#if someone who knows mandarin has corrections for me please tell me

[cubedmango]

finished translating and subbing the first ep of the radio drama, here’s a snippet of the iconic elevator scene!

(episodes masterpost)

[pradadoie]

A full translation of the third victim’s post - Part 1

T/N; Hey guys. Due to Tumblr’s post limit, I will post the convo translations on the second part of the post. Keep in mind that the situation is still going on and we should stay neutral. This is also not a XX hate post, I am merely translating this as this is a matter heavy post. Do not send threats or hate messages to any party involved and read this post with a clear and neutral mind. If anybody (Especially those fluent in mandarin) wants to make corrections on my post, please do so - this is my first time translating something like this. Thank you. 

At first, I didn’t want to speak up about this issue. This is because everybody including myself thought that we’ve broken up on good terms. To be honest, this incident did not cause me harm in terms of mental wellness or any other form, which was why I initially decided to forget about it and move on with my life. 

However, after reading yesterday’s posts (containing the allegations + timeline), what I noticed was my experiences overlap with the other victims, and many girls have come out to relay their experiences with him. I also found out that he would talk behind a girl’s back in order to scam a different girl and started up rumors about her - this made me feel betrayed. I felt that this situation isn’t as simple as it seems, and I don’t know whether there will be more victims coming out. I just hope that people would get a wake up call after reading my post/experience, and see him for the person he truly is - I also hope that there will be no more victims.

Pic 1 - Contact with HXX: At first, I was just a fan of his and I really liked him - which was why I attended some of his events/schedules. Until one day, I received an airdrop with the name “luca’s iphone” attached, I used an ID with my name on it to send him a sticker/meme for fun. From then on, we started contacting each other and added each other on Wechat. At first, I felt like a main character/lucky female lead in a romance drama - turns out, I wasn’t the only main character/female lead in his life. 

Pic 2 - Spending the night with HXX: After learning that the location (where he had his schedule) was close to my place, he immediately suggested he come over and visit my house, as he wanted to go somewhere with nobody around. 

He was somebody of the opposite sex as well as somebody I really liked, therefore I started to overthink. I asked him if he had a girlfriend and he replied that he didn’t have one. If I knew he had a girlfriend during that time, I would have never invited him over to my house and cut all contact.  

On that day, I thought that there would be a romance blossoming between us. After his schedule, he went back to his hotel before coming over to my place. I even asked him: “Does your manager know about this? (For a more direct translation, she asked “Does your manager not care?”)” He mentioned that his manager was asleep in the other room and was not aware that he (HXX) went out to visit her. 

The first thing he did after stepping into my house was smoke, he even invited me to smoke with him. After that, both of us started drinking and chatting. He mentioned that his best friend (who has not debuted yet) during his trainee days was useless and good for nothing, ranting about how his teammates never put in any effort during practice and never listened, ranted about how a teammate of his stole his fashion related opportunities, and also ranted about how some members are untalented and only debuted due to their visuals. He also mentioned how he disliked Keep Running as he didn’t like how tiring it is and how his seniors give him a lot of pressure. He disliked how his fans gathered at the airport to take his photos etc. He also opened up about how his family wasn’t doing well financially, how his dad’s investments failed, expressed his wish to save money to buy a house and a car and whatnot, and then started ranting about how society is unfair. During that time, I thought he was just a genuine, hardworking boy. However, after seeing many victims expose him of his ways, he was just using this to gain sympathy from me and take advantage of me (translation here may be inaccurate, please correct me if I’m wrong.) 

Back then, although I was surprised, I thought that his image was far from his true self. He was always preaching about how much hard work he puts in and mentioned that Iwas the only person who understood how he felt. He gave me the impression that he was realistic and bright, and made me misunderstood that he was someone I could have a heart to heart talk with. After spending the night at my house, he left the next day for his upcoming schedules. 

Pic 3 - Demanding for presents

Before arriving at my house, he made excuses about how he didn’t bring enough clothes and asked if I could buy some clothes for him before he came over. He even pointed out the brands he preferred (He wanted Saint L*urent, B*lenciaga, and said he didn’t want B*rberry because he disliked the brand - ironic because he is a brand ambassador for that brand) 

Pic 4 - Follow up

Before his schedules, I would ask if he wanted me to go/follow him. He always responded saying it was a waste of time and said I should be prioritizing my studies (and many other excuses). At first, I thought he was being sincere and genuinely thought that he was concerned about my wellbeing. Turns out, he didn’t want me there because he was meeting other people. I was the fool in the end. (Direct translation: Turns out, I was the clown)

When I followed him to his schedules, he would repeatedly ask if I had a house, whether I was living alone, etc. After I told him I had a roommate, he disappeared and did not reply to my texts over the next few days. 

I couldn’t bear with the mixed signals and the confusing feelings. During December, I decided to confront him about his ways. However, he ignored my attempts to talk, using his schedules as an excuse to avoid talking to me. After somebody exposed his teammate (?), he kept on telling me that “we’re just friends” and warned me to not expose him. After that conversation, I saw his true colors and cut off all contact with him. I would also like to say that I am grateful for my upbringing and my assertiveness - if the victim was someone who was emotionally fragile or lacked a good support system (or love), would she develop psychological/mental problems (T/n: read between the lines - she’s hinting that somebody could have gotten insecurities/change in mindset that will lead them to do/develop something worse because of his actions) because of scum like him?

During our period of contact, I have repeatedly asked him if he had a girlfriend or whether he was in contact with other girls. All the replies he gave me were “No.” (Refer to Pic 5) He also mentioned that he never drank with other girls as well. I really believed his lies back then, thinking he was just somebody yearning for love. Today, I discovered that he used his idol persona and fans’ love to fulfill his own needs and scam/cheat others, flirting with other women despite having a girlfriend himself, went to different cities to meet different girls and treat them like a personal harem. He also talked behind every girls’ back, constantly speaking ill of them. His behavior made us (OP and the other victims) feel worthless. I acknowledge that issues like this will be forgotten easily as time goes by, and that people would nitpick on this issue and blame this incident on my behavior, for the way I threw myself into a fire of destruction. 

In the end, I hope that people like me - who blindly followed and believed him - will open their eyes and see his true side - I hope that you will know better and don’t get hurt the way I did and bear the pressure I faced. Lastly, I hope that all boys and girls alike will no longer suffer from people like him.

[rq-s]

Title: Falling Down 

Pairing: Xu Minghao / NB!Reader

Genre: Light Angst & Platonic OR Romantic

Word Count: 2.9k+

Warnings: None. However, I do interpret the timeline and meaning of his lyrics loosely. I can’t and don’t claim that it’s the “correct” way to do so; he wrote it to be ambiguous for a wide audience to enjoy. Please watch the Falling Down Making Film for clarity.

Credits: ENG Translation of Falling Down 

Summary: You and Minghao have been consistent penpals since 2004, sharing each other’s cultures, languages, passions, and lives as you both grew up. 2014 came around and letter from him only came in 4 times, and only 1 in 2015. The last this you ever heard from him read he was a bird in a cage.

Notes: Italic = letter  ... = omitted letter content 

My Masterlist

Spring 2004

“How about this one, honey?” Mom handed me a postcard from a spot on the rack that I couldn’t reach. The large font caught my attention and told me it was a landscape picture of the closest national park. Though nothing in the picture was recognizable, it reminded me of camping, which made me smile despite having never been before.

“Sure.” Was all I said, and I followed her as she pushed our full shopping cart to the register and began chatting with the cashier.

Like usual, I quickly put the postcard on the conveyor belt along with the groceries. As soon as it was empty, I went to the bagging station and put the scanned and bagged items back into the cart. Making sure to the boxes and cartons together neatly like Tetris, careful not to squish the bread.

“What a diligent little kid you have!” The cashier spoke, her voice worn with age, but with a sense of joy that reminded me of a stereotypical grandmother.

“She always says I do it wrong.” Mom joked, smirking at me. She never did let go of my “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” attitude I had even as a kid.

 Mom finished paying, and we went put into the chilly morning air of the parking lot that was made even colder by the shadow of the supermarket. I once again moved the bags from the cart to the trunk and brought the cart to the nearest drop off spot while Mom started the car.

The ride home was mostly silent, save for the sound of the road beneath the wheels and the hum of the heater.

“Thanks for letting me do the penpal thing, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, but remember the deal; you get more chores to do. You’re 7 years old now, you can handle doing the dishes by yourself, right?” The tone of her voice was completely serious, but I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’ve been helping with the dishes for years, and I’ve learned from the best. I’ve got this!”

 When we got home, I scoured the bags for that postcard, and luckily it was only bent on one corner. I wrote down bit of info about that park - whatever Google told me, and set it aside. I grabbed the template application from my school binder and filled in the blanks. 

Hello! My name is _____________, I’m __ years old, and I am from ________! I am learning Mandarin, but I’m still a beginner. I hope to learn more about your culture and language as we exchange letters!

For now, I will tell you a bit about myself. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Along with this letter is a postcard and other information about where I am from!

I hope to hear from you soon!

Signed,

_____________

It was a pretty basic template that we had to copy from, and in retrospect, it was cringy as all heck, but it had to be formatted juuust right and follow the guidelines exactly, or the penpal program admin’s wouldn’t accept it.

From what I was told, someone from China who’d also applied and been approved would be paired with me, based on age and interests. Only this first letter was prewritten. Once we were paired up, the letters themselves and the mailing of them was up to me and my family. 

I was lucky I got a match at all, most of the kids in my class didn’t. I learned pretty quickly why: I was the only one who put “dancing” as an interest.  

Summer 2007

...

This was a frog I found at the lake! Mom got mad that I touched it, and when it jumped out of my hands and back into the water, it got mud all over us!! 

Later we had a barbecue and some other campers came buy, but their kids were teenagers and didn’t wanna play with me, so here is a picture of me pouting in the tent instead of having fun. 

...

This is the last one, when we finally got home from the long car ride. we all were sunburned really bad, but it looks like you can see freckles on my face because of it! 

Whenever either of us would go on trips, even just to the water park or to a festival, we’d take Polaroid pictures to send. Most the earlier pictures Minghao sent were of him at tournaments, then they turned into selfies from after dance practice. It wasn’t until they were in their teens that he began to take more artsy pictures, with the occasional selfie thrown in. He’d always put at least one polaroid in each envelope, and photography quickly became one of the many things he excelled at. 

Winter 2010

…

And I still can’t believe you were on TV!! Twice!!! All these letters… I can use them as blackmail someday when you’re a superstar! Muahah!!

I’m not nearly as good as you still, but Miss Lilly says my footwork has gotten a lot better! I wish you could teach me, but words don’t have the same effect as seeing it. I doubt I’d get it even if you tried to explain… and don’t even think about trying to teach me any martial arts, my brain will melt!!

…

My letters were always a bit longer than Minghao’s, and were full of run on sentences and unorganized thoughts. He was always clear and concise, yet sensitive. He always gave strong and encouraging advice on my Mandarin, but my English tips barely seemed to help him. I always cared more about getting to know him and telling my own stories than about practicing. Though, I don’t know what stories I had worth telling as a 13 year old. We contrasted each other a lot, and Mom said it made us a better fit for each other.

It wasn’t a weekly thing, but we always wrote when we could and has a steady back and forth. Sometimes the envelopes were thick, with many pages, postcards, candies, cool leaves or rocks we’d found, songs we had been listening too; things we cared about and wanted to share. But sometimes they were thin, barely a page long, with hastily written characters and a sincere apology. Both made me smile the same just the same – both showed how much he cared.

 Spring 2012

Perhaps it was because we were the same age, and despite not meeting, had spent so much time together. He somehow always understood me, and never made jokes when I was opening up about the less fun sides of life. He went at his own pace, and it took quite some time, but he eventually felt comfortable doing the same.

…

I’ve worked so hard for this, I know I’m capable, but I’m genuinely terrified. But I’m excited, too. I feel so overwhelmed and I don’t feel like I can tell anyone, they’ll worry, or they’ll tell me I shouldn’t do it.

I want to try. I want to be on that stage and in that tournament and I want to come out having earned something.

…

 Fall 2012

 Congratulations!! Now I can brag that I know THE Xu Minghao who won 8th at a WORLD DANCE COMPETITION!!!! I knew you’d do great. Yeah, you were nervous, but your hard work showed through!

As soon as I read the news online, I was so happy. Eight is a good number, right? I think It suits you. Even when you're laying down, you have infinite potential! That’s you, Xu Minghao, Number 8, my best friend.

Come to think of it, it's been about 8 years since we met, hasn’t it? it must be some sort of prophecy!!! Haha I’m kidding, but seriously… That’s more than half our lives. We’ve spent knowing each other half of the time we’ve even been on this Earth!

I’m really glad I know you, Minghao. I’d be lonely without your letters, I think. I hope I make your days brighter, like you make mine. I hope we never forget about each other.

 It was rare for me to get so sentimental, but he needed someone to be his fan, and I wanted to be the best fan of Xu Minghao I could be. Not to say I was the first, like I would joke about doing, but because he deserves it. I knew it from the way he talked about training, that he’d make himself a star someday, no matter what.

Because of this, though, it was this letter and onward that we stopped doing the copies and corrections. I noticed myself missing his teasing marks on my papers, or the cheeky smiley faces he’d draw when I did well. We stopped sending trinkets and polaroids too, so each envelope felt a lot emptier.

 Spring 2013

I’m really going to Korea now… The flight is in a few days, I’ll send you another letter from the new address as soon as I get there, so please wait for it!

…

I had bad dreams back then, about how things would be different, slower and distant. His letters were a significant part of my life, and I was afraid to lose that. Yet I was surprised he was even allowed to keep sending me letters. Retrospectively thinking though, it wasn’t like he wasn’t allowed to write to his family.

Was I like family to him back then?

 Winter 2013

I’m sorry for not writing you back sooner. The company has been really busy with Seventeen TV starting. I’ve been practicing a lot, I barely have time to eat or sleep, let alone sit down and write. There’s barely anyone around who knows Mandarin, and I’m still just learning how to make sentences in Korean, and they call me Myungho… Those who I can talk to are all boys, but they’re my friends, and possible group members, so I shouldn’t mind.

I miss your handwriting. Sometimes I reread our old letters, and notice that we’ve changed so much. But I keep every memory, did you know that?

I always feel better quickly. When I think about being on a stage, having fans singing with us and cheering for me… It makes me so happy that I cry, sometimes. But then I can’t help but think, “Will it ever be me? Or will I just dream of being there, and someone else will get the chance?”

That’s usually when I find one of your letters. The one you sent on my birthday a couple months ago, that you sprayed with that citrus scent? It’s my favorite, I relax so much when I read it. It reminds me of home, somehow.

I’ll try to write more often, I’m sure you’ve been patiently waiting. Let’s exchange pictures again, it’s been a while, right? I just really miss you.

 Was he like family to me? No… I think, back then at least, it was something special for me.

Summer 2014

Hey! I haven't heard from you since April! I miss you a lot, but I know you must be really busy. I’ve been trying to watch the previous Seventeen TV episodes when I can, the other boys seem funny and nice. I hope they all take care of you, like you say Junhui has been.

I’m always wishing you sweet dreams, I worry about how you’ve been. I wish I’d have asked for your phone number or email or something before, but now that you’re so busy and under a big company… I just hope these letters and postcards reach you well.

…

Fall 2014

…

Also, they’ve been saying I’ll qualify to be on SeventeenTV soon. The others are hoping it’s a sign that we’ll get to debut soon. You’ll watch it, right?

Things are looking bright for me and my brothers here, but I can’t help but feel full of dread. I can’t pinpoint why. Junhui said it might be stage fright, but I don’t feel afraid.

I know they all support me, and I support them, but I feel like I might disappear, and not even you would remember me. I know its not true but it’s what I’m feeling.

…

Winter 2014

I SAW YOU!! I watched it as soon as it released, I didn’t understand what most of them were saying without English subtitles, but I could understand you, and I saw you! I’m so proud of you Minghao, you’re an official member of Seventeen!! You’ve been working so hard, I’m sure you’re exhausted. Please try and take time to rest and heal before debut, all of you need it!

…

Spring 2015

May 26th 2015. That is the day I debut. I know we haven't talked much, but I hope you’ll be there in spirit. Thinking about you cheering for me makes it easier to handle. I’ll fight for you, for me, for them, and for us. I’ll try, even though things feel like they’re ending.

I’m going to be busier than before. I’m not sure about the contract, but I’ll try to still get letters out. For now, have this. Thank you for everything.

A layer of grey I can't escape Walls built of fear are colored all over with red Who will listen to the sound from the bottom of my heart at the end of the world(/day) There's no one by my side Flee Flee

The world is collapsing, shattering, breaking I can't find love at all So why why why (Where will I ) fall, where Hidden by the dark clouds, helpless and pitiful Can't feel myself, light is lost Before the end of the world(/day), (I'm) yelling, sounds of pain But there's no one by my side Flee Flee

The world is collapsing, shattering, breaking After I disappear completely, (you) won't realize I once existed Why why why (Where will I ) fall, where Falling endlessly, falling in silence What did I ever do wrong

Missing someone you’ve never met is an entirely separate kind of heartbreak. I began to doubt every single thought and feeling I had, every single word I wrote, everything began to bleed between imagination, ideal, and reality. 

The Minghao I watched on the screen wasn’t the Minghao I knew, and I started to wonder if I ever truly knew him in the first place. I felt like a fool, and even then, I continued to be foolish. I wanted to believe I knew what he meant; that I understood him, but as the years went on, I got more and more lost.

They won awards, they went on variety shows, they released albums, they went on tours. They traveled, they worked, and they grew. I needed to believe I knew him, but Minghao and The8 are not the same. And as I grew to love The8, Minghao began to fade into the back of my mind. When I watched him try to express himself beyond his stage persona, each time I saw flashes of a beautiful bird locked in a rusted cage.

I always kept the letters.

They’re my private collection of memories between he and I. They were the only way I knew it was real. I could run my fingers over his handwriting, feel how he sometimes pressed too hard and left marks in the paper. I could see how the paper and ink warped when he accidentally got tears on it. I could look at his pictures from his childhood and know what he was thinking as he took it. 

I knew him.

Summer 2020

Hey, Minghao. It’s me, do you still remember my handwriting? Maybe it’s changed... No, I know it has, because I’ve changed as a person. It feels strange, I know what you’ve been up to, but you might’ve even forgotten my name. But I feel in my heart that you havn’t. Maybe thats wishful thinking.

Anyway, I’m so proud of you Minghao. You’re a superstar, just like you dream of being back when you first started dancing. You’ve become part of a family, and have so many fans cheering for you every single day. Congratulations!!

…

5 years. Does the smell of citrus still remind you of home? Of me? Maybe it just reminds you of the hard times you had back then. But I guess you’ve been reminiscing about that a lot lately?

I watched the video as soon as it came out, and I was shaking as soon as I heard your voice. That song isn’t a special piece of yourself that you shared with me anymore, but it’s part of your story for the whole world to see, and you told it so well.

...

I miss you.

It was finally time.

It was a fairly thick envelope, inside were many postcards of where I’ve been, quickly written notes as I reacted to songs and memorable moments, and full-length letters that never got sent.

It was so surreal to sit in front on him at this panel. He looks just like he did as a kid, but more refined, stronger inside and out. His aura intimidated me like I was seeing a skyscraper touch the clouds for the first time, and yet he maintained eye contact with me like I was a dandelion about to be blown away with the breeze.

“It’s me, Minghao.” The words barely drifted from my mouth, but they struck him like lightning as realization stealing his breath away. For a moment I saw his eyes twinkle, and the corners of this lips twitch.

A member of staff took the envelop away from him; he barely was able to read the label.

My time would be up soon.

His fingers intertwined with mine and he opens my photobook to his page with his free hand, looking down for only a moment to sign it.

The next Carat was nudging my shoulder already.

“Not yet.” I whispered both to them and to him with a squeeze of his hand. He did the same, like a beat of the heart, and then released. I watched his chest rise and fall with a deep breath as he gave the next fan the same focus and care he gave me. 

I forced a smile on my face as I scooted over.

Did he truly realize it was me? Why could I feel his heart beating faster from the tips of his fingers? Did he want to contact me all this time, or had he chosen to stop and was scared to tell me? Did he miss me too?  

My smile was only fake for a moment, though.

I was meeting his second family for the first time, after all, I needed to make a good impression. After years of keeping up with the group, it should have been easier to feel comfortable, and to be happy like the others.

Yet my hands continued to shake, their faces blurred and the sounds around me went quiet. My senses went in and out of focus like waves reaching and leaving the shore.

The warmth and the texture of his hand stained mine, and as i stared down at it after going back to my seat in the crowd, it felt alien. His hands are same hands that have been writing my name on every envelope for so many years...

I felt like I was falling.

[awesomefairytailfan]

Okay so this is the fanfics in after I have somebody who helps out me cuz of my disability proof read that and made a lot of editing and punctuation Corrections. we did have to go over a few things for it but it should be a lot easier to read now.

Modern Musou warrior in ancient China

Chapter one am I just in a dream?The last few weeks I just keep asking myself the same question over and over is this all a dream, is this just one big dream now? Being in ancient China don't let me know when on the calendar I supposed to use don't even know if this world has an equivalent of it. no it's not my world I'm not some sort of super badass in my own world but in this world I am strong I take damaged easily when I woke up in this world or made me fell asleep in my own. I found myself walking for I don't know I have no watch on me but I found a number of people being attacked by wolves was completely convinced at that point I was in a dream so I figured let's go wake myself up by grabbing a big stick in it packing them but then something funny happened I found myself running faster than I ever had outside of video games. I attacked the walls and I actually sent them major damage one of them jumped me from behind I barely even noticed it, then I'm headed to the ground and killed it the people said to me you must be a musou Warrior, what Lord do you serve, have you gone to fight someone named Don Zhuo? do you know who that was? I'll talk about what I know about him in a bit; I noticed a small irritation in my back I asked them to look at it and they said I got a small Scar from where the wolf attempted to bite me to death. I said Tiny bite me to death I need a doctor but they say no it's only a minor scrape especially to a Musou Warrior. I asked him to speak English but they responded what's English? I said it was the language we was speak. they said no we speak Mandarin I decided yep I'm definitely in the dream at that point sorry running myself into a tree it hurt a bit but I actually broke the tree in half some people showed up who I did not say from the walls and they'll ask me what was going on and they was saying the Musou Warrior saved us. stick just flying off the ground and then done to me I have noticed a big annoyance I was hungry, luckily they wanted to have a feast for me. shall we walk back to the village and order for us to get some food and number of them said some things I'd rather not talk about. with the Wolves sad don't let stuff like this go to waste I asked him where we are I think they were pretty Pacific and I'm like okay no idea what that means. I asked them what country we are in they said China I started finger to myself find it this really wasn't the dream. if I'm somehow stuck in China and I don't know what time they asked me a bunch of questions where I'm from Canada over a great ocean and I also said my ancestors are technically from the same land mass as here but I think that continent is actually farther than where my home line is from China. don't let me know for sure I'm not an expert in distance of countries and all that have I got that today prepared a small feast. they did tell me it was a small village and I had to agree smaller than my hometown and no technology anywhere I was thinking if this is my life now. I am going to be I'm going to be so bored but I got offered a lot of free food, took some adjustment for me to actually eat things was never no I'm already ten but never was normal to begin with I've always had Asperger's. I'm supposed to take medication not going to be able to in ancient China. so I guess nobody knew about the calendar I kept calling the Christian calendar I think that's what they mean by the years we use never did find out if it was after or before Jesus Christ and then I found the weirdest ability of all I'm super strong now a bunch of heavy wooden blocks was about to smash a kid I pushed the young child out the way thinking suicide maybe I'll wake up but those heavy things did not even hurt me. they say see you must be a Musou Warrior can you protect our small village from the evil Don Zhuo I told them it's probably the best kind of job I can do for now. I'm and told them I never really add something you could call an actual job told them I was on disability a lot of what I say they constantly laughing, did not believe they saw me at 2 Mighty and

magnificent to be considered disabled in my own world.they did not believe that I wasn't actually Chinese. I was clearly not from this world but I'm constantly moved on I managed to do a number of odd jobs around the town with superhuman strength, and with all my time watch and consuming recreational entertainment I managed to entertain them when they had down time which allowed them had more; I could make jobs a lot quicker and easier. the kids found me hilarious and adult sometimes. Tom and i not to talk about certain things on topics the way I did say good yeah don't want to upset them too. much this lasted for about a month I think and tell the town faced its biggest danger of all I was actually the first one to notice that because I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I noticed the fire off in the distance and decided to wake the town mayor, of not knowing how dangerous it was noticeably closer the mayor said evacuate everyone we can he started shouting knowing immediately. Dan got it was super dangerous I'm like danger fire luckily with my always completely loud voice and my ability to one very fast it was less than like 4 minutes before everyone. what's going out of bed quickly the mayor told me top send some trees flying out an amount I think I managed to save the town Catching Fire for like 15 minutes then luckily. Got every one to evacuate and get them money and things they could carry but eventually the whole town went up in Flames. nobody died, everyone had close to travel in but the town was found dead. I might have just went into fire, except at this point there was so much time passing. I believe mostly I wasn't dreaming anymore and that just would have killed me. mosou man in the village was talking with the mayor of the town a bunch of the kids were asking can't you make everything better can't you make all the fire damage go away? I had to say I don't I can't do anything like that and I don't even know what we were going to do next his not my decision. I don't know the knowledge to make that decision and the News came from the mayor. he decided we're going to one of the Cities some of the people protested we were just beep on ourselves in the danger of the Warlords and on Zhuo fighting but the mayor said only a city trying to accommodate so many people at once, our hometown is destroyed. we do not have the resources to build another before the winter. we started going towards the city, I figured if I can get everybody to the city maybe I could earn some extra money and use some future knowledge to benefit Chinese Society in general, not like I can make them ocracy happen but maybe I couldn't please how much stuff they're about to plant or how quickly they can do harvesting. I know a bit about that stuff we travelled as fast as we can and I often had to find myself killing animals with whatever I could it wasn't really that dangerous. I beat the crap out of them they could barely do anything to me. we had to sleep in pants and a like but I usually got a good night sleep despite being on main source of Defense because while they decided the high people on Sentry Duty and to have somebody wife buy me to wake me up they had to wake me up a few times. like that but no one got killed and one day I bet after we started going for that day we were on a big we went up a big hill and then we saw the city. I was thinking nice city, maybe get to look around but Polly should spend at least a few days after we get there with the townspeople who take good care of me. some of them said I'm might be needed to get a job or Join one of the military armies, when I asked about It, I wasn't thinking I'd probably do that I like saving people but never really been much for military outside of playing video games. it was going to be a few hours on our way down that's when the biggest action happened that I wanted to wake up phlegm when I kill somebody.

