#its called Extend our reach to the stars above

[cinnamin-is-a-star]

Imagine making fanart for your own fanfiction,,,,,,,, crazzzyyyy,,,,

[ossifer]

What of the Sun?

AKA: Alecto, Gaea, and Uranus—why John Gaius is connected to Dominicus.

Special thanks to @the-sword-lesbian for inciting me with this question, and then going on to listen to all the conspiracy board rambling that ensued whilst offering up her own excellent questions:

Alecto, Gaea, and Uranus

Alecto is, as we know, named after the Fury of the same name from Greek myth whose name literally translates to ' the implacable or unceasing anger'. John, after becoming God, took the surname Gaius, the masculine form of the name Gaia.

Something notable about the Alecto of myth is her parentage: she is the daughter of Gaea (also spelt Gaia), the personification of the Earth, who was fertilised by the blood of Uranus, the personification of the sky (who was also Gaia's son and husband). Uranus' blood was spilt when his and Gaia's youngest son, Cronus, castrated and overthrew him, with the blood from his severed genitals falling upon the Earth (Gaia) and birthing Alecto in the process; Cronus is sometimes interpreted as also being Chronos, the personification of time.

Dominicus, the name John bestowed upon the resurrected Sun, has its origins explicitly stated by John. It is derived from Psalm 27:1, which he partially quotes while talking to Harrow: “The Lord is the source of my light and my safety, so whom shall I fear?”

“A myriad ago, I resurrected nine planets,” he said. “And I reignited the central star, and I called it Dominicus. As a reminder. Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea, quem timebo? God is my light.[...]

Dominicus and Thanergetic Stars

He said, As the world went up I remade us both. I hid me in you … I hid you in me. And when we were together … once the shaman had claimed the sun … I became God. He said, It wasn’t enough. He said, The ships … the ships were still full of people. I reached our hand out into space. I extended. I struggled. He said, I bit through the sun first. It’s human nature. That started things going. Once you take down the sun, you’re cooking with gas, pardon the pun.

It’s a dark and cold and unlovely part of space, and the stars there are old and were nearly dead then. We nuked them with thanergy and now they’ll shine forever, but the light is not the same …

From the glare of the plex window, beside some perfectly ordinary white twill curtains, the buried monster turned herself so that she was lit in the light of the undead stars.

THE MITHRAEUM, THE SEAT of the First Reborn! The Sanctuary of the Emperor of the Nine Houses, the bolthole of God—the removing place of hallowed bones, and the ossuary of the steadfast! A space station hidden forty billion light-years from the ever-burning light of Dominicus, lit by thanergetic starlight, set in the midst of the circumstellar disc, an ancient jewel within so much dead gravel.

As we see from the above, stars are implicitly naturally thalergetic in character, and through necromantic intervention (nuked them with thanergy) can be rendered thanergetic: undead and everburning, emitting thanergetic starlight. Curiously, nuked them with thanergy is eerily close to how flipping a planet is described by Harrow:

You drove the point of the bone-sheathed blade into the talc—obviously you never wanted it to have an edge of any kind, ever again—and using the sword as your focus, drove a killing lance of thanergy right into the planet’s heart. The planet did not quake, or howl, or freeze, or writhe, skewered on your necromancy’s tines. You began the cascade outward, as you had been taught. A wide thanergetic scythe sheared out into the mantle, deeper into the minute thalergy of the rock, into the solid stone’s buried recollections of the day its ball of dust was formed.

Flipping a planet involves focusing thanergy into a killing implement that is driven into the planet's heart, its soul, inducing a cascading thalergy-thanergy reaction that fuels itself, thanergy decaying thalergy into more thanergy and burning through it:

The thanergy scoured through the soul like a lit taper touched to flimsy. The living flush of this rocky outcrop began to die in dizzying, concentric rings: flipping, the thanergy feeding on the thalergy as locusts fed on wheat. As the soul tore away, an extra thanergetic bloom fanned the fire of what you had already done.

Planets, as we are told in Harrow the Ninth, have souls: a communal soul, arising from the thalergetic complexity of the microbial life present on them much in the same way a human's soul emerges from the thalergetic complexity of its internal microbial life.

“And what has a soul?” “Anything with a thalergetic complexity significant enough to … have a soul. So, humanity.” [...] “A planet’s a ball of dust. Its thalergy comes from the accumulation of microbial life. You can’t consider it one coherent system.” “Call it a communal soul,” said her Emperor. “What’s a human being, other than a sack of microbial life?

This explanation has always reminded me of how the human body is explained in terms of a hierarchy of organisation and complexity: the lowest unit is the cell, cells come together to form tissues, tissues form organs, organs form organ systems, and the sum total of these connected systems is the human body. The soul, then, is implicitly the organisational level above the body: the body is the tissue, the soul is the organ; it is shown by Anastasia's tripod principle that the soul indeed plays a vital part in the functioning of the body:

“There was a bad option where your soul snapped straight into her body, leaving your body stuck with no soul at all, and that would have been a shit time all round.” “Would I have died?” Nona asked, interested. “You’d have tried to,” said Pyrrha. “The body needs thalergy and a soul to keep the lights on. Anastasia’s tripod principle. Body plus thalergy, but no soul, is basically a very weird vegetable … after a while it gives up and shuts down.”

Without a soul, the biological processes cease and the body shuts down; thalergy, in the absence of a soul, decays into thanergy. Flipping a thalergetic planet involves thanergetically disrupting its soul to induce a cascading thanergetic reaction. Thalergetic stars 'nuked' with thanergy become undead, ever-shining, thanergetic: they are flipped.

Stars have souls. Dominicus has a soul.

Why John Gaius is connected to Dominicus

You said, “So if you die, the Houses die with you. The star warming our system fails, and—becomes a gravitational well, as I understand it?” “Yes. A black hole, like the one that took out Cyrus,”

The Sun would need to be about 20 times more massive to end its life as a black hole. Stars that are born this size or larger can explode into a supernova at the end of their lifetimes before collapsing back into a black hole, an object with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Ergo, the black hole part is a load of bullshit—but, you know, necromancy; the important part of that quote is that John claims that when he dies, Dominicus dies with him.

When Mercymorn tries, and fails, to kill John, Dominicus falters and does indeed begin to undergo a collapse: John's 'death' somehow affects Dominicus from all this distance away, and him coming back results in it stabilising again.

“Right,” he said, and closed his eyes briefly. Then he said, “The sun has stabilized. Hope the Sixth House didn’t get cooked in the flare.”

John says that he reignited the Sun, yes, but I think it goes deeper than just that: I think John put more than just Earth in Alecto's body, and more than just his soul in Alecto's.

Anastasia's tripod principle stipulates that a body with thalergy and no soul shuts down—Dominicus undergoes collapse when John's body is destroyed by Mercymorn, when his soul is decoupled from its material tether—John's soul is the Sun's soul.

“Once the shaman had claimed the sun … I became God.”

The soul of a planet is communal, composed of the sum total of the life present on it: John killed the life upon Earth by inciting a global nuclear war, then killing those humans who were spared the fate of atomic fire. He had to kill the world to put his hands around her throat. He became God by eating her, by hiding him in her, and her in him—the shaman claimed the sun.

He said, I bit through the sun first.

Alecto was born from the blood of Uranus being spilt upon Gaia by their son Cronus; Uranus is the personification of the sky, the husband and son of Gaia. John took the name Gaius when he reignited the Sun, after spilling its blood upon the Earth and creating Alecto: he became one with Gaia, tied his soul to hers and to the sun's.

The Mithraeum is 'a space station hidden forty billion light-years from the ever-burning light of Dominicus, lit by thanergetic starlight'. The ever-burning light of Dominicus contrasted by thanergetic starlight. Immortal, but alive.

“The eyes have it, John.”

He approached her, and she saw that his sclera were black as space. The irises were dark and leadenly iridescent—a deep rainbow oil slick, ringed with white. The pupils were as glossy black as the sclera.

The Emperor of the Nine Houses drummed his fingers over his belt. It still hurt you a little, to look into his terrible eyes: the irises like black shadows of the Canaanite white, that iridescent absence of colour, a shade rather than a tint; the purity of the white ring; then the matte black of the sclera. “A myriad ago, I resurrected nine planets,” he said. “And I reignited the central star, and I called it Dominicus[...]

You could study him without shyness: the shining iridescence of his irises, the unyielding black of the cornea and pupil, the long, square, urbane face.

And his eyes were just absolutely, insanely fucked up: deep black wells, this unreflective flat black. Even from where I was, I could see the white light that circled the irises: a cold, flickering perimeter.

[renegade-skywalker]

One of Many Mornings

Despite her best efforts, Merit still fears that Gale will sacrifice himself upon reaching Moonrise. She does her best to convince him otherwise.

