#we have a local shop that gives books out for free and they take donations so i trade my old vouge magazines in for a gp

[yeastinfectionvale]

I love old car/racing magazines especially the adverts. Might scan a few from my GP magazine copy (there is an advert for the 2007 USGP and it looks so cool)

[roo-bastmoon]

Remembering Nana today...

Interestingly enough, it was my 93-year-old grandmother who sort of led me to BTS. Today is the second anniversary of her passing, and my rambles about that are under the cut.

So, just to give you a visual: my Nana was a lot like Rose from the Golden Girls but, like, not in any way a ditz. She was a very practical Capricorn, but she looked and spoke a lot like Betty White from that show.

Nana practically raised me. I spent literally every weekend with her, from the day I was born until my parents divorced and we moved away when I was 13. Every Friday, my folks would drop me off at her apartment, and she'd make me homemade mac and cheese for dinner and vanilla ice cream for dessert (I did NOT like to try new things). Then we'd watch Full House, Perfect Strangers, Golden Girls, and Empty Nest on TGIF. After that, it would be bath time and bed.

Fun side note: I was an extremely independent and stubborn only child. So I always insisted on bathing myself. Not wanting me to drown on her watch, Nana would sit in the bathroom with me and read me poetry while I played with my Tub Town toys. But the poetry would always be the most macabre stuff--like The Spider and the Fly, or The Wreck of the Hesperus. I am not saying I was scarred for life by this, but I'm also not saying I'm normal, either.

Anyway, those were our Friday nights. On Saturdays we'd get up at the crack of dawn to go flea marketing with her two younger sisters. She would give me $1 to spend on my "trashy treasures" -- but it was the 80s, so I could make it stretch. After that, we'd all go to a buffet lunch. Then she'd take me in the afternoons to the local library, where I would pick my books for the week.

Another side note: My parents were not big on buying toys, but I could have any books I wanted. As a young kid, I used to take a flashlight and hide in the bathtub at night so I could read past bedtime. I figured I was being super sneaky because they couldn't see the light coming from that room. But we lived in a tiny house with only one bathroom, so of COURSE they knew. Mom told me years later that they thought it was funny I was being rebellious by secretly reading YA novels in the bathroom when I was in elementary school. Nana, of course, let me stay up as late as I wanted to read. I digress.

As the years passed, even when I went out of state and the country for school, or moved across America to take jobs, Nana and I emailed every day, called once a week, kept in constant touch. When I moved back to my home state 13 years ago, I sort of became her caregiver and weekend companion.

This time it was my turn on the weekends to make her food, take her shopping, drive her around, get her books from the bookmobile. She raised me, and then for 10 years, I took care of her.

I loved my Nana. She was funny and soft-hearted and well read, but she grew up *dirt poor* and never got to see the world except through books and the TV, so she was always very humble and a bit shy. She loved me so much--she was the only person in the world who would listen to me drivel on about anything, and still be interested.

At 93-years-old, she died of a sudden heart attack on August 30, 2021. Emergency personnel were with her in her apartment, so she wasn't alone or in pain very long, but I couldn't get to her fast enough to say goodbye. Mom and I identified her later, at the hospital.

I am grateful she had a long life, and didn't suffer, and wasn't alone. But my family is very, very small. Just Nana and Mom and me. And after the whirlwind of taking care of her funeral and packing up her apartment and donating everything, suddenly there was just all this free time--these empty hours I usually filled taking care of Nana.

I just was so lost.

I started trying to read, or quilt, or watch movies. I got into some K dramas for a bit. Nothing really interested me. Then I started watching dance compilations on YouTube before bed.

And one snowy December night, I found a Steezy video where Brian Puspos was reviewing Jimin's dance style. I had no idea what it was. It was like this weird impulse--as if someone moved my finger to hover over and click that video...

You cannot imagine how every nerve-ending woke up. My brain suddenly came online. (I was a semi-pro ballet dancer as a kid, and I knew the absolute second I saw Jimin that he was a master who trained relentlessly--nobody had to point it out to me.)

For the first time in months, I FELT something other than grief.

I watched every single video of him I could. I had no idea who BTS were, didn't know anything about Kpop. But eventually I found more videos, I listened to their songs, and later I discovered Jikook, and I made online accounts and I watched RUN episodes, and I got to go see Yoongi as my first-ever concert, and now I'm making my way through In the Soop and Bon Voyage.

In fact, pretty much every day since I discovered Jimin, I've been thinking about, learning about, and trying to support Jimin and the people Jimin loves.

Jimin and BTS got me through the grief at losing the person I loved most in the world. They saw me through uterine cancer, and the surgeries, and mourning the fact that I can never be a bio mom now. They got me through the medical tests and the chronic fatigue and pain I've had for the last 4 months.

I really love our boys. I may not understand or love everything about them or their company or their industry, but loving someone doesn't mean thinking of them as demi-gods; it means being loyal even as they grow past any flaws.

To be honest, I feel like I owe Jimin my life, in a way. I was in a really, really dark place a year and a half ago. Jimin was the only joy, the only reason to keep going (besides my mom and kitties, of course).

Now I own every digital release BTS has put out--the whole discography, even the skits. I try to vote on all the apps whenever I can, and stream on premium family bundle accounts for Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora; I also do free trials for Tidal and Qobuz. II've never done any of this stuff before, never been a fan of any musicians, but I really, truly do try to return the favor.

It's a bit hyperbolic to say they "saved me" because lots of people cope with grief and illness and loneliness and it doesn't mean they just throw in the towel.

But BTS helped me stop surviving, and made me want to really live.

Plus, even when I'm too sick to go out or call up my friends, I can always get on my phone and come here, to chat with my fandom friends. I don't know most of their real names or faces or anything about their real lives, but we all love BTS; we all talk about and work together for BTS.

Nana would have loved that. (She also would have let me talk her ear off every day about Jimin and Jikook and the Tannies because that was her love language.)

Is BTS a replacement for real, genuine human interaction? No. Of course not. It is, at the end of the day, a band. Not a life.

But it also feels like getting to know 7 people I'd be honored to be friends with, if we ever met. People I want to support so they can achieve all their dreams--because they always pay it forward, too.

I sometimes wonder if Nana guided my hand to click on that video that day. Maybe she was looking down at me and thought "Ah, this will be good for her. This will be healing."

Probably not, but still, I'd like to think that. I'd like to think it was Nana who led me to the Magic Shop.

I miss her. I love her. I still can hear her voice in my head every day.

But I'm gonna be okay. (The future's gonna be okay.)

There's still so much to look forward to and work to be done. Fighting!

[expressmoveinnovations]

10 Ways to Get the Best Deals on Packing and Moving

Introduction

Moving can be a stressful and expensive process, but with a little planning and some savvy shopping, you can save money on packing and moving services. In this article, we will explore 10 ways to get the best deals on packing and moving, helping you to keep your budget intact while ensuring a smooth transition to your new home.

1. Plan Ahead

One of the most effective ways to save money on packing and moving is to plan ahead. Start by creating a detailed timeline and checklist, allowing yourself enough time to research and compare prices from different moving companies. By booking in advance, you can often secure better rates and avoid any last-minute price hikes.

2. Declutter Before You Pack

Before you start packing, take the time to declutter your belongings. Get rid of items you no longer need or use, either by donating them or selling them online. The less you have to pack and move, the lower your overall costs will be.

3. Compare Multiple Quotes

Don't settle for the first moving company you come across. Take the time to request quotes from at least three different companies, comparing their rates and services. This will help you to find the best deal and ensure you are getting value for your money.

4. Pack Yourself

If you have the time and energy, consider packing your belongings yourself. This can save you a significant amount of money, as professional packing services can be quite costly. Just make sure to pack everything securely and label your boxes to make the unpacking process easier.

5. Use Free Packing Materials

Instead of buying brand new packing materials, look for free alternatives. Ask friends and family if they have any spare boxes or packing supplies, or check local community groups and online marketplaces where people often give away moving boxes for free. This way, you can save money on packing materials and reduce waste at the same time.

6. Take Advantage of Discounts and Coupons

Keep an eye out for discounts and coupons offered by moving companies. Many companies offer special promotions or discounts for certain times of the year or specific services. By taking advantage of these deals, you can save a significant amount of money on your move.

7. Consider Off-Peak Times

If possible, try to schedule your move during off-peak times. Moving companies often have lower rates during weekdays or non-peak seasons. By being flexible with your moving date, you can potentially save money on both packing and moving services.

8. Negotiate

Don't be afraid to negotiate with moving companies. If you have received multiple quotes, use them as leverage to negotiate a better deal. Some companies may be willing to match or beat packers and movers mumbai to delhicompetitor's price, especially if they are eager for your business.

9. Consider DIY Options

If you have a small move or a limited budget, consider DIY options such as renting a moving truck and doing the move yourself. While this may require more effort on your part, it can be a cost-effective solution, especially for local moves.

10. Get Insurance

Lastly, don't forget to consider insurance for your move. While it may seem like an additional expense, having insurance can protect you from any potential damages or losses during the moving process. Shop around for insurance options and choose a policy that fits your needs and budget.

Conclusion

By following these 10 tips, you can get the best deals on packing and moving, saving money without sacrificing the quality of service. Remember to plan ahead, compare quotes, declutter, and be open to negotiating with moving companies. With a little effort and research, you can make your moving experience less stressful and more budget-friendly packers and movers mumbai to delhi

[chloeunitfive]

Barnsley Hospice Retail Hub:

We can arrange collection of larger items – in good condition – from the local area. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., you may drop off donations and shop at the Retail Hub. They provide free parking for our customers, and you can drive your car up to the shutters to make donating as simple as possible. They take men's and women's clothing, as well as children's clothing, toys, books, and trinkets. As well as bigger objects such as furniture and functional electricals. Please contact ahead for furniture donations so that they can confirm their availability. Their committed team of workers and volunteers comb through each bag of contributions and categorise them for labelling. These are then sold or recycled, creating revenue for the hospice while also benefiting the environment! At the hub, they promote sustainability, so nothing goes to waste! Any donations that cannot be sold are recycled, frayed, or given to other local charity. Donating stuff and purchasing secondhand are excellent ways to help the environment and your local community. Encourage sustainability at the hub to ensure that nothing goes to waste! Items are then displayed on our shop floor or on our online selling platforms such as eBay and Vinted. These sales play a huge part in supporting the services we provide for the people of Barnsley, and helping us to raise the £3.5 million we need to raise each year.

Did you know that buying second-hand clothes reduces your carbon waste by 80%? (Source: American Apparel & Footwear Association)

The Retail Hub isn’t just about supporting Barnsley Hospice, we also champion shopping sustainably and adding more pre-loved outfits to your wardrobe.  We get some fabulous rare and vintage finds in our donations, so you can look stylish whilst doing your bit for the planet!

Asked Questions:

Where are you located?

We are located on the Fall Bank Industrial Estate, Dodworth, opposite KDA. Our postcode is S75 3LS.

When can I drop off donations?

You can drop off donations throughout our opening hours – Monday to Saturday between 9 am and 4 pm. We do ask that you refrain from leaving items outside the hub when we are closed as they are likely to get damaged and we are unable to sell them.

Do you accept electricals?

We do accept most electrical items in working condition. There are a few exceptions to the electrical items you can donate, such as printers, which we cannot accept. If you are unsure whether we can accept your donation, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 01226 240 908.

Do you accept furniture?

For all furniture items – small or large- we ask that you please give us a call on 01226 240 908 and send us a photo before donating to the hub via our Facebook page. This helps us establish what we have room for and whether it is in saleable condition, which means we don’t have to turn anyone away when they arrive with their items!

Please note, all soft furnishings must come with the fire retardant label intact. Due to limited space in our warehouse, we may have to decline furniture items – we hope you understand.

Do you accept broken items?

Please refrain from bringing broken items to the hub. Disposing of these items comes at a cost to us, which means less money goes toward funding the specialist palliative care Barnsley Hospice provides. The only exception to this is clothes that can be ragged, which we are happy to recycle.

Do you have accessible facilities at the hub?

We are accessible to wheelchair users with a ramped access and an accessible toilet is available.

Social media:

Reference:

[kelleah-meah]

General Plans for Fall 2023

Like last year, I've made plans for the fall season. Even though I've been trying to slow down and engage in slow living more, it does look like this autumn is going to be anything but boring.

So this list is great for providing a guide for what I would like to do, but it's not intended to be a comparison of what I should be expected to do. Rest and balance are always the goal now as my holistic health takes a greater priority in my life.

Just as a reminder, even though I have the rest of September, October, November and the first few weeks of December to do these, some of the stereotypical autumn activities that you might see on social media aren't on it.

For example, apple picking is no where on this list because I'm not a fan of doing labor for free and calling it "fun." I just want to eat the apples. I don't want to pick the apples. But otherwise, I think you might like most of the suggestions below.

September

Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox 🍁 ✅

Slow cook a meal in a crockpot 🍲 

Bake an apple-themed dessert (e.g., apple crisp, apple pie, apple brown betty) 🍏 ✅

Go for a bike ride in the park 🚲 ☑️

Mabon-themed tarot reading 🃏 ✅

Give myself a facial with an autumn-themed face mask 🧖🏽‍♀️ 

Work on my jigsaw puzzle 🧩

Put on some music and paint what I hear and feel 🎨

Donate clothes to a local charity, homeless shelter or refugee center 👚

Go for a walk in the park and enjoy the changing of the leaves 🍂 ☑️

Visit a coffee shop and hang out there while reading or writing 🥐

Spend a rainy day inside reading a book 📕

October

Read the poem "October" by Robert Frost 📖

Do Inktober challenge (draw, paint, or sketch every day & share it) 🖌️

Hang Halloween wreath 🥀 ✅

Put together 5 Dark Academia outfits and share them on social media 🧥

Enjoy Halloween candy without guilt 🍬 ✅

Go for a bike ride in the park 🚲

Binge-watch Penny Dreadful, Grimm, What We Do In The Shadows, or The Sandman 📺

Make my own pizza night 🍕

Make Rice Krispie treats (Don't know why, but these always feel very autumn-y to me. I think it's the marshmallows.) 🤤

Go for a walk in the park and enjoy the changing of the leaves 🍂

Attend a harvest or fall festival 🌻

Cook homemade soup 🥣

Paint my fingernails a dark color (e.g., black, blue, purple) 💅🏼

Take a road trip to Salem, MA 🚗

Visit occult / metaphysical shop ☠️

Enjoy some hot apple cider & hot apple cider donuts 🍎

Go on a guided ghost walk 👻

Try hot chocolate at 2 restaurants or cafes where I've never had it before ☕

Cook a pot of chili 🌶️

Bake bread 🍞

Wear something orange 🧡

Go stargazing 🌌

Make s’mores 😋

Watch autumn or horror-themed movies throughout the month 🎃

Dance to Allhallowtide playlist 💃

Do a Samhain-themed tarot reading 🃏

Celebrate departed loved ones, friends and family during Allhallowtide (Halloween, All Saints' Day, and the Day of the Dead or All Souls' Day)⚱️

November

Donate to a local food bank 🥫

Visit a university campus and take photos at the height of the leaves changing 📸

Spend a rainy day inside reading a book 📕

Cook homemade soup 🥣

Visit an art museum (Chagall, Paris exhibit at the Hall des Lumieres) 🖼️

Shop for Christmas gifts 🛍️

Put on my most comfy pajamas and spend the evening watching retro/classic/scary films 🎥

Cook a hearty stew and experiment with the ingredients 🍲

Bake bread 🍞

Take a long scenic drive in the countryside on a crisp, sunny day 🚙

Put on some music and paint what I hear and feel 🎨

Make s’mores 😋

Go see a play 🎭

Visit a coffee shop and hang out there while reading or writing 🥐

Volunteer for a cause or community event ⛑️

Bake an apple-themed dessert (e.g., apple crisp, apple pie, apple brown betty) 🍏

Go on a group hike 🥾

Celebrate Thanksgiving with my family 🦃

Eat popcorn while enjoying a movie (at home or at the cinema) 🍿

December

Treat myself to some new thick wool socks 🧦

Cook a pot of chili 🌶️

Bake bread 🍞

If I feel sick or under the weather, enjoy a hot toddy 🥃

Spend a rainy day inside reading a book 📕

Make Rice Krispie treats 🤤

Put on some music and paint what I hear and feel 🎨

Eat popcorn while enjoying a movie (at home or at the cinema) 🍿

[getsoftly]

Happy Howlidays - Sustainable Gifts for the Pets in your Life

Should you give your pet a gift this holiday season?

Does your dog even know it’s a special time of year? They probably do, but not for the reason you think.

Pets pick up on our emotions; they know when we’re happy, sad and yes, stressed. The holidays are a busy time of year and when we’re rushing around doing more tasks than we have hours, our pets notice. This season do something special for your furry friends so they can enjoy the holiday with you.

The gift of time

Spend time with your pet and you will both benefit. Oxytocin, also known as the cuddle hormone, promotes feelings of intimacy and trust. It has been found to be released with eye contact not only between mothers and babies, but also between dogs and their owners. So spend some time looking deeply into your dog’s eyes.

Take your dog for an extra walk and you can log in the steps as well. To get you both in the mood you can buy her a new leash. Teach your dog a new trick or take him to a training class to reinforce the bond you have. If you want your cat to sit with you, pull out some important work and it’s almost guaranteed that she’ll sit in your lap (or on your work). Spend some time playing with your pet.

Playtime

If you’re going to give your pet a toy, consider repurposing materials you have around the house. You can give your dog an old children’s toy like a stuffed animal, a squeaky toy or wooden blocks. You can make chew toys out of old t-shirts. A piece of yarn may be all you need for your cat. For more DIY pet toys check out these ideas from Puppyleaks.

Treat your pet

Treats are a great motivator for dogs. In the training world a treat your dog really loves is considered a high value treat. They’re the treats they give your dog after she’s mastered that awesome new trick you taught her. Cats like treats too, and may give you some extra love if you give them something special. When you’re buying treats for your dog, look for high quality ingredients and free of additives. Softly - Your Personal Sustainable Shopping Assistant can help you find treats that are certified to be free of certain ingredients.

Spread the love

If your pet already has everything she needs, consider donating to a charity that benefits animals. Start with your local animal shelter or rescue organization. They will often take donations in the form of both supplies and money. Other top animal charities according to Spruce Pets include The Humane Society, Friends of Animals, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Pets are an important part of our lives. They give us love on even our worst days. It’s important to remember them during the holidays and not pass our stress onto them. So be generous with your pet this season and give them something old, something new or just a scratch behind the ear.

How do you include your pets in your holiday celebrations?

If you need more ideas, check out our extended list of Pet SWAPS! that are certified to be:

- Environmentally Friendly

- Cruelty Free

- Free of Harmful Ingredients

- Free of Allergens, or

- Socially Just

Don't forget - using Softly will help YOU shop more carefully this holiday season!

Maggie's Macaroons Dog Treats

$$ ($25 to $50)

by Coco Therapy

These hypoallergenic dog treats are RAW, vegan, grain and gluten free, dairy free, egg free, and made with no preservatives, colors, or artificial flavors.

Organic Catnip for Cats and Kittens

$ (<$25)

by SmartyKat

SmartyKat catnip is all-natural and made with no fillers; it's pure, potent, and meets your cat's essential needs for stimulation

Check out our full list of Sustainable Gift Ideas for Pets!

Homemade for Hamsters

$ (< $25)

by Carin Oliver

20 easy projects for creating toys and exercise equipment for a hamster (and guinea pigs, small rabbits, gerbils, and pet rats and mice, too). The projects use materials and tools commonly found around the home. Treats may also be used and the book includes a list of those that are safe and not safe for a hamster.

Pets and Animals Charity Lists

ADOPT A SHELTER

FEATURED SHELTERS

Send items to the charity of your choice!

SHOP CHARITY LISTS

Donate through AmazonSmile

LEARN MORE

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This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you. Your support will help drive improvements in Softly!

[christmasassistancehelp]

christmas adopt a family application

Christmas is a time for giving, and it’s especially important to do so in a way that benefits others. That’s why we recommend adopting a family for Christmas. Not only will you be helping someone in need, but you can also give your loved ones the joy of Christmas without spending any money. Here are some tips on how to adopt a family for Christmas—and what to include as part of your gift.

How to Adopt a Family for Christmas.

When you adopt a baby, it can feel like a daunting task. But with the right preparations, it’s easy to make adoption an easy and fulfilling experience. First, research which type of family you’d be best suited for. If you want a traditional family or if you just want someone to share your Christmas present with, this is the perfect option.

Next, find a family who is interested in adopting a child. Many families are willing to take on an adoptable child without any prior negotiations. However, if you have questions about their intentions or about the process of adoption, be sure to ask them beforehand.

Finally, be sure to visit your local adoption center and meet the parents of the baby you’re adopting. They will be more than happy to give away their child for free!

How to Give Away Freebies for Christmas.

One of the easiest ways to give away freebies for Christmas is by giving a gift. Consider sending a basket filled with fun and unexpected items like clothes, toys, or books. You can also give money gifts in the form of credits or vouchers that can be used at participating stores or online.

Give a Money Gift

Another great way to give away freebies for Christmas is by giving a money gift. This option can be especially useful if you have some extra money saved up and want to spend it on something special for your loved ones this winter.head to an online retailer or store near you and buy a gift certificate that can be used at any time during the year!

Give a Toy

If you’re looking for something even more fun and festive, consider giving someone a toy instead of a gift. Toys make great holiday gifts, and they can also be fun to play with while you wait for your loved ones to arrive home fromChristmas Eve festivities or over New Year’s weekend. head to your favorite toy store and purchase one of those little stand-alone balls that kids love so much (or go ahead and get one for yourself – your family will love it!).4. Give a Place to Stay.

Last but not least, how about giving someone a place to stay? This could simply be an extra bedroom, living room, or kitchenette – anything that will help them relax after long days spent shopping or exploring downtown Chicago or other touristy areas!

How to Give Away Free Stuff for Christmas.

There are many ways to give away free gifts for Christmas. You can give them at home, at work, or in the mall. If you’re giving a gift to someone else, be sure to include a note that says “for Christmas” and how you plan on using the gift. You can also consider giving a gift that is easy to use or enjoy. For example, if you’re giving a book as a gift, make sure to include a bookmark so the person can start reading right away!

Give a Gift at Work

If you want to give away something more permanent, consider setting up an online registry with your favorite online store or organization. This way, people who have donated items to your registry will know that they have received a free item!

Give a Gift at the Mall

Another great way to give away free things is by going out and buying someone their own personalized Christmas present! This could be anything from flowers or chocolates to electronics or clothes. Just make sure not to overspend and leave too much money out of reach for those who might need it most!

Give a Gift at a Party

Finally, if you want something special but don’t want it delivered directly to the recipient’s house (or office!), consider hosting an event where people can take home freebies! This could be an outdoor picnic or cookout, or even just some drinks and snacks in exchange for making some friends!

Conclusion

If you're looking to give away freebies for Christmas, there are many different ways to do it. You can give a gift, give away a place to stay, or give away a toy. It's important to choose the right giveaway for your audience and target specific holiday markets. By following these simple steps, you'll be able to create an exciting and memorable Christmas experience for everyone involved.

