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writers-in-moominvalley · 1 year

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💝Snorkmaiden and Love Life💝

Snorkmaiden is infamous for falling in love with man after man in the comic strip, deserting Moomintroll in the process.

However, today I will not be judging Snorkmaiden for the lack of simply dumping Moomintroll's butt so she doesn't have to deal with his violent jealousy that ruins nearly all her relationships, instead, I will be judging each character she fell for based on datability.

The list will be sorted in order of appearance, and will only extend to the comics Tove was involved with (every comic between Moomin and the Brigands and Fuddler's Courtship) simply because I do not have access to all of Lars' comics and narrowing it down to Tove's comics makes it astronomically easier for me to actually list these men, let alone judge them. I will also NOT be taking into account any of the adaptations of these characters, I will be strictly focusing on their comic appearances since taking into account THOSE versions of them will be taking into account alot of things that come with them and it would complicate the list even further.

And with that out of the way, let's start with Snorkmaiden's first (after Moomintroll);

Clark (Moomins on the Riviera)

Clark may seem like your archetypical douchebag celebrity at first glance but he is surprisingly one of the more kind men Snorkmaiden's had the.... (Dis)pleasure? Of falling for. "Honey" seems to be a default pet name he gives to women, although we don't see him call anyone else that (he calls Snorkmaiden honey even when they were complete strangers though).

Snorkmaiden and Clark seemed to have quite a bit of fun and Snorkmaiden had 0 conflict or complaints about him until he turned down her invitation to go swim when the Moomins left the hotel after his duel with Moomintroll. His apology gift for the declination was also very sweet of him so he seems to care about Snorkmaiden based on that.

We don't know much about Clark and can only speculate on his life and behavior based on his friend group and status, he could easily have turned sour if given enough time but using only what we know he seems like a good chap for a celebrity guy with poor taste in beach wear.

7/10

The Pirates (Moomin's Desert Island / Moomin Under Sail)

The only reoccurring interests, they really don't do anything as interests. Mymble and Snorkmaiden seemed to enjoy them for the idea that they're dangerous but quickly lose interest when presented with otherwise.

They are a clever sort, I'll give them that, they have made plans and those plans do succeed in the end which is more than I can say for the plans of most other characters, but they are definitely not worth engaging with on a personal level nor are they interested in such follies in the slightest. Bad news but fun to read about.

2/10

Mr. Brisk (Moomin's Winter Follies)

Mr. Brisk is definitely on the lower end of the ranks when it comes to datability. He's never interested in Mymble nor Snorkmaiden until he rides his victory high against Edward the Seal (and even then I doubt he saw them as more than fans) and overall he has this personality that is difficult to deal with on an interpersonal level (with his massive yet fragile ego, competitiveness, fixation on sports and s****dal tendencies).

He is not the WORST person in the world, objectively speaking, but he does not seem to be in any place to treat another person kindly in any respect. His sports moves may be impressive but he's like one of those celebrity sportsman who are only impressive in their field and are fun on a good day but you can't see yourself being real friends with, let alone dating.

2/10

The Fillyjonk (Moomin Begins a New Life)

He's definitely one of those fixer-upper types, I gotta say. His lack of agency when making plans with Snorkmaiden was one of her major complaints about him but that seems to be fixed when he formed a rivalry with Moomintroll, so there's definitely an obvious space for him to change, however I wouldn't call him a catch with the way he is. Even Moominmamma called him a wet (someone who doesn't have strong opinions or agency) and seemed worried for Snorkmaiden because of him.

He seemed attached to Snorkmaiden since he was bold enough to break into a Jeweler's to win her back but also he ditched her to "buy cigarettes" when a threat like "the Black Hand" (Moomintroll) presented itself.

Not a bad guy but not great either. Come back when you get go through some character development my dude.

4/10

The Nobleman (Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo)

He is... Hmm... He seems nice enough for a parody of a french nobleman but he doesn't offer much besides being needy and kind of dim. He is certainly nice enough to Snorkmaiden what with offer her a reward for saving him and inviting her to the King's dinner since he couldn't carry her on his horse, but he seems to prioritize his own needs and doesn't think for Snorkmaiden's wellbeing either.

He seems nice but not nice enough.

5/10

The Revolutionary (Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo)

Love his hair! Do not enjoy his personality. He is truly one of those bark and no bite preachers who make speeches upon speeches and poetry and songs about eating the rich but when it comes to actually doing anything about it he most certainly lacks and even acts cowardly towards the royal guards. He appreciated Snorkmaiden for her admiration for his writing abilities but he doesn't hold any regard for her suggestions or interests outside of that, not to mention his casual sexist comments towards her. He quite literally ditches her after being invited to the King's dinner in place of a revolutionary meeting, which is the most hypocritical thing he could've done and rightfully tipped Snorkmaiden over the edge to finally leave him.

His ideals are something that ought to be admired, of COURSE all men should be equal, but there are holes in his ideals and he simply does not act out what he preaches. Come back when your morals are less flimsy and tone down the sexism!

4/10

The Accountant Fillyjonk (the Conscientious Moomins)

He is straight up a very cute guy. He is very endearing and actually asked Snorkmaiden out on a date which is very rare for these fellows, and his passion for accountancy is something even Snorkmaiden admires. He was very eager to help but was rather oblivious at Snorkmaiden's coyness, though he was still very nice about it.

However, his one downfall was surprising Snorkmaiden with the gift of a cleaned typewriter which she devastatingly did not appreciate, but that's simply a matter of taste (I personally would've appreciated something like that).

A rare good fella. Wish his appearance wasn't so brief.

8/10

The Poet (Moomin Under Sail)

Hmm.... Mixed feelings on the guy, honestly. He is a stowaway leech to be sure but he does have some sincerity in his affection for Snorkmaiden among his plans to be the most comfortable person on the boat indulging in fruits and whiskey. But the Moomins' and Too-Ticky's disdain for him was not totally unfounded, he seemed a little too pretentious and a little too absorbed in his status as a poet which he believes gives him licence to laze about as he wishes.

Snorkmaiden's genuine devastation when he got carried away by the Niblings was heartbreaking to witness but the Moomins' indifference and even relief towards him by contrast was hilarious.

Still, he needs to get his act together and become a more independent guy if he really wants to up his datability rating.

6/10

Dr. Hatter (Fuddler's Courtship)

Hatter's a very... Interesting fellow, and Mymble and Snorkmaiden most certainly took that interesting-ness as a main vocal point of his appeal. As seen with Fuddler, he could easily become friends with someone if he dared, but his overwhelming paranoia and lack of competency in being a psychiatrist should probably be signs that he's not a good date, and I doubt he even is interested in the least. If a psychiatrist uses Freud as an exclamation that's probably a red flag in the kind of stuff he believes.

His personality shift into a physiologist seemed to have made him much friendlier and less skittish (neg. sense) but he became incredibly pretentious about medicine and such, you probably can't hold a very interesting conversation with him like before (which is probably why Mymble lost interest in his quickly).

He... Is there, certainly, but he's a pills-and-drops man now, not a dating man.

4/10

Under the cut are the notes I've compiled about each character so you can make your own judgements on them without having to read the comments, let me know your thoughts! (Warning: it's long)

Clark

- Is introduced as one of Marquis Mongaga's friends who like the Moomins for being weird

- Invites Snorkmaiden to swim in the pool and lets her be when she declines due to a lack of bikini (he calls her honey already, could simply be an impersonal pet name)

- Next time we see him, he's swimming on the beach and recognizes Snorkmaiden ("Hiya, honey, haven't we met before?")

- They go boat skiing together in the background on the next panel with Clark riding the boat and Snorkmaiden doing the skiing

- Snorkmaiden calls him a "man of the world" when arguing with Moomintroll

- Clark asks Snorkmaiden if she always lives in luxury

- Appears awkward and avoidant when Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll start arguing in front of him

- MT calls out Clark and challenges him to a duel

- Clark and MT seem to be arguing in the background of the next panel

- Clark is then seen marching away in the next

- Unlike in the movie, Clark offers the fencing swords straight (100% sure the movie writers just did that choice fakeout to make Clark look alot worse)

- Clark calls MT a pipsqueak who can't even hold a sword properly and narrates his strategy

- He has terrible peripheral vision it seems (makes sense since he wears glasses)

- Clark gets hit in the head by MT off-screen and he looks like a kicked puppy when we see the aftermath

- Snorkmaiden goes to say goodbye to Clark and tells him about how she and the fam are living under an old boat now that she doesn't have money then invites him for a swim tomorrow, Clark politely declines saying he'll be very busy for some time and goes back to reading a newspaper

- Snorkmaiden declares that she hates him afterwards

- (after shenanigans before the Moomins finally leave) Mongaga gives Snorkmaiden a sort of..... Fur cape? Coat? Thing? Saying it's an apology gift from Clark for his rudeness since he felt a little unwell

- End of Clark's presence and the whole comic thereafter

The Pirates

(Moomin's Desert Island)

- The pirates are found drinking rum and eating from a bowl on the beach, they hear Mymble and Snorkmaiden nearby and one of them says "Halt! Who is giggling?"

- They seem stunned to see Snorkmaiden and Mymble in the next panel

- They get blown up by fireworks that MT lit trying to protect Snorkmaiden (since they were chasing after her and Mymble)

- They get injured and patched up by Snorkmaiden, Moominmamma then puts them to work by making them rebuild her rock garden

- They say they can't work without drinking rum

- They get to work and feel totally embarrassed about the job ("After this we can never be pirates again. How unmanly.")

- Moominmamma plants a little head kiss on one of them as a reward

- Snorkmaiden and Mymble lose interest because they aren't "cool" anymore

- They ask what the stone wall is for and then decide to plan a mutiny against the Moomins

- They steal their barrel of rum while the Moomins go diving and celebrate not having to garden

- The pirates stumble upon the Moomin ancestors transporting the crates of fireworks and assembling them into a large tower

- They run and warn the Moomins about the ancestors trying to blow up the island

- Island goes boom boom and it starts raining, which makes the Moomins miss home, so the pirates offer their rum barrel to cheer them up

- their presence in the comic ends

(Moomin Under Sail)

- They're reintroduced by having their and the Moomins' ships nearly hit eachother and Moominpappa and the pirates recognize eachother, much to the pirates' dismay.

- One of the pirates say this is the second ship the Moomins have sunk, Moominpappa justifies himself by saying he knows but THEY started it.

- They say that the least the Moomins can do is bring their loot aboard, Moominmamma then offers hot rum.

- Moomintroll tries to lift a heavy chest and asks if it carries cannonballs, one of the Pirates says it's just eight pieces of gold.

- Snorkmaiden opens a chest full of brocade and jewels

- The Pirates' ship goes up in flames and starts sinking while the silver treasure is still on board, Too-Ticky jumps in and one pirate mourns her death, saying she would have made a great buccaneer. The other one says she's found the silver and Too-Ticky hops back on the boat covered in soot

- One pirate orders Moominpappa to change course to some islands with rich prizes, Moominpappa retorts that it's his ship. The other pirate then replies that he's sunk their ship (revealed to be called the Bloody Mary) and Moominpappa folds to their orders.

- The Pirates happily drink inside the cabin while Moominpappa and Moomintroll sleep inside a tent on the deck, they complain about this.

- One pirate requests that they bring "the young wench, the buxom one" (referring to Snorkmaiden)

- Moomintroll tells Snorkmaiden to not dare go to the pirates and she replies "I dare, too!"

- Moomintroll laments about this

- Snorkmaiden dramatically declares that she is at their mercy, only for the pirates to ask her to darn their socks

- Next day, the pirates spot a merchant ship and make way to the cabin to get their firearms. Once they get inside Moominmamma locks them up and says she'll only let them out if they leave the merchantman alone

- Moominpappa offers to put them ashore, but they say that the ship is their prize

- One pirate says they can't go on like this and the other shushes him saying he has a plan.

- They talk outside the tent about their plan to slit the crew's throats that night, Moomintroll overhears them, tells Moominpappa about it while the pirates are sharpening their knives and the crew leave via life boat. The two look out the window and their plan to simply scare them off the boat with such a threat worked, much to their relief.

- Their presence in the comic ends.

Mr. Brisk

- Mr. Brisk is introduced after the Moomins jump out of the attic of their house and into the soft snow

- He introduces himself by greeting Moominpappa, saying a catchphrase, his name and the organization he works for (The Great Outdoors Association)

- He tells them about how he loves the cold weather ("Refreshing! Wholesome!") and invites them along, saying their days of leisure are gone (*I can sure say he's not good at marketing sports that much*)

- He tries to teach the Moomins how to ski but not very well

- He pressures Moomintroll into going down a large slope by asking if he's a cowardly weakling in a very ominous way

- He then says none of the Moomins seem to possess a natural talent for skiing, but then tells them to not feel intimidated as they're going to switch to skating

- After the Moomins fail, he suggests they go skate with a sail

- *Moominmamma asks the others if they think Mr. Brisk is given to them as punishment for their sins*

- Mymble gets introduced to him and gains a crush after witnessing him go ice lake diving

- He seems to turn into a detrimental influence on Mymble, seeing as she tries to learn how to skate, learned to "understand" that they are all "degenerate weaklings", and made a snow sculpture in his honor

- Mymble wears a pretty dress just for him and Mr. Brisk doesn't seem to care, practically ignoring her and then telling her it's not practical for skiing

- Moominpappa tells Brisk that there are no penguins or polar bears in Moominvalley and Brisk replies with "You wait!" and distributes the fliers for the winter games via birds

- Mymble discovers a natural talent for skiing, however Brisk somewhat waves her off by saying "Alright alright" and telling her about his interest in competition results

- He apologizes to Edward the Seal about the ski jump not being built for someone of his weight

- Snorkmaiden gains a crush on him after witnessing his ski jump

- Brisk loses to Mymble in the ski race and goes to sulk about getting second place and how his career/self-esteem is down the drain on the cliffside, Moomintroll nearly tries to kill him by jousting him off the cliff with a tree but doesn't go through with it because Brisk already feels like garbage

- Moomintroll tells Mymble where Brisk is and Mymble offers him the first prize trophy, Brisk declines saying she doesn't understand

- Mymble tells Edward the Seal to go against Brisk and go easy on him to restore his self-esteem, Edward agrees to this and after Moomintroll tells him about it Brisk says he shall live up to their faith in him

- Brisk and Edward get into a snowball fight with Bris being overly enthusiastic about it

- Edward buries him in snow but Brisk manages to get out of it and pin Edward to the ground so he can admit defeat

- Brisk "wins" and gets cheered on by everyone

- He starts hanging out with Snorkmaiden and Mymble alot until Stinky reveals the truth about the Edward situation

- Brisk's self-esteem collapses and in a rage he challenges Edward to a bobsleigh race and if Edward loses Brisk will tear him to pieces

- Brisk, as they are sledding down: "HONOUR OR DEATH!"

Edward: "You're an aaaasssss...."

- They both crash into the snow, Edward asks Brisk if he's alive and Brisk challenges him to ice skating

- Edward break the ice and forfeits out of frustration, leaving Brisk feeling hollow inside

- The girls are trapped on a floating ice sheet and call for Brisk to save them, Brisk ignores them and goes to the cliffside to attempt suicide

- He actually goes through with the attempt but causes an avalanche in the process which lets him survive

- Brisk unburies everyone (except Stinky) from the snow, not out of the goodness of his heart for these weaklings but because a little exercise wouldn't hurt

- Brisk is honored as a hero, laurels and everything

- Brisk promises Edward he'll get his revenge next year

- Mymble asks Brisk to dance with her but he declines, saying dancing is a futile sport

- He apparently "went back to the North Pole" after Mymble leaves feeling dejected

- Brisk's presence in the comic ends and so does the comic thereafter

(He gets mentioned in Moomin Winter and Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo afterwards)

The Fillyjonk (Moomin Begins a New Life)

- Is introduced after Moominpappa and Stinky enter the party with their undiluted moonshine, Moominpappa notices Snorkmaiden with a new interest and asks "What will Moomin say?", to which Snorkmaiden replies "I've started the new free life, and so have you!"

- Snorkmaiden and the Fillyjonk seem to have been in the middle of dancing in this exchange, with the two holding eachother.

- Later we see the two making plans to run away together in the middle of the night for the sake of this "new life" they're starting, Snorkmaiden asks what they'll live on and the Fillyjonk replies "perhaps you can fetch a little bag of food from home?"

- Moominmamma prepares food for them and observes that the Fillyjonk seems like "such a wet" (according to Cambridge dictionary for "being wet": used to describe someone who has a weak character and does not express any forceful opinions)

- Moominmamma asks before giving them the food if the Fillyjonk is used to running off with women, the Fillyjonk answers saying not really but they're trying to follow the (white) prophet's teachings

- Next morning, Moomintroll seems already aware of what happened to Snorkmaiden and thinking this freedom stuff is stupid and decides to become a highwayman, dressing up like a gun-toting criminal under the pseudonym of "Black Hand" and spies on the couple among the grass.

- The Fillyjonk asks Snorkmaiden if she likes being run off with, Snorkmaiden replies of course, and the Fillyjonk follows up with asking "Didn't we do it properly?" to which Snorkmaiden replies "Oh do shut up!" (She seems pretty sick of him already and it's only been a night)

- The Fillyjonk said he wouldn't have run off with her if she hadn't agreed to it, and she says that that's just the issue

- Moomintroll plants a written warning between them and the Fillyjonk says "How awful!" while Snorkmaiden says "How exciting!"

- Due to his cowardice, the Fillyjonk excuses himself to "go and buy some cigarettes", Snorkmaiden sees right through this and thinks he'll never come back.

- The Fillyjonk later breaks into a jewelry store before Moomintroll does in the hopes that getting jewels for Snorkmaiden would win her affections back from Moomintroll

- Both boys take a pile of jewels with them and set them somewhere Snorkmaiden will find the next morning and Snorkmaiden feels conflicted on which one to choose, or if she should choose both or neither pile

- Snorkmaiden starts following the new (black) prophet's teachings and forces both the Fillyjonk and Moomintroll to apologize to eachother and turn themselves in to the police for burgling the jewelry store (neither one is sincere in their apology. The Fillyjonk in particular says "A new life without women! (For you)")

- They try turning themselves in but the prison is already full and the policeman's getting extremely stressed about it

- The Fillyjonk is seen in the background among the crowd watching the prophets fight

- End of presence for the Fillyjonk

The Nobleman

The Nobleman (Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo)

- Is introduced by riding in on a horse and the horse throws him down right in front of Snorkmaiden. Snorkmaiden believes this to be a heroic rescue from the bandits trying to take her anklet

- the bandits verbally plan to shoot him and steal his horse, the Nobleman puts his hands up in surrender and Snorkmaiden defends him with an umbrella

- Snorkmaiden asks him if he's okay and the Nobleman mistakes a pain in his chest as a bullet wound, after Snorkmaiden tells him the bandits didn't shoot he realizes it must've been a whale bone

- He thanks Snorkmaiden and offers her half his fortune

- He suddenly gets ill and asks Snorkmaiden to get his smelling salts from his bag

- He sneezes from the "salts", as Snorkmaiden mistook a snuff box instead

- He laments how he's had a terrible experience so far, what with almost getting killed, and says Snorkmaiden will certainly get a bag of silver as a reward

- It turns to night and he asks Snorkmaiden to get a blanket for him, Snorkmaiden thinks it was for her until he asks her to put it around his shoulders

- The Nobleman tells a boring story (as indicated by Snorkmaiden yawning) about why he takes 4 glasses of hot milk everyday. He then takes off with his horse, saying it's a pity it can't carry two people, and invites her to the king's dinner tomorrow before leaving.

- end of his presence in the story

Bonus: 2 likely different noblemen are seen taking a liking to Snorkmaiden in a party, one is simply enchanted by her "perfect slopping shoulders" and the other is directly interacting with her, taking her paw and offering a seat next to him and then offering to send a coach to take her home, and before she leaves he tells her that he's quite "bouleverse" (stricken/enchanted) by such a mysterious lady like her.

The Revolutionary

- Is introduced when Snorkmaiden accidentally enters a room where he's giving a political speech to 4 rather bored people about rising against the oppressive upper class

- He points to her, mistaking her as part of the oppressors and pointing out her being "bedecked with fabulous jewels" while the people have no bread, then references Marie Antoinette's famous "let them eat cake" line by saying they don't like cake

- The Revolutionary tries to extend a hand to his fellows but they leave before he finishes his sentence, then he despairs at them being gone. "If I could only make them see how unhappy and oppressed they are!"

- Snorkmaiden is enchanted by his way with words and the revolutionary reads his speeches/poetry to her by candlelight. Snorkmaiden tells him how clever he is and he acts rather touched by the compliment, "Oh.. well.. I THINK they're rather good.. :>"

- He calls her the most intelligent woman he's ever met and says she shall be the genius of the revolution, then tells her to sew small caps for "everyone" (possibly referring to his "fellow revolutionaries")

- Snorkmaiden knits winter caps inspired by Mr. Brisk and the Revolutionary says they aren't very "revolutionary" (badumtsh) but she's already made 3 of them

- Snorkmaiden mentions how Brisk wore wore hats like that last winter but then realizes he wouldn't be born yet (because time travel) and the revolutionary says "Don't worry your pretty little head. I know women are often confused"

- The revolutionary reads his piece about how all men will be equals, Snorkmaiden asks how and he says they'll wear the same clothes. Snorkmaiden asks what about the women and he answers saying they'll be equals, but "not to the men, of course" while patting Snorkmaiden's head

- The Revolutionary continues with another speech while Snorkmaiden makes breakfast, Snorkmaiden asks if the people will agree and the revolutionary says "they'll have to be guided, of course" (Snorkmaiden is starting to call him dear)

- He asks what the food is and Snorkmaiden says they're small pancakes with strawberry jam, the Revolutionary looks dismayed, saying he usually has pork dumplings and pickled herrings. Snorkmaiden looks frustrated and thinks about how Moomintroll never ate such things so she doesn't have experience with them

- The Revolutionary despairs about not having an audience for his new speech, and Snorkmaiden suggests that while he is clever, talk tends to bore people, so they must have action! "Fighting on the barricades!". The Revolutionary asks what barricades are and she explains that she doesn't really know... they're like trenches but up, not down.

- Snorkmaiden puts up a poster and asks what he thinks, the Revolutionary stares at it contemplatively. Snorkmaiden says it's sure to bring people in but he whines "But the revolutionary spirit..."

- The Revolutionary spots a gendarme (french paramilitary police officer) and he and Snorkmaiden hug eachother, afraid they'll become martyrs

- The gendarme bangs on the door and the try to escape through a small door but Snorkmaiden gets caught before she could enter. Snorkmaiden says she was just trying to get into the cellar to get some jam

- The gendarme asks if she put up the poster and when she proudly says yes he just tells her to take it down before leaving, as bill-sticking is prohibited on that street.

- Snorkmaiden is bewitched by the fine weather and suggests they go on a picnic, the Revolutionary declines and wishes to not be disturbed as he is composing a revolutionary song for the big meeting tomorrow. Snorkmaiden gets snippy and says "You and your silly revolution!"

- Snorkmaiden suggests they go out on the shore and pick seashells, the revolutionary asks what for and she continues her suggestion, saying they'll pretend to be pirates "Like Moomin and-" before being cut off by him saying "how very silly!"

- Snorkmaiden snaps at him saying she's tired of him and how he doesn't like picking sea-shells or playing pretend and.. and.. how he likes pork dumplings!

- She knits angrily lamenting about his and his silly revolutions, how he's nothing like Moomintroll. He doesn't even like pancakes and jam! But then she realizes the Revolutionary doesn't seem to be there

- She finds a letter left on his chair, stating that "darling", he can't hold the meeting because he's been invited to the king's dinner

- Snorkmaiden declares that she hates this stupid century and runs away to reunite with Moomintroll

- Comic ends

The Accountant Fillyjonk

- Introduced while Snorkmaiden is working as a secretary. He awkwardly brings up the weather and then asks what she's doing that night, when Snorkmaiden says she's doing nothing he brings up how there's a lecture on general accountancy and bashfully asks her to join him

- Snorkmaiden coyly says she can't even type on the typewriter. The Fillyjonk helpfully guides her and tells her to type "Invoice", when he reads out that she wrote "Love" it flies over his head and tells her she hit the wrong buttons

- Snorkmaiden is seen putting on makeup back in Moominhouse and Moomintroll asks her why, she says she's going out with somebody who ASKS her out.

- Moomintroll acts petty, speculating that he's some book keeper with pimples, a little mustache and no chin, Snorkmaiden retorts by asking where Moomintroll's chin is

- Snorkmaiden says the Fillyjonk is ambitious and studies accountancy, and that he doesn't have to study about personal magnetism (unlike Moomintroll throughout the comic) because he's got something REAL. She then leaves and Moomintroll attempts to get the last laugh saying he bets he doesn't take her out dancing.

- While at work again, the Fillyjonk says he has a surprise for her, Snorkmaiden lights up but then deflates after the Fillyjonk says he's cleaned the typewriter very bashfully

- Snorkmaiden immediately storms back home saying she's resigned from work

- His presence in the comic ends

The Poet

- He is introduced constantly surrounded by flowers and butterflies, he sees that the Moomins' and Too-Ticky's ship is unnamed and suggests that it should be named the Ocean Orchestra, after his own poem. He proceeds to recite his poem but then gets interrupted by Too-Ticky saying their boat doesn't have a flying jib. He whimsically exits the scene as Moominpappa suggests they name their boat "Mermaid" instead.

