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silverhallow · 1 year

Text

I’d marry you with Paper Rings

pairing: Benedict Bridgerton x Sophie Beckett

summary: it’s wedding day!

warnings: none just fluff!

word count: 2301 words

author's note: part 4 of a Tumblr request for stories in the WWWY AU!

Benedict and Sophie’s wedding came around a lot quicker than they’d been anticipating.

It seemed like one moment they had months, the next moment it was merely days away.

They had everything planned out, they were marrying at Aubrey Hall, they talked about hiring somewhere but everywhere they visited felt wrong, nowhere had felt right and it had felt like they were never going to find a location for the wedding.

It was only after a weekend at Aubrey, celebrating little Miles’ Christening, after a glass of wine too many later that afternoon Sophie and Kate had been talking about wedding plans for and Sophie just complained about being able to find somewhere suitable.

“Why not here?” Kate had said.

Sophie had spilled her wine, “what do you mean?”

“Well you get someone ordained, file the papers with the registrar's office and you and Ben get married here in the summer…” Kate had explained.

Sophie had squealed with excited joy and threw her arms around Kate exclaiming how she was a genius so loudly that she woke Artie from his sleep and his annoyed barks woke Edmund, Miles and Amelia.

She’d gotten a grumpy look from Mary and Violet having just settled the three children but when they learned the reason for Sophie’s excitement, they were soon forgiving her and on board with the idea.

Benedict had thought it was perfect. He loved the idea of them getting married in the place they grew up, the place they fell in love. There wasn’t a more perfect location and as they wanted a summer wedding, they could host it outside and they could curate it to be the day they wanted, rather than what a venue could afford them.

And little Artie would be able to come and be their ring bearer.

Within three weeks of Miles’ christening they had everything planned and a date set and Sophie had set about trying to find a wedding dress.

Sophie felt like she’d tried on over 100 dresses trying to find the right one but whenever she, Violet, her Aunt Becky, Kate and the rest of the girls had gone shopping, she’d not found the right one. Everything felt wrong.

That was until she was going through some boxes at her father’s house ready to move into the home she and Benedict had bought together, My Cottage was its name, something the rest of the family had found hilarious and Henry had said was rather fitting for the two of them.

It was a cottage of sorts, out in Kent, a lot of land for Sophie to have her own animals and there was space for her and Lily to open their own Veterinary practice, space for Benedict to grow his art and photography business, it was close to the rest of their family and was beautiful. It was every bit the countryside home they wanted.

It was everything they wanted but it was going through some old boxes that Sophie had come across an old sketchbook that belonged to her mother.

She’d known her mother had been creative, that she’d been training to restore historical art pieces but she’d not realised how creative her mother actually was and it was seeing the book that she found her wedding dress.

It had been a design that she’d created herself, that had evidently been her dream wedding dress for when and if she got to marry Sophie’s father.

Richard had been shocked to find the books that Esme had drawn in, and had been even more shocked to find the dress plans, they’d talked about getting married when they’d finished University, but what shocked him the most was the plans had been drawn after she’d been sent away by his father.

There was a little flower girl and little page boy outfit also drawn in the book. Richard had broken down in tears at this point, knowing that she’d been planning for a life back together, including their unborn child in their wedding…

Sophie had known at that point that she had to honour her mother, the dress that was designed was everything she’d wanted in her wedding dress. It was elegant, it was cottagey, it was vintage and it was perfect.

She’d called Gen and Lucy and begged them for help, Gen being a fashion designer, or on her way to being a fashion designer. She knew it was a long shot as Wedding Dresses were harder to design and create but they’d promised to help her.

It had taken a while but they’d finished the dress about a month before the wedding and Sophie had finally agreed to let her wedding party see it.

Lily, Kate, Violet, her Aunt Becky, Mary, had stood in the room with Gen and Lucy when she tried it on for the first time since it had been finished and there hadn’t been a dry eye in the room.

It was after that everything fell into place.

Gen had managed to make the Flower Girl dress for Ameila, who was now 3 years old, the page boy outfits for 3 year old Neddy and nearly a year old Milo.

Sophie had found beautiful green bridesmaid dresses for the rest of her bridesmaids and everything was set.

They’d had their stag and their hen-dos, which had been considerably tamer than Kate and Anthony’s had been and now they were set for the big day.

Sophie was in her old room at Aubrey Hall, Benedict had been set off the Summer House with the rest of the boys and as the sun rose on June 16th, their wedding day had finally arrived.

2 years after getting engaged, months of planning and waiting had all come down to this and it was with a bated breath that Sophie had opened her curtains to look outside, praying for a sunny day.

As she pulled the curtains open she was nearly blinded.

It was bright, it was clear and it was perfect.

She let out a grateful sigh as the door flew open and Kate, Lily, Edwina and the Bridgerton girls and Lucy came running in squealing excitedly about it being her wedding day.

The next few hours were spent getting ready, Lucy and Becky helped with her make up and hair, her nerves never seemed to come. She was giddy and excited about marrying the man she’d been in love with for nearly 10 years, her best friend, her soul mate, her entire world.

They were marrying at lunchtime, when the sun was at the highest point, where it would look the most serene and beautiful by the lake where they would shortly become man and wife.

Gen and Kate helped Sophie into her dress and she was finally ready.

Benedict had asked Hugh, one of his friends who worked with him to come and take photographs, and he captured every moment so far of Sophie getting ready, Henry had been tasked with the photos of Benedict and the men before he would officiate the ceremony.

Phillip was serving as an additional Maid of Honour with Kate as her two best friends; he was waiting with her father for the first reveal. She had wanted to keep her dress secret from them both, she hadn’t told her father what design she’d gone for, only that she’d found it, and she had a feeling that Phillip would have told Henry and Henry would have told Ben so she kept him out of it.

But the moment Phillip and her father saw her in her dress. She knew Benedict was going to be a mess as she walked down the aisle.

“You look beautiful Princess” Richard said as they waited, everyone was assembled, the moment was upon them.

The music was starting, Sophie’s heart was pounding. This was it, “thank you Papa… thank you for everything, for being the first man i loved, for loving me… for being mum and dad… and just… everything”

“Stop, are you going to make your old man cry sweetheart” Richard said a little choked up.

“Papa… it’s inevitable today” Sophie sniffed, feeling her eyes filling with tears.

“True but at least let me make it to the speeches” he said which made her giggle.

“Ready?” he asked her

“I’ve been ready all my life,” she smiled.

Gregory, Hyacinth, Lucy and Richard Jnr were ahead of them, Kate, Phillip and Lily had already started walking down the aisle with Amelia, Edmund and Miles and Hyacinth had tight hold of Artie on his lead and they started to walk down towards Benedict.

They’d set the walk up so that Sophie would have to round a corner before Benedict would be able to see her “last chance to change your mind” Richard said half-heartedly.

Sophie giggled “Papa, Hell would have to freeze over before i’d change my mind…” Sophie said with a bright beaming smile and Richard knew she was right, he’d known from the moment Sophie and Benedict were small children together that they were destined for one another, they’d always complimented one another, in the same way that Kate and Anthony where the same, similar in the way they approached life and needed that to be complete…

Sophie and Benedict were different but fit together like a puzzle, from the moment Sophie was all of 8 weeks old when she was placed in Benedict’s crib and he’d reached out and taken her hand… they’d found the other half of their soul.

It was true and utter soulmates.

Richard had to fight back his own tears as he walked his daughter down the aisle. Benedict’s tears fell freely down his face when he saw Sophie, her beauty had always taken his breath away but today she looked like a fairy.

Everything about the ceremony was perfect, Artie had sat nicely by his papa and mama, the rings in a box around his neck, waiting for the moment they’d been needed and by the time they recited their own vows, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

“Sophie, you are everything i’ve ever wanted in life, even when I didn’t know what I wanted, you knew what I needed, you’ve completed me in ways I never thought were possible and you’re the girl who saw the man that I could be, the woman who has helped me to be the man I am today and you’ll be the woman to help me become the man and hopefully, one day, the father I will be. You are the other half of my soul. From the moment you were placed in my cot, it was like everything changed, I don’t remember my life before you were in it and I never want to imagine my life without you in it. You are my muse, you are my best friend, my soulmate, you complete me and without you there is no me. We’ve had our ups and downs and a lot of people said we were too young but those people didn’t know us, they didn’t know just how long we’ve loved one another… how long I plan to love you. You’ve been the only girl I've ever loved, my heart was made for you, my soul was always yours and I vow for the rest of our lives, everything I am belongs to you…” Benedict had said, tears falling down his eyes as he spoke and Sophie had cried and been grateful for the waterproof mascara.

Then Sophie had spoken “Ben… you are the light of my life, you always have been, the joy and love of my life. You saw me when no one else did, you loved me when I couldn’t even love myself… you’ve been my staunchest protector, my fiercest guard… you and Kate, but you’ve always been there by my side. No matter what you’ve always been there for me, the first one by my side whenever I’ve needed you… you are my Prince Charming. Today I become your wife and words can’t describe how proud that makes me, how happy that makes me. My heart has always been and will always be yours, my soul has always been yours, it has been connected with yours since the day I was born. You are the reason I was born, you are the reason I exist. I promise to love you every day for the rest of our lives, I promise to be your muse, to encourage you, to remind you to eat… and be whatever you need me to be. Everything I am, I owe to you, everything I will be, will be because of you, we are a team, we always have been, we always will be and no matter what life throws at us, I know we can get through it, as long as we are together, we can accomplish anything. I love you, always have… always will”

Henry was choked up and had to clear his throat before he was able to continue, they exchanged their rings, quoting lines of Lord of the Rings and some of their favourite films to one another before finally, they were finally pronounced man and wife.

