#so either I get a better editing thing or we're stuck

[cassmouse]

'Disappear among the sea of butterflies!'

I love her so so much honestly

But this took me a very very long time to do since I've never made one of these with GIFS before and I have decided it will not happen often

Because this was such a pain

Seele is so powerful she crashed the site I used about twenty different times

[chuluoyi]

MARRIED ON PURPOSE

- gojo satoru x reader

"for one, i can show you incredible things!" jujutsu, madness, heaven, sin. the strongest sorcerer is sure to show you all of that during the whole duration of your six-month marriage contract.

genre/warnings: marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, crack, fluff, slight satosugu angst/comfort, kamo!reader, very suggestive. gojo clan is portrayed as very traditional, meanwhile kamo clan is rather unpleasant here

note: the unholy amount of times i've edited this story *sigh* but okay i must drop it here or else i'm going to keep editing it and losing my mind. despite my misgivings and all, i really had fun writing this and i hope you enjoy it! wc. 5k !

a part of 1K MILESTONE EVENT

general masterlist

Some would say... marrying Gojo Satoru would be living the dream.

���Don't look that sour now, wife.”

“…sigh.”

A playful nudge at your side, a lighthearted voice— “You're going to make them question our veeery happy marriage, you know… We don't want that now, do we?”

But to you, it was more like nightmare dressed in a daydream.

It was peak comedy because why would you put marrying Gojo Satoru in your life plans? He was incorrigible, a child trapped in a man's body, and there was also the very fact that you hate him. His only redeeming trait was being born in the esteemed Gojo clan, and now held the title of the strongest.

You know you must have accumulated karma, but out of everything else, why must you end up in this predicament?

Hailing from the great clans of jujutsu society, both of you know well that marriage is the essence to make the clan greater. And when it involves the big three clans, its importance amplifies even further.

It was just that you two were too rebellious to follow it through, for one reason or another. Everyone knows Gojo Satoru was faithless to any woman, and you were not exactly thrilled with the idea of marriage as a whole.

He was the one who came to you, proposing this insane idea of a temporary marriage.

"Look at it this way," Satoru said with a wry grin, contrasting your puzzled frown on that fateful afternoon. "It's either me or Zen'in Naoya for you, isn't it? It's so clear which is the better man."

That was what grated you the most. You would be damned if you married the misogynist.

"What do you get from this arrangement, really?" you questioned begrudgingly.

His name would give you security, stop the harassment from your clan, and maybe even a better life, but you didn't quite get what he'd get from the offer he willingly extended to you.

Satoru flippantly shrugged. "Nah, you are not exactly my type, but you're still far better than the boring puppet my family have considered to be my wife."

"Who?"

"Don't remember her name. All she goes on about is that she'll be the good wife and mother of my child. Ew."

Seven hells. You scowled. Gojo Satoru and his penchant for chasing the thrill. Boring women would kill him before an actual curse would.

"And hey, for one," he shot you a smirk, visibly smug. "I can show you incredible things!"

"That's not the point! Gojo, do you even realize—" your voice rose, pulsating with righteous fury, "—how serious all of this is? My life, your life! We're going to be stuck—together!"

"Six months," he blurted, tilting his head slightly. His sunglasses slipped down just enough for you to catch a glimpse of his sparkling eyes. "It's enough time to work through our shits, and by then if you have enough, we're through."

At that time, it seemed feasible. Both of you tolerating each other to avoid a much worse match.

. . .

BACK TO PRESENT—barely a week ever since you were paraded around as his wife, now you and Satoru were stiffly poised in the studio in your formal garbs, capturing your official wedding photos.

At that time, it seemed feasible, but now, it felt like a chore, as you realized that conversing with him either spiked your blood pressure so much that you wouldn't even be surprised if you ended up with hypertension or completely sapped your energy that you were left exhausted.

"Come on, show a smiiile," Satoru said in a sing-song voice, gesturing toward the camera as it flashed for the pictures. You were beyond appalled, shooting a glare in his direction.

"I am smiling, Gojo."

"Liar. You're pouting, wifey~"

Sigh… this really is going to be one hella of a ride, huh?

MONTH ONE, and you found out that Gojo Satoru is apparently as mad as people made him out to be.

"You've got to be kidding me!" you fumed, right after he hauled you into one of the rooms in his grand, traditional estate. Your glare pierced through him, a blood vessel ready to burst. "We never agreed on ‘consummating’ the marriage!"

You wrote him a goddamn contract. And the three conditions of this chaotic marriage are: one, it would only last six months; two, no personal feelings involved; and three, nothing borderline disturbing.

And this, you concluded, was the height of what could be called as disturbing.

"We will not," Satoru replied with a hint of disdain, grimacing, as if the notion didn't sit well with him either. The audacity! "We're just going to make it as if we are—"

"And why?! Why should I do that?!"

"Why else? Because my old fart believes that we indeed haven't done so."

"Then it's your fault? For failing to convince him? Why turn it into my problem!"

"Because, dear wife," he drawled, his tone taunting on the final note. "Now we're on the same page, in case you have forgotten."

Great clans and their hollow expectations spare no one, not even Gojo Satoru. They place importance in the most banal things, such as the continuity of sacred bloodlines and such.

The only alternative wasn't appealing either. Should you be found out that you married only to divorce... sigh, you didn't even want to know how big of a scandal it would be. One thing was certain: your clan would chop you to shreds.

You really had no choice, huh?

"Five minutes," you warned, glaring at him. "Make it loud. Make it so that no one wouldn't question this anymore."

Oh and sure he would. As Satoru pulled that shit-eating grin, you were in for another ride. You waited out until several maids were nearby, left the wooden door ajar, and began the show—

His hands wrapped around your waist—the feeling was peculiar, but you ignored it—and you let him pull you near that open door. He snuggled his face on your neck—his hair tickling you in the process, but you ignored that peculiarity again—as he started making suggestive noises. "Mm, you're so pretty, darling."

You could hear those maids gasp in surprise. And to add the flavor, you faked a moan.

This is... kinda fun? A twisted part of you suddenly found satisfaction in fooling the maids. A smile tugged at your lips as you shoved him away, and Satoru eyed you in surprise and irritation.

"Husband, you're... insatiable," you worded languidly, and he immediately caught on your act, grinning. "Anyone can walk by, you know."

"Oh? But that's the point." Satoru's bright blue eyes twinkled with utter mischief, and even you couldn't deny the exhilarating rush. "I want them to know."

And suddenly you got this very brilliant idea. You swiftly moved past him and sent the books and trinkets on his desk flying to the floor, causing questionable noises.

"Oh my!" a girlish voice exclaimed.

"The master! And the lady!"

Satoru shook his head, thoroughly entertained. And you rolled your eyes. Those nosy maids would finally have enough now, and this charade would end—

"What's happening here?"

The old fart. Both you and Satoru grunted in unison. You really thought you would leave it up to the maids to spread the word, but then you were taken by surprise when he wrapped his hands around you and flung the door open, slamming you against it—and damn it hurt!—offering everyone a front-row seat to your charade.

The maids squealed. His grandfather raised a righteous, demanding eyebrow. You wanted to scream.

"Hey, gramps," he greeted jovially, breathless, his grip on you tightening and you felt heat radiating from his palm. "Ah, sorry, opened it by accident—the wife here is feisty, you see."

Your veins felt ready to burst. Was this a part of his plan all along? How would you show your face before your grandfather-in-law now that he had seen this... atrocity?!

"So, yeah, we'll resume our business!" Satoru, the idiot, said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "See ya!"

With that the door slammed shut, but oh no, it was not the end.

"Mmmph!?" you protested, unintentionally loud and eyes widening in alarm when Satoru muffled your mouth with his hand.

The rotten bastard! You found it nearly impossible to breathe, shooting daggers at him. "Mmmrgh! Mmmrrgh!"

"Oh... so that boy really does it huh," you heard the elder mutter in thoughtful manner from outside—and you were in disbelief at how trusting he was—before rounding the stunned maids and barked, "What are all you doing here? Go!"

You nearly sagged with relief when Satoru loosened his grip slightly, allowing you to breathe, as his meddlesome grandpa finally stalked away. Done. This horrible act was over! But wait, why did he still had his hand on your mouth?

"That went splendidly!" he snickered, appearing rather pleased with what had unfolded. "Now, if only we work together like this more often—"

This is… my life now, you lamented the reality. The feeling of his calloused hand on you made you feel things, honestly speaking, but another emotion—and impulse—currently overpowered that.

Seething with resentment, you fiercely chomped down on his hand hard, causing him to swear and pull his hand out of you.

"You—you devil! You bit me!"

"Serves you right!"

Okay, he was bad. He was insufferable. But to be frank, sometimes it wasn't all chaos.

And what's more, by MONTH TWO, you realized that being married to Gojo Satoru also comes with several perks.

"Miss, please, you're trespassing—"

You looked at the police with the haughtiest look you could muster, unamused. "Don't you know who I am?"

"No, but it shouldn't—"

"I'm that man's wife," you declared regally, motioning towards a certain tall shuttlecock a few meters away. "Is that not clear enough for you?"

For one, no one can look down on you anymore, because should they try, you have the power to raise your chin high and declare yourself as the wife of the infamous sorcerer. The very moment you did, that nosy police stopped yapping, and let you through.

The cursed boy, Yuta and his classmate had just been trapped inside a barrier a curse user pulled down, and you were assigned to look into this case by the headquarters. As much as it boggled you—because certainly, the strongest sorcerer was enough to investigate this—you still had to do your job.

“What is this?” you asked Satoru, who was observing something far beyond what your measly ordinary eyes could see. “What happened here?”

He turned to you, all with bandaged eyes. “Hmm? Oh, you’re here too?”

“Don't act surprised. Answer my question, Gojo.”

"You’re too uptight, wifey," Satoru's lips curved upwards playfully. He had taken to addressing you with pet names as of late, if anything, only to get a rise out of you. "Isn't it the time for you to start calling me by my given name?"

You let out a weary exhale, exasperated. "I'm serious, did you find anything? Who is behind this?"

"Nah, nothing for you to worry about," Satoru waved his hand dismissively, grinning. "More importantly! Let's head back and have dinner! My treat!"

You weren't that oblivious. You noticed things too.

"What do you want tonight? Sukiyaki? Sushi?" he hummed nonchalantly. "Or shabu-shabu?"

You gave him the stink eye. "Is that all you think about? Food?"

"As a responsible husband, it's my duty to feed my wife, no?"

"News flash: temporary wife."

"But still my wife, regardless. I overheard you earlier. Being Mrs. Gojo is convenient, yeah?"

You ignored how a part of your jolted at the emphasis he placed on that word, grunting. "Nah, it's meh."

Call it a feeling or hypothesis. It was similar to how he treated his students. He always said the dumbest things, but it actually served to make them feel at ease.

Then it occurred to you, could this be actually his attempt to change the subject?

"You can't cheat your way out of this." You shot him a pointed look. "You know something. Tell me."

"Hmmm? And what would I get in return?"

"Don't make this difficult. I'm on this assignment too!"

"Nah, if you call me by my name, I might consider it."

Hah. You should really read a parenting book one of these days. Taking on your husband was more or less the same as facing a kid.

"Satoru," you tested, the name rolling out of your lips far easier than you thought. Somehow, using his given name felt like some sort of a leap of faith.

He stopped right in his tracks, turning to you. His glossy lips quirked into a meaningful smile, and you felt funny.

"Wasn't that difficult, was it?" he winked, and you covered the strange heat creeping onto your face by rolling your eyes and huffed.

Needless to say, he still didn't tell you even a clue. You finally gave up, thinking that if he insisted on not disclosing it, then so be it. You trusted him on this, even as he turned your help away, and you hated admitting it, because, well…

You’d trust him with your life. He knows how to handle this better than anyone.

Being a a woman in Kamo clan is, in fact, not any better than in Zen'in—you're regarded more as a commodity than a human being.

"When will you bear the child of the bearer of Six Eyes?" in your father's eyes, you were but a tool to tie the Gojo at his hip, and your worth probably wasn't even twice of Noritoshi's. You had known he would ask this when he summoned you to Kamo ancestral home, and you weren't that naive—you had asked Satoru to join you too. But your father had insisted him to stay at the foyer, while he dragged you into his chamber.

Just because you had seen it coming didn’t mean you liked it. "Is that all? Do you really make me come here just to ask me that?"

And what came next was like a crack of thunder.

"How insolent!"

You shuddered, hating how his voice still had control over you. You wanted to stay deviant, but you couldn't keep yourself from shaking. You thought you would have to endure this shit just like you did before, until—

"Now, now... That's my wife you're talking to. I'd watch your words, if I were you."

You had never whipped your head so fast.

There stood Gojo Satoru, your husband, in all his glory. He was smiling but it was clear that he was displeased, evident from his cutting remark, and most notably, how he had unveiled his striking cerulean eyes for all to see. Truth to be told, you didn't expect him to barge in here at all.

"Gojo-sama," your father bowed his head, displaying utter respect towards him, contrasting the blatant disrespect he showed towards you just now. Satoru paid him no heed, as took big strides towards you and seized your arm, prompting you to rise to your feet.

"What is this? Why are you yelling at her?" His voice lacked its usual hint of amusement or teasing, sending a chill down your spine.

"Gojo-sama, I apologize for my tone towards my daughter earlier. I was just trying to educate—"

“My wife. She is my wife now, and it would do you better to remember that,” Satoru asserted firmly, putting emphasis in the way he addressed you, his gaze hardening. "She is an adult. There's nothing left for you to educate her." Pausing, he added, "And the way I saw it, you were just unnecessarily rude."

"Gojo-sama, there were just certain things in our clan that—"

"Please, don't call on us again," Satoru interjected decisively with a light yet firm voice. You could swear your heart was somersaulting at the sight of him staring down your natural enemy. "I'm sure you're aware, but your daughter bears my name now, and she will get the respect she is due. I will have a word with anyone who fails to treat her accordingly."

Somehow or another, Satoru whisked you away from that hellhole, your hand tightly clasped in his. Your relieved sigh didn't go unnoticed by him, as he looked back to you.

"Have you gone soft?" he teased, eyeing you with a playful snort. "Did you forget who your husband is? You've got nothing to fear. Not even him."

"Thank you," you murmured. Your heart was still pounding and your mind blanked, rendering you unable to engage in your usual banters.

His clear blue eyes widened a touch, blinking at your display of vulnerability, Then, he wore the most innocent expression, even sporting a silly smirk—the hardness from earlier gone. "I was really cool, huh? Totally made you swoon I bet."

And in MONTH THREE, you realized, as he laced his fingers with yours, as his laughter filled the air, as calmness swelled on your chest, and as you loudly snorted at his remark, that—

You felt warm, so warm, in fact, and maybe—

"Pfft, you wish."

—maybe... being with him isn't so bad after all.

MONTH FOUR, and you finally found out that it was Geto Suguru.

Everyone knew that your husband and the criminal used to be the best of friends. You saw them during your high school days, and heck, you used to think that Geto was the better man.

You could only imagine what he must feel.

. . .

When he got back to your shared house after the whole ordeal—after he ended his best friend with his own hands, Satoru honestly didn't expect that you would be waiting for him.

"You okay?" you asked him, brows furrowed in concern. It was probably one of the very few times you had displayed emotions other than contempt towards him.

It felt strange because he was used to your jabs, and he was not sure what sort of expression he should pull now, because truthfully, now he felt empty. Blank. All he comprehended was that he had killed Suguru, that he was gone, and that was something he must do.

It would be just like any other day if hadn't just committed a murder. On someone he held dear.

"Of course, who do you think I am?" Satoru swiftly replied, sounding smug—or at least tried to. "I'm the strongest. I’m unscat—"

"No, not that." You frowned, meeting his gaze squarely. "After everything."

Satoru struggled to choose how he should react, partly because most of his energy had gone after walking Yuta back and reassuring him earlier, and by default, the two of you should be hellbent on hating each other and wishing for this contract to end soon.

