worthy favorite character. She is too pure and precious, and she just wants to make friends with everybody. Even when the "strange man" is kind of curt and unfriendly to her, she wants to befriend him. Also, I am SO unbelievably glad that you picked up on the juxtaposition in the bread-making scene! Ahhhh! I had a lot of fun with that one

FeatheryJustice

1. The Pacing, I love slow starts to comics because I get to absorb it and learn more. 2. Favourite Moment? Dude trying to climb out the window and failing. That was really funny XD 3. Mysterious dude from the water of course. He has pointed ears, you know something is up. 4. I like Maret and the mysterious man, it seems like a child being like 'this is new and I want to learn more' Also thank you for not writing a grating child character. They sometimes turn up too pure to be real, or too grating because they are too real. Maret at least has that nice balance of a healthy child will not acted spoiled but still want things because child like the scene where she was shoo'ed out of the room. 5. I think we talked about htis a long time ago, but I love the way you draw hands and feet! 6. Nothing so far, not sure where the story will head so I can't answer this. 7. I like the start of the mystery and the slow ramp up. We are just getting comfortable and I'm sure we are going to get rocky soon! 8. Art, from seeing Cronaj spend so much time on it, it's freaking amazing. I can almost feel the characters come to life.

Also on a side note, I want Maret to hear from the Conch shell (As a memey joke) "Under the sea, under the sea" XD

(Mysterious man has red hair, I wouldn't be surprised he turned out to be a mermaid XD Sorry I'm just on slight crack theory mode right now. He didn't sell his voice though)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

When I was first writing and planning this comic, I was a little scared about how slow the start was, but I'm glad that it has been interesting despite the slow nature of the exposition.

2. Favourite Moment? Dude trying to climb out the window and failing. That was really funny XD

@FeatheryJustice Accurate! He's kind of an idiot, and he panics over nothing. For Maret... I actually based her character partially off of my two younger sisters, so that might be a lot of what contributes to her personality and realism. We did talk about hands and feet before! I love drawing hands, because they are so expressive and complex, but hate drawing feet because they are complicated. But I did study from life to draw Maret's feet, because I felt like I would mess it up otherwise ^^;

Hahahaha! I could definitely make an edit of that, tbh.

FeatheryJustice

That would be a funny joke panel if you ever want to do one. XD It's like replace the diaolgue memes XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

And I was partially making a mermaid joke when I had the reference to mermaids in the comic because he is a redhead

Definitely an idea....

I would title the episode "Whispers of the Crack"

FeatheryJustice

OMG YES I would love to see that XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I have a WotP meme folder on my computer already

carcarchu

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? Mystery man pretty 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? i liked the part where maret was listening to the conch for mermaids, had a lovely magical charm to it 3. Who is your favorite character? mystery man 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? not too many interactions so far but maret and the mystery man were cute 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! the sunset scenery had a nice vibe

also i can see why people were saying it reminded them of ruroni kenshin, mystery guy especially with his hair up and on the cover image is reminiscent of kenshin but storywise doesn't remind me of it at all

carcarchu

I have some critiques that i'll cover in case you don't want to see them. SPOILER The anime-ish emotes (the blush and the anger vein) to me clash against the realistic artsyle and detracts from the moments, some more subtlety with them would be appreciated. And Maret doesn't really look like a child to me, her face is very mature so it makes her look older than she is. Moreover the 3 characters that have been introduced thus far have very similar facial features. For maret and agatha they are siblings so it makes sense but the mystery man is (presumably?) not related to them so i'm not sure if that's intentional. In any case more facial diversity would be appreciated going forward (if it's just your style that's fine too). And this is a really small nit-pick but the first panel of chapter 6 has horse hooves with the sfx thump thump thump. In my opinion this sfx should be clip clop clip clop END SPOILER

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@carcarchu Thanks for the notes! I actually had a hard time deciding how to portray blush noticeably in a more realistic style, haha, but I can definitely see why it's jarring. Do you have any tips for how to depict blushing without anime emotes? I would just make it more reddish/pink, but it always looks weird to me (or too unnoticeable). As for Maret... She looks like a child to me? She's six, so she isn't quite a toddler, so I don't know if that changes your perception of her. She actually resembles my youngest sister a great deal, and my youngest sister was 5, almost six, when I designed her. (I just looked through the pages again, and there's maybe one panel that I think she looks slightly older in, so if anything, I'll try to fix that panel.) So yes, obviously Agatha and Maret look very similar, hahaha. They are biological sisters, so that makes sense. There will be at least two more characters introduced that are also related to them (and look fairly similar as well) and one character who will be mentioned who is also related and looks just like Agatha. Other than that, Izrekiel does look somewhat similar, I suppose, but it might also be partially that he canonically has a very feminine face as opposed to other male characters to be introduced later. It could be that and also a bit as a result of my style. I'm not sure. Ahhhh, sound effects! I also struggled with deciding what to do here. I wanted to do something different than "clip clop," mostly for a stupid personal hang-up. (I don't know why, but "clip clop" always looks so comical to me.) But if it helps translate the sound better, I might just have to bite the bullet and change it. Thanks for your feedback! Even if I don't agree with all of it, it does help me to take a closer look at what I've done with some different eyes. (edited)

carcarchu

That's fair! You don't have to accept anything just my thoughts (i hope nothing i said was too harsh) for me thump thump is a dull sound whereas clip clop or clippity clop is a sharper and harsher sound

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

yeah, I think you're right about that

thump is more like a heartbeat

or someone falling on carpet or something

carcarchu

and as for the blush question i think there are ways to depict a similar emotion without relying on the blush itself as a short hand like the softening of the eyes, the shape of the eyebrows, looking down and heck even body language can help with this. expression is more than what is shown on just the face

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Thank you. I always feel like my characters look too stiff, like mannequins. ^^; I'm probably not going to completely redraw any old panels at this point, but I might make a few alterations to these panels to make it more consistent with later panels down the line.

carcarchu

i also noticed that a lot of your panels are the characters looking straight towards the "camera" and i would appreciate more varied angles and perspectives

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Particularly with the first ten pages, that is certainly true

I got that note before, but I didn't redraw every panel, only some which looked particularly bad.

carcarchu

personally i never edit old chapters unless i 1. forgot to draw something important 2. there's a huge typo 3. it's missing a panel

any critique you can just keep in your heart and implement if you choose to do so moving forward

keii'ii (Heart of Keol)

2. I really liked "what if it's mama?" - a lot of hints condensed there: family history, how the topic of deaths/ disappearances are handled around children (either in that family specifically, or in that culture), and also a moment that shows a glimpse of Agatha's sisterly love instead of having the readers assume it.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Really loving the comic so far! Right now, I'm most interested to learn about this family situation. I'm guessing their mother is dead or missing, but what about their father? I suppose his clothes were still in the house so maybe he just went out? Or maybe they're both missing and it was just fairly recent?

