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katsrnerstories · 4 years

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BillDip SlowBurn FanFic Chap. 1

Bill had destroyed Dipper's mind.

It has been a few years since weirdmageddon. Since Dipper and Mabel defeated demons from hellish planes of existence and saved the world and their friends from soul and mind crushing madness.

Dippers a freshman in college now. It was a moment that he had wished for for years. Highschool had been…

Well it wasn't the worst it could have been. Dipper hit a major glow up around the beginning of junior year (with Mabel's help of course) and life was a little easier. He was asked out on dates, went to a few parties here and there that people dragged him to, had some typical highschool fun in the city...

Until around that same time he started getting replies from colleges his senior year, he started to see Bill again. Every once in a while his mind would wander back to that summer, but it was always the good things or nightmares of the horrors they saw.

It started with just a little glimpse here and there. An eye in the back corner of his periphery, some yellow glimpse in a dark room.

A ghostly hand on his shoulder.

But these things were nothing to the first time Dipper realized something was wrong.

Dipper saw Bill in his dreams. And those dreams were beyond nightmares.

He had had nightmares before. Nightmares of weirdmageddon were common for both dipper and Mabel. But these… these were real; as much as a dream could be.

Because of Gravity Falls, Dipper really wasn't afraid of a lot of things that would have scared him. The unknown was comforting to him. Maybe because it wasn't too unknown to him and Mabel.

But bill. During those nightmares, brought everything he feared to the frontlines.

It had been a while since Mabel and him shared a room, so Mabel really didn't know about the fear Dipper experienced those nights.

She was more focused on getting to LA.

She wants to be a criminal psychoanalyst. To look at the minds of people and figure how they tick. Criminals especially.

Dipper could swear that Bill had done something to her to make her go down such a dark career path, but he couldn't say anything; he neither had a psychology degree nor was untouched by Bill himself.

Who really knows, it could have been anything else that happened to her in those hellish four years of highschool.

She had moved away quickly after highschool ended to learn in LA. Of course they facetime and text all the time, but the separation was still felt by both of them.

Everyone missed her presence. Her positivity, her unique personality.

That had transformed into something much darker come junior and senior year. She found out after a few failed boyfriends that she was not only Asexual, but that guys and even girls, can’t seem to give that part of a relationship up. Some even found it offensive that she felt that way.

Dipper went back to oregon. Of course he was in the city, but on weekends he would visit the Mystery Shack and Gravity Falls.

Soos was happy to give him one of the rooms in the basement. Sometimes even Grunkle Stan or Grunkle Ford would visit.

They decided shortly after Dipper and Mabel left that they would travel. Of course Ford's labs still sit under the mystery shack, but when Mabel and Dipper visited Soos the summer of their junior year Ford gave them full control of the labs (as long as Dipper kept everyone safe. Which he did too much annoyance of Mabel)

Soos and his wife at that time had just had a little baby boy, and now have a comfortable four kids, two boys and two girls (three of them were triplets) and run the shack not to much better than Stan did, with the same soul in the campy attractions and overpriced merchandise.

Wendy is in her senior year at a community college in Oregon city, right around the same place Dipper decided to go to school. They hang out pretty regularly, just around weekly.

Robby left gravity falls as soon as he got his GED. Went for New York, looking for a punk career. He sends Wendy emails every once in a while about his music and where he's at.

Shockingly, Pacifica stayed in Oregon, going to the same college Dipper goes to. They see each other, and after leaving her family, she found a lot out about herself and became a much better person.

She found she loved a good smoke and art. Apparently, something she hid from the world was that she loved art. She was probably one of the best artists Dipper had seen. After she left the hell hole of her family, she became really chill. Calm. even nice.

Her and Dipper have coffee pretty much every day. She was one of the only people who also knew what he had gone through.

And she was the only person who noticed as Dipper got worse and worse for wear.

Bill had been particularly evil the past few weeks, taking much more joy in Dippers struggle. Long ago Dipper had just sort of given up on screaming for Bill to stop. But he always refused to make a deal with him to stop the fear. Not again.

“Another nightmare again?” Pacifica asks, as Dipper requests 5 shots of caffeine in his already bitter caffeinated black coffee.

“Yeah. it's getting harder and harder to say no every night. And honestly the empty dorm isn't helping.”

“Why don't you just move in with me? I've got an extra room that's got your name written on the door if you want it.”

Dipper almost accepted, but decided against it. It was kind of weird, no matter how good of friends they were, to live with the ex that made you realized you were gay.

It wasn't her fault, it was just…

He liked a different kind of ass, as Mabel had said when he came out.

No, the daily overpriced coffee meetup was enough.

“Have you talked about it to Ford? Hes got to know something about it if he went through the same thing?”

“I don't want to bother them with it. They thought they got rid of Bill that summer, we all did. Bills my problem now.”

Pacifica gives him a knowing look. She knew that he was breaking, but couldn't figure out how to help him.

“Hows journalism?” Pacifica takes her coffee as she changes the subject.

“As boring as it ever is. Graphic design?”

“As confusing as ever.” Dipper takes a big sip from his steaming coffee. It's a briskly cold morning, enough he brought out his knit set Mabel had made for him on their 18th birthday. He had no shame in wearing it, and it in fact felt comforting today, to know that she was still with him in heart at least.

She never grew out of her sweater thing. She still makes sweaters, using it to get her to the next rent payment sometimes. Everyone can count on a big box with sweaters from her every Christmas here in Oregon.

With their coffees in hand, Dipper and Mabel head off to campus. And once they made it there they said their goodbyes with a hug and went their separate ways to start the day.

Dipper wanders into the lecture hall for his advanced maths class. People filter in as he types away on his computer.

The students around him wanted to be scientists, economists, etc. everyone found it weird that a creative writing major was not only taking advanced maths, this early in the morning, but was killing it. His grades spoke for themselves.

The class starts and Dipper still types away on his computer. He had been bored the night before as he was staving off sleeping and had read a chapter ahead in their textbook. He taught himself the three hour lesson that day in an hour.

It was no doubt that Dipper took after his great uncle Stanford. Grunkle Ford told him at one point that Dipper reminded him of a young Dr. Fiddleford. Dipper didn't really like being compared to the scientist that started a whole cult under Gravity Falls before going batshit crazy himself for a very long time.

He only hoped that he wouldn't end up like him. He didn't want to be some crazy man who roams the town.

Dipper had a story that he needed to finish for his next class. He had started to wear away the stories of Gravity Falls with his creative writing classes that he now had to actually think about what story to write. Mabel helped him out with the premise of the story last night. So he spent that class writing a simple flash fiction of one roaming the backrooms. (an urban legend Mabel had read about in an article somewhere.)

He found comfort in knowing that one thing did not exist to him. That one thing did not sit in the pits of Gravity Falls waiting for Dipper or one of them to unearth it.

The story reminded Dipper of falling through the endless pit just outside the Mystery Shack. A hole where they reminisced on days of the summer as they spent the day, or who knows how long, falling. they were all lucky that it was not, truly, endless.

And quickly the story was finished and the class closed early.

Dipper went for an early lunch. He scrolls through his phone, seeing Mabels three new instagram posts and all the other people she introduced him to.

After Mabel found out Dipper was gay, she went on a mission to hook him up with some LA guy. Oregons not terrible with their acceptance, but it's not something to be very open about. Plus Dipper wasn't the kind to walk pride without someone like Mabel hyping the both of them up. Because god knows that she needs just as much hyping up with who she is as Dipper.

When he walks into his empty apartment, anxiety wells up in Dippers chest. Quickly he turns on the TV, letting it run as white noise as he makes his lunch. The apartment had been empty since his recent relationship ended. Dipper is glad it ended, as the abuse just got too much; yet it was bad for Dipper to be left alone with his thoughts. Especially in an apartment that seemed to hold so much sadness and bad memories.

Mabel, after helping Dippers style, had made him a whole cookbook for him. It had all different kinds of foods, but the main dishes all were healthy. She had gone on a fitness rampage her sophomore year and had never truly grown out of it. It was from a bad place, but she turned it to a positive. As she always does.

She had told him that it was the first thing other than sleep to keep alive longer. She had made him promise that he would try to stay alive.

At this point it was the only thing keeping Dipper alive.

Bill had taxed his mind so much it was rare to find him not paranoid. Bill made Dippers anxiety beyond chronic, and the lack of sleep did not help his depression.

That had developed after Pacifica. It wasn't because of the break up, more at the fact that she had helped him so much.

She had accepted him being gay. She had helped him gain friends during their relationship, and she even helped him when money wasn't the best.

All this caused his anxiety to get to his head.

What if they think I’m evil for breaking it off with her? What if she'll never want to see me again? What if, what if, what if…

His depression had just gotten worse after the breakup and dealing with being alone again. It was the reason Dipper stayed with someone like that for so long.

All of the depression and anxiety ended up crashing down at the same time Bill Cypher ended up crashing into the picture.

At that point Bill only came to terrorise Dipper a few nights a month. It was easier to deal with. Now it's every night.

Dipper finishes making his food, sitting down in front of the TV to watch a show on Netflix.

He had been getting through the true crime shows. He swore that eventually he'd eventually either run a show like it with Mabel or be one of the cold cases lost to the world.

Yet within only a few minutes Dipper not only found himself asleep, but stuck in the mindscape.

“Been trying to avoid me, Pine Tree?”

Dipper no longer was shocked by Bill's voice. In fact the more and more he heard his voice, the more and more it began to sound almost human.

#billdip #gravity falls #whump writing #slow burn #fanfiction #writers #fandom #fanfic #bill x dipper #dipper pines #bill cipher #mabel pines #gravity falls pacifica #adult dipper pines #powerless bill cipher

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sebastianshaw · 3 years

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Hello all. For new followers, on Munday I often make a post like this of just random inane OOC personal shit, sort of a weekly journal, to avoid clogging my post with too much personal OOC the rest of the week. Feel free to scroll past! -Pretty sure now Peanut is a boy! - I felt like everyone was overdue to know my dad has a picture of a potoroo as his work computer wallpaper - My niece has left, but mom wants Dart to keep living in Dad’s office instead of the guest room. Dad’s ok with it because he loves Dart but ngl I thought it was hilarious that the rat had his own room for awhile. - I bought “Werewolf the Apocalypse: Heart of the Forest” and I’m enjoying it! I’m up to Chapter Four. It’s making me think about one of the concepts I had for the werewolf LARP that I was going to join before COVID hit, a Homid (human-born werewolf) named Water Lily who was born a Black Fury (all-female warrior werewolf tribe) but converted to being one of the Children of Gaia (the most peaceful and compassionate of the werewolves) because she preferred their peace-first ways to the more warlike nature of most Furies. Also the patron spirit of the Children is UNICORN, so I’m not gonna pass that up. My other concept was Lost Dog, one of the Bone Gnawers (poor urban werewolves who are literal underdogs, like bums and homeless people) who was unfortunate enough to be a Lupus (wolf-born werewolves, meaning she was an animal until her first change, a very scrawny doggy-looking wolf) and is. . .pretty confused, even more so than a Homid would be, for obvious reasons. She also may not really be Lupus, she may be a Lost Homid, someone who lost their memory upon their first change. They don't remember how to be human, but have no instincts to be wolves either. So yeah Lost Dog is not having as good a time as Water Lily is. Water Lily is a lot more confident and together and knows what’s up, Lost Dog is very much a lost dog tagging along after others. Both are Theurges, which are the more magic/spiritual-focused cast in Garou (werewolf) society, who do rituals and craft fetishes and things like that, I feel like they’re the caste I’d be best out, at least as a first-time player, just because I like them the most and feel most attracted to them. - I found a guy who is dedicated to making BUNKERS FOR HIS PET HAMSTER based on the city of Rapture from Bioshock and I love this. - Watched American Psycho last night. I’m not really a murder movie person---I like horror, but I prefer supernatural and creature feature flicks, not slashers--but it comes off like a must-see, and July 4 seemed a good time to watch it. What I found really interesting about Bateman wasn’t the murder, but the fact he, by his own admission, has no internal identity, no sense of self. He has to build an external identity for others to perceive using the tools of status within his peer group---a great body, a fancy apartment, the right business card---in order to have one at all. And his moments of real human emotion come when that is threatened---his saying he’s almost in tears at the idea of not getting a good table, his panic when he realizes Paul Allen has a nicer apartment than his, his rage when the sex worker he’s trying to murder kicks him in the face specifically (”Not the face!”) It’s more than simple vanity or greed, it’s that he basically doesn’t exist psychologically if he’s not being perceived by others. What they see determines who he is, and that’s why he needs to make sure what they see is impressive, successful, enviable. He’s breaking down at the end when his lawyer doesn’t believe he killed Paul Allen and is basically brushing him off, not even recognizing him as Bateman but mistaking him for a colleague (a theme in the movie) He should be elated he’s getting away with his murders but he’s NOT, he’s distraught, because he doesn’t want to get away with killing, he just wants to be SEEN because he doesn’t EXIST if he’s not, because he’s got nothing inside. That’s how I interpreted him, anyway, and that’s what made the film really interesting to me in a way that murder flicks usually aren’t. - Like a lot of people, I quit shaving my legs in quarantine. I think that the social code for women to shave but not men is stupid, sexist, and frankly kind of creepy. I don’t judge other women for doing it, but for myself, I was doing it just to fit in better with society; I consider myself a very feminine person, but I don’t think there’s anything unfeminine about my having leg hair. It’s natural, I’m an adult, it’s supposed to be there. It’s like saying my face is unfeminine without makeup, it’s absurd. But I also have sensory issues (which is why I kept shaving under my arms), and my leg hair finally got long enough to set them off. I know this might not sound rational to anyone else, but I could FEEL the air against my hairs as I walked, and it drove me crazy within like two days. So I’ve just shaved it all off. And while I still think pressure for female-assignedor female-perceived people to shave as a cultural institution is stupid, I’ve got to say that, much like squeezing a pimple, there’s a certain absolutely depraved satisfaction from it I can’t explain.

#out of shirt #munday #mun monday

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illyrianbeauty · 5 years

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A Not So Chance Encounter: Chapter 26

Rhys is persuaded to attend a fundraiser by his cousin Mor. He didn’t expect to meet the girl of his dreams.

Fic Masterlist

Writing Masterlist

Chapter 26: The trouble is, you think you have time

Ok... so it’s been like almost been a year since I’ve update this. Thank you all for being so supportive these last few months! It’s definitely been a struggle, but things are much better now that my Tamlin is out of my life!

Please let me know what you think! I love getting comments and constructive criticism! Enjoy! ~Rachel

***

Rhys often looked back on his misadventures during his adolescent years and wondered how the fuck he, Az, and Cass were still alive. Az, arguably the most levelheaded of the family, had often grumbled about his and Cassian’s antics, even going so far as to keep a running tab on the outcomes of their plans, and the inevitable disasters that followed. Points were earned for both creativity and daring, while any scheme that resulted in major bodily harm, or their parents finding out, resulted in a substantial loss of points. Last he had checked, Rhys was in the lead, ahead of Cass by a whooping eleven points.

One of Rhys’s best ideas, and therefore the most idiotic, had led to them breaking into Adventure Island, aptly referred to as Ghost Town in the Sky by Prythian’s elite. The events leading up to the water park being shut down had become somewhat of an urban legend in their community, and one of the reasons it had since become a popular spot for keggers and raves alike. The enormous waterslides, a mismatched heap of tarnished metal and graffiti, were as recognizable in Prythian’s skyline as The Heptagon itself, the city’s sleek, pristine capital building.

Born out of severe boredom and an astronomical amount of tequila shots, Rhys had suggested that they climb to the top of The Leviathan, the largest attraction that was still standing in the abandoned park. Just as Rhys had predicted, Cassian had flashed him a shit eating grin and motioned for Rhys to lead the way. They were nearly to the top of the structure when the rung on which Cassian was standing gave way. Rhys, a good fifteen feet above Cass, was too far away to do anything except stare in utter horror as Cass dangled from the tips of his fingers, nearly two hundred feet in the air. By the time Rhys had climbed down, Cassian had already hoisted himself up onto the platform, out of harm’s way. They had all laughed themselves silly once they were safely on the ground, but Rhys had seen the fear in Cassian’s eyes as the corroded hunk of metal struck the ground far below them.

That had been the first time in his life that Rhys had felt completely and utterly useless. He never told anyone, especially not to Cass or Az, but the feeling of inadequacy and helplessness he had felt in that moment, nearly crippling in its intensity, had haunted him for weeks after that reckless night.

That same feeling, the horrible realization that he was wholly incapable of helping those he loved, settled deep into his bones, into his very soul, as pain flashed across the delicate features of Feyre’s face.

“You’ve won, Mara. I’m yours. Just… just let her go. Please,” Rhys begged, the words tasing lake ash in his mouth. Feyre narrowed her eyes, giving him a look that clearly said Shut the fuck up and get me out of here. Asshole. Tearing his gaze from Feyre’s, he forced himself to meet Amarantha’s cold, calculating stare. It was almost poetic, this disaster his life had become. A nightmare that he couldn’t seem to escape, no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried. His past had been resurrected, brought back to haunt him, and was hellbent on destroying his future. The future he so desperately wanted to share with Feyre. He could see it all so clearly. The life they could have had together, the love they could have shared. His heart ached knowing it was over, before it even had a chance to begin. Rhys scarcely dared breathe as he took a single step forward, towards Feyre.

“Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Amarantha chided, slowly running the tip of her blade across Feyre’s bottom lip, not hard enough for it to cut into her flesh, but enough to get her point across. Rhys raised his hands placatingly, and moved back a fraction of an inch.

“Good boy,” Amarantha purred, the corners of her mouth twisting into a hateful little smirk. She grasped Feyre’s chin, wrenching her head to the side roughly.

“Where shall we begin?” she mused, scrutinizing Feyre’s face as though she were an artist inspecting canvass. Feyre wrenched her chin from Amarantha’s grasp.

“You crazy, fucking bitch,” Feyre snarled, her expression nearly feral. She tilted her head back and spat at Amarantha. Rhys almost felt like laughing at Feyre’s audacity. Almost. The look of unmitigated rage that burned in her eyes made his blood ran cold, stopping the smallest chuckle from passing his lips. His breath hitched as Amarantha unhurriedly ran a hand across her check, wiping away any traces of the spittle. Her expression was fierce, a promise of retribution, both swift and brutal, was etched across her features.

Amarantha clucked her tongue and said, “Naughty, naughty.” His brave, beautiful Feyre glared defiantly at Amarantha. The two woman stood there for a moment, regarding each other carefully. Every single one of his instincts was roaring at him, urging him to get Feyre far away from this place. Beads of sweat trickled down the nape of his neck, his breathing growing increasingly difficult.

Faster than he was able to anticipate, she lashed out, her movements both practiced and graceful, and plunged the blade deep into Feyre’s thigh. Rhys had never heard anything as terrifying, as devastating, as Feyre’s piercing, shrill scream. His stomach heaved at the site of the pink stiletto handle jutting out of her flesh. Blood gushed from the wound, soaking the denim of her jeans and pooling onto the floor.