"Aww, are you worried about me?" he quipped with a touch of sarcasm just because he had to, to show you that it wasn't enough to ruffle him.

Because he is still the strongest, even when alone. Especially when he is alone.

You let out a sigh, looking away. "Can't I?"

"Whoa, that's sweet of—"

"Don't fool yourself," you stated in straight-laced manner, meeting his gaze with a composed expression. "You're not okay. You might be Gojo Satoru, but no one will be after doing what you just did."

You might be Gojo Satoru, but no one will be after doing what you just did.

Despite himself, his smile fell, and his chest burns. What is this? Were you sympathizing with him?

Does that mean that you don't see him as the entity... that was the strongest?

Before now, Satoru remembered you as the most uncooperative Kyoto girl he had ever met. Your first meeting in high school sealed your fate as the two of you could hardly get along. You didn't mince words, you didn't take shit from anyone else—heck, sometimes when he thought of you, what came up to mind was an impenetrable diamond.

Which was why he chose you. You were someone he could trust. You were pretty in the eyes and certainly wouldn't bore him either. His reasons were purely based on logic. And after four months with you, Satoru came to a conclusion that you indeed fulfilled all his expectations, if not more.

And he felt comfortable, or dare he say, secure even. He felt like he had gained a friend, who could see past his bravado and wouldn't judge him for it.

"You're..." you sighed, casting a sympathetic glance at him, your forehead slightly creased. At that moment, Satoru couldn't help but think you were incredibly endearing, fretting over him. "...an idiot."

"Heh." I really am, aren't I?

"I never knew him well..." you chose your words carefully, hesitant. "Did you try to convince him, before this?"

He barked a bitter laugh. "I did, we even made a scene in front of freaking KFC," he remarked with a scoff. "He didn't listen to me, until the very end."

You wanted to tell him “You have done everything you could” but the words faltered on your tongue. You couldn't bring yourself to say it when you saw the faint quiver of his lips, the slump of his shoulders—the very sight of a boy grieving the loss of his friend.

Your heart pricked too, somehow, seeing that expression on him. And you once again realized that your silly, exalted husband was just as human as anyone else who made him think he wasn’t.

"And you know what he said in the end?" Satoru's tone was flippant, as if asking the most normal thing around, but carried a trace of grief, evident in the slight drop in his tone if you squinted. "He said he didn't regret it, not even a bit."

"I'm sorry," was all you could manage.

Satoru's smile was lopsided. Now that he had finally accepted it, something inside him finally bleeds, and it freaking hurts. The pain gripped his chest like a swirling inferno.

But then, you boldly clasped his hand in yours, gently tracing soothing circles on its back.

"What?" he peered at you, feeling a ghost of a smile forming.

"Consider this emotional support."

And he chuckled softly. Despite the lingering ache, despite the gloom he was sure he would carry for the rest of his life, he felt the pain was more bearable with you by his side, somewhat.

How?

You blamed it on the alcohol, because it was MONTH FIVE and you were kissing Gojo Satoru, daringly.

"We shouldn't be doing this," you rasped between kisses, breathless, as your own sinful hands plucked the buttons off his shirt. The intoxication might have played a part, but the intense heat coursing through you made it hard to think straight.

Satoru crashed his lips against yours again, consumed by blind lust. "Yeah, we shouldn't," he replied in a rush. His breath was hot as he trailed his lips down your jaw and neck next, savoring the softness of your skin.

You two had attended a banquet for the elite, and you were unbelievably beautiful. Standing by his side as his wife, you drew admiring glances, with everyone marveling at what a remarkable couple you made. The Gojo heir who was born with the legendary Limitless and the Kamo heiress, as lovely as her clan's name was powerful.

His deft hands roamed the curves of your body, exploring every inch of you. The warmth of his hands tickled something inside you as you closed your eyes to sink into this very moment. Next you knew, his bare body was against yours and you were stripped out of your evening dress.

Lust flickered in his honored eyes, as he took in the sight of you in your undergarments.

"You're really pretty, you know," he whispered. The intensity with which his eyes scanned your form made you nearly squirm. "Shame we don't always get along."

"You're one to talk," you retorted, a hint of exasperation in your tone, as you willed all other thoughts away. Thoughts like what comes after this. Thoughts like—

Is it heaven or sin, if you feel both at once?

His thumb tenderly caressed your plush lips, a hint of a smirk on his beautiful face.

He has long been thinking about your body. He was but a man, after all. He just didn't expect that you wanted this too.

There was always this tension, only this time, neither of you could hold it back anymore. Perhaps it was impulse—hell, most certainly it is, but there was another thing, something more that even Gojo Satoru still didn't dare to say out loud.

"Eager, are we?" he taunted when you leaned in, yearning for the touch of his lips on yours again.

You huffed. “Shut up and kiss me.”

A rush of heat flooded your cheeks at the slip of those words. You were about to rectify it, taken aback by your own boldness, but then he drew you close, silencing any further protest with a gentle hush—

"Too late, sweetheart," his husky voice entered your ears, lips curling into the most wicked smile, and you were in a trance. And Satoru was once again convinced, that choosing you as his wife was the rightest thing there was.

If the two of you went with this, then there would be consequences. Things would become more complicated, harder to sort out.

But, he decided, as he captured your lips in another heated kiss, everything else can wait.

MONTH SIX, and you were dreading the day of your divorce.

You brought this upon yourself. Whenever you reminisced about that night, you wanted to smack yourself in the face and bang your head against the nearest wall.

This marriage has a time limit. And you were doing it out of convenience in the first place.

You weren't supposed to… goddammit—fall in love with him.

But what's done is done, there is no going back in time. Awkward exchanges and lingering stares had been gnawing at your insides these days, and you were sure Satoru too must have noticed them too. You two used to be more relaxed with each other, and he'd even flirt with you, but weeks ever since that night of drunken passion, you almost reverted back to your high school personas—ignoring each other.

This was tough. You didn't like this. And more than that, you were faced with a more pressuring matter...

Gojo Satoru, with everything he possessed, could have had any woman he wanted. This arrangement with you was temporary in the first place, soon he would forget you and flit to the next woman.

The thought made your heart ache, because you had involuntarily gave your heart away to him. Siiigh… What a predicament you put yourself into, huh?

With just a month left together, maybe you should just make the best of it.

. . .

If you thought that things were any better with Satoru, then you were sorely wrong because he too, was debating with himself often nowadays.

Days spent with you were fun and fulfilling. You irked expression somehow had made its mark in his heart. You were pretty, fit to be by his side publicly and preferably, behind the closed doors. With you, he didn't feel the need to carry this facade of being strong—he could be a clown tripping over his own trap and you would amuse him with your deadpan expression.

And ever since that night, he was constantly reminded by how soft your skin was against his. It almost drove him crazy now that he was deprived of it.

How was it the last month already? He wasn't ready to let you go yet.

When he got back home later after his class ended and found you in the dinner table setting the food, all he could muster was, "Hey. Haven't eaten?"

You whirled around to face him in surprise. "Oh... you're back. Just about to. Want to join me?"

Of course he would. And yet as the two of you sat down, it was so painfully awkward Satoru felt like he was dying inside.

Why couldn't he pull off a smart line or two? Where did his suaveness go? He was smoother than this, surely, with his colorful history. One night of passion was supposed to enhance the relationship, not to derail it. What happened to you both?

The salt was near his side when you reached to grab it and bumped into his hand. "Uh-oh."

Turning towards you, he found your spooked expression and your adorable eyes widening in surprise. "S-sorry..."

It was just freaking salt! Salt! Why on earth were you apologizing?!

Enough, he thought. This utter madness of being jumpy with each other. He'd start from his side.

Does he want you to keep being his wife even after all this ends? Yes.

Why? All reasons already listed above.

Does this mean he likes you? Apparently and supposedly, yes. Because if it isn't then he doesn't know what this funny feeling driving him mad is.

With that sorted out, then he only had one more thing to confirm. He put down his spoon and crossed his arms together. "Tell me the truth. Do you like living with me?"

His question obviously took you by surprise. "Huh? What brought this on?"

"Just give me an answer."

"You're so pushy," you grumbled, lips pursed, and he felt like you were finally back to your usual dynamics somewhat. Good.

"Sooo, the verdict? Do you enjoy being with me or not?"

Because to him, it was a resounding yes and more.

Ignoring the warmth that surged to your cheeks, you rolled your eyes. "Surprisingly, not bad, yeah," you admitted, mustering the courage to meet his gaze. "You're annoying, an idiot, a bit crazy—"

"Hey!"

"—but eventually you're still... manageable," you added, feeling your face truly start to sizzle. But covered it up by looking down and playing with your fingers as you still had more to go on. "What I want to say is... I'm glad that I agreed to this—with you—because I can’t imagine it with anyone else."

An unfamiliar tingling emotion rushed to his chest as his face too started to heat up, letting your words sink in. Is he blushing? Oh God. He sure is. And so did he feel hella giddy.

Then it’s sealed.

Suddenly he procured a piece of paper from his work uniform and showed it to you. You first saw his lazily scrawled signature before it dawned on you.

The contract. You almost forgot that you made him sign that looming piece of paper. You were almost dismayed, thinking that he would end this right then and there, but then—

“Well, then… I suppose we no longer need this.”

Riiip~

Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Gojo Satoru tore out your contract right in front of your face, the most brilliant of his devilish grin adorned his handsome face, as he took off his blindfold to see you far clearly than ever. Heavens, you are cute, he thought.

“Soooo~ seems like you’re stuck with me from now on!”

You gaped, awestruck at the blatant meaning of it all, feeling how your heartbeat started to pick up the pace, when he pulled the rag out of your feet once more by tilting his head to the side, looking at you with a winning smile.

“Let’s start over! What did they say again? Ah, yeah. Here’s to the first day of our lives!”

[crepes-suzette-373]

Ichiji being "secretly a thug"

Even though he acts the most emotionless and really stiff, I get the impression Ichiji is kind of meant to be that trope of someone who looks like a statue and super elite normally but when nobody's looking they're either the biggest slob or just a gangster.

Look at the boys' clothes:

Yonji and Niji wear their shirts tucked in with belts like nerds. Ichiji doesn't.

Same thing with their "party clothes". Niji and Yonji wears fancy formal stuff like Judge, Ichiji kind of looks like he just rolled out of bed and put on a cloak on top. And plus his tattoo??? Tattoos are typically seen as "rebellious".

Well. Credits to @sangerie for mentioning that Ichiji looks absolutely pissed when they got stuck in the candy and he was berating Judge for looking really lame when they were at gunpoint. This prompted me to check the raws again, and... yeah, he absolutely broke character and his thug came out.

So I once mentioned that the way you can tell Ichiji's the one talking is because he's the only one with more polite speech, while Niji and Yonji talks more casually. In this one scene, he "broke" and talks thug.

The parts I marked in the speech bubbles are typical identifiers marking informal or crude speech.

The one marked in red is the ending particle -ze, usually used for emphasis. -ze is considered rough and almost rude, and based on what I saw among Japanese fans, this is usually associated with Niji (who most agrees talks like a thug a lot).

The fan translation got this slightly better, as they had translated that as "you look pathetic". 見苦しい is "unsightly". Added with the -ze ending, yes, translated as "you look pathetic" is appropriate.

The part marked in blue, that says "we're stuck in candy". He says "stuck" with gachi gachi ガチガチ. This is a "sound effect" of something freezing (or "turning solid" in general). Describing things with sound effects is also informal speech.

The one marked in green, translated as "there's no hope for us" (the original phrasing is "absolutely can't be saved"). Here he's saying "can't be saved" as tasukaranee 助からねェ. The formal form should have been tasukaraNAI 助からない. Ichiji doesn't usually use the rougher sounding -nee ending.

Example Yonji using -nee (green), and also Niji using the -ze (blue):

Ichiji don't normally do that.

Edit: I cannot 100% confirm for sure that it was Ichiji talking in this drinking scene, so I will not present it as "proof".

Also, I know I'm always saying I try to be careful not to jump the gun when it comes to visuals, but Ichiji's face here does not look like a smile. That's a sneer. A smirk, at best. Coupled with how he talks in a way that's completely "breaking character", he appears to be so angry that he's just not even bothering to hide is inner thug.

We did see that he seems pretty temperamental as a kid. He's probably putting up the polite act as "the crown prince", and his "true nature" is actually the gangster one.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Cryptid Biology Season 2: Litha

[Previous entry: Here. Edit: I legitimately forgot to write the easiest part of this entire thing, the description. Rain helps Bea set up for the abbey's summer solstice bonfire party and reaps the rewards of a hard day's work. I don't know how Rain wound up the way he is, but he's not changing anytime soon.] Below the cut.

It's hot as Satan's balls out -a misnomer, considering the Morningstar's junk is stuck in a frozen lake for all of eternity, or at least until the end of days- and Rain wishes more than anything that he was in the lake instead of lugging tables and chairs across the sandy shore, but at the very least he can use his magic to keep himself cool.

Bea, on the other hand, is positively drenched in sweat despite having stripped down to what is absolutely necessary... which Rain has to say is a LOT more clothing than he expected to see the groundskeeper in on a day like this.

She's dressed in a bright, electric yellow work shirt with "MINISTRY STAFF" emblazoned on the back.

It's supposed to protect her skin from UV rays, as is the floppy bucket hat she has on, but Rain can't help but find the whole get-up a little silly.

The shorts she's wearing doesn't make it much better either, to be honest; A pair of white swim trucks with multi-colored flowers splattered across them without any real rhyme or reason to the pattern.

It makes him feel a little nauseous trying to make sense of it.

Does blue come after orange and blue? Is red and yellow before purple and brown?

Why are some of the flowers brown?

Are there brown flowers?

...He files that question away for later, when he has his phone with him... or Mountain.

He'll ask Mountain later.

Then again...

"Are there brown flowers?" he asks, eliciting a grunt from the groundskeeper, who is preoccupied trying to make sure that the tables are level.

"Are there brown flowers?" he asks again, setting down another one of the folding tables, "Or is that just not a thing?"

Bea pauses, thinking.

"Ya know, I'm not sure." she says after a moment, reaching into the pocket of her shorts before clicking her tongue and looking across the lake at her cabin, "A question for later... or Mountain. Just ask Mountain. He knows more about flowers than I do."

Rain snorts.

"Glad to know the gardens are in your capable hands." he jokes, and Bea flips him the bird, crouching back down to lock the legs of the table in place, "So..."

"Mn?"

"Are you going to come to the party with anyone special tonight? You know, since it's the solstice and all."

Bea looks over her shoulder at him.

"Huh? Why would I do that?" she questions, turning back to the stubborn latch, "No, I'm staying in my cabin with the curtains drawn, and pretending y'all aren't out here throwing a rager..."

Rain blinks.

"...You're not going to come to the bonfire at all? Even though you're setting everything up?"

The groundskeeper shakes her head.

"I plan on being in my bed by the time things kick off tonight," she says, "sorry to disappoint."

"Mountain doesn't mind?" he wonders aloud, causing Bea to make a choking sound and look at him like he's sprouted another head, "What? I just figured, since you guys have something going on-"

"I dunno who said what about what, but Mountain and I aren't..." she throws her hands in the air, "...We don't have 'something going on', unless you count having a couple, uh, adult sleepovers, but it's not like that... We're just friends who fuck occasionally."

"Oh." Rain lets this information sink in, "And... And, again, Mountain doesn't mind? Just being friends? 'Cause he... You know how he is."

Bea turns to face him head on, arms crossed.

"You're asking a lot of bold questions here, water boy, you wanna cease the inquisition for a minute?" she huffs, "Look... Mount and me, we're both adults, and we've talked about 'us' before, enough to know that's not how either of us feel about what we've got going on. If he and I did have something going on, I wouldn't have fucked you that time."

Rain's ears twitch, and his face heats up.

"I... I mean, here... we're all pretty open and..." he mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck, "I just assumed..."

"You know that they say about assuming things, Rainy, it makes an ass out of you and me." Bea chastises, then sighs, "I'm... just not looking for that sort of thing right now, and, like I told Mountain, I don't want to tie anyone down if I don't know if that's actually what I... what I want."

