#pet shimmers has some real fun sounding stuff

[zarysa-of-zorcai]

Ch 1: Tough Times at the Tavern

It was a nice night in the kingdom of Tal'Dorei. Wispy clouds glided along the star laden sky, casting shadows that danced along the cobblestone streets below. There were merry sounds echoing from behind closed doors. Drunken dares and devious delights being prompted and accepted all around. Chattering people filled the rooms inside the bustling inns and taverns. Outside one such tavern sat a woman with eyes so beautiful that they could be mistaken for a set of amethysts. She had skin made of stone, and would have blended into the shadows of the wall if not for the tavern window bathing her in its box of light.

"...It sounds real fun in there huh, Trink?" The woman pet the head of the armored bear who laid at her side. Her gloves soft as a flowers petals against the large creatures fur.

He rested his large head upon the woman's outstretched legs, getting a bit of slober on the lilac cloth of her dress. He made a growling grunt and rubbed his snout against the upper edge of the thigh high boot she wore.

"Yeah, you're right." The woman smiled, brushing a hand up his warm furry shoulder. Her gaze cast upwards to the stars above. "This has to be better..."

Her gloved hand wandered up behind the bears ear and she scratched lightly there. The bear all but crooned shutting its eyes in bliss.

A sudden light creak cut through the sound of the bears obvious delight.

"Zia," A level voice called from the window above. She twisted to face who had spoken. Amethyst eyes settling upon the man with white hair and round glasses. He did not lean on the sill, he actually wasn't even fully facing her, preferring to watch whatever chug fest was happening inside, but it was definitely her he was speaking to. "Are you certain you wouldn't like a drink? Even Keyleth is being a bit heavy handed tonight. She's practically drunk her whole tankard."

"Ale's...not my thing." Zia denied, with a small shake of her head. She looked down at Trinkets head in her lap. She resumed her petting. "Really, I'm okay."

"Hm," Percy angled his head, "If you're sure, but..." He lightly swirled the wine in his glass. "I could always get you a glass of this instead. It's quite smooth. Not too strong. In truth, I don't really like the hard stuff either.You'd enjoy it...I think..."

Zia's momentary silence spoke to her hesitance. The man's attention shifted to her fully as he turned his head to look down at her. With her head tilted down he could only see her purple hair shimmering in the warmth of the inn's projected light.

"...You won't even have to come inside."

Zia's hand stilled. "Percy..."

Her head lifted. Their eyes met. She hesitated.

"It's alright. You don't have to say anything. I can understand wanting some distance after how the last job panned out."

"It's not that I want to stay away from you guys. I just...I don't know." Zia struggled to find the right words. "I'm just not in the mood to be in that rowdy atmosphere or to get drunk or anything like that." She gripped Trinkets fur. "Besides, the sky's rather pretty tonight."

"And so you'd prefer to watch the stars." Percy surmised. "Still hoping for a shooting one to grant your wish?"

"Always." Zia admitted, casting her eyes back to the sky. It was unheard of for a wish to be stronger than a curse, or even of one truly breaking a curse like the one she was born with, but Zia could hope. She could hope that one night she'd make a wish and then the next morning she would wake up with normal skin, soft hair and eyes that wouldn't blind her companions if they caught the sunlight just right. Yes, she could hope.

"I'll leave you to your gazing then. But If you change your mind about wanting anything just tap on the window and let me know."

"Will do...thanks." She murmured.

As she heard the window click shut again Zia sighed deeply. She carded her fingers through trinkets fur once more. "Why am I like this, Trinket? Hm? Do you know?" The bear didn't give much of a reply. "Yeah..." Zia sighed. "...I don't know either."

She watched the stars for a great while and pet Trinket some more. The noise inside the tavern grew louder overtime. A ruckus broke out inside, and the window above her head was blown out without warning. Small sharp shards spraying down from above.

"Ah...!" Zia raised her arms and curled her torso over trinkets great big head as the shards of glass fell upon her. The bear made a concerned disgruntled sort of sound. The glass shards dusting over her hair. A few larger pieces cracking against her stone skin before they shattered completely on the street.

"Oh gods, not again. Stay down, Trinkie." Zia ordered straightening up. She got to her feet and she peered in through the broken window. She caught sight of Percy holding his pepperbox to someone's chin. "Another brawl? Seriously?"

"Hm, seems that way." Percy didn't so much as spare her a glance. His eyes kept trained on the barbaric man in front of him.

"I'm coming Percy!" Grog's heroic cry could be heard as the giant leapt into the air. Clearly misjudging that his friend needed his help.

"Oh no." Percy paled, not having time to move as grog tackled their foe. The result of which landed the one on the receiving end of his gun directly on top of the poor de rolo.

Zia winced. That had to have seriously hurt.

"Oops." Grog looked bored with what he'd done. A wolf guy broke a chair over his head. Zia ducked with a yelp as more wood pieces flew her way. Just because her skin was durable didn't mean that it didn't hurt to get hit with things.

Grog's head swiveled at the high pitched sound and grinned broadly as he caught sight of Zia.  He clamored over to the window momentarily forgetting the animal man behind him. "Oh hey Zizi, where you been hiding? Come join the party!"

"Huh, oh no Grog don't-no oh shit!"Zia cursed as the drunken giant grabbed her and pulled her through the window like she didn't weigh a thing. He set her down just as quick. His large hands were gentle as he brushed the debris of glass and wood splinters from her shoulders.

"There we go." Grog grinned proudly. "Now you can have some fun too!"

Zia's eyes widened as the dog man growled.

"Uh...Grog...?" Zia pointed at the snarling dog man. She took a nervous step back. He did not look happy.

"Oh right. Don't worry your pretty little head about that overgrown pooch. I've got this." He then proceeded to scream in the creature's face and tackled it to the ground. The dog escaped from Grog's deadly hug and went to find a new target. Zia lost track of it in the commotion. There was too much going on. She did not want to be in here. They'd just gotten out of a big fight before coming to this damned tavern.

"Zia," Percy's voice sounded somewhat strained as it sounded from the floor. "Would you mind helping me? This behemoth smells like he hasn't bathed in weeks."

"Oh, right, sorry Perc." Zia apologized. She bent down and pushed the guy up so that Percy could shimmy his way out. "Better?"

"Much." He sighed in relief once he was free. He adjusted his glasses turning his attention to her. "Thank you."

Zia smiled at him, possibly for a bit too long- and they were attacked again. Right. Zia remembered. Tavern Brawl. Well, she was here, might as well help.

She pulled out her twin obsidian swords with great care. Though they were deadly weapons they were also gifts which she greatly cherished. Handcrafted from the ore of fallen stars they could cut through almost anything with ease.

The arced handles were laden with spikes. A feature that Zia utilized to keep her gloves guarded.

She took up a fighting stance, eyes flicking around to find a mark. Before she could someone else chose her as theirs. That of course turned out to be a mistake for them.

Her attacker was already wounded twice over with two gaping holes in his chest but those wounds didn't seem to be slowing him down much. They must not have been deep enough to do real damage.

She twirled out of the raging wounded cat man's angered slash and flipped up onto a cluttered table top. She danced upon the table, keeping out of his short swords reach. She kicked an empty cask at him and the cat man yowled at her as she nailed him in the eye with the ale mug. Now even more furious the wounded cat man charged at her intent on flipping the table and her right along with it, but he didn't get the chance. In one swift move she knelt and spun round on the table top, her arms out stretched, one in front and just behind her. The cat man's throat was slashed in an instant. He dropped to the ground in a puddle of blood.

Zia twirled her swords in her grip a single time. The blood flew off and splattered against the walls as she rose to her full height. She startled momentarily as Trinket crashed into the room, but she calmed as the bear had merely arrived to drag a guy out on Vex'ahlia order. Zia smirked at the bears retreating back. Good. Trink deserved a treat for being such a good boy.

"Grog step aside!" Percy's voice caught her attention. Zia's eyes widened as a pitiful puff of smoke escaped his pepperbox. Her smile fell away. Percy was out of bullets. Before she, or even poor Percy could react, A muscular blonde woman grabbed Percy by the coat and flung him as harshly as one would a bag of shit.

"Percy!" Zia yelled his name as she watched him sail through the air and crash into a back room. She glared at the muscled woman who'd thrown him. Her grip on her swords tightened.

That bitch threw the wrong fucking person.

She sprinted across the table tops, and pounced upon the muscular woman with an untamable ferocity. She jammed the spiked handles of her sword into her back as she slid down her tall frame ripping not only the back of her dress but her skin as well. Two bright red streaks marked Zia's descent.

The woman cried out and reached directly behind her blindly searching for her attacker, but Zia was already crouched low and she slashed at back of the muscled woman's knees with her swords. Blood gushed from the wounds and the woman cried out. Zia didn't stop there. She pushed harder, cut further, until she was slicing through the muscled woman's bones as if she was doing nothing more than severing a dangling branch from a tree. Zia was right about to wound the woman further, sword raised to finish the job when-

"Stop!" A violent roar tore through the air as the tavern owner let their more boorish side show. Everyone froze stopping to stare at them.

"First you people drink me dry. Then you destroy my tavern." The tavern keeper relaxed to a more normal appearance. "And-and-and what is that gnome doing to my daughter!?"

Zia's eyes flicked over to the room Percy had been flung into. He'd created a nice hole in the wall upon impact. There Scanlon was pleasuring a pink skinned woman under the sheets.

Zia looked away from the sight feeling uncomfortable at the display. Sex wasn't something she participated in. No one was really interested in having sex with the equivalence of a walking, talking, statue like her. That woman's skin was soft, supple-hers was not. Hers couldn't be touched and even if it could not even the likes of Scanlan would want to fuck her she was sure. It was best not to dwell on any sort of love making when she herself would likely never get to experience such pleasures.

Speaking of not experiencing pleasure Vox Machina was promptly kicked out of the tavern when the tavern keeper realized they couldn't pay for anything which put quite the damper on each of their nights to say the least.

Zia sighed. What were they going to do?

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Okay guys! This was chapter 1!!! I am so excited for this I cannot even begin to tell you ahhh! I love Zia so freaking much and I'm so happy I can share her with you all! I haven't loved an oc this much since Clarity. But anyways, here are some questions for you guys! Cause I'm both indecisive and insecure in my writing and I value your guys thoughts and opinions! Be honest!

1.So what did you guys think of chapter 1? Any favorite moments thus far?

2. What member of Vox should Zia end up with? Who would be a good match for her? Probably a bit early to ask but hey I like talking ships with people. It's fun.

3. Thoughts on Zia's fight scene?

4. Anything else you'd like to ask, rant and or tell me!

[shtern-and-art]

"Skeppy will probably cry" "Bad will probably cry". Bish, screw, that I am crying!!!

This whole thing was bloody gorgeous and I wasn't expecting that ending. I had no clue what ending to expect but that was definitely better than any I could have hoped for. Forest spirit to soulmate your honour!

I was terrified that you were gonna leave it at the point where he loses the spirit and becomes mortal again. If you had I would be actively sobbing!!!! And oh my god, the art!!! I still can't get over how wonderful your style is.

Imma ask fun things because if I don't I'll sit in a puddle of emotion all night:

What's the first tech thing Bad will buy and how annoying will he be about it? Poor Skeppy trying to answer 101 questions about something he doesn't really use XD.

Is no one concerned that the odd couple from a town they never name has a pet wolf??

Do they immediately go over to a different town or do they wander for a while. Find hidden creeks and befriend bears?

Does Bad still have a connection to nature and animals, like are creatures naturally more trusting of him?

Do they ever visit the og town again?

Does Skeppy still cause absolute chaos in other towns or has he learnt his lesson and only causes minor trouble now?

Does Bad ever try and study again? If he did what would he study and would Skeppy try to study as well?

Does Skeppy steal? I dunno, he just give off the vibe of a naughty lil trickster who'll pocket something if the owner refuses to sell it him.

Immediately after leaving the forest what the first 'argument' they have (not including the car one)?

Would they ever ride horse? If yes, how terrified would Skeppy be?

Skeppy falls outta tree. I don't know why but my mind keeps telling me that this man has great balance until he climbs trees. They are his mortal enemy and Bad finds this both hilarious and terrifying because he is going to hurt himself.

I had waaaaay more questions than I intended to have. My bad '^_^ but this story was way too much fun to read and you are entirely to blame for making it so engaging!

Make sure to take care of yourself and do stretches after and during drawing. You don't wanna hurt yourself <3

AaaaI’m so glad you liked it! :D And, dang, man, I cried while writing that part too :D

And I promised a nice ending for the main story, I did, and this one also makes the most sense narratively! For the story I wanted to tell, at least. Bad can’t really become human again, he’s changed to much. He can only move on, and do something with what he is, and has. And he did! :D That’s really nice and inspiring, this story will always have a place in my heart, heheh <3

Being a guardian spirit connected to a person and all, Bad may be not as strong as before, but he can’t die unless Skeppy dies first. And Skeppy can do that, but he’s pretty sturdy, and his lifespan operates on a whole other scale than human ones. And Bad knowing Skeppy’s real name balances it all out, makes them equal in the power and influence they have over each other.

So hellyeah, soulmates for the win :DDD

I’ll answer all questions under the cut, and this close up from one of the pages!

1) What's the first tech thing Bad will buy and how annoying will he be about it?

