#the 500 words per day is paused

[novlr]

Welcome to Day 1 of NaNoWriMo! 

Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, today is about getting words on the (literal and/or metaphorical) page. Don’t overthink it - put down those first words, set the scene, introduce your characters, and dive into your story! Take advantage of that first day’s energy to get as much on the page as possible.

When you’ve hit a pause, consider setting a daily word count goal. If you’re writing every day, 1,667 words per day would get you over the finish line, but not every day will be as productive, and most of us will have more and less ideal writing days.

To counteract this, budget some higher word-count days to account for days when you’ll be less productive, and make sure you're taking at least a few minutes each day to engage with your novel so you can keep the momentum going, even if you’re only writing outline or backstory. 

Here’s a few assorted examples of schedules:

15 writing sessions (every other day-ish), 3,333 words/session

25 writing sessions, 2,000 words/session

25 writing sessions, 10 sessions of 500 words/session, and 15 sessions of 3,000/session.

60 writing sessions (twice per day), 833 words/session

Mix it up and try imagining how it would play out in your next few days. Having realistic expectations will help you with feeling like you’re staying on track, instead of feeling disappointed by your word count on a specific, predictable low-productivity day. 

Lastly, remember that the manuscript you’re exiting NaNoWriMo with is a first draft, not a finalized manuscript - avoid perfectionism, and focus on establishing a good writing routine.

Good luck, we're rooting for you!

[kaitsawamura]

FICS FOR GAZA

I am proud to announce I will be joining the initiative created over at @ficsforgaza! They, along with all the other incredibly talented participants, are doing some really great work. Thank you to FFG for creating a tangible way for us to help those suffering in Palestine, even if some of us can't afford to offer monetary assistance <3

THIS POST WAS LAST UPDATED 6/25/24

I might open requests in the future but for now, I am accepting proof of donation to sponsor current WIPs only.

Select a vetted donation link. You can find a good list -> HERE <-

Send me a screenshot of your donation through my inbox or in a DM. Due to these factors, donations cannot be anonymous at this time. I will also be sharing screenshots/proof of donation with @ficsforgaza for their records and verification. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU COVER/BLUR ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION ON YOUR PROOF OF DONATION.

I would hope this wouldn't need to be stated but please do not reuse donation screenshots. Make a new donation for each request.

Once you have sent proof of donation and chosen your WIP, you can opt in or out to be listed as a tagged sponsor on the WIP's masterlist. Some of the available WIPs have masterlists already live (I would tag you and repost) and some are oneshots that have yet to be posted (you would be tagged as a sponsor at the time that it is finished and live).

I will label each work individually, but please assume that everything I write will be 18+ MDNI/N*FW at one point or another.

WORD COUNT PER DOLLAR (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

For every $1 donated, I will write 100 words towards your chosen WIP. I.E: If you donate $5, I will write 500 words.

Current Word Count Cap Per One Request: 1000 Words (You can show proof of a larger donation, but this is currently the most words that can be requested per person ☺︎ )

Current Total Word Cap: 500/5000 words (This is currently the point at which I will pause proof of donations until I catch up ☺︎ )

MONEY RAISED: $15.75

Thank you for reading and respecting my rules!

THIS IS CURRENTLY A PLACEHOLDER

SERIES

East of My Heart (West of My Soul) | Estimated WC: 50K | Current WC: 25.5K | Chapter WC: 5.1K/12K | BNHA Folk Tale AU | Prince!Izuku Midoriya x Reader | 18+ MDNI

Donations Made to Sponsor This WIP: 1

SUMMARY: Your life is one that is abundant with family and the magic in small things.  But when a great white bear comes rumbling at your family’s cottage door one winter’s night, you are obviously taken aback.  Even more so when he speaks to you in a language you can understand and asks for your help.  Come away with him, live with him in the ice castle he calls home for a year and day and release him from the curse that blights him.  You agree to go with him even if as time goes along, it is very apparent that there is more to this polar bear than meets the eye.  There is more to a lot of different things as you learn to love the polar bear as friend and companion during the day but are visited by a mysterious man who insists on sleeping in your bed every night.  Can you last a year and a day to save the bear from this strange enchantment?  Will you learn the true identity of the man you’ve come to care so deeply for?  Will you find yourself (and maybe love) along the way?

The Farmer and The Wizard | Estimated WC: 50K | Current WC: 3.2K | Chapter WC: 1.2K/3K | JJK Stardew Valley AU | Wizard!Gojo x Farmer!Reader | 18+ MDNI

Donations Made to Sponsor This WIP: 1

SUMMARY: You need a change, a big one. When your estranged grandfather passes away and bequeaths you his farm in a little town just south of the middle of nowhere, you take it as the sign you needed to make a change instead of waiting for one. The farm, while having fallen into a state of disrepair, is just the thing to cure your modern-world ailments. The people are kind and always ready to offer help, if a bit unusual. They have old superstitions, a haunted community center, and a resident wizard. Spoiler alert: those last two on the list take some getting used to. Yes, things are different here but you have a sneaking suspicion that the slow pace and a certain alchemical practitioner are going to remind you that sometimes, all you need is time and a little bit of magic.

that's just wasteland, baby | Estimated WC: 15K | Current WC: 2.2K | BotW/TotK!Link and Zelda x Reader | 18+ MDNI

SUMMARY: Calamity Ganon has finally been vanquished for good, Link and Zelda have finally managed to break the wheel. But things are not as either of them had hoped they would be. Zelda is soon to be Queen with all the duties of such a position. Link would remain her knight and yet, he is restless. When he hears of the restoration efforts in Lurelin Village, he decides that he must go. He can’t stay cooped up within the castle walls, not after so long in the wild. Zelda and Link are unsure of the new direction their lives are taking but maybe they’ll find that their true north is you.

ONESHOTS

a shrike and a thorn | Estimated WC: 3K | Current WC: 1.2K | Priest!Kento Nanami x Congregant!Reader | 18+ MDNI

SUMMARY: You save everyone but who saves you? You don’t know what makes you step foot in that church.  But you do and you spend the next year a dutiful congregant to Father Nanami.  Devoted and kind, he’s exactly the kind of man you would expect to be a priest.  And none of this would be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that you can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to see him lose his religion between your legs.  Unbeknownst to you, the good Father is having the same kind of thoughts.  Will the two of you build a new altar at which you might worship?

They Say It's Your Birthday | Estimated WC: 3K | Current WC: 1.6K | Pro Hero!Eijiro Kirishima x Reader | 18+ MDNI

SUMMARY: Strangers to lovers (they meet in the club), birthday smut for the Birthday Boy, I've had this in my drafts for literally three years to post on Eiji's birthday.

The Indomitable Human Spirit | Estimated WC: 2-3K | Current WC: 366 | Modern!Sukuna x Reader | 18+ MDNI

Donations Made to Sponsor This WIP: 1

SUMMARY: No description for this yet either, just wanted to explore the idea of Sukuna putting his claim on you but not in the way you'd think he would, more in like the thing about how a warring alien race comes to earth and is baffled and fascinated by the enduring human spirit.

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All works marked as such belong to Kait of kaitsawamura © 2020-PRESENT. Please do not alter, repost, or copy my content.

[drabbles-mc]

Not My Idea

Nestor Oceteva & GN!Reader

Warnings: 18+, language

With the help of This Prompt List by @creativepromptsforwriting and my trusty Wheel of Names with every character I’ve ever written for, I’m aiming to write a fic in 500 words or less every day of March.

Prompt: nature walk

Word Count: 300

A/N: The second I got Nestor for this prompt I knew exactly what I had to do 😂

In the whole time you’d known and worked alongside Nestor, there had been very few times when he didn’t look annoyed, or exhausted, or something adjacent to those emotions. However as the two of you trudged across a seemingly endless path of dirt and sand, he looked more pissed off than usual.

You weren’t exactly enjoying yourself, per se, but Nestor’s annoyance seemed to make yours lessen in a childish way.

“Who’s idea was it to stash this all the way out here?”

“Not fuckin’ mine,” he grumbled.

You chuckled, kicking small stones out of the way as the two of you continued to make your way. “Yeah, you don’t seem like a nature walk kind of guy.”

“This isn’t a—never mind,” he stopped himself short, knowing that you were just trying to get under his skin. Problem was that you had a good track record of being successful at it.

“I would’ve worn better shoes if I knew we were going on a hike,” you joked. You paused as you looked at what he was wearing. “You did know and still didn’t wear better shoes so I guess I’ve got—”

“Are you done?” he cut you off.

You laughed. “I’ll be done when we get where we’re going.” You took a couple steps and landed yourself right beside him, doing your best to make your stride match his. “So I’d put some pep in your step if you wanna get this over with quicker.”

He shook his head, not turning to look at you knowing you’d just start carrying on more. “I’d move faster if I had better shoes on.”

You laughed, nudging his elbow with yours. “Was that a joke? You know how to make those? You’re familiar with humor as an artform?”

“Just keep walking.”

[kaathaharu]

Reciting - 1

Where should I start from? From the end or the beginning? Or, neither the end nor the beginning? I am paused in the process. Life has frozen for me.

Where am I? "Destiny!"

So, is this my destiny? Isn't it beautiful? I am meant to be here. But, I don't want to be here.

Fucking destiny. Embrace those mistakes; every mistake manipulates, "destiny." Not expected, untraceable, not patterned.

'The reason is me, Curious, impatient, careless me.' Sins seem appealing. I am sinister. And, I destroyed something peculiar. Silent scream. I'm dancing in the pool. Full of red dense fluid, "BLOOD," stain all over. Bloodied and clotted, it isn't plotted.

Consequence is destiny. Destiny is unpredictable. Unpredictable is the act. Unpredictability is inescapable. Escapable is reality. Painted with blood, clotted all my scars, distorted my vision, assorted all my acts together, thwarted the fortune, deported my sense, comported the end.

Was I meant to be here?

"Is this the end?" "What is the end?" "Where is the end?" "How is this the end?"

Five days, four hours, and 23 minutes. All these questions kept running in my mind. Every time, every question has different answers. The end cannot be ended so simply.

Do I want to end? 

No, I don't! It's time to add, add more. Add more words to a paragraph. More paragraphs per page. Additional pages in a book. A 500-page book, filled with a name. A name more than stories and more than poetry. The name has different emotions, feelings, and meanings on every page. No, it's weird.

[loosesodamarble]

Bringing in the New Year (300 Follower Special)

Hello and welcome to my 300 Follower Special~! 💖

Thank you to all my followers for checking out my blog and keeping up with my antics.

To celebrate, I'm gonna be writing up a storm for those who send in a request. The two event options available are: CC & Reader/OC/CC Scenarios, and OC Interactions.

The fandoms that I'm open to writing for during this event are: —Black Clover —Demon Slayer —My Hero Academia

And that's all. I... haven't been keeping up with JJK so I'm not confident about writing for the characters at the moment. And any other series that I am into, I'm not including.

Event Masterlist

..........

A Moment in Time (CC & Reader Scenarios)

Notes and Guidelines —There will be twenty (20) slots for this event option. —A prompt can be requested multiple times. —A character may be requested multiple times. —For reader scenarios, I will default to gender neutral unless otherwise requested. —I will aim to keep the scenarios between 500 and 1k words. —You can request fluff/general/angst/etc but I will likely lean towards fluff. —Regarding requesting a scenario with a specific OC, I ask that you include either a link to a profile or a basic rundown of the OC so I can get an understanding of them. —I will only write for one OC per individual. —If you make an OC request for A Moment in Time, you can still make a request for Intersecting Lives. —For romantic scenarios, I'm keeping it SFW. Please be mindful of that.

Non-romantic A1. “Were you just insulting me in your head?” “No…” A2. “If you don’t wake up, I’m going to pull a prank on you.” A3. “Have you ever (random action) before?” “(Yes/No).” “Funny, I got the exact opposite feeling about you.” A4. “When you ask ‘Do you mind?’ do you take ‘yes’ as a denial or approval of what you’re asking about?” “Before I answer that, why do you need to know?” A5. Taking all their past interactions up to that point into account, long story short: things would (not) be going in their favor that day. A6. “My normal confidence is gone! I may be a chess master but my opponent is a checkers master. And the game we’re playing is poker!” A7. They kept thinking and thinking, but they couldn’t come to a decision. They let out another sigh. A8. “I can’t help but notice there was a really awkward pause just now.” “No there wasn’t.” A9. “So… What kind of small talk would you prefer to break the silence?”

Platonic or Romantic (Please make sure to indicate whether you want the line used platonically [&] or romantically [x]. If I'm not given specification, I will opt for platonic.) B1. (Blank) was 99% sure—no 100% sure that they were doing it on purpose. B2. Looks like I’ll have to use my secret weapon: crocodile tears! In execution it’s more like puppy dog eyes, but still! B3. “If I tell you the real reason, can you promise you won’t be weirded out?” “Something tells me I’m gonna be weirded out regardless.” B4. “Can you quit pointing out my least favorite attributes? You’re ruining the touching moment.” B5. All the questions at the tip of their tongue disappeared. B6. Unexpected. Not unwanted, just unexpected. B7. They had summoned all their courage to say it, but the attempt ended in failure. Awkwardly, they averted their eyes.

Romantic C1. “They called me their partner! Hee hee! I’m so excited!” C2. Their pouty face was so unbearably adorable, (Blank) couldn’t help but swoon a little. C3. Once (Blank 1) lifted (Blank 2)’s head and placed it on their lap, they snapped back to reality. C4. “You’re so adorable.” “That’s not gonna work on me.” But on the inside, it was totally working. C5. “So, now that you’ve agreed to take me out on a date, what day are you available?” C6. “What are you laughing about?” “I’m just happy to hear that you love me.” C7. “You want to know why I kissed you? Because you’re special to me.” C8. “It’s easy to look your best for someone who loves you.” C9. “It would be selfish of me to want to be with you, right?”

.....

Intersecting Lives (OC Interactions)

Notes and Guidelines —There will be six (6) slots for this option. —Here are my OC Profiles in case anyone has forgotten my ocs./lh+j —I will only have an OC be interacted with once. First come, first serve. —One request per individual. —If you make an OC request for Intersecting Lives, you can still make an OC request for A Moment in Time. —Like with the scenarios, please provide info about an OC. —Crossovers are fair game (if you have Black Clover OC and are interested in one my Demon Slayer OCs, I know how to bs my way into a crossover). —If you want to collaborate for this, I ask that you be willing to communicate through Tumblr dms or Discord.

Possible Interactions (these aren't exact prompts, just ideas of how OCs can interact) —OCs meeting for the first time —OCs having a disagreement —OCs being in on a secret —OCs helping each other with a problem —OCs talking about family

[heartslogos]

2022 Writing Summary

Works Published this year: 33 new works published, I believe. I might be off by one or two as I can’t remember the publication date for a few of these.