(Takes place in Act 2, immediately post-Weave scene)

~~~

For the briefest of moments, time did not exist. 

All Merit knew was the comforting nothingness of dreamless sleep, her body slowly growing heavy as she drifted back into waking life. As if washing ashore after a sea at storm. One moment she was as weightless as a star strung up in the night sky, glittering with the predawn, and the next she was a stone bound by gravity, warm and earthen yet still somehow other, now nestled safely upon the beach as the dawn threatened.

And yet the change did not startle her, time slowly slipping back into place as if the veil were being draped gently back over her waking eyes, her consciousness yet again housed within the body she had for so long called her own. Her eyes fluttered open to find the sky full of stars just as it had been back on the edge of the ravine, a tapestry of Gale’s making, only after a few more moments she realized she was instead staring up at the canopy of Gale’s tent, never once realizing that he had the heavens embroidered into the fabric of his shelter all this time. And that’s when she realized that she wasn’t some smoothed stone settled safely on a shore and instead wrapped warmly in Gale’s arms, his lips meeting the side of her neck as she awakened further. 

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said quietly, his breath teasing the hair on the nape of her neck. A pleasant chill ran the length of her spine. His voice was warm and honey-like against her ear as he wrapped his arms more snugly around her from behind, his body cradling hers as she instinctively eased herself back into him, two pieces falling into place.

“And… I wanted to talk to you about our night together.”

Merit sighed and smiled, blinking against the dark canopy of blue above her as she drank in the moment and tried to retain the night in its entirety. It was almost as if the entire thing had been both a dream as well as a previous life, both lucid and otherworldly, and simply beyond words. Her limbs tingled at the memory, her heart warm. She could steep in the thought of it forever, but instead she turned to look Gale in the eye, surprised to find his gaze unsure. His grip on her did not waver, their bodies still close, but his dark eyes traveled her face, both as if tracing her features and committing them to memory as well as searching for some sign of unspoken dissent. 

“I hope it meant as much to you as it did to me,” he said softly, his dark eyes wide and intent and so full of forlorn longing that Merit’s heart ached at the sight of him.

“Last night was-” she began, her voice both feeling and sounding alien to her as she spoke, suddenly unable to continue as if the thought ended there. Only it didn’t - the feeling extended beyond herself and into eternity, only any notions her mind had to describe the sensation simply paled in comparison to the aftermath of her very essence intertwining with Gale’s. It was beyond merely physical sensation, careening far into a realm she knew nothing of how to possibly put into words yet also desperately wanted to return to. They’d bonded, body and soul, their thoughts and feelings mingling with one another unsure of where one ended and the other began, in the end enmeshing into something forever altered and entirely other.

Merit’s chest brimmed with a feeling she’d never felt before, yet she somehow knew it also felt like home - not one she’d never visited until now but one she instantly knew was always meant to be hers, a home both inhabited in and shared with Gale. And yet she had no vocabulary to voice it, nothing to label it with and no such way to convey the all-consuming sense of something both akin to completion and yearning that now subtly threatened to burst from the confines of her ribcage as it sought to extend the very edges of even herself.

Unsure of how else to describe it, she placed a careful hand on what she spied of Gale’s scar peeking from beneath the collar of his tunic - just as he had urged her to do so when he first revealed the origins of his condition to her, and just as she had placed her careful fingers over his bruised collarbone when she’d first kissed him, testing the waters and wondering if despite her want that she’d somehow doomed them both. She knew it wasn’t necessary, but the gesture felt right somehow, and the feeling as Gale shuddered pleasantly beneath her touch as he watched her acted as both proof and promise of that sureness. And with another deliberate thought, Merit urged her mind to connect with his, and within the moment their minds were as one.

She bit her lip as her eyes traveled from the naked contour of Gale’s collarbone up towards his tender gaze, their sentiments and sensations mingling as one again, as if this was truly to be their shared intended existence, both reliving the night and everything that followed, every feeling echoing in one and then the other, as if both asserting then confirming each notion - shared now, yes, but as if the sentiment had been shared already, mirrored in each of them and then amplified in the multiplicity of it, pleased to find their feelings not just reciprocated but in duplicate. 

It was almost as if she were nervous, her entire being a live wire as she steeped in the feeling. And unlike the weightlessness of the night before, Merit relished the warmth of Gale’s skin beneath her palm and the way his other hand raked at the small of her back as he inched their bodies closer. For all the wonders experienced the night before, she liked this, too. Almost moreso. He eventually rested his forehead against hers, the calm of his breath against her cheek a serene reassurance of everything she felt and everything she sensed equally in him. If her body hummed the night previously or even in the moments after waking, her limbs were certainly abuzz now, prickling with a certain promise that felt as safe as a roaring fire and a feather bed.

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” she admitted in a hallowed whisper, her hand finally retreating from the hollow base of Gale’s neck to thread through his hair as she held him close. Gale’s breath caught in his throat. One hand remained at her waist while the other reached up to cup her jaw, his thumb tracing the outline of her cheekbone as he beamed quietly back at her. She trembled pleasantly beneath his touch, not wanting the moment to end while simultaneously desiring even more of it.

“Neither have I,” Gale replied, almost breathless. His gaze was more intent on hers than she ever remembered it being, his irises as wide and dark as the night itself yet just as luminous, a certain affection in his gaze that was unmistakable yet unprecedented somehow. “And despite everything that’s befallen us and everything yet unresolved, what I feel for you somehow outweighs all of it. Almost as if-”

Before he could continue, Merit pressed her lips to his, pleased to feel him sigh against her. He was delectably warm and welcoming, an errant sound emitting from the back of his throat as he surrendered to her kiss in a way that made Merit shiver, only wanting him more. He tasted of cool earth and raw honey - real and sweet and present. She thought of the night before, as if what had transpired and was shared between them was both only a second prior but also an eon ago, aching for a closeness she wasn’t sure she could ever manage, whether corporeal or incorporeal. But the feel of him against her now soothed her: the taste of his kiss, the weight of him beside her, the warmth of his hands on her skin.

Merit continued to kiss Gale with urgency, the feeling swelling within her chest until it was almost too much to bear. Finally, she pulled away slowly, only to look upon him as if it might be the last time. She knew it wasn’t but there was an unexplainable pull in the depths of her, a worry rooted in Gale’s words the night before. Her eyes traced his features as she continued to run her fingers through his hair, cradling his face in her hands as if she were committing all of him to memory - by sight and by touch, wondering if she had time to relish in all the rest. 

“I’m sorry,” Merit pleaded, still holding him close. 

“For what?” Gale asked with a breathy laugh, his eyes full of want as he tried to read her expression. 

“You were going to say something,” Merit said, hungry to kiss him again and never stop. 

Gale’s mouth opened as if he were about to answer, but instead he pulled Merit to him and kissed her again, a somber desperation overcoming him that matched the sudden anguish that coursed through Merit now. He parted his lips against hers this time and drank her in. Merit sighed as Gale’s tongue gently probed hers, his other hand pulling her to him in a way that she thought their bodies might fuse as they had the night previously. Merit obliged and followed the lead of his kiss, waves of affection lapping at every part of her, equally wanting to enjoy the moment while simultaneously starving for more of him. 

“Everything I feel for you, with you-” Gale continued, pulling away from the kiss only to breathe, brushing his nose against hers, “-feels as if it’s the most paramount concern in all the world,” panting his words with every exhale before kissing her once more. “The rest only pales in comparison.”

He said this as if it were both a plea and an apology, even if the sound of it only made Merit radiate with a pleasant, inner warmth she wanted to let consume her whole.

Merit could only whimper against his mouth, overcome with a sentiment that possessed her so entirely that she did not know what to do with it, the feel of it overwhelming her in an instant. Merit never wanted to be kissing Gale more than she did now, her lips aching for him each time they parted, a wave of want possessing her whenever she felt him sigh or gasp against her, a part of her feeling that if they stopped now that she might never get to kiss him again. Her chest felt as if she were about to dive off a steep cliff and into an unfathomable abyss, only the gaping maw of the unknown within her felt sweet and shivering. Her hands gently clawed at the warmth of his skin as she kissed him still, inspiring a mirrored moan from the depths of Gale’s throat.

Gale’s hands then slipped beneath the hem of her shirt, the folds of fabric almost alien to her after their night together in the Weave. And yet the sensation of Gale’s fingers gracing her skin beneath it with practiced pause made her tremble in a way that only intensified her already insatiable need for him to be closer. She ran one hand through his hair as she kissed him, pleased to feel how solid he was, how utterly real, while her other hand ran along the contour of his collarbone, relishing in the shape of him and how his body fit against hers before tugging on the lace of Gale’s collar before the thread came loose.

With a sudden stillness, Gale gripped her waist and gently but forcibly pinned her beneath him, pulling away from her lips as he kissed her cheek and then the upturn of her jaw before eventually draping kisses down the length of her neck. Merit sighed again, a low moan escaping from her throat just as Gale muttered a spell against her skin and within the span of a moment, the tent was silent except for their rapid breaths and the silk of their voices lacing each and every sigh. Merit’s hands reached for Gale’s neck, guiding his lips back to hers, her fingers eventually spiriting down the back of his nightshirt as he pressed himself against her once more. Gale shuddered pleasantly and urged her closer in a way that made the core of her grow warm and wanting. 

One of Gale’s hands moved up towards her face, threading his fingers through her hair as he angled her face sweetly against his, while his other hand gripped her hipbone with a firm authority that made her go weak in the knees.The feel of his tongue gently interlacing with hers sent another chill through her that felt sweet yet insatiated, each of them ever hungry for more. She ached to feel more of him, and closer somehow. 

Merit’s hands moved from the now-open collar of Gale’s shirt to insistently tugging at the back of the fabric as they continued kissing, growing more and more breathless with each passing moment. Gale was the first to finally pause. He pulled away, panting, and looked upon her with a heavy-lidded gaze that instantly set Merit’s heart aflame. He bit down on his bottom lip, his chest heavy with labored breathing as his eyes flickered across her face, drinking in the sight of her as he eventually obliged. Within a moment’s time, his shirt was discarded and he pressed his lips again to hers, his hands instantly reaching for the slip of Merit’s skin beneath her own nightclothes as he lightly urged her shirt off as well. 

Merit didn’t pull out of the kiss. Instead she raised her hands in silent yet ever so willing surrender, allowing Gale to pull her top off over her shoulders. Their skin was endlessly warm where they touched in the aftermath, the tent growing hot as they continued kissing, the warmth of their breath further heating the air between them. Memories of the night before flooded Merit’s mind - the sensation of Gale’s soul against hers, sentiment mingling with unearthly sensation - and yet there was something about being here with him, now, that felt even more intimate yet also only more sacred for what transpired in the Weave. She ran her hands along his chest as he kissed her, delighted to feel him shudder pleasantly at her touch, wondering what other new magic she might yet discover between them.

“I want to feel you,” she found herself saying, as if possessed. She spoke her words into another kiss pressed to Gale’s mouth. He smiled in response, his lips curled into a smirk as he kissed her still, pressing his hips against hers again in a way that made Merit melt. Gale didn’t say anything at first, his hands only traveled beneath the waist of her trousers in a gentle but urgent plea to slip them off, a gesture Merit mirrored on him in kind.

“And I want to feel you,” Gale echoed as they obliged each other’s shared pleas. Merit relished everywhere their skin now met, the waning night touching the rest, pulling him closer to her as she delighted in how warm he felt against her in light of the chill. “All of you.”

It was all it took for Merit to obey, as if she wasn’t already eager, savoring the feeling of Gale being this close, his hands roaming her every curve like an intrepid explorer as her own fingers traced every outline of him that she had not yet seen and committed it all to memory. It was strange, almost, having opened herself completely to his soul earlier only to feel even the mildest of trepidations at being this exposed in close proximity. As if there were some flaw forgotten that would change his mind or stay his hand. But Gale only kissed her more deeply, retreating only to drape kisses across her chest and over her shoulders, his hands carefully but emphatically pulling her closer as she felt his earthly want against her as if in insistent plea that the night never end. And she did not want it to. 

The solidity of him felt almost like a novelty - not just after their long night entwined in the Weave, but after weeks of yearning for him to be closer, of soaking in each moment their elbows brushed against one another’s or their hands touched, their fingers lingering against one another’s in a solemn attempt to draw out their time together and make it last forever. Even each of their earlier kisses before this felt so chaste in comparison. But now, the heat of their skin searing sentiment into flesh, Merit knew that whatever entanglements she’d had in the years before this were nothing in correlation to the wealth of feeling she felt for Gale - now or ever. Gale fit against her in a way that was endlessly perfect, as if their equal but unfinished parts were always meant to complete the other.

A part of her mind opened up then - the feeling of Gale’s thoughts brushing against hers like the soft brush of hands reaching for the same thing and relishing in the not-so-accidental closeness. In that moment she knew he wondered the same just as they broached the precipice of the same conclusion, the thought echoing in both their minds, a voice in unison: so this is love.

Merit had been in love before but never had it returned like this, nor had she ever felt it so deeply. And the currents of its depth coursed through her as she kissed Gale and urged him closer; closer than skin on skin, closer than shared breath and sighing in concert. She meant what she’d said before - she wanted to feel him, yet not only as she had in the Weave but every part of him, anchoring him to the here and now in a sudden plea that he remain in the land of the living. Because as sudden as the depth of her feeling was, so was the notion that it could all soon be over should he choose to heed destiny’s cruel call.

As if in response to her inner turmoil, Gale quelled her worries with a kiss deeper than she’d ever known, his lips threading with hers as if they were forever meant to be pressed to one another, and his tongue lacing with hers so gently yet so sweetly that she felt her entire body shiver in response yet in the sort of way that she knew she never wanted to be parted from him ever again, savoring the feeling of his warmth mingling with hers as his hands drew her even closer. Then, with the slightest and most endearing trepidity, one of Gale’s hands eased its way between her legs. He sighed and smiled against her mouth as he felt her want, and she leaned into his touch, yearning for more which he was all too happy to oblige.

Gale lilted out of their kiss, smiling and out of breath as he tentatively slipped two fingers inside her, eliciting a gasp from the depths of Merit’s throat. A shiver coursed through her at the feel of him, smiling against his mouth as he readjusted and kissed her again, reaching for the length of him with a careful hand. Her gentle touch only encouraged his desire, feeling the length of him harden further against her palm as she carefully caressed and stroked, their panting breaths in concert as they fell into an unspoken but understood synchronicity. It felt both like a plea as well as an invitation, both their question and answer the same as they exhaled deliciously in unison. Gale pulled out of the kiss only far enough to gauge Merit’s expression, his eyelashes fluttering heavy-lidded against her cheek as he drank her in and eventually paused, retreating his hand and relieving her own before carefully guiding himself between her legs and without another moment’s hesitation, made them one again. 

It was both foreign and familiar after exploring the furthest depths of each other’s souls, and yet the feeling of Gale inside her sent Merit to another plane entirely. Pleasure coursed through her as he thrust once, twice, and deepest on the third dive, his breath even but harrowed as one of his hands reached up to cradle her jaw and bring her mouth closer to his upon which to kiss. His mouth was pleading but tender against hers, his hips moving against Merit’s with a hungry yet tamed tenacity that enraptured her completely. All she could do was lean into his kiss and urge her hips in harmony with his, yearning to feel more of him and deeply so. 

Merit parted her legs ever so much more and invited Gale even more deeply inside her, at first caressing his chest as he breathed heavily against her before latching onto him as if for dear life. All she knew is that she wanted him to be impossibly closer, almost as close as they’d been entwined in the Weave but more corporeally so, yearning to feel his heat and savoring each taste of his lips upon hers. Gale’s other hand hooked behind her lower back, angling her against him in a way that instantly made her see stars and she wondered whether they were still connected via tadpole or whether they’d simply committed themselves to eternally being on the same page that some things simply no longer needed to be said. 

Wave after wave of euphoric ardor flooded her as Gale urged himself inside her again and again, alternating between kissing Merit desperately and pulling away only far enough to tenderly watch her gaze on his, his nose brushing against hers as his eyes glazed over with an unspoken but quiet rapture as he reveled in the feel of her, looking as if his eyes might roll back at any moment at the blissful feel of her beneath him. But Gale’s eyes remained intent on her, the depth of his affection clear in his unwavering gaze as he breathlessly thrust his want inside her, careful but indulgent, and kissed her deeply again. 

As all encompassing as their time spent in the Weave was, Merit felt overwhelmed with sensation even more now on the receiving end of Gale’s love in the earnestness of his kiss, at his insistence at the velvety core of her, and in the way one of his hands threaded his fingers through hers, pinning her further to the ground beneath the bedroll they lay upon, reminding her again of the earth and its fleeting pleasures, hoping against hope that this wouldn’t be the last night she would spend with him while solemnly insisting that it wouldn’t be. 

A knot of mounting satiation threatened her nerve endings, her body succumbing to the sweeter sensation of Gale urging himself inside her, the feel of his hardening want both pleasing and teasing her in a way that she both wanted to see it through as well as have it last forever. Powerless against it and desperate besides, eager to feel completion despite her heart’s hungrier desires, Merit clung to Gale even more despairingly, again thinking of what might happen come morning when this was all over, as if him separating himself from her would also act as his death sentence. 

Overcome with a sudden heartbroken agony, Merit kissed Gale harder than she ever had before, threading her free hand through his hair and savoring the feel of him against her, inside her. He lilted again from her kiss, panting deliciously against her ear as he grew impossibly hard. Merit felt herself cascade from the precarious precipice of euphoria and over the edge of it, the sensation of Gale inside her suddenly slick and sweeter than before as a breathless whimper escaped her lips. Merit pulled him to her as Gale delved even deeper inside her, an errant moan escaping the depths of his throat as she felt him bottom out entirely and tremble within her, pulling out as he pressed yet another harrowed kiss to her mouth. He kissed her still even as he’d exited, smiling and laughing a hollow laugh against her kiss-swollen lips before eventually dismounting and laying beside her, completely breathless.

The moment that followed was a bit like waking from a dream, overcome with a sudden lack that what she felt now was familiar but as if it were only half-remembered. Merit’s limbs hummed with a sweet excess of energy, just as they had in the aftermath of the night before. And as similar as the sensation was, the feel of it was quite different. Her skin was suddenly cold without Gale atop her, her skin prickling with goosebumps as her sweatslick skin adjusted to the cool of the night air.

Merit glanced outside through the sliver of the tent’s mostly-closed flap; it was still early, or late depending on how she wanted to look at it. Even if some might consider it early morning, she preferred to think of it as an extension of the night before, wishing that morning might never come. 

She turned, smiling softly, and watched as Gale not-so-silently caught his breath beside her, his body still close yet not close enough for her liking. He eyed her almost bashfully though unable to hide a satisfied smile, a look Merit recognized from the first time they kissed. There was an unspoken apology in his wordless gaze just as there had been then, one that meekly said out of practice.

She rolled over onto her side and inched herself closer to him, propping herself up carefully upon Gale’s chest, one hand slowly tracing his collarbone while her other hand brushed his now slightly damp hair from his forehead. Gale reached for her waist, his fingers carefully tracing absent swirls across her lower back. She shivered pleasantly and pressed her lips to his mouth, smiling as she felt Gale hum pleasantly into her lazy kiss. She had meant for it to be quick, a fleeting but earnest don’t worry to drown out his doubt, but soon her kiss grew ravenous and softly so, turning from a forgiving thing into a pleading one, not that there was anything Gale needed to be absolved of. There was no need to impress her, especially after last night, and she wanted to believe there was still time for further practice. Still panting slightly, Gale’s breath caught in the back of his throat as his lips reciprocated her unspoken adjuration, sending Merit into a whole other world of want.

She wanted to press her palm to the crest of Gale’s collarbone again, to tether their minds once more and make him know just exactly how she felt. Yet part of her sensed that he already knew. 

Before she could get too lost in the feeling despite wanting it to never end, Merit pulled away only slightly, her lips still brushing against Gale’s as she whispered more earnestly than she’d ever uttered anything, “I love you.”

Gale froze, a look of almost heartbroken disbelief overcoming him at the sound of it. As if the last night wasn’t quite enough to convince him, as if telling him she was also in love with him in the meadow wasn’t quite enough either, as if every stolen glance and every shared skip of a heartbeat wasn’t quite enough from the start, as if opening her mind to him upon waking wasn’t quite enough though it came oh, so close. And yet it was this simple declaration that finally quelled his unyielding uncertainty, the realization of it dawning in his eyes as Gale looked at Merit with more affection than she knew what to do with. 

Before she could do anything, Gale kissed her again with an unmatched zeal that left her breathless, pulling her atop him as he kissed her more ardently than anyone ever had. This kept happening - their every act of expressed affection somehow superseding the last, each one sending her heart soaring to some new inner height she never before thought possible. Her unbound hair surrounded them as if veiling their kiss from the world and creating an entirely other one within it, and for the moment she wanted this moment to extend into forever, neverending.

Just as Merit settled atop Gale, her hands running along the pleasing edges of his sternum, relishing feel the quickening of his breath beneath his heaving chest, Gale rolled her back over onto the ground beside him but this time the side opposite, urging their bodies together until they were utterly skin to skin.

Finally pulling out of the kiss, Gale exhaled, “I love you,” as he instead kissed the corner of her mouth and then her temple, uttering “I love you,” again as he kissed the underside of her ear where her jaw met her neck, planting more careful kisses down the slope of her neck until he met her shoulder, his lips brushing lightly against her skin there as his hand gently squeezed her upper arm, next kissing the length of her collarbone and saying “I love you, I love you, I love you,” before finally returning to look her in the eye and stilling so completely that Merit thought the moment had truly frozen in time.

“Were that this night might never end,” he said again, whispersoft, his fingers softly tracing the edges of her face. Merit leaned into his touch, abruptly overcome with a certainty she hadn’t had before. 

“There will be other nights,” she said. “I promise.”

Promise. It was as much a promise to him as it was for herself, instantly afraid of what the world might look like if her words were somehow false, even if a seed in the pit of her stomach insisted that they weren’t.

“I want to believe you,” he resigned after the pause. “I want to believe that we’ll find another way. But-” Gale tore his eyes away from her gaze as he caressed Merit’s hair away from her face, memorizing the outline of her as if this truly might be their one and only night together. “How can you be so sure?”

Merit returned the gesture, studying him not because she wanted to believe this might be her last chance to do so but because she wanted to capture everything about this moment, about this night and the ever encroaching morning, as if crystalizing it in a bead of amber for all eternity. It felt important because it was the start of something, not the end of it. If only she could convince him as much as she was slowly convincing herself. 

“Because you still owe me a proper tour of your tower,” she pleaded earnestly with an easy, small smile. “And Waterdeep, too. I’ll even buy you a drink at the Yawning Portal. My treat.”

Gale smiled sadly at her but let her continue, his eyes flitting between her gaze and her mouth as he continued to caress her hair. 

Merit ran her fingers along the now-cold of his exposed chest, pausing once she reached the base of his throat, her thumb tracing his scar with sudden trepidation. She stilled. A wash of panic rose within her as she looked from Gale’s tender gaze down to the ghost of the orb, again reminded of Gale’s intentions the night previous. She wasn’t sure if her mind were linked with his, but all she could think of, the word and the want coming in waves, was stay, stay, stay.