Probably a pager! Because it’s a more feasible thing to get than a wholeass computer Bad actually wanted :D An it means Skeppy will have to get one too, and that Bad will be having the time of his life texting him and everyone he can get a number from, even if they’re still in the room with him.

Poor Skeppy indeed, he can learn to appreciate the pagers, and later phones, too, and computers, but he really has 0 idea on how it all works and why Bad is so fascinated by it all.

2) Rat and regular people

Oh, she can shapeshift, just like Bad! If they’re out with people around, she takes form of a puppy, and Bad can pass her off as a weird mix breed rescue doggo.

3) Do they immediately go over to a different town or do they wander for a while?

Oh, since they have no end destination in mind, they can ride around for a bit, go visit some cool places and roadside attractions. Sadly, Skeppy is probably not spiritually or morally ready to full on befriend wild bears yet, and they do need money for gas and snacks. So, at some point they will have to stop somewhere and find work – at least for a bit, to save up. Life’s gonna be a bit complicated with all that, until Skeppy figures out his treasure-finding abilities :DD

4) Bad and nature and animals

He is definitely still in tune with all wildlife! Even more – Bad could become a proper guardian spirit for Skeppy in part because, in a way, Skeppy himself is part of the nature.

So yeah, Bad can understand animals (and plants) and communicate with them; they’re just more free to not take his shit, and Bad’s emotions do not “possess” them unless he makes an effort to do so.

He doesn’t like doing it, tho.

5) Do they ever visit the og town again?

Hm, I think they will completely forget about it for a while, until, like, 30+ years later they will be going somewhere, and find themselves around those parts. And they try to not appear too often in the areas they’ve spent a lot of time in already (they can be pretty recognizable, and also barely show signs of aging). But it’s been a long time, and the town’s really different now… So they make a stop, and spend a day there. They walk the unfamiliar streets between the new buildings, check out the popular hiking trail, the advertisements for hot springs and winter activities. The old cinema is still there, and is hosting an all-night marathon of classic horror movies of the last century.

Bad and Skeppy leave the town after sunset – the day was nice, but they have nothing more to do there. They ride through the forest on a well paved road, with radio playing something barely above the whisper. And in the dark of hot summer night, Bad can see the white stag running between the trees alongside their car. Shadows dance over the shimmering light of it’s fur.

Somewhere after the towns border, the stag disappears back in the forest. But the air in the car stays light and fresh, saving the smell of old pines and dry leaves all though the night.

6) Skeppy and chaos

Well, after the whole mess in the main story, Skeppy definitely learned some lessons, especially about not being a dick :D

But the thing is – he can’t really help the fact that things tend to stir up around him a lot. He naturally brings in chaos into everything, because he is, in part, a personification, or an outlet for it in the world. And so, to feel, well and good, and himself Skeppy gotta do stuff that disrupts balance, and creates some mayhem. And in gave him a lot of trouble in early life, but in the course of the main story he learned that he can chose were he lets that chaos to take hold, learned what can come of that chaos, apart from utter misery.

Like, where it can help dismantle something destructive, and where – bring in the more positive change, that was already brewing, possible, but is stagnant for some reason.

Soooo, I can’t say Skeppy causes only minor chaos in his life, but he sure learns even more about not being a dick :DDDD

7) The studying

I think Bad will want to get a higher education at some point, because he wanted to, and because it’s already new millennia and all that. Bet he’ll go for something very technical and/or literature. Maybe he’ll start by piking up some classes in small time colleges, when they stop in one place for a while, and later get into an online program, because why not.

Skeppy is not a college guy at all. He’ll listen to Bad talk about it, read textbooks if he wants to, can research stuff, buuut going to classes and doing homework is definitely not his thing.

8) Stealing

Well, you’re right, Skeppy can and will steal stuff out of spite! And will be scolded by Bad for it, and will not feel (that) sorry about it. But real stealer between them will be Bad himself :D

It’s just… he has the corvid tendencies, and a hoard (a box) of sentimental mementos from different people and events, and the thrill of stealing something small and harmless is very exciting. Bad is very proud of his little collection. Skeppy finds it very adorable, a bit hypocritical, and kinda creepy. Like, that pretty box he gifted Bad at some point is now full of stuff like:

- pressed flower from the clearing they had a picnic at on their anniversary

- the button the waitress lost that one day the storm caused a black out in the whole town

- some small animal bones

- couple pretty rocks Bad stole from Skeppy’s pockets

- penny that was once glued to the ground

- a handful of teeth people (and not people) lost in fights with Bad

- pen from some fancy hotel

- rainbow dash keychain that belonged to a child

- the list goes on

9) Argument

Oh, that same day they’ll fight over whether they should stay at the really crappy and suspicious looking motel, or go sleep in a perfectly fine forest near the road. Ironically, Bad wanted to try out the motel (because, yay, first time spending the night back in civilization), and Skeppy was the one insisting on sleeping in nature (because the motel looks like it could give you 10 diseases if you even stand near it, and sleeping in the forest is kind of nice, and means they can cuddle).

10) Horses

The guys will probably ride them at some point. Well, Bad will ride, and Skeppy will sit on his horse and hope it knows what to do and where to go, because trying to make this giant thing do something seems dangerous. If they’ll have to actually go somewhere fast, Skeppy will not survive that day, his butt (and legs) will be dead for days to come.

And riding with Bad on one horse may sound romantic and nice, but all romance dies when the gallop starts.

F.

11) Skeppy and climbing

Skeppy is more down to earth kind of guy, more of a “rocks and caves” kind of creature, real-life lizard person or something. Up on the trees and in the air – not really his element, yeah. But it doesn’t mean that Skeppy will accept this fact easy. The embarrassment of never managing to safely make it down a tree is too strong, he just has to do it all over again, and again. And again. Because, clearly, he was distracted this time. And the time before that Bad was teasing him, and it “disrupted his flow”. And, really, maybe these trees here just do not like Skeppy much, and make him slip a lot. Yeah.

So, more often than not, if Skeppy climbs a tree, he will not stop climbing it until he falls, or the tree ends. Bad had to take him off high branches couple times, forcefully, because, of course, Skeppy was sitting there for 2 hours just to properly enjoy the sunset. He can climb down at any point, he just Choses not to. The view is amazing. The bark is literally part of his skin now, not because he holds on tight, no, he’s just Than Much one with the nature )<

---

Don’t apologize for the questions! It’s always so fun to answer them, and it makes me think more about stuff I may have skipped, or didn’t think about before. It’s really nice :3c

Again, thank you for the ask, and for being here for this story! <3

(And I’ll try setting timers for rest breaks while I draw, mb that will help)

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In The Dark - masterpost

[iwillgiveyoumyhappiness]

임창균, Im Changkyun

anonymous asked:

Hi Mars! Could I request an imagine (is angst & fluff possible?) with Changkyun (MONSTA X) where his girlfriend and him get into a heated fight and he backs her up into the wall, staring deeply into her eyes, making butterflies erupt in her stomach? If not, that's okay. Thanks, much love. (Congrats on 200 followers!) ❤

Group: Monsta X (몬스타엑스)

Member: I.M.

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Dick jokes, lazy make-outs on the couch, making fun of and defending one another in equal measure, linking pinkies while on your around-dusk walks and falling asleep on each other’s shoulders, no matter the place.

That’s what yours and Changkyun’s relationship was made of. 

At least... It had been. All until that stupid game of Truth or Dare. 

“Okay, okay, okay!” Jooheon had said, clapping his hands to gain everyone’s attention. He looked straight at you, his eyes boring into yours, a playful shimmer to them. “Truth or dare?” he asked, mischief swimming in his eyes. 

You rolled your eyes, chuckling. “Truth,” you said. “I’m not letting you get me killed tonight; I have work tomorrow.” 

“Little did you know—truth was my plan the whole time!” he laughed. “I’m gonna get all that juicy stuff.” He pointed to Changkyun. “Get ready to be shocked by your girlfriend’s dirty little secrets,” he warned. 

Changkyun snorted. “As if,” he said, throwing an arm around your shoulders and pulling you closer with an easy smile. “Unlike some people, we’ve got no secrets.” 

You nodded in agreement. “I know his phone password,” you said, shrugging. 

“I know hers,” he said. “Laptop, too.” You gave him a look. You hadn’t told him that. He caught your gaze and furrowed brows. “Looked over your shoulder while you were typing it in,” he explained simply.

You rolled your eyes, elbowing him playfully in the side. “That’s so... You,” you said. “Why am I not even surprised?”

“‘Cause he’s a demon,” Hyungwon chimed in, sprawled out on the couch while scrolling through his phone. 

You laughed. “That’s an insult to all demonds, dude.”

Changkyun pouted. “Rude,” he huffed. You gave his shoulder a small kiss, successfully appeasing him. Changkyun could get really whiny and childish sometimes, but he was easy to get back into a good mood. A light peck, an unfunny joke—then he was right back to his old self.

Jooheon groaned. “Can I ask now, or what?” You gave him a nod. He rubbed his hands together, rather reminiscent of a cheesy villain from the 80s about to reveal his master-plan. “Okay!” He cracked his knuckles, bringing up the drama of it all. “Virgin or not?” he asked confidently. 

Changkyun let out an amused puff of air. “Well, that’s easy,” he said. “Of course she’s not—”

“I am,” you said simply. You felt the room go quiet, Changkyun’s form stiffening beside you. Your brows furrowed. You’d never seen why it was such a big deal to be a virgin. In your opinion, it was a sign of self-control. You gave him a look. “What’s up?” 

His mouth opened and closed for a moment, no sounds passing his lips. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Nothing,” he said. “Really, it’s nothing!” he assured you, rubbing your arm warmly. “I just didn’t expect it, I guess.” He chuckled. “You’re just a real natural at... intimate stuff.” 

You should’ve noticed in that moment. The hesitation in his tone, the slight shift in his eyes. The way his hands avoided touching the bare skin of your hip when your shirt rode up a little. 

It had only gotten worse from there. Suddenly, it was all cute nicknames, soft touches and tip-of-the-nose kisses. Sure, that was lovely and all, but it wasn’t Changkyun. And it certainly wasn’t you. 

It seemed like you had been demoted from girlfriend to beloved niece whom he every once in a while gave a kiss on the lips to. Creepy analogy, but it was the only thing you could think of to describe your frustration.

From that point on, any dirty jokes shared between the guys involved your ears getting plugged. Any racy scene in a movie, your eyes were covered.

Your normal lazy make-outs were slimmed down to almost none, any clothes that showed what he deemed ‘a little too much skin’ was sent back to the closet, and he never stayed over at your place past midnight because, God forbid he be in girl’s house past her bedtime. 

It pissed you off to no end. 

You weren’t a child just because of something as silly as that. You didn’t need to be shielded from the world and taught the difference between right and wrong. You were your own person, and you would live how you wanted to.

With whom you wanted to.

You didn’t enter into this relationship to be controlled. You dated him because you could trust each other, tell each other anything and everything, and because you made each other feel alive.

At least, that’s the way it was for you. It was hard to tell how he felt anymore. Despite all of his sweetness, compared to how you were before, it felt like distance. 

A distance of miles and miles, despite how dramatic that sounded. 

There you were, sitting on your couch with Changkyun by your side, you legs tangled together and him petting your hair gently. He’d tucked your head into his neck, kissing the crown of your head softly every few minutes. 

He kept whispering tender things that you couldn’t quite understand. It was like he was protecting you from the world. 

Except you didn’t want to be protected. Not like this. 

There were things that you craved to do, and you’d shared all those things with your boyfriend. You thought, at the very least, he would remember that.

This wasn’t the way that Changkyun usually protected you. The way you kept each other safe was by facing the world with reckless abandon, holding each other’s hands tightly the whole time, as if saying: “Screw regret. We’re gonna try it all, even if it’s scary. We’ll do it together”. 

That’s just the way you both were. The opposite of glass. Fighting against the things that you shouldn’t do with full trust in each other.

Changkyun glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, ticking away the minutes. “I should probably get going,” he muttered. 

You furrowed your brows, looking over your shoulder. “It’s not even ten,” you said. “Why do you have to go?” 

He shrugged, already standing up after giving your temple a peck. “’Cause sleep is important,” he said, grabbing his hoodie from off the back of the couch. He mussed up your hair. “We both need it.”

He reached out to smooth your hair back down, but you smacked his hand away before he could. “Save it,” you sighed, crossing your arms and rolling your eyes. 

He frowned. “Okay,” he said slowly, deep voice resonating in his chest. He draped his hoodie over the back of a chair. “You’re obviously upset.” 

You almost snorted. “No shit,” you said, not meeting his gaze. 

“Do you mind talking to me about it?” He paused for a moment, waiting for you to answer. “Please?” 

Finally, you looked at him, eyes narrowed, staring up at him through your lashes. He always knew he was in trouble when you did that. “Fine,” you said curtly. “Let’s talk. Let’s talk about how you’ve been treating me like a doll, shall we?”

You knew that your tone was a little sharp, but your temper was getting the better of you. It felt as if he were becoming a condescending parent, and considering he was the person you could usually be most free around, it was suffocating.

His brows furrowed. “A doll?” he echoed. He held back a sigh. “Why do you think that, love?” 

You rolled your eyes. “See? That! You never used to call me that, except on really special occasions!” You could feel yourself slipping, getting more and more frustrated. 