Published Word Count for the year: 1,297,214 (written word count is a few hundred thousand higher if I’m remembering my current drafts and WIPS correctly)

Longest Published Work for the year: the hands of god (133,818) -- skipping my Dragon Age works because those were one large collection and AO3 is counting them in aggregate so it isn’t quite fair.

Shortest Published Work for the year: boysenberry pie (1,199)

This year was definitely a year of growth and change for me. For the past ten or so years my practice was a minimum of 1k of anything in any combination per day, whether that was 10 100 word fics or 2 ~500 word fics or one ~1k scene. I turned my focus onto longer formatted fics, starting with “the commitment of a lifetime” and began to pause the daily publications in favor of focusing on longer stories. This has, strangely enough, increased my daily word count exponentially. I feel a lot more relaxed in this new mode though.

This year I also fully left my Dragon Age works to move completely onto Genshin Impact works somewhere around June of this year. But I think I carried over with my all of the skills I practiced writing all those Dragon Age fics. I feel much more solid as a writer after all of that improv practice and my many, many, many experiments in genre and style. I’m having a lot of fun now in the Genshin scene. I think the Genshin side of fandom that I’ve been exposed to thus far is also much more encouraging -- more willing to interact, I suppose? And that’s also been a great boon to me.

Writing Dragon Age fics was like shouting into a dark, empty room. There were sometimes people who answered back, but for the most part I was alone and that’s entirely understandable because I was writing in an extremely niche corner of the fandom. Writing in the Genshin fandom, even before Sumeru came out, came with a lot more interaction. I still write for myself and write what I want as I please, but it does feel nice to have someone stop by and say “hey you like this? me too!” now and again. I haven’t had this kind of engagement (is that the right word??? engagement???) in a fandom since I was consistently writing batfamily fic way in the beginning.

This year the fic I’m proudest of still remains “the commitment of a lifetime” by far along with the entire universe I set up there. Granted it was the first of many dodge balls that I failed to dodge as Apollo pointed at me from on high and laughed at me repeatedly, but I’m still quite happy to have written it.

I don’t really have any writing goals for 2023 -- I never have writing goals in general -- but I hope that I continue to have fun and that if people choose to come with me on the journeys I take these characters on that they have fun with me, too.

[selfproducingfanfictionauthor]

BTS Scenario: An omega arrives in your pack (Hyungline x alpha/beta fem!reader)

Summary:  An omega joining a pack is a blessing - an unmated one is a miracle. So when the village elder came to you not with authority in her eyes but pity and pleading for understanding, you had no choice but to let him go.

Or, an omega joins the pack and you’re an alpha/beta in a relationship with another alpha. The community asks for your sacrifice. Warnings/Notes: Implied Smut, slight ass play, Angst, Drabble (no resolution... yet) I wanted to explore a different dynamic in the ABO Universe, since it’s usually Alpha BTS x Omega Reader but how about the Beta or even the Alpha reader? Hope you enjoy!  Word Count: 2k+ (500 per drabble) 

KIM SEOKJIN 

(after he’s called to participate in the matching, and Jungkook is an unmated male omega who’s always had a crush on you) (though crush is a understatement)

He’s here for a final goodbye, you think as you allow him to push you back against the wall.

He kisses you with desperation, all teeth and tongue, as if he wants to devour you whole. He reeks of her but you push it at the back of your mind, together with your instinct to gain the upper hand.

If this is goodbye, let it be as soft as you two could be.

You close your eyes to blink back the tears and wrap your arms around his neck. You match his passion kiss after kiss until you both are panting, breathing in each other.

Seokjin slows it down and pulls at your shirt, slipping it off your head. His eyes are wan, and he hasn’t met your gaze the whole time. It feels wrong, but then again, everything is.

So you try to bring back some normalcy and let the urgency in your touch show. Your arms slid down his shoulder, pushing him back into your room, your strength easily matching his.

In the dark of the room, you tug at his shirt but Seokjin grasps your hand away from his chest. You thought he’s going to lead you to his cock just as he did many times before, but he pulls you closer until there’s no more space between your chest and his and leads your hand to his hole.

He’s dry as the dessert but her pushes your hand closer, until your fingers tap his puckered hole.

You can feel him force himself not to tense up, breathing deeply and dropping his head to your shoulder. His back is caved over you, like a tall child and he turns to graze his lips against your ear.

“I’ll let you fuck me too, if that’s what you want, jagi.”

Your eyes widen and you try to pull your hand away but he holds it still. Your other hand tries to push his chest away but his other arm wraps around your shoulder blades, unwilling to let go.

He keeps still in the crook of your neck, murmuring words you never imagined you’ll hear from the alpha, “I’ll moan like he did. Beg like he did.” His voice shakes, and you startle at the tears wetting your skin. It doesn’t even occur to you to wonder how he knew about Jungkook, and what had transpired the night before because here he is.

He’s crying. Your alpha is crying.

“Just please don’t leave me.”

MIN YOONGI 

(Your love for Yoongi knows no bounds, you can give him this. In which your arranged marriage is thwarted.)

“It’s a good thing we’re not bonded yet, huh?”

You try not to wince at the relief in his voice and instead you laugh, hoping that the dark is enough to conceal the wobble on your lip.

You are both lying on your bed, exhausted by your hours long of… what do you call it again? Ah, he did call it his favorite recreational activity. He figured sexual compatibility is an important factor in arrange marriages earlier on your engagement.

And you, in love with him for more than half your life, said yes.

His fingers are playing with your hair, while his other hand lifts a lit cigarette to his lips. He glances down at you, his cat-like eyes half-lidded.

“You want a smoke?”

Pulling the blanket higher to your chest, relishing in the slight flicker of interest in his eyes, you shake your head. “Actually, can you not smoke on my bed tonight?”

Yoongi raises an eyebrow but says nothing and puts out his cigarette against the ash tray on your bedside table. Usually, you take up on his offer, and he’s not gonna lie and say that the image of your lips around a cigarette doesn’t stir his cock alive.

“Not feeling well?” He asks, the only time you refused his offer was whenever you’re feeling the drop after your activities. But usually, you’ll tell him outright, communication being as open as you both could.

You let a small smile touch your lips at his tone. He cares for you, you know, maybe not as much as you want him to, but it’s enough.

Or it used to be enough.

“Just a mild migraine,” you lie before pressing a kiss against his shoulder.

Yoongi smiles and kisses the crown of your head, “You know what cures migraines?”

Your smile grows wider as you look up to his grin, his hand already sliding down the small of your back under your blankets. “I think I have an idea.”

By the time he’s pulled out 3 more orgasms from you, the moon has started fading from the night sky. The brisk winter air entering your room by the open window, drawing goosebumps on your skin.

Beside you, Yoongi sits up and pulls his shirt over his head.

“You’re not staying the night?”

Yoongi shakes his head, “The trials start the day after tomorrow, I’ve got to get a head start.”

Your press your lips together, your hand sneaking down your belly. You imagine your child, the size of a pea, hoping they do not hear your breaking heart. “I thought you didn’t like being choices taken away from you.”

That was one of the major points of discussion when your parents arranged your marriage. It’s also a source of your many arguments at the start, before slowly becoming some sort of unwanted roommate in your makeshift relationship.

Yoongi pauses, there’s something in your voice that he can’t pinpoint. He turns to you, for once, you are unreadable. “This is different.”

“Oh,” you breathe. How so, you want to ask. How come a choice robbed by our secondary natures so much different than the ones robbed by our parents? How come it’s the lesser evil in your eyes?

How come I was never a palatable choice in the first place?

But you don’t. Instead, Yoongi presses on. “At least now, you know, if it turns out that it’s me, you’re free. You can go to university just like you want.”

“Yeah…” you chuckle dryly, “Well, good luck then.”

You don’t beg him to stay, you’re an alpha too and an alpha protects their pack. As your hand travels down to your belly again, you remember - you have your own to protect now too.

JUNG HOSEOK 

(You’re just his best friend. What can you say?)

“She smells like lilacs! No, wait, honey! Honey and cream.” Hoseok sighs, all lovestruck on your couch over the new omega girl in town.

As part of the search party that found her, he hasn’t stopped talking about her for weeks. Giving you updates on her recovery in the beginning, and then her smile, her eyes, and the way she laughs as time went by.

At first, you didn’t mind. An omega joining the pack is a blessing, given their rarity. They symbolize fertility and bounty, and you are nothing if not loyal to the community. You foster the village children as their teacher, you teach them the ropes of the land - how to feed the cows, how to plant the seeds, and how to prepare for harvest - after all.

But as time went by, as Hoseok’s visits to her home frequent and his visits to yours lessen, it’s become harder and harder to keep the bitter thoughts away. Hoseok may still visit you, but when was the last time you two talked about anything other than her?

“The trials for her mate starts next week,” Hoseok starts, almost as if waiting for you to say something, “I’m thinking of participating.”

From the kitchen, you tighten your hold on the tray balancing your tea and snacks. Without a wobble, you inquire as you step back into your living room, “Oh?”

“Yeah,” he picks up one of your cookies, suddenly looking all bashful, “I’m unmated and I’m not getting younger so, might as well give it a shot you know?”

You frown behind your tea cup, “We’re barely past our mid-20s, Seok-ie, that hardly qualifies as old.”

Hoseok leans back and tilts his head on the back of your couch until it hangs in relaxation. “It’s different between you and I.”

It’s true, betas are not so pressured to reproduce early. After all, there’s nothing special to be had in your genes, you think bitterly.

“Besides,” he continues, “I think I like her. You know, maybe we should invite her next time we hang out! You can get to know her too!”

“I’d rather not.” It spills over your lips before you could control it, and Hoseok stiffens before turning his gaze to you.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re jealous.” Hoseok teases, unaware at how his words hit home.

You stiffen, biting your lip before the dam breaks. “Maybe I am.” you whisper.

He blinks in surprise at the feebleness of your tone, “B-but… you’re a beta.”

You know. You know your place, in this village and in his life but somehow it’s different hearing it from him. Standing, you  turn away to step back into your kitchen when a hand grasps your wrist.

“I don’t understand.” Hoseok whispers, trying to look up to your face but thwarted by your hair. He doesn’t need to see your watering eyes to know there are tears in them. He’s reeling from the sudden change of atmosphere, smelling your distress in the air.

Suddenly, you’re overwhelmed by the sense of inferiority and your heart caves into itself. With the last of your strength, you shake off his hold, pointing to the door.

“I think it’s best you leave.”

KIM NAMJOON 

(Namjoon has always been a man of duty, and though you are tough and strong, there are limits to what you can and will endure)

You pride yourself to be level-headed, calm, and objective unlike many of the alphas in the pack. You’ve never lost your control, or flown into fury even during your youth but at this very moment, you summon all your discipline to keep your lips from pulling back and snarling at the older alpha in front of you.

How dare she?

How dare they ask this of you?

“It is his duty.” She repeats and beside you, Namjoon is silent. Eyes straight ahead, back as rigid as the trees outside your home. The home that you two built for your children that will come after your wedding.

The wedding that’s supposed to be in a month.

But the longer Namjoon stays silent, the farther that future seems to be. By the time the elder leaves your home, you don’t even see a speck of it in your mind’s eye.

The silence continue as you clean up the cups and uneaten rice cakes. The silent clink of the utensils echoing in your quaint home.

As you wash the dishes, you feel like an outsider watching your body go through the motions. Scrubbing the plate clockwise, once, twice, three times, before running it under the faucet. Next, you pick up the cups, here, clockwise, once, twice —

“It is my duty,” you hear Namjoon, and oh, he’s beside you, hand on your wrist, pulling your hands away from the frigid waters, “you know that, right?”

As one of the strongest and wisest alphas this pack has ever seen in generations, your betrothal to Namjoon was tolerated at best. Alpha bondings are common nowadays, with the scarcity of omegas. So yes, your betrothal was tolerated - just tolerated, even with you being as strong and as wise as your betrothed - but now?

With that young omega in the picture?

They are making you feel as if you’ve committed a grave sin against the community, as if it’s not within your rights to rage against the unfairness of it all.

They’re asking you for your love.

And he’s so willing to be taken away. Your heart breaks but you nod quietly, “I know. I understand.”

Namjoon stupidly thought that was the end of it. That you knew he’ll always come back to you, omega or not.

Maybe he was naive, or he truly was selfish to ask it of you but when he gets home the week after the trials to a dark cold house the surprise knocks him to his knees and drops his heart to his stomach.

You left the kitchen untouched, his mug still next to yours but, Namjoon pauses at the threshold of your room. There, glinting under the moonlight, sits your ring and the last of your scent wafts away.

END NOTES:  Hearts are appreciated but comments are gold. Let me know if this should have a second (or even third) part! :) 

[windblooms]

Hi!! Could you do headcanons of Diluc, Kayea, Childe and Zhongli with a s/o who is touch starved but is too shy to intimate physical affection please? Thank you!💙

decided to answer the two of these in the same ask since they have similar personalities for the reader, and they evolved into scenarios.  hopefully what i’ve written is all right!

edit: to the second anon, i’m sorry, i don’t know how people write more than 500 characters in asks. ㅠㅠ  is it maybe a submission . . . ?

childe:

as a very perceptive individual, childe would pick up on your hesitations relatively soon, however won’t say anything about them outright.  

while he may ask you if something’s wrong whenever you reach out, but self-consciously pull away, or when you’re on the verge of words but can’t bring yourself to speak, he won’t pry into your meekness. 

he knows that some people prefer to keep things to themselves or away from others – he’s a prime example of this himself.  so he doesn’t want to push you, but will continue to keep mental tabs on when you shrink away, or backtrack after you sound as if you’re going to ask him something.

if the trend continues for a while, he’ll eventually sit down to talk with you about it.  he’ll discuss with you patiently, not wanting to invade past things you might not want to share just yet, but he still tries to find the cause of your hesitancies so he can better understand you.

“there’s something bothering you, isn’t there?” he leans forward across the table, and rests his chin on his hand.  “you can tell me, you know.  i’ll try and help you with it.”

as you take your time to answer, he grows increasingly concerned, but still wears a poker face to not influence you as well.  across the table, he’ll slowly reach out his hand as a means of comfort, and clasp yours when you don’t pull away.

you begin to speak about your uncertainties, and childe listens intently.  ah, so that was it – now that you mention it, the two of you don’t hold hands much, or really touch each other.  he had assumed that’s how you preferred it, little to no physical touch.  but now that you’ve explained why you’ve concealed those wishes . . . 

“i’d be more than willing to hold you.”  childe’s words are soft, and he manages a small smile to encourage you.  as soon as your face flushes, though, he can tell that there’s something else you want to say.  so he pauses, expectant, but you still seem nervous.

he takes a gander and speaks.  “we can start off slow, if you want . . .  actually, anything you want, you can tell me.  you don’t have to worry about being embarrassed.”

from there, the two of you work out what you want.  you both agree to take it slow, since this will be a first for you; small touches against each other’s fingers as reassurance, and taps against his shoulder when you’re too nervous to outright ask for his attention.  he also has something of his own to suggest:

“there’s some custom that mondstadtians have,” childe ponders aloud suddenly.  “hm – something about tapping three times, meaning ‘i love you’?”

at his notion, you become bashful, and look down towards your lap.  you know where he’s going with this, and at your reaction, the snezhnayan chuckles, unfolding his hands from atop each other to squeeze yours in demonstration.