- Later, the crew (Moomins + Too-Ticky) notice there are signs of someone else being on the boat and find that the Poet his stowed away with them, hiding in the lifeboat eating cake, drinking whiskey and having a pipe with tabacco and a matchbox to the side.

- The Poet acts guilty by saying they should punish him by sending him to a desert island, as it is "poetic justice". And he admits to stealing their whiskey and tabacco to further cement his guilt. Moominpappa backs off saying he's welcomed on the boat and the Poet smiles at him rather sincerely.

- He asks the Moomins if they forgive him for stealing their stuff and Pappa assures him that they do. The Poet then goes "Of course, a poet must have some licence" (as in: freedom to behave as one wishes, especially in a way which results in excessive or unacceptable behaviour.)

- Moominmamma offers elderberry wine but he declines, saying he'd rather have whiskey and more fruit

- The Poet quickly turns to indulgence as he makes the Moomins set up a comfortable hammock with umbrella and side table. He comments on the lapping waves and calls the seagulls lost souls of sailors, lost at sea, circling their wake. Too-Ticky sneers at him and says they've fed them lots of refuse.

- Moomintroll says they should get rid of him somehow and the rest of the crew (except Snorkmaiden) agree to this

- Moomintroll gives the Poet a foot bath and the Poet says the crew (he calls them philistines) must be happy to have a poet on board, Moomintroll begrudgingly says "very"

- The Poet throws an anchor to the sea before realizing it isn't tied to the boat, then brushes off the loss. Moomintroll looks at him angrily

- Moominpappa laments how he can't even like the sea anymore because of how much the Poet adores it. Moomintroll says that atleast he's one character Snorkmaiden hasn't fallen for.

- Moomintroll immediately gets proven wrong.

- Snorkmaiden is wistfully listening to the Poet read (presumably) his book titled the Ocean Orchestra.

- Moomintroll asks if he'd like to be put ashore and the Poet declines, looking very kindly at Snorkmaiden while speaking

- Moomintroll very menacingly adds that he knows a desert island where he can be really poetic, the Poet declines again saying he loves the boat and Snorkmaiden

- Moomintroll snaps at him and tells him to leave her alone, the Poet and Snorkmaiden only guiltily look up together

- That night, the Poet gets attacked by Niblings while the rest retreat to higher ground.

- The Poet throws his poems in self-defense and the Niblings just eat the papers, then he tries to attack them with a harpoon but is finally carried off by the Niblings off to the sea.

- Snorkmaiden asks Too-Ticky to "save her hero" but Too-Ticky says there's not much one can do

- The Moomins superficially mourn him. Moominpappa throws a potted flower into the sea and says "Well, ahem, this one must say, he DID rhyme his poems"

- Snorkmaiden genuinely mourns him and Moomintroll gives her some lackluster comfort saying the Niblings probably haven't eaten him. Snorkmaiden becomes totally distressed and Moomintroll continues saying if the Niblings didn't like his taste, they may have gnawed the edges, sort of. Snorkmaiden snaps at him saying the Poet was a great man and Moomintroll simply replies "Well, let's hope he has an awful taste"

- End of his presence in the comic

Dr. Hatter

- Dr. Hatter is introduced via a newspaper article read by Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden, they see this as an opportunity to help the Fuddler become more attractive to Mymble (Jr)

- The two hope that Hatter read their letter and Mymble runs up to them saying that a man is moving into an empty house by the fig trees and that he seems exciting. The two run and check if it's him.

- Dr. Hatter appears to be skulking around the house's premises and Snorkmaiden says he might be one of Hatter's patients

- Hatter paints his name on a wall (DR. HATTER, psychiatrist), disagrees with the aesthetic and redoes it (PSYCHIATRIST, Dr. Hatter)

- Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden take Fuddler to his house and Hatter's door is covered in chains and locks he peaks out the window and mistakes them for spies. Moomintroll corrects him and Hatter throws down all his keys for the locks to them, saying he can't be too careful

- The trio go inside and finds memorial portraits of his parents, and toys scattered around the floor. Moomintroll asks if Hatter will be good for Fuddler, perturbed by the sight.

- They looks at some other images on the walls, featuring a homemade Rorschach test (which doesn't even follow the rules of an actual Rorschach blotch), an upsidedown photograph from a patient and other miscellaneous posters

- Hatter appears behind a screen and a load of junk. Moomintroll introduces Fuddler and Hatter tells him to come as the middle of the floor is "so lonely"

- He comments on how Fuddler seems normal and sensible to wear a saucepan to protect his head, however, Moomintroll looks like a case of "Natvomania" (appears to be a made-up disorder) to him. Moomintroll snaps saying it's a crazy idea, however Hatter retorts by pulling up a certificate certifying that he is, in fact, sane

- Fuddler talks about his dreams and Hatter comes closer to a diagnosis. Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden quietly leave them to their devices and Snorkmaiden comments "Isn't he clever?"

- Moomintroll hopes Hatter can help Fuddler and Snorkmaiden says "Of course!! He's wonderful!"

- Mymble shows up and asks Snorkmaiden "Have you seen Dr. Hatter? Isn't he marvelous!" and Snorkmaiden replies "He's so interesting!". Moomintroll scoffs saying he's silly.

- Mymble and Snorkmaiden continue to becomes further enamoured by Dr. Hatter, much to Moomintroll's chagrin.

- Fuddler and Hatter share their button collection and trade buttons, which excites Fuddler. Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll witness him running out of the office happily and Snorkmaiden ponders if Hatter will take her in for treatment too. Moomintroll decides that he should chase Hatter away.

- Moomintroll hires a ghost to scare Hatter, Hatter wakes up to the sound of rattling chains and consults his book about dream meanings, thinking that the current situation is a dream, and then gets spooked by the ghost.

- "My Freud!" cries Hatter, thinking the ghost is his subconscious taking form and says how awful it looks, and that he must analyse himself "again". The ghost threatens to appear three more times and Hatter declares that he'll leave.

- Snorkmaiden, Mymble and Fuddler all become upset about Hatter leaving, with Fuddler in particular begging Moomintroll to help until he feels guilty

- Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll beg Dr. Hatter to not leave as he's packing, Hatter says that he must as the house wakes his subconscious. Snorkmaiden says they'll bring him cases, Hatter is surprised as he believes everyone seems normal, but Moomintroll replies that they're awfully mental, Hatter pauses his packing and says "Oh dear".

- Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden gather some patients to visit him (among them being Mrs. Fillyjonk and the Inspector)

- Snorkmaiden is the first patient, Hatter seems awfully avoidant/shy about whatever subject he's talking about. Snorkmaiden tries to bring up something that nearly happened to her once but he interrupts her saying that the symbols are what matters and asks if she's ever dreamt of bees, Snorkmaiden gets annoyed and says no.

- Mrs. Fillyjonk is the next patient, Hatter shows her one of his homemade Rorschach tests and she says it's an ink spot, he checks a book and goes "aha!" which worries Mrs. Fillyjonk. He then asks her how often she washes and if she brushes her teeth several times a day, Mrs. Fillyjonk nervously answers yes and Dr. Hatter checks his book, vaguely saying "It fits in". Mrs. Fillyjonk asks "Fits in with what?" and Hatter says it's too early to say so she should come back tomorrow.

- The Inspector is patient number three, Hatter makes him play a game of Perfection. Hatter tries to make him put the shapes in the right holes and Inspector ropes him into playing along with him. Hatter brings up how "they" are all after him, and asks if the Inspector ever has bad dreams, the Inspector says not often but he does. Hatter then says "they" are after him because he grows roses, Inspector suddenly gets anxious because he also grows roses. Hatter tells him to come back any time as the Inspector leaves the office, now paranoid of spies.

- Moomintroll notices everyone who visited Hatter are acting strangely. Snorkmaiden suggests Moomintroll should go to Hatter aswell because he thinks everyone is too normal, Moomintroll is baffled by this as he looks at mrs. Fillyjonk staring at herself in a hand mirror.

- Snorkmaiden gets the Moominparents involved in making dr. Hatter stay by using Fuddler to guilt trip them, Moominpappa says people already think they're weird even if they don't try and Snorkmaiden says that Hatter doesn't so they will try this time.

- The Moomin family get on a row boat in front of Hatter's house and pretend their sailing on water, Snorkmaiden says the water is cold and Hatter asks if the fish are biting, then realizes that the ground isn't actually water.

- Hatter invites them to his house and the family continue their boat delusion charade, Snorkmaiden asks if he wasn't going to leave and he says no! Not with them in their present state.

- Moomintroll asks if he can put his nonexistent fish on the table, Hatter says not on the mahogany table, "but that wouldn't matter, would it..." he asks. Moomintroll does a hand stand and asks why everyone is upsidedown, Hatter puts a hand over his mouth in worry.

- The rest of the Moomins do a handstand aswell and ask why Hatter is upsidedown, Hatter laughs it off and says it's just a whim and joins their handstanding. They ask if he can cure them, but Hatter says that although they give him a headache, somehow he thinks they're quiet normal

- Hatter suddenly decides to take his leave but then Moominmamma invites him to a party, Hatter declines because "spies everywhere!" but they insist, dragging him by the arms

- Hatter visits Moominhouse and takes notice of the fence, saying it's very bad, then says it's terrible that they live in a tower, then says the round windows show that their case is very far gone

- They go inside and Moominmamma offers him wine, Hatter says there are symbols of the most sinister kind everywhere.

- He sees the tree growing inside their house and says they must be suffering from "Virulent independentia" (another made-up disorder) so he takes them somewhere else.

- Hatter makes them go inside a fenced container for a tree sapling, locks them up and tells them to be calm

- The Moomins panic and go back on their pretending, but Hatter believes they're suffering from delusions and then asks if they sometimes think they're umbrella stands or egg-beaters.

- Mymble comes in and Hatter says he doesn't have time for her as the Moomin are very interesting to him. Mymble says she thinks she's a flower stand and Hatter takes her in as another case, Mymble begs him to give her private treatment but she's locked up anyway.

- Fuddler comes in and blows up the cage with dynamite, knocking Hatter unconscious in the process, Mymble rushes to Hatter's side and completely ignores Fuddler which angers him.

- Moomintroll pours water on Hatter and he wakes up with a new hairdo. Mymble says he's had a traumatic experience and Hatter says "Traumatic? You've been reading trashy novelettes, young lady!", then says how water invigorates the glands. Mymble thinks the explosion must've brought up his subconscious.

- Mymble asks if he's alright and he says of course he is, Mymble then asks if he'll be treating her psyche and Hatter says that's stuff and nonsense. Chromosomes, gangliae, bacilli, they're the stuff!

- However, Hatter says she seems undernourished and tells her to put out her tongue. He prescribed her iron pills, vitamins and warm underclothes to make her fat and healthy again. Moomintroll asks Mymble if she's happy that Hatter's treating her and Mymble says that he isn't interesting anymore.

- Moominmamma notices Mrs. Fillyjonk and the Inspector are still acting strangely and tells Hatter that he's given them complexes. Hatter scoffs at the idea of complexes and says he's a pills-and-drops man, strictly pills and drops. He'll makes them some pills though, or drops..

- Later, Dr. Hatter actually does develop some complex-reducing pills for them but Moominmamma already cured them so there's no need. Hatter despairs as his effort lays wasted but says Moomintroll surely must have complexes and gives the pills to him in the name of science.

- Moomintroll starts shrinking and Snorkmaiden panics, going to dr. Hatter about it and Hatter finds it interesting, though he does give her the antidote to pour on Moomintroll.

- Comic ends

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merinnan · 2 years

Text

Thanks, @foxofninetales!

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms, 10 Tags

Rules: name 10 of your favorite characters from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 others to do the same. Let’s gooooooo!

1. Liu Sang, Daomu Biji (Nanpai Sanshu)

2. Gul Dukat, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

3. Shen Wei, Guardian (priest)

4. Tenoh Haruka/Sailor Uranus, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon (Takeuchi Naoko)

5. Fei Du, Mo Du (priest)

6. Nie Huaisang, Mo Dao Zu Shi/Chen Qing Ling (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu)

7. Mogget, The Old Kingdom Chronicles (Garth Nix)

8. Jill, The Deverry Cycle (Katherine Kerr)

9. Granny Weatherwax, Discworld (Terry Pratchett)

10. Jimmy the Hand, The Riftwar Cycle (Raymond E Feist)

It was surprisingly difficult to narrow it down to only 10!

Tagging: @amidalogicdive @xantissa @1ebilcat @sans-crayola @taomubiji @scaredysap @kholran @s1utspeare @psychic-waffles @epicwalrus

#tag games #10 characters 10 fandoms 10 tags

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laurensprentiss · 3 years

Text

Jouska [Hotch x Reader]

Chapter 10:

Gif credit: @dudeitiskarev

A/N: Shorter chapter, an almost outtake before things really kick off. Emily ships it.

———

“Though soulmates aren't looking for you, they will find you.” - Kevin Ansbro

———

Hotch balances his phone against his shoulder and hops around on a single leg trying to pull his sock over his other foot. His words are strained when he speaks, “You’re gonna have to give me an extra twenty minutes, Ben I’m running a little late.”

“Yeah, that’s fine - wait what are you doing? Why do you sound like that?” McCall asks.

He’s dangerously close to losing his balance, and decides against breaking his tailbone just because he might be late to work. “Nothing. I’ll see you in 20,” He grunts into the phone.

Downstairs, Haley buzzes around the kitchen, moving from countertop to countertop, disinfecting the worktops as breakfast sizzles in the pan. She’s working on aggressively scrubbing a particular spot of grout on the worktop when Hotch makes his way downstairs.

She’s been so high-strung the last few days. Maybe even more than normal and he can’t quite figure out why. She’s being attentive and showering him with affection and has a ton of energy - teetering dangerously close to smothering him, he thinks.

She surprisingly didn’t have a lot to say when he came home after spending the night at your apartment a few days ago. It’s refreshing, sure, but he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Notwithstanding her almost overnight transformation, she’s also tossing and turning through the night, enough for Hotch’s own sleep to become disturbed, her eyes are always wide, darting around, almost paranoid and her nails are bitten to the quick.

She’s been waking up at dawn for the last two days to clean and scrub every inch of the house now and Hotch swears he could probably eat off the kitchen floor the way she’s disinfected every possible surface of the house.

“Hey!” She whips around when he enters the kitchen. There it is again. The squeaky, high voice. The disconcerting smile.

He frowns, watching her carefully as she throws her arms around him. He doesn’t have a chance to respond before she turns back around to fix him a plate.

“You okay?” He mutters, eyes following her movements.

“Yeah! I feel really good! You?” It’s like she’s forgotten how to blink.

He nods slowly, offering a tight smile in response. He’s lost for words and actions right now, takes everything in him not to profile her.

That’s got to be unethical, right?

But he can’t help but notice the way she diverts his questions, her paranoid body language, her overcompensating.

She’s hiding something.

Hotch follows behind her and motions for Haley to sit at the table, he’ll bring them both breakfast at the table, he tells her. She hesitates moving but he gently nudges her over with a hand on her back and she takes a seat, chewing her lip. Even at the table, she’s not really sitting properly, it’s like she’s almost squatting, bottom barely touching the seat, on her tiptoes, back straight.

Hotch walks over with two plates of food and she offers him a tight smile as he does. He’s about to walk back towards the fridge for juice when the house phone rings, Haley immediately shooting up from her chair.

Hotch taps her on the shoulder. “It’s okay, I got it.” He assures her but she trails behind him, anyway. He picks up the receiver from the stand and offhandedly speaks into the phone, spotting Haley a few feet from him.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

Haley’s arms are crossed, her right thumbnail between her teeth.

“Hello?” He presses.

He says it one more time and hangs up when there’s no answer, shrugging. “Must’ve been a wrong number.”

Haley’s shoulders relax momentarily but there’s another ringing noise, this time from her purse, not even seconds later. Both of their gazes fall to her purse, her eyes widening and mouth dropping slightly.

The colour drains from her face.

He looks back at Haley with wide eyes who’s all but speed-walking towards her phone, the ringing persistent.

She flips it open, “Hello?”

He watches her carefully.

“Oh, hey Mom!” She squeaks, her voice breaking. “Can I call you later? Aaron and I are about to have breakfast.” She pauses. “Okay, bye Mom!”

She chuckles and points to her phone. “It’s uh- my Mom. She says hi.”

“Yeah, I got that,” He nods and glances at his watch, careful to keep his eyes on Haley. “Actually, y’know what I gotta go, I’m already late. I’ll grab something on the way.” He explains.

Her face drops but she nods, grabbing his keys and briefcase for him. He bids her an almost cold goodbye, jogging to his car. A thought occurs to him suddenly that steels him, he glances at his watch once more, frowning.

“It’s 6am in Seattle.”

———

“So do you guys have plans today?” McCall asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

You take a bite of your toast, telling him that you’re going visit your father today. You still hadn’t told him about what happened at the restaurant a few days ago, and the more time that went on, the more you think you’d like to keep it that way.

You weren’t sure how he would take it, he could fall sick again, like he had last year when the notes first started appearing and you didn’t want to risk that, not after you’d just got him back. Besides, he was the only person you had left besides Emily.

And Hotch.

The butterflies start again. Try as you might, you couldn’t divert your attention away from Hotch and the time you’d spent together. Nothing happened, sure. You sat and talked all night, but something about that night, something about the way he’d made you feel so safe and secure, stuck with you.

The air had shifted between you.

But this was just a case, an assignment. After they caught this guy, he’d go back to his normal life, move on with his girlfriend and live his life.

But you weren’t so sure what you’d do.

Maybe it’d pass - but there’s a constant buzzing in the back of your head and in the pit of your stomach that maybe it won’t pass.

Something about this, about him - feels different. Heavy. That occurrence settles dread in your stomach, you’d got attached before you’d even had a chance to talk yourself out of it, before you’d even realised what was happening.

It’s just a crush, you tell yourself.

The three of you turn your attention to the door when there’s a knock, Hotch’s voice calling out from the other side.

“I’ll get it!” You throw your toast back onto your plate, shooting up from your chair. Emily scoffs watching you scramble from the table, her downturned head shaking.

Hotch freezes when you open the door, expecting to see McCall, but he’s greeted by your bright eyes instead. He smiles and offers a quiet ‘Hi’, his face softening and you respond the same, both of you standing by the door, sharing a quiet moment with your friends just behind you.

His eyes look glassy when they gaze back at you, his usual warmth is there but there’s something else, something different. You can find it in the way the tension in his shoulders dissipates , or the way his cheeks blush just slightly.

Emily clears her throat pointedly, standing behind your couch, and it rips you both from your stupor. You chuckle and step aside to allow him to come in, his hand brushing yours as he enters. Your shiver doesn’t go unnoticed by Emily, who watches with narrow eyes from afar.

“You want some breakfast? There’s more than enough,” you ask.

“Thank you, I’m fine.” He responds almost instinctually. McCall thanks you for breakfast and starts to make his way out but Hotch stops him, handing him the keys to the car and motions outside.

“I’ll start the car.” McCall mutters.

Hotch turns back to you and straightens out his tie over his shirt. “Can we talk?” He asks, clearing his throat.

Emily slowly slinks away into your bedroom, and your eyes meet Hotch’s. The air changes suddenly so you turn your attention to the kitchen in an attempt to ease some of the tension, wrapping a doughnut in some parchment paper while he speaks. You figure he maybe sensed something the other night and this would be his attempt at letting you down easy. You swallow when there’s a long pause, the atmosphere thick.

“I wanted you to hear it from me, but Emily told me about your ex. Jordan?” Your head whips back around to face him, trying your best to hide the surprise in your face.

“Oh?” You swallow.

This is worse.

“Yeah. It’s none of my business and I probably should’ve told you the other night, but I just wanted you to know that we’re on our way to see him now. We need to question him. It’s a standard thing, just to see if he’s seen or heard anything.” He’s apparently hyper-focused on a spot on his shoe suddenly because he refuses to meet your eyeline.

You chew on the inside of your cheek. “Oh. Okay. Well thanks for letting me know.” This is embarrassing. Jordan was a mistake you’d made, a sleazy, gross mistake.

Shit.

You turn back around to pour some coffee into a mug, your cheeks burning. What would they even have to talk about? Jordan’s going to open his big mouth about how the two of you hooked up again, you think. It wouldn’t take long for Hotch to realise that it happened right after he’d begged you to let him in after you’d visited Quantico.

But why do you care?

It’s none of his business, he’s right.

Still.

The people you surround yourself with and all of that, you wouldn’t want him to think less of you.

And you don’t want him to think you’re not available.

He’s not available, you idiot.

He waits for you to look back at him but when he sees you engrossed with whatever it is you’re doing, he takes that as his answer and decides to quietly exit. He’s almost out of the door when you turn back around, to see him dragging his feet.

“Wait. Here.” You hand him the coffee and doughnut with a smile, your fingers brushing again.

“Hey, for the record. Jordan can be,” you pause. You didn’t want to disparage anybody but you needed him to know. “Difficult? Intense? Look, all you need to know is that he was a mistake I made and - I just.” You sigh. “I don’t want you to think any less of me.” You shrug.

He meets your eyeline this time. “What? Why would I think any less of you? I would never.” He says firmly.

He’s right. He could never.

“I know, still.” You can barely stop the words before they come up. “Your opinion means a lot to me.”

He softens. No - melts, at this, a smile making its way onto his face. He wants to reach out and cup your face, wants to feel your embrace again.

“Me too.” He whispers.

McCall sounds the horn from below, both of you flinching at the noise and dissolving into awkward laughter. He holds up the doughnut and thanks you for breakfast.

Emily emerges smugly from your room almost as soon as Hotch leaves, her arms crossed. She wears another shit-eating grin on her face, half teasing and half questioning, finally concluding what she’d suspected from day one. She goes to open her mouth but you stop her, holding up your finger.

“Not a word.” You warn her.

———

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Tags: @oreogutz @andromedasstarship @galacticnerd-78 @izzyl13 @metaclawed @crying-river @purpledragonturtles @gabbysblogthingy @archiveofadragon @yoshigguk @acidicbloody @jeor @ivebeenthinkingboutu @bauslut @averyhotchner @vashanatasha @hotchwhore15

#aaron hotchner #hotch #hotch x reader #hotch x you #hotch smut #hotch fluff #cm fanfic #cm fic #cm fic rec #aaron hotchner x reader #criminal minds

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tundrainafrica · 3 years

Text

Title: Lovebug (10/14)

Summary:

“It might be a bug.”

“A bug?”

“Sometimes the developers of this application make mistakes. This is our first time meeting I’m sure so…Isn’t it a bit weird that we just met for the first time and it rings like this? And for two strangers to coincidentally ring each other’s alarms?“

Levi is the developer of the Love Alarm App and Hange is married to Zeke.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Notes: Feedback is very much appreciated :D

The floors of the motel room were wooden. And wood on most days was a good insulator.

Strangely though, signs of the beginning of autumn and maybe even the staunch hints of a coming winter seeped into the floorboards. Levi bent down, pressing one hand over the wood. The surface was cold enough to almost sting. It looked like sleeping on the floor could turn out to be more of a challenge than a moment of respite.

Still, it was something to consider. Levi sat cross legged on the floor for a few seconds longer to rehearse the gentle suggestion to Hange that he be the one to take the floor. They had been hesitantly discussing that topic for a while already, without reaching much of a conclusion.

When he was still vacillating internally between deciding and letting Hange decide, he started to realize he wasn’t productive at all. He didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t know what to do. Naturally, he didn’t know what to say either.

The door slammed open just a few feet away, close enough to rattle him.

“That felt good,” Hange sighed and she fell back on the bed. “Finally, I can lie on a bed.”

“See, isn’t it better to lie on a clean bed?” Levi asked pointedly. He had spent a good few seconds convincing her not to lie on the bed until she showered. Surprisingly, Hange was compliant.

But even after showering, Hange didn’t seem at all glad at his fastidiousness. Without a second look, she digressed to a subject Levi would have preferred she didn’t pursue. “I’ll go borrow a first aid kit and get some extra blankets.” She padded towards the door efficiently.

The room was small, and Hange’s strides were long and quick. That left no time for Levi to play clean freak or lecturer again and he chose that moment to lay on the cold floor.

Just for a little more practice.

It was a cheap motel room. There were only two pillows on the bed, one blanket and when he opened the closet door there was nothing much but two bathrobes and towels.

They had discussed the size already. They had considered a mattress but the floor between the wall and the bed was not big enough to squeeze one in. He stood up, walked one corner of the room, then the other, then he made a plan. They could request an extra blanket, a pillow and if he made his own little fort in that small gap between bed and wall, he could probably create some illusion that he was lying comfortably on a bed.

The door opened again and Hange sauntered into the room, one folded blanket on one hand, a first aid kit on the other. “Okay, let’s check out the wound.”

“It’s just a scrape,” Levi said.

“It wouldn’t hurt to get it cleaned up. ” Hange said with a no nonsense tone. She settled on the bed and tapped the empty space next to him. "Or actually, it might hurt."

Levi slowly and hesitantly made his way to the bed. There was something seemingly inappropriate about sitting on someone’s bed. The few times he had ever entered someone’s room, Levi had always been particular about avoiding other people’s beds for hygiene purposes, for personal purposes. It was their personal space after all.

