#that one line in his journal thats like... what kind of father would i be if i didnt raze the world for her...

[rosykims]

looking at two pictures of ketheric and lilithira side by side sweating and twitching because its the same picture

[enden-k]

Hear me out idk this is just a lil something but what if. What if eremite Kaveh was still interested in architecture and art but he had no one to really show it to that would enjoy it of the same amount. So he has just some doodles or something and one day Alhaitham stumbles across them

thats actually what i had already planned !

(im so sorry im rambling again gosh i cant stop it)

kaveh still kept the things he and his father had on them when they traveled to the desert, like his research notes and journal. the journal contains drawings of his mother that his father always kept with him and kaveh (he always was interested in architecture and arts like his mom since he grew up still the same until the accident happened) rlly admires his mothers works and kept drawing, in the same sketchbook she had gifted him as a kid and that was on him on this trip to the desert

when haitham finds it completely by accident and flips through it, theres many sketches and drawings that clearly show kavehs growth and talent; a lot of sketches of his parents (there is uncertainty in his lines that make up their facial features, as if he no longer remembers their faces so clearly anymore), sketches of his home and views (that he still remembered), constellations he had seen and that his father had taught him (since he was a rtawahist scholar) with little notes on their names and meanings in the script of the desert (the eremites must have taught him), some eremites dancing and eating together (perhaps the ones that took him in and he grew up with as family), sketches of designs to improve their camp for more comfort and protection from the desert, some pretty patterns he must have seen in ruins or on travelers clothes and he found inspiring or beautiful enough to memorize in his book, several sketches of three desert foxes playing together, jumping around, sleeping, etc (are those his pets? there are names written underneath), flowers and lots of birds, aether and paimon napping at the campfire .........

there are a lot of sketches of him. him reading, him sleeping, him smiling. a page dedicated to his eyes (the note underneath says i cant grasp his gaze, the way he observes and looks at things. the way he looks at me. i dont want to forget it) unlike most of the others, those sketches seem to be completely from kavehs imagination and without direct reference bc haitham doesnt remember seeing him draw even once; he probably must draw at night when hes guarding the camp

kaveh gets extremely embarrassed when he notices haitham looking through his sketchbook and refuses to look or talk to him until haitham blurts out how beautiful his sketches are. he may not be quite the artsy person but even he is impressed and kaveh feels his words and interest are genuine and then he shows him the rest of the book (carefully hiding the haitham sketches), telling him a little about each sketch and its story, what he remembers of his parents, his home, how he always was interested in art and design just like his mom, that he kept drawing and loves fiddling with the puzzles and machines scattered all over the desert, building and improving the camps while still keeping an eye on aesthetics (its kind of cute of him in all his hard works to still watch that the fabrics match)...

(that night haitham dreams of taking kaveh home with him, to show him all the sights he believes he would love and sketch down, to give him the chance to pursue this kind of academic path if he wished to,.....to fulfill any of his wishes that was possible for him to grant, as the acting grand sage of the sumeru akademiya; as the man that is deeply in love)

[shelf-care]

Obsession

Part 4 of the lipstick mark series. 

This really isn’t an X OC for creed, but this part is entirely about him and his character and how they had met kinda. I’m saving that for down the line. 

Warnings: Creed being Creed. 

Everything in life starts with your mindset. It reveals something about who you are and what you do. Is it the way you look at the problems of the world, or the way you want to see the universe around you? Who knows, the world is screwed. Nothing can even start to explain how bad things can get. Maybe that explains the way I am.

Victor Creed (Weapon X Journal log 1996)

“Tell me what she’s been doing.” The claw on his right hand ran down the interns face, cutting his flesh open in the thinest line, trailing from his eye, over the bridge of his nose, and then down to his lips. The young man couldn’t be more than twenty two at the most. A Harvard graduate, top of his class in genetic theory and chemistry. The man swallowed, “I can’t give you that information sir. I don’t have the clearance level.” He gasped as Creed released him from his grip, only because he didn’t want to get another strike on his record, to which he had six. “Tell me who does.” Yellow eyes watch his every move, a lion seeking to devour his prey in an instant if he made any sudden moves.  “Doctor Striker. He’s the director of Project Trojan horse. He specifically chose Agent Hope for the operation.” The man scoffed, watching a long and thick track of blood slowly pulling down from the cut he’d left on the kids face. “Strikers back.” He smiled. “Missed that sick bastard.” He wiped his claws clean on his coat, then opened the door to leave. “Thanks kid, you were a big help. Make sure to change those pant’s o’ yours.” He chuckled with his white teeth piercing the dim room, his back turning to leave the kid alone and utterly terrified.

With every step Victor couldn’t decide wether or not to be giddy or to curb his excitement out of premature celebration. She was his, had been that way for the last few years. A few months didn’t change that. She was like his light in the dark, his morning star. Why did she not see what she was to him? He’d only felt this one other time before. A burning, and ache for the things that were real. She was the last of the real breed. The type of people who would do anything to save the world. Him? He’d sacrifice the world in a heart beat for her. He’d do annoying to hold her in his arms as they laid contemplating life as they stared at the ceiling. He missed the way she smelled after a night in the rain, running his claws through her thick curls. He scoffed to himself. He became soft, his obsession drove him mad, but it was the best kind. It was like a hunt that would never let him go. The excitement, the raw adrenaline he’d always loved as young man. As his boots connected with the grated floor he heard muffled voices discussing a recent development on “Hopes” mission. Creed was more than curious, he wanted to know what was so important. Tapping in his verification code, the door slid open to the side. Stepping in all the doctors in the room became like a funeral parlor. Dead eyes staring at him all the while folding his arms with a grin on his face. “No continue Doctor Striker.” He gave the man at the table the floor. “I don’t think thats wise Creed. Considering that the topic is about your Former commander, not to mention Ex lover of sorts and her current conditions.” He scoffed again. “She’s still my girl.” He said as a joke but with the hidden agenda of something Striker couldn’t place, but at the same time he’d known what Victor was planning. “Its inappropriate, and is currently on a top level clearance need to know basis.” Creeds steps thundered across the room, every step a low roll of a storm threatening those around it. “Then by all means Doctor, remove me.” He sat down at the table, legs placed on top of the table with research papers under his boots. Picking one up and placing over he saw lots of long wards that he couldn’t be bothered to try and decipher. “The way I see it. Theres something you don’t want me knowing about because she’s become more than just an operative and sleeper agent.” He lent forward, his hair curtaining most of his face. Striker removed his glasses, giving them a rub with a cleaning cloth, then pushed them up the bridge of his nose as he was finished. “You’re not as idiotic as you look.” He commented. Creed chuckled in a rather dark tone. “You’d be surprised on what goes on in here.” He motioned with his rather large index claw to his temple. Creed stood up again, towering over the sitting Striker. Without even looking below, Victor snatched up the latest report from the physical they had run just earlier that day on an “Agent Hope.” As he flipped through the report, there were pictures of her. Her face, physical features that looked foreign to him even if they had been intimate many times before. “He glanced down at a picture that he was even more unfamiliar to him. An almost entirely black photograph, dates were written in the corners, the time, subject, and then the being. “Fetus X.” Was the name they had given the photo. “Fetus X?” He threw the file back n the table. This time the cool demeanor of Striker fading away. “I told you this was the concern of our department and the state of Toronto. Creeds hand wrapped itself around Strikers weasel like neck. Living him off the floor and over Victors head, he could hear the oxygen leave the room as the other scientists and Doctors watched on in horror and stuck to their seats, too afraid to leave. “You knocked her up? And you didn’t even have the damn decency to let me know? You’re turning her into a damn Petri dish!” He squeezed hard enough to make Striker jump, and as a result make his glasses fall and hit the floor. “We supplemented her Birth control, we needed this to happen.” He explained. “Keep going.” The threat became even more real as Creeds claws started to draw blood. “Weapon X, is the biological father. We needed his DNA, we need to know w-what makes his mutation so lethal.” After hearing this he threw The man into the nearest wall. HIs body hit the ground like a stack of bricks hit concrete. Victor said nothing as he started to leave the room. As he rubbed his neck, Striker regained his confidence. “If it changes anything, she wants this child.” Creeds stare was the coldest and murderous you could ever imagine seeing. The yellow orange eyes of his filled with such anger it could rival that of a volcanos lava that had just reached the surface.

“You better pray that I don’t find her first.”

[ofpxtions]

[ SYDNEY SWEENEY, TWENTY-THREE, SHE/HER/HERS ] - Have you seen LUCINDA HAUSMANN lately? From what I’ve heard, they’re a CISFEMALE WITCH. People around town have said that they’re TALENTED, DETERMINED, AND DREAMY but also NAIVE, TEMPERMENTAL, AND JUDGEMENTAL. Rumor has it, they’re AGAINST rebuilding the glamour around Halloweentown.

hi friends!! my name is paige and this is my baby witch lucy. i LOVE halloweentown, i watch the movies every october and am so excited to get to play my baby witch here with yall! so heres what you need to know about her:

lucinda was born and raised in halloweentown to a single mother, Beatrix, and a member of the nyx coven

she comes from a long line of nyx women, and her family is believed to be able to follow their line back to some of the earliest witches

lucy never knew her father, and her mother never talked about him. it was always just the two of them

for most of her childhood, lucy was fascinated with being a witch and loved using her magic whenever she could

her mother, however, tried to instill the nyx coven ways of not using magic frivolously. lucy learned to hide her constant use of magic, especially when they would venture out of halloweentown.

when she was 15, lucy found her mother’s journal from the year she was born and discovered that her father was a powerful circe coven warlock, and suddenly her entire life made more sense

she finally understood why she did not always fit in with the other witches in her coven, why she loved using magic, and felt more connected to her father

after searching for him, lucy discovered that her father left halloweentown the year she was born.

like other young witches her age, lucy went to halloweentown university and studied divination, while secretly taking classes in mortal world history. 

her life was completely planned out for her—she would go on to take over her mother’s store, the Broom Booth, and eventually go on to teach herself at halloweentown university.

when the glamour around halloweentown was dropped, beatrix was one of the first people to say it was a bad idea

lucy, however, had other ideas

one night, shortly after the glamour was dropped, lucy packed up her stuff and left home with just a backpack of clothes and her father’s name written down on a piece of paper

for the last year, lucy worked odd jobs, eventually finding her way to california where she found her father

when she finally met her father, it was brief, because her mother found her and brought her back to halloweentown

this was the day after the threat from the knights of the iron dagger.

since then, lucy has been back working at the broom room under her mother’s watchful eye

she did, however, leave her information with her father before she was brought back to halloweentown and she hopes every day he will show up, or call her, or somehow come in contact with her

personality

heavily based on: amelia shepherd, piper halliwell, caroline forbes, rachel green, jake peralta, and lorelai gilmore

shes the type of person to put fun over being serious most of the time

like i said, lucy loves magic almost to the point of being reckless with it

she wants to take advantage of all her powers have to offer, and that can sometimes get her into trouble (especially within her coven)

when things get serious, however, she is the first person to jump in front of you in order to save your life, the type to drain all of her magic to save the people she loves

she just wants to be able to make her own decisions because a lot of her life has been her mother making all her decisions for her

the most bubbily, kind person youll meet

very easy to be friends with her

thats all ive got right now! but please, like this post to plot with lucy and i!!

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 10 - Stir caused as Don Nomura uploads a photo of his father, Nomura Katsuya's corpse.

K: This is Dir en grey's Kaoru, starting another episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome.

J, T: Thank you *1

K: Can we have the topic for this episode, Joe.

J: Yes, 'Don Nomura uploads a photo of his father, Nomura Katsuya's corpse to Twitter. Twitter is on fire with calls to delete it.'

Well, the former baseball manager Nomura Katsuya died on the 11th of February, and the photo of his corpse...Well, we say its his son, but they are not related by blood right? Its Nomura's wife, Sachiko's son (*from a previous relationship*). Well, anyway, they are family right? He took a photo of the corpse (*at the funeral*) and uploaded it to social media. Many voices have been raised saying it looks scary or creepy, so 'please delete it'.  Well, how should we think about this? It was a theme which caught my interest.

T: In Japan, we don't generally do that, do we?

J: We don't. Even with the death of close relatives, we don't tend to take photos, do we?

T: Right, we don't take commemorative photos with everyone gathered.

J: No, we don't. I think we tend to give the deceased more of a solemn send off. But I have lived in America for a little while, I mean, not all American's are like this but, you could say for Christianity, they have quite individualistic funerals. Also, when they say goodbye, they sometimes kiss the corpse and so on. Thats normal, and some people even take photos, but the circumstances might change if someone were to upload a photo to social media for all to see. Kaoru, how do you feel about this?

K: Well, lots of people can see it, so maybe its ok to bothered about it...but i don't really mind.  I mean, its his relative, it might be different if it was a stranger...but he's not just some wierdo. Well..I have a feeling its....????*2

T: I've covered Noumra san while I was a sports journalist, and when I was shown this recent photo, in my heart I thought..hmm, his face looks nice, he looks at peace.

J: I see. Well, opinion is very divided on this, but another thought I had about this one photo is...For a while I was chief editor for the magazine Days Japan. Its a photo journalism magazine, and it quite often included war photos. And in that case, well, for war in the middle east etc, the bodies of people who had died were visible in them, so there was a lot of debate about whether or not we should run them. At that time, one line that we took was that, for example, we would not run photos of people who had died in natural disaters, but in relation to war, we thought we must think about why it happened, and that the bodies might hold a message in relation to that. Obviously, we avoided very grotesque photos, but we did run numerous photos of bodies for this reason. Another thing I also conversely thought is, well at this point I don't know if movies do this, but there is a documentary movie called, 'Utanohajimari', I went to see it recently and was quite surprised. At the beginning of the movie, there is a birth scene, and there was a message warning viewers about the scene, that it wouldn't be censored. It was written that you will be watching it uncensored. So I thought, oh ok, but at the same time, in relation to birth and death, the two biggest events in a persons life, the start and the end...in this country we can't quite express ourselves freely. Its essentially a culture of trying to hide these things...I vaguely thought about this. We can get whatever  information we need to live our lives from all sorts of places, and if we don't have that we are seen as falling behind. But, as humans we need to think about why we are here, why we die, where did we come from, where are we going...well, its getting a bit philosophical, but we are living in a comparatively blinkered fashion in this respect. If you upload a photo like this to social media in a country where this type of thing is always concealed, you don't know if they is gonna be a kind of allergic reaction to it. In music and the arts and stuff, there are themes of death, and other things that we should be thinking about, but I think community in this country is missing these expressions....I mean, this photo is not intended  as a work of art, is it, Nomura san's body? Ive kinda thought about that.