“one, two, three.  it’s just gonna be between us, all right?”

diluc:

diluc is arguably one of the most emotionally reserved characters in all of mondstadt.  sure, he’s got a sense of dry humor and wit whenever he feels snarky enough, but when it comes to personal sentiments?  he keeps them behind lock and key, with the exception of passive aggression.

if you’re self-conscious about asking for affection, such as when you’re about to reach out to tap at his hand yet pull back at the last instant, you find him looking at you expectatntly, his notorious half-lidded gaze fixated on you.  if there’s something you want, you’ll ask for it is his mentality, since he assumes that the two of you are both comfortable enough in your relationship to do so.  and relationships are built around trust.  so why are you hesitating?

that is to say, he doesn’t stare at you until you crack.  after a few seconds, he’ll look away, and resume whatever he was doing beforehand.  if it were anyone else, he’d most likely ask them verbally what they want, since there’s no use in prolonging the time, and he’s an impatient man. 

he makes a conscious effort to be more gentle with you.  he can’t quite tell if you appreciate it though especially in these scenarios, since you always chew at your lip and refrain from looking at him afterwards.

diluc will only allude to these instances.  he’ll ask “is there something you need?” or “is something the matter?”  he has no experience with physical affection of any sort, at least since his father all those years ago.  so he’d be quite lost with your circumstance; he doesn’t know at all what you want unless you make a verbal indication as to what it is. 

one day, in the privacy of his office, he senses your fingers just near his forearm.  diluc looks over in time to see you clasp his coat rather shakily, but your hold is there nonetheless.  much like usual, he’ll peer at you with a half-lidded gaze, although this time he addresses how skittish you appear. 

“something the matter?” he’ll say as per usual, but this time he isn’t vague; he’s referring to your sudden committance to reaching out as opposed to pulling away.

“ . . . just wanted to hold you.”  your confession is a mere whisper, but your boyfriend still hears it.  the two of you sit in silence for a bit, before he turns his body and puts his hand on the side of your head, pressing gently so that you lean flush against his arm. 

you’re speechless, however the circumstance doesn’t need words anymore.  content with you hugging his arm, and now understanding your wants, diluc continues to work as you drift asleep against him.  while there’s still a ways to go, as he’s sure that this isn’t the only desire you have, it’s surely a start.

kaeya:

the astute captain that he is, kaeya can hone into your desires with relative ease.

before you can retract your hand after reaching out, he’s already grasped it in his own.  you’re caught off-guard, not expecting his agility, but his grip isn’t firm or unpleasant; it’s gentle, as if he’s caring for glass.

he lowers his face so that the two of you are eye-level.  “no need to be shy.  it’s just us.”  kaeya’s reassurance is playful at first, until your contemplative silence queues him in on the severity of your timidness.

he’s concerned: is there something serious that’s bothering you?  he’d just assumed that you wanted to hold hands, or lean on each other.  for how long it takes you to speak, he’s thinking the worst: is a coworker bothering you?  are you ill with a fever?  kaeya’s eyebrows furrow, and he immediately speaks again.  “what’s wrong, precious?  tell me, please.”

looking up at him, you realize that he has the wrong impression.  tenderly enveloping your cheek with his hands, rubbing your skin with his thumbs, you sink into the affection – but he’s got the wrong idea.  

“i-it’s fine,” you begin, and he blinks rapidly.  “just . . . wanted to, uh,” you nudge further into his hands, and squeeze his arms gently, “ . . . touch you.”

ah.  your meekness makes sense now, although considering your personality, his initial guesses probably wouldn’t have been far off.  nevertheless, kaeya indulges you, even if you both continue the circumstance in silence.  it’s evident that you’ve been holding back this request for a while, and as much as he loves to tease and would like to in this moment, he doesn’t believe now is an appropriate time.

so, kaeya continues to stroke your face, soothing away your nerves.  his other hand clasps yours in your lap, giving you the time and affection you crave.  

he finds your vulnerability endearing, but there’s guilt on his conscience: why have you been nervous to approach him about this, and why did he not pick up on it sooner?  not that he expects you to come for him for everything – kaeya just theorizes that there must be some reason as to why you appear so touch-starved, and he’s thinking the worst about such a reason.

“feeling better?”  he inquires, still cradling your face, and he pulls you into a hug.  his warmth is reassuring to you – the security that you’ve longed for.  if this is what affection feels like, you’re not sure that you’d ever want to pull away.

“yeah.”  hesitantly, you lift your face from his chest, but your arms remain around his waist.  your boyfriend grins slightly, and ruffles your hair, pushing your bangs aside so he can kiss your forehead.

“tell me about it.  we can figure this out together.” 

zhongli:

about three weeks into your relationship is when zhongli receives questions from hu tao: “hey, you and y/n don’t touch each other at all.  i know you’re ‘professional’ and stuff, but jeez – not even hand-holding?  thought it’d get more exciting at this point.”

and while he initially thought of her remarks as rude – your relationship isn’t any of her business – it did prompt him to consider her words.

specifically, she’s right: while he’s generally busy at wangsheng, he strives to make time for you whenever possible.  and in that time, never once have either of you touched each other.  he’s never minded, since he’s admittedly gone without it for so long and is used to life without it – but it’s the modern age, and isn’t it customary for liyuens to . . . ?

so he takes it upon himself to ask you over dinner.  he’s made bamboo shoot soup for you tonight, and as you sit across the table from him, finishing the dish, he speaks so candidly it nearly makes you choke on your last bite.

“would you like to hold hands in the market tomorrow?”

“what?”

zhongli makes a strange face.  he knows you heard him, so why do you also look startled, and are averting your eyes?

he repeats himself nonetheless, and while you do answer him this time, it’s by mumbling under your breath.

“ – odd question,” is how you start, and your boyfriend folds his hands underneath his face, yet doesn’t rest his chin.  “um, sure.  yeah, sure . . . ”

you most definitely do not sound sure, but it’s in a way that further perplexes him.  you look . . . thrilled now?  he can see that you’re refraining from smiling – the corners of your mouth flutter – but why?  zhongli doesn’t recall saying anything that would be good news . . .

“is something the matter?” the archon supplies instead, to which you shake your head.  your hands are in your lap.

“ah, no.  what you said just came out of no where.”  an unconcealed smile from you now, and zhongli finds himself relaxing.  if you’re certain, that’s all he cares about.

he stands up, and prepares to take your dish to the kitchen.  before though, he makes sure to bring you up to your feet, and intertwines his fingers with yours.

“may i kiss you?”  he asks, suddenly, unexpectedly.  he sees you nod, the slight pressing of your lips together, and gives them a quick peck before retreating; zhongli can still taste the slight bamboo left over.

when the two of you draw away, there’s a noticeable flush on your cheeks.  once more, you seem giddy, however this time he doesn’t have to ask why.

“i’ve never done this before.”  there’s trepidation in your voice that causes his brows to furrow slightly.  “so . . . it’s all right if we start out slow, right?”

“of course,” zhongli doesn’t hesitate to respond.  you could mean so many things, and he isn’t sure which you’re referring to: initiating physicality with him, or maybe that you’ve never had a partner before . . . ?  but he doesn't dwell on that.  “your comfort is what matters.”

in the market the next day, zhongli finds comfort in the slight tugs on his coat sleeve from your fingers, and the smile that beams on your visage.

[imaginethebeautifulworld]

Hello! I hope you are having a good day/night. May I ask for axis and allies plus spain, romano and prussia speaking to their s/o in their native language? Thank you very much! -Humble Anon💕

A very good morning/afternoon/evening to you as well, lovely!

When I began brainstorming these, I kept approaching this ask with the thought in mind that the S/O's first language is not the same as that of the Nation's, and aren't quite completely fluent as of yet. It made it a little bit easier for me to write, and offered me just a little more leeway to daydream. ^_^;

America:

Alfred really only does so when he's super tired, stumbling into the kitchen with bedhead to grab his first five cups of coffee, half-flopping on you as he greets you with a kiss to the cheek- ruined by his yawn- accent stronger than normal as he rumbles out a good morning, asks how you slept. He rambles lightly about his weird-ass dreams, making you smile just from his annunciations. At some point, he remembers to start translating, swapping over to the dialect you're most familiar with mid-sentence.

Canada:

Oddly enough, Matthew plays Language Tag more frequently than Al, but more often than not, it's usually an unrefined Franglish that has always irritated Francis and Arthur. (He enjoys this fact, just a little.) Around you, however, it really only flares up in moments where he's just so overwhelmed and in awe, taken aback by how much he's in love with you. Most of his petnames for you are in English, but those moments where you're both spending a lazy evening in bed, he'll happily shower you with all kinds of cheesey compliments in French, teasingly poking your nose every time you try to get him to translate.

China:

Yao has a habit of slipping back to Chinese on a whim, honestly oblivious to the fact most of the time. You've noticed it gets significantly worse whenever he's stressed, and you've learnt some very colourful nicknames for the Others over the years because of it. Despite his seemingly incessant need to pace while venting, you always manage to coax him into your arms, steadily working your fingers across his back, easy out the knots that had been plaguing him. Meetings always brought him stress, but after a good rant and a few moments of your grounding touch, he's sighing away all remaining agitation, slowly bringing himself back to you and apologising for the slip.

England:

One of Arthur's greater strengths comes in linguistics. While he would much rather prefer a courtship with an English speaker, he's not going to deny himself happiness just because of a silly little language barrier. He generally tries to keep everything on common ground, but his nicknames for you, and some of his more scandalising compliments, are murmurred in English. He always keeps it quiet, an intimacy reserved only for you. There's many a "dearest" and "darling" when first waking up in the morning, a languid greeting for the coming day. (Also, he swears mostly in English, so be careful if you decide to borrow any of his vocabulary.)

France:

Francis never hesitates to prattle in French; it's second nature to him. Sometimes, he'll hop between both yours and his preferred dialects several times in a single sentence. You know it's just part of who he is, and while it can be annoying some days, it is helping you improve your own fluency. There are also moments when he makes you weak, his expression uncharacteristically sincere, hands carefully clasping your own. He hums out a soft phrase, one you still haven't fully translated, leaning closer to caress your jaw, thumb brushing against your cheek, any number of praises passing his lips.

Germany:

Ludvig, since Day One, has tried his best to make sure you're comfortable around him, and part of that is him keeping firmly to the language you are most familiar with. When coming across words he may not be entirely familiar with, or saying a more complicated phrase, his accent may sometimes come out a bit thicker than would be normal. The only time he really slips into German is when he's on the phone with folks from his government. You don't mean to eavesdrop on the latter, but you do enjoy how much deeper his voice tends to get when he's being "professional." Secretly though, you have to admit his voice when he sleeptalks is your favourite of them all. 

Japan:

Kiku constantly, and often unnecessarily, goes out of his way to make sure that you're comfortable, and despite your arguing against it, one of his ways of trying to do so is to only stick the language you both share. Frankly, you love hearing him speak Japanese, even though you really only hear it when he's at the store, and sometimes to the servers during date night. You love how gentle his voice is, his accent adding almost a sweetness to his words. Lately, you've been debating how to tell him that you'd like to hear it more, but for now you savour the little pieces you've collected over the past few months.

Prussia:

You learnt some time ago that Gilbert quietly speaking in German actually helped you fall asleep significantly easier. For that reason, he primarily only does so while either headed to bed, or whenever you're spending an afternoon together in the library. He'll sometimes read to you, but mostly he tends to ramble. You only understand a handful of the things he's saying and assume that he's regaling you with tales of days long past. In reality, he's running through his checklist for car parts he wants to fix, complaining about something stupid Roderich did back in 1648, and most often- when you're on the cusp of sleep, breathing deep and relaxed, his hand resting on your back- he's listing off every single thing he's come to love about you, not as afraid of his vulnerability when you're hardly conscious enough to hear it.

Romano:

Lovino spent too long relearning Italian to ever abandon it, even for your sake. He casually weaves it into regular conversation, the endearments, greetings, exclamations, and nicknames fluidly blending into the ordinary. He figured out quite a while ago that you actually enjoyed his "slip ups," so he's especially generous on date nights, about half of the words he's saying falling around you in his unique dialect. He once told you that you should be grateful, that he was blessing you with "the most beautiful language in the world." And begrudgingly, lost in his smile and the way the candlelight makes his eyes spark, you have to agree.

Russia:

Over time, one of your favourite pastimes with Ivan has becoming hunkering down on a settee by the fireplace, where he'll work on his knitting. The best part of these moments, especially on particularly frigid mornings where you've no obligations, is that Ivan will start to sing to himself, always pieces in Russian. Sometimes they're lullabies he's picked up from the royal families over the years, sometimes they're peasant rhymes he's known since childhood, and on some rare occasions, he'll sing something from an opera he fell in love with back in 1872. He'll often pepper in a few casual words here and there, always with a lightness to it, but you're absolutely addicted to how full his voice sounds when he sings.

Spain:

Antonio is actually the worst of the bunch. He can and will ramble in Spanish, a lot, so much so that some of it has permanently rooted itself into your own vocabulary, some of your replies slipping out without pause these days. He tends to catch onto his slip-ups quickly at least, quickly sliding back into your shared venacular with a quick apology. Still, you'll often hear him singing in Spanish, greeting the plants in Spanish, talking to the cats in Spanish. He's particullarly bad at losing himself whenever he's invested in a football match, or if you happen to catch him irritated about politics. Tonio has taught you quite a few colourful curses over the years, smattered with some day-to-day phrases you've both come to recite by default.

Veneziano:

Feliciano is surprisingly good at sticking to the language you feel most comfortable with, though he's notorious at mucking up the number of syllables in certain words. You have a strong suspicion he does this intentionally, this elongation solely designed to annoy you, especially as he always seems slightly bemused each time he does it. Regardless of how annoying he can be in your language, you do love eavesdropping on his conversations with his brothers, chattering away in Italian, his words and hands moving far too quickly for you to even hope to follow along. There's something so soothing in listening to him speak, even if he is producing 500 words per minute.

Thanks for the ask, Anon! I hope you enjoyed~

[intangibly-here]

i just need some coffee in the morning (no sugar or tea)

zhongli x gn!reader

⁃ drabble; 500 words ⁃ fluff ⁃ domestic bliss ⁃ part-dragon zhongli

————————————————————

sleeping is a pleasure, and zhongli revels in it.

title from chevy & nalba - morning coffee.

