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yasashihanyou · 2 years

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THE LAYERS OF ONES SELF.

REPOST, DON’T REBLOG!!

LAYER 001 : THE OUTSIDE.

NAME - Sora .

EYE COLOR - Chocolate brown .

HAIR STYLE / COLOR - Dark black in colour ; very long, reaches past his mid-back, long side & front bangs as well .

HEIGHT - 5′11″ ( he’s gotten taller ^w^ ).

CLOTHING STYLE - He’s switched into a more modern style of clothing.

BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE - His eyes, probably because of how gentle they can look . That or his smile .

LAYER 002 : THE INSIDE.

FEARS - People dying ; losing faith in others ; being forgotten ; being abandoned ; losing control ; failing ; not being good enough ; not being smart enough ; being judged ; being ignored .

GUILTY PLEASURE - Violence .

BIGGEST PET PEEVE - Being called a hanyou ; being called a defect ; bullying of any kind ; being pre-judged ; people assuming things about him ; being treated like he’s some incapable & purely innocent kid ( sora is nice and patient , but he doesn’t like being infantilized ) .

AMBITIONS FOR THE FUTURE - Ensuring peace & stability for everyone ; all the worlds & all the people Sora’s met along the way .

LAYER 003 : THOUGHTS.

FIRST THOUGHTS WAKING UP - “Sure am hungry , wonder what I should have for breakfast? I hope everyone slept well last night . ”

THINKS ABOUT MOST - “What can I do to help? What if I can’t do anything? Am I really able to do this? I have to try. I have to believe.”

THINKS ABOUT BEFORE BED - “I hope I did my best today.”

WHAT THEY THINK THEIR BEST QUALITY IS - He’s too humble to really say so nowadays but Sora honestly thinks his best quality is his ability to believe in others . Even if he struggles with self-belief , he’s almost stubborn in his inability to give up on other people due to his own experiences with being abandoned & watching his other selves ( kazama & asahi primarily ) suffering and causing each other agony .

LAYER 004 : WHAT’S BETTER ?

SINGLE OR GROUP DATES - Sora’s never been on a date but he thinks single dates would be nice ! Groups are fun , but he’d want to devote his time solely to his significant other :3

TO BE LOVED OR RESPECTED - Both naturally !

BEAUTY OR BRAINS - Someone’s heart .

DOGS OR CATS - Cats cats caaaats !! ᨐᵉᵒʷ

LAYER 005 : DO THEY…

LIE - He used to lie a lot ; to himself, to others primarily out of fear of being abandoned or bullied or mocked . Nowadays , Sora’s almost too honest and open-hearted . Not to the point of naivety ( even if he plays that up a bit ) , but more-so because he has a fear of giving up on others the way he himself had been given up on time & time again . Sora does his best to be upfront with people , even if the truth is sometimes tough . Still , he does know when to be patient and tasteful with his honesty .

BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES - This is a mixed bag ; Sora doesn’t consciously realize it , but he’s gotten pretty good at believing in himself . The years of bullying & neglect and abuse are still there and haven’t gone away , but lately he’s been able to acknowledge that on some level and keep going . So while he believes in himself , it isn’t out of any conscious effort on Sora’s part? He’s just living life & tends to power through whatever that brings!

BELIEVE IN LOVE - Yes ; Sora wants so desperately to believe in the goodness of others ; in the light in other people . He always has, which is why all that bullying & abuse hit him particularly hard & why he spiralled due to it . His mother believed in her love for Inuyasha so much that she sacrificed herself for him & that can’t have been wrong .

WANT SOMEONE - Maaaaaybe .

LAYER 006 : HAVE THEY EVER…

BEEN ON STAGE - I think he’s probably gotten roped up into doing a drama for the school Michiru , Kagome , Usagi attend because he just couldn’t say no to helping out with a school festival last minute . I’m sure Sora was nervous but ultimately had a lot of fun!!

DONE DRUGS - Nah .

GOTTEN DRUNK - Once , he doesn’t drink actively nowadays but won’t turn down a good drink if it means being socially polite .

CHANGED WHO THEY WERE TO FIT IN - Yup yup yuuup! He did this a lot when he was younger & on some level he forced himself to again when he started being kinder and more gentle after changing his name to Sora . Not to say that the way Sora acts now is faked ; it isn’t , but some days are harder than others to keep up that happiness and that positivity .

LAYER 007 : FAVORITES.

FAVORITE COLOR - Yellow , pink , orange , brown , blue .

FAVORITE ANIMAL - Cats & also birds .

FAVORITE MOVIE - Sora loves the movie ‘ The Fox & The Hound ’ .

FAVORITE GAME - Probably hide & seek . Or tag .

LAYER 008 : SLEEP.

HEAVY OR LIGHT SLEEPER - Light ; although Sora feigns heavy sleep , he’s had to learn to keep an eye & ear out constantly in case of danger . Old habits die hard ; but once he’s comfortable in a setting or a place then he’s out like a light .

WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO THEY SLEEP ON - Mostly on the right-hand side or whichever side is closest to the wall if it’s near one . Elsewise Sora’s usually sleeping on his side or his stomach .

WHAT DO THEY WEAR TO BED - Loose fitting short sleeved t-shirts & sweatpants . Sockless because Sora’s feet sweat no matter the weather .

WEIRD THINGS THEY DO IN THEIR SLEEP - He tosses some nights , due to worries or nightmares . He’ll also talk in his sleep at points .

LAYER 009 : LOVE.

BIG DECLARATIONS OR SMALL - Small ; it’s the little gestures and kindness that means the most, to Sora . The cherished fond memories . He’d much rather kiss someone on the forehead or hold their hand , than shout to the world that he loved them . Besides , that kind of thing is private .

OPEN OR CLOSED OFF - Open . He might be shy about it at first & giddy due to nerves but once Sora’s comfy then he isn’t at all worried about being affectionate with the one he loves ; expect him to hug constantly , to want kisses , to go on romantic dates , to stare and smile like a big doofus!

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT OR SLOW BURN - Slow burn ; Sora’s kind of oblivious to feeling crushes or romantic affections tbh . He cares very very deeply for every single one of his friends for various reasons, so it can be difficult for him to recognise that difference between platonic and romantic love .

ONE TRUE LOVE OR A STRING - One true love ; although this varies depending on verse .

LAYER 010 : FINISH THE SENTENCE.

I LOVE - The world .

I FEEL - Happy , excited yet scared .

I HIDE - a lot , but I promise I’ll be fine .

I MISS - my mother .

I WISH - for true peace and happiness for everyone .

#「headcanons.」 “i am multilayered; nothing static.”#「sora.」“everyones hope for happiness; blue sky.”

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vs-redemption · 3 years

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This piece was written for a collaboration event hosted by @sightoru and @anarchicmartyr . Please check out the masterlist to read and support the other writers participating in this event. Some pieces from the event contain adult content, so minors please proceed with caution!

Prompt: College AU Character: Atsumu Miya Word Count: 3,586 Warnings: None!

With a nod of satisfaction, you look around at your tiny new dorm room to admire your work. The space was small, but you’d made the most out of it. The twin sized mattress on the wooden frame was now fitted with a new set of sheets and comforter, the TV and mini fridge were set up and working, and all your clothes were hung up on hangers in the narrow closet by the door that led out to the main living area where your suitemates were already making themselves at home.

You try to keep an optimistic mindset as you hear them giggling and skipping up and down the hallway, gossiping about this and that with a playlist going in the background, surprisingly loud despite the small size of the Bluetooth speaker. You could already tell that you weren’t as much of an extrovert as the girls you’d be housing with, but it was your first year of college and your first time living away from home. You imagined it was the same situation for the rest of them, and you couldn’t blame them for taking advantage of the new taste of freedom.

After a moment of debating what to do next, you sit at your new desk and open up your laptop to log in to your campus email. Classes would be starting the next morning, and you wanted to make sure you were as prepared as possible. Maybe you’d already read each syllabus multiple times, but it couldn’t hurt to review the buildings on the map you’d printed out and covered with notes and highlighter just one more time.

A commotion from outside your room pulls your attention away a few seconds later and you hear a few male voices mix in with the music and giggles. The conversation was a little muffled, but you heard bits of what they were saying. Apparently they lived on the same floor and wanted to come introduce themselves. You let out a small laugh and shake your head, content with listening to the shenanigans from a safe distance until a particular question caught your ear.

“So, is this all of you?” one of the visitors asks, something in his voice making you apprehensive from the start.

“Um, no,” one of your suitemates answers. “There’s one more, but she’s in her room.”

“Great!” was the enthusiastic reply, “Let’s go say hi!”

You turn to look at your door nervously as the sound of footsteps comes closer. It wasn’t that you were opposed to meeting new people, it was just overwhelming when it was so many in a short period of time. It was only day one after all, and you were still trying to process being in a new place, sharing a living space with a group of girls who you’d just met a few hours before. It was all a bit draining and you just needed some time to adjust and recharge. You’re already shuffling towards your bedroom door though when the sound of the knock comes.

You weren’t sure what you’d expected to find when you pulled open your door, but it wasn’t the person standing in front of you. The first thing that registered in your mind was that his smile was far too bright and genuine for someone meeting a completely new face for the first time, and there was just as much raw emotion in his excited brown eyes. You could tell his hair was dyed since the blonde locks falling over his forehead didn’t match the shorter dark brown hair revealed by his undercut. The simple black t-shirt that he wore showed off arms that were just muscular enough to clue you in that he was probably some kind of athlete. Overall, he was everything you’d expect from a typical hot college guy, and you were sure you’d never been this close to anyone who had so much confidence in their presence before.

“Um, hi?” You greet him softly while going up on your toes to look over his shoulder, expecting the rest of his friends to be around but they were still in the living area chatting up your suitemates. It seemed your existence hadn’t been as interesting to them.

“My buddies and I live right down the hall, so we just came by to say hello,” his eyes soften a bit and he tilts his head, making you avert your gaze awkwardly. You were no match for the pure energy radiating off of him.

“Oh, that was nice,” you nod your head. Your ability to make small talk was usually better than this, but words seemed to be failing you at this inopportune time. “Thanks.” Confusion blooms in his eyes briefly before his lips tug up into a handsome smile, different from the toothy expression from before.

“My name’s Atsumu Miya!” he tells you, “What’s yours?”

For a moment, you can only stare at him, wondering how you’d even held the attention of a guy like this for as long as you had. Whether he truly cared to know or not, you mutter out your name while fiddling awkwardly with the handle on your door. There’s a beat of silence before a different male voice calls from the living room, almost in monotone and barely loud enough to hear.

“Leave her alone ‘Tsumu, you idiot. You’re bothering her.”

The comment was clearly extremely offensive, or maybe it was just the person who’d said it, but there was an instant reaction from the boy at your door. His relaxed face suddenly contorts in annoyance, his nose scrunching up childishly and his lip curling almost as if in disgust. It was such an extreme change in demeanor, you couldn’t help the small giggle that escapes your lips. Atsumu’s eyebrows perk up at the sound and his attention turns back to you in an instant.

“Oh,” you shy away a little, eyes darting toward where the comment had come from. “It’s fine.” And really, he wasn’t actually bothering you, but he didn’t seem to know how to proceed either from that point. “It was nice to meet you though,” you offer a smile and he seemed to understand that the conversation had come to a natural end. He nods politely, but still manages to hold your gaze for a moment as you slowly close your door.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The first couple weeks of college passed in a daze as you figured out your class schedule, learned where different places were on campus, and got to know your suitemates and their habits. You spent a decent amount of time with them, sometimes going to get meals together at the campus cafeteria or making plans to study for the classes you happened to have together. It was easy to get along with them, and they didn’t make you feel bad when you went to bed earlier than they did or retreated to your room if things got too rowdy. It was a comfortable friendship, and you appreciated that they didn’t try to force you to go out to any wild parties when you had classes the next morning. Honestly, you didn’t know how they could do that, but it was amusing to watch them have their fun.

“You’re just in time for the movie!”

You walk into your dorm after your last class of the week to find your suitemates huddled around the TV with a group of friends, which was a little unusual. They were almost always already out by the time you got back from the ridiculous Friday night, three hour lecture. Even you weren’t crazy enough to want to take a class like that, but it was required for your degree and only offered at that particular time. You look around the living room to see who was there. You recognized some of the faces, including the blonde guy who’d visited your room on the very first day. You hadn’t seen him since then, but he glances over his shoulder and gives you a wave, the smile on his face just as open and honest as you remembered.

“Come join us!” He offers happily.

“Uh, sure. Just a second.”

You head into your room to drop off the bag of books you’d been lugging around all day. What you actually wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep. Your classes had reached the point where the professors expected you to be comfortable enough to start having exams and writing papers, and you felt the work load starting to take a toll. Still, despite being on the more introverted side, you weren’t antisocial. Hanging out and watching a movie sounded like a nice way to relax after a particularly challenging week. So, after getting changed into a pair of sweats, you head back out to join the others, finding a free spot on the floor where you can lean against the side of the sofa without killing your back. The movie starts and at about five minutes in, you feel a tap on the top of your head. You tilt your chin up and see Atsumu smiling down at you.

“Hey,” it was the loudest whisper you’d ever heard and you let out a laugh. “Were you in class?”

“Yeah?” You still couldn’t wrap your mind around how unguarded his body language was when he didn’t know you at all, and you wondered if he was genuinely just super friendly and wanted you to feel included or if he was setting some kind of trap for you with those big handsome smiles.

“Wow, you’re pretty serious about your studies, huh?” He folds his arms over the armrest of the sofa, and you recoil a bit, wondering if that was an insult. Atsumu just lets out a sigh though and continues talking. “I’m already struggling to keep up with my classes. I have volleyball practice in the evenings three times a week and games on the weekends.”

“Shut up, will you? Your annoying voice is ruining the movie.” It must’ve been the same person that called him out before because Atsumu’s face pulls into the same comical expression, nose scrunched up and a look of disturbance in his brown eyes.

“What did you say?!” he narrows his eyes to glare at the person who you couldn’t see from where you were on the ground. “Your annoying voice is ruining my conversation!”

“For it to be a conversation, she’d have to want to talk back to you.” The retort came in a bored tone, but the swiftness of the delivery only riled the blond up even further.

“Well maybe if you hadn’t interrupted…” One of the decorative pillows that had come with the dorm room comes flying out of nowhere and smacks Atsumu right upside the head, cutting off whatever he was about to say.

“Just be quiet and watch the movie…”

You see Atsumu’s long fingers grip the pillow, obviously weighing the pros and cons of throwing it right back. You can’t believe the friends were bickering like children, but the reactions from everyone else made it seem like this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

“Actually,” You reach up and tug the pillow from his hands. “Can I use that?” He releases his grip and watches you tuck it behind your back to use as extra support. His smile returns and he leans back over the armrest.

“Sorry about my brother,” He continues to talk, still not having learned his lesson. “Even though we’re identical twins he’s not nearly as fun as I am.”

“Atsumu!” It was a different voice this time, “Shut up!”

“Okay!” He finally gives in with a grimace, rolling his eyes in your direction before turning his attention to the movie. He was extremely obnoxious, but in an endearing way you supposed. Out of curiosity, you lean forward and instantly find the identical version of him sitting on the other end of the couch. He looked exactly the same, aside from his hair which was dyed an ashy grey color. The bickering made sense to you now though, knowing they were siblings. The rest of the movie passed quickly, and you excused yourself to head to bed as soon as it was finished, not being able to keep your eyes open a moment longer despite the others whose night was just getting started.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

With so many people on the same campus moving from building to building as they followed the same schedule every week, it made sense that you would run into and see the same people occasionally. A quick ‘hey’ or even just a simple nod seemed to be the generally accepted way in which to handle these situations by most people, but evidently Atsumu Miya was not most people.

“Good morning!” His tall form appeared next to you while you were standing in line for coffee one day. You’d just gotten out of one class and were in desperate need of caffeine before your next one.

“Morning,” you mumble back. When you turn your head, you’re met with the sight of him in an oversized hoodie and his blonde hair all tousled as if he’d just rolled out of bed. You can’t help but glance around you to see if anyone else was seeing him and wondering why he was talking to you.

“Don’t worry,” he misunderstands your wandering eyes. “Samu’s still sleeping so he can’t yell at me for talking to you.”

“That’s your brother’s name?” you ask and he nods his head in confirmation. You still weren’t sure what he wanted, but he continued to chat your ear off as you made your way to the front of the line. “What are you getting?” You ask him after you place your order.

“Oh no, I’m good.” He waves his hand, “I just wanted to say hi. Enjoy your next class!” You stare after him in disbelief as he walks away, unsure of what to make of what had just happened. Strangely enough, it hadn’t just been a random occurrence either. You seemed to run into Atsumu a lot over the next couple weeks, and he always stopped to chat for a while before going back to his day. He led the conversations mostly, ranting about his brother, classes, and volleyball club a bit before expressing a curiosity about your life since the previous encounter. Part of you felt that maybe he was just the type of person who needed to talk to everyone he meets to feel popular, but his genuine interest in you was making it hard to lock him into that category.

Little by little, Atsumu weaved himself into your routine until it was normal to stop and talk to him between classes at predicted times each day. You hadn’t even realized how used to the interactions you’d become until he didn’t show up while you were in line for coffee one day. At first, you couldn’t figure out why something felt off, but then you caught yourself looking around as if something was missing. When it dawned on you that the thing throwing off your normal coffee buying experience was Atsumu’s absence, you felt a little awkward. It wasn’t as if he was obligated to be there, but the slight feeling of disappointment followed you around for the rest of the day. You knew it was stupid, but worries kept popping up in your head that maybe he’d found someone else to talk to at that time, or that you had perhaps become too boring for him. By the time you got back to your dorm in the evening, you were sick of the drama you’d invented and tortured your own sanity with. You make sure to greet your suitemates before heading to your room to unload your books and maybe get started on some homework.

It was just about time for you to think about getting ready for bed when there’s a soft knock on your door. You assume it’s one of your suitemates until you hear the familiar voice whisper your name from the hallway, asking if you’re awake. The nervous butterflies that erupt in your stomach surprise you, and for a moment you consider pretending to be asleep to avoid whatever weird feelings you were starting to have for the overly friendly twin. You know you can’t just leave him out there though, so you shuffle over to the door and pull it open.

“Hey,” he has a weird guilty smile on his face, but you’re too busy processing the sight of him in a track jacket that hugged his upper body in the most distracting way and a pair of athletic shorts that showed off just how muscular his legs were. You weren’t used to seeing him dressed this way.

“Um, hi?” you drag your focus to his face, noticing for the first time that his hair was wet as if he’d just gotten out of the shower not too long before. “Did you just get out of practice?”

“Yeah,” he nods his head. “I tried to get here as soon as I could. I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“No,” a heat was raising to your cheeks as you tried to imagine what he needed from you so urgently.

“Oh, that’s good,” a boyish laugh escapes his lips. “I wanted to apologize for standing you up today.” When you just continue to stare at him he clarifies, “You know, at the coffee shop.”

“Oh,” you answer as if it hadn’t been on your mind the entire day, “Right.” There’s a short lag in the conversation, and Atsumu starts to bounce on his feet, looking nervous.

“Yeah, it’s just that my class this morning got canceled,” He offers up an explanation despite not being asked for one, “So the volleyball captain made me go and do a bunch of extra practice since I’m new to the team and stuff. I would’ve let you know, but I realized that I never got your number.”

Surely if Atsumu had only been talking to you for the sake of popularity, he wouldn’t be standing at your door looking like a sad puppy when he could’ve just waited until the next day to apologize. It made your head spin that he seemed to be so considerate of your feelings, even over something as miniscule as missing the couple minutes he usually spent with you while you waited in line for coffee. Putting a label on whatever he was to you was getting more and more difficult as time passed.

“That’s okay,” you tell him softly before offering a smile. “Thank you for letting me know. You didn’t have to rush over after practice though.”