“Hush now pet, “ Amarantha cooed, caressing Feyre’s cheek. Her fingers, wet with blood, left crimson trails across Feyre’s skin.

“What do you want?” Rhys asked, his voice coming out in a hoarse, broken rasp, betraying the fear roiling violently through him. Amarantha turned to face him fully, ignoring Feyre completely. If he could just keep her occupied…

Amarantha cocked her head to the side, considering his question.

“Why Rhysand, I thought that it was quite obvious,” she purred, taking a step towards him. Good. He needed to get her the fuck away from Feyre.

“Why don’t you just explain it to me,” he said, taking a step back, his eyes darting back and forth rapidly, gauging the distance between her and Feyre.

“What I want, my love, is for you to suffer,” she said, practically spitting out the last word. Amarantha closed the distance between them, her eyes never once leaving his. She stopped only when she was a hair's breadth away. Her expression was murderous, rage radiating off her in violent waves. As she leaned towards him, Rhys had to force himself to stand his ground, to not recoil from her touch Her lips grazed the shell of his ear as she whispered, “I want to watch you break. I want to watch you crumble as I destroy everyone and everything that you love.” Her words hit Rhys like a punch to the gut. Deep down, he had always known that this would happen, had come to expect it. He had always known that he was tainted, cursed. Those whom he loved inevitably ended up suffering. First his mother and sister. Now Feyre. He knew that he had absolutely no chance of walking out of this house alive. It was far too late for him. But Feyre didn’t need to share his fate. He would do whatever he had to to make sure she got out of this fucking mess he had gotten her into. When she was out, when she was safe, he was going to bring this entire fucking house down around Amarantha. If Rhys was going to hell, then he was damn well going to take Amarantha with him.

“For fucks sake Rhys, just punch the bitch and get me the hell out of here,” Feyre sobbed, her face growing paler by the second. The air was heavy with the coppery scent of blood. It oozed out of the wound and down her leg, pooling on the ground at her feet at an alarming rate. She was loosing too much, too quickly. He needed to get her out of here. Now. Amaranths’s heels clacked against the cement floor as she stalked towards Feyre.

“Such dramatics,” she murmured, running a hand through Feyre’s hair. She shrank back, her body seeming to cave in on itself as Amarantha wound a strand of her golden- brown hair around a finger.

Now was his chance, while Amarantha was distracted. He had to do something, before Feyre bled to death before his eyes. Ever so slowly, Rhys reached for his weapon, praying Amarantha wouldn’t sense his movements. He removed the gun from his waistband, his eyes never leaving Amarantha’s form. Rhys winced as he disengaged the safety, the sound seeming to reverberate throughout the entire room.

“Amarantha, step away from her now,” he said, fighting to keep his hand steady as he aimed the gun directly at her chest. Amusement danced in her eyes as she took in the weapon he held. Feyre hissed as Amarantha’s hand grazed across the hilt of the stiletto, still imbedded deeply in her leg, as she walked around to Feyre’s other side. Fuck. Amarantha had effectively positioned Feyre between them, using her body like some sort of fucking human shield. Amarantha smirked at him, with an air of someone who was about to be named the fucking Queen of Prythian, not someone who had a fucking gun pointed at them.

“You disappoint me Rhysand,” she said, disdain dripping off of her every word.

“Get away from her,” he growled.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” she said, resting her hands lightly on Feyre’s shoulders.

“Don’t make me shoot you, Mara,” Rhys warned, taking a step towards her.

“Put down the gun Rhysand,” she purred, the tips of her nails scraping along the skin of Feyre’s neck.

“Get the fuck away from her right now,” he yelled, a note of desperation filling his voice.

“Why would I do that? Things are just starting to get interesting.”

“Is this just some fucking game to you?” he snapped, losing the tenous hold he had on his temper.

“Of course it’s a game silly. One I intend to win.”

Terror overtook his expression as Amarantha’s hands roughly wrapped around Feyre’s neck. Her beautiful, stormy grey blue eyes met his, full of fear and another emotion he couldn’t quite name.

Feyre’s lips trembled slightly as she gasped out, “Rhys, I…”

Before either of them could react, Amarantha snapped Feyre’s neck with a vicious twist of her hands. Rhys collapsed to the ground, his knees striking the ground with a resounding thud as he watched the light fade from her eyes.

***

If I you would like to be added to the tag list, just let me know!If I left you off the tag list, or it didn’t work, please send me a message!! I try to be really organized with the tag lists, but I do make mistakes!

Always and Forever Tag List: // @abillionlittlepieces // @acer6437 // @a-court-of-dreams-and-hopes // @a-court-of-gays-and-glitter // @acourtofglass // @aelinarcheron7 // @aelins-fire-queen // @aelinthemaassassin // @alexisnm95 // @amazinginglyawesomeperson // @ame233 // @amren-firedrake // @amusedowl // @armixers-unite // @azrielismycinnamonrollprimary// @bitchypan // @bookaholic1012 // @booklover04 // @brittpeterson // @burritowithfeels // @carlyrollsroyce // @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks // @danieldesario // @dreamerforever-5 // @ellenoftroy // @eve-of-the-night-court // @faelightsstarfall // @faequeenaelin // @fangirltrash74 // @feeoly // @feyrecursebreaker // @feysand-dot-acotar // @fireheart-of-your-dreams // @floramagix // @fucking-winchester-trash // @highlady-of-dusk // @highladyofidris // @highladyofthesith // @highlordrhysie // @highqueenofelfhame // @homicidalbaker // @howtotameyourillyrian // @illyrian-bookworm // @inaffiare // @inrealiampain // @irrelevant5 // @itsfine-imfine-everythingsfine // @julesherondalex // @kissesforsunshine // @kiss-my-maas // @kitteh-kat // @lemon-check // @leulivy // @librarian-of-orynth // @lorcanswife // @mariamuses // @maastrash // @mikaylamee // @musicmaam // @my-ships-will-never-be-sank // @nalgenewhore // @nomattertheoceans // @notesfromalabprincess // @notyourclassicshadowhunter // @photofeesh // @propagandaprincess // @rainy-bookish-days // @rapunzelswiftie // @ricekrispy // @rhysands-highlady // @running-with-thieves // @sannexwhoops // @schmlip-scribble // @sheburnswithit // @sleeping-and-books // @soccerstud004 // @soparticulaar // @starsofshadowanddust // @summernightskyy // @tangledraysofsunshine // @the-annabethchase // @thelaughingzeebra // @theoceanisnotsilent// @tswaney17 // @urbisie // @vanilla28// @whydoineedtowriteanamehere //

A Not So Chance Encounter Tag List: // @adgedarling // @amren-courtofdreams // @amren-tiny-ancient-one // @anna-swims // @anr2332 // @awkward-avocado-s // @becarefuloflove // @becausetherearestars // @bibliobug // @blackjacks-donuts // @bookishlybrooke // @captain-timetraveldreamer // @court-of-fuck-me-daddy // @darlinglucien // @darth-aelin-targaryen // @d3b0r4l1m4 // @endlessbookaholic // @erulasse // @fannypotters // @feyrethedarklady // @fireheartbuzzard // @goths-eat-electricity // @gracek03 // @halfbreedillyrian // @humanformofawettowel // @i-am-a-completely-mess // @ignite-my-hope // @inez-stark-martell // @kackmack // @keladrym99thefangirl // @kingdomofbrokenhearts // @kiss-my-maas // @kylizzles // @l0sts0uls1128 // @magical-peaches // @myfeyrelady // @nerdperson524 // @peach-sm // @queen-elain // @queenelainarcheron // @ronnuska // @rory050 // @soap-is-cool // @sophia-of-asgard // @spooky-eyepatch // @summertime-acoustic // @theoriginalnapoleon // @theunbecomingofcarly // @this-book-girl // @throne-of-roses // @undercover-suriel // @voiceoftheroses // @writer-reader-traveller // @wolffrising //

#acotar #feysand #acotar fic #acotar fanfiction #acotar fanfic #feysand au #feysand fic #a not so chance encounter #ansce #feysand fanfiction #feysand fanfic #feyre archeron #feyre #feyre x rhysand #rhysand #rhys #rhys x feyre

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cherry-valentine · 4 years

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Summer 2020 Anime Season

What I’m Watching:

Deca Dence is one of the better shows this season, probably the best one that started fresh this summer. It has a very strange setup that I won’t detail very much here to avoid spoilers. It’s strange in that it’s a fairly unique twist and in that they waited until episode two to actually drop that particular bomb (whereas most anime would definitely try to cram it into episode one). The bare bones premise of episode one is that there is a huge, mobile fortress that contains some of the last remnants of humanity as they try to survive in an apocalyptic world overrun by monsters of unknown origin that range in size from tiny insects to huge kaiju. A young girl named Natsume dreams of being one of the warriors who fight the monsters, but is instead given the lowly job of armor maintenence, where she meets the older, gruff Kaburagi whom she learns was once a famed warrior. Natsume’s relationship with Kaburagi sets off the actual plot, but the story takes several turns that I honestly didn’t see coming. The series is quite violent, with literally tons of monster blood flowing and plenty of human death, but it maintains an overall upbeat, adventurous feel, with some well-done humor and genuinely touching moments. The art is colorful and bright, with some truly impressive animation. It clearly has high production values. Natsume is a fun character (even if we’ve seen characters like her many times before). She’s your typical optimistic, never-give-up, spunky sort of girl but she works really well as a hero in this kind of story and is generally entertaining to watch. Kaburagi is also a fun character that we’ve seen the likes of before (the stern former soldier type with a heart of gold). Overall a great series and very high on my watch list.

Gibiate is an oddity. It’s a series that had the potential to be top tier. I mean this show could have been not only the best of the season, but possibly the best of the year. It has gorgeous character designs by Yoshitaka Amano. The voice acting is top notch. And the premise is awesome: In 1600, a samurai and a ninja are both suddenly transported to a modern, near future Japan that has been completely ravaged by a disease that turns humans into powerful, grotesque monsters. They fall in with a small group of survivors that have gathered around a couple of scientists and a doctor who are working on a cure. Sure, it’s not 100% original, but it’s an exciting premise that results in some great samurai and ninja action. The problem is, for all the show’s great ideas, the execution is totally flubbed. For starters, the animation budget is obviously quite a lot smaller than it needed to be. What should have been thrilling battles of katana and shuriken on monster violence end up just being sort of bland. Too many cut corners. The writing also suffers, with often nonsensical dialogue and character behaviors that are so illogical that they end up being unintentionally hilarious. A good example of this is how practically everyone in the group of survivors just takes the fact that these two guys are time travelers from the past totally in stride. Hardly anyone is surprised at all or even questions it. The show tries to dismiss the stupidity of this by having one character say, “Well we have these monsters running around so why not have people traveling here from the past?” Which is still dumb because he’s a doctor who has been studying the virus and knows how it works, scientifically. But he has no questions for the guys who show up out of nowhere claiming to be from 1600? Another example would be how the samurai and ninja react to modern technology. Basically, there’s very little reaction. They don’t even react to a freaking helicopter! They should be losing their minds over this stuff! Still though, despite the show’s many shortcomings, there remains a small nugget of greatness. I can almost imagine how fantastic this show would have been with decent production values. And because I can see that potential, I’m still watching and I’m actually enjoying it very much. The characters, poorly written as they are, somehow remain interesting. The visuals, despite being sabotaged by clunky animation, are still appealing. I know it’s strange to watch and enjoy a series because of what it COULD have been, rather than what it IS, but here we are. Surprisingly high on my watch list.

Koi to Producer is an otome series with very pretty art and a supernatural plot. It’s based on a Chinese phone game that I’ve never played but sounds a lot like Mystic Messenger in how the game is played. It follows a young woman trying to produce a television show about various rumors, urban legends, etc. who gets mixed up in the world of Evolvers (humans who have developed special powers). Of course four of these Evolvers are handsome single men who are very successful and clearly attracted to her. She also ends up becoming a target of Black Swan, a shady group studying Evolvers. The show is somewhat plot-heavy, in that it tends to focus a bit more on the overarching story than on the romance. This is fine by me. The men are handsome, but two of them look a little too similar to each other, making it hard to tell them apart when they’re both in the same scene. It’s nice that the heroine is an adult and a big part of the story is about her career, but other than that she’s a bit bland and could be switched out for any other bland otome heroine and no one would notice. So far the series has hinted at an interesting back story for her so I’ll just have to hope it follows through on that. I’m enjoying the show because it’s pleasant to look at and not boring, but it’s the lowest title on my watch list.

Appare Ranman is my overall favorite of the season, which is ironic because it actually began last season. It was put on hiatus due to the pandemic and resumed this season. If you remember the old cartoon Wacky Races, this is basically the anime version of that. It focuses largely on two Japanese men who end up stuck in California after some crazy hijinks: Appare, an aloof and eccentric mechanical genius, and Kosame, a straight-laced but genuinely kind samurai who had been given the thankless job of keeping Appare in line. Broke and lost in an unfamiliar land, the two of them decide to enter a cross-country race and use the prize money to get back to Japan. Along the way they meet a whole cast of wild, crazy, and fun characters (including my favorite, the lovely, badass, and determined Jing Xialian, the only woman in the race, who had to fight against sexism and discrimination just to get the opportunity to drive in the race). The series has a very fun vibe, but has enough serious moments to keep it from being a straight up comedy (the aforementioned discrimination felt very realistic, and at least two characters are still suffering emotional trauma from losing family members to violence when they were children). One of my favorite aspects is Appare himself. He pays absolutely no mind to social norms and doesn’t care in the slightest what anyone thinks of him. This resulted in his family back in Japan being ashamed of him and everyone else viewing him as a weirdo. But Appare doesn’t mind any of that, and happily pursues his dreams. An interesting scene early on is when Jing is grappling with the fact that she’ll never be accepted as a racer because she’s a woman. She’s clearly in emotional turmoil. Kosame, who is the kinder, more compassionate of the two leads, can’t really help her. He can sympathize with her plight, but his own rigid regard for social norms prevents him from telling Jing to just go ahead and be a racer, society and their expectations be damned. It’s Appare, the guy who seemingly has very little regard for, or interest in, other people, who encourages Jing to follow her dreams. To Appare, there’s absolutely no reason why Jing can’t be a racer. The fact that society refuses to accept her means nothing. Jing has the skill to be a racer. She should be a racer. The scene did a lot to endear Appare to me. Aside from great characters (and there are so many that I can’t possibly mention them all here), the animation and design work are amazing. The characters as well as the vehicles look fantastic. The music is also great, with my favorite opening and ending themes of the season. If you want totally fun and wild romp, you can’t go wrong with this series.

Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons: Black Clover Ahiru no Sora Major 2nd Season 2

Best of Season: Best New Show: Appare Ranman Best Opening Theme: Appare Ranman Best Ending Theme: Appare Ranman Best New Male Character: Appare (Appare Ranman) Best New Female Character: Jing Xialian (Appare Ranman)

#Anime #Anime Reviews #Seasonal Anime #Anime Recommendations #Summer 2020 Anime #Appare Ranman #Deca Dence #Text

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surveys-at-your-service · 4 years

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Survey #324

“i'll sharpen my knife upon the stone made from the ruin of a dead god's throne / listen to these words as my seeds are sown: it's time to amputate the infected zone”