Gale’s other hand reached up and anchored her there, his fingers half-lacing with hers while his thumb ran across the back of her hand. Merit pressed her palm with a soft firmness against him, as if she might quell the orb by sheer force of will alone. Stay with me, she thought, the sentiment steeping into every pore of her. Just stay. Please.

“But we’ll probably end up in Baldur’s Gate first,” she continued instead, “So I’ll show you around of course, and you’ll need to come ‘round the bakery since Fable’s pastries are, to put it mildly, out of this world. And I'd know, because you've taken me there now.”

Just as Gale wanted her to meet Tara, Merit couldn’t imagine a world in which Gale wouldn’t meet her older sister, her best friend and the person she missed most, wondering whether Fable thought her sister was dead, or worse: had abandoned the family. The thought clawed at her insides but she pushed past it, soaking in all of Gale’s expression as she continued, “Not to mention you’re finally getting the hang of chords, and we still haven’t committed one of your poems to song. I have just the melody, too, and we’ll-”

Now it was Gale’s turn to interrupt her with a kiss, one that was so tender yet all-eclipsing that the words poised on her tongue dissolved in an instant, gone as soon as she closed her eyes and breathed him in. Gale’s hand threaded through her hair until his palm cradled the back of her head, angling her face against his as he deepened his kiss and eclipsed her thoughts completely.

Gale finally pulled away, about to launch into an earnest apology but Merit found herself speaking instead, her grip on him pleading and hungry and almost out of her control.

“And because…” she continued, still answering his question from before, her heart gripped with a sudden weight she couldn’t shake, “Where else will all of what I feel for you go if you’re gone?”

Gale's mouth hung quietly open, his gaze forlorn as he read her expression and took her words in. After everything, Merit felt the most naked now, unendingly vulnerable and eternally anxious in the wake of her accidental but heartfelt confession. The truth of it hung between them but left a lump in her throat she couldn’t will away. So instead she committed all of Gale to memory - the look of him, the feel of him, the taste of him - desperately hoping that none of it would fade with time even if she knew it was the way of things.

In what had only been a moment, hanging like a bead in a thread of unending time, Gale rested his forehead against Merit’s, the weight of him against her reassuring, and the closeness of him even more so. He eased into a small, somber smile, but one that radiated with a warmth that could rival the sun as well as the physical sensation of their skin touching now.

“I am far beyond fortunate to have you,” his voice was whispersoft but steadfast as he ran a gentle thumb across the hollow of Merit’s cheek. “Even the power of the Weave is mundane compared to the way you make me feel.”

Merit’s chest felt cavernous at this confession, her skin prickling at the very thought of it. Especially knowing how much it meant. 

“I do not presume to know what we might find once we storm Moonrise,” Gale continued. “But if there is any hope of defeating this, it is by your side. If I have learned anything in all my years of living, it is that with you-” he paused, emotion welling in his throat as he looked deeply into her eyes, his voice laced with hushed amazement, “With you perhaps anything is possible.”

A flicker of thought and feeling coursed through Merit’s mind in an instant, a sudden sense of desperation overcome instead by the impossible depth of Gale’s affection. She felt his mind again, then; lighter, hopeful, and smoother around the edges, death no longer looming so close. 

And then she heard it: the soft chime of birdsong, the call of early morning. An unusual though welcome sound in a place like this. Or perhaps she'd only imagined it in the wake of the impending dawn. It broke her out of her reverie as well as quelled the miniature universe in which only she and Gale occupied, time slowly eclipsing their borrowed eternity. Either Gale’s spell had only just broken or, if they were lucky, it was merely the very cusp of dawn. The edge of another day. 

As much as she wanted to linger here in night never-ending, time beckoned. 

“There will be other mornings,” Gale said as if reading her mind before pressing his lips to her cheek, lingering there as he kissed her once, twice, and three times before finally saying, “Brighter ones, with you. I promise.”

[for-yoongi0309]

BTS’ Suga Returns as Agust D to Tackle Loneliness, Humanity & Being Acknowledged

Most famously known as Suga from BTS — but also by the solo moniker Agust D, as well as birth name Min Yoongi — the artist who works as a rapper, singer, producer, dancer, fashion muse and NBA ambassador wants to remind listeners that, above all, he is a human.

“In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside.

So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too.”

Today, April 7, marks the return of Agust D, the name Suga uses when releasing solo projects away from BTS, with the new single “People Pt.2” featuring K-pop superstar IU. Not only does it mark the duo’s latest collaboration after teaming for the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart “Eight” from May 2020, it also acts as an extension from “People,” a fan-favorite cut from Agust D’s D-2 mixtape released that same month. While the original “People” saw Suga reflecting on himself and meditating on how others judge and change, Part 2 longs for connection with others. As multifaceted as Suga’s world is, loneliness is a permanent source of inspiration and intrigue for the 30-year-old. Hours before “People Pt.2” drops worldwide, his call with Billboard occurs alongside multiple international teams who work around the clock for Suga and BIGHIT MUSIC artists. Some are beside him physically, others via Zoom connection virtually — but loneliness remains a muse for the star, assisting him in searching within and speaking to listeners in larger, universal ways. Since its debut, BTS’ musical appeal has reached globally largely through the septet’s extended metaphors and imagery, translating into accessible storytelling alongside boundary-pushing compositions and choreography. Suga’s range of material is vast, after producing on essentially every BTS album, not to mention scoring high-profile collaborations with everyone from Halsey and Juice WRLD to Epik High and Japan’s ØMI. But now, he’s emphasizing the topics that move him personally — and ensuring he’s properly heard.

Despite an already packed spring and summer with album promo, his solo world tour, ambassadorship duties and a YouTube series, Suga cheekily closes out our chat “Yeah, it’s fuking busy,” he says with a wink since he has no time to waste. Read on as he narrows in on the release of “People Pt.2” and all that’s led up to this reflective pop/hip-hop collaboration.

We’re hours away from the release of “People Pt.2,” your official return as Agust D for your D-Day album. Is there a different mindset when you prepare music as Agust D versus solo or as SUGA alongside BTS?

SUGA: They’re all music made by the person called Min Yoongi. So, I don’t actually have a very different mindset for each moniker — but I would say that the purposes could be somewhat different. Ultimately, the goal of releasing this music is for as many people to listen to my music as possible. So, “People Pt.2” was made thinking about how people will receive Agust D’s music, which is why we also featured IU. It’s kind of a trial to release this music under the name Agust D. I’m actually a little bit worried.

“People Pt.2” (featuring IU) of course follows up “People” from the D-2 mixtape. What was important about continuing this story with IU?

SUGA: This is a story that you’ll personally love: The title wasn’t originally “People Pt.2.” Actually, “People” from D-2 is personally my favorite song — and we actually worked on “People Pt.2” three years ago. When I was releasing my pictorial [Photo-Folio Wholly or Whole Me] photo shoot, the company actually revealed the guide [demo] version and gave a glimpse of it to the public. But anyway, it was already finished when we were working on D-2 so I was thinking, “Oh, I should release this, I should release this.” But we had to get on with “Butter” and “Dynamite” so we didn’t get the chance. Originally, the title was “Sara (사라),” without the “M (ㅁ)” consonant in Korean — because that’s, like, one consonant less than the word “saram (사람),” which is Korean for “people.” Depending on whichever consonant you put at the end of the word sara (사라), it can become “saram (사람)” and “people,” or it can become “sarang 사랑,” or “love” in Korean. So, it’s the listener’s choice to put which consonant you want at the end of “sara” (사라). But I had my friend listen to this song and people heard it as “sal-ah (살아)” which kind of means “live” in Korean and I was like, “This is not going to work.” So, we finalized the title to be “People” in the end. And some people call me August D, some people call me Ah-gust D, but I’m actually Agust D. So, you know, people take my name differently and we had to sync the person SUGA and Agust D. This is a song that kind of matches that sync. We need that bridge and sync between my mixtape and this official solo album. In order to put that sync together, I had to make this a very pop song. We didn’t try to make the music video that intense — and, in that sense, IU really played an important role in doing that. I also think this is a genre that I can do best, this pop-focused song.

There’s this sync between songs, but the themes and lyrics are very different, right? “People” was self-reflective and examined other people’s judgments, but “People Pt.2” seems more about connection and fighting loneliness. What most differentiates the two in your mind?

SUGA: In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside. So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too. This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a “Part 3” later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, “Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.”

I like that — because even in the Road to D-Day documentary trailer, there’s a moment you say you frequently consider quitting music. But when people come together, it makes you realize you can do it and have fun. Does this tie into themes of “People Pt.2”?

SUGA: This is kind of a difficult topic, because I started making music and writing lyrics [when] I was 11 or 12 years old. I’ve been making music for all these years, and now I’m 30. It wasn’t easy writing “People Pt.2,” and the album overall, but people really don’t know the whole process of that. Even though I’d been making music more than half of my life — and I’m just saying this because you understand this, Jeff — when we first started in the K-pop scene, we were in this ambiguous position of not being accepted as musicians and not being accepted as idols either. But the musicians close to me know that I’m very serious and sincere in music and that I’m a very natural person. So, the documentary started as I just wanted to capture and show this process. It started with the purpose of showing SUGA as a producer and songwriter, but it kind of ended up having the worldview of an album-making process. I tried to show the normal, individual side of me as much as possible, but as I am a Korean idol, or K-idol, a lot of scenes were edited out; there were more of those natural scenes and some very good scenes that couldn’t make it in the final version. The documentary and “People Pt.2” try to reveal the natural side of the human Min Yoongi. I just wanted to show that I am this humane person. I am just a human.

You need to release your “Director’s Cut” one day. While D-Day and the documentary are coming, I want to congratulate you on the worldwide release of D-2 and Agust D this week. My favorite song, “Agust D” with the sample of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” was finally added to streaming too. You shared how J. Cole approved BTS’ “Born Singer” sample, what can you share about the process with James Brown‘s estate?

SUGA: I released Agust D when I was still very young, so, even as I listen to it now, it kind of sounds immature — if you listen to the tone, the rap itself wasn’t very organized, I wanted to do a lot of things at that time. It just kind of keeps going very tightly and quickly. But after doing so much various and diverse music, I think that people love the songs that have been released more recently than the songs that were released back then. So, I kind of dare say that people are starting to recognize and acknowledge these songs now. Since the musician actually passed away, I think it was the family who decided to acknowledge it. Same thing with [clearing] “Born Sinner” — and I don’t know what the path was for the musician themselves, but it was clear. And I take it as that I, as BTS, and Min Yoongi, and SUGA, and Agust D, was acknowledged as a musician. I’m really not thinking that broader consumers or audiences will accept it, because it’s not really popular music. Still, I would dare assume that it’s getting cleared because we’re finally getting recognized as musicians.

Interviewer: Jeff Benjamin at billboard

[seradyn]

A Dream Come True (Chp. 9)

Chapter 9/?: A Call From Above

Suddenly visited by some greater entity in her dreams, reader is allowed to know what exactly they’ve been tasked with.

Link to work masterlist

Word Count: 3943

TW: Graphic violence, death

Tags: @savage-rhi @ticklemycucumber

Lmk if you’d like to get tagged in updates

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Empty…boundless nothingness.

That was all you knew. Weightless space extending in every direction, your body sent adrift somewhere you did not belong. Sensations quickly lost their meaning, time became abstract, as you were cradled in another void of null existence. Everything went numb, tone deaf to your commands, flopping uselessly as you floated through darkness.

“The prophesied hour grows nigh. Awaken, Champion of Darkness.”

You shuddered as the words came like a roaring storm, the voice thundering with otherworldly power as it enveloped you. Goosebumps rose on your skin, such might dwarfing your puny soul with speech alone. Instinctual fear crawled beneath your skin, knowing that should it suit this being, your life could end in a matter of seconds.

“Hear me child, for thou hath a role in this great destiny.”

You grit your teeth, the sounds so far beyond your comprehension it felt like each word shattered your skull, over and over again. Your ears popped and you writhed in silent agony, feeling like a helpless insect put under a microscope.

The muscles you could still perceive felt weighed down, like lead had been fastened to each of your disoriented limbs. Even your eyelids felt heavy, denying you the right to see whom you were speaking to. Although you soon realized that was likely intentional, trying to keep you in the dark about the grander picture.

From what little awareness you still had, you could tell the voice was feminine, at the very least. Any other detail you attempted to pursue slipped through your fingers and slithered away, kept out of your reach.

“Who…are you?” You slurred, struggling to make your mouth move the way you wanted.

“Thou shalt come to know me in time. There are more pressing matters to attend to.”

You furrowed your brows at that, wondering why it would wish to remain hidden from you. Would it not serve to make it more credible, its pleas more enticing? Why come to you if it feared such basic knowledge?

This situation had demanded more caution than you’d originally thought. While you normally already considered conversation an exam on wit and tongue, each word carefully selected and stringed together, now you supposed it was more true than ever. With this being’s will, power immeasurable, offending it wouldn’t do you good.

It would be best to watch what you say, as such entities who hid their identities were often malicious and conniving.

“…What…do you…want?”

“The Accursed grows restless in his solitude. A never ending night doth come.”

“The…Accursed?” You whispered in puzzlement.

You’d never heard of such a being. You ransacked your brain, trying to think if perhaps you’d heard it in some old legend, some ancient story, gone ignored as a useless fairytale. You couldn’t imagine where or when you might’ve heard the title, despite your best efforts at recollection.

Your frustration grew as you began to wonder if its words were some kind of riddle. You always hated riddles, being conned into feeling stupid on technicalities and double speak. Either that, or your autism would show itself, and you would fail to understand what so many others found so easily.

If this…thing wanted you to do something, wouldn’t it be better to just say it, for Ramuh’s sake? The formalities and mysteriousness were a waste of time, in your opinion. Time you may not have, depending on how urgent this request was.

“Thou shalt come to know him, for it is thy task. The fate of our Star depends on it.”

That ground your angry thoughts to a halt.

You swallowed thickly.

The fate of our Star…

Did it mean the fate of the world…?

Rested with you?

No…no you were not fit for such a thing.

You were just another insignificant speck in the cosmos, a worm wriggling in the dirt of the miserable world you called home. An overworked, underpaid public employee who would rather spend their nights alone in the dark than out drinking and dancing, so unlike their peers and outcast for that very reason.

There was no reason for it to pick you.

“But…why me?” You murmured, weak and defeated. Your insecurities frothed and hissed like a witches brew, reminding you how worthless you were, how pathetic, how hopeless. Such an impossible purpose wouldn’t be bestowed on the likes of you.

Destiny, fate, world altering events…you were not meant for things so crucial to existence.

You were just…you.

You couldn’t help but think you’d been chosen in error.

“I am a nobody.”

“Nay, child. Do not let such doubt cloud thy heart. Thou art the only one who could perform such a task.”

You sighed in frustration, shaking your head. Somehow you knew further protests would be an exercise in futility. There would be no reasoning with this entity; it left no room for argument. It would be insistent on making you do what it wanted, no matter how illfit you were for the task.

“I still don’t understand what you expect me to do exactly.”

And what could you do that someone else couldn’t do better?

“Thou art to seek out the Adagium. Thy fate is to be his guide, to lead him from destiny preordained. For without his light, he is destined to stray further into darkness, and take our Star with him.”

Adagium? Adagium…Where had you heard that before? The thought ducked and darted away like a sly fox, there then gone before you had a chance to realize the memory. The name was familiar, but in what capacity you couldn’t say.

“How will I know when I find him? And how exactly am I supposed to guide him?”

Too many unknowns, not enough room for error. Everything was so cryptic and vague, you were growing more anxious by the second. What good was spouting nonsense when you could just be told exactly what was expected of you?

“Thy heart is full enough to know. Thy love is strong enough. I have sensed thy purity.”

“I have offered thine task to countless others, only to be met with failure. Thou art the only one who could carry out this deed.”

You narrowed your (still closed) eyes, wondering just how many it was talking about. How long had it been searching? Years? Decades? Yet they sounded so sure in their decision, confidence radiating from their presence while they assumed themselves infallible.

You wondered what had disqualified its first choices. What did they lack that made you an ideal candidate?

“How do you know I won’t also fail?” You sighed, exasperated.

“I have searched thy soul, and found the love I seek. Thy kindness is what shall bring salvation.”

Such flattery, but it felt disingenuous, forced. Your teeth ground together as you fidgeted nervously. Though even beyond your surface unease, something felt off, deep in your gut. Pleading for you to look beyond its sugar coated messages. A sense of wrongness, a hint of peril.

The memories of Ardyn drifted to you…how he had put his faith in the gods, in entities like this, his people, his brother. They’d done nothing but use and discard him, finished once he had lost his usefulness.

Perhaps it had been a warning. All those dreams, those nightmares. Cautioning against blindly following an unknown fate. Preparing you for this moment when destiny would beckon you forward.

It was the meddling of these beings that had caused so much suffering, after all. They treated human lives like something to be played with, shaped to suit their needs until they grew tired of it, and replaced it with something better, the newest model. Not like something to be cherished, something worth saving.

In the case of Ardyn, it had been Somnus, the shiny new version of the God’s chosen king.

With that thought came anger sneering, tapping on your chest to fill it with outraged heat, heart banging on your ribcage.

What had been done to Ardyn, it was their fault.

There’s and no one else’s.

You threw caution to the wind.

“And what if I refuse?” You seethed, clenching your fists as best you could. “What if I choose not to follow your path?”

You felt a pause, the being hesitate, caught off guard by your defiance. It hadn’t expected such spitfire, such hostility. Especially due to the very visions it had given you. They were meant to guide, that was true, but to this conclusion was not its intent.

“…Thou speaketh right. The Souls Divine hath acted in err. However, I can show thee. The fate of this world should thee refuse thy task.”

Your eyes would’ve widened, if they could.

After hiding so much, did it now really intend to show you the future?

Without waiting for an answer, you felt yourself shift, the empty void fading, and awareness returning. Before you could realize what was even happening, you were falling, wind whistling past your ears, the ground approaching fast. You yelped in surprise, grunting when your back struck cold cement, spots speckling your eyelids. Pebbles embedded in your supple skin, and you rolled onto your hands and knees, those too quickly punctured as you fought back a surge of dizziness.

It took a moment to catch your breath, squeezing your eyes shut again when vertigo made the ground swirl. Warm liquid pooled under your palms, you supposed from the fresh cuts now littering them. Upon opening your eyes, you realized your initial assessment had been wrong, though, as it was not pebbles that assaulted your flesh, but broken shards of glass.

Once you felt confident you could stand, you got up from the coarse pavement, turning your head around to glance at your surroundings.

You immediately went pale, all color draining from you, nausea unsettling your stomach.

“W…what is this?”

The first thing you noticed were the bodies. Dozens of them lined the street, discarded like broken toys, their contents spilled for all to see. Flecks of brain matter and bits of flesh splattered concrete, the road run red. It looked as if many had their skulls mercilessly crushed, smashed through and broken down like old cardboard boxes, pulverized into mush.

None had been shown mercy. The dreadful sight of small, limp bodies wasn’t uncommon, huddled against their parents in endless slumber.

You gulped back a splash of bile, trying to turn away from the grisly images. Alas, you were surrounded by carnage, the city clothed in death from all sides.

You paused as you began noticing the rest of your environment. The buildings that populated the area, stretching up to a hazy orange sky, were shattered and crumbling. Chunks had been taken out of most, revealing their skeletons of crude steel beams. Glass from exploded windows had rained down, crunching under your feet as you looked around with growing worry. Black smoke billowed from the most unlucky, with none to put out those raging fires.

Your breathing was growing louder in your ears, fear and panic mixing into the most terrible poison. Soft trembles traveled down your arms, and you wrapped them around yourself in a tight hug, such a sorry attempt at comfort.

“Where am I?” You whispered through shaky lips.

“Thy homeland, child.”

You stiffened. You tilted your head, observing the skyscrapers with more scrutiny. They held no significance to you, yet faintly, you felt the warmth of recognition grace your temples.

“…This is Gralea.”

“Aye, my child.”

Your gaze drifted downward, though you made sure to keep it above the view of the broken bodies around you. Your eyes locked on a street sign, which had you brighten when you recognized the name. You turned to another intersection, that same spark of confirmation zipping through as your mental map began to click into place.

Yes, this really was Gralea.

You weren’t too far from home, even.

But that only raised more questions. Did this have to do with the war?

“What in the name of the Astrals happened here?”

“The Adagium is thy answer. His soul, corrupt by torment long forgotten, hath realized his revenge.”

There was that name again. You shook your head in disbelief, feeling well out of your league. What being, aside from a god, could be capable of such single handed destruction?

Their expectations for you were seeming more ridiculous by the second.

“You expect me to prevent this? To stop someone from becoming a mass murderer?”

“Do not fear the Adagium. Thou can purify his withered heart.”

You scoffed. They spoke as if it was such a simple thing, like watering plants when they became parched. So easy to keep some psychotic being from tripping past the precipice of genocide.

You were about to voice those thoughts, though you froze, the words crawling back down your throat to hide. The earth beneath you heaved, rhythmically rumbling with cracked bellows as it quaked. You took several fearful steps back, watching in mortified wonder as you noticed a shadow lumbering between the decaying structures.

Before long, its titanic form stepped into view with colossal clawed feet.

A beast clad in white armor, towering over the broken remnants of humanity. You had to crane your neck up to see its reptilian face, jagged teeth and beady eyes sunk deep into its cranium. Two massive jaws protruded from each shoulder, like the heads of coraldevils had been mounted as cruel trophies onto its body. Its arms, long and lean, ended in fingers with sheer tips that curled inward. In its abdomen housed a glowing red core, pulsing crimson light and serving as its heart.

It towered over most of the buildings, mindlessly marching through the once busy streets.

You watched, terrified and fascinated, as its mouth slowly unhinged, and from it a great roar pierced the ambient night. The bellow scraped along your eardrums and disintegrated nearby windows, a churning mix of mechanical and natural sounds. Your hands flew up to your ears, grimacing at the deafening scale of the creature's wail.

As if that was a command, the maws along its shoulders stuttered open, gaping at the sky, innards of twisted pipes and wires faintly revealed. From them, light emerged, and the sound of whirring engines reached you as trails of smoke leapt from its bulky frame.

Rockets. Missiles.

You watched in horror as they sang through the air, arching high before raining down a blazing fire. They collided with a building that was much too close to you, ripping it apart in seconds. They exploded on impact, a boom echoing all around as they fumed like angry fireworks, spewing ugly amber flames and charred smoke. Debris fell as a coat of dusty ash suffocated the ground, swelling as the building collapsed with the screech of tearing metal.

You ducked into an ally, covering your head with your arms as you ran in a feeble attempt to protect yourself.

“What the fuck is that thing?!” You cried as you ran, occasionally glancing behind you to confirm it wasn’t heading in your direction. A tiny whimper escaped you as you stepped over the cold corpses that coated your path.

“A being of mass destruction, created by thy own kin for one such purpose, in the name of conquest.”

You didn’t have enough rationality left to decode its message.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

You knew you shouldn’t have shouted, but the adrenaline had taken your ability to control the volume of your voice.

You hoped that monster couldn’t hear you.

Silence was your only answer as you darted through a side street, coming out the other side onto a wide, main road. A few cars lay with their bellies turned up, flung around weightlessly by the strength of the creature to your back.