“I’m just trying to make you feel appreciated,” he said in a very easy way, shrugging. If you didn’t know him any better, you’d almost believe that’s how he really felt. 

Your fists clenched, but you didn’t move from your spot on the couch. “But I felt appreciated and loved when we’d call each other ‘jerk’ and ‘butt-munch’,” you said. You knew that your voice had grown quiet.

“Sure, it wasn’t very romantic in the standard sense of the word,” you continued, “but it was very... us. Y’know? It was our thing. It was fun.”

He chuckled. “Okay,” he said gently, coming up and patting your head. “I get it. I get where you’re coming from. I’ll be more careful.” 

For whatever reason, that set something off in you. You ducked your head away, standing up quickly. “Don’t do that!” you shouted. “Please!” He stared at you; his pretty, dark eyes wide and surprised. “Get angry! Shout at me and storm out of the room, then order takeout and apologize later! Do that!”

His jaw threatened to drop. You’d gotten into spats plenty of times, but as you’d said, he was usually the one losing his head. You were the grounded one. Even when you raised your voice, you said sorry right after. But now? He saw no apology in your eyes. 

Because you weren’t sorry. You weren’t sorry for what you were saying.

To some, it may seem dramatic or a little bit dumb, but it felt like he wasn’t really Changkyun anymore.

Not your Changkyun, at least.

“Ever since we played that stupid game,” you said, “you’ve been treating me like a child! It’s so annoying!” You continued ranting, seeing his neutral face slowly contort further and further into a frown. 

You didn’t normally explode like this and argue for no reason, so he knew it was bad. 

“It’s like you decided since I’ve never has sex before,” you shouted, “I must be less knowledgeable and intelligent than other people!” Your voice dropped a few octaves. “Do you know how that makes me feel?” you asked, voice scratchy from shouting so much. “It makes me feel like I’m not respected by the guy I respect the most out of everyone on this planet. And that’s sad.” 

Changkyun sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, he stepped forward. It shocked you, but it didn’t scare you. He’d never frightened you before. He continued walking forward, forcing you to step back. 

You could see the frustration in his dark eyes. Your back hit the wall, but you noted the way that one of his hands darted up to shield the back of your head. His hands traveled down to your wrists, pinning them at the sides of your head. 

“The reason I’ve been treating you like this,” he said, voice cutting straight through the air, making you hear him loud and clear, “is because I was worried. And honored. I don’t want you to regret me,” he said. His jaw was clenched while he spoke, but you could tell he was being genuine. “I didn’t want to move to fast or be too rough with you. I just wanted things to be natural.” 

You rolled your eyes. “Well, that’s dumb,” you said. “Things were natural before you screwed them up. How could I possibly regret you, moron?”

His hands tightened around your wrists. “I’m sorry?” He leaned closer, making butterflies erupt in your stomach. “You wanna say that one more time?” 

You didn’t avoid his eyes, but you did bite your lip nervously, making his gaze flicker over your face. “Maybe I do,” you said bravely. “It’s the only way to get it through your thick skull. I just liked the way we were before... Y’know?” 

He paused for a moment, searching your eyes. It was like he was looking for any source of hesitance or uncertainty swimming in your pretty orbs. 

When he found none, he wasted no time in pressing his lips to your firmly, almost feverishly wanting. It took your breath away, as always. It made your eyes flutter shut within seconds, your breathing become erratic and your mind go blank. 

You just loved him so freakin’ much. 

After a moment, he pulled away. “Love you,” he whispered breathlessly. 

You nodded, eyes still closed. “You too,” you said. You opened your eyes to look at him. “You won’t treat me like that again, right?” 

He chuckled. “After the way you kissed me a second ago?” he teased. “No way! I’m starting to think you’re not so innocent after all.” 

You snorted and smacked his shoulder. “Shut up!” you laughed. He smiled, giving you a quick peck on the nose before pulling away. “Where are you going?” you asked.

He fished his phone out of his pocket. “Apology,” he said simply. 

You smiled to yourself. You knew that meant take out from about six different places, just so he could get all of your favorites, ‘cause that’s just how he was. 

That was your Changkyun, and you were happy to have him.

.

.

.

Helloooooooooooo, Anon! I am legitimately disappointed in how long this took me when it’s not even that long, but y’know, I guess life gets busy. Work has been... work. :’) It’s lucky I love it. 

I’m sorry it took so long to get this to you! Thank you for you patience, and I hope it was what you wanted. ^-^ I hope reading this made you feel happy. 

It doesn’t even have to be REALLY happy, just a little happy! I hope so, anyway. If nothing else, I know that gif at the end made you smile, ‘cause how could it not?? Have a good day/evening/night, all right? Take care of yourself!

[catsafarithewriter]

"I met them in an alley one and since then I cant seem to get rid of them" with the lovely lost ladies? If that inspires you

A/N: You know, I fully expected this prompt to be applied to Muta, but this direction was a really fun surprise. One lovely lost ladies ficlet coming up!

[I’m still open to prompts! Send me any from these three prompt lists.]

It was easy, sometimes, to forget that Louise was only mostly cat.

In some things it didn’t matter. She still purred when when pleased, her fur rose when angry, and Persephone had been explicitly banned from ever wielding a laser pointer again. 

Still, there were occasions when the reality slapped Persephone like a dead fish to the face and she had to remind herself that Louise wasn’t just not mortal, but not entirely cat either. 

Like today. 

Persephone inhaled slowly through her nose, her paws clasped against her chin in a fashion she had originally adopted when dealing with short-sighted advisors. It wasn’t a manner she often had to indulge in around her wife. 

“What,” she asked eventually, when the flight or fight response had been forcibly subdued, “is that?”

Louise glanced to the creature at her side and, if she had any inkling as to the situation, her brain hadn’t seen fit to inform her face yet. “I’m not actually sure,” she admitted. “I’ve named him George.”

Persephone exhaled, and this time the breath whistled through her paws. “You’ve named a ten-foot snake-monster George.”

“I’m open to suggestions.”

“Why–” Persephone inhaled sharply again as the feline instinct to scram reared its ugly head, and she was forced to take several shaky steps back in order to preserve her dignity. “What is it doing here?”

“Following me, it seems. I met him in an alley and I can’t seem to get rid of him.”

“We’re in the middle of volcanic wastelands!” Persephone cried, the absurdity of the situation finally getting to her. “Where did you find an alley in the five minutes I turned my back on you?”

Louise’s eyes lit up - not the reaction Persephone had been expecting - and she grabbed her wife’s paw. “You have to see this.” She dragged Persephone through the maze of towering rock formations while the sound of the snake-monster slithering behind them followed. They came to a halt where the canyon abruptly opened out. 

“Voila!” Louise released Persephone to gesture dramatically to the stone archway dominating the entrance, and the stone buildings that lay beyond it. “Queen Persephone of the Cat Kingdom, I present to you the Lost City of Igneus!” She bowed to an invisible audience. “Thank you, thank you, oh you’re too kind…”

Persephone drifted past Louise, too accustomed to her wife’s dramatics to spare much more than a congratulatory pat. “It’s real,” she breathed. “It’s really real.”

“Did you ever doubt me?”

“Well, there was a moment with the fissure vent…”

“We escaped unharmed, didn’t we?”

“Say that to my coat,” Persephone reminded her, but offhandedly. She laid a paw against the stone foundations of the archway, eyes exploring the engravings etched along its surface, and an encompassing calmness filled her and settled into her lungs, a deep-rooted contentedness that this was the life she had chosen. 

Louise stepped up beside her, and for a moment Persephone thought she might be having the same wanderlust, but then she drew her wide-brimmed hat across her face and said, “It’s quiet.” Head and hat tilted to one side. “Too quiet.”

Persephone snorted and the previous grandeur was eclipsed by humour. “Come on, I didn’t venture into this oven of a world just so I could stand at the gateway of a lost city.” But as she stepped through and onto the dusty street, she had to admit there was an uncomfortably heavy silence that blanketed the city. 

“Are you getting adventure vibes?” Louise asked. “I’m getting adventure vibes.”

“The only vibes I’m getting is creep vibes from the monster you’ve decided to adopt.”

Her wife gave a mock gasp. “Don’t go calling George a monster!” 

“Louise, he’s a ten-foot snake-thing with glowing red eyes.”

“Nobody’s perfect.” 

“Pretty sure he still has blood on his teeth.”

“It might be strawberry jam.”

“In the middle of a volcanic wasteland?”

“Which makes it unlikely, but not impossible.” A warm breeze wafted through the deserted city, and Louise lifted her head to inhale its heat haze scent. “I am right though. This place is abandoned.”

Persephone stopped by the empty doorway of a grand domed building, a space where a door had once been gaping before her. She slipped inside. The arches of the dome remained, but patches of sunlight filtered down through the gaps worn by years of neglect and shimmered in natural spotlights. Only the stone remained now. 

Persephone’s pawsteps echoed across the expansive room. “The scale and space of this building probably means it was used to house large numbers of people,” she murmured, more to herself than Louise. “A public place, most likely. The location implies it was important, centring the settlement like this. A town hall, maybe? Hard to tell with only the walls left, and it’s not as if we’re familiar with the culture of this world, so...” She trailed off, sensing Louise’s gaze on her. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just admiring my wife being clever.”

“Were your flirting attempts always this obvious?” Still, Persephone didn’t protest as Louise’s arms circled her, instead leaning back into the embrace. “Lou, Louise, I’m trying to work something out here.” 

“I can’t help it. I’m attracted to smart pretty ladies. It overrides my common sense.” 

“What common sense?” Persephone muttered, but she still leant further back and planted a kiss on her wife’s cheek. Her eyes lingered on her love, and then drifted to the snake monster that continued to linger in the doorway. “This would be so much more romantic if your pet monster wasn’t watching right now,” she whispered. 

“His name is George,” Louise mumbled. 

Persephone’s gaze moved uneasily past the creature, and she abruptly straightened, shrugging out of the embrace. “There’s writing on the walls.” She kissed Louise as apology for the sudden mood shift, and beelined for the nearest section of wall. 

Louise rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “This is what I get for marrying a queen who actually paid attention in class.”

“There’s markings all across the room,” Persephone said excitedly, bringing out a notebook and flicking through the pages. “They’re pretty worn away, but the alphabet combined with the vowel to consonant distribution implies it has roots in dragonese, with a grammar that I’ve seen in some variations of dwarvian languages...”

“Can you read it?”

“I can possibly guess at a few words that overlap from other languages, but that’s no guarantee they’ll actually mean the same thing.” Persephone trailed a paw up along the faded lines of writing. “For instance, this could either be a law concerning landowner boundaries, or...” She trailed off, her nose wrinkling. “Oh.” 

“What does it say?”

“Landowner boundaries. Definitely.”

“Sephie, you can’t just say that and not tell me.”

“Oh, look. This section is about how to settle inheritance disputes,” Persephone said quickly. “This whole room must have originally been covered with the laws of the land. Maybe this was a courtroom?”

Louise narrowed her eyes but didn’t argue too much as Persephone moved to another section of wall, already attempting to roughly translate another line. She drifted across the room, listening as Persephone called out some of the odder quirks of translation. 

“Apparently it was illegal to own more than two goats,” Persephone called. “Wait, that can’t be right...”

“Maybe they had really scary goats.”

“That might be two horns. Horns? No, that’s not right either...”

Louise came to the far end of the hall, absent-mindedly patting George on the head as he slithered up to her, and stopped. Here there were the same faint markings, but a set that were far newer were engraved across the centre. “Hey, honey...?”

“I think I’ve got it! This whole section is about the military and weapons - it must be referring to a kind of weapon, perhaps one made out of a horn?”

“Persephone!”

“Okay, I’m coming!” She hurried over, her eyes bright and her arms full trying to keep her note-taking in some semblance of order, and halted as she reached the same wall. “Oh, Bast.” 

“My adventure senses are tingling.”

Persephone approached the writing, not giving Louise any response except in giving the snake monster a wide berth. “That’s... that’s something.”

“I knew it.”

“It’s... It’s mostly in the same language, the grammar has mostly survived, but the spelling has changed.”

“Which means...?”

“Which means we’re looking at writing made much later than the laws, maybe a hundred years later. Maybe more. A bit like comparing Old Cat against Modern Cat hieroglyphics. Same language, same people... but to have defaced a building that was clearly a cultural centre of the city... I think we may be looking at one of the last things the people of the Lost City of Igneus left.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Well, there’s all that, and then there’s the fact the first word is translated from every dragonese dialect as ‘danger’.” Persephone glanced back. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

“Ancient lost city mysterious abandoned? This is what I was made for.”

“You would have thought your artisan would have made you out of sturdier stuff than wood then,” Persephone muttered, but she went back to the engraving. “Warning,” she roughly translated. “Beware the red... oh...”

“Oh?” Louise echoed. “This better not be a thinly-veiled euphemism again.”

“I never said the landowner laws were,” Persephone protested. 

“You didn’t need to. So, what’s the verdict? Where do we go looking for adventure and danger?”

“We don’t need to. We’ve already found it. Or, rather, you have.” Persephone tilted her head back to Louise. “It says ‘beware the red-eyed serpent.’”

They both turned to look at George. 

George smiled and smoke began pouring out of his mouth. 

“Oh,” Louise said. “Oops.”