The comment seemed to confuse the boy and he tilts his head. “But, I like you,” the confession comes from him so easily that you could’ve almost overlooked it completely. “And I missed seeing you today.” The butterflies from before seem to double in intensity and your find yourself struggling for words.

“I… missed you too,” it felt embarrassing to say out loud, but it wouldn’t be right not to tell him the truth when he was being so honest. Your awkward response is enough to bring that bright beaming smile back to his face and you see an eagerness bloom in his eyes.

“So, let me make it up to you?” He asks while pulling out his phone, “I don’t have a game this weekend, so I’ll be getting out of practice a little earlier than usual. Do you want to grab lunch with me after I’m done?”

“Yeah, sure.” You wished you didn’t sound so flustered, but you couldn’t help it. Even after all the exchanged conversations you’d had, Atsumu was still a bit overwhelming with the way he wore his heart on his sleeve. He hands you his phone so you can put your number in, explaining that you could work out the details of the date as the time got closer. Your heart flutters in your chest and you can hardly believe the excitement in his big brown eyes is for you.

“I should probably let you get to sleep now, huh?” He asks once he tucks his phone back into his jacket pocket. “Sorry for bugging you.”

“You’re not bugging me,” you assure him, feeling brave enough for a moment to meet his gaze. “I’m really looking forward to spending more time with you.” Atsumu’s eyes light up even more at the simple comment and he nods his head.

“Me too!” He bounces on the balls of his feet a couple more times before making up his mind to test his luck and lean in a bit. “Do you mind if I…” He doesn’t finish his thought, instead just taking the risk and pressing a quick kiss to your cheek before backing away sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” You promise and you see the nervous tension leave his shoulders. After a slightly awkward goodbye, Atsumu heads back to his own dorm and you hurry to finish getting ready for bed. Just as you get tucked under your covers and turn out the light, your phone chimes with a message from Atsumu to wish you goodnight. You text him back right away, wondering if you’d even be able to sleep with the way your mind and body buzzed from the unexpected visit. Slowly though, the adrenaline died down and you manage to drift off to sleep, the feeling of Atsumu’s feather light kiss still lingering on your cheek.

#Atsumu Miya x Reader #Atsumu X reader #Haikyuu X Reader #Hq x reader #Atsumu Miya #Haikyuu #Collab #Cindy's Writing

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my-kindred-spirit · 3 years

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Which is your favourite flower, Kaz?

Summary: Two years after the ending of Crooked Kingdom, Kaz and Inej enjoy a well-deserved moment of peace and happiness in Kaz's farm, surrounded by the beauty of nature. They reflect on their past and the healing they've done, as well as on their feelings for each other.

Pairing: Kaz x Inej

Basically, this is just pure FLUFF!!!

INEJ

Inej had always loved looking at the sky. When her mind was still young and naïve, she used to imagine herself walking between the clouds on a white sparkly tightrope, leaving behind her a silver trail decorating the silent sky. She used to dream of her spirit hanging in the air and her soul flying free in the blue infinity of the firmament, with a smile printed on her face and the lightness that is conferred only by liberty sculpted in her heart.

When her mind was trying to survive the horrors that Fate had destined to her, Inej still looked at the sky. Ketterdam’s sky was grey, opaque with the steam of the cities and almost threatening in his abyssal vastness. It wasn’t arid though. It was very much alive, reached day and night by the laughs of the tourists wandering through the narrow streets of the Barrel, by the drunken songs of the men wasting themselves in the taverns and the joyful or frustrated shouts of the ones playing in the gambling halls. But the sky was also the inevitable witness of the desperate pleas of people being defrauded or robbed, of the painful cries of some poor souls abandoned by the Saints and doomed to a fate of violence and sorrows, of the desperate sobs of girls violated in the brothels.

Read it on AO3 here!

The sky had never been reached by the Wraith’s voice though. She liked to contemplate it in silence, sitting on Ghezen’s thumb and savoring all the memories of when the clouds looked softer. She had actually hanged in the air and flied as the most elegant and gracious of the birds, but her stage had been roofs and chimneys, not clouds. Her curtain had been a grey and opaque sky, not a bright and azure one. Still, she had defeated gravity, even if not how she had dreamt as a child.

Now that her mind had known pain and had wandered even through the world’s darkest meanders, Inej still loved looking at the sky. She liked to remember both the acrobatics she had performed on the rope, admired by her proud family, and the brave stunts she had succeeded in as the Wraith, with Ketterdam’sky as her sole witness. She liked to admire the blue intense sky towering on the True Sea and the azure one inundating with light and hope Kaz’s farm.

It was early June and the clouds looked softer than ever. The sun burnt high in the clear azure sky and his shiny rays softly tinged the boundless meadows gold.

Inej let her eyes part from the sky and wander around the immense verdant meadows surrounding her, which stretched as far as eye can see and finally got lost between the vague trembling lines of the horizon, in a pyrotechnic explosion of colours. She admired the flowery fields and the carpet of grass she was sitting on, embroidered with the golden light of the daffodils, the white purity of the daisies, the gentle pink of the roses, the purple of the wild geranium – her mother’s favourite flower- and the strong blue of the irises, which reminded her of the unforgiving waves colliding with her Wraith. On the distance she could see the orchards tinging the landscape pink: she recognized the light-pink petals of cherries, the darker pink and orange flowers of the peaches and then the white and pinkish heart-shaped flowers of the apricots, slowly falling to the ground and leaving place to the orange velvety drupes.

The fresh floral perfume was inebriating and the delicate scent of grass, soft and faintly damp under her touch, graced her nostrils and intoxicated her thoughts. A soft symphony of birds singing reigned in the colourful heaven and lulled her, accompanied by the gentle tune of a light pleasant breeze, the soft murmurings of the creek beyond the orchards and the melody of... of feets approaching her.

“You have picked some flowers.” Inej turned around and watched Kaz nodding to the wooden basket full of flowers, while slowly sitting beside her. This Kaz’s voice, Kaz Rietveld's voice, was not as raspy as Kaz Brekker’s one. He wasn’t even using the cane, which he had come to find unnecessary for walking on the soft grass. This Kaz, her Kaz, had longer hair on the sides and brown highlights, result of almost three weeks spent in the sun. He had even tanned a bit and gotten freckles all over his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose, and the corners of his mouth seemed to be turned up in a smile more often than not. He was wearing simple black breeches and a loose white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. No coat, no hat. No gloves. His eyes, however, were the same colour of bitter coffee as always.

“Wylan helped me earlier.” Inej observed Kaz eyeing the flowers with a troubled expression and then slowly lifting his head to look at her. “I've never given you flowers.”

KAZ

“You have picked some flowers”. Inej turned around and Kaz swore he had felt his heart stopping. The sun rays caressed her chocolate skin and framed her beautiful face. Oil black lashes fanned over her cheeks and a light breeze ruffled her silky dark hair. Her obsidian eyes resembled the darkest of the abysses and Kaz craved to forget himself and die in his pitch-dark immensity. Her vivid eyes sparkled as the brightest and most vibrant of stars and Kaz ached to live eternally and enshrine that light in a golden casket.

To Kaz, she didn’t look real, not for him. To Kaz, she looked holier that any of the Saints she devotedly believed in, so stunning that he thought he might just break down and cry if he looked at her any longer. Enveloped by the rainbow of flowers and trees, she looked like a picture painted by Purity itself, with the colourful palette of kindness and hope and the silver brush of strength and determination.

Kaz couldn’t thank any God enough that she was real. He jealously cherished every moment in which his eyes were graced with the sight of her elegant figure and kind smile, as he had never seen her before, as he would never see her again. He had learned to welcome and appreciate even the feeling of his breath catching and mouth drying whenever he looked at her, whenever he was a boy again, sure that there was magic in this world.

To Kaz, looking at Inej felt like dying. It felt like he couldn’t hope nor ask to breathe the same air of a heart so kind, a soul so hopeful, a mind so strong. It felt like being lost in the vastness of the universe, like navigating the tumultuous waves of the True sea, overwhelmed by feelings he never knew his hearth could fell, stunned by a fate he didn’t believe he deserved. It felt like being consumed by her, for her.

To Kaz, looking at Inej felt like living. It felt like he could hope to walk this land as a better man, like he had managed to pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. It felt like having been hurt and then healed, like the sorrows and ghost of his past wouldn’t persecute him for evermore, like life was worth living. It felt like being whole, like the void in his soul had been filled by her, for her.

To Kaz, looking at Inej felt like looking at the sun, like being warmed and burned, overwhelmed by a powerful oxymoron of emotions, a powerful oxymoron of life and death. To Kaz, Inej looked like the sun. To Kaz, Inej looked brighter than the sun.

“Wylan helped me earlier.” Kaz looked at the wooden basket full of flowers and a sudden realization striked him : flowers, he had never gifted her with flowers. He had given her a knife, sure, but he had done it for his own personal purposes, for turning her into his Wraith. Now they had been staying in Johannus Rietveld's farm for almost three weeks, literally surrounded by flowers, and he had never given her any. Would she have wanted him to? Would she have liked a gift that would have reminded her of her happy childhood, and not of the violence she had been forced to face? Would she have liked a gift that he would have given her had they met in another life, had they been Inej Ghafa and Kaz Rietveld, instead of the Wraith and the Bastard of the Barrel?

He shifted his eyes back to hers and murmured weakly, “I’ve never given you flowers.” Inej looked taken aback for a moment, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, before quickly recomposing herself and setting her face into a stoic, indecipherable expression. She looked straight into his eyes, pursed lips and brow furrowed, and Kaz knew he was inevitably about to enhance the list of his unforgivable sins. “Kaz”, her voice came out unbearably severe and disappointed and Kaz knew he would have gladly chosen death if it’d mean he would never be the one to bring that tone in her angelic voice again. But then her lips twitched almost imperceptibly, like she was trying with all her might to hold back Kaz’s final death sentence, and her eyes gleamed with… amusement?

A laugh, she was trying to hold back a laugh. How Inej managed to turn Dirtyhands, the brain which had broken into the Ice Court and destroyed one of Ketterdam’s most powerful man, into a lovestruck fool was downright beyond him. “Inej”, he sighed defeated and her whole face lighted up with delight, before she carefreely threw her head back and released the most infectious and crystalline of laughs. Now Kaz was sure he was going to die, mercilessly killed by the most beatific sound which had ever reached his ears, undeniably annihilated by the same laugh he craved for all-day long and graced his dreams every night, by the truest and most profound essence of her.

Her eyes sparkled with sheer love and a warm, affectionate smile enlightened her features: “Kaz, you gave me my Wraith, you found my parents for me, you restored my freedom when I thought there were no hope or salvation left for me”, she cooed fondly and tenderly, “do you honestly believe I would be upset because you never gave me flowers?”. Kaz felt his lips immediately turning up in a sincere smile and, not trusting himself with words, slowly shifted his hand and brushed his knuckles against hers, asking the permission she immediately granted, sliding her smaller hand into his callous one and entwining their fingers. It was always like this between them, a game of continuous asking and giving permissions, of constant gaining and offering trust, a game he genuinely believed they were slowly yet effectively winning.

“Do you want to know what my father used to tell me when I was little?” Inej asked softly, while lovingly drawing little circles with her thumb on Kaz’s bare hand.

“Another Suli wise proverb?” he smirked.

“No, Kaz”, she playfully rolled her eyes, “not another of our useful proverbs. He used to tell me that there would have been many boys to bring me flowers, but that only one would have known my favourite flower, or song or sweet. And that even if he’d have been too poor to give me any, he wouldn’t have mattered, because that boy, and him only, had earnt my heart.”

Kaz’s heart leaped with joy: he knew. He had never given her flowers, but he knew her favourite one, he knew. “Dahlia. Your favourite flower is the Dahlia, the red one. You told me when we saw one in the flower stall in Goedmedbridge, remember? We were following those Dime Lions. You said you liked it because it appeared elegant and graceful, but that the red colour made it look also somewhat powerful and strong.”, he blurted out with the excitement of a child. ”And your favourite sweet are those chocolate biscuits Nina made you try when you visited her in Ravka last summer. The ones she had cooked modifying Matthias's Fjerdian recipe.”

“And my favourite song?”

Hearing Inej’s trembling, touched voice snapped Kaz out of his frantic enthusiasm, his grin softening into a lovely crooked smile and devotion gleaming in his eyes. “You don’t have one. You can’t choose between all the lullabies your mother singed to get you to sleep.”

INEJ

Inej didn’t answer. She tightened her hold on Kaz’s hand, but didn’t answer. She fought the urge to cry – if from happiness or gratitude or emotion she couldn’t say-, but didn’t answer. She looked into his strong tea brown eyes as if he was a miracle of her Saints, but didn’t answer. She couldn’t, for the life of her, find her voice, because this boy, this man, had earned her heart.

She had fallen for Dirtyhands under the grey sky of Ketterdam, the man who had freed her from a cage of horrors and humiliations and had given her, if not happiness or safety, a new perspective, a new possibility at life. She had fallen for the man who, as first thing, had refused to call her with that grotesque, demeaning name Tante Heleen had given her, but had asked for her real name, for how she wished to be called. She had fallen for the Bastard of the Barrel, the man who had taught her how to fight and defend herself, how to become powerful and even dangerous, how to make others respect her. She had fallen for the man who had never wanted to own her or annihilate her identity. She had fallen for the man who, even if hadn’t promised her that, had always protected her, whatever the cost.

Then she had slowly came to know Kaz Rietveld and had fallen hard for him too. She had fallen for the boy who looked sincerely ashamed after being scolded by Mr. Fahey, for the boy who fought everyday against his demons and was willing to defeath them to be with her. She had fallen for the boy who smiled light-heartedly and laughed freely, for the boy whose eyes glowed in the sun and gleamed with a nervous yet warm devotion while braiding her hair.

She had fallen for the man who wanted her and wished to dedicate himself to her, without gloves, without armour. She had fallen for the naive, sweet boy Kaz had once been and for the man revenge and greed had shaped, a crow mercilessly remindful or who had wronged him, but also of who had been kind and fair. She had fallen for who he was becoming, a man who had known pain and hatred, but was willing to open the rusty gate of his hearth to love and friendship.

She had fallen for Kaz Brekker, the man who had returned her the liberty which had been violently snatched from her and had found her beloved parents. The man who had encouraged her ambitions and supported her constantly in her fight against the slavers.

She had fallen for Kaz Brekker. She loved Kaz Brekker, and he had earned her heart. He possessed her heart.

“I can braid your hair, if you’d like. I… I could add the flowers.” Hadn’t she just been thinking he owned her heart?

Her voice still failed her, so she resolved to nod. She watched Kaz shifting a bit to sit behind her and heard his breathing deepening. After a few instants, Inej welcomed the cherished feeling of Kaz’s long fingers caressing her inky hair with a gentleness that didn’t surprise her anymore. She felt him dividing the hair into three even parts, before crossing the left section over the middle one and then doing the same with the right section. As always, he worked in silence, section after section, strand after strand, breath by breath, brick by brick. The first times he had braided her hair, Inej had felt Kaz's fingers trembling and his breathing fastening, so she had started to ask him what was on his mind, to distract him, or she would tell him stories from her childhood, to soothe him.

Now, his fingers didn't tremble anymore and he was rather succesful in controlling his breathing, but Inej still whished to hear his concentrated voice. She still wanted to explore the gears of his psyche, to navigate the thunderous stream of his thoughts, to know the forbidden ruminations of his complex mind. “Wha”, she coughed, clearing his throat, “What are you thinking right now, Kaz?”

“I thought you'd never ask.”, he chuckled, and Inej could perfectly figure his mischievous grin.

“Kaz.”

“Darling Inej, treasure of my heart, I'm thinking about how it's taking me forever to braid all this hair. I swear I'll cut it, one day or another.”

“You wouldn't dare!”, she cried out in mock outrage, repressing a laugh.

“Would you slit my throat with Sankta Alina while I sleep, if I cut it?”

“You have to ask?”

“Then no, I wouldn't dare.”, Kaz answered with an exaggeratedly fearful tone that really didn't suit him.

They kept silent for a moment, pursing their lips, before giving in and bursting out laughing until tears rolled down their cheeks with amusement. “I never knew Dityhands was so easily scared", Inej sputtered out between laughs, “he is such a chicken, isn't he?”.

“Stop making me laugh Inej", he sniggered, “or I'll get confused and will have to start the braid from the beginning. I'm doing a delicate operation here while you just sit and laugh, you know?”

“Sorry, sorry", she wiped a tear from her left eye, “but you still have to tell me what you are thinking about.”

They slowly calmed down, quieting their breathing and setting into a comforting silence. Inej, however, had felt Kaz’s fingers slightly tensing up and when his hand shifted to take a geranium into the basket -after having secured the braid-, she asked again. “Kaz, tell me please.”

He took a deep breath. His fingers trembled. “I’m thinking if this is how it would have been. If we hadn’t become Dirtyhands and the Wraith, that is.”

Inej’s heart gave a painful squeeze. “Kaz”, she started soothingly, “we-.

“Would you want us to be only Kaz Rietveld and Inej Ghafa, sitting on the grass and enjoying the sun, while I braid your hair? Would you want me to be able to touch you as every man touches his girlfriend? Would you- ”

“No, Kaz, I wouldn’t.”, she brusquely interrupted him, “I wouldn’t.”. She swiftly turned around, took both his hands in hers without giving much thought to caution and permissions, and looked straight into his eyes with the determination of who allows for no replication. “I wouldn’t, Kaz. I wouldn’t because, if we hadn’t become Dirtyhands and the Wraith, we would have never met. And even if we had met, we wouldn’t have been who we are today, and believe me when I say I’d never change who we are, for anything in the world. It’s not Kaz Rietveld the one I’m in love with, you know. I’m in love with him, with Dirtyhands, with the Bastard of the Barrel.” Inej swore he’d never looked that dumbfounded, but she wasn’t quite finished. “I’m in love with Kaz Brekker. I’m in love with you, Kaz. As you’re in love with the Wraith, with Captain Ghafa, with Inej. Aren’t you, Kaz?”, and this time she didn’t even try to hold back the tears.

“Inej”, he murmured with a devotion who made her feel holier than the Saints she believed in, “Inej”, he repeated, while slowly untangling his right hand from hers and lifting it to her cheeks. With the gentlest touch, he captured her tears with his fingertips and delicately wiped them away, one by one. “Inej”, and if she could have bottled the sound of her name being so tenderly whispered by his lips and gotten drunk on it every night, she would have. ”Inej”, he delicately cupped her right cheek, while his other hand went to softly rest on her neck. “Inej”, he got closer to her and Inej thought her heart might just jump out of her chest, “Inej”, and he slowly lowered his head, lips hovering over her cheek. “Inej”, and his crimson lips brushed the tip of her nose, his hands slightly tremulous. “Inej", and his warm lips captured a tear rolling down her left cheek, and then another and another. “Inej", and his soft lips grazed her forehead, while she lifted her trembly hands and delicately yet eagerly rested them on his wrists. “Inej", and she had barely a moment to register the lonely tear falling from his left eye, before she finally felt the cherished pressure of his moist lips against hers, both familiar and new all at once. And a rainbow of colours and emotions exploded behind her closed eyelids.

In this moment, when Kaz's lips were pressed against hers, Inej knew that she'd never be the same again, that she'd never forget the taste of him, that she’d never give anything for granted, that she'd never stop fighting for what is good and just in this twisted world. In this moment, while she could feel the faintest brushes of tongues and the most sheer connection of hearts and souls, Inej found herself floating away, knowing nothing but Kaz, his smell, his breath, his hands on her skin, his hearth throbbing madly in his chest. In this moment, when he finally met her where she had been waiting for him, Inej thanked all her Saints and treasured the arduous path that, after years of battles and sufferings and anguish, had allowed them to live this precious instant, this precious everything.

When they finally pulled away, hearts gone mad with joy and euphoria, Inej looked into Kaz's blissful eyes and gave him a watery smile: “Which is your favourite flower, Kaz?”

