#the universe does not want me to have white-ears clearly :(

[tetedurfarm]

bruh. i woke up this morning to discover one of my pythons has escaped her terrarium and helped herself to two of my white-ear kits.

and then, insult to injury, those kits were in two different boxes, that had plenty other kits in them, but the two kits she ate were the ONLY non-white kits in those boxes.

i did NOT raise her like this

[tamrielic]

just a little self–indulgent drabble thing because i’m experiencing a nasty flare–up right now due to stress and i am so exhausted and miserable but i honestly can’t stop thinking about how gentle and wonderful and perfect JING YUAN would be to me; this is my first time writing for star rail at all whatsoever so. oof. i wrote it in first–person first without thinking so if i missed changing that somewhere i’m sorry but i gotta go lay down and rest

“baobei, are you still asleep?” the gentle, deep voice cuts through your half–asleep state, making you groan softly as you roll over and blink your eyes open to find jing yuan knelt beside your bed. he’d clearly just gotten back from his official meetings, still looking regal in his general uniform, though his boots and cape had been discarded at the door.

you stare at him for a moment before you reply, your voice rough with both sleep not having spoken in a few hours. “just dozing. i’m sorry, i’ll get up now.”

you shift to pull back the blanket and move to sit up, but are stopped by a large hand resting on your shoulder, jing yuan having stood up to lean over you.

“that is not what i meant. it was a simple question, not a demand that you must quit resting,” he murmurs as he gently guides you to lay back down, sitting on the edge of the bed as he reaches out to brush a few stray curls from your face. his warm golden eyes search your expression, scanning over your body briefly before meeting your gaze once more, his voice softening even further with concern. “be honest with me; are you experiencing a flare–up of your illness?”

you stay silent for a moment, eyes focused on his face, head subconsciously tilting to lean into the touch of his fingers. your voice is hardly more than a whisper when you speak, your eyelashes fluttering.

“you know that i hate to let you see me like this, jing yuan.”

a deep, warm chuckle leaves him, his golden eyes softening even further as he leans down over you, his fluffy white hair spilling over his shoulders as he nudges his nose against yours gently while he hums thoughtfully.

“mmm, perhaps. but have you considered that i relish every opportunity that i have to treat you like royalty; to wait on you hand and foot? you’re so very stubborn, baobei, and you never want to accept any help,” he leans down further, brushing his lips against yours as he whispers. “how about you let this old general dote upon you today, hm?”

you immediately blush, feeling your face and ears grow warm as you squirm a bit, lips parting to brush against his own as you mutter.

“i can’t– you’re busy enough as it is– this isn’t something that the general of the xianzhou luofu, an emanator of the hunt, should be dealing with. especially not from his significant other.”

unable to stop the hitch in your breath, the tears stinging as they begin to well up in your eyes, your hands clench into fists on the bedsheets as you turn your head to the side to avoid those intense golden eyes that are peering into your soul.

jing yuan is silent for a moment, the quiet of the room only making your discomfort and anxiety skyrocket, before he lets out a sigh and moves to climb onto the bed, gently pulling you up and into his lap; the ease of which he does so always startling. he buries the fingers of one hand in your hair and pulls your head to his chest, wrapping his free arm around you and leaning back against the headboard. he holds you in silence for a moment before his deep voice breaks it as he starts to slowly and gently rake his fingers through your curls.

“those are indeed the fancy titles i have been gifted in my life. but i must remind you, fancy titles and immortality or not, i am still just a man. a man who happens to be head over heels in love with a lovely, wonderful individual. an individual whose laughter makes my soul alight, a person whose love for me burns brighter than any sun in the universe. a person who, in my opinion as well as many other’s, is far too hard on themselves.”

you can’t help but to curl into him at that, the tears spilling from your eyes as you cling to him and sniffle.

jing yuan laughs lowly, a laugh that can be felt more than heard, and he turns his head to press his lips to your forehead before murmuring.

“baobei, you must stop being so hard on yourself. or else i shall have to resort to drastic measures...”

he slowly trails his free hand down to gently squeeze the plush curve of your hip, wiggling his fingers and chuckling when you immediately squeal softly and squirm against him.

you pull back from him, your face hot and wet from tears, sniffling as you glare half-heartedly at him. you open your lips to rebuke him, but he slips his fingers from your hair to press a shushing one to your lips, his eyes sparkling with amusement and affection.

“shhh, none of that now, though it is good to see that fire in your soul that i find so endearing,” he shifts, leaning down and resting his forehead against your own.

your eyebrows furrow as you glare at him silently, reaching up and grasping his wrist to pull his hand away so you can speak.

“jing yuan, you... you’re an infuriating scoundrel.”

his lips part in a wide smile as he laughs, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“ah, so you agree with lady fu in that regard, hm? interesting. tell me, what is so infuriating about a man being so deeply in love with someone that the effects of illnesses that are out of their control only make him love them more?”

you are silent as you process his words, truly pondering them as your gaze inevitably softens and you slowly melt against him. you reach your hands up to cradle his face, brushing your thumbs against his high cheekbones.

“i don’t deserve you, jing yuan, but... i’m selfish. i love you, and i need you. i don’t know why you tolerate me when i have such inconvenient chronic illnesses, but...” you trail off, tilting your head as you lean in and brush your lips against his. “... thank you.”

he smiles against your lips and hums contendedly, murmuring a soft “no need to thank me, baobei” before his lips coax yours into a slow, loving kiss.

closing your eyes, you finally allow yourself to relax into him fully, pressing soft and tender kisses to his lips between soft breaths, your hands still cradling his face.

after a few more moments you part, a tiny yawn escaping you as you curl up on his lap and rest your head on his shoulder while whispering.

“can we just... stay like this for a bit?”

jing yuan chuckles quietly, shifting you both so that you’re lying down on the bed as he wraps himself around you, nuzzling his face against your neck and mumbling tiredly.

“i would love nothing more, baobei; a nap is exactly what i need right now, honestly.”

you sigh softly before wrapping your arms and legs around him, enjoying the feeling of his body against yours and the comforting scent of him as you both fall asleep, the bitter and negative thoughts plaguing your mind evaporating as his presence and gentle reassurances ease your worries.

[httpslolas]

CORNELIA STREET CL16

summary. Pierre Gasly would like for his sister to stay away from Charles Leclerc, and said sister would like a new car. In the end, neither of them get what they want.

notes. Part two solely because apparently you can’t put more than 10 pictures in one post. Fuck tumblr. Also a little written part bc why not :) -> GO BACK TO PART 1

charles_leclerc Monaco

Liked by ynngsly.user and 924.239 others charles_leclerc All in white for the home GP 🤍

View all 2.701 comments

ynngsly.user bonne chance!! Forza ferrari ❤️

charles_leclerc merci ❤️

pierregasly c’est quoi tout ces cœurs là

user4 once upon a time the delulus were the ones who thought yn and Charles were dating..

user5 these times are long gone it seems

“Non.” Your brother’s mind is made up, and there’s visibly no changing it. Nevertheless, you take it upon yourself to try, again.

“Come on! You couldn’t possibly want that for your innocent and helpless little sister, right? For her to end up all alone, old and wrinkly with just a few bony cats to keep her company?”

Pierre does nothing but raise an eyebrow at you. “Is that an option ?”

You grunt, throwing your head back like a toddler that’s missing it’s favorite toy.

“He’s too old for you!” The blond continues.

“Like you’re not too old for Kika..” You retaliate quietly, puffing out your cheeks and crossing your arms. You wish you been a little louder when you see the blood creeping up his ears.

“That’s.. different.”

“Like hell it is! She’s a year younger than me! You’re 27! Wake up, old man. You’re a total cougar.”

“And you’re about to make Charles one if you start seeing each other!”

“A four year age gap is nothing, get over it!”

“It’s five years!”

“That doesn’t change anything!”

“That changes a lot of things!”

“Ferme ta geule!”

“Ferme la toi-même!”

A door opens, and the both of you freeze up, suddenly realising how loud you were being. Kika shows up in the kitchen, hand in her hair, obviously having been woken up against her will by your dispute. Despite being the reason of her unpleasant start to the morning, she greets you and Pierre warmly, following it up by a yawn.

“What’s up?”

“Pierre forbids me from dating Charles!”

“Not much”

Your opposing answers cause Kika to raise an eyebrow. “You don’t want her to date Charles? Why?” The brunette turns to her boyfriend, and you silently thank the universe for having brought these two together. Francisca always had a knack for convincing Pierre to understand your side, and sub consequently getting you what you want.

Her arms latching themselves around his neck seem to do the trick. “We-well, I just, um, I don’t think it’s very.. appropriate..”

“What’s not appropriate?” Her fingers are threading into his hair, and Pierre is almost giving out. So. Close.

“Their age gap!”

“Uh..” the perplexed look on Kika’s face seems to be an exact replica of yours when handed the same argument.

“It’s not the same!” Your brother reiterates, clearly exhausted by the argument.

“Look, it’s weird. My best friend is dating my little sister, that’s just weird. I don’t want that for myself. It complicate stuff during races for me, I don’t how I’ll handle it, and overall I’m guessing I’m a little.. protective? Of you?”

You can hear your brothers girlfriend clear her throat and excuse herself to go the bathroom. You don’t blame her, the atmosphere is tense. You didn’t like your brother’s answer one bit.

“You don’t want that for yourself? You’re an absolute piece of shit, you know that?”

With that, you storm out of Pierre’s penthouse, ready to openly defy him and do what you should’ve done a long time ago.

ynngsly.user Monte-Carlo, Monaco

Liked by charles_leclerc, francisca.cgomes and 54.236 others ynnglsy.user had a verrrryyy long night

charles_leclerc je t’aime ❤️

ynnglsy.user je t’aime encore plus 🫶

pierregasly bon.

this user has restricted comments on this post

TRANSLATION: “Bonne chance”: Good luck

“Merci”: thanks

“C’est quoi touts ces cœurs là”: What are all these hearts

“Non”: no

“Ferme ta geule”: Shut the fuck up!

“Ferme la toi-même”: You shut the fuck up!

“Je t’aime [encore plus]”: I love you [more]

“Bon”: well.

[fairy-writes]

first, congratulations on 1300!! with the event can i have a medium cappuccino with chuuya from bsd? thank you in advance and congratulations again!!

HAZE OF SICKNESS

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Prompt: Hurt/comfort scenario with Chuuya from BSD

Word Count: 0.7k

Fandom(s): Bungou Stray Dogs

Pairing(s): Nakahara Chuuya x Reader

Genre(s)/Tag(s): Gender Neutral!Reader, Sick!Reader, Business AU?? Idk; it’s not the normal BSD universe.

Notes: Idk if this really counts as hurt/comfort? But it’s the idea I'm going with, so it’s what you get, lol.

This also briefly features a character from Stormbringer! But you don’t need to know anything other than he’s a doctor :)

__________________________________________________________________________

The world was in a haze. 

You ache. You’re exhausted. Your stomach hurts. Your head hurts. Your mouth feels fuzzy with the lack of brushing your teeth after throwing up.

But you don’t say a word. You don’t call in. Instead, you get up, put on a mask, brush your teeth, and head to work as the infamous Nakahara Chuuya’s secretary. 

Luckily, he doesn’t comment on your mask when you arrive at your desk.

He sweeps into his office as he always does, his coat billowing around his ankles. He sheds it and his hat on the coat rack. He brushes past you without so much as a hello, and his office door shuts with a bang that has your brain vibrating in your head. 

Guess he wasn’t in the mood to talk today?

Work goes slowly. Almost agonizingly so. 

You remind yourself to alternate taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol every four hours and keep your mask on except for drinking water. But it does little good. You still feel feverish and achy, and your stomach is constantly churning despite having walked down to the corner store and bought yourself a can of soup to eat for your lunch break. 

Things come to a head when you knock on Chuuya’s office door with some reports from last week. 

“Come in.” His voice is muffled, but you hear it even through the door and what feels like cotton in your ears. The hinges squeal and grate on your nerves and eardrums. 

“I have those reports you wanted, sir.” You say through your mask, and he looks up from his laptop, sticking a hand out for them as he runs a hand through his hair. 

He looks annoyed. 

You give him the reports and go to leave when he stops you by saying your name. You turn.

“Are you alright?” He asks, and you blink. When did he ever ask if you were alright? You were positive he barely even knew your name.

“I’m fine, sir. Just a little cold, is all.” You say, and his frown deepens, but he doesn’t get up from his desk. 

“If you say so.” He mutters, and you take that as your cue to leave. 

But you promptly pass out the moment you turn around. 

When you come to, you have no idea how much time has passed. But you hear something… Just on the edge of your hearing… 

“—n you hear me?” A voice… A familiar voice… Your boss, maybe? 

When you open your eyes, you find you were correct. He’s leaning over you with a concerned look on his face, and you realize you’re on the couch in his office. 

“What happened?” You groan, and he sits back, clearly relieved. 

“I thought you died there for a minute,” He grumbled, and you felt white-hot embarrassment shoot up your spine and warm your ears. When you go to sit up, he is on his feet helping you.

“I passed out?” You ask, and he nods, 

“You went down pretty quickly and smacked your head, so I called Doc. He should be here soon.” At that, you swing your legs over the side of the couch. 

“I’m fine. Just a bit dizzy, is all. I have to get back to work.” 

His hand clamps around your wrist, and you freeze. He wears his standard leather gloves, but his hand is still warm through the material. 