You suddenly came up short, stopped dead in your tracks, the hint of slow movement catching the corner of your eye.

There, to your left, at the end of the street, a being hunched over himself, struggling to stand on weakened limbs.

You would’ve been tempted to call the thing a man, were it not for the dark curved horns that spidered from its scalp, a natural crown that framed its head in obscure beauty. It braced itself on a sword, both clawed hands white knuckled around its hilt. Half its body glistened with black corruption, covering its right leg and weaving through its chest, up past its face and into one horn, splitting it into countless branches that almost looked cancerous. Its other half was covered in skin that was a sickly pale color, not unlike the creamy ash that fell from the newly demolished building just moments ago.

You blinked confusedly at it, a tightness coiling around your chest.

This being…you could feel it’s suffering through the distance between you two. A phantom pain that embedded in your scalp, an animalistic desperation to be freed from its prison.

Within a moment of you realizing you could sense it’s anguish, it slowly raised its head, eyes glazed over and blank. They locked on yours instantly, as if it too could feel that odd connection. Its human face, unblemished by mortal flaws, held no expression as it stared you down, challenging you to act.

It wanted something from you. It needed something from you.

When you remained unmoving, paralyzed by so many strong emotions, it heaved itself up using its sword, standing at a height much taller than any human could hope to reach. Using the rusted weapon as a walking stick, it began to amble forward.

Straight towards you.

Its approach snapped you out of your stupor, and you shuffled back, hesitating only in the name of empathy.

“Uhh…what is that?!” You squeaked, panic burning through your blood again.

“A Soul Divine, corrupt and fallen. The Infernian calls the Adagium ‘master’.”

You halted in your tracks, heart leaping into your throat at the name. You narrowed your eyes at the giant that fumbled towards you clumsily.

The Infernian…

“Ifrit…?” You breathed.

The disgraced Astral gave no reaction when you uttered his name. Weak flames sputtered from his limbs as he limped, face and eyes set in stone.

Dumbfounded, your brain conjured up the belated history you knew of the old god to offer some context. You remembered the lessons you’d received on each deity, lumped together with the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms.

Ifrit, beloved by Solhiem, blessed humanity with his pyromancies to the effect of great prosperity. Yet he had fallen from favor when his people began to forget his love, pleased to take his gift and forget the giver. He grew enraged, bringing about the Astral War, summoning the meteor now eternally perched on The Archaean’s back. The war had weakened all the Astrals once it was done, and they had slumbered in the depths of Eos since those forgotten days. Ifrit in particular had fallen in the craggy mountains of Cleigne, in Lucis, birthing the volcanic Rock of Ravatogh where he rested.

You stared wide eyed at the graceless god as he stumbled, grunting with effort as he dragged himself through the street, his blackened foot scraping on the ground behind him. A phantom pain tickled your left arm, burning with low heat as he came ever closer.

You hadn’t been able to appreciate it from a distance, but the deity really was massive. He loomed above you many times over, and could likely fit you in the palm of his hand. Though even as that horrifying fact began to settle within you, you lost the will to retreat, watching the pain on the Astrals face.

“Ifrit,” you whispered again, your voice filled with elegiac melancholy.

The god stopped just twenty feet away, glaring at you like a troublesome pest. Even as the receiver of such animosity, you felt sympathy flourish and fester, pulsing in time with the pain in your arm.

Before you had been so angry, so offended by the prospect of gods and their double edged pleas.

Yet in the face of one that had been subjugated by some…being you couldn’t even imagine…it felt so tragically sad, how far your guardians had fallen.

“This isn’t like you…” you murmured.

While it was true, the Astral wasn’t exactly well known for his kindness anymore, and he had brought about the meteor, and with it the Starscourge…his actions felt compelled by something entirely different to his distaste for man. His anger had been twisted into a sinister thing, something evil, made a slave to hate and fear. His eyes said it all, clouded with thoughtlessness and pure rage.

“…You’re better than this…”

Neither of you moved for what felt like hours, the air heavy and thick with tension. You rubbed at the discomfort in your arm, trying to make the soreness go away. As your gaze traveled up Ifrit’s body, your breath hitched, as you fully noticed the pattern of the dark tendrils across his form.

It matched the ache that was ravaging your own body. Dulled, to be sure, but the location was the same, down to a T.

It was as you discovered this that the rest of it began to materialize. Fire shot up from your left foot, searing through the tendons of your legs as it traveled upward. Your side and chest started throbbing, the pain creeping up into your head, worming through bone and soft muscle alike. A faint gasp of woe left you, face scrunching together at the sensations.

Experiencing in full what the Astral must be going through, you wished more than ever you could reach out and comfort him.

Ifrit abruptly lurched upward, standing at his full height and peering down at you. You glanced upward, strained grimace plastered on your face.

His own expression finally began to take form, brows drawing down and lips peeling back in a deep, inhuman growl. He slowly reached out one arm, the one afflicted with darkness, opening his palm as flames began to brew along the limb.

You hadn’t the chance to react before they spewed forth, engulfing you in blinding, blazing heat.

Your skin began to simmer, then bubble as it boiled off your flesh. Your clothes were incinerated instantly, your hair baked into exposed muscle. The moisture was sucked from your eyes, before they too began to liquidate and ooze out of their sockets onto your cheeks.

All things considered, you should’ve been crying, should’ve been screaming in unimaginable suffering.

Yet…you felt no pain from it all, even as your body lost its shape and faded into the ground.

Just disappointment. That Ifrit had been reduced to such ruin.

But like a splash of cold water, you were ripped from that gruesome end, your body given form and feeling again. You gasped in shock, squeezing shut your eyes as your skin buzzed with the memory of melting.

“Thou hath done well, my child. Thou hath proven that thine task is fit for thee.”

You squirmed restlessly, tired of being manhandled and thrown around.

“That was some kind of sick test?”

“It was not mine intention, yet it acted well to that effect.”

Your throat hummed in a quiet snarl, once again reduced to a flimsy toy who’s preferences were never considered. Oh, the things you wanted to say to this being.

“I have kept thee for far too long. Thou must return to thine own realm.”

Your own realm? Did that mean -

Before you could even get a word out, the being’s presence and its domain faded, cold reality carrying you away.

———————————————————————

Oh Ifrit. I know he’s responsible for a lot of the bullshit in FFXV, especially considering he brought the Scourge to Eos, but I can’t help pity his fate. Poor dude just wanted to be loved.

And Diamond WEAPON, not something I had originally thought I would include in this fic at all. But I think it worked well here :)

Also again did some self catering. I have both autism and ADHD, so that is why it was mentioned here.

Who’s talking to reader? Hmmm you shall see…

[inveryiswriting]

Hi, so, I accidentally published this without editing well, so I deleted it and was so close to do something drastic. Now, English it's not my first language and I'm too used to narrate in Spanish, just in case.

Okay, now, this is a "tribute" to Wheel Bitten, a webcomic made by @toxooz (An amazing artist with such rich variety of designs, and creator of many of the blorbos that are, currently, eating my brain), because of that, if someone reaches this and hasn't read it yet, here's a link to it.

A tribute for a gentle giant "Tor Gith".

It is something that many of us don’t think about regularly, because we constantly move around, going to different places. But there’s this feeling when you go to certain places, just as your feet touch the ground nearby, looking at the first couples of details that are common to you. Sometimes is dreadful, your throat closes and every inch of your body feels like being pulled away from there.

That doesn’t happens when I go near the skating park. No… no, I feel so light, and it’s not like this place tries to drag me, it just feels right to be there.

The wire fences rise from the ground and stay as the hard skin of this gentle giant. The pavement extends, scratched by wheels and long forgotten falls. The rails, as I like to call those, the bones, have seen so much pain and bruises, but also every bit of comfort that came afterwards. Like everything, here I have dropped so many tears, but none of those were bitter, just empty reactions after the physical pain of it all.

As I get near, even with no lights around, I remember my way into this place. How my heavy tail sways from side to side and grazes the floor, the way my shoes hit underneath me and the wind goes against my long fur.

I skate around, feeling kinda lonely, but I just need to cool off. My balance is not the best to do many tricks, but I keep going, just like Ollie always tells us. For pain is another casualty that can catch you with every step, and now I’m lucky that it doesn’t go deeper than my skin.

It doesn’t feel that right to be here… it’s a weird feeling, like being around school after class. There’s no one around and… now, more than ever, I kinda hate being so shy, because I miss having them around.

I’m safe here, I survive because of this place, but it would be nice to live. The difference between living and surviving is how much you struggle to keep your head up at the sky, and now, the stars above seem brighter than ever.

It’s kinda stupid to be skating while looking anywhere else than the floor, so, naturally, I fell hard to the ground.

And now there’s no face peeking over me to make sure I’m okay, just the stary night sky. Somehow, everything feels more real here, in Tor Gith, or just our skatepark, where even the sensations are allowed to rise above the gray surroundings.

As I breath in, my lungs fill and my chest loses the grip it has on so much shit.

I stand up, reaching with a hand at the jaws behind my head, checking that the wires of my braces haven’t popped off. Just standing here, wishing for this place to open up and swallow me whole, keep me here until the morning, hoping for someone to come early and be here.

I can actually be here, waiting for company.

The skatepark sleeps at night, with no flow of monsters to keep it awake and thrilled. But now it stays with one eye open, watching over me. Maybe I’m just dumb and sad, but that thought feels nice. Something bigger… something special taking care of me.

This place was left alone to rot, from what I remember to hear, both from others and my parents. It grew bitter and alone, the stagnant water of rain filling the bowl like an empty stomach. With fallen trees that broke its skin. The floor used to be cracked and scarred from neglect. Until someone came and pumped life into it again, healing and working on every inch that was left alone.

It could’ve been forgotten and never explored again, but now the skatepark’s life comes along everyone that goes around and inside of it. The heart of a place beats for everything that exists within.

I’m just one, but thinking that I’m still capable of keeping it awake is a comforting feeling.

This place is nothing without its people, and I feel that I’m no one without it. For monsters bring the magic that made this place so warm and happy, keeping this air of family and belonging. For all that may desire to be somewhere, this skatepark stays day and night waiting for them, and many of us wait to be able to come here and live as if there’s nothing outside this breathing walls.

There was someone for this park, someone that saw so much potential into something that may have looked like an impossible project, or even a dead thing that should’ve been left to rot and eaten away. But it only needed someone to believe in it.

And I love that you did it, a beacon for everyone that needs it.

[0613magazine]

040723 Billboard

BTS’ SUGA Returns as Agust D to Tackle Loneliness, Humanity & Being Acknowledged

Back under his solo moniker, SUGA is feeling two decades of songwriting and producing connect universally: "We're finally getting recognized as musicians."

Most famously known as SUGA from BTS — but also by the solo moniker Agust D, as well as birth name Min Yoongi — the artist who works as a rapper, singer, producer, dancer, fashion muse and NBA ambassador wants to remind listeners that, above all, he is a human.

Today, April 7, marks the return of Agust D, the name SUGA uses when releasing solo projects away from BTS, with the new single “People Pt.2” featuring K-pop superstar IU. Not only does it mark the duo’s latest collaboration after teaming for the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart “eight” from May 2020, it also acts as an extension from “People,” a fan-favorite cut from Agust D’s D-2 mixtape released that same month. While the original “People” saw SUGA reflecting on himself and meditating on how others judge and change, Part 2 longs for connection with others.

As multifaceted as SUGA’s world is, loneliness is a permanent source of inspiration and intrigue for the 30-year-old. Hours before “People Pt.2” drops worldwide, his call with Billboard occurs alongside multiple international teams who work around the clock for SUGA and BIGHIT MUSIC artists. Some are beside him physically, others via Zoom connection virtually — but loneliness remains a muse for the star, assisting him in searching within and speaking to listeners in larger, universal ways.

Since its debut, BTS’ musical appeal has reached globally largely through the septet’s extended metaphors and imagery, translating into accessible storytelling alongside boundary-pushing compositions and choreography. SUGA’s range of material is vast, after producing on essentially every BTS album, not to mention scoring high-profile collaborations with everyone from Halsey and Juice WRLD to Epik High and Japan’s ØMI. But now, he’s emphasizing the topics that move him personally — and ensuring he’s properly heard.

Despite an already packed spring and summer with album promo, his solo world tour, ambassadorship duties and a YouTube series, SUGA cheekily closes out our chat (“Yeah, it’s f–king busy,” he says with a wink) since he has no time to waste. Read on as he narrows in on the release of “People Pt.2” and all that’s led up to this reflective pop/hip-hop collaboration.

We’re hours away from the release of “People Pt.2,” your official return as Agust D for your D-Day album. Is there a different mindset when you prepare music as Agust D versus solo or as SUGA alongside BTS?

SUGA: They’re all music made by the person called Min Yoongi. So, I don’t actually have a very different mindset for each moniker — but I would say that the purposes could be somewhat different. Ultimately, the goal of releasing this music is for as many people to listen to my music as possible. So, “People Pt.2” was made thinking about how people will receive Agust D’s music, which is why we also featured IU. It’s kind of a trial to release this music under the name Agust D. I’m actually a little bit worried.

“People Pt.2” (featuring IU) of course follows up “People” from the D-2 mixtape. What was important about continuing this story with IU?

This is a story that you’ll personally love: The title wasn’t originally “People Pt.2.” Actually, “People” from D-2 is personally my favorite song — and we actually worked on “People Pt.2” three years ago. When I was releasing my pictorial [Photo-Folio Wholly or Whole Me] photo shoot, the company actually revealed the guide [demo] version and gave a glimpse of it to the public. But anyway, it was already finished when we were working on D-2 so I was thinking, “Oh, I should release this, I should release this.” But we had to get on with “Butter” and “Dynamite” so we didn’t get the chance.

Originally, the title was “Sara (사라),” without the “M (ㅁ)” consonant in Korean — because that’s, like, one consonant less than the word “saram (사람),” which is Korean for “people.” Depending on whichever consonant you put at the end of the word sara (사라), it can become “saram (사람)” and “people,” or it can become “sarang 사랑,” or “love” in Korean. So, it’s the listener’s choice to put which consonant you want at the end of “sara” (사라). But I had my friend listen to this son and people heard it as “sal-ah (살아)” which kind of means “live” in Korean and I was like, “This is not going to work.” So, we finalized the title to be “People” in the end.

And some people call me August D, some people call me Ah-gust D, but I’m actually Agust D. So, you know, people take my name differently and we had to sync the person SUGA and Agust D. This is a song that kind of matches that sync. We need that bridge and sync between my mixtape and this official solo album. In order to put that sync together, I had to make this a very pop song. We didn’t try to make the music video that intense — and, in that sense, IU really played an important role in doing that. I also think this is a genre that I can do best, this pop-focused song.

There’s this sync between songs, but the themes and lyrics are very different, right? “People” was self-reflective and examined other people’s judgments, but “People Pt.2” seems more about connection and fighting loneliness. What most differentiates the two in your mind?

In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside.

So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too.

This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a “Part 3” later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, “Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.”

I like that — because even in the Road to D-Day documentary trailer, there’s a moment you say you frequently consider quitting music. But when people come together, it makes you realize you can do it and have fun. Does this tie into themes of “People Pt.2”?

This is kind of a difficult topic, because I started making music and writing lyrics [when] I was 11 or 12 years old. I’ve been making music for all these years, and now I’m 30. It wasn’t easy writing “People Pt.2,” and the album overall, but people really don’t know the whole process of that. Even though I’d been making music more than half of my life — and I’m just saying this because you understand this, Jeff — when we first started in the K-pop scene, we were in this ambiguous position of not being accepted as musicians and not being accepted as idols either. But the musicians close to me know that I’m very serious and sincere in music and that I’m a very natural person.

So, the documentary started as I just wanted to capture and show this process. It started with the purpose of showing SUGA as a producer and songwriter, but it kind of ended up having the worldview of an album-making process. I tried to show the normal, individual side of me as much as possible, but as I am a Korean idol, or K-idol, a lot of scenes were edited out; there were more of those natural scenes and some very good scenes that couldn’t make it in the final version. The documentary and “People Pt.2” try to reveal the natural side of the human Min Yoongi. I just wanted to show that I am this humane person. I am just a human.

You need to release your “Director’s Cut” one day. While D-Day and the documentary are coming, I want to congratulate you on the worldwide release of D-2 and Agust D this week. My favorite song, “Agust D” with the sample of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” was finally added to streaming too. You shared how J. Cole approved BTS’ “Born Singer” sample, what can you share about the process with James Brown‘s estate?

I released Agust D when I was still very young, so, even as I listen to it now, it kind of sounds immature — if you listen to the tone, the rap itself wasn’t very organized, I wanted to do a lot of things at that time. It just kind of keeps going very tightly and quickly. But after doing so much various and diverse music, I think that people love the songs that have been released more recently than the songs that were released back then. So, I kind of dare say that people are starting to recognize and acknowledge these songs now. Since the musician actually passed away, I think it was the family who decided to acknowledge it.

Same thing with [clearing] “Born Sinner” — and I don’t know what the path was for the musician themselves, but it was clear. And I take it as that I, as BTS, and Min Yoongi, and SUGA, and Agust D, was acknowledged as a musician. I’m really not thinking that broader consumers or audiences will accept it, because it’s not really popular music. Still, I would dare assume that it’s getting cleared because we’re finally getting recognized as musicians.

Source: Billboard

[madamlaydebug]

Eye was asked what is BLACK ROOT SCIENCE? BRIEF SUMMARY!

Our earth and solar system were created 78 trillion years ago. As soon as the earth was ready, 144,000 ancestors came from another star system, the star called Sirius that was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. They inhabited the earth after preparing it by seeding it with plant and animal life. After about 7,000 years since their arrival, their population increased from 144,000 to one billion eight million (1b8m).

This number, 1b8m, is the most sacred number in creation. It is the total number of original people who inhabited the first earth of our universe countless trillions of years ago. Thus every earth inhabited thereafter keeps this number as their final and stable population. It was determined to be the ideal number of people that can inhabit a planet the size of earth in complete comfort, without imposing on each other or on the natural resources, as well as on the animals and plants. That enables complete freedom of movement for all life on the planet, and this is essential for peace, prosperity, and spiritual growth (the gaining of knowledge).

The reason why the number is specifically 1b8m is described in the mathematics section of BlackRoots Science.

The first earth mentioned above, was created by the b8m original Gods from the stars of the previous universe. They had existed in that previous universe, toward its end, along with trillions upon countless trillions of other people, in a state of mind called divine unity, or the oneness of God. It is a state of mind where all the people in the universe unite as one. This One is God in truth, not the 'spirit' God of modern religions.

When the trillions upon trillions of people at the end of the previous universe were united as one, they experienced an indescribable expansion of their minds, which were as one mind. It expanded to such an extent that it not only circumscribed their entire universe, but exceeded its boundaries by an immeasurable extent. The One Mind, or God, became so large that the previous universe could no longer contain him/her. He/she felt a need for a larger universe in which the experience of life would continue. The trillions upon trillions of people, still united as one, then decided to abandon that universe. They consciously left their perfected bodies and rose in mind far above the universe. They then looked down on it and saw it as a small sphere, the way our earth looks when seen from high above in space.

Now, the mind is always attached to the body. There is no such thing as a mind without a body, as so-called 'spiritualists' would like us to believe. The mind can extend beyond the outer reaches of space, even expand infinitely, but a magnetic attraction always attaches it to the physical body. The magnetic attraction dissipates at death, and the mind and individual personality, or soul, then ascends. I will discuss ascension at a later time.

The unified mind of the people, who were as One Person, was so immense that the stars appeared to be the size of atoms. As this Person was contemplating the universal sphere, he/she saw that it was adequate for habitation as a new earth, with all the stars being its atoms. He/she made one billion eight million new bodies corresponding to the size of the new earth, using some of its substance (the stars/atoms). Then he/she disconnected the magnetic connection to the old bodies and left them in the old universe. The 1b8m Gods then descended upon the new earth into the new bodies and became the first inhabitants.

The matter of every star and planet in the universe is created in seven forms. In modern words these are magnetism, electricity, light, ether, gases, liquids, and solids. The fourth substance, ether, is the central supporting substance of the other six. It is the womb of creation called space. It is black in color, as one can see by looking out into space at night. This absolute blackness called space not only supports the other substances, but it also gives individual color to all objects because the color black contains all other colors in itself. Hence when the b8m original Gods made themselves new bodies, they covered them in skin whose color is black, getting it directly from the ether. Because the Gods create all plants and animals from their own bodies, they need to have all colors stored in a single color in their creative germ, which is called the dark dominant germ or gene, the source of what modern people call melanin.

Upon arriving on the first earth, the One Mind of God incarnated instantly in 1b8m bodies, as already said. Half of them (504,000,000) were female and the other half were male. Each pair of male/female Gods are called soul mates. They always create in soul mate pairs, even when in large groups, because all creation has a male/female or negative/positive principle (negative is not used in a derogatory sense, but as the complement of positive). The b8m original people then proceeded to instantly create perfect plants and animals, called the original totems, from which all evolutionary life forms evolved. They also proceeded to create new stars and planets around the first earth by condensing part of their expanded mind. After living on that first earth for more than a trillion years, they finalized the plans for the completion of a new, much larger universe. They then gave birth to their descendents, and then passed out of life (ascended). Before passing, they established the society of the Black Nation.

They established it by withdrawing from or leaving their divine unity, in which they had existed for over a trillion years. They did this in order to be able to bring new life into the world, new persons who had never existed before, such as you and me. At the same time, in order to ensure the continuity of eternity, these same b8m original Gods continue to incarnate in the new people. They reside in the unconscious part of the person's mind and are called the mind of God, or the divine gift of ancestral memory (or what modern people call the spirit of God). Thus every Black person, even though he or she is born brand new, is simultaneously one of the b8m original Gods. Only the personality is new. The spirit is old, even eternal.

The b8m original people all withdrew from the divine unity except 24 people, 12 men and 12 women. They became the Kings and Queens called the 24 Elders, who are really 12 Gods or 12 soul mate couples. The 24 Elders are called the custodians of divine unity.

The 12 Gods chose 12 assistants each and called them the 144 Chiefs. The Gods divided the population into 12 tribes of 84 million people. They further divided each tribe into 6 clans, and set 2 Chiefs, a man and a woman, as the heads of each clan. The Chiefs chose 1,000 people each and called them the 144,000 Judges. They sent them in soul mate pairs all over the earth to set the foundations for 72,000 cities. Each couple took about 14,000 people with them to establish their city.

This was the basic organization of the Black Nation established by the original Gods on the first earth. When other earths were completed and settlers sent to them, this organization was repeated and remains as the divine form of Kingdom/Queendom on every inhabited earth throughout the universe.