A/N: Hey guys, thank you so much for reading!!! What do you think Kaz's favourite flower would be?? Tell me in the comments!

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crownjimin · 3 years

Text

✰ 099 | no takesies backsies

la vie en rose ━ in which lee aera, a girl who has been crushing on choi soobin for a long, long time, is starting her junior year and her friends decide that its time for her to make her move.

( masterlist | prev | next )

A/N: whoop! one more update + the epilogue and we’re donezo!!

“I can’t believe it’s really red—,” He flipped and shuffled his hands through her hair as he said this.

“So bright, so pretty,” Soobin muttered to himself, going as far as to bend down and push his nose into her scalp, taking a long, dramatic sniff. “Oh, it doesn’t smell like strawberries.”

Aera laughed at this, shoving her not-boyfriend away from her softly. “Of course not. That’s like me saying your hair should smell like chocolates.”

Soobin had recently dyed his hair back to brown--well, dark brown, and as much as it made Aera sad to see the purple gone from his hair, it was well past due. His roots had grown out terribly, meaning that he was either going to have to redo his roots or retreat back to his natural brown. Also, the purple was less purple and more of a faded ash gray, from all the washing Soobin did to his hair.

For a while, he was set on just letting his hair grow out, then cutting it at the brown once the ash gray was to the tips of his hair but Aera told him he would look crazy. They debated about it for a few days, but one day Aera showed up at his house with a kit with brown hair dye and a few hours later his chocolate brown locks were back.

“Well, if you used strawberry shampoo it would smell like strawberries.”

“I will when you use chocolate shampoo.”

Soobin pouted. “I bet Ariel’s hair smells like strawberries.”

“Go sniff her head then,” the red-head quipped. “And I actually highly doubt that is true. She lives in the ocean, you know. The place where fish pee--that ocean.”

“Is there another ocean that I should be thinking of?”

“Yeah,” There was a teasing lilt in Aera’s voice. “The one I’m going to toss you in if you keep sassing me.”

The two were currently sitting in Soobin’s living room on Saturday morning, Soobin having asked Aera on Friday night if she wanted to spend the next day with him. Of course, without hesitation, Aera agreed, telling him that she would be there by ten, and now they were there.

Soobin had suggested watching YouTube in his living room until his mom got home from the gym, and Aera found no issue with the idea. During the past hour and a half, they had watched way too many Girls’ Generation music videos, and even attempted to learn the choreography to Catch Me If You Can. After forty minutes of them attempting to get past the first verse, they called it quits. Soobin claimed that he was too talented in girl group choreography to continue and further embarrass Aera with her lackluster movements.

But if you asked Aera, Soobin just didn’t want to have a dance battle, because he knew he was going to lose.

At noon, Ruha walked through the front door, her arms loaded with three market bags, filled to the brim with groceries.

“Soobin-ah,” Ruha yelled, a little too loud since she hadn’t realized he was right there in the living room. “Come help me with my bags!”

Both Soobin and Aera rushed to help Ruha, the older woman being slightly startled by Aera being there but she quickly perked up and said, “Oh good, Ae Ae is here. More hands to help!”

Everything felt so natural with Soobin and his family. Aera had spent a lot of time at his house since the picnic, and his parents seemed to love her. Soobin’s dad was obsessed when he saw how small Aera was, often leaning his elbow on her head whenever he stood beside her as a way to ridicule and tease her about her height. Then when she turned up with red hair, he almost had a better reaction than Soobin, dubbing her Strawberry Shortcake and hasn’t stopped calling her that since.

Aera had also gotten Soobin’s parents’ phone numbers, Ruha often texting Aera at random times throughout the day whenever Soobin talked about her.

ruha-ssi

he said you brought him lunch to school today. says that he loves how much you care about him

i’m sure he cares about me way more than i do him

ruha-ssi

does he show it well?

that he cares for you.

wouldnt ask for him to treat me any better than he already

does ruha-ssi.

Or the time Ruha told her that Soobin was sleep talking and had muttered her name.

ruha-ssi

he’s napping.

[picture attached]

ruha-ssi

he just grumbled your name and had the biggest smile

aw that’s so cute

ruha-ssi

i know :)))

Soobin was aware that Aera had his mother’s number, but he didn’t know that his mother was revealing just how lovestruck he was. Aera didn’t plan on mentioning it to him either, thinking that Ruha is godsent for giving her so much dirt and content to tease Soobin with whenever he decided to get too sassy with her.

Plus, Soobin has had Dongmin’s phone number much longer than Aera has had Ruha’s, and she is one-thousand percent positive that her mother lived to embarrass her, so Soobin for sure had some dirt on her.

It’s a win-win situation, all is fair in love and war.

“So, Soobin-ah,” Ruha spoke as she walked into the kitchen. “What time do you want to head out?”

Aera was busy placing things where they belonged from the market bags (yes, she knows where their groceries belonged—she’s been over there that much), but she raised an eyebrow at Ruha’s question.

“Head out where?” she asked.

“Soobin wanted to take you to an early dinner today,” Ruha paused, with a nervous expression on her face. “I-I don’t know if it was supposed to be a surprise or not-”

“No, mom, it’s fine,” Soobin waved it off. “It wasn’t really a surprise, I was gonna mention it to you later, Pouts.”

Aera walked out of the pantry, an excited glint in her eyes. “Will there be steak at this dinner?”

“Do you want there to be steak?”

“Yes.”

“Then there will be steak.”

━━━━━━━

The restaurant Soobin had chosen was very dark, Aera noted. The only light that was supplied was from a single candle lit in the center of the table, which left everything as shadows and tinted orange.

It seemed super expensive, and once Aera picked up the menu, her suspicions were confirmed.

“Soobi,” her voice seemed hesitant. “How are you affording any of this?”

She should’ve realized that the meal was going to be an expensive one when Ruha had offered Aera one of her old dresses, seeing as Aera had came over to their house in a pair of ripped jeans and a tattered t-shirt. The dress Ruha lent her was a dark blue, high-necked dress, where the waist tapered in and then flowed out to mid-thigh. Luckily, Aera had worn black flats that day, those being the shoes closest to her front door when she left for Soobin’s house.

Soobin was dressed in a simple button up and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top button of his shirt was undone—if Aera hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought Soobin was a young adult that worked a nine-to-five office job and not a sixteen year old boy taking his not-girlfriend out for an early dinner.

Everything was fancy, and the two of them were tucked into a corner booth where once they sat down the hostess had wished ‘Mister and Missus Choi’ a nice evening.

“Months of allowance that I’ve saved up,” Soobin lifted his gaze from the menu and once he saw how worried Aera was, he rushed to reassure her. “Plus, I work a summer job! Don’t worry, Pouts, I promise it’s not too much.”

“You don’t have to spend your allowance on me, Soobi,” she spoke softly. “You should spend it on something you really want-something to make you happy.”

“Seeing you happy makes me happy.”

Aera blushed. “Don’t try to flatter me into running your pockets dry.”

“Ae Ae, seriously,” Soobin put down his menu and reached his hands across the table to touch her hands, which laid on the table. He tugged her index fingers once, attempting to soothe her and get her to not worry. “It’s fine. If it makes you feel better we can just split something, so that way I won’t have to spend much.”

The crease in her eyebrows gradually faded and she nodded in agreement. “Are you okay with splitting a steak?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “Just order whatever, I’ll eat anything.”

Aera looked over the menu, her eyes skipping over the more expensive items but honestly the cheapest things were the hor d'oeuvres and even those weren’t cheaper than 74,000 won.

“How about I choose one, you choose one, then we pick something together?” she suggested. “That way we can both enjoy something.”

By the time the waiter came to the table, they had decided on their personal picks and their combined choice, and once the food came to the table, Aera knew it was more than enough. The steak she had chosen ended up being as big as her face and had the both of them gasping in surprise once it was set on the table. Soobin decided on a rose pasta, in a dish large enough that it could feed a family of five. And their combined choice was a large platter of American-style french fries, but the way the menu phrased it made it seem like they were ordering a fancy potato.

Soobin offered to have the kitchen take it back, but Aera refused to give back french fries--she’d be crazy to ever turn down french fries (plus it came with a gravy boat filled with a white sauce that Aera could literally guzzle down in one go, so she was more than happy to keep it).

The moment the waiter told them to enjoy, Aera was shoving her fork into the steak, which was thankfully pre-cut, and the second she bit into it, juice ran down her chin and she had to squeeze every muscle in her throat to not let out a moan.

Soobin noticed her expression, the way her eyes fell close and she paused mid-bite. “Is it good, Pouts?”

“Tho goof,” she attempted to speak around her bite but she just gave up and nodded enthusiastically.

“It’s so juicy,” she said once she swallowed.

When they were ordering, she wanted to get the steak cooked well-done, but Soobin had told her to get it medium preaching something about it being more tender and juicer as if he knew everything and anything about steak. Aera argued and said she didn’t want to cut into her steak and hear it mooing back at her, and Soobin chuckled but promised if it was too raw for her when it came out, they could just send it back and she obliged.

She most definitely was not sending back this beautiful piece of heaven, and shoved another piece into her mouth. The scene from Ratatouille when the rat fused together strawberry and cheese and had color swirling around his head played inside Aera’s head the second she took another bite of the steak. Her eyes were closed, her head lolled from side to side as she swayed euphorically to the warmth of the steak and the flavor on her tongue.

Once she noticed what she was doing, she sat up stark straight and opened her eyes, watching as Soobin recorded her and laughed silently at her actions.

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself alot there,” Soobin ended the recording and set his phone on the table.

“Delete that.”

“I won’t. Here,” Soobin held out his fork where some of his pasta was twirled on the end. “Try it.”

Aera opened her mouth, letting him guide the fork inside and once she closed her mouth around the fork, the Ratatouille scene played again. She pulled away from the fork, her hand shooting over her mouth as she chewed and her eyes shot wide.

“Good?” Soobin asked, stabbing his fork in a piece of steak and eating it, much less dramatically than Aera had.

“Is amayshin,” Aera muttered. “Why ish ev-wee-shing hwere sho amayshin?”

Soobin swallowed and laughed. “It better be with these ridiculous prices.”

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded and swallowed her bite. “It’s so worth it.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I’m glad I like you,” Aera giggled, shoving some fries into her mouth. “You buy me expensive steak.”

“Only because of the steak?”

She nonchalantly shrugged. “Pretty much.”

Soobin faked a scoff, halfway knowing she was joking, but once he watched her pick up another piece of steak, and then kiss it before she ate it, he wasn’t so sure if she was joking anymore.

━━━━━━━━━

Thirty-five minutes and an entire steak later, Aera and Soobin were slouched over, bellies full, with their plates cleared.

“I am going to sleep so well tonight,” Aera grumbled as she rubbed her stomach. “This was so amazing.”

The waiter came to give the receipt and return Soobin’s card, wishing ‘Mister and Missus Choi’ a good night, and left them to their vices. Aera chuckled at being called Missus Choi, because did she look old enough to be married?

Did married people dye their hair red? She didn’t know but did she look married? Did her and Soobin resemble a married couple? Oh god, that just fueled her fantasy of marrying Soobin and she knew that she would never let this go.

“Alright,” Soobin groaned, shoving the receipt and card into his pocket as he stood and rounded the table, reaching his hand out to help Aera up from her chair. “You okay?”

Aera blew out a breath. “I’m stuffed.”

They both stood in place, Aera swaying a bit from standing up too quickly and Soobin attempted to stabilize her by setting a hand on her waist. “Careful.”

“I’m fine,” she tapped his hand on her waist. “I’m okay, just stood up a little too fast. Let’s go.”

They walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand, Soobin somewhat leading Aera as she momentarily closed her eyes as a way to wheeze out air around her full belly. This was the best meal she has had in entire life, one that she never imagined having unless she was filthy rich and drank gold for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but here Soobin was taking her on a date just because he wanted to see her happy.

When they made it outside, Aera tugged his hand, causing him to stop and turn to her. She eased her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she softly hugged him. He returned the gesture immediately, cuddling his head on top of hers and they just existed in the moment, in each other’s arms.

“Thank you for this, Soobin,” Aera squeezed him tightly, nuzzling her head further into his shoulder. “You made me really happy by doing this—you make me happy always.”

“I’m happy to make you happy,” Soobin chuckled, pulling away from the hug. “But the night isn’t over, we have one more stop!”

“Is it far?”

Soobin nodded. “My mom is going to take us there. She’s on her way here now.”

“Where is it?”

“The beach.”

“The beach?”

Soobin nodded again. “The beach.”

“The beach,” Aera said flatly. “I like the beach.”

“That’s why we’re going.”

“Hm,” Aera sighed happily. “The beach.”

━━━━━━━━━━

Upon their arrival, Aera realized that when Soobin said the beach, he actually meant the boat dock by the beach. Well more like the yacht dock by the beach, because as they made their way to the end of the dock, they passed massive yachts, the type that only rich people could afford. Ones with balconies and two-stories that have some corny name etched onto the side that were either named after an important woman in their life or something like Old Betsy.

“What are we doing on a dock,” Aera giggled, swinging her and Soobin’s hands where they were connected. “I’m almost positive we aren’t supposed to be here.”

Soobin laughed as they came to stop in front of one of the smaller yachts, which wasn’t exactly small (but in comparison to the other yachts it was more compact), where a man was waiting for them.

“Choi Soobin?”

“Yes sir,” Soobin nodded, then gestured behind him. “And this is my mother, Ruha.”

The man extended his hand to Ruha, giving it a firm shake. “Yes, we spoke on the phone. Everything is set, if you guys want to climb on in, we’ll head out in about ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” Ruha said as the man helped her onto the yacht by her hand.

The man then lent his hand to Aera, but instead of grabbing it, she took a step back, a conflicted look on her face.

“Wait,” Soobin placed his free hand on Aera’s wasit, causing her to look up at him. “You aren’t afraid of water, right? Boats or anything? Because I was just trying to surprise you, that’s why I didn’t as-”

“No, no,” Aera shook her head. “That’s not it, but Soobin how much was this?”

Soobin raised an eyebrow at the question, confused as to why she was asking this. “What?”

“It’s just—” she sighed. “You’re spending a lot of money today, and I don’t want you to think you have to blow a bunch of money just to make me happy. You could’ve just given me a bottle of water and I’d be happy that it came from you, so I don’t get why you are taking me to all these expensive places and things.”

“I just want to spoil you,” he softly replied. “Even if it’s just for a day. I want you to have some of the best experiences with me, so I don’t mind spending a lot of money on you.”

“But, Soob-”

“And plus,” Soobin smiled wide. “My friends chipped in to help, they wanted to make us both happy so they offered to help. You don’t have to pay them back, I don’t have to pay them back, they were just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Me as well.”

Aera stood there frozen.

“I just want you to be happy.”

“But I’m already happy with you.”

Soobin leaned down to rest his forehead on Aera’s. “Yes, but you’d be even more happy on the boat, so let’s go!”

Aera laughed as she reached out for the man’s hand, him having stood there and watched that whole sappy ordeal, and he pulled her into the boat. Soobin followed and guided Aera to the very front of the yacht, where Ruha sat with a blanket over her legs.

“Choi Soobin, this will be the last time you spend a shit ton of money on me, do you understand?” Aera scolded, her finger pointed at Soobin but a smile was on her face.

“Yes, ma’am, never again,” Soobin spoke jokingly, totally not meaning a word of what he just said.

“You’re not going to listen to me are you?”

“Nope.”

The yacht got moving a few moments later, things feeling a bit shaky for a few minutes, but Aera acclimated to it quite fast. She and Soobin had taken to roleplaying the scene from Titanic that nearly everyone does when they are at the frontmost point on a boat.

Soobin held her waist as Aera held her arms out to her side, feeling the wind whip on her face and the smell of salt infiltrate her nose.

“The ocean is kind of stinky,” her nose scrunched up as she said this. “Smells like raw fish and high cholesterol.”

Soobin cackled, tightly wrapping his arms around Aera’s waist as he pulled her into his chest, her back to her front. “You ruined such a good moment.”

She giggled, placing her hands over his arms and squeezed. “I was just telling the truth.”

“Kids!” Ruha called out. “Come sit down for a few minutes, you’re making me nervous by the ledge.”

They obliged, walking to sit across from Ruha and they talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, playing a few rounds of rock paper scissors to pass the time.

“So are we just going to cruise around the ocean for a few hours or what?” Aera asked, peering over the side of the boat to look down into the water. “Because no offense to the ocean or anything, but this is a bit boring.”

Soobin pulled out his phone, checking the time before he answered, “Actually, no. Just seven minutes until what we came here for happens.”

Aera looked intrigued now, “Oh, is it fireworks? Are we looking at fireworks?”

“I don’t think lighting explosives on a yacht would be smart.”

“A yacht,” Aera chuckled. “Never thought I’d see one of these in my entire lifetime.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

“I’m glad my first time was with you,” she softly spoke, her voice almost a whisper.

“Me too,” Soobin smiled. “We’ll have many firsts together, hopefully.”

“Hopefully.”

At the moment, they were sitting side-by-side with their waist turned to face one another, but Soobin pointed behind Aera as he muttered, “Look.”

Aera turned her body around, to face the ocean, a gasp leaving her mouth as she absorbed the breathtaking scene in front of her. She watched as the sun burned a hypnotizing orange and pink hue, reflecting on the ocean’s surface. Slowly, the orb lowered to meet the horizon line, kissing it softly as the glares glittered across the rippling water.

She had seen nothing like this, ever. Mother nature and the Earth’s natural occurrences never appealed to Aera, they were never something she found interesting or attention-catching, but this—this was so worth it.

Her awestruck trance was broken when Soobin rested his chin on her shoulder, whispering, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It’s-I-” Aera searched for the right words but there were none that could accurately describe exactly what she was witnessing. It made her speechless, her jaw going slack as she once again watched the sun move lower and lower.

They sat in silence, taking in the scenic view before them. Ruha sat opposite of them, snapping pictures of the sunset as she oh’ed and aw’ed at the scene.

“Pouts,” Soobin muttered into her ear, keeping his voice low so as to not ruin the moment. “I, uh-”

“Hm, Soobi?”

“Please, be my girlfriend.”

All of Aera’s breath left her body, all of her blood seemed to run cold. Was she hallucinating? Was she hearing things?

“Huh-” Oh god, she sounded so stupid. Who responds to the boy of their dreams asking them to be their girlfriend with ‘huh’.

“I-” Soobin sat up straighter, Aera being able to feel so behind her. “I really like you-no, love you, and I want to be with you. Officially. For a very long time.”

Aera eased her way around, turning to face Soobin who looked like he was going to pass out any second if she didn’t give him an answer within the next millisecond. So she carefully raised her hands to his cheeks, cupping his face softly.

“I’d love to be your girlfriend, Choi Soobin,” she breathed. “I’d kind of be an asshole if I said no after all of this, am I right?”

Soobin held onto her wrists. “I hope that isn’t the sole reason you are saying yes.”

“Lucky for you, it is not. It’s probably one of the lower list reasons.”

“There’s a list?”

She giggled. “There has always been a list.”

The sound of her giggle seemed to have him smitten, his eyes zoning in on her lips which caused her heart to skip a beat. She wasn’t dumb, she knew what he was thinking of, what his eyes were asking for, and for some reason, she had no qualms about complying.

Her first kiss was always something Aera fretted about, thinking about how awful it was going to be, how she was going to mess everything up. But for some reason, right here, right now, with Soobin, she knew for a fact it was going to be amazing. This is maybe the first and only decision Aera didn’t hesitate to make, and so she leaned in.

The touch of their lips was soft. Simple. A measly, quick peck.

When they pulled back, both of their cheeks were colored rose, a look of fondness between the two of them and Aera leaned in to kiss the the corner of Soobin’s mouth before pulling away and dropping her hands from his face.