“You aren’t goin’ anywhere. And it’s either Doc or the hospital.” He warns, and you glare stubbornly at the floor before relenting and sitting back down on the couch. Chuuya is sitting on the coffee table directly in front of you, hands clasped and resting on his knees. 

Doc, as eccentric as ever, gives you a clean bill of health and a cold compress for the bump on your head. He also says something to your boss that you don’t quite catch, but he nods and dismisses the man. 

“You’re taking the rest of today and tomorrow off.” He says abruptly, and you nearly trip where you are walking back to your desk. 

“What? No! I can’t afford to do that!” You retort, and he rolls his eyes,

“You’ll still be paid.” You pause in your argument and frown. 

“I will?” Chuuya huffs and puts a hand on the small of your back, steering you toward the elevator of the high-rise office building. 

“Of course you will. Just…” He pauses, and you look at him. His cheeks are flushed pink, and he refuses to look at you.

“Yes?” You prompt, and he sighs, still averting his gaze. 

“Come back feeling better.” He says, and you grin at him as the elevator door closes on you.

“Yessir!”

[amoebaforce]

How would you think the scions react to learning that after the final fight against Zenos in EW, the WoL had brought him back aswell for them to keep him alive, then when they also find out the reasoning behind it being that the WoL and Zenos are dating?

anon, this was a juicy one! i was immediately intrigued, then i thought... "what if they all found out at the SAME TIME?"

so that's what i wrote! enjoy! :D

characters featured: Thancred Waters, Urianger Augerelt, Y'shtola Rhul, Estinien Wyrmblood, G'raha Tia, Alphinaud & Alisaie Leveilleur, Zenos yae Galvus tags: angst, secret relationship, mention of violence/grievous injury, Endwalker spoilers!!!, gn!WoL word count: 1408

They’d really done it. Their unhinged plan — flying to the edge of the universe, bringing hope to the wellspring of despair — actually worked. When the starship landed, the sky was blue again, the sun shining bright and hot over the white-washed walls of Sharlayan. The Scions were heroes. And as such, they should have been celebrating their triumph. Or sleeping for a week. But, of course, they were doing neither.

Instead, they were crammed seven-deep into an infirmary waiting room, staring at walls and fidgeting as they waited for the Warrior of Light to emerge from one of the sick rooms. A fairly regular occurrence for them, with one exception. It was not the Warrior convalescing; it was the disgraced prince of Garlemald himself, Zenos viator Galvus. The fact that he swallowed the Mothercrystal’s power and hunted the Warrior to the edge of the universe was dramatic enough as it was, but the fact that the Warrior brought him back afterward? 

Bizarre. That was the unspoken consensus between the Scions. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, unwilling to assume but burning with curiosity all the same. As they pondered a day full of incomprehensible occurrences, the door to Room Two slid open, and the Warrior of Light emerged into the waiting room. Their comrade’s face was grimmer than befits a shard of Azem. The silence was a shell no one wished to break.

Finally, someone exhaled.

“Does he live?” Y’shtola asked, tone held taut. The Warrior merely nodded their head. “How severe are the injuries?”

“Fractured jaw,” the Warrior recited, eyes a little glazed. “One wrist and one leg are broken, and a few ribs, too. Internal bleeding. Bruises and cuts everywhere.”

“What happened out there?” Alphinaud exclaimed. He rose to his feet, and his sister followed, though her eyes were still cast to the floor. “I mean, we almost lost you, and then he teleported aboard, too, and–” 

“Zenos helped me,” the Warrior said suddenly. “We stopped the Song. Then we fought, and I… I couldn’t leave him there.”

Thancred and Urianger exchanged a look. The Warrior took another step into the room, not quite sure who to look at. A thousand emotions swirled through the Scions’ faces. 

“Listen,” Thancred said, “I trust your judgment. If you saw fit to bring him back, I can’t argue.”

“Neither can I,” G’raha interjected. He fidgeted slightly in his seat. “Though I admit I’m a little confused as to why.”

Alisaie crossed her arms. “Me, too,” she muttered. “He’s a real piece of work.”

“People can change,” the Warrior argued, tone verging on defensive. “Look at Yotsuyu. Look at Fordola.”

The Elezen girl twisted her lips, though she couldn’t argue the point. Her brother took a go at it, instead.

“But you just said he went up there to fight you again,” Alphinaud countered. “Clearly he has not grown out of his fascination with harming you.”

“He doesn’t want to harm me,” the Warrior said. “It… It wasn’t like that. He challenges me because I’m his only equal. The only person who could ever hope to be a match to him.”

“What are you saying, exactly?” G’raha asked, ears twitching. 

The Warrior hesitated. Cast their eyes around the room. A sea of faces stared back, all in various stages of bafflement. All faces the Warrior had come to know, love, and respect. They hung their head.

“I’m sorry,” they told the Scions. “I’ve been keeping a secret.” 

In an instant, the room went airless. 

“I beg your pardon?” Y’shtola demanded.

“What does that mean?” Alisaie shouted.

“Now, now,” Urianger said, stepping closer. “None of us have ever presumed to be privy to every facet of our comrade’s personal life. I am sure all of us have some intimate business we’d prefer not to air among ourselves. I cannot fault the Warrior for keeping their conversations with us work-related.”

“This is work-related,” Y’shtola shot back. “Zenos has been a thorn in our side for ages!”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” the Warrior said again. “But after that day in Garlemald, after Alisaie told him off, things changed. We talked. Came to understand each other.”

Thancred frowned. “Well, I guess if anyone could understand a guy like that, it might as well be you…” He trailed off, rubbing his chin.

“So you’ve been meeting with him in secret?” Alphinaud asked. The Warrior nodded.

“And what do you do on these rendezvous with the enemy?” Y’shtola pressed, even as Urianger lifted a brow at her tone.

The Warrior sighed. Memories flooded their mind. Soft nights in Ilsabard, splitting a loaf of rationed bread around the coals of a dying fire. Whispering into the crook of his neck as the sky turned pale.

“We just talked. Not about ‘work’ or anything like that — about life, and the past, and the future. He’s lonely. He wants to move on.”

“Tell that to the people left behind in the snow,” Alisaie snapped, and the Warrior winced, because she was right. 

His freedom wasn’t fair. For acts like his, there had to be consequences. They’d told Zenos as much the first time he showed up at their door. But he showed up again, and again, and the Warrior realized he had nowhere to go. No one to cling to. 

“He’ll atone,” the Warrior said, holding their chin high. “Just like the other architects of the war. I’ll make sure he does.”

“You speak as if you are his shepherd,” Y’shtola said.

When the Warrior did not deny it, the Scions went a little stiller. Another pause.

“Do you… care for him?” G’raha ventured. 

The Warrior’s composed facade cracked. 

“I do,” they confessed. Tears sprung to their eyes. “And I know Zenos has done a lot of bad, but so have I. I put down hordes of the tempered before there was treatment. They were innocent people. Victims. I held the dying in my arms as they told me their lives were less worthy than mine, like it was just that they died and I did not. And all of us who freed Doma and Ala Migho have Garlean blood on our hands. 

“Yes, our righteous cause prevailed, and we saved the star, but I find no peace in that knowledge. I find it only with him. Zenos was groomed for the purpose of destruction, just like I was. We merely served different masters. And now, we both find ourselves at the end of our tasks, with no instructions for our next move. Equally lost. Yes, he is impulsive, and aggressive, and arrogant, but the world isn’t ending anymore — there’s a tomorrow again. One where a man like him might grow and evolve. I have to give him the chance to see it.”

A stunned silence settled over the Scions. Alisaie’s brow knitted with astonishment; Y’shtola’s mouth fell into an ‘O’. The Warrior gritted their teeth, waiting for a wave of scolding, but it never came. Everyone’s faces softened, eyes glazed as if ruminating — everyone but Estinien. He hadn’t said a word in hours, but now the dragoon let out a low chuckle. A smirk graced his lips.

“Didn’t realize you had a thing for blondes,” Estinien said.

Thancred snorted, and with a series of eye rolls and giggles, the tension between the Scions loosened into something breathable. Somewhere deep in the Warrior’s chest, a knot came untied.

“Me, neither,” they replied, allowing themselves a half-smile.

Urianger stepped forward to lay a hand on their shoulder. “Tis plain to me that you have made up your mind,” he said gently. “And just as plain that you hold the prince dear to your heart.”

“Aye,” Y’shtola murmured. “I do not pretend to understand you, my friend, but… I can’t tell you who to love.”

The Warrior wiped their eyes with their sleeve, uttering a teary laugh. G’raha offered a handkerchief, then pulled them into an embrace.

“Whatever makes you happy,” he said, so honest that it made the Warrior cry harder.

Alphinaud smiled to himself, already making a mental checklist of all the ways he could coordinate the prince’s reparation efforts with the Ilsabard Contingent’s. If utilized correctly and led by the Warrior, he thought, Zenos might well be a boon to the reconstruction. In fairness, he didn’t have very many fans left in the area… but that was a bridge to cross later. Right now, all the Warrior should worry about was recovery. Theirs, and their love’s, too.

[kiame-sama]

Friezia is trying to woo Glacia Part 2 pls

"Would you just leave me alone already?"

The pink Ice-jinn sounded quite distressed given the fact that one of her father's longtime enemies was following her incessantly. No matter how many times she managed to get away from him, he found her again. She was lucky the first time that her father showed up, second and third time too, now it was just getting ridiculous.

"Just quit running, woman!"

"I have a name!"

"And you have a duty to your king to do as you are told!"

"Says you!"

The back and forth only seemed to emphasize the difference in the two Ice-jinn who raced across the sky in a constant chase. Glacia- the abnormal feminine Ice-jinn- in the lead as the one who was clearly being chased. Frieza- the pinnacle and prince of Ice-jinn- following behind as the obvious pursuer and aggressor of the two.

For once, Goku did not appear to the aid of his dear ice-jinn daughter. This was due to Goku actually being told not to intervene by the angel of universe 7 and the accompanying god of destruction. Female Ice-jinn simply were not a common occurrence and the appearance of one drew the keen interest of the guardians of the universe.

Female traits were recessive in the species and had all but died out in every universe that still had the powerful race. Even among nonparallel universes, the unusual space-enduring aliens evolved among the infinite possibilities. The unique situation to each appearance of the race still held certain constants that tied them across realities.

Where almost every universe had Ice-jinn, the effeminate traits had all died out. The gods and angels of the universes believed there were no feminine traits in the race anymore, having all evolved the same way each time from unique circumstances. They were the only species that appeared outside of a single pair of parallel universes, a constant among every universe despite the infinite odds preventing such repeats.

An oddity among her own race of sentient life, Glacia was being observed by those Gods of Universe 7.

"I can make you a queen!"

"I don't want to be a queen!"

"I can give you power!"

"I don't want it!"

Despite the madness that Glacia's words were to Freiza's ears, something instinctual made him continue the pursuit. Besides, Frieza was not the type to give up simply because someone was being difficult.

"Just obey me, damn it!"

"Hell no!"

He got close enough to reach out and begin to wrap his fingers around her tail, fractions of a second away from catching her. The moment he seemed to catch her, he was seemingly teleported a fair distance back. That stutter in location more than caught the attention of the powerful audience.

"Son Goku," the God of Destruction- an anthropomorphic sphynx of incredible power- glanced at Goku with a curious and almost suspicious gaze, "what was that technique?"

"It's something Glacia does and she's tried to teach me, but I still don't get it. She reverses time in a certain area near or around her, meaning she just sent Frieza back in time to get distance between the two of them."

It was then the angel of universe 7- a delicately featured man with pale blue skin and white hair- seemed to take greater interest. Time reversal was something exclusively used by the Gods of the universe and was often considered a crime to be used by anyone else. However, it seemed like the small time pocket wasn't too extreme of a manipulation of time.

"I think she can reverse a planet now? Maybe a sun for a little bit? All I know is the bigger the space she is reversing, the smaller the amount of time she can reverse it for."

The two godly beings glanced at one another, silently sharing their interest in this unusual oddity.

"I'm gonna go make him stop. I don't want Frieza around my daughter and clearly Glacia doesn't want him around either."

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Don't Go Blindly Into the Dark

Summary:

To hide that he can't read, Jan Van Eck has been forcing his son to pretend he's blind since he was eight years old. Wylan is now attending Ketterdam University, and meeting Jesper Fahey may very well be about to change his life. But is he safe to tell Jesper the truth? And what will Jesper say if he does?

Jesper is struggling to weigh up his life in the Barrel and his life at the University of Ketterdam, and there's a good chance that his growing debt is about to make the decision for him. He hasn't attended class consecutively for months, but maybe that will change when his newest project includes partnering up with Wylan Van Eck. But can he really leave the Barrel behind him? And how long can he keep up the pretence of who he thinks Wylan wants him to be?

Tags: @justalunaticfangirl @lunarthecorvus @i-need-help-this-is-my-obsession

If anyone else would like to be tagged let me know :)

Content warnings for this chapter: abuse, conditioning, manipulation, implied violence, implied sa references, slavery

AO3 link

Chapter 43 - Kaz

Kaatje de Waal’s office smelled of perfume and cigarette smoke, but beneath it Kaz could smell blood. It wasn’t a particularly large room but the decor was clearly structured to make it feel bigger than it was; most of the walls were painted a soft, creamy white but the one behind Kaz was papered with shimmering leaves and flowers growing up it and the large mirror on the opposite side of the room caught it well, Kaatje’s desk was just as ostentatious as Kaz might have expected but it wasn’t unnecessarily oversized, and if anything the entire space felt far more restrained than typical Barrel flash - excess, yes, but not what you might describe as gaudy. 