[jesuschristlivedinamotelroom]

angel; do you have a nickname? yea

awe; how old are you? 20

baby; favorite color? blue

bloop; spirit animal? cat

blossom; favorite book/movie/song?

blush; what was your stuffed animal as a child?

breeze; most precious childhood memory? i think my parents teaching me how to ride a bike.

bright; mermaids or fairies? fairies

bubbles; do you have a best friend? no

buttercup; showers or baths? baths!

butterfly; dream destination? idk what that means

buttons; are you religious or spiritual? no

calm; favorite scent? laundry and also honeysuckle

candlelight; what did you dream about last night? i was in charge of some event and i kept stressing over it? also my roommate kept coming into my room and i kept getting mad kxkddkkd

charming; have you ever been in love? no

cozy; eye/hair color? black black

cuddly; what’s your favorite time period? like. ever? honestly now is fine. although if i lived in like the 1800s would my brain be this smart if i felt less fear ghen like that era

cupcake; favorite flower/plant? jasmine is nice too

cute; what did you get on your last birthday? i bought myself perfume

cutie pie; most precious item you own? my guitar&desk&bed

cutsie; what makes you happy? sleep.

daisies; describe a moment when you felt free. every time i go to a concert? although when they shove cameras in my face i still have to perform.

daydream; how do you want to be remembered? bubbly, funny, but also wise? not vapid.

daylight; favorite album of all time? no idea

dear; zodiac sign? virgo

delightful; concerts or museums? concerts

dimples; have you ever written a letter? yes

dobby; dream job? i don’t know any more

doll; how do you like to dress? i kind of wear whatever i want. lately i have been dressing to match weather and to not have my nips out. although i shouldn’t care i do. also one of my group mates seems to be looking at my chest a lot when we speak so i can’t tell if it’s like That bad or if he is just weird.

dovey; any paranormal/magical experiences? no i mean. psychotic maybe

dreams; do you want or have any tattoos? yes

drizzle; do you believe in aliens? yes

euphoric; talk about someone you love. im sure i love my siblings. i want to provide for them both financially and emotionally but i can only stay detatched. they are the only people who have dealt with all of my years until now and one has told me she didn’t really know who i was when i was in middle school, which is kind of an interesting point of view. i am usually a bit more open to my siblings than i am my parents even though they were usually who just got the butt of my anger and angst lol. huh. interesting. basically i want to die quietly but it is impossible with family and i don’t want them to be affected as heavily as it would but honestly it’s just inevitable

fairy; do you have a pet? no

fluffy; ocean or mountain? mountain

forever; where do you feel time stop? my room

froglet; are you a good plant owner? no...

garden; how many languages do you know? 4?

gem; who are your favorite tumblrs?

giggles; what is your aesthetic of choice? ?

glittery; do you like anons? why/why not? sure

glow; list the top 5 things you like about yourself. i think a lot. i am considerate. i am able to be alone. i am funny. i am amiable.

heart; silk or lace? lace

honey; coffee or tea? how do you take it? both and it depends

hugsy; do you enjoy people watching or bird watching more? why? bird watching. people watching makes me uncomfortable

hunnybunch; what sounds help you sleep? anything really, mostly people speaking in a low voice

jewel; what’s your favorite kind of weather? sunny breezy

jiggly; what do you usually like to do on weekends? sleep and drink

joy; do you laugh loudly or giggle more? i cackle

kinky; do you blush easily? i think so

kisses; what romantic cliché do you wish for most? fwb to lovers

kitty; what’s your favorite time of the day? morning

ladybug; what’s your favorite artist to listen to when you’re sad? the 1975 yeah i know

love; what is your favorite season and why? summer bc its not real

lovey; what is your favorite flavor of macaron and ice cream? ummmm idk

magic; what are five flaws you have? i let my flaws affect my relationships. i let my flaws affect my work .. everything. i think too much. i give up too easily. i don’t know how to express myself.

moonlight; do you prefer soft pastels, warm neutrals, or cool darks? cool dark

munchkin; what do you look for in your significant other? funny and cute

paddywack; how would you describe a perfect date? idk

pebbles; how do you spend free time by yourself? lay around.

precious; what is something valuable that you learned in your life? your appearance, being beautiful, being skinny does not matter. it is impossible to achieve that arbitrary standard and it does not matter.

pretty; do you like to cook or bake more? bake

prince; how would you describe your handwriting? a mix of print and cursive

princess; do you play any instruments? if not, are there any you wish you could play? guitar

prinky; how do you relieve stress? jack off. drink.. sleep

pumpkin; what is your favourite kind of fruit/vegetable? ones that smell nice

rainbow; what was the last line of the last book you read?

roses; what is the most significant event in your life so far? probably entering college or my summers spent abroad

smile; what is one thing that has greatly affected you? rape, feminism, nihilism

shine; art or music? music

shimmer; do animals tend to like you? i think so?

smitten; do you collect anything? bracelets and socks

smoochies; how many pillows do you sleep with? right now 2

snuggle; what is your favourite candy? i don’t like candy

snuggly; do you have a camera? if so, what kind? no

sparkle; do you wear jewelry? no

spooky; sunrise or sunset? sunset

sprinkles; do you like to listen to music with headphones or no headphones? both

starlight; what was your favourite show as a child? idk

soft; describe your favourite spot in your house. my bed

soothe; digital or vinyl? digital

squeezed; who do you miss right now? my friends from last semester

sugary; what traits do you value most in friends? if i am only looking for people to hang out with and i do not care about them much as people, then they need to be able to have a (fun) conversation with me and want to hang out and do whatever i/we want. if it is a real friend then similar political alignment is sadly pretty important to me. we need to be similar in general probably, you need to understand my background.

sunshine; do you prefer for things to be practical or aesthetically pleasing? practical

sweet; do you find it easy to open up? no

sweetie; do you like kids? if so, do you ever want to have any? sure but no

thimble; is there somebody you look up to? who are they? no

toot; what is something you find unique about yourself? my chart . just kidding i think i have a philosophy that will cause a... bad revolution but i am also probably a narcissist

tootsie; what kind of friend are you? go with the flow kinda person, if you want to talk about something serious i can try. i usually match the vibe of the other person

treasure; what was something that made you smile today? videos

velvet; are you an early bird or a night owl? night owl

whiffle; if you could have a magical power, what would it be? i would be able to get any resource necessary Or i would be able to slow down time

whimsical; do you prefer doing stuff at home or going out? both

whiskers; do you usually wear makeup? halfhalf

wiggly; are you a messy or tidy person? mssy

wispy; do you like the place where you grew up? do you think you will live there when you get older?no

wobbly; have you ever wished upon a star? probably

[kashimasyuu]

rules: answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 15 people

tagged by @tetsuro thanks for tagging me!! 💖

tagging: @matsuohkarin @zoldyckie @d-a-z-a-i @whovian-on-ice @shinjikaris @kiritonarukami @kashi-ma @oshiruko @haiji-san @nico-chansenpai @tmakisamajiki @ocarinnas @shoto-doroki @darkfaethedestroyer @erenyegar only if you want to ofc!

LAST

1. drink - water (or cane’s sweet tea if you wanna be not boring)

2. 📱 call -  ......my doordash delivery last night lmao

3. text - from my mom abt college stuff

4. song you listened to - my love by new politics

5. time you 😢 - i think i cried watching tpn yesterday

HAVE YOU EVER

6. dated someone twice - no

7. 😘 someone and regretted it - i guess not fkdjflks

8. been cheated on - i don’t think so?

9. lost someone special - nope

10. been depressed - uhh idk?? not officially

11. gotten drunk and thrown up - nah

FAVORITE COLORS

12. blue

13. purple

14. pink (wow i’m bi as hell)

15. green

in the last year have you

16. made new friends - yes 💖

17. fallen out of 💛 - no

18. 😂 until you 😢 - yeah!!

19. found out someone was talking about you - not in a bad way

20. met someone who changed you - i mean probably??

21. found out who your friends are - i hope so jfkdsjflks

22. 😘 someone on your facebook friends list - lmao no, what fb friends

GENERAL

23. how many friends from your fb friends list do you know irl - ??? what year is this

24. do you have any pets - i have a lhasa apso named shimmer!! she’s 8 hours away though

25. do you want to change your middle name - nah it’s cool

26. what did you do for your last 🎂 - i did an escape room with some people from my dorm and then got food after, it was fun!!

27. what time did you wake up today - like 11 am? it’s spring break i’m not keeping track

28. what were you doing last night at midnight - .......i think i was watching dimension high school which just. wild

29. what is something you can’t wait for - short-term i’m really excited for the wotakoi ova (and a lot of other shows but they), otherwise for the semester to be over jkfsjgkls

30. what are you listening to right now - spaceship by art sorority for girls just came on, it’s my general spotify playlist called thing bc i’m a creative genius

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom - i don’t think so actually? i’ve known people named thomas

32. something that gets on your nerves - random pet peeve i remembered recently: people putting two periods like .. what is that, idk why it bothers me so much but like. do a period or do an ellipsis pick one

33. most visited website - probably tumblr or college stuff, it varies

34. hair color - blonde? brown? no one can decide

35. long hair or short hair - it’s like shoulder length right now idk which that is, unless this is a preference question?? in that case i go back and forth so idk

36. do you have a crush on someone - god i wish

37. what do you like about yourself - i feel like i’m a generally nice person!! which every nice person says right skfdkjfl but i always try to be nice to people, i think it’s really important

38. want any piercings - not particularly? i already have my earlobes and cartiage pierced, if anything maybe double earlobe someday

39. blood type - i’d love to know

40. nicknames - nat lmao, also flamingo (my friend came up with it in like 5th grade and it stuck)

41. relationship status - single (unfortunately? maybe? who knows)

42. zodiac - pisces

43. pronouns - she/her

44. favorite 📺 show - as far as like standard tv i love the good place, as far as anime (bc you know. anime blog) i have to say ouran high school host club, shocking i know, it has a real special place in my heart

45. tattoos - i don’t have any and i feel like i’m way too indecisive for them

46. right handed or left - right

47. ever had surgery - i got my wisdom teeth and some others removed when i got braces

48. piercings - earlobes and cartilage like i answered earlier whoops

49. sports - god no, i played soccer in first grade

50. vacation - don’t really know what this is asking but i’m probably studying abroad in japan next year!!

51. trainers - like shoes? yeah i mostly wear tennis shoes

MORE GENERAL

52. eating - i had cane’s earlier, i’m the pinnacle of health

53. drinking - still water

54. i’m about to watch - nothing in particular, i was watching lets plays earlier kdsjfksj that phase hasn’t left

55. waiting for - me to get my life together? lmao idk

56. want - spring break to not end

57. get married - maybe? i’m not fundamentally against it but it’s not a life goal either, whatever happens happens

58. career - i wish i knew

WHICH IS BETTER

59. kisses or hugs - not to expose myself but i don’t really think i have enough experience to judge this fairly

60. 👄 or eyes - eyes

61. shorter or taller - taller, someone’s gotta be able to reach stuff

62. older or younger - older ig

63. nice arms or stomach - very situational but i guess stomach

64. hookup or relationship - relationship

65. troublemaker or hesitant - is hesitant the opposite of troublemaker? look i’m a goody two shoes but also jokes are fun so idk

HAVE YOU EVER

66. 😘 a stranger - no

67. drank hard liquor - no lmao

68. lost glasses - i don’t think so? i think i lost a lens out of a pair though dfjksljf

69. turned someone down - in like middle school i think

70. sex on first date - no

71. broken someone’s ❤️ - uh ouch i don’t think so? not as far as i know

72. had your 💔 - my fourth grade self would say yes jfkdsjlhfj

73. been arrested - read: goody two shoes

74. 😢 when someone died - this is gonna sound really bad but i don’t think so? i don’t really cry over major things, just dumb stuff

75. fallen for a friend - l m a o that’s all i do, local bi disaster here

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

76. yourself - uhhh i try

77. miracles - i like to

78. 💛 at first sight - not love no

79. 🎅 - my dad would say he’s the spirit of christmas so i’ll go with that

80. 😘 on a first date - depends on the situation

81. angels - fits in my general philosophy of “how should i know”

other

82. best friend’s name - not gonna expose myself or them lmao

83. eye color - not to be That Person but they’re like every color, mostly bluish-greenish though

84. favorite movie - god i’m so bad about movies, uhhh coco was really good

85. favorite actor - i have no idea

[ratretro]

Title: Obstacles

Pairing: NaLu

Prompt: NaLu Angst Week 2018 - Obstacles

Rating: M; Ages 18+!

None of these characters are owned by me, they are all owned by the wonderful Hiro Mashima!

A/N:

I hope this came out well because I wanted to make it kind of fun and kind of awful

But the good kind of awful

Idk my angst game is weak rn im sorry tbh

Of course it happens right as angst week writing begins lmao heres an arranged marriage au for you all

also I won’t be doing tomorrows prompt unless i have time to complete it ive got some stuff to work out

FF.net

           The male beside her had eyes the shade of the night sky on the new moon; cold and empty. His hand was resting comfortably on her hip, but she’d felt his fingers twitch each time she walked by. The she Lucy was referring to was not herself, but a smaller girl on the other side of the room. The girl with the flowing, soft blonde hair that fell in waves with ribbons adorning both sides of her head in perfect symmetry. Her gown was a shade of pink that reminded Lucy distinctly of cherry blossoms, and though it was elegant she could tell the fabric was lightweight and the design specifically made to appear as though it matched the overall feel of the party. This made sense considering Mavis was cunning, and tactful. She needed to be quick on the floor, but she also needed to blend in. She was her father’s advisor, and an outstanding one if this party wasn’t a testament to her hard work.