Also, the paint-y style of this comic is just incredible

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

https://media.tenor.com/images/878a64d90a1139bcb1e863ee29bfa929/tenor.gif

I'm so happy that you guys picked up on the clues about their mother. It alludes to some pretty plot heavy stuff that very few people have really commented on so far.

eli [a winged tale]

Oooh I’m so excited for your story Cronaj! Here are my answers~ 1) I love the beach scene! Maret with the shell is adorable and you established their relationship right away 2) Fav moment is probably the scene transition to our lad waking up with Agatha going about her day. It’s very peaceful and I’m a sucker for slice of life stuff. 3) Can’t pick just yet~ I like Agatha as a solid protagonist though. 4) More Agatha x mystery man please 5) I loooove the illustration aesthetics. Bold colours! 6) haven’t gotten to the core theme yet I’m sure but first impressions/meeting are always exciting. 7) I’m excited for what is to come. Can’t wait for the call to adventure. 8) Strength is definitely the art - beautiful and bold. Keep up the wonderful work!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@eli [a winged tale] Woah!!! You're the first person I've heard say that they like Agatha! She's mah girl! (And don't you worry, there will definitely be a lot more Agatha x Mystery Man ) Thanks for participating

eli [a winged tale]

she’s a solid sister!

sagaholmgaard

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I like how the intro had a nice balance between art and text. Usually if there’s a lot of text on the first page I can get deterred from heading a comic, but here I think it worked really well! And the loverly painting of the ocean sunset also reeled me in and fit really well with the poetic text! 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? ”He’s the prettiest man I’ve ever seen!” LOL (and she’s right too…) 3. Who is your favorite character? I like the kid! But I’m excited to learn more about the other characters as the story goes on! 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?
I liked Agatha and Mystery Man interacting, it felt very natural and I’m curious to see what comes of it. But the dialogue felt pretty strong which I gotta applaud 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! The beautiful shot of Mystery Man on the beach of course, lol! I love the way the hair is rendered, it really feels like it’s has weight and is spread out in the sand, if that makes sense? 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? It seems like it will explore a lot of interesting themes in the future, such as grief and finding where you belong, so again I’m interested to see what the story brings! I’m sure it’ll be good no matter what :D Overall I like what I’ve read so far! It’s not the type of art style I usually gravitate towards, but I can tell a lot of love is going into rendering and I think we’ll be seeing Crona’s art improve a lot as the story goes on, which is always exciting to see!

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning of the comic, which also goes for what I like about the art in general, is the attention to detail in the background colors and lighting. I've never seen such a beautifully rendered (what I assume is) a sunset. It really makes everything have this great almost mystical atmosphere to it. In general, though, the art so far is definitely the comic's strength because you can see the sheer passion in every drop of it. My favorite moment so far is when Maret gives Izrekiel some flowers and then drags him off and he's just meekly protesting. It was both cute and comedic and the preciousness hurt my heart. This is also why this is my favorite pair of characters interacting so far. I think the age gap combined with the context of Izrekiel's situation is gonna lead to lots of awkwardness that I look forward to. As for fave character, though, I would have to go with Agatha right now. I don't know what it is about her, but everytime I see her I feel like I'm looking at an old soul. Like maybe someone who still has a lot to learn about the world, but is wise beyond her years in other regards. And it makes her a captivating character for me.

While I'm not sure if this will be an overall theme throughout, I like that the comic starts to deal with the theme of loss and hope. On one side you have Agatha who just kind of accepts loss and deals with it, and then you have Maret who just lives on in hope. And I kind of feel they represent two dynamic sides to the issue about whether its better to cling to hope or just move on and deal and how both can be harmful if not expressed in the correct way. As for overall story content, while we're not that deep in, I do like it starts with a multitude of mysteries cause mysteries are always great for making ppl want answers

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Since Crona said they were good with art critique: The main thing I noticed when I first saw the art was that, though lovingly rendered, the characters' faces and bodies are kind of stiff. They don't really scrunch up their eyes and faces when they emote- it's mostly just the eyebrows (this was especially noticable when Maret was crying, or on the latest page, first panel, where Agatha's face doesn't really match her body language or words). And characters often don't seem to twist their bodies as much as they should. Oh- also the same camera angles of faces and bodies are repeated a lot. Front, 3/4, and profile. It'd be cool to see some shots with foreshortening from above or below the characters. Also the lighting is pretty diffuse- the characters seem to be shaded about the same way, and with the same colors, regardless of the lighting situation. I can still tell where the light is coming from, because there are those strong bright highlights in the direction of the light, but other than the bright highlights everything else seems to be shaded as if there was another light source coming from straight ahead. Also, sometimes characters seem to lose their shadows? Like on this page https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/ch-1-what-the-waves-left-behind-pt-3/viewer?title_no=191366&episode_no=4 where Agatha doesn't cast a shadow on the man, or this page https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/ch-1-what-the-waves-left-behind-pt-8/viewer?title_no=191366&episode_no=10 where they're running.

Those things being said though, I was still very impressed by the sheer amount of effort put into this comic. 100 hours/ update is absolutely insane. And you pay so much attention to the inanimate objects of this world. It makes the story feel grounded. About what someone else said: I agree that the cartoonish blush looks out of place. But I disagree about Maret- I think she does look like a child. 5. Favorite illustration? Definitely Agatha's hands when making dough. Not a critique but just a question: I was confused on the location of the story. Where is this?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ooof. Finally got a chance to sit down and respond to all these comments. I keep rereading them over and over again, so thank you so much for sharing your thoughts everyone! I've noticed a few themes with what people have commented so far: Maret is most people's favorite character, the panel of Izrekiel on the beach is also very popular, and the theme of loss/grief is apparent to the readers (which I'm very happy about.)

@sagaholmgaard I'm glad that you mentioned the theme of "finding where you belong" too, because it is and will be a very prevalent theme in the comic. And reading your comment about how the dialogue seems natural made my day. I used to worry about how the dialogue came off constantly, and to hear that it's strong is so encouraging.

@RebelVampire As is expected, your comments are very thought-out. The interaction between Izrekiel and Maret after he falls from the window is one of my favorite moments so far as well. I'm happy that Izrekiel's behavior came off as meek in this scene, because that is one of the defining traits of his personality. I'm glad for another Agatha fan! She is such a fun (and difficult) character for me to portray. There are so many layers about her that even I am still discovering. She is definitely an old soul, and he experiences growing up have definitely matured her beyond her years. As I mentioned before, the theme of loss is definitely a major theme of the comic overall. And hope as well, since I think the two are very connected.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Thank you for offering your critiques! Character stiffness is definitely one of my major problems that I'm working at. I definitely see what you mean about Agatha's face in the latest update. Her eyebrows look painted on (pun not intended). I have been looking forward to having some more dynamic poses, especially foreshortening, but I do find it somewhat difficult when most of what the characters are doing so far are standing, sitting, talking, and maybe doing something with their hands. ^^; Hopefully, in the future, when more "action" happens, it will be easier to do this. As for bird's eye or worm's eye shots, I'm not gonna lie, I struggle with them so much. I had two bird's eye panels, and those took so much time, and I still don't know how I feel about them. If you have any tips for exercises, I would be so grateful. (Finding reference isn't always possible.) I also would love some tips/resources on how to get better at lighting. Again, lighting reference isn't always possible for specific panels, so it would help me a lot to learn how light works in general. OOOOOOF! I don't know how I missed the lack of shadow on Izrekiel in that panel. That was 100% a stupid oversight on my part. The scene with Agatha making dough had some of my personal favorite illustrations for a while. :) Also, your question about the location, I'm not entirely sure how to answer it?(edited)

It's a high fantasy story, so the location is entirely fictional.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

The best I can answer that is to say that the story takes place in a country called Shai-Ryam, consisting of four major "districts" in a semi-tropical temperate peninsula called "The Aka Peninsula," named after the native people who originally lived there. As of right now, they are in a city called Gon Atam, a seaside village on the western shore of the Nuata District, near the Ocean of Saturuna. It is a city heavy in trade and with a long history, yet quaint and small due to a disaster several hundred years ago. It is only now being repopulated.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Where do you think Izrekiel comes from, and what is his past history that seems to haunt him? Additionally, how do you think he wound up with amnesia and seemingly abandoned by the sea?