————————————————————

for all that he is an adeptus - the prime adeptus, morax, rex lapis, the former geo archon - zhongli has never been a morning person.

no, adepti do not require sleep. xiao has proved that many times over, the overprotective one he is, roaming the vast plains and steep cliffs of liyue for days on end; sleep is merely a distant notion for his restless soul. however, zhongli is not xiao, and he appreciates indulging in the... mortal actions of sleeping in, per say.

that is how he finds himself grumbling just a tad when he’s unceremoniously jostled to the nearly awake side of drowsiness. the low sound that rumbles from the bottom of his chest borders on a growl. a muffled “oh shh, shh... sorry..” makes it’s way into existence somewhere from the right of him, a sound that almost makes him feel like he’s underwater, the fogginess of his sleep-addled mind covering the unreasonable nuances. his tail, dark brown in color and covered in smooth scales, thumps the ground from where it droops over the edge of the bed, the ochre tufted tip dragging across cool flooring petulantly.

“ah, you spoiled thing...”

gentle hands make their way behind the nicks of his scale-speckled cheeks, reaching their destination of softly glowing antlers. thumbing the base of the appendages with firm circles, zhongli purrs into your touch, closed eyelids lilting up and reaching into the soothing, too-good feeling.

“love, you need to get up,” you chuckle affectionately after a few moments, gaze soft and body relaxed, “hu tao is waiting for you to go over a client’s plan today, remember?”

zhongli shifts in your hold, snuffling with all the disagreement he can muster up in the cotton-down of his mind. he rubs his head against the palms of your hands that are now scratching the backs of his ears. his tail lifts up from where it’s drooping lazily, shifting with the rest of his body to curl around yours. it wraps warmly around your ankle, the silken strands splayed out against your skin like the fibers of a fine blanket.

“ah, seriously love, you’ll be late.”

the pot of chamomile on your windowsill sways in agreement.

zhongli says nothing in response, falling back into a warm dreamless slumber.

sighing in mock annoyance, you gather the locks of his hair into your hands, picking up the hairbrush on the nightstand. the fine strands flow through the teeth of the comb as you meticulously smoothen out his hair. your hands work their magic as the unbridled strands settle themselves, pooling down the sides of his antlers and onto your lap. deft fingers wind the ombre fibers of his hair into a messy bun, then pause in a moment of hesitance.

you let out a huff of laughter that’s tinged with sweet mischief.

if hu tao finds an oblivious zhongli walking into the funeral parlor half an hour late with tiny white flowers slipped into his hair, she grins and says nothing.

[professorjaskier]

A Spoon Full of Sugar (pt. 4)

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6

Geralt/Jaskier, ~500 words, rated T

i wrote this very fun fic for @thewitcherbog’s fic train event! my very wonderful partners are @slightlycrunchy @wolf-and-bard @softdarlingjaskier, @damatris and @kueble, in order! the rest of the parts will be posted soon, one per day! i hope you enjoy!

“Sorry,” Jaskier says with a sheepish smile, hoping that if he looks apologetic enough Geralt won’t try to murder him. The glare Geralt sends him makes Jaskier think it didn’t work.

“Sorry? Sorry?! Jaskier, how are we going to fix this? I’m the size of a thimble. How am I meant to fight monsters while I’m this small?”

Geralt stomps his foot at the end of his outburst, but Jaskier cannot help but chuckle. While a display like this would usually look intimidating, Geralt comes off more like a pouting toddler than an angry witcher that could easily kill him. It was endearing, especially when the stomp only felt like someone lightly poking at the palm of his hand.

“Don’t worry, dear witcher. There’s a mage in town. I’m sure they will be able to reverse this.”

Jaskier watches as Geralt grumbles something, but at his current size the words are too soft for him, turning into indecipherable gibberish.

“Umm, Geralt, could you speak up? I can’t hear you.”

Geralt scowls and climbs onto Jaskier’s shoulder before taking a seat. “I don’t even know what this is,” Geralt grumbles into his ear. “This has never happened before, at least to my knowledge.”

Jaskier takes his lute and gently slings it over his shoulder, ensuring that both the instrument and Geralt aren’t jostled too badly by the movement. “Luckily for us, you’re not omniscient. The mage might have books on the matter and if they don’t—” Jaskier pauses and frowns.

“—we call Yen,” Geralt says, his tone communicating the same lack of enthusiasm at the prospect.

Jaskier nods, already preparing himself for that encounter. Although they have become more friendly over time, he hates when he is made a fool in front of her. Yennefer would never let either of them live this down.

“I’m sure the mage in town will have the answers,” he answers diplomatically. He internally thanks his childhood tutor for teaching him the best ways to artfully dodge a question. At least some part of his childhood wasn’t a complete waste.

With a quick pace, he walks out of the woods towards the main road, humming his newest composition to fill the silence. He has never been a fan of the quiet, but this silence is worse than normal because he knows it is leading to another outburst.

Sure enough, he hears a sharp intake of breath next to his ear before he is once again bombarded with accusations.

“What did you even put in the potion? It’s a simple enough recipe, Jaskier!”

“Oh, well I’m sorry that you don’t label your vials! Honestly, how was I supposed to know what celandine looks like?”

Jaskier hears Geralt scoff and bristles. He had tried dammit, why couldn’t Geralt appreciate that? “I’m sorry that your recipe wasn’t comprehensive enough—”

“—Recipe? Did you read my journal?” Geralt interrupts

Jaskier freezes, knowing that he has been caught in his deception. “Yes. I’m so sorry, but you looked so sick and I wanted to double check the ingredients—”

“—What else did you see?” Jaskier glances over his shoulder to see Geralt sitting there with a faint look of discomfort. If he wasn’t mistaken, he would say that Geralt looked...nervous.

“Nothing. Should I have?”

[homeformyheart]

bucket list - all pairings (twc)

author’s note: i woke up one morning with the thought of what would each UB RO do if they found out the detective had a bucket list because they thought they might die soon from all the supernatural activity, and we’ll all have to thank @pearlsandsteel, @kelseaaa, @wayhavenots, and @ohnobbwhatisyoudoing for bullying encouraging me to do this (if you don’t like it, blame them; if you like it, thank them). hope you all enjoy!

copyright: all characters, except the oc detectives, are owned by mishka jenkins @seraphinitegames. series/pairing: the wayhaven chronicles – all pairings (6 detectives) rating/warnings: 14+; minor angst based on/prompt: inspired by the movie a walk to remember word count: ~3.5k words in total (~500-700 words per pairing) summary: the detective has a bucket list of things they’d like to do before they die (these are all canon stories). each pairing is featured in a ~500-700 word drabble.

1. adam du mortain x detective lyra kingston x nate sewell (LT) 2. mason x detective ria knight 3. nate sewell x detective cassie knight 4. felix hauville x detective harley bishop** 5. adam du mortain x detective regina bishop** 6. mason x detective brooklyn kingston**

** the ones with asterisks have little easter eggs / connection to other prompt fills / fics i’ve written for those pairings. bonus points if you can figure out what they are before you get to the end of those!

and tell me which one you liked best / least 👀 (i need to know your angst thresholds for research).

bucket list

1. adam du mortain x detective lyra kingston x nate sewell (LT) (~600 words)

lyra rummaged through the drawer of her nightstand, tossing out old receipts, rubber bands, and other random knick-knacks that she really didn’t need but kept anyway “just in case.” her fingers finally wrapped around a thick card-sized envelope and she yanked it out of the drawer triumphantly, instantly recognizing the pale yellow color and her name written on the outside.

a knock on the door made her spin around and instinctively hide the card behind her back. nate opened the door, leaning casually against the doorway, and smiled gently at her in a way that made her forget she was supposed to be annoyed with him for how secretive he was.

“did you find what you were looking for?”

lyra nodded before walking out into the living room and sitting down on the couch. she patted the seat to her left and nate obliged, sitting close enough that their thighs touched. she did her best to ignore adam from where he was standing just a few feet away. he had insisted on coming with them to retrieve lyra’s belongings, for added protection and since nate couldn’t drive.

“it’s the card my dad wrote for me when i was born,” she said quietly, her usual energy tempered. ���it’s been a while since i’ve read it.”

her fingers trembled as she opened the flap of the envelope and slid the plain white card out, the only embellishment being a simple watercolor of a few hydrangeas on the front.

nate hesitantly wrapped an arm around lyra’s waist, moving slowly and watching carefully for any signs that it would be unwelcome in the moment. he relaxed when lyra instinctively leaned towards him, the subtle shift in her body language not going unnoticed by a certain commanding agent from his station by the window.

“will you tell me about it?” nate asked softly, seeming to have forgotten they weren’t alone.

lyra opened the card and ran her fingers down rook’s scrawl-like handwriting. she swallowed heavily to keep the tears stinging her eyes at bay.

“nothing to tell really, he wrote stuff about how much he loved me already and couldn’t wait to show me the world,” she said quietly, her voice breaking. she cleared her throat. “he wrote a list of things he wanted me to experience.”

she grabbed a pen from her purse and proceeded to cross out items on the list, stopping only to circle the last one.

fall in love

nate leaned in closer, running his finger down the list of crossed out words before pausing on the last one and looking up at lyra quizzically.

her throat was suddenly dry. she dropped her gaze towards her lap. “bobby doesn’t count,” she whispered. “that wasn’t love. my dad would want me to be with someone who loves me for me.”

nate tilted her chin up with a finger so she was looking into his eyes again. “i hope one day i could be that someone,” nate murmured, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

lyra’s breath caught in her throat and she blushed under his intense glaze. “well, you’re certainly, um,” she paused and glanced away to collect herself, making eye contact with adam inadvertently. her body tensed subconsciously, warring with itself to stay in nate’s warmth and ignore adam’s magnetic pull.

she tore her eyes away from the pained look on adam’s face and forced a smile.

“you make it easy, nate,” she said, her own smile growing genuinely in response to nate’s, despite the soft bitter edge in her voice and how it cut through adam like a knife.

* * * * * 2. mason x detective ria knight (~560 words)

ria clutched a crumpled up note in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, the thin paper disintegrating rapidly as she inhaled deeply, letting the smoke burn the back of her throat and lungs until she couldn’t take it anymore. her head fell back against the gate as she exhaled, the cloud of smoke stinging her eyes since she refused to close them.

just tell him.

“tell me what?” a gruff voice broke through the haze and made her blink. she hadn’t realized she said anything out loud.

she carefully schooled her features with a look of indifference as she crushed the cigarette under her foot.

“bold of you to assume i was referring to you,” she shrugged, turning to walk the short distance to the warehouse.

mason fell into step beside her, an easy silence settling over them both. ria kept crinkling the paper in her hand with her thumb, crumpling and uncrumpling it over and over again, glancing at it every so often until they were in the living room.

if mason was curious about what was on the piece of paper, he didn’t show it.

“what do you have there, ria?” felix’s eager voice brought ria’s attention back to the present and she inwardly groaned.

felix was the last person she wanted around right now. he was too observant for his own good.

“a bucket list,” she muttered, crumpling the paper inside a tight fist.

“what’s a bucket list?” the younger vampire asked.

ria sighed. “it’s a list that people make of things they want to do before they die,” she said, her voice so uncharacteristically soft that mason almost wondered if he had misheard. “i know my life is in constant danger, so i thought it might help to make sure i write down what’s important to me.”

felix’s mouth parted in surprise, but mason interrupted before he could say anything. “what’s on the list?” he asked gruffly, though not unkindly.

ria gave him a long, hesitant look. “i wanted to show you my dad’s grave. catch him up on everything,” she said, her gaze dropping. “it’s been a while since i’ve gone to see him.”

“name the time and place, sweetheart,” mason said quietly, the weight of his words washing over her and softening her features. he stepped closer to her, even though felix would be able to hear everything he said anyway. “you’re not dying on my watch.”

she swallowed the snarky, defensive retort that sat on the tip of her tongue. “thank you,” she mouthed silently instead.

“is there anything else on your list?” felix asked, stepping closer to ria.

she quickly pulled her hand behind her back and walked past him. “nothing important,” she snapped, tossing the crumpled ball of paper into the trash before heading to her room.

felix exchanged a knowing look with mason and dug the ball out of the trash, carefully uncrumpling it.

“this isn’t much of a list, there are only two things on here,” he said, trying to smooth out the paper so he could read her handwriting.

mason snatched the paper before felix could read the rest of it, skimming over the words himself, brows furrowing tighter before he let it drop to the floor. felix picked it up as mason stormed out of the warehouse, reading the only other thing that ria had written on her bucket list:

tell mason i love him.

* * * * * 3. nate sewell x detective cassie knight (~600 words)

cassie grabbed a tissue from the box on her coffee table, wiping her tears furiously as the credits of the movie they had finished watching began rolling on the screen. nate turned off the television with a smile, wrapping an arm around cassie and pulling her closer until she was practically in his lap.

“i thought you’ve seen this movie before,” he teased, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her arm.

cassie elbowed him playfully. “don’t judge me. i love the book but the movie always gets me, especially when he helps her finish her bucket list.”

“i can honestly say i prefer the book,” he said, genuinely surprised to see this side of cassie.

he hadn’t seen her this at ease in a long time, maybe ever. she looked comfortable and content, despite her puffy eyes and red nose, all of which he found absolutely endearing.

“the nathaniel sewell, connoisseur of historical tomes and vintage novels, read a nicholas sparks’ romance novel?”

it was cassie’s turn to be surprised.

things were still relatively new between them, but not for lack of effort. the steady stream of missions and supernatural activity in wayhaven kept them both far too busy for comfort. and when they weren’t on missions, she still had a lot of work at the station and nate always had mission-related paperwork and research to do.

it shouldn’t have been a surprise that there wasn’t much they knew of each other when it came to personal quirks and guilty pleasures, but nate wanted to know more.

nate’s gaze dropped at cassie’s inquiring look. “i—um, dated someone a while ago who really enjoyed his books and i thought reading them would help.”

he could almost see the gears turning in her head as her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

“i could see why you might think it would make someone fall in love with you,” she said finally, a wistful distance settling into her eyes. “bobby liked to compare himself to noah calhoun from the notebook.”

nate felt his entire body tense and he had to clench his jaw to keep from violently flinching. just the thought of that reporter and how he had mistreated cassie was enough to make his blood boil.

“you said you liked the part where landon helps jamie with her bucket list. do you have one?” nate asked, trying to turn the conversation back to a safer topic.

cassie’s eyes widened slightly in confusion before she realized what nate was doing and gave him a grateful smile. “i do, actually. i’ve been meaning to update it,” she said, reaching for a leather-bound journal resting on the coffee table and flipping to a page in the back.

“may i?” he asked, noting the flicker of hesitation darkening her green eyes for a fraction of a second before she nodded.

nate took the journal from her and skimmed the list. it mostly comprised of things he thought were consistent with how thoughtful cassie was, but the second-to-last item stole the breath from his lungs in a painful way.

live to 30

he put the journal down before grabbing both of her hands. “i will do everything in my power to keep you safe, i promise. you will get to live beyond thirty,” he said, his eyes flashing with a seriousness that was rarely directed at her.

