#told you last page wasnt the end of the chapter

[marunalu]

The leaks are real but something just feels off about the chapter itself. While we’ve seen in a previous flashback(forgot which one), that Overhaul was very likely to be one of the orphan children prior to joining the Yakuza, it’s just the overall flow of the chapter just makes it seem unsatisfying and resulting in plot holes. Like AFO considered training teenagers to be his double but it seems rather forced to ask Kotaro to have another child and Hana doesn’t seem to reached double digits. Or copying the Overhaul Quirk and making decay out of it would mean that Afo and Garaki could’ve fixed the former’s issues unless Touya destroyed it by accident. And then there’s the situation where technically, only Bakugo won while every other student didn’t achieve their goals(Shoto, Ochaco and Izuku) and that chapter 420 is going to match a certain someone’s birthday.

It actually would make sense though to have the side characters beat AFO but having the other fights not mentioned yet be done off screen is still unsatisfying.

We know that in real life, Hori has health issues due to working with Shonen Jump and having the Dragon Ball creator die last month is very likely to make things more somber. I’m not going to be surprised if he had someone else draw some pages(unless the change in artstyle somehow is a plot point).

Isn’t MHA Izuku’s retelling of the events to someone? Overhaul or Eri are likely to be the Macguffins to give Izuku his arms back given what we’ve seen with Eri earlier so we’re going to have some chapters of celebration of the “win” and a small epilogue.

At least we have fan fiction since it’s very likely that people will ignore the ending.

Yeah this chapter feels soooo off! And dont let me start talking about all the plot holes and how a single chapter managed to destroy over the years built up plotpoints. Like you said WHY would afo and garaki not use the overhaul copy on afo to heal him ESPICIALLY because afo told garaki once "then hurry up and fix me doctor" after garaki mentioned that they havent found a fitting regeneration quirk yet and you are telling me THEY WOULDNT USE THE OVERHAUL COPY TO ARCHIVE THAT??? It was made clear afo wanted to get back to full health but he doesnt use the quirk that could fix him in ONE MINUTE??? Or an other plot hole: afo somehow (dont show just tell) managed to convince the shimuras to have an other child because he considered hana to old to get manipulated DESPITE that he owns orphanages full of children older then or around hanas age even TEENAGE touya and chisaki he considered as fitting vessels if tomura shouldnt work out but HANA was to old??? This is literally retconning what was already confirmed as facts!

And about bakugou: well he is horis golden child so OF COURSE only he is allowed to win since his character is all about winning. And unlike izuku, ochako and shoto he had ZERO emotional connection to afo. No deep. No feelings. Just to give bakugoubitch a win by giving the bad guy the final killing blow, immediately praised for doing so as if afo wasnt already half dead and severly weakend by dotzens of other heroes before who did so much more but BAKUGOU gets the praise (to be fair he did say it was a group effort but he still was the one who was praised first as if he did it all alone)! The ironic thing is bakugou did exactly what he always does: winning by killing. How ironic. Just a few chapters before we got afos backstory which revealed he was a victim of society too but I guess simply killing these kind of people changes everything to the better. Their society will not change. There will just show up an other afo or tomura at one point. Bakugou was allowed to beat and kill the main villain he had no relationship with but izuku, ochako and shoto are not allowed to safe their villain counterparts they actually have a relationship with. I mean its very possible that toga is alive because she is nowhere to be found, but touya even if he survives made clear he will never forgive his family and most likely ending terrible disabled (except if deux ex machine eri will be used here as well) and izuku who FINALLY was able to reach tomura has to watch how he gets destroyed by afo. The leaks say afo completly destroyed tomuras mind so that means he is pretty much dead and only his body remains which is now in afos full control. No final confrontation between afo and yoichi. Nope yoichi is just gone and afo doesnt even look that pissed off about it.

There are fights completly left out. We dont really see any of the other students fight, we just get told they won. We dont see the confrontation between aizawa, mic and kurogiri and just need to accept they eventually reached him and if anything we will only get a small flashback of the events. Its so disappointing and lame. It feels like as if hori just wants to end the manga as fast as possible so he uses his beloved "tell dont show" way of writing.

About horis health issues. I get that. As a huge bleach fan I was so dissapointed how rushed the last arc of bleach was but I was able to understand why. Kubo had health issues too and was forced by shonen jump to end the manga in 10 chapters. No one was more pissed off about that but kubo and if he had been healthy bleach would have lasted at least for an other year. But with hori it feels different. It feels like as if he really just wants to end the whole thing because he lost his interest. The last few arcs have been not really well written. I dont know if akira toriyamas sudden death plays a role in this disaster of a chapter. I get that it was a shock for the manga world. I get that mangakas loved the guy. But maybe instead of rushing the plot and retconning already built plot points hori should just have taken a long break to get himself together if it really affected him that much AND to get rest. Toriyama still lives through his work and will inspire many new mangakas for the comming 50 years or more.

By the way Im not worried about izukus arms at all. Its obvious eri will get used as the deux ex machine to restore them. If its not her then overhaul but Im pretty positiv she will heal izuku. The thing is even if izuku gets finally his confrontation with afo its clear he will win and afo will die.... again. Wow, how creativ. The only thing I hope is that if dfo is canon then izuku will somehow reach afo to get at least a little bit of emotion in that fight and will convince him to let tomura go if there is still a chance to safe him. Im still to 100% sure dfo is canon by the way but I dont think it will have an statisfying outcome and will be rushed as hell.

All in all this was a very dissapointing outcome. I know the manga is not over yet so hori could still surprise us, but I dont have much hope left for a good and well written ending of the story. I really need to stop praising hori when he writes a REALLY good chapter like the one before, because everytime I do that the very next chapter is a pile of shit!

Sorry, if I sound so aggressive and harsh by the way, but this chapter really pissed me off. The ONLY thing I liked about it is the fact that its to 100% confirmed that afo can change his appearance which is a huge win for dfo. Also sorry for the rant and for possible gramatic errors but I wrote this whole thing in a hurry and most likely left a few dotzen things out that pissed me off. 😅

[tentaipetto]

Chapter 7

Eija sat at his small desk with a pencil in his hand, he chewed the end of it as he contemplated what was to become of him. Belben had been unhappy about the way he had behaved on the cliff top, Eija had expected that. What he hadnt expected was exactly the thing that happened after that. Belben told him he was being transferred to serve another wizard, something in the contract from 6 years ago that had, like everything else, been convieniently missed out of the conversation before he signed it was that if Belben deemed him to be severely insubordinate in his duties he could be transferred and replaced, or killed. Eija was marginally pleased that Belben wasnt taking the latter option, but the former was still puzzling him. Where was he going to end up? Who was he going to have to serve this time? How long would he last? Surely Belben wouldnt transfer him to a better wizard for insubordination, but the thought of a worse wizard made Eija shiver. He gripped the pencil with renewed purpose and began to write, 'Dearest Mother, Im sorry it has been so long since I have written to you, a wizards assistants jobs are never done you see. I shall deal with the issue at hand quickly as Im not sure how long I have to write this letter but I have exciting news! Belben has decided that I have served my duties so well to him that he is going to transfer me to another wizard as a reward. He is so kind and gracious, my gratitude is overwhelming. I am excited to find out where I will be placed, I shall let you know as soon as I am able to send another letter. Hopefully is sharnt be too long. I hope that you and father are in good spirits and keeping well as the weather begins to chill. Please send news of Enid and Arthur, I miss them terribly. Love always, your son, Eija' Eija stared at the pack of lies he had written to his dear mother, the truth would kill her, he and his father had agreed the way it would be before he left. He sometimes wished he could be honest, that he could tell her of his missing fingers, his half-blindness, his crippling loneliness. But he knew that even in this predicament he had a responsibility to care for his aging progenitor. He scribbled the address of his family onto the envelope and carefully inserted the letter, he wasnt in possession of a wax stamp so he just tipped the candle up and splodged the wax with his thumb. It did the trick either way. The maid took the letter from him, Belben wasnt a fan of 'employees' having contact with thier families, it made them weak according to him. But the servants of his house had found ways and means around this, an entire blackmarket economy and sprung up around avoiding what Belben wanted. So, he let go of the letter and gathered the last of his things, gently folding his drawings and placing them in the pages of books so they wouldnt be damaged in his transit to his new 'home'. Eija felt nervous, scared even, but there was a hint, just a hint mind, of excitement. At least it wasnt going to be more same old same old for a while.

Despite Belbens ability to transport Eija in an instant to his new home he had graciously decided to send Eija on a trading ship which was hopping along the coast of the Western Isles before it set off for the main port of the Northern Bank. Eija hadnt been told this, he had gleaned it from what he could understand of the thick accented captain and crew that surrounded him. The ship itself was nice enough, he had a bunk all to himself and was able to spend his time largely undisturbed by the other people onboard as they found him strange and tedious. Eija stared at the twinkling lights of yet another port he didnt know the name of, the ship was running late for its mooring and the captain was screaming what Eija was fairly certain was a lot of profanities at the crew members who were all rushing about the deck doing very important sailing things that involved rigging and such. Eija sat motionless while the ship floated towards the gentle growing glow, it was the last stop before he had disembark on the Northern Bank, it was Shadowglass. The port smelled of fish, drunken tramps, rats and an entire selection of rotting fruits which had been thrown overboard but landed on the deck of another ship and had yet to be cleared away. Eija was permitted to alight the ship during these nighttime moorings, he was under the eye of Belben at all times, remotely of course, Belben wouldnt stoop so low as to ride in a trading ship. Eija was just happy to have a little bit of freedom, or the closest he could pass for freedom these days. Wandering down a small street lined with dimly lit shops that were either just closing or just opening he wondered what it would be like to truely be free, to actually have no one to answer to. He ruminated that he probably wouldnt like it very much and would probably get himself in quite alot of trouble, either that or he would be so entralled by all the things he could stop and look at that he would never actually move anywhere quickly enough to achieve anything. Shadowglass, unbenknowst to Eija, had a reputation of being a rather sin soaked kind of place, the sort of place that is knee deep in filth of one kind or another but no one mentions it for fear of appearing uncooth. There were dens of iniquity left right and centre, above shops and in basements women used thier womanly ways to help sailers and passers by lighten thier wallets and lift thier spirits. Thieves, muggers and burglars (which could be considered the same thing, but I dare you to say that to them) were also known to prowl the streets at night, and in the day, and any time they damn well liked. Visitors to Shadowglass were usually sailors who were just glad of some company, tourists were rare and usually agreed happily to view Shadowglass from a boat as they sailed safely past. But Eija knew none of this, to him, this place was wonderful and colourful and full of amazing sights and smells and things he had been held back from for years. Something caught Eijas eye, all his senses seemed to flare up at once and he felt himself held in place by some invisible force that he couldnt control. At first he assumed that Belben must be toying with him, controlling him from across the seas. But then he let his eyes focus, find what was holding him, it was….a woman. It was, in fact, the most beautiful woman that Eija had ever laid eyes on in his entire life. He had assumed a few years ago that this part of the human condition was going to be lost to him, he just didnt have the time to contemplate affairs of the heart, or the body for that matter, but his heart was certainly doing some contemplating right at this very moment, along with a few other portions of his anatomy. The woman smiled at him, the warmest, gentlest, most affectionate smile she could muster.

"Ive been waiting for you Eija, please, come into the warm" she motioned for Eija to follow her through the doorway into the small jewellery shop. Eija stared at her for a moment, willing his feet to move or his mouth to open or something to happen. His brain whirred, almost audibly with questions, thoughts, feelings, emotions, her skin, her smile, her bosom…. Somewhere in the recesses of his brain he regained some unconscious level of poise and pushed his body towards her, this made him very happy, on many, many levels.

[thekingofwinterblog]

It’s all for his sake - Endeavor and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

My hero academia 301 is a pretty interesting chapter, but for me, the most notable piece of it was how Endeavour reacted to the realization that Touya couldnt surpass All Might.

upon realizing that his son might not be able to do it because of inborn physical limitations, he immediatly stopped his training, which frankly was the responsible and adult thing to do. 

This stint of real parenthood did not last long however.

After taking the matter to a doctor, he is flat out told that not only cant Touya achive what endeavor wants, but it is a direct result of his incredibly selfish and irresponsible attempt to play god, by trying to breed the “perfect” hero into being.

It is how you react when you lose however, that shows who you really are, and endeavor illustrates that very, very well.

Upon being told in no uncertain terms that his attempts at Breeding an heir failed magnificently, producing a child that was not capable of resisting his own immense power, but also admonished by his doctor for even attempting it, and adviced not to try again, Endeavor instead doubled down, while focusing on the child he screwed over from the start with his attempt at genetic manipulation.

It was all for him you see. Endeavor doesnt use those words, but that is how he spins it here. it was all for Touya, all for his sake. if i stop now, then Touya was all for nothing, a mistake, im doing this for my son.

if im doing this for my son, then im not responsible for any of this.

his wife however, calls him out on it, as she understands Touya much, much more than endeavor does. or rather, she sees him fully as a human being, instead of as a thing, a weapon, a failed attempt at an heir.

Unlike Endeavor, Rei is able to see the way this all is affecting her son. She is able to see, and understand that Touya has fully accepted what Endeavor wanted him to be. a stronger, and better version of himself. however, unlike Endeavor, she only cares about him as a person.

Endeavour by comparison isnt completely uncaring about Touya. like most abusive parents, he does possess love for his offspring, but it is forever tainted by the fact that however much he might care, or not care about Touya, any familial love he has for his son is tainted by the fact that to Endeavor, he is a failed experiment, a failed heir, not his child. 

He is the golden child that Endeavor was building up as his true and only heir, who he breed, trained, and molded to for that single purpose, and now that he’s reached a point where he cant continue that legacy.

so, its time to abandon him, and start over new, despite literarily having just learned how stupid this plan was, and that it can, in fact, go completely wrong, with a quirk that will fuck over the person he brings into the world.

Of course, Endeavor doesnt use those words to frame it. there is no way to pretend to be a hero, if you phrase it like that after all. Intead, this is the words he uses.

this is a very important series of panels for a great number of reasons, some that can be debated, argued, and we will probably never know the full truth to the questions because this is a series published in 2020′s shonen jump, and there are things that probably wasnt gonna fly with Hori’s editors, if it was the case.

but lets start with what can not be debated. Endeavor’s words here.

“If we want him to give it up, then we have no choice... Touya... Cant surpass him.”

These are very telling words, and however you believe The third and fourth children of the Todoroki family was concieved, there is not denying the meaning of what he’s saying here.

The only way that my son will stop being an idiot and fall into line, is if we have another baby. that is the only Right way to move forward. it is morally right, because if we dont do this, then he’s going to destroy himself.

there are two ways to interpret this scene.

The charitable way is to read it as the fact that he used Rei’s oldest son’s mental state as a justification of guilting his wife to have a third child, to give this attempt at a superpowered breeding project another shot, despite the fact that they now know that this can lead to a child who is essentially born crippled from his own powers, and despite the fact that Rei obviously understands the effect of them continuing this insanity will have on their oldest son.

the uncharitable way to look at it, is that he used this as justification for flat out raping her, and forcing a third, and then later a fourth child on her.

I personally believe the last one, given a number of factors shown in this chapter(the way this page is framed, the fact Rei obviously didnt want a third child, given she predicted exactly how touya would react, the way her eyes would latet turn when she looks at who is presumably touya which really brings to mind how she would later react to her youngest son’s face after her mental breakdown, etc.), but i’ll frankly admitt that withouth a direct quote from Hori, its impossible to know for sure one way or another. 

either way however, this is a very good example of Endeavor both being influenced by, and using Sunk Cost Fallacy to justify bringing another potentially crippled child into the world for his own, selfish goals.

sunk cost Fallacy, is a mental reaction to when you invest more time and resources into a project, that you becomes so emotionally invested into said project that you will continue to invest into it, even if it reaches a point that it becomes clear that the resources you put into it, far, far outweighs the potential gains you can achieve.

because if you give up after having invested years, and years of effort to breed, raise, and train a kid, and then all that effort was absolutely wasted. hence he choose to keep going, despite having learned what a terrible idea this is.

He doesnt care about the fact that his next child might be even more crippled than his firstborn, he doesnt care about his son’s actual wellbeing. he cares about the fact that if he doesnt continue this insanity, then not only will he not achieve his dreams, but everything he did to get to this point was for absolutely nothing.

and endeavor cannot accept that. and so long as he can justify breeding more children into the world, and there being any chance they might inherit both quirks perfectly, he doesnt care about anything else.

and the moment he realised that this kid wasnt gonna cut it either, he did it again. it is not a coincidence, that the age gap between Endeavor’s second, third, and fourth children were all 3-4 years apart. because thats the age where you can usually tell when a quirk will manifest or not, as established earlier in the series.

While she isnt brought up directly by Endeavor as a justification, it is very telling that Endeavor decided on having a third child, only after his second child was old enough that he could tell that that there was no chance she could take the place as his heir instead.

So, he had his third child, and as time passed and it became obvious that he wasn’t gonna be able to fulfill Endeavor’s goals either, he dumped him, and instead breed a fourth child into existence.

and finally, he struck gold. he did it. he produced Shoto.

everything was finally worth it, and now, everything would be absolutely fine. the cost fallacy had reached its end, and it was now all full sails ahead.

except of course it wasnt.

His oldest son, now in middle school, had been raised from birth to believe he would surpass his father, only to be thrown away, and getting to see his father try to replace him, not once, but twice.

frankly, this scene is probably my favorite in the chapter, because it goes to show Endeavor’s mindset. Natsuo made a point that their father completely ignored his older children. and he did... from Natsuo’s perspective. however, having a more thourough picture of things, we can clearly see that this wasnt the case with Touya.

Endeavor genuinly cared for Touya, enough that once he got that child he tried to breed into existence 4 times, he genuinly wanted him to just abandon trying to be a hero. he genuinly thinks of himself as a good dad here, wanting his son to abandon the mission he set out for him before he was born. of course, with context, this heartwarming scene is incredibly sad and insidious, because we understand why Endeavor got so attached to his oldest child. because he WAS the golden child. he was the child Endeavor genuinly cared about, and invested in, and trained personally with great warmth and enthusiasm.

And not only did he abandon him as a failed project the moment he realized he wasnt gonna live up to his ridiculous standards, but he literarily created 2 more kids to try and replace him, just as his oldest son was old enough to understand what exactly his dad was doing. over the course of this chapter, we get to see Touya’s start as a 5-8 year old, his deteriorating mental state over the years, until he finally seemed to reach the breaking point with Shoto’s birth sometime in his middle school years 12-15. 

Endeavor is in this scene, just not capable of understanding why Touya so desperately wants to become a hero, when obviously he isnt physically able to do so. he isnt able to understand that he is 100% to blame for the fact that his son is having a full emotional breakdown after literaly being replaced by his siblings. 

In other words, Endeavor genuinly think’s he’s a good person. a person who has made a few mistakes along the way sure, but a person who was always justified in the end, and now that he’s having to face the fact that as dabi would later say “The past never dies” and has to face the aftermath of his inane attempt to play god for the pettiest of reasons, things simply arent going to work out.

He isnt going to have a happy family, who can now put the awful early years behind them, he put way too much effort, caused too much suffering and sacrificed too many years of his life for this not to work out as he wants.

after all, if he walks away from this project now, and lets Shoto have a normal childhood, and decide for himself, with no pressure from him, wheter or not to become a hero, then the sunk cost fallacy will have reached a negative end. it will all have been for nothing.

and we know he did eventually double down on this mentality, literarily beating into Shoto that he WAS going to become a hero, and there was not but’s or no’s about it.

there was no way that Endeavor was EVER going to let things be for nothing. His treatment of his older children could not be for nothing. His treatment of his wife could not be for nothing. His treatment of Shoto, and the way he beat him black and blue to train him, could not be for nothing.

Because if it all was for nothing, if everything he feels guilty about was for absolutely nothing, then he was in fact, a bad, bad person, who had no justification for anything he ever did.

[jungwonlvrr]

DEAR DRACO MALFOY

Pairings: Draco x Female Reader

Genre: angst

Warnings: no warnings

Y/n: your name

Y/b/n: your girl best friends name

Y/h/n: your house name

Summary: y/n send letters to Draco but the more letters she sends, the less oblivious she gets of her feelings for him.

———————————————————

Dear The Slytherin Prince,

Hey! It’s your best friend, Y/n. You told me you really liked y/b/n. I’m sorry I ran away without giving you an answer. I talked with her and she likes you too! That’s crazy isn’t it? She wants you to meet her in the astronomy tower after classes.

Your best friend, Y/n

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Dear My Best Friend,

I heard you two got together. You guys would make a cute couple. I’m quite worried you’re going to leave me for her. But you wouldn’t would you? You promised. Today, I rode buckbeat with the twins, It was quite fun. Bummer you didn’t tag along lol.

Your Favorite y/h/n, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Draco Alfredo,

I see you showed y/b/n our secret hiding spot. That place was only suppose to be between you and I but it’s okay. You two are the couple so I can’t fight and get mad lol. It’s just a bummer because it’s not so secret for you and I anymore. Today, you skipped classes, it’s not out do the ordinary for you to do so but Y/b/n skipped classs also and she never skips. I assume you two met up in our the secret hide out.

Your best wingwoman, Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

It’s been two weeks since I last sent you a letter. I was busy. And two weeks since our hiding spot became yours and y/b/n’s hiding spot. That place feels not special anymore so I stopped going there. I’m glad you’re still speaking to me though! I just miss our adventures. We should go on a adventure soon!

Your best friend, Y/n

———————————————————

Dear The Slytherin Barbie,

Hey! You told me we would go on our adventures, I was really happy until you brought her along. Don’t get it wrong, I’m happy for you both! I just missed the me and you times, it barely happens nowadays. You’re too caught up with Y/b/n to spend time with your best friend. It makes me upset.

Your best friend, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear The one and only Draco,

Thanks for getting me soup today, I didn’t feel so well and you realized that. I guess we still have our best friend telepathy hahah. You’re missing out on action though, last night the twins set up fireworks in the forest! I know right, crazy isn’t it. It’s kind of weird experiencing fun things without you around, I’m too use to being around you haha. I also heard you gave Y/b/n the bracelet I made you, I was kind of, maybe really upset. I put a lot of thought into that bracelet.

Your one and only, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Draco Tomato,

It’s been a month since I last sent you a letter, I was busying studying for the exams. I don’t even know why I keep writing to you when I could just talk to you. I guess I don’t have the confidence to talk to you anymore since you seemed to be really busy with your girlfriend. You don’t even reply back so it’s embarrassing sometimes but I know you read them, Goyle told me. He just told me you didn’t have the time to reply which is compeletly fine with me! Your girlfriend must have found that soft side of yours quick, you two are so PDA now , it feels so weird since you’re not normally affectionate.

Your best friend, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

The more I watch you and your girlfriend do your things, the more I realize I have this heavy feeling in my heart that makes me really sad. Honestly, I think it’s just the anxiety I have stored up for the upcoming exams. A day alone with you could definitely cool it down.

Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco Malfoy,

Why are you ignoring me? Did I do something to upset you? I’m really sorry if I did! What can I do to make it up for you? Oh yeah, I’ll buy you your favorite, chocolate frogs! You better forgive me, I’m paying for this lol.

From you know, Y/n

———————————————————

Dear The Slytherin,

I hope you enjoyed the chocolate frogs! You talked to today which made me expectionally happy. I get so happy when me and you have a conversation, it could be the smallest and my day will be brightened!how do you do these things?

Your Best friend, Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco Draco Draco,

You’re ignoring me again. That hurts you know. It makes me really upset, giving me a empty feeling in my heart. I miss my best friend. You can’t do this to me.