10. How will Izrekiel’s past history affect events of the story? In particular, how will revelations about his past affect his relationship with Agatha and other characters?

11. How do you think Agatha’s life will change from her encounter with Izrekiel? Will it somehow lead her to a more exciting life? If so, will it make her miss her simpler life with her family?

12. What are the biggest questions you have so far and are hoping to see answered over the course of the story? Also, what do you think will happen in the story in general?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Ash🦀

9. Okay, so, here’s my theory. Just a guess. So Izrekiel is from a very war-friendly people up north who need land. Izzy just isn’t all about that life, but feels like he has no choice. Then he gets hurt fighting someone close to him (I’m putting money on brother or cousin who lives on the “wrong” side of things, hurt because he just couldn’t fight them at full strength. And then he realizes he can’t do it, while on the ship bound for new fight zones. His captain gets wind of it and is like “oh no I can’t let Mutiny Happen” so HeS all long ike “either fall in line or get off my ship” and Izzy is like “no I don’t wanna fight anymore heck you guys” and the captain proceeds to yeet him off the ship, leading him to the island, which, unbeknownst to him, is the next target. That’s my guess. Might be wildly off. He might be part mermaid. (Merman? Is mermaid gender neutral?) 10. Izzy or his bros probably killed one of Agatha’s family members, possibly the mom? Possibly violently? Which is why she never told babygirl what’s up. It’s probably going to be remembered in the buds of their relationship, hes going to try to hide it but it’ll come to light and she’s gonna be like “Izzy I hate you” and it’s going to make me cry. 11. She’s going to have a bread making partner in the end. They’re going to have adventures and go back to a domestic bread making existence, I speak it into being now /smacks table That may just be what I want to happen, though, as I very much enjoy bread making and wish others the same simple joy of giving dough a good smacking. 12. IS THE MOTHER REALLY A MERMAID OR WHAT Is Agatha a mermaid Are they like Selkies where they can come onto land a little Is babygirl a mermaid too(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Omg... I love reading these theories. I won't say you're wrong or right, but this is a riot. I'm thoroughly enjoying this.

FeatheryJustice

9. Pulls out my Crack Theory brain Okay, so Iz is actually not a very hot man, but actually a really hot princess, transformed into a man since she was exciled from her country but their rules are to give the exiled a new life so they shape shift them into something else. Iz got shifted into a man, and the lovely wide bare chest was because their top was lost to the ocean like how someone would lose their bathing suit top to the sea. Anyways, knowing nothing about themselves, Iz now lives their life as a man never remembering they were a princess in the first place. Ends Crack Theory 10. Don't know, can't say for now. 11. She could always politely kick him out later, so I can't say for now. XD 12. I want to know if there are monsters in this story or just like different species warring it out.

RT|NitghVision

^ I like this theory

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) Oh! I missed that it was high fantasy. I thought the story was historical fiction. No wonder mystery man has pointed ears. I was so confused- I kept thinking, oh, she looks Polynesian and lives by the ocean. But wait, her name is Agatha and she makes bread? And the houses look Japanese? What culture are her clothes from? The world being completely fictional explains all that. I think I was confused by the real names in a high fantasy story- you don't really see that a lot. Finding the right reference for lighting or pose is impossible for me. I have no tips. The only way I've found is to make my own references. I will sit in front of a window, or take a lamp into a dark room or something, and prop my phone up and take photos of myself in the poses and lighting direction I need. But hey, at least that way I don't have to worry about stealing someone else's work?

(i also like feathery's theory)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@FeatheryJustice Crack theories are best theories.

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh! I had no idea you thought it was historical fiction No wonder you were confused! There's a lot of weird cultural-mixing shenanigans going on in the setting, and it's a bit confusing.

I should try that, for now the lighting has been primarily sunlight, or diffused sunlight (which I don't think I depicted correctly).

RebelVampire

Time to crack story theory. I don't know enough about the world to guess a name to where Izrekiel is from. However, wherever it's from, I get the impression its embroiled in a bloody war that is suffering heavy casualties. I imagine that Izrekiel mightve been in a battle and just wound up in the sea by circumstance - like maybe was taken as a prisoner of war and jumped overboard to escape. Something like that. As for the amnesia, well, Imma chock that up to PTSD cause the brief flashbacks we got don't look pleasant. However, I definitely think someone will come looking for him, and that these someone's will make trouble with the people he's just met - perhaps even forcing them to abandon their home with people in pursuit. And I'm sure as Izrekiel remembers more, others are going to really view him as potentially dangerous and blame him (but then get over it cause he's pretty O_O) Given that, I do think Agatha is gonna leave home because of Izrekiel's past running after them. I do think she's inevitably gonna miss the simpler life. Not to the point she won't rise to the challenge, but to the point that she's gonna be like "wait theres danger out here and i didnt even get a sword from an old man in a cave!" As for biggest questions, right now I'm just kind of hoping to see more of the world cause current world events really are gonna dictate a lot where the story could go.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dude I was literally googling the names to see what country they were from because I thought they were from some obscure real island with a history of cultural mixing that I hadn't heard about before.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hahaha! Yeah, Agatha is an English name. Maret and Kelan (a character that hasn't been introduced yet) are Irish names. Aalia (another character that isn't introduced yet) is an Arabic name. Kehhasan (another character) is a made-up name. Izrekiel is a made-up name inspired by the biblical names Israel and Ezekiel (although technically it is often spelled in their alphabet as "Isarikieru," which has a particular meaning and pronunciation in an even older—fictional—language). Ryukou (another character), is a real-ish name, based off of the Japanese names "Ryu" and "Kou," which mean "dragon" and "peace/light" respectively. Four other characters have fictional names: Ia, Tammamori, Soro, Ghita (although technically it's a Greek name, that wasn't my inspiration). And of course there are hundreds of side characters with a combination of weird names and name origins.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Deo101 [Millennium]

So! I don't really do so well with answering questions, but I do want to say it's inspiring to me to see just how much WORK is put into this comic. It's really lovely to see so clearly how much you care for it. Just want to give some general words of encouragement, keep it up!