K: I thought so too, you don't see it often do you? There was that...???*3

J: Ah, yes yes

K: There was a lot in that. Compared to that, this is..

J: Well, its true, in this country birth and death aren't exactly 'taboo', but we deal with it....Well, we are not a particularly religious country, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Kami: As for me..

J: Oh, he's here.

Kami: I saw that photo, the photo of him wearing his uniform, and I was moved.

J: Oh he was moved.

Kami: Mmm, I though 'Ah, its Nomura san', and like, 'Oh, The Swallows (*baseball team) .

J: I see. Instead of Rakuten, right?

Kami: No instead of the Hawkes where he got a triple crown. Like, he was greater when he became a manager. Like with Yakult. He kind of raised those teams.

K: He was worldly.

T: If he'd been wearing Hanshin or Rakuten uniforms it would be a bit....right?

K: Yeah. He'd say, 'No, not those!'.

J: I really think so.

K: I think Nomu san had great power with Hanshin and Rakuten. Later Hoshino san also had a lot of success, but yeah, think Nomu san had great power.

J: He made them, right? The base for a winning team.

K: But of course, the Swallows...

J: Yeah, whatever you say, Nomu san was there, and raised Furuta. At that time, we didn't know how far the word 'ID baseball' would go.

T: Thats right.

J: I think its amazing how that penetrated the world.

Kami: Its amazing how he got a triple crown as a catcher. But he didn't really boast about that during his active years. People are thinking of the Swallows when they see him in uniform now right? Thats what i imagine anyway. He wasn't like 'Look at me!', he was more like one of the team. I feel it deeply, I feel the art.

J: Certainly I think it has that kind of message.  By the way, do you become a god after dying? How does it work? Are you born a god? I've always wanted to know this.

Kami: Gods?  Gods are there from the start.

J: Oh from the start? You are born a god?

Kami: No, we're not born, we just are.

J: Oh its like that?

T: Thats complex

J: I see, thats deep.

K: They already are, right?

J: Yeah

Kami: Gods don't have a beginning or an end.

K: Wow

J: Is that so?

K: I want to try saying that.

J: Right. ..He hasn't even proved once that he's real though.

K: But it means you must be around for billions of years.

Kami: Its not billions of years, iｍ ever-lasting. 

K: Oh, again.

J: Out it comes. He came out with that.

Kami: You guys just can't understand it.

K: No, we can't, not at all.

J: He always says it in a really cool voice too.

T: If i said that to my wife, she would laugh at me so much.

J: 'Im ever lasting too'.

*K laughs*

J: She'll usually say 'whats wrong with you?!'

This is really terrible. So, Kami, you don't die, you are not born?

Kami: Yeh, im timeless.

K: But you have an hourly wage, right?

*J laughs*

J: He has no concept of time but he works for an hourly wage!

Kami: Yes, thats right.

J: He's so stupid.

T: An incredible god.

J: I mean it. A god who needs money, like he needs to eat.

K: Its realistic right?

J: Yes, realistic.

K: He drops in just like that, doesn't he.

J: Im thankful for him...Well i have some sympathy for him, he's ever lasting, but he still has to eat, and earn a living. I don't know if im thankful or not thankful.

Kami: Thats why people call me a cheater.

T: He worries a lot about getting called a cheater.

K: We hear it a lot though.

T: Right, its hitting him where it hurts.

J: He says it everytime, I think if effects him a lot. But like Kami says..wearing a Yakult uniform...right?

K: Yeah

J: And his face looked really peaceful. I think perhaps, living in this country, we are a bit too indifferent towards birth and death.

K: There were probably quite a few young people who have never seen this kinda of thing before, so they won't be used to it if they are seeing it for the first time.

T: Its quite a complicated feeling coming into close contact with death or a dead body like that. When my relatives, or my grandma etc have died...I can't put that feeling into words, when you see them..what is that feeling. Do you have that experience, Joe?

J: Well, yes within my family, or friends. You can't put it into words...

T: Its a kind of lonliness, but not quite..and also a bit frightening. Its very difficult to express...the feeling when a person dies.

K: In those times, its like there is an atmosphere of trying not to say anything wierd. Like, there are certain set greetings like 'Im sorry for your loss'. There's this kind of pattern. I think that creates this kind of atmosphere.

J: Yeah, maybe.....I know a lot of people in bands, and when that type of person dies, thier funerals are quite individualistic..its kind of a relief to see. There are different ways to pay respects or connect with a death, and I think we ought to consider that more. I don't think its right to make death into a taboo.

T: Recently, Uchida Yuya san had a very 'rock' send off, didn't he?

J: Yes, he did! ...so I had these thoughts and picked up on this news.

K: Well, lets finish up here. Everyone please subscribe.

T, Kami: Please.

J: Thank you very much

*1 Im wondering what's the best way to translate 'よろしくお願いします/yoroshiku onegaishimasu'..

*2, 3 These bits frustrate me, as I can hear what he's saying, but i can't seem to figure out what he means. I feel like im missing something really obvious.

[unwoundfutureost]

list of professor layton fic recs

here by popular demand, a full list of fics i think everyone should read because they’re really good and i’ve lost litres of tears over them

all of these were hand-picked with care 

mostly one-shots but there are still a lot of multichaps in there... i’m only reccing ao3 fics this time and ff.net has most of the multi-chaptered fics so sorry skjdh

under the cut because i have. a lot 

the ends justify the means by misthalleries

words: 2,066

chapters: 1/1

warnings: grief, parental death, mourning, etc. etc. all the canon stuff just a little more detailed 

it’s a really good one-shot fic that’s just a clive character study and it portrays him really well. like it writes it so that you really relate to him i dunno how to further explain you should read it though

You Can Run by AnonymousPuzzler

words: 8,329

chapters: 1/1

warnings: narrated by bill hawks, who dies at the end

another one-shot that kind of ties together loose ends between unwound future and layton brothers mystery room, explains stuff for alfendi, justin lawson, and more! it’s also just a really smooth and cool plot and seeing bill hawks’ perspective is kinda cool. also not to condone death but bill hawks has ruined a lot of lives so seeing him get kinda ‘what he deserves’ is kinda interesting

green carnations by redmacallan

words: 7,181

chapters: 1/1

warnings: character death (desmond’s husband and daughter)

YES i know i’m ALWAYS going on about this one but it’s seriously so good. it portrays descole’s entire identity crisis thing INCREDIBLY well not to mention Gay Desmond in a typically homophobic period (the fic sets the professor layton universe in the 1960s) and it’s just very realistic and well done and there’s a layton desmond ruinion thats so. augh you can feel their frustration through the screen it’s so great and i’ll never stop talking about this fic thank you

Reuinion Tour by St4re4ter

words: 22,537

chapters: 7/7

warnings: none that i can remember

first multichap fic on this rec list!!! this is basically a ranlay rewrite of professor layton and the miracle mask but it gives randall more character and kind of a motive that makes more. sense??? idk it’s like they kind of added on or did a slight revamp of randall but very well and the added motivations kinda make the story richer and also adhd randall and hershel r heavily implied and there are so many heartbreaking lines in this idk you should read it

Doldrums by TheMockingJ3

words: 1,294

chapters: 1/1

warnings: mention of death brother

it’s canon compliant and nothing gets resolved but that’s part of why i like it??? it’s basically set in randall, hershel, and angela’s high school years and they come across a magazine with desmond on the cover and angela asks hershel if he has any siblings. and there’s so much detail to it and it gets some points across in such a realistic way idk i just like it a lot because it leaves you upset and frustrated but like in a good way.. i like it i like how they portray the characters it’s the very definition of a slice of life 

Taking To The Sky by Yamiyoru

words: 1,364

chapters: 1/1

warnings: none

basically what happens to randall after the events of miracle mask.. it’s very good and there’s a hopeful ending and i don’t want to spoil too much but it’s just randall finding himself basically. there’s implied henry/angela and randall/hershel and overall it’s just a very, idk, content fic. it’s hopeful

ten years by sunfish

words: 504

chapters: 1/1

warnings: none

this is really short but there are so many feelings packed into this baby. first of all the title is kind of a punch to the gut but also its just a very. small compact filled with emotions fic, with flora trying to forgive clive and subtle throwaways to her relationship to the professor and the professor’s disappearance in layton’s mystery journey and the anime. i just had to put this here i like it too much to not put it

A Proper Young Lady and English Gentleman by AzureMist 

words: 1,818

chapters: 1/1

warnings: transphobia

trans flora and hershel fic!!! that’s really all i can say it made me smile and the bit where hershel mentions his two deadnames is kind of gold and both of them vehemently ignoring flora’s father.. idk for me it was just really cool to see the father/daughter trans solidarity dynamic i liked it a lot

Kintsukuroi by Glowbug

words: 13,864

chapters: 11/?

warnings: nightmares, guilt, etc. it’s in the tags

okay i’m actually not that far into this one yet but so far i like it a lot... first of all emmy centric plus emmy redemption arc is really good and how they portray emmy is just :ok_hand: also slight ace attorney crossover as they make a trip to the fey village. synopsis of the story overall is the professor got kidnapped and luke needs emmy’s help to save him it’s really sweet but also i think it’s on a permanent hiatus or at least a really inconsistent update schedule rn because it’s been at 11 chapters for a while now

Spectral by AnaScrawls

words: 15,760

chapters: 7/?

warnings: some violence, i would say canon-typical to azran legacy

this fic made me cry like 90 times it’s. very good. basically the plot is during the events of professor layton and the azran legacy hershel begins to recall hazy days of long past and it really explores the relationship between desmond and hershel before hershel remembered i’m not doing it justice with this awful description i’m writing you should really just read it... it’s still updating i think every four mouths?? half year or so so very slowly but it’s really worth it to read

the girl and the golem by valorskills

words: 5,352

chapters: 3/?

warnings: none as of now i think

generally i don’t recommend shorter fics on permanent hiatus but this one is genuinely pretty good. it follows the story of aurora the golem and desmond’s daughter who’s stuck in targent and their escape and it’s only 5k but i think it’s worth a read bc the au idea behind it is really really cool

“Hershel” by goldenregit

words: 1,948

chapters: 1/1

warnings: none 

it’s exactly what the description says i included this one because it’s a punch in the gut to read esp when you know the full story behind desmond and hershel.. it’s well written too so i recommend checking it out if you’d like a kind of character study of hershel and desmond on their short time aboard the bostonius

Turnabout Brothers by Minmei

words: 51,787

chapters: 10/?

warnings: none probably

i haven’t actually read that far into this one bc when i started it i had not seen azran legacy yet so i didn’t want to spoil myself but from what i’ve read so far it’s pretty good!! you’ve read the title so you can probably tell it’s an ace attorney crossover but basically i think the basic plot is get desmond out of jail idk it sounds interesting so far i think you guys should check it out. it’s also a sequel to Storm’s End (26,379 words, 2/2 chapters) by the same author, which i ALSO haven’t read yet but it’s about desmond reconstructing his life i’m pretty sure it sounds cool so that’s why i’m adding it on this list 

Turnabout Adoption by WrightFamilyAgency (Unicornfoal)

words: 111,458

chapters: 54/54

warnings: (possibly temporary) death of parents, car accident

THIS FIC IS SO GOOD and it’s one of the most popular fics in the professor layton tag so i’m sure a lot of you have probably heard of it... it’s actually a revised edition of the section set in 2019 of Luke and Apollo Wright (962,790 words, 491/491 chapters) by the same author, but i’m linking this version because it’s shorter and i’m reading it rn!!! basically it follows phoenix’s disbarrment years where he’s adopted trucy and he goes out and adopts luke and apollo too! there’s a plot concerning the ‘death’ of luke’s parents and it goes canon-divergent from the rest of ace attorney i think, but it genuinely is very good... there’s clay/apollo/luke friendship and it’s a really cool found family fic and there’s so much attention to details (the author made a court record for almost every chapter and a luke’s journal entry to go with, and luke writes letters back to the prof and vice versa and aaaa it’s just really nice). anyway yall read this pls

you’ve made it to the end!!! i’m not putting any ff.net fic recs in this list yet because i’m still exploring it for good ones!!!! i might make a second list soon containing ff fics but for now it’s only ao3... also, if these aren’t enough and you want more, dm me!!! i’ll be sure to find something for you :ok_hand: p.s. if the formatting of this post is too hard to read lmk too and i’ll fix it up

[impalialarmy]

B A S I C S

Full name: Ash Michael Langford

Nickname: Just Ash

Gender: Male

Age: 28

Height: 5′8

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pronouns: he/him/his

Temperament: Sanguine

Zodiac: Pisces

O T H E R

Family: Rebecca Langford (mother), Aaron Langford (father)

Birthplace: Wayhaven

Job: Detective with the Wayhaven PD & human liaison to “The Agency”

Phobias: Seeing his own blood makes him nauseous after the incident with Murphy.

Guilty Pleasures: Sour Candies in particular, he’s always got some on him.

Hobbies: Reading; both fiction and nonfiction (probably scientific journals he and Verda pick apart together). He’s got his own vegetable patch in his little garden. Enjoys trying to cultivate and breed different plant species. Learning new languages is also a favourite way to pass time.

Languages: English, Spanish, French and Latin. Total Polyglot.

M O R A L S

Morality Alignment: Neutral Good

Sins: Pride/Wrath <– Something Adam likes to bring out

Virtues: Justice/Charity

T H I S  O R  T H A T

introvert / extrovert

organized / disorganized

close-minded / open-minded

calm / anxious / restless

disagreeable / agreeable / in between

cautious / reckless / in between

patient / impatient

outspoken / reserved

leader / follower / flexible

empathetic / unempathetic

optimistic / pessimistic / realistic

traditional / modern / in between

hard-working / lazy / in between

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

OTP: Adam/Ash

BroTP: Ash/Felix

DESCRIPTION

Raven haired and hazel eyed, Ash Langford tends to leave an impression.

A vibrant man who’s openly friendly and very perceptive to other peoples emotions. He’s warm and easy going but he’s also got a shrewdness to him which is why his career as a detective took off so quickly. Curiosity shapes many parts of Ash’s life as he always finds some new topic to bury his nose in; from languages to botany to medieval pottery.

At university he studied organic chemistry, but despite his degree he still went into law enforcement when it was suggested to him. Even though he always dreamed of leaving Wayhaven he couldn’t help but be drawn back to the town and it’s people; as well as the career that took his fathers life. Perhaps he stayed to become a detective to add some meaning to his fathers death.  