“No takesies backsies, Choi Soobin.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Lee Aera.”

#choi beomgyu #choi soobin #choi yeonjun #hueningkai #kang taehyun #kpop #choi soobin x female oc #social media au #txt #txt social media au

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mst3kproject · 4 years

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The River of the Giant Alligator

A bunch of Italians pretending they’re not Italian in a movie about a guy who chose the wrong place to build a hotel… it’s like Avalanche by way of Devil Fish, with an alligator. And racism. You can’t have a 70’s Italian jungle movie without the racism, and this one layers it on real thick. I think The River of the Giant Alligator has its MST3K bases covered.

Rich Asshole Joshua has opened Paradise House, a resort in the middle of the ‘virgin jungle’. He proudly tells visitors that not only has he left the surrounding ecosystem undamaged, but he’s helping the local people by giving them jobs and improving their standard of living. Naturally it’s not as simple as that. Trouble begins when Sheena, the model they brought for their advertising photographs (just for a dash of Killer Fish), vanishes overnight. Photographer Daniel and hotel manager Ally go to the locals looking for her, and are told that the River God has awakened and intends to drive the white people away by assuming the form of a giant crocodile and eating them all. Considering how mind-bogglingly stupid the tourists in this movie are, that should take all of twenty minutes.

The locals, who call themselves the Kuma, have a name for their River God but it’s pronounced five different ways and I won’t guess how to spell it. Because of the deep breathing sounds that presage its first appearance, I shall call the creature Darth Gator.

Let’s get the basics out of the way first. The whole movie is dubbed and the voice actors are bad. The Darth Gator prop is completely immobile but they mostly keep it in the dark or in really tight shots so we don’t notice… it’s only the occasional ill-advised wide shot where it’s obviously fake enough to be funny. There’s a spiky fence that exists mostly so that people can get impaled on it and a cloying little kid for no reason whatsoever. The ‘wildlife’ is a stock footage smorgasbord that includes orangutans and hippos on the same river. The worst effect in the film is a terrible miniature shot of the hotel on fire, which would have looked just fine if the people involved hadn’t forgotten that flames don’t scale.

So all that sucks, but is fairly harmless. Now let’s talk about the racism.

We’ll start with the movie’s treatment of its two ‘love stories’, and I use the floating commas because neither of them quite qualifies. Daniel and Ally are the main ‘couple’ of the movie. The camera lingers on each of them to show that he thinks she’s beautiful and she thinks he’s rugged, and they spend the whole movie hanging out on balconies and boats together and discussing whether the resort is good or bad for the local people… but they never get so much as a kiss. This is kind of nice, actually, because there’s very little time to stop and make out when you’re being chased by a large carnivorous reptile. It does, however, make for a hell of a contrast between them and the other ‘couple’ we see.

This is the model, Sheena, and her Kuma boyfriend. I am unclear on where this movie is set (the closest we get to a clue is Ally referring to the area as ‘the Orient’, which could honestly mean anything) but it’s perfectly clear that the reason they hired a black woman for their publicity photos is to make the place look ‘exotic’. There’s a weird moment when Joshua attempts to flirt with Sheena by telling her, “it occurs to me that Eve herself may have been black”, which… yes, that is how human evolution worked, what about it? All that aside, at the end of the day, Sheena runs off for a romantic evening with one of the tribesmen. We never see her talk to this guy or have any clue what made her pick him over any of the others. They just go fuck on a beach and then get eaten by an alligator.

So… we have blonde, blue-eyed white people having a perfectly chaste, wait-for-marriage love affair in which they actually get to know each other… and black people who run off with a stranger and screw out in the open like animals. Holy shit. I want to say I hope this wasn’t something the film-makers actively thought about, but it might be worse if they didn’t. Naturally, this is also a version of the ‘people who have premarital sex must die’ trope from slasher movies, and the movie makes doubly sure we know this is Bad Behaviour by having Ally remark that the Kuma are forbidden from visiting ‘the Island of Love’ on the full moon.

The deaths of Sheena and Nameless Kuma Guy also begin a pattern that lasts almost the entire movie. Even though we’re told, repeatedly, that Darth Gator wants to drive the white people out of his jungle, for the vast majority of the running time it’s the brown people who are getting chomped. We’re told that twelve white missionaries came here years ago and Darth Gator ate all but one of them, who then became a crazy jungle man (not gonna lie, Father Jonathan was my favourite character and I wish we’d seen more of him). We see Sheena, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s brother get eaten alive. Furthermore, most of the white deaths in the movie are at the hands of the Kuma, who run in and kill the tourists with spears and fire arrows in the belief that they’re doing their god’s bidding, and much of this happens offscreen. Those hit by the arrows quickly fall into the water and vanish from sight. The only time the camera lingers on a white person dying is Joshua, who I guess they think deserved it. The impression one gets is that white death is a horror better implied than shown, while brown death is a spectacle. Again… holy shit.

The River of the Giant Alligator can’t seem to decide what we’re supposed to think about the Kuma people. Early in the film they’re portrayed as victims. These foreigners have invaded their land and built this giant hotel, and claimed to be helping them by giving them ‘work’. Ally notes that they’ll be able to live longer, healthier lives, but Daniel wonders if it’s worth it when they’ve basically become Joshua’s slaves. The movie leaves this question hanging there without exploring it any further. When Daniel and Ally come looking for information about the alligator attacks, the Kuma direct them to Father Jonathan, knowing they’re more likely to believe a white man, even one who’s obviously not quite all there. The movie really wants to be about the exploitation of indigenous peoples, treated as decorations and curiosities by white tourists.

The problem is, it wants to eat that cake, too. By the end of the story, the Kuma have devolved into stock savages. They attack the hotel and kill everybody, and kidnap Ally so they can tie her to a horizontal King Kong contraption as a sacrifice. The ending just makes it all the more confusing, as they turn up to discover that their god has been blown to bloody chunks after biting into a van full of explosives, and they cheer and they just leave. Is it really that easy to kill a god? Won’t a dead god demand vengeance anyway? Does this mean they actually like the white people after all, and were only angry because Darth Gator was eating them?

The ending also muddles the movie’s other point, about the nature of eco-tourism. One of the selling points of Paradise House is that it’s in the middle of virgin jungle. Joshua brags about how he’s left the surrounding ecosystem untouched – but then we cut straight to trees being cleared using dynamite, and later we see live piglets being thrown into the river to keep the crocodiles hanging around so people can gawk at them. You can’t build a hotel in the middle of a place and then call it ‘virgin jungle’. You’re the one who violated it!

The script is a little unclear on whether Darth Gator is a natural or supernatural threat. Ally and Daniel insist that it’s no mere alligator (I don’t think this movie knows the difference between crocodiles and alligators any better than I do) and Father Jonathan seems to believe it’s the Devil Himself, but it certainly dies like a flesh-and-blood creature. Whatever its nature, it’s clear enough that Darth Gator represents the jungle striking back at these intruders to drive them out. The Kuma literally say as much. So what are we to take from the fact that it dies at the end? Have we won the right to destroy the forest by killing its guardian? I don’t believe the people who make these movies think this stuff through.

I can tell that we’re supposed to hate the tourists, and we do, although not always for the reasons the movie wants us to. Minnow, the red-haired little girl who ‘only likes to play with boys’, tries so hard to be Adorable that you want to punt her across the room. Her mother leaves her to wander around the hotel alone, because Mummy’s got a smarmy mustached boyfriend to bang (even this relationship gets more attention than Sheena and Unnamed Kuma Guy, by the way… we are told that Mummy and Mustache have met before, and are here mostly to see each other rather than the jungle). Other notable annoyances include a lady who seems perfectly sane until she starts talking about the aliens, and a guy who loves to complain about Youth These Days and will seize any opportunity to do so.

I kinda wanna gripe about these obnoxious characters, but I don’t feel like I can. You may recall that I spent a month stuck on a cruise ship earlier this year. I can tell you definitively that these people do exist, and I hate them even more in real life.

Man, this could have been a fun monster movie. I’ve seen movies about man-eating crocodiles (or alligators… does it honestly matter that much?) that I really enjoyed. Primeval wasn’t even that bad – it was about how humans are more monstrous than anything nature can produce. Lake Placid had that immortal bit where Betty White says if I had a dick, this is where I’d tell you to suck it. The River of the Great Alligator is just boring bullshit and things that seem kinda racist on the surface but then you think about them a little longer and realize they’re incredibly racist. I went into this one hoping to like it, but it absolutely pissed on the last shreds of my optimism... like a lot of other things in 2020.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #the river of the great alligator #the great alligator #fuck this movie #fuck it so much #70s

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h1kari · 4 years

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Hi! Could I have a personalised male hq ship pls? I'm 5'5, she/her w long dark brown hair w the front half of my right side dyed white, green eyes + tan skin! Im super bubbly, LOUD, naturally v flirty + my love language is physical touch. esfp/taurus! I love working out + imma HUGE foodie. I'm stubborn + impulsive, luv rain/storms, coffee + PDA. I'm confident, bold, emotional, energetic, giggly + observant! I ramble but I'm a gd listener, a night owl, v playful + luv teasing (1/2)

OK THIS GON BE LONG I CAN IMAGINE EVERYTHING. Oh hell yeah i DEFENITELY ship you with kuroo. First of all first thing that comes to mind; HOT ASS POWER COUPLE, i mean seriously you with your half n half hair, tan skin and stunning green eyes??? And he with his smug ass look, black messy hair and brown eyes?? I think yes. Plus you’re both so alike??? Energetic, ambitious, flirty, touchy. Match made in heaven

I feel like you guys would hit it off instantly, endlessly flirting, touching and teasing from both parties (probably more from him tho, i mean, he is kuroo tetsurou) he just loves everything about you!!! Finally he found The One (tm). Kenma most defenitely rolls his eyes at his friend’s constant heart eyes, “Oh my god there’s two of them now” AND ALSO we love an opposite sign couple?? Taurus x scorpio hello?? Hottest couple?? (Also i’m a taurus too heyyy gurl)

Ok this is very random but i really feel like you and bokuto would become instant friends too, and honestly? Who doesn’t love your best friend and partner to hit it off? You guys are the chaotic trio no cap. Although he does love you both and it’s usually fun when you guys are around. He can’t help but get a bit....’protective’ whenever you pay a little too much attention to his owl-ish friend, it’s just in his nature! He’s a protective guy!! Ofc he won’t make that much of a scene just..hug you from behind and put his chin on your shoulder while slightly glaring at bokuto (who’s oblivious as all hell) with his sharp, cat-like eyes

In more complementary notes, you’d 100% be huge help for him whenever he’s stressed. Mans the captain of his team, he has a lot on his plate and even if he’s good at putting up a front, you see right through it, you get all mom mode and help him ofc, wether that’s letting him vent, going out for dates to spoil him, massage his shoulders or just straight up cuddle and do nothing. Your optimistic attitude really helps too, just seeing your bubbly, positive self gets him feeling better. Give this boy some cuddles and a smile and his sadness is gone. He really appreciates you :,)

OKOK BIG OL DATE IDEAS HEAR ME OUT. Workout dates, ya’ll keep stealing glances to each other like 👀 the whole gym sees you both. You ain’t slick 😤 another form of a workout date but including the outdoors: hiking dates!! 🥺 you just talk and laugh, poking fun at each other “damn you look tired, am i gonna have to carry you 🥴” “idk maybe you will 😌” and when you reach your ✨destination✨like at a lovely grassfield, you have a little picnic 🥺🥺🥺all kinds of tasty treats you baked together. Speaking of baking, cooking dates!! He usually just lovingly looks at you while you do your thing, rambling on about whatever you’re cooking, stories behind how you learned to cook it, ingredients, etc. He’s listening through and through but he can’t help but think “damn,,,wifey material” the guy looks intimidating but he’s a huge sap

Well, that’s pretty much it!! Sorry if it was too long, i got excited lol. Thanks so much for the request ^^ have an awesome day, lovely🥰💞💞

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lovemesomesurveys · 4 years

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1. When you met the person you now like, what happened? I don’t like anyone in that way, currently.

2. What did you say when you first woke up? I haven’t gone to bed, yet, but I’ll likely say “good morning” to whoever I talk to first.

3. What are your religious beliefs? I am a Christian.

4. Did you realise anything today? No, not so far.

5. What do you need right now? Nothing at this current moment.

6. What’s your favourite food? Wingstop’s garlic parm and lemon pepper boneless wings, ramen, scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, spinach, green onions, and garlic, and scrambled eggs and biscuits smothered in country gravy with hash browns.

7. How are you feeling today? Right now I feel full and tired.

8. What do you want to do today? Well, my aunt is supposed to be coming to visit again this weekend and we planned on having pizza and watching a movie tonight.

9. What do you think people will say at your funeral? I don’t know. Not something I want to think about.

10. What is your biggest fear? Losing my loved ones, dying, never getting better/getting worse, and never doing anything with my life and just wasting away. Ya know, just little things like that. ha.

11. What do you want people to do to you? Uhh. I don’t want them to do anything to me?

12. What are you thinking of right now? My aunt coming later and my brother’s weekend trip he’s going on.

13. What’s your favourite colour? Pastels, rose gold, sea foam green, coral, and yellow.

14. Are you up-to-date with things? Um, some things.

15. Describe your looks to us. Hair down to my butt that badly needs to be trimmed and colored again because my roots are a year overgrown now, so it’s a mix of my natural hair color (dark brown) and red, brown eyes, black rimmed glasses, some freckles, small lips, too thin.

16. If I left what would you do? I would have no idea and be completely unaffected since I don’t even know you...

17. What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you? Hmm.

18. When someone yells at you, what do you say? Uh, depends. Thankfully, I don’t tend to get yelled at.

19. What question do you want to ask someone? Nothing at the moment.

20. What do you think of people? I’m not very social and I don’t do well at all with crowds. I like being around my family, but otherwise I like to spend time just doing my own thing.

21. What’s something someone can do that makes you melt? Play the piano.

22. Do you have a reason to smile right now? Not at this moment.

23. Have you ever woken up next to someone and wanted to puke? Um, no.

24. What do you do when you need to relax? Listen to ASMR, binge a show, read a book, do a word search, color.

25. Do you like things in life to stay how they are or change? I definitely need to make some major changes and would love for some positive changes to come my way.

26. If someone liked you, what would be the best way for them to let you know? Honestly, I wouldn’t want them to tell me right now.

27. What are you listening to right now An ASMR video.

28. If you won a lot of money on the lottery, what would you buy first? Sigh, I’d have to pay off debts first (I’d pay off mine, my parents’, and my brother’s). The first big purchase would be a house and furnishing it.

29. Can you honestly say you’d risk your life for someone else? For my loved ones.

30. Could you forgive a boyfriend or friend who physically hurt you? It would definitely take time and be a process. Things would definitely change.

31. Are you afraid of death? Yes.

32. Who was the last person you hugged? My mom.

33. Are you looking forward to anything? My aunt coming to visit.

34. Write some lyrics from the song you’re listening to. I’m not listening to music at the moment.

35. Do you open up to people easily? No. Not even to people I’m close with.

36. What do your friends call you? When I had friends they just called me by my name.

37. Has anyone upset you in the last week? Myself as always.

38. What’s the best thing about you? I think I’m pretty understanding.

39. Who was the last person of the opposite sex you had a conversation with? My brother.

40. What’s your favourite drink? Coffee and Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink.

41. Do you miss anyone? I’ll always miss my loved ones who have passed away.

42. Is your room clean? Yes.

43. What are you going to do tomorrow? Likely just hang out with my aunt, maybe find a new show for us to binge. Last time she was here we watched this Japanese drama on Netflix called, Erased.

44. Do you take care of your friends when they’re sick? I help my family out however I can when they’re sick.

45. Who is your favourite person to have a serious conversation with? My mom and my aunt.

46. Who was the last person you held hands with? My doggo. (:

47. Does any part of your body hurt right now? Of course.

48. Do you like coffee? I love coffee.

49. Who was the last person that texted you? My aunt.

50. What are you craving? My favorite breakfast from this local place.

51. How did you sleep last night? I never sleep well.

52. What was the first thing you thought this morning? I haven’t gone to bed, yet.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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anubislover · 4 years

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A Family Matter - Chapter 1

(As far as Ikkaku was concerned, deep down, every Marine was a corrupt scumbag. Some were just better at hiding it than others)

“Really hope Law doesn’t take too long to rescue us,” Shachi sighed, laying against the cool tiles of the prison floor, staring at the florescent lights in the ceiling, “otherwise I’m gonna die of boredom.”

“Agreed,” Penguin said from the cell next to him, using his shoelaces to make a cat’s cradle. They’d been locked in there for two days, and he had managed to tie and untie every type of knot he could think of for the sake of having something to occupy his brain. “They could have at least let me keep the deck of cards I’d brought.”

“Or given us a checkerboard or something. Hell, I’d take a book on Marine rules and regulations at this point—at least I could use it to beat my own skull in.”

“Ah, it’s not so bad,” Ikkaku chuckled from her cell across the room, folding her hands behind her head as she settled against the wall. “There are worse places to be incarcerated than Drake’s ship.”

It was true; while the brig was grey and boring, it was undeniably clean and well-kept, which was far more than they could say for other prisons they’d seen. On top of that, while the three Heart Pirates were locked up in separate cells, they weren’t chained to the walls or even cuffed, there were small cots with pillows and blankets, and no one was being tortured or interrogated. Hell, they’d even been given regular meals that resembled actual food, which was a pleasant surprise.

Really, the only concerning part was the cell in the far back corner that, from the look of things, had Seastone bars and shackles. Anyone could guess who Drake had reserved that one for. He might as well have hung a welcome banner.

Of course, the brig could have resembled a 5-star spa resort with meals prepared by a personal chef and Ikkaku would still have a fairly low opinion of the commodore. He was still a Marine, and she’d never known a Navy dog that wasn’t some kind of corrupt scumbag deep down, especially those that attained an officer’s rank. Some were simply better at hiding it than others.

But for now, she’d appreciate the decent-by-Marine-standards captivity, then take great pleasure in wrecking their shit.

“Maybe, but that doesn’t make me any less antsy,” Penguin stated quietly, suspicious of any guards that might be listening just out of sight. “We’ve got to be ready. Remember the plan.”

The mechanic rolled her eyes. “Of course we remember the plan.” Law had basically drilled it into their heads; the three of them had been dropped off on Einer Island to cause a commotion as a decoy while Law took the ship to Zwei Island to quietly raid the Marine base housed there. He’d known Drake would take the bait and capture the three of them, and the Polar Tang would intercept his ship a few days later so Law could sneak aboard, free them, and they’d set about causing some wonderful havoc for the commodore and his crew. It was convoluted and complicated and she had no doubt Law would get the exact result he wanted. Which was, she suspected, the ire and attention of a certain Allosaurus.

Her grin widened as she connected the dots. “You’re not worried about the plan; you just don’t like thinking about the last time we were aboard this ship.”

Shachi sniggered while Penguin blushed from his neck to his hairline. His expression was nearly as mortified as it had been during the incident in question. “Damn it Ikkaku! I was so close to repressing that, too!”

“When we next hit land, I’ll buy you a bottle of grain alcohol as brain bleach,” she cackled without remorse. Really, being locked in a Marine prison cell would never be her idea of fun, but she was glad she was stuck with these two—teasing Penguin was far more entertaining than any poker game.

The good cheer was swiftly vanquished as a deep, cold voice from the doorway stated, “Honestly, Ikkaku, are you really still such an idiot? Or do you find the idea of dying in prison amusing somehow?”

No. It can’t be, she thought, freezing as her mind registered the familiar, intruding voice. She hadn’t heard in years, save the occasional nightmare, but it still made a wave of dread crash over her like a tsunami. Her palms immediately began to sweat while her heart pounded in her ears. He’s supposed to be stationed in the West Blue, not the North.