Ash🦀

I’m most looking forward to seeing more of Izzy how the story develops along with your painting. There are so many hints and peeks at the world, and I can’t really guess where it’s going. I feel like I already care for these characters, and I can’t wait to see their journey. I am also not good at encouragement, as generally I’m fueled by spite. But I just wanted to say, keep going! You got this! We believe in you!

eli [a winged tale]

Keep up the good work Cronaj! Your art is beautiful and I can’t wait till we start rolling into act 2!

FeatheryJustice

I'm excited to see what else comes up next!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement everyone! I'm so happy to know that you are enjoying the story so far!

RebelVampire

I'm most looking to learning a bit more about the world structure I think. Since I think current events are really gonna hint at a lot what's going on. As for final words, this is an artistically wonderful comic with a lot of love put in, and I can only imagine how things will improve in the future!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I'm just really looking forward to seeing these characters grow! This is a beautiful comic, and I can't wait to get more of it!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Before the book club ends, I just wanted to pop back in and say thank you to everyone for their participation. Your kindness, insight, and critiques will stay with me for years to come. I'm so happy to have found a supportive community of readers and fellow creators!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Whispers of the Past this week! Please also give a special thank you to Crona J. for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Whispers of the Past, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366

Crona J.’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cronasonlyfriend

Crona J.’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/cronaj

Crona J.’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CronajArt

[stilldoingapplescience]

(Feels like I already did this but whatever)

MUN MEME, TAGGED BY @ethereal-myth

TAGGING I’m not good at this tagging thing, so just go ahead and do it if it strikes your fancy. 

STAR SIGN: Taurus

HEIGHT: 5′ 7″

WHAT’S YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Evangeline

PUT YOUR ITUNES ON SHUFFLE. WHAT ARE THE FIRST 6 SONGS THAT POPPED UP? Don’t have itunes so I’m using Youtube again! Last Friday Night-Katy Perry; Call Me Maybe- Carly Ray Jepsen; Magical Miracle! Let’s Sing Because Everyone is Here-some epic mega mash Pretty Cure movie, I dunno; Noticed- Mandopony; Planetary (Go)- My Chemical Romance; Kill Me Baby (Kill Me Baby op)- Sanya, I think they’re called? They’re the voice actresses for the two main characters. 

GRAB THE BOOK NEAREST YOU AND TURN TO PAGE 23. WHAT’S LINE 17?

Clothing, tattoos, and hairstyles can also be purchase in stores. Additional dyes are unlocked along the Road to Rule. (...I wonder if anyone can guess which ‘book’ this one is actually from.)

EVER HAD A POEM OR SONG WRITTEN ABOUT YOU? Eh, I don’t think so?

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PLAYED AIR GUITAR? Pretty sure the answer to this one is still never. 

WHO IS YOUR CELEBRITY CRUSH? I really still don’t know. Celebrity crush...I dunno, Neil Patrick Harris? 

WHAT’S A SOUND YOU HATE; SOUND YOU LOVE? The sound of nails on a chalkboard? (it’s not even the sound that hurts, it goes right THROUGH you) and for love....hm. I like that stereotypical dumb twinkle wand magic sound. I dunno, it makes me happy. 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? Gonna give that a resounding YES.

HOW ABOUT ALIENS? Not really, no. I mean, I’d like to...but the lack of ability for those with ‘evidence’ to sound credible really doesn’t give me hope. 

DO YOU DRIVE? Yes.

IF SO, HAVE YOU EVER CRASHED? Nope. 

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? Be More Chill? I liked it so I reread it. I really like the book Squip, he’s so nice. 

DO YOU LIKE THE SMELL OF GASOLINE? No...? Not really. 

WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU SAW? Dang, still Infinity War. 

WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD? Still back to when I was a kid. Lived in Germany, had the coolest house ever. It had actually been used as a battle site during WWII. Also there was a farm behind it, and we adopted this cat from a shelter, named Zigfried. He was AGGRESSIVE when he didn’t want attention, but I was like 6, so I didn’t know any better. I chased him and he attacked. Cut my scalp from forehead almost all the way to the back of my neck. I didn’t even know what had happened for a few minutes, but the farm animals were all bleeting and clucking at me like I NEEDED to go get help NOW. Then the pain finally caught up and I ran inside. I was fine, ultimately, but it left a scar on my scalp and it HURT for the longest time. Made brushing my hair impossible for almost a month, too. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY OBSESSIONS RIGHT NOW? Detroit: Become Human, Fairy Fencer, Dragon Age, DnD, and....historical disasters??? Is that one okay??

DO YOU TEND TO HOLD GRUDGES AGAINST PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE YOU WRONG? Ugh, no? I mean, I do my solid best not to. Grudges don’t feel good, and I like to...not feel bad. Plus, holding a grudge takes SO MUCH EFFORT. And I’m kind of lazy?

IN A RELATIONSHIP? *laughs a lot* *pauses for breath* *laughs some more*

[normanisource]

Spend a few minutes with Fifth Harmony, and it’s clear the group’s tighter than ever.

Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane, Ally Brooke and Lauren Jauregui have such electric chemistry, we literally had to cut out all the [laughs] from our interview because there were too many. The girls were cracking each other up throughout the whole thing.

And all those good vibes are sure to come through in their new music. Coming off of last summer’s “Work From Home,” 5H have proven themselves as hitmakers and are now taking more creative control of their sound. The group’s moving full speed ahead after Camila Cabello, one of its original members, bounced in late 2016.

Their next music will have “some R&B tones,” Dinah told us, and will hit on each of the girls’ favorite genres, with overtones of girl power and female empowerment throughout.

Read on for our interview with the group — plus their first cover as a foursome!

When did you guys realize you were friends in addition to bandmates?

Everyone: Awww that’s so cute!

Normani: We were on X Factor. We actually ran into each other before we were put into a group. I remember seeing Ally at my first audition, was it in Austin?

Ally: Austin, Texas!

Normani: Basically, my family… we had a rivalry. It was like, battle of the posters. My family was screaming, “Normani Normani Normani!” And Ally’s family had T-shirts… you guys roll deep.

Ally: They went all out!

Normani: I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a challenge to connect with one other because we were around the same age. I remember me and Dinah vibed heavily.

Dinah: Heavily! Like, we were low key starting to sleep over in each other’s hotel rooms.

Normani: I know! I borrowed your clothes!

Dinah: You did. We were that close. It was like that insane chemistry once you meet somebody. The connection was so crazy, we clicked instantly.

Normani: and I just feel like with everything we’ve been through together – even things that only we know about. Obviously we have each other to lean on. I think those moments make us even closer.

READ ALSO: Copy Fifth Harmony’s Style on Your Next Girls’ Night Out

How does each girl strengthen the group as a whole?

Ally: Well, Dinah, I admire your fun and playful self. I love how you always come in with music. You bring the life to the party and the energy to the room. That really helps, especially if we have a long day ahead or something, it’s really cool to see that. You’re always there pumping up the party and laughing. It just makes being here so much easier. It makes the environment so much healthier when it’s fun. I really admire that about you.