[tsugua-rebmetpes]

101 Cute dates & bucket list

Little fire pit on the beach (middle of the night, private)

Toasting marshmallows & making cute smores

Observing the night sky through a telescope together / watch the stars on a clear sky in the middle of no where

A midnight dip in water (lake, ocean, etc. As long as it's safe)

Skinny dip under a full moon & to kiss passionately on a platform on the lake

To go on a small camping trip just the two of us

To visit the candy shop and pick each other's candy bags for only us to share them between us anyway

Getting crepes with you and eating them side by side

Taking you lingerie shopping so you can see the outfit as I buy it and the level of excite I know you have knowing you'll get to tear it off later

Sharing a bath with you (where we both fit comfortably or just tucked in a little where we can laugh about it)

Baking cookies so we can have them with our coffee in the morning

Taking you to a coffee roaster hut so you can experience amazing coffee

Going to a little tea house & plantation so we can support local business and enjoy the joys of freshly brewed tea

Picking what the other person must eat off the menu at a new venue / a place we've never been to before

Throwing a dart on a map and going to where ever it lands for a small holiday / trip (could be a city map, regional, state, national or global)

Decorating and making a floating lantern to release into the night sky (a la tangle)

Icing biscuits to look like things we like (e.g. ourselves, frogs or whatever your heart desires)

Smooshing whipped cream onto your nose and kissing/licking it off ♡

Making something together in a pottery class for ourselves n one another

Volunteering at a farm to help around (muster, harvest, etc.)

Go fruit picking together recreationally

Go to as many different distilleries and breweries as we can

Try to make bread together

Have our own Minecraft world together

Complete stardew valley & cattails ♡

Take a cooking/pastry lesson

Take Polaroid photos of our time together (on a trip or small adventure)

Go for a little hike together

Go swim in a little unknown ish water hole and push boundaries of comfort

Go to a cinema late at night (last screening of the evening, maybe wear matching pajamas) and buy popcorn / sneak snacks in. Cuddle in the cinema and watch a cute film together (be one of the only people in the cinema)

Have s/o read my favourite book to me aloud before bed time

Make jam & preserve food items & dry ingredients to make tea, etc.

Make chocolates for you (home made)

Grow my own flowers for us to admire

Start a small veggie patch & harvest our own produce to have a "self sufficient" dinner night

Volunteer at an animal shelter

Go to a farmer's market together / local fruit market and buy ingredients we will make into a meal together that evening

Become animal foster parents & successfully get our lil foster a fur-ever home

Do a hot food challenge or some sort of food challenge together

Go to a day spa for a "couple's retreat"

Make your favourite food (lasagne) on your birthday 🥰 / a random day

Steal a shopping trolly and race around an abandon area of the car park thinking we are in go karts & take photos

Dress up as the cool ghosts in the "blanket ghost" trend and take cute photos in odd locations

Explore an abandoned building together and theorize about the past / research about it

Have a little picnic in a field / park

Take a dance lesson together (ballroom) and be clumsily cute on trying something "new"

Sleep next to you & wake up beside you 🥺

Make your lunch for work & wake up early to make an awesome meal!

Make a random meal really late in the evening spontaneously to satisfy a craving

Have a new years kiss

Look at Christmas lights on houses together

Watch all the Harry Potter movies one after another together

Finish a series that either person is interested more initially in but both like towards the end

Do a cute skincare date! (Face masks)

Go to a food festival and try as much food as we can, get creative - pick the other's meals out to switch it up a little

Go paint balling together and try it out (even if I may not be as good as you. :< I'll try!!)

Try laser tag if paint ball doesn't go so well, feel free to invite friends to both events for more fun :) or go karting (something I've never done before)

Go horse riding together sometime

Cook with a campfire / burring our food in the ground for it to cook (Like damper)

Volunteer to plant trees

Become regulars at a small bar

Play pool/billards together

Check out a timezone arcade and play as much as we can :3 see how many prizes we can win and be merry

Have a board game night (catan, uno, monopoly, dnd etc.) Together with friends or strangers

Visit movie world (theme park) and dress up a little! / usj / Disneyland

Play pinball and we swap between balls to see how far we can go together!!!

Have a little date with the power off (candles, moon lit dinner, board games and no electronics! Be cute and creative)

Donate blood, with moral support or together :3

Go foraging for edible fruits, vegetables, etc. And make a meal out of it :3 research and have fun

Make a little stone tower together and take a photo of the creation (balancing stones)

Plant sunflowers and look after them for a whole season ♡ alternatively pick said flowers when ripe and give them as a gift to love ones

Do a Lego / puzzle set together ♡♡

Capture a little froggy and set him free (clean him up and take him to somewhere safe)

Watch horror films or movies we haven't seen before even if it's silly (.e.g the room )

Visit an aquarium and stare at the little jellies in the jelly room

Go to see a musical, play or ballet together 🥰

Dress up and go on a spontaneous date around town, over dressed for the occasion but having fun

Sunset and nibbles planned date 🥺

Go on a theme crawl, e.g. coffee, tea, wine, pub, cocktail, ramen, etc.

rent bikes to travel around on whilst doing a theme crawl

Dinner theatre or dinner murder mystery event together! Something a little less tame and wacky but still just as fun (something I've never done before)

escape room (challenge ourselves to do it within the time set!)

Ice skate together, trip & fall and catch one another on the ice being cute (maybe rent the kiddy pusher to help you out and be dorks)

Mosh and go to A small band performing concert together / go to A concert for an artist one or both like

Hot air balloon ride ^-^ (waking up early and having our own "Up" moment)

Ride in a helicopter one day to see the world like the birds that fly in the sky

Buy a plant or two at a nursery and take them home to look after

Go roller skating, reliving our teenage years with a limited budget, eat old skool candy and slushies.

Surprise birthday party

Outdoor cinema, watch a film on a projector and have fun on some outdoor cushions

Have a little boho tent and lunch date set up as a surprise

Dance under the moonlight and shining stars together just swaying and holding one another

Overnight at a bed & breakfast together, sleep in and enjoy breakfast in bed whilst away from phones

Have a little bonfire moment at home, write down your deepest desire, secrets, fears and burn them

Take a personality test together just to see the results

Read books in a little book cafe & drink our favourite drinks whilst snuggled up in a book nook

Do a little tarot reading & see a psychic or medium

Raise a pet together

Buy some helium balloons & change our voices whilst doing something (e.g. a speak type board game)

Wake up with you kissing me / wake you up with kisses

Plan a vacation together

[coloring-for-a-marvelous-cause]

C4AMC 2022 Info & Links

Desktop Users

Schedule - Content Guidelines - Organizations - FAQ - Badges

Mobile Users ⬇️

Schedule

EVENT SCHEDULE

Sign Ups: May 1st - June 1st

Check In: July 1st

Submisisons Due: August 1st

Sales: begin August 15th - November 15th (sales will still be open but we will stop promoting at this date)

RedBubble Store Opens: September 1st

CREATOR special dates

Starting May 1st -  You may post a snippet of your story or a small crop of your content to WITH A LINK to the event info page.

August 1st - November 15th - You may share a snippet of your story or a small crop of your content WITH A LINK to the donation page information page.

November 15th You may post your whole work on social media as line art or a fully colored version, you may sell your art or cross post it with bingos or other events after this date. 

Content Submissions

All Content

All characters and ships allowed.

Gen - Mature rating allowed.

No explicit sexual content, graphic violence, or dark themes.

Content should be upbeat or have a happy ending.

Ficlets

Up to 3 pages (1800 words-ish)

No minimums

Coloring/Activity page

Must be 8.5 x 11 inches / 22 x 28 centimeters, landscape or portrait orientation, or 8.5 x 8.5 inches / 22 x 22 centimeters square.  

Must be 300 PPI quality.

Black, shades of grey, and white only.

Submissions

A Google Drive link and submission form will be sent out to participants.

Badges

There are 6 badges you can earn:

“Participant” badge: You submitted content for this book.

“Multi” badge: You created 2 or more separate projects for this event.

“Better Together” badge: Your content depicts and celebrates characters of color.

“Pride” badge: Your content depicts and celebrates the LGBT+ community.

“HER-o” badge: Your content depicts and celebrates a strong female character.

“Disability Celebration” badge: Your content depicts and celebrates a character with a disability.

Donations

Round 2 of C4AMC will be supporting these Organizations:

The Bail Project World Central Kitchen ProPublica  International Rescue Committee Planned Parenthood Native American Rights Fund Assistance Dogs International OutRight Action International Give Directly Room To Read

FAQ

Who is organizing Coloring for a MARVELous Cause? Coloring for a MARVELous Cause is organized by Call_Me_Kayyyyy.

What is the activity book? Coloring for a MARVELous Cause creates coloring/activity books available for digital download. The book includes coloring pages, activity pages, and short stories. There will be 2 books included with purchase. 1) With content rated G-M that is only for adults and 2) With content rated G that is safe for kids. 

Why aren’t you selling physical copied of the book this year? We learned a lot from last year’s event. Due to lost shipments and production costs, we feel confident that the buyer and the charities will be better served by a digital book.

How much will the book cost? The book costs a donation of $12(USD) or more to any of our charities. A donation of $17(USD) or more and we will throw in last year's book as well!

Can I print the coloring book for myself? Yes! We highly encourage you to print the book yourself. A permission to print statement will be included with each purchase so that you can take it to a local print shop.

Which charities are being supported?

The Bail Project

World Central Kitchen

ProPublica 

International Rescue Committee

Planned Parenthood

Native American Rights Fund

Assistance Dogs International

OutRight Action International

What counts as an “activity”? Activities can include the following and more:

Connect the dots

Spot the difference

“Where’s Waldo”-style drawing

Crossword

Word search 

Line scramble 

Quiz 

MadLib

Maze

Trivia

Other

If I donate art, fic, or an activity, do I get a free book or a discount? Any discounts or free books would subtract from the amount we can donate to each charity. That being said, if you donate fic, art, or an activity and are not able to afford a book, please reach out to a mod. We want to make sure all creators get a copy ❤️

Can I sell my content once the event is over? Yes. After November 15th creators may use their content how ever they please, but C4AMC will continue distribution of the coloring book for charity. 

Can I cross post my content with bingos and other events ? Yes. After November 15th creators may use their content how ever they please, but C4AMC will continue distribution of the coloring book for charity. 

[flufflepuffle296]

“Chloe xxx”

I really want Chloé to get another redemption arc, but not because she wants to be Queen Bee again or prove herself to anyone-but because she wants to prove to herself that she can be as awesome as she wants. Also sorry but I rambled here.

I don’t even want it to start because of something big like being rejected or glares from classmates, it could just be she’s chilling in her room and she notices her butler flinching when she calls his name, or she’s watching a show and she wants to be just as cool as the main character, or even just looking around the class and just thinking “why not?”

She then starts calling her butler’s name a little sweeter, takes Sabrina out for coffee at her favourite café this time, pushes Alya’s bag towards her when it falls off the bench. She anonymously donates money to varying charities and doesn’t tell anyone about it. She feels warm when she does it-she doesn’t know why but it almost feels kind of nice. She begins working a shift or two here and there at the hotel. She smiles at Mylene when she walks in (even if she considers that outfit a crime against fashion), and returns pens when she borrows them. Nino loses a USB and Chloé helps in the search party for it (though does it secretly at break and lunch).

Becoming nice to Marinette is harder though. She decides however, that if she wants to be an ok person, she has to give everyone a chance, so buys a yard or two of a nice fabric the girl’s been eyeing for weeks, and posts it with a note signed “-C xxx”. It kind of feels a little nice when Marinette walks in in a pale pink beaded dress that isn’t totally horrible Chloé supposes.

She later realises that saying sorry is another thing she can do to become a better person, and she always kind of wanted to but was too prideful to do so-but no more! She apologises to butler Jean, saying that she’s sorry for screaming at him, firing him, everything.

She then apologises to Sabrina, for treating her as a slave and asking if she wanted to go to that film she’s been rambling about, since they always go for her choice. She also takes all of her homework back that Sabrina was doing for her, and starts working really hard on it.

She goes to the bakery later that week, and orders a large slice of cake, reasoning that she can’t be nice to others if she’s not being nice to herself, therefore she needs this chocolate cake. She then asks Sabine if she can go up to talk to Marinette, who is rather skeptical of her and only allows her in the dining room. She apologises for bullying her all those years, and hands her an envelope signed “-C xxx”. Marinette opens it, to find it full of cash that’s tied in small bundles with labels on.

“Homework soaked-age 7” €3

“Sketchbook ruined-age 10”. €18

“Teacher’s present destroyed-age 14”. €16

Everything she’s physically destroyed or ruined is accounted for and compensated. She then apologises for all the verbal abuse and mean comments, before asking for a truce. Marinette accepts, and points out that since they have a truce, she is obliged to inform Chloé that she has buttercream on her face.

A week later she gets all her homework back: B+, B, A-, B-, A+.

Not her usual report of full marks, but she’ll take it.

She starts working every night at the hotel, from 6pm till 10pm. She refuses to look it though-she is Chloé Bourgeois after all. Her uniform is spotless, her makeup is now impeccable (blue eyeshadow with pale lips? What was she thinking?), and she never has a hair out of place. She begins living on coffee-these grades aren’t going to raise themselves after all -and constantly has an energy drink in her bottle (not that the class is allowed to know that).

Grades: B+, A-, A, B, A+

Getting better...

Once in class, Rose slammed her head on the table (delicately? She somehow slammed her head DELICATELY?), and weeped that she didn’t understand the material. Chloé scribbled an explanation on a sheet of paper, and after class slipped it in Rose’s bag.

The next day, an akuma strikes near the school. They can’t leave because some kids live far away, and Bustier isn’t taking initiative and the class rep is no where to be found. Chloé bites her lip, before standing on the desk and clapping her hands. Once she has the class’ attention, she gives out instructions.

“KIM, IVAN! Grab heavy objects and block the doors. JULEKA, NINO, NATHANAEL! You can lock the windows since you’re the tallest. EVERYONE ELSE! Clear books away and any other things that could cause bruising if knocked over, put bags away, and hide under the desks and benches!”

Everyone stares at her.

“NOW!”

Everyone scrambled to their duties, before hiding under the desks, holding their heads like Chloé instructed.

Grades: A, A-, A+, B+, A+

Nearly there...

She informs her father that she’ll be leaving for a week next month, and tells Bustier and Damocles. She books a plane ticket to New York with her money from working, as well as a hotel room. She packs her bags and leaves, giving her dad a kiss and a hug beforehand and promising that she’ll be safe. She boards her plane and then hauls her bags up to her room, before making a call.

“Who is this?”

“Your daughter, Chloé.”

“I DON’T-oh you. Why have you called me I’m in the middle of working-shouldn’t you be at pre-K?”

“I’m 15 and French ma-but anyway, is it possible if you could promote Marinette’s website-MDC-in return I’ll work for you for free.”

“Oh yes Marinette-the exceptional one. How long will you work?”

“I’m only here a week-I’ll become your assistant even! I know you hate Stephanie.”

“...Fine. I’ll drop her into conversation at an interview if you’re only here a week. Now do not call me unless it’s an emergency. You start tomorrow-8am, sharp, in a fashionable outfit-or you’re fired.”

Chloé smiles as the line goes dead. Her mother may be a dragon, but Chloé can respect that she helps those she cares about.

Even if it isn’t her...

The next day she arrives at the office at 7:45, in a white suit with gold jewellery. Audrey nods, before sending her out with rapid instructions for coffee. Chloé takes her order to the café she requested, and starts reading it out to the barister, only for him to pale and interrupt her halfway through.

“Oh God-you’re ordering for Audrey aren’t you? Oh Lord-HEY AARON! STYLE QUEEN ORDER NO. 37! QUICK!”

The other worker, Aaron, goes white, before flipping every machine on and opening every can he can find in preparation.

“You must be her new assistant-good luck with her, the last one would come in to order her coffee and then sit in the corner and cry so much we set up her own space-look!” The first one says, pointing out to a comfy area of bean bags and pillows.

Chloé cringed. “Nah, worse. I’m her daughter, if you can even call me that, that’s interning for her in exchange for a favour.”

The barister pitied her. “Yikes.”

Chloé takes the coffee being thrusted at her and nods at the two, before sprinting back to the office.

After that week of hell, she still refuses to wear anything other than heels and designer clothes, and her hotel room is immaculate. She packs the night before, and sets off back to Paris in the morning.

MDC takes off after the Style Queen reccommended it briefly in an interview, and Chloé starts helping Marinette manage and organise commission dates and social media, eventually becoming her PR person/caffeination.

She starts working not only her 6pm-10pm shifts, but also a few shifts from 4am-7am a few times a week. She does her homework at lunch and as soon as she gets back from school, even doing it during akuma attacks. She gets through a concealer a week for her bags, and sleeps all weekend.

Grades: A+, A+, A+, A+, A+.

Perfect.

...Or not...

She realises that she can’t maintain this. She can’t survive on 3 hours sleep and an unholy amount of caffeine. She cuts back on her shifts, doing 4 a week at most, and only does homework for a maximum of 2 hours a day. She starts, meditation and yoga, trying to keep her mind peaceful. She still donates to charities, and goes out with Sabrina and shops.

Grades: A, A, A, A, A.

Still pretty good, and she’s happy this time!

She begins doing things more for herself. She’s always wanted to learn Spanish after all. She hires a tutor, and starts working extremely hard to become as fluent as possible by the end of her education.

She learns conversational Spanish in about 6 months of semi-intensive learning, and decides to do something else as well. She starts learning Mandarin with Marinette, and struggles slightly more than she did with Spanish, but she’s still progressing.

She realises that she has a knack for learning languages, and picks more up more easily after she starts learning Spanish, Mandarin and later Portuguese.

One day when she’s out she comes across a homeless man, and offers him some money and brings him a hot meal. She sees others around him in the same situation, and does the same for them.

She then volunteers at the local soup kitchen, feeding hundreds of people on weekends and washing up afterwards. She connects with the homeless and a few refugees, and starts learning Arabic from one of the regulars, in return slipping her a few Euros (basically she gives her €250 every week).

She takes a shift at the bakery, manning the counter and becoming fast friends with Marinette as they practise their Mandarin on one another.

Grades: A+, A+, A+, A+, A+

AND SHE’S HAPPY!!!

She eventually starts applying for universities, listing her abilities and experiences.

• A+ Student

• Volunteer

• Interned for Audrey Bourgeois

• Works at Boulangerie Patisserie

• Works at Le Grand Paris

• Fluent in Spanish, English and Mandarin, knows conversational Arabic and Portuguese, learning Polish.

The more she writes and thinks about the past 4 years, the more she comes to the realisation of

“Holy shit, I’m awesome. I’m an ok person. I’m a good person in fact. I’ve done good things. I’ve made a good impact on society. I did it. I DID IT!!! And I’m going to keep doing it-after all, I’m awesome and people rely on me, plus it makes me feel good. I’m no longer a spoilt 14 year old. I can be good. I am good. I am a good person.”

[tohellandbackanthology]

Restating our commitment to transparency and accountability

Hello everyone! Given our recent update about us opening up a pop-up shop to make available more copies of our anthology, we just wanted to elaborate a little re: why we’re doing this and how we intend to remain transparent and accountable during this process, as well as how this affects the timeline for those of you who ordered a book back in May during our Indiegogo fundraiser.

We know that those of you who supported our initial fundraiser may be a little confused, given that we still haven’t shipped those books out. We totally understand this sentiment and it is something we discussed heavily before coming to this decision. To better clarify why we’re taking the steps that we are, here are three reasons why we felt this pop-up shop was needed:

* To give us a better cushion. When we first obtained a quote for the cost of printing our anthology, it was almost a year ago right before we opened up our fundraiser in March 2020 to begin funding our project. Quotes expire, and over our lengthy struggle with Indiegogo to obtain the money that we had raised, our quote did indeed do just that. Given that this is a new year, we anticipate that our updated quote will be a little higher, making the cost of our project more expensive, and we want to be sure that all those extras we promised back in May are still applicable. 

* To help us achieve our hardcover goal. We talked a lot about hardcovers over the course of our project, as we knew that if we sold enough books, we would be able to upgrade everybody’s paperback copy of the anthology to a hardcover for free. Last we spoke about this, we indicated that we were close to our hardcover stretch goal, but just a tad bit short in all likelihood. If our pop-up does well, we feel that it is feasible to afford hardcovers for all. If we still fall short, there are still benefits! As we promised earlier, leftover money will first and foremost be used to make everybody’s books more beautiful, not to mention possibly allowing us to do things like including extra bonus merch for everybody for free. Any money remaining after that will be donated to a local charity, Wish Vancouver, to help vulnerable women in our community.

* To help our fandom heal. We won’t lie. We were adamant about our fundraiser on Indiegogo being a one-time deal, and though we received numerous requests about opening up shop again, we declined every time citing our commitment to transparency and accountability. While our values have not changed, our negative experience with Indiegogo and our heartbreak after Supernatural’s series finale had us reconsider our earlier stance. Dean, Cas, Sam and all their loved ones deserved a better ending than they got, and knowing that fans always do it better, we felt the best way we could help our corner of fandom heal was to share further the many beautiful works of happiness and good endings that are enclosed within our anthology. For that reason, we felt a limited two-week long pop-up shop was the best way to do this: it gives new and old fans one last chance to get a copy! 

Please read under the cut for more information about our project timeline and how we will ensure accountability and transparency over the course of our project:

So why are we using a pop-up shop and how does this affect our transparency and accountability? As you know, despite ending our fundraiser in May 2020, Indiegogo did not disburse our funds until recently, just shortly before Christmas. We cannot emphasize what a difficult and frustrating experience we had with their customer service; by the end of November, all of us were having earnest conversations about whether we ought to refund everybody’s money. However, your support was overwhelming and we kept pushing on, and then, lo and behold, our money at last came in! We took a big sigh of relief that we could at last get on with our project, and after taking a short and much needed holiday break after our six-month long ordeal, we pulled up our sleeves and got to work once again, holding a team meeting on Dec. 28, 2020 to discuss our next steps.

At that meeting, all of us discussed the pain that we felt after the show’s finale, and the hurt it caused not only to our fandom, but Supernatural’s queer community especially. At the same time, we noted how many more requests we were getting for the anthology again, as it seemed many more people wanted our book, especially after watching Supernatural’s final episode. It became clear to us that our anthology could be a small way for us to help our community heal. We agreed to reconvene on Jan. 17, 2021 to discuss further after we conducted more research about the idea. 

Ultimately, we concluded that opening a pop-up shop would not harm us and our backers because:

* Opening up a pop-up shop will not delay our timeline. For those of you who ordered books back in May during the initial fundraiser, you can be sure that this pop-up shop will not cause your books to arrive at a later date. As we mentioned in an earlier update, we now anticipate that everybody’s books will ship in April 2021. Even if we had not done a pop-up shop, these books would still have shipped out in April regardless. The extra books sold in our pop-up shop will be printed at the same time as the books sold last May on Indiegogo, ensuring that everybody gets their books together.

* Opening up a pop-up shop will only benefit everyone who has purchased a book already; as we mentioned before, these extra books will not only provide us with an extra cushion for our finances, it will also possibly help us upgrade everybody’s copies to hardcovers for free, something we know everyone has been eager about, including us! 