"It's... It's complicated, and I..." she frowns, crossing her arms, "I don't want to jump into a relationship on a whim, or because we had sex one time... I like Mountain, don't get me wrong, he's a good guy and he makes a lot of people happy, he's a loving and devoted partner from what I've seen, and a very attentive lover... but I'm not ready for that kind of thing."

"...Romance?" Rain asks.

"Love in general." she says, sticking her hands in her pockets, "Look, I really don't know how to... words. I'm not good at articulating this shit, I just know I don't like Mount like that. He's got a fuckin' good heart and a ten out of ten dick, but he's not for me."

Rain snorts.

"What?"

"Ten out of ten dick."

Bea rolls her eyes.

"You've seen it, you know what I mean."

"I do, I do..." the ghoul places a hand on his chest and stares out over the water wistfully, before turning back to the woman in front of him, "Still though, you should come to the party. You could just post up by the fire and play around with it. That's what all the fire elementals will be doing, might as well have someone around to supervise them and make sure they don't go ham..."

"Nah, I don't need more work..." Bea waves her hand dismissively, then looks at the ground, toeing a rock with her shoe, "...But, ya know, I might need a little help falling asleep, wat with all the noise and shit..."

Rain stands up a little straighter, taken off guard, "O-Oh?"

"The party starts in two hours, and the siblings are going to be swinging by any minute now to take care of the decorations, so..."

"Miss. Milne, are you propositioning this humble servant of the lord?" Rain raises his eyebrows, putting on a posh accent, laughing when Bea swats at him, "Okay, okay, I won't tease... We should hurry though, because if I have to endure another second seeing you in that outfit, I'm going to throw myself in the lake."

"Asshole."

"I guess we could try that hole this time."

Bea takes her hat off and hits him with it.

"Ow! Ow! I'll behave, I promise!"

"I have no idea why everyone thinks you're such a sweet, shy man, you're honestly the worst." Bea pouts, putting her hat back on.

"Who says that?" Rain asks, following Bea along the trail leading around the lake towards her cabin, "...Don't tell me you've been looking things up about us online, haven't you?"

"Not really, no." she says, "I mean, I looked up Sister Imperator once."

"You did??"

She nods.

"Obviously, I didn't find more than what anyone else already knows, but, I mean... Look at me." she gestures at herself, "Look at where I am. Do I look like I deserve to be here? Clearly, that woman has other plans for me, and, fuck, if I get to keep living like this in the meantime, I think I'll be okay if she... ya know..."

Rain bites his cheek.

"No, I don't know." he furrows his brow, "Bea, are you... Is anyone... How should I say this...? Is someone keeping you here against your will? Are you in danger?"

Without hesitation, Bea parts her lips and says a single, "No."

And for a moment, Rain wants to believe that's true.

But even as they ascend the porch, leaving their shoes outside the door as they slip inside the cabin, hands peeling away more clothing, Rain can't help but feel like he's trailing after a ghost.

Bea seems... weirdly resigned to her fate.

Detached.

He tries not to dwell on it, not right now, not when she's pulling him towards her bed, tugging at his belt like a leash.

She bumps the mattress and tumbles backwards, giving a soft gasp as Rain takes advantage of the undignified pose to slide her shorts off, revealing pink lace.

Her shirt comes off with a bit more of a challenge, the long sleeves catch as he tries to free her from it, and he growls his frustrations into her lips the moment its gone.

"You don't make this easy, do you?" he pouts, purring when she crooks her fingers under his chin, scratching at his beard for a moment before running her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp a bit, "...I'll forgive you just this once."

Sitting upright, Rain straddles Bea's hips before kneeling down to kiss between her breasts; They're small, less than a handful, but they're soft and have little freckles dusted across them that are fun to trace with his eyes...

He's peeked at them more than he should probably admit to, even before he got to see them up close and personal, but given the harried nature of their encounter in the lake, Rain hadn't had much time to admire them.

He gives them a tender squeeze, bunching up the baby pink bralette in his hands, and watches as Bea bites her lip to contain a squeak.

"I like this." he says, thumbing over her nipples through the fabric, "Your fashion sense might be questionable at best, but you do know how to pick out some lovely lingerie..."

"I didn't..." Bea arches into his touch, "...I didn't pick it out."

"Oh~? A gift then? From who?" he gives a slightly harsher press, "Who should I be thanking for this?"

Bea writhes beneath him.

"...Don't wanna say..."

"A secret admirer then?" he lowers his head back down, licking one of the rosy buds, "Not Mountain then..."

Bea shakes her head, whining when Rain nips at her chest.

"N-Not Mountain..."

"He is more of a natural sort..." Rain hums, blowing a puff of air out of his mouth, making her shiver as his unnaturally cold breath wicks the saliva he's left behind, "He likes a bit of hair..."

Bea shifts her legs and Rain raises himself up so she can slide them out from beneath him, moving so that she can sit up in his lap.

"So do I..." she admits, gliding her hand over the trail of coarse hair that runs down his stomach, pawing at the soft pudge there, "...Well?"

"Well?" Rain repeats.

"Are you going to fuck me or what?"

Rain grins devilishly.

"Oh, Honey Bea, I'm going to ruin you."

.

.

.

"Anyone know where Rain got to?" Dew asks, looking around at the gathered partygoers, "He sent me a text, like, ten minutes ago saying he needed five more minutes, and then another one that looks like a keysma-...Well, well, well, look who it is."

Rain lowers his head apologetically, still in the process of redressing himself as he strolls up to the other ghouls, shoes untied and his fly undone, "Sorry, sorry... Got carried away with... stuff."

Dew hands him a cup of cider, "Does 'stuff' have a name, or are you going to keep us in suspense?"

"My lips are sealed." he draws a line across his mouth.

"Yeah, but your pants aren't."

"Aw, fishsticks..."

"More like, fishdick, bro, I can see your pubes!" Swiss chortles from nearby, "You going commando, or did you leave your panties with 'stuff'??"

Rain does a little hop as he buttons his fly.

"You guys can tease me all you want, I got what I wanted out of the evening, here's to you maybe, MAYBE, getting the same, my friends." he raises his cup in a toast and downs his drink in one go, "Guh, fuck..."

"Gentleman," he salutes, "I bid you adieu."

Dew and Swiss watch Rain saunter away, scoffing as he plops himself down in one of the chairs on the beach overlooking the lake.

"He's always so weird post nut, I swear to fucking Satan..." Dew mutters, "...He seems like he had a good time with whoever stuff was though."

"Yeup." Swiss sips his beer, "...Where do you suppose Mountain is?"

"Huh, now that you mention it, he's missing, too... I guess he's hooking up with someone, too... Man, it seems like everyone's getting laid but us."

"...I might have a solution to that." Swiss says, side eyeing Dew before sliding his hand down his back.

"What are you-Oh. Oh-ho-ho~"

[nalyra-dreaming]

I will agree with the previous anon re: the lestat hate.

It's hard to watch because of the writing choices that have been made so far.

Iwtv is supposed to have lestat as cruel and vicious and callous but this was...something else.

The drop? Lestat bartering away claudia in the trial to keep louis safe? Lestat treating claudia the way he did?

These choices will not be revisited and they are hard to swallow.

They have painted lestat as this cruel white abuser and that label us hard to rub off.

They are all vampires who do cruel shit to each other is being used as a blank statement for things that maybe are meant to spark a reflection for both the character and the audience.

Santiago is also a cruel abuser we are not supposed to root for him for a reason.

This may be making no sense 😅 but I just think the have taken too many liberties with lestats character and changed significant aspects of the plot that were essential ( lestat being burned, being addled in the trial, being pushed off the tower), and with rolin saying he doesn't want to stay in the past and now we're leaving the memory aspect behind, I get the sense we won't be getting revisits to many important plot points.

The comment that we have seen 80% of lestat keeps me up at night tbh 🫠

So I get the difficulty the anon is expressing

Season 3 will make or break this character, I think. What are your thoughts?

I get you.

As I have said, I am not happy with all the choices either, I said it in my season 2 recap as well.

I think that I know why they did it all like that, and of course the social and societal commentary is indeed incredible and... biting.

The show itself is brilliant.

But the ... laissez-faire attitude with which they chose to implement some of it (and I am referring here to the "surprise" at the uproar after 1x05 and the general statements on the choices there) left festering wounds in this fandom.

And the way that the seasons are now released will only deepen it again, at least for a long while.

I... can only recommend to strictly curate your timeline.

It's been much better for my mental health, tbh.

The show did this intentionally, that is something that has to be accepted.

Some people are so fixed in their image they have of the characters now (ironically on an EDITED TALE) they will be unwilling to follow the show, narratively. That also has to be accepted.

We are going to get TVL now. In TVL, Lestat also does not revisit too much of IWTV. I think we will get exactly that... a short comment on it, and then more context on Paris and the trial.

I have made my peace with that, for the most part.

Tbh. I also, like them, likely, am ready to move on from the edited tale. It's been going in circles, for years. And what we saw was not the truth.

So, nonny, I can only recommend for you to also just "leave behind" those who are stuck on the tale they've been spoon-fed. *shrugs*

We are going to get TVL.

They are on it.

First time this has been adapted.

Let's focus on that. :)

[indigochromatic]

Ok ok, system experiences: weird forms of amnesia edition

Alright, like the alterhuman folks have all been saying today, lemme try to actually write some of this personal experiences stuff instead of only reblogging posts about how it'd be a great thing to do, lol Bit of rambling about one of the few forms of amnesia/(amnesia-adjacent-thing? idk) that we experience, and don't hear other systems describe as much.

So, as a system, we don't (as far as we know) have a lot of amnesia, especially not amnesia around events or blackouts between switches. We do have different emotions and perspectives about stuff, and different degrees of emotional attachment to different memories and concepts, but most of the time we have access to the same memories, and can tell who's front-POV any individual memory was from when either of us recalls it.

We did get a bit of a reminder today that we do actually experience some form of narrative/episodic amnesia...kind of? We don't hear it talked about a lot, so hey, I'll talk about it, and I'd love to know if anyone reading this recognizes it (either from their own experiences, or if they happen to know some kind of official term for it or something). Essentially, it's like...temporary, stress-induced memory shutdowns? Kind of like how when we're having a really out-of-it day, we can just mentally afk and miss 50%-80% of what someone says when they're trying to have a conversation with us, except it'll extend beyond just immediate short-term recall and make it hard to access practically anything from the whole week/month/etc. A key thing about the experience for us is that it doesn't feel like...a "blackout", and (as far as we've been able to tell from getting better memory access back later) it's not centered around specific extra-upsetting events or anything, it's more like...really, really bad internet connection while trying to search our brain for answers to stuff. "What did we do this past week? idk, it was normal stuff, though. How are we feeling, I know intellectually it was kind of a rough week? idk pretty chill probably :)"

Also, we can kinda start getting recall back if we're prompted about specific details and stuff, but too much trying-to-remember effort (especially in situations where we're being called on to do emotional work, like therapy sessions) can also turn into a headache--like, oh yeah, here's the memory, but if we get more than "a sentence or two into the first paragraph" of recalling it, we'll get a nice little dissociation headache and suddenly something else seems way more interesting to think about.

Anyways, thought that might be a useful experience for other folks to compare notes on? It doesn't feel from the inside like amnesia in the "traditional" sense, really, not only because it's in transient episodes but also because we still have the strong sense that the memories are actually there and that there's no lost time or anything Really Bad that's been redacted. It's also it's pretty overtly obvious that it's protective mechanism due to stress/mental overload, even though it's not deliberate, and not under conscious control. In that way, it feels like a pretty apt comparison to say that it's like we're having a speech shutdown episode, except for about memory instead of talking out loud--we didn't lose the memories, the mental filing cabinet drawer just got stuck; we didn't lose our verbal processing, we just can't get the words to happen out loud right now.

If we had to guess, just from how it feels body-wise, the mechanism is probably similar to what happens in catatonia? Also--forgot to mention this earlier, but if we keep getting pressed about stuff, either externally or from pushing ourselves internally, it'll almost always end up triggering a switch (usually to me, which is exactly what happened earlier today in family therapy, lmao). Do I remember the week better than L does, when that happens? Hm. Kinda? The catatonia-like "mentally underwater" feeling goes away for sure, and it's more like...I can get to the bare minimum content information more easily, (like the bullet points info awareness), without getting lost in the fog about it--but I still don't have really any better recall of the narrative stuff. That's my current theory, idk, could be wrong. Anyone else know what I'm describing? Lmk!

[storiesofsvu]

https://www.tumblr.com/storiesofsvu/756561724151414784/ask-game-for-fanfic-writers

How about every integer of 10? 🙏🫡

10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100

(or less if that's too much)

ooo bless!

10. at what point in the process do you come up with titles and how easy or hard is that for you?

fuck. i HATE titles. 99% of the time it's the very last thing I do and half the time i forget about it until i open tumblr to make the post. For one shots i generally read through it again and pick a phrase or repeating word and use that. For series: i'll usually pop onto discord with a brief summary and ask if ppl have ideas, otherwise i have a note in my phone of potential titles that are generally song titles or lyrics. i like my series titles to actually mean something and tie into the story whereas i dont give a fuck about the one shots LOL

20. what is your favourite trope to write?

forbidden love? we're gonna pretend that's a thing lol. like, stories have to have conflict and what's better than two people who wanna fuck/date/whatever and either can't or shouldn't, or like, their bosses would frown upon it, right? like, any and all degree of it, not particularly totally forbidden.

30. most inspirational quote you've ever read or heard that's still important to you.

christ. i cannot think of anything rn. My mind went straight to disney because there are so many things that light up my passion/motivation. the last time we were there we saw the "new" (lol) fireworks show and it had this little speech that was all "no go, let your dreams guide you, reach out and find your happily ever after" and it was kinda the resurge i needed at the time to be all "oh fuck, that's right, i just need to focus" as the old fireworks show had a bit that i like, wished on every fucking night and always made me cry about cause of how i related to it. wow i'm SO cool HA.

in high school (performing arts) certain people got to sign the theatre crossover wall at graduation and i got to and i singed it with a Fosse quote but i cannot remember it anymore for the life of me loll

40. best piece of feedback you've ever gotten?

bruh ive got no clue. i dont get/ask for feedback basically ever. esp recently people have been more just "omg so good" or "next part??" uhh... yeah, i dont think anyone ever has minus like a comment here and there with a friend when spitballing and i have a goldfish brain so i cannot remember.

50. do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?

bit of both! for one shots it's usually just the prompt i was given/found and MAYBE a bit of a blurb scenario.

series: i will not start until i have a much more detailed outline and a rough idea of how it's going to end. nothing is specifically labelled and as i work on the story the outline gets longer, more fleshed out, sometimes there's full conversations or smut pieces in the outline and eventually ch's get labelled and sometimes it's like "ch 4, they go to this hotel and fuck" lol

60. where is the most dangerous place that you're written fic?

work. was stuck in the bar (that guests dont have access to) during service time with nothing else to do. my manager literally came in and teased me about not working and then later asked what i was working on and i said "fanfic, but that's all i'm telling you cause a lot o its real gay and real dirty" LOL

70. are you ever critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during or after the fact?)

i'm SO critical, but it's like, when i'm rereading it months down the road and it's been posted and too late to edit LOL. and it's mainly me just looking at old works that are SO trope filled and slightly cringe and include lot of the stuff that i no longer write.

I don't edit too much at all lol. I'll catch most typos or grammar while going/on a brief read through but it's VERY rare i'll actually go back to edit a full passage the next day or anything. Hence my very detailed outlines! i will edit from there to the fic cause i'll add to the outlines whenever something sparks in my brain and i know its good lol.

80. do you try to put themes, motifs, messages, morals, etc in your writing?

uhh... no? LOL. sometimes i do, and sometimes they just end up there completely by accident.