Your best friend, Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

Stop ignoring me. You’re acting as if I don’t exist anymore! What did I do wrong? It’s been 3 weeks of this constant ignoring. It really hurts, Malfoy. You don’t know how many tears are being spent of your stupidness. I’m your best friend! Don’t you remember? Please don’t forget me. I know you’re reading this, Draco. Please reply, I miss you.

Your still best friend, Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Malfoy,

Today, you told me you didn’t want to be friends with anymore. I’m confused, I didn’t do anything wrong. It was so sudden, I didn’t expect this ending for us, I mean sure you were being an ass and ignoring me but I thought you were just being Draco. I’m too numb to cry right now. I miss you, kiddo.

Your ex best friend, Y/n.

__________________________________

Dear Malfoy,

I heard Y/b/n was the reason you didn’t want to be friends anymore. I don’t know why I even called her my girl best friend. She stabbed me in the back, she knew how much you meant to me. I guess you were my only real friend and I lost that too. You were a real friend until you started dating her, pathetic isn’t it?.

Your ex best friend, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Draco Malfoy,

I don’t even know why I continue to send you letters as if we are on good terms. I really want to be on good terms but you clearly don’t want that. Today I also found out from Crabbe that you threw away that chocolate frog I have bought for you. That hurt deeply. It feels like actual knives are being carved into my heart, every single day. When I see you, I feel so at home and I just want to hug you and cry while calling you mean.

Your ex best friend, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

It’s been 2 months, I know I shouldn’t call you by your first name anymore but I miss you. I’m not mad at you anymore, I just want my best friend back. Why did things have to turn out this way? You’re really happy with you girlfriend, I can tell. You never smiled that big with me. I keep holding onto us like we are going to come back to each other.

Your ex best friend, Y/n,

———————————————————

Dear Malfoy,

I know you’re still reading these. Maybe to make fun of me, I don’t know anymore. But recently I found something out. It’s quite a shock to me. I’m in love with you, Malfoy. The way I feel for you isn’t a normal way to feel for a friend, I’m in love. Only love makes you this crazy, Professer Mcgonnal told me. I think she’s referring to me sending letters almost everyday, expecting a good outcome. I’m too deep in love with you, from the way you talk to the way you move, from the way your blond hair falls into your forehead, from the way your grey eyes wander the rooms, from the way your voice called out my name so naturally, from the way you use to hug me and hum on my bad days, from the way you took me sledding and from the way your lips curved into a perfect smile. I fell in love with you and your personality, ignoring your toxic traits. For I wasn’t enough, what we had wasn’t enough that you chose her over me. Oh what you do for love.

Your secret lover, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Malfoy,

Your girlfriend found my letter and her and her gang beat me up for it. She doesn’t understand. I would never try to sabotage your relationship with her. I just wanted to express my feelings, clearly I can’t even do that. Maybe it was wrong for me to give you a love confession but I wasnt trying to get you to be with me. She wants me to never send letters to you again, but she doesn’t have to know I’m sending this letter. You’re still my best friend in my heart, Draco.

Your ex best friend, Y/n.

———————————————————

Dear Draco Malfoy,

Hey, it’s been a couple of months. I hope you’re doing well. I finally come to my closure. I’m moving on from this chapter of heartbreak and misery. You were a chapter in my life, a really really big and important one, but I was just a page in yours. I guess all good things come to an end eventually. I’m getting happier and I’m finally moving on from you. Of course I still love you! You’re still my best friend in my heart like I said. But it’s over now. I’m accepting that. You’re still with her, after all this time. I’m really happy for you both, really!

Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

You looked awful for the past week. Are you doing okay? I know I said I’ve moved on but I can still send letters to check up on you, you still matter to me. Y/b/n seemed to not care that you looked emotionally tired. She just kept going on about her drama. It makes me sad, you deserve someone who will listen to you like how you listen to her. I can tell you love her a lot.

Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

It’s been about a month. I found someone! I’ve officially moved on. Don’t be sad lol, as if you would. His name is Neville Longbottom. I think you know him. He’s really sweet and I don’t deserve him one bit. He bought me my favorite candies yesterday, it made me heart feel so soft and warm inside. He’s adorable. He makes me really happy, I hope you find that soon since Y/b/n isn’t doing a good job at that, lol.

Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

I heard what happened, She cheated. Of course she would. I mean I didn’t expect it but it’s not a surprise either. She honestly really did like you at the beginning of your relationship with her, I don’t know what happened. You’re still welcomed to come back to this chapter of my life, I’ll gladly accept my best friend back. Just no more romantic feelings included. Just the old me and you. Oh yeah, about me and Neville, he’s really a sweetheart, i think I’m in love. He makes me feel a way you didn’t. Like I’m loved and special.

Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Draco,

So we’re friends again. I’m glad. I missed you kiddo. I’m glad I’m getting my best friend back. Let’s make a plan and meet up and catch up. Wouldn’t that sound lovely?

————————————

Dear Draco,

It’s been a week of catching up and our best friend connection came back quickly. Your ex isn’t very happy about you and I becoming friends again but it doesn’t matter.

Y/n

———————————————————

Dear Y/n,

Yes I’ve read all your letters. They’re really sweet and I’m now realizing how much you cared. It’s been about a year now and I’m rereading your letters. You’re my best friend still, and we’re still like two peas in a pod. I’m happy for you and Neville. Happy late one year to you two though. He seems to the perfect one for you, I can see the love in both of your eyes. Maybe I’m selfish for saying this but I wish I were Neville. I wasted my love on someone who wasn’t worth it when I had someone right in front of me who loved me better and more than Y/b/n ever would. You’re still the same prankster I grew up with. I’m really sorry I broke you badly last year. I really am sorry. I never did want to stop being your friend, I loved you (as a friend ofc) but she made me choose between her and you and my foolishness was too blinded by love to realize what I was throwing away. Also, I did eat the chocolate frog you got me, don’t be sad lol. I fallen in love with you through the year we’ve tried again. Maybe I was always in love with you, maybe I just didn’t know and went for your then best friend. When I found out you were in love with me, I felt these waves of emotions come over me. I was happy but sad but confused. I’m sorry I let y/b/n hands onto that letter, you didn’t deserve what those girls did to you. So to my best friend. I’m in love with you. It’s my turn for this one sided love but it’s unfair that your one sided story with me is worse than mine since I know you wouldn’t leave me for anything. I’m really happy for you and Neville. But I watch your eyes as he walks by, what a sight for sore eyes, brighter than a blue sky. he’s got you mesmerized while I die.

[fallingfor-fics]

Teachers Pet-chapter 13: the test

All chapters

chapter 12

I was just leaving the Great Hall and was walking to DADA with Harry and Ron, discussing what we were thinking we would do in class today, since neither of us wanted to attend. We walked into the classroom and I noticed Lockhart wasn't there yet, thank Merlin, maybe he would be absent today. We sat down and got our supplies out patiently waiting. I heard Ron whispering to Harry and nudging his arm.

 Lockhart entered and gave a brief overview of what we would be doing in class today. I heard more whispers from the pair and turned to look at them, "What are you two whispering about?" I said in a hushed tone. "Nothing" they both said and I just rolled my eyes. I then felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Harry smiling at me. "Um Y/n I wanted to ask you something." he said clearly scared and looking back at Ron. "Well what is it?" I said wishing he would just ask already. "Potter! L/n! Shhh Im speaking!" Lockhart interrupted. He continued blabbing about the lesson and I turned back to Harry. "What was it?" I whispered. "Oh, um well I was wondering If you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me?" he spat out quietly. I was taken aback clearly, shocked since I had no Idea Harry liked me. I felt kinda bad because I didn't feel the same and I didnt want to hurt his feelings. He could tell it was taking me a minute to think it over. Harry was just so sweet, too sweet, I didn't really like cheesy sweet boys, they are a little soft for my personality, which is why it was gonna be so hard to say no. "Look Harry, you're one of the nicest guys I have had in my life, but I just dont think its a good idea, im sorry, I'm positive you can find someone better to take, like Ginny maybe?" I said with a compassionate smile.

   I could see his face soften and he frowned a bit, "Oh that's alright I totally understand, I just figured y'know neither of us had dates yet, but no worries." he said as he turned and focused back on Lockhart. I felt so guilty for doing that, he was such a good friend, but I just couldn't see us having a good time at the ball. I did the same and focused on Lockhart and we spent the rest of class in silence.

   Once class ended I muttered small goodbyes to Harry and Ron and quickly sped out of the room not wanting to deal with the aftermath of that whole situation. "Hey Y/n" Draco said walking up to me like he did everyday, "Hey Draco, ready for the potions test?" I said as we walked to the dungeons. "Mm yeah I guess I mean I've been ready haha." he said with a cocky smile. I rolled my eyes, "How was DADA? Hope you didn't hex Lockhart again." He said laughing. "It was fine, and fuck off," I said playfully pushing him"Something strange did happen though," I said looking down at my books, "Harry asked me to the Yule Ball.." I said looking at him. "What?! Potter? What a joke!" he said scoffing "I hope you didn't say yes!" he added. "No I didn't, he's too sweet and I just don't feel that way about him, but I feel really bad about it. He looked upset." I said looking back down. "Oh I'm sure he'll be just fine, plus you need a man to take you to the ball, certainly not Potter." he snarled, I elbowed him and gave him a look, "Hey be nice! He's still one of my friends you know." "Yeah yeah." he said mockingly,  as we entered the potions classroom and took our seats in the front. Snape wasnt here yet so we all waited patiently. I got my supplies out and opened my book looking over the material one last time. The door flew open and Snape came walking in, his robes billowing behind him like usual. I felt a small smile creep to my face at the act, he always looked so stunning when he did that, so...powerful. I realized what I was doing and quickly looked back at my book and dropped the smile.

   "Ok class, put your textbooks away and clear off your tables, I will now be handing out your tests, you'll have all of class to complete them, no more and no less. You will get your grades back tomorrow, come drop them on my desk when you are finished and return to your seat quietly." He spewed, the same speech he gave before every test, he began walking around the class handing out the tests and came to my table last, he handed one to Draco and then to me, I looked up at him as he handed it over and smiled saying thank you, he just nodded and looked to have given and very small smirk, as if to say "Good luck" I took a deep breath and began on the test. It was 100 questions which was no surprise since we have a 2 hour class period for potions. 40 minutes had gone by and I was on question 36, which wasn't very good, as Draco was on 49. I needed to pick up the pace if I wanted to finish in time. An hour and a half had now passed and several kids had already finished, I was feeling pretty good so far and was on question 70 something, feeling like I was losing my mind at all the words on the page. Before I knew it Draco was getting up and turning his in. I was almost done, only 5 questions left and 15 minutes left. When I finished there were only three kids still working on theirs, I looked up at Snape who was going over essays and he looked up at me. We made eye contact and I quickly looked back at my test, checking over all my answers. I let out a breath and cracked my knuckles as I stood and slowly walked up to Snape, "All done" I said nervously handing it to him, he looked up and took it from me, and his fingertips brushed mine very softly and quickly as he took it from me, and as soon as he did, out of fear and embarrassment, I snatched my hand away and smiled awkwardly, walking back to my table and putting my head down. I dozed off for the last 10 minutes of class, awakening to Draco shoving me telling me it was time to leave, I sat up and saw most of the class had left.

   I grabbed my stuff and we went for the door, "Actually, Ms. L/n may I speak to you." I froze scared it was about the hand thing, or maybe the Dumbledore thing this morning. I shooed off Draco saying I'd catch up and walked over to stand next to Snape's desk. He stood up and I followed him with my eyes, keeping eye contact to get any sense of what this was about. "I went ahead and decided to grade your test as soon as you turned it in." He said in his usual tone, not giving me any clue as to what I got. Making the suspense and tension build more. "Oh gosh. It's bad isn't it? I failed, didn't i? Oh merlin Professor im so sor-" I began to ramble when he didn't speak but he cut me off, "Y/n calm down." He said and I could feel a slight blush at the use of my first name. He handed me my test and I kept my eyes on his not looking down at it yet. "Wooo ok I can do this" I said giggling a bit, I looked down and my eyes went wide. Written in red ink and circled at the top was a 92. A fucking. 92. I looked back up at him and my jaw dropped. "OH MY GOSH I DID IT!" I practically screamed, jumping up and hugging the paper. "I can't believe I passed and with a 92 this is the happiest moment of my life!" I said smiling up at him.

In fit of adrenaline and serotonin overdose I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He went stiff and I realized what I was doing and quickly threw myself off. "Oh my I'm so sorry Sir, that was so inappropriate, I was just so happy" I said blushing hard and feeling a very strong nervous tingle, which it was I decided to call them, and looked up at him. "It's quite alright Y/n, I'm very proud of you, you worked hard and it paid off, good job." He said with a very small, but visible smile. I smiled big back at him and gestured to him, "I got you to smile too! This is amazing!" I said giggling. "Alright alright enjoy it while it lasted because that's the first and last time you'll see it." he said back in his normal tone and sat back down in his chair. We went silent for a moment as I just stared at my test. "I'm gonna frame this" I joked to which he just looked up at me and smirked a bit. "I cant thank you enough Professor, If you hadn't helped me and stayed up all night tutoring me, I would have been seeing another 50" I said with a calmer and genuine tone. "Of course, Ms-...Y/n, Im proud." he said and I put my head down to hide the blush, I felt rush to my cheeks at the sound of him saying my name, this was getting out of hand. "Ok well, I will see you in tutoring tomorrow. Goodbye Severus." I said with a sarcastic grin and walking out of the class before he could scold me for the use of his first name.

   I walked out of the school to the yard and sat in front of the tree that overlooked the lake. I closed my eyes and took in the fresh air listening to the quiet sound of the lake's water. I looked down at my test paper and smiled, he told me good job and I felt so proud to have pleased him, thinking of the potions professor and how he was such a different man to me now than he was when we first met, he was still his normal self 90% of the time, but he would let the kindness shine through every now and again when I would talk with him. I can't believe I hugged him, I thought. He felt warm for such a cold man, and he smelt nice, like parchment and firewhiskey. That smell would forever be burned in my head. And he smiled and it lit up my dark world for that fraction of a second. Looking in his dark eyes as he was truly proud of me, made my heart beat faster, he was so...beautiful to me, despite what others thought of him, he was an amazing man. I felt the nervous tingle again, only this one lingered on. I leaned my head back on the tree and felt a single tear slid down my face. I let out a breath and opened my eyes wiping it away quickly, and grew scared for a moment. I wasn't sure if it was a tear of joy, or a tear or worry, for I had just begun to realize, the nervous tingle I felt around him was butterflies, the ones Hermione had told me about, and the feelings I had, were for my Potions Professor.

[alleycat97]

Soft Side

Queen B

Pairing: Chloe x Mc (Bea)

Notes: My alternate take on what happens between chapter two and three, because I love Chloe and her bitchy ass towards me. I know I’ve been away but this story has brought new life into my lifeless body. It is what it is. If you hate it, write your own.

...

“What are you staring at?” Veronica asked as she ended her live stream and turned her attention to Chloe.

“I did something terrible.” Chloe mumbled barely audible due to the music at the frat party.

“Wha...” Veronica was silenced by her phone notification, as well as several others across the backyard.

“WHAT!?” Bea squealed, “A cheater!?” Bea of course was responding to the latest update on The T.

“You didn’t.” Veronica sighed.

“I did.” Chloe whispered.

“Who would do this? Guys! I’m not a cheater! I’m here fair and square.” Bea pleaded.

Chloe sighed and stepped forward earning the direct attention from Bea, “It was you wasnt it.”

“Of course it was me, you don’t belong here.” Chloe plastered the fakest bitch look possible.

“Chloe St James! You’re a bitch!” Bea yelled as she stormed towards the blonde.

“Correction, I’m THE bitch.”

“Why would you do this?” Veronica whispered into her ear.

“I did it for Poppy. She’s the Queen, something she will never be.”

The look on Bea’s face shattered Chloe’s heart. She just stuck the nail in her coffin. Bea would never forgive her.

...

“What the hell was that about? Poppy didn’t say anything about doing that.” Veronica asked her ‘superior’ friend.

“Ughhh I don’t know! After seeing what she did to Poppy, I had to retaliate.” Chloe tried to sound convincing.

“Poppy can take care of herself. And I think it’s time you do the same.”

Chloe stopped pacing and a look of confusion crossed her face, “What do you mean?”

Veronica smirked and rolled her eyes, “You have a crush on Winchester.”

Chloe’s face lit up and her jaw dropped, she began to stutter and fidget, a sure sign she was guilty, “I DO NOT LIKE BEA HUGHES.” She tried her hardest to look tough.

“It’s ok to admit it Chloe. I’m here for you.”

“I do not like her.” Chloe repeated. (She totally did) “Besides, she probably has someone, I mean you saw her kiss Luis.”

Veronica pulled her phone out and began typing furiously.

“What are you doing?” Chloe finally had to ask.

“Bingo.” Veronica replied with a satisfied smirk, tossing her phone to the curious blonde.

It was Bea’s Facebook page. “Bea Hughes...21....Winchester, Iowa... Single.” Chloe’s heart skipped a beat at the revelation, however, she couldn’t get ahead of herself, “She probably hasn’t updated it.”

Veronica rolled eyes and began to protest, but stopped as the door opened and in walked Poppy.

Chloe gave her a look of desperation. “What’s going on in here?” Poppy demanded, freshly changed from her jello incident earlier.

“Ummmm, me and V where just talking about getting rid of Bea, did you see The Ts latest?” Chloe spoke up.

“Yes! It was perfect, one step closer to ruining her. I want her dead, I want her career, I want her in my debt for life.” Poppy spoke dangerously before grabbing a water from the fridge and leaving as quickly as she came.

Chloe fell apart inside, she didn’t want any of that to happen to Bea. God she’d kill herself. But Poppy was her best friend, her sole reason why she was where she was. She could end her career at the snap of a finger. Poppy was that dangerous. But maybe Veronica was right. Maybe it was time to think about what she wanted.

“Hey V?”

“Yeah?”

“I like Bea Hughes...”

...

“Are you sure about this?” Chloe questioned.

“Yes, and relax. Stressed is not a good look on you Chlo. Now look, there she is.”

Chloe began to fidget again, so close to backing away. But the reassuring nudge from Veronica made her mind up. It was Social Suicide, but it was worth the effort.

“Oh no here comes THE bitch.” Zoey announced as Chloe turned their way.

(Ok that stung) Chloe thought as she stepped closer.

“What do you want?” Bea hissed.

“I ummm...” Chloe began to stutter, “Wanted you to have this. And I’m sorry for ruining your other one.”

Bea warily accepted the package from Chloe. Arching her eyebrow as she opened the package. “It’s a MacBook Pro?”

Bea nor Zoey could believe Chloe’s generosity, something had to be up.

“Why are you giving me this?” Bea asked.

“Well I felt terrible about ruining your other one. So I hope this makes up for it?”

“Well thank you?” Bea was literally shocked. “What’s the catch?”

Chloe could understand Bea’s learnies, hell shes trying to get her kicked out of the school.

“No catch. It’s yours. No more having to sit on top of me and sharing mine. (She was going to miss the close proximity of having Bea inches from her. She smelled surprisingly nice and for that 2 hour period, Chloe could actually relax and be herself.) I made a mistake and I’m trying to fix it.”

“Well thank you. I appreciate it. I guess it’ll be a nice souvenir when I’m on the plane home. The T has nearly ruined me, my meeting with the Dean wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. I’m on thin ice.”

Chloe totally forgot about her tip off to The T. She had to think fast, maybe another way to apologize,

“One last thing. Would you maybe want to...hangout Friday night. As classmates of course! Academic purposes only.(Smooth save)

Ok, now Bea really knew something was up. What happened to bitch Chloe, Poppy’s minion? If she were to accept however, she could gain ground on turning Chloe against Poppy, and be that much closer to being the New Queen.

“Yeah sure. Just on one condition.”

“Of course.” Chloe anticipated.

“We go where I want.” Bea said grinning.

...

“NO WAY!!!!” Veronica screamed in a mocking laughter.

“Shut up!” Chloe yelled embarrassed.

“I can’t believe you’re going to the state fair!”

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you.” Chloe hissed as she slammed her door shut, trying to drown out the laughter from the hyena that was Veronica right now.

“Poppy is going to kill me.”