The original Gods also established 7 great rituals of initiation to be used by the leaders to elevate all new people to divine unity. God's purpose for creating universe after universe is to increase himself/herself. Every person who completes the seven great rituals becomes full God, exactly like the original people. At that moment of completion, God rediscovers himself/herself anew, as if he/she had never existed before. That is how God renews himself/herself, thus overcoming the stagnancy that would be the case in an eternally all-knowing being who never changes.

In addition to the 7 great rituals, the original people also established many other rituals and customs covering every area of science and life. They then initiated the leaders of their descendents into this knowledge before passing. Their initiation rituals have been faithfully transmitted from generation to generation since the beginning.

On our earth, this form of divine rule existed uninterrupted for 78 trillion years, until 6,000 years ago, when a certain God decided it was time for all the other Gods (you and me) to experience that part of us contained in what is called the non-creative recessive light germ. He caused the birth of new races of people, the non-Blacks, who would be the vehicles to manifest all that is in that gene.

All things, without exception, are contained in God. God will experience all that is contained in him/her. He/she knows all, but has not experienced all. He/she uses the creation for this purpose of experiencing all that is known, including what is called evil. Hence 6,000 years ago, a God by the name of Yahweh, called Yakub in other ancient scripts, was born here on our earth. He together with about 60,000 volunteers who are called the Elohim made the non-Blacks in our image. They made them by suppressing the dominant black gene and slowly unfolding the recessive light gene over a period of seven generations of offspring, or 200 years. This caused the appearance of the first light race, born to Black people. After another 200 years of deliberate and careful breeding, they caused the second light race to appear out of the first. Then 200 years later the third race appeared and finally, 66 years after the appearance of the 3rd race (yellow race) the 4th race (caucasians) appeared. These 60,000 people, Yahweh and the Elohim, thus initiated the modern age and the process that would eventually bring our divine Kingdom to a temporary end.

That in brief is the sacred history leading from the first earth to our earth, and to the present situation or cycle called evil, which was preordained to last for 6,000 years.

[aura-acolyte]

Off-Screen Event: The Final Battle Pt. 1

(Music Box: Team Galactic Appears! from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl)

“Who the hell are you!” Kazoku shouted at the flying woman.

“Normally I’m not one for theatrics but since there’s not much you can do to stop me anyways, I’ll indulge for a bit.” The woman said. “My name is J and I am a Pokemon Hunter. The best of the best. And you have just handed me the last piece I need to complete my mission.” “Mission? What mission?” Mare asked.

“Not very smart, are you.” J said dismissively. “I’m here to capture Mew, of course. And I’ll succeed too.”

“We won’t let you!” Mare shouted.

“Oh, won’t you?” J asked.

She tapped a button on her gauntlet and fired off a large energy net. None of the five were able to dodge out of the way in time and were immediately pinned down. They struggled but only wound up shocked.

J landed. She took a music box out from seemingly nowhere and placed it on the ground in front of her. Out of her coat pocket she produced two more pyramids just like the one found in Regirock, one silver and one blue. She placed each one in a slot on the music box and it popped open and began to play.

(Music Box: A Farewell to Kirby from Kirby Star Allies)

As the music box played pink light began to swirl in front of it. Sparkles flew every which way like stardust. Eventually, it all came together to form a bubble, inside of which was a sleeping Mew. The bubble popped and Mew opened its eyes. “Mew.” It said blearily. 

It got no chance to wake up as it was immediately turned to stone by J’s gauntlet. J grabbed it out of the air before it fell and affixed a device to it, which turned into a glass case.

“And here my pathetic daughter is wasting her time with Snag Balls.” She scoffed. Wait, did this mean she was Victoria’s mom? The resemblance was there. “Nothing more than toys compared to my tech.” She reactivated her jetpack and rose up into the air. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I’ll be taking my leave. I’d say it’s been a pleasure but it hasn’t.”

“Not so fast!” A male voice called out. 

J gritted her teeth. She recognized that voice. She turned to see who else but the Team Rocket Trio standing atop a cliff wearing… jetpacks?

(Music Box: Team Rocket Motto (Kanto Version) from Pokemon: The Series)

“Prepare for Trouble!” Jessie shouted.

“Make it Double!” James shouted.

“To protect the world from devastation!”

“To unite all people within our nation!”

“To denounce the evils of Truth and Love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!” “Jessie!”

“And James!” “Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!” “Surrender now or prepare to fight!” “Meowth! Dat’s right!” “Wobbuffet!”

“What are you idiots doing here!” J snarled.

“We're ain’t gonna letcha nab dat Mew!” Meowth shouted.

“What!” J shouted, incredulous. “I’m stealing this for your boss! What’ll he say when he finds out you idiots messed this up!”

“So we’ll get a few demerits.” James said flippantly. “We’ll be back by next week. We’re too popular to fire.”

“It doesn’t matter what the boss does to us.” Jessie said defiantly. “We were there on New Island. We can’t allow another Mewtwo to be created.” “Wobbuffet!” Wobbuffet agreed.

(Music Box: Battle! Team Galactic Commander from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl)

The three of them activated their jetpacks and dived downwards. James went straight for J while Meowth nabbed the frozen Mew as well as a knife like object from her belt. He tossed the object to Jessie who flew down to the five heroes.

“Team Rocket?” Riley said, confused.

“These weirdos are Team Rocket?” Mare asked.

“Yes, yes we’re over dramatic drama queens get it out of your system.” Jessie said dismissively. “Now hold still.” 

The knife-like object, as it turned out, was a knife. A laser knife. She used it to cut the energy net binding them. Do not ask how that works.

“Thanks.” Riley said. “But why-”

“We already said why, weren’t you paying attention?” Jessie said with her hands on her hips. “Listen, twerps, this is a temporary truce. After this we go back to being evil. Now come on, lets beat this breakout bitch.”

Up in the air, J broke away from James and dived after Meowth.

“Quick! Hit her with one of your aura ball things before she reaches Meowth!” Jessie shouted.

“Aura Sphere.” Kazoku corrected flatly.

“Whatever.” Jessie said. “Just hit her!”

“On it!” Mare shouted.

She drew back her hands and fired off an Aura sphere, hitting J square on and knocking her out of her flight trajectory.

“Why you!” She shouted. 

She reached into her coat and took out two Pokeballs. She tossed them in the air and out popped two of the strangest Pokemon any of them had ever seen. One was a strange feathery Salamence, similar to a Mega Salamence and yet very different. The other was a robotic Gallade with a double bladed laser glaive.

[xasha777]

In the far reaches of the galaxy, on the planet Aquafera, the oceans shimmered with bioluminescent life forms and golden algae, creating an ethereal glow. Aquafera was known for its unique spice trade, centered around a rare and valuable substance called AquaGold. This spice, derived from the golden algae, had properties that enhanced cognitive abilities and extended lifespans, making it the most sought-after commodity in the galaxy.

Amara, a young woman with flowing golden hair and eyes that mirrored the ocean's depths, was the guardian of the AquaGold. Her people, the Nereidans, had been the custodians of the planet's riches for centuries. Their bond with the ocean was deep, and they possessed an innate ability to control the currents and communicate with the marine life.

One day, as Amara was diving to the depths to harvest the AquaGold, she sensed a disturbance in the water. She surfaced to find a massive spaceship hovering above the ocean, its metallic surface gleaming in the sunlight. The ship bore the insignia of the Spiceraiders, a notorious group of space pirates who plundered planets for valuable resources.

Amara quickly swam to the shore, where she was met by her mentor, Elder Nerida. "The Spiceraiders are here," Amara said, her voice tinged with urgency. "We must protect the AquaGold."

Elder Nerida nodded. "We have prepared for this day. The Nereidans will stand together to defend our home."

As the Spiceraiders descended upon the ocean, Amara led her people in a defense unlike any other. The Nereidans used their control over the water to create powerful currents, pushing the invaders back and disrupting their ships. The ocean itself seemed to rise in anger, with massive waves crashing against the Spiceraiders' vessels.

In the midst of the chaos, Amara felt a presence in her mind. It was the leader of the Spiceraiders, Captain Voss, attempting to communicate. "You cannot win, Nereidan," his voice echoed in her thoughts. "Surrender the AquaGold, and we will spare your people."

Amara focused her mind, pushing back against his intrusion. "We will never surrender our home. Leave now, or face the wrath of Aquafera."

With a surge of energy, Amara summoned a massive whirlpool, drawing the Spiceraiders' ships into its vortex. The ocean roared as the invaders were pulled beneath the waves, their ships torn apart by the relentless currents.

As the battle subsided, the Nereidans emerged victorious. The Spiceraiders had been defeated, their threat to Aquafera vanquished. Amara stood on the shore, her golden hair glistening in the sunlight, a symbol of hope and strength for her people.

Elder Nerida approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You have done well, Amara. The AquaGold is safe, and our people are protected."

Amara smiled, looking out at the vast ocean. "The spice trade will continue, but on our terms. Aquafera will remain a beacon of light in the galaxy, a testament to the power of unity and the strength of the ocean."

And so, the legend of Amara, the golden-haired guardian of Aquafera, spread across the stars, inspiring generations to come. The planet continued to thrive, its oceans a source of wonder and its people a symbol of resilience and harmony with nature.

[treasureyourfire]

(Eng)

Day 2

26.01.2024

My card of the day:

The Star

Unfortunately, I no longer remember the events of the day when I received this card, but probably, there was no event in the physical world that I could relate to. Either it wanted to lead me to something about my inner world, or the card could point to the current stage of my life in general.

The following list was compiled for my own situation, it does not contain a complete, comprehensive description of the given card.

Thoughts and inspirations from several sources:

"... you have connected with your true life path." ... "Duality meets: who you are on the earth plane and who you really are." ... "You have met a part of your life plan that fits into the Cosmic Plan..." - Teremtő-Tarot Modellezés

I trust this.

"The Star is the card of hope, wisdom and the discovery of deeper connections. It shows that we are planning or launching things that extend into the distant future and that we can legitimately hope for a positive development. At this early stage, we are often not even aware of the far-reaching impact of our actions. It is only when we look back at the events that it becomes clear to us how decisive the change of direction that the Star signaled at that time was. Like the greening of a seed, realizing the results of this action also takes time. The traditional interpretation sees the Star as one of the three protective cards, which promises joyful success." - tarrdaniel.com

"The card means that the Questioner's great desire will be fulfilled if he is willing to make sacrifices for it." ... "It doesn't have to be a huge sacrifice beyond your strength. It is enough if the victim is conscious. This awareness gives its true value. Sacrifice, resignation can be anything. Even a very small thing: a bad habit or charity, etc.” - Ágnes Székelyhidi

"... after stumbling in the dark, the light finally shines in our lives - even in the sense that we suddenly or gradually become enlightened in connection with a tormenting question or dilemma."

"Water is an element of renewal, a fresh start, and purification, and indeed: card 17 indicates that we are leaving behind a previous phase of life and a new chapter in our destiny is beginning. In doing so, we have to give up the old, ingrained habits and behavior models that still belonged to our former self - that is, it is worthwhile to wash off the impurities of the past in a spiritual and spiritual sense. The other symbols also refer to freedom, liberation, the breaking of barriers: the bird roams freely in the sky, but usually the bird symbol represents our higher, divine self. It can also mean that we are entering a phase of life where it will be worthwhile to listen to our internal "compass" (the higher self) in our decisions instead of the outside world." ... "...let's dare to be ourselves, let's even take a sharp turn in our lives - even if it seems bold, and maybe we're actually faced with the incomprehension of our environment."

"The Star here is also our lucky star. This card is encouraging: it indicates that our sufferings are over, that luck is finally smiling on us. If we draw this card, we may have big plans in the near future..." ... "And since the star is also a symbol of distance and cosmic horizons, it has an even more important message: now it is worth looking at our lives from above, comprehensively: looking back into the past, taking stock of what has happened so far, analyze the present and – with sufficient wisdom – plan the future.” - Boglárka Kincses

"Advice: believe that everything is getting better! Look to the future with confidence and expect the best! Be an optimist and let better opportunities gradually open up to you! Expand your horizons! You are on the road to recovery and improvement! Don't lose sight of your goals!" - tudatkulcs.hu

"The Star is also called the "Leading Light". This can be taken as a deep understanding that the chosen path is the right one, that the end of this path is good, and that there is perfect harmony between psychic feelings and physical actions.” - babbajosda.blog.hu

"This card often appears when we need perseverance, when the goal is still far away. But it often appears when someone is thinking about giving up. In such cases, they tell with the Star that you are on the right track... just keep doing it." - Tarottia (Facebook)

The quintessence of number 17:

The path of acquiring cosmic knowledge, which leads to harmonious, well-thought-out decisions (VIII. Balance/Justice)

Keywords:

Incentive, Motivation

Trust (in self and in the larger whole)

Faith

Hope

Intuition (Listen to your inner voice.)

Contemplation, retreat

Consciousness

"Spiritual Rebellion"

Practicing spirituality

Let's look at our situation from a bird's eye view

Connection, communication with the higher self

"Let your star rise and stay in touch with the earth." (Harmony)

It is as if our inner and outer eyes are opened

End of a difficult period, rest

Joyful distant future

Long-term favorable development

Desire, Fulfillment of desires

(It is important to clarify in ourselves exactly what our desires are! Let's turn inward and study ourselves.)

[sanjaylodh]

nuclear fusion in the sun

nuclear fusion in the sun

Due to which hydrogen is changing into helium and energy is also being created.

Is the Sun's energy limited to plasma or is it spread throughout the solar system through rays?

Most of the Sun's energy reaching Earth consists of visible light and infrared radiation but some is in the form of plasma and solar wind particles. Other forms of radiation from the Sun can reach Earth as part of the solar wind, but in smaller amounts and with longer travel times.

The Sun's radius, or distance from the very center to the outer edge, is about 700,000 kilometers (432,000 mi). That distance is about 109 times the size of Earth's radius. Not only is the Sun's radius much larger than Earth's, but its mass is also much greater. The mass of the Sun is 333,000 times that of Earth, and comprises about 99.8 percent of the mass of the entire Solar System!

Sun

wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org ›Wiki›Ravi

The Sun is the star located at the center of the solar system. It is a huge, hot ball of plasma, inflated and heated by the energy generated by nuclear fusion.

solar radiation basics

Department of Energy (.gov)

https://www.energy.gov › here › solar-radiation-basics

Learn the basics of solar radiation, also called sunlight or solar resources, which is a general term for the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the Sun.

Missing: Plasma ‎| Show results with: plasma

The solar wind is created by the outward expansion of plasma (a collection of charged particles) from the Sun's corona (the outermost atmosphere). This plasma continuously heats up to such an extent that the Sun's gravity cannot stop it. It then travels along the Sun's magnetic field lines which extend radially outward. As the Sun rotates (once every 27 days), it twists its magnetic field lines over its polar regions into a large rotating spiral, creating a constant stream of "wind".

Such emissions, or streamers, are thought to come from large bright patches called "coronal holes" in the Sun's corona, as seen in the image above. The magnetic field lines of these coronal holes extend outward, their ends pulled by the solar wind. They extend so far that they create an interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), which surrounds all the planets in our solar system!

Above the Sun's active sunspot regions (dark areas caused by magnetic disturbances), at the surface or photospheric layer, loops of magnetic field lines trap and retain some of the plasma.

How is the Sun's energy spread in the solar system?

Energy from the Sun travels through space in waves called radiation. This can take many forms, including light, heat, and ultraviolet radiation. Not all of this radiation reaches the Earth's surface.

What are the three types of energy received from the Sun?

Sun is a powerhouse of energy. It provides us with heat energy, light energy and solar energy. Also, solar energy is a renewable source of energy.

By the way, this energy is being generated only due to the nuclear fusion of hydrogen in our Sun.

By fusing the hydrogen we are always in fear of the atomic bomb exploding.

Friends, you will be shocked, this hydrogen is ruling our entire universe.

Translate Hindi

सूर्य में न्यूक्लियर फ्यूजन 

जिसके कारण हाइड्रोजन हीलियम में हो रहा है परिवर्तन साथ में एनार्जी की भी हो रहा है गठन

क्या सूर्य का एनार्जी प्लाज्मा तक सीमाबद्ध है या किरणें जरिए फैल रहा है पूरे सौरमंडल में

पृथ्वी तक पहुँचने वाली सूर्य की अधिकांश ऊर्जा में दृश्य प्रकाश और अवरक्त विकिरण शामिल है लेकिन कुछ प्लाज्मा और सौर वायु कणों के रूप में है। सूर्य से विकिरण के अन्य रूप सौर हवा के हिस्से के रूप में पृथ्वी तक पहुंच सकते हैं, लेकिन कम मात्रा में और लंबी यात्रा के समय के साथ।

सूर्य की त्रिज्या, या बिल्कुल केंद्र से बाहरी सीमा तक की दूरी, लगभग 700,000 किलोमीटर (432,000 मील) है। वह दूरी पृथ्वी की त्रिज्या के आकार का लगभग 109 गुना है। सूर्य की न केवल त्रिज्या पृथ्वी से कहीं अधिक बड़ी है, बल्कि उसका द्रव्यमान भी कहीं अधिक है। सूर्य का द्रव्यमान पृथ्वी के द्रव्यमान से 333,000 गुना अधिक है, और इसमें पूरे सौर मंडल के द्रव्यमान का लगभग 99.8 प्रतिशत शामिल है!

सूरज

विकिपीडिया

https://en.wikipedia.org ›विकी›रवि

सूर्य सौर मंडल के केंद्र में स्थित तारा है। यह प्लाज्मा की एक विशाल, गर्म गेंद है, जो परमाणु संलयन द्वारा उत्पन्न ऊर्जा द्वारा फुलाई और गर्म की जाती है।

सौर विकिरण मूल बातें

ऊर्जा विभाग (.gov)

https://www.energy.gov › यहां › सौर-विकिरण-बुनियादी बातें

सौर विकिरण की मूल बातें जानें, जिसे सूर्य का प्रकाश या सौर संसाधन भी कहा जाता है, जो सूर्य द्वारा उत्सर्जित विद्युत चुम्बकीय विकिरण के लिए एक सामान्य शब्द है।

गुम: प्लाज्मा ‎| इसके साथ परिणाम दिखाएं: प्लाज्मा

सौर हवा सूर्य के कोरोना (सबसे बाहरी वातावरण) से प्लाज्मा (आवेशित कणों का एक संग्रह) के बाहरी विस्तार से निर्मित होती है। यह प्लाज़्मा लगातार इस हद तक गर्म होता है कि सूर्य का गुरुत्वाकर्षण इसे रोक नहीं पाता। इसके बाद यह सूर्य की चुंबकीय क्षेत्र रेखाओं के साथ यात्रा करता है जो रेडियल रूप से बाहर की ओर बढ़ती है। जैसे ही सूर्य घूमता है (प्रत्येक 27 दिनों में एक बार), यह अपने ध्रुवीय क्षेत्रों के ऊपर अपनी चुंबकीय क्षेत्र रेखाओं को एक बड़े घूर्णन सर्पिल में बदल देता है, जिससे "हवा" की एक निरंतर धारा बनती है।

ऐसा माना जाता है कि इस तरह के उत्सर्जन, या स्ट्रीमर, सूर्य के कोरोना में "कोरोनल होल" कहे जाने वाले बड़े चमकीले पैच से आते हैं, जैसा कि ऊपर की छवि में देखा गया है। इन कोरोनल छिद्रों की चुंबकीय क्षेत्र रेखाएं बाहर की ओर फैली हुई हैं, उनके सिरे सौर हवा द्वारा खींचे जाते हैं। वे इतनी दूर तक फैलते हैं कि वे एक अंतरग्रहीय चुंबकीय क्षेत्र (आईएमएफ) बनाते हैं, जो हमारे सौर मंडल के सभी ग्रहों को घेर लेता है!

सूर्य के सक्रिय सनस्पॉट क्षेत्रों (चुंबकीय गड़बड़ी के कारण होने वाले अंधेरे क्षेत्र) के ऊपर, सतह या फोटोस्फेरिक परत पर, चुंबकीय क्षेत्र रेखाओं के लूप कुछ प्लाज्मा को फंसाते हैं और उसे रोके रखते हैं।

सूर्य की ऊर्जा सौर मंडल में किस प्रकार फैलती है?

सूर्य से निकलने वाली ऊर्जा विकिरण नामक तरंगों में अंतरिक्ष में यात्रा करती है। यह प्रकाश, गर्मी और पराबैंगनी विकिरण सहित कई रूप ले सकता है। यह सारा विकिरण पृथ्वी की सतह तक नहीं पहुंचता है।

सूर्य से प्राप्त होने वाली ऊर्जा के तीन प्रकार कौन से हैं?

सूर्य ऊर्जा का पावरहाउस है। यह हमें ऊष्मा ऊर्जा, प्रकाश ऊर्जा और सौर ऊर्जा प्रदान करता है। साथ ही, सौर ऊर्जा ऊर्जा का एक नवीकरणीय स्रोत है।

वैसे यह एनार्जी या ऊर्जा गठित हो रहा है सिर्फ हाइड्रोजन वाली न्यूक्लियर फ्यूजन की कारण हमारी सूर्य़ में

जिस हाइड्रोजन को फ्यूज करके हम हमेशा परमाणु बंब की फटने फटाने की दुश्चिंता में आतंकित रहते है

दोस्तों आप सिहरित हो उठोगे हमारी सारा ब्रक्ष्मांड में राज किए जा रहा है यह हाइड्रोजन

[tuilathu]

A place called Here - Cecelia Ahern

1. Helana added another log to the dying fire and its weight sent a pile of adolescent ashes racing one another down the side of the burning tower. The flames were awakened from the embers and sleepily began to climb up the log, casting out heat to Helana and me.

2. It was on that holiday he learned where and how the great river began, slowly and quietly at first in County Cavan before it picked up speed, gathering the secrets and spirit of each county with each part of soil it eroded. Each tributary was like an artery being pumped from the heart of the county, whispering its secrets in hushed and excited babbles until it eventually carried them to the Atlantic where they were lost with the rest of the world's whispered hopes and regrets.

3. "You can't hold on to all things forever, no matter how hard you grip them".

4. It was rich and alive, bursting at the seams with color and sound as though we'd followed the path of a pulse to reach the heart of the woods. And there it pumped, people flowing here, there and everywhere.

5. Each time my lids grew heavy and neared closing, another question would be flung from the depths of my mind, forcing my lids to open again.

6. Her green eyes sparkled like emeralds against her snow-white skin and glinted as they caught the sunlight streaming through the tall trees.

7. Sticks cracked beneath my trainers, the ground was soft and bouncy, covered with layers of fallen, now decayed leaves, bark, pine cones and velvet-like moss. Mist hovered like wispy cotton wool above my head and stretched to the tips of the trees. The lofty thin trunks extended up like towering wooden pencils that colored the sky. During the day they tinted the ceiling a clear blue, shading wispy clouds and orange pigment, and now by night the charcoaled tips, burned from the hot sun, darkened the heavens. The sky twinkled with a million stars, all winking at me, sharing between them a secret of the world I could never know.

8. There was a light tap on the door and it was gently opened by a man so tall and broad he filled the doorframe. White light impatiently squeezed itself through the small spaces he didn't fill, shooting into my eyes like spears of fire direct from the sun.

9. The sun was rising over the trees in the distance, casting orange hues over the blue light, like a giant orange squeezing its colorful juice over the villages, the trees, the mountains and fields, and allowing the liquid light to flow like a stream down the pathways.

10. "Never easier but a little less hard, perhaps. It's always at the forefront of my mind, every single waking and sleeping moment. The hurt begins to... not quite disappear, but it's as though it evaporates so that it's always there in the air around me, ready to rain down when I least expect it. Then when the hurt goes, anger takes its place, when the anger runs out of steam, loneliness steps in to take over. It's a neverending circle of emotions; every lost emotion being replaced by another".

11. "... it's difficult to know which second among a lifetime of seconds is more special. Often when you realize how precious those seconds are, it's too late for them to be captured because the moment has passed. We realize too late".

12. We all get lost once in a while, sometimes by choice, sometimes due to forces beyond our control. When we learn what it is our soul needs to learn, the path presents itself. Sometimes we see the way out but wander further and deeper despite ourselves; the fear, the anger or the sadness preventing us returning. Sometimes we prefer to be lost and wandering, sometimes it's easier. Sometimes we find our own way out. But regardless, always, we are found.

[agape-philo-sophia]

➝ 33 🧩

There are 33 degrees of the spinal column, or the Tree Trunk, which must be climbed with the Sacred Seed of Alchemy and each ‘step’ or each ‘degree’ leads to higher states of illumination. The Alchemical ‘hero’ travels below into the abyss of Hell to steal fire from the devil and return it above to the Heavens; this represents our battles with sexual desire and the returning of the Sacred Seed above.

33 vertebrae exist in total, 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoraic, 5 lumbar in the small of the back, 5 fused vertebrae forming a solid bone, the sacrum (tail bone). Looks like an inverted pyramid and was also called “the seat of immortality.” In the coccyx, at the bottom of the sacrum are fused 4 bones. If you were to multiply the number of vertebrae, 33 by 2, counting both sides of the vertebrae on the spinal column we will find the number 66. (33 x 2=66) 6 is the number of man, for he was created on the 6th day, there are also 66 books of the Bible given to man. (66 + 6=72)

As for the Human Skull. It has 22 bones, it sits at the top of the spinal column. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, the 22nd letter, Tav, means Light. There is much to be said about t his which we will deal with in other writings. At the top of Jacob’s Ladder stood Yahweh, the Light of the world. The light of the body is the eye (mind-brain), says Jesus. 22 is the Number of Light.

If we lift up or raise the oil in the spinal cord, by the power of the seed, by saving it, it must be a physiological and chemical operation within the body of each of us. Such is the case. There is no mystery, no marvel in all the universe that is greater than man himself. “Man know thyself” confronts us, down through the ages, but only a few have paid attention to the voice of the Delphic oracle only a few have looked within.

There is a wonderful “Strait and narrow way,” a real strait, not straight, which extends from the upper brain, the cerebrum, to the end of the spinal cord, otherwise named Jordan, in the Bible. We find that the meaning of this in Hebrew is, descender or “River of God.” The “Strait and narrow way is, indeed, the River of God, for it leads to the Father the Most High the upper brain

“The same is true of the manna that descended to feed the Children of Israel in the wilderness , for this manna is a substance which comes down the Spinal cord from the brain. The Hindus symbolized the spine as the stem of the sacred lotus;therefore the skull and contents are symbolized by the flower. The spinal column is Jacob’s ladder connecting heaven and earth, while its 33 segments are the 33 degrees of Freemasonary and the 33 the number of years in the life of the Christ. Up these segments the candidate ascends in consciousness to reach the temple of initiation located on the top of the mountain. It is in this domed room with a hole in the floor (Foramen Magnum) that the great mystery initiations are given.”

— Manly P. Hall; The Occult Anatomy of Man

Ordo Ab Chao

Number 33 also relates to 3x3=9 which is the power of creation and the God of All or Truth. The Amon (AMEN).

33 is the numerical equivalent of AMEN: 1+13+5+14=33. Amen is the God of Truth.