Their kiss had to be interrupted by Henry tapping their shoulders as it went on a bit but they were just laughed at by their friends and family.

The rest of the day was more relaxed, an outside party, all the food was buffet style and they had a big BBQ and it was everything they’d dreamed.

Anthony and Kate surprised them with Fireworks right at the end of the night.

It was everything they wanted, the start of their happily ever after, before babies, before the drama that those babies would bring them. It was a perfect end to the perfect day.

#bridgerton #bridgerton drabble #benedict bridgerton #sophie beckett #Benophie #Benophie drabble #benedict x sophie #ask ash #when we were young au #wwwy au

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lmadness · 2 years

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Tatties (Eddie X Fem Reader

Summary: Eddie and reader make plans for new tattoos

Includes: soft flirting, pinning, etc. Reader has tattoos.

Eddie and (y/n) were walking outside the school grounds through the woods nearby. They had decided to ditch physics in favor of doing something they could comprehend, talking about fantastical beasts and imagining up ghost stories to scare the younger members of Eddie’s Hellfire club.

(Y/n) and Eddie had seen each other's more obvious tattoos on the forearms, etc but seeing as they usually wore pants to school Eddie had never seen the many tattoos decorating Danielle’s legs.

“You have a snake on your leg?” He asked as he finally didn't want to seem like a creep to his new and only female friend. But he was just so curious about her. He snuck quick glances at the various tattoos, a small fairy near her ankle, a ring of mushrooms around her left knee, a snake on the back of her right calf, and a scorpion on her other ankle.

“Oh, yeah! I forget about these guys all the time. They’re always covered up!” (Y/n) laughed as she looked down and poked at her knee. “How could you possibly forget about these!” Eddie exclaimed “I’d be showing them off all time, making all the christian moms shake in their beige heels.”

(Y/N) laughed as they cautiously stepped over tree roots as the dirt got muddier. “Hey look, there’s a creek.” (Y/N) pointed to a small creek flowing a small distance ahead of them, just big enough to hear the water flowing and maybe have a few frogs. She grabbed Eddie’s hand and dragged him forward to sit on a large tree that had fallen seemingly ages ago.

“What are we doing?” Eddie asked as he watched her pull her bag around and pull out a sketchbook. “Well I don’t know about you but I’m gonna find a new tattoo here.” (Y/N) said as she pulled out a pencil and carefully glanced around the creek, looking for anything interesting to sketch for later. “You could use some stuff around here for your next campaign right? Like rocks and moss and stuff right? Or is that wrong?” (Y/n) asked as she whipped her head back around to look at him. “I mean maybe, but I kinda like your idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, well…most of the time I like to do it this way. Other times I use old fairytale creatures.” (Y/n) flipped through her sketchbook,finally landing on a page full of the tattoos already on her, and then some and slid the book over to Eddie.

“Is that an old witch?” He asked while he ran his index finger over the page lightly.

“It’s Baba Yaga, my grandma told me a lot of stories about her when I was younger.”

Eddie smiled as he kept looking over the page. “Hey if I asked you to, would you draw me a tattoo. I’ve been really wanting to get another one but I couldn’t really think of anything.”

“You?” (Y/n) asked, “You, Eddie Munson, couldn't think of a tattoo idea? Color me surprised.” She chuckled as she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail.

“I know, crazy right?” He replied as he handed the sketchbook back to her. “You’re really good by the way, guess that's why you’re in art class though huh?” (Y/n)’s cheeks flushed red as she adjusted her sketchbook in her lap. “Do you like fall? Or old folklore?”

“Yeah, of course. I didn’t start liking fantasy out of nowhere.” Eddie laughed as he supported himself on his palms behind him. “Okay well have you ever heard of The Headless Horseman?” She asked in return. Eddie nodded as he raised an eyebrow. (Y/n) continued, “Weelllll, do you like it?” She bumped her eyebrows at him as she nudged him with her shoulder. “Sure, but not enough to get him tattooed.” Eddie shrugged.

“Okay well what are some specific things you like?” (Y/n) readied her pencil on her paper, making three little bullet points. “Well, I like fantasy obviously, umm…metal-”

“Obviously.” (Y/n) cut in, gesturing to his vest with her pencil and a smile.”

“Yeah, ha. And ummm, just general creepy shit.” He said as he nervously wiped his hands on his jeans and wondered why he was always so nervous around her. His heart was beating erratically, and his palms were sweaty but he wasn't scared of her. Usually when he had a crush on someone he became obsessed and wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about them, though he never told a soul. But this felt different, it felt….natural.

“Ooh! I have an idea!” (Y/n) exclaimed as she began scribbling on her page. “It’s gonna be perfect!” Eddie waited patiently, keeping himself entertained by tossing small pebbles and sticks into the flowing water. After a few minutes she eagerly turned the sketchbook around revealing a sketch of a short bladed dagger with a ram skull at the handle.

“What do you think?” (Y/n) asked excitedly as Eddie took a closer look and grinned. “Awesome” He murmured, “That’s definitely perfect. Just like you said.” he kept his smile as he made eye contact. “Thank you.”

(Y/n)’s face turned bright red as she put the sketchbook back in her bag and looked down to hide her face. “You’re welcome.” She whispered. “We should get a tattoo together.Maybe even get similar tattoos, what do you think? You could get a knife tattoo with… I don’t know…a cat skull or something.” Eddie laughed, trying to ease the air of nervousness.

“I’d love that.” (Y/n) looked back into his eyes and smiled.

#eddie imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #stranger things #eddie munson headcanons #bestie!eddie munson

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maurofonseca · 10 months

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I don't know if you talked about it before, but how much do you have planned out for your own comic idea you've posted parts of before? Or generally how do you prepare and outline your own story ideas?

both too much and not enough, if you learn from me do so only to learn what not to do lol

Gonna ramble a bit, so adding a read more.

I've got a lot of ideas and concepts, enough to do like 5 years of continuous monthly comics, but I can't really do that, I'm physically unable to, need to pay rent etc. So I've got a lot of ideas around in word documents, on sketchbooks, etc, and then a rough plan in my head- a starting point, and the decision to make it into short stories, something I can do in a few pages and be concluded, rather than launch into "this is going to be my 1035 chapter manga" and then be unable to continue just one chapter in (as has happened in the past).

So, end of the day, what does this mean. I've got a roadmap in my head of the immediate first three chunks, think of it like "years" though again, I can't really do this consistently enough for that to make sense. I know I want to do the story of the Tournament that was mentioned in my small comic I did to intro the characters; I know I want to do a few stories first before that, leading to it; and I know I want to, aside, do the stories I was planning to do with Public-Domain-Mickey, and have them also lead to the tournament, a crossing of two different comics in the same setting, basically.

So, where's any of this going? Well, I've had a lot of Sonic comic work, so not much of anywhere. My plan for most of this year was to put the "lead to tournament" and "tournament" arcs in the backburner, maybe for 2025 and 2026, and focus on the Public-Domain-Mickey story first. The plan was to draw it by now, I had the breakdowns done, I'd roped a friend to help write, I was gonna do it in about 40 pages, etc.

And then I realised that worldwide law is not just different from US law, in this case it's VERY different, and outside the US Mickey will only be public domain decades from now. So now I need to rework that stuff, make substitute pastiche characters, and the urgency of "have it done by Jan 1 2024" is gone. So now I'm thinking different formats- maybe do the full-page short stories with Lalla etc, and the not!Mickey ones as a newspaper strip format?

And of course, again, it's easy to plan forever and do nothing, or to bite more than you can chew. So now my plan is again to just sit down and plan a 12-or-so page "pilot" story about Lalla Shepherd, Jackie Pollard, Lily Rock, etc, the start of it all. If I can do that, then I'll think what I do next. But the plan is to keep it focused on short things- not huge 150 page graphic novels, small amounts of pages, preferably divisible by 4 so they're easily postable in social media like Twitter or Bluesky, etc.

As for how do I plan it and draw it proper etc- I follow the advice of a pretty terrible man whose youtube I used to follow, and I divide the story in 3. Beginning, middle, end. I quickly assign an idea to each of those elements. Then, subdivide- the beginning, middle, end of the Beginning; the beginning, middle, end of the Middle; etc. Keep doing it like this and you'll have enough pages eventually

That's the theory. In practice, of course, it's not as easy. I don't do well writing directly- I do that to organise ideas, but to make comic pages proper, my brain needs visuals, so I start doing thumbnails, and getting a feeling for "this can come here, this can come there, this is taking too long so I can remove this page, I need a page here".

Once I'm happy with that, I can start going into pencils; but also, I start thinking dialogue. I add dialogue to the thumbnails (now resized up, of course) so I can have a feel for how much text per panel, etc. Now, I've got a lot of complexes about language. I want my characters to read naturally like the language they're speaking, or are supposed to, which is a problem for me when writing characters that're mostly either from fantasy-Britain or fantasy-US. So by this point I consider my dialogue just a rough draft, and I get friends from those nationalities to go over it, make them feel natural, etc, and I assign it to characters in specific- asking US friends to verify the dialogue of fantasyUS characters, but not of fantasyUK characters, etc. And then for Lily, since she's fantasyPortuguese, I write her dialogue in Portuguese and translate it to English, to intentionally leave any bits of odd grammar or turns of phrase. It's me projecting my own insecurities on my English lol

Dunno. End of the day, I've not written that much stuff myself. I've mostly in my life been either an illustrator or a comics penciller of other people's scripts, so I don't have the most experience here. Hoping this helps something, and hoping I can finally in 2024 justify all this bluster with having actual comics for reading and sale.