“then i will look forward to the day i can cross that one out,” cassie said, giving him a warm smile.

nate felt his breath return to him as cassie settled against his side once more, her warmth reminding him to cherish these rare moments they shared.

* * * * * 4. felix hauville x detective harley bishop (~500 words)

harley scanned the legal pad in front of her, two-thirds of it filled out with various experiences and things she wanted to do sooner rather than later. it took meeting felix and the rest of unit bravo for her to realize that she had become very content and complacent with her life. felix’s enthusiasm for this world made her want to explore and experience things.

but more than anything, hayley wanted to feel alive.

the trappers had become more brazen and the number of close-calls in the past few weeks didn’t sit well with her. she never really had any personal ambition or dreams, but she knew now that she wanted more moments with felix.

she looked down at the list that seemed to keep growing by the hour.

show felix the grotto

take felix camping

learn how to cook one dish

a knock on her door, followed by the sight of felix’s head peeking around the doorframe made her look up.

“hey babe, what are you up to?” he asked, clambering on top of her bed to get as close to her as possible.

“i’m just putting together a bucket list of things i want to do while i still have the chance,” she replied, trying to keep her voice light.

felix lifted his head from her shoulder so he could study her face. she made a point of avoiding eye contact as she held up the legal pad.

“these are some of my favorite spots in wayhaven,” harley said, her finger running down between the numbers three and ten. “i want to make sure that you get to see them.”

“and i can’t wait. but we have plenty of time for that babe,” felix said, wrapping his arm around her waist and tugging her closer. “i promise.”

“but what if we don’t?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “i want to make sure you don’t forget me.”

truthfully, that was what really had been bothering her the past few weeks. harley worried that compared to felix’s eternal life, hers was not only insignificant, but also incredibly boring.  

he gently cupped her face in his hands. “i would never want to forget you. and we’re going to be together for a very long time, okay?”

she nodded and mustered a small smile. “okay,” she said, a warm flush spreading from the touch of his skin on her face through her body.

he gave her a soft kiss before grabbing the legal pad from her hands. “i want to add stuff to the list too. things i want to do with you,” he said, his cheerful energy rubbing off on her as she handed him a pen.

she rested her chin on his shoulder this time, so she could watch as he scribbled a few things near the bottom. they were mostly ideas for different types of date activities, but the last thing he wrote made her lift her head and freeze.

tell harley i love her.

harley looked at felix, stunned, to find him smiling softly at her. “one day, really soon,” he murmured, his eyes shining before his lips enveloped hers in a kiss. and she knew that day couldn’t come soon enough.

reference fic: camping.

* * * * * 5. adam du mortain x detective regina bishop (~570 words)

regina watched adam play with their children from where she was sitting on the porch, pretending that ten-year-old jacques and seven-year-old cecilia were able to pin him to the ground. she smiled as their youngest, four-year-old philip, waddled over and placed a fistful of daisies on adam’s face, before sitting down and rearranging them with a look of concentration on his round face.

she let herself bask in the moment of happiness that she knew would be fleeting, before looking down at the journal on her lap. she pulled out the worn sheet of paper tucked away in the middle, covered in hasty scribbles and crossed-out words on each layer of sticky notes, a bucket list she made years ago and continued to update.

tell adam i love him

get married

build a house by the sea

revive the du mortain line

raise our family together

regina smiled as she quickly skimmed over the crinkled pile of notes, sifting through them carefully so as not to further wear down the adhesive before she got near the bottom and pulled out a bright green-colored sticky note with only one thing written on it. all the other notes in the pile were pink and blue because she had wanted this one to stand out so she could easily find it.

turn?

don’t turn?

decide whether to turn

her smile faded. it hadn’t taken long to work through everything else she put on her bucket list. even the ones that took considerable effort (and really, it was mainly getting adam to come around to having kids), she was able to accomplish through sheer stubbornness and determination. but this last one was different.

regina was afraid to bring it up with adam and she knew he wouldn’t bring it up first. she knew him well enough by now that he would insist that this needed to be her decision and hers alone and refuse to influence her either way. but because she understood him better than he understood himself most days, she also knew that her death might break him and return him to an even darker and more repressed version of himself than before.

a sudden darkness brought her attention back up to meet a pair of wavering green eyes. her gaze flicked past him to note the children still playing together in the yard before meeting his again as he sat down next to her, reaching over to clasp his hand over hers.

“your bucket list?” he asked, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

when he first found out she had created one, under the assumption that she could die at any moment, he was unsurprisingly fearful, and remained simultaneously distant and protective for a long while. it did, however, help spark the conversation between them about having children.

regina nodded. “i still can’t believe i managed to accomplish all the things i’ve written down over the years. i just really have one thing left to figure out.”

adam intertwined his fingers with hers and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. the small circles he drew seemed to relieve some of the tension in both of their shoulders.

“whatever you decide,” he said finally, a noticeable strain in his voice. “i will respect it.”

“thank you,” she responded quietly, a thick tension sending a chill over them both despite the bright and warm sun and the laughter of their children surrounding them.

reference fic: cottage by the sea.

* * * * * 6. mason x detective brooklyn kingston (~530 words)

mason leaned against the side of brooklyn’s desk as they turned off their computer and pulled out a loose sheet of paper.

“what’s that?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

things had been relatively calm in town and even though the quiet made adam tense and stern, mason enjoyed the reprieve. especially since it meant that he got to spend more time with brooklyn. they had threatened to quit the team and move out of town not that long ago, but had yet to follow through.

he wasn’t going to question them on it. he had already made it clear that he would follow them to the end.

“a bucket list,” they replied distractedly, not even bothering to look up at him. “a list of things i want to do before i leave wayhaven.”

mason raised an eyebrow. so they were still planning to leave. he leaned over and let his finger land on the sheet, pinning it to the desk.

“this is an ambitious list,” he remarked as he scanned the list of thirty things or so, most of which had been crossed out.

they lifted his finger and swatted his hand away before smoothing out the page. “are you doubting me?”

“i’d never do that, brooks,” he said, pulling a cigarette from his pocket. “come on, i’ll take you home.”

“i’m going to dinner at verda’s and he’ll take me home after. i’ll see you tomorrow,” brooklyn said quickly, grabbing the cigarette from his fingers and tossing it into the trash can under their desk.

“i should make you start paying for those,” he growled playfully.

brooklyn chuckled. “or you could stop buying them. now get going so i can finish up here.”

he smirked and leaned in close enough that they could trace the freckles on his face with their nose if they leaned forward just a little.

“do i get a kiss before i go?” he asked with a smirk on his face, his gaze focused on their lips.

their eyes flicked down to his lips and back up to his grey eyes, the playfulness simmering behind a seriousness that made their breath catch. they tilted their head slightly and leaned forward to press their lips to his, letting his wrap around theirs for a brief second before pulling away.

“goodbye, mason,” they murmured, smiling gently at him, hoping the ache in their chest wasn’t visible in any way.

mason’s eyes fluttered open and his heartbeat thudded in his ears, the sound becoming more familiar each time they kissed. this time, however, brooklyn’s lips felt different and not in any way that he could pinpoint. mason’s eyes searched theirs, confused but unable to figure out exactly why he felt so uneasy.

after a moment, he shrugged and got up from their desk, turning back to nod at them once before heading out. brooklyn’s smile faded and they looked over their list one more time. the few they had left were ones they had planned on knocking out that evening, starting with verda and his family.

they just hadn’t expected to complete the last item so soon:

say goodbye to mason.

reference fic: menage

* * * * * permatag: @kelseaaa; @kat-tia801; @anotherbeingsworld; @crackerdumortain; @pearlsandsteel; @gloynporslen; @writer-ish; @sosolenoo; @alyssalauren; @fhauvilles; @wayhavenots; @gingerbreton; @takemyopenheart; nate x detective: @missameliep;

[simpingforthisonedeer]

Chapter 10: Storge I

SFW Version Here

Summary: There is some discussion of Kabbhalic lore in the beginning but this chapter and the next focuses mainly on the parental relationships Julius and Aika present. They certainly feel their age.

Notes:

- Ive split another massive chapter in half sighhhh. This is 5279 words and I’ve written 7.3k already but I still haven’t reached the ending I wanted so I just split it.


- I know Yami and William haven’t made an appearance yet but they will. This chapter will shed some light on how Julius and Marx’s relationship and how proud he is that Marx grew up from an antsy young boy in his squad to a dependable young man by his side.
-There’s like 2-3 sentences where its NSFW but besides that, nothing much sorry folks ajskjlk

Tagging: @thoughtfullyrainynightmare​

Aika observed the dirty grimoire with one part apprehension and one part excitement. It was the first time she encountered a devil-possessed item without any supervision. A weg magic user that had come to Spade Nation War College as a guest speaker to her class had shown her how to recognize and deal with Devils. They were often best left alone in their sealed states whether they were friendly or not unless you wanted to make a pact. Though Aika’s curiosity was piqued, she had no interest in any other Devil except for one specific one, but he wasn’t heeding her calls or summons so she had lost any interest in becoming a host, especially considering the downsides.

There was no doubt there was a devil in there. She could feel the familiar mana from the Underworld. Aika cracked open the spine and stared in shock at the familiar writing. It was the same runic scripture from her own grimoire. She flipped through pages, skimming them. They all spoke of multiple different swords. Now, she had lightly studied grimoire magic over the years for fun because she found it fascinating how the countries in the Four Suits continent determined their borders purely based on the symbol on the grimoires. So she knew the basics such as checking the grimoire to see if anyone’s mana was connected to it and it wasn’t. This means that she could keep it and study it. If she took off her gloves, she could even make contact with the devil if she wanted to, but this was neither the time nor the place.

Aika looked up at her protégés as they stared warily at the book in her hand.

“What are your thoughts on this grimoire? What is so unusual and exciting about it?” She asked testingly. They needed to discern what it was from their own knowledge.

“Well, according to Clover Kingdom mythos,” Ellie began. “The three leaves symbolize hope, faith, and love. In the fourth leaf, a formation which occurred 500 years ago with the first Wizard King’s grimoire, contains luck. But according to legend,” she paused as she took a deep breath. “In the fifth leaf, there is a demon.”

“Do you think there is a demon in this grimoire?” Aika asked lightly.

Evan shivered before he answered, “There is definitely a devil in it. It reeks of the Underworld.”

She snapped the book shut and squinted at the anti-bird. Still strange how it was still here.

“Yes, you are right there is a devil in here,” she confirmed. They all tensed.

“What should we do? Should we kill it?” Jayce asked, his voice slightly shaking.

“No,” Aika shook her head and she crossed her legs again. “You don’t kill devils unless absolutely necessary.” She opened her backpack and stuck the grimoire carefully in it, willing it to be placed on top of her research table in her not-so-little study space in her loft.

“What?! Why?!”

“Because the very existence of devils obscures most of God’s Light and allows reality to exist. Killing them is counter-intuitive. You only kill them when they are unshackled and out in the human realm. This devil is very neatly sealed in this grimoire so no worries,” Aika explained as she smiled demurely. Their panic was quite amusing, especially when they are noticeably frustrated with her nonchalant attitude.

“Are you sure, ma’am?” Ellie asked carefully.

“Very.” She put the tea set away. “Now, if that is all, you may stand at ease.”

Their shoulders slackened and Ellie slinked over to her side and sat down next to her with a sigh.

“I can’t believe we are still brushing over the devil,” she murmured as she rested her head on Aika’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. When I have recovered, I will make sure the devil is safe before I take you guys to interact with it.” She carefully patted Ellie’s mass of white curls.

Evan sat in the armchair to her right as Jayce picked up a book from the stacks around them and flipped through it.

“I’m in no hurry to talk to a devil, ” he began as he absentmindedly traced the pages in the book. He snapped it shut with a wicked grin. “But I do want to know everything about you and the Wizard King.”

They all rolled their eyes at his theatrics. Aika shifted in her seat, quickly categorizing information that she was willing to share and details that were better left to herself. She found that this method was better than completely shutting herself out from people as per her first instinct.

“What exactly do you want to know about the Wizard King and I?” She asked as she wrapped her arm around Ellie. “There’s a lot to know.”

“Ooooooh,” Jayce plopped down in front of her like a kid at storytime and gave her his brightest smile. “How did you two meet? How did you get so close? ” He winked. Even Evan, who was usually understanding of Aika’s reluctance to share information, leaned forward as she braced herself to tell them the barest details at the very least.

She told them about her first encounter with him that night and the captain’s meeting and the assassination attempt at her home.

The three listened to her story and watched in great interest as Aika grew more and more animated, an easy smile gracing her face and a twinkle in her eye as she spoke of the Wizard King. It was fascinating to see their boss grow less and less reserved as time went by and what little time she had spent with the King had sped the process up. The more she smiled, the younger she seemed, happier, more carefree, and very undoubtedly in love.

Aika grew more somber when she talked of today. They knew of her condition and how it was dangerous to spend too much time around her. It was why they valued the time they spent with her so much. It saddened them to hear about how she had to reject him so many times when she wanted nothing more than to be with him.

“But if it truly doesn’t affect him…” Aika’s gaze fell to the side. “Then I may have a chance.”

At love. She left unsaid, but they knew. They knew her well.

“There’s always an exception,” Ellie whispered soberly. “And if his words are to be believed, then he may be it.”

They all stayed quietly for a moment, and as if to herald the end of the storytime, Evan, Ellie and Jayce’s stomachs growled in unison.

Aika was the first to laugh. A tinkling kind of sound like windchimes swaying in the summer wind. They quickly joined in after the momentary shock, a sort of happiness bubbling in their chests to see her smile so freely after all these years.

“I’ve made flat bread and curry for dinner. Would you two like so—”

“Yes!”

Aika chuckled and opened her backpack. Ellie dove headfirst without warning and Jayce soon followed. She carefully helped Evan step into it as the anti-bird perched on top of him again. As he disappeared into the void, Aika set her backpack down next to the sofa in an innocuous spot. Satisfied, she climbed in and closed the flap above her. Light brighter than the study flooded her vision. She kept her loft well-lit and tidy for the most part so she was fine having guests today. Aika heard a faint “wheeee” as Jayce slid down the pole to get to the bottom floor.

When you walk further into the living room that first greets you, there was a L-shaped railing that overlooked a spacious opening to the bottom floor. There was a break in the railing for a spiral staircase and a pole which Jayce had always loved to use.

The anti-bird she had allowed into her home flitted around, exploring the open kitchen to her right and the rooms in the hallway adjacent to the railing. Evan and Ellie were already setting up plates and utensils on the table in the dining area.

Aika walked past them with a tired smile and quickly heated up curry and bread with the firestone on hand and a touch of her Time magic. She placed them carefully on the table just as Jayce launched himself into his seat. It may be rather late in the night, but he was still full of boundless energy.

Ellie helped serve the food and Aika muttered a small prayer before they dug in.