Despite his intelligence, there’s certainly a scatterbrained aspect to him, his office is so completely disorganised Tina gets headaches when she sits in there for too long.

His first encounter with Unit Bravo was a mixed bag to say the least.

Eventually he ended up building solid relationships with the entirety of the team. Nate and Felix both get along great with him. Ash’s mischievous temperament rises to the challenge whenever Felix has some wacky idea; and Nate’s sincerity is greatly appreciated by Ash, and they often find their ideals lining up exceptionally well.

Mason didn’t leave much of an impression on Ash at first, other than his incessant smoking in his damn office. After working together for a few months as a team, Ash came to realise the importance of Mason working in the team. How he fought without hesitation for his teammates against Murphy, even when the chance of coming out alive was so low.

Mason also came to appreciate the way Ash never backed down from conflict, how he’d always throw a punch back whenever someone tried to step on him.

Speaking of conflict, his first meeting with Adam did not go well at all, he quickly learned that the other man brings out the fiery side in him. Ash couldn’t stand Commander Du Mortain at first; horrified by his arrogance and bull-headed personality. Adams open hostility led to a number of blow out fights between the two, since Ash would certainly not let this man talk down to him in such condescending a way. Especially not at his precinct.

However, eventually Ash saw the better side of Adam; the one thats loyal and deeply devoted to those he cares about. As they found common ground they began getting along, finding mutual appreciation in each others perseverance and skill. Their vastly different personalities actually balanced the other out, making them mesh incredibly well when they actually listened to each other.

Ash also enjoys teasing Adam, trying to push his buttons and see what kind of reaction he can get. However, he has far too much pride to openly flirt with him, that would mean defeat in this battle of wits. Adam seemingly takes joy in riling up the other man from time to time as well; throwing little jibes just to see the way Ash’s eyes narrow and how his nose crinkles.

Even after their relationship had become a positive one, they still have genuine, heated arguments frequently enough that it strains Ash. The secretive and controlling side of Adam is something that bothers him more than he cares to admit.  

Deep down Ash knows just how much Adam cares for him; and how much he himself reciprocates those feelings. It’s something he would never bring up from fear of Adams reaction. Not that he would ever admit that.

Also, yes he dated Bobby in college, and no he doesn’t know why he did it either.

F U N   F A C T S

1.       After Ash’s penultimate fight with Bobby that led to the latter finally getting kicked out; Ash set fire to his £400 cashmere blazer while standing on the balcony as Bobby watched in horror. He still doesn’t feel bad.

2.       Ash and Verda once got so incredibly hammered while peer reviewing someone’s scientific paper on forensic toxicology, that they ended their review by calling the authors a bunch of half brained pillocks who wouldn’t know the difference between NADH and NADPH if it swung a bat in their face. Verda is currently barred from writing anything for the Journal of Forensic Science.

3.       Ash is extremely allergic to any type of nut. A first date with a very handsome lawyer ended with Ash viciously throwing up over the dinner table after two mouthfuls of contaminated food. The lawyer still ended up sleeping with him.

4.       During a fight with Adam, Ash once got so angry that he burst a blood vessel in his eye. Adam immediately tried to call the Agency paramedics, which just started another fight.

5.       Once while driving he accidentally hit a woodpecker that flew into his front window. He was late to work that day because cried for 30 minutes in his car on the side of the road. At the station when Tina asked him what was wrong, he told her that Douglas had given him a PB&J sandwich.

6. Ash has Adam listed in his phone as COMMANDER ANGST in all caps.

7.       After finding out that Adam hated puns, Ash made it his personal mission to find the most obnoxiously lame puns known to man. He and Felix have competitions who can make the most in the shortest amount of time. Once Ash made a pun so bad Adam accidentally punched a hole in the wall of his office.

8.       When Tane hit on him during his first meeting with Unit Alpha, Ash was 1000% into it. He did not appreciate Adams cock-blocking.

9.       Felix loves asking Ash about random topics and listening to him waffle on for ages about the most obscure aspects of human history and culture. While Adam pretends it annoying, he secretly loves listening to them as well.

10.   Ash did in fact attack Mason with a fire extinguisher after he lit a cigarette in his office one too many times.  

Template by @lavellanpls

[supacutiepie]

I have headcanons... Head Cannons if you will

I thoroughly believe Bakugou is the type to bullshit his way around every little truth so honestly this shit might as well be canon bc he is Absolutely That Extra

- The new reveals told that: The reason we didn’t see his room is because it’s got shelves of romance manga.

-Therefor : Bakugou is a MAJOR BOOK NERD NESTER

-He has cookbooks, his trashy literature, his classics, his mangas, every school book he ever owned has been kept. 

-This includes shit he wrote himself

-Cookbook notebooks, its a full wall to wall scenario. He has books in every language and they make a librarian weep.

-The books he can’t read?? He has notebooks filled with translations he’s jot down after hours of scouring the internet and his OTHER books.

-TBFH his self written notebook collection puts “shitty nerdy fanboy deku” to shame

-Not only does he have this many books, they have consumed him. His room is wall to wall with them and they are so neatly organized to his mind that he just AUTOMATICALLY knows EXACTLY where every little page is. 

-However

-You may think, “Bakugou is the neatest of the students”

-Bullshit

-He understands his methods. You could never. I’m not shitting you, we have only ever seen his bed because its the only clean spot. He has piles of books, his closet is filled with his novelty t-shirts--

-Oh, he swaps out his wardrobe every season. Not because he cares per say but rather if he didn’t he’d drown in the clothes. His parents own a fashion line, every. single. month. he gets something new.

-Clothes mean jack shit to him. Sure, he gets it. He understands that clothes are “Expressions”... but to him its just bullshit extra merchandise that he gets in  packages once a month since he born. He long since left behind any attachment to anything that wasn’t some doofy bs novelty shit. His skull shirt collection is hideous and he loves it. 

-Bc he gets clothes so often, he just as often donates them.

-Everyone in 1-A has received a mysterious package of clothing. Everyone. And it’s always customized because like hell he’d just throw clothes at people puh-lease his father DESIGNS FASHION FROM SCRATCH

-It’s also ‘secretly’ his way of trying to put some kind of fashion sense in the heathens he lives with. 

-So his closet is full, his walls are lined with shelves and stacks and notes.

-But the rest of the “clear space” is filled with art.

- Drawings, Sketches, Designs. Little thing stacked up or tapped together. Prototypes over a desk thats STUFFED with pencils and erasers and extra paper and books. 

-Photographs of the places he’s been. So many different shots of Paris, mountains, rivers, lakes. He has a series of photo albums for the best and one is entirely dedicated to sunrises- another to sunsets.

-He has a map above his bedside. It’s the only spot big enough because it doesn’t have a big ass bookshelf on the wall.

-The map is big and delicately detailed. But it’s still just a map.

-The cool shit is that it is COVERED in tack-markers. Well, most of it is. 

-Europe is washed out by tacks. France has so many different colored tacks its an eyesore. Paris has a big ass push pin bc he’s been there so many times. Enough that when Aoyama starts mumbling obscenities at their classmates he has to stop himself from cackling along.

-He has a trail of pushpins along the Alps and Pyrenees. 

-The different colors mean things. But only he gets its.

* Black is Done. Been there, done it, no point going back.

*Green is Good. It’s a place he kinda liked, but its not somewhere he needs to go back to. Paris is a big ass green push pin.

*Red is for a place he wants to go back to. The mountains are a trail of red that grows inch by inch longer.

*Blue is for Potential. He marks his next trips in blue, but not his dream trips.

*Those would be his nice, doofy, silver tipped push pins. the classic “string on a crime board” kind. He has major cities plotted out with these. Theres a large mishmash over america filled with silver and blue. He has books and books and BOOKS on american mountain ranges and cuisine and he not-so-secretly plotted out a course all-might themed rest stops.

*Yellow is for his favorites. The first mountain he ever hiked, the onsen he found while his parents dragged him out to a business trip up north, the island they went on once for a family vacation. (He fell in love with the sunset. It was clear and bright and there were so many colors at once that its his ‘happy place’. He sat on top of a fucking volcano and it was AWESOME.)

-The map is obsessively picked over, the pins are carefully arranged, and the map itself its surrounded by his favorite snapshots of the places marked.

-His room is a mess. But he does know the exact inch everything belongs in.

-He may not seem it, but he is sentimental. He just doesn’t keep all the sentimental shit in the dorms. Those things are at home. On shelves and wall caddies and tucked between his even BIGGER collection of books and cd cases.

-He does have All Might merch, but again, at home. The few things he has at the dorm are hand drawn posters, so much cooler than the cheap shit you get in the store.

-He doesn’t have time for movies and shows, but when he does its either “cheesy romance serial” or “blood, guts, and glory”

-TBFH his FAVORITE movie is a bastard child of a romcom, an action, and a suspense thriller. It’s horrible, its audacious, its cheesy and the vgi is awful but its one of those Things he loves. (On really bad days, when his arms ache for hours and he didn’t sleep well the night before he lets the movie go on repeat just for the cheese. It’s a soothing ‘nothing really matters’ kinda Thing)

-Oh, lets not forget his arms.

-His quirk is DEMANDING. Its a needy little princess. He gets sick of it acting like a bitch. His arms will ache if he over does it, so he has a giant fucking box of tiger balms and compression wraps and weird fucking icy-hot concoctions.

-He DOESN’T have skin car shit. Surprise surprise, he doesn’t need it. He is soft. He is also, incredibly fucking annoyed.

-He has those super obnoxious spray colognes, some super expensive shit, and inbetweeners. Because otherwise he smells like he just rolled out a vat of butterscotch and step into a shower of caramel. But BURNT.

-Seriously, his room would be noxious from the nitroglycerin smell alone. He constantly has a fan going and the window open. And while the room is cluttered he CANNOT let it go uncleaned or he risks a build up of explosives. He has to change his sheets daily, he has a routine for covers and pillow cases, and he is damn near religious in clothes washing because otherwise he’s destined to explode Something he Doesn’t Want Exploded. (The books. The very flammable sometimes RARE books.)

-Oh, and he has MANY a blanket and throw. He swaps them out so he isn’t doing huge loads of laundry for the big shit. It’s mostly thin blankets anyways, but they’re super soft and cozy and he nestles up to read his books like a demented caterpillar. The blanket he sleeps with ALWAYS ends up on the floor. 

-He doesn’t like to think himself overly conceited. But he is cocksure and arrogant and he has an image to keep. So of course he has routines to make himself look good.

-This is just a Bakugou thing TBQH.

-More of a personal headcanon, but he’s definitely gay. Not in the super obvious way, but he’s definitely confident in it. He isn’t about to go plastering his walls with flags (as if they’d fit), and he isn’t jotting down crushes in a journal (he does have journals, they’re just... incredibly volatile and profane)

-He’s just, confident.  He has a single little rainbow picture, its a picture he took and its super cool and shit. A rainbow in the mountains, right after a shower. He keeps in in a frame in one of the bookshelves near his manga. It’s tasteful, and it’s subtle. He knows what its for, and the littleness of it feels nice and secure.

-He doesn’t shy away if asked. But no one asks. He’d be honest, if anyone did. It’s not something he will hide- that’d be cowardly...

-But deep down, it does give him pause. It’s something he wrestled into submission since he figured it out. He had this big dream of being N.1 and then one day he realized that, had society not advanced the way it did, he could have nothing. He’d never tell a soul but it scared him, to know that despite all his ‘perfections’  he had this one thing that would turn heads in a way he didn’t want.

-He realized though that it as just one more thing he’d own. So he noosed it, that fear, and he throttled it into submission. He’d be N.1, he’d be open, He’d pioneer that shit if he had too- but he didn’t have too. It ended up being something that added character if nothing else, and he was determined to make it a trait and not a flaw and to build his pride with it.

-That all being said, much like any self respecting gay- he does has a string of lights tastefully weaving over the wood of his bookshelves.

-Extras:

* He doesn’t get sick often. Just, doesn’t. He keeps a close watch on his health, is always good on hygiene, and in general doesn’t jeopardize his well-being.

* When he gets sick. It hits him like a FREIGHT TRAIN.

* He only gets fevers once in a blue moon and he’ll fight the damn moon itself to keep it this way because when he DOEs get a fever its like a putting a handful of firecrackers into a cooking pot.

* He pops when sweaty. He just DOES, It’s INCREDIBLY annoying but thankfully localized to the hands. But when the fever strikes, his whole body pops. He spends the majority of his fever curled up in something flame-proof to wait it out.

*If he’s sweating, and by some MIRACLe he blushes, he CRACKLES.

* He’ll kill you if you witness it.

* I said he’s confident, not that he can’t be flustered.

* On that note, he’ll take it to the grave, but he definitely made Kaminari discharge in front of the dorms that first day by kissing him. It was on the cheek though! And it fucking hurt. Touching Kaminari is like playing roulette and his finger tips smell funny afterwards so he tries to avoid it.

* Honestly, the same can be said for anyone with a quirk that can react to his.

*Fucking half-and-half actually worries him. For the sanctity of his clothing.

* That fight with Deku in ground-beta set off every nerve ending he had and for a solid 24 hrs afterwards he actually had trouble keeping his quirk under his skin. He can still vividly recall the arc of electricity over his face and it never fails to leave a lasting echo in his mind.

* Kirishima is good for this though. Ironically, he’s grounding. He’s the one person Bakugou has never worried about hurting or leaving damage behind. Likewise, he knows that Kirishima high-key needs the confidence boost that Bakugou drags with him everywhere, so he amps up his attitude when the red-head seems down.

* He has no earthly idea how to describe his relationship with Kirishima and it shows. He would never dare say it allowed, but he knows that the boy is his best friend and he’d honestly kill for him. But more so, he’d be willing to live and fight beside him.

* Kirishima is one of the VERY FEW who has a picture in Bakugou’s room. It’s from a hiking trip, and its really backlit so you honestly wouldn’t know at first glance, but its beautiful. A sunrise, right at the summit. A figure standing on a rock with a hand excitedly outstretched towards the horizon.

* The other people with photos, are his parents- and the Midoriya’s.

* It’s not as obvious this one. But he keeps a family photo on his bookself of the three Bakugous, and then theres an old photograph tucked away between some of his older school book collections.

* It’s a beach photo. He couldn’t be more than, maybe three? 

* It’s a whole other life. A time before his quirk. Before he knew he was destined.

*He’s sitting on a rock with a backsplash of salt and foam. He’s got an arm wrapped around a tiny Izuku. It was the only thing keeping the other boy from tumbling off into the waves. Their moms are sitting on either side, big happy faces all around.

*The boys were burnt, both heavily freckled, and smiling like the world was endless.