#ask

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seacee16 · 11 months

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when petals fall | bangchan

bang chan x original female character

warnings: none

prev chapter

!! FULL STORY ON AO3 !!

epilogue 2 ~ when your heart comes home

~ 1 year later ~

People watching had always been a good way of passing time. Seeing different people with varying traits pass by as they go about their daily lives. Some on their way to work, catching up with friends old and new, or simply trying to make it through the day. Every story hidden beneath the judged cover of each individual person’s exterior. In this sense, all one could do was judge the books by their covers. Unless, they were to ignore the what-if’s of each passing soul and focus on the unique beauty of each and everyone. That is what Sakura did. Sat in the middle of an airport, sketchbook wide open on her lap as she rushed to capture as many faces as she could before they were out of sight. Slowly, her pages filled and she went on to the next. It had been just over an hour since she first made herself comfortable on one of the rows of hard airport seats, her backpack to her left and a pencil mix of different hardness scattered on the open seat to her right. A black pen sat between her teeth; one that she would use to finalize each expression and emphasize shadows.

With a soft puff of air, she finished up the last face on the double page and set it down with the rest of her stationary. Sakura looked over her work, admiring the way her ability to capture people had improved over the months. She had put every ounce of effort into completing her studies, earning grades that she knew would make her father beam from ear to ear while simultaneously scolding her for all of the proper meals and sleep she had skipped. But when things got too busy and the deadlines got closer, the girl allowed herself an hour each day to sit and draw. Whether it was in the university library, or the green quad, or referencing images and videos she found online. Whether it was neatly done with prior planning, or roughly done. All that mattered was that she gave herself some time to forget about her academic stress and regroup her scrambled thoughts. And, after a long year, Sakura had finished.

Now, she sat in the middle New Chitose Airport, ready to begin the newest chapter of her own story.

“You’re really talented,” a voice called out from over her shoulder.

It was mid-thanks that she noticed how familiar the voice sounded. Like warm honey after a long day in the cold. Turning her head, her gaze met the smiling face of a friend.

“Hello, noona.”

“Hyunjin.”

The last syllable of his name got lost in the rush as she leapt from her seat, throwing both arms around the boy made of lead and love letters. He might have chuckled at her enthusiasm, but she couldn’t hear. Sakura was clinging to the back of his blue-grey hoodie like her life depended on it, still unable to believe that he was in front of her. And when his arms wrapped around her torso, she almost let a sob free fall from her lips.

“It’s good to see you too, Sakura.”

His hands never left her, holding onto her upper arms as she pulled away to look him over, her eyes drifting around him as she spoke. Searching. Hoping.

“What are you doing here?”

“Photoshoot. Just me.”

He isn’t here.

The male should have been disappointed to see her deflate at his words, but he couldn’t bring himself to frown. Instead, he pulled her back to his chest, just happy to see her again after so long. And who was she to deny the boy of a hug?

“How have you been?” He asked her, pulling away enough for the two of them to sit down. He set his own bag down with hers, twisting in the seat until he was facing her fully. There was so much he wanted to ask, but that was the best place to start. A smile filled her face.

“I’ve been good. I came back home as soon as my final presentation was over. I’ve been here for two or three months now, spending time with everyone before I had to leave again. But what about you? You were still touring up until a few weeks ago, right? How was it?” Questions just flowed out of her, unable to hold back her curiosity the way Hyunjin had.

The male’s eyes seemed to sparkle more as he told her about their travels. He told her all about the new places they visited. How excited they had all been for their two members when they finally touched down in Australia for the first time since their last tour so many years ago. Luggage mix ups and embarrassing stage moments and a passport that was thought to be missing, only to be found moments before boarding was closed. Sakura could listen to him talk for hours without growing tired of the sound of his voice. It was then that she realized just how much she had missed the idol – well, how much she missed all eight of them, really.

Before he could continue, he paused. Her words replayed in his head, bringing his attention to something she had said in the midst of her rush. “Wait, you said you’re leaving again?”

She nodded shyly. “I am. While I was studying, one of my supervisors put me in contact with a friend of theirs that was keen on having me work for them. They really liked my paper and some of the ideas I proposed to her. So, I’m moving. Permanently this time.” As if on cue, Sakura pulled her vibrating phone out of her pocket, turning off the alarm she had set to keep herself from potentially missing her flight. “I should probably start heading towards the gates.” Grabbing her things, she stood. Hyunjin mirrored her.

“Does he know?” Three words, but she knew exactly what he was asking. Does Chan know that you’re moving? Are you going to tell him?

Sakura shook her head, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders. “He doesn’t. We haven’t spoken much. It didn’t feel right to drop something like that on him so out of the blue.” All he could do was nod. He understood, but that didn’t stop the shift in the atmosphere around them. They had only been speaking for a few minutes. There was more they needed to speak about. Hyunjin didn’t want to part ways with her just yet.

As if sensing the man’s dilemma, Sakura asked, “Walk me to my gate?”

With a sad smile, the dancer nodded.

“Of course.”

<3 <3 <3

“Chan-hyung!”

The leader paused his incomplete track at the muffled sound of his name being called from somewhere outside of the bubble his headphones had dragged him into. Prying himself from the work splayed out on his desk, Chan made his was out to the kitchen where the shout had come from. There, the other Aussie stood with his fists deep in dough. Flour dusted his nose and cheeks, hiding some of his lighter freckles.

“Hyunjin texted. He can’t get in. Said there’s something wrong with the keypad. Can you open up for him, please?” Felix asked, showing off his sticky hands to prove that he was unable to do it himself.

“Sure, Lix.”

Making his way to the door, Chan made a mental note to bring up the broken keypad issue with their manager the next time they saw him. He couldn’t risk any of the kids being locked out of the dorm. Or worse, couldn’t risk anyone else getting in somehow. The thought alone made him shiver. He would get it fixed as soon as possible. When he opened the door, a smiling Hyunjin stood patiently waiting on the other side. Hands full with his bags, the dancer hobbled past his leader, enthusiastic greetings coming from both of them – followed by an eagerly shouted ‘hello’ from the kitchen.

Pushing shut the door, Chan asked, “How was your flight?” He failed to notice the way Hyunjin tensed at the question.

“It was good. Managed to take a short nap too, which is always welcomed.” He began making his way to his bedroom, but stopped before he could disappear from sight. His gaze drifted between his belongings, as if trying to remember something. “Oh,” Hyunjin said, turning back towards Chan, “I think I may have dropped something out in the hall. Could you grab it for me, hyung?”

Chan wanted to groan. He had been in the zone with his music right before Felix called him. On the edge of a breakthrough with his latest track, he wanted to go back to work immediately before the idea could slip from his mind. But he could see the tired bags under Hyunjin’s eyes, knowing well that the boy would want to go right to bed. So, he nodded, offering a light smile before opening the door once more.

It took a single look for Chan to lose all knowledge of any vocabulary he had spent his life memorizing, in both tongue. She looked well, healthy and rested the way he had hoped she was. Her hair was a lighter shade now, closer to caramel compared to the usual cocoa brown he had been so used to. The same height, yet she seemed to have more definition to her arms and face. Her freckles had darkened. So did the rest of her skin. And across the top of one ear was a small titanium rod that definitely hadn’t been there the last time. But one thing remained unchanged. Her eyes. Golden and glowing like a thousand birthed suns. The way she looked at him with impossibly kind eyes, overflowing with every burning emotion known to them. Joy. Comfort. Love.

I love you, he thought.

A million thoughts raced through his mind at the sight of her standing before him. No number of seconds that passed made it seem any more real. She was here. His heart ached, not knowing what to do. At least, that was until their one-man audience decided to voice his thoughts.

“God, hyung, if you don’t kiss her right now, I will. The tension is stinking up the room.”

His words earned him a stern glare from the older male, his gaze following Hyunjin as he left with his hands raised in surrender, but the sly grin on his face didn’t falter. Only when he was way out of sight, did Chan’s expression soften, but his eyes stayed focused at the doorway the younger one had disappeared through. He was scared. What if he looked back and she was gone? What if this was all a dream he would inevitably wake from? Would his mind play a trick so cruel?

“Chan?”

No. Her voice was too clear, too close, too real. What if she was really there? What if he turned and she was still smiling up at him? What if he opened his arms and she ran right into them, feeling whole the way he knew he would? What if-

“I would have told you I was coming, but Hyunjin…” She paused. “I’m sorry, I’ll go.”

No, he thought. Don’t leave. God, move, you idiot. Do something. Anything.

It took everything in her for Sakura to force herself to walk away from him, the sight of his turned frame causing a lump to form in her throat. And the longer she stayed, the further the pain in her chest spread. So, she twisted away. Her steps grew, each stride bigger and quicker than the last until-

A hand wrap around her upper arm, causing her to spin right into someone’s chest. She knew it was him the moment there was contact, when she felt her skin crawl at every point they connected. And then his hands were in her hair, tugging her closer until they shared a single breath. A single heartbeat. She felt his lips against hers and every doubt in her mind slipped away like a leaf in a stream. Her body recognized his touch instantly, both arms reaching up to wrap around his neck as muscle memory kicked in. She could feel his tongue against her bottom lip and his big hands roaming her back, touching every inch. She couldn’t breathe, but not even the burn in her lungs could pull her away from him. Because if she were in his arms like this, suffocating with his tall frame cocooned around her own and him stealing the very air from her lungs, she would die happy. So, she let him kiss her. Longer, rougher, sweeter. Until his hands finally stilled and his lips reluctantly separated from hers. Behind her shut eyes, the world was dark, but every nerve ending in her body was alive. Her hands slid over his broad shoulders and down his chest, resting in the space between their racing hearts. Sakura felt the tip of his nose brush against hers, and then against her cheek as he kissed her again. Once. Twice. And this time, when he pulled away, she opened her eyes. Chan lifted a hand to cup her face, his thumb rubbing the reddening skin of her freckled cheek as he stared down at her.