[littlenekosfan]

Friend - visual narrative

this is going to be a long thread bc i have a LOT of panels, so read under the cut!

since im reworking with Friend chapters panels, i paid attention to the details more than ever before.. and wow, the way these chapters are narrated is absolutely amazing

lets start off with my one of my fav panels

if there is a theme between these two that keep recurring it’s “duality” (whether when it comes to their character or the way their story is told) we will also find a lot of parallels with it.. this panel above starts it very well, one left, one right, they both call each other’s name, the expressions completely different, even the background is reversed

there we go again, all this in one chapter, i simply love how they have the same pose/image but reversed, its a really nice contrast with how different they are and yet are at the same level also, look at their speech bubbles, most of the time, jugram has a round one while bazz a sharper one, its the case here and the previous panels aswell

AGAIN! kubo gives us each’s pov with the same image/paneling, i love that method bc he treats them the same, even if one is stronger than the other and ppl will most likely root for/side with one more than the other, they both get the same treatment, also, we get to see how both lives the same struggle, it both conflicts them this whole fight considering the past they had together

the transition is also really nice, the black background outside the panel and the partial grey shading that matches with it inside the panel.. we will get to see that technique again, but here?? lovely.

a whole page not showing their face even if you guessed who they were, you get that little surprise with the face reveal which comes out really nice

the chapter reveal!!!! its so pure and empty (no dialogue and it’s only one panel), it perfectly empathize on the title and its meaning

i love how discreet bazz motive to help out jugo is shown here, obviously none of them would speak about it (jugo is pretty closed and bazz despite being loud, he isnt obnoxious and he’s smart) so it had to be shown without any words and these panels do it so well!

the first panel is just so beautiful and you can tell how jugo is just, happy. and then, the moment his uncle speaks, his face drastically changes, from white to black, kubo loves to work with that contrast of b&w (just look how the ritters/espadas are dressed vs shinigamis.. there is also the sun/moon theme and so on... its not called bleach for nothing lmao) kubo uses contrast very often and we can tell he loves to do it (and he does it super well!!)

i know we dont have any colour on these pages, but both pages are from the same chapter, first one (right) being their fist meeting on a normal day (probably an evening so the sky is orange ish) and the second page is again a jump to a flashback but this time it’s not the sky that we are shown in the last panel, but rather flames, the same colour as the day they met... the two last panels look the same but arent....

there is also the absence of facial expression in some panels, which imo conveys the mood much better, we are not left up to interpretation, we clearly know what kind of feelings that are expressed yet they didnt need to be shown...

again with the parallels (left/right) and using the same image from younger to older to show their growth? nice.

the built up with the grand reveal... wow, love it, also, that panel was such a surprise to me when i first read it... still give me goosebumps today ngl..(if you are a manga reader to likes to have the book, well, this the end of vol69... what an ending :))) just look at the build up, the bg is dark and you get that white and empty panel right after like, wow 

AGAIN WITH THE SUPRISE AND WOW IT HURTS, also the title being in capital... OOF, im going to loose it

ppl like to call kubo lazy with his titles, but is it?? i mean, here, i really cant think of a better title, remember how the first chapter friend was introduced? so sweet and smooth and then you get this... the fact friend is written here is a good call back to their relationship, what it is, what it really means, and the current situation

the way bazz recalls all the things he had heard about this.......th-that hurts (we’re like in his mind, we’re just as shocked as he is) also, it shows well how bazz recall all these moment in silence and does all the realization without saying a thing, bc no, he didnt say a thing ever since yhwach started to talk..

the left panel is yhwach talking (as he was for like the whole chapter) and there is no dialogue going on, the two boys didnt say a thing... as the slience was taking place, bazz breaks is with a shrieking voice, just looking how the letters are written in japanese, we went from pure, clear panel to a messy and dark one....

jump back to present, with both jugrams having the same pose but they both don’t convey the same feeling, with the shading and how cut it is (not being able to fully see jugo’s eyes) you can tell the first one is more disturbing/devastating than the second one

there we go... we get to see both of their expression at the same time and it change within the following panels,.. (im telling you, kubo love both of them, not just one.., both.)

this is one of my favorites moments, the way know bazz has lost his fight and how HE is self-conscious about it..., the way he monologues about jugram is really depressing, and how we are only given images that illustrates his struggle...the images are so strong, desperate and yet, his words are so empty, powerless, he knew he lost.. (the moment i start reading it, i cry on the fucking floor)

i mentioned earlier how i loved kubo’s choice in not showing the face, well we have it here again in a flashback and the end of the fight... jugram turning his back to bazz, he did it in the past and did it after bazz’ death..  it’s his way to avoid to face his feelings. (the fact we are shown he did it in the past and the reason to it, let us know why he did it again even later)

here again with empty panels, the fact it’s only bazz who is talking.... feels really heavy and the way he clings to jugram with burning hands....... you really need to look at every panel carefully to feel that heart wrenching moment,, there is no crying or screaming, he just softly admits his defeat and that’s it, like, im sorry but that’s fucking sorrowful

here again with kubo choosing to not show the face, but in this case, it’s harder for us to tell which expression jugram has (since he’s so closed about showing emotions or his intentions) but the fact kubo deliberately chose to hide it proves jugram has something to hide from us, something he didnt want us (readers) to see.........

these panels? concludes their story perfectly you have jugram walking up the stairs leaving bazz-b alone laying behind, being reminded of the day they met where bazz was the one standing high while jugram is on the ground the setting: the cold empty castle during nighttime vs the warm summer day met in a forest at daytime bazz reached to jugram and jugram left him behind, they met with touched hearts only to leave with empty ones, bazz used to look down on jugram and now, jugram does, they used to be so different and still do but only now, their role are inverted...

thank you @equipollency​ for that remark! i think your post does it much better if yall wanna read it !

i mentioned earlier how the background (outside the panel) would change from black to white, we know the black means the past,  but i love how its broken here, going back and forth from the past and present (within the same page) to show how things are still the same between them, the same struggle, the same fight over and over

also, the “not yet” is just so perfectly placed, i cant, it just emphasize even more on my point earlier (how things between them never changed on that matter)  and it finally concludes the flashbacks (with the way it’s presented: the b&w,, and the words themselves, how they weight so much)

the black shading like that is rarely used with kubo but when he does, you know it conveys extreme emotions (we didnt get to see it with bazz bc it wasnt as intense as jugram has it but also)  the trigger to these emotions for jugram are related to trauma, the first one being his uncle and the second being his friendship (im not calling his relation with bazz traumatic, its how important this relationship was to him and how ended up broken that triggers him)

but NaKi ThErE iS ThiS pAneL wHerE baZz Is ShaDeD bLacK! yes i know, but it’s not about bazz expression nor emotions, its about the scene, the situation (the white bg vs the black silhouette: perfect), so no it doesnt count, but its still a very nice panel just like with the jugo’s reveal with everyone “kneeling” to him.. white bg was The way to go

i forgot to talk about how i like their fight, how there is so little dialogue and how there are a lot of empty pages just to let place to the fight... it lets you enjoy their fight while we suffer with their flashback, anyways, im not a fan of endless dialogue in fights unless it really changes something, here, they both already know each other and they know what they want, so it was a good pick to just, us reader, witness their story through their mind instead of them narrating/recalling it to us

i know kubo uses that technique outside of these chapters, but the grey shading... i love.. he also has a LOT of close ups with eyes bc we all know how expressive eyes are;... i love that too

i know i talked about some facial expressions, but really, kubo’s art is amazing, the way he can convey certain expressions that are so precise... here, have some panels that i think are underrated naki your boys are underrated.. bc i love kubo’s art so much

i had the chance to see the colored version only once, and to be honest, the black and white is just, Amazing. nothing close to that, kubo’s use of b&w and how he keeps his panels pure is MADE to stay that way

anyways, im really in love with how Friend was made and thought out in it’s visual narrative (and story wise too ofc), kubo didnt just do a side story, these chapters are fucking amazing and ppl often ignores that sadly..

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Boys & Girls (Sriracha, Part 40.)

Series description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could let you far away from all the trouble.

Part Summary: Family life suited you both and what was better, this time it was going to work out for real.

A/N: And we are officially back in business with ma boi Jim. Also, greatly inspired by Jim Croce since Hopper really loved his music.

Warnings: Weepnig and whining messes on the end of the chapter.

Word count: 4K

Tagging: @nemodoren @missdictatorme @ysljordy @creedslove​ @hopperlover​

Series master list: H E R E

GIF SOURCE

Even if the things were slowly settling down, with you and Jim being definitely in the honeymoon phase again and not being engaged for some unknown reason, it still took some to make all the things right again. You needed to help Jim with making a new ID, you had quite a long scrum with the bank and authorities to even believe that Jim is really and Jim just for him to get a hold on his former conto with the money you both saved over the time. You didn't have access to the money since James was the account holder - but at the end of February, you finally were allowed to use the money and you started to look for a new home - it was incredibly awkward that you both had to live at your parents’ house no matter how many times your ma told you it’s fine.

Jim started to visit a therapist and group therapy sessions in a nearby town and so far, it was doing him justice. He felt better to know some more Vietnam veterans who've been through the same thing he was through - these men had gone through. He called his former colleague Rosario Delgado to ask her about her well being - it was almost ten years since the New York incident and she stopped sending him Christmas postcards. James was trying to get his life together; he wanted to sort everything out after almost twenty years. And he was doing good.

You proceeded to study at the university, still having your old part-time job at the bistro, being there at least three days a week. Jim’s salary of a police officer wasnt bad, not at all, but it still was a downgrade from his Chief salary. It wasn’t that you suddenly were on the edge of poverty, especially with your savings, but you felt the missing money - especially when you were looking for a flat in the downtown. But in the end, you hadn't settled down on a flat; you chose a small house which was still significantly closer to the downtown than the suburban houses.

It was nice - this wasn’t his trail or his cabin where he had already been moved in; this was the first time when you chose, paid, and started to live on a place together. This was the fresh start drawing a flat line behind the Hawkins Lab incident, behind Russia, behind both Vietnam and New York - with endless love, Jim was leaving Sara and Diane behind.

The first few weeks in the house were the best - you hadn't got any TV, any couch, not even a bed or a wardrobe. You had only one mattress on the floor where you were sleeping, a few kitchen appliances, boxed with all of your stuff, and an old gramophone. You couldn't count the running shower which was already there. When you weren't at work or school, you were painting the walls on your own since you didn't exactly have the money to pay a professional painter.

"This is supposed to be a pomelo orange? Are you sure about that? Haven't you took a different bucket on accident?" - Jim yelled at you while you were swabbing a room you decided to have a living room in. You stopped your work and swiped the sweat off your forehead, listening to Jim Croce’s Operator. You unpacked each of James’ Jim Croce vinyl records and moved it into your new place as well, usually listening to Croce while you were working.

James was looking healthier and healthier with each passing month - he gained a few pounds, you couldn't see his ribs anymore, he let his hair grow and his significant ’83 beard was back again. He was looking hot, especially in an unbuttoned shirt and a new Jim Croce shirt you ordered him for his name day - which was more than three months away, but you loved it so much that you couldn't stop yourself.

He was standing there looking at the wall, the orange paint was all over his body, but not on his shirt as he held the paint roller in his palm. Yeah, you could see what he was talking about - it was more peachy than a pomelo, but you liked it nonetheless. - "Maybe it’ll be looking better once it dries up, hm?" - You whispered and hugged him from behind slowly. You were still careful with the touches and freaking him out, but it was undeniable that it got better. Gently, you kissed his shoulder and smiled at the work he had done.

"It looks great Hopper." - You nodded with a grin. He circled his palms around yours and swayed his hips in the rhythm of the song. You did so as well. Slowly, he turned around to face you, smiling down on you. You smiled back, expecting a kiss - only to have the paint rolled all over your face. You closed your eyes and grunted angrily.

"Oh yea, I can see the pomelo color now. I think you were rite. Why don't you have more clothes in this color? It suits you." - Jim grinned before he pressed his face to yours so some of the paint pressed on his skin too.

"This was unnecessary - so now, I will angrily continue the things I was up to before you called out." - You said with fake drama in your voice, being the drama queen you always were. You had already put your arms from his hips, pulling away, when he leaned in for a kiss. You felt the paint on your tongue, which was indeed disgusting.

"It was completely necessary, in my defense, miss Y/L/N." - James yelled at you after a while. You chuckled, yelling back at him why he thinks so, continuing with cleaning up the room. - "Isn't that obvious? My girlfriend now has to take a shower before the paint settles down in her hair and since I have it on my face too, you know that does that mean." - Jim suddenly stood up the doorframe, watching you on the floor trying to clean up the fucking wooden floor.

A burst of unbelieving laughter came out of your lips as you watched him. - "This is a genius move for a dumbass like you, Hopper, I gotta say. But you'll have to play Speedball Tucker if you want to see me undressing." - You stood up and bit your lip, having Jim already walking to the gramophone.

"Why is it that this song does things to you?" - Jim asked and stopped the music to put in Life & Times by Croce. You shrugged your shoulders with a nasty smile, already unbuttoning the first buttons.

"I don't know. Maybe it’s because you hum it all the time? But play me You Don't Mess Around With Jim in the bed and I'll show you things you haven't seen yet." - Your short snort resonated through the living room as you turned around to walk to the bathroom. - "You sure will." - Jim snorted back, already throwing his shirt on the floor.

Eleven was over her heels when she came to visit Hawkins on spring break with Joyce. While Joyce was staying at your mum’s, her sons were at Wheelers’, Eleven was staying at your place in her room - it was also the only room which was finished - she had a bed there, a bookshelf for schoolbooks and comic books, a large table you bought on a flea market with a chair in the pair and you told her that she can have some posters and as many photo frames as she wants to. It still needed small touches, but it also meant one thing. It was a silent promise that soon enough, you'll be a family again.

In the end, you decided to put up some of Sara's photos. You knew it was really important Jim, but you needed to talk him down into it. You loved one of the photos from her kindergarten which you put up in the kitchen. When Joyce saw that you hung the picture up, her eyes teared up as she smiled. It also sparkled a rather interesting conversation between you and James.

"How was it like?" - You asked when you were preparing dinner. Jim was sitting at the improvised table; you still had an empty living room, hall and the master bedroom was consisting of the mattress only. He looked up from a detective novel he was reading, looking up at you.

"What? You mean seducin' you? I'm a piece of cake so you gave in pretty easily." - He grinned, having a smile from ear to ear. It was around five p.m. and Eleven was soon about to come home. Tomorrow, you had a family dinner at Enzo's in the plan - Mike was supposed to come, Aiden and Lena drove from New Orleans in the evening.

"Hold your horses. A) you're wrong because I'm a sex bomb and you were all over the place from me and b) no, I don't mean this... I mean... How was it like to have such a small baby girl?" - You answered from concentrating on having the pepper perfectly cut. Hopper closed the book, holding the page with his fingers. His eyes widened and cheeks filled when he slowly inhaled some air.

"It's somethin' you can't even describe. It's fillin' up to the bottom of your soul, you more than love every second of it. When the child hugs you, you just feel sorta warm next to your heart. You only want them to be safe and happy every day, you'd do every little thin' just to see them smile." - Hopper got out with noticeable pauses - he wasn't good with his words, but you could hear that he means every letter of what he had said.

"That sounds just... Lovely." - You sighed and let's be honest, the smile on your face was freaking James out. He was watching you without looking away. - "What would you say..." - You bit your lip and looked Jim in the eyes. Hopper's eyes widened almost unnoticeable.

"If you'd have a chance to do it again?" - You whispered and at that moment, Eleven entered the house, so panicked Hopper didn't have a chance to answer. Playfully, you rose your eyebrows happily and turned back to the pepper. - "Just think about it, yeah?"

Of course, this was about to come. You were young, your thirties were almost six years away and one day, this question was about to come his way. Kids. You never talked about having kids - you already had one. But not about really settling down to have a real family life. With small kids.

Was James even ready to try it again? Or was he simply too old to raise a kid? Or two of them? Sure, you'll soon be done with university and your parents would help you with every little thing you'd ask them, yet James couldn't forget that this was Hawkins in Indiana. This place was dangerous. Especially for James Hopper.

But you said it out loud. That you want to have kids. Sure, El was your kid, your baby girl and you'd kick ass to anyone who'd try to harm her. But there was an itsy bitsy thing - you didn't give birth to her which could do a lot. You proclaimed her as your rightful kid, you were written down in her birth certificate.

James was out of the world for both the following evening and he was even more stressed out the other day when you were supposed to go to Enzo's.

Your question had pulled some damn switch inside of him; he wasn't able to properly fall asleep the whole night thinking about the kid thingy. The only thing James could say for sure was that if you'd have a girl, she would look like an angel; because you were one. But that wasnt all.

"Are you having nightmares or what's wrong with you?" - You mumbled from somewhere under your blanket. You mostly were doing that during winter and in the early spring - only your head could be seen because your whole body was curled up under the blanket to keep you warm. You moved around a bit before Jim could register your face.

"Should somethin’ be wrong with me?" - James hummed and brought you closer to warm you up. You were as cold as ice. Carefully, you wrapped your leg around his waist, leaving out a long sigh.

"You're turning around all the time and make the mattress move. Something on your mind, Hop?" - You yawned and put your temple on his shoulder, closing your eyes again. You were smiling without realizing; just smelling him and feeling him close was making you happy. And you fell asleep again almost immediately.

Jim wanted to ask you to marry him on the family, this time, he made sure he adhered to the traditions - first, earlier that day when he was dropping El at your parents’ house before she was supposed to see Mike, he talked with your father. Both he and Molly couldn't understand why did he cancel the engagement in the first place, just to ask them.

He did the best to tell them that he's now trying to turn his life around, starting from a literal zero - he contacted his old colleagues like Rosario and Vietnam comrades, he said goodbye to Sara, bought the house with you and renovated it. James just wanted a new life and he wanted to start it in the right way with you by his side. That was what made your dad give him his blessing.

On top of that, you were controlling how much did he smoke and how much Tuinal did he take - it wasn’t meant in a bad way and James knew that - he was just fucking grateful that you took the role of his guardian angel. You couldn't be described any other way than being a guardian angel.

But if he proposes to you, then marries you... Kids were just the next step, right? When Jim finally fell asleep, it was while he held your waist and tried to think about what would it look like. James was almost forty-four years old. He would be sixty when the kid would be sixteen, sixty-four when they would be twenty. Which was horrifying and more than that. He was thirty when Sara was born which was an ideal age in his opinion. He was thirty-seven when she died. Would he be even able to be a good dad? Jim thought that he was in a fairly good condition, thanks to his police work, but a kid...  

The other evening, Jim put on his best shirt and tuxedo, looking at himself in the mirror as he was adjusting the small details - this tuxedo he had at the first family dinner in your house. Eleven peaked into the room before she entered.

She was a grown-up since the last time James had seen her - she had longer hair, she was more tanned, taller and even her face seemed to be more adult. James admired that Eleven was always an adult in some way. Ever since Jim met her, in some things, she was drastically more matured than kids her age - she knew things people her age didn't have a single idea about. Yet now it seemed that her personality had deepened even more than before.

Eleven had a nice dress on and you helped her put her hair in a messy bun. She smiled at James and checked that the door is closed.

"Are you okay?" - She asked excitedly. Right at the moment, you were in the living room with Mike and you two were chatting while drinking some lemonade you made. He was supposed to make you occupied while Eleven went to check up on Hopper.

"How can I be okay?" - Hopper said with an unnerved laugher and went to sit down on your bed. Eleven laughed as well and sat next to him; she hugged his shoulder and shook him a bit.

"Mom said yes before and she loves you. She will say yes again, I'm sure." - Eleven smiled and put her temple on Jim's shoulder, letting him kiss the back of her head. She could now speak as kids her age did. Eleven was talking fluently, without hesitation, but yes, sometimes she still thought about how to put a sentence in a certain way. - "Grandpa said yes too, he knows you two should be together."

"How did you come to that conclusion, kiddo? Hm?" - Jim chuckled at her words. He knew what Eleven was trying to tell him, but it was too adorable not to make fun of.

"I've heard that in a movie I was watching with Joyce and Will." - She smiled and at that moment, they both turned their heads to the door, hearing as you called out for them. It was time to go. Eleven got up first, giving her palm to Hopper to help him get up. - "You can do it. Its just one question."

"Geez, you're a smart one, kiddo." - Hopper chuckled, following her out of the room. You and Mike were waiting under the staircase. Even if Jim saw you before and he knew how would you look like, he was wonderstruck when he saw you in your blue dress with your hair styled masterfully.

"What were you two up to, huh?" - You asked both of them, tying up his tie again, properly this time. - "Are you having secrets again?" - You joked, making Eleven smile innocently as she stood up next to Mike and entwined her elbow with his. After taking too many photos and embarrassing the hell out of Mike, Jim laid in with his dad jokes that time, yo rode to the restaurant.

Mike on the backseat was visibly sweating. He always thought that Eleven has Hopper and you - he forgot that you have a brother and parents. If he was worried about something, it was that he won't make a good first impression. Which would embarrass him to death? Yet, you were telling the whole time that he's perfectly fine. It was strange to realize that Aiden was only six years older than them. That wasn’t too much. And you weren't much older either.

Seeing your family gather around one table was a thing that made you so happy, that smiled didn't leave your face the whole afternoon. Mike, in the end, was happy too - he and Eleven befriended your cousin Andrea who was at their age, so these three had so many to talk about and so did you, the adults sitting there. The food in Enzo’s was delicious and this time, you hadn't got any surprise which would make faint. Even the fine wine you loved so much was ordered and Jim offered that this time, he would drive home - which meant that you had nothing to be worried or angry about.

Everyone shut up when a man stood up from the chair he was sitting on and you were looking at him with awe. Your palm circled Jims as you watched your younger brother getting himself to propose to his girlfriend. Which was kinda scaring Jim, since that was his plan that evening?

The things Aiden told her were one of the sweetest you had ever head. With a contained smile, you leaned to James’ shoulder, watching Aiden getting on his knee with a face that was showing his emotions. He was lost over the heels for Lena, his heart was surely beating for her. You didn't notice your dad having intense eye contact with Jim since he was waiting for the older man to do the exact thing his son had just done.

And you asked what's wrong when Jim took a deep breath in, trying not to faint. He was stressed. He was facing stress. The last time he was doing this was behind a locked door to his office. Not in a restaurant, let alone your family being present.

"Jim, are you having a heart attack?" - You put your palms on his jaws, looking at his reddened cheeks and completely sweaty forehead. Hopper shook his head, having his eyes widening with each passing second. It was now or never situation. Naturally, everyone was extra-surprised when Hopper suddenly stood up as well and exhaled loudly.

It didn't take you too much time to figure out what's happening there. You had seen him this nervous once already and boy oh boy, here it was again. It was nice and you knew that most likely, he had encouraged himself for weeks before he was ready to get on that damn knee again.

"My dear Y/N." - He started, watching your father as if the man would tell him what should he say next - and the funniest part was that your father watched him as well in the same way. Then Jim’s palm took a hold on the back of your chair, the man leaning down a bit. The guests inside Enzo’s were nervous. One proposal was a classic, but two at once? That was extraordinary.

"I want... To... Tell you..." - Jim started slowly as he tried to get his self-confidence back. You nodded and caught his other palm to show him that he's fine. Nothing could ruin his moment. - "I love you. Very much. And that I know you hadn't got it exactly easy with me past couple of months. And neither of the people had it easy with us. It's just how it is, and I'm grateful for everything you've been willing to give me - family, a new home, the feeling of being safe, and useful. You made me see a million things I haven't seen before meeting you and I have to thank you and your family for that." - Jim looked around nervously, having you still smiling in front of him.

Joyce surely wrote this speech too. She was a mister of romantic words full of love, which wasn’t exactly Hopper’s area. He was more about showing love than telling the words yet you liked that about him. This was just Joyce’s work.

"And for that, I would be honored," - Was the part where he got on his knees finally and this time, it felt like a proposal for a wedding. Not some Hopper’s ’I would be up for marriage if you want to’. This looked like a real ’Do you want to spend the rest of your life by my side?’, which brought happy tears to your eyes. - "If you'd like to become my wife and have me by your side until the day we both get old and wrinkly."

That was maybe the best Hopper could get out of himself, but let's be honest, it left you a whining and nodding mess, since you couldn't say a single word at that moment. The last thing you remembered clearly from that evening was when Hopper gently picked you up from the ground when you had the ring on, weeping here and there as well.

[robinskalechip]

ultimately - chapter two

masterlist

robin buckley fan fic

a/n: how we liking this so far?

warnings: smoking, language

not my gif!

chapter two - it’s a date

robin felt nervous for the second day of school as she thought of her schedule and each of her individual classes. she felt herself get more nervous when her mind got to her english class as she thought of the school’s newest mystery

robin was suddenly missing the old way the classes were set up. they had a days and b days but the district made it to where they classes were shorter and you went to all of them in a day. she liked the change at first but now all she could think about how she was going to see this new presence every day.

all day she anticipated that period and when it finally came she felt like she was going to throw up but thinks she did a pretty good job at masking it

when she entered the classroom, she greeted mrs. olsen before seeing emily already sat at her desk. she was reading the scarlet letter, the book they were told would be their first one of the semester. the distaste she was feeling towards the book was so apparent and robin took notice.

robin walked towards the desk she sat at the day before and began putting her things down “not good?”

emily angrily put her bookmark into the book and aggressively dropped it onto her desk “it’s the god damn puritans they ruin everything”

robin laughed to herself as she looked through her backpack

the class period went by pretty quickly, they were discussing the background information for the scarlet letter as emily continued reading said book and hating every second of it hi i’m kale, the author of the fic and scarlet letter anti

once mrs. olsen finished with her lecture, she allowed the remaining class time to be free time for the class to which emily, unlike almost every other person in the class, got excited and moved to a different seat to be close to a friend, kept her head burried in the book, showing no signs of emotions to the words being said around her

robin started to pack her things before she was startled by the familiar sound of a book being angrily thrown onto a desk “have you started this shit yet?”

robin looked to her right to see emily looking at her, anticipating a response

“yeah i started it during lunch today”

“how the hell can you read in that chaos of a cafeteria?” as emily spoke, robin became lost in her details. she got lost in her uneven part in her hair, most likely from her running her hand through it. she got lost in her jewelry that she had seen the day prior; the leather bracelets and small silver bands on her fingers and the necklace she wore tucked into her shirt that robin could catch a glimpse of here and there. she was lost in her but snapped out right in time to answer her.