90. do you notice your own voice in your writing style?

absolutely. why do you think there's so much profanity? LOL. but also as someone who writes mainly reader insert, there is a little bit of me in every yn i write

thanks for asking!! <3 (and that's never too much lol)

[mellowquint]

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog Liveblog!

Part 1; the Dining Car

OKAY WE'RE FINALLY DOING THIS READY, SET, LEGO (wait wrong fandom–)

So insert character is first time working for the train huh, okay cool cool

Oh god now i have to name them uhh (yes i will be referring to they/them, non-binary characters ftw)

… I went with Trainee (get it cuz uh train and yeah I'll see myself out)

Darling your scribbles are fine, better than mine actually

Trainee is a nervous train wreck *ba dum tss* yeah ok I'll stop making train jokes

Oh dang here comes the conductor. Apparently todays the conductor's last day after thirty two years.

OOHH THE TRAIN IS CALLED MIRAGE EXPRESS

I like how the sonic crew didn't forget about spagonia Jejdkddlfkkdkfk thought that was a one time thing

The menu only has 3 things, Why? lmao

Wait they're ALL MICROWAVE MEALS?? Can't they afford a chef? This is someone's speaking who has not gone onto these fancy train cars yet so forgive me

Oh fun tidbit the trains actually used for event's only.

"So I'll need you to do everything in your power to make sure our paying guests are well taken care of, understood?" Sir yes sir

AAAHHHHH AMYYYY SHE LOOKS SO ADORABLE WITH THE BIRTHDAY CAKE HEADBAND AND THE DRESS

HELP TAILS IN HIS DETECTIVE OUTFIT HE'S SO CUTEE

oh so it's Amy's birthday party!! Murder mystery theme eh? Someone's an Agatha Christie fan~~

ROUGE AND KNUCKLES YES also Rouge girl you just got on the train don't go stealing gift shop pens just yet lmao

"What cast of characters am i stuck with" OH SHOOT HE KNOWS 🤣

"Why can't i be normal for one second" you and me both Trainee

Also Sonic immediately bolting to get chilli dogs lmao, never change blue gumball dork

WHOOOO LOOKIT ALL OF THEM, ALSO HOLY MOLY BLAZE IS HERE TOO???? COOL COOL COOL 

EHH okay so now i collect the tickets, like a normal person, this wont be an embarrassing trip

"well the birthday discount certainly helped!" You and me both Amy

OH NEW LORE DROPPED, AMY'S A FAN OF TRUE CRIME PODCASTS!!! (I wonder if she would like the Magnus Archives…)

"Here's the key that unlocks any door in the train" hmm seems kinda sus, but oh well birthday girl gets the birthday key

and Blaze is here to grace us with her presence and elegance, reminding why I love her. Love how she just casually tells us that she's visiting from a separate dimension like it's nothing lmao

Sooo Blaze has sweet tooth cannon? Yes.

LMAO TRAINEE NO "Why can't i win in this group"

Rouge darling please give the conductor his money back it's to early to steal anyones lunch money 

Y'know it's a bit awkward knowing that Trainee just realised he's talking t The Sonic The Hedgehog, like my dude did you not know what he looks like? Either way Sonic's pretty chill

"I brought my own sparkle gelatin. It's a jelly that can melt away even the most jaded hearts" Tails imma need you stop being so cute and wholesome for ONE SECOND OKAY I CAN'T TAKE IT ✨🥺

Awww Trainee and Tails are jelly buddies!!!

"Thank goodness someone on this train is normal" buddy wait till you see the kid fly an airplane and can fly with his two tails lmao

Espio why you holding that rose who is it for 👀

DID ESPIO SERIOUSLY READ TRAINEES MIND?? (Edit he did in fact, something about his Ninjutsu or something)

"Can you cling into walls" "i most certainly can" okay just tell the conductor that, I'll now know where to find you then. In the air vents.

"Do you sell gift bags here" ….. shadow you didn't forget to bring Amy a present her birthday party right?

"Robot arm reminding me that one AI from Wall–E, hopefully we're not going to that route 

"Actually, uh Train, the conductor wants me to have the whole plate" lmao you ain't slick Trainee

Okayyy last but not least we have Vector, who does not in fact have his ticket, aanddd now we're supposed to find it

"I wonder what cake topper Sonic picked out for me" "...shoot, i was supposed to give Amy a cake… what am i supposed to do?" Ya done goofed you blue gumball dork

"You don't need to bow everytime you see me" sure Blaze it's not like i was stress responding. definitely.(seriously tho i love her dialogues)

Okay imma take a gamble and ask shadow if he sees any tickets 

"Only three items on the menu..? You don't even have drinks listed" THAT'S WHAT I WAS SAYING!!! Also we only have like three drinks too, water, coffee, and chaos cola

"I'll have to take you up on the coffee soon. Just the beans and A spoon, though" …… shadow um what??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BEANS AND A SPOON ONLY YOU HOT TOPIC WANNABE??? NOT EVEN WATER OR MILK???

I spent 5 minute hitting every random object where's the ticket – OH WAIT LEFT ARROW

NAPKIN IT'S IN THE NAPKIN

"Lost ticket added to you inventory" YES BUD LET'S GOO

Poor trainee has to double shift on being the microwave expert AND security guard smh, Trainee better has a good paycheck

I'm hoping up on here saying to PLEASE TELL ME WHO DID ALL THE SPRITES IN THE GAME THEY'RE ALL SO WONDERFUL AND EXPRESSIVE MY GOD 

…. Oh. OH!!  SO THAT'S WHY THEY'RE ALL WEARING SPECIFIC CLOTHES. Amy's you nerd she even got them all lore cards i love this girl

So Sonic's role is to be the ship captain. I do wonder why a ship captain of all roles since their in a train setting but ill take

AJDHKJHFKJSLKJFLKJFFKJLA I LOVE THIS SCENE

Oh shadows supposed to be a locksmith?.... I wasn't the only one who thought he was gonna be a barista stationed at the cafe right? My guy might have to dress a little bit more specific for a locksmith

and of course we;ve got our birthday girl as the journalist!

Sweet got a map of the train baby!! Alsooo the lounge looks suspiciously close to the conductor's car…

Well with that out of the way let's get started!!!

Oooohhhh ok cool cool cool got i

"This way there's always a neutral party" yes tails you go you smart cookie

Y'know it's very sweet of all of them to play along with the murder mystery roleplay. Everyone wish they have friends like that

Tails you adorable smart nugget how come you keep getting cuter and adorable by the minute 🥺✨

"My lore is that I'm a nosey person turned journalist" aww c'mon birthday girl don't bring yourself down lol

SUDDEN MYSTERIOUS SHAKE 

Oh wait it's just the train moving

Why is it even shaking THAT much???

Anndd screen goes dark, welp i guess that's it for the dining car scene for now

Aanndd that's all for part 1 hope you guys enjoy and see you guys around part 2!!

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

list eight shows for your followers to get to know you! thanks for the tag @garethsedwards ! I love never shutting up about the same five shows 😂 (also The West Wing didn’t make my list but deserves a honourable mention!)

The Americans: to no one’s surprise. If I could only name one, there wouldn’t even be a contest. This show is SO GOOD. The drama is so layered and so beautifully underhand, the spy stuff is both grounded and satisfyingly trope-y, and it’s that rare show that has almost no “bad guys”, just a lot of very complex, deftly written characters following their own agencies. And it stuck the landing in a way I’ve never seen a show of this length do. The best finale in tv. It’s history! It’s bilingual! The main cast is a list of knockout acting performances without a miss between them. The soundtrack is incredible.

“Sometimes I wonder if you understand spies. One day with Arkady and the others at the Rezidentura, do you want to put them in jail? That's how a policeman thinks, not how spies think. We want everyone to stay right where they are, and bleed everything they know out of them. Forever.”

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: More history! Almost always just for flavour, but when it isn’t! You get episodes like Death on the Vine, and we all know I am weak for a WWI story. And Rilke’s Liebeslied. The main characters are fantastic, and even at its whackiest this show is SO FUN. Bonus for costumes that are to die for, pun intended. You need to understand also that i watch this show purely with a shipper's heart and cannot be held accountable for how incomprehensible you may find the episode of the week. I do not care. This show is peak romance.

"[The inspector sent me] to tell you, in his words, to stay in your compartment, to please resist the temptation to interfere, and to not bandy about his name for your own convenience."

Derry Girls: Even more history! This one understands what it’s like to be a girl in her teens better than any other show I’ve seen, and has such an incredibly strong sense of place and time, an absolute standout even among period dramas. And it’s also just SO FUNNY.

“We're too delicate for prison!” "We go to convent school, Erin, for fuck's sake, we'll be grand."

Fleabag: The other best finale in tv. A main character who is lowkey Fucked Up™, but so relatable, and so real. Also, siblings! This show is so smart, and so sad, and SO funny. And romantic? My God.

"Either everyone feels like this a little bit and they're just not talking about it, or I'm completely fucking alone."

Barry: I’ve probably enjoyed a lot of shows more but the writing! Is insane!! I had no idea what to expect of this show when I first started it and it bowled me over completely with how smart and precise and thoughtful the writing is. The acting is also incredible, and it’s very funny. And it’s DEVASTATING. (Edit: this review, turns out, was for three out of four seasons. I had no idea there was a fourth. It's... something alright. It feels like a completely different thing than the rest of the show tone wise. It wasn't bad, but I preferred S3 as an ending.)

"Can you tell him that he is going to be okay and that he was right. I’m pretty sure people can change."

Doctor Who: I am so attached to Matt Smith's early seasons. I know I KNOW Stephen Moffat isn't all he was cracked up to be at the time and a lot of things are. eh. about his writing but. Listen this SHAPED me. I was a Sherlock girly but the thing that impacted my personality and probably my writing the most was the first two Eleventh Doctor seasons. They have a weird fairytale vibe and I am ABOUT that 'til the day I die, and even a still from those seasons takes me back instantly.

"You won’t even remember me. Well, you’ll remember me a little. I’ll be a story in your head. But that’s okay, we’re all stories in the end."

Veronica Mars: Again, specifically the first two seasons, and specifically *vibes*. Is this show good? Sometimes? Are the mysteries good? Rarely? Did the people running the show know what kind of show they were running? Apparently fucking not. Have I stopped thinking about in the last five years? Also no.

"Honestly, how much easier would your life be if you were indifferent to me?"

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: I don't go for a lot of straight comedy, but as you can probably tell by now, I love a crime procedural and I LOVE shows that make fun of crime procedurals. This show is so funny. Again, is it perfect? No. But it's SO funny though.

"I did it for love!" "Cool motive. Still murder."

tagging @spacepandar @moonprincess92 @rapidashmascot @peppermoons and anyone else who feels like doing it!

[dylawas-reblogs]

Aight, I'm pissed enough at Y*utube's aggressive ad bullshit (this reddit comment summarizes it pretty well) and it's one of the few G**gle services that we're stuck stuck with, that I'm gonna make my own post on current workarounds as of 10/12/2023, with info on methods that I know of for both desktop and mobile. They may not be the best workarounds, but they are what I'm currently using or trust from what I've heard (and I haven't had any other posts like this come across my dash, so maybe this is needed). We fight to the bitter end, comrades.

This post is specifically for if you must be logged in to use Youtube. Your greatest defense would be to use Youtube while logged out. From what I can tell, they basically can't do anything to you if you are.

Please note that I am absolutely no web or code expert, I don't understand the inner workings of the G**gle all seeing eye and how they catch you on this shit, I don't know if it's account based or IP based, I just barely figured out how to buy and use my own domain like three weeks ago, so there are likely things in this post I will suggest that people will correct me on. If for some reason this post gets big and starts circulating (unlikely), please check reblogs and replies for additional information (and make sure it's ACCURATE if you can). Knowledge is your friend.

With that plea to the void out of the way:

Desktop:

Some folks are using browsers with built in ad blockers such as Brave (with varying results; the comments are worth a read by everyone regardless if you use Brave) to circumvent the ad block policy, but that's Chromium shit! We don't do that in this house! I guess you can if you really want to (PrivacyGuides apparently gives it the seal of approval) but if you like your online privacy, I personally really do suggest sticking with Firefox.

"But Dyl, they're catching us on Firefox even with Ublock Origin."

Yes, but the Ublock team is working their asses off to keep up with every. single. ID. change. Y*utube makes to try to break their workarounds. If it's not currently working for you, click on that link right there and follow that guide. This war of the ads will probably continue for a while, so my advice for the foreseeable future is this:

Always perform the four steps listed in the above link any time you've been away from Y*utube for a while (even just a couple hours),

and double check the Y*utube ID VS Ublock's current ID as stated in the linked comment at the start of this post.

After verifying there's an ID update and Ublock is caught up, reset your filters every single time you get on after a several hour break (after backing up your personal filters and trusted sites, if you have any of those customized). Why so often? Because that's just about how often Y*utube's updating their popup ID to catch you with your ad blocker. The Ublock team is staying on top of it fairly well considering the insane frequency, but they may not always get to it for a few hours (hence checking the ID).

After rebooting your Ublock, check a few videos without being logged in first so as not to put your account at risk. Do so in incognito if it's easiest for you. EDIT: If you aren't logged in, YT won't give a shit if you have an ad blocker-- or so I've heard.

"That sounds like a hassle. Don't the filters in this post work?"

They may have at one point! But that post was made all the way back at the end of June 2023, and most recent replies in the post are stating it's not working for them anymore. Thus, I'd just constantly reset your Ublock for the time being until a better solution is implemented. Besides, once you know what you're doing, resetting Ublock takes a grand total of, oh I dunno, a minute? On that note, with YT's constant updates, I have no idea how Brave is faring/keeping up in comparison. And besides from using either Brave or Firefox+Ublock, I don't know of any other desktop solutions.

Furthermore-- and this applies to both desktop and mobile, but I'm bringing it up now-- if you really value your Y*utube channel and don't want it to lose access to watching videos-- or worse-- it may work to make a Y*utube account that's dispensable as your new default. I just used my spam email, honestly. It's literally no skin off my nose if that account suddenly can't watch Y*utube anymore. Then, save the browsing on your main account for when you can afford to have your adblock off (or just don't watch videos from that account anymore). It seems if you've already got the warning once, you're basically on G**gle's watchlist with that account now-- so if you've gotten it on your main, better safe than sorry.

Mobile:

There are a couple things I know of that you can do here. My first suggestion, and the one I just set up, is Revanced (aka the Revanced Manager, and it works in tangent with a MicroG fork (I absolutely do not have the vocabulary to explain what MicroG is/does, just know you can't log in to YT Revanced without it)). This Reddit post is the one I think will make the most sense to everyone for installation, but I would use it in conjunction with the official guide for dummies, not as a replacement for it.

TL;DR, Revanced is an open source APK patcher (or in gamer speak, a mod) that provides patches for numerous applications (T*mblr included, hint hint). Note the term "patches." Yes, you do need to download an APK of your app of choice (on non-rooted devices), but technically what Revanced does is create its own "build" of the app by combining the APK and the patches, and since they're not the ones distributing the APK, I believe that technically keeps them out of G**gle's death laser. PLEASE note that Revanced does NOT distribute its own APKs: if you're trying to save yourself hassle and find something claiming to be an already patched Revanced APK, be it for Y*utube, Reddit, etc, assume it's a virus even if it's not. Always get your APK from apkmirror with your own fingers and manually patch it in with Revanced.

I know the guide looks scary, but believe me: Revanced used to be WAY harder to install, as in, you had to go through a virtual machine on your phone harder. At the current moment, Revanced is Android only. Sorry Apple users :/

If logging in to an account is of no consequence to you and you could not care less, Newpipe is another good third party YT choice from what I've heard; I don't know if it has all of the same features as Revanced YT, but at the very least, yes, it should block ads. It seems to also be compatible with Soundcloud and Bandcamp of all things at a glance, so if those are common applications for you, Newpipe might even be a better option for you over Revanced. Alas, yet again, this app is not compatible with Apple-- and as this is the last third party YT app I have to offer, I don't know if there are any third party YT apps that are Apple compatible. However...