“You’re here.” It was the first words he had spoken, and the sound of his voice alone hand her crumbling in the palm of his hand. It was so gentle, so sure.

“I’m here,” Sakura managed to whisper back, feeling the steady thumping of his heart beneath her fingertips. “Hi.”

Chan laughed, his hold on her waist tightened. “Hello, petal.” The way that her smile widened was enough to make his mind go completely blank. It was contagious, and soon his face mirrored hers.

“Surprised?”

“More like afraid that I’ll wake up.”

“This isn’t a dream.”

“That’s exactly what someone in a dream would say.”

She smirked. “Should I pinch you?”

“I’d rather just kiss you again, honestly.”

Wanting to feel her smile against his again, he leaned in to kiss her. However, voices were heard from the corridor, warning the pair of the swarm of members that would likely intrude any moment now. So, with his arms secured around her waist, Chan lifted her up and dashed towards his room. Her giggled flooded his ears as she tightened her hold on him to stop herself from falling, her legs wrapping around his waist for extra grip. As soon as his door had closed behind them, the male lowered both of them to his bed.

With his face buried in her neck, he whispered, “I can’t believe you’re here.” The feeling of his lips against her skin made her shiver, more so when he pressed a kiss to the tissue pulsing over her jugular. She felt Chan’s hand slide up and down the side of her waist, bunching up the material of her sweatshirt as he did.

“I missed you,” she admitted. The male pulled away, resting his weight on his arms as he looked down at her. Her hair was splayed around her messily and there was a sad glint in her eyes. He frowned. “So much, Chan. There were so many times that I wanted nothing more than to drop everything and come back. I thought about knocking on your door and being in your arms again and immediately feeling like everything was going to be okay.”

“My sweet petal,” he hummed, brushing the hair out of her face. He bent forward, kissing each of her cheeks softly, with a final stop at her lips. It was a quick kiss, but pulled away felt like fighting against a riptide. “You worked too hard for that spot to drop it so easily. And I missed you too, every day,” he told her. “But I am so proud of you for staying and finishing what you started. You did so well, I just know it, Sakura.”

A small involuntary whimper fell from her trembling lips. In one motion, Chan scooped her up in his arms and rolled the pair over so that she was laying comfortably on his chest. His arms enclosed around her frame, lightly pressing her head into the nook of his neck as he ran one hand through her hair.

They had all of two seconds to themselves before the door to Chan’s room burst open and Jisung stormed in with a pout on his face. The lack of surprise on his face at the sight of Sakura curled up in his leader’s arms proved that Hyunjin had told the rest of them about her arrival. He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring daggers at the eldest, who just groaned, not very pleased to have been interrupted.

“Hyung! You can’t keep Sakura-noona from us!”

Chan’s arms only tightened around her, re-enforcing his hold. He was not let go of her any time soon. The leader buried his face in her neck as she tried looking up at the other rapper. She couldn’t help but smile at him, glad to see his full cheeks and happy eyes again.

Sticking out his tongue in Jisung’s direction, Chan stated, “I can and I will. She’s mine.”

The younger huffed. “Unfair! Last week, when I didn’t want to give you half of my donut, you said I had to because sharing is caring!”

Chan pretended to think, his exaggerated expression causing the girl in his arms to giggle against his chest. “Hmm, I don’t recall that happening. Do you have any evidence to support your claim, Han?”

At the door, a crowd of six others had formed, each one smiling at the scene unfolding before them. “If that’s the case, don’t expect me to share my brownies with you next time, Chan-hyung,” the other Aussie said as he joined the group. Now it was Chan’s turn to pout, pure betrayal in his eyes.

Still tightly bundled in his arms, Sakura’s words were muffled against the material of the man’s clothing. Chan reluctantly loosened his grip on her so that she could speak freely. Lifting her head towards the door, Sakura said, “Come here, Sungie.”

There was nothing the leader could do but watch as his first kid rushed forward and plopped down comfortably into Sakura’s arms, knocking her back slightly. However, she was happy enough to just be hugging the younger boy again. He was warm and oozing with excitement, practically purring as she ran her hand through his hair.

“You’ve gotten so big, Ji,” she told him, still smiling down at the boy.

After one last squeeze around her waist, he sat up on his knees so that she could see him fully. It was clear as day that he had grown in size, his shoulders looking wider and stronger than they had when they last saw one another. He had the same kind eyes and goofy smile, but his newly dark hair made him look older than he was. More mature. More handsome.

Sporting a smooth grin, Jisung lifted one arm and flexed proudly. With a blush to her cheeks, she adverted her eyes before the jealous male behind her noticed her stare.

“I’m almost as big as Chan-hyung now,” he stated confidently.

Sakura smirked. Briefly eyeing the older male behind her, she cooed, “Oh, really now?”

She reached forward as if to touch Jisung’s pronounced bicep, only to be tugged backward into Chan’s steady chest before she could get close enough to feel. Two arms secured themselves tightly around her, pinning both arms to her own chest, preventing her from reaching out a second time. Now laying with her back flush against his chest, Sakura could feel a low rubble from behind her, his eyes no doubt piercing the younger.

“Thin ice, Jisung,” he warned, arms rewrapping around her waist.

Sakura couldn’t help but laugh at the way Jisung’s bottom lip stuck out. Twisting until she was more comfortable, the girl curled up against Chan’s chest tiredly. It took a single look at her for their leader’s entire stern persona to evaporate, leaving behind a loving gaze. He let his hand brush gently against her cheek and up the back of her neck. The action caused her to nuzzle deeper into his comfort.

“I’m going to leave before I throw up,” Seungmin teased with a gag before marching out, the rest of the group close behind them, but not before Sakura promised Jisung a movie to make up for Chan hogging her. The idea caused him to smile, holding up a pinky before closing the door behind him.

Alone once more, Sakura tilted her head up to look at Chan, who was already watching her with hearts in his eyes. She smiled a loopy smile.

“Jealous, Mr Bang?” Sakura asked, staring up at him with tired eyes. They shut as he leaned down to place a tender kiss to her forehead, and in return, she pressed a kiss to each dimple. An action that made him purr.

“Immensely.”

“I love you,” she whispered up to him.

"I love you, petal. In every orbit."

____________________________

and that is a wrap on 'when petals fall' !!

this may just be another piece of fanfiction to some people, but over the two years that it took for me to piece this together, I went through some dark times. my experiences became Sakura's, and as she healed, so did I. stray kids have been a great comfort to me - and sooo many others - over the years, and I only hope that stays are always able to bring them that same feeling of comfort.

idk if I'll end up posting more stories on here, but I hope everyone who reads this enjoyed the story. I am in no way a professional writer and I am a south african who has never been to Japan or Korea, so there are likely many errors and inaccuracies throughout the story. please be kind if you spot any.

anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you all continue to love and support stray kids.

may the weight of your skies always be light.

love, AC

#angst #bang chan #changbin #comfort #fluff #han jisung #hyunjin #i.n #lee felix #lee know #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #kim seungmin #seungmin #fanfic #you make stray kids stay #skz stay #stray kids #Spotify

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jrosa82fanfics · 16 days

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Part 7 of Finding Family

Over the years he had received gifts from his family and friends. His room had several pictures of him with the people he had come to care for and yet something was missing. He had noticed what it was years ago but he had yet to fix the problem.

At first he had wanted to bide his time but now that the time had come he wasn’t sure he could do it. He grabs one of his sketchbooks the image he finds after flipping through a few pages a familiar one, one he had drawn over and over in the years that he had lived in the manor.

He remembers the first time he had drawn it, the way every line had been so challenging the proof in the amount of eraser marks still visible. The image is clunky, not quite accurate, not smooth and well shaded like his more recent ones.

He looks through the book and sees the progress made over the course of hours, days, and weeks. There are a variety of images, and as he moves through the pages he sees everything from birds to trees to the view from his fathers office.

The first of these sketchbooks had been given to him by Jason. It’s one of the first memories he has with the omega and definitely one of the sweetest.

**********

He knew he was being difficult, but the change in lifestyle is jarring. When his father had brought him to breakfast he had expected food and a talk about their plans for Damian’s future. Instead he’s met with three other boys, all older than him, sitting and eating breakfast.

They all stop and stare in shock when they spot him following behind his father, and their reaction causes him to snap. “You didn’t mention you had any guests over, father, especially not rude ones who stare like they’ve never seen another person before.”

He sits uncomfortably, beside the eldest of the group. Across from him are the other two, and everyone’s eyes seemed to widen even more at his statement.

And then, “Since when do you have another kid!” “What is he talking about!” comes from the older pair, the youngest of the group remaining silent though he turns a glare on Damian.

“I’ll discuss this with you all later in my office, for now this is Damian and he’ll be joining us for breakfast.” Is the reply his father gives from his seat at the head of the table before beginning to eat. Damian follows suit, and so do the others.

Later, once his father has briefly made it clear that Damian is staying with them from here on out, Damian finds himself in the library. He had been exploring the house trying to figure out where everything is and find a place to be alone.

Instead he finds himself face to face with Jason, the second eldest of the group, reading in a pile of well organized blankets and pillows that looked quite comfortable. Upon entering the man raises his gaze from the page of his book to look at Damian.

“Hey there, did you want to read? There’s plenty of room in my nest for two, since usually Tim joins me.” Jason says.