As always, transparency and accountability were at the forefront of our minds during this meeting. We could not use Indiegogo as a platform again, so ultimately concluded that as long as we provided evidence of our pop-up shop’s transactions, we could still undertake our new goal in an honest way. For that reason, we will be making a detailed report of how many copies we sell and how much money we earn through this shop, and to ensure the integrity of our project, we will disable all options to purchase the anthology immediately after the two-week pop-up shop period has closed. We will never again make our anthology available for purchase after Feb. 14, 2021. We are a registered incorporated non-profit society in British Columbia, and as part of the requirements of being a part of this society, it is strictly forbidden that any member of our team make any profit from money we acquire. Furthermore, a financial statement will be released by us at the end of each month beginning in February, detailing all our expenditures.  

At this present time, we are holding another meeting on Jan. 25, 2021 to further discuss our pop-up shop and our overall project. Please keep tuned as you can now expect to hear from us more often with more details and updates about our progress and the upcoming shop!

Thank you very much for your support in this endeavour. We cannot express enough how excited we are about these books, as we know that they will be in all our hands soon! We know the journey getting here hasn’t been easy, and we are eternally grateful for your continued trust and patience and encouragement. As always, should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our team is committed to transparency and accountability at every step, and we are more than happy to share any information that will answer any thoughts that you may have about our project.

Sincerely and with much love,

your TH+B mods 

[four-loose-screws]

FE8 Novelization Translation - Chapter 15, Section 2

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations

If you are interested in donating to support my work, please check out my Ko-fi here. Thank you!

———————————

I call this a “section” because it is not a separate part of the chapter in the book, but divided from the rest of the chapter by a scene break.

———————————

Chapter 15 - The Day the Empire Fell (con’t) The unthinkable happened in Port Taizel.

Myrrh disappeared.

Their difficult journey to the capital had Ephraim's head full, so much so that he even forgot to keep an eye on her. When he thought about it after the fact, she looked like she had been trying to tell him something multiple times, but he didn’t listen. There was too much on his mind, and though he didn’t mean to, he ended up putting off whatever she needed from him. 

What could she have been trying to say? For what reason would she leave without saying anything? Could she have run out of patience with him and left when he didn’t listen to her…?

‘No, Myrrh isn’t like that.’ Ephraim reassured himself, but his worrying only continued to worsen. He felt sorry for being so indifferent to what she wanted to say, but no matter how much he regretted what he had done, it was too late. With things as they were now, he had to search for her.

With eyewitness testimony from one of the locals that said they'd seen Myrrh wandering east, Ephraim’s army headed east. The person said that she'd been seen walking alone, so it seemed she had not been captured by bad people again, but left of her own free will. However, though they were gaining more information, they still didn’t know anything about the reason why she left.

Along the way, every time they passed through a town or village, they explained to the locals what Myrrh looked like, and gathered eyewitness accounts. 

She had originally run off on her own, but at some point, seemed to have joined up with another person. 

“A girl with indigo hair? Yeah, she was with Lady Selena.”

“...Selena, you said?” Ephraim’s face became pale. Did this mean that Myrrh had been taken by an imperial general? What could an imperial general want with her?

“Yeah, you know her, right? She’s called General Selena, the Fluorspar, and is a beautiful, strong, and charming woman. Though I wonder why such a beautiful person would become a general. I think it’s a waste…” Said a villager they passed by on the street, becoming completely distracted from Ephraim’s original question.

“Why was Lady Selena in this village?”

“She was shopping. A gemstone being sold here caught her eye, and she left the capital just to buy it.”

“A gemstone?”

“I don’t know what it’s called, but it sure was pretty. It was too expensive to sell right away, but word of it got to the capital, I suppose. Lady Selena is a soldier, but she’s still a woman. She likes gemstones, so she came here to buy it.”

The villager said with a laugh, but Ephraim couldn’t imagine that this was the sort of time for a soldier to leave the capital for personal reasons like a shopping trip. This stone could not be any ordinary gemstone.

“So then what did General Selena and the girl do…?”

“Hm, this happened right after Lady Selena bought the gemstone. The indigo haired girl came up to Lady Selena and started talking to her about something. She’s not from this village. In fact, I’ve never seen her around here before at all. I don’t know what they were talking about, but they had really serious looks on their faces. In the end, Lady Selena took the girl with her and left the village. I don’t know anything about what they did after that.”

Based on this story, Ephraim was able to piece together a conclusion.

The “gemstone” was likely the dragonstone that Myrrh was searching for. It was a precious gem to those of the dragon tribe, but Myrrh’s was stolen on her journey, and she’d lost all knowledge of its whereabouts. A merchant, not knowing just how valuable dragonstones are, sold it as a gemstone.

Meanwhile, General Selena had been called back immediately from Bethroen to the capital. 

That was probably because she’d received the information that the dragonstone was being sold as a gemstone. The Sacred Stones, the Dark Stone, and now a dragonstone… the emperor seemed to be drawn to stones with great power hidden within them.

When they had arrived at Port Taizel, Myrrh had likely already sensed that her dragonstone was nearby. She'd tried to tell Ephraim that, but he didn’t listen to her, so she had no other option than to go out alone. That led her to this village, where she met Selena just after Selena obtained the dragonstone, and decided to talk to her...

The details were all consistent with each other. The problem was why Selena had taken Myrrh with her… and where they were now.

He explained the situation to Duessel, who crossed his arms and started to think.

“I can’t imagine that she would harm a civilian. Her demeanor and way of speaking are rough, but she has a kind heart. She probably wouldn’t do anything violent.”

“Then why would she take Myrrh with her? She doesn’t intend to hand Myrrh over to the emperor, does she? If anything happened to her, I....” Ephraim couldn’t calm down, and paced around as he shouted. This was all happening all because he hadn’t listened to her… That regret was still torturing him. “We may have to fight General Selena. General Duessel, it may be difficult for you to do that. Please stand down this time. You do not have to participate in the battle.”

“What are you saying? I have dedicated myself to your service. Whoever your enemies may be, I will fight them. Even if my opponent is Selena, I will not hesitate.” His tone was firm. He was probably thinking that if he hesitated, then it would dull Ephraim's will to fight as well… so he wanted to go out of his way to make his thoughts clear.

Ephraim was thankful for his teacher's thoughtfulness.

The next day, Ephraim’s army finally found Myrrh. Or rather, she came back on her own.

She appeared from within a forest that followed along the main road. When Ephraim saw her, he rushed over to her, and she looked up at him with large tears in her eyes.

“Ephraim…”

“Myrrh! You’re alright!”

“I’m sorry, Ephraim! All I ever do is cause trouble for you… I didn’t want to make you hate me again… but I still left anyway…”

“What are you talking about? You could never make me hate you or anything of the sort. I’m the one who was in the wrong. I’m sorry for not paying attention to you.”

However, they had no time for a joyous reunion. 

A flustered soldier ran up to him to report, “Lord Ephraim! The Grado Army is coming this way! Their commanding officer is an imperial general, Selena the Fluorspar!”

“Let’s go! All units, get into battle positions!”

Ephraim tried to grab his weapon, but Myrrh grabbed his clothes tightly and pleaded, “Please wait, Ephraim! Whatever it takes, don’t fight her! She’s not a bad person!”

“Who? You mean General Selena?”

“Yes. She helped me run away. And told me to return to you…”

“But she took you away. Even if you say now that she told you to run away…”

“You’re wrong! She listened to what I had to say. She loves the emperor… and is suffering greatly. Please don’t fight her! Please…” Myrrh was always so quiet that this was the first time she’d ever shown any emotion like this. 

Ephraim was taken aback by it, but he nodded. “I understand. I’ll do everything I can to try and persuade her.”

“Thank you, Ephraim…”

From what Duessel and Myrrh had said, General Selena didn’t seem to be a bad person. There was a very good chance that they could talk things through.

Ephraim was optimistic, but the expression on Duessel’s face was grim. 

When he asked why, Duessel said with a pained look on his face, “Selena has a very pure and genuine personality. Her loyalty to His Majesty is steadfast. No matter how unreasonable the order, if it is what he wishes, she would happily dirty her own hands… That’s just the kind of person she is. I don’t believe that she will lend an ear to your plea.”

“Even if you did your very best to persuade her?”

“I am a traitor. She is the person who first declared that I should be executed. She is probably still suspicious of me.”

“So that means…”

“Yes. It is unlikely that we will be able to avoid fighting her.”

Still, Ephraim did not give up hope. He wanted to grant Myrrh her wish.

Selena’s army was in battle position in a marsh. Ephraim’s army had to trudge through sopping wet mud as they marched onwards.

He stayed away from the oncoming Grado soldiers as much as he possibly could, and avoided fighting as he searched for Selena. She was deep within the center of the marsh, riding atop a white horse and surrounded by her soldiers.

Ephraim continued to dodge the Grado soldiers, and approached Selena. 

Selena also noticed him, ordered her soldiers not to fight, then neared him.

 He’d heard that she was beautiful, but he was surprised at just how true was. Although her appearance was plain in her soldier's uniform, she couldn’t help drawing in the fascination of those around her. Her glittering eyes were befitting of one called “Fluorspar.”

“Are you General Selena?" Ephraim asked.

Selena nodded and answered, "I am indeed. And you are Prince Ephraim, correct?"

"Yes. I'd like to talk to you.” Ephraim put his weapon behind his back to show that he had no intention of fighting. 

Selena's soldiers broke out in a commotion, but Selena stopped them, then she looked at Ephraim. "What about?"

"I want you to withdraw your soldiers. A battle such as this one is meaningless. Emperor Vigarde is not in his right mind."

"...I know." Selena nodded, and Ephraim breathed a sigh of relief. However, her following words betrayed all of his hopes. "But I will not withdraw my soldiers."

"Why not?"

"I am an imperial soldier. His Majesty's orders are absolute."

With her unshakeable words, Ephraim was the one to flinch.

Was she some sort of fanatic? No, he saw none of that distinctive insanity in her quiet eyes. 

"How foolish… you know the emperor has descended into madness, yet you still swear your loyalty to him even now?"

"A noble like you could never understand. To us knights, this is our way of life."

"General Deussel deliberately disobeyed Emperor Vigarde. You may think of him as a traitor, but he chose that path because of his sincerity as a knight."

"I know that. I was wrong to call him a traitor. He loves Grado from the very bottom of his heart, and grieves his emperor's fate. He is truly a loyal retainer."

"If you know that much, then why wouldn't you do the same?"

"I am different from General Deussel. I respect his way of life, but I can only choose my way of life."

"You are a fool!" He shouted at her.

Selena nodded gently. "You are right. I agree with you one hundred times over."

"Surrender, Selena! I don't want to have to defeat you!"

"You, defeat me? Don't patronize me, Prince Ephraim. I have no intention of dying here. Now ready your weapon!"

It was already impossible to persuade her any further. Ephraim drew his lance back out from behind him.

Selena swiftly chanted a spell. Ephraim jumped the moment before fire shot from her fingertip, and avoided the attack.

The Grado soldiers initiated their own attacks to guard Selena. The Frelian soldiers standing behind Ephraim also readied their weapons and rushed forward.

Selena expertly steered her horse while also launching attack spells one after the other. Her speed and power amazed Ephraim.

The power that had elevated her to the title of imperial general at such a young age was of course not just for show. To Ephraim, who knew nothing about magic, taking just one good hit would very likely be fatal. 

Ephraim cut down the oncoming Grado soldiers as he avoided Selena's spells. He trudged through the mud-soaked earth, and was soon covered in mud himself.

He was overcome by intense anger so great that he wanted to scream. He did not want to kill a person like Selena. But if he did not kill her, then he would be killed.

His anger gave him strength. He stabbed each Grado soldier that came at him at random intervals, then charged at Selena. The Grado soldiers did not fear his great force, but still slowly backed away. He did not slow down.

"Lord Ephraim…!" His attacks looked so reckless that his allies started to yell at him.

Selena stared down at him from atop her horse with her eyes open as wide as they could be.

He glared at her beautiful face and screamed, "You're such a fool… You're an absolute idiot!"

The moment Ephraim leapt into the air off the muddy ground, a ball of orange fire shot from Selena’s fingertip.

Ephraim did not dodge it. That had never been his intention.

His lance stabbed deep into her side. Her body slumped over, and she fell from her horse.

The soldiers all stopped moving. Ephraim was still breathing heavily when he looked down at Selena. She was trying to get up, but no longer had the strength to do so.

When she lost her remaining strength in her arms and back, the pained expression disappeared from her face. In its place, for the first time since Ephraim had seen her, she was calm.

Her lips moved slightly, so he bent down to try and hear her final words.

 "I'm so tired…" she whispered.  Her eyes slowly closed, and she stopped moving.

"The enemy general has fallen! My army is the victor!"

Ephraim stood up and declared as loudly as he could, causing the panicking Grado soldiers to drop their weapons one after the other. Some of the Grado soldiers fled, but most of them surrendered to Ephraim’s army.

"Please let us heal you, Lord Ephraim!"

The healers called out to him, and Ephraim finally noticed his wounds. The stress he’d been experiencing mentally had kept him from feeling the physical pain, but Selena's fire magic had covered half of his body with serious burns.

Before retiring to his tent, he ordered his soldiers to search Selena’s belongings. They quickly found the stone that she had gone to the village to buy.

If one was told that it was a gemstone, then they could certainly see it. It emitted a strange light, and was very beautiful. Ephraim put it in his breast pocket.

ー

Duessel and Myrrh came to visit Ephraim while he was in the healing tent. It was hard for him to face her.

However, he couldn’t look away. Ephraim pulled the dragonstone out of his pocket, and handed it to Myrrh. “This is your stone, isn’t it?”

Myrrh wrapped her hands around it and took it. “...Yes. It is my stolen dragonstone. But…” Her large eyes were filled with tears. “I am sad. I have gotten back my precious dragonstone, and yet… I am so very, very sad.”

“I’m sorry, Myrrh. I wanted to persuade her somehow, but I couldn’t do it. I… had no choice but to defeat her.”

“I understand. It wasn’t your fault. It is just sad. Even though she was such a good person… Even though she looked so happy when she talked about the emperor…”

Ephraim closed his eyes. The image of Selena, the woman who was still proud to be the emperor's general despite knowing full well of his insanity, was burned into his mind.

“Why can’t it just be bad people, but also good people who must fight? Why can’t we end this without any good people dying?”

Ephraim closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know why either, Myrrh. But I’m going to the capital to search for answers. That is where everything will be made clear.” Ephraim shifted his gaze over towards Duessel, who was standing quietly behind Myrrh. “General Deussel, Selena said that she was wrong to accuse you of being a traitor. She fully understood your true intentions.”

Those words only made Duessel’s expression grow darker. “....When Glen died, I turned my back against the emperor… So she had to bear the weight of all of that all by herself. The only people left around His Majesty now are wicked men like Riev and Valter. Amid all of that, she fought to try and defend her loyalty to His majesty. She couldn’t help having regrets, but… she did not pity herself.”

“I’m so tired…” Ephraim remembered her final words.

Her voice had sounded like all of the life had been sucked out her, but he thought that he had seen peace in her expression. Perhaps it had been the relief of finally being freed from her grueling fight?

Ephraim stood up. Thanks to the diligent care of the healers, he hardly felt the pain of his burns at all any more. “I don’t understand. She was a smart person. She saw that the emperor was not in his right mind. Then why did she continue to serve the emperor, despite that? Surely she should have known that was not the right path…”

“Lord Ephraim. I was born into a family of knights that has served at the capital for generations. I wanted for nothing, and studied combat under a great teacher since I was young. It was obvious that I would be inducted into the knights.”

Ephraim looked straight at Duessel, wondering what he was telling this story for.

“But Selena was different. She was born in a poor, deserted village. She wasn't one to talk about it much, but I heard rumors. The area was always plagued by famine, and they had to sell off their young children just to survive… That is the kind of village I was told it was."

Myrrh timidly opened her mouth. "It's true. She told me about it as well. When I told her about the terrifying powers of the dark stone, she looked very sad… She told me why she continued to trust the emperor. She said that when she was poor, didn't have anything to eat, and everyone was starving and freezing, he sent food…"

Duessel nodded. “I remember that period very well. One year, a terrible cold front assaulted all of Grado, leaving the remote villages in a state of ruin. And the worst among them all was Selena’s birthplace. His Majesty immediately decided to rush to their aid. Most of his vassals spoke out against using any funding for such a reason. It is embarrassing to admit it, but the nobles and officers, living carefree lives in the capital, did not care what happened to the people living in those regions. They would rather thousands of people starve to death if the opposite meant cutting into their incomes and making them do more work… There were many who thought like that. His Majesty rebuked those rotten nobles and had large shipments of food and clothing sent to the remote villages. I served at his side, so I know this very well. His Majesty… what was happening made him cry.”

Ephraim was reminded of Lyon. Knowing that the ordinary citizens suffered and lived in poverty also pained him. That kindness was likely a trait he had inherited from his father. “So Selena became a knight to repay that favor…?”

“That is correct. For a starving, freezing young child who could only wait for death to come for her, nothing could have made her happier than the food sent from the capital… Selena came to the capital only wanting to serve His Majesty, and knocked on the door of the knights’ barracks. When I first met her, she was a raggedy, thin little girl. Some of the knights even laughed at her. They said this child, who was so poor she couldn’t even buy a decent outfit, must be out of her mind. However, I thought she had promise. There was no one else as passionate and pure in their loyalty, even among the knights. She stood out above all others, and gained His Majesty’s trust. Some were envious that she became a general so young, but I thought she was a perfect fit for the promotion. There was no one better to be Grado's… no, His Majesty’s knight." Duessel closed his eyes to hold back his tears.

The emperor, compassionate towards his citizens, who would cry at just the thought of their suffering, had completely and suddenly changed on that fateful day into a cruel invader. Ephraim could only imagine the extent of Selena’s despair and suffering.

“I’m so tired...” It would be nearly impossible for Ephraim to ever erase her final words from his memory in his entire life.

“And it’s all because of the Dark Stone… right? Does this Dark Stone that Lyon created really possess such terrifying power?” Ephraim looked at Myrrh. “Is there any way for us to return the emperor to who he once was? If we destroy the Dark Stone, will the evil controlling him disappear? He'll return to normal, won't he?"

“That… cannot be done.” Myrrh shook her head with a sunken look on her face. “The ominous energy does not simply control a person. It completely changes them. It is as if the stone breaks who they once were, and plants a new personality within them…”

“Are you saying that in other words, Emperor Vigarde’s kind personality is already completely destroyed?” Ephraim whispered with a sigh.

This meant that Selena had died for an emperor who had become an entirely different person on the inside, even though he still looked the same as always on the outside. There was nothing in the world more pitiable.

“Anyway, we will hurry to the capital, and figure out a way to stop Emperor Vigarde’s tyranny. We cannot allow anyone else to become a victim to the Dark Stone.” Ephraim declared, and walked out of the tent.

[trafficlightchild]

So you want to buy a copy of Unlocked

This post is made as a educational guide to the current situation with Keeper of the Lost Cities newest book, Unlocked.

Over the past few days, many people have suggested boycotting the hardcover editions of Unlocked due to one VERY IMPORTANT read: this is that the main artist featured, L*ura H*ll*ngsw*rth, is homophobic and we do not want to support her. As a queer person, it really hurts to see a series that I’ve loved for almost 7 years now. However, many of us still want to read the book and support other people behind this project. For me personally, I especially want to support my local book store and the US postal service during this time. So, what are alternatives?

1. EMAIL SHANNON’S PUBLISHER

Shannon just finished unlock TODAY - this means that the book had yet to be printed and that there is still time to get L*ura’s art out of the book. The book still also has to be edited so we have time. Even if the art isn’t taken out due to payments already being made, this could end the arrangement between the series and her AND we could possibly get a new official artist. Even if we sadly don’t get that either, showing S&S we don’t want to buy books with her art in them will hopefully make them not want to work with her in the future.

2. BUY THE AUDIOBOOK

The main reason that this is my suggestion is that it’s the only version where you can guarantee L*ura will not make any profits because there are no physical or digital pages. Through the research I’ve been doing, I can’t find anything that indicates that official KOTLC narrator, Caitlin Kelly, is homophobic. Audiobooks can be expensive, especially since all KOTLC are Audible exclusives, but Audible does offer a free trial that comes with 1 free audiobook and you can keep the book after you cancel your subscription. Also, if any of you do know if Caitlin is homophobic please reblog with that information and I’ll edit this.

3. BUY THE NOOK VERSION

This is probably seem like what a lot of people are going to do. As of right now, the Nook app does not support/load art that goes along with books such as KOTLC. This would also be cheaper than getting the audiobook version. However, there are two things that concern me about this; first being that  while we know most artists are paid in advance, we can’t say that Laura will make no profit from sales with her art in it. There are many unknowns in this field and many of us are trying to do more research about this. I’ve been looking at two accounts in particular on Instagram (I don’t know if they have tumblrs so I’m tagging there instagram handles) and I suggest you check both @/ahsokatano13 and @/dexs.mother out. the second reason is that the Nook app has been having a lot of updates recently and by the time Unlocked comes out, they could have found a way to load/support the art in the book.

4. WAIT OR BORROW THE BOOK

Use your library or your local KOTLC friends - it may take longer for you to read it but this way you won’t be supporting L*ura. You can also wait even longer and purchase the paperback version.

and lastly

5. DONATE THE SAME AMOUNT TO LGBTQIPAA+ INDIVUALS/GROUPS

Many people preorder months in advance and it’s fine if you did, since this art portion information was only revealed recently. So, treat buying this book like shopping at a place like Ch*ck F*l A. Is every single individual behind this purposes homophobic? No. There are no many people that are behind that KOTLC books other than Shannon - the people who print, who box, who ship, who sell, etc. So rather than purchasing this book and then feeling guilty about it, find out the exact price you spent on the book itself and donate, if you can, that exact amount to a queer foundation or individual. If you can donate double, that's great! If you can only spare a few dollars right now, that’s great too. As long as you give some money back to the people that are being affect by the decision to use a homophobic artist in this book, that sort-of evens out things in my eyes.

At the end of the day, every KOTLC fan is an individual. Some fans aren’t even aware of this situation, some fans don’t know how to handle it, etc. I made this post to be educational and provide options for other KOTLC fans.

[jisungsmochi]

the coffee shop boy - njm

new coffee shop employee! jaemin / little rivalry b/w reader x jaemin hehe / just lots of teasing eachother and some fluff too 

some references to my jeno imagine for my nct dream job au series! 

link to my masterlist so you can read the others! 

a/n: inspired by katie & aiden’s story in ‘alexa & katie’ on netflix! pls stream it hehe 

word count: 3.9k - hope you all enjoy :) 

//

the first time you met na jaemin was in front of the cafe you worked at. your manager was running a donation drive where customers could donate toys or books for the local children’s hospital. you offered to bake complementary cookies for each person who donated. so there you were, standing outside the cafe, handing out cookies. you swore you turned away for one second, when you heard someone halt infront of the stand. the person swiftly grabbed a handful of cookies, shoving one into their mouth. you turn back around, glaring at the clueless boy infront of you.

“excuse me! those are only for people who have donated” you sternly informed, the boy still not having any sign of regret,

“my bad, i just see free cookies” he smirked, taking another bite of one. you reached to grab the others that were in his hands, but he ended up pulling away before you could reach him. you felt your body tip over the table, the plate of cookies and some donations, falling onto the ground. you loudly groan to yourself, quickly standing up and brushing off any dirt on your apron. your manager, doyoung, immediately rushed outside and to his dismay, he only saw you and a broken table with cookies scattered everywhere. the mysterious boy just took off, what an asshole.