Dinah: Thanks Ally. You are super sweet! Ally… she’s like a little goofball too. It’s nice to know that there’s someone that carries the same energy. You’re always so playful. There’s times where she can be kind of like the “mom”. We’ve been calling Ally the “mother” of the group at times because she has that vibe where she cares so much and she’s on it with time. There are times where I fall short with getting to the lobby. She’s texting us saying, “We gotta get there, we gotta get there!” Just the push she brings into this group helps. Because there are times where you do fall short, and to have somebody to pick up your slack helps. You put us to work!

Normani: Well I was gonna compliment you (Dinah) but Ally did such a good job!

Dinah: You’re fake! [laughs]

Ally: I was going in order!

Normani: I feel like Lauren almost has this gift of making people feel safe through anything it is that we’re going through.

Dinah: It’s so true.

Normani: A lot of the time people almost forget that we’re human. We have things that go on with family and insecurities that we feel within ourselves. She [Lauren] has this way of making me feel comfortable and confident in myself and I feel like I can really talk to her through absolutely anything. There are conversations I can have with her that I feel like I wouldn’t have with anyone else. And I feel like we all play such a heavy role with each other but, there are just certain things that I can go to her for.

Lauren: The thing is, is that everyone brings so many different kinds of things to the table. Normani is such a hard worker, and she’s so disciplined…

Ally: Yes, Mani!

Dinah: So true.

Lauren: … and constantly putting in effort and making sure that she’s bettering herself and being the best version of herself she can be, and that for me is very inspiring because I’m the opposite [laughs]. I’m just kidding. But she definitely makes me feel like I can accomplish more if I can keep doing what I’m doing, and challenges me to want to be at her level.

Dinah: Spot on.

Who’s the best at IG? Shots fired.

Dinah: I was on a roll for a second.

Ally: Honestly, my game is getting up so…

Lauren: I’ve been on my A-game right now, I’m sorry.

Dinah: I was just stalking Mani last night.

Normani: I know I have a personal photographer.

Lauren: I think I’m just gonna push 20 bucks at her to take a photo of me today.

Normani: I feel like you can really get a sense of who we are as people because we’re so different.

Dinah: So different! Day and night.

Are guys scared to approach you now that you’re famous?

Lauren: Not the right guys.

Dinah: It’s funny because you kinda think it’s the right guy but it’s not.

Lauren: They’re either super not the right guy, or dope as fuck. There’s no in between.They’re either trying to get something out of you, or they think you’re super dope.

Dinah: There was this one guy who thought I was very intimidating because of who we are. My thing is when I come across somebody, when I think they’re super cute or handsome, I can’t play along with that because sometimes they take it as something like, “She wants me.” And it’s happened to me many times. When you’re trying to be kind to somebody and they take it as “dang, Dinah Jane likes me.” And I’m like “No, I just want to be your friend… like, why do you have to take it like that?”

Normani: For me, it’s kind of the opposite, cause I feel like in a way I can be so intimidating with me not even knowing it, and then the guy doesn’t call you and you’re like, “I’m cute! Come to me. Come here.” And then it’s like, “is there something wrong with me?”

Dinah: It’s hard. So all we want is a confident dude to come straight up…maybe. Just walk up and say, “Hey, what’s up?” And start from there.

What’s one question that you are often asked that you think a guy group would never be asked?

Normani: For instance, when “Work From Home” came out, we were asked a few times, “do you think you guys were dressed too sexy?”

Lauren: I’m pretty sure men are never questioned whether they’re acting too sexy. They’re actually glorified when all their clothes are off. Women love that shit, they’re like, “Yeahhh! You’re so hot!” But when girls take our clothes off, it’s, “Wow, she’s such a hoe.”

Normani: That’s happened to us throughout our whole career. When it came to performances, people would judge us on our performance outfits. They would say things like, “look at the hoe squad”. There were all these memes.

Lauren: And it’s normally girls! Regularly girls.

What’s the best part about having a built-in squad to roll with?

Ally: It’s really great because the four of us are really in sync with each other. We’re pretty open about most things. We try to respect each other as much as we can. For us, communication is really important. Also we enjoy a lot of the same things as each other! Like going to get frozen yogurt, or go to the movies, or talk about boys, exchange music, have fun at the red carpet and encourage each other with, “hey you look beautiful!”

Normani: We compliment each other a lot.

Lauren: It’s so important. I feel like especially being around other girls, it’s really easy to start picking yourself apart and being like, “Wow, she looks better than me” or, “My hair doesn’t look as good as hers.” It’s like, wait. [Why not just say], “You look dope, you look hot, I love your outfit.” Giving each other that energy changes the whole vibe of whatever we’re doing. If it’s a carpet or a shoot, you can feel in the pictures that we were all complimenting each other and we all felt good.

Ally: We truly live by female empowerment. Literally every day we try our best to do that.

Are you guys inspired by iconic girl groups like Spice Girls, the Supremes, TLC?

Normani: Absolutely. I know we’ve all grown up listening to Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls, TLC, Pussycat Dolls even. “Buttons” is my song. Danity Kane.

Dinah: Ooh, Xscape! I love them so much.

Normani: And it’s important to have strong individuals to paint the way for us. Without them doing what they did for music, and being our introduction, we probably wouldn’t even be!

Do you hope to leave a legacy like them one day?

Normani: Most definitely.

Lauren: I think we low key have. We’ve made an impressionable mark as far as girl groups go in the industry. I’m proud of us.

Ally: It’s cool because they inspired our looks for the shoot. We did a 90s throwback vibe and we channeled their wardrobe and hairstyles. It was super fun. They really do shape us.

Dinah: I think musically they inspire us but also on a human level. I think when you’re in a group, people expect you to all be the same. Just looking around at each other, it has helped me discover that we’re all uniquely different from each other for a good reason, because there would be no growth for me. As I’m learning about each other girl, it’s helping me learn about myself. We all have our weaknesses, we all have our strengths, but together we all make it up.

Which of you has the most out-there personal style?

Ally: I like sometimes to dress crazy…well I don’t think it’s crazy [laughs]. I like to have more fun with my fashion. Obviously if everyone is wearing more “chill chic” outfits then I’ll have to go in that lane, but…

Lauren: You love being extra.

Ally: Not extra, but I love to play! I don’t like feeling plain, I like a little sugar on top.

With so many pics of you in the spotlight, how do you keep a healthy mindset?

Normani: I feel like in a way you’re forced to, just because there’s always gonna be bad photos of you.

Lauren: Yep, you’re forced to, but you never get over people taking bad pictures of you from disgusting angles! I’ll never get over it. I get so angry every time I go on the Internet, I’m like, “Why! You know I look bad here! Why did you post it!?” I hate it.

Dinah: Sometimes they know we don’t look cute, they do it just to show, “look at this unflattering photo…”

Ally: One time I literally looked like an egg. And I had to choose to laugh about it. Sometimes you obviously freak out, but it’s out there. You cry and then you laugh.

Lauren: You cry and then you laugh again.

[culinarystrategist]

Five times kissed

Kiss Meme (Not accepting.)

@nightfallprince

i.