“i go outside during lunch”

“interesting”

the bell rang and emily packed her things as robin walked past her

robin turned around briefly as she was allowing people to go before her in exiting the doorway and was met with emily’s eyes staring right back at her. this time there was no smile, but robin wasnt scared like she had been in every other interaction with her.

after a few seconds robin exited and made her way to calculus. the entire period consisted of her inability to concentrate without her mind wondering to those last few moments of english.

now all she could think of was the clock ticking and how soon she would be in her presence again in their advanced european history class

she hurried downstairs immediately once the bell rang and tried her best to get there before anyone could take her seat next to her

but once she got there, emily was no where to be seen and didn’t come to class at all during that period. robin felt somewhat worried but let it pass as she tried to focus on the course at hand, at least while she had the mental stability to do so since the one who had been distracting her so much was no longer there

the next day, robin let the endless possibilities as to where emily could have gone wander through her mind until those thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a granola bar landing in her lap as she sat underneath her beloved lunchtime tree

robin looked up to see emily, smiling so faintly it could hardly be seen

“what’s this?” robin didn’t eat lunch every day and it was a rare occurrence for someone she barely knew to just give her food like this. regardless she started to open the packaged good and break it in half, holding one half up to emily in an offering

emily grabbed the half bar and popped it into her mouth as she began to sit next to robin “you weren’t eating anything, the granola bar was at my disposal, 2 + 2 robin”

“i didn’t know you had this lunch” robin hadn’t seen her at all in the last couple of days

“yeah because it’s still summertime technically and its hot so i choose to be a normal person and stay inside” robin laughed at this statement

“it isnt even that hot”

emily mockingly laughed at her “easy for you to say, i’m from further north where cold is cold and it stays comfortable any other time of the year” as she spoke she took the cigarette that was carefully placed behind her ear and lit it. she began to take off the maroon jacket she was wearing

the girl began to lay down in the grass, still taking in her cigarette every five seconds or so

robin looked at the girl as the sun shines onto her face that now was home to her closed eyes “what”

the girl sat up and grabbed her bottled water and took a drink from it

“nothing” robin felt flustered by the girl and it was taking everything she had not to show it

robin remembered the day before “where were you yesterday in last period”

emily was looking around at the other students surrounding her a robin. it seemed as if she was trying to find someone “family emergency”

“what kind of emergency”

emily redirected her attention to robin “a family one”

the bell rang, signaling they now had to make their way to english

emily got up first so she could help robin up before throwing her cigarette onto the sidewalk and extending a hand to robin who was holding her chemistry and physics textbooks and was indeed struggling

“what”

“give me one”

“why”

emily rolled her eyes before grabbing one of the books from robin, despite her protest

robin tried to argue but emily just started to walk off as she flipped through the pages of the advanced chemistry book

“oo atomic theory” emily seems intreged by the contents of the book, paying little to no attention to her surrounds

robin smiled to herself as she saw the girl’s fascination

once they got to the classroom, emily rolled her eyes once again as chase began to approach her. she looked at robin, handing her the textbook to then give chase her attention once more

“what”

“so”

emily looked at robin who was sitting at her desk now, watching the situation unfold as a small grin appeared upon both of their lips

“basically i thought i’d give you these last couple of days to settle in and what not. i know a new school could be tough so now i’m here to officially ask you on a date this saturday at the drive in...”

emily looked at the boy who seemed desperate. but not for her acceptance but his friends’.

“sorry chase, i’ve already got plans”

a boy named tyler approached the scene from behind chase, “you literally just got here what could you possibly have to do on your first saturday night”

emily looked to robin “i have plans with robin”

robin furred her eyebrows in confusion before unfurring them when she saw the heads of the two boys turn to look at her as she gave them a sarcastic smile in agreement

the bell rung for class to begin and emily watched as the two boys went back to their desks before going to hers

for most of the class period, no one spoke except mrs. olsen until she announced that partners were to be made to discuss the scarlet letter

robin was about to turn to emily before she felt someone pulling her hand towards the back corner of the room, right by the window where emily then hopped onto the countertop

“its a shit book, there we discussed it” robin found emily’s hatred for the book amusing

she jokingly tried to object “i don’t know i think it’s pretty good”

emily’s head immediately shot to robin’s face, away from the window she had been looking out of “now i’m definitely canceling our plans for saturday”

she saw chase turn around at these words before she shot him down once again “i’m kidding chase”

robin and emily used the ten minutes they had to discuss their favorite books without going into excruciating detail. emily liked books that made her feel at ease but excited at the same time. “i like books that make me feel like i’m in love again”

robin was growing the love her mind, and emily was growing to love robin’s

once the bell rung, robin helped emily down from the countertop and walked with her until she arrived at the enterance of her classroom. it took her a few seconds to lose the smile she was sporting because of emily, which kind of bugged her. it was killing her vibe.

robin had realized that calculus was just going to have to be difficult if this was how she was going to show up to class everyday; struck and counting down until the class was over

once robin got to european history she saw emily once again, reading the scarlet letter and looking like she wanted to end herself and that book

“still not any good?”

emily put the book down as robin began to take her seat and ran both of her hands through her hair “i am constantly annoyed by every single one of the characters”

robin felt nervous as she asked her next question “were you serious about the saturday thing?”

emily started to laugh as she mocked robin “aww does freckles want to go on a date with me?”

robin rolled her eyes as she laughed with her “no its just a question”

the girl next to her briefly paused her laughter to raise her eyebrows in a “really” sort of format

“for clarification”

emily caught her breathe before looking robin in the eyes “freckles”

“yes?”

“would you do me the honor of fulfilling my lie that i said to avoid the biggest idiot in this school?”

robin was smiling, even though she wished she wasn’t “sure”

“great it’s a date”

next chapter

[yayninjabob]

A story behind a story

I have never wrote 100,000 words of anything in my life and 9 months ago when I first sat down to write Villain: Redux I definitely did NOT anticipate the length it would reach by the end of Part I. Now that it is done though I feel like I can talk about it.  Well not really the story but the story behind the story?  

A very lengthy and personal author's note for Part I: Remote Control

How I started writing again: My relationship with my writing was non existent for years.  I honestly went through a very long drought where I felt like everything I created just sucked so bad and I had zero motivation for creating shit.  I would talk with my therapist or my wife and friends about feeling so out of touch with my creative side and feeling pretty lost without it.  Really, I pretty much felt like it was dead forever.  I eventually started a personal journal again... And little drabbles here and there would come to mind... It felt alright but meh. "What did you enjoy about writing that you still feel is missing?" I was asked. Ffffffuck me I dont know.  Writing as a teen and in my early twenties wasn't something I ever thought about even when I did it every damn day of my life.  I guess I missed having that ongoing plot in the back of my head that I could escape to whenever life was lame. Daydreaming crazy stories as a kid was just my favorite past time and writing went with it.  But I just didnt have any more stories in my head. Nothing new or exciting enough at least. Anyways. January was my dads bday.  2019 and that year my dad asked for something.  Now my dad isn't one to ask for gifts. No, normally he is extremely frustrating and expects everyone to read his mind while saying "I dont care" yet if his gifts dont meet his secretive expectations he gets all butthurt and emo and says that nobody knows him.  Ok but January 2019 he asks me to write him something.   "What?  A story?  A poem?  A birthday card?" "I dont care just write me something." Typical. "I dont care."  Yeah right.  What the hell does he expect from me jeez.... My dad was the OG storyteller in my life- real shit or bullshit- he could spin a crazy story like no one else. My uncles and his friends would sit around smoking and drinking and listening to one wild tale after the next.   He could entertain people for HOURS just with the shit he’d say.  I always thought he'd make a brilliant stand up comedian but my dad would just laugh at the idea. So for his gift I figured I'd retell one of his personal wild tales - his first encounter with a mountain lion at 12 during a hunting trip with my late great uncle Joe who was his adoptive father figure.  Honestly my dad was always so incredibly descriptive and I heard that tale about a bazillion times growing up, and even though he hadnt shared it in probably 15+ years, it was easy to recall. I could just close my eyes and see it clear as day.  I stayed loyal to his story but I used my own words.  It really surprised me how easy I found those words though.  Writing had been such an impossible challenge for so long yet when I finished the short story I had written 12 pages in a single afternoon and I was shocked but in a good way.  It was his story so I was pretty sure he would like it. He's got a pretty big ego lol. I typed it up on the typewriter my dad had gotten me back when I was a teen and serious about becoming a "real writer."  I figured he would appreciate that.  I gave him the story on his birthday.  He didnt read it right away. We went to the backyard and the two of us shared a joint and while I started chasing the dogs in the yard for a bit I saw he finally picked the story up. And when he finished he started crying. Which is always weird when it's your dad right?  He isn't one to cry easily. Last time I saw tears in his eyes was three years prior at my wedding but even that wasnt like this.  He told me "You need to write again.   You need to try." But I still felt like I couldn't. I never really thought I was good at it anyway.  Sure, people told me they liked my writing and it meant a lot that my dad was moved so much by my short story that I started to believe “hey maybe I can write,” but... I dunno.  I had a rough idea for an original novel that I sat down with later that month and tried to work out... But it just felt forced and uninteresting.  It wasnt a story my mind could just escape to effortlessly.  The passion just wasnt there. After a while my wife suggested to me "Well when you retold your dad's story that was easier right?  Maybe you should retell another story that you love." And so in August 2019 I sat down and wrote what would eventually become the scarring scene for Villain: Redux

Part I:  Remote Control I spent the rest of August, September and October slowly falling back into my old world of Villain.  I reread both Villain and VillainE for the first time in yeeeeeears.  What. A. Trip. So much stood out to me that was like "Ok young me, I see where you were going but this could be so much better."  I made my list of what I liked and what I wanted to change.. Constructed my outline and then I just went for it.   Halloween night that year was spent finishing my first draft of chapter 1.  It was still in Buttercup's limited POV.  I liked it OK enough but I wondered if it would be improved if I tried third person instead.  I said "fuck it why not" and went for it again but in third person, adding the beginning history of Townsville and then the opening scene with Mojo.   When I finished it I was pretty amused with it and I found myself just starting right away on chapter 2 and adding even more details to my overall outline- it became a trilogy.  It was flowing SO easy and for once writing didnt feel like some forced chore I was performing.   The entire time though I debated whether or not to share any of it.  I didn't think anyone would read it.  But personally, I was falling in love with my new rendition and I really didn't want to stop writing it. So once again I said "fuck it why not" and I started this tumblr to start documenting my new commitment to rewriting Villain for good.  I edited the first chapter and uploaded it a couple days before Thanksgiving. And the support I got from readers honestly made me cry haha... I really really thought the story would go unnoticed.  After all, when I first started writing for the PpG fandom it was always an uphill battle and 90 percent of my first reviews were just flames and criticism.  The original Villain really took a while to gain much of a readership and even though it had its moment of somewhat popularity in the fandom, that moment came after it was completed. A brief glance at the PpG section on FFnet showed me that things really hadnt changed- still 99 percent PpGxRrB romances.  Man, it just seemed so unfair. I freaking love this show and TBH I will never understand the fandom's fixation on those damn Rowdyruffs.  Whatever.  It is what it is.  But because of that and because I hadnt been an active writer in the fandom for like a decade I really thought I'd be lucky to get one review.   And I did!  On the first day!  And I was PUMPED lol.   Then over the next couple of days I got more and most from names I recognized from the past!  I was so touched by some of the things you guys said, you will have no idea what those first 7 reviews meant to me.  And of course the reviews to follow throughout the next chapters only continued to motivate me further. And now I'm done with Part I.  Jeez what a freaking journey.  I feel like I've learned a lot though and I hope that the story only improves from here.   Today, this story invades my subconscious more than I would like to admit.  But.  It is so nice to have an exciting story to escape to once more.  And I feel like I can say that my creative drive is finally restored again which feels amazing.  Who knew it would be this rewrite of all things to do it. So yeah.  I owe the biggest thanks to my readers (the reviewers especially), my wife, and of course my dad.   I know we are just at the beginning of this story, but personally I just feel like I've accomplished more than I could've imagined already... like I said... 100,000 words is something I’ve never done before lol.  And I cant wait to share the rest of the story with everyone.   Anyways that’s my long soppy backstory on how I decided to rewrite Villain.  Thanks for reading. :)

[cerealmonster15]

yeah "may we meet again in a better life" is the last thing robin says before disappearing rip... protip: if you go on the awakening page on serenes forest, look under "scripts" and you can read all the dialogue and supports in the whole game, including dlc and any dialogue changes between m!robin/morgan or f!robin/morgan! it's super useful for refs or wasting hours of ur life going through all of ur fave characters' supports lmao. (also late but ur owain cosplay is amazing!!!! ;o;)

ohhh i actually go on the fe wiki all the time to read support convos and chapter scripts iv’e played, it’s a FUN TIME. helps me plan out who i’m gonna SHIP if i skim their c supports... i also once read through a lot of the future past dlc dialogue (mostly the part w/ owain/inigo/brady/yarne...my lads.... i have them in a team in feh and theyre just called team “:(” bkjlfsdskldf) and i wanted to cry. i hadnt heard of serene’s forest tho! def gonna file that resource away for later 👀 i did end up double checking later w/google and saw that ya,,,, robin telling everyone bye,, BUT I SWEAR I THOUGHT CHROM SAID IT i thought i could hear his voice in my head AM I JUST LYING TO MYSELF

i’m probably mixing up similar cutscenes or something lol.

god i miss awakening.. like im havin a good time with fates (as good as i can through all the heartbreak???? people that told me conquest wasnt sad are liars. im not done yet but i’m sad every chapter now kfsjfjksd). anyway. THANK YOU i am so thrilled w/how owain came out so i’m glad you think so too :D!!!!!!!!!

[everypieceintoafire]

my homestuck fics on ao3 - a smallish masterpost

I realised I only had these linked on a custom page, which isn't very mobile-friendly, so here they are.

Let There Be Light

An Earth-Shattering Confession was the first fic I ever finished and, aside from an abandoned Star Trek story, the first of my fiction to see the light of day since the mid-00s. I wrote the first chapter on our netbook, sleepless, sat up in bed, uploaded by morning, and I had no idea where I was going with it. Two days later I was uploading chapter two. I had so much fun.

It's about a trans girl who comes out to her friends. That's pretty much it. It's like fifty percent pesterlog.

The amazing thegeekgene has performed the whole thing!

TT: I've been meaning to ask you for a favor. And that favor comes with a confession. TT: It's rather a large favor. GA: I See GA: How Does It Compare To The Size Of The Confession GA: Are We Talking Mountains And Burrowbeast Hills Or TT: The confession is, if anything, larger. TT: Earth-shattering, if you will. Or possibly Alternia-shattering. One way or another one of our planets is going to get caught in the shockwave created by my horrifying secret. TT: The moment I open my mouth to speak the terrible truth will be remembered in the histories of advanced civilizations as the origin point of the bizarre spatial anomaly that erased this world, burrowbeasts and all, from the universe. TT: You may wish to bring a portable transportalizer so you can escape to a less doomed planet once I've opened my heart to you. GA: I Am Afraid I Have No Such Device GA: But As A Troll I Am Capable Of Surviving The Vacuum Of Space For Several Minutes Without Suffering Harm GA: Its Entirely Possible My Mysterious Rainbow Drinker Powers Will Extend That GA: And According To The Book You Loaned Me Two Weeks Ago A Mere Thirty Seconds Is All You Need Before A Helpful Soul In A Passing Spaceship Arrives To Affect A Rescue GA: Provided Said Ship Is Powered By An Engine Sufficiently Humorous And Improbable GA: So We Can Assume I Will Live Through This Momentous Event GA: And With That Assumption Safely Made And Acknowledged By All Parties Move On To The Confession Itself TT: Ah.

The Other Girl came next and is a one-pager about dysphoria.

On Bananas followed that and is basically about how I don't understand Spironolactone.

These stories are grouped together in a series called Let There Be Light. There's also the unfinished stories Growing Up Again and We'll Stand Up Together, which may well continue at some point!

Prompts

Finding the Path was written (mostly on trains and in a great hurry) as a pinch-hit for Homestuck Ladyfest 2013. It's patchy, but the dialogue is kind of fun (primarily because I only had about two days to write it so I wrote the dialogue first and filled in everything else after).

AG: Where did you land? GA: I Am Stuck In A Tree GA: It Is Not Dignified GA: The Branches Are Poking Me GA: The Matriorb Is Okay Though The Future Of Our Race Is Still Assured GA: So GA: You Know GA: Good AG: Stop ram8ling and tell me where you are! I don't like the look of these woods. GA: How Can You Not Like The Woods Isnt Your Lusus Literally A Giant Spider That Eats People GA: Are You Not By Definition The Scariest Thing In Any Given Set Of Woods GA: Oh No A Spider Troll Come To Feed Me To Her Enormous Monster Parent GA: Isnt That You GA: And Yes Of Course I Am Rambling I Go On Like This When Im Nervous GA: For Some Reason Dropping Through A Weird Glitch In The Side Of A Hill Into A Wood That Wasnt There A Moment Before Has Put Me A Little On Edge

Little Blue Heart was written for Homestuck Rare-pair Swap 2014. It's a Rose/Vriska story set a while after the end of Homestuck (which is a thing that hadn't happened yet when I wrote it) when the characters are adults and finally old enough to fuck up their own lives without any outside assistance. It contains the only sex scene I've ever written.

Your name is Rose Lalonde, and something inside you makes it rain.

A reporter came out to the house a few weeks ago looking for a story in the stormclouds that persist over Rainbow Falls, but what was there to say about it except, it's always raining? She asked questions; you lied. She got some footage you doubt ever made it to TV. You deliberately wore a borderline-offensive shirt for the interview, not because you thought it would make them omit you from any potential broadcast—pixelization is a thing, after all—but merely to express your feelings on the whole process.

When she left for the last time, Kanaya told you that your growing contempt for other humans was an unbecoming quality, that your whole attitude towards people and the planet you ended up on was evidence of a bruise on your soul she was on the verge of giving up trying to heal. Things could have been so much worse, she'd said; you could, after all, have all reincarnated on a recreation of Alternia! You shouted back that that would have been better because maybe some troll there would have been willing to take you apart and find out what's wrong with you, and that was what prompted her to slam the front door on her way out. It still doesn't close properly.

Kanaya's staying in town, for now, and occasionally pops up on Pesterchum. She worries. You wish she'd go further away.

But it's true; something inside you makes it rain. The weather responds to your moods as if auditioning for a horror movie, and in the lightning flashes of your anxiety attacks you see writhing shadows in the forest, reaching for the clouds. They match the wriggling and itching under your skin, and what began as a creeping dread grew in the weeks of your solitude into a horrified certainty: when your head aches and the storm breaks the sky in half above you, you feel them as the limbs of something that crawled inside you long ago.

You can put a name to its tendrils, to the things curled around your spine, to the smoke that gathers in your head: horrorterror.

You are almost insulted to be so comprehensively invaded by something with such a stupid, stupid name.

Skylighter was written for When Worlds Collide: Crossover Fanwork Exchange, and is a Homestuck/Pacific Rim crossover. It's also kind of rushed, but it's okay.

AG: This is the 8est one yet! CG: YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT. IT'S ALWAYS THE BEST ONE YET AND JAEGER PILOTS ARE ALWAYS 'ULTIM8 8ADASSES' AND YOU'RE GOING TO BE A PILOT ONE DAY. AG: Yeah, just as soon as I find someone awesome enough to Drift with me. AG: And none of that ever stops 8eing a thing that is true. Look at that punch! CT: D –> This is e%traordinarily gratifying GA: Yes Oh My Goodness I Am Enthralled GA: Left Hook Right Hook Oh My CG: YOU'VE BEEN PRACTICING SARCASM AGAIN, HAVEN'T YOU? GA: I Dont Know What You Mean CG: SOLLUX SHOULD NEVER HAVE MADE THAT INTERDIMENSIONAL TRANSCEIVER, ALL IT GETS USED FOR IS APPALLING HORNLESS ALIEN SOAP OPERAS AND DEPRESSINGLY PERSISTENT BONE-POLISHING OVER ALIEN PORNOGRAPHY. TA: hey fuck you. TA: iif the iimperiial navy ii2 goiing to hang a hiighly 2ophii2tiicated panuniiver2al trackiing 2y2tem diirectly over our head2 they 2hould equiip iit wiith a better 2ecuriity 2y2tem and 2taff iit wiith troll2 capable of fiindiing theiir 2hame globe2 wiithout a map.

[comicteaparty]

May 9th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on May 9th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Lodestar by SasstastiKim.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Lodestar by SasstastiKim~! (http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

Darkhalo4321

My favorite scene has to be... the coffee shop book place thingy. With taylor! Sarcasm max.

Letter Bee

Elliot being told to trust his new friends by his mother.

SpazztastiKim

Author note: chapter one is getting "remodeled" so any suggestions are welcome

Kabocha

My favorite scene? Probably be this one: http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2597078/ch2-pg-17/ ...It's so atmospheric, and that is a very good and creepy looking heart. I'm into the atmosphere. Under @SpazztastiKim's cute artwork lies something deceptively dark...

Darkhalo4321

I looooooovethe backgrounds in that sequence

L O V E

Yes, very dark. >:3c

RebelVampire

yeah i got second that as my favorite scene. cause the atmosphere is to die for. and i love how contrasted it is from the previous scenes cause you go into it and immediately go "oh no a spooky dream"

Kabocha

Also, Kim -- if you are interested in critique, etc, I can throw you thoughts in private, but I didnt' like, make any notes or anything. It's your comic and I figured that you were doin' errything to have fun! (And get some good creepiness in there too)

SpazztastiKim

You are welcome to!

Kabocha

Okay. I'll do that offline and another day, then. But I do think you've got a good story here, so please don't feel obliged to open yourself up to such feedback!

SpazztastiKim

Thank you

Darkhalo4321

Let us gush over how superb becky's optimism is

SpazztastiKim

Lol

RebelVampire

im busy gushing over the dialogue on this page http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2749604/ch3-pg10/

Kabocha

Honestly I just really like the magic effects, not gonna lie

RebelVampire

like its so silly and yet reminds me of youth

Kabocha

I'm looking forward to more magic and ghost stuff

RebelVampire

cause these are random convos i would have as a youth with ppl

Kabocha

YEAH

Darkhalo4321

Same here!

Kabocha

It's so dramatic, and... man,... I remember being like that when I was younger

I don't recall if it's stated in-comic, but how old is everyone?

SpazztastiKim

Not stated yet. You can guess tho XD

RebelVampire

elliot was a 30 year old man this entire time

SpazztastiKim

Oof XDD

Kabocha

Ahahaha. I was guessing 14~15

Darkhalo4321

Im not allowed to guess because i kinda know XD

SpazztastiKim

Lol

Kabocha

Either way, I'm guessing high school for all of them, but nobody's a senior XD

Darkhalo4321

Except for ally

Shes like younger, like idk maybe hr high ish?

I actually dont know for sure her age

RebelVampire

i wouldve guessed middle school personally. but its hard to tell cause i need to see more adults

Kabocha

Maybe? She throws me a little bit? XD She's probably 13ish?

Darkhalo4321

Shes a precious cinnamonroll and needs protected at all costs

RebelVampire

yeah id peg 13ish for ally personally too.

idk if she need the protecting. she is not the one who got tackled to the ground

Kabocha

I would not fight her

Darkhalo4321

No

She will tackle you to the ground in l o v e

Kabocha

I do also really like how everyone's designs are unique

So it's really easy to distinguish who's who (and I'm pretty sure if it was a greyscale comic, it'd still be very easy... Which is really good)

....ALSO WHAT WAS WITH THE POINTY EARS

Darkhalo4321

Yeah kim

S'plain

X'D

Kabocha

I'm getting the feeling that there are spoilers in that answer

SpazztastiKim

OP... someone noticed

Kabocha

but

I can't help but feel like there are some alternate world or reincarnation shenanigans afoot

RebelVampire

elliot was an elf in a past life and the birth he witnessed was from back then

ya know what scratch that

he was the elf prince

Kabocha

Okay so I'm not the only one that thought that though

RebelVampire

just make everyone a prince

SpazztastiKim

Pfft yes

Kabocha

What's with the lanterns though... hahaha

But I really do have to wonder what all is going on there. The wolf skeleton was warning him about a thing he... sealed away.

SpazztastiKim

Was it sealed tho?