“y/n, clean this up, now” doyoung orders, as you nod. you hoped that boy never came anywhere near the cafe ever again, or you might as well just lose it entirely.  

“and then, he grabbed the cookies and took off! if i ever see him again i want to give him a piece of my mind” you rant as your friend lia listens carefully. you were both eating lunch at a random restaurant she had heard about.

“he sounds like a dick” lia shakes her head in disappointment as you both chew on your fries.

“i know right! and now doyoung thinks i’m incapable of being assistant manager” you grunt, frustrated at the events of the day prior.

“don’t be so negative! you are a loyal employee and you are good at your job. you’ll get promoted soon, i’m sure of it” lia gives your an assuring smile, as you nod along with her. you were glad to have her by your side whenever you would rant like this, it helped you not completely lose it.

“hey! cookie girl!” you heard a sudden voice echo through the restaurant. both you and lia turned to the voice calling you, only to be met with the boy from yesterday.

“you’ve got to be kidding me” you groaned, putting on a small, fake smile to greet to boy.

“fancy seeing you here, stalking me now right?” he chuckled to himself, approaching your table. lia looked over at you with a ‘what the hell?’ expression, you just widened your eyes, unsure of how to respond to either of them.

“whatever helps you sleep at night” you respond, as jaemin just smirks.

“sorry about the cookies by the way. don’t get offended but, they weren’t that good to begin with” he slyly poked at you. you wanted to give him a good lecture about how hard you worked on those damn cookies but you noticed how lia was getting concerned about your next moves. you took a deep breath before giving the boy another blunt answer,

“you’re entitled to your own wrong opinion. now may you please leave me and my friend alone?” you just shot another fake smile, as jaemin couldn’t take his eyes off you. you started feeling repulsed by just his gaze, why did he have to stare for such long periods of time?

“sure thing, see you around” he winks before heading out of the restaurant.

“who the hell was that? is he the cookie thief?!” lia’s mouth was agape as you nodded.

“he was indeed. i just want to wipe that grin off his face!” you cross your arms in frustration. lia just rolls her eyes,

“he’s kinda cute, don’t you think?” she starts to wiggle her eyebrows as you throw a fry at her.

“you have a boyfriend!” you begin to tease as she starts blushing,

“jeno doesn’t need to know” she jokes as you both begin laughing.

(a/n: yes the jeno here is from the bubble tea girl au hehe) 

you were happy that lia had a boyfriend, but it often made you feel distant from her. you felt like you couldn’t ask her to hang out as much, incase she had plans with jeno. you knew that she would have dropped everything to hang out with you, but you still felt guilty if she ditched jeno like that. you wished that you had a boyfriend of your own, so you could hang out all together without the awkward third wheel vibe. but that was a long shot for you, or so you thought.

//

it had been a solid two weeks since that interaction with jaemin, in which you still didn't know his name yet. after constant hassling, doyoung promoted you to assistant manager.

"we have a new employee coming in today, i need you to train him" doyoung orders as you nod in agreement.

"never fear! i'll teach him everything in my barista 101 guide!" you smile, pulling out a pastel green notebook with random coloured tabs sticking out of it.

"i didn't ask, but you do you" doyoung shrugs, patting your shoulder before heading to the back room. doyoung always picked on you, but you were sure, you were his favourite employee.

you were fixing up any last notes in your guide, when you heard the bell above the door ring. you set everything aside, ready to take the next order. you look up, eyes meeting those of the boy you never wanted to see again.

"you" you huff out, eyes immediately glaring, face now stone cold.

"me" jaemin smiled widely, walking up to the counter, leaning his elbows on the top of it.

"fall on any more tables yet?" he chuckled to himself as you mimicked his words, turning away from him to continue writing in your book. he had some nerve teasing you like that.

"y/n, what are you doing? this is jaemin, the new employee" doyoung bursted out of the backroom, standing behind you. you instantly froze, looking over to jaemin who was now standing up straight with his arms crossed over his chest. he had bright blue hair, a blue denim jacket on, and that damn smirk of his plastered on his face. you couldn't stop glaring, slowing moving to face jaemin and doyoung.

"just train him well okay? i don't want to have to deal with any mess in here" doyoung sighed, walking away from the both of you. jaemin had his eyes fixed on you.

"you know just cause you're cute and all, doesn't mean this job is going to be easy" you muttered as you dig behind the counter to find jaemin a spare apron.

"oh so you think i'm cute?" you could hear the flirtatious tone leaving his mouth. you shot up from behind the counter and threw the apron forcefully at his face. to your displeasure, he ended up catching it before it could hit him. jaemin tied the apron on himself, meeting you behind the counter.

"let's get started shall we. i have written pretty much everything you need to learn in this book right here! it's a beginner's guide, with all my best tips and tricks so i-" you were interrupted by jaemin fiddling with the coffee machine, not paying attention to a single word that left your mouth. you groaned in annoyance, watching as he handed you the cup of coffee he had just made.

"try it" he urged you, observing your every move. you cautiously look at him and then at the cup in your hands. you didn't want to admit it, but it looked and smelled pretty good. you slowly took a sip of the warm drink, eyes avoiding those of jaemin. you hated to compliment him, but the boy had some skills. you felt jaemin's eyes on you, ready for your verdict.

"it's alright i guess" you sigh, trying to play off how impressed you were. jaemin just chuckled, knowing he was already doing a good job.

"i don't need that little book of yours, i think i'm just about perfect" you rolled your eyes at the taller boy, giving him a small slap on the shoulder.

"get to work buddy, tables need some wiping and coffees need to be made" you made your way to the cash register, beginning to take orders as customers entered the shop. jaemin couldn't help but shake his head at your bossy persona. he found it entertaining, but also quite enticing. he couldn't wait to work with you more.

//

weeks had passed since jaemin started working at the coffee shop. he never asked for any of your help, making you quite frustrated that he wouldn't even listen to a single piece of advice you had. it's as if your authority as assistant manager and his trainer, was thrown out the window. you were getting ready to start your shift, noticing jaemin drawing something on the front window with some paint pens.

"what the hell are you doing? doyoung hates it when we mess with the window art!" you nag at the blue haired boy. jaemin just rolls his eyes, turning back at you,

"can you like stop nagging me for one minute?" he responds, continuing to draw on the window. you let out a small huff, and as if on cue, doyoung approaches both of you.

"ooo you're in troubleee" you slyly mutter, waiting for the scene to unfold. jaemin turns to face doyoung, who at first didn't say a word.

"jaemin, i didn't give you permission to do this" doyoung started, you felt yourself perk up at the possibility of jaemin getting scolded.

"but i was kind of wanting a new design anyway, your doodles are quite nice actually. keep it up" doyoung smiles, looking over at your pissed off expression. he just pats your shoulder before heading off to do business of his own.

"you can't bust me, sweetie. i'm just that good" jaemin walks closer to you, backing your up against the counter.

"you are so infuriating" you grunt through your teeth, eyes meeting jaemin’s. he had a slight kindness in his eyes. as if he was pleading for you to not to be so mad at him. jaemin chuckled softly,

"you're gonna just have to deal with it then" he leaves you stunned as he walked behind the counter, starting to take orders.

was he always this handsome?

you shook your head from your thoughts, na jaemin was utterly unbearable to be around, so why couldn't you stop thinking about him?

//

"you know what he did the other day?" you begin another rant, this time lia and jeno were your audience.

"what did he do?" lia played along, looking over at jeno who was invested in your story.

"so, you know suzy? the dreaded middle aged woman who always complains about her coffee having too much sugar? yeah well, jaemin served her the other day and she complimented him! right infront of me!" you started to pout. lia started giggling causing jeno to start giggling as well.

"what's so funny?" you furrow your eyebrows at the couple.

"doesn't sound like you hate him all that much to me" jeno smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at you. you just give him a scowl in return.

"no you see jeno, y/n hides her feelings for jaemin through all this teasing, and so does he. it’s adorable" lia commented, causing you to know scowl at her.

"you guys are being ridiculous! he is so infuriating, no one can be that perfect at making coffees? especially a beginner anyway" you continue being stubborn as your friends just roll their eyes, already convinced you were in complete and utter denial.

you went home that day, thinking back to the times you felt yourself stare a bit too long at jaemin. he was so charismatic, he could practically charm any person who entered the shop. he had doyoung, the most stone cold person you had met, wrapped around his finger. he was the perfect barista, and could even do coffee art. you envied how good he was, considering it took you months to perfect your own skills. you knew that hating jaemin wasn't the way to handle this whole situation, but it was much easier than having him know that you sort of liked him.

//

you were writing down stuff in your weekly planner, it helped you stay organised with your daily tasks so you knew you wouldn’t forget anything. well, except your pastel green notebook. you swore you had left it at work, but for the past week you hadn’t been able to find it. you were slowly starting to accept that you lost it, and all your hard work over the past 6 months was for nothing. you let a soft groan, finishing up your final sentence, as you heard the boy next to you clear his throat.

“may i help you?” you move your head to face him, not realising he was already inches close to you. you immediately froze, unsure of what to do next.

“you’re slacking off, i can’t make all these coffees on my own”  jaemin smirked, like he had many times before but this time, you couldn’t help but admire how handsome he was up close.

“i- well uh, yeah sorry” you stuttered, pulling away from the boy. jaemin just sighed, he didn’t understand why it was so hard to talk to you. he wanted to get close to you, possibly even ask you out, but your repeated attempts to ignore him during your shifts together had deflated his confidence. you caught yourself glancing over at him multiple times during work, watching how he interacted so kindly with customers and somehow always kept his composure when being lectured by doyoung.

you were about to close up, making sure to double check that the bathrooms were clean. as you made your way back to the counter, you caught jaemin in the act. he was reading from your notebook. the one you thought you had lost. he didn’t see you approaching, making it an even better bust.

“AHA! i knew it! you read my book” you exclaimed, catching the boy off guard, causing him to fall into his butt. you couldn’t help but laugh at his exaggerated reaction, before helping him from behind the counter.

“it’s not what it looks like” he just sighs, knowing he had already been caught.

“oh really? cause it looks like you were reading my book, and have possibly been following every single piece of advice in it” you continued to tease, a bright smile plastered on your face. jaemin couldn’t help but crack a smile back at you, nodding in defeat.

“yes okay, i read your book. it helped a lot! is that what you wanna hear?” jaemin could feel the redness flush his cheeks and the tops of his ears. you couldn’t help but gush over how hilarious the situation was.

“and here i was, thinking you were a barista prodigy! well na jaemin, you just got schooled!” you started getting up in his face, watching as the taller boy just shook his head at your incredibly quirky antics. he found you adorable, not that he would admit it anytime soon.

from that day onwards, you and jaemin bickered less. of course you’d still poke fun at him now and then for initially taking your book, but it was all fun and games.

“y/n look!” you heard him call, as you were both closing up that night. jaemin had smeared on a foam moustache on his face, attempting to make you laugh. you just threw a dirty towel at him, rolling your eyes at us childish antics.

“god you’re such a loser” you smile softly, removing your apron. jaemin wipes off the foam, placing the towel away, before removing his own apron.

“you know, i think that all this teasing from you, is really a way for you to hide how much you like me” his words made you freeze. you didn’t want to face him. you weren’t sure if he was kidding or not, so you opted to just crack another witty comment, to avoid any more awkwardness.

“in your dreams, i do it because you’re just easy to make fun of. it’s what friends do” you shrug, looking over at the blue haired boy. you were expecting atleast a small smile to come from jaemin, but instead, he had an unreadable expression. he approached you slowly, causing you to shuffle backwards, your back now pressing against one of the cupboards behind the counter. jaemin places his right hand next to your head, leaning closer to you. you felt your breath hitch as he stared into your eyes. jaemin didn’t want to keep beating around the bush, he needed to know how you felt, and soon.

“ so you’re telling me, we are just friends?” he mumbles, quiet enough for only you to hear. you could practically feel him begging for you to deny it, but your heart wasn’t sure if you were completely in it. of course you found jaemin attractive, who wouldn’t? but to be in a relationship or even start something more than a friendship, with anyone was a huge step for you. you had never had a boyfriend before, and watching your friends experience immense heartbreaks in the past, made you unsure of your own experiences.

“y-yeah jaemin, we’re just friends” you whisper, watching as jaemin’s face softens. you didn’t know if he was upset, hurt, or both. but you knew something was off. jaemin just nodded, packing up his things.

“have a nice night, y/n” jaemin gave you a small wave before exiting the coffee shop. you felt your heart tighten, what the hell was he doing to you?

//

“y/n, i’m your best friend and all, but you’re an idiot. jaemin clearly likes you and you have just ruined your chances!” lia sighs, comforting you the next day. you just nod, knowing everything she said was true.

“i know i messed up. i just don’t want to get his hopes up if i’m a shit girlfriend or something” you worry, unsure whether you could really show jaemin the appreciation as love he deserved.

“stop being so afraid! don’t stay sheltered! if you like him, you should tell him. you deserve to be in a happy relationship, never doubt that” lia pulls you in for a long hug and you begin t think about what you wanted to say to jaemin, the next time you saw him. you knew she was right. if you didn’t confess soon, it would eat at you inside about what could have been. it was time to take a chance.

//

at your next shift at the coffee shop, jaemin came in late. he apologised to doyoung who didn’t mind, as today was fairly slow. he would usually shoot a witty comment at you before he started making drinks, but today he just gave you a small smile without a single word. your heart clenched at how he was acting. but you knew exactly why he was doing it. you wanted to wait until closing time, to properly talk with jaemin. but you couldn’t help but notice how down he looked whilst he was serving customers. it really must have affected him a lot. you tried to talk to him during your shift, standing next to him as he was making a drink.

“h-hey, how are you?” you tried to start, watching as jaemin halts his movements. he turned his head to face you, the expression was unreadable. jaemin knew he was being petty for giving you the cold shoulder. it wasn’t like he could have forced you to like him back, especially since he hadn’t properly right out confessed to you.

“i-i’m alright, and you?” he tried to act as normal and nonchalant as possible.

“i’m okay i guess” you mumble, unsure of how to continue. you were thankful that jaemin had to serve more customers, cutting your conversation short.

you waited for the clock to strike 9:30pm, as it was time to start closing up. doyoung tossed you the keys before he finished his shift earlier that day, leaving both you and jaemin to pack up together. jaemin had finished cleaning the bathrooms and all the tables as you worked on the countertops and back area. you made eye contact with him from across the room. he looked so solemn, as if he would rather be anywhere else but here with you. you sighed to yourself, knowing what was on his mind. you approached the blue haired boy slowly. he watched your every move, his heart beat increasing with every step you took.

“i lied” you blurt out as his eyes furrowed, confused at your words.

“when you asked me if i thought we were just friends. i lied. i don’t think of you as just a friend, jaemin. i-i think of you as something more” you avoid his eyes, watching as he sets down the dirty towels onto the nearest table. he pulls your chin up with his fingers, making sure you were looking at him directly.

“why didn’t you just say so?” he had that cocky smirk on again, which would have drove you nuts before, but now you found really attractive.

“i was in denial, okay? i didn’t know if you really liked me back or not and i guess i was just scared about what to do next” you admitted, as jaemin’s lips formed a small pout.

“you drive me crazy” jaemin smiled, cupping the side of your face with his left hand, softly caressing your cheek with his thumb.

“well so do you” you mumbled while blushing.

“just so you can hear me say it, i like you too. kinda have been trying to drop hints. you’re completely oblivious” he playfully teased, causing you to give him a small shove. you couldn’t help but smile at him as he pulled your face closer to his with both his hands on your cheeks. you move your hands to wrap around his neck, watching as his smile widened.

“bold move there” he muttered, lips brushing briefly over yours.

“can you just kiss me already?” you whine, which made jaemin’s heart burst. he nodded eagerly before connecting your lips with his. he moved one hand to grab your waist and the other was left caressing your cheek. you couldn’t believe you were kissing the same guy who stole your cookies months ago.

jaemin suddenly pulls away, mumbling,

“i knew you’d fall for me, i mean i am a catch”

“you really know how to ruin a moment don’t you?” you pull away from his completely, letting his take his hand in yours.

“yeah but we have a lot of time to have more moments, won’t we?” jaemin pulls you to his side,

“we sure will” you smile up at him, leaning in for another kiss when you were interrupted by a familiar voice,

“i freaking knew it! you two better not do this lovey dovey stuff during your shift otherwise i’m firing one of you” doyoung warmed as you both burst into laughter.

you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into with jaemin. but that was the thrill of it all. he was constantly surprising you with new things about himself. you completely adored him, as he did with you. you realised it was okay to let yourself be vulnerable, you never know what you could get out of it.

a/n: ahhh i loved writing this one! let me know if there were any mistakes! x 

[lacommunarde]

Charity: Water’s Give Guide (including non-monetary generosity)

Supporters like you have been so generous all year long. Even in a year like 2020, you’ve continued to show up when we’ve needed you most.

Tomorrow, on Giving Tuesday, we’re asking you to show up again—but not for charity: water.

We know firsthand how incredible this community is, and if there’s anything the world needs right now, it’s the pure goodness we’ve experienced from people like you. So here’s what we’re thinking:

Pick one way—any way!—to be generous tomorrow. Our whole team will be joining in on the fun with generous endeavors of our own. Here’s a

not-so-short list

to help you get started:

THE SAFE-AT-HOME

GIVE GUIDE

Send your sibling a photo of a puppy and tell them its unbearable cuteness reminded you of them.

Your fridge could almost definitely use a deep cleaning. Be the one who makes it happen.

Curate a playlist and send it to someone you miss dancing with—make sure every song is a banger.

Take a virtual yoga class with your most-stressed family member.

Save energy! Turn off a few lights.

Your friend shared an accomplishment on social media! Celebrate their hard work with an enthusiastic comment. (Emojis are not optional.)

Leave encouraging comments on social media, news articles, or anywhere they'd cause a smile.

Sort through your books and gift the ones you don't need anymore.

Throw an unbirthday party for one of your housemates or family members, complete with an unbirthday treat.

Collect all of the best instrumental videos and throw an in-house or virtual karaoke party.

Using reusable masks? Gather everyone's and put them through the laundry. Goodbye, germs!

Rent some movies from the library (the more obscure, the better) and throw an at-home movie night with everyone's favorite snacks.

Write to a long lost friend.

Invite a friend to join you for a virtual museum tour (like the MoMA or Musée D'Orsay).

Set up a video chat with someone who lives alone.

Call someone you haven't checked in on recently.

Leave your USPS mail carrier a friendly note.

Leave a glowing review for your favorite restaurant.

Propagate a plant.

Clean the bathroom. Someone's gotta do it, and today, you are that champion.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD MVP

GIVE GUIDE

Put your child back in that superhero Halloween costume and go door-to-door delivering candy like it's a backwards Halloween (neewollaH?).

Take your neighbor's newspaper from the driveway up to their door.

Dial up the happiest playlist you can find and have socially-distanced driveway dance parties.

Rake your neighbor's leaves.

Volunteer to walk neighborhood pets whose owners could use a break.

Have a new neighbor? Share a list of all the amazing local restaurants they should try and what to order from each. Bonus: send a pizza from your favorite local shop.

Leave a box of cookies on your neighbor’s doorstep, ring the bell, and get the heck out of there.

Put together a Creativity Box for a neighborhood family with kids. Fill it with coloring books, games, puzzles—anything that gives parents 20 minutes to make dinner without interruption!

Buy a bouquet of fresh flowers and put a single flower on each of your neighbors' doorsteps.

Slip friendly notes into your neighbor's mailbox.

Visit VolunteerMatch.org to get matched with a local volunteer opportunity—anything from delivering meal kits to putting up flyers for kitten adoption.

Clean up your nearest park.

Walk the dogs at your local animal shelter.

Deliver flowers to your local nursing home to bring joy to the residents and staff.

Say hello to your neighbors when you pass each other on the street.

Hand out a flyer with all of the special skills you're willing and able to share. (A+ cookie baker? Star virtual math tutor? Pro headlight replacer? All valid skills!)

Order takeout from a local restaurant you've never tried before.

Start a neighborhood activity swap. Every week, rotate a new activity (like puzzles, board games, books, movies) from one house to the next.

Offer to go to the post office or the grocery store for your elderly neighbors.

Know a neighbor who can't be with family this year? Invite them to share one of your family's traditions, even if virtually!

THE MONEY CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS

(BUT IT CAN BUY PIZZA)

GIVE GUIDE

Venmo the student in your life so they can order delivery while they study for finals.

Buy coffee for the person in line behind you.

Pay for a stranger’s groceries.

Pizza. Someone in your life needs a pizza delivery.

Take care of your neighbors and donate to a local mutual aid or food pantry.

Deliver a round of hot coffees to the women and men working at a nearby construction site.

Help someone pay rent.

Does a teacher in your life need school supplies? Send that hero a gift card.

Your family member deserves flowers. (You know which one.)

Pick up a surprise dinner for your roommates (or your family!) from a local restaurant.

Need to purchase gifts this holiday season? Shop from small businesses.

Create an "emergency kit" for a friend with a few of their favorite snacks and a gift card.

Gift a book to a student.

Tip your delivery driver 40%.

Count the number of tabs you have open. Donate that number of dollars to your favorite charities.

Ask the florist for a bouquet that would make someone's day. Then, buy that bouquet for the florist.

Give a parent a well-deserved night off. Deliver pizza and a movie to their front door.

Send a friend an IOU for a hot beverage to enjoy the next time you're together.

Send donuts to a local elementary school faculty room.

Support a friend who is doing good work in the world.

THE BROKE COLLEGE STUDENT

GIVE GUIDE

Leave a life-affirming note on a stranger’s car window.

Give a friend or neighbor a coupon for snow removal. During the next storm, show up with a shovel and a smile.

Marie Kondo your pantry and donate the excess to a local food bank.

Donate gently-used clothing and give someone else a chance to love the sweater that lives in the back corner of your closet.

Plant a tree.

Write a bunch of hope-filled messages and deliver them to an assisted living home.

Volunteer your time to do whatever it is you do best: review resumes, help form a financial plan, design a logo, organize a pantry, take photos.

Share a list of your favorite recipes with someone who has made way too many meals at home since March.

Share a funny memory with a friend you haven't talked to in a long time.

Set up a themed video chat with people you've been meaning to get in touch with.

Help someone do something they've been avoiding: clothing repair, shipping packages, putting up or taking down decorations. Team work makes the dream work.

Write thank you notes to hospital workers and encouraging letters to patients.

Ask a grandparent/parent/sibling about their favorite memory. Then record it.

Give someone the benefit of the doubt.

Write haikus about your favorite people and send them throughout the day.

Respond to your favorite newsletter writer and tell them how much you enjoy their writing.

Become pen pals with a senior citizen.

Share a compliment with a coworker.

Channel your inner gameshow host and plan a virtual game night.

Text an encouraging note to a friend, just because.

THE CRAFT QUEEN

GIVE GUIDE

Bake some homemade pet treats and drop them off at your local animal shelter.

Create a Powerpoint explaining exactly why your best friend is awesome. Present it to them via Zoom.

Make an old-school holiday ornament for a friend with that picture you took together in 5th grade.

Give the gift of not having to look for boxes of gift wrap in the basement. Drop off homemade wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows to friends and neighbors.