* The photo...makes him sad. He can’t explain it, not even sure what words could do so. It’s nostalgic sure, but something between the pixels of ink has him at a lost. It was such a different time, and the little boy in the photo is a stranger.

*Sometimes, rarely and in the dead of night when a nightmare finally gets him awake, he thinks about life. About how different it could have been, about the paths he chose and the ones he burnt. He wonders, he regrets, and he moves on before morning.

*Bakugou Katsuki refuses to dwell. He bottles and compartmentalizes and he tucks it away like a pamphlet in a library. Notes and subscripts to be lost in translation. 

( He’s vocal, he’s vivid. He writes. He loves his book collection and he writes his own short stories. His imagination is as vivid as the rest of the class, and he jots down half finished ideas all the time. He has a memory that makes an elephant cry, so his school notebooks are tiny and his idea notebooks are scattered. The words he can’t get out into the air are sometimes trapped in ink. )

[1000roughdrafts]

Old Journal Entry

One Shot - Dean X Reader

Summary: When moving out of your apartment and into the bunker, you were going through old notebooks and found this entry about your past and meeting Dean.

A/N: I took a break from the series to do this. Typed it up when inspiration took hold and thought I’d share. Hope you like it.

Word Count: about 1000 - give or take

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, drugs, parental neglect (Reader has a bad relationship with her bio-father), just barely implies rape/molestation

January 8, 2015

Why is it that I have so much on my mind until it’s time to start putting it down onto paper and then all of a sudden I can’t think of anything to say? I’m all over the place.

I could start this off by saying my night was going really well. My day was going well before that, too. Then, just one small thing happened; I heard that my dad is now engaged to this girl he’s been seeing for nearly a month or two. I think she was born in 1975, which means that she is only four years older than Dean.

I’m also fairly certain she’s the same age as my dad’s oldest daughter. She sent me a friend request on facebook and then ‘waved’ at me. It all sounds so innocent. I mean she’s of legal age, they’re both adults and old enough to make their own decisions. A friend request and a ‘wave’ is nice and probably what you’d expect from a soon-to-be stepmom….who...is...only a few years older than my boyfriend....But at least she’s still older, right?

I think the bottom line is that I’m jealous. Out of context that could be taken the wrong way, but I have been fighting for his attention for years. First, I was fighting against alcohol. Then, pills and alcohol and then that and heroin. And all the while he had a different girl over every night when I lived with him; never tried to hide any of it. And when they weren’t biting the bait he’d tell me I looked just like my mother, and with a twisted smile he’d live out his sick fantasies on me. I still have nightmares about it.

I was a teenager, trying to deal with the battles of being a shy girl in high school, and coming home to new battles of trying to raise myself and a junkie, abusive father. Constantly fighting for his attention and to be treated like a kid. Not many teens want this, but when you’re forced to grow up so abruptly, to parent your parent, nothing in the world sounds better than being a kid.

Something I never really got the time to enjoy. I want a fucking dad to treat me like a dad would. I should hate him for what he did to me, what he put me through, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Nothing is more confusing than a girl who wants nothing more than to love her abusive, jerk of a father who proves to her time and time again that it’s better to just walk away.

So I did.

I have my step-dad, and he’s been more of a father to me in the last, however many years it’s been, than my dad ever ever was. But I met him when I was a teenager, so he’s treated me like a young adult to an adult since we’ve known each other.

And I have Dean, bless his heart. It sounds rather fucked up to say that my boyfriend is kind of a father figure for me. But if you take the whole thing apart and look at it from a comforting and learning point of view, it’s not so weird anymore. My dad tells me all of the time how much he loves me, but when was the last time he showed it? Proved it to me? All I really even want anymore is an apology.

Dean hasn’t said I love you since we’ve been together, but he doesn’t need to. He shows it to me daily. I feel loved when I’m with him. I feel taken care of. He teaches me things, and he’s patient with me.

Even if he disagrees with what I say, even if he knows I’m doing something the wrong way he tells me that it’s okay and teaches me the right way. I think saying he’s a father figure is taking the extreme, but what if I say he’s the positive male role model that I’ve been yearning for for my entire fucking life?

Because that matches pretty damn closely to how I feel. I really admire him and I look up to him. More than he even knows, even though I tell him this constantly. He has seriously been my role model since the day we met. Not even joking.

The day we met was the day we went on a hunt together, per our dads requests. I was told by John to go to a separate part of the house and let Dean take over what I was doing. I, of course, felt a little envious of him in that moment, but mostly my mindset was “what is he doing that I can do to make myself better?”

And that question, which is mostly subconscious now, is something I ask myself everyday. My heart is so hurt and all I want is to get into a place where I can cuddle up to him on nights like this and just stick my head against his chest and cry. And I know he’d let me, and I know he’d console me and tell me I’m okay. He’d do more than that, even. He always has the best advice and God do I love him for it. He always knows the right words to make me feel better.

——

Ripping the entire page from the notebook you wipe the tears from your eyes and stick it in your pocket. The tears aren’t exactly from pain. It’s a mixture of things thats caused you to feel overwhelmed. You still have a lot of hurt in your heart around your dad, and some tears were for that. But others were tears of joy. Tears of contentment.

Tonight is the last night you have to spend in this stupid apartment before embarking on a new life. A life on the road and in the bunker with Dean. You are finally in a place where you can cuddle up to him, stick your head into his chest and just cry. And you know he’ll still let you.

[lightshielded]

jarvan iv’s new lore / the good, the bad and the oh?

i just wanted to make a more official post on the changes or expansions in his new bio and my own opinions on them and why i think they’re good or bad or if they’re confusing. i will be posting a like thing to the forums in hopes of getting some answers from riot.

THE GOOD !

JARVAN III ! riot has added further information about jarvan the third, the current king of demacia. it’s really nice to actually have some official information on the man who rules the entirety of demacia rather than having to infer things from a mix of slight mentions in character bios and old lore. we know he is a smart ruler, one with a strong political mind allowing him to prevent infighting between political houses. we now know him to a loving, if a bit absent father, and a devoted husband and is truly trying to do right by his son. man even seemed unfazed by his son bringing home a half dragon when the entire demacian court was questioning the wisdom of letting the prince have a dragon on his personal guard. i don’t know man, they’ve made jarvan iii chill and i like him.

XIN ZHAO EXISTS ! this is more existence xin has seen in years and look i know it’s a brief ass mention in jarvan’s lore on how y’know he is actually doing his job of the seneschal of demacia and the lightshield family’s steward and just looking after a young jarvan but damn. yes. give xin lore and give jarvan the personal relationships which should have been established before and did exist back in the old - old lore.

EXTRA DETAILS ! i do like the small extra details given to events in this new biography. for instance, before he warred in the areas to the south, now we know the true names of these areas and where he fought and that these were also the same lands jarvan i lost his head to sion fighting in. we know a little more about his childhood and his education and why things were the way they were. just nice little details which gives his early bits of lore some interesting bits and bobs.

THIS LINE ! ‘ and the king beginning to feel the weight of his years, the prince must ensure he is prepared to one day inherit the throne, and be crowned King Jarvan IV of Demacia. ’ this line right here. this makes me feel things, that is all. just damn, king jarvan iv of demacia. now ain’t that a mood.

THE BAD !

LADY CATHERINE ! now, jarvan’s mother was only once mentioned back in the journals of justice and i honestly thought riot had forgotten about her. yet, i still joked with the release of sylas that they do not touch her. and, you know what, they really shouldn’t have. i am happy she got mention but i hate that she was revived into lore purely for the trope of killing off female characters as some kind of poor excuse for development and angst in male character’s lives. like yes, demacia is low technology and anti - magic so childbirth is probably a dangerous thing which results in a great many more deaths than in the modern day, but it was wholly unnecessary for jarvan’s older lore did not require it so it was a detail cheaply used and unwarranted. 

NO CAPTURE ! jarvan’s narrative across all lores from the oldest to the one just prior to now have included him spending time in noxian custody due to a mistake on his part and him feeling the need for self - improvement and redemption. this has been his hallmark for many years and provided strong reason for character development by curbing his pride and his rash behaviour, showing his strong empathy for his fellow man and how that is both boon as well as cause cause him to make blind errors. each of these lores has provided us with a sheltered character pulled into a world far more gritty than he was living in, struggling, failing but rebuilding himself into a stronger person. yet here, jarvan barely fails. his ‘ downfall ’ moment is simply that his battalion gets splintered off after scores of victories which spread them too thin. that’s right, he won too much, got cocky and kept pressing forward. while it mentions he was troubled by what he saw there was no blind dash ignoring of orders cause he couldn’t let the murderers of his people walk free. nah, now it’s more an ego complex following a pledge to bring stability to the region and possibly regrouping when you hear the gates of mourning fell is not on the agenda when doing that. so instead, he is splintered off and he and some survivors wouldn’t surrender and escaped into the forests where they were hunted down and jarvan finally took an arrow to the knee side. here it catches up with the older lore and he lies dying in a fallen tree till our dragon friend comes to save him after mistaking him for food ( i hope they don’t remove that line from her lore when it gets updated i love it ). not to mention it removes his torture by noxus and i have no idea how swain’s line works anymore or how sion even exists.

NO VILLAGE ! so jarvan gets saved and brought to castle wrenwall which is where he combated yvva in older lore and not the small demacian village. this further changes jarvan’s narrative as they know who he is. the garrison commander instantly knows jarvan is the prince and thanks shyvana for saving her. her being a part of demacia no longer becomes because they saw her saving some random demacian and helping him and so having demacian like values and so inviting her to stay because she is a good person. it instead becomes well you saved the prince we are indebted to you. it also loses the charm of shyvana helping out in a village and the prince having to learn to live as a normal person since he is pretending to be so. it also squishes the timeline some but i’ll cover that in the next bit . . .

JARVAN’S SELFISH ! jarvan’s motivation to help shyvana is completely changed. i doubt this was intentional but the wording is very off. before: shyvana tries to leave because she knows the dragon attacks that have started happening are her fault. jarvan stops her, learns of her past and then pledges to help her because she is his friend and he owes his life to her. his own doesn’t matter, he will help her or die trying. now: the very recount heavy style of the rewriting of this new lore implies he sees yvva coming in the distance and he sees her as an opportunity to redeem himself, not help shyvana. in fact, in this new lore they barely interact. jarvan has no reason to care for her since he is still injured when yvva appears so they haven’t spent long together. like when i said the timeline is squashed i mean from several months down to maybe a couple weeks. there is no need for this reduction and all it does is hurt jarvan and shyvana’s friendship and turn jarvan into someone who cares more for his ego than his friend. what happened to learning about charity, huh?

GAREN BARELY EXISTS ! do i need to say more, jarvan’s old lore told much of their friendship and how garen’s efforts saved him but thats now deleted from the timeline and all jarvan is left with is a mention that they were friends, an almost copy paste from garen’s older lore which mentions he admires his fortitude and that now he is shield - captain so jarvan needs to shape up. it just doesn’t feel connected or personal. how am i meant to see that two people are friends if all you say is, yeah, they’re friends. how about some show not tell?

TOO MANY OTHER PEOPLE / REALLY RUSHED ! now i’m sure you’ll be surprised since i said i was happy to see stuff on jarvan iii and xin ( cause i am ) the issue is the writers are working under a kind of word limit system so while i love reading about other champions and characters, devoting several paragraphs of jarvan’s limited amount to other characters and info which is interesting but doesn’t push his story too much feels a little cheap. this rushed pace they then had to write with acts to flatten his character. things that were written once in beautiful detail are now reduced to recounted fact that lack the emotion of what the previous did. ie: CURRENT: ‘ He was devastated. He had failed his family, his kingdom, and his brothers-in-arms. ’ OLDER: ‘ As Jarvan was dragged further from Demacia during his weeks of captivity, he was ashamed that the rashness of his decision to pursue the Noxians had led to needless Demacian deaths. Crushed by the loss, he came to believe he no longer deserved to live in Demacia, let alone inherit its throne. ‘ even just this little bit on his emotions post failure. before it goes into how he stews in his grief for weeks. his shame. his loss. he no longer feels like he can be called demacian. now he is just devastated because he failed.

THE OH ?

JARVAN’S STANCE ON MAGIC IS KNOWN ? people know shyvana is a dragon now. all the nobles in attendance know. jarvan’s father knows. his friend who hates mages probably knows. literally anyone who can hear court or military gossip knows. how is this man left to do his shit when everyone knows that jarvan has a dragon on his personal guard ? this is the prince of a magic fearing nation, a nation who has in recent times made their laws significantly stricter. HOW IS HE JUST AROUND? DOES LUX KNOW THIS? DOES SYLAS KNOW ANY OF THIS? HOW IS SHYVANA NOT LOCKED UP WITH THE NEW STRICTER LAWS ??????????

IS THE KING / QUEEN STILL ELECTED ? a big part of jarvan’s character previously was that he had to toe around his nation’s views because his actions could easily be seen as treasonous or wrong and prevent him from being elected king when his father relinquishes the throne. but now it just mentions he is the heir and he is to inherit it, which it was mentioned in the other lore that he would inherit it ( or rather it was mentioned he didn’t feel like he could since it was mentioned when he was depressed ) so i don’t know if they have scrapped this part of demacian lore or if it just wasn’t mentioned. i have no idea.

[fallbahediusjournal-blog]

06

July 15th. 2013

Morning. 6am

I have not made an entry in so long, and i am safe to say that everything is going well. So well in fact that i dont know who i am anymore, to anyone else this would seem a bad thing, it would mean they are losing touch and all else. Yet for me it is a very good thing, i am losing the sides to me that held the devestation of rage and all that bares with it. It seems to be slipping away and i can only find one cause for that being true and that is the human. How could i possibly call him that after everything, Yeti, my love, my one and only escape. It seems strange to read the entries of so long ago of how filled i was with hatred to all as well as the boy. But now i find light in some things, this isnt a time i say i am a changed man however. I still have hard times, i still get upset. Yeti has done everything for me in order to change, yet he is doing it all so understandably, as if he knows. I feel more connected with him than i ever had. We are in love, he is now my fledgeling after mishaps in the twon Krul resided in and i turned him purely because i cannot trust him enough human to look after himself. He is sweet, innocent, child like, if it came to life or death i doubt he would know how to fight it. So i hope with my given vampirism to him he will use it as a blessing in its curse to get stronger in any way he can.