What is the last game you played on your phone? Pokemon GO. Do you give people personalized ringtones? No. Does your phone screen have any cracks? No. What makeup products are you wearing, if any? None. How would you describe your skin tone? Very pale. Do you have your full birth name on Facebook? Yes. What is your least favorite fruit? Probably cherries. How often do you walk around barefoot? Whenever I'm in my house or another person's who prefers shoes off inside. Would you need to sleep with someone before considering marrying them? Nah. Do you think people look up to you? No. How often do you have trouble sleeping at night? Every night. Do you ever rehearse conversations before you have them? YEP. In my head, at least. Can you name five current world leaders? No, haha... When taking a cab, do you talk to the driver? Cabs aren't really a thing here. I've never been in one. Do you always read the book before you see a movie based on a book? No. What is your favorite urban legend? The Jersey Devil. Mothman is dope and super creepy, too. I love cryptids, period. Are you an elitist (even a little bit) when it comes to anything? What? No, because I hate people like that so much. What type of fabric is most comfortable for clothing? I dunno, I don't pay attention to this. If you wear one – bras with or without a wire? With, so long as they're not poking out and stabbing you... If you wear one – are you able to find cute bras in your size? Definitely not. What length do you like your shorts to be? You'd have to pay me some big bucks to see me in shorts, period. Have you ever cut off jeans or other pants and made them into shorts? No. Have you cut the sleeves out of T-shirts to make tank tops? I don't think so, no. What was the last disappointing movie you saw? *shrug* What was the last disappointing book you read? Even bigger *shrug*. Do you ever watch compilation videos? Of what? Rarely, but if I do, they're generally old Vines and stuff. What was the last thing you rolled your eyes about? Probably something stupid on Facebook. Do you like Hellboy? If so, do you prefer the old movies or the new one? I have no thoughts on this. Favorite Disney character who isn’t royalty? Dory! Do you have a lot of people whom you don’t talk to all the time or see all the time, but still consider to be your friends? Yeah, like friends from high school and online childhood ones. Do you typically do your make up the same each time? Or do you like to change it up often? It's just about always the same. Do you enjoy making surveys as well as taking them or do you just prefer to copy, paste, fill out, post? The latter. I don't make surveys. Have you got a significant other? How are things between the two of you? If not, what was your most meaningful/long term relationship and how did that come to an end? I don't. My longest and deepest relationship was with Jason, and he ended it when my depression became too much for him to handle. Have you spent much time in a vehicle lately? What for and where have you gone most this past month? No. I've barely left the house lately for obvious reasons. Has it rained yet this year where you live? How about hailed? It's been raining like crazy lately. A few mornings ago, it also hailed very heavily for a few minutes. What is your favorite thing about Mac computers? I like the sleek, clean look of them. What is your favorite thing about PCs? They have more power for playing games. What are some errands you need to run soon? None. Well, we have a Wal-Mart order to pick up I think tomorrow, and I'll probably ride with Mom. What color was your high school graduation gown? Red. It was between that and navy, and I was really hoping for the latter, but it lost the vote. The red was so obnoxious. How many graduation gowns have you worn? One. Are your parents’ dreams for your life different than your own? I don't think they have their own specific "dreams" for my life. They both want me to create my own future that makes me happy. Have your dreams for your life changed? Definitely, over all the years. Would you ever want to learn sign language? Not especially, but it'd be cool I suppose. What’s the last thing you had for dinner? Chicken tenders, I think? Or was that the night before? Have you ever performed a solo dance in front of a crowd? No, but I almost did. At my old dance studio, the high school seniors had the option to a solo, and I was working on one to "Coma White" by Marilyn Manson, because it was and still is a song I really feel in regards to my mental health and many medications I "have" to be on. I was doing fine, but I stopped when I realized I just really was too nervous as a dance competition approached. Have you ever sung a solo? No. What was the last job you had? Deli worker. For two hours. What was your first job? Sales associate at GameStop. Who was/were your favorite coworker(s)? I never really had one. At what age did you start experiencing sexual attraction, if any? I don't know. Probably my freshman year of high school is when my levels of attraction to people reached a sexual and not just romantic level. Have you ever split open a rock with a hammer, to see a geode inside? UGH no, but I so wanna find one of those one day. What states have you lived in? Only North Carolina. S.O.S., get me outta here. What is your favorite thing about the month in which it is now? You start to see some flowers blooming. Who were your best friends in high school? I had a decent group of close friends, but I was closest to Hannia. I wish I still had contact with her. ^Are they still your best friends now? No. She deleted me off Facebook at some point. Do you live near the mountains? No; they're on the western end of the state, and I live on the opposite side. Do you live near a beach? It's about two hours away. What is your favorite beach that you’ve been to? I don't have a fave. Do you collect seashells? Nah, but I like picking them up and looking at them. My sisters and I used to collect them, though. We have a plastic container of them somewhere. If you were to start a new collection, what would it be? I desperately want a cornucopia of Markiplier merch, sobs. Is there a certain place or store you especially hate going to? I don't like going to most stores, really. I'm an online shopper. When was the last time you made plans with someone? October of last year. How long do leftovers usually sit in your fridge? Depends on the food. They tend to stay in there a bit too long, though. What is something you do for other people that shows you care for them? Offer to listen to them and always be a source of support and love. What was the last animal/pet that you met? Kinda recently, someone in our neighborhood was walking their German shepherd, and Mom chatted with the lady for a bit while I listened. Is there anyone in your life with whom your opinion changes on frequently? No. Have you ever kept a journal? Do you currently keep one? Yes, on-and-off during multiple periods of my life. These surveys are like my journals now. Is there a certain song or band who remind you of specific people? Yep. Motionless In White and Black Veil Brides, Jason. Pink Floyd and Evanescence, Sara. Metallica, Mom. Van Halen, Dad. Etc., etc. How often do you style your hair differently from how you normally style it? Never. Have you ever found out that you have been sleep walking? No, I never have. What’s the last thing you promised yourself? I don't know about promised. I take those so seriously, even to myself, that I hesitate to make them. Have you ever tried making something from one of those short cooking videos? How did it turn out? No, but my friend once tried making that "muffin in a cup" thing and it was absolutely horrid. Very eggy. When was the last time you had to wait in line for longer than a few minutes? Good question. Going into places is so rare nowadays, so it's hard to encounter this issue. Well wait, maybe at a fast food place? Idr. Have you ever written a review for a product you bought online? No, but I should do that once I actually use my own money to buy from small businesses in particular... if I had something good to say, anyway. I'd feel bad trash-talking a product. Do you ever interact with any brands/companies online? No. Is there anything you seem especially sensitive to, such as sounds, smells, etc? Smells, yes. What was the last thing you had the urge to do? Read, even though I didn't do it. .-. Is there anyone you feel that takes you for granted? No. Do you ever read the comments on social media posts? Sometimes, particularly if I have strong feelings about something. What was the last “good” thing to happen to you? My PHP therapist felt confident enough in my progress to step me down to three sessions a week versus every weekday. Last awkward situation you were in? Thankfully it was a one-on-one session, but the same aforementioned therapist was asking me questions that really stumped me, so I kept going very quiet as I thought and felt awkward and dumb. He's brilliant at his job. Think of the last time you were sick – what were you sick with? I think the last issue I had that qualifies as "sick" was a double ear infection from Hell itself. That was like two years ago. How do you think your life would change without social media? I'd be incredibly bored, but I, among I think most others, would be more positive and have a more realistic outlook on life. Social media highlights the best times in our life, and I do feel that that has had a negative effect on pretty much everyone. I don't at all believe social media is bad in essence, though. It's a wonderful way to stay connected. What was the last thing you wanted to buy, but couldn’t afford? I can't afford a new terrarium for Venus for probably a while, being without a job and all... How do you get your news? Facebook, haha. How often do you drive? Never, right now. My permit is long expired, and my vision isn't up to par to renew it. If you had to go (back) to school and completely change your career path, what would you choose to study/pursue? I guess biology? Are there any TV shows you constantly quote or know almost every line to? No. What do you think about lizards? I adore lizards; they're all so cute, big or small, and truly little dinosaurs. They're beautiful and so vast in appearances and behavior. Is there anything that people assume about you that isn’t true, and that you find very irritating? Not that I find irritating, no. How would you rate your “detective” skills? Uh, what am I "detecting?" I'm pretty good at digging online if I'm really hunting something down, I guess. Have you ever done consumer testing (testing products before they come out on the market)? If not, would you ever want to? No; I wouldn't be opposed, depending on the product. Have you ever received anesthesia or morphine? Both. The one time (I'm aware of) where I had morphine oddly enough did jack-all, though. If you had to choose which video game to be in, which would it be? Hmmm. Maybe like, Shadow of the Colossus, living in the beautiful garden on the top of the shrine? With the deer, the birds, fruit, just its general beauty... That would be awesome, especially with one other person, especially an s/o. Just the two of us in a gorgeous land. Between the two, would you rather live in a place where it’s only night or where it’s only day? Only day, I suppose. Vitamin D is very important, for one thing, and it always being dark would definitely affect my depression. And what about the flowers blooming and being able to take pictures? :( Sleep would still be possible by just closing your shades and stuff. Is there anyone that makes your skin crawl? Maggots, bot flies, parasites, patterns of small holes, etc. Do you like it when people are affectionate with you? Yes. If we're at least friends, anyway. I'm a very affectionate person. Have the past few days been bad, good, or neutral? They've been pretty all right. If you had to be an actor/actress in a movie, what genre of the movie would you be best at? Probably as an insane villain in a superhero movie or something. Are people more likely to tell you to tone it down or to speak up? Speak up. I'm a mumbler. I can be too loud sometimes too, though, particularly when I'm excited. What’s the last thing that you procrastinated? Now. Emerson's birthday was last month and I still haven't touched her pictures... Out of fire, earth, water, wind, light, and dark, which element appeals the most to you? Dark. What’s your favorite color on a vehicle? Burnt orange, pink. The last pain that you experienced, was it physical or emotional? Physical. What was one of your favorite songs as kid? I liked lots of pop songs. When’s the last time you tried to get revenge, if ever? Never. It's not something I chase after. Do you like Taylor Swift? No. What’s your favorite Disney Channel movie? The Haunted Mansion, I think. That's a Disney movie, isn't it? If you met your favorite celebrity, would you be calm or star struck? I'd be a deer in headlights, stuttering and stammering over ways to thank him and crying like a bitch. I'd be super embarrassed, but I absolutely hope I get to meet him one day. Do you ever have to do yard work? No. Is your school close to your house? I'm no longer in school. Do you have any live versions of songs in your music software? Yes. Did/do you listen to Britney Spears songs? Yeah, I like her. What shorthand do you use the most? Probably "lmao." What album is the current song you’re listening to off of? METAWAR. In your opinion, what song is the most overplayed right now? I wouldn't know; I don't listen to the radio. Are you in a band? No. When I started high school though, I wished I could be a guitarist in one. That's one reason I started taking lessons, haha. Does your favorite band have a male or female lead singer? Male. Have you ever been to a Broadway show? No. Do you prefer group or individual work? Individual, by a long shot. I work much better alone. Could you ever complete a 500-piece puzzle? I think I have before. I used to love puzzles. When was the last time you rode in a limo? Damn son, never; what could possibly give you the idea I could afford to ever do THAT????? Do you take naps daily? Almost every day, yes. Do you still make Christmas lists? Yeah, because I'm asked to. Do you watch the show Dexter? Never seen it, no. Are you currently using a blanket? Yes. My feet are cold. How long is the song you’re listening to? 4:06. Is your mom or dad the older parent? Mom, but only by a year. Did you ever listen to Avril Lavigne when you were younger? Who didn't? I still listen to a couple songs. When was the last time you changed a light bulb? Not all that long ago when Venus' lamp bulb died. How often do you clean your car out? I don't have my own car. Did you ever buy NOW ("Now That’s What I Call Music") CDs? My older sister did, yes. What color (mainly) is your computer? It's black. What is in the back seat of your car right now? In Mom's car, idk. But there's usually some stuff back there. What is your favorite episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.? Never watched it. Last person’s house you were in? Besides my own, my older sister's. Who is the last person you sent a message to on Facebook? My friend Chelsea. We were catching up. Were you an honor roll student in school? Yes. Do you have a tan? HA. Are you someone’s best friend? Yes. <3 What do you think of when you think of Australia? Huntsmen spiders. *shudders* Favorite gemstone? Of the basic ones, rubies. If we're talking of all of them, even the obscure, then dragon's breath opal. I'd LOVE to have a ring of one of those. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Almost always the drive-thru. What color is your mom’s hair? It's all gray now. Does your first memory involve your dad? No. Biggest annoyance in your life right this minute? My social anxiety. Do you like watching a bonfire? Yeah. Fire is mesmerizing. Do you ever get flu shots? No, but I really should. Once the Covid vaccine is accessible to all though, I'm getting it for the protection of my immunocompromised mother.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''affluenza'' by 3teeth

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oh-boleyn · 5 years

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overdramatic and true (words)

words: 2902, one shot, language: english. f/f (parrlyn)

tw: swearing

Catherine Parr was a writer; she had always been.

She was a writer because she loved the sweet feeling of release she could gain after a poem, or a short story. She was a writer because there was something so unique and magical about escaping her world and go to another. She was a writer because she wanted to save memories of a lost world, to save history in a way other could later go back to it.

But mostly, before anything, Catherine Parr was a writer because she loved words.

It was as simple as it, just for words.

Word, or plural, words is a noun. It means a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use.

Any free time Catherine had in her new life would be used to use her laptop and write.

Sometimes she did research, about her old life, to try to find anything she could have missed the first time. Nowadays there was a lot of information everywhere, no need to even move from your house even when she truly, honestly loved going to the library.

Library is also a noun. It means a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials are kept for use but not for sale.

Other times her research wasn’t about her previous life but rather about the things that were oddly still there nowadays, and even when they changed, they didn’t change enough. Such as languages. For example, her favorites words in every language.

“Cada loco con su tema” is a Spanish idiom. It can be translated as “Every crazy person with their own thing” and it’s used for when someone does something weird, meaning that everyone has their own (odd) thing. This quote also can imply that everyone is crazy.

At night she usually would write fairytales or short night lullabies. In her old life she did so while pregnant, wiling to teach Mae how to write, and read her a different story every night. Now she did it to herself when nights were too dark and she couldn’t sleep.

Insomnia is a prolonged and usually abnormal inability to get enough sleep. It can become serious depending on how much time the patient has it.

In the morning she loved playing rather than just working. Every one needed break, and crazy geniuses did too. Parr liked words so much she loved doing crosswords. After the first few weeks, Katherine (Not with a C, but with a K. It happened when some names were translated, or for a mistake when someone was writing.) started doing them too. It was their way of bonding.

“Ten. Extravagant.” Katherine says one morning, while drinking her half coffee half milk, and a ton of sugar.

“Flamboyant.” Catherine easily says, drinking her black coffee, no sugar.

“No.” Katherine says.

“What do you mean no?”

“It doesn’t match the other words. It has to start with an O.”

“Outlandish.” Anne easily slides into the conversation, while serving herself a chocolate milk.

Outlandish is not a noun, but an adjective. It can mean of or relating to another country, synonym of foreign. But it can also mean strikingly out of the ordinary, such as bizarre.

“Thank you, Anne, it matches really well.”

Anne is a name. Alternatively, spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace.'

“How did you know it?” Parr asks.

“I know English.” Anne laughs.

For Parr, Anne used to just be an echo of a name nobody says. People would talk about Catherine’s namesake, the first queen. But nobody dared to speak even a word about Anne Boleyn. Strange enough, for a ghost, everyone knew her story. Born into a noble house, moved to the France court when she was young. Enchanted everyone there, came back to England later in life. Her sister was one of the king’s mistresses, and as such she was married to a fellow noble. But Anne wanted more, and she could just have it all.

Charming means extremely pleasing or delightful.

Things went wrong as everyone knew. You don’t have to argue with a king, but she did. And it costed her head.

Getting to know Anne was weird. There was just a light in her, something captivating. You couldn’t just take your eyes away from her. She didn’t even need words sometime to make you feel enchanted by her presence. You would just know when she walked into a room because it was impossible not to see her.

Attractive means having or relating to the power to attract. For example, “attractive forces between molecules”. Carl Sagan (an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator) once said: “But the essence of life is not so much the atoms and simple molecules that make us up as the way in which they are put together.”. What leads us to other meaning of the word, which is arousing interest or pleasure, appealing.

The way Anne molecules and atoms were put together was really appealing, Cathy would say. That could give the conclusion that Anne Boleyn was an arousing interest or pleasure, what people would like to describe as attractive.

Catherine Parr thought Anne Boleyn was attractive.

Crush is a transitive verb, that means to squeeze or force by pressure so as to alter or destroy structure.

Crush, described by Urban Dictionary meant a person who gives you butterflies and makes your heart beat faster. A person that you can’t describe in a word, but multiple words. A person you can’t get off your mind.

Maybe Catherine had a crush on Anne. And maybe that’s why she couldn’t pick up a word for her, but the problem was that even choosing a thousand different words, she still couldn’t describe the queen. It wasn’t a matter of quantity, but rather quality. There was no word good enough for Anne, even if Catherine loved words, she loved Anne even more.

(…)

Catherine of Aragon was wardship.

Wardship means care and protection of a ward.

It was an elegant word, not so used nowadays, that made Cathy think about her past life.

Mary was four years younger than Cathy. And Catherine was twenty-seven years older. Maybe that’s why when they reincarnated Catherine took Cathy like the daughter she lost. Giving her protection, even when Parr was the second more aware of what went down in history, the first being Anna.

Catherine really became in that life the godmother she wasn’t in the past one, helping Cathy and taking care of her. Buying gifts and planning short trips. Talking her out of bad decisions and offering advice.

Her word was wardship, because it was an echo of an old life, but turned into the new one. It was her word because she made Cathy thought of her as someone she could go to and be safe.

(…)

Jane Seymour was loving.

Loving could mean affectionate (feeling or showing affection or warm regard) or painstaking (taking pains: expending, showing, or involving diligent care and effort).

In a first life, Catherine would have added a self before that word. After all, deep, really deep down they knew Jane loved Henry, even if he was gruesome, hideous, repulsive, poor excuse of a man, Jane did. And she did what she had to do to get him. That included Anne’s execution.

But now Jane had changed. The love of a mother some might say, even if she wasn’t a mother for a long time. She sure acted like a mother to Katherine, helping her through nightmares and panic attacks.

Jane tried to show her love to everyone. She was open about her feelings. Loved to make gifts that demonstrated how much thought she put into it.

Her word was loving because of the sweet warm that emanated from her. Not exactly a mother to Parr, but definitely someone she could go after a long night and know she would receive the attention she sometimes craved.

(…)

Anna of Cleves was a bitch.

Bitch is informal, often offensive: a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman.

Anna was a total bitch because she could see through Catherine’s feelings. And totally mocked her about her crush on Boleyn.

Anna of Cleve’s word was bitch, and there is no need explanation.

(…)

Katherine Howard’s word was shatterable.

Shatterable means capable of being shattered. To break at once into pieces.

Catherine saw Howard break too many times, into too many pieces, into too many times.

Howard shattered in two pieces, her body and her head. Luckily beheading was not a thing in modern times.

But outside that, Parr always feared for Kat. She wanted nothing more to try to help and protect her from any harm that might come to her. Too many bad things had already happened to the young girl, she didn’t deserve anymore harm.

Katherine’s word was shatterable because Catherine always feared she might shatter at any moment.

(…)

None of them were just a word, of course. It would be offensive and totally not okay. But for Catherine they could still be described by the words she knew. Not even in the new words she found out the world created.

Internet says there are one hundred seventy-one thousand four hundred seventy-six words in use nowadays and forty-seven thousand one hundred fifty-six obsolete words. That just being in English. In Spanish there are about one hundred fifty thousand words. This leads to a total of at least three hundred sixty-eight thousand six hundred thirty-two words. And still it wasn’t enough for Parr to describe Anne Boleyn.

Impossible means incapable of being or of occurring.

(…)

Working in her research at night was something that she noticed helped her. Tiring her brain after reading a lot of new sources of material was what she usually needed before a peaceful sleep. If she wasn’t tired enough, nightmares were a normal occurrence.

That’s why she was awake and could hear steps in the kitchen, so she decided to investigate.

Unsettling means having the effect of upsetting, disturbing, or discomposing.

Luckily, it wasn’t a ghost. Just Anne grabbing a snack.

“Why are you awake?” Boleyn asks, taking a bite of her chocolate bar.

“I don’t sleep a lot.” Parr replies, sitting beside the woman. “Why are you awake?”

“Just can’t sleep, my mind doesn’t let me.” She takes a deep breath.

“Why don’t we go to bed and I will sing you a song.”

They both laughed lightly, but Anne nodded. They headed to her room, and in the dark of the night Catherine started thinking.

Lullaby can be a noun or a verb. The noun lullaby means a song to quiet children or lull them to sleep. The verb lullaby means to quiet with or as if with a lullaby.

“There is this really dark lullaby, called duermete niño, it’s in Spanish as you can imagine.”

“Isn’t it like ‘Sleep, child’?” Anne questions. “My Spanish is really rusty.”

“Yes, it’s that. Except that the lyrics are ‘duérmete ya, que viene el coco y te comerá’ which is basically ‘sleep now, or a monster will come and eat you’.”

“It sounds terrifying for kids.” Boleyn waits a minute before talking. “I used to sing French lullabies to Elizabeth.”

“She loved lullabies.”

“Really?”

“Yes, her favourite was a French one.”

Añoranza is a Spanish word. It is a feeling of sadness about the remoteness, absence, privation or loss of someone or something dear. Synonyms in English could be nostalgia, yearning, longing. Sense of loss.

(…)

Catherine Parr loved words, because words hold so much power.

That is something she learnt in her past life.

"Off with their heads!” is a phrase spoken by the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Somebody who also knew the power of words was Anna of Cleves. What someone says to you, even if that person is the embodiment of stupidity, can cause problems. Maybe that’s why she was the one who liked make-up the most in their group.

“You should tell Boleyn how you feel about her” Parr denies with her head.

“No, no way.”

“I thought it was Aragon’s quote.” Cleves mocks. “But really, you should tell her. It’s painful to watch you following her around as if she was, I don’t know, the queen.”

“Funny” Catherine says, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know how to say it.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I really don’t.” Cathy stares at the nothing, trying to process thoughts into words. “It’s like when she in front of me I go totally numb. I have no way to move, or talk, or thinking. Every single part of her is distracting, and I can’t take my eyes or my brain away from her. I start searching for words but nothing is enough. She is more of what I can explain.”

“Then, my friend, you are in deep shit.”

Deep shit means to be in trouble.

Cleves stands up to leave the room.

“Anna” Catherine calls. “Can you not tell this to anyone?”