33 represents Christ consciousness.

Jesus was crucified at Golgotha (place of the skull) at age 33 in the year 33 A.D.

God corresponds to 1/3 (33.3%) as seen in Revelation 12, where the great red dragon is sweeping 1/3 of the stars from heaven.

The number of turns in a complete sequence of human DNA equals 33.

Mount Hermon is at 33 degrees latitude and longitude.

(In the Book of Enoch, Mount Hermon is the place where the Grigori; “Watchers, Sons of God or the Nephilim,” a class of fallen angels descended to Earth.) The divine name Elohim appears 33 times in the story of creation in the opening chapters of Genesis.

The first Temple of Solomon stood for 33 years before being pillaged by King Shishak of Egypt.

King David ruled over Israel for 33 years in Jerusalem.

33 is the alleged age that Alexander the Great (Alexander of Macedonia) had died.

The Grand Orient de France of Freemasonry founded in 1733.

33 is the highest degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

Harry S. Truman, a 33 degree Mason, became 33rd President of the United States.

1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.

A normal human spine has 33 vertebrae.

Rare human spines have 34 vertebrae.

Jeremiah 33:3 - Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Ezekiel 33:33 - And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.

[bakumu-archive]

to capture a star

rich!Daichi x fem!reader

wc: 13k

summary: when daichi asks you to go with him to his family’s cabin during spring break, the last thing you expect is to be greeted by a giant mansion. Will the money and social life scare you away or will you be able to find love with daichi, despite being thrown into a world of fast cars and expensive clothing?

cw: rich people, SMUT (daddy, praise, biting, feral daichi, unprotected sex, creampie), pining, racing, one punch, blood (from the punch), alcohol, insecurity, mild jealousy, possessive daichi, side kiyoko x tanaka, probably ooc

a/n: this is for the rich boy collab hosted by @bakugohoex​! be sure to check out all the other submissions! you can find the link to the masterlist here

terushima is an asshole in this and i'm sorry, i love him but i needed a captain to be sleazy and he volunteered. he told me he couldn't resist hitting on a cutie like you, and who am i to stop him.

check out the mood boards i made here and shout out to my beautiful beta reader @winniethepoohloathesyou​ for working so hard on this with me!

minors do not interact. this work contains mature themes and if you continue reading you have agreed you are willing to see such content

When Daichi sat down next to you in your econ class last week and asked you to come to his family cabin during spring break, this is not what you imagined. 

You thought that you would be able to spend some time alone with him, enjoying nature together in a small house nestled in the forest, spending enough time together to finally put a label on whatever the spark was between the two of you.

But no.

You blink rapidly and take a good look at your new surroundings, trying to make sense of what your eyes see. Before you stands the largest house you have ever seen. But just calling it a house would be an extreme understatement. 

This place is a mansion. Three stories of white brick detailed with elaborate stone embellishments. The gray mansard roof’s steep slope meets at the top with a fenced stone parapet. An elaborate garden extends between you and the house and you swear you can see an Olympic-sized swimming pool nestled into the courtyard. And this isn't even the front of the house. You blink in disbelief when you spot a giant race track off to your left and what looks like a massive, ten-car garage. The scent of sea air assaults your senses and when your gaze flickers to your right, you can see the ocean and the mansion's very own harbor. 

And none of that even includes how you got here: on a private jet, landing on a personal runway where you currently stand. 

The beat-up duffle bag you use for your family’s camping trips that hangs from your shoulder suddenly feels very wrong in a way you can't explain.

You turn to face Daichi as he joins you on the tarmac. “Daichi, this is your family cabin?” you ask wide-eyed, your voice sounding so high-pitched that you barely recognize it. 

He rubs the back of his neck, one of his nervous habits. “Yeah, it's kind of embarrassing. I used to spend all of my summers here with my siblings but now the house barely gets used,” he says sheepishly.

Before you can ask any more questions, the loud rumbling of car engines interrupts your conversation and you see two sports cars taking two corners on the track before barreling down the straight of the runway towards you at top speed. 

“Ah, those two are here already, I see,” Daichi grins. He takes your duffle bag from you, throwing the strap over his shoulder and pulling you closer to him while wrapping his arm around your waist. 

The cars roar to a stop right behind the jet, creating the perfect image, an Instagram influencer’s wet dream. 

Daichi leans over to whisper in your ear as they both get out of the cars, “The one in the red Ferrari LaFerrari is Kuroo Tetsuro and the one in the white Lamborghini Aventador is Bokuto Kotaro.”

The two are pointing fingers at each other as they get out of their cars bickering and you can see the wealth dripping off them. The man with the spiky black hair, that Daichi told you was Kuroo, is pointing back in the direction they came from as he closes his car door, while Bokuto, with his spiky gray hair, pouts, throwing his hands up in mock innocence. Both of them grab a bag from the trunks of their cars, still arguing with each other before Kuroo places his arm around Bokuto in a show of faux peace before they start walking towards you and Daichi.

“They're both idiots,” he pauses to watch Bokuto swat at Kuroo’s arm, “but they are actually really good guys.”

The two of them are still heated, poking at each other's chests as they reach you and Daichi, only stopping when he coughs to grab their attention.

“Are you two done yet?” he questions with a raised eyebrow.

“Daichi, I was faster, wasn't I?” whined Bokuto, giving Daichi and you a small pout as Kuroo pats his shoulder, leaning slightly closer to you.

“This must be Y/N. She’s cuter than you said Dai,” Kuroo says with a laugh.

You miss the way that Daichi’s cheeks start to turn pink because you were so taken aback at his statement. Daichi told his friends about you? His apparently super rich friends?

Daichi’s grip around your waist tightens slightly before he responds, “Guys this is Y/N L/N. Please, don't annoy her too much.”

Both of their heads perk up at that.

“Oh yeah Daichi, we will be perfect saints,” Kuroo smirks.

Bokuto matches Kuroo’s playfully devious look, suddenly over his apparent loss on the track. “Oh yeah, nothing but angels.”

Before Daichi has time to wipe the smiles off their faces, you hear the sound of helicopter blades whirring above.

You look around until you see it fly directly overhead. The sound fills the air as the helicopter starts its descent onto the helipad next to the parked jet.

The helicopter blades whip up the grass and plants all around, and you have to place your hand on your head to prevent your own hair from being messed up by the whirlwind. 

You look over to Bokuto and Kuroo to see them fiercely trying to protect their hair spikes from the wind and failing. Daichi follows your gaze and when he sees them, he lets out a laugh in full force.

The helicopter makes a soft landing and the blades slow down when the engine turns off and two people step out. 

The most beautiful girl you have ever seen in your life hops out from the operator's seat, throwing her gorgeous black hair over her shoulder as she walks over to the man holding his hand out for her, hoisting their designer bags over his shoulder.

“Kiyoko, Tanaka, I'm so glad that you guys could make it,” Daichi smiles at the couple as they approach.

Daichi lets go of your waist so he can give the two of them a proper hug, before introducing you.

“This is Y/N.”

Kiyoko walks up to you and grabs your hands in hers and smiles at you, “Finally another girl. It's about time.”

Tanaka laughs, “What, babe? Are you getting tired of us?”

She lets go of your hands so she can give Tanaka a playful slap to the chest, “You know that's not what I meant, Ryu. It'll be nice to have someone to get ready for the gala with!”

You feel Daichi slightly flinch next to you at the mention of a gala.

Your brows furrow as you ask, “A what now? Daichi never mentioned anything about a gala.”

You turn to him, questioningly, and he moves his hand to the back of his neck for the second time in ten minutes. 

“It's nothing really, just this huge party my family has hosted for years. We really wouldn't even have to go if you don't want to…” the last few words trail off before he is interrupted by Kiyoko.

“What are you saying Daichi, you have to go! It's your family's gala.” Her brows are furrowed and she is looking at him suspiciously.

Daichi lets out an exasperated sigh, “Well that's a discussion for the future. Let’s go settle into our rooms.”

Daichi puts his arm around your shoulders as he leads the group up to the back porch, walking through the garden and around the giant swimming pool and fire pit area. 

“I assume you four are taking your normal rooms?” Daichi asks the group.

They all nod before splitting in different directions, obviously understanding the intricate layout of the house after what you assume is years of friendship. 

Daichi leads you through the first floor, pointing out various rooms and points of interest as you take in the vastness of your new surroundings. Most of the rooms have white or cream-colored walls with very intricate crown molding. Some have very distinct and uncomfortable furniture that looks like it has never been used, while others look like they are ready for a full day of lounging. He even takes you past the bowling alley and the in-home movie theater.

Eventually, he leads you to a huge staircase that circles around the main entryway to the house. The whole room looks like it's made out of marble and you take a twirling step to bask in the grandness of the space. 

Daichi calls out to you, pulling you back into reality. He has one foot on the first step and his hand is outstretched for you to take.

“You coming?” he smiles at you, wiggling his fingers, waiting for you to take his hand. 

When you do, you hold on to it like it's your lifeline, the only anchor you have in this unfamiliar territory. He leads you up two flights of stairs to the third floor and then down a large hallway filled with doors and golden crown molding.

He stops in front of a door before saying, “Well, this is you,” and moving your duffle bag back to your shoulder, letting his hand linger on your skin until he forces himself to pull away. 

“I’m right here across the hall if you need anything, alright?” he reassures you with a smile.

You nod at him, trying to process all of the new information you've just taken in, before putting your hand on the doorknob and turning away from him.

He calls out to you before you go inside, “Why don't you take an hour or so — take a shower, there's a bathroom attached to the suite — and then when you come down to the kitchen, we can get some snacks?”

You turn to face him again, narrowing your eyes at him with a pout, “Is this your way of telling me I smell?”

His laughter fills the hallway. “No, I just want you to relax. This is your vacation too, ya know?” His smile is contagious and you can't help but smile back at him, really hoping that a shower will help as he says.

“Okay Daichi, I'll try.”

With that you enter the bedroom, closing the door behind you before resting your head on the wood, letting out a very small sigh.

You try to relax like Daichi said by taking a warm shower, but everything was way too nice. The grand marble shower and the elegant tile tub just serve to remind you that you are in a world different than your own, giving you more anxiety than relaxation. 

You manage to get through your shower: fiddling with all of the button options to turn the water off, grabbing a plush towel to dry off, and then changing into some of the clothes that you packed.

You head back out to the bedroom in a huff and take another look around, half expecting the room to have transformed into a new one completely, but you are glad that it's just as you left it. 

The massive four-poster bed sits against one wall next to the room's giant floor-to-ceiling windows that let in the afternoon light, casting long shadows on the fireplace gracing the opposite wall and the plush sitting area in front of it.

You flop yourself on the bed, arms stretching out and you curse at how comfortable the mattress is. 

Who would have guessed the handsome boy you met in your econ class was this filthy rich.

You don't want your brain to fantasize but your thoughts drift there anyways as you sit up to sort through your clothes; it dreams of a future where this could be all yours. It's not like you weren't dreaming about a future with Daichi before, but now you’re imagining paying off your student loans, using some money to help your struggling friends and family, or maybe going even bigger than that, like starting a business or a charity to really help people. 

You have to stop yourself from going too far. You shouldn’t spiral with these thoughts because that's the big issue: you and Daichi, what are you really?

You were instantly infatuated with him when he smiled at you during your first economics lecture together just a few months ago. Sitting next to each other, passing a notebook back and forth drawing little doodles together when you should have been paying attention. The chemistry between the two of you only grew when you started studying together and he invited you out to party with some of his friends. 

The two of you have even shared a few make-out sessions together at said parties, but the next day when you expected things to be awkward or to at least have a discussion about what it meant, Daichi always acted like everything was normal, like the two of you hadn't had your tongues down each other throats the night before. 

And that's not to mention how he always seems to be holding your hand, or hooking his arm around you, giving you butterflies at every turn. He always seems to be more touchy when other guys are around, but you can say that you do the same. Hugging him back tighter when other girls look his way.

In the beginning, the small touches and longing glances you shared in class slowly turned to long hugs and holding hands. You thought that maybe Daichi was this way with all of his friends, but when he introduced you to his roommates, Asahi and Sugawara, you noticed that he isn’t that touchy with them. It seems to be something only reserved for you.

You think of all the shared touches that you've had just today and your heart flutters. It's like when the two of you touch, your heart is instantly filled with happiness that calms your soul. His touch just feels right and being with him feels as easy as breathing.

If soulmates do exist, you can imagine that this is what it feels like. 

You let out a deep sigh, shaking away your thoughts, before you decide to make your way down to the kitchen to meet up with the others.

You follow the voices through the maze of corridors and staircases to the kitchen, thank god they are a noisy bunch. 

Everyone is gathering around the huge kitchen island, with bowls of chips, candy, and other snacks scattered around, and there seem to be two different conversations going on.

Daichi has his back to you, and you walk up next to him, putting your head on his shoulder. He looks down, throwing his arm around you, pulling you into his space more before whispering, “How was your shower?”

You wrap your arms around his waist before shrugging your shoulders, choosing to instead focus on the conversation that Tanaka and Kuroo are having. Daichi grabs a few of the bowls of snacks and pulls them closer to you, taking a big handful of food for himself.

Kuroo lets out a loud annoyed groan before explaining, “Oikawa just texted me that he’s going to dock here for the night.”

You sense the mounting tension in the air and take a handful of snacks, ready to take in whatever drama that was about to unfold.

The mention of the name you are unfamiliar with seems to bring the other conversation to a close as everyone focuses their attention on Kuroo and his phone. 

Daichi lets out an exasperated sigh. “I could have sworn I told him to keep that thing away from here,” he says, rubbing his hand down his face in annoyance. 

“He's bringing that party boat here? During gala week?” Kiyoko adds, blowing hair out of her face with a huff. 

“Eh, I'm not going to complain, it's always full of hot babes,” Tanaka says right before a smack lands on his chest from Kiyoko. He pulls her into him, playfully kissing her cheeks, “No one is hotter than you babe, you know that.”

She rolls her eyes at his response but seems to accept his apology.

Not having any idea about who or what they are talking about you pipe up, “Who’s coming?”

Daichi lets out a big sigh before explaining, “Oikawa is this guy we grew up with, he’s a big flirt with an even bigger yacht. It's pretty much a giant party boat that he fills with supermodels.” You can practically feel the way Daichi’s eyes roll at the notion of a party boat stacked to the nines with supermodels.

Bokuto moves to Daichi’s other side, leaning over the island looking around him at you with a wide smile and adds, “Not to mention the alcohol and drugs.”

“Yes, yes, Bokuto, we all know why you enjoy Oikawa’s visits,” Daichi retorts, shaking his head and laughing.

“He just texted again,” Kuroo says with an annoyed groan. “Says he's going to be docking in three hours.”

“Well, what do you guys want to do until he gets here?” Daichi asks, taking a big handful of pretzels from a bowl close to him.

“We could go for a race around the track,” Kuroo says with a devilish smile.

Bokuto lets out an excited yell before pointing at Kuroo and exclaiming, “Hell yeah, lets go!”

Everyone heads outside into the evening sun. The warmth that the sun provided during the afternoon seems to be fading, giving the air a slight chill. 

Kuroo and Bokuto run with their hands in the air from the house to their cars before starting them and speeding off towards the track while Daichi leads you, Tanaka, and Kiyoko to the large ten-car garage that spans the side of the house.

He opens a side door leading everyone into the garage, pressing a big button on the wall causing all of the garage doors to begin opening, filling the space with light.

Your eyes widen when you look at the millions of dollars worth of vehicles equally spaced with precision in front of you. While you recognize some brands: Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bugatti, and Mercedes, there are more that you don't, and your eyes glaze over at the pure wealth displayed in the garage.

Tanaka's excited voice pulls you from your haze as he practically jumps up and down in place, “Can we take the Bugatti?” he shouts questioningly, making you jump.

“Sure thing,” Daichi replies as he takes the keys to the Bugatti Veyron SS off the hook and tosses them to Kiyoko.

You watch her unlock the car and climb into the driver's seat as Tanaka jumps into the passenger seat next to her. The engine roars to life and she carefully pulls it out of the garage before she peels off towards the track, leaving you and Daichi alone in the garage. 

“So, do you see a car you like?” he questions, his eyes following the car as it barrels around a corner.

The first real time alone with him since landing here and he decides to ignore the elephant in the room? You wouldn’t be surprised if there was actually an elephant around here somewhere.

You ignore his question and turn to face him, “Dai, what the fuck. What is this place? How are you so rich?” 

“I'm not rich, my parents are,” he quickly retorts, turning to face you.

“That's exactly what a rich person would say,” you roll your eyes at him.

“I know you must feel pretty deceived right now; it was so nice when I was just Daichi to you, not the heir to this big conglomerate worth millions of dollars,” he walks close to you, moving to place his hands on your shoulders but stopping himself, and lets his hands fall to the side almost in defeat. 

“My dad is this huge businessman and he has all these women who throw themselves at him because of his money. He's never been in love, even when he was with my Mom, and I didn’t want that. I don't want that. I want to be in love. I want to marry someone I'm in love with and not because it is what has been decided for me.” 

Of course, he would have a real reason that you couldn't get mad at. And of course, it’s romantic as hell. At least he’s being open about it now.

You look up at him, and you realize that this is the same Daichi that he's always been. Those are the same eyes that you've been looking at for months, the same hands that have held you so many times, the same Daichi as always, just a different setting.

“You know I'm not like that Dai, you could have told me,” you reply, your voice softer than it was earlier.

He takes a step closer, his hands reaching out and rubbing away at the stress in your shoulders.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry that I kept this hidden from you. I should have told you.” He sighs, closing the remaining space between the two of you and moving his hands to cup your face. “I just want you to understand what getting into a full relationship with me would mean.”

The way Daichi is looking at you makes your heart melt. His eyes reach your face in desperation, half expecting you to push him away but you just lean into his hands, closing your eyes and savoring his touch before you match his vulnerable gaze.

“What would a full relationship mean then, Daichi?” you practically purr at him.

“It means all this,” he says before kissing you lightly. “All the fun stuff, the cars, the houses, the private jets,” he kisses you again. “But it also comes with a lot of not fun stuff too.”

You take a deep breath before responding, heart pounding from the intimacy of the moment. “And what would happen if I said that I still wanted a relationship with you? Even with the not-fun stuff.”

His breath hitches before he smiles. “I'd give you everything,” he whispers, eyes searching yours again, thumbs caressing your lips softly as he still cradles your face in his hands. “I'd buy you the moon if you wanted it.”

“Good thing I don't want the moon then.” You grab his shirt, closing the gap between the two of you before kissing him.

His hands fall to your hips before he starts to push you backwards towards the Ferrari behind you, until your ass hits the car, never disconnecting from the kiss.  

His lips feel warm on yours as you get swept away into the moment with him. Your lips moving in tandem before his tongue expertly sweeps out at your bottom lip. You let out a moan, allowing his tongue to slip into your mouth. 

His grip on your waist only gets harder when he starts to move his body against yours, rutting his hips against yours, letting out a small moan into your mouth.

If the two of you weren't so caught up in each other, you would have heard Kuroo pull up to the garage and step out of his car before just staring at the two of you locked in each other's embrace. He rests his cheek on his short car door before he reaches a hand inside his car to honk the horn. You and Daichi startle at the sound, pulling apart as Daichi sends Kuroo a death glare.

Kuroo lets out a loud laugh unaffected by Daichi’s glare. “Thanks for the show, but are we going to race or what?”

Daichi waves him off, looking back down at you, his eyes bouncing from your lips to your eyes, with a smirk, “Do you want to drive?”

You hear Kuroo drive away as you playfully smack Daichi’s chest before you exclaim, “God no!”

His eyes close as he chuckles at you, “Okay, fair. But which one do you want to take?”

You look around at the cars not really knowing too much about them, so you ask, “Which one is the fastest?”

He smirks at you and says, “That’s my girl,” before throwing an arm around your shoulder and grabbing the key for the white Koenigsegg Regera off the hook.

He walks you over to the passenger side of the car, opening the scissor door for you and watching you take a seat before pulling it closed and jogging to his side, getting in the car. 

The brown leather of the interior is a stark contrast to the white of the outside paint, and you find your body being cradled in the expensive bucket seat. Daichi leans over you, grabbing your seat belt and buckling it for you, bringing his face inches away from yours, teasing you before he buckles his own seat.

He pulls out of the garage slowly before putting the pedal to the floor and driving off towards the airstrip, racing around a few tight corners before he drives towards the runway where the other three cars are already lined up. 

Bokuto jumps off of his side fender when he sees you and Daichi approach and makes his way inside his car with an excited spring in his step. Kiyoko kisses Tanaka before making her way into her borrowed car and Kuroo, who was sitting cross-legged on the roof of his car watches the two of you pull up before jumping down and walking towards you.

Daichi meticulously lines up the front wheels with the other cars, before letting the engine idle, rolling down the window to talk to Kuroo.

When the rooster-haired man leans down to talk into the window, you don't miss his glance at you, before his eyes dart back to Daichi, and a small dusting of pink appears on his cheeks.

“We've decided we're doing a mile drag, first to cross the line wins, the loser has to make dinner and wash the dishes,” Kuroo announces.

Daichi looks over to you, intertwining your fingers and bringing them up to lips, kissing your knuckles, and a determined look crosses his face, his mouth turning up on the corner in a smirk. “Winner gets to pick what's for dinner, so you better decide what you want.”

His competitive side is something that you rarely see, usually only coming out when he's challenged, and the charged air around him has heat pooling between your legs. 

Daichi lets your hand go and starts going through the settings of the car, setting up the launch control, mumbling to himself as he remembers how to set it up, as Kuroo heads back to his car.

You hear the roar of the other engines as they come to life and look through Daichi’s window at the other drivers, all giving thumbs up, ready to start.

Before Daichi gives his thumbs-up, he turns to you, “Just keep your head back, alright?”

You give him a worried look, but comply, placing the back of your head on the headrest behind you. You're concerned about what to do with your hands so you decide to place them in your lap.

Daichi gives the thumbs up and rolls his window up, giving the engine a few revs before hovering his foot over the gas in wait.

You watch as a now shirtless Tanaka walks out in between the cars. You can barely hear him as he starts to count down from five, but when he gets to one, he starts waving his shirt in the air wildly and Daichi slams on the gas.

The world starts to blur as the car accelerates. The loud roar of the engine assaults your ears as your heart starts to beat faster from the sudden adrenaline rush. 

Time seems to slow as you go faster. You watch the speedometer increase: 60, 80,100, 120 and it’s still climbing.

The noise of the air rushes past as the car seamlessly cuts through and you feel your heart beating in your throat. 

You look over at Daichi to see a big smile on his face; he knows he’s winning and you take the time to look back as Kuroo is being passed by Kiyoko, and she's getting closer to Daichi.

You let out a laugh: the crazy speeds and all the adrenaline pumping through making your body seem like it's on fire.

You glance at the speedometer and watch it hit 240 mph before you and Daichi cross the finish line first and he slams on the brakes. You are very glad you listened to him about keeping your head back, or else you're sure you would have whiplash.

Daichi stops the car, putting it in park before turning to look at you, your eyes full of bewilderment as your body tries to process the fact that you're in one piece after such a rush. 

“Holy shit Dai! You won! We won! That was amazing!” you exclaim frantically to a smiling Daichi, laughing along with you as you stammer on about how fast it was. 

The other cars form a circle with the hoods facing each other, and you watch as everyone starts to get out.

Daichi nods his head towards the others, “Come on, let’s go gloat.”

Everyone sits or leans against the hood of their cars, and Daichi once again has you tucked under his arm. You laugh along with the group and their antics as they argue over the standings. The official decision was that Daichi won, which was unanimous, with Kiyoko taking second, followed by Kuroo and Bokuto. 