Kabocha

.... Maybe not

Darkhalo4321

:0

Kabocha

but, I mean, it's hella vague I feel like the wolf is protecting Elliot tho

Darkhalo4321

I get that vibe too, wasnt nice atthe end tho >:T

Kabocha

No, but this probably has happened before

Darkhalo4321

Ya think?

RebelVampire

when you say this are you talking about the dream itself or like the sealed away creature thing?

Kabocha

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2612346/ch2-pg18/ Well, the wolf says that Elliot's been dragged away before

so the thing that's hunting Elliot in his dream proooooooooooooooooooooooooobably has gone after him before

unless the "Birth" in question means it manifested in physical form

Darkhalo4321

D:

OH

Kabocha

KIM IS THIS NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, AND ALL THESE KIDS ARE GONNA GET KILLED BY FREDDY

Darkhalo4321

Maybe

XD

MAYBE

SpazztastiKim

Pffft

RebelVampire

that theory did occur to me

cause of the dream themes

that this is basically monster in the dreams

rip everyone

Darkhalo4321

I mean, I know kim loves horror movies SO

Kabocha

Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Warriors II

RebelVampire

so the thing about the pointy ears that actually interests me the most is that elliot didnt seem to notice all that much or care. and like i know there was a bloody skeleton wolf scaring the crap outta him, but i feel like hed have at least been a little like "hey i am an elf boy now"

also the fact that the dream did not start off with pointy ears

they only showed up with wolf dude

Kabocha

It might be a sign of magic or something. Or maybe he and his ghost are just used to the pointed ears showing up

Darkhalo4321

Ooohh

I didn't notice tyhat!

Kabocha

I did have to re-read that part when I looked at this earlier this week -- it was like "waaaaaaaaaaait a minute"

SpazztastiKim

Hmm WHEN did the change happen again?

Darkhalo4321

Hm indeed

Kabocha

It seems to be a slow transition to be honest

Darkhalo4321

you know who we haven't mentioned yet- TOM my favorite character.

Kabocha

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2456424/ch2-pg11/ On this page, they start to look slightly pointed http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2505393/ch2-pg12/ AND THEN He starts to hear things and cough... And magic shows up in the next page

mathtans

Here for the moment, the little one is being very fussy this evening. I think my favourite scene was in the night terror in chapter 2, where we just had the glowing eyes - and then Mandy's glowing hand. Creepy and atmospheric.

Scrolling back to read, I liked how Elliot was thankful not to be a hobbit when he woke.

Darkhalo4321

Right?

Imagine if he woke up and HAD POINTY EARS

the rest of the cast would have been howling

Kabocha

Also, he's focusing on the important things: Not being a dream zombie

RebelVampire

i will be surprised if that doesnt happen one day. that he wakes up with elf ears and has to explain to everyone that surprise, hes an elf now

QUESTION 2. Dreams seem to be central to the story at hand. How do you interpret Elliot’s latest dream? Was it a dream, or was it something more? Whose birth did Elliot supposedly witness, and what exactly is it hungering for? Who is the black wolf that delivers the warnings to Elliot, and why is Elliot the one tasked with helping to defeat whatever the wolf is warning him about? Additionally, if this is no simple dream, why doesn’t Elliot remember this supposed event? Last but not least, what do you make of Elliot’s appearance change within the dream, and what do you think the meaning of the lantern is?

mathtans

I don't think it's a nightmare on elm street kind of thing, because Crystal Lake was dropped as a reference, so these sorts of things already exist in the characters' universe.

Chapter 4, Elliot joins an elf help group.

RebelVampire

but see thats the genius of it. drop the refs, nobody thinks anything of it and is like "ah just a red herring"

and then boom

dream murderer

Kabocha

THE DREAM WAS A WARNING I don't know if the "Starve it" Though... well. Maybe it wants to eat his dreams. Dream eater. OH MY GOD ELLIOT'S BEING HUNTED BY A DROWZEE

Darkhalo4321

THAT PUN WAS GOLD

That would be sneaky!

mathtans

It can't be a simple dream either way. Mandy joined him. That can't be a normal thing for ghosts. Can it?

RebelVampire

yeah starve it really interesting. cause what do you have to deprive the creature or whatever it is of to starve it? is elliot just not supposed to get eaten? is it dreams? is it ghosts?

although maybe its the lantern

nah

no way that was just a dream

Kabocha

Maybe. The lantern did come out as danger started to come near

RebelVampire

that was a vision

Kabocha

what is Mandy anyway

didn't he say that she was never alive to begin with? Or was he speaking generally

....What if Mandy was a victim of the thing?

RebelVampire

or even worse

mandy is the thing

SpazztastiKim

Scary

Darkhalo4321

Mandi is an imaginary friend taken form because of El? Maybe? Like, Can El manifest things?

Without knowing it-

RebelVampire

that could also be true

but im now sticking to the she is the thing one

cause it would explain why the wolf kicked her out

and said "no dream warnings for you"

Darkhalo4321

Aw

I know she's not like... real but she HAS FEELINGS DREAM WOLF

OH, but aside from just El having that one nightmare, apparently it's a prevalent problem going on- so it's not just isolated.

RebelVampire

ya know, i just want to point out if the dream wolf is going around warning ppl, the strategy is not very effective. fear is not the answer wolf.

Kabocha

Based on the comic description... We'll have to see more about that though

I dunno, if you scare someone enough, they'll stay away

Darkhalo4321

maybe el gets royal treatment of being warned

Kabocha

maybe the wolf is protecting the place where "it" is

Darkhalo4321

while everyone else just gets stalked with EYES

Kabocha

it's because he's acutally Frodo Baggins

Darkhalo4321

YES

HE IS SHORT

Kabocha

and the thing after them is Melkor. Or Sauron.

SpazztastiKim

obviously its voldemort

Darkhalo4321

!!!

you mean, he who should not be named!

Kabocha

GASP!

What about the Babadook

SpazztastiKim

my bad

OOF

RebelVampire

where elliot lives the dream wolf is just how the letters are delivered

Darkhalo4321

Baba Yaga

RebelVampire

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2597078/ch2-pg-17/ so i wonder who all the creepy ppl are in the bg

mathtans

Maybe it's like regular dreams, you don't really remember them unless you're woken up in the middle. So the wolf is waking everyone up with love bites.

RebelVampire

like was the creature born cause ppl were like "yaay sacrifice"

Kabocha

Oh, great, the wolf is my cat

SpazztastiKim

pfft

Darkhalo4321

if that's what you call a LOVE bite...>>

RebelVampire

the wolf is reading the wrong book of how to talk to humans

SpazztastiKim

lol

mathtans

There were five witnesses to the birth maybe, Rebel. They were summoned to the place in dreams.

Superjustinbros

HELLO

Kabocha

I'mma go out on a limb and say the people in the BG were part of the creation. THE COUNCIL OF CREATION A bunch of high elves that decided one day, "hey, let's just do this whole thing and nothing can go wrong" And Elliot was like, "NOPE" And died and went into another world where it was nearly unleashed upon them.

Justin, what are your thoughts on the Wolf and the Five people on Chapter 2, Page 17?

mathtans

They're looking at a heart.

Superjustinbros

Can I bring it home and call it Maniac?

SpazztastiKim

good name for it

Superjustinbros

Anyways hey there, sorry I'm a bit late

Room's getting redesigned but to stray from going offtopic I wanted to drop in and hand out and see what we're all talknig about tonight

RebelVampire

they are looking at a heart. Elliot was the mage who betrayed the council and realized his magic was for healing not the dark arts

Kabocha

Yep. We're talking about this week's comic -- Lodestar. As is the usual thing on the Thursday Bookclub~

Superjustinbros

Oh yea

Kabocha

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2597078/ch2-pg-17/ But really, I wonder what "it" is. .... Maybe there was a ritual.

Superjustinbros

Is that white line it's eye

Kabocha

Also -- did Eliot's magical scratch appear when the lantern showed up I'm just noticing this Does magic have a price?

RebelVampire

i assum eyes, the white line is its eye

that page did have the atmosphere of ritual

mostly cause of the heart

you dont hold beating hearts unless youre doing a ritual

idk i couldnt figure out when the scratch showed up. id have to look again super close

Darkhalo4321

It's def. Skooky

Kabocha

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2547332/ch2-pg14/ It's this page, Rebel

Superjustinbros

I ruined the feel of this image

SpazztastiKim

pfft(edited)

meme material

Darkhalo4321

I mean- MAYBE the wolf thing, wants to be empathetci?

Kabocha

"The woods cried out: FEED ME pls can i haz yer dinner hoomin"

Darkhalo4321

also likes hoomin heartz

SpazztastiKim

GOOD LORD XDD

mathtans

The whole glowing eyes thing is pretty cool. Not sure how the effect is done, but nice.

Darkhalo4321

It's not like I LIKE you or anything! B-BAKA!

SpazztastiKim

TSUNDERE DEMON

Darkhalo4321

kiss kiss fall in the lake!

Kabocha

Also likes hoomin necks They are like beef, but more gamey

mathtans

Maybe the demon is actually that aunt, the one who made the tea.

SpazztastiKim

Nom nom

Darkhalo4321

D:

Taylor?!

Kabocha

... I mean, dreams can be representational

so you got a Mama Wolf protectin' her youngins

Darkhalo4321

maybe- el is part dream wolf?

SpazztastiKim

i'm dead

mathtans

Yis. Summoned Elliot into town so the ghost Mandy could help.

"My other form is also a wolf."

RebelVampire

elliot wasnt real all along

he was summon

Kabocha

Oh no

Darkhalo4321

MAYBE- el is the creation woooooo

Kabocha

This isn't Final Fantasy 10, Rebel

unless we're getting meta, and we need El's father to be the wolf -- a summon from a dream becomes a dreaming summoned beast...

Darkhalo4321

I mean like-

We haven't SEEN el's dad yet so

Superjustinbros

"Hey, you OK?" "Does this look "Okay" to you?!"

_okay I'm done

Back to the comic

RebelVampire

yeah i was just about to say this is really gonna mess up the archives if it continues since i cant include images XD

Superjustinbros

Yeah lol

I feel like the joke has run it's course anyways

SpazztastiKim

I'm crying

Superjustinbros

You can only hammer in a joke edit so many times before it stops being entertaining

RebelVampire

onto the scratch. i get more the impression that the scratch was gonna happen anyway and the lantern showed up saying "hey stop scratching my boy"

Kabocha

image: [Elliot: don't make me Tidus- I wanna be Cloud]

SpazztastiKim

asdfghjkl!!!!

Superjustinbros

you wanna be a Cloud?

Darkhalo4321

giant SWORD

Superjustinbros

Oh that Cloud

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Early on, we learn that Elliot is supposedly psychic or an empath. Do you think Elliot is telling the truth about mostly just seeing ghosts, or does he really have other psychic powers as the others accuse him of? Who exactly do you think Mandy is, and what do you make of her closeness with Elliot? In other words, how do you think the two met? Do you think Elliot was born with whatever powers he has, or does it somehow tie into the creature he was warned about in the dream? Overall, how do you think Elliot’s abilities will help or hinder him in his task? What about in general for his newfound life in the town?

Kabocha

Elliot would not be a good Cloud, honestly. He's got too much personality, and too little damage from experimentation

Superjustinbros

Well we've seen a demon and a ghost so...

Kabocha

I THINK Mandy is his sister from another life. Or his best friend. And she couldn't be reincarnated with him, so she stuck around.

RebelVampire

was gonna go with his stillborn sister who never was

Darkhalo4321

But she was stated as never having BEEN alive?

That she wasn't real?

Kabocha

She's real for sure

She could also be a magic spirit, so she was never alive in the sense that humans would comprehend

Darkhalo4321

Real blue

SpazztastiKim

Har

mathtans

Elliot is all digital. He's in the Cloud.

RebelVampire

Elliot: I'm sorry Mandy but you're not real. Mandy: I'm...I'm floating right here and we're talking. Elliot: No, still not real.

Darkhalo4321

Maybe- El got the magic powers? ? From his last enounter that almost took him? And maybe mandi is some form of like... side kick from that?

Superjustinbros

Cloud saves? @mathtans

mathtans

I do think Elliot probably has other powers, but I don't think he actually knows about them. As to Mandy, I like Rebel's theory.(edited)

Kabocha

El goes on Dr. Phil, gets told "Perception is reality" Mandy laughs because... well

RebelVampire

so basically mandy is his familiar?

Superjustinbros

>Dr Phil I haven't heard that in a long time

Seems like it

Darkhalo4321

honestly, El would just sass his way out of dr. phil's show. they'd be like plz leave

Maybe?

RebelVampire

thats when they send him to jerry springer

mathtans

How did Mandy get her name? She must have existed at some point. Elliot doesn't seem like the type to just come up with that name, he's too introverted.

Kabocha

Maybe she has some sort of secret magic name

Darkhalo4321

Maybe Mandi named herself?

or came with a name?

Kabocha

and "Mandy" is just short for like Almandiasoriginamyeriath

mathtans

Bless you.

Darkhalo4321

cough kabo that's... I'm dying XD

Kabocha

HEY I know what "Bless you" means in some places!

Darkhalo4321

Salude

SpazztastiKim

ME TOO

Superjustinbros

Gesundheit.

RebelVampire

if we go with reincarnation being in this, maybe mandy isnt real cause she hasnt moved on in this life, has no memories of her past, and is basically just an empty shell floating around

Darkhalo4321

Oooh?

That's an interesting theory

Superjustinbros

I've seen stories with spirits like this

Kabocha

I'm curious to see what Mandy is later in the story, though. Like, if she's not real, then what is she. I'm pretty sure if she got kicked out of the dream, she's got some substance to her.

Superjustinbros

Yeah..

RebelVampire

well i guess it largely depends on what elliot's definition of real is

Darkhalo4321

:0

RebelVampire

i could also argue elliot is just deluding himself as to whether shes real or not because its how he protects his sanity

cause elliot doesnt seem fond of the idea that he has powers

so if he pretends none of its real its fine

Darkhalo4321

Yeah considering that he got REAL dark real fast when Becky kind of prodded him about the idea of it being... odd-

but thank god for Mandi she reeled that back in fast.

Kabocha

Elliot's been through some crap, hasn't he

Darkhalo4321

I FEEL like it- He's been through something- :/ but what? WHO knows-

RebelVampire

Elliot remembers the great elf war

Darkhalo4321

maybe el is actually an elf from another world, and this is an isekai story and we have no idea

Kabocha

"Remembers" only in his dreams

I AM DOWN FOR THIS

Darkhalo4321

reverse isekai?

RebelVampire

i am ok with this

Kabocha

YEP.

SpazztastiKim

Y'all would be great at DnD

Darkhalo4321

I'm going to get yelled at aren't I?

Superjustinbros

is not a DnD player(edited)

Kabocha

I'm also cool with it being a reincarnation story, or just that El gets to see all sorts of monstrous things because he's got some sort of magic shenanigans going on

Darkhalo4321

poor unfortunate soooooul

RebelVampire

im ok as long as elliot lives to tell the story cause the world would be a lesser place without his snark

Darkhalo4321

I would cry

SpazztastiKim

X'D

Darkhalo4321

I would actually FLY TO KIM'S AND we'd have a long talk

>:T

#teamelliotlives

SpazztastiKim

-tosses the idea pretending I never planned it-

mathtans

Maybe Mandy will start possessing people. Suddenly Becky gets real mellow. Suspicious.

SpazztastiKim

pfft

Superjustinbros

Oh good just what we need

Ghosts doing ghost stuff

RebelVampire

wait maybe mandy is just the manifestation of elliot's lantern hence why she was never alive and isnt real

Kabocha

WAIT, Is there a risk of people actually dying in this story ... ...Kim are you going to kill off Elliot

SpazztastiKim

no

Darkhalo4321

I feel like Becky would out.... do a ghost?

SpazztastiKim

HA

Darkhalo4321

SHE IS JUST TOO MUICH spirit for them XD

RebelVampire

Tom though is probably doomed for possession

SpazztastiKim

Poor Tom

Kabocha

.... Oh god you're probably right Rebel

Darkhalo4321

Becky is the one that would go " NO YOU DONT! " and unpossess herself with will power

Kabocha

Tom gets possessed and he seese EVERY HORRIBLE THING he's forced to do to feed the hunger

Darkhalo4321

NOT TOM

Kabocha

turns out the hunger is just really into chocolates

SpazztastiKim

PFFT

Darkhalo4321

NOOOO

Kabocha

They break into a Godiva shop with Tom's body

Superjustinbros

Did someone say chocolates?

Darkhalo4321

CHOCOLATE?!

Superjustinbros

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2771909/ch3-pg14/ I wonder what flavor everyone's getting then

Kabocha

The Wolf isn't super keen on the whole Chocolates thing though, because, y'know, theobromine poisoning...

SpazztastiKim

hehe

Darkhalo4321

so that's why the wolf says STARVE it

Superjustinbros

Tsundre wolf cannot consume ice cream

RebelVampire

well at least a chocolate quest would be more pleasant than alternatives XD

Darkhalo4321

TRUE

Superjustinbros

XD

Chocolate Ice Cream? :3

RebelVampire

thats going too far in the sweets department questing O_O

Kabocha

Hey, at least Tom won't have to gorge himself on other things. But they do find out their local big box store was robbed of all its chocolate rabbits around easter...

SpazztastiKim

Truly the worst that could happen to this town(edited)

RebelVampire

but after Tom is freed hed never want to eat chocolate ever again

Kabocha

That's a tragedy.

Superjustinbros

RIP Chocolate rabbits.

RebelVampire

i want to see more tom though. i appreciate his calm demeanor in the face of the girls rampant amounts of energy

Darkhalo4321

Yes

Tom seems like the, solid rock founddation of the group type

mathtans

I like that idea that Mandy is just the manifestation of some object. Maybe something Elliot carries with him. A watch? He was good at pegging tea time.

RebelVampire

also cause tom is the useful one. cause becky is like "FARM FESTIVAL" and Ally is like "SWIMMING AND ICE CREAM" meanwhile tom is being a good boy and researching stuff for elliot

mathtans

Tom is a good counterpoint. He understands all the characters too.

Darkhalo4321

Like Hey let's do the job our club is suppose to do, shall we?

RebelVampire

Elliot is a time lord

mathtans

Oh yeah, the Farm Festival is sure to be a plot point. It's a metaphor for something.

RebelVampire

mystery solved(edited)

Darkhalo4321

I mean, if this were ouran host club, he's kyouya ... the only one that keeps the club on TASK

mathtans

Elliot's consciousness is trapped in a pocketwatch. With Mandy.

RebelVampire

ya know i could dig time lord elliot tho for reals. cause it explains why hes an elf or something. he just time travels and forgets he time travels. but why he knows how to save ppl from falling stuff

Kabocha

The farm festival will be... full of lore. About how they had the festival to appease a hungry beast.

Superjustinbros

oh boy

Darkhalo4321

Maybe

They farm

hearts

SpazztastiKim

HA

gross

Kabocha

Hey, the heart could have been a Deer Heart

Darkhalo4321

was it though?

Kabocha

Coulda been.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. As the comic opens up, we meet a slew of characters and learn some notable things in regards to dream. What do you make of the fact another person is supposedly having intense dreams similar to Elliot’s? Does this have anything to do with the creature, or is it simply a red herring? If it does have something to do with it, what do you think Elliot will have to do about it to help the victim? In general, how do you think the dream club Elliot joined will help him in his overall task? Moving on from Elliot, which of Elliot’s friends are you looking forward to learning more about? In what ways do you think these friends might help Elliot deal with his problems and his quest?

Superjustinbros

How intense we talking? Like, Math Test insane?

Darkhalo4321

WELL Becky has every intention of making sure el has a social life, some what-

Tom will probably ensure no one dies- or he'll die trying.

RebelVampire

dark no

dont even suggest tom dies

Darkhalo4321

What if

he does die tho

RebelVampire

protect that child

Darkhalo4321

D:

RebelVampire

no protect that child

Darkhalo4321

Ally tho

RebelVampire

or dont and be optimistic and assume him becoming a ghost will make him the most powerful being

Darkhalo4321

:0

Ghost Tom

mathtans

Elliot's the replacement Chosen One. The current one in town is having trouble.

Darkhalo4321

current one?

Superjustinbros

?

SpazztastiKim

esplain Mathans

Kabocha

So, if we were to categorize these characters as horror characters...

Darkhalo4321

NOOOO

like horror movie horror, or like scary movie parody horror?

SpazztastiKim

Yes

Superjustinbros

Oh dear, this is gonna be fun >:3

Kabocha

.... Elliot's our Canary, though sometimes the canary lives Tom's dead. I'm sorry. Becky will be scarred for life, but probably will be the one carrying the plot and making sure everyone survives. Allison... She will not be in the horror parts. She'll be the character that calls the cops at the end.

Superjustinbros

rip Tom.

RebelVampire

no all of you need to stop killing off tom

SpazztastiKim

Just straight up kill off Tom

RebelVampire

the next page of the comic is literally just a dagger flying through the window and stabbing tom in the heart

Darkhalo4321

I'm pretty sure I saw the next page, can confirm

Superjustinbros

oof

Darkhalo4321

tom actually falls backwards out of his chair and LANDS on a dagger. effectively killing him off. Then the comic ends. Tom was the danger ALL ALONG(edited)

Superjustinbros

Dear god

That's cold

SpazztastiKim

A twist to make m night shyamalan proud

Kabocha

Lol Justin if you believe that you obviously haven't read through this comic

RebelVampire

no no the comic continues. the wolf comes back and is like "bro i told you to starve it not kill it. youre under arrest. this is a sting operation"

Darkhalo4321

XD

SpazztastiKim

-wheeze-

Darkhalo4321

Elliot gets hauled off to DREAM JAIL

Mandi is denied visitation rights

Becky becomes his laywer

RebelVampire

then elliot becomes a dream defense attorney and has to prove his own innocence

becky would be a scary lawyer

like

i could just see her taking the floor and talking for hours

and her client is found innocent just cause the jury wants to go home

Darkhalo4321

She'd probably make a good case though-

Superjustinbros

@Kabocha Even if I did that's still pretty cold lol

Darkhalo4321

Jury: She talked for 5 hours, but... she wasn't wrong innocent!

Wolf thing : damn it!

SpazztastiKim

Ghost Tom: Language...

Darkhalo4321

Elliot: @#$% the establishment! throws a chair

Everyone just has the surprised pikachu face, after that!

SpazztastiKim

HA

Superjustinbros

That face is glorious

RebelVampire

at this point i think were just all drunk and have gone mad with power

SpazztastiKim

lol probably

RebelVampire

im really curious to see what happens at the farm festival tho. mostly just cause maybe nothing bad will happen and theyll just have fun. like go on a nice hay ride

that will not trigger unpleasant memories and not start a fire to the whole festival

SpazztastiKim

hay rides are included tho

Kabocha

Maybe we'll find out that they have a sleep study at the contest

erm

festival

Darkhalo4321

And then after it's been ALL good- and it's all fun and stuff-

Kabocha

why am I thinking contest

Darkhalo4321

THEN

Superjustinbros

Oh god what's happennig here now

Darkhalo4321

then it will go downhill

Kabocha

Yep. It'll be a hot mess. AND FREDDY RETUR--- wrong series

RebelVampire

id really want to see elliot in a sleep study now tho

just imagine the scientists face afterwards

as theyre like wtf are these readings

Superjustinbros

oh boy

Kabocha

"This boy never enters REM sleep!?"

RebelVampire

what is life

Kabocha

"How is he alive?!"

Darkhalo4321

Right?

my question exactly ^^^ lol(edited)

RebelVampire

elliot was the one to have never been alive to begin with. the whole mandy thing is him projecting

Darkhalo4321

it would explain why some scenes have her split off of him?

Kabocha

oh that would be a twist.