Present handmade awards to your quarantine pod. Options include “Best Quarantine Haircut” and ”Most Likely to Selflessly Wash Our Dishes."

Make encouraging bookmarks and give them to your local librarians.

Print out old (we're talking waaaay back) photos. Send them out in the mail so everyone can remember and enjoy happy times spent together.

Make a family tree. Instead of pictures, use hilarious memories or quotable moments.

Send a scrapbook filled with inside jokes to your siblings or oldest friends.

Make a Snow Day box (candle, hot chocolate, a good book, fuzzy socks) and send it to a friend.

Invite your favorite 5-year-old to color with you on a video chat.

Keep a running list (or a wall of post-it notes!) of all the awesome things you've noticed people doing recently. There's so much kindness in the world when we're looking for it.

Give people who walk past your house a reason to smile! Put colorful art or encouraging signs in your front windows.

Draw portraits of your neighbors' pets. Deliver them with a few treats.

Spruce up your housemate's work-from-home station.

Make handmade cards for residents at a local nursing home.

Bake your favorite cookies, package them up, and ship them to your parents.

Send brand new crayons, markers, and coloring books to a children's hospital.

Make a scrapbook of your family's favorite quarantine memories. (You have more than one, we promise.)

Build a free community "library" box and encourage friends and neighbors to take a book or leave a book.

No matter how you celebrate Giving Tuesday,

know that we will be celebrating you

. We can’t wait to continue in our mission together—and can’t wait to spend Giving Tuesday being as generous as possible alongside you!

– your friends at charity: water

[franstastic-ideas]

Bitty Blues

Bittybones AU, Underswap Frisk and Chara - Fresh out of college, Chara drags Frisk to an adoption center in hopes that her lonely friend will take to one of the bitties there, but only after Chara promises to buy Frisk lunch for her troubles. After looking through the center for a while, they encounter a Blueberry, a rescue with abandonment issues that develops a near instant attraction to Frisk. His HP is unusually and dreadfully low for a Blueberry, so much so that the staff worry that one more heartbreak may reduce him to dust.

Word Count: 19,834

Warnings: This story does feature a rescue bitty, so there are some narrative elements that may be upsetting to readers. Another rescue bitty has a malnourished and mangled appearance and is described as such.

It seemed like everyone around her had become enraptured with bitties. No matter where she looked, she would see happy people with happy little monsters riding on someone's shoulders, resting in the pockets of shirts, or peeking curiously out of an open bag. They were everywhere.

And if Frisk were to be honest, she didn't get it.

Frisk didn't resent the little creatures, not at all. But she didn't understand the appeal, either. Squealing over the tiny clothes they wore, watching them nibble on the bite-sized food they ate, the social media accounts one would come across at each corner of the internet filled to the brim with snapshots capturing the bitty's every action… it was all lost on her. And the disappointed or sympathetic looks she more than often received when she didn't begin cooing whenever one was shoved in her face was something Frisk couldn't totally wrap her head around either.

Frisk didn't hate bitties. She didn't even remotely dislike them.

She just didn't want one.

A loner is what most called her. She was always alone, nose shoved in a book or looking at a screen instead of talking to the people around her. Soft-spoken and only speaks when spoken to, that was Frisk. These traits made people believe she was either shy or had an attitude that needed fixing, but the truth was, interacting with others was just too much for her to deal with.

Frisk liked being alone. Why was that so difficult to comprehend?

She doesn't ever wonder what having lots of friends is like… not at all. She pitied these lonely humans with their bitties, if she felt anything towards them at all.

~~~~~~~~~~

Frisk had just finished up her final class of her last semester of college; she was free from the institution of education and walking out of the building with a bachelor's. From this point onward, she could no longer be called a 'college kid' and was officially considered a responsible adult ready to join the workforce – fun.

Interrupting this thought was the abrupt and blurred image of a shoulder bag whizzing past her vision, knocking the book she was reading out of her hands as the heavy bag fell into her lap, and a wild red-headed girl wearing a green striped sweater scrambling for the spot next to her on the bench she was sitting on.

Chara.

"Frisk, what is UP my depressed homeslice?!" She hollered, throwing an arm around Frisk's waist and yanking her to her side.

Though Frisk found it difficult to believe herself at times, this woman was one of the few constants in her life. She was three years younger, but she was taller and stronger than her. Frisk has known her for a long time now, since childhood even. Could she call her a friend? Perhaps. She considered herself Frisk's friend, and she wasn't shy about telling anyone either. Depending on the day and her current moodset, sometimes this sentiment was shared.

Truthfully, she was more like a sister to Frisk. A sister she never really asked for, but appreciated nonetheless. And that was what she called Frisk – her sister. Whenever Chara introduced her to some decidedly uninterested third party, she always referred to her as her friend and then sister, switching from one to the other, before ultimately settling for the tacked on term 'sister-friend'.

"Waiting for the bus." Frisk replied blandly, already far too accustomed to her odd greetings by now. She shuffled uncomfortably, gesturing to the bag that was now in her lap. "Chara, what is in this? It has to weigh twenty pounds, minimum."

"Oh, that. Yeah." She nodded sagely, lifting it from her lap as if it were full of feathers instead of whatever was actually in there. "It's my bitty bag. I went shopping for more supplies earlier, so it's a little heavier than it usually is."

"And knowing this, you decided to dump it on me?" She inquired, already knowing the answer as she bent over to retrieve her fallen book.

"Pretty much, yeah." Chara grinned, not the least bit sorry for knocking the wind out of her with it.

Frisk then took a glance at her shoulder; it was missing a certain pocket-sized skeleton monster that was always perched there. That bitty was almost all she ever talked about these days, ever since she adopted him last September on her birthday. Taking the bothersome bitty home was how she chose to celebrate her day of birth, the best present she ever received from herself is what she called him.

She had become a bitty enthusiast practically since the moment she first learned of their existence, spending most of her spare time volunteering at the local center that housed the creatures, and became even more immersed after the official announcement came that the miniature monsters were to become adoptable to anyone who could provide them a loving home, and Chara had a lot of love to give.

So it really astonished Frisk when she stepped out of the center in possession of a bitty who couldn't have been more contrasting to her personality. Frisk was unabashedly uneducated when it came to matters concerning bitties, but she was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had selected the meanest, most ornery one in existence with one of the illest tempers she had ever seen out of anyone; man or monster. He was loud, commandeering, and had a jealousy streak that stretched a mile wide.

Noticing her lingering gaze, Chara then supplied the other girl with an answer to her unspoken question. "You're wondering where Bossanova is? He's in trouble. He bit a guy yesterday while we were out on a walk, so he's earned himself a nice long time out at home so he can think about what he did."

She wanted to tell Chara that probably wasn't the wisest decision she could have made. Frisk wouldn't be surprised at all if she came home to find her room in shambles from one of that bitty's tantrums.

Frisk definitely didn't get the bitty craze, and Chara's own affections for Bossanova might have cemented her already developed opinions on the phenomenon even further. What on Earth did she see as endearing in a creature about the size of a soda bottle that would bite any man that got within ten feet of her?

"Sooooo…" She began, leaning her head on top of Frisk's, the scattered and plentiful faux golden flower ornaments fastened in her hair dangling in front of her friend's face and brushing up against her nose. "You're all done with college now, right? You know what that means? We should celebrate!"

Oh no. With the word 'celebrate', Frisk already knew where this was going. That's why her bag was so heavy! She wasn't buying supplies for herself, no, as if she would ever let Bossanova run that low on bittycare products. This woman was absolutely determined to set her up with some manner of bitty by the day's end, that was her plan from the very beginning!

"No." Frisk answered before she could go any further with her idea.

"You didn't even let me finish!" She whined loudly.

"Because I already know what you're about to suggest and the answer is 'no', we've been through this. I don't want a pet bitty."

"Bitties aren't pets, Frisk. They're sapient beings with their own individual thoughts and personalities. Pets also can't have verbal conversations with their owners, either. …Unless it's a parrot, but still, you know what I mean."

"They're kept behind glass pens and they still cost money, I know that much."

"I know the whole keeping them in pens thing makes them sound animalistic, but they're not. They're nice and clean, and they don't look like pens at all really, at least not the kind that you would see in an actual pet store. And the reason why they cost money is mostly just a system instated to ensure that the chosen bitty will go to a home that can financially provide for them, and the centers can't run themselves on just donations, Frisk. They're. Not. Pets."

"Even so, I still don't want one."

"Come ON, Frisk! Just give the idea some thought instead of shooting it down like a fully loaded fighter jet every time!" Chara booped her nose, then moved to squish her cheek against Frisk's. Frisk was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "You always look so sad and lonely. Even when we were kids, you had that kind of gray funk around you. Don't even try to deny it, you know it's true."

Chara pressed her index finger against Frisk's lips when she opened her mouth to protest further. If Frisk had less dignity, she would have considered biting her. That's what Chara would probably do if it was her finger, and she should be used to it with all the time she spends around Bossanova anyway.

Instead of bringing herself down to the level of Chara or a rabid bitty, Frisk instead grabbed her hand, not forcefully though, and slowly pushed it back towards her.

"Please stop, this is getting weird."

"It got your attention, though. Didn't it?" She smiled at her with false innocence. "Please, Frisk? I know you think I'm being pushy, but I really am just thinking of your best interests. You've always had such a hard time talking to people, but monsters, they're different, I'm telling you. It's hard to explain, but it's like… they see the real you in a way that most humans just can't and won't make the effort to try to do. The people we come across think you're all sour and prickly and, well, a wet blanket. And so do I, sometimes."

"Gee, thanks."

"And you are all of those things, but only on the outside." Chara continued, completely ignoring her sarcastic remark. "The real Frisk is a soft squishy marshmallow that wears a full-body suit made of cactus so all the meanness in the world doesn't wear her down. Any time somebody gets too close, they get full of needles. Except for me, of course! I've known you long enough to see through all your self-defense mechanisms that are really more self-destructive mechanisms at this point."

"…Chara, what exactly is your point?" Frisk asked after a beat, not willing to admit that a lot of what she just said, while incredibly bizarre, was also terribly accurate.

"My point is that I've kept you all to myself for all these years, but now the time's come to share you with someone that'll actually appreciate you for who you are." She declared with confidence as she puffed out her chest, one hand on her hip and the other reaching up to pat Frisk on the head.

"And this someone… is a bitty."

It wasn't a question.

"Yup!" Chara bobbed her head.

"No."

"Yes!" She argued, standing up to tower over Frisk while pointing a finger at her nose, pressing and poking it. "Listen, I get that you think Bossanova is a handful, and he is. He's a little monster in every literal and figurative sense imaginable, but there are a lots of different kinds and classifications of bitties! There's Sansies and Ruses and Blueberries and…and…! Look, I have a theory that there's a bitty out there for everyone! Every decent person, that is. And you're a decent person, even if you don't think so yourself. So we're going to get on that bus, go to that adoption center, and we're going to find you the bitty that you're destined to fall in love with! Have I made myself clear?!"

"Chara-"

"H a v e  I  m a d e  m y s e l f  c l e a r...?"

"…"

Frisk avoided her intense gaze, looking anywhere else but her for the longest time.

Chara plopped back down next to her with a loud sigh, giving Frisk's hand that was closest to her a little tap. When she didn't respond, Chara wiggled her own hand into her's and gave it a squeeze.

"How about this: we just take a look around and see how that goes? And if you really don't want to, you don't have to play or interact with any of them. Just look around, that's it. You've never even been inside before, so at least check the place out before rejecting the idea of adopting entirely. And if you still insist afterward that you don't want anything to do with adopting a bitty, I'll never bring it up to you ever again, promise."

"…"

Frisk bit your lip. The offer was tempting. She wouldn't even have to do anything; just humor Chara for the afternoon and she'd leave the issue alone forever. And she could agree with her on one thing; she hadn't ever seen the interior of an adoption center, so just walking around inside didn't sound like too bad of a time. Like a petting zoo featuring micro skeleton monsters. But still…

"…I'll buy you dinner after?"

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~

Chara was practically vibrating in her seat. She chattered animatedly about the different kinds of bitties the center had available while her friend halfway listened to her ramblings. With how excited she was, it almost made Frisk feel guilty over the very large likelihood of coming out of the building holding the same opinion on adopting as she did before.

Admittedly, she had, on occasion, wondered what it would be like to have one of the pygmy skeletons in her company, but only after a while of seeing Chara together with Bossanova. She had always been a happy person, but after he entered her life, her joy had increased threefold. Then Frisk began to look around her and see other people happy in the company of their bitties, and the bitties happy and enjoying their company just as much.

Seeing this never-ending circle of happiness unfold around her, it made Frisk want to experience a little bit of that happiness for herself…

But her awkwardness around others was bound to extend to bitties as well. She tried to make conversation, but her attempts always fell flat. It seemed as though she always said the wrong thing, she cared too little or too much about a subject matter, she came off as too clingy one moment and too aloof the next. Relationships of any kind were far too difficult for her to deal with, she surmised.

It was just so much easier to push everyone away. But Chara, she had to be different. She was the only one that pushed back. And she kept pushing until she landed in Frisk's good graces, earned her trust. For years now, Chara's been her only friend, and Frisk was content with that.

But after all that talk of having her to herself for years and it being time to share her with somebody else, Frisk couldn't help but wonder…

Was Chara's relentless endeavoring to convince her of adopting a bitty Chara's way of getting some breathing room? Was their friendship actually smothering her now and she's simply too kind to admit it?

"We're here!" She nearly squealed in Frisk's ear before grabbing her arm, dragging her off the bus and away from her internal monologue. Chara then commenced shoving her towards the adoption center's front doors.

It looked small from the outside, but Frisk knew from Chara's numerous recountings of her previous trips here that there was much, much more space on the inside. It would have to be a big place if it held at least half of all the different varieties of bitties she remembered Chara telling her about in the past half hour, and she hadn't even been listening to most of her rantings during that time, so Frisk was certain she hadn't picked up the names of every one she mentioned.

The bell at the top of the door jingled when it was opened, alerting the keeper of the establishment, the mama, as she recalled Chara explaining. Apparently being the mama didn't require being female, because a very much male arachnid monster wearing a crisp white pocketed apron hurried over to greet them.

"Hi, Chara! I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon. Weren't you here just earlier today?" He then noticed Frisk and sent a toothy smile her way. "My name is Webber. You must be Frisk, right? Chara talks about you all the time whenever she stops by. You were a very cute baby!"

At Webber's sugary-sweet giggle, she slowly turned her head towards Chara in a manner that must have looked like a real-life reenactment of the iconic scene from The Exorcist, who only gave her a goofy face in response to an action that would have greatly disturbed literally anyone else.

"You showed the employees here my baby pictures…?" Frisk hissed between her teeth.

"Yeah." She replied, gleefully pulling out her wallet from her back pocket and unfolding it to pluck out one of the photographs. "He's right, though. You were a really cute baby!"

"Why do you even carry that around with you?!"

"Because you're my sister and I love you."

"…I love you too." Frisk mumbled in defeat, figuring there was no use in getting mad at her over it now; what's done is done.

"So, are you here to browse, or…?" Webber decided to steer the conversation towards something more on topic, his hands clasped and a hopeful sparkle in his eyes - his very many eyes.

Frisk nervously toyed with the collar of her shirt. "I'm actually just here to look-"

"She's kind of on the fence about it!" Chara butted in. "We're going to look around and see if there's any bitty she takes a shine to. I'm sure there's got to be one that she's bound to love with all the different types here."

"We do have a very large selection available, my hands can definitely attest to that! Always busy!" Webber grinned, waving his six hands at her. "It's actually a lot easier to just list the types that aren't here. Even so, I think a bitty of every kind that we know about has been in this building at least once."

Frisk had a feeling she was going to be here for a while, if Chara has her way. She'll most likely insist that they view each and every classification of bitty kept here before allowing her to leave the adoption center's grounds.

"…Hey, Chara? Where's Bossanova?" The spider monster asked as he pointed to her shoulder, now noticing the small skeleton's absence. "He wasn't with you the first time you were here today either…"

"He's been grounded." She answered with a huff. "He bit a guy yesterday while we were out on a walk, so now he's in trouble."

"Oh dear… You do know he only does that because he sees you as his partner and he's upset over what he perceives as competition, right?"

"Yeah, I know. It's flattering sometimes, but really, the poor guy was just asking for directions. It's not like he was flirting with me or anything, even though I am irresistable."

"Oh my stars, Chara…" Frisk thought with an internal eyeroll.

Even though Frisk knew Chara was just joking, well, mostly, she was also right. Chara herself flirted playfully, but she was ironically incredibly dense when it came to others flirting with her. She couldn't differentiate between a serious or teasing atmosphere, so she opted to believe that the latter was always the case, frustrating those that had their eyes on her immensely.

Chara was beautiful and kind, everything that Frisk wasn't. It was obvious to Frisk why she would have a drove of admirers. Of course, since Bossanova's adoption, he did an exceptional job of keeping said admirers at bay despite his small size. At least she could trust in him that he would keep any and all creeps away from her precious sister.

As the discussion over Bossanova stretched on with no conclusion in close sight, Frisk decided to wander away from the two for the time being and check out the center's interior for herself. She soon found herself in a room that was somewhat small for a group composed of a few people, but immensely spacious for a pack of bitties. The walls were painted with soft colors, pastels, and on them were images of stars, fluffy clouds, and other things like what one would expect to find in a nursery. Was this where they kept the children bitties?

If she was ever coerced into adopting a bitty, it wasn't going to be a child. She had little patience for small children, but she supposed there wasn't any harm to be found in looking around.

Frisk quietly tip-toed further into the room towards the nearest pen housing a solitary bitty, all by its lonesome. Leaning closer to examine the monster, it was rather… big for a bitty. It was larger and bulkier than most of the bitties she had seen before, about the size of a teddy bear. She was beginning to have doubts about this one being a baby.

A blanket was thrown over its body and its head was shoved under a pillow, its form almost entirely concealed to her. The bitty's fidgeting was near constant in its slumber, when suddenly, it froze. It remained still as a statue for several long moments. The seconds dragged on, and when those seconds reached minutes was when she wondered if the poor thing had accidentally smothered itself with that pillow in its sleep.

Could skeleton monsters even die of asphyxiation?

Before she could grow too concerned, however, it moved again. The bitty tore off the blanket covering its body and threw the pillow to the side, revealing its full appearance to her – a stocky skeleton monster with a huge, glaring red eye, an unsettlingly wide, toothy grin, and a gaping hole in its head.

"Nope, definitely not a baby!" Frisk thought with growing horror as she jumped away from the pen with a yelp.

This wasn't in any way a nursery, she realized too late. If she had payed attention at all to Chara on the bus ride here, she would have known. This adoption center didn't have children bitties in their care, so they wouldn't need a nursery – this was the room for rescues.

The disfigured bitty didn't seem bothered by Frisk's reaction in the slightest, rising up on its two feet to make its way over to her. There was a thick layer of glass separating the two, but that did little to comfort her in this situation. The monster's glowing eye was trained on Frisk, focused and unwavering as it stepped closer. The bitty didn't stop until it reached the wall of its pen, fully pressing itself up against the glass.

"hhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiii….." The bitty drawled in a deep gutteral tone, smiling at her with a nauseating grin.

There was something clinging to the corners of its mouth; it was either pillow stuffing or he was foaming at the mouth. Frisk slowly backed away from the pen with hands raised in a defensive position, continuing to do so even as the bitty's hands made frantic clawing and grabbing motions at her. On her way out, she bumped into something, whirled around, and let out a scream she didn't even know she had been holding.

"Sorry! Sorry!" It was just Webber. "I didn't mean to scare you! That's, uh, that's Chopper over there. …I can see you two have already met." He winced, taking in the expression on her face, which must have been ghastly.

Chara poked her head in swiftly after. "Did you find Frisk, Webber?"

All Frisk could do was weakly point a trembling finger towards Chopper before rushing forward and throwing her arms around Chara's neck as she tried not to start bawling. Chara wrapped her own around Frisk and began patting the other girl's back and smoothing her hair.

"I know how you feel, Frisk. The first time in the rescue room is always the toughest. I wish you hadn't seen this, not today and not like this."

That sweet little domestic image Frisk held of all the bitties living blissfully alongside their owners had just been shattered – how could someone do this to a bitty?

"…What kind of bitty is he?" Chara inquired curiously after a few minutes of her and Webber making a team effort to calm Frisk down. "He looks like a Sansy, but…"

"That's because he was a Sansy…" Webber began to explain, wringing his apron nervously with his two lowermost hands. "Sometimes certain classifications of bitties come to be when certain conditions are met. In his case, he was a Sansy that became an Axe type bitty due to near starvation and receiving a severe blow to the head. It was a miracle that he survived at all."

"The person that did this to him needs to be dragged out into the streets and shot." Chara immediately replied, perhaps a bit too cheerfully.

Frisk and Webber gazed at her, gobsmacked, along with some of the other bitties in the room. Her remark was so sudden, not to mention disturbing, even Chopper ceased rubbing his face against the glass of his pen to peer at her quizzically with widened eyesockets.

"Er, um, I think you've seen enough of the rescue room today, right, Frisk?" Webber stuttered, looking at anywhere else but Chara at the moment. He then crouched down in front of the now identified Axe bitty and spoke to him in a gentle, encouraging tone, "Say goodbye to Frisk, Chopper."

"b-bye-b-b-bbyyyeeeee…" He managed to choke out, his vocalization almost sounding like a sob.

Frisk whispered a barely audible 'bye' in return before following Webber and Chara out of the room.

She missed the tearful look in Chopper's eyes as he watched her go, his phalanges still making small frantic grabbing motions against the glass wall of his pen at her retreating figure.

~~~~~~~~~~

"…That was horrible." Frisk whispered, every bone in her body quaking.

"I'm so sorry… I usually lock that door. And the one time I don't, somebody new here finds themselves in there, of all places..." Webber wasn't certain whether it would be alright to touch her or not, so his hands hovered about unsurely.

"No, I shouldn't have wandered off in the first place. …I'll be fine. Maybe seeing some happy and healthy bitties would help…?" She offered, anything to get her mind off of the manifestation of humanity's depraved cruelty that was present in that room.

"You still want to?" Chara asked, to which Frisk gave a wordless nod in return. "Alright, but if you need to just let it all out, let me know, okay?" She turned to the arachnid monster. "I can take things from here Webber. I'll show Frisk around the adoption center. I know this place better than the back of my hand!"

"Okay, but if you need me at all, give me a shout or a poke and I'll be there." He called, still concerned as he rushed off to carry out his other duties as the mama of the establishment.

"How about we go see the Sansies, huh?" Chara suggested as she unceremoniously shoved Frisk in the direction of the Sansy pen.

The bitties in this pen were much shorter than Chopper, about the height of your average can of soda, but they had the same thick-boned structure. However, a layer of chub was visible on their stomachs that was absent on the Axe bitty she had encountered. These Sansies seemed to be healthy, that much Frisk could take comfort in.

They seemed content behind the glass of their enclosure as well. Among their utilities was a kiddie pool where one of them was dozing off in a doughnut floatie and another was reclining in a miniature folding chair while appearing to be pretending to sunbathe. The others were either lounging about in various positions, napping outright, or speaking to each other in deep, soft mumbles. They weren't very active bitties, were they?