We, yeti and i, have gone reasonably well. There were upsets at first in that town and once things were settled enough for krul i left with the boy to some place better. I wokt jot down where however, but it is peaceful here, its just us up in a snow cabin perfectly snug and sound considering. And i say considering because there are small things i havent told him, things such as this journal. My other abilities, my work, my family, my dreams. Hell. Thats about everyhing, its as though yeti is living with a stranger. And he is to innocent to pry with questions since the moment i sound angered he begins to cry or close too, which i have come to not mind. In a way i am thankful that he cries so i can hold him and care. Care. Thats why i dont mind it, because i feel a strong gut urge to care for him and i know part to the reason is he is my fledgeling. So here we are and everything is perfectly well, so perfect in fact that i will not make another entry for the time, i need to spend it with him. So i wil make this last entry /for now/ somewhat decent enough to everything.

The urges to kill have subsided and work has been dull enough to not be heavily reminded as to who i am. I can now safely say that i do not have to worry for some demonic entity to arrive at the doorstep in order to drag me back for another shift. I havent explained wholey what i do and i believe this is the time for it since i will not regret it later due to yetis company. By the way he is asleep by the bed. I am merely an armchair away and using my ability in order to be as quiet as possible. It is quite hilarious seeing his reaction every time i appear with no noise or quick to get to other places.... but any who. I have a lot of business lines that i attend, i like to jumble it up. Nowadays they call me something of a workaholic, i dont think i remember a time before now that i hadnt spent a day without a business paper in hand. First i will start with more human of jobs, i own three fashion outlets, yes i know, how odd for an assasin. You may think so until you look to the stock markets and just how rising the fashion is becoming these days. Of course i dont sit home coming to designs each day tiresomely. I have many, many peoplein order to look after things without me. I simply own them and grow profits. This is the same case for four other lines to work, i manage military exports and imports for almoat every country, the ones that side to french and america, britian. In simpler terms i handle a lot of 'who gets what?' In human military reources. Yes, they are quite away i am a very old vampire, we have an agreement in contract that is beyond a simple paper script to lawyers and such. I cannot say exactly what i do, but that is a good general basis for you. Yes, i also do this with the aid of other very trusted and secreted members so i do not have to rarely lift a finger. How can i do that? Its the military. Governments are well aware of the higher authority to the devil and the fact i am his right hand man, so they also understand i am busy doing business of more importance. In honesty i do not want to handle their play things yet i do. Money.

Now for my last jobs, in total i have 13 organisations to run and mess about in. But the alst are my personal favourites hence to the reason why i left them to last and why the ones i have now explained i don't participate fully in. See i am an assassin of sorts although i dislike that title greatly. I am a mix of species that many people, wonce they find out i am murderous... well lets say they want my help also. So therefore i go about as a hit man, i am given a folder of heads with their location and i go and knock those heads off one by one. This is where i get most of my money since i enjoy it. Who wouldmt? ... mixed breed yes. My father is the king of Alfheimr and that means he is a white elf, the higher classed elves of pure royalty. Not my scene one bit. My mother however is a vampiric empress of pure blood. Not only that but she is a dark necromancer of the highest levels, even though ahe is petty as all hell. So that leaves me carrying all three traits unlike my brothers who stuck to the two. With this being said it meant childhood was nonexistent, i was paraded a rare species, one to be studied and concealed. My father was sure on it and was the reason for a lot of dark days in my past. Since he did not let me study my magic as mother pleaded because it would bring burdens to Alfheimrs pure elven crown. I was left to feel.. detached in a way. I have never once classed them as a family only by the relation to blood. Nothing more. It was because of my mixed kind that my father lay many tests onto me, i cannot count how many soecialists came to see me, to study me and research how on earth one of the genes didnt die off. It was pointless of course since they never came to a conclusion.

Ah, yeti is turning in hia sleep. I must retire back to his side for now. Until the next entry

[bitway-arts]

title: Blossoming pairing: hikaru/kariya, slight hiromido but thats not the focus summary: Kariya just wanted to get some flowers for his dad- how hard could that be? {flower shop/high school au}

"Why does Ryuuji like flowers so much?"

It's a question that had been on his mind for a long time, only coming into light recently. Kariya had known that father of his had a thing for plant life. He would tend to flowers, had a small assortment in the backyard, and even had their home filled with vases of them. These indoor ones were interesting, unusual, flowers that hardly lasted but were always eye-catching.

They were pink flowers, oddly enough they formed the shape of heart. There was some droplet like thing hanging from the center of the flowers. They had been placed on the center of the dining table, remaining in a pretty blue and white vase. He heard the name being uttered before, but couldn't recall it.

(He knew Hiroto had asked, he always does whenever Midorikawa returns home with a brand new flower to gush about. The name was heard, but it didn't register, he hardly kept track of all the various names and flowers. In his short years living with them, he'd seen more than enough of these plants.)

"Why are you asking now?" Hiroto raises a brow over to the younger. If he was going to ask this question, he would have thought he'd done so a month or two into the adoption.

"Uhh...just curious?" He shrugs. It's a truthful question, partially. He was curious and also had something in mind for a gift.

"Well, I can give you the long story or the short one."

"Short, please. I don't want to hear it becoming gross if it involves you both." The younger sticks his tongue out slightly as he recalls the last story he heard when he had made the mistake of agreeing to hear the long version. It became more of an over exaggerated love story that was done purposefully to get on the teenager's nerves.

Hiroto chuckles in response. "Short it is." He walks over to the boy, standing beside him. "When we were younger and still in the orphanage, there was a garden behind our father's house. Ryuuji would always sneak off to it, tending to them, giving them life when no one else would. He said that he found it calming. Flowers would never judge him and he was happy with that. I believe he once compared them to a journal."

"A journal?"

"Yes. Rather than writing down everything, he spoke to them. I guess it helped him before our destines crossed paths an-"

"You're starting to be gross."

Kariya shoots a glare at his grinning parent. He just had to throw in a comment like that, start saying something mushy along those lines, hadn't he? And he had to look so pleased with himself for doing so.

"Does that satisfy your curiosity, Masaki?"

"Mmm...yeah..." Fingers tap against the wooden table and another question comes to mind. "Wait, uh..." Now, how can he ask this one without seeming like he cares too much? Or seem overly interested. "Did he...ever give you, like, a special flower or something?"

"No, that's too gross."

Kariya makes an annoyed groan in response. God he should have known he'd do that.

"I'm joking. He did." Hiroto wears a fond smile, eyes looking distant for a moment as he recalls a fond memory. Kariya can only stare at that rare, soft look his father makes. "It was a beautiful one. I believe it was called..."

~...~

"A moonflower. What kind of stupid name is that?" It was terribly unoriginal and Hiroto, being the father not invested in flowers, couldn't give another name for it. Sure, he could ask Midorikawa but that would give away too much information, hint at what he was planning. Or maybe he'd be a little too thrilled to have his kid being interested in flowers and shower him in floral books. It didn't matter, he had a name and didn't need to directly ask Midorikawa for it.

Kariya lets out a sigh, pushing his hands deeper into his sweater's pockets while walking through the cold streets. He shoves his face into his scarf, trying to retain some warmth on this chilly day. Eyes look ahead, gaze around to make sure he's going in the right direction. He had heard some flower shop was past the river bank, but couldn't find exactly where. Currently, he was relying on some old man's directions. Whether they were right or not, he'd be finding out soon...hopefully.

As he begins to cross the street, he can spot bright colors poking out around the corner, at the end of the block. When he squints, he can make out a familiar form swaying in the wind. A smile forms underneath his scarf. He found it.

He begins to pick up the pace, walk just a little bit faster. He totally found this place on his own (alright, that old man helped to and he mentally thanked him) and now he could buy some damn moonflowers and surprise the hell out of Midorikawa.

The teenager stops at the entrance of the shop. There are flowers literally everywhere and he's not sure what else to expect from a flower shop. He glances upward, even finding the name surrounded in flowers. Dark Bloomings. Weird name, he thinks, since this place was too colorful to even be called dark. (Maybe it was a family name or something, he didn't care much.)

His gaze lowers once more to get a better look at the store. There were some planted in pots and kept outside, a stand to hold some others, stack up and show off more flowers that they had to offer. Behind the outdoor display, as he looks beyond the window, there were even more trying to be peak through, trying to give passerbys a look at just how many more were inside. Peaking inside, it was no different. Flowers were on stands, tables, behind glass doors (they had to be refrigerated or whatever, right?), set on the ground and even some were hanging from the ceiling.

There are a lot of flowers and its almost overwhelming. But, he has a goal in mind as he begins to step inside. Golden eyes try to search for that specific flower. He'd prefer to find it on his own rather than ask for it. But, sadly, it doesn't seem to be on one of these displays near the door.

(He's very grateful that Hiroto still had a picture of the flower. If he hadn't shown it to him, he really wouldn't know what to be looking for. Although, the picture could have been shown without him adding a few gross comments.)

Kariya looks over the displays before him again and sighs. Still nothing, so he needs to delve further into this flower garden of a shop (maybe he should just bring Midorikawa here instead as a gift). It's an oddly quiet shop. There's some music, but very faint, other than that it's really only the sound of his footsteps and the fan. He wonders if anyone is even running the register here.

He stops in front of a couple of displays. They don't look like what he's after, but they're pretty. One of them reminds him of his mother, biological mother. He had seen her with these before- what were they called again? Azaleas? He remembers his mother holding some, giving him one to hold. Maybe he should take one to.

The memory leaves a weird feeling in his gut. He shuts his eyes for a moment, shakes his head. He missed her, but didn't need to think about her right now. His eyes open when something- someone comes colliding into him and nearly makes him fall forward into the displays. But, he's quick enough to catch himself, even if it means stomping on the ground to do so.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Ahhh! I'm so, so sorry!"

Kariya had instantly turned and glared at whoever the hell had just bumped into him. He wasn't in the mood to deal with some klutz. It didn't help he hadn't even heard this guy walking to him either.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" The purple haired stranger keeps his head low, worry too apparent on his face, making him look pathetically cute. Actually, he just looked cute. Maybe it was those dark eyes of his or the fact that he looked ready to grab a bandage if he said he was hurt. It's so tempting to say yes, cause a scene just to see what he'd do.

"I'm fine," Kariya responds, shrugging it off. "Not hurt or anything."

"Really? Phew, that's great." The other boy is relieved. He smiles and, hell, it's a cute one. Was this boy just cute? He hated thinking that. "Oh, um, I didn't ruin your experience here, did I?"

"...Huh?" Kariya gives the other a confused look.

"I mean, you know..." He pauses, scratching his cheek. Why'd he look all nervous? "I don't want this to be a bad experience for you. Being here, I mean."

"Hmph. It's not. You're really worrying to much over this. It's not like you work here or anything." Didn't look that way. Didn't florists usually have aprons on or something? A name tag to. This kid looked like he had just got out of some private school. That uniform he was wearing looked very familiar. He swears that he's seen that fancy green uniform somewhere before.

"A-Actually..."

"You don't have to apologize again," he cuts him off and smirks. "Not unless if you wanna get down to your knees and beg me for forgiveness."

There's a silence between the two after he said that. He couldn't help uttering something like that to mess with him. Kariya is about to resume what he'd been doing before until he notices that look on his face. How this other kid actually looks as if he's contemplating listening to him. He's not really...is he? No, no. He'd been joking and yet...The other begins to bend his knees, slowly lowering himself-

"I was kidding!" Kariya shouts. Thankfully, that stops the other boy.

"But...I thought that's what you wanted?"

"No, I-" He holds back a groan and just puts a hand to his face, shaking his head. He would have enjoyed seeing something stupid like this a couple years ago, but he didn't want this cute guy humiliating himself that much over something so trivial. "It's fine, okay? Just, uh...continue picking out your flowers."

"Picking out flowers?"

Kariya points to a basket on the ground, presumably his. He was the only other person here shopping for flowers, it had to be his.

"Yeah. Anyway, you're forgiven so don't worry about it anymore," he mutters as he takes a step back. Although, in doing so, his foot ends up hitting a pot and causes him to loose his footing. He utters a curse under his breath because he knows everything in here is delicate and is about to break something, it'll all be his fault for trying to walk away and play it cool. He feels himself beginning to fall back and then, suddenly, he's pulled forward. Not falling anymore. He hears the pot spin, slowly coming to a stop.

Then, he looks forward to see his hands are caught by the stranger's. How the other had managed to grab onto them and pull him up with just the right amount of strength to not send him tumbling forward, he'd never know. But, they were standing closer than before and he realized that smaller and rather warm hands were holding onto his.

His cheeks were heating up and he could feel it. And when he notices the other boy's cheeks doing the same, things begin to feel weird. He can't stay here. Kariya pulls his hands away, carefully taking a step back now to avoid doing that again.

"Are you oka-"

"I'm fine!"

Kariya shouts before he turns and runs out the door. God, he felt so embarrassed. This cute kid had not only been fairly kind to him, he had also saved his ass from making a scene and paying who knows how much money (that he didn't have) to this shop. He makes sure to keep his feet moving, just trying to get away from that shop. He doesn't even know why he's so embarrassed over this. It's dumb. He's dumb. That boy is dumb but god was he really cute.

Maybe he's dumber (that sounds dumb, but stupider didn't sound any better) because he forgot to ask for the flowers.

(And that boy's name to.)

~...~

He has nothing to be worried about. He's not going to run into that boy again. That cute guy was only shopping there so he's probably home or taking extra lessons at that fancy school he attends (when he had gone home, it hit him that those were Teikoku's clothes and, boy, did he really mess up in front of someone coming from that school). So, he should have no problem heading back into this flower shop. He wouldn't make a fool of himself again or have to deal with him, again.

It was a little disappointing, but he refused to acknowledge his own feelings. He had to be focused on the matter at hand. Kariya still had a few days left to get Midorikawa his gift and he needed to get these flowers, today. When he steps into the flower shop again, he's tense, trying to be even more aware of his surroundings. Who knows, maybe another shopper is going to bump into him today. But, he's worrying over nothing. It's quiet like yesterday, no one is around in the shop.

So, he looks around with ease, but can't find what he's looking for. There's no goddamn moonflower here and if there is one, he can't spot it. Maybe it's in the back or hiding amongst others. Either way, it leaves him having to ask someone for help.

"Oi!" He calls out as he steps up to the counter, resting an elbow there, and leaning on it. "Anyone here?"

"Yes! Just a moment!"

Kariya freezes immediately upon hearing that voice. He had to be imagining things, right? Maybe it just sounded familiar or he was tricking himself into believing it was his voice. It's only when he finally shows himself that he's able to confirm that it is the same kid from yesterday.

"Sorr for the wait!" The (cute) employee says with a warm smile, a couple of leaves stuck to his hair, a pot in his arms thats placed onto the counter. "I can help you with- hey!" He gasps. "You're back again!"