In sync, Penguin and Shachi turned to observe the unfamiliar man that entered the brig. He was about Law’s height but with at least three times the muscle mass. He wore the crisp white suit of a Marine officer, his coat dutifully perched on his broad shoulders. His hair was jet black and gelled back, but it was clear that the locks were naturally curly despite his efforts to tame them. There was something vaguely familiar about him, though neither man could put their finger on it. He wasn’t that different from most Marines they’d encountered; he held himself with the same over-bloated self-importance to match his too-polished appearance. His smile was especially disconcerting—there was nothing genuine about the curl of his lips, as not a hint of warmth reached his dark brown eyes.

The newcomer approached Ikkaku’s cell with measured, slightly-too-loud steps. “What, not going to greet me properly? It’s been at least four years.”

“…hi, Ushi.”

His insincere smile dropped as he scowled in disapproval. “Tch. Try to say my name with more respect, you worthless little brat. I’m a Marine captain now.”

“Good evening, Captain Ushi, sir.”

Shachi’s jaw dropped when Ikkaku didn’t make some sarcastic, biting comment. The woman he knew never let someone talk to her like that. She’d certainly had no trouble sassing the Marines when they’d been captured. Hell, once she’d gotten comfortable among the Hearts, she’d taken to back-sassing Law on the regular. It was funny as hell to watch the two of them go at it like a couple of squabbling siblings. In fact, he suspected Law enjoyed and even encouraged it to an extent, as he’d just argue right back instead of pulling rank or disciplining her. The crew occasionally wondered if their captain spoiling her like that was a good thing, as it reinforced her lack of respect for more powerful figures.

To see that fire doused so easily by one man set Shachi’s teeth on edge.

“Better,” the Marine said blandly, pulling a key out of his pocket. “Though, it’ll be Commodore Ushi soon; there’s been talk of promoting me. I’ve made a good impression among some important people. People who want to see me advance. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to happen unless I clear up a few loose ends first.”

Instinctively, Ikkaku shrank back, pressing herself hard against the wall as if it might open up and swallow her. Her big brown eyes were fixated on the floor, and her lips were pressed together so tightly they’d turned white.

It was easy to guess what “loose ends” he was referring to. Ushi had always been ambitious. Praised for his strength, intelligence, sense of responsibility, and charisma, the whole island had loved him, giving him a grand send-off the day he left for the Marines. On the few occasions he’d had time to visit home, everyone was quick to call him the pride of Rivet and a future hero.

The handful that knew better had learned to keep their mouths shut long ago.

In the cell across from her, Penguin’s hands clenched as he watched the interaction before him. This was very, very wrong. In the year and a half that he’d known her, Ikkaku didn’t shrink. From anyone. Not Law, not enemy pirates, not drunken brutes twice her size—even Drake had gotten a few bruises when he’d been forced to subdue her during their capture. She was feisty and scrappy and wasn’t afraid of slamming her foot into some asshole’s groin when threatened.

It became clear that this particular Marine was the exception when he unlocked her cell door, marched inside, grabbed her by the collar of her jumpsuit, and dragged her to her feet.

Ikkaku didn’t resist. Resisting had never done her any good in the past. Ushi always took it as a personal offense and would come up with worse punishments. Or make Hapushiru, Nausagi, and Fukuro beat her up instead so he could keep his hands clean and maintain his image as the “responsible” one.

Of course, she was swiftly reminded that he’d never been shy about taking matters into his own hands when he was in the right mood when he sharply smacked her across the cheek so hard she saw stars for a moment.

At the loud smack, Penguin and Shachi sprang to their feet, ready to fight. “What the fuck—”

“You’ve got some balls hitting our crewmate!”

Ushi ignored them in favor of sneering down at the woman in question, “Can you believe the twins were actually bragging about you being part of the most wanted crew in the North Blue? As if you’re the one the family should be proud of! You’re going to come with me, nice and quiet, or we’re going to have problems. And you remember how I tend to make problems disappear, right?”

She shuddered at the memory. Three days. She’d spent three days wandering alone in the woods, cold and hungry and terrified that she’d be eaten by wolves. Three days wondering if Ushi was right—that Mama and Papa would be better off without her. Without a worthless daughter than would never amount to anything holding everyone back…

Gramps had been the one to find her. Nausagi and Fukuro had realized that, even if their baby sister annoyed them, and even if having one less mouth to feed meant more money for toys and treats, leaving her out there to die was sick and wrong. The twins had defied Ushi and told their grandfather she was missing. The old lighthouse keeper had searched the woods in the middle of a storm for the sake of finding his seven-year-old granddaughter, and she could still remember his wrinkled face lined with worry and raindrops when he’d finally found her shivering in a hollowed-out tree.

As relieved as her parents had been that she was safe, Ikkaku had been scolded for causing such trouble and forcing Gramps to abandon his post and risk something happening, like the light going out and a ship crashing into the rocks. How dare she run off without telling anyone? She’d put herself and others in danger! Why couldn’t she be more responsible like Ushi?

Neither she nor the twins had told anyone that it had been Ushi’s fault—no one would believe them, and he’d just make them pay for it.

He had made them pay for it. He’d taken his aggression out on Nausagi and Fukuro, beating them both bloody while making Ikkaku watch, telling her that it was her fault, that he wouldn’t have to hurt his beloved little brothers if she’d just stayed gone…

CLANG! Shachi threw himself against the bars of his cell, desperately grasping for Ikkaku in hopes of getting her away from the Marine. She hadn’t even noticed that Ushi had dragged her out of her cell—she’d been too caught up in the past. Of the memory of how pointless it was to fight Ushi.

“Buddy, I don’t give a shit if you’re an Admiral—you let Ikkaku go right the fuck now, or so help me I’ll rip your goddamn throat out!”

Meanwhile, Penguin was yelling towards the doorway, “Hey! Is somebody out there? I know this asshole isn’t part of Drake’s crew! Get him out of here!”

Ushi gave the younger men a death glare. “Shut the hell up. I sent the guards to get some coffee so I wouldn’t have any interruptions. Not that they’d step in anyway; what self-respecting Marine would help a bunch of pirates?”

As if to prove his point, he slammed his fist into Ikkaku’s stomach, his grip on the collar of her boiler suit the only thing keeping her from crumpling to the floor.

She would have sobbed if she had the breath to. He was right. Ushi could do what he wanted, and no one would help them. Hell, they’d probably thank him for taking them off their hands; no need to expend resources on prisoners, after all.

Men like Ushi were the reason she could never trust the Marines. The fact that they’d allowed such a violent bastard to advance to a position of authority—that “certain people” wanted to give him even more power—told her everything she needed to know. The World Government was just a gang of bullies who liked to push people around just for kicks. She’d seen it plenty of times; Navy dogs refusing to help innocent civilians, valuing the glory of arresting a notorious pirate over human decency.

Hell, Commodore Drake was probably lounging in his cabin, greedily counting however many belli her brother had paid him to take a single problematic prisoner off his hands.

No one would come to help the Heart Pirates.

That didn’t stop Shachi from straining against the bars harder, the veins in his neck bulging as he struggled to rescue his friend. “Go fuck yourself!”

Smirking, Ushi moved so he was just out of reach of Shachi’s grasping fingers, making sure to harshly shove Ikkaku behind him to keep her out of the way. “Do yourself a favor and stand down, scumbag, before I break that spindly arm of yours. This is a family matter, anyway.”

“Then it definitely involves us! We’re nakama!” Penguin snapped, turning away from the door to face the Marine. If the guards couldn’t help them, he’d just have to figure out how to take down this asshole himself.

Ushi raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Seriously? You wanna fight me for her? Why? Is it because she’s the only woman on your ship?” He glanced over his shoulder at Ikkaku, who was still clutching her stomach in pain, silently praying that the boys would back down before they got hurt. She knew from experience that breaking an arm was far from an empty threat. “Are you the ship’s whore or something? God, you’re an even bigger disgrace than I thought.”

Eyes lighting up with fury, Shachi pulled his arm inside his cell, took several steps back, and then rushed forward, slamming his shoulder against the door in an attempt to break it down.

“She’s our mechanic!” Penguin defended, teeth grinding as he tried to figure out some kind of plan. Damn it, there had to be something in that stupid cell he could use as a weapon. He couldn’t just stand there while this bastard manhandled and insulted Ikkaku! He’d throw his boot at the son of a bitch if he had to!

“Tch. You people must have been really desperate to hire a talentless brat like her.”

“Ikkaku! Are you really gonna let this guy talk to you like that?!” Shachi shouted as he futilely slammed into the door again. He winced at the pain the shot through his shoulder, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when his shipmate was in trouble.

“She’s the best damn mechanic in the North Blue,” Penguin stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Soon she’s going to be the best in the whole world. And you’d better let her go right now; otherwise, you’re in for a world of pain when Law finds out you’ve threatened his nakama.”

A pang went through Ikkaku’s chest at their words, warm and stronger than even the pain in her stomach. It was still such a foreign feeling, having people that genuinely cared about her. That believed in her abilities and her dream. Only the twins had really ever had her back, and it had been too dangerous to show it until Ushi had finally left…

She was given a stark reminder of why that was when her oldest brother drew his pistol.

“Ugh, arguing with you two is a waste of time,” he scoffed, pointing it casually at Penguin, whose eyes widened beneath the brim of his hat as he realized there was no space to dodge in the cramped cell. “I’m on a tight schedule, and I’m pretty sure Drake doesn’t need both of you alive to lure out Trafalgar.”

Without even thinking, Ikkaku lunged forward, desperately grabbing Ushi’s arm and jerking it upwards so the bullet hit a ceiling light instead of her friend.

“Don’t you fucking touch them!” she screamed, spinning around and slamming her foot into his ribs. For a moment, her boot appeared black as it made contact, and the blow made the Marine faulter, the gun falling from his hand to clatter on the tile floor.

Unfortunately, he recovered quickly, and before Ikkaku could dive for the gun he grabbed her by the shoulders, lifted her up, and bashed her right against the bars of her empty cell. The impact shook her to her core, and she once again curled into herself, the blood pounding in her ears sounding like frantic footsteps to her dazed mind.

“You stupid fucking bitch!” he shouted, shifting one of his hands so it wrapped around her throat. “You just never fucking learn!”

Thinking fast, Penguin reached through the bars for the pistol, but it was just out of reach. He yanked off his hat, planning to use it to catch the gun and drag it towards him before Ushi could strangle the mechanic.

Everything came to a halt when the sound of stomping boots became unmistakable.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” Drake bellowed from the doorway. He charged into the brig, sword drawn, ready to end whatever fight had resulted in a gun being fired on his ship. His eyes widened at the sight before him; a Marine officer choking his sole female prisoner—who for some reason was out of her cell instead of locked up tight like he’d ordered—while another prisoner reached through the bars for the smoking pistol at their feet. Shards of glass littered the floor of Penguin’s cell, the remains of the florescent light sparking dangerously above him while Shachi clutched his shoulder in pain.

Instinctively, the two guards that flanked Drake drew their rifles, though no one was quite sure if they were aiming at the Captain or the pirates.

“It’s about fucking time,” Shachi said shakily, gripping his shoulder. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and the pain was making its presence known. He was sure he’d injured himself trying to break the door down, but there was no way he was going to stand down until he knew his comrades were safe.

Drake didn’t spare him a glance, his intense grey eyes solely focused on the two figures that weren’t locked up.

“Captain Ushi,” he growled, “while I gave you permission to come aboard my ship, I don’t recall giving you leave to visit the brig. Mainly because you didn’t request it.”

“Ah, yes,” Ushi said, releasing Ikkaku’s throat. His grip on her shoulder remained firm as he lowered her back down to the floor. “I apologize for that. You seemed extremely busy planning Trafalgar Law’s capture, so I planned to bring it up at dinner.”

“Dinner started ten minutes ago. I was waiting for you.”

“Must have slipped my mind.”

“Much like I’m sure your hand slipped when you fired that gun.”

“More like it was forcibly jerked about,” Ushi replied, sparing the wheezing Ikkaku a disdainful glance. “I drew my weapon in self-defense.”

Drake sheathed his sword, mainly so he could cross his arms in disapproval. “Against three unarmed prisoners, two behind bars and one of which is a woman a third your size?”

He had the gall to shrug. “From what I’ve heard, you shouldn’t underestimate the Surgeon of Death or his men. I mean, they’ve been crafty enough to slip through your fingers before, Commodore.”

Grey eyes narrowed at the small show of disrespect. “While this is true, I’m curious as to what business you have with them. And why you sent the guards that were stationed here away. Surely if you’re intent on not underestimating them, you’d want backup? And given the state I’ve found everyone in, I’d say it’s a damn good thing they came to find me instead of taking a coffee break like you suggested. Otherwise you’d have been shot in the back by Trafalgar’s first mate, and the woman could have unlocked the cells, thus allowing them to slip through my fingers once again.”

Ushi glowered at the man in question before grimacing, fully aware that Drake had backed him into a corner. “Fine. I’m here because I’m taking custody of the Heart Pirate woman.”

“Do you have some sort of official paperwork formally requesting a transfer?” he asked, lifting a critical eyebrow.

“Well, no. I was hoping I could make that request of you personally. Of the record, so to speak.”

“Why?”

Shooting Ikkaku a sharp warning glare—the kind that promised unimaginable pain if she dared speak against him—Ushi indicated the woman he had pinned against the bars. “You see, sir, I’m ashamed to admit it, but Ikkaku of the Heart Pirates is my baby sister. She’s always been a spoiled, disobedient brat, but I’d never expected her to devolve into piracy. Maybe it’s my own fault; I left to join the Marines when she was twelve, and I guess without me around, there was no one willing to discipline her.”

Drake looked thoroughly unconvinced, giving a meaningful glance at her cheek, which was already darkening into an ugly bruise. “Is that what you were doing? ‘Disciplining’ her?”

Penguin and Shachi could practically hear the air quotes around the word, and the duo found their hopes beginning to rise just the slightest bit. Drake was their enemy, but they knew for a fact that his tolerance for bullshit was exceptionally low.

Ikkaku was less convinced. There had been plenty of times when it seemed like someone would finally see past her brother’s lies, but he always managed to talk his way out of it and push the blame back onto her. Partially because people didn’t want to see the town’s Golden Child as anything but the perfect, responsible young man everyone had set him up to be.

Seeing that his superior was less than impressed with him, Ushi immediately set to justifying himself. “Look, our parents worked long hours to put food on the table for five kids; keeping them all in line fell to me. I did my best but, well, I guess her career choice shows she’s always been a bad seed.”

Drake actually scoffed. “Your failure as an authority figure among your siblings does not fill me with confidence, Captain Ushi. Get to the point—why do you want me to hand the woman over to you?”

His jaw tightened in frustration. “Because this is a family matter. I’d rather spare our poor parents the shame of the world finding out their daughter became a pirate.”

“You fucking liar!” Shachi shouted.

“You just care about your damn promotion!” Penguin grabbed the bars of his cell in a fruitless attempt to break down the barrier and get to the man who held his crewmate hostage.

“Like he’d listen to scum like you,” Ushi jeered.

“And yet I find myself inclined to believe their side of the story over yours,” Drake snarled, jerking his head towards the prisoners. “I have no time for games. If you don’t start telling the truth in the next three seconds, I will report you—and your little ‘off the record’ request—to Headquarters.”

Frustration finally coming to a boiling point, the Marine captain snapped, “Look, I know it’s a bit unconventional, but my superiors say I could be up for a promotion soon, and I can’t let her cost me everything I’ve worked for. Surely you understand just how difficult it is to advance your career when the Navy knows you’re related to a pirate, right Commodore Diez?” he finished with a sneer.

Silence filled the room at the utterance of the ginger’s surname. Penguin and Shachi actually froze; they vividly remembered the name Diez Barrels, the pirate captain that had made the neighboring Minion Island his base of operations. They’d never seen the man himself, but their parents would often whisper about bodies of those he’d brutally murdered washing up on Sparrow Island’s beaches.

Drake was the son of a pirate?

Meanwhile, the man in question took a deep, calming breath as he assessed the situation. As tempting as it was to rip the man to shreds for daring to bring up his father, doing so would do nothing but make things spiral into blood and chaos. He needed to keep his temper in check and be rational before he made his call.

He regarded his colleague carefully. Captain Ushi had been perfectly cordial when he’d requested permission to board his ship. Had commended Drake’s bravery and impressive record, and the way he led the men under his command. He’d been polite, professional, and while perhaps a bit heavy-handed with the praise, a generally respectable man.

Now, he had his little sister pinned against the cell he’d dragged her from, a smoking gun at his feet, and two prisoners declaring he’d basically tried to kill her for the sake of a promotion.

Drake turned his full attention to the woman. She hadn’t spoken a word since he’d arrived—very odd based on what he knew of her, though their interactions were limited. What he did know was that the mechanic was mouthy and quite the plucky fighter. After all, she’d tried to break his nose and had called him a rather colorful array of curse words during her arrest. Yet now, she was silent.

Her body language spoke volumes, however. Glistening eyes averted to the floor so as to make her assailant feel dominant. Shoulders hunched in pain. Teeth digging into her bottom lip so as to hold back any defiant words that might slip out. Hands and knees trembling ever-so-slightly.

It was when a pair of tears bubbled over and trailed down her bruised cheeks that he made his decision.

“You’re right,” he said slowly and calmly, taking a few casual steps forward. “I do know how difficult it is. It takes an exceptional amount of hard work and ambition to overcome the stigma that comes with being related to a pirate. You may have her.”

One of Drake’s hands shot out to rip Ikkaku from Ushi’s grasp while the other fisted the collar of his shirt, lifting him up so his toes dangled over three feet off the ground as the ginger growled, eyes momentarily burning orange, “When you have the appropriate transfer paperwork, signed by an Admiral, stating the exact reason you wish to take this particular pirate into custody. Until then, she remains my prisoner on my ship. And speaking of, I’m revoking any permission I gave you to come aboard. As such, I’m going to ask you—once—to leave quietly. Immediately.”

For his part, Ushi stared at his superior in unconcealed shock, however any argument he might have made was swiftly silenced as Drake unceremoniously dropped him to the floor. He crumpled a bit, but at the larger man’s ferocious glare he backed off, clumsily scooping up his gun before marching out of the brig with his head held deceptively high, not even sparing Ikkaku a glance.

“Athos, escort Captain Ushi to his ship so he doesn’t get lost,” Drake ordered.

One of the guards nodded and lowered his gun, running off after the chastised officer.

Silence weighed down the cramped room until the pair’s footsteps faded. It didn’t escape Drake’s notice that Ikkaku’s slight shoulder still trembled beneath his hand. Duty momentarily fought with compassion in his mind. Her reaction to her brother’s presence was painfully familiar. And while he shouldn’t give any preferential treatment to a pirate, even a female one, he had no doubt this would not be the last time Ushi came after her.

“It’s Ikkaku, correct?” he asked her, voice gentle but firm.

She blinked up at him, surprised at his tone. “Uh…yeah.”

Nodding to the remaining guard, he shifted his grip so his large hand wrapped almost entirely around her bicep. “Given the current circumstances, I believe it is no longer safe for you to reside in your cell, at least until I can be certain your brother is well and truly gone.”

Loathe as she was to agree with a Marine, Drake was right on the money; Ushi may have retreated for now, but there was no way in Hell he’d let Drake’s ship out of his sight so long as she was on it, especially with the added threat of his superiors finding out about both their relation and his attempt at an under-the-table transfer.

Marines were shady bastards, but they liked to pretend to be squeaky-clean. Ushi’s screw-up might have cost him his promotion, but that didn’t mean he’d give up. If anything, he’d be even more determined to kill her.

She glanced at Penguin and Shachi, who seemed just as conflicted. Separating them wasn’t in Law’s plan. Sure, there was no place on the ship they could put her that he couldn’t find, the it could cost him the element of surprise if he had to Scan the whole ship.

Then again, if Ushi did manage to sneak aboard before Law arrived, there was the very real possibility that he’d come to find a dead engineer, and potentially even the corpses of his first and second mates, too.