[currentfandomkick]

Miraculous Team and the Batboys

Longer update, wrote the ao3 version first this time. if you want to find me there, crazyjc.

--

Thankfully there weren’t any akuma attacks that day or that night. Marinette was glad to get some sleep for once. Her body, confused and used to a few hours a night, got her up early.

Marinette decided to help with the morning rush—quick to handle the register and make adjustments to some people’s orders (no extra charge for the exhausted high school and college students) when she managed to find someone as dead as she was after an akuma messed up her commission schedule and sleep was skipped for a week.

“Wow, you’re getting the ‘Please Don’t Let Me Die Again Yet’ special.” Marinette turned before the zombie could speak. “Maman, watch the register, someone looks worse than midterms and commissions me.”

Once Maman took the register again, Marinette worked on her disaster drink that only a few particular customers knew of from her personal menu--mainly the dead college and high school students insane enough to pull a weeks worth of all nighters like her. And baby parents that liked her parents bakery.

Gurarana beans instead for the extra caffeine with her special blend of licorice root, peppermint and green tea poured in--double the caffeine with less effort, glucose for the brain fuel, sweet and mint for wakeup and focus, and green tea for lasting energy boost.

“Here, this should keep you up and a bit more functional than usual.”

The man raised an eyebrow.

“Oh my god, what got Finals Angel up this early?” One of the regulars almost yelled, staring at her with a look that screamed the universe was going to collapse in on itself, and they were now anticipating this outcome until they got their morning fix.

Marinette shrugged, moving to the next customer as the dead man took a seat and pulled out his laptop. She continued to help until it was getting close to class.

“Maman, the rest of that brew is under the cabinet for the laptop zombie, I’m taking my morning delivery now.”

Maman took over while Marinette made her way to school, passing out the usual deliveries as she moved about.

“Adrien, your insult to caffeinated monstrosities everywhere.”

“Thanks Marinette!” The blond held his (essentially) hot chocolate with one pump expresso, and five three shots of caramel on top of whip cream.

“Chloe, why you have me grab something this sweet this early is only further proof of your crimes against humanity.”

“You’re welcome Dupain-Cheng.” The girl nabbed her (in Marinette's opinion) low caffeine sugar water--licorice root with half a bottle of honey, and lots of ice with whip cream and honesy drizzled on top. She would never understand that order, but was too afraid to ask at this point. She might be taking the Bee thing too far.

“Alya, thank you for being a sane coffee person, Nino, we are having a talk about your scheduling.”

“Thanks gurl." Because close or not, Alya was an addict with a simple and reasonable coffee that restored Marinette's sanity while making it.

Nino groaned as he took his pastries and three cream, one expresso. “Not again, I still haven’t recovered from the last time.”

Marinette shrugged. “Your mistake, not mine.”

“Oh, did you get my cookies?” Sabrina asked.

Marinette rolled her eyes with a fond smile. She likes Sabrina when she isn't in full cling mode, and giving her boxes of pre-paid cookies put together on Marinette's whims? Very calming after dealing with Adrien and Chloe's offending orders. “Yes. You paid for a different set everyday.”

“Thanks!” Sabina examined her current mix, more obscure cookies since Marinette got them before the morning rush.

“Markov, please tell me Max got some sleep last night?” Marinette asked as she handed another of her special “Max needs a nap but is to stubborn to” order--which is essentially an energy drink blend with a few slow-release teas mixed in.

“Affirmative. He got the requested minimum of three hours. I will ensure he gets more once school is out.”

“I’ll take what I can get.” He was less prone to akumatazation with more sleep, and Hawkmoth does like using Max. Marinette likes knowing she can have her teammate in the field without wondering if he'll pass out.

Marinette took her seat by Alya. They weren’t as close anymore, but it did mean Lila was alone in the back and didn’t see the group document.

“Class, we have a new student today!”

Marinette frowned. She wasn’t informed of any newcomers. She looked over at Chloe who huffed. She didn’t know either then.

“Class, this is Damian Grayson from America. His father is here on business and will be joining us for the semester!”

Chloe and her shared a look. With Chloe as the current president and Marinette as the head of the welcome committee, this was very last minute for them not to be informed. Especially as Bustier had the time to since both were here early.

Alya shot her a look.

Marinette shook her head. She really didn’t know, and it bugged her.

Alya narrowed her eyes as the new boy came in. Black hair, stood too straight and Middle Eastern. She wondered what his first language was briefly--someone in school was bound to be fairly fluent. If it was related to Arabic, Rose would be a good translator. Her and Adrien both have Mandarin now, and her English was passable to Americans--not so much for the UK. Alya has Spanish while Nino has Portuguese covered. Chloe was good for UK English and so was Adrien, but those two weren't good for new kids... especially from the America. Mylene, Ivan, Nathaniel and Juleka were bad at talking most of the time, so they were no-gos...

And she still had to finish Ali's commission… This would be a headache if they were an old Chloe-type.

“Damian, why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

“No need to. I do not plan on making friends.”

And he was worse than an Old Chloe-type. There went her free period for commissions.

The entire class shared a look, and Marinette wanted to groan. This boy would be in for a rude awakening—there was no escaping friendship in Bustier’s class. And anyone difficult? They would sent Marinette as envoy--hopefully Alya didn't make easy.

“I presume my seat is in the back?”

“Actually,” Alya stood up with a grin, “I was going to sit back with Lila to help her catch up in our next class.”

Marinette froze as she realized what Alya was doing. Keeping the new kid from Lila was good, but she also needed to keep Alya from falling for Lila’s lies again. And she has no clue on his preferred languages and uh!

“Alya,” she hissed.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Alya moved to the back with ease before the boy could say a word.

Marinette hit her head. Why was her friend like this?

“I guess that means you’ll sit next to Marinette. Marinette, can you show Damian around during your free period?”

Marinette knew that tone. There was no refusing without a lecture on being a good role model and another reprimand for stepping down from class representative and student government when she got more commissions and needed more time.

“Of course Miss Buster.”

Damian took his seat without saying a word.

Marinette decided it was better to stay silent with this one--he didn't want friends, and would only be here briefly. She could respect that, even if she could feel the others scheming otherwise.

“What do you mean you know—“

“Oops,” Lila grinned. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

And that was what Marinette was hoping to avoid.

Damian twitched next to her. Marinette sighed, “One sec, I need to remind someone to check her sources before getting ahead of themselves… again.”

Nino shot Marinette a sympathetic look while Marinette linked three redacted articles that starred Lila as her main source.

“And done.”

Damian raised an eye brow at her. “You aren’t going to pester me, correct?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. Honestly? “You made your stance clear. I’m here as the actual head of the welcoming committee, and during free period I’ll just need to know your interests so we can avoid the parts of the school that aren’t relevant for you, and to make sure you have an idea how to handle akuma attacks since I’m going to guess they didn’t tell you about that before you applied.”

“tt,” Damian leveled her with a scowl. “Of course I know about them.”

Marinette didn’t bother to hide her surprise. “So you know where to go for shelter, the drills, the apps and news sources that are good for tracking, which hospitals are contactable during attacks and which ones go into lock down, oh and what actions are allowable and not as civilian aides to the miraculous team?”

The boy froze before her. He didn't then.

Her face slid into a more neutral one--keeping her gloating to herself.“That’s what I thought. I have a few flow charts in the committee room to grab since its an info dump and no one processes those well, and your learning style may benefit from it for all I know.” Marinette made sure not add ‘since some people can’t be bothered to tell me.’ The new boy clearly wasn’t interested in friendship, and despite what the class thinks, she is not friendship-nip.

“I…”

“Class, turn to page 67 of your textbook. Marinette, make sure to share with Damian.”

“Yes Miss Bustier,” Marinette moved the book between the two of them, ignoring Damian besides checking where his eyes were on the page before turning as they followed along.

Once their free period began, Adrien had a Chloe guarding him against the Lila octopus, with Sabrina flanking his other arm as backup.

“I take it those three are together?” Damian asked once they left.

“No, Chloe doesn’t share her friends well,” Marinette explained as they moved through the halls. “And it keeps away his fans, so no one stops it anymore.” Not unless they wanted the Mayor’s ire at least. It was very effective against Lila.

“I see…” He was watching her. She wasn’t sure if it was an American thing or just a tic of his. Possibly both.

“That’s where the teacher’s offices are for before and after school,” Marinette gestured to one wing. “All the doors are labeled, so its easy enough to find who you’re looking for as long as you have a name. You’ll find most of the school services there as well, minus the nurse who’s room is closer to the quad.”

Marinette smiled when they got to welcoming committee room. None of the other members were there at the moment, but the file cabinet was. She grabbed one of the ready-made packets and grabbed a spare Bustier Class packet too.

“Here’s the information for being new in Paris, everything from common places to eat, the good hole-in-the-wall places itemized by what you’re looking for, everything relating to akumas is on the red papers, and the yellow is the school’s map and procedures.” Marinette handed him the blue folder, then the orange. “This one is the Bustier-class specific one approved by Miss Bustier. It lists everything from class rules, what caused various akumatazations with the victim’s consent to disclose it, so not all are listed, and it has your schedule and the class outing dates plus who’s interested in what on the pink pages for possible friends, but you said you weren’t interested so we can skip that.”

Marinette watched him look over the papers for a moment, waiting until his attention was back to her. “Now, anything you have a vague interest in that you might have some random inclination to do at Dupont during your free periods, before or after school?”

Damian raised an eyebrow at her.

“Its you let me tailor the tour for you, or you have to go all over the school and talk to me the entire time, when we both know you’re really not interested.”

“Tt.”

Marinette shrugged. “Have it your way, now, on with the tour!”

--

Damian gawked at the core ciruculum including what he knew was more college level than high school level. Then there was the fact these students had access to multiple state of the art facilities tailored to current students interests on campus, with little issue getting them apparently.

“How does your school get all of this?”

The pigtail girl almost laughed at his question. “I guess they just sent you here since we have the most flexible curriculum routines then.” The girl shifted how she stood. “Dupont is an experimental school, everyone is given high expectations on entry but as long as you keep up with grades the school gets whatever any student requests—a few years ago we had one kid that was allowed to do rocket science as part of his program, he went to some German facility with a translator every other day. Alix has a blanket permit to do street art and installations on public property, as long as she gets her design approved and can give them her schedule as long as she helps other student with history classes. I get full access to any designing materials as part of my deal with the school in exchange for doing any school event costumes and tailoring jobs that I get a two week notice on.”

Damian nodded along, processing this new information. Suddenly, the high amount of akumas from graduates and current students of Dupont made sense. They were specialists, extremely skilled at their crafts and more likely to be knowledgeable than the general population on a variety of topics.

--

Marinette was glad for their hour-long lunch. “I’d ask if you wanted someone to eat with you, but you look like you need some time to process. I’ll check in before school ends.”

She ran home, noting that the man from that morning was still there but looked much less like he would keel over sometime soon. She knew that brew would help. She grabbed a croissant and ran upstairs to finish Prince Ali’s latest commission—a variant on his usual princely attire that was more maneuverable but still formal enough that no one would notice when he wore that one instead of the traditional one.

She had a feeling he was going to use it to sneak away from his guards.

She set an alarm and got to work.

She was quick to leave once the alarm sounded—she gave herself an extra five minutes this time.

“Hey, you’re the coffee angel, right?”

Marinette turned to see the man from that morning, now much more alive.

“I guess.” Marinette knew not to give out names to customers unless her parents deemed them not-stalker-y.

“Thanks, that thing actually worked. What’s in it?”

Marinette smiled at that. “Sorry, that’s a secret not even Maman and Papa get to know.”

“Huh,” the man processed her words. “Guess I’ll have to keep coming when I’m low then.”

Marinette nodded. “Guess so, good to see you’re no longer a zombie monsieur!”

She ran off at that, not sure what to think of them yet, other than if they needed that drink regularly, they might be worse than her. And she has heroing as an excuse. He doesn’t.

--

Holy shit was not expecting this response.

Thank you all so much, was not expecting this much positive response and i think my brain broke a bit, in the good way.

So, we have a new fan to Marinette's secret menu, and a Damian slowly realizing why the school is targetted who is also going with the 'I don't do friends' thing, again.

leaving this one as a poll: Damian calls out Lila by the end of the day for how Marinette and him end up as friends, or he puts together Marinette is doing a lot for the class by the end of the day and wants to figure out why, especially after reading the Ladyblog during lunch, or any other ideas.

Any ideas on how Marinette meets Dick and Jason for when she meets the next round of Batboys?

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles @theatreandcomicfreak @daminett4life @catthhay @weird-pale-blonde-person @amayakans @chocolatecatstheron

[rileywrites]

If you’re still doing prompts, this is from your prompt list in the random section — nos. 4 or 14, or from the fluff section, no. 12, in yet another of my reluctantly shipped ships, the Book of Nile. *sigh* (I have fulfilled the requirement of the manifesto) 😆

I wanted to give you options just in case someone already asked for any one of these!

Or, if you want, you could go for my original prompt, which would be: Nile has now learned Italian, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, perfected her Arabic, etc. When Booker returns to the fold, Nile asks him to teach her French, (which Andy, Joe, and Nicky always said would be his job when he came back) but he basically gives her the “Ask your mother” “Ask your father” treatment, passing the responsibility like a hot potato between the other members of the Guard. After some time has passed, Nile catches him quietly singing songs in his old dialect of French, and oddly, only when the two of them are alone in a room. Since his old dialect has basically died out, she can’t exactly google translate. But she begins to suspect something’s up when Quynh stops dead in her tracks after she walks in on Booker singing something while making breakfast, as Nile sits at the table, enjoying everything, which leads to Quynh disappearing, and quiet laughter coming from the bedrooms. After a confrontation, he admits he didn’t want to teach her French, at least not for a while, because he wanted to have the ability to tell her how he feels about her through singing ancient French love songs, without her knowing, promising himself he’d teach her his language, when or if the day ever came that he could tell her in words.

I’m so sorry it’s a bit long, but this just popped in my head, and I know you’ll do wonders with this, if you decide to do it. No hard feelings at all if you don’t!

Thank you so much, you’re an amazing writer, you capture the voices of the TOG characters so well — I always smile when I see your name pop up with a new BoN story on AO3!

Thank you for this wonderful prompt, darling! I have absolutely run with it. I will write the snippet prompts eventually, but this one grabbed me by the throat.

Read on Ao3 Here.

...

After fifteen years with the Guard, Nile has a pretty good handle on just about any language you could think of.

Nile can give a eulogy in Spanish, ask for directions in Pashto, negotiate a weapons deal in Russian, woo a honeypot target in Italian, con a businessman in Greek, and navigate trade in Arabic. She can read, write, and speak Ancient Greek (circa Nicky and Joe's era) and is passable in several dead languages from the Steppe and Southern Asia. She's decent at Mandarin, getting pretty fucking good at Vietnamese, and doing her damnedest to learn Hindi. (It's  a struggle.)

The one language she hasn't picked up yet is French.

It isn't for lack of trying. Her grasp at French is enough to not get her killed, but most of her practice has been with Quebecois or the dialects spoken in Morocco. Basically, if she spoke French in France, they would laugh at her, and her comprehension isn't great

"When Booker comes back, he'll teach you," Andy promises. "He has the most modern French between the five of us. It will do you better to learn from him."

"That doesn't do me any good in the interim," Nile points out.

"He'll be back any day now," Andy says. "Trust me, he'll crack soon."

...

Nile gets to their most recent safehouse late after a long night of schmoozing. She hates long cons, hates that some of humanity's evil can only be taken down with espionage and not brute force.

Her feet are killing her. These sky high boots make her ass look amazing, but her leg muscles regret every life choice she's ever made.

The TV is on, even though Joe and Nicky are supposed to be on recon. With Andy and Quyhn in Istanbul following a lead (to keep a grouchy Andy off of desk duty for a weekend), Nile's senses are on high alert.

She enters carefully, gun drawn.

"Don't shoot," Booker says, hands up. He smiles slightly. "I would have messaged, but I don't have your latest code."

"I still have the Nokia you gave me," Nile points out. "Andy could have told you that."

"Maybe I wanted to surprise you."

"You definitely have too much of a death wish for someone who can't die."

Booker doesn't have a comeback for that. Nile holsters her gun.

"Hug me, you sneaky bastard. It's been literal years."

He doesn’t need to be told twice. He crosses the room in two strides and steps into her waiting arms.

When they collide, it knocks the wind out of Nile's lungs. Breathing is irrelevant anyway, when she's in Booker's arms.

"I missed you, asshole," Nile says into his shoulder, probably getting makeup on his dumb denim shirt.

"I missed you too. I'm sorry that I did not visit sooner." Booker rubs one massive hand over her back. "Your feet probably hurt. I should let you get changed."

"One more minute."

Later, when Nile has had time to change into an oversized t-shirt and Nike shorts, her wig back on its mannequin head, Nile sits down with her feet in Booker's lap and grills him for information.

"I got sober about five years ago." Booker rubs her feet without hesitation, well-trained from centuries with Andy. "I haven't had a drop since."

Nile nudges his chest with the foot he isn't massaging.

"I'm proud of you. It can't have been easy."

"It wasn't." Booker bats her foot away. "It was worth it, though. You deserve a better teammate - you all do. Besides, I don't need to spend the rest of my immortality intoxicated. Six thousand years is a long time to be drunk."

"So what have you been doing since?"

"I spent a lot of time Journaling, processing my emotions. I worked in several literacy programs across the world, staying long enough to help but not too long." Booker shrugs. "Safer that way, I guess."

"Did you bring me pictures?"

"Of course. I have no clue how you keep finding film for Polaroid knockoffs though. It's twenty-thirty-five."

"I have my ways." Nile makes grabby hands in his direction. "Pictures. Please tell me there's pictures of you holding cute children you're teaching to read."

"Of course there is." Booker finds the envelope in his bag, careful not to dislodge her.

The tiny gesture is so fucking heartwarming it hurts.

"I have training in literacy coaching in English and French, so I've worked just about everywhere."

The photos are fucking adorable. Nile flips through them with glee, enjoying the tiny humans and huge Booker sharing textbooks and screens. One little girl in particular pops up in several.

"That's Adelaide," Booker says when Nile holds one up. "I stayed in Port Au Prince for almost a solid year, because I couldn't bear being another to abandon them. When she was adopted by a family in the church, I decided it was time for me to come home myself."

"That reminds me. You're back, which means I finally get to learn proper French."

Booker hesitates.

"Come on, Book, I know you have the qualifications." Nile retrieves her feet so she can kneel by his side on the couch. "You promised. Andy promised. No one else will teach me."

"Nicky hates French," Booker points out.

"I know, and everyone else is too stubborn. They all want you to teach me." Nile fidgets with his rolled-up sleeve. "I want you to teach me."

One good bat of her eyelashes later, and Booker finally agrees.

"Fine, fine, I will teach you French."

"Yes!"

"Eventually. For now, you need rest. Andy will insist on a stupidly early call tomorrow."

...

Six months later, and Booker hasn't said three words to Nile in French. He uses it on jobs, with Joe and Andy, when he talks to himself, but not with her.

They end up in Calais for three days, longer than expected, and Nile bugs him to go out with her.

"Come on, you can teach me in the field. I can practice." Nile pokes him in the arm. "You can laugh at my shitty attempts to use your language, and then you can correct me. Fun and educational!"

"I have too much to do, Nile. I have to make sure this program runs properly, or else we can't get on that plane." Booker waves her off. "Go read something. We have more books than sense here."

"That's not hard, when you're dumb." It's petty, infantile, but it gets Booker to smile and that's enough. "Fine. Don't think it's the end of this, though. You promised to teach me."

"I know, ma cherie, and I will. But for now, entertain yourself."

Nile grumbles. "I am forty-one years old. Don't act like I'm a child."

"I know you aren't a child. However, you are being a brat, so shoo."

"Asshole."

Nile pokes through the books in Booker's latest pile and fishes out something newer and trashy. Brainless. It'll do.

(And if she gets him to throw couch pillows at her by doing dramatic readings of the worst bits, all the better.)

...

Booker has been back in the fold for almost a year.

"Booker, you promised."

A year, and Nile is still just as shit with French - except for the curse words. She knows a whole stable of curse words now.

"Ask Andy."

Nile huffs. "I've been asking Andy for almost sixteen years, Booker. She says you'd be the best one to teach me."

"I don't know about that," Booker says, frowning.

"You're the French one."

"They've spoken French since it was invented."

Nile sighs. "Forget it. I'm going for a run."

She slides her ancient Nokia into her armband and pulls on her sneakers. A run will clear her head.

He doesn't say anything when she leaves. Nile tries not to take it personally.

They're in Istanbul, following up on the lead Andy and Quyhn have been chasing down. They're going to the Hippodrome in the morning, but for now, Nile has the evening to herself.

Why does this whole French thing piss her off so much?

(Nile isn't an idiot. She knows why.)

Maybe she'd be less irritated if he hadn't started singing recently.

It's nothing too obvious, just little snippets of old-sounding songs in a version of French that is either impossible for her to spell, too old for Google Translate, or both.

Nile turns a corner, mentally marking her distance as her feet hit the pavement.

Maybe she wouldn't care as much if Booker sang when the others were around, but he doesn't. It's just when it's the two of them.

Booker is asleep in the armchair by the time Nile gets back. She pokes and prods at him until he's awake enough to shuffle back to the bedroom.

"We've got a long day tomorrow." Nile shakes him gently. "Don't fall asleep in your boots."

"M'good," Booker says, then mumbles something incomprehensible in French.

"Goodnight, Booker."

"Bonne nuit, ma cherie," Booker says.

Nile can figure that much out.

...

The next morning, Nile wakes to singing and the smell of breakfast. She pulls on a hoodie and shuffles out of her room, scarf still on because fuck it.

"G'morning," she says, muffled by a yawn. "Coffee?"

Booker pours her a cup as she sits at the table. Before she's done with the coffee, an omelet appears before her.

"You are the fucking best." Nile digs in, content to enjoy the moment.

Good food, good company, and surprisingly good singing.

Nile is halfway through her omelet, Booker still be-bopping around the kitchen singing, when Quyhn and Andy get in from their morning run.

Both freeze in the doorway before Booker can notice, but Nile watches their minds race.

"Good morning," Nile says.

Quyhn whispers something in Andy's ear, and they walk quickly back to their bedroom.

Booker seems to realize they're there about the moment quiet giggling comes down the halls.

Nile didn't realize Andy could do anything other than chuckle gruffly these days.

Booker blushes bright red and his eyes go wide.

"Booker, your breakfast," Nile points out before it can burn.

"Fuck." Booker rescues his omelet. "I should go talk to them."

Nile stands, hemming him into the kitchen.

"Why are they giggling, Book?"

Booker refuses to make eye contact, but Nile doesn't back down.

She's been a mercenary for a decade and a half. She's faced down gangsters and serial killers and oligarchs. She can handle pinning Booker down with a glare.

"They, ah..." Booker rubs the back of his neck. "They speak French?"

"I know they speak French. Why were they giggling?"

Booker finally makes eye contact.

"They're love songs, Nile. I've been... I've been singing sappy shit from my youth, because I knew you wouldn't understand."

"That's why you wouldn't teach me."

It isn't a question, but Booker nods anyway.

"I was scared," he finally admits. "Scared for you to know."