"A Sansy might be a good match for you, Frisk." Chara spoke, causing some of the little skeletons to turn your way. "They're lazy and round, and they're supposed to be low maintenance. Then again, all bitties are different, even if they are the same type. You might adopt one and end up with a spoiled little prince of a Sansy."

"…Do they bite?" She questioned.

"Only if you deserve it." Chara gave her another encouraging push forward. "Sansies are one of the mildest mannered bitties there is. I can count all the cases I've heard of one biting somebody on one hand."

"yeah, i don't bite, kid." One of the bitties assured as he sauntered towards them, a relaxed grin on his face as he craned his neck up to look at Frisk, topping off his statement with a wink.

The Sansy held both hands behind his back and bounced from one foot to the other, him staring up at her and her staring back. After a long moment of silence, his grin began to slip just a little around the corners as he gazed at her expectantly.

"…I think he wants you to pick him up." Chara whispered not so discreetly in Frisk's ear.

"Is that allowed?" She asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah, it is." Chara snorted as if her inquiry was a completely ridiculous thing to wonder about.

Frisk stole a glance at the Sansy, who was still patiently waiting for the girl to reach down and take him in her hands.

"Go on, I know you wanna poke his belly." Chara repeatedly elbowed her with a grin.

She did, in fact, kind of want to poke his belly, but wouldn't that be kind of rude? But more importantly, it seemed Frisk was the only one out of the three of them present that acknowledged how much could go wrong with this scenario. What if she accidentally dropped him? What if he landed on his head? What if his impact with the floor resulted in the shattering of his skull? He might turn into an Axe variant, just like the one in the rescue room, and all because she hadn't been careful enough with him.

Why was she the only one that seemed to be seriously considering that very real possibility? Did these bitties have any sense of self-preservation in them? Were they really that trusting towards complete strangers to not hurt them?

"…What if I drop him?" Frisk unintentionally voiced her fear aloud.

"You won't drop him." Chara held back a laugh, trying to take her concern seriously but failing – to her, it would be impossible for Frisk to hurt a bitty even by accident with how cautious she was around them.

"hey, look at me for a sec, pal." The Sansy grinned up at her. "you're not gonna hurt me. not even the littlest bitty. everything's going tibia ok."

"…Was that a pun?"

"Sansies love concocting horrible puns. It's their specialty." Chara chimed in. "That's why they're so popular. They've got that jokey demeanor that's somehow also uplifting and reassuring, or that's what I've heard. I didn't adopt a Sansy, so I can't speak from experience."

They were both looking at Frisk anticipatingly now – she was promised that she wouldn't have to interact with any of the bitties if she didn't wish it, and Chara wouldn't force her to if she put her foot down about it, but seeing that Sansy looking up at her with just the tiniest spark of hope in his eyelights made Frisk want to muster up the determination to try.

Gingerly, she bent her upper body over the top of the pen and lowered her hand until it was beside him. He smiled, the wide grin he had been wearing appearing more genuine somehow as he toddled over to the outstretched palm. Rather than climb right into the awaiting hand, he took a moment to gently rub his bony cheek against the tips of her fingers, causing Frisk's hand to twitch and skin to tingle at the contact.

Chara was practically vibrating in place like a bottle of soda about to burst as she watched the interactions between her and the bitty unfold. Frisk could tell she was doing her best not to let out a squeal of delight.

Frisk stared down at the bitty sadly; she couldn't help it. These poor little skeleton monsters with their fragile bones were entirely at the mercy of anyone that walked out with one. Did they know that? Were they even aware of the fact that any of them could end up as one of those Axe variants if they were unfortunate enough to be taken home by a person with enough violence and apathy in them? Maybe it was better for them to stay behind the safety of the walls of their pen instead of risking them being handed out to humans with evil intentions.

A brief and horrifying image of this kind little Sansy that had taken the time and effort to speak with her morphing into an exact replica of Chopper flashed in Frisk's mind before she could stop it.

Just as the Sansy was about to take a seat on her palm, she jerked her hand out of the pen, resulting in him falling backwards and onto his rear. He whipped his head up at Frisk with widened eyesockets and that seemingly permanent grin he wore wiped off, looking for some sort of explanation for her sudden change of heart.

"…I've changed my mind. I don't need to be touching or poking around at anybody here. It's just too much excitement for a first-timer like me."

"…'s alright. i get it. no pressure." The bitty shrugged, trying not to look dejected for her sake as he stood up to rub at his sore tailbone.

She realized then that he had just passed up the opportunity to make another bad pun by correcting you with 'don't you mean any bitty here?'. Her rejection had actually stung so much that he had lost any and all desire to make a joke, something his entire classification of bitty was supposed to enjoy doing and were renown for.

It's all she knew how to do, it seemed – hurt people in some shape or form.

"Chara and I are going to check out the rest of the center, so…" She trailed off awkwardly.

"'k. have fun…" The Sansy replied in a dull tone, shoulders sagged and posture slumped as his dimmed eyelights watched her go.

"Frisk, what was that about?" Chara interrogated once Frisk had speed walked far enough from the Sansy pen.

"I don't know how to explain it, but…" She grimaced, looking her in the eyes. "One moment I was okay with the idea of holding him and then the next, he suddenly looked just like that Axe…"

"What happened in there must have really shook you, Frisk." She sighed, though understanding and sympathetic towards her apprehension. She pointed to the pen behind them with a growing smile. "We're close to the Papy pen, so why don't we look at them? They're sure to raise your spirits."

She didn't know what a Papy was, but if they were ghost monsters of some sort, Frisk was smacking her for that pun.

They weren't, though, so Chara had avoided the consequences of telling a terrible pun. They were skeleton monsters like the Sansies were, and every other bitty she had encountered thus far, but looked radically different. While Sansies were short and stout, these Papys were tall and slender. They looked similar to Bossanova, but just an inch or two shorter and lacked all the features that made Chara's bitty companion appear unfriendly and intimidating.

"HELLO, HUMAN!" One eagerly bounced towards the two with a friendly wave. "MY NAME IS RONDO, WHAT'S YOURS?"

Bossanova? Rondo?

Whoever it was responsible for naming these bitties seemed to have a penchant for music.

"Frisk." She answered flatly, trying not to let her already less than stellar interactions with the hostile Bossanova taint her impression of this entirely unrelated bitty.

"FRISK, THAT'S A NICE NAME!" Rondo beamed at her, then gestured dramatically to the space around him. "HUMAN FRISK, WOULD YOU LIKE TO STEP INSIDE?"

"No thanks. I'm just here to look today, that's all."

Frisk swore her heart panged when she caught the shunned expression that crossed his face for all of a split-second before instantly returning to that smile that was so bright one was almost forced to squint.

"VERY WELL, THEN. I RESPECT YOUR DECISION, HUMAN. MY GREATNESS IS VERY INTIMIDATING, I'M SURE." He placed a gloved hand over his chest, a dramatic wind that came from nowhere causing the scarf tied around his neck to flutter in the nonexistant breeze. "SHOULD YOU HAVE A CHANGE OF HEART, HOWEVER, I, THE GREAT RONDO, WILL BE HERE!"

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind." She nodded in his direction before stepping over towards the next pen.

Oh dear.

Chara gave a gasp of joy at the bitties in what was a new sight to Frisk but a very familiar and nostalgic one for her. Inside was another pack of skeleton monsters, tall and slender like the Papys, but the sharp features they possessed were also extremely recognizable to Frisk due to the time spent around Chara's bitty. Sharp teeth, red eyelights, dark clothing – they were all near exact copies of Bossanova.

"And these handsome little devils are the Edges!" This time, Chara did squeal. "Ah, seeing them makes me miss my Bossanova so much… Why did he have to be a jealous jerk and bite that guy and make me ground him?"

Pushing Chara's prattling out of her mind, Frisk considered moving along to the next pen, as she knew without a single lingering doubt that she wasn't adopting another Bossanova, or Edge, as they were called, but one of the bitties flagged her down before Frisk could get too far.

"HUMAN!" The miniature skeleton wearing the finely tailored black suit and crimson cravat shouted, strutting up to the glass between the two of them with all the confidence of a peacock. He placed one hand over his puffed out chest and scrutinized her condescendingly. "WHEREVER COULD YOU BE RUNNING OFF TO SO QUICKLY? COULD IT BE YOU HAVE BEEN INTIMIDATED BY THE TERRIBLE EDGEWORTH?"

"He has the same name as that character from the game about the lawyers you like so much!" Chara pointed out with apparent glee. "Look at the wittle snappy suit he's wearing; he looks like he could be a lawyer!"

"I AM THE TERRIBLE EDGEWORTH, POWERFUL AND FEARED!" He scowled at her with a light red dusting his pointy cheekbones. He crossed his arms with a huff and turned his nose up. "THERE IS NOTHING ENDEARING ABOUT THE SIZE OF MYSELF OR MY EXTRAVAGANT SUIT, SO CEASE YOUR INANE COOING IMMEDIATELY, HUMAN!"

"See that tiny blush there? He so loves the attention." She leaned over to whisper, not bothering at all with subtlety as she pointed at the fuming Edgeworth. "The defining trait of Edges is that most of them are tsunderes."

"You know I've never really been that fond of tsundere characters, Chara…"

"I know." She sighed wistfully, not taking her eyes off of Edgeworth, who was steaming like a tea kettle at this point with indignation. "I guess the charm of Edges are just lost on you. But that's okay. I totally get it. Edges aren't for everybody. We'll find you a type of bitty that you'll like, I'm sure of it."

With that, she carted Frisk away, Edgeworth still spewing out an endless tirade of scoldings and insistent statements of denial that he appreciated any attention from a lowly insignificant human to their backs.

The next pen was occupied by more Sansies, Frisk thought at first. However, these bitties had rougher and more pointed features than the Sansies, just as the Edges had sharper and more mordacious features than the Papys. They were also noticeably thicker bodied than the Sansies, their clothes being more filled out, especially around the belly area.

Frisk had a secret weakness for small and chubby things, particularly those round birds one would find in the parking lots of supermarkets that weren't so heavy that they couldn't fly, but preffered to hop around on the ground, picking at dropped food morsels with their beaks and only taking flight when they absolutely had to.

That's what these bitties reminded her of.

The fondness she felt for them was immediately replaced with mortification when one took notice of her persisting gaze and grinned, flashing his shark-like teeth. Frisk caught her reflection in the single golden fang in his knife drawer of a mouth.

"c'mere, doll." He nearly purred, pawing at the glass of the pen separating her from him. "I don't bite… much."

"Chara, I'm scared." She whimpered, discarding her cactus armor in favor of cowering at her side like the squishy marshmallow she was inside.

"You are not. He's six inches tall for pete's sake, Frisk, and you thought he was cute just a moment ago! I saw it in your eyes!"

"That was before he opened his mouth."

"Frisk, I won't lie to you and say that Reds don't bite, because they most definitely do." Frisk glared at her, wondering if what she was saying was somehow supposed to be reassuring. "But, it's scientifically proven that Reds are sixty percent more likely to bite you on the first encounter if you're a dude, so you've only got a forty percent chance of being bit!"

"…That's still a pretty big margin for error. I'll pass on this one."

"c'mon, sweetheart. i'll behave." The Red crooned, his mannerisms and sly grin doing little to convince her of his claim holding any amount of truth. "i don't like makin' promises, but i won't bite ya, doll. …maybe give ya some love nibbles 'n a few licks here 'n there, though. eheheh…"

"…The Reds are all perverts, aren't they?" She tilted her head in Chara's direction with a weary gaze. Normally, she'd blush profusely at hearing such a thing, but after the day she'd had, Frisk just didn't have it in her anymore.

"No, they aren't perverts!" Chara wanted to be stern with her, but she couldn't resist laughing at her expression. "Some of them are kind of flirty, okay, a lot flirty, but some of them are more temperamental like the Edges, too. It all depends on the individual personality of the bitty."

"…I still don't feel too comfortable around this one. And I'm not just saying that because of the abundant air of flirtiness around him." Frisk said, stealing a glance at his sharp teeth that would undoubtedly break skin if he did decide to bite. "He looks kind of mean."

"i can be sweet too, if that's what yer lookin' for in a bitty." The Red bargained, beginning to sweat.

She didn't even know skeleton monsters could sweat, but if they can blush then seeing one sweat shouldn't be too jarring to her.

"I'm not looking to take any one of you home today, sorry." Despite his weird display of behavior, she decided it was best to let him down gently.

"tch. fine. be that way, then. you don't gotta make any excuses, dollie. i get it." He scowled at her, failing to hide his hurt and disappointment as he turned away from Frisk and stomped his way to the nearest corner of the pen, sitting down and facing the wall. "guess reds are just too mean 'n ugly for most folks to want…"

"…I never called him ugly." She said, feeling guilty for hurting the bitty's feelings and saying the wrong thing again.

That right there was a shining example of exactly why she didn't need to adopt a bitty. She'd just end up hurting the poor thing, if not physically then emotionally.

Frisk looked around the pen and took note of the fewer number of Reds when compared to the Sansies or Papys. It seemed they really weren't a favorable classification of bitty, otherwise wouldn't the center have more of them around?

"Hey, don't get too bent out of shape." Chara comforted her, picking up on the fog of gloom that was beginning to form around her. "Reds are actually pretty popular among some circles. Like I said about the Edges, they're not for everybody, but some people out there really like their rugged appeal. But when somebody doesn't take to them, Reds do take it pretty hard. He'll be okay, eventually."

She then guided Frisk away from the pen, probably so she wouldn't break any more of their hearts, metaphorically speaking.

The next pen contained more skeleton monsters – in fact, Frisk hadn't ever come across a bitty that wasn't a skeleton monster. Then again, she didn't know that much about bitties. That much, she did know.

The bitties behaved a lot like the Sansies they saw up front, but they had the likeness of Papys, even more so than the Edges. There wasn't any asperity to them – they seemed limp and repose, like long little noodles.

"If you really wanted to, you could absolutely hold a Stretch without any worries over being bit at or scratched." Chara explained, gesturing to one of them that was sprawled out in the lap of a big teddy bear. "You could probably even pick one up and swing him around like a ragdoll and he wouldn't do a thing about it. That's how chill they are."

"That's entirely too chill." Frisk complained, now worried for another type of bitty that apparently didn't have any sense of self-preservation in his bony body.

"you fret too much, honey." One of them sauntered over, having woken up from his nap in the bitty-sized hammock inside the pen.

"…Honey?" She raised an eyebrow at Chara, unimpressed.

"Eheeheehee!" She cackled, earning a sigh from Frisk.

"Another pervy-" Excuse her. "Flirty bitty."

The Stretch in front of them, well, stretched, lightly popping his joints, causing a few of the others in the pen to grimace and send him irritated looks for interrupting their own naps. He either didn't notice or didn't care, preferring to keep his attention on the both of them, but moreso Chara.

"'m name's Bebop, sugar." He introduced himself, punctuated by another pop from his bones.

There was that musical naming theme again. Frisk was surprised nobody here had thought to dress him up like a cowboy…

That's what she would do, anyway.

"Well aren't you a charmer!" Chara was enraptured by every word that fell from his bony mouth; Frisk could already see the signs of infatuation in her eyes as she smiled down at Bebop.

"Wow, Chara. One day without him around and you're already looking for a replacement for Bossanova."

Chara whirled around to face her with an offended gasp, one hand gripped over her heart.

"How dare you say that, Frisk! There's no replacing Bossanova! I probably love him more than I've ever loved myself!"

Huh. Frisk had a suspicion for a while now that this was true, but she wasn't expecting a confirmation of that theory, especially not under these circumstances.

"That's a lot of love." She stated blankly.

"I don't want to replace Bossanova. I just thought it might help improve the more rotten parts of his personality if he had a calmer bitty buddy around him."

"With how jealous he is, and how flirty this one is?" Frisk waved a hand gesturing to Bebop, who only gave a lazy smile and a wave in return. "That sounds like a horrible idea, Chara."

She sighed in defeat, bending down to eye level with him. "I'm sorry, Bebop. Our love just wasn't meant to be."

"i'll be waitin' right here honey, in case you ever change your mind." He placed a hand against the glass of the pen, aligning his tiny one with the middle of her palm, curling his phalanges as if he were attempting to will the glass to break under his touch so he could reach Chara.

…Frisk was beginning to feel like she was witnessing the separation of two illicit lovers on a soap opera or those Spanish telenovelas her mother watched and ate up like candy. Could this technically count as an affair? This was getting weird!

As Chara withdrew her hand, however, she couldn't deny that Bebop's expression seemed somewhat softer, his grin more at ease but melancholy all the same. She thought that he was just going along with Chara's theatrics, but it seemed now that her rejection had sincerely hurt him.

His drooped eyesockets followed her until she was out of sight.

Chara seemed very enthusiastic about what she was about to show Frisk in the next pen. She seemed to be pinning a lot of her hopes on whatever type of bitty it was awaiting her.

"I've never heard of a single instance of one biting anybody! They're highly recommended for someone that isn't experienced in handling bitties, which describes you to a T – perfect for a first bitty. And they're soooooooo cute, even you'll think so, Frisk!"

"I have my doubts, but I'll go ahead and humor you."

Ignoring her sour grapes attitude, Chara stepped in front of the pen, obstructing Frisk's view. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"And these precious little gumdrops are… the Blueberries!"

She stepped aside and allowed her to observe the pocket-sized skeletons. They were yet another classification of bitty that bore more than a few striking resemblances to the Sansies, but instead of appearing intimidating as the Reds were, they had an overall softer look to them. They weren't as round in the stomach as the Reds, but they still had that supermarket parking lot bird aspect to them that Frisk liked. They were playing happily by themselves, or with each other, not a single sign of discontent or quarrel among them.

All until one peered up to look at her with cerulean eyelights which morphed into the shape of stars, followed immediately by the rest halting in whatever action or task each bitty was performing to do the same.

Suddenly, the entire pack of Blueberries were scrambling in her direction. They swiftly began piling up on each other, tripping on the legs of others and knocking one another down until a shouting and flailing mass of skeletal limbs had formed, a messed up chorus of bitties yelling and climbing all over each other for the express purpose of capturing her interest.

"HUMAN! A HUMAN HAS ARRIVED!"

"PLEASE LOOK AT ME, HUMAN!"

"CHOOSE ME, PLEASE! I KNOW HOW TO MAKE TACOS!"

"I KNOW HOW TO MAKE TACOS TOO, BUT BETTER!"

"YOU MAY KNOW HOW TO MAKE TACOS BETTER, BUT I MAKE TACOS THE BEST!"

"LIAR, LIAR, BITTY ON FIRE!"

"PLEASE NOTICE ME, HUMAN!"

Frisk slowly backed away from the pen, even though she was in no amount of danger of the Blueberries escaping. But seeing them all clustered like this shouting at the top of their likely nonexistant lungs was, for her, an extremely anxiety-inducing experience. Their voices were all blended together, their movements blurred. It was becoming more and more of a challenge to discern which one was saying what. They had all but become a hivemind to her.

Frisk tenderly rubbed at her temples, feeling a headache beginning to bloom in her skull. All this noise was proving to be too much for her fragile nerves to handle.

"…I can't do this."

She spun on her heel and began walking, trying to block out the needy cries and whines of the attention deprived Blueberries behind her. She finally stopped once she'd reached the back end of the building, her speedy and abrupt departure forcing Chara to jog in order to catch up.

"I'm sorry, Frisk, that was probably my fault!" She sputtered, doubled over and out of breath. "I told them about you when I was here earlier today, and I guess I got them a little too rowdy."

"Chara, that wasn't even remotely close to 'rowdy'. That was a riot."

"Blueberries are competitive when it comes to adoption!" She sighed, and for the first time in a long, long while, the smile she always wore, regardless of the current situation or mood, had vanished completely. "Frisk, I know I said before that all you had to do today was look around, that's it, but I didn't think then that you'd be like this the entire time…"

"Like what?" She nearly hissed, not liking at all what she was insinuating.

"You're acting completely disinterested, and rude, and… and cold! What's your problem, Frisk?!"

"You can't blame me for acting disinterested, Chara." She barked back, doing everything within her power to keep her own temper in check. "I told you when you first proposed the idea that I didn't want to adopt a bitty, but you just kept pushing and pushing until I finally agreed in allowing you to drag me here."

"So that's what you're calling it – dragging you here." Her shoulders squared as she aimed a glare at Frisk. "You really aren't having any fun at all, are you?"

"How am I supposed to enjoy myself when I know I'm about to lose my best and only friend? Explain that to me, Chara!" She unintentionally exclaimed, causing Chara's eyes to widen in shock and confusion.

"…Frisk, what are you talking about?" Her voice was uncharacteristically faint.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about! You can just say it; I won't get mad, because I understand!" Frisk shouted, turning her gaze towards the floor – she couldn't bear to look Chara in the face as her insecurities and fears bubbled to the surface. "It's the entire reason why you brought me here – if I adopted a bitty, you'd have more time to spend with your other friends or to yourself, right? Being around me is suffocating, isn't it? Having to constantly put up with someone who's so anti-social and mean, who always says or does the wrong thing so much that just about everyone waits until I'm gone just to talk with you… I don't blame you. Not at all. Why wouldn't you look for the first opportunity to get away from someone like that?"

Frisk hadn't realized she was crying until she saw a droplet fall down to her feet. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her nose was running. And right in front of Chara, too. This wasn't the first time she had seen her like this, but it was still something rare for her to witness – Frisk did all her crying behind closed doors if she could help it.

Frisk's only saving grace was the fact that no employees, other visitors, or bitties behind their glass enclosures were present as spectators of her emotional breakdown. Because the absolute last thing she needed right now was someone seeing her in this state and feeling sorry for her. She definitely didn't deserve any pity, not when she was such an awful friend.

That's what she was, an awful friend. A friend so awful that her only companion in life felt that she needed to get a bitty, something that theoretically couldn't run away from her like everyone else, just so she could get a break.

Frisk heard footsteps – Chara's footsteps. She saw her moving through the hair covering her eyes and the tears blurring her vision.

This was it. This was the end of their friendship.

She didn't have to pretend anymore.

She could be free.

Frisk didn't expect to feel arms around her, one around her back and the other behind her head, but she did. Frisk slowly lifted her head from the shoulder her face had been buried in to see familiar red hair and golden flowers.

Chara – her entire form shook as she held Frisk tightly, as if she would slip away and vanish if she didn't.

"Frisk, how could you even think that?" She sniffled, much to her shock. If there was one thing more rare than her seeing Frisk cry, it was Frisk seeing her cry. "That… that's not true! None of that is true! You're my best friend, you're my sister, my sister-friend, and I love you!"

"But I'm a horrible friend…" She wept through clenched teeth.

"No you're not! If anything, I'm the horrible friend!" Chara wailed loudly, pulling Frisk away from herself just enough to look her in the eyes. "I'm the one that's closest to you, the one that's supposed to know you better than anyone else and I didn't even know you felt this way, didn't even notice!"

Oh no, Chara was blaming herself for her episode…

"I didn't want you to adopt a bitty because I wanted to get away from you!" Chara seemed to be mentally assessing all of her previous statements on the subject, not just today, and blanched. "Oh gosh… no wonder you thought that! What I said earlier, I didn't mean it like that! I… I was just so happy after I adopted Bossanova. Despite our… vast and various differences, it really felt like he saw something wonderful in me that most people tend to gloss over and wanted to be with me because of that. Bossanova and bitties in general have brought so much joy to my life that I wanted to share it. You were the one that's made me happiest and has been here with me, despite everything. So I thought that, out of everyone, you deserved that slice of happiness I found the most. That's why I've been so stubborn in pushing you to adopt; I thought that some bitty here might see what I see in you, like what you and Bossanova saw in me..."