There is nervousness in her voice, she can totally feel it.

“I wasn’t planning telling anyone.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

Friendship means the state of being friends.

Catherine Parr considered Anna a bitch, but she also considered her a friend, a close friend, if not the closest. Once upon a time she would think it was weird to think of someone as both of those things, but it was as simply as that. You can love to pieces and still know that they have flaws.

Realism is the theory or practice of fidelity in art and literature to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization.

And if Catherine was going to be honest, she knew that Anna was just making what she thought was correct, even when it bothered Parr. Anna always tried to do the good, right thing, and that’s what they all loved her.

(…)

Writing has always been her thing, but when her mind could not longer escape the thoughts about Anne, she decided it was a time to stop. Of course, she tried writing to Anne, but nothing convinced her to send it. So now, with everyone asleep, was the perfect moment to tell her.

Or maybe it wasn’t, but she couldn’t wait.

Midnight is the middle of the night, more specifically, 12 o’clock at night.

Parr knocks the door twice. “Anne?”

She hears nothing, and is about to go back to her room, just as the door opens.

Unexpected means not expected. Expect means to consider probable or certain. Probable means establishing a probability. Probability means something (such as an event or circumstance) that is probable.

“Cathy? Are you here?” Anne is moving a hand in front of her eyes. “You zoomed out.”

“I- Yes- Sorry- Just-“

“Breathe Catherine, come in.”

She opens the door to let her in and then closes, trying not to make noise.

“What’s going on?”

“I have to tell you something.”

There is some tension in the air. Something not said between them.

“I’m in love with you.” Anne says first.

Unexpected, could be use for example as: “Anne Boleyn being in love with her was totally unexpected for Catherine Parr.”

“Good.” Catherine does not smile, instead looks at Anne.

“Just good? That’s all?” her face falls.

Catherine makes a sudden move, kissing Anne. At first, she doesn’t respond, but after a second she does. Soon it starts getting more, and more comfortable, relaxing into the kiss. Anne’s hands go to Cathy’s hair and neck, while Parr’s goes to Boleyn’s waist. They break the kiss laughing.

They let themselves fall into the bed once again.

Probability means a logical relation between statements such that evidence confirming one confirms the other to some degree.

“I came to tell you that I am in love with you” Catherine says, she moved forward to cup Anne’s cheek with her hand. “I am so in love with you that I have no words to describe it, I can’t explain how much I admire you. I think that you are smart, and kind, and so, so beautiful. You are also sarcastic, and can be bloody difficult to deal with, but I still love when you are like that. Because I am in love with every single piece of you. I love the good, the bad, the neutral things. I love your eyes, and I love it when you are mad and your crinkle. I love you truly, the real you. Not what you show, or what you like of you. I love everything, and I want to have the chance to keep loving you. Because, Anne Boleyn, I’m head over heels for you.”

Head over heels means in love. Love can mean attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers.

Love is also what Catherine Parr feels for Anne Boleyn, and love is not something you plan or define like words. Intense love can’t be defined by just words, so they define it every day, with actions, with kisses, with thoughts, and sometimes, they also rely in words.

Catherine Parr was a writer; has always been.

She is also a lover; Anne Boleyn turned her into one.

#six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #anne boleyn #catherine parr #minor anna of cleves #minor katherine howard #parrlyn #also posted on ao3

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seasaltmemories · 5 years

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Toilet-bound Hanako-kun Review/Analysis

Wow I can’t believe I am actually talking about a piece of media that is actually still new and relevant. I’m in the grand scheme of things tackling this really early considering the last episode didn’t air all that long ago, but for a weeks now I’ve had a lot to say about this show. And considering the number of mutuals who have slowly jumped on board to watch this, I’m going to lean heavily on the analysis part of this format. So beware of spoilers.

That said let’s get into that summary:

The famous "Seven Wonders" that every school seems to have are a staple of Japanese urban legends. One of the most well-known of these tales is that of Hanako-san: the ghost of a young girl who haunts the school's bathrooms.

Kamome Academy has its own version of Hanako-san's legend. Rumors claim that if one successfully manages to summon Hanako-san, she will grant her summoner any wish. Lured by the gossip, many people have tried to call upon her, yet every attempt has failed. However, when Nene Yashiro, a girl hoping for romantic fortune, dares to summon Hanako-san, she discovers that the rumored "girl" is actually a boy!

After a series of unfortunate events involving Nene's romantic desires, she is unwillingly entangled in the world of the supernatural, becoming Hanako-kun's assistant. Soon, she finds out about Hanako-kun's lesser-known duty: maintaining the fragile balance between mortals and apparitions.

So honestly just going off of plot itself, I doubt Hanako-kun caught many people’s eye. However aside from the beautiful artstyle which everyone and their mother has praised, what gets me is the amount of charm it has. Almost every character is immensely likeable, and much of the early setting up period is centered around letting them just all interact in cute manners with each other. There is a clear romantic thread between Hanako and Yashiro from the start, and there is little fear about showcasing their physical affection for one another, so I could have been find with the show doing nothing if I just got to see them hold hands and solve mysteries together.

However around Episode 5 was when I really began to love the show for its character writing. And to fully understand give me a moment to wax about my girl Yashiro.

Considering whose name is in the title, it could be easy to see Yashiro as simple a normal viewpoint character to act as the outsider who slowly learns about the supernatural world. A typical shounen female lead who is nice and caring and wins over people by just being such a cinnamon roll

Yashiro is not that type of girl. Yashiro at any given time is a walking disaster falling apart at any given moment, and honestly really earns her place as the protagonist of the show. She is insecure, in love with the idea of love, honestly doesn’t even have many friends, and definitely jumps to conclusions way too quickly. Yet she is also reflective, curious, genuinely invested in her relationships, She’s probably one of the most realistic teenage weird girl I’ve encountered in a long time, and the show definitely has fun letting her be the comedic relief at times yet also will take time to actually explore her inner life.

By the 3/4th point of the first episode she begins to understand a lot of hopeless romantic tendencies come from a terribly low self-esteem, and while over the series she even calls out that tendency a few times when she sees it in others, in episode 5, after getting a surprise kiss from Hanako, she tries and unravel her feelings. And while at first she doesn’t consider herself that attracted to Hanako as it seems more and more like he has a crush on her, she talks herself into having a crush on him.

And while predictably everything turns out to be a misunderstanding (including that kiss) the show lets Yashiro actually sit in her disappointment and embarrassment. That entire episode I was worried that she was going to get her heart broken and teasing Hanako would just twist the knife further, after all the only person to blame was her own over-active imagination, but instead he comforts her.

That was the first time I realize the show could really pull out some great emotions. And while up to around episode 8 it continues to deliver the emotions (Mitsuba and Kou in general also have that careful touch to their writing) the world and plot blows up so quickly that I feel the second half of the show does start to show some cracks.

This might be controversial, but I find the weakest part of the show to be Tsukasa, Hanako’s crazy evil twin he murdered back when they were both alive. He reminds me a lot of Yuri from Arc V, a chaotic villain who mugs it up for the camera and usually ends up as a fan favorite of sorts. While I can be enjoy and even like those characters, when they hog the spotlight in fanon and sometimes even canon, they overstay their welcome for me. Not much is known about him or his relationship with Hanako beyond what I’ve already stated, and I think there is a lot of interesting stuff that could be learned from exploring him, as is he mostly shows up to stir up shit and disappears without much answers. While I get the mystery will probably be a series long thing and this is a 12 episode anime of a much longer-running manga, part of what made the first half so good was the tight focus on Yashiro. As the stakes ramped up I worried that her normal mundane problems would get pushed to the side.

I hear some of this might be due to the anime playing around with the order of arcs in the source material, which might also explain that much faster pacing, and while I was still enjoying my time, I worried those character-focused beats were going to be farther in between. Especially as Hanako and Yashiro previous easiness around each other had started to fade away in light of recent plot seriousness

But this finale kinda reminded me again of what I loved about the show so much, in that after a huge bittersweet event we get Yashiro reevaluating her relationship with Hanako once more and while accepting she doesn’t understand every thing about him, wanting to do the best she can.

Again it isn’t the most conclusive ending bc it is an unfinished adaptation, but while not the most thematically rich piece of media I’ve fallen in love with, that last bit really ended things on a high note. Rather that rec something for how deep and fascinating I find it, I love this show for how it makes me smile and just oozes this unrefined yet oh so eagerness for connection. More than ever before have I wanted to follow up on the source material of something, and while I can’t quite predict where it will go or if it will keep up its momentum, what the series has delivered already will be worth it.

#seasalt talks #hanako kun #my reviews #there is a lot of stuff I didn't get to #but if it isn't obvious i love yashiro a lot #Everyone else is wonderful too and I can give more specific thoughts later #but yeah this is me dealing with my weekly dose of serotonin ending

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snippychicke · 4 years

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Dedicated to @unbiddenrhythm for getting me hooked on this seriously rare-pair. Although our Assistants have slightly different names, Rea is heavily inspired by her head cannons, so she's like, 99% hers.

This started out as a short drabble for OTP prompts, and just...evolved. the prompt was: Which one gets jealous more often.

Short answer: Rea does, partly because she often feels like she Reeve is far out of her league.

Long answer: well, this:

Fluffyish piece of ReevexAssistant below. Mentions of jealous, hints of slight sexual harassment (not between the main couple). Spoiler free!

Oddly enough, Rea tends to get jealous more often.

Reeve Tuesti was really the poster boy of Shinra directors. Granted, compared to the other three males that made up the board of directors, it wasn't that surprising. Anyone would look good compared to Palmer, Heidegger, and Hojo.

The only other Shinra Executive the gossip columnists wrote more about was Rufus, and since his assignment to Junon and virtual banishment from Midgar, he had been forced to the limelight. Leaving Reeve to endure the spotlight and rather unwanted attention.

Rea knew she shouldn't be reading the trashy magazines that were little more than fluff pieces that barely disguised Shinra propaganda. But when Reeve was on the latest cover, it was hard for her to resist. Her official reason was to study the gossip and figure out if she needed to give the poor man a heads up about the latest rumors (like when they published his favorite cafe and the 'fans' were flooding to the small cat cafe in Sector 3 to catch a glimpse) or start counter-arguments derailing the misconceptions that tended to sprout from time to time (like that he was yet another Shinra bastard son).

It was just a coincidence that the side bonus was to be able to.study her boss's appearance without the risk of being caught. (Not that the paparazzi ever got a picture of his true smile, or really captured the small little glint in his eyes he got when he was amused. But they did get a rather good side profile when he was jogging on the treadmill on the rec floor that she was rather fond of.)

However, this time the articles left her more than a little disquieted. It was a special edition covering President Shinra's birthday party from the weekend prior. It had been a through who's-who affair, with everyone dressed to impress. She skipped over the details of the designers, and briefly wrinkled her nose at the image of Hojo and Palmer and their suits. Not even the best tailors in the world could make them half-decent, though she questioned who thought to let Palmer wear a suit that was a rather gross mix of brown and green that reminded her of things that belong in a toilet.

She did have to admit lingering on the first couple images of her boss in the well-fitted black suit made his long legs and thin form even more prominent than usual. The remaining articles that weren't dedicated to praising the President were focused on the Urban Development Director…

...and questioning his relationship with Scarlett.

Nearly every picture had the two in close proximity, and in more than a couple, Scarlett was hanging from Reeve's arm, a sultry smile on her shimmery lips and a smug look in her eyes that made something akin to anger flare in Rea's chest. As if the older woman was looking straight at her and boasting at achieving what Rea could only dream about.

Looking at those pictures...Rea had to admit to the small ember of jealousy that burned in her stomach. She wanted to be able to wrap her arm around Reeve like that. To gaze up into his eyes and see that warmth and tenderness looking back at her.

And unfortunately for Rea, the rumors of Reeve and Scarlett spread like wildfire through Shinra's fertile grapevine. Sure Scarlett was a few years older than Reeve, but many people pointed out that it wasn't that much of an age gap. Then there were the counter-arguments that she had undeniable looks and 'experience', musing maybe it was something right up the soft-spoken man's alley.

The conversations down that particular path made Rea feel physically sick. Few were privy to just exactly how ruthless and abusive the lone female director was, and she had a hard time thinking anyone would find that...attractive, let alone her boss. Granted Reeve did his best not to speak too poorly about his peers, but she was sure she didn't imagine the scowl that graced his features whenever he returned from meetings with her. She had thought that Reeve disapproved of such things...but all the pictures of the two together and the gossip that followed suit made her start to question that maybe she was wrong?

It made her question if she was reading all the signs between her and her director wrong. Over the last few months, she had started hope that maybe this feeling wasn't quite as one-sided as she had first thought. But maybe he was just being kind and helpful and she was just seeing things through rose-colored glasses. Maybe she wasn't at all his type.

And if Scarlett was his type...did she really know him that well?

"Oh please," Reeve groaned, making Rea jump slightly in her chair as he entered the office and caught her flipping through the infamous magazine, "I will literally buy you a fire materia if you promise to burn that wretched thing.

"Sir?" She squeaked, not used to hearing him speak so...candidly. Never through the months of her 'research' had he commented so negatively. Usually, it was a bemused 'really?' Or a 'what are those scavengers lying about now?'

"Those pictures of me and Scarlett," he gestured tiredly. "I swear I am going to retch if I see another one. First I had to endure her pawing at me that entire night, and the nightmare only continues. 'Older and experienced, ha!' The woman is a money digging cougar."

Rea bit her lip trying to contain a smile as that sickly feeling evaporated. Everything suddenly seemed better, and the world once more made sense. Jealousy and doubt had really made her think crazy ideas. Reeve, interested in Scarlett? That was not the man she admired and respected. "...I do think they sell fire materia downstairs, actually…"

Reeve paused for a moment, his dark eyes meeting hers. His expression was serious, but she swore she could see some amusement and gratitude in them."Don't tempt me, because I don't know if I can resist."

Those words made butterflies flutter in her stomach, and she had to look away to regain her senses. The magazine was open to a page where Scarlett was pressed against his side, her cleavage prominent, and now she could see the reserved annoyance on her Director's face as he pointedly looked away from the woman. " ...usually I wouldn't condone such acts, however, this time is a little different." Rea gave a small impish smile as she looked back at him, and was delighted when he started to grin back at her.

"You, my dear, are the best," there was a pause as he glanced at the offending text. "...would you think any less of me if I asked you to use my account to buy the last of those magazines? I could reserve the SOLDIERS' VR training room for after hours. I think it's fireproof."

Rea was shocked by his words temporarily before realization sunk in. He really hated the rumors floating about him this.time, and it struck a nerve. Righteous anger flared along with determination.

"It would be my pleasure. In fact, I'll split the cost with you."

---

It was close to eight at night, and the bonfire of every magazine they could find reached into the simulated night sky. Was it petty? Possibly. Poor use of time to go to every floor and search for every copy they could find? Absolutely.

Did she regret any of it? Not a bit. She felt younger, lighter as she and Reeve snuck about after hours, taking turns keeping watch as the other sifted through the magazine in the numerous lounge areas, stuffing the offending copies into a bag.

Neither were very surprised when the reached the archives, and one of the many library bots merrily greeted them with a stack of magazines. "Scarlett is a whore," it chirped innocently, making them both break out in surprised laughter.

"You know the techs still don't know how or why those bots are 'faulty'," Reeve said as they left the archives, the thick stack split between them.

"Grandad mentioned they keep trying to fix them," she hummed. "Mr. Hart has caught newbie techs trying to hack their system so many times he thinks its a hazing rite."

"I wouldn't put it past them. Their funding for AI is geared towards military purposes, but many of them are interested in creating true Artificial Intelligence. And well, their programming was actually the basis for my own side project."

"You keep hinting at your side projects," she pouted playfully, feeling daring. "But you never talk about them much."

There was a playful light in Reeve's eyes as he winked down at her. "Maybe one of these days I'll introduce you."

---

While the techs of the VR room did give them odd looks, nothing was said as they brought in the bags of magazines and Reeve asked them to generate specific coordinates before they entered.

It always amazed Rea to watch the silver room give way to the virtual reality. The ceiling rippled into a cloudless night sky, the steel floor becoming gently rolling hills that led to a picture-perfect sandy beach. She could even taste the salty air of the ocean as the waves gently crashed near her feet.

"Where are we?" She asked as she helped pile the magazines into a decent mound.

"A beach not far from where I grew up," he answered easily, surprising her. "I spent many nights here stargazing when I was stuck on problems when I was younger. I admit, when I'm facing a challenging situation I'll use this place after hours to help brainstorm. It's still not quite the same though. Usually, you would be able to hear crickets chirping and the occasional seagull."

"Sounds beautiful." Rea pulled the new fire-materia from her pocket and held it kut to him once he was finished organizing the magazines into a suitable pile. "I believe you should have the honor, sir," she insisted when he hesitated. "All things considered."

He looked at the small green orb twinkling with an inner light, illuminating her plain but well-manicured nails. He placed his hand over hers, enveloping the materia.

"How about we do it together?" He offered. "Granted, I haven't dual-casted since I first learned how to use materia, but I think we could manage it."

Rea was thankful it was dark enough to hide the blush she felt creeping across her cheeks as she shifted to stand next to Reeve, their fingers brushing as they cradled the materia. "One...two…" Reeve counted, and on three she felt the magic flow into the materia. Dual casting was usually only used to teach another person how to use materia, because you had the odd sense of the other person's magic, and it was often too distracting to focus.

And it was very distracting, as well as oddly intimate to feel his magic mix with hers as fire erupted from the magazines. His careful arranging assured an even and thorough fire that reached up to the stars.

"I didn't think this would be this relaxing," Reeve admitted as they watched the pages begin to curl. While their arms were no longer stretched out, neither seemed willing to let go quite yet.

"Fire is rather cleansing," Rea replied softly, wondering if it was wrong of her to feel a little smug. Scarlett may have pushed Reeve into allowing her to hang off him against his will, but here she was, more or less holding hands with him...and he didn't seem at all bothered by her close proximity.

"It is… thank you," he added a moment later, looking down at her, his soft expression lit by the flames, "for indulging my moment of insanity."

"Happily sir," she tried for a light tone while her throat was blocked by her heart. Gaia, she though, he was handsome like this. Hair just a little messy, the weight and stress lifted from his shoulders and a true smile pulling at his lips. He looked so...happy. Content. And she was at least partly responsible.

Take that, Scarlett.

There was a long pause before Reeve cleared his throat. "So, um, I heard one of the techs from the science department had asked you out the other night."

"Oh, yeah." Rea wrinkled her nose at the memory of the man she had barely met trying to pressure her to go kut on a date when she had turned down all his subtle advances before.

"How did that go?"

"Mm, it didn't. He's not quite my type."

Rea was sure she imagined the relieved sigh and his shoulder relaxing. "Ah. Good. Well, I mean, I'm glad you know what your type is," he quickly added on, sounding a bit flustered, making her raise a brow. "It's good to know that. I think."

Rea laughed as she looked over at him, wondering if his cheeks were pink due to the fire. "What about you, sir? Do you know your type?"

