#i think that’s also some of the blessing of it being a short series

[yellowsubiesdance]

watched all of fleabag again, this time with me mum

[lure-of-writing]

His little sister

Summary: Azriel point of view of the things you do as Rhysands little sister (This should be read only after reading all in a days work and knock before you enter otherwise it probably won't make any sense as you need the know what happened in the other two for this to make sense )

word count: 2.5 k

Note: Hello! For a while I was stumped on how to continue the little sister series so boom! I present to you Azriel's pov. I would love to hear what you guys think about having things from this perspective also! please don't be shy and let me know!

The playful touches and not so subtle glances across the room paired with the seductive bit of your lip as it lifts into a forbidden smile is not lost upon the spymaster of the night court. In fact everything you did never went unnoticed by him. As Rhysands little sister he was more or less forbidden from having any relationship with you that was purely platonic or sibling-like. Much to the high lord's irritation, once you learned of the rules set in place for the general and the shadow singer, you had made it your own personal mission to see just how much you could get away with. Just how far could you bend the rules before your older brother snapped? 

Azriel was well aware of the game you played in hopes of causing your brother a small amount of distress. Unfortunately for him, he respected his high lord and his wishes to much to counter your advances with some of his own but that doesn’t mean he can’t help you accomplish your lifes works of making your brother rub his temples with a long sigh and a shot of whiskey or which ever bottle of alcohol appeared before him first. 

It had been just a few short weeks after your fifteenth birthday when you had learned about the guidelines Rhys had set for the two other males in your family. Being told what to do never sat well with you, neither did being told who you can and can’t do things with. At first your reaction was to find your brother and argue with him until he couldn’t think straight but when you were on the way to his office you bumped into your favorite member of the bat boys.  Azriel was leaning  against the wall of Rhysands office waiting for his meeting with Helion when you were stuck with a brilliant idea. “Az?” his hazel eyes shifted from the dark oak doors to where you stood in the middle of the hall. “Yes?”  as soon as the word had left his mouth he knew you were up to something. It was the way your eyes lit up in excitement and you shuffled over to him with hurried steps. Huddled close to his body you beaconed him to lean down so you could whisper in his ears. Wordlessly he follows your commands. “Would you like to help me make Rhys question why he was blessed with being my brother?” 

The sly smile and trouble that brewed in your eyes was enough to get him to say yes. Not like he could ever say no to you in the first place but that wasn’t important. From that moment on he would allow you to flirt with him and crawl into his lap with no rejection. This drove Rhysand up a wall. He said that they could not try to flirt with you but you never said anything about it being the other way around and you had taken full advantage of that each and every single time the opportunity presented itself. 

Family dinners amongst the inner circle were never an uncommon thing but since everything that transpired over the last fifty something years had the family dinners becoming a more common tradition. After dinner talks and catching up had been moved to the living room. Silently Azriel sat by himself, listening to his family talk. Perfectly content with listening rather than speaking. While Cassian went on this third rant about why he was certain that he could fight Bryaxis, if and big if here, they weren’t so scary looking, when you had gotten up from where you were sat next to Mor on the floor. He watched as you left the room and not even a second later his shadows informed him that you were getting another wine. 

His attention shifted from his brother onto you when you had reentered the room with a glass full of wine and strutted over to him and made yourself comfortable in his lap. Az would never admit it but the feeling of your arm draped over his shoulder and playing with his hair was one of his favorite feelings in the world. As your body leaned into his, the temperate difference between the two of you became very apparent to the shadowsinger. Without thinking he placed his much warmer hand on your freezing and goosebump covered leg to help warm you back up. The slit in your dress had done nothing to help keep you warm. 

Without saying anything he watched as his brother marched his way over to where you had chosen to sit, also known as Azriels lap. He watched as Rhys reached his hand out in hopes of pulling you off of closest friend and he watched as Rhysands face morphed into one of confusion to anger as Azriels wings furled around you to keep your brother from grabbing you from him. If there was one thing that the shadowsinger knew with one hundred percent certainty, it was that you could handle yourself. The context didn’t matter, you could always handle yourself. So while you and your brother went back and front he mindlessly began to rub comforting circles where his hand had found purchase on your leg. And once Rhysand had made his way back to his mate, he had leaned down and pressed his lips against your hairline. “You are a menace” giggling you smile up at him before shrugging and taking a sip of your forgotten wine. 

Visiting the court of nightmares was never something that brought Azriel much joy. More often than not he was watching for any threats against his high lord's life, now he had to worry about his high lady also. It wasn’t as if Azriel wasn’t capable of handling such a task but when you had revealed that you would also be in attendance, it brought Azriel another level of stress. He knew that you could handle the court politics and the volleyball of words sent back and forth with hidden messages. Hell you had even been trained by all three males and Morrgian. You were more than capable of looking out for yourself but there has always been a part of Azriel that couldn’t rest when he knew you could be in danger at any moment. 

Now the notoriously quiet male, while known for not saying much, always had something to say when it came to you. There was no comment too small that you made that didn’t get an answer from Az in return.  As you finally made your way down the staircase to your awaiting family Azriel had just about a thousand thoughts and compliments he could give you at any moment. While your brother had a meltdown in the background all Azriel could focus on was you and as you made your way down the last few steps he reached his hand out helping you the rest of the way down. Shamelessly he looked you up and down not caring that your brother just might beat his ass for looking at you in such an outfit. Once his eyes reached your, you sent him a wink and beaming smile. Az could tell that you had wanted to ask him what he thought of your clothing choices but decided that dealing with your brother would be the best idea  before he dragged you back up the stairs himself and forced you to change. 

While at the place of nightmares the shadows that sung to Azriel hung close to his body, only leaving to secretly watch over you and make sure you were ok. For most of the night all was well, at least as well as things can get in the court of nightmares. That was until his shadow came back to inform their master of the predicament that had presented itself to you. He watched from afar as you pushed your way out of the crowd and towards himself. Pushing off of the pillar he was once perched against he made his way towards you. Az’s blood began to boil when he watched the random fae male wrap his arms around your waist and pulled your body into his. In two long strides he was in front of the strange male and yourself, demanding he release his grip on you or he would do it for him. There wasn’t a part of Azriel that enjoyed the violence he brings upon those he was tasked with gathering information from but holding truth teller to the male's neck did in fact bring him joy. 

Upon your release he guided you back to where he was previously standing to make sure you were ok and that the random male didn’t inflict any harm to you. After his thorough evaluation of your body met his standards he returned his gaze to meet your and suddenly your cold hand was pressed against his warm cheek and the burn of the two temperatures had never felt so nice before. Once again your hand had found its resting place in his hair and your lips on his and Azriel swore hes never felt something as soft as your lips on his.  As soon as your lips had met his, Az knew he was in for a whole world of pain when Rhysand got his hands on him but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. 

Az recently pulled away when he felt the anger of his high lord coming at him with the purpose of making him bow to the power radiating off of Rhysand. “We should probably get out of here before he kills you.” looking down he saw the mischief twinkling in your eyes and he positive nobody can pull off that look quite like you can. The wink you sent over your shoulder as you grab his hand pulls him out of the trance you had put him in. Willingly Azriel followed your lead out of the ball room while you bumped into his arm periodically. “Honestly he just might kill us both.” he felt you mumble into his shoulder as you hid your face and laughter in his body. Chuckling he couldn’t help but agree before winnowing you back to the house of wind. 

After Rhyand had actually considered beating the shadowsinger to a pulp your usual antics had dwindled in frequency which saddened Azriel more than he was willing to admit. During training you kept clear of him in case your brother didn’t approve of you even looking in his general direction and it had been almost two weeks since he had last talked to you for more then five minutes and honestly it was starting to drive him crazy. After a family dinner consisting of you, Nesta, Cassiand and himself he finally approached you. “You're going to the Summer court tomorrow right?” As the resident know-it-all he already knew your answer but he waited nonetheless “Yes?” Azriel watches as you place your book in your lap to give him your full attention and he swears he could bask in it forever. “I’m not doing anything for the next week, would you like me to go with you?”  The beaming smile you sent him was confirmation enough. 

That's how he found himself in your room the next morning helping you get ready. You had asked his opinion on basically every piece of your outfit and Azriel had never been so happy to assist someone put together their clothes for the day. After you had pulled all the needed pieces of clothing from your closest you held up the corset you picked for him to see. “I’ll need your help putting this on.” And that's how once again Azriel feared Rhys would consider pummeling him once more. 

Not once during Rhysands withering glare did Azriel stop pulling the strings of your corset until they were tight enough and only then did he gently pull the strings into a bow before removing his hands from your body. After finishing his assigned task Az thought it was best to leave the siblings to deal with each other and he would wait for you on the rooftop to begin your journey to the summer court. Only after he could assume was a long lecture from your older brother on being safe did the two of you join him on the roof. “I swear if a single hair on her head is out of place I will kill you.”  As much as Azriel wanted to laugh at the worn out sound of his friend he simply nodded his head before acknowledging what he said. 

The week in the summer court with you felt more like two days. Any time with you never felt like enough. On the way back Rhysand had talked to him and you that he wanted a debrief before you did anything upon your return. Gently he set you back on the ground once he had landed in front of the river house and he already missed the feeling of your body on his. He really wished and in that moment that he never agreed to those rules Rhysand had set for him and Cassian all those hundred of years ago. 

The silence that engulfed the room would make anyone who didn’t know the two males squirm from how uncomfortable it was, but these two males had dealt with much more stressful problems and had sat in more silence than the average people did. Azriel knew that lately your antic had been pushing the line but he had never stopped you nor had he ever thought too. Mainly because he didn’t want you too but also in fear that if he asked you to stop you would never come to him again. “Truly Rhys there is nothing going on between me and your sister. You and I both know she only does this to get under your skin and she does that very well. As long as it bothers you then she will keep doing it. You know this.” 

After a long and much needed talk Azriel made his way to the stand outside of the river house collecting a much needed breath of fresh air while he came to terms with his conversation with his oldest friend. A few moments pass before you come waltzing out of the house as if you had accomplished some great mission. “Maybe next time he’ll knock” Azriel knew exactly what you were talking about and couldn’t help but laugh at what you said. He didn’t need to ask you what you did as the one shadow that always kept you company told him all about what you had just done to your brother and his poor unsuspecting mate. Without another word Azriel scooped you into his arm while pressing a gentle kiss to your temple. Gods he wished this wouldn’t be the last time he felt your skin against his lips.

Rhysand had asked him to put a stop to your behavior towards him. Not that you made the shadowsinger uncomfortable, gods no, you could never do that. It was just you were your brother's pride and joy and he refused to let the males he considered his brothers to be the reason your heart broke. Rhysand would never be able to forgive or look at Azriel the same and he knew that. Azriel just wished the golden string tying the two of you together didn’t have to be hidden from everyone including you.

Taglist: @kemillyfreitas @gorlillaglue25 @willowpains

[marieracingteam]

A Flower to a Lilybug – ls.18

stepdad!Lance Stroll | series

word count: 1612

summary: The story of how Lance finally met Lily, or the story of how Lawrence became a flower before he became a grandpa.

Lily was just two years old when Lance met her mom, which meant that Lily wasn't really aware of all that was happening in her life.

She knew she had a mum and she knew, somewhere, she had a dad. Dad, however, was never around so she didn't really think much of him or his family, whom Lily had barely met. She also knew that mum had a mum and a dad who lived far away and she only saw once or twice a year and a few more times over the phone.

But that was pretty much all. For Lily, mum was her everything –and for the most part her only thing– for her whole short life.

That was until Lance came through.

Her mum and he had been talking for a whole year before she agreed to start calling their dates dates, but not before he met her daughter and she gave them their blessings.

Lance of course had accepted her pace, how could he not when he knew she was just protecting her daughter and herself after being betrayed by her last partner?

And because he knew how much she needed everything to be perfect, he tried extra hard to make everything perfect on that first day.

Maybe a little too hard.

He had spent long hours thinking about every single detail. He had even asked his father for help like he tended to do.

Maybe that is why he was so nervous when he first met Lily. The now three years old, in response, got also shy, probably sensing the grown-ups expectations.

“Hello Lily. I am Lance, mom’s friend. Mom has told me a lot about you and I wanted to meet you” he said while offering the girl his hand.

“Hi you!” she squealed before running back into the living room where she was playing with some dolls.

However, the dinner had gone more smoothly. At least at first. Lance had relaxed enough to make conversation with the little girl and Lily had quickly forgotten that she didn't know him when he started to ask her about the things she loved.

He had thought about gifting something to the little girl, but his father had told him to not buy the girl with expensive gifts. So instead he had learned to do paper dolls like Lily's mum had told him she loved to do.

Lily was so close to liking him when her mum started to breathe strangely.

“Peanuts” she screamed, grabbing her neck and making Lance run to where she always kept an EpiPen in her bag.

If he hadn't been so worried about the woman swelling up in his backseat, he would have probably been stressed about the crying little girl he had left with his father at home.

Because he loved his father, he truly loved the old men, but he could be scary and he knew he was bringing down his chances of winning the little girl’s heart by the second.

“Sorry, love. The bakery must have mix up the cakes. I don't know how that happened. I am so sorry. I told the man a thousand times to not put any nuts” Lance said again and again while he ran to the hospital.

The woman just laughed at the situation and when Lance looked at her through the rearview she was smiling. He didn't know then, but that was the first time someone had cared so much about her and her daughter.

And Lance didn't have anything to worry about, because back at home his father was doing all the hard work with Lily.

“So…” Lawrence said looking at the little girl who was sitting on the sofa eating ice cream “I heard you like doing paper dolls”

“Yeah” she answered, licking the spoon clean “And you?”

“Not my expertise, but I can see the charm in it”

Lily just looked up at him. When she had calmed down after the old man explained to her that her mom was fine but she needed a bandaid to be perfect, the girl had started to analyze the man.

Her mum had told her beforehand all about her friend and the get-together they were going to have that night, but she didn't expect any of that. Her mother had forgotten to tell her that after dessert they would run out and leave her alone at home with an unknown man.

Lily knew she was just a little girl, but wasn't that what her mother had told her not to do?

“You are weird, Flower” the girl finally said after deciding that she could trust the strange man with the funny name. If her mother trusted him enough to leave her in his care, who was she to not do it?

“Why is that?” Lawrence asked sitting beside her on the couch. 

The girl just shrugged her shoulders. Her mother had taught her that it was wrong to say those things to people, especially older ones. The previous comment had slipped out of her mouth.

In her defense, Lily would say that Lance's dad was strange indeed. Lance too. Her mother's friend had sweaty hands and had dropped his spoon more times than she had. Plus, mom's friend's face turned red all the time. All the times her mom spoke at least.

But Lance's dad was even weirder. All his hair was white, all. Plus he was the oldest person Lily had ever seen, even older than Mom's friend from work who had just turned 40 recently and invited them to her party. The man was tall and was wearing a suit like on TV. Lily had never seen anyone on the streets of her town in Canada wearing one of those outfits beyond the movies.

Plus, Lance's dad had let her eat the ice cream straight out of the container to stop her from crying, which was weird, because her mom never let her do that. But she wasn't going to complain.

“And what is that Flower thing?” Lawrence asked finally.

“Your name, duh” Lily responded with the spoon still in her mouth.

See? Weird. The man had just said that was his name.

“My name is Lawrence” the man corrected.

“Florence,” she said back before making the connection “flower”.

The man laughed a deep laugh that reminded Lily of movie villains. And he looked like one. If he didn't have such a funny name, Lily probably would have been scared of him. “I am not a flower”

“You look like one” the girl responded, sure of her opinion.

“Why is that?” the man pressed, amused at the conversation.

“The white petals” she said pointing at his hair “Do you know how to braid?”

Lawrence laughed again. Lance had told him a lot about the woman he was meeting and had told him some things he was discovering about her daughter, but Lawrence did not expect the pleasant surprise that was meeting first the mother at a gala and then the girl, even if it was under those circumstances.

The mother was polite and affectionate with his son. Lawrence had been doubtful of her at first, as he always used to be when someone new came into their lifes. But at no time had she shown interest or asked for anything in exchange of her company like other used to do. If Lawrence was right, and he usually was, the only reason she was still with Lance was because she was really interested in his son.

And the girl. The girl had been a breath of fresh air.

It had been a long time since Lawrence last was around small children. His children were already grown and despite his insistence, his daughter had not yet made him a grandfather.

Even if the girl wasn't exactly Lance's, if everything went as his son expected that night, this wouldn't be the last time Lawrence would see the girl.

And, at that moment, he felt like it was in his power to help make everything happen that way, even if he himself had shown him his reluctance when he found out that the woman his son was with already had a daughter from a previous relationship.

“Yeah, I do. Do you want one braid?” he offered.

“No” she said still licking the empty spoon.

“Lance also knows how to braid. He is very good at it” lied the man. He didn't truly know why he was doing it but he guessed that he will need the extra help impressing the little girl after almost poisining her mom.

While waiting for her mom to come back, Lily decided the man wasn’t that bad anymore. And he was a flower after all. A flower who had ended up braiding her hair into smalls braids and had cut the paper dolls Lance had brought for her. 

He was still a little weird and a little scary looking but he wasn't that bad.

And he was comfy. She had found that when she laid her braided head in his chest while playing with the dolls. 

And! When her mom asks her tomorrow when she wakeds up on her own bed surrounded by all her plushies, she will say that the flower was a magician. Which was a pretty impressive story.

Even when she had swore she wasn't going to fall asleep until her mom came back, the flower had charm her into sleeping while rubbing her belly, like she did with her mom's friend's puppy.

She may not know a lot about old people or grandparents but the flower wasn't that bad himself. And maybe his son wasn't so bad either.

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

A short list of things I would have changed in HoO

It takes place ten ish years after the end of PJO. Percy and Annabeth aren’t a part of the seven but instead appear as cool older mentors to help out the Lost Hero trio. They both have careers and live in New York and go to Sally’s house for dinner every weekend.

Caleo isn’t a thing. In fact, let’s not even mention Calypso. At most we mention she was freed after the last war as idk proof demigods have some power or something.

More than 1 Asian character. Give this one ADHD and dyslexia bc shocker Asian kids can be disabled as well.

For that matter a properly disabled character. I have a deaf OC I would use if I rewrote the series.

Leo is aroace. His arc is about learning that his self worth doesn’t have to be tied to the people around him and his friends love and care about him and he doesn’t need romance to be complete. His flirting is overcompensation bc he doesn’t feel romantic or sexual attraction and is afraid he’ll be alone forever.

Drew and Piper become friends. Drew’s mean girl bullshit is outdated and boring and it would have been a lot cooler to see her icy exterior thaw and her help Piper with her charmspeck (explaining how Piper learned how to use it to begin with) and take on an older sister role

Neither Leo nor Piper become head councilors to their cabins because that’s dumb

Keep the chapter title style from PJO. It was so fun and one of the highlights of the series for me. The relatable nature of PJO in general was kinda lost in HoO and it’s a shame bc there was such a variety of characters for people to identify with there.

Give Reyna a girlfriend or at least a homoerotic friendship that can become an actual relationship in the next series or something

Frank is 14 and he and Hazel aren’t dating, they just have mutual baby crushes on one another.

For that matter what the fuck was ‘Frank is magically not fat due to Mars’s blessing’ bullshit? Frank is a fat character who stays fat but learns to be confident in himself and his body type.

Stop The Adultification of Hazel 2k23. Hazel is 13, she’s the youngest member of the seven and despite her trauma I think that should be obvious. I think emphasizing her relationship with Nico could be fun here - he’s in his 20s so him taking a more ‘that older sibling who toes the line between parent and sibling’ role here could be fun.

Also, I don’t want Hazel to have Hecate’s blessing or whatever. Between her being a magical horsegirl and the daughter of Pluto there’s already a lot of room to expand on her powers that was never used - I think doing more with her cursed jewels and metals powers and her learning the other aspects of her powers, like Shadow Travel, would be fun.

Instead I think having a daughter of Hecate as a part of the Seven would be cool, because we could still have a witchy character with mist manipulation and magic powers.

Give Jason an actual personality, please. Bro’s been a child solider practically since age 2 and has spent his whole life with the weight of other teenagers’ lives on his shoulders as praetor - give him perfectionism issues and anxiety. We’re told that he’s spent his whole life helping others compromise instead of being his own person - show that. Let his arc end with him deciding to try and live a mortal life and find out who he is beyond being a war general.

Show us that Octavian’s a piece of shit, don’t just tell us.

Leo and Piper are the ones who fall into Tartarus. Nothing romantic ever happens but we get heavy emphasis on their friendship and we get to see their grief over Leo’s mom and Piper’s grandfather respectively

Piper’s grandfather has died a few months ago and she cut her hair herself when her dad didn’t want to let her due to that (correct me if I’m wrong but it’s a tradition in Cherokee culture to cut your hair when a loved one dies, correct?), which is why it’s all uneven. A lot of her insecurities stem from going from growing up in rural Oklaholma (not in a reservation bc there aren’t any there) without much money to suddenly being catapulted into a millionaire Hollywood lifestyle and having everyone criticize everything about her and be really racist, all while her Dad drew farther away from both her and her grandfather. Her arc would be reconnecting with both her culture and Dad and learning to find who she is and her self worth again.

They defeat Gaea in a way that isn’t so anticlimactic and fucking stupid

[shepherds-of-haven]

Happy New Year, everyone! I thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective on the game's progress over the last year... Shepherds of Haven has grown so much from the little demo I posted in January 2018, and it continues to steadily build and flourish in so many different and exciting ways! Here's a look at just some of the things we accomplished in 2023!

I added 143,151 words to the game (2.5 main chapters, 8 new character interludes) in 2023: the equivalent of writing the longest Lord of the Rings book in one year! We also broke our huge 1 million word milestone—without including code—meaning Shepherds of Haven is now officially twice as long as War and Peace, and almost as long as the entire 7-book Harry Potter series... and all in a single game!

A lot goes into game creation behind the scenes, including the coordination and creation of visual assets for the game—like character cards, codex entries, maps, portraits, and backgrounds—fun stuff for the fans (like the MC info template we created), and songs for the official soundtrack. As the game creeps slowly and determinedly towards its initial completion, that also means learning new things as a solo developer to prepare for the future, like learning to build an official website, researching business and tax practices, and beginning to think about how to conduct testing, publishing, and marketing down the road. Much of what I enumerate here hasn't been made public yet and will continue to cook in the background for a while, but I'm very proud of the work I've gotten done this year and will be excited to unveil more in the future!

And of course, for even more Shepherds of Haven content, I've added and completed even more stories for our little library on Patreon (which also has sizable word count at this point): The Bridge of Bones (a Trouble and Riel murder mystery), O Happy Dagger (a dark adventure featuring Briony, Chase, and Red), and The Hunt (a wild tale involving Tallys, Halek, Shery, and new kinds of spirits, fey magic, and Elves) were all serial stories completed in 2023, while Some Kind of Virus is a cyberpunk zombie apocalypse AU that will continue to be updated with new chapters monthly.