But Hange was staring at him expectantly and with the bed behind her, Levi was thinking of the only one other person who had the privileges of sleeping with Hange. That blond billionaire monke----.

“What are you waiting for?” Hange interrupted, her voice a mix of impatience and possibly genuine curiosity. She tapped the bed again more quickly that time.

“I don’t need it,” Levi said. Really, he didn’t mind but when he was particularly aware that he had been standing awkwardly the past few minutes, he knew he needed to preserve some dignity.

“You’re scared of a little alcohol?” Hange teased.

“No, I’m not,” Levi narrowed his eyes in indignance. Then he started to think, he could look obedient or he could look like a coward. He decided obedience was better so he sat next to her, keeping a few inches between them.

As soon as he was settled on the bed, Hange pulled his injured elbow towards her in a very gentle manner. It brought with it a sensation Levi was sure he wasn't completely familiar with. A part of him wanted to pull away. Was that her first time touching him slowly and deliberately? Their first point of contact that wasn't borne of urgency or impulse?

Either way, Levi had to admit, it was an unfamiliar feeling altogether. He watched, just to make sense of it himself, the way Hange's hands ran lightly over the broken skin, the way she gripped a little more firmly along the area close to the wound.

She bent her head down and tutted a few times. “Looks like splinters might have gotten caught in the wound.” She went for the first aid kit, pulling out tweezers and some thick gauze. “This might hurt a bit,” she warned.

Sitting still turned out to be a difficult task. He was sure he had dealt with worse pains and he had never been one to be completely intolerant of discomforts. He liked to assume it was the current situation, the awkwardness and the heavy air that made it difficult to do something so simple as to stomach pain.

Pain before he even felt it. His body was not cooperating.

“Hey, I know it might hurt but stop pulling away or we won’t get it out.” Her voice was notably stern. She put her hands on his shoulders and twisted his body to her side. “Face me.”

It was an easy order to follow but it came with its own set of unpleasantries. Levi could only stare. Her gaze was as stern as her words of a while ago. Her grip on his shoulders had been hard and firm. For all he knew, she could have been his commander, his superior. And he couldn’t help but think, maybe she would have fit that type of position in another life.

When her face would soften into something more intimate, it didn’t in any way dwindle whatever respect he felt for her.

Hange didn’t go for the splinter quickly the second time. She bent over, pulled his elbow towards her more slowly. “If you need to, squeeze my arm.” To get her point across, Hange raised the arm that was holding his elbow up, pressing it against Levi’s palms.

He couldn’t help but note, her arms were a stark contrast to the cold floor beneath him, a welcome improvement to the blankets and bed sheets to his side. Her arms, her skin was very warm and he craved warmth. In a natural turn of events, he wrapped his fingers around her arm slowly at first, then all at once. “I won’t squeeze too hard,” Levi said. Had that comment been for him or for her?

Hange ignored him. “Let’s do this quickly. In one--”

Levi saw white then red in an unexpected turn of events. She didn’t count two or three. He didn’t even know he let out a taut swear until Hange let out her own response, a mix between a laugh and a murmur. “You really are strong,” she commented. “Humanity’s strongest.”

"Shut up." He let it out as a whisper, channeling his energy instead into the process evening out his breathing.

"Does it still hurt?" Hange asked.

"What? No it doesn't." It didn’t hurt. What made her think it did? Even after a brief moment of introspection, the answer wasn’t completely clear to Levi.

To Hange though, it might have been clear. She was looking at him expectantly and Levi surveyed his surroundings, focusing his senses on whatever signs she might have noticed.

A second later, she spoke up, answering that silent question between them. "You're still holding on.”

At that mortifying revelation, Levi pulled away.

But Hange only gripped harder. “I don’t mind. If it still hurts, you can keep holding on.” She paused for a second longer, her gaze still fixed on his. “And you can keep holding on until it stops hurting.”

Levi was a simple man and he knew nobody was supposed to enjoy pain. In a bout of what could have been uncharacteristic, he found himself searching for it. The stinging pain of the scrape eventually faded but that only made Levi settle for any remnants. An excuse to grip for a while longer maybe?

He found another type of pain, something similar to what a donkey would feel with a carrot dangling in front of it. The pain of having something within proximity yet completely unreachable. The pain of vacillating between trying to find a way to reach it and trying to find a way to get over it.

If he was in any more pain, he could have continued to hold on, for seconds even minutes longer. Soon, he let whatever primal instincts that were convincing him of that, take over.

He gripped hard.

Hange wasn’t helping abate his instincts. She gripped harder in return. Her nails were short but they were digging hard into him, her thumbs pressing all the way until he felt it down to the bone. “You know, holding on to someone can make you feel better, especially when you’re in a lot of pain,” she said.

“What makes you think anything hurts?” Levi challenged. As if to answer his question, his shaking hands, his firm grip gave way to a new set of discomforts.

Hange gave him a knowing look enough for Levi to acknowledge that maybe, he lost a little bit of control. “You seem tense,” she said. “Does anything else hurt? That was a bad fall a while ago… I think you cushioned it for me.”

“The grass was soft,” Levi reassured.

Hange nodded. “Okay…” She trailed off as if there was more to say.

But really, was there anything else to say? The room was just composed of dead air, a few pieces of lifeless furniture and an elephant, a large elephant. Fine. Levi had to admit, there was an elephant in the room. It was demanding to be comprehended, eventually resolved.

The way Hange’s eyes narrowed on him was a sign in itself, she might have been aware of it too. “Still...Does anything else hurt?”

In a burst of painful awareness, Levi twisted his arms from her grasp, another futile attempt to pull away. “You can let go now,” he said. It was a weak plea. In reality, he wished she wouldn’t let go.

A part of him was suggesting that maybe, just maybe, they were both a little crazy and someone had to play the part of the sane person.

Eventually, Hange seemed to have come to her senses. Or he could have been coming to his senses too. When everything was coming in blurs, he couldn’t be too sure who was actually in need of a smack on the head.

“Let me bandage up your elbow.” Hange rifled through the first aid kit.

There was a brief silence and Levi was clamoring for something to fill the empty air. “You seem to know a lot about first aid,” he commented. That was a ridiculous comment, anyone with half a brain could have pulled out a splinter and bandaged it.

“I took psychology in college... We took biology classes and there were first aid seminars,” Hange answered as if it wasn’t a stupid question.

The conversation had shifted to college classes and Levi was wondering how to comment about something so obvious and expected. Maybe talk about himself? “I took coding classes,” Levi said. Really, what else was there to say.

“I figured,” Hange said. That last comment didn’t look like it had disturbed the rhythm at all of taping the gauze to his elbow. It was a seamless sequence of movements and Hange’s hands didn’t stop moving, they flew over to the palms of his hands. “It looks like you have some scrapes here.”

There was a subtle stinging pain and Levi noticed, his body shook at the tingling sensation of her hands on his. He definitely wasn’t used to that much touch. And from her of all people? “You don’t need to bandage them.” They weren’t bad scrapes at all, just raw red.

Hange continued to run her hands over them, gripping a little firmer in areas where the skin seemed more intact. Instinct had Levi gripping back. And the few times when he pressed hard enough, he felt a twinge of guilt, as if he was the one invading personal space.

Hange let out a light chuckle. “Are you okay?”

“Why?”

“Your grip, it’s on and off,” Hange pointed out.

“Yeah, it feels weird.”

Hange didn’t respond immediately. Her fingers travelled all the way towards his wrist. “Don’t software engineers get carpal tunnel?”

“Yeah, maybe it's carpal tunnel,” Levi said. He had coded for long enough to at least be familiar with the bane of every software engineer’s existence. He had been an engineer long enough though to know that the tingling was most likely not carpal tunnel.

“You should take care of yourself more. It would be sad if someone like you had to retire early over a wrist injury.”

“Senior engineers don’t code as much anymore. We handle pull requests.” Was that the right thing to say to fill the air between them?

Hange wasn’t looking at him though. Her brows were furrowed, her jaws were stiff. She seemed too focused on his hands though to trifle herself with the responsibilities of senior engineers. “I heard there’s a way to check it out… if we flex your wrist here.” She gripped hard, her hands digging once again into his lower palms. The tingle, the thunder at his lower hand shook him all the way until his shoulders. In a bout of panic, Levi attempted to pull away again.

Hange’s grip could have been weak or Levi’s own pull could have been strong. That moment ended with a surprised Hange, looking right at him. She soon turned red. “You’re right, it wasn’t even bleeding. What was I thinking?” She looked away, seeming flustered.

“You should give back the first aid kit now,” Levi said.

“They said I can give it back tomorrow morning.” Hange looked away and shut the first aid kit with a click.

There was silence once again. A complete waste of time when there were too many issues, too many questions that needed to be resolved. When they were racing through his mind at breakneck speed, Levi had to admit, when overwhelmed, sometimes silence was the most natural response.

One at a time. “I can sleep on the floor,” Levi suggested.

Hange’s soft expression of a while ago immediately changed to something incredulous. “No you--”

“Or the car,” Levi added.

Hange opened her mouth, ready to say something else.

But Levi was quicker. “The back of the car isn’t as mud--”

Hange interrupted with a loud exhale which somehow had managed to convey a no nonsense massage. “Is there anything wrong with the bed?”

“Don’t you wanna sleep on the bed?”

Hange shook her head. “You’re the injured one.”

“It’s barely even a flesh wound. Besides you were the one driving,” Levi argued.

“You were the one who took the brunt of rolling down the hill.”

Could looks be effective in persuading? He stared for a while longer, fixing his eyes on hers. Hange returned his gaze with her own indignant one.

How long could they sit there just staring?

And as time passed, he started to wonder, how long did they sit there just staring. The weight of sleepiness eventually served as a reminder, they weren’t getting anything done. With the rain still pouring outside, the option of sleeping in the car was also out of the question.

Maybe giving in didn’t have to be such a climactic decision. “I’m going to bed,” Levi got off the bed and wedged himself between the wall and the bedside, pulling one pillow from bed and slipping it underneath. As long as he was careful not to hit his head on anything, he could make it work. “Good night.”

“Okay,” Hange said. “If you don’t mind, I’ll turn off the lights now.”

“Well, it’s better to fall asleep with the lights off right?”

Hange didn’t reply. Footsteps echoed across the room, there was a click and the room got darker, enough of a cue for Levi to close his eyes and relax as best as he could. He squeezed further into the gap, the wooden bed frame pressed to one side, the cold cement of the wall pressed on his other and just a pillow underneath, a blanket over him.

The sound of footsteps didn’t end there. There was a squeak, then a thump. The whoosh of blankets and the soft plop of a pillow. On the wooden floor.

Levi couldn’t relax just yet. “Hange, is there something wrong with the bed?”

“You tell me. Is there something wrong with the bed?” Hange asked from across the room.

“The floor is more comfortable for me,” Levi answered.

“For me too.”

“Okay,” Levi said. He had answered that way enough times to know, it carried some magic with it, enough magic to piss most people off.

Silence though was surprisingly a more annoying response. A very very long silence. No snores, no even breaths. Ironically, that silence was keeping him awake. Levi stood up, folded the blanket and slipped a pillow to his side.

“Where are you going?” Hange’s response was almost immediate.

“I’m sleeping in the car. I can’t sleep here.”

“The bed is comfier.” Hange stood up, waving a hand on the bedside.

“Who are you to tell me what’s comfy for me?” Levi turned towards the door and gripped the doorknob. He didn’t even have the time to turn it.

“If that's the logic you go by, then you can't tell me what's comfy either,” Hange said. “I think the rain is comfy. If you sleep in the car then I’ll sleep in the rain,”

“If you don’t take the bed, I’ll sleep in the rain,” Levi argued.

Hange was merely a shadow in the dark. He couldn’t do much to make out her face then but by god, she was annoying. “Take the bed,” she said.

“No.”

“It’s just a bed,” Hange pressed.

“I should be telling you that.”

“I’ve had more than enough comfortable beds to last a lifetime.”

“I’ve slept in enough shitty beds to be completely okay with sleeping on the floor.”

“Are you saying I’m not okay with sleeping on the floor?” Hange’s voice was more indignant than a second ago.

“Well, you’re the one who implied that maybe I’ve never slept on a comfortable bed.” That last sentence had been a chore to say. Levi’s eyes were dropping already then. He was in no mood to argue When he was just a little irritable, everything was sounding like an insult. “Take the bed,” he whispered. He still tasted venom.

“You look tired.” Hange’s voice softened, maybe mirroring his own. “You need it more than I do. Why don’t you wanna take it?”

“It’s your bed, you paid for the room.”

“I got us into this accident.”

There was silence again and Levi used that time to lean back against the wall then slowly onto the floor.

Hange took a deep breath. “I’ll ask again. Is there something wrong with the bed?”

“I want you to have it," Levi answered.

“I want you to have it too.”

From Levi’s vantage point, he couldn't completely see Hange. He heard her sigh though. Then he saw the way the shadow had made its way closer to the bed then the creak of springs sounded in the room then a light bounce. “You know, we can make this work. The bed is big enough for two people.”

“Two people who are married,” Levi clarified.

There was a soft rustle of pillows, then blankets. She moved to his side of the room, then Levi felt the pull of the blanket from on top of him, then the pillow from his hands.

No response from Hange had him particularly paranoid. His exhausted brain had him barely thinking. “People who are married to each other,” Levi clarified a second later.

“Levi, take the side nearer to the wall,” Hange ordered. Her voice was firm, intimidating, almost threatening.

Maybe it was a little scary. He was almost certain, if he didn’t force himself up, Hange could have probably come in and carried him herself. Better to spare himself the embarrassment and the unnecessary drama. He pulled himself up slowly, one hand then the other, made the painstaking trek to the edge of the bed and fell back onto the bed.

“Better?” Hange asked.

It was definitely an improvement from the floor, but he wasn’t going to tell Hange that. She had created a fort of pillows between them. He lay his head on part of it and took one deep breath and closed his eyes in hope that that could have been enough to have him fall asleep.

Before he could have even contemplated sleep, the bed bounced lightly. Then the scent of cheap shampoo and a hint of sweat wafted just in front of him. Levi opened his eyes, taking stock of the view in front of him. Hange had taken the space on the other side. Her hair wasn’t in a ponytail anymore and it spilled out, only a few inches away from his face.

She was staring right at him and they were close enough that Levi could make out her features even in the dark.

Her wide eyes. Her bright eyes. How could eyes be bright in the dark? Curiosity maybe? Amazement. Inquisitiveness.

In the dark, she could have been studying him and Levi could have probed for more hints by letting his own eyes travel over to her lips, then back to her nose, her forehead, for any other sign of emotion. He searched for a wrinkle on the nose or a crinkle on her forehead.

Hange seemed deep in thought. Her eyes were endless in the dark room and Levi eventually found comfort in just studying them, letting himself indulge in speculations that weren't reaching any particular conclusion.

And Hange wasn’t in any hurry to look away. Maybe she could have fixated at him for longer.

It wasn’t completely clear to Levi what exactly led to that point where their eyes and their noses were only a hair's breadth from each other.

That one tense moment was what pulled him back to his senses.

With no pillows left after creating the fort, they were both forced to rely on it to be some sort of headrest. Of all things, they ended up sharing it.

But Levi was perfectly comfortable without it. He turned onto his other side, pressing his back on the pillow fort, keeping his eyes fixed on the wall. He closed his eyes again.

With time and with some discipline, he must have dozed off. He had always been a light sleeper though. With just one bounce of the bed, then with the loud ring of the familiar emotion alarm that quickly faded into nothing, Levi was forced awake.

Hange was murmuring something to herself. It didn’t seem at all like she was asleep. The faint light that illuminated the room was a sign. Hange was most likely on her phone but Levi didn’t think it right to take a peek.

He fell on his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to make some sense of the flash of a second ago. In the dark, the light had come up as some sort of white. When Levi focused, when he squinted, he made sense of some color that tended to stand out among the others.

Red.

Curiosity was a powerful thing. Levi was sure if he didn’t ask then, he probably wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. “Hange, you okay?”

“Sorry, I forgot to put my alarm on silent,” Hange’s voice was toneless. The bright flashes betrayed whatever Hange could have been attempting though. The more Levi echoed it to himself, the weaker her own ‘nonchalance’ had started to seem.

“You okay?” He asked again.

“Levi, go back to sleep.”

It took him an hour or so to doze off again and maybe it had been Hange’s disturbed breaths that made it so.

Then he pondered for a while longer. If he had never asked in the first place, would he have fallen asleep much more easily?

***

"I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me."

There was a certain point when Levi completely gave up on sleeping. A point when Levi had looked out the window and decided there was enough natural light to constitute as early morning more than night.

He walked out of the backdoor, reader in hand, flicking the lights of the veranda on.

The smell after the rain, the early morning chill only accentuated the already peaceful atmosphere. It was the perfect time and place to let his mind wander, so Levi didn't hesitate to turn on his reader and will himself once again to fall back into the world of Regent England, Rosing Parks and Pemberley.

It was slow going but eventually, time started to pass strangely.

Days passed then months then years. Of course it would, Elizabeth was counting months as the story continued. Levi, the reader on the other hand was counting time in events, in plot twists, in beats.

With the final chapter finished, time stopped. The book ended with a satisfying epilogue but even after turning off the reader, Levi was silent, unmoving, his eyes still fixed on the screen in front of him.

But his mind was moving in all directions at once. He had spent a huge chunk of the last hour before sunrise leaning back on the sun chair and reflecting. How long had the sky been a comfortable blue? How long had the veranda lamp been spouting useless light before he turned it off?

Levi only thought it necessary to move when the backdoor of the motel room opened. By then, he had already completed the book and early morning sleepiness sat heavy on him.

“How long have you been out here?” Hange settled on the chair in front of him, placing her laptop on the table.

“Good morning to you too.” Levi followed her with his eyes.

Hange met his eyes and gave him a sleepy half smile. “Good morning.”

“I finished the book,” Levi said.

“How was it?”

“The ending was nice. There were some memorable quotes. It made me think…” About you? He couldn't be too sure what it made him think of. So he opted not to say his first thought aloud.

“I think a lot about the book too.” Hange booted up her laptop and started to aimlessly click at her mouse. “And I was thinking about it again last night.”

“What about?”

“Pemberley… Rosings, I was wondering how to explain everything to you but every time I try to figure out the right way, I end up just clamming up.” Hange looked like she was deliberately hiding herself behind her laptop screen. “I’m sorry for just avoiding the topic. I don’t think I’ve been in the best state to even discuss this in a while.”

“You think you’ll be able to talk about it soon?”

Hange shrugged. “Maybe.”

“What if I told you I wanted to talk about it?

“Then I’ll listen,” Hange said.

“What if we go back to your Pemberley? WIll you talk to me about it again?”

Hange paused for a second, her eyes wistful, then almost blank. She looked pointedly at his elbow. “It might still be wet.”

“It stopped raining. We’ll be careful,” Levi answered, keeping his tone as no nonsense as possible.

Hange didn’t respond immediately. She was looking at something on her laptop.

Levi used that few moments of silence to study Hange. Sleepiness seemed to be weighing on her as well. Her eyes were half closed, her shoulders dropped more than usual and he had half the mind to tell her to go back to bed. That is, if he didn’t see the strong intent in her eyes.

He tried to make a guess by the glare of the screen on her glasses and came up with nothing productive. “What are you doing?”

“You have app testing tomorrow right? We’re gonna have to be on our way home by mid afternoon at the latest. Unless you wanna do another overnight train…” Hange suggested, that last part seemed more like a warning than a suggestion.

Showing up for the app testing the next morning, more exhausted than he already was, seemed like a harrowing experience.

“What do you suggest?”

“There’s an airport near here, they have a few flights back to the city. I’ll book us two last minute tickets for later this afternoon,” Hange said.

“And the car?”

“We’ll drop it off there, I’ll pay extra for the cleaning.”

“How much do I pay?” Levi asked. Instinctively, his hands flew to his pocket. Of course there would be nothing there, his phone and his wallet were still in the overnight bag.

Hange shook her head. “Nothing, I dragged you out here. I messed up the car. I’ll pay.”

“I still owe you seven hundred dollars from last time,” Levi said.

“No you don’t. You won it fair and square,” Hange said with some finality.

It should have been annoying, frustrating, maybe insulting but Levi couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised. Funnily, it had been months since the country club fiasco but Hange knew exactly what he was talking about. He stared at her for a second longer, as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand, muttering something about prices, schedules.

She looked up at him a minute or so later. “I booked tickets for a three o clock flight. If we leave the hotel at noon, we should make it in time.”

Levi checked the clock on his reader. “That will give us four hours to hike.

Hange nodded. “Believe me, that’s more than enough time.”

“She had never seen a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in her admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!"

The view was definitely better with clear skies above him.

Hiking unfamiliar grounds, especially as a total beginner, usually consisted of looking up and down in unpredictable intervals. Sometimes he was watching the view in front of him, making sure Hange was a comfortable distance away. Sometimes, he was looking below, making sure he wasn’t en route to tripping on anything dangerous or embarrassing. One thing was for sure. When Levi looked up, he always made sure to get a good view of the horizon, to have that good balance between sky and landscape with every step up the hill.

Hange was muttering to herself and Levi realized that even when he had attempted to walk right beside her, he couldn’t make out what she was saying.

They eventually reached the peak and Levi saw an opportunity to survey his surroundings. Looking left, right then behind him, he was certain, they were on the highest point for miles around.

The question loomed heavily again. The scrapes, bruises and aches from yesterday were soft reminders. The visceral aftereffects of an all too unpleasant night were prodding more incessantly. Levi decided for himself, he deserved answers. He looked back at Hange.

Hange didn’t hesitate to meet his gaze. It was a little alarming that of all things he noticed in her expression, an abject surrender.

Would that give him the answers he needed? Most likely it would.

Still, it left a lump in his throat, a force that twisted his gut. He could get answers but would they be answers he liked?

Hange took a deep breath and fell back onto the grass. “There’s that line… when Elizabeth first steps into Pemberley after rejecting Darcy’s proposal in Rosings for the first time.”

She whispered it once and Levi considered sitting down next to her for a better listen. She repeated the line a little louder that time.

“It’s a small line, it’s not necessarily quotable but at least to me, it’s a really important one… Ever since I married Zeke… Ever since I read the book. When I had time to myself while climbing some mountain alone, wandering through hills and grassy lands along highways like some idiot, I’d repeat it again and again.”

Levi had to note, Hange’s Pemberley was in the middle of nowhere, situated along a highway, only accessible by climbing over a fence that probably wasn’t supposed to be climbed over or fitting through gaps between wires. Not a beauty for most people when actual reserves and hiking trails existed.

...a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste…

Hange put one finger up to her chin. "That scene in Pemberley, I think that was the exact moment Elizabeth falls in love with Darcy and was that what falling in love was supposed to feel like?” Hange looked at Levi, her eyes were wide and it looked like she wanted something out of him.

Levi couldn't come up with anything on the fly so he didn’t respond and Hange only continued. “That wonder Elizabeth felt when she first arrived at Pemberley…” She paused there. Her expression from a while ago unchanged but Levi couldn’t help but notice a glimmer that hadn’t been there before, a depth. “Maybe that's that same wonder Elizabeth felt for Mr. Darcy.” She looked at him expectantly.

“And you see the wonder here… of all places?”

“Untouched nature, free nature is a very beautiful thing. I imagine that's what Elizabeth saw in Pemberley.”

“What does that have to do with love?”

“Love feels like freedom… And when people fall in love, maybe they start to appreciate it. Does the world suddenly get more colorful? Does it just suddenly become prettier? Or do we just get perceptive to it?” Hange asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “So I thought to myself after reading the first time, was my perspective of the world supposed to change when I married Zeke? It didn’t at first. But I couldn't help but think, if I keep choosing to love, if I keep getting to know him and if I keep trying to be a good partner, maybe when I climb up the peak, study the horizon, I’ll eventually feel it. That freedom. That's why I climbed every single time.”

“Did you eventually feel it?” Levi had to tame his tone.

Hange shook her head. “I’m in a very comfortable marriage.”

“Comfortable is good,” Levi said, a hesitant attempt at validation.

“It is good. That is until I started to feel it, stronger emotions than I was used to. Colors were coming up a little brighter. I was noticing minute details in everything, then the minute details in certain people." Hange pulled her legs closer to herself. "I think that’s love. You meet someone and you think, ‘wow colors are so pretty, wow emotions can actually be very fickle yet powerful things,’ then ‘wow this world is such a beautiful place,’ ”

“Where does ‘love is a choice’ fall into this then?” Levi challenged. “You’ve been saying that for months.”

“It still is a choice, because choice is a part of freedom. And for me, ultimately ‘love is freedom.’ And slowly, I'm more and more convinced that I might just be right. When we’re suddenly feeling everything at once, when colors and emotions just suddenly get brighter and clearer, Isn’t that what freedom is supposed to be? Clarity and understanding?” Hange spoke fast and she spoke in messy ideas that Levi had to put in extra effort to comprehend.

He didn’t respond immediately and the pause she had allowed him had been too short.

She continued. “And I have a theory about your app…”

“You always have theories.”

“But I think this one makes a lot more sense,” Hange looked at him expectantly

Do you want me to ask what it is? Levi returned her stare with a silent question. Eventually, he caved in. “What’s your theory Hange?”