Kaatje herself was to some extent matching the same intention, but subtle didn’t sell in the Barrel and the dip of the neckline on her soft white dress would never be described as such - nor would the extensive jewellery that clattered lightly as she moved; at least three piercings in each ear and all sporting large silver pieces some of which hung almost low enough to trace her shoulders, multiple heavy necklaces that drew focus to the bare skin in between them, bangles and bracelets clinking up and down her wrists. She sat at her desk, leaning back in her chair with one arm laid casually over the back and her long cigarette holder drooping from between her fingers, surveying him with flat, dark eyes. The rest of features had a wolfish air to them but the eyes made her look like a shark; apathetic and unrelenting. 

“Mister Brekker,” she smiled, unnaturally white teeth gleaming beneath her painted lips, “Back again so soon?” 

Kaatje was perhaps thirty or a little older, but it was difficult to judge with the amount of Tailoring she put herself through. Even as she smiled any creases that should have appeared by her eyes were barely visible, and the smile itself seemed practised, stiff. The roots of her hair were a shade darker than the rest, though it was difficult to notice that at first because of the elaboration of her updo, and Kaz felt reason to suspect that the plumpness of her lips and the delicate arch of her eyebrows that, if you focused for long enough, didn’t quite match her bone structure were the work of a Corporalnik as well. 

“Please, sit,” she said, sitting forwards as she wafted her cigarette-bearing hand towards the chair in front of the desk, a thin wave of smoke following her movement. 

Kaz took the seat, resisting the need to stretch out his bad leg in front of him as he did so. The scent of her perfume wafted over him as she adjusted herself and it mingled with the smoke in the air as she took another drag, her flat eyes still working over him in their slow study. 

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asked, disguising nothing in her tone, “You know very well that I have trade deals elsewhere, and I’m not looking to cross Riesen tonight,”

“I’m not asking you to,” Kaz replied, his rough voice sounding only coarser still next to the chiming notes of Kaatje’s, “I have questions for you. The same as before,”

Kaatje’s expression soured slightly. 

“Mister Brekker, you came here asking me strange questions about a girl in my employ, a girl who is now missing, and you expect me to take no issue? If you have yourself wrapped up in some scheme with the councilman then leave my girl out of it and bring her back,” she hissed, ash spilling lightly over the table as she leant across it, “Jeluna is vulnerable, unpredictable even. She should be kept close, and kept safe,”

Kaz kept his surprise at the word councilman to himself, instead schooling his features into mild intrigue as he asked:

“Unpredictable how?”

And now missing? Jeluna had vanished two weeks ago, according to Nina, and the insistent line upon Kaz’s precious visit to the Willow Switch was that she wasn’t in the building. But maybe there was some vague truth in the story that Kaatje had spun for the stadwatch, of Jeluna being scheduled to spend time out with a client and simply never returning. But the closest he got to a response was just a sigh, whilst Kaatje tapped her cigarette holder over an ashtray that looked like it might have actually been real crystal. 

“You’ve put a warrant out for Jeluna’s arrest,” said Kaz, eventually, when the silence had gone on for some time, “Why wait until now? If you don’t really believe she ran then why not report her missing?”

“I have a feeling you intend to make this a long conversation,” she said, “So I think I’m going to need a drink,”

She rang a small bell sitting on the desk, a little golden thing with detailed paintings of some story or other of Ghezen’s shimmering up the curved sides, and the door to Kaz’s right took only a moment to click open. He was expecting a maid but the girl who slipped quietly into the room wore black silks, her flat stomach bare, her skin adorned with purple glitter. She was Suli, her long dark hair pulled tightly back into a bun with the front pieces gelled in swirling patterns on her forehead and a few farther down her face, a golden collar matching the one Nina and Jesper had removed from Jeluna’s flesh glittering tight around her neck. She had a translucent purple gown laid over her otherwise bare shoulders, the sleeves drooping wide around her wrists and the back long enough to dance just over the floorboards. 

“Viri my darling, would you be good enough to fetch me a coffee?” asked Kaatje, baring her teeth as she smiled, “And anything that Mister Brekker might want,”

“Of course, Tante,” she replied, her voice honeyed, her smile as practised as Kaatje’s but not nearly as stiff. 

Kaz abstained from a drink and Viri vanished as quickly as she’d appeared. 

“You said a councilman took Jeluna,” said Kaz, watching Kaatje closely, “I assume he paid for her time?”

“I thought you said you’d read the arrest warrant?” she asked, smiling her unnerving smile again, “I was quite clear, I think. She was scheduled to leave us for two weeks, but never returned. He told me that she ran but I felt suspicious, it’s so unlike her you see, and now here you are again, to ask about a girl no-one but me cared about until a few weeks ago. It’s strange, and you surely cannot expect me to trust you,”

“Alright then,” Kaz gripped the crow’s head of his cane, “So we don’t trust each other. I don’t trust most people, but I hope that won’t taint the relevance of my distrusting you,”

She laughed. 

“I think you know as well as I do that Jeluna would not run. The fact is-”

The door opened again and Kaatje broke off, something flashing in her eyes as she snapped: 

“Learn to knock, Viri,”

Viri dipped her gaze to the floor past the little tray balanced in her hands, halting where she stood as she mumbled her apology and only continuing to cross the room once Kaatje had told her to. Kaz flexed his fingers in his gloves. 

“Thank you my darling,” Kaatje crooned as the girl laid her cup out on the desk for her, looking back to Kaz as she went on: “Viri is my little angel, aren’t you?”

Viri’s cheeks blushed but she said nothing as she let Kaatje run her hand up her arm and settle for a moment on her shoulder. 

“She’s looking after me whilst I’m unwell, staying back here just with me all month long,”

Kaz was unaware people put time limits on their illnesses. 

“You don’t seem to be suffering,” he remarked, watching Viri roll her shoulders beneath Kaatje’s grasp. 

“You’re too kind. Viri, why don’t you sit with us, hm?”

It was very obviously not a question. The girl drew up a little white stool sitting by the desk and perched next to Kaatje, her posture perfect but her eyeline dipped towards the desk so she wasn’t looking at either of them. 

“We’re talking about Jeluna,” Kaatje told her, as though she were speaking to a small child, “Do you have anything to say, Viri?”

“Only that I am worried about her, and I want her to come home,” came the soft reply. 

Kaz restrained his grimace, but probably not very well. 

“I can admit it was a mistake to let her go for so long,” Kaatje continued, as though there had been no interruption and she had never requested Viri to speak, “But I do not think that Jeluna would run, she is too good for that. Too sensible,”

“Then why the arrest warrant?”

“I want her back,” said Kaatje, simply, “An arrest is a far quicker route to bring her home than reporting her missing is, so that’s what I did. Look at what missing reports did for Rollins and Heleen,”

This didn't make sense. What did the Merchant Council - or even just one councillor - have to do with the deaths of Tara and Amethyst, or the abduction of Jeluna? Kaz knew he shouldn’t have got involved in this; he had no stake in it. Look where his obsession with unsolvable puzzles had gotten him now. 

“Do you think the councilman is still holding her?” he asked, “Or that someone else got themself involved?”

“Why would Hoede keep her captive when he can afford to pay? If he wanted her that badly I’m sure there’s a number we could find for her to remain his. No, this is someone else I’m sure, or why would he bother with all this?”

Councilman Hoede. Kaz tucked the name away in his mind for safekeeping.

“I do hope that Jeluna is safe, mister Brekker,” she said, clearly hoping to draw an indirect confession from his mouth, “She struggles, you know, and I’ve been looking after her for so long now that I think it will quite frighten her to be alone,”

“How long?”

“Oh, at least six years now I think…” Kaatje thought for a moment, “Yes, six years,”

Kaz frowned. 

“She’s barely fourteen,” he pressed, “Surely-”

“Fourteen,” Kaatje nodded, “Always fourteen. Viri helps with that, don’t you my love? Very talented little girl, aren’t you?”

“She’s a Corporalnik,” said Kaz, understanding suddenly dawning on him, “You mean-?”

“That’s right. You can tell him, Viri, go on,”

Viri raised her gaze to his slowly, the heavy purple glitter on her eyelids shimmering. 

“My parents were not good people, sir,” she murmured, “But I was very lucky, Tante Kaatje found me and she takes care of me. She took me because I’m special, and she keeps me safe from people who would hurt me for it. And I can pass on that kindness, look after the others - like Jeluna,”

She looked quite earnest. When she turned, Kaz could see a cigarette burn above her ear. If she was a Healer she could have gotten rid of that easily, but he understood now that she never would. Not unless she was told to. 

And he understood now that Jeluna Kir-Mai was not fourteen. The papers he’d seen had said that she was first shipped to Kerch and sold at auction when she was nine, and that she’d ended up at the Willow Switch when she was thirteen. He hadn’t seen dates and so he hadn’t understood, it hadn't made sense to him how the conditioning had fastened such a tight hold on her in such a short time. But now it made sense. Jeluna Kir-Mair was a nineteen year old girl who’d been enslaved for over half her life; had spent every day of the past six years being tortured, being Tailored to keep her looking like a child, and being so horrendously manipulated that she knew nothing more than to still act like one. She might even genuinely believe it; he almost wouldn’t be surprised anymore. 

Kaz was suddenly unsure if he could finish the conversation. He couldn’t sit here looking at Viri any longer. He wondered how old she was, how long she’d been trapped on this monster’s leash. He knew that he should keep pressing for more information, and he knew that if he didn’t try to negotiate Jeluna’s contract now that he would only have to come back again. 

But Kaz stood up, adjusted his weight against his cane, and said: 

“If I find out you told Riesen I was here, or the Black Tips start kicking up any kind of fuss about this, then the one thing about me you can trust is that I’ll make you regret it. Are we clear?”

Kaatje’s smile was slow and wide, her whitened teeth and her painted lips mismatched with those predator’s eyes. 

“Crystal,”

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

This Dark Thing That Sleeps In Me - a Magnus Archives AU, Chapter Five

This is a DARK AU; it is not a kid-fic, though Jon is young. Bittersweet ending ahead.

Spoilers for the whole show, though this is very much an alternate universe.

Something truly new was coming this way—new to Jon, new in a way that frightened him, and he was so unused to being scared that it took the breath right from his lungs.

It approached, this thing, like a storm, like the tide, and everyone else in the room turned and bowed toward the door as if they were puppets on a single string.

AO3

Art by @iiiumihottie

Jon thought the carriage was amazing. He ran his fingertips over the dark red lacquer, stared with wide-eyed wonder at the gilded framework depicting battles and ocean waves and indistinct kings, studied the patterned seat fabric, which was unlike any fabric he’d yet encountered.

Martin kept checking around them. The next wave of Fingers weren’t close yet, so they should be okay.

“So you’re saying the date has to wait,” Mike said.

Martin gave him a look of such exasperation that Jon decided, on the spot, that he liked them both. 

Before Martin could answer, Jon said, “What’s it like being a vampire?”

Martin and Mike both stared at him.

“How… did you know that I am?” said Martin.

Jon blinked. “I mean. Isn’t it obvious?”

“No?” said Martin. He looked at Mike for confirmation.

Mike shrugs. “Not really, no.”

“Oh.” So he’d said a weird thing. The yelling would come next. Jon dropped his gaze.

But Martin didn’t yell. “You can actually see that?” he said, light and chipper and not at all accusing, and Jon risked a single glance up. 

Huh. No yelling seemed to be forthcoming “Yes.”

“What does that look like?”

In Jon’s entire fourteen years, no one had ever asked him that question. “I see red inside of you,” he began at once, leaning forward. “I see it like mist, just beneath your skin, but mostly from the side, not exactly if I look dead on. It’s a little like the purple storms that come sometimes, stealing life the moment they rain, but nobody else can see those, apparently, so I don’t know if you can, or if you know what they look like.”

“Purple,” Martin began, but Jon couldn’t stop now. 

“I look at you, and I can see hunger, and feel hunger, and I can tell it’s for blood, and I’ve read books, and I know there haven’t been vampires like you since the First Iteration, but here you are, and that means you’re either very old or very young, because the Will of the End decided the new vampires were no good and got rid of them, though I certainly don’t know why, so either you somehow survived that ‘cleansing,’ or somebody made you new, and that’s just baffling because why would the Will of the End have left you alive so long, anyway? And also, what is it like to drink blood?”

Mike started laughing. 

What was with this kid? “You see all that, do you?” said Martin.

“Yes,” said Jon, half hyper, half terrified. Any moment now, he’d be told to shut up. “So what’s it like?”

“Hungry,” said Martin, answering softly. “All the time. It means very patient friends who… help.”

“They let you have their blood,” Jon said.

“I want it to stay personal so it doesn't turn... wrong,” said Martin quietly, and redirected, tilting his head toward Mike. “What do you see when you look at him?”

“Whoa, now,” said Mike.

“You laugh, you’re part of the show,” Martin said primly.

Mike stuck his tongue out at him.

Jon looked. Jon shivered. “Tall jagged mountains, dark brown and spattered with white. I don’t know where they are,” he whispered. “Cold and sharp like knives. So far away you can’t make out the details. I think they’re enormous. The wind is so loud that it feels like your ears are bleeding.”

They all stared at one another.

“Eye?” suggested Mike again.

“Then why can’t we see him clearly?” said Martin.

“I’m not Aligned,” said Jon. “It never happened.”

“That really isn’t possible,” said Martin.