Nile wants to say something meaningful. Wants to sweep him off his feet, wants to kiss him stupid, wants everything in the world.

Instead, she steps back.

"We have a job to do. Tonight, if you want to, if you're ready, I want you to translate your songs for me. Then we can talk, yeah?"

"I-" Booker nods. "Yeah. Yeah, that works for me."

She turns on her heel to go get ready for the day, leaving Booker in the kitchen staring after her, baffled.

...

Later, blood and mud spattered and healing from a sizeable fall from a horse, Nile limps into her bedroom. She manages to get most of her layers off and into a basket to see if they can be salvaged, but her ribs are still healing so bending too much is out of the question.

Getting her bra off is an Olympic event.

Booker doesn't knock until after she's showered.

"Come in."

"I brought you... well, the translations." Booker holds out a new-feeling leather journal. "I wrote down all the ones I could think of. You can read them, and I'll just-"

"Sit," Nile says before he can escape. "Please, stay."

Nile reads, connecting words to tunes he's been singing for weeks.

They're sappy, fond, romantic, saucy. Nile enjoys peeking up at Booker to see him blush almost as much as the love confession she's holding in her hands.

When she reaches the end of the lyrics, Nile crosses the tiny bedroom and looks Booker in the eyes.

"Booker?"

"Yes?"

"Are you ready to teach me French?"

Booker nods, blushing. "If you would like, ma cherie."

Nile finally kisses him. "I would like that very much."

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 81

Here we have a bit of fluff mixed in with our main plot. I really enjoy when I have the chance to mix life in with everything else going on, and for this chapter I was able to sprinkle some Maverick and Tyche interaction as well.

Only real trigger warning for this chapter is food, which I am seriously considering just applying to the entire story.  In my real life, family and love revolve around feeding people, so I know that gets threaded everywhere when I write.

I snagged my sister on the way out of Xiomara’s office.  “Hey.” My tone was soft, out of concern for the face I had seen her making earlier when she mentioned Antoine.  “Is everything okay?”

She didn’t even look at me, just opened her datapad and started typing. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she responded tersely. “Just busy, and honestly I’m a little irritated that Xiomara is going to leave us in the dark about this.” She sighed and shoved a hand through her short-cropped hair.  “You know I hate not knowing.”  Closing her datapad, she sighed and finally looked at me.  Her jaw was clenched tightly and her gaze was so intense that I felt like she was trying to communicate with me telepathically.  “It’s Wednesday.  How do you feel about fish? I could really go for those tacos you make, with tilapia.  Especially now that I can eat them with that mandarin habanero salsa you always moan over.”

I felt the corner of my mouth quirk up at her request. I loved fish tacos, and with the technology on board? It was no longer a labor, and instead was a treat. However, I fully understood the message she was giving me:  Antoine would not be at dinner.  He despised tilapia, and actually referred to it before as ‘fish for people too lazy to use tofu’. 

Also, it was Monday.  She even told me, that morning, how she hates Mondays.  Something was up.

“Yeah, fish tacos sound great.  I’ll even teach you how to make the salsa.”  Instead of even trying to smile, I bit my bottom lip, scrunched my nose, and nodded.  It was a gesture I did whenever she and I were plotting something fun, and no fake emotions were required.

She and I parted just as Maverick stepped over from his conversation with Arthur. “What was that about?” he asked casually.

I tried to wave it off. “Oh, Tyche had a request for dinner tonight.”

Every effort I put into keeping my tone light had been in vain. “It’s Monday, and a certain person hates your fish tacos, because of the fish you use.”  At least he kept his tone equally light.

I shrugged. “Pretty sure she actually knows that, but still.  Do you mind if she comes over?” The question was sincere, despite knowing that he was well aware something was going on.

He laughed at the question. “Of course I don’t mind.  Conor has a late shift, so he won’t be home for dinner anyway.  We can totally manage three people on a Monday.”

“Why is he working so late?” I was honestly confused by this one. “He works Alpha this week, doesn’t he?”

“He does. But they are finally rebuilding the platforms in BioLab 2, and he wants to be present to ensure that there’s not a repeat.”

I sighed, but understood. Conor tended to blame himself for any failure of anything he was even somewhat-adjacent to.  Being in love with him definitely showed me my own tendency to take on too much responsibility.  Which was exactly why I had allowed Maverick and Tyche to convince me to hand our suspicions about the cult over to Xiomara and let her handle it. Bouncing up onto my toes, I gave him a quick kiss.  “Speaking of work and shifts, we still have half of our own to knock out.  I’ll see you tonight.”

He grinned as I brushed a lock of hair out of his face - he really needed a haircut, but it was so soft. “Fish tacos? Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Somehow I managed to focus for the next five hours, taking care of thankfully-small agenda items.  Work assignment swaps, housing transfers, and the never-ending list of suggestions and requests for social activities.  Someone really seemed to believe knife-throwing classes would be a hit. Let’s table that for now.  Admittedly I was intrigued, so it would probably be brought up at dinner, just to get some feedback.

I made it to my quarters with just enough time to shower, shouting to Maverick the list of ingredients we needed to make everything.  As much as I wanted to linger - I had finally managed to use the actual shower instead of the sonic scrubber as of a week ago - I had a feeling Tyche needed me more.  I did, at least, remember to put the oil she insisted on in my hair, although she still rolled her eyes when she came in.

“Your hair is a mess, as usual,” she grumbled.  Without hesitation, she grabbed the end of a longer section and held it in front my eyes.  “Oil goes on the tips first, dork.  That’s the old part, so it’s the driest.”

Maverick smirked as he brought over all the ingredients we needed, and I just shrugged. “I at least remembered to put it in there.”

“Will miracles never cease,” she agreed, grabbing a knife and the server of fish filets.  “Maverick, can you heat the oil please? One-seventy-five.”

“One-ninety,” I corrected.  “They’ll never crisp up that low.  One-seventy-five is for the shells.”

“Right,” she nodded, absentmindedly.  I was starting to worry about her using that knife.  However, she seemed entirely aware that she was distracted, because she never put her fingers near the blade. She very carefully held the knife by the handle, with her hand flat on the back of the blade.

I started mixing the spices and flour together, before moving on to shredding the cabbage.  “Miys, please restrict monitoring of my quarters to medical-only, override strictly keyed to myself and Tyche Reid.”

“Understood, Wisdom.  Please remember that restriction is limited to four hours.”

“Thank you, Noah. Can you advise me of the ending of the restriction?”

“Of course.”

A glance over my shoulder showed an approving nod from Maverick.  When I looked back at Tyche, she was wide-eyed.  “Did you really just do that?”

All I could do was snort. “Of course I did.  Clearly you’re worried about Antoine, and you wanted to discuss it in private without him present.  He has medical access to room logs, as I’m sure you’re aware, especially since he’s listed as my primary medical provider on board.  Not recording anything means there is nothing for him to hear, and he’s already aware that we were talking to Xiomara about the cult today, so we can easily say we discussed that.  In fact, I just said it, so it’s not even a lie.”

She sliced the final fillet into strips, scooped them up, and dropped them in the breading with a sigh.  “Thank you.”

Maverick cleared his throat gently.  “Oil’s getting hot….  Tyche, would you be more comfortable if I needed to get more tortillas from the commissary?”

That, at least, got a smile out of her.  “I appreciate the offer, but not only is it okay for you to be here, that is the dumbest excuse you could probably think of.”

“Hey, it was short notice,” he winked at her. “Conor is better at those kind of excuses.”

I pitched my voice low enough to croak. “Oi, I forgot to tell Charly when to be on site tomorrow.  She never wears her databand off work… I’ll be right back.”

“See? That is a much better excuse.” Tyche laughed before turning serious again. “But, no. I need both of your opinions, and Conor’s, too, when you get a chance to talk to him.” She started gently tossing the sliced fish in the coating.  “Antoine has been… off, lately.  Quieter than usual, things are always coming up at the last minute that keep him gone for long periods of time…. Don’t get me wrong, I like my me-time, but I’m starting to get worried.  As weird as it is to use the term in our relationship, he’s been distant.” She stopped, hands limp in the bowl, head down.

“Hug or no hug?” I asked, stepping around the counter.

“No hug.” She shook her head firmly.

I snagged the bowl of fish instead and started dropping it in the oil. “Okay. So, are we worried he’s having an affair, just losing interest….?”

She moved to the sink to wash her hands. “That’s the thing.  I’ve thought and thought and thought about it… You know how I over plan stuff.  And, really, it all kind of goes back to when we first started noticing people behaving suspiciously.” She may have been scrubbing her hands more vigorously than strictly necessary, but that was a good sign.

For what felt like an eternity, the only sound in my kitchen was sizzling oil.  Maverick recovered first.  “Tych.  Sweetie, do you… You think he’s mixed in with all that?”

“I don’t know,” she moaned, more irritation than fear. The nail brush clattered in the sink.  “The timing is just weird as hell.”

I scooped the first batch of fish out and dropped the next, careful not to gesture with the spider strainer and flick hot oil everywhere. “Okay, so.  Let’s start at the worst case scenario. Say Antoine is involved with this cult.  The suspected leader is a survivalist with very Norse-oriented leanings, who thinks that we are moving from Ragnarok to our new beginning.  Yes, they are antisocial enough for the two of us,” I pointed emphatically between myself and my sister, “to think they are going a wee bit overboard.  But, what percent probability is there that Antoine will actually stick with a group of people that rude?”

She tipped her head side to side with a grimace.  “He spent the End holed up in a senior care facility and robbing people for heart medication.  I’m going with ten percent?”

“So, statistically possible, and we have a baseline probability.”  I took a deep breath. “In that vein, this also started after the thing with Else. Which, I want to remind y’all, involved him butting heads with his direct superiors, putting me in a couple of comas, trying to figure out what a delirious Grey was trying to say - filtered through a couple of non-medical people, all while sick himself.”

“So he may just be exhausted?” Maverick asked for clarification.

“Or fed up,” I shrugged.

She nodded reluctantly, snatching the strainer to take out the second batch of fish before I burned them. “Even conservatively, that’s more in the eighty-to-ninety range.  Either of them, really.  I doubt he expected to sign on as a sidekick to the Futuristic Winchester Sisters.”  After adding the next batch to the oil, she groaned. “Fuck. This means I have to actually confront him, doesn’t it?”

I smirked involuntarily and started dicing onions for the salsa.  When I grabbed the cilantro, she complained but relented when she saw it was maybe a teaspoon worth, diced fine.  “It’s either ask him, or go by faith that the most likely outcome is the correct one.”  I reached for the next ingredient.

“Cucumber?” She scrunched her nose. “In salsa?”

“Balances out the strong flavors,” I clarified.  After mixing everything together, I set half of it to the side and grabbed two whole habaneros. After trimming out the stems, I started dicing them.

“You have got to be joking,” Maverick begged. 

“Nope,” I popped. “The recipe has four habaneros, so for half it’s only two.”

“But.  The seeds too?  Aren’t they the spicy part?”

“Nah.  That’s the membranes,” Tyche piped up.  “Even I know that, and I couldn’t eat this stuff for decades.”

“Just tell me you left some mandarin pieces for me?” He gave an impressively good puppy-dog eye.

I just laughed.  “Babe, you’re fine, I swear.  I had you get a double batch, so there’s plenty left for you to eat later.”

All the breath in my lungs was forced out in a whoosh as he whirled me around. “You are psychic, and I love youuu!”  My squeals and their laughter drowned whatever worries we had for the night, leaving us all breathless as we finished dinner.

Crisis after crisis? Bring it on. I wasn’t trading this moment for any world. 

<< Prev  Masterlist  Next >>

[wilddaydreamingcat]

The Untamed 陈情令 - Translation of Chinese Subs - Episode 7

Please do not post this outside Tumblr, thanks!

Notes:

The line breaks mostly correspond to each line of mandarin subtitles within the episode. However, I have switched some around so that the English translation can make more sense and flow more smoothly.

 The Untamed Episode 7

 Lan Yi:

For many years,

my spirit has been guarding this place –

the Lan Clan’s forbidden ground.

No one can set foot into this place since.

 Wei Wuxian:

Then what happened to my Grand Master afterwards?

 Lan Yi:

Your Grand Master?

 Wei Wuxian:

To tell you the truth,

my name is Wei Wuxian.

Although I was taken in by the Jiang Clan when I was a child,

but Cangse Sanren is my mother,

and Baoshan Sanren is indeed my Grand Master.

 Lan Yi:

So many years have passed by.

That year,

Baoshan Sanren hadn’t taken in any disciples yet.

I didn’t expect that

she even has a grand disciple now,

and he is standing right in front of me.

It’s a pity.

Ever since I caused this catastrophe,

she went into retreat and never reappeared.

I was too ashamed to seek her out again.

 Lan Wangji:

Elder,

I have a question to ask.

Did Elder summon both of us into this place?

 Lan Yi:

No.

For a hundred years, my spiritual powers was being used to suppress the Yin Iron,

and to maintain the barrier surrounding the back mountains.

But for the past decade,

the Yin iron has been showing signs of restless movement.

My spiritual senses have also been weakening.

I fear that

the resentful energy from the Yin iron has infested the water.

Wei Wuxian:

Why were there sudden movements from the Yin Iron for the past 20 years?

 Lan Yi:

If my conjectures are correct,

it is because the other pieces of the Yin Iron have appeared.

Wei Wuxian:

It looks like

the cultivator who had his soul snatched

that we saw previously,

was because of someone imitating Xue Chonghai’s methods

to create a puppet.

 Lan Wangji:

They are experimenting.

 Lan Yi:

Ever since I released the seal,

the fragments of Yin Iron have began to sense each other again.

It was a stroke of luck that I could exist peacefully for a hundred years.

I will never escape from

the day that I worry about.

 Wei Wuxian:

Elder,

is there nothing we can do

to stop the Yin Iron from causing disaster among mankind?

 Lan Yi:

The Yin Iron is a naturally formed object with spiritual awareness; it cannot be completely eliminated.

Also, since it was broken into pieces, the resentful energy has flowed out.

Evil creatures will definitely appear in the places where they are hidden.

The only way is to find the other fragments

and submerge them forever within the Cold Pond.

It is a pity

that I cannot personally make amends for my wrongdoings.

 Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji:

Elder!

 Lan Yi:

Do not be worried.

My life is ending.

My stealing of a hundred years of life was only so that I could repay my debt.

Now that both of you have come,

I no longer need to endure.

 Lan Wangji:

I, Wangji, as a descendent of the Lan Clan, will do my duty

to definitely fulfill Elder’s last wishes.

I will find the Yin Iron, and submerge it within the Cold Pond forever.

 Wei Wuxian:

I will do my duty as well!

 Lan Wangji:

These are the affairs of the Lan Clan. It is not your business.

 Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan, you cannot stop me.

Although I, Wei Ying, grew up among the Jiang Clan,

I am never confused between the principles of right and wrong.

Also, because of the Yin Iron, my Grand Master went into retreat for a hundred years.

For whatever emotion or reason, I cannot sit by and ignore this.

 Lan Yi:

As the grand disciple of Baoshan, this should be the case.

Remember,

the business of the Yin Iron

is full of difficulties.

No matter what,

I hope you will not repeat my path.

 Wei Wuxian:

Elder may rest assured.

I, Wei Ying, will put in all my effort.

Elder!

You haven’t yet told us

the location of the other Yin Iron fragments!

============================================= 

Wen Qing:

The barrier set up at the back mountains of the Cloud Recesses;

Is it just to protect this mountainside?

Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen!

 Wen Qing:

Young Master Jiang.

 Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen,

are you also searching for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji?

 Wen Qing:

Umm...

 Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

Lan Zhan, I didn’t do that on purpose!

 Jiang Cheng:

Wei Wuxian!

 Wei Wuxian:

Jiang Cheng.

 Lan Wangji:

Get up!

 Wei Wuxian:

Right...getting up.

Wen Qing, Jiang Cheng.

Why are both of you here?

 Jiang Cheng:

I should be the one asking you!

Wei Wuxian,

where have you run off to for the entire day and night?

Did you know that my sister was so worried that

she couldn’t eat or sleep?

If I still couldn’t find you,

I would have to send a letter to Lotus Pier to inform my father!

 Lan Wangji:

It has been a day and a night.

 Jiang Cheng:

Yes.

Zewu-jun has also been searching for you both

without any rest or sleep.

Did you realise how anxious everyone was?

Where on earth did both of you go?

 Wei Wuxian:

Oh, I’ll tell you after we return.

I can’t speak clearly in such a short moment.

 Wen Qing:

Wait.

An aura of extreme cold energy is emanating from both of your foreheads.

What kind of place is it

in there?

 Wei Wuxian:

We were originally treating our wounds at the cold spring,

but a current of water inexplicably carried us away

and washed us into a place of extreme cold.

 Jiang Cheng:

What place?

How can such a thing happen in Cloud Recesses?

Wei Wuxian:

We were trapped in that place

and swam for a very long time.

We used up all our energy

before finally finding the cave entrance and got out.

 Wen Qing:

What’s inside there?

 Lan Wangji:

There’s...

 Wei Wuxian:

What else can there be

besides ice and water?

Let me tell you both,

I was nearly frozen to death in there.

 Jiang Cheng:

All right.

We can talk about it after getting back, and spare others from worrying.

 Wei Wuxian:

Yes, you’re right.

Let’s go back and talk.

Come on.

 ============================================

Lan Qiren:

In the end, we still cannot escape this calamity.        

 Lan Wangji:

Uncle, Elder Brother.

You were aware of this?

 Lan Xichen:

Ever since Elder Lan Yi damaged the barrier,

the Lan Clan sealed off the back mountains,

for fear that the resentful energy from the Yin Iron would infest all living creatures.

That’s why among the five great clans, only the Lan family head knows of the Yin Iron.

The knowledge is passed down with each generation.

 Wei Wuxian:

So you already knew that

the cultivator who had been soul-snatched, and the disaster of the waterbourne abyss,

was related to the Yin Iron?

 Lan Xichen:

Young Master Wei is extremely quick-witted.

During the incident at Bi Ling Lake,

you had already guessed most of it.

Wangji,

you had questioned me previously.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you the truth.

 Wei Wuxian:

Confidants, eh!

 Lan Xichen:

After all these incidents happening,

Uncle deduced that this was all related to the Yin Iron.

So he told me to check the barrier at the forbidden grounds;

It was indeed weakening.

Because to this, Uncle also travelled to Qinghe

to meet with Clan Leader Nie and discuss this matter.

We did not expect that

both of you would enter the Cold Pond Cave so quickly,

and also did not expect the Yin Iron to reappear.

 Wei Wuxian:

The Qishan Wen Clan again!

 Lan Xichen:

There’s no need to chase it.

Lan Wangji:

It seems that the Wen Clan attended the lectures

also because of the Yin Iron.

 Wei Wuxian:

Elder Lan Yi said,

the fragment of Yin Iron had shown signs of movement for the last decade,

due to the reappearance of the other pieces.

 Lan Xichen:

It looks like our deduction was correct.

Wen Ruohan already has a piece of Yin Iron,

and he is very much aware that Cloud Recesses has another piece.

That is why he sent people to investigate.

 Lan Wangji:

How did Wen Ruohan find out

that there is a fragment in Gusu?

 Lan Qiren:

The Yin Iron is suppressed from four directions,

but, after a hundred years,

there is no longer anyone who knows where they have been kept and suppressed.

However, Wen Ruohan

could even obtain a piece of Yin Iron;

I suppose there may be someone assisting him.

 Wei Wuxian:

Elder Lan Yi also said that,

the pieces of Yin Iron could sense one another.

Since we already have one piece,

why not use it to track down the others?

 Lan Wangji:

Uncle, Elder Brother, what should we do now?

 Lan Qiren:

With the appearance of the Yin Iron;

If it falls into the hands of one with ill intentions,

it will cause much terror and bloodshed.

The only thing we can do now,

is to seal it again, return it to the Cold Pond,

re-erect the barrier, and allow no one to approach it.

 Lan Wangji:

Uncle,

Wen Ruohan already has a piece of Yin Iron;

With the connection between the fragments,

I fear that it would be useless

if we return the piece to the Cold Pond again.

Also,

Wen Ruohan greatly covets the Yin Iron.

I am afraid that we cannot hide it even if we attempt to.

 Lan Qiren:

We will discuss this later.

 Lan Wangji:

Uncle!

 Lan Qiren:

Cease mentioning this matter now.

Today’s incident

concerns the secrets of the cultivation clans...

 Wei Wuxian:

Ah...that! Teacher, you may rest assured!

I promise never to tell anyone else!

==========================================

Nie Huaisang:

Brother Wei!

Brother Wei!

Second Young Master Lan.

Brother Wei,

I knew you would definitely return alive!

Where have you been?

Why was Zewu-jun looking for you?

It’s not another beating?

 Wei Wuxian:

You can stop worrying; there won’t be a beating this time.

It’s just that the Cloud Recesses is way too big.

Even Second Young Master Lan almost got lost.

 Nie Huaisang:

You got lost just by soaking in the cold spring?

Both of you disappeared for a whole night.

Did you encounter anything strange?

 Wei Wuxian:

Strange encounters?

I suppose there’s one.

Do you want to hear it?

 Nie Huaisang:

Tell me about it.

 Wei Wuxian:

Right.

Yesterday night, in the black darkness and howling wind;

A pair of tentacles suddenly burst out from the bottom of the cold spring,

and pulled me and Lan Zhan underwater.

Can you guess what those tentacles were?

 Nie Huaisang:

Wh...What?

 Wei Wuxian:

Snake monsters!

Don’t run away!

Do you want to know what those snake monsters looked like?

 Nie Huaisang:

No...don’t say anymore. I’m most terrified of snakes.

Strange encounters like this,

I’ll leave it for you to think it over slowly.

I’ll go off first!

Oh right! Don’t forget about lighting the lanterns tonight!

 Wei Wuxian:

Off you go!

Jiang Cheng?

Jiang Cheng!

Why are you walking so fast?

 Jiang Cheng:

Wei Wuxian,

you’re pretty friendly with Lan Wangji now.

I guess you might as well change clans and join the Lan House.

Don’t go back to Lotus Pier.

 Wei Wuxian:

What are you thinking?

How can Cloud Recesses be better than Lotus Pier?

Just the 3000 clan rules

will kill me.

Stop thinking crazy things. Let’s go.

Wen Chao:

Father!

The Yin Iron at the Cloud Recesses has appeared.

Congratulations, Father.

 Wen Ruohan:

You congratulate me?

Did you obtain it?

Xue Yang.

 Xue Yang:

Chief Cultivator.

 Wen Ruohan:

Yueyang. Go there.

 Xue Yang:

Then the Yueyang Chang Clan...

 Wen Ruohan:

You can do whatever you wish.

I only desire the Yin Iron.

 Xue Yang:

Thank you, Chief Cultivator!

 Wen Ruohan:

Xue Yang, there are some words that need not be said.

 Xue Yang:

Chief Cultivator may rest assured.

I have no interest in the Yin Iron.

Moreover,

I’m just an unimportant little cultivator.

How could I ever escape from the Chief Cultivator’s hands?

 Wen Chao:

Father!

How could you agree with that scoundrel and allow him to go to Yueyang?                  

Wen Ruohan:

Then should I let you go instead?

 Wen Chao:

But Father,

if Xue Yang has an ulterior motive,

then...

 Wen Ruohan:

That is why your mission

is to bring people to coordinate with him.

If Xue Yang has any motives,

you know what to do.

 Wen Chao:

Then what of the Yin Iron in Cloud Recesses?

Is Father just going to let that go?

 Wen Ruohan:

The Gusu Lan Clan will not escape this.

While they plot against us, we will attack them unawares.*

 *Translator Note:

螳螂捕蝉, 黄雀在后 (táng láng bǔ chán huáng què zài hòu) – Chinese idiom, lit: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Wen Chao:

But...

Not letting me go?

You think I don’t have a plan?

==============================================

Student:

That’s wrong. It won’t be stable like this.

You can watch while I fix this.

 Student:

That’s not very sturdy.

It’s better doing it this way.

Get this part bound up first.

 Student:

You’re too stupid.

Give it to me.

 Student:

As if you’re really smart!

 Student:

Is it really like this?

How do I fix it?

 Student:

Look, this piece needs to be coiled in first.

If you bind it like this, it will fly even higher.

 Student:

That’s right. Binding it this way is correct. It will fly higher.

Tie it tight.

 Student:

Yeah, right.

Go and make one by yourself.

 Student:

That’s not bad.

 Student:

This...

got tied into a dead knot.

 Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan,

on account of us having shared the perils of life and death,

let’s light a lantern together to celebrate.

 Lan Wangji:

I am used to being alone.

 Wei Wuxian:

Habits can be changed.

Also, my lantern

is made especially for you, Second Young Master Lan.

Look.

You smiled!

 Nie Huaisang:

Brother Wei!

This lantern of mine is the most finely made among all lanterns!

It wasn’t easy to make it!

How could you just burn it like this!

 Wei Wuxian:

Brother Nie, I’ll compensate you with a lantern, all right?