Bokuto said something about his launch control was being finicky before all of you hear whooping and yelling coming from a very out-of-breath Tanaka. He had apparently started running after the cars had left and was just now reaching the group.

Everyone is in high spirits as you talk for a bit and you seem to mesh seamlessly with them, throwing out a few quips that make Bokuto and Kuroo snort, teaming up with Kiyoko when the boys get too rowdy. It almost seems like you're not the new person in the group, that you’ve known them forever, and you are really happy that Daichi has surrounded himself with great people.

The rest of the evening was spent driving the cars and having long chats afterwards, about nothing and everything all at once. 

When it came time for dinner, since you and Dai were the winners, you got to decide what Bokuto was making for everyone. His attempt at your favorite dish left the kitchen filled with smoke and Daichi surprised everyone with pizza, even before talks of a back up plan for was discussed.

Then you heard the horn of a ship, followed by mixed reactions as the five of you clear up dinner and get ready to leave the mansion for the ‘sex ferry,’ as Bokuto called it.

Daichi gets closer to you and murmurs into your hair, “Watch out for pervs on the boat, stay close to me, yeah?” You nod, as you wrap your arm around his ready to leave.

That is, until Kiyoko stops Daichi before the two of you make it out the door, “I’m stealing her for a second, she can't go on a yacht dressed like that!”

You look yourself over in the mirror and you have to admit, Kiyoko did an excellent job dressing you up.

Your hair is perfectly styled and your face has just the right amount of makeup. Kiyoko crosses in front of the mirror applying the finishing touch: a shimmering lip gloss that is the perfect shade for you. The oversized, white knit sweater that she had you put on hangs loosely over your curves, tucked in perfectly into the brown skirt that she picked out for you. It's not a look that you would usually go for, but you have to give her credit, she did a good job, you look stunning.

On the way up to this ginormous closet, she had explained to you that Daichi’s sisters had this closet stocked with every size and designer label known to man, just in case any of their friends needed a last minute change of clothes. 

At first, you didn't believe her, but when you saw the enormous room with a rainbow of color-coordinated clothes hanging from floor to ceiling you changed your tune. You were even more shocked to find that all of the clothes still had their price tags on, wincing at the $1,000 price of one pair of pants.

Kiyoko gives you one last glance over before she starts to get herself ready, dressing in a black long-sleeved dress, the hem of the skirt falling just at her thighs and fishnet stockings, the exact opposite of the aesthetic she chose for you. 

She applies her red lipstick with a pop before turning to you, “Well, what do you think?’

She takes your hand and twirls you around so that you are facing the mirror before she rests her chin on your shoulder.

You laugh at her antics, before replying, “I think we look hot!”

The two of you make your way down to the boat, exiting the mansion through a side door and make your way down to the dock.

Now that you are up close to the boat, you can see the massive amount of people on board. The four decks are filled to the brim with people dancing, talking, and making out, all with various drinks in their hands, and you can see Aoba Johsai written in cursive on the side of the boat.

The two of you step onboard and you hear him before you see him, “Kiyoko, over here!”

Tanaka is calling out for her through the crowd of people, leaning along the railing of the boat, dressed in all black and holding two beers.

She makes her way through the crowd with you close behind. Tanaka wraps her in his arms, kissing her on the cheek.

“Looking good babe,” he growls into her ear as she takes one of the beers from his hand.

The two of them look like they are about to start making out with all of their flirty touches, and you would like to find Daichi as soon as possible so you clear your throat and ask, “Do you know where Daichi is?”

“He's usually in the second-floor pool room; it’s up the stairs, second door on the right,” Tanaka replies while gesturing toward the stairway back by where you just came from.

You nod and take your leave, making your way to the stairs, bumping into people on the crowded deck. After the first few steps, you look back at Kiyoko, wondering if she’s coming with you. Too late, you think as you watch Tanaka pull her hips closer to his, whisper into her ear, and start kissing down her neck.

You shake your head and continue on, happy that she's having fun, but wishing you still had her company by your side. 

At the top of the stairs, you only see one door that opens to an empty hallway. You decide to take your luck with it, even if this isn't the right place, it's a nice space to take a breather from all the people. 

You open the door and what you thought was a quiet hallway turns out to be an echo chamber for the bass echoing off the walls. Where is the music even coming from; you barely heard it outside?

Leaning against the wall, you take a few deep breaths, which are immediately interrupted by the smell of cigar smoke wafting towards you. Part of you wants to leave but the other part of you says stay, stay for him. 

This is so much to process, you can already feel a migraine coming on. The smell of cigar smoke and the thumping bass echoing off the walls of the ship isn't helping your stress levels. Where is Daichi? This would be so much easier if he would just appear by your side magically.

The door you just came through opens and shuts with a squeak, and you hope that your prayers have been answered, but when you turn to look at the person who just joined your space, it is very much not Daichi.

His blonde hair and very noticeable tongue ring are the farthest from Daichi as you can get, and you really wish that you weren't in this hallway alone with him right now.

He makes his way closer to you, getting in your personal space, leaning one arm against the wall next to your head to look you up and down, before licking his lips.

“Hey baby girl, are you lost?”  

You start to look for an exit as he moves closer to you. “No, I'm just looking for someone,” you reply.

His arms cage you in, not giving you any room to move away. “Aw, don't be like that, I can show you a good time too,” he insists. “The name's Yūji Terushima, you'll need to know it when you're screaming it out later.”

You try to move away from him but he won't let you pass, until you hear a door open. 

Daichi comes out of one of the side rooms and the instant he sees you trapped by this man, his eyes turn red with anger.

He rushes over to the two of you, yelling out, “Hey! Get off of her!”

Terushima isn't quick enough to respond, turning to face Daichi, but Daichi is already at his side sending his fist flying towards the blond's nose with a mean right hook. 

Your body sags with relief as Daichi pulls you into his arms and Terushima is on the floor withering in pain, gasping at his probably broken nose.

Daichi is frantically looking over you, checking your arms and face for any sort of harm, “Did he touch you? Are you okay?” he questions you rapidly.

You bury your face in his chest and nod, “Yeah, I'm ok.”

He puts his arms around you before pulling you away towards the door he just came from.  “We're down here,” he says, glaring at Terushima covered in his blood on the floor, leading you away from him.

The room that Daichi was in is stuffed full of people. People line the walls, getting very personal with each other, while others sit on the couches in the center of the room with people pulled onto their laps or under their arms. There are two pool tables on either side of the couches and you spot Kuroo and Bokuto playing what looks like a game of strip pool with four girls, and, from the looks of it, they are losing badly. On the other end of the room is a large bar, with glass bottles lining shelves behind it and a few empty bar stools.

Daichi chooses to ignore his almost naked friends and heads towards the bar, pulling out a stool for you before taking the seat next to you.

The bartender has very fluffy brown hair with matching brown eyes and once he's done serving up drinks to the couple down the bar, he makes his way over to you.

He starts to gather a glass for Daichi without even asking him what he wanted and then looks at you expectantly, “Well cutie, what can I get for you?”

Daichi levels his gaze at the man, and you can feel the deep grumble vibrate from his chest before he turns to you, “This,” he gestures to the bartender, “is Oikawa.”

Oikawa gives you a wink before scurrying out of Daichi’s reach as he playfully tries to grab him, causing Daichi to let out a huff. 

With the weird environment you're in, you think it's best to forgo alcohol, at least for now, so you ask Oikawa for water.

He hands you a glass with lots of ice in it and you watch the way the two of them interact. Their friendship looks to be built on a bed of mutual annoyance, but you can see how they care about each other hidden in the undertones of their speech. 

The night goes on and you spend a lot of it with Oikawa and Daichi at the bar. Oikawa asks you lots of personal questions, some of which you choose to ignore, and some of them you indulge him a little. If Daichi trusts him, it's okay for you too, right?

Just as your ass is starting to hurt from the barstool, a younger man comes up to Daichi, his orange hair bouncing in the wind as he practically vibrates in place. You catch his name, Hinata, and some of what he's trying to explain. There seems to be trouble between him and another guy, and he came to Daichi to be the mediator. 

You can't blame him; in fact, if you were having any sort of trouble, Daichi's the first person that you would seek out. Daichi is so strong and dependable, he makes the rest of the world feel safe and easy. It's not that he makes problems go away but he seems to take in the situation for what it is and find a solution that seems so blatantly obvious you can't believe that no one else thought of it first.

Daichi is that and so much more. His playfulness and competitiveness are something that you saw today when he was driving that car. Not to mention how hot he looked behind the wheel, his arms muscles were on full display and you barely even got the chance to stare at them. You think about going back in time just so that you could watch them flex as he gripped the steering wheel.

You shake your head, trying to pull your brain away from the horny thoughts, but all that manages to do is send you back to the memories of your hot makeout session in the garage earlier. How his hands were all over your body, his lips pressed to yours...

Daichi’s laugh pulls you from your daydream and you realize that he, Hinata and Oikawa are all staring at you. His hand is waving in front of your face, “Earth to Y/N.”

Your shocked expression tells you everything he needs to know so he repeats himself, putting his hand on your knee, “You good here for a minute? I gotta help Hinata with something.” You nod at him and the two walk off together.

Oikawa talks to you in between serving people drinks and you manage to have a decent conversation about your university studies. Turns out, he is studying a major very similar to yours.

Oikawa pulls his phone out and answers it, before putting it down on his shoulder, turning to you, “I have to take this, I’ll have one of my boys take you to Daichi.”

He turns to one of the nearby couches close to the bar before barking out, “Mattsun, take her out to where Daichi is. I have some shit to deal with.”

The man he called out to kisses the blonde sitting on his lap before moving her off of him so that he can help you find Daichi. His tall body leads you out onto the deck of the boat through hordes of drunk people dancing and making out until you spot an orange mess of hair and Daichi standing next to him.

As you get closer you notice a small, but rather important detail that you couldn't see when you were farther away, Daichi is surrounded by tall, skinny, gorgeous-looking supermodels, and all of them seem to have their hands on him.

Daichi seems not to notice the touches, he's too focused on a boy with black hair laying upside down on a lounge chair, his hair softly caressing the wooden deck with every small gust of wind. 

You notice another woman start to touch his hair before Daichi swats her away like she’s a fly before he's kneeling to look at the chair guy again. 

Mattsun leads you closer to Daichi, announcing your arrival before saying his goodbyes and heading back where he came from. You yell out thanks as he is leaving and he waves his hand in the air as he walks away.

Daichi stands from his kneeling position and moves to your side. He has to get closer to your ear to talk as you are now closer to wherever the loud music is coming from but you don't mind, wrapping your arms around his waist possessively, eyeing the other girls.

“Kageyama had too much to drink, he's absolutely wasted,” Daichi says loudly, making sure you can hear him over the bumping bass.

You wished you would have grabbed your water before you left the bar. Just when you're about to suggest someone go get him some water, Oikawa bursts out onto the deck from a side door, exclaiming, “That little shit!” before running off towards the upper decks. You see that he's being followed by Mattsun, the guy who just helped you, and two other men, one with spiky black hair and the other with short pink hair. They all look extremely pissed.

You hear the sound of helicopter blades before you feel a blast of wind, causing the water to start rippling around the boat. You look curiously up at Daichi before he's turning and barking orders to Hinata to get the drunk guy some water and crackers before he's grabbing your hand.

“There's only one man that could be, and we better go make sure Oikawa doesn't kill him.”

By the time you two make it to the upper deck where the helipad is, there already seems to be a standoff in place. A tall man with dark olive hair stands with a large briefcase tucked under the arm of his suit coat. He does not look like he's dressed for a party, but instead like he's about to go into a courtroom.

This new man's face is void of emotion as Oikawa is practically snarling at him, lip upturned like an angry dog.

Daichi runs between the two warring factions, putting up his hands to Oikawa before turning to the tall man.

But before Daichi can say anything Oikawa is yelling over his head, “Who said you could land here, get lost!”

The tall man completely ignores Oikawa, walking up to Daichi, “Ah, Sawamura, just the man I was hoping to see.”

Oikawa's face turns red with anger, if this was an anime you are sure that there would be steam coming out of his head.

Daichi looks at him quizzically, “All this just to see me? Should we go talk in private?”

Ushijima gives him a confirming grunt, nodding his head and Daichi leads him around Oikawa and his men, stopping to whisper something in Oikawa's ear, looking at you, before making his way over to you.

His hand cups your face and you nuzzle into them as he speaks, “I have to go talk to Ushijima. Oikawa said he'll watch out for you so stay here until I get back alright?”

You don't want to leave his side again, but this must be important if a guy is willing to land on what seems to be his mortal enemy's boat only to talk to Daichi. You give him a small pout before you nod, and he kisses you before turning and jogging after the mysterious Ushijima.

Oikawa throws his hands up into the air making his way over to a bar. Damn, he really has these things on every level, doesn't he?

This bar is smaller than the one in the pool room, and only has two stools, but there is a long couch next to it where his men sit down. He motions for you to take a seat at the bar as he starts pouring drinks for the other three, before offering to do the same for you. Taking him up on his offer this time he makes you both matching fruity drinks with cute umbrellas before he joins you, sitting at the barstool next to you.

Oikawa still seems to be on edge from his confrontation with Ushijima, or the lack of one, so the two of you sit in comfortable silence for a bit. You watch some of the party-goers stumble around on the lower decks, and you see women and men come up to talk to the three sitting on the couches. You pick up their names after a bit — Iwaizumi, Makki, and Mattsun, are what everyone calls them — and you eventually watch Mattsun get pulled away by the busty blonde you saw him with earlier.

Oikawa seems to pull himself out of his mental slump when he finishes his drink while you've only been sipping on yours, so you are nowhere near close to finishing it. He makes his way back over to the bar side and washes his cup before he starts making another concoction for himself.

He breaks his silence, “So, you and Daichi are pretty cute together.”

You hum at him in agreement, taking another small sip of your drink.

He continues, “He must be pretty serious about you if he's bringing you all the way out here. He's never brought a girl here before.”

Daichi and you haven't talked about your past relationships, but you aren't really surprised to hear that with what he told you earlier about wanting to be in love.

You don't want to pry, but you do want to know more. This side of Daichi’s life is still a mystery to you. 

“Not even one girl?” you ask him in all sincerity.

Oikawa smirks, glad that he caught your attention with that one. “Well, he did date a girl from our neck of the woods, if that's what you want to call us rich shits. She was hot and smart but they never really seemed to mesh.”

You give him a curious look so he continues, “She was all business, no heart. And you know Daichi, his heart is ten times too big. They just didn't work.”

You nod taking in your new information before you feel someone next to you, the man with the pink hair, Makki. 

He opens his mouth before he leans on the bar to stabilize himself, the alcohol apparently starting to kick in. His words are slurred together. “Are you two talking about Daichi? I heard some models say they would pay $10,000 to lick one of his thigh muscles!”

Oikawa pushes the drunken Makki off the bar and he stumbles back to the couch before slumping over into a woman's cleavage.

“Don't mind him,” Oikawa says, trying to bring back the lighter mood from earlier. “He doesn't know what he's talking about.”

Oh, but you do know what he’s talking about. You've been avoiding the thoughts since you landed, but now there's no holding back the dark thoughts you've been trying to suppress. 

How are you supposed to be good enough for him? For Daichi and his big heart? You've seen it so much tonight, the way he laughs and takes care of his friends, like it’s second nature, coming easier than breathing for him. He's so caring, compassionate, fun and you're just you. 

How are you supposed to compete for his attention when you are up against literal supermodels? 

You swipe at frustrated tears forming in the corner of your eyes before speaking to Oikawa, “Can you tell Daichi I’m gonna go back to the house, I'm tired. But it was nice to meet you.”

You were very much not tired. This was the most wide-awake you have felt in quite some time. Your mind races with all the things that are wrong about the situation you find yourself in. You would laugh at how being on a billionaire’s floating sex boat is what made you feel this insecure if you weren’t feeling so pathetic.

You find your way off the boat with ease, pushing past people grinding on each other to get back to the dock so you can make your way to the safety of your bedroom. 

As you get to the house’s side door you hear a familiar voice calling out your name.

Turning around, you see Daichi running up the path you just took, before he stops next to you, out of breath. 

“Did you sprint all the way up here?” you ask him.

“Yeah…” he pants out in between breaths. “I wanted ... to catch you.”

“I told Oikawa I was going to bed, it’s been a long day and —,” you try to explain but he interrupts you. 

“Are you actually tired?”

You are fidgeting with your hands, not wanting to lie to him, “Well, not exactly...”

“Come somewhere with me.” It flows out of his mouth like a demand but you can see the question in his eyes as they gleam in the darkness. You look at him quizzically before he continues, “Don't worry, no one else is gonna be there.”

Your lips turn in a small smile at his statement, “Just us?”

He takes your hands, placing them both between his own and brings them to his lips, giving your knuckles a light kiss. He keeps them there when he replies, “Yes, just us. I promise.”

You think for a minute, and then give him a hesitant yes. 

His face lights up, “Okay, let's get some supplies.”

He takes your hand, pulling you into the kitchen, grabbing the snacks you like, and a nice chilled glass of water along with two glasses before motioning to a cupboard, telling you to grab the best blankets. 

When you rub the blankets on your skin to test which ones are softer, Daichi smirks at you. 

“Cute,” he says before making his way over to you, “but make sure you grab one of the big sturdy ones too.”

He grabs a basket for all the stuff and wraps you in one of the soft blankets before heading to the elevator that was tucked away in the corner of the kitchen.

“An elevator, really?” you grin at him, your earlier frustration easing away the more time you spend with him and his smile.

“To be fair, it was installed before we bought the house, but my grandma does use it a lot.”

The two of you ride the elevator to the top floor where Daichi starts running a hand along the wall looking for something. When a secret door pops open, he laughs at your shocked expression before motioning you to follow him inside.  

A hidden staircase leads the two of you up to the roof and you take in the sight of the grounds. You can see the race track where you spent your evening, the large yacht floating below filled with people still bumping away to the music, and the stars... You swear that you've never seen the stars shine so bright before. You can see them weaving patterns in the night sky, their stories unknown to you but you enjoy their beauty nonetheless.

When you look over at Daichi, his eyes are soft as they trace your features, and you love the way his gaze makes you feel.

He leads you out to a small section of the roof near the middle of the house where he lays the thick blanket on the ground, setting out the snacks and taking off his shoes before sitting down on the blanket, patting the spot next to him as you take off your shoes and join him.

The two of you sit together, eating snacks, sharing stories for a while, staring up at the night sky together, before he turns to you with a playful glint in his eyes. 

“Let's play a game,” he proposes.

You look him over and nod, waiting for him to explain the game.

“It's easy, just ask me anything, whatever you need answered and I won't hold anything back.” He seems very confident, obviously wanting to make himself an open book after keeping this big secret from you. There are so many things you could ask, you don’t know where to start. 

You raise an eyebrow at him before asking, “What is the worst decision you've ever made?”

He rolls his head to look you in the eyes, before raising his eyebrows at you, “Going right for the hard-hitting questions then?”

“You said you'd answer Daichi, are you gonna take that back?” you say with a little smirk.

He thinks for a moment before replying. “Fine,” He says before rolling his eyes, “I let Bokuto give me a tattoo once when we were both drunk.”

He sees your quizzical eyes as you try to suppress your laughter, “It’s on my ass and it’s a smiley face. Stop laughing!”

You can't stop the laughter that comes from you as you imagine your big strong Daichi with a funky little tattoo on his ass cheek. You are wiping the tears out of your eyes as he takes his opportunity for revenge.

“Okay, my turn!” he exclaims, rubbing his hands together.

You have to stop laughing so hard so that you can retort, “Wait, wait, you never said that I would have to answer too!”

He smiles and shakes his head, laughing. “Yeah, I guess you're right. How about I get to ask you a question for every two questions you ask me? And you don't have to answer if you don't want to.”

You look at him questioningly and you are very curious as to what Daichi would want to know about you so badly he’s willing to put himself on the line first. “Sounds fun,” you smile. 

“Good, what's your second question?”

“What were you talking about with that guy, Ushijima?”

He looks uncomfortable as he tries to think about how to answer you. “Well, he mostly just saw Oikawa's boat and wanted to annoy him,” he chuckles before continuing. “But he also wanted to talk about a deal that our fathers are trying to make to secure our family ties. It's something that we both are very against.”

His answer leaves you with more questions, “What do you mean, ‘family ties’?”

He smoothly switches from his uncomfortable state and offers you a coy smile, “Do you want that to be your next question, sweetheart?”

Rolling your eyes at him you respond, “Ugh, no.”

“Okay, good because I really don't want to think about it. My turn then.” He thinks for a second before asking, “Do you think this,” he gestures into the air, “is too much for you? You know, the cars, boats, houses, money?”

You pause to gather your thoughts, staring up at the night sky again.

“I think that it's a lot to take in all at once,” you say slowly, calculating each word before it comes out of your mouth. “Especially the sex party boat,” you chuckle, “But I could get used to it.” You let the ‘for you’ hang in the air unspoken. 

He grabs your hand, looking up to the stars, “I’m glad. Okay, what's your next question?”

You don't want to ruin the mood and ask about the ‘family ties’ between his and Ushijima’s families, so instead, you choose a safer route. 

“What was it like growing up?”

He seems taken aback at first before a simple smile adorns his face, “My parents didn't love each other, not really. They had me, and then my brothers and sisters, but when times got hard they didn't support each other. They divorced pretty early in my life, I was still a kid when it happened.”

He pauses when you squeeze his hand in reassurance, but he's still smiling as he continues, “They split the companies between them, got us a nanny, and we bounced back and forth between houses every few months. I eventually just ended up as the caretaker for my siblings, making sure they didn't turn into spoiled brats.”

His laugh at the last part is so genuine it makes your heart flutter, but even so, his life has been far from perfect. “Wow, Daichi, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“It wasn't that bad, I got to have a lot of fun.” He shakes off your concerned look before he gets to ask his question, “My turn again. What was it like for you growing up?”

You explain to him about your family dynamic, watching how his eyes seem to light up when you make jokes and then fall when you mention your hardships. He squeezes your hand like he never wants to let go when you finish telling him your stories, a playful smile returning to his lips before he tells you to ask your next set of questions. 

You think of what to ask next, and your face grows hot as your brain churns up a question that you have never talked about with Daichi before. 

Your tongue stumbles as the words flow from your mouth, “Have you had sex before?”

He tries to suppress his smile, “Yeah a few times, not with anyone really special though.”

Your lips part in surprise and you find yourself asking in a breathless tone, “What’s your number?”

Daichi leans closer to you, erasing the distance between your bodies as his hands move up the skin on your exposed thigh, leaving goosebumps in their wake, “Is that your next question?”

You're breathless, the heat from his fingers distracting you from the fire brewing inside you,  “Yeah, it is.”

Daichi’s lips are so close to your own you can feel his breath on your soft skin, his voice dipping an octave when he asks, “Why, do you want to be one of them?”

You clear your mind enough to retort back at him. “Is that your next question?” you say, brushing your nose against his teasingly.

“Yes,” he answers before his breath hitches in his throat as you move your hands to his thighs.

“You first,” you giggle as his cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.

He answers as quickly as possible, his words almost too fast to hear but his tone is so low it sends shockwaves straight to your core. “It’s four, Laney in high school, this girl Kay at a party, Hime my ex and then Jackie in college a year ago. Your turn.”

Your mind clouds with his scent as you bring your hands up to his chest. Why is he so hot when talking about other people he's fucked, and why aren't you more jealous? 

“I- uh, yeah. I would love to be your number five,” you stammer out. 