“Sure.” he replies although he’s not certain what to do.

He just arrived and didn’t have a book in mind, but once Jason saw his problem he waved him over to sit. “Here I usually have a few books with me so I don’t have to get up for a few hours. You can read this one, if you want. I’ve read it before and it shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

And that’s how Damian ends up reading The Art of War for half an hour in companionable silence with Jason. They’re interrupted by the arrival of Tim who despite his earlier aggression seemed to have moved past any possible resentment.

He informed them that it was time for dinner and the three of them made their way to the dining room. After dinner he returned to his room, and found a gift laying on the bed. It came with a note saying

Damian, I know living in a new place is hard, so I got you a gift. You can use this as a sketchbook or a journal or for whatever else you want. Welcome to the manor, Jason

He grabbed the sketchbook and opened it to the first page. Using a pencil from the set that Jason had left for him he began drawing and so began the rest of his life in the manor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcript:

Damian,

I know living in a new place is hard, so I got you a gift. You can use this as a sketchbook or a journal or for whatever else you want.

Welcome to the manor,

Jason

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<3J

#fanfic #timdami #omegaverse #alpha x alpha #no capes au

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laylasecndyear · 9 months

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Week 2

Monday 30th October

In today's session we began by looking at learning outcome three, this is the employability materials section. We looked through the actual learning outcome which is to create an "Individual presentation of employability materials, evidenced in a process log and final outputs". For this I had already started to think of the kind of things I wanted to create. Including a C.V and portfolio as well as an instagram page that I can document my private and academic work as well as my interests and inspiration. I also think it may add a more professional outlook to have a logo. Something that I can almost watermark my work with and use as a visual for the my personal brand.

We started looking at other designers websites that they had created as a hub for all their work and experiences. It was nice to see other multidisciplinary artists and how they present themselves. Some of the c.v like documents were quite surprisingly simple. I think it's easy to feel as though they'd have to be really intricate and appealing, when really it's about the quality of the work and the information that is included (while looking nice of course!). I liked looking at how people presented the work in the portfolios. Some of them again were simple but highly effective. My favourites were those that had a sketchbook - like look to them. Using small annotations on the work to ensure it doesn't distract from the pieces but aid the reader in explaining the work.

I found this diagram specifically useful and was sure to make a note of it. Sometimes it's hard to realise what it is employers want to hear from you as a potential employee, and so it is refreshing to consider what is useful information and what is potentially wasteful.

This was a really nice and simple infographic explaining what is suitable to include. That being a mixture off what you want to say, I'd assume this being your qualifications and all the characteristics that make you a good employee, and then what will interest the business. I think that this would be qualities that set you aside from other people and that would make you a prime asset to the company. Though this was all quite an introductory level it was a nice stepping stone into the more professional side of ourselves, getting us to really consider ourselves as designers.

In the afternoon we continued developing ideas and locations plans for the project. I continued with the moodboard visual of the old business' and it definitely felt useful. It was interesting to see peoples reaction to it as so many forget about all of the business' that no longer exist. We saw a few more properties that we liked also, we were looking at whole properties that were for sale or actually ready for rent so that we could view clear visuals of the interior architecture of the properties. Joe had found one in the centre of Birmingham just off of Corporation Street that was for sale on a website, which we liked especially because we got a good interior view of the property.

We also started considering how we'd address the high-street crisis directly. We wondered if we could use it as a theme to inspire the whole design idea. This was when Zoe remembered a big permanent installation experience one of her family friends had attended. It is called Omega mart in Las Vegas. We looked into it a bit more and I realised it was by Meow Wolf, which is one of the designers that Jason had actually recommended looking into in the project launch presentation. It combines "a rich narrative with mind-blowing art and music elements, Omega Mart is a one-of-a-kind installation that turns an unassuming supermarket into a psychedelic and strange experience that seems like it's straight out of H.P. Lovecraft."

Looking into Omega Mart then lead to the discovery of "The Plastic Bag Store". This was another installation "Dubbed “The Plastic Bag Store,” the witty and satirical installation is the project of Robin Frohardt, who repurposed scores of bottle caps, packaging, and other single-use materials into a full-fledged grocery." I liked this installation particularly because it had a lot of links to sustainability and even used humour slightly in the rebranding of all of the products that have been made.

We all really liked this work and felt it absolutely worked with theme of the high-street and even incorporating the high-street crisis as there is a satyrical element to them. Because we had already decided we wanted to create an experience within the location we established that an installation of some sort would work well with this idea. We also figured that in todays times people are quite attracted to immersive installations due to the rise in social media use. People often go to these places to take and share photographs and so, to have an immersive installation space in a busy city centre would make for an appropriate project idea as it'd be accessible for many. This was also one of the deciding factors for keeping the property hunt Birmingham based. Though it is a national project and we could plan elsewhere, Birmingham is a place we have access to as a group and that many others have access to as it is such a popular city with a 'visitor economy' worth £7.9 billion. We weighed up the pros and cons and including convenience for us while searching for a location, it made sense to have it in a busy area. With such a high visitor economy it serves as another attraction to the city and therefore to the high street, which takes us back to the main brief.

Thursday 2nd November

Today was the first adobe workshop with Tony. In the workshop there was only a few of us so it was nice to be properly introduced to Tony and get the help we needed. He began by giving us a brief introduction to Adobe InDesign. It was my first time using this exact programme. I have used adobe programmes a few times previously but never InDesign. From my first impressions it looks like it is and will be quite useful software, especially for the employability materials part of the project. I'm usually quite hesitant to try new programmes but because it was quite an intimate session with Tony it was nice to have the help so close by. We started off very basic just using it to create a pretend mock up magazine. He showed us how to use place holder texts so it looks like you have a completed magazine look, as well as frames for images that you can insert later and then will fit to the sizes in which you map out for them first. It was overall a really useful session and I definitely felt that with more help in it I'd hopefully be more confident to start using it by myself.

One more thing that he introduced us to was a website called BeHance. This was after we'd discussed the employability materials aspect of the project. He showed us this website which is like a hive that people update their adobe creations to. You can then search what you're looking for specifically. The outcome I as mostly looking for was portfolios. It was full of so many various portfolios all of an amazing standard too. It was the perfect website to use for research for the learning objective as there was so much inspiration and good qualities of all the work posted on there.

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andswarwrites · 1 year

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Day 19

When I was little I used to watch The Disney Hour on Sundays. Whenever the movie wasn't animated, I would experience some disappointment, except if it was The Swiss Family Robinson. That one time they played Old Yeller I rebelled and I think I shut the TV off just before Old Yeller gets shot. Animation, to me, unlocked a whole world of color, animation and artwork that no other mode of storytelling could equal. And now my daughter shares my love for the craft, not only as a spectator, but already at her young age, a contributor.

As soon as N- was old enough to hold a pencil, I decided that I was going to give her a giant supply of colorful construction paper, paint, crayons, markers (I got her metallic ones. She really loved those.) And shortly after she learned her alphabet and her numbers, I taught her color theory. Well I can't take all the credit, there was a song on Youtube by Scratch Garden that taught her, of the colors of the rainbow, which three were primary and which three secondary, which ones were warm and which ones were cool. It's called The Color Song.

When I was young I loved to draw. I especially liked to draw people. Facial expressions, poses; I once made a "photo album" of my made up family with twelve kids. And I drew all twelve. I also drew a whole story involving a quest to find out whether some gems were genuine. It start off with two people shouting "They could be real!". I've continued to draw off and on over the course of my life, and when N- was old enough I showed her a few basic things, and she just took off.

From a very young age she included amazing detail in her artwork. I enjoyed coloring her art for her, because adding color drew the eye to those tiny little details she had created. N- loves animals, and she invents her very own creatures. At a young age she started to "vent" with her artwork, and at first she didn't want me to see those pictures. I explained that showing them to me helps me to understand what she is feeling, and I won't be shocked or appalled. But if she doesn't want me to see a page in her sketchbook, I respect that.

When she got her first tablet, S- and I installed an app to teach N- how to animate. We thought it might be fun for her. She didn't use it very often, so we thought maybe it wasn't her thing. When N- was old enough to go on the computer, she found a website called Flipanim, and with it she can layer artwork, doodle, and animate. She has been using that site for over five years now. She goes through phases where she only wants to draw, and then other phases where she creates complex music videos.

She follows artists on Youtube such as Neytirix and RANDOMstuff Animation who inspire her. She also likes learning about other art forms from Youtubers like Moriah Elizabeth and North of the Border. We don't have an official Art class per se, because N- spends so much free time painting, drawing, animating and more. And I do plan to teach her a course in art history as part of our curriculum next year. The important thing is that N- draws just about every single day. Because practicing her craft is essential.

I've always admired animation. I know 3D animation has been popularized, but I think artsy films like Song of The Sea have their place as well. N- agrees with me. We watched it together, and she kept commenting on the artwork and the music and how the two went hand in hand with the storytelling. When I say "artsy films", I mean stylized and with artistic merit. I'm not knocking it in any way. It's one of my favorite animated movies.

I grew up thinking Disney was the end-all and be-all of animation. I do love so many Disney movies. Not as many as I did as a kid. Growing up my tastes have changed. When I was in my teens, some friends of mine introduced me to different styles of animation. We watched Millennium Actress, and since I loved the book Watership Down, we watched the 1978 animated movie. I had to watch Millennium Actress twice, because the first time I was hoping for a happy ending, and that's not the point of the movie. Watership Down was well done, but the book is just so much better.