             The manor they lived in was all shimmering gold, and sparkling wine. The chandeliers were perfectly lit, and every bulb had been replaced in light of tonight’s event. Once again, her husband’s hand twitched as the sprite of a girl passed. Lucy didn’t much care on the transgressions of her husband. They’d made an agreement after all. That didn’t stop her from glowering at him. He was an idiot, and it was like he wanted to get caught. In truth, he probably did. Then he could stop the charade and be with the woman he actually loved. However, that wouldn’t do well for Lucy. Her father would just find another man to marry her to and she couldn’t have that. She may have wished it in the beginning, but too much was at stake now. Her father wouldn’t care if the male beside her was having an affair, but to bring public shame to the family would be a disgrace.

             “Careful, darling.” She placed emphasis on the pet name, and once more her smile full of lies graced her face. “You’ll get us caught.” She mumbled below her breath to keep their conversation from being overheard.

             “The only reason I agreed to your deal is my brother. Otherwise, I would have left with her long ago.” He muttered back to her. His tone having shifted from ‘overly excitable husband’ to ‘don’t get cocky’ in a matter of seconds. Two could play at this game.

             “I know that. I don’t care. Don’t. Get. Caught.” Each word was said through gritted teeth.

             “Oh my! Look at the happy couple!” it was her aunt Supetto for the third time that evening. “You look marvelous, my dear!”

             Her cheeks turned a shade of rosy pink as she knelt to her aunt’s height, and gently gripped her hands. “As do you, auntie.” The two separated, and she watched her aunt wander back out to the floor. She’d certainly be back.

             “You say I’ll get us caught. His face has been the epitome of ‘don’t touch her’ all night.” Shots fired. He was right though, Natsu had been throwing a silent tantrum since they’d descended the stairs arm in arm, with smiles of a happy couple. She didn’t want this anymore than he did. Zeref’s hand returned to her hip and pulled her just an inch closer. They’d come up with a system in their closeness. This marriage was one of necessity and convenience. Neither wanted this, but still. Zeref couldn’t shame the Dragneel name, and neither could she to the Heartfilia Konzern. Both would be inevitable as the affairs they both engaged in continued. And yet the pair of them felt addicted to their other half.

             “Surely, we could separate for a moment.” It was a suggestion that Zeref posed nearly every political event. He couldn’t stand to be there like some exhibit for very long, and truth be told Lucy couldn’t stand to have someone other than him touching her.

             “Surely, we could.” She echoed, and the pair separated. Both gave each other their signature smiles, and that lingering glance that they’d practiced and become sufficient at. It was like when she had played pretend as a child. Her performances could give a professional entertainer a run for their money. She crept down a small hallway that normally led towards the restroom, but instead of entering the ladies’ room she ventured to the left. The door shut softly behind her, and there she waited.

             It wouldn’t be long now, she hoped. And she was right. She heard his stomping before he even entered the room, but once he did she felt like her skin was on fire. Her father was insistent on marrying into a family of dragons for the status, and the fame but she’d always wondered what his thought process was on that. Did he think they’d be controlled? Impossible.

             “Natsu, could you please turn down the furnace. It’s rather hot.” She teased. Though, from the look on his face it was clear he was past the ‘joking to ease tension’ phase. Dragons were peculiar that way. They got insanely territorial over what they felt was theirs. It was how she’d first noticed Zeref’s feelings for Mavis, and it was how she’d discovered Natsu’s for her. She had been drawn to the mysterious air of the elder Dragneel, but immediately felt he was too tense, and stuffy. Natsu had been like a breath of fresh air in the spring. Zeref felt like a cloudy day with a one hundred percent chance of rain and high humidity. Yet, Mavis loved him with everything she had. To each their own, she supposed. Her own was right in front of her.

             Natsu wasn’t about to just let Lucy slide with a joke like he normally did. He’d watched them practice flirting, and getting the timing of their own lies together the entire night. That hadn’t bothered him, much, but the one thing he’d forgotten in his entire time with Lucy was that their parents had expectations. His father expected Lucy to bear the next heir of the Dragneel name, and of course Lucy’s father expected the same. He’d heard them practice what to say to their respective father’s, but both had become silent. Every single one of them knew that the argument wouldn’t hold out.

             Zeref’s eyes had been the color of blood red, and Lucy couldn’t even bother to face him. She couldn’t bear to tell him the truth, and he knew that. He knew that one day she would have to bear the child of his brother. It was either that, or she get sold to some other high ranking socialite. Zeref could easily sway their father to choose Mavis, but he hadn’t out of respect for Natsu. Natsu appreciated it in ways his brother would never truly understand, but Zeref was at his breaking point. It wouldn’t be long before he called it quits, and Lucy knew that too.

             They continued to refuse each other in this small room. Natsu never moving towards her, and Lucy staring into her hands like they were the most interesting thing in the world. He couldn’t stand it any longer. The tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. He moved towards her, and the movement startled Lucy into looking up.

             She could barely see through blurred vision as the water pooled, threatening to spill over. His hand touched her cheek, and she could feel the weathered skin, and each scar across the tips of his fingers and his palm. A tear slid when her eyes closed and she relaxed into his touch. His thumb ran under her eye to brush the liquid from her cheek.

             Not even a single tear should stain her cheeks. He’d decided this when they first began their arrangement, but that was then, and this was now. He couldn’t make this better. The greed of her father far outdid that of a dragon. He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment, but he highly doubted he could ever think something nice of Lucy’s old man.

             “Stop cryin’, Luce. It’ll be alright.” She gripped his suit jacket tightly and nodded before tugging him against her. Her forehead nuzzled softly into his chest.

             “I know. I’ve been thinking lately… what if we all just ran away? Me, you, Zeref, and Mavis. Couldn’t we just leave?” if she cried anymore she’d ruin her makeup. Appearance was everything. She had to keep up appearance.

             “That wouldn’t solve a damn thing. My father would hunt us to the ends of the earth, and so would yours.” That didn’t mean he didn’t want to, because fuck did he want to. He could run to hell and back as long as it was her by his side. But they couldn’t. They couldn’t just leave.

             “What if—” she stopped herself. One ‘what if’ was all she could afford. Any more than that, and she’d have actual hope. His rough hand gently raised her chin up to look at him, and he pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead.

             “I love ya. And if that means I gotta fight an army to keep ya then I will.” She didn’t want him to. Anything that would hurt him, she could never forgive. Even if it was herself.

             “Please don’t. I don’t want you to get hurt, idiot.” She lifted to her tip toes, and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was soft like it always was, he mused. Her lips were sticky from the lip gloss she’d chosen. It tasted like watermelon. She had always liked those flavored ones, and he couldn’t help but agree. He licked her bottom lip, and she giggled – a real giggle – for the first time that night. The sound was like music to his ears. His own private symphony.

             He pressed his head into her neck, and his hands gripped her hips. She gave a small gasp that had him growling softly. Then, a scent rose to his nose. It was buried beneath her floral perfume. He was glad she chose the softest one she had in her array of scents. It hadn’t taken the heiress long to learn the sensitivity of a dragon’s nose, and since then had only worn soft scents that smelled of vanilla or a flower shop. Today was the flower shop. Still, that wasn’t the problem. No, his problem lay under that.

             Lucy noticed quickly the change from playful growl to territorial growl. She froze on the spot, and then she waited. Territorial Natsu could sometimes be a hassle, between sibling rivalry, and his disgust about their situation it often gave her trouble. Tonight, for example, he likely smelled Zeref on her skin. They’d had to do a ‘lover’s embrace’ in front of their fathers. Complete with longingly staring into each other’s eyes, and happy smiles. They joked about how disgusting it was later.

             In another life, she and Zeref would have been friends. She thought so anyway. Here they had a mutual partnership. One that likely wouldn’t make it much farther. It was just as she thought. They should all just run away.

             Natsu’s breath on the crook of her neck distracted her from her thoughts, and she tensed while a shiver ran down her spine.

             “Your father sucks.” He muttered, resting his forehead to her collarbone, and gently pushing her backward. It wasn’t long before she bumped into the desk at the far back of the office. This idiot was going to try that in a place like this.

             “He does. But you know what’s worse?” she was setting him up for a joke. Just like when she’d entered, but his brain didn’t want to hear it. Her dress had been distracting him all night, and with the scent of Zeref on it that was making it all the more irritating. It was tight, black and boy did it fit her like the perfect sized glove. He shivered the second his fingers caressed the fabric. His hands were gripping her hips again, which in turn made her nervous. She’d chosen the dress with slits on both sides with the purpose of riling him up, but she didn’t mean for right now, she’d meant for later. When they were alone in their chambers, and the party goers had gone.

             “Hmmm.” The sound vibrated against her neck as a tongue lashed out to lick her skin. A whimper slipped through her lips, and the grip on her hips tightened.

             “Happy’s going to destroy the furniture before we get back.” She deflected to the feline for aid in distracting Natsu from his current activities.

             “And when he does we’ll confiscate his prized fish as punishment.” A gasp of horror came from her body, but he was more than aware that she was joking. Soon, another giggle erupted through her ribcage.

             “And then we’ll have to buy a new couch. Again.” She mumbled.

             “What can I say. He really liked the old one.” Natsu wasn’t distracted one bit. In fact, his lips were kissing trails up her neck, and she was doing her best to hold it together.

             “For someone who owns a cat, you’re such a sly dog.” He bit into her neck softly, but she got the feeling that if he ever could, he’d leave nothing but marks on her pale skin to show everyone who she was with. She was his, and he was hers. This situation just complicated matters was all. Lucy rocked her hips into his, and he grunted.

             “Dragon. I. Am. A. Dragon. We are majestic!” he groaned loudly in annoyance with her terms, and she supposed he was right, but she wanted to make the joke, and so here they were.

             “Yes, a mighty dragon. He who lays claim to all treasure.” She had deepened her voice, and added a tone that sounded a lot like a story narrator.

             “If we lay claim to all treasure, then you’re mine. You’re my pile of golden coins.” He brought her hand to his lips, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She flared a vibrant red, and her face felt like it was on fire all the way up to the tips of her ears.

             Their lips met again, but this time more urgent. Her fingers dug into his hair, and his hands finally found their way to her thighs. He squeezed one as he slid his other hand up her inner thigh to reach the seething warmth. A shaky sigh left her lips, and with one touch to the clothed flesh she was throwing her head back, and biting her lip to keep from making a sound.

             His grin was devilish as the finger began to rub up, and then down. Up. Down. Up. Down. He continued the slow pace, and the deliberate stroking even as her grip on his hair tightened. She breathed, and his name flowed out. His finger stopped abruptly, and he pulled it back. Then, once more a searing kiss to her lips.

             A knock at the door startled her from her haze. She froze in fear until she saw the look of irritation on Natsu’s sharp features.

             “We’ve got to get back.” Zeref’s voice echoed from behind the door, and she nearly cursed before pushing past the pinkette. She straightened up her appearance before hanging her head and mumbling something. Natsu had heard her, and all be damned he was a dragon. And wasn’t it a dragon’s duty to kidnap the princess and hide her where she’d never be found again? Her hand pressed to his chest, and she left him with a soft, lingering kiss. It was so pure and tender. It was so full of love that it nearly ripped out his heart to watch her leave arm in arm with Zeref.

             With her lingering glance on him as she left he silently promised the world would fear the wrath of Natsu Dragneel if it meant he could live a full life with her.

[insomniac-arrest]

Little Lights

genre: original, sci-fi, wlw

words: 7k

summary: a girl on a floating continent communicates with a girl on the ground through floating lanterns

they try to reach each other

 The first one appeared on my 7th birthday, I had seen them before but hadn’t been allowed to join the procession until that year.

My hair was tied back in complex knots and I pulled on them regularly, trying to dislodge the tight coils and chew on the ends. It was a bad habit, my mom had been trying to cut the habit out of me for years (at nine she would threaten me with a spritz bottle).

I tugged on my hair coils and stared up the night sky as my mother fiddled with her high-tech camera, she had wanted to be a photographer at one point when she was younger. My father was still trying to find the ‘perfect’ patch of grass for us to settle on.

I held my mother’s skirts as I stared up at the approaching mass in the sky, dark and shimmering as it hefted across the sky like a rolling tangible storm. I was aware of the floating continents at that point, but it was still making me suck in my breath.

I sucked on my bottom lip instead of my hair and try to keep my eyes fixated on the glowing jagged shapes miles away. I had some eminent sense that if I blinked the whole thing would fall from the sky or disappear altogether.

My sister called me a fanciful girl at that age, but that was one of the nicest things she called me overall.

I kept my hand latched onto my mother’s skirt, her fingers ticking over the different filters on her camera and cursing softly, not loud enough for me to overhear, but I filled in the gaps. My sister was with her first boyfriend that year, somewhere high up, close enough she said to almost touch the bottom of it.

I doubted that. I didn’t believe anything could reach that high, my mouth falls open as the rumbling machine gently glides closer and closer. I had always known about floating continents, I see the lights first.