Two souls one body?

Darkhalo4321

THAT IS MY JAM

RebelVampire

i had considered that as a realistic possibility. or more that mandy is just an aspect of elliot's soul

SpazztastiKim

-watches with entertained glee-

Darkhalo4321

Oh maybe?

RebelVampire

http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/comics/2704817/ch3-pg4/ off topic but i just noticed that computer has a pear on it and that makes me laugh

Darkhalo4321

Like the NICE version of who El is, and all the snark remained in the actual body

El is just Snark

that's it

TOM HOW CAN YOU

Superjustinbros

Shoutouts to Pear Products

mathtans

Sorry, called to crib. Have we talked about the title yet? With "lode"star? Is that like a metaphor for Elliot's powers, or something else?

RebelVampire

we have not talked about it.

mathtans

(As to explaining about the chosen one thing, the person with night terrors in town wasn't responding properly, so that's how Elliot ended up in town too.)

Darkhalo4321

We havent'

RebelVampire

i assumed it was a play on a lodestone

Darkhalo4321

I don't actually know about the title so much

PROBABLY

What is a lodestone?

RebelVampire

“A lodestone is a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite. They are naturally occurring magnets, which can attract iron. The property of magnetism was first discovered in antiquity through lodestones.”

Darkhalo4321

Hm

RebelVampire

elliot is the attracter of evil

Darkhalo4321

PROBABLY

el is an unlucky person

Kabocha

MAGNETIC SOUL

SpazztastiKim

poor kid

mathtans

Mandy being part of his soul is interesting. It reminds me, I liked in the first chapter how there were hints of her at times, and eventually it became clear.

Oh yeah, and I loved the Pear Computer, Rebel. Glad you remembered to mention it.

Yeah, I thought it was like lodestone, but being a star, maybe it's good somehow even though there's a burden involved.

RebelVampire

i liked the small hints but at the same time i was confused and wondered if he was communicating telepathically with becky XD

Kabocha

I'm curious to see where this all goes. There's not enough information to really like, get super crazy with fandom yet

mathtans

I did wonder where the thoughts were coming from.

Also, before the end, gotta mention the Becky and Ally ship. Those two can feed off each others' energy, it's sweet.

Darkhalo4321

they can power the entire town with their energy

RebelVampire

i will support the elliot/tom ship

Superjustinbros

Since the CTP is ending in a bit, thanks for the CTR, and thanks for the cool comic as well @SpazztastiKim, it was fun checking it out

mathtans

There you go. Can't ship Tom with his sister, after all.

Darkhalo4321

El == shippable with everyone honestly

mathtans

El is shippable with the wolf?

Darkhalo4321

...

SpazztastiKim

asdfghjkl

Kabocha

...yes

RebelVampire

yes

Darkhalo4321

I MEAN, as Friends?

Kabocha

BFFS

Darkhalo4321

El seems like he needs more FRIENDS

Kabocha

Anyway! Thank you Kim! I look forward to seeing where this comic goes~

Darkhalo4321

and boy and his aggressive wolf friend

mathtans

Wolf's name is probably Lodestar. Got it from a book.

Best with it, Kim!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to SasstastiKim, as well, for making Lodestar. If you liked the comic, make sure to support SasstastiKim’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: http://lodestar.smackjeeves.com/

SasstastiKim’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SpazztastiKim

SasstastiKim’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpazztastiKim

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Chapter Six: Flashback, one of two, and also Maya’s in it

[Beginning] [Chapter Masterlist]

“Hey, Chief, question: so murder’s murder even if it’s one of the Fair F -- the fae, who’s murdered.”

“Murder is murder when a person is killed, accounting for manslaughter, accidental death, and the like -- honestly, Phoenix, you just think a person doesn’t count?”

“No! I mean, like… It just surprises me, is all, that you would let a human court arbitrate it and not just…”

“Revenge ourselves on the suspected killer with our magics in our home realm?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s always a possibility -- but it’s far too messy. That sort of thing tends to drag others who are far outside of the disagreement into the fighting, by way of networks of alliances, and before you know it there’s a full war that began because of a stupid crime of passion in a human bar. Some time before me, our Courts decided that humans and your courts and laws are the closest to fair, neutral judgment available, and that we would abide by their verdicts. Oh, certainly humanity was not consulted, but it is to your benefit to investigate the killings of fae, so as the allies of the deceased will not strike a curse down on all who were in the vicinity. And besides, you don’t think that, if humanity agreed that fae deaths won’t be tried, that rule wouldn’t be abused? That any man might claim his neighbor was one of the Fair Folk and killing him does not ‘count’ -- that any mother might throw her child in a fire because it acted just the slightest bit strange and claim that its life was forfeit on her suspicion?”

“You say that humans are fair and then list out all that. Neutral, with our lying and biases and stupid foolhardy impulsive actions--”

“Other than lies, we have the same faults, but so often magnified. We are impulsive and petty and cruel, with bias bred into our bloodlines -- it is an imperfect decision, as we are imperfect, as you are imperfect, as I have found even your laws to be. We make do with our best. It is all we have, in the end.”

-

A cold iron stake through the heart will kill anyone, not just one of the fae.

The same, Phoenix thinks, would go for an iron bullet through the forehead.

It’s not that he doesn’t know what Magnifi was -- Zak told him that from the beginning, and Pearl’s gift confirms for him that he wasn’t lying. And even without it, he could still see the lingering traces that Zak was a witch -- once. Their powers fade quickly when their patron is gone. He knows that without asking.

If it should matter, though, there is no way to prove to anyone else what Magnifi was.

Fae corpses don’t leave evidence. If they leave a corpse at all -- most do, but not all, and those deaths by their nature are never judged but in the Courts of Kurain, if the dead has the allies to bring the matter forth -- it is indistinguishable from a human’s, a last residual enchantment to make sure they cannot be ignored or dismissed.

Or to fuck with those left behind, as Phoenix comes to understand of Magnifi.

The evidence of the trial made that much obvious: one shot to the forehead; you cannot refuse, and we both know the reason why. A final cruelty to impart on those whom he bargained with -- and why wouldn’t he? If he knew he was dying -- of age, a curse from another, whatever it was -- the Gramarye witches would outlast him. And even if his death would take their powers away, the fae never like to feel that they’ve been cheated. One last indignity: don’t forget what you lost forever to make a bargain with me.

There is a lot Phoenix does not know, answers he is still seeking, but this, he understands. The nature of the fae, he understands.

The Bar Association suspends his badge pending inquiry, the hearing scheduled for one short week after the trial. News travels fast about Phoenix, ever since von Karma, ever since Gant, two pillars of the legal system he brought crumbling down, and the prosecution already had done half of their inquiry for them, placing Drew Misham in the courtroom with a speed that made Phoenix’s head spin. His memories of the trial are patchy, direly so, when it comes to the diary page -- how he got it, why he didn’t find it too suspicious to present -- and that will be his own inquiry: who fooled him, and how. It probably wasn’t Zak; it very likely could have been Gavin, a prodigy looking to make a name for himself, with enough enchantments and glamours to make it happen. He is human at the core and nowhere else, but the old adage, foot in each world, doesn’t seem so true, not when he drapes himself in iron jewelry like he thinks it can ground him firmly on this side of the veil.

Phoenix doesn’t trust him -- Phoenix has five people whom he personally trusts -- but he can’t condemn him, not yet. Not without more evidence.

The first lead he chases down is the forger himself, Drew Misham. (No, not himself.) The forger is his daughter, Vera, a shy, sickly little girl, and a changeling besides. Drew seems to know, but he won’t say it outright -- Vera is “exceptionally talented”, “a genius”, and he never makes eye contact with Phoenix. She was the only one to see the client’s face, and whoever it was has done a good job of convincing her to clam up. A gentle smile, she says. Like an angel, but for the briefest of moments -- a slip in the upkeep of a glamour? -- Vera saw the devil.

Not exactly helpful, and definitely worrying when compounded with the secret charm that she won’t show, but she does tell him that she lays an enchantment on all of her forgeries -- not in those exact words. Phoenix isn’t even sure that she realizes what she is, that her powers are not human.

Valant is the second he speaks with, at the detention center where he has been interred for trying to pin the murder on Zak. Talking to him -- or maybe it’s that Phoenix retrieved the magatama to keep with him on this investigation -- brings one memory into sharper focus -- the girl, the little girl, Zak’s daughter, as human as her father but draped in magic even when it was fading from Magnifi’s two pupils. And that is definitely worrying, too; Phoenix has stumbled sightlessly into the dark, and something monstrous is lurking in it.

He nearly misses his hearing -- an unnecessary formality because there wasn’t one among them, except apparently Kristoph Gavin, who hadn’t decided that Phoenix’s badge would be gone at the end of it -- trying to track down Trucy. The Gramaryes were an elusive coven -- Valant tried to make a cursory protest on the terminology, “Troupe! We were not…”, and Phoenix broke the single lock by just staring him down until he rescinded his words -- who were never found by those desperate enough to seek them out, but instead would appear to them in the midst of their search. If they had a home base, Valant won’t say, and no one else in the world knows. Zak’s daughter, Trucy is her name, could be anywhere in the city, anywhere beyond the city, out to the mountains of Kurain, and Phoenix might never find her.

Getting an answer from her about who she received the diary page from would be a bonus; Phoenix is more concerned for her sake. He was only able to briefly See her, but he didn’t like the glimpse.

This is going to take some assistance.

The first thing he can unearth in his apartment that can make a circular shape is an extension cord; he drags it out to the kitchen and sets a cold half of a ground beef patty on a plate in the center. The fake candles are back at the office, but that is an unneeded trifle -- funny, but unnecessary. “Maya,” he says, stepping back from the circle and closing his eyes, “there is someone I need your help to find.”

A cold gust of wind batters against his face. When he opens his eyes, the room has filled with a slowly-dispersing purple mist, twisting in strands around the fae standing in the circle. She has gained an extra pair of eyes since he last saw her, smaller slits right along the browbone, all four glowing red. The remaining mist settles about her head like hair or the headdress of royalty, not quite blending with the void-black tendrils that frame her face. One of them extends, almost like an extra arm made of shadow, down to the floor, snatching up the burger and tossing it into her mouth. She grins, the truest cheshire smile Phoenix has ever seen, stretching literally from pointed ear to ear, displaying dozens of huge sharp fangs. “Hey Nick!”

Immediately she turns to face the refrigerator right behind her. “Are you holding out on me? That was a lame burger just now.”

“Cut me some slack. I just lost my badge. I’m trying not to burn my savings on food too quickly.”

She cocks her head, still staring at the fridge. The mist doesn’t move with her like something part of her should. “Where’d you have it last?” she asks. “If you lost it at the office, Sis will probably have it on your desk in the next couple days.”

Ah. Literalism. The main weapon and weakness both of the fae. “No, I mean -- I was disbarred. I am no longer allowed to work as a lawyer--”

He stops when he sees Maya’s face. She has finally looked at him and her expression, however hard to parse it can be, shifts rapidly, the briefest flash of something like horror that twists into fury, a contorted, monstrous rage. “Who did this to you?” she snarls, and he didn’t know he looked, physically, that bad, or that she knew how to read the depths of his exhaustion and despair from his aura. “You want my help to hunt them down and eat their hearts?”

“No! No, that’s not what I want!”

“Oh.” She frowns. “I would throw it in for free.”

“No!” He bends down to break the circle and stops. “On the condition of not eating any part of a person, I let you leave.”

“For the duration of this summoning, you have my word,” she replies. He could -- should -- argue that, try and make it a blanket deal for eternity, but he decides they can negotiate that some other time. For now, he has what he needs, and he unwinds the extension cord.

When Maya steps forth, the glamour settles over her in a wave, the mist hanging over her settling into glossy black hair, her two smallest eyes vanishing and the others whitening and gaining dark irises, her mouth shrinking, and the four small glowing orbs that drift lazily about her face sink down to become four large beads of a necklace. And then she looks like an ordinary girl, late teens or early twenties, her hair done up in a topknot and her smile small but still toothy and just a little too sharp. “So who is it that you want to find?” she asks. She frowns, but it seems like such a minute motion compared to moments ago. “Is your prosecutor in trouble again, too?”

“No; that was last month.”

And he leaves her hanging on that one and they sit at the kitchen table while he instead begins to explain his own case, his own worst situation, and the Gramaryes. She repeats Magnifi’s name to herself after he says it, again and again until her voice loses its human quality, sounding instead like the clatter of bells or a windchime, until suddenly she snaps back. “This fae you call Magnifi -- he was banished, many years ago, stripped of his power with his name and cursed to never return.”

“Why?”

“He strove for power and made those who had that power very mad,” she answers. “And so -- ouch.” She picks at some stain on the table and Phoenix winces, anticipating her leaving claw marks gouged into the wood. “He had a daughter. No other allies besides her -- she left with him, naturally.”

“Thalassa,” Phoenix says. Maya nods. “It was a far fall for him, huh, to end up where he did. Probably all he had left was the power trip over Zak and Valant, and all they had was pretending that they weren’t witches sworn to some bastard.”

“That’s the funny part of it, kinda,” Maya says. “They didn’t even credit him, when they were saying they can perform spells for whatever sorry suckers show up hoping for a miracle -- they were just like ‘yeah, no fae involved, ignore that guy, we won’t screw you out of a deal’. And they by being like that probably screwed him out of dozens more deals with sad desperate humans. No wonder he decided his death should be one last one-over on them.”

Sitting cross-legged in her chair, her hands in her lap, she leans it back to balance impossibly on two legs. She likes to cause the double-take, to force Edgeworth or Franziska or whoever else to look twice at the way she twists the world around her. “And you’re looking for his granddaughter?” she asks. “Not his daughter?”

“Thalassa is dead,” Phoenix says. “And Trucy isn’t, yet, so yes, I’m looking for Trucy.”

“I’m vaguely flattered that you think I’m powerful enough that I can just find her, just like that,” Maya says. She doesn’t wobble. “It’s not so easy, not here in this realm, not without knowing her true name.” “Trucy Enigmar,” Phoenix says. “Or Trucy Gramarye.” Maya rolls her eyes. “I need to know which, Nick.” Names have more power in the Twilight Realm. It’s why Mia, even trying to be human, stumbled on names that weren’t Phoenix, the human whose life she owned, and Dahlia, the fae she defeated. It’s why Iris only ever called him Feenie. It was the kindest gesture she could make. In the same fashion, Maya calls him Nick. They don’t own him, not entirely, though they could. “It’s only two choices. You can’t guess?” “No. I need to know.” Half of magic is certainty, Maya and Dahlia so certain they have the world at their fingertips, Iris so much meeker and weaker than her sister, Vera knowing little about herself but knowing that once instructed she can create anything and that is all she needs to know. And Valant, weaker, because he was so sure he was second-best, a self-fulfilling prophecy, the only kind of prophecy that Phoenix ever sees. A spell can’t be cast on a guess. “Is there anything you can do if you go back to the Twilight Realm?” Phoenix asks. “Hm.” Maya holds her hands up, palms facing each other, and a purple glow begins to form around them. Then she claps them together and the light vanishes, her eyes glinting red for a moment in the sterile light of his kitchen. “I’ll ask Sis for help, first.” It has started to rain when they leave Phoenix’s apartment. Biking in this weather is unfortunate enough, but Maya insists on balancing herself on the handlebars, right in Phoenix’s line of sight, and this would be the most embarrassing way for Phoenix to die after everything he has been through. They are both soaked through to the skin but only fell once by the time they arrive at the office. The lights are already on and the heat is blasting a literal warm welcome. “Hey, Sis!” Maya calls into the silence. No answer comes forth, of course, but the smile on Maya’s face is one that shows her to be more at ease than in a long time. “I could use some help! Nick’s trying to steal a kid.” “I’m trying to help her,” Phoenix objects. “Honestly, Maya.” “Yeah, yeah.” Maya twirls through the office and her hair doesn’t move like it is heavy with water, or even like it has the weight of that much hair. She stops at the shelves of law books that Phoenix has meant to read for two and a half years and never did, running her fingers down the spines but not stopping at any of them and proceeding on to the binders and file folders full of Mia’s case references and research materials that Phoenix hasn’t known how to sort and get rid of. “Somewhere here,” she mutters, “maybe there’s something.” Phoenix gives her a moment to offer one before he asks for an explanation. “After our mother left,” she says, “Sis at some point moved some of the royal records out of the Twilight Realm. I think she was worried about our aunt getting her hands on them.” The pages turn without Maya touching them. Her bangs and the hair framing her face sway as though there is a gentle wind to tousle them. “But… nope.” She stops on a page and squints down at it, only to resume flipping a few seconds later. “This Magnifi of yours, his true name – it wasn’t just taken, but erased. There’s not even an echo for me to work from.” The binder slams shut and is tossed over her shoulder without her moving her hand. “If these witches were well-enough known, how did people usually find them?” “They didn’t,” Phoenix says. “Anyone who went looking for them, they would eventually appear to.” “Huh,” Maya says. “Well, we’ve got two options, now!” Phoenix is already bracing himself to hear them. “We can go out and wander until I find us a likely trail, or you can put up some – uh, wanted posters.” “Wanted? For the Old West, maybe, but—” “Then, a ‘lost kid’ kinda thing. You do that, right? With the description, and the phone number, and the reward money.” “That’s for pets.” “It could be for kids. Don’t let your narrow-minded cultural assumptions box you in.” “Ah.” Sometimes, Phoenix has no idea what the hell she is talking about. “If we’ve got to make a grid search of the city, we’d better get started.” Maya hops up onto the couch and pushes the curtains aside to look out at the rain. “Maya, do you know how big Los Angeles is?” She looks back at him with her head cocked. “No,” she says. “How big?” Again they set out, on foot this time. “We’re helping her by stealing her,” Maya says, jumping squarely into a puddle and splashing muddy streetwater up Phoenix’s jeans. “It’s not either-or.” She tilts her head back, face to the clouds that are darkening from gray to black as night falls. “I bet Sis can save her, like she did you.”

Streetlamps flicker as they pass, and in those brief spurts of shadow, Maya’s shape flickers too.

She leads him down streets he didn’t know existed, past storefronts that look long-abandoned, with neon signs still glowing in the windows but not the puddles they should be reflected in. “You definitely were enchanted, by the way,” she adds. “I can still see the residue.”

“It’s been a week,” Phoenix says.

“Well, double-layered enchantments are harder to shake off and take longer to fade.” She shakes her head. “You were doomed as soon as you took that paper, without anyone to help you. You’re only human, after all.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I know.” A cheap, sad ball bounced back and forth between players of a game whose rules he doesn’t understand, then as in now, a pawn dragged to the other side of the board to be crowned a knight and turned back again.

“What did you say this coven called themselves, again?” Maya asks, when they’ve been out for a little more than an hour, Phoenix soaked through to the bone, Maya having given up the illusion that weather affects her the way it does mere mortals. Her skin does not shine wet in the light. Her hair still flutters like a ribbon with the breeze of passing cars.

“Gramarye.”

“The name itself might be an invocation,” she says.

“What, like ‘Bloody Mary’ three times in the mirror and she’ll--”

Maya squints at him. “I don’t know anyone who uses that moniker,” she says, very seriously. “Is that a meme?”

Phoenix regrets teaching her about memes, for many more reasons than this, but also specifically for this. “The -- the belief is that you say her name three times and she’ll appear behind you in the mirror.” He turns to his reflection, staring back at him out of the dark window of a closed-down ramen shop. “Gramarye,” he says firmly, despite feeling a little silly, and doubting that the reflection is even necessary. “Gramarye, Gramarye.”

“That’s not a mirror,” Maya says.

“I don’t wear makeup so I’m not going to just have one in my pocket--” Something flashes in the storefront window and Phoenix glances back. Something is glowing, a small pink light, and he figures that some neon sign in the shop has sputtered back to life until it moves, flitting about like a moth thumping up against a lamp. He looks back over his shoulder. There, down at the end of the block, the light is dancing up above the street. “Maya, look,” he says, nudging her, not even sure why he’s pointing it out but compelled to. “What’s that? We should go look—”

“Nope!” She grabs his arm and yanks him back. He hadn’t realized he ha started walking, toward it, until she stopped him. “What’d we just talk about, Nick?”

“Bloody Mary? Or that I’m only human?” The light pulses, brighter and softer, but never too bright that the glare is jarring in the dark and the rain.

“Yes! That without me you walk right into enchantments!”

“An enchantment?” He looks again at the light, really looks, but nothing about its shape or color changes and he takes another step forward. The edges of his vision are blurry, like he is staring through a sheet of falling water, and he should be able to see something—

He didn’t see anything suspicious about the diary page, either. Glancing over at Maya, his stomach momentarily turns over at the sight of the pale claws on his arm. “It’s trying to lead you astray,” she says, and even when she isn’t grinning, her full shark’s mouth of several rows of teeth is made visible, and she tugs at his arm again. “Back this way.”

The light bobs back and forth, sashaying forward as Phoenix moves away from it. “A will o’ the wisp?” he asks.

Maya nods. “A distraction,” she says, very seriously. “This is all very clever, actually.” One hand still closed around his upper arm -- he blinks and wills her claws to look like stubby nails and blunt fingertips again -- she pulls him back toward the storefront. “The doorway appears where there is a need, then the wisp distracts for the witch to step forth and seem to have just appeared from nowhere.” She reaches forward, touching a finger to the glass, and it wobbles and ripples like water, opening wider and wider a circle big enough to step through. “Because you can’t just teleport like that. There always has to be a door, but it adds to the illusion if it doesn’t look like there’s one.” Stepping to the side, she waves to usher Phoenix in first. He can see a stained wooden stairs descending, before they are swallowed up entirely by darkness. “Age before beauty!”

Even in the most human of her grins, he is reminded what she is.

Beneath his feet, the steps creak at every movement, the walls closing tighter and tighter as he descends, brushing against both of his shoulders at the same time. He fumbles forward, one hand stretched out groping blindly for an exit or a wall. Maya is prodding him in the back as they go -- “C’mon, Nick, you’re so slow!”

“I can’t see,” he protests, right as he walks straight into something solid, the impact of his hand against it jarring his entire body. “Ah.”

Maya’s hand brushes past his ear to reach over and tap the wall. With a loud scraping sound, a thin crack of light slowly spreads wider and wider, shifting aside to reveal the interior of a gaudy gilded room. It isn’t the decrepit shack he expected, no rats or exposed wires or broken furniture, but it still disgusts what slight aesthetic sense he has. Everything is gold, or red, or black, a collection of clashing decorative styles, Victorian-looking couches with abstract modernist tables and shelves, and a few implements that look like something from a circus, strange boxes and colorful flags and hula hoops.

Stage magic. Phoenix snorts.

Sitting on the couch, a blue plastic bowl in her hands, a spoonful of mac-and-cheese on its way to her mouth, is Zak’s daughter. “Oh!” she says brightly, through a mouthful of noodles. “Hi, Mr Lawyer! If I had known it was you I wouldn’t have let Mr Hat lead you away.”

Mr Hat? Phoenix mouths it at Maya, even though reasonably there is no way she will know what that means. She shrugs. “Hi Trucy,” he says, looking around for a place to sit and deciding he doesn’t trust anything in this place. “Your daddy hasn’t come back, has he?”

Her face falls. “No,” she says. “He hasn’t. But he told me I could trust you, Mr Lawyer!”

Why, Phoenix so desperately wants to ask, but he is trying to keep that trust and that question will not do him any good. “I did some digging to find out if you have any other family,” he says, trying to keep eye contact with her while also watching where he puts his feet. “And it didn’t seem like it, so I wondered if you wanted to stay with me for a little while -- until your daddy comes back.”

She nearly overturns her bowl trying to set it down. “So if I stay with you,” she says, “does that mean we’ll be family?”