He paused, his eyes meeting hers for a long moment. "I think I'm finally figuring it out."

"But it's not Scarlett?"

That made him laugh, the rich sound flowing over her along with the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the sand. "Oh Gaia, no. Absolutely not! The woman I like is...kind, and caring. She always puts others before herself, and can be a little bit of a hypocrite for lecturing others on their workaholic behaviors."

Rea's heart thumped in her chest and tried to keep her mind from jumping to conclusions. She forced herself to focus on where the tips of the flames met the night sky. "Sounds less like a type and more like an individual, sir."

"Yeah, maybe," he admitted quietly. A peek towards him revealed he was still looking at her with that expression from before. The same expression she had daydreamed of since this infatuation of hers begun.

Surely not. Surely she was just seeing things through rose-colored glasses again. Except his hand drifted from the materia to brush shyly against hers, almost to ask for permission.

Only to drop away as reality forced its way back in, the sky and ocean disappearing in a violent ripple. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" A scientist barged in, using a fire extinguisher to put out their makeshift bonfire as the two jumped away from each other. "YOU JUST CAN'T BURN THINGS INSIDE THE TOWER! WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING?!"

#Reeve Tuesti #reeve #Director Tuesti #Final Fantasy 7 #final fantasy 7 remake #Reeve x assistant #Cait sith is briefly hinted at #So is Mayor Domino

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ofthreechords · 4 years

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cadel + theron: swtor & the secret world crossover/au concept

Deleted my last post about this because I didn’t like it. Going to try again.

This is a thought that’s been in my mind for the last few weeks for no reason other than that I find it fun to imagine. What if my SWTOR character Cadel Browydr and his love interest Theron Shan were in the universe of The Secret World? (See here for more info on Cadel and Theron)

For those unfamiliar with The Secret World, it’s an urban fantasy MMO. Its setting is our modern-day Earth under attack from occult forces. There is magic, mythical creatures, and secret societies pulling the strings and controlling the world. Among these secret societies are the Templars, the Dragon, and the Illuminati.

All of these thoughts are my own and I’m not dictating what someone else’s SWTOR + The Secret World crossover should look like. I’m just writing my thoughts down so that I can keep track of them. This whole thing is hideously self-indulgent, so be warned.

tl;dr: This is how I’d do it -- Theron comes from Los Angeles, California, and was force-recruited into the Illuminati after graduating from university. Cadel was born in Ottawa, Ontario, into a Templar-affiliated family that taught him traditional Templar values growing up. Details under the cut.

-- ILLUMINATI AGENT: THERON SHAN --

Theron was born in Los Angeles, California. His parents, Jace and Satele, divorced when he was very young. They had joint custody of him, but Theron lived mainly with his mother, only being sent to his father’s when his mother had to travel for work. His mother worked in disaster relief and his father was a businessman. Theron didn’t really bond with either of his parents growing up. His mother was firm and disciplinary, and his father was very busy with work, so neither of them really gave Theron the love and support he needed. He grew up rather lonely, though he discovered a talent for music -- this became his “escape”, teaching himself piano and guitar and writing short songs on occasion. He shared his music only rarely with his peers, and never with his parents. It wasn’t until his teenage years when Theron and his father started to grow closer, and they gained some semblance of an ordinary father-son relationship. His mother started to travel for work more often, and so he saw her less. Jace learned of his son’s musical talent, and while he was supportive of it at first, he convinced Theron that he wouldn’t make a good living as a musician. Theron went to study business in university, with his father paying for all of his courses. He proved himself to be a bright student, and even his mother became proud of him -- however, she could not attend Theron’s graduation ceremony due to her work. After the ceremony, Gaia sent a bee for Theron to swallow, and part of the auditorium was destroyed in the following explosion. Soon afterwards, a group of Illuminati revealed themselves to Theron, and Jace revealed himself as a member. They covered up the incident, paid the university a large sum of money to silence them, and sent Theron to the Illuminati Labyrinth in New York. Suddenly plunged into the secret world, Theron had to rapidly learn about the existence of magic and mythical creatures and the secret organizations controlling the world. He learned how to control his newfound powers, preferring anima-infused firearms over magic. During his time training, Jace informed Theron that Satele had been missing since his graduation ceremony. This came as a shock to them both, as Jace had never known about Satele’s involvement in the secret world. He does not know where she is, but he suspects she is with the Dragon. Theron makes a living as a field agent for the Illuminati, but he disapproves of their lack of ethics, cheating others and their own people to make money and get ahead. Jace agrees with him only partially, but he argues that the Illuminati have power and they get results. Theron wishes to return to his old life in Los Angeles, but he has a feeling that his mother is here somewhere in the secret world, and he wants to find her.

-- TEMPLAR MAGUS: CADEL BROWYDR --

The Templar-affiliated Browydr family is a large and privileged family that has its roots in Cardiff, Wales, though a portion of them live in Ottawa, Ontario, and that is where Cadel was born. Growing up, many of Cadel’s summers were spent in Wales, learning about magic like everyone else in his family. In Canada, he helped his family oversee secret world activity in the area while maintaining an ordinary appearance to the mundane world -- going to school, being part of the community, et cetera. Though potion-brewing was not one of Cadel’s strong suits, cooking and baking definitely were, and they were his main hobbies throughout his childhood. Cadel expressed dreams of becoming a chef, but his parents told him that he was a Templar, first and foremost. They taught him traditional Templar values -- to fight evil and to protect the world -- and Cadel learned to embrace them. Like the rest of his family, he became fiercely loyal to the Templars, aspiring to become a Templar Knight one day, stamping out evil wherever it may lurk. He was a “golden boy” all around, even to the mundane world -- earning good grades in school, participating in sports, and being a role model to his peers. As he grew into adulthood, he started started to reflect on his childhood passion towards food, and how his parents had discouraged him from that. He still cooked on a regular basis, but he didn’t feel the same passion as he did before. He also began to question the Templar values he’d been taught -- thinking they may be too extreme or too black-and-white -- which led to disagreements with his family. Cadel ended up feeling lost, not knowing what to do with his life. He went to college and took courses in various fields like English, philosophy, and history, and while he enjoyed learning in those fields, he didn’t feel as if they were what he wanted to do with his life. Before he was able to complete a degree, Gaia sent a bee for Cadel to swallow. His family sent him to Temple Hall in London, where he learned to use his new powers, and he became proficient in many different types of magic. He favours Blood Magic and Chaos Magic in particular, and has discovered abilities in thaumaturgy. His magical prowess has earned him the respect of many other Templars, and Temple Hall has awarded him the title of Magus. Since he started working in the field, Cadel has found that what makes him happiest is work where he helps out people in need. This is consistent with one of the values his parents had taught him -- to protect those who cannot protect themselves -- but Cadel remains somewhat critical of other values the Templars uphold. To this day, he remains relatively silent about these criticisms.

-- CADEL & THERON --

(If you’re still reading this and you’ve made it this far, I respect you. I also warn you that this following section is the most self-indulgent thing ever.)

Cadel and Theron’s respective factions had them assigned to Solomon Island to rescue survivors and cull the Filth infestation, and that is where the two met. They became friends fairly quickly, and there was physical attraction between the two, but the Templars and Illuminati are old enemies, and this discouraged them from starting a romantic relationship. They kept in contact, but they didn’t meet again until months later -- when they were both assigned to Egypt to root out the Cult of Aten. During their downtime, they went to a cafe and shared stories, bonding and growing closer. They eventually confessed to each other and agreed to start a relationship, but they kept it secret from their respective handlers. From then on, working together became a rarity, but they kept their relationship stable, going on dates all over the world and strengthening their bond. Eventually they stopped being so secret about it, and thankfully, their handlers didn’t seem to care -- so long as it didn’t get in the way of their work. This led to Theron and Cadel discussing their criticisms of their respective factions with each other, and Cadel suggested joining the Council of Venice. It’s in a neutral position between the Templars, Illuminati, and Dragon, and it may enable the two to do more work helping the world and giving aid to people who need it. Months passed, and they worked and advanced through the ranks of their respective factions, and they got the attention of the Council of Venice. Some time later, they both joined. This was seen as an act of abandonment by Theron’s father and Cadel’s family. This surprised neither Theron nor Cadel, but they remained firm in their decision. They both wanted to work in an organization that aligned with their morals. Eventually Cadel’s family warmed up to the change, though Jace cut off all contact with Theron. This made Theron depressed for a bit, but Cadel was endlessly supportive of him. Working for the Council was not all the two had hoped it would be -- it was and still is slow and inefficient, but Cadel and Theron were still doing work that they enjoyed. Cadel’s family began to accept his and Theron’s relationship, and Theron took this as confirmation -- he and Cadel were made for each other. Theron proposed, and they eventually got married, with all of their friends and Cadel’s family at the wedding. They had invited Jace, too, but unfortunately he did not come. To this day, the two still work for the Council and are still in love. Theron goes crazy for Cadel’s cooking, and Cadel helps Theron re-kindle his passion for music. Theron knows that his mother is still out there, and he intends to find her. Cadel intends to help him.

#my swtor #theron shan #cadel browydr #crossover #au #alternate universe #swtor #star wars: the old republic #the secret world

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sweetsmellosuccess · 4 years

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TIFF 2020: Days 5 & 6

Films: 5

Best Film of the Day(s): New Order

Good Joe Bell: Or, The Education of a Straight White Father. What Reinaldo Marcus Green’s film lacks in depth, it tries hard to make up for with earnestness. Mark Wahlberg plays the real-life father, who was in the process of walking across America in honor of his gay son, who committed suicide after being badly bullied in his smalltown Oregon high school, before he was accidentally hit on the road and killed in Colorado, six months into his planned two-year sojourn. The story is cut up between the present, with Joe on the road, doing terse speaking engagements (as Wahlberg plays him, the taciturn Bell isn’t much for public speaking), at local high schools and churches, and flashbacks to the past, as his son, Jadin (Reid Miller), attempts to get through his high school experience while being the subject of bullying, both in-person and via the Internet, until he reaches his breaking point. The message is certainly resonant, and Miller plays Jadin with the right amount of heartbreaking pathos, but Green’s film feels unnecessarily mechanized in order to put Joe front and center of the story (using a hallucination of Jadin at the beginning, which allows Joe to interact with him feels more than a little manipulative). Bell, with his quick temper, and impatience for anything that’s not directly to do with him, is a reasonable stand-in for exactly the type of straight white male who should be watching the film (but more than likely won’t). Wahlberg is gifted at playing this sort of character, who wants to have the full attention of everyone any point in time he chooses (“Did you hear what I said?” he asks incredulously after making an announcement and not receiving the proper praise for it). He’s a complicated dude, which the film alludes to without entirely capturing: He’s ready to fight at a moment’s notice, but shies away from directly confronting any of Jadin’s tormentors; has the good intention to take action to draw attention to the problem, but doesn't seem the least bit prepared to give a speech that really makes an impact (one detail the film does make work: His manner of saying “I love you” to his wife or sons, but only as a way of getting them to say it back to him). Connie Britton plays Lola, Jadin’s mother, a largely thankless role as the nurturer of the family, loving both her sons (Jadin’s brother Joseph is played by Maxwell Jenkins), and staying supportive no matter their father’s attitude. Near the end of his journey, as Joe begins to see the true folly of his ways, he meets a Sheriff (Gary Sinise), whose oldest son is also gay, which allows the two men to sit on the front porch of the sheriff’s house and contemplate the ways in which their lives didn’t go as expected. It’s clearly meant for the kick-ass Wahlberg audience (as Jadin says earlier in the film, they’re the actual problem), but I very much doubt they will be heading in droves to see it.

New Order: Meet the new boss, only in Michel Franco’s damning portrait of a society locked forever in cycles of oppression, revolution, and new oppression, it makes no difference who you are, what your belief system is, or whether or not you subscribe to a moral set of ethics. After an ominous opening montage of imagery largely taken from the film to come, we shortly begin at a resplendent wedding held at the city manse of a wealthy businessman for his daughter, Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), and her betrothed, Alan (Dario Yazbek Bernal). As Marianne’s mother, Pilar (Patricia Bernal) happily secrets away the envelopes carrying the new couples’ gift money in her safe, and rich and powerful families co-mingle, the distant danger of a furious revolution, lead by violent rioters raising up against the economic disparities of the city, seems at first to be light-years away. Until it isn’t. As rioters infiltrate the house, with the help of an insider, chaos reigns and bullets fly. The next morning, many people have been shot, the house has been utterly pillaged, and Marianne has been taken hostage by a rogue group of military, who snatch up wealthy-seeming refugees and hold them for ransom at an undisclosed outpost. By film’s end, Franco, working from his own screenplay, leaves no man, woman, or child unmarked. The wealthy are callous and vain, the rioters bloodthirsty and cruel, the hostage takers unbelievably greedy and horrible, and the righteous vanquished by further corruption at even higher levels of power. It’s a bit like the ending of a Coen brothers picture (Burn After Reading comes to mind), in which all loose ends are closed, and few, if any, people are any the wiser for it; only, there’s nothing the least bit arch in Franco’s thrown gauntlet: We aren’t spared the worst of it by indelible Coens’ proxies. We are all to blame, it would seem, and it has nothing to do with original sin: Our conniving, violent nature will undo any and all attempts to curb it. Insatiable avarice is our continual undoing, washing over us like the green paint the rioters hurl at passing cars and pedestrians, marking them as the enemy. In Franco’s thunderous film, nobody emerges unscathed; we’re all set on fire.

Wildfire: It’s a hoary Hollywood staple to substitute individuals as emotional stand-ins to capture the direness of historic catastrophic events, scaling everything down so we care more about the couple in star-crossed love than the war going on all around them. In Cathy Brady’s Irish drama, however, a pair of sisters are reunited after a year’s absence in the North Ireland bordertown in which they grew up, products of the uneasy peace, post-Troubles, in which everyone is meant to get along as one country, though hard feelings still abound. Kelly (Nika McGuigan) returns to the staid home of her sister, Lauren (Nora-Jane Noone), after taking off on her own the year before, and, by all appearances, living as a vagabond. Initially thrilled to have her sister back, Lauren is also still angry with her for taking off suddenly and not making any contact since. When the girls were little, their father was killed in a political bombing, and their mother might have committed suicide as a result (the car accident that killed her was, apparently, suspicious). Left to their own devices, then, they developed a fierce protective shell against any outsiders, including, it turns out Lauren’s increasingly concerned husband (Martin McCann), and longtime family friend Veronica (Joanne Crawford). The film changes gears when Lauren finally accepts Kelly again, and the two reform their partnership as intense as it was before. As the film points out, in a real sense, they are all each other truly have in the aftermath of their tragic childhood. The film clicks better into focus as well in its final act, when the sisters are reunited against all comers, and the world around them is better revealed for what it is: They represent the schism still very much a part of their community that no one else wants to see. Instead, people hang about in bars, or at work, nursing the bitternesses and hurts of the Troubles in private, and putting their public energy to getting along. Kelly, with her wildnesses and significant impulse control issues (trying to teach a young boy how to hold his breath underwater is, perhaps, not best accomplished by holding him down until he begins to panic), is at least honest with her feelings, open to her various wounds, and refusing to put the past behind them. Their mother gets referred to as “crazy” in the town’s estimation, but it’s more likely she, like her two daughters, represents the clear-eyed view of someone who refuses to live in denial.

Concrete Cowboy: Philadelphia as an open prairie has a nice vibe, and Ricky Staub’s film about a troubled teen who mother takes him from Detroit to where his father, an urban cowboy, lives in North Philly in hopes to setting the kid straight, is made with genuine care and gets solid performances from its mixture of professional and amateur actors. If this sounds like faintly damning praise, it’s only because despite its strengths, it still feels like a great set-up in search of a suitable story. Based on the real-life Fletcher Street stables (and the novel from Greg Neri), in which locals on the rough streets of the city shelter and take care of a group of horses for the sheer love of riding, the story follows the difficult maturation of Cole (Caleb McLaughlin), a decent enough kid, but searching for his place in the world, and the tough-love tactics of his dad, Harp (Idris Elba), a longtime cowboy, who hasn’t been in his son’s life in more than a decade. Cole starts out hating everything about his new situation, from Harp’s barebones lifestyle (not only are the cupboards empty, and the fridge filled with nothing but Coke and Bud Light, Harp keeps one of his horses in the living room, sharing it with his son), to being forced to muck the stalls out at the stables to earn his chance to ride, takes up with an old friend, Smush (Jharrel Jerome), a charismatic kid caught up in the drug life. Naturally, Cole’s choice comes down to which sort of life he wants to have, his father’s hardscrabble but honest approach (made more attractive when Cole develops a bond with his own horse, Boo), or Smush’s push for increased market share and more money to buy his own piece of land out West. Shot on location in North Philly, and around the city — one shot, in which Cole sits astride boo in full silhouette against a mottled purple sky, the lampposts standing in for saguaros, hits just the right note -- Staub’s film has a properly gritty texture, and the use of some of the real Fletcher cowboys adds further verisimilitude, but the story moves predictably enough, beat-by-beat, that it doesn’t hit with the potency it might have been capable of with a less predictable narrative arc.

In a year of bizarre happenings, and altered realities, TIFF has shifted its gears to a significantly paired down virtual festival. Thus, U.S. film critics are regulated to watching the international offerings from our own living room couches.

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mattygraygubler · 5 years

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our campus: chapter 5 (tom holland fic)

summary: frat!tom and reader go to the same college and y/n is tasked with being his tutor, they don’t really get along at first (because i love reader and tom hating each other trope)

warnings: drinking, cursing, mentions of sex, making out

word count: 3.3k

a/n: the end to this was tough

for a list of characters click here

to be added to the tag list send me an ask !

masterlist

✰✰✰✰✰

“Y/N, you may wanna slow down...” Isabelle said as you downed your third shot.

“C’mon it’s delt… I need something to help face my fear.”

“Y/N we really don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Emily said. You shook your head.

“Nope. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll finally get frat bingo.” Isabelle laughed and you all grabbed your various phones and keys and headed downstairs to grab the uber.

Black outs, and theme parties in general, people tended to go a little nuts for. Everyone brought their best. Like dchi’s toga party a few weeks ago? The image of Kyle wearing a bed sheet is burned into your mind forever.

Isabelle, never one to wear a dress, was wearing a black lace bodysuit (you insisted it was lingerie but she ignored you) with a pair of black flare jeans over it. For Ally, every day was a blackout party, so she wore one of her many black dresses, this one a velvet flare. Emily couldn’t wear all black, it wasn’t in her nature, so she wore an adorable black babydoll dress with little blue flowers all over it.

And you? You pulled out all the stops. Your dress was simple, a black mini dress from urban outfitters, but you spent years looking for the perfect LBD and this was it. It hugged your body in all the right places, you didn’t wear it too often, but when you did you felt like a 10.

You all piled in the uber and were on your way to the house, which wasn’t a far walk from campus, but you were already running late. It was already past 11:30, the party started at 11. It was typical for your friend group to make a fashionably late entrance.