Mike nodded. “Looking right at you, I can see you… sort of. But if I turn my head away, I don’t—and I almost forget you’re there. It’s weird.”

“I think that's why nobody came,” said Jon. “When I turned ten.”

Martin sighed. “Maybe we’ll find out.”

“Bet your friend Sasha could make out a thing or two,” said Mike.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Who’s Sasha?”

“Works for the Heart of the End with me. She’s a natural philosopher.”

Ooh! One of those people who did experiments and discovered things. “So what does she do? Test things with fire and acid and such? Hey—is the Will of the End separate from the Heart? The books sometimes speculated Jonah Magnus was both.”

“Where did you read that? No, they’re two people,” said Martin. “Oliver Banks is the Will of the End.”

“How does that work?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t there when it was all set up.” Martin checked out the window again, visibly nervous.

“Should… should we just let them get me?” said Jon. “The empty things were coming for me, after all.”

“The Fingers?” said Mike.

“Yes. Hey, why are they called Fingers? They have full bodies.”

“Because… well, I suppose because they reach out and grab whatever the Will of the End wants,” said Martin.

“Oh,” said Jon. “That’s more boring than I’d hoped.”

“What did you hope?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Jon. “Maybe they all came together like clay and made a huge, single hand. That’d be pretty frightening, right?” he said, demonstrating with his hands an approximation of clay being mushed together.

“I like this kid,” said Mike, and Jon reddened.

The carriage angled suddenly, front end tilting so Jon was pressed back into his seat. He gasped. “Are we falling?”

“Oh—no, we’re on the path,” said Martin.

Jon stared at him. “What’s that?”

“Ever made it to the far end of London?”

“No, I… it felt like I shouldn’t.” His past self had said to stay away from this side of the city, so he had.

Martin wrestled with the window, which opened with a squeak. “Take a look.”

Jon carefully stuck his head through. At first glance, they seemed to be floating. All around them was a precipitous drop, terrible all the way down to white, foaming ocean. Jon, of course, leaned right out the window to see more.

Martin grabbed the back of his jacket, discovered its structural integrity was suspect, and held his arm instead.

Jon gave him a panicked look.

“Just so you can look without falling,” Martin says. “It’s all right. Go on.”

Permission to see?

Permission to see! Jon never got permission to see. He leaned back out the window.

The cab (and dead horse) trotted along a gently curving path that rose from the ocean like a wall, and it was so narrow that the wheels skirted right along the edge. There was no room for error; there was no room for another carriage. Fascinated, Jon looked back at London.

He had never imagined anything like it. Books did a fair job of describing things, but they were nothing like sight. London sprawled. It smoked like one big chimney. People like ants crawled all over its streets, and carriages of various sizes and wealth reflected sunlight like knives. It was gloriously ugly; uneven, asymmetrical, an absolute mess of housing and occasional manors.

And Jon realized with a shock that he could not tell where his home had been.

He had no reference point. There were many alleys, many row houses like he’d seen from his windows, many old, out-of-date buildings looming between the newer builds. The place he’d grown up was… lost to him. He hadn’t liked it, but still. This was a very, very weird feeling.

(And a familiar one. You can never go home again came to him from his past self, which he didn’t understand, but felt hollow and powerful and true.)

Martin tapped his shoulder. “Look the other way,” he said.

So. That might have been the reason his gut said to stay away, because once he'd got an eyeful of this place, he wouldn’t have been able to. 

This palace—fortress?—seemed to rise from rock thrust up from the sea, and it was a strange, black stone laced with purple chunks and purple branches, castellated and columned. Its edges matched the edges of the foundational rock on which it sat, and so its shape was odd; it had so many windows (and so many floors) that Jon was overwhelmed, forgetting how to count, and had to crane his neck to look up, up, up at the tallest, narrow tower, which rose so high in the air that its top seemed to narrow to a point.

“It’s something, right?” said Martin.

Jon didn’t want to come back into the carriage, but if he didn’t, he couldn’t ask questions. He compromised by pulling partway in before speaking. “It seems… large?”

Mike snorted.

“It is,” said Martin.

“Why is it so large?”

“The Heart of the End likes fancy things,” said Martin.

Well, it seemed fancy. “When was it built? How?”

“That’s before my time, I’m afraid,” said Martin.

“So you’re a young vampire,” said Jon.

Martin smiled. “I’m not that young—been doing this for over a century. Not entirely sure how long—lost a couple of years there, after my change.” 

“It’s called the transformation, ” Jon informed him primly. 

Mike snorted again.

“Be nice,” said Martin said to him. “I’m the only vampire right now, and the Heart called it the change.”

Jon looked betrayed. “He changed the name?”

Don’t laugh, Martin told himself. “He did.”

“I don’t like it when they change the names of things,” said Jon, his voice cracking. “Then nobody knows anything.”

“Probably half the reason he does it,” Martin muttered.

“Don’t need to know anything, though, do you?” says Mike. “It doesn’t really matter.”

And fuck, did the carriage get cold, and huge, though nothing had changed, and no one had moved, but suddenly they were so far away from each other that they could not see one another’s faces. Martin gasped. The irrelevance hit him in the chest, like it always did. They’d fucked like this, a couple of times, and it had its pros—all about pure sensation, no sense of self—but he didn’t honestly enjoy forgetting who he was or why it mattered.

It didn’t affect Jon that way. It didn’t affect Jon at all. “But it does matter!” Jon shouted, not angrily, but just because everyone was far.

“Mike, please!” Martin gasped, his voice sounding distant and tinny and tinny.

Jon looked around. “This is so weird!” he shouted, then winced at his own volume.

Mike frowned, and suddenly the carriage was normal. “He’s Eye,” he said. “Can’t mark him for the Vast.”

“He’s not marked by the Eye, either, according to Annabelle.” Martin was shivering. “Warn a guy, would you?”

“Sorry. But he should’ve been marked.”

“By all means, take it up with the disembodied eyeball.” Martin said, and rubbed his face as the carriage finally came to a halt. “Thank the grave, we’re here,” he muttered, hopped out, and held the door for Jon. 

Jon looked fine. He hopped down, nearly lost his footing, and leaned into Martin’s grab. 

This boy was skin and bone. “When did you last eat something?” said Martin.

“Yesterday,” said Jon. “I’m not hungry right now.”

Martin sighed. “Sure. Come on. It’s time to meet my natural philosopher friend.”

“Sasha.”

“That’s right.”

Mike followed.

“You sure?” said Martin to him, over his shoulder.

“Just because they don’t ring your bell like I do,” said Mike, left it at that, and followed.

#

Jon tried to see everything as they went inside; to note the pillars and archways, to wonder at the windows so high nothing could see through them, to ponder at the dark shadows left and right. So many doors, so many pathways. The floor hid some kind of shiny pattern in polished, dark stone; his boots, still soaked from his dunk in the sea, slipped on it more than a little. But then they turned away from this main, broad foyer, and through one of the arched and pointed doors.

It was a hall. Lined with more doors, and only a stone flag floor instead of shiny patterned black. This was a far less intimidating area.

Still. The weight of this enormous structure seemed to press down on him, and Jon hunched. “I’m sorry, I’m making a mess,” he said.

“It’s okay. Someone will clean it up. Come on.” Martin sounded like he meant it.

“Hey,” Jon said. “Are you nice because you’re a vampire?”

Martin blinked at him, pausing with his hand on yet another door. “What?”

“You’re nicer than anyone I’ve met,” said Jon. “The only factor not shared by others is that you’re a vampire. So. Does that make you nice?”

“Uh… I think being nice makes you nice?” said Martin, who had absolutely no idea where to go with this.

Jon looked dissatisfied. “That’s like saying fire burns because it’s hot.”

Martin took another turn. “All right, well,” he said. “I think being kind—which is more important than nice—is a choice.”

“Why is it more important?”

What was with this kid? “Nice is fake. It’s being polite when you don’t actually mean it, and not bothering when it costs you anything. Being kind is better. It means you don’t get anything out of it, and you’re choosing to do the right thing to others whether or not it hurts you.”

Jon suddenly felt off. “Is being kind to me hurting you?”

“What? No, no, it… I mean, it doesn’t always hurt.”

“Oh.” But something did. Jon knew. Martin’s kindness to him was dangerous to Martin, or… or…

He couldn’t hold onto that answer, and it was gone. He sighed.

“You’ve really never met anybody who’s just even nice to you?” said Martin.

“No.” Jon was quiet. 

Martin took that in. “I’m sorry. People should’ve been,” he said, and opened another door.

It was a dark room, very dark, with a single table under bright white light and two silhouettes of people.

“Marto!” said a man. “To what do we owe the honor?”

“I have a conundrum,” said Martin.

“And so you bring your problems to me, as always,” said a woman with cheer, and stepped out of the gloom. She was pretty; her kinky hair was thick and pulled back in a bun. She was dressed in an odd white uniform, a long coat with too many buttons to be decorative, and on her head was some kind of bizarre contraption of brass and glass and limbs to move the lenses around. “Ugh. You could’ve just said it was him.”

“Yo,” said Mike over Martin’s shoulder.

“What? No, it’s this kid,” said Martin.

Both people startled.

“What… what the fuck is that?” said the man, coming forward into the light. 

Jon knew him. Knew Sasha, too. He was beginning to get a feeling about all of this regarding his past self. 

This man wore a positively indecent white shirt that didn’t even have buttons and just closed in a vee under the red sash around his waist. His black pants were so tight that Jon could see far too much; his earrings sparkled (and didn’t match, but that was somehow better). His lips had to be artificially pink, and so did the blue shading around his brown eyes; dark hair, tanned skin, and a grin that made Jon want to grin back all felt like something he knew like the back of his hand, though he had definitely never met this man before. 

“This is Jon. So it’s hard to see him,” said Martin.

“Yeah, can see that. Why?” said the man.

“I can’t tell what I’m…” said the woman, who had to be Sasha, and bent down a little to make eye-contact. “You’re alive, right?”

“I think so,” said Jon. “If not, I’m annoyed that I still get hungry and need sleep.”

“A valid point.” She smiled. “I’m Sasha.”

“I know. Martin told me.”

“Did he, now?” she said, glancing over his head at Martin.

The man (Jon almost had his name) leaned in, peering. “What happened to you? You look like a wet cat.”

Martin sighed. “Kind of a lot? I had to fight Fingers.”

“Oh, nasty,” said the man with relish.

Sasha frowned, eyeing Jon’s clothes with clinical precision. “Underfed,” she said, leaning in. Her eye through that single goggle was enormous. “And you are Uncertain. I don’t know how, but you are.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m fourteen, Ms. James.”

“Tim, can you get some clothes for them both?” said Sasha. “Jon, you can use my chemical burn shower. Martin, use the one in my room. You both need it fairly badly.”

“Sorry,” said Martin.

“Can I watch?” said Mike.

“Not helping,” Martin muttered at him.

Tim grinned and opened his mouth to say something, and then he froze.

They all froze.

Something truly new was coming this way—new to Jon, new in a way that frightened him, and he was so unused to being scared that it took the breath right from his lungs.

It approached, this thing, like a storm, like the tide, and everyone else in the room turned and bowed toward the door as if they were puppets on a single string.

Jon panicked. Should he hide? What should he do?

Steady, said that self, that past, that source of Answers, telling him to brace, to be still, to be smart.

Jon tried to calm his mind, but couldn’t help holding his breath.

chapter six

[mdhwrites]

what are your thoughts on luz insisting on calling philip 'belos'? as a trans person it felt like a weird decision cause he specifically asked to be called philip. what makes it worse is he is depicted as an evil monster/irredeemable for being so "two-faced" which is not great when he says something that most definitely does not sound cis

i'm inclined to believe this wasn't intentional malice on the part of the show writers cause honestly they probably forgot he said that or just didn't put too much thought into the dialogue when they were writing it. regardless it still came off as slightly irritating to me. i like ur takes so im curious what u think

So first I just want to throw out that despite the fact that I'm pushing myself more and more to be inclusive, transgender identity and characters is one of those things I'm not comfortable doing myself. I still argue with myself about a joke with Daina in Rich Witch that has spoiler explanations/justifications. It's not because I'm anti-trans either. Trans rights are human rights. Period. But like… There's a reason Juro Rigged Pets, literally started the day I chose to stop watching TOH or close to that, is a converted fic because I want to use the community as a soundboard for not fucking up with my first enby character because Luz is non-binary in that one.

And if you're going "Wait, why are you okay with writing sapphics then?" Well, my personal reasoning is that I see love as love and that that emotion is fairly universal, even if the expression is going to change due to gender. There is still an emotional in for me to write them, I've been exposed to a LOT more sapphic emotions and talking than I have anything about trans identity and in general I just like writing and hanging out with girls more. Not even from a "Hurr hurr, I'm a straight white dude" perspective but more from a "I like that these people seem to be capable of being more mature, emotional and honest than a lot of the guys my age seem to be." I literally spent lunch most of the time in High School with only girls around me. I just don't know if I have a comfortable, emotional in when it comes to gender identity. While identity is universal, questioning one's gender and how people treat you about it is not. It's just not the same from my perception as a feeling like love. Is that maybe small minded me? Maybe. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like the best I can do in a situation is admit my own ignorance and hope I learn to do better in the future. My ears are always open though to try and learn and understand better.

I say all of this because… Well I don't think I have a lot to say about your ask. I mostly agree. It's not meant to have any active malice to it even if it's a dick move by Luz. If we're charitable, it's meant to be reinforcing the point Luz makes in that scene about Belos wanting to be called a human name when he has clearly thrown away his humanity for his goals.