S-'s favorite animated TV series was Tiny Toons, so as an anniversary gift I got him the DVDs. We actually bought a lot of animated series, from Samurai Jack to Freakazoid. S- appreciates animation too. In fact, we're a family of animation geeks. That's why, when we went to see the Super Mario Movie, S- and I were enjoying it just as much as if not more than N-. We introduced her to Powerpuff Girls as a kid, we took her to see Inside Out when it came out in theaters. We're kids at heart, and we hope she will always remain one too.

I think N- has so much potential. She could earn a living as an artist, either traditional, digital, animator, musician: she has options. And if she wants to keep those gifts of hers for herself and decides to go in a completely opposite direction, she will have my full support. As long as she earns enough to pay her bills, rent and groceries, with enough to put aside for rainy days and treating herself, I'll be happy. I don't want my child to get rich and famous. I want her to use her talents in a way that brings her contentment. I want to watch what she does in life, and give her as much support as I can.

#animation #artwork #parenting

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heartfullofleeches · 2 years

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hi heartfullofleeches its my b'day today and i honestly feel nothing so i wanted to ask how the supernatural harem celebrates reader's b'day? totally ignore it if it's not possible love u mwah <3

(Happy birthday! Hope this is to your liking)

"Quiet, you'll wake them before it's time."

"I don’t see why we're doing this now anyway when we can do it in the morning."

"Shut up, asshole, we have to start from the second the day begins."

You wake in the middle of the night due to commotion overhead. The faint smell of burning wax hits you before you're fully conscious. Opening your eyes, you see your three housemates hovering over you; a large tray in the arms of the demon.

"Wha...?"

All three individuals look down at you.

"Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday..."

"Happy birthday, sweetheart."

The lights flicker on, Alasdair and Maddox sitting at the end of your bed, while Baron places a large cake in your lap with enough candles you were almost glad the fire alarm had been out of order for the past month. You look towards the clock; exactly on the dot of midnight - the technical start of a new day.

"Happy birthday, Y/n." Alasdair repeats. "It's been a pleasure to spend the time we've had together. I never imagined I'd celebrate this occasion with you, but I still plan to make it a memorable day."

Baron cuts him off. "He says that, but they both tried to stop me from waking you up."

"Regardless.." Maddox murmurs. "It's still a moment we're all happy to share with you. I'm... happy to be here for you. Being able to celebrate the life of your loved one is.. nice."

Baron grips your shoulders, nudging you in the direction of the came. "Blow out the candles so we can give you your first gifts."

Giving Maddox and Alasdair a second glance; you notice items in their hand. One, a sketchbook and the other a small box. Taking a deep breath, you blow out the candles; the small crowd clapping in cheer.

Alasdair is first, sliding the box across the bed. Upon opening it, you find a dagger about the length of your middle finger to your wrist. It had a golden handle, and a silver blade; decorated in small gems. A figure of a snake sat around the base of the blade; its jaws unhinged.

"It's a blade blessed by one of the highest ranking angels. With how the world is, carrying a little protection is needed sometimes."

Maddox is next, placing the sketchbook in your lap for you to see as they look down at their lap. Flipping through the pages, you find various drawings of yourself, ranging from realistic to their own style.

"I've got into art a while ago, and Alasdair said I had some talent in it, and you're the only thing I've been drawing recently so I thought you wouldn't mind if I did a few for you.. Hope you like it."

Baron holds his hand out to you, feeling wrapping his gift was unnecessary. Nestled in his large palm is a locket. Oval in shape, and fitted with a red gem in its center - swirling patterns engraved around it. It looked a bit dated in age, but had been freshly polished. He sheepishly rubs his neck as you take it. There's a small photo inside of the four of you or the best resemblance of one. It was from a time when you tried to take one, and it came out as good as anyone would expect. Absolute chaos.

"Dont worry, I have cooler stuff planned for later. It's may not much, but it's something personal to me and so I want you to have it.

You put the locket on, pendant falling to your chest. "I like it. Thank you, all of you."

They gather around to give you a hug. Baron on one side, Alasdair the other, and Maddox in front as the cake is moved aside. As he stands up, Alasdair takes your hand and places a kiss on the back of your palm.

"There will be more time to celebrate later. We'd like to give space to rest for your special day, but hope you don't mind us staying beside you tonight."

#yandere harem #Supernatural yandere #yandere oc #soft yandere #Yandere demon #yandere angel #Yandere grim reaper #yandere x reader #yandere #yandere headcanons #yandere x you #yandere imagines #yandere scenarios #Yandere fluff

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kazububs-archived · 2 years

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𝐒𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬! 𝐊𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐱 𝐒𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐜𝐬

A/N: this is for @fueledbysano collab of "I <3 emo boys". the work is a mix of hcs and small drabbles for the kawata twins <3 but also a big thank you to everyone for 200 followers!! absolutely insane but i love you all so much and thank you for your support

Warnings: gn!reader, use of petnames, mentions of smoking, and a lil bit of swearing.

Includes: Souya & Nahoya Kawata

Both of them were too intimidated to approach you, so for the longest time they just admired you as you skated around the park and do tricks; quietly in awe at your skills.

Nahoya was the one to approach you asking if you could teach him a trick, with Souya trailing behind him fiddling with stray hairs from his beanie.

As Nahoya went off for a smoke, Souya spoke for the first time "How long have you been doing this?" A smile graced your lips thinking about how you first got into skating. "The reason why I started.." Souya staring in silent amazement as your eyes shine, recalling memories of when you first starting to skateboard. All the falls, the bruises, the rush of excitement when you nailed a trick.

And as Souya walks off to grab drinks for you all days later at the skatepark, Nahoya speaks out, "Hey sweets, wanna teach me that trick you just did?" Giggling, telling him that you could try but it takes a lot of practice to even get the basics of it down, "That's fine, don't you think i'd look hot doing it though?"

Nahoya is more bold with his flirting giving compliments and bugging for dates, well Souya is more of acts of service mixed with praise

Nahoya: Hey babe, we should check out this new ramen place after, what'd ya say?

Souya: That was a really cool trick, do you think you could, teach me how to do it? I wanna look as cool as you did!

Both will blush bright red when you help them off the ground after completely wiping out. You just assume its the embarrassment of not getting it right, but for both of them it's feeling your soft hand pulling them to their feet, and your concerned face as you patch up small scratches with cute band aids you kept on you for this exact reason.

"Ughhh fuck! Why is this so damn hard?!" Nahoya exclaims kicking his board up into his hands. "You're getting into your own head too much." Sighing as you watch him pat his pockets frantically mumbling out incoherent words. "You good 'Hoya?" Letting out a grumble he looks around, "Can't find my fuckin' lighter, must have fallen out of my pocket and I didn't notice." Giggling you slip your hand in the back pocket of your jeans, "Need a light baby?" Cue a blushing Nahoya leaning down to light a cigarette balanced between his lips.

Souya and Nahoya have matching vans and would peer pressure (lovingly I promise) you into getting purple vans to be a mix of those two that you've grown so close to.

Days spent chilling in your backyard, paint supplies spread out around you three. Nahoya peeking over your shoulder as you slip out a sketchbook. "Whatcha got there pretty?" Flipping through the pages, Souya glances over at you as well "An actual plan of what I wanna do with my skateboard unlike you dorks." Nahoya clutching his chest in mock offense, "Well I'll have you know sweetcheeks, that me and Souya already got a plan for what were' doing with ours, ya got it?" Nahoya smirks with a devious look as Souya nods absentmindedly looking through the paints to start prepping.

Hours pass by as Nahoya goes inside to grab some drinks, you inspect their boards seeing an oni's mask cut in half. "That's so cool! Does it connect?" Souya blushes at the praise but shuffles the boards around till it fits perfectly. "Yeah me and Nahoya, our nicknames are Smiley and Angry so the design kinda fits for us as twins."

Souya looks down to admire the boards, as you look at the leftover paint. "Did you just? Hey!" Giggling as you swipe another blob of paint on his cheek. "What? I think it suits ya!" Souya chuckles as he raises a paint brush like a sword "I'll show ya what suits who!"

This continued as Nahoya quietly slipped into the backyard, painting brush in hand; well not quietly by any means but you were to busy defending yourself against Souya's paint attacks. Feeling the brush slap down on your back, you turn your attention to Nahoya who's wearing a shit eating grin. "Hey! This ain't fair! I'm at a disadvantage here!"

Souya takes the chance to tackle you down into Nahoya as you all end up on the ground, sandwiched between the Kawatas. "How's this for disadvantaged?" Nahoya smirks as you blush at the close contact of the twins as Souya leans in smiling.

@tokyometronetwork

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halfaleagueonward · 2 years

Text

Spent today drawing some Moon Knight art! Thought it'd be fun to walk through the process!

I started with a thumbnail I did in my sketchbook a few weeks ago. I did a page of six smaller thumbnails, then a larger take of my two faves, and this is the one that stuck! I redrew it from scratch on my actual paper, then masked off the edges so I'd have a nice clean picture.

The most important step one to working with oil pastels is to lay down the base colors for any scratch board technique you're gonna wanna do at the end! You can see the faint color of the transparent pastel I layered down absolutely everywhere I thought I might want to be able see white underneath- practically the whole paper on this one, with the stars I was planning! Then I put the bright colors over top that. If you put the color directly onto the paper, that's all that will ever show through!

I like working with bright colors in all mediums, but in oil pastel I like them underneath darker colors for richness and color variety-its also cool when they show through in scratch board, though with transparent underneath I largely planned for this to be more subtle

Kept the green only on Marc's side to subtly visually separate him from Khonshu

Filling in colors! I decided to change the stroke direction of the sky and ground to separate them more

Went over the entire sky with purple and blue, and filled in the ground with a tan. This begins to mute and mix the different colors, and creates a solid layer I can smudge to get rid of any clunky white gaps. At this point I had to leave it alone for an hour or two so the pastel could solidify and wouldn't smudge wildly if I tried to add anything on top of it!