Honey yellow, glacial blue, cherry lipstick red, tangerine orange, all the crayon colors I could think of and more, they lit up one by one as hovering fairy lights against the dark. It was a dream of a dream and my eyes itched as I refused to look away.

The continent was poised against the last last tendrils of the setting sun and I could see buildings and trees outlined in a fantastical twisting design. And the lights.

My mother told me this happened every nine months or so, but I wasn’t listening, the fairy lights, lanterns, gently, slowly, were released from the darkness, lights carried on the breeze.

My eyes trace dipping patterns of glowing paper as they glide soundlessly out, cheering erupts around me as people whoop and clap for the release.

My eyes are drawn to a light pink one, pansy pink, kissed sunset pale pink, pink like my little fairy princess set.

“Mommy!” I say shrilly, hotly, “that one’s for me.” My mother sticks her bottom lip out, “Winnie-” She warns.

I release her skirts, “I have to go get it!”

“Winnie!” She grabs for the back of my green hood, “you’ll miss the paper airplanes, don’t you want to see-” They told me I was too young for a paper airplane anyway, I block out the rest of what she says, which was probably a deep groan as I dart into the cheering crowd.

Skirts and rustling coat tails flow around my small head and I ignore them, I had to keep my eyes on the light pink lantern, it was twisting gently in the sky with all the others

“Winnie!”

I duck my head under a low fence and feel the grass on my knees as I run away from the glow of the festival. “Come here little light!”

I almost scrape the palms of my hands as I scramble up and start sprinting up the side of the hill where only a smattering of people had perched, but my pink lantern was floating down slowly, slower than the others. Just gasping over the ground. I hear cries as people start to catch them.

“Here!” I reach my little arms in the air and flail them back and forth; the pink was far above my head. I run around in large circles as I try to guess where it is going to drop. I start to whine as it picks up and floats far above the others. Almost gone.

“Please,” I plead with it, “don’t be difficult.” That’s a phrase my grandma was always using, I reach up on my tiptoes. The pink lantern falls, my fingers curl around the sun panel on the very bottom

My entire face lights up, heart soaring, fingers clasping around the cool panel that held the lantern up. I tumble backward onto my backside as I grab the sides and fall back down to the earth

“Yes!” I can feel the grass staining the back of my light green fancy jacket. My heart is pounding in my chest, the lantern was pink poppies, sweet jam, I can see the little note inside.

“RELEASE!” I hear the cannon shot, I just catch the end of the ceremony, the little metro area launching thousands of colorful paper airplanes back at the floating cloud city. I hear cheering as people up there must be trying to catch them too.

I can’t stop smiling, “hello little light.” I reach inside, avoiding the tinted LED light bulb and curiously taking out a piece of paper.

The piece of paper wasn’t the point of the exercise for me, but I squint at it anyway. I knew some people sent things down with their light.

Dear anyone,

It was written with curling alternating colors, like a rainbow with each letter delicately formed and chosen. I was impressed.

I hope you get this!!! My name is Iris, this is my lanturn :) It’s the same color as my play kit and I piked it out myself.

I have 2 parents and 1 cat. He is a fat cat named Marshmellow and I wished he would have kittens, mommy says he can’t. I feel very sorry for him when he mews to go outside and we don’t let him outside

I would want to go outside if I was a cat- even if I couldn’t swim or pet dogs.

I go to scool every day and want to be an artist or detektiv one day, I have a magnifying glass and 2 crimes already

One is who stole Stacy’s bike (not me) and the second is who nocked over the grass hut I built

Here some of the grass I found at the scene!

Pleese enjoy my lanturn, my mom says this is a very specile time of year and I really really want someone to find it and keep it like in the movies

PS- do you have a cat? Has it had kittens?

PSS- do you think breakfast cereal is okay to eat out of a big cup? I think it’s a weird but okay

PSSS- please be careful with my lite! I spend very time on it and I hope you love it too :D

I held the note to my chest as I lie on my back and watch the last of the lanterns and paper airplanes fall to earth. The music is already increasing behind me as the rest of the night heats up with noise and clattering feat.

My dad wanted to show me how to do a cartwheel.

Instead I start to wonder how I was going to tell Iris that I got her lantern.

------

I was grounded for two weeks after I ran away during the festival and stained my nice clothes. I don’t mind being grounded because it just means I don’t go outside and can’t use the internet.

I can still use my toys and paint programs on my computer systems and mommy doesn’t take down my fort, so I’m okay. She doesn’t know why I like my fortress so much anyway. I didn’t stop crying for a week after they took it down the first time, so I can keep it in the corner of my room as long as I don’t try and bring it to the living room again.

I prefer having it in the living room since the couch holds the blankets up better, but the lamp in my room works pretty good anyway as long as no one runs into it.

I crawl inside the soft insides of my fort and I start writing back to Iris immediately.

Dear Iris,

I sit for a very long time as I excitedly go over what I want to tell her. I have my sister check all the spelling before I try and write it out sentence by sentence.

I found your lamp!! It is the best color, I love pink, it’s my favorite color. How old are you? You sound like you’re about my age. That’s good, I don’t have a lot of kids my own age.

That wasn’t exactly true, but it was true enough. I didn’t consider myself part of the ‘losers’ but I knew people didn’t think I was very popular. I didn’t have a group, sometimes I really really wished I had ‘a group.’

I keep writing to Iris.

I don’t have a cat, my mommy is allergic and sneezes a bunch when she gets near one. It’s bad. There aren’t too many pets down here, how many pets are there up there??

Do you really eat clouds up there? (my sister told me not to ask this but she doesn’t know more than me. She only gets normal points, I get lots of class points for my group (which is green banana))

Do you like living up there? Is it windy?

I sometimes eat cereal out of the big mugs when everyone forgets to do dishes and I don’t say anything since sometimes I’m the reason no one did dishes. I eat out of big mugs then, I don’t think it’s weird. Mine has scooby doo on it! Do you like scooby doo? You like detective stuff, so I hope so.

Tell me what happens with your crime!!! I sniffed the grass but couldn’t find any clues.

Please write back soon!

My name is Winifred, which isn’t a good name, and my mommy calls me Winnie and my uncle calls me Freddi for fun. But I want to be ‘Lumin’ since it means light and my favorite God (Apollo!!) is the light God. I like mythology and magic and shows about animals a whole lot, I like your light!!

I hope I hear from you soon.

-Winnie

My sister says it’s too long and rambling, but I don’t know what rambling exactly means so I just ignore her. She says I need to make real friends and I tell her that Iris is my friend.

I was eight that year.

I was going to find Iris.

---------

I didn’t find Iris. It turned out there were a lot of Iris’s on the continent of Tritos, I told my mom I was going to write all of them and she told me I could try. If I did my homework first.

They want me to a lot more testing, a lot more than the other kids. I notice, I’m not sure if they want me to notice or not, I don’t think it’s a secret.

Ms. Kamau keeps me after school sometimes and has me take these quizzes that ask me things like which graphs make sense and what kind of money I would make. I like the part where I make stuff up like money, I’m little sick of telling them that their graphs suck though.

I don’t really want to be in the ‘separate’ class by myself, I had always been in the separate class and it was little jarring to be more separate than even the separate class.

It makes it hard to go to the library after school and look up the names of all the people in the cloud cities. There were a lot of cloud cities at this point, and even more Iris’s.

My dad asks me why I have a giant book on my lap, typing emails in from the directory and looking up the different names. I tell him that Iris needs to know, she needs to know someone found her lantern like she wanted.

I write a second letter in only pink pen.

Dear Iris, I get sad sometimes, do you get sad? Please tell me what your favorite music is. I like the ones where it’s quiet and you can’t always understand the words.

It’s pretty dark tonight, another continent is coming overhead, but they aren’t our sister. That’s what my mother said, so there are no lanterns. Just night. It’s kind of sad because I can’t imagine what you’re up to, like waking up in the morning and eating cereal and putting your hair up. My mom makes me put my hair up now. Do you have uniforms up there in sky cities?

Please tell me if you have any more mysteries to solve.

From,

Winnie.

-------

It takes three years before I get in contact with Iris again, I had twelve letters at the time, some were better than others. I settle on three and a picture of our home and my family, I hoped she would like those (and she wasn’t a creep).

I got to put my hair up myself that year, the lantern festival was back, the year before that I had been sick during the night and the year before that I couldn’t find her lantern. I checked every pink one in the area, but maybe she changed colors.

I was ten.

Instead, this year I was going to send up the brightest airplane in the night sky, I had been working on the motor for months now. I was in the separate separate class of just sometimes just me, sometimes they let me join just the one separate class. But not always 

They let me work on whatever project I want in there, so I decided I wanted to create a tiny motor for my airplane, so it would stand out.

It says Iris in giant purple letters on top, the paper itself is a vibrant pink, just the same hue as hers. I know on some level I should be ‘moving on’ as my sister insisted, but some things are worth seeing to the end. That’s what my dad said, my mom just nodded at him. They were getting a stipend now to have me do the extra classes.

They always want little scientists, that’s who made the floating continents in the first place and solved overpopulation and the poison in the dirt. Some of the dirt is poisoned but the dirt up there isn’t now, so it solved a couple problems.

I’m not sure how I feel about all the science, but I feel like I can warm up to all the numbers when they leave me alone with them. They’re simple, like a game I can solve. This was another problem I could solve.

The motor came out of that, numbers and drawings and a puzzle I can solve. I tell Iris all this in my third letter, that I still like my classes but I wish they let me do more stories about Apollo. I send her one of my short stories about him and Helios, they both want to ride the sun across the sky but can’t. I ask her about Marshmallow and what she did all day up there.

I make sure to put a streamer on the back of my airplane, everyone loved the ones with streamers.

I make it to the festival early and avoid anyone trying to get my attention and ask me when I was going to take the PISA and get placed. I told them I didn’t want to do either, The Qualifier could wait.

I find a spot on the grass behind my older sister and her new boyfriend as we stare up at the sky. Titros rolls through the sky, the hover panels reflect off the ground and glow softly, the lights of the city are turned off one by one.

“They do that for us,” Bee’s boyfriend says sweetly and tucks my sister’s hair behind her ear. “They want us to see the lights.” I try not to look down at my sister and her boyfriend, my face is already hot from seeing my sister even giggle at one of his dumb jokes. At least this boy is sweet.

My mom is taking pictures again, standing at the very top of a craggy peak, we’re waving at her as she stands with a giant smile on her face. I loved seeing her like that.

I wave until my arm is tired and she still doesn’t see me, that was okay, Titros is almost at our doorstep, I hold my breath as the lantern lights are turned on one by one.

“Here it comes!” I sing over the noise and my sister glances over her shoulder with pursed lips at me, she was doing that a lot more now, pursed lips like a coin purse locking. I almost miss the yelling.

“Are you going to catch another one this year Winnie?” Chege asks me politely.

I just nod fervently, “I’ll try.” The lights come down like falling stars one by one, little tear drops from the darkness, slowly at first until they were a cascade of color and light. People down below are wagging their hands above them frantically as they try to catch a good luck lantern.

Most of them had special patterns and little words of encouragement and phrases, many had letters within. Some letters were greetings or wishes and secrets they couldn’t tell anyone else or even class assignments they wanted to get rid of. Some unlucky person sometimes got a prank lantern, but I preferred not to think about those- the fake ones.

I try to survey the sky for pink ones, but my hopes were a little down, there was a high chance she would switch patterns by now. She didn’t even know I existed in the first place, my heart sinks at that thought and I bite my lip.

I still liked to chew on things, but it’s mostly gum and toothpicks now, my sister assures me neither of those things are cool.

I sit a little numbly as people reach and reach toward the lanterns and catch them in a flurry of limbs and laughter, cheering. I watch as Chege jogs purposefully to bright red one, a heart in the very center, my sister squeals as he presents the heart-lantern to her. I have to look away again.

I watch as the lanterns dangle and dip, this isn’t what I was waiting for though, I hold my breath again as I hear the second little jingle of silver noise, a blast. Windchimes and a cannon release.

“There it goes!” I jump to my feet to watch as my sister was busy embracing her boyfriend, I run to get the best view as the blast fills the air. The stream of little paper planes arches just high enough to reach the floating continent, more whooping follows.

I run, chasing the arch as long as a snaking river, I spot the white of my streamer just in time: Iris! It says, Iris!

I can only pray she sees it, the people are just waving outlines above us, wiggling stick figures with one voice and one gasping mob. I couldn’t even imagine what Iris looked like, what she saw in the morning, what she thought about when she went to bed.

I watch as outstretched fingers I can’t see start to catch the little planes one by one.

Catch it.

I pray to something indistinct and nameless, something that must make the lanterns float in the first place.

Please catch it.

I chase the planes until I am breathless and sweating out of every pour, my chest heaves try to see something that isn’t there. I imagine her ripping her airplane open to see my letters snugly placed there, I imagine she is relieved- someone had got her lantern all that time ago.

I pray.

----

I am eleven, I get the first best surprise I could ever wish for. An IM.

The tests are coming fast and furious now, for the first time I am struggling in school and wish I was outside doing anything else.

My sister is listening to happy music and my mom is developing more photos, she got one of the festival where the lights were reflecting off a toddler's cheek as they shrieked at their first Lantern Celebration. I don’t know what she sees in it, but she keeps looking.