On top of that, Drake’s firm grip on her arm and the fact that he’d managed to throw Ushi around like a rag doll made it clear that, as polite as he was being, she didn’t really have a say in the matter.

Heart in her throat, Ikkaku found herself nodding. “Ok. Yeah, that’s…that’s reasonable.”

Pleasantly surprised at the Heart Pirate’s compliance, Drake gave her a brief smile before leading her towards the hallway, turning to the remaining soldier. “Porthos, double the guards in the brig, and if anyone you don’t immediately recognize as a member of this crew shows their face, notify me at once.”

“Hey, where are you taking her?” Penguin called, eyes narrowed. In all honesty, he didn’t disagree with either Drake’s or Ikkaku’s decision—it was more important for his crewmates to be safe than conveniently together. Law should be there to get them tonight, and it didn’t matter if they were on opposite sides of the ship or not; he’d rescue them all. The plan would be fine. Drake wouldn’t know what hit him…

His blood ran cold when Drake actually smirked at him over his shoulder. “When he comes to rescue you, tell your captain that he can find Miss Ikkaku safe and sound in my quarters. And that the cell in the corner is reserved just for him.”

To Be Continued...

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maine-writes · 4 years

Text

The Second Stop: Beach City

The party wearily stared at the winding road. Haunted by their experience at The Mime Motel, they agreed to drive straight to the next destination as quickly as possible. So after two days driving through featureless desert, they found themselves driving through rolling green hills, then cornfields, until finally spying the great blue sea on the horizon. It should be noted that they hadn't stopped for food, rest, or any other necessities for the whole two days.

Cooky, who may or may not be traumatized as it was difficult to discern mindset from googly eyes, had a few holes and frayed strings. Kenji's fur was slightly dyed red and had a rather disturbing iron smell. Quarter stared out the window, watching for danger that may or may not come. And then there was Raisans, who was simply tired.

He didn't sign up for a near-death experience. Or two.

But now the nightmare was behind them, and they were approaching their next destination; Beach City, Delmarva.

It was a quaint little town, peaceful or sleepy depending on who you ask, that sat right on the beach, looking out at the Atlantic Ocean. The light of the sun glimmered on the azure waves, which carried soft white foam to the golden sands of the beach.

The Cranberry rattled and coughed to a halt in front of a store adorned with a gigantic donut.

"Okay guys, remember where we parked." Raisans quipped as he stepped out to stretch his legs.

Wracked with hunger, Quarter and Kenji ran into the store; The Big Donut. Inside the air conditioned store was everything to be expected of a donut shop; a wall lined with baked goods and pastries, a fridge for drinks, a freezer for ice cream sandwiches, a coffee maker with accompanying cream and sugar, and a board full of advertisements.

"Greetings, visitors!" Said an oddly enthusiastic employee patiently waiting behind the counter.

As Quarter happily collected donuts, suhary drinks, and ice cream, Kenji stared at the lone employee. What struck him wasn't the fact she was taller than average or had a mane of lavender hair, but the fact that she was purple, which wasn't exactly a human skin tone, assuming she was human. Seeing how only two days ago he had to gnaw his way out of a monstrous mime, the idea that the employee wasn't human didn't faze him. He just hoped he wouldn't have to gnaw out of her later.

"Kenji!" Quarter called, snapping her fingers around the distracted opossum. "Want anything? Lion lickers? A donut? They got something here called a Pink Lars. I think it's strawberry."

Meanwhile, Cooky and Raisans wandered around the local boardwalk overlooking the beach. There was something oddly familiar about the place.

"What do you think?" Cooky looked at the row of restaurants, attracted to the myriad of delicious scents that wafted from their open windows.

Raisans had heard about Beach City, mostly rumors and heresay about its odd denizens. However, the locals seemed rather ordinary. He was thinking that nearby Ocean Town, which was prone to catastrophe and natural disasters, would've been a bit more interesting. Especially since the recent re-election of their mayor, Lord Mayor Alvin Brandyback the Sixth, who had won by honorable duel despite such duels having been outlawed in Delmarva in 1855.

"I'm thinking pizza." He said, stopping in front of an establishment called Fish Stew Pizza.

The restaurant was exactly as one would expect of a small, family-owned pizza joint; a few square tables with cheap tablecloths, dated ceiling lights, a wall of photographs, and a large counter with an old cash register.

As the pair took a seat at a table near the window, they were approached by a young woman carrying a few menus. She had dark skin and eyes, and wore her curly, dark brown hair back beneath a light green scarf. She was wearing a green short sleeve shirt and dark grey pants, a white apron with a pizza emblem over it all.

"Welcome to Fish Stew Pizza!" She said with a beaming grin. "My name's Kiki, and I'll be helping you out today. Just the two of you?"

"We're waiting on two more." Raisans said. He didn't really notice that the young woman wasn't at all fazed by the fact that he was accompanied by a strange googly-eyed sock puppet, or that said sock puppet was being manipulated by a blue, bipedal rat.

"Alright, how about I get you guys started on some drinks and check back with you later?"

Raisans sipped on a bubbly glass of soda. He was entranced by the sight of Cooky apparently drinking from a straw. The puppet was pantomiming the movements to indicate drinking, they were making the appropriate noises, and the liquid was visibly draining from the glass.

But Cooky was a goddamned sock puppet.

Then Quarter and Kenji arrived, each with a brown paper lunch bag full of sweet treats.

"Ordered anything yet?" Kenji inquired as he sat across from Raisans.

"I wanted to wait." He said. "But Cooky wanted the Everything Pizza."

"It has everything!" Cooky exclaimed, their googly-eyes somehow sparkling with delight. "Italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, chorizo sausage, bacon, bell peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, mozz, cheddar, macaroni noodles, chicken, lamb, ground beef, drizzled with curry sauce, pesto, alfredo, and gyro sauce. Then pizza sauce."

"I don't know how I feel about that." Kenji said.

"I do." Quarter added. "Hungry."

When the pizza came, they were certainly taken by surprise. Not only was it nearly as large as the table, but it was carried by a tall, cycloptic woman with a crab claw where her right hand would've been.

"One Everything Pizza!" She said as the group awkwardly gawked at her alien appearance.

"Need anything else?"

Honestly, it didn't make much sense for them to be shocked at the mere presence of alien life. After all, they had encountered a possessed mime doll and they, or at least two and a half of them, were talking animals.

"Oh right, forgot to introduce myself." Said the embarassed alien pizza server. "Name's Bixbite. Call me Bix. BB if we're dating."

On that last comment, her one large eye focused on Raisans. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was flirting. But he was fixated on the fact that she had a claw, which wasn't something one would expect to see on any humanoid.

The pizza was delicious, perfectly sliced, and more than enough to make up for the hellish last few days. As the group laughed about their visit to the Mime Motel, finishing their meal with donuts, a family walked into the restaurant.

"Hey Connie!" Kiki called from the kitchen. "Steven still not back yet?"

"Yeah, he's still out in South America for the Reclamation Project."

Cooky peeked out to see the new visitors. There was a woman, she had short, dark brown hair, dark brown skin, a prominent nose, and a slim figure. She wore a blue, shirt-sleeved shirt and black pants. Her left arm was adorned with black filigree of flowing shapes, stretching to her hand. Standing beside her was a child, who had puffy black hair, tan skin, and a wide smile. The child wore a white hoodie with a gold star in the center and a pair of dark cargo shorts.

As the two women chatted, the child turned to Cooky and waved.

Naturally, Cooky waved back with their little pipe cleaner arms.

@raisansgrapeon @kenji-arts @a-quarter-of-roses @artsycooky13

#behold! Bixbite #or Bix #or BB if you're dating #and an Amethyst of some variety #furries meeting aliens #and a few humans #but we're not here for humans #steven universe #The Road Trip

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penninstitute · 4 years

Text

Case #0100107

Statement of Blaine Mackenzie, regarding a camping trip made up to Vermont with their friends in 2001. Original statement made January 7th, 2010.

I haven’t told this story to anybody. And as far as I know, Grace Acker never told anybody either. I haven’t spoken to her in years, but it’s safe to say she don’t like talking about it. Neither of us did, back when it happened, and we sure don’t now.

Tommy and I have talked about it a bit. But we both try to leave it behind us.

I don’t know why the Hell I’m even telling you any of this.

Needed to get it outta my system, I guess. Been sitting on this for nine years come May. Haven’t told a soul.

I’m from down in New Jersey, moved to Boston a little over two years ago. Been thinking about visiting your little institute for a while, ever since I heard about it. It’s a funny little thing you’ve got going here. I’m amazed it’s still up, don’t know where you get the funding.

I would’ve been inclined to say it’s all bullshit, and. I still think most of it’s bullshit, but after what I saw that day… I’ll allow for some exceptions.

It was early May, 2001. My friend Severin Read, his girlfriend Grace Acker, and our friend Tommy Hirsch, we were all taking a road trip up the east coast. Wanted to take some time, see the sights, we were taking a gap year before we started thinking about college and the like. Fresh out of high school, and we were raring to go.

We took two cars--Tommy and I in one, Severin and Grace in the other. We would camp out in parking lots or find campgrounds to stay at, restocking as we went.

It was fun for a while. We made it up to New Hampshire, and decided to take a bit of a detour, a little change in plans that would add an extra day to the trip, and after a few hours of driving with no destination in mind, found ourselves in Vermont, in the middle of nowhere. It was just woods, where we were, for as far as the eye could see--which wasn’t very far, mind you, considering how the trees got dark past a certain point.

I think that might’ve been where things started to go wrong. I’d never seen darkness like that, and I haven’t seen it since, save nightmares.

Naturally, at the time, we’d blamed the weird darkness on… y’know, woods stuff, and left it at that. We didn’t care. We were kids just out of our parents’ reach for the first time, we were more focused on the adventure than the potential danger.

We were looking for a place to set up camp for the night when we stumbled across what seemed to be an abandoned campground. I’m still amazed at how stupid we were--our first thought was sweet, free campground.

It wasn’t until later I began to wonder why it was deserted.

We were deep in the woods, so there was no reception. It was just us and the woods at night, which is such a classic horror movie set-up, I don’t know how we weren’t on edge all night. The fact of the matter, though, is that we weren’t worried at all. Just excited to have so much space to ourselves.

We set up a fire, played some games, drank a bit, dared Tommy to eat a marshmallow from an old pack of them we found sitting next to a pre-built firepit. He didn’t get sick, but it was still fucking nasty--funny, though.

The four of us were sitting around our fire when the night began to go downhill. Severin said he needed to piss, and that he’d be back in a minute, before he wandered off.

He was gone for twenty minutes before we started to get worried.

“Takin’ a long shit,” Tommy had suggested, and Grace had swatted his arm.

And then we heard Severin shout. It was a wordless, scared sound, just… a noise, a yell from the parking lot area. We sat there, frozen for a few solid seconds, before I got up and cautiously made my way towards where we’d heard the sound. Grace and Tommy just sat there, watching me, frozen.

Severin wasn’t in the parking lot. There was no sign of him. Just our two cars. Grace was distraught, and I calmed her down while Tommy began looking.

We’d searched every section of the campground by 11 P.M., and Severin was nowhere to be found.

I swear to God I’d heard him shout for us, and yet there was no sign of a fight or anything of the sort. All his things had been left behind, it was like he’d just disappeared. There were no leads, and Grace was starting to lose hope. I didn’t think we’d ever know what happened to him.

And then the Stag showed up.

The main thing about it, was that it was big. The next notable thing about it, was that it was dark. It’s eyes were white pinpricks, and its coat was darker than the shadows that stretched across the campground. It was like it was made of the darkness, shifting unnaturally across the Stag’s skin. And I write Stag, not stag, because there is a difference, and it’s one you couldn’t possibly fathom unless you saw the damned thing.

A dark, reddish-brown ichor dripped from its antlers and face. Too dark to be blood, but I don’t know what else it could’ve been. You could hear its breathing--it sounded sick, every inhale accompanied by a deep, rumbling wheeze.

We had regrouped by our fire when it arrived. It’s mere presence made the light practically die out, leaving a few embers still glowing in the bottom of the pit.

The Stag screamed. It was an indescribable and yet familiar sound. It was the dying shriek of a ghost and Severin’s wordless shout from just hours earlier that had set us searching. It made my blood run cold.

Severin’s whereabouts didn’t matter anymore. We ran.

I ended up separated from Grace and Tommy. I’d run towards the treeline, crashing through the pitch black woods. I could hear it breathing behind me, but not its footsteps--for a creature of that size, I thought for sure I’d be able to hear it trampling the earth, but it was just that fucking breathing.

I just ran. I ran for as long as I could, as fast as I could, but the Stag was on my tail the entire time, I could feel it.

Eventually, I tripped. Because of course I did, right? I tripped over a root or some shit and went down, and by the time I’d realized what had happened, the Stag was right behind me. I flipped onto my back and crawled backwards as best I could, trying to put distance between us, but it kept advancing until I was backed up against a tree.

I was trapped.

I didn’t know what to do. I’d been backed into that corner, and the thing was just staring at me, wheezing all the while. A sound like a growl rumbled from its chest, and it lowered its head to glare at me with those burning white eyes, whatever was on its antlers dripping onto my face and shirt.

It smelled like a rotting animal carcass and burning hair. It carried the sweetness of sickness and death, so thick I was practically choking on it.

“Leave my wood, child,” it said, voice deeper than anything I’d heard, loud enough to shake the earth and trees, enough to leave my head pounding.

I just nodded mutely. It stepped back, away from me, before disappearing. The scent lingered, and I sat there for… I don’t even know how long. I just sat there and tried to breathe. By the time I’d gained my bearings, the scent still hadn’t faded.

I got up and stumbled back to the cars on shaking legs.

Grace and Tommy looked shaken, but better off than me. They’d gone back to the campsite when they realized the Stag had chased after me instead. They asked me what happened, but I didn’t say a word, just dropped my keys in Tommy’s hand and all but crawled into the backseat.

I was covered in what quite honestly looked like blood, smelled like a dead animal, and wasn’t talking. I’m surprised they didn’t just abandon me there.

Grace went back and got our things before transferring anything she wanted from Severin’s car to mine. They’d given up the hunt, it seemed. Grace took the passenger seat, and Tommy drove us out of there. It was around one in the morning. We didn’t stop until we reached a motel, and Grace called the police to report Severin missing.

The last thing I saw of that campsite was the Stag, watching us go, and all I could hear was that rattling wheeze.

They never did find Severin’s body.

FOLLOW-UP NOTES

... God, I hate anything relating to the dark like that. Personal grievances aside, this statement has... a lot to go off of, actually. Blaine Mackenzie (now Blaine Hirsch), Grace Acker, and Tommy Hirsch are all alive and well. Mx. Hirsch refused our request for a follow-up interview, said nothing’s changed since their original statement.

Mr. Hirsch and Ms. Acker didn’t have much to say, just confirmed what Mx. Hirsch reported in their original statement.

I’d say the statement is believable enough. Animals made out of darkness aren’t too far-fetched a concept. I don’t think we’ll be looking too much further into this.

#statement #0100107 #tma #the magnus archives

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lightchildofthespring · 4 years

Text

The fantastic adventures of Takeru Takaishi

Summary: As the aspiring writer of a soon-to-be-classic novel, Takeru goes back to Ishida Farm, in hopes that a bucolic life with his brother would provide the inspiration he needed. He meets Sora and wonders what kind of relationship she has with Yamato. When a “demon” digs its way out of the soil, Takeru gets new book ideas. {AU} {Sorato}

Chapter 1: The demon

The ship that had brought him from the Old Continent had taken nearly two months to complete the journey to Turtle Island, as expected. Takeru had sent letters to his brother, asking Yamato to wait for him at the port, but he didn’t show up. With no other option, Takeru requested a cab to take him to Ishida Farm. However, nobody paid him attention.

Or almost nobody.

A young lady with orange hair and reddish eyes offered him a ride on her cart, which was attached to a beautiful brown horse. Takeru found amusing how that woman was wearing pants, boots and a large yellow shirt. Back in the Old Continent, he had never seen a lady wearing something other than long puffy dresses or, at least, long rounded skirts with buttoned shirts. The fashion of the colonies should be different.

“My name is Sora. Nice to meet you!” She greeted while helping him to put the luggage on the cart. “You’re not from around here, are you? I mean… your clothes…”

“Oh, yeah! I bet you don’t see high fashion from the Old Continent every day!” Takeru exclaimed. He could only imagine how much of an effect his lustrous black boots and the linen suit he was wearing could have on people who had never experimented the finest things in the world. As courtesy, he posed to her, letting Sora admire his elegant form for as long as she desired. Takeru even tipped his fedora, knowing how much that act increased his natural charm.

“So… are you coming to the cart or…?” Sora asked. Shockingly, she didn’t seem too impressed by him.

“Yes, of course! I need to go to Ishida Farm! My name is Takeru Takaishi, by the way!” Takeru said, trying to get on the cart. He failed on the task, which made Sora help him.

“You have quite strong arms for a lady,” Takeru praised, after being pulled into the vehicle.

“Thanks. But, to be honest, you happen to be very light.”

Takeru blushed.

“Well, you see, I weight as much as any other man from the Old Continent. I’m also an intellectual, I don’t really do labor work. But if you could measure my capabilities with a pen, I’m sure you would find them quite remarkable. You see, I’m about to write the greatest novel of the century, ought to become a classic. Therefore, I came to the bucolic environment of my infancy to seek the right inspiration.”

“The way you speak is so cute!” Sora giggled. “From what I understood, you’re an aspiring writer and you’re here to be inspired by your family’s farm. Oh, wait! Yamato has told me about his little brother and his mother living in the Old Continent! It’s you, isn’t it?”

“Oh, so my brother has talked about me?” Takeru was surprised.

“He talks about you all the time!” Sora told him. “Yamato showed me some of your letters, with your short stories.”

“I can’t imagine my brother showing personal letters to anyone. Since he was a kid, he has always been the broody, solitary type,” Takeru commented. “He would have to be really close to someone to do that…”

Takeru observed Sora’s cheeks getting pink and knew there was something up. However, Yamato’s personal relationships weren’t his most pressing concern, despite how amusing it would be to tease his brother about them.

“Why didn’t Yamato come to pick me up?”

“That is strange,” Sora said in a concerned voice. “Something must’ve happened!”

In about 30 minutes, they arrived at the farm. It seemed smaller and dirtier than Takeru remembered from his childhood. The wooden house behind the vegetable garden was old and in need of repairs on the roof. Standing on the porch, there was a blond and bearded young man pointing a shotgun to the front door. It took a couple of minutes for Takeru to realize that the tall and muscular individual was his big brother.

“Yamato! What’s the matter?” Sora asked, jumping from the cart and running towards him. Yamato immediately turned to her, while putting the shotgun down.

“Sora, you have to go away, it’s dangerous!” Yamato told her.

“If you’re in danger, then I must stay by your side!” Sora stated, pulling a knife from her belt, which had been hidden by her shirt.

“YOU WERE CARRYING A KNIFE WITH YOU THIS WHOLE TIME?!” Takeru shouted, getting out of the cart. Yamato and Sora stared at him.

“Takeru?” Yamato muttered as his eyes shone with tears. “Is that really you?”

“Yes, it is I, Takeru Takaishi!” Takeru announced. “The brother you haven’t seen in person for more than 12 years and, yet, you forgot to pick up upon his arrival!”

“I didn’t forget to pick you up, something more urgent happened,” Yamato told him.

“What could possibly be more important than picking me up?” Takeru asked.

Yamato pointed to the vegetable garden, where a hole was visible among the carrots, some of which lay on the soil.

“I was tending the carrots when a demon crawled out of the dirt,” Yamato told the others. “A horrible creature that seemed to be made of mud itself… it’s inside the house now!”

“A demon?!” Sora gasped.

“Demons don’t actually exist!” Takeru stated.