Kariya can feel himself wanting to just curl up and roll out of here. He never expected to run into him again, especially not a day after they had met!

"Y-Yeah, it's me," he said as he cleared his throat, standing up straight, fixing his posture. God he felt like a fool for becoming so aware of how he held himself right now.

"Why'd you come back?" The boy asks. "Oh! You were looking to buy something and didn't yesterday, huh?"

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," he mutters, already beginning to feel heat in his cheeks. Today, he decides to get another look at him, notices he's not wearing his uniform, but some white long sleeved shirt with a dark green apron over it. And there was his name tag, sticking to the apron, reading,

"Hikaru Kageyama?"

"That's my name! How'd you- Oh!" He chuckles, smiles, looks embarrassed as he scratches the back of his head. "I forgot I had that on me today.

"That means...you forgot to wear it yesterday, eh?"

"I did. I sort of rushed to help out here so I didn't have time to change. But, um," he seems to panic for a moment before straightening himself. "Anyway, how can I help you today, sir?"

Ew. Being called sir felt funky. It's not like he was older than him either (didn't look like it plus that was the high school uniform- maybe they were in the same year). "Masaki Kariya." He doesn't know why he bothers giving out his full name, not that it really matters. "Not sir, okay? I just wanted to know if you have any, uhh, moonflowers here? I couldn't find any so..."

Hikaru frowns and he immediately takes that as a bad sign. "No, they aren't in season. They don't do well in the cold, so we don't have any right now. You could always go and get some fake ones, but I don't recommend it. I mean- I think you should buy our flowers here!"

(It was totally cute seeing how novice he was at this. He really just wanted to help him out, get the flowers he wanted.)

"Even if you don't have them right now?" He asks playfully.

"Uhh...you can come back in spring and buy them?"

"I wish." Kariya lets out a sigh, his head tipping down a bit. Now, how was he going to get Midorikawa those flowers? He felt stupid for not asking or at least looking into them a bit more. He thought they'd be like roses or tulips, ones that you could find anywhere, anytime. "I sorta need'em for this week..."

"Is it...for someone special?" Hikaru asks, innocently curious.

"Sorta. My...dad." That still felt weird to say to. He liked it, liked being able to say he had parents. It was just always weird verbally confirming it.

"Aww, I'm really sorry we don't have them right now...Wait!" Hikaru perks up before darting to the back, leaving Kariya at the counter. He hears something moving and tries to peer over to see what the other is doing. Eventually, the boy returns with a pot full of flowers. He puts them right by Kariya on the counter.

"Here! These aren't moonflowers, but they look sort of like them? I think I'm supposed to tell you that they are moonflowers, but..." He had failed to do that. "Well, you can tell your dad that they're temporary until you can get the actual ones?"

As much as he wants to accept them and fool Midorikawa with these, he highly doubts that it'd work. He's the flower nerd of this family and would probably spot the difference before he even walks through the door. Probably didn't even have to look at them either, bet he could probably tell by their scent to. But, the way Hikaru is smiling and had gone and tried to get him something close to what he needed...he couldn't say no.

"Guess they'll do. Um, thanks for the help," he said as he puts a hand on the pot. "How much will these cost?"

"Umm..." Hikaru pauses for a moment, scratching at his head (and making one of those leaves fall out). "They're...on the house!"

"They're- wait, what?"

"You can have them! Just...don't tell my parents." He says that quickly and quietly. "We didn't have the flowers you wanted so it should be okay for you to take these. I really hope your dad likes them."

Kariya stares, caught off guard by his act of kindness. What did he ever do to deserve this? It makes him feel a little guilty and that he should leave something here for him, but what? He could try paying for them but doubts that'll do much.

"You sure it's okay? I don't want you to get in trouble or anything."

"It's okay, really! I'll just say I had to toss them or that I broke the pot," he replies with a nervous laugh. God, he really wanted to do something for him.

"I'll pay you back," Kariya states. Now, it's Hikaru's turn to look surprised.

"It's oka-"

"I want to." He nearly shouts and feels embarrassed for doing so. He didn't mean to be so forward and hides his flustered face behind the flowers given to him. "I'll...be back. I promise. And I promise I'll bring you something to, Hikaru."

Hikaru smiles and it's a little different from before. It's warmer, radiant, not one trying to smile for the customer. Maybe he's just as excited to see him again as he is. (God he hopes so.)

"I look forward to it, Masaki."

[ladye11e]

Blades, Trains, Assassins, Thieves pt 9

SFW

Word count:3376

Characters:Jacob Frye x Reader

Tagging @geekgoddess813​ @swiggle-muffin​ @sweet-flash​ @thank-god-its-fryeday​ 😍

Without anywhere else to go, you decided to hideout in the train for a while, much to Jacob’s delight, but it was beginning to drive you insane. Being left to your own devices for the most part, the current assassin missions either too dangerous or didn’t warrant a thief, left you mulling about and wondering what to do about your store.

Picking up your fathers journal that Jacob had managed to sneak in and get for you, before being thrown out by several policemen that even Freddie didn’t have any sway over, you curled up on the sofa and flicked through the book until you came to a blank page.

About an hour later, you smiled to yourself when you heard familiar heavy footsteps clambering about on the roof, looking up to see Jacob drop down in front of the door, completely covered in what looked like soot.

“What on earth have you been doing??”

You squirmed when he flashed you a beaming smile and dropped down in the seat next to you, draping his arm over your shoulder and kissing your cheek, leaving a huge black mark across your face.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know. What you got there?”

Grinning when you passed him the book to show him the brass knuckles you had designed, you burst out laughing when his eyes lit up and began nodding furiously.

“Oh you know me so well! Can you make it? Maybe two, those Templars won’t know what hit them.”

Taking the book back off him and snapping it shut, you got up off the sofa and sighed, dropping it down on the nearby desk and rubbed at your cheek with the cuff of your coat when you saw your reflection in the window.

“I would love to, but no forge, remember?”

Jacob jumped up and spun you around, wrapping his arms around you tightly and kissed you, covering your face in the black dust again.

“I said I’ll get it back for you, and I will. Even if I have to take on the whole bloody police force, I will.”

Chuckling to yourself when you could actually imagine him doing that, your attention snapped to the door when Henry walked in, immediately lowering his gaze to the ground when he saw you.

“Oh. I was just looking for Evie, I’ll come back later….”

Slithering out from Jacob’s embrace and gesturing for him to give you and Henry a moment alone, you scoffed when he pouted and took two whole steps towards the other side of the carriage. Turning your attention back to Henry, you couldn’t help but blush when he was now staring at the very window that he saw you pushed up against earlier in the week. Clearing your throat and stepping towards him, you lay your hand on his arm and decided not to acknowledge the embarrassing situation that you had gotten in, but apologize for the blighter catastrophe now that you had finally gathered up the nerve after avoiding him for the best part of a month.

“Henry, I’m so sorry for what I did. I didn’t mean… I shouldn’t have.. Oh bloody hell, this sounded so much better in my head.”

You breathed a sigh of relief when Henry chuckled and hugged you briefly, before brushing your face with the back of his hand to get some of the dirt off.

“I could never stay cross at you (name), just promise me that next time you will speak to me first?”

“I promise. Evie went out not too long ago, said she was meeting someone named Clara?”

Noticing that Henry’s hand was now grubby, you pulled out your handkerchief and wiped the smudge off it before trying to clean up your own face, letting out an exasperated sigh when Jacob walked up behind you and rubbed his cheek against yours, making your efforts completely futile.

“Well, I better get going, have fun getting yourselves cleaned up.”

Grumbling to yourself as you watched Henry smirk at you and hastily jump off the train, you dropped the now black handkerchief on the floor and turned to face Jacob, who now had his eyebrows raised in confusion.

“What was all that about? He can’t still be that pissed about what happened at the station?”

“No, everythings fine, it doesn’t matter. You do realise that you’re absolutely filthy?”

You shrieked when he winked at you suggestively and quickly swept you off of your feet, carrying you back over to the sofa and ungraciously sitting down with you in his lap.

“When it comes to you, I can be extremely filthy.”

Giggling when he nuzzled into your neck and his fingers began massaging the inside of your thigh, your mouth dropped when he whispered something in your ear. You bit your lip in trying to stop a smile from creeping up your face when he looked back up at you, but your eyes obviously gave you away when he gave you a rather enticing wink.

“Oh you like that idea do you?”

Fiddling with the coin around his neck, you gave up trying to hide your expression, grinning widely and nodding.

“Mmmm, god you’re amazing. But unfortunately thats going to have to wait, we need to go in a few minutes.”

“Where are we going?”

Getting up and trying to brush yourself off to at least look a bit more presentable, you abandoned your attempts with a huff when Jacob jumped up next to you and grinned, drawing his initials on your cheeks with the soot.

“Lambeth. There’s someone who you could probably help.”

Following Jacob in through some random front door without even knocking, your eyebrows raised in wonder when you noticed that you weren’t in a house, but a rather large room with alot of instruments and apparatus laying about.

“Aleck? You here?”

You stood back when a smartly dressed man poked his head around the corner, not at all concerned that there were two people stood in the middle of his workshop unannounced.

“Ah Jacob, been hard at work I see. Have you seen Starricks latest lies?”

You cocked your head to one side as the man passed Jacob a newspaper, quite surprised that he had a thick Scottish accent.

“Lies? In a newspaper? I’m astonished. How’s the darts coming along?” Jacob asked in a sarcastic tone as he handed him back the paper.

“Not quite finished I’m afraid, I’ve completed the serum, but the dart mechanism isn’t working correctly.”

Stepping forward when Aleck presented a syringe type item to Jacob, the corner of your mouth twitched when you spotted what was wrong with it almost immediately. Jacob, noticing your expression, passed it to you so you could look at it closer for a moment, smirking when you fumbled in your pocket and pulled out a small file.

“Aleck, this is (name), she’s on our side. (Name) this is Aleck Bell, an inventor.”

Using the file to ping off an extra piece of metal on the side of the tube that would no doubt cause any kind of mechanism to jam, you gave it back to Jacob and extended your hand to the Scotsman, who now looked quite impressed.

“Pleasure to meet you Mister Bell. Your design was slightly flawed, but I’ve fixed it. It should work now.”

Smiling when he took your hand in both of his, it soon dropped when he shook it a little too enthusiastically, making you twist out of his grip before he pulled your arm off.

“The pleasures all mine my dear. Tell me, are you an inventor also?”

“Me? God no, just a blacksmith. Jacob, does it fit now?”

Spinning around to see Jacob grinning and slide the vial neatly into his gauntlet, you breathed a sigh of relief that what you had done actually worked, and you hadn’t made a fool out of yourself.

“Excellent. A blacksmith you say? Would you mind giving me your opinion on another of my inventions? Oh and Mister Frye, I intercepted a line, mentioning cargo that contains our cable lines had been seized at College Wharf.”

“Well then, I suppose i better go unseize it. (Name) will you stay here? I wont be long, especially with this new toy.”

Chuckling at his enthusiasm for his new contraption, you shooed him off when he grabbed you around the waist and kissed you quickly, eager to find out what Aleck wanted you to look at.

“So, you and Mister Frye?”

Following him to his workbench where he picked up a flask and spilt two drops into a dish, you gingerly plucked up some weird metal device off of the counter top, fiddling with it and wondering what on earth it could be.

“Yes. So what is it you wanted me to look at?”

“Ah god damn it!”

Flinging the curved piece of metal across the counter and grasping your finger tightly, you winced when a trickle of blood dripped down the side of your hand.

“Are you alright? Here, let me take a look.”

Holding out your hand to Aleck when he came rushing over with a cloth and wound it tightly around your fingers, you cursed under your breath for having cut yourself yet again. Whining when he pulled the fabric away to see how bad it was, you scowled when you saw quite a deep gash down the side of your index finger.

“Thats pretty bad, hold it tight, I shall get you a bandage.”

Squeezing as hard as you could to stop the bleeding, you were grateful that he came back quickly and pulled up a stool inches from yours, and began cleaning up your hand.

“Im sorry for getting blood everywhere, Im usually really good at this kind of thing. Guess I’m just not great in using other people’s tools.”

“Oh hush, you’re doing a marvellous job. It took me days to build just one of those things, and you have managed three in the past few hours.”

Staring at your hand as he wound the bandage firmly around your finger, you couldn’t help but notice that he was trembling slightly.

“Aleck, are you okay?”

“Erm, yes, just a little squeamish when it comes to blood. Pitiful I know.”

Taking his hands in yours when he finished doing the dressing, you gave him a broad smile and tried to take his mind off of it.

“Yet here you are, fixing me up. That’s incredibly brave to face something that scares you.”

“Trust me, I’m not brave, I feel like I’m about to throw up.”

“You better not, this is a new shirt!”

You both burst out laughing at the same time, stopping instantly when you turned your head towards the door at the sound of Jacob clearing his throat.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Aleck dropped your hands and jumped up out of the chair faster than you’d ever seen anyone move before, your eyebrows raising as you saw that Jacob was smiling, but his voice didn’t match his expression.

“Not at all. Just had a bit of an accident, Mister Bell was just fixing me up. How did the mission go?”

You clenched your teeth together when Jacob grasped your hand and inspected the bandage, his eyes narrowing slightly as he turned his attention to Aleck.

“I can answer that, you have triumphed once again Mister Frye!”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Jacob asked, his voice still laced with slight annoyance.

“We have entered the age of communication remember? I have already received word that the shipment has arrived safe and sound, thanks to you.”

Unwinding your dressing when you felt your hand starting to go numb because it was so tight, you stifled a chuckle when Aleck turned away quickly so he didn’t see your wound. Now that it had stopped bleeding, you held up your finger so Jacob could see the cut, flinching when his brow furrowed and he kissed the tip.

“So what else was in the shipment Aleck? There were too many blighters for it just to contain cable lines.”

“Ah, I’m afraid that Starricks poison has made it’s way to the open market.”

Jumping down off the stool when Jacob gestured that it was time to go, you quickly picked up the cloth and wiped the traces of your blood off the piece of metal you had cut yourself on and handed it to Aleck, so he could finish the infernal thing himself.

“Well, if Starrick thinks that will stop us, he’s wrong. Shall we be off?”

Waving to Bell as you followed Jacob out the door, you brow furrowed in confusion slightly when you walked side by side down the street in complete silence. Picking up your pace slightly so that you got in front of him, you stopped and turned to face him, your eyes narrowing as he just stared over your shoulder into the distance.