Which… I don't like in general. Yes, he is monstrous and has magic but it's really the only time they make the case and Belos still identifies as human more than he identifies as magical. If they were willing to interrogate it more, it'd be a cool recognition of the use of religion and the like to say you have noble goals while being the literal worst person ever but it's much more about Belos being a literal monster than his inner monstrosity in that moment. Like so much with Belos, it's an interesting idea obviously on the writer's mind but not done anything with because they won't dedicate the effort to it.

If we take it less charitably and look at Luz's character as a whole… Why should Luz care about other people's identities? Her claims of caring about other weirdos and the like never come out to anything. I've talked about before how Yesterday's Lie plus the pilot kind of implies that Luz actively chose never to make friends with nerds because they weren't special enough. That Willow and Gus only meet her requirements because they have magic.

Luz doesn't see Belos as meeting those requirements so why would she care about basic rights such as being given the name you desire? I think this is too mean of a take. I don't know if I personally agree with it but it is the unintentional effect that one can take from it just like how you feel awkward about the dead name being used at all when a preference is shown.

It's like if someone calls me Mikey. I don't like it. Someone pointed out to me that it's like a dog's name when I was a kid and ever since I've HATED being called that. Mike is fine but don't call me Mikey. If someone does, I know they don't give a shit about me and so I shouldn't give a shit about them and we better split our separate ways. Same goes for the assholes who have befriended my brother and called me shit like Chris 2 or Chris' Brother. Alright asshole, I see how little I matter so I'm just going to go now.

Hell, I gained a little bit of an identity issue with my brother when we were both in JROTC because a lot of people go by last names in that program. You have a twin, you end up getting called the same thing. Equated to each other. Etc. like that. Fun times.

But like Luz disrespecting Belos, I didn't take it as disrespectful until people started thinking I could be my brother's wrangler or that I should be matching my brother's athletic accomplishments. And that's what I feel about with Luz denying Belos the courtesy. It's kept at just the functional level of "You're the villain and this is the name you used to rise to power so I will not let you forget that," then seeming to be active malice about a person's identity and how they wish to be called.

Could it have been cut to be more comfortable to those who care deeply about dead names, identity, etc. like that? Yes. Could I imagine people with those same issues also overlooking it because at worst it's a microaggression as presented and the show is at least mostly respectful to people's identities? Also yes. So I don't really know which way to lean on it.

I wish I did. I wish I felt more comfortable with the subject. Frankly I'm paranoid about my personal stories here to give context to my perspective on these matters still being tasteless. I try not to let stuff like this stop me from giving my thoughts but…

Well, I want to be respectful. Maybe even more respectful than Luz is to others, depending on how you want to turn the globe of her character. Edit: I do want to mention that I actually have a fanfic where Luz is non-binary. I'm actually proud of how much that story will theoretically touch on identity and change frankly. At the time I also thought I had a Discord who would help me make sure to do it right/convinced me to give it a shot and didn't realize that enby people are considered on the trans spectrum. It's called Joro Rigged Pets. Like Crises Girlfriends, I plan to convert it someday after I finish it first as fanfiction. I'd love all of yours thoughts and feelings on how I'm doing it because like I said: I do try to be respectful. ========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[galaxyofender]

galaxy galaxy galaxy your Treebark fan kids all sound so interesting please share their origins

also do Ren and Martyn have a fav child (shshshsh ik realistically they wouldn’t but t’would be funny methinks

OKAY SO- first of all, here's a drawing of the three of them, look at my kids (from left to right: gawain, lycaon and persephone)

this post is going to be quite long so uh under a readmore it goes

okay second, i'll start with persephone, because the is the eldest child

when ren and martyn brought red winter, disturbing the natural order of the seasons, they called the attention of a bunch of seasonal spirits, looking for what had caused such a disturbance.

the youngest of these, one named persephone, tries to look closer at the two people who have caused the problem by disguising herself among their villagers. martyn, however, recognized immediately that this girl is not one of their villagers. ren and martyn try to give her back to the spirits, but she returns pretty soon.

persephone starts hanging out around dogwarts more and more often, helping ren and martyn but also pranking them both. martyn keeps joking of trying to return her again to the seasonal spirits that decided to stick around dogwarts, but both ren and martyn find that neither of them want to actually return her back, that they both have grown so used to having her around.

by the time 3rd life ends, ren and martyn look at each other and realize they both accidentally adopted a daughter, so they ask if persephone wants to come to hermitcraft with them, to which she says yes! ren also gifts her the skizz blade after 3rd life.

later on, she makes a separate server for her friends called the oasis, but continues visiting hermitcraft pretty frequently.

(design note: if you know dnd and the eladrin elves, that isnt that unaccurate of a comparison to how persephone works! also she does take the form of an avian most times, usually an owl avian)

second child now, gawain!

soon after treebark adopts persephone, ren gets a complaint from two of his villagers, something about their child being replaced with a changeling. when both ren and martyn see of trying to figure out what is wrong, they meet gawain.

the villagers explain that they just realized now that the fae tricked them and that both are very pissed off about it, and that they wanted to get rid of the changeling child. martyn, being one of fae himself, talks ren into adopting gawain as well, if the villagers didn't want him as their son.

from that point fowards, dogwarts has both a princess and a prince! :]

after 3rd life, he lives in hermitcraft with ren and persephone before persephone makes the oasis server, and also martyn gifts him the red winter axe too.

(design note: for this universe, changelings take the traits of whoever they consider their parents to be, even if they aren't biologically related! that is why gawain looks the most like ren and martyn out of all of their adopted children)

last child, and i promise this one is the last ROVIN SAFETYRAT YOU WILL NOT TALK ME INTO MAKING A FOURTH, lycaon!

martyn still doesn't have a home server, so he is still wandering around as a world hopper after double life, even if he does return to hermitcraft pretty often.

during one of these wanderings, he comes across a village in a snowy taiga and a very young wolf pup in the nearby forest that acts very friendly and doesn't seem to have parents. visiting the villagers the morning after, martyn finds a child with white wolf ears and a tail, hanging around an old woman, who does really remind him of the baby wolf he saw the last night.

asking the old woman, she invites him in to talk with a warm cup of tea, since he clearly looked like he wasn't from here. she explains that the boy's name is lycaon, and that his mom passed away not long after he was born, because of complications with the birth. after that, she took the baby to raise, since nobody knew who the father was.

martyn asks about the wolf ears, to which the old woman replies that she's getting to it. she says that some months ago, lycaon and a few other children of the village wandered too far out, into what apparently was the den of a family of werewolves, and lycaon got bitten.

they all noticed that his hair went white and a pair of wolf ears appeared, and the villagers knew that the child was now a werewolf even before the next full moon. the rest of the village children are a bit scared, not knowing what to think.

martyn brings up that he does know a werewolf, not mentioning that he is the partner of the werewolf he is talking about but being very obvious that he’s so very gay for this specific wolf, and that he might be able to help. the old woman reacts to it in a way of "well, you can try, if the child will come with you."

lycaon, who was hiding and overhearing their conversation, immediately jumps out the second he hears of another person like him. the old woman laughs, and martyn is like "well, i can take you to meet him if you'd like" to which lycaon agrees that he wants to meet this person. the old woman comments that maybe it’s for the best that lycaon is around others like him.

when martyn brings lycaon to hermitcraft and to ren, it takes one look from ren of "can we keep him?" to know that this will end up being another adoption.

(design note: the red shirt lycaon is wearing is actually one of ren's shirts! ren has tried and failed in convincing him to give it back)

other notes to make are:

persephone and gawain are 14-16 ish years old, lycaon is 8-10 ish

i do have other fankids and these three are friends with them!

the oasis server gets made somewhere in late hc s8, so during moon big but before it all goes to shit. also lycaon gets adopted during s9, possibly after the king plot ends?

i did write a little thing about gawain yesterday :D

[redolentgrove]

"For the last time, Mille-Feuille, darling, your father and I have a business deal to close with this 'Loki' who promised us the most gorgeous display for Madeleine's wedding tomorrow. Personally, I doubt any one Pokemon could produce as many flowers as she requested, but at least this florist made an attempt to provide as much as she could!"

A shiny Dachsbun anthro, clad in her Harmonia University uniform, followed along behind a pair of much more spiffily-dressed canines. There was a Dachsbun female, non-shiny, and a Furfrou male, shiny, in a Debutante trim, the former wearing a long white "mermaid-style" dress and holding a black handbag, and the latter in a dapper purple tuxdeo. They both carried hot-to-trot attitudes, the Dachsbun more than the Furfrou, much unlike their daughter, who clearly wasn't sure why she was here to begin with. Usually if she wasn't in some sort of gala-level get-up, her elders would refuse to be seen near her.

Morning birds sang and the grass buzzed with fresh dewdrops. The sun had barely begun to rise over the horizon, still obscured by many of White Forest's treelines. But in a particular Redolent Grove, there were little clearings where the rising sun was quite visible, a harbinger of another hot, summer day to come.

"Look, Mom," the younger canid began, "that's not really what I meant. I mean… why do you want me here if I'm just going to be in this university clothing? Don't you usually like me being in, oh, I don't know… some sort of elevated level of clothing? Some sort of label, a designer ballgown, heels, anything to actually seem like I'm related to you besides just being a Dachsbun? And why are you so dressed up for that matter? For a forest?"

The elder fairy cackled. "Oh, for once you're not here to look good, Mille-Feuille," she chimed, her tail wagging heatedly. "No, I want you here because I caught wind that our florist happens to have a child attending school with you next year, and I want you to show our dear 'Loki' that we're not that far above her, despite what any paychecks and estates would , even though your father and I wish to maintain our… elegance, despite the climates. You're our... humility belt, as it were.

"Har-har. And her child? Yeah, you mean Bijoux." Mille-Feuille perked her left brow. "I told you all about her when I got back from the tour, remember? They ended up assigning us to the same dorm as roommates… she's the shiny Cinccino-taur in all of the pictures I showed you."

"Ah, this '-taur' thing…" The Furfrou interjected himself into the conversation uneasily, but carried forward. "I spoke with miss Loki over the phone; she said she was one as well. Remind me, Mille-Feuille… what exactly does that mean, per se? It sounds a bit like 'tower;' does that mean she's going to be especially tall? I can't imagine how good one would be with flowers as a giant… suddenly I'm a bit worried."

"I can assure you, good sir, that I'm no giant."

The three canids all whipped their heads to the voice's source. Loki stepped out from behind a tree to show herself, causing all three of them to step back in varied degrees of shock. The two elder Pokemon, much more pronouncedly, while Mille-Feuille seemed to only slightly quiver. It was almost forced, like she just didn't want to make her parents look bad.

"Dear Arceus…" The elder Dachsbun woman covered her snout. "You're a Shaymin? And a hybrid, no less! But darling, that limb count, the ears, all superfluous… I suppose this would be one of the… very few mixtures of Shaymin that pulls together a cohesive look, but still…"

Loki watched the group with perked ears, trying to judge if this dog was just being the standard brand of snooty, or if she was going to have to end up getting something to use for self-defence, or to beat some sense. She narrowed her eyes. "That, dear lady, is not a compliment. Not exactly the greatest way to a first impression, no, no…"

The Furfrou shook his head and bowed slightly before the Dachsbun could protest. "Ah - l-listen, miss Loki, I do apologise for my wife; she's… incredibly blunt with her words. Anyway… I'm Hugh Carême; we spoke over the phone earlier this morning. This is my wife, Vera, and my daughter, Mille-Feuille." He offered Loki a handpaw to shake. He was clearly there for damage control, a notion that most merchants would greatly appreciate.

Loki smiled at Hugh. Okay. At least one of the parents isn't a total head-ass. I feel bad for the kid, though. She really doesn't look like she's enjoying this at all. She accepted the offer gladly, also returning the bow briefly before standing back up. "Ah yes, the Carême family… you had quite a challenging order! Ten dozen white roses, ten dozen black roses, ten dozen purple roses, ten dozen pink roses, five dozen Gracidea flowers… I'll return momentarily."

Vera tapped a footpaw impatiently. "Yes, yes; I'm well aware of our order, now the question is, did you actually fulfill it…"

"Mom, don't start," Mille-Feuille protested briefly, as Loki stepped cautiously away from the trio, "I mean, you do remember the last florist you did this to banned us from her shop entirely? Miss Loki is one of the only florists Dad called that didn't have all our numbers and faces on a 'do not serve' file!"

"Now, Mille-Feuille," Vera rebutted, "A woman knows what she wants, and does what she must, to get it. Feelings are not part of a job description, and let no one convince you otherwise."

"Dad! Can you talk some sense into her for once and tell her to stop trying to make enemies with everyone she meets?"

Hugh just shook his head and turned to the right, clearly knowing better than to even try at this point. Some would have called him a genius, others would consider him a coward. Either way, it was a survival instinct to him.

"Smartest thing he's said all year," Vera mumbled. "Now, where is that florist with my flowers…"

"Madeleine's flowers," Mille-Feuille countered. "These are for her wedding, remember? This isn't about you for once…" She could feel Vera's preparation of a verbal lashing, but just then…

"Well, I've got the cart packed. You said the event was in Undella Town?" Loki returned to the group, outfitted with a harness that attached herself to a wooden cart. Inside the cart, there were many bundles of flowers… forty-five dozen, to be exact. All of the requested colours, all of them arranged in precise order and pruned to perfection. "Ah, but wait, before we go…"

"Of course, time to shake me down for money, I get it…" Vera reached into her handbag.