Hange took a deep breath, let out an exhale through her nose and spoke up. “You’re a great developer Levi. There’s no bug. Whatever algorithm you wrote up, it’s doing its job and it’s doing it extremely well. We broke down the application to emotions and just like the emotions alarm proved, when we’re with certain people, the emotions get clearer, they have more free rein to do what they need to …. To put it more simply… Do you notice, we see a lot more and we feel a lot more when we’re with specific people. And maybe that love alarm is only telling us who those people are?”

“Do you feel it with Zeke?” Levi asked. That had been a burning question for a while. In that staunch silence, he saw opportunity. So he grasped it, he said it once. Seeing the fire in Hange’s eyes, feeling the tension of a while ago loosen for just a brief second, he saw opportunity. So he said it again. “Have you felt it with Zeke?”

Hange looked up at the sky, squinting. “Sometimes, I guess. I can’t be too sure.”

“Why did you even marry Zeke then?”

“He was my first experience with love and relationships.” Hange shrugged. “I didn’t have a point of comparison. Back when I was younger, I didn’t think too far into love or whether it was supposed to feel magical or like freedom. Love and relationships were supposed to be comfortable, happy. " Hange looked like she could have said more. She turned to him, looking at him as if expecting some sort of feedback.

Levi didn’t respond and Hange eventually continued. “I thought about it, when we were working on the app. Then I read Pride and Prejudice again just a few months ago after I saw you reading it. Then I asked myself...When I didn't know what love was actually supposed to feel like, could I say I really had a choice?” She shrugged. "I guess since i know now, I have more of a choice."

Levi continued to reflect and he found himself stuck on two words: ‘clarity’ and ‘understanding.’ Maybe clarity, comprehension, understanding, the whole sea of experiences did happen at once.

The logical part of him liked to blame the placebo effect though for that annoying habit that plagued him. He was tracing the smaller hills over the green landscape, he was counting how many feet above the horizon the sun was at that point in the morning. He was picking out the different shades the greens, the yellows, the blues showed up in. He started counting colors and when looking at the sky became too uncomfortable of a sensation, he looked at Hange. Then he noticed, colors do reflect on people in small minute details.

Yet for some reason, the prospect of vindicating Hange was an unsettling one.

“What now?” Levi asked, in no mood to agree. Just yet. Maybe with time he could.

“Since there’s nothing to fix… we don’t fix the app,” Hange responded in the most anticlimactic of answers.

Levi wasn’t satisfied. “What about after that?”

“We focus on developing the emotions alarm, I do a dissertation on it then I work towards a PhD,” Hange continued.

“And then after that?” Levi pressed.

“The contract ends there. Is there anything else you want to do?” Hange asked.

There must have been something else. No, Levi was sure there should have been more to it. It was in Hange’s eyes, the intent underneath, the burning intent from a while ago. There was a characteristic way her eyes narrowed, a way they drooped as she spoke.

That morning, he had chalked it up as exhaustion. Looking more closely at that moment, it started to seem like resignation, abject surrender.

Talking about one’s own hopes and dreams wasn’t supposed to look like that.

There was one quote that hovered completely over that incomplete conversation between them. Somehow, in that moment of silence, Levi remembered it clearly. He spoke up. “I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.” The moment it left his mouth, he questioned the appropriateness. Who was he to assume that that was what Hange needed.

Hange answered with a question. “What else are we supposed to do after completing the app?” Her eyes were darting from left to right yet they were still very much focused on him. It was as if she was searching for an answer.

An answer Levi couldn’t didn’t even know himself. He brought up his developer persona, the mini dictionary in his head that came with it. “Customer support, QA testing, bugs will constantly show up.”

“Then I guess we’ll be working together for a while huh?” Hange grinned, yet there was something off putting about it.

Or maybe Levi was searching for something that wasn’t there.

Hange probably noticed it too. “We’re gonna have to leave for the airport soon. Let’s go back down,” Her voice was unbearably professional. Professionalism was the go-to, it worked for most situations but for once, Levi was wondering whether that had been the best thing to do.

Who was he to judge her though? Hange had always been the more eloquent one.

Then he wondered how long he had been staring at nothing. The landscape in front of him continued to gleam with different colors but Levi was focusing on the sky just above. There was a temptation to let whatever stone cold expression he was wearing then, falter.

“Hange.” In desperation, he spoke up as if that could do anything to stop his mouth from falling.

Hange spun around, her mouth half open, her eyes wide. There were things which still needed to be read into. “Are you okay?” she asked, her face shifted to something of worry as she gave him a once over, down to his bandaged elbow.

Suddenly self conscious, Levi clutched at his elbow, pressing the gauze deeper into him. The pressure gave way to a stinging pain. The pain served as some excuse to let out a wince, let his own expression fall into the mercy of whatever pain had edged deeper inside him. “After we finish the app, do you think you’ll be happy?”

Hange’s expression softened. “It’s my dream. I’ll be happy.”

“Not about the application,” Levi said. There were topics he wanted to bring up. When both their expressions had naturally shifted to something monotone, their voices into something reminiscent of a client and a business, Levi realized he was treading precarious grounds. He soon found a more appropriate word. “After the application… When everything after that is over… You think you’ll be happy?”

Hange stopped, a flash of comprehension in her eyes. Then sadness?

She spoke up. “We don’t ever know if we’ll be happy right? We just keep choosing and choosing and when the choices are already made, all we can do is find whatever inkling of happiness we can in them.”

***

The passenger seat was a mess and Levi saw that as enough of an excuse to sit on the backseat of the car.

Hange didn’t seem to care too much about her ass being caked with dirt. She had no choice but to not care anyway. After all, someone had to drive.

Levi liked it that way anyway. The whole trek down, they had been silent. He had found it difficult to look at her and maybe she had felt the same. The dirty passenger’s seat made it easier for Levi to suggest sitting in the back and when he was sitting on the backseat, he could pretend Hange wasn’t there. That the car was moving on its own or maybe somebody else was driving.

The ride seemed long, Levi didn’t bother to check his phone. Instead, he leaned forward on the driver’s seat and he let the car whirr. Sometimes it would rattle when the tires would hit some road bump.

Hange eventually broke the silence. “You were talking about adding more colors and about other plans. You feel like walking me through it?”

“Can we talk about it when we’re back in the office?” It wasn’t the best way to address his client. At that moment, Levi was in no mood to play a PR role. And he had never been good at it. There was a reason he stuck to back office work.

“There’s nothing much else to talk about right?”

There was a lot. The fact that Hange was even suggesting that there was nothing to talk about was almost infuriating. He was tempted to pick a fight. “Elizabeth said she would act only in a way that makes her happy. That’s an important theme in the novel.”

Begrudgingly. Hange acknowledged it. “It is. You wanna talk about it?”

“I just wanna know, what’s your take on love?” It was a miracle he even got that question out calmly.

“Love is freedom,” Hange answered with a tone of painful certainty. “Love is a choice and it will always be a choice.”

“What if you don’t feel it?”

“I’ll still choose to love.”

“What if you feel the love somewhere else? Shouldn’t you follow your emotions?”

“If I did that, I’d only be at the mercy of my emotions.”

“Then why do you like Pride and Prejudice so much. They end up together. You know they love each other?”

Hange sighed. “It’s a social commentary. It focuses on circumstances. In the novel, people married for money, for status, out of obligation. Elizabeth and Darcy were just lucky circumstances were on their side. Besides, fiction is merely wish fulfillment. Living reality isn’t as easy as writing. Too much of the circumstances can be out of control and people can’t really disconnect themselves from circumstances can they?” She paused and looked at Levi questioningly.

“And what? You don’t think reality can ever be wish fulfillment?” Levi asked.

“If circumstances were in our favor, maybe?”

“Our?” Levi asked. He was suddenly self aware, he was grasping at straws at that point.

“Hypothetical ‘our’, ‘our’ as in referring to anyone faced with that situation.”

“You didn’t have to specify it. I got it,” Levi said.

“Then why did you ask?”

“Sorry, it just took me a little longer to understand.” Levi only noticed it after the words had left his lips. His voice had deadened to a whisper.

***

I would rather we just lived here together, right Levi?

“This is gonna be our last scenery of green in a long time,” Hange said as she leaned back on the metal chair at the departure gate. How she still found value in small talk, Levi could never really understand.

“Cool,” Levi said, not looking up from scrolling through his timeline. There was temporal happiness at least in watching mindless videos.

“I would have wanted this to last longer. Maybe we could have hiked for an hour more if you didn’t have testing tomorrow.”

“That’s nice.”

“Imagine getting to live here,” Hange said.

“People live here. That’s why there’s an airport,” Levi said coldly. He looked back up at Hange. At that point, he was a little more confident with his deadpan expression. With time, the incomprehensible emotions of a while ago had whittled into something manageable.

“Sometimes I imagine being part of those people, just setting aside everything I’ve worked for, I’ve committed to… Just throwing it all away and living in a peaceful place like this..”

“You’re not the type to stay out of the action.” At that point, maybe Levi was just looking for a fight. “We’d get bored.”

“We?”

“We, as in, hypothetical ‘we.’” ‘We’ as in referring to anyone who probably considered living in a place like this.”

Hange pouted then looked away. “Let me imagine stuff.”

“Imagine something more realistic.” Why did that last word send a twinge of pain through him?

“Why do you care about what I imagine?”

Levi turned off his phone and dropped it beside him. “I’m just giving some friendly advice.”

“Doesn’t seem friendly.” Hange opened her mouth wider, ready to say something else.

Levi never found out what she had intended to say. The speaker sounded from just above them.

“This is an announcement for passengers of flight 232 bound for... ..I’m afraid the flight is overbooked. We’re looking for passengers who are willing to take a later flight in exchange….Any passenger who is interested should see an agent at the counter.”

Out of instinct, Levi looked up then searched his surroundings for any sign of volunteers. It wouldn’t matter to him. With an early morning awaiting him, he was one of the last people to volunteer. As he continued to observe the other passengers more closely, he realized a lot of them could have just been like him.

They were all eight-to-five employees or very busy people out on a weekend long vacation.

After a few more announcements, two people who sat up and made their way to the counter. Levi looked to Hange to see she was also very much invested in the current turn of events.

“Any more passengers willing to take a later flight?”

There was a moment of silence and somehow, Levi was starting to make eye contact as he scanned all the faces again. Any eye contact he made, ended with a pointed look, a silent push for him volunteer maybe?

And soon, Levi realized, the seat next to him was empty. Hange had stood up and made her way to the counter.

A minute or so later, Hange returned to the seat and gave him a light shrug. “I’ll be going on a later flight then.”

“You didn’t have to give up your seat,” Levi said irritably. Suddenly, he was self conscious. Why was he angry about her taking a later flight?

The speaker sounded. “Flight… is now ready for boarding… Passengers with small children...”

“I’m not as pressed for time as the other passengers,” Hange explained. “You have to be at work first thing tomorrow morning while I can take as much time as I need.”

She made sense, a lot of sense. To the point that just looking at her had been all too difficult, especially with a grimace trying to escape his lips. He looked away.

“Are you mad?”

“No, I’m not.” It wasn’t anger, that much he was sure of. Any other feelings weren’t welcome either. He wasn’t supposed to be feeling anything when the issue was so trivial. He bent over and started scrolling through his phone again, searching for anything that could make smiling much easier.

“We will now be accepting all passengers…”

“I’ll take you to the boarding gate,” Hange suggested.

Levi saw no reason to protest.

Besides, Hange could only take him so far. Their strides were small, their pace slower. He could have been mirroring her or she could have been mirroring him. And they were slow enough for some conversation to start between them.

As usual, Hange initiated. “What’s the plan tomorrow?”

“Zeke apparently secured a school for testing, got some students to volunteer.”

“He has those connections. That’s his brother’s school actually,” Hange said.

“Really?” Levi said. He was fine not receiving any more information though. He was completely disinterested since he had the whole day tomorrow to figure it out anyway.

Hange opened her mouth to speak.

Even before she could speak though, Levi had already interrupted her. “Petra will explain it to me during our meeting tomorrow. She handled the logistics of the testing.” He was in no mood for any more information dumps.

Hange grinned. Whether or not she had been bothered by the rude interruption, it wasn’t obvious. “You have an early morning meeting huh?”

“Yes, we do,” Levi said professionally.

Hange put both hands behind her back, letting her overnight bag dangle precariously on her free shoulder. She gave him a knowing expectant look, eyebrows raised, a tight lipped smile. “Make sure to treat her well,” she said.

Levi raised one eyebrow. “Are you shipping me with Petra?”

Hange looked back out the wide window then at the departure gate. “Maybe I am.”

Hange’s words were only goading something out of him. They served as a glaring reminder. Once again, Levi was hyper aware that there was something heavy between them and it had been there for a while.

The elephant? Some emotion, he couldn’t point out, was desperate to break free. It had him calculating quickly. The counter was only a few feet away and Levi could get there in two or three quick strides.

Then just like that, it pushed one sentence out of his mouth, a line he might just regret saying. "Hange, if I were to choose to fall in love with someone, I’d want someone like you."

He could regret it later. At the least, he appreciated the quick release that came with that one line.

A much awaited release that had him questioning: How long had he felt that stiff, that tense?

With a new found rush of energy, he went ahead. The stewardess ripped his boarding pass with one swift movement and Levi hurried through the entrance and made his way to the passenger boarding bridge, only sparing one last look.

Maybe he was terrified to see her reaction. A part of him stiffened up just imagining Hange’s face, indignance, fury? Then when he looked back and focused on her, he wondered why he had been nervous at all.

Hange’s eyes were wide, her jaw had dropped and at that point when their eyes met, she closed her mouth, and it grew into a smile. Then her eyes crinkled. Then she nodded.

You’re married. You’re supposed to be creeped out. He wondered if his eyes were sending that message.

A few strides later, he was sorry to have to board so quickly. He didn’t want to stop though, or risk only hinting that there might have been more meaning to those words.

But there was meaning in those words, enough for him to be terribly curious of Hange’s reaction.

He didn’t immediately board the plane and he stayed on the passenger bridge. The bridge had glass windows, and just outside was an airfield, and a good view of the passenger terminal through the wide window.

Hange was still standing there and she was easy for Levi to spot. Maybe because Levi had eventually gotten used to the fact that her hair, under sunlight seemed to glow with a hint of red. Maybe because under the right light, her brown hair seemed bright.

The more he looked, the more he realized though, to hell with all the excuses, she was Hange. That was all there was to it. He would probably be able to recognize her even from miles away.

Maybe she had been looking for him too. From a good many feet away, with glass windows, and an airfield between them, she still approached the wide window. She waved her hand, slowly the first few times. Then quickly.

He felt his lip tremble and he touched one finger to it. Was he sad? In an attempt to pacify whatever nagging feeling had settled inside him, he turned back to the entrance of the plane. Then he reminded himself, he was gonna see her again in the morning.

It didn’t seem to work. His legs were heavy and Levi fell back onto the window seat with a thump, a ragged breath followed. He let the pre emergency procedures lull himself to some state of half sleepiness. He opened the in flight menu for some distraction, nothing seemed appetizing.

They eventually took off and when they mentioned something about turning on phones again, Levi opened his, and stared for a little longer at the emotions alarm.

He was in no position to feel heavy. There were no circumstances that should have left him feeling desolate.

But the application would know. So Levi turned it on, making sure to keep his phone on silent. He clicked the ‘activate’ button. A blue dot flashed on the screen.

Sadness. Levi looked back out the window. The blue sky was clear, endless, dotted with only a few clouds here and there. The more he stared, the more he managed to immerse himself. Deep endless blue was a depressing yet immersive view. Out of curiosity, Levi put his phone side by side with the view, noticing he had picked a very similar blue.

A small victory. One thing, he entertained for just a split second. When he leaned back on the chair, his suspicions only confirmed, he ended up asking that question again.

Why was he sad? A part of him was consoling. Another part of him was reflecting. Eventually he figured out at least some inkling of it.

Why did he feel like he lost someone? But he didn’t lose anyone. Levi only had to open his inbox to see the words, ‘Safe flight’ and a few airplane emojis to know Hange was still very much there.

The blue feeling settled inside him and it made itself at home for just a little longer. Levi surmised, it may have been the fact that he had spent another good few minutes, searching for pictures of them on his phone only to notice, they never did take pictures together.

Of course, they shouldn’t. Why would they need to take pictures together?

I’ll find someone like you. The one that got away.

When Levi came to his senses again, he noticed he was going through songs of lost love, a road to recovery. Then after some further introspection, he had to admit, he was sad, a raw kind of sad.

And it fucking hurt.

The raw pain of the loss of a first love? A first love that didn’t exist.

He clarified further. A first love that never existed in the first place.

Can you feel heartbreak without having ever experienced a first love?

Halfway through the flight, after some long quiet reflection, Levi concluded, he had been completely and utterly duped by this shitty thing called life.

***

An alarm rang. Any other day Levi would have called it routine.

That morning though, it was annoying, terribly annoying.

The aftereffects of a long trip were still going strong. He could barely keep his eyes open, he could barely stand up. He was exhausted, at the same time plagued with unfamiliar aches and Levi was suspecting not all were physical.

He reached for the side table to turn off the alarm. Like all days, he had an hour and a half to get ready for work and brave the commute.

Staring at the screen of his phone for a while longer, at the application that was conveniently wedged on the dock, he contemplated sparing just a few minutes for a quick reading. Most days, he wouldn’t have. That particular day, he was exhausted, confused and something inside him was grasping for some sense of the world.

With one hard poke, he activated the emotions alarm. It flashed with a bright purple.

Sadness and Anger? He was almost appreciating how ‘the emotion alarm could revolutionize psychology and psychiatry.’ Somehow, having his emotions on display had helped him wake up a little faster, making sense of the fatigue. At the same time, it was just a little unsettling to see something so personal on his screen.

Blue. Sadness. Raw sadness that sapped at his energy reserves. Loss?

Red. Anger. At the unfairness of life maybe?

He entertained the possibility of creating some other piece of technology to explain it for him. He eventually brushed off that idea, silently laughing at the stupidity of it.

Stupidity had been a good distraction and that had been enough for him to pretend he wasn't completely exhausted and his emotions weren’t a total buzzkill.

Like always, he went through his routine of making the bed, showering, cleaning up whatever he could in the room before he left. He was bound for the same train station, on a different route.

Testing. A very stern reminder to himself. He had almost gotten on the wrong train.

It turned out to be a non-problem. Levi arrived at the school way earlier than he had expected. And he barely even had time to have breakfast. He made his way to the convenience store just outside the station, pulled a quick sandwich from the shelves and brought it up to the counter.

It was routine. Levi had done it too many times before yet something seemed odd.

It's a new environment. He thought to himself. He had been to that part of town before but not enough times to consider it routine.

His muddled mind thought up another excuse. I’m just tired.

Exhaustion, small changes shouldn’t have manifested as hyperawareness on his end.

But there was something unsettling about the cashier having stared at him for longer than he was comfortable. Strangers would never do that.

Do I have something in my face? It never came out as anything more than a passing thought. He wondered if his surprised expression had managed to ask the question.

Eventually, the cashier looked away. Coming to his senses, Levi realized it was a brief exchange and he could clock it off as nothing.

He never could completely shake off the feeling that he was being watched. Or maybe I’m just tired. And maybe fatigue just really happened to manifest as hyperawareness.

Conveniently, Petra was waiting at the school gates, laptop bag slung over her shoulder.

“You’re early,” Levi commented. Then he realized he had been a total idiot. They had a paper trail to prove it, he had agreed to meet Petra there first thing Monday morning.

“Have to make sure everything is ready,” Petra said.

Levi was grateful for that arrangement He didn’t know his way through the campus and it was a surprisingly wide one. Of course it would be large, they would be testing the application among hundreds of volunteers.

It was a mammoth event and he was too fucking exhausted to happily deal with it. For a while, he even forgot that maybe he was the mind behind the application. Logistics just wasn’t something he liked to trifle himself with.

As soon as they arrived in the empty gym, he settled on one of the chairs towards the corner of the room and booted up his laptop. His first instinct had been to check the workflow tracker. There was nothing there. Why the hell did he even think anything would be there? A desperation to keep busy with something familiar maybe?

“Do you have the file for testing?” Levi asked.

Petra nodded. “All loaded into the cloud. We have a download link prepared.”

Levi stared at the tracker for a while longer before deciding maybe doing nothing but watching people enter the gym was the most productive task he could come up with.

Watching people enter just brought back the feeling of hyperawareness. Some people were familiar, Eld, Oluo then Gunther eventually joined in. Then Erwin. There were others though, people who Levi barely recognized he tended to give him a look much longer than what people would usually give a stranger.

Since when did anger and sadness turn into paranoia?

“It looks like the file isn’t downloading to this phone…." Petra was rattling off details on support issues.

For Levi in his current state, conversations on the application were flying into one ear and out the other quickly.

"Are you okay?”

Levi turned to Petra. “Were you talking to me?”

She furrowed her brows at him, a worried expression on her face.

“I’m fine.” His response was automatic. “You need me to check what?”

Petra spoke up again. “Well...This phone…”

Levi reached his hand out to grab the phone from Petra. In a trick of fate, or maybe coincidence— no, Levi liked to believe it was coincidence— he noticed the flash of blonde at his peripherals, a brunette beside him.

Even before he could contemplate their identity— Hell, he probably didn’t need to—one of them spoke up. “Good morning Erwin! I hope I managed to get enough people for the app testing.”

“Mr. Jaeger, Believe me, this is more than enough people. We usually run calibration with fifty people at a time. It's honestly a pleasant surprise to see you here...You said you wouldn’t be coming... We're sorry we couldn't prepare anything better."

"No worries Erwin, What can I say? When my schedule frees up, I like to pay surprise visits to partners.”

Levi looked back at them fast enough to catch Zeke and Erwin shaking hands.

Only one hand though. Levi followed Zeke’s other hand. It was only natural he would, after all Zeke was holding her hand, clutching it tightly.

It’s completely normal for them to hold hands. But still he continued to stare.

It was a little harder to follow her arms, all the way up to her face. Was he scared to make eye contact? But eventually they did make eye contact. Comprehension dawned on Levi slowly as he met her gaze while starting to make sense of the conversation between Zeke and Erwin.

Zeke is here to test the Love Alarm?

Did you know?

As if to answer his question, Hange’s eyes widened, and she nodded her head subtly, very subtly. If Levi hadn't spent the last few months working with Hange on the application, he probably wouldn't have noticed the very slight nod, he probably wouldn't have sensed the deep panic in her demeanor.

With too many thoughts running through his head at once, Levi briefly lost touch with reality for a long few seconds.

It was Petra of all people who pulled him out of his trance. “Um… Levi… Sir… I don't mind you holding my hand but...could you loosen your grip a bit? It kinda hurts."

#levihan #levihan fanfiction

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itcameuponamidnightqueer · 4 years

Note

fake dating 10, any pairing you want

damie + “please just hold my hand, that person’s basically undressing me with their eyes.”

trope prompts

It’s not that Jamie doesn’t want to be at this school function, it’s just that—

No, that’s a lie. She definitely doesn’t want to be here, and wouldn’t if she weren’t part of the staff. Wouldn’t be here if Dani hadn’t tricked her, really, because Jamie’s usually pretty good about saying no even at work.

“Rebecca’s back from traveling,” Dani had tried, and Jamie said no because who knows how long that’ll last.

“Owen said he’s gonna ask Hannah out,” she’d tried next, and Jamie had actually laughed in her face.

“Someone is actually going to have to physically force those two together,” she’d replied, and Dani’s eyes lit up, prompting her with a quirk of an eyebrow.

In no world does Jamie want to be that person.

Dani had sighed. “Free booze,” she’d grumbled, desperate. Jamie had rolled her eyes and opened the door to her well-stocked liquor cabinet.

Dani had pursed her lips together and turned her face away, almost quick enough for Jamie to miss the grin she was failing to suppress.

If Jamie weren’t constantly on the lookout for that smile, she might have succeeded.

Dani had sighed again, raked a hand through her fluffy, perfect hair, and flopped back on the couch.

“Okay, fine,” she huffed. “You win, don’t come, we’ll hang out over the weekend and I’ll just tell you all about how lonely I was at the party—my first party without Eddie, which everyone will probably be asking me about and I’ll have to field awkward questions all night—”

Jamie scoffed. “And you think I’m going to magically make them not be awkward?”

“No,” Dani answered, a little too quickly. “I think you’d glare at them so hard they wouldn’t even ask me in the first place.”

“I think I’ve just been insulted!”

“No,” Dani laughed, “you just have that whole—” She scrunched her eyebrows together and set her shoulders, curled her lip upwards into an unmistakable hint of a sneer. Her voice, when she spoke, was half an octave lower and at least six countries away from Jamie’s accent. “—’Don’t fuck wiv’ me’ vibe going on,” she finished.

Jamie had taken a few long moments to blink away the urge to kiss her.

“You’ve gotten worse,” she’d finally said. “Almost a year and a half working together and you’ve gotten worse.”

“Come to the party and you can spend the whole time teaching me.”

“Dani.”

“Jamie.”

Her eyes weren’t wide anymore; they’d shrunk back to being shy and vulnerable, the stormy kind of blue that Jamie didn’t ever see unless they were alone. Jamie had spent the better part of a year not acknowledging her feelings for Dani, and she was good at it. Not always good enough to escape Hannah’s shrewd gaze, but enough to where it was a genuine friendship, and she only felt the roar of devotion flare up in the quietest, most private of moments.