When you got there it was almost 11:45. You made your way to the back of the house where two brothers stood at the back door, one with a clipboard in his hands, the other rolling a joint.

“Evening, ladies,” one of them said. Emily smiled, introduced herself and you guys, and they were soon letting you in.

You walked inside and noticed the party was already in high gear. It wasn’t packed, thanks to the list, but there were a lot of people hanging around, drinking, some playing beer pong, some dancing, others making out on the couch.

Immediately Harrison noticed Emily and came up to give her a kiss on the cheek. He greeted you all very friendly, kissing the backs of your hands.

This kid was not like Tom at all.

Speaking of… You didn’t want to admit it but you noticed him almost immediately. There were a lot of guys looking at your group, probably because you weren’t regulars to delt parties, but one boy in particular couldn’t keep his eyes off you.

You felt his stare on your body, and you finally looked to make eye contact with him. He was at the beer pong table, but he stopped paying attention to the game.

You couldn’t help it, but you bit your lip. He looked… well, hot. Incredibly hot, even though he was just wearing ripped black jeans and a black tee shirt.

“Harrison!” You said, turning your attention away from Tom. “I need a shot of tequila and a rum and orange soda.” Harrison laughed.

“A girl that knows what she wants, I like it. Follow me ladies.” The four of you followed him to the kitchen where a makeshift bar was set up. You groaned internally when you realized who one of the boys was behind it.

“Y/N!” Dan said with a smile. “You’re the last person I expected to see here.”

“Well, everyone changes, Danny. Could I have-” “Lemme guess. A shot of tequila and a vodka orange soda?”

“Rum and orange soda, but very close.” Danny laughed as he poured you the drinks. Isabelle and Ally both had beers in their hands and were behind you, talking to each other while Emily and Harrison appeared to be in their own little world.

“I’m Noah,” the kid next to Danny said. He was a typical frat boy, but you were surprised. So far every delt boy you’ve seen was… very attractive.

“Y/N,” you heard a voice behind you. Max put his hand on the small of your back.

“Hi!” You greeted happily.

“I’m glad you came. Wanna dance?” he asked. You nodded, downed the shot of tequila and headed for the dance floor, not before you saw Dan hand Max a five dollar bill.

Max held your hand as you led him towards the room where people were dancing. It was much louder in here. Immediately you made your way close to the DJ, which was really a delt boy with a baseball cap and soundcloud. Max put his hands on your waist and you started to dance back and forth.

You sipped your drink, realizing you were five drinks in, and were starting to feel great. The room was spinning, in a good way, the music was so loud you could feel it in your chest.

“If I was straight, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you,” Max said into your ear and you laughed. “Besides, one of my brothers already called dibs.”

The smile left your face immediately. Did Tom call dibs on you?! Danny?! You looked at Max’s face and he could tell you were confused.

“Noah. You met him at the bar earlier.” You grinned. Nothing to worry about.

After what felt like an hour of dancing, you and Max were both sweating and decided to go back to the rest of the party. On your way out of the dance floor, Max holding your hand again, you spied Tom on the end of the circle, a girl sucking on his neck. He looked like he was enjoying it, until he saw you. You looked away as soon as you made eye contact and let Max drag you back to the rest of the party.

Tom could let anyone he wanted suck on his neck. Why should that bother you?

You quickly let that thought leave your mind when you saw Noah and another boy waiting at the pong table.

“Pong?” Max asked. You grinned.

“Hope you can keep up, Parum.” You said. Noah was playing with a boy named Cal, who looked like a nerd with glasses and a band teeshirt, but was 100% Isabelle’s type. Boys that were totally below her league made her go crazy.

You and Max were an amazing pong team. He was a lefty and you were a righty so you had the sides of the table you preferred, and were totally kicking ass. Once Noah and Cal started to lose, they totally just collapsed.

You sank the final cup and Max quickly wrapped his hands around your waist, picking you up and spinning you around. You laughed but yelled for him to put you down before you vomited.

“Alright rematch.” Noah said immediately. This kid was almost as competitive as you.

“Seriously? You’re already ready to get your ass kicked again?” You asked.

“Feisty, I like it.” Noah said and took a step closer to you. You stepped closer to him too.

“Shot gun contest.” He said.

“You’re on.” You said. He nodded, a cocky grin on his face. It’s been a while since you shotgunned, but what’s the worst thing that could happen?

A crowd had gathered, more of their brothers, who obviously knew Noah had dibs on you, Ally and Isabelle, who had befriended a few boys, and Emily, who was leaning on Harrison, giggling and already drunk out of her mind.

Cal handed you and Noah each a beer.

“Care to make this interesting, Y/N?” Noah asked.

“How much were you thinking?” You replied.

“Not how much. I win, you have to kiss me.” All the frat brothers said ‘ooooo’, but you just laughed.

“And if I win?” You asked.

“I have to kiss you.” He said and you laughed.

“No way.”

“Fine. $20 bucks if I lose, if I win, you have to kiss me.” You groaned, delt boys had formed a circle around you and were edging you on.

“Deal.” You said and shook his hand. He pulled your hand, bringing your body towards him and kissed your cheek.

“Just a taste of what’s to come.” He said with a wink.

You got passed a pair of keys and punctured a whole in the can.

“Em, would you do the honors?” You asked. Emily stepped into the circle, pulling the neckscarf off her neck and waving it like at a racetrack.

“THREE… TWO… ONE… GO!” You quickly brought the bottle up to your lips, popping the cap and tilting your head back as you guzzled the beer.

In just a few seconds, Noah crushed his empty can and dropped it to the floor, beating you by barely ONE SECOND.

Everyone was cheering, and Noah looked at you.

“Sorry, babe,” he said with a grin. You smiled, walked up to him, and wrapped your arms around his neck. Immediately his strong arms were around your waist, pulling your body onto his, and dripping you on your back. His tongue slipped into your mouth and you were making out as he dipped you, your arms still around his neck. The kiss tasted like beer, but his hands were strong.

After a few seconds, you finally became aware of the shouting and whooping from around you. You laughed, hiding your face in Noah’s neck as he stopped dipping you, but didn’t take his arms away from you.

“You wanna head upstairs?” He whispered in your ear. You turned to your friends, who were right on the edge of the circle.

“One sec.” You replied, took two steps to your friends and had a hushed conversation.

“So you’re about to win, N/N,” Isabelle said with a giggle.

“What are you talking about?”

“Frat bingo!” She said with a smile. You rolled your eyes.

“Will you guys be pissed if I stay over?”

“No way!” Emily said.

“Are you staying Em?” You asked. She shook her head, you should’ve expected that much.

“Y/N, please be safe, and call if you need anything.” Ally said. You smiled and turned back to Noah who was waiting in the center of the circle.

“So?” He asked, still smirking.

“So you said something about upstairs?” He grinned and picked you up bridal style. You screamed with a smile and a laugh as he made comments about winning, and not to wait up, on his way to the stairs.

You got to his bedroom, immediately you pushed him down and climbed on his lap, making out. It wasn’t long until you ripped off his shirt, and he was pulling your dress over your head.

He was hot, and a good kisser. Plus, you’d do anything to get Tom and his stupid ripped jeans and tight black tee out of your mind.

You didn’t know how long you were up there, but soon you were unbuttoning his jeans and pulling them down. He was grabbing your boobs, leaving you hickeys everywhere he could.

It was a few minutes before you realized what was happening. You looked at Noah’s face, the smile he was wearing all night had disappeared.

“Uhm… I think I may have drank too much…” he said quietly, referring to the fact that he couldn’t get hard, despite you being practically naked on top of him.

“Hey it happens,” you said.

“You know, I could uhm,” he looked down and you realized what he was implying. However, you hadn’t shaved and hated having boys go down on you when you weren’t prepared. It was a weird thing.

“It’s ok, I’ll go,” you said and started to get up. He grabbed your arm, pulling you back down and kissing you.

“Stay,” he said and kissed you again. “Please.”

“Fine,” you said with a grin. “But if you try to tell anyone we had sex, I’ll tell them exactly what happened tonight. I can also make sure no other girl at this school ever goes down on you again.” He laughed, throwing his head back. You realized that you actually really enjoyed his laugh.

“Y/N, you have nothing to worry about. I’m not like-” He faltered and knew exactly what he was going to say: Tom. “I’m not like other guys.” He finished and kissed you again.

You stayed practically naked, your bodies intertwined, kissing and making out until eventually dozing off.

* * *

Your body woke you up at 9, which you were grateful for. Staying past 9am in a frat house is never a good idea.

You slipped on your dress, trying to quietly pull on your shoes without waking Noah.

“Hey,” he said groggily. “Where do you think you’re sneaking off to?” “Shhhh,” you said, giving him a soft kiss on the lips. “Last night was fun, but I have homework calling my name.”

“Here,” he said and got up, grabbing one of his tee shirts for you to wear. You pulled it over your head and were grateful it was so large and gave you more coverage. A walk of shame was embarrassing enough, but you hated being seen in skimpy nightwear during the day time.

“Thanks,” You said and found yourself smiling again.

“I don’t normally say this, but would you maybe wanna do this again sometime?”

“My numbers already in your phone, baby,” you said and kissed his cheek. He fell back on his bed.

“Hey Y/N?”

“Yeah?” You said, one foot out the door.

“I think you may be my dream girl.” You just laughed.

“Get some sleep,” you said and started to make your way quietly down the steps so you wouldn’t wake any of Noah’s brothers.

You were almost home free when you reached the living room and saw the last person you wanted to see: Tom. He was sitting up on the couch, his head in his hands. He looked up when you walked into the room and you made eye contact.

“Hi,” he said, his voice raspy from just waking up. God, he was so hot.

“Hi,” you replied.

“So you and Noah got along well then.” He managed to choke out. “Nice shirt.”

“Yeah... Anything happen with the redhead?” You said. You bit your lip, regretting showing him that you noticed him at all last night. He gestured around the empty room.

“Does it look like anything happened?”

“Sorry. I better go, I’ll see you tomorrow?” His head was in his hands again and you didn’t hear what he muttered.

You had finally got the door open and were about to be free when you heard him again.

“Y/N?” He asked, his voice breaking a bit. You turned to look at him.

“Yeah?” He broke your eye contact.

“Nevermind. See you tomorrow.” He muttered and you bolted out the door.

Walks of shame were never good, and ubers of shame were not much better. If another uber driver chuckled and said “had a nice night, I see” to you, you would lose it.

Thankfully you made it home and jumped right in the shower, but texted the group first.

♡girly girls♡

You

just got back, gotta shower, hearst cafeteria in 30 mins

Your friends all liked the message and you jumped into the hot water.

* * *

Saturdays were for no makeup, sweatshirts, glasses, and mountains of homework. Your friends had already made themselves more than comfortable in your booth in the cafeteria, surrounded by pancakes, coffees, notebooks, and laptops. Just like every Saturday.

You tried to bite into the pancakes they had gotten for you, but Isabelle pulled the plate away.

“You can have food after you spill the tea.” You groaned. You not-so-secretly hated that expression. You proceeded to tell them what happened with Noah, including his unfortunate… flaccid accident.

“And then he gave me his shirt and he called me his dream girl and asked if he could see me again.” You finished.

“Y/N!” Emily said giddily. “That is absolutely fantastic! Unfortunately no frat bingo though.” You laughed.

“Can I have my pancakes now?” You asked.

“Nope. There’s more.” Isabelle said.

“What? No there’s not.” “Yes, Y/N, there is.” You silently cursed yourself. Isabelle could smell a lie from a mile away. It was her gift.

“Fine. There’s more.” You said and told them about the awkward interaction with Tom in the morning.

“Holy fuck.” Ally said after a beat of silence. “He’s into you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Al,” you said as you stole your plate back from Isabelle and greedily dug in.

“Nope, he is absolutely one hundo percent into you.” Isabelle said.

“There’s no way.”

“Oooo!” Emily said. “I’ll text Harrison!”

“Emily Gold don’t you dare.” You said.

“He’s already texted me, like, ten times today, I need to respond at some point.”

“Fine but I get to craft the message.” You said.

“No way.”

“Fine, let Isabelle do it.” You said. Once again Isabelle was the level headed one your group desperately needed.

When she was done, she handed you Emily’s phone.

You (emily)

last night was fun, id love to see you again too

btw is everything ok with your friend tom? Y/N said he looked really sick this morning

“Fine.” You replied and hit send. It was only a few minutes before the bing came in, alerting you all Harrison had texted back.

Harrison<3

dinner tomorrow?

and he got dumped over winter break, hasnt been the same since

well except for this week, he really seemed to be doing good this week, but something mustve happened last night to set him off

he should get back to our room soon, its sweet of you to ask about him

“Wow, he’s whipped.” You said after reading the message. Emily simply giggled.

“Y/N, you realize what this means right?” Ally asked. You sighed, knowing a ridiculous theory was about to spew from her mouth.

“No, Al, what does this mean?” You said sarcastically.

“He was in a good mood after he met you, and when he saw you with another guy he was in a bad mood again! He’s obviously super into you.” You groaned.

“Al that’s insane. I barely know the guy, I’m sure his drama is completely unrelated.” Your friends all gave you skeptical looks.

“Whatever, I like Noah and I’m gonna see where this goes. Can I eat in peace now?”

* * *

Saturday passed and it wasn’t long until you all found yourselves at the delta chi party. You weren’t drinking, as you still had a ton of homework to do and were still secretly trying to be dchi sweetheart, which meant being responsible.

“What’s wrong babe?” Kyle asked approaching you. You were sitting on the kitchen counter talking to the boys at the bar and sipping on a soda.

“Nothing!” You said and plastered a smile on your face.

“Uh uh, nope, somethings wrong.”

“Ky, I’m fine. Just stressed about school and stuff.” Your phone pinged beside you and before you could stop him, Kyle grabbed it.

“Whose Noah?” Kyle asked. You grabbed your phone back, reading the message.

Noah

miss u babe

this party is boring why dont u come over

You and Noah had been texting on and off all day, nothing super serious, just little flirty messages.

“He’s no one.” You replied.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Kyle said and raised his eye brows. You just rolled your eyes.

“Leave it, Ky.”

“Y/N!” You heard a voice call. Sam, president of delta chi, stumbled into the room.

“Hi, Sam,” you greeted with a smile.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said.

“Me too.”

“You know we’re voting tomorrow.” He said with a wink.

“Is that so?” You replied.

“So expect a phone call tomorrow night.” He said before leaving the room with 2 fresh beers.

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fanfiction #frat!tom

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ginnyzero · 5 years

Text

Writing Romantic Chemistry: Pt 1

Recently, Becca who actually went to school for this stuff, wrote a good post about romance novels and how they’re different than other novels. For the full gist, go ahead and read it for yourself. What I took away from it is that in romance novels, unlike most other novels, the main conflict is between the two main characters. There is something keeping them apart, poor communication, denial, secrets, or lies. At the same time, there has to be something pulling them together both personally and socially. An outside force is attracting these two people who normally wouldn’t be together into each others orbit where they have to overcome their difficulties and ‘give in’ to that personal attraction.

Romance is pretty popular as a genre and as a subgenre in books and shows and movies and some are better at it than others. (Most action movies are pretty bad at it.) There are procedural shows like Castle that were built around the entire idea that someday the two main leads would get together and have a happily something or something. There are procedural shows like Bones where they tried to push it, forgot about it and then fell back into it when they were running short on plot ideas for the main characters. Then there are procedural shows like Rizzoli and Isles where the love lives of the main two women are cliff notes in the overall friendship.

I’ve read a lot of urban fantasy where romance is a major subplot and I’ve mentioned some of the tropes I’ve seen in previous blog posts. Tropes like serial dating and love triangles and the type of drama that if two people actually had a conversation like grown adults everything bad could have been avoided. Or peril could have been avoided if the main characters were actually doing their jobs instead of trying to solve crime. A lot of the time, these romances don't feel successful.

And in order for a romance to feel successful the characters in question need to have and keep or maintain that ‘spark’ or what we generally call chemistry. And let’s face it, there are a lot of characters out there that don’t have a lot of chemistry with each other and we’re supposed to go on faith that they’re good for each other. (I’m looking at you Letty and Dom.) And as writers we have to know where that spark is at its brightest point and if the characters don’t move to the next level then that spark is going to flicker and die. (cough, Castle and Beckett.)

The first thing I’ve discovered about creating chemistry is that you need to get the audience invested. In order to care about your couple, your readers or watchers need to care about them as people. There are a lot of books that I can’t get invested in the main characters because the book is so focused on the plot, the mystery, the not so great adventure, that the writer has either not written about the character in the first place or has been encouraged by an editor to cut all of it out in the interest of word count. (Most highly recommended urban fantasy.) Leaving the characters to the reader to feel like card board cut outs that I just can’t get invested in. In order to care about the character, I need to know about the character.

Problems with his female characters aside, Jim Butcher is actually fairly good at this. In the first book about Dresden I learned that he likes to open doors for women, he enjoys steak sandwiches and warm beer, his alarm clock has Mickey Mouse on it (because no one with a heart can hit Mickey Mouse), he is owned by a big cat and his place is a hodge podge of textures, old paperbacks and yeah, he’s a magic geek. It may not seem like a lot, but that is the type of information and the way it is presented that lets me get to know and get invested in the idea the Harry Dresden is not that bad of a guy and I could like him.

A lot of books that have romance as a subplot especially if they are going the serial dater or the love triangle route, only take the time to flesh out the main character. Sometimes they don’t even do that. If the writer doesn’t flesh out the main character or the other side of the love plot, then why do I care? (I don’t.)

After you flesh out the characters and get the readers invested in their lives, then you can get the characters invested in each other. Sure, they’ve got outside forces working on them to get them into the same orbit. But once these outside forces are removed, what do the characters see in each other that will make them stick together. Yeah, people feel intense emotions under stress. They often feel attraction and investment in the other person just because of those high stress situations. But what about after that?

A good example I feel of this is Kent and Jane from Rizzoli and Isles. Sure, the show got canceled before they really did anything with Kent and Jane and in the last few episodes they threw an entirely out of left field FBI guy for Jane to 'feel attracted to.' (Note: This is bad. We didn't know this guy. We didn't care. It felt pushed and rushed because it was.) But Kent and Jane had chemistry. They had sparks. And the way it started is that first, given that Kent was such a late comer into the series, they let the watchers get to know Kent a bit first. As we already knew and are invested in Jane and her happiness. He's an odd ball, but professional, limited social skills with a sense of humor. They 'revealed' that Kent had a bit of a crush on Jane after some distraction hi-jinks with Maura (moral and ethical quandary there as a conflict) and started having Jane and Kent bounce sarcasm and jokes off each other. Jane tended to ignore him but his puppy dog eyes were adorable. The question was would Jane ever notice Kent as more than a colleague? (I think they were going for yes... I mean come on, the whole bit with the watermelons in that one case. "But Kent, what did the watermelons do to you?" And the kilt!)

And then the series got cancelled. And we lost this great romantic conflict which drives me crazy. (And I didn't like Kent at first. I swear. I despised the way they introduced him. Ugh and then he grew on me and yes, see, that is good writing and I fell for it!)