Every time Pyrna puts in an appearance and Noctis’ eyes light up in delight, Ignis has to suppress a groan. It’s sweet the way Noctis and Lunafreya communicate with each other, Ignis has to admit, but there is a modicum of jealousy there for the advisor, that in spite of his best efforts, he’s never yet managed to elicit a similar smile from the prince.

It’s not right, and he knows it, but feelings cannot be helped and watching Noctis mature into a handsome young Man has only increased Ignis’ attraction. To stand by and witness the budding romance between Noctis and Lunafreya (even if it hasn’t happened yet, it is inevitable) is a stark and cutting reminder of what Ignis will never have.

His loyalty is to Noctis and Noctis alone. Same with his heart.

The wistfulness in Noctis’ eyes as he sends the dog away again makes Ignis want to grab the young prince and another his face in kisses to remind him that he is loved and cherished right here and now.

Instead, he settles for a gentle, and chaste, kiss on the cheek, just to show Noctis he’s not alone.

ii.

“You look very smart,” Ignis says, nodding his approval of Noctis’ attire. What he wants to say is breathtaking, but that would sound weird. Noctis might detest these kinds of formal events, but Ignis loves them. They’re a good excuse to get all spruced up and he’ll take any excuse to don a dapper suit.

“We make a handsome pair,” he murmurs, peering over Noctis’ shoulder to make sure there’s not a hair out of place and his tie is straight. Where he looks positively excited, Noctis looks dubious. Unconvinced. Uncomfortable, even, like he doesn’t believe that he does, actually, rock his suit.

People who only peripherally know the prince don’t realise it because he hides it so well, but Ignis knows that Noctis sometimes suffers a lack of self-belief. It’s hardly surprising, given how much responsibility rests upon his young shoulders, both in the present and in the future. If Ignis had one wish, it would be for Noctis to be able to see himself as Ignis sees him: a wonderful young man with a sparkling wit and a beautiful smile.

The way they stand together, it takes next to no effort for Ignis to tilt his head and press a kiss to Noctis’ brow.

iii.

Accidents happen.

But when Noctis topples, head first into the water, pulled either by a fish that’s too strong for him, or one which has been caught by the strong current, Ignis is on his feet in a flash. With little thought of how much damage the water will do to his expensive shoes or his perfectly-coiffed hairstyle, he takes a running leap off the pier, after his prince. As he hits the water, he can hear Prompto’s cry of alarm and Gladio calling his name, but pays them no heed; Noctis is his sole concern.

Imagine Ignis’ surprise, then, that when he lands, he finds the water barely comes up to his knees. When he looks around, Noctis is already righting himself, standing up and shaking his head to send a spray of water in Ignis’ direction. On the bank, Gladio and Prompto double up with belly laughs while Noctis looks mildly perplexed.

“Ah…” It’s a bizarre mix of relief and humiliation that grips Ignis as he stands there, in shallow water, having mounted the most useless and futile rescue attempt, ever. Sensing his discomfort, Noctis pats Ignis on the shoulder and suggests they might like to get back to dry land.

Splashing through the shallows to get back to the bank, Ignis wraps an arm around Noctis’ shoulder and pulls him close for a kiss on the temple.

iv.

Outside, they can hear the hubbub of the market in the distance. Noctis has been complaining of how hot and stuffy it is in their room, so Ignis opens the window wider. The breeze carries with it the scent of barbecued meat and spices, and he inhales deeply to breathe in the variety of aromas. On the bed, Noctis also sniffs the air, and although they both ate a hearty dinner, it was a few hours ago now.

Noctis complains that he’s hungry, rubbing his belly for good measure and turning puppy-dog eyes on Ignis. Normally, Ignis would remind Noctis that he shouldn’t eat immediately before sleeping, the tantalising smells wafting in through the window are too much for even him to resist. Before Noctis has the chance to run through a list of reasons why Ignis should run out and grab some kebabs, Ignis is already lacing up his boots.

“Won’t be long,” he says as he hastily exits their room and quietly closes the door so he doesn’t disturb Prompto and Gladio in the next room along. True to his word, he isn’t long at all, and lets himself in again, carefully balancing the cardboard containers with hot, spiced meat in his free hand.

Not fast enough. If there’s one thing Noctis enjoys more than late-night snacking, it’s sleeping and he’s out like a light, still fully dressed atop his bed covers. Rather than let the food go to waste, he takes it next door to the others, then returns to ready himself for his own slumber.

Before crawling into his own bed, he leans down and kisses both of Noctis’ eyelids to wish him a goodnight.

v.

The rapid pace of his heartbeat makes Ignis feel light-headed and dizzy. When he lifts his hand to cup Noctis’ cheek, there’s a very faint tremble; of the two of them, he’s the one lacking confidence in spite of Noctis’ gentle words of encouragement. The flush dusting Noctis’ cheeks mirrors Ignis’ own, and he feels the burn heat up further when a hand glides down, over his stomach.

“Are you sure about this, Noct? It’s not too late to back out…” He must make absolutely certain that this is something they both want, because once they do this, there’ll be no going back to the way things were. A firm nod from Noctis isn’t enough, so Ignis raises his brow until he hears the word: yes.

Swallowing a moan when Noctis’ fingers dip below his waistband, Ignis squeezes his eyes tight shut, then opens them again, fully expecting to find that this is all in his imagination. It’s not. Noctis kneels in front of him on the bed wearing an expression of absolute wickedness - a look Ignis has never seen before - and if he wasn’t ready before, he is now.

“Noct…” Parted lips absorb his vision, beckoning him closer with soft words murmuring lewd promises. Ignis cannot resist. As fingers curl around his length, he bows his head and loses himself in a kiss like no other.

[royalbeardclub]

Neckbeards: Everything You Should Know And Understand

Growing a beard is a journey. You’ll start with the first, faint wisps of hair and progress down the road to something more substantial. There are plenty of interstitial stages, some of which are more attractive than others. At some point, though, you’re going to have to ask a question of yourself.

That question, of course, is whether or not you’ve accidentally started growing a neckbeard.

Believe or not, but this style is something that certain people covet. It’s also become a byword for a certain type of person, so you might not find said neckbeard exactly as charming as some others. What you need, then, is information.

It’s always good to take a look at the various types of beards and to figure out which one really works for you. When it comes to the neck beard, this means taking a look at what a neckbeard is and what it means to the world at large. From there, you can decide if this is a beard style with which you’d like to be associated.

By the time you’re done with this piece, you’ll know a lot more about neckbeards – and you should know whether having one is something worth pursuing.

What Is A Neckbeard?

Before you start your journey towards growing (or maybe shaving off) a neckbeard, it’s probably worth your time to learn a little more about the facial hairstyle. The bad news, of course, is that getting any straight information about this kind of style has been rendered nearly impossible thanks to memes.

Technically speaking, a neckbeard is both a very real and a very intentional type of beard. It’s also exactly what one would expect from the term – a beard that exists entirely below the jaw. In an intentional case, it involves shaving everything above your neck to achieve this dubious look.