Jamie was excellent at controlling her emotions. She’d spent an entire lifetime honing that skill, protecting herself from the surprisingly large amount of people who seemed destined to hurt her.

Jamie had nothing on Dani Clayton.

Dani could suppress any negative feeling until it almost ceased to exist; she had an incredible way of just...willing things not to happen. It had taken months for her to reveal the cracks in her relationship with Eddie, and even then Jamie sat by and watched, completely blown away, by how quickly and how sincerely Dani put the mask back up around people who only wanted to see silk and porcelain. The crazy thing about it was that Dani meant it; Dani gave all of her attention to everyone who asked for it. She didn’t have an insincere bone in her body.

But, god—Jamie’s life had been shit before, and still nothing made her sadder than watching Dani perform.

If all it took for her not to do that was one party, well, she could table the rest of it for later.

She’d picked up her phone and opened up the group chat they had with Hannah, Owen, and Rebecca.

“Right,” she’d groaned, “guess we’ve gotta coordinate who’s driving because the only way I’m getting through this is if I’m very, very drunk.”

And so Jamie finds herself at the not-yet-Christmas, ambiguously-winter end-of-semester party, sticking to Rebecca like a leech while she regales groups of coworkers with the same six stories of her very impulsive, wildly successful trip around the world. Dani, meanwhile, hasn’t been answering any awkward questions, from what Jamie’s heard, and is instead relaxed and popular as she chats with all of their friends.

Jamie almost turned around ten minutes in, once it became clear what the tone of the night would be. But there was no sense in bailing when she was already there and hadn’t driven herself, and—

Who would be there for Dani to look at, every twenty minutes or so, just for reassurance or to check in or whatever kind of comfort she might be seeking. (Jamie doesn’t know for sure what it is. She knows what she hopes it is. But that’s something else for the ‘later’ bag.)

She stays. Jamie stays and drinks and laughs and eventually gets sucked into the party of it all, which is why she’s five minutes into her best story of youthful shenanigans that didn’t end in a visit from the cops, and absolutely doesn’t notice the anxious blonde rushing at her from across the room.

“Hold my hand, hold my hand, hold my hand,” Dani urges, arm outstretched as she speeds closer. She hits Jamie’s elbow when she gets close enough and finally manages to wrestle Jamie’s hand into an iron grip.

Jamie, sufficiently interrupted, stops talking and looks down. “What’s going on here, then?”

Dani takes a deep breath and plasters on the worst attempt at a smile Jamie’s ever seen, which is still pretty good by most peoples’ standards. “Remember all those awkward questions I thought I’d get about Eddie?” she says through clenched teeth.

“Yep.”

“Thought they’d be full of pity, not flirting.”

Jamie’s head shoots up, trying to pick out the offenders, but Dani slaps her elbow again.

“Don’t look!” she hisses. “We have to make this convincing.”

“Make what convincing?” Jamie narrows her eyes and takes a long sip of her drink. “You’re pulling me into some kind of scheme, Poppins, and I know I’ve told you what happened the last time somebody did that…”

Dani laughs, high and fluttery and nervous in the back of her throat. “Please just hold my hand,” she implores. “Nathan is basically undressing me with his eyes but I think you can scare him off if he sees us together.”

“Nathan?” Jamie starts to scan the room again, a little less obviously this time. “Nathan Ford, the school’s sluttiest social studies teacher?”

“Mhm.”

“The same Nathan Ford who’s walking over right now?”

“What!” Dani straightens up, rigid and spooked like a deer in the road. “I can’t believe—I was so careful; is he stalking me?”

The anxiety is short-lived and replaced very quickly with anger once Jamie can no longer hold in her laughter.

“You,” Dani says, prying Jamie’s drink from her other hand, “tricked me.”

“You tricked me first,” Jamie winks.

“I don’t even think he’s in here anymore.”

Jamie shrugs. “Probably not.”

“You made me think I was in so much trouble…”

“You’re always safe with me, Poppins.”

Dani finishes the drink.

The funny thing is, neither of them lets go.

Nathan Ford isn’t the only slutty teacher and it doesn’t take Jamie long to get a glimpse of what Dani’s been dealing with, the men—single and married—who look at her just a little too long, a little too presumptuously. Dani, of course, handles it with grace and charm, and Jamie thinks that maybe she didn’t need her grumpy buffer after all.

She holds tight anyway, just in case.

It’s a dangerous thing to do, parade a fake relationship in front of all of their coworkers, but it doesn’t feel wrong or forced. They’re going on a break soon, Jamie rationalizes. School is going on a two-week break and everyone is drunk and no one is going to remember the scandal of the fourth grade teacher clinging all night to the newest member of the art department. If they do...well, everything can be laughed off or pushed down or forgotten eventually.

So they cling and they talk and Jamie expertly lets every too-interested man know, with absolute certainty, that their efforts should be directed elsewhere. She tickles her fingers against Dani’s, throws in a few isn’t that right, love’s every once in a while, rubs a hand on her back when the moment feels right. And Dani—

Dani invades her space—presses their shoulders together, scratches at the inside of Jamie’s wrist, wipes a stray bit of liquor from the side of her mouth after an untidy sip. Jamie feels all of this and lets it wash over her, lets it sink under her skin and warm her body until she feels like she could start a fire with her hands.

The night winds down and people filter out and eventually there isn’t anyone left to fool. But Dani’s hand is still in hers and Jamie is more than happy to be slow and soft with her. She stays, for the tenth and fifteenth and hundredth time.

It’s just the five of them left, eventually, and they migrate to the bar when the party room in the back seems too large for such a small group. They situate themselves on stools in the corner, and the conversation flows without a hitch. It always has with this group—Owen, Hannah, and Rebecca first, then Dani, then Jamie. She’d tell them all how much it really means to know them if anyone got enough drink in her.

Until then, she’ll scoff at group texts and drag her feet to parties and settle into the fact that they all know it’s for show anyway.

She props her head on her hand and listens, quickly approaching the sleepy part of drinking. She tries not to watch Dani too much while they all talk but it’s difficult—Dani is noticeable at a distance and absolutely striking up close. The curl of her lips as she smiles, the way they overtake her entire face if she means it enough (and she usually does); the laughter that pours out of her and directly into the hearts of anyone lucky enough to be listening; the way her ears look bigger when she hooks her hair behind them, how she only does that when she’s in very comfortable company.

After about thirty minutes, Jamie gets up to retrieve their coats before she does something stupid, like playfully tug at Dani’s earlobe or reach in to straighten the collar on her shirt.

She returns shortly, holding her leather jacket and Dani’s very puffy winter coat, and sits down without a word, content to wait for a natural break in the conversation. She folds the coats over her lap and fiddles with a coaster on the counter.

Dani absently reaches back to still her fingers after about a minute. A simple gesture—resting her hand atop Jamie’s, perhaps swiping her thumb across the back of her hand. Nothing like the displays they’d been putting on earlier. So unlike them, in fact, that Jamie doesn’t notice it at all.

Owen, Hannah, and Rebecca can’t take their eyes off it.

“So, what, were you waiting to tell me until I got back?”

Jamie nurses the dregs of her beer. “Tell you what?”

“This, what is this!” Rebecca exclaims, fluttering her fingers in the direction of Jamie and Dani’s still-clasped hands. “I go gallivanting around the world for an entire year and neither of you mention that you’ve shacked up?”

Jamie and Dani look at their hands, look at each other, and start speaking at the same time.

“We’re not dating, it was just a stupid thing for tonight—”

“Jamie’s doing me a favor since Eddie’s gone and men are creepy—”

“Right, sure.” Rebecca squints and fixes both of them with a sly glance. “It’s just for tonight, to ward off creepy men, which is why you’re still doing it since there are so many of them around now.”

“Must have just gotten used to it,” Dani offers weakly.

“Of course, which is why you still haven’t let go.”

Jamie lets go and tries not to telegraph how much she misses the weight of Dani’s hand.

“You’re definitely not dating,” Rebecca continues, “which is why Jamie got up and got her coat and Dani’s, and left the rest of us hanging.”

Dani looks down and finally notices the coat in Jamie’s lap. “You got my coat?” she asks, furrowing her brow.

“Yeah,” Jamie shrugs. “Seemed like you were ready to go.”

“Yeah, but I was—I was still talking.”

Jamie waves a hand. “You were telling the piano lesson story; you always tell that when you want the night to wind down.”

“No, I—” Dani frowns and retrieves her purse from where it’s hooked around the stool; she rummages through it frantically, her movements loose and messy. “How did you get my coat check ticket?”

“Took that from ya ages ago, Poppins,” Jamie answers. “You were so nervous you were gonna rub the number right off it, and then we’d both be shit outta luck.”

Jamie watches as the expression on Dani’s face morphs, unfurls from stern, puzzled ridges and relaxes into fondness, into twinkling eyes and soft cheeks, a mischievous affection that floors Jamie every time she sees it. Every time, she wonders how many people have been lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of this look, and hopes that the answer is ‘very few’.

“We should, um, probably go,” Dani whispers.

Jamie smiles. “We all drove here together,” she reminds Dani, just as quietly.

Dani slumps back. She reaches for her coat but instead of grabbing it, simply rests her hand on top, like she’s waiting.

Jamie breathes deeply and avoids looking at Rebecca.

“Owen, mate,” she says, daring him to tease her, “maybe you could drop off Dani and me first.”

#the haunting of bly manor #damie #dani x jamie #dani clayton #jamie taylor #can't believe it's taken me this long to jump on the bly manor bandwagon but #here i am boys here i am world!!#as usual: this got out of hand!!!#tumblr fic #long post #anonymous #carments

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mortalfaerie · 3 years

Text

Better than I had Imagined (A.L.)

anna lightwood x (fem) reader

wordcount: 2563

synopsis: reader and anna have been exchanging letters for 10 months prior to you visiting the london institute for your work year with the london enclave. when you finally get to meet in person, the two of you make up for lost time. explicit smut.

You had been corresponding with Anna Lightwood for going on 10 months now.

Being a shadowhunter native to New York, you had been able to acquaint yourself with the warlock Magnus Bane, who kept very interesting company across the world. Being a woman who enjoyed the company of other women, more than that of men, you had found the pockets of society in which these things didn’t matter as much, and you had met him there. By word of mouth, over drinks on multiple occasions, you had learned of the high warlock of London, and his partner, Hypatia Vex, who was known to hold court for one of the most scandalous salons in the eastern world, and of a particular shadowhunter who was a frequent visitor of this salon: Anna Lightwood.

Anna Lightwood, who Magnus had made sure to mention, rather enjoyed the company of other women as well.

After returning from London again, he had grinned as he placed a slip of paper into your hand that read in a feminine scrawl, “Flat 6, 57 Percy Street, London. Anna Lightwood.” You had gaped at Magnus, who gave a shrug. “She liked the sound of you as well.”

You had returned to your family’s townhouse that evening and promptly written your first letter to Anna, and nervously placed it in the post at the institute the next morning.

Fortunately, mail came back and forth at a much faster pace for the nephilim than mundanes, and you had the response in your hands in less than a week. You had tucked it into your petticoats as soon as possible, and kept it close until you could return to your room and lock the door, and eagerly open it and read.

Your face had flushed as you read. She was a bona fide flirt, and answered all your questions with questions of her own. You had read it over 3 more times before you penned your response.

Six months later, you had turned 18, and were asked to consider a work year in the clave of another city to learn. You had options- Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Edinburgh, and London. Naturally, you gravitated to the idea of London, but didn’t want to overstate your friendship with Anna, lusty as the letter you exchanged were. It was fortunate indeed that your parents were more or less supportive of you, so long as you were quiet about your preferences, because the letters you exchanged would verge on incriminating in the mundane world. Never had words that affirmed romance been exchanged, but she had relentlessly flirted with you until you timidly reciprocated, and had all but made love to you with her words. Still, you would not mistake lust for love.

In your next letter, you told her you were considering a work year, and it was possible to do so in London. With a sigh, you wrote directly that you would like very much to meet her one day, and would it be agreeable if you met in London, while you stayed there.

To your delight and relief, she had written back not that she would like to see you in London, but she longed to see you in London. Shortly, you spoke to the head of the London Institute to arrange your travel and appointment at the London Institute. 4 months later, you had your bags in hand as you stepped through a portal to London. Magnus, who created the portal, accompanied you- he had a fondness for London, and thought it was suiting if he saw you to the person he had introduced you to all those months ago.

Anna knew you were coming. She had made a note in her datebook when you were travelling, and had written ahead that you should come by her flat later that day, after you had settled in. She checked her pocket watch for the third time that hour and glanced at the window again, this time stopping and looking again as the Institute’s carriage approached, and deposited a young woman at 57 Percy Street, with a letter in hand.

She knew it was you. You had described yourself and, at her urging, sent a photograph. It truly didn’t do you justice- the black and white impressions never could- and without thinking, she opened the window and leaned out, calling, “Y/N!”

You stopped where you were and looked up, meeting her gaze with a smile. “Anna!” you exclaimed.

“I’m on the second floor! Do come up!” she yelled back, and closed the window to go wait by the door.

When you knocked, she opened and you both grinned stupidly at each other. After a moment you managed, “Hi.”

She grabbed your hand and pulled you inside. “Hello.” she said, her deep voice at once excited and sultry.

Your hands joined, you kicked the door closed behind you and giggled. Anna’s eyes ran up and down, drinking you in. You flushed, admiring the sharpness of her cheekbones, her inky black hair, and her deep blue eyes, when they again met yours.

“I have been waiting 10 long months to kiss you.” she said, her voice rough. “May I?”

You had only slightly nodded when her lips came down on yours, urging, needing. You gasped, fingers knotting in her hair, and arched your back into her when she ran her tongue across your lower lip, and you parted them for her. She moaned lowly, and pushed you back against the closed door. When your back hit it, she pulled away to look at you, as though to ask if you were sure about this.

Having still lived with your family in London, you had never been with another woman, or anyone, in fact. Anna knew this, you had admitted it shyly in letters. Her eyes were hazy and when you found your voice, it sounded husky and foreign to you.

“I did not wait 10 months for you to only kiss me.” you said, heat crawling up your neck.

“Then tell me,” she said, and used your hair braid to pull your head to the side, exposing your neck so she could kiss and suck there. “What else should I do?” she whispered by your ear, and the hair on the back of your neck stood up. She was teasing you, and ordinarily this would have annoyed you, but you were putty in her hands.

You squeaked when surprisingly, she bit the sensitive skin of your neck. “You have to use your words.” she said, and sucked at the skin she had bit, causing it to bruise.

“I- I want you to touch me.” you said, your head thrown back against the doorframe as she worked at your collarbone.

“Oh?” She said, and drew back so she could look at you, still close enough that your noses touched. “Should I touch you here?” she asked, and moved one hand from your hip to the curve of your breast. “Please.” you murmured, and she smiled.

“How polite.” she mused, and grasped the hem of your dress. With her other hand, she pulled loose the tie that belted you simple cotton travelling dress, and fluidly pulled the garment up and over your head, leaving you in your petticoat, shift, and corset. With your own hands, you undid the ties of your petticoat, letting it fall to the ground. Anna hummed in approval, and bent to kiss you again, passionately, but surprisingly slower than before. You fumbled with your hands, pushing her suspenders off her shoulder, and undoing the buttons of her shirt. You got about 3 buttons down before she laughed, and pulled away to undo them herself.

“It’s difficult to undo what you can’t see- at least, if you haven’t done it before.” she said, and winked at you. You would have blushed, but you felt you had exhausted that ability. All blood that could have rushed to your face was already there, making your head spin.

“There,” she said, and shrugged off the men’s shirt she wore so well. Beneath it, she wore only an undershirt, and no corset. You let out a soft noise like a sigh, and surprised yourself by pulling her back to you. As you kissed, you ran your hands up her arms- they were strong, firm, and laced with runes. She drew away slightly and said, her voice pitched low, “I’m going to pick you up now.”

You were surprised, but your voice was thick as you asked “Why?”

Her lips were grazing yours as she replied, “Because if I’m going to be your first, I’m going to take you properly, in a bed, not against a door.”

“Oh.” you said on a moan, as she bit your lower lip. As she said she would, she swept an arm under your knees and carried you, bridal-style, to her bedroom, and deposited you on the soft coverlet of her sheets before moving on top of you. She undid the hooks at the front of your corset and discarded it with ease, and you shivered underneath in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

With only your shift and stockings left on, you were eager to be rid of them, but not before reaching for the buttons of her breaches. Pulling away, she regarded you wryly. “You do know how this works, right?”

You narrowed your eyes in response. “Of course I do. I just think it’s a little unfair if I’m entirely naked and you’re not.” You added, lower, “I want to see more of you, Anna. I imagined it enough.”

She obliged you, shucking off the trousers and revealing her toned legs. “By the Angel, you’re beautiful.” you said, unbidden.

Wonder of all wonders, Anna Lightwood momentarily flushed. Quickly regaining control of the situation, she gathered up your shift and pulled it over your head, leaving you lying beneath her in only your stockings, still fastened with ties above your knees.

“I could not have imagined you better.” she said, her voice gruff, and trailed a hand from your hip up your torso, resting on your exposed breast and thumbing your nipple.

You gasped involuntarily, and she grinned and bent to suck the other. You fisted your hand in her hair and reveled in the sensation, arching into her when she bit and sucked a bruise into the soft skin of your breast. Your hands moved to the hem of her undershirt, slipping under it and running your hands over the plain of her back, as you whimpered, “Please, Please.”

She pulled away, an eyebrow cocked. “Please what?” she asked, teasing again.

You felt like fire was burning just below your skin as you said, “Please, Anna, I want- I want you to make love to me.”

The phrase hung in the air between you. You hadn’t ever said anything about love in your letters, and Magnus had been clear that Anna was not the committing type when he connected you two. Even still, Anna nodded slowly and said, “As you wish.”

She kissed you again, slowly and deliberately, but her right hand, marked with her voyance rune, made its way down your body and between your legs, thumb moving over your clit as you let out an unexpected moan, and she laughed briefly at your reaction. You felt the tips of your ears redden in embarrassment, but you dropped your head against the blankets below, unable to be indignant with all that you were feeling.

You felt her move under your hands, slipping down and off the bed. You looked up, concerned you had done something wrong. “What are you-” you began, and she rested her head on your lower stomach and shushed you. “I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry about that.”

You nodded, but your brow was still furrowed in confusion until she slipped below your field of vision and- oh. OH. Her fingers were replaced with the wet, hot pressure of her tongue, moving over you in ways you couldn’t decipher, and it felt like the whole world fell away.

“Oh, oh God.” you moaned, words coming to your lips without thought, and spilling over in staggered, whimpering tones. “Oh my- oh, Anna.” You felt so good. You didn’t know it was possible to feel so much at once, and you would have marveled at it if only you were capable of thinking of anything but Anna, her actions, and how glorious it felt.

Unbidden, you laced your fingers in her hair where she was between your legs, and gasped as she slid two fingers in you. You let out a sharp cry in response, and she began to curl her fingers upwards, and you were gone.

If you had thought you couldn’t have felt anything more intense than you had then, you were wrong. All thoughts were pushed from your head and your body shuddered. You said just as you thought, “Anna, Anna, Anna, oh, Anna!” as waves of blinding pleasure washed over you. When it receded and you loosened your grip on her hair, you were only vaguely aware of her pressing oddly gentle kisses to you thighs, before joining you on the bed.

Your chest was heaving as you turned your head to look at her, and she had fixed you with the oddest, almost wonderstruck expression.

“I love the sound of your voice.” she admitted. “I love hearing you cry out my name.”

You laughed despite yourself, and rolled so that you could better face her. “I will never, not ever forget that.”

“Ah, very very good, then?” she grinned, and drew an arm around your waist. You pressed your face into the crook of her neck and inhaled the scent of her, now mixed with sweat and the lingering smell of your sex, and echoed her earlier words. “I could not have imagined this better.”

“You will have to tell me how exactly you imagined this before.” She said, and idly pulled your hair free of your braid, combing it out with her long fingers.

You chuckled. “If you allow me to catch my breath and gather my thoughts, I’ll show you how I imagined it.”

“Hmm. Tea first, I think. It has restorative properties, and I feel odd if I invited you for tea and never offered you any.” she said, now tracing the shape of your runes on your shoulder blade.

You drew away and gave her an incredulous look. “You’re concerned about propriety now?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I should think that I’ve been the height of propriety. I waited 10 whole months before bedding you.”

You laughed into her shoulder. “Was it worth the wait?” you asked.

Her grip tightened around your waist and she nodded. “Absolutely. And, with your permission, I think I’d like to bed you again, and again, and again.”

“And what of your code?” you replied, recalling her assertion that she never seduced a woman twice.

She brushed your hair away from your ear and whispered, “I had 10 long months to plan how I would seduce you, and now I have 12 months of you in London to exact those plans. Do not think for a moment that I will squander time.”

You shivered in her grasp, and fisted the material of her undershirt in hand. She chuckled wryly. “But as I said, first: tea.”

#anna lightwood #the last hours #the mortal instruments #the infernal devices #the dark artifices #anna lightwood x reader #smut #the last hours smut #tlh smut #tsc smut

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inventors-fair · 3 years

Text

Club Decks: What We Play

Fifteen decks, fifteen archetypes, fifteen strategies. For my students, not everyone can make a good deck, and/or they don’t necessarily have the resources to make what they’d like. Commander and stuff is the most difficult, but they enjoy Oathbreaker with the inexpensive and more or less accessible planeswalkers, and they don’t usually worry about Standard, Modern, or Pioneer.

Club decks have a number of cards of different rarities that I use to model them off of my first starter decks, back in Alara. There’s a fair amount of repeats and a good chunk of power, and they’re easy enough to model so that students can make their own.

Depending on the year (2020-21 being pretty disruptive), there are different criteria for “leveling up,” which means beating a number of students and then beating me to get a booster pack and a level in my ledger. There’s no limit, except you can’t level up more than once a week. Hey, I make enough to make kids happy, but not enough to give them a zillion packs.

Below the cut are my club decks, some notable cards, and why I made them the way that I did. Enjoy this little slice of Magic! If you’re looking to start similar programs or you’d like details as to how things are run, let me know and I can provide extended decklists and explanations.

1. White Equipment Voltron

Notable cards include:

Healer’s Hawk

Taj-Nar Swordsmith

Strata Scythe

Little things turn into big things. With a little bit of destruction and a whole lotta keywords, this deck is all about building up to a single aggressive Voltron creature that wrecks shop. It’s good about teaching different card types and keyword interactions, and hey, it feels good to swing with an 11/11 creature that started off as a 1/1, right?

2. Blue Tempo Control

Notable cards include:

Pestermite

Everdream

Tidespout Tyrant

This is the deck for advanced players. The big blue comes out with a lot of disruption, and this is the deck that often gets described as either “unfun” or “my favorite deck.” Bounce it, counter it, bounce my land to cycle, return your threat, disrupt, and so on and so forth. Not every deck has a difficulty curve like this, but it’s satisfying to say the least.

3. Black Sacrifice Everything

Notable cards include:

Butcher Ghoul

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

Priest of Forgotten Gods

“Synergistic” is an understatement. The number of death triggers and sacrifice triggers can easily win someone a game if they know how to interact properly. Forcing decisions upon your opponent and exploiting some awesome stuff from your side of the field makes this deck easy to play if you want to have things die and VERY easy if you know how to manipulate the board.

4. Red Discard into Madness

Notable cards include:

Spinehorn Minotaur

Dragon Mage

Glint-Horn Buccaneer

I’ll admit, this deck is a bit of a pet project and one of my favorites. Ditching cards to draw cards feels great to me! I love madness, I love looting, and I love throwing a bunch of stuff away to make big things before getting it all back later. As much tuning as it needs, this deck is another advanced joy for people that love to make niche ideas work to the best of their ability.

5. Green Lands & Boys

Notable cards include:

Timbermaw Larva

Howl of the Night Pack

Kalonian Twingrove

Sometimes you just want an easy ramp deck. The small end of this gets lands and has some landfall, and the big end just wrecks shop with the big and powerful creatures that we all know and love from green. It’s easy to play and it’s easy to win with and sometimes, stomping is all you need to do. A great card for the Tim-Tams of the world.

6. UW Fliers Beatdown

Notable cards include:

Squadron Hawk

Watcher of the Spheres

Windreader Sphinx

I recently got my butt handed to me with this deck, and it’s not to be trifled with. Each deck has its own kind of evasion and whatnot, but this deck has got the early-game down and the late-game? Unstoppable. It’s designed to massacre you in the air and that’s what it does. Pumps, beats, and more. One of the first decks the kids loved.

7. UB Surveil Control

Notable cards include:

Notion Rain

Price of Fame

Thief of Sanity

“Really?” Yeah, well, here’s the thing: I built this deck when I didn’t have a whole lot of spare cards sorted, and that’s why I did it. As a block mechanic, though, surveil really is fun, and as a control player, the deck is pretty darn sweet. It’s beefy, powerful, and great flavor for the city. Fun fact: the Thief of Sanity I had is actually a misprint! It’s missing the rare sticker.

8. RB Goblins Snarl Rage Win

Notable cards include:

Goblin Instigator

Fodder Launch

Weirding Shaman

And this is another deck that the kids absolutely love. Fast fun, and furious, Goblins is a great tribal introduction that people go to when they want to show how easy and cheeky it can be. Burn ‘em out, make ‘em attack, turn ‘em sideways. This isn’t necessarily an easy deck, but if all you know is attacking, then you’re golden. Or, you can kill someone only through noncombat damage!