A full list of the Shepherd short stories and serial novellas (with links) can be viewed here!

I hope you enjoyed this session of Shepherds of Haven Wrapped! Honestly, this doesn't actually cover everything I've been working on, but some things can't be packaged and listed out neatly, or otherwise won't seem very interesting to anyone else but me! 😂 As we inch through Chapter 9 and get more interludes done (only a few more main chapters to go), I'm hopeful that I'll also be able to find time to work on my next novel, but we'll see if the Shepherds schedule ends up ramping up or settling down as we work steadily towards finishing the main story!

One important thing before wrapping up is to acknowledge your guys' role in this wonderful, wild journey. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for your invaluable contributions to the development of Shepherds of Haven. Whether you took the time to share links to the game, supported its growth on Discord or Patreon, left encouraging messages or asked interesting questions, reported bugs, or showcased your remarkable works of fanfiction or fanart, I am sincerely thankful for the unwavering support from this amazing community! Your collective efforts have played a pivotal role in shaping the world of the game into what it is today. Words cannot adequately convey my gratitude for your support, and I am truly blessed to have such a passionate community surrounding this project.

As we step into 2024, I am filled with anticipation for the developments awaiting Shepherds of Haven. Big things are on the horizon, and I am so excited to share these experiences with you! Thank you for being an integral part of this journey, and here's to the continued growth of our shared little world. Cheers to 2024—may it be a year filled with creativity, adventure, and joy! 🎊

[urf1lterr]

lovesick | pedro pascal [1]

"and on this night and in this light i think im falling, im falling for you."

next chapter: [2] series masterlist

summary: in which a 1975-obsessed film student accidentally falls in love with an older man she can't have.

pairing: actor!pedro x intern!reader

genre: acting world!au, big age-gap!, strangers to friends- maybe lovers?? au | angst, mature, awkward, love- eventually

word count: 7.4k

status: in progress

author's note: this was supposed to only be an introduction but i ended up with a chapter lol. im sorry if its lame, i wrote this half asleep and for fun. not edited btw

"So like...are we gonna keep staring at the door or do you mind if I open it and walk inside?"

Swiftly turning your neck, you glared at your friend who was patiently waiting for your reply- probably begging on the inside to go in by how badly cold it was outside on this tuesday, new york morning.

"Just go inside by yourself!" you rolled your eyes as she shook her head.

"Uh no, for one- I can't let you be out here alone, some man could just push you in a van and sell you to the black market," Jules declared. "then I would lose one birthday gift from you-"

"I will push you in the van myself if you keep talking," you groaned, her constant rambling within the hours making your nerves worsen.

Today was the day Jules, your best friend, and you began your internship on a film set. Actually, it was yesterday, but nobody really counts the short orientation and hours of reading rules and responsibilities a real productive work day, right?

If having the worst anxiety wasn't enough, you were blessed to have been given an amazing coping mechanism of meditation- in which would've been fine with if you didn't look like a complete idiot standing up with your eyes wide open breathing slowly.

But to be fair, this really was your first day on the job. You didn't know what to expect and your friend wasn't exactly a helping hand in these situations. As she was more confident and outgoing, there you were being an introverted, awkward female with amazing music taste- that is you ever felt comfortable to let people hear your music outside of your headphones.

"I don't get just why you have to pray while staring at the door as if you wanna stare into its soul, you look weird," Jules whined, placing her hand over her eyes. "We have to be at Finn's office in 10 minutes or else we're dead."

"Fine," you huff, grabbing your bag you had placed on the floor beforehand onto your shoulder. "Let's go."

Excitedly clapping her hands together, she swung the door open before dragging you down the hall of the room towards the elevators. The two of you had to meet at a studio on the other side of the city for this internship in which wouldn't be a problem if you enjoyed traffic and the crowds of people on the street- but you didn't.

Not only did you have to take the subway and a cab one hour before your schedule 8am start, you had to deal with the troubles of waking up your night owl roommate, Jules again, without slapping her silly by how strong her eyes stay shut.

After getting off the elevators and walking closer to his office, you recognized a couple of the other interns standing around his door looking either extremely nervous, tired- or both.

Suddenly, the door opened and Finn, the man who hired you, jumped out with a bright smile.

It's way too early to be this energetic.

"How is everyone doing on this lovely, working morning?" Finn smiled, making sure to make eye-contact with every single person in the hall before continuing on with his dialogue. "I'll take this silence as a way you all express your gratitude to be able to work on a live set."

With the ongoing silence still occurring, Finn continued with, "please follow me to the room next door, that's where we'll discuss minor details before heading towards the stages."

The minor details were simple, don't screw up.

There was also little insights on what we should be prepared for- taking care of the cast and errands as the day went on.

I suppose experience is what is needed for your future so it shouldn't be a surprise that you wouldn't be around a camera for too long. But it was mentioned that overtime you would accelerate your learning to harder tasks such as on-hands work, which you were terrified over but within time you would get over it.

You had to, this was a part of your dream job after all.

The group was informed more about the project we had to assist, some new show coming out called 'The Last of Us.' To be honest, you weren't familiar with it. Some of the guys in the group threw in their input that they played the game, but you didn't know it was also a combined franchise.

You weren't exactly a gamer or horror film person.

It hadn't even come to your mind that you would be interacting with real-life celebrities until you made near a stage and felt Jules grip your wrist hard and start tugging on it to get your attention as she tried to quiet her fan girl squeals.

Looking up, you saw a group of people walking through a set with papers in their hand, laughing and chatting with one another. Truth be told, you didn't recognize any of them. Maybe you should have done more research regarding this show you know nothing about- but you heard some successful directors had openings for extra help and immediately called your friend to join with.

"Is it bad that I don't recognize any of these people?" you whisper to Jules as she screeches in low volume, shocked that you would dare say that.

"You're joking right?!" she whispers with a high-pitched voice. "Everybody knows them! They are-"

"Is that him?" you heard a girl whisper from your group, Jules stopping her almost-started rant from it. "He really is daddy."

"What the fuck?" you heard one of the guy interns whisper in confusion, looking at her as if she was delusional as she waved her hand to him to not distract her from her view.

You weren't sure who she was talking about and you really didn't want to know. She probably had some silly crush on one of the actors which would just distract her from her job, it isn't worth it.

"Yo man, why is there a line of people looking like they are held at gunpoint?" one person laughed, pointing at your group as you tried to hold back your laughter.

You were assuming the people around you guys were majority of the cast as nobody else but the camera and makeup crew were present in the room. Surprisingly enough, even after seeing them closer you still couldn't figure out who any of these actors were.

Were you really that outdated in the films you watched?

"Way to introduce yourself, Gabriel," Finn replied, giving a pat on his back before turning back to the group. "These are the new interns because you know, you guys made the last ones quit."

"Uh no I didn't, that was all Nick!" you heard a small child gasp, pointing at an older looking man. He looked a little familiar but you couldn't wrap your head around it. "He made them pick up his food orders all the way across town everyday!"

The familiar-looking man had longer hair than most of the men around. "I would've done delivery if that was an option!" The man complained, making the girl scoff in return.

Hold on, you knew that voice. You grew up with that voice.

"Wait, I do know somebody, that's Ron Swanson" you gasped, completely forgetting how loud and clear you were in your surroundings by how fazed out you were to be a few feet away from a comedic legend.

You didn't know all eyes were on you until you felt Jules heavy weight of her shoulders hit yours as she hid her face in embarrassment from your last statement causing you to look up. Everybody tried holding back their giggles as Nick just smiled proudly.

Great, you just exposed how you didn't know them in front of them. Not mortifying at all.

"Funny and smart for knowing me, I like her already," you heard Nick proudly declare, turning to Finn with a firm nod. "You better not fire her."

Feeling your face getting hotter by the second, you wished you could just hide under a blanket and stay in there forever if it meant you never had to embarrass yourself like that again. This probably looked so disreputable on your part.

"And what might this oblivious, tomato be named?" you heard a man curiously question, getting your attention by his big framed glasses on his face.

Did he just call you a fruit?

"Be nice, you're intimidating them. It's like a new fish in a big pond," an older woman responded after, trying to bring some extra comfort into the room but it was too late- you were traumatized.

"Okay, okay," the man held up his hand in defense before turning to look at you straight in the eye. "What might this unaware, cherry tomato be named? That sounds cuter."

"Uh, y/n," you awkwardly stated, holding your hands together while terribly trying to defend yourself. "And it's totally not like I didn't recognize the rest of you!" you lie, pointing at a random person next to him before speaking up again, "you're in that one brilliant movie that was so good!"

The man sheepishly smiled at you before saying, "I am just one of the cameramen, but thank you. I do get told quite a bit that I look like Brad Pitt." And that was the moment you wanted to die inside.

That's it, you're never coming back here again. You've made a fool out of yourself.

"Stop talking," you heard your friend hiss before taking a step forward to help lessen the attention on you. "I am Jules. Not fashionable like the one from Euphoria, but still very friendly and fun."

The cast all waved at her from her radiating charm that could make anyone adore her. "Thank you, Jules who isn't from Euphoria, why don't everyone else introduce themselves."

After everyone had their time to shine, you were excused for a small break as rehearsal had yet to start. You weren't complaining, you would rather be out getting coffee on the other side of town if that meant you could avoid the actors and directors at all times.

Sitting on one of the break room's couches, you felt Jules jump next to you before hitting your shoulder rapidly. "I think that one girl intern hates you!"

Trying hard to remove her fast hands off you, you gave her a confused look. "Uh why? Was it because I embarrassed us?"

There couldn't be any other reason why she might dislike you, it's not like you knew her personally or had ever met her before the last few days.

"I mean Pedro did call you cute minutes after she called him 'daddy', what do you expect?" She giggled as you gave her a disgusted glance at the last term she used. Why would she call him that and feel comfortable saying it so freely? "She's in loveeee with him."

Pedro? So that was his name.

"First of all, he doesn't think I'm cute. The name 'cherry tomato' was cute rather than a hillbilly tomato," you defended, making her scrunch her face in confusion by your nonsense. "Second, there's no way a normal woman would be that upset over one small indirect comment not made in that way."

Jules rolled her eyes by how understanding you weren't being, it annoyed her even more how oblivious- like the man had said, you were being. "He called you a cherry tomato because it has an adorable ring to it for a cute person! Therefore, he finds you pretty- end of story."

"I am beginning to think you really are delusional."

"All I am saying is be careful," she whispers seriously. "She's young and I know a lot of people who obsess over him for his looks."

"Why? He's like in his 40s-"

"Daddy issues? Gray facial hair? I have no clue what people enjoy on their free time," Jules cut you off, shrugging while you snickered. Like you never heard that excuse before.

"Can we check out the set though? I'm feeling better and want to be out there to prove how unaffected I am from earlier- but I will be hiding behind your back."

"As always," she sang, following you out the door back to the main room.

Walking out, you were determined to stay focused and think before you said something silly- which was hard. Your whole life you've always been a little dumb when reading the environment, that's not gonna change within a few minutes.

Looking through the racks of costumes, tables filled with devices you had never seen before, and cameras that were bigger than yourself, one of the interns, Joon, came up to Jules and you to inform that it was time to actually 'work.'

"Damn, I kinda liked just walking around and doing nothing but stare at the lights. Now we have to get our hands dirty for minimum wage," Jules sighed as the two of you walked in front of one of the stages.

The stage was practically empty, only a few white walls installed and chairs scattered around.

After a few minutes of hearing one of the lead director's assistant discuss the plan of going over a few scenes, it came to your realization that this was only a rehearsal.

It made sense, this building wasn't necessarily a 'survival mode" vibe. Maybe a few indoor scenes would do the job, but it wouldn't be enough for the series.

"I want you to run along with Kendall to grab some snacks, go around the room and see what we're missing and restock!" Finn brightly smiled to Jules before turning to you. "Now, what should I do with you?"

Man, you wished you could replace Kendall right now because now you were alone

"She can help me with the makeup," a lady spoke up from a few feet away. She was a very tall, black-haired woman with a few facial piercings who looked like she was in her middle 20s. "We still need to practice to see how it'll look on the screen this week"

Finn looked at you and back at her before shrugging and nodding. "Works for me." He was already walking away before he turned back around, "but don't let her apply too much, I don't want them looking caked up in front of the camera." Lightly scoffing, you made your way to the girl as he walked away.

Standing there in discomfort, you waited for her to lead you in any type of direction to make this task go by quicker. Makeup was not your thing, or at least when it came to doing someone else's.

"I'm Violet, by the way," the girl smiled kindly at you as she handed you a black apron. "You must be y/n."

Taking the apron, you opened it to find in white writing 'TLOU Crew.' "How'd you know? Did me not knowing the cast spread that fast "

Giggling, she shook her head. "Yes and no," she grabbed one of her many make up bags and began looking through it. "Your name tag."

Looking down, you forgot they had written your name on the sticker during the short-lived meeting with Finn. Redness filled your face as you averted your eyes somewhere else, too embarrassed to make eye-contact.

"Anywho," Violet chuckled while putting one hand on her hip. "I thought maybe I could do my normal routine while you can just do the small stuff like brush their eyebrows or hair."

Squinting your eyes, you just gave her a confused look. "Brush their eyebrows? Work with their hair? Isn't the eyebrows fairly too easy for you to need the help and don't you guys have certified hairstylists?"

"Would you rather do more complicated things like taking their never-ending customized coffee orders?" She replied, making you immediately reject the idea. "I volunteered you to help me because I feel like working on harder tasks your first day would only be stressful."

How thoughtful of her.

"Plus, today's not a complicated schedule-," she added as she began lining her brushes around her small table. "-think of it as a practice run over a few lines, but for multiple scenes. We probably have like max 5 people I need to work on so no need for many artists."

There was another older lady in the other side of the table on her phone, probably another experienced makeup artist who knew the drill.

"Got it, today is a light day," you responded back, causing her to smile and hand you a hairbrush.

"See, you have the right mindset," she declared, nudging her head to the side. "And you better keep it because you have your first clients coming in."

Eyes widening, you swiftly twisted your body to see two young girls and Nick come in. Three people, that shouldn't be hard.

"You better make me look adorable," Nick pointed a finger at you as he sat down on a chair near you, causing you to let out a shy laugh as Violet motioned you to come closer.

"I'm going to prep his skin, go to Bella and Nico and ask them to do the same," she advised. "They usually do it themselves on these days to make the process faster."

Nodding you walked to the two young girls, not knowing which was who. The girls were chatting with each other before one with big curls noticed your presence before smiling brightly. "Skin routine, huh? Don't worry, we were about to begin."

Immediately, you noticed her beautiful accent that caused you to stare at her in shock.

"Looks like you frightened her," the other girl laughed, making you glance at her right after. They both had the strong accent.

"Sorry!" you blush, trying to avert your eyes away from them. "I just never heard a British accent- or at least one in person before."

The first girl giggled, waving her hand as a way to prove she didn't mind. "We get that all the time when we visit, it's okay- I never really hear your accent unless I am working on a new project."

"I don't have an accent- you have one," you declare, causing them to laugh harder.

"You seem really amazed by it, is it because you fantasize over Harry Potter or something?" the second girl jokingly questioned, making you chuckle.

"I wish, but I only watched one of his movies and never read the books," you sigh before continuing. "But one of my favorite bands are British so I just get a little loss for words whenever I hear one. It's such a beautiful tone- not to be weird or anything!"

"I agree, New Yorker's just sound so...angry," the first girl shivered. "Which band are you into? Maybe we know them"

"The 1975-"

"Aww, did you do your research on me to make up for earlier," you heard a voice boost through the area. Turning around, you noticed it was the man who called you a tomato, Pedro.

He gave you a cheeky smirk with a look in his eyes as if he knew torturing you will never get old- unless of course you started crying.

"No, you idiot-," the second girl rolled her eyes as he sent her a playful glare for the insult. "-she's talking about the band."

"Wait, you were born in 1975?" you lightly asked, your mind all scrambled in your heard trying to figure out how old he would be now. "that m-

"Yes, I am old!" Pedro fake cried, holding his heart with his hand. "You don't need to remind me that these wrinkles will never go away."

"Well if you had a prepped your skin throughout the years your skin would have been as smooth as a baby's butt like mine," you heard Nick comment from his chair, eyes closed as Violet just laughed in agreement while applying sunscreen on his face.

Pedro just rolled his eyes as the first girl began talking again. "By the way, I love the 1975! Never seen them live though, but they are definitely on my playlists."

You smiled, already feeling comfortable within the environment. Maybe being alone wasn't going to be that terrible.

"I heard he makes out with fans during his concerts," the second girl scrunched her nose in disgust. "Isn't he worried he would end up catching something."

"He probably gets check ups all the time, Bella," the first girl commented, or you suppose Nico since you now know which one was Bella.

"I would catch any disease if it meant I got to kiss Matty Healy for five seconds," you replied, causing the girls to stare at you in astonishment that you just said that so freely.

Maybe talking about your favorite band is slowly making you more confident?

You heard Violet let out a loud laugh as Nick disagreed, saying something about how young girls are too adventurous nowadays but it was true. Matt Healy was a very attractive man whose kiss could probably heal heartaches.

"Isn't he like in his 30s? Aren't you a little too young to be kissing an older man like him?" Violet questioned, making you shrug.

"Maybe I have a thing for older men."

"Wouldn't call a guy who constantly makes out with fans a man," Pedro snorted. "That's a boy."

Nick hummed in agreement as you suppressed a laugh. "How old are you anyway?"

Standing up straight you stared at him and he did the same back. "Guess."

"That never ends up good," Violet chuckled before examining you up and down. "But 18."

Shaking your head, you were young but not that young. At least your skin still made you look like a teenager, god bless.

"25," Bella answered in which you denied that as well.

"29" Nico tried but was wrong.

Nick sat up from his seat to really figure out your age before easily answering "32" and becoming shocked when you denied it. "Woah, are we at least going in the right direction?"

"Violet was headed there."

Pedro sat up in shock at your response. "You're a teenager?!"

"Would it be so wrong if I was?" you questioned. "I would love to live longer."

"She's 21," the other makeup artist who was long forgotten during this conversation casually spoke up, eyes lifting from her phone. The rest of us just stared at her as she did the same back, confused. "What? She fantasizes over an older man but is doing an internship- sounds like what every 21 year-old does."

Gasping, you held a hand over your mouth as everyone laughed at how accurate she was. She was indeed right, but you wouldn't necessarily call your crush on Matty Healy a fantasy- just a strong imagination of being his lifelong lover that would probably never happen because he doesn't know you exist.

"She's right, huh" Nico spoke up as she noticed you didn't fight back.

"Sadly."

After that whole fiasco trying to find out your real age, Violet began working on Pedro after she finished with Nick. Nico and Bella were almost done with their makeup with the other artist when Violet called you over.

Walking towards the chair, you noticed that she had already finished his base with an extremely natural look, not wanting to add too much or it wouldn't look realistic.

"Can you brush his brows and apply some powder on places that need it? I need to finish Bella off with a few final touches," Violet asked, in which you nodded as she pointed to the products needed to do so. "Don't worry if you mess up, it doesn't need to be perfect."

That didn't make you feel any better.

Standing awkwardly as she walks off, you searched around her overload of makeup table to grab the items she just pointed at.

You decided to do his eyebrows first which would be extremely weird because you've never done this before- or at least to a man.

Surprisingly, Pedro hadn't teased you at all since you arrived by his side to help. He actually just laid there silent and watched Violet direct you through her moves before she left.

Maybe he was cutting you a break for once.

You were proven wrong when you leaned forward and aimed your hand towards his face before he quickly tried biting your hand, causing you to squeal and drop the brush on his face, jumping back.

"Very unprofessional," he declared, picking up the brush that had fallen down from his face to his neck up before looking up at you. "Do you hit all of your clients?'

"You did that on purpose!" you glared, smacking his arm as he sent you a playful wink.

"And what are you gonna do about it? Tell on me?" he teased until you grabbed the brush from his hands and swiped it across his brows hard, causing him to hiss in pain. "God damn, woman!"

Laughing as he gripped his forehead area, he gave you a dirty look as you begin the process of patting his face, even hitting his face a little harder than usual in some spots to make sure you got your revenge.

Once done, you examined his face to make sure you were pleased with the results- in which you were.

"All done?' Violet asked, walking up beside you, checking out your work. "Nicely done, but why does he look grumpy?" she added, as he huffed. "and why is he holding his face?"

"Who knows?" you shrug as Pedro scoffs, watching you walk away as Violet calls out afterwards that you were free to go.

As you were walking back to find where the rest of the interns were, you turned your head to find Pedro's eyes still on yours. You gave him an evil smirk as he pointed his finger at you before swiping his thumb across his neck.

You giggled, about to respond back but you were interrupted when a hand tapped your shoulder. Turning around, you find that it was two of the interns, Joon and the girl who was supposedly in love with Pedro, her name tag claiming she was Kendall.

Was this the girl that Jules went did her errands with? Most likely.

"Are you done with the makeup? We need help arranging the equipment for what's gonna be used today," Joon softly smiled as Kendall just stared at you with no emotion.

Nodding, you followed after them as they walked towards the other side of the set. Soon, you had forgotten about the actor and your little battle as endless wires and heavy weights distracted you.

It wasn't till you physically couldn't bare holding the strong stands that the three of you were told you could take a lunch break. Pulling out your phone, you hadn't realized half the day had went by with all the work you were too engaged in.

"You wanna grab lunch with us? We were thinking about going to this small cafe down the street, the reviews look great," Joon asked as Kendall just sent you a small nod in agreement.

The three of you got along pretty well during the hours you spent together. You feel closer to Joon as he did talk the most, but Kendall did try to start little talks so it wouldn't be weird.

I mean we all kind had to get along in order for this job to work.

"I would but I should look for my friend-"

"I think she had her lunch already, I saw her walking by earlier eating a burrito," Kendall replied. Of course she ate already.

Going over the idea in your head a few times, you nodded. You were starving and you suppose its better to not be a loner right now. "Why not?"

As the three of you walked through the set, you didn't miss some of the glances you guys received as your footsteps were pretty loud. It looked like they were wrapping up on one of the scenes as the director was in deep focus on whatever he was lecturing to them on.

"I hope you guys like walking because I took a cab here," Joon chuckled, causing you to laugh.

"Don't worry, I did the same."

Putting on your big coat, you waited until Kendall was done tying the scarf around her neck before walking towards the exit. Close to the door, you halted when you heard someone call your name.

"Y/n!" you saw Bella jogging towards you making Joon and Kendall freeze their movements.

Shifting slowly, you gave her a curious look. "Yes?"

"We wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch with us?" she smiled before looking behind you to find the two others. "You guys can come too!"