“I, uh… I guess so?”

Maya is laughing quietly as she circles the room, plucking up the decorations on the mantles and setting them back down. “Who is she?” Trucy asks. “Will she be my new mommy?”

“Er -- no. No, no.”

Trucy’s face falls. “Oh,” she says. “Since my mommy disappeared years ago, I thought I might get a new one now too.”

“No,” Phoenix says, “she’s just -- a friend.” Sort of. As much as human and fae can ever be friends, without the tangle of deals and magic and curses that always litter those relationships. He’s heard of romantic couplings of fae and human -- ones genuinely built on love, he means -- but that was not his experience and he has no intention of repeating anything close to that situation.

“I’m Maya,” she says. “Nick and I have known each other for a few years now. You can trust him.” She grins. Trucy hasn’t recoiled from horror from her; it doesn’t appear that she has the Sight, and another quick glance over her confirms that. Phoenix hadn’t paid attention to that last time, distracted as he was by everything else that was going on, with her, and in general. Now he can see that her eyes don’t change, but marked around them is a teal glow, in the shape of a diamond, over each of her eyes like a variation on a domino mask. He can’t quite tell what it means; curses are always easier to read, a red slash across the throat only really meaning one thing.

In the meantime, until he can ask Maya out-of-earshot, he decides he should stop staring and instead deal directly with the situation he has invited upon himself. “Oh, Trucy? You don’t have to call me ‘Mr Wright’ or ‘Mr Lawyer’ or anything. You can just call me Nick if you want.” He scratches his head, as the depth of this is beginning to weigh on him. “Or even ‘Daddy’ someday, but not now if you don’t want to--”

“Okay, Daddy!”

Oh. Okay.

“I have to get my stuff, if I’m going to be living with you,” Trucy says. “I’ll be right back!”

She springs to her feet and runs off into the next room. Phoenix moves to follow her, not sure if this place won’t swallow them both up, never to be spat back out into the world. “It’s truth, if you’re wondering,” Maya says, opening an ancient-looking wooden cupboard and rifling around in it. “The blessing on her,” she adds, emerging with a pack of microwave mac-and-cheese that for some reason was stashed there, and tearing open the pack of cheese powder and shaking it into her mouth. “It probably doesn’t look quite the same as Pearly gave you, but I wouldn’t recommend lying to her.”

“I see,” he says.

“No, you didn’t See. You were wondering.” She grins again, and she swallows the package of pasta, plastic and all. Once she told him that she can unhinge her jaw like a snake to swallow anything as big as her head; he wishes that she could lie. He wishes that her sense of humor could extend beyond literalism into exaggerated falseholds.

He steps into the hall that Trucy disappeared down, just far enough to see her running from room to room, with the clattering of objects upended and tossed aside. “Do you need help carrying things?” he calls.

Trucy sticks her head back into the hall, beaming. “Nope!” she says proudly. “I have this!” She waves at him a huge pair of frilly pink bloomers, and part of him -- most of him -- does not want to ask, but he also does not want to trek back into this hideout when he finds out she didn’t bring any of her clothes. “My magic panties are better than any suitcase!”

“Can you… elaborate?”

She reaches in through the top of the bloomers and pulls forth a pink cape. “Oh,” he says, but she drops the cape in a heap on the floor and reaches again to bring out a t-shirt. “Okay, I see. Thank you.”

Maya has wandered into the kitchen area and is continuing to devour everything she can find in the cabinets. Phoenix decides against asking her to leave him some of it to bring home for him and Trucy now. “This really isn’t a liminal space, is it?” Phoenix asks. He would be able to see if it were, the way magic hangs in the very air in his office, the way Mia herself and the last traces of her life linger.

Maya shakes her head and sinks her teeth into three donuts stacked together like a hamburger. “Hidden by magic, but no closer to the Twilight Realm than anywhere else. She’d have at least a bit of the Sight if it were.” She leans up against the wall, watching Phoenix with eyes that glamour doesn’t quite have a hold over, flickering as they do to red. “But even then, she might still be too young to know to be afraid.”

[dreadhaus-literature]

{Story} Cold Comfort

What’s a mortician to do when the love of their life is just out of reach? A temporary replacement is just cold comfort for the time being. It can’t last, after all—

True love never dies.

Chapter One

A Dreadful Dalliance sits at the end of a long, forested road, the gate-keeper to a sprawling cemetery that will eventually be the resting place of every soul in New Senzannini. The Mortuary has been in operation for nearly a decade and has earned it’s sterling reputation as a thoughtful, caring place to bring your loved ones for their last rites and a compassionate send-off to the next stage of life. Owned and operated by Dot Dreadful, the Mortuary handles all post-mortem operations, from the preparation of the departed to the funeral arrangements, and though the morgue is fully staffed with plenty of attentive, devoted staff, there’s only one mortician on staff--Dot. Now that the owner of the Dalliance was growing too pregnant to be on her feet, or surrounded by the chemicals necessary to do her job, it left a gaping hole to be filled or New Senzannini’s only mortuary was going to be temporary closed. That wasn’t an option, and that left Dot Dreadful with only one alternative.

“You’re hiring a temp?” Felina Frenzy, known more intimately by her birth name Monica, glanced up at her best friend with a curious tilt of her head. “Do they even have temporary morticians?”

Dot Dreadful didn’t glance up from the stack of papers in her hand; there was so much involved in handing her business over while she was on maternity leave and she should have started preparing for this months ago. “Ah, yes and no. It’s something of an unspoken code that you help out a fellow mortician if they need it. We often consult with each other on difficult preparations or if one of us is handling a coroner’s report dealing with suspicious circumstances. That sort of thing.”

Monica nodded, turning back to the training manual in her lap. “Were you able to find someone to help you out?”

“The city coroner offered but he’s...” Dot paused in her reviewing, glancing up at the ceiling. “How do I put this diplomatically...he does as well as one would expect a coroner to do when dealing with living, breathing bodies after he spends all day with cold, dismembered corpses.”

Monica laughed, nodding. “Makes sense. So he wouldn’t be any good handling the people aspect of the job.”

“Definitely not.”

“I mean, you know I’m always fine to help you out,” Monica crossed one leg over the other, meeting Dot’s gaze over her desk. “But I don’t know why you think I’m going to be any better handling the people aspect of your job.”

“You’re better with people than you think, you just don’t like them.” Dot turned back to her lists. “I don’t like people either but I manage this job just fine. You’ll be a peach, you always are.”

“...But you’re not expecting me to do the hack and slash part of the job, right?” Monica ventured. She didn’t and wouldn’t tell Dot no, but it wasn’t like she had the technical training to prepare a corpse for burial.

Dot shook her head. “Not at all. I thought of a compromise. Since you offered to help where you could, I figured you could handle the managerial side of things, keep the staff running smoothly, sort of...just sit in this chair right here.” Dot patted the arm of her desk chair. “You’d be the boss, supervising the day to day operations, and I’d hire on a temporary mortician to solely be responsible for the more hands-on part of the job. You guys would tag-team it.”

Monica looked thoughtful before she nodded. It seemed a solid enough plan. “But the city coroner wasn’t interested in working that way?”

“Roger’s a decent guy, but he’s also been the city coroner for like, eighty years,” Dot exaggerated dryly. “He wants to work this alone, and I just don’t trust him to handle the entire process. I’m not going to ask you to try and deal with his gross man ego while you’re doing me a favor, holding this place down while I’m off.”

“I would have been fine, Dottie.” Monica closed the lid of the training binder, handing it back to Dot since the woman as still adding pages to the already thick instruction manual. “I’m not unused to men’s egos.”

“I know, love, it’s not about you not being able to handle it, but more why would I subject you to that when you’re doing me a favor? Especially since I was able to find a mortician who had no problem with staying below and just prepping the bodies for you.”

To Monica, that sounded reasonable enough and why wouldn’t it be? A Dreadful Dalliance has been Dot’s first baby, but now that she had actual babies on the way she needed help taking care of her “firstborn”. Monica had been friends with Dot for years, since before the Mortuary, so of course she’d been here through it’s conception and it’s construction, and it’s subsequent years of operation. How many hours had she spent with Dot in this office, working on her own projects? Being a novelist and illustrator afforded Monica plenty of freedom to set her own schedule and since her newest literary masterpiece was circulating and topping lists, she had some much earned downtime--granted one might not consider managing a mortuary as “downtime” but Monica knew the staff here was pretty much self-sufficient and short of just sitting in here and being present should any emergencies present themselves, it really wouldn’t be too taxing. Dot had spent the last couple weeks preparing that thick manual for Monica to have and she’d also insisted Monica call her if need be. Dot may be approaching the bed rest phase of her pregnancy but that didn’t mean her vocal chords didn’t work--Monica didn’t say this, but she was going to do whatever she needed to not have to call Dot. She wanted to do this, to help Dot out when she needed it, and with Dot taking care of the second part of her job with finding a temporary mortician, it all seemed to be falling into place without a hitch.

“When do they start?”

Dot reached over for her desk phone. “They already have, actually.” She pressed the intercom, connecting her to the morgue in the basement. “Can you come up to my office please, Glad?”

“Can do, Miss Dreadful!”

The chipper reply to Dot hadn’t been what Monica was expecting, especially coming up from the dark, cold recesses of the morgue. She actually blinked in surprise, but Dot just flashed her a smile and turned back to scribbling last minute notes in the margin of the list in her hand.

A scant few minutes later and there was a knock on Dot’s office door before the new hire let himself in and Monica got her first look at the partner she’d be working with over the next several weeks.

“Monica, this is Gladwyn Charles. Gladwyn, this is my closest friend and your new boss, Monica.”

The man Dot named was still in the process of ducking into the room when she made the introductions, his impressive height making the frame of the door a little bit of a hazard. He was wearing a floor length black latex apron but all that did was elongate his already tall frame even further; it stopped at his ankles, revealing polished black dress shoes that were a compliment to his black slacks and the white button-up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had on a bow-tie that was red rather than black, and that fiery crimson adornment drew Monica’s eyes further up to the same blaze of red that surrounded his head like a halo. Gladwyn Charles was a true redhead, his hair the color of blood, a stain of rose around his pale skin and he wore it long, braided and over his broad right shoulder. it nearly reached his waist, but it seemed even the braid couldn’t tame all the wavy strands, as curls sprang free to frame his square features, brushing the hollow of his freckled cheeks. Gladwyn had a dusting of freckles not unlike stars across the bridge of his nose and the crest of his cheeks, bringing Monica’s gaze to his long lashes and the deep, rich forest green of expressive bright eyes. His glasses were perched a little low on his nose; the frames were silver and square, fashionable and sleek, but Gladwyn’s smile didn’t speak of arrogance that came with wealth. The smile was big and bright, but as Monica continued to stare at him it only seemed to grow...bigger, brighter, reminding her of an animal baring it’s teeth. It was almost aggressive, his smile was so prominent, but nothing dangerous reflected back at her in those eyes--eyes that were riveted to her face. Gladwyn didn’t even turn when he closed the door, keeping his gaze on Monica as he pushed the door closed with one long-fingered hand.

“Ah, Miss Frenzy. It’s an honor to finally meet you,” Gladwyn made a show of wiping his hand one final time on his slacks before offering it to Monica. “Miss Dreadful has told me so much about you. I feel like I already know you.”

Monica stood to take Gladwyn’s offered hand. “M...Monica, please. And your name is...?”

“Gladwyn.” He laughed a little sheepishly, but still hadn’t taken his eyes off hers. “I know it’s a little unusual. You can call me Glad if you’d like. Or Charles, or Charlie. Even Smiley!”

From her desk, Dot’s eyebrow rose. “Smiley?”

“It’s a nickname from college.” Gladwyn answered Dot, eyes still on Monica as he kept hold of her petite hand. “Because I smile all the time.”

Monica would have ventured to bet it had more to do with Gladwyn’s smile being...hard to forget. It was almost painfully wide, as if he were the world’s nicest man. She gave Gladwyn’s hand a firmer shake, and though he released her hand...she felt the reluctance. She’d let his hand go several dozen seconds before he finally released her, but she tried to push that from her mind. Dot had warned her years ago that morticians were sometimes...odd. Like those who work in IT, only certain people want to play with the dead all day long; typically it’s those who don’t play well with the living. Gladwyn was probably just a little awkward from interacting with those who can’t interact back, day in and day out.

“Nice to meet you, Gladwyn.” Monica stressed his name, ensuring she said it right. Gladwyn’s eyes brightened.

“I assure you, Miss Frenzy, the pleasure’s all mine.”

“Monica, please.”

Gladwyn paused, his throat working before he spoke, inclining his head down in a show of respect and slight reverence. “...Monica.”

With Gladwyn much closer, Monica was able to discern even more from the tall mortician--like his tattoos. She could see at least four, though three of them were thick black bands on his left wrist, leading up to his elbow. When he finally turned to face Dot, Monica was petite enough to see there was a smiley face tattooed behind his right ear. Smiley really did seem to be a moniker that fit this unusual mortician. Gladwyn was tall and thin, but he wasn’t without some muscle mass. Now that he was closer, Monica could see his forearms and biceps laced with sinewy muscle, likely from lifting dead weight all day, and though his slacks left a little more to the imagination she assumed his entire frame was the same way., and she’d felt for herself how strong his hands were. Gladwyn was definitely not what came to mind when one thought of the word mortician; well, except for that smile. That was not a normal man’s smile, but Monica also couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong with it. Did he smile with too many teeth? Was it just too...eager? She shook her head slightly as if to clear it, moving to take her seat again--almost startled back into standing with Gladwyn extended his arm to help her into her seat before he took the chair next to her. When she looked up at him, intending to thank him, he smiled at her and her voice died in her throat. Eager was definitely a good word to describe Gladwyn’s smile.

Little did Monica know, but eager was a good word to describe Gladwyn Charles as a whole. The Dalliance’s newest hire initially comes across to others as unassuming, even if he was on the tall side with a head full of long, flaming curls. Gladwyn never minded that he had a tendency to blend in a little in the background; he’s perfectly fine with allowing someone else the spotlight because he’s a perfectly polite gentleman. Nice guys may finish last but Gladwyn would happily smile in the face of anyone quipping that at him with a, “True, but the tortoise always beat the hare, didn’t he?” before turning back to the task at hand. Gladwyn has gone through life with the intelligence to understand human nature, and the self-awareness to know he doesn’t always fit in. He’s aware he’s a little awkward but that awareness also allows him to fake it, to cover his tendency to make others uncomfortable with a self-deprecating joke or by being so polite others simply can’t be rude to him. If one were to ask Gladwyn he’s not sure why others are so put off by his smile; he thinks his smile looks just fine! After all, he practices in the mirror. His teeth are straight and white, and his eyes sparkle a little when he smiles--so what could possibly be wrong with him? Friends in the past have told him he just looks a little “creepy” or “crazy” when he smiles, to maybe try not smiling so widely...but if he’s happy, why shouldn’t he smile with all his teeth? For all his intelligence, Gladwyn can’t figure some aspects of human nature out, and that was one of them. Being too eager, too friendly, too clingy was perceived as a bad thing and he just didn’t understand that. That was why none of his friends ever stuck around for long. That was why none of his previous relationships ever worked out. Gladwyn simply cared too much. He was simply too eager.

Gladwyn slowly lowered himself into the chair across from Monica, eager green eyes devouring her in a way he knew he had to get under control, it wasn’t socially acceptable for him to stare this long but it was an enormous struggle. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful before in his entire life. Dot had told him a lot about Monica, he’d listened with his usual attentiveness but now, now he was calling upon his memory for every single detail from his previous conversations with his employer for the tiniest morsel he could glean about Monica. Even as his mind worked, his eyes did their job in committing everything he could about her to memory; her bone structure was impeccable, feather-light and delicate, and he ran his tongue over his suddenly dry lips at the urge to pepper kisses along her jaw just to follow that tempting line to her throat. Monica sat like an empress in the high-backed chair, her posture so regal he felt the urge to shy away, to shrink back because he didn’t deserve to be so close to her...but how could he not be? Who could possibly stand to be away from such an ethereal creature? Was she even real? Gladwyn’s long fingers pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the focused lenses providing him with further admirings to commit to memory. Their eyes were the same color, green, but hers were brighter than his, a feminine compliment to his masculinity that made his heart skip a beat in his chest. Her hair was short, a bob that complimented her profile so devastatingly he had to slowly grip his fingers along the arm of his chair to stop from wanting to touch her hair. It shimmered, caught the office lights as if flirting with him, teasing him with how soft it must feel.  And he knew how good she smelled; he caught the wisps of her perfume to the moment he’d stepped into the hallway outside the office and now that he was close enough to scent her effortlessly he focused on dragging the scent of her into his lungs, desperate to commit the scent to memory so he’d be able to recall it at will.

The simple act of meeting had never been so poignant to Gladwyn before in his entire life. How many hundreds of people had he met in his decades of life? None of them compared to this, none of them had ever affected him like this, like Monica. He knew her name was Felina to the public but she’d told him to call her Monica, the same name Dot was able to call her...that must mean something. To Gladwyn, it did. She’d shaken his hand, smiled at him and insisted, twice, that he call her by her birth name. A name intimate, known only to family and friends...that included him, now. How nice of her! How sweet...who would have thought a woman so beautiful, so stunning, would also be so kind?

“Gladwyn?”

The older mortician blinked behind his glasses, before turning to Dot. “Y-Yes? I’m...terribly sorry, I must have spaced out.”

Dot laughed, eyebrows raised. “You are wearing a face mask down there, right? Those are some pretty strong chemicals we work with.”

Gladwyn took the easy out with a gracious laugh, his rich tenor a compliment to that ever-present smile on his pale face. “Yes, of course, of course. A thousand pardons, what were you saying?”

“I was saying, Monica is the one I was telling you about, who will be sitting in my chair here while you’re working down in the morgue. She’ll be handling the operations, managing the rest of the staff and funeral arrangements. She’s got full authority and she knows how this place should run,” Dot looked between Monica and Gladwyn with a smile. “And love, Gladwyn has been familiarizing himself with the morgue downstairs over the past few days, shadowing me, and shouldn’t have any problems handling the hack and slash part of the job.”

Gladwyn cleared his throat slightly, his red brows pulling in at the center as a barb of jealousy seared across his chest. He’d known Dot for a couple weeks, knew her to use terms of endearment liberally and it had never bothered him before, but just now, her use of love directed at Monica rose like bile at the back of his throat. He didn’t particularly like that...and he didn’t particularly understand why.

Monica and Dot were both unaware of Gladwyn’s inner turmoil and confusion, mistaking his throat clearing and the shifting in his seat as mere fidgeting. Monica nodded, returning Dot’s smile before she turned it to Gladwyn.

“Shouldn’t be too much of a problem to keep this place running smoothly while Dot’s gone, right?”

“Hm?” Gladwyn locked gazes with Monica before that smile of his returned in full force. “Oh, I highly doubt it. You seem a very capable woman, Mis--er, Monica.”

Monica’s laughter was a touch nervous at the compliment, most especially coupled with the sincerity behind Gladwyn’s glasses. He held his smile while he held her gaze, and Monica had to resist the urge to blush under such open attention. He was certainly a...nice guy.

“I drew up manuals for both of you while I’m gone, and Gladwyn I told Monica to reach out to me if you guys run into any problems.” Dot tapped Monica’s manual on her desk; Gladwyn’s was down in the morgue and he’d already been making use of it. “The Staff has already been prepped to treat the two of you as co-owners while I’m gone, so you shouldn’t have any issues there either.”

“Seems you really have thought of everything, Miss Dreadful.” Gladwyn sat back in his seat; his gaze appeared to be on Dot...but he was watching Monica out of the corner of his eye.

“I highly doubt it,” Dot replied, resting her chin on her hand. “But, I trust Monica and with you here to help her, Glad, hopefully it won’t be too rocky for her.”

“You have my word, I’ll look out for her.” Gladwyn’s smile was once again aimed at Monica. “She’ll be in good hands.”

A nervous flutter of butterflies rushed up Monica’s ribcage and she had to look away; Gladwyn was clearly a man who wore his heart on his sleeve and the genuine show of emotion in his eyes, on his face, made her nervous. Who was so nice this early on? Was it possible for someone to just...be this kind? It had to be, because here he was, giving her a million-watt smile with promise written all over his face.

“Then I guess there’s only one thing left to do.”

Monica took the reprieve where it was offered, looking up at Dot. “What’s that?”

Dot gave her a smile, looking between Monica and Gladwyn with her hands out in a gesture. “How about dinner?”

The Tower was a high-end restaurant with an established clientele, but there was nowhere New Senzannini’s literary elite and established death beautician couldn’t eat if they wanted to. There was no need for a reservation and the trio were ushered from the hostess podium to the best table in the restaurant, immediately; afforded their privacy but with attentive staff at the ready. Dot eased down into her cushioned seat with a sigh of relief to be off swollen ankles but it was something Monica missed, because Gladwyn was standing beside her chair with it pulled out for her, gesturing to it with that curious smile of his. She offered him a nervous but grateful smile in return as she slowly sat down, startled at how easily he settled her against the table. Even for the muscle she’d seen he was stronger than he looked, but Gladwyn would argue she weighed next to nothing at all. He had half a mind to order for her to ensure she was even eating enough; a thought that darkened his brow as he settled into his own chair to Monica’s left. Now that they were out of the Mortuary, Monica could see all of him as he was out of his apron and he filled out his tailored suit well. He’d also rebraided his hair before coming out and with his wealth of hair pulled back from his face in an elegant french braid, Monica had to admire Gladwyn. He was a handsome man. As if sensing her staring, he turned to face her, his smile catching the ambient lighting and she had a new appreciation for his bone structure, the way the shadows flirted with the hollows of his cheeks, the high cut of his brow.

“I’ve never eaten here. Have you?”

“A-Ah, a few times,” Monica nodded. “I’m...surprised you haven’t.”

“Why’s that?” Gladwyn’s head tilt reminded her of a puppy.

“You...well, don’t mind me saying so but you look like you come from money.” Monica was hopeful the low lighting of the intimate restaurant hid her blush well enough as she moved her napkin to her lap.

“Why would I mind such a sweet compliment?” Gladwyn’s voice was rich and warm as he regarded Monica. “I do, come from money, but I don’t get out much. Surely Miss Dreadful has explained we morticians don’t keep much living company?”

Monica couldn’t help the laugh. “I a-am her only friend.”

“Hey hey,” Dot snapped her cloth napkin before pointing between the two of them. “That is a thousand percent by choice. Other people are the worst.”

“I’m not gonna argue with that,” Monica put her hands up, but as she moved to take the menu from their waiter, she was surprised to momentary silence when Gladwyn reached over, took her menu, and then handed it to her. “T-Thank you.”

“Of course.” Gladwyn’s tone was still warm, amiable, but he cut his eyes to the waiter as if daring the other male to say something. When the server cleared his throat and turned his attention to Dot, Gladwyn returned his gaze to Monica and his entire posture relaxed. His smile had never wavered.

The entire premise of dinner between the three had been Dot’s way of breaking the ice between her best friend and the new hire at the mortuary. She didn’t want to leave Monica with this new mortician for hours and hours a day, for weeks, perhaps months, without forming a sort of tentative relationship between the two, for Monica’s comfort level more than anything else. Part of why she’d hired Gladwyn was because he was such a nice guy. She’d called every colleague, boss, and even two of Gladwyn’s college professors to run him through the wringer to make sure he came out squeaky clean but every test Dot put him through, he passed. Everyone had something nice to say about Gladwyn, that he was an eager student, a polite co-worker, a diligent employee. He never called in sick, he never had any brushes with the law; hell, one of Gladwyn’s old employers stated he actually said, “Please,” and “I’m sorry,” to corpses if he mishandled them or when he needed to do something particularly invasive. Gladwyn was polite to a fault, and he was a certified nice guy. Granted, a couple people had mentioned his smile giving them the creeps, and Dot had to admit there was something a little off about it, but you can’t judge a guy by his smile, right? Besides, finding a mortician who wasn’t considered at least a little creepy was like finding a needle in a haystack. Dot had interviewed enough fish-eyed weirdos to know, Gladwyn was as good as she was going to get on such short notice. Judging by the swelling in her ankles just from the walk from the Mortuary to her truck and then into the restaurant, Dot was days away from being confined to bed--so as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers.