“There was something off about the Wizard King, wasn’t there?” Ellie remarked innocuously. Aika looked at her curiously. She motioned her to elaborate as she spooned some curry.

“I stood where you two were, er, standing and the remnants of your mana felt like they were the same yet completely different.”

“Well, he doesn’t have a heartbeat, if that information means anything to you.”

“He’s not the undead. He certainly has a lot of mana,” Evan added.

“Is that why you are pursuing him while still keeping him at an arm’s length, Miss?” Jayce asked suddenly. They all looked at him in shock. He looked uncharacteristically serious. “You could never resist a mystery after all.”

Aika stared at him evenly and his gaze never wavered from hers. Anger initially shot through her at his words but she held her tongue. She couldn’t be mad at him for discerning part of the truth. She was known for her lack of patience but she had lately been trying to better herself and she asked for the three infront of her to help her in this. Ellie and Evan were patient with her when she lost her temper while Jayce was the only one with the courage to test her, keep her on her toes so she wouldn’t one day explode.

“That’s not completely true,” she finally answered. Julius’ smile replayed in her head and she felt a lot calmer, a little happy even.

“I do genuinely like him.” She looked down at her plate. Her breath stuttered when she remembered his laugh, his eyes, the way his soft hair threaded between her fingers. Aika couldn’t help the smile that crept up her face.

“I must admit, he is the only one that makes me laugh and smile like that.”

“And what are we for doing all that too? Chopped liver?” Jayce snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest childishly. She rolled her eyes at that.

“You guys make me smile in a way mother smiles when her children do stupid things,” she quickly retorted. “Or when they make her proud—”

“You think of us as your children?” Ellie interrupted breathlessly.

Aika gaped at her for a moment. She had accidentally let it slip hadn’t she? It’s been too long since she had to be so careful and alert and she was losing practice. And she was especially close with these three so her guard was completely down.

She hesitated before she answered, “Well, yes—” Ellie hugged her arm tight and Jayce was suddenly behind her, arms wrapped around her neck. Evan stayed put in his spot but his shoulders were hunched as he smiled shyly at the plate in front of him, a pleased blush high on his tanned cheek.

“We’re glad you think so.”

Aika stiffened at the sudden touch. Did they really want to be that close to her? Then it hit her. Of course they thought of her as a mother. They were orphans, she had rescued them from their various dangerous situations, taught them valuable lessons, protected them, gave them means to better themselves.

Oh.

She relaxed in their hold. She had more than one child, didn’t she? “I—” I love you guys. She wanted to say, but the words were lodged in her throat. She had a severe aversion to that particular sentiment. It saddened her that she couldn’t comfortably say the words she wanted to say.

Jayce slinked back into his seat and they continued eating.

“If he makes you happy in a way nobody else does,” Evan spoke first, changing the subject for her sake. “Be as careful as you want to be before you get together.”

Ellie hummed in agreement with him. “But you also have to make it clear that while you are keeping him at an arm’s length, that you still like him, or he would take your distance as disinterest.”

“We want you to be happy, but we just hope you just don’t get hurt like last time.” Aika smiled gratefully at all three of them. They were no longer children. They were wise beyond their years and people she could depend on.

“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely and cleared her throat with a blush as they giggled.

They thanked her for the food and helped wash the dishes before they all climbed out, ready to turn in for the night.

Ellie, Evan and Jayce wrapped Aika in a group hug, coaxing a joyful laugh out of her.

“Good night!” They exclaimed in unison before they shut the door to study behind them.

When they left, Aika grinned and buried her face in her hands. Her whole family died when she was just sixteen and she had wandered this plane of existence for decades, making friends along the way but they all had their own lives. She forcefully planted her feet in Clover Kingdom to protect it but along the way, she had found a family again. Her uncle, aunt, her daughter, whatever Arthur meant to her, Ellie, Evan and Jayce.

She felt an indescribable giddiness as she activated her Mana Hands spell to rearrange the stacks of books around her back into their places on the shelves. This was what she was looking for all these years. She didn’t even need Julius. This was all that she needed. –

Julius closed the door behind him and shifted the painting back into place so it was covered. He leaned his head against the canvas as he exhaled.

There was an unmistakable force pulling them towards each other every single time. First, that night, then the Captain’s meeting, that moment on the battlefield, then today again.

What in the world was wrong with him? Never in his life had he felt so lost. His whole life that he only ever needed magic and the power to do good in this world but what was this squeezing sensation in his chest?

“One month,” she said. One whole month. He thought about the way her eyes lit up at the Captain’s meeting, the palpable relief when she realized there were no hard feelings, the intent way she looked at him when she slipped off her blindfold.

Julius pressed his hand to his mouth as a blush suffused through his cheeks.

Oh, he was down bad.

He had always kept these sorts of interactions at an arms-length. One-offs were fine but what was so different about her? He just became Wizard King yet she consumed his thoughts. He was supposed to be thinking about the future of his kingdom not—

‘She held you like no other.’ His voice whispered in his head. ‘You have always protected others but you felt warmth and safety for the first time in the crook of her neck and her tight embrace.’ No one had ever dared to hug him and touch him like that. No one had ever kissed him so sweetly, and with that same mouth called him a “good boy” and made him see stars.

His hand clawed at the painting behind him as he pressed his legs together.

Julius let out a breathy laugh.

This was not the time.

He stared at the voluminous stack of papers on his new desk. His desk as Wizard King. He felt the crushing weight of that title again for the second time that day. He walked up to it, his fingers lightly tracing the edges as he stepped onto the side where he had rarely ever been.

He was here now, wasn’t he? He looked around the corner less office, cold and empty in every way. There was no fireplace, only torches that lined the walls.

Why was the room so big anyways? It should have a few couches at the very least to have comfortable conversations over tea instead of the vast barrier that the desk was sure to put up.

Julius turned around and faced the view he used to envy as a Captain. The giant, arched windows looked out over the Clover Kingdom from its highest peak. The sun had set hours ago but the bright, purple glow of the wisteria trees at the base of the tower was both exhilarating and calming.

He took a deep breath and faced his desk. He ought to finish at least one stack of papers. He filled up the fountain pen with ink and sat down heavily. Julius began with the paper on the top. It was a report from the Crimson Lion Kings.

Well, that piqued his curiosity.

He had always dealt with his own squad’s affairs and some collaborative missions with other squads but he didn’t know the specifics of the internal affairs in each squad.

The report wasn’t from Leonardo, it was in fact from his son and the new captain, Fuegoleon. From the lengthy conversation he had with the Vermillion during the banquet, he could tell that he was a hardworking, young man who was eager to do his job. He also inferred from their talk that he didn’t particularly care for anyone’s class or background unlike his father so he had high hopes for the Crimson Lions to set a good example for the rest of the squads. The most recent reports were all about how the battlefield was being cleaned up and about the dead. He genuinely focused on his work for half an hour before slowing down.

He was so tired. So much had happened today and the words in front of him began to look like scribbles. Perhaps he shouldn’t have exhausted himself so much…

A knock sounded on his door, jolting him from his thoughts.

Julius cleared his throat and asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Marx, Lord Julius,” he called out, a little surprised he was actually in there.

“Come in.”

Marx stepped into the room, eyes alert as he examined the big office. When his eyes landed on Julius, they softened, happy that he seemed to be working.

“Are you working, sir?” He asked as he moved closer.

“Yes, Marx.” He smiled lightly. “May I help you with something?”

“No, sir,” He shifted his new cloak. “I was just making sure you were working, sir, and offer my congratulations once again.”

Julius set his quill down as he sat up straighter.

“Thank you.”

“You’ve worked so hard to get here and I am so grateful you chose me of all people to be your advisor, sir.”

A smile grew on Julius’s face as he regarded the young man in front of him. He was only 20 years old and Julius had only known him for the last 5 but he had a special place in his heart. He may not be a superb fighter but Julius saw his value in other places. He took Marx into his squad for his brilliant memory magic, his work ethic, and his unique ability to be the only person who could stand up to him and keep him in line. And now, he couldn’t think of a better person to make sure he didn’t stray his path.

“Of course, Marx. I know you will be the one to make sure I do my job right,” He added with a laugh.

Outside of family, Marx was one of the handful of people who was truly close to him and could stand up to him. Even as a 15-year-old magic knight, whenever Marx would find him trying to sneak away, he never hesitated to berate his captain and made sure he worked. With time, Julius had come to see that he was also a hard worker and was one of the few people who could successfully curb his propensity to slack off. If it wasn’t for Marx, he would’ve neglected his paperwork all together.

Yet, there was one more person who began to worm his way into his heart.

“Though, I have to say, there is one more person who you may see often as you work whom you haven’t met yet.”

“Sir?”

“She is a private consultant who used to work for the previous Wizard King and she had offered to work for me as well,” Julius explained as he laced his hands together.

“She?”

He raised an eyebrow at that. That was an unexpected remark. “Yes, Marx. She’s a woman. I hope you don’t have any issues with that.”

He threw his hands up as he shook his head. “No, sir. That’s not the issue. I just never heard of any women in particular that could be a consultant for the Wizard King.”

Julius laughed, slightly relieved that Marx wasn’t that kind of a person.

“You wouldn’t know her. She likes her privacy and used to only work in the shadows,” he explained as he cast his eyes down.

Marx observed his melancholic demeanor. Why does speaking of her make him feel so down?

“What’s her name, sir?” Julius’s eyes flicked up. “Her name?” He steeled himself for reasons he couldn’t put his finger on. “It’s Aika Tolliver.”

His eyes immediately widened in recognition.

“M-Madam Tolliver?”

Julius cocked his head at him. Madam?

“Yes? Do you know her?”

“Yes, my older brother used to be the head of communications in her company.” His voice wavered as he clenched his fists. “He was recently promoted to president. But why would she be a consultant to the Wizard King?!”

Julius was taken aback by all that he had just told him. Marx spoke very rarely of his estranged brother, Karl, and he never knew that Aika knew him. And what exactly does he mean why she was a consultant to him?

“What do you mean by that, Marx?”

“Sir, she has a bad reputation for using forbidden magic,” He whispered urgently.

Julius stared at him blankly.

“Yes, I knew that.”

“Y-you did?”

“Yes. A Wizard King sometimes needs a licensed forbidden-magic user to deal with some unsavory things. She is also an amazing strategist and has experience in warfare for reasons I am still unaware. ” He added quietly as he picked at his quill. “We’ve talked for hours about a lot of things.” A lot of things indeed. “And I know she will be crucial in the future.”

Marx was about to object again but quieted at the stern look Julius gave him. He sighed as he clenched his fists by his sides, his light blue hair tickling his cheeks as he bowed his head in acquiescence.

“I will try to keep an open mind, sir.”

“Thank you, Marx.” He looked down at the papers, his smile falling. “I will see if I could introduce you tomorrow. I’m assuming you haven’t met her properly.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then that’s settled.”

He stood there quietly as he watched Julius sign a paper with a flourish. Marx knew the man a lot better than most people and he knew that Julius would be ecstatic that he was finally the Wizard King and maybe even goof off a bit but right now, he was much too somber.

“Sir, are you alright?”

Julius looked up, surprised he was still here. He was far too lost in his thoughts. He opened his mouth and stopped. Marx didn’t need to know about Aika. He rubbed the back of his head as he forced his best natural laugh.

“Yeah, of course I’m fine, Marx! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you would usually be more excited on finally achieving your ambitions and…you wouldn’t be working…”

…He’s right.

“Well, I have simply realized the weight of my new title and I suppose that is what is making me more serious.” That technically wasn’t a lie. Julius mentally patted himself on the back for that.

Marx grinned, a giddy sort of feeling washing over him.

“Does this mean you will finally be serious about your paperwork, sir?!”

That was not what he meant.

“Wait, no!” Marx’s expression fell. “I mean yes! Of course I will do my paperwork!” His advisor’s face could not look any more disappointed. He quickly needed to change the subject before he got lectured again. “Speaking of paperwork, I think I will feel motivated to do it if I’m in a better setting like a study, you know? There’s a Wizard King’s study and it’s desk is longer and faces the windows so I would have an amazing view to keep me energized. And I would also be surrounded by a lot of books and I would feel so studious and motivated!” 

That seemed to have caught Marx’s attention. He had never heard of study. “I would like to show it to you tomorrow and we could both explore it. Does that sound good?”

“But sir, you have to tour the squad bases and then you have to hold your first meeting with all the Captains—”

“We will explore the study after that, okay?”

“But then, there’s a lot of paperwork that—”

“Marx,” Julius addressed him patiently as he held his gaze. “Taking breaks is important, you know?”

“And all you want to take are breaks, sir,” Marx replied with an imperceptible roll of his eyes.

Julius laughed.

“I promise I will be productive!” – Aika threw her crimson cloak on, a cloak she had worn since her days with Mereoleona. She quickly examined her trousers for any odd wrinkles and stacked the needed papers for a meeting she had in 20 minutes.

She felt much, much better after speaking to Ellie, Evan and Jayce and Julius seemed like the type to be more casual about such things and not let them get in the way of work. She was rather worried it might because her Uncle told her that Julius gets distracted easily. She couldn’t meet up with him and talk today because she would be occupied, especially since she accepted Lord Silva’s invitation for tea.

Aika reached for her communicator to call for Ellie, but she tensed and quickly pointed her daggers at the person who teleported into the study.

“Mom!”

Her shoulders slackened and a tired smile softened her face as she dropped to crouch. Aika enveloped Holly in a tight hug as she giggled. She loved how her daughter smelled like roses and apples, though they smell the same. She pulled back and pressed light kisses on her cheeks and smiled indulgently.

“Hello, Holly. You are here to spend time at the CLK base right?”

“Yeah! Uncle Fueggy said I could play with the lions and I thought I should congratulate him for becoming captain too! I made biscuits and wore my crimson cloak.” She spun on her heel, showing it off.

“That’s really nice of you dear.” Holly led her mother to the sofas and motioned her to sit down. “Did you make any for me?” She murmured, amused as Holly climbed into her lap and made her wrap her arms around her tiny frame.

“I hoped to give you the leftovers if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine but what if there are no leftovers,” Aika asked, fake hurt lacing her voice.

“I have a plan to make sure there’s leftovers. Don’t worry, Mom,” Holly grinned and sighed contentedly into her mother’s chest. Aika looked down at her curiously, gently rubbing her hair.

“May I know what the plan is?”

“You really want to know?”

Aika let out a short laugh. Only her children could ever sass her like this and get away with it and she must admit, it was very refreshing.

“Yes, I really want to know.”

“Okay, so if Uncle Fueggy didn’t like them too much, you will have some left over. Obviously. But if he liked them and wanted to keep them, and give them to his squad or something, I’ll be like ‘I was going to save some for my mom, but oh well. I’m glad you liked them.’ And then he would feel really guilty and leave some anyways,” she finished with a proud smile.

Aika pursed her lips, tamping down the laughter bubbling in her chest. Holly caught this and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Is something wrong, Mom?”