Swinging your arms in front of you, you reject her offer as fast as she asked you. "Oh no, no- I'm all good," you decline, not wanting to feel like a bother. "You guys enjoy your own thing-"

"C'mon, how else are we gonna tease Pedro if you aren't there to get him riled up first?" she chuckled as you felt your face on fire.

"Maybe next time?" you kindly suggest, watching as she pouts but nods.

Lifting her right hand up, she sways it around. "Alright, but don't be surprised if Pedro haunts you because of this."

"Why would he?" you heard Kendall quickly question, making Bella tilt her head at her fast counter.

"Because he's the one who asked me to invite her-." Bella casually states before turning to you. "-which you declined so I hope he teases you all week for leaving Nico and I hanging."

Ignoring the first part of her last statement, you playfully nudge her before waving your goodbyes as she skips back to the rest of the cast. Beginning your walk to the cafe, the three of you had little talk about where you grew up, which schools you attended, and why you wanted to work for the film industry.

If it weren't for the freezing temperatures you would say you really enjoyed the walk, too bad you couldn't.

It wasn't until you were seated that Kendall decided to speak her mind on what she was really curious about:

You.

"So, I wonder why Pedro specifically asked you to join him for lunch and not the rest of us?" she randomly revealed as you were taking a sip of your coffee, almost choking on it once you heard her clearly. "Do I sense favoritism?"

Joon stifled a laugh, shaking his head at her last comment. "Doubt it, but I did wonder the same thing until I realized she did help with their makeup. That's intimate enough to make her at some level close to them."

You don't really know Kendall but she's been decent enough to be around until the cast comes to mind. Maybe she wants to be close to them? You're not sure, maybe Jules was right about her all along- who knows.

What you did know though was she was very quick to question and jump to conclusions.

"What did you even talk to them about?" Kendall eyed you, making you tense up a bit. She is very intimidating when she's curious.

"Nothing much-,' you shrug, messing with the napkin in front of you. "Mainly about the 1975 since the girls are British."

"You like the 1975?" Joon asked and you nodded. "I love them!"

Ears perking up after hearing this, you smiled hard. This new information just made Joon 10x better.

"I don't know who they are," Kendall intervened, trying to find some voice in the topic.

The rest of the hour was filled with Joon and you playing the 1975's albums to Kendall as she tried her best to hide her annoyance by shoving her food in her face.

She was definitely not a fan of talent.

Going back to work was a bit easier than before after finding comfort with a lot of the people around you. The three of you were still stuck doing the same job as you heard some of the other interns were either picking up props needed for a scene or being a personal assistant to Finn.

In fact, you hadn't seen many people as rehearsal was moved to another building on the lot. Another hour or two went by before Finn went up to Joon and you to cut you for the day.

"At least we don't have to stay late," Joon beamed, taking off the gloves he was wearing before folding them back into his little backpack. "I heard he's making some people stay till 6 for some heavy-lifting duties- thank god I wasn't chosen."

"Why? Because you aren't strong enough?" you laughed as he let out a small gasp in offense.

"To think we were becoming best friends," he pouted. "But I had a back injury over a year ago so they can't really make me lift anything more than 30 pounds."

Feeling bad for teasing him, you immediately tried taking back your horrible joke. "I didn't mean t-"

"It's cool, no need to beg for forgiveness," he smiled. "Just a little something I don't tell many people, it isn't a big deal majority of the time."

Throwing a weak- but sincere smile, you nod along. Sure it wasn't a big deal right now, but later it could get worse. You didn't want him to know you felt bad but you assumed he knew by the pity upon your face.

Waving your goodbyes, you texted Jules to figure out where she was. It was a strange feeling not seeing each other all day despite working in the same building, but you did live together so it wasn't like you were missing much.

Finding her fake laughing at some guy's joke, her eyes met yours once you appeared by the door of the break room. Immediately, she patted the young boy who didn't look a day over 18 on the back before skipping happily towards you.

"I take it you had a fun day?"

"The best," she grinned, flipping a piece of hair behind her back. "I finally know what an affogato is- it really isn't that amazing as it sounds though. Just a shot of espresso poured on top of a drink."

Laughing, both of you continued down the hall in hopes of quickly finding a cab to take you to the subway. With the timing of your release, you were sure there was going to be so much traffic out these doors that you weren't ready to deal with.

Swinging the exit door open, you didn't expect to find Joon waiting outside with his hands in his pockets, looking down the street praying for an available cab to drive by.

"That hard to catch a ride, huh" Jules sighed, pulling out her phone as Joon slumped, bummed out. "Uber it is."

Seconds later you felt the doors behind you open again but didn't bother to turn, Joon and you too focused on peeking at Jules' phone as she complained about why an app that was supposed to be used when in need always took forever to arrive.

Two people walked a few feet to the side of you three and that's when you could see from the corner of your eye their figures stopping. Moving your head, you caught a view of a man scanning his phone and another glancing at you. It was Pedro.

"And what are you doing out here in the cold, you look like a chihuahua shivering to death," he chuckled, taking steps towards you.

"Is that a compliment?" you questioned, tilting your head as he gave you a smug look, making you guess for yourself.

"Pretty sure he's means you look like a rodent," Jules dryly commented, swiping through her phone before groaning loudly. "Goddammit! The nearest driver is 25 minutes away, I don't want to be waiting that long for a ride that's probably gonna be my whole day's pay."

Realizing the situation you and your friends were in, Pedro lifts a hand trying to get attention. "You guys need a ride? I drove here and-"

"No thank-," you intervene.

"-yes, please," Jules cuts you off, sending you a small glare as you gave one back.

You were not going to ask someone you met just this morning for a ride home. It's too much.

Pedro laughed at the sight of you two yelling at each other through your minds. Telepathy really works when it comes to your friends. Joon just stood there, not really caring what decision we came to terms with. He figured since Jules and you stayed with him long enough he could join along with whatever you two did, so it was up to you guys to make the final move.

"Okay, don't kill each other," Pedro joked, making you move your eyes away from Jules back to him. "How about I drive you three home and you can help me with my makeup this week- so you won't feel like you're taking too much from me."

Squinting, you made a face. "But I already have to do that- it's part of my job."

"She agreed! Let's go," Pedro exclaimed, waving his right arm to you guys to follow him, ignoring you as you tried to debate as to why doing your job wasn't helpful enough.

As Jules kept trying to shut your mouth by placing her palms on it during the walk inside the parking garage, Joon kept looking back confused. "Wait, what about the man? Was he leaving with you?"

Taking a quick glance towards the direction Joon was looking at, Pedro shrugged before pulling out his car keys. "His wife is picking him up."

Joon slowly nodded, not completely convinced that was the case but he'd let it go this time.

Hearing a car beep, you saw a very nice black car's light flash quickly. Walking up closer, Pedro went to the passenger side and opened it while staring at you. "Get in, loser."

Awkwardly standing there, you shook your head and look towards the backseat. "Uh, no- I'm fine with sitting in the back. Maybe Joon can have it since he is the tallest one here."

Joon shook his head. "I'm happy with sitting in the back, ladies first."

Pedro agreed with his last comment, lifting his head to get in the car as you continued to reject his kindness. He already offered you a ride home, you weren't able to take the front seat.

You both continued to fight about the seat before Jules flapped her arms and jumped inside instead. "We are not going to argue for hours over a seat, I'll take it."

Lowering your shoulders, you smiled as Pedro sent you a displeased look. Heading towards the door, Joon opened the door for you, kindly sending you a warm smile. You returned one back and moved to the seat behind the drivers.

Joon followed after you and sat behind Jules as you could see Pedro speed walk around the car, quickly jumping in. He turned towards the back, glancing at the two of you. "Where to?"

"Jules," you called out. She pulled out her phone and showed it to him before saying, "this is it."

"City girls," he blurted out. "The rats on the streets must be a sight to see."

"Let me see?" Joon asked before her phone was shoved to his face. "Hey, I live three streets away from here. Nice."

"We're basically neighbors," you nudged him, making him do the same as Pedro and Jules just stared at the both of you.

"Anyway," Pedro let out a small laugh, "let's go before I change my mind."

Putting the car in reverse, drive, and zooming off, we were on our way. The ride was filled with Jules playing with the radio, Pedro nicely trying to get her fingers off his screen, and Joon calling out the different trees he'd seen out the window the entire time.

At one point Joon even handed you his phone and asked for your number in case either of you needed help with the internship or the cheesy joke of one of you needing sugar in the middle of night.

Once he was dropped off, it took less than ten minutes to arrive to your apartment building.

"You can just pull in right there," Jules declared, pointing at an open spot in front of our lobby doors.

Taking a quit scan, you objected. "No, that's for emergencies only. Just go around the block, we can walk."

Jules protested, pleading Pedro to not give in to your nonsense. "This is an emergency- I want to go home already!"

"It's a red line; therefore, no parking."

Pedro laughed as you raised your voice, determined to not let him get away with this. You were not about to pay for a ticket just because she couldn't walk a few feet...and then a few more to get home.

"Is she always this stubborn?" Pedro jested, earning a hard raise of the eyebrows from Jules.

"You should see her when we study. If you aren't there on time you're kicked out of the discord." Smacking her arm, she huffs and smacks you back.

"I need to be apart of this discord," Pedro stated, making you roll your eyes.

"It's for students only, grandpa," you replied, causing him to gasp.

"That's not how you should treat someone who gave you a ride across town, intern," he retorted and pulled up along the red crub, making Jules laugh as you sent him a dirty look.

So he's pulling that card.

Jules opened her side of the door, stepping out before grabbing her bag and leaning down against the window. "Welp, I am going inside before he personally fires me for befriending you. See you inside and thanks Mr. man who can still get me fired even though he's not my boss!"

Next thing you knew, she was opening the entrance doors and sliding right inside them. It was time for you to go as well.

You could see him grab his phone, unlocking it, and then placing it right in front of your face. "Give me your number."

Scoffing, you pushed his hand away. "Not even going to ask?"

"We both know you're too difficult to easily agree to a question like that," he countered, pushing it back towards you, not leaving until you accepted it.

Was it unprofessional to be giving the main lead of a new television series your personal number? Maybe a lot of people do it, you mean there are plenty of workers who end up friends with cast members all the time on sets.

You're sure these workers have given their numbers away on multiple occasions.

Handing him back his phone, he grinned. "Great, now I can directly reach you whenever I need coffee."

"Only during work hours," you replied, shaking your pointer finger at him. "I don't get paid overtime unless I am on the clock."

He chuckled, twisting his body to get a better view of you. "Yeah, yeah. We'll see about that."

With that, he jumped out of the car and opened your car door, allowing you to step outside and be met with the freezing temperatures once again.

How much you hate the cold when its windy.

"See you tomorrow, kid," he scanned over, waiting for you to comeback with some snarky remark for his pet name.

Stepping away from his car and meeting the sidewalk, you turned around towards him to find him leaning against his door now, watching you to make sure you make it inside safely.

"Same with you- thanks for the ride, grandpa," you smirked, making him suppress a laugh as you turned your back to him again, making your way to the entrance doors.

Two feet away, you stopped when you heard him chant out your name. Seeing him inside his car with his passenger window rolled down, he tried his hardest to move his head against it to see you. "By the way," he started, "you don't look like a rodent."

Feeling flustered by the random yet sweet compliment, you tried hiding your big smile by waving him off, trying to hide your face with your hands and sped walked inside.

You hoped he didn't see the tint on your cheeks.

Unfortunately, your hopes never come true.

[forever-once-gone]

Day 2: Seokjin - How he had once claimed you as his <3

Part of the Love, Amour, Aur Pyaar drabble series for February!

Word count: 6.3k (obviously, I am once again failing the task of keeping these short lol)

Content and Warnings: yandere au, supernatural au, love, murder, child neglect, fighting parents, child abandonment, reader has a disdain for her fellow humans, reader's father is a deadbeat, reader's mother disappears, Jin is a man (?) obsessed, possessiveness, illusions to future inter-clan wars, vows of commitment, death, starvation, kissing.

Author's Note: I have no self control. This is again much longer than it should be. At this point it would be considered a whole fic, not a drabble. Also, this is dedicated to @rosquilleta, @/teacakess on Ao3, and the anon who sent me a kind ask ONLY 😤. Thank you dears for commenting 🥰🥰🥰 You guys gave me motivation to write!

You pulled your clothes off, letting them pool at your feet. The day had been rough, foraging through the woods all day took quite a load out of you. You had to go into the forest that surrounded your small town to gather some herbs and other plants and fungi to sell in your little shop. It was hard to maintain the quickly depleting stocks in your shop since you were the only person left who dared to venture into the accursed forest.

You once had a mother who cared for you dearly. She had been warm and loving, and had done everything she could do to raise you after your father had refused to stand up and divulge the fact that he—despite being the village leader’s son—was the secret lover of your mother when she had gotten pregnant. He would often sneak into your house by the outskirts of town when you were a child to try and convince your mother that he had had no choice.

“I’m sorry, dear, you know my father would never accept our relationship. A child out of wedlock? With an orphaned woman, especially from your lineage? It would never work. We’d no doubt be thrown out into the accursed forest, and where would that leave us? Leave Y/n?”

Your mother would never meet his eyes, she never had since the day he’d refused to claim you and your mother at the town meeting. Instead, she’d just make it clear that he had no place in her or your life any more. “I don’t know why you’re here, your highness.”

“Don’t call me that,” he’d beg. “I’m not a prince, I’m not anything like that. We are one, my love. Stop mocking me with those words. We’re equal here.”

“You may not be a prince, nor have any royal blood, but your words make it clear that you think you’re high above me. My lineage? What do you mean by that? You know as well as anyone that there is nothing about me that is cursed. Just because my family was the only one brave enough to enter into the forest, doesn’t mean that we’re cursed! You surely didn’t think I was cursed before I became with child!”

“Do not twist my words, my love. You know I do not think of you like that, but you must admit it is strange how every member of your family had disappeared in those woods for centuries. You cannot ignore how implicating that is, my dear.” He had raised his hands in an almost pleading manner, trying to play to your mother’s emotions.

But your mother had little to no feelings left for the one who had been her biggest betrayer.  “My family may have all disappeared into the woods, but that is only because we’re the only ones who actually dare to enter it! And you cannot ignore the fact that anyone else who was not in my family line who had entered the forest, did not ever return, even though it was all of their first time entering the woods. The fact that my family has, for generations, been able to enter and leave the forest for years, before we finally disappear. Compared to everyone who disappears the first time they enter,I think we may be the blessed ones, not cursed. Besides, nobody seems to think we’re cursed when they want the herbs, vegetables, and fruits we bring back from the forest.” Your mother saw you peeking out from the bedroom.

“Y/n, go back inside, dear. You do not have to hear this.” She began to walk towards the door, shooing you further into the room. “Go to sleep.” She softly clicked the door closed after giving you a reassuring smile.

You walked back into bed, pulling the various knit blankets over you as you heard your mother telling your father that he had overstayed his welcome once again.

Spending nights hearing your parents arguing in the next room over, was not new to you. As far back as you can remember, your father would covertly enter your house to try and get your mother to forgive him, to let him be a father to you. He would bring you clothes, sometimes toys, other times blankets to try and win you over. You would politely take the objects before your mother would usher you back into your room. 

But you knew better than to think that he actually meant to make it up to your mother. He’d always ask for forgiveness, but never ask to accept her and reveal to the village that you were his child. Your mother had questioned him the night of your ninth birthday—the last birthday you had with her—of what his true intentions were of coming here, night after night. He’d been a bumbling mess, too embarrassed to say in front of your mother that he really had no intentions of revealing anything. He really just wanted to relieve himself of his guilt, or at least, that’s what it had seemed like to you.

If he really cared, he would stand by your mother and yourself.

But then again, he never married following his parting from your mother.

You would wait to hear the front door shut behind your father. You would hear silence as your mother sat at the dining table for, usually, ten to twenty minutes after he’d left before she’d slink back into the room with you. She’d get into bed, and pull you against her chest. Her hand would smooth over your head, and sometimes she’d whisper apologises to you, thinking you were asleep.

She had been the only one who took care of you in your life, the only true one to care for you.

When your mother had disappeared in the forest only a few weeks before your tenth birthday, you had been beyond distraught. 

You had cried in the town square all morning and afternoon, when you had woken up and realized that your mother had not returned in the night. You had begged for someone to help you, to look in the forest for you, to find her. Everyone had walked right past all of you, ignoring your little crying form, clothes soiled from the dirt that you had collapsed in when the village leader had turned you away. 

Your father had seemed like he wanted to say something, hesitating when he had found you in the square on his way back to his home. But, in the end, he had walked away from you, leaving you to cry until you lost consciousness.

When you had finally come to, it was the middle of the night. No one was around. The air was cold. And your fingertips had lost all feeling, stiff as you tried to wiggle them around. You had sat up, hoping that you’d see your mother emerging from the forest at the edge of your vision, but you saw no such thing. No such blessing.

You had to pick yourself up from that cold dirt floor, and trudge your way back to your house by the edge of the glade. You had, again, hoped that you’d open the door to find your mother, tending to the fire in the fireplace. Perhaps, stirring a pot that she had hung in it, as she smiled at you, letting you know dinner was almost ready.

But life was not that kind to you.

The few weeks had been tough. You had to learn how to care for yourself all by yourself. You used up all the stored food that your mother would have sold if she had not disappeared. People had not come to your house expecting to buy anything, like they used to when your mother was still around. You had used those supplies and what you had to feed yourself, but when they had come to an end (other than a few jars of preserves, your mother had jarred only a few days before she disappeared that you did not have the heart to open yet), you realized you had to do something to find food.

You had properly dressed up for the first time since your mother’s disappearance. You had ventured out to the river that passed through the glade and bathed. You had scrubbed every last ounce of built up oil from your hair. You had put on your best clothes. You had picked up your basket from the shelf where you used to keep all the items your mother used to sell. And threw on the cloak your mother had sewed for you.

And you did what your family had always done when there was nothing left for them in the village.

You entered the woods.

Your mother had brought you into the woods intermittently from when you were young. You supposed she once had to take you every time when she ventured into the woods when you were a newborn, as there was no one else to take care of you. But by the time you had become old enough not to die of starvation or neglect if left alone for a few hours (about 2 and a half years old), she had begun to cut your trips to the woods. She would leave you alone at home with a snack and some water, promising to return soon.

Following that, she had rarely brought you into the forest. Only a few times in the year. And that was only because she had told you: “One day, I’m sure the forest will take me just like it did my father. Before then, I need you to learn how to navigate the forest, because it will become your only source of trading power with the other villagers, you understand me? It will be tough to be on your own—it was for me too—but I want you to be better prepared for the woods than I was when my father disappeared. I just don’t want you to starve like I did when it happened to me.” Her eyes had darkened. “Not one of those villagers will come to help you, Y/n. Not one.”

You repeated those words to yourself the first time you had entered the forest alone, following the routes that your mom would go through. You foraged for the berries she had shown you, the root vegetables that she had taught you to identify from the stalks that were visible above the dirt, and you checked the traps that your mother had left for small game.

Fortunately, each of the traps had worked and caught a small prey. But unfortunately, all of the animals had started to rot from not being collected all these weeks later. Some had even been scavenged, leaving mangled messes of flesh. You just released the traps, and pushed the corpses away with a stick before re-preparing the traps.

You unconsciously looked around, fearing that you may end up stumbling across your mother’s corpse in a similar stage as the animals you had scraped off the traps. For better or for worse, you had not.

Before the sun could get even close to setting, you returned home. And when you entered the house, a sense of heaviness pushed down on you. A heaviness that came with the realization that this was your new life. You were alone, left to fend for yourself in the forest if you hoped to survive. Left alone to mourn your mother. Mourn her, until you also, just like all your ancestors before you, also disappeared out in the forest.

At least, then, the ghosts of your ancestors could sigh in relief that there would be no more orphaned descendents/children fighting to survive in the glade anymore after you.

You took off the cloak you were wearing and stepped out of your muddied shoes. Only when you sat down at the dining table did you realize something had changed from the way it had been before you had left that morning.

There was a package wrapped up in a sheet on your table. Your breath stopped for a second; could this be from your mother? Was she still alive?

You carefully pulled off the sheet from the contents within, only to find some clothes, a bag of flour, and some goat’s milk along with a note.

I’m so sorry, dear Y/n.

I cannot be the father you deserve, but I will try to provide for you when I can.

Happy birthday, sweet child.

Regrettably,

Your inadequate father.

P.S. I know you will not believe me, but I also miss your mother as much as you do.

Your disdain had grown for him tenfold that night.

Nobody bought from you the first few days after you ventured into the forest. You liked to think it was due to them feeling guilt for how they practically left you to die when your mother disappeared. But you knew the truth, it was much more likely they were worried that you were still unstable and could lash out on them. But after a week of you putting up the open sign by your front door, two mothers had come to you unabashedly, asking for the one of the types of root vegetables your mother used to get from the forest in exchange for a couple eggs.

When the two women had been able to leave your house unharmed, the others slowly made their way back to making their visits to your little house, offering trades and money for the goodies that only grew in the accursed forest. And with that, you had set a routine. A routine involving spending half your time in the woods and half your time in the glade.

And with this routine, you were able to brave your way through the days, then the weeks, the months, and even the years.

And before you knew it, you were twenty-five. Had spent much more time on your own than the time you had spent with your mother. Over fifteen years since she had disappeared without a trace. 

It had also been fifteen years since you had truly felt cared for.

Sure, your father still left you gifts here and there. But that didn’t make any warmth spread through your body. It didn’t help the fact that you hadn’t had anyone to laugh with in all these years. No one to talk to about anything beyond types of vegetables and game. The only time when you had a conversation longer than a couple of words was when one of the men from the village would try and haggle with you for a rabbit that you had brought back in from the forest that morning.

Your father was not much comfort either.

He still wrote you short messages when he would leave packages on your doorstep, but they were as worthless as all those visits he made to see your mother when she was still around. His reassurances were hollow, and you didn’t care to give him the time of day.

You’d become just like your mother, in that even when you saw him around, you’d always turn the other way. In a way, he brought you a bit closer to your mother, since your hatred for him made you understand her cold-shoulder towards him.

You never felt more alone than when you were in the glade with the other villagers, father be damned.

That is why, other than to sleep and to sell your goods, you tended to stay in the accursed forest as much as you could. Even though it made the villagers whisper how you must be more dangerous than your mother since she didn't spend nearly as much time in the forest as you did. To that, all you could think was that you didn’t have a child waiting at home for you to raise, unlike your mother. You were certain she would have done the same as you if she didn’t have to care for you back then.

Despite how there was not one other person in the first besides you, just being away from the village made you feel more at peace. You felt more connected with your mother, when you walked her routes, set her traps, and used all the tips and tricks she had taught you when you were young.