Frisk openly sobbed then, wracked with more guilt than before; how could she have ever doubted Chara, her dearest and only friend?

Frisk was thankful that she pulled her back into her shoulder before she could create too much of a racket and cause Webber or some concerned customer to check up on the two of them. What an embarrassing story that would have been for Chara to have to explain. 'My sister is crying because she thought I was trying to get rid of her with a bitty.'

But no, she would never air out her insecurities like that; she'd make a convenient excuse for Frisk, one that wasn't a lie, but would save her from embarrassment and protect her privacy. Because that was the kind of person Chara was.

Chara fetched some tissues from her shoulder bag, drying Frisk's eyes and her's once the both of them had calmed down sufficiently. Thankfully, no one intruded during their moment, and the both of them were cleaned up enough that hopefully nobody would suspect that the two had just been bawling their hearts out to each other.

"I'm so sorry, Chara."

"No, I am. I'm the one that should be sorry." She argued, covering Frisk's mouth for the second time today before she could retort. "I've been way too… forceful, about this whole thing. It's completely true that I had the best of intentions in bringing you here, but the truth still stands that I had to wear you down for literal months and bribe you before you would even begin to consider it. There were things that you enjoyed and went nuts over in your own way that I didn't, but you never tried to cram those things down my throat like I have."

"No, it's really alright. You're just really passionate about bitties and wanted to share that with me. I get that. But, I just really don't think I'm properly equipped to adopt one."

"I understand, Frisk. I really am sorry, for everything. I thought I would be making you happy by bringing you here, but all I ended up doing in the end is make you cry – the last thing I ever wanted to do." She lightly grabbed Frisk's hand and began tugging her along. "Come on, we'll go get dinner and go home if you want, like I promised."

"Wait." She said, wiggling out of her grasp. "We can't go home yet! I… still haven't seen all of the center."

"Frisk, you don't have to force yourself to stay here just to entertain me. You've done enough of that already."

"I… I didn't dislike everything today."

"So you've actually had some fun? Really?" A faint trace of her usual smile was beginning to reappear.

"Really, Chara. I can think of plenty worse ways to have spent my time." A light, airy chuckle escaped her throat, but then she frowned when she remembered the poor, mangled thing of a bitty she had seen when first exploring the center. "But Chara… do you really think a bitty would be safe under my care? When I'm like this? They'd just get hurt."

"Frisk, listen to me." Chara gripped her shoulders, a serious expression on her face. "I wouldn't have even considered bringing you here if I ever once thought you'd hurt a bitty. Someone that would hurt a bitty wouldn't have reacted like you did when you saw that Axe. Someone that would hurt a bitty wouldn't have yanked your hand out of the pen the way you did and refuse to touch any of the bitties because you were afraid of dropping one. Someone that would hurt a bitty wouldn't have cut a conversation short because they were afraid of saying something that would hurt a Papy's feelings. Someone that would hurt a bitty wouldn't have been considerate of that Red's feelings when you shot him down even though you thought he was acting weird. Someone that would hurt a bitty wouldn't have carefully considered what might happen if your friend brought a flirty Stretch to a home with a chronically jealous Edge. Someone that would hurt a bitty wouldn't have walked away from a pen of Blueberries bouncing off the walls, even when this person was a few seconds away from having a nervous breakdown. Even when it looked like you were being unfriendly and rude to someone who didn't know you like I do, you've had nothing but the best intentions in mind for the bitties each and every time. That's why you would make the best bitty owner, in my maybe not so humble opinion."

"…I still don't know how I feel about adoption, but… I'll look around some more and see if there's any one that I like. There must be some pens that we passed up when I was running away from the Blueberries."

"Hmm, just the Blackberries and the Ruses, I think." She mused aloud, going over the map of the adoption center in her head. "I don't think you'd like the Blackberries too much, though, so maybe it's for the best."

"What are they like?"

"Like an Edge and a Blueberry mashed up together."

"Pass." Frisk replied so quickly that it made Chara snort. "What about the Ruses?"

"Weeeell…" She trailed off, bouncing on her heels. "They're like Stretches, but a little more rough around the edges. Some of them can be kind of standoffish at first, but once one decides they like you, they'll smother you in love and will literally die for you."

"That last part sounds a little concerning…" She voiced, the thought of a bitty, something so tiny and fragile, dying for her sake was just too much to bear.

"Some of them get attached to potential adopters easily, so maybe we should skip that one too to avoid any heartbreak, metaphorically speaking."

"That sounds best." Frisk agreed, having seen enough sad bitty faces for one day. "So… what else is there?"

"Well, we're close to where we keep the exotic bitties, over there to your left."

"Exotic? So these bitties are supposed to be rarer than the others?"

"Precisely."

"And undoubtedly more expensive than the others as well."

"…That is also correct."

~~~~~~~~~~

Frisk didn't really see what it was that made these bitties supposedly more special than the others, other than the fact that there were much fewer numbers of them in their pens. However, she soon learned that the reason why they were considered exotic was because most of these types of bitties only came to be from another type of bitty when certain conditions were met – they were similar cases to the Axe bitty, but the changes they underwent were entirely harmless.

The first pen the two of them came across were Sansy variants. They looked like the ones they had seen up front of the store in every conceivable way except for the manner in which they dressed. These bitties were either dressed in overalls and straw hats, or kimonos and sandals over socks. The space around them was covered in plants, mostly tomatoes with potted flowers interspersed here and there, with little ladders for the bitties to climb in order to reach them. On the far left side of the pen was some sort of watering hole, and to the far right were several loose pages with information about the plants in their domain scribbled on, likely by the bitties' own hands judging by the size of the handwriting.

"These are the Farmies. This type of bitty originated in Japan, but a few of them here became influenced without the country's involvement." Chara went on to explain further. "Farmies come to be when a Sansy finds and embraces the values of good honest country field work."

"That must be why there are so few of them." Frisk remarked, causing her and even a few of the bitties to laugh. "Only Japan could have taken a few lazy lumps of skeleton and turned them into this."

"Farming has done nothing to diminish their relaxed ways of life. They work hard, but also at their own pace." Chara corrected her, nodding to one of the Farmies that was taking a nap under the shadow of a looming tomato, a bitty-sized watering can resting at his side. "As you can imagine, they're loved amongst the agricultural community, but also by sweet little old ladies with gardens."

"I bet if dad doesn't have one of them already, he'd love one." Frisk then frowned. "I don't really know that much about what's going on in his life since he and mom split up…"

Before Frisk could dwell too much on her unfortunate family situation, Chara began pulling her away to look at the other exotic bitties there. When she bid them farewell, one of the kimono-clad monsters folded both hands on his lap and bowed before sending them off.

One type of bitty they saw was so rare, there were only two inside the pen. They must have been Papys at one point from what you could tell. Frisk couldn't see that much of them because they seemed bent on hiding as much of themselves from them as possible. Apparently this classification of miniature skelton was so rare, bitty researchers couldn't decide amongst themselves if they should be labelled as Greens or Asters, according to Chara. Unfortunately, all the attention they received over their rarity had made them rather quiet and withdrawn.

Their neighbors in the pen opposite were far less shy. There were four of them, and just as with the Greens or Asters, researchers weren't quite sure what brought them into existence. All that was known was that they stemmed from Sansies. But they didn't resemble Sansies in the slightest, to Frisk. They were tall, not as tall as a Papy, an Edge, or a Stretch, but definitely taller than a Sansy. They didn't dress like Sansies, either. These bitties resembled some of the J-Rock boyband members that Chara became obsessed with in her teenage years, with their leather jackets and combat boots; one of them was even holding an acoustic guitar, strumming the strings of the instrument with evident skill and quietly mouthing lyrics to himself.

One aspect about them made every single cell in her body freeze with pure terror when she noticed it, however. Their faces, all four of them, had identical hairline cracks over their eyes that stretched down their cheeks, and in their palms were holes that were so deep they spanned all the way to the backsides of their hands.

These bitties had been hurt, that was all she could think of at the moment. Before Frisk could sink too deeply into her trepidation, Chara quickly rectified her hasty presumption.

"I know what you're thinking, Frisk, but those cracks and holes are completely natural for Gs. None of these guys have even been adopted before, and nobody that works here would do anything bad to them and get away with it alive. Not while I'm around, anyway."

"But don't they… hurt?" Frisk inquired, gesturing to her own face and then the center of her hand.

"Not at all." The G holding the guitar answered for her. "But thanks for the concern. Nobody's really ever went out of their way to ask us that before. It's sweet."

His voice was low with a slight rasp, different from the deep and lazy tone the Sansies spoke in, but also not too different.

And then she realized that this bitty just called her sweet.

"Uhm… nobody's really said anything like that to me, either." She stammered, only to make another embarrassing realization, and that realization being that she was blushing.

And Chara and the bitty were enjoying it immensely.

"Gs are entertainment bitties. They charm the masses with their voices and fingerwork on the guitar strings." Chara quipped, her grin reminding Frisk of a certain meme involving a smug smiling cat.

"That makes them sound more like performers than bitties, from what I know about the both of them. Their talent sounds appealing, but couldn't someone adopt them for the sole reason of taking advantage of that?"

"You're a worrier, aren't you?" His tone wasn't patronizing, but Frisk felt so when she heard him chuckle, golden eyes gazing at her with mirth. "We're well taken care of here and our caretakers do their best to ensure we're handed over to people that won't take advantage of or abuse us, but sometimes fate deals you an unlucky hand. It's a sad fact of life, but that's reality for you."

"And you're… okay with that? You aren't ever concerned about falling into the hands of a bad person?"

"Of course it's something that some of us think about, but we don't let it consume our every thought. Monsters are a hopeful people, and that includes us bitties. We've all got our own seperate thoughts and feelings, but the majority of us try to look at the good in a person and hope for the best."

She took a moment to absorb his words. Frisk had heard before that the SOULs of monsters were made of love, hope, and compassion. It was a truly beautiful sounding thing, she thought. But these bitties' innocent hope that they would be adopted out to a home that would treat them well and love them and wouldn't use and abuse them, it was more heartbreaking to her, mainly because of the overhanging layer of hopelessness to the situation should they end up in one of the homes that would bring harm to them without care.

Another husky chuckle from him caught her attention.

"Although, there's something you could do to prevent that." He appeared pensive for a moment, inclining his body closer towards Frisk before breaking out into a broad grin and wiggling an eyebrow(eyebone?) at her. "You could take me home with you. Then neither you or I would have any reason to worry about me being adopted out to a bad home, because that's something you're obviously concerned over. I've got a nice life here, but being fussed over by you doesn't sound too bad at all."

"…Chara, we're going. He's making fun of me."

"No, no, wait! Come back!" He wheezed between his sputters of laughter at her scandalized and disgusted expression. "I won't tease you anymore, at least not over that."

Frisk huffed, her cheeks still pink, but at least she'd stopped shoving Chara away from the pen.

"'m sorry. I'm not trying to make fun of you, honest. It's just… really adorable that you care as much as you do." He laughed again, propping himself up on one elbow and resting his fist under his chin.

"If you're wanting me to take you home, you're really not helping your case here, pal."

"Probably not. But let me try to make it up to you?" He retrieved his guitar from where it was resting at his side. "I'm not that good, so don't hold your expectations too high, but I can guarantee it'll come directly from the SOUL."

Frisk could admit to herself that ever since Chara mentioned them being bitties that entertained, she was curious as to how he would sound. It looked like her curiosity was about to be sated when he began strumming the opening to a song that might have been familiar to her.

"There was a time I was in love

and all the angels and the doves

couldn't make her say

'I love you…'"

And heavens above, his playing, his voice was nearly divine. If he referred to this as 'not that good' then she was utterly terrified of what he considered to be exceptional.

This skeleton, about the size of a doll, had captured Frisk's complete and unwavering attention, and he was fully aware of this, looking up from his instrument to gaze up at her with a smug grin. But she was too enraptured with his playing to do something childish in retaliation like stick her tongue out at him.

"Hello, goodbye, t'was nice to know you

How I find myself without you

Hello, goodbye, I'm rather crazy

And I never thought I was crazy..."

Finished, he set his guitar to the side again and winked. "So, and be honest now, how'd you like my little performance?"

"Eh, it was better than 'not that good'." Frisk replied.

Hey, she was being honest with him, just not completely honest.

Her answer seemed to satisfy him, his smirk growing wider. "Oh?"

Then he had the audacity to flutter his eyesockets at her, both elbows resting on his knees and chin resting on his bony knuckles. The nerve, the unadulterated nerve.

But the truth was, this bitty had honestly almost convinced her in considering adopting him. The teasing was a bit irritating, but it wasn't out of malice. It was little different than when Chara did so. She knew that monsters were made of magic and were adept at using it – did he use the power of his voice to persuade her like some sort of skeletal siren? Yes, that had to be it.

But the truth still remained that Frisk was seriously mulling over the idea of taking him home with her. And he seemed to know it, because behind the complacentness of his grin and mischievous glint in his eyes was a genuine enthusiasm over possibly finding where it was he belonged.

And then it was all ruined once she spotted the small plaque fastened to the base of the pen listing the adoption fee. Frisk paled.

"Um, could-uh, could you excuse us for just a moment? Girl talk." Frisk stammered as she grabbed Chara by the neckline of her sweater and tugged her away, but he didn't seem to notice her unease.

"Take your time." He waved, that grin of his still in place.

She dragged Chara out of earshot of the Gs and stared at her with wide eyes, wheezing.

"What's up?" She had the courage to ask, taking in Frisk's expression that was reminiscent of a pigeon shot with a peashooter.

"Chara… did you take a look at the adoption fee attached to that guy?" She choked, grabbing one of her shoulders as leverage to steady herself, knees weak. "I could buy a Nintendo Switch and every single game that's been announced and released for it that I've expressed the slightest bit of interest in for the price over his head!"

"Don't you mean under his head?" Chara bantered, to which she gave her a dry stare. "Yeah, the kind of people you see with a G bitty are usually famous songwriters and singer-type persons, or wealthy people in general. Their rarity and rising popularity caused their price to catch up with them."

Frisk managed to halfway compose herself before facing the bitty again. She wasn't looking forward to what she was about to tell him.

"…I can't adopt you. I'm sorry."

"…Oh." He uttered after a pause that was much too long, the corners of his mouth downturned slightly.

While she had looked like a pigeon shot with a peashooter, he just looked as though he were shot, directly in the heart. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Perhaps it was more appropriate to say shot in the SOUL? Either way, he looked hurt. And so did Frisk.

"Can I… can I at least ask why?" He questioned, before deciding better of it – maybe he didn't want to know the answer. "Never mind, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

She wanted to give him an answer that would leave him with no further disappointment, but at the same time, how could she effectively explain to him that her decision was made through no fault of his own, it was just because he was expensive and she was a flat broke currently jobless college graduate?

"It's nothing that you've said or done, it's not you, let me make that clear!" She waved her hands about frantically before growing still. "It's just that… you are a luxury that few can afford. And I cannot afford the luxury that is you…"

"…Eh?" His expression looked less hurt now and more confused.

…He had no idea how much he was worth.

Frisk crouched down to eye-level with him as Chara had done with Bebop earlier.

"Listen, I sincerely hope, with all my heart and SOUL, that you find a good home with a loving owner that can provide for you in a way that I… well, can't. I was getting ahead of myself back there. I didn't consider the fine print behind adopting you and accidentally got your hopes up. And for that, I apologize."

He gave a single nod accompanied by a deep sigh, looking more perplexed than ever with her explanation.

"Alright. I can't say I understand your reasoning because that'd be lying directly to your face, but I respect your decision."

"It was nice meeting you." She offered, not wanting their conversation to end on a sour note.

"Same."

Frisk and Chara moved on before they could get too sentimental, but as soon as the both of them were out of earshot he turned around to face his other three companions.

"A luxury few can afford… What in the name of creation is that supposed to mean?!"

~~~~~~~~~~

"I feel like garbage. I should probably lie down." Frisk muttered, still feeling terrible for dashing yet another bitty's hopes for adoption.

Chara patted her back consolingly as she led her around the exotic bitty pens in an effort to cheer Frisk up. She showed her Inkies – Sansies that had transformed after being exposed to the mighty power of art, Gasters – the tallest of discovered bitties, whose lower bodies turned to goop when they were scared (which was often), and the Lamias – Frisk sped right past them once she figured out what they were. She bore an intense fear of snakes, which had only heightened after several years ago when one of their crazy neighbors had illegally purchased a python from the dark web and then didn't bother to feed it. It soon managed to escape their neighbor's house and began searching for food elsewhere, and that food had almost been Frisk.

Frisk has led an interesting life.

She had fun with Chara. Frisk had entered the store a few minutes after twelve and it was close to evening now.

"Well, we've spent all this time here and I still haven't found a bitty to adopt." She remarked, realizing the irony of her statement – she enjoyed herself much more than she thought she would, but was still leaving the building empty handed.

"I'm positive you would have left this store with that G if he hadn't been so ungodly expensive." She was probably right, Frisk wasn't willing to admit. "Hey, that Sansy you first saw seemed to like you an awful lot. You won't have to pay an arm and a leg to walk out of here with him, and Sansies aren't bad singers at all if you can prompt them into it."

"I still don't think I'm ready to adopt a bitty, though." She confessed, knowing that the G being out of her reach was probably for the best - she probably would have made a very rash decision had it not been for that.

"Alright, then. You've held up your end of the deal, so now it's my turn. What do you want to eat for dinner, Frisk?"

"Okay, I've had hours to think about this, but I'm still not entirely sure." She mused, going over your favorite fast-food restaurants. "Maybe fried chicken? Burgers? Want to go get pizzas? I'm up for just about anything, really."

"Pizzas sound good! I'll get mine with pineapple!"

"Pizzas it is, then."

With that over and done with, she and Chara made their way to the door. The moment Frisk stepped outside, though, a scream pierced the air around them.

"NOOOOOOOO! DOOOON'T GOOOOOOOOOO!"

The next thing they knew, the two of them spotted a bitty, a hysterically sobbing Blueberry, sprinting across the floor at mach speed. And his targeted destination was the open door leading to the outside.

"Somebody stop him!" Webber had burst from the rescue room with a shout, spontaneously summoning an army of employees to catch the runaway bitty.

He dodged the swipes of their hands that came his way, leaping and skidding out of their impending grips until he had reached the doorway in literal seconds. Frisk probably should have closed the door instead of standing there gaping, but she had honestly froze up at witnessing the chaos unfolding around her and it all happened so fast.

Just when the bitty thought he was home free, she reached down and plucked him from the ground in one swift motion, the tiny skeleton screeching and struggling in her hold.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! THIS IS ALL SOME BIG MISUNDERSTANDING, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!" He persisted, the volume of his voice only getting louder and louder to the point that it nearly shook the windows. "SHE DIDN'T LEAVE ME HERE, SHE WOULDN'T EVER HAVE! NOT ON PURPOSE!"

His shouts of protest soon morphed into incomprehensible shrieks; nothing he said was making any sense anymore. As Frisk finally closed the door and began making her way towards Webber to return the emotional bitty, an abrupt pain shot through her. She let out a yelp, inadvertly tightening her grip around the Blueberry.

He had bit her.

And he had bit her hard, grinding his teeth against the thumb across his chest. It was drawing blood now, and it poured freely from her wound and down her wrist.

"Chara… I thought you said you never heard of one of these biting anyone!" Frisk managed to wheeze, tears beading at the corner of her eyes.

"I never have! …Until now!" She squeaked, trying to gently pry the bitty's mouth from her skin, to no avail.

Several other worried workers tried to coerce him into letting her go, their efforts proving useless. Frisk was certain that if he didn't release her soon she was going to die of bloodloss. The thought of pinching his nasal ridge and blocking his nostrils entered her mind, but would that even affect him? He's a skeleton monster – did they even need to breathe? Before she could settle on her next course of action, the Blueberry suddenly stilled. Slowly, he released her thumb from his maw.

He panted, eyesockets dancing across the room until they finally settled on her. Then he slowly turned his head downwards to look at Frisk's hand, blood still seeping from her thumb like a waterfall. His eyelights shrunk to miscroscopic pinpricks.

"I… I'M SO SORRY…" He choked, now full of remorse. "I… I DIDN'T MEAN TO… I…"

'Well, you did.' She wanted to snap after the pain he just put her through, but one look at his tearful expression made her think better of it.

Sighing, she slowly loosened her grip on him. His posture tensed, braced for what could be the worst. Instead of flinging him, Frisk pulled the distressed bitty to her shoulder and cradled him, rubbing little circles into his back with one finger.

"…It's alright. Just don't do it again, please. That really hurt."

He let out another agonized wail, ashamed. A fresh series of sobs escaped the Blueberry bitty as another string of apologies fell from his mouth. Each time it seemed he was close to calming himself, he would take a look at Frisk's bleeding hand or his bloodstained clothes and break out into another round. It wasn't long until her shirt had a large wet spot from where he had cried so much. Some of the employees tried to take him from her, but she batted their hands away, a bit irritated with them that they couldn't seem to comprehend that now was not the time for that.

When his howls finally died down to sniffles, Frisk had expected some sort of incoming explanation for his behavior, an attempt at saving face after that random violent episode, but instead he seemed more concerned with seeing that her injury was tended to.

Rather than Webber or one of the other employees getting her a roll of bandages or the like, they were rather insistent on getting the bitty to take care of it. Was that supposed to be some sort of punishment for biting her and causing the damage in the first place? It definitely hurt, she couldn't deny that, but he was clearly having a panic attack or something of the like when he did so, so she didn't think it was exactly fair of them to expect him to make up for something he didn't have any conscious control over.

Still, the Blueberry didn't argue with this decision, probably still too wracked with guilt to argue, she presumed.

Frisk waited, but there were still no rolls of bandages or any other type of medical supplies being passed off to the bitty. Just how was he expected to help her if they weren't going to give him anything to help her with…?

There was a noticeable lull in the space around them, Webber, the employees, and even Chara eyed the Blueberry bitty in her bloodied hand with anxious expressions; hopeful, but nervous.

Before Frisk could question this, he then placed his mouth over the gaping wound in her thumb, making her gasp at the sudden contact, since the last time he had done so, it was to bite her, even if unintentionally.

He was kissing her – kissing her thumb to be precise. And despite being a skeleton, a magical skeleton monster, but a skeleton nonetheless, it felt very much like an actual kiss should have felt.

And Frisk being Frisk, inexperienced in the ways of regular and expected physical contact, could only let out an undignified squawk at the gesture, her gaze bouncing around to every person present, and she at a complete loss on what to do in this situation. …Why was no one explaining anything to her?!

The miniature skeleton pressed his bony lips more firmly to her wound, and suddenly, the room was bathed in a faint cerulean light. Her bleeding had ceased, and the wound itself seemed to have shrunk somewhat in size, but when he pulled away, there was still a certain pain present in the affected area. It would probably be sore and bruised over in the next few days.

"…THAT'S THE BEST I CAN DO AS OF NOW. I'M SORRY…" He lamented, looking far more exhausted than he had been before.