As you might imagine, there aren’t a lot of intentional neckbeards floating around these days. What there are, though, are beards that look patchy enough to qualify as neckbeards even if they aren’t quite the type of beards that fit in the definition.

You can see the occasional intentional neckbeard pop up in culture when people want a real throwback style – in most cases, Civil War aficionados or gentlemen who love an intellectual look that dates back to the antebellum era. They’re few and far between, but those who grow these beards on purpose are pretty fastidious about their upkeep.

It is much more common to see something that’s just on the edge of being a true neckbeard. These include more traditional beards that start a little lower than normal and, of course, the kind of stubble that some consider fashionable. It’s not intentional by any stretch of the imagination, but some people will stick with this kind of look.

In short, there are still neckbeards around both purposefully and due to inaction. If you’re looking to sport this kind of look, you can probably get away with it if you have the right attitude about your facial hair.

Neckbeard Memes

If you’re like most people who spend time on the internet, you probably don’t immediately associate the neckbeard with a purposeful beard style. No, you associate it with the memes – yes, that meme that’s forever associated with the Fedora Guy, even though the Guy in question doesn’t really have a neckbeard.

In the world of internet meme culture, the neckbeard is synonymous with a very specific type of person. This person is almost always male, probably wears a fedora, and doesn’t have great personal hygiene. The neckbeard isn’t a choice – it’s just the thing that grows in when you don’t shave.

These memes have cropped up because there’s a certain type of overly entitled, somewhat delusion gentlemen that both loves to lurk on the internet and hates to put in anything other than the barest of efforts when it comes to personal style. While the neckbeard might have noble origins, this guy doesn’t really embrace them.

What else does the neckbeard do? Well, he tends to love anime and swords, doesn’t particularly like women, and he definitely has an opinion on everything. He’s the kind of guy who says ‘Um, actually…’ whenever anyone states anything and he’s basically just the worst kind of person.

There are few fates worse for a facial hairstyle than being associated with this type of person or meme. Unfortunately, the neckbeard is now definitely linked with fedoras, mall ninjas, and the world of imageboards.

Recognizable Names Who Once Rocked Neckbeards

While the internet definition of the neckbeard might be a little rough, that doesn’t mean that some cool people haven’t rocked this style from time to time. In fact, the neckbeard has a pretty strong pedigree from throughout history.

If you want to see the neckbeard at its height, you actually need to go all the way back to Ancient Rome. Romans had some pretty strange relationships with facial hair – a full beard could often be considered a barbarian’s look, so a lot of higher-class men kept themselves shaven. Those who were at the top of the food chain, though, had a lot more leeway with how they groomed themselves.

We know from busts that both Claudius and Nero had thing neckbeards. While Nero isn’t exactly an emperor that anyone would want to emulate these days, it’s almost certain that the style was fairly common in the upper levels of the Roman aristocracy.

The neckbeard style fades in and out of history from there, popping up again in with the Amish. Yes, these hardworking farmers and craftsmen have been known to rock their own neckbeards from time to time, though they tend to keep some facial hair on their cheeks as well.

Why did the Amish like this style so much? There are conflicting reports, but some say that the lack of a mustache was a protest move against militarism. Regardless, the neckbeard look has become synonymous with their religion.

If you want to go to a pop culture figure with a neckbeard, Thoreau is the go-to man. Henry David Thoreau wasn’t just a writer – he was a facial hair rebel. He made the somewhat outlandish claim that his neck whiskers helped to protect him from the cold, but realistically he did a lot to popularize the style among other New England intellectuals.

The Modern Neckbeard Styles

If you look back at the neckbeards of guys like Thoreau, you’ll notice that they are incredibly intentional pieces of facial artwork. The modern neckbeard, though, is really no such thing. If you’re looking at the modern version of this phenomenon, you’re largely looking at works in progress.

As a note, there are still people who go for this style purposefully. They might like Thoreau or they might just believe that they can fight off colds more easily, but these people are generally pretty easy to identify by the fact that they have fairly luxurious neckbeards. That’s not the case with most others in this situation.

What you’re really looking at in a modern neckbeard style is a patch beard-in-progress. The beard itself looks like a neckbeard no so much because it’s being grown out they way on purpose, but because it’s the first part of the grower’s facial hair to reach any kind of notable length.

How can you tell if someone is in the middle of growing past this look? Simply put, you take a look at the rest of their face. If you notice that there’s the beginning of facial hair in other places, you’re probably looking at a work in progress. If you notice clean skin or stubble, though, you’re looking at someone who is growing a true neckbeard.

Note that the chinstrap is another version of the neckbeard and that it has its own very specific look. The chinstrap can best be thought of as a thin neckbeard that goes gently under the chin and connects back up at the sideburns. In the cases in which it hits the chin, it’s probably not a technical neckbeard.

In short, it’s rare to see a modern neckbeard as a purposeful work. They’re out there, though, and those that are real are pretty impressive.

Should I Shave My Neck When Growing A Beard

This is one of those really big questions asked by people who are, perhaps reasonably, terrified of being labeled a neckbeard when they are simply trying to grow out their facial hair. The question here really isn’t one of whether or not you should shave your neck – it’s a question of learning how to grow a beard.

The first thing to start with here is the obvious – your beard is going to take time to grow in. You can’t will it into existence, not even if you are the kind of guy who has to shave twice a day to look decent. Your beard is going to come in at the pace that it’s going to come in, and there’s not an awful lot you can do about that.

Now, there are steps you can take to try to avoid the neckbeard stage. If you can start exercising and maintain a good diet, you’ve got a much better chance to bring in healthier, thicker hair that conforms to your jawline. You might not have signed up for a full lifestyle change when growing a beard, but getting in shape does help.

While some do use a beard to hide the natural shape of their face, the truth is that the early stages of a beard are going to accentuate what you already have working for you. Avoiding excessive weight gain during this process is a good way to make sure that even hair on your neck looks good.

Should you actually shave your neck? The answer here is a solid maybe. In some cases, shaving your neck can help because you’re not aiming to grow your beard down that low. It’s especially helpful if you are the kind of person who can only grow facial hair below the jawline when you’re not putting in a concentrated effort.

Be careful with shaving your neck, though, because going too high can ruin the beard that you are trying to grow. It’s generally considered a good idea to stop shaving altogether if you are trying to grow a full beard, but only you know what you can get away with in terms of your personal look.

If you are going to shave your neck, try to exercise some caution. Don’t go quite as high as you think you need to go – this will provide you with a little more wiggle room if you are unhappy with the final product.

It cannot be overstated how important it is that you look at the process of shaving your neck as one of cleaning up strays rather than making a major change to your appearance. You are looking to make as small a change as possible to keep your beard in an ideal condition. If you choose to tear everything down, don’t be surprised if you have to start everything over again.

That’s not all you’re going to have to think about, though. There are a few other problems that tend to crop up in beard growers, including:

Too much stress over the beard

Poor hygiene

Lack of overall patience

The first and the third can best be solved by slowing down and letting nature take its course. Try not to worry so much about whether or not you have a neckbeard – carrying yourself calmly and cooly will help to deflect some of the problems that come with the facial hair choice.