If installing a scary new non-playstore app isn't up your alley, Brave seems to have a mobile app as well; you'd be watching Y*utube in your browser instead of the Y*utube app, but hey, I was watching Y*utube in Firefox mobile with Ublock until I put on my big kid pants with Revanced, so it's absolutely doable. Again, I must reiterate, I don't know how Brave is faring with these changes.

That's all I've got, but just to reiterate: I'm not an expert. I only know bare bones web/code stuff, my understanding on some of these things may be slightly off or wrong, these are just the methods I know of that work to circumvent YT ads. Your mileage may vary on a number of factors, including but not limited to, your understanding of/ability to learn how to download and use non-playstore apps, any breaking updates YT makes to further enforce their tyranny, how G**gle keeps track of ad blockers in browsers, and how long ago this post was made vs when you're seeing it.

It's war out there, soldier; good luck.

[omentranslates]

Owari no Seraph chapter 122 full english fan translation

PLEASE BE AWARE OF SPOILERS, THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH WILL NOT RELEASE UNTIL THE 10TH!!!! I've gone through the chapter for anyone who would like to read it before then, thank you for reading!

Chapter 122: Calories Spent on the Journey

Mika: Alright then, I'm going in.

In a beat up shack within the sea of trees (Aokigahara)

Mika: We're gonna go take a look at the past.

Yuu: Yup.

Mika: I'm going then.

Yuu: Oh, he vanished. Guess I should get going too then.

Mika: ….what time period is this??

-

Ancient Greece

-

Mika: Oh, Yuuchan

Yuu: Hey, Mika

Mika: Why did you turn into a kid?

Yuu: Could ask you the same.

Mika: Oh, I guess it's more energy efficient this way, being small like this. It's almost like you have the desire somewhere to go back to when you were this small.

Yuu: Ah, well yeah. Since everyone was alive then. So, where are we? It looks like we've gone back SUPER far. I sure have lived a long life.

Mika: It's like it belongs to someone else entirely. These are all more or less your own memories, nothing looks familiar at all?

Yuu: Maybe I went senile from living so long.

Mika: Oh true, you do always kinda look like your head's empty.

Yuu: HEY.

Mika: AH, AH WAIT YUUCHAN. HIDE!

Yuu: What

Yuu: What's wrong-?

Mika: SHH!! The first is here!

Yuu: Huh? Oh, for real.

Mika: I wonder if they'll notice us here…

Yuu: How is he here? Aren't these OUR memories?

Mika: Well, yours.

Yuu: Feels like your memories as a demon are mixed in here too though, to me anyway.

Mika: Oh….well….

Yuu: Here they come.

Mika: Shut up!

Mika: Yeah….I guess it's ok to come out now?

Mika: Hmmmm….still scary. Didn't he find us the last time we were looking in the past like this?

Yuu: Well he was really close already that time, wasn't he? Do you feel it now, do you feel him?

Mika: Just a little. It's super far away though, like he's become incredibly weak. I wonder why?

Yuu: I wonder…

Vampire Scientist: KEEP UP THE RESISTANCE, DON'T GIVE HIM AN INCH!! MORE MEDICINE, HURRY UP, DO IT NOW!! ONE MISTAKE AND LORD RIGR IS DEAD.

Rigr: Now then, First. I'll be looking inside you.

Yuu: HEY, OLD GUY. CAN YOU SEE ME? He can't, right?

Mika: So then, he can't bump into us or anything either?

Mika: OOF

Mika: NOPE, WE CAN STILL GET KNOCKED AROUND.

Yuu: They can't see us though, what's with that?

Mika: The things in our memories can't see us because they're just memories. But we can still touch them, they're the same as the ground we're standing on I guess?

Yuu: So the First and them can't see us either then? Since that's the First from the past?

Mika: I think so. But….

Mika: If we can be touched, we can take damage in an attack. So I still think we'd better not get too close.

Yuu: Yeah? Alright, well if he finds us out we'll just run anyways then.

Mika: Right, let's do that.

Yuu: And while we're running we can get a feel for this memory of the past. So where to next?

Mika: Shouldn't we see where the First's group was coming from? In the memory we just saw there was that giant mansion over there.

Yuu: Oh, true, there's that.

-

The Court of the First

A massive space in the ground underneath it, containing a single coffin.

-

Mika: Oh, this place! We've seen this before!!

Yuu: Oh, yeah, where your super beautiful doppelganger is! In that box, right?

Yuu: Look he's here, Mika: beautiful edition!

Mika: Is that really me?

Yuu: Doesn't it look just like you?

Mika: Well-

Yuu: And he has wings. He's an angel.

Mika: This is the First's child, right? That's what he said?

Mika: ….hey, what's wrong Yuuchan?

Yuu: Oh…I just remember this somehow. I used to be stuck to this glass like glue.

Mika: Really? Can you remember any more than that?

Yuu: ….no dice. I can't remember. I know it, though. I was always pressed up against it talking.

Mika: Talking to who?

Yuu: To him.*

Mika: He can talk? I thought the First said he was dead.

Mika: Hey, Mr. Looks Like Me, can you please say something??

Mika: What kind of stuff did you talk about?

Yuu: Hmmm….I can't remember. This is kinda painful, I remember it like up to my throat, but it won't reach my brain.

Mika: I'm pretty sure your throat isn't where you remember things but

Yuu: Come on, what did I say??? It's….it's….no good. I'm not getting it.

Mika: But you were talking? To the corpse?

Yuu: Yeah. Don't you remember anything?

Mika: Huh?

Yuu: Well if this kid IS you, won't you have his memories?

Distant voice: Miiiiikaaaaaaa, Miiiiiiiikaaaaaaaaa

Mika: Maybe…..there might? Be something? Or not? Maybe some massive idiot who wouldn't shut up going "Mika Mika"

Yuu: hey isn't that me….?

Mika: Yeah well it could be a recent memory too. You do this a lot.

Yuu: I do not.

Mika: Sure man.

Yuu: Anyways, I think that's all we'll find out from staying here. Let's go further back.

Mika: Yeah. So how far back can this thing go, I wonder? Just how many years HAVE you been alive?

Yuu: Who knows?

Yuu: I wanna find out too, so let's get going. How do we go further back?

Mika: I let loose the power I get from your desires. And force us back.

Mika: …ah, Yuuchan you're running on empty.

Yuu: What, already? I was just doing nothing but eating, though.

Mika: I know, but go eat some more. I'll keep trying to go further into the past.

Yuu: Mmk, got it. See you then!

Mika: Laterrrr

Yuu: Aaaaaah, hell yeah! Going on adventures just the two of us is so fun!!!

stomach growling

Yuu: Oh damn, I was hungry. I'm gonna pass out.

Yuu: I'll have to eat a lot so we can go SO far back.

Mika: Yuuchan, Yuuchan!

Yuu: Oho?

Mika: You've eaten enough, we're good now. The path to the past has opened up, it goes SO far back.

Yuu: Ohoho?

Mika: …I have no idea what you're saying. Just hurry and come back. This….this is so far into the past…it's scary.

Yuu: unintelligible food in mouth noise

Yuu: Ok.

Yuu: Wow, you've sure been working hard, huh?

Mika: Because that door to the past wouldn't budge for anything.

Yuu: Door?

Yuu: Oh, that. So that's connected to the memories deepest in the past?

Mika: Yeah.

Yuu: You sneak a peek?

Mika: Only a little.

Yuu: What was it like?

Mika: You should see for yourself, it's totally fucked in there. If these are your memories, I have no clue what you are.

Yuu: I'll take a look then.

Yuu: Open up, past of mine. Let's see what the hell you are.

The past even further back than Ancient Greece, what's inside it is….!?

To Be Continued

*T/N: Yuu uses an affectionate term to describe the angel Mikaela, （子）. It means child or sometimes girl, but can be used generally for anything you're fond of and is notably distinct from everyone else using the more general term for a child when talking abt the corpse.

[loremaster-lavellan]

With Love, from Skyrim - Letter 2

Project information here.

Letter to Maela

Maela, Promise you'll keep our letters between us. I don't want Alma and Ata to worry, and I can't tell Llaren every dismal detail. He'd worry too. Try not to worry yourself either. They're fighting a civil war here. There's a skirmish outside the city every other day, I swear. I've seen more corpses than I ever care to again, and I've stopped wondering why there's so much junk in the river. I injured my leg the other day. Tripped while running from wolves. Nothing serious, but poultices and the supplies to make them cost more than I've yet to make in a week, so I'm stuck inside the walls while it heals on its own. I've already learned to stay indoors after dark, and now I can't leave during the day. If you told me the farm was better, I'd come running back home. But I made too many promises to turn back. Things will get better. They HAVE to. Check on Llaren for me, will you? Love, Your favorite (and only) injured brother.

Letter to Alma and Ata

Alma and Ata, I won't lie, it's not easy here in Windhelm, but I've earned enough coin to send some home to you! Fishing is a reliable, if meager, source of income. These Nords throw a lot of junk in the river, and there's always a market for fresh fish. When I've saved enough, I'll buy a bow and try my luck hunting. I've also met a treasure hunter or two who speaks of wealth found exploring crypts and ruins. How are your lungs, Ata? Are you sleeping, Alma? I hope neither of you worry too much. I'm not having much fun - it's always cold and work is hard - but I've got a warm place to sleep, and I'm not going hungry. There's a civil war here, a disagreement on religion, but I'm safe inside the city. If anything, it strengthens my faith in the True Tribunal. I hear there's a shrine to Azura a ways east of Windhelm. Perhaps I'll pay her a visit when I get out on the road. Three watch over you, Llaren.

Letter to Llaren

Llaren, I hate fishing. People on the docks watch me when I fish there like they think I'm up to something. So I got outside the city to a spot down the river and fish off an abandoned sawmill. It IS peaceful, but when it's peaceful, all I can think about is how alone and far from home I am, and every rusty scrap the merchants refuse to buy reminds me how far I am from everything I promised you. I can see Windhelm from here. I don't want to go back, but I'm not capable of traveling alone. So I'll fish for now. Hope I pull up something worth some coin. One day, I'll be able to handle the roads and the wilderness, and I'll leave Windhelm and never return. Tell me something good from home if you can. Tell me what you want in our future, in our house. I WILL build us a house. With love, Fels.

Drawings done traditionally (colored pencil on toned tan paper), and added to the paper digitally. Just using Procreate now - my Adobe subscription finally ended, and I refuse to pay for it, so we're getting creative with editing.

[evelyns-writing-blog]

Catch the Wind: Reincarnated into an Idealised Shell - Chapter II: Nix

[Previous chapter]

Despite leaving me by my lonesome yesterday, today it appeared that Shiro didn't want to leave my side at all. After we settled in in our new inn, he dragged me all over the city to different clothing shops to find something that fit me. It took all morning. Personally, I would have worn anything, but Shiro was really particular about it.

  "You've gotta dress up in a way that expresses your personality, Marisa!" He said.

  But of course, that made sense completely. If we're playing dress up with my personality in mind, then we should ditch these clothing stores and start finding a trash bag that suits me!

  In the end, he settled on an outfit comprised of light armour and dull colours, with the exception of a cape that was dark red. When I asked him why he picked out this sort of outfit for me, he just said, "because it looks cool."

  It's not as if it wasn't a practical getup, but Shiro really should get his priorities straight. But given that he paid for all of it, I couldn't exactly complain. Especially when it was, admittedly, very cool looking.

  Along our shopping trip, I learned that this city was called Nix. It was surrounded by water and had this massive cathedral looking building in the middle. I couldn't see it from the inn we stayed at before. But it really was beautiful, and massive. Extremely so. It even had this huge stained glass window that depicted a really pretty woman with a crown on her head. Didn't take a lot to figure that it was a depiction of a queen.

  According to Shiro, this was the capital of Ferrum, a country that was in a near-constant winter, and that giant building in the centre of this city was where the queen and her family lived.

  Most of this country was uninhabitable, but due to some recent wars, it managed to innovate and chip away at that uninhabited land, building underground cities and weather barriers. Apparently the latter of those, whatever a weather barrier actually entailed, weren't needed here in Nix, as the weather in this region wasn't deemed dangerous, but it couldn't have hurt to implement one anyway, right? That wind was seriously not good last night.

  War was brought up a lot in Shiro's explanation of this country, and most of it went over my head, but it wasn't exactly painting a pretty picture of the place. But since it was peacetime, it looked like I didn't need to worry about being dragged into some war. I was happy about that, at least.

The history of this place seemed very deep with lore, but I'd rather talk about Shiro himself.

  The more I stuck around him, the stranger he got. The reason it took us until mid day to finish buying me clothes wasn't because he actually had that much trouble finding something for me, and more so the fact that he kept getting sidetracked.

  Any time he saw someone in even a mild amount of trouble, he would go over and try to resolve it. I guess that proves he didn't save me because I was special or anything. He'd save anyone. It was admirable, but if he stopped for every little thing, he'd end up wasting his youth. I didn't stop him. He was doing a good thing, after all, but I'd be lying if I said that all these diversions weren't ticking me off.

  I felt like if I told him no, he'd hit me back with a, "so I shouldn't have helped you out either," and that was the last thing I wanted to hear.

  Seeing Shiro with a ponytail during the day was much better than in the dark of that forest. A sight for sore eyes. How I wish I could openly dote on him. I wanted to spoil him rotten seeing him like this. (Shiro Ponytail Edition, as I call it.) But alas, I had no money, in fact I was relying on him. The very opposite of spoiling him. Is there any greater irony than that?

  Needless to say, Shiro was also pretty bossy, making sure everything went as he wanted it to. I objected to getting a cape with my new clothes, but he just pouted and looked to be on the verge of tears. So I caved and accepted it.

  But that's okay! I'm a sucker for his cuteness so I'll put up with anything!

  ...

  Ahem.

  All of that excitement aside, I really did find Shiro to be a great guy. With someone like him, I think I can easily slip into society in this world without much of a struggle.

  Oh, and one more thing. When that innkeeper said Shiro was famous, she meant it. We were getting all sorts of looks. Or rather, he was, and I was completely ignored. On the other hand, he didn't seem too happy about it. He kept his head down and always seemed to rush through busier areas.

  He seemed so upset, in fact, that I didn't feel like it was my place to really ask him about it.

  At any rate, we made it to a restaurant near the front gates of the town, and it had an engraving on the door that said "Mercenary Guild Associated Business," with a little check mark underneath. I had noticed this same engraving when I tried searching for Shiro in that tavern.

  It looked as though this "mercenary guild" had locations tons of locations. I suppose it was only natural for a big city like this, but this restaurant was huge. And considering it was so close to the entrance, it might have even been the main guild building. At least for this city.

  The plan for today was to get me into this guild so I could stay by Shiro's side. This wasn't my idea, but his.

  "I've joined other people's parties before, but I've never had a partner of my own," he said, "and who else but you?" That cheery smile gave me little confidence, surprisingly. "Oh, don't worry, We'll take easy jobs. You'll be completely safe from danger! You have my word!"

  That's what he said, but it was still annoying scary experience. Enough to make me want to hid back at the inn. The only reason I didn't was because I felt grateful towards him.

  The mercenary guild had four ranks. From lowest to highest it goes:

  1. Beginner

  2. Average

  3. Highly skilled

  4. Expert

  I didn't know what any of that meant, but I figured I'd learn as I went. Though it didn't take a genius to understand that a being an expert meant you're the best of the best.

  Shiro guided me through the process, but I probably could have figured it out myself.

  Something of note that isn't too important, but moreso just really strange, before I signed up, the receptionist at the front desk of the guild half of the restaurant had taken a blood sample from me and injected it into a small plastic card.

  "This is how we make verification, sir," the receptionist lady said. "These cards are connected to a magic network, but it requires a small, one time activation, using your blood links the card to you. And because of that magic network, if you were to ever lose this card, you could simply buy a new one and give it your blood. This will of course erase the other card's data, so to speak. So no one who finds it one day could impersonate you."

  What a complicated system! Explain it in English!!! I wanted to say that, but I just nodded.