“I know what I saw!” Yamato raised his voice. “A creature from Hell came out of the soil, stared at me with eyes as dark as the night and told me, in a horrifying hoarse voice… ‘could you please let me use your bathroom and lend me some spare clothes?'”

Sora and Takeru exchanged confused looks.

“I didn’t know demons could be so polite…” Takeru murmured, muffling a smirk.

“Then, you actually let the demon use your bathroom and wear your clothes?” Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What was I supposed to do? Say no to that abomination from Hell? It could’ve cursed me!” Yamato said, anxiously holding one of his suspenders.

“I actually think it was a good idea to be kind to the demon,” Sora told him, showing Yamato a reassuring smile. “Having a supernatural creature owning you a favor could be good for our cause.”

“Cause? What cause?” Takeru asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Ehhrrrr… n-never mind that!” Sora stuttered, exchanging nervous looks with Yamato.

These two are hiding something from me! Takeru thought. Something other than their budding romance!

Suddenly, the knob on the front door began to move. Yamato, once again, pointed the shotgun at the door. Sora had her knife at hand. Takeru didn’t know what to do, therefore he stood behind to give moral support if necessary.

As an intellectual, Takeru shouldn’t believe in demons. However, he knew his brother wouldn’t make up such a story. Besides, a part of him found the possibility of encountering a supernatural creature exciting. That could be what his soon-to-be-classic novel would be about! Fantasy tales were popular, after all! Better than writing boring stories about a farm! An idea for the title emerged in his head: The fantastic adventures of Takeru Takaishi!

Once the door was open, the creature at the other side did not live up to the expectations Yamato had created. The so-called demon was a young man with red hair, thick eyebrows and black eyes wearing identical brown pants, white shirt and suspenders to the ones Yamato had, with the difference that those clothes were clearly too large for the stranger.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Yamato! Now that I’ve cleaned myself, I feel actually alive again!” The young man said, slightly bowing to Yamato.

“I’m a bit confused…” Sora whispered in Yamato’s ear, “is the demon possessing him?”

“I’m not a demon,” the other corrected, looking into the young woman’s eyes. “People might call me that, but that’s not what I am. My name is Koushiro. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sora!”

“How do you know her name, demon?” Yamato inquired, making the shotgun almost touch Koushiro’s face. “Are you planning something wicked involving her? If you even think on touching a single hair of Sora’s head, I will send you back to Hell myself!”

“Again, I’m not a demon, my name is Koushiro,” the other said, taking a step back. “I learned her name the same way I learned yours. You could think of it as a kind of special power I have.”

“A demonic power! I knew it!” Yamato nearly yelled.

“Yamato, please, stop bothering him,” Sora requested. “Koushiro keeps saying he’s not a demon. Stop calling him that.”

“Yes, big brother, stop it!” Takeru said. “There are more important matters we have to discuss, such as…” he got closer to Koushiro “how long were you buried in the soil? Why were you there? How did you survive?”

“How long… well… what year is this?” Koushiro asked.

“The year of 1892 after the ascension of the Goddess,” Takeru replied.

“Then, that means that I stayed buried for 52 years,” Koushiro said.

“52 years?! You don’t look like you’re more than 20 years old!” Sora was astonished.

“Oh, I’m way older than that, actually,” Koushiro told her.

“Are you saying that you’re immortal?” Takeru inquired. “Is that how you stayed alive all this time under the vegetable garden?”

“I wasn’t alive,” Koushiro explained. “I was shot to death 52 years ago and then my corpse was buried. I only came back to life today and had to dig my way out of the soil. By the way, sorry if I startled you, Mr. Yamato.”

“There was a corpse under my vegetable garden… for 52 years…?” Yamato muttered, terrified. “And then you just… came back to life…?”

“With the due respect, Koushiro, you don’t seem too shaken for someone who just resurrected,” Takeru commented. “That’s especially odd, considering that I’ve never heard of anyone coming back to life in the history of the world.”

“I’ve been dying and coming back to life for a really long time now,” Koushiro told him. “Honestly, this last death wasn’t as bad compared to the other ones I had.”

“Are you telling me that you’ve had many horrifying deaths? That’s fascinating! Tell me everything!” Takeru asked. “Your life sounds like an exciting horror story! Yes! I shall call the first chapter of my book 'The demon!'”

“I thought we had agreed not to call him that anymore,” Sora commented.

“Maybe we could discuss that later, Mr. Takeru,” Koushiro said, turning his attention to Sora. “There’s something more important right now. Miss Sora, your mother and allies are in grave danger. Yamanaka’s forces are preparing to ambush their camp this night.”

“What?!” Sora and Yamato said at the same time.

“Yamanaka? Isn’t that the name of the Lord appointed by the Emperor himself to guard Turtle Island?” Takeru questioned. “Why would such a remarkable person ambush anyone?”

��Hey, Takeru, don’t defend that guy!” Yamato scolded his brother. “Old man Yamanaka has been exploiting the poor people of this island for decades! We’ve been fighting against his oppression!”

“W-Wait a second…” Takeru was getting increasingly nervous, “i-if you’re opposing someone appointed by the Emperor, doesn’t that mean you’re opposing the Emperor…? If you’re opposing the Emperor, that makes you…”

Sora exchanged a long look with Yamato. Then, she approached Takeru and gently touched his shoulder. She showed him a warm smile and let him know:

“We’re called many terrible things by the Empire, but what we call ourselves is revolutionaries.”

“My own big brother… a subversive… a traitor to the Empire…” Takeru murmured, “it can’t be! I can never accept this!”

“Takeru, you have to understand!” Yamato tried to reach him. “You were raised in privilege, so you don’t know, but there are countless people around the world suffering because of the Empire! We’re fighting to help those people!”

“My mother and I don’t always agree on things…” Sora muttered, looking down, “but she’s fighting for the sake of the oppressed! I can’t let her and the others get ambushed! We must go and help them!”

“Y-You can’t expect me to simply cast aside everything I’ve learned to this day to follow you into a revolutionary camp!” Takeru stated.

Koushiro approached Takeru and told him:

“You know? Once the revolution is victorious and the Empire falls, I bet many people would like to read a book about how it all happened. The author of such a book would be famous in the entire planet.”

“Hey! Leave my brother alone, demon!” Yamato hissed. “Takeru needs time to adjust his whole understanding of the world!”

“I see… I see… I can see it all now!” Takeru exclaimed. “An oppressive regimen, dashing heroes and their love story, the unlikely contribution of an actual demon! Oh! Everybody is going to want to read a book with all these elements! Let’s go to the revolutionary camp, at once! Off to chapter 2: Daughter of the revolution!”

“Daughter? Wait, is that going to be about me?” Sora asked.

“What was that talk about love story? Whose love story is that?” Yamato inquired, blushing.

“How many times will I have to tell you that I’m not a demon?” Koushiro questioned.

While Sora prepared her horse, Yamato led Takeru and Koushiro to the stable to get three more animals. As the sun hid behind a cloud, the sound of bells entered their ears. They knew that sound came from the chapel in the village.

Koushiro gazed at the hills on the horizon, thinking about the last encounter he had with that person, knowing that he was still around, waiting for him.

#takeru takaishi #takaishi takeru #ishida yamato #yamato ishida #koushiro izumi #izumi koushiro #takenouchi sora #sora takenouchi #the fantastic adventure of Takeru Takaishi

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cxhnow · 4 years

Photo

We tasked Chloe x Halle with the responsibility of interviewing one another about their current realities while allowing them the space to imagine their future.

Even the most exciting moments of the year have been undercut with the salty sting of current realities. The same applied for Chloe x Halle on what was supposed to be the joyous ushering in of their much anticipated second album, Ungodly Hour.

The Bailey Sisters are currently sheltering in place in their Los Angeles home turned de-facto production stage while stay at home orders are still in effect in California. While in quarantine, the pair, who are no strangers to producing from home, have shot everything from drone magazine covers to mini-concerts from the comforts of their tennis court. In the first week of June, when this conversation took place, they shot another type of video, as they sat backdropped by greenery shuffling shoulders explaining through near-tears, a decision that would mark their stance as artists in the current landscape. “My sister and I felt like it was only right to postpone our album,” Chloe says to the camera, “in honor of all of the lives lost in police brutality, we felt it was right to postpone and fully shine our attention and our work on them.”

Last year was filled with career-changing highs for the sisters individually. It was announced that Halle will play Ariel in the forthcoming Disney live-action The Little Mermaid while Chloe wrapped a shoot for her role in The Georgetown Project, a forthcoming horror film. And, in January, the pair celebrated the drop of the third season of Freeform’s Grown-ish where they play track star twins, Jazz and Sky Forster.

This year, though, we have indeed arrived at an ungodly hour. Amid a global pandemic and national protests, Chloe x Halle are learning to lean into new levels of fame, expression, and activism, all while stepping into new respective expressions of adulthood and sexuality.

Ungodly Hour is more than just a second album for the pair. It’s a departure from their saccharine debut EP Sugar Symphony, and a growth spurt from the time they reminded us The Kids Are Alright. It’s a declaration of Chloe x Halle’s arrival at the stairs of womanhood.

And who better to tell us about these times than the sisters themselves? We tasked the pair with the responsibility of interviewing one another about their current realities while allowing them to space to imagine their future. Read the conversation between the pair below.

*This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

CHLOE: So sis, how are you really doing?

HALLE: I’ve just been very up and down emotionally. Felt like I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster, to be honest, these past few weeks, just because everything that’s going on in the world. It’s sad, it’s disheartening. We’re nervous, we’re scared, we’re unsure of the future right now, but I’m hopeful that things could change. I’m just trying to stay positive and not be on social media because that makes me a downer. What about you?

CHLOE: I have been better. My emotions have been all over the place. I have been hurting. I’ve been confused, other moments I’m hopeful. And I think with the current state of everything, my spirits started feeling really down and sad and there’s been a few times this week where I’ve had to delete the social media apps off of my phone. But I just started working out again because my mental was getting crowded with negative thoughts and I wanted to change that for myself and I’m starting to feel a bit better and I’m grateful for LA sun. I’ve been appreciating nature a lot more. And it’s just been helping me feel a lot more Zen and praying has been getting me through.

There have been a lot of emotions. And our album, we postponed it to next week. It was supposed to come out this week and we were just praying to God to just give us the proper answer for the right thing to do when it comes to putting it out this week or [wait until] next week. I’m happy with our decision and I just hope everyone still receives it really well when it does arrive.

HALLE: How do you want to remember this year and this moment before our album launch?

CHLOE: What I’d like to remember about this moment is that our peers have really used their voices and they haven’t been afraid and haven’t backed down. And that is what I’m going to remember about this. I’m not going to remember the heartache and the pain that I’ve been feeling about our brothers and sisters dying but what I’m going to remember about this when I look back is how all of us are using our voices to make a change and it is changing things. And I’m truly, truly happy and excited for that change. I just hope our music could be seen as a healer. How do you want to remember this year? What are you feeling?

HALLE: I’m feeling like this is a year of change. It’s a year of evolution to me. I truly feel like we are in the Ungodly Hour in 2020. From the Australian fires to [the death of] Kobe Bryant, to COVID-19 to all of these instances of police brutality caught on camera. And now everybody is rallying together. I feel like finally, something might come of this, this might be the year of change. This just might be it. So I’m hopeful. I’m really trying to remain positive and hopeful that we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. People always say it’s darkest before dawn and I truly believe that. I have to believe that! It’s what makes my heart go on.

Chloe, can you remember the first time you were aware of your Blackness?

CHLOE: I do remember. I believe I was in third grade and we grew up in Atlanta so in our first elementary school we were around all of our beautiful Black and Brown brothers and sisters. Everyone looked like how we look but then we moved to another area, another part of Atlanta, which is mostly white populated. I remember as much as I love that school. I remember walking in and there are only like two Black kids in a grade. And I remember looking around like, “Do I fit in? Am I sticking out because of my skin color? Am I making friends because of my skin color?” I remember just questioning that with myself. I remember sometimes just sitting in the cafeteria and just looking at everyone as if it was an out-of-body experience and being like, ‘Do I truly belong here?’

HALLE: That transition happened for the both of us, one minute we were in a part of town where everyone looked like us and then the next, it was like, “Whoa, where are we?” And it was really interesting to deal with that transition and suddenly be the outcast and suddenly be the person that is the odd one out but at that time. I was really grateful for my family and my sisterhood with you because every day I came home, I was reminded of who I was and I would look around and see the beautiful skin that my family had and none of that in school could tear me down. None of those people who didn’t understand or who would call my hair a certain name or none of that could ever tear me down. So I think that’s when I definitely was aware of my Blackness but I was also aware of how special it was and the beauty in it because of my family.

CHLOE: Sis, describe the most beautiful thing or image you’ve ever seen.

HALLE: Wow. I have seen so many beautiful things. But I would say the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen is, honestly, Black people. I’m sorry. (laughs)

CHLOE: Don’t be sorry!

HALLE: It’s in every way, just the beauty of a Black person is just… It leaves me speechless. When I see my family. When I see my community, it’s truly like the sun lives in our skin, in our veins and I’m just so happy to be Black and I’m so happy to be a part of that. I truly think that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen from families to my grandmother and my grandfather and seeing generations and beautiful Black babies. That’s just, that’s it for me.

CHLOE: On top of that, for me, it would have to be when we were in Jamaica at Frenchman’s Cove and the water is my favorite thing. But being on that beautiful light brown sand that was soft to the touch, it wasn’t those hard grains that hurt your feet, it was so soothing and seeing that beautiful, clear blue water, you could see your brown skin under the waves. It was stunning. And I remember seeing the swings that were hanging from the trees and all of the gorgeous people that looked like us and seeing so many beautiful Black people with locs like me and just seeing everyone smiling and happy and joyous. And I think that would have to be one of my all-time favorite views. Anytime I’m at a beach, but more specifically when I was at Frenchman’s Cove, It was so healing for me.

Halle, if you were to paint me, what’s the first color you would use?

HALLE: Yellow.

CHLOE: Why yellow?

HALLE: I would definitely use yellow as a first color to paint you because I just feel like your aura just screams yellow. It’s just bright and filled with love. I would just start there. I would start doing a border of you just in yellow and then of course do your brown and your hair and all of that. It should be like a sunray around you. That’s what I would start with.

CHLOE: For you, the color that keeps popping in my head is dark purple. As much as we love the sun, in a way with our personalities, I am more like the sun and you’re more like the moon. You have like a mysterious calmness to you. So I would probably use the same colors as the night sky. That’s what I’m seeing.

HALLE: That’s cool.

CHLOE: Yeah, that’s what I see in my head.

HALLE: What is the most important singular memory that you have of me?

CHLOE: I remember… I don’t know why I’m going to cry.

HALLE: Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.

CHLOE: I think we were like five and three or something and Halle, you still had those cute little baby feet and I love babies. And I had this baby doll named Tracy. She was a beautiful chocolate little girl, and I would carry her around. So I always wanted to be like a mother figure, I guess, in a way. And you were still in your toddler baby state. And you had the cutest little baby tiny feet. And I’d be like “Halle! Halle! Spread your feet like a baby does.” And I remember we just laugh and laugh and that’s the first memory that popped in my head.

HALLE: That is funny! Well, now you have to ask me that one!

CHLOE: When you think about the most important time with me? What do you think?

HALLE: When we were younger in Atlanta when we were still in school, we knew we were sisters, but we were just like, whatever. And then when we became homeschooled, that was when we got our bond for real, for real, and instantly got closer. I just remember that whole time when we were both in the house together, both trying to learn together and being at the table together and just growing up and having all of these important moments together. That always pops in my head. You always being there as an anchor for me. I’ve never experienced a time where I have not felt safe and protected because you’ve just always been there. So I don’t know if I can point out one singular memory because there’s so many but I just remember just never having to worry because you were always there.

Chloe, What do you think is the biggest misconception about me?

CHLOE: Ooh. I mean, half of it is a misconception. Maybe half of it is, they just don’t know the full story. Yes, you are the sweet kind-hearted girl but you are so fiery and headstrong. And unless someone knows you personally, they don’t know that. And I think it’s so powerful when a tiny little person has such a bold spirit and an old soul. That’s, what’s special about you. It’s like a hidden thing and no one really knows until they meet you. I think that’s really special.

What about me? What do you think the biggest misconception about me is?

HALLE: You know what’s funny? I would say the opposite. I mean, I know when people meet you, it’s like, “Wow. She’s so goofy and fun and happy.” But I think that there’s also that other side that people don’t see, that is your protective side. That is your like, not bossy but like boss bitch side that people don’t really get unless they watch you work, unless they’re with you when you’re making beats or when you’re answering emails because a whole boss bitch comes out. And I think that people may not see that right away. They just see the happy, goofy CHLOE when they meet you. There are so many sides to you. Who do you see when you look at your reflection?

CHLOE: So I feel like it’s been changing obviously because I’m changing as a woman. But my perception of myself is changing, I’m actually loving myself right now. When I look in the mirror and see is someone who has a really open heart and someone who loves everyone greatly. As I’m falling more and more in love with my relationship with God, I’m seeing God’s light shine through me when I look in the mirror and I’m starting to see this new fire in my spirit when I look at myself and that’s evolving because I didn’t always see myself with so much love and happiness. And I’m really happy that I’m getting to that point right now. What about you? What do you see?

HALLE: This is a really tough question. I feel like it’s changing every single day, like you said. When I was younger, I remember seeing a more shy version of myself. I feel like since I’ve always had you to lead the way a part of me has always remained in a shell. But as I’m getting older and as I’m falling in love and as I’m having life experiences and realizing that I’m slowly coming out of that shell and seeing more of the world and seeing the wonder of all that it is. I think it’s me still growing into myself and finding the adventure in life and being okay with starting to become bolder and saying what I want to say.

CHLOE: I feel like we’re really being ourselves unapologetically and we’re not afraid to be these grown, sexy, fierce women that we know we are. And that has been really fun. We’re not these like sweet two little innocent girls. Yes, we’re very kind, we have big hearts, and we’re very loving but there are also layers to us. We like to have fun, we like to be naughty sometimes. We like to use our voices. We like to take control of our business, all of these different layers that make us who we are. How does that look for you? Reclaiming yourself, reclaiming your truth, making a stand, and using your voice?

HALLE: We are making that change and documenting it in the music. As we’re growing and changing every single day, our music has been our diary in a way and I think that when people listen to this new project, they will hear the new versions of ourselves and our new image.

Chloe, how would you define sexiness?

CHLOE: Sexiness is in the way you carry yourself. I’ll be 22 in July, and I’m really falling in love with my body and my curves and all that I have to offer to this world. I’m so proud to be a woman. Usually, I’m very bright and happy and smiley but something about when I step on the stage to perform, I think that’s when I unlock my inner sexiness and I turn into a different person. I think that’s why I love performing so much because I can tap into that and fully feel like a woman. I feel like a grown woman when it comes to my business but in everyday life, I’m pretty innocent in the way I look at the world and how I see people. But it’s really just about how you carry yourself. And I like to just bring it out sometimes here and there, that’s always really fun. What about you? As you are now 20 years old, how do you define sexiness?

HALLE: I feel like it’s in your strengths, like your power that you hold. Whether it’s your work or you have ownership in whatever that you’re doing, that is a form of sexiness. When you’re confident in yourself, that is a form of sexiness. I feel like my ways of defining sexy are a bit different because I’ve always been a bit more shy, a bit more reserved, and used other ways to feel more comfortable in my skin. I think it’s in the power of realizing that I can do anything and I can be whatever I want to be and nothing can stop me. That to me is pure sexiness when I can hold the world in my hands and know that nothing can stop me.

Ooh, Chloe. Imagine me in 10 years. Who am I? Be detailed?

CHLOE: I see you with two kids-

HALLE: Only two?

CHLOE: Well, two or more. I just see you with a big smile on your face with your dimples showing. I feel like you’re going to be really chill in 10 years.