There are different types of attraction. There is physical attraction, usually the first thing a person notices about the other. There is mental attraction, appreciation of their brains and the way they think. There’s verbal attraction, a liking of the way they talk, how they talk and what they talk about. There’s emotional attraction. They like the way that person feels things. What makes these characters compatible that there is chemistry between them?

And what is keeping them apart? Things like other relationships, getting out of bad relationships, not being ready for a relationship, trust issues, moral quandaries (such as not being a person who does casual sex,) and the ever easy, DENIAL. Maybe there is a power imbalance or an age gap or job restrictions (can't date within the office or superior officers.)

Then as a writer, we have to fine tune the sense of ‘now is the time.’ A romance plot follows the same rules as every other plot. At the highest point of the conflict, the character has to act or the relationship will wither and die. And if the characters don’t act, the opportunity is missed, the readers are disappointed and they start looking for the next two big relationships for those characters to get invested into. If those aren’t presented in a convincing manner, then they might just stop caring about these characters all together.

It can be easy to try and drag a relationship out with them almost getting together and then last minute something interfering. All of this is for the sake of drama or trying to up the ante or push it off or make the tension that much greater. And a lot of times, this fails dramatically. (See Castle and Beckett.) The writers may still try to push the characters together even though they missed that natural point in the conflict where it was the right moment, the right time story wise to do so. And then, they have to find a new conflict to keep the series going.

Because, once that conflict is resolved a lot of writers and writing rooms don’t know what to do next. They have to manufacture another conflict in the place of the ‘will they, won’t they.’ A lot of times it ends up being on the woman’s side of “am I really good enough for him?” (Men in fiction never are as insecure as they are in real life. It’s not “macho” enough.) Even if that woman has been extremely self-confident before then and pushing the guy away because she doesn’t think he’s good enough for her. There are a lot of other conflicts than that, money and child rearing and living arrangements and 'how do we tell our friends, do we tell our friends?' come to mind. (But maybe they are just too boring.)

There was a lot of outrage in the fandom of BBC Sherlock when Watson got married and had a baby with Mary. “How is Watson going to go on adventures with Sherlock with a baby?!” Well, you do what normal and rational people do, you hire a sitter? You take the baby with you? (Doyle wasn’t good with female characters to begin with, BBC’s interpretation didn’t help matters.) But these are the adult problems. How do you juggle a job and a family and hobbies and friends and keep your romance alive? Everyone has to do it. But media just tries to ignore it because UST is so much more entertaining. (Supposedly.) Babies have a bad habit of ending up kidnapped or disappearing for the story entirely (Bones.) Women who may be rivals for the main character’s romantic affections are killed.

Or there ends up having to be a conflict in the marriage that may mirror how they got together. Bad communication. Denial of self or the opposite, selfishness. The characters may get involved in a new danger. Maybe there is an affair and trust is lost and has to be regained. Hardships like disease and accidents are all tests of character that really show what people are like on the inside.

There is a reason why most romance series focus on a bunch of couples one right after the other who were introduced in previous books rather than focusing on a single couple. Every time a reader gets a new book there is a new thrill of ‘will they or won’t they?’ And the possibility of a different couple conflict. (Of course most romance novels are happily ever after or happy for now, so it’s more of a how than a real question.)

So, romance is tricky to write because it so depends on the fleshed out personalities of the characters. And how the reader feels about the characters is really going to depend on their own biases and views of romance too. From my observations of fandom is that somewhere out there in the great wide internet, there are going to be people who are going to put the oddest people into relationships and can get behind almost anything. And it may not at all be what the creators intended. But the people who consume the media see chemistry or a spark and decide to view it as romantic rather than filial love.

Just goes to show you can't predict anything!

#writblr #wrtblr #writing advice #writing tips #romance #writing romance #romance writing

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poorvioletdraws · 5 years

Text

Tom vs. The Underworld

8. Sound System

“Following our top story, the mystery behind the massive earthquake that rocked the Underworld a week ago has been linked to a merging of both the planet Earth and our planet Mewni. Representatives of Lucitor Castle state that our Lord and Lady have met with the new leadership of Earth-ni and are discussing plans to continue the same alliance we had with the former Butterfly Kingdom. They have also assured us that the merging of both worlds has presented no effect on the livelihood of the Underworld but are still working on ways to contact the universal mobile service provider of Pixtopia to restore interdimensional communications. All global communications within our planet have not been disrupted.

In other news, there have been growing reports of resident demons and monsters going missing throughout the city. The Furies are urging citizens to remain calm as they investigate the situation further. More on this tonight at--”

“Mom, I’m leaving now.” I called to her in our den. She was watching the news and forging her latest weapons request for a client.

“Okay, my little cobblestone. Don’t be out too late.” She replied as she placed the sword in the quench tank.

“I should be back before dinner.” I told her as I was about to shut the door behind me.

Suddenly my older sisters Kivi and Shaila came down the hallway.

“Going out again? Weren’t you out with your friends all day yesterday?” Kivi questioned while pushing her glasses back up on her nose.

I shrugged my shoulders in annoyance. “Well today we are going over band stuff…”

Kivi gave a disapproving sigh. “You know, Raya, you can’t keep putting off your duties to your family for music. Having a hobby is great and all but you can’t let that consume you. One day you may be taking over for Mom or Dad. When will you see how important that is?”

“Yea, well this is important to me too, but thanks for your concern...” I said not meeting her gaze. My grip was tightening on the door handle as if for some form of security.

“Are you sure that’s all it is, or are you really meeting up with your secret boyfriend.” Shaila teased while trying to cover her devious smirk with one of her hands.

I jumped at her accusation and could feel myself turning red. “N-no!”

“Ooooh you’re blushing! It’s true!” Shaila began to giggle mischievously as Kivi shook her head in irritation.

“Y-you’re silly, g-grow up.” I huffed under my breath.

She then began to call towards the den, “Mom, guess what--”

“Bye!” I quickly shouted as I ran out the front door.

I felt like I could hear Shaila’s laughter all the way to the end of our property. She always makes fun of me like that… But she isn’t too far off the mark…

My friends and I were all going to meet at Tom’s place--THE Lucitor Castle. First of all, I was already nervous for that. I can’t believe he invited us there as if it weren’t a big deal. We might even meet the King and Queen of the Underworld! I felt myself get lightheaded just thinking about it.

Secondly, I was nervous because of what I started feeling yesterday at the arcade. It was a strange coincidence that Tom chose the same song I had listened to that morning, and even stranger still was that he appeared exactly how he did in my dream. But was this just mere happenstance? Or is there a reason behind it all and why I’m starting to develop a crush on him...

“Wait, what am I saying?! A crush?! I must be going crazy!” I babbled aloud while momentarily hiding my blushing face by pulling my hoodie over it.

Sure we had a lot of great memories in Yomi Town for that short time; he helped me shop for my friends, we watched all those setting suns in that beautiful dimension, and we made that necklace from the temple together that he still wears… He even came all the way to Lava Shores and helped me during all that horrible stuff with the Madame… We have been doing fun things together more frequently… He met my friends and somewhat became friends with them in the process… And he wants to be apart of our band … He has a wonderful voice and a kind heart… and a sincere smile…

I pushed the hood of my sweatshirt back in its previous position as my red bangs were free to poof up again. Now within the city, I stopped in front of a shop window and examined myself--more so my insecurities. My body is nowhere near as slender as Indigo, and I’m top-heavy so I try to hide behind layers or oversized clothes. Unlike everyone else, my horns are under-developed so I always wear something over my head to cover them up. And being a Stone Demon, the rough patches of rock on parts of my skin are hard to miss. How could anyone find such imperfections attractive…

Yet Tom still looks at me as if none of that matters. Others get annoyed with how clumsy or clueless I can be sometimes, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. And even though he is a prince, he treats me like I’m equal to him. I remember when I first met him, he had this happiness about him that seemed like he were invincible. I wanted to be apart of that happiness. But then, when we met again, when he must have been fighting with his girlfriend at the time, that happiness was waning. She must have been so important to him to cause such a change in him… Can I be that important for him? I can’t deny that when I see him he does make me happy, but could I really have the same affect on him? Could he one day find that invincible kind of happiness because of me?

I slowly started to walk away from the shop window as I folded my arms across my chest. I hung my head and remained deep in thought.

Who am I kidding? Why would such a great caring guy like Tom want to be with a slacker like me? Instead of planning my future as a Belmonte, I’m consumed by music and games like my sister said. What use could I be to the future of the Underworld? I’m not adventurous or wild. I’m content with the simple pleasures in life and am comfortable doing things or going to places I’m familiar with or have been thousands of times. And I’ve never even had a boyfriend before, I have no experience in that department. But despite all of that, he’s still a prince and I’m just a city girl.

However, he’s more than just a prince to me now. He’s my friend. I care about him just as much as I care about all my other friends and my family. But is it wrong I’m starting to think of him more than just a friend? Unlike them, I get a different feeling around him. I love spending time with him. I love that he tolerates my unconventional family and that he gets along with my wild friends. I even dream about him. He is literally the first thought I wake up to most days. Is this what falling in love with someone is like? Maybe I should tell him how I’m starting to feel...

“And the last to arrive like always is…” Indigo announced.

Blair did a drum roll with zir hands on zir thigh and added energetically, “Ta-Da! Raya!”

“Sorry, guys.” I apologized as Blair hopped over to me and wrapped zir arm around my shoulder.

We were all gathered in Inferno Park which was situated at the heart of Chernabog City. It was a chasm filled area with lava deposits flowing sluggishly from its various orifices beneath long bridges built above. The urban park was often a place for more active demons to exercise being a hub for various forms of recreation such as Ultimate Ouija, molten rock climbing, and Casketball just to name a few.

“Hey, you may be the last to arrive but at least you’re on time today.” Blair spoke positively but then grew a mischievous expression that rivaled Shaila as ze said, “You must be excited for where we are going.”

I felt myself beginning to blush again as I gasped, “W-what? Uhm--”

“I think we all are pretty excited, to say the least.” Tiras corrected/saved me. He had been sitting on a boulder with his arms folded while Kraven sat below on the ground munching away at some elote. George had his typical stance next to Indigo and was reading a book as Blair and I rejoined the formed circle.

Tiras jumped down from his seated position and approached me. Instead of his usual air of arrogance, he seemed to have a burning resolve within. He asked me, “You ready? This may be it. We finally might be able to reach your dream.”

Upon hearing Tiras’s words, he stirred a different emotion from within me. Although many dreams were becoming reality lately, this one was an aspiration of mine all of my friends knew too well. I had always envisioned being apart of a band. And the day I suggested we started are own, I was surprised how everyone agreed without hesitation. This was indeed very important to me not just because it was just some hobby. Music was something that brought all of us together. It was our escape from the stresses of our home life, our passion we created to share with all who dare listen, and our symbolism of our friendship.

But no matter how good we become, our voices didn’t have the strength or uniqueness of that of a lead singer. I’m not one to fully believe in destiny, but it almost felt like fate for Tom and I to meet. He was the piece we were possibly missing all along. Maybe that is where my infatuation with him grew… Was it because of his singing that started all this? I’m not fully sure…

I gazed at everyone--all of my friends. They stood encircling me and shared the same look as Tiras. I smiled contently and said, “Let's sail away then.”

Everyone agreed with a nod.

I placed my hands to the ground below and pulsed my energy through it as it began to fissure around us instantly. Tiras brought his hands up, creating a mighty gust of wind that hurled down within the cracks. Suddenly, we began to rise as the ground that divided us was unearthed to create a floating platform.

Tiras pointed his hands forward as his squall of wind moved us along. He valiantly announced, “Next stop, Lucitor Castle!”

“Reporting live from the Musty Mountain, there has been a recent influx of tourism to our nation of the Underworld. Behind me you can see that construction is underway for our new border patrol organization to properly vet out travellers to the area and maintain our homeland security. So far, businesses of Lava Lake Beach have reported a steady boost in consumerism and an increase in real estate property sales in the area. Furies have also been branched out to maintain the peace between current inhabitants and newcomers-- ”

I walked into my Dad’s study to see he was working on a few things at his desk with the news report broadcasting in the background on his overhead monitor.

“Hey Dad, would I be able to use the cellar today? Some friends are coming over and I don’t want to disturb you while we practice some music.” I asked him.

My Dad glanced up from whatever he was writing and smiled as he said, “Friends? Coming over here? Well, that’s great to hear, son, it’s been a while since you brought friends--or anyone for that matter--over.” He stood up from his desk and approached me. While giving me a very fatherly stare, he rested his hands on my shoulders and questioned me, “And do any of these friends happen to be that special girl you mentioned before?”

“Daaaad.” I drew out the word with a groan.

“Heh, I know, I know, no overbearing-parent-stuff... ” He chuckled to himself and stepped away from me. He placed his hands behind his back as he gazed out the floor length window of his office. “I just want you to know that your Mother and I just worry about you, son. Especially after what happened…”

“Dad, I promised I wouldn’t use my life energy again--”

“Not that, son.” He interrupted while turning to face me with a very concerned look. “I mean your breakup with Star.”

I was a little taken aback by this topic he wanted to discuss. Usually these kinds of subjects are left to Mom. And I told him already that I was over it. But he is my Dad, and he often times presents a different perspective that I’ve never realized before, so maybe it was best to hear what he had to say. Therefore, I decided to sit down in the chair in front of his desk and give him my full attention.

He proceeded to sit back down in his own chair behind the desk and explained himself further. “Your Mother and I were away on business during all of this… change going on. It’s a brand new kind of world up above now. And it is still hard to grasp that you, Star, and--Marco was it-- played a huge part in this whole merging of dimensions. You must’ve been going through so much at the time to have that AND a fresh breakup on your plate…”

“Yea… It was rough at first…” I began to say with a sullen expression but then gave my Dad a reassuring smile. “But I was able to find someone to help me along through the rough parts.”

He returned my smile with one of his own and leaned forward on his desk with his elbows. “I’m glad, son. And I’m sorry your Mother and I couldn’t be there for you. Heartbreak can be a very hard thing to fully overcome. Star was special to you, being your first girlfriend and all. Although, I’m glad you both worked it out and remained friends. I just hope that kind of pain doesn’t happen again for you because what if next time the closure isn’t so healthy. Just know, if it were to happen again, your Mother and I are here for you and want you to be safe. So whatever you plan to do, just really think it over and make sure it is something you’ve set your mind and your heart on.”

My Dad then reached over and placed one of his hands on one of mine lying on his desk. “You’re important to us. You are our legacy not because you are a prince, but because you are our son.”

Upon hearing his words, I smiled to myself as I gazed at his hand on mine. How could I be so lucky to have such loving parents? I understand where he is coming from and how much he cares about the choices I make. Star and I breaking up WAS painful. I loved her so much and for so long. I could’ve handled the situation in a way that could've been harmful for not only myself but for those around me too. However, I know now what all I can lose by letting my anger or depression take control of me. I didn’t want to let any of the ones I care about down ever again.

“Ahem, anyway…” He leaned back in his chair again and cleared his throat as our sentimental conversation came to a close. “Back to what you asked earlier. I’ll have the maids clean up the cellar for you and your friends, just give them time to do so. About an hour or two. So maybe have your friends hang out in your room for a bit.”

I gave him a toothy grin and replied, “Thanks, Dad!”

“When are they coming?” He asked.

I glanced over at the sundial near the window and told him, “Any minute now.”

“And did you remember to bring in and feed Lord Fool-leroy?”

I stared blankly at my dad and gasped, “Crap…”

The platform the arriving guests had been travelling on descended a few yards away from Lucitor Castle. It pounded down into the earth and became one with it so each passenger could dismount.

“This is wicked cool! It’s my first time seeing it so close!” gasped Blair.

“Well, if you had been invited to the Blood Moon Ball like I was, you could’ve seen it a long time ago and not be so easily impressed.” Indigo lightly goaded.

“Alas, you and I only grazed the surface of the many secrets held within. The ballroom was our only venture so speaking as if you attained some vast knowledge from our first encounter is nothing more than a mere untruth.” George corrected her.

Indigo folded her arms and rolled her eyes at the boy’s statement.

Tiras walked in between the two and brought their attention back to the situation at hand. “You both can argue later, let’s quit wasting time and head in!”

The pair nodded and began to walk toward the entrance with the others. However, they were soon stopped in their tracks as the ground began to tremble systematically in intervals around them.

“What’s going on!? Another earthquake!?” Blair blurted out.

Raya tried to say as she flopped into the air from the tremors, “Earthquake vibrations are irregular and constant, this is as if it were a--”

And as if on cue, a huge orange spotted beast came bounding from around the castle and was heading right for them.

“Uh, What is that!?” Indigo shouted.

“A guard dog maybe?” Raya answered.

The orange creature loomed over them and began to growl ferociously while showing his sharp teeth.

“He doesn’t look so happy to see us…” Blair commented while helping Raya up from the ground.

“What do we do?” Indigo cowered behind George.

“Fight or flight?” George asked, looking to Tiras.

Tiras had dropped into a fighting stance and was waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

But suddenly, Kraven stepped forward and approached the beast.

“What are you doing, are you crazy?!” Indigo screamed.

Kraven stared up at the beast with a very serious expression but then began to grin. He reached from behind him and presented a bag full of some type of jerky he had stashed for later. He slowly pulled out a thick chunk of it and waved it to the creature.

The beast was puzzled but began to sniff at the piece Kraven held up to it. Instead of a snarl, a joyous bark escaped the beast as his long tail wagged happily. It proceeded to gobble up the jerky and lick at the generous boy.

The others stood with their mouths agape.

“Of course Kraven knows when another being is hungry.” Tiras remarked.

Raya smiled and added, “Food is the universal language after all.”

“Little Lord Fool-leroy!” Tom shouted in a very disciplinary tone. He levitated down from a balcony overhead and joined the group below. The creature leaped over to Tom and rubbed his head against his body in a cuddle. “Okay, okay, down boy.”

“That’s your pet?” Tiras asked him.

“Yea, he can get cranky when he hasn’t eaten by now--” Tom replied but then focused his attention back on his orange companion as he rubbed his belly and said in a playful tone, “--but really you’re just a little ole softie aren’t you, boy.”

“Little is an understatement, don’t ya think?” Indigo questioned.

Raya giggled at the sight and walked over to both of them. She brought her hand to Little Lord Fool-leroy and he accepted her to pet him. “He’s so cute.” She said as she smiled sweetly over at Tom, causing him to blush slightly.

“Yea, when he doesn’t want to eat us.” Indigo mentioned with her hands on her hips. She was watching the exchange very closely.

Tom decided to give his guests a tour of his castle home while they waited for the maids to finish cleaning the cellar. They had all been enthralled with everything he showed them since this was the first time any of them could get an exclusive look inside Lucitor Castle. This was also his first time showing anyone around his home as well so he was quite excited about that.

“There’s the great hall, and the theater, oh and that leads out to the boneyard.” Tom pointed out various highlights as they walked down the hallway with many paintings hanging on the walls of past Lucitor royalty.

“This is wicked cool!” Blair commented giddily.