 Nie Huaisang:

This paper is produced from the workshops of Qinghe,                  

thin as the wings of a cicada, yet smooth as jade, and worth its weight in gold.

It can’t be compensated just because you, Brother Wei, said so.

============================================== 

Mianmian:

Look, quickly!

 Nie Huaisang:

I, Nie Huaisang, wish that my studies can be smoothly completed,

and that I will never need to return to Cloud Recesses in the coming year.

Wen Qing:

I, lady of the Wen Clan, beseech the heavens,

to protect my little brother, A-Ning, for him to be safe and sound,

and be free of all hardships for his entire lifetime.

 Wei Wuxian:

I, Wei Wuxian wish to

live my life eliminating evil and aiding the weak, to have no regrets within my heart.

 Jin disciple:

Young Master.

 Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister,

what wish did you make?

 Jiang Yanli:

I wished that A-Xian would grow up faster, and not be so playful.

 Wei Wuxian:

Liar.

You must have wished for a good marriage.

 Mianmian:

Young Lady Jiang’s marriage has already been decided.

What else is there to wish for?

 Student:

Her husband-to-be is right there.

How could Young Lady Jiang light the lantern alone?

Didn’t they build the lantern together just now?

 Student:

I heard that Young Master Jin and Young Lady Jiang

are going to get married very soon.

Why not light the lantern together and pray for a long and happy marriage?

 Mianmian:

That’s right, Young Master.

The Cowherd star and the Weaver star* only meet once each year,

they will surely bless both of you with a long and happy marriage.

 Translation Note:

The Cowherd (the star Altair) and Weaver (the star Vega) is a Chinese folktale. Their love was forbidden by the heavens, as the Cowherd was a mere mortal, and the Weaver was a celestial being. They were eventually banished to the opposite sides of the Heavenly River (the Milky Way). The lovers meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, when a flock of magpies form a bridge between them to reunite them for a day.

 Jin Zixuan:

Mianmian, it’s getting late. Let’s go.

 Jiang Cheng:

What are you doing? Wei Wuxian!

 Mianmian:

Young Master, what’s wrong?

Aren’t we going to light the lanterns with Jiang...with them?

 Jin Zixuan:

That’s enough. Don’t ask about it again.

 Mianmian:

Young Master, forgive me for speaking out of turn.

You and Young Lady Jiang are already engaged.

Isn’t this going to let other people ridicule us?

Young Master!

Jin Zixuan:

Mianmian, listen,

this marriage arrangement was not my idea.

Don’t mention it again.

 Wei Wuxian:

Wait!

What do you mean by “Don’t mention it again”!

 Jin Zixuan:

Wei Wuxian.

Does this have anything to do with you?

 Mianmian:

Young Master Wei!

 Wei Wuxian:

What do you mean by “Don’t mention it again”!

 Jin Zixuan:

Is it so hard to understand

the four words “Don’t mention it again”?

 Wei Wuxian:

You...

 Mianmian:

Young Lady Jiang!

Young Lady Jiang!

Something’s happened!

Young Master Wei...

Young Master Wei...

Young Master Wei and our Young Master have gotten into a fight!

 Wei Wuxian:

I’ll going to beat you death!

Don’t stop me!

 Jin Zixuan:

Come get me!

 Wei Wuxian:

I’ll beat you to death!

Don’t stop me!

Come on!

 Jin Zixuan:

Wei Wuxian!

 Wei Wuxian:

Don’t stop me!

 Lan Wangji:

Wei Ying, stop.

 Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan, don’t you stop me!

 Jin Zixuan:

Let me go!

 Wei Wuxian:

Stop holding me back!

 Mianmian:

Let us through!

 Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian!

 Wei Wuxian:

Come at me!

Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian!

 Jin Zixuan:

Come and get me!

 Wei Wuxian:

Don’t stop me!

 Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian!

 Student:

We heard that it was Jin Zixuan who looked down on Young Lady Jiang,

and wanted to break off the engagement.

Wei Wuxian was outraged on his Senior Sister’s behalf.

 Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian,

let’s go home.

================================================

 Lan Wangji:

Wei Ying,

since you know how to regret, why commit the mistake in the first place?

 Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

Lan Zhan, look!

So many ants, like a stain of black lacquer!

 Lan Wangji:

You were to kneel and ponder over your wrongdoings as a punishment.

Yet you had the mood to play with ants?

You are indeed hopeless.*

 Translation Note:

朽木不可雕 (xiǔ mù bù kě diāo), Chinese idiom – lit: Rotten wood cannot be carved.

Wei Wuxian:

But the ants are really...

These ants are really cute!

Uncle Jiang! Why are you here?

 [Jiang Fengmian, Yunmeng Jiang Clan]

 Jiang Fengmian:

Kneel down!

 Jiang Cheng:

You can actually kneel obediently!

 Wei Wuxian:

I kneel often. It’s not like you didn’t know that!

As for that flower peacock Jin Zixuan,

I bet he’s been pampered and spoiled rotten, and never kneeled before.

If I don’t make him kneel down till he’s screaming for his parents today,

my surname is not “Wei”!

 Jiang Cheng:

You still have the face to say that?

Father travelled thousands of li for several nights to get to Gusu on your behalf!

Later,

get ready to be punished by old Master Lan.

 Wei Wuxian:

Jin Zixuan, you’re so dead!

 [Jin Guangshan, Lanling Jin Clan]

Jin Guangshan:

Master Lan.

Brother Jiang.

 Lan Qiren:

Both of you must be tired from the long journey.

Please have a seat.

This incident happened all of a sudden.

Although it is merely the mischief of the young generation,

it affects the marriage arrangement between both the Jin and Jiang Clans.

As a mere elderly man, I dare not make a decision without any consultation.

Hence, I can only request both Clan Leaders

to come here personally for a discussion.

Jiang Fengmian:

I am already aware of how this incident came about.

Wei Ying is stubborn and unruly by nature,

and caused much trouble for you.

I, Fengmian, did not instruct him well.

Please accept my apologies, Master Lan.

 Jin Guangshan:

Brother Jiang,

that is not at all necessary.

I know just a little about this incident.

Once I return, I will definitely give A-Xuan a good scolding.

 Lan Qiren:

For fighting without permission,

I have already punished them in accordance with the house rules.

Both Clan Leaders need not worry any further.

But this marriage arrangement

is not a trifling matter.

 Jin Guangshan:

Master Lan spoke correctly.

Marriage is definitely not a trifling matter.

 Jiang Fengmian:

Brother Jin, I have a request to make.

Jin Guangshan:

I would be honoured to hear it.

Brother Jiang, please speak.

 Jiang Fengmian:

The Yunmeng Jiang Clan

has always emphasised on being true to oneself and having pure intentions.

I will never force my children to do what they do not like to do.

Although A-Li and your son have long been engaged,

this was originally insisted upon by A-Li’s mother.

It now looks to me

that both sides are rather unhappy with it.

It would be better not to force this.

 Jiang Cheng:

Father!

 Jin Guangshan:

Brother Jiang,

the children are too young to understand.

This is merely a misunderstanding.

You and I need not pay any attention to this.

 Jiang Fengmian:

Brother Jin,

we can help them arrange the marriage,

but we cannot perform the marriage for them.

Eventually, they themselves are the ones

who must spend a lifetime together.

I have already sent a letter to A-Li’s mother.

It is better to call off the engagement.

Jin Guangshan:

Brother Jiang,

the blame rests on my son’s rash behavior,

ruining what had been a perfect arrangement.          

Since Brother Jiang has already decided,

then I will do as you requested.

Only, this incident

must not affect the friendship between our houses.

 Jiang Fengmian:

Of course not.

 =========================================

Jiang Cheng:

It’s not good! Wei Wuxian!

Sis and Jin Zixuan’s marriage engagement is going to be called off!

 Wei Wuxian:

What?

Jin Zixuan! Has he not been punched enough?

He really called it off?

 Jiang Cheng:

It wasn’t! It was Father who mentioned it!

 Wei Wuxian:

Uncle Jiang said it?

Where’s Senior Sister?

 Jiang Cheng:

She should still be in the house.

============================================

 Jiang Fengmian:

Young Master Lan.

 Lan Xichen:

Clan Leader Jiang.

 Lan Qiren:

Clan Leader Jiang, I will not hide it from you;

This time, I requested for you to come

also because I had an important issue to discuss with you.

 Jiang Fengmian:

Master, please speak.

 Lan Qiren:

Please do not be alarmed, Clan Leader Jiang.

It is simply because this matter is of great importance.

We have no choice but to be extremely careful.

 Lan Xichen:

I am not sure if Clan Leader Jiang has heard of

the strange incidents that have happened recently?

 Jiang Fengmian:

I have indeed heard of it.

The cases of cultivators having their souls snatched,

have even happened in Yunmeng.

I wonder what is the cause of this?

I hope you can enlighten me.

 Lan Xichen:

The cause of these incidents

is due to the reappearance of

a spiritual object that existed some hundred years ago,

 Jiang Fengmian:

What object is it?

 Lan Xichen:

The Yin Iron.

============================================

Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian,

I know it’s you.

A-Xian!

 Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister, I...

 Jiang Yanli:

You knelt for a long time, are you all right?

How are your knees? Let me have a look.

 Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister!

It’s all my fault.

Why don’t you give me a scolding?

I’ll feel better this way.

 Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian,

this doesn’t have anything to do with you.

Don’t think too much about it.

One’s fate

cannot be forced.

 Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister,

in the future, you will definitely marry

an ideal husband who is a hundred times; ten thousand times stronger than him.

 Jiang Yanli:

Then A-Xian will definitely marry a talented and beautiful lady

as well in the future.

 Wei Wuxian:

No way.

I only want to stay at Lotus Pier and accompany Senior Sister.

 Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian,

the lectures have ended.

We will be returning to Lotus Pier in a day or two.

 Wei Wuxian:

It’s ending just like that?

 Jiang Yanli:

You haven’t played enough?

Father said,

when A-Cheng comes back,

we will go to the Elegant Room together to bid farewell to Master Lan.

 =============================================

Jiang Fengmian:

I did not expect there would be such a reason behind this.

 Lan Xichen:

I will not hide this from you, Clan Leader Jiang.

What we are most worried about now

is the piece of Yin Iron that appeared first.

If it was used by one with bad intentions,

events will repeat itself,

and there will be endless suffering.

 Lan Qiren:

The Qishan Wen Clan

is concealing much evil from us.

Jiang Fengmian:

Speaking of which,

I also heard of a strange incident on the way here.

Recently, at Yueyang,

a few small cultivation clans have been massacred, one after another.

No one was left alive.

I wonder who the mastermind behind this is.

However, it seems that the murderer

is a young retainer of the Wen Clan, surnamed Xue.

 Lan Qiren:

Something like this happened?

 Lan Xichen:

It looks like the Wen Clan are revealing their ill intentions.

We must act fast.

Come in.

 Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli:

We students bid farewell to Master Lan and Clan Leader Lan.

 Lan Xichen:

Accomplishments must be rewarded, and wrongdoings must be punished.

Young Master Wei,

you have been punished

for the mistakes that you committed in Cloud Recesses.

As for your accomplishments,

I believe Clan Leader Jiang will have his own reward.

 Jiang Cheng:

What accomplishments does he have?

 Lan Qiren:

Clan Leader Jiang,

Wei Ying really needs to be disciplined more.

Originally, if he had not come here,

none of the disciples of this clan would dare to be so bold.

But, ever since Wei Ying arrived,

the young weaklings who had mischief in their hearts

were influenced and instigated by him,

wandering around at night and drinking liquor wantonly.

 Jiang Fengmian:

Ying has always been so.

I have given Master Lan much trouble with his discipline.

 Lan Xichen:

Come in.

Wangji, what is it?

 Jiang Fengmian:

Clan Leader Lan,

I, Fengmian, bid you farewell.

 Lan Xichen:

Clan Leader Jiang.

 Jiang Fengmian:

Clan Leader Lan may rest assured.

I am aware of the pros and cons of the situation.

If the Lan Clan has any orders,

the Yunmeng Jiang Clan will fulfil our obligations.

Young Master Lan.

Master Lan.

Second Young Master Lan.

I will take my leave now.

 Lan Xichen:

Clan Leader Jiang, take care.

 Jiang Fengmian:

All right.

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan, about the Yin Iron...

Lan Zhan...

 Jiang Cheng:

Let’s go.

 Lan Xichen:

Wangji,

be careful along the way.

 Jiang Cheng:

Wei Wuxian, did you grow hair in your ears?

Lan Wangji hates you so much,

why are you always provoking him?

 Wei Wuxian:

What?

We were classmates for six months. Why can’t I say farewell to him?

 Jiang Cheng:

You’re asking for a beating.

When Lan Wangji heard that you were leaving,

he must have been happy beyond words.

 Wei Wuxian:

Rubbish!

I’ll tell you this,

the disciples from the various clans like me very much.

None of them can bear to see me leave.

Senior Sister,

do you agree?

 Jiang Yanli:

Yes,

our A-Xian is adored by everyone.

  Jiang Cheng:

Then I’ll ask you,

Among so many disciples from various clans,

why is Lan Wangji the only person you bid farewell to?

 Wei Wuxian:

I appreciate him, all right?

Isn’t it because all of you are unable to defeat me?

I’m a lone wanderer asking for defeat.*

It’s not easy for me  

to meet my match in battle.

 Translation Note:

This is a reference to 独孤求败 (Dú gū Qiú bài), a fictional character in Jin Yong (Louis Cha)’s wuxia novels. He was a legendary master of martial arts who was so powerful that he was undefeatable, and wandered the world looking for someone to defeat him. His name literally means “Loner asking for defeat”.

 Jiang Cheng:

You’re so shameless!

 Wei Wuxian:

Who’s shameless? The one trying to hit me is shameless!

How about it? I’m talking about you!

 Jiang Yanli:

Stop it, both of you.

Cloud Recesses does not allow fighting.

It’s not too late to play after returning to Lotus Pier.

 Wei Wuxian:

All right, Senior Sister. I know, Senior Sister.

You can rest assured. I’ll definitely not hit him!

Jiang Cheng:

Wei Wuxian! You...

You...

Stand right there!

You stop right now!

How dare you hit me!

 Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister, look!

 Jiang Fengmian:

All right. Stop playing.

 Wei Wuxian:

Stop!

Cloud Recesses forbids loud disturbances.

Jiang Cheng, what are you doing?

 Jiang Cheng:

Sis, look at him!

 Lan Xichen:

Now that Young Master Wei has left,

Cloud Recesses will become peaceful like before.

Wangji,

should you tell Young Master Wei

of your journey to find the Yin Iron?

 Lan Wangji:

There’s no need.

 Wei Wuxian:

Little rabbit,

Cloud Recesses does not allow pets,

so I can only hide all of you here.

Are you happy living here?

Happy!

That’s great!

If you’re living happily, then I don’t need to worry.

You reckon

should I bring all of you back to Lotus Pier?

I’d better not.

If Lan Zhan is ever bored one day and wishes to find you,

he won’t be able to...

But...

 Lan Xichen:

(Wangji, be careful along the way)

 Wei Wuxian:

You reckon

where do you think he is setting off to by himself?

He’s not looking for the Yin Iron by himself, right?

[demiboydemon]

Hybrids

Keith wasn’t sure what was happening or where he was. All he knew was that he was, at the moment, laying on a hard surface and that his head hurt.

Without sitting up, Keith tried to remember what had led him here. After a moment of concentration, he remembered Lotor giving them the information about the work camp.

Fanfic continued under cut 

“I believe that the Green Paladin’s father may be at this work camp,” Lotor had said as he pointed to a figure on the holographic map.

“It is one formally under my control,” He continued, “I know that there is a genius human being held prisoner there. Your father is the only human genius of whom I am aware.”

“My father?” Pidge demanded, slamming her hands on the table with both an excessive amount of force and the implication that she’d rather be slamming her hands on Lotor. “You had him all along?”

Lotor waved his hand dismissively, not at all seeming threatened by the outburst. “Perhaps you remember incorrectly. Until mere pheobes ago, I was working against you. I had no reason until now to share with you this information.”

“Well, why’d you wait so long? You’ve been working with us for six months!”

Lotor raised an eyebrow at her. “I was a bit busy helping you all with saving the universe. There are things that are of more importance than family.”

“Easy for you to say!” Pidge snapped. “You don’t have a real family!”

“Pidge,” Keith said, forced calmness beginning to wear thin, “We understand that you miss your family. We all miss our families. But Lotor also has a point. He had no reason to share this information with us until now.”

Keith turned to Lotor. “Lotor, please explain to us where Sam Holt is being held.”

Lotor smiled at the Black Paladin, fangs glinting in the castle’s artificial sunlight. “Gladly.”

Keith remembered making plans to infiltrate the work camp. He remembered the gas filling the room. He remembered putting his helmet on, hoping that it wasn’t too late. He remembered that Lotor had passed out before him, as did Pidge and Hunk. He remembered being thrown, barely conscious, into a cell with Lotor.

After remembering all of this, he forced himself to sit up and open his eyes. He was still in the cell with Lotor. Lotor was already awake, sitting across from Keith.

“Finally, you’re awake,” Lotor said.

Keith looked around the cell. Unsurprisingly, there were no clocks. Why waste clocks on prisoners? It’s not like it was important for them to know the time.

“How long have we been in here?” Keith asked. “And why’d they put us together?”

“How would I know how long we’ve been here?” Lotor asked. “I’ve been awake for about two Vargas, but our actual time of imprisonment is unknown.”

Lotor paused a moment before speaking again, “We were put together because we are both half breeds. The humans are together, as are the Alteans. I assume based on previous knowledge that they are separating their invaders by species.”

Keith nodded, silently thanking Lotor for not making him ask. “Makes sense.”

“It’s true, then?” Lotor mused, talking more to himself at first before turning his attention back to his cell mate. “I did not know you were half Galra.”

Keith glared at the wall. “I wish I wasn’t.”

Lotor tilted his head. “I mean no disrespect, Black Paladin, but why do you regret your Galra heritage? We are the most powerful known species in the universe.”

“The Galra are evil.” Keith said, “They killed all the Alteans, they took Shiro’s arm, they captured Pidge’s family.... the list goes on and on.”

“The Empire,” Lotor corrected.

“What?”

“The Empire did those things. Not the Galra race. The Blade Of Marmora, for example,” Lotor said, “Fights against the Empire. You and I fight against the empire.”

‘I wonder if my mother fought for or against the Empire,’ Keith wondered.

“I guess,” Keith said. He decided to change the subject. “You’re half Altean, right?”

“How did you know?” Lotor asked.

Keith smiled a little. “It’s pretty obvious. Pointy ears, furless face, British accent, white hair.”

Lotor laughed. “I suppose it is quite obvious to someone looking for it. Although I am not familiar with a British.”

“It’s a country on Earth,” Keith explained, “They’ve got voices with the cadence of yours and Allura’s. Coran’s is more of a New Zealand accent, though.”

“Is that another Earth country?”

“Yeah. They’ve got the same language as America, where I grew up.”

Lotor looked alarmed. “The same language? That implies.... Earth doesn’t share the same language?”

“Earth has over 6,000 languages. I only speak English, Spanish, and Korean.”

“Your people have yet to agree on a common tongue? Fascinating.”

“Yeah. I think Mandarin Chinese is the most common one, but it could have changed since I read that.”

“Earth astounds me.” Lotor said, “Earth people are so weak, and they disagree on everything. Yet their planet still thrives after millions of decapheobes.”

Keith nodded in agreement. “I don’t understand people, either. It probably shouldn’t have been such a surprise to find out I was Galra.”

“You see it as a weakness, Keith, but I see it as a strength,” Lotor said, moving a bit closer to Keith. “The Galra Empire only ever saw my Altean half as something shameful. The Empire values physical strength and power. They value victory and fearlessness. Bravery to a foolish extent. But I am not fully Galra. I am an equal amount Altean. Alteans value intellect and knowledge. Wisdom, curiosity, diplomacy. As a hybrid, I carry with me the values of both cultures.”

Lotor looked at Keith with a determined expression. “As a hybrid, you carry the strengths of a human, but you also carry the strengths of the Galra.”

“You think Allura would like you more if she knew you were half Altean?” Keith asked.

Lotor nodded. “Undoubtedly.”

“Then why don’t you tell her?”

“I do not need her approval. I have faced decapheobes of prejudice because of my mixed heritage. The princess not trusting me is the least of my concerns.”

Lotor paused. “I don’t want her to trust me because of my race. I want her to trust me because of the things I have done. I want for her to realize that just like the Alteans have done wrong, the Galra can do good. If she knows I am half Altean, she will start viewing my wrong doings as the fault of my Galra half, and my acts of kindness as the virtue of my Altean half.”

Keith nodded. “I completely understand. You don’t want her to think of you as two people, one Galra, one Altean. You’re not two people of different races. You’re a hybrid.”

“Exactly,” Lotor sighed.

“When Allura found out I was Galra,” Keith started, “She started treating me differently. Like I was a threat. Like I wasn’t me anymore. I wasn’t the same Keith who had saved her life, or the Keith whose life she had saved before. I wasn’t a Paladin. I wasn’t helping her save the universe. When she looked at me, she saw a Galra.”

Keith laughed coldly. “I don’t even look Galra. Shiro says I had sharp teeth when I was younger, but they’re pretty normal now.”

Lotor placed his hand on Keith’s. “Life has never been easy for hybrids such as us. My Generals- former generals now, I suppose- have had difficult lives as well, because of their mixed blood. We tend to be either viewed as dangerous or deeply underestimated.”

“People will always see you as their enemy, I guess,” Keith said. He stood up. “We need to get out of this prison.”

“I tried to escape before you woke up, but this is one of the most secure Galra prisons I have ever been held in.”

Keith turned to him. “C’mon, Lotor. We can do it. Two people, one human, one Altean, and two Galra. The math doesn’t add up, but that’s fine. We hybrids have never really given people what they were looking for anyway.”

“I appreciate the pep talk, but I have no idea what you mean.” Lotor said.

“You said that the Galra Empire constantly underestimates hybrids. That’s an advantage to us. We can use it.”

Lotor nodded. “I suppose. I’ve never used that strategy before.”

“You’ve been alive 10,000 years and you e never done that?” Keith asked, unbelieving.

Lotor sighed. “Much like the Altean Princess, I spent a good portion of my life frozen in a pod.”

“Wait, what?” Keith asked. “Why? It’s not like you were sick or anything.”

“No, I was not sick. Truth be told, I didn’t need to ever be put in a pod. But my father would often force me in a pod as punishment when I misbehaved, or even when he was simply tired of me.” Lotor said.

‘He sounds bitter, but in a different way,’ Keith noted mentally, ‘Like he used to be upset, but now he’s resigned to it.’

“So, how old are you?”

Lotor pondered this for a moment. “I’d guess that I’m about your age.”

Keith shook his head. He tried to think of how to escape.

“I’m going to pretend to be sick with a human illness.” Keith started, “When they open the door to see what’s wrong, you take them down. Then we take their weapons and free the others.”

Lotor nodded, but he was frowning. “That’s not a very good plan.”

Keith shrugged. He cleared his thought and started yelling. “Help! I’m throwing up all over your nice dungeon. I have chicken pox!”

“Oh dear lord!” Lotor screamed, playing along, “This is horrifying to watch! He’s so weak, and he is vomiting because he is a hybrid!”

Keith thought that Lotor’s words were overkill, but the guards must have thought otherwise, because they opened the doors. Lotor took both guards out very quickly.

Lotor and Keith took their weapons and the keys to the cells.

“If I’m correct, the others will be over this way,” Lotor said, walking quickly down a corridor. Keith followed him.

“You know,” Lotor said offhandedly, “You and I have an awful lot in common, Keith.”

“Hm?” Keith responded, mostly focusing on the mission, but still curious to hear what Lotor had to say.

“Well,” Lotor continued, “We both wish to overthrow my father, we’re both half Galra, we’re both incredibly attractive, and we both have... what is it that Lance called it? Ah, yes. Daddy issues.”

Keith stopped walking. “What was that last thing?”

“Daddy issues,” Lotor said casually. He turned around to look back at Keith. “Do keep up.”

Keith had to take two steps for every one Lotor took, but that wasn’t what was on his mind at the moment.

Was Lotor hitting on him? There were a few ways to find out. He could either ask Pidge and risk her mockery, or he could ask Lotor and risk his.

Keith weighed his options, and eventually decided that Pidge was far scarier than Lotor, mockery-wise.

“Are you flirting with me?” Keith asked.

Lotor looked back at him, eyebrow raised. “Yes. I thought it was obvious.”

Keith wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he didn’t.

They finally got to a cell. Lotor pressed his hand to it and it opened. “Royal Galra blood,” Lotor explained before Keith could ask.

“Guys!” Hunk said. “Thank quiznack you’re here.”

“Thanks for saving us.” Shiro added, “Let’s go find Coran and Allura.”

The rest of the escape was uneventful. They only had to take out one guard, and their ships weren’t locked up very well.

“It’s a very minimum security prison,” Lotor explained on the way back. “As I said in my previous information, it was mostly used as a labor camp.”