Still, Dot lifted her water glass to her mouth as she looked between Monica and Gladwyn; they seemed to be hitting it off well. Gladwyn’s smile was a prominent thing, Dot noticed he really did smile all the time, but it seemed different when he looked at Monica. Dot noticed things like this, she paid attention, but it didn’t raise any alarm bells. He simply seemed to really enjoy Monica’s company and honestly who wouldn’t? Dot had been friends with the other woman for over a decade; she knew the kind of effect Monica had on others and even if Monica would deny it to her grave, Dot knew better. Gladwyn was proof enough; the man was hanging off her every word. Dinner would be the first step to solidifying a good relationship between the two, and as long as this went well, Dot would be confident in going on maternity leave knowing her best friend, and her place of business, were in good hands.

“So, I know plenty about you Gladwyn but Monica doesn’t,” Dot turned to the duo as the waiter took their drink orders to the bar. “Why don’t you tell her a little about yourself?”

Gladwyn would have opened a vein to get Monica to talk about herself, but he swallowed that graphic visual with that smile of his, moving his hands to his lap as he nodded a few times, his attention swiveling to Monica effortlessly. “Well, what about you like to know?”

Monica blinked a few times, unsure what to ask. She floundered a little before blurting out. “What’s your favorite color?”

“Corpse blue.”

Gladwyn dropped his reply like a body onto the table, so serious in his delivery that Monica was left staring at him, her eyebrows slowly creeping upward. “R-Really?”

“Oh, no!” Gladwyn shook his head with a rich laugh. “I’m sorry, no, that was a little mortician humor. It’s just blue, my favorite color is blue, it’s just, you know the corpses turn blue when they’re frozen. I thought I’d have a little fun with it.”

Dot rolled her eyes as she reached for a hot roll from the bread basket at the center of the table. “You know our type of jokes never go over well with anyone.” She gave him a pointed look as she tore open the steaming bread. “Especially when they’re that corny.”

Gladwyn’s laugh was sheepish but genuine, and Monica had to respect a guy who could laugh at himself.

Throwing him a bone, she joined in the laughter, nodding. “No, no, I get it! That was, that was clever.”

Gladwyn paused at the compliment, his posture straightening not unlike a flower given a little bit of sunlight. His eyes were riveted to watching Monica’s chest rise and fall with her laughter, his own pulse quickening as he swallowed around his attraction to her. Did she have any idea what she was doing to him? No one ever really laughed at his jokes; he knew they were a little awkward and probably not in the best humor, but she called it clever. She thought he was clever. His pulse reflected just how much he liked that, basked in that knowledge, that such a beautiful woman found his wit to be...worthy of her beautiful laugh. It had sent him over the moon to walk into this restaurant with her; he saw the way heads turned, the whispers that the Felina Frenzy was here and though he felt that curious jealousy again, part of him using his impressive height to shield her from inquisitive, needy stares, there was also pride that he was there with her. That others recognized she was there with him. He really liked that thought.

“May I ask the lady’s favorite color?” Gladwyn took the opportunity to get to know Monica same as she was doing with him. He was eager to know her inside and out.

Monica gestured with a smile. “Blue, too.”

It may not be a monumental thing, sharing the same favorite color as someone else; there are only so many colors in the rainbow, after all--but Gladwyn felt that connection like a bolt of lightning. They...they shared a favorite thing? It brightened his smile, widened it until he felt his cheeks ache but he welcomed the sensation. It made him so happy!

“Excellent choice,” he complimented with a conspirator’s playful wink, trying to play it cool when inside, his heart was turning somersaults. Monica’s laughter was light but genuine and it was wreaking havoc on Gladwyn’s nerves, shredding him until he was rubbed raw, left vulnerable to the next tempting thing she was planning to do. He swallowed again, looking up gratefully as their drinks were brought to the table.

“That better be a virgin,” Monica eyed Dot’s Bloody Mary, and Dot gave her a playful look.

“Only thing about me that is, obviously,” she gestured to her generous bump before taking a sip of the blood red concoction.

“What did you get?” Monica turned to Gladwyn, trying to keep the conversation between them going. She knew without having to ask Dot that the reason they’d come to dinner was so she and Gladwyn could get better acquainted...it just helped he was easy to talk to.

“Ah, you’ve caught me, I’m afraid.” Gladwyn lifted his foaming glass with a sheepish grin. “It’s a Dry Stout. I’m Irish every day of the year, not only on St. Paddy’s.”

Monica eyed the glass; it was so dark she couldn’t see through it, and almost resembled coffee though she knew it to be an ale. She laughed a little at his joke, missing his grin brightening in response as she was still admiring his drink choice.

“What have you gotten?” Gladwyn took a swig of his drink, curious eyes on Monica’s beverage choice. It was peach-colored, bubbly, and served in a long-stemmed champagne glass.

“It’s a Gigi,” Monica supplied. “My family is originally from Italy so I’m pretty well-versed in expensive cocktails from Europe.”

Gladwyn’s laughter was honest and washed over Monica as he gave her his undivided attention; she could definitely respect that the man was genuine, there didn’t seem to be anything fake about him in the few hours she’s known him. It was laughter she joined in on, picking up her flute for a gentle, feminine sip.

Gladwyn watched her without blinking, committing her movement to memory with ease; she moved with the grace of a feline, her manicured nails a compliment to the expensive cocktail kissing her lips the way he longed to do--Gladwyn came from wealth and affluence, he knew what it was to be among the elite but Monica was simply on another level. It didn’t surprise him in the slightest to hear her family was of money, she carried herself like a queen and why shouldn’t she? Her throat worked as she swallowed and Gladwyn felt it like a punch to his gut; his muscles actually tightened, his abdomen turning flips as he struggled to get his attraction under control. Monica was doing something awful to him, stealing all his attention and he’d never once felt such a strong pull to another human being in his entire life. The more time he spent in her company, the less he was confused by what was happening. Love at first sight wasn’t an easy thing to dismiss, but it was an easy thing to pin.

“It’s probably rude to ask your age, Gladwyn, but I’m having a hard time pinning you,” Monica set her glass down, meeting Gladwyn’s gaze effortlessly--because he was already looking at her. “So can I ask?”

“You can ask whatever you like, my dear.” Gladwyn would have aged himself with such a formal saying, but at least the slight accent in his rich tenor made sense now that he’d given away his heritage (as if his hair and freckles hadn’t been enough indication) and that endearment certainly came out smoother than the ale in his hand. “But I’m thirty-seven years old.”

“You don’t look it,” Monica reassured, but that was only partially true. Gladwyn didn’t look to be near his forties, but he carried himself that way, and his smile had some age behind it. Likely, due to his ever-present smile, he also had smile lines near the corners of his mouth and around his eyes.

These lines deepened at her compliment and Gladwyn reached over, putting his surprisingly warm hand on her knee. “Thank you, Monica. That’s incredibly sweet of you to say.”

Monica’s gaze dropped to Gladwyn’s long fingers and she felt him squeeze her knee in response; he made no move to remove his hand and she didn’t...know if she should consider this forward of him or not. She was dressed in black slacks and a ruffle-sleeve button-up, having wanted to start looking the part of boss since she would be taking over for Dot but she could feel the heat of Gladwyn’s hand through the fabric of her pants. She would, for some reason, have assumed his hands would be cold as the corpses he worked on daily, but his hands more closely resembled the fire of his hair.

Gladwyn hadn’t even thought before he touched her--he just acted, closed the distance between them as if he had to do it. He cursed that she was wearing slacks and not a skirt, a dress, so anxious was he to feel her soft skin. He knew it was softer than a lily would be, and he knew she smelled sweeter, too. He slowly dragged his gaze up from his hand on her knee, up her front to lock gazes with her and he searched her face--not for signs of refusal but for acceptance. She had to feel what he felt, didn’t she? There was no way only one soulmate would be feeling the instant connection, the attraction that was driving him to complete distraction. There was no other way to describe what he was feeling but soulmate; everything about her clicked like a puzzle piece Gladwyn had been missing his entire life. She didn’t shy away from his smile, she shared the same favorite color as he did; she laughed at his jokes and she found him to be clever. He knew she thought he was nice because she allowed him to pull out her chair for her and she wasn’t pulling away from his touch, now. She had to be feeling what he was...perhaps she was simply shy? Well, of course she was, she was a proper lady. A right beautiful one. A woman who deserved to be wooed properly, courted in the way a man of Gladwyn’s upbringing could. His smile deepened, and he gave her knee another longing squeeze before he slowly, reluctantly removed it. He wouldn’t push his luck, now that he was more convinced she shared what he was feeling, that slow-burning but all-consuming fire that was licking at his heart like flames.

“Are we ready to order?”

The server started at the head of the table, or perhaps it was simply Dot being pregnant, but it allowed Gladwyn a moment to wrangle with his returning jealousy--because any moment, the man was going to turn to Monica and speak to her...and Gladwyn really hated that. He was staring, unseeing, at his own menu, his mind narrowing to how he was going to...deal with this. He’d never considered himself a jealous man before, had never felt such raw, biting emotion in all his life but then he hadn’t known his soulmate before today. Monica was beautiful, a siren’s call to any man and while he would never blame her for such beauty, no it was his good fortune she was breath-taking, he didn’t have to like others noticing her. His eyes slipped from his menu, moving discreetly to Monica and again, he felt his pulse spike, his throat run dry, and he fidgeted in his seat. If he needed proof, he had it; physical proof. His body reacted every single time he looked at her.

“And you, Miss?”

Monica shifted, her eyes on her menu. “I’ll have--”

“Would you order for me, Monica?”

Gladwyn interjected into the conversation without much forethought; he was only grateful what he’d said made sense. Monica seemed to flounder a little, and he could regret catching her off-guard...but she took her attention off the waiter and it reinforced he’d done the right thing. Gladwyn had to fight to keep his smile from going smug that he’d so easily gotten her attention back.

“O-Of...course, but I don’t really know you very well?” Monica faltered, looking worried. “What if...I order something you won’t like?”

“I’ll have whatever you’re having.” Gladwyn set his menu down on his plate with his smile lighting his eyes. “You have impeccable taste. You can’t steer me wrong if it’s good enough for you.”

Monica’s smile was still nervous, still unsure, but Gladwyn looked like he’d made up his mind and she could only nod, turning to order for herself...and for him.

It was a small compromise, Gladwyn still hated that she spoke to the waiter, loathed that the man was admiring her so openly, but at least he’d staked something of a claim on her in front of the other male. It made him feel better, sated his childish, unfounded jealousy--no, it wasn’t unfounded! He had a right to her, to the other half of his soul. That was how it worked. That was the reward for the way he felt about her; he felt so strongly, of course he wouldn’t want someone else looking at her, thinking about her. No one had the right to even dream of touching her, no one except him.

Dinner did what Dot had intended...and it did a little more than she’d intended, at the same time. The two hours passed by in the blink of an eye, the trio exchanging stories, learning about one another and as the time passed, the more Gladwyn became convinced of what he felt to be true. Monica was the other half of his soul, the fabled soulmate promised to hopeless romantics and skeptics alike. She was perfect; she was beautiful, hauntingly so, in that he knew she would be in his dreams tonight--if he was able to sleep from wanting her. She was witty, humorous, intelligent; she was clever and her sarcasm was so biting he nearly wished to be at the receiving end just to feel the scrape of her teeth. When Monica smiled she stole the light from the room; she was radiant, and Gladwyn felt himself drowning every time she turned that smile to him. Her voice was what silk was made of, sliding over his skin until twice he’d nearly dropped his fork against his plate when she said his name. It was...too soon, perhaps, to think of late nights with her body wrapped around his but he couldn’t stop himself from going there, from crossing that sordid line because she aroused him so fervently his appetite was of an entirely different sort. He’d finished two stouts in the hopes it would douse the fire building in his belly but all it did was warm him further, made his brain a little hazy so that the lines between right and wrong blurred further. He was seated beside an angel, his angel, and the expensive food turned sour in his mouth for want to sample her instead.

This must be what it felt like to be lovesick, to be so enamored with one’s adoration that food and drink lose their taste. Gladwyn seemed to have fallen down the rabbit hole with no hope to catch himself on the sides--would he have? If he were honest with himself, no, he wouldn’t have. He dove headfirst down this trap, chasing Monica’s laugh, her voice, the way she looked at him, smiled at him. The way she made him feel should be criminal, he was already so addicted to the man he was when she looked at him. The glasses were emptied, the bill was paid, and all too soon reality was severing his time with Monica and for a fleeting moment he panicked at the void that would be left when they went their separate ways for the night.

“Thank you, Gladwyn,” Monica stood with his help as he pulled her chair out for her, and his smile was a little subdued but still present as he held up her jacket, for her to slip into it.

“It’s cold outside,” he prompted, fighting to keep the hard edge from his voice when it seemed she was going to simply take it from him. He wanted her to wear it. He wouldn’t have her catching cold, and his smile broadened when she slipped her arms into it. “There we are. That’s better, hm?”

Monica’s smile was a touch shy as Gladwyn’s large hands rubbed up her arms, smoothing her jacket and warming her further beneath the expensive fabric. He placed his hand at the small of her back, giving his head a nod toward the door and he tailored his steps to match hers despite their staggering height difference.

“So, what do you two think?” Dot turned from the front door of the restaurant, the valet sprinting out into the snow to retrieve her truck. “Think you’ll be okay to work together for a while?”

Monica turned to look up at Gladwyn but he was already looking at her, and he gestured to Dot with a nod of his head. “Ladies first.”

“I-I, yes, I don’t see any problems.” Monica gave Dot a smile, knowing Dot would be looking for any signs that Monica wasn’t comfortable--this would be a question Dot would ask again when the two were alone in her truck.

“I’m delighted to hear that, as I can assure I’m very much looking forward to working with Monica.” Gladwyn tore his smile away from Monica when he felt Dot was still staring at him. “You’ll be fine to relax at home, Miss Dreadful. We’ll have no problems working together.”

Dot looked between Gladwyn and Monica, making a thoughtful noise at the back of her throat but she nodded, her smile reaching her eyes. “Good. Then you’ll be in charge of the morgue 7AM, Monday morning, Mr. Charles.”

Gladwyn gave Dot a nod, but his attention was already turning to Monica as Dot’s truck rolled to a stop in front of the restaurant. He moved his hand from the small of her back, already loathing the space between their bodies and knowing there’d be more, much more, over the weekend. It was all he could do to keep himself calm with the reassurance that he’d be working very closely with Monica on Monday.

“It was a pleasure getting to know you, Monica. I’m very much looking forward to continuing to get to know you during our time together.” Gladwyn bowed his spine, no hesitation as he pressed his lips to her cheek. “I will see you soon. Take care of yourself until then.”

Monica’s fingers trembled as they settled on Gladwyn’s arm, and she felt his hand steady her waist in response. “H-Have a nice weekend, Gladwyn. I’ll see y-you Monday.”

“I look forward to it.” Gladwyn straightened up, replacing his hand in his pant’s pocket, watching Monica take hold of Dot’s arm, the two girls leaning on one another as the valet opened the door into the winter cold.

Without a word, he gave his keys to the valet but kept his gaze on Monica as she entered the truck, and as they drove off, he kept his gaze riveted to the vehicle disappearing in New Senzannini’s generous traffic. It wasn’t until Monica was out of sight that he was able to look away, the spell of her presence lifted enough for him to feel...completely and utterly alone. The smile dropped off his face fast enough to shatter on the marble floor beneath his dress shoes, and the valet nearly tripped coming back inside after retrieving Gladwyn’s car.

It would seem the only thing creepier than Gladwyn’s smile was when he didn’t smile, but for the first time in his life, he found he had no reason to, at the moment. The reason was currently driving further and further away from him, to live a life separate from him, where she didn’t have to think about him, didn’t have to see him, where he couldn’t see her, where he couldn’t touch her...

...for now.

Gladwyn pushed open the restaurant doors with one strong hand, ignoring the biting cold wind as he stalked toward his waiting car. Monday wasn’t too far away. Besides, the weekend gave him time to prepare, to make room in his life for a very special new someone. It had to be perfect. Everything had to be perfect.

Just like she was.

Stay tuned! ♥ Next Update: February 17th!

[emilyprentissisababe]

Hi my lovelies! I've been working on this Jemily college AU fic for awhile now. I'd love feedback! This is the first fic I've written in maybe 10 years, so please be gentile (but constructive if you've got any advice 😊 ). There will probably be 2 more chapters, so let me know if youd like to be tagged.

Thank you so much @books-cats-fandom for helping me with this and putting up with my whining. You're the best ❤. Also thank you to @bi-ssaemilyprentiss and @cicinicole-14 for being willing to read this for me!

There are no warnings. This is complete fluff. _____________________

Emily had a knack for not being able to sleep at night. For some reason all of the days events and tomorrows worries plagued her in the waning hours of darkness. As she laid in bed she couldn't help but feel anxious about what the new day would bring. She had midterms coming up, an eventual graduation, figuring out what to do next, and "real world" problems on the horizon. The main things dominating her thoughts tonight however? Jennifer Jareau. She and JJ had been mutual acquaintances for about a year now. Going to the same parties. Taking the same classes. But in the last three months they've become really close friends. They tell each other just about everything. Em even told her how it was hard for her to grow up moving around and how she had a hard time making friends. JJ told her how she was born prematurely and they doctors thought she wouldnt make it. They usually ended each day talking to each other. It was a nice occurrence for Emily. University life can be quite lonely sometimes.

Her phone lights up. "Speak of the devil". She thinks.

"How many pages should that paper be again?"

Emily looks at the clock. Its 3 AM. No rest for the wicked huh? "Umm, what are you doing awake? We have class at 9 tomorrow. You better be there, seeing your gorgeous face is the only thing that makes that class bearable."

"I've gotta finish this paper. Have you ever known me to skip class? You know me better than that! Wait....what are you doing awake?"

"Just thinking.."

"Thinking about what?"

"What happened today. With Caleb....I can't believe he asked you out, just like that, with all of those people standing there. With me standing there."

"Yeah, I was...taken off guard, that's for sure. I don't like him like that..."

"Then why did you agree to go?"

"Hes a nice guy, and I was so shocked, I just kind of nodded.....hey! I've got an idea, why dont you come with us?"

"Come with you on the date? Um, no thanks Jay, I dont want to be a third wheel."

"Then bring your own date. Theres gotta be SOMEONE you're interested in. "

"Well, there is someone I'm interested in, but I dont know how they feel about me and...idk"

"I'm sure they'll say yes if you ask them. You're so smart, and beautiful, and caring, and did I mention beautiful? Anyone would be lucky to date you."

Emily feels her heart skip a beat. Damn. She really knew how to get to her. "No, I dont think that's the best idea."

"Awww come on! At least tell me who it is!"

"You're getting distracted. Do your paper and get some sleep babe. You've gotta take care of yourself."

"Okay. Okay. Fine. But dont think I'll forget about this conversation. I want answers as to who's stolen your heart, Emily Prentiss."

Emily sighs, smiling into her phone. "Go to sleep. Goodnight ❤"

"Goodnight, lovely ❤"

____________________________________________

The next day Prentiss ran into class a few minutes before it started and was disappointed when all the seats next to JJ were taken.

"You were almost late 😂"

"Sush! You're the one texting in class 🙊"

"Umm, you just texted be back though."

"You're such a brat! 😂"

The professor then passed out a test that took the rest of the period. Emily took longer to complete it and by time she was done, JJ had already left. She wasnt sure why, but she felt a little disappointed when she walked out of the classroom and JJ wasnt there waiting for her. After a moment Emily was able to shake off her disappointment, she needed to go talk to a different professor and if she didnt leave now she would miss her. As she rounded the corner to her professors office she saw a little blonde head peak out from a door across the hall. She couldnt hide the smile that came across her face. Her professor was just on her way out of her office so Emily asked her question quickly and her professor left.

Suddenly JJ was behind her, "hey there." She said with a smirk playing on her lips.

"Hey you."

"How did you do on that test?"

"It was rough right?"

"Oh sush. You always get perfect grades."

"Umm so do you!" Emily said, leaning against the hall wall. JJ didnt say anything and just stared at Emily. After a few moment the blonde reaches over the space separating the two. Emily had been looking down at her boots as JJ gently lifted her chin.

"You're so beautiful." She said as she gently caressed Em's cheek. "And your skin is so soft." Emily blushed a little and then put her hand over JJ's, enjoying the touch. Emily was a little touch starved. Her mother wasnt the most nurturing parent and she hadn't dated anyone in a long time.

"Look at you though. Your eyes are my favorite color. Vast. Clear. Beautiful. Just like you." JJ smiled, making Emily's heart beat just a little bit faster. What was that about? She thought. Just as quickly as it happened, JJ pulled her hand back, leaving that spot on her cheek feeling cold, "oh shit, I'm going to be late! I'll talk to you later!" And with that, the blonde glided away, leaving Em, smiling and gently touching her cheek.

After class had finished that day Em had to go to work and then straight home to do homework. As she lay in bed that night, thinking yet again of Jennifer Jareau. She was notoriously good at overanalyzing everything. Tonight? The cheek caress. Why did she do that? What did it mean? Sure, they have been touchy before, mostly sitting close and brushing against each other, but this? This was so....blatant. This was so new. Emily is wrapped up in these thoughts when she gets a text, "Hey, party this Saturday. I'll go if you go!"

"Wait, you mean the infamous homebody Jennifer Jareau is going to a party this weekend? I'm so there!"

"We'll see who's infamous after this weekend. 😉" another text "you should bring that guy you were telling me about the other night. I need to meet him!"

"You know them better than you think..." Em typed, feeling her heart rate speed up. It was about time she admit to herself that she had feelings for JJ. How is that possible? She'd never had feelings for another woman before....

"Oh come on Em! Just tell me who they are! Maybe I could help them fall in love with you! It's such an easy thing to do! 😉"

Em sighed. It was about time to just admit her feelings. Maybe theyd go away if she just got it over with. Another text, "who is ittt?"

After taking a big breath, she types out, "it's you... " she closes her eyes and presses send. Her heart is beating so loudly she cant hear anything else.

"Oh, Em, I'm flattered. I'm just not in the position to be in a relationship right now...."

"That's okay! It honestly just feels good to get it off of my chest..."

"Babe. This wont affect anything. I promise. I want you to always be able to tell me the truth."

"Okay....good...I'll see you Saturday?"

"Yes! I'll see you Saturday! Be ready for a party!"

____________________________________________

If you've made it this far, thank you ❤ I appreciate you. If I'm being honest, I am writing this for a personal reason to help me deal with something that happened in my real life. So far it has been very cathartic.

I'm tagging @prentissisthebestest @mullinscarousel @unleash-the-doves @unitchiefwives @puke-and-nutballs @emily-prentiss-is-bea @blondeandbrunetteshipper @just-take-a-moment-and-dream @nekocrocs @magnificentperfectionmiracle @sunnysaysbookreviews @soul-disposition @katiealyssa96 @mikan-chan-the-obsess @oakleygartner @feelingsbutnofeelings @ryker-the-pta-mom becuase you all said you'd like to read this when I asked in a previous post. If you dont want to be tagged in the next chapters, just let me know. I'll understand. I hope you enjoyed it :)