9. RG Monsters of the Jungle

Notable cards include:

Ruination Wurm

Footfall Crater

Mina and Denn, Wildborn

This is, surprisingly, the deck with what I feel is the lowest barrier to entry. You give big things trample. Now, there IS a fair bit of complexity in the number of combat tricks, with some buffs and some bloodrush cards along with it, but everyone knows that big things are big. The difference is in the variety of strategies available to you with access to red mana.

10. GW Token Swarm

Notable cards include:

Raise the Alarm

Selesnya Guildmage

Growing Ranks

If you can be fast with this deck, then you can run someone over faster than they could ever react. If you can be slow with this deck, you can build up enough life and army power that you literally can’t be beat. There’s a lot to love about this deck and it’s not as easy as it might seem. Tokens are popular with a subset of MTG players, and I’m glad that they have lots of support.

11. BW Ghosts of your Past

Notable cards include:

Pillory of the Sleepless

Vizkopa Guildmage

Ethereal Absolution

Basically, this is in the same vein as the surveil deck, but like the surveil deck, this has been modified so you get the best out of the deck. There’s a little nasty sacrifice, some draining, lots of good stuff. This is a deck for players who want to be mean, but with the option to beat down as well. After all, the best games are one you play in good spirits!

12. GB Elves Reclamation

Notable cards include:

Eyeblight’s Ending

Shaman of the Pack

Immaculate Magistrate

Everyone loves elves. Except for the people that hate elves. You get them out, go wide, or go narrow. Either way, you’re beating in face. This deck can be impossibly fast and I love it, but without breaching the barrier of being overpowered. Heck, I’ve won and lost with all of these decks, but elves put up a struggle, and I love that for them.

13. UG Defenders and Butts

Notable cards include:

Axebane Guardian

Assault Formation

Feed the Pack

I’ve been 100% blown out by this deck before by a student who I underestimated. That’s fantastic. This is the kind of deck that students don’t understand until they see it being played, and that’s honestly great. It’s fantastic to watch them learn and I love watching them pull out all the stops to get the biggest butts possible. Can’t beat seventeen angry wolves!

14. UR Spellslinging Recursion

Notable cards include:

Thermo-Alchemist

Thoughtflare

Call the Skybreaker

Flashback, Jump-Start, and Retrace: people love to cast spells. There’s so much fun stuff that can happen in a stormlike brew, and though it’s definitely not storm, it encourages playing spells, and that’s what makes it fun. It appeals to burn and control players alike and makes them feels skillful to the max. It’s Izzet in everything but perfect flavor.

15. RW Combat Control

Notable cards include:

Thatcher Revolt

Intimidation Bolt

Citadel Siege

I actually let my kids down with this deck before. It was an underpowers Firesong and Sunspeaker deck, and it just wasn’t working. What else can you do? Blow things up and make ‘em big. This deck is a powerhouse of unimaginable proportions and I love playing with it. Smart combat makes for some tricky strategy, and it’s humbling for the reckless opponnent.

That’s all for now! Ask me about questions and I’ll tell you no lies. And hey, if you know any kids, play around with ‘em and see how they engage with MTG. What do they lean to? How can you use that to teach them? It’s an amazing game and I’m glad to be sharing it with you, too.

—Abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #inventor's fair #tuesday blog #student judges #education

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sunseteyes · 4 years

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FLUFFVEMBER DAY 10: INOSUKE HASHIBIRA

prompt: netflix binge (prompts are by @jojosmilktea)

word count: 1,329 words | themes: gen!reader. inosuke being tough. horror movies but not graphical anyway.

tags: @kacchanori @chickynn @todominica @sparkleswritings @brinthie @patricia-ceballos @giyuus-wife @bitchtrynafck @astrxrism @animatedarchives @deephasoceanmagic @strawberrysalwa (send a dm or ask to be added!)

rv: i just finished the haunting of bly manor by the time i was writing this so yeah it’s what i wrote here but there’s no sort of spoilers anyway.

✒︎ it’s not a competition

it's a thing for you and the rest of the "kamaboko squad" to always have a gathering at least once or twice a week to watch movies in netflix for one night. it's either going to be at your or tanjiro's house but usually, it's gonna be on the siblings' abode.

however tonight, it's just you and inosuke in your flat. apparently, nezuko is sick and tanjiro is taking care of his sister. and of course when zenitsu has heard of it, he wanted to go to the siblings' home, to which lead to the situation that you are in now. coincidentally, inosuke was looking forward to the weekly netflix binge since you were scheduled to watch the haunting of bly manor that day. inosuke is a huge fan of thriller, horror and crime movies or series, of course he’d be looking forward to such.

as for you, you're not that much afraid of horror stories but you could say that you hate jump scares the most, that's for sure. so yes, inosuke's company could help you, you just hope he wouldn't notice it and tease you to the ends of the earth.

"so what are we gonna watch, (y/n)? it's horror, right? you're not backing down are 'ya?"

you scoffed, "of course not, are you?"

inosuke laughs sarcastically, holding his chest up high. "why should i be?! it's you who's gonna be scared tonight!"

a pout appears on your face as you pressed the play button on the remote control, eventually having the first episode load on the screen. you settled comfortably next to inosuke, instantly feeling the warmth that radiates from his body even if you were only seated beside him, merely inches away. you've never sat beside him before actually, considering that you were much closer to nezuko compared to the other three. inosuke is probably the least closest to you than zenitsu and tanjiro, so this night will probably out of your comfort zone.

still, it is a good sign for the both of you. at least now, you won't get to play favorites. and you're quite sure inosuke's not that much of a difficult person to get close with—you think.

"why are their faces turning like that it looks so weird." inosuke complains the minute the opening started showing on the screen, the array of characters and specific casts in the beginning of the episode. you couldn't help but let out a short chuckle from your chest, unconsciously snuggling further next to inosuke as you brought your legs up to the couch, reaching under the comforts of the blanket that you laid on top of you two—to which he surprisingly agreed on.

inosuke noticed your movements though. the boy flinches on his seat and turns his head to look at you with eyes wide, yet you had yours glued to the television screen, too focused on what was happening in the scene without any clue that inosuke has his attention solely to you.

above everyone, you were the only one who he cannot read at all. to have you and only you here sitting beside him is something that came out of a clear blue sky. it's not that he didn't want to interact with you, he just has no idea how and it frustrates him how much he doesn't know what to say to you most of the time. of course, it’s not like he’ll ever admit to that out loud.

unable to identify why his face was burning up, he automatically looked away, also in fear that you may notice him looking your way and misunderstand it. his gaze may be directed on the screen and the subtitles, but his mind was flying like a bird elsewhere, flapping its wings to the thoughts of you.

as time passes by, inosuke eventually composes himself, his focus now on the television screen as the film and its plot slowly processed in both of your minds. reactions and opinions were shared between you and inosuke like you were pros, used to how you both do this with the others. with how the conversation just falls smoothly like the wave of a water, you certainly felt how natural the talks were and you were liking it.

maybe all too much.

"hey i thought this is horror where are the ghosts?"

"oh calm down, nosuke. we still have eight more episodes, you know? of course they'll have to build the plot first."

"aw man this is so boring i need to see the monsters!" inosuke whines loud like a child but he continued watching, earning you a shake from the head with an amused face. you just know that he was only keeping up a front just to make himself look tough. you're beginning to feel excited of what's to come as you two watch further into the scenes.

and when the dreaded jump scare scenes arrived, you certainly did not expect them. and neither did inosuke.

"what the hell was that?! did you see that?!"

"y-yeah, i did." you tried not to stutter but your voice was too weak to conceal it. it did not left unnoticed by inosuke, immediately recognizing that expression of yours.

"what's that? are you scared?"

your eyes narrowed as you faced him, "i'm not scared! and don't pretend that you're not!" you argued, frowning at the way he was trying to act tough. but at the same time, it was not because you felt irritated by these kind of antics. you were actually having fun by these small banters. it just makes you think of the reason why you hadn't done this before.

"you flinched." you say without looking, the corner of your eyes catching his previous and current reactions.

"s'just cold, that's all!" he spats, making you scoff in almost an instant as he pulls the blanket further to his form.

you never had foreseen for someone like inosuke to be affected with the way you tease them but the more you had gotten reactions from him, the more you were beginning to feel competitive to see until the end of the movie marathon.

but alas, everything has its end and it's all because you fell asleep, as well as the said boy. the morning you woke up, it was like you were greeted with a birthday surprise even if it was not your birthday and you should have expected it because you were the one who insisted to yourself to continue watching despite having your eyes already drooping and begging to be closed.

by the time you opened your eyes, you were greeted by the sight of the living room, with the television still on and the sun peeking through the gaps of the blinds on your windows. you barely had the moment to register the living being beside you because your eyes were already wide when you turn to look at inosuke's still-sleeping form, head rested rather uncomfortably on the backseat of the couch and his lap all open for that's where you previously were.

you were about to look away but you found yourself staring at his face; openly and without any sign of embarrassment and shyness. you do admit that inosuke is beautiful but damn this is probably the time you truly believed in it.

the length and curl of his lashes that could match guys and gals alike, the softness of the look on his face even while sleeping and awake, the hue of his hair complimenting his skin complexion and texture, the way his fringes smoothly decorate his face like it was meant to be there.

damn.

you felt that familiar beating in your heart, almost some sort of drum that beats so uniquely than how it normally would. and for you, you knew what it meant.

it meant that even if it's not a competition, it was clear that you lost.

#inosuke hashibira #inosuke fluff #inosuke x reader #inosuke oneshots #kny fluff #kny x reader #fluffvember 2020 #fluffvember #kimetsu no yaiba #kny #demon slayer #roze.kny #roze.fluffvember #roze.daydream

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downwiththeficness · 4 years

Text

A Need So Great-Chapter 4

Summary: Eva Moore is assigned to work the last year of her contract with the DEA in Colombia. She just wants to get to the end of her tenure, but she keeps getting drawn further into a string of murders in the city. It isn’t long before she’s forced to face the ghosts of her past.

Word Count: ~3,700

Warnings: Canon typical Violence

A/N: For the purposes of this story, Carrillo isn’t married--or, if you like, divorced. A/B/O dynamics are prevalent, and they come with their own warning. The overall rating for this story is Explicit, although not every chapter will contain adult themes.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8.5, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

They’re sitting at the bar again. Rather, they are sitting at a table at the bar again. It had been a hard day for almost everyone sitting there. Javier, Steve, and Carrillo had managed to thwart a production route at the cost of three men. Connie had watched a young mother die in childbirth, the baby barely alive. Eva had watched from the sidelines, feeling guilty that there wasn’t anything that she could do. So, she’d suggested a drink. One drink had turned into two, then three.

At present, Connie was standing at the juke box, looking for a selection. Eva was watching her look through the offerings, wondering if she should switch to water so that she could drive home.

“I’m telling you,” Steve said, banging his hand on the table, a wide smile on his face, “He literally pissed himself when we busted in. Tell him, Javi.”

Javier held up his hands, “I’m not in this argument, man.”

Rolling her eyes, Eva pointed a finger at Steve, “You’re telling me that some big bad--,” she looked at Carrillo, “What did he call them?”

“Sicario,” he prompted, bringing his glass to his mouth to hide the smirk.

“Thank you,” Eva said, waving her hand a little, “Peed himself because you put a gun on him.”

Steve leaned forward, “Yes, that is exactly what happened.”

“Bullshit!”

“I’m—hey, Connie, can you get us another round—I’m not lying!”

Eva shook her head, “No, nope. Didn’t happen like that. You got no witnesses to prove it.”

“Just because I don’t have a witness doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

“You made the assertion, Murphy, you’ve got the burden of proof.”

“Fuck off.”

“You fuck off,” Eva shot back, “All you agents walk around like you’re hot fucking stuff because you got a badge and a gun and the support of the US government, tellin’ tall tales to make yourselves look like John Wayne. I swear to God, if I have to hear one more dick measuring contest on the break room I will literally puke.”

Connie came back to the table, a tray full of...not beer. She set it down and Eva counted enough shots for each of them, a couple salt shakers, and some cut limes. Oh, shit.

“We have to go to work tomorrow, Connie,” Eva censured gently, despite taking the glass from Connie’s outstretched hand.

Connie scoffed, “Like you’ve never had a hangover before.”

Eva noticed Carrillo hadn’t taken one of the glasses. She leaned over, nudging him, “C’mon, you gotta do this, too.” When he balked, she picked up one of the glasses and held it in front of him, “We’re all in this shit together, Horacio.”

He stared at her for a moment before pulling his lips between his teeth, a reflexive movement he sometimes did when he was thinking. She wiggled the glass, smiling when he relented. The salt shakers went around to everyone and Eva licked the back of her hand between her thumb and forefinger, tapping a bit out.

“What should we toast to?” Connie asked.

“We’re toasting?” Eva asked with a laugh, “I didn’t know you could toast over tequila shots.”

Connie leveled a baleful glare at her and Eva rolled her eyes, holding the glass towards the center of the table, “Its your toast, man.”

“To catching one of the bad guys,” Javier announced.

That was good enough for the group. The glasses made a dull sound as they clinked them together. Eva licked the salt from her hand, threw back the shot, and stuck the lime in her mouth. She hadn’t had tequila in a long while, but the movements were still buried in her muscle memory. Salt, shot, lime. Glancing over, she caught Carrillo pulling the lime from his mouth, tongue catching juice that remained on his lips. She dropped her gaze, feeling her neck heat an a way that had nothing to do with the alcohol. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep her eyes off him, let alone her hands.

To keep said hands busy, she threw the rind onto the tray with the empty glasses just as Connie shot up, both hands in the air.

“Another!”

Eva could feel her brows hit her hairline, “Steve, is she like this every time she drinks tequila?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” He lit a cigarette, a smirk appearing beneath his mustache.

She watched Connie head for the bar, “Is she gonna be okay?”

“Until she wakes up tomorrow,” he laughed.

“Cool, cool.”

The song on the juke box ended and ‘Careless Whisper’ queued up, the saxophone out of place and yet Eva couldn’t imagine that Connie would choose a different tune. She turned from the bar with a wide smile, shots completely forgotten.

“I love this song. Stevie, come dance with me.”

And there they went, Connie dragging Steve to the dance floor which, surprisingly, had quite a few people on it. Eva watched them go, laughing.

“I can’t wait to tell her all about this later,” she said.

Javier snorted with contained laughter, “I should have brought a camera. I’m getting another drink, you want anything.”

Eva and Carrillo both waved him off and he headed for the bar.

“He’s right, we should have brought a camera,” Eva said as she gestured towards where Connie was spinning Steve, pulling him in for a dramatic dip.

“We can always get the security footage from the owner,” Carrillo suggested with half a smile.

She looked at him, not quite believing, “You think he’d give it to us?”

One of his brows lifted, “We’d have to pay him.”

“We could do that.” She thought about it for a minute, “Man, that would be comedy gold at the office Christmas party.”

Connie gave a little shimmy, hands on Steve’s shoulders as they swayed back and forth. He was acting like he was annoyed by it, but Eva had been around him long enough to know that he was secretly enjoying every second of his wife happily dancing after a hard day’s work.

Leaning forward, Eva took up her discarded beer, eyes catching on the bar. She leaned a little towards Horacio, gesturing with the bottle.

“Looks like Javier’s trying to close a deal.”

He was talking with a pretty girl with long, curly hair. They were both smiling, she was touching his arm. Eva had heard some of his pick up lines, she wondered if he was actually using any of them. If so, he was sleeping alone tonight.

“He’s probably negotiating price.” When Eva looked to him in question, he shrugged, “She’s a sex worker.”

“No,” Eva gasped, looking the woman over to see how he could possibly know. “How can you tell?”

Horacio shrugged, “I see a lot of them in my line of work.”

“Oh?” Eva said with both brows raised.

He shot her a sarcastic look, “We arrest them from time to time. Most of them are informants.”

“To you?”

He nodded.

“And you pay them?”

He made a noncommittal sound, but the little roll of his neck gave her all the confirmation she needed. She opened her mouth to say something and thought better of it, shutting her jaw with a click.

His eyes narrowed, “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Eva responded quickly, sipping to distract herself.

“No,” he held up a finger, moving into her space a bit, “You were going to say something and you stopped. Why?”

She blinked, “It was an inside thought.”

His brows drew together in confusion. She felt her cheeks heat, embarrassed that she’d actually said ‘inside thought’ for the first time since she was a kid—a concept that her parents had taught her before she’d learned to filter out the sentences that should not be uttered.

“Ah,” she stalled a little bit, not quite believing that she was going to say this out loud, “An inside thought is when you think a thought that should absolutely not be said on the outside. Like, ever.”

His head tilted to the side, “Tell me.”

“Oh, no,” she shook her head, “Absolutely not. Were you listening? Its an inside thought, its supposed to stay inside.”

“How do you know its an inside thought?”

Eva hesitated, considering. She watched him figure out that he had an opening, his expression opening up just a little bit.

“Because people are usually insulted by inside thoughts,” she offered lamely.

“And you think I’ll be insulted by it? Or, Javi?”

She held her silence, pressing her lips together to keep from answering. He was a lot closer than was strictly necessary. Although the music was playing loudly, Eva felt herself zero in on him, focused on his every word and the shape of his mouth as he talked.

“So,” he continued, “We’ve established that you’ve had a thought that you don’t think is appropriate and you feel I would be insulted by it.”

Eva wondered if this was how people felt when he was interrogating them, somewhere between helplessly drawn in and desperate to change the subject.

She cocked her head to the side, “We’ve established nothing other than I had an inside thought and voice that they are typically insulting.”

“That’s a fine distinction,” he conceded turning a little in his chair to face her a bit more fully, “But, there’s only one way to really settle this. You have to tell me.”

Eva ran her thumb over her brow, dropping her eyes to the side and breathing deep, “I was going to say … that I was surprised you had to pay them.”

He paused, then, “Why is that?”

She was having a hard time breathing, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Because, if it were me, I’d probably just tell you.”

Whatever he might have said after that was cut off by Connie sliding into her chair with a high pitched giggle. She was sweating a little, leaning hard into her husband with a wide smile. She looked happy. Eva smiled at her, saluting with her beer.

“Nice moves, sweetie.”

“Ah, thank you! I bought, like, ten songs, so we’ll be getting back to it soon.”

As if on cue, the song changed and “We Built this City” started up. Eva shook her head, her attention snagging on Javier at the bar. Another man had walked up and he was arguing with him, tongue rolling across the front of his teeth. He looked pissed.

Carrillo noticed her attention straying and she felt him tense a little next to her. A few more guys had walked up.

“Aw, shit,” she said, already moving to stand as the fight broke out.

Glass shattered, and Eva circled around Carrillo to where Connie was sitting, pulling the woman with her over and down towards the bar. She could hear voices screaming and the sound to flesh hitting flesh. Without much care, she shoved Connie into the space between the bar and the wall, holding up a finger and leveling a determined look at her.

“You don’t move,” she said. “Not an inch.”

You say you don’t know me, or recognize my face.

A hand grabbed Eva’s ankle and she yelped as she was dragged out into the fray. The man was average size and weight, but he had the jump on her. He climbed over her body and had his hands around her throat before she could get her bearings. Eva threw both hands out and into his shoulders, balancing his weight while she tucked her knees into her chest. Her hips shimmied and she was able to get her heels up. She kicked. Hard.

As hard and as fast as she could, Eva kicked him in the face until he let go of her neck. And then, she grabbed his wrists to keep him there and kept kicking until there was so much blood that it looked like a mask of red had settled over him. With a grunt, she shoved him to the side, wheezing and touching her neck gingerly.

Too many runaways eating up the night

Across the room, Javier was holding a guy down while Steve gave him a vicious kick. Not far away Carrillo was dodging a punch, throwing a hard uppercut and catching the guy beneath the chin. His opponent’s head flew back with such force that Eva was kind of surprised that it was still connected. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

Eva caught his eye and she gave a little wave, seeing his eyes flick to her right a little too late. A man wrapped both arms around her chest, caging her arms in. Carrillo’s eyes narrowed and he was moving towards her. Eva yelled and swung both legs out in front of her to mid air. The man struggled under the sudden weight of her body. Bend, snap, roll the shoulder. He fell over her arm to the floor, winded. She used the palm of her hand to hit at his exposed throat, satisfied when he choked.

And then he was right there with her, his scent sharp with the exertion, his hands carefully running over her arms to check for injury. Eva couldn’t help but to smile, a little dazed.

“You good?”

“Yeah,” she breathed, pushing the hair from her face. “Oh, fuck!”

One of the idiots had pulled a gun. And, while she knew he was armed, Eva couldn’t stop the automatic response that kicked in. She shoved Carrillo down behind an up ended table as the shots rang out. Curling over him, Eva covered her head, eyes squeezed shut.

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll.

A few more shots and he was rolling her into the wood of the table, rising up on a knee and pulling his pistol. Eva plugged her fingers into her ears, feeling his body sway a bit with the recoil.

We just want to dance here. Someone stole the stage.

His hands slammed down on the floor as he ducked down. The table behind her scooted forward as a shot ricocheted into the far end, exposing him.

“Horacio,” she yelled, grabbing his polo shirt and pulling him back and into her chest.

The movement set him off balance and his full weight collapsed on her, pushing all the air out of her lungs. Another shot, another screech as the table moved. Horacio pushed to his knees again, firing off another shot. Eva looked around for something they could use that would be better cover. There was literally nothing.

Marconi played the mambo, listen to the radio.

And then she saw it, an unbroken bottle had rolled from somewhere in the bar, right next to a discarded bar towel. Perfect.

“Cover me,” she yelled upwards, already crawling the few feet out to it.

Horacio cursed a blue streak, firing off a few rounds as she shuffled back to him, “The fuck are you doing?”

“Give me your lighter,” she demanded, opening the bottle and shoving the towel inside with two fingers.

To his credit, he hesitated only a fraction of a second before he was digging into the pocket of his khakis and handing her a silver Zippo.

“Thank you,” Eva said primly as she tipped the bottle over a bit to soak the towel.

We built this city. We built this city on rock and roll.

Getting to her knees, Eva looked at Horacio, who was eyeing both her and the bottle with a look a clear and unadulterated delight. She really, really liked when he smiled.

“Bottom’s up!”

And then she tossed it in the direction of the people shooting at them, smiling wide when it hit the mark. Fire burst forth, giving Javier and Steve enough of a distraction that they could get a clear shot.

Who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars?

Eva knelt on the floor, watching over the rim of the table as they went person by person, disarming the ones that were still alive. Eventually, Horacio stood up and she followed suit, moving to check on Connie.

She looked pissed, “I was having a good fucking time and these assholes…” She sighed deeply.

“I know,” Eva agreed, “Next time we do this at your place. Less chance of gunfire there.”

“Tell me about it.”

We built this city.

It took an hour or two for the boys to clean up the mess, cuff a few people, and clear the scene. Eva sat with Connie at the bar, drinking coffee and watching them work.

“I saw what you did there with that guy,” Connie commented, leaning one elbow on the bar, “How did you learn all that...self defense stuff.��

Eva shrugged, “After my marriage ended I thought it would be good to learn a few things, just in case.”

Connie didn’t need to know that she’d learned it in case one of her husband’s family members decided to get vengeance.

“Divorce?”

“Death,” Eva clarified.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it was the best thing for everyone involved.”

Connie laughed a little, “Even your husband?”

“Especially my husband,” Eva confirmed with a smile. “Real asshole, let me tell you.”

Eyes following her husband across the room, Connie asked, “He cheat on you.”

“Worse,” Eva answered, her good mood evaporating.

She closed her eyes and ran a hand over her face, working to right herself. She was saved by Javier approaching, a little saunter in his walk.

“The owner has agreed not to press charges for the fire setting.”

Scoffing, Eva snipped, “What’s a little fire to bullet holes?”

There were several lining the walls. Almost every piece of furniture not nailed down to the floor was either overturned or broken entirely. The table she’d been hiding behind with Horacio had splinters up and down it. If she hadn’t thrown the bottle, the next round of bullets might have gotten through the wood to the other side.

“If anything, this’ll make this place more popular,” he said, tapping out a cigarette and lighting it.

Eva sighed, “Did you have to start the fight?”

He looked at her, “I didn’t start it.”

She rolled her eyes, “I’ve known you for like three months. You started it. I don’t know why, but you started it.”

Connie had the good grace to lift her brows and spin a little on her bar stool, sipping her coffee. Javier took a drag and shrugged.

“Right,” Eva said, hopping down. She waved to Connie, “See you at next week’s class.”

She grabbed her purse and headed for the exit, more tired than she cared to admit. So tired, in fact, she didn’t notice that Carrillo had followed her out.

“Do you ever park closer to where you’re going?”

Eva jumped, hands coming up in front of her. When she recognized him, she laughed a little, “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention. And, to answer your question: I like the longer walk. Gives me time to, I don’t know, settle myself.”

He nodded, “Maybe consider parking a little closer when you know you’ll be staying after sundown. Might be safer.”

At this Eva shot him a bemused look, “I think you either shit canned or shot anyone who’d give me trouble.”

He put his hands in his pockets as he walked with her, “You’re the one who set them on fire.”

She gave him a deferential nod, rolling one shoulder, “You may have a point. But, I’d argue that my actions were justified, given that they were shooting at us. I mean, I haven’t been here long, but I’m pretty sure the cultural differences aren’t so dissimilar that—were I to be fired upon, I could be forgiven for returning fire.”