"No, no, miss Carême, not yet; I was going to say, you should look and count your order, make sure it's all correct." Loki gestured to her to come forward and look into the cart. "Wouldn't want to get all the way to Undella and miss a single stem, would we? You'll pay me once the count's right. And before we get there, we should make sure your order's complete. You'd like to do so alone, I presume? I won't hover; wouldn't want me creating a rush or a false sense of counting."

"Smart; I trust my numbers way more than yours. Glad to see there's a brain in your head after all." Vera gestured her head toward the Furfrou. "Hugh, I swear to Arceus, stop moping over there and put that mathematical brain of yours to actual use, why don't you? And Mille-Feuille… you seem to know how to speak to these 'taur' creatures; ask if your little friend is around to see you." She and Hugh went over to the back of the cart, looking carefully and counting through the bundles, sorting them back into colours to keep track.

I'm right here, you know. But Loki let the comments slide; words were only words and the ones disparaging her looks had long since lost their punch. But maybe it'd be better for the little one to be away from your influence for a bit.

"Miss… Loki?" Mille-Feuille walked over to Loki's front right flank, admiring the size of her Gracidea bloom while her parents toiled in their inspection. She was surprised that she was taller than yet another Pokemon-taur, given that most of the legends spoke of them being rather large. She tried not to stare too long, not wanting to give off the wrong impression.

"You don't want to be here right now, do you, Mille-Feuille?" Loki asked in a hushed tone, her right ear perked slightly. "You've had the most uneasy look on your face since the instant I saw you…"

"Uh… really, I'd just prefer Millie," the teen whispered, her snout wrinkling. "And no, ma'am, but n-not because of you! I promise! I just… our family's Undella villa, this wedding…" She looked over at her parents, causing Loki to raise a hand.

"Say no more. You must be the roommate Bijoux's been so excited to move in with next year." She handed Millie a single Gracidea bloom and a forest map. "Keep this one between us, okay?"

"M-miss Loki, I couldn't-"

"I'd prefer just Loki," the hybrid replied, with a kind smile. "At this time of day? Bijoux's probably over by the eastern lake clearing. I'm sure she could use the sight of a friendly face."

"How did you know I was Bijoux's roommate? You didn't show up until well after I said that."

Loki wiggled her ears. "You think these things are just for catching radio signals and being giant leaves? I heard a lot more than you think I did, Millie… and it doesn't help that I was behind that tree for a good five minutes before you even got here. Now, make an escape, before they realise what I'm doing. I'll buy you until sundown, okay?"

"T-thank you…" Millie ran off, and about a minute later, Vera returned to Loki with an angry huff. Hugh strode right behind her, clearing his throat as he announced their findings.

"Okay, that's… ten dozen white roses, ten dozen black roses, ten dozen pink roses, ten dozen purple roses, and five dozen Gracideas. Forty-five dozen, all accounted for, all prim and proper, beautifully trimmed, perfect condition. Miss Loki, you've done the impossible!"

"What can I say," Loki said with a shrug. "This hybrid mix is like the Midas touch for flowers; you ask for it, I'll make it happen."

"Damn you for being right," Vera fussed, reaching into her handbag once again and pulling out her checkbook, beginning to date and sign the topmost one. "What was the quote again, two million?"

"Two million, yes ma'am." Loki watched Vera finish the check with a proud hum.

"Here." The Dachsbun sighed defeatedly and handed Loki the check. "Didn't think you had a ghost of a chance to pull it off, but guess I'm eating Honchkrow pie tonight. Whatever. Are we going to Undella Town now?"

"Of course." Loki put the check in her saddlebag, and looked back at her cart. "There should be some seating space in the cart, just hop on in amongst your flowers and-"

"Are you insane!?" the Dachsbun interjected. "Ride in a cart; what is this, a family Halloween adventure? I'm not walking; If I'm being chauffeured, it's on your back or bust."

Loki's eyes narrowed. "No, ma'am, I don't think that's going to be happening; I'm not a ride Pokemon. Not unless you're willing to write another two million check…"

Vera scoffed. "Two million to go one route on a taur's back… maybe a cross-Unova expedition, but not that short of a distance!"

Loki smiled broadly. "Didn't think so. Besides, don't you want to be close to the flowers, miss Carême? If you're riding in the cart, you can make sure they don't get damaged in the transport process! Do you really think you can trust just one set of eyes back there to keep everything safe?"

Vera looked back at Hugh, who let out a bit of a whine. Loki flashed a brief look of apology before she could be spotted, and as the Dachsbun's eyes returned to Loki's…

"Damn it! Fine. You're right; I can't trust Hugh with anything that isn't mathematics. Poor bastard gets lost finding his wardrobe every morning. I can't argue I'd rather see things firsthand and make sure nothing happens, after all the work you did to make these." The last words seethed in a seeming protest, but Vera knew when she had been beaten.

She and Hugh carefully arranged the floral bundles to make themselves room in the cart, and once the two were in, Hugh closed the cart's back gate to lock themselves in safely.

"Is the safety latch locked tightly back there?" Loki questioned. "I can't unharness myself without causing you to tilt, and I don't want to risk the flowers being smashed…"

Vera waved Loki off with a nod. "Yes… my husband sealed everything; you're good to go. Say… what did you give my daughter up there?"

"Your daughter? Oh, Mille-Feuille… ah, yes, I gave her a forest map. She saw the cart and knew all three of you wouldn't fit, so she thought she'd use the time to see if she could find Bijoux, since she was already here. She said she'll meet you back at your villa to watch the sunset."

"Oh, that stubborn girl… living the high life and she wants to go play with commoners… ah, well, at least she knows where the villa is. Very well. But if a single hair on her head is missing or she doesn't make the sunset…" Vera made a bit of a slashing motion with her right hand.

"Yes, yes, you know where to find me," Loki trilled unshakenly, stepping forward to begin the journey to Undella Town, keeping a jaunty but safe pace. At their current run it would be about midday before the three made it to the beachside villa, almost too long for any of them to stand, for varied reasons...

(( Millie has been introduced! ))

[hidingoutbackstage]

man i feel you so badly about how the dlc dropped the ball on proper rose and eveline writing especially with their parallels… if you were to write the dlc, how would you handle it though, your analysis and RE thoughts are the best

Okay first off aww that's so sweet I really appreciate that. Second, idk how long this is going to be, so it'll go under a read more just in case

I'm going to split my personal choices for the DLC into basically two thoughts: How I would do a DLC of my own, and how I would change the DLC we actually got. Gonna do the latter first cuz I think it'll be shorter.

Changing Shadows of Rose

Right off the bat, I would like to give an inkling of what this world Rose is a part of looks like, and how it is different to the world as we last saw it in Resident Evil: Village. Because 16 years is a long time. The beginning of Resident Evil 0, and the end of Resident Evil Vendetta, all happened within 16 years. That is every single canon Resident Evil game, movie, tv show, etc. before 7 and 8 came out. Every single one. A lot can happen in this universe in 16 years. Adding on the fact that there were a lot of unanswered questions in 8 (Why did HWS go rogue? Who even are they? What's up with the Connections and what are they still up to (did they even ever get anything from the end of Not A Hero?)? Is the BSAA evil now since they were using fucking bioweapons as soldiers? What happened when HWS got to BSAA Europe HQ? What happened to Mia? How did Rose grow up? Is she an agent? Was she trained? Where are literally any member of the BSAA or any recurring characters in general apart from Chris?) it just comes across as brushing aside a mountain as if it were a molehill. The information we do get is laughable at best, and raises even more questions at worst.

Who is K? I already speculated that he was supposed to be John (before I watched the DLC) because their models are so similar, but their voices aren't the same and K doesn't have the scar on his face that John does. But Rose explicitly mentions that K is on Hound Wolf Squad, so,

Why is Hound Wolf Squad still around? Weren't they a rogue unit that the BSAA was trying to get a handle on, but Chris was focused on taking down Miranda and not listening to the BSAA's orders

Why is Hound Wolf Squad accepting new members? As I said, K isn't John, and John is the only white man on HWS apart from Chris, so this is clearly a new guy. I thought HWS was solely made up of people Chris really trusted, more than the BSAA.

Wow that's a lot and that's just one bullet point I want to fix. Here's a bit more, rapid fire:

Just make K be John. Have her call him J or L instead of splitting the difference

Have Rose mention whatever organization Chris is working for. BSAA, an individual company, fucking something to give us input

Don't have Rose be going to school. I (as an audience member) would sympathize with her so much more if she were kept in a lab and called "freak" by the people who watch over her, than going to public school as a normal kid and getting called "freak" by kids her age

Also make Rose's insults more than just things that 7 year olds could come up with. Have her be called inhuman, have her be called a mistake, have her be called a little bitch, have her be called a failure. That kind of dehumanization name calling is what got me to sympathize for Eveline (along with, you know, the fact that Eveline was abused)

The insults being so laughable makes Rose's extreme reaction to it, covering her ears with her hands and screaming to stop, look unreasonable, make her look childish

I can't fault her for a lot of the cringy observational dialogue since that's a staple of horror game protagonists to get the audience questioning what's going on, but the degree which it happened still pissed me off. Moving on

Don't have her be so mean to Eveline. Or draw worthwhile parallels between Rose and Eveline. Have them connect on what makes them feel isolated. Evie is not a villain for taking out the anger and frustration that stemmed from her abuse, fueled by seeing Rose being ungrateful for having everything Evie wanted, it is the understandable reaction of a 7 year old who has had enough of this shit. The fact that the DLC shows Evie crying and lamenting about how she's "worthless" and "no one loves her" so they're clearly aware that this is something Evie struggles with

Semi-related, give Eveline a happy ending. Eveline has never been a villain. She was an antagonist in 7. She can still be an antagonist in Shadows of Rose. But for the love of g-d let this character, who has arguably the most suffering of anyone in the whole series, have some catharsis of a happy ending. Have her go live with Jack and Marguerite, for example.

Doubly for Eveline, I still really think that Evie would've worked better as Michael rather than Ethan. They could've made it so "Michael" was luring Rose to Eveline's domain, which is why Michael can't help Rose out when she's there, Michael was decent to Rose, and Rose was nice to them in return, it could've been nice to see Eveline having her first ever friend that she reached out to in kindness first. Only for Rose to shut Eveline out when Evie wants Rose to be her friend in the mold forever, which causes Evie to lash out and try to force Rose to stay with her like she was taught to do since birth. There, now Eveline gets some sympathy and is shown kindness, and her hatred towards Rose is more obvious to people who don't connect the dots and realize Evie is jealous of Rose having the life and family that Eveline wanted.

I have nothing to say about Miranda's plan, it's very fucking dumb, but I do have two notes about the ending:

Number one, show us Ethan's fucking face. But ONLY at the moment where, after defeating Miranda, Rose says to him "But then we wouldn't have this moment talking face to face." We can finally see the face of the man who sacrificed and fought with everything for his daughter, we can see the first emotion on Ethan's face ever, love, as he looks at his daughter and the girl she has grown up to be. It would be moving for us and make us feel more for Rose

Number two: Don't have it end the way it did. I actually have two potential alternate endings. Either have Rose "die" and stay in the mold with Ethan, the man she has missed out on her whole life, her only family (since apparently according to developers she didn't grow up under Mia) and someone who treated her like a real friend. Or have Rose leave the mold, but choose to lose her powers. The whole fucking reason she went in there to begin with. Rose didn't grow, didn't learn anything, and her outlook on her powers didn't really seem to change, at least that we could see. Sure she's more powerful now but does she have them outside of the mold? Does she have control of them outside of the mold? More unanswered questions. Just have her use the crystal to take away her powers, and therefore with her mold gone, so is her connection to the mind palace, and she's human again. Boom good ending (the fact that this happened before the graveyard scene is sooo stupid) My point is have her LOSE something. She lost nothing throughout the entire story, only gaining closure and even more op mold powers that are still ambiguous. Having her lose something might make her more sympathetic or more interesting.

Okay so that's how I'd fix the Rose DLC we got. Still there? Great

What MY version of the 8 DLC would look like

Gonna first paste this (whatever the opposite of prophetic is) poll from my friend's Eveline support discord server:

Funny. None of our predictions even suggested Rose would be in it, let alone be the main character

Gonna go in poll order

Follow HWS

Like I stated prior, there are SO many unanswered questions related to HWS. Even during Village. We could still play as Chris, but see what he and his squad were up to during Village while Ethan is...over there. You could flesh out these side characters, give us some insight as to why Chris trusts them, show us HWS' battle with the mold creatures, learn more about their mission. (Spoilers for WAY down the line for my fic series YHSB but clearly this is something I've put a lot of consideration into. Wink. Lol)

If they didn't want to lazily reuse assets from 8 which is what Shadows of Rose did then the DLC could pull a Not A Hero and pick up immediately after the events of 8. For whatever reason, not everyone was on the Osprey when the aircraft took off, they were probably at some rendezvous point since Chris says "pick up the rest of the squad" sooo wouldn't it be interesting to follow them leaving the village? Play as one of them fighting the monsters? Hell you could play as Canine fighting the lycans and the bioweapon soldiers before the ending I think that’d be neat. Off topic but I’m excited to get to play as them in RE: Verse. Anyway next DLC idea

Follow a maiden/the events at Castle Dimitrescu before the events of 8

This one I’m less enthusiastic about, but I could still come up with a DLC for it, since Shadows of Rose felt like recycling the castle setting, why shouldn’t I? You can follow a maiden avoiding the Dimitrescu sisters, trying and failing to help her fellow captives in the dungeon, and maybe even using some firepower to try to escape. Not sure what the ending would be but obviously you’d end up one of the dungeon zombies at the very end. It might be cool to see some of Castle Dimitrescu, maybe even doing some puzzles in reverse to see how they came to be in 8 like the masks or something. Idk could offer a fun perspective. Could also be an alternate history where she manages to kill at least one of the sisters, who knows?