Went over the entire sky with two shades of dark blue! ...Pthalo and Prussian, apparently. This let me continue to emphasize contrast and outlines, while still keeping some richness and depth. Having good sillouhettes of the figures was important here, and you can see where I started getting rid of the clouds so they wouldn't distract from the rest of the picture

Raised the arm, not for the figure itself, but so the shadows would be more interesting to look at! Did some shading in the figures, and tested out the scratch board for the stars and the temple- it worked great, thank goodness!

For scratch board, I literally use the same mechanical pencil I use for the sketch, just without lead! I also used a bit of sponge I had lying around to brush away the oil pastel bits that got scraped up, so they didn't gunk up the rest of the picture.

Fleshed out the foreground! At this stage, I took pictures of the drawing and put them into grayscale to make sure I was maintaining good contrast. The left side was a bit boring, so I made it darker- this works thematically for Khonshu, while also upping his visibility.

There were definitely more subtle ways I could have done Khonshu, and I struggled a bit to render without overworking, but I like where I ended up.

I also smudged out and re-scratched the temple so it would sit better!

Scratch board fun!!! Because I got rid of the clouds I needed some visual interest in the sky, so I added a star for each of the three of them- they're color coded to match the shadows I detailed as well! Is the 'multiple shadows' visual inspired directly by yugioh? Yes and with no shame, someone please give me this crossover!!!

And after some tweaking, detailing, and removing the tape- tadah!!!

#moon knight #moon knight fanart #artification #traditional #oil pastel #masking off the edges made the picture look so legit and cool I am so excited by this #it was a pleasure to make some art for this thing which has been consuming my brain!!#fun fact I also have some Legit Papyrus paper sitting around and oh man I wanna do something super cool with it hahaha #oh also for this I referenced the Lemire run and also the Moon Knight t-shirt my big sis got me- thanks sis!

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the-stray-storyteller · 2 years

Text

The Boy By The Shore

Student Name : Alexander ‘Alex’ Grave

Date : 15th November

I shut the windows and stuffed the gaps with yesterday’s school newspaper. The sirens were an annoying bunch. I tore out another page from the newspaper and grabbed the duck tape from the drawer. I kicked open the bathroom door and started taping the newspaper onto the mirror. My previous roommate had somehow managed to mess shit up and now a demon lady appeared in the mirror after twelve and till three in the morning. I had woken up to a high-pitched scream when my roommate went to the bathroom at two and screamed on seeing the demon lady. My roommate left the school after that and I still haven’t figured out how to make the demon lady leave the mirror.

I then proceeded to pull out a chalk from my collection of many many many chalks and draw runes and spells suggested by fellow students on my door and windows. I turned on the lamp on my desk and started turning the rest of the lights. Thick curtains on the window made anyone outside believe I was sleeping or the room was inhabited.

Look away everybody, this is a normal bedtime routine. Nothing to see here, keep walking.

I would have burned some herbs but the last time I did that I couldn’t sleep. I headed to my study desk and pulled out my sketchbook. Most of the students from the alchemy club used sketchbooks as notebooks. Opening it to the unfinished page, I started listing down things we were running out of.

-Basil (for strength)

-Juniper (for the healing balms)

-Thyme (protection against evil spirits)

-Frankincense (for that spiritual awakening stuff)

-Honeysuckle (good luck)

I continued, listing down more. Most newbies who joined the alchemy club thought it was for chemistry nerds. When they learned it was where we um…brewed a lot of things, they expected us to use things like dragon scales, lizard eyes and probable things from Harry Potter. Well sorry to be a disappointment but we usually work with herbs and other things you might find in your daily life. Some students call it kitchen witchcraft. Well, they aren’t completely wrong. But we don’t do spells in the alchemy club. We only use the magic that the herbs and other ingredients already have in them.

I continued to write, one thing after another. When the list was finished I proceeded to complete my notes. I got lost in the work, pen moving over the paper, my hand forming words which I didn’t even need to think for. My twin sister calls me a bit obsessive when it comes to organising and preparing. She even called me slightly paranoid. I say it’s nice to feel prepared and it's good to have a plan.

The harsh knocking on my door made my pen skid across the paper leaving an ugly line across the page. I felt my heart quickening in pace. The fast steady beat of the organ pushing against my chest. I opened my drawer and dug my hand through the junk. My hand headed straight towards the corner swatting the unnecessary item out of the way. An electric heat sparked through my finger and up my arm when I found what I wanted. I felt a burning heat sear against my palm as I wrapped it around a glass vial. I pulled it out of the drawer. The flame flickered against the glass, colour changing from the cool shades of violet and blue to a bright golden and red.

Every student had at least three vials of this fire. It went by several names.

Angel Fire.

Muspelheim fire.

Dragon’s breath.

Hephaestus’s flame.

Hell fire (which I feel is contradictory to angel fire).

There were too many names to this flame to list down. You could call it a collaborative project between the alchemy club and the hidden club. It is very useful. Let me repeat, very useful. It worked as a very effective weapon against a lot of things. Quick and easy to use and destructive. I headed towards the door with light cautious footsteps and the fire in my hand. The cold feeling of the doorknob on my one hand was a stark opposite to the one which was sweating and burning from the fire. I opened the door slowly, the arm holding the vial in a spring-like state ready to throw the vial.

“It’s me!” a tired voice rasped when the door opened completely. I looked at my twin sister who was leaning against the doorframe. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her face twisted in agony. She was still in her school uniform, which was torn and covered in mud. Her right hand was clasping her side and the left hand struggled to keep hold of the doorframe. A broken sword covered with a sickly thick black liquid lay beside her foot.

“What..” I quickly stopped myself from asking. We don’t ask what happens over here. I grabbed my sister before she collapsed in front of my dorm room.

I tightened my sweaty grip around her strong arm and dragged her into my room. Not for the first time, I felt jealous of her muscles, then again it was my fault for not taking fencing. I managed to push her into the bed. Her blond curls were usually pulled back into a tight braid with so many clips and bobby pins that not even a single strand of hair would escape. Right now it was an absolute mess like mine. Only half of her hair remained in the braid, the rest stuck to her face and neck, drenched by the sweat. Her eyes were closed shut and painful groans and whines emitted from her throat.

“Alexandra!” I called for her attention. No one called us by our full names except each other, the rest of our school called her Alexa. I watched as she opened her eyes to look at me.

“Where?” I didn’t need to ask the whole question. She put a quivering hand on the side of her stomach and lifted her shirt with great effort. I took a sharp breath in.

A patch of her skin had turned an ashen grey. A network of black lines spread around the grey part looking like a crack on glass made with powdered coal. Worst of all it was spreading, going higher up her waist. My sister let out another pained groan.

“It’s poisoning,” my voice came out as a shaky whisper, “if I don’t find a cure..my best guess is..is that you won’t make it past five in the morning.”

I saw my sister’s eyes widen in panic, tears started streaming down her face. Her hand clasped mine, her grip surprisingly strong. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I will be back with the cure..” I took in a breath trying to calm myself down, “I promise.”

She gave me a nod, her mouth set in a hard line. She let my hand go.

I frantically rushed across the room grabbing my school bag and stuffing all my vials of hell fire into it. An afterthought later I added my notebook and a torch. With that I ran out of the room, slamming the door behind me. This part is a little hazy to me. I don’t exactly remember running from the dorm building to the school but I do remember the horrible sore legs I had gotten after breakfast.

I pushed against the door of the school building. The cold night had left my nose feeling numb and goosebumps all over my skin. I had forgotten to put on a jacket. I didn’t care that I knew the door was locked and I couldn’t get in, I just pushed again. I kicked, punched and threw myself against the door.

Not helping, be smart!

I fell in front of the huge doors. Breaths tore through my throat, my whole body numb with pain. Some of the students had extra keys with them, I was not one of those students. I could always run back to the dorm and find one of those students but…

No time.

I put my fingers against my wrist and started counting my pulse. A little thing me and my sister always did to calm ourselves down. I started thinking, one thought after another. Letting them flow one by one instead of all together. The students in this school always had backups and failsafe scattered around this school. There had to be one for the keys to the school.

The keys would be somewhere easily accessible. There shouldn’t be any puzzles or riddles, those were only there when someone really didn’t want a person to find something. The keys were not such an item. They wouldn’t be dug into the ground or in any place where it took time to retrieve the item, just in case the student was in a hurry. We had each other's backs even if the other did not know it. Wouldn’t be somewhere obvious either. I looked around two stone gargoyles with their corners and edges stuffed with moss stood on two sides of the entrance. The key had to be in one of those or behind a false brick in the school wall. I quickly crossed out the latter, searching for the brick would take time even if it had some sort of marking on it.

I somehow managed to pick my numb body up. I headed towards the gargoyle on the right and stared into its empty rock eyes. The gargoyle's mouth was open in a growl. I stuck my hand into its mouth. I bit back a yelp when I felt the sticky thin webs of a spider’s home and then swallowed the bile back into my throat when I felt something crawl up my fingers. I squeezed my eyes shut pushing my hand further into the statue's mouth. While the exterior of the statue was freezing hard stone, the inside was sickly warm, soft with moss and wet. I felt a cold touch brush my finger, I reached out for it. My hand wrapped around a small metal rod with a vaguely rectangular shape on one side. I pulled it out, thanking the gods I had found it on the first try and I didn’t have to put my hand into the second gargoyle.