Your favorite spot, however, was the small lake in the forest. It was in the middle of a river—its offshoot didn’t cross into the glade, and the running water was always fresh. It was cold in the summer, and warm in the winter; how it exactly managed that, you had no idea. But you had fond memories of it. It was the place where your mother had taught you how to swim. This was the only place where you would see her just sit down and relax, unworried and free.

It had been her spot.

And now, it was yours.

You sat down in the cool water, feeling it wash off the sweat you had accumulated on the voyage through the woods. You were still near the shallow enough edge where you could sit on the floor and the water would only reach up to your armpits. It was nice to let go for a bit.

You sat in the water for a good ten minutes before you wadded deeper into the lake, figuring it was time for you to forage for the underwater plants that people liked to buy off of you to put into soups. You would swim down into the lake, and swim through the thick plant filled bottom of the lake that curled up into the water like bushes. You would push around the rock covered floor to loosen the roots of the plants to get them to release. The leaves would float up to the surface, where you’d collect them later on when you felt you had collected enough.

This time, as you pushed around the large rocks among the dense plants, you felt something warm. You pulled your arm back, expecting to see a fish shoot out of the thicket from your disturbance, but instead, nothing. You were taken aback. You reached out your hand again to see if you would find some freshly dead animal laying in the plants, but when you pushed the plants aside to see, you instead found a large, warm stone.

But it was strange, it was in the shape of a human head.

You felt your eyes bulge out of your head, as you broke through the carpet of plants you had released into the water, immediately kicking to the surface of the lake. You tried to gulp down as much air as you could before you dove straight back into the lake, kicking back to the stone head. You immediately started to check if it looked like your mother, but it did not. It instead looked like a man. 

Was this some sort of preserved human? 

No, it couldn’t be. It was very much stone.

You circled around the head, pulling away more plants to uncover more stones if you could. You didn’t find any more human head-shaped stones, but you did realize that the stone head was much more than just a head. It was attached to a rock body. It was an entire statue that had been shoved into the lake.

You continued to try and uncover more of the statue between taking breaks where you swam up to the surface for more oxygen. And after about ten minutes you had uncovered the whole statue from under the rocks and plants.

You were surprised that you had never come across this before. This large stone statue that just laid at the bottom of the lake. You just stared at it, honestly, unsure what to do now.

That is until the statue began to rise. You swam back from the statue as it seemed to float up through the water to the lake’s surface, bobbing around with the water plants. How could this statue be so light that it was able to float?

You swam up after it, coming up beside it. You pushed it, testing how light it was, and just from your one light push, it began to drift to the dirt beside the lake where your clothes were. The statue continued to bob around in the shallow water until you dragged it across the pebbles to the dry land.

The statue was of a man with one hand coming up to press the backs of his knuckles underneath his chin. The other curled around his stomach. His lips were full and slightly open. His hair was loose against his forehead. His eyes scrunched together with an expression of pleasure. The statue was also very naked, which made the pose very… suggestive.

Uh…

You really did not know what to make of the statue.

Maybe this is just something that happens in the cursed forest? You find random statues? Statues that seemed like they were in the throes of passion?

But you doubted it. In all your years of coming into the forest, there really was not anything glaringly wrong about it.

It was just a regular forest. 

This was the first weird statue you came across.

Other than the fact that when people would venture into it, they’d never return, there was nothing really demonic about the woods.

Hmm.

You stood beside the statue, before you decided, you didn’t really care about it.

Like, what were you really supposed to do? Tell the other villagers? They wouldn’t care. They probably wouldn't even believe you. Or even if they did, they wouldn’t really have any plans of what to do with it either.

So, it was beyond your abilities to care about.

You left it lying by the shore and jumped back into the lake, going out to gather the plants that were floating around, waiting to be collected. You made quick work of it, gathering them all and bringing them to shore. You wrapped them in a cloth to absorb as much water as possible on them before slipping them into the basket with your other goodies.

You then turned to pull on your clothes, humming a little tune to yourself. And when you were all ready, you pulled on your cloak, picked up your basket, and began your trek back home, you were just about to reach the thickening of the trees—

That is until: “Hey! That’s not how this is supposed to go!”

You stopped in your tracks, your grip tightening on your basket.

Did that come from the… lake?

You slowly turned to the lake, and in between the trees you could make out… something.

Ah, this is the day you die isn’t it.

You thought to turn back around and try to make a break for it, but instead, you walked back to the lake, dropping your basket beside one of the trees.

If you were going to die, you were willing to accept it if it meant you’d be able to see your mother again.

When you made it back to the lake, you expected to see a demon or something of the like, but instead it was just the statue again.

But this time, it was standing up. Its arms fists at its hips with its lips frozen in a pout, as though it was mad at you. Its eyes were open this time as it glared at you.

Okay, magic statue it is then.

Was this statue the thing that killed all your family members before?

Well, you hoped it made it quick.

You walked up to it. Stopping just a step away from it. “Um, did you just speak to me? Like you, the statue?”

With a blink, the statue was in another pose, his palm pressed against its forehead, the other hand still against its waist. And without the statue’s mouth moving at all from its slight agape position, it said, “Yes, I did. Now, kiss.”

With another blink of your eye, the statue had once again changed its pose. Its arms were brought up behind his head, posing like a self-absorbed man trying to show off his arm muscles, as its hands pressed to the back of its head, out of sight. His eyes were closed once again.

You weren’t sure what to do. Were you meant to kiss this statue? You really did not want to. “I’m not going to kiss you. Forgive me.”

With another blink, the statue's eyes shot open. “WHAT?!” With another blink, the statue was right in front of you, nose to nose with you, as it bent slightly to glare directly into your eyes. Its arms were crossed over its chest, as it lamented once again, without moving its lips, “This isn’t how this is supposed to go! You’re supposed to kiss me!”

All you felt was annoyance. Was the statue going to kill you or not? You were getting a bit impatient having to deal with its dramatics. “Is that so? And why am I meant to kiss you?”

In less than a second its posture had changed again. Its arms were still crossed against his chest, but this time he wasn’t leaning into your face. Instead, he was standing upright with his head looking off to the right with a deep pout. “The others did!” He whined. “They said I had to win you over, so that’s what I’m trying to do, but you are not cooperating!”

“Who are they?” you asked, adopting his pose with your arms crossed against your chest.

“You know! My people! The ones who govern this forest and our respective lands. I come from the Kim clan, one of the many clans in the nation. I was meant to tell you this after you kissed me.” He remained pouting off to the side.

“So you come from a group of statues?”

He left out an affronted gasp. “Good Earth, no! This is obviously a facade that was meant to woo you! We’re obviously not a people of statues. How absurd of you to even imply that.”

“Then what are you then? And why do you need to “woo” me?”

He changed his position again, now sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, his head propped up on his hand. He looked frustrated. “I would have explained all that to you if you had kissed me like you were meant to. If you want to know, you shall present me with a kiss.”

You sat down in front of him. “That’s unfortunate as I am not going to kiss you.”

His mouth fell open in shock. “I told you, I’ll tell you once you kiss me!”

“Yes, I heard. And I am not going to kiss you,” you insisted, also resting your head on the palm of your hand.

“But that’s what we’re meant to do! The elders told me that I get to be the one from our clan to finally have our turn to get a L/n human as a spouse! They told me I’m meant to come up with a ceremony to sweep you off your feet, and then you’ll be mine! I was only supposed to explain everything else to you after you gave me your hand.”

The statue shot in front of you, now sitting up on his knees, with his hands on either side of your body, his face only a few centimeters from your face again. This time he had his lips all puckered up, with his eyes all scrunched up as if he was prepared for a kiss.

“Now give me a kiss,” he demanded. “And then I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Plus, I can take you back to my lands with me. Now. Kiss!”

“That all sounds well and good.” You leaned back from the insolent statue. “But I’m still not going to kiss you, especially not if it's part of some ceremony.”

The statue was on the ground in a blink of the eye. His knees bent to the sky, as he covered his eyes with his hands. His mouth downturned in a frown. “Why did I have to get the L/n that was the most stubborn of them all?” He seemed to ask no one in particular.

You let him wallow in his self-pity, instead picking at the grass surrounding the both of you. After a few minutes of silence, you asked him, “Has your tantrum completed yet?”

Like a child he said, “no.”

“Well then,” you stood up, brushing the dirt off of your rear, and pulled your hood over your head. “I’ll be off.” You turned and were back on your route, picking your basket up as you passed it.

“Wait!” Finally a man appeared before you, no longer a statue, but a human looking man. His chest was rising and dropping quickly as he held his arms up in front of you, keeping you in place. It was good to see him actually moving, and not just teleporting whenever your eyes closed, it was starting to strain your eyes. “Look, I’m in my true form now, will you just let me explain?”

“Alright, but I will not be kissing you.”

“Yeah, I got that part,” he mumbled, pushing his purplish-pink, wet hair back from his forehead. “Can we sit? And I’ll explain.”

“Could you put on some clothes first?”

He sighed, but in an instant he was dressed in an immaculate, translucent set of fabrics that seemed to shimmer in the early evening light. The clothing was unlike anything you’d seen before. They were in hues of blue and green that flowed loosely over his body as though they were waterfalls that sprouted and fell from his body.

You wondered if they were tangible or something he had just magicked up. You wondered if you were to grab at them, would you be able to feel them or would your fist come back empty.

He walked past you, back towards the lake with his clothes dragging behind him. He looked luxurious.

He went to a different edge of the lake, with giant boulders. He sat down on them, letting his legs soak in the water, his form slumped.

You followed after him, and also sat beside him, but instead of dipping into the water, you sat beside him cross-legged.

He twirled his feet around in the current. “I thought you’d like my entrance. I thought you’d want something romantic for the first meeting you had with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was meant to win you over. You were mine to have, but it’s not that simple. We are not allowed to just steal you away, We need you to come willingly. We need you to fall for us.”

“We as in your people?”

“Yes, my people. We are known by many names to you humans: fairies, fae, elves, pixies, selkies, nagas, tricksters, incubi, demons, witches, immortals. We are shapeshifters, we have magick, we can come to humans however we please. It led to many folklore about us. Really, all those myths stem from our mating ceremonies.”

You waited for him to continue.

“We are only allowed to pick mates from one lineage. In every nation, there is only one family that we can take spouses from. It’s part of our laws, so we do not reveal ourselves to much more than we need to to humans. It also keeps our spouses from fighting amongst themselves, since most of them are on good terms with one another. It prevents clan wars.” He turned to look at you, his hair slightly drier than before.

You took a moment to take in his beauty. He was a handsome man, that you could not deny. You had never met a person with colourful hair like his, other than the one person in the glade with red hair. But this was so different from that. It looked like he’d dyed them with flowers like people did wool, something unnatural for people to have. You couldn’t help but wonder if that was his natural hair colour or if this was one of the perks of being a shapeshifter.

You hummed at him to keep going with his explanation.

“It was agreed upon centuries ago that it would be the L/n family that we would take partners from. As long as they had had time to have children to keep the family line going, we could take our pick of who we wanted. In return, your family got the ability to walk in our lands unharmed. Something that other humans would be… killed for trying to do.”

He eyed you to see what your reaction would be to him admitting to his people killing humans. He didn’t know how to feel when he saw no sympathy for the humans who had perished.

“It was my clan’s turn next to get a L/n, and of course, there was you. I had just turned twenty, and you had been twenty-one. I was entranced right away by you. I wanted to take you right away, after all, it was my birthright. But, the elders of the clans told me I had to wait. I had to wait for you to have a child, but how could I?!” He had turned right towards you, pulling your hands into his lap. “How could I let a human hold you close before I got the chance to? How could I let you raise children with a human, with someone other than me. I couldn’t bear it.”

He had pulled your hands to his chest. “But the clan leaders, Y/n, while they understood me—they had after all had to go through the same thing as I did before they got their L/n—but they told me I must wait. So I did. I waited even though it hurt me. I waited until you had a child so that I could finally take you away, but then it just wasn’t happening! You weren’t meeting people, you weren’t falling in love or having children! It had been five years, and it just wasn’t happening.”

He pulled one of your hands from his chest to come up and cradle his cheek in your hand. “So I spoke with the clan leaders, and they said I still couldn’t take you.” 

His arm came around your torso, pulling you against him. “So I decided, I was going to take you. Who are they to stop me from taking my spouse, my mate? Let them burn, I say. Who cares if the remaining clans will not have their own L/n spouses, I do not care. You are mine, and I refuse to wait any longer.” His other arm had come to the back of your head, bringing you closer to his face. “Kiss me, Y/n, and then I can claim you as mine.”

He tilted his head, flickering his eyes closed as he went to close the gap between the two of you, but you instantly put a finger up to his pursed mouth.

“Do you mean to tell me my mother is alive? She was taken by one of the other clans?” Your eyes were urgently digging into him.

The man pulled away slightly, his eyes opening back up slowly. “Well yes. All of your family members are alive in one way or another in our lands.” He could see the way your eyes hardened, he could imagine that you were worried for your mother’s state. “Once we take them, they become ours, Y/n. We tie them to our eternal life so they could be by our side as long as we shall live. We take good care of our spouses, that I can assure you. I’ve met her once before.” He cupped your face in his hands. “She is well, Y/n.”

You felt tears run down your face and onto his hands. “S-She’s alive?”

He nodded.

You collapsed against him in sobs, calling out for your mother. He rubbed your back, trying to calm you down the best that he could.

Fifteen years it had been since she’d disappeared—no, been taken from you.

Fifteen years.

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t come to see you in all those years, you could forgive her for that, but you wanted to see her now. You needed to see the only person who cared for you. You needed her.

You straightened up, wiping your tears away before grabbing onto the man. “Take me to her. I’ll do whatever you want, just take me to her.” You begged in a choked voice.

“I can only do that if you agree to be mine. Only if you kiss m—”

You pressed your lips against his.

For a second he didn’t move, just allowing you to ravage his lips. But once he realized what had happened, he immediately pulled you closer. He pulled you against him and kissed you back with as much fervor as you did. He felt jolts of electricity pass through his body as the vow between the two of you cemented in place.

You were his now.

And he was yours.

When the burning in your chest got too much, you pulled away from the magickal man. Just enough for you to breathe in some air.

He pressed a kiss against the corner of your mouth as you panted. “I suppose it is time for me to give you my name now that you are mine.”

He pressed a kiss to your jaw before he whispered into your neck, “I shall give you my name, as you gave me yours through the completion of the ceremony of the vow. I give you my name: Kim Seokjin.”

Reader won't even realize the gravity of him giving his name to you until they went back to his land and learned more about his people. He really meant the whole "I am yours, and you are mine" thing 😬

Just so you guys know, I wanted to write a bit more to explain why he decided to come to you as a statue, but then this was just already way too long, so I decided not to. Long story short: He was inspired by the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, and he thought he may woo you (as that is part of the ceremony, he must win you over), by replicating that myth. He thought you'd fall head over heels for his handsome statue self, and you'd kiss him without him even having to ask! Obviously, he was a bit over confident lol.

Maybe at some point, I'll write that Jin explaining to his partner why he did what he did later on in the month or maybe afterwards. I just wanted to write him being all pouty as he explained his plan, but oh well lol.

Anyway, please reblog and comment, it makes my day and motivates me so much! Have a good night!

[midmaysunray]

Hello there, it’s me Momo🩷

(Also, this is a shit posting blog, might wanna check out @shunrehihosumedha )

Here’s a little description of things I love and envy

I’m from the Indian subcontinent.

Spent my entire childhood between mountains and valleys. For a change shifted to Delhi which I regret tremendously.

I love farming, gardening, stitching clothes, crocheting, writing poems and maintaining a journal.

I enjoy long walks and bicycle rides.

I prefer going to a bookstore or a restaurant all by myself. I love self-dates.

I want to settle someday at an unknown meadow with mountains and lakes at a cottage core house, with big windows and minimalistic furniture with a wooden chimney, a library with some cats and the man I love.

I’m a student, fortunately academically gifted/blessed.

I did my undergrad from Indraprastha college for women under the university of Delhi in the discipline of geography Hons. Currently pursuing my masters from Jamia Millia Islamia.

I love movies; and my favourite genre is dystopian reality. So far I have watched 750+ movies which include almost every linguistic diversity as I strongly believe in the adherence of, “you can’t find gold unless you dig the dirt.”

I love reading books, like a lot. I can speak 5 different languages and out of them, 3 languages are engraved within my system. Starting from Greek Literature Iliad by Homer to metaphysics by aristotle; reading short stories of Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali as well as reciting Gazals of Gulzar in Hindi itself, I believe I have defined base in my own culture as well as to others. Again, when it comes to dystopian, I envy reading The Hunger Games and The Maze Runners. Do Androids dream of electric sheep? Comes under my top 5 dystopian reads; as this book was later adopted into a world class movie franchise called The Blade Runner. I lean towards Harry Potter more than The Lord of the Rings. I have read A song of ice and fire which people are so batshit crazy about and famously known as the “Game of thrones.” I didn’t watch a single episode but I know more than any fan I believe.

If you intervene and ask, then yeah you can think of me as a “nerd” hehehe because my preference and taste of things leans towards being more of geek tbh🩷🩷

I also enjoy watching animated series/anime and sit coms. I’m a sucker for The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon and will rewatch them for an eternity if asked. My favourite anime is Gintama but the list is peculiar and long as I have been watching anime/reading manga since I was 9 years old. My first anime was Dragon Ball z and Pokémon. I also watched Doraemon and Shinchan series/movies. The list goes on when it comes to entertainment but mine is more restricted than common which people watch out of peer pressure. Below are some examples for understanding my taste and likings.

My favourite dystopian movies are (Top 20)

1. Shutter Island.

2. Interstellar

3. The Dark knight

4. The Dark knight Rises

5. Captain America: the winter soldier

6. Rouge one: a star war’s story

7. Tron legacy

8. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban

9. The Hobbit: the desolation of Smaug

10. Star Trek Enterprise

11. Star Wars: the empire strikes back

12. Blade runner

13. Blade runner 2049

14. Dune

15. V for vendetta

16. Maze runner

17. The Hunger Games

18. Oblivion

19. The Truman show

20. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

Top 15 Anime

1. Gintama

2. Neon Genesis Evangelion

3. Berserk

4. Mob psycho

5. Steins Gate

6. Violet evergarden

7. Monster

8. Parasyte

9. Heavenly delusion

10. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

11. Full Metal Alchemist

12, That time when I got reincarnated as a slime

13. Campfire cooking in another world with my absurd cooking skills

14. Barakamon

15. Bunny Drop

Top 10 Anime Movies

1. Princess Mononoke by Studio Ghibli

2. Up from the poppy hill by Studio Ghibli

3. My neighbor Totoro by Studio Ghibli

4. The End of Evangelion by Hideaki Anno

5. Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli

6. Perfect blue by Satosi Kon

7. Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo

8. Ghost in the Shell by Mamoru Oshii

9. Violet evergarden: the movie by Taichi Ishidate

10. Doraemon: Nobita’s new dinosaur by Kazuaki Imai, Toshihisa Yokoshima, in collaboration with Kyoto animation studio Wasabi Mizuta, Megumi Ohara, Shihoko Hagino.

I know it may seem boring and I usually don’t find people with such diversity, but it would be good to be a part of this community. I envy people who respects art and literature of every culture and not demeaning them.

[yuseirra]

ONK Relationship Parallels- an Analysis!!

In short, in terms of the Aqua-Kana and Kamiki-Ai relationship, it's actually Kamiki who's similar to Kana in that relationship while Ai is to Aqua.

Also, out of the twins, Ruby is the one who resembles the dad in many ways in terms of psychology and behavior, even compared to Aqua. Aqua is the one who takes after Ai in many situations and I find it really clever... they do take after both their parents, of course. But I think their base personality is that the daughter takes after the dad while the son takes after the mother.

I wrote about that aspect today! I think it's really interesting, so I'd like for you to read it!

While skimming through the "Oshi no Ko" manga, I found something really interesting:

If we try to compare the relationship between Kamiki and Ai to Aqua and Akane's relationship, it's pretty straightforward that Kamiki is in Aqua's position and Ai is in Akane's position. (To some extent, Akane has the feeling of wanting to protect Aqua, to take care of him, and to hope that he lives well.)

But if we compare Aqua and Kana's positions, it's surprisingly Kana who is in Kamiki's position, and Aqua who is in Ai's position. There are subtle parallels between them (an attempted/experienced sexual exploitation by an older person—though I'm not sure if this was intentional; the side who received a meal during a date (and Ai-Aqua being the one who doesn't usually dress up but does so for the occasion); the desire to be noticed by the other person—if we consider Fatal as Kamiki's song, there's a recurring theme of "look at me" in the lyrics, and that song is indeed associated with that character!! Kana is all about wanting to have Aqua look at her too; receiving praise from the other person for being "shiny"). And, of course, Kana received quite a bit of help from Aqua. However, just as Kana occasionally does so for Aqua, the idea of "pulling someone out of the darkness" fits Ai’s role concerning Kamiki.

Also, among the twins, I’ve had a vague sense that Kamiki’s personality resembles Ruby's more than Aqua's.

After reading Volume 13, that feeling grew stronger. Kamiki’s past is extremely tragic, and he brings misfortune with him. People around him die a lot. There’s something tied to the divine, perhaps? If you carefully read the manga, several comments hint that something is up with Ruby. If one of the twins is born with the talent of being a "star" and is befitting to be one, it would be Ruby. Regarding this, Kana feels an inferiority complex about Ruby, and Memcho also mentions there’s something special about Ruby. When Ruby decides to become popular, she draws everyone’s attention instantly, and even Miyako doesn’t doubt Ruby’s potential to rise. If someone was chosen by the gods out of the twins, it would be Ruby... Though it’s a given both were chosen. It does seem that both Kamiki and Ruby have some divine connection. They both lived extremely unfortunate lives, with people around them dying, while they survive. When it comes to them, events unfold in ways too peculiar to be mere coincidence. I feel like Kamiki's being cursed by a god while Ruby could be being favored by one, but the one cursing Kamiki might also be "blessing" him in an unpredictable way? Anyhow he's tied to "a star that ruins lives" if we take what Fatal is saying at face value- and I think we actually CAN at this point. Stars are so important in this series.

Ruby’s line, "I only bring misfortune,"(CH 121-122) is something Kamiki could likely say as well (if you look at that character’s life, it really seems like he drags misfortune along with him). Kamiki never mentions his family, nor they have any appearance in the plot which suggests that, like Sarina’s case, even if he had a family, he was completely neglected. (Their kid’s going through things, but what are his parents doing..?); the idea of working hard for years out of a desire to see someone again (if "Mephisto"/"Fatal" is indeed that character’s song); the longing to be loved...

If Ai were alive and they figured it out the way Aqua reveals it to Ruby, this character might have broken down and cried like Ruby did... The same could be said for Aqua, though.