Follow Elena/events in the village before the end of 8

This one I feel like really has the potential to be interesting, since when we see the village it’s obviously in tatters since the lycans have been attacking for some time and everyone is in paranoia. It’d be cool to see how the village looked before, like Castle Dimitrescu seeing how things came to be the way they were, maybe even watching attacks happen on the people we eventually see in Luiza’s house. Could end just before Ethan shows up or be an alternate history where Elena and her father make it to Luiza’s home on their own before being subdued by her father or just a random lycan attack

Follow Mia after getting kidnapped

This one pretty much stemmed from, “hey, another plot hole, maybe a DLC could answer our questions.” Probably would play out similar to some of the games Clancy had to sit through in his DLC, since Mia mentioned being used in experiments, or we could even see Mia trying to escape with weapons she finds/crafts before Miranda puts her back in that cell Chris finds her in. I personally don’t think this is much on its own but I figured it could’ve been paired with other DLC ideas I had like following Elena or something

Follow Ada

This one was kind of a joke tbh, I know Ada was obviously scrapped from being in 8 which makes sense but it could’ve been a 4th survivor/separate ways situation where we see Ada was there the whole time behind the scenes fighting off lycans with a crossbow for. Reasons. Idk maybe she wants the mold or something. Still at least it’d take place in this timeline’s present.

Follow Eveline

Okay just came up with this one because I am refueled with anger about how Shadows of Rose treated Eveline. Since we see her in the mold, it might be cool to play as Evie traversing the mold, meeting enemies who died in 7 and 8, fighting against monsters with Evie’s ambiguous disorder autism mold powers. Would have been nice to see a happy ending for Eveline, maybe as she was reunited with Jack…

Thanks for the ask, anon, sorry it was so long

[sanjana-aqua]

Princess

Au, romantic

Yoongi X Reader

...

...

"YOU IDIOT.... STAY WHERE YOU ARE..." The voice echoed around the hallway gaining the attention of everyone.

A girl was standing there and anger was clearly visible on her face. Her hands were in a tight first and her look was that she can kill the person on whom she shouted.

"MIN YOONGI.... STOP..." She raored again

Instead of stopping, he turned and stick out his tongue triggering her more. He winked and ran away.

The girl closed her eyes in frustration and just then she felt someone tapping her shoulder. Instead of opening her eyes she said "he ruined my favourite tshirt..."

"Sana... Look here..." Hearing his soft voice, she turned to that person.

"it's fine... You know he always does that... Stop giving him attention..." The person said...

*But abhay... Look at this chocolate stain..." She pouted and pointed the chocolate stain near the collar region of her white tshirt..

Abhay "it's fine... Don't ruin your mood... Let's go to class..."

She breathed out and said "okay fine..."

They went to class but she was still in angry mode.

Yoongi and sana were in same University, but different subjects. They met in University competition for quiz as a competitor and since then, they became enemies. The quiz was tied but they started arguing who will take the trophy. The small argument let to big ones and they started bullying each other.

Today was her birthday and she wore a new Gucci white tshirt which she purchased after saving from part time job. Yoongi saw that and to bully her, he put a chocolate stain on it.

"By the way... Happy Birthday..." Abhay wishes her in order to change her mood.

"hmm... thanks..." She said in dull voice.

"cheer up now... we will go to disc tonight... My treat..."

He said and her mood got lifted hearing this.

"Really..." She asked as confirmation.

"Yes..." Abhay nodded.

On the other hand;

Yoongi was sitting on the grass and was regretting a bit doing this to her. Though as fun, he knew how she got this tshirt and he thought of apologizing her during lunch break and wish her.

"But will she forgive me..." He thought

These days, he felt not to fight with her. Instead he always looked at her while arguing. He himself doesn't know why but nowadays, a strange feeling was coming inside him. Maybe...

"no...no....no..." He shouted suddenly and got up.

"what happened..." his friend, jimin asked..

Avoiding the eye contact, he said "nothing..."

Jimin "you look lost... All okay na..."

Yoongi just nodded. But the thing that came in his mind earlier shook him to the core...

'How can i feel like this for her...' He thought

The bell rang indicating lunch break. Jimin took his bag and said "shall we go .."

"I'm not feeling well... I'll go to my house..." Without listening anything he left.

Jimin said to himself "he's acting strange..."

After the classes, sana came towards her locker to keep her things. As soon as she opened the locker, she saw a gift box with a note.

She took the note and started reading

Wishing you a very happy birthday sana... I hope you'll accept this...

She opened the gift and saw a beautiful pair of rose gold earrings.

"Wow..." She was astonished as this was the one she saw once in a mall. She wanted it very badly but as she was saving for tshirt and have to manage everything on her own, she couldn't get it.

She was admiring the earrings when a abhay came and said " We should go home... Then I'll come to pick you for disc.."

Sana looked at him and said " sure..."

She kept the earrings in her bag and they went from there...

Evening 7;

Sana was getting ready for the disc. She was wearing black crop top and light brown color knee length skirt. She did a little make up and took her purse. Just then, her gaze went to the watch she was wearing. She frowned remembering how she got this watch.

Flashback

"You cheated me... This is so unfair..." He yelled a bit

"Listen... I didn't know okay... So technically it's not cheating..."

Sana and yoongi had a bet and she lost. As a punishment, she had to get him fresh tangerines from a specific store which was like 10km from University.

Instead of going there, she went to nearby shop and got it. But yoongi recognised it as he loves tangerines, specially from the place he said her to get. And now they were arguing.

"Now you'll get another punishment..." He said...

Sana frowned and said "what... Why... I got the tangerines..."

" not from where I said to get..." He fired back...

She understood and accepted defeat.

He took a watch and said her to wear it. She looked at him confused.

"Don't overthink... It's a punishment... There's a button on this watch through which it is connected to my watch... If you press this I will get a signal where you are and if i press the button on my watch... I'll get the same signal..."

"This is literally stalking... I'll not wear this... " She protested..

He forcefully made her wear that and said "don't remove it... ever...else consequences will be bad.."

Present

She was looking at the watch. Even though she wanted, she couldn't remove it. Coz of all these arguments and bullying, she developed a special place for him in her heart. She realised she is in deep love with him. Arguments now became a source for her to talk to him. Because she knows he doesn't feel the same.

"Will i ever be able to tell you that how important you are for me yoongi..." She signed and just then, she got a call from abhay.

Abhay"hey...you ready..."

Sana "yes... I am..."

Abhay "so come... I am waiting downstairs..."

She hummed and cut the call. She went towards the disc with abhay.

In the disc

Sana was in the disc but her mind was thinking about yoongi... She wanted to speak with him and at least confess him her feelings even though she knew the answer. She thought to go to his house and said to abhay "hey listen... I'm not feeling well... I'll go..."

She stood but he held her wrist and said "come on... We just came..."

Sana "but..."

Abhay cut her off and dragged her to dance floor. He held her and started dancing while touching her a bit inappropriately. But she didn't mind it much and started enjoying a bit. Taking a chance, he ordered juice (mixed with vodka) for her.

Sana came towards the table and abhay came to her with the drink thinking 'today I'm gonna make you mine at all cost...' He gave her the drink n she drank in a gulp as she was very thirsty. Since she didn't have alcohol before, she couldn't recognise the taste but she started feeling dizzy a bit.

Sana " what was that..."

Abhay " nothing... Just orange juice..."

Sana (holding her head) " why I am feeling dizzy then..."

Abhay "no issues... I'll take you to room... You can rest..."

He held her hand and dragged her. She wanted to protest but as she trusts him as friend, she went along with him.

As soon as they entered room, abhay locked it and pinned her to the wall.

Sana (shocked)" what the hell are you doing..."

He touched her waist and said "making you mine..."

He pinched her side waist saying "you are damn sexy sana... I want your body soooo much..."

She pushed him with all her force and he fell on floor. Taking the chance, she ran to the washroom and locked it. She sat on the floor next to door and she heard footsteps approaching. Soon he heard abhay banging the door saying "open up sana... You can't escape today..."

Sana was sobbing silently thinking what to do. Her phone was also at the table and she was left with no other choice. She looked at the watch.

Meanwhile

Yoongi was sitting on the bed looking at the shopping bag infront of him. He himself was unaware what he was doing...

'why the hell i got the same Gucci tshirt for her... And why i gifted her that earrings... What you are doing to me sana... I think I'm going crazy...' he thought

His thoughts were interrupted by beep of his watch. He was astonished as it was the first time his watch beeped... That too continuously. He looked and understood it was sana...but he was confused why. The beeping was continuous and without thinking and waiting, he tracked her location...

On the other hand

Sana was praying internally for the watch to work when she heard "if you won't come out... I'll break the door for sure..."

Suddenly she felt force on her back and she was pushed forward. Realisation hit her that abhay broke the door. She looked back and saw him standing while smirking.

She started going back but he was fast enough to hold her leg and dragged her.

"Leave me..." She shouted but he forcefully picked her in his arms and threw her on bed.

Sana (teary) " why abhay... why you're doing this..."

He hovered over her and held both her hands above her head and tore on of the sleeves of her top. She screamed but it didn't effect him.

Abhay "from the first day of University i wanted this to happen... I don't want your consent... I just want your virginity.... Either you enjoy or not... I'll do it..."

Saying this he completely tore her top. She was feeling so helpless for the first time in her life. His touch was disgusting her so much and she was continuously screaming for help. But her voice died as she felt her bra got removed from her body.

She looked at him and could clearly see the hunger and lust in his eyes... He immediately attacked her breasts and she was crying harder. In that moment, she was feeling it's better to die than being in this situation.

Suddenly she felt abhay was pulled away from her. She immediately got up and covered herself with blanket. She got shocked to see yoongi punching abhay continuously.

Few minutes before,

Yoongi came rushing in the disc but didn't see sana there. He thought that she did prank on him and started to go but her gaze fell on her phone.

Yoongi "her phone... It means she is here..."

He started searching for sana while showing her photo to the waiters, bouncers and bartenders there. Through them, he got to know she is in a room.

He started checking rooms and when he came towards a particular room, he heard her screams. Without thinking, he broke the door and saw a person hovering over sana and trying to rape her. Immediately he pulled that person and started punching him.

Yoongi "how fucking dare you.... You bastard..."

He was continuously punching him until he heard a sobbing voice "y..yooo..yoongi..."

He stopped and looked at sana who was soaked in tears. Throwing abhay on the floor, he took off his jacket and went towards her. She couldn't meet his gaze and looked down. He wrapped his jacket around her and made her look at him

Yoongi (caressing her hair) "i am here... "

She immediately hugged him and started crying. He patted her back to make her calm. As she was a bit high and exhausted, she slept in his arms. He picked her carefully and took her towards the car. Before leaving, he texted someone....

Yoongi's home

He took sana to his house as he didn't know her address. Laying her gently on bed, he caressed her cheek thinking 'i didn't know you had this much trust on me sana... I'm glad i was able to be on time... It also made me realise my feelings for you... Get up soon... I'll make your birthday memorable...'

After sometime, Sana got up and found herself at an unfamiliar face. She was thinking where she was when she heard a voice "hey..."

She looked and saw yoongi standing with a glass of lemonade. He forwarded the glass to her and said "have it .. you'll be fine..."

She took the glass and looked down. Tears automatically made way through her eyes remembering that incident. Yoongi noticed that and sat opposite to her on bed.

Wiping her tears, he said "no need to cry sana... nothing happened..."

She looked at him and said "thanks yoongi... If you didn't come on time then..."

He kept his palm on her lips saying "ssshhhh.... Nothing would have happened... I'm there na... Just drink the lemonade... You'll fell better... I'll come in a while"

Saying this he got up from bed. Before leaving, he turned and said "by the way... there's a dress for you in that shopping bag... hope you'll like it... Happy Birthday..." Giving his gummy smile, he went from the room.

She smiled a bit and had the lemonade. That's when she realised she's only wearing yoongi's jacket. Remembering how he saved her and hit abhay, a smile formed on her lips. Her gaze went to that shopping bag and she took it.

Her eyes widened seeing the same white Gucci tshirt which she got for her.

Sana "what the hell... why he got me this... I can't understand him... First he ruined my tshirt and then this... Min yoongi you're such a complicated person..."

She wore that tshirt and just then she got a message from him...

Come downstairs... Quickly...

Without thinking much, she went down and was astonished to see the living area decorated with balloons and ribbons. She smiled ear to ear seeing happy birthday sticker and her photo on the wall. Soon she heard a voice and turned.

Yoongi was coming towards her holding a cake and singing...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear sana...

Happy Birthday to you...

"blow the candles and make a wish before that..."

She looked at him and closed her eyes. Making a wish, she blew candle and cut the cake. After feeding each other, she said "thank you for this...*

Yoongi pinched her cheek and said "you're welcome..."

She giggled and said "why you're being so nice to me..."

He just smiled and said "you wanna dance with me.."

She nodded and he pulled her closer while gently holding her waist.

"I myself don't know why sana... but nowadays I'm getting a strange feeling... I started adoring you more... (Tucking her hair behind ear) you became a special person in my life without my knowledge..."