“No…” She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “Have you simply thought of maybe just giving me one biscuit to taste or maybe simply telling Fuegoleon to save some for me?”

“What.”

“Yes, I mean it doesn’t have to be that convoluted because Fuegoleon is polite and wouldn’t say no to that and even simpler, giving me one biscuit now would be the simplest solution,” she explained with a laugh.

“Oh.” Holly buried her face in the crook of her neck in embarrassment. “You’re right.”

Aika laughed quietly as she rubbed Holly’s back. No one could make her feel as young and light as her daughter could and she absolutely loved her for it.

Holly peeked at the window between her mother’s arms to check the time. The moment she saw or felt the sun, she could instantly tell what the time was. But she let her jaw fall slightly when she saw an anti-bird perched on the lap. She had never seen one so close.

“Mom, is that a…” She pointed at the bird. Aika followed her gaze and found that the little bird from last night still here.

“Yes, that’s an anti-bird, but it also seems to be an anomaly.”

“Oh, you mean it doesn’t run away from us like other anti-birds?”

“I mean that bird is still avoiding me but seems perfectly fine with others.”

“Isn’t this a perfect opportunity to study how an anti-bird reacts to magic then?”

“What? No! It’s an anomaly so it doesn’t behave like other birds so it’s useless to study it, Holly”

“What about studying the anti-bird for its biology through the possession technique?”

The possession technique is a forbidden magic spell used in the study of animals to possess them and view how the world was from their perspective including the five senses and what instincts activate in any given situation etc. Possession magic only works on other species so a human cannot possess another human unless an attribute explicitly allows that. 

People have tried to use a possession spell on an anti-bird before but like the North and South repel each other, anti-birds have shown to dodge magic at abnormal speeds when magic was thrown at them even in containment. The ongoing theory was that anti-birds actually feel some measure of pain, most probably a lot, the presence of or when in contact with magic.

“An anti-bird’s biology was already studied by people with less magic and it’s no different than a normal bird’s. You don’t have to worry about it—”

The door leading from the Wizard King’s office clicked open. Aika paused as her heart skipped a few beats when she glimpsed the blond hair before the door revealed to the Wizard King in all his glory. She could never get used to that strange yet commanding-looking cloak he wore.

Julius met her gaze and they were lost for words for a few moments. Last night seemed like a fever dream compared to the clarity brought by the daylight. His eyes flickered down to Holly who broke the silence. “Good Morning, Julius!”

Notes: Holly actually plays a bigger role than intended👀👀

[encounterthepast]

If you enjoy this please follow @RussInCheshire on twitter for his regular threads on UK politics.

As it’s the weekend, let’s start #TheWeekInTory with a frivolous and jolly story about our own govt deliberately starving hundreds of thousands of children...

1. In May, Boris Johnson promised “nobody will go hungry as a result of Coronavirus”

2. He then denied school meals to the 600,000 poorest children

3. So Marcus Rashford ran a campaign to get the govt to feed children, which - just think about that: he had to *campaign* for it

4. Then Boris Johnson congratulated Rashford on his campaign to overturn the cruel policies of, erm, Boris Johnson

5. And then 3 days later, Boris Johnson refused to feed those kids during school holidays

6. So this week Labour organised a parliamentary vote about it

7. And 322 Tories voted against feeding hungry children

8. Vicky Ford, the Children’s Minister (who you’ll be surprised to hear neither looks nor sounds like a ludicrous Dickensian villain) went ahead and voted against feeding children

9. Tory MP Jo Gideon voted against feeding children. Jo Gideon, in case you didn't think things could get any more unbelievable, is also the chair of "Feeding Britain", a charity that campaigns to end food poverty and hunger in the UK.

10. Tory MP Paul Scully waved away the grumbling parents of kids with grumbling tummies, and said “children have been going hungry under Labour for years”, seemingly forgetting Tories have been in power for a decade

11. Tory MP Ben Bradley, who once had to apologise for suggesting sterilising the poor, said feeding children will simply “increase their dependency”. On food. Yeah, wean the little bastards off it. It’ll do them good in the end, which will be around 3 agonising weeks.

12. At this point, pause to consider that MPs get their food and drink subsidised. A £31 meal in a parliamentary restaurant costs MPs £3.45. In 2018 this subsidy cost the taxpayer £4.4m. I can’t find any record of Tories like Ben Bradley voting against this.

13. Pressing on: Ben Bradley also said “Some parents prioritise other things ahead of their kids. Small minority, yes... but some do”. Yes, and a small minority of Tory MPs have been arrested for rape. Should we send them all to prison?

14. Also, Mark Francois voted (by proxy) to keep kids hungry. Not related to the previous item. Why would you think that?

15. Tory MP Nicky Morgan said the govt voted to starve 600,000 children cos a Labour MP called a Tory MP scum. And that’s not a scummy thing to do at all.

16. Tory MP David Simmonds said Marcus Rashford’s experience of poverty in secondary school “took place entirely under a Labour government”. Rashford was 11 when Tories came into power, making David Simmonds are rare example of an ad hominem attack on yourself

17. Simmonds then said Labour’s parliamentary vote was “all about currying favour with wealth and power and celebrity status”. He might be right – the govt managed to unify Gary Linaker and Nigel Farage in condemnation of their denial of food to kids

18. Brandan Clark-Smith (who voted to starve kids) demanded “more action to tackle the real causes of child poverty”

19. So at once, the govt cut minimum wage for furloughed people. They now get 2/3 of the money the govt says is the absolute minimum it is possible to survive on

20. And then it was revealed that low-paid workers who have to isolate due to Covid can claim £500. Yay!

21. But if they’re told to isolate by the govt’s contact tracing app, they can’t claim anything. Un-yay.

22. Long story short: the govt cannot spend £120m feeding children. But it can spend £522 on the Eat Out Scheme, which its own report said contributed “negligible amounts” to the hospitality economy, and Boris Johnson admitted drove up infection rates – especially in the North

23. Those infection rates caused the govt to move Manchester into Tier 3

24. So the Mayor of Manchester asked for a £90m support package (1/6th of the money the govt spent causing the problem in the first place)

25. The govt said no, £60m

26. The Mayor said, how about £65m?

27. The govt said no, £60m

28. The Mayor said ok, fine, we’ll take the £60m

29. And then govt offered Manchester £22m, and then went to the press and said the Mayor was "being unreasonable"

30. The negotiations were led by Robert Jenrick, who recently set up a fund for the poorest 101 towns, then awarded his town £25m even though it is the 270th poorest, and therefore not even eligible

31. £25m is £237 per person

32. Manchester gets £7.85 per person

33. Robert Jenrick gave Manchester (2.8 million people) £22m

34. Robert Jenrick gave Richard Desmond (1 person) £45m

35. The talks broke down when the govt wouldn’t spend an extra £5m

36. The govt plans to spend £7m vitally rebranding "Highways England" to "National Highways"

37. Manchester Young Conservatives tweeted “Boris has lied about helping us in the North. It’s time for him to go". Don't look - they deleted it. Suspect somebody had a word.

38. Meanwhile the govt said Manchester will get the £60m after all, and chaos continue to reign supreme

39. But that £60m is brief reprieve for the Tories of Manchester, as a govt report said Tory seats in the North of England (the so-called "Red Wall" seats) can expect to lose at least 4000 jobs *each* as a result of Brexit, even if we do get a deal. More if we don't.

40. The govt rushed to begin its first airport Coronavirus testing, a mere 211 days after mandatory airport testing was begun in South Korea

41. South Korea has had 8 deaths per million

42. The UK has had 665 deaths per million

43. More airport news, as the govt finally accepted Brexit will cause “up to 8-hour delays at passport checks” and asked the EU to allow UK citizens to queue at EU-only lanes. Like we did when we were in the EU. But we aren’t now. So tough.

44. A senior diplomat said, “Having grown up in Brussels, Boris Johnson values the ability to travel freely to the continent”. You’d think Boris Johnson would foresee this problem when he led the campaign to stop that freedom.

45. The independent reviewer of Terrorism Legislation said the UK “will be increasingly unable to cope” after Brexit, as we lose access to EU data-sharing agreements

46. And a No-Deal end to UK/EU scientific collaboration will leave London with a £3bn annual deficit

47. In the space of 38 days, the govt announced the £100bn "Operation Moonshot" to solve Covid; then cancelled it; and then re-launched it again after it was found they’d accidentally continued to pay over 200 private consultants up to £7000 a day to work on it.

48. So this week, Boris Johnson said Moonshot would continue, but it’s goals “would take time”, which is the literal opposite of what he said it would do when it first announced it, and makes the entire thing absolutely pointless

49. And now it’s been admitted that Operation Moonshot would be quietly folded into the existing £12bn Test and Trace programme, and the £100bn has vanished. Apart from the bits the Serco consultants took for doing… nothing.

50. But Boris Johnson said the Test and Trace programme was “helping a bit”, and “a bit” is the least you’d expect if you’d spent £12bn

51. And then the £12bn Test and Trace programme fell to its lowest success rate so far, identifying only 60% of at-risk people

52. Local councils, with no additional funding, are tracing 98% of cases

53. A quick sweep though other epic successes you may have missed (or deliberately blocked out): Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch declared that it should be illegal to teach about inequality

54. The Cabinet Secretary said the report into “vicious and orchestrated” bullying by Home Secretary and Dementor Priti Patel “may never see the light of day”, cos if you have a report that vindicates you, you definitely sit on it as long as possible

55. And the appeals court unanimously overturned Priti Patel’s policy of removing people from the UK without giving them access to legal process or justice because – and I’m paraphrasing the judges here – what the fuck, Patel? What the actual fuck?

56. Undeterred, she announced plans to make rough-sleeping “grounds for removal of permission to be in the UK” and "denial of legal aid". So if you’re too poor to have a home, you must pay for a lawyer or she’ll shove you in the sea

57. After an unnamed Tory MP said it “looks bad to be handing top jobs to your friend and old boss”, Charles Moore, Boris Johnson’s friend and old boss, withdrew as next BBC chair.

58. The new favourite is Richard Sharp, the - yep - friend and old boss of Rishi Sunak

59. You’ll be amazed to hear this: Richard Sharp is a major donor to the Tory party. These little coincidences keep on happening

60. The govt decided to prevent EU citizens from having physical proof of their right to live in their own home

61. Grant Shapps threatened to “seize control of Transport for London” to save it from financial ruin at the hands of Sadiq Khan, who – the bastard - achieved a mere 71% reduction in the debts caused by his noble predecessor, Boris Johnson

62. Matt Hancock, facts at his fingertips, told MPs from Yorkshire their constituents could go on holiday abroad

63. But not in the UK

64. And then that they CAN go on holiday in the UK

65. But can't leave Yorkshire

66. He then said “I'll get back to you” about the details

67. A cross-party report found “the UK’s foreign policy is adrift”, that it lacks “clarity, confidence and vision” and that Britain is “absent from the world stage”. All of which is very soothing, as we move into the govt's proclaimed goal of a post-Brexit Global Britain.

68. And we can all relax: the govt is finally supporting culture in the UK, specifically the Nevill Holt Opera, which performs private operas, and is owned by Boris Johnson’s friend (and - jaw on floor! - Tory donor) David Ross, who is worth £700m so really needs the money.

69. The Nevill Holt Opera only functions in the summer, so thank god it has been prioritised with £85,000 to “maintain operations” in October.

And now, in honour of the opera, the fat lady can sing, cos I’m off to drink myself into oblivion. Join me.

We live in interesting times.

[enthusiasticsobrietyabuse]

Bob Meehan - The Advocate, Newark, O., Sunday April 21, 1985

"Your unborn child has as much chance of getting a drug problem as getting chicken pox. Walk into junior high school today and half the kids there are getting loaded. I am not accepting that behavior!"

Edging forward on the couch, Bob Meehan underscores the message by grasping your arm and boring in with his eyes. He delivers his words with the same passion he says he once has for shooting heroin. He demands your attention.

"These kids were primed by Cheech and Chong. By age 10 they were primed to smoke a joint as you were to drive a car."

He finishes in crescendo, with a clenched-fist flourish: "They (pause) caaAAN't (pause) wait!"

Drug addict, thief, ex-convict, conman extraordinaire, drug-abuse counselor and now author, Meehan, 42, says he is all of these. He fancies himself as equal parts Elmer Gantry, Mother Theresa and P.T. Barnum.

He has been praised as a hip and gifted teacher whose lesson rings true to drug-plagued kids because he has "been where they are."

But Meehan has also been criticized as an egomaniac out for money, power and glory; a slick operator perpetrating the ultimate con job on desperate and vulnerable families by replacing drug dependency with a dependency on him and his group.

Meehan, who "shot dope for 10 years and banged on the penitentiary door until they let me in," lacks academic credentials. He proudly proclaims his diploma from the school of hard knocks.

Meehan is the founder of Freeway, a self-help drug abuse program that holds meetings in community centers throughout San Diego County, and of SLIC Ranch, his "Sober Live-In Center" in the remote foothills near Lake Wohlford.

Even his toughest critics concede that he is highly successful at getting kids off drugs. They say it is his powerful personality and absolute influence that they fear.

"There is no way a person coming down off of this is not going to lean on someone," said Meehan in the living room of SLIC Ranch. "You've removed their best friend - the chemical. It has worked for them every time.

A con is one who can manipulate, who is charismatic as hell - I don't take credit for that, you're born with it. I'm also bald and ugly," said the wispy-haired Meehan, who chain-smoked and drank coffee from a 16-ounce tumbler throughout the rapid-speak interview.

"But the real con is how I get them off of me and the group and into themselves, into whatever God is to them," said Meehan, who based the Freeway and SLIC Ranch programs on the "12 Steps" of Alcoholics Anonymous that seek to restore self-esteem and sobriety through a relationship with a "higher power."

A half dozen years ago in Houston, Meehan created a successful drug rehabilitation program through moxie, fast talk and innate ability to get through to kids on their own level.

Carol Burnett's daughter, Carrie, was Meehan's prize pupil and the famous comedian toured the talk-show circuit with the wiry and naturally wired Meehan, singing his praises.

Tim Conway, Burnett's old TV sidekick, has had two of his five sons treated for drug problems by Meehan. Conway and Meehan appeared together on a TV show to plug Freeway and the ranch.

Sister Mary Vincent, a San Diego marriage and family counselor, knew Bob Meehan when she was also working with troubled youths in Houston. She referred drug abusers to Meehan's group in Texas and continued to do so after she coincidentally moved to San Diego.

"I referred people to Bob because I saw the effectiveness of his program in Houston," said the Roman Catholic nun known as "Sister Vince." "But a little over a year ago, I began hearing stories from parents going through nightmares and afraid to speak out because of the power Bob and Freeway held over their children.

There is a cultish situation. Bob is a slippery eel and he has many people conned," she said. "To me, it's truly frightening."