“Your information was wrong!” Pidge said to him angrily. “You led us right into a trap!”

“I also fell victim to that trap,” Lotor pointed out, “Perhaps you don’t recall. That can happen sometimes, after you get knocked out. Also, I helped you escaped.”

“But you still fed us false info,” Pidge protested.

“Pidge, Lotor tried his best. He didn’t have any way to know that your father had been moved, or that there would be traps.” Keith said. “Lotor, Pidge has the right to be angry. She misses her father, and she thought she was going to get him back. Both of you need to calm down.”

Pidge nor Lotor spoke for the rest of the flight back to the castle.

The next time Keith saw Lotor it was in the library. To be honest, Keith hadn’t meant to come here. In fact, he hadn’t even known the castle had a library, but here he was.

Lotor was sitting at a table with about twelve books laying open upon it.

“Hello, Keith,” Lotor said without looking up.

“Oh, um, hi.” Keith responded, mentally chiding himself for sounding so flustered.

“Can I help you with something?” Lotor asked, finally looking up at him.

“Nope. Just… came to get a book.” Keith came up with, pleased to find an excuse that fit the situation. Truth be told, he was there because he had gotten lost looking for Shiro so they could spar, but that didn’t sound as intellectual.

“Oooh,” Lotor said, “Yes, books are lovely. Do you have a particular one in mind, or do you need a suggestion?”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t have one in mind. What would you suggest?”

Lotor stood up and walked over to a section labeled with an Altean letter. He pulled out a book. “Personally, my favorite book is A Darker Morning by King Greogory the Infirm. It’s a splendid read.”

Keith nodded and took the book. He hoped that it was written in English, by Altean was not s language he could read. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to give it a look.”

Lotor smiled down at him, then walked back over to his many books.

Keith followed him. “Why do you have so many books out?”

Lotor looked up, eyebrows raised. “Oh, I’m looking for information on Alteans. Growing up in the Empire, I wasn’t allowed to ask about my Altean half, but now that I have the resources to research for myself, I refuse to continue on the path of ignorance.”

Keith nodded. “That makes sense. I know that if I was able to look up Galra human hybrids, I would.”

Lotor titled his head. “Does Earth not have any hybrids?”

“No,” Keith answered, “I mean, there are mixed breed dogs and stuff, but no humans.”

“What about furries?” Lotor asked.

If Keith had been drinking water, he would have done a spit take. “What?! How do you know about furries?”

“Lance told me about them,” Lotor said, head tilted in confusion. “Why do you seem upset?”

Keith shook his head. Dammit, Lance. “Furries aren’t hybrids, they’re people who dress up as animals.”

Lotor looked shocked at this new piece of information. “Well then. That’s... something.”

“Yeah. Don’t believe anything Lance tells you about Earth.”

“So there really aren’t any hybrids on Earth,” Lotor mused, “It must have been hard for you to grow up there.”

Keith shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t know I was Galra until a few months- er, phoebes ago when we met the Blade of Mamora.”

Lotor nodded. “Ah, yes. The Blade of Mamora. I tried to join their army when I was first banished, but they believed I was working for my father and refused to allow me to join.”

Keith frowned. He understood why the Blade hadn’t let Lotor join, but it still irked him. It wasn’t his fault that his father was who he was.

“If you’d like,” Lotor said, bringing his hand up to his chin for his head to rest upon, “I could teach you a bit about Galra culture and anatomy. It could be.... what is it you humans call it? Ah, yes. A date, perhaps?”

Keith tried to appear nonchalant. “Sure, that would be fine.”

Lotor grinned at him, “Perfect.”

[cat-with-a-tie]

A DenNor analysis of sorts

Hello, sweet chirping crickets! I’ve been shipping this ship for literal years now but have never plucked up the courage to actually interact with anyone or anything, so I’ve no idea why I’m doing it now, in the year of our Lord 2019, but hey, it’s never too late to get dragged back into aph hell.

I plan on posting a series of long ass rants that absolutely no one asked for in which I attempt to discuss the dynamics of DenNor and the Nordic characters in general, drawing mainly on Himaruya’s portrayal, historical facts, and my own headcanons, so welcome to the first installation of Stuff Nobody Really Cares About that I Wrote in a Fit of Boredom and Self-indulgence!

Before we start, if anyone’s reading this at all then please bear in mind that this is mostly just IMHO. And since there’s no correct way to ship a pairing (this cannot be stressed enough), my interpretation is just that—my personal interpretation, and it is by no means impartial because there’s definitely a healthy dose of my own preferences in there. Actually, I haven’t got any mutuals to talk to at the moment, so if my interpretation’s terrible, by all means go on and yell at me, I will love you to death for it.

In this post I’m going to rant about Norway’s personality (or his lack of it, thereof; don’t worry I’ll get to it later), with just a tiny segment on Denmark thrown in the mix, because hey, I do need to sleep.

“Anko” and its implications for Norway’s character

So, as most people probably already know, in the Japanese version Norway calls Denmark “anko”. In the Northeastern dialect he speaks, this is something like a diminutive form of “big brother” or “boss” (yes, Norway calls Denmark big brother!). In East Asian cultures, it is commonplace for younger men to address older ones (related or not) by honorifics ranging from super courteous to super casual, such as “aniki” in Japanese, “hyung” in Korean, and “da-ge” or “ge” in Mandarin. “Anko” also falls under this category, although it is still more casual than the more ubiquitous “aniki”. I struggle to convey its exact denotations in English, but all you need to know is that this is an affectionate way of addressing a man older than you.

But here’s a funny thing: Himaruya once stated that Denmark and Norway are “like classmates” （同級生）. Now, the Japanese term actually has a somewhat different meaning from the English one; “doukyuusei” does not strictly refer to people who are/were in the same class, but to people who belong in the same school year and therefore, in most cases, share the same age. This actually makes sense, because if we consider history, up until the 14th century or so the three Scandinavian kingdoms developed at much the same pace, so it would be reasonable to assume (despite Himaruya’s being abominably vague on nation mechanism) that the characters are of similar ages as well.

Why, then, does Himaruya have Norway refer to Denmark, who should be about the same age as he is, as “anko”? The thing is, aside from denoting age difference, this sort of honorific can also denote a difference in status. Even if someone is not significantly older than you, you may still refer to them with an honorific if you feel their status is above you or wish to pay them respect in an affectionate way.

So, consider this: Norway does not disrespect or look down on Denmark at all, in fact, he respects him enough to call him something akin to “boss” or “older brother”. Bear in mind that this is Norway we’re talking about, Norway of the onii-chan obsession! There’s no doubt that he sees a great deal of significance in this sort of thing, otherwise he wouldn’t be so bent on having Iceland address him as such. And he calls Denmark “big brother”. Just… just take a minute to let that sink in, will ya.

So this brings us to the main subject of my essay, and that is that Norway, for all his sass, is a bit of a doormat.

Now, before anyone starts yelling at me about how his people are perhaps the most fiercely patriotic out of all the Nordic countries, please let me finish my theory. You don’t get independence after centuries of being a glorified trophy bride and not feel the need to vent all that pent up frustration, after all.

First, if you look at strips such as the Denmark vs. Sweden frozen lake fiasco, you’ll see that Norway basically goes along with anything Denmark does, even when he’s actions are outright harebrained (and, to be fair, they often were). He might nag, and he might throw in a word or two of complaints, but at the end of the day Denmark calls the shots, and Norway seems pretty content to let him do so, even when sometime it’s him who has to bear the consequences of Denmark’s brashness (historically, during the many conflicts between Denmark and Sweden, many of which Denmark initiated, Sweden would often bypass Denmark and invade Norway instead, since its lack of military prowess meant that Norway could be used as leverage to force Denmark into accepting all sorts of outrageous conditions; meanwhile, any sort of military action Denmark engaged in was exceptionally taxing—no pun intended—on Norway due to its small population and frequent food shortages). 

Also keep in mind that compared to the strips set in modern times, Norway’s treatment of Denmark was considerably milder in the medieval era. My theory is that his attitude towards Denmark only soured after the chain of events that eventually lead to his independence in the 19th century, buuut that’s an essay for another time! Right now I’d like to discuss a personality trait of Norway’s that fascinates me a lot and directly ties into his tendency to be pushed around: his standoffishness.

This is a character inclined to keep on the sidelines and just watch things unfold, even when said events concern his very own person. He doesn’t seem to give a fig when Denmark and Sweden are fighting to the death—hell, not even when they are fighting over him, something that happened a lot in history.

Now, I can think of two main reasons for this passiveness, the first being that Norway, unlike Denmark, probably knows his own limitations to a degree that I believe must have been painful for him at times (not that he shows it, anyway). Although of course being able to see and communicate with magical creatures could result in one being a little less interested in the mortal realm, I find it unlikely that he was always this disengaged. He was once a Viking, after all, and up until the 13th century his kingdom was arguably the most powerful and expansive in all of Scandinavia.

But then, of course, came the Black Death. Norway’s decline in the late Middle Ages was in fact facilitated by a myriad of factors including civil war, incompetent politicians, and either a shortage or a surplus of kings, but having three quarters of its population decimated by the plague was perhaps the heaviest blow of all, and by the time the Kalmar Union took place the prospects of competing with Denmark or Sweden were pretty bleak.

From there on was what 19th century Norwegian nationalist poet Wergeland dubbed the “four hundred years of night”. Although most modern historians agree that Norway was far from destitute under Danish rule and may even have benefitted considerably from it, in terms of Norway’s development as a character, I reckon it could be said that he was, in fact, shrouded in night. The night in question, however, as opposed to being a symbol of Danish tyranny as Wergeland probably intended it to be, would be more of a metaphor for Norway’s own willingness to “fall asleep”, thereby shutting out a world in which he knew he has no say. In this way, he turned a blind eye on Denmark’s ill-fated endeavors, on Sweden’s budding ambition, on the animosity brewing between his two friends, and probably even on Denmark’s mistreatment of him.

During the Kalmar Union, he must have known that he was the weakest of the three kingdoms, and that it was better to just let things take their course instead of joining the fight for hegemony along with Sweden and Denmark. During the union with Denmark, he knew too that life would be far easier if he just went along with things; after all, he knew Denmark, he knew he was stubborn and that he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He also knew that Denmark meant well and that, despite everything, he cared a great deal for his family, as shown in the tax raise strip where Norway tells Denmark that “[it’s OK] because you’re trying your best”. 

It’s possible that Norway also derived some degree of consolation from Denmark’s affection, in that even though as nations they stood on uneven ground, as friends and as people he could still trust Denmark to have his best interests at heart. Also, by telling himself that he and Denmark were “in this boat together”, Norway could avoid the sense of relative deprivation that arose from being a nation in an unequal union, and subsequently avoid feeling resentment towards Denmark, whom he’s always cared for and perhaps even looked up to despite everything. His referring to Denmark as “anko” despite being roughly the same age as him can perhaps be interpreted as a sign of this (arguably unwarranted) trust.

So in short, a prolonged sense of powerlessness led Norway to become emotionally detached as a form of defense mechanism, while affection for his childhood friend made him reluctant to put his foot down when Denmark’s arrogance and blind optimism threatened to get out of hand. All this serves to expedite the standoffishness I mentioned earlier that is typical of his character.

Thus, if we accept the theory (note the italics) of Denmark once upon a time being abusive, I personally find it plenty believable that Norway would just, well, lie back and take it. In part because he cares deeply for Denmark and is dependent on him in a bit of an unhealthy way (there’s already a wonderfully insightful post right here on tumblr addressing Norway’s shyness and how his trust in Denmark sometimes manifests as crassness, so I’m not gonna go into that here), and in part because he knows being submissive is the path of least resistance. Taking whatever Denmark the person inflicts on him would still be far more ideal than going to war with or losing the support of Denmark the nation. So yeah, lie back and think of yourself, I guess.

In this regard Norway’s mentality is drastically different from that of Denmark and Sweden’s, which is that one should always fight a losing battle if the alternative is being trod on. He acts more according to strategy, while the other two act more according to pride and passion. The upside is that, being more pragmatic and knowing his limits, he knows better where and how to deploy his strengths; the downside is that he can at times come off as a bit of a pushover.

Incidentally, this is why I find WWII history to be so damn interesting in terms of the Nordic’s characterisations, because we get to see the Viking Trio seemingly go against everything that had until then defined their personalities. To be fair, this is way after all that fucked up shit with the treaties of Fredrikshamn and Kiel, which I consider a major turning point (or mental growth spur, if you will) for all five Nordics, so I reckon it all still kind of makes sense because of the wonderful mechanics of character development? But then again, that’s an essay for another time!

A bit on Denmark

I like to think of Denmark’s behaviour during his youth as the result of a misguided desire to “play house”—out of love for his family (arguably for Norway in particular) he wishes to keep them safe, and what better way to do that than keeping them all under his wing? Sure, I’m ready to believe at least some part of him was fueled by bloodlust and a thirst for power, as is often the case with nations, but in general he simply didn’t know better.

In the mean time, Norway’s docile compliance did nothing to curb this misconception; worst case scenario, it only served to fuel it, make Denmark feel like he really was the leader and that it was his obligation to be in charge for the sake of them both. I consider their relationship in this time period to be quite toxic, even though related strips show them to be closer than ever.

For me, a significant part of Denmark’s character development is him realising that the happiness of his loved ones should not have to depend on him, and that one can be loved without being needed (in terms of DenNor, it’s him learning to love Norway as an equal and not just someone to be protected/coddled).

For Norway it’s the opposite—he learns to regain control over his own life, to stand up for himself and to love Denmark without taking any bullshit from him.

[queeenpersephone]

Hey, could you please write an Ironwidow fic with this prompt? Prompt: Natasha has always been the best at everything since her days at the red room, only... feelings are not her thing. So when she starts to notice that she's developing feelings for Tony she tries to show him in ways that make everyone in the tower think that she's acting really weird and confuses Tony about her constant presence and increased closeness and physical contact.

Omggg anon so I love this prompt sorry it’s taken me so long! I’m graduating university in a month and so I’ve been losing my mind haha.

-

“Sir, Agent Romanoff is here to see you.”

Tony jerks awake, immediately trying to catch all the various wretches and bolts that his arms had knocked off the table. The lab is dark, and he knows he must’ve fallen asleep against his will, not for the first time and certainly not for the last.

“Should I allow her entrance?”

Tony waves a hand at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes and stretching. “Yeah, J, why not?” The door slides open. “It’s not like she’d leave me alone if I said no,” he says loudly, laying his head back on the table.

Very characteristically, he doesn’t hear Natasha until she is right next to him. After a long two minutes of her not saying anything, he raises his head, trying to focus on her with bleary eyes.

When he does, he stands so quickly that his stool falls over. “What is it?” He asks urgently. Because Natasha, in all honesty, looks extremely freaked out.

Oh, it’s not that it’s obvious. Her expression is stoic, her eyebrows raised, and her posture relaxed. But Tony has been living with this woman upwards of seven months now, and he can tell by the look in her eye that something has her very off-balance. It’s not a feeling or understanding that he can explain without admitting to himself that he watches her. A lot. More than is appropriate.

Natasha stares back at him, obviously warring with herself on what to say. When she does speak, there is nothing of the usual Natasha in it - smooth and careful, with a soft smirk that makes them all uncertain that she’s saying what she means.

“You’re out of shape.”

The words are abrupt, delivered with little to no emotion.

“Meet me in the training room tomorrow,” she adds, her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

Tony just gapes at her. “I-“ he tries, but Natasha has already turned to leave.

Just as her hair flashes to disappear around the corner, she lobs something at him. He catches it against his chest as a reflex.

“Don’t order pizza tonight,” she calls, and he hears the elevator doors close behind her.

Tony holds out the item she threw in front of him. It is a brown paper bag, and inside is a neatly prepared salad.

What the actual fuck?

-

2 months later

“Cap, you gotta help me.”

Steve looks up from his book on the Vietnam War, uncrossing his legs and sitting up. “What can I do for you, Tony?”

Tony paces back and forth in front of Steve, who is patiently waiting for him to speak in a wholesome way only Captain America can. He doesn’t particularly want to break Natasha’s confidence, and he’s honestly enjoying spending more time with her. But she’s been killing him in the gym, leaving him healthy snacks and downloading wellness apps into JARVIS’ system, and refusing any attempt from him to reciprocate her gifts. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so confused in his life.

“Okay, I’m just gonna get straight to it,” Tony replies, ignoring Steve’s raised eyebrow clearly saying ‘when do you not?’. “Nat’s really freaking me out.”

Steve looks up at him, bemused. “Sit down, Tony,” he says, waiting for Tony to settle himself on the couch. He is still twitching, unable to sit still. “Now, explain.”

Tony does, detailing early morning workouts and careful pats of encouragement on the shoulder, salads and almonds randomly appearing in his lab, the lights shutting out at 1am - obviously Natasha and JARVIS conspiring.

When he finishes, Steve waits for a long moment before responding. “Yeah, we’ve noticed that Nat’s been working with you - and before now, I honestly wouldn’t have thought it bothered you. What else is up?”

Tony furrows his brow. “Okay, hold up Cap, you’re observant and everything but-“ then, he winces, looking up at the vents. “Okay, Legolas, game’s up,” he says, not even raising his voice a little, and Clint drops from the ceiling with a shrug.

Steve, on the other hand, looks sheepish. “Look, I was… concerned about you and Romanoff. After HYDRA and the Mandarin - I wanted to make sure it wasn’t some-“

Tony cuts him off. “Wasn’t some what? We’re just friends! Not even that some days - she’s just making sure I don’t die or, y’know, disappoint the team with my slow reactions.”

Clint snorts. “Yeah? Then why did you buy her front row seats to the opera?”

Tony turns red. “I - she’s been working with me, even if she hates it- and I just really wanted to do something for her. I mean, we were talking during training and she’s been through a lot.”

Clint is unfazed. “Yeah, okay, makes sense. Friends do that. Now, why did you buy her a house upstate?”

Steve whips his head to look at Tony so quickly that he nearly falls off the couch. “You bought her a what?”

Tony puts his hands up, refusing to meet their eyes. “Look, she needs a safe place! This is my house, and the rest of her places are for covers. I just- I wanted her to have a place that belonged just to her.” Steve just gapes at him, but Clint can’t help the smile forming across his face. “It doesn’t matter anyways,” he admits, leaning back against the couch. “She told me she didn’t want it.” He rubs his eyes, leaving his hand there to block whatever their expressions have become. “She’s giving me a lot, y’know? She’s helped me with nightmares and I feel stronger - and I shouldn’t even tell you guys this but… I like her, okay? I really like her. And she’s just being a good teammate.”

He takes his hand off his eyes and immediately registers the looks of horror on both their faces. “Oh Jesus,” he groans, “why are you guys upset? Is this an age-thing? She’s only ten years younger than me! And it’s never gonna happen, it’s not feas-“

A soft voice interrupts him from the door. “Tony,” it says, surprised and maybe - nervous?

Steve and Clint shoot to their feet, and Tony realizes they hadn’t been horrified at his feelings, but at him accidentally revealing them while Natasha stood silently behind him.

Oh god, just kill him now.

“We’re gonna go,” Clint says, grabbing Steve by the arm and almost dragging him out of the room. Natasha and Tony watch them go, making sure the door is shut before she turns back to him.

“Any chance we can just - forget I said any of that and go back to normal?” Tony tries.

“I like normal,” Natasha says slowly. “But I’m not sure I can forget,” she admits.

Tony puts his head in his hands, leaning over. He feels like he’s going to be sick. “You can go, Romanoff. I know you want to.” Everyone does, he doesn’t add; it’s not fair to her.

He hears a sigh, then he feels her crouch down in front of him, laying a hand on his knee. “In the Red Room,” she begins, hesitant. “We weren’t allowed to show emotions. We didn’t know what love was.” He takes a hand from his head to squeeze hers, unwilling to leave her without comfort yet still unwilling to look at her. “I know how to seduce men,” she admits, and he flinches. “I don’t say that to hurt you,” she adds quickly. “I just mean - making sure you stay alive and healthy, I can do that. I knew how to do that.”

Tony isn’t stupid, and her words cause hope to unfurl in his chest. “My gifts…”

Natasha is quick to respond. “I didn’t want you to think I was doing it for favors. That’s all it’s ever been for me, and I wanted this to be different.”

“But you actually do-“

“Yeah,” Natasha interrupts. “I do. Tony, could you look at me?”

He gathers his courage and meets her eyes, surprised and thrilled to see them shining. “You know,” he drawls. “You could’ve just held my hand instead of kicking my ass every morning.”

She nods to their joined hands. “The ass kicking isn’t going to stop, no matter what,” she warns him, and he laughs, sliding a hand around her waist and the other in her hair, pulling her up to press their foreheads together.

“I’m not going to another ass-kicking session unless I get a kiss,” he teases, freezing when he feels her tense in his arms. “Oh, I mean, unless I’ve read this completely wrong in which case, feel free to kick my ass Nat, I’m sorry-“

Natasha unfreezes at his rambling, smiling so wide that he nearly doesn’t recognize her. “I’m not,” she says blithely, pulling herself up to straddle his lap and pressing her lips to his.

-

Clint and Steve sit in the kitchen, waiting to find out whether they need to break out the champagne or the ice cream. When neither Tony nor Natasha come out of the lounge, they relax; everything must be going well.

Clint laughs. “You know, Nat’s not well versed in relationships, but I thought she’d be able to woo Tony better than this.”

Steve smirks at him. “I might’ve told her that Tony appreciates someone taking care of him… and likes a woman who can overpower him physically.”

Clint gapes at Steve. “Dude, I underestimated you.” He pauses for a long minute. “Although I think it backfired if your intent was to fuck with them.”

Steve shrugs. “Who says that was my intent? Tony wasn’t doing too well after the Mandarin, and he’s always liked Nat more than he admits. Nat needs someone to call home, and Tony’s exactly her type. I think they needed each other.”

Clint’s eyes widen even further. “Damn, Cap, you’re like a mastermind.”

Steve winks at him. “Well, I am the leader of the Avengers.”

“Captain Rogers, as per usual, Mr. Stark would like me to remind you that you are correct, but without him, and I quote ‘none of you would look cool’.” JARVIS pauses. “Actually, Captain, Mr. Stark wishes for me to tell you, for a full 24 hours, you may be the leader of the Avengers unconditionally. He reminds you to enjoy it.”

Steve laughs. “I got you together - I can break you apart!” He shouts to the lounge.

Natasha steps out, pulling Tony by the hand to the elevator. She throw a wink to the boys as Tony rushes to catch her, slinging an arm around her waist. “Get your own smoking hot assassin, Cap. This one’s mine.”

[aboysbestfriendishismum]

Chapter 52 - Deer, dog tags and microwaves

In the previous chapter: Angie agrees to go out with Dave. Eddie keeps calling to talk to her and she has to spill the beans and tell Meg what happened in San Diego, she also tries to explain her point of view on the matter and why she's avoiding him. Grace and Meg planned to spend the evening together at Meg's place. Eventually Grace remains alone in the apartment for a few minutes and that's when Stone calls. Gossard is tender as always with her and she almost seems intimidated by his behaviour. Grace speaks to Eddie too and since she doesn't know about the kiss between Angie and him, she decides to shake things up a little and make him jealous by telling him about Angie going out with Dave that night. Eddie takes it really bad. Grace thinks her plan worked until she tells Meg and finds out where Angie and Eddie are really at. Once Angie comes back home  the girls finally have her call Eddie and tell him the truth. Angie confronts Eddie and reveals Dave has just started dating Jennifer, L7's bassplayer, and she simply went to one of their concerts with him so he wouldn't go alone and feel awkward. Eddie apologizes to Angie and confesses what he feels for her in a way he never managed to do before. Angie's friends hear it all since they forced her to put him on speakerphone.

***

Strong fragrance used in perfumery. Four letters. Starts with an M. Magnolia! No, it's eight. Mango... Mandarine... Ugh what the fuck? I strangely managed to put my hands on the copy of the Seattle Times that sometimes we happen to buy before Angie, so she hasn't done the crossword yet. But now I guess I'll have to ask my friend for help because I don't know how to go on.

“So, what was I saying? Oh yeah, I turn up at the table, usual protocol greeting with smile incuded, I ask the woman what she's having and she asks, literal words, a cheeseburger without chees and some fries” the door of her bedroom is open, I cautiously look inside and see her on the phone. Of course I already know who she's talking to. Since that night when Grace and I managed to convince her to call poor Eddie, there have been lots more calls, every day. Unfortunately not on speakerphone. Fuck, when he was there spilling his heart all out to Angie, Grace and I melted in sighs and aaaaaws and Vedder almost caught us. Am I nosey? Yes. I meddle in other people's love life to avoid thinking of the disaster which is mine? Yes, I do. Am I also genuinely happy things are going great for my friend as she deserves though? I am!

“Wait. I'm just standing there, kind of confused for how she spoke, then I reply: great, I'll take you the Go-go meal with hamburger + fries + medium drink for $ 4,99. Well, basically she doesn't even let me finish talking and says: No, no, I don't want a hamburger. I want a cheeseburger with no cheese” Angie rocks left and right on the swivel chair as she listens her sweetheart's answer with a big smile on her face.