The second, though, does require a little extra work. You may not need to worry about shaving your neck if you are willing to keep your beard area clean and moisturized. You should invest in a good beard shampoo and do what you can to wash your face regularly.

If you can keep clean and neat, shaving your neck won’t be too much of a priority. Feel free to clean up when necessary, but remember that the secret to growing a beard is making the choice not to shave off your facial hair in the first place.

How To Trim Your Neck Beard

If you’ve got a neckbeard and you are going to trim it, you definitely need the right products. Below are some of the tools that you’re going to need as well as the techniques that you’ll want to use.

1. Grab Your Razor

This one is kind of a personal choice, but you’re going to choose either a standard razor or a beard trimmer. The former gives you a little more control, while the latter makes life a lot easier.

2. Find Your Line

You’re going to want to locate your Adam’s Apple for this step. You’ll usually want to start shaving just below the top of your Adam’s Apple if you’re going to get rid of your neckbeard.

3. Follow Your Jaw

Use your razor and follow along with the shape of your jaw, getting rid of everything below that imaginary line.

You’re absolutely going to want to stick to the line or lower – going higher is going to ruin any of the work that you’ve already done on your beard.

Am I A Neckbeard?

After reading all of this, you’re probably feeling a little bit self-conscious about any hair that you’ve got on your neck. You might be growing it out because you think that Ambrose Burnside was a pretty good general or because you’re working on a full beard, but now you might wonder if that neckbeard defines you.

In truth, the fact that you’re asking yourself that question means a lot. If you’re looking at the internet definition of a neckbeard, you are looking at someone who isn’t exactly all that introspective. He thinks he’s great and he doesn’t care what his so-called beard looks like.

Now, there are some other things at which you should be looking if you want to avoid joining those accursed ranks. Are you taking care of yourself? Don’t just look at your beard here – when was the last time you took a shower? Washed your face? Are your clothes clean?

The antithesis of a neckbeard is a man who puts some work into taking care of himself. If you’re growing your beard, that’s great – just remember to wash you face and carry yourself with some confidence at the same time. You’re not a neckbeard, you’re just a man who is growing some great facial hair.

In short, the neckbeard is a very real facial hairstyle as well as a meme. The two tend to overlap, so make sure that your facial hair goals go beyond being a caricature. No matter how you choose to style your facial hair, make sure that you own your style.

The post Neckbeards: Everything You Should Know And Understand appeared first on Royal Beard Club.

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[datingadviceonreddit]

Having been very self-conscious about being super unattractive when I was younger (brown kid in super white english town, super skinny, hit puberty super late), I’ve paid close attention to what makes people more attractive and put effort into becoming more attractive, and recently I feel like it’s worked.Here’s a run down of practical advice (some of which I’ve followed myself) that I think can make you seem more attractive. I’m not advocating that you change your personality to suit what society sees as more attractive or anything, or that the only reason you should be kind is to get girls - it’s just that I’ve noticed these things are perceived as attractive. And I’m not saying being attractive and being in a relationship will make you happy. If you’re happy to change yourself a little to be more attractive, then I think you should follow the advice. It’s all about how much you’d rather stay true to who think you are. For me, I didn’t change anything that I valued about myself.General Tip : Charisma on Command have amazing YouTube videos on applied psychology.​I think the main aspects of being attractive are being funny, confident and positive (more than looks).​Number one tip : smile more.​How can you actually get funnier?- Watch comedies (recommended - B99, Parks and Rec, etc.) You’ll start to pick up the humour.- Follow popular meme pages. You’ll start to pick up the humour.- Pay attention to what people around you laugh at. Try and apply that kind of humour.- If you have to, look up jokes online so that you can tell them randomly or if an appropriate situation arises.- Experiment. If you’re not a funny person, you’re going to inevitably create some awkward silences, but it’s probably worth it. Eventually you’ll start making people laugh, which will make you feel great and also more attractive.In general try to avoid dark humour, overtly sexual humour or self-depricating humour, because the first two can make you seem creepy and the third can make you seem less confident.​How can you actually seem more confident?- POSTURE. Look up AthleanX’s YouTube videos on posture.- Body Language. Open body language makes you more approachable. Charisma on Command on Youtube is great for this.- Try and walk with confidence. If you want to, you can literally look up YouTube videos on walking in a cooler way.- Actually being more confident. Stop telling yourself you’re not good enough. Tell yourself that you’re the shit (but also equal to everyone else don’t start being a dick). Try and face your fears in social situations. Speak to strangers. Stop procrastinating. Improve yourself generally. Work hard at things. Exercise. Be kinder.​Also I read somewhere that kindness and generosity is seen as more attractive. Obviously you should be those things anyway, but if you’re trying to be a dick alpha male to be attractive, I really don’t think that’s gonna work. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kindness-attractive_n_6063074?ec_carp=2773262034116512143&guccounter=1​HobbiesIn my opinion there are hobbies that make you more attractive.- Learn to sing well or try to improve your singing. YouTube is great for this.- Learn to play an instrument, I think an acoustic guitar is the most attractive- Some kind of martial art / self defence- Reading.- Write poetry or prose or something. https://www.wattpad.com/​Physical Attractiveness- Follow male models / actors on social media to get an idea of what is generally considered attractive- Exercise (going to the gym will make you look more muscular so is probably your best option in terms of exercise). I recommend AthleanX on YouTube.- Take care of your skin, benzoyl peroxide is great, use a moisturiser​Hair- If you’re not sure about whether you like your hairstyle, I recommend copying a famous person’s hairstyle- You can watch videos about getting and maintaining different hairstyles on YouTube- Short back and sides generally looks better than leaving everything even length​- If you’re not sure what to ask for at the barbers, show them a picture (of a celeb or of you when your hair looked good)- Google what fades and tapers and numbers etc mean if you don’t understand them so you can communicate better with your barber- Leaving your hair a bit longer is usually safer than getting it cut a bit shorter- Make a Google doc of what exactly you want to ask your barber for in the future if you don’t want to use a picture- Consider getting your eyebrows threaded/trimmed/shaped or tweezering between your eyebrows​Smell- Shower every morning- use enough deodorant that if you sniff your clothes you can smell it, but you can’t smell it otherwise- roll-on antiperspirants are the most effective. Apply them at night before you go to sleep. I recommend Loreal Men.​Fashion- I’m brown and I really believe certain colours suit you better depending on your skin colour and eye colour (for me - black, white, khaki)- You can get an idea of what styles look good from IG models and actors, obviously you probably can’t afford their actual clothes but you can get similar cheaper alternatives. @davidjamesseed does affordable fashion on IG. Asos is great for cheap clothes and has a good variety.- When you’re out in public, pay attention to men whose outfits you like and try and copy their style.- It may be useful to make a decision between buying fewer more expensive clothes or more cheaper clothes depending on your style.- check out thread.com, you get personalised free style advice​If you want to seem more attractive to a particular person, try to engage with their interests. Follow who they follow, watch what they watch, read what they read, listen to what they listen to, do what they do. (I’m not telling you to stalk them, please don’t stalk them).​Aaand there you go. via /r/dating_advice