“And here we’ve reached the best part of the whole place… My room!” Tom announced while swinging the door to his chamber open.

Each one of the teenagers walked through and were now standing atop a flight of narrow stairs that led down to his inner sanctum. Tom’s room was bigger than any of theirs and fitting for the demon prince. The first thing to catch their eye was the glowing fire flowing down from the mouth of a huge skull display on his wall and into a small jacuzzi-like pit beside his bed. A pair of arcade machines aligned the wall and a casketball hoop hung on the wall by the entrance of his walk-in closet. There was a spinning torture wheel with a tub of water below it and a diabolical ping-pong table centered in the room. Skeletons of horned animals adorned parts of his walls and stalagmites protruded from several areas on the floor. If any of them weren’t impressed before with the other parts of the castle, they definitely would be now.

“Whoa…” Blair and Raya gasped.

“Okay, now THIS is room.” Indigo exclaimed.

“Très cryptique.” George applauded.

“...” Kraven’s mouth hung open in awe.

“Is there anything you don’t have?” Tiras added completely mystified.

Tom’s guests wandered down the steps and began to look around his room.

Blair picked up a trophy sitting on one of his night stands and read the plaque. “Oh! Raya look, he is a ping-pong champion.” Ze showed zir friend.

“You may have someone to give you a challenge then with such a title.” Tiras commented.

“Oh? You’re good at it too?” Tom asked her.

“Good? She rocks it!” Blair answered for her with a grin as ze placed zir arm around her shoulders. Raya blushed slightly embarrassed from the praise.

“You wanna play?” Tom asked her while picking up one of his paddles and blushing a little himself. Raya looked up at him still unsure but with a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Suddenly, Indigo intervened. “Hey, we played games yesterday, let's talk about the band.”

“Oh that’s right.” Tom went along with the change of subject but then smiled at Raya. “Next time?”

Raya nodded in agreement and smiled back at him. “Sure.”

All of the teenagers proceeded to sit on the floor in a circle to converse further.

“So, your band is called the Seven Undeadly Sins?” Tom remembered from towards the end of their time at the arcade.

“Yep! Seven members and we aren’t dead sooo yea! Hehe.” Blair answered.

“Great name and all...” Tom rubbed the back of his head, unsure how to go about his next comment. “But you guys don’t get a lot of flack for it being an acronym for... sus?”

“What’s sus?” Indigo asked.

“N-nevermind.” Tom brushed it off. ‘That’s right, they don’t do social media.’

“Still sounds cool to me.” Blair beamed.

Raya piped up, “We haven’t really performed in front of an audience yet…”

“Oh, I see…” Tom replied.

It was Tiras’s turn to speak, “Well, we all decided on the name because it sounded cool AND fits all of our personalities...”

“The sins do?” Tom blinked puzzled.

“Alas, the only true sin is that of mediocrity.” George theorized.

“O.. Kay…” Tom was still confused.

“Alright, bud. Check this out.” Tiras explained further by pointing at each one of his friends as he described them.

“Blair is Pride.”

“Hehe!” Blair giggled.

“George is Greed.”

“More so for knowledge instead of monetary needs.” George theorized.

“Indigo is Envy, no surprise there.”

Indigo stuck her tongue at Tiras playfully.

“Kraven is obviously Gluttony.”

Kraven didn’t respond as he munched on his jerky from earlier.

“Raya is Sloth.”

Raya shrugged with a smile, “Can’t deny that one I guess, heh.”

“I am Lust, of course.” Tiras announced full of haughtiness while pointing to himself.

Tom caught the group sarcastically roll their eyes. He chuckled to himself but stopped immediately once Tiras pointed to him.

“And you… You’re Wrath.”

“W-Wrath?” Tom repeated his position a bit hesitantly “… Oh but I can’t be—“

Tiras leaned over and patted Tom on the shoulder lightly as he spoke, “Tom, buddy! You are Prince of the Underworld. Wrath IS meant for you.”

Tom furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed the side of his sore arm where the other teenager attacked it.

Raya noticed Tom’s change in expression so she shared her opinion. “Tom… Our sins can sometimes be considered our strengths more than our weaknesses. You were probably taught how negative your wrath can be… But in some cases it may be what’s perfect for the situation.”

The demon prince focused on the Stone Demon girl’s words but he was still uncertain.

Indigo decided to also add, “Alone we may seem… insufficient. But when we are all together and form our bond, each one of our sins is what makes us strong. What one person lacks, the other picks up the slack.”

“Quite poetic.” George remarked.

“I’m not sure if you’re teasing but I’ll take that as a compliment.” Indigo replied.

Tom glanced down at his hands remembering what happened back in the Musty Mountain. Could such power really be considered his strength?

“Do you kind of get where we are coming from?” Raya asked him concerned with his silence.

“I think I understand…” He looked up to Raya again and they both shared smiles of reassurance.

Indigo stared at their interaction with keen interest and meant to cut in when suddenly Petey knocked at Tom’s bedroom door and entered.

“Master Tom, your Mother has prepared refreshments for you and your guests.” He announced.

“Oh, awesome. Thanks.” Tom responded as he stood up.

The rest of the group joined him.

“Your Mother… as in the Queen?” Blair asked.

“Well, yea… That’s my Mom.”

“Eeeee!!” Blair shrieked with glee. “We’re going to meet THE Queen?”

“If you all want…” Tom said calmly.

“Yay! Let’s go, let’s go!” Blair cheered while holding on to Raya.

And with that, the group moved on towards the kitchen of Lucitor Castle to meet Tom’s mother. As the demon prince led the way, Indigo trailed behind pondering over a plan.

George slowed his pace to match hers as the rest of their friends moved on. He asked, “What do you dare do?”

“W-what do you mean?!” Indigo snapped out of her conscience.

George stepped in front of the girl and blocked her path. His monotone voice had a hint of caution peppered over it and his expression was much more gloomy than usual as he forewarned, “When Envy breeds unkind division: there comes the ruin, there begins confusion.”

“Are you reading my emotions again? I told you not to use your powers on me!” Indigo fumed with red cheeks as she pushed passed him.

But suddenly, George grabbed onto Indigo’s hand to keep her from fleeing.

This was definitely out of the ordinary for him to do so she slowly looked back at him with an obedient carefulness. George wasn’t one to engage in confrontation, and he oftentimes watched events play out without any type of intervention. But, having known him the longest from when they were young, Indigo held her tongue because she knew he was being serious with what he had to say next.

George released his grip on her once he knew she understood his intentions. He did not break his gaze as he spoke, “Your rivalry, although silent and unknowing to her, needs to cease. These are souls you want to meddle with now, not a contest or a game. You dare birth pure suffering?”

“You’re talking as if I mean to purposefully get in the way of something, which doesn’t exist for all you know. It definitely isn’t because Raya likes him is why I’m after him either.” Indigo noticed George arch his eyebrow while giving her a look of disbelief. She began to laugh anxiously and continued, “You forget I’m a girl and have feelings too, it ain't my fault we ended up liking the same guy. And what’s wrong with a little competition anyway?”

Indigo began to walk away from the other teen with the discussion settled in her eyes.

“Even if the result is risking friendship on both ends?” George advised.

Indigo halted her pace and seemed troubled from what he had said. But instead of having a comeback, she surprisingly continued her departure down the hallway again without saying a word.

“How grateful I am to not be cursed with such dangerous sensations that are emotions…” George sighed as he followed after her.

“There you are. Did you two get lost?” Raya asked the pair that came walking up to the group from down a long hallway. They had been standing in front of these enormous double doors crevassed into the wall and didn’t notice until they reached their destination that they had some stragglers.

“Or maybe you both wanted some alone time together.” Blair smirked impishly.

“Blair! Cut it out with your joking.” Indigo shouted rather flustered at the snickering teen’s comment.

“Lavatory.” George rused.

“Whoa, there’s a lab here too? Like the kind for a mad scientist?” Tiras asked bemused.

George slapped his hand to his forehead and groaned.

Tom chuckled at the exchange and told them, “Well, we waited for you both but here it is---” He placed his hands on the great doors and pushed them open, “--our kitchen!”

The group entered another breathtaking part of the castle. Stalactites pierced every inch of the ceiling with its central focal point being a huge flaming chandelier that made the stone of the counters glisten exquisitely from the light of the fire overhead. There were enough cutlery and pots and pans hanging on the walls to arm an army. It was humongous, bigger than his friends’ own homes even, and rightfully so. It had to accommodate the large red demon that was stationed at the counter. And from the looks of the golden crown atop her salmon-colored hair that matched Tom’s, the group knew this was in fact his mother. She was pouring a smoothie-like concoction from a pitcher into seven glasses waiting at a long island with stools for which Tom and his friends could sit upon.

“Oh… my…” Indigo murmured enchanted.

“It’s…” Raya squeaked, equally enchanted.

“The Queen!” Blair announced in a cheer and was about to take off for her when Indigo grabbed zir by the shoulders to stop zir.

“Are you crazy, that is THE Queen of the Underworld! Where’s your manners?!” Indigo scolded.

“Hey it’s alright, my Mom is totally cool with it.” Tom told them.

“Oh! Sorry, I should’ve known, silly me! You ARE the prince after all and know best, hehe.” Indigo laughed in embarrassment and released her hold on the teen. And the minute ze was free, Blair popped over to the other side of the Queen in an instant and was asking her all sorts of questions amid zir gushing. Kraven hustled over to take his seat so he could start partaking in the spread of refreshments decorating the tabletop.

As the rest of the group headed over, Tiras quickly latched onto Tom and brought him in close. “Tom, buddy! Why didn’t you tell us how gorgeous your Mom is!”

“What?!” Tom gasped as he turned red. “Dude, that’s my Mom.”

“Just saying, bro, now I see where you get your looks from.” Tiras gazed at her completely enthralled.

“Her features are that of what many demons aspire to have actually.” George added.

“You too?” Tom whined.

They all were now hanging out at the counter and relishing in the atmosphere of being such welcomed guests in Lucitor Castle. Kraven was on one side of the counter to himself and wolfing down as much as he could of the plentiful portions demon servants were constantly bringing to him. George was keeping Indigo in close proximity as he stood beside her with Tiras on the other side of her--who was ranting to Tom next to him. And Raya was on the corner with Blair by the Queen.

Although Blair had been delighting zirself in chattering away, Raya stood nervously with her hands to her chest just admiring being in the presence of such royalty. But she quickly darted her head away when she noticed the Queen look down toward her. “H-hello, erm, g-good afternoon, Your Majesty…” Raya stammered shyly with a blush.

The Queen had a very interested stare fixated on Raya.

“T-thank you for having us in your home.” the young girl bowed her head.

Tom’s mother smiled sweetly and brought her hand to Raya’s hooded head and patted it as she trilled. Raya’s heart practically skipped a beat from such a gesture.

Tom glanced over momentarily to see his Mom and Raya meeting each other and attempted to join them to give them a proper introduction but Indigo tugged on his arm.

“Oh, Tom! This is really good, have you tried it?.” Indigo stalled as she held the glass full of the smoothie up to the demon prince.

“Huh? Oh, yea, it’s demonade made from forbidden fruit.” He told her. Tiras peered over at Indigo suspiciously.

“It’s so delicious! I’ve never had it before, mmm, hehe!” Indigo praised rather excessively.

“What are you talking about, we’ve had that plenty of times at Tartarus. They make it practically everywhere.” Tiras contested. Indigo shot slits for eyes his way.

Indigo gave a shallow laugh and tried to gain Tom’s attention--which wasn’t really focused on their conversation anyway. “Oh silly me, how could I forget, well--”

“Excuse me for a second, Indigo, I’ll be right back.” Tom pardoned his way around her and headed toward his Mom and Raya. Indigo had a furious glare in her eyes as she slammed the glass down on the table. Tiras and George both shared glances with each other.

Tom came up to his Mom to introduce each other. He blushed as he said, “Raya, this is my Mom, Wrathmelior. Mom, this is… Raya.”

The Queen smiled sweetly at her son and cooed while giving his head a pat as well. She then reached down and pointed at a plate in front of the two teenagers.

“Ah, that’s rights. I remember when we went back to your sister’s shop you said you like eating the Ember Berries she didn’t sell that day and would mix them with lime and salt so…” Tom said eagerly as he reached for the plate and presented it to Raya. “I made sure to ask my Mom to make it for you.”

“Aww thank you!” Raya had that dreamlike expression fill her face, causing Tom’s cheeks to turn redder.

Blair and Kraven both seemed to smile in a way as if they knew all too well what was unfolding before their eyes. But not wanting to ruin the mood, Blair made sure to keep zir mouth shut this time.

The Queen began to chatter to Tom as if suggesting something to him.

Tom thought over what she said and then nervously looked back at Raya. He picked up one slice of the Ember Berry and asked her, “W-would you like to try it and see what you think?”

“Sure.” She said softly and, without thinking, opened her mouth and Tom went to feed it to her but then--

“Gyaggh!” Indigo yelped as she accidentally bumped into Tom’s back hard enough to make him drop the plate from his hand and spill it to the floor, shattering it instantly. The Queen gasped worriedly while Blair and the others rushed to their side.

Raya had caught Tom by the shoulder and helped him maintain his balance. “Are you alright, Tom?” She asked.

Tom straightened himself up again and replied, “I’m fine, I’m fine…” He saw the mess on the floor and became very upset, “Ugh, seriously. Look at this, they’re all ruined!”

“Oh my, I’m so sorry! I can’t believe that happened, and to one of Raya’s favorite snacks too! I’m so clumsy, I must’ve slipped on a wet spot on the floor.” Indigo rambled as she held her hands to her face in feigned horror.

“Wet spot? I don’t see a wet spot?” Blair was crouched down on the floor and trying to look for the culprit.

The Queen and Raya booth kneeled down to begin cleaning up the litter of fruit and broken porcelain. But in her haste, Raya misguidedly grabbed for a sharp sliver and seemingly nicked her finger.

Instinctively, an overly concerned Tom bent down and clasped his own hands around her injured one, “Are you alright, did you cut your hand!”

Indigo’s heart stopped at the very sight.

Raya took a second to respond as she admired his worry for her. She explained while gazing intently at their joined hands. “No harm done… I’m a Stone Demon after all, that type of material isn’t strong enough to cut my skin…”

Indigo was about to take it upon herself to intrude again but suddenly she felt a hand clamp over her mouth to quiet her.

“Oh look at that,” Tiras spoke his objective loudly, “Some of that food spilled on you too, Indigo! Let me help you clean that up in the laboratory.”

“Lavatory.” George corrected him.

“Yea that place!” He acknowledged as he dragged Indigo out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

Tiras let the double doors shut behind him before he finally released his hold on the girl.

“What are you doing?!” Indigo raged.

“Me?! What’s gotten into you?” Tiras pointed at her, angry himself.

“I think it is rather obvious.” Indigo snapped.

“George told me what you’ve been up to. What a coincidence you just so happened to bump into them.” He confronted her.

“It was an accident.” She lied.

“And every time they have a moment between each other, were those accidents too when you interrupted them?” Tiras questioned.

“Ha! Like whatever. What are you even talking about, I don’t see how this involves you.” Indigo fumed but she soon changed her tone and asked him, “What’s with the sentiment anyway? That’s not like you…”

“You’d have to be blind if you don’t see what’s going on between those two…” Tiras glanced away from the girl’s gaze as he spoke with some dejection in his voice.

Indigo became interested in Tiras’s change in behavior and grew a mischievous smirk. “Are you the same Tiras? You of all people are giving up? I thought you had a crush on Raya for the longest time?”

Tiras blushed as he explained, “Y-yea, I may have liked her before… I mean, I still like her but now I realize it’s more of a protective brother-sister kind of like… Tom is pretty awesome… And if both of them can make each other happy, who are we to come in between that…”

Indigo’s eyes softened at the boy’s words. Knowing him for how long she has, this kind of mindset would never have been expected from him. It was almost endearing.

“Besides, I now have an eye for a new type of woman. One just like the Queen.” He proudly declared with an arrogant grin.

Never mind, this is definitely the same Tiras. Indigo sighed.

“Hey you two!” Blair popped zir head from a shadow ze formed on the door.

“Eeeghh!” Tiras and Indigo shrieked in unison from their friend’s sudden appearance.

“Haha, sooooo the servants are cleaning up that mess but that red flying demon from earlier just came to tell us the cellar is ready for us to practice in!” Blair announced excitedly.

Both Tiras and Indigo looked to each other and seemed to get their head back into why they were at Lucitor Castle in the first place. No more playing around. They both nodded and told Blair, “Well, what are we waiting for!”

The cellar of Lucitor Castle was just as big as its structure upstairs with an atmosphere that was dark, dank, and dreary. The lighting was minimal from the torches hanging from the walls and it had a spooky echo to accompany those who spoke. It was the perfect place for the budding band to let loose.

“‘Kay, I digs it.” Tiras remarked while scanning over the area.

“Ghastly prepossessing indeed.” George commented.

“Ohhh where does that hallway lead?” Blair wondered ready to venture off but Indigo grabbed on to zir to keep zir with the group.

Tom had his hands on his hips and looked proudly at the space that would become a place they would all hang out at a lot after today. But there was still one other problem…

“Um, Tom.” Raya piped up from his side. “We didn’t think we would practice today. We totally forgot our instruments.”

Tom grinned her way and seemed to already have a solution. “You aren’t the only ones that are into music, you know. Look over there.”

The demon prince pointed over to a wall to reveal every instrument imaginable hanging there! From the smallest drum kit to the largest Tuba, there was enough to outfit multiple marching bands if they wanted to. Everyone ran over to the wall completely thrilled.

“And, that’s not it.” Tom declared as he gathered their attention. He further revealed a spot set up like a makeshift stage with surround speakers, amps, and even lights. The group of teenagers were definitely blown away.

“Totally wicked!” Blair was fired up as ze chose an electric guitar from the wall.

Tiras was strumming away at different bass guitars to figure out which one felt the best for him to use. Indigo was blowing on a trombone while George fingered a trumpet. Kraven was coming back to the wall to attain another drum to combine with the set he was assembling nearby.

Tom was enjoying the scene. He couldn’t help but smile knowing that he had finally had friends of his own down here in the Underworld. But being so engrossed in the commotion he didn’t notice Raya had come to his side.

She looked up at the boy with such adoration while she placed the strap of a saxophone around her. “This is incredible, Tom…” She murmured softly. “You’re incredible… Everything I’ve ever dreamed about… You’re the one...”

Tom took a minute to register what she just said to him. Time stood still as the noise of their surroundings seemed to quiet for only the two of them to exist in this very moment. He slowly turned his stare toward her to see her smiling at him with half-lidded eyes and in a way he hadn’t seen before. Smiling in a way that someone who loves another deeply would smile longingly at them. A way he always wished Star would have smiled at him.

Envy was watchful but silent in this moment, caving to the realization that was not that of a defeated competitor, but that of an understanding friend.

#TomVSTheUnderworldFanfic #TVTU #svtfoe #oc fanfiction #oc #starvstheforcesofevil #star vs the forces of evil #tom lucitor #The Underworld

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