She smiled and hugged him.

He hugged her back saying "i think I've fallen for you..."

She hugged him more tightly and said "same here yoongi... I fell for you don't know when... But you also became a special person in my life..."

They broke the hug and he kissed her forehead.

She blushed a bit and said "can i ask you one more gift..." He smiled and nodded.

She hugged him and said "make me forget what happened today yoongi... I don't wanna remember i was almost raped today..." She sobbed a bit.

He released her from hug and cupped her cheeks saying "don't cry... That bastard don't deserve your tears..." He wiped them and she said "please make me yours yoongi..."

Yoongi gulped a bit and said "you sure..."

Sana nodded in tiny. He kissed her cheek and said "I'll make you forget that completely..."

She closed her eyes feeling his soft lip touch. He took her in his arms and went to the room. Gently laying her, he tucked the strands of her hair behind her ear and looked at her lovingly.

She blushed and said "stop looking at me with those eyes..."

He leaves a bit forward and said "what eyes love..."

Her cheeks became red on hearing love from his mouth. He kissed her nose gently and said "you look like a tomato...." And bit it.

She encircled his neck by her arms and pulled him a bit closer slightly pecking him on lips. He hovered her trying not to put on his weight on her.

Confirming once more, he asked "you sure about this love..."

She smiled and said "yes love... I am..."

He gently removed her tshirt and gently touched her neck. She closed her eyes feeling his cold hand on her skin which was giving her thousands of butterflies. Leaning close, he sealed his lips with her. They both were in same position for few seconds and he gently started moving his lips against hers. She also responded with the same passion while caressing his hair.

While kissing, he unhooked her bra and slid it down her arms. She clutched on his shirt and closed her eyes more tightly. He broke the kiss and kissed her forehead saying "I'll be very gentle sana..."

Her eyes relaxed a bit hearing this. She opened her eyes and said "i trust you yoongi..."

He leaned in kissing her neck, gently sucking it while his hands were busy removing her clothes. His kiss was so soft as if she's the most fragile thing for him. Her breath became uneven feeling his lips on her nipples. The tingling sensation in her lower abdomen and the nerves of her nipples were giving so much pleasure. His one hand was busy in making some random arts on her skin and another was holding her hand tightly.

He got up a bit and looked at her. Her uneven breathing, sweat beads on her forehead and trembling lips were the evidence of his effect on her. Roaming his fingers on her face, he said "you want it with or without protection..."

She looked at him and said "without... I want to feel you babe.

Taking her hands towards his shirt, she started opening it. Removing his shirt, she slid her finger from his throat to Belly button extremely slow, feeling each and every muscle there. He closed his eyes and a moan escaped from his mouth feeling the pleasure. Her touch was giving him goosebumps and was making him more hard.

She stopped at the button of his trousers as she was feeling bit shy. He understood and removed her hand gently while kissing it.

"you don't have to babe... Tonight I'll make you feel special..."He said while removing his trousers. For a second, she was shocked seeing his length but till now she understood that he'll not be harsh on her. So, she looked at him and smiled sweetly.

He spread her legs wide and positioned himself above her. Cupping her face, he said "look into my eyes while I'm doing it... Okay..." She kissed his hand and nodded. He slowly started entering her. As she was so tight, it was a bit difficult for both of them.

"just a min..." Yoongi said and got up. He went towards the drawer and came back with lubricant. He was about to apply when she said "can i apply?"

He was a bit taken aback by this and said "what..."

She giggled and got up a bit. Taking lube from his hand, she squeezed some in her palm. She held his length and gently started massaging it with the lube.

"Fuck..." He moaned feeling the pleasure from her massage. She was applying the lube throughout the length and massaging it, making it more hard.

"i can't control now..." Saying that, he pushed her slightly on the bed and again entered. This time, it was a bit easy and half of his length went inside.

"Ahhhh" she screamed and he caressed her hair comforting her. He stayed in that position for a while and slowly started entering more. When he found she adjusted to his size, he started thrusting her. They both were looking at each other which was quite in intimate. The eye contact, moan with each thrust, reaching more close to climax, holding each other tightly... It was like two souls becoming one.

He gasped when he came inside her and lied in her chest exhausted. She hugged him and stroked his hair.

Yoongi "you're okay... Is it paining... You need a hot pad..."

She cut him off "I'm fine as long as you're here..."

He smiled and hugged her more tightly. They slept like that...

Night 2 am;

Yoongi's watch snoozed indicating his alarm. He got up and sensed sana is sleeping in his arms. After making sure she's asleep, he got up and silently went towards his basement.

Upon reaching there, he saw a person tied of chair and was having bruises everywhere. One of yoongi's men said "boss, we've tortured him as you said..."

He hummed and went towards that person. Seeing yoongi, that person said "please... Please leave m..."

Gunshot.

Yoongi smirked and said "I'll never leave a person who laid filthy hands on .my princess... And you tried to rape her... Enjoy in hell..."

...

...

...

[joylinda-hawks]

ZZH in a very predatory male edition. This photoshoot of ZZH, taken during, if I remember correctly, an event during which ZZH received some distinction (sorry, I can't quickly recall which one) is very energetic. During photoshoots, ZZH shows us his different faces and does it in a very convincing way. He behaves like a chameleon who can adapt to any environment. Similarly, ZZH as an actor can perfectly choose styling, hairstyle, make-up or accessories depending on the event he is to appear at or will appear at. That is why one time we can admire ZZH in an elegant suit, a dignified young man who represents a company or is an official. Another time we see ZZH in sportswear, a loose sweatshirt, loose trousers, then he looks like a young boy who goes to the gym or some other training after work or after classes at the university. There are also events when ZZH wants to show everyone his strong masculine beauty and when you look at ZZH in such an edition, almost every woman would like to have a man like him by her side. The photo I chose shows ZZH dressed in a rather casual outfit, black jeans and a black turtleneck, and ZZH has chosen a short navy blue and black leather jacket with white stitching. The black color slims ZZH's already slim figure, and the leather jacket in the style of a motorcycle jacket gives ZZH a predatory character. This predatory nature of his appearance is additionally emphasized by the hairstyle - the buzz cut sharpens ZZH's facial features and makes ZZH's large eyes with thick eyebrows and beautiful lips perfectly visible. His lips, which are clearly marked here with lipstick (unless this is a photo manipulation) and probably only one small earring, put on perversely, attract special attention. But what puzzles me the most is the small plaster on ZZH's forehead. Did he suffer an injury under some circumstances and hide it under the plaster? In the photo, ZZH is leaning against the railing, staring at the viewer with such an intense gaze that it seems as if he is challenging us. As if he is silently asking the viewers: do you like me in this version, or do I look too sharp? Looking at this photo, I can't help but feel that ZZH likes to show himself in this version - as a beautiful, strong young man.

[the-hem]

"Old School." From the Varaha Upanishad. The Exploration of the Mysteries of the Wild Boar.

27. If there is anything that is, then Brahman alone has that attribute. One who is perfect in Brahma-Jnana, though he always sees this established universe, does not see it other than his Atman.

28-30. By cognising clearly my form, one is not trammeled by Karma. He is an undaunted person who by his own experience cognises as his own real nature all (the universe and Brahman) that is without the body and the organs of sense – that is the all-witness – that is the one noumenal Vijnana (understanding), that is the blissful Atman (as contrasted with Jivatma or the lower self) and that is the self-resplendent. He is one that should be known as ‘I’ (myself). O Ribhu, may you become He.

31. After this, there will be never any experience of the world. Thereafter there will always be the experience of the wisdom of one’s own true nature. One who has this known fully Atman has neither emancipation nor bondage.

Who wants their life trammeled? Once you put things in perspective who wants to be deluded again? Who enjoys losing weight again after a successful diet, catching up on their sleep for weeks on end after too much partying, or after a good presidency, who wants a loser to take over the White House, like it’s only ever going to be now and again we get to live how we think we should, but not always?

But this is how it’s been. Trump’s Katrina was quarantine, and he flummoxed it, he committed war crimes and his ocean blasting and border wall have stranded the earth’s climate well ahead of projections but there she goes! All over again and he’s got the ear of America and the camera lens as well. This is, very, very strange to me.

Watch this once again: I have never, ever seen such flagrant behavior towards African Americans in my life:

Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris is in it nipple deep with the Mormons and they are balls in with kids who aren’t legally able to drive yet. And their Republican friends, like Josh Hawley, Mitt Romney, Roger Wicker and Lindsey Graham are right there with them.

Where then can we turn if we want, as the Upanishad says to find a life that does not require emancipation because all the bondage has finally ended?

First we have to admit that we know these things about our politicians future and past. We know Donald Trump cheated his way into the White House and he did not do a very good job. We know the Mormons are domestic terrorists, and our VP has no business having a relationship with even one.

We know the records of sex offenders like Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, and Brett Kavanaugh have to be publicly announced and persons like them must be barred from holding public office.

We know there are hundreds of millions of homeless persons, the climate needs remediation, there are trenches opening up in our economy after the shitty handling of CoVid and the inflation of fuel prices the War with Russia caused.

We also know discussions of transgendered persons, gay marriage, the uterus and Jesus do not contain impact points for the former, all which can be handled by nimble policy making.

There is no really such thing as a lower self- but there are selves that do a job being absolutely immoral, like the former, needlessly troubling the rest of us that want to survive our own ordinary troubles and be happy more than we are not.

We can help each other out with this. Insist on the end of the Republican Party, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and vote America out of hell once and for all.

This is the expectation- that we as intelligent human beings will continually uproot evil and corruption and the second one weed comes back to mar the garden, we kill it.

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook: Am I Cool Yet? (3)

In which Jungkook thinks your eyes are kind of really fucking cool and cute.

Tags/Warnings: Kangaroo Hybrid!Jungkook, Sheep hybrid!Reader, part of my unconventional hybrid series I'm starting, University AU, mc has a stutter when shes nervous, mentions of mild bullying (nothing physical), mc owns an illegal amount of squishmallows, sports fanatic kook but what's new, strangers to lovers, romance and fluff!

Additional Chapter Warnings: they're both idiots, but we love them, misunderstanding, like big time

Chapter length: mid/long

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Over the course of time, you became really good at hiding.

As a sheep hybrid you're naturally nervous whenever you're on your own and without a 'herd'. It was basically just a fancy word for friends and family, to be honest, but at the end of the day the fact still stands. And due to Jungkook clearly regretting what happened, you had decided to just take the burden of the awkward conversations off of him, and avoid the kangaroo boy altogether.

Not knowing that he's just confused as hell now.

He knows he shouldn't have rushed so hard- he probably made it all awkward and you uncomfortable, and he lets his head fall onto the table at lunch when he notices the way you walk into the cafeteria- just to spot him and make a run for it again.

He really fucked up.

He'd completely ruined his chances with you for good reason, and that pisses him off even further. Because he did what he always thought he'd never do- who the fuck kisses their crush the first fucking time they're over for a visit? Exactly, only guys who think solely with their dicks, and jungkook had been convinced he wasn't one of them.

But it seems like he is.

He tries to catch you after classes, but it seems like you're already long gone by the time he gets his bike. He feels defeated going home, his feet unable to quite push into the pedals the way he'd usually do- no strength left in his bones, even when it starts to rain. He searches for shelter when it starts pouring heavily, underneath the small storefront of a 24/7 shop, when he notices who's standing there, shivering right next to him in clothes soaked to the bones.

It's you.

He's frozen in place as he watches the water droplets collect at the tips of your hair before they fall down, the material of your pastel colored shirt underneath your soft jacket damp and clinging to your skin- a sight that fuels thoughts he doesn't want to have right now. He should say something, now could be the only chance, but he's scared that real life won't work like all the cheesy anime shows he's been binge watching for years at this point. Maybe he should just shut up and wait for you to-

But oh, then you look up at him with your precious eyes, and he's a slave dropped right at your feet.

"I-" He starts, before he clears his throat, hands gripping the handles of his bike. "I uh.. I'm sorry. For what happened." He says out loud to you, and you've got the audacity to just lean your head to the side a little in confusion, the white sheep ears flicking a little to get the water off of them, and he wants to punch a wall because why are you so cute?

"Why're you apologizing?" You ask, and he looks at you a bit confused as well now.

"Cause- you avoided me today and I think it's because of the kiss? Because I rushed shit and made you uncomfortable, and I just wanted to make sure you know that that's not.. like, that's not what I planned to do, I swear I'm not like that-" he rambles nervously, until your hand pulls on the material of his sweater sleeve to cut him off.

"I'm not mad." You giggle, and now he's absolutely confused.

"But- why did you run from me today?" He asks, making you shrug.

"I- people think I'm weird, so I didn't want them to think you're weird too for hanging out with me.." you say, pouting and looking down a little, making him hop down from his bike, the metal of its frame hitting the concrete but he doesn't care- and neither does he about the way your wet clothes cling to one another when he hugs you.

"I don't care about others." He mumbles into your hair, while your arms wrap around his body as well, making him smile. "I thought you hated me." He sighs out, making you shake your head.

"No no, never!" You argue back, and he chuckles when he spots your tail wiggle as he watches from above. "In fact.. I-I actually l..liked the k-kiss.." you stutter, and his eyes widen as he continues to hold you like this for a bit longer.

"I- you did?" He asks himself, and when you nod, he's glad you can't see the way he blushes.

"Hmhm.." you answer shyly. "I.. like you." You confess, and he has to summon all self-restraint to not run out and yell into the rain because fuck-

You liked his kiss.

You like him.