He smirks at you, both of you are very obviously in need of each other's touch, more than you were getting and you can't deny how good it feels to have his undivided attention like this. Something about Daichi makes you forget your sense of self, and his touch instantly sends your heart racing.

“Do you have any more questions, sweetheart?”

You nod, biting your lip, “Are you going to kiss me, Dai?”

He nods before his eyes search yours. The stars tonight are reflected in his dark irises and you swear that you could get lost in him if you looked long enough. 

Daichi moves closer to you at an agonizingly slow pace, and you savor the electricity that is simmering in the distance. It's enough to have your heart skip a beat before he closes the gap.

His lips meet yours and it's slow at first. His touch and kiss are reminiscent of the way that stars seemingly burn for eons until they can't take any more heat and explode in a fury of passion.

You grab the collar of his shirt, bringing him impossibly closer to you, wanting to erase any remaining space between the two of you. You seemingly throw him off his balance as he almost falls on top of you. You can feel him smile into the kiss before he starts to reposition your body with his big, strong hands. 

Daichi sits back, before pulling your body into his lap, wrapping your legs around his waist before continuing the kiss. His tongue swipes at your bottom lip and you moan at the contact, allowing him access, while you snake your hands into his hair, giving his roots a slight tug to get him to kiss you harder.

More. You need more.

His hands move up your body from your hips with a slow drag of his fingertips up to your neck, cradling your head in his hands, angling your head to kiss you deeper. 

Your body burns at the contact with him, your soul reaching out for his through your kiss. Hearts melting and colliding into one supernova as your lips push and pull against each other. This heat that ignites within you that only he can seem to control, grows and grows until you feel like you're going to go insane if you don't touch him more soon. 

Grinding your hips down on him, you can feel how much he is enjoying this, and you can't help but smile when he lets out a small whine into your mouth. Kissing him harder you start to move your hips against his as he ruts up into you at the same time. The delicious friction you've been craving but it's not enough, you need more.

His mind must have melded with yours because he stops kissing you, pulling away with your bottom lip caught between his teeth until you let out a small gasp. 

“Pretty girl, tell me you want this,” he asks breathlessly.

You feel your cunt clench at his praise, needing more from him, needing everything. 

“Dai, I want all of you.”

His breath hitches in his throat, and his eyes take in the sight of you on top of him with the endless backdrop of stars above you. 

The look he's giving you melts any remaining pieces of your heart into a giant puddle, his eyes are soft and a small smile is on his lips as he whispers, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

You rest your forehead on his, looking him in the eyes and reply, “me too.”

He smiles at you bigger and you can't imagine feeling any happier than you are right now, his eyes crinkle in happiness before he buries his face into your chest, wrapping around you and hugging you with a huge amount of strength. 

You let him hold you like that for a few seconds before the need growing in your stomach becomes unbearable.

You move your hands to cradle his head, pulling him from your chest so that you can look at him. His eyes are half-lidded looking up at you in awe, like he can’t believe that you're here with him on his lap.

“Daichi,” you practically purr, “please, fuck me.”

His eyes flutter at your words, and he bites his lip. He looks like he's fighting some sort of internal battle.

Before you can register his movement, the world is tilting on its axis, and your back is now on the soft blanket. His strong arms caging you under him and your legs are around his waist as he leans over you.

You can see why he was staring up at you earlier, he looks heavenly with the night sky as his backdrop. The soft glow from the house illuminating his features and he looks beautiful and so fucking sexy. 

His eyes land on your lips and you watch as one corner of his mouth tilts up in satisfaction at your reaction to him. 

“Aw, my girl thinks I'm sexy,” he says, nuzzling his nose against yours as he taunts you.

You can't believe you said that out loud, but it's true so you nod, worried what else will come out of your mouth if you choose to open it. 

He leans down so that he is right next to your ear and he growls, “I think she’s fucking sexy too.” 

He gives your earlobe a small nip before he starts kissing your neck. You turn your head, giving him more room, and he takes full advantage of it, tracing his tongue along your pulse before moving his lips against your skin. His lips search your neck until he finds that spot that makes you gasp, and then he focuses all his attention there, biting it lightly before his tongue swipes away the sting. 

You moan for him, moving your hand to his hair, gathering some between your fingers before he sucks hard. Your hips jut up, grinding on him in pleasure, and both of you moan into each other as your clothed cunt brushes against his hard cock.

“I’ve been so fucking hard for you since our kiss earlier.” His mouth kisses down to your shoulder which is still covered by your sweater. “Do you want my mouth or my fingers?”

His hands make their way under your sweater and over the skin of your stomach, before teasing your nipples through your bra and you let out a gasp when he gives one of them a squeeze, a warning for you not answering him.

“I asked you a question, answer me,” he says in a stern voice that sends shivers down your spine and makes your eyes flutter.

Your mind tries to calculate a response, as the assault on your nipples increases, sending shocks of pleasure right to your core.

Unable to focus on anything but how his fingers feel on your skin as he trails a hand down your body, “your fingers, please” you moan out for him.

He leans back and pushes your skirt up around your hips before he starts to tease his fingers along the cloth covering your core. 

His gaze on you makes you want to cover yourself up, but when you move to close your legs, his hand grabs your knee and pushes you back open for him.

He uses both of his hands to pull your underwear down, staring at the string of slick that connects them and your soaked folds. He tosses them somewhere over his shoulder, before taking in the sight before him. The cold night air meets your warm cunt and sends shivers up your spine, but the cold is quickly replaced with the heat of Daichi’s warm hands on your thighs.

“God, you're beautiful,” he groans, as he watches your cunt flutter around nothing at the depth of his voice. Fingers moving back to your slit, teasing your folds before he moves his fingers up to circle your clit.

You let out a gasp when he finally touches you where you've been needing him. Your hips jut up in search of more contact. 

He teases his fingers through your folds before sliding one into you. You can feel how wet you are and it makes your face heat up but he feels so good inside you, you don't care.

He thrusts his finger into you a few times before adding a second, watching your face morph into pleasured bliss before focusing his attention on the way your walls are trying to suck him inside.

Your hands move to your chest, kneading the flesh there as he increases his pace, finger-fucking you until he finds the spot that makes you scream.

The pleasure in your body continues to build as he focuses all his attention on that one spot. Your nerves are all on fire and you can feel the building pressure, just waiting to be released. Daichi is making you feel so alive, his fingers working magic on your body, weaving their way into your soul and imprinting his mark there where it can never leave.

All of the muscles in your body tense and you hear Daichi say, “cum for me,” before the coil inside you snaps and your body convulses in pleasure, singing out his name in praise as he sends you to the stars. His voice and fingers still work you over, sending more pleasure into your system before you feel yourself gush around his fingers, your body almost folding in on itself as you grab at his wrist to hold him still inside of you. 

Your breath comes out in short bursts as you relax onto the blanket with him still kneeling between your legs. When you look up at him, he has the cockiest smile on his face, obviously proud of himself.

You weakly smile and nod at him, hoping that he understands that he just sent you into orbit before you stretch out your hands for him. 

He reaches out, and you pull him down on top of you. You kiss him roughly and he eagerly ruts his hips into you, moaning into your mouth when he can feel your wetness seeping through his pants.

You reach down between your bodies, unbuckling his belt and undoing the button on his pants. You try to get to his cock, but with the angle you're at and his boxers getting in the way, you can't seem to reach, and you let out a small whine. 

Daichi seems to understand, and he pushes his pants and boxers down past his thighs, giving you the perfect view of his cock. 

It makes your mouth water and you want to taste him so bad. Your hands move to stroke him, gathering the precum that leaks onto your fingers before you pop them into your mouth, lapping up the flavor eagerly.

You moan at the taste, sucking on your fingers, wishing they were his cock. You vow to yourself to take him down your throat and have him at your mercy before the end of this trip.

Daichi’s hand pumps his shaft a few times before he runs the tip through your folds, gathering your slick, before circling your clit with the head of his cock. 

You moan at how thick and heavy he feels against your soft folds. “Please Dai. I need you so bad, please, fuck me.”

He lets out a groan. “When you ask so nicely, how can I say no?”

He lets go of his cock, and moves his hands up to hold yours, interlocking your fingers together before his lips connect to yours in a hungry kiss. He holds eye contact with you as he slowly moves his hips into position as the head of his cock slowly presses into you.

You watch him bite his lip as he fights the urge to buck into you, his half-lidded eyes concentrating on your face, watching your mouth form into a beautiful ‘o’ and your eyes flutter as he pushes more of himself inside you. 

When his hips are flush against yours, he stills, wanting to give you time to get used to his girth. He can't help but savor the way your walls are squeezing him and sucking him into you. You give him a slow nod before he starts moving again, slowly pulling out of you and before pushing back in with more power.

You can't help but dig your nails into the back of his hands, forming crescent-shaped indents. The way his cock hits all of the spots inside of you perfectly has you questioning if this is a dream, but the way he sounds and looks as he moves above you is something so hot that your brain could never imagine it this perfectly.

His lips scatter kisses along your jaw until he's at your neck again, savoring the feel of your still tender flesh against his tongue. He’s taking his time focusing on leaving his mark at the top of your collarbone, sucking and nipping at your skin.

His head falls to your shoulder and his breath turns uneven as he pants out, “if you keep squeezing me like that I'm not gonna last,” in between thrusts.

You aren't going to last either, the coil in your stomach is already dangerously close to snapping again.

“Da-Daddy,” you moan, completely lost in your pleasure.

He pauses above you with his cock still fully sheathed in your dripping cunt, his head snapping up off your shoulder to look into your eyes, his brow furrowing. “What did you just call me?”

It takes a second for your mind to process what you just said. His hips being completely still as his cock continues to stretch you is not helping your brain processes. 

And then it hits you, why did you just say that, oh no. “I’m sorry it slipped out — I’m so —” you panic, stopping when you realize he is shaking his head with a gleam in his eyes you haven’t seen before.

Daichi angles his hips before thrusting into you at an even harder and rougher pace. “Say it again,” he commands, each word accentuated by a heavy thrust.

You bite your lip as the pleasure takes over you once again as he pounds into you. The sheer strength he has is evident in the power behind each thrust.

You can't help yourself when you start babbling out a mixture of his name and new nickname, the two words becoming interchangeable on your tongue and streaming together. 

Daichi releases your hands so that he can get a better grip on your hips, pounding into you without abandon. His eyes go dark as he loses himself in the feeling of your cunt, so soft and pliant and warm all around him. All his.

He can feel you tensing around him, squeezing his soul out of his body as his cock begs for release.

He speaks through his teeth as his whole body is clenching, hold out his orgasm for you, "Fucking cum on my cock baby girl. I need to feel it."

He lets out a primal growl as you feel the pressure inside you release as your pussy milks his cock. Your orgasm crashing through you, forcing you to grip onto his strong shoulders, leaving dark circles that will eventually turn into bruises into his perfect skin. 

You cry out for him, chanting his name as your vision clouds over, and you swear you can see the universe unfolding and refolding in on itself as your body is propelled through time and space.

Your mind is hazy as your muscles twitch. Daichi is still pounding into you, babbling about how much of a good girl you are and how much he's going to fill you up, claim you as his. 

Your body is still shaking with pleasure when you feel Daichi’s thrusts start to waver, your pulsating walls still pulling him even deeper until he lets out a moan of your name above you. His eyes lock with yours as he spills his cum inside you, filling you up completely until it seeps out around his cock.

You both are panting as Daichi leans down to kiss you, his soft lips a stark contrast to the pounding your cunt just received. 

You wrap your arms around his neck, pulling his weight on top of you and keeping him sheathed inside you. 

The stars shine down on you in their infinite beauty and you wish you could stay in this moment forever with him, breathing in his scent, the two of your souls merged into one, with your breathing in sync. All you need is him, you think, only him and you could be happy forever.

Daichi wakes up to the sound of his phone buzzing on the nightstand. He looks down at your sleeping form on his chest and debates on whether or not he should move you to turn the assault of buzzing off. 

When his phone quiets down, he lets out a small sigh of relief.

After last night on the roof, the two of you managed to sneak to his room without anyone seeing you. Kuroo and Bokuto almost caught the two of you, but with women on each of their arms, they were a little too preoccupied trying to navigate through the mansion to pay attention to you and Daichi hiding in the shadows, giggling at their antics. 

After the two of you got cleaned up, you both got comfortable under the covers, talking the night away, exchanging small kisses and playful jabs before you fell asleep on his chest.

He looks back down at you, and you look so cute sleeping in one of his shirts, the little bit of drool pooling on his chest is adorable and he wishes his phone was closer so he could take a photo.

The incessant buzzing starts again and he lets out a small curse. 

Whoever is calling him must really need him. He takes a deep breath, inhaling your shampoo before he very slowly moves your sleeping body off him.

He grabs his phone off the nightstand before heading to the bathroom, not wanting to disturb your sleep with whatever this phone call is.

Finally looking down at the caller ID, he wishes he would have just thrown his phone out the window but nevertheless, he answers after letting out a big sigh. 

“Dad, what do you need?”

His father talks to him through the phone before Daichi has heard enough. He says one phrase to his dad before hanging up the phone and turning his phone off and slamming it on the counter.

“Drop it, I am not meeting with Hime.”

the blonde sitting on issei’s lap? that was me uwu

who wants a part 2? i couldnt finish the other half in time for the deadline🙏 please forgive me 

send me an ask to be added to my tag list

@matchamintmochi @unlimitedpastapass @eijirosriot @strawbub @thathoneybee3​

[caravelmp3]

UNDER THE CANYON MOON

pairing: josh kiszka x female!reader warning(s): mostly fluff, just brief mentions of alcohol and sex  word(s): 2k note: hi hi hi !! this is just a little something i wrote up the last couple of days with the inspiration of light my love, canyon moon by harry styles, and the interview where josh talked about road-tripping the u.s. last summer <3 i don’t write one shots often but let me know what you all think bc i might shuffle some more out soon lol. hope you all enjoy !! :) 

The Los Angeles sun was hot, beating down onto the city basking in its late-summer hues. You parked your car on the street in Silver Lake and carried a bag of food and drink tray to the door of a recording studio, more than prepared to be swarmed by hungry boys who had been cooped up in the studio since five a.m. on the dot that morning. They had a breakthrough the night before with a new song, and after getting home and going to bed for a few hours, the creative juices started flowing again and they were back in the booth. 

A windchime on the door sang as you pulled the door open and walked inside, greeting their manager who was at a table by the door. 

“The boys here?” 

“Down the hall,” he nodded, pointing a finger in the direction of the hallway. “They’re more rowdy than usual so be prepared,” 

You laughed and turned down the hall, walking towards the studio. The walls were decorated with memorabilia of rock and roll greats and record plaques, and among them, you spotted a picture of the four boys with their Grammy award. It seemed like time had passed so quickly. They won the award for the first album and they were already working on their third, shooting them further into stardom. 

“Coffee’s here!” You shouted in a really bad New England accent when you noticed the recording light was flipped off above the door. 

You stepped into the room to a chorus of cheers and “thank god you're here”’s that made you laugh while sitting the food and drinks down on the table and they all rushed over. You handed out the specific orders and pointed to which drinks was theirs when they got handsy and tried to grab everything from her out of both excitement and some desperation for caffeine. 

“Our savior,” Jake said, reaching out and grabbing your shoulders to give them a gentle shake before taking the coffee you were holding out to him, and then you handed Danny’s to him, too. 

“Just the coffee girl here,” 

“Well, you’re a little bit more than that,” Josh said, walking over to the table to grab his full cup. 

You pressed a hand against the table, leaning over to him. “Just a little?” 

“A little bit,” he shot you a wink before swiftly pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

You were more than just a “little more” than the coffee girl, you were typically their designated drunk driver, the one who took all of their candid photos, the mediator in times of need, and well, the girlfriend of the lead singer, too. 

Everyone in the studio took their food and drinks and scattered among the seating area in a break from recording. Instead of one tiny room with all of them cramped together, they had a wide open space with booths for the different instruments and bean bag chairs and big comfy, velvet sofas, and there was dim lighting with deep toned rugs that gave off the vibe of a more relaxed feel rather than the fluorescent-light, tiled-floor feeling that made them feel rushed and confined by rules they didn’t set themselves. 

You liked the studio, too, and often took naps on the sofa while listening to them play instruments individually in the recording booths and while they were writing. One night they had found you at two a.m., bundled up with a blanket on the bean bag chair after they spent the night writing in the front room on the piano, but it wasn’t the first time as you often napped in their Nashville recording offices, too. 

“You guys been busy today?” You asked jokingly while lowering onto the sofa armrest, receiving nothing but glares shot in your direction. “Okay, okay, touchy subject,” 

With a mouthful of bread, Sam pointed to Josh, “Josh finished a song, didn’t you?” He was grinning. 

You hummed in joy and surprise, grabbing Josh’s knee as he sat next to you. “Really?” 

It had been a rough few days for all of them as they tried to shuffle out a few more additions to the new album. It felt incomplete with something missing, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on what it was exactly, so they attempted to bring back and revamp old songs, write and record new ones, but nothing seemed to stick, until now. 

“Yeah, wanted to wait and show you later, but someone can’t keep his trap shut.” Josh said, pretending to be serious before cracking a smile and taking a sip of his coffee. “Just wanted it to be a surprise,” 

“Well it can still be a surprise, I’m surprised now,” you said. “Can I hear it? Or read what you got?” 

Josh nodded and stood, grabbing your hand and pulling you with him. There was a little recording room fit with a piano inside, his writing journal placed on the music stand where he had scribbled notes and keys and melodies in pen. He picked it up and handed it to you. 

“Nothing seemed to click until last night, when I started putting it together.” He said. 

“Is that why you wouldn’t tell me what it was when you all got back to the house?” 

Josh shrugged, pinching his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah, yeah, I wanted it to be special when you first heard it.”

You sat the coffee cup down onto the floor while lowering into the small chair in the corner, holding the journal like it was the most delicate piece of art in the world. In silence, while Josh watched on anxiously, you read the words he had splayed across the blank page. 

     Can you light my love?      Flames glowing bright as the sun      Deeper than oceans you run      Watch as our world has begun 

     Your mind is a stream of colors      Extending beyond our sky      A land of infinite wonders      A billion lightyears from here now

You felt your throat tighten, tears tempted your eyes. 

It was a love song. 

“Josh-” 

“Oh god you hate it don’t you, you dread it, despise it,” 

“Oh shut up, I’m in tears right now, you know I love it.” You looked up at him with a smile and a sniffle. 

His words across the page were sloppy, some cursive, written in different pens of different colors, some lines crossed and scribbled out, others underlined. 

“Your mind is something I will never fully understand.” You told him as he sat down on the chair next to you. “How the fuck did you come up with this-” 

“I was thinking about our trip out here, the week we spent driving out and all of the stuff we did… and how I think I fell more in love with you.” His voice softened. 

You reached out, placing your arm on his shoulder, fingers playing with his curls. “I can’t put it into words how much I love it, how much I love you,” you said, “and you make me sound so lovely when in reality I know I was a pain in the ass that entire trip.” 

“Yeah, but my pain in the ass,” he kissed the inside of your arm. 

Two weeks before the boys left Nashville to head to Los Angeles, Josh called you at midnight with an idea in mind – the two of you renting a camper to drive out to L.A., falling into all of the tourist traps along the way and stopping in random small towns to sleep while exploring the in between, which would definitely beat the boring four-hour flight. And you, half asleep and across the country, agreed. 

It would be fun. Right? 

And it was. Every time someone asked how it went, you called it “the most magical week of my life.” 

While the others waited behind for their flights the next week, you and Josh set off from Nashville, heading west with only the destination in mind and a trusty map in hand. Everything else just came to you both. 

The first stop was three hours in the trip, in Memphis. You and Josh roamed Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard and had lunch near Sun Studio before taking in the mementos and relics at the Blues Hall of Fame where Josh talked your ear off, rattling off more details about each band and singer than was on the info-cards on the wall. 

Then it was two hours to Little Rock, falling asleep in the back of the camper after a take-out dinner outside of a random supermarket. Sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of a parking lot, you held Josh’s hand under a blanket and watched the pink sunrise over the hills, and then it was back on the road again. 

From Oklahoma City to Amarillo, you fiddled with the map when Josh got lost after a wrong turn in a small town where he insisted on seeing the giant 66-foot LED soda bottle sculpture, and in the middle of northern Texas, he made it up to you by cooking your favorite dinner. You thanked him in a quiet whisper as you crawled into the bed with him that night, sliding under the covers where he greeted you with warm hands and kisses against your neck that made you squeal with the tickle of his mustache and he grinned against your lips. 

Josh got to choose the music all the way through New Mexico – Neil Young and Crazy Horse to John Denver’s Thank God I’m A Country Boy, and you were only able to squeeze in Joan Baez every hour when you stopped to stretch your legs on the side of the road, belting the words to him while he laughed at your voice cracks. 

And after you both pitched the tent in the Petrified Forest in Arizona, Josh hummed the tune to some new song while you two sat under the midnight stars in the canyon with a roaring fire, his arm around you, his sweatshirt draped over your shoulders. When he tried to start telling you a scary story after you heard a weird noise outside the tent, you blindly hit him in the dark and accidentally hit his nose, causing you both to burst into laughter after the initial panic left. He laughed loudly into your shoulder as you held his face in shock, catching the scent of your lavender lotion, and his body relaxed when the laughter died down, feeling so at peace in his life with you there. 

It was the tail end of the trip, but the excitement hadn’t died down yet. After showers in the camper in the middle-of-nowhere-Arizona and five hours west, you and Josh found a bar outside of Las Vegas that resembled Coyote Ugly, so you both had a round of tequila sodas and margaritas before walking around the small town that evening and sleeping off the tipsy-headaches in the air conditioning. On top of the covers, you looked at Josh napping in the sunshine, cheeks flushed red, curls poofy from the wind, and you felt your heart grow in your chest before falling asleep next to him. 

And then came Los Angeles, the final stop, the dreaded one. But you and Josh didn’t tell anyone that either of you were sad to be back with them in L.A. when they asked, and instead, you two smiled and hugged everyone after piling out of the camper in the drive-way of the Silver Lake house. 

Cleaning out the camper, tossing cheesy novelty t-shirts at each other and laughing at how many socks you two managed to lose along the way and how many bug bites were added, watching the developed clips Josh had filmed of scenes in the desert and you asleep in the passenger seat, you both were nostalgic about a trip that just ended. 

It was so easy, so freeing to just be together on the road, with only the destination in mind. It revealed a part of them that the other didn’t see often, like your tendencies to get your lefts and rights mixed up while giving directions, and Josh’s equally awful sense of direction didn’t exactly pair with the fact that he was a maniac while driving in the first place. 

But those parts were just added to the long list of why you and him loved each other in the first place. So you became the designated driver after Amarillo and Josh stuck to telling you “left or right” for the rest of the time. It was a compromise, another reason why you two worked so well together. 

It was a form of love in itself. 

“We’ll have to drive all the way back to Nashville then, so you can write more songs about me.” You teased. 

Josh rolled his eyes but cracked into a grin a second later. “Let’s not get too carried away,” but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t always mentally reliving the night under the canyon moon.