“Exactly! Hahaha same thing I told her: So... you mean... a hamburger, madam? NO! She says, very bitterly. I said I don't want any hamburger, I asked for a simple cheeseburger with no cheese! I swear she was yelling, I was so ashamed for me but for her too” Angie rotates a little more on her chair, sees me and nods at me.

“I didn't bat an eyelid and said: So you wanna pay one dollar more for a cheeseburger but you want it without the cheese?” Angie and I burst our laughing together as I enter her room, then she goes on “Yes, that's the point, 'cause the Cheeseburger menu costs more, that's the most absurd thing! If I take an order as cheeseburger, even if I tell the guys in the kitchen not to put cheese in it, it'll still be considered as a cheeseburger. Well, you know what, this bitch widens her eyes to me and goes like: Yes, exactly! Was it so difficult for you to understand? Ahahah yeah, I told you, she was a bitch!”

“The customer's always right!” I state as I sit on her bed.

“Hey, you and Meg said the same thing almost at the same time! Anyway, since the customer's always right and this woman had just basically told me I was an idiot, whereas she was the real idiot, I cheerfully replied: Not at all, madam. There goes a Marilyn meal with cheesburger with no cheese + fries + medium drink for €5,99 for you, ok? And the bitch: Yes, that's it, now you're talking. Thank you. Oh fuck you! Hehe... wait a second, ok?” Angie laughs with Eddie, then takes the phone off her ear slightly and addresses me “Did you need anything?”

“Strong fragrnce used in perfumerie, starts with an M, four letters” I ask her, showing the newspaper.

“Musk” she answers in a couple of seconds. Yes! That was it! Why didn't I think about it. I hate her.

“Yeah, it can be actually”

“It cannot be, it actually is!” she gloats then puts the receiver back against her ear “What? Did you know it too? He knew it too”

“Well thank you both but there's no need to brag!” I throw a pillow at Angie, who manages to dodge it, then takes it up from the floor.

“Sadly used in perfumerie I'd add... What do you mean why? Musk is extremely harmful, both the synthetic and the natural one... Well, in doubt, I'd rather not have to choose between either the total extinction of an animal species or pollution and maybe choose other kinds of perfumes, don't you think? What? What animal? What do you mean? You know where does musk come from, right?” a debate starts between Angie and Eddie and I can only hear one side of it, which I think it's the most consistent part anyway “Plant? What plant? Musk is not a plant! I mean, yeah, there's also some plant but that's not what's used to make perfumes. No! It's an animal secretion, from a deer, the musk deer. No, I'm not kidding, Eddie, I swear! There deer have a gland, like a small sack under their belly, that emits this substance and they spread it around to mark their territory, especially during mating season... Hahahaha no, Eddie, it's not deer's sperm!”

Not the typical conversation between lovers, right?

“Anyway now it's basically all synthetic” I remark once I write the correct word in the puzzle.

“That's even worse because it's extremely polluting and ends up in the food chain.” Angie answers both to me and Eddie “What? Hahaha no, don't buy me musk perfume, thank you. And don't buy me any presents in general... you already did too many... yes you did... yes you did... Eddie? Please... Come on...” now we're back to more couple stuff, Angie holds the pillow tighter and tighter and I think it's time to get out of here and go back to my room. Well, or to keep eavesdropping from outside without being seen.

“Wait, Meg! Yes, I'm gonna ask her now.” I stand up and am about to leave, walking backwards and waving bye, but Angie stops me “Will you go and see the guys tomorrow in Portland?”

“Yeah, that's the plan. Grace and Laura are coming too”

“Did you hear that? Meg, Grace and Laura, the perfect trio ready to cheer and throw bras at you”

“Haha I've got very little to throw!”

“No, Eddie, I told you, I can't... Roxy will kill me, it's even a Thursday, the night school nurses finish earlier... I can't take another day off”

I see our little Romeo is impatient. His dreams started to break when he found out Kelly had planned a series of radio promos and interviews right during the two days break between the two Oregon shows and that he'd have to wait before coming back to Settle. Eddie tried to avoid it by explaining that he doesn't really count in Stone and Jeff's band and that they could do the job but apparently it didn't work.

“Come on, I'll see you the day after tomorrow, no big change... Oh shut up, it doesn't change anything... Hahaha no!” I'm still here standing in the middle of Angie's room while she plays arond with that pillow and I'd really want to know what was that last no about but I know my friend will never tell me.

“Say hi to him, ok?” this time I leave for real, yet stopping in the hallway 'cause, as I said, I haven't learned how to mind my own business yet.

“Meg says hi! Anyway I was thinking of something. Hahaha no, not that! I was thinking, if the girl come to see you tomorrow... well, for someone it'll be like losing that famous bet once again... don't you think? Hehehe I have no idea, I don't know Portland, I don't know if there are any 70s discos in town, you should ask Stone. No no, ask him, I'm sure he'd be willing to set one up by himself so he could make fun of the losers! Haha yeah, that'd be a can't-miss event. Oh yeah? Why? Uh sure, my presence would definitely make the difference”

The lovebirds' phone call goes on for a little while, with Eddie probably telling her something sweet and Angie joking about it, maybe because of her natural embarrassment or because she knows exactly I'm right her listening to them. After she ends the call, she dispels my uncertainty.

“Meg!”

I keep my mouth shut.

“Meg? Come on, I know you're there!”

“Uhm? I was going to the bathroom” I magically show up back on the doorway, right in time to be the target of a weak pillow throw.

“Sure...”

“So?” I sit back on her bed, waiting for Angie to finally share something without me trying to forcefully extort information from her.

“Grace is coming with you tommorrow then?” Angie immediately kills all my hopes.

“Yeah, she is”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I called her in the morning and she told me she's in. Why?”

“I don't know, it's just... she doesn't really look like she can't wait to see Stone... does she? Am I wrong? I mean, it sounds strange but...”

“Wait a minute. Angela Pacifico... gossiping?!!”

“Hahaha fuck you, Meg!”

“Who are you? What did you do to my roommate?” I stand up straight, pointing at her with a trembling hand.

“I'm not gossiping, I'm just worrying about a couple of friends”

“Worrying huh?” I pull my arm down and snicker at her.

“Two dear friends I care about. And look cute together. And Grace seemed really into it at the beginning but now... meh... I mean, do you think there's something we don't know?” the new gossip queen is beating around the bush and I decide to play along. Also because one more conversation about Grace is one less about me and my non existent love life.

“Nah, I think it's normal. Grace had a crush and Stone played it cool. Now he doesn't act all cool anymore and she's confused, that's it”

“Stone looks pretty straight forward to me”

“Oh yeah, actually... He reminds me of someone else we know” this time I can't help picking on her but she rolls her eyes and goes on.

“He basically thinks they're a couple already, whereas she kind of shut him off” sure, a kind of behaviour you're really familiar with, right Angie? I don't say it loud this time.

“She will open up tomorrow, trust me”

“I don't want them to suffer, that's all” my friend shrugs and plays with the phone still in her hands. Are you saying this to yourself maybe?

“So... no musk perfume?” I aske her after a while and Angie starts rocking on her chair again.

“Haha no, please!”

“I have to remind Eddie to take one that's fruit scented” I wink at her while she puffs and takes a 360 degrees spin.

“Please...”

“Banana would be perfect”

“MEG!”

“What? What did I say?!”

****************************************************************************************************************************

Beer pong. Twenty six years old and I still play beer pong? Well, Kim's thirty and he organizes tournaments of these fucking games. It should console me. Twenty six, a steady relationship, a serious music project, a bank account that allows me to pay my bills without struggling at the end of the month... and I wake up at six in the morning in my bassplayer's bathtub. Fucking back pain! And why the fuck am I still in this shitty condo? I curse as I insist pressing the button to call for the elevator tht will never come. Then I give up to climb up four flights of stairs.

I drag my tired bones up to the door of my apartment but when I put my hand in my pocket looking for the keys the cold metal feeling is replace by total void. I can't fucking believe it. Did Matt have to find himself a girlfriend right now? I quickly feel up all the pockets in my jacket and in my pants, can't find shit and punch the door.

“Fuck” as throw the punch I clearly hear the clink sound of keys and I try and search better but I can't find anything. I punch the door once more and there's the sound again. I start jumping in place like a moron in front of the door and at every jump there's a jingle. I take off my jacket, shake it, same sound. I inspect each and every pocket more attentively and I find something: not the keys but a big hole in the left pocket. Mistery solved! Now I only have to use that little lucidity I've got left to determine the exact position of the keys inside the lining of my jacket and take them out. As I try to take them, I can hear another sound, not metallic but “human”, that catches my attention. A voice, like someone hummig very quietly without words. At first I think maybe it's someone singing while shaving or dressing up, after all it's morning for the rest of the world. But I can clearly hear this voice, although it's faint, and has a little echo that makes me thing the person's already left home. So why am I not seeing anyone passing? I walk through the hallway and I'm still feeling my jacket for the keys when I turn the corner and see him: Vedder, sitting on the floor, well on the mat just outside the girls' apartment, writing on a notebook, with a paperbag on his legs.

“Eddie?” I call him 'cause he doesn't seem to notice me.

“Oh, hey, hi Chris” Eddie stops writing and says hi, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“What are you doing here? Aren't you on tour?”

“It's over! I mean, technically it ends on 3rd March but since the last three shows are here in Seattle we're basically done. I mean, we're done touring. Away” Eddie calmly explains, clicking his pen and putting it inside the notebook, then putting it all in the inside pocket of his jacket. As he does this, I can see his t-shirt: a white one with Air love bone written on it and the silhouette of a long haired basket player looking more like Jeff rather than Jordan. I've got one of those t-shirts too but mine is dark blue.

“Aren't you supposed to play in Oregon?”

“We were, we played in Portland last night. Small crowd but good atmosphere, great show” Eddie nods at himself and doesn't get up.

“Did you play yesterday? And when did you get back?”

“What time is it now? Uh half past seven. Well, a few hours ago”

“Hehe so you guys jumped on the van and dashed back home right after the show, right? You couldn't wait huh?” I guess he was especially looking forward to it. It's not like Eddie has ever told me anything about this stuff, I'm neither his confidant nor Jeff. But maybe I'm one of those, together with Ament and a few other people, who knows him a little better. Anyway it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you're here outside a girl's door instead of at home in your bed to sleep the tour off, well, there's something big going on.

“Well, ehm, I don't know about this... I mean, don't know what the others did, I... I came back by myself” for a second Eddie loses his apparent composure.

“By yourself?”

“Yeah”

“How?”

“Hitchhiking” he replies raising his thumb.

“Hitchhiking?”

“Yes”

“You mean, you dropped everything and said I'm out of here, bye and hitchhiked to Seattle?”

“Village People inspired me”

“Uh?”

“Do you want to spend the night? Do you know the song?”

“Are you fucking high, Ed?”

At that point he explains it's about one of the infamous bets of Stone and Jeff and that part of our friends performed in the Melody Ballroom's parking lot. I know the place. I played that venue and I even saw Fugazi there. It's always made me smile thinking that they also do wedding and high school dances in that place. Well, congrats to the owner's versatility and open mindness.

“And at some point I thought: what the fuck am I doing here? And I asked some guys I already saw at some of our shows here if they could give me a ride” the reason he had this sudden realisation is right on the other side of that door, we both know, but none of us feels the need to point it out.

“And why did it take you so long?”

“Well, not that long...”

“How long have you been sitting on that fucking mat?” I ask when I finally find my fucking keys and try to fish them out.

“No, well, I've been here for an hour. Maybe two”

“And why?”

“Because it was too early”

“So fans dropped you here and then you noticed it was too early?”

“No, they didn't drop me here”

“And where?”

“At Pike Place” he answers like it's obvious and I'm stupid for asking.

“Pike Place” I nod and repeat, going along with him as you do with crazy people.

“I had to buy something” he adds grabbing the paper bag and putting it aside on the floor on his left side.

“But isn't it closed?” I ask skeptical.

“Bakeries open early”

“Ah” playing along, yeah, that's the best strategy.

“I had a coffee, something to eat, bought something for Angie, then came here”

“Hitchhiking?”

“Hahaha what? No, by street car!” once again he replies as if I'm the dork and maybe he's not entirely wrong.

“I came here and when I was about to ring the doorbell I realised it was like five o' clock in the morning”

“As another Village People's song says”

“Uhm, yeah... but what's that got to do with this?” he asks serious all of a sudden with a straight face and I basically burst out laughing at his face. With Eddie you never know if he's being serious or he's making fun of you and that's something I like in people. He surely must have understood I'm not exactly sane either, I think he learnt that the first time I took him out for a drink. Or when I showed up at the mini market and took him away after his shift ended, telling him I'd show him how local rockstars spend their friday nights. And we spent the night drinking beer and chasing my dogs, well Susan's dogs actually, in the woods.

“Hahaha nothing! So you parked your butt on that mat, right?”

“Yeah...” he answers, still confused “waiting for a more decent timing”

“Well, come on, half past seven seems acceptable” I walk up to him and try to ring the doorbell but Eddie stops me grabbing my wrist.

“No!”

“Why not?”

“I haven't heard any sounds, she hasn't waken up yet. I'll wait until she gets up” I back up and picture Eddie putting his ear against the door waiting for the sound of the microwave blip or the toilet flush and I laugh my ass off, internally. Don't wanna hurt the guy”

“What about your stuff?”

“What stuff?”

“Your things, your bags”

“Oh I only had a backpack, it's on the van. Jeff will bring it to me, I think”

“You think?”

“Well, I think so”

“But... did you tell your bandmates you were going back home?”

“Mmm... wait... oh yes, I told Mike” oh well, in that case, you really got nothing to worry about.

“Was he sober when you told him?”

“It looked like...” while Eddie begins describing Mike's state during last night's aftershow, the door he was leaning his back against abruptly opens and he falls dead weight backwards. I figure out he's still alive when he finishes the sentence from Angie's apartment's floor “... he was... yes!”

“What the fu... Eddie? Chris?” the girl gives each one of us a confused look, as she ties the belt of her pink robe.

“Hi sweetie! I found this on your doormat. No name tag but he looks well fed” I joke while Eddie's still lying on the floor.

“Hi Angie!” he exclaims enthusiastically as he looks her up in all her... sugarcandyness? Does it exist? D'uh...

“Eddie! What are you doing on the floor, get up” Angie offers him her hand and he gladly accepts, he takes her hand and grabs the doorknob and gets up.

“I fell” haha yeah, it's pretty evident you fell for that chick, you jerk.

“Did you get hurt?” she asks perplexed.

“Nah”

“He didn't hit his head, that's just his natual self, trust me. Hey Eddie, be careful” I warn him pointing at the paper bag he's almost trampling on.

“Oh fuck, thanks Chris” he takes the bag and holds it like it was a newborn baby to cradle.

“What's that?” she asks, more and more puzzled, also because she must have just got up and as first activity of the day she has to deal with two assholes.

“Breakfast!” Vedder replies, all smug and pleased with himself.

“Oh... thank you... well, let's have breakfast” Angie points back to the inside of her apartment and I guess it's time to get out of here now, considering I also found my fucking keys.

“See ya then, ok?”

“Aren't you having breakfast with us?” she asks so innocently. Eddie's look is enough for me to find the right answer.

“No, thank you sweetie, I'm too tired. And just the idea of eating or drinking something right now makes my stomach cry”

“Mmh, ok, see you later then”

“Bye Chris!” Eddie disappears into her apartment.

“Good night guys... I mean, good morning... well, you got the idea”

“Night Chris”

****************************************************************************************************************************

“What the hell were you doing out here chatting? I heard noises and-” I close the door after I make sure Chris can walk straight enough to get to his apartment and as soon as I turn around I'm swept away by Eddie who engulfs me in a hug and corners me against the door.

“Sorry if we woke you up”

“N-no, but no! I... was already awake”

“I missed you”

“Oh, ehm, I missed you too” I reply and I really hope the mouthwash I used last night really has prolonged action as the label claims because Eddie's basically breathing against my lips, rubbing his nose against mine.

“So fuckin' much...” he's getting closer and I don't know where to look, if I should look, if I should close my eyes, kiss him, wait for him to kiss me, if I should just keep my mouth shut and enjoy the moment.

But I am keeping my mouth shut...

Well, you should shut up in your mind too, you idiot!

But not thinking... it's impossible. Even thinking about not thinking... it's a thought after all, isn't it?

But why are you coming up with this shit while Eddie's torturing you so sweetly? And your hands? Where the fuck did you put your hands?

Wait, I've got them... just... hanging, mid air, I'm basically hugging him with my elbows.

With your elbows? What the fuck, are you a mechanic? Not touching people with your hands dirty with grease?! You look like the young sheperd in nonna's presepe, the marvelled one, with his hands thrown up in the air.

I manage to interrupt the inner quarrel with myself for a moment and place my hands on Eddie's shoulders. He must perceive it as a green lights signal and kisses me.

Dave Gahan is nowhere to be seen or heard and the same goes for his bandmates, uncle Tome Jones doesn't show up, no Sonny, no Cher, nobody. For a minute there I almost feel like an adult, at least until I hear castanets clanking and Phil Spector literally throws the Crystals trio on stage unceremoniously.

He kissed me in a way that I've never been kissed before

He kissed me in a way that I wanna be kissed forever more

The concert doesn't end when Eddie pulls away for a second and looks at me in the eyes, as if he was searching for something. Maybe he's trying to understand if I'm on this planet or not and he already knows there'll be no point asking me directly. I don't know what kind of answer he finds but he must like it because he smiles, perfectly showing his fucking dimples... as if I needed other stimulation! And he kisses me again. This time it's small kisses slowly going from my lips to my cheek, then down towards the neck. One of his hands moves up along my hips, it may or may not, maybe I dreamt it, brush against my left boob. He tickles my arms even through a pretty thick layer of fleece, caresses my face and buries his hand into my hair, while his neck kisses turn into bites.

I gotta do something.

But I don't want to!

But you have to, can't you see you're panicking? Do you wanna wait until your head starts spinning, you see white dots and then you pass out like a loser?

It's so delightful though.

And what if he wants to do something more delightful?

I wish...

God, Angie, pull yourself together!

“What's in the bag?” I manage to snap out of it.

“Uhm?” he mumbles still nibbling on my neck and nape.

“In the bag you brought...”

“I told you... earlier... breakfast” he replies following the same trail as before but backwards, between kisses.

“That is?”

“Croissants” he reveals before planting a kiss on my nose.

“Custard cream?” I ask, suddenly very interested and for real, not just as an excuse to break this pleasurable moment.

“And chocolate” he nods deliciously, almost in a childish way “I took them very early this morning, for you, as soon as I arrived”

“By the way, when did you arrive?”

“Early” and he tells me about his hitchhiking and the different stops and everything that led him here to my place. And I'm still one with the door, crushed against it. And against Eddie, who doesn't show any intentions to let go of me. He did all that... for me? To see me a few hours earlier than we planned?

Well he must have problems if he hitchhikes with strangers at night only to see you with sleep in your eyes, still unshowered, your teeth unbrushed and your hair pinned up messily.

“Need to be warmed up then...”

“What?”

“Croissants, they must be cold now”

“Uh! Hehe well, yeah...” why is he blushing? But most of all, how many hands does he have? Theoretically he has one still in my half up half down hair and the other one on my left hip, but I feel his touch everywhere.

“Have breakfast now? I have to be in class in like one hour” I try and come back to my senses.

“Oh... do you really have to?” and do you really have to look at me like that?

“Huh... yeah, the monographic course about Renoir's waiting for me. And today the professor is gonna explain the passage from silent to sound movies, that is a very important part, which is gonna be in the exam too, so...”

“Ok” he lets go of me but takes me by the hand and leads me into the kitchen, where I spot the paper bag on the table. I was just wondering where he put it.

No, not true, you weren't wondering, you werent' thinking about the fucking bag at all.

Ok, can we just stop! Can we just shut up and stop quarrelling here? I'm trying to remain conscious and not to miss a second of this thing. And it's breakfast time now.

Eddie's hands are on my shoulders as I take the envelope out of the bag, I quickly open it and soon find out he bought like a ton of inviting croissants.

“Is this breakfast for the whole neighborhood?” I giggle.

“No, just for us” the grip on my shoulders gets tighter and a quick scorching kiss is planted on my cheek.

“I'm gonna warm four of them, ok?”

Eddie doesn't say anything, he just kisses me on the other cheek and I don't know if I'll make it to see La Chienne.

“Are you microwaving them?” he demands as I put the plate into the small oven.

“Yeah, but for a very short time or they... ehm, or they'll get too hard... like unedible rocks” just like me, stiffening all up like a board for kisses, caresses and hugs. Like this one, the tight hug from behind, with Eddie's curls tickling my neck.

“I trust you” he whispers into my ear.

I don't, I don't trust you at all, because you clearly want me dead.

When the croissants are ready I take the steamy plate our of the microwave and basically storm out of the kitchen and reach for the couch in the living room, placing our breakfast on the coffee table, thinking I'll be safe now. Safe from what? No idea. But it's just like jumping from the frying pan into the fire because Eddie walks up, leans on me and kisses me again, with resolution, before even touching the couch sitting beside me. His determination is put into practice as he literally throws himself on me and, as expected, I think I've just got into rigid corpse mode because Eddie pulls away almost immediately.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah”

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, why?”

“Are you sure? You look... strange” he goes on with his inquiring ocean blue eyes that I'm looking up to and that look even deeper from such a close priviledged position.

“No, it's just... well, it's late and-”

“Too much?”

“Well, not too late but...”

“No, I mean... me... what I'm doing... Too much? Too fast?”

“NO!” I basically yell at his face so loud that I almost mess his hair. A devilish grin appears on his face and at this point I'm sure he totally knows the effect he has on me “Ehm no, it's not that, it's just... I really have class and I can't...”

“You're perfectly right, I'm sorry.” Eddie gives me a tiny little kiss on the lips that leaves me wanting ten thousand more just now and sits back down “And croissants are getting cold, that'd be a pity” he adds with a dimpled smile as he takes one with custard cream.

What about me? No, I definitely don't run the croissants' risk.

[quicksilversquared]

There’s No Camembert in Tibet: Chapter 19

Being cramped together in a car all day was... well, not a ton of fun.

At least most of them were transformed. They had gotten in to Tenzin's house late the previous night, with no time to shower and would no doubt smell of the trail and sweat if not for the odor-muffling abilities of their suits.

"I'm looking forward to the hotel tonight," Queen Bee said as they pulled out of their first rest stop of the day. The Miraculous holders had had to use and detransform in the family restroom, going one at a time. It slowed down the stop considerably. "Dibs on the shower first."

"I'm not sure that dibs works if the person you're sharing the room with is in the other car," Ladybug said with a laugh. "You'll be with Alya, right?"

"I assume so."

"We may require your assistance in getting flights booked right away," Jade Turtle told Queen Bee. "I know you're looking forward to showering, but making sure that we get the rest of our trip back to Paris set up is important."

Surprisingly, Queen Bee didn't argue. She only made a slight face before she nodded. "Okay. I'll find my wallet."

"We thank you."

The two cars zipped down the highway, over low hills and through straight stretches of road. Chat Noir wound his hand around Ladybug's, resting his head on her shoulder while they watched the scenery go by.

"We might try having the second car detransformed after lunch today," Jade Turtle said after another few minutes. "As long as the cars aren't driving side by side, we should be fine. And I know Wayzz desperately needs a break."

Ladybug nodded, thinking of the little turtle kwami. Wayzz had been looking a bit haggard the last few times that she had seen him, even with the veggies they plied him with and support from the other kwamis. "I can call Lycaena and get them in on the plan, so you can detransform."

Jade Turtle nodded. "An excellent plan! Please do."

It didn't take long for Ladybug to take the call and set up a plan with the others. The car with Mrs. Agreste in it would go behind the other. Both Jade Turtle and Queen Bee would detransform, as the members of the group who had spent the most time transformed. Ladybug and Chat Noir could choose to do the same, or they could stay transformed.

"Do we want to be serenaded by a cheese song? Because that's what's going to happen if Plagg comes out," Chat Noir said as their car passed the other one. "So if anyone was planning on sleeping, then I'll stay transformed."

Queen Bee groaned. "Great. Just what I needed first thing in the morning."

"We can always ask him to hold off on that until later in the day," Jade Turtle said. He said something to the driver in Mandarin and he nodded before blocking the side of his face with his hand. Jade Turtle detransformed in a flash of light, and Queen Bee wasn't far to follow.

"Just warn the driver if you two decide to detransform," Master Fu told them. "He has to briefly close his eyes so that he doesn't get blinded by the light."

Chat Noir looked to Ladybug. "Shall we free the cheese beast, my Lady?"

"Sure." Ladybug waited until they were on a long straight stretch of road and then signaled the driver. There were two "detransform me!"s in unison, and two more kwamis spiraled free.