Ai has a firmer personality, while Kamiki has a softer side. Even when Ruby turned dark, she couldn’t actually harm others. In that case, how broken could Kamiki be? It feels like he might have been indirectly involved in things rather than directly. If Ai were alive, she probably would’ve somehow prevented him from walking down a path that didn’t suit his nature (and from what I sense, she did ultimately defend him from completely going down that path through the video she's left). When Aqua shows the keychain and says, “This doesn’t suit you, so I hope you give up on this path,” Ruby immediately returns to having the white star eyes again. This is similar to how Kamiki pulls himself together after watching Ai’s video after the movie arc. The effect is almost instantaneous for both Ruby and Kamiki. Of course, if seeing that didn’t change his mind in such a way, it would’ve been ineffective in the first place...

Ai’s way of dealing with situations involves hiding her feelings... Though she smiles brightly, she kept a distance and hid things deeply. On the other hand, Kamiki pretends there’s no darkness, acting as if everything is bright, and approaches others cheerfully. This resembles how Aqua and Ruby deal with things, in that respective order. So, there’s definitely a part of Aqua that takes after Ai and Ruby that takes after their father.

(clarifying this after an inquiry: Ai and Hikaru's very similar in that they form masks and pretend they're happy and fine- that's what drew them together and it is what they share in common. The details about it are a bit different though. Ai grows distant to people while Hikaru wants to get attached to people. In terms of attachment theory, Ai leans more on the avoidant type and Hikaru is the anxious type. So Ai forms a mask to appear as if "she's okay" but fails to rely in others when she needs it- whereas Hikaru does that to receive love and affection to fill his emptiness. That's how he keeps approaching others but gets used up and exploited whereas, nobody in B-Komachi could become so close to Ai, nor have anyone really understand her and feel she was mysterious and secretive. In terms of this, the way Aqua and Ruby act parallels them. Aqua avoids letting others learn behind his mask and keeps his distance to keep them and himself from getting hurt, whereas Ruby tried her best to be a good child when she was Sarina. She was attached to her mother and craved love the way Hikaru was towards people.

+Amaterasu is the sun goddess, and I found that Sarutahiko, the husband of Ame-no-Uzume, was a native sun god worshiped in the region before Amaterasu. As the influence of the faction believing in Amaterasu grew stronger, Sarutahiko’s influence diminished, and he gave up his position. So, Ruby and Kamiki are both connected to the sun. The description of Sarutahiko having a shining body in their legends seems to be a remnant of being a sun deity. Kana is also compared to the sun, and as mentioned earlier, when comparing Aqua-Kana and Kamiki-Ai, Kamiki often corresponds to Kana’s position. Even their names start similarly with "Ka"- Kamiki and Kana, and "A." Aqua and Ai.

++ Aqua’s pattern of intentionally distancing himself from those he cares about (continuously pushing Kana away, trying to distance himself from Ruby) is similar to what Ai did with Kamiki. Kamiki also misunderstood and thought Ai didn’t like him, that he wasn’t needed like everyone else, and was hurt and saddened. That's really similar to the way Kana thought about Aqua although they made up pretty fast. While Kamiki and Aqua share similar thought processes, Aqua resembles Ai, and Ruby or Kana resembles Kamiki in the way they handle situations and the emotions they experience. It's fascinating and clever if you think about it.

There seem to be a lot of parallels. If this was done intentionally, the author is really smart...

There’s a lot to uncover in this manga if you look at it carefully. I think this manga is best read all at once in volumes. Then, surprisingly, the structure doesn’t seem bad at all. The author must have had a lot of thoughts in mind...

Tsukuyomi’s family also doesn’t seem to be very good, the way she briefly describes how they aren't so normal in CH127 and Ai and Kamiki’s family environments were the worst, weren’t they?

It makes me think that the families of gods or those possessed by gods turn out to be miserable. Do their families have a hard time accepting them for some reason? Maybe because the essence of these children is far from ordinary? In my opinion, the lyric "(Ai is the) reincarnation of the brightest star" wasn’t just thrown there. The English version of IDOL also mentions Ai being the "brightest star reborn indeed", "the brightest star is residing in you(Ai)" and Kamiki is probably similar to her in aspect… I think those characters' true essence is divine. The mythological elements fit together too well.

Maybe when Tsukuyomi selects souls to reincarnate she picks those with unfortunate family backgrounds for this reason? So many thoughts come to mind.

It doesn’t seem like these traits are mere coincidences.

+Based on the songs and subtle hints, it really seems like Kamiki was REALLY planning to die, but stopped after hearing Ai’s words…

Even though the hints are vague, does this character really have any reason to want to continue on living in the first place?; It feels like he was planning to do something related to Ai and then die, but after hearing Ai’s words, he couldn’t go through with it because Ai wouldn't want it. It seems like he stopped immediately and came back… That's... really sad.

The manga doesn’t show exactly what happened, but I think Ai probably did something for this character that’s very similar to what Aqua did for Ruby or what Kana did for Aqua (I don’t think it could be anything else).

Whether they’ll show this in the story or just gloss over it... I doubt it will be the latter, right?;; I really need them to depict this if they're going to throw songs like Mephisto and Fatal out there. I'm WAITING...

There's another analysis I wrote regarding WHY Ai contacted Kamiki through the phone booth but also reacted a bit harsh to the idea of reconciling: I wrote another post about it earlier, but I'll do it again!

It’s really important that Ai was the one who contacted her boyfriend first. I’m not sure if others think the same way I do, but the fact that this character reached out shows just how much she trusted and liked her boyfriend. I pointed this out even before Chapter 154 came out, WAY before, when I wrote my first analysis about her character. If she didn’t like him, she could’ve just continued to stay away. And it turns out that she didn’t contact him because she liked him too much—she disappeared because she didn’t want to be a burden. So, if she didn’t care for him/or cared about him- either way, she could’ve just stayed out of touch like she had, but why did she decide to reach out?

In short, it’s because she heard the kids talking negatively about their father. It wasn’t just because she was worried they were getting some bizarre ideas like her giving birth all alone without the dad(although that could have been part of it). Letting the father know about the kids and bringing him into their home was a risky move from Ai’s perspective. After all, she was calling a man she had parted ways with years ago into a home where it was just her and her two little four-year-olds. It would be difficult to handle any unexpected situation in such a state.

But Ai wasn’t worried about that at all.

Ai had a good understanding of Kamiki’s personality. She probably has way more information than the readers do, having spent so much time watching and living with him. So, the Kamiki Ai envisioned wasn’t someone who would ever harm her or her precious, carefully hidden children in any way.

On the contrary, Kamiki was someone she wanted to show the children to, someone she hoped could clear up their misunderstandings. When Ai talks about Kamiki, you can tell she really, really, really loves him. I know that’s true. It’s definitely true. The words that come out of her mouth is SO strong. You can't say things like that unless you find the other person so endearing, especially with someone who was deeply hurt by people by the way she was.

She thought it wasn't good for her kids to have a negative reaction when they think of their father, or to say things like “there’s no such thing as a man” when he’s mentioned.

Ai knew her kids were smart and figured they would get along well with their father if they met him. She thought they would accept each other well, and that Kamiki would like her bright kids too, so she contemplated it and then decided to call him, feeling it would be the better option.

If you think about it, back when they first met, Ai invited Kamiki into her home right away. She wasn’t wary of him at all… she treated him very differently from others. And nothing bad happened at that time either.

The conclusion we can draw from this is that Kamiki, in normal circumstances, could never harm Ai or the children. That character just can't do something like that, it's NOT his nature. Even though he was young, he would have turned out to be a pretty decent parent.

But why didn’t they stay together? Because a scandal would’ve hindered Kamiki’s future.

I noticed Ai only completed junior high school... It seems she dropped out after having the children... That’s heartbreaking.

Did Kamiki continue going to school?; Anyway, at that time, they were both still very young—neither of them had even turned 20. If they had officially gotten together, it would’ve attracted a lot of attention. Would it have just looked like they were dating?; Japan seems to frown heavily on idols being in relationships, right? I suppose it’s the same in other countries too?;

Ai left thinking everything would be fine as long as they weren’t linked to him, then raised the children on her own till that day. She eventually ended up contacting him again, however, to resolve the misunderstandings their precious children had about the dad... If they had gotten back together at that point, it would’ve made their breakup meaningless… I think that was what was going on her mind. She can't give the answer he wants and say they can get together in that situation. But she still wants to show him the kids. You have to think about that. It didn't occur to Kamiki either, and Aqua's "revenge"... well, I guess that's about him having missed her intent on that aspect. It's not entirely Kamiki's fault, Ai's really blunt about a lot of things and it backfires in a terrible way... but what she says can mean more things than one, it sometimes has more than what can be taken the way it's said in a direct sense. Ai is really caring. And she was really loving. "The god who loves people" is definitely linked to her in some way...

[romaritimeharbor]

HYDRANGEAS, CH. 2. — After training for about a year, the Final Selection arrives.

— series synopsis. Hydrangeas, in some cultures, have been known to symbolize apology. The Hashira Tokito [Name] has many things to apologize for, indeed.

— trigger and content warnings. canon-typical violence, blood, death, minor (?) canon character death.

— author's thoughts. hydrangeas is also on ao3!

        Their stay with the Ubuyashiki family was nothing short of pleasant.

        Both Amane and Kagaya had always treated them very kindly whenever they would run into either one of them, and the Kakushi constantly running around the estate would occasionally stop by their room to ensure that they had eaten that day and that they were comfortable (somehow, they felt that Kagaya may have had something to do with the doting nature of the medics, but they didn't want to be presumptuous and ask). The days gradually built up and turned into a week.

        Mid-morning light kissed their heated face, the cool breeze serving as quite the refreshment during the break they were instructed to take. Their chest heaved as they gathered their breath, but there was a little smile that seemed to be permanently affixed to their face, eyes gleaming with youthful joy and determination at what was held between their fingers.

        "Do your brothers like origami?" the soothing voice that, in the past seven days, they had grown quite used to hearing asked. Kagaya's expression was indecipherable as he observed their deft hands fold the paper he provided, though there was something unquestionably positive in his face as he watched. It was never an easy feat to read him, despite his age, and perhaps that was the point; for him to lead the Corps, they did not doubt that he would have to be exceptionally unwavering or enigmatic in both expression and demeanor.

        "Yes," they answered, holding up the little paper airplane they made with pride. It was messily folded, but ultimately, it was more about the sentiment. "Muichiro likes paper airplanes quite a lot. Though, I have to say, he's a lot better than me at making them, but I think it'll make him happy when he gets it with the letter. Even if I'm not that good at it. Hmm... Yuichiro likes paper stars more, I think. He has all the ones I made him in a little box by where he sleeps. He doesn't know I know this, but he fidgets with them when he's upset."

        The boy sitting on the engawa smiled at that.

        "You are a very attentive sibling," he mused, to which their face heated up somewhat; the earnest nature of his compliment didn't catch them off guard, per se, but it was unexpected and sudden. Perhaps the fact that it was coming from him of all people also made it more embarrassing. "It's good that you're maintaining contact with them. It is nothing short of a blessing to have living family while also being a member of the Corps. Many who join do so because their families became victims of the cruelty of demons."

        "Yes, so I've heard. I'm going to do my best to cherish them. I want them to feel loved, even when I'm so far away, and for a reason that they probably can't even understand yet... I never want them to feel abandoned."

        Before Kagaya had the chance to respond—before he had the chance to even think of a response—one of the Kakushi ran up to him, bowing.

        "Good morning, Master! A few Kasugai crows have arrived to receive their Slayers' mission assignments!"

        "Ah, I see. Thank you. You are dismissed."

        The Kakushi shouted a quick, enthusiastic 'Yes, sir!' before leaving to return to their other duties.

        "I am quite sorry, young one," he apologized steadily as he rose to his feet. "We will have to finish this discussion another time."

        "N— no, it's fine! I know you have many things to attend to! I don't mind at all," they immediately insisted, setting the paper airplane off to the side with their unfinished letter that they had started a bit earlier in the day. Carefully, they stood up from their place situated on the stones in the center garden. "Thank you for your time, Master. I will continue training, then, if that is alright with you?"

        "Of course. Go ahead. I believe you have rested quite long enough," he replied, nodding. 

        With that, he turned elegantly and left, disappearing into the estate.

        They turned their attention to the wooden sword sitting neatly against the perimeter of the engawa. It was a comfortable weight in their hands, they thought, as their fingers curled around the handle. A gentle roll of the wrist to ensure their grip was not too tight nor too loose, and they turned to face the garden with a smile.

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        A burn seared their aching muscles.

        They did not stop, however—they did not so much as falter even in spite of the pain they felt. Breathlessly, they swung the practice sword again. The structures that their upper back was composed of were all exceedingly tense and hot to the touch, evidence of the strain they were putting their young body through.

        A choked breath entered their lungs, and suddenly, the sword was no longer in their hands. 

        The splaying of their fingers across their chest seemed beyond their control. Their knees buckled, the ground underneath them swaying and making it extremely difficult to remain upright. Everything was spinning.

        With a huff, they gingerly sat down; perhaps the decision was wise, for the second they did, a series of violent coughs wracked their body, and they raised their freehand to their lips in an attempt to suppress the unexpected fit. Blood rushed through their ears and their heart pounded ferociously in their chest. The spinning of the world around them seemed to diminish somewhat.

        And finally, when the world completely stopped spinning, when the floor felt solid again, when their coughs subsided, they carefully let their hand fall from their lips...

        "Ew."

        A bit of blood and spit coated their palm; they grimaced, actively restraining themselves from shaking the fluid off of their skin. They didn't want to just... splatter it rudely on Kagaya's property. It felt wrong to even think of doing so, but wiping it off on their clothes seemed gross.

        They huffed, contemplating their next action.

        Just as their heart rate was calming down, it leapt again in surprise when a cloth was gently held out to them by a large hand. Their gaze followed the arm up until they could see its owner's face. Bright, youthful eyes that had yet to truly witness the horrors of the world met purely white ones that somehow carried a sense of wisdom that they could not possibly hope to understand at their young age. He had seen things they had yet to—that much was evidently clear.

        "It is normal to spit up blood if you are not used to exerting yourself to this degree."

        His voice snapped them out of their daze, and they were quick to take the cloth from his hands.

        "Ah... I see. I was almost worried for a moment. Thank you," they said, smiling up at him despite knowing that he probably could not see it. As silly as it would've sounded, had they said it out loud, they hoped he could feel it.

        He nodded, then turned. He was gone before they could so much as think of getting another word out.

        ...Huh. Maybe he just wasn't the social type.

        It was not their business to ask nor was it particularly polite to speculate (though, they could not help but wonder; that, however, could be blamed on innocent, childish curiosity), so with the gratefulness still flickering in their chest, they gently wiped their hand and face before tucking the dirtied cloth away and getting up to continue.

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        Continue, they most certainly did.

        They continued even when the sun's rays, combined with their exertion, bore down on their body and boiled their skin. They continued even when the evening chill set in, nipping away at the sun's previous harshness on their skin and burrowing into it in the sun's place. They continued even when pinpoint black dots littered their vision...

        ...And they probably would've pushed even harder, had one of the Kakushi not noticed their stumbling and intervened. That person—a woman, they thought, based solely on the feminine tones of her voice through her mask—had insisted that she was only acting upon the Master's orders. 'Lord Tokito, the Master said you should stop now,' she had said to them, gingerly helping them inside and rushing around to gather food and water for them.

        It was now the following morning and, with a clearer mind, they thought she was simply lying through her teeth to get them to stop.

        (Not that they didn't appreciate it, but she didn't have to go through all the trouble; a simple 'I think you should call it a day' would have been more than sufficient for them. If she was worried, they would have been more than happy to stop, since they wished not to trouble anyone with worrying over their wellbeing.)

        Morning sun, as always, kissed their skin in greeting when they had stepped outside with their wooden sword to begin training. The entirety of their upper back was still sore from the day before, but it did not deter them; all it meant, to them, was that they should perhaps focus on refining a different muscle group today. With that thought in mind, they gingerly set the sword off to the side. Their upper body would probably appreciate the break.

        Stamina it was, then. They did think that their lower body—primarily their legs—could use some kind of work, but they weren't quite sure how to go about it other than running. Maybe they would ask for advice later, but for now, this was more than sufficient. They had to work on their stamina, regardless. Running perhaps would not really do much for the muscles themselves, but there was no doubt in their mind that it would improve either their endurance, stamina, or both.

        About an hour into sprinting around the inner courtyard's expanse—sprinting around the entire perimeter of the estate might've been too much for their body as it was in its current state, so they settled for something that they knew they could manage for a longer period of time without feeling winded—a familiar, booming young voice called out for them:

        "[Name]!"

        It wasn't as if they had known him for years, but somehow, they did not even have to turn their head to know who was calling out to them before a little grin broke out on their features.

        "Kyojuro! Good morning!" they called back, raising their head to look in his direction and waving brightly. Since they were friends, they felt it was appropriate to address him so casually; if he didn't feel the same, then he surely would not have done so to them. His presence inexplicably made them feel more joyful. Some of the vibrantly positive energy that practically rolled of his being in waves must have already rubbed off on them, they thought.

        Behind him stood his father, expression and face in general as intense as ever. He said something they could not quite discern to his son, before his sharp, soul-piercing gaze turned back to them. He gave them a firm nod in what they assumed was his way of greeting them. Then, he turned on his heel and disappeared behind one of the estate's many extensive walls. They could only assume he was going to seek out Kagaya—Rengoku Shinjuro was a Hashira, after all, so they would not be surprised if he had important matters to attend to with the boy. He must have brought his son along to visit.

        ...Had Kyojuro asked to come along to see them? The idea made a bit of fond warmth bloom in their chest.

        Snapping out of their thoughts, they focused back onto the present moment.

        ...But it was then that they took notice of the smaller dark-haired boy standing awkwardly beside Kyojuro, as if he wasn't completely comfortable with the situation he was currently in. His heterochromatic gaze was intense, boring into their skull and attentively observing them (and their surroundings, they noted, based on the way his eyes flicked around; he must not have ever seen Kagaya's estate before now) with what they assumed to be paranoid precision. What they found to be his most notable feature, though, were the bandages wrapped securely around the bottom half of his face.

        Was he wounded? Scarred, perhaps? Maybe he was just shy and preferred not to completely show his face. There were an infinite number of possibilities that might explain why his face was covered, but...

        Regardless of the reason for his bandages, they did their best to brush it off and pay it no mind. It was easy for them to recognize that it may very well be a sensitive topic, and therefore was not something they should pry about. Curiosity was never an easy beast to tame, but they nonetheless did their best. No amount of curiosity could justify being so rude as to  speculate, let alone ask. No, it was not their place to do so.

        With slightly trembling legs—an hour was a long time to constantly run without any breaks whatsoever, but it wasn't quite near their limit; it was merely enough to make them feel a bit weak in the lower body area that they had been neglecting to train recently—they walked over to the two, the grin on their face growing into a smaller, more calm smile. 

        One thing they had taken notice of was how fidgety and nervous the boy beside their friend was. Therefore, they did their best to remain calm and steady as to not overwhelm him.

        Kyojuro was quick to squeeze them in an enthusiastic hug. They did their best not to wheeze at the utter strength he was exerting upon their body, patting his back both in a fond greeting and in a desperate attempt to get him to loosen up slightly. He did not seem to catch the hint, though thankfully, he did let go. "How are you? How's training going?"

        "I'm doing well," they replied, still trying to catch their breath after he'd knocked it out of them. "Training's good, too. Though, I'm not really sure what to do to get my stamina up, so I've just been... running. Since I worked on my upper muscles yesterday, I want to focus on something else today. Give them a chance to breathe, you know?"

        "Let's go on a run together!" he suggested brightly, nodding. "I'll put light weights on your legs to help build muscle."

        "Oh. That's... really smart. Huh. Why didn't I think of that?"

        He laughed, the joy on his face thoroughly comparable to the sun's bright warmth. Actually, it was probably even brighter than that. Kyojuro was a sun of his own; there was no need to compare him to another existing one. As he calmed down, his gaze flickered over to the silent boy at his side, and he perked up, as if it had finally occurred to him to introduce the other boy.

        "This"—he motioned to the boy, though mindful to never actually make unexpected contact with him—"is Iguro Obanai! He also wants to become a Demon Slayer!"

        "Oh, right. I was going to ask." They turned to address him directly. "Hi, Iguro. I'm Toktio [Name]. It's nice to meet you."

        They held out their hand as an offer, but he did not take it; they did not so much as flinch, merely letting their arm fall back to their side as they offered him a kind smile instead.

        "...You too," he finally said, nodding curtly. He was not the talkative type, it seemed.

        "Want to come on the run with us?" It seemed natural, effortless even, for them to ask such a thing. His preference towards being quiet had little to no impact on the way they treated him; though it did not show on his face, he was extremely grateful for that much. "Maybe if you come, Kyojuro won't be mean to me and put weights on my legs," they joked.

        "Haha!" the boy in question laughed again. "I'm still putting those weights on you."

        "Aw..."

        Obanai watched as they bantered with him, silently, weighing his options in his head. Something indecipherable flickered across his expression, but it was snuffed out as fast as it had shown itself. Bewilderment, discomfort, appreciation... it was hard to know what exactly he had felt in that moment, but it could not have been anything overwhelmingly bad, since the response that he gave made them beam:

        "...Sure."

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        Days were quick to become months.

        Kyojuro and Obanai would return to the Master's estate (with his permission and the guidance of many different Kakushi to keep the location a secret, of course) one or two times a week without fail to go on runs with them; it became something that could only be called a routine. Initially, the frequency of their friends'—were they friends with Obanai? They liked to think so; he seemed to slowly grow a bit warmer towards them the more he interacted with them—visits were much higher. It didn't particularly surprise them that the visits eventually dropped down to one or two weekly. It was difficult and time consuming to train.

        (Vaguely, they were reminded of how their visits to their home had dropped equally as significantly—they managed to go once every two weeks, if they were lucky. Usually, they were not, and their visits most commonly happened once every three weeks. The frequency of said visits would probably only continue to drop.

        ...They tried not to linger on it.)

        Around six months had passed since their arrival at the Ubuyashiki estate. They hadn't been counting particularly closely, too occupied by their training to pay it much mind.

        Crisp morning air enveloped their senses as they breathed out a gentle sigh. The sun had yet to rise, but they were already outside going about their preparations for the daily training they were committed to. The garden's stones dug into their knees, but they remained unbothered by it as they stretched their arm out and hooked their other arm's elbow around it, tugging their arm towards the opposite shoulder until their bones popped satisfyingly. The same treatment was given to their other arm.