Meehan was "removed" in January 1980 from his $50,000 per year consulting job in Houston after newsman Dan Rather pointed out a conflict of interest (Meehan's salary was paid by the hospital to which he was recommending patients from his Palmer Drug Abuse Program) on CBS's 60 Minutes program.

There also was complaints from his flock of former substance abusers that Meehan's idea of a cure was to shift their dependence from drugs to him and his self-help program.

Meehan's group in Texas was described by some former members as cult-like in its demand for total allegiance and its distain for more than cursory contact with the outside world. "We're led to believe that we can't make it without the program," one of Meehan's former followers told 60 Minutes.

Meehan folded the operation in his native Texas and settled in San Diego about four years ago. He quickly established a drug-abuse program at the now-defunct Centre City Hospital and the self-help network Freeway, which is thriving.

For more than two years, he has operated SLIC Ranch in a sprawling 4,000-square-foot hilltop ranch on 10 acres.

Meehan insists that the Freeway program and SLIC Ranch are entirely separate entities. "If I'm at one Freeway meeting a month anymore, that's a big deal," he said. "Freeway does its thing and we do ours."

Freeway is a group of more than 500 recovering teenage drug abusers, including most of the 150-plus graduates of SLIC Ranch. They meet several times a week to talk about their drug problems under the guidance of young counselors - former abusers themselves.

Freeway is one of several self-help groups parents may turn to for help when a child is abusing drugs. When the problem is deemed particularly severe, Freeway refers the child to SLIC Ranch for an intensive 30-day program.

While the child is undergoing treatment at the ranch, the parents are indoctrinated into the Freeway program through a series of meetings for newcomers (Freeway is non-profit, but donations are strongly encouraged). While at SLIC Ranch, the child spends evenings traveling to Freeway meetings and inevitably becomes deeply involved with the group, along with his parents.

At the end of the 30 days, the child usually will leave SLIC Ranch and take up residence at the home of a "Freeway family," one whose child is sober, thanks to the group, and whose parents are true believers in Meehan and his method.

Even if the newly sober child returns home after a few weeks with the Freeway family, according to Meehan, he generally will not return to school for a time and will disassociate himself from classmates and old friends in favor of his new Freeway friend.

[aboyandhisstarship]

Humans are weird: Enhancement/ Ethical...even in the face of armageddon?

It is a common trope in most SCI FI that humans are on the weaker end of most alien species, with the glaring exception of this kind of universe, so simply…the world is slowly uniting and expanding throughout the solar system and you detect ships heading your way…what would you do?  

The woman leaned forward in the cell as the man sighed “doc your attempt to shift blame is not appreciated.”

The doctor spoke calmly “please do not mistake me for some whimpering bug, what I did I did for the human race.”

The man shakes his head “500 individuals and you knew it would kill all of them.”

The doctor sat back “I did, and I would do it again, imagine for a second…that you get woken up in the middle of the night by man in suits informing you that aliens are coming, and we don’t know if they come in peace but more likely they are coming to our world to kill us, would you care about the live of 499 volunteers?”

The man stated “once again, you are over stating the volunteer aspect of the program.”

The doctor smiled coyly

Sometime in the past:

The general looked at the file “are you sure Doctor?”

The woman simply nodded “he is exactly one of the People we need, his skill set plus his compatibility will make him ideal for the project.”

The general sighed “alright, let’s see what he thinks, Send in the Private.” Into his intercom,

Erickson entered standing at attention “you wanted to see me sir?”

The general nodded “indeed private, this is Doctor Vanessa Corbin, and she has a job for you.”

Erickson blinked “sir?”

The doctor spoke clearly “want you are about to be told is highly classified, and cannot leave this room is that understood?”

Erickson stood a little straighter “sir…”

The general briefed “17 hours ago, we detected a fast moving object on radar, moving for the outer edge of the System, officially no comment has been given, however we have been forced to conclude that it is an alien vessel, we are assuming hostile.”

Erickson blinked “why do you need me sir?”

The Doctor smiled “you have a certain rare Gene and the skills Nessacery for what we need.”  

Erickson asked again “what do you need…Ma’am?”

The general cut in “the world powers are in talks to unite facing this threat, and ship building has been on-going for years reverse engineering some crashed alien crafts with the work of Doctor Chekov…what we lack are ground troops. That’s where you and other like you come in.”

The doctor reached out to shake his hand “pack your bags…welcome to Project Centurion.”

 3 days later:

Erickson was in a facility on an island in the pacific ocean, he was the youngest there by at least 3 years, the eighteen year old scout sniper shifted awkwardly as Doctor Corbin appeared “hello to you all, you were brought here from some of the finest special forces on earth, everything from the United states Marine core, to the Special Air service. Time is of the essence so I will not beat around the bush, an group of aliens…possibly an invasion force is inbound and we need to be ready, as such you all be biologically, chemically and Cybernatically enhanced, I need Verbal consent to these procedure’s.”

There was a quiet pause before Erickson spoke up “I consent…”

His consent was followed by everyone else in the new room.

Corbin smiled “well then let’s get started.”

1 month later:

Erickson lay down on a table wearing nothing but his dog tags, as a doctor asked “how are you feeling Private”

Erickson chuckled “my mom is going to kick my ass after this.”

The doc chuckled “if your mom is able to, we didn’t do our job right.”

4 needles lowered toward his arms and legs as Erickson groaned “this is going to hurt isn’t it.”

The doc didn’t sugar coat it “like hell, bite down on this. Putting a piece of rubber into his mouth, he asked “you ready?” glancing over the restraints holding the marine down.

Erickson nodded as the red hot needles entered his limbs emptying their contents as he screamed and bit down hard.

Erickson felt the needles leave his limbs they were numb he could barely feel them as the doc said distantly “how are you feeling private?”

Erickson answered “woozy sir….permission to pass out?”

The doctor laughed “granted son…granted.”

Erickson muttered “thank you sir.” Feeling his eyes roll into the back of his head.

Erickson opened his eyes he was in a hospital bed; all across his body was a series of scars, running down his arms and legs and across his torso, he was muscled before but now he was even more defined he tried to sit up as a nurse rushed in flipping the light switch, wait the room was dark, it looked bright as day as he blinked “uhhh water.” Realizing his throat was dry.

The nurse gave him a glass as he said “I feel weird…”

The nurse nodded “you are not used to your new body, you are stronger faster and enhanced in every way you care to think of.” Erickson answered by vomiting hard.

1 month later:

Erickson was running in full tac gear at a decent pace, 90 kilometers an hour. He was running laps around the island, something that even toughest pre enhancement trooper would not be able to do in less than 3 hours he could due in 45 minutes…if he was taking his time.”

Erickson ran up to the only friend he made in this place, Michelle Galagar was from Australia and seemed to be a fan of all things boom as he accepted her handed water bottle saying “good run?”

Erickson laughed “no is ever going to challenge me to a foot race again.”

Michelle grinned “good feature for our scout to have.”

Erickson ginned “I think so, so you hear?”

Michelle nodded eagerly “they finally built them, power suits! Can you believe it…it’s like a cheesy sci fi show!”

Erickson shook his head “except we are fighting a group of probably hostile aliens.”

Michelle laughed “sure but come on, the rule of cool!”

Erickson shook his head “I’m hitting the showers.”

8 months later, Pluto:

Erickson pulled his fist out of a dead bug looking at the person across from him “you ok ma’am?”

The pilot nodded she was in a blue space suit, contrasting with the larger green suit Erickson was wearing, flight Lieutenant Herndez  nodded “yes, do you have radio contact?”

Erickson sighed “mine got fried on the drop.”

Herndez sighed “well then I guess we are walking back to base camp.”

Erickson grinned “I can carry you ma’am”

Herendez smiled “I will bear that in mind.” As they rounded the corner of a small tunnel they came face to face with the queen with spoke mechanically “we mean you no harm!”

Present day, earth:

The woman in the hospital bed looked like she was in great shape, save for the criss crossing scars across her body, and the oxygen mask on her face.  Erickson plucked down saying “jeez so this is what you got up to instead of doing real work?”

Michelle laughed before coughing “what have I said about not doing that.”

Erickson smiled “sorry Ma’am.”

Michelle dead panned “pretty sure you out rank me now…about that?”

Erickson sighed “they said I had none of the symptoms…yet, but with my luck I will be dead by the end of the week.”

Michelle coughed with a teasing smile “hey I may be dying but no need to be selfish.”

Erickson smiled “what can I say I want all the speaking tours to myself.”

Michelle paused “looks like it won’t be long before you will.”

Erickson nodded “I went to the others, whenever I could, Corbin got arrested after the fifteenth one they tell you?”

Michelle stared like he was an idiot saying “this some kind of cold water memory test, everybody knew about that.”

Erickson sighed “she knew….she knew the older the candidate the sooner it kills us….”

Michelle grinned “how much did they say we cost, a billion per, man the bean counters must have mad as hell.”

Erickson rolled his eyes “yea that’s why they’re mad, not that it was a procedure she knew would kill anyone over the age of 23 within 18 months, and everyone over the age of 20 period.”

Michelle crocked her head “everyone over the age of 20?”

Erickson said lowly “should not tell you this, but apparently part of the reason I was chosen so young…is because it would not kill me, or so she claims…she said the rest of you were…expendable.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes “man I want to kill that bitch.”

Erickson laughed “welcome to the club I have considered using my training but…”

Michelle chuckled “but you got a squad now…you need to take care of them?”

Erickson nodded touching her leg saying “you know what gets me, it was pointless? They wanted peace, it was an accident…power suits alone would have and does do it now…we all died for nothing.”

Michelle pointed out “well it is not known if you will.”

Erickson sighed “I miss them, all of them that war brought us close together…”

Michelle laughed “buck up Ohio, think about it this way, soon you will be the last centurion and that puts you in interesting company.”

Erickson sighed “still never seen doctor who.”  

Michelle grinned “you should watch it with your girlfriend.”

Erickson sighed “Hailey is not my girlfriend.”

Michelle winked “how did you know who I was talking about then.”

Erickson narrowed his eyes “you have been “shipping it” for nine years!”

Michelle coughed “you two were alone in a cave for 3 months, don’t shoot the messenger.”

Erickson groaned “we were with the queen.”

Michelle laughed “Please I have met the queen; she is biggest wing woman in the entire galaxy.”

Erickson “can we please change the subject”

Michelle pouted “hey this is my deathbed, If i want to talk about you pining after a fleet officer I will.”

Erickson countered “I’m not pining.”

Michelle sighed “suuuuurrrrrreeeeeeeee,” Carrying out the word painfully long.

Erickson sighed “you done.”

Michelle sighed “for now, when you shipping out?”

Erickson sighed “tomorrow.”

Michelle smiled “visit me when you get back ok?”

Erickson grinned “wouldn’t miss it.”

 That night:

Erickson com beeped he rolled over in bed answering “Lieutenant Erickson.”

A voice said “hello Lieutenant, this is the nurse’s station at Johnson Memorial hospital….”

Erickson sat up “Michelle!?”

The nurse answered simply “I’m sorry sir Master Sargent Galagar, suffered total organ failure at 0100 hours local time and was declared deceased, she had you as her next of kin…sir.”

Erickson nodded taking a deep breath “thank you nurse I’m sure you did all you could.”

The nurse sighed “she was very sick, but she didn’t suffer at the end, take confront in that.”

Erickson nodded “thank you, I would like her body released for a service with full honors.”

The nurse nodded “we will make the arrangements for her to be released.”

 4 days later:

Erickson was in full dress uniform as he stood at the wake, no one else came of course, she didn’t have anyone else he mused to himself angrily, well that was not entirely true, a few of the big brass made brief appearances but other than that it was just him.

Hailey had been kind enough to extend the crews leave, for him and after 3 hours of standing around in the empty room he left with the coffin to Cemetery.

As the body was lowered he felt a presence behind him his heighted senses telling him who it was saying simply “ma’am.”

Hailey appeared next to him in full uniform as well saying “sorry I missed the wake, ships business….”

Erickson chuckled “thanks for showing up anyway Hailey.”

Hailey sighed “she was my friend to, and you two…I can’t imagine what you went through.”

Erickson sighed “I’m going to talk to her.”

Hailey said quietly “Will….”

Will looked at her “I have to Hail’s this won’t have meaning if I don’t find out why.”

Hailey sighed “you know why.”

Will shook his head “no I don’t, no one but her does, she went through with it knowing it would kill us, and looking back just power suits would have done it…why did she lie?”

Hailey took his hand “the only thing worse than a question is an answer.”

Will returned the squeeze “I have got to do this Hail’s.”

Hailey sighed “just be careful…”

Will grinned “had to eat worms in training, a can of them sounds awfully appetizing.”

Hailey crinkled her nose “Gross….”

Will laughed “talk to you later.”

Hailey nodded “yea will.”

 Prison cell:

Corbin grinned “you consented.”

Erickson countered “you didn’t exactly tell us what we were getting into.”

Corbin smiled “you all joined the military, you don’t do that unless you are willing to die for the greater good…but I doubt you came here to discuss philosophy, so why are you here?”

Erickosn sighed “499 candidate’s you knew would be dead before long, and yet you still went through with it why?”

Corbin sighed “please William such a question is beneath you, you were at the same briefings as me, all those projections…so ask me what you really want to.”

Erickson said simply “why not recruit everyone my age?”

Corbin sighed “no time to train them to be the force we needed, we needed leaders…plus a rare gene profile needed for the chemicals to not kill you instantly, as such a very limited set of population were even valid even fewer in the military and few still with the kind of experice you need to fight an interstellar war, in fact they were exactly 500….”

Erickson scoffed as Corbin smiled “a centurion, the great warrior of the Roman Empire, one of the if not the mightiest on earth.  And that’s what we needed and that’s what I provided, but I was always quite proud of what I accomplished with you…the others were wheat made to harvest, but you I created a true superhuman, healing factor, last projections say you will be able to fight for at least a hundred years if you are so inclined, and if that invasion proved hostile my name would join the likes of Robert Oppenheimer and Werner von Braun! Not being dragged through the mud now.”

Erickson sighed “the Nazi and the man who made nukes, great heroes to have.”

Corbin countered “the rocket scientist that developed technology that kept the cold war cold, and the man who paved the way to unity…yes I believe I would have fit in nicely.”

Erikson countered “but alas, the threat was non-existent and your legacy is paired with the like of doctor Frankenstein and MK ultra.”

Corbin said “did you come here just to insult me?”

Erickson sighed “it seems that we are the last two, Michelle died a few days ago…so just us.”

Corbin nodded “she lasted longer than my projections would have guessed.”

Erickson “sighed so that’s it? Just like that?”

Corbin looked at him “I know about every one of my Centurion’s, I know they all mattered, but we were going to war, and I’ve said it before and I will say so again, 499 deaths are nothing a snow flake on the breeze compared to you, you proved I was right!”

Erickson stood up “you have time to think about that doc…a long time.”

And with that he stood up saying “if they all mattered maybe you should not have thrown their lives away.”

  what do you think?