I pushed the key into its place and twisted it. With an echoing creak, I opened the door. Then came the second run of the night. Through the twisting corridors of the school and up the uneven stairs. I ignored the black shadow with a skull attached to its face beside the window. I ran past the classroom which had a woman with four long arms and a body of molten gold. Never react to what you see in this school. I ran straight to the abandoned classroom on the west of the building and beside the portrait of the mediaeval king.

The abandoned classroom was the hangout of the alchemy club and a familiar sight for me. Shelves filled with bottles and containers collected over the ages. Milk bottles from your home. The glass bottles you got with your milkshake. That glass container your grandmother didn’t need anymore. Those bottles that you got as a gift but never needed. Stolen things from the chemistry lab. They all sat on the shelves with paper labels and were filled to the brim with ingredients. Plants hung from the ceiling and books were neatly arranged on one wall.

I haphazardly started picking out all the ingredients I needed. The moments passed by in a blur. I mixed honey and lemon juice and then poured them into a mortar. I started reaching into jars and bottles.

“Rosemary, rue, basil, mint, coarse salt..” I muttered the names of the ingredients as I added then I proceeded to add the not-so-normal ingredients. It’s best not to know the ‘not so normal ingredients’ unless you are part of the alchemy club. I started speaking a couple of words that I had learned would help increase the salve’s effectiveness while I crushed it using a mortar and pestle. I put the paste over a burner. The heat of the fire warmed the cold tips of my fingers and the smell of honey, herbs and other stuff filled the air.

“And finally,” I said breathlessly, “lavender.”

Where the hell is the lavender?

My eyes were stuck to the bottom of an empty jar labelled as lavender. I felt my heart quicken in pace.

“Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?...”

I ran around the room looking into other jars and bottles labelled lavender. No lavender.

I looked into the baskets where the ingredients lay raw and unprepared to be used. No lavender.

I started opening and smelling the unlabeled jars. Putrid raw eggs and rotten flowers but no lavender.

I started thinking. We usually sent the rookies to bring ingredients. But we only sent specific rookies to specific places according to how well they could collect a certain ingredient. I was always sent to the wildflower field right next to the forest because I was too scared of going into the forest, unlike other students who had run into it. I was also sent there because I was the only one who could differentiate between the species. I however was never sent to get lavender. My hands gripped my hair, painfully tugging it before I could go into a dark spiral of thoughts.

“Okay think,” I commanded my brain, “who knows where the lavender is?” I started talking to myself.

“I don’t know any of the rookies, I should start socialising more instead of organising this place,” I scolded myself. One name popped into my head along with brown curls, forest green eyes and ever-smiling lips.

“Boom.”

The third run of the night. I ran across the field towards the girl’s dormitories. We called her Boom because that is what she was good at. Making things go boom. She gave small explosive concoctions for other students to use against the monsters and demons. She also held the record of making the most number of things explode on her first day. Caroline also was the one who assigned the rookies to bring the ingredients.

I aggressively knocked on the door. I heard an annoyed guttural groan and the door opened revealing an Asian girl. Her brown eyes narrowed at the sight of me, black hair spilling over messily in all directions. Her eyes seemed calculating even in her half-asleep state.

“I…uh…” I internally cursed myself. I had trouble talking to people I knew as it is, I was fifty times worse with strangers.

“Boom,” I managed to get out. The girl raised an eyebrow, her eyes still hadn’t stopped scanning me. After what seemed like a soul-judging session the girl went in. I heard a high-pitched yelp and the door opened again. This time revealing a shorter girl in bunny pyjamas.

“Do you know where I can find lavender?”

I watched as Boom squinted like she couldn’t see me properly.

“Do. You. Know. Where. I. Can. Find. Lavender?” I repeated my question steadily, dragging out each word. Boom turned around and looked at something behind her.

“Just beyond rune rock at the beach,” her words slurred in her sleepy state.

“Okay, thanks!” I started rushing away but I was stopped by a groggy “Alex?”

“What?” I asked.

“Are you going to go now?”

“Ye,” my body was jumpy with impatience.

“Like now?”

“Yes!” My tone was unintentionally hostile, causing her to flinch back. I bowed my head down guiltily. My sister’s life was on the line.

“Sorry,” she said quietly, “It’s just…it’s four in the morning.”

FOUR? Where had the time gone? I have only one hour!

“Okay, now I really need to go.”

“Alex,” she called back, this time there was a flame in her eyes, “it’s four in the morning and you are going to the beach,” she explained it like I was a little child.

It took me longer than it should have.

“Oh,” I said dumbly, “the boy.”

“The boy,” she repeated. I looked at her and we both knew that it wasn’t going to stop me.

“Be careful,” she wished.

The fourth run of the night. I hadn’t noticed the gradually lighting sky. A pale greyish and blue and not a single cloud. The distant chirping of birds, telling each other that they had made it through the night.

We called him ‘the boy by the shore’. He was one of the residents in the school who we knew nothing about. We all knew so much about the sirens and even more, about the cat lady but absolutely nothing about the boy. The amount of information we had on him was pathetic. We only knew he appeared on the beach when the upper tip of the sun touched the horizon and he disappeared when the lower tip of the sun stopped touching the horizon. When we knew nothing about a certain creature in the school we usually avoided them. It was always the best course. Problem is, I would have to walk right past the boy.

The beach wasn’t much of a beach. There was barely any sand. Jagged rocks stuck out from the ground making the path hard to navigate. I tripped and fell several times. Past rune rock, Boom had instructed. Rune rock was a giant stone with inscriptions carved into it. There were rumours that the Hidden club could read the inscriptions. The boy hung out right in front of that rock.

I continued heading towards the rock. I stopped when I heard rhythmic chanting, there was a beat to the words and some words at the start and end were dragged out. I was too far to make out the words of the song but I looked up.

Lo and behold. The boy by the shore.

He was a dark grey silhouette against the pale morning sky. I watched as he waded into the water and put his hands into it. He picked up something and headed back to shore and dropped the items onto the ground. I let my feet fall slowly to the ground, trying desperately not to trip and fall. I stopped and ducked behind a rock as the boy went to drop another load on the ground. I slowly peaked from the side waiting for him to step into the ocean so I could run past him.

The moment he bent down to search the waters, I dashed. Jumping and leaping more than I was running. My eyes were set on the large rock with scrawling white patterns written in an ancient language. I ran, extending my arm out to touch the rock as if it would help. I ran to the back of the rock and leaned against it. Catching my breath.

There were a few residents of the school who were restricted to one place. The one I hated most was the bone canary. That bird scared the hell out of me. The bird looked like a zombie, maybe it was one. There was a nice big chip on its beak and its feathers seemed like they had been put into a fire. Its left eye was scarred. Its call was not pretty, it was nails against the chalkboard. However, the scariest part was the parts where it was completely bone. The right wing had no feathers nor muscles, just the skeleton of the bird with rotten meat stuck to the bones. The neck of the bird was similar, a spinal cord with meat stuck to it in chunks connected to the body and head. The canary could not move around, it just sat on the window sill on the third floor.

I hoped the boy was restricted in the same manner. Restricted to the back and forth path. From the sea to the place he was dumping his stuff. I looked up and how I wished a scream would escape my throat.

The stench hit me first. Salt, fish and putrid flesh. His eyes stared at me. But there is a tiny problem with that previous sentence because the boy had no eyes. Dark hollow sockets that seemed to go on forever. Skin the colour of grey clouds and a dark black oily mess that looked like a mop dropped in tar for hair. His lips were thin and pale and blue veins were prominent around the neck and cheeks. He was dressed in a tattered oversized shirt and black pants. He was at least two inches shorter than me. The biggest problem was that he was only three inches away from my face.

I swallowed thickly, my body not responding to anything. I just stood there in absolute fear. I stood there for what felt like hours. Then he moved a couple of steps back and held something in front of me. I looked down, thin pale fingers with dirty inside the fingernails held a half-broken wine bottle by its neck. Was he going to stab me?

I waited for the glass to pierce my heart but it didn’t. His lips twitched slightly and his other free hand grabbed mine. I was still frozen in shock. His touch was colder than ice and his grip was rope against the skin. He tugged me forward with a strength that should not belong to such a small figure and wrapped my hand around the bottle's neck. When he was sure that I wouldn’t let go of the bottle he dropped his hands and started singing. He was the one singing from before.

“Our boots and clothes are all in a pawn

Go down, ye blood red roses, go down.

And it's flamin’ drafty ‘round Cape Horn,

Go down, ye blood red roses, go down.

Oh, ye pinks and posies,

Go down, ye blood red roses, go down…”

His voice was hoarse and broken but he still sang and kept on singing. He went back to his routine of picking up trash from the sea and putting them aside. He was no longer paying attention to me so I ran with the bottle in hand.

The sight of lavenders was a relief, I quickly uprooted them and started running back. The boy spared me a glance as I went past him. I wondered if he wanted the bottle back. Just to be careful I went back and placed it on a rock near his hangout. Angering the residents was a horrible idea.

The lavender was easy to add to the salve and it was even easier to apply it to my sister. I don’t remember dozing off in my room but my sister’s voice woke me up at ten in the morning. Thank god it was a Saturday.

“Hey!” she yelled into my ear. What a pleasure to have her back.

“Shuddup,” I groaned.

“Why did you bring a broken bottle?”

“WHAT?” I sat up straight. My sister looked pale and tired but better than she did during the night. Her hand was clasped around the neck of the same broken bottle the boy had given me.

“I found it by the window.”

“Umm.. nothing just found it,” I gave her a look. I would tell her later.

Now I have a broken bottle given to me by the boy by the shore and I am not sure if that is good or bad.

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