        Just as they were about to get up, their ears picked up the sound of unfamiliar footsteps. It was easy to know who was walking and when—Kagaya's steps were light and tentative, while Amane's were also light but far more steady, and any one of the Kakushi's typically just sounded frantic and rapid as they dashed across the estate to attend to their duties. These steps were heavy , though nonetheless surprisingly quiet, as if the person they belonged to felt compelled to sneak around the estate instead of outright making their presence known. Subsequently, they turned their head back, curious about who else besides Kagaya, Amane, and some Kakushi was up and at the estate this early.

        A vaguely familiar hulking figure of a man, very clearly in his youth despite how utterly muscular he was, stood just beyond the sliding doors leading into the estate. Their expression rapidly shifted from brief surprise back to its usual look.

        "Hello," they greeted softly, offering him a smile, despite knowing that he most likely could not see it. They hoped that he felt it, at the very least. His reluctance to coexist in the same space as them did not go unnoticed, so they did their best to make him a little bit more comfortable. "I don't believe we've ever properly met."

        His greeting came slowly, hesitantly , even, as he seemed to scrutinize them despite being unable to really see them. Maybe he was looking for some kind of ill intent. Whatever it was that he was seeking, he did not seem to find it. "...Good morning," he replied. "No, we have not."

        "My name is Toktio [Name], Demon Slayer in training." They now fully turned to face him. "What's your name?"

        "Himejima Gyomei."

        "It's nice to meet you, then, Mr. Himejima." They then took note of his uniform. "Are you a Demon Slayer?"

        His tense demeanor seemed to ease up ever so slightly, and it was then that he stepped out onto the engawa, not quite approaching them but not quite avoiding them any longer either. He tucked his legs underneath his body as he sat down nearer to the edge and nodded. "Yes. Pay me no mind, I am merely enjoying the morning air."

        "Of course," they replied as they stood up, stretching their body further and humming at the sound of pops and cracks. With that, they set off, running laps around the garden. Running around the entire state was... perhaps within their abilities, but its expanse was great, and they still needed to warm up before they put their body through that kind of strain. To immediately begin with something so intense would be to injure their muscles. That was something they wanted to avoid, if at all possible.

        Thirty minutes into their laps (during which they were fairly certain Gyomei was watching them, but they did not mind) and they had lost count of how many they'd run. A huff slipped past their lips as they came to a stop, a few stones being flicked forwards due to the force with which they stopped. Their chest rose and fell with labored breaths, and they cursed themselves for having what they felt was poor stamina.

        It wasn't terribly poor, but they had been stuck at this level for about two months, and the lack of improvement was slowly driving them mad.

        Gyomei's voice cut through the morning ambiance.

        "Do you know Total Concentration Breathing?" the man spoke up, seeming to analyze their hunched-over figure as they caught their breath. Finally, once they did, they straightened up and replied:

        "No. I think I've heard of it... maybe..? I'm not too certain, to be honest," they admitted, chuckling, embarrassment evident in their tone. "I've read many of the books about breathing and breath styles, but I don't really remember a lot of it."

        The man nodded. For a moment, he was still. It was almost as if he were contemplating his next move. Then, he gingerly patted the space next to him, a wordless invitation extended their way. They were quick to climb up onto the engawa and sit next to him, though they did leave a bit of space between his body and theirs. He seemed to be rather kind but nonetheless very hesitant to trust them, so they wanted to ensure that they did not make him uncomfortable by overstepping any silent boundaries.

        A large hand hovered over their back.

        "Breathe deeply. Expand your lungs to the fullest extent that your body will allow." He paused. "...Further than that, in fact."

        "Further..?"

        "Further."

        Though hesitant, they earnestly doubted that his intentions were anything other than to help. Therefore, despite the nervousness that such a new (and painful sounding) concept instilled in them, they inhaled.

        And inhaled.

        And inhaled .

        The tightness in their chest almost deterred them, but Gyomei seemed to believe in their abilities despite not knowing them very well, so they felt that they should too. If nothing else, then they should at least try to.

        "Good. Release that breath slowly."

        Of course, that fact did not make it any less uncomfortable, so they were more than grateful to be permitted to let the breath out.

        He drew his hand away, allowing it to settle back into its previous position in his lap. "How did that feel?"

        An ache resounded through their chest cavity, and they grimaced, reaching up to rub at their breastbone through their clothes. "Achy. Overall, not terrible, but it makes my chest sore."

        "It should, and it will until you grow used to maintaining that state. Maintaining Total Concentration Breathing constantly, in and out of battle, in wakefulness and rest, is an advanced technique that will benefit you for years to come if you are able to master it."

        Eyes wide with awe at their newfound knowledge, they nodded. "I see..."

        "Go," he said, motioning to the practice sword they had left strewn off to the side. "Learn to put this skill into practice, young one."

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        About another hour passed.

        They were fairly sure that their lungs were about to explode and that their heart was climbing up their throat to leak out of their ears. The only sound ringing in their head was that of their racing heartbeat, and every breath they took was fire, searing the insides of their lungs and spreading to burn the entirety of their chest with its ferocity. 

        Gyomei had been kind enough to offer to train with them, and they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was not using even a small portion of the strength that he was capable of exerting. It was easy to tell how much stronger he was compared to them. If his muscular build was already not enough of a clue, then the fact that he was easily able to cast a shadow over their entire body and then some would surely be an adequate indicator. He was larger and stronger than they would ever be. 

        Even so, he did not put out even a fraction of his strength, and that was something they were immensely thankful for. He must have been very aware of what he could do to another person, they thought, and yet... they did not feel threatened, not had he even hurt them in any way (not counting the radiating soreness of their muscles from parrying his strikes). It was admirable. If they ever grew to have even a quarter of his strength, they hoped they would also be that aware of what they were capable of.

        What an absolutely awe-inspiring man to train with.

        A gasp was torn from their throat, and their body folded forwards, one hand clasping itself over their mouth and the other one clutching their side. Their eyes squeezed shut as they coughed, choking up enough blood for it to spill from the slightest of cracks between their fingers.

        The man towering over them paused momentarily, but then placed a tentative hand on their back, soothingly rubbing away at the ache he knew for certain that they must have been feeling.

        It was not the first time they had spit up blood—it was one among many, in fact, but admittedly they did produce more than usual this time around.

        "It is normal to spit up blood when learning this technique for the first time," he murmured to them, seeming to tear up at their pain. "Do you feel otherwise unwell?"

        "No..." they huffed, slowly standing up straight as to not agitate their body any more than they already had. He passed them a cloth, just as he had done that time six months ago. They were quick to clean off their hand and face using it. "Thank you. No, I feel okay." Then, their eyes glimmering with hope and determination shifted up towards him. "Can we keep going?"

        For the first time, Gyomei smiled at them. It was soft and befitting of the type of person they believed him to be, but seeing it still astounded them in the best of ways, and they could not help but grin widely in return.

        "As long as you are feeling well, we may."

        If either party were aware of Kagaya's affectionate gaze, originating from an opening in the sliding doors just wide enough for him to sit comfortably and observe, neither paid any mind to it.

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        For the next few months, Gyomei loyally continued to train with them, guiding their every movement and assisting them in growing stronger. Subsequently, he also began to train them harder as he found himself needing to put more force behind blocking their attacks and landing some of his own. It was a source of great pride in his mind—a young one such as themselves growing strong enough (though ultimately still as weak as a tiny kitten in comparison to him) to where he could feel the impact of their strikes?

        Yes, Himejima Gyomei was extremely proud of their growth.

        Still, he was as conscientious as ever, and he never wounded them too terribly. The worst he had ever given them was a large bruise on their side that bloomed on their skin the day after he had hit them; he had wept that day, guilt-ridden when he discovered it, though they had insisted that it was alright. His sensitivity was something they quite adored, though they sincerely wished he would not drown himself in guilt over something like that. 'It's only natural to get hurt while training,’ they had insisted. 'I'm not mad at you, and I'm not hurt that bad. If anything, I'm glad, because all it means is that you're taking me more seriously now! And anyway, it's kind of my fault... I hesitated. You told me not to, and I got hurt. That's on me... Next time I won't make that mistake!'

        In that time, they had also worked extremely rigorously on learning the forms of Mist Breathing. Kagaya still had little news in regards to Sun Breathing, so instead, he often spent time correcting their stances based on what he had seen others do in the past.

        'Utilize your entire body. If your goal is to defend yourself from projectiles, then you must be able to slash a large area and do so with great strength. This is only possible by using every part of yourself—not merely your arms alone.'

        'Don't be afraid to lower your body as far as possible, young one. You will not fall, and if you do, then you must learn not to. Balance, I have observed, is greatly important in learning Mist Breathing. You must maintain great control over your body at all times.'

         'Learn to move swiftly and change directions equally so. I'm fairly certain that no amount of training will prepare you for the moment you must do so in battle while also delivering continuous slashes, but it does help.'

        The kindness of all those around them was oftentimes overwhelming, though not in a negative manner. It simply made them so, so deeply grateful that the people of the Corps were so earnestly good. It made them all the more dedicated to the cause, the goal of the Demon Slayer Corps.

        The months passed rapidly. With how hard they were working, it was no surprise.

        The Final Selection seemed so far away at one point, but the morning they needed to leave for it had finally arrived.

        The Ubuyashiki estate was considerably active, even in the early morning. It was unsurprising; it did function as the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps. So long as demon activity failed to cease, so too would the operations taking place within the estate they had grown so familiar with.

        Getting ready on that morning in particular was nerve-wracking. Their fingers trembled as they secured their clothes around their body and grabbed their shoes to bring with them outside. Anxiety and anticipation mingled together in their chest, despite breathing so deeply all the time. Deep breathing was said to be useful in calming oneself down, but now, it did naught to soothe their nerves.

        They supposed that was fair. What they were preparing to walk into was no normal event—it was life or death, the ultimate triumph or ultimate failure. There was no margin for error. As such, they did believe that their fear was valid.

        As they delicately traversed the halls, seeking to not disturb anyone else who may have been resting, many Kakushi wished them well, and all they could muster was a nervous smile in response each time.

        'You'll do great.'

        'Good luck, kid!'

         'Come back to us alive, yeah?'

        Once they quietly stepped out of the estate and onto the engawa, gingerly closing the sliding doors behind them with their one freehand, they were greeted by Amane, Kagaya, and Gyomei.

        Gyomei was the first to speak. His eyes shone in the dim morning light with the gloss of tears yet to be shed. "I will pray for your safety," he had said, large hand situating itself firmly on their head for a moment before withdrawing. They smiled up at him.

        "Thank you for everything you have done for me thus far."

        It was at that point that the tears finally fell. They reached up, placing a gentle hand on his arm as a momentary expression of comfort. After a few seconds, they pulled away, turning to Amane and Kagaya. 

        In the Master's hands was a nichirin blade.

        "You may borrow this blade until you receive yours," he said, holding it out to them. With what was probably excessive caution, they took it, gazing at him with awe in their eyes. They knew he was going to give them one; he'd told them in advance and even provided a sheath for it, but somehow they still believed that nothing could have prepared them for the moment they had it in their hands. He smiled kindly. "Come back safely, [Name]. We believe in you."

        Newfound determination bubbled in their chest. "I will," they replied, sheathing the blade.

        Amane's demeanor, though professional and smooth as ever, was warmly fond, as was the smile she directed at them. "Good luck, young one," she began. "I am sure that you will make us all proud. I will see you at Mount Fujikasane."

        That surprised them more than anything else, really, and they're sure it showed in their expression, because she immediately went on to explain.

        "I will be initiating this Final Selection. You will see me at the beginning and end."

        "I see," they replied. "Well... I'll be off, then!"

        With that, they stepped off of the engawa, waving at those behind them with a bright smile. Finally, they put their shoes on.

        Then, as they had said, they were off.

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        For the location of the final selection, Mount Fujikasane was astoundingly beautiful.

        Wisteria trees went up the mountain as far as they could see from the angle they were at, the purple flowers seeming to glimmer bathed in the moon's gentle light. The stone steps leading up to where they assumed they were meant to head were in considerably mixed condition; some appeared to be stunningly pristine, as if they had only just been laid down, while others looked as if they would crumble at the slightest weight placed upon them.

        Petals tickled their cheeks as they made their way upwards in something of a daze, overwhelmed by the intensely strong scent filling their lungs to the brim (it was hardly any wonder demons did not dare cross the threshold of the flowers; they knew it was deeper than simply disliking the scent, but honestly, they're fairly certain that they would not tread through a path so heavily draped in wisteria either, since the smell could be immensely overpowering). The feather-light touch was soft and soothing, almost comparable to the touch of a loving parent caressing their child's face.

        Bumping into someone's back was what snapped them out of the dazed state they were in. A surprised squeak was drawn from their throat, and they immediately stepped back to put appropriate space between themselves and whoever they had run into. 

        "I'm so sorry," they apologized, a tentative smile gracing their features as he turned to face them, peach-colored hair swaying somewhat as he did. It was then that the massive scar running along his right cheek came into their view, and they stumbled briefly, before recovering from their shock as fast as they could manage. "I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been.

        It was a young boy, presumably around their age, that they had run into. His pale lavender eyes seemed to burn with determination, only being illuminated even further by the glow of the surrounding wisteria. Situated on the side of his face was a fox mask. At his side stood a boy with a far more timid demeanor with deep blue eyes, vaguely reminiscent of the ocean, and black hair tied back into a short ponytail. The former studied them for a quick moment, before grinning. "Don't worry about it," he said, offering a hand for them to shake. They gladly took his offer. "I'm Sabito. This is Tomioka Giyu."

        "It's nice to meet you two, Sabito, Giyu," they greeted kindly, smile now growing more certain and confident. "My name is Tokito [Name]."

        Upon completing their ascension up the stairs, all of their confidence dissipated in an instant. Sabito did not neglect to notice.

        "Nervous?" he wondered.

        "A little," they admitted with a shaky laugh. "I mean, who wouldn't be? This is pretty huge. It's the kind of event that determines your future. I feel like it's only reasonable to be a bit afraid."

        Sabito nodded.

        "Yeah. It's an understandable reaction. Keep your head up; I don't doubt that we'll all be fine."

        "You're right. Suppose being nervous won't do much other than hinder me, right?"

        "Exactly."

        Nervousness somewhat—though not entirely—sated, they nodded. Before they got the chance to reply again, to continue the conversation they were having with Sabito, they took notice of Amane stepping into view of the crowd of around twenty Demon Slayers to-be. Her eyes seemed to thoroughly scan the crowd; it was as if she was searching for someone. When her gaze finally landed on them, her lips pulled upwards into the vague ghost of a smile, and they could not help but return it—simply with a far more blatant grin and wave.

        Giyu glanced towards them. For the first time since they had met him and his friend, he spoke to them: "Do you know her?" he wondered softly, as to not speak over her, should she begin to talk.

        "Yes," they confirmed. "She is Lady Ubuyashiki Amane, the Master's wife. She and her husband are both really nice people."

        Sabito immediately turned to look at them. "You know the Master?"

        "I live with him, for now."

         "What?!"

        Their smile suddenly became shier, though that did not stop them from giggling a little bit. A twinge of embarrassment was more than clear in their voice, but it was largely overwhelmed by amusement. "It's only a temporary thing..."

        "I've only heard legends about that guy. It's apparently rare that people get to see him," the peach-haired boy mused, "and you live with him?"

        "For now."

        Before either boy could say something—Giyu looked as if he was going to, but they couldn't be sure, since he did not have the chance to—Amane began to speak.

        "Good evening, everyone," she greeted, the gentle tones of her voice seeming to be carried across the crowd by little more than the wind. A hush fell over the crowd, chatter dying down into nothing more than a few whispers here and there. "Thank you for finding the time to attend the Final Selection tonight. On this mountain, there are many demons, who were all captured alive by our most talented Demon Slayer swordsmen. These demons are unable to leave."

        She gracefully motioned to the many wisteria trees.

        "This is because wisteria, which demons hate so much, blooms year-round from the foot of the mountain to approximately halfway up. From this point upwards, there is no longer any wisteria. In order to pass the Final Selection, you will need to survive for seven days."

        She then turned somewhat, motioning to either side of the platform she was on before her hands settled back, neatly tucked at the front of her body. "Now, be on your way. Good luck."

        There was widespread hesitance among the crowd. Some seemed to be reconsidering their choices. Others simply seemed understandably frightened, though did not look as if they were about to flee back to their home. Still, they eventually began to filter through either entrance and disperse.

        Before they could follow along, Sabito turned to them, holding out a hand. "Let's stick together, Tokito."

        They grinned, giving his hand a firm shake. "I should hope you aren't saying that just because I live with the Master," they teased. "I don't think you get special privileges for knowing me, since I don't get that treatment either."

        He laughed.

        "Hardly. I was just surprised; I don't particularly care. What I do care about is surviving, and we're all far more likely to if we tackle this event as a group." He stopped speaking, but then added on, "Good that the Master doesn't treat you any differently though. It tells me a lot about him as a person."

        "Well, I do hope it tells you good things. Anyways, you're certainly right about that," they agreed, attention shifting to Giyu. "Do you mind me coming along with you guys?"

        He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but then paused for a brief moment, as if thinking. Then, he shook his head, offering them the slightest of smiles. "That's fine by me."

        Sabito nodded firmly, determination seeming to emanate from his being. "Right. Then, let's get going."

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        "What breathing styles do you guys use?"

        Hushed, quiet chatter was surprisingly common among the little group that they had found themselves a part of; they imagined that Sabito would be far more stringent about staying focused, that he'd think it impossible to converse so casually while also remaining completely alert, but they turned out to be quite wrong. He was actually quite willing to engage, quite the talker if given the opportunity to be so.

        Therefore, they did not feel nervous or awkward asking a question of their own.

        "Water breathing," Giyu answered just as quietly as they had asked.

        "Oh, that's cool," they mused, grip firm around the handle of their sheathed blade, ready to unsheathe it at a moment's notice. "You know, I was thinking about learning Water Breathing, since I genuinely didn't know what style I should pursue. The Master said there was even an active trainer for it."

        "Yeah, that's Mr. Urokodaki," Sabito said. "Apparently he was a Hashira before! I think he retired a while ago. Anyway, we both use Water Breathing, and we learned it from him."

        "Maybe I would have met you two before if I had decided to learn that style, huh?"

        The lavender-eyed boy nodded. "It's definitely not unlikely," he agreed. "What style did you end up learning, then?"

        Just as they opened their mouth to respond, the snap of a twig resounded through the relative silence, alerting all three of them without fail. It seemed to come from behind. With practiced speed and precision, their blade was unsheathed in an instant. Sabito and Giyu both followed suit on what seemed to be mostly instinct. The group turned to face whatever it was that had been trailing behind for—presumably—quite some time now.

        In their chest, their heart seemed to pound sporadically as their mind tried to figure out whether to be terrified or excited . They lowered their body close to the ground in preparation to deliver what was to come to the foul thing before them, adjusting their footing when they felt even a little bit unbalanced.

        It was as Kagaya had told them, indeed.

        The demon paid them no mind. A fatal, irreversible mistake on its behalf.

        "Aw, man," a hoarse voice drawled, sounding thoroughly disgruntled over its mistake. Unnaturally slender, lengthy limbs seemed to drag on the floor as it moved. Sharp nails reached up to scratch its cheek. "Shoulda been paying more attention... Oh well, I'll be eating well tonight anywa—"

        Mist Breathing, Fourth Form: Shifting Flow Slash.

        Its head rolled off in an instant, leaving it with no chance to finish whatever it was going to say. Pride swelled in their chest as they stood straight once more, sheathing their blade as they did. There was no suppressing the giddy smile on their face as they turned back to their companions.

        Behind them, the demon—astounded by its easy defeat and dreading its rapidly approaching arrival to Hell—dissipated into nothing but ash to be blown away by the nighttime breeze.

        "Mist Breathing," they answered Sabito's question cheekily, as if they did not just produce a great show of strength. "I taught it to myself."

        Both boys turned to one another, making eye contact, as if to ask one another 'What just happened?'

        Then, Sabito turned to them, positively grinning .

        "That was so impressive. You didn't even hesitate . I barely saw you move."

        "I was taught not to," they giggled, suddenly feeling extremely sheepish. "Hesitating gives your enemy a chance to hurt or even kill you. No hesitating—I learned that the hard way. And I was taught by someone so much stronger than me, probably stronger than I'll ever be, so if I couldn't reflect his strength at least a little bit, I would be ashamed..."

        Neither boy could get another word out before the distant cry for help from another Slayer to-be reached their group's ears.

        In an instant, they all took off running in the direction of the call.

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        Sabito, as an individual, turned out to be quite similar to themselves.

        He was a boy with a great sense of justice, always seeking to send as many demons to the afterlife as he could manage, always seeking to protect as many of his fellow Demon Slayer trainees. Giyu was also more than happy to follow along, though they did not fail to notice how nervous he seemed to be regarding how willing his friend was to fling himself into danger. He nonetheless seemed to care just as much about the safety of others as his friend did—he merely expressed more caution.

        It was understandable, really. The only real way to "fail" the Final Selection would be to die .

        Giyu, no doubt, would not want to see such a fate befall his friend. They therefore felt that it was only right for them to back Sabito and Giyu up as closely as possible and cover their blind spots with only the utmost effort.

        After all, they also weren't especially keen on seeing either of their new friends die. It was in their nature to help people—it always had been. It was just how they were raised.

        Given that fact, it was hardly any surprise that most of their time with the two ended up being spent rescuing others during the nights and sleeping in shifts during the day.

        (There were more than sufficient trees to create lines of shade for demons to stalk safely through during the day, so sleeping two at a time with one serving as a guard was the most effective way to ensure that no-one got hurt. There were quite a few instances of other sleeping Slayers being attacked during the day due to such methods, which made theirs and their friends' sleep rather... poor. None complained, however. Saving a life was worth being a bit sleep deprived.)

        Spending so much time in their company also allowed them to learn a bit more about the duo.

        Giyu was quite the quiet child—always following along, silently focused, though Sabito had told them that he was just shy, really. He was far more joyfully expressive in Sabito's sole presence, though he did seem to be gradually warming up to them and their presence. They probably just made him a bit nervous, being a stranger and all.

        Sabito, on the other hand, was far more bold and confident in his ways. He was quite the stern one when it came to slaying demons and staying alert. He did not seem to take cowardice lightly. They vaguely wondered if Yuichiro would grow up to be something like him; that boy was terribly stern when he wanted to be for a child his age.

        (Somehow, they hoped that Yuichiro would grow up to be a bit more lenient, because they felt that if he did not, they would be in trouble once he was old enough to properly stand up to them...)

        The moon was slowly but surely approaching the horizon, making way for the sun to rise once again and mark their final day on the mountain. Sabito's attentive nature meant that, if they were not saving another person from demons, they were patrolling the circumference of the mountain as thoroughly as possible. He could perhaps even be called restless; they did not particularly mind, however, and Giyu seemed to be very used to it, so they assumed that such behaviors were normal for him.