The corner of you mouth twitched when you suddenly realised what was wrong, so you lay your hands on his shoulders and jumped up, wrapping your legs around his waist and pressing your lips against his firmly, ignoring the comments of the startled onlookers. It didn’t take long for him to return the kiss, you let out a gentle sigh when you felt his hands on your hips, and his tense posture quickly melting away. Pulling back to see his usual cheeky expression had returned, you tapped him on the nose with your good hand and tutted.

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, just so you know.”

Holding on tighter as he carried on walking with you around his waist, you laughed at the woman who was briskly walking in the other direction, scoffing and covering her childs eyes with her hand.

“Jealous? I’m not jealous.”

“If you say so. Are you going to put me down? Or do you plan on carrying me all the way back to the train?”

You giggled when his hands wove around you, kissing you again then apologising when he bumped into a group of men who were deep in conversation. He dropped you down when you reached the end of the street, his attention snapping to an older gentleman with a bushy white beard who was yelling at another man that was jumping into a carriage.

“Mr Darwin? What’s all that about?”

You just managed to stifle your laughter when the man held on tightly to the door handle as the cart sped away, yanking it clean off and throwing it to the ground in annoyance.

“That is Richard Owen! A vile, despicable man!”

“Really? Could have sworn you were close friends” Jacob scoffed.

“Wait, Mr Owen works at the asylum…. He would know who makes the syrup! Get him! Get him!”

Breaking into a sprint behind Jacob when he immediately ran off in the direction that the man was travelling, you felt slightly smug when you managed to keep up with very little effort. Jumping up into a nearby empty carriage so you could gain some ground on the man, you were quite surprised when Jacob passed you the reins.

“Get as close as you can, and try to keep us steady.”

Nodding and cracking the reins, you managed to catch up to the other cart quickly, pulling up to the side of it in a steady path as Jacob climbed up onto the roof.

“Go find Evie!” Jacob shouted as he jumped across to the other carriage and pushed the driver into the road, taking his place in the front seat.

Slowing down and pulling up to the side of the street, your heart jumped into your throat when you watched Jacob drive more recklessly than usual, slamming the carriage into nearby objects, in what you guessed was his attempt to scare the man into giving him the information he needed. Now he was out of sight, you slowly walked down the street in the direction of the train station, wondering just how on earth you were going to find Evie this time of evening.

Stopping in your tracks when you heard alot of commotion from the other side of the street, your eyes narrowed when you saw four blighters circling a young woman dressed in green and yellow. Picking up your pace so you got close enough for them to hear you, the corner of your mouth twitched when you saw who it was.

“Oi! John, piss off and leave her alone!”

You just managed to suppress your laughter when the big blighter turned to face you, noticing quickly that he had a black eye and several lumps and bruises all over him.

“For you my dear, anything. You still owe me for that beatin’ I took helping you out though.”

Pulling a face and shooing him away when he waved at you and began walking off with his colleagues in the opposite direction, your brow furrowed in confusion when you saw the girl was now scowling at you.

“Erm, you okay? Bloody cowards, four of them ganging up on you like that.”

“I don’t need your help. Least of all from some blighters fancy bit.” She spat at you whist brushing herself off and pulling her waistcoat straight.

“Hmph. You’re welcome. And I’m not some blighters ‘fancy bit’ thank you very much.”

“Coulda fooled me. Great, now I’m late meetin Miss Evie.”

Your eyes widened and you started following her as she began walking away, much to her obvious annoyance.

“Wait, I need to talk to Evie, where is she? I’m (name) by the way.”

Nearly crashing into the back of the girl when she suddenly stopped and turned to face you in astonishment, you smiled brightly in hopes that she would let her guard down and tell you where her boss was.

“Mary. You know Miss Evie? How?”

“Nice to meet you Mary. I’ve been helping her for a while now, hopefully that proves I’m not a blighter, I wouldn’t be standing here if I were.”

Letting out a sigh of relief when her face softened slightly, you carried on walking beside her when she gestured for you to follow, hoping that you weren’t walking into some kind of ambush.

“Good point. Miss Evie’s definitely not someone you should mess with! She’s this way, scouting out a gang hideout.”

“Thanks. So you’re a Rook? What made you join them?”

Grinning when she walked taller as you said this, the slight nerves you had about following her drifted away as she began gushing about being part of the gang.

“I worked in a factory near here, boss treated us something terrible, and used kids to work the machinery. Miss Evie set us all free, so doing all I can to repay the favour. Then of course, there’s her brother.”

Your ears pricked up and you looked at her out of the corner of your eye, smirking when you knew what was coming next, given the expression on her face.

“Jacob? What about him?”

“Are you kidding?! Have you actually seen him? Apart from being rediculously attractive, and strong, charming, and the way he fights…. Oh the things I could do to that man.”

Dropping back slightly so she couldn’t see the smug look on your face, a pang of wickedness erupted inside you, and you decided to continue with the conversation.

“Well, I suppose he’s okay, I guess. Does he know how you feel?”

“Okay? Just okay? Are you blind or something?! I have tried, but he’s not done anything, yet. Just a matter of time. He’s got alot on his mind at the moment.”

Stopping when you got to the outskirts of the Southwark gang hideout, you spied the familiar black smoke from the Fryes train, and figured it would be best to wait for Evie there, rather than interrupted her while she was scouting.

“Hmmm, I see. Well thanks for your help Mary, I’ll find Evie on my own from here. Nice to meet you.”

You quickly ran off in the direction of the tracks grinning to yourself, but also trying to ignore the sudden twinge of guilt that pulled in your chest for not saying anything as you left the Rook staring at you, with a rather dumbfounded look on her face.

[jeweledfaith]

“Close to the Edge” Arno x German Female Reader

Note: The following short story contains a suicidal attempt. Viewer Digression is advised.

Rated: M-17, For the heavy suicidal scene

Animus Files: #24109266 

Journal entry by an unidentified female writer

Location: Versailles, France

September 12, 14, 17th, 1794

My hands are trembling. Trembling like autumn leaves feeling the presence of the warnings of winter approaching. It has been a long time since I wrote in this journal. It has seemed to be a great source of peace and comfort during this dark time. That I mean escaping from the Fatherland’s templar rite. They’d threatened to kill me, just because my ideals had been reformed. They see me as another Cormac. A Verräter, I can’t necessary blame them for thinking my ideals are not the kind that they’d expected out of me. I was raised among the rite, since I was the daughter of a fallen templar soldier. I was a fast learner, even though my english and french needs work. I seemed more fluent in Französisch, despite me sometimes breaking back to my fatherland roots.

But now, after the loss of the one I love, and my life threatened, I escaped, and rode hard aiming for Switzerland. But alas, France’s roads had proved to be dangerous due to the developing revelation that seems to be a song that never ends. Like a  Kinder-Kinderreim (child’s nursery rhyme). Theives could appear, and the borders of Switzerland and France I suspected and now heavily guarded.

A cold breeze went through me like a dagger as I rode my horse in the city of Versailles. It seemed like the city had seen better days. Even skeleton bones seem to have a Schönheit (beauty) to it. As the rain began to send icy darts upon my horse and I, I shielded my eyes to see a rather decent manner. I steered the horse pass the opened gate and into the barn. After feeding it with the stables surprisingly conditioned hay, rubbed it, and watered it in the mangers. I tightened my hood around my rose cheeks and cantered into the manor. 

The windows were barred from the inside. Blankets and sheets covered most of the furniture and pieces of Kunst (art). I was drawn to the fireplace, hoping to see wood near by. There was wood that seemed to have once been lite up, yet cold as ever. I gathered the wood, and as I lend down, a piece of twig caught the edge of a sheet covering a painting. The waiting reflected that of a beautiful Frau (woman). Her hair reminded me of Feuer (fire). And a smile I know I could trust as an ally with a sign of intelligence and assurance. As I looked back down, I noticed that a few empty glass bottles were littering the tops of the fireplace. I was unexpectedly turning around to see more bottles littered around the corners of the room. Suddenly, the sound of a clanging of empty bottles echoed from what I assumed was the second floor. Checking my belt for my dagger, I slowly walked up the dusty staircases.

As I made it to the top base of the stairs, I noticed a candlelight reflecting on the floor. I turned and followed it into a dark room with only a lone candle burning. As I entered, I noticed a figure sitting on the windowsill. His face seemed to be stained with tears and great sorrow. As I quickly analyze him from a hidden distance, I noticed that he had long dark hair that was tied back. He wasn’t husky like most assassins I had the misfortune of fighting against, still he had a fairness to him; yet strong. Like a fencer or swordsman of the courts. He had a long scar upon his cheek.

Oh shirr. I neglected to say that I discovered he was an assassin in the most unexpected way. He had his hidden blade extended out from his arm. He looked down upon it, like bringing in a servitude of a dream. He inched it up, and suddenly I slowly approached him as I realized that the blades tip was dangerously close to his neck. The tip stopped mere inches, but enough to peck this man’s road apple. Little beads of blood started to rise.  

“Don’t...do it!” I cautioned the man in my broken language barrier. My hand was lifted in caution, though I was a few yards away.

“Leave me be! I don’t need anyone else to further convince me.” The man demanded quietly, never looking at me. “Now!”

My mind was racing, yet cautious. “I’m not sure what you mean Herr (sir).” I attempted again in a calm deminer. I step closer and closer. “If you were so sure on ending your life without...well...you would of done it by now.”

“This doesn’t concern you...”

“Ich kann nicht, ich bin jetzt beteiligt (I can’t, I’m involved now).” I said in my native german.  

“So now the assassins are sending german foreigners now?” The man said in a dry voice that seemed to be mocking himself. Obviously the bottles of wine had an impact in his thinking.

I then took a chair closest to me, sat down and removed my pistol. “Nein. I’m neither assassin, nor a templar. Even though once upon a time I was.”

“You’re with the templars?” He asked, finally looking at me, but his blade was still upon the neck, the river of red slowly trailed down to his white tunic.

“Was.” I corrected him. “I was a templar. Now...I’m running from the very rite that raised me. Because I renounced my oath to the templars.”

“Why are you here...” 

“Oh now your asking me the questions. Since I so briefly gave you my soul for keeping your hand for extending, your life can spare another minute explaining why.” It was a huge gamble on my part, but something about my mentioning of the templars seemed to aid in the prolonging I dared hoped for. “From what I see here, you have an assassin’s blade, yet you’re stripped of your robes. Did you also renounce...”

“I was ostracized Mademoiselle. Exiled. Forced out by those who promised me answers and peace.”

I knew I needed to keep him talking. So I brushed up my french in my head, “ Quel était votre crime monsieur (what was your crime sir)...”

There was a prolong silence. Was hat er in Christus Namen getrunken? I thought. I decided that if he was going to act like that, I may as well give him my name. He looked to the window rail again without a word. I huffed and expressed my concerned hybrid with frustration. “You know, at this point, the other half of the party gives their name too.”

He blinked in thought. “Arno. Arno Victor Dorian.”

“Arno. A german name, yet breed french. Any of your parents born Deutsche (German)?”

Arno shook his head, the blade’s edge traced a half inch from his neck. “My mother was from Austria.”

I nodded. “Right, I should of noticed the Austrian traits. Still, close to German to me.”

“What dose it matter what nationalism we belong to based on our breed?”

“What is in a nationality?” I asked dryly. “We are both born under the line of Noah anyways. Survivors of the große Flut (great flood). And now, I know the world isn’t made of turkish delights and chocolates; but surely there is a brighter future.”

“Why are you saying this? What do you know?”  His voice trembled, his hand shaking. “What do you know of nationalities, sides, ideals...” he pause for a moment, blinking misty eyes. “Of loss...and regret...and...”

“Love?” Even I surprised that I said the word. He turned and stared at distant; yet surprised face upon me. “Of loss and love. You may not think I understand what you’re going through, but Von Gott I know the syndromes of a human being who lost the person they love in the force of life’s tragedy of fate. Just as you’ve figured out a way to live glücklich bis ans Lebensende (happily ever after), the ideals of a single templar rite lead the men who raised you to kill the man you love.” A tear strayed down my eye unexpectedly. Yet I never reached my hand up to wipe the tear away from my sweat and dirty stained face. I took a breath. “You thought a long time of just jumping onto a street waiting for a incoming wagon to run you over. But yet, after taking time, healing, and analyzing those responsible for...for the suffering. You can renounce from the foundation of corruption and Arroganz and stolen documents in order to be sure that no one would ever know the templars weaknesses. And just as you get closer to Switzerland, a forsaken revelation that was the result of poor decisions and spilt blood of thousands littered the streets. And now, here you’d stand, staring upon a man who is close to the edge of Der Weg eines Feiglings.”

He looked. He listened. He analyzed the words I said in his head. I was amazed on how I must of sounded like Father Hans from my home perish. I wondered if his influence did gave me strength, despite no longer being a member of the rite like myself. But thats a tale for another day.

The man. Arno. He shook his head. “Merde. Your just telling a fable just to distract me.”

“A distraction? Yah. A folk tale? No.”

“Then tell me your “assassin lover’s name” in french.” He demanded. “And if it is true, say the creed’s code in my tongue if you know it.”

I saw what card he was playing, his face expressed an emotion of a way to make a bargain with death and me. But I know how to get him to talk while I thought of the translations in my head. “Fine. But first, you must give the rites code to me in german. If you get it right, I’ll give you mine at once.”  Now any man would think its a prolonged nonsense; but in honest truth, a desperate man’s mind is always clouded from judgment. 

“qui” He nodded. He thought of the words, “Möge der Vater des Verständnisses uns führen” He then said “Elise”

“rien n'est vrai tout est permis. Matthew”

We both looked at each other, both seeing that we both understood both sides of the fence. He never realized that I was closer to him, enough to slowly reach up my hand, grabbed his wrist and slowly pulled it away, feeling the hot sticky blood on top of my fingers from his pricked neck. I placed the blade at the base of my neck. “If anyone is to blame for your loves death...it’s me. I know she maybe a templar, that due to the jeweled cross you clutch on for dear life. But if you want someone to die, better me, and not yourself Arno. Elise wouldn’t want that, wouldn’t she?”

The man looked deep into my eyes, and hearing the drop of the metal cross onto the marble floor, he took my other hand and he removed his blade away from my neck. He withdrew his blade back and shook his head, “No miss...I’m sure Matthew wanted you to have a brighter future, and continue his mission upon these documents.” We both stared, and in exhaustion, he collapsed into my arms. I bent down and allowed tears to stream down my shoulder, while I silently cried myself. 

Thanking God for saving a man’s soul for once in my lifetime. No longer was I a templar, but a woman who only came in a forsaken city in a forsaken country to save a lost soul. And somehow, I know that I have a new mission here in France. A chance to heal. For both of us. 