They’d reached her car, and she opened the driver’s door, throwing her purse in the passenger’s seat before turning to look at him. He was just… staring at her, hands in his pockets, looking mystified.

“What?”

He took a breath, “You took one look at that gun and threw me down to cover me.”

Eva paused, going over the memory a bit and agreeing with him, “Yeah, I did.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t save your life?”

He stepped into her space, “You save yourself. Let me take care of me.”

“I make absolutely no promises, Carrillo.”

Slowly, to give her time to know what he was doing, he curled a finger beneath her chin, “You do that when you’re trying to deflect, use my last name.”

In the moment, she hated him a little. It had taken years to develop her defense mechanisms so that she could function normally with people. A joke here, a little sarcasm there. Just enough to keep them at a distance. And, here he was, seeing through her bullshit.

“You are frustrating,” Eva said without any bite.

He smiled, “I’ve been told that.”

“Did they also tell you that you have the cutest little dimples when you smile?”

The laugh that followed was surprised and Eva was gratified to see that he was blushing. She curled a hand over the arm still holding onto her, fingers curling over his bicep.

“No, no one has told me that,” he said after he’d gathered himself.

She considered it, “That’s a shame.”

“Is it?”

They’d moved closer together. Eva could feel the heat from his body, the smell of him that she liked so much tinged with sweat and smoke.

She settled against the side of the car, “Damn shame.”

He ran the back of his fingers over her cheek, considering, “I’ll take your word for it.”

“See that you do.”

Horacio made a soft sound of assent, leaning down to press a soft, tentative kiss to her mouth. He pulled back, but not far, dipping down again for another soft kiss that was entirely too short. Eva’s every breath was filled with him, her skin alight. She leaned up, taking the kiss she wanted. Deeper, harder.

Hands gripping both her hips, he pushed her into the car, his weight preventing escape—not that she particularly wanted to move. The feeling of being held almost immobile and kissed senseless was delicious in a way that made her toes curl. She clung to him, inviting more kisses, more touches—just more.

He was the first to break away, breathing hard, “Get in the car.”

“What?”

He shook his head as if to clear it, “Get in the car before I drag you to my truck and take you home with me.”

She smirked, “You probably wouldn’t have to drag me.”

He leveled a serious look at her, “Car. In.”

“Sure thing, Big Guy,” she said, sliding into the seat. “See you at the office.”

#narcos #horacio carrillo #carrillo #A Need So Great

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talesofsonicasura · 4 years

Text

Origami Dreams

Another experimental fic involving Jujustu Kaisen but with Yuji this time.

Origami, the craft of folding paper to create extraordinary creations. An art very treasured in the far East especially one specific legend. It was said if one were to fold a 1,000 paper cranes, then the gods will grant that person a single wish for their dexterous hard work. Something a lot of people gave up on from how difficult or monotonous the task was.

To one little boy named Yuji Itadori, it was a pastime he spent alongside his grandfather. For it all started when a classmate had given him a book on origami. He couldn't remember her name but he never forgot the image of fire and lightning upon the memory.

Not even the next day, his classmate had perished in a vicious car accident. To keep her last gift from becoming forgotten, little Yuji began to learn the craft of origami. First it started small like flowers or a snake, then in three months he crafted fantastic dragons, phoenixes and even an origami castle from scratch with masterful talent.

His favorite pieces of origami were simpler than all of his creations. It was a pair of sibling rulers, a king and his younger sister. They sat happily together on two thrones belonging to his origami castle, although he needed his grandfather's help to put them there properly.

Something that always brought him joy was looking at his masterpiece alongside his grandfather. You can only imagine the look of 7 year old Yuji on a day that could be described as a nightmare. A small boy with chocolate brown eyes, salmon hair sitting over almost black thin locks, and barely 3 ft tall watch his grandfather get carted into an ambulance.

The man had suffered a severe stroke which had put his only guardian into a deep coma. A tragedy that left a child returning to an empty house all alone. For a few days, Yuji barely ate anything and avoided his room where his castle lied. One day, he had found or to be precise tripped over the origami book given to him by his fallen classmate.

The book opened onto the legend of the 1,000 paper cranes. Something that gave the boy's soul fire once more. He returned to his room and began his quest to fold the finest paper cranes he could make. Searched every room for spare paper, if he ran out then he took any he could such as pages and color sheets.

Over the span of months, the little boy crafted paper crane after paper crane. Even if he missed up multiple times or lost a few cranes, Yuji never gave up. Finally on the night before his birthday, the child was crafting the last two paper cranes. Cranes crafted from various paper circles around the near 8 year old at his desk.

Slightly pudgy hands tiredly work to fold the wings of a red paper crane with the light of his desk lamp. Above his highest shelf sat a large green checkered origami castle and between its walls were two thrones which sat two origami people. They were sibling rulers for the folded crowns that sat on their sun blond hair heads.

"I'm... almost finished." Said the little boy, drowsiness slowly taking over his senses. He shakily picked up the last piece of blue construction paper and began to fold. Yuji's eyes felt heavy as fog filled his thoughts. First was the body, then came the head, and the wings were to follow.

"Only...a few…*yawn* more folds…" His head turned slightly to the castle of origami's sitting rulers. Their smiling eyes looking back at him as he was on the last two folds. Yuji needed to make a wish before folding the last crane.

It was getting harder to stay awake but he wouldn't sleep until he finished this. The salmon haired child looked at the incomplete paper bird in his hands. Vision growing fuzzy from tiredness, Yuji made the last fold and with his last bit of consciousness made a wish.

"I wish I wasn't alone…" And the boy's mind went black followed by a soft thud. Unbeknownst to the child, his wish would come true as the clock struck twelve. It wouldn't be how he expected though.

Something dull and pointy began to poke the boy's pudgy cheek. Crumbled words reaching the child's ears as his brain slowly came to life. "Hey brother! Our not paper creator is waking up! His rosy cheeks feel like pillows!" A childish young girl's bursting with excitement spoke as Yuji tiredly realized he wasn't alone.

Sleepy brown eyes slowly open to two very familiar pieces of origami overlooking him. Two people with one female and the other male. The female had blond hair with two large curls folded at the back, a folded dress robe made from yellow construction paper, peach paper forming the head with two small black strips to make little eyes, two point folded paper crown that adorn her head, white point fold arms and dark brown point fold legs.

Her male companion had pale blonde hair folded into a large curl that cover the left side of his face, a royal robe made from dark violet construction paper, a gold three pointed paper crown sat on his head with narrow black pieces paper to form eyes that were in a deadpan expression at the moment, purple point fold arms and white point fold legs.

Yuji knew who these surprisingly 1 ft and half tall origami were, they were the two siblings of his Origami Castle: Olly and his little sister Olivia. His two prized creations were floating before, completely alive almost if by magic. The 1,000 Paper Cranes magic. In seconds, the sleepiness faded away as the salmon hair boy sat up in relative shock.

"No doubt the young child is having an existential moment. He may have crafted the 1,000 paper cranes but he wasn't aware of the power that origami can possess. Particularly to those dedicated to the art." Spoke Olly who floated around the room to observe the child's work.

Olivia merely sat herself on the boy's desk to look at the various cranes that sat there. "Creator, take a few deep breaths. It should help calm you down a bit." Without even questioning her instructions, the little boy took a few deep breaths. His nerves and shell shock dissipating in little time.

"You're saying that all my hardwork brought you both to life? Does it mean that something happened to Grandpa too?" Olly flew over to Yuji upon the spoken question. "If you are talking about 'Wasuke Itadori', the hospital had made a call a few hours ago. His pulse has returned to normal and should be waking up soon. He is in extensive care, sadly. It means he can't leave without further risk to his health."

Even though his grandfather was stuck in the hospital, knowing his only family is going to be okay made the little boy happy. The 1,000 Paper Cranes had fulfilled his wish although with two extra attachments. Olly and Olivia had been brought to life. Speaking of which…

"You guys don't have to call me Creator all the time. Just call me Yuji." Yuji smiled brightly at the origami siblings. Olivia giggled before playfully patting the child's cheek. "Sure! Olly, Olivia and Yuji! That sounds like the beginning of a fairytale." The paper princess wasn't wrong on that assumption.

After that day, the little boy now lived in the once empty house with the two living origami. Something that had a lot of obstacles to face but nothing too harsh. First was money for necessary essentials, such as food and water but learning material too.

Selling origami was actually a good source of income with the presence of the two paper siblings. Olly and Olivia had magic which they used for various things but at the moment was to keep any origami Yuji sold to be immune to both damage and age. Some of his creations went from 200 yen to even 5,000 yen per piece depending on how advanced it was.

The two siblings would have to keep out of sight since any normal person would hunt them down for bad purposes. Luckily, Olly and Olivia could fold themselves to pocket size pieces that Yuji could carry with no trouble but they couldn't come to school.

Cooking wasn't much of an issue to learn although there were quite a few accidents with cookbooks and a blender that should never be told. However it appeared that there was much more to his life than magical Origami. For two years later, Yuji learned Olly and Olivia weren't the only ones who changed. He did too.

A 10 year old Yuji Itadori had found himself in a very bad situation. Sometimes selling origami creations would be difficult at some point during each year. This often led the young boy scavenging through abandoned places to look for anything valuable to sell.

He had found an old empty shack that wasn't too far from his house. It had enough scrap metal and loose change that could make up around 9,000 yen in cash alone. Problem was that there was... something living in the shack. And it wasn't friendly.

Yuji was running for his life with Olivia and Olly in his pockets. Behind the child was a blobfish-like abomination with multiple bulging yellow eyes across a gross green body, 15 deformed hands bent in unnatural ways that serve as legs and a large mouth filled with monstrous teeth along a long slimy tongue.

"What is that thing?! It looks so gross!" Olivia screamed within his shirt pocket. The monster had taken them by surprise when they were searching for more scraps. Too fast to prepare anything except to run. "I think it might be a Curse. Something about this world felt off so I did a personal investigation." Chimed Olly from Yuji's jacket pocket.

Both kept their little tirade about breaking the house rule quiet to hear what vital information that could save their life. "Curses are creatures invisible and invulnerable to those without Cursed Energy. I did come across an interesting fact, our Origami Magic can be used to successfully fight them!" Eyes widened upon Olly's explanation.

Too bad Yuji's foot got caught on a tree root which sent the child to the ground hard. "Yuji!" Olivia shot out of his pocket quickly unfolding herself to full size so she could help the boy up. None of them could prepare when the hideous Curse leapt at the two. Life flashing before his eyes, a single thought went through the salmon haired boy's head.

I want to live!

In seconds, the sound of rippling paper and a distorted gasp tore the silence to pieces. Opening eyes he didn't realize that he even closed, Yuji was greeted by an incredible sight. The vicious curse had been snared in large peach ropes of folded Origami that led to a dark blue fold. The very paper itself was the child's own arms, flesh and cloth turned into powerful origami of 1,000 folds.

Without hesitation, Yuji held the monster tighter in his grips as he raised his long origami arms into the air. "Leave us alone!!!" And the child slammed the monster brutally into the ground. It splatted but not into blood or gore. No, the creature exploded into paper confetti of its original green color.

Olly slipped out of Yuji's pocket to stare at the scene in utter shock before turning to his sister. A glowing orange symbol of a hand was on the right side of her chest which vanished upon Yuji's hands turning back to normal. "That was the 1,000-Fold Arms Technique you just did! And the...Curse turned into confetti." Olivia gawked in absolute shock.

It made no sense. Only paper or origami could use the technique and only origami would become confetti upon defeat. Not the hands of a child or a defeated monster. There was only one explanation. "Our magical presence has affected Yuji. He can use origami magic." That very sentence from male origami ruler was enough to picture how things had drastically changed.

After that day, the boy and his two paper companions learned to understand the powers little Yuji now had. It was a hard task for experimentations were needed thus led to occasional battles against Curses. Over the span of 5 years, the child had grown into a young man skilled in the art of origami magic.

There were still some spells he couldn't do without assistance from either Olly or Olivia but Yuji could defend himself against moderate strength Curses now. Although, nothing could compare for the third thing to come into his life. The Cursed Finger of Ryomen Sukuna.

It had occurred two weeks before afternoon clubs would begin at his local high school. The once small child now was a teenager standing around 5'8 in height and most of his baby fat was replaced with lean powerful bulk. Even though Olly and Olivia couldn't really grow like he could, the two happily took advantage of his new height to hang onto his shoulders instead.

Wearing a long coat or cloak on his back along with this 'koala cuddle' meant they didn't have to hide in his pockets if the weather was nice. Anyway, he had a huge cram session to deal with since there would be a big test in a few days. This meant that sometimes he couldn't cook and had instant ramen substitute for dinner.

What he didn't know was in the extra large cup of beef and pork ramen, something had accidentally got inside the package. Olly was sitting across the table looking through the stack of books Yuji had brought home. The origami prince had taken up reading and writing as a personal hobby so the teen often picked up books or writing material.

Olivia was sitting on the couch watching a cartoon on the TV. She usually spent her time drawing comics or acting out scenes from her favorite shows. In fact, Yuji made an account on the computer where the origami princess could post her comics whenever she wanted. Something that exploded across the internet as they end up getting emails to publish them on real paperback.

"Hey Olly, that stapler you wanted to buy should be in stores a few days from now. You want me to grab it for you?" Yuji questioned while slurping some noodles. "Table manners Yuji. And yes, I would like that. It's been so long since I've seen my beloved pet." The origami prince replied while flipping to the next page of his book.

The salmon haired young man pulled up something wrapped up in his ramen noodles. It was too tightly wound to take a better look but the teen could see it was dark meat of some type. Shrugging his shoulders, Yuji put the clump of noodles and meat in his mouth.

Olivia who was about to ask her brother something instantly paled at what was about to go down her creator's throat. It looked like a decrepit old rotten finger with a large claw, so old that it was dark purple and clearly toxic. "That's a crusty finger not beef!" And the finger went down the boy's throat before anyone could move.

Olly quickly flew over to the couch as the kitchen table exploded into splinters. The cause being their salmon hair roommate whose arm was held up in a swipe manner, an arm covered in intricate black tattoos and had large violet claws. Both watched as two slits that emerged under Yuji's eyes alongside black tattoos opened to reveal smaller red eyes.

Or the fact their friend laughed in a deeper more manic voice reminiscent of a psychopath. "Ahahahaha! It feels good to be alive again! Wonder what massacres I can unleash upon this age! The women and children crawling around like lambs to the slaughter!" The possessed Yuji then rips off his shirt apart to reveal even more intricate tattoos going down his slightly more powerful looking body.

"Our big brother got possessed by a psycho devil stripper!!" Olly could only freeze upon his sister's cry as four blood red orbs had now spotted them. Not Yuji stared at the two origami people behind the large plush furniture. Surprise and confusion crossing his four eyed face before he let out a manic chuckle.

"Hahaha! It seems this body belongs to a Jujutsu Sorcerer who knew how to craft living origami. Quite an interesting Cursed Technique… I wonder what I can learn from tearing you apart!" Both siblings were ready to fly away when Not Yuji suddenly froze. A familiar hand symbol emerged on Olivia's chest as Not Yuji's hands morphed into long appendages made of folded origami.

The Thousand Fold Arms wrapping itself around the possessed teen like a straitjacket much to their anger. "What?!" He shouted only for a mouth to pop up on his right cheek and the right eye's iris turning brown in color.

"Good to know origami magic can counter possession to an extent. Alright asshole, who are you? You already pissed me off since you tried to hurt my family and now ruined my study session!" Yuji threatened from the sudden transmutation. Not Yuji growled at the threat in irritation realizing he couldn't move or even retreat into the teen's soul.

This boy had somehow purposely locked him out from both the inside and outside. "No matter what age, you Jujutsu Sorcerers are still a pain in the ass! I am Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses! Show some respect you damn brat!" Howled the possessor as he struggled to break the teen's powerful hold over this body.

"Jujutsu Sorcerers??? What the heck is even that? And Curses have a king??? Then again, your crusty finger ended up in Yuji's ramen so maybe you're a gag?" Sukuna decided that he was going to tear the yellow origami girl apart first for the blatant disrespect. If he got out of this boy's grip. Her questions however raised one of his own.

"You telling me that not only do you fools don't know about me but also Jujutsu Sorcerers? Are you a bunch of dumbasses or completely ignorant?!" The King of Curses would've said more if a large blade didn't pop appear by his neck.

This blade or to be precise, blades, belonged to an inhumanly large pair of cutting scissors that were the size of a van. His three crimson eyes burned holes at Olly's own whose paper left arm was enveloped in a wild green circle depicting the tool ready to chop off his head. The prince's face burned red with rage.

"You're lucky I care about Yuji or I would cut your head off for disrespecting my family. We don't know about you or these Jujutsu Sorcerers and frankly don't care. Get out of our older brother's body now so he can study for his exam." Olly threatened, his tone similar to a lion ready to cut down intruders targeting its pride.

"Well too bad! I can't leave your little master's body even if I wanted too! He only ate one of my 20 fingers and even if he did eat them all, the boy's body will become mine! Unless you can fully pull my soul out then I'm stuck with you brats." Sukuna's words dripping with foul venom.

The information painted a very bad picture for the makeshift family of three. A psychotic demon was trapped in the eldest body and soul split into 20 pieces. Even if they could find all the fingers, it didn't mean the King of Curses would leave Yuji's body willingly.

"Then let's find those fingers." Yuji's second mouth grabbed everyone's attention. "You might be stuck in my body but that doesn't mean I can get you out somehow or someway. At best, I can make a origami body that you can possess temporarily so you won't be cooped up in my soul. And once we find all the fingers, I can get you out of my body with the 1,000 Paper Cranes."

A look of realization passing over Olivia's face. "That's right! The 1,000 Paper Cranes ritual can grant a free wish if you can make all the cranes faster than you did the first time! We can use that wish to get Sukuna out of your body! Nice thinking Yuji!" The King of Curses' couldn't help the shellshock.

These three were willing to collect every piece of his soul and use some wish making technique to make him whole again? None of them had any idea what they were getting themselves into by him or those who still seek to destroy the demon. If he played his cards right, then he will finally live once more.

"Alright you cocky little shits. I can help you locate my fingers since they're a part of my soul. Don't think we'll be buddy buddy because once I get out of that brat's body, I will rip you to shreds! Hear me?!" The pair of scissors by the two faced being's neck shrunk back to normal size before hitting the floor.

"We'll fight back when that time comes. For now, you better behave yourself. Come Olivia, let's see what paper we can use for Sukuna's origami vessel." With that said, Olly dragged his sister out of the room. Yuji's arms returned to normal once the magic connection was cut then ripped Sukuna's control over his body.

The tattoos vanished and one of the slits closed except for the right he forced open which took its original red hue. "Why haven't you fully blocked me out yet? You clearly have enough control to fully suppress me. Are you pitying me, dumb brat?!" Yuji merely ignored Sukuna's threat to grab a piece of paper and a pencil.

"What do you want your origami body to look like? It'll have a form similar to Olly and Olivia but you can choose the customization. Even give it four arms if you have the normal amount of fingers per hand like a human does." Yuji questioned, the mouth on his cheek going silent for a moment.

A few seconds later Sukuna spoke up once Yuji finished the body's outline. "Give it four arms and four crimson eyes. The clothing should be a kimono but I want different color sleeves." The salmon haired teen smiled as he got to work on the concept with the demon's instructions.

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad despite having to search for 20 fingers of a literal demon that had entered his life.

And that's it. Today's story was mixed with the newest Paper Mario game: The Origami King. Without spoiling the game to those who wish to play, it's a very fun game but the ending is very bittersweet.

I also wanted to experiment a bit with Yuji as a kid. How different this Yuji could turn out than his canon incarnation since there is new factors to his life.

Olly and Olivia will be serving sibling roles to Itadori but also taught him how to use Origami based magic or Cursed Technique. I'm taking the Smash Brothers' approach to bypass the requirement of Cursed Energy since in Smash Bros, rules are changed to allow each fighter to be on equal terms.

The game mechanics such as 1,000-Fold Arms, enemies, bosses and different locations will be incorporated into Yuji's moveset. This Yuji is also smarter due to Olly and Olivia's presence, perfect motivation to learn.

Spoilers?: Sukuna is going to get attached to the three.

I hope you guys enjoy the story! Until next time folks! Oh and have this Origami Ryomen Sukuna design! Chou!

Edit: Fixed a few spelling mistakes and grammar. Apparently me misspelling Jujutsu is pretty common in early works with this franchise. 😅

#crossover #jujutsu kaisen #yuji itadori #jjk yuji #paper mario #paper mario the origami king #olly paper mario #olivia paper mario #jujustu kaisen sukuna #ryomen sukuna #sukuna #au #tales of sonicasura #fanfic #sonicasura #jujutsu sorcerer #jujustu kaisen yuji

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hunters-of-the-wastes · 3 years

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The Great Tauros is the descendant of the feral Longhorn Cattle. Once favored for the stock’s longevity, resistance to disease, and ability to thrive on marginal pastures, they are now completely wild and evolved into its own species of bovine, setting out it's own purpose in the ecosystem.

An impressive animal, The Great Tauros stand’s almost 180 cm tall and due to its long legs and slender build is a surprisingly agile animal. Bulls are enormous black beasts with sweeping lyre-shaped horns that can punch holes through steel or upend a small car should the animal become enraged. Its long, thick horns, speed and bulk weight provides powerful means of defense, and adults could give large predators such as wolves a serious match.

Cows are normally around two-thirds the size of the bulls and often have a reddish-brown coloration that makes them difficult to pick out in large groups. Both genders have a narrow “eel stripe” of light gray fur running along their back, while calves of either gender are brown until they hit sexual maturity, at which point the males take on the deep black coloration of adult bulls. Taking the championship prize for the now largest cattle breed alive, which was once given to the Chianina, in terms of appearance, these cattle of New America are massive- It is not unusual for bulls to exceed 1,600 kg (3,500lb) in weight, with some of the largest pushing 4,200lb. It doesn’t help they are also built like tanks, with the skeleton being extremely dense, with thick, sturdy bones.

Moving in small herds of up to half a dozen animals, these mega-sized bovines tend to keep to themselves, living as low browsers along the edges of woodlands and pushing their way through the thick undergrowth of the jungles to feed upon bushes, low-growing leaves, and anything else that they can find. They are also predominantly grazers of grass and low-lying plant growth. They seem to be fond of maple leaves and will knock down small trees to get at them. During the winter they will resort to feeding on twigs, leaf litter, and acorns. They also tend too frequent bogs in search of reeds and fresh understory growth, which may bring them into competition with moose and other large herbivores. However, Large herds tend to dominate any landscape they enter, often forcing away animals as they bulldoze through the available forage. Smaller herbivores like deer are often left unbothered by them and may even follow them as they leave a messy trail of undergrowth in their wake.

Herds are often gender-segregated for most of the year, the sexes only coming together during the late autumn breeding season. During this time the bulls become increasingly hostile and savagely fight for access to females, sometimes maiming or even killing each other in the process. Both genders start bulk-loading on fatty foods near the start of the mating season, each group building up fat reserves in order to survive the harsh winter ahead. Calves are born in the following spring and stay with their mothers for the next three or four years, before males set off to form their own herd's. Female calves may often leave too for a while, but sometimes are known to rejoin the herd after some time.

Despite their size and strength, these massive cattle aren’t always safe. While the animals are incredibly tough, able to shrug off the teeth and claws of most smaller carnivores, put a fight with slightly larger ones and even withstand small firearms like the African Cape buffalo, there are still predators capable of taking them down, while the young are the most vulnerable to predation. In addition, Bulls also tend to make the list to America’s Big Game Five, as males during breeding season are way, way, way, WAY too aggressive for anything to be around them for any length of time in 10 meters distance, which often makes them a thrilling spectacle and wild hunt for Big Game Hunter's.

FUN FACTS

While these cattle are popularly known to show up in their normal color's, the red for the female and the deep black for the bull's, this is not the only color they can present as. Texas Longhorns were said to have many great traits, and color was one of the most noticeable and enjoyable, and as a result their descendant's are not that far off. Much like their ancestor's, Great Tauros can come in a variety of color's.

This is because all cattle basically possess one of three basic colors: black, red or white. The two genes each animal has for color can result in six possible genetic combinations. The gene for black is dominant to the gene for red, therefore cattle with one gene for black and one gene for red (heterozygous) will be black. There is an incomplete dominance between the gene for black and the gene for white, resulting in cattle with one gene for black and one gene for white being a black-roan color. There is also an incomplete dominance between the gene for red and the gene for white, resulting in cattle with one gene for red and one gene for white being a red-roan color. The gene for white is recessive, resulting in only cattle with two white genes (homozygous) being a true white color.

Another pair of genes determines if the color is diluted or not diluted. The gene for dilution is dominant to the gene for non-dilution. Cattle that have one gene for dilution and one gene for non-dilution or two genes for dilution will have a diluted color. Cattle with two genes for non-dilution will not have a diluted color. The dilution gene causes black to be diluted to gray and red to be diluted to yellow. Diluted white will still be white.

As a result, Cows and bulls are certainly unique when it comes to their color as their shading and combination of colors means that no two are exactly alike! Colors, as a result, can often include different shades from light to dark and everything in between, making it common too see brown, black, red, white, yellow and orange. There are also some which are colored Lavender or Mulberry!