  "Oh, that's odd," she said. "It appears you're already signed up to the..." she paused, looking confused. I glance at Shiro but he didn't seem to have a clue either.

  "W-What's wrong?" I asked, timidly.

  "Your details aren't showing up. It's corrupted," she explained, showing me the card. The letters were all warped, unreadable. The card even had my face on it, well, at least I assumed so if this really was my card, because this picture was also corrupted. The top half of it was missing.

  I sighed. "That can't be right though. I've never been here before."

  "It's really not an issue, sir, we can easily erase this data and sign you up from scratch."

  It went something like that. The fact that it happened was inconsequential though, since, as the receptionist said, I can just sign up again, but something bugged me about that, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

  Rather than getting frustrated by trying to rack my brain around it, I just pushed it to the back of my mind.

  The receptionist handed me a form that I needed to fill out, and told me I should fill it in by the end of the day. So me and Shiro took this opportunity to order something for lunch and then sit down at an unoccupied table.

  I filled out the information, but stopped when I reached putting my name on it. I thought about it for a moment, and then went to Shiro for some advice. "Is it alright if I skip out on putting my name on this for the time being?"

  Shiro tilted his head. "Why'd you wanna do that?"

  "Well it's... I was thinking of changing my name," I explained, keeping my eyes down. "Marisa doesn't suit me at all. It makes me sad that I have a name like that..."

  I didn't look up even for a moment. I faced this situation before. It scared me. Shiro would probably deny it too. Everyone in my life did. It's something I'm used to. "Well, you've gotta put something in there, but if you can't think of a name right now, it's fine, because you can change it as many times as you want," he said, casually.

  I looked up at him, and was greeted with that same warm smile that he gave every time I looked at him. "As many times as I want?" I repeated his words in a meek whisper.

  He chuckled. "Well, maybe not too many times. The receptionist lady might get angry at you for bothering her about it too often. But yes. There's no limit on how many times you can change your name."

  I sighed in relief and wrote down my name. It confused me as to how, but I could write in this world's language as if I'd been writing in it my whole life. It sure was convenient.

  "What sort of name do you want anyway?" Shiro asked, going over my form to make sure I didn't make any mistakes.

  "Well, there's plenty of options, but I haven't really decided on one yet. But at the very least I want a normal name. One that fits," I explained, twiddling my thumbs. A normal name over in this world might be a strange one, though. So I'd have to think even harder for a new name.

"Let me know what it is as soon as you figure one out, okay?" Shiro said, folding the form and tucking it into his pocket. "If your current name is making you uncomfortable, I'll try to avoid saying it unless it's necessary."

It's really not that big of a deal at this point, since I'm used to it, but I really wouldn't mind if he decided to call me Marisa until I come up with something else. There is such a thing as being too nice. Isn't it a both to avoid calling me by a name?

Being nice... Especially to me. The amount of niceness that I deserve is minimal.

...

The food arrived, finally. Come to think of it, this was my first meal since I got here. Since this was a different world, I was expecting the food to be vastly different from what I normally ate, but on our plates was essentially just the breakfast of someone who wasn't lazy and had the funds to cook for themselves (even though this was for lunch.)

  I took my time eating it, but shiro wasted not even a second. Surprisingly, he didn't make a mess. To be honest, I still wasn't that hungry, most likely because I slept for so long.

"Hahaha! That was tasty! Way better than the food at that Inn!" Shiro exclaimed putting his plate aside.

  I suppose now was a better time than any to ask this. "What were you doing in that forest before you found me?"

  Shiro shrugged. "Multiple things. Mostly just collecting wood though. It's only gonna get colder from now on, so wood is more in demand."

  "Makes sense." It sure was lucky that he ran into me. Maybe it was fate. Being realistic, it was just a coincidence. "Hey, do you think you could teach me magic?"

  Shiro's ears twitched as soon as I said that and he got up and giddily shouted his response. "Really?! What type?! I'm at least at an above average level for all types of spells, you name it! I'll teach you!"

Everyone glared at us, and for some reason, I felt like I didn't want to be here anymore. "Ah... uh, fire magic, maybe..." I mumbled, trying to keep a smile on my face.

Shiro excited gasped and grabbed my hands, causing me to drop my knife and fork. "Thank you!" He exclaimed. Guess I found out about his favourite topic. "I've been wanting to teach someone how to use magic for months, but most people around here already know!"

Now I just felt even more out of place. Not knowing magic seemed like a rarity based on that. But that exactly why I wanted to change that. Magic seemed like it would be at least interesting to learn. I don't imagine my life in this word will be very different from the last one, but it should serve as a distraction at least. If I got really good at it, I'd have bragging rights too if I ever felt as though I was lacking in vanity.

Shiro held his hand out, and soon after, a ball of flame quickly grew out of thin air above his hand. "All you really need to do is imagine the spell you want to cast, and it should appear," he explained, being less reckless now that he was holding something that could very well burn this place down. "Though for a beginner you'd probably need a magic staff to stabilise your magical energy. As someone who's basically a pro, I don't need one. How about I buy you one and teach you the basics of magic when we get back from your trial job?"

Trial job? The receptionist didn't mention anything about that. But I could guess that it was essentially a test of my abilities to decide what rank I should start out at.

"I mean, if it's not a bother, then sure," I said. "But what sort of trial is my trial job?"

"Oh, that? I believe it's based on what you do with the form you fill out," Shiro explained, turning the ball of flame in his hand into a ring. Show off. "For me, it was a fake escort mission, but if I had to guess, yours will probably be the typical cave raid."

What I wrote in my form was that I was good at a memorising anywhere I went, like a human map. Which actually was true, once I've been somewhere once, I could get there without any help the second time. My one achievement in life. I guess I could understand why that would correlate to going into a cave to (probably) look for treasure. It would be hard to get lost if I had a good memory for these things.

"I'll be with you in case things get too rough, so don't be intimidated. You won't actually be in any real danger. These trials really are just test runs." Shiro made the flame disappear and giggled.

That laugh... that laugh, that laugh, that laugh... it's too cute. I gotta kiss him. I gotta grope him! One day! That laugh is just too cute! Drives me crazy! Does that make me so bad? I wonder what his reaction would be if just went in for the kill right now.

...

Forgive me. I'm terrible, aren't I? A bullet to the brain would fix this. I contemplated attacking one of the stronger looking guys and getting them to kill me. Just fucking bash my skull in.

"LARPing, then?" I said, accidentally. I doubted that was a term here. Shiro, as expected, didn't understand. "Uh, it's not important, forget I said that." Facepalming from my own failure, I took in a few deep breaths to try and counteract the psychological pain.

"I'm starting to worry about your head, y'know..." Shiro said with a sigh. "But I kinda like the way you act. I've never met anyone else like you before. It's a nice change of pace."

I think that was a compliment. But he's right, I'm not right in the head at all. I'm a complete mess! "If anyone's a nice change of pace, it's you!" I replied.

At any rate, I finished my meal. Compare to the instant ramen I usually eat, this was much better. I felt good eating food for once in my life. With a fulfilling meal and a fulfilling conversation. All that was left was to give the form back to the receptionist lady.

I was nervous that I'd be denied by the Mercenary Guild, but that ended up not happening, they accepted me and told me that my trial would take place tomorrow.

Shiro treated me to drinks after. Dragging me along to another location. I felt great full to have someone like Shiro looking out for me, but this amount of dedication to "treating" me was getting out of hand. If I wasn't careful, he'd end up planning my whole life out. I'm not that helpless, now.

It was a little shocking to see Shiro downing a pint of beer like it was nothing. What a lawless world, kids shouldn't be allowed to drink that stuff. But even as an adult I just ordered a glass of water. Getting drunk at 2 in the afternoon wasn't for me.

  I really had to question whether or not Shiro was actually as young as he said, or maybe it's just that I'm so childish. It's the latter, definitely. Shiro proceeded to down two more pints and I just sat there, stunned. What's more, he wasn't drunk. Not even a little tipsy. What sort of power was that?!

  "Ahh, that hits the spot!" he said happily. "I'm kinda disappointed you didn't pick out a drink, are you allergic or something?"

  I shrugged. "Im absolutely terrible when I'm drunk, so I only drink when I'm alone so I don't piss anyone off." That was just an excuse. I was an alcoholic in my previous life, I'd drink until I stopped thinking. But for whatever reason, I didn't feel like drinking at all. Maybe because this is a new body. It doesn't have a taste for alcohol yet.

  "That's a shame, really." Shiro frowned. "Why didn't you tell me? We could've gone somewhere else."

  "I didn't want you to feel weighed down by me," I said, laughing it off.

  "Oh, that's nonsense, there's plenty to do, it's not like this was somewhere I just had to go to. You're fine." Shiro stood up and put some money on the table before reaching his hand out to me. "Why don't we go somewhere more interesting!"

Pulled in by his niceness, I put my hand in his and got up myself. "If you're sure," I replied, timidly smiling back at him.

"Well then! Let's head off!" Shiro, unchanging in his gleeful attitude, pulled me along out of the bar.

As it turned out, we never ended up going wherever it was that Shiro wanted to take me. A boy around 15 years old by the name of André came rushing up to us, yelling Shiro's name. He wanted Shiro's help with something, so we were set on another side quest.

  He kept going on and on about a man named Donovan. What were his exact words again?

  "It's terrible! He's flirting with the princess again, I think he's really going to do something bad to her this time!"

  Shiro had awkwardly laughed in response. "You say that every other day, André. I have my suspicions about that man myself, but I guarantee you he's not some sort of playboy."

  André was agitated the whole time. Anxiety ridden. "But—!"

  Shiro patted him on the back. "But sneaking into the castle's gardens is always a good thing, so I'll check on them for you anyway."

  It's better than what I had planned anyway, he added.

  André thanked Shiro on his hands and knees before we departed. That's all was said. Shiro was easily swayed.

  "What do you mean by 'sneaking into the castle garden'?" I asked.

  "It's exactly what you think it means," he relied, simply. "You don't have to come in with me, by the way. Not that I've ever been caught doing this, but you seem on edge about it."

  As if. "No, I'm fine with it, I was more worried about you than myself," I replied, scratching the back of my head. Back when I was a teenager, I'd break into school every night with my friends and mess around in the computer room, so I'm not a stranger to this sort of thing.

  However, a castle is a little different from a school. But if Shiro's done it before, that definitely helps.

  Shiro pouted. "Hey, don't think so little of me just because of my age."

  "There's not a thing about you that I think little of," I retorted with a sigh. "Anyway, who is this Donovan guy? Why's that kid got it out for him?"

  "Oh, it's just pure jealousy," he stated, a-matter-of-factly. "Princess Sherri's got a crush on Donovan, a high ranking knight that's in charge of the magic/science development team they've got in the castle."

  "And what about Donovan? Does he reciprocate those feelings?"

  "As far as I can tell, he doesn't. From what I've gathered, they always meet around this time for the princess's magic lessons. I've met Donovan, and he definitely has an aura about him that scared me at first, but he definitely doesn't have any ulterior motives or anything. The only thing suspicious about him is the fact that he so quickly rose through the ranks despite being a commoner. He showed up a year ago."

  If he's not acting strange with the princess, it had me wondering why Shiro is going out of his way to check up on this. That much was enough to make me curious about his own goals here.

  We stopped in some alley and Shiro looked around for something. "It's less so Donovan I'm spying on here, but Sherri," he said, picking up a ladder from a hole in the back of one of the nearby houses, and placing it against the castle walls. "She's nice enough, there's nothing wrong with her, some would even say she's acting like a normal teen. It's just that... something bugs me about her."

  "Why's that?" I asked. "Don't tell me you caught feelings for this princess and haven't realised it yet."

  Shiro shrugged. "It's not her looks either. What bugs me is the fact she's a royal. Or rather, her lacking a royal attitude. She's entirely selfish, but she wasn't always this way."

  Supposedly, whenever she met her people, the citizens of Nix, of Ferrum as a whole, she was soft spoken, polite, and selfless, speaking as the next in line to the throne, she sought to make the lives of citizens easier, but recently, she's not bothered with those sorts of meetings, and has even started gaining a foul mouth.

  I had to interrupt Shiro's explanation. This was actually a fairly easy thing to explain. "Sounds to me like she's going through a rough patch in her life," I told him. "Teenagers get like that. How old did you say she was now?"

  Shiro started climbing the ladder, and I followed. "She's 16. And it's definitely not just some rebellious phase, these changes only started happening four months ago. It wasn't even gradual. It's like she changed overnight."

  ... Now that was something to be concerned about. "What do you think caused it? You don't think this Donovan guy has something to do with it?"

  "It's too early to tell, I can't get close to either of them, so there's really no way to get solid proof. And staking them out like this hasn't yielded any results."

  "Why not just get André to ask her. He seems to be close to her if he came just now asking you to save her."

  Shiro stopped. "I..." he said, struggling with his words. "Did not think of that..." he hit his head lightly against one of the steps of the ladder.

  Still just a kid, aren't you? "Dont beat yourself up about it. I forget obvious stuff like that all the time."

  Regardless, we continued up the ladder and we reached a ledge. Climbing onto that, we crawled across it until we reached a gap in the wall, sidled through, and came out into a larger gap, and past that, a bush. Shiro put a finger to his lips and sat down by the bush. I followed suit.

  I couldn't see the other side of the bush that well, but there was still some visibility. This gap behind the bush was covered by a bridge much higher up in the castle, making it dark enough that visibility from the other side would have been even harder. No one would have been able to see us even if they stood right next to it.

  "Can you see them well enough?" Shiro asked in a whisper.

  "It's a little difficult, but I can," I whispered back. For some reason I was feeling even more nervous. If we got caught, I'd probably die.

  I got a good look of what these two people looked like.

  Sherri, the princess, dressed nothing like an actual princess. While very fashionable looking, she looked more like the medieval variant of a punk rock girl. In other words, she was tomboyish, wearing a shirt and trousers instead of a dress, the trousers were actually ripped too, ironically enough. Even a lip ring. Her blonde hair was cut short and messy too. I could definitely understand it now, why Shiro is worried. I'm all for people dressing how they like, but a complete disregard for your surroundings like that is just incredibly outrageous. I could kinda respect it, if it wasn't a princess.

  As for the man, Donovan, he was dressed far simpler, a black cloak around him, I couldn't see much of his body because of it. As for his face, though, he was dark skinned, had red eyes and spiky white hair. He was young and beautiful looking, but for some reason, just one look at him caused my heart to tremble in fear. I didn't want to be here at all now that I was really thinking about it. But there was nothing out of the ordinary about him. I wondered why I was so scared.

  We listened in.

  "Come on, tell meeee~..." Sherri said, hugging Donovan's arm. "What was it like?"

Donovan chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "It really wasn't that big of a deal, your highness," he replied. Something about his smooth and deep voice annoyed me. "It's certainly not something someone of your status should have to deal with."

"Pretty please~~~~~!"

"Your mother would have my head on a pike if I told you about it any more than I already have."

Just what are they talking about?

"They're already getting on my case about your looks. That's not even my fault. I wish you weren't so reckless, if I may be so bold, your highness."

"Huhhh?! Fuck that stupid bitch! I won't tell a soul that you told me! Tell me what it's like!" Sherri suddenly got really aggressive and pulled on Donovan's arm.

"A-Alright, alright, hahah," he replied, patting her on the back. "But only if you behave, okay? Be good for the next week."

"Ugh! So annoying! Fine, but take me out to those tasty restaurants later! I wanna try that new item on the menu at the main Mercenary Guild location!" I felt like if I had to listen to this girl's whining any longer, I'd die on the spot.

Donovan sighed. "If you insist, your highness. But please don't wander off this time. Honestly, you drive a hard bargain, princess. If you push this any further, the queen might cut my funding."

"And I'll simply raise it back up once the bitch is dead!"

"W-well..." Donovan seemed to not know how to reply to that. What a pushover.

Shiro whispered to me. "You see what I mean? This isn't right at all."

"I kinda feel bad for that guy," I replied. "I guess André was just over-exaggerating."