And now, it’s late, and tomorrow, Arno and I will seek the assassins. A praise I never thought I would see myself writing here. But paper is more quiet then mouths. 

"

[thehopedealer-88]

Flash Rant/S4 expectations:

Though TF is one of my favorite shows, this last season was not the best: The pacing of the episodes was off, the savitar reveal came way too late and people had already figured it out making it anticlimactic, Savitar was underdeveloped and more time could have been spent on him and of course EmoBarry. But there were individual things that rubbed me the wrong way, so here we go:

Star labs:I am so sick and tired of star labs. I am sick and tired of seeing the set. Why tf is 80% of every episode in star labs?!? there is an entire city to use and all we see is Star Labs. I know I wasn't the only one happy to see it get destroyed in the finale. Yes, I get it is the focal point of the show as far as locations. That’s where team flash comes together, thats where the Flash goes. BUT, its been 3 seasons. We get it. We saw it. Lets move on. Allow the characters to have lives outside of Star Labs. They deserve it. 

BARRY: LET BARRY BE GREAT. LET BARRY BE SMART. PLEASE. Barry Allen is a genius but the show has stripped so much of that away from him in order to give importance to *drum roll* STAR LABS. That’s bullshit. Show him being smarter, on his own. Let him make decisions. On his own. He doesn't need 80 people telling him things he should already know. 

What I want for Barry in S4: I want to see him using his brain. I want to see him do his job. CSI stuff. I want to see him happy and excited about being the Flash like in S1. He’s been through a lot. Let him thrive now. Let him have a stronger connection to the speed force. Let him be FASTER than everyone else. Let him be the one giving the pep talks, not receiving them. He’s learned a lot. He’s grown as a man and a hero. Lets see it. 

IRIS: Iris did more reporting in S1 and S2 than this entire last season. We never even saw the CCPN set ever again. Let her do her job. Please. In the comics, Iris is not only a brilliant reporter but her research and investigations directly help Barry in some of his work as the Flash. LETS SEE THAT. Again, in order to give Star Labs more to do, Iris has been stripped of many opportunities where her journalism could of come in handy. I may be alone in this but I feel like S3 took some agency away from her character by not allowing her to directly influence her fate by the hands of Savitar. She is not a damsel in distress and though we may know this, sometimes I feel it could of came off stronger.

What I want for Iris in S4: I want to see badass journalist Iris. I want to see her contribute more than we have seen her do in the past. It makes no sense in a city like Central City reporters are not used more in the main story lines. Use her. Also, Let her have emotions. She was preparing to die and we barely got a few scenes of her coming to terms with that. wtf. She is the leading lady of the show. Treat her like one and recognize how effective she could be. Also, I want to see her happy. Candice Patton has a great sense of humor. Allow her to bring that to the character more often. Let her be silly and fun, especially with Barry. And, give Iris a female friendship. Sometimes I feel like this show wouldn't pass the bechdel test. 

JOE: again, let Joe do his job. Yes, hes a detective and we see him doing some things. But its not enough. He should be Captain and will have more influence at CCPD. You can’t have a talented actor like Jesse L. Martin and utilize him mostly for pep talks and musical numbers. 

What I want for Joe in S4: A story line consisting of his work at CCPD. He also doesn't need to be at Star Labs so much. Lets see him do his badassary as detective. We know hes a great father. But I would like to see more about Joe outside of his kids. He deserves that much. Also keep Cecile and dont ever hurt Papa Joe. Ever. 

WALLY: He’s freaking Kid Flash and yet, he barely had any screen time in the last few episodes of the season. I hope this is because they are saving it for his bigger role in S4 but still, Wally is underdeveloped as a character and needs more focus on him as Wally and as a superhero. 

What I want for Wally in S4: Same as Barry, I want to see him thrive as the Flash but also go through growing pains. He has a lot to learn and S4 can deliver a great coming of age type of story arc for Wally as he learns to make mistakes and become a better hero.

CISCO: I love this character. And as much as I love him, I need him to back off a little bit as inventor and creator of all things team flash. Cisco has way too many jobs. Many of which as I mentioned can easily go to other characters. Now as Vibe, Cisco has other greater things to learn and develop for himself. Let him. 

What I want for Cisco in S4: Strengthen that Vibe power. Develop it, harness it. Vibe is extremely powerful. Let him get there. I want to see him work on his abilities with Gypsy and be an active hero, not just one who sits in front of a computer. He’s too useful for that. I also want to see him Happy. Give us funny, lighthearted Cisco we love. Allow him to go on a date. Flirt. Get a GF (preferably Gypsy) and overall be unstoppable. It would be great to learn more about his backstory as well, such as his family. 

KILLER FROST: Let KF be complex. The one thing this show is too afraid to do is go too dark. I get that with some characters but not with KF. She is canonically a villain. Let her be one. She’s more interesting that way.There is a way to do that without going over the edge. Right now, KF is helping the Justice League in the comic books but is still considered a villian. She has a Harley Quinn like thing going on and it works. 

What I want for KF in S4: Let her balance the line between good and bad. Let her explore her KF powers and figure out who she is. Please don’t let her be bad one episode and have her be good the next and return her to star labs. She needs to feel the full weight of her actions as KF. Show those conflicting emotions. She can be a bad guy and still have good in her. She doesn't need to be Caitlin again. Let her be a new version of KF. Develop her powers, and explore more of her backstory. There are deeper and darker things in Caitlin's history that we still dont know about. 

HARRY: Just bring back OG Wells. That’s all. 

TEAM FLASH: Lessen up the team. There are wayyyy too many characters on this show. And the more characters, the less time can be spent developing them. Tracy is cool but we dont have room for her on the team, at least not as a regular. Julian is cool but outside of being Dr. Alchemy, we don’t really need another person with the same skills as Barry as a CSI. Its just too bloated and needs to be shrunk down. 

THE VILLIANS: Speaking of Julian, I hope the show has bigger plans for him because if not, Dr. Alchemy was completely wasted. He was supposed to be an interesting character and one of Flash’s biggest foes but instead was used very little and then almost forgotten about.I hope the plan is to revisit that at some point. No more speedsters. At least not for a while. Suicide Squad, if possible would be a phenomenal additions for S4.  

Thats all. I’m sure theres more stuff but this is all I can type up. And remember, these are just MY opinions and feelings about the show and what I hope to see in S4. No matter what, TF is insanley popular, I just feel sometimes writers and showrunners take advantage of that and get kind of lazy. Unforunatley, I feel that happened this season. 

Here is hoping for the best in season 4!

[luziflor]

Update (long post)

So I wouldnt say I was astral projecting today. Much more of lighly travelling up there and getting to some sort of inbetween spot between here and there, maybe?

Background: Years ago in my coven my mentor had us do a meditation exercise. We would visualize roots growing from where we stood, and tree branches growing up from us. It would lead you into a starry space, and she taught us to put up a ward and shield there. You would then travel into the tree to get to something that was supposed to be a personal temple, to meet with your deities and such. Not really the same as astral home. So im gonna like.... push it up there. Or something. Point is, I have a home thing already its just not really in the right location yet, but is close-ish maybe. Another problem i have with this though is that I used to be into thoughtforms. I had a few, and they had pet dragons. We had a lovely home with lots of wooded areas and a sea and everything. I could tell that one was strictly in my head at the time though, as I used to get severe headaches and even feel the energy in my brain severely shift. Thats a different story, but causes me to again question if im actually doing anything or just creating more thats only my brain (then again, ive heard of egregores being able to see egregores of others or travel to their homes.... ). Clearly, I have some things to work through.

About the home/temple that was already there - literally was created by 16 year old me after seeing an aesthetic pic on tumblr. Maybe I can find it again but I really doubt it. Anyways, the inside is light and dark blue marble. It has gold accents, and greek styled columns. The whole thing is really an old greek looking place. I recall I had a waterfall or something in there that would cause severe damage to a real house but I liked the look so it didnt bother me. There is a white greek statue of a woman in there but I could not tell you who it is. To the left there is an altar. The original was above a stone fireplace.

How its been updated: Same color scheme, theme, and random statue. The water feature was changed though, now its a small pond outside my house with a mini rock waterfall. Like for turtles. My altar is now a weird wooden desk bookshelf hybrid, that doesnt fit the theme at all. But its pretty. And I added a pet altar, it came to me as a wooden slab on metal legs or something, and it has wings that fold upward on it. Very cheesy but its a lovely piece, so I let it be. It has constant offerings of meat, water, and leaves or veggies to my passed away pets. I´ve also made it so they have a space where they can come and go as they please. I was also interacting with my deities and like uh hey guys u can make your own rooms if you want, just follow normal human rules. And I dont think any of them except Hecate did, and she did it immediately hahahah. But its not something I expected from her, though I am new to her as well. She made one that is kind of like a cave? And it had glowing amber light from the inside, and a gold metal accent piece at the top. She placed it very close to my altar but not rudely close. Apparently theres also a kitchen in there but its much more modern looking, and I got blocked from going in there (see below). I added new shields and wards, and a symbol appeared to me but its not related to any deity or anything. It came as I was setting up the shield and looking for sigils too. Its at a weird angle, a bunch of buildings mostly sky scrapers on a flat street. Below it are one line going down, and two lines attached to it with arrows or something going out. I would also like to point out that I huge painted ball python wrapped itself around my house, but it only came in images and energy I cant actually see it on the house.

Experience this time: Went in, established my being there. Looked around, was mostly the same as when I left it though some features such as my altar and water had been changed. Basically anything that worked with elements had disappeared really, or left behind a mild energy and base to build off of again. 

Welcomed in my deities to talk to them. Had a great meeting with Zeus, Poseidon, Lilith, and for the first time, Hecate (though I have interacted with her already).

Hecate was the first I greeted. She had her hair in a nice smooth updo, and looked like an oil painting. Im still working on visualization, she didnt move much  but I heard her speaking and felt the energy. She also had a golden bird metal band in her hair, which surprised me as well. Shes very nice so far, though i find it funny that she, mother of witches, had to put her room right next to my altar (which only has one side available). I thanked her for her work with me so far, especially as my oldest dog passed just recently, and I have another one whos young and sick now (he is much better today!).

Then was Lilith. When i first saw her, she was old and cranky but none the less friendly to me. Just kinda like a grandma with a temper. That had been in winter. Now as it is summer here (or spring? guate is weird), she came to me as a woman who had to be 19-early 20s. She had light olive skin, and swamp green eyes with slit pupils. She had brown loose curled hair that was every so slightly frizzy and very full. She was full human, but this time her body was super limber and a bit long like a snake. She was in a plain white dress, but it was like you could feel that her abdomen had a very specific shape that was like a snake. She was lovely, very kind, and patient with me as always. She is sweet but definitely has a jokester and teasing energy about her. After I left her, a huge californian king snake wrapped itself up around my shoulders just to chill, and I felt his scales moving across my shoulder. I havent held a snake in years, and I know for a fact my old cal king has died.

Next was Zeus. He is so much like a father figure to me, and he was very cheerful. Unfortunately because I havent really met up with him in a very long time, he looked to me like the animated Neptune from Little Mermaid. Yeeaah, sorry man. But he was fine none the less. We have a good relationship, he was glad to see me reaching out to them again. Even though I could not see him as he is for me, I could feel his energy. For me he is very hearty, and big. Its like santa clause with an attitude problem. (sorry pops)

Finally, Neptune/Poseidon. This one has been confusing for me as he presents himself to me as both. First it was more of Neptune, but now more of Poseidon. While Zeus is more like a father to me, Poseidon is the one that has all of my interests or is coincidentally related to weird things that happen to me. While Zeus has always been like a father, Zeus and I were more detached to begin with. But Poseidon was always the sweet uncle who related to what I liked and taught me valuable lessons. Today I saw him and felt him at the time, but once I was recording it in my journal I forgot almost everything about the experience other than it was super nice. 

There was some point where I had looked down, and noticed I had on partial armor in the color of gold on my legs and on my lower arms. Then I saw light dusty blue fabric draped over my arm, and more detail came from there. I was somehow wearing a stereotypical greek dress, but also bits of gold armor. I looked into a mirror and also saw that I had on a golden crown which felt a bit much in my tastes, but it was lovely so I kept it anyways! 

I saw my old dog Molly in there, though we didnt interact. Muffin, my recently passed, was there too. And I met up with her, and while I cant for sure say it was her it was good to have a few moments where I felt like I was playing with her again and hearing her weird snorts she makes when shes happy. My physical body had started crying after that. I could feel her bones again, if it was her shes happy but needs some serious vetting, which is probably the case anyways. Hopefully the offerings and me getting more experienced will help as time goes on. 

In my pet altar, I opened the drawer and found pictures. The only one I could really make out was one of my passed kitten, Possum. Possum had been a soul mate of a cat for me, ive never felt a connection like that before. And when he was passing away in the middle of the night across my whole house, I woke up for no reason not feeling tired at all. Then something told me to go outside because I had to go get him. He died a few hours after that, and im broken hearted to this day. 

At the beginning of this whole thing, I created an athame. Its based off of the ones they sell here but I have yet to actually get my hands on. Its made of metal and stone, and the tip of the handle has a tigers head. This one is a regular athame but I was immediately moved to make it into something to defend me from malicious spirits as well. I immediately slipped it into a knife holder that happened to be around my waist.

I was going to the kitchen, as my deities had left, there were no pets running around in there (maybe Muffin, but I had been interuppted in the physical world so our session broke off), so I was lonely and wanted to explore. I immediately felt blocked from going in there, and a black figure flew out at me. I felt just about nothing from this experience so I dont think that part was real (and I will go into more detail about this in a second). I grabbed my knife, stabbed it in the head, and the spirit was passed out or whatever for a second. I took it outside and realized I could removed the black around it, it was just cloth. It was what appeared to be some sort of white teenager, but the look of him really made me feel like he was not modern times. I dont know. Ive never seen him before either, and again, I didnt feel any panic from this at all. Only when i got blocked from the kitchen.

When I had egregores, I had a nice home for them. But in the upstairs I would hate going to because a black figure would come up to me. I would feel panic and even feel this in the physical realm sometimes. It is not around me anymore I dont think, or if it is, its only kept in my mind so its something personal I would assume. He was banished long ago, I changed their house, and didnt see him ever again. I questioned that experience at the time but it felt more real than the one I had earlier today. I dont know. 

Long story short- met up with the deities, Hecate had to put her room next to my altar, new guards up, snake things happened, might have killed a spirit but maybe nah, maybe hung out with my deceased dog for just a few seconds.