"Ah, a break," Plagg said happily, curling up on top of Adrien's head. "Fantastic. Can someone pass me some cheese?"

Sighing, Adrien passed a small chunk up. "Just don't get any in my hair, all right?"

Plagg sniffed as he snatched the cheese. "I make no promises."

"Plagg."

"You will be able to take a shower this evening, Adrien," Master Fu pointed out. "So, while it might be unpleasant, you will be able to wash any crumbs out."

"Still! It's gross!" Adrien gave his kwami the best stink eye he could manage. "I don't want to spend all night in the shower just because Plagg couldn't be a neat eater."

Plagg stuck his tongue out, just because he could.

Over in the other car, conversation had gone from "kind of stilted and one-sided" to "very stilted and one-sided". With Mrs. Agreste there, they couldn't discuss anything that would give them away.

And since they were two of Adrien's best friends and his girlfriend's mom, that covered most anything that they might talk about, since they were very likely to talk about the exact same things once they met Mrs. Agreste as themselves. Paon had tried talking about his favorite songs, since that was vague enough to not give himself away, but some of the songs had come out after Mrs. Agreste was trapped and the rest, well...

Mrs. Agreste had a bit of a different taste in music than he did.

"I'd say we could try to play that Telestrations game again, but there aren't enough of us in this car to make it funny and the other car is all detransformed," Rena Rouge said after a half-hearted round of "favorite food" had petered out. "Uh, what else can we do?"

"I Spy?" Paon offered weakly. "Uh, have the driver tell us stories and Mrs. Agreste can translate? Or Lycaena could."

"I can certainly try," Mrs. Agreste said, though she had perked up at the suggestion. "My Mandarin isn't perfect, of course, but it should do."

"I'd be interested in hearing about what life is like over here," Rena Rouge agreed. "Or about his family history, that's quite interesting as well."

"Oh, is he familiar with the temple?" Mrs. Agreste turned and asked Palijor a question. Her face lit up with interest when he responded, and Rena mouthed nice one at Paon. They had gotten Mrs. Agreste included in something. Adrien would be happy.

"He says that his family had the Pig most recently," Mrs. Agreste reported. "And that before, they had had a couple ancestors with other Miraculous- oh, just one other," Mrs. Agreste corrected herself. "It got passed down until recently."

"Yeah, Jade Turtle took it back," Rena Rouge piped up. "Because they didn't need it here."

"And because Palijor has several kids, and he didn't want to have anyone claiming that he was playing favorites," Mrs. Agreste added after a short exchange. "Which I can understand. The culture is changing and it isn't the default for the eldest child- or eldest son, I suppose- to get the big inheritance anymore. And having more than one surviving kid complicates things."

"There's more of that that's not fair feeling when big items are up for grabs in big families," Rena Rouge chimed in. "My siblings were crazy jealous that I was going on a big trip this summer. I can't imagine how much they would whine if our parents had a magical item to give to just one of us."

"At least with the Rat, they knew that there was a responsibility attached to the Miraculous," Paon said. "And since a lot of the family didn't want to deal with the responsibility and with living out in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't that jealousy."

"That's one way to keep people from all clamoring over the Miraculous," Mrs. Agreste agreed. "It's a lovely area, but not an easy life out in the country."

They all nodded in agreement. They had all seen how limited things were out in the rural areas. There was no easy, quick way to get into a city, and it was hard to communicate with no cell phone coverage or internet. Winters would no doubt be really tough, too. Farming was a tough life, too, and it would likely be hard to meet someone to marry in such a small community.

For people who had grown up in a large city, that way of life- doing that for an extended period of time and not just a couple days- was pretty much inconceivable.

"He says that in his family, people took having the Miraculous seriously at first, but when there were no further threats then it was seen as more of having a magical pet," Mrs. Agreste reported after another quick exchange. "That, combined with his kwami's urging, led him to make the decision to return the Miraculous."

"I have to admire that," Rena Rouge said. "Like, I hate to admit it, but I would hate to give up my kwami. I probably wouldn't. If I had Chat Noir's kwami, though..."

"He'd be easier to give up, I think," Paon agreed.

"He grows on you, though!" Lycaena protested. "He's a handful for sure, but he has his own sort of charm under the cheese obsession."

"Is he the one who sometimes sings at night?"

"That's the one."

"He does seem like a character," Mrs. Agreste agreed, laughing. "And probably very hard to keep secret. I can't imagine that any decent parent would miss a singing kwami."

Rena tried not to laugh. Glancing to the side, Paon and Lycaena seemed amused as well. Adrien was lucky that Plagg was only acting up now because he was bored and the kwami didn't behave like that at home. Mrs. Agreste was clearly going to be a much more observant parent than her husband (not that that was a high bar to reach or anything) and Plagg would have to work a little harder to fly under the radar.

"What was the Pig kwami like?" Lycaena asked, steering the conversation back on track. "I mean- I could ask, but..."

"Oh, I like getting the practice using my Mandarin." Mrs. Agreste turned to the driver and repeated the question in Mandarin. Palijor made a bit of a face, shrugging just slightly before answering. Mrs. Agreste nodded in understanding before twisting back to address the back seat.

"He said that the kwami was nice enough. He didn't spend that much time with it, though, because it tended to stay out of sight- out of habit, I suppose?- and then pretty soon after it was passed down to him, he and Tenzin decided to return their Miraculous to Jade Turtle. It's been many years since then."

"Oh, okay." Rena Rouge felt a bit disappointed in that. She wanted to know more about the other kwamis, darn it! The Rat's kwami had kept to himself for the part of the trip that they were together, just like its Chosen had, so she hadn't learned anything there. "Were his kids disappointed that none of them would get a Miraculous?"

Another exchange of words, and Palijor shook his head. Mrs. Agreste nodded in understanding and turned back to them. "He didn't tell them about the Miraculous at all. The family tended to keep the kwami fairly hidden and he asked that his father not tell the grandkids anything. He'll tell them the stories of the temple in the future, but not mention how recently the Miraculous was given up."

"Oh, that's probably smart," Lycaena said. "My Miraculous is definitely going back when I get old. No passing down through the family there."

Rena Rouge tried not to snicker. Of course the Butterfly wasn't going to get passed down. Lycaena only had one child, and she had had a miraculous of her own for much longer.

"Maybe we can go back to the stories?" Paon suggested. "We kind of got derailed there pretty quickly."

"Of course, of course!" Mrs. Agreste turned back to Palijor, and they all settled in to listen. "Okay! So the first of his ancestors to go to the temple, many, many years ago..."

  After lunch, the two cars did a quick shuffle, having Queen Bee switch with Lycaena so that Nooroo could have a break. Paon and Rena Rouge were sure that their kwamis would have liked a break as well, but Ladybug and Chat Noir weren't going to be going over to their car any time soon, and obviously poor Wayzz needed as much rest as he could get.

"Do Ladybug and Chat Noir not like me?" Mrs. Agreste asked anxiously as the two cars pulled out of the stop. "I can't help but notice that they've kept their distance. I mean, I'm not entirely surprised since Gabriel must have inconvenienced them quite a bit with his akumas and now they've given up part of their summer to help save me, but... have I offended them?"

"I think that they're just really looking forward to being normal civilians again for a while," Rena Rouge said hastily. She could understand why Mrs. Agreste would think that, but she doubted that Ladybug and Chat Noir wanted that to be her impression of them. "And they can detransform in that car, and of course their kwamis have been working the hardest over the last year. They need the break more than ours do."

Mrs. Agreste didn't look convinced.

"They like talking about what they're going to do with the rest of their summer," Paon chimed in quickly. "What's left of it, I mean. To remind themselves that they can be normal again. They've gotten tired of having to police what they say so much. They've had to do it all year, with all of their interviews with reporters and whatnot and just talking to people in general."

"I can understand that, I suppose," Mrs. Agreste said. "But really, is it necessary to be so secretive? What are the chances that I would actually know them? Or you guys, I suppose."

There was a muffled snort-cough from the front, and they all glanced forward to see Queen Bee covering her mouth. She looked mightily unimpressed by the attention.

"Sorry," she said, not sounding particularly sorry at all. "Water went down the wrong way."

"Are you okay now?"

"Just fine." Queen Bee brushed off the completely dry front of her suit. "It surprised me, that's all."

"I see."

"So, we were listening to some of the old stories from Palijor's family before the stop," Paon said, perhaps a bit too loudly in his haste to change the subject to literally anything else. "They were pretty interesting. Maybe we can listen to more?"

"I'll ask," Mrs. Agreste told them. "It's a good way to include the drivers, too. We were hearing about what his ancestors did with their Miraculous, dear," she added to Queen Bee. "They had the Pig."

Queen Bee wrinkled her nose. "A pig? Ew." She yelped. "Ow!"

Rena Rouge and Paon snickered. Apparently Pollen could actually pay attention to what her holder was saying while transformed, at least a bit.

"A pig-shaped kwami, dear, not a farm hog."

"Oh." Queen Bee considered that. "I suppose that could be cute."

"So do you want to hear about that, to help pass the time?"

Queen Bee thought about it. "I guess that could be cool."

Over in the other car, they were already enjoying a much different form of entertainment, courtesy of one recently-fed kwami.

"Cheese! Some cheese! Some tasty cheese! Someone, get me some Provolone!"

"I suddenly regret taking this car," Sabine said with a laugh, glancing across the backseat to where Plagg was dancing around. "I'm all for music, but this is, uh..."

"Quality entertainment?" Plagg supplied, still spinning around. "A fantastic ode to the magic that is cheese? The best thing you've ever heard?"

"Not quite what I was going to say, but sure," Sabine sighed. "If that's what makes you happy."

"He's been doing this all day," Adrien said, sounding exasperated. "He's excited to get into town, because Master Fu said that we would be stopping by a store and picking up more supplies. Which means fresh cheese, apparently."

"Yes, it was a mistake," Master Fu admitted. "I should have kept it a secret. But we had to discuss plans. We've been trying to decide how far we want to get each day, or if we can shave a day off by driving overnight."

"Not tonight," Sabine said immediately. "We're all too tired, and I think there'll be a riot if people don't get to sleep in a bed tonight. We need to stock up on groceries. People want to shower."

"I think it entirely depends on when there are flights available," Tikki pointed out. "If there's nothing for a few days, there's no point in hurrying. If we can get a flight in two days, then we need to hurry."

"And we can check on that and get tickets tonight, at the hotel," Sabine finished. "I'd prefer to get home sooner, but if it's easier on the drivers, we can adjust that."

"I'd also prefer to get everyone home sooner. The longer we're together, the more likely it is that something will happen and someone's identity will be compromised. And if one is compromised, that means that all of us are at risk. That was the main problem with me selecting people that are close to Adrien."

Sabine nodded, glancing back at Adrien. She was of the opinion that it was better for them to have taken that risk in the long run, really. Adrien had needed the support on their trip, even if he had done his best to put on a brave face. There was also the fact that their current group was properly motivated to get the spell to work on the first try, whereas there might be others who... well, who might want to do what Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had done, where their route got figured out over the course of several smaller trips rather than one large one. It would have taken longer that way, which easily could have impacted Adrien's performance at school.

There was also the fact that it just felt better to have familiar faces along with them on the trip. Sabine thought that Master Fu had chosen well.

Plagg had started singing again in the back seat, and Sabine did her best to ignore it and focus on the conversation. "So basically the plans are a bit up in the air and subject to change right now, but we just want to get back to Paris as soon as possible."

Master Fu made a bit of a face. "That's about as far as we've gotten with the planning, yes."

"So we need to figure that out as soon as we get to the hotel, so that people can be prepared." Sabine had to raise her voice as Plagg swung into the chorus of his song. "Do both drivers know about the potential driving overnight thing?"

"Yes, I ran it by them over lunch. They're fine with it. I think they're eager to have the trip over and their cars back."

Sabine could understand that. Road trips weren't fun, even when the driver and all of the passengers could actually communicate and when there were no singing, dancing kwamis in the back seat.

How Plagg had managed to come up with cheese-related lyrics to the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Sabine did not know. Nor did she particularly want to know. It wasn't exactly a crowning achievement or anything.

When it became clear that there wasn't much more conversation happening, Tenzin reached over and turned the radio on, drowning out Plagg's warbling. It stayed on for the rest of the afternoon, and eventually Plagg attempted to add his cheese-related lyrics to the unfamiliar music before his silence was bought with a large chunk of Cheddar.

The silence was very much appreciated.

They pulled off into a hotel parking lot before the sun even set. All of the younger Miraculous holders and Mrs. Agreste blinked in confusion and then turned to Master Fu and their respective drivers for clarification.

"The next city is far enough away that it would be difficult to get there and get everything done that we need to do," Master Fu explained. "We need to get plane tickets and Mrs. Agreste needs to call home and get her passport sorted out, and we need to be at a hotel in a larger city such as this one to do that. Otherwise we would keep going and then camp next to the road once it gets dark."

"Oh, okay." Adrien glanced towards the other car, which was parked a bit behind them so that Mrs. Agreste couldn't see into their car. "So, uh, how are we going to do this? Who is going in first? I assume that we don't want the locals to pick up on the fact that Miraculous holders are here."

"Well, Queen Bee will have to come over to our car and detransform. She and our drivers will go in and get our rooms. Palijor and Tenzin will lead Mrs. Agreste to her room, and then we can all detransform and go in safely. We'll try to get her and maybe Palijor and Tenzin on a different floor from us." Master Fu waved the drivers over and repeated the plan to them. "Queen Bee should wear a hoodie. That way, she can hide her hair. Is her bag in this car, or the other one?"

"In ours, and hers is the top bag, but if we turn around we might be visible from the other car." Adrien glanced backwards and then ducked down in his seat. "Should we transform again? I don't want to attract a ton of attention with lights going off in our cars."

"No, Tenzin can find it." Master Fu turned back to Tenzin and asked, and the driver immediately nodded, popping the trunk and hopping out of the car. "I'm not sure how to get around the lights problem, though."

"I have an idea," Sabine spoke up. "Our car can drive to the grocery store and pick up what we need once the drivers return, so that there won't be any accidental reveals from her glancing over here. And once Mrs. Agreste gets into the hotel and situated, the other car can go on a short drive around town and Paon and Rena can detransform under a towel or something to muffle the flash. It's unlikely that anyone would be curious enough to follow the car back to the hotel."

Master Fu laughed. "It's a bit like a spy movie now. But I think that's very smart. We can get our errands done and try to make sure that no one is paying us any attention all at once. We'll be less obvious that way, too."

Tenzin interrupted with a shout of victory and they turned around to see him holding Chloe's yellow hoodie. He hurried towards the other car and handed it to Queen Bee, gesturing for her to put it on and follow him. Thankfully, Queen Bee seemed to catch on and she pulled it on before hopping out of the car, even remembering to grab her backpack, which held her wallet.

"Detransform in here," Master Fu called through the open driver's door. "Then pull your hood up and you can go get rooms. Come, come, and we'll tell you the plan."

It took no time at all to get Chloe caught up and then they watched as the she vanished into the hotel with their two drivers. There were a few other people milling around the lot, but they paid the foreigners no attention.

The clerk in the lobby might raise a brow at a blond teenage girl getting six rooms for the night, but hopefully they would forget about it soon enough.

The rest of their plan got pulled off just as flawlessly. They got their errands done and the last members of their group detransformed as inconspicuously as possible before returning to the hotel and getting settled in, all without getting any unwanted attention.

The group had opted to stay in their rooms as much as possible, just so Mrs. Agreste wouldn't step out and run into any of them. Alya, Nino, Adrien and Marinette had all holed themselves up in one of the rooms, watching some TV show while Adrien did his best to translate. Since Chloe was the one with the credit cards, she was the one to accompany Master Fu and Sabine to the hotel lobby to use the computer there. Fu had dressed down in a less obnoxious shirt, and Chloe's distinctive blond hair was tucked under a hooded sweatshirt, just in case.

While Emilie Agreste seemed trustworthy and the kwamis had confirmed her good nature, that didn't necessarily mean things would stay that way forever- and they didn't want her accidentally mentioning who any of the new Miraculous holders were to Mr. Agreste, who would likely take advantage of that information somehow.

Sabine didn't trust that man not to try to attack the city again to turn back time and change things so that he wouldn't end up in jail with a ruined reputation. Emilie had seemed none too pleased with her husband, and it would be right in character for Mr. Agreste to try to turn to magic to fix that.

"I'm going to have to keep an eye on this card after this," Chloe grumbled as she pulled up an internet window. "I don't trust this connection, not at all. But I don't think there's any other option."

"I think other places would be pretty similar," Sabine agreed, pleased to know that Chloe did have a bit of sense when it came to credit cards and money. From what she had seen and heard before the trip (and a bit during the trip), she had rather wondered. "Make sure that all cookies and login stuff is cleared at the end for sure."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yeah, duh. I know that." There was a pause, and then Chloe winced and rubbed her shoulder. "Uh, I mean- thanks for the reminder, I'll do that for sure?"

Sabine hid a smile. Somehow she suspected that Pollen might have stung her Chosen.

It took no time at all for Chloe to pull up a list of flights, and Sabine and Fu scanned the flight schedule over Chloe's shoulder. There were two flights per day from the closest airport to Paris, just over four hours apart. Both stopped in Chengdu instead of Beijing like their flight out had, which would shorten their travel time somewhat.

"So Adrien has to go first," Chloe announced. "So that he gets home before his mom. But there's only two seats left on the earlier flight two days out. Maybe we can do Mrs. Cheng and Adrien?"

"No, let's put Adrien and Marinette on the early flight," Sabine told her. "We need to spread out the people who speak Mandarin."

"And I think that we should put Sabine on the same flight as Mrs. Agreste, the second flight of the day," Master Fu chimed in. "Just to keep an eye on her to make sure she gets back safely. Out of all of us, she's the least likely to stand out among the crowd. And normally I wouldn't do flights on such a quick turnaround, especially since Mrs. Agreste doesn't have any paperwork with her, but she assured me that Nathalie would be able to figure something out."

Chloe nodded, checking the seats on that flight. "Five seats left there."

"Good. I'll try to get a seat where I can see Mrs. Agreste, but she wouldn't be staring at me for the whole flight." Sabine glanced over at Master Fu. "And then the four of you can return the next day on the same flight."

Chloe's fingers were flying as she reserved the seats, triple-checking the dates as she did. Adrien and Marinette's reservations were first, followed by Sabine and Mrs. Agreste's. They spent a couple minutes looking over the remaining seats available on the two legs of the flight, figuring out which ones would be best. They settled on two seats that weren't too close together, but that would allow Sabine not to lose Mrs. Agreste when they were getting off of the plane.

"Got 'em," Chloe announced. "Now I need to get ours, but that's not as big of a deal."

"Well, you don't want to miss your flight and have to go back even later," Sabine pointed out. "If there's too much time between when we get back and when you get back, someone is bound to notice."

"My dad won't," Chloe said matter-of-factly. She winced and rubbed her side- Pollen had apparently bitten her again- and then corrected herself. "But I suppose Nino and Alya's parents might, so I'll get our tickets right away."

Sabine glanced around the lobby as Chloe made the last of the reservations. Mrs. Agreste hadn't emerged, it would seem; there was no hint of her distinctive blond hair among the sea of dark-haired locals. That was good, though Sabine was sure that the other woman was probably either bored out of her mind or incredibly anxious. She hoped that Mrs. Agreste wasn't calling home quite yet. It would be best if Adrien could call and update Nathalie first on his return home, just as to not completely freak the poor Agreste family secretary out.

With a few more clicks of a button, Chloe printed out the confirmations for all of the flights. Emilie's reservation confirmation got trimmed down to remove anything that could identify Chloe or Mr. Bourgeois, and then Chloe cleared the computer of all of her credit card and email info before logging out.

"Well, that went well," Master Fu commented as they headed back upstairs. They got off on Emilie's floor and slid the paper with the flight information on it under. Wayzz popped under for a moment to make sure that she got it, and then they were on their way upstairs to update the rest of the group on the plans. "We'll have to drive overnight, though. I'm not sure how people will feel about that."

"Well, we have the hotel to enjoy tonight," Sabine pointed out. "And some time to get out and about if we need. That'll have to balance tomorrow out."

"Would they have a hairdresser in this town?" Chloe asked immediately. "I just want to get my hair evened out, so it's not immediately apparent that it was a home job. It won't be up to the standards of my favorite salon, of course, but it'll do until we get home."

"Probably. I can send Tenzin out with you to look around town," Master Fu told her. "Would you like to shower before, or just go right away?"

"Oh, god." Chloe made a face. "I don't want anyone touching my hair when it's in this state. I don't want to be touching my hair when it's like this. I'll shower first and then go out after I'm done."

"That sounds like a plan."

"But won't you have little bits of hair from the cut then?" Sabine pointed out. "That'll be itchy."

"I'll take another shower when we get back, no problem."

Sabine supposed that she should have expected that, honestly.

They reached their floor, and the first room that they visited was Adrien and Marinette's. To their surprise, Nino and Alya had apparently headed over to another room, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone with a TV program playing quietly in the background as they lay flopped across the beds.

"Oh, we'll get to go back really soon, then," Adrien commented, pushing himself up as he scanned the flight details. "I thought we might have to wait a few days to get spots to open up! This is fantastic. Good work, Chloe."

"Just promise me that you won't let my father see you until I've texted that I'm back, promise," Chloe told Adrien. "Since I'll be getting back a day later, and so will Alya and Nino. Stay inside. I won't make a big deal about it when I come back so my father might be a little blurry on the return date after the first couple days, but..."

"Of course," Adrien promised. "I'll probably be spending the time with my mom, after all. And I'm sure we'll probably spend that time inside." He sighed. "Like usual."

"You think she'll be as overprotective as before, with things with the Rat all ironed out?" Chloe asked. She frowned. "Maybe if my dad talks to him-"

Adrien shook his head. "He wouldn't have the right approach, I don't think. I'll have Nathalie talk to her, and get her to see sense."

Sabine frowned and made a mental note to talk to Adrien's mother as well once they were back- or maybe she could even start working on her as a neutral third party while they were on the road. If she asked what Emilie's plans were once she got back to Paris, just all interested-like, and do a bit of fishing, then she could figure out how overprotective she was planning on being. She could point out that the Rat wasn't going to harm her or Adrien and there were no further threats. Sabine was sure that some basic security was going to stay, and Adrien seemed to enjoy having a driver, but he could be let out on his own more often, and particularly on outings with his friends.

After tasting freedom, Adrien would not easily accept going back to his sheltered, confined life from before. And Sabine would do everything she could to help him.

Chloe just shrugged, apparently accepting Adrien's words without argument. "We'll figure it out. But, speaking of Nathalie-" her lips stretched into a smirk- "Your mom'll probably call her as soon as she finishes reading over the flight information. How much do you think she'll freak out?"

[withloveishi]

When You Have 64 Crayons But Only Use Goldenrod (Southeast Asian Underrepresentation in the Context of “Asian” Culture)

TO NOTE: I will be using Japanese culture and experience to synthesize some of the broader points I’m getting at, mostly to exemplify what I mean by the East Asian experience. In doing so, I surmise some similar cultural and experiential examples in other East Asian countries (i.e. Kpop, Kdramas, etc.). If you have problems, you can bring them up with my non-existent care for your opinion, at least on this point.

ANOTHER NOTE: I talk a lot about East Asian and Southeast Asian representation full knowing that there is also a deficit in South Asian representation in the states. I am unable to elaborate on the experiences of South Asian people (because I don’t have any experiences to elaborate on, nor am I South Asian) but, they also deserve the same amount of representation at Southeast and East Asian people.

ANOTHER ANOTHER NOTE, BUT IT’S AN OPEN NOTE: I am not any sort of *insert subregion of Asia* Cultural Studies Major. So deep anthropological analysis and citation of scholarly journals is not in my arsenal. All I’m doing is using some of my life experiences and observations to draw some vaguely profound, and mostly bulshit conclusion to a very large issue. If you have a problem with that, just let me know.

Being in college has challenged me to think about all parts of my identity, not just the parts that are most convenient. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always played into and written about my experiences being Japanese far more than my experiences being Filipino. And why did I do this? I’m not quite sure (After all, I am not very smart), but I do have theories about my generally fucked up view of identity. Considering the external culture and people I have always surrounded myself, East Asian culture was just more recognizable than Southeast Asian (SEA) culture. In order for me to seem more relatable or recognizable to others, I play off of my Japanese identity more. And if you don’t understand this, try this little exercise.

Which do you recognize more?

Anime or Teleseryes

Ramen or Sotanghon

Japanese or Tagalog

I’m hoping many of you are smart enough and have figured the point I’m trying to get at. But if you haven’t, then keep reading. I’m sure you’ll catch my drift the more you read more paragraphs of my point, reiterated less and less eloquently each time.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m very pleased to see a rise in East Asian representation, both in the form of pop culture that has found its way to the states, like anime and kpop, and in the stories being told from the East Asian perspective. However, it’s kind of odd to see “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Attack on Titan” be the height of East Asian representation, and the tag on your clothes that say “Made in Cambodia” as the height of SEA representation. Even then, “Made in China” occurs more frequently than that, so really, there’s just no SEA representation in comparison.