"As I said, he sees Donovan as a rival in love, but Donovan is anything but a lover, he told me this himself, the only thing he cares about is his work." Shiro yawned silently. "Looks like they're about to leave. But I can stake them out later if they're going to that restaurant."

I forgot to ask him, but... "Why are you so adamant on eavesdropping on them if you can't find anything of interest from it?" It really didn't make much sense to me.

"... Because she's not really herself right now..."

"But isn't this out of your hands? I don't think you can do something about this without talking to her, you didn't even think to get someone else to do it for you before I brought it up."

Shiro sighed and got up. "I just wanna help people..."

"..."

"Even if I found nothing the last time, I might find something this time, or the next time, right?"

Persistence like that that is too scary. Shiro was definitely naive about the world. He thinks he can do something about anything. It kind of made me feel bad for him. It's way easier to not bother. That's what I thought. "Quit while you're ahead," I said, nonchalantly as we shuffled our way through the tighter gap in the wall.

"W-Why you," Shiro sounded like he wanted to shout at me. He grabbed my arm and bit it. Hard.

"Aaa—!" I covered my mouth and nose as I quickened my shuffling. "What the hell was that for, man?" I said, my urge to scream rivalled Shiro's own.

"Shut up and keep moving, I'm not in the mood to talk."

"Jeez, you don't take criticism well at all..."

Despite our arguing, I couldn't see us falling out over this, but I do kinda feel bad. Maybe I shouldn't have spoken up. Instead of saying sorry though, I just stayed quiet until we got back to our in room, feeling too awkward to speak up again.

On our way, we did run into André again. Shiro told him that nothing happened. He also asked André to ask Sherri directly about her sudden change. He was apparently a servant of the royal family, which is why he even knew the princess to begin with.

Shiro was in a bad mood but he could have at least credited me for the idea.

Before reaching our new inn, Shiro stopped, turned to me, and handed me a few silver coins and a map. "Buy yourself a sword, I'm going back to the Mercenary Guild."

...

He was definitely mad at me.

As always, I'm a fuck up and a moron. I must've struck a nerve.

I decided to just go with the flow and look at the map. Shiro had already drawn out a path

to a weapon's store.

Whatever...

I felt like a total piece of shit.

[Donovan]

It appears that the garden is no longer a safe place for the princess to visit.

I noticed only one person's presence while I cured Sherri's boredom, a young man. Though I could not tell who it was through that bush, it's someone inexperienced with eavesdropping.

But it's because of the fact I only noticed one person that is cause for concern. A child was with this man, and they were completely hidden from me. The only time I noticed him was when they were leaving. It could be that this child has come to spy more than once.

I'll ask to have that part sealed up. What awful architecture this country has.

The princess didn't seem to notice, so it was not cause for concern. If they were here to kill her, they would have done so, a gun or any projectile magic would have been fatal even from behind a mere shrub. They would not have succeeded, but they would have tried. I did nothing to shield her. But it would be problematic if she died. My cloak is bullet proof, and I have incredible speed. A bullet would not reach the princess.

If they were assassins, then perhaps they've simply heard of my abilities. I am, of course, aware of my fame in this city. The reason I know they weren't assassins was because the young man was scared, I could tell. He was scared and confused. He didn't even know why he was there. The kid must've dragged him along.

Eavesdropping is the most likely reason, so it must be so.

Nevertheless, what a foolhardy pair.

As humorous as that would be, given there's nothing worth eavesdropping on, I couldn't laugh about it. It reminded me of my childhood too much. It's all so pointless. And anything that's pointless is a pain.

I made my way to my lab, and kept my eyes down. These foolish nobles I had to live with hated me, so I had no choice but to if I wanted to keep my status as high as it was. Their glares didn't affect me, but it was best that I appear meek and subservient to them.

Perhaps they're jealous that I have the princess's favour. And with a princess as emotionally driven as her, it could turn out bad for them once the her majesty, the queen, dies. I wanted to avoid that conflict. Unnecessary deaths are worthless to me, and the risk of being assassinated for setting my sights too high wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

For the years the queen has left, I want to live in peace and without being the target of suspicion.

If I can do that successfully, maybe I can find meaning in this meaningless thing we call life.

[Marisa]

I got a longsword.

It was heavier than I was expecting it to be, but with my new body it was no problem at all.

I practiced swinging it around in our Inn room, but I wasn't very good at it. I thought it would be easy based on movies and anime that had sword fights in them, but it looked like muscles only took me so far. I could barely aim the sword at all, so maybe I should have gotten a shortsword instead.

The idea of fighting didn't really appeal to me. But it would be good to have at least some sort of defence just in case. If I ran into those wolves again, I could probably die slower.

Guess I was going to have to get used to this longsword, because I doubt I could get a refund. This is a fantasy world, I don't think refunds exist.

I put it back in its sheath and crashed into the bed. It wasn't as comfortable as the inn we were staying at before, but it was nice enough.

...

It's just about dinner time. I should probably eat something. But all we had in this inn was fruit that looked weird to me. It was shaped like a hand with four fingers. I didn't really want to put that in my mouth...

Enough, I'll just wait for Shiro to come back home! I'm not eating anything weird until I saw him eating it himself!

But he didn't come back until late, so I ended up going to bed without eating.

I'm starting to wish I kept my mouth shut.

———————————

Author’s Note:

World building is hard, so I tried to keep things light here. Sorry if you were expecting deep lore, but I’m not that good of a writer. I’m not that good at writing in general. Still, my biggest worry is spelling mistakes rather than figuring out a complex world. If you notice any errors, please send me a message about it.

The next chapter will be a significantly longer one, so please be patient and pray for me as I go through the pain of writing and editing that monster.

[Song of the day]

[Next Chapter]

[jerzwriter]

Thank you! Its only a 2-3cm cut but its right in the crease of my palm so it stings like a MF 😭

Ethan is my fave but if you need to take a break Bryce is a close second.

Thanks queen 👸

Hey there! Here you go! It's quick and not very edited, but I hope it cheers you up! I don't know your name, so I stuck with Casey, just pretend your her and feel better soon! 😉💕

Book: Open Heart

Title: Cut Them a Break!

Pairing: Ethan x MC (Casey), an appearance by Bryce

Rating: General

Category: Fluff

Warning: Minor injury

Summary: Quick little cheer-up story for a fellow fandom member who was injured at the grocery store today. In this story, Ethan & Bryce fight over who will help Casey's injured hand. (Didn't edit - be nice :) ) Casey grimaced when she entered the supermarket. The lines stretched into the aisles and Sienna expected her home fifteen minutes ago. Sure, she couldn't blame Casey for being stuck late on her shift, but she could blame her for putting this off until the last minute. The whole gang was expected at the apartment tonight for Elijah's birthday and the Casey did not want to be the one responsible for screwing up Sienna's carefully selected menu. No one wanted to suffer that fate.

Bryce ran in behind her, "Hey, you think we can be in and out...oh, shit."

"Yeah, the lines are insane! Sienna is going to kill me."

"Hey, not on my watch! Give me half the list, divide and conquer! Then we can each get on the express line and viola!"

She looked at the long express lines. "Well, I guess getting out of here in 30 minutes is better than getting out in 45, but either way, Sienna is going to have my head for this."

"Less talking more shopping!" Bryce yelled as he ran down the aisle. Casey grabbed a basket and set off to the produce section.

"You don't want to buy that one unless you plan on using it next week!”

She knew that voice anywhere. "Ethan," she said without even turning to look at him, "what are you doing here?"

"Getting an oil change, Rookie. What else does one do at the grocery store."

"Very funny. You're not in your neighborhood."

"I detect you're not all that happy to see me."

Casey turned around in frustration. "Of course, I'm happy to see you, but I thought we wanted to try and keep our distance outside of work because. You know... people talk."

"Casey, we're allowed to bump into each other at the supermarket. Besides," he said looking around, "we're not going to engage in anything that we'd like to right now."

She threw a cucumber in her cart and giggled, "Yeah, well, we have replacements for that anyway."

"But, seriously," she said as they both laughed, "Let's keep our distance, I don't want to risk it OK?"

"Fine but call me later."

"I will," she smiled.

If being in a rush was not enough, now she had thoughts of Ethan running through her mind too. Can anyone really blame her for being distracted? Her eyes were looking for the next item on her grocery list when she reached onto the shelf for a jar of mayonnaise, simple enough, but… sharp pain ripped across her inner hand,

“OOOWWWWWW!”

She pulled her hand back and saw blood dripping to her wrist, a small splinter of glass from the broken mayonnaise jar still in her hand.

“Oh, shit!” she yelled, worried about her pain and the fact that this would make her even latter fairly equally.

The supermarket manager came running down the aisle.

“Miss, are you injured? Joe!” He yelled to a clerk, “Go and get my first aid kit, stat! He will be right back and we’ll take care of that for…”

“You will do no such thing!” A deep voice barreled back. “Are you the manager here?”

“Yes, I am, I…”

“Then your incompetence is responsible for this! Do you think I will let you so much as look at her wound?”

“Ethan, it’s superficial, I’ll…”

“Casey, let me see it, I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Well, I mean, I am a doctor too, and…”

“What’s going on over here!!!”

“Oh, God…” Casey sighed.

“Lahella, what are you doing here?” Ethan asked.

“Shopping with Casey, what happened.”

“Well, clearly you weren’t shopping with her when this occurred. Where the hell were you?”

“Getting chips.”

“Ethan, I don’t need to be supervised at the grocery store, I just…”

“We’re taking you to the hospital to get this looked at. Let’s go.”

“No, Ethan, it’s just a little cut, really. Take the splinter out, a little antiseptic and a bandage, we’re golden.”

“I’m with Ethan, Case, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Are you both out of your mind? I cut my hand worse than this last month opening a can of tuna.”

“You did?” They asked in unison, eyes bulged.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, have either of you ever gotten a cut before.”

“That’s irrelevant,” Ethan scoffed. “Bryce can you take care of the groceries. I’m taking Casey back to the hospital.”

“Well, what if I want to take her back to the hospital? I’m her best friend.”

“Well, I’m her boss.”

“Best friend outranks boss.”

“Yeah, well, we used to date.”

“Yeah, well we are dating.”

“ETHAN!”

“Oh, crap.”

“You’re dating? I knew it!”

“Ma’am,” the store manager asked, “would you like me to have security remove these two for you?”

Casey shook her head bewildered, “No, I’m good. I guess there could be worst things than having the two best-looking guys in the store fighting over who gets to take care of me.”

“You think he’s good-looking?” Ethan asked.

“Obviously!” Bryce scoffed.

“Uhm, can you two possibly just take care of my hand?”

Ethan and Bryce continued to bicker as they pulled the splinter of glass from her hand and cleaned the wound. Ethan pushed Bryce aside as he gently wrapped her hand in a bandage.

“Now,” Ethan said, “that will keep you until we’re in the ER.”

“The ER! Ethan, seriously! It’s not that bad, I…”

“Casey!” He yelled, drawing stares, “We aren’t taking chances! That’s final. Lahela, can you handle the groceries?”

“Sure thing, Dr. Ramsey.”

“Good! Now Casey, come with me!”

Casey looked at Bryce apologetically, “I’m sorry, By, just tell them, I’ll be back in… what does the ER take… ten hours!” she said in annoyance.

“Ethan,” she said headed to his car, “I really appreciate you being so worried about me, but you know this doesn’t require the ER. You’re being….”

“I’m one of the top doctors in the world, Rookie. I know it’s not a serious injury.”

“Then why the hell are you taking me to the ER?” She demanded as she sat in the passenger’s seat.

“Because” he smirked as he sat next to her, “ER stands for Ethan’s Room and I think you can get all the TLC you need there.”

A sly grin crossed Casey’s face, “Are you encouraging me to get injured more frequently?”

“Of course not! But since you already are…”

She shook her head and grinned. “Well, let’s go. I’m just hoping the ER has a long, long wait today.”

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics @adiehardfan @barbean @binny1985 @bluebelle08 @bluerosesbloom @brokenmemoriesblog @charisworld @custaroonie @everybodyscreamsposts @jamespotterthefirst @jennieausten @kachrisberry @kalinahonore @lady-calypso @liaromancewriter @mia143 @mjlbwork @mm2305 @phoenixrising308 @pixelberrygirl @schnitzelbutterfingers @secretaryunpaid @shewillreadyou @shygirl4295 @thegreentwin @txfledglingscribe @wanderingamongthewildflowers

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[girl-in-the-tower]

CHAPTER I

Ramshackle Dorm - Birthday Party Venue

Kore: Woah, to think the ghosts would go all out like this just for today! Even though I told them that they didn't have to bother with it, they wouldn't listen, at all... It's... It's kind of embarrassing to be fussed over like this! If it was Grim I would have understood but this, uh...

Ah! And I'm supposed to have a guest over today as well! Hm, I guess some tea should be in order... maybe some cakes as well... I wonder if there's any sugar left...

Ace: Yo!

Kore: Ah, just a moment- Oh, it's just you, Ace.

Ace: Ha? What's that supposed to mean? 'It's just you'? It's super rude to greet your dear guest like this, you know?

Kore: Is that so? But calling you a guest is...

Ace: What's that?

Kore: Hm...

Ace: Well, doesn't matter because my feelings were hurt either way! So I'll help myself to this krumkake to make myself feel better! Let's dig in~

Kore: Hey, that- Aaah, that was meant to be for Grim. He kept complaining all day yesterday that he should have a cake all to himself too since it's a special day so I woke up extra early just to make it for him. Now he's gonna be mad...

Ace: Haa? A whole cake just for that furball? You've got to be kidding me!

Kore: What are you talking about? You know how much he likes krumkake.

Ace: Nah, I doubt there's really anything that guy won't eat... But that's not the point. You're spoiling him too much. He's gotten really fat, you know?

Kore: It's fine. I still make sure he exercises and he looks cute round like that too, so it's not a problem.

Ace: No, I definitely still think there's something wrong here. Mainly with your head.

Kore: Haaaaaaa, you wanna pick a figh-

Ace: Oh, I almost forgot! Here you go!

Kore: ... What's this?

Ace: Isn't it obvious?

Kore: Well... Huh? Wait a minute- That can't-!

Ace: Ta-da! It's a limited edition Griffons varsity jacket that's been all the rage with Magift meatheads like you~

Kore: No way!! This is- This is-

Ace: Cool, righ- Hey!! Don't jump on me like that! You almost knocked me off the chair!

Kore: Sorry, hahaha! I was so happy I just couldn't contain myself! To think that I would be able to actually get my hands onto something so valuable!

Ace: Yeah, we figured you'd like i-

Kore: This season has really been a blessing from above for them, you know? Everybody is in top shape and playing at their best! I heard their new manager actually made them go through this super difficult training regime that has been working wonders for them. Though it's only speculation so far!

Ace: Uh, Kor-

Kore: If you ask me, it's definitely also thanks to those new brooms that they ordered for the team. The wood is apparently from the Valley of Thorns and super-resistant so they go all out without worrying about breaking them. For the moves that the team is pulling, they really need that propulsion time! Even a second helps when you're in a headlock. I remember back in the vs Mandrakes game that they switched brooms in between-

Ace: Heeeeey! You Magift boar woman! Can you hear me?

Kore: Wh-Why are you yelling like that?! I'm right next to you!

Ace: Haaaa, when you start talking about Magift you might as well be in a completely different world... No wonder they all think of you as the Magift Encyclopedia. I bet you have hundreds of useless pieces of information like that stuck in your head.

Kore: You-! Huh? What's this?

Ace: A-Ah! That!

Kore: It's rice pudding- Ah! It's homemade from the Mountains!

Ace: Hm? Ah, ye-yeah... That came with the jacket...

Kore: Eh? They put pudding in jackets when they sell them?!

Ace: O-Obviously! Don't tell me you didn't know? Bwahaha, man, you sure are clueless...

Kore: ... It's my favourite flavour too...

CHAPTER II

Ace: Alright, next to the first question!

Kore: Eh?! Question?! Is this a quiz of some kind?!