"Th-That's alright. Thank you for healing me…" She stuttered, grateful for his effort anyway.

His eyesockets drooped; he staggered and swayed in her hand, latching onto Frisk's other fingers for support. She had heard of certain monsters possessing healing magic, but how effective it was depended on their statistics, specifically their HoPe. Father was an excellent healer. So was mother, but Toriel had experienced so much tragedy through the years that her healing magic wasn't as effective as it used to be.

But for this monster to be this worn down after using that little amount of magic, his HoPe must be severely low…

The employees were still fluttering around her, ready to take him from Frisk's hold. However, when one strayed to close, the Blueberry let out a soft gasp and leaped to cling to her drenched top. Such a reaction would be concerning if it wasn't for the apologetic and sheepish expressions on their faces when he did so. They looked worried for the both of them.

"Y-YOU'RE NICE… YOU DIDN'T GET MAD AT ME, EVEN AFTER I BIT YOU. I… I DIDN'T MEAN TO! BUT I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE RIGHT NOW." His voice dropped to a near whisper. "She said I had a home with her… She promised…"

Frisk thought she had an idea of what had caused this bitty to have an emotional meltdown. From the sound of it, this bitty had a previous owner, but he had been returned here against his will.

It was a tragic situation, but bringing him back to the adoption center was a far better fate than being neglected and abused or set free where anything could happen to him.

"W-WERE YOU LEAVING BEFORE?" The bitty asked, one tiny fist inadvertly clenching the fabric of her shirt. "DO YOU… DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO GO NOW…?"

She and Chara had just been about to leave, but abruptly handing him off to the employees now after all that just seemed wrong. He clearly still needed some form of reassurance, some form of comfort, and for whatever reason, this bitty felt that Frisk was the one who could give that too him at this moment.

She cradled him against her shoulder and rubbed a finger down his spine. "I can stay for a little while longer."

And just that was enough for the Blueberry to relax somewhat – he already looked far calmer than he had been mere seconds ago. He clung to and nuzzled against her as an employee pointed her towards a cozy but spacious room to the left – the bitty interaction area. It was getting late into the evening so there shouldn't be as many customers as there would have been when she and Chara first arrived earlier, but the room was conveniently empty. She settled herself onto a plush couch, the low volume of the TV serving as white noise.

"…Do you have a name?" Frisk asked after a few silent minutes of holding the bitty.

"NO. NOT ANYMORE." He answered, his tone listless. "I'VE HAD MANY NAMES. BUT THEY AREN'T MINE NOW. AND WHEN I DO HAVE ONE… I NEVER GET TO KEEP IT FOR LONG BEFORE I HAVE TO GIVE IT BACK."

"Didn't the adoption center ever give you one?" She asked, remembering Rondo, Edgeworth, Bebop, and less pleasantly Chopper – they lived here and they had names.

"NO! I DON'T WANT A NAME FROM THE CENTER. I WANT ONE FROM MY OWNER. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANY NAME UNLESS IT'S FROM MY OWNER!" His voice rose, causing her to jump a little.

At feeling Frisk's body jerk, the bitty flinched himself, ashamed of his sudden outburst.

He had been adopted and returned several times – did he even know how many times his hope had been raised only to be dashed when he was once again coralled into a carrier and returned to the familiar center? He had lost count long ago. Numbers were meaningless to him now.

Many would argue that awaiting adoption in a store where all his needs were tended to meticulously by a caring staff was a merciful existence compared to those who were mistreated or abused by their owners when they were no longer wanted, but he couldn't find it in himself to look at his situation from that perspective.

The Blueberry knew there were far more unfortunate bitties than himself in the world, but the pain and longing in his SOUL for companionship just became too much some days that it felt as though he were slowly withering away and nobody noticed or cared.

Frisk wondered what it was about this specific Blueberry that caused him to be adopted out and returned numerous times.

Chara had been visiting the center since it opened; she was probably aware of his story. Even so, Frisk felt that to ask her would be an invasion of his privacy. Chara hadn't followed them into the room in order to give the pair privacy, but right now Frisk found herself at a loss on what to do and wished her friend were here to guide her in this predicament she'd found herself in.

It was obvious to her, even though he hasn't said anything yet, that the Blueberry without a name was already growing attached. Frisk hadn't come here looking to adopt, and if she felt that she couldn't provide for a healthy bitty, then she certainly wasn't equipped to provide for a bitty that was clearly emotionally damaged and possibly unstable.

But… she could understand his pain all too well.

Frisk was never friends with someone for long before suddenly they removed themselves from her life altogether. It was always for some reason or another, but the sole constant among them was their reason for withdrawing was placed solely on her shoulders – it was always her fault, something that she said or did. Just her. The only person that never ran away, placed blame on, or took advantage of her was Chara. And even then, Chara had to fight tooth and nail to get the other girl to accept her friendship. Frisk had been hurt so many times, she had began erecting barriers around herself to avoid others, no longer trusting. She had lowered them for her, but never since has this happened again.

But this bitty, unlike her, had never truly lost hope. He graciously opened the doors to his SOUL whenever a new owner entered his life, despite everything he experienced thus far, because the fear of turning away someone that might truly come to love him vastly overweighed the fear of being hurt once again. And hurt again he was – time and time again.

The two sat in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. It was a peaceful calm.

"…ENOUGH ABOUT ME. WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" He had timidly asked after shouting at her.

"…Frisk."

"THAT'S A NICE NAME."

"No it's not. It's weird."

He only shook his head once with a gentle smile, saying softly before falling into silence, "I like it."

Frisk's gaze was on the TV in front of them, but she wasn't really paying attention to the program playing on the screen at all. Her thoughts were swimming, thinking of everything and nothing all at once.

She hadn't noticed that, shortly after his outburst, the Blueberry bitty in her company had moved from clinging to her shoulder to her chest, directly over where her heart resided. He was listening to the rhythm of her heartbeat, nearly lulled into slumber with the combination of her absentminded strokes beginning at the back of his skull and ending at his lower spine. Up and down. Slowly.

She was also unaware of the faint glowing of her SOUL at this time, as well as his. Both were so absorbed in their thoughts and emotions, neither noticed. Glow and fade. Glow and fade. Brightened then dimmed. Brightened and dimmed. The two's SOULs flickered in perfect sync with each other – a SOUL resonance.

Only monsters and humans that shared a strong bond with each other could perform such a feat, and the two were entirely unaware of it. Their feelings were unconciously shared with one another, his and her pain and hardships were conveyed to one another in a language that stretched beyond vocalization, a conversation without the need for words.

Their SOULs spoke with each other in a manner unlike either had ever experienced before, as if comforting one another. Frisk found herself feeling more at ease with herself and the world. And now bearing knowledge of the tender secrets her guarded SOUL was whispering to his, he felt as though this human had been specially crafted by the heavens above solely for him – a reward just for him for his longstanding and unwavering faith.

He wondered if such thoughts could be considered selfish, even delusional, but he couldn't stop them. His SOUL was calling out to him, nearly shouting, telling him – "She's the one. She's the owner you've been looking for. She came for you."

And it did seem as though fate itself and the forces that be alligned just to make this meeting possible. An injured young woman who held no interest in bitties appearing before him, encountering her just as she was about to leave, perhaps forever, and she showing interest in him, being gentle towards him when he had not been to her. She was kind to him even after injuring her. Understanding when he couldn't properly heal the wound he caused despite his best efforts. And now she was spending time with him, holding him close against the most vital part of her human body, even though she had been about to leave before meeting him.

He wondered if this was what love felt like. It had to be.

The bitty lifted his head to gaze at her, his baby blue eyelights shifting into pulsating hearts throbbing in time with the beat of her heart and the synchronized wavelength of their SOULs.

Frisk happened to peer down just as he did so and stilled like a deer in the headlights, immediately taking notice of the expression of pure affection on his little porcelain doll-like face. He was staring up at her expectantly, like nearly all of the other bitties she had interacted with today. Except this expectant stare reached an entirely new level of intensity by far.

And all Frisk could think was 'this wasn't suppose to happen. This shouldn't be happening.'

But it was.

Taking a deep breath, she moved him away from her chest. He instantly found himself missing the warmth, but settled into the palm of her hand and took hold of her thumb, showing caution in avoiding her injury when nuzzling against the digit. He wasn't showing any awareness of the somber and regretful mood encompassing the human holding him, his tiny hands stroking over the wounded flesh with a feather light touch so as not to aggravate it further.

His oblivious gestures of adoration only made what Frisk was about to do more difficult.

"…Isn't it about time for the shop to close for the evening?" She asked, her voice more faint than she wanted it to be. "Shouldn't you be getting settled for the night?"

His eyelights immediately lost their heart shape, turning into wobbly spheres as he stared at her in disbelief.

"...WHAT?" He questioned, unblinking. "B-BUT I THOUGHT…"

"Yes. I know what you thought…" Frisk bit her lower lip, nearly puncturing it as she did so in her nervousness. "But I didn't come here today to adopt a bitty. I can't adopt any of you. I'm not the right person."

"T-THAT ISN'T TRUE!" He protested, his hands fluttering over his ribcage. "I FELT IT! YOU'RE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR ME! MAYBE THE ONLY ONE! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE FOR ME! MY SOUL TOLD ME SO! A-AND YOURS… DIDN'T YOU FEEL ANYTHING LIKE THAT TOO…?"

She had felt something similar indeed. A SOUL resonance was the equivalent of one SOUL tenderly embracing the other – it wasn't something total strangers could do with each other, in theory. It was a gesture that involved meaning. A strong emotional bond; platonic, familial, or romantic, had to exist between the individuals involved. But Frisk had experienced a feeling of kinship with him, empathizing, it was almost like a feeling of finally finding the place where one belonged after endless searching. But it was the very fact they so easily and effortlessly resonated that scared her.

"YOU DID FEEL SOMETHING SIMILAR, DIDN'T YOU?" The Blueberry bitty in her palm smiled almost manically, but his eyes were pleading and glazed over with tears. "YOU UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL, AND I FEEL THE SAME AS YOU. THAT'S WHY OUR SOULS RESONATED WITH EACH OTHER'S WITHOUT ISSUE! IT WAS A PERFECT RESONANCE WITHOUT FLAW! SO WE'RE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER!"

"No. You're wrong." She weakly shook her head. "The fact that our SOULs resonanced at all is exactly why this can't work. I've… been hurt. My HP is low. And yours is too. I felt it. You need someone with high HP; someone that will share their HoPe with you, someone that will raise yours instead of bringing it down further. And I'm not the person that can do that for you. I'm not what you need. Do you… understand?"

Frisk was expecting wailing or an extreme meltdown like when he attempted to escape the center earlier, but all he did in response to her rejection was tilt his head slightly downwards to avoid her serious gaze, tears streaming down from the corners of his eyesockets as he responded in a quiet, fragile, and defeated whisper,

"NO… I DON'T UNDERSTAND. NOT AT ALL…"

The Blueberry bitty didn't struggle or make any further protest when she brought him to the front desk to return him under the staff's continued care, telling herself that this was the best she could do for him. It didn't matter how easily their SOULs resonated with one another – the easier he could resonate with her, the more unmatched they were, she thought. He needed someone that could show and give him what she never could – HoPe.

And what a cruel irony it was – she had given him more HoPe than anyone he had ever met and probably ever would in the future, if he still had one, that is.

He didn't need someone with an outpouring of HoPe.

He needed her.

"I truly hope, with all my heart and SOUL, that you'll find the owner right for you." She said before leaving him, but he didn't offer her a single reply, only a blank and emotionless stare.

He already found the right owner for him.

And she was going out that door, out of his SOUL's reach.

His eyes were trained on her as she left the center with Chara, staring at her for as long as he was allowed before Webber scooped him up to carry him back to the rescue room for the evening.

He wondered if he would live to see the sun again tomorrow morning. Nothing seemed to matter anymore now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Chara stepped towards the bus stop, but a slight tug on the sleeve of her sweater stopped her.

"Can we… take the long way home…?" Frisk asked, her emotional exhaustion plain and visible in her expression.

"…If that's what you really want." She answered, having thought that her friend might want to sit down for a spell after everything she had experienced today.

Frisk was tired. So tired. But she felt the need to move, to walk away with her own two legs even though they felt heavy as lead.

She and Chara trudged down the sidewalk, about five miles away from their street and night vast approaching, but their town was safe and both of their parents had been informed they might be returning home late, so they weren't in any hurry.

And Chara could tell Frisk needed some quiet time. She didn't say a word as they walked home, knowing the other's mind was likely plenty noisy at the moment. Frisk's eyes were far off and distant, meaning her thoughts were anywhere but here, and if Chara were to guess, she would be more than willing to bet on the probability of her thoughts being on a lonely Blueberry bitty at the adoption center they just left.

She was disappointed when Frisk had returned him to the establishment, but she understood that her reason for doing so was out of kindness. Even so, she was worried. For the both of them, and was left wondering if this truly was for the best like Frisk insisted.

They were now passing through a farmers market, the shopkeepers still pushing for sales despite the late evening hour, but it wouldn't be long before they too would be packing up their produce for the night and returning to their own homes. Frisk lifted her heavy head and spotted one of the straw-hatted vendors with a Farmy bitty sitting on his shoulder and swinging his legs as he nibbled on a cherry tomato.

Her heart hurt. Her SOUL hurt.

She really had wanted to take him home with her.

She argued with herself that this was for the best, that Blueberry would soon find an owner just for him, that would love and never abandon him, that would give him everything he needed that she couldn't ever hope to provide.

She continued to tell herself this as a plethora of unpleasant thoughts and scenarios plagued her mind.

"When a monster's HP drops to zero, they dust."

When she handed him over to Webber, he had been silent, limp, and listless, when his reaction to rejection, as she previously observed, had been a loud outburst of screaming and tears and a violent flailing of skeletal limbs.

His eyelights had looked dull and lifeless when she left, and all she could picture now was the morbid image of the spider monster checking up on him in the morning only to find a small pile of dust where he had tucked him in the night before.

Frisk was quietly sobbing before she knew it.

She recalled the loving expression on his face as she held him close to her in comfortable silence, their SOULs resonating just as he had said they did, perfectly and without flaw. Frisk despised such words as 'perfection' and 'flawless' because such things didn't exist in human beings or even monsters, but there truly was no other manner in which to describe it.

She had been everything he had ever wanted. And he was everything she wanted too.

And she had just ignorantly thrown that connection away. Tossed it aside.

…Why did she ever think what he needed was an owner with substantial HoPe?

Couldn't they heal each other?

Frisk's steps screeched to a grinding halt. Chara turned towards her, concerned and prepared to ask what was wrong with her friend, but before the first syllable could leave her lips, Frisk swiftly turned around and ran with more purpose than she ever had before in her life.

She raced through the farmers market, not hearing Chara's questioning cries and pleas for her to slow down as Frisk's pace quickened ever further. Frisk was bumping into every person that crossed her path, and she was far too focused to apologize at this moment, but she did acknowledge that she may have knocked over one vedor's cart in her rush to get to her destination.

"MY CABBAGES!"

Yes, she most definitely knocked over that cart, she realized.

But there was no time to stop! She could do that later. If she stopped now, or even slowed down, she might be too late!

She reached the adoption center within minutes, wrapping her hand around the door's handle and praying that they hadn't closed and locked up for the night. They hadn't, but even if they had, the lock would have given in easily from the force with which she swung the door.

Ignoring the alarmed reactions from the staff, she made a beeline for the very room she had walked out of the first time that day filled with fear, the second sorrow, and now inside with DETERMINATION.

She slammed open the door to the rescue room with a resounding echo, which probably wasn't the best thing she could have done in a room reserved solely to injured and anxious bitties, but all caution had been thrown to the wind at this point. Her eyes scanned over the pens until she found her bitty. She immediately bent over the glass wall that came up to her chest in height and reached down to snag the Blueberry, nearly falling in the enclosure with him in the process.

He gave a startled squeak at being grabbed so suddenly, but any sense of fear within him vanished and was promptly replaced with confusion once he saw the face of the human who held him.

"…FRISK? BUT I THOUGHT-"

"I thought so too! B-But I was wrong! I want you!" She shouted, nearly choking on a sob as she cradled him with quaking hands. "I may not be what you need, but… I want you. I want you to come home with me."

He said nothing, didn't offer a single word of reply – but the smile that stretched across his skull and reached his eyes, crinkling with happiness as a fresh wave of tears began beading at the corners of his eyesockets, only this time out of pure joy was a sufficient enough answer for her.

A small crowd composed of the center's staff had formed outside the door, the spectators whispering amongst each other and shoving one another aside to get a glimpse of what was happening inside the room between human and bitty. A hush fell over the group and they began to part when Webber pushed through the gathered employees to investigate what the ruckus was about. He had been in the back of the store when Frisk suddenly barged in, so all he had heard was the front door being slammed open and the sound of several footsteps shuffling around. Thankfully there hadn't been any screaming at the moment, otherwise he would have called the police over something entirely harmless.

His many eyes watched both Frisk and the Blueberry bitty for a minute, taking in the sight as both bawled, but their faces were unmistakably happy. He slowly approached the two, not wanting to break the reverie before him, but it was necessary for him to do so.

Frisk raised her head up to look at him, having sunken to the floor onto her knees long ago in her wave of happiness, regret and relief.

"I-I'll give anything I have on me for him." She said, digging in her purse with her free hand to retrieve her wallet. "I'll pay whatever price you want! Just please let me take him home…"

Webber gnawed on one of his claws in thought – while it was true that all bitties had an adoption fee, money wasn't the issue here. Adopting a bitty from the rescue room was a serious matter. Usually there was a long list of protocols involved; the adopter had to have visited the center frequently for a period of six months at the very least, the adopter had to undergo a thorough background check, the bitty was required to be taken in for check-ups by the staff, and then there were all the procedures that had to be undergone before a rescued bitty was given the mark of approval to be adopted.

But… Frisk was Chara's sister. Chara had been a volunteer at the center for well over a year, and she spoke nothing but good things about her sister. Everyone who worked there knew Frisk's name and what she looked like. The staff probably knew more about her than Frisk's colleages ever had during her years of schooling ever had. And Chara had brought her there today hoping for her to adopt – if Chara trusted Frisk with a bitty, then she could be trusted by the staff with this particular Blueberry.

Webber shook his head and sighed, but he was grinning. "I'll go get the adoption papers."

While the small crowd of employees whooped and cheered, the front door burst open for the second time that evening. Chara stood there, panting and gasping for breath while covered in a thick sheen of sweat. It took her several moments and downing a whole bottle of water later for her to say anything. Once she had regained her breath, the workers caught her up to speed with what happened while the two were seperated.

"Frisk… I'm so happy… for the both of you…" She sputtered, leaning against the counter exhaustedly. "You finally found the bitty for you, and Blueberry's finally gonna have his forever home… A happy ending… Yaaaay…"

Chara nearly collapsed from her fatigue, but Webber and another employee caught her before she could fall, documents scattering everywhere as the spider monster had dropped them in his haste to get to her.

"No. Not a happy ending." Webber disagreed with a chuckle, papers fluttering around them. "This is their happy beginning."

Frisk quickly began filling out the adoption papers once they had all been gathered. Chara had already purchased nearly everything she would need to care for a bitty since she had been so sure that Frisk would be leaving this building with a pygmy skeleton monster in hand – and she was right. The only thing Chara hadn't bought was clothes, since she had no idea which type of bitty Frisk might adopt. While Frisk read over and signed the documents, Chara ran to the clothing section and back to show both new owner and bitty what the store had for sale. By the time they had selected enough clothing and got it paid for, she was on the last piece of paperwork.

"Now the only thing left to do is to give him a name and print it on the dotted line there." Webber instructed; how many times had he been through this scenario before with this same bitty? Unlike the previous occasions, he held high hopes that this would be the last time the lonely Blueberry would ever have to go through the lengthy adoption process.

Frisk tapped the end of her pen against the table in thought – she turned to the bitty seated next to her on the cool marble surface.

"I'LL BE HAPPY WITH WHATEVER NAME YOU CHOOSE. I REALLY DON'T HAVE ANY PREFERENCES OR OBJECTIONS TOWARDS MY NAMING – AS LONG AS IT IS CHOSEN WITH LOVE."

Even so, Frisk felt that his name needed to be special, something that was unique but wouldn't isolate him either. Something inspired…

"…Crescendo." She murmured, jotting it down on the dotted line before she could stop herself.

"Crescendo?" Chara inquired, looking at Frisk then down at the Blueberry bitty.

"Is that alright with you?" Frisk asked him, genuinely wanting his opinion.

"I… I LOVE IT. IT'S PERFECT…" He began sniffling again and Chara handed him a torn piece of tissue.

"Crescendo. It's a wonderful name." Webber agreed, taking the stack of papers from her.

Crescendo. The name resonated with her, because from this point onward, that word would resemble their HoPe. Crescendo - gradually rising; together.

And with that, Chara, Frisk and her new bitty friend Crescendo left the adoption center in higher spirits.

"See, you didn't believe me before, but I told you that for every good person there was a bitty out there for them!" Now that the drama was over, Chara believed that she had earned the right to brag.

"Okay, sure. You were right and I was wrong." Frisk admitted, flicking Chara on the nose. She stuck her tongue out at that.

"But I do still owe you dinner and there's just enough time left to go get something before Dad and Toriel call the cops to come looking for us. Are we still getting pizza?"

Frisk nodded. "What about you, Crescendo? Is pizza alright for dinner with you?"

"…CERTAINLY! I'D LOVE SOME!"

Frisk didn't miss that hesitant pause before he answered.

"You say that, but what you really want is tacos, right?"

He flinched, eye sockets wide with disbelief. How had she known?

"Look, I know that you agreed with me because you thought I'd be happy, but don't do that. You don't have to pretend to like what I do because you're afraid of how I'll react. You don't have to change at all, okay?"

"…OK." He said at last, feeling his SOUL flutter.

"So, do you want to take the bus, or do you want to go to the pizza place and the taco place then take the long way home?" Chara questioned.

"You mean after all that running, you're still asking?" Frisk raised an eyebrow at Chara's disheveled hair.

Chara shrugged. "A moonlight walk might be nice."

"While carrying two pizzas and a bag of tacos?" Frisk eyeballed.

"Whatever! Do you want to take the bus or not?" Chara huffed.

"Well-"

"Ah-ha! You didn't think I would, but I finally caught up to you!" A sudden loud voiced called out to them.

And there stomping up the sidewalk towards the two girls was the merchant from the farmer's market, foaming at the mouth with a Farmy bitty sitting on his shoulder wearing a tilted straw hat, a narrowed gaze, and his skeletal arms crossed.

"THOSE WERE MY CABBAGES!" He shouted, his declaration echoing through the empty street.

He stepped ever closer to them and they backwards, both girls holding their hands up defensively.

"Frisk, what do we do…?" Chara whispered fearfully.

"YOU HAVE BROKEN THE CELERY STALK ON THE BACK OF A SEA URCHIN! FOR THIS YOU MUST-"

"Bus! Bus, bus, bus! WE TAKE THE BUS!" Frisk yelled.

She grabbed Crescendo and tucked him inside the safety of her purse before retrieving her wallet and zipping him up within. She opened the wallet and threw the remainder of her money at the man as a distraction then grabbed Chara by the arm and dragged her onto the conveniently parked bus on the other side of the street. The bus then took off, the three having made their getaway and were on their way to finally getting dinner.