My father is trying to get a hot tub for the backyard, it’s a very long process that I think it taking more time than strictly necessary. The hot tub was being bought from my stipends.

They aren’t talking to me like they used to, I wished terribly to talk to somebody but I feel like my tongue is made of moonrock even when I’m around the other kids. There was too much competition, too many points and tally’s and names written in line on the board.

My name is always at the top.

I close my eyes every night and try to think about what Iris is doing, what I tell her if we ever talk. I might lie a little bit, I won’t tell her my ranking.

It’s a nice fantasy.

That’s why I almost leap out of my skin when I see a new IM on the family computer locked into the living room wall. It pings brightly with little white notification in the corner and I pass in front of it before I head off to school.

I assume it’s for my sister, for some assignment from a classmate or some friend that wants to go to the mall. Maybe a boy she turned away.

The day goes by like every other day: they let me do independent study for an hour, always building something. I like building things but the joy of it kind of soured after my motor didn’t seem to make a difference last festival.

I have no idea if I actually did anything or not.

I poke and prod at the electronic bits of a cube that can tell you the weather at any place in the world. It was pretty as it was superfluous.

I see another ping on my handheld phone at school.

I blink a couple times at that, a family IM was one thing, I blink again, but this meant it was for me. I sit up straight in my chair and make sure no one is paying attention to me. Ash seems to be consumed in her robotics project and the teacher is helping Tumanai.

I quickly poked at the ping to see where the message was from, my eyes go wide. IW. IW from international satellite coordinated in the middle of the Pacific.

My heart leaps into my throat, that had to be a floating continent. It had to be her.

I thrust my hand in the air.

“Can I go to the bathroom?” I almost shout it at the top of my lungs, the class looks at me but I stopped caring what I thought after the day they threw all my pencils out the window on SAT day last year.

My teacher adjusts her glasses, “What’s that Miss Otiena?” I scrunch my nose up, “I need to go home.” “You just said bathroom,” Ash hisses at me, I make a face at her.

“I feel awful.” I slump down on my desk, my teacher adjusts her glasses again.

Brief haggling follows, but I had never asked to be excused before, never asked for any favors. She had no choice but to believe me, she didn’t even bother calling my parents, I was eleven now. And separate.

I run home with my pulse throbbing in my wrist and eyes wide, it could be a false call, it could be a prank, it could be that I had finally lost it.

I run home and put up a pile of blankets between the chair and the couch. An impromptu fort.

The little light glows in my face, I wipe my sweaty palms down, my finger trembles as I push down on the answer button.

A message dings up immediately.

“Hello!” My computer offers to read it out loud for me, I decline. “This is Iris.” I close the program immediately, taking deep heaving breaths.

“She’s here,” I bury my smiling face in my hand, “She’s here, she’s here!” I couldn’t help it, I had been waiting. Iris. Iris Wegener it said.

I bite my lip and wish I had something to chew through, I had her name, her whole name. And she knew I was someone.

I almost start to dance, she had gotten my plane! The world is somehow bright and larger than it ever had been before.

It takes several more minutes before I can even think about opening the IM again. My whole body was tensing, I remember about reading an article about expectations. Some part of me hadn’t thought this would ever work.

What would I fantasize about after this? What if I made it bad? 

I take deep rattling breaths, I had worked for this. I couldn’t keep Iris waiting, not anymore. I open her messages again.

IW: hello Winnie!

There were less exclamations points now.

IW: I’m sorry it took me so long to respond, I had to go through a couple of bargaining chips to get my parents to believe this is real.

IW: but… it feels real.

IW: you were seven when you got my lantern? That’s so embarrassing, I barely remember what I wrote. But… thank you. I was pretty excited when I saw an entire plane with my name on it. I almost lost it!

IW: I don’t know what I’m writing, I’m sorry.

IW: anyway, my name is Iris Wegener. I’m thirteen this week :), Marshmallow passed when I was nine sadly :(, I like horses though I’ve never seen one. I don’t like Game Shows since they seem so fake, I don’t really want to be a detective now.

IW: I’m sorry you feel sad sometimes.

My mouth is fully open now, Iris had responded. Iris had responded a lot, she was almost my age. She liked horses, she didn’t game shows! She was a real person, not something I just made up.

I close my computer and lie on my back, I trace the lines I remember of Tritos with my fingers on the bedsheet above my head. The outline of the continent stands out in my mind’s eye.

“Iris,” I mouth the word. I don’t know what to say back.

----

I don’t know to say back, I figure it would come to me, so I sleep on it. But it doesn’t come, not the next day or the day after that.

Iris keeps messaging me.

IW: hey, I’m sorry if I said anything weird

IW: I hope I got the right number, maybe you lost your phone or your parents took it when they ground you :(

IW: that sometimes happens to me, my mom calls me a troublemaker. I’m locked up in my room right now, I don’t know what her problem is >:(

IW: I don’t feel like a troublemaker, but it’s always this or that, detention for talking in class, detention for running in the halls, detention for writing my essay with The Truth

IW: I mean, everyone knows the The Fifth War was started by a systematic flaws of any era built on blood and exploitation

IW: It’s not news!

IW: anyway… I’m sorry if I said anything to offend you

 IW: I think

IW: I think the plane is the sweetest thing that’s ever happened to me.

That was the first day, I read it over breaks, over dinner, smiling it down on my lap as my father tries to ask me about my studies and my sister rolls her eyes. I read it before bed, first once, and then what felt like twenty times.

I liked Iris Wegener.

I need to say something cool to her.

IW: Day three!

IW: I’m still freaking grounded, it sucks so hard

IW: do you ever get grounded? I hope you are right now

IW: oh dang, that sounds bad, I just mean I hope you message me, the computer says this is the right address

IW: who do you think was the most handsome member of the Imperialist Russian dynasty? I’m doing a project

IW: the headline is ‘Hottie or Romin-notty?’ It’s a thinkpiece

I didn’t get any more messages until the next day.

IW: I got double grounded!! My mother must not agree that Ivan the Terrible was a notty

IW: This is probably why you aren’t IMing back lol

My heart fell at that, I needed to say something. I need something, I need to tell her that I think she’s funny and that I think we’d have fun if we went to school together. My head falls, I wished so bad for a moment we went to school together.

My thoughts go blank as I try to make the first move, to say anything. It doesn’t come to me that whole week.

Iris keeps going.

IW: here’s a picture of a dog: [FILE PICTURE]

IW: does this make me normal? I honestly don’t want you to think I’m that weird

IW: here’s a list of my favorite members of V-W in order of best hair to worst personality:

Iris was bored and interesting, and I was interested and boring. I couldn’t figure out when any of these lines could be intersected.

It would be three months until the next Festival.

Iris kept writing.

----

Iris liked boy bands, she owned 27 arm bands, she wrote papers that made her teachers angry, she wanted to study zoology sometimes, and sometimes she wants to be a bakery chef.

She was in the normal class.

She hated asparagus and loved salty things ranging from fried chips to plain peanuts out of a jar. She loved the color grey now, the type that was almost silver, she wanted to paint her room that color and carpets, but her mom wouldn’t let her.

She didn’t have any siblings, but her friend Holly was almost there she argued.

Her parents circled her like a vulture sniffing for problems.

It was a month before the next festival, I was working harder than I ever worked before. I had my new project. Iris was telling me something else now.

It was 2 in the morning, I was still looking at phone, going over numbers in my head, going over the test scores. My parents would get more stipends the higher I reached. And then the next step, The Qualifier.

I didn’t want to think about The Qualifier.

My phone pinged, I turn my phone over as quickly as I can.

IW: sometimes I feel like nothing I do is good enough for her

IW: I couldn’t buy birthday flowers for her, she’s ‘allergic’

IW: it doesn’t matter if I try

IW: none of it makes her happy, do you ever worry about that Winnie? IW: that you’ll never be good enough

IW: Winnie?

I hold the phone close to my chest and imagine the next words I would write back if I could.

WO: I feel that sometimes Iris, I think it’s normal. WO: I think you’re the best thing that’s happened to me, please don’t think that of yourself. You don’t have to be good enough

WO: everything about you

WO: is good

I wrap my fingers around the little box, right up against my thumping heart, and fall asleep like that.

-----

Iris goes slightly quiet the couple days before the festival, I try not to let it bother me, I was busy enough as it was. This had to be perfect.

I had all my responses from the last couple months saved up.

The first was an apology, it was on flower paper and a little crying laughing face.

The paper reads briefly:

Hey Iris,

I wanted to say something cool! But I wait too long and the pressure kept building up! I’m so sorry. I know this isn’t cool either.

-Winnie

If Iris stopped messaging me after that then that’s how it would be, but I had to clear the air. I had to try again.

I’m sweating in the dead of summer as our sister continent came sweeping across the horizon, bleeding into the night and showing itself just as the sun went down. My mouth is dry and tasteless, I would be fourteen that year.

It felt so strangely routine compared to the wonder of being seven and struggling for the single light in the sky. It had felt like it had to happen at the time, that it was always going to, but here I was, a mess in all regards. Not messaging back.

I am in the launch prep room right up to the final bell, tinkering, adjusting, trying to figure out what to really say.

There are five letters stuffed into the fat airplane this time, I hope they stay fixed in there after everything. My jaw hurts from clenching when I go to the Festival Master and give her my plane, she examines it skeptically for a moment.

The little motor and basket on it’s back are both off model, she shrugs anyway, almost smiling in a knowing way. She places my plane right next to all the others.

I exhale.

My phone trembles in my hand, waiting. The lanterns had already fallen, only the planes were left. I run outside and I’m typing as fast as I can, before my thoughts catch up to me.

WO: Iris, look up!

I don’t know where I get the courage, but my fingers are flying over the letters.

WO: Please look up!

The blast of air tickles my neck, a twinkle of wind chimes fills the air as thousands of little airplanes are pushed high into the sky. Shot toward the continent and waiting crowds.

My plane is slightly higher than the others, I see the mechanisms clicking in my mind’s eye, igniting the tails of the string. Lighting up the little plane as it let out the series of purple sparks. The sparks fizzle and boom, twisting into large colorful letters.

Iris!

It wrote the letters in curling, carving sparkles that filled the sky. I wished I had more to say but the white and glowing Iris hangs in the air with a rainbow of color and series of pops.

I exhale again, hoping the rest of the plane makes it there after the fireworks were released. I hope she looked up.

I take a moment to lie down and feel the crowds churning around me, my mother was nowhere to be seen, my father was putting together our new hover car somewhere. My sister was eating ice cream with her friends over her friend’s latest breakup.

I was lying on my back, looking up, panting, phone clutched in my fingers as I wait.

I told myself I didn’t care if she messages back after that, but my phone hangs empty and quite next to me. I feel pinpricks on the edges of my eyes, I strangle the feeling as it rises up.

She had every right to be mad, I hold the phone harder. I tell myself she never has to talk to me again, my cheeks are flushed and wet.

Ping

I let the stress tears roll out before wiping at them, before rolling over frantically to open up the IM.

IW: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh

IW: I DIDN’T KNOW YOU GOT MY MESSAGES

IW: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh

I can’t stop smiling.

WO: don’t worry about it

WO: hi my name is Winifred Otiena, I am almost fourteen, I still like the color pink and think that your detective business would have been wonderful

WO: I’ve seen a horse, but think they’re little too big

WO: and thank you

WO: thank you so much for messaging me

IW: you’ve been reading this crap??

WO: please don’t stop

WO: I’m not great with words but I liked yours

IW: you’re great with fireworks apparently tho!! :D

WO: I wanted to say something great back, I knew I had to say something great

IW: Well...hi

WO: hello

We started to talk back and forth, at last. It was touch and go at first, I still had to hide my face sometimes and Iris filled the gaps with her chatter.

It was okay. In fact, Winnie grinned, it was great.

-------

I was fifteen, I was messaging a girl on a floating island. The girl on the floating island was messaging back.

She sent me a lantern that year with wings on it, wings and floating clouds around it. It held all of the Odyssey released in bits of scrap paper into the air as it descended. I caught it and took a selfie with the clouds and Apollo lantern.

We talk for the whole night.

-------

I am sixteen and I am messaging Iris every night, Iris is on her third suspension and I was spending less and less time at home. We had a new home, we celebrated my sister leaving for college.

I missed her terribly.

My parents are just glad she didn’t stay for her boyfriend Chege that she was on-again-off-again for all these years.

I am more grateful than ever for someone to talk to.

Iris sends me lantern with moving kittens on the side and chocolates that taste like bourbon and sugar. She says she wants to taste real bourbon one day and thinks I look like I’d make a cute kitten. I say we all would.

I go through my second growth spurt and am still barely reaching 5’4.

I send Iris an airplane with flowers from the ground, iris’s and poppies. She says there aren’t poppies up there.

The Qualifier preppers are at my door almost every night. I gulp and sometimes shake my head, I had more questions than answers.

------

I am seventeen, the air is thick with summer.

Iris sent me a lantern that is red and silk, an outside made of slick flowery material and smells like her perfume. I blush and send her a plane with a bright pink ribbon on top. I tell her to wear it.

I am tired all the time, numbers and figures float through my head.

I keep getting the same message from her.

IW: where do you go after you ‘qualify’ ?

WO: I don’t know

IW: find out!

WO: that’s classified, the WG only shows you the paycheck

IW: :/

What do you qualify for she asked.