Three of the most appealing ‘mixed’ colors to hunter's often include:

Brindle: This is a striped color. Usually red or brown with black stripes. Various shades of red can also be produced, ranging from very light to very dark.

Dun/Yellow: Cows and bulls can range from grey/gold, through tan, onto all shades of yellow.

Grulla: This is the Spanish word for a grey crane. This bird is colored slate-grey and much like the bird, people observing Tauros will often see a range of colors that can range from a pale, smoky silver to a dark mouse color.

Fleabit: A far more appealing color than it sounds, This color is mostly white with underlying dark specks on the skin.

However, color is not destined from birth and can change with age. For example, a light red calf may become brindle after it sheds its baby hair (first coat.) Some red calves may also turn a dark brown or have dark prints after shedding. Other's can be almost completely white when born and become speckled as they shed and age.

#Fallout World Building #Fallout 4 #Fallout AU #Fallout #Fallout 4 World Building #What is sought is most often found if it is truly sought: World Information

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cheerystarlightwish · 4 years

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Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited Episode 10 Thoughts

Hi guys! Episode 10 was such a gift. With everything that is going on, I feel quite down that the coming episode might be the last one. The show has such a great fandom and wonderful potential that it definitely would be saddening once it ends. I sincerely can’t wish enough for there to be more seasons, what a joy that would be for all of us. Moreover, I don’t mean to sound repetitive or ungrateful but, it really still feels as though we just started. Neither of the thoughts, theories, and analyzations I did from episode 9 were validated nor nullified. I’m not quite sure what to think of that yet but I guess, it would mean that I was thinking too much about it. Even though I have quite a lot of questions as of now, I feel like a lot of those will be put to rest once the next episode comes out. As such, I really can’t wait for this coming Friday (the day it is released in my country). Anyways, For those who haven’t watched the recent episodes yet, there are spoilers ahead as I share my thoughts so please be cautioned! Thank you, have a nice day, and stay safe!

(Disclaimer: Any similarities with other posts are purely coincidental. Moreover, if that does happen, I am glad that there are many who think so too because that increases the probability of the statement, thought, analyzation, or theory being somewhat true.)

______________________________________________________________

Episode 10 provided several insights about Haru’s trauma, Daisuke’s stance or sentiments about the whole case, and the relationship between the former and the latter. I may not have the answer to all of the questions I had like “who were purchasing adollium?”, “what is adollium’s true purpose? Is it that versatile?”, “are other Kambes in on this side of the business?”, and “why do the higher ups not want to get involved?” but, what we got was beyond my imagination. It’s interesting because compared to other animes, the action scenes were not as “explosive”. It gave the episode an overall touch of reality that grounded me as I continued watching with bated breath. It made me realize that there are only two of them against a whole group of enemies, a very dangerous situation one can find themselves in. Even if it is not as “colorful” as other animes’ fights, I can’t help but feel the adrenaline with every punch they throw and narrow escape they pull off. In their own right, they were such iconic and noteworthy aspects which deserved the attention and praise they got.

Another thing I got fascinated with are the struggles of both Haru and Daisuke. Haru’s trauma is not exactly new news to us. We already knew from previous episodes just how badly the past event affected him but episode 10… episode 10 gave us a whole new perspective on the real extent of the damage it did to him. They were in such a precarious position, life or death for both of them, and yet he still hesitated. Haru obviously wanted to help and save Daisuke but his fear was just too great despite his effort to overcome it. He needed an extra push and boy am I glad the former gave it to him. If it weren’t for Daisuke’s encouraging words, a touching wake up call, the situation would have gotten so much worse. Additionally, I liked how Daisuke picked his words during that moment. He reminded Haru that he’s always been a hero and that he should stay true to his beliefs about being an officer and uphold justice. I feel like that was exactly what Haru needed to hear after losing his confidence to “take charge” ever since that hostage incident years ago. I am glad to see him revert back to his old self, and arguably an even better person which is a combination of both his old and new self, after succumbing or resigning to the limitations of his job with all the “listening to higher ups because we are merely below them” attitude.

Throughout all that development with Haru, I was pleased to find out that Daisuke was not left behind. His development was no doubt scattered among all the episodes but this episode highlighted just how far he has come. It’s especially evident on how he kept on protecting Haru, his wake up call to him, his compassion towards the enemies on board who were trying to escape the sinking ship, and his confrontation with his father. To be honest, I expected him to lash out at Shigemaru and become quite “cold-hearted”. Surprisingly for me, that is not what we got at all. Instead, we get this Daisuke that calmly approached and arrested his father not on the account of his mother’s murder whose case was deemed closed 19 years ago, but on the murder of Cho-san and Takei-san. Those seemingly little details provide such a clear perception that he did not only do this for himself, his mother’s case which was his main priority, but for the others he cared for as well, Cho-san and Takei-san’s case which affected their department hard. It was such a pleasant turn of events that I can’t help but feel complete fondness for his character.

Lastly, I adore how they showed and revealed where the two main characters’ relationship is at. For the past few episodes, we see them arguing and evidently looking like they are on different sides. Fortunately, episode 9 hinted that that may not be the case and episode 10 completely refuted it during that scene where Daisuke tried to arrest his father. They’ve come so far and it was such a treat to find and notice that subtle and not so subtle changes in their relationship. From their first case together which ended in Haru falling from a bridge, to that hostage incident in an airplane, and finally to their current dynamic in the recent episode. They fit together so well that I bet once this case with Shigemaru is over, their duo will be one of the best there is. Together with the whole MCPTF team? They will be such a badass department.

Predictions:

Though I love episode 10 with all my heart, I can’t help but feel a little sad with the notion that the whole business with adollium and weapons ended just like that, with a sinking ship. It was more than 19 years in the making and the company involved is one of the biggest in the world so, I find it quite difficult to believe that there is nothing more to it after that. Even though I feel that way and with the realization that I might be looking too much into it, I wanted to tone down and step back a little with regards to my thoughts, theories, and predictions for the show. Therefore, I would only be playing with the idea of it’s possible continuity. Given the audiences’ positive reception of the anime, it would not be so far out of the blue for the staff to continue it. What I'm trying to say is what if Shigemaru going back to laboratory 3 and Daisuke and Haru’s future confrontation with the so-called final boss is not really the final? What if they pull a Tomb Raider (2018) type of ending? We are all aware that Shigemaru is part of Laboratory 3 but if you look at their organizational chart, there are a lot more divisions. What if the end is that Shigemaru wanted Daisuke to find out about the dirty dealings within their conglomerate out of his sense of guilt and regrets about his own actions? Now, I do not mean to “soften” his character but really just, what if he wanted the latter to realize that there is a much bigger threat and it’s hiding within their enterprise? Not only would that be an amazing follow up, but it would also ensure that there are future works to come regarding the franchise. A girl can dream, can she not?

(P.S Screenshots from Ani-One youtube account)

#fugou keiji balance: unlimited #fugou keiji #fkbu #kambe daisuke #daisuke kambe #katou haru #haru katou

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canaryatlaw · 3 years

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okay so, I have a super long crazy travel story from June 2014 that I'm always telling and the full version of it just came up on my facebook memories and I feel the need to post it (it was a tumblr post at the time too, it got like 150 notes) mostly so I can post the link on twitter, so here you go:

Okay, here is the full, unedited story of the absolute ridiculous adventure we went on yesterday. It is long.

The plan for the day was to pack up from our London location, hop on a train to a town called Keighley, where we would get on a steam engine train to a town called Haworth that is the location of the Bronte sisters home, and spend the day there. We were then going back to Keighley, take the train to Lancaster, then catch the final train up to the Lake District, with an expected arrival time of 8 pm.

Well, for waking up at 6 and running across London, through the tube, and to the train station with all your luggage for a 10 day trip went surprisingly smoothly, but after we get on the first train that ends. Upon arriving in Keighley we had about half an hour to get the next train, so the plan was for a rental company to bring a van to the train station in which we could store our luggage for a few hours, so we could walk (up a ridiculous incline) all over Haworth freely. Get to train station, no van. Oh. Well apparently the rental company sent somebody to take our professor to get the van and bring it to the train station without telling us, and said person was sitting in their car texting, oblivious to the visibly panicked Americans who just showed up. He does find her and manages to get the van back to the station. We load our luggage in and quickly hop on the steam train. Okay, stressful, but not too bad.

We arrive in Haworth and are told the Bronte house/museum was "just at the top of the hill." Well, apparently the British have a different definition of this phrase than Americans. Just up the hill turned out to be several miles up through fields, stores, old houses, everything. But yes, we reached it- and it was at the very top of the hill. Go on tour, look around town, nice little time. We were to meet to walk back and catch the train at 4. It was imperative that we were on time, as upon arriving back in Keighley, our professor had half an hour to return the van and catch the only train back to Lancaster. Amazingly, we did it, despite how far away the rental place was. It looked like that headache was over and we just had a long, luggage attached ride up to the Lake District.

Well, now the real fun begins. We arrive at the Lancaster station right on time, with about 20 minutes until our train north. Our professor double checks with the station manager about what platform and what train. The warden is very friendly, assuring us that we're in the right place and cracking jokes with us. As the train pulls in, our professor yells to the warden to confirm, and he does. So we board the very crowded train with all of our suitcases. It takes us a good 5 minutes just to get seated with our luggage out of the way. As we get settled in, the conductor comes to check tickets. Our professor hands him our group ticket with itinerary....oh no. This is the wrong train going in the wrong direction. Bad. We were told we had to get out at the next stop to take a train back to Lancaster, to then board a correct train.

Well crap. We get off at the next stop, irritated, and again ask for assistance. We easily found the train we were looking for....the one that didn't arrive until past 9. It's just past 7 at this point. Mind you we are in the middle of nowhere. There is literally a station platform and a small strip of stores. No town, no wifi, no buses, nothing. This sucks, but we have to just wait it out. At the end of the small strip of shops is a "micropub." Everyone was pretty fed up at this point, so we decided to head over to unwind a bit. Micropub was a very accurate descriptor. The whole place was about the size of a bedroom, and already filled with people. Did I mention there were 15 of us? Also, they only had drinks and pub snacks. Oh well, everyone is just like what the heck so we get some snacks and a good number of us get a (singular) drink. We sit on the sidewalk outside of the pub consuming this, much to the amusement of the British patrons. They got quite a kick out of the largely given up hope group of Americans. We actually manage to have a bit of fun, and by the time the train comes everyone is happy and laughing, and just a little bit tipsy.

We take the train back, literally one stop, and wait at Lancaster for the right one. Everyone was pretty much in that crazed overtired mode where you act ridiculous and think everything is really funny. The other train patrons obviously thought we were crazy, and the station manager was quite embarrassed by his snafu that landed us back here. But hey, the right train finally comes. It takes a good 5 minutes stopped at the station for us to get all our luggage stacked and make sure everything was correct. We call ahead to the car company that was to meet us with the rental in the Lake District and the Bed and Breakfast where we'd be staying and they were both able to accommodate our time change. How lucky! Almost. We get off the train at the Lake District and unload all our luggage. Just as the train is leaving and and everyone is collecting their individual bags, we notice that nobody is claiming this black suitcase, that suddenly looks quite unfamiliar...oops. We took someone's bag by accident...and the train is gone. Well we all felt bad knowing we just made someone else's day a little worse, but we give it to the station manager and go to meet the people with the two vans we'd be using for the next two days. Except there not there. So we wait...again. Finally, they do show up, with a quite clueless old man trying to instruct us on how to program where we were going into the GPS and failing miserably. Keep in mind we had very shotty cell service (since we were still in the middle of nowhere) and using data overseas is quite difficult. We can't figure out how to turn the audio of the GPS on, so we resign to leaving the station going off the visual instructions. It was only supposed to be about a 20 minute ride, and hey, what else could go wrong at this point right? Surely we had exhausted our Murphy's law quota for the day. I mean, we had gone on 9 trains.

Well. Apparently at this time of year the sun sets very late here. As in it was finally getting dark…at 11. But when it did set, it was very dark. So we are traveling further and further away from the small bit of civilization we had on very narrow European roads, in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere, and the GPS starts malfunctioning, telling us to go down a road then when we do starts re-routing us elsewhere, ad infinitum…Oh yeah, and there's also a whole lot of mountains here (seriously it looks like the shire, it's gorgeous) so the roads were quite hilly, and we had an American driver who's not totally accustomed to this, and it's a manual transmission…what's that burning smell? Is that smoke? Oh no, that's smoke. And it's coming from the car.

Crap.

The transmission was not happy and started smoking, everywhere. The smoke then got through the AC vents into the car, where everybody starts choking and coughing…so we pull over and literally jump out of the car. It was at this point where I was legitimately worried for my life. We were in the middle of the woods, on a hill, with a broken car, no cell phone service, and by now it's midnight…yeah, this was bad. I was also partially convinced the car was going to blow up.

And then in an unforeseen plot twist, I managed to save the day. We were trying to figure out what the heck to do when I tried to look at my maps on my cell on a whim…and it loaded. What? It had us located. Okay….so I type in the name of the bed and breakfast, not knowing the address…and it loads. Oh man, the GPS on my phone is working!! The transmission had cooled down some, so we very carefully climbed back in the car, trying to follow my GPS. It took us another 40 minutes of nowhere-ness…up to the point where the road was only wide enough for one car, barely even enough for our van. And about a hundred "are you sure we're going the right way?" to which I could only respond "…no?" And then there was a rabbit in the middle of the road, so we slowed down…and it stopped. So we move forward and it moves, then reverses, then stops and we were all going crazy and screaming for the poor rabbit to get out of the road and not meet it's death at our hand. It's probably relevant to mention that this is also where Beatrix Potter lived, so that probably fed into that….and the inn appears. Miles away from absolutely everything. We pull in, I shut the navigation off, and then look in the corner of my phone to see that it had just now switched to no service whatsoever.

The really crazy part? When we headed back into town today with a better sense of direction, I had no service for at least 5 miles away from the place. There's no way my GPS should've lasted that long. And so that's the ridiculous story of how Rachel saved the day. 📷

(the fact that is left out of that story is my phone gps only worked because I went ahead and switched my data on, which resulted in a $600 phone bill, but I deemed it was in fact an emergency and my dad had no issues paying the bill, so it all worked out)

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flannel-kind-2-0 · 4 years

Text

Hopeful Friends, Ch. 1, A Day

(I’ve posted this to different platforms, don’t worry)

Eridan/Reader fanfic

The soft chirping of birds combined with the rays of sunlight practically shining directly onto your face made you stir, face scrunching up into a snarl as it ripped you from your dream. One eye cracked open only for you to wince, blinding white light flooding your senses. Hissing, you rolled over, facing away from the window and towards the door. Faintly, you could hear your upstairs neighbours already living, making their day. The ones just beyond the wall near your feet were already arguing in a playful way. With soft, shallow breaths you attempted to lull yourself back into the realm of unconsciousness which you yearned for. However the warmth of the sun against your back prodded you in an annoying way, attempting to awaken you. Muttering a curse, you made your own attempt in pleading with the sun, wishing for five more minutes. Which surprisingly worked as you suddenly felt the heat retreat, you were now in the clear for a little more time for sleeping.

Until your alarm clock went off.

Your eyes flew open, eyebrows knitted together as you promptly slapped the device on your nightstand. The world just isn’t on your side today, is it? Pushing yourself up in bed, pulling the warm covers off your body but remaining seated. And you stretched, raising your arms above your head hearing the satisfying ‘pop’ of your stiff joints thanks to your deep slumber you were so rudely roused from by mother nature.

Swinging your legs out from the covers, placing your feet against the cold, wood flooring which you hissed once more at. Extending your legs a little farther you made contact with the circular rug and brought yourself to stand. Why haven’t you brought the rug closer to the bed before?

Quickly you found your socks from yesterday and slipped them on. This was only temporary, you wouldn’t wear them all day! That would be disgusting! Day two of sweaty feet and other junk collecting on it!? Yuck! But they would allow you to travel to your dresser which was surrounded by cold flooring. And that's what you’re going to use them for!

Moving through the pale colored room you made it to the pale colored, sandal wood dresser that was actually rather large, meeting the middle of your chest in height. You pulled out your new outfit and quickly changed, exchanging old socks with new ones. When you were finished you scooped up the old clothing from yesterday and brought them to your hamper, noting that it was already half way full as you then exited the room, making your way for your bathroom. Sighing at the mop of (H/C) hair which you were greeted with almost immediately after entering the cramped space. You brought your (Brush/comb/pick?) to your hair, taming the mane one tangle and snarl at a time.

After you were done with that endeavor you pulled yourself out of the bathroom, passing the empty bedroom, noting that you still needed a new roommate, and making your way to the main room. The single large window with pulled black and white curtains was to your right, along with the whole ‘living room’ area. To your right was the kitchen and entrance to your apartment. You noted how messy the living room was, all of your art supplies everywhere across a thick, paint smeared canvas tarp.

You brought your ass into the kitchen, pulling open your fridge only to view a -almost- empty box which you sighed at. Another chore to add to your list. There was one thing that caught your eye however. A pack of vanilla yogurt which you snatched immediately, shutting the fridge and pulling a spoon out of the drawer. Leaning against the counter as you opened the container, you began to eat.

[10 minute time skip]

You were sitting in front of your easel, sketching a fern onto the paper of your sketchbook along with other types of plants. You found this part of your day peaceful, and the pile of sketchbooks behind you would say the exact same thing. However the paintings that leaned against the wall would tell you that you deserved more than the recognition of this small town even if you were lucky for it. All for sale, even this piece. A pack for a man in town that had commissioned you. You believe his name is Samuel. He asked for all of these nature paintings which he offered to pay you nearly triple your usual rates, and you didn’t pass that up.

Turning your head at the sketch with narrowed eyes, you began to wonder if this was even how a fern looked. With a swift movement you looked out your window, viewing the ferns that sat just beyond the glass and then back at the white sheet. It looks off, but you’re not sure where it looks off at. How the hell do other artists do this shit? Saying ‘Help me, I can’t draw the other eye’. Fuck the other eye. Help me draw this stupid plant! The unneeded groan that passed your lips as you leaned back after finishing the last segment of the leaf was enough to tell the plants outside that you are done with their over simplicity mixed with complications.

Carefully pulling the paper from the book you transported it to your binder for the ride into town. Standing up, binder in hand you went to pick up the other three canvases. Passing your kitchenette and exiting through the hall.

When you made it to the parking lot, you immediately began to make your way to the pre-owned blue 1998 Ford Ranger. Your head turned to the beach which laid only a couple hundred feet away. Eyes scanning the expanse of yellow and blue until they landed on what you were looking for. The high-blood troll that seemed to patrol the expanse of beach almost everyday. You clicked your tongue, setting the paintings into the bed of your truck, before putting the binder into the front passenger seat only to resume looking out at this highblood. It seemed almost like he was watching you too, but you weren’t sure, but you looked away in case. Staring is rude after all. Even if you’re watching someone who’s kind of being creepy in their own way.

You’ve had your run-ins with this guy before. Eridan Ampora is his name and you’ve learned that he was a little bit of a-eh- asshole. A pompous one at that. But he does look lonely out there. You’ve never seen him with another person, Troll or human- not even his own kin. Looking at your phone you checked the time, thirty minutes was what you had left.

Pocketing the device once more you started down the sidewalk, approaching the beach. A soft tug pulling at the rational part of your mind saying that this probably wasn’t a good idea, approaching the cape clad troll. However you treaded onward. (F/C) converse colliding with the grey cement until they met grass littered with pebbles and sand. From this distance you could see that he was actually watching you. However you couldn’t really see his face.

As soon as your foot met the border of sand he seemed to puff up, attempting to seem more intimidating. “Oi! Landdwweller!” He yelled as he began his own approach, feet moving much faster than your own were only moments prior. You stopped yourself at the border, allowing him to approach, and when he was only ten feet away he stopped and you could see him again.

Narrowed eyes behind thick rimmed glasses, Angled eyebrows furrowed together with pursed lips, high cheekbones with hollow cheeks. He looked like something out of a Tim Burton movie, minus the huge eyes and skinny neck.

“Wwhat are you doin here, landdwweller?” He spoke lowly, obviously angry that you had even attempted to step onto the sand even after your previous encounter. Faintly you twitched, wondering for a moment why you even came over her only to remember that he looked lonely. So that’s what you replied with, telling him your observation short handedly.

And you watched his face contort the slightest into more of a shocked feature rather than the angry one you had been used to now. His lips pulled apart before shutting again, hesitant, “Is that all '' was all he said and you nodded, quirked an eyebrow at this new behavior. Without a word he raised a ringed hand, waving you off which you just looked at for a moment before turning around, going to return to your vehicle.

Well that was an adventure, now onto the clientele.

---

After a five or so minute drive through town you found yourself at your destination, ‘The Lazy Bean’ Café. You quickly found your parking spot and pulled into it, putting the blue beast into park. It had become second nature for people to steer clear of this spot, after all, who would want to take the infamous (L/N)’s parking spot?! Nobody would, dummy. Leaning over you grabbed the binder before hopping out of the truck, your converse hitting the asphalt with a soft ‘thud’. You made your way into the store and were instantly greeted with the friendly and welcoming smell of fresh coffee and baked goods. You found yourself smiling softly at familiar faces of trolls and humans who were talking to one another, or ones who were just sitting there taking up the wi-fi.

You stepped forward to the register, looking at one of your familiars, Kankri Vantas.He was currently facing away from you, talking to the taller barista “sup Kankri, How’re you doing?” You watched him jump, turning around quickly with wide eyes. “Goodness!- Oh, it’s only you (Y/N).” He had placed a hand over his chest, “Although I find your actions highly triggering, I do hope you learn that sneaking up on oneself can be a highly disturbing thing to experience!” he huffed, closing his eyes for a moment as you chuckled. A small lecture by Kankri, “Sorry Kankri, It’s a bit difficult to make yourself known when you just, well, want to enjoy the atmosphere” you smiled at the older troll who seemed to take your words into account. Nodding with a ‘note taken’ before stopping, waiting for your input. “Have you seen someone by the name of- um- Samuel? I believe that was his name, it’s somethi-” “Sammy? You vwanna talk to Sam?” The other Barista, another Ampora, this one going by Cronus, interrupted you. Peering around Kankri, smiling at you with shark like teeth. “Cronus!” Kankri turned to the taller troll, “How many times must we go over this? Interrupting people could either trigger or offend people!” The shorter troll popped a hip out, arms folding over his chest as he scolded the violet blood.

“Sorry Kan, I’ll try harder to- uh- recognize triggers?” He raised his hand in an oath style, eyebrows pulled together as a smile rested on his lips. “That’s Kankri, Cronus” He continued to scold the taller male who was chuckling lowly. You sucked a breath in, “Yo, guys.” the two looked at you, “Still looking for Samuel here” you added. Cronus lowered his arms, looking at you, “vwell, Chief. I sawv him earlier in a booth in the back, not sure if he’s here or not nowv but, eh, he might” he smiled, shrugging his shoulders. You gave your goodbyes and then made your way to the back, listening to Kankri’s ramblings to Cronus.

---

As you pulled back up to your apartment building the sun was beginning its descent on the horizon. You rested your head against the steering wheel, eyes peering over to the binder which held four more full sized commissions from Samuel.

Hopping out of the vehicle you couldn’t help but look out past the lined up cars, viewing the sun against the waters. It looked fucking radical, the red-orange-yellow hue that eventually mixed with blue creating a brilliant shade of purple. Soon you’d be able to see the stars from your living room window.

You leaned up against the metal frame of the cab, not even noticing the troll from earlier shout at you from the border. You were mesmerized, eyes fixated on it like a moth with a lamp. How the fuck did mother nature do it? You certainly could mix paints together but this was different, providing light and warmth unlike a painting. Fuck you nature, you may be beautiful but you’re an asshole. “Landdwweller!” pinks and purples are so hard to grasp not to mention blend together without one overpowering the other. How can it be so easy for nature. I know it’s our atmosphere-oh.

You froze as you realized that Eridan was at the hood of your truck, only two or three feet away from you. The same expression from earlier was written along his face and you blinked at it. “Um, hi?” You smiled lightly. “Wwhy do you care if I’m lonely.” his eyes seemed to narrow further, and you could’ve sworn that he leaned in a little. You felt your body react in its own way by taking a step back which you played off as moving to the bed of your truck to pull out the paper bags full of groceries. “Excuse me?” was all you could find yourself saying as he showed himself at the other side of the bed.

“You heard me, I knoww you did” he scoffed which you chose to ignore as you let out a low hum. ��I’m not sure,” You grabbed both of the bags, holding them against your sides, “I suppose it’s because I don’t think anybody should be lonely.” you gave him a look which made his features soften once more into something different.

The ‘really’ that left him sounded snarky. He practically followed you up to the door of the hall, watching as you fiddled with your keys. You had sighed, “Yes, really” You jammed the key into the lock, “No one deserves to be alone” turning the key you pulled it open, stopping it with your foot. “Now,” you huffed, looking at him, “I’m sorry but I’ve gotta put these away and then sleep. Could we continue this tomorrow?” You watched as he crossed his arms, eyebrows raising over the frames a little bit.

“Fin” he muttered as you turned your attention back to the door, shuffling through it. And you looked back to him, smiling softly, “thanks dude” and with that you turned, hearing the door click shut behind you.

#homestuck #homestuck fanfiction #fanfiction #eridan ampora #eridan edit #Eridan x reader

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