Ace: I guess you could think of it like that, so anyway- Your first question as today's birthday girl issssss: "If you were stuck on a deserted island, who would you take with you?" Hm, here it says that you can't pick members of your own dorm, but given that you guys don't even have a dorm, I'm not sure that the restriction applies. Not that it matters since you wouldn't choose Grim anyway, right?

Kore: Huh? Why not?

Ace: You're serious?! You'd pick that furball?! Hey, we're talking about a deserted island here so think carefully! Don't you want to get off it?!

Kore: Well, obviously I would... But...

Ace: But?

Kore: I can do that on my own.

Ace: Huh?

Kore: Survival is all about securing shelter, food and formulating an escape plan. If it's a deserted island I assume there would be some fauna and animals too, so we could feed ourselves through fruit gathering and hunting. It might be hard if we don't have any tools, however, but I think Grim's claws would be sharp enough to cut through the skin and meat fairly easily. I make sure he takes good care of them after all.

Ace: I-I see...

Kore: If there's no drinkable water then we'll have to boil some from the sea in order to deal with the thirst. Grim's flames, when properly utilized, would be able to do such a thing. Not to mention that he could start fires to keep us warm at night and to cook food to sustain us! Also, it could be a great emergency signal if we end up at sea and need rescuing.

Ace: You want to use him as a flare?!

Kore: That sounds so mean! I would only do that as a last resort, however! Grim's pretty sensitive about having his belly scratched so I wouldn't do anything to make him uncomfortable like that!

Ace: Haaaa, I get it, I get it! So you're saying that the furball has his practical uses too. But I can't help but worry about some flaws...

Kore: Flaws?

Ace: No matter how much you feed that glutton, his stomach will never be full, you know! Whatever provisions you managed to gather, he's sure to inhale them with the first occasion!

Kore: Wah- That's a horrible thing to say! There's no way my Grim is so selfish!

Ace: My Grim?! What is he?! Your child?! And he's totally selfish, you know!!

Kore: HAAAAA?! ARE YOU REALLY PICKING A FIGHT WITH ME?!

Ace: Ca-Calm down!! I take it back, ok?! You can bring the furball with you!

Kore: Hmph.

Ace: Seriously, getting this angry over that cat...

Kore: Isn't that normal? Grim is my special person, after all!

Ace: SPECIAL PERSON?!

Kore: The person you care for a lot, like they're part of you, right? Like Cay-senpai said!

Ace: I-I see, so that's...

Kore: Being on a deserted island isn't ideal, but at the end of the day I know I can be ok on my own. Farmwork, housework - those are things that I'm used to from the Mountains. Life isn't so easy back home, but we all make do with what we can - magic or no magic. Even if I'm stuck in a bad situation, I can manage to get through so I don't need anybody else.

Well, that's what I thought before I came to this place anyway...

Ace: ...

Kore: Besides you're wrong about something!

Ace: Huh?

Kore: In order to survive it's not just physical attributes that are important, but mental ones as well. And in that case, Grim has the real trump card!

Ace: He-He does?!

Kore: Mm! You see, Grim, he... has the cutest paws and the fluffiest fur in the world!

Ace: HUH?!

Kore: Mm! Every time I feel like giving up or am reaching the end of the rope, all I'd have to do is give his paw pads a little squeeze or lay on his tummy and my mood would instantly clear up again! In a situation full of despair like that it would make a world of difference, you know?

Ace: SO HE'S THERE JUST FOR MORAL SUPPORT?!

Kore: Well, that too! It's important after all!

Ah, this pudding is really good actually...

CHAPTER III

Ace: Haaaa, I give up... Your boar mind is way too difficult to understand...

Kore: HUH?!

Ace: Anyway, let's get on with our next question and- Ah.

Kore: Hm? What is it? You suddenly stopped in the middle of the sentence. Did the falcon get your tongue, hehe?

Ace: It's a cat, not a falcon! And I only stopped because- uh...

Kore: What?

Ace: "You're offered the chance to pick another dorm, which one would you choose?"

Kore: ...

Ace: I swear, that Headmaster doesn't even think of these questions at all...

Kore: Yeah, there's no way I can answer that...

Ace: I figured. So instead! "Please share your opinions on the dorms!"

Kore: Ah!

Ace: Nice, right? You can definitely count on me when it comes to quick thinking, you know?

Kore: ... I guess.

Ace: You guess?!

Kore: I'll start with Diasomnia then!

Ace: Hey, don't ignore-

Kore: Hm, I'm not really sure about the atmosphere there but- Don't you think that their interior decor is pretty fancy? I haven't seen stuff like that in magazines for quite a while, so I feel like it's definitely something that must have required a lot of work! It's kinda dreary though, what will the windows not letting enough light and the greenery around it could stand to be looked after better, hm...

Ace: So you're only interested in the decor, huh? Alright, what about Ignihyde?

Kore: It's too technological.

Ace: Huh, I guess that you're right. For somebody like you, it would really be a struggle living there...

Kore: ...

It's even more depressing than Diasomnia, so I feel like I would be stuck in a bad mood without enough sunlight, you know? Though I must admit, it really is super clean inside! That's a very important detail! Clean homes are necessary for good health!

Ace: There you go again, sounding like a mom... Next is Pomefiore!

Kore: IT'S SUPER FLASHY!

Ace: I know~?

Kore: No, no, you don't get it! It's so flashy it actually scares me! All that pomp and glamour! The rugs themselves look like something from the fall collection that sold out about twenty years ago and the chandeliers are bound to be at least four times Theo's salary! Walking through those hallways is like stepping on opulence! A continuous loop of flashiness!

Ace: HEY! Get a hold of yourself! Let's go over to- Ah, Scarabia...

Kore: It's so hot there!!

Ace: Oh, yeah, you're super weak to heat so you'd definitely hate it there. Right?

Kore: Mm, hate is... I think that if it was the old me, I would never have even stepped in there. But now I feel like... Yeah! I definitely think that I can give it another try! Scarabia is pretty rich too, but it feels more homely? There's a lot of people gathered around and there are banquets and feasts pretty often too. It's always lively and warm... In a way, I imagine that's what a home would feel like...

Ace: ...

Kore: I can't say the same for Octavinelle however. Hmph!

Ace: Bwahaha, that's true. It really feels like you'd get scammed in there pretty quick.

Kore: Not even that! But building a dorm underwater? I admit the decor is pretty nice and classy, but the atmosphere is too cold! There's a lot of types that I can't get along with at all so it would definitely be a miserable time for me. No, I definitely don't want to set foot there ever again!

Ace: I totally get it~ All that commotion after the exams was enough for me too. Guess the same goes for Savanaclaw too, then?

Kore: ...

Ace: HA?!

Kore: I-I refuse to believe that anybody who loves Magift is a bad person!

Ace: There's that meathead in you talking again! Are you seriously that obsessed with it?! I feel like there's a sickness that applies in this case!!

Kore: He-Hey!! That's way too- I understand that what they did was bad, and I definitely haven't forgiven Kingscholar-senpai yet, but there are definitely good points to them as well! I think!

Ace: So you're not even sure?!

Kore: A-Anyway, as for Heartslaybyul-

Ace: Don't go changing the subject!

Kore: - if I had to pick that would be my favourite.

Ace: Huh?

Kore: I love Scarabia too, a lot, but at the end of the day all that rich atmosphere is scary. I really don't feel like I would belong there at all. I'd stick out like a sore thumb among everybody else - more than usual at the very least. But in Heartslaybyul, even if Rosehearts-senpai is strict, I feel like everybody is sort of content with the oddness. There's not much that stands out about it, but I think that's what makes it so appealing, you know?

Ace: ... So... what you're saying... Is that we're a shabby dorm full of weirdoes?

Kore: I-I wouldn't go that far...

Ace: But that's the gist of it, isn't it?!

Kore: Ummmmm...

Ace: ... Alright, I get it.

Kore: Huh?

Ace: You know, it just so happens that there's one more thing I have to tell you about.

Kore: One more thing?

Ace: Yup! You see, there's this tradition where the presenter has to give the 'gift of fortune' in order to make sure this ends up being a great birthday! And it just so happens that you're lucky enough to have me here today to deliver the goods~

Kore: Huh? What are you-

[SPLATTER]

Kore: ...

Ace: BWAHAHA, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST STOOD THERE LIKE THAT!

Kore: ...

Ace: Oh man, the look on your face is hilarious! Oh, let me take a quick picture to show the others too!

Kore: ...

Ace: Ok, so then- He-Hey! Don't- AUGH! MY FOREHEAD!

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

❛ A MIRACLE ❜

with Angel Reyes.

Warnings: none, just a lot of fluffiness.

Word count: about 1.5k

Aurora says: this writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!

Gif credits: to the author.

Masterlist.

You can subscribe to my broadcast list, to be notified whenever I post a writing!

“Where you at, mi dulce?”

“I'm with Pop”.

“He okay?”

“Kinda like. He called me because he wasn't feeling good. Stomach ache. But, don' worry. I prepared him a good dinner. Why don' you come with EZ?”

“Yeah, okay. We're on our way”.

Hanging up the call, you frown at Felipe, who is not paying attention to your indications, setting the table with some grunts. Rolling your eyes, you walk towards him to take the cutlery off from his hands.

“Pop, sit down, please”.

“I wanna help, mija”.

“You help me sitting down”. Chuckling, you continue the task, hearing him complaining in murmurs. “Your boys are coming too”.

“Good”.

Coming back to the kitchen, you take a spoon of soap to taste the salt in it. It's perfect and the smell is simply delicious. You couldn't imagine almost a year ago that you would be the connection between the three Reyes, after what Angel told you about his family. With your eyes fixed on Marisol's urn, you can't help but pucker your lips with a soft smile on them. She would be proud. And you would have liked to meet her. Your boyfriend always says that she would have loved you, and you can't agree more. Sometimes you find yourself talking to her about her family, about what they have done through the day, or even about you. You understand Felipe. You understand why he does it. Sometimes it helps, feeling like if she actually was listening to you.

Bringing the saucepan to the table, placing it over a wooden board, taking off the cover to put it aside. Felipe leans forward, getting a whiff from it with both eyes closed. The pleased humm in his throat makes you know that he is delighted.

“Smells good, mija”.

“Tastes better, you'll see”. Palming his shoulder, you turn to the window next to the main door.

The characteristic sound, which you are used to living with, is increasing as the motorcycles drive through the neighborhood until parking in front of the house. Going to the entrance, you wait for them resting your body against the frame. Getting off from their bikes, EZ smirks at you when he's able to hug you tightly, upstairs. Pecking your cheek, he comes inside to greet his grumpy father. In the meantime that your boyfriend embraces you closer, resting his forehead over your chest, curving a little his back.

“Been all day without seeing you”. He mutters, raising his face to reach your lips.

A softly and slow kiss caresses them, taking his time to enjoy your warmth, wrapping him with both arms.

“You missed me?”

“A lot, mi angelito”. You say with a honeyed tone of voice. “C'mon. Dinner is gonna get cold”.

“Yeah”. He nods.

His heavy steps go straight to his father, placing a kiss on top of his head.

“What's up, Pop?” Angel asks sitting at the table, by his left.

“Jezz, it smells so good, (Y/N)”. EZ says, waiting for you to serve the soup. “What's in it?”

“Rice and chicken. A classic”. You reply very proudly.

When the dinner is finished and the younger Reyes has taken charge of cleaning the kitchen, you share some beers in the living room watching a movie. Ezekiel is now lying on the recliner next to Pop's couch, while your boyfriend and you are sharing the sofa behind them. You actually aren't paying attention to the TV. Facing each other, with a leg over his, your arms are tangled on his neck and his on your waist. You love that sofa because, even if it's a little small for you two, that let you be so, so close. Traveling one of your hands to his right cheekbone, you caress it with your fingertips before touring his dense beard covering the line of his jaw. Angel has his eyes closed, peacefully breathing, but awake. Just enjoying your displays of love. Almost one year, and you keep falling for him every day a little more.

Bowing slightly, you press his cheek with your lips, leaving soft and shorts kisses not wanting to disturb his calm. But you kiss every single inch of his face; his temple, his forehead, the bridge of his nose, the tip of it, his chin. Until reaching his lips. At first, it's just an ephemeral taste. The beer on them gets mixed with your. He licks himself slowly, drawing a light smile on them waiting for another one. Touching his nose with yours, you kiss him again. His arms hold you a little closer, a little tightly, needing your proximity. You two look like two teens under EZ and Pop's eyes, who smile delighted looking at each other. And there's nothing sexual there. You could spend hours kissing him, just enjoying his tongue playing with yours and running out of air, to end up laughing. Your hand caresses his throat, while your lips continue dancing with his in a romantic and a measured improvisate choreography. You can feel his warm breathing, through his nose, colliding to your skin. With your leg around his waist, you push him so much closer until there's no distance between your chests.

You don't know how you have been living without him all your life. Angel either. Everybody says that you're like the light that illuminated his darkness, that he has changed since you met, to a small extent. Now he's more well-balanced. He thinks before acting. And he is mostly wearing a kind smile, good-humored. You know all his secrets, all his fears, all his insecurities; and for Angel is amazing how, knowing everything about him, you are still loving him without judging. Helping him to be his best version. Not only that, but helping him to have a close relationship with Felipe. That man is pig-headed to the limits, but he appreciates and loves you since the moment Angel introduces you. He is the first one who began to see the change in his son.

When your lips get separated in a clingy way, as if they were stuck, Angel is looking at you with a gaze full of love. Hiding his face on the gap of your neck, he takes a long deep breath of your scent, putting his lips there to kiss your skin so gently that gives you some nice chills. Your fingertips stroke his scalp, while he looks for some more calm.

“How I have been so lucky to find you?” You whisper into his ear, feeling his mouth curving in a fleeting smile. Just for a moment.

“I'm the lucky one, mi dulce”. He replies without hesitation, and a purr fixed in his throat. “Te amo”.

“Y yo a ti, mi angelito”.

Molding your body to his and resting your head over the cushion, you close your eyes. After a long day at the hospital, you are so tired that you don't care to fall asleep there. And it doesn't take you too much time, focused on Angel's breathing and his hands caressing your back. The only thing you feel after that, as if it was part of your dreams, is the brief weight of a blanket covering you two and a kiss on your forehead. Tightening your arms around your boyfriend by inertia, you continue immersed in your sleep.

Waking up bit by bit, hearing some noises inside the kitchen, you turn on the sofa. Angel isn't there anymore. Ezekiel and Felipe either. Getting up and stretching your back and arms, you walk barefoot following their voices.

“... and sometimes I find her talking to your mother”.

“How's tha'?” Angel whispers a little confused, having a sip from his mug.

“Yeah. When she's here, she talks to her. About you, about me, about your brother”. Felipe explains. “I really like her for you, mijo. She cares about you”.

“I know, Pop”.

“Good morning”.

Coming into the kitchen, after some seconds of silence, the three men turn at you to greet you.

“Buenos días, Marisol”. You mumble, slightly touching the urn, before continuing to kiss every man there.

Sitting on Angel's lap, you steal his coffee to drink it, hiding a delighted smile against the porcelain.

“You slept well?” He asks, placing a kiss on your shoulder. You just nod, putting an arm behind his neck. “Good… Plans fo' today?”

“Nothing, actually. Got a day off. Maybe I'll go to see Bishop. He told me that he needs some help with one of Vicki's girls”.

“Hm”.

“Feeling better, Pop?” Turning to the old man, he smirks at you. “Not lying to make me leave?”

“Not lying, mija. Your soup was like a miracle”.

“She is a miracle, papa”. Angel replies, rolling his eyes as if it wasn't obvious.

“And more like a trouble when she gets drunk”. Ezekiel laughs loudly, probably referring to the last Mayan party where you drank too much and maybe you lost control a little.

“Shut up, prospect”. Hitting his shoulder, you end up laughing too. “Anyway, call me if you feel sick again, okay? Got nothing important to do today”.

“I will keep it in mind, mija”.

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