        "It's almost the seventh day, right?" they mused aloud, peering up at the star-riddled sky swirling with various shades of blue, all gradually growing lighter near the east horizon from which the sun would rise.

        "That's right," Sabito confirmed. "We get to leave tomorrow morning."

        "Then... once the Final Selection is over, would you two like to keep in touch?"

        Giyu seemed to perk up at that, and—surprisingly—was the first to reply. "I would like that."

        The other boy nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely. Maybe we'll get assigned missions together in the future?"

        "I'm glad, the—"

        A shrill scream cut them off, and all of the group's blades were unsheathed in the blink of an eye. Sabito ran off in the direction it originated from first with them and Giyu following close behind.

        "A large demon!" a boy shrieked, his feet pounding desperately against the dirt and grass as he fled. He looked down, almost seeming to curse his body for being unable to run any more swiftly, before turning his head back towards whatever was chasing him. Wide eyes dilated with fear only seemed to widen impossibly more as he whipped his head back forward and focused on fleeing. "No-one told us there would be one this big here! What the hell?!"

        A green, vaguely circular amalgamation of hands with a head poking out from what must have been the top chased slowly after the boy, though its utter size made it easy for it to keep up its pursuit. A large body like its own could cover significant ground with one or two steps—significantly more than what a small, inexperienced Demon Slayer in training could.

        Hands shot out to grab the poor boy. Just as one wrapped around his leg, Giyu tried to react, dashing forward and—

        He was flicked away in an instant like nothing more than an annoying fly, his body slamming violently against a tree, though the demon did release the boy from its grip when its attention had briefly shifted. 

        The boy then continued to run, and the demon continued to pursue.

        "Sabito!" they called out, rushing over to Giyu's side to support the trembling boy, quickly putting their blade back away. Blood dripped down from his hairline, and they panicked. "He's bleeding! He has a head injury!"

        Lavender eyes stared motionlessly for a moment. Then, his expression hardened, as did his grip on his blade. "Get him out of here!" he yelled, turning to run in the direction the demon went. "Go!"

        "I can't—" they gasped as Giyu pulled forward somewhat, reaching out towards his friend desperately. However, they were far stronger than he was (a pang of fear rippled through their chest as that reality settled in— they were stronger than Giyu, and probably Sabito, too) , and they gripped his injured body tightly, unwilling to let him stumble into danger. "No, we can't leave you!"

        "Get the hell out of here!"

        "N— no—" Giyu gasped, barely conscious or coherent.

        In that moment, it became blatantly clear to them that they had no other choice. They could not leave Giyu vulnerable and chase after Sabito, but they also knew there was no way possible for Giyu to walk on his own, let alone keep up with them. He needed to rest for the remainder of the Selection, not chase after Sabito with them. 

        ...But they could not do those two things at once, and Sabito entrusted Giyu's safety to them . If they could not chase after him, then at the very least, they could fulfill his wishes. They had to protect Giyu.

        With that thought in mind, they hoisted the boy up, situating him on their back before hooking their arms underneath his thighs and dashing away. His sword was forgotten, left behind exactly where he had dropped it in the grass when he was injured. It was the only remaining thing that indicated that their group had ever been there in the first place.

        As they dashed away, they could only hope Sabito knew what he was doing.

                       — flower of the universe !! 🌸

        Bright blues, characteristic of the daytime, danced in the sky, mingling in with wispy clouds.

        "Morning already..." they murmured to themselves, peering down at Giyu's unconscious—but alive, thankfully—body. His head rested comfortably in their lap. It was better than leaving him to sleep on the cold, dirty ground, and it didn't bother them at all. Their brothers tended to sleep on them all the time when they were ill, so letting their injured friend do it was almost like second nature.

        The night passed with no sign of Sabito. In fact, they didn't even hear a single sound all night; it had been eerily still and silent. Then, the seventh day arrived, and there was still no sign of him. The seventh night came and passed in the same manner. When the sun rose on the eighth morning—the day they were to descend the mountain—there was still nothing. Throughout it all, Giyu remained unconscious.

        How they wished that wasn't so. They could not help but wonder how he would process the tragedy when he was informed of it. For now, though, he simply continued to sleep through it all, unaware of what was going on around him.

        Right after they had taken him away from the area in which everything happened, they discovered a river and used it to cleanse his wound, though they had nothing to wrap it in. Something was better than nothing, they supposed; at least it was temporarily cleansed of dirt and debris, thereby lowering the risk of infection.

        With a sigh, they stood up, gingerly moving the boy's wounded head from their lap as they did. He did not even stir.

        ...Was that worrying? God, they hoped he was okay.

        "Up you go, Tomioka," they whispered as they hoisted him up onto their back, much like they had done on the sixth night. "Maybe we'll see Sabito down there..?"

        Something deep down inside of them knew better, but they still clung onto the hope that maybe, just maybe , he was alive and simply could not find them and chose to descend on his own.

        Tears of frustration welled in their eyes, but they were quick to blink them away as they began to walk. Grass, leaves, and sticks crunched and cracked underneath their reluctant steps.

        A person with so much strength... someone like them should have been able to do something. How many times had Gyomei praised their strength? How many times had they trained until their arms felt just about ready to fall off, until blood seeped from their lips, until their ears rang loudly? How well-prepared were they for this event? Hell, how likely was it that anyone else knew Total Concentration Breathing: Constant?

        They were undoubtedly the most ready for the Final Selection.

        So much strength and so much preparation—it was very possible that they were the strongest person on the mountain that week, and yet...

        And yet they were helpless to save Sabito.

         'So much for protecting everyone,' they thought bitterly as they finally arrived at the wisteria tree threshold, stepping carefully down the stairs onto the platform at which everyone had begun. 

        Many pairs of eyes stared at them in anticipation, and they stared back, scanning the crowd.

        "Where's Sabito?"

        Everyone was there. Everyone except for Sabito . Many faces in the crowd fell upon seeing that there was no-one else with them.

        "We were hoping he would have been with one of you, but if you two are here, then..." one murmured.

        "Then, that's everyone except for Sabito."

        "Yeah..."

        "I see," they murmured. "...May he rest in peace. Many of us probably wouldn't be here if not for him."

        Murmurs of downcast agreement rolled across the crowd in waves. Sabito's contribution to the exceedingly high turnout was undeniable; that boy, that just and righteous boy, had saved an outstanding number of people throughout the length of the week.

        For that, everyone was grateful.

        Amane's presence alone hushed everyone almost instantly, though it did very little to ease the somber mood of their fellow Demon Slayers. They walked up to her. They knew that they probably should have waited, but Giyu was still injured. How much longer could they wait before his injury turned for the worst? They were not keen on pushing their luck and finding out.

        "Lady Amane," they greeted, bowing at the waist level despite the weight on their back. They huffed as they straightened out their spine. She met their gaze, concern evident—at least, to them—in her eyes. "He has a head injury. He otherwise performed well, so— so I hope this does not mean that he has failed, but..."

        "I understand. You need not explain to me; every member of the Corps will attain injuries at one point or another, but that does not make them any less valuable of a swordsman," she said, softly cutting them off. With a simple wave of her hand, two Kakushi dashed to her side. Where did they even come from? They decided that it was better not to ask, since it wasn't really a priority to know where those two had magically manifested from. She turned to them. "Take this boy to the nearest Wisteria House for immediate medical treatment."

        "Yes, Lady Amane," the two said in unison. Giyu was removed from their back before they could even process what happened. The Kakushi dashed away with him, leaving them standing there dazed and shocked at how utterly fast they moved under Amane's command.

        She nodded to them. They took that as their sign to return to their place among their peers.

        "Congratulations on surviving," she began. "First, I will take your measurements for your uniforms and have your ranks engraved. There are ten ranks in total—Mizunoto, Mizunoe, Kanoto, Kanoe, Tsuchinoto, Tsuchinoe, Hinoto, Hinoe, Kinoto, and Kinoe. You are currently the lowest rank, Mizunoto. Today, you will choose the ore that will be used to forge your blades." She tugged a cloth off of a nearby large table with a graceful flick of the wrist, revealing various ores on top of it. "The blade itself will take anywhere from ten to fifteen days to complete. Now, we will assign you a Kasugai crow."

        Crows circled above, cawing as they all glided or barreled down towards their respective masters. It must have been dependent on the birds' individual personalities, they thought; hopefully theirs did not end up being one of the more... aggressive crows. Theirs, thankfully, was gentle and delicate in its landing on their outstretched arm. It seemed cautious, wishing not to dig its nails into their skin and bring them harm. Purely white wings fluttered as it landed, tucking into its equally snow white body once it had made itself comfortable. Inquisitive, piercing red eyes stared into theirs.

        "You're pretty," they cooed, steadying their voice as much as they possibly could despite the sense of grief weighing on their chest. With their freehand, they reached up, gingerly stroking the calm crow's feathers. "Fuyuki... How do you feel about that name? Is that okay?"

        The crow merely gave a curt nod of approval.

        "Fuyuki it is, then," they murmured, gently ushering the bird to their shoulder. It obliged, resting on their shoulder rather than their arm. Then, Amane began to speak once more:

        "You may now choose your ores."

reblogs with comments or tags > likes. tags: @soleillunne <3

[zephyrchama]

you're one of my fav blogger in this app! i love to read your blogs during night time, that's the only time when i have a clear mind for imaginations! sometimes i even laugh at your blogs causing my mom to wake up and she'll shut me up. but if i'd ask you something... How do you even get ideas for your blogs? is there any particular story you've made that happened to you too? ilysm, have a great day or night :) ❤️❤️

Aaaaa thank you so very much!! ヾ(｡・ω・)ﾉ☆ﾟ♥ (I've made you wake someone up with laughter! What an honor! >u< )

I honestly never ever respected anybody to read my stuff. When I made my first post, I sat on it for days and wondered if I should really upload it, and just made this blog for self-indulgent reasons. I was super surprised! I'm still surprised every day!

Some of my ideas are based on real events! The toe-biting one (it wasn't a human though haha), high-pitched noise, sneezing (it's me, I'm determined to bless everyone who sneezes), long hair, unnoticed, those are a few based on personal experiences. I have a lot of ideas saved up to potentially write about in the future as well. I used to live in an international dormitory in Tokyo where there were young adults from all over the world living together in an unfamiliar country. We're all people and we were all similar, but everyone was raised in a different culture so we had these slightly different quirks, and I like to think that's what living with the Obey Me characters might feel like.

Some of the posts are based on internet memes, like chin on palm, false eyelashes, and confident Levi. Some of them are based on other shows, like Mammon's First Grimm and the Watching MC sleep post from yesterday. I read a lot of manga/webtoons, especially in the otome isekai genre. Sometimes I get spin-off ideas from those, but if I go into a new series specifically looking for ideas to write about then I won't find anything. The OM characters have certain popular traits, like the bookworm and the otaku and the tsundere, but they're also unique characters that express those tropes in their own way! So I don't like drawing too many parallels between the OM cast and similar characters from other media because I don't want to label all otaku, bookworms, tsundere, etc. as being the same.

A lot of people send me asks and I really have to respond to them! There are a lot of fun ideas people sent in that I've been sitting on for too long. I never know how long or short to make the responses and I don't want to disappoint people with really short answers if they were expecting something big, but that makes me hesitate and I wind up accidentally not responding. ;u;

Sometimes an idea springs into my head out of nowhere and just have to get it out right away. I prefer to write at a computer but the April Fool's Day piece and Hide & Seek came to me so suddenly I literally couldn't focus on anything else, dropped what I was doing, and immediately posted it from my phone.

this got so long, oh no. you can tell i like to ramble when I speak on the internet hghakhj. I may be taking a bit of a break from writing soon because a big anime convention is coming up and I'm working a lot on cosplay again. I want to post some longer fics when I'm back though so come August I'd like to work on those. If people read my posts and haven't noticed, I also write whatever's on my mind in the tags! Sometimes it's quips about the fic, sometimes it's updates about this blog, sometimes I'm just saying nonsense.

This got really long I am so sorry but thank you so much!! You too, please have a lovely day or night or week in general and thanks for letting me ramble on your post!

[goodgirlofglory]

Don’t worry! I didn’t shut down 😂 and thank you for the follow!!

As for the requests, I don’t want to be a bother, so ill try not to overload your asks. Do you also write stories that don’t have any smut? Because, as much as I love the game of hide the eggplant 🍆 😉 I sometimes really just craze a sweet soft story or something that’s angsty with a happy ending.

Like for example, it’s spring/summer early morning, and Bucky being a trained soldier wakes up with the sun. But his partner on the other hand…. Let’s just say she isn’t a morning person. However, today they wake together and lie in bed all soft and sweet and talk about anything, and maybe they both drift back to sleep… and uhh I just melt

Or… Bucky is new to the tower and does not get along with the newest younger avenger member that everyone loves. And they bicker back and forth, and she is so sassy and witty and one ups him every time. And In the end, they have a big argument and she asks why he hates her so much, when she didn’t even do anything. And Bucky basically confesses that he doesn’t hate her. He actually really likes her and is just scared Bec of what he used to do and who he used to be, and the fact that she’s so young and is the sunshine person of the group, and they talk and share the sweetest first kiss 🥹

OMG DID I SAY TOO MUCH LOL 🫢🫠🫠🫠🫠

I just really love Bucky Bec his story is so sad

Anyways, you’re amazing. I hope you have a good day/night 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Bestie!! I have something for you! 🌸💖🌸💖🌸

This is for your first prompt and honestly, idk how I feel about what I did with it🙈 Lmk what you think🫶

As for your second prompt, it made me look up a similar draft for a series I wrote long ago, and now I’m super inspired to continue writing on it!!!!😳🙌 A real enemies to lovers, can’t be in a room for two seconds without snapping at each other, but also desperately attracted to each other with Bucky still being very much traumatised and thinking himself completely unworthy of love and affection and reader wanting so much to get along with him and be his friend and potential bed mate iykwim type vibe!!

UUUUGH, like I said before, these prompts you give are so thought provoking and inspiring. I love them, thank you!!!😍

Hope you're having a splendid day/night, enjoy🫶🦋

Sleeping in / One-shot

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word count: 3,5k

Warnings: fluffy fluff, some angst, a few references to smut

Summary: Bucky never considered sleeping in until you - soft, sweet, precious you - started sleeping in his bed.

Bucky’s eyes shot open at precisely 6 AM like they always did. It was a routine ingrained in his very bones at this point. Whether it came from his years as the Soldat, his military training before that or the hard days of his upbringing, for as long as he could remember, he’d always been wide awake and alert at precisely 6 AM. Nowadays he kept a strict morning routine consisting of a short and non-indulgent breakfast, a ten mile jog, short to the point cold shower and then a crossword puzzle before starting his day. It was like clockwork, and Bucky hadn’t really questioned it, nor had any incentive to change it. That was, until you - soft, sweet, precious you - started sleeping in Bucky’s bed. 

Bucky had been blessed with your intimate company for half a year now. He’d never been so nervous as that night he took you out to the beach to watch the stars after three months of dating, and asked you to go steady with him in the light of the bonfire. Nor had he ever felt such blissful, perfect relief and elation as when you’d thrown your arms around his neck and squealed in his ear. 

“Yes, yes, oh my god, of course I do, Bucky,” you’d exclaimed, damn near rupturing his ear drum. He’d only wrapped his own arms tighter around you and nuzzled into the hollow of your throat, grinning like a dolt against your skin before peppering it with kisses, working his way up to your lips, his heart soaring in his chest. You’d made love for the first time right there in the sand, his cock drawn out of his fly and your panties pulled to the side, clothes awkwardly askew and sand getting everywhere, but it had been absolutely perfect. 

From that point on, It didn’t take long for the two of you to become virtually inseparable, spending meals and nights and whatever spare time you had with each other. Bucky just couldn’t help it, he became completely and ardently addicted to you. Your scent, your warmth, your laughter, the color of your eyes and the way the corners crinkled when you smiled. The way your brows furrowed when you concentrated on something, how fiercely you defended anything you loved or felt empathy for, how sopping wet you got when he teased you just the tiniest bit. 

The two of you loved taking walks together on the grounds, both finding it relaxing and like a much needed detox at the end of a long day. On days off you took longer hikes together in landscapes near and far, sleeping out in the fresh air and making love on mossy forest grounds. 

You both had a special craving for physical connection (or as you liked to say, your “love languages were physical touch”), which in truth was a lucky blessing, for never had someone unlocked such need in Bucky. Need for your warmth, need for your touch, need to hold your hand or your waist or shoulder, or just feel the weight of your feet in his lap on movie nights with the rest of the team. It didn’t need to be sexual either (though it certainly often was, or turned to that) - it was just the knowledge of you being close that soothed whatever aches Bucky had inside, quelled and quieted some fidgety, restless part of him. 

Further, your company and your skin on his had done miracles for his sleepless night. You were like a soothing blanket and a sleeping pill, all in one. Whenever he laid down and pulled you close, felt your hands around his torso and your legs tangle with him, sleep found him easily, which was a feat he hadn’t found in years. You alternated between sleeping in your room or his, but you always slept together whenever you had the chance. In his quiet mind, Bucky liked it best when you slept in his bed. There was just something about seeing you in his room, in his sheets, relaxed and warm and soft with sleep, leaving behind faint traces of your scent on his pillow that Bucky would never admit openly to pressing his nose to and inhaling gratefully whenever you left for your own daily work.

 Inviting you in and seeing you so comfortable and at home in his private, intimate spaces had a newfound emotion spreading in his body. A sweet ache that wasn’t pain, nor sadness, or even longing. He’d scarcely dared put a name to the new feeling that bloomed like the tiniest, most fragile thing in his chest. The feeling was happiness, so foreign and unexpected Bucky had damn near had a panic attack that first time he caught himself gazing at you while you were deeply engrossed in your book next to him, and recognised the feeling for what it was. 

On this Sunday morning, when neither of you had any plans for the day, Bucky opened his eyes to find you snuggled up to him like a koala, legs and arms wrapped tightly around him as you slumbered on, and that same pang of sweet ache hit him as he looked down on you, saw you so relaxed and peaceful in his arms. By God, you were a deep sleeper, and you slept a lot, too. Bucky’d been baffled to observe how fucking much you slept if only given the chance. Proper sloth, he’d tried to tease you once, only for you to stretch with a lazy smile and nuzzle his chest. That had in turn only served to make Bucky’s heart melt right out of his ribcage. You were too cute, damnit, and far too powerful, and Bucky could only clutch you tighter to him. 

Bucky looked down at you, the soft rays of the warm spring sun coming in through the open curtains and casting your beautiful face in a golden sheen, taking his breath away as his gaze flitted about your face, without a single tension, mouth slightly open, quiet, steady puffs of air coming out and fanning across Bucky’s face. He put his nose gently to your throat and breathed you in, pulling in a grateful fill of your mouth watering scent, all warm and heady from your sleep.

He wondered what you were dreaming about, and how long you would sleep like this, undisturbed and unburdened, like you deserved. Did you even know how much of a miracle you’d been to him? How you single handedly fought off his nightmares? Kept him sleeping through the night, not awakening to sheets damp with sweat and an even more exhausted mind than the night before? He suspected you didn’t have a single clue. And maybe he was to blame for that. Cause even though his body had practically leapt at the chance of living in semi-permanent connection with yours no problem, he still had a little ways to go when it came to properly opening up emotionally. With words. God, he hated talking about his feelings, hated how vulnerable and easily wounded he felt, how much he fumbled for the right things to say and the guilt of taking comfort from others when he’d been the cause of so much horrid pain in the past. Whenever he felt the need to get things off his chest, those thoughts would hit him. It wasn’t right to demand people soothe and comfort him, he didn’t deserve it. He needed to own his actions, no matter if Hydra was og wasn’t here anymore. Especially because of that, actually. If he didn’t repent, how would he ever make up for all those people who’d suffered at his hands? 

So no, it was better to just work on it himself, to not burden anyone with it, and especially not a sweet, loving, caring ray of sunshine like you. You deserved so much better. 

Bucky stared at you while his thoughts whirled. He would let you sleep in, he decided, and after bending slightly forward to kiss one of your eyelids as softly as his body could possibly allow him, he started the meticulous procedure of removing his arm from under your neck and extracting himself from the secure cage you’d made around him with your limbs, so he could go start his morning routine. Just when he’d managed to untangle your legs and was about to slip his arm from under your head, your brows crinkled and the most adorable little sound of protest came from you. Sluggish and weakly, you reached for him, still mostly asleep, and tugged at his shoulder and arm to get him back to you. 

Bucky’s heart clenched again, and he huffed a laugh as he let himself be pulled back into your embrace, secretly relishing the feeling of you determinant pulling him close to you, of wanting him close to you. He couldn’t help it, those small reassurances meant so much to him. 

Your eyes opened to slits and looked up at him. 

“Mornin,” he mumbled, feeling himself light up with a sense of excitement at having you awake and with him.

You hummed long and slow, settling down with your head on his chest.

“Mornin, baby, what’s the time?” you asked, and your small, raspy voice was so fucking cute Bucky had a hard time dealing with it, actually.

He didn’t have to look at the clock on the nightstand. 

“Just past six,” he said, still gazing at your sleepy form. 

Your face scrunched up in what could only be described as disgust at his words. 

“What? Whyyyy, Bucky, it’s Sunday,” you whined, and Bucky couldn’t help his grin. 

“Can’t help the way I am,” he said as his only excuse, hoping you didn’t catch on to the way the words reflected his earlier thoughts. 

You stretched like a cat in his arms and snuggled closer to him, pressing a kiss to his throat. 

“I can help you. Settle down, we’re sleeping in today,” you said, eyes closing. It seemed you were halfway back to sleep already, though your grip around Bucky was uncompromising. 

“Is that an order?” Bucky murmured, so stupidly entertained by your every word he just kept grinning, the ache in his chest growing stronger.

“Yes it is, so you better obey me, soldier,” you mumbled. 

Bucky chuckled, watching you drift back off to sleep, but found he couldn’t quite get there himself. He found himself gazing out into the room, mind still going over his worries like a steadily churning maelstrom. Sleep didn’t come easy when he was stuck in a thinking loop like this. It didn’t help that his morning wood was as incessant as always, and you snuggling your warm, soft body up against it only made it worse. That wasn’t that much of an issue, though. He actually, secretly kinda loved just laying like this, feeling how you aroused him and knowing you reciprocated. 

To Bucky’s surprise, he looked back down to find you watching him, having cracked one eye open. He almost started. 

“What’s the matter?” you asked, sounding vaguely concerned. 

Bucky schooled his expression and shook his head. 

“Nothing, sweetheart, go back to sleep,” he said, kissing your forehead and then kissing it again when you hummed contentedly at the gesture. 

Your hand came up and started gently playing with the hair on his chest, something you often did when you were thinking and wondering how to say something. A contemplative gesture Bucky didn’t think you were all that aware of. Not that he’d ever made you aware of it. He liked being able to read your behavioral patterns. Liked it when you were open and honest and comfortable showing him your authentic self. He wouldn’t dream of taking that away and making you self conscious. 