The point I’m trying to (unsuccessfully) get across is the relationship between the amount of representation something gets and how that influences what we believe is reality: a concept simultaneously not new and entirely new. From the Vietnam War to Instagram, it is a concept that has reappeared time and time again, and but one no one seems to learn from.

When people (especially non-Southeast Asian people) are surrounded by predominantly East Asian culture and experiences, the SEA culture and experiences get lost among popularization of these things. When our surrounding floods us with the culture of East Asian countries without another frame of cultural reference, our frame of what is considered Asian is becomes predominantly, if not entirely, consumed by East Asian ideals. To some of you out there, I’m sure it feels somewhat ridiculous to excuse the existence of an entire chunk of Asia, but it happens. Now I’m not asking for the hit drama Pangako Sa ‘Yo to hit Netflix any time soon, but there needs to be a way where we shift our lens of what we call Asian from just considering East Asia to the literal whole of Asia. Or conversely, using East Asian, Southeast Asia and South Asia to describe these regions separately.

     However, the million dollar question (or however much money my opinions are worth in this world): why the fuck do I care so much? Well, I’m sort of obligated to, because it’s in my blood.

    In my own life, I’ve veered towards adopting a more Japanese externality. Why? Because people care more about you if you do that in my area. I wanted people to either relate to me or find some sense of understanding or who I was on what could be considered, “an authentic portrayal of myself”. Because after all, saying I’m Japanese is not a lie, it’s just not entirely the truth. If I say I’m Japanese, people then find some common ground with me, either on the basis of Anime or Manga, or just how much they “love Japanese people”. When I say I’m Filipino, many people react with, “Oh, isn’t that where *insert really awful political or social news headline here*?” or “Duerte?”. For me, it’s just more convenient to open with being Japanese. But why do I ignore that literal fact that I’m only half Japanese; probably for a couple main reasons:

Like I said in the beginning, I’m half Japanese and Half Filipino, I had a choice. Many of my friends who are fully SEA are confronted with their identity because both their parents are of SEA decent. There’s no work around to your identity. You deal with it because that is fully who you are. Me, on the other hand, have the foot on two different borders. Being half Japanese gave me an escape to having to confront my Filipino identity. Because being Japanese is on the “more culturally familiar ground”, I just chose to lead with that.

My mom never really elaborated on her experience as a Filipino woman. I don't think she was ashamed of it, but she never really cared to talk about her childhood, or her experiences emigrating to the states for school as a Filipino woman. Those were never topics of discussion between me an her. So, it naturally faded to the background, especially coupled with my dad’s poignant conversations about his experience and my grandma’s experience being Japanese.

Consider that last point. The non-existence of my mom’s Filipino perspective to things allowed me to adopt an almost entirely Japanese externality to myself, and feel okay with doing that for a very long time of my life. By mentioning this, I’m trying to make it a point that I understand how easy it is to dismiss the SEA viewpoint when it is not the reality we have to face head on. When we both have a path to ignorance laid out for us, plus all signs telling us to follow that path, it’s really hard to do otherwise.

Unlike many of the people at my college, I am not the most socially aware person. So I’m not always quite sure how to go about tackling these really large-scale issues. But here’s my take on forming a somewhat organized opinion on this issue.

In a world where our trajectory is heavily influenced but our unchoosable characteristics (like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.), it become increasingly more important to then at least categorize people by vaguely correct assumptions. The matter of the fact is that East Asian people and SEA people are not on same platform. When my mom had me, she refused to teach me Tagalog for a long time, because she was under the belief that Tagalog would make me dumb, or seem dumb. She was under the impression that by Tagalog being a SEA language, that it would make me seem inferior to others. Conversely, if I knew Japanese or Mandarin, I would be considered smarter and more articulate than other people. This is the world we live in. So, to use the identifier “Asian”, we are asking people to reach a certain expectation that they are simply unable to achieve.

However, assuming you don’t care about any of that, look at it from a black and white perspective. To use “Asia” or “Asian” to describe anything but the continent of Asia or someone from Asia is just the more incorrect term. If you have the option to be specific and correct, why not do that? “Southeast Asian” is just two more syllables than “Asian” and “East Asian” just one. It’s very simple.

The matter of the fact is that we cannot allow SEA stories to become lost, especially at the foot of East Asian culture. And the only way for that to happen is to give it an equal opportunity to represent itself. More Southeast Asian perspectives being represented in TV and movies, more education of Southeast Asian culture not cast in a negative light, and pushing the teaching of Southeast Asian languages. This is how we do it. And no, a new documentary on the corrupt government in the Philippines is not the representation I’m asking for. For now, documentaries on street food in Vietnam and fun little tourist advertisements for the Himalayas will have to do.

I know this was a long post, and I’m sure I missed a lot of things. This might have pissed some of you off. I didn’t intentionally try and miss anything, but if something irked you really badly, I’m happy to re edit this post. As always just let me know. It helps me gain more perspective on an issue I am still trying to understand myself.

If you read this far down, let me know! I’m always excited when more than zero people read my writing, and even more so, when they enjoy reading it. Thanks so much for your time kids, and I’ll see you whenever.

[detginski]

Misadventures

Human!RK900 x oc x Gavin

Summary : They’re still in their twenties in this and they’re not official cops yet. But they’re helping Kara with an event she’s holding to raise funds for an orphanage.

Prompt :  If we get caught, you’re deaf, and I don’t speak english.

Warnings : Stupidity, shitty writing, cursing lmao. Enjoy

“Why are we doing this again?” grumbled Gavin who’s currently fanning himself with a cut out lid from a cardboard box. You rolled your eyes at your boyfriend, “Because Kara is the closest thing I have to a real mom and she asked for help. Look at Nines! He’s working well... I guess..” 

You both watched Nines making giant bubbles for the kids. The thing that makes it funny was Nines had this resting bitch face in contrast to the joyous kids running around him asking him to make more bubbles around him and he’s in a bright yellow shirt with a cat print on it that says ‘Meow-wow!’ 

“I’m so glad he wore the shirt I got him for christmas.” you laughed when Nines made eye contact with you, you swore you could hear him saying, ‘You owe me a week of mcnuggets’

It was break time and the three of you finally had the chance to sit down together and eat. “I’m bored.” Gavin said in mouthful of fried noodles. Both of you and Nines simultaneously stopped eating and stared at him. “What do you have in mind?” Nines asked, cautiously, as to knowing what had they all done together and the ideas that sprouted out of boredom has caused him to be weary of yours and Gavin’s.. eccentric, mind.

“I’ve been thinking-” “A dangerous pastime.” Nines interrupted Gavin which earned him a kick to the shin. “Shut up sunshine killer. I’ve been thinking, since they have those bike thing for old people-” 

“Bike race.”

You slurped the last of your noodle and nodded solemnly at Gavin. “Let’s Mcfucking do this.” Gavin smiled enthusiastically and both of you and Gavin chant bike race with Nines looking like he gave up on life, How am I inlove with these fuckers

So the three of you, left your posts and asking the other volunteers to replace the three of you before sneaking towards the middle of the grassy field with the electric powered bikes. Since it is for the old folks, the fastest speed for the bike was 35km/h.

You borrowed some random kid’s helmet, while Gavin had his bandana on and Nines with his head bare, his hair ruffled in the wind looking very disgruntled and slightly amused.

“The rules for this race are, eh fuck the rules. Let’s fucking do this. The first one to turn back here wins!” Gavin smirked and shook yours and Nines’ hands.

“Smell you later losers.”

“Eat my dust fuckers!”

Nines only let out a loud sigh.

“In 3,2... 1!” Gavin started ahead in an extremely slow pace. You’re right beside him, trying to kick him off the bike. “Fuck you, (y/n)!” You laughed maniacally as you try to kick each other off the bike. Nines was on a relaxing speed, not even giving an effort in winning but he was already ahead of the both of you.

“Oh? Look what we have here. Losers? Oh yes, yes you both are.” He cackled before leaving the two of you behind.

The looks on both of your faces was comical and came to an agreement not to defeat each other but to defeat Nines.

Nines had already done the U-turn before both you and Gavin intercept him, “We’re playing dirty now!” your surround him on either side and try your best to sabotage him. 

But before the three of you reached the finishing line, you heard someone screamed, “Get back here punks! Those are our properties!”

“Oh shit, oh shit!” You said before getting off the bike and running away from the angry lady. The three of you ran while laughing so hard it hurts. Remembering what you told them when the three of you did stupid shit together the first time.

“If we get caught, you’re deaf and I don’t speak English” Gavin is the deaf one and both you and Nines could speak fluent mandarin.

When the lady caught up to the three of you, Gavin started signing frantically at her while you and Nines spoke mandarin angrily. 

“等下要吃什么?” What should we eat later ?

“你想吃什么呢?" What do you feel like eating?

"我不知道" I don't know

Gavin signed a, I have a beautiful face please leave

The lady eventually rolled her eyes, sighing and walked away.

Once she was out of earshot, the three of you laughed so hard, you had to sit down. Nines was leaning on the wall, cluthing his abdomen and Gavin, quite literally rolf-ed.

"Can't believe she believed in it!" Gavin said. While the three of you calmed down from a full 10minutes of laughing, your phone rang and it was Kara.

"Oh shit." you answered and sure enough she was pissed at the three of you leaving your assigned post and stealing the old folks bike.

That day the three of you were scolded on the car ride home with Kara and Luther constantly giving you his disapprove glance on the rearview mirror while Alice keeps on asking Gavin to tell her the fullstory.

"-I swear if I don't put a leash on the three of you, I'll be having a head full of white hairs! And you, Richard! I thought you'll be responsible enough to take care of the two of them."

Nines looks perplexed but stays quiet at the comment. Before Kara could go on with her scolding, Alice laughed at Gavin's story about all the misadventures the three of you had. She tried to hold her angry look but her smile betrayed her. Kara sighed and Luther lovingly patted his wife on the arm, "Let the kids be kids. They'll understand this someday."

And the car ride home was filled with the three of your filling in and correcting the story Gavin told Alice and Kara took a picture of the moment with all four of your laughing candidly at the back seat.

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Magic and Miracles and BEYOND Chapter 4

Ok, so for those who don’t know I face cast Miracle Laurie as Hazel Stevens, Titus Drautos’ love interest (*cough* love of his life *cough*) and in the upper right hand corner is my face cast for Ada, @the-immortal-marshal ‘s OC, she gave me Ada’s particulars forever ago so now I’ve just finally face cast her. And we have TADA I finally found a face I liked for Charlotte Stevens. Hazel’s sister who is of African American and Chinese decent. And I am OBSESSED with Empresses in the Palace which is a six episode long mini series that USED to be on Netflix, you can find it on Amazon Prime video now. And there is a lot of symbolism from that show that I’ve taken and run wild with because in this fic Gilgamesh (who I have taken so many liberties with) is a Chinese drug lord who thinks of himself as an Emperor and calls Charlotte his Empress. And Cor is obsessed with taking him down (like he is in the canon-verse). 

Ok so you can read it here -> AO3 or below. Tumblr, be cool, keep it under a cut. 

Magic and Miracles and BEYOND

Chapter 4

“Ok, I stand corrected, this is my favorite house.” Selena announced as she came into the mansion in California wine country that was styled in a blend of Italianate, Spanish and Mediterranean. With it’s overall warm tones and clay tile roof. She fell head over heels in love with it.

“Knew it would be,” Ravus beamed.

“I want our house to be exactly like this.” Selena urged Ravus who chuckled.

“Yeah, I figured as much.” Ravus nodded in agreement, having figured that the moment they hit the road.

“Yeah, you can keep the house on the coast Luna, I love that location but I love and adore this house and the vineyards are just...spectacular. It’s so beautiful I think I’m gonna cry.” Selena teased herself as her eyes actually started to water which only got Ravus to pull her into his embrace and kiss the crown of her head.  

“Well Ravus did buy you that place up the coast so you’re only a stroll down the beach away.” Luna teased her.

“Yeah,” Selena sighed wistfully before she gave Ravus a quick peck on the lips before she had him really show her around.

“Holy shit!” Selena exclaimed when she saw the wine cellar.

“Yeah, this wine cellar alone is worth as much as the actual house I think.” Ravus speculated.

“It’s all dry isn’t it?” Selena asked in disappointment.

“Actually, no,” Ravus began as he hunted through the cellar. “Yes! This Darling, is ice wine. And it is exceptionally sweet.” Ravus said as he handed her a little mini bottle.

“Should we chill this first?” Selena asked as she looked it over.

“Yes, yes we should.” Ravus nodded as he used a special wine bottle carrier box to put in a half dozen bottles in, going through the rows picking out different ones before filling the box full and putting it down before getting another before he turned the corner and it was like it kept expanding, Ravus going through the bottles like anyone would go through a library to look at books.

“Does it ever end? I could get lost in here.” Selena teased as Ravus grinned but kept his eyes moving through all the labels.

“You could.” Ravus answered but only half teasing himself before his phone went off.

“Yeah?” Ravus answered.

“Where are you?” Luna asked.

“In the wine cellar?” Ravus answered.

“Where at in the wine cellar?” Luna asked.

“I’m at the Rieslings, just about to head into the Moscatos. I already handed Darling some ice wines.” Ravus answered.

“Ooh, could you get me my favorite please?” Luna requested.

“Sure, what does Jock Strap want?” Ravus asked.

“Oh he’s found the bar, he’s good.” Luna snorted a laugh.

“Well then get me my favorite.” Ravus insisted.

“Already gotten.” Luna reassured him.

“Thanks, when you guys figure out what to get for dinner call me back.” Ravus urged his sister.

“Yup.” Luna nodded.  

“That’s really kind of sad that the house is so big, you have to call each other on your phones to talk to each other.” Selena teased as she leaned up against a brick wall and gave him a giddy smile.

“Oh trust me, once we start our family, you’ll be happy it’s as big as it is, in fact I think you’ll love it down here because it’ll be the one part of the house where the kids won’t be allowed to play and you’ll have some nice ‘quiet mommy time’.” Ravus gently teased her with a look that had Selena wishing she could speed up time just to get to that and she just couldn’t help but pull him away from the wines to pull him flush with her to kiss him deeply.

“Can’t wait.” Selena purred when they broke for air and Ravus put the box down but only to allow him to pin her to the brick wall behind her before he picked her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms wrapped around his shoulders as he slipped her panties to the side since she was wearing a sundress as he unzipped his shorts and quickly entered her and moaned with her.

“I can, it’ll be worth the wait. I promise.” Ravus beamed at her.

“Aww,” Selena fawned.

Meanwhile Hazel and Titus were about to get ready to go to the store when Hazel checked her phone for the time before the screen went haywire for a moment as Titus’ phone did the same before both her phone and Titus’ phone turned themselves off and wouldn’t turn back on and Hazel inhaled sharply as her eyes went wide with terror because she knew what was going to happen next.

“Titus, you either need to get to the car right now or you need to get into my bathroom and don’t come out unless I come in and get you.” Hazel immediately ordered and Titus blinked in surprise when he saw how terrified she suddenly looked.

“What are you talking about?” Titus asked.

“No time to explain, here.” Hazel decided for him before she seemed to pull a gun out from under her breakfast bar and put it into his hand and shoved him into the bathroom.

“Sit right here, don’t move, don’t make a sound and shoot anyone but me who tries to come in.” Hazel ordered, keeping her voice whisper quiet but the hiss to her voice put him on edge before Hazel quickly locked the bathroom and quickly ran to her door and pulled out another hand gun and watched through the keyhole as Charlotte and two body guards came walking purposefully down the hallway, each body guard taking up an end to the hall to leave Charlotte to approach Hazel’s door alone before she knocked her special knock.

“Please tell me you’ve come to say goodbye.” Hazel told her sister in Mandarin when she opened the door for her sister, her gun visible at her side as Charlotte came strutting into Hazel’s apartment as Hazel shut the door behind her as she warily watched her sister.

“I came with a warning.” Charlotte began and Hazel’s stomach dropped. “You should go out to dinner tonight.” Charlotte suggested.

“Where and with who?” Hazel’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“It doesn’t matter where but I think you’ll know with who.” Charlotte grinned as she laid a manila envelope on the counter.

“What part of ‘I never want to be involved’ is hard to understand?” Hazel bit out.

“It’s Heaven’s wish, either serve the warning or you can try to Witchhazel.” Charlotte returned coolly and Hazel’s jaw clenched. “Your choice.” Charlotte shrugged before she stood in front of Hazel with a challenging smirk before hugging her sister before Hazel begrudgingly returned it.

“Why can’t you both go back to Hong Kong? At least you’d be safer there.” Hazel asked as she hugged her sister tighter, always feeling like she was seeing her sister for the last time when her sister came to her like this.

“Soon.” Charlotte answered and Hazel knew that was the closest to a straight answer she could ever get from Charlotte.

“Ok.” Hazel whispered.

“Now tell Titus hi for me and to keep his nose out of our business.” Charlotte offered in English as she let go of her sister and left, snapping her fingers once she was in the hallway before both henchmen were back at her side as she left the building as Hazel blew out a shaky breath as her cheeks burned as she put the gun back into it’s hiding spot and went over to the manila envelope and opened it to find a tiny flash drive and found 50 thousand dollars with it. Hazel just huffed and shook her head. She took the money out and when she did, she found ‘Warhorn Lion’ written on a piece of yellow paper that almost looked and felt like tissue paper but was in fact a recreation of the paper used by Chinese Emperors to write edicts and orders on- on the inside of the envelope in Mandarin calligraphy and Hazel just closed her eyes and fought not to cry.  

“Shit.” Hazel hissed as she got gloves on and took it out and folded it carefully, damning her hands for shaking. At least it wasn’t Titus’ name. She put the paper and the flash drive into a new envelope and into her purse before she put the money into her lock box and once she was done she took her gloves off and threw them away before she knocked on the door to the bathroom off her bedroom where she had put Titus.

“It’s safe now Baby.” Hazel called out softly as she unlocked the door and opened it to find Titus still sitting in the same spot she left him in.

“What the fuck is going on?” Titus demanded as he stood up and stared at her incredulously.

“If I answered that, I’d have to kill you myself.” Hazel answered defeated-ly as she took her gun back to put it away.

“What kind of convoluted clandestine bullshit is that?!” Titus spat angrily as he followed her and took note of where it had come from in the first place, having sat right there before and not having the smallest clue it had been there the whole time.

“The kind of convoluted clandestine bullshit that will get you killed, moreover it’s the kind of convoluted clandestine bullshit that puts car bombs under cars and straps C4 to someone’s chest and tells them to walk into hospitals and schools with the power to bring anyone to their knees before it lops off their heads, that kind. The kind that already knows your name, where you work, your routines, the truck you drive and where you are at all times. The kind that’s kept a tail on me since I went to college, the kind that has already buried the last nosy boyfriend. So do yourself a favor if you want to live and let it go and never, ever breathe a word of this ever again. This is your one warning. The next time you bring this up, that sniper on that roof right over there will shoot you and I’ll have to change the carpet again because blood doesn’t come out from white carpet well.” Hazel snarled as she pointed her finger into his chest, the tip digging into his flesh hard every time she said the word ‘you’ as tears flowed freely from her eyes as her expression was a pleading one as Titus just stared in shock at her as he finally really sensed what kind of predicament and danger she must be in and all he wanted to do was make her feel safe again, he didn’t care if he had to set the world on fire to do it either. He knew Hazel was smart, brilliant even and as badass as the day was long but if his Hazel was this scared, she would only have every justification to be so.

“Ok.” Titus answered softly as finally nodded as he brought her in and hugged her tight and kissed the crown of her head.

“Obviously you don’t have a choice in this. If this is the way it has to be then it’s the way it has to be.” Titus offered as Hazel just broke down crying and bawled into his chest and when she was done, she pulled herself back together and kissed him so deeply it started their own familiar chain of events and once satisfied, they left and went about their day, Titus doing his best to act like nothing was wrong and that nothing had happened out of the usual.

“Hey you wanna meet up with Cor and Ada for dinner?” Hazel asked innocently as they were putting their groceries away.

“Yeah sure.” Titus nodded and texted Cor.

“Where to?” Titus asked Hazel.

“I don’t care, whatever they want is fine.” Hazel waived off. “Actually I could go for some rice noodles though, maybe Chinese? Japanese? Vietnamese? Thai? Something like that.” Hazel waived off.  

“The Mandarin?” Titus suggested, knowing that was her favorite Chinese restaurant, it was a bit upscale but very authentic and the whole menu was in Mandarin and English and he loved the way Hazel could order for them in nothing but Mandarin and get things that weren’t even on the menu.

“Perfect.” Hazel beamed and once at the restaurant, Cor was exceptionally happy and even giddy because he had gotten a break in the Gilgamesh case that day and Hazel was grateful that she wasn’t sitting right next to him but feared for Ada, knowing that Ada was in grave danger but was powerless to say anything to her directly. Hazel excused herself from the table and took her server aside as she went to the bathroom and gave her a hundred dollar bill if she put the envelope into Cor’s bill. Hazel having taken the envelope out with a tissue and put it into a folded napkin to hand to the server who thought it was some kind of practical joke before the owner, who had been watching over them, took the envelope and looked inside before their eyes went wide for a moment and made a quick phone call before they nodded and got a red envelope and wrote something out with a calligraphy pen and comped not just Cor and Ada’s meal but Titus and Hazel’s too.

“Mr. Leonis, could you please come with me?” The owner asked Cor as he came and pointed to the bill as if the card had gotten declined.

“Oh, that shouldn’t of...” Cor said as he got up and got his wallet out as he followed the owner to the cash register.

“Oh no, your card wasn’t declined, no your meal was taken care of already but I didn’t want to disturb your party by handing you this.” The owner said as he handed Leonis a red cash envelope typically given to newly weds at their wedding.

“What does this say?” Cor asked as he pointed to the writing on the envelope.

“It says ‘compliments of Emperor Gilgamesh’.” The owner answered.

“Fuck.” Cor breathed. “Is he here? Like right now?” Cor asked the owner.

“Of course not. Even if he was, you could not do anything Marshal.” The owner pointed out with a smug grin.

“I could have you arrested for aiding and abetting.” Cor threatened.

“Perhaps you should look at the flash drive first before you make any foolish threats.” The owner suggested sagely as Cor narrowed his eyes and got the flash drive and put it into his phone before picture after picture of Ada and Ada and himself came up on the screen before a new message came into his phone with a picture of himself, Ada and Titus in the cross-hairs from a scope while they were still there at the restaurant and Cor looked up and searched the room, trying to find the threats and the vantage points these pictures were taken from.

“It really would be quite rude to answer generosity with disrespect. Perhaps you should go home now.” The owner suggested. “And please do not think that my restaurant is unique in that his Majesty has reign here. There is no where any of you could ever go that he would not come for you.” The owner warned. “And if I may let you in on a secret. His Majesty is being lenient with you and has written your name in black. This is your warning that you have come too close. If you come any closer, he will write your name in white. White is the color of death in our culture. And it will be as if he would have written your death warrant.” The owner added and Cor gulped.

“Understood.” Cor nodded before he went back to the table and tried to casually get them all out of there as the owner came and thanked them for coming and invited them back as he handed Hazel a to go container of her favorite dumplings- raw so she could steam them herself when she got home and once back in Titus’ truck Hazel found a thick black card with what Gilgamesh liked to referred to her as written in gold ink along with a quick message of thanks.

“What does that say?” Titus asked as he noticed it.

“It says ‘thank you’ and my name.” Hazel answered honestly.

“I’ve never gotten a thank you for getting takeout from here.” Titus frowned.

“Well you’re not on first name basis and friends with the family.” Hazel tried to reason with a lop sided grin as Titus nodded in understanding.

“So that’s why our meal was free?” Titus asked.

“Yup.” Hazel nodded.

“So...I’m thinking we should take up a new hobby together.” Titus began.

“Which is?” Hazel asked curiously.

“Shooting. I’m already into hunting, I need to be a better shooter though.” Titus realized as he squeezed her hand a little tighter and gave her a gentle yet reassuring look and watched as Hazel’s grin grew into a full blown smile.

“That would be...amazing.” Hazel praised as she squeezed his hand back tightly and just fell in love with him a little more. Because usually right about now any guy would be running for the hills but instead, Titus was making plans to stay and try to help her.

“Wanna stay at my house tonight?” Titus asked.

“Hell yeah.” Hazel nodded as Titus then turned to head to his house since Hazel already had enough of her things to stay there for a few months straight already.

Once back at his house, Titus put her dumplings in the fridge before he turned to face her, wanting to tell her a thousand different things all at once as he had thought about her predicament all day.

“So, if I wanted my house as secure and defend-able as possible, how would I go about that?” Titus asked her before she grabbed the shopping list pad off of his fridge and a pen and handed them to him.

“Take notes.” Hazel grinned as Titus returned her grin and took them before Hazel began to go through the whole house and tell him exactly how to accomplish that and insisted that she pay for it all because it would be getting quite costly but it was investment in Titus’ well being and would help her sleep easier at night.