-------

I am eighteen.

I feel the age creeping up on me like a battered old woman about to curse my soul and suck it out of my body with a straw. That’s an image Iris suggests to me, she is already nineteen, she’s got a temporary job at a shoe store.

I don’t know what to tell her, she sends me snaps of her DnD games and I show her my tired puffy face.

I took the test, it took me five hours and my hand almost blistering into nervous hives as I finish. I wished I had failed.

The conversation from before ringing through my ears

IW: botch the test

WO: I can’t, they’ll know, they already know what I can do

IW: … don’t go.

WO: you can’t say that

IW: don’t go! You don’t know where they’re taking you

WO: humanities brightest, they’re gathering us

WO: it’s how we got the floating cities… the World Government, everything

IW: THey don’t need you!!! Not all of you

WO: :

IW: for me

I start shaking, did I really want to go? My parents barely spoke in the sprawling house we were provided, my sister was trying not to fail out gracefully from of one of the top schools in the country (she was doing her best). I had nightmares of hands and timers every night.

For her.

I start sneaking into my old school again, into the old building room.

I would solve all of humanity's problems, somewhere I didn’t know. Somewhere they didn’t let people come back from.

She sends me the article.

IW: READ. THIS.

[LINK RECEIVED]

IW: they did this on purpose, they do it all on purpose

I’m not sure I want to know, I click on it anyway, stomach sinking.

Our Smartest Children: Isolated, for a Reason?

Does competition and strategic pushing help young minds bloom? One investigation says that the next crisis will be averted through grooming the next generation.

But at what cost?

Teachers are said to be taught to pick out the brightest and set the rest of-

I close the article at that, I had seen enough. I go back to my workshop, I start building, I start bleeding my fingers on nuts and bolts. It starts to look like something from a fairy tale.

I break into our hover car and take out the resisters.

I borrow the reflectors from my neighbor’s tool house, the boards they used on the continents, to reflect. To blend in.

I stop going to class, I had already qualified.

The days tick by like maple syrup, dripping and slow. Sticky.

Iris facetimes me. Her face is round and bright and dark as the sister earth that left our soil all those years ago from the mountain.

I pet it slowly and she grins back at me, “so,” she makes a hiccup of noise, “where is my postcard from earth?” I smile back, “wait for it.” I’m almost done.

-------

The night beats on my brow like a violent slap, making me shake. I didn’t know if they were watching, maybe they’ll think I’m going to fail anyway.

I knew the reflectors would only last a couple minutes, I knew the hover material may barely hold me up. I worried she might not want to see me anymore after the first day passes.

I knew I would miss my parents, but I wouldn’t miss the tests and the headache and the burden. There were other ways to save humanity.

I perch on the edge of the gulch where it looks out on the planes. Where they had scooped out the earth, purified it, made it wholesome and able to plant trees again. Then the made it float, build, grow.

Trees were starting here again now too, but they came from the floating cities first.

I reach up and close my eyes, breathing in deeply as the shallow breeze licks my neck. It felt forever ago I stood there and chased a small pink lantern.

I shake, my eyes open just as the first little colors of glowing light come softly floating down from Titros.

I engage the thrusters of my machine, clenching around my shoulders and humming against my spine.

“Iris,” I try to make her out in the crowd on the land above, I can’t. “Iris.” I pray again, my shoulders tensing as my feet lightly, slowly, stop bearing my weight, I feel a smile grow across my mouth as I begin to ease off the ground. The motor I had been developing since I was nine pressed against my back, I took the next leap.

My hover wings hold me up, I go hurdling toward Titros, to the dirt and the earth and away from the eyes of the World Government. Titros was its own.

I reach my hands out, temples pounding, a blur of light and sound as I become a weightless leaf in the wind, I rise.

“Iris!” My voice is hoarse and almost gone, I’m afraid I will be shot down. That I will be chased and punished and told I have failed them. All of them.

I see the edge of the continent like a guillotine’s blade, I reach for the very bottom of the first panel, “please.” I gasp and I hear the voices from below for the first time.

“Who is that?” “What is she doing…” “What’s that on her back?” “She’s going to fall!” The ignition stutters, a coughing choking sound that sparked fear deep in my gut. A sputter comes from my home-made wings and the world is popping and whirring all around me. The air rushes through my ears, through my hair, I gape. No.

My fingers grasp at nothing and I begin to fall. “Winnie!” A hand is surging toward me, wrapping around my wrist, pulling me.

My face splits into a smile, heat surges throughout my whole body from where she touched me. “There you are.”

I don’t know who says it, I am pulled up into Titros, a hole in the sky that sucked me in as she yanked on my hands. She wraps around me like a light and I fall into the depths of the continent, with her.

The voices are still calling out, the hatch closes behind us and we collide in the way universe’s come together. It steals my breath away and chases every thought I ever had away.

“You made it,” she laughs against me, “took you long enough.” All I could do is nod, “I suppose I couldn’t stay away.” She shakes her head, we kiss for the first time in the last moment. I hold her close and my whole body feels light, powerful.

We watch the last of the lanterns fall and she squeezes my hand, “This is my favorite one.” We come together again.

[marvelandponder]

I’m a Little Upset They Made Me Excited for Something Called Hascon

But, they did, and over the past two days (and counting! expect an IDW comic panel on Sunday!), they’ve released some spoilers and news that’s pretty damn cool.

No real movie news aside from Hype! It’s coming in 4 weeks! because they didn’t want to reveal too many spoilers for that (although I’m still waiting for Hasbro to step up its marketing game with this one), but aside from that, let’s see what news we got for MLP this weekend [if you want Movie insight, I actually recommend picking up the art book. I just got mine in the mail and WOW is the concept art ever pretty]! This is your spoiler warning if you don’t like that sort of thing.

UPDATED: TONS OF STUFF! Movie Screenshots, more season 8 news, IDW comics, and more!

MLP: The Movie!

Not much in the way of spoilers (you can read the novelization or the art book for those, I guess was their thinking), but have three stills!

Equestria Girls

New outfits, designed by an actual red carpet stylist, Carol Lam, for both the new doll line and the characters in canon

New Youtube series officially announced, and it’s Choose Your Own Adventure style! Expected in November

Shorts to continue, and one has even been teased

Another one was a “2 minute short about Sunset Shimmer drawing a comic and them animating it... based around [the] girls catching a jewel thief.”

School play is a concept that’s coming up. Whether in short form, 22 minute special form, or perhaps even movie (although please note there has been no explicit mention of an EG5, so lovers of the movies will have to be patient)

“When asked if there is a Sunset Shimmer doppleganger rolling around, one of the panelists noted that her pet theory is that it was always Sunset's fate to travel to humanland, and there isn't an original Sunset in the world. They are leaving this open in canon though.”

No plans for Discord in EQG at the moment, but who knows?

Find EQD’s report on that here.

Okay, so first off? Loving the new outfits. With any other teenager characters, it would be ridiculous that they’re so well dressed and styled (I noticed Sunset’s hair is juuust slightly different, can’t see the others well enough to tell), but for these girls, it makes sense, since they’re all friends with Rarity.

So, yes, Hasbro. I’ll buy your crazy marketing tactics for now, because cute outfits.

As to the Choose Your Own Adventure series, I think that’ll be interesting, but not quite as cool to me as stuff like the shorts, specials, and movies. Just a matter of personal taste, but the world-building going on in the Overpowered short, for instance, is only really cool if it has a lasting effect on the characters and their world (the report said something about a coal miners daughter wanting to disco, and while that sounds possibly cute, it’s not exactly my cup of tea).

But it’ll be fun to try, no doubt! And definitely cool for younger fans!

The post wasn’t super clear on whether the Choose Your Own Adventure stuff was the only EQG content coming to Youtube (we have been teased about a series, similar to the Hana Zuki show Hasbro has on there already), but until we hear otherwise, assume it’s just the CYOA series.

And a school play theme really does sound like it could be used for a movie or a special, if they wanted to keep doing long-form stories, so that’s what I’m hoping for, personally.

Oh and we still don’t know what these are from/for:

A currently unreleased summertime short, most likely a music video.

A Netflix listing we found out about back in August. This might be the place they feature the specials and shorts, but who knows?

Season 7 News

Clips were shown for next week’s episode, It Isn’t the Mane Thing About You (which might end up being a Pinkie and Rarity episode) and Marks and Recreation 

It Isn’t the Mane Thing About (better clip than the first that was released)

Marks and Recreation (featuring the last song of the season)

Find EQD’s report on that here.

In addition, have some stills from a promo yet to be released on the rest of the season!

Likely from Secrets and Pies

Likely from A Health of Information

Likely from A Health of Information

(Not shown: Applejack falling into the party cave) Likely from Secrets and Pies

From It Isn’t the Mane Thing About You

From Once Upon a Zepplin

Likely from A Health of Information

Likely from A Health of Information (mask modelled after Mage Meadowbrook, so this will undoubtedly feature her story in a similar fashion to Daring Done, possibly told by Twilight, from the earlier screenshot)

From Once Upon a Zepplin

From It Isn’t the Mane Thing About You

Additionally, I’ll point out what we know for the season 7 finale: that there’s a tie into the Legends of Magic comics, and it’s called Shadow Play parts 1&2. Whether “shadow” refers to the character Shadowlock from the main comic series or King Sombra or something else entirely, we’ll have to wait and see!

Okay, so the most exciting thing for me is that Vincent Tong, voice of Flash Sentry and Feather Bangs, gets to sing again! As a villain this time! I could make a joke about him embracing the role the fandom has given him this season (Feather Bangs, the waifu stealer, and now Rumble, the antagonist).

Oh and for those who don’t remember, Rumble is Thunderlane’s little brother, who appears in Hurricane Fluttershy. It’s been a while, but he looked cute there.

I wonder if Starlight will have any role in this episode...

The addition of the Cake twins is to Mane Thing also adds hype for me. I’m still on the fence with the episode concept, mostly because I need to see how they’re going to run with it (could be uncomfortable to watch Rares lose her mane if done wrong), but the Cake twins were extremely endearing in Baby Cakes, and it would be nice to see more interaction between them and Pinkie Pie.

This season has been spectacular so far, so I’m glad not too much was spoiled (or you know, leaked...) so we get to enjoy it in full!

Season 8 News

Seaponies confirmed for season 8, the Movie will tie into the show

An animatic was released as well:

Find EQD’s report here.

SHE RETURNS! 

I find it super interesting that Chrysalis is outright ignoring Starlight Glimmer while gathering DNA, given that she swore revenge against her. A large number of fans are speculating that this will be some sort of voodoo plot, where Chrysalis literally turns Starlight’s friends against her, like Starlight did to her.

Not only that, but if you look in the background of that animatic, you’ll find the mane 7 are in a suspiciously new building...

Some have speculated it’s Twilight’s new castle (meaning the crystal castle will get destroyed at the end of season 7, which is alarming because it’s connected to the Tree of Harmony). I feel like it might be more of an addition to her castle, either a school of Twilight’s own (hence, calling the rest of the girls Twilight’s “teachers”) or a house of diplomacy of some kind, like a U.N. building for the different nations that Twilight and company have been befriending (dragons, changelings, griffons, yaks---heck, even Sunset Shimmer could be considered a diplomat from Equestria to the humans).

It’s still a mystery...

Also, sea ponies! And they’re adorable! They translate to show style really well, actually! And it only makes you wonder just how many other things will carry over from the movie....

New info!

Look for a Cheese Sandwhich cameo

G. M. Berrow wrote a Season 8 episode she is super passionate about and her favorite episode overall. Maybe more book tie-ins like in "Daring Done".

Josh Haber's favorite pony is The Great and Probably Going To Be In Season 8 Trixie!

Derpy won't get a featured episode like Episode 100, but she will be around, likely more than season 7.

There will be two-parters, and that's plural, so it sounds like we return to the opening and closing episodes being epic two-parters. So expect You-Know-You that we saw in that animatic to be in one of these!

Things we already know about season 8 that you may have forgotten:

26 episodes confirmed

Orchestra music from the movie to be used in some of the season’s songs, which are all finalized by now

As well, there will be twice as many songs are there are in season 7, since Daniel Ingram’s time won’t be split up between the show and the movie

Discord confirmed

Josh Haber returning as story-editor

Mike Vogel returning finally after working on the movie

IDW Comics

This year’s holiday special!

For those of you who have listened to the Christmas album, that’ll look somewhat familiar...

MLP:FIM #60 Sara Richard cover!

MLP: FIM #61 Cover revealed! A collection of foreign dignitaries, from dragons, to deers, to cats/abyssnians, to gryphons! 

“The story is going to be a "united nations" type gathering where all the various creatures throughout the planet convene to discuss the future of the planet. So think a Meeting of the United Nations but with Dragons, Buffalo, Hippogriffs, Anthro Cats, and a pony who controls the sun with a mere thought. Oh but there is a discovery made at the conference that could lead to trouble for our little ponies! A problem that might end up costing Equestria ownership of Canterlot!”

Legends of Magic #9! Seems to be a continuation of Flash Magnus’s previous issue, if the cover is to be believed.

Aaaand a page from Legends of Magic #6! Yes, that’s right, zombie ponies drawn by Andy Price. If 28 Pranks Later wasn’t grim enough for you, surely the master of expressions will deliver!

Find EQD’s report right here!

Year of the Pony