HALLE: You think so?

CHLOE: I see you in a faraway land with your family just happy and caring about the world but really it just revolves around you and your family. That’s what I see when I think of you in 10 years. I don’t know. I just feel like you’ll have a family by then.

HALLE: Yeah, I agree. Because in 10 years I’ll be what? 31. Wait. How old am I?

CHLOE: You’ll be 30. Damn. Wow. What do you see in 10 years for me?

HALLE: Wow. In 10 years, I don’t know.

CHLOE: In 10 years, I’ll be 31 going on 32.

HALLE: Oh my goodness. I see you in 10 years. I’m not sure if you’ll have children right away. I feel like you say you will.

CHLOE: I don’t think I will. I’ll be married.

HALLE: You will be making music you love and you’ll just be a badass producer who is producing for all these cool people and traveling the world with your husband and just happy. And you’d come over on my farm or wherever I live with my family of 10 children and you’d be the aunty.

That is so cool. And then I feel like you’d probably settle down and have children around 34.

CHLOE: That’s what I’m thinking, right?

HALLE: Yeah. That’s what I see for you.

CHLOE: If someone found Ungodly Hour in a vault in the year 2080, what would you want the reaction to be?

HALLE: I would want their minds to be blown, to be honest. I would want the music to instantly connect to their soul. And for them to feel like it’s up to date with what’s going on and it hasn’t missed a beat. I mean, there are so many albums for us that have lived on for years in years long past when the artist has gone. But that’s what music is about. I want our music to live on and for people to never get tired of it and to always be able to relate to it. [I was playing the] Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On album yesterday and I was like, “This is so eerie how everything is saying is the exact moment that we’re going through.”

I want people to have that same recognition and feeling when they listen to our music in the near future. I never want it to die.

CHLOE: Yeah. I just want people to get the feeling that I get listening to older music. I want them to have that feeling where it feels so timeless but still so fresh. That’s what I hope for. I hope it’s still inspiring.

what does the word legacy mean to you?

HALLE: I mean, it just means living on and making a positive impact in people’s lives long past the moment you’re gone. I hope that we…Well, I know for sure, you’re going to have an amazing legacy when you’re gone.

CHLOE: So are you, Hal.

HALLE: Thanks but you know what I mean? I know for sure that people will always be inspired and lifted up by the creativity that you have put into the world. And I hope the same for me.

CHLOE: It’s definitely the same for you.

HALLE: I just want to live on in people’s minds as being a positive person and making people feel loved and some sort of happy emotion in their life.

CHLOE: Yeah. What I hope to leave with my legacy, is just love. I hope I raise some pretty sweet children who can carry that as well. If someone could look back at the family tree that I’ll continue to spread out and create, I just hope they see bright, positive beings who are contributing and spreading God’s light through their love for life. And that’s what I hope I bring. So I can’t wait for that. When I think about our grandparents and our great aunts, they were such phenomenal people-

HALLE: Amazing people.

CHLOE: With such great work ethic and drive and they were so kind and beautiful as well. And I just hope that further generations will look back and think of me that way. [x]

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alonelytinywriter · 4 years

Text

Into The Deep

Anonymous said to alonelytinywriter:

One word: Mermaids.

Excuse me, but if you think I’m gonna drop everything I was doing and start a whole series in my head about mermaids now then, well, you’re right. Because I did. Now I have an entire AU in my head where all the BNHA character are mermaids ~ mermen!! ~ and I just can’t continue until it happens. I just - their so dynamic and I can see so clearly what each character’s tail would look like and I’m so hyped that someone asked for mermaids. THANK YOU!!!!!!! Also, I really, really hope no one minds but the OC in this is a woman of color. I’m not, but I see it so rarely and it bothers me because I feel like there’s not enough put out there for anyone of a different skin complexion than - ‘white’ - and I realized that there doesn’t really seem to be a lot to read and relate to so, I don’t know, I just want to get some out there that they can also enjoy because I want everyone to feel included. It was honestly a bunch of fun writing this OC and I adore the way she turned out. I just hope it doesn’t offend anyone, ha ha ahhh, I know I’m gonna get hate mail because I’m not a girl of color myself but oh well. Come at me if you don’t like it. Don’t forget to hit that heart if you enjoy and read the warnings on every story because it changes! They’re there for a reason!

Warnings: NDE, Kidnapping, Bakugou - so ya know the drill, it’s Bakugou, but not that bad really - Language, WOC, all in all - this one is pretty safe.

Mermaid! No Quirk! Bakugou / Original Female Character

Playlist - EvERythiNG. All of it. Shuffle. Pandora. Done.

Name: Jacquie Keita ~ Birthday: August 14th ~ Age: 22 ~ Hair Color: Black (Dyed white) ~ Eye Color: Golden Brown ~ Gender: Female ~ Height: 5” 4’

Appearance ~ Jacquie has an athletic build with lean arms and legs, as well as a smooth stomach, due to years of swimming in the open ocean. She has light taupe skin, golden eyes although her long lashes make her irises appear darker than they truly are, and long dreaded hair which she has bleached white several times. The roots, however, are grown out and Jacquie hasn’t made landfall to pick up the supplies to dye it back. ~ Due to the fact she lives as a nomad on the open sea, Jacquie isn’t overly worried about her clothes. Most outfits contain sweats and sport bras, or cotton t-shirts with athletic brands printed across the fronts. She owns more bathing suits and items to exist in the water than anything, and she has zero shame in it.

~ Into The Deep ~

~ Jacquie had been traveling the ocean for years - first on a little dingy she’d bought for next nothing and nearly drowned in before she could leave the waves around the lagoon, then on a small house boat that was better suited for a lake than the ocean but it worked near the shorelines . . . so long as there were no storms. It had capsized near France and left her stranded for months until she’d been able to put the money together to purchase her next boat - and now, finally, she owned the 49 foot crossover house-ship swaying beneath her feet. The fact it was a crossover was important, because it allowed for her life style on the open ocean, and kept her safe.

~ She worked as a marine biologist, specializing in marine life and environment. She traveled the world, studying the habitats of all kinds of fish, looking for new breeds or kinds of ocean plant life, and the house-ship was a large, sturdy vessel. It was just under fifty foot long, and if Jacquie was being honest, most of the ship was used as space for her labs and research room, although she had sectioned an area off for herself. On the deck was the cockpit, where she could steer the ship, and it connected to the kitchen/dining room. Connecting that room and a small section of the floor below was a spiral staircase that would lead to the living/bedroom and a small door off to the side led the restroom. There was a lifeboat tied to the starboard, and a large glass tank on the port, where she could keep any fish or creatures she caught, if only temporarily to tag the fish for research, or care for them if they were sick or injured.

~ Sighing, Jacquie stared out over the waves, chest aching as she took in the sight of the bleached white corals that surrounded her ship; a bright bolt of lightening streaked across the sky and for the first time Jacquie noted the sent of ozone in the air. The storm was getting closer and she wasn’t prepared at all. She wasn’t going to make it to the shore before it hit - she could already see the wall of dark storm clouds rushing towards her - and the idea of riding out a violent Japanese ocean storm made her stomach churn. She had never been a fan of storms before, but now that she had lived on the ocean for so long, she understood just how dangerous they could be.

~ Jacquie had sailed around the world twice. She’d visited nearly every beach-line there was to see. Twice. But never had Jacquie seen a storm like this. There was rain, but it wasn’t very hard, like you would see near India, and that nearly cost Jacquie her life. It wasn’t such a bad storm, after all. It wasn’t until she was running across the deck, the lifeboat hanging at a strange angle from its davits that worry really began to creep into her chest. She was having to push herself up the side of the boat as she ran the deck - the ship was listing towards port and she couldn’t figure out WHY, and when she glanced over the edge of the railing she realized the drop wasn’t sheer any longer. She could see the ship’s great white side, and the angle made her stomach drop.

~ The ship was listing badly, and it wasn’t level from the back to the front either, a noticeable incline going from bow to stern. The ship was sinking, and Jacquie couldn’t do anything to stop it. She didn’t know how, or even why, but the ship was going to go down, and if she didn’t do something, she was going to be going down with it. Looking overboard she saw the sea was rising, getting close, the waves nearly rushing over the deck with every swell. She wasn’t sure where the reef was any longer - maybe she had hit it and that was why the ship was sinking. Or maybe she had drifted out and away and she was about to plunge down into the depths below.

~ Her morbid thoughts where cut short when a flash of lighting streaked across the sky, illuminating the world around her like midday for a moment. And there, nearly thirty feet above her ship, was a massive wave. It wasn’t the wave that brought her up short, however, although that was terrifying enough in and of itself. It was the distinctly sharp shadow drifting through the wave, a shadow that screamed shark at every one of her senses from the slope of its tail-fins, to the size and shape. The only problem was that there seemed to be a very angry, very human man attached to the front of the shark, staring down at her through narrowed eyes.

~ She never even saw the second wave seeping over the deck of her ship, but she was pretty sure it - he - did, because his eyes went wide a moment before it hit her. She felt the bite of the cold water as it knocked her feet from under her and sent her across the slick wooden floor. Her back hit the railing, and for a moment she thought she was okay, but then the wood cracked as a third wave crashed into the boat and the once solid wood against her back fragmented into the storm, leaving her with nothing to stop her from falling into the churning ocean below.

~ The water was terrifying. It surrounded her like a blanket, made it impossible for her to find the surface, made it impossible for her to think. She screamed when her head broke the surface, panicked coursing through her blood like a drug. She couldn’t see past the salt water burning her eyes, couldn’t breath past the liquid rushing over her again and again. The ocean had never scared her before but now, now it was something different. Black and icy and filled with rage, and there, only fifteen feet way, Jacquie spotted a dark triangle slicing through the water as another flash of lightning illuminated the world once more.

~ The shark. Her second scream was drowned out by a roll of thunder, but lightning accompanied it and she was able to see the shark drifting closer, a ten foot swell of inky darkness that made her muscles scream for her to do something - anything. The water was too cold, though, and it hurt to move her muscles beyond what was keeping her head above the water, and she couldn’t see the ship - where was the ship???

~ The shark was flung away with the next wave, or it went underwater, she wasn’t sure, and the next drug Jacquie away as well. A floating top spinning atop the surface of the water. It felt as if the waves were fighting over her, jerking her this way and that as she desperately attempted to keep her head above the water. She kept going under, and she couldn’t tell which way the surface was until she would burst into the air, lungs sucking in air until she was forced under again. The cold of the water was quickly numbing her arms and legs and it was becoming harder to keep her head above water. In the distance beneath the water she could see the flickering lights of her ship sinking into the darkness, and the realization that she was now stranded in the middle of the ocean, with no ship, no flotation device, nothing to keep her alive against the forces of nature steeping over her like cold tea. Or maybe it was the water, which had closed over her head, and she was too tired, too exhausted to continue kicking her legs or sweep her arms. She could clearly see the world around her, a darkness that seemed the filter gray light to show the shape of the waves as they swelled above her, the bubbles as they foamed across her limbs, her hair listing through the current like eels. It was peaceful.

~ What was not peaceful was the feeling of something hard, like an invisible rock, slamming into her. It hit her across the chest, slamming the air from her lungs in a whoosh. The world began to fade to a true black as she watched the thick cloud of silver bubbles drift away, and water began to flood her mouth and throat, chocking her. There was something else too, something thick, and slimy, and oddly rubbery, and it was forced into her mouth until she had no choice to swallow - swallow or choke on the strange lump as the darkness completely obscured her vision and her senses failed her . . .

~ Jacquie slept. And while she slept, she dreamed. Blurred wanderings through blindingly bright memories of the sun above the ocean, winds so calm the clouds didn’t move and the water sat as still as a mirror, her mother and father’s face, the ocean teaming with life around her. A mirage of memories, each brighter than the last until there was nothing but a wash of white -

~ The sun woke Jacquie. It was the wash of white, blinding in the clear, cloudless sky above her, which showed no signs of the storm before. The water was clear and vibrant, lapping gently at the sandbar that she rested against, and as far as she could see the reef grew brilliantly, like a snow capped wonder. She couldn’t remember making it to the shore, couldn’t remember finding shelter on a swatch of sand, and the longer she looked, the more she felt as if something were very wrong. She was propped against a large pile of seaweed and kelp as if she had been purposefully laid out, and the sandbar didn’t rise far enough from the water - she was submerged well to her navel. She should have been able to see the islands. Should have been able to see the formations of the bleached coral beds that showed her location but, instead, she saw nothing but water and sky. Even when she clambered to her feet and craned her neck this way and that, she didn’t spot anything that gave her any indication as to where she was at all. The reef surrounding her didn’t match anything she had seen before, despite the familiar bleached corals.

~ Suddenly, something brushed against her leg, making a tingle run up her spine. She thought, for a moment, that it might have been a fish, but when she glanced down she didn’t see anything. Then she felt it again, the slightest tingle against her leg, almost a tickle. And then it grabbed her. Jacquie screamed, jerking her leg away as hard and fast as she possible could, but that only served to send her flailing into the water. And that’s when she saw it. The grey-white triangle sticking straight up in the water - the fin of a black tipped reef shark, the same shark she had seen in the storm, the one that hadn’t seemed . . . right. And as she stared in horror, the fin turned in the water, and then sped towards her, moving steady and straight as an arrow.

~ Jacquie, despite all her knowledge, began to thrash in the water, trying to swim away. She was panicking, wanting to put as much distance between the shark and herself as she possible could, and when it seemed to swim right past her, she nearly calmed. Had it decided she would be too much of a hassle? But then it began to turn, streaming towards her in a wide arc. Circling. The shark moved in closer, the circle growing smaller and smaller each time it made a pass around her, and she didn’t know what to do. The rocks she had been propped against wouldn’t protect her well from the shark, and they didn’t come high enough out of the water to ensure it wouldn’t be able to get to her even if she climbed atop them. The Shark swam around her in a tight circle, close enough the the swishing tail sent waves over her stomach, and she could see him clearly for the first time since he’d begun circling. And just like the night before, there was something . . . misshapen about the shark. Its head wasn’t shaped all wrong, and then, when it turned again, she saw why it was misshapen and the shock nearly made her collapse. Her brain hadn’t been playing tricks on her the previous night. The shark within the wave had been looking down her through narrowed eyes, because the shark didn’t have a head. It’s upper body extended and shifted until instead of the hard grey scales of the shark, the surface was smooth, pale skin. Abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms - these appeared darker, nearly like the tail - and a head of messy blonde hair that looked spiky, even under the water. He was staring up at her, eyebrows narrowed, a strange sort of noise emanating from the water as it circled. It was a low, growling sound, nearly musical, beautiful and . . . somehow sad. It nearly sounded like a whale, and if it wasn’t for the fact she were sitting in the water, watching the shark - merman - mershark? - move closer. His narrowed, red eyes sparkled in the sunlight as it filtered through the water, and his skin gave off a silvery glow.

~ He rose from the water then, his arms propping his head and shoulders above the small waves as his eyes found hers and stared hard. He made a soft sort of noise, something between a purr and a growl and behind his lips, Jacquie could see the pointed tips of his teeth.

~ “Stay away from me!”

~ The mershark paused, his teeth bared at the sharp tone of her voice, and Jacquie took his surprise and ran with it - literally. She was on her feet and already several steps away before the mershark seemed to realize what she was doing, but when he did he was on her in a moment, his arms wrapping around both her legs at the calf, sending her crashing into the water. They wrestled for a moment, and the mershark snarled, his teeth bared into a angry grimace as he attempted to wrestle her under his frame. He won, if only because of his size and weight, and Jacquie panicked as he pinned her beneath the water, his face inches away from hers. She sealed her lips, trapping the last reserves of oxygen she had left as she desperately tried to buck the mershark from her. He wasn’t bothered by her movements, though, and he merely stared down at her with a grim sort of purpose. He was going to drown her. She was going to drown, he was going to drown her - holy fuck was he going to eat her - and then she couldn’t hold her breath any longer. She gasped, flooding her mouth with water, and a flashback of the storm swept over her so violently she thought she could feel the churning of the water around her. But there was something strange, something about the way the water seemed to flow from her nose, and out her mouth. She was . . . she was breathing. She was breathing underwater.

~ The mershark laughed then, and Jacquie could hear it. She heard it like it was carried on a cool summer breeze, dark and full of gravel, and it filled the water around her like a living, breathing thing.

~ “Holy fuck.”

~ The mershark throws back his head and laughs again, his long fingers squeezing her shoulders tightly. “I knew you were a great pick. You’re gonna be so fucking good.” He moved then, dragging her with him effortlessly as he swam through the water, the current hardly seeming to effect his direction at all. She fought, tired to pull away, but the mershark only pulled her closer, tsking at her struggles. “Stop moving would ya? It’s getting annoying.” He growled in her ear, and there was something to his tone of voice that made her go still. He wasn’t asking. He pulled her down, past the reef, until they arrived at the dark entrance of a cave that seemed to be built into the side of the sandbar. He wasted no time speaking, instead he opted to throw her on a pile of soft sponges laid across the bottom, causing her to bounce lightly in the water as he began to flint about, grabbing this and that as he swam around the cave. There was a multitude of items that screams of being from the surface and some of it - a lot of it, Jacquie realized with a start - seemed to have come from her boat.

~ To Jacquie it seemed as if he were circling her once more as he continued to move between one set of shelving and the next, and his words early only served to strength her thoughts of him eating her, so when he approached her side and reached towards her she nearly screamed. He didn’t, however, eat her. He did yank her forward when she refused to give him the arm he motioned for, his hands rough on her delicate skin as he slid heavy gold bands over her wrists. Arm bands followed, as well as several heavy necklaces that weighed Jacquie down and forced her to stay at the ocean floor verses floating upwards at the slightest current. He wasn’t finished until she was covered with more jewelry than she had seen in her lifetime and the weight of it pressed uncomfortably into her skin.

~ “It’s too much.” Jacquie said softly, already removing several layers of the necklaces that had been thrown over her head. “Too heavy.”

~ The mershark growled low, but he didn’t move to stop her until she was wearing only a few necklaces and other shining jewelry pieces. He did, however, propel himself forward and curl his body around hers like a puppy, his head pressed into her side while his tail wrapped around her waist, a more effective lock to keep her in place than if he had tied her to one of the rocks that made up the cave.

~ “Bakugou.” Jacquie stared and the mershark sighed. “Bakugou.” “I . . . I don’t -” “What, are you one of the stupid humans?” The mershark bit out harshly. “M’name is Bakugou.” “Oh.”

~ “Fuckin’ hell, what is your name?”

~ “J - Jacquie.” It was strange talking underwater. Everything sounded vaguely muffled, but not at the same time, and every time she inhaled it felt as if she were swallowing jello and feeling it ooze from her nose. “My name . . . my name is Jacquie.”

~ The mershark - Bakugou - smiled. “Good. That’s a good name for my mate. You look strong, and your hips are wide so you’ll be a perfect mate. You’ll -” But Jacquie wasn’t listening. His words were ringing through her ears, making no sense because over and over again one word kept rising to the top: mate. And from the way he was talking it seemed like he meant it. They were going to have pups, he cooed, rubbing his face against her abdomen. They were going to fuck, hard, and then when she got pregnant he would take care of her until she birthed the pups and they would do it all over. “You’ll be so fucking pretty with your stomach all swollen for me, swollen with our pups. And as soon as the seaweed finishes it’s work, you’ll have pretty little tail to move around with.” His sharp teeth nipped against her side with every word spoken to her like she was a lover, causing her to shiver in his hold. “It’s okay, sharks take care of their mates, not like those flimsy reef mer who flee at the first sign of danger, like that stupid fucking Deku. I’ll keep you safe, mate. And I’ll never let you go.”

#sharkmer #mershark #bnha #Bakugou #merbakugou #mermaids #merman #my hero #yandere #yandere bakugou #yandere my hero academia #no beta ill die a (wo)man #yandere bnha

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