“You sure? You look like you're thinking very hard and not talking about it,” you said and Bucky blanched. Had he been that obvious? Maybe he had some revealing behaviors he wasn’t aware of too. For some reason, it warmed his heart to know you could read him as well as he could read you. That you paid attention. That you cared as much as you did. He took your hand in his and played with your fingers, loved the way his hand engulfed yours, seeing how elegant your bones were while knowing the strength you could pack in a punch. 

He turned your hand over and though he’d only meant to buy himself some time with his exploration, he noticed for the first time a scar on the tip of your ring finger. He brought your finger closer to his eyes and yes indeed, in the shape of a question mark without the dot, the pad of your fingertip was sliced in two by a fine, pale scar line. He ran his thumb over it, suddenly engrossed in this detail he’d missed until now. 

“Where’d you get this?” he asked, curiosity making him giddy while deep down, a furious anger stirred; Anger that promised death and despair upon those who dared hurt you. 

You giggled as he brushed his thumb over it again, squirming slightly in his arms, and Bucky got even more curious. 

“It tickles. And it’s nothing exciting, just a small accident from when I was a kid,” you said, squealing lightly when Bucky brushed his thumb even more gently over the scarred skin, watching you avidly. 

“Tell me,” he said, giving your fingertip peace, but not letting you pull your hand away. 

You gave him a stern look, though you couldn’t hide the smile tugging on your lips.

“Fine, I’ll let you distract me for now, but I want to know what had you looking so forlorn earlier,” you said, the most adorable flush creeping up on your cheekbones as Bucky slowly pulled your hand up to his mouth and kissed each fingertip, noticing with glee how your pupils dilated as you watched his lips caress your skin. 

“Forlorn?” Bucky repeated, settling down even further into the soft mattress and the soft, silky sheets he’d gone out and gotten that first week you started sharing his bed, “I like when you go Shakespeare,” he teased, grinning when you smacked his chest in petulant offense. Bucky pulled you even closer to him and rolled you over so you lay across his chest as he settled on his back. “No, c’mon, tell me,” he insisted. 

You lay there together as the sun rose higher, Bucky listening intently as you told him about the accident that had split your finger tip as a seven year old, and then the stitches you’d have to get sewn while in the ER. Bucky couldn’t help pulling you closer and kissing all over your face when you talked about the praise you’d gotten from the nurses for being so brave. 

“That’s my girl,” he murmured onto the skin below your ear and relished the way you shivered. You gave him that look you got when you were delightfully preening under his praise while at the same time getting just a little bit shy - that look that made Bucky go half-mad with desire. 

“Tell me about this one?” you asked, pointing to a scar that ran along his lower abdomen, a  line that zig zagged diagonally up to his waist. It was one of his more gnarly scars. Thick, ragged and ugly, with darker, blotchy scar tissue, indicating a more serious injury. Not that Bucky knew. 

“Don’t know, I don’t remember how I got them,” he said, finding the words a bit more difficult to get past his throat as he focused on the scar, and the lack of memories accompanying it. 

You looked up at him in surprise. 

“Any of them?” you asked. 

Bucky gave a noncommittal shrug, fighting off his self-consciousness. He didn’t want to get defensive around you, knew he didn’t have to. Hell, you were the one person he knew by now he could be open and honest with. But the lack of knowing was still a sore spot for him.

“I know where the arm went, Steve told me, but the rest is, um…well, mysteries,” he said. 

You blinked, looking a little like a wounded puppy as your fingers traced another scar. You were so empathic, always caring so deeply for others. It was something Bucky admired about you, along with how open you were yourself about your feelings and stuff like that. Bucky drew a steadying breath, gathering his courage. 

“I’m glad I have them,” he said, catching your attention again. Your brow crinkled for the tiniest moment. 

“Why for?” you asked softly, a small, perfect encouragement for him to elaborate. 

Here we go, Bucky thought, a shrill nervousness suddenly swelling inside him.

“I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t have them,” Bucky said, swallowing thickly. His courage faltered slightly and he averted his eyes, but he forced himself to continue speaking, “They’re a part of the life that led me to this, to…you. I wouldn’t be here with you right now if I didn’t also go through whatever gave me all these scars…and for that, I’m happy,” he said, drawing a mortified breath as he stopped speaking, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest. 

The silence felt like an eternity, and Bucky steeled himself for whatever reaction you might come with. Was it too much? Too weird? Too morbid? 

Your hands cupped his face and brought his eyes up to yours. They were shining with emotion, with empathy so deep he almost winced at the raw intensity. 

“You’re so strong, Bucky. A strong and good man, and so fucking sweet. You didn’t deserve any of your scars, or any of the pain you went through to get here. And I know you feel guilty, and I know there is little I can do to make it alright, but I…,” you trailed off for a beat and to his astonishment, Bucky swore he heard the words love you hang in the air between the two of you. Your heart, which Bucky could feel between your two bodies pressed together, shot up to an alarming speed, and a crimson flush stole across your face. 

You must have seen him catch on, for you lowered your gaze and laughed a bit self deprecatingly. No, no, no, don’t hide, please say them, Bucky thought desperately, his own heart picking up speed, thudding hard in his chest. God, could it be true?

“Is it selfish to say I’m happy you’re here with me too, even though you had to go through so many unfair, horrible things to get here?” you asked, and Bucky wondered if you were feeling guilty too at that moment. 

He hugged you tighter to him, lowering his head to catch your down-cast eyes. 

“I want you to. Be selfish, I mean, ehm, with me,” he said in a surge of bravery that had him fumbling his words all the same. “I mean I like it when you are - I mean, oh God, I -”

“I get what you mean,” you said softly and assuringly, biting your lip and smiling so sweetly Bucky’s heart lurched. 

He bent forward and caught your lips, so fucking grateful for you, for caring, understanding and supporting you. Maybe he didn’t need to hear you say you loved him yet. His heart was soaring in his chest just by the implication, just by having you here in his arms. He could be gracious and continue working to deserve your love in the future, and be completely ready to receive it. 

You broke the kiss and settled down on his chest again, and his hand found your hair, playing with it. 

“I need a haircut,” you said after a few moments, voice just the tiniest bit tense for it to be a nonchalant remark. Who needs a distraction now?, Bucky thought a bit smugly, listening with his enhanced hearing that your heart was still thudding just a little faster than usual. He could be gracious, though it was a near thing. 

“I like your hair like this,” he said, kissing the top of your head, satisfaction surging warm and proud when you tried to snuggle even closer to him, tangling your legs even more with his.

“Oh lord, no it’s all frizzy. I once had a hairdresser -”

You spent some time talking about nothing and everything, the languid morning settling heavy in your bones. Bucky felt like he was floating, like time slowed and you were hiding away together on a cloud of affection and drowsy, peaceful contentment. 

Nestled together in the privacy of his room, Bucky’s thoughts went to the future for once, and not the past. They went to the hope that you would tell him you loved him one day. That he would be ready to receive that love then, and be truly deserving of it. As of now, maybe he could get used to sleeping in, Bucky thought as he listened to you murmuring about a dream you’d had. 

And after a while, when your eyelids had closed entirely and your breath evened out, Bucky drifted back off to sleep with you, still entangled in the soft sheets illuminated by the warm, spring sun. 

[liaa--qb]

I am not mad about it but all the things I am hearing about the leaks these days👀did you ?

Alicole fucking inbetween blood and cheese; cheese bumping into Aegon 😭 and rest of the fuck.

I should say that even Aemond being daemon's son wasn't that impossible for them. I would have believed and supported that with full cause.

I am not helaemond stan . Helaena and aemond fucking each other would have been more shocking and wild surprise to me. It would have made more sense then all the leaks feeling sorry for you helaemonds😂

Please Don't ask anything to me please about leaks. I am quite I don't know..

I am just kinda... disappointed 😭 why why they did this with us. ? What was the reason for this ? Why they destroyed Helaegon in worst way in season 1 for us not to ship them ? There is our harry collett running 'Aegon abusive husband agenda' out there😂.( Bless him sweet child) and why they gave hints and provoked indirectly towards helaemond ? When they never wanted to do this.

I ship Alicole so much. Yes hot people should fuck each other but atleast it should be sensible enough according to plot. I wanted some slow development with their tension and relationship not just ' omg we getting horny n guilty, let's just fuck' I hope it's just not like that. Alicole fucking is just a wild fanfic coming out alive to me but you know you can call me biased but it very ooc for them( but ofcourse we already had alot so why not other )

But again my question ? Why not Helaena also😭 ? Sorry but if Alicent and Criston can happen then why not helaemond. Alicent and Criston are far more strict and religious. There is no excuse you can make make Alicole fuck each other while not helaemond of which they were giving so many hints !!!

I never shipped Aegon, Aemond with Helaena before show but show made me ship helaemond n there were direct hints at them. Let me tell all the couples , non canon ships pointed by series all time indirectly are now actually turned into canon which also included helaemond, now what happened idk

I do like helaegon but it's not any romantic ship n never was. There is a sympathy for this ship to me like two people who never wanted to get into this shit are now stuck with each other with worse life. That's how I see Helaegon which is very much fine. Infact I was dying to see heleagond. That threesome would have been so hot to watch

Problem is that if they never wanted to build anything for Helaemond, If they wanted to neither develop anything for helaegon also then atleast they should have done helaegon bit better in s1 , also in s2 leaks said there is just one scene of proper of helaegon which also gives short view how pain, compromising, dull their relationship is. That's it . The thing I hate most is that Helaena is having no agency in her life. We have so many chances to see Aegon, Aemond developing but why Helaena should only be shown as victim or with no one with her😖.

But yes they can show-

Alicole fucking while b&c happening

Aemond getting back to lady who assaulted him when he was a child n being vulnerable with her. ( Some leaks said it's just conversation bet them but idk )

That cheese walk passing through Aegon easily 😵 with a fuck ass dog😭

Daemon hiring two shit ass people kill to Aemond who would have killed both cheese n blood easily himself. What was daemon thinking 🤦🏻‍♀️ ? The way Aemond is more horrifying than blood, cheese 😭 n mind you outside castle there's granny vhagar who would have made fried chicken of blood n cheese and their dog

WE ARE NOT SEEING HER with Dreamfyre 😑 why ?

I am not against the changes, the of consistency in characters from S1 to s2 from what I am hearing from leaks is somewhat meh or but fast paced.

If that's what Ryan wanted to do then Can I get Aemond kidnapping Rhaena ? Because why not ? Atleast I can have rheaemond😂 and yes at this they should reveal that Aemond is Daemon's son. They can do that. It's not impossible

I am going to condal's house taking my Rhaemond story so that in s3 I am going to have Rhaemond

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Trevor Zegras (Part Twenty-Five)

SERIES MASTERLIST

previous: twenty-four

next: twenty-six

corresponding quinn post

TUESDAY, APRIL 11TH

PREGAME

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, _quinnhughes, and 10,662 others

yourusername welcome to my pregame sin bin update show: ethan bet against everybody edition! quinny currently resides at one game sense his last penalty, and trevy stands at zero!

tonight is the second to last game for both the ducks and canucks, and is the last time they will play against one another until next season!

i’ll keep this short and sweet: best of luck to both of my boys, and please, create some chaos for me ;)

i love you both! don’t die!

tagged trevorzegras and _quinnhughes

view all 118 comments

trevorzegras what would you do if i died?

yourusername revive you to kick your ass

trevorzegras aw babe! you’re so sweet <3 i love you, forever!

_quinnhughes your son is just like his father

yourusername don’t say that it’s rude

jackhughes i think i’m offended?

edwards.73 i’m 80% sure i’m not offended

yourusername @/jackhughes @/edwards.73 <3

user1 aw ethan and cole are in the bet gc now🥹

_alexturcotte you two better give us something entertaining

_quinnhughes no promises

trevorzegras i might just read a book on the bench

jamie.drysdale go team go!

yourusername take a lap that was embarrassing

POSTGAME

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, jamie.drysdale, and 11,369 others

yourusername welcome to my postgame penalty box update show: sexy boyfriend edition! tonight, he got his second penalty in a row with a tripping call against driesy. driesy is my friend so trevor deserved to go to jail!! shame on you, zegras!!

z also attempted to get into a shoving match with millsy, but that was quickly stopped, and then him and quinn just stood back and watched as their besties stepped in to defend which is honestly the most (new) z and quinn thing to do. and we’re counting this as the “trevor tries to fight” category in the bets! so thanks for running him over millsy <3

special shoutout to drew helleson for getting his forst nhl goal! and dad for have 22:11 minutes of ice time which also gets me money! you’re def my second favorite dad for this <3

sorry about your loss, my love :( but you got some assists tonight! get those stats baby! i love you, always🧡

p.s. z-baby held his coffee like a normal person and it was very off putting. never do that again you heathen

tagged trevorzegras

view all 226 comments

trevorzegras i love you, forever🧡 i’m happy at least you get us some money this game!

yourusername idk who “us” is but it is not me and you

trevorzegras u (you) + s (sexy boyfriend) = us

yourusername if i cave will you stop being cringe

trevorzegras probably

yourusername i got US some money, babe!!

user1 what in the name of FUCK was happening in pregame with z and fowler😭

yourusername masochistic rituals

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras sorry about your life

trevorzegras i hope you get hit in the face thursday

yourusername if you’re going to fight why couldn’t you do it ON THE ICE

_quinnhughes @/yourusername so i wouldn’t get a penalty

yourusername @_quinnhughes traitor

trevorzegras @_quinnhughes clearly you don’t love her enough

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras i will take back my blessing right now

user2 ugh z was so precious this game

tterry19 why am i your second favorite dad?

yourusername jim is first

tterry19 i’ll accept that. you’re welcome for the money, daughter!

yourusername thanks, dad!

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras i hate you

trevorzegras I TRIED

jamie.drysdale I DON’T BELIEVE YOU

edwards.73 you tell him, step dad!!

yourusername i need everyone to know jamie tackled trevor to the floor when he came in because he hates owing jack money

jamie.drysdale and *I* need everyone to know that y/n told me to do it

trevorzegras @/yourusername @/jamie.drysdale traitors! (i think)

jackhughes @/trevorzegras i think they’re traitors to me?

yourusername @/trevorzegras @/jackhughes yes

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras @/jackhughes it’s definitely one of the above

user3 “shame on you, zegras” it’s like she’s reprimanding a puppy

jackhughes 🤑💸🎰 (emoji for suck it, soulmate)

_quinnhughes so help me if you set her off

yourusername @/jackhughes careful now. i spend the summers with you.

jackhughes @_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 you guys will save me, right?

lhughes_06 @/jackhughes not a chance i’ve missed sissy going wild

_quinnhughes @/jackhughes i suggest you wear a helmet

trevorzegras @/jackhughes just sleep in full hockey gear

colecaufield @/trevorzegras i believed in you

trevorzegras it is my deepest regret that i let you down

yourusername @/trevorzegras ahem

trevorzegras @/colecaufield it is my second deepest regret that i let you down

colecaufield @/trevorzegras nice one

user4 CHAIN! I REPEAT: C H A I N !!!!!!

_alexturcotte @/trevorzegras thanks for the money

trevorzegras you went under $175?

_alexturcotte and it would’ve been worse if you didn’t get a penalty!

jamie.drysdale he has a point

yourusername not a very good one

_alexturcotte aw, i love you guys, too!

yourusername @_alexturcotte fine i love you, too

[ghostofvalorie]

That Essay

@forsaire tagged me and now I MUST provide! You opened Pandora's box on this one.

To adhere to the rules I will first provide FOUR and ONLY FOUR of my fictional crushes! And to make it easier on us all I've narrowed it down to games only, so here we go!

I'm starting off from the very beginning of my journey into crushing on non-existent people, and people who have read my tags before might know this one already!

Malik Al Sayf from Assassins Creed 1 - 2007

A man whom you've wrong by being arrogant and then spends the next few hours of the game being yelled at by him, and rightfully so. Not only do you cost him his arm and place as an assassin in the brotherhood, but his younger brother as well.

Eventually Altaïr stops begin a prick and apologizes and Malik, bless his heart forgives him.

Still... not me rolling into Jerusalem hoping, wishing, to get yelled at because Malik's Voice Actor goes HARD <3 I love him and his 7 whole polygons! NEXT!!

Keeping it somewhat chronological:

The Arishok from Dragon Age 2 - 2011

He beeg. He got horns. He is technically an antagonist in the game but he has a moral code that makes sense to him that he is willing to kill and die for. Qunari famously live their lives incredibly black and white so to him he is in the right, even if we disagree.

But he just got a wholeass vibe, and he'll say nice things such as

"I have a growing lack of disgust for you" and I mean, with that voice... say no more sir. *takes shirt off*

NR 3: Adam Jensen from Deus Ex - 2011-2016

My cyborg husband <3

Ex-swat turned security guy, then interpool agent (depends on which game you are playing)

He's just an incredibly good guy, the sweetest person on the block. Ofc it depends on how you play and what choices you make, but MY Adam is a sweeheart that will go out of his way to help people.

And my boi got sass, he'll be snarky to literally anyone, his boss, the cops, criminals you name it.

He's also secretly a little funny. <3

Nr 4: Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2 - 2018

I mean first off, he do a little *mlem* when he drinks coffee... Do i even need to say more?

Arthur is just such a perfect sad boy. Raised to believe his only worth lies in killing people when in reality he is incredibly competent, sharp and caring. Again depends on how you play the game, but my Arthur is the goodest boi in the west.

Now that was four, oh but look, somehow completely unrelated to all this, some other honorable mentions seems to have ended up after the cut, how silly of me!

And @xintothewoodswegox, show us what you got!

Beast from Beauty and the Beast - 2017

No further comment, your honor, if you've seen the movie you should know.

Kaidan Alenko from Mass Effect - 2012

How can we not love the powerful nerdass space magician! He's caring, he is cute, he is Canadian and schrodinger's person of color!

He also glow blue, what else can you possible want? I for sure do NOT kick my feet and twirl my hair anytime he wants to talk to me.

Eris Goddess of Chaos from Sinbad - 2003

I MEAN LOOK AT HER?!?!?!? Again an antagonist, but she is sexy about it.

Helga Sinclair from Atlantis - 2001

I'm-I i mean, I don't even have words. Every time I SEE Helga my brain flat-lines I can't help it.

THAT GIF THO???

Majima Goro from the Like a Dragon series of games

No comment, because if i start i will NEVER stop, he's story is too good.

Simon 'Ghost' Riley from Call of Duty MWII - 2022

I could literally put ALL the characters from that game in this list. ALL OF THEM, but to keep this somewhat short I've chosen ONE and i've chosen Ghost, the most tragic man alive.

Kar'niss from Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023

Another TRAGIC boi, missunderstood and abused </3 I could take care of him. LET ME TAKE CARE OF HIM LARIAN

Jonathan Reid from Vampyr - 2018

You didn't think I'd squeeze in a vampire this late, did you?

I wasn't overly impressed by Jonathan from the start, BUT, he is FASCINATING if you play him as a bloodthirsty villain willing to murder everyone for power! I'm here for bad-boy Reid!

Lastly, for now:

Corvo Attano from Dishonored - 2012

Also an incredibly tragic man, who's fate you hold in your hands with your actions!

He's just hot, he's a dilf, he can succumb to grief and violence or rise above it to save not only his daughter but an entire empire from destruction.

I'm not sure i've y'all have noticed the pattern yet but let me spell it out for you:

PEOPLE THAT CAN ABSOLUTELY DESTROY ME! Look at them all! So STRONG! So POWERFUL! Fuck, mess me up fam!

And the beauty lies in that they never would. Or I mean Eris might... but I'm in a firm belief that the others would never harm someone they care about and ain't that just the purest thing you've ever heard.

Now this was only the highlights of my fictional crushes, I've kept most of the absolute freaks out for now. Maybe I'll do an updated list later where werewolves and Cthulhu makes the cut, we'll see. Now I know HP Lovecraft wasn't a very cool dude to say the least, but you expect me to be normal about the big tentacle monster? REALLY?

Lower your expectations.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Question question, Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite stories/series, and though it was written to be a "modern fairy tale", it's quite different from the tales you talk about here, so I was wondering about your feelings and thoughts on it

My feelings on the Wizard of Oz are a little complicated, so it's probably fair to start with saying that I've only read a Dutch translation of Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that was probably somewhat shortened. And I've never read the other books in the series. With that said:

I like the Wizard of Oz! It has fun fantasy logic, a plucky heroine, melting witches, fantastic magic shoes, flying monkeys, a mix of 'real magic' and the power of belief, and you can kiss protective stars onto foreheads.

What I don't like, is that it keeps showing up on lists of "most beloved fairy tales", while it really isn't - in my personal opinion - a fairy tale. (Just like Peter Pan, Pinnochio and Alice in Wonderland, but I digress.) I think it's a great example of being inspired by fairy tale elements, but giving them your own spin.

The magical silver shoes, for example, are very like the kind of object you'd find in a fairy tale. They'll remind people of Cinderella's slippers and the Seven League Boots, but also of the gifts (magic nuts, protective necklace, blessed weapon) that fairy tale heroes often get. Letting them be stolen from a witch, however, and making their magic unclear at first and then having them do full teleportation, is much more fantasy than fairy tale.

Another fun twist is Dorothy melting the Wicked Witch with water. This does not come from folklore, but it's such a striking visual that it is pretty much part of American folklore by now. Which in my opinion is a testament to how good of an idea that was! Because it sounds like something that makes sense to defeat an evil witch with. There is folklore scattered about that states witches can't cross running water (like some vampires) and water as a purifying, cleansing thing is deeply routed in all kinds of traditional beliefs.

But at its core The Wonderful Wizard of Oz feels much more like a fantasy travel adventure to me, than like a fairy tale. Most fairy tale characters are archetypal, and their motivations are simple. The story focuses on what happens to them and how they act, but rarely on their inner experiences. This works well for a short tale, because you don't get bogged down in details, but usually starts to drag in a longer format. It's not strange to me that Anderson's The Snow Queen usually gets shortened in retellings, it makes it a full fairy tale instead of a fairy tale-ish saga. Nor that De Villeneuve's Beauty and the Beast only ended up in oral tradition after De Beaumont cut out half the plot. (Elaborate dream sequences are hard to remember when telling stories around the fire).

I feel like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has far more to say than would have ever fit in a fairy tale. Not just because of the length, but also because of the kind of story it wants to tell. So I personally wouldn't call it a fairy tale, but I do think it added wonderful imagery to our fairy tale telling vocabulary ^^

Also, in my Dutch translation there was a beautiful illustration of Glinda's female guards, dressed in what I now realise must have been inspired by Canadian mounted police uniforms. Child-me thought they were the absolute best <3